Littles Learning Link Up: August 29, 2017

 Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

We have been enjoying our break between our summer session and the first day of school for the 2017-2018 school year. Last week was our "go completely off-schedule" week. The children were able to watch movies for their show time, plus a movie at night. We didn't worry about what time we went to bed or woke up. However, we did have a couple of review items we had to work on, but they were easy ones and not very time-consuming. 

We have been reviewing a few of the countries we learned about using Let's Go Geography (a review product). Last week we focused on Norway and China. We made Viking boats.

I have to say, even though we did quite the extensive study of these countries with My Father's World, we still learned some new things about each of the countries we reviewed. This week we are starting a brand new country, Greenland. 

We also got to review Australia through a mailing from the Australian embassy. Though not an official part of the MFW curriculum, there are instructions given on how to write letters to the embassies of the countries we learned about. Most families do this at the beginning of the school year, so they receive materials in time to use when they learn about the countries. As we had never found the time to do so, I decided to send the letters and use any materials received for review.  We received some really neat things for Australia:

Let's take a look at that review schedule:

Last week I posted my review of The Everyday Family Chore System from Everyday Homemaking. In September I will be posting reviews of the Charlotte's Web E-Guide from Progeny Press, four books by Carole P. Roman, a juvenile chapter book from Barbour Publishing called Imagine. . . The Great Flood by Matt Koceich, Let's Go Geography, Captain Bayley's Heir from Heirloom Audio Productions, and a couple of books from Worthy Publishing. We also have a cursive workbook that Hannah will be working on. That review will post in October.

Some things I would like to share with you:

Back to School time is almost here (or is here for others), plus fall is right around the corner. Seems like the perfect time to share my Apple Fun Round Up.

And here is my

Littles Learning Link Up : Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Day 2 - Back to School Round Up

I recently started a new weekly feature called Fun Fiction Friday, where I share the books the older girls and I are reading, sharing their thoughts on the books, and possibly even a review of a Juvenile book I am reading. 

A few weeks ago I started Picture Book Saturday (though it posted on Monday). These posts feature the picture books we read during the week, with the children each sharing which one was their favorite. I shared the books we had read about Australia and Coral Reefs.

Hoping to make both of these consistent, weekly features here on Tots and Me...Growing Up Together. I didn't have a chance to post last weekend, due to being so busy with the blog hop, but I will make sure to get posts up this coming weekend.

I will be posting my Apple Fun Literature and Craft Round Up within the next couple of weeks. If you have any posts that focus on apple books (whether it is a book compilation post or a craft based off a book about apples) I would love to include them in my round up. Please just leave me a comment or contact me via my contact info on my About Me page.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 10 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.  

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Lisa from Syncopated Mama shared Ready, Set, Find Noah's Ark.

And here are this week's top clicked on posts.

Betty from Let's Get Real shared MANNERS: A FREE PDF of Our Manners Study.

Betty from Let's Get Real also shared Free Printables: Obedience.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

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Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- August 29, 2017

Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Featured Giveaway

PJ Masks DVD US only Ends 8/30

Featured Reviews

Improving Our Daily Routine with The Everyday Family Chore System {A TOS Review} 

A Gradual Introduction to Biblical Greek with Greek 'n' Stuff {A TOS Review}

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

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Picture Book Saturday (on a Monday): August 28th, 2017

Picture Book Saturday Monday

Picture Book Saturday is where I share the picture books we have been reading as a family, focusing specifically on the books we are using for homeschooling, though sometimes I may add in some of the other fun books, especially if there is one that we really enjoyed. The chapter books the older girls and I are enjoying are shared about in my Fun Fiction Friday posts. 

We finished up our ECC curriculum a few weeks ago and have been enjoying our break before starting our 2017-2018 school year. I promised I would share the rest of the books we read for Australia and Coral Reefs. So, here we go.

Keeping Up with Grandma by John Winch is about a couple who both have things they love to do, but then grandma wants to go on adventures and try different things, which grandpa is really not happy about, and just can't keep up with  her. They end up back at home doing what they love to do.

The Old Woman Who Loved to Read by John Winch is about an old lady who loves to read and moves out to the country to have peace to be able to read. However, she discovers there is a lot to keep her busy in all the different seasons. While we see all the things that keep her busy, we are introduced to many creatures who live in Australia. 

Living in Australia shares different aspects about life in Australia. 

Australia also shares about Australia. Sorry, don't remember what this one was about specifically. It's been too long.

Australian Animals Safe at Home is a cute little board book about, well Australian animals being safe at home. 

Koalas was all about Koalas

Twilight Hunt was a book about an owl searching for food, and we were to find the different animals camouflaged on the pages. 

Why Koala has a Stumpy Tail is a fable type story sharing why koala has a stumpy tail, because koala didn't always have a stumpy tail, but a nice long one. In the story it was a dry year, Koala and Tree Kangaroo needed water, but Tree Kangaroo was the only one digging because Koala kept coming up with excuses on why he couldn't. Then when Tree Kangaroo finally found water, Koala drank it all up. Tree Kangaroo pulled on Koala's tail and it came off.

Snuggle Up, ZooBorns! is about lots of different zoo babies snuggling with their mamas. The koala was just featured on the front, so I decided to read it anyway.

Whose Furry Nose features lots of different animals that live in Australia. First they are just shown in part and you are supposed to guess what it is. The animal is revealed when you turn the page.

Coral Reefs by Gail Gibbons is about coral reefs

Over in the Ocean In a Coral Reef shares rhymes about different sea creatures, while also counting through from 1-10 to show different amounts of the animals.

Coral Reefs

Life in a Coral Reef

I do apologize for not remembering what each of these coral reef books is about. The information sort of blended together. 

What Lives in Coral Reefs?

The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive: A Book About Coral Reefs

Octopus Under the Sea

Big Fish, Little Fish

In my Picture Book Saturday posts, there will also be a section where I share the children's favorite books from the past week(s).

Tabitha enjoyed Keeping Up with Grandma

Amelia loved Why Koala has a Stumpy Tail and The Old Woman Who Loved to Read

Hannah says she also liked Why Koala has a Stumpy Tail

Harold's favorite book was also Why Koala has a Stumpy Tail

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you can come back for a visit again soon.

I'm sharing over at:

Fun Fiction Friday - August 25, 2017

Fun Fiction Friday
August 25th, 2017

Welcome back to Fun Fiction Friday.

In my Fun Fiction Friday I share the books the older girls and I are reading, and a short review of a Young Adult or Juvenile book I have finished, if applicable. I will also ask the girls to tell me something they would like to share about at least one of the books they are currently reading. 

I have yet to start The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer. I decided to continue reading I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. I started it earlier this summer, and put it aside for other books. I'm now hooked and will probably finish it before starting on The Land of Stories. But I definitely have to get to those. I just discovered there is a SIXTH book in the series! It was on the shelf of new books at the library. 

I have returned most of the books to the library. Unread. I will have to take them out one at a time. 

Moving on to the girls' books:

Amelia is still reading The Prisoner of Azkaban. She finished Charlotte's Web and I am now reading it to them a chapter at a time. She took Hamster Princess: Giant Trouble out of the library and hopes to be able to get to it soon. I reminded her she still has to finish the Flat Stanley book!

Amelia really likes Harry Potter and the Prisoner and Azkaban. She is halfway through the book and is quite obsessed. This is what she has to say about it so far:

It's about a boy named Harry Potter who is 13 years old. An evil wizard named Sirius Black escaped from a prison called Azkaban, and there are dementors looking all around Hogwarts for him. And they even start searching the little town called Hogsmeade. Sirius Black is Harry Potter's godfather. 

Tabitha is really enjoying the History Mysteries from American Girl. She finished reading Ghost Light on Graveyard Shoal by Elizabeth McDavid Jones. She also finished Gangsters at the Grand Atlantic by Sarah Masters Buckey. She is now reading Mystery at Chilkoot Pass by Barbara Steiner.

Ghost Light on Graveyard Shoal is about a girl whose name is Rhoda. Her father works at a life saving station to save people from shipwrecks because they live on an island. Rhoda has a sick friend named Pearl who may die if her father can't get enough money. 

Rhoda sees some kind of light, and she tries to figure out what it is, and it becomes more and more mysterious. She thinks it could be the light of a wrecker, who is a person who takes a big light and lures ships to their doom. It could look almost like another ship or a lighthouse. 

She thinks it is really good and she likes it. Tabitha thinks Rhoda's figured out that it is a wrecker, and thinks she knows who it is. But Tabitha realizes that in mysteries sometimes the people add up the clues too hastily and jump to conclusions. Tabitha ended up being wrong about who the wrecker was, and so was Rhoda.

Gangsters at the Grand Atlantic is about a girl named Emily and her big sister Dorothy. They live in Philadelphia. Their mom is an art and music teacher. Dorothy's friend invites them to the Grand Atlantic which is a very very fancy hotel. Their mom only lets them go because gangsters have threatened the store clerk who lives next to them, and Emily. So their mother thinks they should go away for awhile. But instead they find out that a gangster named Mr. M, who is a rum runner, is at the hotel. Well, they think he is at the hotel anyway. So they have to stop him. 

I have been reading the following books to the children at bedtime:

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White is a book I loved as a child. I'm glad the children are getting to read it for the study guide we are reviewing from Progeny Press. Imagine...The Great Flood by Matt Koceich is also a review product. The review will be posting mid-September. Once it is live, I will make sure to link to it here on Fun Fiction Friday. It has been really interesting so far. Young Cory is upset he is going to be moving across country, from Texas to Florida. During a storm he suddenly is transported to the time of Noah in the Bible. He is interacting with Noah and his sons. I can't wait to share my full review next month. 

Next week I hope to have The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns finished so I can share my review. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will come back tomorrow to read Picture Book Saturday. 

I'm sharing over at:

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #166: August 24, 2017

Welcome back to... 

I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around August 24th, from any previous year)  I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

Last year I focused solely on recipe posts for the posts I wanted to share, and the year before that, I shared past review posts. It was fun remembering some of the recipes and reviews I had forgotten about. This year I will be sharing random posts.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time. And if you haven't been blogging for a full year, feel free to share any earlier post.)

Please make sure to share from the past as instructed above if you would like your post to qualify for the Featured Post. Most weeks I find that there is a wonderful post, but I can't feature it because it is a current post, not from the past. I love reading the current posts, if you want to share them. However, I am not able to feature them, because the spirit of Throwback Thursday Blog-Style is to share posts from the past.
Thank you

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post. 

Here is my Throwback Thursday post:

Originally posted August 25, 2012
School Time With My Father's World Week 2: Creation Days 4-6

Here is this week's randomly selected

Featured Throwback Thursday:

Kimberly from Everyday Parties shared 

Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Throwback Thursday Blog-Style permalink please.

Happy Throwback Thursday!

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Improving Our Daily Routine with The Everyday Family Chore System {A TOS Review}

It's no secret that housekeeping is not one of my strong suits. In fact, neither is figuring out the best way to get the children involved in chores. Trying to balance everything in my life is definitely a struggle, what with time with the Lord, blogging, exercise, schoolwork, and housework. It always seems as if one or more are being neglected. I know I want to make sure my children grow up knowing how to take care of household chores. This was something I wasn't really taught very well, though my mother is a stickler for a clean house. And to top it off, I tend to take after my dad more than I do my mom, a bit on the hoarder side, plus some laziness that tends to come through. I've known I need to make some changes for a while, but I just wasn't sure how to go about doing so. That is until we had the opportunity to review The Everyday Family Chore System from Everyday Homemaking thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew. 

I received a downloadable, PDF copy of the 88-page The Everyday Family Chore System book by Vicki Bentley. 

This book is divided into four sections.

• Introduction
• Part One: Laying a Foundation
• Part Two: Implementing the Plan
• Part Three: The Actual Chore System

In the Introduction, the author shares a bit about herself and how capable her children have been trained to be. I mean, who wouldn't want to take advice from a lady who raised children who could look after a household in an emergency? Who wouldn't want to know how a mom who successfully raised eight children (plus over 50 foster children) kept things in order? I was definitely eager to continue reading. 

Part One: Laying the Foundation explains the two main purposes for implementing a family chore system. The author then moves on to the Four Basic Principles that help to lay a foundation for this system. Mrs. Bentley explains the importance of:

• having realistic and age appropriate expectations
• establishing rules or standards
• having a working knowledge of family discipline and
• tying strings to the children's hearts. 

It's important to understand the different expectations you should have of children at different ages, and to know that training is going to look different depending on their ages as well. This isn't just referring to training the children in the chores either, this is talking about basic discipline, obedience, and responsibility, among other important character traits. The author explains the importance of explaining and writing down expectations, along with knowing the difference between God's rules and house rules. Before moving into the actual plan, Mrs. Bentley concludes this foundational section by reminding the reader that discipline should not be done in anger, and she also gives ways that parents can build loving relationships with their child(ren). 

Part Two: Implementing the Plan gets into the nitty gritty of how this chore system works. In order to understand how to assign chores, it is important to understand which tasks a child is capable of at each age. Such a list is included. The list is divided by age, from age two through teenagers, sharing all the chores a child should be able to be taught to do. It is important to understand that children will probably not master each of these tasks at the specified age. The author added a number (in parentheses) after each chore, which represents the age at which a child should be able to master the task. Of course, this will only be accomplished if the child has been trained how to do so.

Mrs. Bentley then looks at daily versus weekly chores, and explains how the tasks will rotate. These jobs are the non-negotiable jobs which are imperative to complete each day or week. Then there are the occasional chores that need to be done. She shares some different ways these tasks have been completed in her home through the years, from Job-from-Box tasks, to different Zones, to a combination of the two.

I mentioned that the chores need to be written down so the children know what is expected of them. That is where the two main parts of this system come in. 

1. There are six different ways that the chore chart can be set up. 
2. The How-To-Do-It cards that explain how to do each chore are essential.

I used a tweaked version of Set Up #1 for our chore chart:

I used the materials I had on hand to make the chart. This includes a couple of layers of card stock for the main yellow section where the children's names are written. I used some of my old scrapbooking letters to form the phrase "Family Chores." I loved the idea of including Colossians 3:23 on the chart, so that is printed under the title. Labels with the daily and weekly tasks were attached to clothespins, which are then clipped next to each child's name. I color-coded them by coloring the morning tasks yellow and the night time tasks dark blue. The weekly tasks were left white.

The chart was completed by adding a pocket formed by folding over a piece of card stock. This is where the How-To-Do-It cards are stored. As you can see, I color coded those as well.

I decided I will be rotating our chores weekly, though Mrs. Bentley rotates hers monthly. She also had each child completing two weekly chores, where I decided to start my children with one each. We will slowly add in more chores as the children get used to doing them. Before this the children didn't have many routine chores, so I am gradually getting them used to this whole chore system idea. 

I have had to play with our routine a bit to change up the chores the children used to have. Thankfully we are still off of school right now, so we have been able to get into the swing of things. I will then have to see if any adapting will be necessary once we get back into our school routine.

In addition to utilizing the chore chart . . . 

. . . I have started taking some of the other advice that is included in Part Two. 

There are a few pages of "Make it easy to succeed" tips. Some simple, yet important tips to remember can be found here. Such as: have a routine, have a place for everything, set a timer, and laundry the "right" way. One thing I appreciated was the list of things that the children should have done before school. I have adapted that, and made a "Things that need to be done before coming downstairs for breakfast" chart.

And we now have an after breakfast routine where they clear their spots at the table, brush their teeth, and do their morning chores before doing anything else. We also have an after dinner routine. 

Part Two also contains the following: My Daily School Routine, What is a Tidy Room?, Zone Cleaning Lists, How to Do Laundry, House Rules for Older Girls While Still at Home, plus different motivations for success.

Part Three: The Actual Chore System is where you will find the Chore Labels and How-To-Do-It cards, plus instructions on how to use them. 

Chore Labels:

There are three pages of 14 chore labels, plus 2 pages of blank labels. I used the blank labels to write in all of our chores as I had some different chores than were listed, plus there are a couple of tasks that I wanted different children to do at different times of the day. I felt it looked neater to use just handwritten labels to stay consistent.

How-To-Do-It Cards

These are 3 x 5 cards that explain how to do each task. There are 13 pages of four cards, plus three blank pages. I actually decided to use lined index cards to write out my own, using Mrs. Bentley's as examples. Again, this was for consistency, seeing as some of the chores on the cards were explained just a bit different than we do them, or I wanted to separate some tasks onto two cards instead of one. 

Since implementing this chore system our house is running so much more smoothly, and it is staying cleaner. The children are enjoying their new responsibilities. In fact, Harold has been known to beg to do his sweeping. The older girls are even offering to help each other with their weekly tasks. It really is amazing what children are capable of doing if you just give them a chance. 

I highly recommend Vicki Bentley's The Everyday Family Chore System if you are needing some order in your home. I love this chore system. It is simple to tweak it in a way that works for your family. And there are so many great tips included. If you aren't sure how to explain to a child the correct way to do a task, the How-To-Do-It cards are wonderful. They have the information right in front of them so you don't have to keep nagging at them. Check it out, and see if it will work for your family.

You can find Everyday Homemaking on Facebook.

My fellow Crew Mates and I have been reviewing either The Everyday Family Chore System or Everyday Cooking. Don't forget to stop by to see what they think of these books from Everyday Homemaking. Just click on the banner below:

Wordless Wednesday: August 23, 2017 (w/linky) : Enjoying More Time With the Grandchildren

Our newest granddaughter was born last Friday.

Sadly, the next day she was struggling to breathe, they were thinking it was a collapsed lung. We got to the hospital for a visit in time to see her in the nursery, hooked up to different tubes and getting an IV. 

Thankfully she is doing better now and has gone home.

We did get to visit with my son and his girlfriend for a little bit. Then we had to leave so we could visit with my other son, his wife, and baby Annika. Boy is she growing so fast.

The cute little sack of potatoes her.

We didn't have very long with them either, as we were heading up to the drive-in for a triple feature (Nut Job 2, Cars 3, and Despicable Me 3). We met the other granddaughters up there. The children had a blast playing on the playground until it started pouring. Thankfully the rain stopped half an hour before the movie started.

And then it started to pour.

Looking forward to seeing your Wordless (or not so wordless) Wednesday posts this week.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button on your Wordless Wednesday post or in a list of Wordless Wednesday linkies. Just link it to my Wordless Wednesday permalink please.

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