A Talk, A Giveaway, and My New Shop

I’m speaking again! This time, I’m going LIVE on August 6 at 4:30 pm EST and my talk is:

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty: A Morning Basket for All Ages

Register here. The talks will be free and recorded (if you miss the live) will be available through August 10, but you can sign up for the VIP pass and have access to almost 70 unique and helpful talks, all designed to help you homeschool! (I’m offering a giveaway if you sign up, so read on…)

The Morning Basket – that humble little idea I had over 14 years ago that turned into so much more than I could have ever imagined! It’s our anchor for the day, our “good enough” if a day falls apart or is derailed, and is the vehicle for truth, goodness, and beauty. Over the years, I put this Morning Basket of mine to the test – crisis schooling, lots of kids, toddlers, high schoolers – and every time I challenged this idea, it showed me how it could bend and flex to meet me in every season.

This week, as I was planning for next year’s Morning Basket, one of my adult (homeschool graduate) kids walked through the room and glanced at my books for this year’s Morning Basket. He saw my Shakespeare book open to Julius Caesar and immediately began quoting the play. How many years ago did we read Julius Caesar in a former Morning Basket with him? Years! Yet, there in his imagination and memory are lodged all of the memories of time spent appreciating and uncovering the true, good, and beautiful! And that’s what I want to encourage you toward! Because that moment when my son started spontaneously quoting Shakespeare – that was my homeschool paycheck!

This simple idea, nurtured in a very slow-and-steady way, will transform your child’s intellect and imagination! And in today’s talk, I’m going to share how this basket came to be, how it has functioned over the years, how it meets all ages – from preschool to high school, and how to build your own with a free printable that you’ll receive if you sign up for the conference!!

AND…..I have more news to share with you!

I’m so excited to announce that I have realized a dream of mine! My own shop!

Of the many ways I share with you, I hope that my shop is another avenue through which I can serve this community!

Right now, I have printables for home and for home education for sale in my shop. I plan to add to my collection regularly.

I will continue to offer free printables, but these may migrate over to my shop eventually.

You can get to my shop easily! The url is pretty easy to remember – jenmackintosh.com. And you’ll always be able to find a direct link using the navigation ribbon on my website – just look for the word, “shop.” (see picture above)

My first printable set is one that I worked hard to build and assemble for you! This 23 page set of printables – The Ultimate Lesson Planner Kit – is for anyone lesson planning, distance learning or homeschooling and is designed to facilitate lesson planning using my 20 years of experience!

I formatted everything very minimally, with clean lines, because I don’t want this printable set to be overwhelming visually!

Arrange it and use it in the way that fits your family!

This kit contains:

• A cover and intro page for your planner
• Attendance record pages for:
  • Those who follow a semester schedule
  • Those who follow a term schedule
• My 4 step homeschool 101 kit
  • Define your “why”
  • Learn and identify your state’s homeschool laws and regulations
  • Determine “how” you need to plan for education by identifying strengths, challenges, and your own needs
  • Put it all together by considering the different homeschool methods to find your family’s unique path!
• Booklist pages for:
  • Those who follow a semester schedule
  • Those who follow a term schedule
• Supplies and Curriculum Wishlist page
• Big Picture Assignment tracker for
  • Those who follow a semester schedule
  • Those who follow a term schedule
• Daily Time Blocking instruction and worksheet to help you block your days
• Monthly Insert with notes section (undated)
• Monthly Themes Insert
• Lesson Plans and Daily Rhythm 2 page spread
  • Formatted for you to plan horizontally or vertically
  • Includes a space for you to note your week
  • Includes a space for weekly memory work
  • 8 vertical columns
  • 6 horizontal (multi-lined) rows
• A weekly schedule page to include on a clipboard, or in your child’s notebook (or laminate to use with a wet erase marker)
• An Early Years planning checklist with suggestions for a gentle curriculum for children under the age of 6
• A High School Plan with instructions to help parents of children approaching high school set up a four year plan for high school.
• A Weekly Preparation sheet to help you set your week up for success
• A Weekly Meeting sheet to help you assess your child’s week in order to encourage strengths and assist children with challenges.
• My 2 page kit to help you build your own Morning Basket of work anchored to the True, Good, and Beautiful.

I priced it to get it into your hands without a budget burden – for the price of a drive thru value meal, you can get a lesson planner kit to use with your entire family! It is $8.99 now until August 7, when the price will increase to $12.99.

You can print it and punch it for a discbound notebook or a 3 ring binder, or you can use it on a clipboard, or use it with your ipad/tablet and the Goodnotes pdf editing app and customize this printable set – and then print! If you have Adobe Acrobat or Preview for mac you can also edit by adding fields of text to the document – and then print.

I hope my little shop and the creations I share will continue to serve this community I love so much!

Ok – let’s combine these two pieces of news into a GIVEAWAY!!!

If you register for the conference and purchase the VIP pass using