Day 4: Ipods and Ipads

My two older boys saved up their own money to buy Ipods! It took them awhile, but they were so excited when the time come to purchase their Ipod. We choose to purchase one for our youngest and are glad we did. These have come in so handy for long road trips or waiting for appointments, etc. I must say, a protective case would be a must! The blue one(with a face) in the above picture I can't suggest though. My son has trouble playing on it without the interchangeable pieces coming out.

I also have an Ipad, which I love! Yes, I am not a techie and also have been known to say I did not even want a smart phone, but I've had to eat my words.

So, today I will be sharing our favorite Apps for Ipod and Ipads!

Free Ipad/Ipod Apps for kids:
Nook
Demibooks Storytime
Lego
Lego Creationary 
Pocket Pond
BrainPOP
PBS for kids
Crayola we bought the stylist that goes with this to unlock more art work.
Fruit Ninja

Paid Ipad/Ipod Apps for kids:
Scribblenauts
Little Things
Fancy Pants
Minecraft I think this one is the most we've spent on an app.
ABC's of God also one of my favorites:)

Apps for mommy:
Adobe Photo Shop
Packing cost 2.99 This app is been a time savor for me. All the list and reminders for things needed for vacations/trips.
Nike Training
Bump
Pinterest of course:)
Shazam
MapQuest
One Thousand Gifts
Facebook

So, if you have an Ipod/Iphone/Ipad have fun checking out all the apps. Most importantly' have fun with your kiddos! Play these with them and talk to them about the games or what they are learning. What are your favorite apps? I would love to hear about any new apps that are kid/parent approved.

Day 3: Internet-linked Books

     This is my favorite! I absolutely love to read. Unfortunately, my boys are not as excited about reading as I am. But, I found a solution that not only helps my boys get excited about reading, but helps us bond over a good book. Internet-linked books! Usborne has wonderful books of all kinds. (Yes, I'm an independent consultant for Usborne:)) The Internet-linked books that Usborne provides have been an asset to our home school here at Ark Academy. It adds so much to our curriculum! Our favorite right now is the Reference Collection. We are currently studying about ancient times in our history. Just yesterday we found links that took us to maps of Israel, videos about the temple of King Solomon and pictures to download. I love books. My boys love technology. These books have been the answer to "linking" the two together! 

Something else that has served as a special way for my little techies and me to bond is to celebrate their interests. For instance, today is National Techies Day! We did not even know that this holiday existed until we were doing our calendar time and came across it here. We have had so much fun today taking "tech breaks" throughout the day to celebrate. Plus, we plan to make cards for our favorite techies. Just a simple thank you to let them know that we appreciate the work that they do for us. (They plan on making a big one for their daddy!) 

My favorite techies:

What are some things that you do to "link" with your children?

I forgot to include the link to all of the blogs participating in the 31 Days challenge. Nester has tons! You will not have any problem finding one that you like. Day 2: Youtube

We like to use YouTube in our home. Although, before I go any further let me just say the we have set rules about viewing anything on the internet without mom and/or dad present. There are lots of parent controls out there to put on your devices. I came across this blog that I found very informative! That being said, I have created a list on my YouTube account called Learning. This has all sorts of videos specifically to help what they are learning(I homeschool) We have found some pretty cool videos! Here's the current favorite. Conjunction Junction In the above picture my Puppy Love is watching a video that sings the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It's super cute! The song and the little boy;) There are also tons of songs, of course. We have found lots of videos to go with our favorite praise songs, such as GoFish. So, in short I think YouTube is a great tool to use for the family, with supervision. It has certainly been a useful tool for us!

I am joining in the 31 Days Blog hop! There are sooo many things I could think of to share, subjects that are really "me" so to speak. But, my boys, and hubby, are very much techies! Technology has been a huge issue with the boys. They want to either play on the Xbox or Ipod, etc. Just take your pick! Don't get me wrong I love my Ipad and Iphone, but sometimes they can be a bit of a time taker. I do NOT want technology to rule in my home, I want to be able to use the technology in a positive way for my family. So, for the next 31 days I will be sharing ways that we use technology in our home. I will also share our favorite tools, games, etc. and ways to tame the Tech Monster when it gets out of control. Looking forward to it!

Kansas and Hello Mornings!

Pictures of our Kansas mission trip: Our team

Bear and his first pocketknife.

Bear, helping me lead worship:)

On another note, I am so excited about the Hello Mornings fall challenge! This has really ministered to me throughout the summer. I was part of a Facebook group, it was a great way to hold each other accountable to set aside a morning quiet time. I also love the way we were able to encourage each other and I looked forward to "checking in" each morning. Wow! Using the words, "looking forward to" and "morning" in one sentence is a new one for me! I recently started a Pinterst board (yes I'm a Pinterest addict)amysark pinterest to help me keep all of my morning inspirations in one place. Everything from printable Bible verses to post in my mom cave to helpful tips and reading material. Hello Mornings also has a Pinterest page, which is where I go to pin a lot of mine;) (hello mornings pinterest ) Setting a time aside in the morning has been very hard for me to do and remaining consistent is even harder! But, it has also been very rewarding. I have noticed a huge deference from the times I have my Bible study in the morning to the times I have it in the afternoon. One difference is, when I have it in the morning there are less distractions. Most of the time my boys are still sleeping, no one calls, it's quiet and peaceful. I am more focused and I feel prepared spiritually and physically for the day. When I have my Bible study in the afternoon, it's not as quiet, people call or visit, and I would love to just take a nap or catch up on something else. I fell unprepared or worn out. I am having a Bible study to just get it done. This may not be the case for others, but for me, even though I am NOT a morning person, it just works out better when I start the day with God. So, visit this website for more info on Hello Mornings Challenge: (hello mornings challenge) I will leave you with the Bible verse that has been on my heart a lot this summer:

Kansas VBS

Well, maybe I should give up blogging. There is so much that has hapened since I blogged last I would have to have several blog entires just to get caught up. But, I just will write a condensed version. School is over!! Summer started!!! The boys did well, but we are going back to homeschooling next year! We are very excited about this:) My baby turned 4 this past weekend and I'm on a mission trip with my oldest this very moment! We are in Kansas, doing a VBS with some pretty precious children! I gotta say so far it has been amazing! Hot, but amazing:) Sunday, we worshiped here at the church, True Life Church, great preaching and singing, but missed my GLab family bunches!!! Than after we had lunch we decorated the church and prepared for a Rockin' Jam Camp! We ended the day with the kids cooling off in the pool and the adults(moms anyway) chilling by the poolside. Today was even better!!! We started VBS and it was so neat to watch everyone fill their roles so perfectly yet still work in unity as a team. Bear stepped way out of his comfort and helped me and another leader with worship. He did so well with the motions and helped so much! I was so proud of him!! The other leader's son did the sound for worship and was awesome:) her daughter helped as well with puppets, which the children loved! One of the kids on the team even wrote a skit for each day to go along with the Bible story. I know this post is kinda all over the place, but my feelings and thoughts are going quicker than my mind can process into words. I would love to post some pictures of the trip, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that from my Ipad. So, I will try to post some pictures tomorrow. I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to go on this trip with my son!

Post-it Note Party

Well, it's official. My boys are now in public school! It was a somewhat quick decision, although we had been going back and forth about it for sometime. Anyway, it has been a pretty smooth transition and the boys are doing great! Puppy Love and I are doing some preschool things during the day and hopefully he will be potty trained soon!

The main thing I miss about homeschooling is the time I had with my boys. I love spending time with them and doing fun things. So, I have started making a more conscience effort to have some quality time. Yesterday the boys and I came up with a fun calendar:) Each school day has something that we do as a family, something they can look forward to. Monday is Music Mania, playing music and having fun dancing around and just being with each other. Tuesday is Sticky Note Fun, the boys thought of this one. The boys are really into writing little notes and sticking them around the house:) We will write letters, e-mails or the like, to catch up with family and friends. But, the main thing will be just spending time with each other and talking. Wednesday, is church night, which is always crazy, so we named it Wacky Wednesday. We will pretty much just do what we can as long as we do it together:) Thursday is Outside City. Just playing and having fun outside. Friday, Fort Friday! This is the boys favorite. They love to build tents and forts, and they pretty much do it once a week anyway:)

Since we came up with the list yesterday, the kick off will be tonight! I can't wait to pick them up from school! We are going to have a post-it Note Party! There will be games, story time and even a picnic. I plan on coming back to this post to show pics of the evening later, after the kiddos are tucked in for the night. But, for now...