Little Reader's Chinese

Hello everyone. Its been a while since I last wrote on the blog that's for sure.
I just wanted to hop on and share with everyone the next round of Brillkids educational products that we've enjoyed using.

Little Reader's Chinese program is brought to you by Little Reader, the program we've been using with Maggie since completing Your Baby Can Read a year ago.
I must say we were very excited to jump in and give the Chinese program a try, as I've always wanted to teach my girls a foreign language.

I grew up in a house where Polish was spoken by my father , but was only spoken when he was with his family. I am familiar with the language when I hear it but never learned to actually speak it. So to teach my daughters to learn to speak something other than English is exciting for sure.

Since Mandarin Chinese seems to be offered as a language course in the private high schools in our area I decided this may give Maggie and also my other girls some exposure so should they decide to learn to speak it later on it may come a bit easier to them.

Little Reader Chinese
In order to use Little Reader Chinese you first my own the Little Reader program. The Chinese program is set up pretty much the same as Little Reader in that you recieve up to 12 months worth of lessons , that cover 334 categories, containing 3576 words, 2768 images, 5232 pronunciation files, 1138 picture audio and sound effects, and over 520 video clips. Just like Little Reader, Little Reader Chinese lessons comes with 3 professionally recorded voices, 3-5 quality images, 2-4 picture audio (word commentaries or sound effects), videos to better illustrate certain categories, such as animals and action words, and stories.
Little Reader Chinese is set up in Mandarin and comes in both Tradional and Simplified Chinese. I'm still learning the differences between the two and really there isn't much difference other than location of where you would live in China.

The program is set up with three native speakers. It also contains a phonics component that teaches them how to read pinyin and how to listen to the different sounds.

Our experience with the Little Reader Chinese

My girls were definitely ready to dive in and give it a try. After all I've downloaded some of the slides of Chinese on Little Reader and they've always enjoyed it.
I will say that my daughter do enjoy hearing the language but picking it up is another story I guess. Because no one in our home speaks Mandarin Chinese and its not a language you hear everyday I'm finding Maggie isn't picking it up as fast as she learned how to read. With that said though I think we'll continue to press on because the more they hear it the more they learn. I know after watching multiple Dora the Explorer cartoons that Maggie has picked up Spanish words. Though she doesn't speak in Spanish , she is at least learning the words, making them familiar to her.

I did get a small clip video of Maggie listening in on the Chinese. Though she isn't saying much I'm hoping she is at least absorbing some of it in while she's quite.

I will definitely say it doesn't have anything to do with the product either. The program is top notch and the voices are clearn to hear. I think that for learning a different language to be successful I'm thinking they really need to hear it all of the time. I know the one thing about the program that has been tough for us is that even though they give us the word in Chinese, there is a picture and the reader gives a sentence and we have no idea other then then the word we just heard , what the voice is saying. If there were only some subtitles or something so we know what all the other words are. But then maybe as time goes on and we go through the program even more , maybe it will all blend in together and make sense.

I definitely recommend this program to anyone who wants to teach their children Chinese, or even just wants at least the exposure to the program. It is fun for a child that is very visual and likes to hear the sound of the language. Since Maggie enjoys the sound and it sometimes makes her giggle. I guess we'll press on further and see what happens. I'll have to update further down the road to see how we do with it.

As for now , Little Reader Chinese is being enjoyed. Even if we aren't understanding everything that is said in the slides. Even if Maggie and my other daughters learn a few words it will definitely be worth using.

Now with all of this said I'm not running a giveaway on the product. But did find a website with someone who is if your interested in giving Little Reader Chinese a try:
http://figur8.net/baby/2011/12/02/little-reader-chinese-review-and-giveaway/#

Brillkids Little Reader review and Giveaway

Brillkids, what can I say? This product really does produce, and does what it claims to do. I know that there are many out there who believe that teaching young children to read before school age (generally 5 or 6yrs of age) isn't a good thing, and this review isn't about debating this issue. What I do want to share is a really great product that truly produces results in teaching infants/toddlers and young children to read.

Our journey began when my youngest at the age of 3 saw a commercial for Your Baby Can Read. As any skeptical parent who never met a baby that could read I took the infomercial with a grain of salt. Thinking it was another money scam out on the market and I wasn't going to pay for that.
Fast forward to today. Last December (2010) we were shopping at Walmart and we found a lone Your Baby Can Read on the shelf and thought we'd give it a try, and we did. What I saw was nothing short than miraculous. My 4yr old was reading words that not even my 7yr old could read at the time and she loved every minute of it! Maggie blew through the program in little as almost 2 months and she wanted more. Of course Your Baby Can Read was a precursor, a starting point if you will, and in that time I learned my baby girl is very much a visual spatial learner. This is why she picked it up so well and so quickly.

After completing the Your Baby Can Read I went on a search to see if there was more, anything else I could use to continue on with what we started.
Sure enough there was! I found Brillkids, and all I can say is wow!
I wasn't sure if Maggie was going to enjoy the format of learning words off of a computer versus having first learned them off of the television. So I thought we'd give it a trial run with Brillkids trial of their Little Reader software.
Maggie enjoyed and continues to enjoy Brillkids.

We love the Powerpoint features of the program

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and even the extra add on of being able to download educational videos onto the Brillkids Little Reader and Maggie gets to sing along.


We love the printing out of the flashcards so we can practice words away from the computer as well.

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What have I learned using Brillkids Little Reader? That this is a great product for young children , babies and infants.Its marketed to those that have infants and toddlers but works just as well for families who have young children (ages 4 and up) wanting to learn to read but just aren't getting the concept of phonics down. This was one area Maggie had difficulty with. We were going through the notorious cccccc..aaaaaa...tttt? What does that say? Maggie: ccccccc.....aaaaa...ttt. Frustration set in. She just wasn't hearing what she was sounding out. Phonics does take a good deal of auditory learning and if your child isn't an auditory learner then this is where frustration with reading begins.
Once she was able to see and hear the words it made much more sense to her and she was able to see the phonics patterns so she started figuring out words herself.
Its a great product for young children ( I'm talking 4 and above) if they are visual learners. That, yes, they do include phonics ( for those phonics fanatics out there) but in a more visual way rather then the old fashion, " Let's sound out each letter way."
I definitely can't be happier with Brillkids Little Reader, and neither can Maggie. Little Reader gets a two thumbs up in our house. So what are you waiting for? Give it a try now!

Our end result ( a rare reading by Maggie Reed, of the Little Red Hen)



Okay, so are you ready to try out Little Reader Semester 1 for yourself?


To enter the Giveaway: 1 entry per post..(this will give you 6 entries)

1. Follow Homeschool Lite

2. Go to Brillkid's website and post one thing that you learned or liked on their website.

3. Post this Giveaway on Facebook ( leave your Facebook name)

4. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter (leave your Twitter name)

5. Follow Homeschool Lite by email ( the bar is on the right hand side)

6. Share this Giveaway on your blog

This Giveaway will expire on October 14, 2011!!!!!

Brillkids has given me the product to try and use with my daughter. They in no way paid for my opinion, it is my own.

Terms and Conditions of the Giveaway:
The winner will have 48 hours to respond to email or another winner will be chosen.
Fulfillment is through another party. I am not liable for missing prizes._

Giveaway is now closed!!!
Congratulations to the McElwain Family for winning the 1st Semester Brillkids Giveaway!

A Rough Start

Ever wonder why some of your best laid plans go out the door? I know I do.
This year is not going the way I wished it would. As I sit here and read other blogs about happy families that have found exactly what they want and its working great. I'm finding that I'm drawing in air and taking a deep breath and sighing it all out.

I'm finding my days filled with a 5 yr old telling me that she doesn't want to be homeschooled, that its no fun, and she wants to be back at school with her friends. Why do Hannah and Katie get to go and not me? I get to hear everyday.
I try so hard to keep things light and fun for her. Today we made an awesome recipe of playdough that used jello in the recipe. It was by far the best recipe for playdough I've ever made by far. Definitely gives you that store bought playdough without it being store bought. I have to say that I found it on Pinterst by the way.



We've done lots of arts and crafts. So don't think that I'm pushing my 5yr old all on academics. That's not it at all.
Last week we made a fun rainbow out of fruit loops. Talked about the colors (even though she knows them already), but talked about the colors that were in the rainbow. She surprised me and already knew that. But it turned out really cute.

Tomorrow, if its not raining I plan on making some sidewalk paint.
So really we're doing fun stuff that is fun to do. But for some reason Maggie just isn't so happy about it. Maybe with some time things will change.
But I just can't seem to hit my stride yet with any of this.

Even getting Marilyn excited about learning has been tough. She's been doing her work but its been tough for me to keep track of what she's finishing and what she isn't. We're using Christian light for her for Math and Language Arts. Still using the Stories of the Saints which by the way really does have excellent stories in it. Just hard for me to keep track of what she's doing because she thinks she can blow through the comprehension questions and skip the activities , which can range from drawing illustrations of what she read in the story, to writing reports. She just isn't taking her time on any of it.

I'm beginning to wonder if my heart is in any of this. Maybe not having them all home at the same time is affecting me and the girls more than I know.
I just know that this year has not gotten off to a great start for me and I wish I could make it better.

Dolphin Tale Giveaway

Its time for those giveaways again. They are so fun and you just never know if you might win something cool.

Dolphin Tales is opening up September 23 Nation wide and the mission is for everyone to get out and watch a good wholesome movie.
The neat part is that the two main characters are homeschooled. Finally, a movie about children who are homeschooled.

So check out the I Take Joy blog and enter for a cool giveaway package and get out, see a family oriented movie without violence, junk or twaddle.

Back to school

I think sometimes my best laid plans don't always go as planned.
Even though I planned on having all of the girls at home this year it didn't quite happen that way.
At the last moment we were offered a 'good deal' at the school. So Katie and Hannah went back on Wednesday to St. Thomas. I'm not sure if I'm happy with this set up quite yet. But we're going to give it a try and see what happens with it.

A picture of Hannah and Katie on the first day of school ( August 24,2011). It was a really windy day that day.

So for now its Marilyn and Maggie at home. Marilyn is nursing a growth plate fracture that happened when she was walking Belle, her cousin's dog, at Grammy's house. It couldn't have happened at the most worst time because she signed up for cheerleading. The nice part is she's still able to participate by sitting and doing the arm motions to the cheers. Tim took her to get a boot so that it will help her be able to get around better. I'll post a picture of the broken ankle girl later on when she gets home.

As for Maggie. Maggie isn't quite understanding why she can't go to school like Katie and Hannah can. Its hard to explain to a 5yr old why. I really try to tell her that its because mommy wants to spend more time with her. I don't want or need to remind her that the real reason is because the school isn't equipt for Maggie. She doesn't need to be reminded she isn't like all the kids. So I'm trying to make our lemonade with the lemons we have and make this fun for her.

I will say next year though we just won't be going through all this hassle. The girls do fine no matter where I put them and honestly home is better for them anyways. It doesn't seem natural to me to send my kids away. It never felt natural to me when I worked in daycare all those many years ago when Marilyn and Katie were little. I used to take them with me but it just didn't feel right to me. It still doesn't.
Sometimes I wonder how I'll be when the girls are all grown up and gone off to college. Really, what will I do with myself? I've tried things like going out , doing stuff. But I have a very difficult time feeling good about it when I enjoy being around and being with my girls.

Anyways, thought I would end this blog with a picture of Maggie and her little spot I'm setting up. I'm not done with it. But its a start. Don't mind the table. Its old and needs to be sanded down and refinished again. I think this will be my next project before the snow flies around here.
We spent yesterday decorating a file box for her to stack her Christian Light Light Units (workbooks) in. She really loves her reading and Math. Amazingly enough even though she just turned 5 she is doing really well with the 1st grade (100) level work. Right now she is working on her Learning to Read, which she already knows how to read, so we kind of quickly work through that part But it has lots of other stuff in the workbooks that is very age appropriate for her. Like visual discrimination, making patterns on a dot grid, the phonics practice, and handwriting. So we just are going to work through it quickly and I'll let her lead the way as to what she is capable of. Maggie is a smart little peanut for sure.
If you'd like to share pictures of your school room. Leave a link in our comments. I love seeing other school room pictures. I'm always looking for good ideas.

The Grace Card Giveaway

As you all know I enjoy a great giveaway. I'll admit though that I hadn't heard of this movie.
I read the review and it sounds like a really good movie. I always enjoy a good movie with a good message too.It reminds me of when I watched Fireproof with Kirk Cameron. The message was astounding in that movie. I'm sure its the same in this movie, the Grace Card.

You can hop on over to Day by Day in our World Blog and enter the giveaway that is being held from August 18th to the 30th.

Poor Man's Canvas and more art

So what do you do when your low on cash and need a canvas to paint on? You create one yourself. It was mighty simple and I learned a few things along the way while creating one.

First, you need cardboard, or wood, an old white sheet or even a pillowcase will do. And a staple gun.


Next, either cut the sheet or slide the cardboard or wood into the pillowcase. I chose to use an old pillow cover that had a broken zipper on it. So no loss there.

Last, staple the sheet. Make sure you get it as straight as you possibly can. And Viola' a poor man's canvas.

Pretty simple huh? Marilyn decided to give her water color picture a try on this. She used masking tape to make the design.



What did we learn about the poor man's canvas we created? That using water color paints is pretty touch and go. It has a tendency to bleed under the tape. Something like tempra or acrylic would work even better on a sheet. But I will admit the bleeding did give it a little character.


Next we turned to more collage work. Marilyn really enjoyed making a collage so she tried a couple ideas that I found online.
The first was the 3D snow man. This was used by making snow paint. With a can of shaving cream and some glue its amazing what you can create. I used a couple cups of shaving cream to one cup of glue and the result was really cool and amazing. I will give you a hint that after stirring it , let it sit for a few minutes before using. Otherwise its really gooey and messy. To make our snow man we used measuring cups. We tried to gloop it on but it wasn't working. So we used a 1/2 cup for the bottom, a 1/3 cup for the middle and a 1/4 cup for the head. We did not fill the cups up all the way either. Filling half of them was plenty. We learned if you used to much it just ran down the paper and off it. Once it dries though its really neat to touch. Almost reminds you of the leather in new cars. At least that was the description my husband used.
Marilyn used some felt for the hat, eyes, mouth and scarf and then went outside and found a couple of sticks. She finished the bottom with some cotton balls that she spread out to make it look like snow. Brilliant!


After she was done with that she worked on her next collage. This one turned out pretty neat to. The night before we looked for an old book, and tore out a few pages. Granted it tore me in two to tear up a book, but it was for the sake of art so it had to happen. She pained the pictures all the colors we had except for black, and then let them dry overnight. In the morning she painted another sheet of white paper with a blue background and let that dry. Once the background was dry her mission was to cut the pages from the book she painted the night before into a landscape. It had to contain buildings, trees, grass sun, clouds, etc. And this was her end result after gluing it all on:

In the meantime we had a really nice surprise come to our doorstep. Once a year or so Cole's Foundation sends Maggie a really nice care package for her birthday. The last package we had gotten it was of a beautiful crocheted blanket and we've had it ever since. This time Maggie received a bunch of wonderful girl goodies like hair bands, and coloring books and crayons and a beautiful, beautiful blanket. Maggie carries it around with her wherever we go.

It was so nice to receive a package for Maggie that wasn't medically related.
Also that day the UPS man graced our doorstep with wonderful school supplies. I can't wait to get officially started with Marilyn and Maggie. There was a slight change of plans for Katie and Hannah at the moment. They will attend school this year. I'm not sure how this all is going to work out. But we'll give it a try. In the meantime I'm keeping their school stuff in the even this arrangement doesn't work out, or they can work on it when they have no homework , or on the weekends.
But it was like Christmas, well , at least for me. To see all this new stuff.



Maggie decided she wanted to get started right away. So we pulled out the Learning to Read. Most of this has been lots of review. But I think there is plenty she can glean from and learn from. Such as writing her letters, and the listening skills and so on. But she's doing really, really well with it and I think we'll be going through this program extremely quick. She is doing 2 lessons a day right now and just flying through it. Reading wise she's beyond the first two readers that I have right now. But it will help with fluency, and will be light for her at the moment. I'm hoping with that it will make her feel more comfortable with doing the school work and not so much pressure. Maggie just turned 5 so she's a young 5.
Marilyn on the other hand is trying to see how long we can push all this off before starting school. Isn't it like a 13 yr old to not want anything to do with school. Humph.

Water Colors,Oil Pastels, and Collages

Okay, I hope that you all have something tasty to sip and drink while you read this post. It will be a long but fun post to read. Especially if your looking for some fun crafty ideas to do with your kiddos before school starts.

I'll admit it was a bit of a topsy turvy art day. I had four kids going doing different art mediums at different times since we would start and wait for some to dry. Or they were able to be done in a single setting. Once one person was done with an art project they wanted to jump to the next. It was a bit crazy but very nice to see the girls so gung ho with their art projects.

The first they tacked on was their collages. I'll just go ahead and post them all together even though they got them done at different times of the day. Hannah's collage was the sandwich collage which was posted in my last post.

Collage : French word for glue.


This first picture is of Maggie with her Stop signal collage. It was super easy to make. Paper cut into a thin background and three circles. Then she sat and ripped up the stop signal colors : Red for stop, Yellow for slow down, and Green for Go. She had tons of fun gluing on the construction paper and we talked about the colors.


This is Marilyn's collage. This is her landscape collage. We scoured the magazines we had for landscaping pictures, cut them out and laid them all on the table. Marilyn picked and chosed what she wanted to use and voila'. Of course Marilyn is going to try another collage tomorrow and she will pick which one she wants to enter into the fair.


Next, is Katie's collage. This is her water color collage. The background was painted in a solid water color. On another sheet of paper Katie drew shapes and lines and dots and then once it dried she ripped them (not cut them) out and placed them where she wanted them , then added some yarn to complete her picture.

Speaking of water colors. I decided to make my own. I had found an awesome recipe online for it. It was simple to make.With just 3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda, 3 Tbsp of Corn starch, 3 Tbsp of Vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp of light corn syrup. You too can create your own water colors and trust me its less expensive and the colors are just amazingly better then those cheapo water colors you get at the store. You mix the ingredients, then use food coloring to make your colors. I can say that if you use the pasty gel food coloring you will get brighter colors. I just poured the water color solution in my saline water bottle caps ( they were nice and round and big enough) and added the colors and mixed them there. You can use them as is when your done or let them sit for 24 hrs and then wet them and use.



The supplies you need.

The caps I used with the water color solution. You can use any type of cap. But these saline bottle caps that we get for Maggie were perfect.

Add your food coloring. You can use the regular or gel type food coloring. Regular food coloring will give you more of a pastel look and the gel will give you a thicker brighter look. Just a few drops in each cap will do you. The more you use the brighter the color. I just wouldn't go past 6 to 8 drops though. Anymore than that is to much (trust me).


This is the messy part of creating your water colors. I suggest wearing some rubber gloves while doing this. Unless you don't mind having your hands stained. You know, kind of like mine are now. Don't worry if you slop the color a little on the lid. Doing this let me know what some colors where. When they are wet some of the colors like the copper , orange and red look kind of the same. By slopping a little on the lid showed me what color each was. Sometimes the purple, and black looked the same while wet. So its kid of like a color code for grown ups and kids.

This is what they looked like dried 24 hours later.

After this adventure it was time to move on to our Oil Pastel portraits. These turned out really nice. The girls had lots of fun doing these.



This photo is of Marilyn's "Klee Portrait". This portrait is inspired from the artist Paul Klee who was into using geometric shapes in his drawings. Marilyn did a super job and she entitled it " The depressed guy".


Next up was Katie's abstract version of the"" Figure 5 in Gold. Except her picture is the "Figure 7 in Purple".


Hannah was the next in line to create an oil pastel. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find something easy enough for her to do that would be different than what her sisters were doing. But as luck found it I did find something that was different and simple enough for her to do all on her own. She did a super job on it too. This is Hannah's version of Kadinsky's abstract of " Abstract of Squares"

Last but not least was Maggie. I knew I had to find something simple enough for her to do too. So we decided on a Hands oil pastel. Now of course the hands are supposed to touch each other and meet but her little hands weren't big enough, but we made due. Plus I love how her four fingered hand added such power to her picture.One only Maggie can do. We entitle it : Diversity

The picture was tough for her to do as there was lots of coloring and Maggie's hands get tired quickly. So we broke the project up through out the day so she could start and stop when she wanted to. The finished product though was fantastic for a 5 year old.

Well there you go folks. We had a super day of art and I couldn't have done it all without the awesome website I found the other day: Art Projects for Kids
I'll admit when I first found the site I wasn't sure what it was. If it was an instructional website or a website that sold stuff. Well, its both. If you scroll down a little bit and look to the left you will see a bar that says " Labels". There you can click links by grade level, artist, or topic, and pictures and descriptions will pop up. This website is spectacular in teaching art by the Masters. Also giving children the opportunity to make their own "Master" paintings. I'm not sure how well they will go over at the fair , we'll see. But they are all 1st place creations to me.

Birthdays and Art

Okay, so your thinking to yourself what does art have to do with birthdays? Well, actually quite a bit.
Monday (August 8th) was my youngest daughter's birthday. She just turned 5. How time flies I'll tell ya. I wanted to do something special for Maggie's birthday so I decided instead of buying or slapping some frosting on a cake that I would actually tackle on making a cake myself. I'll admit the only cake making training I've ever had was watching my own mother make them. She was a pro. I would sit and watch her in the kitchen whenever she would painstakingly work on a cake for a client. My mom created cakes with such ease that she made it look easy. Well, its not exactly easy when you don't have much in the way of cake decorating materials. I just had the bags, the tips and one couplet(mental note, purchase more to make switching colors MUCH easier on yourself).
But what I did manage to do and create was short of a miracle. Granted we live about 45 miles away from any nearest craft store. I did manage to come up short with the brown color after asking Marilyn to grab the colors , Copper and Brown. According to her she thought the color was copper brown. Ugh, 13 yr olds. Anyways I substituted with some chocolate and a can of dark chocolate frosting for the hair.

Well, I think you'll be mighty impressed. Granted, once again I underestimated how much confectioner's sugar I needed for the butter cream frosting. But the Dora cake I created, turned out pretty darned good I should say.

I frosted the end with whatever frosting I had left and it gave the edge a tied died look.

Of course without art, or some semblance of artistic ability I don't think I would have been able to create the Dora cake. Strike that. I think my mother's cake making gene kicked in at the very last moment. Or maybe summoning the cake gods helped too. I don't know , either way Dora turned out to be a hit and it was so good the cake was gone by the very next day.


I will admit I do enjoy doing a little bit of food art. So last night when I was super bored I decided to go ahead and create some jello oranges. Yes, you read that right. The outsides were oranges and the insides were made of jello. So I went into the kitchen scoured through the cupboards because not to long ago I had so much jello in my cupboard I actually had to tell Tim to stop buying it. To find that we didn't have many left and the color I wanted was gone!! So I settled for some blue , yellow and green Jello. Mixed it all together in a jiggler recipe ( you need 4 3 oz boxes mind you) and had the joy of scooping out the oranges. I cut them in half, scooped them out ( all the while having the juice burn the cuts I had gotten the day before by trying to pull a glass that got sucked down our garbage disposal) and put all the insides of the orange inside a bowl. Once I did that I poured my jello concoction inside the orange and set them in the fridge overnight. What I woke up to was some jello inside an orange. So I cut them like I would any orange wedge and , Voila'. Jello Oranges.

The girls loved them and they had some for breakfast and ate the rest for lunch.

So that's all for the food art for now. Next we've been working on art for the Spartansburg fair. We've been quite creative lately and its been a great way to pass what little time of summer we have left. So here are some of our art projects we've done so far. First you'll be thinking I am the most creative person in the world for coming up with some of these ideas. Well, I'm not. I'll give the website Pinterest all of the credit. Its where I've gotten my ideas and we've spawned them off and made them our very own. I'll admit it took me a little while to figure out even what Pinterest was and its purpose. But I finally figured it out it was a place where I can find ideas, and pin them on my own board for future reference. Simple yet so convenient.

This 3D collage was created by Hannah. It turned out super cute and she had oodles of fun making it. We didn't have the wrinkly cardboard that comes from boxes, so we created our own with a cereal box cardboard, and just bending it so it was wrinkly for the bun. The plate was created with some scrapbook paper I had laying around and we used different types of medium. Construction paper, noodles, oatmeal, paper bags and whatever else we could find to make the sandwich.

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So while Hannah was working on her sandwich I gave Maggie a job to do. I printed out a fishbowl template and had her paint it so it could dry while we were gone to the Art Show down town. Every year the Art Guild holds an Art show at the park. It was super fun this year. We saw an Elvis impersonator , I mean who says the King is dead?


After he was finished singing , we went around the gazebo and they had a fun puppet show. The title was Aesop's fables. Maggie really enjoyed this because many of the stories she's read with the Brillkids Aesop's fables books.


While that was going on the art was being judged. Marilyn had entered a picture of hers that she drew this year. It turned out pretty good. In the end she received 2nd place for it. We're very proud of her. My girls really are very artistic.




At the end of the art show we had the pleasure of watching the Airforce Band of Flights, and all I can say is , "Wow!" It was better than watching any celebrity singer any day. Great singers and music plus our country's super heroes make awesome entertainment.

( Girls pictured with Senior Airman Kelly Perry. One of the singers of Systems Go Airforce Band of Flights)

(Maggie grooving to the music)

Once we came home Maggie's 'fish' bowl was all dried out and we were able to do the finishing touches by using mixed beans for the fish rocks , her hand for the fish and some Cheerios for the bubbles.

Isn't it amazing what you can do with food? But it sure did turn out pretty cute that's for sure.
The girls have been working really hard on the rest of their art work. My girls really enjoy working on different types of art. I will continue to record more of their art that they've been working on this week for the fair. So stay tuned!

Online Curriculum Sale

After sifting throug all of my curriculum and reading about the Online Curriculum Sale that is being hosted by a blog I follow. I thought I'd jump at the chance to purge our shelves of items I am no longer using and are taking up space in our apartment to make way for the new stuff that should be coming in the next few weeks.


So here we go everyone. Shipping is extra and I will try and ship the least expensive way I can. Just email me at reedfamilypa@yahoo.com if your interested in anything. I do have Paypal and prefer it. But I will also take check and money orders as well. I will ship as soon as Paypal or check clears.
Also I'm sure I'll find more stuff but I'll post what I have pictures of right now.



Algebra 1/2 2nd edition with answer key. May have a little shelf wear with the answer key but otherwise in good condition. I'm asking $15 or Best Offer



Saxon Algebra 1/2 3rd edtion answer key. I had gotten the wrong answer key. This has a little bend in the cover of the book. Otherwise good to go. Asking $5



Saxon 6/5 2nd edition , textbook and tests.. asking $15 , has some shelf wear. Otherwise in useable condition.




Saxon 6/5 1st edition Answer Key. This does not go with the 2nd edition I have. Asking $2.50


Saxon 5/4 2nd edition. Textbook and answer key. Answer key cover is a bit bent and has a small chunk out the back. Inside in good condition,. Text in good condition. Asking $10


Saxon 1 teacher manual. Current. BIG Manual. I can see if I can ship it flat rate to save on expense. In good condition. It may possibly have some stray pencil marks but not sure, but still in very usable condition. Asking $15


Saxon K Teacher's Manual. Has one page from the back that was cut out for manipulatives. I still have it and will slide it in with the manual. Otherwise in good conditon. May possibly have some stray marks. Can ship flat rate to save on expense, big manual... asking $10



The Reading Lessons. the cover has some shelf wear and I had to tape a side. I've had it for 7yrs and now its time to pass it on. Asking $13 for the book



K12 Phonics Works Advanced Program. This program is sold for $249 on Christian books.com I barely used this at all. Most of it is still in shrink wrap. There were a couple of books that got bent. I think it happened when I put one of the tile folders in and didn't realize it. This kid comes with two tile kits, 30 readers, training DVD, dry erase pens, and board, and small dry erase board. Asking $180


How to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. This book too has been well loved. This was the very first book I used with my oldest daughter when we first started homeschooling. The cover has been taped on but the inside is still in excellent condition. Asking $8



Your Baby Can Read. Are you wondering if you can teach babies and young children to read. Well look no further because it actually works! I wished I had known about it when my girls were actually babies. I didn't learn about Your Baby Can Read until my 4th child was 3 yrs old. I had never talked to anyone that had an early reader that used the program. I figured early readers were little geniuses and those weren't my girls. They never just one day woke up and started reading. So we purchased this program with little hopes and boy was I wrong. My 4yr old by far is my best reader out of my girls. This set has the Volumes 1-5 DVDs. Chunky Flashcards for Volumes 1-5. Books for Volumes 1-4. We had to purchase the Volume 5 seperately. It also has a Your Baby Can Learn ( which is now Your Baby Can Discover) book,,, everything is in good condition, Asking $100 for the entire set.



Abeka 3 Math Teacher's Manual. I had gotten this in hopes to actually buy the program, but it never happened. The book has some shelf wear but totally usable. Not sure if this is current or not. Asking $8 for it.


I know I have more stuff. I just need to go through it all. But I figured that this was a good start.