Links for a Sunday Nite

  • The Rusted Chain is giving away a gift certificate for her jewelry. Lovely hand-crafted jewelry. Hop over to enter! -Giveaway contest here
  • In Defense of Pollyanna, on the subject of book readers vs. book critics, hat-tip to Melissa Wiley
  • No Impact- thoughtful review of the book "No Impact Man" by Colin Beaven. I'd usually pass up this type of book, but Laughinglioness wrote a wonderful review, now I'm intrigued.
  • My ADHD pill went down the drain- over at Nancy Teaches. Our country is in dire need of teacher-advocates such as this one.


Elaine over at Our Crazy Life was so super sweet to give me this Sugar Doll award.

Here is what she said,

"I had to pick "Hen Jen" because I just know that if we didn't live on opposite ends of the country, we would be good friends! Her blog is full of great ideas for homeschooling! Some of her posts crack me up and others really make me think. I love that! You gotta check out her post about how she changed the world for a minute. "

I am all gooshy inside because she thought of me and wrote those nice things. Elaine writes about family life, home, and homeschooling her very adorable 3 sons. She does a great job documenting the different projects and activities they do, hop over and visit, you will be glad you did!

Finally, in honor of Mother's Day, I leave you with this classic;


Sunday link up fun

Edible teacups! Have a tea party and eat the cups just like Alice!

Dandelion Flower paintbrush cards from Simple Kids. A simple craft, just in time for Mother's Day!

Looking into his eyes, what if part II by Prairie Lily Arts. The blog has quickly become one of my favorites, her posts are beautiful, well-spoken and will make you think. All of this, in a good, soul-growing way.

Bubble Wrap app for iphone. We've got it all. My brother-in-law showed it to me, yes he has it on his phone...

Tips & Toy Guide: Entertaining kids when traveling or doing errands over at Quirky Momma, she has some great picks highlighted and a giveaway.

Princess Party Giveaway!

It's giveaway time here at Home!

Win a Calling all Princesses party set!


I am giving away a

  • Calling All Princesses 12 Invitations & 12 Thank You Notecards box
  • and a Calling All Princesses matching *24 cupcake cases & 24 assorted toppers box

*see photo above. Not included is the cute princess bunting highlighted at Amie's B-day party, but you can order it at the Meri Meri card store

Giveaway ends Monday night, May 3rd at 10p.m. pacific time

How to enter

1. simply leave a comment under this post. Bloggers heart comments!

to get extra entries:

2. tweet this giveaway with a link in your tweet to this giveaway post. You may tweet once every day. Each day you tweet, leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet and your handle *this is the only comment you may do more than once.

3. Become a google friend connect follower: click the button on the right margin, above all the faces. If you are already a follower, that counts too! Leave a separate comment saying "I am now a follower" or "I already follow".

4. Follow me on twitter. Click the little blue "t" button top right margin. Leave a separate comment saying "I am following you on twitter" with your handle. If you already follow, that counts, too- just leave a comment saying so with your handle.

5. Join my facebook page, click the blue "f" button top right margin. Leave a separate comment saying you are a facebook fan.

6. Post this giveaway on your facebook page. This post is only good for one comment-entry. Leave a separate comment saying you posted the contest on your fb page.

That's it! It is as easy as just leaving a simple comment, or you can go for extra entries
by doing steps 2- 6.

contest is good for U.S. or Canadian addresses only, winner will be picked by random generator. Please leave your email if your comment is not linked already to a blog or email- so I can contact you if you win. Retail value of this prize is $37.95 This is not a sponsored giveaway.

**note, I've switched my blog to its own domain, while it is in transition, the google friend box is missing from the blogspot page, but if you click the "home" tab at the top, it will take you to the homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com page, and the google friend box is there, somehow...don't ask me how this all works, I have nooo idea!!**

good luck! :)

San Juan Capistrano Strike, with teachers still out, here are some resources for parents

San Juan Capistrano school strike-help for parents part II

My first post outlined creative learning activities parents can do with their kids while they are out of school due to the teacher strike. *San Juan Captistrano School Strike, help for parents

Here is a list of helpful online resources for learning at home;

*Starfall phonics - free phonics activities and learning games for pre-readers and beginner readers

*Time4learning -math language arts and more for all ages, this one comes with a monthly fee

*Timez attack- online video game for drilling/learning multiplication facts, this game is very well done, great graphics, and it has a free version that should be all you need.

*Aleks Math- grade 3 and up, aligned to State Standards. Click here*for free 30 day trial, the homepage only gives you a couple of days free trial.

*dreambox learning -math games for grades K-3. We had a free subscription and my 2nd grader loved this program, the games seemed to me to be higher thinking-gifted math problems, not standard math problems. The kids pick an avatar and move around different "lands". Subscription is monthly.

*Enchanted learning -activities and worksheets you can print, and a few online activities, a low year subscription, does have limited free access.

*Kids Art Classroom lesson plans

I have barely scratched the surface with online learning/fun websites,
click over to Fun Websites at Lori's LoLz blog to find many, many more.

If you are ready to seek other educational avenues, a homeschool charter school might be something to consider, a few worth looking into;

Orange County Department of Education's home independent study program, structured, and has learning centers kids can attend some classes at.

charter school using K-12 online curriculum and also traditional materials

not an online program, gives the parent's greater flexibility in choosing materials, subjects and scope & sequence.

In life, the learning never stops, even for parents!

Notes from home

things are a little bit crazy and chaotic, though that's not real unusual here...

~

The kids had standardized testing Monday and Tuesday. I did a lot of driving to and fro. The charter school staggered the testing times for diff. ages, which meant I was dropping off and picking up at different times. I was not a fan of this arrangement.

~

I've been pretty sick. I crawled into bed Friday and Saturday- and didn't emerge much. Amie had it, and Teddy had it. No schooling was done Wed. through Friday.

~

I lost my voice and had asthma/coughing fits that were worse at night. Saw the Dr. on Monday and he gave me asthma meds, an antibiotic and cough medicine with codeine. I think I went starry-eyed when he began writing the prescription for the cough medicine- did I mention it has codeine? - it's been many, many moons since I could sleep because of my coughing. I refrained from pumping my fist in the air and yelling, "yes!", so I wouldn't look like a junkie. Barely.

~

The Dr. told me the antibiotic would give me a metallic taste in my mouth, he advised I eat chocolate to counter this.
I told him, " I can do that." with a straight face, even. Barely.

~

I requested a different asthma steroid, since the last time I took advair, I broke out in hives and gained 5lbs in 2 days. (could much worse happen to a girl?)

~

Hallee over at Hallee the Homemaker was so kind to give me this bloggy award:


Hallee, you really made my day, what a nice thing to do! Thank you! :)

~
Shannon over at Homeschooling their Hearts was so sweet as to give this award to me,
thank you for such a thoughtful award! :)


to play, I need to award these to 7 other bloggers- I am going to combine the two and make one list of 7;

I'd like to pass on these bloggy awards to these blogs, which I find to be both inspirational and Prolific

How to play along:

to give a blog the Inspiration Award, click over to Homeschooling their Hearts, leave the blog-name in the comments and then post the award at your blog.

to give a blog the Prolific Blogger Award, go over to Advance booking, read the rules and then there is a Mr. Linky you can sign up with.

the blogging world is a nice world, isn't it? :)

Sunday Link-ups!

Ryn's Recipes; really it's cupcake heaven over at this blog! She is on a journey to make a new cupcake for her family each week, for 3 years. She shares her recipes, photos and commentary. Wonderful!

Listening to our children from Slow Family Living, hat tip to Simple Kids blog

Saturday Morning Comedy, a cute little cartoon that will make you smile

Spring Green Chocolate Smoothie recipe..yes, it's good for you, has greens as in salad greens and chocolate, and her kids liked it. I'm gonna try it.

Links for a Sunday Night

* granola bar recipe over at Little Birdie Secrets. It looks easy and yummy and has lots of chocolate. Please report back if you make these!

*Wishing Rocks, a tutorial on making them with your kids, and what to do with them. Love this!

*radical new homeschool method over at Smrt Lernins -Trampschooling

*School-Homed, an increasing number of parents are opting for this, over at The Onion

other news here at Home;

yes we felt the earthquake. It was maybe the longest I've felt (I've lived in So. Ca my whole life) but it was not the hardest or scariest I've felt.

I'm sick-y. My nose hurts. I'm way past lotion kleenex helping. :(