Fabulous Tefillah Curriculum- The Tefillah Box

We all daven with our kids. Its just part of what we do every day.

Some of us use musical instruments, CD's, points, whatever we can do to keep the Davening exciting and not monotonous.

 Now the thing is, at least for the English speakers among us, how many of our kids actually know what they are saying? Do they actually feel connected to Hashem when they are davening or is it just for the stars on their chart or the fun songs?

We recently purchased The Tefillah Box. The second I saw this I knew we had to have it as part of our Homeschool Curriculum.

This is what we received- a Box filled with goodies and a Teachers Guide:

Inside the Box is the Student book and a bunch of miniature toys- an instant attention grabber for the kiddos:

  

Here's all the miniatures it came with:

We all sat at the table and turned to the first page, Modeh Ani 

Click Here for a Sample Page of Modeh Ani

We all sang Modeh Ani and began the discussion in the Teachers Guide about expressing Gratitude to Hashem for waking up, we spoke about how we charge our iPads over night so they're at 100% in the morning, the same thing happens with our Neshamas. 

We then discussed how Scuba divers go exploring the Ocean floor for hours at a time, but they need to come back up to the surface to refill their oxygen tanks, just like us when we go to sleep. Thats how we refill our tanks. And when we wake up, we say 'Thank you Hashem for refilling my Oxygen tank!' 

And then we had an adorable Scuba toy to pass around and play with and make the lesson so much more tangible.

Each Tefillah has its own page with the Tefillah written in Hebrew, Transliterated and Translated into English. Then there is an adorable poem explaining what it means and how we can personalize and connect to it. The toys are the cherries on top.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Thank You Hashem for opening my eyes every morning! 

Kids love wearing their funny glasses for this Bracha and they really understand it.

Thank You Hashem for giving Strength to the Weak! 

We went around and saw who had the most strength by blowing the ball the highest.

Thank You Hashem for Straightening us Up- this little Bendy Guy is too much fun, we bent him and straightened him reenacting how we wake up and stand upright.

Thank You Hashem for not making us a Slave- we have the FREEDOM to be the best Jews we can be! Just like a bird is free to fly high, we have the freedom to reach high levels!

Its just so interactive and hands on and the kids GET IT- they really do. 

Morning Brachos are not 'just brachos' anymore. They actually understand that they have SO much to be thankful for and it is such a beautiful way for them to connect to Hashem.

I highly recommend My Tefillah Box as it really has enhanced our davening experience and I am sure it will yours. 

Click Here to Purchase My Tefillah Box 

Click Here to Purchase My Tefillah Box 

And Click Here to LIKE their Facebook Page and to win a FREE My Tefillah Box!

This is such a fabulous asset to a Jewish Homeschool Curriculum.

I am sure you will enjoy it as much as we have!

Have a wonderful Shabbos

Always,

The Dreidel that wouldn't Spin- a Chanukah Book Review

In this very sweet story, a peddler gives a very beautiful dreidel to the greedy owner of a toy shop.

The shopkeeper sells this dreidel twice to two separate spoiled children for a very high price only to have them both come back to return it because this dreidel simply 'won't spin!'

The shopkeeper realizes there is something strange going on especially when a poor man and his child enter his store.

In this beautiful holiday story by award-winning author Martha Simpson, and brought to life by the imaginative illustrations of award-winning illustrator D. Yael Bernhard, the happiness in this story will warm the heart of young and old alike with its simple message: wonders still occur for those who are ready for them. 

Included is a useful appendix that explains Chanukah, and an explanation on how to play the dreidel game.

You can buy it here:

Wishing you a Peaceful and Wonderful Shabbos,

Always,

Fabulous Chanukah Product Reviews!

Ok all you amazing mama's out there- I have got some fantastic Chanukah Products to introduce to you...

First up-

If the Candles Could Speak- the Story of Chanukah by Dassie Prus:

This is a huge book with the most magnificent illustrations filled with information on as well as the story of Chanukah. 

It also comes with a huge Story Board with 40 gorgeous and colorful removable stickers to use while teaching about Chanukah:

If you are going to make one investment this year in your Jewish homeschooling curriculum, Preschool curriculum and/or Hebrew School, then this should be it. 

Hop on over to Dassie's website to see a bunch of sample pages from the book, get a free coloring sheet, get the exact measurements of the book and story board and lots more info- the quality is superb and this entire set is worth every penny in my humble opinion, go check it out: http://www.chanukahbigbook.com/

My kids LOVE it and I can't wait to show the kids in Hebrew school on Sunday. 

Stay tuned for some more superb Chanukah products and for more info on

If the Candles Could Speak- the Story of Chanukah by Dassie Prus

Click Here!

Have a wonderful week!

Always,

Focus Finder- Review

So my dear friend Rivka Caroline, author of From Frazzled to Focused, my favorite organizing and time management Guru, has done it again.

We all have a "to do list" and a calendar with all our appointments jotted down, but the Focus Finder is simply genius.

If you are anything like me, I find myself making a new to do list almost daily. Especially this time of year with all the holidays.

Well, Rivka came up with this brilliant idea to make the Focus Finder, how pretty is it?

Here is what it looks like opened: 

At the top of the page is a list of 6 Focus subjects, so you can sit down and actually organize what needs to get done. 

And underneath it has the days of the week, Sunday thru Friday, to plug in what needs to get done and when. It is not a calendar to mark your appointments down. It is a book to simply mark down what needs to get done.

Here is a close up of things I started writing down:

So you write down the different things you need to focus on, then get into detail in each one.

I started using it the second I got it last week to help me stay focused on all the things that needed to get done before Yom Kippur. 

Example:

Focus #1: House for Yom Kippur- 

wrote everything that needs to get done in the house before Yom Kippur

Focus #2: Menu Pre Fast

Focus #3: Menu Break Fast

on the next page-

Focus #4: Activities for Kids on Yom Kippur

etc.

Since I received it on Thursday, I  did not need to plug in which days to do what, but I plan to use it for this weeks Sukkos planning. And forever on after that... I almost want to order a case of them to make sure I will never run out as I finish each one!

Just write down the different things you need to get done under their main Focus point, then plug in which days to do what.

No more overwhelming to do lists. 

No more overwhelming Brain fog.

Rivka, you are my hero.

Ladies, Gentlemen, whoever finds themselves reading this post- run- dont walk- over to her site and pick up a copy of Focus Finder for yourself... and your mother... and your sister.. and your best friend- and use code Nshei18 for 15% off and free shipping!

{And if you buy it before this Wednesday night, Rivka will throw in her FREE 34 minute Mommy Bootcamp DVD :)}

Have a fabulous week!

Always,

Fabulous Shabbos Sheets

The folks over at The Famous Abba contacted me to do a review on their weekly 'Super Shabbos Sheet'.

They sent me a few weeks of Super Shabbos Sheets and they are simply wonderful.

Each color printable Shabbos Sheet is on the weekly parshah.

It includes:
- Middah of the month
-Parshah skit ideas
-a crossword
-Week in review
-Synopsis of the parshah
-a wordfind
-a word scramble
-you be the judge
-historical timeline
-spot the difference
-Shabbos melacha
-Gematria

ALL of this on one sheet. Pretty awesome.

CLICK HERE to check out this weeks Super Shabbos Sheet for Parshas Re'eh and try it out with your kids.

If you want to subscribe to their weekly Super Shabbos Sheet, CLICK HERE to go directly to their website and CLICK HERE to like their Facebook page. And feel free to leave a comment on how much your family enjoyed the Famous Abbas Super Shabbos Sheet!

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos!

Always,

For older kids- an excellent Chumash Tool

My older kids have started learning Chumash. While they are very familiar with many of the stories from learning the weekly Parshah over the years, the time has come for them to learn how to decode the actual Chumash and try to read the story inside the actual Book.

I have this wonderful activity from Lelamdam for kids to learn the root letters, how to recognize and understand the nouns, prefixes and suffixes as well as plural when learning the words in the Chumash. There are 2 levels, the second is for when the kids are ready to move on from nouns to verbs.

For those of you with little ones, put a star on this post and open it up in a few years when your kids are old enough to begin their journey inside our holy books. 

For those of you whose kids have just begun this journey, call 845-444-2648 to purchase your own set. The selling price for each level is $19.99 and it includes free shipping within the United States. An investment I highly recommend.

I also wanted to let you know that I have a fabulous Giveaway coming up soon, so stay tuned!

I hope you are having a wonderful week,

Always,

CAP IT Hebrew Reading Program

We were given the awesome opportunity to review the CAP IT Hebrew Reading Program.

It has been a bit of a challenge in the Hebrew Reading department with my 5 year old as she is a very hands-on learner and doesn't enjoy sitting and reading for too long. She would much rather color, paint, draw or dance. Which is fine, but I needed to figure out a way to make reading a little more enjoyable for  her.

Well, along came CAP IT Hebrew Reading, and I can tell you that from the moment we opened the box, my little princess could not wait to begin. I know. I was a bit shocked myself. Maybe it was the box of miniature toys it came with. Maybe it was the bright colors and the simplicity of the pages. Read on to hear more about this brilliant program.

You see, the cleverness of this program is that it provides Tactile Visual Mnemonics™ for every letter in the Alef Bet. In simple English, you get a box filled with miniature toys that serve as the Visual Mnemonics. Each toy in the box looks and sounds like a letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

For example, for the letter BET- there is an actual little ball in a box. You have the "B" sound as well as the visualization of a ball in a box, like the actual letter BET. Simply genius.

There is also a song that connects to each lesson, hence we can get up to do a little dance to our song making reading just super cool. And the thing that really was amazing were the instant results. She read "ABBA BA". She was beyond proud of herself and couldn't wait to go on to the next letter to see what the next toy would be.

The entire curriculum comes in this box:

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And in our humble opinion, the best part of all...

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This is the PERFECT Hebrew Reading Curriculum. It makes Hebrew reading FUN and the kids see instant results which makes them feel so good about themselves.

Head on over to their website to check it out for yourself...

http://www.capitlearning.com/index.php

We also received the CAP IT Read Fluent Hebrew Siddur Edition which focuses on the kid's decoding skills and builds up a word bank of the most common Siddur words.

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This was so fabulous for my son who is already davening, but at 100 miles an hour and not really saying the words correctly. It gave him an entirely new insight into what he is saying and how important it is to say the proper words.

This company gets an A+ in my book. 

The awesome folks at CAP IT Hebrew Reading have given the readers of A Jewish Homeschool Blog a 20% discount off an entire order - 

***Enter HS20 at checkout for 20% off your order!***

In my opinion, this is a great investment in your kids Hebrew Reading education. Highly highly recommended.

If you have any questions in regard to this curriculum, feel free to email me or the wonderful people over at CAP IT Hebrew Reading.

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Always,

These products were given to me for review purposes. I was not paid for the above posts. All opinions expressed in the above posts are mine.

Adorable Handmade Chanukah Review

Today we my kids received a package addressed to them in the mail from the wonderful folks at Kiwi Crate... 

Kiwi Crate is a company that sends out different crates filled with all different crafts with everything you need to do them. They have individual crates or you can buy a monthly membership and receive a crate every month with different crafts inside. Check out their website to see what they are all about...

You can only imagine the excitement going on, I mean who doesn't LOVE getting packages, right?

They wanted to just rip it open, but mom made sure to be careful and open it up step by step... oy, the  suspense of discovering what was inside!

And Voila!

 This is an absolutely adorable crate filled with two beautiful crafts for Chanukah...

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It comes with EVERYTHING you need to make this gorgeous Menorah...

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And this super cool dreidel...

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What a great gift for Chanukah! 

So head on over to their website, http://www.kiwicrate.com/ and check out all their awesome products- you have just enough time to get your Chanukah crate in time for Chanukah! 

Thanks again to the wonderful folks at Kiwi Crate!

And coming this week... I have an AMAZING Hebrew Reading Curriculum to share with all of you~ stay tuned!

Have a wonderful week,

Always,

"I See Me" Chanukah Book Review

Okay... Chanukah is in a few weeks- and although we do not have the custom to give our kids actual gifts (we give them Chanukah gelt) I know there are plenty of families out there who do...

Now I was lucky enough to create a personalized Chanukah book for my kids to review from the folks at I See Me Inc. Personalized Childrens Books. This is such an adorable thing to have for your kids- story books with THEM as the main character:) 

Take a few minutes and hop over to their website and check out their fabulous products... just click here- but come right back so I can tell you a bit about the Chanukah book they made for us:)

 Here is some info about this super cute book:

One of our popular personalized gifts for kids. In this beautifully illustrated, personalized story, the child lights the Menorah, plays with a Dreidel, enjoys chocolate Gelt and Latkes, and on day eight receives the gift of a cuddly bear. Sure to be a family classic, the story is written by award-winning author Jennifer Dewing and illustrated by Wilson Ong.

One child is the "star" of the story and his or her name is featured throughout the story.
The child's name and the names of his or her siblings or family members are included on an illustration of gift tags on presents around the menorah.

It is really easy to personalize- so head on over to this page to order and create your very own Chanukah book starring your sweetie pie!

Here are 2 promo codes for my dear readers to use at check out:

For 10% off an entire order- enter HANUKKAH  expires 11/21/12

For FREE SHIPPING enter hanukkah1  expires 11/14/12 at midnight

Enjoy and have a great week!

Always,