Review: God's World News

For our seventh grade year, we've been putting more of a focus on current events with Mackenzie.  She's been digging through the news paper each week trying to find articles that she could understand and give a report about. However, the pickings have been slim. Either they have been over her head or, in my opinion, very one sided. Either way. It wasn't working for us. So we were quite pleased to be giving the opportunity to review Gods World News, Top Story Edition for middle schoolers.

About God's World News

God's World News strives to provide news and interesting information to children at their level, and from a biblical standpoint. They use todays current events and cover subjects such as science, social studies, religion, geography, and more. There is something for every area of your curriculum. With magazines for pre-k through adult, there is also something for every student.

And you get more than just a news magazine. Their online content is extensive and filled with things that would make great supplements to your student's learning.  With our Top Story subscription, we had access to biographies, quizzes to test comprehension, fun lessons to compliment the current issue, and a website just for the students that further extends the learning.

Our Experience

We received a full year subscription to the Top Story Middle School edition.  The subscription includes 10 full color issues with one issue every month except December and May. Each issue is 32 pages long and is printed in full color. Each issue contains age appropriate articles, editorials, news graphics that explain difficult concepts, puzzles, Map It activities, editorial cartoons, and more. We also received a huge 20" x 30" world map that corresponds with the locator maps inside the magazine. I receive an email every week, with answer keys to the quizzes and puzzles along with easy access to the web content.

We have been primarily been using the magazine as her source for Mackenzie's current event assignments and it has been working beautifully!!!  The articles are short, informative, and age appropriate. The content is varied. She's done reports on everything from government data collection to border patrol to Syria to robots.  And she is really enjoying them.  The articles have been very straight forward making it easy for her to outline them and write her report. She's actually enjoying her current event assignments now.  No more stress!  You can read a sample issue HERE.

The list of online biographies is quite extensive and I've been able to utilize those to supplement our science and history studies, as well. She's read about the Egyptian Pharaohs, Gregor Mendel, and Isaac Newton. I'm currently going through the list of biographies and matching them up with our scope and sequence. Many of them will find their way into our future lessons.  Check out a sample HERE.

I am also finding that the articles and biographies make wonderful source texts for our writing curriculum.  This has been very helpful when she needs extra practice on certain writing techniques. And now I don't have to go digging for appropriate material. It's all at my finger tips.

Each issue also comes with at least two, sometimes more, additional lessons that you can access online. Again the topics are varied, every thing from mummies to cancer to baseball to life in other countries. The lessons include an informative article, puzzles, quizzes, and fun assignments. You can see a sample  HERE.

And guess what else you get with your subscription? Online access to all levels. Including back issues. This is very handy if you have a family member who tends to toss things into the trash, like current GWN issues, without looking at them first. (You know who you are!! lol)

I hate reading on the computer but I don't mind it on the iPad. (Weird, right? lol)  So I was very happy to see that they loaded easily onto my  iBooks app to make my life easier. And there's even an app for the adult version of God's World News.  And it's free with your subscription.

I am so pleased with this product. All I was expecting was a news magazine that would help us with our current events studies and we got so much more. We are really enjoying this magazine and all of it's extras. This is something I plan on continuing to subscribe to in the future. In fact, I'm planning on subscribing to the kindergarten issue for my little one.  We just love this magazine!!!!

F.Y.I.

Website:  http://gwnews.com

Age Range: preschool through adult

Pricing: $28 for a 10 month subscription

Review: Fundanoodle

We're knee deep in kindergarten around here. And part of kindergarten is learning to write, much to Kayleigh's dismay. She's not doing a bad job with her capital letters, but the lowercase letters have been given her a run for her money.

When the chance to review I Can Build Lower Case Letters by Fundanoodle arrived, I was super excited.

About Fundanoodle

Fundanoodle strives to help parents and teachers achieve educational readiness for their children. They offer a variety of fun learning systems to aid your students in motor coordination, eye/hand coordination, problem solving, and more.

Our Experience

We received the I Can Build Lower Case Letters learning system. The system included a magnetic white board with dry erase marker, set of 17 Magnastix magnetic pieces, six gross motor cards, six-sided die, and the I Can Write Lower Case! writing tablet.

I cannot speak highly enough about the quality of these products. Every last item was sturdy and extremely well made. They will last for years. These items might just be the sturdiest product for children that I've ever owned. I'm am not the slightest bit concerned that the board will come apart or the magnets will peel off the backing anytime soon. They are phenomenally made.

The company recommends starting the lessons with a gross motor activity to help prepare the student for writing. Kayleigh has a grand old time playing a game with the gross motor cards. Each card is numbered and has a different animal for the student to act like.  Kayleigh rolls the dice and that acts out the card with the corresponding number. With only six cards it can get repetitive.  I wouldn't mind seeing the company expand the cards to include more. But you can even make additional cards with your computer if your student doesn't like that much repetition. Lots of fun!

Next Kayleigh and I would work on forming the letters with the Magnastix on the white board. The top and the bottom of the white board are painted green and red, respectively.  The green is a reminder to "Go" for letters that start at the top of the green line. The red means "Stop" since most letters will stop at the red line.

We followed the order set forth in the writing tablet, which are sequenced according to a child's development of visual and motor skills. I'd first build the letter on the board for her, using the instructions from the writing tablet, then I'd have Kayleigh build it herself.  Max the Monkey has specific terminology on how to form each letter. Things like: zip (straight line) down/across/up, zoom (diagonal) up/down/in, buzz (curve) up/around, etc. These instructions were really fun for Kayleigh to learn and they really helped her remember how to form the letters.

After working on the white board, we'd work in the writing tablet.  The writing tablet features the characters Max and Alphie who demonstrate and encourage the student to write the letters correctly. Each page offers the "Go/Stop" visual cues and a spot to put a reward sticker upon completion. My only issue with the writing tablet is that it is a lot of writing on each page, five lines worth, which can intimidate young learners. It did overwhelm Kayleigh.

I tried to have Kayleigh just work on one line per day but she really wanted that sticker ASAP so she insisted on doing the whole thing at once. I also told her she only needed to complete two lines to earn the sticker but she then insisted on doing them all anyway because she didn't want to "cheat." lol I guess those stickers are doing a great job at motivating her.

All-in-all Kayleigh really likes it. On days when we didn't do handwriting, she would ask about it. That rarely happens with Kayleigh so that is high praise. It's definitely a quality product and fun way to learn to write letters.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.fundanoodle.com

Age Range: K-1st

Price: $29.99

Review: The Presidential Game

What child doesn't love a good game? What parent doesn't love it when they can combine a game with some learnin'?  I don't know of any in either category.

We were recently given the opportunity to enjoy a little fun learning when we were given a chance to review The Presidential Game.  Anybody who's tried, and failed, to explain the electoral college to their child will probably appreciate this game.

About The Presidential Game

Do you have what it takes to become president? In this game of strategy, you'll get a chance to find out while learning a bit about the electoral college system at the same time.

The game is played in two teams, Republicans vs. Democrats. You can play with as little as two people or form teams if you have more people who'd like to play.

 As in real life, you are battling against the other team to gain control of the electoral votes. Campaign or fundraise, you make the call. Discovery which strategy works best for you.

The game comes with a sturdy board, six dice, politic cards, voting chips, score pad and access to their online, interactive web map. Everything you need to take over the world. ;)

Our Experience

After our initial argument about who would be part of which party, we decided to play in teams. Kevin and Mackenzie, Republicans vs. me, Genius Party. (I decided to form my own. lol) Now before you worry about having to play for the political party that you disagree with, there is no political ideology anywhere in the game. You will not be campaigning on the issues so you don't have to stress about defending any platforms or positions on the big issues. You can save the heated debate for coffee later, when the kids are in bed. lol

The first thing that I did was read the instructions, which I'll admit confused me a bit. I could not wrap my mind around the voting chips for whatever reason. So I made Kevin read them and we came to a consensus. The interactive web map also contains the game instructions and I found a discrepancy or two between the instructions in the box and what was on the web map. We decided to stick with what came in the box.

We decided to play using the interactive web map because we didn't feel the need to do math while having fun. You can access it on the computer, smart phone, iPad or whatever you had. If you don't have those things then you can use the handy dandy score pad. You'll be doing a lot of math on it so make sure you have a pencil with a good eraser. lol

First you have to decide how many "weeks" that your campaign will run. The recommend 30 weeks. All this means is that each team gets 30 turns before the game is over.  A 30 week team lasts about an hour. We went with 15 weeks because that's what our attention span prefers. At the end of your time period, the party with the 270 electoral votes wins.

You have two options for your turn, campaign for votes or fundraise.

When you campaign, you chose three states to campaign in and then roll your 3 colored dice. One you roll you add up your dice total and that's how many votes you get to divide as you wish between the states you chose. Just take your chips and place them on the states. Finding the states is also a great way to study geography. lol

You can also fundraise. You are limited to the big vote states (NY, CA, FL, TX). You chose the state you fundraise in, roll, add your total. In the case of fundraising, you have to place half of what you rolled in the fundraising state but you can use the rest of the votes as you wish. Also, when you choose this option you get a politics card which will get you more votes to use right then or during another turn. The cards do not touch on any political issues, they just say things like "You own two rescue dogs. Animal rights people love you. Pick up 5 votes to be used any way you like."

Kevin and Mackenzie went for the big states. My strategy was to go for as many of the small states as I could nab.

The Genius Party pulled off the win!! I should rule the world. And yes, I know we don't have 270 votes but we were only playing for 15 turns.

All in all, it gave Mackenzie a good idea of how the electoral college works. (She thinks it's stupid and confusing. lol) That being said, this was not her favorite game. I think playing on a team and sharing the decision making took some of the fun out of it for her. My husband and I liked the strategy aspect of it. I think Mackenzie will enjoy it a little more when she's a tad older.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://thepresidentialgame.com

Age Range: 11+

Price: $35 + S/H

Review: Greene Bark Press Inc.

Greene Bark Press recently sent us their board book Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again by Ginger Pate. As you might imagine, this book is about crossing the street safely. Heaven knows that Kayleigh was in need of it. lol God's perfect timing!

About Greene Bark Press Inc.

Greene Bark Press is a family owned company based in Connecticut. They strive to publish original and imaginative materials to add to help young readers develop language and reading. They also carry a variety of other products that they feel will help stretch your child's mind. You'll find everything from books to manipulatives to puzzles and more.

Our Experience 

Kayleigh, age 5, was thrilled with the book right from the get-go. The charming and brightly colored pictures captured her interest and she demanded a reading right then. Never mind the dinner preparations I was in the midst of. So read it we did. Several times. Then that was the last that I saw of it for a few days as she had scampered off with it. lol

I finally found it. In her bed. She had been sleeping with it. Which should give you an idea of just how sturdy this book is. She is a nightmare in the bed. Rolls and thrashes like a wild beast. After a few days of those beatings the book still looked brand new.

The story is about a little duck named Wally Waddlewater (say that three times fast lol) who wants to mail a birthday card for his grandma. But first he has to make it to the post office across town. A town full of busy, traffic filled streets. Unfortunately for Wally, he isn't "street savvy" quite yet. Mother Duck takes him by the wing and teaches him about how to safely navigate through town.

Kayleigh loves the book. The pictures are so bright and colorful that she loves to look at it over and over. (This is what I found her doing with it in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping. lol) The illustrations are adorable, lots of of cute little animals. Kayleigh would crack up at the lion driving a red convertible or the snake in the fire truck.

The lesson within it's pages is a great one for young children.  After reading the book many times we practiced walking across the street by looking left, then right, make sure the cars are out of sight. Then look left again.  She caught on quick. And now if I don't look exactly like that when I cross the street (don't you dare look right first!) then I'll catch it from the ankle biter.  I guess that means the lesson was learned. lol

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.greenebarkpress.com

Age Range: 3-8

Pricing: $8. 50

Review: Beauty in the Heart

I was recently given an opportunity from Doorposts to review their new Bible study Beauty in the Heart: A Study of Godly Beauty for Young Women.

A study on Godly beauty is a very timely one for us as our Mackenzie is on the verge of becoming a teenager. In a world where young girls are encouraged to wear less and less, knowing God's standards for beauty is a very important topic for any parent of young girls to discuss.

About Doorposts

Doorposts seeks to provide parents with Biblically-based parenting and character training materials. Started by a busy mom of five, Doorposts offers a variety of products designed to help you raise a Godly child. They offer products for character training, Bible studies for mom, dad, boys, girls, and the entire family, scripture memorization, and more.

Our Experience

We received the Beauty in the Heart Bible Study in print format. Mackenzie, my 12 year old daughter, was away at various summer camps for half of the review period so I decided to do the study myself and see what it's all about.

The study teaches will teach your daughter what the Bible says about modesty, serving, and humility by focusing on Ruth, Sarah, and Esther. These are things that God considers to be true beauty. Who wouldn't love this for their daughter? All I have to do is turn on the tv or log onto facebook to see that these are areas that our society isn't too concerned about these days. I want my daughters to know that God is interested in their inward appearance, not on what they wearing. That alone is enough to sell me on this study.
But there's more. And it's really neat.

This study is also designed to help your daughter learn how to study the Bible. That's not even the cool part. The cool part is how they do it.

The book is made up of nine separate studies. Each study will teach your daughter a new way to study the Bible. They will learn how to do the following types of studies:

Inductive Study
Verse Study
Character Study
Book Study
Word and Topical Study
Chapter Study

I did not know that there were so many different ways to study the Bible. This excited me so much because I learned new and different ways to study God's word. And what a great gift to give you daughter that will benefit them for their entire lives. I  LOVE it!

I love how this study gets you digging into the Word. It teaches you how to outline the content of the passage, to study the original Greek and Hebrew, gather all of Scripture's words about a particular topic, use other resources to help you study your Bible and so much more.

The creator recommend that you get a topical Bible, concordance, and colored pencils to aid you in your study. I told you that you'd be learning to dig deeper. They also recommend digital resources for your iPad if the print versions are out of your budget.

This study is definitely a step-up from the types of studies that Mackenzie has done in the past. This is no "little girl" devotional. It is going to help her grow into a young lady and lead her to a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Teaching your daughter what true beauty is and how to study the Bible in a variety of ways is a double win in my book!!!

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.doorposts.com

Age Range: 10-12

Pricing: Pre-order for $14. Print books will ship by August 29.

And check out this special...

Use the coupon "beautystudy" during check-out and get a FREE instant download PDF when you pre-order.

Review: Draw to Learn by Notgrass

Isn't it nice when you can combine two subjects with one resource? That's exactly what you're able to do with the Draw to Learn series from the Notgrass Company. Art and Bible study all-in-one. Awesome!!!

About Draw to Learn

The Draw to Learn series is designed to provide your student with an art curriculum and a Bible study in one easy-to-use product. Your child learns about God's truth while completing a variety of drawings.

The series contains 5 volumes, Draw to Learn Acts, Proverbs, Psalms, Letters of Paul, and Learn the Life of Jesus. Each volume contains 150 lessons and are available in print or digital format.

It's so simple to use that your child can complete the lessons on their own. All they have to is:

Read the Bible passage.

Think about the meaning.

Draw a picture related to the passage.

Easy, right?

Our Experience

Mackenzie LOVES to draw so she was beyond thrilled when we received the print version of Draw to Learn Proverbs. The supplies that you need are minimal: a drawing pencil, a nice set of colored pencils, and, of course, the curriculum.

We started off by reading and discussing the passage together, then Mackenzie would draw a picture pertaining to the passage. Each lesson offered suggestions for what to draw. There will also suggestions at the front of the book on how to draw the pictures in general. Things like draw people first, use a model, and fill the entire page, for example.

Mackenzie was in love from the get go. Eventually, she stopped waiting for me to do the lesson with her and just did them. lol Then she'd show them to me and discuss what she learned. That method works well too.

What did Mackenzie think?

"I want to keep doing it for my Bible lessons. Forever."

Good thing they sent us the complete set in digital format. Her wish has been granted. But I would've gladly bought them all for her if they hadn't.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/

Age Range: All Ages

Pricing: $14.95 for print copies, $9.95 for digital format

Review: Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Bible Study Guide for All Ages is a product that I am very familiar with as I've used it with Mackenzie in the past. So I was very excited to see it pop up on our upcoming vendor list. I was even more excited when I was chosen to use the Beginner Level with Kayleigh.  Up until now, I've mainly just been reading Bible stories to her with memory verses and the occasional craft. Unfortunately that hasn't really been holding her interest. Not good. So I was beyond thrilled to try it with her.

About Bible Study Guide for All Ages

This product was created by a mom and Sunday school teacher, Mary Baker, who couldn't find a product suitable for her needs. So what does an enterprising mom do? She creates it herself and the Bible Study Guide for All Ages was born.

This program is set-up to cover the entire Bible over a four-year period giving the students "the big picture" as well as in-depth knowledge and how to apply the knowledge to their own lives. There are six levels available for pre-school through adults.

Each year of study is made up on one unit and each unit contains between 100-104 lessons. There are 4 lesson packs per unit.  All levels cover the same topics with age appropriate lessons. You can see the order of study HERE. What is fantastic about this set up is that if your student does Unit 1 using the beginner level but is ready for the next level upon completion, you can go ahead and get Unit 2 in the primary level. No need to redo Unit 1 in the next level because the same topics are studied in each level. Another perk of every level using the same text is that you can get the appropriate student pages for each student and the entire family will be studying the same lesson at their own level. How awesome is that?

Our Experience

We received the Beginner Student Pages (Lessons 1-26), Beginner Time Line, and the Children's Songs CD set.

The student pages are printed on legal size paper in black and white. All of the teacher's instructions are right there on the page. You use one page per lesson. The lesson includes:

     *Learn the Basics: Suggestions to use the Beginner Time Line and give the student the "big                
        picture."
     *Sing and Remember: Song suggestions to complement the lesson, teaches the books of the Bible
       in small increments, and review questions.
     *Get Active: Activities to get your student moving and prep them for the coming lesson.
     *Discover the Bible: The meat of the lesson. The teacher reads the lesson while the student  
       interacts  
       and responds by tracing, coloring, or crossing out pictures.
      *Apply It: Helps the student make connections from the story and apply them to their own lives.

The Beginner Time Line includes 34-full color cards printed on sturdy card stock. The cards cover key Bible stories and include a question to check learning. They are bright, colorful, and fun to look at. We've been posting the cards we're using on the wall near our circle time area so we can easily refer to them.

The Children's Song CD set includes 90 songs on 2 CDs. The CD includes many old favorites as well as some new ones that help the learning stick. 

This program is super easy to use, basically just open and go. All you need is some crayons and a Bible and you are good to go. We pretty much just went through the lesson as scripted. We began each lesson by reviewing the Time Line cards, then working our way through the books of the Bible and the review questions, and did the Get Active activity. Occasionally we had to skip the Get Active activity as it was better suited to group situations. 

When we get to the Discover the Bible section, which included the Scripture references as well as the scripted lesson, I'd read directly from the Bible first then we'd go through the scripted section and she'd follow along completing the work sheet activities. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES completing these activities. I found this surprising because she's generally very resistant to taking direction for any reason. lol

The best part is that Kayleigh has really been learning from this program. I can't believe that I didn't think of using this with her on my own. Better late than never though, right? 

My final thoughts...well I bought the rest of the lessons for Unit 1 so I guess that about sums up my feelings on this product. Two thumbs up!!!

F.Y.I.

Website: http://biblestudyguide.com

Age Range: pre-k through adult

Pricing: $5.95 per lesson pack, $19.95 for the CD set, $24.95 for the Beginner's Time Line

Review: Homeschool Programming Inc.

Mackenzie has been bugging me for.ev.er. to let her build a webpage. What do I know about building a webpage? Not much. I can edit the HTML on my blog a teeny bit but that's the extent of my knowledge.  I looked at some of the different programs out there but everything that I found was for PCs only. A bit of a let down for this MAC only family.

Imagine our surprise when we learned that  Homeschool Programming Inc. had created a web-based design curriculum? Imagine our glee when were we chosen to review their Kidcoder: Beginning Web Design.

About Homeschool Programming Inc

Homeschool Programming Inc. was created by an incredibly smart homeschooling couple. Like all homeschooling parents, they were out perusing for some curriculum for their children. A computer programing curriculum to be specific. Guess what they found? Nothing.

So being super smart about such things, they created one. One that a non-techie parent like me can understand and teach. And so the KidCoder and TeenCoder curriculum was born.

Our Experience

We reviewed the KidCoder: Beginning Web Design course. This one semester course was designed to teach students to create their on web site from scratch. We're talking hand coding HTML. Sounds daunting right? Not with this easy to use course.

The course covers:
     *Mark up concepts
     *Website layouts and files
     *Backing up projects
     *Essential HTML symbols
     *Styling of text
     *Using symbols and lists
     *Internal and external hyperlinks
     *Navigation bars and footers
     *Simple CSS effects
     *Spacing and positioning
     *Graphics and image editing
     *Tables

We received the product in e-book form and the download was seamless. I was also able to load it onto our iPad without a problem. My original plan was to have her read it from the iPad. Early on I changed my mind and printed it out chapter by chapter. She needed to to a lot of flipping back and forth to work through some of the assignments and it was easier to do this with printed pages. It's a lot of printing. I'd love to see a physical book.

For the purpose of this review we read through the lessons together and then she worked on the assignments. This isn't necessary though. She could easily read, understand, and work through it on her own but I wanted some knowledge for review purposes. I planned for us to work on one chapter a week. If you get stuck on something, help is only an email away. The customer service is quick and top notch. They'll work with you until your problem is solved.

To say that Mackenzie is excited about this course is the understatement of the year. She loves it and is always chomping at the bit to do "just one more lesson." One chapter a week was torture. lol She went to camp for a week and a half during the review period and she was on the computer "hand coding" not too long after her return. Isn't she super cool?

And it simply thrills her when she completes an assignment and her coding does exactly what the book says it will do, even if it's just a blank web page with a simple sentence on it. She was hooked from the first assignment. It's very rewarding to see your very own web page coming together bit by bit. And it's been a helpful for me and my blog too. I'm learning how to tweak things that are bothering me.

This course is a definite keeper. Mackenzie is looking forward to finishing it and moving on to the Advanced Web Design course. It's an easy and fun way for your student to learn a valuable skill and maybe a middle school or high school credit while they're at it. Love, love, love it!!!

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.homeschoolprogramming.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/HomeschoolProgramming

Age Range: 4th-12th grade

Pricing:

$70 for Beginning Web Design
$85 for Beginning Web Design w/DVDs
$20 for DVDs only
The Advanced Course will be out in August and priced the same as the beginner course
$145 for the Web Year Pack (Beginning and Advanced) with DVD,

Review: Christi the Coupon Coach

I don't know what it's like at your house but, these days, money is tight at our house. Between two children with a chronic illness, increased healthcare premiums on top of that, and a generous pay cut courtesy of our government, we need to start stretching the dollars that we have left.

And in his perfect timing, God provided a way for us to do just that. Enter Couponing Made Simple from Christi the Coupon Coach.

About Couponing Made Simple

In this book Coach Christi gives you a step-by-step plan to saving money with coupons. We're not talking extreme couponing that will take over your life. We're talking a simple system to help you organize and utilize coupons to their greatest potential, helping you stretch those hard earned dollars.
The book includes 10 chapters of easy reading. I read the whole thing in one night. Once I started I couldn't put it down.

     *Chapter 1 Success Stories
     *Chapter 2 A New Way to Shop
     *Chapter 3 The Language of Couponing
     *Chapter 4 Organization System
     *Chapter 5 Step-by-Step Process
     *Chapter 6 Tips and Tools
     *Chapter 7 Couponing Ethics
     *Chapter 8 Networking & Communicating
     *Chapter 9 Bonus Section
     *Chapter 10 Beyond Couponing
   

Our Experience

Like I previously mentioned, this book was easy to read. Next I gathered what I'd need to be successful. Organizing bin, shopping coupon box, accordion folder, computer, and a printer. So I grabbed my book, gathered up my newspapers (1 per family member), and got to saving using her 8-step plan.


First up, buying and organizing your newspaper coupons.  I realize that buying multiple Sunday papers sounds expensive  but there are ways to get them cheaply. I checked my local dollar store and I get them for a $1 a piece. Still not in your budget? There are tons of printable coupons that you can use too.

I pulled out all of the coupons, and store flyers, and separate them into piles. Scan the flyers for coupons, keep the ones that have them. Then you sort the coupon inserts. Some people cut them all art then and there. That doesn't sound like a good time to me so I was very thrilled with Coach Christi's alternative method. She prefers to stack each page of the inserts together to form one "super coupon insert" and store them that way, in a dated hanging file folder. Then you cut them as you need them. Genius!!!!

The next few steps involve finding deals and matching up coupons with the deals. Doing this is how you follow the two main rules of couponing, buying on sale and stacking coupons. I'm not going to go into the details of these steps, you'll need to read the book for that, but this can be the most time consuming portion. Coach Christi recommends finding websites that will help you find the deals and make the matches. There are websites dedicated to couponing that do this portion for you, Coach Christi will teach you how to find them. I found quite a few sites that I have been using frequently. They will list the items on sale, coupons (whether from a newspaper or a printable on line ) that can be used with the sale, and what the final cost should be.
I like to go through these sites and just copy and paste them into a word document to form my list. Then I go through my coupons and cut, or print, the ones that I need and head out to the store.

So does it work? I'd say so. With my best run I saved $129 in coupons with another $93 in savings using my store VIP card. That was more than 50% of my total cost this particular trip. My husband and I were practically giddy since we were buying for a Fourth of July party.

I've saved at least 30%, usually more, each time I shopped using the methods in Couponing Made Simple. And I'm getting a lot of stuff for free. I haven't had to pay for a bottle of BBQ sauce all summer. I'm sold.

If you are looking for an easy way to save money on your grocery bill, this book is worth a read.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://christithecouponcoach.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christi-The-Coupon-Coach/221126247948027

Age Range: all ages, my daughter even helped me out with this

Pricing: $18.00 for the physical book, $4.99 for the ebook