Thankful Thursday ~ December 8

I am joining up with Brenda at Garden of Learning for Thankful Thursday.
Today I am thankful that ALL my children slept past 6:30. In fact, I think the first one was up at 6:45, the second one about 10 min. later and the last one woke up at 7:30! This is a VERY RARE occurrence around here. These children are usually ALL up between 6 and 6:30! They also all slept through the night and the youngest had a dry pull-up! These things NEVER happen around here, let alone all on the same day!
Oh, what a beautiful Mornin'Oh, what a beautiful day.I've got a beautiful feelin'Everything's goin' my way!~Oklahoma (the musical)
Also linked up to: 

Brag Time Thursday ~ Linky

Come link up your Homeschool related posts to 'brag' about the great things you and your kids are doing! Browse around and see what others are up to as well!

(Please link up the direct URL of the post you are 'bragging' about!)

Please Follow your hosts and Grab our Brag Time Button 

to display in your post or on your blog so others can join in the fun as well!

Link-up is live from 11:00 PM Wednesdays  EST to 11:59 PM Saturdays EST each week!

Brag Time Thursday ~ Kids in the Kitchen!

Yep, I finally let the kids in the kitchen. ;) (and I figured out how to do the slideshow thing)!

Workbox Wednesday ~ Linky!

Today we are still taking it easy. We are reading the Friend and memorizing the Articles of Faith for Religion, a lesson in Artistic Pursuits for Art, and Day 7 of Discover Christmas. Also, Unicorn is doing lesson 38 in Teaching Textbooks 4 and playing Fractazmic (review coming soon) for Math and Ladybug is working her way through Reading Eggs and Ooka Island for Reading. Monkey participates when he feels like it and is also looking through books.

Terrific Tuesday ~ MyMemories

Here it is! Another freebie courtesy of MyMemories! Don't have their fabulous software (they just came out with Version 3)? Purchase it and save $10 using this code STMMMS80543. With the code you also get a $10 coupon for the MyMemories Store!

Click image to download or click here!

TOS Review ~ Artistic Pursuits

When given the opportunity to review Artistic Pursuits the question wasn't "should we or shouldn't we?" it was "which book should we choose"! I have been wanting to try their curriculum for some time now but I prefer to "try before you buy" anything that cost over $15. 

Since I have a preschooler, a kinder/1st grader and a 6th grader I choose to go with the Book One of the K-3 series. This was a perfect choice as the 6th grader has had very little exposure to art. 

In a Nutshell:

~Grades K-3 (but my 6th grader is loving it)

~$42.95

~3 sections: What Artists Do (10 lessons); What Artists See (7 lessons); Where We Find Art (15 lessons)

~88 pages

~Soft bound, printed on heavy-weight paper

~Little teacher prep

~Reusable

~Other products cover Preschool through High School

The book starts with a page on "how" to teach the lessons in the book. Then most lessons are 3 pages long. The first page is the explanation page (click on the image for more information). 

The second page show a piece of art and has questions to help students examine the artwork.

The third page gives an "assignment", a list of materials and a student example.

In addition to purchasing the book, you will need some art supplies. A Materials List is included in the front of each book and on the website. We searched around the house and found many of the supplies. We picked up additional supplies at a craft store. Materials are also available for purchase through the Artistic Pursuits website. The website is also full of additional supporting information. Click here for their contact information.

Pros:

~Very through

~Child friendly

~Well-written

~Lots of examples

~Covers art history, technique, and various styles and mediums

Cons:

~price $42.95

Click here to see what my Crew Mates are saying about this and other Artistic Pursuits products.

{Disclaimer: I received a copy of Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book One in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.}

Toydle ~ An AWESOME Gift Idea (and a Giveaway)!

Do your kids like to build forts? Mine do. They will build forts out of ANYTHING (including stuff they are not supposed to use). While this is a great creative activity, it is usually unsafe! Chairs on beds, blankets hanging on everything, you get the point. Well, let me introduce you to Toydle. {Make sure you read to the end for the GIVEAWAY details!}

Toydle is an American Company (Boise, Idaho) that makes and sells quality forts (see photo).They have two forts: The Toydle Fort (shown above) for $149 and The BIG Toydle Fort for $229.99 (click here to order).
From the Toydle website:

All Toydle Forts are constructed with

• Hand made wooden blocks 3” sq. made with high quality, laminated poplar.
• High Quality PVC tubes 29” long & 1/2in wide.

All Toydle Forts include an industrial strength storage bag.

All Toydle Forts include clips to help secure your sheets and blankets.

Our Forts are the strongest, longest lasting, and highest quality forts you will find anywhere! And we’ll back that up with an Unlimited Warrantee! No one else even comes close to what we offer! 

Now on to the really good stuff! 
First, make sure you come back in January and read about my family's experience with our Toydle Fort (yep, we are blessed to be able to review it for you)! 
Second, click the link below to be taken to The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Page to enter for your chance to WIN one of THREE BIG forts being given away!  Also, be sure to check out Toydle's Blog and Facebook page!
Click here to enter to win! {NOTE: This contest is open to residents of the US ONLY. TOS Staff and TOS Crew Members (and their families) are NOT eligible to enter this contest.}