Amanda’s Corner
Spring is almost here, and after several weeks of miserable winter weather, it is sunny and 70 outside! The daffodils are making pockets of yellow sunbursts on our country roads, and farmers are busy preparing fields and garden beds. After growing up in Florida where the season changes were very subtle, I appreciate the big and colorful changes. They seem to keep everyone here looking forward to the next season with anticipation.
The coming of spring also brings around softball, baseball and soccer signups. It looks like it is going to be a season of fun, with plenty of parental time in the bleachers. I am learning to appreciate the great taste of sport drinks when things heat up! As a parent, I know just what it is like to have children who are sports-oriented, as well as those who are not into sports. I have also realized that there are seasons of interest in sports that vary for each child, just like their interests in so many other things. While they may love sports this year, next year might be a year of interest in cars or quilts or horses. Be flexible and let them explore THEIR interests. This is their childhood, never to be experienced again. Let them enjoy it.
And now, time for true confessions. I have been at it again – shopping for seeds! I can’t resist picking a few packets when I walk by those colorful displays and see all kinds of colorful flowers, vegetables and fruit, just waiting to be planted. From the local dollar stores to the grocery store and the farmers’ cooperative – I am surrounded with packages of promise, and it is beautiful. I must admit that I do miss the days when the children were small, and things like a Pizza Garden or Green Bean Teepees were so exciting. Enjoy these days with your family – they will disappear before you know it.
With the approach of the season where we observe the ultimate sacrifice of our Lord and celebrate His victory over death, consider this a season of thanksgiving for an eternal gift of love from the Creator. Share your thanksgiving with you family and friends and complete strangers. We are blessed, indeed.
Until next time
Amanda B.
www.unitstudy.com
PS – Watch for my article in the upcoming Spring 2006 issue of The Old Schoolhouse! If you haven’t already subscribed, consider it – this is my favorite homeschool magazine, and the one that I read from cover to cover when it first arrives. I consider it an investment in “my” education which has a lasting benefit for the children's education.
March Celebrations!
Gardens Unit Study – Gardening offers a priceless opportunity to work together on a fun family project, and share thoughts and ideas as you build your own special place of beauty and memories. From pole bean tepees to sunflower houses, what memories they will build! Use this study to share lessons about nature and plants with your children. What makes the seeds grow? Why do we grow things? What does a fresh ear of corn taste like? Imagine together, what it might have been like in the first garden -- the Garden of Eden! Take a break with your students and get busy planning and planting a garden this year while continuing your homeschooling with the Gardens Unit Study, at a special price of only $10.95 for the month of March! Available on CD or by direct download.
Easter Unit Study – Christians celebrate the heart of their faith during Easter, and this four-week st
udy has been written to help parents share this important concept with their children. The holidays of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter or Resurrection Day are included in the study, as well as the events leading up to Jesus' ascension to Heaven. Of all of the people and history that I would like for our children to understand and remember, it is the life of Jesus and His sacrifice that is most important. Easter is on April 16th this year, and this unit study lasts for four weeks, so the study can begin in the middle of March, and be completed with the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection! Until the end of March, the Easter Unit Study will be specially priced at only $10.95 on CD or by direct download.
Book Reviews:
Easter Unit Study, reviewed by Larissa McKay, Eclectic Homeschool Online
“Amanda Bennett has taken her popular unit study series to the next level by moving it to CD-ROM. Booklovers, stick with me; even you will be able to appreciate the move…. “ Click here to read the entire review.
Athletes of the Bible, reviewed by Tammy Cardwell, Eclectic Homeschool Online
“I never cease to be amazed by the topics Amanda Bennett finds for her studies. This one is exceptional -a study most might never think of on their own, but one almost guaranteed to interest our athletically-minded boys and girls….” Read the complete review here.
Create a Garden Tablecloth
For those of you getting ready to begin the garden study, consider creating a garden tablecloth as part of your study. You can use a white or light color pastel twin size sheet and indelible paint or markers for this work of art, making sure that you keep newspaper or plastic under the sheet in case the markers bleed through the sheet! On the sheet, the students can plan the garden layout, list the types of seeds or plants planted, draw diagrams of the plants as they grow, and make plans for the fruits of their labor. Recipes for pizza, salsa, and other cooking from the garden adventures can be added to the cloth. Eventually, the tablecloth will tell the story of your family’s garden in 2006. Pull out the tablecloth from time to time over the years to laugh and remember the times of their lives…
Going Digital with Homeschool Curriculum!
We are happy to announce that we’ve teamed up with HomeschoolEStore.com and now offer the Easter Unit Study and the Gardens Unit Study as secure eBooks on a new website that is the only website that specializes in digital homeschool curriculum. Check out our eBook educational products right now by visiting www.homeschoolestore.com
This dynamic and user friendly site employs the latest Adobe server technology, allowing us to make our products available to you at an affordable price - completely free of shipping costs. By using HomeschoolEStore.com, your unit studies will now be effortlessly stored, as small, easy-to-use files on computer or disc, to be viewed or printed at your convenience.
Top of My Book Pile:
For those of you who might not know, I love books! I am a voracious reader when time permits, and many of you have been asking about the books that I am reading now.
Family Countdown to Easter: A Day-by-Day Celebration
By Debbie Trafton O'Neal, illustrated by Viki Woodworth / Augsburg / Fortress
Families will love welcoming each new day as they "count down to Easter" together! Both an activity book and a calendar, Family Countdown to Easter is filled with fun, fascinating facts, and colorful stickers. Each day features a fun fact and an activity. Plus there are colorful self-adhesive stickers that combine to create an Easter picture as you mark off each day of the season. This is the perfect get-ready-for-Easter book for families with children.
The Case for Easter
By Lee Strobel / Zondervan Corp.
Priced to give away, this "investigation" into Christ's death answers three crucial questions seekers ask: Was Jesus' death a sham? Was his tomb really empty? Was he seen alive after his death on the cross? Strobel's award-winning skills as a legal journalist will persuade even the most hard-boiled skeptics to reconsider Jesus' death and resurrection. 95 pages, softcover from Willow.
Dangerous Wonder
By Michael Yaconelli / Nav Press
My favorite book on the nightstand right now, this book bypasses the rules surrounding faith that we've come to accept and examines childlike qualities--wonder, curiosity, oblivion, trust, passion, selfishness, naivete, humility, and love--that should be the characteristics of faith. Experience the wonder and awe of a relationship with Christ through Dangerous Wonder. I am surprised by just how far we have moved from the wonder of God and His creation, and this book has made me remember what it is like to live with Dangerous Wonder!
My South: A People, A Place, A World of Its Own
Based in the works by Robert St John; edited by Bryan Curtis
ISBN: 1401602177 / Publisher: Rutledge Hill Press /Thomas Nelson
Have you ever found a book that makes you nod in agreement as you read the pages? For those of you that are not from the South, please indulge me for a moment as I share about this book. It is a breath-taking collection of thoughts and photos of the South that is my home. The friends that I have shared it with have fallen in love with the book – my mom is already planning on purchasing it for Christmas gifts! From the front flap:
“Welcome to My South. If you want to know where My South is located, you will not find it on a map. My South resides in the hearts and minds of its people. This book was made possible through the talent of more than fifty southerners who have shared their funny, touching, and poignant views of the Southland.”
Some of my favorite lines from the collection include:
“In my South, we all wear shoes – most of the time.”
“In my South, when moms tell kids not to be ugly, it doesn’t have anything to do with their appearance.”
“In my South, ‘round here’ is an exact location.”
“In my South, sometimes our sentences do end in prepositions – get over it.
“My South is a place where I learned to slow down in order to keep up.”
Learning Links:
Spring Coloring Book
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/spring/mspringposter.htm
Happy Spring Placement
http://www.janbrett.com/place_mats/happy_spring_coloring_place_mat.htm
Make Your Own March Windsock
http://www.almanac.com/holidays/spring/windsock.html
Make Your Own Kite
http://www.skratch-pad.com/kites/make.html
Kite Making from the Outdoor Handy Book (scroll down)
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/spring/kites/
Spring Coloring Pages
http://edupics.com/coloring-pages-pictures-book-spring-103.htm
Psalms 72:6 Coloring Page
http://akidsheart.com/holidays/spring/ps72_6c.htm
Starting Seeds
http://www.almanac.com/holidays/spring/startingseeds.html
What's My Blog?
www.homeschoolblogger.com/amandabennett
See you there!
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."
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So glad to see your entry~I've been wondering about ya! What wonderful ideas, as always! (((((HUGS))))) sandi
ReplyDeleteMrs. Bennett! You share a birthday with my middle son~he'll be six April 2nd!!! HOW NEAT! Now I'll NEVER forget your birthday~LOL! (((((HUGS))))) sandi
ReplyDelete