Giveaway #2: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Barb

how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people

I think homeschoolers have proven that the lack of socialization myth is just that: a myth. But the fact is that everyone, homeschooled or not, will meet all sorts of people during the course of their lives, and sometimes they’ll have questions about how to deal with them.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie has been in print since it was first published in 1936 because Carnegie was so good at explaining how to get along with people. This particular copy is a vintage copy, but I don’t know the exact year it was printed: inside it says “Copyright 1936, 85^th printing.”

This is one of the books on the Recommended Reading List of my book Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers. As I said in that book:

This book is especially valuable for homeschooled students, because they will be heading out into a world where they may face some negative experiences and people that they missed out on by not attending public school.

What do you think about homeschoolers and socialization? Leave your answer as a comment on this post by Friday, March 19, and you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing for this hardback copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

NOTE: This contest has ended. Sorry if you didn’t win….do enter this week’s giveaway and try again 🙂

An 1890 Kindergarten Story Curriculum

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Barb

Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations

Being homeschoolers, we love books: the older the book, the better. Buying old books is something we just can’t seem to stop doing.

Last summer, my husband and I were at a book sale up in Door County when we found the cutest book. It’s a kindergarten story curriculum published in 1890. The author, a teacher, organized it into a school-year’s worth (September to June) of stories and object lessons for young children.

Our youngest is 17, so we didn’t really need this book, but I just couldn’t resist it. We bought it, and both my husband and I read it. We were quite taken with the animal and nature stories, fairy tales, fables, and simple object lessons that explained how items in daily use at that time were manufactured. In fact, we agreed that it would be a great book for homeschooling parents except that the print is so small that it would be hard to read aloud. And that got us thinking……

What if we republished the book with a larger font and wider margins so it would be easier to read aloud? Then my husband said he thought he could find some nice illustrations, appropriate to the time period and even the specific stories. After all, kids today are very visual. They love storybooks with pictures! So he spent ages finding the coolest illustrations to go with the stories. Being the artist he is, he also came up with a beautiful cover. The whole process took several months.

And the result? We’re happy to announce that the book, Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations, is now in print! It’s available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and pretty much everywhere you can buy books. It was just published, so it’s not in the homeschool catalogs yet, but we’re working on that. In the meantime, we just put it up on our site if you want to learn more.

I wish I’d had a book like this when I first started homeschooling…. I think it’s an ideal first curriculum for homeschooling parents and teachers of young children who enjoy and appreciate vintage texts.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is Up!

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Barb

Escape those winter doldrums with a visit to this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling. There are quite a few interesting posts this week about things like:

science project ideas

scrapbooking

life stress and homeschooling

how to use free audio books

And much more….check it out here.

Giveaway #1: Life on the Edge

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Barb

life-on-the-edge

What’s the most important thing you want to teach your children so they’ll be prepared to live on their own someday? Is it how to budget? How to cook? How to live within their means and debt-free? Or something else?

Leave your answer as a comment on this post by Friday, March 12, and you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing for a hardback copy of Life on the Edge, one of the books on the Recommended Reading List of my book Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers. As I said in that book:

Dr. Dobson discusses important subjects like choosing a career and a marriage partner, as well as just dealing with the ups and downs of life as a young adult in today’s society. His Christian faith is always evident in what he writes, yet his practical advice is valuable for readers of any faith.

Stay tuned for more giveaways!

NOTE: This giveaway is now closed…sorry if you didn’t win. Do try again with the 3/12 giveaway drawing 🙂