Avoid Breaking the Bank at Sam's Club

Our large family of 11 enjoys the bulk sizes and economic pricing of warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club.  Along with the mega-sized products, however, warehouse clubs can also present mega temptations to spend more than you intended.  For example: the sample stations that entice you to purchase new products, the seasonal items placed strategically in the main aisles, and the vendors calling out to you to stop by their booths.  All of these regularly caused me to spend more than I planned when I shopped the store onsite.  After several years of this pattern, I began looking for a better way to keep my budget intact.

Here’s how I shop our Sam’s Club now:

• ·     I downloaded the Sam’s Club app on my iPhone, signed in, and made sure to select the Sam’s Club location where I shop.  Whenever I am close to running out of a stock item at home, I add it to my Shopping Cart and select “Pick Up in Club.”  The Shopping Cart saves all my items until I am ready to place my order.  This prevents me from forgetting the essentials.

• ·      Before placing my order, I sign in to the Sam’s Club website and look over my “Easy Reorder” list.  This is a list of my previous purchases, which serves to jog my memory for anything I’ve overlooked.

• ·      Once I feel that my list is complete, I place my order, choose my pick up time (as early as the next day), pay with a credit card, and submit the order.

• ·      Sam’s Club then SHOPS THE ORDER FOR ME!  (for free!), and sends me an email and/or text message when the order is ready for pick up.

• ·      Since my husband works in the same town as our Sam’s Club, he stops by after work on the scheduled pick up day, scans his membership card at the Order Pick Up Kiosk outside the store, and an employee brings out the entire order straight to his car!  It doesn’t get much easier than that J.  All of the essentials, none of the extras, and our budget on track!

If you love warehouse club shopping but have faced the same pitfalls we have, I hope these tips are helpful for you.

Clothing Tag Character Bookmarks

Looking for a fun way to encourage your children to read?  This nifty little hint could be just the ticket.  When you buy character-themed clothing or other merchandise at the store, it often comes with an attractive hang tag next to the price tag.  I've found that these brightly colored character tags make for fun, durable bookmarks after they've been laminated.  And your kids will love them!   Here is a snapshot of a few clothing tags to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

I have a GBC Heat Seal laminator that I purchased at OfficeMax several years ago.  The laminating pouches can be purchased in many different sizes.

For this project, I used a legal-sized laminating pouch.  It's important to make sure that you put enough space between the tags so that there is room to leave a margin of the laminate around each one when you cut them out.  This prevents the edges from peeling.  Here is my completed sheet:

As you can see in the bottom right corner, you can also laminate homemade bookmarks such as the sweet "I love you Mom" sticky note that my son left on my teacher binder one day :-)  Now both the kids and I have fun bookmarks to use for our reading times!

Homeschool Organization

For our family, notebooking is the predominant method used for each subject. Here's how we organize our homeschool to keep things neat and orderly (when everyone puts their things away!):

1. We have one main bookshelf for our reference books and current curriculum. Each student has a binder for each subject. I use Avery Binder Spine Inserts to print insertable labels for the View Binder Spines. I also use a Brother P-Touch Labeler to print labels for the spines of comb-bound books or workbooks. This makes it easy to see at a glance what the binder or book is for and who it belongs to.

2. We use a divided paper organizer for "Student Lockers". Each child gets one or two shelves for their personal items so that the table does not get cluttered. Their pencil baskets are stored on top, and hold the special pencils, crayons, erasers, and rulers that each child likes to use.

3. A white laminate bookshelf holds our supplies. Baskets or plastic containers keep items such as art supplies, manipulatives, and educational games organized and contained. On the floor next to the supply shelf are two large plastic containers which hold quiet activities for the little ones to do while the older children are working. A magnetic whiteboard displays some helpful reference charts. Charts we're not currently using are stored in a chart bag hanging behind the classroom door.

Amos Fortune, Free Man Notebooking Study

Amos Fortune, Free Man Notebooking Study. A 92-page complete Principle Approach Literature Study of Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates includes:

32 detailed Daily Lesson plans for studying this classic book according to America's historic method of Biblical reasoning

Complete author study with coordinating notebooking pages to chronicle Elizabeth Yate's life

Instructions for setting up teacher and student notebooks

Helpful links

Suggested Vocabulary Words for each chapter

Student notebook cover

53 notebooking pages feature:
Beautiful black and white illustrations, perfect for coloring
Blank lines for narration or notes
Spaces for the student's own drawings
Cause and effect reasoning
Sequencing skills

Students will create beautiful notebooks to treasure as they learn Biblical principles and character qualities.

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Considering God's Creation Science Definitions Notebooking Pages

Considering God's Creation Science Definitions Notebooking Pages with Greek & Latin Roots. Set of 45 pages:

Created to be used with Considering God's Creation by Mortimer and Smith

Can be used as a stand-alone study or as a supplement to another science curriculum using the provided vocabulary list

40 Lessons covering Creation, Plant Kingdom, Animal Kingdom & Human Body

210 Vocabulary words with etymology to aid in learning common Greek & Latin roots

Beautiful illustrations to aid understanding of definitions

Student notebook cover page included

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Occupations Notebooking Pages

Beautiful, full-color pages allow your children to create notebooks of many popular occupations. Set of 181 pages includes:

Instructions for setting up your notebook

Occupation Information Page

175 Specific Occupations Pages

Combines with our Field Trips Notebooking Set

Interviewing family members, friends, and familiar professionals about their occupations is a fun way to learn about different jobs that your children may be interested in. These hours can be logged as Social Studies and may help children determine which career path would be best for them based upon their interests, aptitudes, and goals.

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Field Trip Notebooking Pages

Beautiful, full-color pages allow your children to create notebooks of their educational outings. Set of 111 pages includes:

Instructions for setting up your notebook

Field Trip Log

110 Specific Destination Pages

Combines with our Occupations Notebooking Set

Create beautiful notebooks to treasure of all your field trips.

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Family Vacation Notebooking Pages

Beautiful, full-color pages allow your children to create notebooks of their family adventures. Not just for vacations, this set includes pages for activities your family participates in all year long. Set of 185 pages includes:

Instructions for setting up your notebook

Blank outline maps of North America, Canada and the USA

5 Modes of Transport Pages

35 Places to Visit Pages

49 Activites Pages

7 Family Events and Holidays Pages

6 Regions of the Country Pages

13 Canadian Provinces and 51 State and District of Columbia License Plate Pages

Spending Money Log

12 Blank Monthly Calendars

Create beautiful notebooks to treasure as you make wonderful family memories.

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Little House in the Big Woods Notebooking Study

A 112-page complete Principle Approach® Literature Study of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder includes:

• 48 detailed Daily Lessons plans for studying this classic book according to America’s historic method of Biblical reasoning
• Complete author study with coordinating notebooking pages to chronicle Laura Ingalls Wilder's life
• Instructions for setting up teacher and student notebooks
• Helpful links
• List of Optional Supplemental Resources
• Student Notebook Cover
• 52 notebooking pages feature:
  beautiful black and white illustrations, perfect for coloring
  blank lines for narration or notes
  spaces for the student's own drawings
  cause and effect reasoning
  sequencing skills
  
Students will create beautiful notebooks to treasure as they learn Biblical principles and character qualities.

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Latin Mottoes & Phrases Noteobooking Pages

Created to help you learn 200 of the most common Latin mottoes & phrases occurring in our English language today.

Far from being dead, Latin is present everywhere, from the invitations and letters that we receive to the legal forms that we sign. We see it at the doctor's office, study it in science, and read it in works of great literature. While we may not need to learn the language in its entirety, a familiarity with basic Latin vocabulary is a great asset to any individual. Two of the most beneficial reasons to learn Latin mottoes and phrases are to increase reading comprehension and boost achievement test scores.

Package includes:

• Instructions
• Mottoes and Phrases Reference Table with Literal Translation for 200 Phrases, as well as Common Meaning and Etymology, if applicable
• Student Notebook Cover
• Shield & Banner Page
• 200 Mottoes & Phrases Notebooking Pages
• Blank notebooking page for mottoes & phrases you may choose to study

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Greek & Latin Roots Notebooking Pages Volumes 1 & 2

Notebooking pages for study of Greek and Latin roots include:

• Instructions and helpful hints for root study
• List of 100 different Greek and Latin roots with their English definitions in each set
• Notebooking pages for all 100 roots featuring lines for the definition, an illustration box, and additional lines for word derivatives
• Blank Greek and Latin notebooking pages for additional roots you may choose to study

Available in two editions to coordinate with English from the Roots Up, Volumes 1 & 2. (These pages may also be used as a stand-alone study without these books since the roots and definitions are all provided in the notebooking package. The additional benefit to the English from the Roots Up books is that word derivatives for each root, along with their definitions, are provided for further study.)

Available for sale on CurrClick.

Cooking/Meal Planning Notebook

Our Cooking/Meal Planning Notebook is the perfect way to::

• teach your children to cook, allowing them to build their own notebook as they learn
• reduce all your cookbooks, recipe cards, and kitchen reference books to one 3-ring binder
• plan your meals and shopping trips
• help you put into practice a freezer cooking or once-a-month cooking method
• create a memorable gift book of favorite recipes for a relative, friend or a new bride
• Available in two graphic styles, Diner or Contemporary

Available for sale on CurrClick.