SA online booksellers

I always wait for their sales if I need to buy books.

This week I want to tell you about www.loot.co.za

www.loot.co.za is another SA online bookstore and their shipping/delivery costs are better than elsewhere. They have a new referral system where you can sign up and then you earn vouchers from sales by anyone you refer to them. They prefer to pay you for word-of-mouth advertising than spend money on an ad-campaign.

I've had great service there, they even got me some very hard to find titles at no extra cost! Use this link to see for yourself! www.loot.co.za

This week's book - The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton

This story about the changes in the surroundings of a little house, due to urbanisation and advances in technology offers a lot of information about weather, building, transport and more that will enrich children's "thought environments".

The illustrations also show the changes of the seasons. This book could be used as part of an educational theme study on any of the above topics.

Buy from Amazon.com or Buy from Kalahari.net or Buy from Loot

Living Books

What are living books?

Let me use an analogy to explain. Just like you need to feed your kids healthy food and not just junk food and take-aways, so too your children need a healthy diet of 'living books' and not 'twaddle'.

Living books are books that stimulate your children's thought environment, books that go beyond entertainment but give them ideas to ponder upon.

I try to avoid the commercial 'series' of books, especially those based on Disney cartoon characters. In my opinion these are literary 'junk food'!

Ebook or slide show?

Download this ebook and find out how you can share something YOU love, how you can be CREATIVE in a whole new genre. I knew nothing about technical stuff like site-building 9 months ago, but this shows you step-by-baby-step how you too can do it!

Even if you are clueless about what to do - you'll learn about a brainstorming tool to help you find a profitable niche!

Take the WAHM It! Masters Course today!

Your screen may remain blank for a few minutes as the file downloads. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed to read this file.

(Use the link in the Readiness Activities section below if you need to download Adobe Reader.)

Don't have time? Don't miss the bus!

4. Tips

Do your kids all have chores or responsibilities?

Even little ones can learn to help pick up toys and do their share. My 4 year old can pack her clean laundry in her cupboard. Can yours? Can she help you match socks?

For tips and suggestions on what different aged children are capable of, as well as some printable chore reminders go to Wendy's Free Printable Chore Charts

5. Quote

“In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother’s first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet and growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it for the most part spent out in the fresh air.” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Volume 1)

If these two personalities wrote this about 100 years ago, how much more doesn't it apply to us in this century!

For our family, the choice to homeschool enables us to live a much quieter life, away from the rat-race that regular school involves. Family bonds are much stronger between siblings and as parents we are more aware of areas in our kids' lives that need attention - character and discipline especially, but learning issues too.

6. Readiness Activities

The Whole Child - Week 20 Activities - printable pdf

Week 20

Language and Thinking

Help your child develop new vocabulary and ideas by deliberately using descriptive phrases and comparisons. Use similes like “as light as a feather” or as “good as gold”. You could also play a game of making comparisons like: The jersey is a black as ...This is as sweet as, as cold as…., as warm as …etc

Visual Perception

Show your child a certain shape, like a square, circle, triangle etc and ask her to see how many objects she can find in the house that have the same shape.

Mathematical Skills

Allow your child to pay for some small items that you buy, perhaps bread and milk or other items. Begin to explain the concept of ‘change’…that if you give more money than the items cost, that you receive money back. Your child may not grasp the idea fully, but begin talking about how money is used.

Gross Motor Skills

Stand in front of your child and do movements that she must copy in mirror image. When you lift your left arm, she must lift her right arm etc.

Fine Motor Skills

Let your child decorate the edges of a piece of paper or card with paper clips. Alternatively, let her peg clothes pegs around the paper to develop manual dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination.

Faith Building

Read John 12:1-3. Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet – she gave him something precious. Encourage your children to be generous too. We should not just give away possessions that are old and of no use to us. True giving is a sacrifice that costs us, while blessing another.