The Avion My Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher.

A historical fiction, adventure, spy story.  Great boys book! 

I read this to my son ages ago and still recall how much we enjoyed it.  The main character, a boy named Johny Littlehorn,  is in France visiting an uncle and doesn't know any french.  As the story progresses he learns more and more words (and so do you). By the end of the book you can read some french. In fact the final 2 pages are all in the french that you've learned throughout the course of the story. We had a lot of fun doing accents. Unfortunately I know zero french so I had no idea if I was pronouncing things even close. Probably not, but it was alot of fun. And there is lots of history involved too. 

Here is what is on the back cover:

Johnny Littlehorn is on his way to France to live with his Uncle Paul. But what starts of as an exciting trip soon turns into a frightening adventure. A strange man trails Johnny throughout Paris and seems to follow him to his uncle's home in small St. Charmant. And then, as Johnny explores the town with his new friends, he comes to realize something even worse: A Nazi spy is hiding in the mountains, hatching an evil plan. Could the two men be one and the same? And can Johnny foil the villainous plot?

Enjoy!

My oldest son and I just finished up a series of dvd's with a local youth group.  We don't usually do youth groupy type stuff but this group is made up of mostly kids that we know from his AWANA group.  So we decided to try it.  I am SO GLAD that we made the effort to go.  AND I am SO GLAD that I decided to sit in, since we live too far for me to drive home and back again.  We just finished up the series this evening.  I highly recommend it to all who are truly interested in sharing thier faith.

The leader of our group described it as - Take the show survivor, throw in the good news, and you have  "The Gospel Journey" 

This series features 7 students from all walks of life - (and I do mean ALL - a preachers kid, an athiest, a jehovah's witness, a wiccan...) some saved, some not.  These kids who do not know each other are all taken to the Rocky Mountains where the Gospel story is shared with LOVE. Using this acronym-

Greg, the preacher who serves as a guide, is amazing!  He is so incredibly unjudgmental as he shares his faith and the gospel.  No pressure is applied as the students share thier thoughts and questions, and some great conversations happen.

They have the first section of the series online if you want to view it.

Here is a brief description fom the website.

Seven students. Six days. One unforgettable journey.

What happens when you bring together seven unlikely strangers, throw them right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and take them on a journey through the gospel message as it unfolds throughout the story of the Bible? Raw, real and riveting discussions, an emotional breakdown or two and a few shocking surprises!

The Gospel Journey   - Dare 2 Share ministries

Here is another fantastic math resource.  The Math Worksheet site.  

The Math Worksheet Site

I mentioned recently in another post about Dr Aardsmaas math drills that my kids dislike worksheet math.   Well  there comes a time when pencil just must be put to paper.  This site is a great resource for practice sheets for those concepts that are giving our kids trouble.  In fact I could easily see how one could just use the resources from this site for a whole curriculum!

I went to check out the site expecting worksheets for the basic four operations in math.  To my surprise and delight there are PAGES of TONS of different types of worksheets.   

For now I will be using this as a supplement to our curriculum.  Then we can spend as much time as needed on each concept before moving on in our curriculum.  But who knows?!?   Maybe next year I could use just this site for all my kids. What a deal that would be!  Their prices are amazingly low especially when you look at the worksheets you have at hand.  All your kids could be using this site for one price.  

A few clicks of the mouse and you print up worksheets on the specific skill you want to work on ~ with answer keys.  This is not just a collection of worksheets already made.  They are made as you request them.  Each time you generate a worksheet it is different.  I have one son who managed to memorize some of the worksheet drills that we used to use. (and I don't mean the problems and answers, that would have been good, he knew the order of answers across the rows)  With this I can print the same type of problems but they will always be new. 

I have e-mailed the owners and had wonderful communications with Denise. (Hi Denise thanks again!)   They are a homeschooling family and the husband is the computer whiz who did up this site.  He did a fantastic job of making it easy to use.   

I would recomend this site as a great resource for homeschooling parents with kids of all ages,  for that matter it would even be great for after schoolers or public schools.

Go and check it out.  It will be worth your time.  Let me know what you think. 

2-5-06

I just decided to edit this post.  I had a long list of all the worksheets available but it makes this entry very long. And the fomatting of a long column is not very easy to see. 

If you will click on the link I included, it will take you to a page where you can see samples of the worksheets and print some up yourself (free!) to see how easy it is. 

Then be sure to click on  preview,  you will be taken to a preview page of the subscribers section. It is there that ALL of the available worksheets are listed, and it is much easier to see what's available. 

Have a great day!

I just found a new resource for drill work that I love. 

Do your kids just love flash cards? (mine not really)   How about paper and pencil drills? ( mine  - YUCK!!)   It is something that I always feel is important....however.... it is always the first thing to get put aside.   Or the kids get bored with it and motivation is extreeeemly low. 

I have a few math games but there was lots of game and only a bit of math involved.  

The one drill that I have and both the kids and I do like is Quarter Mile Math. The kids love to play the race, and I love that there is a whole lot of math involved.  But, I found that if I were not there looking at what problems the boys were choosing to do,  they would do very simple addition because they could get faster and faster.  WHICH IS FINE!!!  But they also need to work on the harder problems as well.

I then found out about Dr Aardsma's Math and Spelling software.  This computer drill detects what your student knows and what he misses, and reviews and adds harder content automatically.  The students can then print up a report, wich shows their score for each drill.  Now for motivation ~ the boys know they must score at least a certain percentage.  I chose 80%.   The drill tracks speed as well as accuracy so the boys are motivated to be accurate and quick.  Just what we wanted!! 

The spelling drills work the same way, and the report that is printed up shows what words they have done and what they need to work on.  You can also set the program to follow some major homeschool publishers programs - We are a bit eclectic and so I just chose the default. 

Let me know if you use these and what you think. 

Dr. Aardsma's Math Drill CD-Rom By Mark Aardsma / Aardsma Technology Services Memorization of the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts is essential for success in mathematics. For many years teachers have taught math facts with manual flashcard drills. This CD-ROM gives you automatic flash cards drills on your computer - sharpening your students' math skills and saving hours of your time. It automatically tailors each flash-card drill to the unique needs of the individual student- spending more time on his or her weak areas. It reinforces quick recall by setting speed expectations based on each student's own past performance. It makes instant adjustments that maximize results and are impossible with manual flash card drills. Grades 1 through 6. System requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME< XP, or 2000. Aardsma Research & Publishing.

Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drill CD-ROM, Grades 5 & 6 By Aardsma Technology Services Good spelling skills are important for success in school, and in many areas of ife, yet many students struggle with spelling. This spelling computer software teaches spelling through daily drills given by your computer. Automatically tailors each drill to the unique needs of the individual student- spending more time on his or her weak areas. Reiforces quick recall by setting speed expectations based on each student's own past performance. Teaches vocabulary - each word is given in context in a meaningful sentence. Grades 5 and 6. System requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, or 2000 with headphones or speakers. Aardsma Research & Publishing.