Did you know that CSN Stores is chock full of educational toys and games?  I had no idea!  I knew that they had regular toys and home decor items, as well as cookware and all kinds of other things, but I had no idea the vast array of educational toys they carried, including brands like Melissa & Doug, Patch Products, Plan Toys, etc., right on their website Toys and Games Online.  We homeschool, so this was quite the find for us, as now we can search through their toys finding things that will not only keep Jaden occupied, helping him to learn….but things that will help Jacob, as well, things like science kits, games, blocks/building toys, etc.

I actually had the opportunity to review three different educational toys from CSN Stores, so I’ll tell you just a bit about each one.  I have been looking for the Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards for quite a while now.  They’re one of the harder Melissa & Doug toys to find in our local craft store/book stores.  I found one in a local book store, but it was so expensive that I decided to just wait and see if I could find it somewhere else.  Thankfully, CSN Stores carries it for less than half of the price in the book store!  This set comes with 130 different pieces of all shapes, colors, and sizes.  Jaden can actually pick a pattern board, and then he uses the shapes to form that same pattern on his board.  It really helps him to learn the different shapes, as well as colors.  It gives him tactile practice, as well.  It’s definitely a great project to pull out when I need to work with Jacob on a more difficult subject, as it keeps Jaden occupied.  It’s also a challenge for him.  You can purchase the Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards for $13.55 from Toys and Games Online; it’s meant for ages 3+.  I definitely recommend this product.

Next is the Plan Toys Preschool Fun Abacus, another product I’ve been waiting to find for Jaden.  He’s getting to the point where he understands how to count now, so this just adds to our daily learning.  It’s a great tool to pull out to help him with counting and even color recognition, as it has very brightly primary colored beads.  Jacob can actually use the abacus to supplement his addition/subtraction studies.  It gives him tactile practice with his math problems.  This abacus is meant to help with hand-eye coordination, as well as fine motor skills.  It has 100 beads, 10 on each wire.  One thing I love about the abacus is that it has two little legs that can fold out to stand more steadily when in use; however, when not in use, the legs can fold back in, so that the abacus lays flat for storage.  You can purchase the Plan Toys Preschool Fun Abacus for $22.50 from Toys and Games Online.  Plan Toys uses non-toxic, natural materials in their toys, so this makes for a “greener” choice, as well.

The last product we received to review was the Patch Products On the Go Peel and Stick Jr. This kit includes more than 160 foam squares that can be used as mosaic tiles on the 3 different scene boards. The scene boards include a choo-choo, a police car, and a dump truck, 3 of Jaden’s favorite things.  He can actually take the foam adhesive pieces and put them on the scene board, creating his own little masterpiece.  The set includes 6 sheets of foam pieces and a magnet strip, so he can display his works of art when done with them.  I like that this is a creative project for Jaden; it gives him a tactile project to work on that stretches his creative abilities and helps him to create something of his very own.  He feels so proud when he’s completed an art project, so this just helps to boost that confidence and level of creativity a bit more….keeping him interested.  As a mom, I like that there’s no glue involved….so virtually no cleanup.:)  You can purchase the Patch Products On the Go Peel and Stick Jr. for $10.00 from Toys and Games Online.  There are different varieties of this product, with different scene boards.  The only thing I would want to change about this product would be to make it reusable….that would add even more appeal for financially strapped families, as it would provide an ongoing activity for kids, something they could use over and over.

I definitely recommend Toys and Game Online with CSN Stores.  Take a look around, as you never know what you’ll find.  They have such a great selection and affordable prices, as well.  Be sure to Like CSN Stores on Facebook, and follow @CSNStores on Twitter.  You can also subscribe to the CSN Stores Blog.

(Disclosure: I received the aforementioned products, free of charge, from CSN Stores, for the purposes of this review.  All opinions/views are my own.)

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a homeschool edition, so it’s long overdue.  Enjoy the links, and be sure to link up your giveaways below!  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

This first post might not be totally geared toward homeschooling, but there is so much wisdom that can be applied in our everyday lives as homeschool mamas in Wisdom from Relevant from 1+1+1=1.

Lindsay from Passionate Homemaking shares a wonderful bounty of resources in Christian Literature for Kids Ages 0-8.

On HomeschoolBuzz.com, you’ll find tons of news, homeschool blogs, and resources.  This is a site to be bookmarked.

Jan Brett is another great resource; I especially love the Activities section.

Flat Stanley is an awesome way to promote literacy amongst our young students.:)

Finally, I can’t let you leave without a recipe, or should I say, a bucket full of recipes for this fall season!  I came across Recipe Girl today, and I was thrilled to see so many delicious recipes; I printed out a few to try myself.:)

Link  up your giveaways!  Thanks for stopping by!:)

School has been going full force for a few weeks now here in our house, and we’ve been staying mighty busy.  Just between you and me, between school, taking care of house and family needs, and working, this mama is tired and out as soon as my head hits the pillow….you can ask my honey who gets frustrated when we try to watch a movie, and he looks over to find me conked out.:)

Anyway, just wanted to share some of the stuff we’ve been doing.  Jacob is just thriving with our new curriculum, and Jaden’s absolutely loving his “school.”  We read lots of library books, and then I base most of Jaden’s lessons off that same subject matter; we also have been focusing on different letters via the books and projects; for example, one week we focused on apples, the next we did bugs.  I get a lot of ideas for Jaden from Homeschool Creations and No time for Flashcards.  I love, love, love those sites; the ladies who run them are truly gifted and creative and absolute dolls for sharing with all of us “not so creative” educators.  We use lots of other things too like BrainQuest, cut and paste activities, games, tracing activities, ideas from magazines, etc.  Here are some of our recent projects.

We had the opportunity to review this awesome Create your Own Pop-Up Books Kit from Growing Tree Toys (review coming soon on MamaBuzz).We’ve had lots of playdough time; this is a great thing to give Jaden while Jacob and I work on something that he needs more of my attention with. He finds all kinds of creative things to do with his playdough, including using it as a phone.:) We use these playdough mats every week.Another activity that I just recently introduced Jaden to is Dot Paints, which are wonderful!  They’re easy cleanup, and he loves it when this box comes out.  We found these bandage lightning bugs, and they were so much fun to do.We sailed the bathtub blue with the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, as we were learning about Christopher Columbus one week in history.Jaden enjoyed making this Cut and Paste Train, and then chugging it around the house for the rest of the morning, and of course, when Daddy came home.Jacob is in the midst of learning about early America and the Indians, so he designed and made a tepee yesterday, sticks and all.  His wigwam from the day before didn’t turn out so good.  We were doing something wrong, not sure, but now his tepee happily sits with his cowboy/Indian sets.Today Jaden got to make this Cat in the Hat hat. I think I need to fix it, as our plate was way too big, but he’s had a time wearing it around the house.  Just for the record, this is one of his favorite movies.Finally, Handy Manny has made a deep impression here.:)So, what are you guys doing in your homeschool adventures?  Anything new and exciting to share?

“Public school is child abuse!”

Yeah, that got me fired up too, even though I’m a homeschool mom.  I’m signed up for a local homeschool group’s Yahoo group here in Missouri, and I read that on one of the messages that came through.  The person actually had it on their signature that goes out with every message.  I was not impressed.  What are your thoughts when you read that phrase?

See, we are a homeschool family, and sure, we hold certain values and beliefs that influenced our decision definitely….but never that public school is even remotely close to child abuse.  For Dan and I, we believe that decisions regarding schooling your own children are just that….your decisions.  Every family has to make that personal decision for themselves, and they shouldn’t have to worry about being judged for whatever decision they end up with.  We chose homeschool because, for one thing, it gave us more time with our boys to give them more of a foundation here at home.  We are able to insert our values and beliefs into the curriculum that we use, so that they can hopefully form a strong foundation.  Another reason was that the school district that we lived in at that time was not the best; a lot of the kids that came out of that school ended up not being able to read (Jacob was already struggling with reading enough as it was), and there was just such a huge drug problem.  We were afraid that the quality of his education wouldn’t be what we could give him at home.  We didn’t want his already growing problems with reading to become a factor. (Now he reads anything in sight.)

Are our kids perfect, and are we perfect for homeschooling?  Absolutely NOT!  We made the personal choice as a family, and noone, NOONE, has the right to judge our decision.  Just as noone has the right to judge our decision if someday Jacob ends up wanting to attend public school, and we feel that it’s a good move.

I do not agree with the phrase above, and honestly, I get so tired of the negative flak that opinions like that give the homeschooling community.  We are not all judgmental, know it all people.  I’m not trying to be rude here, but as Jesus pointed out, when we see the speck in our brother’s eye, maybe we should also look to see the beam that is in our own (Matthew 7:3).

Am I proud to be a homeschool mom?  You betcha!  Do I judge you for sending your kids to school?  Absolutely not!

What are your thoughts on this topic?