Royal Little Lambs

Natural in a Normal Family

May 17, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Welcome back to the Raising Health Families series, join us each week as we take a look at different ways to keep your family healthy and vibrant in a not-so-healthy world.

read more about positively real media here

Written by Sara from Your Thriving Family

Many of us are trying to eat real food and get back to natural products, for what we believe to be the best for our families. The wall we sometimes hit, unfortunately, can be our well-meaning and loving extended family.

How do you continue along your journey and keep the peace with the extended family? Natural Living in a Regular Family, is about finding the balance and putting relationships first. Click on over for finding the grace in what goes in and on your family.

Next week is learning about the power of tea and some great homemade recipes.

Note: This series is designed as a fun and informative compilation to help you and your family thrive. Each post is the opinion of that particular blogger, not necessarily mine or Positively Real Media’s.

Filed Under: healthy living Tagged With: choice, family, food, health, kids, natural

Nature Center Day

May 16, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day weekend is seldom a holiday. For me, it’s race weekend and Kate’s birthday.

On Saturday, we all piled in the van to go up to Ogden Nature Center. Way too early.

Tori ran a 5K with her dad. She’s our athlete.

It’s a statue. Honestly, I stared at it waiting for it to move. sigh.

There’s a great bird sanctuary at the center.

These lovely ladies were cheering on the runners.

My big boy!

Kate turned 6 years old!

Liz’s attitude has improved tremendously lately. Prayer really works. And we just don’t fall for that whole western tween/teen mentality at all. More on that later.

Tori was hurting and didn’t want to finish the second lap.

Perseverance paid off. She was the youngest female in the 5K and got 3rd place for her age group of 1-12 {after 2 10 year olds}!

And she got the coolest raffle prize – this little binocular, magnifier, compass thing. I was in the gift shop looking at these to buy one for her when I heard her name called for the raffle. God cares even about the little things.

In the nature center, they have a new teaching beehive. Super cool. Scroll really quick if you don’t want to see them up close.

Pretty shiny golden darlings. Making yummy honey.

The coolest nature sensory evarrrr! I want it. I want Aaron to make me one. Imbedded with mirrors and magnifiers.

Alex thought the snakeskins were cool.

It was a lovely day.

and we grabbed a nature camp brochure. Alex is in from when he went last year. aw

Filed Under: Daddy Time, Nature Study Tagged With: 5K, outdoors, race, running

Getting started with preschool

May 16, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

Some lovely readers on Facebook asked me to list my suggestions to beginning homeschool, so here’s a post. I probably need to make it a series so it’s not overwhelming. I have so much to say.

Here’s what the topics will be:

Subscribe so you don’t miss one!

Part 1: Getting started with preschool

Part 2: Determine your teaching method and your kids’ learning styles

Part 3: Curriculum planning with multiple kids

Part 4: Homeschooling as a lifestyle

Many readers didn’t know where to begin. Let me share my story. I never planned to homeschool.

I was lost when I realized that God was slamming every door in. my. face. and forcing me to homeschool Elizabeth. I had been a public school teacher. All my in-laws were public school teachers.

We moved out-of-state – and I couldn’t find a job – and I couldn’t find a school for Liz – and I was pregnant with Tori -I didn’t know what to do!

Elizabeth has an October birthday. The school wouldn’t accept her for another year for Kindergarten. I knew in the back of my mind that Liz would be turning 6 about a month into that school year. She would be bored out of her mind and be a behavior problem. She had corrected her preschool teacher! I worried about her future success in school.

Since we were both home, I told my husband we would just homeschool for a few years. That sealed the deal and there was no turning back. She was reading and doing work several grade levels ahead in six months. She was tested at the end of that first year and her reading level was above 3rd grade. The family got off my back after that.

So, what did I do that first year?

I gathered all these great materials and we did Kindergarten workbooks and readers and an old math book from my mother-in-law. Liz completed Kindergarten in 6 months.

Now what?

I read The Well-Trained Mind cover to cover. I have no idea how I first came across it. I got Story of the World and followed the plan for 1st grade to the letter. Liz loved First Language Lessons. She loved all the activities in Story of the World. She loved copywork. She loved recitation and dictation and narration. She was a model homeschool child. She had used A Beka in preschool, so we continued with some of their workbooks since she loved them so much.

I joined all the homeschool groups. In our town, there were many and they had park days on various days of the week. We signed up for amazing art lessons at this little local place. Lessons were completed easily in a couple hours each morning. We went to the library for story time and on field trips. She was just a small 5-year-old, so we blended in with the preschoolers. {until she opened her mouth, that is.}

When Tori came into our lives, we incorporated tot school when she was old enough to do play. Then Kate and Alex joined our family and we continued to do tot school and preschool and Montessori activities.

Next year will be our first official school year with Kate! I plan to go classical style with Tori and Kate, similar to what I did with Liz in the beginning, but some changes, because every child learns differently. {More info on that in the next post.}

So, here are my recommendations about where to begin…

Research. Pray. Ask friends, acquaintances, bloggers {like me!} how they homeschool. Realize they’re not you. Pray with your husband and children for direction. Go to homeschool conventions to see what’s out there. Pray some more. Go to the library and get books on homeschooling and education.

Read some articles on Ambleside Online about beginning school – and great reading lists! They offer an entire K-12 curriculum free on public domain. It’s very advanced.

You can homeschool virtually free – especially in the primary years. Many of the sites listed have free or very inexpensive printables. {More on this in part 3!}

Some of my favorite Tot School and Preschool blogs:

They’re taking a break, but you can browse past posts. They are amazing!

Great article about where to begin.

Printables all organized in ABC order.

I love the Story Art!

Great Bible printables at the sites found here: The Crafty Classroom

Preschoolers and Peace

Montessori MOMents

They’re on a blog break, but you can browse for some great Montessori ideas.

Click the apple for the Top 100 Homeschooling Blogs. {I am number 59 out of 176 listed!}

These aren’t homeschooling blogs, but they’re awesome. Great themed printables and activities.

PreKinders

Making Learning Fun

I renew my membership at abcteach every year because the printables are so great. Lots of Montessori and preschool pages. They often have deals through Homeschool Buyers Co-op.

Get a FREE
Homeschool ID Card!

Stay tuned for my next post on determining your teaching style and your kids’ learning styles. It will be paramount to how to have homeschool success.

Linking up here:

Filed Under: consulting, Preschool Tagged With: begin homeschooling, preschool

A different birth story

May 14, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

Leah A. Highfill writes her testimony of her frightening pregnancy causing a grave illness and her road to recovery in childbirth – and God’s grace throughout.

Expecting Grace:

The Miraculous Survival Story of a

Hyperemesis Gravidarum Pregnancy

by Leah A. Highfill

Most of us moms have pregnancy and birth stories we love to share. Others, maybe not so much.

But this isn’t about me or you.

This is Leah’s pregnancy story. It’s unbelievable.

This is an amazing testimony of God’s grace and redemption through childbirth. a mother’s story of loving her children more than herself, even while they’re in the womb, even through life threatening and widely misunderstood illness. This story needs to be read! It needs to be told. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

I had heard about women with this illness, Hyperemesis gravidarum. I never realized how it must be for a pregnant lady to experience. I know that nausea is the worst feeling in the world and I cannot imagine going through it to that extent for an entire pregnancy – or ever allowing myself to become pregnant again.

I commend Leah for her story of God’s grace and for loving her children so much to struggle through those pregnancies – not once, but twice.

This is an eye-opening testimony of the lack of knowledge of some doctors and how our “conversation” can change lives. I love that Leah’s fortitude and attitude helped that one doctor realize God was with her. She planted a seed in his heart.

This book also helped me to realize that there are needs out there that I didn’t even know existed. I’ve never been one to ask for help. So perhaps I can open my eyes and heart a little more to realize the needs of others, pregnant or not.

Get a glimpse into the miracle here.

Learn more about HG here.

Join Leah on Facebook.

Purchase the book, for only $3.99:

Filed Under: Books, Reviews Tagged With: grace, Hyperemesis Gravidarum, illness, pregnancy

e-Science e-Camp

May 14, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

I just got word from Aurora at Supercharged Science that her online science camp (e-Camp) is now OPEN for pre-registration. The camp begins June 1 and ends August 31. You get access to over 150 activities. They sell out super fast since it’s individualized.

Pre-registration enrollment in e-Camp is just $87 for the whole summer. All you need is 1 enrollment per household. The more kids ya got, the sweeter the deal! There’s even a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read my Supercharged Science review here.

Science e-Camp is taught by a real mechanical engineer, airplane pilot, astronomer, university engineering instructor, and rocket scientist (Aurora herself)! For K-12 kids.

Click the link below to get all the details before it’s too late:
–> www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=14238&i=l43

Special Bonuses for the First Ten People who sign up:

Free Science Experiment Manual 160+ of Aurora’s favorite science experiments ($40 value)
Bonus Science Activity DVD with dozens of additional experiments to keep the learning going after e-Camp is over ($45 value)
Online e-Camp Enrollment for the whole summer at the K-12 level ($171 value)

{Total Value: Over $300 of free bonuses if you’re one of the FIRST ten to sign up for Supercharged Science e-Camp!}

What will your kids learn?

Here’s what is covered in e-Camp:

Bernoulli’s Principle
The four aerodynamic forces of flight
Maxwell’s Four Equations
Properties of Light
Five states of Matter
Sound, Resonance, and Natural Frequency
Newtonian Physics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
Law of Gravitation
Four Fundamental Forces of Nature
First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics

Wow…I think I need to sign up too.

Click the link below now to learn more and to register:

–> www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=14238&i=l43

supercharged science online

If you’re not familiar with e-Camp, here’s the scoop:

e-Camp is an all-out totally fun AND educational online science camp.

Imagine sending your kids off to a really great hands-on summer science camp. BUT, you get to decide what day and time they go. This is e-Camp.

Plus, it’s designed so they can do it on their own – just set them up and they’ll be engaged for hours. So it’s perfect if you don’t have time to work with your kids, or if science isn’t really your thing.

If you want to keep your kids’ learning this summer, but you also want it to be totally fun, this might just be the answer.

As a parent, you can feel good because even though they’re having a total blast, they’re actually learning good solid science.

The kind of learning that really relates to the world around them.

Rather than try to explain it all, I’ll leave that to Aurora herself.

I have seen her stuff, and I can tell you that she really over-delivers.

Last year, over hundreds of kids enrolled in e-Camp in fewer than 4 days!

Registration for e-Camp 2013 is only open for 3 days, until this Thursday.

Click below to learn about it:

–> www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=14238&i=l43

P.S. NEW! This year, Supercharged Science has introduced a brand new Advanced e-Camp for teens. There are now two levels to my summer e-Camp program: K-8 e-Camp and Advanced e-Camp. The K-8 level of e-Camp includes projects and experiments in chemistry, flight, rocketry, physics, lasers, sound, electricity, robotics, and so much more. The Advanced e-Camp is for high school as well as advanced 5-8th graders, and it focuses on the most popular areas of rockets, robotics, electronics, and lasers.

Filed Under: science Tagged With: camp, science, summer, video

Beauty eBooks

May 13, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Beauty is more than skin deep, and this week’s bundle is designed to help you feel beautiful from the inside out! Discover the secrets to jump starting your energy, inspiration to get your weight under control, and beauty and fashion tips to help you prioritize yourself even as you juggle your busy life — all for 75% off, this week only!

Embracing Beauty Book Cover Embracing Beauty by Trina Holden In this candid and sometimes hilarious book, Trina shares her journey to embracing beauty in the season of motherhood. Every chapter is crammed with practical inspiration and tips for defining your style, choosing clothes and accessories that work for you, and combining it all into a look that will bring joy and confidence to your day. {not that I’m biased or anything as her editor, but I adore this book. I really learned important stuff –about bras! and I love how she ties in that dressing well is glorifying God.}

The No Brainer Wardrobe by Hayley Morgan The No Brainer Wardrobe is a book to help women learn to love the clothes they have, lose the clothes they hate, and shop for items to fill the gaps. Hayley offers images outlining outfit selections, tips for how to shop, and instructions for creating a lookbook plus encouragement to help you save time and money and feel great in what you wear.

Energy Explosion by Arabah Joy Energy Explosion will give you the plan you need to regain your energy. In this 7-day guide, Arabah gives step-by-step instructions for jump starting your energy by addressing your body, mind and spirit, plus printable charts and checklists to track your progress!

Frumps-Pumps Draft 350 Frumps to Pumps by Sarah Mae Getting dressed in the morning often makes us more hospitable, more productive, more playful and more energized. In Frumps to Pumps, a one-month motivotional (motivation + devotional) from popular author Sarah Mae, you’ll find encouragement and practical tips to help you get into the habit of getting dressed so you can love people (and yourself) well.

100 Pound Loser by Jessica Heights Jessica’s 100-pound weight loss story is inspiring, encouraging and motivating. In this short but candid eBook, she shares her story plus practical advice to help readers conquer their weight loss goals and appreciate their bodies, regardless of the numbers on the scale.

The Beauty & Fashion bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 5/20. Get yours today:

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: beauty, ebooks, health, self-improvement

Jumpstart Pet Rescue app review

May 11, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We were pleased to review Jumpstart Pet Rescue app for iPad. All the kids love Jumpstart games for the computer and iPad.

This one is the best Jumpstart game by far, I think.

We love animals and the rescuing animals theme is really special. Alex loves adopting his new pets and earning story prizes on the app while learning great literacy, math, and critical thinking skills.

There’s a lite version coming soon that you can try out first!

All the kids like changing their Jumpee (avatar) with different clothes and hair.

The variety of games is remarkable. Alex never gets bored! He begs to play this game on the iPad.

Alex can pick out which shape and color of flower to plant.

Alex really likes watering the flowers to make them grow.

Alex enjoyed exploring the map and playing with the vehicles in the village. Great discussion ensued about communities!

Alex loves the coloring pages!

His finished masterpiece: The Choo Choo Train.

The games are simple enough for Alex to complete on his own, but he loves to sit with big sisters or a parent for “shoulder time” and interact with us. He reviews his letters, numbers, and shapes.

Alex gets so excited when he earns new pets and storybooks!

FEATURES:
• Over 50 activities that teach your child 75 essential learning skills — including vocabulary, number recognition and more!
• More than 10 pets to play with, care for and feed!
• Over 10 storybooks featuring the JumpStart pals!
• Endless amounts of digital coloring pages, lively music videos and customizable game features provide your child hours of fun!
• 5 distinctive lands in this magical 3D world to explore!
• Limitless options to customize your character and house!
•Developed from child education experts: Learning curriculum developed and reviewed by early childhood and preschool education experts!

You can download JumpStart Pet Rescue for $7.99 for iPhone or iPad.

Filed Under: Reviews, technology Tagged With: app, appschool, iPad, preschool

Fun in the Sun

May 10, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

Alex and Kate went to the park with me. It’s not often I get to spend time with my youngest without the older two.

Alex loved this chain bridge and went back and forth. Brave little guy!

Kate is fearless. I loved climbing when I was little.

Alex came running inside to tell me: “I found a holy poly. Come take a picture!”

But he wouldn’t touch it. Nope.

I’m excited to see strawberries soon!

I saw a Pinterest thing about using rotisserie containers as greenhouses. Voilà.

We shall have colorful flowers soon! Dad likes to garden. I like to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Fluffy little flower seeds. Dirty hands are sexy.

Showing Alex the tiny seeds that will grow into pretty flowers.

Liz being silly planting my new rosemary plant.

She stole my garden clogs. And who gave her permission to grow so tall all of a sudden?!

Alex helped Dad plant the tomatoes and peppers

Planting radishes. I think one grew and the other seeds were duds.

lots o’ peppers: jalapeño, habanero, Serrano, and several colors of bell. They like the warmth of the cinder blocks and box planter.

Tulips! I love tulips. I think those purple pointed ones are favorites.

And some red tulips on the other side of the yard…

Big brother pulling his sisters around the awesome nursery when we bought the garden plants.

Tori was impressed with all the varieties of thyme and lavender. She also loves the Young Living essential oils we use and cook with.

Tori and Kate argued that it’s more cost-effective to just purchase this Honeycrisp apple tree than to continue to pay almost $4/lb for the apples at the store. Yes, if we could stay put and not rent.

This killdeer limped, displayed his feathers, and squawked at us to get away from his nest!

I wish we’d had these fun printables when we went to the plant nursery last week!

Want to do some research on birds? Check out these notebooking pages: NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS SAMPLE

Join NotebookingPages.com as a FREE Member and receive access to their monthly subscriber freebies, 100s of free notebooking pages, notebooking e-tutorials, discount coupons, and more!

We love to use these printable pages in our nature studies:

or you can create your own customized notebooking pages!

See lots of great Nature lessons:

Also linking up here:

Filed Under: Nature Study Tagged With: Charlotte Mason, flowers, garden, nature, nursery, spring

Raising Healthy Families: Natural First Aid

May 10, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Happy Birth-Day Mama Giveaway

May 9, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

It’s time to honor mothers! What are you getting your mama this year for Mother’s Day?

Well, we’ve got some stuff for you!

We have an amazing giveaway all week long, leading up to Mother’s Day with all sorts of mama and baby resources for you!

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to enter both of these amazing giveaways!

And we have a Zulily maternity store gift certificate worth $100 – partnered with an Ultimate Homemaker’s Resource Library of 97 books {exclusive}!

Package #1

We are very excited to bless an expectant mother with a $100 gift certificate to Zulily Maternity & 1 Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle {which is no longer for sale}!

Click to see what is included in the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle.

~The Zulily Gift certificate generously brought to you by the bloggers below.~
Happy Birth-Day Mama

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Package #2

This giveaway package has it all! Something for any mom, whether this is your first baby or your tenth!

mama giveaway

Lisa Jacobson of Club 31 Women donated her book How Did God Make Me?

Boys and girls love to know that they are special, and nothing instills a sense of uniqueness like the knowledge that they were known and loved before birth. Help your child develop feelings of understanding and closeness with the God who is intimately involved in our lives — even before we are born!

The Mission-Minded Child is a practical book to encourage Christian parents and teachers placed in the strategic position of impacting the next generation.

As a guide to world missions, The Mission-Minded Child is filled with facts, information, and tools for teaching. It focuses on the “why” of missions–including our Biblical basis, historical heritage, and the world’s need–and contains over 25 mini-missionary biographies, motivational mission stories, classic poems, hymns, and hundreds of easy-to-use ideas. The Mission-Minded Child will inspire teachers and parents to look for God’s potential in their child, “release” their little one to God for His purposes, and “raise” their child to fulfill God’s specific mission, whatever that might be. As a resource tool, this book will be referred to again and again.

Heidi St. John donated her eBook The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance. Heidi blogs at The Busy Mom.

Homeschooling offers parents the best opportunity to shepherd their children both academically and spiritually. Yes. It’s worth it. But do you ever feel as if your life is “all homeschool—all the time?” Do you ever wonder where the girl your husband married went? This book is for every mom who has collapsed into bed at the end of the day, looked into the eyes of her husband and promised “tomorrow” she’d have time for him.Trouble is, tomorrow finds her more exhausted than the day before. If you have ever felt caught between the demands of homeschooling your children and meeting the needs of your husband, you’re not alone. Read and discover how even a busy homeschool mom can make time to nurture her marriage. It’s not as hard as you think—and more important than you may realize.

Shoshanna Easling, owner of Bulk Herb Store donated their Making Babies set that includes the book and 3 DVDs.

Making Babies is a fun, informational, artistic, and colorful pregnancy book. Follow Shoshanna through her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter as she stays healthy and builds a baby. The book covers information that is in the DVDs volumes 1, 2, and 3, includes many deliciously healthy recipes, wonderful gluten-free recipes, grandma’s remedies, herbal concoctions, and need-to-know facts, and is packed with research about fertility, conception, morning sickness, pregnancy, birth, nursing, postpartum issues, losing weight, and more!

Source: Laura Newman Photography

Blessings God’s Way donated A Celebration of Pregnancy DVD Combo {DVD + Guide}

This set enables you to feel confident and sure about hosting a Blessing God’s Way gathering in your community! This DVD is 30 minutes long . Watch this prior to hosting your own gathering or pass it on, along with the book, to friends and family that you can share our message with. What a blessing to know there is a God-centered instructional DVD and book for celebrating birth! May God be glorified!

The Joyful Giraffe donated one large snack bag and one large sandwich bag.

These are two great reusable products that will save you money and are eco-friendly too!Both have a waterproof lining on the inside and a zipper closure, so whether it has grapes or a sandwich, all messes are contained! Bags are handmade by a work at home mom.

Angie of Leaving a Legacy is donating a signed Redeeming Childbirth Package {Book & Growth & Study Guide}.

Childbirth is more than an event that makes a woman a mother. This journey was designed to be a spiritual milestone that draws every woman’s heart back to the only Deliverer.

Bethany Learn of Fit to Be Us is donating a 6 Month Membership to her online exercise site.

Fit to Be Us films and streams workout routines that are fun, easy to access and non-threatening. We specialize in diastasis-aware and tummy safe moves! Mission Our mission is to make fitness safe, fun and accessible without intimidating you. We want to bring our living rooms to yours, inviting you into an intimate view of holistic wellness. Company Overview We are an online fitness studio featuring wholesome home workout videos that you watch on the web. We specialize in workouts that are safe and inspiring for those dealing with low back pain, diastasis, disabilities, stress incontinence, busy schedules, crazy kids, and more! No boot camps or x-rated stuff here. Just family friendly fitness at the click of a mouse! We blend Pilates and Yoga into beautiful, high-def, high quality sessions for everyone from beginners to advanced exercisers.

Juju Band is donating one Baby Belly Binder.

Baby belly binding has long been used in various forms by many different cultures. The ancient art of binding has been made easy and quite cute by the Juju Band. Its design is simple and made to accommodate even the busiest of parents! The Juju Band has been a family tradition for over 100 years. It is a tradition still used today in our family. We hope that you will join our family tradition and try the Juju Band on your newborns and infants. Juju Bands are used for 2 different purposes. First, it is used on the Newborn as a shield to protect from constant contact of diapers and clothing. This helps reduce the likelihood of irritation and infection. The Newborn Navel Protector also helps give your baby the perfect “innie” belly button. Second, the Infant Belly Binder helps relieve colic and soothe fussy babies. The snug fit calms and comforts even the most finicky infants.

Jennifer Lambert of Royal Little Lambs {That’s me!} donates a Gentle Babies book and Gentle Baby essential oil.

Combining two decades of professional knowledge with tried-and-true techniques and first-hand testimonials, the author Debra Raybern has compiled this insightful and easy-to-follow guide benefiting both experienced and first-time mothers. In addition, Gentle Babies book contains an introduction to therapeutic-grade essential oils and applications and provides safety information and a section on discerning the quality of essential oils. Every family taking proactive steps to better health should have this resource in their home library. Gentle Baby™ essential oil is a soft, fragrant combination of essential oils designed specifically for mothers and babies. It helps calm emotions during pregnancy and is useful for quieting troubled little ones. It is also soothing to tender skin. Many of the essential oils in this blend are used in elite cosmetics to enhance a youthful appearance.