Today is the first time I’m participating in the long-running “Works for me Wednesday” hosted at WeAreThatFamily. I thought I’d share my Homeschool Binder (aka my HS brain!). I made this after the same idea I got for my Home Management Binder you can view here.

This year marks our first-official homeschool year. After a year in preschool and a year in public kindergarten my oldest is learning first grade at home. I have a lot of reasons why I decided to do this and I shared some of my thoughts in this post.

I spent months researching just about anything that had to do with homeschool it seems and made my decision to give it a go.

We started homeschool last week and I’m loving it and the boys (I have a 4 yr old too) are enjoying also- though my oldest doesn’t always want to do his work. Thats expected. Things don’t go smoothly always but since we aren’t constrained to the clock thats okay. I love-love-love…LOVE the freedom we have! And I love getting to be in charge. I really feel like this is natural and the way its suppose to be for us. Maybe in 9 months I’ll feel differently, we’ll have to wait and see

I bought a binder about…maybe 3″ wide and the “special” kind of tabs that also come as sheet protectors. They fit great with sheet protector pages. If you don’t want sheet protectors to hide your tabs you want this kind. I used my scrapbook supplies to make my own custom front/back design.

The monthly tabs I really like. Behind each tab are some if not all of the following forms. We may or may not use most of them.

• Daily Check List
• An objective list for the month or whatever time frame.
• Reading List
• Extracurricular Activities
• Field Trip Log
• Read my post here for some great homeschooling resources (including FREE).

I  looked at a number of different forms and I experimented with some. I’m using some other forms like a master /hourly form also but I’m very flexible. I REALLY REALLY like this Daily Checklist because it provides me with an easy way to record what we actually are accomplishing daily. I feel like I NEED this since we don’t follow the hourly schedule to a T and my homeschooling approach is very “eclectic” and flexible.

Some of the other dividers include a section for each of my boys. They each have their own notebooks but I keep some lesson plans, etc in my notebook for them. I also have a legal section to store my “approval” to homeschool letter from our school district.

Well, this is what works for me, for sure!  If you’re homeschooling, what works for you?

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Yoplait Spritz Promotion & Prize Pack!

My family had  an opportunity to try some Yoplait Yogurt  recently. I chose the Yoplait Trix that came with the reusable freezer stick so you can make yogurt-pops. Just stick the stick through the foil top and freeze. After about 4 hrs or so you can take off the foil top and  run some warm water over the container so you can slide the yogurt pop out. Thats a great idea!  You only get one stick per pack though, but you can collect them all (maybe 6 of them?) and then you have a set for later

Well, Yoplait and MyBlogSpark have teamed up to provide you with an opportunity to enter to win a SWEET insulated picnic tote and roll-up picnic blanket! I can say the tote is SWEET because they gave me a set too.  Do you want a chance to win one for your family or to give as a gift to someone?

All you have to do to enter is tell me which flavor of  Yoplait Splitz is your favorite or which  you’d like to try. They have 3 flavors…Rainbow Sherbet, Strawberry Banana Split, and Strawberry Sundae.

That’s it!

Contest begins today and ends Friday September 17, 2010. I will be pick a winner via Random.org!

*I received a free Yoplait product to try at home as well as my Yoplait Prize Pack from Yoplait via MyBlogSpark for this review/giveaway.

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“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galations 3:24″

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galations 3:29

Its about faith, not works. Read more here.

*If you’d like to read the previous 10 weeks in this series, click here.

I thought I’d just introduce my “bloggy-self”  to my new readers. If you’d like to have a better idea of what I and my blog are about  you can read about it here.

Oh! And my blog is going through a “makeover” right now-so please forgive the empty spaces and lack of balance. I’m a  wife and mom first, blogger fits down the list somewhere after these!

And thank you for following my blog

The first place we visited with  our new membership was the Akron Zoo! We all got in free, parking was $2. The zoo was a lot nicer than I remembered it years ago.

Okay, so we all know zoos have animals. I’ll show some of the “other” things we found at the Akron Zoo…I’ll still throw in a few animals for good measure though

Photo Ops!

Play Areas!

{Below is a climbing wall  play area near the jellyfish and the small touch-pool. }.

Buy a cracker and feed an animal!

Tigers!

Jellyfish! {my favorite – and what a variety they have!}

Beautiful, huge garden area!

What a great place to take the family!

Subscribe here to get my updates by email or RSS. Who knows where we’ll go next

1. Don’t go. (My favorite position, seeing I don’t like dental work anyways.)
2. Go to the local technical college where the dental hygenist students work on you. We’ve been to Stark State College and I love! their set up and the atmosphere (and the price… under $10). The drawback is that because they’re learning and their work has to be reviewed (not a bad thing though) they tell you to prepare to be there for 3 hours.
3. Go to clinic where they use a sliding fee scale.

Okay so, let me tell you. I had my reservations about going to a “clinic”. There’s just this “thing” about it that gives people (or is it me?) the impression that its just not going to be as good as going somewhere where I have to shell out lots of money or swipe that credit card and go into debt for a little while. Its a stigma that I’ve  allowed to get in my way for a long time.

Well, it may be okay for me not to go to the dentist (at least for awhile ) but my kids have to go.

And so we went.

And I learned a lesson. A lesson I already knew.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

In spite of the fact that the dental clinic is obviously for those who can’t afford to shell out hundreds of dollars in dental care and they share a building with other low income services and yeah, it looks like a low-income clinic…

We had a great experience! My kids got their teeth examined and cleaned without tears. They even got a few goodies at the end of the visit. There is a minimal $20 charge and then it can go up from there. Still very affordable.

And next month, its my turn.

*By the way, I am NOT opposed to low income services. In the past we have used WIC and currently, even though I don’t think you have to be low income for this, my youngest is under BCMH (Bureau for Medically Handicapped children) due to being born with a partial cleft soft-palate

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This business allows me to sell spa treatment to clients that are not able to afford a visit to the salon. It also works great for use in spa party events.

Working this business has allowed me the opportunity to have a girls night out 2 or more time a week. The difference it has made in my life is that I have been able to afford a few extra pleasures I was not able to before.

In the future I would like to add highly motivative people to my team and hold weekly training meetings.

Clients can go to http://marie.meltology.com/ for more information or sign up to become an associate. They can also visit my website: www.Immanuelscb.com for other products and services I have to offer.

Subscribe here to be sure you don’t miss any of my updates at Hall of Fame Moms.  This feature is part of a summer series on Work-at-home or Self-employed Women. This series will hopefully help other women (whether they are stay at home moms or not) get some ideas about what kind of business opportunities are available to them.

The moon, the sun, and the earth…3 simple things we see everyday tell us a lot about God.

A picture in the heavens.

• The Moon… all banged up, craters and all…represents us, dead in our sins with no light of our own.

• The Sun… absolutely necessary for life to survive on our planet, gives us warmth and light… represents Jesus Christ, the ONLY begotten Son of God – the light of the world.

• The Earth  is the World. The World… represents the things of this life that pull us away from a relationship with God, such as…materialism, the pride of life, and lust of the flesh.

When Jesus was crucified, he was no longer on this planet to give his light.  But he told believers this…

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Ok, so the Sun goes down, and out comes the moon… or is it us.

We don’t shine on our own.  We reflect the light of Jesus for the world to see.  We are just a dead rock without Jesus, but we are very beautiful in God’s eyes.  But when you take a very close look at us, we can appear to be very ugly.  God says that all of our righteousness is like a filthy rag, which means on our best day, we fall short of God’s glory.  We live in a day where it seems like the world is sleeping when it comes to Christianity.  But we do know one thing, even when night is at its very darkest, the Sun will be appearing soon.

…”Surely I come quickly“...”Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20

Are you ready?

You’ll find the previous 9 posts in this series here. Would you like to get HallofFameMoms delivered by email or RSS? Subscribe here, its free.

You can find coupons online for more than just food though. I’ve saved lots! of money using coupons.

I was just introduced to a website new to me called Savings.com. They list coupon codes for a variety of brands and have added a “Get Advice” section where you can ask a question and get an answer from someone in the community.

One thing in particular that I appreciated about www.savings.com was the information and the ease of use.  I decided to play-around a bit and clicked on the “Stores” tab looked down the list of stores and picked the Wet Seal and clicked on it. I immediately was taken to the list of savings available for them. You can easily click on whats “popular” or the “free shipping” links and someone took the time to share a description about Wet Seal and what you could expect when you shop them via Savings.com. I also did some browsing and found an impressive offer from Reebok for 30% off  AND free shipping. I was tempted to buy some shoes

Personally, I use online coupons for food and occasionally for clothing or shoes.  Places I’ve shopped online would include Dell, The Children’s Place, Ebay, Amazon and Snapfish…just to name a few.

What about you? Do you take advantage of coupon savings available online?

If you are in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man then you can buy this. Other versions are coming soon for France, Germany, Spain and other European countries.

Its a  product that promotes child internet safety by using a key-based system and 2 USB keys (one for the parent and one for the child). This is a unique product called CYBERminder and you can get age-appropriate protection keys for the following age groups: under 9 yrs of age, 9-12 yrs of age, and teenagers. This system promises that the child will only see what is appropriate for his/her age level. The parent’s get a Supervisor key which allows unrestricted internet use by the parent.

Their website says its easy…just plug in the key and the  internet security software is installed automatically. Then you plug in the chosen “protect” key for that child and they will only see their age appropriate internet sites. According to their website this system works with Windows XP,  2000, Vista and 7. I didn’t see MAC in the list. They do have a free CYBERminder toolbar you can download as well.

Sounds very simple to me. I suppose if my kids were older and had internet access when I couldn’t supervise them I might consider this type of system.  Of course, I’d have to be living  OR visiting in one of the above listed countries  as well. Right now internet security isn’t a problem for us because they are young and we can supervise them on the computer. No one has a computer in their room.

Is internet security an issue in your home? How do you protect your children – especially young teenagers  from accessing inappropriate material on the internet?  Do you think CYBERminder would be a good fit for your family? You can learn more about CYBERminder at their website SuperviseandProtect.com.

* I was asked to tell you about the CYBERminder security product for compensation,  but this review is my own.