And The Winners Are....

Thank you to everyone who took part not only in my giveaways but the Dog Days of Summer giveaways in general. The number of participants was amazing and I think Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer started a very wonderful thing.

So. I bet you'd like to know who won wouldn't you? I'm kind of tired. Maybe I should take a nap and then tell you. No? Oh alright, I suppose you've waited long enough. ;)

Winners were chosen using the random generator at Random.Org because the kids wouldn't cut out all the pieces of paper for me. See? Heathens! Told ya!

Anywho- Here we go...

Winner of the blog design by Ro at The Blog Cafe is: KatieBug (ksl) from Bugs on a Blog (you can have either blog redesigned Katie)

Winner of the three books from me is: Jenny from Up The Hill Gang

Winner of the gift membership to EMealsForYou.com is: Doreen from Doreen's Scrap Wonderland

Winner of the surprise gift box from me is: Fiddle D. Dee from Seedlings to Sunflowers

Congratulations to everyone who won and I hope those who came for this giveaway will stick around and come back for my future book giveaways as well. ;) I will be contacting you by the end of the day with information on how to get your prizes!

Dog Days Of Summer Giveaways From ME!!!

*Sticky Post Please Scroll Down For New Posts*

MORE PRIZES ADDED!!! COME LOOK!
Read through to find out about all the great new prizes

that have been donated PLUS I've added to the ones I'm offering as well!

To really kick this new blog off I have joined the Dog Days of Summer giveaways hosted by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer. What better way to say "hello" and thank those who have supported me than to give away free stuff?

Not only will I be giving away FOUR prizes here on Sona Creidhe Reviews but I will also be giving away four more at my site Onorach (foul language possible)!! That's right, a total of EIGHT prizes you can win.

The prizes I am offering here at SCR are:

-Your choice of any THREE books from this list. They will be sent media mail (unless regular postal is cheaper) along with a special treat from me.

- A special gift box put together by MOI (please let me know if you have any food allergies)! This will be a surprise box and will be made with whoever wins in mind (if a mama wins, if a gentleman wins, etc).

- A free blog design by Ro of The Blog Cafe for one lucky Blogspot or Wordpress blogger! Ro did my very first great design at my Life With Heathens blog (I still have it but am not techie enough to convert to new blogger. lol) and she is fantastic to work with. I also consider her a great friend and fantastic mother. Please be sure to check out all of the designs over at The Blog Cafe.

- EMealsForYou.com has donated a gift certificate to one lucky winner for a complimentary membership (prize worth $36)! EMealsForYou.com is a fantastic site and I am very glad they contacted me. Here is what they have to say "Stress relief is at hand. Are you tired of that age-old cry, “What’s for dinner?” We have the answer. We will provide the inspiration; choose from hundreds of easy recipes and meal plans. We’ll scale the recipes based on the number you are cooking for. We’ll prepare and print the shopping list. You get to enjoy a great meal with your family". Their site has meal plans, recipes, kitchen notes, and much much more. I am honored to be able to offer this great prize to one of you.

Also if you would like to go ahead and join EMealsForYou.com, Enter HOMSCL-38 as the Sponsoring Identifier when completing the registration form and receive $5 off the subscription price! If you would like to be an affiliate for them then please email me to find out how. I was offered this chance and as soon as these giveaways are over I believe I will take them up on it! :)

To enter just leave me a comment with your choice of which prize you would like if you win and I will choose two winners by random generator on Friday, July 27th, 2007. Please be sure to leave a URL or email address that I can reach you at in case you win. Good Luck!

To those who have already entered don't worry, you will be included in the drawing to win any new prizes I offer. The only difference will be that if you had specified books or gift box previously then I will give you priority of choice if you win either of those.

I will be holding more book giveaways in the near future so please be sure to bookmark this site for chances to win!

EduLinks 07/25/07

Boy has it been busy around here this week! This blog went from less than 10 visits a day to almost 200 a day thanks to the Dog Days of Summer Giveaways! If you haven't headed over there and entered the more than 450 fabulous giveaways then please do so now. Don't forget to sign up for the eight great prizes I'm giving away here and at Onorach as well!

Definately don't forget to attend the 8th Country Fair of Homeschooling put together this month by my wonderful friend, Meg from Get In Hang On. She put alot of thought into the theme for July and I think she did a fantastic job as did everyone who submitted something.

I hope you enjoy today's EduLinks and if you have any you would like to share please feel free to email me and let me know. :)

Alphabetical List of Educational Card Games- A collection of 132 card games for you to use and learn with. Please do not use for resale.

Butch’s Secular Homeschool Links- Doc/Butch has a great collection of links for just about every subject. She has been an unschooler for many years with wonderful and successful children to show for it.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art- Excellent art resource! You can download publications, check out online features that teach about the art of several different cultures and eras, browse themes and cultures that would be great to use with Unit Studies, and much more! I mean, this IS The Met we're talking about here!

Everyday Spelling- Awesome spelling site for "grades" 1-8. Enjoy the Workout Room, Reference Room, spelling lists for each grade and alot more! Lots of fun stuff to do.

Let's Play Math- Denise actually makes Math fun! Coming from me that is a huge compliment as I'm more of a History gal myself! Her series "Alexandria Jones" is too cool and my younger kids love it! Anytime my math hating daughter hits a brick wall I put her on Denise's site and it's like getting her second wind.

This week's Blog Of The Week belongs to my blogfriend Summer at Mom Is Teaching. Summer always has great posts and information to share with the homeschooling community and she is also alot of fun to know. If it wasn't for her I would probably miss out on well over half of the blogging carnivals that go on. Thank you Summer for all the time you put into your blog and for sharing with the rest of us. Now go get your award girl and you can display it on whichever blog you'd like (if ya wanna.). ;)

EduLinks 07/18/07

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Our's was pretty uneventful but tomorrow we are going on a field trip with the local homeschool group to a local wildlife park/zoo. We've never been there before so this should be interesting and fun!

Here are this week's Edulinks plus the Blog of the Week. Some of you might have noticed that I started an SCR Blog of the Week award that I will give out to the people I've chosen each week. Just my way of saying thanks. So here we go....

Learn2Draw with BillyBear4Kids- Free drawing lessons for kids of all ages. Try your hand at drawing a penguin, bear, frog, lion, lizard, paperdolls, and much much more. Each lesson shows you step by step how to draw the character of your choice plus they have several free downloads for you to try!

PBS Kids News Flash Five- a news site whose mission is to encourage young people to take an interest in news and current events. News for kids in a way kids can not only understand but also relate to. YOUR kids can even become reporters for the site and submit their own news stories!!

175 Cool Boys from Children's Literature- A list of 175 cool boys by Jen Robinson from some of the greatest kids' books of all time. A great resource when you want to find positive stories about boys learning life's lessons, living, and caring for others. Not all of them are "good" boys but that's what makes them so lovable!

200 Cool Girls from Children's Literature- Having a hard time finding smart, brave, strong, and independant girls and women to use as examples to show your daughter she can be anything she wants? Jen Robinson has also compiled a list of 200 cool girls from some of the greatest kids' books of all time. No weak damsels in distress here!!

EDSiteMent- The Best of the Humanities on the Web from the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with the National Trust for the Humanities, and the Verizon Foundation. This educational partnership brings online humanities resources from some of the world's great museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and universities directly to your classroom. Excellent EXCELLENT humanities site!!

And last but not least, this week's Blog Of The Week is Get In Hang On. Meg is a personal friend of mine in real life and just an amazing homeschooler. She and her husband are both engineers and their kids are really great. Meg taught me so much when they lived close by and has continued to be a very good friend despite the miles between us. Anytime I freak out about homeschooling or think I can't do it, Meg pulls me back from the brink.

Thank you Meg for being a great friend. Now go get your little award. ;)

Review of Crayola Large Washable Crayons - 8 Count

When our youngest child started wanting to color with crayons like his siblings the first thought that entered my mind was "There go the walls"!! I knew that when I bought him his first set of crayons I would also need to buy a gallon of paint to keep on hand to cover his wall art.

Until I went to the store and found the Crayola Kids' First Large Washable Crayons. These crayons are perfect for little hands and when these guys say "washable" they really mean it. All of us have bought crayons in the past that state they are washable yet you can't wash them off anything right? Crayola's washable formula was designed to wipe off of most walls and non-porous household surfaces with just warm water and a sponge. No extra cleaners or scrubbing required!

These Crayola crayons have so far washed off of walls, counters, furniture, TV screens, books, dolls, a a mini-van dashboard after baking in the sun, and even my beloved Buddha statue (the little one thought he needed a mustache). I haven't come across anything yet that these crayons won't wash off of which means no waiting with baited breath every time my son decides he wants to color.

On a rating scale I would say-

Affordability: 2.5 They are definitely more expensive than the smaller crayons.

Usability: 5 They don't break easily in small hands like regular crayons do.

Safety: 4 Only because of course, a small child could eat the wrapper but the crayons are non-toxic.

Reliability: 5+ These crayons do what they say and will definitely impress you!

SCR's Blog Of The Week Award

I wanted to give the people who earn "Blog Of The Week" a little award. I wanted something cute and I'm not exactly an artist so here is what I got...

So if you've been chosen as my "Blog Of The Week" at any time in my EduLinks posts then feel free to right click and save the above award to your computer. I hope you like it and thank you for sharing your blog with the rest of us.

Weekly EduLinks 07/11/07

I know not many people visit this site as of yet but that's okay. I still like the idea of sharing the links I come across with other homeschoolers and parents so I'll keep doing this post every week. :)

Pokemon Learning League- They offer a free trial so your little Pokemon lover can have a chance to check it out. Unfortunately, after the free trial it is pretty costly so don't let the kiddos get too attached to this site unless you're willing to fork over some serious moolah! ;)

Library Spot- a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information.

FunBrain- Educational games for children grades Kindergarten through 8th. This is one of my kids' favorite sites. My youngest (who is 4 1/2) and my daughter (who will be 13) both enjoy many of the games on this site and it's FREE! Isn't that the best kind?

Fact Monster- an ideal reference site for kids ages 8-14 that provides entertainment and educational resources. It combines the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. A single search engine allows you to search all these sources at once.

KidsFreeSouls- An online newspaper for kids and by kids. Do you have a junior editor or reporter in your family? Let KFS know! This site is beyond awesome and amazing with more information that I could possibly list here!

And this week's homeschool blog is Single Parent Homeschooling Down Under or as I affectionately call her Nicky at SPHDU. lol This is Nicky's very first blog and so far I think she's doing a great job! Nicky is a single homeschooling mom to Joshua, Jessica, and Little Jack and lives in New Zealand which those who know me know that makes me very jealous (let's just say I'd love to live there!)

Nicky and her kids are my family's penpals and it's fun learning how much we have in common.

So please visit Nicky's blog and let her know she's not alone.

Weekly Edulinks 07/05/07

A little late but here are this weeks Edulinks as well as the link to a wonderful homeschool blog for you to check out. Enjoy!

PBS Building Big- (from the website)"Bridges, domes, skyscrapers, dams, and tunnels take center stage on PBS with BUILDING BIG, a five-part miniseries on megastructures, hosted by renowned author-illustrator David Macaulay. BUILDING BIG explores the history behind some of the world's greatest feats of engineering and the ingenuity of the engineers, architects, and builders who designed and built them".

Drat These Greeks!- A fantastic Math/Algebra blog that will keep you and your children busy for many hours. DTGs actually makes Math and Algebra fun!! This coming from a woman whose worst subject was always Math so if I'm this excited I know you will be even more! *wink*

Funschool- Prepare to have to fight your child for control on the keyboard for this one because it really is that darn fun!! This site is for Preschool through 6th Grade and filled with learning games, coloring pages, polls, and much more. My youngest child would stay on this site all day if I let him and it's nice knowing I don't have to worry about him running across something improper on this site. His laughter and smiles while on Funschool are priceless!

A Lifetime Of Color- Brought to you by the Sanford Company this site offers Art products and resources for creative individuals from beginner to advanced! There are Lesson Plans for grades Kindergarten through 8th, activities and projects, interactive games, and a study section so you can learn more about art, artists, and the beautiful world of color.

Homeschool T-shirts & Gifts- Just about every slogan, saying, motto, and thought you could ever imagine having to do with homeschooling! This is where I get some of the great little pictures I post with Edulinks so be sure to buy a few things and show them how much we appreciate having such great and funny products available!

And last but most definately not least, this week's featured blog. This blog is one that I have enjoyed reading for over a year now and if I were to choose the "ideal" homeschooling family then Theresa and her family at Lapaz Farm Learning would be it!

They recently moved to Alaska and already she has been sharing the breathtaking pictures and experiences that seem to pop up daily! Be sure to check out her entire site because you don't want to miss any of the Notebooks that her son makes, or the Montessori manipulatives that Theresa makes for JuneBug, and the experiments they do...WOW.

Have a great weekend and I will see you all next week with another EduLinks!