April Giveaway at SecularHomeschool.com

Just launched the April giveaway at SHS.com today, so head over and enter if you have (or will have) a child in 2nd-5th grade and would be interested in winning a secular-based homeschool chemistry curriculum from Pandia Press.

Giveaway at SecularHomeschool.com

 

Just want to make sure my peeps here know about the December giveaway I’m doing over at SecularHomeschool.com!  This month, there will be 2 members who will win a free 8-week writing course of their choice from Time4Writing™!! ($99 value)

These eight-week online writing courses help elementary, middle and high school students build writing skills through one-on-one interaction with a certified teacher. Students study a new topic each week through automated online exercises, lessons, readings, and written assignments. A personal writing teacher reviews and provides feedback on each assignment, the day after it is submitted.

Courses to choose from include:

• Sensational Sentences

• Welcome to the Essay

• Perfect Paragraphs

• High School Research Papers

• many more!!

If you haven’t joined the site yet, now is a great time.  H-T has taken one of these courses and they are terrific!  So don’t miss out on your chance to get in on one!

Topsy-Techie Birthday Giveaway Winner

 

In a cool turn of events, and according to Random.org, the winner of the Topsy-Techie Birthday Giveaway is…

Rational Jenn, the other birthday girl this week! 

Unfortunately, Jenn won’t receive her prize in time for her own birthday, but she says she might do something jazzy for Thanksgiving or Christmas with her new set of tools!!

As for me, I’ve already had a lovely day – – including gravy biscuits in bed, thanks to my incredible hubby – – AND I’ve got a lovely night ahead of me.  R-T is taking me out to the Melting Pot for a night of fondue fun. 

(Yes, for me, birthdays are now all about the calories)

So a BIG thanks to everyone who entered, and for the creative birthday cake ideas.  I enjoyed every single one of them!!  Thanks so much for sharing my birthday fun this week, everyone!!

Awww…They’re Human Again

Image via Wikipedia

So yesterday, I gave into the whine that had been building up, and gave it free rein.

But today, I have been privileged to sit on the sidelines and watch and listen as my two wonderful young men have made their plans for learning today.  Thanks to the suggestion of Stone-Age Techie, we have begun to read aloud the first in the Percy Jackson series to supplement Uber’s current interest in Ancient Greek culture.

This read-aloud has led to a natural interest on H-T’s part in Ancient Greece as well – – especially the different gods and their attributes. So, the boys have added a documentary on Ancient Greece to the Instant Watch queue on Netflix.  Then, together (yes I said TOGETHER), they have decided to watch that documentary over the network, on our new BluRay player.

Then, as I have sat hear quietly eavesdropping from the bedroom, my two free-form scholars have begun watching and making the most awesome comments back and forth about things like airborne illnesses, Sparta, and the Coliseum.  It is a beautiful thing to listen to!

So I think at least PART of the prescription for the illness that is teenage-dom must be taking charge of one’s own education.  Perhaps it meets some of the cravings for independence that are so common at that age.  Whatever the reason, I’m feeling pretty doggone happy about this educational experiment.

For today, I have my young men back.  And I have unschooling to thank.

 

p.s. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to head back to Monday’s Topsy-Techie birthday giveaway to enter for a chance to win the Martha Stewart cake decorating kit!

 

Topsy-Techie’s Birthday Giveaway!

Ok, normally I let my birthdays slide by like sands in the hourglass, but this coming Friday happens to be a celebration of my very last year in my 30’s, so I’m puttin’ on the ritz.

R-T is taking yours truly for a night of fondue fun at the Melting Pot, AND, of course, I already was the recipient of a kick-ass Blu-Ray player, so I’m feeling pretty doggone generous this week.

Therefore, I’m sponsoring a giveaway at Topsy-Techie to honor the occasion. I thought it would be a hoot – – me being the absolute antithesis of Martha Stewart and all – – to give homage to my lack of domestic skills by RE-GIFTING this beautiful Martha Stewart cake decorating kit that I received and will NEVER, EVER use.  (Don’t worry, the giver doesn’t read my blog and will never know!)

The kit has never been used (duh – – this is me we’re talking about!), boasts 52 pieces, and retails for 80 bucks at Macys.com.  (Ok, now I’m having mixed feelings. I mean I feel a little guilty re-gifting something someone was willing to shell out 80 smackeroos for. BUT they obviously don’t know me at ALL if they think I would ever take time away from my computer long enough to actually decorate a cake!!!!)

Anyway, all you have to do to get a chance to win this beautiful cake decorating kit, is comment on this post about what you would put on a cake that you were decorating for my birthday.  Now, maybe that makes this an unfair challenge for those of you who don’t know me as well, or haven’t been around Topsy-Techieland for long, so YES, I will choose a random winner…but you still have to try to be creative because it’s my birthday and I SAY SO!! 😉

So pull out all the private jokes on me you want this week.  I’ll pull on my thickest skin – – just for the occasion.  I can take whatever you can dish out. 

What would you put on my cake, dear readers/friends/family???

May the best cake decorator win!!!!!!

(Winner will be randomly chosen and announced on my birthday, this Friday, November 20th!)

Are You a Buccaneer Scholar?

I see those hands.

We are pretty proud of our doesn’t-fit-in-the-box kind of learning, aren’t we?  Knowing that no matter how much someone tells us “how” to do it, we are probably always going to forge our own path and create our own techniques.  (cue self-satisfied smiles)

I LOVE being a buccaneer…well, except for the fact that I don’t look good in an eye patch.

Other than that, though, I’m so excited to be going on this brand new unschooling adventure this year.  I get almost giddy watching my oldest son make incredible leaps and bounds in his programming skills, and seeing my youngest son take risks and try out chemistry experiments completely on his own! 

It’s thrilling, I tell you!

You know who would probably agree with me?  James Bach.  If you don’t know who James is, it’s time to get with the program, because James actually COINED the phrase “Buccaneer Scholar,” and has even written a great new book called Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar, which describes how he found success in a highly technical field without the benefit or burden of a conventional education.

If you haven’t read this book, you need to, and you might not even have to buy it because I am giving away a copy over at SecularHomeschool.com this month!!  (As well as other great giveaways).  So stop by and enter, or head to Amazon via my link if you need to get your hands on it immediately.

And then keep right on buccaneering out there in homeschool land, OK??

Loose Ends and Giveaways

I think I need to start a whole weekly meme called “loose ends Tuesday”, because every Tuesday seems to be dedicated to just that, lately.  So here goes…

If you haven’t entered the October giveaways at SecularHomeschool.com yet, be sure and stop by and enter before the end of the month.  I am giving away some premium accounts at Spelling City™ and some free preschool accounts at Time4Learning™.  You need to be a member of the site to enter.

My other random giveaway-related item is from Blog2Print.  I’m thinking about taking the plunge and putting this year’s blog posts into a keepsake book.  I mean, my blog posts are pseudo journal entries, of sorts, and our family has been through lots of different things this year that I wouldn’t mind having record of. 

With Blog2Print, you can take those posts and turn them into a beautiful book layout where you get to pick the cover (hardcover or softcover), the images, the order and number of posts included, and even which comments you want to add.  You can even get just a pdf of your book!

And Blog2Print was nice enough to share a discount code with me that is good through November 9, so if you think you would like to order yourself an early Christmas present, now’s the time.  The discount code is for 20% off your finished blog book.  Here is the code: fall4b2p

I hope you take advantage of some of these opportunities! Have a totally random Tuesday everyone…

Has Anyone Been Wanting to Try Out Netflix?

If so, now’s the time!

Netflix sent me a promotion code that I am allowed to email to friends and family.  The code is good for one free month of Netflix subscription.

If you’ve been wondering whether Netflix is for you and your family (how good the movie selection is/how easy it is to rent/how quickly the movies will arrive), then this is the perfect opportunity to find out.

All you need to do is leave me your email address in the comments, and the promotional free month of Netflix is yours. (Feel free to put any necessary spaces with your email to prevent spamming.  And I’ll delete all comments after one week just to be on the safe side)

I LOVE the incredible amount of educational DVDs available via Netflix.  And it is usually pretty easy to get a new release, as well.

Happy Renting!!!

Giveaway on SecularHomeschool.com

Ok, so if you are a Topsy-Techie reader, and you have been meaning to join my other site: SecularHomeschool.com, now is a terrific time, because we are having a site giveaway this month!!

The fine print, however, is that you must be a site member to enter, so get your cute little hineys over there and sign up today, so you can win a great curriculum prize package from Flourish Enrichment.

Description of the curriculum from the Flourish website: The Flourish Enrichment curriculum is designed to provide a robust interdisciplinary approach to teach art by teaching other subjects through the art projects. The projects cover everything from the history of Tibet and it’s struggles with communist China to African cultures and the importance of tribal masks. Each project is an in-depth look at the subject matter as well as detailed photo instructions to provide easy to follow art projects that any parent can work through with their home schooled child.

If you have been looking for a unique way to teach art to your homeschoolers, Flourish Enrichment may just be perfect for you!

And even if you don’t want to enter the contest, we’d love to have you at SecularHomeschool.com anyway!  There is constantly something going on in the forums, groups, blogs, and resource pages that is bound to appeal to you if you are a secular homeschooler (and I use that definition to mean anyone who isn’t homeschooling for religious reasons).

Hope to see you there…and best of luck on the giveaway!!

 

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My Big Fat November Giveaway Winner!!

Well, the bad news is that my favorite month of the year is over.  Kaput.  Finito.

But the good news??? We have a winner!!!

A big congratulations to Dan Callahan at Geek.Teacher, for being the randomly chosen winner of that HP Printer in my Big Fat November Giveaway!! Dan’s email was randomly chosen using a random generator at Random.org. 

And a huge thanks to all of you who faithfully took the time out of your busy lives to comment on my blog this month.  I loved every one of your insights, stories, and snippets!!  It has been a month to meet some new folks, and to get to know others a lot better.

You guys rock!!!  Thanks for hanging out in Topsy-Techieland this month…