Mood:  celebratory

Pre-note - Okay folks. I realize that the emoticon is of a cigar. But remember some time back when I first used it? I thought it was a firecracker ! So that's what we're going to think of it as again!

Anyway, back to the topic. The ballots have been tabulated and the results have been posted. Here are the:

 2010 Homeschool Crew Seaworthy Awards

Favorite Language Arts Product : Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services (EDUDPS)

Favorite History Product :Bright Ideas Press  (All American History and Mystery of History)

Favorite Science Product:Nature Friend Magazine 

Favorite Math Product:  Math Mammoth

Favorite Online Math Product:  Mathletics

Favorite Handwriting Product: Zeezok Publishing (Presidential Penmanship)

Favorite Fine Arts Product (art, music, etc.): Artistic Pursuits

Favorite Pre-school Product: Time 4 Learning

Favorite Elementary Product: Critical Thinking

Favorite Upper-Grade Product: Professor in a Box

Favorite College Prep Product: Cerebellum/Standard Diviants

Favorite Special Needs Product: Super Star Speech

Favorite Health and Beauty Product: Virginia Soaps and Scents

Favorite Christian Product:  Grapevine Studies

Best Resource I Didn't Know I Needed:  StudyPod

Best Homemaking Product:  Sue Gregg Cookbooks

Best Customer Service:  Great Software Tools

Best Online Resource: ABCteach

Best e-product:  Growing Healthy Homes: Nutrition 101

Best Office and Technology Resource: Web Design for Kids (and Curious Grown-Ups)

Best Homeschool Resource:Apologia Press: The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling

Best Map Resource:  Home School in the Woods

Best Book, Novel or Magazine:  Sarah's Books

Best Children's Book: Children's Bible Hour: Season's of Faith Series

Best Hands-On Resource: A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks

Most Adaptable Resource:  Sue Patrick Workbox System

Most Unique Resource:  Lobster Network

Most Family-Oriented Product: Family Mint

Kid's Choice:  Maverick Books: Hank the Cowdog Series

All Around Crew Favorite: All About Spelling (All About Reading)  

Do these align with what the Tinkel household thought? Well, almost. I'm going to be posting my "Tinkel Homeschool Top 10" (if I can narrow it down to that) list later. Congratulations to all of the winners!

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Mood:  not sure

Jacob intently playing a video game. Sorry about the red-eye.

I was too lazy to get the red out.

He doesn't look that evil in real life !

 

Faithful friends and family,

Blessings to each of you. I would just like to give you a quick update on Jacob. We went to Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN to the autism clinic this past week. After talking with us and her interaction with Jacob the doctor concluded that he doesn’t have Asperger’s or anything on the autism spectrum. She does think he has something…some type of a syndrome because of her observation and interaction with him. She sent us to get blood work for genetic testing. We will know something in 6-8 weeks…a long time when you are wanting answers now. Jacob also this week had a physical therapy evaluation done. In being evaluated the therapist noticed that Jacob’s hips are loose jointed (this is the best that I can remember/describe). He also has some issues with his neck, feet and legs. These things could be the reason why he is not sleeping well at night.. The therapist wants a complete battery of x rays especially on the hips. Without intervention on the hips we could be looking at surgery down the road. After 2 days of testing the poor little guy is so tired and doesn’t know what to think. On top of all of this he has a double ear infection. I am feeling overwhelmed and wondering where I went wrong as a parent. Could I have prevented any of this? I should have seen and done something earlier….I know that this is just tiredness and being overwhelmed talking. I am asking that you please keep us in your prayers. Pray for Tim and I to have patience, wisdom, discernment and to keep our eyes on Jesus. During times like this it is easy to focus on our circumstances. Pray that we can focus on what God wants us to do for His glory. We know that God is going to do something big. He is so good and faithful and we praise Him for providing for our needs in ALL areas. We are so blessed to have such faithful friends and family who come along beside us to encourage, love and pray for us. Thank you for being Jesus to our family. May God bless you in all that you do for His glory….we are blessed!!!

In HIS grip,

Sarah & Tim

Sarah & Tim Tinkel                BCM International
829 Hi Tech Drive                 309 Colonial Drive            
Livingston, TN 38570            PO Box 249
931-823-9320                     Akron, PA 17501
Tink38570@yahoo.com        1-888-bcmintl
Set1993@gmail.com             bcmintl.org
Blog - tink38570.angelfire.com/familiesagain
Acct. #0642
(Please make checks payable to BCM Intl. and on a separate sheet of paper put our name and account number)

Further Update! After posting this update, we received the Vanderbilt Doctor's official diagnosis in the mail. She diagnosed him with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified; Lack of Physiological Development; and Mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorder. This is on top of the results from Occupational Therapy testing and the Speech Therapy testing. We are still waiting on the results from the Physical Therapy testing and from the genetic testing. We have an appointment with the Pediatric Neurologist at Vanderbilt in August. The poor guy is about worn out from all of the testing. I will be glad when this is all over. - Tim

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Mood:  don't ask

We've had another emergency room visit with a sick child. This time it is John Allen with some kind of stomach bug. Two IV's and some other meds later he is home on the couch resting. He's going to sleep there tonight to be close so that we can here if he needs us.

In the meantime I didn't get a new Men's Monday Meme question posted (Duh! What's new? ), so I decided to post the third movie of my "Old Movies of Famous Cities" trilogy. Tonight it's London in 1927 - complete with word cards like the old silent movies used to have. Well, come to think of it, this movie was made during that time, so it IS one of those old silent movies! Enjoy!

PS. I'll post the new meme question in the next day or two so keep checking.

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Mood:  a-ok

Hmmm. When I first saw the name of this curriculum the immediate thing that came to mind was the magazine Ideals that my mom used to get around different holidays. The most recent thing that came to mind, however, was "Why is this curriculum so 'Ideal'?" So, after looking it over, I decided to do a "This curriculum is ideal if:" and a "This curriculum isn't ideal if:" type review. So here goes.

Ideal Curriculum is ideal if:

• You like a flexible schedule.  As most of you know, we have been going through a horrendous time with our kids lately. Joshua, our nine year old, was diagnosed with asperger's syndrome about a year and a half ago, and Jacob, our 4 year old, is presently being tested for very similar symptoms. Unfortunately we wanted to try out this preschool/early kindergarten curriculum with Jacob but most of his testing has been during the time we were supposed to be doing the reviewing. On top of all of the testing, he also had his tonsils and adenoids taken out and was practically out of commission for about 10 days. That really put a damper on our reviewing time. We were, however, able to use a little of the curriculum and, as we work with it more, I will write more about our experiences. The joy of all of that, though, is knowing that Ideal Curriculum does not follow a rigid plan. You don't have to follow a strict day by day schedule. If that were the case, we would never have been able to use this at all. In fact, Ideal Curriculum doesn't even follow a strict year plan. You can buy month one any time you want and start when you want. In fact, month one was sent to us to try out now - in the middle of the spring. They do suggest that you buy the curriculum in order beginning with month one, because each month builds on the other.

• You like a total package. When you purchase Ideal Curriculum you get everything you need to begin teaching your preschool/kindergarten child. You can either buy the curriculum in hard copy books, or in a downloadable form. We received the downloadable form and received more than you could imagine. You could probably fill two months with all of the stuff that is included in this package. Each month has a Literacy Teacher's Manual, a Science/Social Studies Teacher's Manual and a Math/Calendar Teacher's Manual. You also get everything you need for that month, minus a few craft supplies and the normal pencil/paper/crayon stuff. The extra's, however, are minimal. The different areas cover different things each month. Here is a an overview of what the first four months cover:

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Mood:  a-ok

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