Author: Christy

Simple Heartstrings Challenge: 50 Simple Ways to Bond With Loved Ones

Life blows past you and suddenly you’re looking back at the last five months, five years, or five decades wondering what on earth happened to all your time. How much of your precious, irreplaceable time was spent on Facebook or stressing over your latte and politics or reading about how to be a better wife or mother instead of tying heartstrings?

Probably too much.

What is tying heartstrings? At its most basic level, tying heartstrings is connecting with people, but I don’t like to use the word “connect” when talking about people, because it makes me sound like an insurance salesman. I don’t have a problem with insurance salesmen–I just don’t want to sound like one, because I’m not one.

Tying heartstrings is building or strengthening the bond between people. It’s putting your time where it matters.

Take the Heartstrings Challenge! 50 Simple Ways to Bond with Loved Ones



It is also one of the simple tools in The Simple Homemaker’s life simplifying toolbox. It’s an important one.

Here’s how you tie heartstrings:

Do something together.

That’s it. Told you it was simple. I challenge you to dedicate a portion of each Saturday to tying heartstrings. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you accept the Simple Saturday Heartstrings Challenge:

  • It doesn’t have to be anything epic—if it’s simple, you’re more likely to keep it up.
  • Please don’t make it into a big deal. Don’t say, “We shall henceforth spendeth 60 minutes of uninterrupted quality time together to ensureth heartstrings are properly tied-eth and to enableth the generations to strengtheneth their bonds…eth.” That’s freaky.
  • Don’t make your “victims” feel like you’re checking quality time off on a list. “There, I played with you. Now I don’t have to pay for your therapy. Oh, and don’t bug me for an hour.” 
  • Don’t be ultra-obsessed over the Saturday thing. Be flexible. We school on Saturdays and take Mondays off, so my Simple Saturday Heartstrings are actually Marvelous Monday Heartstrings. Be fllllleeeexiblllllle.
  • Just do something!

Here are 50 ideas for simple ways to tie heartstrings. Many of these will work with a small child as well as a teen, your spouse, Mom and Dad, or your elderly neighbor next door.

Take the Heartstrings Challenge! 50 Simple Ways to Bond with Loved Ones

50 Simple Ways to Tie Heartstrings

  1. Say, “Let’s play a game.” (A few rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe or Twenty Questions is great—it doesn’t have to be monopoly or chess!)
  2. Bake cookies together to eat or to deliver to another heartstring “victim.“
  3. Be nosy about an interest they have, and, if possible, pursue it together once in a while. (My husband loves airplanes, so sometimes we have a picnic lunch in the van in a spot near the runway where the planes land and take off right in front of us. Simple and free.)
  4. Go for a walk.
  5. Call someone up “just because.”
  6. Ask what they’ve been reading.
  7. Read a book out loud together—children’s books are fun at any age, and chapter books can be spread out over weeks and months.
  8. Try a new recipe together.
  9. Send a letter—handwritten!
  10. Blow bubbles.
  11. Plant flowers.
  12. Help with a simple task, and don’t forget to stick around to chat a little bit.
  13. Sip tea, coffee, cocoa, or apple juice together…slowly…and chat…without your cellphone nearby.
  14. Enjoy nature together—follow ants, identify trees, feed ducks, take your dog squirrel-chasing.
  15. Ask about their week. If you truly listen all week, you’ll be able to ask in detail, such as “How is Susie feeling today?” or “Did your buddy make the football team?” or “Did your secretary’s brother’s wife have her baby?” or “What kind of food did they serve at the conference luncheon? Cookies, I hope!”
  16. Have a movie night or watch an oldie, but goodie, like Gomer Pyle, The Andy Griffith Show, or The Dick Van Dyke Show. (Yes, screen time can be heartstring time.)
  17. Paint each other’s nails.
  18. Toss around a baseball or the ol’ pigskin synthetic leather.
  19. Challenge each other to a 5-minute Lego building contest or set the timer for five minutes and see how high you can stack something.
  20. Do a simple craft—simple! Hello, Pinterest! Or, as we like to do, hop on to Pinterest together and pin all the crafts you will never do. Pinning is a fun little family obsession of ours.
  21. Make a blanket fort and sit in it.
  22. Collect jokes throughout the week and share them over a bowl of Chocolate-Covered Sugar Bombs.
  23. Read Calvin and Hobbes or a new magazine over each other’s shoulders.
  24. Pursue a SRAOKTDRS together—that’s a Simple Random Act of Kindness That Doesn’t Resemble Stalking.
  25. Share stories from your youth or ask about their childhood or young adulthood.
  26. Share dreams…but let them do most of the sharing.
  27. Attack a project from the to-do list together.
  28. Hold hands, snuggle, or give back rubs.
  29. Braid hair.
  30. Pick flowers.
  31. Flip through a catalog together or read a newspaper side by side, sharing whatever you feel moved to share.
  32. Call someone up and say, “Get dressed, cuz I’m coming over!” and then hang up…and go over there, because it would be mean to call and not show up.
  33. Star-gaze.
  34. Watch a dog show on TV.
  35. Sit in the park or mall and watch people.
  36. Go eat all the samples at Sam’s Club.
  37. Skip stones or throw sticks in the water.
  38. Lie in the grass (or snow if you live where they have perpetual winter) and look at the clouds.
  39. Ask a question and listen to the answer without interjecting the words “I,” “me”, or “you should.” Good luck with this one!
  40. Teach someone a new magic trick.
  41. Share a chocolate bar or a box of candies.
  42. Sit by the water, with or without your toes dangling in, depending on if there are gators and piranha where you’re dangling.
  43. Go fishing.
  44. Make a scrapbook page.
  45. Memorize something together—a poem or a section of Scripture or my birthday so you can send cookies.
  46. Bake a pie…and more cookies.
  47. Go window shopping.
  48. Turn on the sprinklers or fill a wading pool and sit in it.
  49. Break out the sidewalk chalk and create together—don’t be tempted to let them create while you go do the “important” things.
  50. Put your phone away and just be together and see what happens.

Take the Heartstrings Challenge! 50 Simple Ways to Bond with Loved Ones



If you follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (as The Travel Bags), I will remind you to devote part of your Saturday to Strengthening Heartstrings, and invite you to share how you did this. (On Facebook, don’t forget to check “Follow” or comment and like frequently, or you won’t see my posts. Crazy Facebook.)

Please share your Simple Saturday Heartstrings in the comment section. Let’s share great ideas and tie heartstrings!

A Big Long List of Affordable Gift Ideas

This is a big long list of affordable gift ideas. That’s it–nothing fancy. Most of these gifts are under $10, and many are homemade. As more ideas pop into my busy brain, I’ll add them to the top of this list, so pin it or bookmark it and check back often. Please share your favorite ideas in the comments below, and I’ll add them to this list to keep it growing.

If I don’t tell you that some of these links are affiliate links, I could spend the next few Christmases in the big house. I don’t wanna go there, because of the food, so consider yourself alerted.

For more ideas, check out my Simple Gift Ideas board on Pinterest and my friend Stacy Makes Cents’ gift series on Facebook.

Enough chatter. Grab a cookie and let’s get this party started!

The Simple Homemaker's BIG looooong list of affordable gift ideas | Great ideas for everyone on your list, many homemade, and most under $10. The list keeps growing, so pin it and check back often!

  1. A “School in Progress – We can play later.” Sign to hang on a homeschooler’s front door.
  2. Picnic-of-the-month club–pick a day each month to picnic (indoors or out) with the recipient. Kids and (some) grandparents love this.
  3. Christmas ornaments–homemade or otherwise.
  4. Business cards–great for a budding entrepreneur and sometimes free for the cost of shipping.
  5. A cookbook from a favorite cooking show. My husband likes America’s Test Kitchen, and they have a Cooking School cookbook, which I’m sure he would love me to have.  To make it cheaper, watch for cooking magazine subscription sales instead.
  6. A “My husband rocks” T-shirt…or “My wife rocks” or “My dad rocks” or “My mom rocks” or a similar family boosting apparel item from Union 28…or make your own. Check the clearance section for cheaper options, or watch for sales.
  7. General household supplies gift basket, such as homemade cleaners and hand-knit washcloths. Store-bought is great, too. Include coupons for freebies.
  8. A supplies gift basket for a certain part of the house, such as the kitchen sink. Fill that one with dish soap, a hand-crocheted washcloth, a scrubby, dishwasher powder, a towel, and some homemade cleaner (as simple and affordable as diluted vinegar in a spray bottle).
  9. Laundry supplies, such as quarters for the laundromat, detergent, a stain bar, dryer balls, soap nuts, whatever fits that person’s laundry style.
  10. Homemade dog biscuits.
  11. Homemade citrus vinegar.
  12. A big ol’ basket of free samples, such as lotions, mini-coffees, teas, supplements…whatever the freebie sites offer.
  13. Free baby samples, including coupons. Sorry, you have to supply your own baby. 🙁
  14. A baby gift basket, containing diapers, homemade or store-bought washes, a picture of your family, and, again, no baby.
  15. A “free” nursing pillow, nursing cover-up, carseat cover, or baby-wearing sling. Use code SIMPLE2 for a savings of anywhere from $35 to $50. (You pay shipping.)
  16. 52 postcards addressed and stamped–you keep the postcards yourself and send one a week to the gift recipient.
  17. Cookies.
  18. Stationery, stamps, and a pen.
  19. Materials for a project to work on together, and then a schedules of dates when you will get together to work on it. This can be one project total or one project per month.
  20. Gift certificates for your time and help–put them in 12 separate envelopes to be opened one per month. This could include washing the car, spring cleaning, cooking a dinner, or lawn care, garden prep, winterizing the home, anything your recipient has trouble accomplishing.
  21. Coupon for cleaning house, either by you or by a professional.
  22. Car wash coupons.
  23. A food item you are known for, such as cookies, pie, or an ethnic food that represents your heritage.
  24. Gift certificates to help with the cost of living, such as hair cuts or groceries.
  25. Pay a bill that month, such as electric or trash pick-up.
  26. Take the recipients car in for an oil change and a wash, and fill it up with gas while you’re out.
  27. Gas card.
  28. Seeds or plant starts from your garden.
  29. Homemade pillow case.
  30. Herbal sleep pillow. There are simpler patterns–I know, because we made one–but I can’t find them.
  31. Coupon for shoveling their driveway all winter.
  32. Coupon for mowing their lawn once a week all summer.
  33. Mittens, hats, or scarves made out of wool sweaters.
  34. Hand-knit hats which can be made quickly and easily using a circular knitter.
  35. Fresh eggs if you have chickens.
  36. Fresh herbs or transplants if you have an herb garden.
  37. Homemade soap.
  38. Homemade candles.
  39. Homegrown honey if you have bees.
  40. Clove oranges.
  41. Homemade jelly, salsa, or pickles if you’re a canner.
  42. Gift certificate for a homemade dinner once a month or three times a year.
  43. Coffee mug with cocoa, coffee, or tea.
  44. Homemade sweetbread, like pumpkin or gingerbread.
  45. Care package of homemade cleaners.
  46. Homemade laundry soap.
  47. Soap nuts.
  48. Beef jerky–homemade or store-bought.
  49. Decorated glass bottles or jars.
  50. Homemade extracts, such as vanilla.
  51. Homemade seasonings, such as taco, Italian, pumpkin, all-purpose seasoning, and cajun spice mix.
  52. Homemade chocolate-covered almonds.
  53. The recipient’s favorite food or ingredient, such as a spice, kind of cheese, or container of honey.
  54. Picture frame with a family picture in it.
  55. Picture frame with a picture of you and the recipient together.
  56. Framed artwork from a member of the family.
  57. Dry erase boards made from picture frames with pretty paper behind the glass.
  58. Homemade lip balm.
  59. Homemade bath salts.
  60. Crocheted wash cloths or hot pads.
  61. Replacement towels and wash cloths.
  62. Restaurant.com gift certificate.
  63. Handmade ornaments.
  64. Hair doo-dads.
  65. Photo session gift certificate.
  66. Free babysitting gift certificate.
  67. Mixes in a jar.
  68. Homemade coffee creamer.
  69. Redbox gift cards.
  70. Flash drive filled with photos.
  71. Frozen homemade cookie dough.
  72. T-shirts with family pictures or children’s artwork ironed on.
  73. Homemade dog, horse, cat, or bird treats, depending on recipient’s pets.
  74. Homemade turtle chocolates.
  75. Homemade truffles.
  76. Gently used books.
  77. Lottery tickets.
  78. Date night basket–ingredients for a dinner, plus a movie on DVD or a Redbox giftcard.
  79. Movie tickets.
  80. Tickets to an event the recipient loves, such as the races or the theater.
  81. Reusable grocery bags full of goodies.
  82. Fresh bread.
  83. A can of nuts.
  84. Donation to a charity.
  85. Chocolate-covered pretzel sticks.
  86. Emergency crank flashlight.
  87. Emergency crank radio. (A little pricier, but a great gift!)
  88. Emergency car battery charger. (Also pricier, but a great idea for the drivers in your family.)
  89. First aid kit.
  90. Emergency seat belt cutter and window breaker.
  91. Homemade pancake mix in a jar with a bottle of maple syrup.
  92. Cookie mix with a cookie cutter.
  93. Homemade caramels.
  94. Homemade peanut brittle.
  95. Lip balm–homemade or store-bought.
  96. Pens, pencils, notepads, and a pencil sharpener.
  97. Lottery tickets.
  98. A CD of you reading a story.
  99. Homemade soup ingredients in a jar.
  100. Bowling coupon.
  101. Warm socks.
  102. Slippers.
  103. Can of Reddi-Whip. Oh yeah!
  104. Gift baskets from the store.
  105. Mug, loose tea, and a tea ball.
  106. Membership to your cookie-of-the-month club–deliver a different batch of cookies each month.
  107. Membership to your pie-of-the-month club…or cake, cupcakes, or dessert to cover everything.
  108. A favorite candy.
  109. Starbucks gift cards.
  110. Freezer meals.
  111. Gift certificate for a day of freezer cooking together.
  112.  Pjs.
  113. An evening of skits, readings, music, and sing-alongs, complete with handmade programs.
  114. Felted wool dryer balls.
  115. Handmade jewelry.
  116. A memory CD, where you share your favorite memories of the recipient.
  117. A family heritage CD, on which you share stories of Christmases long ago, particularly wonderful for the older generations to do for the younger.
  118. A recital on CD or DVD in which you record your children playing piano, reciting poetry, giving speeches, performing skits, or whatever else you can come up with. This is particularly wonderful for far-away relatives.
  119. Ingredients for a dessert or meal and a gift certificate to make it together.
  120. Supplies for a craft and a gift certificate to teach the craft.
  121. Yarn and patterns for a crocheter or knitter.
  122. Woodcarving book and tools to spark a new interest. Don’t forget a piece of wood.
  123. Homeschool books or supplies.
  124. Spa set, including a candle and either bubble bath, essential oil for the bath, or homemade bath salts.
  125. Your favorite recipes in a binder or a recipe box.
  126. Infinity scarf made from a T-shirt.
  127. Cloth napkins you can make from an old button-down shirt.
  128. Homemade sachets for undie drawers.
  129. Paint set to spark interest in painting.
  130. Eyeglasses repair kit.
  131. Lens cloth for glasses, cameras, and electronic screens.
  132. Small sewing kit for quick repairs. Make your own if you have most of the materials on hand. Otherwise, it’s cheaper to buy one.
  133. Hand warmers.
  134. Neck warmer.
  135. Car emblems or parts for an enthusiast.
  136. Ice scraper and a batch of homemade de-icer.
  137. An ebook. Learn how to give an ebook electronically or printed here.
  138. Homemade lip gloss–fruity or plain.
  139. Homemade dog treats or other-pet treats.
  140. First aid supplies or kit for dogs, cats, horses, chinchillas, iguanas, whatever!
  141. Herbal first aid kit.
  142. “Quiet please–Mama and baby are napping” to hang on the front door or bedroom door at naptime.
  143. Fire starter (flint), compass, and para cord bracelet for the adventurer in the family.
  144. Jack knife for a coming-of-age boy.
  145. Homemade sugar scrub. Or try this super simple peppermint sugar scrub.
  146. Retractable phone charger to keep pesky cords under control.
  147. Unique money, like two-dollar bills or silver dollars.
  148. Cord organizers to keep cords in place and accessible.
  149. An remote controlled light turner-offer-and-onner to control an outlet from afar.
  150. A kitten. My kids made me write that, but seriously, if you’re planning on a family pet, wouldn’t that make it the best Christmas EVER!

Special thanks to my readers, family, and brain for these great ideas. Also, special thanks to the Homemade Living Frugally fans for sharing their ideas on Facebook.

Christy’s Simple Tips: Using Clothespins to Close Bags

Clothespins Pinnable

Instead of bulky, cumbersome chip clips or annoying little twist ties which were created only to aggravate parents of hungry children at lunch time, use clothespins to close bags in your kitchen. Simply fold down or twist the bag and attach a clothespin or two.

If the item belongs to one person in particular, use a permanent marker to write a name on the clothespin.

If you want to get really fancy (which is kinda the opposite of simple, but this is a great idea, so I’m going with it), paint the flat surface of the clothespin with chalkboard paint so you can write on it with chalk. Chalk is fun. Clothespins are fun. This is a win-win.

You could also spruce up your supply a bit by covering your entire house table with newspaper, setting out paints and markers, and letting your kids get in touch with their inner Monet and Picasso on your clothespins.

Snag a bag of 50 to 100 clothespins at most discount stores, department stores, or drugstores for only a buck or two. Some are better quality than others, but the cheapies are just fine for this purpose…even if they’re not sturdy enough for the job for which they were originally created.

I keep a small bin of clothespins in my “baggie” drawer where they don’t take up too much space.

Contact me if you would like your simple tip featured on Christy’s Simple Tips.

And You Thought Puzzles Didn’t Travel Well {Review}

You know by now that we are full-time RVers. What you don’t know is that when we had a house, we owned a lovely little collection of puzzles and were avid puzzlers. Some RVers take puzzles on the road with them, but not us. That is, until Enlivenze LLC gave us this Solar System FlipStir Puzzle in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

What is a FlipStir Puzzle?

A FlipStir Puzzle is a puzzle contained within a cylinder. A hooked stick protrudes from one end of the cylinder. You use the stick to put the puzzle together.

Can you picture that?

FlipStir Puzzles Reviews

The knob pulls the hooked wand in and out to navigate the puzzle pieces. Oh, now you get it!

We have the solar system puzzle, but they also have a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Rainbow Pencils, and the Statue of Liberty. I chose the solar system because we are studying astronomy right now…and dinosaurs are scary. Rar.

Rex and the Rainbow contain straight pieces, but Lady Liberty and the Solar System contain curves, making them even trickier. Doable, but tricky…for some of us.

Now, there’s only so much you can do with a puzzle–assemble…disassemble…assemble…disassemble…. As my fellow RVers can attest, there is little room in a travel trailer for anything that does only one thing…except, of course, a popcorn popper. Mmmm…popcorn.

So that the puzzle could make the travel space cut, we came up with this list of things to do with a FlipStir…I mean besides pausing directly halfway through the trailer door and assembling it and totally forgetting you’re supposed to be doing your math.

20160818_140620

Here are other things you can do with it:

  1. Assemble it–duh.
  2. Record your time and try to beat your personal best.
  3. Compete with one another’s times.
  4. Reward a student working hard at astronomy by letting them “play” with the puzzle instead of doing lessons or at the end of a lesson–that’s actually reviewing the solar system planets, but they don’t need to know that.
  5. Sit in a circle, place a piece, and pass it on.
  6. Do number 5 to a timer and try to beat your team’s high score.
  7. Blindfold one participant and have another tell him what to do.
  8. Put the puzzle together with your weak hand.
  9. Put it together backwards. One side of the puzzle is white, so if you angle it properly, you’ll end up putting together a pictureless puzzle. Tricky!
  10. Buy two and race head to head. Woo hoo! It’s like the Olympics all over again, without the tape to hold your body together.
  11. Use it as part of a race–run down to a table with the FlipStir on it, put one piece in position, run back, tag the next person. It’s best with two teams and two FlipStirs, because racing against air is lame.
  12. Assemble it behind your back while someone else tells you what to do. I think that’s ridiculously hard, but I have yet to assemble it frontwards. My kids and hubby can do it. We all have our gifts.
  13. And my favorite: not groan over missing pieces. Woo hoo! Let’s have a cookie over that one, shall we?

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Hey, fellow RVers, here’s something you’ll appreciate. The puzzle is lightweight for the most part, but it holds up to the abuse that life on the road (at least our life on the road) throws at it. The flip and stir stick is metal, which translates into sturdy, so when your one-year-old hypothetically throws that baby across the trailer, it should hold up. Don’t you love vivacious one-year-olds. So full of life, such good pitching arms–they’re excellent FlipStir Puzzle durability testers.

And conveniently, these fit into Christmas stockings. There you go. Now you all want one.

Look…he did it! Clever lad.

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He doesn’t get that from his mama. Everyone played with the puzzle. Everyone except one person solved it. Thus ends the discussion of the FlipStir Puzzle.

Connect with Enlivenze LLCLLC and FlipStir Puzzles on social media:

FlipStir Puzzle accounts:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/flipstirpuzzle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/flipstir

Enlivenze Accounts:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/enlivenze
Twitter: www.twitter.com/enlivenz

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Spanish Curriculum for Beginners–Easy as Tarta {Review}

While our favorite way to study Spanish is to hang out in the southwest parts of the USA and speak a little Spanglish with the locals every day, we currently happen to be a little further north and find the Spanish speakers a little less everywhere. That means it’s time to turn to the curricula. Coincidentally, Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids hooked us up with Starter Set 1 of their Spanish program in exchange for this review. Bueno, eh?

What is Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids?

The premise behind Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids (hereafter known as “it”) is that your students are on a flight to various Spanish-speaking countries. The flight attendant introduces the filmed segment and announces where you’re headed.

If you’re a good parent, you look the country up on the map, check some library books out, and make an ethnic meal. Then there’s me. Someone hit play, wouldya? (Did you just totally picture me in sweats with rags in my hair and my feet on a table with three mangy dogs chewing on our schoolbooks while the kids eat stale pizza and Spam from two days ago and I only move to scratch myself or shoo flies away from my beer with my stoagie? Yeah, I did, too. That’s not really me. We did look countries up on the map, but I didn’t make any ethnic meals…yet. And I don’t smoke stoagies…or anything…except the kitchen when I burn dinner…again.)

Next you launch into the everyday life of three brothers and their antics. Each brother has a different personality or interest which is represented by the shirts they wear, the props they carry, and the activities they undertake–like eating, reading, and playing basketball. The dogs have interests, too…like sleeping and stealing the kids’ desayuno (breakfast).

The conversation is entirely in Spanish…and entirely entertaining without being too terribly in-your-face like Dora the Explorer who yells all day long! It does elevate to that at times, but not too much…and it workds.

There is the occasional adult–only one that I’ve noticed, actually–but she is never fully seen. Only her voice is heard. Think Peanuts: “Mwa mwa mwa mwa mwa mwaaaa…” except in Spanish which probably sounds like mwa mwa mwa mwaaa if you are a bit rusty on your Spanish.

Starter Set 1 includes the following:

  • A DVD with three flights or levels
  • A separate teacher’s guide for each level, including lesson plans, DVD schedule, and extra activities.
  • Consumable workbooks for each level
  • Vocabulary flashcards and card games
  • Spanish stickers for all levels

Beginner Spanish Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Review
How do we use it?

The program is simple to use. At the bare minimum, you pop in the video and watch it. Easy peasy. You do not need to know Spanish to use this curriculum, and you don’t need to grasp each word the first time. It is expected to take several viewings to learn each word, which is good, because then the students are hearing the Spanish spoken repeatedly. If you don’t learn something just by viewing, you must have slept through class. Hey, I’m not judging. I totally need popcorn to stay awake through any film.

The program also includes stickers you can paste around your home so everyone in the family is seeing and learning the same words. That way you’re all using them and solidifying the language in your head forever! I know this works, because my brother and I did this when we decided to learn French 30-odd years ago–we can both ask where the telephone is in France, although, unfortunately, I still can’t understand a Frenchman giving us directions to the toilet.

If you don’t want stickers all over, or, as in our case, there are more stickers than you have worldly goods, use them in a sketch pad or notebook. Place the sticker at the top of the page and have the child illustrate the word. You could also play a game where you stick a previously unseen Spanish sticker on your forehead, and you have to guess what you are by asking other players questions about yourself…in Spanish. Try it!

The course also includes vocabulary cards, games, and ideas for further cementing those words into your vocabulary. It’s all explained in the included teacher’s guides–one for each of the three videos. Of course, the best way is to simply use the words all the stinkin’ time, but the games are a fun addition for the reluctant speakers.

What did we think?

Our 10 and under crowd think it’s fantastic. They even request it on non-school days. Points!

We already know Spanish and use it a bit (not extensively by any means), so some of us knew quite a few of the words that we were taught in the first two of the three videos in the series. Three pushed them a bit more. The words they did not know have been solidified by watching the short videos again and again.

After reviewing the videos a few times, they have had no trouble whatsoever with the workbooks. As an aside, the workbooks are very high-quality with excellent printing, color, and images. I appreciate the variety of activities, the lack of parental involvement required in many of them (because the kids need to eat, right?), and the cultural and geographical information they include. Also, the pages don’t tear when a toddling brother steals them and hides them in the litter box. They wipe off easily, too. I wouldn’t mind more workbook activities–I know, I know. I’m the anti-workbook person and I’m totally playing both sides here. Hey, it’s situational.

The ages that are actively using the program here are 4 (and a half, Mommy! Tell them I’m four and a half!), 8, and 10…and a half. My older kids recently finished another Spanish program, but they’ve watched the videos once or twice and had a refresher on some topics…and a huge pronunciation and regional languages discussion.

What I like most of all is that this course includes the spoken language, so they are hearing the words, seeing them, speaking them, writing them, and sticking them…both around the trailer and in their brains. That’s really what sets this program apart from others and adds value for this price range. It’s natural and effective, and I’d love to go further in this curriculum.

A Simple Spanish Curriculum

A word about the extras:

I personally don’t like programs that have a lot of extras. Again, I know–I’m weird. But seriously, people, it’s just more stuff! Stickers, vocabulary cards-there are Spanish words everywhere! I’m even dreaming in Spanish! But wait. Isn’t that the point? To expose your children (and your own self) to Spanish so frequently that it becomes second nature?

Why yes. Yes it is. Point to the curriculum.

In this case, honestly, the extras work. The kids can do the vocab cards in the van, they can stick stickers to their hearts’ content, and when I say “Spanish time, chicitos!” they come running. Points for that, too.

A word about the videos:

These are not Hollywood Blockbusters, but they work. My younger kids enjoy them, and my older kids didn’t run away screaming or vomit on the screen. They are done well and my children are learning and hearing the words pronounced by someone who isn’t their mom.

A word about the pronunciation:

There are some words that are pronounced differently than I learned in my Mexican Spanish training. This obviously is due to pronunciation and word usage variations across the world in Hispanic speaking countries.

It is a little confusing if you already learned Spanish another way, but don’t even worry about broaching that at this point. Whether you pronounce the word “ella” as “elya” or “eya” or “edja,” no native Spanish speaker is going to scold you any more than a Nevadan might scold a Bostonian for “warshing” his hands.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

There is no internet access required to use this program, because it is physical, so we’re good there.

It does, however, come with three teacher’s guides, three student workbooks, a DVD, and the extras. Everything, however, is very thin, so really, no worries. And when you’re finished with the teacher’s guide or not using a level, you can stow them someplace inaccessible. You’ll probably want to keep the workbooks and videos on hand for review.

Beginner Spanish Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Review

Last words:

You’re not going to be hopping a jet to Peru and speaking fluently after going through this Starter Set, because, hola!, it’s a starter set. You will, however, get your kids speaking some basic Spanish naturally, quickly, and painlessly over the next 20 weeks…although watching the breakfast scene is a little painful at times if you’re hungry.

Get connected:

You can find Foreign Language for Kids by Kids on Facebook here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForeignLanguagesForKidsByKids

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Beginner Spanish Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Review
 

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Loving Your Spouse Out Loud – A Challenge

Reposting in honor of my grandparent’s anniversary:

Yesterday, while perusing a popular site about managing the home, I noticed the question of the day:

“What about your spouse just drives you crazy?”

Loving Your Spouse Out Loud - A Challenge

As of this morning, there were 189 answers.  I got (literally) sick from reading the responses and petty complaints after about 30 or so.  Only one was positive: “It makes me crazy in love when he says ‘Hello, Beautiful’ in the morning,” but then she dampened it with a crass and very personal criticism.  The majority of the wives (I didn’t notice any replies from men) were irritated that he left his socks on the floor, left cupboard doors open, and didn’t put the cap back on the toothpaste (all things I do wrong, by the way).  Occasionally someone was less shallow, such as being upset by his apathy toward the children or his being a poor listener.

I wonder…

Even on the rare occasion when the gripes are legitimate, does sounding off and getting upset solve the problem?

Isn’t life…isn’t marriage challenging enough without an open invitation to share our criticisms?

Is my spouse the one with the problem if he can’t locate the laundry basket, or is it me that has the problem, to let that infuriate me and undermine all the positives about the person I chose to marry?  (I’m actually the one that can’t locate the laundry basket, just so you know.)

Because I believe negativity leads to bitterness, and bitterness is poison to marriage or any other relationship, I issue this challenge.

Love your spouse out loud!

Together, let’s counter the negativity with positives of our own.  Let’s answer this question instead:

What about your spouse just blesses you like crazy?

Share in the comment section below.

Even if your marriage is at a rocky place or going through a lull, look at it from a new perspective.  Find the blessing, the positive, the gift that is your spouse, and add it to the comments below.  You may answer as many times as you wish!

Please, friends, keep it real.  None of us married Mr. or Mrs. Perfect, so let’s not make others feel their spouses are inferior in comparison to a myth.

Take a moment, if you would, to share this post so that we can outnumber the 189 naysayers and let the mainstream world know that we love our imperfect spouses and are blessed by them. Let’s give marriage the reputation it deserves.  I don’t think I’m being overly optimistic to think that we can find more than 189 people willing to love their spouses out loud!

Let the world know that marriage between two imperfect people in an imperfect world still works!

Because it does.

The beautiful photo was taken three years ago at my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary – as of today, 63 years, two months, and 13 days of two imperfect people in an imperfect marriage, making it work by the grace of God.  It’s a beautiful thing.

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Talking Shapes–An Online Reading Program

We were given a one-year subscription to the online version of   Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy from Talking Fingers Inc. in exchange for a fair and honest review from my four-year-old daughter, Eliana…with a little help from me. Just a little.

We previously reviewed a Talking Fingers Inc. program called Read, Write, & Type here. Eliana really wanted to try Read, Write, & Type, but was nowhere near that level. Talking Shapes came along as an ideal tool to prepare children for the reading and typing involved in Read, Write, & Type and the other Talking Fingers Inc. programs, but ultimately for reading itself. Happy little Ellie!

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

Tell me about Talking Shapes.

The idea behind Talking Shapes is to help children understand that their mouths make shapes when they make (or read) a sound. That sound is represented by a letter or a group of letters. Those of us who know how to read sort of take that for granted. Pre-readers, however, need to make the connection between what their eyes see, what shape their mouths form, and what their ears hear.

That is the premise behind Talking Shapes, invented by a neuro…neurophy…by a really smart gal who went to school for a really long time. Her name is Dr. Jeannine Herron. She based the program on reasearch intended to help children engage both sides of the brain as they learn.

It’s ideal for preschoolers, kindergarteners, and other younglings who may be struggling to learn to read.

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

That’s all fine and good, but what’s the program about?

Essentially the seven-part story involves two girls who invented the alphabet back when togas were all the rage. Each shape the girls talk about corresponds with a letter and an object or animal that begins with that letter sound.

They also emphasize the shape the child’s lips make when they say that letter by looking into a pond while they make shapes. You can use a mirror if you don’t have a pond handy.

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

That’s great, but does the child like it?

If Ellie is like your kiddos, this program is a hit. It is not dull and repetitive like some phonics programs. It’s a screen–she likes it. I have to put time limits on or she would sit at it all day, even when it gets too hard.

Essentially, she begs to do her lessons. Okay, fine, you can learn, Ellie.

She’s not reading yet, but I don’t push it–I let it happen when it happens. By the end of this program, however, she will know 40 phonograms. Cool, eh? How many do you know? (Are you looking up phonograms in the dictionary right about now?)

Talking Shapes Logo_zpsfqtjuper

What do I think?

People, you know by now that I’m old school and will take a book over a screen any day. I have learned over the past nearly two decades of homeschooling that it isn’t always my preferences that matter. What is most effective and ensures a love of learning is ideal. Of course, I don’t want everything in the world to have to be entertaining to a child in order for them to participate, so a balance is important. You, of course, have your own screen guidelines for your family, so…there you go.

I would rather have Ellie drawing her letters in the sand or on paper than using the mouse to trace a letter on the screen. If you have a touch screen, this is not an issue, but we don’t. That said, when I saw how she maneuvered that mouse, I was very impressed. There was a lot of hand-eye-brain stuff going on there, so I enthusiastically let her continue. Honestly, though, I would prefer it as a quick and convenient app I could whip out on my phone or a tablet rather than a computer program.

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

Internet access–that blessed, cursed subject again. You must have internet access. There are images and movies and this will take a few cookie size bites out of your data. We had a lot of trouble with internet access during this review period, and it did make it difficult. Still, the program wasn’t glitchy or flashing in and out like some do when our “free if you can stand it” access is poor.

Space considerations? None. You already have a computer. Ideally, this would work best on a touch screen, so that’s even less space.

Find out what more conventional homeschoolers think by clicking on the banner below:

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

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