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TOS Mini ReviewThe TOS Crew was asked by the people at Time 4 Learning (T4L) to blog our experience with them as we go along rather than one big entry, so here goes:I was intrigued by T4L when I took my first look at their website. What caught my eye was the mention of kids being able to use it for remedial work. That's something I'm definitely interested in! I believe I've mentioned here on my blog that Ninja and Tink are behind in a couple of major areas. I plan on working through the summers and maybe even some holidays to get my girls back on track. T4L looks to have some real potential in helping out a family like us. Now, that's not all they do. They describe themselves as having something to offer just about everyone. Their service is "Enrichment for Afterschool, Remediation, Special Needs, or Summer School". So far the kiddos are liking it. Ninja said she prefered using T4L over another choice I gave her for help with her math skills, but being extremely loyal to Math-U-See, she claims she wouldn't switch.lol. Teenagers! Whadda ya gonna do? Tink had to be coaxed off the T4L site. She loves science and astronomy and she discovered some very interesting articles in the science section. She later recounted what she'd learned with a big smile on her face. Don't you love it when children have fun while they're learning? Dude liked the preschool section as well. I hate to add more to his load since he's already in a preschool program, but he sure didn't think it was work. He had fun playing games and matching up same and different patterns of fish. He also got some practice in using the touch pad on the laptop. I do have to say things should have gone a bit more smoothly if we'd just followed directions.lol. I couldn't figure out one of Dude's games, then vaguely recalled some instruction to use the subjects with the arrow pointing to them that indicated this was the child's current area of study. Oops! When all else fails... Like I said, so far, T4L is looking like a fun way to add some enrichment to your homeschool. I believe I read somewhere on the site that there are some homeschoolers who use T4L as their main language or math curriculum but I could be wrong. I'll have to take another look at the homeschooling section of the site some other time. For now, Princess is getting mighty cranky, so it's time to say goodnight. Week 11, Day 2 of ECCWell, yesterday we just finished what we missed on Monday. That took us our full 4 hours. And then we had today.We started with the usual - Pledge, Awana Verses, and then Bible time. We read our verses, and then read a little about Nate Saint that is in the Teacher's Manual. We talked about how even taking revenge without killing is wrong, so that was a good discussion, not that it carried into our day our anything. Geography was quick - just reading in our Illustrated World Atlas. (Can I say that I've heard that some people don't like this book, we do?) Then on to science. We read about jungle birds, and Rabbit picked a hummingbird to trace for her science page. (Then we had a hiccup in the home computer network, and it took me 15 minutes to get the page to print - arrhg!) We also had a science experiment - to see how strong the "arch" shape is. It called for using egg shells and then stacking books on it. Here is our first book:  So, we added books and books. Rabbit was afraid of the eggs collapsing, so we used small books. Here is our picture just before the eggs collapsed:  Then finally we added one more book, and the two eggs on this end of the photo collapsed: So, we weighed the books, and it was 13.5 pounds of books. But, we weighed without the last one and it was 11.5 pounds of books. The last book weighed 2 pounds. It would have been interesting to try again using smaller books, but we were out of eggs by now.So, that took us most of the morning, then at 11:10 I realized we needed to leave at 11:45 for Rabbit's dance class, and I still had to feed the kids lunch - aaaaahhhh! Okay, so I quickly made them sandwiches, grapes (okay, so I didn't make the grapes, but I did rinse and pick them off the stem), and potato chips and managed to start a crock pot meal for this evening. Plus, I got Rabbit's hair up into a pony tail. (Faster than a speeding clock, stronger than frozen pork chops - it's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's Super Mom!) After dance, the boys went down for quiet time, while Rabbit did her next math quiz. She did great - only missing 1 question. Then we still had writing-eights, English, spelling, reading, poetry, Spanish and math drill. So, we breezed through all that and finished up with an art project. We did a Carnival Dancer. I went to Michael's this last weekend and found some floral wire that had rafia wrapped around the wire. The wire seemed pretty stiff, and it was all they had. Then, we used the yarn I had bought for another project, and the quilting quarters for another project. The final result:  Rabbit wrapped one foot, the legs, and arms. I did the first foot, torso, and head. Having the rafia wrapped wire was good because the yarn kind of clung to the rafia. Also, we used a little Elmer's white glue to hold the yarn in place at the beginning and the end. The wood was a piece of left over scrap from our Awana pine car derby. A fun project, and the boys wanted to do one too, but there just wasn't time.So, we finally finished at about 4:15 this evening. Whew. I'm hoping light Friday's will fall on Wednesday again soon. TOS Review: The Truth Seekers Mystery Series. Book #1~The Missing Link: Found
TOS Review: The Truth Seekers Mystery Series. Book #1~The Missing Link: Found When I was assigned the first book in The Truth Seekers Mystery Series for review, I’m sorry to say I literally judged the book by its cover and as a result was expecting to be disappointed. Generally, I don’t like mystery novels for my children and I was considering reading it to myself instead of reading it to them. What luck! I was wrong. Media Angels to the rescue! Now, I know that some might turn up their noses at something like this, but I genuinely enjoyed it. And, yes, there was a bit of repetition of certain phrases and reaching for descriptors, but for goodness sakes, this novel was written by a 12 year old homeschooler. I think that’s awesome!! It was written for reluctant readers, but neither my girls nor I would ever turn away a good book, so as far as I’m concerned, eager readers can enjoy it as well. I read this book aloud to my 10 and 14 year old girls (“Tink” and “Ninja”). I was expecting my oldest to say that the book was boring or that she didn’t want to read it. Truthfully, I was afraid to ask her if she liked it. I even called Tink in to read one night while Ninja was busy, thinking Ninja didn’t want to be read to anyway, but later on, when Ninja came into the room and found us reading she said, “Hey! Why are you guys reading without me?” I was surprised to say the least. I apologized and asked if she’d read those two chapters on her own the next day to catch up, then we’d pick up together the next evening. She agreed without hesitation. Lol! Ninja just walked by as I was typing this and after reading over my shoulder, she has this to say… Ninja: “I liked the book a lot! I don’t know what my mom’s talking about…” Well there you have it. Straight from Ninja’s own, uuuh, fingers. I greatly enjoyed the book right along with my girls. In it's 208 pages was lots of adventure with creation science facts neatly tucked inside. I was eager to know what happened to our characters and how in the world they were going to explain the discovery of the missing link. I loved the use of facts from a creation perspective. My girls have liked watching creation presentations and this novel was a perfect way to spice things up while presenting facts at the same time. There were a few character flaws in the lives of the two main characters, but these kids were repentant and I liked that these flaws made them a bit more believable. Oh, and best of all… there was no kissing in the book! Lol! Media Angels has literature guides available for purchase to go along with each of the three novels in the series. There are several interesting looking products in the Media Angels catalog as well. The Missing Link: Found turned out to be a wonderful read that made us want to keep on reading right up to the very last page. I think it’s a great way to add an interesting bit of fun and excitement to your study of creation science or to encourage a child who just doesn’t find reading as gratifying as my girls and I do. It’s also a nice way to support fellow homeschoolers and spread the word about creation science in an enjoyable way.
Week 11, Day .5 of ECCWell, we only did about 3 hours of school today. Bible time took us an hour. Rabbit made her own MAF plane, but I had to help the boys. We got in Geography and Science time, and Rabbit did some of her seatwork for the day.After lunch, Rabbit wasn't feeling well, so I had them all 3 lay down for quiet time. She still wasn't feeling well after she got up, so we scrapped the rest of school. I don't think it is anything serious. We still have a bunch to get done tomorrow: reading, writing eights, English, math, spelling, poetry, math drill, science page (from today), Spanish, and music. She needs to write a letter to her "Snail Mail Buddy" too. That ought to take us most of our school time tomorrow. Week 10, Day 5 of ECCWe started late today, as we had a field trip for church. (Our church is trying to decide if we want to move to a new elementary school. I was asked to come along for a look.) Rabbit worked on a couple of things in the van on the way.When we got home, she finished her math and vocabulary pages. After that we spent about an hour on the Geography Packet. We're using the computer - we have Encyclopedia Britannica - to look stuff up, but have more luck with Wikipedia. We tried doing the lat/lon island page and the atlas that came with our curriculum, but we couldn't figure out several of the islands. I'm not too worried about it, as she'll do it again in a few years. After lunch, we did Bible, spelling, poetry, repatterning, writing, and reading while the boys were down for quiet time. Fridays are pretty light, but I today I filled in extra time with the Geography packets and math review. We never got in our Nature Walk this week, unless you count doing the "Welcome Committee" stuff with me today. The Quest for Thunder Mountain book GiveawayThis looks like an interesting book: The Quest for Thunder MountainIt's a giveaway On the Company Porch. I just wish I could enter as well.  It's okay, I've won a book from Salem Ridge Press from the Porch before, and it looks very interesting, so I'm not horribly jealous. lol. Let me know if you win! TOS Review- November’s Schoolhouse Planner Module: Amusing Mathematics
November's Schoolhouse Planner Module is a lovely little resource. So far, I’ve enjoyed every module. They all contain helpful hints for each subject and they’re not even seasonal, so you don’t have to fear that you can’t use it after the particular month its issued. You can use them at any time throughout the year. This module- Amusing Mathermatics - has simple manipulatives included, just copy, cut and color and you’re on your way to trying out the games for yourself. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s inside: Fun worksheets Jokes, games and riddles Pattern blocks Sudoku Multiplication Money Telling time Vocabulary Word search Coloring pages Recipes Copywork (loved it!) Recipes Resource list Answer keys for the games, puzzles and worksheets There are links to check out the subjects more in depth or to play games and try out the topics covered, helpful tables and charts, and tips on how to remember everyday math facts. I was very pleased to see the section on world currency. It was so timely since we’re studying several different countries this year with ECC and this adds to our lesson on currency. Ninja (my oldest daughter) was asking what exchange rate means and I tried to explain it to her, but just couldn’t find the right words. I’m going to have her read the explanation provided by the module. I’m sure it’ll be much clearer. I loved the copywork pages. There were several useful rhymes and interesting details that will help my children remember essential math facts. I feel a little strange about this, but my children love worksheets. True to form, the November module is an excellent help to my homeschool and I look forward to using the resources to teach my children.
Week 10, Day 4 of ECCRabbit wanted to rush through the Pledge and her Awana verses today, but I made her slow down. We went through them 3 times each. Then we delved into our Bible time. The passage was the "Do Not Judge" passage, and the "Speck and Log" passage. I tried to help her understand what they were talking about, but I'm not sure how well I did. She does really well narrating the passage back.Next we read from the Illustrated World Atlas about the Nature (animal and plants) of South America. There were a couple of places I had to reword about "global warming," but it was good. For science, we read about nocturnal animals of the jungle. Rabbit wanted to draw a deer mouse, but the image in the book wasn't very good, so we found a picture of one online, and copied that to her notebook page. I still had her try to trace it. We had time, so we did some reading for 15 minutes. She is really enjoying the first 3rd grade reader from Abeka. I think it is good for her to still read aloud to me every day. It helps me see and hear where she is still struggling. Then I talked to her about Spanish. She agreed to try out the "Tell Me More" online. After getting us "set up" she spent about 20 minutes with it. We had to find a microphone that didn't have any buzz in it. It has things where a native speaker says a word, and then you say it, and it shows you the graph of the word, and you try to match it. She really liked trying that. We'll see how it goes. Right now we are only working on pronunciation and expression. Then she had snack and recess. For seatwork, I had Rabbit work on her science page and then division math windows. I read a book to the boys, and then we played a game with this 2 inch frisbee they have. They love that. Then I got out the Lauri lower case letters and let them play with those, while I worked with Rabbit on her division math windows. She was finally starting to "get" it toward the end. I only had her do the numbers we've covered for multiplication. After writing eights, I had her do her sentence. She did an awesome sentence today. Then she did book basket. After lunch, I let them play outside. It was a little cold, but they really loved it. The boys both napped. Rabbit and I worked on math, spelling, poetry and music, and we were done. No fussing or tears. I love it. TOS Product Review~ Tales of Glory Nativity SetTOS Product Review~ This Nativity Set is a really cute alternative to the traditional Nativity Set. I love that One 2 Believe thought to make one for kids. I know that personally, when I visit someone’s house around the holidays, I’m always on the lookout for breakables. It’s good to know that this set could be handled by little fingers without the fear of breaking Grandma Mimi’s heirloom porcelain or glass set. There are 17 pieces in the set, made of PVC and there is also a mini story book that tells the Nativity story. Now, I know that some people have a problem with letting their children handle PVC, but it seems to work okay for my family. I did a bit of searching and it looks like the biggest worry with PVC is with small children mouthing it and making contact with saliva which could potentially make PVC toxic for little ones less than 3 years of age. I guess the people at One 2 Believe have already thought of that because according to their web site, they’ve already done their own independent testing and the box is clearly labeled, stating this product is for children 3 and up. For added safety, I keep our set up on our mantle where baby *Princess can’t reach it and *The Dude has to ask for someone to get it down for him. *Tink can reach it herself, but she has strict orders not to let baby Princess handle it. (You may want to do your own research and determine for yourself whether you’re okay with PVC in your house.) But really, the kiddos don’t handle the set a whole lot. They just like the wide-eyed look of the figures. I think maybe they’re attracted to them because there’s a child-like quality to the faces. My children were very curious when I opened the package containing the Nativity Set Dude spied it and said, “Mom, what’s dat?” I told him it was a nativity set and asked, “Do you like it?” His reply: “Yeah!” LOL! The set scored its first few points right out of the box. I don’t remember where Princess was, but the rest of the family pitched in and helped untwist the twisty ties and were soon playing with the set. Tink had the whole manger scene in place when I noticed the “wise men” were off to the side. When I asked her why she said it was because they hadn’t arrived yet and were on their way in from the East. The funny thing was they really were set up east of the scene. Way to go My Father’s World ECC ! My children are learning so much. One 2 Believe has other products available on their site and they look very interesting. We may be asking for the Spirit Warriors, Messengers of Faith , or Tales of Glory sets for the kiddos for Christmas. I’m sure they’d like them as much as they liked the Nativity Set. These toys look like a nice alternative to all the other superhero and global toy manufacturer offerings out there these days. I, for one, appreciate having more choices and more ways to share my faith with my children.
* I’ve decided to use nicknames for my children so there’s less chance of weird things happening because I mentioned their names online. I hope that's understandable. Week 10, Day 3 of ECCToday, Rabbit rushed through the pledge and her Awana memory verses. I know we have dance today, but I was surprised she rushed through. Then we were off to Bible. The passage was about not worrying. (After yesterday's election, well, let's just say it was the perfect lesson for me.) And then we worked briefly on our ECC memory verse.We played the Geography Game for Geography. We are doing both North America and South America, and reviewing the South American capitals as we play. Then we did science. She really liked the gliding tree frogs, but the one picture in one of the books with the big air sac made her not want to look at them any more. Anyway, for her science page, she traced one of the gliding tree frogs. She did an awesome job tracing and coloring it. I told her it was her best science page yet. Today was the "final" in our Spanish book. The first time through, I let her just kind of listen to the whole thing, so she can get a feel for how it is going to go. The next time through, we'll do more of the performance challenges and try to take it more "seriously." We have access to an online Spanish program (the tellmemore.com people, I think) through the county library, but Rabbit was so against Rosetta Stone last year, I don't know if I'm going to do it with her. We'll talk about it and see what she wants to do. I'd really rather get Rosetta Stone, but that's probably going to have to wait. Rabbit worked on the multiplication math windows, an English page, and her science page while I did some things with the boys. I read a book to them, we went over their verse, and played a couple of matching games. Then it was time to make lunch, so Rabbit finished her work and book basket while I made lunch. After dance, we had math, spelling, writing eights, writing, and poetry. Whew. Glad we are done for the day. { Last Page } { Page 2 of 5 } { Next Page } |
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I guess it’s because we don’t use workbooks for most of our school work, so when they do get them, it’s fun for my girls to fill them out. I’m sure they’ll thoroughly enjoy the worksheets contained within this module.