Mood:  don't ask

 Of what? Well, not of me, that's for sure! But of the Halloween entry that I'm about to post tomorrow! Be very afraid!?!

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Mood:  happy

I was totally thrilled last year when I won the Homeschool Blog Award in the Best Homeschool Dad Blog category. It was an honor that I will never forget. Well, they are now taking nominations for the 6th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards. This year there are 20 categories including the Best Homeschool Dad Blog. I would love it if you all would nominate me again. This is just the first step. Right now I just need a few people (I think five) to nominate this blog so that it will be put on the official ballot. Then, in November, the official votes will be cast. For right now, if you feel lead, I would appreciate all the nominations that I can get just to make sure I get on the ballot. If you will click on the button above, it will take you to the nomination page. I think that the Best Homeschool Dad Blog category is the second on the list. I know it is right at the top. If you could just enter the following information in I would really be thankful. I really appreciate all of you faithful readers.

God Bless,

Tim

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Mood:  cool

Yep. Our internet has been down for two days and I haven't been able to do hardly anything. It would allow me to check my email and that is about it. So, I've missed two days of blog posts, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. So much has happened that I've wanted to blog about. It's been crazy! I'm bushed tonight, but be expecting some fun posts in the next few days.

Quick update on Mom. I was able to actually hold a conversation with her for more than a minute the other day. I was really thrilled. Then, a couple of days later, my sister called and said that Mom wasn't doing well again. She seems to be up and down. My sister said to not be surprised if Mom went home to be with the Lord any day, but, then again, don't be surprised if Mom lasted another 10 years or so. That is how unpredictable she is. We are still planning on going up to visit next month if finances allow. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, don't forget to tune in all this week for all of the exciting posts!

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Mood:  happy

BCM is Moving!

Posted on: 14 Sep 2010 at 11:29 am

I have some exciting news for you! Many of you have been praying for the sale of our current location since my March “From the President’s Desk” announcement that we were still trying to sell the property.

Our current location has been a great blessing to us over the past years, but for some time we have felt that it was important to relocate to something more appropriate to our ministry goals.

The current property is now under contract to be sold, with the final papers to be signed on November 12th, 2010. Praise the Lord for bringing us a buyer.

This also means that we will be moving the BCM IMC operations to a new location at 201 Granite Run Drive, Suite 260, Lancaster, PA. 17601. There is a picture of the location below:

We are leasing offices at this location, and will be moving during the month of October, 2010. For the present, we will keep our current mailing address, and eventually also have the new address, so don’t worry about mail and communications being interrupted. Our email address will also stay the same. Our phone numbers will eventually change, and when that happens we will keep you informed.

We are making this move using volunteer help and resources, so please pray with us that God would send us the volunteers and resources (vehicles for moving, some needed office furniture, etc). You are also certainly invited to come and help yourself!

Let’s celebrate this milestone event together!

Dr. Marty Windle
President, BCM International

This article was "borrowed" from BCM's webpage, but I have a feeling that they don't mind! For my new readers, BCM International is the mission organization that my wife and I are with.

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Mood:  don't ask

• Do you want to know one high school class that I use almost every day?
• Do you want to know one high school subject that has been more of a benefit in life than 95% of my high school classes?
• Do you really want to know what this wonderful class is?
• Okay, I'll tell you...

Typing!

Yep! that was it! Typing. I have used typing more in my life than most of my other classes. Don't get me wrong. Most of my other subjects were beneficial as well. But I use typing everyday! And, that was before computers. Today, kids begin using the computer even before school starts. That's why I have always been determined to teach my kids typing at an early age. That's why I was excited to find out that we were getting to review an online typing program called "Read, Write, and Type" by Talking Fingers.

I'm going to admit. At first I was expecting a regular typing program where all you do is read letters off of the screen and type them. Something like:

fff aaa fff aaa faf afa faf afa

You know! That type of thing. But, I was wrong. Read, Write and Type is much more than that! Since it is computer based, it can use neat animated graphics which are really cool, but definitely not the best part! The neatest part is that it teaches you phonics while you are typing! Before I explain, let me describe the program a little bit.

The basic story line is that an evil computer virus named Vexor tries to steal all of the letters to prevent the story writers from completing their stories. With the help of Lefty and Rightway children defeat this virus by going through a series of typing lessons. The animations are really cute and entertaining. They really help to keep the kids attention. But, that's not the best part!

As each letter is introduced, the name is mentioned, but, most of the time after that, it isn't the letter name that is used, it is the sound of the letter! So, when a child types a letter, they are hearing the sound, letter blend, or even the words as they are typed!

So, the neat thing about this program is that it teaches phonics as well as typing! And it does it well. There are 40 lessons in this program and they progression is very well though out. It starts with the student just typing the sounds and spaces. Then as more sounds are introduced, the child begins to build words. Eventually the child is building sentences and then stories. And, along the way, they are learning to read. Hence the name Read, Write and Type! They even have a downloadable activity book that you can print out and also a keyboard that you can print out to use to practice whenever a keyboard isn't available.

Joshua loves this program. The past few weeks have been hectic, with a lot going on. We haven't been able to complete all of the lessons yet, but this is one subject that Joshua does not hesitate doing at all. We have even started it with Jacob even though it is recommended for ages 6-9. Now, I know that Jacob is going to make a lot of mistakes, but, the really neat thing is that a student can go back and redo any of the lessons as many times as they need. They just can't try to skip lessons and move ahead.

So, you may think that this is going to cost you a lot of money! WRONG! This program is only $35 per student and can be used for up to five years! That gives plenty of time for a struggling child to master all of the levels. And the online program has special a special log-in area for parents with special printable reports of how their child is doing. Have a lot of kids, or don't want to mess with an online thing? You can buy a CD version for $79. Have kids that are too old for this? Talking Fingers has programs for older kids as well. Just check out their website. Still not convinced? Well, you can get to the Read, Write and Type website by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to either purchase a subscription or read more about the program. Or, you can click here to read the reviews of other TOS Homeschool Crew members who got to review this product. I don't think you will be disappointed. Happy Home Educating!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I was given to free one year subscriptions to Read, Write, and Type in order to use and review on my blog.

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