April 2013 Newsletter

Rainbow Resource Center

Rainbow Resource Center April 2013 Newsletter

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Providing detailed reviews with informative content has always been the focus of our catalog and website. We are happy to announce that we are partnering with homeschool veterans Dean and Karen Andreola to give you even more helpful information about homeschooling, educational products, and family life. Longtime homeschoolers will recognize Karen as the author of A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, a book that greatly influenced the Charlotte Mason method of education in the U.S. Karen has written several other books, including Pocketful of Pinecones, Lessons at Blackberry Inn, Story Starters, Simply Grammar, and a revision of the classic Beautiful Girlhood. Dean and Karen have been keynote speakers at homeschool conventions and regular contributors to homeschool magazines. Moms will enjoy reading Karen’s inspiring blog Moments with Mother Culture®, which will soon be accessible from our website homepage. Dean and Karen have long been recognized for their in-depth product reviews and personal recommendations, featured for the last 14 years in the catalogs of Christian Book Distributors. These reviews will soon be appearing exclusively on our website product pages alongside our reviews, to give you even more insights into the products we carry. We welcome Dean and Karen and their family to the Rainbow family, and we thank Karen for writing this month’s feature newsletter article.

April & May Alpha Omega Sale:

With 20% off retail prices for the whole month of April, now is the best time to stock up on Alpha Omega Publications curriculum! Everything is 20% off for the entire month, including Horizons, Switched-On Schoolhouse, LIFEPACs and more! And if you’re not quite ready to buy in April, you can still save in May with 15% off! Please note that 20% sale prices will be in effect on our website until 5/1/13 at 4:00 p.m. Central Time and will then transition to 15% sale prices through 5/31/13.

April 2013 Newsletter

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Spring Gift Catalog:

Convention Promotions!

If you’ve got some spring birthdays on the horizon and are at a loss for gift ideas, take a peek at our downloadable Spring Gift Catalog for some neat stuff that’s also perfect for those warmer spring and summer months. If you like our Holiday & Gift catalog, you might want to take a peek!

With several shows behind us now, convention season is in full swing! We’ve got a full schedule ahead of us for the coming months; if you’re planning on attending any of the shows listed below, make sure to stop by, say “Hi!” and check out some of our new convention promotions (more on that below!).

GSLAHE in Ballwin, MO (4/11-4/13) APACHE in Peoria, IL (4/12-4/13)

NCHEA in Lincoln, NE (4/12-4/13) MACHE in Rochester, MN (4/19-4/20) IDEA shows in Soldotna (4/24), Anchorage (4/25-4/26), Fairbanks (4/29-4/30), Juneau (5/2) MassHOPE in Worchester, MA (4/26-4/27) MACHE in Frederick, MD (4/26-4/27) OCHEC – Tulsa in Tulsa, OK (4/30-5/1) Teach Them Diligently in Spartanburg, SC (5/2-5/4) OCHEC – OKC in Oklahoma City, OK (5/3-5/4) CHEF in St. Charles, MO (5/8-5/11)

Our wonderful consultants will be offering helpful workshops at several of these conventions, including APACHE, NCHEA and GSLAHE.

On the Road Again…

“Refund Your Purchase” Drawings:At every convention that we attend, we’re going to randomly select several transactions and refund those customers for the entire cost of their purchase. All you have to do is enter at the time of purchase and wait to see if your name is announced at the show!

Free Flashdrive Wristband with $75 Purchase:Spend $75 at our booth and you’ll get a free Memory On Hand 4 GB Flash Drive Wristband (while supplies last). It’s pre-loaded with our PDF catalog too!

April 2013 Newsletter

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Song School Latin 2 and Song School Spanish

These foreign language programs for your youngest students have just arrived in our warehouse! Song School Latin 2 is a continuation of Song School Latin, designed for students in 2nd and 3rd grades. It covers more vocabulary, grammar, derivatives and, according to the publisher’s website will “more than prepare” students who are continuing on to Latin for Children A. Song School Spanish brings the same popular Song School approach to children learning Spanish in grades 1-3. It features plenty of songs, chants, stories, games and activities to make your study of Spanish lively and fun.

Saxon Algebra ½, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Advanced Math and Calculus Homeschool Kits WITH Solutions Manuals

Homeschool kits without Solution Manuals have been around forever, but this year the publisher has finally started bundling these upper-level kits with the Solution Manuals (yay!).

Algebra ½ Homeschool Kit with Solution Manual (3rd Ed.) - #18254 Algebra 1 Homeschool Kit with Solution Manual (3rd Ed.) - #18255 Algebra 2 Homeschool Kit with Solution Manual (3rd Ed.) - #18256 Adv. Math Homeschool Kit with Solution Manual (2nd Ed.) - #18257 Calculus Homeschool Kit with Solution Manual (2nd Ed.) - #18259

Brand-New at Rainbow:It’s that time of year when we’re adding tons of new products to the catalog. We’re a little behind on our website organization so here’s a brief sneak-peek at just a few of the new additions you can expect to see in the catalog (with item numbers also included so you can find them on our website using our Quick Shopping feature).

Song School Latin 2 Student Book - #16826 Song School Latin 2 Teacher’s Edition - #16838 Song School Spanish Student Book - #16839 Song School Spanish Teacher’s Edition - #16884 Spanish Amigo Match - #16886 Song School Spanish Set - #SGSCSP (includes student, teacher and Amigo Match)

April 2013 Newsletter

Rainbow Resource Center

Memory On Hand Flash Drive Wristbands

What’s more handy than having your files literally “on you” at all times? Well, stop misplacing those little thumb drives and easily carry your files wherever you go. Memory On Hand Wristbands might look like one of those trendy rubber bracelets at first glance, but look a little closer and you’ll notice the thick clasp that contains the USB port. Available in a variety of color schemes, the wristband drives hold 8 GB of content and are reasonably priced at $13.75 on our website.

Rod & Staff Math, English, Spelling and Social Studies Programs

You’ve been asking for years, and FINALLY we are happy to announce that we are able to offer Rod & Staff programs. We are currently selling Rod & Staff Mathematics (Gr. 1-8), English (Gr. 2-8), Spelling by Sound & Structure (Gr. 2-8) and Social Studies (Gr. 2-8). Due to publisher preference, these items will not be listed on our website, but will be listed in the 2013 catalog, or simply call our customer service department to order.

2013 Catalog – Under Construction!

This year’s catalog is slated to go to print in late May and be on its way to you in early June. If you’ve placed an order with us in the last two years (and have not previously opted out) you can expect one around that time. If you’re not sure you’re on our mailing list and you’d like to receive a copy, visit our website to request either a print or CD copy or call us up and request one. If you’d rather not receive a catalog this year, email or call our friendly customer service department and simply ask to be taken off of the mailing list.

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April 2013 Newsletter

Rainbow Resource Center

How to Do a Nature NotebookBy Karen Andreola

I remember how our back door would bang shut in spring as my chil-dren bounded into the kitchen—bright red scratches and bug bites on their arms and legs, clothes covered with grass stains—to show me their “finds.” Young children will eagerly discover wildflowers, toads, butterflies, beetles, earthworms, robins, thistles, squirrels, mushrooms, berries—and run into thorn bushes—all outdoors. Eventually our Nature Study became formal.

We started taking nature walks. I took advantage of my children’s finds. One day a week I turned them into a home school lesson. They drew their finds into a Nature Notebook.

Drawing from Nature

Any blank book will do for a Nature Notebook. If your children are early elementary age you may wish to let them draw on loose paper, on a clipboard, to be kept in a binder.

Encourage children to “draw what they see.” When children give attention to drawing they will often no-tice details about their finds that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

A Nature Notebook is a record of personal experience. They can be assiduously inscribed with fine prose, verse, and illustrated with delicate watercolors. This is the ideal for the older student. We started with colored pencils. Watercolors came later.

In 1990, while browsing a bookstore, I stumbled upon a beautiful example of the kind of Nature Note-book that Miss Charlotte Mason had described in her writings. It was Edith Holden’s Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (now out-of-print). Although I was well aware that our drawings would be crude in comparison to Edith Holden’s, (who was an art student) her pages were inspiring.

Recording Observations

A field guide will help you identify your child’s find. All drawings can include captions; the Latin name of the specimen from the field guide and its common name.

Students can record a description of their find on the opposite page. The date of the find and where they located it is basic. Children might also provide an anecdote, especially if the find is a wiggly salamander or fidgety squirrel—something entertaining. It is difficult to draw a bird that hops from branch to branch, an ant, a butterfly or any creature that moves perpetually. They will not pose for a sketch even if you ask them. In these modern times taking a photograph may help. We referred to our field guide for shape and markings—for those bits of nature we couldn’t bring inside and set before us on the kitchen table.

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April 2013 Newsletter

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Just as Edith Holden chose poems and mottos to adorn her Nature Diary, children can pick poems to adorn their Notebooks. Nature in verse is quite easy to find in a poetry anthology. We used Favorite Poems Old and New selected by Helen Ferris. A couple lines of verse (an excerpt of any length poem) are fine for young students. All three verses of “Queen Anne’s Lace” by Mary Leslie Newton were copied into one of my student’s notebooks when she was in second grade—one verse a day. An empty lot in our neighborhood was covered with this pretty weed. Yolanda’s page of buttercups (shown here) was done in 1999 when she was older.

Pocketful of Pinecones is a “how-to” book cleverly disguised as a heartwarming story. It provides a look at how one family observes nature together. Carol and her children enjoy their nature walks and record their finds in their Nature Notebooks. Woven into the story are many examples of what to look for during all four seasons, Latin names for the living things observed by the characters, nature poems and verses.

Fitting in Formal Lessons

I kept a copy of the teacher’s guide, Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock open on my lap. When the children were drawing I’d ask a few observation questions or read portions of the book aloud for a “lesson.” This was the occasional way I’d round out our study. Picture books enabled my children to read for themselves about subjects in nature, especially those things outside our habitat.

Approaching Nature with Reverence

“Nature study should be approached with reverence. For the natural world is the expression of God’s personality in a form that is within reach of all of us to comprehend in some measure.” —Mr. G. Downton

Have you noticed how often the verses of the great hymns speak of God revealing Himself through His creation? Perhaps a verse from a hymn could be placed beside an entry in a Nature Notebook. Here are some examples of hymns that I found.

All Things Bright and BeautifulFairest Lord JesusFor the Beauty of the EarthHis Eye is on the SparrowIn the GardenMorning Has BrokenThis is My Father’s World

April 2013 Newsletter

Rainbow Resource Center

©2013 Rainbow Resource Center, Inc. | 655 Township Rd. 500E | Toulon, IL | 61483

Once Nature Study has made its appeal and you awaken to its offerings, you may decide that one day a week isn’t time enough to observe and appreciate. The spring season, for instance, brings forth so many living things out of hiding at once. Attempt formally only what feels doable. Informally, living things attract the curiosity of children. This “wise letting alone” is school of a kind too. Just remember to look up at the stars.

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