Memory Monday- Review

The discipline of memorizing verses is a great one. The focus and concentrated effort is good for our minds, hiding God's Word is good for our hearts...so many benefits. And it's been a lot easier to do than I had previously thought. Of course, having kids makes it easier. We're adding hand motions and singing. That's not how I memorized when I was in college :) but it's so much easier! 

It's also really easy to lose verses. How did that one start? What's next? I had that one! ...and now it's gone. We're working our way through a list that will take us just over a year. But after every six verses, I'm building in a review week. This way, God's Word is ever before us and we can be sure we really have it in our hearts and minds. Here's the list of verses we've worked on over the last six weeks. If you don't have them memorized, pick one and hide it in your heart. 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Romans 12:1

2 Timothy 3:16

John 15:7

Matthew 18:20

Matthew 4:19

How do you review memory verses? Any tricks or games? 

Daily Deals

There are so many tips and tricks to saving money and getting good deals. I've discovered that most of it is about being able to wait until the good deal comes along. Because it will. Eventually. We've purchased everything from Mac and Cheese to a van at a greatly reduced rates because we were able to wait for it to hit our price point. It's a little harder when something suddenly breaks, but even there at least one store will have that item on sale or you can find a floor model.

I troll daily deal websites. There are four I currently keep up with, so if you know of any more, please let me know! We've bought a few items- head phones, pull up bar, child's microscope- at great prices. When you see these deals, you have to be able to know something about the product, or be able to do a quick bit of research. They're only up until midnight! It's always better to pass on something you're unsure of. I've been keeping tabs on these sites for a couple of months, and the deal usually comes around again.

My most recent purchase was a Shark cordless sweeper. I HATE sweeping my kitchen, and this thing is great. Plus, the kids can do it- even my two year old! They fight over who "gets" to sweep, so I have to send them to vacuum other rooms with it, too. The reason I'm sharing this, is because it's the daily deal on 1saleaday.com again today. I do not make any money if you buy one. It's just such a good deal on a product I'm falling in love with. I had to pass it on!

Daily Deal Sites:
www.1saleaday.com
www.woot.com
www.tanga.com
www.groupon.com

Memory Monday- #6

I'm so thankful that we have the Word. That here in the U.S. we can pull out our Bible's anytime and anywhere. Many places around the world are not able to do this in safety. Memorizing Scripture allows us to put these verses in our hearts and minds. It does help us now, but it will also help us if we ever find ourselves in a situation where we cannot have our Bibles openly.


Last week, I didn't have an opportunity to spend time reading the Word. I used to guffaw when I heard people say that, but now I'm a mom with five kids, and I've been sick to boot, so no more snickering from this corner! Anyways, I was running an errand in my husband's car with no stereo and the verses that we've memorized just cycled through my mind (in the song form I taught them to my kids!). What a great time I had mulling over those verses and really THINKING about what they meant. I do believe that I now understand what meditation is about a little better. 

This week is our family's sixth verse from the Topical Memory System. 

Memorize This:

Matthew 4:19

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” (NIV, 2010)
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (NIV, 1984)

"And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (NASB)

Christmas Photo Cards

Have you taken your family photo yet? The time is now here to get a great deal on your Christmas photo cards.

Go to www.seehere.com and upload your photos. Right now there is 50% off all of their photo products when you enter the code cards-39 and get free shipping on a purchase of 60 cards or more for a total of about $15. New accounts also get 25 free 4x8 cards when you use code 25cards, you'll have to pay about $5 shipping. You can only use one code per order, so determine what will work best for you.

Or go to www.vistaprints.com and turn your photo into a postcard. You'll save on shipping, too! Right now order 100 postcards for $17.50. These are often free, so get your cards ready and wait for the deal!
Update, I got an e-mail on 11-17, postcards are now free! Pay only shipping when you order 100 postcards.

I'm not sure how long these promotions will last, so get those pictures taken!

Memory Monday- #5

We've had a great couple of weeks singing our memory verses. How do you get these to stick?

Memorize this:
For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them. Matthew 18:20

Fall Art and Science Lesson

This fall we had a great time when Grandma came down to do an art lesson with us. This one was started from the book "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert. Grandma read this book to the kids all snuggled up on the couch. Then came the science lesson.

We are lucky enough to live across the street from a park. They went on a nature walk and collected a bounty of leaves, petals, nuts, and other goodies. Conversation focused on which tree different leaves came from, the difference in the colors, and what would happen to that nut if it was planted.

Everyone came inside to warm up and that bounty was dumped on the kitchen table. Large pieces of art paper were handed around and the kids turned that bounty of fall foliage into beautiful works of art. One leaf man is holding a bouquet of flowers. One isn't a man, it's a leaf fish!

After a hearty lunch, we chose the greenest leaves to make leaf prints. Make sure you have something protecting your table, as this one can quickly get messy. The "veiny" side of the leaf was painted (don't use too much!) with an acrylic paint (although tempera would work as well) then pressed onto the paper. Different leaves in different colors to make a wonderful collage of leaves. After the paintings dried, they drew animals in their forests! Just like Henri Rousseau!

Memory Monday

I know that it's hard to memorize verses, or at least we THINK it's hard to memorize. It's really not. How many songs do we know? How many lines can we quote from movies? How many definitions and other things have we learned for exams? When our pastor recently passed out a list of 60 verses that we could memorize, our family made the decision to memorize them. We're on our fourth verse, and I've decided to chronicle our journey through a weekly post called "Memory Monday." If you'd like to join us in our journey, check back every Monday for the new week's verse! (If you'd like to just get the list for yourself you can find it here.)

Recently, Eleanor (age 2.5) was saying "17...new creation...old has gone...new has come" over and over again (from 2 Cor 5:17, the first week) She doesn't have the first part of the verse, but if a two year old can do it, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that we adults can do it, too!

Memorize This: 

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." 

~John 15:7

I'd love to hear/see how you chose to memorize this verse. Did you just repeat it over and over? Did you illustrate it with clip art? Did you add hand motions? Make a song of it? Share with us!

Singapore Math

There are three things that I think it's important to teach my children everyday- Bible, language, and math. I'm convinced that everything else is more about learning the process of learning than anything else. (I mean really, do you remember your 2nd grade social studies?) Math is an essential building block for many other subjects. It needs to be built upon gradually over time. Oh, the pressure to get it right!

There are so many math curriculum out there. Quite honestly, I chose this one because it was inexpensive. Prior to purchasing these books (again from a used curriculum website!), I made it up as I went along. I found a list of things that kids needed to know at different grade levels and worked through that. We could do more/less while playing with cars, we could do big/little while standing in line at the grocery store, we could do counting while setting the table. That's what I love about homeschooling- incorporating what they're learning into every day life. you can do this with a child who goes to a traditional school, too, as long as you know what material they are covering in class. It's the best way to learn- seeing how it plays out in real life. Eventually, we hit a point where I wanted to make sure I was covering everything and in an order that would help them later on, too. So, I found a Singapore Math text and have been using it as a teacher's guide. We still do the "daily life" math as before, I just have an organized plan behind it now!

However, my kids seem to like worksheets. (weird, huh?) So, I make those up on my own. Or buy a cheap workbook from Sam's Club. Or both. This summer we made counting sticks. We glued ten beans to a craft stick. Now we can practice counting by tens, learn about place value, etc. This year, my boys are starting in books 1A and 2A. Quinlan should be able to finish 1A before Christmas, and Zachary will work up to the multiplication section in 2A. We'll go through one sub-chapter each week, utilizing lots of games and manipulative ideas. We'll probably start some timed drills at their own levels in a few weeks.

My girls are learning math, too. Those cheap workbooks from Sam's Club come in handy, as do a number of free resources on the internet. Veronica (age 4) is learning simple addition and subtraction- both how to do it and how to write it. She's learning her shapes and calendar skills. Veronica loves having her own workbook, and how easily she can complete a page lets me know what we need to work on. If it's hard, we need to "play" more with that topic. Eleanor (age 2) is learning about counting and colors and shapes. Most of the math the girls are doing is learned through play. Each week I pick one thing to be intentional about. "Eleanor bring me a blue ball." and there we've just had a math lesson!

What math resources do you use and love? Have you ever used an abacus? I still don't know what that's all about. How can we moms incorporate math learning into our daily conversations with our children?

Internet Math Resources
Singapore Math
Hubbard's Cupboard
Free Math Worksheets
Right Start Math