Oh boy! More Black Friday deals!

I absolutely love Black Friday deals.  It doesn't matter what you are looking for, since everything is on sale! Whether you are looking for a toy for a special little someone, exercise equipment to stay trim during the fattening holidays, or are in the market for tv tables to house a brand new TV for the Superbowl this winter, you are bound to find a deal on just what you want.

I've always been a bargain shopper; it is so addictive and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling!  So, when there there is a whole week of bargains all over the place, well...it makes me all giddy and tingly!

I did a product review for CSN stores recently.  Shopping with them was a great experience.  If you've never tried them or are looking for some bargains for another purchase, this week is a great time as they are running Black Friday Deals!  Check out the bargains...

http://www.csnbaby.com/holidaydeals

http://www.everygameroom.com/holidaydeals 

http://www.fitnessequipmentandmore.com/holidaydeals

http://www.toysandgamesonline.com/holidaydeals

Look for another product review for CSN to come soon!  In the meantime, happy shopping!

New lapbook supplies are available!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was working on some new products for lapbooking and notebooking.  You can read a bit of background here. I'm happy to say that I am now up and running, ready for orders!  You can see what I have available at Pear Educational Products. I apologize for my lack of ability in making the website anything more than the basics...that is the next learning curve I'll be heading down.  For now, functional will have to work.  Of course, if you need more pictures or have any questions, you are free to contact me.

Now, to share a bit about the products and how they are different from other products.  For starters, you need to read Sheri's post about a couple of the items over at Scrapbooks and Lapbooks. Oh my...what a creative lady!  She has been a great influence on me on understanding the needs of those that lapbook, notebook, and scrapbook.  Sadly, I don't do any myself.  However, after seeing some of Sheri's projects, I want to start!

I'm currently offering six different products, all designed with special features to solve frustrations with lapbooking.

I have two different folder bases to replace those ugly manila folders.  The first is the Fold-Up Project Base, sold in a pack of 5.

Heavy white cardstock

Gives you a larger working area over manila folders with no ugly center creases

Each fold is double-scored to accommodate thicker items added to the base and allow the folder to close easily

The second folder base, the Fold-Up Project Base Plus,  is identical, but has an extra flap for even more space.  While I'm not a regular lapbooker, I have made a few in the past.  One of them required me to tape an extra piece to the folder and let me say, the end result wasn't too pretty!  That experience inspired the base below.

Top flap is double-scored as are the other folds.

Now, Sheri told me a big problem lapbookers have is how to store all those great lapbooks for future viewing.  Apparently, some take duct tape (gasp!) to help with the storage problem.  No more ugly duct tape with my next product, the Project Base Adhesive Strips.

These strips have mylar-enforced holes and a very strong adhesive.

Much prettier than duct tape!

Keep all your labbooks secure in a binder

The Project Base Adhesive Strips are included with the Fold-Up Project Base products, or can be purchased separately.

My last three products were originally inspired by reading a post by Tristan of Our Busy Homeschool. She had highlighted a lapbook that her daughter made that was in a spiral book form, rather than a folder.  I have three sizes: 6" x 8", 9 1/2" x 11", and 12" x 12".

All of the spiral books have extra large spirals to allow the book to expand as items are added.

The white spiral is a standard size. Our spiral (in black) gives more room for adding items to the pages.

The 6" x 8" notebooks were requested by Tristan, for her little ones with little hands, and by Sheri, for her art appreciation books.

The 9 1/2" x 11" book, which is slightly larger than a standard piece of paper, was a suggestion for all those notebookers out there. It allows for easy transfer of other work into one nice spiral-bound book. The 12" x 12" was to help lapbookers take advantage of all those great scrapbooking supplies and for those extra-special and large projects.  Both of these books also have a double pocket in the page to hold extra items, either during the book construction or for extra items that went with the study.

Of course, while these products were designed for lapbooks, they can be used for any project.  They'd be great for a personalized book or as an art sketch book.  Really, you are only limited by your imagination! To read more or to order, head on over to Pear Educational Products. I am certainly open to suggestions for new sizes and products. Feel free to contact me with any ideas. In the meantime, I hope all of you lapbookers enjoy these products.  Seeing all the amazing ways you document learning is truly inspiring!

Save the Becky Thatcher House with a simple vote!

Becky Thatcher.  Many are familiar with Becky Thatcher, the character in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer that stole Tom's heart.  However, did you know that Mark Twain based this character on a real person?

Several years ago my daughter won a scholarship to go to Hannibal, MO, the hometown of Mark Twain, for a writing camp about the famous author.  As part of her experience, she was able to tour the Becky Thatcher house, the residence of the girl that inspired the character.  The house is in need of repairs and Henry Sweets, curator of the Mark Twain Museum, contacted my daughter and other past scholarship recipients to spread the word about potential $250,000 grant to help repair the home.  All it requires is your daily vote. My daughter is quite passionate about this cause, as she has very fond memories of her visit to Hannibal.  You can read her pleading post here.

I agree, it would be great if the grant could be awarded to repair the home.  Below are the instructions on how to vote, which can be done daily through November.  What an easy way to save a bit of history for future generations!

STEP 1

Each person can vote once a day by Facebook or computer and once a day by sending a text message. Here’s how:

On computer go to http://www.refresheverything.com/savemarktwain and click “Vote for this Idea.”

For Facebook, look for the button “Log in with Facebook.”

By computer, hit “Vote for this Idea.” You will put in your email address and then register. Registering takes about two minutes and registers a password for you. Then each day when you go to vote, you only need your email address and password to cast your ballot.

STEP 2

A separate vote can be texted in by texting 104141 to Pepsi at 73774. 

On our way to the State Championship!

Last week, I talked a bit about our learning experience with First Lego League and the great group of middle schoolers I'm coaching this year.  At the time of that post, our team of 10 had just attended a practice tournament.  At the FLL tournaments, there are numerous trophies handed out.  FLL wants the tournaments to be very encouraging and there are numerous subcategory awards, as well as recognition for the top teams overall. Essentially, just under half of the teams come home with one trophy or another. While the team did great at the practice tournament, they did not come home with a trophy and were a little disappointed.  When I looked a the final scoring, I could see how fabulous they did.  They actually outranked overall many of the teams that did come home with a trophy.  Some of those teams ranked high and one category, and were recognized for it, but when you looked at the other categories they weren't as strong.  Our team was pretty steady across the board and ranked in the top 25% overall.  It was a great showing, but not enough to get a trophy in any particular area.  I explained this to the team, but sometimes kids just need to see something tangible as recognition.

This past Saturday was our Qualifying Tournament - the real deal.  I really wanted the kids to focus on having fun and simply celebrating their accomplishments as a team.  As a result, we had a celebration pizza party the night before and they all arrived at the tournament simply happy to be there.

The team's table display explaining the research project.

A visit from the Dean of Engineering

My daughter being interviewed by the university's newspaper

A practice run of the robot's program in between challenges.

Getting some fresh air on a break in the university's botanical garden.

A tense moment after the robot was dropped just before a challenge.

My son (left) and teammate during a robot challenge.

Line dancing while the final scores are tabulated.

The kids went in confident, but I think lacking a trophy from the weekend before didn't make them overly optimistic.  I, on the other hand, was quite confident they'd be in the top five teams and advance to the State Championship, though I'll admit to some self-doubt looming in the back of my mind.  This was a smaller tournament and I saw were they ranked against some of the other teams in the practice tournament, but you never know how the others improved over the week or other teams coming in that weren't at the practice.  However, even I was surprised at the final outcome.

First Place Presentation Performance

First Place Robot Performance

AND

 First Place Championship Award!!!

Now we're on to the State Championship in December.  Regardless of what happens there, I'm so happy that this group of middle schoolers was able to embrace the essence of First Lego League: to have fun, to learn, and to extend profressional graciousness to the other teams.  Of course, a little recognition with some shiny trophies is nice too.

How do you socialize your children?

How many times have you been asked this question and how many times has the inquirer been intent on not listening to your answer?  I always crack up when people ask about socialization in the same breath of commenting how polite, pleasant, well-spoken, friendly, (insert other evidence of well-socialized children) my children are, yet continue to stick with their opinions regardless of what I answer or what they can view with their own eyes.

I think we've all experienced conversations like the one in the following video, haven't we?

SisterTipster's Carmex giveaway

SisterTipster over a Tell'n It is hosting a Carmex package giveaway. The winter's here are cold and dry, so I'd love to win, which is why I'm sharing here to up my chances! So, enter if you must...but I'm ok if you decide you'd like to pass on this one and give those of us with dry lips and hands better odds! :)

I've been nominated as a misfit!

I mentioned earlier that Lori over at Hearthside Homeschool Reviews was hosting blogger awards that were more my style than other awards, the Homeschool Misfit Awards.

Now, since most people are a little shy about calling someone else a misfit, the idea was to nominate yourself in those categories to which you could most relate.  Really, it was a bit difficult since I'm not a single category misfit!  I eventually decided that The Harried Homeschool Award and the Meme Forgotten Award were the most fitting.  I always have grand ideas of things to blog about, often composing them in my head.  Alas, most of them never get posted.  The Meme Forgotten Award is quite related...I have good intentions, but I either forget the day I'm supposed to post or just get sidetracked.

Speaking of sidetracked...someone else nominated me for The "Squirrel" Award.  This award goes to the blogger who starts off on one topic and then takes off in several directions.  My goodness.  I have no idea what in the world this person was thinking. Me? Stray off topic?  Clear communication is so important; why just the other day I was telling my daughter that she really needs to focus when explaining something.  This is why I want my kids in a speech and debate class.  A friend told me of one nearby...oh....wait.  Ahem.

So now that I've admitted that I'm a bit harried, forgetful *and* ADD, I'd be honored if you voted for me (click below)! I'd be happy to represent misfit homeschoolers.  After all, if I can be a misfit and homeschool, you can too! Denim jumpers not required (and dare I say discouraged?)!




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