Geodes, Homeroom Teacher Amazingness, & a Giveaway!

When I was a kid, I hated Science.  Now it's my favorite subject!  My kiddos love it, too, and it's because we don't simply stick to textbooks (though we do use them.)  We do a lot of hands-on Science and experiments.  I recently discovered the on-line store Homeroom Teacher.  They sell so many great Science kits one of which is a basic geode kit. 

The basic geode kit is awesome!  It comes with a cool book about how geodes are formed and what kinds of minerals can be inside them (most often Quartz crystals), a pair of safety goggles, and 6 geodes to break open.  My hubby loves rocks so we happened to have a rock hammer... but you can use any hammer to break them open.  The kit and the geodes look like this at first:

And this is what my kiddos look like with geodes, rock hammer, and all:

And this is what you may find outside:

Amazing, right?!

Giveaway... Yay!
The super nice people at Homeroom Teacher are giving away the same Geode Kit to one of my readers.  Enter below by the morning of June 1, when I'll choose one reader via Random.org. 

Everything You May Need to Enter

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeroom-Teacher/165712883480270
http://www.twitter.com/travelinsistrs

Special thanks to Homeroom Teacher for providing us with this kit to review.

China!

My kiddos and I have been having so much fun learning about other countries! We started with China.  We read about The Great Wall, made paper lanterns, dressed up, baked Chinese desserts, and tried numerous Chinese foods... perfect excuse to order Chinese--all in the name of education.  ; )

Bookwise, I recommend Scholastic's A to Z series.  That series includes Brazil, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, France, China, Israel, Mexico, India, Italy, and Russia.  The text is easy to read and there are numerous full-colored pictures.

And if you want a simple paper lantern print-out that looks gorgeous, try this one.  As far as desserts go, we made cinnamon buns (a traditional Chinese dessert).  We made ours a bit untraditionally but everyone loved them, and everyone got the general idea.  We bought plain Pillsbury biscuit dough in a can, rolled them into balls, and coated them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.  Yummy!

We also (didn't buy) bamboo.  The super nice guy at the Chinese store where my daughters bought their outfits gave them to us for free.  My kiddos are so incredibly awesome--they often get things for free.  That's what happens when you have well-behaved kids, thank you, Jesus!  We've been growing our bamboo for about a month now and it's getting leaves and looking pretty.  It's amazing in itself.  And learning about China is just the tip of the iceberg! 

Mothers are Beautiful!

My mom, my best friend, my maid of honor.

In honor of my beautiful mom's birthday this month, and Mother's Day following quickly on its heels, I'm dedicating the month of April to mothers.  Our reviews, giveaways, & posts will all be mommy focused.

My mom is an amazing and inspiring person.  She fought breast cancer 19 years ago and I saw her strength.  She lost my brother, her only son, tragically 9 years ago and still manages to be one of the happiest, most friendly people I know.  She's a greater blessing to me than I can say!  I can't imagine a better mom and thank my wonderful God for her every day.  She's helped me so much as I've adjusted to being the mommy to 3 babies in a 13 month timespan and, more recently, to becoming a home-schooling mom of my 4 little kiddos. More than anything, my mom embodies selflessness.   May I be even half as good as she is!

I also want to take a minute to acknowledge some other important moms I blog with and for:

Michele & one of her Princesses

Michele is one of my best friends. She's always an encouragement, the kind of girl I can tell anything to, and an awesome mommy blogger!  She's a busy, inspiring mama with 3 of the cutest, sweetest kiddos I know.  Check out her blog My Life & Kids! 

Tina, Creator of Pure Plant Spa

Tina is an inspiring single mom who has created a new line of natural, organic plant-derived bath and body care.  Soon I'll be posting a review of her products which have impressed me more than any other natural items I've tried (and, believe me, I've tried a lot!)  For now, find Tina at PurePlantSpa or on Facebook.

Stay tuned this month for more posts featuring inspiring moms!