How to Teach Multiplication Tables

At the suggestion of a teacher at our school, we discovered a fun and effective way to teach multiplication tables at home. We had been using flashcards, but were not making much progress, so a teacher suggested using Schoolhouse Rock. There is a DVD that contains all of the Schoolhouse Rock songs ever broadcast. My kids and I agreed that in place of flashcards, they would watch the multiplication song for whatever number we were working on for 15 minutes every morning before school and then take a 100 problem test on that number and I would time them to see how fast they could finish. It took only a short time for my 4th grader to know all of the times tables well enough to pass them off.

After they memorized the Schoolhouse Rock songs, we moved on to games. Right now we are playing War with flashcards. My two boys in 5th and 2nd grade play for 15 minutes in the morning before school starts. They split the deck of flashcards in half and take turns turning over a card from their decks. The first person to answer the problem correctly wins the card, and the first person to have all of the cards wins (if there is time...) This is working great! In just a few days they are much faster, and they love it! Here are some links to Schoolhouse Rock DVDs:

Schoolhouse Rock Anniversary Edition (contains all the songs)

Interactive Schoolhouse Rock Multiplication DVD

New Disney Movies Coming This Year

Disney movies are a great way to make the most of your money! Our family loves to get together and go see a Disney movie in the theater, or watch one at home for what we call our "Family Movie Night" on Saturday night. We often learn great life lessons from Disney movies. So here are some of the upcoming Disney movies for this year. Enjoy! :)

EARTH (April 22)



UP (May 29)



Okay here's one more for UP, just because I love it so much...



G-Force (July 24)



Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (Fall 2009)



The Princess and the Frog (December 12)



Lots of good popcorn nights coming!

How to Save Money on Your Grocery Bill

1. Plan a simple two-week menu. This will help you create a shopping list of dinners you have planned, other meals, and staples.
2. Shop with a list. Shopping with a list helps to decrease impulse buying. It helps to cross things off as you buy them and shop with the intention of only buying what is on your list, unless there is a really good sale on a staple item.
3. Buy in bulk. Lots of stores sell bulk items for less. These are sometimes less expensive than buying larger quantities, and also save gas money and travel time. Check the price per lb./oz./item to compare. Sometimes on things like Peanut Butter, Macaroni and Cheese, Pasta, and Tomato Sauce it's hard to find a better deal than you can get just buying in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco.
4. Stock up on sale items. When Cream of Chicken Soup goes on sale for 50 cents a can, I buy as much as I can carry home! Also our favorite cereals are handy to buy a few boxes on sale, and when there is a good price on meat, I buy several and freeze some, or rearrange my menu to fit it in during the week.
5. Buy simple and unprepared foods. If you buy sliced cheese, baked goods, prepared fruit, etc. you usually have to pay for the labor to prepare the food and sometimes special packaging as well.
6. Rotate your pantry. Using a rotating pantry helps you to waste less by using everything you buy before it expires.

7. Renovate leftovers. Sometimes giving your leftovers a little boost can save money and be as good as creating a whole new meal! This works well with lightly seasoned chicken (crockpot chicken is ideal), beef, and pork. Even vegetables can be made over with a little cheese sauce or cream of mushroom soup mixed in.
8. Get a dry-erase board and keep a running list. When you run low on a staple item through the week, add it to the list. This keeps you from having to make multiple trips to the store throughout the week, using valuable time and gasoline money.

9. Check ads and clip coupons. Sometimes a certain store has just the right thing on sale, and it's worth it to make a trip there just to stock up. I do most of my shopping at our local Stater Brothers because I find the best day-to-day values there, and I mostly use the same things so don't need a larger variety. Coupons are very useful when I only clip the ones I use regularly.

10. Keep track of how much you spend. Sometimes I'm surprised at how much I spend on things I don't really need. Snack foods like cookies, crackers, chips, etc. are really expensive. If I make my own, I spend less and eat less because there are usually fewer to share. :)