Gold Nuggets #6 : Great Art Sites

Treasure treasure treasure.  I love finding online treasure.  And this weeks one's are goodies and they're all about art.  I have very little artistic talent in the conventional sense - I don't know how to paint too well , I sometimes forget how to mix colours, and my idea of a portrait would be a stick figure with ponytails.  However I do not want to disadvantage my children in any way and am always looking out for ways to encourage artistic expression - which could be in the form of arts and crafts, painting or sculpting.  With this in mind I have found some awesome awesome sites.

Though we do a lot of free art such as box construction, free expression and drawing - the type of activities I prefer to do with them are opportunities for them to learn and develop a diversity of skills to express their creativity.  And here are some of the sites I visit frequently and some that I have just discovered that I am dying to try out!

Deep Space Sparkle - Art lessons for Kids
What's fantastic about her site is that her lessons are original and beautiful.  They are arranged according to Grade and this art teacher puts all her art lessons into practise at the school she works at.  When I see the type of art her children are producing, I am awestruck. She also sells her lessons in packs for a mere $5 and they look great!

Art Projects for Kids
This website also offers daily art lesson plans - which I find especially useful for the younger children and if you want to buy individual lessons they are also for sale.  I subscribe to her feed and so get all my lessons in my inbox and then decide which ones I feel like doing.

The Crafty Crow
This is a collection of thousands of crafting ideas. So many innovative ideas, you could be busy for years if you were to try all of them.  These ideas are submitted by readers, bloggers and anyone really with a crafty idea.  In fact if you come up with your own arts and crafts idea, this would be the place to submit it!

Disney Family Fun
They have some lovely crafts on this site, some of them with videos and if you stay on this site long enough you'll find a treasure of recipes, printables and game ideas.

If you have found any great art sites, please share by leaving a comment!  

Gold Nuggets No #5

Places I love to visit when I have a moment.  I cruise the web every day and I find gold nuggets, places I go back to frequently.  Some I visit and they are forgotten forever and some I like to go back to because they feed my soul, or my mind, or get me creating or just because.

 1.  You Version
Online or mobile bibles.  I love this because it gives you the choice of reading program you want to do.  You can read your bible in 90 days or 365.  You can be inspired by Joyce Meyers or a King James.  The added bonus is that you can go audio - which is super duper great.  I use it for bible in the morning with my children - because it does sound effects,  different voices for different characters and even background music to add to the atmosphere.  Much more pleasant than mom droning on and on.  I use my computer for the children and normally give them something creative or art related to do while they listen.  And they can easily listen for almost an hour at a time.

I use my mobile for when I do chores, I just plug in my earphones and listen, or when I am driving in the car, or waiting at the store.  No more excuses of not having time to get into the word.  Now you can use all of that "empty" time for growing in faith!  My bible time has increased by more than 200%.  What a wonderful way to saturate yourself with the word.

2.  God Tube
I used to watch You Tube and still do occasionally but I often find that you can open up a harmless video and then on the right hand side of the screen there are all sorts of dubious suggestions for you to watch.  God Tube allows me to watch lots of videos without that junk. I love all the comedy shows.  I used to watch one a day just to set the right tone!  Did wonders for my sense of humour and the kids love it too.

3. Desiring God
I find John Piper to be an anointed preacher and enjoy his outspoken approach to the gospel.  Enough said.  His website has so many resources including pod casts and PDF files that are really useful.

4. Neo K12
This is a lovely site for children, it is filled with educational videos and games.  My children have had so much fun watching things in slow motion, I enjoyed all the videos on China.  This is a great educational tool for rainy days, days where homeschooling is on a go slow - or just to change the tone and direction for children who are struggling to pay attention.

Happy Surfing!

Gold Nuggets #4: Learning, Lenses and Life

Its been a busy week and its only Tuesday! Hope all of you are managing through your winter or summer.

Though its been impossibly hot in Cape Town, and its been a weekend of beaching and getting out and about, I still had some excellent sites that I really think are worth sharing

* 12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free
As the title suggests there are LOADS of links and they include educating yourself (or your children) in the following subject areas: Science and Health, Business and Money, History and World Culture, Law, Computer Science and Engineers, Mathematics, English and Communications , Foreign and Sign Languages, Free E-Books.

You may not have the money to study further, but rather than give up - LEARN! Here you have the opportunity to learn about almost every conceivable subject.  I know that I love learning - and if it were up to me, I would be permanently enrolled in some long distance or online course.  This year though, its my husband's turn so I will need to be very supportive and ensure that the children are constructively occupied so that he has the time he needs to study.

* Smarter Kids Safer Kids Guide
This is a comprehensive book which has been one of the best resources I have seen on teaching children about being safe, how to handle dangerous situations and dealing with strangers. This online book is aimed at preventing children being victims of abuse or abduction. We do an exercise every day and I have seen a remarkable change in my children's behaviour already. This is the type of resource I want to go through every year and do a bit of a refresher.
We cover this digimag as part of our Life skills course.

*  Squidoo
This is a website with information on so many topics.  Writers create lenses, which allow you to learn from.  If you are homeschooling there are a long list of topics from lap booking to unit studies. And if you're not there are lots of other topics for you to spend hours and hours reading about.

Happy surfing!

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And don't forget to head over and this week's giveaway for a real adventure and just in time for Valentine's Day - winners will be announced on Friday!

 

My Sacred Inbox

I don't know about you, but as a homeschooling mother of 4, wife to a husband who runs his own business from home, homemaker, daughter, mother of sports lovers, and all the other things I could list - I don't have time for twaddle ( a word I borrowed from Charlotte Mason).  I get so many emails every day, I don't want to waste precious time reading junk - but there are some definite must-reads that I really enjoy!

1.  Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
I love the way this lady writes and the fact that she has red hair, kind of entitles her to my support.  Her posts are funny, aesthetically appealing and she never sends out space fillers. And if she has I have never noticed.  (though this probably doesn't say much, I am not always the most observant)  In fact she has been declared one of the top 10 most influential woman bloggers globally.  I mean when she has a competition sometimes there are almost 40 000 entries - that's a lot of readers!

2.  A Holy Experience
I could just open her website to listen to her music.  I feel like a peace descends on my soul when I listen to the music she has there.  Now I know this sounds so superficial but let me just say, she writes beautifully. She was also the motivation behind the 1000 gifts article, I started writing with the children.  You should read the introduction to her book here. She will have you simply riveted from the beginning.

3.  Wonderopolis - where the wonders of learning never cease.
The title says it all.  Intriguing articles like:  *  are jellyfish made of jelly? *  how do you build a tunnel underwater? *  do dogs shop at flea markets?  I love the emails that arrive every day and the children have a chance to learn something new every day.  (in fact so do the parents)

4.  Botany photo of the day from the Botanical Garden and Centre for plant research
Awesome photographs, you could get lost here.  You subscribe and they send you one every day with a write up, for the plebs like me who have no idea what they are looking and would like to know more.

5.  Se7en
Actually she's se7en +1.  A local star who has 8 children, who home schools them and still manages to blog!  And I thought I had a busy life.  Her blogs are always full of crafts, recipes and lots of photographs.  The fact that she lives about 2km from me, means that her blogs are especially relevant.  Sometimes when you read blogs based in other countries to your own, they are entertaining but seem to be unreachable or unattainable, but with hers I get some real concrete ideas.

6.  The Happy Housewife
I love her emails especially now before Christmas because she has is doing 100 days of homemade Christmas gifts.  The gifts are really quite easy and not expensive to make.  You may need to go back to see the older posts, as the ideas are already on #66 but with more than a month to go, you have lots of time to play catch-up

What are some of your favourite emails?  Do they come from specific blogs?  Are they educational sites?   I would love to add some to my list - so go ahead and comment!

Gold Nuggets #3 Work from Home and More

Pinterest
A place to get seriously distracted!  Its all about saving the things you like and find on the web.  Lots of pretty things.  BE warned - this is a highly addictive activity! However a wonderful opportunity to showcase your products especially if you run a small business from home.  By "pinning" an image it showcases that image to a number of viewers or followers.

ODesk
A real solution to be able to work from home.  There are so many opportunities to supplement your income.  There are so many moms who are really need to make a little extra money while still trying to home school and manage their homes.  This a goodie because you decide how much you want to work. You also can track employer records before deciding that you want to work for someone.  Please remember though to read the fine print!

Odyssey Daily Broadcasts
I don't know about your children, but mine love Odyssey.  They listen to it daily on the radio and in fact our school day finishes with them, and we have even downloaded and bought some from Audible.com which they listen to every night as they drift off to sleep.  But if you don't want to buy them, why not let them listen to it on your computer.  Every day they offer a different episode. Why would I post this on "Work from Home?"  Sometimes we need to occupy our children without sticking them in front of the television, while we deal with our "work-from-home" issues.  These episodes are about 30 minutes long, they are highly entertaining and they teach good values and morals through the stories.  Of course also developing those under developed listening skill.  What a wonderful combination!

Groupon
Just the right place to find discounted rates on restaurants, beauty, flights, hotels - and some of the discounts are as much as 70%.  I always keep my eye out for a good deal - chance to take my man on a romantic outing, no-cook-at-home-options (a firm favourite in this house)
You can earn extra cash by recommending Groupon! Recommend your favourite offers to friends, relatives and colleagues who haven’t heard of Groupon. If someone buys a deal which you’ve recommended to them then you receive R 25 Groupon credit which entitles you to an even greater discount on your next deal - or you could even have it for nothing!

Webinar on HOW to get YOUR business online?
My husband has been a Webcoach for a number of years - from training individuals, companies and universities in using a website content management system (Joomla!) - to hosting, website design and support and just about everything else that happens online. Well I have persuaded him to run a Webinar at no cost to you on How to get YOUR business online?  I will be posting details of the Webinar during the week about how to sign up and be part of the discussion .  For those of you that are interested in joining us, the Webinar will take place from 8pm to 9pm (UTC/GMT +2 hours)  so make sure you set that time aside.

For our next Gold Nuggets issue we will be linking up to good reads on Adoption, if your blog or website covers adoption why not submit your link to mel at mothers dot co dot za.  Please note that there are no guarantees that they will be published as I choose links based on content and suitability.

Gold Nuggets #2

This weeks Gold Nuggets are all to do with stuff.  Lots of stuff - some free some nearly free.


Gumtree.co.za
This a really helpful site.  There is a freebie section where you can get anything from a puppy to building rubble.  Stuff for sale is so cheap.  I have bought wetsuits at a fraction of the cost and friends of ours bought the most beautiful furniture from a couple emigrating.  Their house now looks like a House and Home advert.  Whenever I need something, I always look there before heading to the store.  The site even gives you the option of choosing adverts which are situated close to you so that you don't end up viewing adverts in Johannesburg.

Freecycle.org
This is another goodie for stuff. "An entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills." All you have to do is join the right group (a yahoo group) by entering the area you live in.  They send you emails about what people need or are giving away for free.  Some stuff is broken but then people take them for parts but there are a large number of ads that are really useful.  Some of the items that have been on the list recently include vegetable plants, an old desk, stamps, second hand clothing and loads of others.  The trick though is to respond immediately to the emails, as things are taken quickly.

Free Christian Audio Books
Each month Christian audio gives away one premium audiobook download for free. How does it work? They give away one audiobook download (that they have published or that a partner has allowed them to give away) absolutely free; available only during that month and only once, ever. There are also hundreds of other free audiobooks, lectures, sermons, interviews and podcasts there too!

What sites do you enjoy to visit?  I would love to hear from you.

Gold Nugget Links #1

As usual I found some good links this week.  I struggled to keep the list short as I spend hours researching so many things but here's the list.  Enjoy!

Gardening: Recycling and Container Gardening
Thanks to Se7en I found this one at Re-nest  – abundant designs for green homes  about gardening combined with recycling. I love the old guitar and the gutters filled with veges. We have a very small garden and substantial cement veranda, but with this we could add more garden with hardly any extra space and of course the added benefit of homegrown, organic veggies! Who could say no?  We bought the compost and soil today and will let you know how we go but we'll keep that for another day.

 

I am also simply loving PlanetGreen.com.  Their article 66 Things You Can Grown at Home:  In Containers, Without a Garden  in fact once I got there, I spent close to an hour reading all the different links and more. So many projects I would love to do. 

Blogs : Decorating your blog
I am no web fundi but I love playing around with web stuff and I spend endless hours just researching and reading things on the web. I found this lovely site The Cutest Blog on the Block  which allows you to revamp your blog (dare I say for free!) and it means you can update your site frequently if you want to match the season. Mine might be a little early but decided to prepare my blog for the Easter season using her templates.And if you feel that their selection is limited, why not try Shabby Blogs.

Homeschooling:  Free Downloads Every Day
This one is for homeschooling moms http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com. The title of this one says it all. If you give them your email address they will send you an email every Sunday to tell you what down loadable resources will be available for free for download. The trick though is that it is only available for one day. If you try and download the next day – it don’t work! I have already downloaded some great books and worksheets. Occasionally they even include some audio books or short stories which the children love.


Reaching Out:  iKhaya LikaBaba - The Father's House
As many of you know, Sean and I are passionate about helping orphans.  In fact we are currently working on a site http://www.orphan.org.za. to to do just that.  However some of you may or may not know that we started up a babies' home in Empangeni, KwaZulu Natal about 3 years ago.  Though we handed it over to a new coordinator and a wonderful management committee, we still support the work done there.  We have seen amazing things happen there and children been saved and adopted.  If you are looking to support a charity, why not support them?  They are a registered non profit organisation,  a public beneficiary organisation (which means for those in the know - that there are tax benefits for supporting them) and orphanage.  Find out more about who there are here.  They do also have a facebook group and a blog with all their latest updates.

 If you would like to submit a link, write it in the comment box and I will pick it up (an of course if you would like to add a giveaway or discount, it always helps:).  Bearing in mind the content of this blog and its readers, I will only link to those sites that I consider to be appropriate.