TOS Review of The World's Greatest Stories- and a Giveaway!

I first learned about George W. Sarris and The World's Greatest Stories from the blog In a Shoe.  I think this was about a year ago.  Since then we've purchased and listened to all of his Bible stories.  The World's Greatest Stories is not just another Bible story CD, though.  Several things set these CDs apart from and above other Bible story CDs.

First of all, they're not just stories, but word for word Bible.  That's right, they are completely unchanged in any way.  Pure Bible.  You can read along, if you like.  Both KJV or NIV are available.  We listen to the NIV.  As a Christian parent, I want to get as much Bible into my children's minds and hearts as possible.  This is a great way to supplement the Bible reading and memory you do as a family.

Secondly, The World's Greatest Stories is a dramatic reading of God's Word.  It's full of sound effects and mood-setting music.  And you wouldn't believe it's only one person reading the Bible.  George Sarris sounds like an entire cast of voices bringing the Bible to life in each story!  You really do have to listen to believe it.

Six volumes are available for purchase at only $7.95 each.  They are as follows:

Volume 1:  The Prophets- The Blazing Furnace, The Handwriting on the Wall, Daniel in the Lion's Den, Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, and The Prophecy of Jonah.

Volume 2:  Life of Christ- The Real Story of Christmas, The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus, The Healing of the Blind Man, Some of the Things Jesus Said and Did, and The Real Story of Easter.

Volume 3:  Beginnings- In the Beginning, A Lame Man in Lystra, A Jailer in Philippi, The Story of Ruth, and The Raising of Lazarus.

Volume 4:  Joshua and Esther- Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, and the Book of Esther.

Volume 5:  Joseph and his Brothers

Volume 6:  Defeating Giants-  David and Goliath, Naaman the Leper, Micaiah and Jehoshaphat, The Sacrifice of Isaac, and Gideon and His 300 Men.

To make a purchase or to see which Scripture passages are covered in each volume, see The World's Greatest Stories product page. 

Our family has enjoyed The World's Greatest Stories so much that I want to give away several of our favorite volumes. 

I have one copy each of volumes 1, 2, and 6 that I want to give away.  Each of the following qualifies as one entry:  Comment below, follow my blog or tell me if you already do in a comment, announce the giveaway on your blog and comment with a link, post about the giveaway on facebook or twitter and comment with a link.  Winners will be announced Thursday December 22nd.

The World's Greatest Stories is fun for the whole family.  You don't want to miss out on these Bible readings!



Check out other TOS Reviews of The World's Greatest Stories.

Disclaimer:  I received one volume free along with a sample CD in exchange for an honest review.  I've purchased at least a dozen other volumes for our home library and to give to friends.

One year blog anniversary giveaway and reflections!!

This week marks my one year blog anniversary.  I have several gifts that I want to give you, my faithful blog friends.  First let me say, "Thanks."

I started blogging as an easy way to keep track of family pictures, a short-cut to scrapbooking or something like that.  I had no idea that I would meet so many women who would inspire, challenge, and encourage me.  I've found friendship with other homeschooling moms, learned from their experience, and made our homeschool better.  I've learned about countless homeschool resources that have been a blessing to us.  I've been challenged to be a more godly wife and mother, to become more of a producer in the kitchen, and to read my Bible in 90 days, twice!  I've even met several of you in real life and found you're even better in person!  And blogging has reminded me that I love to write!  (The memories of the Daisy typewriter are all coming back to me now!)

In addition to winning friendship and encouragement, I've won some amazing prizes since getting into blogging!  In the last year, I've won a $50 Sonlight gift card, the NCFIC Sufficiency of Scripture 2009 conference complete audio set (I've so enjoyed listening to this!!!), two Christian fiction books, and a fabulous collection of homemade pre-school learning activities.  Since I've received so much this last year, I want to give something back to you.

The gifts for my anniversary giveaway are:

$50 Sony Style Gift Card- visit http://www.sonystyle.com/ to see the wide selection of gifts available for purchase with this card.

$25 Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card

$25 Barnes and Noble gift card

Encouragement for the Homeschool Family 8 Session CD Audio Seminar by Steve and Teri Maxwell

Feed My Sheep:  A Practical Guide to Daily Family Bible Time by Steve Maxwell (2 CDs)

Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Studies for Kids:  Jesus in the Spotlight John 1-10 by Kay Arthur

The Royal Attributes of God devotional in English and Spanish

To enter comment below on your favorite post, series, or theme that I've written about in the last year.  What did you like about it?  Did it make you think or was it an encouragement to you?  Be sure to include your email address in your comment or you can send me your email privately through the Contact tab at the top of my blog if you'd prefer.  You can also comment about topics you hope I'll address in the next year. 

As a sneak peak, here's what I'm interested in and already planning to write on:  more creation science- molecular and genetics arguments, cannonization of Scripture- I've been interested in this topic for a while and have a couple of books on my nightstand waiting for my attention, more theology of adoption- I'll save these for October, more Christ in the Old Testament filed under the Advent topic- I never get tired of making these connections, maybe some more on drugs- some of my favorite topics are indiscriminate use of antibiotics, stimulant treatment of ADHD, and dangers of anti-depressants especially SSRIs, and I'm interested in learning more about genetically modified foods.  What do you think?  Have I missed some exciting and interesting topics?  What are you interested in right now?

I'll draw 7 winners on the evening of Thursday September 2nd.  The first winner will get to pick their prize, then the second winner will get to pick from what's left and so on.  If I don't hear from a winner within 24 hrs then I'll move on to the next winner so I can get everyone their prizes ASAP.  Thanks for participating and for adding a lot of fun and encouragement to my year!

Don't forget to enter to win my $25 Chocomize custom chocolate giveaway!

I'm really surprised I've only had 3 friends enter my $25 Chocomize custom chocolate giveaway! 

Come on, isn't chocolate a woman's best friend?  I know it's mine.  In fact, I called my husband at work yesterday and confessed that I was eating his custom candy bar- the one with peanut m&ms and coffee grounds that I designed just for him.  I know, I've sunk to a new low.  Can I blame it on pregnancy hormones?

It's simple to enter.  Just go to my blogfrog community and either join a discussion there or start a new one.  I'll announce a winner in my blogfrog community Saturday evening.  This Saturday evening, so enter now.


See how much fun my family had with ours?

Still not convinced?  Go to Chocomize and see how wonderful it is then go to my blogfrog community and enter.

Custom chocolate giveaway!!!

I entered a really cool giveaway at Life as Mom recently for Chocomize, a company that customizes chocolate bars.  I didn't win, but Twinkle Toes and I went to the website to check it out and ended up ordering custom chocolate for everyone in our family!  It was a ton of fun and would be perfect for gifts, too.

I selected milk chocolate with peanut m&ms and coffee grounds for my husband and milk chocolate with dried raspberries for myself (see how health conscious I am).  Twinkle Toes had fun choosing chocolate bars for herself and each of the kids.  You can select from a variety of nuts, berries, candy, edible messages (like happy birthday, etc.), spices (strange, I know.), and other ingredients (like cookie dough) to make the perfect chocolate bar.  It's about 105 degrees here today (thus the swim suits), but our candy bars made it unmelted thanks to the cooling inserts Chocomize packs inside its boxes.

Since it's better to give than to receive, I'm giving away a $25 Chocomize e-gift card to one of my followers. 

I'm leaving town in a few days so I'll pick a winner Saturday night August 7th. 

To enter: 

Go to my blogfrog community and either reply to a conversation already started or start a new discussion.  I'm especially interested in the following topics:  Christian parenting, homeschool, family worship, adoption, and the Bible.  Of course, I can always talk about books and I've had pregnancy on the brain lately.  I really want to interact more with my followers and am hoping this will be a good way.

I'll announce the winner in my blogfrog community so don't forget to check back Saturday night!

Oh, and I have two more giveaways coming up soon in honor of my almost one year blogging anniversary.

Our devotional shelf and a giveaway

Since we have family worship in our living room, we've naturally begun collecting a few devotionals there to guide us.  I love this little shelf that sits between BigD's chair and mine.  It's just perfect for housing our Bible, hymn book, Bible storybook and devotionals.  Now they're right at our fingertips when we need them!

(No, she's not supposed to be drinking that in the living room.)

Speaking of devotionals, I've got a wonderful book on the attributes of God that's written in both English and Spanish.  Our friend illustrated the book in the Spanish style with bright colors.  This is a great little devotional on the attributes of God, but it would be especially helpful for kids who are studying Spanish. 

As you can see, the English is on one side with Spanish on the opposite page.  The attribute is briefly defined at the top of the page in italics, followed by an easy to understand description given in several paragraphs, and one or two verses at the bottom for memory or study.

Here's how you can win this devotional book:

Hop on over to my blogfrog community and join in the discussion on family worship.  Each comment gets one entry.  It's that simple.  I'll pick a winner after we've had a good discussion.

Thanks for joining in the conversation!  I know you won't leave me talking to myself- those conversations are always so one-sided!

Winners of the 90 Day Bible Giveaway!!

I was so excited that 31 people brave enough to try the 90 Day Bible Challenge commented for a chance to win a 90 Day Bible that I decided I'd throw in 2 more 90 Day Bibles. 

The 3 winners are...

Commenter #5- Laura

Commenter #22- Cindy

Commenter #27- Marcy- Please leave me a comment on this post with your email address so I can get your Bible to you ASAP.

Congrats!!!   

To everyone who entered, thanks so much and please let me know if there's any way I can encourage you before or during the 90 day challenge. 

90 Day Bible Giveaway!!

I told you I was planning on doing another giveaway in the near future, but I didn't know the future was this near!  And I said I'd probably offer a book, but I didn't know it'd be The Good Book!  I just learned I get to host a giveaway for an official 90 Day Bible!

I've already challenged you to read the Bible in 90 days with me, but now I have an exciting offer that I hope you can't refuse. 

I signed up with Amy at Mom's Toolbox to be a 90 Day Bible Challenge mentor this summer.  There's a new crop of bloggers beginning the 90 Day Bible Challenge July 5, so if you didn't get started June 1 with me, it's not too late to read the Bible this summer!  And the best part is if you're interested in trying to read the Bible in 90 days, you can enter here to win a free 90 Day Bible.

Here's why I loved using the official 90 Day Bible my first time through:

1.  Easy translation.  I normally use the NKJ version, but loved reading through in the NIV.  I think it made the reading go a bit faster and made it more interesting.

2.  Great for writing in.  Don't you feel almost guilty drawing or writing notes in your big leather-bound, onion skin thin and gilded page Bible?  I do, but I didn't feel bad at all writing in the margins of my 90 Day Bible, which really looks and feels more like just a book.

3.  Light weight.  Most Bibles have maps and dictionaries, and many also include study notes or pictures.  The 90 Day Bible is so thin my husband and I first thought it was abridged.  (I have no idea what parts of the Bible we thought had been left out- imagine that job!)  Anyway, we couldn't believe it was the WHOLE Bible.  It seemed much less intimidating than trying the challenge with my big, thick study Bible.

Comment below if you're interested in doing the 90 Day Bible Challenge and want to enter to win an official 90 Day Bible.  The winner will be announced Wednesday June 23rd to allow plenty of time to get the Bible to you before July 5th.

And the winner is...

And the winner is...

Anita!

Congrats!  Hope you find something wonderful to spend your $50 Lowes giftcard on!

Thank you to all of you who entered.  I'm going to try to get back to more frequent giveaways. 

My next one will probably be a book.

Great home improvement giveaway!!! $50 Lowes giftcard

It's been almost 4 months since my last giveaway!  I'm way overdue!

I don't know about you, but summertime is home improvement time around our house, especially when I'm pregnant.  I've shared with you about our bedroom switching schemes which will involve building a closet and will most likely also involve building a loft bed for Measle and Baby Lu to share.  What do you think of these ideas?

From The New Kidspace Idea Book by Wendy A. Jordan, p. 90.  The complete package looks

a little busy to me considering our small space, but I like the general set-up of loft bed over toddler

with maybe a desk underneath.  I also like the storage space for books or toys adjacent to the loft bed.

 

We might have to overlap the beds a bit more than this, and I shudder to think what my

girls would do with closed cabinets, but I like the general lay-out.  Photo from

http://www.treehugger.com/italian-loft-bed.jpg.

I don't know if you can tell, but the above two pictures are of the same loft bed system. 

I was thinking we could use it folded up as in the first picture while Baby Lu is a toddler

and then unfold it when Measle has a friend spend the night or if we wanted to keep

using it when Lu graduates to a twin bed.  Big D would also paint this loft bed.   

Photos from http://www.loft-bed.co.uk/.

Now, to cut to the chase...

Here's how to enter to win a $50 Lowe's giftcard:

1.  This contest is for followers of my blog only, if you're reading this you probably already follow, but if not, now's a good time to sign-up.  (I feel I owe a little something to my faithful followers now and then.  If you've been reading me for long you understand why :).

2.  Comment below either on which loft bed idea you like best and why or tell me about your summer home improvement plans.

3.  For an additional chance to win, blog about this giveaway and tell me in a second comment.  Please link to your blog from the comment.

4.  For yet another chance to win, tweet or facebook about this giveaway and tell me in a third comment.

The winner will be randomly drawn and announced on Friday June 18th.  Please make sure I can contact you through your comment so I can notify you if you win.  Good luck and I can't wait to see what projects you all have going on!

Happy Early Valentine's Day and How well do you know me?

And the winners of Love in the House by Chris and Wendy Jeub are...

(The Amy above was the first Amy, without the W.)


Marsha, you're the only one I don't know how to contact, so please leave me your email and I'll get in touch with you. Congrats to all of you! I hope you enjoy your book! Thank you to all of you who entered- hopefully if you didn't win this time, you will next time. (Valerie- I was just glad you didn't win, AGAIN :-)

Remember when I asked you how well you thought you knew me?

About half of you guessed right. Mine is the terribly crumpled one that always has a goopy glob of toothpaste oozing out the top. I do normally buy Colgate so that I don't have to worry with a lid, but even the attached lid ends up hanging there limply after a few days.

For those of you who thought better of me, thank you. If you had read my post on how I dress, you might have had a heads up!

After posting the picture of our toothpaste tubes I asked my mom if she knew which was mine. She said, "Of course." I couldn't believe she would know. (Did I really think I had successfully hidden that side of myself for 18 years?) So I asked her how she could be so sure. She said, "Because your dad's looks just like it." It must be in the genes. I'm destined to have messy toothpaste for the rest of my life. I can live with that.

Special Valentine Giveaway for my Friends!!!

This has absolutely nothing to do with my creation science series, but Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. (Would somebody please gently remind my husband of this?) Anyway, since it’s the season for love, I wanted to share the love, the Jeub’s love that is. I bought their book Love in the House a year or so ago and have really enjoyed it. They have lots of wisdom to offer in the form of child training secrets and how to have more on less cost-saving tips. They were running a special offer on their website the other day so I bought a few more copies of their first book in order to get a free copy of Wendy’s new book Love in a Diet. So I want to share the love with you.

I am giving away Chris and Wendy Jeub’s Love in the House to 4 of my faithful followers. If you’re interested in a delightful book about a mega-family that has lots of love to share, then comment below to be entered to win. Be sure and tell me if you’ve copied my button to your blog for two additional entries. I’ll draw 4 names tomorrow night at midnight.

Please leave a way for me to contact you or be sure to check back to see if you won! Happy early Valentine’s Day!

3 Giveaways for my Followers!!!

I've been neglecting you faithful friends. I've got three great giveaways to try to butter you up. (Since my series on the family-integrated church is drawing to a close, I've got another one waiting just around the corner.)

Here are the giveaways:

1. Barnes and Noble $25 gift card

2. Chilis/On the Border $25 gift card

3. Family Reformation by Scott T. Brown (A great book about what the Reformers taught on the family. It's amazing how much the author was able to glean from writings and sermons of Luther, Calvin, and other Reformers. Some of the topics I've covered such as family worship and catechism are dealt with in greater detail. It's nice to know the Reformers did not have perfect churches, but struggled with many of the same issues we do today.)

Here's what you do to enter the giveaways:

Comment below if you are a follower and guess what my next series is going to be about. Don't forget to mention which giveaway you're interested in and be sure and leave a way for me to contact you.

The first person to correctly guess the subject of my next series wins the giveaway of their choice. The next person to correctly guess who chooses a different giveaway from the first person will win and so on until I have a winner for each of my giveaways.

What, drawing a blank? Ok, I'll give you a hint- my next series is going to be about something I've been interested in since the 8th grade. Still in the dark? One more hint- it spans many disciplines that all have one thing in common- their study bears testimony to the greatness of God and declare His glory. Now I've gone and given it away. Oh well, I guess that's the point!

And the Winner is....

Did you know I was having a giveaway? Then you're not alone because I didn't either :)


I decided to do something a little different with my gift card giveaway this time. Instead of asking for comments I decided to take a look at my faithful commenters and choose a winner who's encouraged me this month. It's hard to choose just one, but I have to pick Debi, otherwise known as BoufMom9, at Who says 8 is enough?. I know these Advent posts have been a little hard to wade through, trust me, they've been even harder for me to write! Debi has encouraged me this month by commenting on multiple posts in my Advent series. What a blessing that was for me to read!


So, Debi.... I hope you're out there. You've won a giveaway you didn't know you were entered in. You can choose whether you would like a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card or a $25 Chilis/On the Border/Macaroni Grill/Maggiano's gift card. Email me your address and which gift card you would like at spidel@suddenlink.net . And thank you for putting some spring in my step this month.


Thanks also to all you wonderful friends out there in the blog world who have been taking time out of your busy days to read my Advent posts. They've meant more to me than anything I've posted on thus far. I really appreciate those of you who have shared your thoughts with me!


Oh, and what will I do with the gift card Debi doesn't want? Hmmm, any suggestions? I think another giveaway is definitely in order. Check back for details, or maybe I'll just surprise you.

The Winner is.... and a new series on Advent

I'm so excited to announce the winner of my $25 Lowe's gift card giveaway is JenT! Yay- your 5 entries paid off!! Thank you to all of you who entered and check back often because I have two more giftcard giveaways coming up in December.

I really enjoy posting series and I've decided in honor of the Christmas season that I'm going to post on the Advent this month. Our word advent comes from the Latin word adventus which means "coming". Adventus in turn comes from the Greek word parousia which is commonly used in reference to the second coming of Christ. So, for Christians the Advent season before Christmas each year serves the dual purpose of looking back to the original waiting for our coming Messiah and also our current expectation of his imminent return.

You might be wondering why I chose this topic. First, like many Christians I get frustrated when I look around and see that Christmas has become largely a State holiday wrapped up in reviving the economy through rampant spending (whether we can afford to or not). My mom got a quote for putting up Christmas lights the other day- $700. They won't be putting up lights this year. Not that they can't afford it, but come on isn't this getting a little bit ridiculous? C.S. Lewis wrote an essay on the difference between Christmas and X-mas that was a warning for Christians in his time and has become even more true in our day.

The other reason I want to post on Advent this month is that I just love looking at Old Testament Scriptures in the light of the first coming of Christ our Saviour. In other words, I love reading Messianic prophesies in the OT that are satisfied in the NT. Verses that didn't even completely make sense until Christ's coming fulfilled them. We use the Desiring God Sunday School materials for our kids in church. The study that the 3rd graders and I are going through right now is called "In the beginning... Jesus". It has been such a blessing to be able to teach our children that Christ's coming was not a plan B for God, but that the entire Old Testament of the Bible points to the coming Messiah.

So, I hope you'll enjoy my little series on Advent and that together we'll put Christ back in Christmas, as if anyone can take Him out of it!

Share about the home project on your Christmas list for a chance to win a $25 Lowe's gift card

I wanted to do this last month, but when I sat down to write the post I couldn't find the gift card where I had left it. Frantic I called my husband at work and said, "Honey, you haven't seen my Lowe's gift card have you?" "Oh," he said, "It's in my wallet. I thought it was for me. Do you need it?" "No, that's ok," came my disappointed reply. However, you saw that he did put it to good use. I'm confident that there's no money better spent on a home than that spent on paint!

Now I know $25 doesn't go very far when it comes to home improvement, but maybe this is the little nudge your husband (or you if you're the do-it-yourselfer in your family) needs to get the ball rolling.

To enter to win the gift card simply comment below about the big home project on your to-do list this Holiday season. I don't know about you, but the parties and get-togethers always remind me of all those things we said we'd do on the house this year, but haven't.

You can earn additional entries by...

1. Following my blog.

2. Linking to my blog from yours.

3. Copying my button to your blog (let me know if you have trouble, sometimes it acts up.)

4. Blogging about your project, even if you haven't started it yet, and linking to this post.

So, that's 5 possible chances to win each entered by leaving a separate comment. I can't wait to hear about your projects! I'll draw the winner on next Friday so you have a week to come up with a project if you don't already have one (like that's possible!)

Now let me share with you my honey-do list. I'm really wanting my husband to paint my kitchen and bathroom cabinets. This is a big job. He has to take all the doors off sand them, spray them, sand them again, spray them again, and again, replace hinges, and reinstall them. It's not as simple as just painting them (which is what I would do and he doesn't like the end result:) I'm blessed to have such a conscientious husband!

I'm also going to post about a past favorite project of ours. Look for that this weekend.

Chili's / On the Border Gift Card Giveaway!!!

We’re leaving today on a road trip to Arkansas and Indiana. Big D hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to let me blog on vacation (I bought an html for dummies book in case I’m grounded from my laptop), so I thought I’d get this contest in before I go.

I have a $25 Chili’s/On the Border/Macaroni Grill/Maggiano’s gift card that I want to give away.

I am a very unimaginative cook. I’ve told you before that my goal in cooking is to feed my family well for as little money and time as possible. We’re usually at the swimming pool from 5-6 pm so I like having meals that can be cooking while we’re gone. There’s nothing like coming home with cold, wet, hungry kids to a house that smells like yummy dinner.

To enter the giveaway leave a comment with a delicious, low-cost, easy prep meal-in-one dish that can be prepared ahead of time. It can be a crock pot recipe or one that bakes in the oven for at least two hours.

I’ll draw the winner upon our return, which I think will be next Monday.

Family Worship and A Church in the House Giveaway

We haven't always done family worship in our home, but we're learning that these can be some of the most precious times with our children. We have several devotional aids that we use some evenings. Other times, like tonight, one of the kids reads from the Bible or a Bible storybook. It's also a wonderful opportunity for the kids to share with Daddy the Bible passages they've been memorizing, which is so much more meaningful than my just telling him. They all pretty much memorize the same verses since they use the same plan (Truth and Grace Memory Books edited by Thomas K. Ascol), but it's interesting that they want to share different ones. Tonight Twinkle Toes recited Psalm 23, Measle said Psalm 8 by herself for the first time, Mr. Monk quoted Ephesians 4:25-32 and American Boy said Genesis 1:1 (might as well start at the beginning, right?).

I have to confess that we normally wait to have worship after we put Baby Lu in bed, but she was unhappy in her crib this evening, so I got her out and let her join us. I'm so glad I did. Big D built a fire tonight, at the request of the kids, and Baby Lu was good as gold on my lap while Twinkle Toes read from the book of Joshua. I think everyone enjoyed it even more than usual with her there. She was not a distraction at all.

Big D and I grew up in church, but the concept of daily family worship is new to us. Mathew Henry preached and wrote about the importance of family worship over 300 years ago!! There truly is nothing new under the sun! Scott Brown has edited this little book by Mathew Henry called A Church in the House, to make it easily readable. It's very compelling and practical, too. I have two copies that I want to give to readers of my blog who are interested in family worship. I'll draw the winners late Saturday night since we're leaving town Monday morning.

To enter the giveaway simply comment on this post about what you do in your time of family worship. You can give the format you follow or devotional aids that you've found helpful. If you've been thinking about starting family worship in your home and haven't yet or if you haven't really given it that much thought until now, comment about why you'd be interested in this book or what's been holding you back. Maybe you're like us and just didn't think about it until you heard how wonderful it is from someone who's already doing it.

Here's what we've been doing in our family worship times:

Big D or Twinkle Toes (she always wants to read!) reads a passage from the Bible or Bible storybook followed by Big D asking some questions to make sure the kids understood what we read. Or I read a chapter from Wisdom and the Millers: Proverbs for Children by Mildred A. Martin, followed again by a Q&A time to insure the kids got the message.

Next we sing some hymns. Big D loves picking hymns and teaching them to the kids. Two or three hymns later Big D prays for our family.

Then we either drill the kids on catechism or verses from their TAG books, or we allow them to choose a longer Bible passage they've been working on that they'd like to share with the family.

This only takes us 20-30 minutes and also is a nice way to send the kids off to bed, instead of going bed to bed for individual tucks and prayers. We've absolutely loved family woship, especially the kids. I'm so grateful that the Lord brought books into our lives like The Duggars Twenty and Counting and A Church in the House to encourage us to take the plunge. I know you won't regret it if you do!

Story of the World Giveaway

One of the many benefits of homeschooling is that I get to keep on learning right alongside my kids. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I like history! Last summer I read some very interesting books about subjects as diverse as Arctic colonization and the American dust bowl, and you know what they shared in common? History. How can a person get to be my age and not know they love history? The boring public school system, that’s how. We use Sonlight curriculum and are studying World History this year. The kids and I look forward to our read aloud time everyday.

Sonlight World History part I (core 6) uses Susan Wise Bauer’s The Story of the World volume 1: Ancient Times and volume 2: The Middle Ages as primary texts that serve as the backbone that everything else attaches to for the World History core. This is actually our second year in a row to read Story of the World volumes one and two. Last year we were using Story of the World on its own for history and this year when I made the switch to Sonlight I found we were happy to read them again.

Here’s what I love about Story of the World. Susan Wise Bauer really does teach history through the telling of stories. For instance, the story of Lei Zu and the Silkworm which recounts how the sharp witted empress of China noticed that a silkworm’s cocoon is comprised of tiny threads when it fell into her hot tea one morning and began to unravel, is much more interesting and memorable than just reading in a text about the Chinese being the inventors of silk. The stories are fun to read and rather than focusing on the rote memorization of dates and names, they give an up close and personal look at what it might have been like to actually be there in that time and place in history.


I highly recommend The Story of the World series to anyone who is having trouble getting their kids interested in history. In fact, even if you aren’t homeschooling, this is an awesome read aloud series that’s fun for the whole family. Big D happened to be passing through the living room the other day while we were reading and it captured his attention causing him to sit down and listen to the rest of the story. It’s sure to capture the attention of your family, as well.


Here’s how you enter:

Comment on this post about how you make history come alive for your kids. I’m struggling with getting in our map and timeline activities. Any suggestions, other than just do it? I know I should probably put the map in a more visible location. Crafts and projects intimidate me, but I have a very artistic daughter who would probably learn well this way. Even if you’re not homeschooling, tell me how you get your kids interested in history. There will be two winners. First prize is for both volumes 1 and 2 of The Story of the World. Second prize is for volume 1 only. I’ll draw the winners Friday morning.

And the Winner is...

I realize some of you are going to lose all confidence in my process for selecting a winner. I wrote down all the names on slips of paper. Some of you had four or five slips with your name. The kids get to take turns drawing and today it was American Boy's turn. He's only 3 and can't read, yet. Not only that, but he doesn't know any of you.


So I admit I thought it more than a little strange when he picked...

I guess sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Valerie has won every contest I've had so far. She has been a faithful follower of my blog from the beginning and we've become friends, so I couldn't have been happier. She did add my button to her blog and post a link, so her name was in the bowl 5 times.

I don't need your address, Valerie. In fact, I think I have it memorized.

I want to thank everyone who entered! I so enjoyed reading all your insightful comments!

I do have another Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so stay tuned for more giveaway fun!

$25 Barnes and Noble Gift Card Giveaway!!!

I use my credit card points to get gift cards. Normally I await the Barnes and Noble gift cards eagerly, but right now I'm snowed under in books. I have so many books, I don't know what to do with them all (some duplicates will be appearing in upcoming giveaways). So, naturally I thought a blog giveaway would be fun.

The winner will be determined the morning of Thursday September 24th.

You can enter to win the $25 gift card as many as 7 times. Here's how:

1. Comment on one (or more) of my blog posts in my journey to becoming quiverfull series. You can earn up to 2 entries this way.

2. Copy my blog button to your blog (let me know if you've done this in a comment to this post).

3. Link from your blog to my series on becoming quiverfull (let me know in a comment to this post.)

4. Follow my blog (let me know in a comment to this post.)

5. Follow me on twitter (let me know in a comment to this post.)

6. Twitter (tweet?) or facebook about the quiverfull series and provide a link to one of the posts (let me know you've done this in a comment to this post.)

So you can have up to 5 comments (entries) on this post and up to 2 comments (entries) on my journey to becoming quiverfull posts.

I've just enjoyed writing this series so much that I want to share it! The fourth post in the series is forthcoming.