Well, it is here… the snow has begun to fall.  They called for 1 -4 inches and we got about 7!  Ahhh… but how it gets me in the mood for Christmas!  And it held off during the Black Friday shopping… so we didn’t have to deal with that!

My daughter, Jacqui, was at school taking night classes. She had driven the Chrysler Convertible… and that was no match for the 7″ of snow… so like a good Mom… I ventured out to get her.  And what an adventure! What normally takes 45 minutes to drive now took almost 2 hour!!  The snow was flying so hard you could not see the road more than 10 feet in front of you.  And forget the brights!  My goodness! That’ll blind ya!

On the main roads, everyone was going 20 MPH.  Then I get to Shimmel Rd… about a 10 mile stretch of country road.  Yikes!  Being that the college is on that road, there were a number of vehicles, however. I thoguht, “O good!  That will help!”  But, no… There was a line up of vehicles all struggling to get up the hills!  The car directly in front of me was a little sports car that was struggling the most! It was fish tailing back and forth all the way up and all the way down each hill.  I stayed back and waited for her to get to the top of each hill before I would venture, lest I get stuck with her! I found that down-shifting is my friend!

But alas, I made it!  I picked my daughter up safely and we ventured home. By this time, the traffic was off of Shimmel Rd and it was very hard to see where the next hill was. We finally made it safely to the main roads where it was a little better (but not much). We’re driving along and my daughter says, “Is that lightning??”  Every few seconds, the sky would light up with blue light! Then we saw it… there was a downed power line.  It was AWESOME!  It would flash bright blue and make these cool sounds.

We slowed down to check it out and then saw the fire it had started in the woods behind the house.  Very cool! (No one was hurt and the house was safe… so it was still cool) We finally made it home safely.

Ok…so the next day I drove Jacqui to school since she had left her car there during the snow storm. I went in to use the facilities and got to meet her friends. They were asking me if I was scared driving in the snow storm. I said no, I was having fun watching the person in the sports car in front of me fish-tailng all over on the hills. We chatted for a moment and I left. As I was walking out, this blonde lady at the table behind them stares me down with this evil look. I smiled and thought ,”Wow, what’s your problem?”. I was all the way to my car before I realized … O no! I wonder if she was the one in the sports car!  OOPS!  Another foot-in-mouth moment…  😦

Of course, the next day is always beautiful with a fresh snow.

So… in honor of this heoric night, I have put my favorite Christmas Decoration on sale!   It is Vintage Ceramic Santa Claus pulling a sleeping Reindeer on a Sleigh. This figurine is so adorable!  We have it listed right now at 50% OFF! And FREE SHIPPING to boot! In addition to that, we have a store-wide 10% off sale happening through Christmas. You’ll find all sorts of vintage and hard to find books and collectibles.  And we’ll be adding more stock this weekend! Can’t wait to share more with you! See you soon at: www.allthingsnewstore.com!

When I first began to home school, I felt like a fish out of water.  I had so many doubts, fears and concerns. Do I know enough to make it work? Am I ruining my kids’ lives? How do we do Gym Class? What if there is something I don’t know? What about socializing??  How will I incorporate that into their day?

But as I forged forward, I found the help of a local Home School Association, TEACHers (The Elkhart Area Homeschool Association).  They have been wonderful! Through the home school association, I have been able to find the support and help that I need. They offer a group gym class. They have group field trips and I am able to talk with other home school moms to glean ideas and support. The kids have a chance to socialize and to gain the advantages that come from being part of a home school association.

Through the home school association we have joined, my daughter was able to have a real graduation ceremony, complete with a guest speaker (Congressional Candidate: Jackie Walorksi, whom we dearly love!) and felt that the close to her homeschooling years was complete. My daughter, Jacqui, was able to enjoy the benefits of a home school eduction and still be blessed with the benefits of good friends and a great graduation ceremony!

I recommend a home school association for anyone who is homeschooling. Even if you only participate in some of what they have available, the benefits are so worthwhile. A quick Google search will bring up a plethora of information on home school associations, from national to local.  A few great examples are:

Home School Association .com (www.home-school-association.com) This is a members-only site that is packed full of ebooks, free curricula, curriculum reviews, and a searchable database.

The Home School Legal Defence Association (www.hslda.org)  This is a wonderful nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to
protect family freedoms.

State Home School Associations – you will find many state and local home school association to connect with and become a part of as you grow your home school support system.

I also highly recommend Twitter as a resource.  I have several friends on Twitter that I follow and find many useful ideas and pertinent information from.

In all of you searches for a good Home School Association, be sure to stop by our store at www.allthingsnewstore.com to get the latest resources available through Alpha Omega Publications and Switched on Schoolhouse!

How to Books…. everybody loves them!  OK…. well…. I love them!  They are like having Google with a cover on the shelf!

One of the earliest How-to books was published in 1519 by Thomas Wight and entitled, A booke of the arte and maner, how to plant and graffe all sortes of trees.

How to books generally are written by experts in a field to help someone who is not such an expert. How to books have helped me to fix my dishwasher, drywall my bedroom and all sorts of other things!  Over the years, how to books have been written on almost every subject, from how to fix appliances, to how to perform computer programming and repair, how to succeed in business, how to succeed with women, how to succeed with business women, to even how to read a book!  Almost every subject can be researched in the how to book world.

At All Things New Store, we have for sale a complete set of the Easy Home Repair books by Bob Anderson.  This is an awesome set of books!  It is a complete step-by-step guide to do it yourself home repair.  It is perfect for the beginning homeowner and also excellent for the veteran home owner. This set of how to books comes in 13 binders (1 chapter per binder) full of useful information:

13 Chapters in All:

• Tools & Materials (232 pgs)
• Basic Techniques (222 pgs)
• Repair & Maintenance (208 pgs)
• Safety & Protection (100 pgs)
• Wallpapering (74 pgs)
• Painting (128 pgs)
• Plumbing (128 pgs)
• Heating & Cooling (112 pgs)
• Lighting & Wiring (172 pgs)
• Masonry & Tilework (142 pgs)
• Remodeling (336 pgs)
• Yards & Gardens (240 pgs)
• Emergencies (46 pgs)

This features the complete set (not the starter kit) and comes with diagrams, pictures and step-by-step instructions. To purchase this through the Bob Anderson website, the starter kit includes 36 cards, and then you pay $9.20 for 12 more cards, delivered every three weeks. To collect them all would cost over $1,000!  This is all of them, all together at one time and going for only $125!!  That’s a steal.

This set would be the perfect gift for anyone on your Christmas list!  Check it out, and other how to books, at www.allthingsnewstore.com!

 

I never thought I would be a homeschool mom. When I was younger, I had dreams of being big and important in the corporate world.  But 9 years ago, God called me off of the corporate ladder and onto Jacob’s ladder.  🙂  And it has been a much different climb!

I started working for Scataglini Ministries in September 2002. It has been an incredible blessing and I can honestly say that I would never want to go back to the corporate ladder. It was there that I was first introduced to the thought of me actually becoming a Home School Mom.  Kathy was homeschooling her children and had curriculum I could use. She was encouraging and helpful in the start up process.  I could not have, and I am sure would not have, done it without her.

But I recall that first year.  I started with my middle child, my daughter Jacqui. She was going into the 7^th grade and wanted to be homeschooled so badly!  I was so unsure of my abilities in that arena that I didn’t want to do both her and her brother, Ricky (3^rdgrade at that time). Their older brother, Steve, was already graduated and on to college.

Jacqui was a breeze to teach. She’s a smart cookie. She is hearing impaired, which made homeschooling so much better for her than being in a noisy, crowded room, trying to hear the teacher. As a homeschool mom, I was able to work more closely with her and help her through. I quickly found that she didn’t need a large amount of help. She would read her lessons and take her tests rather well.

As a home school mom, AND working a full time job (from home), my life was busy and crazy, as you can imagine. We had started off with Abeka as our homeschool curriculum.  It is actually a wonderful curriculum and it is awesome to have our History class actually start off with “In the beginning…”. But I also soon found that laying out the daily coursework, grading the papers and keeping track of all of the paperwork involved was very time consuming.  My children found the endless reading to be very cumbersome.

I eventually started looking for a new solution. I knew I wanted to continue my quest as a home school mom, but I wanted to be able to mainstream and be more productive, without compromising at all on my children’s educational needs. That is when I found Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum by Alpha Omega Publishing. It is WONDERFUL!  It was a lifesaver! 

Switched on Schoolhouse is an interactive, computerized homeschooling curriculum that is multifaceted in its approach and very time saving for me!  It comes on e a CD ROM and works on most PC computers. No internet needed.

The benefits for the student are that it incorporates a multifaceted, dynamic approach to learning. Each lesson incorporates a small video and/or a hands-on game that can be used to reinforce the lesson. It is so much more than just dry reading. And if your student gets tired of reading, he/she can even hi-light the text and let the software read to them!

My daughter, Jacqui, did so well with the Switched on Schoolhouse that she was able to finish High School early and is now attending College at age 17! My son, Ricky, is also motivated to do well and will be completing his freshman year of High School by early January!

Ricky

For the homeschool mom, Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS) is a life saver in its grading, record keeping, and syllabus functions.  As we sometimes need to travel during the week with Sergio, there are times where they might miss a day or two of school. With SOS, that is no problem. You simply click on a button to tell the program to regenerate a lesson plan, and it does all the calculations for you!  It has kept us on track for the last four years.  I love it so much that I have become an Authorized Distributor for Alpha Omega Publications.

If you are a home school mom, or even thinking of becoming a homeschool mom, check out my website where I sell the Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum at a 10% discount!  During the months of November and December, I will also be offering FREE SHIPPING on their entire curriculum.  Stop in and check us out!!

Don’t you just love old books?  At All Things New Store, we specialize in the rare, hard to find old books.  I just love the smell, the feel and the look of the older, vintage books. 

Now, newer books, especially those after 1950, tend to have Dust Jackets (otherwise known in the book world as a DJ).  Although dust jackets were used well before that time period, they became more popular as a way to preserve the integrity of the book cover. The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations.The dust covers serve as just that, a cover to keep the dust and light off of the cover of the book, to help keep it nice.  The only problem is that generally, the dust jacket ends up getting torn and raggedy, taking away from the overall appearance of the book.   

Our latest collection that we have added to our All Things New Store is a series of Wizard of Oz books.

The Road to Oz, published in 1909 and a 1^st edition, is the oldest in our collection and the rarest. The book cover is a light green cloth with dark green, black and red stamping.

Several of these books have what is called a “pictorial color label” pasted down on front cover. The old book covers are magnificent. The pictorial color label is a full color picture that is pasted to the front of the old book cover. It is so much more attractive and more real in color and depth. The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) features this type of book cover. It stands out more and captures the eye better than the stamped book cover of The Road to Oz.

You can see the pictorial color label pasted down on The Hungry Tiger of Oz (1926), with its vibrant colors and its antique look. The Hungry Tiger of Oz (1926) also fashioned a dust jacket as well, but as you can see, the DJ has undergone significant wear. I suppose, however, it saved the old book cover from the same damage, thus performing its duty.

 Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz (1939) also features the pictorial color label pasted down on the book cover. Again, you will notice the vibrant colors and eye catching picture.

In contrast to the old book covers, in the later years you see the pictures printed right on the book cover, as seen on Merry Go Round in Oz (1963). This is the 40th and last of the official OZ books. The first edition, the so-called “white edition,” is the rarest book in the series in its original printings.

 For more comparison of old book covers, visit us at www.allthingsnewstore.com

 

Greetings!!  OK, so I am REALLY new to this blogging thing…. but I think it is going to be fun!  This all started because of Dave Ramsey, really. My family and I signed up for FPU (Financial Peace University) and I am proud to say we were able to come through it and are now DEBT FREE!  🙂

One of the things that Dave told us to do was to “sell everything…. sell so much that the kids think they are next!”  So that’s what we did. (But we held onto the kids…. for now…)

See, we live in a very rural area, so having a garage sale wasn’t a good option. There is really no traffic out here. We turned to online sales through Ebay and Amazon to sell off some of our things. The sales went well and I found it’s rather addicting.

I got hooked. Did I mention it is addicting? I love finding those unique books and other items at estate sales and through Craig’s List. One of my most precious finds was a complete set of 1955 Encyclopaedias!  Talk about a different world!  I hope to share some of those pages here. We certainly have changed how we look at things!

I also home school our children. In order to stay in budget and still afford homeschooling, I am honored to be a distributor for Alpha Omega Publishers. I LOVE their home school curriculum, Switched on Schoolhouse!! It really has taken the hard work out of it for me and made teaching fun! It also makes learning fun!  Each lesson is so interactive. We had used Abeka before, which is also good, but the SOS curriculum is more engaging. Each lesson has a video to go with it and a game that helps to bring home the message of the lesson. It is great for those kids that have different learning styles. Switched on Schoolhouse incorporates several different learning styles into each lesson to ensure the success of the student. I just love it!

So…. now that we have an abundance of vintage, antiquarian books and with distributing the AOP Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum, we have launched into the e-commerce arena full force!  We have opened our own Web store, which you can find at www.allthingsnewstore.com.

We invite you to check us out, look around and we’d love to hear feedback from you!  Talk to ya soon!!!

-Margie