Bargain Booty!

It's been awhile since I've posted some of my 'treasures'.  That's surprising since it's something that I thrive on!  Here's my Goodwill find today.  I got all of these books and a pair of pajamas for $20.  Isn't that great?  There are 36 books!  Each book (except for 'The Very Quiet Cricket') has a yellow sticker on it which means it was half off.  So the hardcovers were $0.63 and the soft covers were $0.38.  The 'Cricket' was full price which is $1.25.  Think about it... that book alone sells for $15.63 plus shipping on amazon.com!  And... if you're wondering... yes, the batteries were in it and it still works!  Most of these books are great for homeschooling.  Subjects include animals, science experiments, literature units, history and Bible stuff.  YAY!

I saved almost as much as I spent today at Publix.  I spent $82 and saved $78.  I usually try to save double what I spend, but with Halloween candy, steaks, deli stuff and produce, it just didn't happen this week.

Anyone interested in doing a weekly bargain link up?  A show-and-tell of what you spent and/or saved?  That would be fun.  Perhaps I'll get that together.  It can be the Bargain Booty Link Up.  How fun!!!

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Come to the dark side...

... of homeschooling.  My biggest struggle when I homeschool, is resisting the urge to tell my child to "sit down, shut up and pay attention!"  Jake is very busy and full of energy (what 5-year-old boy isn't?).  He can be moving, humming and looking everywhere else besides me.  But guess what... he's still learning and soaking it all in.  So, I'm getting better at ignoring all the distracting activity while I teach.  Here's what homeschooling looked like for us this morning:

Jake scored that costume and a light saber for only $0.50 yesterday at a yard sale!

Here's what I got:

Got all these books (mostly hardcover, see?) for $0.25 a piece!  Woo-hoo!!!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

We Love Bob!

Got some Bob Books from a yard sale last week.  LOVE THEM!  They are really cute and really simple.  There are just enough words and just enough pages so that my child doesn't get frustrated.  And just as Bob Books promises, Jake was so excited that he read the whole thing.  And he didn't stop at just one... he wanted to keep on reading, so he read 4 of them!

We've read some other phonics readers, but they're just not this good imho.

Also... got to check out a children's consignment pre-sale at a local church.  I had never been to one of those!  I thought it would be too expensive for my uber-cheapness, but a lot of it was very reasonable and I came home with a stroller full of stuff.  Got a Lincoln Log set, 2 books, a shirt for Jake, a bunch of clothes for Sam, a Lego helicopter and this adorable little froggie magnet board!

Oh, and yes... we're still doing Disney stuff, but I believe in child-led learning and if Jake wants to spend more time reading, that's great with me!

Friday Find!

Friday is yard sale day!  I'm so thankful my children love to bargain hunt as much as I do!  It seems that we have a lot of teachers in the area and they're always having yard sales.   Today we scored a bunch of workbooks for math, reading, spelling and phonics from a family of teachers.  Most were .25 cents a piece!

I got a great catch-all bib for Sam, since he's such a messy eater and these plastic stackable thingies for $1... anyone know what they're called?  Thought they'd be great for counting, sorting, patterns, fine motor skills and teaching ones and tens, etc.

At another sale, we picked up a bunch of boardgames:  Cranium, Guesstures, Sorry, Junior Monopoly and a sea creature card game called Splash, which looks like it will be great for homeschooling. Also got an electronic leapfrog game that does multiplication games.  All of the above for $2!

Before I put our new books away, I always enter them into our resource database.  It's a spreadsheet that lists all of our educational books and resources by subject, title, age group, description, etc.  It's impossible to remember everything that's on your shelf and who wants to pull all that stuff down when starting something new?  Also, I share it with my fellow homeschooling families so that they can borrow instead of buy ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Hi, My name is Kristine and I'm addicted to cheap Children's Books!

So I've decided to homeschool.  To help keep myself accountable, I've also decided to blog about it.  This way, family and friends can peek in and see what we're doing.  Others can see what homeschooling can be like.  I'm not buying any fancy curricula or doing any particular method.  I haven't done a ton of research, but  I've always been a reader and learner myself, plus I have a degree in education.  I've read "The Relaxed Homeschooler" by Mary Hood and "The Unschooling Handbook:  How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's Classroom" by Mary Griffith .  That was enough for me.  My personal philosophy about learning pretty much lined up with what I had read.  I hadn't really learned anything new... just found some validation, which is always a relief!  Don't ask me where I'm going to find the time to take care of an 11-month-old, homeschool my 5-year-old, keep a blog, keep my house and the laundry clean, clip coupons, shop, balance the checkbook, pay bills, make dinner, exercise, play with my kids, read and keep my sanity... oh and take a shower, almost forgot about that one!  I'm a glutton for punishment and an incurable optimist so maybe it'll work out just fine ;-)

I started homeschooling my 5-year-old, Jacob, last week.  He really enjoys it and I love seeing him learn (and love learning).  Hope it lasts!  We don't have strict subject matter or a time table that we follow, but we do take the time to do two things before anything else.  First, we honor God by reading His word and saying a prayer.  Then, we honor our country and pledge allegiance to our flag.

The decision to homeschool has allowed me to indulge in one of my addictions - Children's books!  Another addiction?  Saving money!   I've been able to combine the two by hitting yard sales and Goodwill!  Hallelujah!  Our shelves are stocked and we've got plenty to read for pennies on the dollar.  Goodwill's children's books are $0.75 for softcover and $1.25 for hardcover and... if you are lucky enough to find the color of the day, then it's half off!  And yard sales... seriously!!!  It must be divine intervention because practically every sale I've hit has been loaded with educational (and non, but remember, I'm an addict) kids' books!  In fact, the two books mentioned above were purchased at a garage sale put on by a homeschooling family, *woot! woot!* 

 See?  These are just a few workbooks that I purchased at a yard sale. See the price tags?

So class, what have we learned?  Homeschooling does not have to be strict or expensive.  Isn't that wonderful?  So excited that I've embarked on this adventure.  Thanks for checking us out.  Drop by in the future to see what we're up to!

Oh yeah... welcome to Loving and Learning... my blog about loving, parenting and homeschooling my children!