Potluck Survival Guide by Cherie Kimmons

Mel's Thoughts:

Five Star Publications recently sent me an autographed copy of the book, Potluck Survival Guide, by Cherie Kimmons.  This book is such a handy resource for anyone who needs meal ideas for their kids' soccer team or football team or for a church function.  The book is meant to help those who are frazzled by the thought of providing just the right food for a potluck meal, especially when it comes to kids.  The author tries to help us make healthy choices when it comes to preparing those meals by educating her readers throughout the book.  There are tips for feeding athletes before a game and after a game.  There are menus and recipes included in this book.  There are even snippets on feeding larger crowds.  Here are some of the recipes included in Potluck Survival Guide:

• Roasted Chicken Thighs
• Divine Deviled Eggs
• Guacamole With Tomatillos
• Sweet and Hot Bacon
• Layered Hamburger Casserole
• Texas Shepherd's Pie
• Cheesy Meatballs
• Baked Hot Wings
• Pizza Sandwiches
• Overnight Company Potatoes
• Easy Italian Spinach
• Pink Lady Frozen Salad
• Bok Choy Salad
• Creamy New York Cheesecake
• Congo Brownies

....and many more.  I love how the author covers certain aspects to cooking certain things and tries to educate the reader or brainstorm with the reader on the best choices and options.  She gives information on ingredients and her favorite sites for finding some of those ingredients.  This book also gives decorating tips for those occasions for which you are cooking.

You can purchase Potluck Survival Guide from Five Star Publications for $18.96, regularly $24.95. 

(Disclosure: We were provided this book, free of charge, by Five Star Publications, in association with MamaBuzz.)

TOS Crew: Growing Healthy Homes- Nutrition 101

Mel participated in this review with the Crew.

Learning about nutrition can often be overwhelming; there are so many opinions and books and ideas out there on what is healthy and what is not. It can often lead to information overload because you're just not sure whose advice to follow. Nutrition 101: Choose Life! is a handy resource that basically covers everything for you in one spot.

There's no need to run off and look something up somewhere else, because this e-book is chock full of anything you'd ever want to know. It is meant for the family to use together, and it's based on Scripture. It was written by four moms, all with education and experience in nutritional studies, who wanted to share with other mothers how they can feed their families, according to God's menu.


One of the things I really found interesting with this book is that it covers the major systems of the body, first of all. It explains how they work and gives prompts for family discussion. The book is wonderfully illustrated with pictures and diagrams to further study. It covers the following systems:
1) The Brain and Nervous System
2) The Digestive System
3) The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Systems
4) The Skeletal and Muscular Systems
5) The Cardiovascular and Immune Systems
6) The Endocrine System and Emotions

Throughout each section, there are also activities to do with your children. For example, in the section on the brain, there is an activity in which you help your kids understand the difference between left brain and right brain by simply having them brush their teeth with first their right hand and then their left hand. It helps them to see the difference when one hand works better than the other. The authors also suggest supplements for each system of the body and several recipes, or "power" recipes. In fact, last night we made the Ultimate Pizza, found in the section on Endocrine health.

Jaden loved it; it was actually really good! The sauce was a little different at first, but it grew on me.I couldn't be more thrilled about the information given on different supplements, because over the years, I've heard so many opinions on which supplements I should/should not be taking, and with all of the opinions out there, it's hard to discern which ones are going to be the best and which ones could actually be harmful. Now, I can actually sit down and read about how these supplements actually work with the particular systems in my body and if they might be beneficial for myself or my family to take.

Not only does the book break down the major systems of the body, but it also breaks down nutrition and explains the different terms, such as omega fatty acids, carbohydrates, glycemic index, fiber, etc. Certain health topics and diseases are covered, such as vaccines, diabetes, cancer, etc. It makes these topics very real within the study of nutrition and helps the reader to learn how to apply these Biblical, nutritional concepts to their everyday life.

My favorite part of the book comes toward the end, in the form of the Appendices. There are certain things that help make my life easier, such as a shopping list, vitamin chart, tips on how to select fresh produce (which I've always wondered if I'm getting the right stuff), etc. I especially appreciated the page that gave information on nutritional recommended daily allowances for not only adults, but children as well. Dan and I have been questioning how much we should let Jacob eat because we know he's growing, but it just seems like he's starting to want more and more, and we just weren't sure where we should draw the line. Now, we can kinda look at this to get an idea of how much is probably too much.

As I studied through this book and started using it to make recipes, I realized that living organically takes true dedication because not only are the ingredients a bit more expensive, but it takes more time to prepare some of the dishes in this book. If you are a mom who is dedicated to helping her family live more organically and healthy, then this book is a great resource for you. If you are a mom who wants a quick solution, then this might be a more difficult transition. I am actually hoping to use this myself, as well as with my children through the next few years to try to teach them about proper nutrition and how their bodies work. It is an awesome resource for any family.

At 448 pages, this book is basically a manual on how to have a truly, healthy home. You can order the book via the Growing Healthy Homes website. It is available as a CD-ROM for $79.95; print book for $99.95; or the combo pack of both the CD-ROM and the print book for $129.95.

To read more reviews, head over to the TOS Homeschool CREW Blog.

TOS Crew: The Old Schoolhouse Planner

Mel participated in this review with the Crew.

Recently, I got accepted to be a part of The Old Schoolhouse CREW. I'm so excited and grateful for this opportunity to be able to review products with them, especially since I'll be actually using these products every day with Jacob and Jaden in our homeschooling adventure.

Anyway, our first trial run review is for The Old Schoolhouse Planner Ebook. Now, I can't tell you how much I have wanted to get this planner, but I have held out until now. This has to be the most remarkable planner I have ever seen. If you can't find what you're looking for with this planner, then I don't know where to find it because it has everything a homeschooling family could ever need, when it comes to organization and planning.
Not only does this planner have calendars, for 2009-2012 I might add, and scheduling/appointment sheets, but it also has one lesson in a different subject for each month; for example, the month of July has a lesson on The Thirteen Colonies. It also offers teaching suggestions and resources available through The Old Schoolhouse Store, as well as two new recipes for each month. I especially liked the month of April because it focuses on lap books, which is something we are gradually trying to learn how to implement in our homeschooling plans.

Now, when it comes to forms of any kind, this is the planner for you. The homeschooling forms range from lesson and curriculum planning sheets to evaluation forms to daily schedules to memory work logs to reading logs to field trip logs, etc. There are forms to help you stay organized with all of the materials and resources you have on hand, including books, videos, audios, library resources, etc. There are even book report forms for every age. I am pretty sure that we will be using these this year. One section that especially piqued my interest and that I know for sure I will be using, is the Preschool Activity Box and the Preschool Planner, basically a whole preschool section. The Preschool Activity Box gives several suggestions as to different boxes that can be put together to keep your preschooler (toddler in my case) busy because we all know they just want to be a part of our school day too.

Household forms abound also, from emergency phone numbers and information to cleaning schedules and chore charts for even the smallest members of your families. I've already determined to use the Household Inventory sheets as soon as we are settled into our new home; that way, I can have a record of what we own, material wise, within our house. You won't even need a separate address book because there is a whole printable address book within the pages of this planner.

As for my opinion, well, I think you already know; I love it! I really feel this is going to help our family in the coming year to stay more organized and on top of things. The Schoolhouse Planner is offered in The Old Schoolhouse Store for $39.00, no shipping, because it is completely downloadable. That way, you can even save money by only printing the sheets that your family will need and use.

If you are interested in reading more reviews, you can check out the Homeschool CREW Blog.

TOS Wee-books

Mel participated in this review for the TOS crew.
Today I was able to review three of the Wee-Books that are available at The Old Schoolhouse Store. Two great things about these books are that they are short and to the point, AND they are only $1.95. Oh, and they are completely downloadable, so you don't have to wait for them to ship to your house; the second you hit the Confirm Order button, they are ready and waiting for you to add to your many resources on your computer.

There are actually 39 Wee-Books available right now, ranging in topics from classical education to living naturally to building communication skills to deepening your walk with God. I actually chose 10 Big Reasons Not to Send Christian Kids to Public Schools Today, Simplifying Classical Education,and Play What You Mean- Creative Ways to Teach Communication Skills.One thing that impressed me was that the books were very efficient and stayed right on topic; even though each book had several points to cover, it all flowed together well. The authors also used Scripture throughout to give spiritual concepts and meaning to what they wrote. Seeing as the books are very short, I was left with the feeling of wanting more, wanting to know more about that specific topic; but each book ends with links to more resources and places to go to study and research more, which was really helpful.

For newer homeschoolers and those thinking about homeschooling, at the end of each book is a section on "How to Begin Homeschooling," which lists everything from the different approaches and styles of homeschooling to resources and support organizations, with links! I wish I had run across something like this when I first started homeschooling our son, honestly.

So, for $1.95, how can you go wrong? There's a topic for everyone, and each book is like a bite-sized piece....enjoy!

* Products for Mama *

Mom Needs Chocolate

Copper Bookmarks

Sarah Books: Sarah's Wish

Wee Books

Growing Healthy Homes - Nutrition 101