Can't Wait Willow - A Book Review

I couldn't wait to review this first book in a series by Christy Ziglar, called Can't Wait Willow. Does that last name sound familiar? Have you ever heard of the widely known motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar? This is his niece, and she has written an adorable story that I had the privilege of enjoying  with my daughters.


"Sometimes you need to say no. It can be better to wait. Save yes for the super amazing, and end up with the truly great!'


The above quote from this lovely picture book presents its theme perfectly. The illustrations of Willow create such a sweet and likable character, with her freckled nose, and cute red headed bob.
The first few pages set up the story as Willow joyfully anticipates the circus that is coming to her town. On the exciting day, she makes her way to her destination, but finds herself distracted by other fun treats and diversions. By the time she gets to where she's going, she finds herself without money, and then she misses the circus show :(

Christy Ziglar uses memorable and repetitive phrases that are sure to engage any young reader, which always end with:

"Willow just couldn't say no."

Thankfully, in the world of children's picture books, there is usually a happy ending. Such is the case here, when the kind ring master saves the day with a special way to lift Willow's spirits.

The beginning of the book offers a little note to parents to talk through some of the book's themes as you read together. It also provides a link (that you'll find below) for a variety of good parenting resources.
As an extra fun story stretcher, you and your child can go on a "star search" and look on each page for the little yellow star that follows Willow around. Sometimes the star looks happy, sometimes sad. You can help your little one identify its mood. So cute.

This was a great story for my girlies. The oldest are technically a little older than the target age range, but they are the perfect age to read to baby girl, who LOVES when her big sisters snuggle and read with her!
We like this story a lot, and I think it will be making its way on to our holiday wish list for the little ones in our lives. Hope you check it out!


About Shine Bright Kids:

The Shine Bright Kids series provides children and their families with a relevant framework to help instill solid values and teach the importance of making good choices. The series teaches principles including: using good judgement, taking responsibility, self control, having a positive attitude, and demonstrating perseverance.
Check out their website at http://www.shinebrightkids.com/  for free reward charts, activities, and other parenting resources.


About the author:

Christy Ziglar, financial planner, mother of twins and niece of legendary motivator and the world's original optimist, Zig Ziglar is bringing the same timeless wisdom and ageless advice to an entirely new, younger audience through her new Shine Bright Kids picture book series.
Christy is available for Q&A, author interviews, Skype calls, etc.!


The first book in the series: Can't Wait Willow!
Willow is so excited that the Over The Top Circus has finally come to town! The only problem is, that when left to her own devices, she can't say "no" to some good things. On the way to the show, she is distracted by enticing treats and fun that she just can't turn down. Willow arrives late and finds that, not only has she run out of time, but money, and she won't be able to enjoy the pink cotton candy she's been dreaming of. Willow is given valuable advice and a second chance, and is ultimately taught the lesson that sometimes in life you have to say "no" to good things to end up with something great!


Find Can't Wait Willow at Barnes &Noble and other fine retailers as well as http://www.idealsbooks.com/

Buy: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cant-wait-willow-christy-ziglar/1113298086?ean=9780824956486

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShineBrightKidCo

Pinterest: https://www.Pinterest.com/ShineBrightKids

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shinebrightco

Sign up for newsletter: http://sbkkids.com/contact



"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe would be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255. "Guides concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. "

November Thanks - Day 3

Today our family enjoyed  a walk through the neighborhood. It was comfortably cool, and the sun was shining brightly.
As we walked, I loved watching the beautifully colored leaves falling from the trees. The leaves were piled along the sidewalk, and made a satisfying crunch under my shoes.

That brings me to what I'm thankful for on this, day 3. I am thankful for fall leaves. Pretty, graceful, colorful fall leaves.

November Thanks - Day 2

The first weekend in November is upon us, and with it comes Daylight Savings Time. This time of year of course, that means that it's time to turn the clocks back one hour tonight.

That is what I'm thankful for today, an extra hour (hopefully) of sleep! It always feels like a little luxury to me, a small one, but still. I hope you enjoy your extra hour too!

November Thanks Day 1

Yay for November! Fall has finally kicked in, and I love this month! The only thing that makes me sad is that it seems that our culture skips over Thanksgiving, and jumps right into Christmas. Now, the holidays are great, but it would be so nice to slow down the pace, and reflect on all that we have right now. So here I post, really for my own benefit, although maybe it will encourage you to stop and take a moment to be grateful too.

Day 1:
I am thankful for my house. Does that sound silly? Maybe to some. But I am grateful for a roof over our family's head. I confess that I often find myself ungrateful for what I have. I see so many others who have bigger, better, more modern, more curb appeal. There's a lot that could be fixed up with ours. Financially however, it can't happen as fast as we'd like.

But, my husband and I made the decision to buy a lesser house, if you will, so that when we had children, I would be able to stay home with them. And now we do, and I am able to stay home. We have a great yard, a great location, and the dream of expanding. . . one day.

So, I am thankful for what we have when so many don't. We are blessed.

Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone ( and that's fine with me ;) ) The girls had plenty of fun at various parties, and of course, trick or treating. Here are just a few pictures of the fun.

A very cute raccoon

 

 

 

Pink and black kitty cat

Gotta have those Jack o Lanterns

                      

Trick or Treat!

A Moment of Thanks

It's not quite November yet, but I thought that I would get a jump on my Thanksgiving posts. I don't know what it was that brought the particular memory to my mind, but I was remembering a time in my early married days. We didn't have any kids at that point, and I recall wanting so much to be a stay at home mom. I had this idealized picture in my head as to what it would be like, but I just felt the desire to be a mother very strongly.

That dream would be much longer than I could anticipate then. That in itself is a post for another time. But eventually my prayers were answered in the way that I hoped that they would, and so here we are today. I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom. The house is usually in some sort of disarray, there are toys strewn here and there. It's noisy, it's sticky, and I can't even get a moment alone in the bathroom. I dream of sleep, which is ironic, because I can barely get enough sleep to actually dream.

Being in the midst of the general fatigue that comes with the way of life that we've chosen can cause me to forget that I asked for this, that I wanted this more than anything.

After a few days of particularly trying behavior from the kids, and just feeling overwhelmed with the ever present to do list, I remembered that time when I had none of this. My house was a lot cleaner. I had privacy. I could be a lot more spontaneous. If I needed to run to the store, it didn't involve packing up for a half hour first, and then wheeling around cranky and complaining kids.

I realized that I have forgotten to be thankful for this chaos. I forgot that these days, while seemingly endless some days, will pass more quickly than I think. Before I know it, I will have that privacy, and time to sleep in, and the freedom to go and do what I want, when I want. And I will miss this.

So, I will be more intentional and enjoy what I have, and the season of life that I am currently living. I will smile at the sticky spot on the floor. I'll take the time to sit on the couch and snuggle with a kid and a movie. I will remember that God gave these kids to me and I will be thankful and cherish that privilege.  

VocabularySpelling City - A Review

So there I was, going about the daily routine of homeschooling our kids, just plodding along. I can't say that I thought a whole lot about our Spelling/Vocabulary program. It's a subject that comes fairly easy for the girls. They do their daily lessons, they're learning the material, they get great scores, so I figured that the program is working. Why in the world then, would I need to change what we're doing?
Yeah, that was what was going through my mind when this review opportunity for the VocabularySpelling City Premium Membership was presented to me, which is available from VocabularySpellingCity .

First, a little information about the website. The title of this online program reveals up front that this is a vocabulary and spelling program. But it goes beyond what many books and/or curriculum offer. This allows you as a homeschooling parent, or teacher in a traditional classroom, to totally customize the word lists to accommodate whatever it is that you are studying. Then, the word lists are used in a variety of activities with the expected goal being to learn the spelling and definition of the words.
You can also choose from their lists that include Homophones, State Capitals, Math words, Science vocabulary, compound words, and even more choices. An appealing feature of this site is that it covers pretty much every age, K-12.

A piece of advice that you would be wise to follow, is to take the time to watch the "how to" videos that are on the site. If you don't, you will potentially waste a bit of time trying to find your way around. I confess that in my initial set up and excitement in getting started, I thought that I would just get it all done myself. I figured it out. . .in time, but after then taking time to watch those videos, found out that it all could have happened sooner.

So, what are some of the activities?

Well, there are virtual flash cards. . .

and a bunch of fun games. . .

Other games that are popular with my girls are the crossword puzzle which is, well, an online crossword puzzle, and hangmouse (hangman, remember that one? :) )

There are also activities that cover handwriting, writing, parts of speech, alphabetical order, parts of speech, all spanning elementary, middle and high school. Wow!

Our word lists pretty much always have 20 words to learn, and I love that as soon as I import them into the program, up pops the definition for all of them. All that the girls need to do is click on a word, and it provides the definition and a sample sentence to put it into context. That has helped them so much, and is one of my favorite features. It's easy to organize the lists, and you can add descriptions for each student, grade, category, whatever you want or need.

The only thing to keep in mind is that when you have a list of 20 or more words, it will take longer to complete the activities. This was an issue at first with some of the games for the girls, because it was tricky for them to figure out some of the words for hangmouse, and the crossword games in particular, and there were more than a few sighs of frustration with 20 words to unscramble. That didn't prove to be too much for them however, because that was and still is, one of the most popular selections to practice with. But I think that it would be a nice feature if the program allowed you to choose a certain number of words off of your lists to use, and not necessarily all of them at once.

We worked on this 4, sometimes 5 days a week. When we reach the end of the week, the girls take their tests, both vocabulary and spelling. You can do these online or print them. Now, usually I would be a traditional paper test kind of person, but the ease of taking them online won me over, and that is the way that we've taken them. And, the girls have the pleasure of having their tests graded quickly, and getting their results that much faster. They like that a lot. And as you would probably expect, this keeps track of the kids' progress, assignments, and where they are at in their lessons.

There are 2 ways to use this site, the basic (which is free), or what we reviewed, the premium. The premium gets you a whole lot more as far as the activities, progress tracking and teacher support. And really, I think the price is fair at $29.99 a year. I feel that there is a lot of bang for your buck, and recommend the premium for sure.

Overall, this has been a good fit for our family. I always know that a resource is a hit when the girls argue over who goes first, and when that has to do with anything school related, that is a beautiful thing.
The only aspect that I would like to see improved is the ease of making your way around the website. As I said, the videos are helpful, and should be watched, but it would be great to see the site changed a little to make it easier to navigate even without viewing them. I'm keeping this in our curriculum for the foreseeable future, as it's proven beneficial for us. With the option you have of checking out the free activities, I would encourage you to click on the links below and see what you think!



VocabularySpellingCity

VocabularySpellingCity Premium Membership

Ages: K-12

Price: $29.99 per year



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