The Life of Washington by Josephine Pollard I think all her books are WONDERFUL and are a must have. I am still in the search for the Abraham Lincoln one...

For Green Hour? Nope, no need to contact anyone. Just jump in where ever you would like to. I would recommend starting from challenge 1. The reading suggestions Barb provides really helps to put it all in place. If anything, go to the beginning and make sure you get all the reading assignments done. Once you do a challenge, provide your name and blog url to mr. linky found towards the bottom of each challenge post at Barb's blog. But you don't have to blog to do this either. Mr. Linky is there for folks that want to share about their experiences with the Green Hour Challenges. Personally I love seeing what other folks do. I have learned a lot by looking at others blogs. :) For Sketch Tuesday's, yes you have to email the picture to Barb's email address by Monday evening. She provides it with each Sketch Tuesday post.

For me, last year it was Atelier (and attending a workshop on Atelier), Abeka Math Student Books(free shipping), and Teaching Textbooks. But mostly I just browse around and see if anything jumps out at me. I found a couple neat family games at a board game booth and I bought a couple of book bags at a screen print booth. I love to look at the discount book booths and see there are any special finds. :) This year, I can't think of anything (other than my Abeka Math student books) I plan on getting yet. But our convention insn't until June... Who knows what will be a must have by then. :) Oh I thought of something... SWB writing CD. :D OH and probably pick up some notebooking/journaling books & paper from Miller Pads and Paper. ~Tina

That is a book I always wanted to get, but forget about. I am adding it to my list right now. :D

I LOVE WT too! Just LOVE IT!

Just submit a drawing that your children, or you, or you dh, etc. drew relating to the assignments provide. You need to turn it in by Monday evening. This weeks assignment is Draw A Leaf. Anyone can join. :) Here is a link to our Sketch Tuesdays Green Hour Challenges are a wee bit more involved, but doesn't have to be that complicated either. :) Barb provides reading section in the book: Handbook of Nature Study. With her simple reading assignments, I have learned to LOVE this book, and not fear it. It is a wonderful tool! Each week she suggests some sort of activity to do, but you don't "HAVE" to do them. Just getting out door with you kids looking at nature is the whole goal/purpose of the challenges. Here is a link to our GH Challenges. I still need to post about GH Challenge #8 and we are currently on Challenge #9. But as you can see, it doesn't have to be done each week. :D Sometimes we double up on a week for the challenges if we are to busy. But I always get out doors at least once a week with the kids. That is my goal and the goal of the challenges. I also created notebook pages to go with them that I use with my children. Here is a link to the Notebooking pages. That reminds me... I have to get 9 done... YIKES I am behind... Any other specific questions?

Do you have a list of prompts available already? Here is a prompt book I purchased and the suggestions are pretty neat. It digs deeper into the prompts and I find that it helps get those juices flowing more... Journaling Prompts

I am getting excited about next year too. What is with that? I am not even done with this years stuff and already planning out next years curr. It is a vicious cycle I tell ya. :) Wow, it is next weekend... Man time sure does fly. I know I won't be there now... We are visiting with family that weekend. :) It will be neat seeing you again. :D OH and I am hoping to see Susan speak too. I hope it works out for me to sneak away and get a chance to see her IRL. Have a wonderful new week! ~Tina

Michele~ Thanks for letting her know about it. :D I am excited and a little nervous at the same time. I really want to encourage others to do them on their own and focus on that as much as possible. I also will be hosting HOAC booth this year too. It will be great to see you this year! Oh are you making it to the Christian Heritage conference this year? I don't think I will be going, but I was wondering if you were going to head up here to attend it. :) ~Tina

I haven't used PC baking stones, but I LOVE Demarle Perforated Baking Sheet with a silpat. Great for making cookies, french fries, anything you would use a cookie sheet for. I LOVE their Flexipan molds/trays too. I want more!!! I have: Fluted Loaf Mold (great for cutting a loaf of banana bread PERFECTLY) Muffin Tray (great for making making mini meat loaves) Daisy Tray Flower mold Bundt Mold You don't have to grease anything and can also use less oil in a recipe than than it calls for. Everything you bake just POPs out of the molds/trays and clean up is a breeze! And they come with a life time warranty. You do need the Perforated Baking Sheet to use all the products. I would highly recommend anyone to attend a party or even order something to "see" what it is like. I am sure you won't be sorry. :) As far PC goes, I like their shifter. :) I have purchased their egg slicer and the wires broke on it in no time. I don't think I have any other products from them.

I am glad you found something that worked for you. :) You are welcome. :D ~Tina

Free one I have used Another one I saw recommended Tried this one but liked the first one above better.

Notebooking is keeping your information in a 3 ring binder. You study a topic and record the finding on a notebooking page you create (or purchase). They are wonderful! Here is a link to help explain it better: Notebooking I enjoy combing the two of them together. :)

Karen, That is fantastic. :)

I prefer Live and Learn's over KBC zoology lapbook. I have both and I feel Live and Learn's has more meat to it. More booklets are done w/in each lesson. The price is much better and IMHO, it is of much greater quality. There is a bit more variety of lapbook folds in KBC's product as L&L's seems to use a lot of the same booklets over and over (not a issue for me, but it is for some folks) . Though they (L&L) do throw in a few new ones now and again. :) When KBC's lapbooks first came out there were a LOT of errors in them. They (KBC) claimed to have fixed the error and does offer replacement (or replacement of booklets that had errors). Can't remember which one it was. With that said, L&L does have a couple errors too (just not as many as KBC). You can find the correct files for the L&L lapbooks in their yahoo group file section. Here is review on L&L's from Jeannie Fulbright. She endorses L&L's too. Here is a review from a homeschool mom that compared L&L and KBC lapbooks on Astronomy.

I think it is GREAT for a stand alone program. Amy offers extra books for reading if you feel the need to add more to it.

My kids LOVE Geronimo Stilton. I even enjoy them. We love listening to the audio books too. :)

We have done Colonial Life and yes, we found it engaging & informative.

That is one reason why I didn't go with FLL 3. The price, IMHO both books are very dependant on each other, don't know when FLL 4 will be out, etc.

oh my, you're welcome, but boy what was I trying to say here??? What a mess!:ack2: Any way, I like TT better than VT. Video Text was pretty dry in their approach and TT is way more inviting. Just check out the examples at the websites. :)

Yes, Jimmie created a wonderful lapbooking site. She is amazing! If you like that, you should check out her blog. It is very inspiring! One Child Policy

I have used their State speicific curriculum (and absolutely LOVE IT) and in the lesson plans they offer a wide varitey of scheduleds. They may do the same with this curriculum. It is called: Fifty States Under God. It would be worth it to email them and ask them. For a shorter study, I would suggest adding: Board games as well: Borderline, The Scrambles States, US Bingo, etc. Online: USA Geography (has captials, states, landscapes, and more). Songs: Audio Memory State & Capitals (A little annoying, but it works) Both of these would be great with notebooking pages as mentioned above. Here is another notebooking page option: US Geogrpahy from Hold That Thought. Have Fun! ~Tina

Ours is up too. Our Green Hour Challenge isn't up yet, but will be sometime this weekend. Can't wait to visit everyone's blog and see what they are up too. :) ~Tina

I used VT, but only made it through module A. I like Teaching Textbook approach much better (dry, didn't explain in a way for me (had to know too) to learn, child wasn't crazy about it either). But that is just me... I know others enjoy it. Check out the websited. They both have video examples. :) ~Tina

I'll be there! Here is the link for all the workshops scheduled. The ones listed above are the WHO sponsored workshops. There are a lot of other workshops that other companies (exibhitor workshops) will be providing, like Tapestry of Grace, WriteShop, Art Attack (Atelier), Total Language Plus, and so many more!!! :D The line up is AWESOME! WHO Workshops