Homeschoolers should take a few moments to view and listen to Gary DeMar (American Vision) interview Kevin Swanson about Christian homeschooling and more. Though brief, I found it encouraging and worth sharing here. Be sure to take 15 minutes and check it out.
On October 31st, while many folks in America and elsewhere are participating in Halloween activities, Protestants across the world will be celebrating and remembering an event that is arguably far more important and worthy of recognition: The Protestant Reformation. On that October day in 1517, the monk Martin Luther and his mallet (to borrow from author Stephen J. Nichols
In commemoration of the contributions of Luther the men that followed in his steps (Calvin, Bucer & Zwingli to name a few) and the rich theological tradition that was born from their bold and sacrificial efforts, North Creek Presbyterian Church, located in Coconut Creek, Florida, will be kicking off their first ever Reformation Day Celebration. The event will be held this Sunday, (October 26, 2008) at the church and will, in addition to its regular 10:30 Sunday morning worship service, feature a special service at 6:00 p.m., celebrating “Reformation Sunday”. This evening service will feature the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, who, according to Francis Schaffer
For more details about this unique South Florida event, go to the North Creek church site to read the full press release.
For all of the homeschoolers that are reading this, I would like to suggest that the Protestant Reformation is great subject matter for the development of an intriguing homeschool unit study. With a bit of effort, you can easily use a Reformational theme and cover a wide variety of subjects, including: history, government, law, church practice and doctrine, science, vocations, literature, music, art and more. To help get you started, there is a great resource produced by Doorposts called A Night of Reformation, which was designed to help churches create fun, fellowship events that help teach about the historical era, personalities and teachings of the Reformation. This simple, yet well-produced resource can be of great help in the development of your own informative, fun and unique unit study for your children.
Have you ever conducted a unit study on this important event in history? If so, we’d love to hear about it. Please share in our comments section. Of course, if you can also attend this Sunday’s event at North Creek Presbyterian Church, we’d love to see you there. Semper Reformada!
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UPDATE: The morning sermon (10/26) from North Creek Presbyterian Church is available using the audio player below. This sermon is a continuation of a series on the book of Phillippians. To hear all of the sermons in this series, go to the North Creek sermon audio page on their web site.
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Homeschooling lessons in our home were interrupted today by a sighting of this interesting creature, which is known as a Knight Anole or the Cuban Anole. These reptiles are not native to the U.S., but were introduced to South Florida (Miami-Dade and Broward counties) and their numbers are growing. This is the second one that we’ve seen on our property in the last few years. Based upon our prior experience, we are glad that this one decided to sun himself on a power line away from the kids, as they are generally aggressive and don’t like to be bothered (as I can attest).
Want to learn more? Check out this Wikipedia article and this Smithsonian Fact Sheet!
After spending days inside teaching your kids at home, it’s nice every once and a while to emerge from our domiciles and “see the world” while also being able to teach our young ones something new and different along the way. Field trips and vacations are great for this, of course, and can offer learning experiences that will have a lasting impact. Not only that, but field trips also give you and the children time for some extra social interaction with peers that kids (and Moms & Dads!) need to “recharge”. While many agree that field trips are good and necessary for the enrichment of our children’s learning, the question for many homeschoolers becomes, “Where can we go for good, learning excursions?”
In answer that question comes this helpful article on Tampabay.com today entitled “10 FUNdamentally educational homeschool field trips” written by Terri Willingham. If you live in Tampa, or are planning to go visit the Tampa area soon, I recommend that you take a few minutes to check out some of the locations she mentions. There’s enough in that list to cater to all tastes.
Our kids LOVE animals, and I’m a big fan of plants, so the Lowry Park Zoo and the Sunken Gardens would probably be first in our list of “things to do” while there.
Have any favorite field trip spots in Florida (or elsewhere) that you’d like to share? Leave a comment with your recommendation!
Enjoy your next learning excursion!
Jul 24
You have made the commitment to homeschooling your children and for that reason your family has chosen to live on a single income. God has blessed you with everything you need, but the rising costs of gas, food and health care are giving you occasional moments of budgetary heartburn. We know what it is like!
Below are a handful of the sites and programs we’ve found online that can help you save a buck or two.
On to the good stuff...
Freeflys - Everyone likes to get free things and this site is devoted to just that: sending you free samples of all kinds of things. In their own words:
“FreeFlys.com collects hundreds of freebies throughout cyberspace and offers them straight to you. Shampoo,coffee, make-up, candy bars even over the counter medicine. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find a freesample of it. Name brand products line the virtual shelves of FreeFlys waiting for you to give them a try.”
Comment: I just learned about this one and haven’t tried it yet. Sounds very interesting, but I think their “forums” section is a bit useless. Seriously – who needs to see a discussion board devoted to “Relationships” on a site devoted to freebies?! Not me. It makes little sense in light of what they do. Plus, the comments seemed juvenile.
Next site…
greenpoints.com - This site is the electronic version of S&H Green Stamps (remember those?!). You earn “greenpoints” for making purchases with a number of well-known online stores and services (like LifeLock, Shoes.com, 1-800-CONTACTS, iTunes and more) and then you can redeem those points for FREE stuff. There is no cost to join.
According to the info we found on their site, they also have participating grocery stores in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina - but none yet in Florida. Bummer.
Comment: This site is good for those of you who make a regular habit of making purchases online. You earn these “greenpoints” at a rate of 20 per dollar (usually), so over the course of time you can earn something from their rewards selection.
Speaking of points...
MyPoints.com – I guess you could consider this one the competitor to greenpoints.com. Like greenpoints, these points are earned by shopping online, as well as participating in surveys. Your points can be redeemed for similar merchandise and gift cards. Unlike greenpoints, mypoints doesn’t appear to have any grocery store participation and they seem to make much greater use of email marketing. I seem to receive a couple a day, which I honestly don’t always appreciate or read. You earn fewer MyPoints per dollar than you do with greenpoints, but a single MyPoint seems be worth more than a single greenpoint, so it seems to work out in the end.
Next site…
homeschoolfreebie
Homeschool Freebie of the Day - This site promises to make available a new “freebie” every day (Monday thru Friday). Each of the items that are made available for free would be of appeal to homeschoolers. Examples given on their site include: Unit Studies, Ebooks, Audio Programs, Games, Samples, Lesson Plans, classic books, and other quality resources.
Comment: For a homeschool family on a budget, this seems like a nice, easy way to acquire some useful materials from time to time.
Last one for today…
National Payment Card - Prices at the pump making you sick to your stomach? This Florida-based company may be able to ease the pain a little. They offer a unique service that allows you to pay for fuel (at a discounted rate – usually 3¢ to 5¢ per gallon) at participating fuel sites using your driver license or a valid loyalty card. Using this form of payment, they claim that the fuel station owner can pass savings on you to because they do not have to pay credit card fees on that transaction.
Comment: I’ve tried this one and it works. Fortunately for me, there’s a participating station near my home. Your mileage may vary (pun intended). I recommend that you check our their site for yourself and make your choice.
Thanks for stopping by. We’ll be writing about more sites in a future post.
If you have a favorite cost-saving site that you’d like to share, drop us a note or write a comment. Don’t be shy! We’d love to hear from you so that we can share with others. This site all about homeschoolers helping each other.
