Sharing Saturday 14-51

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! While I was busy taking care of my sick little girl, many amazing ideas were shared as well as a few germs since now I have the illness. Our features are completely holiday related. With the start of Hanukkah this week there are a few Hanukkah Features and then lots of Christmas Features including a section on Christmas trees (crafts and crafts for the tree).

Hanukkah Features

1) From Living Montessori Now: Free Hanukkah Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time

2) From Royal Little Lambs: Celebrating Light

Mutlicultural Product Review: Dutched Up! Rocking the Clogs Expat Style

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book to review free of charge from Multicultural Kid Blogs as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today's post is about a wonderful new e-book written by a group of bloggers who live in the Netherlands. The book is Dutched Up! Rocking the Clogs Expat Style by Olga Mecking, Lynn Morrison, et. al. Many of the authors are also members of Multicultural Kid Blogs. This book is an adult book but many of the stories can be shared with children as well.

Have you ever considered moving to a new country? Did you ever wonder what it might be like to adjust to the different culture there? I know I think about it when I watch HGTV's House Hunters International. Then it is more about just the different home styles--room size, kitchen differences, etc. This book shares stories from women who came from all over the world to live in the Netherlands. The women describe some of the things they had to adjust to in this new country. The stories are divided into twelve chapters and share the tales of everything from culture shock to doctor's visits, transportation to throwing a party and so much more. 

Some common themes are the height differences and the bicycles. Did you know Dutch people are among the tallest people around and their homes show it? Or that most Dutch people own multiple bicycles since it is a major form of transportation? The stories shared are funny and real. Some will make you cry and all of them will give you a better picture of what it is like to live in the Netherlands and perhaps give you insight into things to consider before moving to a new country. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Dutch culture or is considering a move to a new country or just wants to be entertained. I hope you will check it out!

Multicultural Product Review -- Celebrate Christmas Around the World

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Multicultural Kid Blogs as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I am going to review for you a wonderful Christmas product. It is a e-book/packet to learn about Christmas celebrations in other countries and is published by Multicultural Kid Blogs. It seems like the perfect time to share this with you since we just did our Christmas in Different Lands post yesterday. Plus Christmas is on Hazel's mind. She has been home sick much of this week but started to get bored and decided to play Mary.

Christmas in Different Lands -- New England

This post is part of the Christmas in Different Lands series from Multicultural Kid Blogs.  Be sure to visit the main page and Pinterest board!

This year instead of investigating what Christmas is like in another country, I decided to share Christmas in our neck of the woods. Of course then I had to wonder "What defines Christmas time in New England?" 
 

Map of New England Source

In many ways I often feel like Christmas time is a step back in time in parts of New England. Many houses (and almost all the churches) are still decorated with white lights on the tree, candles in the windows and a wreath on the door. I tried to get a picture of our church at night, but the candle light seems to blur.

My First Chess Book -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

My husband loves chess though he hardly ever plays anymore. He has a collection of chess boards around the house so Hazel has always been curious about chess. I have only played chess a handful of times in my life. I was taught by a boyfriend from high school/college time and played a few times since dating him. I am not much competition for Steve. I thought My First Chess Book by Jessica E. Prescott could help us teach Hazel how to play and hopefully help improve my game. 

Now the book says it is for children aged seven and more. Hazel will be sick this month. I figured we would try it anyway. The book starts with an introduction to the game and how each piece can move. It also describes how the squares on the board are labeled to be able to discuss them (letters along the horizontal and numbers along the vertical so each square has a unique letter and number combination). Next the book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is to teach Piece Movement. This is the chapter we are focusing on right now for Hazel. In fact we will probably not get past the first lesson for quite awhile. I want to know she understands each lesson before moving forward. The first lesson is called Pawn Football. It uses four pawns of each color and is a two person game. The winner of the game is the first to get a pawn to the other side. There are a few lesson built within this game. The first being that the pawns must work together to get across. And of course to understand how the pawn moves.