From January through November each year, I am blessed to be able to share with you a variety of reviews. Many of those reviews are done through the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew and at the end of November we all get the opportunity to vote and choose the blue ribbon favorites in a variety of categories.Today I wanted to share a few of our favorites from 2020 with you. This process is always challenging for me because we often find so many different products that we love. I can’t highlight all of the products that I reviewed this year, but know that just because they didn’t make this list doesn’t mean they are not amazing products.*some of the links in this post are affiliate links, see disclosure below for more information*
You can see all of the reviews I have done through the years at Reviews and don’t forget to click on the graphic below to see who the Crew chose for all of the different categories!
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies
This week instead of posting my normal list at the end of a post, I did a separate post because of all the great deals going on for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Thanksgiving/ Black Friday 2020 Deals and Sales
*Some of these links are affiliate links please see disclosure below for more information*
I hope you are doing well this holiday season. I have compiled this list of sales to help you get the best deals from the comfort of your home. I know it can be a busy time and I always appreciate being able to save money while picking up the curriculum or gifts that I need. Many of these sales are already live but a few will not start until Black Friday. I value your family time and mine, so I wanted to go ahead and get the list out to you instead of waiting for the holidays. I appreciate your support in shopping for your great deals through my affiliate links. It helps pay for blog expenses and the occasional extra book for me!
NEWYWAM has some great Cyber Monday deals going on right now! We love their biographies both in paperback and the audio versions.
NEWNot Consumed has their digital Bible studies and materials on sale 50% off today.
All About Learning is offering this brand new FREE Christmas Pack full of fun activities!
NEWThe Old Schoolhouse is offering a great deal on their homeschooling magazine through December 1st. This magazine is a great encouragement to me and would also make a great gift for a new homeschooling mom.
LAST DAY! From Nov. 27-30 you can get 40% off at Fit2B! I love their fitness membership for me and the Girls course is a great way to help teach your daughter about puberty and healthy living.
Get a free 7 day trial to Musik at Home and the wonderful new Christmas course. We have used this program for over a year and enjoy it, but the new Christmas course is my favorite!
NEWLet’s Go Geography: Purchase the Year 1 Bundle OR the Year 2 Bundle, and get the Discovery Pack FREE when you use this Coupon Code: CyberBundle2
NEWProductive Homeschooling is having a huge cyber Monday sale on their notebooking pages through tomorrow!
LAST DAY! Homeschool in the Woods is offering a Bundle Sale from Nov. 27th-Nov. 30th. They don’t offer a lot of sales so this is a great chance to grab what you need at a discount.
NEW Beginning at 9AM Central Master Books is offering 20% off everything with code Christmas2020. We love their Math for a Living Education, preschool course, and more.
Tuttle Twins is offering a big discount on their collection of books including the newest three non-fiction books for teens!! This is an amazing deal if you do not have the books yet.
NEW We love board games in our house for fun and learning. Amazon has some great ones on sale including Monopoly Deal, Scrabble Junior and so many more. Amazon Board Games
NEW You also don’t want to miss this Play-Doh Sale at Amazon today if you have a child that loves Play-Doh or you are looking for fun ways to work on those fine motor skills.
LAST DAY! Tummy Team is having a sale that includes all of their online abdominal rehab courses, private esessions, and splints! The sale runs from Nov. 23-30th. You can check out my review of them on the blog, but I love their programs and they made such a difference for my health.
NEWKindle Fires on Sale at Amazon for Cyber Monday as well. This is a great time to buy if you need one or want to upgrade to one with more memory.
Evan-Moor is offering 30% off site wide from Nov. 30-Dec. 4th
HomeschoolStyleCo. is having some great sales this week. They have some cute shirts for the children and for moms!
Love At Home Education is offering some great deals and 20% off any of her great products that are not already on sale with code BLACKFRIDAY2020
FundaFunda Academy is offering a great sale on their regular-priced unit studies through Nov. 30th:
If you spend $30 or more, use coupon NOV25 for 25% discount
If you spend $60 or more, use coupon NOV50 for 50% discount
If you spend $100 or more, use coupon NOV75 for 75% discount
This Bit of Life is offering 30% off any of her courses with code BLACKFRIDAY30. This includes her Rabbit Trails through Literature program which is a fun relaxed literature program for early elementary grades.
You Are An Artist has this great FREE Grinch art lesson if you want to have a little fun after all that shopping! Or if you need a gift for a budding artist, their Membership is a great value.
If you need gift ideas for your children or for other folks in your life make sure to check out these posts for more ideas.
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Picking out the perfect name for a baby can be a challenging task. Often parents are trying to find a name that has a special meaning to their family, is agreeable to both parents, and sounds good with their last name. In all of this discussion, the meaning of the name may or may not even enter into the conversation. However, names often have fascinating meanings and origins. CrossTimber has taken on the challenge of researching the meanings and origins of names and creating a variety of beautiful products that showcase the meaning of each name.
CrossTimber generously provided me with an 8 x 10 plaque print in my choice of pattern to review. I decided that it would make a great gift for my daughter so I chose the Silverblue Butterfly Wings with her in mind. I knew she would love the blue and purple colors and the butterfly printed on the corner of the page. When I was designing my print, in addition to choosing the background, I could have them use one, two, or three names on the print. I went with two and used my daughter’s first and middle names.
I had not told my daughter about the review or ordering the print. I was trying to decide if I was going to give it to her during the review period or save it as a Christmas gift. However, the week it came in something else she saw had her asking about her name. She knew that she was named after her grandmothers but she wanted to know what the names actually meant. I knew then that it was the right time to go ahead and give her the name print.
She loved the colors and print and was very excited to learn that Elizabeth was of Hebrew origin and meant, “Promise of God: One Set Apart for God’s Purpose.” In addition to the names, name meanings, and origin, the name plate included a Bible verse for related to each name. We are planning to get her a frame and hang her print on her wall. I think it would also be a great addition to a scrapbook.
In addition to the 8×10 plaque print, CrossTimber also sent me a copy of their AmazingName Print Activity Sheets. I decided to get those for my six-year-old son instead of my daughter. This is a packet of worksheets and coloring sheets that feature the name of your choice. Some of them more writing practice that could help a younger child, like my son, learn to write their name or practice good penmanship. However, there was a wide variety including mazes, deskplates, adult coloring sheets, hidden word sheets, word search, crisscross words puzzle, and puns. The set also includes Bible verse and books of the Bible printables. There are some in cursive and some in print to meet a variety of needs.
Overall, CrossTimber has some beautiful gift items. These are perfect for that hard to buy for family member. The name prints are great for any age and other members of the Crew also reviewed bookmarks and name cards. Last year, I had the chance to review their Amazing Name Video and my son loved it! They also have many other name products. Please be sure to check out the great products that were reviewed by other Review Crew members by clicking on the graphic below.
I truly love baking and cooking and being in the kitchen with my kids most of the time. However, as the holidays approach things tend to get busy and sometimes it is hard to get to those fun baking projects. I often feel like I need to wait until I have enough time to make the cookies from scratch or use the cranberry bread recipe from the back of the book. What I’ve been realizing and learning though is it sometimes it’s better just to do what we can then to put it off and I get it done at all.
This week my son has been begging for us to read Cranberry Thanksgiving and eat cranberry bread like we do every year. It has been a busy week and I couldn’t figure out when I was going to have time to help him make homemade cranberry bread, but he didn’t want to wait until next week. As I was going through the pantry to get out ingredients for dinner one night I realized that we had a box of Krusteaz cranberry muffin mix. (I have no affiliation with Krusteaz, but I have to say that their muffin mixes are so delicious you might forget it wasn’t homemade.) It took my oldest son less than 5 minutes to get the muffin mix mixed, into a loaf pan and in the oven baking. We were able to sit down that morning with some fresh hot bread and read our book. I laughed most of the way through the book because my children could recite much of it before I even read the words. Cranberry Thanksgiving has become such family classic for us.
If there are things that you’ve been pining to do, but putting off until you had enough time, try thinking of ways you can do them with less time or less mess but still make memories. That may mean using a bag of cookie mix or mixing up extra cookie dough next time you cook to have some in the freezer. It could mean buying a bag of already popped popcorn and a simple hot cocoa mix for your next movie night. Maybe you order pizza instead of cooking it homemade, or choose a simple meal like soup or chili for your new family tradition. We have even used graham crackers to decorate for a ‘gingerbread house’.
I truly believe that it will be more important to my children when they look back on their childhood to know that we enjoyed the book and the cranberry bread together than whether or not we made it homemade. Sometimes keeping it simple and using a box mix or something that’s pre-done allows us to say yes more often and spend more time truly being present and that is what is going to matter in the end. What traditions are you trying to fit in this year? In what ways can you simplify in order to be able to say yes to making memories?
If you need a few ideas for Thanksgiving or Christmas be sure to check out:
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Proverbial Homemaker is offering 40% off of any of their Christmas products! This includes the new Names of Jesus Advent Resource. Click this link and use code PHChristmas40.
Musik at Home is offering a FREE 7 day trial and an entire year for less than $100 right now through 11/20. This includes their beautiful new Christmas music lessons!
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Spending time studying God’s word is an integral part of the life of a Christian. However, if I am honest, it can also be a challenging part of a mom of young children. Finding consistent quiet time to study the Bible and reflect on what it is teaching can be a real challenge when your day feels dictated by the very real needs of young children. I have tried many different options over the years, sometimes doing quick one page devotionals that often had great thoughts but were light on actual scripture. Other times trying to do in-depth Bible studies but feeling like a failure when I couldn’t consistently get it done. I feel like Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Romans bundle and Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Philippians by Julie Naturally did a great job of finding the middle ground.
As their titles imply, these studies are based on the books of Romans and Philippians. I spent most of my time during this review working through Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Philippians but also had a chance to start Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Romans bundle. The Philippians study consisted of daily readings with workbook pages, memory cards, and coloring pages. In addition, the Romans study had weekly videos to introduce the passage that was being studied. The videos were about 10-12 minutes long.
Each day you are given a short passage to read, for example on Day 1 of Week 3 you read Romans 5:1-11 and then there are about 2 pages of questions for you to answer and contemplate. This often also includes a verse or two from somewhere else in the Bible. There were no answers included with the worksheets but the questions helped guide the reader in thinking about the scripture passage and how it relates to other passages.
I appreciated that these studies covered entire books of the Bible and had you read and study a section each day. I have found that too often devotionals take one verse of scripture and use it without the appropriate context. By going through it systematically you get more of the big picture and I believe that leads to a deeper understanding of scripture.
I loved the coloring pages because I have found that coloring scripture really helps me to focus my mind on the words. Sometimes when I am trying to study or memorize my mind wanders to all of the things on my to-do list, but coloring keeps me focused on the words at hand.
Overall, this goes deeper into the Bible than many of the short devotionals that are commonly available today, but it less intense and shorter than a lot of full Bible study programs. It could be a great fit for someone that is new to Bible study or for a busy mom that wants to get into God’s word each day but does not have the quiet alone time for a more in-depth study. I enjoyed this as a way to get my day started in the Word. It would take me about 10-15 minutes to complete a day of the study. I continued to do a more in-depth study with my children on the days that we could, but like being able to start my day with a few minutes of scriptural focus.
“Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.”
As we in America prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, I enjoy listening to a variety of hymns of Thanksgiving. I really love this time of year because of the built in reminders to be thankful. This year has had more challenges than most for many people, but we are still called to be grateful. When we shift our focus to our blessings it can change our perspectives and attitudes.
This month I want to focus on the hymn, Come Ye Thankful People Come. It was written in 1844 by Henry Alford. Henry Alford was born in London in 1810 and died in Canterbury, England in 1871. While he wrote a variety of hymns, this was his most well known hymn. It was written for the village harvest festivals in Victorian England. It takes imagery from the parable of the growing seed in Mark 4 and the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13. In addition to hymns he authored other literary works, including The Greek Testament, a commentary of four volumes which took him 20 years to complete.
The hymn speaks of being thankful during the harvest which can be read both literally and figuratively. As you sing it and learn about it, it is a great opportunity to draw parallels with the first American (or colonial?) Thanksgiving and how God provided. Depending on your location, you may also want to visit a farm or field and see an actual harvest. This can open up discussions both about God’s daily provisions and about the figurative harvest of people for Christ.
This month as we study our hymn, I want to make sure we take the time to be thankful! There are many ways to count your blessings.
You can write them down and put them in a jar to be read later.
Go around the table and discuss your blessings at dinner each night,
Go through the alphabet and think of something to be thankful for that begins with each letter.
If you want to include some visual arts in your study this month you could do this corn mosaic or this water color pumpkin. For something a little more challenging you could do this cornucopia and then write about your blessings. The Thanksgiving season offers a plethora of craft opportunities and our traditional gatherings are a great time to ‘show off’ your little one’s creations. As a bonus, you can send crafts home as party favors and de-clutter before Christmas!
If you are looking for additional songs of Thanksgiving to study this month, be sure to check out, We Gather Together and Count Your Blessings. What other Thanksgiving hymns do you enjoy?
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Our ‘Flat Beethoven’ from SQUILT music practicing on my son’s violin.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, see disclosure below for more information*
Ludwig Beethoven is perhaps the most well known name in classical music. He was born 250 years ago this December. As part of our normal music appreciation studies, and to celebrate his sestercentennial, we have decided to spend some time this month studying his life and music. I often hear people say that they want to introduce their children to famous musicians but they do not know where to start or how to make it interesting for younger children. While I’m not a classical music expert, we have developed an appreciation and to help you I have complied a variety of resources about Beethoven that are fun and engaging for a variety of ages.
In our home we currently have a two-year-old, six-year-old, twelve-year-old, and fourteen-year-old. While I don’t expect the two-year-old to remember any of the facts about Beethoven, he can begin to learn to appreciate his music by listening along with us.
Several years ago, we had the benefit of being introduced to the Classical Kids series through the children’s programming at the North Carolina Symphony. We enjoyed a series of concerts there each year that were geared towards children. They had all of the talent and musical finesse of their regular symphony concerts, but with the addition of explanations and visual performances. One of the performances we had the opportunity to watch was, Beethoven Lives Upstairs. In addition to live performances, you can listen to it on CD (or streaming) or watch the movie! This performance showcases Beethoven’s music while also teaching about his life.
With my daughter’s love for the violin and music, we took the opportunity to review Zeezok’s music appreciation course last year. We loved the biographies that went along with the curriculum, and were excited to find that there was one in the same series used by that courseon Beethoven. My daughter is going to be reading Ludwig Van Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells this month as a part of her literature studies.
I have only a surface knowledge of music appreciation, and so it is one of the subjects where I like to get a little more expert help. We use SQUILT music to help bring more music appreciation into our home. SQUILT offers a few different options. First, they have an inexpensive monthly calendar with a music selection to listen to each day. This is a simple and quick way to introduce more music. However, if you want to take it a little further, they have a monthly membership which gives you access to two live online lessons each month, as well as a library of recorded lessons. For the month of November, the live lessons will be focused on Beethoven (and they will be recorded and in the library if you join after they air live.) We really feel like this is a great investment for our family that encourages us all to learn more and appreciate music.
Of course, we are also including a variety of books in our study of Beethoven. We have several in our personal collection and I was able to find a few more at our local library. Ludwig Van Beethoven (World’s Greatest Composers Series) is one that is in our personal library. We love the books in this series because they are well written, provide lots of good information, and are still entertaining. The illustrations always have my children laughing. We also have Lives of the Musicians and Beethoven Lives Upstairs. We borrowed 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven from our local library as well.
To learn more about Beethoven’s life and works, there are several websites that have great information. Classics for Kids has a lot of great information and the opportunity to listen to several selections of his music. Classical Kids Music and Kids Music Corner also offer some good resources. If you have a SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership, they have two great courses with lessons on Beethoven. For younger children, first-third grade, they have their Great Musicians course. Beethoven is the first of twelve musicians covered in the course. This could also be a great introduction for older elementary students. For middle and high school students, Composing with the Masters covers Beethoven in lesson 10. As always, you can choose to take the whole course, or just do the lessons of interest to your family.
If you want to tie art into your music studies, Nana from ChalkPastel.com has a great lesson for Beethoven. in her Composers course that is included with the clubhouse membership. I know that my son will enjoy this part of our studies. You can also have your children draw what they hear as they are listening to the music.
Finally, for familiarity with his music we enjoy listening in two main ways. First, just play some of his music in the background as you are going through the day. You can purchase a CD, listen on Amazon Prime Music, or find some on YouTube. Second, we like to use the SQUILT method when we want to be more intentional. This is just a few minutes at a time of, “Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time”. Mrs. Mary teaches this method in her SQUILT live classes if you want more information.
Whether you have children that love music and want to learn more or you are just beginning your studies, I hope that you can find resources here that you can use and enjoy with your children. I want to leave you with a final piece of advice, do not feel like you have to use all of the resources or spend lots of time on the study. Start with what seems most interesting or easiest for you and then see where it takes you. Even a few minutes a week or a lesson a couple times a month can make a big difference. I would love to hear about your favorite Beethoven resources or what other composers you would like to learn about in the comments.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies
Today is the last day of the Evan-Moor BOGO sale on their Skill Sharpener Books.
Amazon is doing lots of daily deals for great educational toys, craft supplies, and even books!
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
At this point, I do not even need to ask my children if they want to review a Drive Thru History® Adventures product. They are an automatic yes, because they enjoy them so much. So, when we had a chance to check out their newest program, Bible Unearthed, everyone was on board. They could not wait to see what new adventures awaited them with Dave Stotts.
When we started watching this newest series, Bible Unearthed, we quickly realized that there were some similarities to other Drive Thru History programs, but this one was different from all the rest. While most of the other shows involve Dave traveling to various locations, this program is mostly done with Dave and two other gentleman, Titus Kennedy, PhD and Drive Thru History writer Randall Niles, sitting around a table looking at artifacts instead of locations.
Each lesson of this course includes a video, scriptural reading, further information and pictures, a worksheet to complete, and articles you can read to dig deeper into the subject matter. Most also include an option activity. For example, they suggest finding an ancient Biblical text on the internet and trying to copy it. Then have someone else check for the mistakes. This would help the students understand the care and concentration needed by ancient scribes. The worksheets each contain five discussion questions. They also include an answer key to the worksheet (and all the busy moms rejoice).
The videos in this course could stand alone for middle grades students or if you just wanted a basic understanding of archeology. However, the additional reading and materials help to make it a more complete high school level course. The course begins with a discussion of what archaeology means and then goes on through the impacts of archaeology, life of an archaeologist, current happenings in archeology, and more.
Since we did not need the program as an actual high school credit, we decided to watch the videos together as a family and use the worksheets as discussion guides. As we continue working through the course we may also incorporate a few of the option activities. I really appreciate the flexibility of the program.
Overall, I think that Bible Unearthed like all of the Drive Thru History® Adventures is a quality production with a lot of educational value. If your children are interested in archeology or you want to give them a good basic foundation in archeology to go along with your history, this is a great program. We found that the videos were not as entertaining as the other Drive Thru History® Adventures but they are certainly not boring lectures. My children were happy to watch them as a part of school, but unlike Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” ( Review) or Drive Thru History Review did not ask to watch them for pleasure. I would recommend these for students in middle or high school.
Take a look at all of the wonderful courses offered by Drive Thru History® Adventures and make sure to click on the graphic below to see how other Review Crew families used Bible Unearthed in their homes.
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Personal Finance Illustrated® Homeschool Edition from PEM LIFE is a very comprehensive personal economics program. It goes into considerable detail and has many tools that allow students to work through and examine a variety of different financial scenarios and how different choices effect their long term financial goals. My son, who has taken an interest in finance, had been taking another personal finance course and was excited to review this program and see what else he could learn.
The program is divided into units. Each unit contains one or two primary instructional videos, several additional ancillary videos, instructions and practice on one or two digital tools. Then for assessing understanding each unit contains a concept quiz, vocabulary quiz, writing assignment, discussion question, and a reflection question. There is also a digital textbook with reading assignments for most of the units. The quizzes were self-grading, but I had to look over his writing assignments.
The course included 18 units. The units included an overview of the Personal Economic Model, taxes, lifestyle regulators, insurance information, debt information, investing, cash vs. financing, lifetime potential and more. While we have slightly different views on debt than this program expressed, we felt like the content was well thought out, meaningful, and helpful. Being able to look at the long term ramifications of each financial decision by using the various interactive tools really helps students understand the consequences of their decisions.
One really nice feature is the discussion boards. Each unit has a discussion board with questions for the student to answer. Then, they can reply to other students’ responses and have students respond to their answers. It is a great way to foster discussion in the online format and good preparation for online college courses which often use similar formats.
The layout of this program allows for students to move through it without a great deal of assistance from the parents, but also has an instructor’s guide that would allow the parent to adapt the program and be more involved. It could also be used in a co-op setting. When we started, I was having my son complete one unit per week. He was getting it done, but I did not feel like we had enough time to get the most out of the program. Moving forward, we are going to work to find a good system of either taking two weeks per unit or prioritizing the components of each unit that I feel are most important for that unit. I believe this will allow him to spend more time on the interactive tools and get the most from the program.
My fourteen-year-old son felt like the lecture style videos were very informative but a bit academic in style and not quite as engaging as he would have preferred. He really enjoyed working with the interactive tools and being able to plug in different numbers to see what would happen in different scenarios. He does not enjoy writing and therefore, did not really enjoy the writing components, but I do think those are helpful for students preparing for collegiate level courses. They could also be done in a discussion format.
Overall, if you are looking for a thorough personal finance course for your high school student, this may be a good option. While it is intense, it has quality material and tools that allow students to get a better understanding of the life time impact of their financial decisions. I would not recommend it for students younger than high school because of the level of difficulty. One of our big goals for each of our children is that they will graduate from our homeschool with a solid understanding of personal finance and the tools and information needed to make good financial decisions. I believe this program can be a big part of that process. Make sure to click on the graphic below to check out how other Review Crew Members used Personal Finance Illustrated® Homeschool Edition.
2020 has been a different and stressful year in so many ways. Many events canceled or switched to Zoom and other digital platforms. However, there are still many blessings and good times. I am sure that 2020 will stand out in my children’s minds. However, I hope that above, or at least beside, the memories of a pandemic and political tension they remember the fun family memories. Some of our family traditions we have kept and others we had to modify. We went through some challenging times, but the slow down also gave us more time to relax and enjoy time at home as a family.
This fall some things have begun going back to normal, while others remain different or closed. However, we have tried to stay engaged with making memories as a family. Our state fair was canceled which was a big disappointment to the whole family. We normally go for at least one and often several days each year to show animals, do living history, and check out all of the fun exhibits and food. However, we were very thankful the children were able to go up to the fairgrounds and show their turkeys. Afterwards, we were blessed to be able to enjoy some take out fair food! I had my favorite roasted corn, a chicken kabob, and funnel cake. My son even got to try a gator kabob.
We were also able to take some fun family hikes, drink plenty of hot apple cider, and try out lots of apple recipes after we purchased 2 bushels of fresh apples from a North Carolina farm. We even had the chance to make some new memories by going to a local pumpkin patch with some good friends.
Even if it is as simple as roasting marshmallows in the back yard (or making oven s’mores) or drinking hot apple cider while listening to music or reading books, take the time this fall to make some fun memories. These memories can help our children learn that we can have fun even in the midst of challenging times. While they may prayerfully never deal with another pandemic, there will always be hard times and challenges. I hope we can help them learn how to handle challenges with grace and perseverance.
What fun activities are your doing with your family this fall? How does it look different than normal?
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies
Evan-Moor is doing a BOGO sale on their Skill Sharpner Books next week from November 2nd through November 6th!
