Yay Etsy!

     I have a couple of friends that are adopting special needs children from Eastern Europe and I feel very strongly about helping them in any way that I can. You can read about their journeys here and here. I am amazed by the miracles that God performs in their lives every day and I can not wait to meet the new additions to their families! One of the fundraisers lead me to an awesome Etsy shop that had the following listing, The Carringon Necklace. The family receives $25 from each necklace sold towards their adoption!!  How awesome is that!?! This month's family is bringing home two sons! Anyway, I fell in love with the necklace and ordered one. I loved the necklace so much that I checked out all of the other listings on her site and fell in love with a few more.


     I sent the shop owner a message about doing a custom piece and she replied that she saw I had an Etsy shop and asked if I'd be interested in a trade. A trade!?! I had no idea that such a thing was possible. I mean it makes sense when you think about it but I obviously hadn't thought of it. There is this whole group of Etsy sellers that offer trades! If you haven't checked it out yet and you're an Etsy seller, you should! Go here to find out more about it! I am getting three beautiful, personalized necklaces in exchange for three hats! I'm really excited. I'll show you pictures of the hats after I make them and my necklaces once I get them.


     Think about buying your own Carrington for charity. You can also enter to win a vacation here (the winner will be drawn on Valentine's Day) and all the donations help bring a daughter home to her family. I am very passionate about helping the orphans so I'm sure there will be more posts about them in the future.

Great Find!

     My daughter's lessons are going really well. Since this is my first year homeschooling, I am always second guessing myself. When I was first getting started a friend of mine recommended I get a copy of "What Your Kindergartner Needs To Know" by E.D. Hirsch Jr. While out and about this past weekend I found a copy and picked it up. Looking through the book I saw that I was on track with a lot of the things it had mentioned and there were some things I was lacking.


     With the help of this book I can now be sure I am going to include everything she needs to know! There are some really fun ideas in there too. We blasted off in a rocket ship to see what Earth looks like from the moon and she loved every second of it! It even gives me a list of books I can check out at the library to go along with each lesson.


     Now this is more of a "how to piece your own lesson plans together" kind of book. It is not something that has each day made out for you so if that's what you're looking for, I'm afraid you'll have to keep looking. If you're like me though, and you want to make sure you haven't left anything out with the curriculum you have already pieced together than this is the perfect book for you. There is one for each grade level so I went ahead and got a copy for 1st and 2nd grades too!