From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

I said in a post, not too long ago, that I was reading The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel. I anticipated the book being a winner and I was totally right.

I’ve never really gotten into apologetics before. They tell me this book is all about apologetics, but it doesn’t read like I would expect an apologetics book to read. It’s fascinating and full of personality. It also, on page after page after page, presents extremely strong evidence in favor of Jesus being the resurrected Christ, the Messiah the Jews are looking for. My biggest problem, while reading, was making myself put the book down.

I encourage every Christian to read this oldie, even if you don’t think you "need" it. I would also challenge every non-believer to read it. Though if you’re determined to remain a non-believer you’d best not; you’re too likely to find your convictions changing as Strobel, an experienced legal journalist, shoots down every argument I’ve ever heard raised against Jesus being who He is.

HIGHLY recommended!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

The Access’ first album, The Time Has Come is officially OUT and it totally ROCKS. (Cindy Rushton is rubbing off on me; I’m starting to type in caps. LOL!) My favorite song is definitely "This Generation;" it gives me chills every time I hear it.

We went to the release concert on Saturday night and had a great time listening to some of my favorite artists. (No surprise there, right?) You can order the album through The Access’ MySpace page, ask for it at Family Christian Bookstores and Lifeway Christian Stores, or (As of tomorrow) download it on iTunes. Word is it will eventually be available at Walmart and Sam Goody as well, but I don’t know how soon that will happen since the CD I got was the first of the first of the first (Mother has priority; gotta love that).

Two of their songs, "Pressing On" and "I Remember When," have also been released to radio, so it’s entirely possible that your local Christian station has them on hand if you want to call and make the request.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

PS: Yep, still offline. I’m actually beginning to get used to it….scarey.

I am seriously excited to be able to announce that I have MP3 files of Good Company’s songs available for sale at CJPress.net. They’re only 99 cents each and you can download them and enjoy Good Company’s awesome music RIGHT NOW. I do have some site tweaking still to do, but didn’t want to wait until tomorrow when I’m more awake (The chat I mentioned in a previous post went four hours. LOL!) to give you all the news. (Can you tell that Mother is PROUD of her son?)

You can also Join our Affiliate Program!  Join now, share the love, and earn 35% off everything anyone purchases from our site after clicking your link - everything they purchase for the next six months!

If you’d like to check out samples of their music before you buy, just visit Good Company’s MySpace page. You can hear four of their songs there, and learn more about them as well.

Celebrating Jesus! (And FINALLY reaching this point!)
Tammy C

If you have children, you need a copy of Jill Novak’s The Gift of Family Writing. This book… I don’t know where to start. I reviewed it recently for the Eclectic Homeschool Online and was astounded both by its relevance and the fact that I’d never really taken the time to read it before.

First, it is an obvious choice for me and people like me. If you care about sharing your family’s heritage with your children and extended family, then you will appreciate this book as it leads you into not only recording your own stories, but also helping your children record theirs.

But there is MUCH more to this book! This is one of the finest books I’ve found where teaching children to write (meaning to record their thoughts in ways that communicate) is concerned. It offers a wonderfully gentle approach to writing that is sure to woo even the most reluctant writer and offers hope for those whose previously-public-schooled children have been turned off of writing completely.

If you have children, get the book!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Greenleaf Press offers, among other things, history curriculum based on chronology, which is studying history in the order in which it happened. Their products also come from a distinctly Christian perspective, which is of vital importance to me. This is the curriculum I used as a foundation when putting together my younger son’s highschool plan. We built everything around a chronological study of history, beginning with Genesis 1:1, and it was great.

I’ve been a Greenleaf fan for years. I not only used it in our homeschool from the time our kids were in the elementary grades, but also worked as the Greenleaf Press rep at the Arlington Book Fair (It has an official name, but here in Texas this is how we know it) every year for years. I was also very pleased when Greenleaf decided to publish my first book, FrontPorch History. Since this book is about family heritage, it was a perfect fit.

If you’re looking for a chronological history curriculum written from a Christian worldview, you just might be looking for Greenleaf Press.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Ohmygoodness!

Okay, if you’ve been considering getting an ant farm for the kiddos, you really need to check out the AntWorks Gel Ant Farm. This thing is like no other ant farm I’ve ever seen. I mean, even I would consider getting it if I still had kids at home and that’s something I thought I’d never say, because ant farms never appealed to me when my kids were younger.

This ant farm is very different. Instead of sand or dirt, it comes filled with a nutrient-rich gel that you can see through. You put the ants in and they go to town, in a sense, providing one to three months (the ant’s life span) of effortless (for you) entertainment and a beautiful, natural piece of art. The base contains LED lights, so you can even use it as the most unique night light ever. When the ants die, you have two choices - either put it on the shelf as a work of art or rinse it out (leaving the gel, just cleansing it) and get yourself a new batch of ants that can add to the tunnel artwork.

Ants live such a short time that it would be impractical for them to come with the kit, but your box will contain an order form you can use to order your ants or, if like me you have far too many in the yard, you can simply step outside your front door to find your new residents.

You’ll be ordering your ant farm from VAT19, a great resource for truly unusual gifts or, as they put it, "Purveyors of Curiously Awesome Products."

I leave you with this video. Enjoy!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

This post sponsored by VAT19.com.

Trust me to follow a rabbit trail. I started out this morning looking for "archive" articles on my hard drive so that I’ll be prepared for the next few Mondays. In doing this, I stumbled across some chatlogs from way back (Like…1995/96) when I was offering classes in AOL’s homeschool forum. While rereading one of those, a workshop I did on moving your mindsets (overcoming erroneous assumptions we all fall for), I found THIS. I was HmSchTC.

HmSchTC:    Guys, Peggy has a source for art prints for 18 cents each.
HmSchTC:    They’re only 5 x 8, but at that price…
Mb0000:     Dover?
HmSchPeggy: and I’m in the process of cutting them out - so that they are pretty..
HmSchPeggy: actually - the sheet is 5 X 8  - the prints are smaller..
HmSchTC:    What is the actual size of the prints, then?
HmSchTC:    4 x 6, maybe?
HmSchPeggy: hold on - depends upon the print..
HmSchTC:    University Prints
HmSchPeggy: Most of the ones I’m doing are 3 1/2 by 5 1/2
HmSchPeggy: See - I moved my mindset this weekend..
HmSchTC:    I believe one of the areas we fail in is the arts.  The more I learn about the arts, the….
HmSchTC:    ….more significant they seem to me.
HmSchPeggy: I thought art & music had to be 1 - hard..
HmSchPeggy: and b - expensive
HmSchPeggy: but it’s not.
HmSchPeggy: I forgot I had these - so I’m cutting them up (we’ll do one artist per week)..
HmSchTC:    I’m excited about these prints, especially the way you said they will bind them for you.

I ended up getting some of these prints at the time and they were helpful not only for art studies, but in our history studies as well. So I shifted from reading the chatlog to getting online and trying to see if the company is still in business. And they are.

University Prints

Check them out. They offer a massive number of art prints in small formats that will work great in homeschools. Shoot, they could even be profitable for those who are artsy and crafters who want to add that special something, that touch of art, to your projects. I’m tempted to order a few sets of prints myself.

Now I really do need to go back to getting some archive pieces prepped so I’ll have things to post for the next few Mondays. Of course, that means working my way back up the rabbit trail. [BWG]

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C