Gratitude that makes me cherish every day, and grateful to the God who gives all good things, continues here…

377. the availability of any book at any time

378. amazingly created bugs that look exactly like leaves

379. little boys

380. the toddler stage

381. cupcakes

382. air conditioning

383. Facebook

385. Redbox

386. Flip-flops

387. Toys-R-Us

388. a new cell phone

389. a night out with a friend

390. talking dinosaur toys

391. clearance sales

392. department store customer price scanners

393. egg rolls

394. straws

395. bibs

396. music that no longer takes up shelf space but is purchased and played with the click of a button

397. world maps

398. three day weekends

399. the parrot stage of small children

400. boogies boards, platform dollies with wheels, steep driveways, children, and daddy

401. the Google Sky app on my phone that helps me see the stars and planets

402. those who walk before us and share wisdom

403. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are – the book by Anne Voskamp

404. Ann Voskamp

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This Summer while the kids and I have been taking care of our first garden together, we’ve found some books that have become favorites for a lifetime.

I love books and if I’m not careful, that is the first item that will cause me to go over budget each month. I’ve learned the discipline of checking out all new and recommended books at the library first, and then if I fall in love with them, buying them to add to our home library.

The four books I’m sharing with you in this post are ones we love so much, we had to purchase them… and I’m so glad we did.

Whose Garden Is It? is an entertaining book about a garden full of characters such as rabbits, moles, mice, insects, rain, sun, and more, who each offer a reason why they believe the garden they live in, is theirs alone. This is one of those books that offers the opportunity for a parent to invent all kinds of fun different voices for each character, and I think that is part of why my kids love this one so much.

At the end of the book you and your children are left to decide who the garden truly belongs to. Can you guess WHO my children chose?

I’ll give you a hint… He wasn’t mentioned in the book, but He owns and created EVERYTHING!!!

What Do Roots Do? is a great book for introducing the most basic concept of the parts of a plant to children. My four year old didn’t have a clue about what was happening beneath the plants she walks by everyday, but after reading this book together, she talked about roots incessantly for days.

I had to be very, very clear with her that she couldn’t go pulling up every plant she saw in order to verify that it had roots. We did go out and pull up some weeds together though, and she was delightfully surprised to find that the book was right… plants have roots.

Who Grew My Soup? is a very funny book with very funny illustrations. The entire book rhymes and it is an amusing tale about a boy who is whisked away on a journey to learn who grew all the vegetables in his soup. We read this one at least three times a day the first week we got it in the mail from Amazon. No other book would satisfy that week.

WARNING: This book mentions boogers. To some, a deterrent… to others, a selling point. I leave you to decide.

The illustrator, C.F. Payne also did the artwork for a book that has been one of our family favorites for years, The Remarkable Farkle McBride.

A Seed Is Sleepy is my personal favorite out of all of these selections because it is so educational, and because the illustrations are breathtaking.

Just look at the color and detail in these pictures. They are so realistic and accurate, but still so painterly and romantic. I love them.

The information I shared last week in my post on the Birds and the Bees, came out of some research I did spurred on by what I learned from this book about plant parts and reproduction.

And… did you know that 90% of all trees grow from the roots of an already established tree, as opposed to from a brand new seed? Fascinating! I learned that from this book too, and sure enough as the kids and I went out into our yard and explored, we discovered little tree shoots sprouting up all over, coming from the roots of our already established huge trees.

If you’re already gardening with your kids, or are planning to garden with them next spring, keep these four precious books in mind. They have certainly added tremendously to our understanding of what it is our plants are doing out there in that backyard of ours, and they’ve made our gardening experience together richer, more whimsical, and so educational.

Visit the Inadvertent Farmer and see what others are doing in their KinderGARDENS.

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I’ve completely neglected our school room for the past three months.

Next week we start back to home school and I have plenty to do this week, to prepare.

We had a ton Family Fun all Summer, and I got just the amount of rest and change of pace I needed, in order to head back to teaching home school refreshed, and with new passion.

Leo was loathing the idea of being cut off once again from the amount of TV and video game time he enjoys during the summer, until we took a trip to the school supply store yesterday. After picking out several new books, supplies, and arts and crafts things, both kids we’re begging to start back to school as soon as we got home.

But Momma isn’t ready!

I need this week to clean and reorganize the school room.

I’m also waiting for shipments of supplies and new curriculum to arrive.

I need to box up what we’re done using for now, and make room for all of the new things.

Though I have gotten the hang of homeschooling from year to year, and know a lot about what to expect, each year is also a new adventure in that I’m always teaching a new grade level. The dynamics of our daily schedule also changes every year, depending on what ages and stages each of my kids is at.

This is my fifth year of teaching home school, but it’s my first year of teaching two students at two different grade levels… kindergarten and fourth grade, with a two year old who will be toddling around us.

I’m excited! We have a lot of fun things planned, which I’ll share with you over the next few weeks and months. If you’ve ever wondered things like…

- What kind of books do home school families use?

- What kind of schedule do home school families follow?

- How do home school kids get socialized?

- How does a mom teach two different grade levels together?

- What does a home school Mom do with a baby or toddler while she home schools?

- Why on earth does any Mom choose home school?

- How expensive is it to home school?

- How is an un-credentialed Mom qualified to teach her own children at home?

The easy answer is… every family is different.

But, I will be sharing my answers to all these questions throughout this year. The good, the bad, and the ugly truth about how, why, when, with what, and how we home school.

But for now… I’m off to place orders, and organize.

I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll have everything alphabetized and color coded beautifully, just like this.

Not! (Is that still cool to say? I don’t think it is.)

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I’ve never used Saxon Math which seems to be the home school standard and even more specifically the Classical home school standard. But one of the things that I’ve heard about it, is that it gives tons and tons of problems to solve on each concept.  Based on that information alone I knew Saxon was not a curriculum I would be passionate about using.

One of the things I like about home schooling my children as opposed to sending them to a public or private school is being able to cater their educations to their specific gifts, talents, interests, passions, and callings.  I’m a firm believer that everyone is made to serve different purposes with their lives and should therefore not be made to read the same books or learn things in the same way.

Another thing I like about educating my children at home is being able to spare them from wasting precious hours in the day doing busy work.  I hated it during my own schooling years when teachers would assign 100 math problems on one concept.  Once I got the concept down by problem 34 the rest of the assignment was busy work.  This type of thing occurred in my learning throughout all subjects.  The worst part was when I had several different teachers assigning busywork in each of their classes, none of them of course speaking to each other or taking in consideration how much work each of them had assigned.  Then I would be stuck with hours upon hours of homework on concepts I already understood.

What a waste of time.

Now don’t get me wrong… there is certainly a point to learning a concept and practicing it until you can do it with ease.  The problem is that for each child and in each subject the amount of work needed to be done in order to arrive at that place of ease is different.

I am only home schooling one of my three children at this point.  Remy and Llany are not yet school age and are still working on pre school core concepts like numbers, phonics, shapes, and colors.  Leo however, my oldest and therefore my home school guinea pig, is just finishing up the third grade. His advanced learning abilities are what caused me to begin home schooling in the first place.  You can read more about that here.

When I set out to begin home schooling I didn’t want to just be doing school, at home.  I wanted to take advantage of being able to handpick curriculum and teach each subject the best way possible.  I didn’t want to just get a box of assigned curriculum and start plowing through it.  I wanted to know what was out there and make a decision about what sounded best for my son’s abilities and my teaching style.  One of the books that was instrumental in helping me do this was “The Well Trained Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer.  This book breaks down some of the different curriculum philosophies and explains their strengths and focuses.  When looking through the math section of this book, Singapore Math was the curriculum that appealed to me the most for three reasons.

1. I’ve always heard that Asian countries have a reputation for high achievement in math amongst students, far higher than the abilities of American students, so a curriculum from Singapore sounded like a better idea than an American curriculum.
2. The focus in Singapore Math is on Mental Math and that is something I wish I had been taught how to do better… I’m still tempted to count on my fingers.
3. Singapore Math does not require incessant amounts of problems to work through in each chapter.  This is perfect for an advanced learner like Leo who picks up new concepts with great ease and grows bored quickly if not challenged with moving forward. There are however additional “Extra Practice” books available at each grade level for when extra practice on a particular concept is needed.

I figured if the curriculum seemed to move too fast or leave out fundamental elements, we would go back to something like Saxon or Math U See. I’m glad to report however that we haven’t needed to change our Math curriculum at all over the past three years, and we will continue with Singapore Math again next year for fourth grade because we love it!

Leo continues to score WAY above grade level in Mathematics. Last year his National Percentile Rank (NPR) for the California State STAR testing in Math was in the 98th percentile.

Now again I will state: the same books and approaches to learning are not equally effective for every student, nor are they equally friendly for every parent or teacher’s, teaching style. I have overheard parent conversations ranting and raving about how much they hate Singapore Math, so I know it doesn’t work for everyone.

But… it works for Leo and me, and here’s why:

An Emphasis on Mental Math

I used manipulatives in pre school with Leo while we were learning to count, add, and subtract. I didn’t order some fancy color coded set of manipulatives and curriculum for this. We simply counted fish crackers, legos, cookies, jelly beans, and whatever else we were playing with or eating. Once we started with Singapore Math we didn’t use manipulatives at all anymore, but instead moved easily into the intermediary pictorial stage.

In Singapore Math at the elementary level, there isn’t a big emphasis on using  manipulatives.  Being someone who still depended on her fingers for counting well into adulthood, I liked the idea of being able to find a math program that would force my son, from the beginning, to see numbers in his head and be able to do tricks with them in order to solve problems without the crutch of manipulatives.

Illustrations with a Purpose

Singapore math books don’t look like the typical math texts we grew up with. They are filled with cartoon type color illustrations that I love. I don’t know about you, but just opening up a Saxon text book with a white page filled from top to bottom with as many little black numbers as will fit on the page, makes me woozy. I can’t imagine how it must make a six year old feel!

When I ordered our first Singapore Math book for Kindergarten with Leo when he was four, he picked up the books himself and asked if we could get started because to him they looked like a lot of fun. But Singapore Math’s illustrations are not purely for entertainment, there is a very logical and helpful purpose behind them.

One of the problems with other math curriculums in the U.S. is that they leap from using concrete objects or manipulatives in the early stages, right into abstract mental math calculations. Many students struggle with this leap as I did, and therefore continue to secretly count on fingers or calculate with physical tapping, in order to keep up, never developing true mental math abilities.

Singapore math textbooks include an intermediary pictorial stage. By looking at pictures of concrete objects being divided equally, students form a mental image of what adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, and other mathematical processes look like. When they finally get to abstract calculation, they have already internalized and visualized the process.

Additionally, the illustrations are so helpful that this year at age 8, while in the 3^rd grade, my son was able to teach himself several of the lessons without any parent involvement at all, and that is a BIG PART of my goal in choosing to home school – to teach my children, how to teach themselves… for LIFE!

Also as a home school parent, while being supplied with such great illustrative examples of each math concept, I have never needed to do any prep work in order to take my son through a Singapore math lesson (except for gathering some measuring supplies when learning about length, weight, and volume.)  And that fits my teaching style to a “T.” Very little prep… lot’s of hands on learning, questioning, and finding answers together. The Singapore Math lessons are easy to just sit down and go through together at any time. (And… they’ve really helped me to improve in my own mental math abilities.)

Introducing Mathematical Concepts Early

At the first grade level Singapore Math introduces addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, fractions, time, length, geometry, and on and on the list goes. Instead of waiting to introduce mathematical concepts at later stages, Singapore Math introduces nearly all basic concepts in the same year, and then each year of study advances the child’s understanding and ability in each area.

As a home school teacher I can’t comprehend how you teach addition but put off teaching multiplication for later years when all it is, is a way of adding groups quickly. Or why you would teach division but keep fractions a secret until fourth grade. Or talk about shapes and their names at age four, but wait to talk about the different names of triangles until middle school. Or how you teach any of if without introducing the algebraic concept of solving for “x” which is what we are all doing every day when we use math in real life. All of these ideas can be taught to a first grade student when done with simplicity of small numbers and done in the context of real world problem solving.

Word Problems

Isn’t the real reason we learn math for problems like, “If I’ve made 24 cupcakes in the last hour, but I need to make 700 cupcakes for the school play by tomorrow morning at 11am, and Johnny only gave me this AWESOME news ten minutes ago and it’s 8pm, how many hours and how many ovens will it take me to make the rest of my cupcakes and will I get any sleep tonight?” So why do other curriculums make this kind of math question a side-note instead of a central theme?

Singapore Math puts a huge emphasis on what we call “Word Problems,” and it doesn’t push off learning word problems to the end of lessons or for higher grade levels. In Singapore Math, word problems are part of the core curriculum in every chapter of every year of math study… and there is an extremely GOOD reason for this! What we should really call “Word Problems” is “Life Problems.” And aren’t “Life Problems” a huge practical reason for learning math in the first place?

Each grade level of curriculum not only includes word problems in the chapters, but also an additional optional “Word Problems” book made up entirely of just that… Word Problems. Also included at each grade level is an optional Extra Practice Book to reinforce math processes, and a Test Book that can be used for extra practice or quizzing students. With all of these extra optional resources that can be used, you can’t say Singapore Math doesn’t offer PLENTY of individual problems in order to master concepts. But…the fact that these problems come in separate books allows them to more freely be optional for the students that need them.

Extra practice books can be

1) Used with chapters that need more attention in a challenging area of study and

2) Completely ignored with chapters where concepts were easily mastered in the main text

Conclusion

Cracking open a Singapore Math book is something both my son and I look forward to and we have a great time going through the lessons together.

One of the greatest things about teaching home school is the fact that you get to choose what works best for you and your family so I’m not plugging Singapore Math as the “Be-all, end all” of math curriculums. It’s simply the one that works for us, and if you are looking into teaching Home School or are already home schooling, but haven’t yet found a Math curriculum you and your children love, consider giving Singapore Math a try!

To learn more about Singapore Math and to read a fantastic Blog post written by an American public school Math Teacher who has adopted Singapore Math, and see a YouTube video about other public schools adopting the curriculum, click here.

Also, visit the Singapore Math curriculum website where we order our materials.

And if you’ve used Singapore Math, whether you’ve loved it or hated it, tell us about it in the comments, and tell us “Why?” More input from more sources is welcomed and appreciated here!

Be sure to check out MY post about the importance of overcoming your own personal Math hangups and shortcoming, in order to better encourage your children to succeed in all areas of academics and in life – How Is Your Child’s World Being Framed?

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I’ve started participating in TidyMom’s “I’m Lovin’ It Fridays.”

It gives me a great excuse to create a quick fun post simply about a new thing, I’m lovin’.

You can click the “I’m Lovin It” graphic above to visit the TidyMom site and see what everyone else is Lovin’ this week.

As for me…

I’m lovin’ my new “Notetaker’s Bible.”

It comes in two versions…

The “Women’s Edition” which looks like this. Quite lovely.

And this “Men’s Version,” which is actually the one I chose.

Neither of them have anything special to do with men or women on the inside. On the inside they are both exactly the same.

The difference between the Men’s and Women’s editions is simply the look of the outer cover and I’ll tell you… it was a tough decision for me. They both look great. But in the end, for my personal taste and style I just really liked the Men’s version. The look of it reminds of me of an old, antique, wisdom filled, warn, leather bound, classic book. Perfect!

And let me tell you something else… this might just be the heaviest Bible I’ve ever owned!

But it’s worth it.

I love it.

Here’s why…

It’s called the Notetaker’s Bible because every page contains a column for taking notes, right inside the Bible alongside the text.

I’ve always taken a ton of notes in journals and on notepads while in church or doing Bible studies on my own, but after a year or so I tuck those journals away and am onto a new one. Simply writing the notes in the first place does help cement what I’m learning about the Bible into my mind more than just hearing it alone, but I’d love to have access to my notes ALL THE TIME.

Here’s a photo of my own personal Notetaker’s Bible. This should give you a feel for the space available in the margins for note taking.

After a year or so, each time I turn to a passage, I’ll have my own personal notes and questions written right there on the page next to the actual Biblical text.

I also love the idea of what an AMAZING heirloom this will make someday.

Can you imagine having your mother’s or grandmother’s Bible filled with her own personal handwritten notes alongside every passage? What a treasure!

If you’re a note taker or journaler when it comes to studying your Bible, maybe this is just the right Bible for you too!

Below are descriptions and links to Christianbook.com where the Notetaker’s Bible can be purchased.

Happy Friday, and thanks for stopping by!

HCSB Notetaker’s Bible, Men’s Edition–Printed Hardcover, Brown By B & H Publishing Group In an age when you can take notes using a variety of electronic media, a countertrend has emerged allowing you to journal in your own handwriting. The Notetaker’s Bible features wide margins with subtle ruled lines, helpful center-column cross references, a concordance, and best of all, the largest point size among all Bibles of this kind. Handsomly bound for a man’s taste. Features include: The largest point size among Bibles of this kind Easy-to-navigate center-column references An easy-to-use concordance Ribbon marker Words of Jesus in red Translation footnotes, and exclusive HCSB bullet notes

HCSB Notetaker’s Bible, Women’s Edition, Hardcover (Mauve/Olive Green) By B & H Publishing Group In an age when you can take notes using a variety of electronic media, a countertrend has emerged allowing you to journal in your own handwriting. The Notetaker’s Bible features wide margins with subtle ruled lines, helpful center-column cross references, a concordance, and best of all, the largest point size among all Bibles of this kind. Bound for a woman’s taste with gold edges and ribbon marker. Features include: The largest point size among Bibles of this kind Easy-to-navigate center-column references An easy-to-use concordance Ribbon marker Words of Jesus in red Translation footnotes, and exclusive HCSB bullet notes

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Thank you so much to everyone who visited my Amazon Store, and a double thank you to those of you who made purchases.

I need to make 20  more sales to be bumped up into the next commission bracket through the Amazon Associates program.

Take a peek today if you have some time. I’ve added several new items to most of the categories.

I’ve also been so inspired by the warmth of Spring, I can hardly wait for summer, so I’ve created a “Summer Fun” category full of great items for families to use as the days get warmer.

Okay… the part you’ve all been waiting for…

And the winner of the $50 Amazon Gift Card is….

MessyMommy: Submitted on 2010/03/09 at 7:42pm - “I would love the Bringing Up Girls book! I have Bringing Up Boys and love it!”

Congratulations Messy Mommy!!! Send an email to me at giveaways@mommytopics.com.

Happy Easter everyone!

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I’ve had a great response to things people are interested in, in my Online Store.

The most popular items people seem to be interested in so far are the Bringing Up Boys and Bringing Up Girls books by James Dobson, the Animal House kitchen items, and the products I have in the pre-school section.

These pre-school Books by Kumon are some of my favorite first books that I’ve used with my kids.

Kumon is a learning system made up of both curriculum and learning centers which administer lessons in math and reading from pre-school up to college.

These pre-school books can be found in my online store on this site, as well as at your local bookstore. I’ve even seen them from time to time at Costco.

This first one I want to show you is a book for pre-schoolers used to better acquaint them with the alphabet.

One of the things I love about these books is the suggested age level on the top right corners of all the books. This makes it easy for a busy mom like me to sift through the selection quickly and find the books that will work with the skill level of my child.

Kumon workbooks like these, range in suggested skill level from ages 2 – 8.

In the Alphabet Book there are these fun and simple dot-to-dot lessons, but with letters instead of numbers. Each dot-to-dot starts with letter “A” and moves to consecutive letters of the alphabet.

This beginner lesson is used to introduce children to the first 3 letters of the alphabet so it only goes up to letter “C”.

This elephant lesson is further along in the book so the letters go all the way from “A” to “Z”.

Each lesson also has a corresponding page of alphabet letters to practice tracing.

Alphabet lessons in this book progress to more typical dots-to-dot with no outlining grid to follow…

And a mastery in tracing and recognizing both upper and lowercase letters from “A” to “Z”.

Here is the book of Numbers.

Again… notice how great these books are at giving you just the information you’re looking for right on the cover. In the top right corner you can see the suggested age level for the book and it lets you know it covers lessons and games for numbers 1 – 30.

There are additional Kumon workbooks that progress up through greater numbers.

This Numbers Book also contains dot-to-dot lessons.

I love that the beginning dot-to-dot lessons in both the Letters and Numbers books provide a highlighted white grid around the projected path each created line should follow.

When my 3 year old wants to do dot-to-dot games without this kind of path, (like on kids menus at restaurants for example) her lines from one number to the next take on such strange and totally non-DIRECT paths, that when she’s done it’s hard to tell what the final picture is.

The dot-to-dots in these Kumon books start out with highlighted paths to train on, and then eventually progress to more advanced dot-to-dots, without highlighted paths.

The Numbers Book also contains corresponding pages of number tracing.

When I’m busy at the table working on Home School with my 8 year old, my 3 year old will bring these books to the table and joining us she announces,

“I’m doing school too.”

I’ve never required that either of my children do work in these Kumon Workbooks. I’ve just kept them available to my children, on a shelf they can reach next to some crayons and pencils, and both of them have ended up learning from the books on their own time because they’ve wanted to.

I love when learning happens like that!

The Numbers Book advances to standard dot-to-dot exercises, as well as fill in the missing number exercises like this.

None of these Kumon Books are expected to be the primary source from which your children will learn. They are just an additional resource to reinforce lessons already being taught. While little ones may be interested enough in doing these workbooks on their own, it’s beneficial to have a parent’s involvement or at least nearby to keep the child progressing according to the directions of each lesson.

Here are a couple of Kumon Books that insist a parent be nearby and ready to help.

Both my kids have REALLY loved the Cutting Book.

Cutting is one of those things that you might not allow your pre-schooler to do very often, simply because it’s unsafe unless you’re supervising. For this reason they may not have as much access to time spent with scissors, as they do other skill building tools such as books and crayons.

Then, when you finally take the time to sit down and do a craft project with your pre-schooler, which includes cutting, you realize how neglectful you’ve been of allowing them to cut, and how much they struggle with it simply because they haven’t had much practice. And then you both are so anxious to create your project, and they are so frustrated with trying to cut out all the shapes, that they say,

“Mommy will you just cut out the shapes for me?”

And you oblige because you’d like to make some progress as well, and keep the day’s schedule somewhat on track.

And then once again… they get no practice at cutting.

Or am I the only one this happens too?

If I’m not the only one this happens to…

Here is a fantastic Book to get both you and your child more frequently practicing cutting.

Because my pre-schoolers have LOVED this book, it’s hard for me to forget to do it with them… they ask to do it every day!

And the great thing about this book is that the lessons are short, but challenging enough that when we’re done, my little cutters are ready to move onto something else.

This book starts out with cutting strait lines.

In lesson 5 displayed above the cutting has progressed to being able to create a little craft. Once all the pieces are cut out you can tape them together to make one long train.

In the Cutting Book, projects progress to cutting curves, shapes, and eventually more intricate objects like animals.

And here is the Pasting Book.

It really should be called the Cutting and Pasting Book because each lesson offers the opportunity for both.

And of course if any of the cutting required in this book is too advanced for your pre-schooler, you can do all the cutting and allow your pre-schooler to just get some practice at pasting.

Using the Cutting Book and the Pasting Book will allow your child to advance in both areas, and they provide a great way to have some quick, fun, skill building time together at home.

The Pasting Book starts out simple like this.

Cut out square. Glue on Apple.

It progresses like this.

Cut out eyes, nose, mouth. Glue on Pig.

The pasting exercises don’t really advance in difficulty, but there are some variations in the fun you can have with them like in this lesson where squares must be pasted correctly in the grid like a puzzle to form a picture.

Kumon makes several other Pre-School development books such as, Drawing, Tracing, Telling Time, Mazes, Coloring, and more.

I’ve loved using these books with my kids and I’m sure you’ll love using them with yours.

To purchase check out my online store, or click the advertised links below.

Spend some time playing with and teaching your pre-schooler today! You’ll be glad you did and so will they!

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I visited my local Berean store last week and the owner told me that they are absolutely open and getting in new inventory every week. She asked me to pass the news along and encourage others to shop there this Christmas.

So, while I was in the store I decided to meander around and see what kinds of things the store had to offer that I thought would make good Christmas gifts.

There was waaaaaay too much great stuff to list it all here… But… I thought I’d at least mention a few things just to get your mind moving in that direction and help you consider making Berean one of your Christmas Shopping destinations.

I love this. It’s the kind of thing that would look beautiful in any home and set a tone of peace and faith. It’s also the kind of thing that a lot of women would love to have, but might not spend the money to purchase it for themselves while so busy budgeting to spend on socks for the kids, groceries for all, car repairs, gifts for friends, and on and on the list goes.

Here’s another one. This one would look so neat on a bookshelf with books stacked around it, and smaller books stacked on top of the little shelves over the words.

I love this one. What a beautiful message to be seen by your whole family, day in and day out on a mantle above the fireplace in the center of your home. It’s a great reminder that I would love to pass by throughout my day to remember not to get huffy and puffy and caught up in the hustle and bustle of my own plans but to keep God’s plans as my focus. It would look beautiful with little tea light candles on it’s shelves.

These are neat too!

You just peel them off and stick them on any bare wall that needs a little sprucing up.

The home decor section at Berean is filled with many beautiful accessories that would make great gifts this Christmas… Clocks, paintings, welcome signs, candles, plates, throws, tree ornaments, the list goes on and on.

And, I know… I know. All these gifts have been for women.

Berean has a huge selection of gifts for everyone…. particularly books. I won’t even begin to attempt to list ALL the books that would make great gifts… there are soooooo many, but I will mention a couple that newly caught my eye on this visit.

This is an excellent book for any man. I think it’s great for women to read as well, to understand men. I’ve read it myself and I loved it. Kind of a weird gift for a woman though. Just give it to a man, and then his wife can sneak away with it and read it too.

Here’s the latest and greatest DVD for the kiddos, just released this past November 2009. It has a silly little message that helps convey the truth about who St. Nicholas was and how that relates to who Santa Claus is.

This is a huge floor puzzle with large pieces for little hands just learning to put puzzles together, that also teaches the ABC’s, and has Noah’s Ark at it’s center. Berean has tons of toys, games, and books for kids of all ages…. so many in fact that it’s hard to decide which ones to buy.

This is a great new CD for the teenage crowd with a little sampling of songs from all of their favorite Christian artists.

The boys will like this new CD from Skillet.

The girls will like this new CD from Francesca Battistelli.

Now this is something I already have and LOVE! This is a Chronological Bible. I recommend it for the well trained Bible student who has been reading and studying the Bible for years.  This Bible offers a new understanding and perspective by taking every single original passage found in the New King James Bible and organizing them into Chronological order.

So for example, when you are reading about the life of David in the book of 2 Samuel, there are Psalms that David wrote mixed in with it.  When you are reading the gospels, instead of being divided into Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four books are mixed and spliced together in chronological order.

It’s a really neat new way to understand the timeline of events and comparisons between passages that get overlooked in the original bible when the relating passages are spaced so far away from each other.

I also love this new bible. It’s called the Notetakers Bible. It’s beautifully bound on the outside. This one is the Men’s Edition.

Inside it’s laid out with wide, lined, margins on every page so that you can take and keep notes right inside your Bible.

This is a great gift for that person in your life who is always taking notes in Church or who loves to journal along with their Bible study.

Can you imagine what a treasure this kind of Bible would be years down the road to a son, daughter, or grandchild after it has been well used and written in by a parent or grandparent through their years of Bible study. Whoever you give it to can use it to create their own little Bible commentary that can be passed on to loved ones for generations.

This is the Women’s Edition of the Notetakers Bible. I’m pretty sure the only difference between the Men’s and Women’s Editions is the difference in the cover artwork. Both are beautifully bound and would make great gifts.

Here’s one more bible that caught my attention and could be given to someone who already loves the bible and could take away something from this new and very different version. I’m so interested in American History and understanding our Christian heritage in this nation but to be honest I have a hard time, finding the time to really study both my bible and then separately, American History. This Patriot’s bible offers a chance to get snippets of great moments and quotes from the history of America’s Christian Heritage right along side studying the Bible.

And, if that last suggestion makes you crazy because you believe American Patriotism and God’s Holy Bible have no business coexisting in the same book… you might like this one…. Jesus for President. Looks… thought provoking.

A lot of people have been hit hard by the economy this year and therefore are planning on a very different Christmas than usual. I know in my family that this year’s Christmas spending budget is minuscule compared to how it has been in years past. But the dip in our incomes as Americans has created an opportunity for a lot of us re-prioritize our lives… rethink our debts, reorganize our budgets, and refocus on the things in life that really matter.

This year, consider the small businesses in your area… the spice shops, children’s boutiques, small bookstores, and specialty markets that are also struggling to make ends meet. They don’t have the marketing budgets like huge retail chains who can afford to keep commercials in your face, and their names at the forefront of your shopping mind. Small businesses could use a boost this time of year by you doing some of your Christmas shopping with them.

This year, instead of only going to the mall and spending on highly sought after, high priced labels, consider a store like Berean that offers gifts that will have a lasting impression on someones soul.

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Today I went to meet my blogging Mentor. Her name is Ree Drummond, and to those of us who follow her blog online, she is The Pioneer Woman, or PW, or P-dub.

She recently published a BEAUTIFUL cookbook which hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. We’re all so proud of her. “We” meaning her fans, and her un-authorized apprentices. She has taught us how to cook, take great pictures, use Photoshop, Home school our children, love our hubbys, and laugh with her at ourselves. You can check out her blog here.

She has been on a book tour for the last few weeks and on Sunday she made a So Cal appearance in Torrance. Of course, being one of her un-authorized apprentices and all… I had to be there.

I got my Starbucks for the road… a Venti, Iced, Caramel Brulle, Latte to be exact. It’s a new flavor and let me tell you… It is FRIENDLY! Yum!

Keys in the ignition…

Radio tuned to 92.9 FM KFROG, my favorite country radio station…

Time is 4:03 PM…Drive should take an hour and thirty one minutes according to the GPS… Book Signing starts at 5:00 PM… I’m perfectly on time according to my “always running just a bit late” schedule.

Hey check it out… those things in the backseat are empty. Amazing! That almost never happens. Hmmmm… now if only I had a hot date…

There he is!

Look at that handsome driver. Such a good sport.

Yes… he was laughing at me and my star-struck ways, saying to himself,”Are we really about to do this?”

So nice of him to escort me to my book signing in Torrance. What a good husband.

I’ve got everything I need… let’s roll!

As we drive, I’ll tell you a bit more about The Fantabulous Pioneer Woman.

For those of you who are just now hearing about Ree, she is no ordinary blogger.

You see this special “Country” issue of People magazine…

Here is Ree. She has a four page spread.

She is the blogger many of us other bloggers aspire to be… someday… when all of our blogging dreams come true.

And her new Cookbook… oh my…

It’s full of delicious recipes, with step by step photos on every page.

She is married to a Rancher whom she lovingly refers to as the Marlboro Man. Her cookbook is filled with down-home comfort food, and fantastic country cookin’ that she learned to make while feeding a slew of hungry cowboys.

Look at this recipe for Red Velvet Cake! I can’t wait to try it on some cupcakes this Christmas. This one is going to get me off those darn box mixes and into the adventure of making cake from scratch. If anyone can get me to do it, it’s Ree.

By the way… everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) should check out all of Ree’s SENSATIONAL looking, Thanksgiving recipes, here.

Hey Ree, there’s an idea for your next cookbook… a Holiday Cookbook:

Thanksgiving Feast, Christmas Dinner, Easter Brunch, 4th of July BBQ, New Years Eve Tapas Dinner Party, Cinco de Mayo Fiesta… you get the picture. I need that book!

Hey! Is this our exit? It should be…. but the GPS says keep going.

Here we are… Borders Bookstore in Torrance, CA.  It’s 5:17 PM… only a little late.

There’s the sign. She’s here…

I’m getting nervous.

Look at all of those Cookbooks. Boy! If you need a good idea for a Christmas gift… this is a GREAT ONE!

Whenever you buy a cookbook, what is the one thing you just can’t get enough of? Pictures of course! Who wants a cookbook with hardly any pictures?! Well,… In the Pioneer Woman Cooks, you don’t just get a picture for absolutely EVERY RECIPE, you get several step-by-step pictures for EVERY RECIPE.

It’s very possible that there has NEVER been a cookbook on the market before with as many FANTASTIC photos as Ree has put into this one. It’s especially great for those of us less confident cooks. As we follow the recipe we can compare what we’re making to her pictures and see if we’re on the right track.

Ok, so let’s go find her.

Hubby, you find the end of the line and hold my place. I’m going to go find Ree.

Eeek! There she is.

Ok, I better get in line. Hmm? It must be back there somewhere.

Husbands are wonderful creatures aren’t they?

The things they do for us silly girls. He just looks so thrilled doesn’t he?! My camera bag slung over his shoulder and my Pioneer Woman Cookbook in hand, in a bookstore, standing in a line of cooking, blogging women.

He’s the best!

And now all we can do is wait. And chat. And gush over PW.

I found out that I had missed her talk. She spoke to the crowd before she started signing books.

I was told by the new friends I made while standing in line that she gave her Ethel Merman impression. Apparently she also made the announcement that she will be publishing her love story about she and Marlboro Man’s romance titled, “From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.” You can read all about it on her blog here.

(Update 3/26/2010 – Not only is Ree’s love story being turned into a book due out February 2011, rights to her story have been purchased by Columbia Pictures and Reese Witherspoon is considering playing Ree in “From High Heels to Tractor Wheels the Movie.” You can read more about that here.)

And if you want to see her famous Ethel Merman impression, click here.

This is Jennifer. She works at Borders and she came by to ask if any of us needed to step out of line for a bathroom break, or to grab a drink. She offered to hold our place for us. What a dear.

Silly Jennifer… that’s what husbands are for.

Once we reached this point in the line it was almost 8 o’clock.  You see over there in the top left corner where I drew all the arrows? That’s where PW is sitting signing books. We’ve still got a ways to go.

At about this stage in line, I met the dearest woman who had driven all the way up from San Diego just to meet Ree. We were so busy talking about the Pioneer Woman and how we Home School our kids, that we forgot to exchange names. For that… I am ashamed!

Dear San Diego friend, if you happen to stumble upon this post, I so enjoyed talking to you, and I’m going to look up those Home School books you told me about.

Once we got very close, some crazy fans started getting everyone in line to do the “Wave”.

It was fun.

This is Sabrina and her husband. What a beautifully photogenic couple. Sabrina writes a blog at Sliceoflemon.com

Ooooh! Oooh! Oooooh! I’m next.

That’s Donna sitting next to Ree getting her books signed. I met her while standing in line too. We talked all about Ree and how her blog has changed our lives. We also talked about Donna’s niece Rachel, or maybe it’s Rachael, who is currently in France studying art history.

Hi Rachel/Rachael… great name!

Ok… time to focus.

Pass the camera to my hubby. Dry my sweaty palms. Wipe my shiny brow. Think Rachael think! What are you going to say?

“Hey Ree, D’ you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds? D’ you know that bees and dogs can smell fear? D’ you know that my next door neighbor has three rabbits?”

Yep… I charmed her.

And then we became best bosom friends for life and smiled for a picture.

I’m sure she’s inviting me to Lodge very soon.

So, my night was made complete. My goals had been achieved.

At about 9:15 PM Einstein (that’s my hubby) and I rolled out of Borders and headed to a late dinner.

When I got home at 11:30 PM I cracked open that Cookbook and took a look at what she had written.

See the big hearts she drew… I’m sure she only did that for me.

Told ya we’re bosom friends.

I’ll never put it down.

PW… you’re the best! Thanks for coming to So Cal.

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Phew! I can breathe easy. “Return to the Hundred Acre Wood” is delightfully in step with the original Pooh books by A. A. Milne. I believe Milne would be delighted to see his work carried on in a fashion so true to his own.

As a mother of three I have grown to love the Pooh books in adulthood while sharing them with my children. Our family favorites have been “Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood” and “The World of Christopher Robin.”

“Return to the Hundred Acre Wood,” is a more difficult book for preschool aged children to follow simply because of the language, but it has captivated myself and my third grade boy. We are so happy to be back in the Hundred Acre Wood with new adventures and even a new friend in Lottie the Otter.

I must admit I was worried about the introduction of a new character invented by someone other than Milne, but Lottie seems to fit with our cherished old friends as though she were always meant to join them. (In my anticipation post regarding the Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, I referred to Lottie as a boy.  I’m not sure why I made that assumption… maybe because I had heard the character was an avid fan of the game of cricket…. sorry about that… it turns out Lottie is very much a lady otter.  Good thing too because until now Kanga was the only female in the bunch.)

Even though Lottie is a wonderful new addition, it is really the return of our favorite time tested characters with their delightful funny charm that makes this new book so great.

Like this charming moment with our loveable Pooh:

“Pooh…was wondering… whether one could train bees to make honey straight into pots, because then they could use the combs to brush their hair without it getting sticky. If bees have hair.” (pg. 12-13)

And this laughable comment from our meticulous and usually overreacting friend Rabbit:

“It’s just as well there’s somebody around these parts who has some sense… otherwise anything might happen.’ And if someone asked Rabbit what that anything might be, he would reply: ‘Pirates, revolution, things thrown on the ground and not picked up.’” (pg 38)

Chapter Five, In Which Pooh Goes in Search of Honey, is one of my favorites in the new book, and a great example of David Benedictus’s ability to write new material seamlessly cohesive with the Pooh books of old.  And though the content in this new book is seamless in character, setting, and language, with the original Pooh books, I couldn’t help but find little tidbits in each chapter (intentional or not) which gave attention to some modern day issues.

In Chapter Five when Pooh discovers he is almost out of honey he goes to the great oak where the honeybees have always been, but now surprisingly, they are gone.  This makes for a great chapter in the book, but also delivers that eerie feeling the world is currently experiencing with the mysterious loss of thousands of bee colonies.

There is also a hilarious scene in Chapter Three where Rabbit decides a census must be taken.  In light of the coming American census currently being organized, with a debate brewing over the intentions behind it, and a scandal surrounding the organization ACORN who was helping to create the census, I couldn’t help but laugh at the following scene:

“What we most need around here is a Census… The ancient Britons did it… and once they knew who there was and where they were,’ Rabbit paused to catch up with himself, ‘they could tax them.’

‘Why did they want to?’ Christopher Robin asked, reasonably enough.

‘To pay for the Census, of course,’ answered Rabbit. ‘I thought everybody knew that.’

As word got about, the other animals expressed their doubts…

Piglet said, ‘It’s not a Census, it’s a Nonsensus,” and then blushed at his cleverness.” (pg 40- 41)

Mark Burgess did a wonderful job creating classic beautiful illustrations for the book.  The only qualm I would make about them is that Roo looks like a squirrel instead of a kangaroo. Kanga is drawn perfectly as a Kangaroo, so I’m not quite sure why Roo is illustrated so strangely.

This made me crazy throughout the book and it took quite a bit of work to convince my kids that these pictures truly were of Roo.

All in all the book is wonderful and I’m so happy to now own it.  I know it is one of those that will be read over and over in my home through the years.  Thank you to David Benedictus, and Mark Burgess, for remaining so true to the original works of Milne, and thank you to all those at Pooh properties who allowed this book to happen.

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood is the perfect addition to the libraries of all Pooh fans!

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