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I'm a wife to my "Mr. Right". A momma of five. A maker of slow food and simple living. A collector of memories, a keeper of books, and a champion for books that make memories. An addict who likes my half-and-half with a splash of coffee. A fractured pot transformed by the One Who makes broken things beautiful. I heart homeschooling, brake for libraries, and am glad you're here with me on the journey! Be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Or, follow along with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google +, Youtube, or Pinterest.

The Art of Strewing {Review and Giveaway}

The Art of Strewing Review & Giveaway-The Unlikely Homeschool

A few weeks ago while junkin' at a neighborhood garage sale, the Hubs came across a gently used guitar. He plunked down his $10 (It was marked at $15, but he's a picker, so he NEVER pays full price...but, I digress.), and headed home to show the kids. Not surprising, the new little treasure was passed from hand to hand as everyone clamored to strum a few "notes???". When Sweetie Pea took her turn, she picked at the strings and then casually mentioned how much easier the guitar would be to play if it came in a smaller package. (This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclaimer below.*)

"The smaller version's called a ukulele." the Hubs said nonchalantly.

A ukulele.


Just a few minutes of string strumin' plus two little words....and SPARK! a fascination of the ukulele was born. At the time, we did not own a ukulele. We did not personally know anyone who played the ukulele. But, we did own a computer. The Hubs helped her download a ukulele app on our ipad and searched for a few youtube tutorials that she could watch.

She sat for days eagerly listening and learning.

And then came the eBay searches. She had been saving 40% of her allowance for months but did not have a clear vision of how to spend it. When she realized that she had more than enough to purchase a basic ukulele, she asked permission to make a "splurge" purchase with her savings. Not wanting to hamper her independent learning, we agreed.

We've been "privileged" to hear the "gentle" sounds of luau music wafting around the house ever since.

The Art of Strewing Review & Giveaway-The Unlikely Homeschool

Quite accidentally, when the Hubs brought home that $10 garage sale find, he ignited a curiosity in our girl. A curiosity that grew into hours of independent, organic learning.

Quite accidentally, he STREWED.

Strewed?? What in the world does that mean?



The Art of Strewing Review & Giveaway-The Unlikely Homeschool


Recently, I had the opportunity to read The Art of Strewing, by Aadel Bussinger, and learned that strewing, as she mentions in this fascinating little eBook, is...

"sowing or scattering things to spark the interest of our children." 

Quite simply, just as a farmer sows seeds hoping to grow all kinds of good things, a homeschool mom can sow seeds of learning in hopes of growing curiosity. It is an idea formulated by Sandra Dodd and embraced by the unschooling community.

I am not an unschooler. But, as an eclectic homeschooler, I find value in ALL schooling methods. I feel privileged to be able to take the "good" and leave the "bad" of all methods and toss them together to make a hodge-podge, a la carte-style education perfectly suited for each of my kiddos.

So, while I may not adopt all the tenants of unschooling, I DO try to weave organic learning into our school day. And that, apparently, is what strewing is all about!

Admittedly, it is easier said than done.

How DO you ignite and foster a curiosity...a passion...about something completely unfamiliar to you or your children? When and where do you start? What if your budget is limited and you can't purchase all the fun, fancy activity kits and new ukuleles that your child desires?

Enter The Art of Strewing.


The Art of Strewing Review & Giveaway-The Unlikely Homeschool

What I liked about The Art of Strewing

Aadel's conversational style made me feel like I was sittin' in the coffee house with a homeschool veteran getting a one-on-one, Titus 2 tutorial about year-round gentle schooling. I was inspired. I was encouraged. I was shown how POSSIBLE it is to arouse learning without relying on a lesson plan or boxed curriculum.

As a girl who enjoys exhausting a topic and all of its angles, I appreciated all the many links that Aadel included. After reading her book and following all of the links to other well-written articles and online resources, I feel confident that I received a thorough introduction to strewing.

Although I did not know the "official" name for it, I had been dabbling in the art of strewing since the inception of our homeschooling. This practical guide reinforced how I already nurture curiosity in my kids and provided me with the tools and helpful hints to do it better!

The Art of Strewing Review & Giveaway-The Unlikely Homeschool

The Nitty-Gritty of The Art of Strewing

  • Retail value $2.15
  • 44 pages
  • share about the book on social media via Aadel's BUY NOW link and save 25%
For more information, be sure to visit Aadel Bussinger on FACEBOOK or Twitter.

Want to win a free copy?




Now's your chance to grab your very own copy of The Art of Strewing for FREE! Two lucky readers will win. Just follow the simple instructions from Rafflecopter. There are several chances to enter. Just click on the +sign for every entry you wish to make.

No purchase necessary to win. Must be 18 years old or older and have a US address to enter. Two winners will be randomly selected via Rafflecopter and announced Wednesday, July 31, 2013. The winners will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond.  If emails are not provided or the winners do not respond, the prize(s) will be forfeited and a new winner(s) will be randomly selected. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook.

***Mandatory Entry: To enter, be sure to leave a comment in the "comments" section of this post telling me why you would like to win The Art of Strewing. (Remember, simply leaving a comment does not ensure entry. You also have to click the +5 after you have commented.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**I was given a copy of The Art of Strewing in exchange for a thorough review.  All opinions expressed were true and completely my own.  I am not responsible if your experiences vary.

29 comments:

  1. This book sounds so great! I am a soon-to-be mama fascinated with all of the opportunities that homeschooling affords out (future) children. I'd love to read this book and learn more!

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  2. My daughter is only 3.5, but I am starting to gather resources regarding homeschooling. I have already noticed that she doesn't respond well to traditional style schooling, so I'm eager to learn different methods. This book sounds fascinating!

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  3. I have been staring at my homeschool plan for next year for my 3rd and 1st graders and it's so structured and curriculum driven and I wonder how I will get it all done. I keep thinking I should scrap the curriculum in order to make learning more fun, spontaneous and child driven. I think this book would give me some ideas how to incorporate those ideas into our plan so they can work together.

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  4. This sounds like an awesome book and I LOVE the idea of a ukulele! I just might have to plant this idea in my boys- they love strumming on our old guitar but it is much to big for them to play...

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  5. I started homeschooling my now almost 7 year old son 2 years ago. In these last two years I've learned so much about my son's learning style, my teaching abilities and how to balance his learning with taking care of our other 2 toddlers (a 3 year old boy and 2 year old girl). Apparently some of what I've been doing is "strewing". My hands-on boy loves learning organically and I love supporting him in his quests. Winning this book would be a wonderful addition to our strewing behavior. I would really love to learn more about it!

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  6. We're just starting our homeschool journey and I love to learn about all the methods. Strewing seems like a natural extension of the type of teaching I did/do in the early years, and I'd love some more info! Thanks for the opportunity!

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  7. I had not heard to strewing as a way of teaching. I cna only imagine how much more there is to learn in the book!

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  8. I would love to learn about the art of strewing! Sounds like this book provides some fun ideas and the tools to nurture curiosity in my kids.

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  9. I would be very interested in reading this book. It's something I find myself wanting to do...encouraging my kids to be independent learners and showing them that learning opportunities surround us everywhere we go, every day of our lives. I think I'm probably over-thinking it. I think this book might help me organize my own thoughts and ideas on the topic.

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  10. This sounds like a very interesting book, and what parent wouldn't love to help their children learn? I would like to win this book to be able to help my son see something he would be interested in.

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  11. I would like to win this for my girls, we are new to homeschooling and this looks like it would be a great help
    cowgirlmama41 atyahoo.com

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  12. I would like to win this because I believe in a natural way of learning for kids and this would be a great addition.

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  13. This book sounds so inspirational which is exactly what I need. With a 10, 12 and 14 year old (not to forget little miss 2), I am always trying to find ways to keep learning fun and exiting.

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  14. I love the idea of strewing and would love to read more about other peoples ideas and how they do it. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  15. I currently homeschool 5 children and think this book would offer some new ideas to add to our homeschool.

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  16. I'd love this to help me with my 5 boys.

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  17. I homeschool my two boys (4yrs and 6yrs respectively) and struggle with ideas of introducing topics to them. They are very active and curious little guys, and any help on this home school journey would be greatly appreciated. They hate formal learning because of the short time they went to a play school, so unschooling or informally introducing them to the world, is my best option at the moment.

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  18. I tend to lean to the way of structure and believe that this is not the way to go but need guidance on how to let go and relax. I think this book would be an easy way to give me some ideas on how to do this.

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  19. I loved homeschooling my girls- they had a natural curiosity about EVERYTHING. However, my boys seem to have extremely limited interests and I am desperate to find ways to get them to love learning new things. It sounds like this book might would help me. Thanks for the offering the giveaway.

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  20. I'd like to win a copy so that I can learn more about strewing! My interest is definitely piqued!

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  21. I'd like to win a copy because this sounds like a great way to add some pain-free learning into our homeschool. We're transferring from public school this year, so I'm looking for ways to teach my kids that learning is fun again.

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  22. I'm in the UK so not commenting for the giveaway, I just wanted to say thanks for bringing this book to my attention. I love to strew, and anything that will help me do it better is worth reading! I found your blog via carianthony - I'm happy I did :-)

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    1. ps I just noticed it's an eBook so maybe I can win after all!

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  23. This would be neat as I am starting my first year of homeschooling!

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  24. I love to see my girls learning and expanding their minds with curiosity. I would love to have this book as a guide to help foster their love of learning.

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  25. A friend put me onto strewing a while back. She has a couple of photo frames on the wall and she simply changes the pictures in them every so often. The picture could be of a famous person or simply a piece of art which then starts a conversation which is a great way to strew with older children. Would love to win this book but even if I don't think I will have to buy it!

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  26. We started "officially" unschooling in January and this sounds like are really great resource for a "newbie"!

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  27. Strewing was one of the first things I heard about from a classical homeschooling friend. It sounds interesting!

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  28. This is the first time I've heard this phrase, and it's what I am trying to do with my children as we all learn best when we're interested in something.

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