For Today, Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Outside My Window... 

Cold and sunny with a snow-covered ground. 

 I'm thinking...

We really need to increase our monthly support.

From the learning rooms... 

The older girls are getting so much better at doing their work on their own.  I have to be more diligent to check their work and do thier follow-up questions or narration.

I am thankful for... 

Our suburban is bought and our insurance is paid up for six months.  Also that we have siblings that pitch in and gift us with money when things are tight...    

From the kitchen...

Today I am grateful for....

~^~^My early AM quiet time, my morning bread that sustains me throughout the day.

~^~^A husband who isn't afraid to run the vacuum or help out with anything.

~^~^A daughter who has turned into a good writer, yeah!

~^~^Sisters who not only enjoy playing together, but know when to give each other a break.

~^~^The safety that  the Lord provides each day.

~^~^The joy of entertaining friends and family this week.

I am blessed...

Starting on Friday, I will begin 30 days of Celebrating the gift of Christmas!
Sprinkled throughout my posts will be gifts that I give away to my readers.

Wishing you and your family a marvelous Thanksgiving.

Today I am grateful....

~^~^for words spoken and not spoken, especially the ones heard only in my heart.

~^~^for my days slowing down, it is nice to have a moment to relax and be still.

~^~^for an afternoon of grocery shopping with my beloved.

~^~^for grace and strength to do what the Lord wants, even though I don't want to do it.

~^~^for my beautiful daughters, who bring joy to our home.

I am blessed beyond measure!

Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a first accounting course for homeschool high school students. Many high schools offer an accounting course as an elective for students interested in pursuing a career in business. Now homeschool high school students have such an elective available to them.

Michael P. Licata, PhD. is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova College in Villanova, Pennsylvania.  Profesor Licata has taught the financial accounting course dozens of times in his 24 plus years as a Professor at Villanova University.  The past eight years Professor Licata has specialized in teaching the distance learning courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.   

Students taking Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. will learn to prepare and interpret the four basic financial statements which all publicly traded companies must prepare and make available to the public.

Any homeschool high school student interested in a career in business or in someday owning their own business will benefit from this course. The only pre-requiste is a basic math class.

All course content is incorporated into the lecture slides for each chapter. There is no textbook and no 40 page chapters to read. The course is comprised of 12 chapters which are covered in 28 lessons (including exams) and can be taken in either a semester format or over an entire academic year. Each chapter’s lectures include a discussion of important concepts and demonstration problems featuring step by step illustrations of how to work through the various types of accounting problems covered.

Course Objectives
The objective of Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is to introduce students to the study of accounting which is known as the language of business. The main purpose of financial accounting is to measure and report the performance of a business to interested parties both outside and inside of the business. These interested parties use accounting information to make a variety of decisions such as:

• Investors - Deciding whether to purchase or sell a company’s stock.
• Bankers - Deciding whether to lend money to a business.
• Managers – Making day-to-day business decisions such as whether to increase inventory levels, or to spend more on advertising.
• Students will learn to prepare and interpret the four basic financial statements - income statement, balance sheet, statement of owners’ equity and statement of cash flows.

Course Materials:

The course is taught in 12 Chapters each divided into 2 or 3 parts, for a total of 28 lessons.  The chapters have Flash lectures with 15 to 40 slides.  The lecture slides may also be printed off for the student to use.  After the lecture slides are view the student then works the chapter problems, which usually number 4-15 problems.  At the end of every 4 chapters there is an exam to be taken. 

The material could be divided up into a fourteen week semester, working 2 lessons a week.  Or be taken over the course of an entire academic year doing one lesson for 28 weeks. 

Included within the course materials from Professor in a Box is the answer keys to all problems and exams.  I also received a pencil and calculator. 

Cost:

$134.99  
Free USPS Priority Mail shipping.

To purchase click here.

My Thoughts:

With the majority of the high school products I receive for TOS Crew review, I enlist Jennifer's help to test them out.  But at this time I am trying not to overwhelm Jennifer, she has a lot on her plate.  So I decided that I would be the one to trial this accounting course, I know very little about accounting principles and thought it would be good knowledge for my to acquire.  I also did a little homework, asking my CPA friend, what do you think needs to be included in a high school level accounting class.  I am thankful she wrote a list of musts for a high school accounting class. 

As I worked through a few of the lessons, I enjoyed listening to the lectures.  I've taken a long-distance graduate level Statistic class and the lecture slides are very similar.  I like the ability to go back over a slide and listen again to the point being taught.  The problems directly cover the course work taught and are comprehensive.  The exams are doable but not to easy.  It is a good baseline education into business accounting. Professor in a Box did included all, but one, of the musts my CPA friend listed. 

The one thing missing was an educational component on how to use Microsoft Excel or any computerized accounting program.  Within the Professor in a Box website there is a link to online tutorials for Excel, but that isn't the same as providing education within the course. 

To view other TOS Crew members review of this product, please click the logo below.

Today I am grateful for....

~^~ His unfailing LOVE...always Faithful in His Grace and He never forgets me!

~^~Sweet memories of family Thanksgivings throughout my childhood and adulthood.  

~^~A husband that is our home's spiritual leader.

~^~My sister's in Christ that faithfully attend church every Sunday without their husband's.

~^~God's healing touch, please continue Lord to do your great work.

~^~Accomplishments that I could never do in my own strength, only His!

~^~Worship, with our precious church family and at home.

I am blessed beyond measure!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away an INCREDIBLE HP TouchSmart 600 computer for Christmas!  Check it out here!

Today I am grateful for....

~Free Gifts~

*God's grace, mercy and love

*the freedom of living within the United States of America

*good morning hugs and kisses from my precious daughters

*a friend that listens without trying to fix the problem, thank you Lord for my husband!

*spiritual gifts and talents that the Lord has given me to use in the places He has selected

*the promise of a future home, with no more pain, tears or worries.

Blessed beyond measure!

From the Heart:

I'm loving being with my kids.  Every moment that I get with them fills my heart.  It is so wonderful to hold my son in my arms and hear him say, "I wuv you, Mommy. You're adorable!"  I also love watching and experiencing the moments that my five year old studies her first words and reads them.  Each day she makes so much progress.  My 10 and 12 year olds amaze me with how they are growing into young ladies more each day and becoming individuals.  Life as a Mom is good.

The little ones like to snuggle in the rocking chair after their bath near the wood stove. 

I just finished looking over my blog from a year ago.  I am so glad that I am not in that place any longer!  A year ago my Snow Crystal was having concentration problems, abdominal pain, seizures, weakness, and looked like a little holocaust survivor.  She was depressed and talking about suicide.  I praise God for all my friends who so faithfully prayed, and for the cure of becoming gluten-free again, and avoiding artificial additives.  She is my healthy, happy, seizure-free young lady again.  No more of any of those things, and her school work has improved dramatically this year.  I am so grateful to the Lord!

In the School Room:

Mountain Princess, 12, and Snow Crystal, 10:  Abraham Lincoln was shot again this week (we learned it a few weeks ago, but readressed the reasons this week).  The aftermath of the civil war was anything but nice.  Andrew Johnson may have had Abraham's roots, but he lacked some of Abe's other successful political prowess.  Matter can be in the form of a solid, a liquid, a gas, and plasma.  Old Yeller is my 10 year old's first school book to be taken on without my help, and she's doing a good job.  She even stated that this is her favorite reader ever.   Caddie Woodlawn continues to be a spunky little thing.  Tall tales are fun because they exaggerate a story and hyperboles are perfect to put in them.  Mountain Princess finished up decimals, fractions and percentages, and moved on to tesselations. (Did I learn about these in school?  They are fun.)   Snow Crystal is working on fractions now.

Bubbies, 5, learned about the clothing and culture of the French in the period just before Napoleon's time and about the French revolution.  Birds have feathers, lay eggs, are warm-blooded, and most eat other animals.  We examined an old robin's nest and found an unhatched egg.  Robin nests are made of mud, twigs and grass.  Numbers higher than ten are made with groups of ten and units.  She finished the week by writing her numbers between twenty and thirty.

Little Critter, 3,  is beginning to take himself to the potty and we are having much fewer peeing accidents.  On the other hand, yesterday he pooped in the bathtub again.  Good thing sister wasn't with him this time!

On the Mission Field:

One of my favorite speakers, Graeme from Australia, was here speaking on cultural differences.  We had another India - style dinner too.   The students have only two more weeks before they head out on outreach.  They will spend their first month in New Mexico with the Navajo work there, then the final eight weeks in India.  We saw the Lord bring in a bunch of money toward their outreach expenses.  That is always fun to see.

In the Literary Scene:

I am reading Brock and Bodie Thoene's second book in the Galway Series Of Men and of Angels.

Feeding on His Faithfulness,

Carol

If you would like to join me in this theme, just write up your own weekly summary, using mine or your own categories.  Then sign the Mr. Linky below.  I'd love to read your weekly summaries too!    I hope to post mine on each Friday or Saturday.  At the latest it will be on Sunday.  If you get yours done before I do, just leave your link in my cbox or comments from the week before.  Be sure and check last week's Mr. Linky for any new ones who posted before I did!  It is a great way to meet new people.

 Today I am grateful for...

~time alone with the Lord, Him quietly and gently moving me along,

~His financial provision

~my warm and cozy home, we have enjoyed some wonderful fires in our fireplace this week.

~the laughter and joy in my daughters faces as they diligently seek to memorize His word and are rewarded at Awana's each week.

~an email from my husband, that though he is away, he is thinking of me,

~a new to me book that I am reading "Stepping Heavenward", what a blessing.

~finishing projects and not leaving them undone.

I am blessed!