Review and Giveaway: Proverbs Parenting Toolkit!

Large families always inspire me. Partly because I hope to have one someday (call me strange, but I still don't consider 4 children as large, it is definitely a growing family, but 6 and up are what I always think of as a large family). And partly because I honestly do not know how they do it all. But I've come to realize something.

God gives us the strength to accomplish something when we need it.

I think that is part of trusting the Lord, we desire to do different things, (like homeschool our children, or have large families) but we have no clue how to go about doing so! But if we only wait and trust the Lord, HE WILL give us the strength at the moments we need them. Frankly, I thought I would fall apart when my Mother died. The peace that has been given me at times is sweet and only from my gracious God. Yes, the grief is there. The tears do flow. But the Lord is upholding me in His arms, and walking before me in these days of trials.

One large family that I have always admired from a distance is the Rick and Marilyn Boyer family. They seem to be a family with smiles always on their faces, and the joy of the Lord in their hearts. What is their secret in raising their family? Well, it appears that one thing they do consistently is get the word of God in their children's hearts.

They have a great company called The Learning Parent. I love the name, because I think if we as parents will just keep learning (or in cases relearn some things) then we can pass it on to our children.

One great item that they sell is the Proverbs Parenting Toolkit. This is an awesome kit they have put together, to help parents like me! I had the desire on my heart to start studying out the Proverbs with my children, but I really need study guides to help me get the most out of what we are reading.

The main part of the Proverbs Toolkit is the Proverbs People book. This is a practical workbook of character studies from the Book of Proverbs. You will study out the character qualities of:

Slothful vs. Diligent

Righteous vs. Wicked

The Five Fools

The Wise Man

The Prudent Man

Liar vs. Faithful Witness

Let me tell you, I have seen results using just this one book! We dived right into the slothful vs. diligent study, because who doesn't deal with that when you have little ones around? I was astounded at the results. My oldest, who is 6 listened intently to everything we read. At the end of the scripture study, there is a story that includes the example of the character quality you are reading about. After finishing up the story, we went on in our day to do various things, when I looked around and didn't see Mosiah anywhere. I called for him, and he said he was upstairs cleaning his room because he didn't want to be a sluggard! Talk about quick results! I was thrilled, and I still have seen him work harder at keeping his room clean weeks later.

In the kit are:

two Proverbs People books,

Pictures from Proverbs Set 1 and 2-In each set are 18 large flashcards which deal with a different topic from Proverbs. The front side shows an illustration and asks a question. The back side gives the answer, and an explanation of the verse.

Daily Wisdom from Proverbs-This set has 82 verses ready for you and your children to memorize!

Proverbs Flashcards-These flashcards are not fancy at all, but they really work in helping your child learn the Proverbs!

Uncle Rick reads the proverbs-I really liked this and so did my children! Uncle Rick reads through several verses of the proverbs at a time, then stops and explains it, just like he does to his own children!

Proverbs Memory Cd-This is the book of proverbs read straight through, King James Version.

Pictures in Proverbs Coloring Book-This coloring book has pictures that go along with Proverbs people 1 and 2 books. Your children will color pictures that match the character quality they are learning.

Proverbs for Preschoolers-This is a really neat workbook that you can use to teach your preschool age children their ABC's while presenting God's word at the same time!

Proverbs, God's Character Curriculum-A talk from Rick Boyer that is a practical application for teaching the Book of Proverbs to your own children.

If you are struggling with your child's character, I would strongly suggest getting this program and using it! I think you will be surprised with the results!

Buy It!
You can buy the Proverbs Parenting Toolkit for $137.00 normally, but right now it is on sale for $89.95! I would grab it at this price!

Win It!
The Learning Parent is giving away a Proverbs Parenting Toolkit to one of our readers! To enter, go to The Learning Parent and tell me one other product (Besides The Proverbs set) that looks interesting to you!

EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- Subscribe to our blog via email.

2. Follow us on our blog using Google Friend connect!

3. Follow us on Facebook and leave a comment letting us know.

4. Follow us on Twitter and leave a comment letting us know you follow!

5. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link.-2 extra entries (leave two comments saying you did this).

6- Place our Modest Mom button on your blog.

PLEASE leave a separate comment each time you do one of the above. The comments are closed on this post, just use the form below to enter. We never share your email addresses with anyone, which is why we use the form to keep them private!

This giveaway will end Monday, September 13 at midnight, and a winner will be posted the following morning.We will notify the winners and they will have 36 hours to respond! Open to US Only.

This was not a paid post and my honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own. Thank you to The Learning Parent who supplied the product for the review and giveaway.

We have some winners!

How exciting! Every time I get to pick winners, I always hope that the people who really need these items will win! I use random.org, so there isn't much I can do about who wins, but I really enjoy getting to bless people with good quality items, thanks to our sponsors!

The winners of the Mystery of History sets are:

For set # 1 the winner is Cara (carralenee@).

For set #2 the winner is Patricia (pnldwyer@).

The winner of Aarons Thinking Putty is:

Darcy (memoriesmama).

The winner of A Child's Geography, Explore His World is:

Cheryl (scottmjca).

I hope all of our winners enjoy their new prizes!

One Awesome Health Cookie Recipe

Want to try a yummy gluten free, dairy free, sugar free cookie? Yes? Well great! Today I wanted to share a delicious recipe for Health Cookies. Yes, I did say health! Years ago a bakery was going out of business in a local natural foods store. My Mom asked for the recipe for the Health Cookies. The recipe was kindly written down and handed to her. What a treasure! My brother, sister, and I loved those cookies and she bought those for us as often as she could. They were a wonderful treat.

I recently pulled them out of my recipe file and made a batch. They were just as good as I remembered. These cookies are dairy free and sugar free. For those of you who can’t have gluten products simply change the wheat flour into a gluten free flour of your choice and you are ready to go. As far as I understand bakeries measure their ingredients by weight, not measuring cups and spoons. So pull out your kitchen scale and have a yummy healthy treat!

From Jennifer Allen

Grind up separately then mix together:
¼ lb whole pitted prunes
½ lb whole pitted dates
¼ lb raisins
Have a little helper for extra fun.

Add 1 lb of bananas

Mix it all together

Then add:
1 oz wheat germ
½ oz Baking Soda
½ lb peanut butter
½ lb & 1 oz whole wheat flour

When your done mixing it will look something like this.

Eat some batter on your way to the oven. Hey, no fears, no raw eggs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Before you know it you'll be enjoying some delicious guilt free cookies. :-)

Health Cookies

Grind up separately then mix together:
¼ lb whole pitted prunes
1 lb bananas
½ lb whole pitted dates
¼ lb raisins

Mix in to the ground mixture:
1 oz wheat germ
½ oz Baking Soda
½ lb peanut butter
½ lb & 1 oz whole wheat flour

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

To make these gluten free you could try using: Oatmeal flour, rice flour, barley flour, or another gluten free flour of your choice.

August SnapShots

What have we been up to this month? These are a few glimpses by photo. From Jennifer Allen

Carrianna at The Farm

Feeding the Chickens

All the carrots we dug up out of the garden.

Little Helpers to wash all the carrots.

Did I mention the cows had gotten into the garden and we were washing off cow manure & dirt?

Eww! Okay, the water smells like manure too.

Sweet Sisters. Olivia and Carrianna

Our break from the heat!

Israel

Caroline & Olivia

Review and Giveaway: Inchimals

I love it when I stumble across a toy that my children love to play with, and yet they don't even realize they are learning at the same time! Inchimals has been one of those toys. While some might say these are just another set of wooden blocks, Inchimals is a mathematical safari! Included in Inchimals are 12 blocks, starting at 1 inch and going on up to 12 inches. Every block is a different animal, and on the side are lines to count the inches. Perfect for your child to learn how to count, and also grasp the concept of inches! A book is included with 100 write on/wipe off math puzzles.

You may be wondering "they are really cute, but will my child play with them?" I had the same question. When Fat Brain Toys sent them to me to review, my children were elated. My four year old and 2 year old played with them all afternoon. I sat down and did some of the math problems with my four year old from the book, and helped him write the numbers. Then I showed them both how to line the blocks up in a row from 1-12, making steps. They were so excited! I love how it is introducing math to them, in a fun way! I think the best age is from 3-6 for these blocks.

Fat Brain Toys also sent me their catalog to look through, and they sell lots of other really great educational toys! I loved the selection of different building block sets they have. If you are shopping around for some new educational toys, definitely look at their website!

Buy It!
You can buy Inchimals for $29.99 from Fat Brian Toys.

Win It!
Fat Brain Toys is giving away a set of Inchimals! To enter, go to Fat Brain Toys website and tell me one other toy that looks interesting to you!
EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- Subscribe to our blog via email.

2. Follow us on our blog using Google Friend connect!

3. Follow us on Facebook and leave a comment letting us know.

4. Follow us on Twitter and leave a comment letting us know you follow!

5. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link.-2 extra entries (leave two comments saying you did this).

6- Place our Modest Mom button on your blog.

PLEASE leave a separate comment each time you do one of the above. The comments are closed on this post, just use the form below to enter. We never share your email addresses with anyone, which is why we use the form to keep them private!

This giveaway will end Friday, September 3 at midnight, and a winner will be posted the following morning.We will notify the winners and they will have 36 hours to respond! Open to US Only.

This was not a paid post and my honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own. Thank you to Fat Brain Toys who supplied the product for the review and giveaway.

Review and Giveaway: A Child's Geography, Explore His Earth

When I decided to homeschool my children based on the Charlotte Mason method, anything that was classified a living book was a new and exciting find. Especially if it is a book teaching a subject that you normally don't think of as interesting! For me growing up, geography was not that interesting to me. I wasn't very good at it. So I really wanted to find a book that would teach geography to my own children in an interesting and fun way. I didn't want to overwhelm them, and have a book present it in dry boring facts.

When I stumbled across "A Child's Geography, Explore His World" by Ann Voscamp I was thrilled! I sent the link to my Mom and had her look at it also. A geography book geared at the elementary ages, that is considered a living book sounded to go to be true! I was excited to be given a chance to review it, and I am still just as delighted with it!

Here is what the company has to say about the book:

Thus this project, a "living" geography primer for grammar age students, (gr.1/2--gr.6/7). “A Child's Geography: Exploring His Earth” is about getting to know what's under our feet, over our heads and in the world around us-the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere-and then how to get around this world-maps, latitude and longitude. Do you know how many gallons of water float in a cloud over our head-how far it is to the center of the Earth-what causes magnificent auroras, God's love lights-how God used the Flood to puzzle our planet into different shifting plates? Well, hop on board to experience Adventures for the Inquisitive Child-and every excursion glorifies our breathtaking Creator!

The chapters are just the right length for elementary ages. The pages are high quality, glossy pages that look like they will hold up under the wear and tear of children handling the book. Pictures abound in the book, making it interesting for younger children, and easier for them to follow along. This is not your dry, boring geography book consisting simply of latitude and longitude lines. Your children will stay intrigued as they discover the many interesting facts about our earth, and how God created the earth to function in just a certain way. Everything presented in the book is from a Christian perspective, and is a great tool to strengthen your child's faith in God.

With the book comes a CD-ROM that includes reproducibles such as copywork passages, copywork templates, postcard templates, quizzes, world and continent maps, and more!

If you are interested in having your first-sixth grade children learn geography in an exciting way, this would be be the book to purchase!

Buy It!
You can buy "A Child's Geography, Explore His Earth" for $32.95

Win It!
Knowledge Quest is giving away a book for one of our readers to win! To enter, leave a comment saying what you think would be interesting about this book, and why you would like to win a copy.
EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- Subscribe to our blog via email.

2. Follow us on our blog using Google Friend connect!

3. Follow us on Facebook and leave a comment letting us know.

4. Follow us on Twitter and leave a comment letting us know you follow!

5. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link.-2 extra entries (leave two comments saying you did this).

6- Place our Modest Mom button on your blog.

PLEASE leave a separate comment each time you do one of the above. The comments are closed on this post, just use the form below to enter. We never share your email addresses with anyone, which is why we use the form to keep them private!

This giveaway will end Wednesday, September 1 at midnight, and a winner will be posted the following morning.We will notify the winners and they will have 36 hours to respond! Open to US Only.

This was not a paid post and my honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own. Thank you to Knowledge Quest who supplied the product for the review and giveaway.

Review and Giveaway: Aaron's Thinking Putty

I don't know about your children, but I constantly get asked by my children if they can play with playdough. Inwardly I always sigh because in doing so, they make such a mess! It keeps them entertained for so long, and they enjoy it so much that I let them do it, but then I always have to plan time to clean up afterwards. I was intrigued when I saw some information on timberdoodle's website about their crazy aaron's thinking putty. I contacted the company and asked if I could do a review and they happily agreed!

When we first got the putty in the mail my children were so excited! It was played with the rest of the day. I was happy because it doesn't leave little pieces all over the ground for me to clean up! It is quite addicting to play with. You don't want to stop squishing it in your hand! You will see my husband or I pick it up sometimes and start playing with it. :-)

Aaron's thinking putty is a texture close to silly putty. It does not dry out if you forget to put the lid on (please tell me we are not the only family to throw out dried playdough containers!), and it does not stick to your hands!

You may be wondering how this fits into a back to homeschool bash. This putty is perfect for handing to your wiggly child (think BOY!) while you are trying to read out loud, or teach a science lesson, and it will help contain the wiggles in your child! It will also strengthen a child's hands!

Buy It!
You can buy Aaron's thinking putty for $11.00

Win It!
Crazy Aaron's Puttyworld is giving away a tin of putty to one of our readers! To enter, tell me how your family would use the thinking putty!

EXTRA ENTRIES!
You can do any of these things for an extra entry. Make sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.

1- Subscribe to our blog via email.

2. Follow us on our blog using Google Friend connect!

3. Follow us on Facebook and leave a comment letting us know.

4. Follow us on Twitter and leave a comment letting us know you follow!

5. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link.-2 extra entries (leave two comments saying you did this).

6- Place our Modest Mom button on your blog.

PLEASE leave a separate comment each time you do one of the above. The comments are closed on this post, just use the form below to enter. We never share your email addresses with anyone, which is why we use the form to keep them private!

This giveaway will end Monday, August 30 at midnight, and a winner will be posted the following morning.We will notify the winners and they will have 36 hours to respond! Open to US Only.

This was not a paid post and my honest opinions were used. The opinions are solely my own. Thank you to Crazy Aaron's Thinking Puttyworld who supplied the product for the review and giveaway.