Gluten Free Halloween Candy Listing.....YEAH!

Stop on by Kit Kat Plus Celiac's blog and see the awesome list of Gluten Free candy options for Halloween! YUMMO!!! Just remember to check labels yourself to make sure that the company has not changed ingredients.

Now of course there is no corn free listing, so you will have to check that out too if you have allergies to corn.

We have been super busy around here, finishing up the TOS Review Crew year, got a couple of really cool reviews to share with you in the coming days! Spent a few days out of town and have some neat things to post about when life slows down.

If you have the time, please pray for our son, he has some interesting irons in the fire and needs covered in prayer. We will have more details to share the week of Nov 5. But until then we would covet your prayers for the Lord's will in his life. And that the Lord would comfort him in whatever His will is.

Love that the trees are turning and the weather is crisp. Almost time for Campfire school! LOVE THAT TIME OF YEAR.

Take care,

Chilly Weather Is Here & I Am Ready For Some Warm Recipes

Check out this YUMMY looking Gluten Free Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe. I think I will try this out this weekend. We went to our local pizza place this week, I sat and enjoyed the company while my guys ate...lol. They had Chicken & Wild Rice soup, I use to enjoy that when we went there, but no more with being gluten free. So I've had a hankerin' for some this week.

Here is another good looking soup I think I will try later in the month. Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice soup.  This site has wonderful tips on how to make soup and a great recipe, it does call for milk, but if you must be dairy free just sub in your favorite kind of milk.

A couple of key things to remember when making soup:
Check for gluten in wild rice blends (many contain pasta) & broth.
Also check recipe ahead of time to see if you have to pre-cook the rice.

Nothing like enjoying a pot of soup on a chilly homeschool afternoon.

Enjoy!

Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose Ebook & Unit Study Review

  

As members of the TOS Review Crew we were privileged to review of YWAM Publshing’s Kindle Ebook Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose and we also received the Jim Elliot Unit Study Curriculum Guide part 1 and part 2 inPDF format. Part 1 includes the actual study guide Ebook and part 2 includes all of the maps that go along with the study. (if you get the physical books the maps are located in the center section of the paperback book). The Ebook is$6.99 and the Unit Study is an additional $7.49 for the Curriculum Guide. The age ranges are 10+, but I will tell you that we were reading these books long before age 10 and enjoying them.

Homeschool Young Man here, Homeschool Momma asked me to write up a bit about this review, so here goes. I liked that this was on my Kindle because I could take it anywhere and even read in the dark car when we traveled.

The book and unit study Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose starts out with Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming on the boat Santa Juana to Ecuador, which is in South America. Jim has some flashbacks to his earlier years. The book moves and goes onto talk about when Jim was living in Ecuador, his marriage of Betty, work at Shandia, and finally his work with Operation Acua. The later half of Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose, deals with his involvement in Operation Acua, which ends in disaster but there is a positive outcome. But I am not going to spoil this for you. You will need to get the book yourself and read. It’s REALLY GOOD! Be sure to read the epilogue for more details.

I’ve read about Jim Elliot before and enjoyed the stories as well as watch a DVD about some of the missionary work that he was involved with.

 YWAM Publishing has some incredible missionary stories, we have a entire library in our home of them and they are read and re-read. We have also used their Unit Study Curriculum Guides for Christian Heroes: Then & Now by Janet & Geoff Benge from YWAM Publishing.

The Curriculum Guides cover so many topics that your child will glean much by doing them. Here is just a sampling of what you can pick and choose from: creative writing, Bible memorization, creating time lines, DVD's, further reading, oral presentations, art projects and much more!

 

I’ve always allowed our son to pick and choose what he wants to study from the guides. A favorite has been the timeline activity, this was one of the projects that he chose to do from the Christian Heroes: Then & Now Jim Elliot Unit Study Curriculum Guide. Get as simple as you want and just follow along in the book for creating the timeline, but with a 13 year old, you can have them dig deeper. Using an Internet search engine my student did some extra research and added more to his timeline than what was in the book, it also helped that he had read a book on Jim Elliot in the past.

 Homeschool Momma make sure to read the introduction of the Unit Study book for an explanation on how to use the book as well. There are sections on learning styles and grade levels. I remember back when my student was in the younger grades, I heard homeschool mom’s talking about unit studies all the time, had no idea what those were. So they always intimidated me. While at a homeschool convention we found the YWAM Publishing booth and I looked over the Unit Study Curriculum Guide by Janet & Geoff Benge, it was so easy to understand! We were sold on it from then on. My son always had some extra pocket $$ at convention to buy the next one or two Christian Heroes, Then & Now books. Now that they available on the Kindle are so inexpensive at just $6.99 each and $7.49 for the PDF's to go along with them.

For the younger students reading Christian Heroes Then Now: Jim Elliot One Great Purpose there some fun activities such as the Student Explorations chapter that includes drawing or painting the effects of flood at Shandia in chronological order. For a bit older student they can have fun writing down language examples, such as writing down the Spanish phrases found in the book and maybe searching online to find a few more. There are fun tasks like bark rubbing with crayons or colored pencils. For high school age there are essay questions, terms and vocabulary too. This would be a great addition to a Spanish class. The neat thing about these ideas in the Unit Study book is that you can go as laid back or as in depth as you want in your learning.

 

I am thinking STOCKING STUFFERS this Christmas on the Kindle! What a great Christmas morning present, turning on the Kindle and finding some new YWAM Publishing Ebooks! As a side note YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and these books will give your kids a heart for missions as they are exciting to read and captivating.


Some TOS Crew Members got a different YWMA Publishing Ebook to review, so click below to learn more.

 

Homeschoolers & The Law

 

As I ponder the above definition of homeschool, it saddens me to see that our legal rights are being chipped away in this country, in our state, at the county level and in our cities. When my homeschooler was a young lad, I never gave truancy laws a second glance, ya know, you see little kids out and about during the day with Mom. You never think much of it.

Now, as the Mom of a teenage boy, my mind thinks a bit differently.

What is your first thought when you see a group of teenage boys shooting hoops at the local park during the middle of a school day? Or a trio of teen boys walking through the mall, laughing and having a good time on a school day? "What are those hoodlums doing out of school?" What more or less would a truancy officer or police officer think? Think of that police officer alone, walking into a situation with a group of teen boys, he is going to be poised and ready for action if necessary.

Exactly, this is the reason why we need to be thinking about how truancy laws in our state, county and city could effect us.

 

If you don't think this is something to be concerned about in your homeschool, just do a google search for HSLDA truancy and see what you come up with. You will find many, many cases across our nation and you might think, ah, not a big deal, I just tell the police that I'm homeschooling. Read these cases and see the nightmares that these parents and childen have lived through. It may not be as easy as "We homeschool." It's not that easy anymore, an investigation can be opened up and you proceed from there.

Here is our real concern, this is about daytime curfews and truancy, this was a real case that a homeschool family went through, with the kids being arrested. HSLDA Court Report.

As homeschoolers it's easy for us to live in our own nice little bubble, but it's key for us to know what is going on, read the newspaper, find out what the different board meetings have on their agenda. Look for truancy, public school issues, student issues, curfew changes and anything that you can think of that looks child or school related. If you know any board members, ask them that as a homeschooler you want to know if there are any of these issues coming up to be voted on, because it's key that we know about these issues BEFORE a vote goes through.

It's easier to stop a pending law, than to change a law.

 

We must remain on guard, yet not be paranoid. Just in my state alone in less than 60 days we have had 3 truancy laws brought up, 2 of those were passed and are now in effect. We also need to look ahead, asking ourselves where do we want our homeschools to be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. You may have little ones that no one will question now, but one day soon they will be teens.

As the mom of a young man, I'm starting to think about my grandchildren, how sad would that be if our children's desire to homeschool their children is not possible because we did nothing to protect homeschooling laws.

We then have failed our children.