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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

TOS Homschool Crew - Family Mint



The first thing I want to tell you about Family Mint is... it's FREE!!!! You and your kids can have accounts within minutes and be on your way to working toward your kids financial goals. Family Mint is an online program that allows kids to keep track of their own money and you act as the bank. You and your kids can log in deposits, view their accounts and set goals. It brings reality to finances. Making your child/children aware of where the money goes. That can help them make better choices than buying junk food or a toy that catches their eye at the store as an impulse buy.

I am sure you are concerned about you and your children being secure on the Internet. All of your family’s information is accessible only by you.  You will never have outsiders sending unsolicited messages to your children.They use state-of-the-art encryption as well as security-hardened and firewall-protected servers.

There are a lot of cool features to this program:

It is easy to set up and to use, for parents and children. You can see the account features for all your children on just one or two pages. 

You can provide incentive to your kids who are saving for things like college by automatically matching a percentage of their contributions towards these goals. With this kind of goal you child is locked form taking money out of this account until the parent ok's it.

Allowance can be automatically added to your child's account at a set rate weekly so you don't have to remember. There is one drawback to that though...you, the parent, have to have set aside the money in your own account so you have it to pay out to your kids.

You can also add a set amount of interest if you want.

You can transfer money from all the accounts except a matching account.

One cool feature, that you can see in the picture here on the left, is that you can upload personal or Internet pictures to symbolize your child's goals. That will be an added incentive. They can see their goal as well as the money in that account. Do they want to buy a camera? find a picture of the camera they want and upload it to that account. That isSmiley

The savings plan is a new part of the website. The savings plan allows your child to allocate portions of his money to certain goals he has. It is like the envelope system. You can set it up with whatever percentages the child wants. In the example picture 50% of the new deposit goes to college, 10% to charity, etc. There is also a column for matching funds and you can see that it is locked.

Like I said at the beginning one of the best features of this program is that it is free. For that reason I give it my Good Value icon. So, why don't you and your kids try it out for yourselves. The basic program is supposed to stay free. They will be adding a pro version to the website in the future which will cost money.

You can get more information and more details at the website. There is an FAQ page too. 

Out of five stars I give Family Mint


To see what my other crew members have to say about Family Mint check out the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

***Family Mint provided me with the FREE membership so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of it here in this post.

I hope you enjoyed this review and will check out
Family Mint,
Debbie

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Simple Woman's Daybook - March 30, 2010

FOR TODAY...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Outside my window...
rain... rain... and more rain
I thought it was supposed to be April showers not March!!

I am thinking...
about lots of things...
rain again, sick daughter, husband's broken tooth, homeschooling, broken washer... still, broken car...again, my mother coming to visit Wed night through the 15th of April, Easter, housecleaning to do, TOS review product to write up a review for, but first of all need to get my devotions done to start my day off right.
I am thankful for...
tax money to help pay for the things I am thinking about

From the learning rooms...
Friendly Chemistry for the last 6 weeks of school
Starting "By Pike and Dyke" by G.A. Henty today for Historical Fiction
The Kings of Israel and the Divided Kingdom for Grapvine OT Bible
Scott Joplin for Composers study, now in the contemporary period, only a few more guys to study
History: Luther, Diet of Worms, Suleiman and the Ottoman Turks and a few other things
along with more Math, Writing, Building Life Relationships, Home and Life Management, Educational Foundations, Typing, Art, Guitar practice, Grammar, and a few fun things thrown in there.

From the kitchen...
cleaning to do before my mom comes.

I am wearing...
Jeans, homemade T-shirt with a cross on it, red sweatshirt, socks and sneakers

I am creating...
made a notebook page today for By Pike and Dyke, blog posts, and reviews for TOS

I am going...
no where!

I am reading...
The Wormling book 3 "The Changeling" by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
I need to read the Terrestria Chronicles for a TOS Review due in April

I am hoping...
that my daughters and I can all go to our church's ladies retreat in April,
money...as usual... is the problem
we are saving up

I am hearing...
cars going by in the rain outside, keys typing and an occasional word or laugh from my children

Around the house...
lots of cleaning before my mom comes on Wed. night

One of my favorite things...
cheese curls

A few plans for the rest of the week:
all the stuff above and some other stuff Free Userbars

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Blooms at Winterthur

To do your own daybook and read the others go to http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Debbie

Things I Must Tell the Children by Bill and Gloria Gaither

This is an older song and it is great to see a younger Bill and Gloria. I hope you enjoy this and I hope it touches your heart today too. Remember to make the important things a priority and don't get so bogged down with the busyness of life. Have a great day. Debbie

Thursday, March 25, 2010

2010 Ultimate Blog Party

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Are you planning to attend the Ultimate Blog Party, hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom?  This will be my first year participating and I am not sure all that will be involved, but who doesn't like a party!! I do know I will meet a lot of new bloggers and there some great prizes involved in the UBP.  It’s a great way to find blogs that you might not find otherwise. If you’d like more information about the UBP, just click on the banner to the left, or use this link.

Keep you eyes and ears open for updates here and on 5 Minutes for Mom.

Debbie

376-80-85 Winterthur... again! Lovely Spring Flowers



I numbered my favorites the rest are a bonus!!! LOL
There were just too many good photos from our weekend trip to Winterthur.


365-80


My sweet hubby taking a picture with his camera.





George and Martha Washington
(new statues at Winterthur)


Tough plants... growing through the sidewalk!


1750 house
Moved brick by brick by Mr. Dupont from Historic New Castle, DE


The big house!



You must see these photos with the little blue flowers larger to get the full effect, so click on each picture. They are called Glory of the Snow.


My sweetie





365-81

365-82


Interesting vVew
Winterhazel through the Japanese Maple


Rose hips, thorns and rose buds



Magnolia bud


Winterhazel
(the yellow)
[I tried to get a close up of the Winter Hazel but they all came out blurry... bummer!]

Ooooooohhhhh!! Great Shots
Pretty Too
376-83


376-84
lovely




376-85
lovely and clear

I like this one, too.


Likens on a piece of bark that fell off the tree...
very interesting.




this is interesting too


Debbie

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

TOS Homschool Crew - Children's Bible Hour


Children's Bible Hour produces a lot of products. When my children were younger they loved the Keys for Kids devotionals. We got the booklets mailed to the house and I even bought one of the One Year Devotions for Kids devotional books. Now they are producing some of the Uncle Charlie stories as softcover books with CD's. The illustrations by John White are great, he did 2 of the 4 books, not that the other illustrator is bad, just a personal preference. Your child can follow along on the pages even if they can't read. At the end of each page there is a tone that tells the child to turn the page. These are great for before bed reading or listening; putting your child in a Godly frame of mind before sleep. Great for family read-a-loud time, too.

The Seasons of Faith illustrated books encourage children to learn about their faith in God. Based on CBH Ministries’ treasure trove of radio scripts, these stories teach core truths of the Bible so that kids can easily apply them to their lives. My kids used to love listening to Uncle Charlie. To hear his voice again on the CD was fun. Each book focuses on a season of faith. It will be difficult to explain these books without giving away the plot.

Spring: This is a time when people experience new life in Christ. Faith develops and Christians begin to share the Salvation message with others. Race With Midnight is a spring book.

In Race With Midnight a young Becky shares her faith with her cousin when she visits them on their farm during spring break. Great story with a suspenseful conflict that occurs in the story that keeps you reading until you get to the climax. Great picture book with a good moral story.

Summer: The season when faith grows under God’s love and care. Fruit is witnessed and triumphs are gained through applying His Word and striving to be the best we can be in Christ. You Can't Come In is a summer book.


In the story You Can't Come In a young boy named Adam explains how God does not let sin into heaven to a new friend named Zack. This draws Zack and his family to what to know more and to join Adam and his family at church.
Autumn: Times of struggle and temptation, peer pressure, making mistakes, and scary transitions happen during this season. Even though it might seem like nothing good can come from this time, God has promised us He will be there. He will teach us how to forgive and then grow in grace. Seventy Times Seven is a autumn book.
 
 In Seventy Times Seven a young boy learns how to forgive by living the parable that Jesus told about the unforgiving servant in Matthew chapter 18. Learning to forgive is a hard thing for children. I am sure this book will help as well as lessons they learn from their own lives.

Winter: This season is the most difficult. Deep struggles, mourning, trying to make it through difficult times, or the death of a loved one, can pull us away from God. Uncle Charlie teaches us to lean on God for comfort and peace.  Braving the Storm is a winter book.

Braving the Storm is a story about the storms of life that batter us and how we need to be deeply rooted in Jesus Christ before the storms come so that we can stand and about how the Lord walks with us through the storms of life. We have had many of those times in our lives and are in the midst of one of them right now and this was a great reminder.
At the end of each book the plan of salvation is also explained and the child is given a chance to accept Jesus as his savior. 

There are also free study questions available for parents and teachers. 

There are lots of other things at Children's Bible Hour so check out the site, look around for a while. There is a lot there. As I already said they have Keys for Kids devotionals. There is a list of radio stations where you can find out if you can listen to Children's Bible Hour on a station near you. They also have a store so see what is in there. And there is a cool game to play with a dragon.

Each of the books is just $10 or all 4 for $40. If you use the code FREESHIPAPR15 between March 17 and April 15, 2010, you can receive free standard shipping with the purchase of the 4 book set.

Out of five stars I give the Seasons of Faith book and CD sets: 

To see what my other crew members have to say about Children's Bible Hour - Seasons of Faith check out the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

***
Children's Bible Hour provided me with 4 Seasons of Faith books with CD's so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of it here in this post.

I hope you enjoyed this review and will check out their products,
Debbie