TOS Crew - Blog Walk - Week 2

Here we are again! Our second week of Blog Walking! This is my kind of exercise! I can get to know my friends, both new and old from the comfort of my own home! Have you started to meet some of the awesome crew members who are at the ready to shed light on some awesome homeschool projects?

Once again, we have a line up of 10 blogs for you to visit and meet their awesome authors! Remember to leave them a comment! I know they each are looking forward to meeting all of you!

Happy Walking!!!

1. Second Star to the Right and Straight On Till Morning
2. Surviving The Testosterone
3. Family Style School
4. School Around The Bible
5. 1628 The Story of The Goebels 5
6. Morris Family Madness
7. Homeschool Musings
8. Homeschooling (and then some!)
9. Heartfelt Homeschooling
10. following Him home

See you next week!!!!

CHEA of California 27th Annual Homeschool Convention- Pre Registration Deadline EXTENDED!!!!

Don't miss out.
Times are still tough for many families. To allow more people to take advantage of the pre-registration savings, CHEA has extended the pre-registration deadline of the Annual Convention and Annual Leadership Conference to Friday, June 25.

The 27th Annual CHEA Convention is in Pasadena, July 16, 17, & 18. By pre-registering, you save $13, and if you become a CHEA Member (or are a CHEA Member) at the time of registering, you an additional $30. (Online pre-registration will be open until midnight.)

The Annual Convention is a family affair. In addition to the Teen Conventions(ages 12-18) and the Children's Convention (ages 4-11), other family activities are planned.

The Pasadena area boasts many family-friendly attractions, some of which are within walking distance of the convention center and hotels.

Make your plans now to join other homeschoolers at the Annual Convention.

REGISTER NOW

Annual Leadership Conference

The pre-registration deadline for the Annual CHEA Leadership Conference has been extended to Friday, June 25. The Leadership Conference on Friday, July 16,  is a separate event and requires separate registration. Pre-registration is by mail only and should not be mailed after June 25.

To Attend or Not Attend

by Marilyn Rockett

Exhibit Hall Tips

Please forward this eNews to your friends who may not receive it.

Start Your School Year Off Right!!!!

Are you getting ready for the new school year? Need some help getting organized? Just wish you could have a personal friend to walk you through all of the planning bit-by-bit? Cindy Rushton, has given me permission to share a resource that she developed just for this purpose. I am so excited to give it to you! It is a audio and ebook set that she actually sells on her website, but she is giving away to help us get familiar with her resources. Here is the link:

Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year Super Set!

Let’s Get Ready for the New School Year Mommy Planner…
Ebook by Cindy Rushton

Need some help gearing up for the new school year? Wish you had a friend to take you by the hand and help you plan your year? You will LOVE this! It includes a quick Mommy Planner with a potpourri of planning sheets from all of Cindy's products to help you get started on the right track with your homeschool planning. It is full of goodies! AND YOURS...

Download Part One
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp1.pdf

Download Part Two
http://www.cindyrushton.com/pdfs/GearingUp2.pdf

PLUS! Companion Audio! :)
Let’s Get Ready for a New School Year–Audio

Download by Mp3
http://www.cindysdesktop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/GetReadyNewSchoolYear.mp3

Isn't that FUN?

After you finish this resource, if you need more help, you will want to check out Cindy's Organized Mom Super Set. It includes audios and ebooks that will help you in even MORE detail. I love it. It is one of my favorite resources for getting organized and on the right track for my homeschool year.

Best news! This week she is offering a special when you order that set. You also get free access to Cindy's huge audio set, Organization 911! Help for the Messy Mom and her NEW Let's Get Organized for the New School Year Seminar Set. Check out the details here:

http://www.cindysaffiliates.com/go.php?offer=jsouthern9&pid=2

Graphics Toolbox Tuesday- Thank You Notes!!!

Last year while serving on the TOS Homeschool Crew, we reviewed a product called Graphics Toolbox by Great Software Tools.

It is a product that I really enjoyed! About a month ago, I joined the Great Software Tools team, as Homeschool Sales Specialist.

In that capacity, what I am going to be doing, is posting on my blog each Tuesday - Graphics Toolbox Tuesday - a project that my family and I have completed.

My desire is to show you, all the wonderful things you are able to achieve with Graphics Toolbox and how those projects can impact your family and your homeschool.

What we created this week is a Thank You note. We created a personalized Thank You note to send to our Pastor's son who spoke at my daughters graduation.

Here is the original photo.


So, what I did first was create a frame, and crop the picture. Once the picture was placed I wanted to color in the border. I decided I wanted to have two colors. I actually was able to pick out colors from within the photograph to create the border. Both color's come from Larry Chappell's tie.


In the next step, I was able to layer in fancy lines. These fancy lines are cataloged in Graphics Toolbox. You can choose the color, and like in this example, I layered in 2 different lines to achieve my desired affect. Once I was happy with the fancy lines, it was time to add in the text. What you see below is the finished graphic.


Now, it is time for printing. With Graphics Toolbox you have the ability to print the image in a manner that you will not have all that extra paper folded into the card. Like with many of the other card maker programs.

When printed, it comes out looking like this..


Now, if you were printing several cards, you could also choose to print two, one on top of the other, and then simply cut between the two.
Since I only needed one, I printed only one, and then cut away the excess paper.

And then you simply fold, and fill in the inside of the card....


This entire project took me about 20- 25 minutes. Now, it only took me that long, because there are still features that I am learning. I imagine that my next thank you card will only take me about 10 minutes or less to make.

Tune in next week to see what else you can make with Graphics Toolbox!

For more information about Graphics Toolbox, you can email me at jennifer@greatsoftwaretools.com


Just added.........
We just whipped up this up for a friend of my daughter....
This is the computer image....


And here is the finished product....


This one did not take nearly as long... and I created an irregular frame, and pulled the music notes out of another picture.

TOS Crew - Blog Walk - Week One

As our 3rd voyage for the TOS Crew is gearing up to set sail, we thought we would take time to meet all of our crew mates! Each week we are going to list 10 of our crew mates and their websites.

Our hope is that not only will we get to know each other, as we take time and focus on each other's blogs during their features week, we hope that each of you will take time to get to know the crew that has signed up to help you find great homeschool products!

We begin our tour with...........

1. Reaping a Harvest
2.  Pink & Orange Coffee
3. Live, Laugh, Learn!
4. Mrs. Mandy's Musings
5.  The Fantastic Five
6.  Refined Metals Academy
7.  Just A Moment in Time
8.  Providence Farm
9. My Journey
10. Petra School

Thanks for visiting and we look forward to seeing you all next week!

FREE Nasa DVD for your Homeschool!!!!

My friend Heidi just posted on her blog that you can order a FREE DVD from NASA!
Here is what they say about it on their blog...
Are you ready to take a Journey to the Stars? The American Museum of Natural History and NASA have joined forces to produce a planetarium show about the amazing variety of stars that dot our cosmos--exploding stars, giant stars, dwarf stars,neutron stars, even our own star! But you don't have to go to a planetarium to experience this mind-blowing journey. NASA will send you a DVD, for free!

Now go on over to Heidi's Blog and order your own today!!!

Thanks Heidi, for sharing this great resource!!!

Joy in a Quiet House

It has been a quiet day here on the home front. Quiet for many reasons!
Mom, has lost her voice! Yes I am talking about myself in the third person!


It is amazing how much you use your voice every day! I mean, I know that I use my voice every day, but boy, when you can't use it, you realize what a helpful tool it is.

However, it has been a wonderful way to take a much needed rest! Isn't it amazing how God will give you exactly what you need even when you don't realize you need it!

You see, the month of May has been a whirlwind of activity around here! We took a vacation, a school vacation. We went on several awesome educational field trips!

The TOS Homeschool Crew was winding down our 2nd voyage, I had a few reviews due, and at that time Homeschoolblogger changed their format. Which I am loving, though it is taking time to learn!

We also were planning our homeschool group graduation, for 8th and 12th graders. It was an amazing day! But alot of leg work! Though very worth it. At the top of this post, is a picture of me and my daughter on her special day!


Here is one with our daughter and our Pastor's Son, Larry Chappell, who was our speaker at the graduation. Bro. Chappell works with our teenagers, and they all just love him! We were honored that he spoke to our teenagers!

Here is one with a couple of her friends!

If you can't tell from the pictures, the day turned out lovely. What started out as a small affair, grew into a ceremony and reception for 200 people!

So needless to say, a much needed rest is in order. However, my nature is not to rest! I tend to try to just keep on going!

With the loss of my voice, I have been able to stay off the phone!!! I have been able to finish up on some reading that I have been meaning to do!

One of the best parts, is I learned a great lesson! And that is.. if I speak quietly, my children respond quietly. I love it! Yes, I knew that, however, I , often times, much like my children, have a hard time with my volume control! Just ask my mother! This has been a long time issue! So now that I am speaking softly all day.. for several days now, their responses have been nice and soft! I like it! Note to self, keep speaking softly, even when voice returns.

Thank you Lord for giving me the rest, You knew I wouldn't take on my own!