Parent at the Helm’s

OCTOBER BOOK GIVEAWAY

I’m so very excited about Parent at the Helm’s October Book Giveaway. We have not just one, but two terrific books by veteran home educator Marty Layne – one for adults and another, perfectly timed, for the kiddos. If you’d like a chance to win both, please send two separate comments, each one indicating the title of the book you are interested in with that comment.

Now, without further ado, just in case you aren’t already aware of these great books that include a true classic, here’s what you can win this month.

Learning At Home: A Mother’s Guide To Homeschooling

By Marty Layne

Learning At Home: A Mother’s Guide To Homeschooling offers honest, insightful observations about children, learning, and family relationships. Marty Layne has drawn on her experience of homeschooling her four children to provide a warm and delightful book, filled with obvious affection and love.

In the book, Marty explains the characteristics needed to homeschool and provides helpful guidelines for those starting out, as well as reminders for those who are old hands. In the information on burnout, she recognizes that homeschooling parents can sometimes feel overwhelmed and offers suggestions for addressing those feelings and finding ways to prevent them from occurring. She includes tips for creating a positive environment conducive to learning, giving suggestions for both materials and attitudes. The author also shares anecdotal stories of her own children’s learning experiences to illustrate her insights about reading, writing, math, science, etc. Throughout the book, one has a sense of connection with a warm, real-live woman who is sharing her points of view and stories and is encouraging you to find yours.

First published in 1998, the subsequent editions have additional information (2001 and 2007) and an expanded point of view (2007). Each edition still provides the basic support and encouragement that readers have found encouraging over the past 12 years. As more and more families choose to homeschool, children’s accomplishments can become the measure of success of homeschooling, which puts unnecessary pressure on families. Homeschooling allows children “time to pursue an interest and reveal talent but [it] can’t create it.”  Now, even more than when Learning At Home was first published, it is important for parents to remember: “We tend to recognize only outstanding gifts that fall in recognized categories like art, music, drama, or sports. We are not willing to recognize talent for something like happiness, listening to others, being a warm person, taking delight in a rainy day.”

Learning At Home: A Mother’s Guide To Homeschooling offers readers support, information, and a philosophical point of view sprinkled liberally with real life examples and humor.

Autumn Stories

written and illustrated by Marty Layne

Little Blue Feather and his animal friends get ready for winter in this small format paperback book (4.25” x 5.5”).  Illustrated with color photographs, the two stories in this little book about the coming of winter are told in language simple enough for young children to understand and interesting enough to engage older children.  In the first story, “Little Blue Feather Is Surprised”, Little Blue Feather helps Nutkin store his acorns.  The delightful handmade little doll and sweet little needle-felted squirrel fill a hollow needle-felted pumpkin with acorns together.

In the second story, Little Blue Feather meets his rabbit friends and they go for a walk to the meadow where the grass is “very sweet” so that the rabbits can get “fat and furry.”  The basis for this story is a song that Marty recorded on her album Brighten the Day – songs to celebrate the seasons.  The rabbits and Little Blue Feather talk about the signs of fall and sing the song “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry” together.

The author, Marty Layne, needle felted all of the animals and designed and sewed Little Blue Feather.  She creates many needle-felted animals and teaches others how to needle felt in Victoria, BC where she lives.  As she was photographing some of her creations she realized that she could use them to tell a story incorporating a song that she sang with her children years ago and in her popular parent and baby classes.

What are readers saying?

“Two pages into this book, I became aware of how mesmerized I felt by the way Marty has woven her storytelling with her delightful photos.  In a sea of over-the-top children’s books where more is less, her book captivates children (and the big people reading with them) through a purity of intention and love. The result is a book that’s an invitation to simplicity, to the heart, to relationship.”  Lu Hanessian http://www.letthebabydrive.com/letthebabydrive/ABOUT_LU.html

“I read this book to my son everyday.  He loves it!  All the characters have become part of our lives.  Thanks for writing such a sweet book!”

Don’t wait! Register to win today!

Contest Details

CONTEST DEADLINE: Oct 31, 2010; 11:59PM (EDT)

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER THE PARENT AT THE HELM GIVEAWAY!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CONTEST: To enter, submit a comment on the PARENT AT THE HELM October Giveaway blog article.

You are allowed one entry per book, with the exception of BLOGGERS: I know your pain! [g]! Blog about this giveaway, include the link to your post in your comment, and you will receive an extra entry in the contest as a thank you for all of your hard work! PARENT AT THE HELM is not responsible for errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects in part or whole, delays in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for any technical or non-technical network, telephonic, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions of any kind, or inaccurate or partial transmission of or failure to receive entry information by PARENT AT THE HELM on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, at any Web site or at any combination of these.

WINNER SELECTION: The winner shall be selected using Random.org’s “Randomizer” on the morning of November 1, 2010.

ODDS OF WINNING: You’ve got great odds! Odds are determined by the number of entries received.

OBTAINING YOUR PRIZE: We will contact winner by email only. PARENT AT THE HELM will make a reasonable effort to contact you on the day you are determined as winner, but we are not responsible for misdirected notification because of problems with the e-mail address you provide to us. If we cannot reach you, you may be disqualified, with an alternate winner selected. In addition, a winner who does not comply with the Official Rules will be disqualified and an alternate winner will be selected. Return of any prize or prize notification as “undeliverable” will result in disqualification and an alternate winner will be selected.

CONDITIONS: Your participation binds you to these official rules. By participating, you waive any right to claim ambiguity of said rules. All decisions regarding this contest, including, but not limited to, selecting winners, will be made by PARENT AT THE HELM. That decision is final. As winner you are solely responsible for any applicable federal, state and local taxes.

ANNOUNCING THE PRIZE WINNER: We’ll let you know who won on this blog after the November 1, 2010, drawing.

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