Amanda's  Corner
Super Summer  Sale
Book Suggestions for  Summer Reading
Fun & Learning  Links
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Amanda's  Corner 
 
Summertime, screen  doors slamming, fireflies flashing, watermelon seed spitting, and great food  grilling -- hurray, it is finally here! After a long winter and cool, wet  spring, we are enjoying a full-bloom summer here in Tennessee  . The drought is  officially over, the garden is growing, and the afternoon showers are amazing to  watch. 
I hope your summer is  getting off to a great start, too. Like many of you, I am finishing our  homeschool paperwork for this past year and looking forward to a break and some  time to rejuvenate and read and have some "me" time! I hope you get to have some  time to relax and give your mind a break from teaching and a hectic social  calendar.  
Some of our favorite  things to do during the summer included making seashell wreaths using seashells,  a grapevine wreath, and a low temperature hot glue gun. The wreaths were  beautiful and the kids had so much fun making them. We also made some  interesting things using the low temperature glue gun and boxes of wooden craft  sticks. We made more than our share of hand-painted patriotic t-shirts for fun  Fourth of July celebrations, too. A summertime favorite has always been ice  cream sundae night, where everyone gets to make their own creation of ice cream,  sauces, fruit, nuts, and whatever else they could come up with. I think I should  have taken more pictures of those evenings.  
Like you, we are  working hard to make our money stretch as far as possible. We've got a big  garden, we're making do with less, and we are getting very efficient in our  trips off of the farm, running as many errands as possible in a single trip.  Knowing you are going along the same path, we have just launched a big Summer  Surplus Sale   so  that you can save on curriculum for next year. More on the sale  below. 
 
Thanks for being there,  for your support and your friendship. Please let me know if you have ideas or  questions, and know that you are appreciated in a big  way!
Until next  time,
Amanda 
 
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On the following titles  on CD
Only $10 each & free shipping through June 11, 2009:
Only $10 each & free shipping through June 11, 2009:
Unit  Studies:
American Government Unit  Study
Baseball Unit Study
Digital Photography Unit Study
Gardens Unit Study
Horses Unit Study
Lighthouses Unit Study
Oceans Unit Study
Sailing Ships Unit Study
Pioneers Unit Study
Trains Unit Study
Christmas Unit Study
Thanksgiving Unit Study
Patriotic Holidays Unit Study
Baseball Unit Study
Digital Photography Unit Study
Gardens Unit Study
Horses Unit Study
Lighthouses Unit Study
Oceans Unit Study
Sailing Ships Unit Study
Pioneers Unit Study
Trains Unit Study
Christmas Unit Study
Thanksgiving Unit Study
Patriotic Holidays Unit Study
Heroes  of History:
Bible  Studies:
*Take advantage of these  special prices now -
sale prices are good  through June 11th or while supplies  last! 
 
Don't forget that  shipping is FREE through June 11th
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Book Suggestions for Summer  Reading 
 
For  Kids:
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant.  "In a rainbow-colored station wagon that smelled like a real car, the relatives  came. When they arrived, they hugged and hugged from the kitchen to the front  room. All summer they tended the garden and ate up all the strawberries and  melons. They plucked banjos and strummed guitars. When they finally had to  leave, they were sad, but not for long. They all knew they would be together  next summer." A Bennett family favorite, and yes, the relatives still come and  we have a wonderful time and a treasure trove of  memories! 
 
My Mama Had A Dancing Heart by Libba  Gray. "Captured by her mother's infectious love of dance, a young girl joyously  follows her mother in a dance through the seasons, from a frog-hopping, hello  spring ballet through a slow-motioned, snow-angel winter dance." Mothers and  daughters can have a very special relationship, and this book touches on that in  a beautiful and carefree way. 
Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe. "A young  boy is proud of having caught a jar full of fireflies, which seems to him like  owning a piece of moonlight, but as the light begins to dim he realizes he must  set the insects free or they will die." 
 
All the Places to Love by Patricia  Maclachlan. "Within the sanctuary of a loving family, baby Eli is born and, as  he grows, "learns to cherish the people and places around him, eventually  passing on what he has discovered to his new baby  sister."
For  Moms: 
 
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie  Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. "January 1946: writer  Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the  Guernsey  Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  And so begins a remarkable tale of the island  of Guernsey   during the German occupation, and  of a society as extraordinary as its name."
From Dust and Ashes, World War II  (Liberators Series #1) by Tricia Goyer. "It is 1945 and a group of American  soldiers liberate a Nazi concentration camp. Helene is the abandoned wife of an  SS guard who has fled to avoid arrest. Overcome by guilt, she begins to help  meet the needs of survivors. Throughout the process, she finds her own  liberation - from spiritual bondage, sin, and guilt. Readers will be intrigued  and touched by this fascinating story of love, faithfulness, and courage amidst  one of the darkest chapters of mankind's history." I loved this book, and now  I'm moving on to the next book in the series -- so glad that it is  summertime! 
 
The Centurion's Wife, by T. Davis Bunn  and Janette Oke. "Janette Oke has dreamed for years of retelling a story in a  biblical time frame from a female protagonist's perspective, and Davis Bunn is  elated to be working with her again on this sweeping saga of the dramatic events  surrounding the birth of Christianity...and the very personal story of Leah, a  young Jewess of mixed heritage trapped in a vortex of competing political  agendas and private trauma. Caught up in the maelstrom following the death of an  obscure rabbi in the Roman backwater of first-century Palestine, Leah finds  herself also engulfed in her own turmoil--facing the prospect of an arranged  marriage to a Roman soldier, Alban, who seems to care for nothing but his own  ambitions. Head of the garrison near Galilee, he has been assigned by Palestine  's governor to  ferret out the truth behind rumors of a political execution gone awry. Leah's  mistress, the governor's wife, secretly commissions Leah also to discover what  really has become of this man whose death--and missing body--is causing such  furor. This epic drama is threaded with the tale of an unlikely romance and  framed with dangers and betrayals from unexpected sources. At its core, The  Centurion's Wife unfolds the testing of loyalties--between two young people  whose inner searchings they cannot express, between their irreconcilable  heritages, and ultimately between their humanity and the Divine they yearn to  encounter."
Doesn't She Look Natural (Fairlawn  Series #1) by Angela Hunt. "How do you cope when God asks you to bury a dream?  In this new series by best-selling author Angela Hunt, readers will meet  Jennifer Graham, the no-nonsense chief of staff for a Virginia   senator who  quits her job after a divorce and finds herself an unemployed single mom. Forced  to live with her mother until she can find work on Capitol Hill that does not  involve her gregarious ex-husband, her efforts are stymied until she learns that  she has inherited a funeral home in picturesque Mt. Dora. Jennifer journeys to  the small Florida town with her two sons and her mother, never dreaming that  within a mortuary she will discover she has inherited a rewarding career that  teaches her far more about life than death." I've read and thoroughly enjoyed  the first two books in this series, and the third one is on my  nightstand! 
 
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Amanda's  Articles
Great news! I've been busy writing articles for  The Old Schoolhouse magazine, and  you can find them in the Spring issue and in other  upcoming issues this year. This magazine is one of the best resources available  to homeschooling families - consider it to be your professional journal. Check  out the great new subscription specials that they are offering, and then sit  back and enjoy the issues as they arrive in your mailbox. Save them - they are  definitely keepers!
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Fun & Learning  Links 
 
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