Why am I not surprised that Laura of Heavenly Homemakers is a trained elementary teacher? I am, too, along with my English degree, so even though I am not called to homeschool, I can give you a pretty professional opinion of an academic curriculum.

Learn your Letters, Learn to Serve downloadable kit to teach your child the basics of letters and sounds while also building a strong foundation of servitude in the Christian life.

Although I taught 3^rd grade, I did a lot of research into early reading and literacy acquisition (the fancy teacher phrase for “how kids learn to read, write and speak”) in college. I know a quality product when I see it, one that will allow a child to be immersed in the beauty that is language, forming cross-curricular connections (the fancy teacher phrase for integrating “real life” into reading) and understanding sounds without any complaint. I can’t even begin to count the number of skills, both life skills and academic skills, included in this curriculum.

Looking through this book makes me wish I was disciplined enough to homeschool. I guarantee that when Leah is ready for letters, she and I will be using Learn your Letters, Learn to Serve while big brother is at school! Right now we’re doing a few Montessori works like matching colors and small motor skills, but I can’t wait to start a letter a week.

I was a little daunted by the $45 price tag, but now that I’ve seen it, I know it’s worth every penny. If you’ve ever purchased an actual curriculum for a homeschool student, you’ll know that they are pricey. They are comprehensive, with parent planners, lesson plans, workbook pages, book lists, additional activities, craft templates and project instructions, and Laura’s curriculum is nothing less than complete.

It takes eleven downloads and…how many pages? I told you English was my major, not Math! You won’t need another reading, writing, social studies, religion, Bible study, or maybe even Science curriculum. You might need Math. I might need Math! Click HERE to see more.

Good practice

You can tell a real teacher wrote this:

I found it difficult to know how to phonetically write the letter sound you should be teaching your child. If you notice in each “Sing the Sound” tunes, I generally put something like, “The letter Bb says bbb”. You know the sound of the letter, so ignore my lack of ideas on how to write it out well for you. I did not want to write the phrase as “The letter Bb says b” because I didn’t want that to be read as “bee”.

In addition, I caution against teaching the sounds with an “uh” sound at the end. Bb does NOT say buh. Be careful to keep the sound short and do not add an “uh” at the end. If I child learns to put an “uh” at the end of each word, they might struggle when the time comes to put letters together into words. “Bag” can become “Buh-aaa-guh” and well…that just gets confusing.

The curriculum includes:

• a phonics song for each letter
• cooking and baking activities
• extensive children’s book ideas for each letter
• a Bible verse for each letter
• more projects, crafts, and practice activities than you could do in four weeks for each letter (you’re supposed to pick and choose what fits your child and family best), along with templates for many of the activities, making prep very easy on you.
• planning pages
• writing practice pages for each letter
• instructions for parents about how one goes about teaching a child letters, sounds, and ultimately reading and writing. If you’re not a teacher by trade, you’ll really appreciate this little tutorial.

Click HERE to order or read more about it.

Best of all, Laura intersperses notes from a real homeschooling mom – herself! – sharing her wisdom after nine years of schooling her four boys, from the three year olds to the new teenager. It’s clear that a veteran wrote the text, and you’ll love the good dose of encouragement you’ll feel after rubbing shoulders with Laura the Teacher.

More eBooks Available

Until this point, Laura’s eBook specialty (and she’s got lots of them!) was in the kitchen. With titles like What to do with the Chicken in your Kitchen, Have your cookie…and eat it, too!, and the Guide to Gardening and Preserving, you’ll find so many recipes and tips to help you in your real food lifestyle. Laura uses healthy fats, soaks grains here and there, and avoids white sugar (a whole dessert book with natural sweeteners!). All these eBooks are under $10, some for $3-5. It’s worth perusing Laura’s shop to see what else you can find.

Coupon Code

Laura was kind enough to offer KS readers a coupon code good for 10% off anything in the shop, from Totally Tortillas to Learn your Letters, Learn to Serve. Use KITCHENSTEW at checkout anytime between now and October 1st to take advantage of the deal. Click HERE to shop!

Bonus Prizes

In addition to a copy of the entire curriculum of Learn your Letters, Learn to Serve, one winner will also win the following goodies for their preschool children:

1. One Frugal Granola mini reusable bowl cover, your choice of pattern ($7 value)
2. One Ecousable stainless steel water bottle, 10 oz, blue cars design ($11 value)
3. $25 gift certificate to Nubius Organics
4. Blue Lizard Baby SPF 30 sunscreen, 8.75 oz. bottle ($27 value)

Frugal Granola sells 100% organic cotton supplies like baby wipes, reusable snack and sandwich bags (reviewed here), and these reusable, elastic bowl covers for covering the ever-present food-that-child-didn’t-finish when you stash it in the fridge for the next meal. The larger bowl covers could also protect leftovers for storage. They’re 100% plastic-free and doggone cute.

Ecousable‘s water bottle has quickly become my daughter’s favorite. It fits in her car seat cup holder and is super cute. I would highly recommend purchasing a sport bottle top for on-the-go use. See my review of the products here.

Nubius Organics is an online store packed with so many eco-friendly options you won’t believe it. From BPA-free baby bottles to stainless steel lunch packing supplies, Snack Taxi reusable bags (see my review of those here) and bamboo kitchen tools. They even sell organic jewelry, cloth napkins and safe body products. I first met Judy, the owner of Nubius, when she helped out during the natural sunscreen review. I remain so impressed by Nubius’s commitment to quality and safety. It’s going to be way too easy for the winner to find $25 worth of products!

The Blue Lizard is just because I have an unopened bottle from the natural sunscreen review, and I won’t run out of sunblock for years! It’s not one of my favorites, I’ll be honest, but it does a decent job and is rated safe at EWG.

Enter Here!

If you’d like to win the Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve curriculum ($45 value) plus bonuses, follow the directions below to enter. Giveaways at Kitchen Stewardship are run via a survey, which means comments on this post do not count (and will be deleted). In the long run, this is quicker for you if you go for extra entries. 

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GIVEAWAY CONTEST.GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED; THANKS FOR ENTERING

There are 12 possible entries! Here’s what you can do to win:

1. Mandatory Entry: Visit Laura’s shop and tell me the title of the FREE eBook she offers OR visit the Learn your Letters, Learn to Serve page and tell me your favorite activity from the free sample lesson.
2. Visit any of the other sponsors of the giveaway and tell me your favorite item at the site: Frugal Granola, Ecousable and Nubius Organics. One entry for each sponsor!
   
3. Subscribe in a reader or via email to Kitchen Stewardship (or tell me if you already do).
4. Subscribe to Heavenly Homemakers in a reader or by e-mail.
5. Follow @kitchenstew and @HeavnlyHomemakr on Twitter AND tweet this:
   I’m entered to win @HeavnlyHomemakr ’s #homeschool preschool curriculum & #green goodies @kitchenstew http://bit.ly/b50ZVl ($100 value)
6. “Like” Kitchen Stewardship on Facebook.
7. Email 5 friends about this giveaway along with the link to it. (Email subscribers can forward their message.)
8. Stumble or Digg your favorite post or recipe at Kitchen Stewardship (you can use the Share This icon at the bottom of the post). What is Stumble?
9. If you have a blog or website, post about this giveaway linking back to this post.
10. Enter another giveaway at Kitchen Stewardship this week, either HERE, HERE or HERE.

I will use random.org’s integer generator to choose the winner.  The giveaway is open only to U.S. residents, although if international residents would like to enter, they could still win the curriculum kit and another name would be drawn for the physical prizes. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, September 27th, and I’ll post the winners the very next day. Don’t forget about the 10% off coupon code KITCHENSTEW!

If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

Disclosure:  I received product samples to review from each sponsor.  I am an affiliate of Heavenly Homemakers and Nubius Organics, which means I receive a commission from any purchases starting here at KS. I would probably help Laura sell her stuff anyway, though, because she’s simply a lovely person who does good work. See my full advertising disclosure here.