Mood:  lazy

If there's a homeschooling problem Babs and Marge have been plagued with it. They always, however, seem to work together to solve it - usually with the help of The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) and the TOS Homeschool Crew. TOS and the Crew have even helped them with non-homeschool issues. In fact, the Crew has helped them so much that you'd think that would be the first place they would go when difficulty arises. Sometimes, though, they forget. Let's listen in on their discussion as they discuss their most recent dilemma.

Scene One - Tired Homeschool Mom - Visiting Her Next Door Neighbor

*Knock-Knock*

Marge (from outside the door) ~ Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Babs (hurries to the door and opens it) ~ Honey, your still standin', but you look terrible! Let me help you in! What in the world happened?

Marge (plopping down at the kitchen table) ~ I just carried in $200 worth of groceries.

Babs ~ $200 worth of groceries! What in the world did you buy?

Marge ~ Oh a little of everything. I couldn't stop myself! I just kept piling and piling into my cart. In fact, it took three carts!

Babs ~ Honey, you have got to do something about this spending. Don't you take along a grocery list or something?

Marge ~ Grocery list! Babs, I hardly have time to put my coat on as I go out the door let alone make a grocery list. You know with all of the kids to homeschool and a house to clean, I'm just barely keeping my head above water.

Babs ~ Oh, don't I know it! I always hear about these young beboppers who clip coupons, make out menus and shopping lists. Who has the time? Pretty soon it will be time for supper and I have no idea what I'm going to fix. The kids'll kill me if I open up another can of soup. There has got to be a better way. *sigh*

Marge ~ *sigh* Well, sister, if you can come up with one then I'm all ears. I've never found a better way and I don't know where we could find one.

(Babs and Marge sit dejectedly for a while but then excitedly look at each other.)

Babs and Marge together ~ The TOS Homeschool Crew!

Marge ~ They've never let us down before, I'll bet they've reviewed something that will help!

Babs ~ Where's that laptop?!?

Ten Minutes Later

Marge ~ Let's seen now... I know they just reviewed a new Latin program. I saw that last week, I'm thinking about getting that for the kids. Oh, and look at this, they're going to review another math program...do you remember that one last year that helped Penny? It was just...

Babs ~ Earth to Marge! Earth to Marge! We're looking for a way to help us in the kitchen. Give me that computer! Here's something called "E-Mealz". That sounds interesting. (Babs clicks on the website) Look here what it says..."Manage your food budget and enjoy delicious dinner recipes at home. Menu plans based on weekly grocery store sales, seasonal discounts
or diet preferences. Be meal-wise and money-wise with E-Mealz." This sounds really interesting.

Marge ~ And it's recommended by Dave Ramsey. Oooo...I've always thought he was good looking, but not as good looking as that hunk Tim Tinkel. He's back on the crew this year and...

Babs ~ Focus, Marge, focus! Let me see how this works. Okay...it says that you pick a plan, choose a grocery store, and they will base a week's menu off of the sales of the week for that store.

Marge ~ Well, that does it for my family. You know they won't have a gluten free plan. And you always shop at ALDI's. There is no way they are going to have that. You may as well turn...

Babs ~ Calm down, Marge. Let's keep looking...Well look here! They have a gluten free menu. As a matter of fact, they don't just have a gluten free plan, but they have a low fat plan, a low carb plan, a portion controlled plan...even a vegetarian plan! And they have plans for large families and small families.

Marge ~ Yeah, but what stores are those plans from? I'm not going to drive twenty miles to one of those specialty stores just to use the E-Mealz gluten free plan.

Babs ~ Nope, you don't have to! They have a gluten free Wal-Mart plan. There are Wal-Marts all over the place! And look at this...their regular family plans are available for Wal-Mart, ALDI, Kroger, Publix...even some store called "Ralph's" in California.

Marge ~ Yeah, but how do these meals taste? My family is really PICKY with a capital P!

Babs ~ Well, they have sample menu's. Let's print a couple out and try them for a few days. (*click-click*) AHHH! What is this!

Marge (Jumping up on her chair) ~ EEEEEK! Is it a bug?!?

Babs ~ No, it printed out two pages for each of our plans. Not only does it have a menu, but it also includes a shopping list! Honey, this is my kind of plan!

Marge (Getting down off of her chair) ~ Let me see that. Hmmm...Chicken and Black Bean Stew and Pork Chop Florentine sounds good.

Babs ~ My meals look good too, but...a weeks worth of meals for under $100! I'll believe it when I see it!

One Month Later

*Knock-Knock*

Marge (from outside door) ~ Quick, let me in, I'm worn out!

Babs (Quickly opening door) ~ What's wrong, honey? Have you been out buyin' $200 worth of groceries again?

Marge ~ Lands no! I've just completed my two mile run for the day!

Babs ~ Two mile run! Honey what's gotten into you? What happened to the "I barely have time to put on my coat"?

Marge ~ Sister, I've got gobs of time since I've been using E-Mealz! I just print out the menu, grab the shopping list and go! No more worries and no more $200 a week!

Babs ~ I know! It really has been a lot cheaper using E-Mealz. We've saved enough money to go on a real live vacation this year! AND...since I told Mom and Dad about the two person plan, they've saved enough to come with us! Hubby isn't too thrilled about that, but the kids are excited! And the food is delicious. We tried something called "Swiss Chicken" last night. It was to die for!

Marge ~ Ooo...that does sound good. We had Russian Chicken the other night. I just threw it in the crock-pot and was out the door for my jog! My family loves the meals. My husband was a little skeptical until I showed him the savings and told him that it only costs $5 a month to join E-Mealz! That's just $1.25 a week! And that's 28 recipes. You can't buy a cookbook with 28 recipes in it for $5, let alone the shopping lists, etc. Oh, and listen Babs...

Could it really be true? Could there be such a plan? Don't just take the word of Marge and Babs, try it out yourself. Just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to find out. And, don't forget that some of the other TOS Crew members (other than that hunk Tim Tinkel) reviewed E-Mealz as well and you can find out what they had to say by clicking here. Happy Homeschooling...err...and Happy Eating!

As a Member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free three month membership to E-Mealz in order to try out and give my honest opinion on this blog.

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Mood:  happy

You all know that I am a big fan of Compassion International. Our family financially sponsors one child, Marcelo from Bolivia, and we are correspondence sponsors to five other children from around the world. A correspondence sponsor is someone who writes to children if their financial sponsor is unable or unwilling to write to them. Our correspondence children are: Feyber from Colombia, Somi from Indonesia, Emmanuel from Tanzania, Ismael from Nicaragua and Yvone from Rwanda. Each one is special to us. We write to them all at least once a month and, every year, we send them at least one package.

Today, I received an email from our friend Kees. Kees is the wonderful person who introduced us to Compassion International. He sponsors (financially and correspondence) over 20 kids himself and travels to Bolivia representing Compassion International almost every year. This past summer was no exception. He spent three months working with Compassion in Bolivia and taking pictures and videos of children to be used to promote the sponsorship of children when he got back home.

Attached to his email was a delightful video that shows what it takes to just get a simple picture of a child. That picture is enclosed in a packet so that Compassion can find a sponsor for the child. Compassion has rules for child photographs. There can't be another person in the background nor can there be an animal, like a dog or a cat, in the background.

Observe how hard it is to get one picture taken while a whole group of children are waiting in the wings for their photos.

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Mood:  incredulous

I know I have said this before - "You have got to see this!", and I always mean it. This time, however, I really, really mean it. You have got to see this and listen to it all the way to the end. I know it's long, but it is worth it.

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Mood:  a-ok

I always here folks talk about how we should vote for the candidate that holds Biblical values - the person who does what the Bible says to do on the issues. The problem is, that sometimes it's hard to know what the Bible actually says about certain issues. Some things are obvious, but other things are a bit more difficult to discern. Well, that's what I liked about this book. It breaks the issues down and tells you what the Bible has to say about them. It doesn't tell you who you should vote for, but it tells you what to look for in a candidate if you are wanting to vote "Biblically correct" candidate. Read further to see what I'm talking about.

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

The 2012 Biblical Guide to Voting

Frontline (August 9, 2011)

What Issues Matter to You?
Who Should You Vote For?
How Can You Know You Are Choosing Well?

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Mood:  incredulous

What homeschool item rates in the top 10 of all of the homeschool items we've ever reviewed?

What homeschool review item have we already bought the next level for before I even wrote the review?

What homeschool item have I already conversed with the writer about how to market it to a wider audience because I think it is that fantastic?

What homeschool item am I changing the color of the font for it's review (which I almost never do) because I want you all to notice it?

Answer: Visual Latin!

Yes, it is that good! We absolutely love it. We are big language fans in our house. One of the requirements when we first began homeschooling John Allen in forth grade was that he take Latin. He has always loved it, and we have continued to study it off and on since. Well, it was time to really get a serious high school Latin course for him to take this year for a language credit. We bought one of the old tried and true curriculum and he seemed to be enjoying it and learning.

But then...we were chosen to review Dwane Thomas' Visual Latin! I had heard about Visual Latin from another reviewer and had scouted it out a little bit, so John Allen and I were interested and excited about comparing it with what we had been using. When we got the email, we immediately downloaded our first lessons and began using it.

One of the first differences we noticed was a real live Latin teacher that was fun to watch. Dwane Thomas actually brings the lessons to life. And, he doesn't edit out his mistakes. It's like you are right there with him in the classroom. Here, watch an example of what I'm talking about as he explains what makes Visual Latin unique.

As Dwane said, each lesson is divided into three sections. You watch a video for each section, and you do a worksheet for each section. The three sections are:

• Grammar - A Latin principle is introduced and you learn the grammar for that principle.
• Sentences - You then practice using that principle in the sentences. 
• Reading - Finally, you use that principle in translating a short paragraph. Yes, you will actually be translating a short paragraph in the first lesson!

Don't worry about the lessons being long and drawn out. Each video is usually less than 10 min. each, so all three videos will almost always take less than 30 min. to watch. And, don't forget, the videos are very entertaining. Not only is the teacher funny, but he adds interesting Roman facts to the lesson as he teaches.

The amount of time that it takes for you to do the worksheets is the determining factor in how long each lesson takes for you to do. But, don't even worry about that. Each worksheet is made to get the "maximum impact for your bucks", so to speak. The worksheet isn't long and drawn out with a lot of doing the same thing over and over. They are only one page each but are done in such a way that you learn a lot in that one page.

The recommended pace is to do about two lessons a week. We usually watch the lessons and do the worksheets one day. Then, the next day, we watch the lessons again and correct any mistakes that were made on the worksheets. Sometimes, due to our homeschool load, we may not get two lessons done in a week. So, far, because of our Latin background, we haven't had to watch a video a third time, but, that's the beauty of homeschooling. If you don't get it right away, you can just watch it over again.

And, in my opinion, these lessons are very inexpensive. You purchase the lessons in bundles of 10 lessons each. You can purchase them in download form for $25 per 10 lessons or in CD form for $30 per 10 lessons. Some folks may think that that is expensive. Remember, though, that if you buy a regular Latin course it can run from $75-$100 once you add in the student book, the teacher manual, the pronunciation CD, and the lesson DVDs. I just priced one to make sure, and that was for just 25 lessons! If you have more than one student, it could cost even more for the extra student book.

And, what if you end up not liking it after a few lessons. You may be able to sell the teacher manual, CD and DVDs for a fraction of what you bought them for, but, once the student book(s) is written in, it can't be resold.

With Visual Latin, everything is included. When you buy the download or Cd's, you purchase a license to use it with your family. So, no worry about extra money later on for more student books. Just print out more worksheets. And, if you don't end up liking it (which I'm sure you will), you don't have to buy the next 10 lessons. Now you see why I think it's an excellent deal? They also sell Visual Latin DVD's in sets that include all thirty lessons, and, if you would like to use Visual Latin in a classroom or co-op there are special deals available as well.

But, don't take my word for it. Visual Latin allows you to download the first two lessons and the worksheets for free from their website. They also have four pre-lessons that are fascinating as well. The pre-lessons tell you why the study of Latin is important and what you will be studying with Visual Latin. They're free, too. Just go to the Visual Latin website by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above.

You can also find out what the other TOS Homeschool Crew Members think about Visual Latin by clicking here. Happy Homeschooling!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent the first 10 lessons of Visual Latin for free in order to try out and give an honest review on this blog.

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