Stitches & Pins A Beginning Sewing Book for Girls

By: JoAnn Gagnon & Corrie Gagnon

If you are looking for a beginning to sew book for your daughter or even for yourself this is the book you need! The patterns that are included in the book are for girls sizes 8-16 and misses 8-16. It teaches the fundamentals of the sewing machine and what basic supplies you will need. It describes the differences in the different fabric types and how to make sure it is ready to be used. They explain all about patterns and what each marking means. Then they tell you how to sit and practice until you can sew a perfect line by using different patterns they have given permission to copy.

During the time you are learning to sew you will sew a pillowcase, Bible/book cover, tote bag, laundry bag, house potholder, doll quilt, hostess apron, bound blanket, circle potholder, elastic waist skirt, reversible vest, matching purse, pajama bottoms/shorts.

By the time you are finished with this book, you and your daughter will be very proud of what has been accomplished. You may just want to buy the next book called Pins & Needles. You can purchase this wonderful book and others by going to http://www.bunkhousesewing.com. This book is spiral bound for only $24.95 (and what they learn they will always be able to use). This is a wonderful resource book to have on hand even after you have gone through it.

Another great Download N Go book!  Amanda Bennett does a wonderful job with each of her unit studies and this one is another great one for the DNG collection!  It is written for K-4 BUT, once again can be used for those that have a severe handicap chid and aren’t ready for kindergarten yet.  I will be using it on my son that is 7 but can only do preschool age things.  If you love chocolate you won’t want to miss out on this one.  Even Amanda’s introduction was wonderful and even made me want to go looking for some chocolate.  Suggestion, you might want to have extra chocolate things on hand while you do this one. If you have never done any lapbooking before there is an introduction to it at the first.  You will study what different kinds of chocolate there are, who were the first ones to use it and how they used it.  Watch some wonderful videos about Brazil, learn some interesting information about the country and keep up with the weather there daily.  You will have a Chocolatier of the Day, when you learn about someone who became famous because of what they did with chocolate.  During this journey you will have math, spelling, and other learning tools used, there is even some recipes that the kids can use in the kitchen.  At the end of this FUN study you find out how to do your own Chocolate Party!  What a neat way to show what you have learned and have lots of fun.  This is a fun filled and exciting study!

Go to http://www.downloadngo.com/ChocolateChallenge.php to buy yours!

This is a wonderful magazine that has a different outlook than most. The thing that makes them so different is that they choose a subject to look at and they do a whole unit study for you to use. For example one of the issues looked at the Parable of the Sower. They took the parable and did ways of teaching science, history, etc to your children that taught about the sower. I haven’t seen another magazine do anything likes this and it is so refreshing.

You will also find articles that will refresh you and ready you more for the battles ahead and give you new ideas of how to teach your children. MATCH is proud to have the Homeschooling Today Magazine as a partner and they offer our members a discount on their subscriptions. We highly recommend this magazine!

Multimedia Classroom American History Series Vol. 1 Benjamin Franklin by the History Channel

The pictures were very colorful and would hold a students attention. I found it very interesting to watch and then go to the interactive part where the students can take a closer look at Ben Franklin and answer questions regarding his life and then think about what it might be like if they lived in his time and what they would do.

The biggest problem I have with this DVD is that it seemed that they were stuck on his “sexual” part of his life. They made sure to point out that his oldest son was illegitimate and that Reed and him weren’t really married but were married by common law. They pointed out that he couldn’t stay away from the women over and over and that he deserted his wife during the time of her need just because he wanted to spend time with the “other” women in his life. From a young child I was taught to hold Benjamin Franklin up as a hero because he played one of the important parts in our country. But this DVD made me feel that he shouldn’t be a hero but someone that we as Christians should keep our children from studying. There was a lot more to Ben Franklin that just the women and that is what we should be highlighting on. As I see things, we all have things in our family that we would rather not have brought out to the light and now that he is gone why bring up all the wrong and ruin the wonders he did for our country.

He not only was important to our country to being free, but he made some wonderful discoveries that we might not have today if he hadn’t been given the gift to discover and use his hands by the Creator.

Overall, I love the concept of the DVD and then the interaction with the CD. But from a Christian perspective, I feel we need to be careful how we let historians crush what has been hero’s to our children for several generations.

Dolphin Days is a wonderful packed filled ebook!  You will find loads of information all about the dolphins themselves, where it talks about them in the Bible, It also has an area that they explain what a lapbook is and how to make one.  There are so many links available in this ebook to use with the internet! Do fun activities, watch the dolphins do tricks, etc.  Great worksheets have also been added for your child to enjoy doing and learning more about the dolphins and how marvelous God created them.  You will find your child(ren) enjoying doing their work with this great study.

Go to http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=429_451&products_id=16097 to buy your copy.