Ancient Egyptian Wall Painting

So, I was delighted when Mary Jo Tate offered me the opportunity to review her teleseminar course, How Do You Do It All?

Let me tell you, I need to figure this one out! Our friends call us dynamos, but we feel more like broken down lawnmowers coughing and choking through the day and constantly having to be restarted. Or like somebody trying to put a forest fire with a wet cloth napkin. One of us, me or the fire, is going to get beat to death! By bedtime, I’m always thinking of a quote from The Little Engine that Could, “I must rest my weary wheels…”

Enter Mary Jo’s program. Now, I know what you are thinking, because I had the same reaction: How can she tell me how to manage? She doesn’t know my situation. There are things I can’t change. I work from home, it’s harder to balance. It’s probably worldly advice anyway. Nope.

That’s what I love about Mary Jo. She loves the Lord. She loves her children and homeschools them. She gets non-negotiables. She works out of her home and isn’t willing to change that. She understands having extreme challenges, she lives it. See, that’s where we are and why I just write off most of the self-help and business management advice I hear. They don’t get it, but Mary Jo does.

I haven’t finished the program yet, in fact, I’m just in the second of five weeks, but I can tell you some things I love already:

There is an audio download for each lesson AND there is a written transcript. A transcript, not a summary or outline or handout. I live in a very noisy house with a bunch of loud boys and little girls who want to be right next to me. I have a choice between “listening” on my computer speakers and missing most of it or using ear buds and missing the disaster in the next room. Besides, I just learn better by reading. Mary Jo caters to both kinds of learners!

I love that she doesn’t make you feel like a wretch for having things you won’t cave on – or – hopeless because you have tough things to deal with. She is very personable, warm and friendly. She makes it doable.

I love the forms and examples and I love that they are in Word and Excel, so that I can adapt them to my family.

This teleseminar is just what we have been looking for – something to help us balance our family and our business without sacrificing either. If you are working from home and feeling overwhelmed, this is what you need.

Mary Jo Tate has great ideas because she has lived them. She’s been like us, juggling madly just to survive and she figured out she had to manage better or she wouldn’t. This teleseminar is the result. It works because it’s real. You have got to go check it out!

The great news is that Mary Jo is having a fantastic sale through Monday, December 12th only!!!

When you purchase How Do You Do It All: Proven Strategies for Balancing Family Life and Home Business in the Real World at the discounted price of $37 during their sale (Dec. 5-8), you’ll also receive 17 FREE bonuses with a total value of over $135 AND you’ll automatically be entered in the random drawing for 23 door prizes with a total value of over $660! These valuable bonuses and door prizes include information about home business, homeschooling, and family life, as well as Christmas crafts, activities, stories, and music! Details here.

Read this too late for the big sale? That’s okay, it is still a great deal! Head over to How Do You Do It All? and get rid of the stress!

Today has exceeded even that, with what looks like 12 inches on the ground. It’s the lightest, fluffiest snow and the trees are just covered in it. Totally gorgeous!

The big guys realized that four of our children had not even been born when we had the big snow of 2000, so they’d missed the igloo! They spent the afternoon working on an even bigger model than the legendary one.

Growing up, my mom always made snow cream (but never from the first snow of the season, though we’ve abandoned that rule as lacking scientific basis , but what we really loved were her Snow Joes.  I’ve never heard of anyone else making such a thing, but it was like snow cream, but chocolate. I remember that Hershey’s syrup was involved, but unable to find any reference anywhere, I made up our own recipe that is sooooooo easy! I always make extra hot chocolate, just for these:

Snow Joe

Snow Joes

Leftover hot chocolate, chilled in fridge. Hot chocolate made from milk, sugar and Hershey’s syrup or cocoa is the best!

Clean, fresh snow.

Mix until the texture of homemade ice cream and eat.

See, I told you they were easy to make – and incredibly wonderful! Try it! (For the OCD, I used a little less than a quart of formerly hot chocolate to a monstrous mixing bowl of snow, perhaps two gallons, and it was plenty for my ten.)

Our big boys decided to see if they could help out some folks this afternoon and walked around the neighborhood offering to shovel folk’s driveways and walks. One older lady took them up on it, and delighted them by offering them $10 afterward, but most folks said, “I’ve got a son that ought to be out there doing it. In fact, he ought to be doing what you’re doing!” I told them, “Well, at least you’re increasing expectations.”

I think I’ll go make some Snow Joes…

I think more and more people are discovering that a lot of that storm and stress is cultural. There’s no question that teenagers have different needs than their younger siblings: they’re going through physical changes that affect their emotions, they are yearning for independence long before their judgement matures, and unfortunately, our culture expects them to sit still and wait another decade or so before they become “useful members of society.” Some teenagers decide they’ve had enough of jumping through hoops to gain “credibility”, and just check out of the process. Psychologists Joseph and Claudia Allen, in their new book Escaping the Endless Adolescence, saying that “Twenty-five is the new fifteen,” observing that some of our college graduates act with the level of confusion and irresponsibility we used to associate with young teens!

But we’ve found that it doesn’t have to be that way. If you adopt the view that teenagers are just the youngest of young adults, and start to work with them on that basis, incredible things happen. We’ve seen in our own family and those nearby that teenagers are capable of all kinds of things. Just in our own business, we rely on teenagers to set up and maintain our websites and computer net, to do typesetting and graphic design, produce videos and CDs, and handle packing and shipping orders. Some of these are skills that no one but the teenagers have! And they run errands, watch siblings, and do much of the cooking, too. When they see that there is a real place for their real contributions, they rise to the occasion. Often, it just takes some understanding and wisdom on the part of their doorkeepers — us!

Today’s freebie is from Homeschool Group Leader.com, and they really get it. 18 Ways to Get Teenagers Onboard and Interactive by Kristen Fagala and Denise Hyde is a quick guide full of ideas that will work in your own family as well as support groups and church ministries. Why let all that energy and enthusiasm languish when you can guide it to productive use? As Kristen and Denise write,

Teen zeal can energize like nothing else. Teen apathy can discourage like nothing else. The desire to help teens rise above the threatening whirlpools of detachment, disinterest or dispassion to be all that God has called them to be is what motivates many parents and leaders of youth to get involved and seek answers. We pray that these 18 ideas for motivating your teen(s) to get onboard and become interactive with your group will keep you motivated, too.

This is a great resource, and it’s available for free right here!

Maybe you’re looking for a curriculum that is specifically aimed at your teenaged sons.  Have you considered Blessed Is The Man?  This is a high school unit study curriculum by Lynda and Lauren Coats is structured on the lessons of Psalm 1, verse by verse.  It’s designed to train young men for leadership in the family, community, and church, emphasizing the development of Godly character as well as academic skills.  It includes vocational and business units as well as most college-prep courses; you add the higher math and addition science, if desired. This is a $74.95 value and we’re going to give it to someone who is subscribed to our newsletter or signed up on our Facebook fan page.  If you’re on both, you get two chances!

If you can read this, obviously you’re “computer literate,” but you might not be able to explain the finer points of Microsoft Excel to your high schooler, or help your student debug an HTML problem on their blog. Maybe you’re looking for a good, structured curriculum to help them get started and develop the basic skills that change them from just a “user” to someone who really understands how their computers work. Maybe you’d like more skills yourself! Phyllis Wheeler of Motherboard Books has what you need, and she gets you started with an audio session called “What Homeschool Mothers Really Need To Know About Computers”. To help us celebrate the release of Raising Real Men, she’s offering this as a free download! Plus, just for fun, she’s also giving away her Internet Scavenger Hunt, a $10 value, to introduce your kids to interesting facts on animals and geography while searching safely.

Click here to download both freebies!

Really understanding your computer is more than being able to use email and Facebook, and really understanding writing is more than just forming words and sentences, isn’t it? We all expect our kids to be able to read and spell, but what we really want is kids who can express their thoughts clearly and convincingly in writing. Kim Kautzer has a curriculum to do just that – WriteShop is a full K-12 program, with all kinds of helps to inspire successful writers, showing them how to create everything from simple stories to persuasive essays. She even tells you how to write and publish children’s books!  WriteShop’s step-by-step approach lets you teach with confidence, so your children learn to write with confidence.

For one of those who comment on this post, Kim is giving away your choice of WriteShop Primary Teacher’s Guide w/Activity Set Worksheet Pack – w0rth up to $37.90!  Plus we’ll give extra entries for posting on Facebook, Twitter, your blog or other places – help us get the word out that Raising Real Men is officially released tomorrow!

But WriteShop has so much to offer, Kim is also giving away a $35 gift certificate, so you can pick the level and the focus you need!  We’ll give this prize to one of our Facebook fans. If you haven’t joined Facebook yet, give it try – there are all kinds of interesting things happening, not to mention our own rapidly growing “Raising Real Men” community!

(While you’re there, why not join WriteShop’s fan page, too!)

Hal

I grew up in an entrepreneurial family and I have to confess that when we were first married, I thought it was great that Hal went to work and then came home and was done. Over the years, though, life as an employee changed: more hours, less security, less freedom. We also grew to need more time and flexibility for ministry. Working together as a family like we did growing up looked more and more attractive, until finally a layoff gave us the extra push we needed to strike out on our own.

We have come to realize that we want to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit in our children. It would have been much easier to start a business when it was just us and fewer expenses, so we want our guys to have the courage and skills to be business men from the beginning if that’s what God wants them to do. And not just that, but the strengths of an entrepreneurial spirit: reasonable risk taking, hard work, creativity, discernment, and initiative are very valuable in most careers.

Raising Real Men talks about how to instill that spirit in your boys and how to teach them to manage money, avoid debt, and prepare for the future.  Today’s resource will help you put it into practice raising boys!

Teaching Good Things is hosting today’s free giveaway and it is huge!

Teaching Good Things. is all about equipping families with practical skills. I had the opportunity to look through their Making and Managing Money for Teens by Olivia Brodock the other day. Talk about practical! It had tons of ideas for businesses that teens and preteens could get started. I loved that it talked about how to get started, the cost of start-up, and what was involved in running each kind of business. It is a solid, practical way to get your children thinking, then working toward starting a micro-business of their own. That micro-business may even be God’s leading toward a career. I think about a relative of mine who started a web business as a teen and is now the CEO of an industry leader in the same field.

Unbelievably, Teaching Good Things has offered fans of Raising Real Men a free copy of Making and Managing Money for Teens! This eBook costs $16.97, but she is giving it to you free to celebrate our release! What a blessing! Thank you, Brodock family!

Go to Teaching Good Things and Get Your Free Copy of Making and Managing Money for Teens!

When you get to the cart, enter the code (it’ll be on the link above), hit update, then enter your zip code and hit update. While you are there, sign up for their newsletter to get a free 7 part mini-course called Encouraging Eager Hands! They have lots of great resources and a fascinating blog. Enjoy!

You aren’t going to believe today’s contest provided by Values-Driven Family! A $93 value!

Values-Driven Family, the ministry of Marc and Cindy Carrier, is all about raising our children according to the principles and values found in Scripture. Their site is chockful of free articles and help to raise a godly seed. The Carriers have generously donated a Gift Pack of premium quality Beeyoutiful vitamins for our contest. The Gift Pack, worth $93 dollars contains a three month supply of SuperDad vitamins, a three month supply of SuperMom vitamins, and a bottle of SuperKids vitamins (how long it lasts depends on how many children you have!)! We have started using these vitamins ourselves and are so thankful for them – and our children love the natural berry taste! And Values-Driven Family gives you a 15% discount off purchases of Beeyoutiful products, too. Thank you, Marc and Cindy!

While you are at the Values-Driven Family site, be sure to sign up for their newsletter. I was totally amazed at the freebies they give you when you sign up! I tend to be a little jaded – we’ve been parents and homeschoolers for decades and I have more things than I will ever use, but wow! I saw quite a few things I can’t wait to download. They have charts for a daily schedule and chores and behavior, memory verse and values posters, and tons of download freebies from other publishers!

How can you enter? The winner of this huge prize will be chosen exclusively from those who help us spread the word about Raising Real Men. Just post about our book, Raising Real Men, or this Celebration anywhere on the web (blogs, forums, email loops, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, anywhere, with a link back to http://raisingrealmen.com and let us know in the comments. Every posting is an entry.

We are hearing from all over the world (Singapore to The Netherlands!) that Raising Real Men is changing parents’ hearts toward their boys. That is our hope! We don’t have the huge advertising budget that many publishers do. You are our team. Your recommendation is the best marketing we could have, anyway!

Sign up for our newsletter (new subscribers this month will be entered to win a $70 collection of workshop CDs) and fan our Facebook page to join the conversation!

Their absolutely adorable 3yo, Noah is suffering from the terrible and usually terminal mitochondria disease and spends at least half his time in the hospital. They have struggled and struggled since Jeff was laid off in 2006 and their Hands & Hearts business was stopped temporarily by the CPSIA regulations this spring. They are a fine, Christian family who endured a series of blows that would have taken down any family and now they have got to make some changes to keep going. When their fellow Christian publishers heard what was going on, we all jumped in to try to help. Check out this incredible way you can bless the Estes family and get nearly 10X your donation back in gifts from Christian publishers:  Amazing Homeschool Deal

“A lot of times inmates have the seed; they can be an entrepreneur because so many have been illegal entrepreneurs,” said Roshanna Parker, director of transition services for the N.C. Department of Correction. “If they put that energy into a legal business, they could potentially do well.

“They have the skills and they have business sense. It’s all about making money to them.”

Read the whole story here.