Sir Winston Churchill, “We have no money. Therefore we shall have to think.”

Are you struggling with HOW to teach your kids math? Have you tried all of the homeschool heroes so long recommended in math, and still haven’t found what you need? Do you have a super bright child that gets math easily and needs to skim ahead? Do you have an older child who is still struggling with concepts, but tired of being in younger math? Would you like ONE simple math program that you can buy ONCE for ALL of your kids?

You have got to see the wonderful new math program I found! Math on the Level was a delightful discovery from the CHAP homeschooling convention in PA. Creator Carlitta Boyles started out homeschooling her own kids with the principles in Math on the Level. Other moms in her homeschool group asked her for help with their kids, and out of that Math on the Level was born!

The Math on the Level approach

• To make math real, the curriculum emphasizes teaching math through practical, family-life experiences. With Math on the Level, the world is your classroom!
• Because each child is unique, math instruction is focused to each child’s maturation level, not age or grade level. (No topics are grade leveled.)
• Its organization and practical emphasis let you teach different-aged children together if desired and include math instruction in your family activities (even in unit studies).
• An effective yet simple to use record keeping system helps you be sure that all necessary math concepts have been covered as well as plan and track each child’s individualized 5-A-Day review.
• To address different learning styles, more than one teaching approach is included for difficult topics.
• Instead of using a generalized set of 30 (or more) daily practice problems that you hope will give sufficient practice for your child, the Math on the Level 5-A-Day review system lets you tailor the review to your child’s actual level of need and make sure each child gets the right amount of practice without busywork.
• To ensure long-term retention, every math concept the child has learned is practiced continually throughout the curriculum at least once every 3 weeks (and more often as needed).

I highly recommend you check out this fabulous new math curriculum! It was rated HIGHLY in the Spring 2008 edition of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, with a great TOS review (you will have to scroll down the page to find Math on the Level!!)

We are seriously contemplating trying this! Has anyone tried it?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida man has created a car he claims runs on tap water.

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PHOTOS: Car Runs On Water

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“I’m getting 100 miles to the ounce on water,” inventor Anthony Brown said. Brown said he shut his fuel injection system down and created the system that can use any type of water with a small amount of gas. He said the car is getting just fuel vapor.”When you separate the water from the oxygen from the hydrogen, it cooks and it cooks down to a brown,” Brown said. “We’re not having any waste product off of it. Everything is consumed and burned.”Local 6 showed video of Brown filling up his vehicle with water and then driving around.Brown said any profit he makes from his invention will go toward helping missionaries around the world.”I’ve just been asking for a way, for the Lord to show me to raise money rapidly and I started to working on this idea,” Brown said.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

USA Today reports that stress over debt is taking a toll on health. Foreclosures, gas, food prices, are all up, and so are:

And the current tough economic times and rising costs of living seem to be leading to increasing debt stress, 14% higher this year than in 2004, according to an index tied to the AP-AOL survey.

Among the people reporting high debt stress in the new poll:

• 27% had ulcers or digestive tract problems, compared with 8% of those with low levels of debt stress. (bacteria causes ulcers - but stress makes it worse)

• 44% had migraines or other headaches, compared with 15%.

• 29% suffered severe anxiety, compared with 4%.

• 23% had severe depression, compared with 4%.

• 6% reported heart attacks, double the rate for those with low debt stress.

• More than half, 51%, had muscle tension, including pain in the lower back. That compared with 31% of those with low levels of debt stress.

People who reported high stress also were much more likely to have trouble concentrating and sleeping and were more prone to getting upset for no good reason.

Food prices are already surging. Yesterday, at Sam’s Club, I finally decided I would quit looking, quit fretting, quit doing the math in my head by the time I got to the dairy aisle, and just get what was on my list, my normal staples. The milk I buy was up $.52, cheese up $.50 (or so - I quit tallying with the cheese!) avocados were up, bells were up, peaches up, eggs the same, butter up, cottage cheese had a big rise, the paper we buy for the computer was up almost $1, etc, etc. I paid $3.99 a gallon for gas (that was Premium - we have old cars and use premium - it is cheaper than a payment!) My friend back home in CA just saw gas at $4.80 for Regular. It is simply more expensive to live. The Prudent Wife website will help you feed your family healthy, nutritious food for less! Launching soon!
As we grieve with the folks flooding across the USA, we also see it will further affect our food supplies and the cost will rise. This article explains it.

1 tablespoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed or good quality bottled organic)

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 cup water

Squeeze fresh lemon juice, strain and put in your sprayer bottle. The lemon juice will help naturally disinfect produce. Add some vim and vinegar! The acid in the vinegar will help neutralize pesticides. Spray fresh veggies and fruits, rinse and you are ready to go!

There is still space at the Real Life Marriage Conference, specifically designed to minister to HOMESCHOOLING PARENTS! Coming up this weekend June 13 & 14 in the gorgeous, cool mountains of Northeast Tennessee! It is not too late to sign up and we would love to have you be a part of this amazing event!

Five in a Row creators Jane and Steve Lambert along with Heidi and Jay St. John of First Class Homeschool have created this unique weekend to encourage and equip home educating parents along the journey, strengthening their marriages and their walk with the Lord. Don’t delay, you can still sign up today! Prayerfully considering join us!

(This is a delightful devotion I received from a friend today! I would love to give credit where credit is due,and I have been told it is by Nancy Campbell from Far Above Rubies. www.aboverubies.org)

Ephesians 2:22-24, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which was corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.”

When you were born again by the Spirit of God, you received a new wardrobe. It is a very expensive wardrobe, paid for by the precious blood of Christ. You have so many beautiful garments hanging in this wardrobe. You have lovely dresses of love, joy, peace, longsuffering gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). You have delightful garments of tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,
long suffering, forbearance and forgiveness. (Colossians 3:12-17).

The strange thing is that although we have this expensive wardrobe, we don’t always bother to wear the clothes. We are so used to our old shabby clothes of the flesh. We feel more comfortable in them. They feel familiar, so we stick with them instead of trying out our new wardrobe. To put on a beautiful dress of gentleness or patience can seem foreign because we are not used to wearing them.

But they belong to you! They are yours! Imagine if your husband purchased a very special and pricey dress for you. You couldn’t believe how posh it was. But you never wore it. You thought it was too good for you. How would your husband feel when he paid so much for it and wanted to be proud of you wearing it?

I wonder how God feels when He gives us this glorious wardrobe, purchased at an enormous price, and we never wear the garments? He gives them to us but He doesn’t put them on us. He tells us to PUT THEM ON. “Put on the new man …” I love the J. B. Phillip’s translation which says, “Fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living … And put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life …”

Make sure you put on a new garment each morning. Have you had a lousy night with the baby waking all night? Are you going through a fiery ordeal? Put on the garment of praise. (Isaiah 61:1-3). Let me tell you a secret. You won’t feel like putting it on. You’d much rather put on your dirty old dress of grumbling and complaining. But do it by faith. Don’t worry about your feelings. Put on your praise garment. Start praising and thanking the Lord. As
you do it by faith, you will actually wear it.
You can change garments as you need them throughout the day. Are the children getting on your nerves? You feel your anger rising. Quick! Change into your garment of long-suffering or patience. Put it on by faith. Thank the Lord for His patience which is in you because He lives in you.

Are you starting to shout and yell because everything is getting on top of you? Put on the garment of gentleness. Thank the Lord for His gentle spirit which lives in you. This is the new man. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He lives in you now.

All these beautiful garments belong to you. They are yours. All you have to do is put them on by faith!

Strip of your old shabby garments. Wear your new ones each day. Live in them. Let Christ live His beautiful life through you.
PRAYER:

“Thank, you Lord, for all the beautiful garments that you have given to me. I am sick of my old rags. They look so ugly to everyone. Help me to put on our beautiful new garments which reveal your beautiful life in me. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I may have little in my literal wardrobe, but I have access to the most glorious garments in my spiritual wardrobe. Praise God.

By Nancy Campbell from Far Above Rubies. www.aboverubies.org

What can you do to save money as the gas prices continuously increase??? Sign up for our FREE newsletter at The Prudent Wife, to get money saving tips and strategies to extend your budget further! Launching this summer…

Another one??? Yes….we are having ANOTHER incredible homeschool speaker in our home next week! It is Jane week! Monday, June 9^th at 7:30 pm, is a Free Workshop with Jane Bullivant, from across the pond in England! Jane is so popular that HEAV (in VA) has flown her out for their homeschool conference this week, and she is a featured speaker! And you are going to LOVE Jane, she is witty, funny, speaks all over the world, loves the Lord and homeschooling and all is such an inspiration in that delicious English accent! You will fall in love with her the moment you meet her! You can pay $75 to go to HEAV, plus gas, hotel and meals, or you can see her locally Monday, June 9^th at 7:30 pm for FREEEEEEEEE! This is mom’s night out, and we would love to have dads too! The Old Schoolhouse Magazine will have give aways and prizes, so you might win something grand! 

JANE BULLIVANT (from the HEAV brochure!)
www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com
Jane is an international author, columnist, and broadcaster based in England. She works with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine to encourage and inspire parents in the adventure of educating and raising their children to be the people God created them to be. Jane’s dynamic presentations are bursting at the seams with warmth, humor, and practical advice for parents wishing to take their homeschool to the next level. Jane and her husband Darren homeschool three turbo-charged children (11, 10, and 6) and their escapee hamsters. Jane’s books are available world wide and have been translated into several languages. Her latest book is titled Skydiving for Parents: Raising amazing kids without going into freefall, and was recently named as an iParenting media award “greatest product” winner of 2007-2008.

Jane will smash two classes into an hour and half of pure encouragement Monday, June 9^th at 7:30 pm at the Baughns house in Gray TN.

 

Exploding the Myth of the Perfect Homeschool ~ Jane Bullivant
This presentation explores the effect of perfectionism in the homeschool and reveals a fresh approach to striving for excellence without being a slave to the schedule.

Beat Homeschool Burnout ~ Jane Bullivant
It is entirely possible to raise and educate your children in excellence without burning yourself out in the process. Organization is not the answer; it’s merely a tool. The answer to beating burnout? Come and find out. Homeschool frenzy will be a thing of the past! 

Who: Jane Bullivant, England’s hottest homeschool speaker!

When: Monday, June 9^th at 7:30 pm