Little Star by Anthony Destefano

Little Star

Let's start with an excerpt from the book as provided by the publisher.

“Dad, which one is the Christmas star?” the boy asked, straining his eyes as he looked out at the clear, dark sky.

The father, smiling, looked down at his son. “Don’t hurt your eyes looking for him. You won’t find him. He’s not up there anymore.”

“Where is he? Where did he go?”

“You mean I never told you the story of the Christmas star before?”

“No, Dad, never.” The boy shook his head. “Please tell me.”

Well, a long time ago, in the farthest corner of the universe, there was a tiny star. In fact, he was the smallest star in the heavens. His name was Little Star.

Little Star was sad and lonely. The other stars didn’t make fun of him. They simply ignored him because he was so tiny. But what can be worse for a star than to be ignored? After all, stars do little more than decorate the sky. They help pass the long evenings by “twinkle-talk.”

And there was a lot of twinkling going on. The other
stars were all talking about a rumor they had heard
for ages—a rumor that a king would soon be born
on a faraway planet called Earth.

It was known that the king had a special message
that would change the whole world forever."



And now on to my opinion.

Little Star is a delightful Christmas story for children.  The littlest star is ignored because of his size.  The other stars were preparing for the birth of a king in anticipation of a reward for the star that shines the brightest.  When the King is born in a stable the stars begin to doubt that He is truly King and do not shine.  The little star believes He is a king and shines as brightly as he can all night and by the morning he has burnt out.  His special reward is to be part of the Christmas story and to have the honor of being placed at the top of the Christmas tree.

My children enjoyed this story.  This book will make a nice addition to our Christmas book collection.  The illustrations are pleasant and add a nice touch to the story.  A modern day father tells the story to his son so we see the two of them in one scene, the stars in another, and the Holy family in a third.  This book is a nice way to share the meaning of the star at the top of the Christmas tree with children in a memorable way.  I would recommend this book for children 12 and under.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Fit Mommy Friday The Challange Ends

Well, I made it through!  I wasn't able to meet all of my goals and had to change one but that's o.k.  I saw results and that's what I wanted.  Here are the goals I started with:

*Continue the T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus(BWO+) every other day until I drop two sizes.  I sort of did this.  I stopped to do a total workout bootcamp which is the harder workout. 

*Work through the GAPS intro diet and then remain on the full GAPS diet.  I am not even tempted to eat something I shouldn't so this isn't much of a challenge.  Did this.

*Start walking on the days I don't have to do the BWO+ and then begin walking on the days I do the workout until I am walking six days a week.  Didn't do this.  I did try to do some kind of exercise on my non T-Tapp days like wii or gardening.

*Go on a bike ride with the youngsters at least once a week.  This didn't work out because our bikes need some repairs that I wasn't aware of when I made this goal.

*Be able to do one T-Tapp Total Workout once a week by the end of the challenge without dropping any of my other exercise.  Yep!

*Feel good about myself no matter what size I am because I am doing what I need to do to be healthy.  Yep!

Now on to my results.  I don't know how much weight I lost because I didn't weigh until late in the challenge and I care more about my measurements.  I lost 1 pound this last week and I see much more muscle definition in my arms and legs.  I feel like I am losing fat and gaining muscle.  Here's how much I lost off my measurements since October 25th.


Bust -1.75
Pecs -1.25
Ribs -.75
Waist -1.75
Abs -2
Right thigh -1.25
Left thigh -1.25
Right lower thigh -.5
Left lower thigh -.5
Right calf 0
Left calf -.25
Right upper arm -.5
Left upper arm -.5


Weekly Exercise log


Friday- walk 30 mins
Saturday- rest/ill
Sunday-rest/ill
Monday- BWO+, Wii
Tuesday-BWO+
Wednesday-BWO+
Thursday- walk 30


New goals:
*Exercise every day but one each week.
*BWO+ or TWO every other day for two weeks starting today.
*Continue to feel good about myself no matter what size I am.
*Continue GAPS diet.


How did you do?  I hope you reached your goals!

Fit Mommy Friday Late!

I've been enjoying our time off of school so much I can't even make myself write on my blog!

I am still sick with this cold/cough thing so I didn't exercise besides going to the store and walking around one day.  I'm feeling better and plan to begin a T-Tapp basic workout plus boot camp today.  I haven't tapped consistently for over two weeks so a four day boot camp should get me back on track.  I will try to get one total workout a week in after the boot camp.  I don't think I was strong enough to start the total workout every other day and that's why I hurt my back.  I will work up to it slowly this time!

I didn't lose any inches last week and gained .2 pounds.  Even though I haven't lost much weight I think my body composition is changing for the better because I am shrinking and my clothes are fitting better.  I'm fine with that, the weight loss will have to catch up eventually.

How did you do?  And if you are still on break, enjoy your time off!

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is Having Another Sale

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine has been a favorite resource for homeschoolers for years. The pages of our magazine holds informative and encouraging articles written by homeschool educators and parents like you. Because we want to spread the news far and wide about homeschooling, we are on a quest to reach 25,000+ paid subscribers by the year's end. We have three fabulous options for a REALLY great deal on our magazine, as well as some freebies, until January 2nd!

Will you choose option A?

Option A is a one year subscription (normally $25) for $7.95 to anyone in the U.S. or Canada. What a great gift idea for only $7.95! Consider buying several subscriptions for friends and family members. AND, any $7.95 purchase will result in a GIFT for you--choose any digital TOS Planner--FREE.

 

Will it be option B?

 
We have lowered the price on the ONE YEAR subscription with the Cranberries & Cream tote and the E-Book: Cranberry Christmas, all for $19.95., U.S. and Canada only. 

Or will you choose option C?

  

Finally, we are offering our two-year subscription (U.S. and Canada) on sale for $37 with Cranberries & Cream tote, a Schoolhouse Planner of your choice, plus the E-Book: Cranberry Christmas. 

Whatever option you choose, you get freebies and a great deal! So which option, and freebies, will you choose? A, B, or C?

 

All subscriptions will start with our beautiful, 200 page Winter issue. Offer good on new subscriptions, renewals, and gift subscriptions in both the U.S. (overseas military included) and Canada.

Time To Blabber

I'm so tired.  I'm still recovering from a cold and I stayed up way too late last night, or should I say this morning, reading the end of Les Miserables.  That was a long book with lots of side trips.  It's amazing that the book was made into a movie that is just over two hours long.  I don't know when I started reading the book but I think it was over a year ago.  I took a few months off before I determined to finish the thing.  I'm glad it's over!

I spent most of the morning decluttering the house.  I'm getting rid of 27 things(flylady) each day and have worked ahead through Friday.  I have only finished the master bedroom, bathroom, bookshelves and a little of the schoolroom.  How do we get so much junk when we don't buy very much?  I think after this I will go on the one in, one out plan.  It feels so good to get rid of things we don't use.  I listed some books on paperbackswap and amazon.  The books that I sell on amazon will cover the shipping for paperbackswap.

I hope our family will be back to good health by Christmas.  My oldest son came down with this cold about two weeks ago.  In a large family it takes a long time for everyone to get sick and well again.  We've been taking vitamin D3 everyday but maybe I should make more of an effort to give them herbal teas every day.  I stopped taking my immune system boosters in November just in time to get this cold.  I started Siberian Ginseng again this week.  Usually my colds don't last very long when I am eating right and taking my herbs.

I'm not a very good chicken mother.  My chickens think they need to live out the movie Chicken Run in our backyard.  We covered the yard with netting, chicken wire, wood and whatever else we could find but they still get out.  They are tearing up my garden and it has come down to the chickens or the garden.  The garden wins and the chickens will be leaving.  I'm kinda bummed because I want the good eggs in our diet but I don't think we were breaking even on the cost of keeping them vs. the cost of buying good eggs.  I hope to find someone nearby to buy eggs from.

Update: My husband says the chickens will not win.  He and his helpers are out putting a new roof on the chicken yard.  I hope it works!

So how is your week going?

Homeschool Update

Most days we start school with devotions and Bible memorization.  We are working on memorizing the books of the Bible right now.  Some days devotion happens at lunch time.  My children are learning verses quickly now that we are using a memory box.  Having review verses built into the system makes it easy and effective.  I am decorating the outside of the box with a sticker for each verse they memorize.

We learned about volcanoes.  I know I have strange kids who will go barefoot unless I make them put shoes on!

We've been using the computer a little more in our homeschool.  I reviewed Spelling City and the website extended our membership for a year so the children have been using it every day.  Their spelling is getting better and they enjoy the program.  You can use the program for free.

And then the children got to make one.

We recently reviewed ALEKS and they also extended our membership.  We have two more months to use it.  Sarah is in first grade but I signed her up for the third grade math since it is the lowest grade offered.  She is doing well.  I have to explain some of he topics but once she understands them she works on her own.

I am reviewing tenmarks with two of my students.  They finished all of their worksheets for the week on the first day!

David stringing beads on a pipe cleaner.

The computer work has made our mornings go smoothly.  We have borrowed my oldest son's laptop to use in the schoolroom so two people can do computer work at the same time.  While two students are working on the computers the other two are reading and writing.  We finish up or time with writing, science, and a few read alouds.

Math

The two little boys each have a chair at my desk where they work.  It can be challenging to have both of the little boys sharing a desk with me but it is helping them learn to sit still and work on something without disturbing everyone else around them.  They like the extra attention they get from me!

I'm linking up to the Hip Homeschool Hop.  Click the button to join in.

New Activity: Box O' Junk

I found a new activity for the little boys.  I call it the box of junk.  I found odds and ends and put them in an empty tea box with a page of stickers. 

My two year old spent over half an hour each day last week playing with his box of stuff.  He places stickers onto the box, dumps out his treasures and plays with them. 

I'm going to keep all of the little things in one box and change the contents of their boxes every few days so they won't get bored. 

These little guys have been having fun each morning sharing my desk and working on activities.  It makes it a little difficult for me to concentrate on my work but that's o.k., after all,  they really are my most important job and many of the other things can wait.  I have found that when I give my time to my children in the morning I end up with more time to myself later.  You have to fill up their little mommy tanks a few times a day after which they will be content to work and play on their own or with their siblings. 

Be Strong and Carry On

My grandmother has that posted on her front door.  What a perfect reminder for almost everyone in every situation.  It is one of the little sayings I think of when I am having a slow start to my day or even one of those "I don't want to" days.  I also like the oft used, Just Do It, when I need a kick start to my day.

You know what kind of days I'm talking about, right?  Those days when you wake up feeling like you haven't gotten enough rest, your loudest child is even louder than usual, and the house is a mess.  One of those days when you want to crawl back into bed and pretend you don't have any children.  Yeah, I have those days and I can admit it.

So, you have that day stretching for what seems like way more than 12 hours ahead of you, what do you do?  Don't give up!  Admit that life is difficult, you feel depressed and that you don't really want to do your job today!  Then get over it and get on with it!

When I get started on my day and the daily routine starts to fall into place the day smooths out and my attitude improves.  Each time I am able to "Be strong and carry on" I build a reserve of confidence for the next bad day to draw upon.

At the end of the day I might still feel a little bummed out that our day started badly but I feel successful because I did my best anyway.  That is success!

Fit Mommy Friday

I'm a loser!  I lost a little over one pound and 3.25 inches!  Yay!  I have a cold and I'm still recovering from hurting my back so I didn't exercise as much as I wanted to.  I hope to do a total workout sometime next week.

Exercise-
Friday-walk 45 mins
Saturday- walk 45 mins
Sunday- rest
Monday- Basic workout, garden 90 mins
Tuesday- walk 60 mins
Wednesday- Basic workout
Thursday- rested/sick day

Inch loss-
Bust -.5
Pecs -.25
Ribs -.25
Abs -1
Right thigh -.25
Left thigh -.5
Right calf -.25
Left calf -.25
Total for week -3.25

I'm not sure how I lost an inch from my abs but I am happy about it!  I have been doing a primary back stretch and hoe downs every morning so maybe that's what did it.  I did my basic workouts in front of the mirror to make sure my form was correct so maybe that helped also.

I am still not eating any raw veggies besides my fermented foods.  I made two quarts of fermented salsa this week and will add them to my eggs in the morning.  The lettuce I planted in the living room is finally growing so I might try a little this week.

On diet.  I don't!  Going hungry makes me very grumpy so I make sure to eat enough and have snacks when I need them.  I generally eat breakfast, tea with coconut milk mid morning,  lunch, snack and dinner.  I eat meat, non starchy veggies, and certain starchy veggies at each meal.  I also eat one avocado, almonds and eggs each day.  My starchy veggies are squash and carrots.  I also use stock twice a day.  I know it sounds boring but I am feeling so much better on this combo of foods.  I will reintroduce raw foods and then diary.  I'm not sure about the dairy, since it's an addictive substance for me.  I will probably start with goat cheese and maybe homemade yogurt. 

How did your week go?

TOS Crew Review: Tiny Planets

Tiny Planets

This is a free educational entertainment website.  There are six different planets for children ages six to twelve to visit.

When you visit tiny planets tv you can watch any of the tiny planets television episodes.

My tiny planets is a community and virtual world where you can play games, go on missions, and nurture a planet.

Tiny planets fun is full of puzzle games, coloring books and comics.

Tiny planets books is for younger explorers to read interactive books about Bing and Bong.

On tiny planets learning parents, homeschoolers and teachers can find activities and experiments to do with their children.


When you visit tiny planets labs you can test out new games.

There are many free activities, books, and puzzles available.  To unlock more things to use on the website you will need to buy keys.

Here is the link to the parents page where you can learn more about the website.

To read what other reviewers think visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

I received a free subscription of this site in order to write my review.  I have expressed my own opinion.

Animal Antics

What?

 Hanging out in the guinea pig cage.

Do you have any antics to share?  Join in at Dawn's blog.

Wordless Wednesday: A Good Book

Radical by David Platt

Warning, do not read this book unless you want your life to change!

David Platt does an excellent job of showing how the American dream and Jesus' command to go forth and make disciples of all nations don't mix.  He answers the question of what it really means to give your life to Christ.

He describes the hunger believers in countries where Christians are persecuted have for God's word and makes you wonder where your hunger has gone.

David shows you what living God's global purpose would look like in your life.  In chapter 5 he shows what happens when Christians go out and share the gospel with unbelievers.

The chapter, How Much Is Enough?, really impacted me and is making me take another look at what I really need.  It's hard to go back to life as normal once your eyes are opened to the poverty that most of the people in this world face. 

At the end of the book you are presented with the one year radical experiment. The author challenges you to commit to a life changing experiment composed of 5 different commitments.

After reading this book I am excited to see what God has in store for my life over the next year as I live out the Radical experiment.  I want to read and discuss this book with my family to see how it can change all of us.

There are so many things in this book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.  I was already on the path to changing my thinking about what I am pursuing in my life and this book has deepened my resolve to make some changes.

The author presents evidence for the radical way of life for you to think about and come to your own conclusions on how you should change.  He gives suggestions and shares the testimony of his own life along with those who have changed their life purpose. 

I received a free copy of this book from Water Brook Moltnomah in order to review this book and this is my opinion.

Handmade Christmas: Links

My sewing is going a little slower than I thought it would so I decided to give you the links to what I am making now. 

Homemade watercolor paints.  I'm not making these for a gift.  We are going to spend some time learning water paint techniques soon and I will try these paints before we buy anything.

Fleece hats and scarves  I've finished the hats.  These are easy and fast to sew up.

Pillowcases  These are so easy to make! 

Wallet  I'm making a boy version with corduroy and camouflage print fabric.

Headband  Headband number two  Scrunchie  My girls can always use new hair accessories!

Bike Basket  Right after Christmas we have five birthdays so I might try to sew this for a few of them.

Water bottle bag- boy style  Another birthday gift idea, especially for my New Year's Day boy.

If you are making some gifts for Christmas, how's it going?  Please, don't say you're finished!  O.k., you can and I'm happy that you are!

TOS Crew Review: Aleks

From Aleks
"What is ALEKS?

Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS offers truly individualized instruction that meets the student at her learning level and instructs her on the exact topics that she is most ready to learn. As a result, no two students will experience the same learning path while working in ALEKS.  Learn more by watching a quick 2-minute video.
ALEKS can provide you with the instruction and support that you need to homeschool your children in mathematics for grades 3-12. With a comprehensive  course library ranging from elementary school math to complex subjects such as PreCalculus, ALEKS acts much like a human tutor to help take the stress off of homeschooling parents.
ALEKS offers highly-targeted, individualized instruction from virtually any computer with Internet access, making it a comprehensive and mobile education solution for your children. A subscription to ALEKS offers access to all courses and your child may take as many courses as needed during their subscription period.
ALEKS is a Research-Based Online Program:

• Complete Curriculum Solution for Math with Access to Full Course Library
• No Textbook Required
• Artificial Intelligence Targets Gaps in Student Knowledge
• Assessment and Individualized Learning for Grades 3-12
• Master Account Includes Quizzing and Automated Reports to Monitor Learning Progress 
• Unlimited Online Access - PC and Mac Compatible
• QuickTables - Complimentary Math Fact Mastery Program for Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction
  • Learn More

ALEKS has been used successfully by homeschoolers, as well as by millions of students at schools and educational institutions throughout the world. Additionally, some ALEKS course products are American Council on Education (ACE) credit-recommended, meaning that your student may be eligible for college credit at participating colleges."

And now for what I have to say.

After we received access to the ALEKS website I set up student accounts for four of my students.  My students are in first, third, fifth and seventh grade and they each started with an assessment quiz so the program would know what they were ready to study.  

I signed my three youngest students up for the quick tables along with their math program.  Quick tables teach addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  They really liked this part of their daily work.  As they got better at their math facts they unlocked new games they could play while learning.  They thought this part of the program was really cool.

After each child had finished the assessment quiz they were given a pie chart of what they knew and what they needed to learn.  To use the program they chose a subject from the pie chart that they wanted to work on.

As they learned more in each subject the pie chart darkened so they could easily see their progress.

If they don't understand a problem they can use resources to learn more about how to solve it.

This program is easy to use for the students and teacher.  There are many resources on the website such as an attendance report, progress report, and quiz results to help the teacher keep track of her students.  

To use this each day I gave each child their log in name and password and then they logged in and worked on their quick tables or math course each day.  The only problem I can anticipate is if you have many students and only one computer.  We only have one computer available and it wasn't a problem for us.  

My only criticism is that the quick tables can only be used for a limited amount of time each day and my students wanted to work on them longer than allowed.  I would like to be able to change the time limit for quick tables.

Your students can also print out worksheets to review what they are learning.

The children enjoyed working with this program.  They felt it was easy to understand the new problems and the younger ones liked the quick tables.  

If you are interested in this program head on over to their website and check it out.

ALEKS

They offer a free trial to use over five days.  

Subscriptions:

$19.95 per student, per month, or

$99.95 every 6 months, or

$179.95 every 12 months

Family Discount Program

To read more reviews visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.  

I received a free subscription to ALEKS in order to write this review and I have expressed my own opinion.

Gifts of Compassion

Have you seen the new Gifts of Compassion?  Through Compassion you can give a gift to someone in need.  They have little things like a mosquito net for $10.00 all the way up to major surgery for $5000.00.  Check it out!

Last month I was finally able to sponsor a child.  My husband and I were having a hard time choosing which child to sponsor.  How do you decide who to help when so many are in need?  I found an option to let Compassion choose our child for us so that is what we did.  We waited with anticipation for a week and a half to see who we would sponsor and the packet finally came in the mail this week.  We are sponsoring a boy from Haiti named Cadot who just turned 11.  All of the boys were very happy that we were given a boy!

Fit Mommy Friday

I hurt my back Monday so I haven't done much exercising this week.  I am trying to walk around and stretch for five minutes each hour to keep it from locking up.  It is finally getting better and I might be able to do a basic workout plus this weekend then I will work back up to the full workout again.

I'm a little frustrated because my back was feeling so much better.  I think I was leaning back with my upper body during the T-Tapp workout and that is how I hurt my lower back.  This is a problem I've had off and on for 8 years so I should have been more careful of my form!

I still lost an inch and a quarter but no weight.

Inch loss:
pecs -.25
waist -.5
hips -.5

Exercise:
Friday- Total workout
Saturday- rest
Sunday- Total workout
Monday- Walk 30 mins
Tuesday- nothing
Wednesday- walk 50 mins
Thursday- walk 45 minutes

How did your week go? 

Kitchen Windowsill Linky Party

Hosted by Leila at her lovely blog, Like Mother, Like Daughter.  Go visit her inspiring blog to join up.

Here's my before.  My children are in charge of the dishes but I do try to scrub down the sink area at least once a week.  This is how my son left it after the lunch dishes filled the dishwasher.

And here is after I went over and scrubbed down the sink, wiped the back splash, and shined up the faucet.

We have one of those drop out cupboard panels with a holder for the plugs and scrubbers but the painters haven't put it back on yet so I threw the junk into a bowl instead of letting it sit on the sink.

The rolling pin is my grandmother's or great grandmother's, I forget which.  My dad brought it back from Arkansas and gave it to me.  I like to see it there and think of all the pie crusts that were rolled out with it.

And here's the true after.  You knew I wasn't going to wash those dishes by hand!  At least they look better piled up neatly in the sink.

And now for a tip.  I like to have the kitchen straightened up before bed so we can start the morning off without a mess to take care of.  Nothing makes me crankier than walking into a messy kitchen in the morning!

We need to redo our kitchen some day but I wanted it to reflect my style now.  Below are links to two posts that show you what we have done so far to give it a relatively inexpensive face lift.

Pink Out Kitchen

Almost Complete Face Lift

The Budget

We(key word) recently started budgeting together.  November's budget is now being called the Great Budget Debacle.  I'll let that speak for itself!  We did make it a priority to keep our budgeted amount for charity even though almost every other category was wiped out.  After we reconciled the budget I went online and gave the money we were supposed to give.  That was the best kind of success for the month. 

We have successfully used a budget before but this is the first time we have gone through the whole process together.  My husband and I have two completely opposite views of the budget(also known as the B word) so we are trying our hardest to meet in the middle and work together without getting into any arguments. 

I feel like we will be holding our breath for the next few months until we have an emergency fund saved up.  You know how it is, the minute you start using a budget something needs to be replaced! 

We are funding all of the categories in our budget even if vacation only receives $2.00 a month.  It is nice to know we have something in that category even if we won't be able to use it for a long time!

Our food budget for now is whatever my husband makes at his extra job.  We are trying to pay off all our debt(besides the house) by the end of next year so the extra job is really helping us to dump extra cash into the car payments.  This month our goal is to spend less than what he makes at the extra job on food so we can use the extra to pay down debt and to restock the freezer when we find a good sale. 

While we were going over the Great Budget Debacle of Nov. our oldest son was sitting in the back of the room watching.  He has listened to Dave Ramsay's book and is thinking about how his budget will work next year when he is in college.  I hope our experiences will lead him to start off on the right foot! 

Do you budget?  Love it or hate it?  I'm trying to see it as a useful tool and a challenge to win!

Animal Antics

Our kitty, Oreo, found a cozy place to take a nap.

Good thing I have neat and tidy girls or he would have had to sleep on the bed instead.

You can join in the antics at Dawn's blog Guiding Light Homeschool.