Come in, sit down, have a cup of coffee or tea and talk about what's new, what works, what's happening and... anything else? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 And the winner is... :::drumroll::: Anna! Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I wish I had enough of these to give one to everyone! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/621387/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/621387/ Here's another fun resource that being on the TOS Homeschool Crew brought to my attention. Help Me 2 Teach is a reference site of links on a number of subjects. The ever-growing list includes the standard academic areas (social studies, math, science, language arts), electives (foreign language, music, arts and crafts, cooking and sewing, etc.) and teacher helps (quiz generators, flashcards, special needs helps, and more). In the past month, new topics have been added, such as lapbooking links. I have to confess, I haven't made as much use of the site as I might have. Just a few of the many links have gone a long way in our family. One link took us to a website with oodles of educational games--math, critical thinking, geography, and probably more. Our children have learned the names and placement of all the states in the U.S., I mean really got it down, not just kinda-sorta knowing, through playing these geography games. They've been doing math drills for fun. (Imagine it.) They've been working at problem solving. Talk about constructive play time! Some of the links are old friends, but many are new to me. One criticism I've heard of the site is that if you're savvy about using the Internet and search engines you don't need to pay for this service. I played around with this idea a bit, to test it out, and my answer is yes... and no. I've put lots of search terms into search engines and come up with long lists of sites to check out, some of which were appropriate and some of which were probably something I wouldn't want the children to click on. In some cases, I didn't come up with the same links as I found on Help Me 2 Teach's list. Frankly, it takes time to do web searches, and depending on your filtering software (or lack of it) it can be a nerve-wracking experience. The Help Me 2 Teach website has the standard disclaimer, that websites can change over time. You knew that already, I hope. In homeschooling circles there's the infamous case of a well-known homeschooling magazine whose site license expired and was bought up by an unsavory company, so that anyone following a link to that formerly helpful site... well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. The links at Help Me 2 Teach have been carefully selected, and I get the impression that I could sit my child down at the computer to do research through the links at Help Me 2 Teach without the same degree of worry that I have when they use a popular search engine. (Though I still monitor their computer use. It's just common sense.) Ease of use: Entries are coded so you can see suggested grade level at a glance (primary, elementary, secondary, and teacher/parent). There's a search box at the top of the subject list so you can search the Help Me 2 Teach site for a specific topic. When you enter your search terms, "You take potluck," as my mom used to say. You might have to be a little creative to narrow down your search. For example, typing in "forest fires" brought up all sorts of weblinks related to forests and forest creatures but not necessarily what we were looking for. Sometimes you won't find what you're looking for. I've had good results in finding links to most of our current studies (meteorology, for example). On the other hand, I haven't had much success finding out about forest fires. No site can link to every possibility, and yet, the author of Help Me 2 Teach has done her best to cover the basics. (You might even be able to put together an entire curriculum using these links.) The links that do come up in a search of the site have a nice cross-reference feature, a category link. We typed in "knights" and came up with a site on the Knights Templar, not what we were looking for. The Knights Templar link is categorized under "Social Studies" and a subset "Medieval Times and Middle Ages" -- clicking on that "Medieval Times" category link brought up a whole list of promising links. If you just want to take a look at Help Me 2 Teach, there's a three-day membership for a nominal cost of $4.95. The pricing structure makes the site more affordable as you increase the term of membership: i.e. you pay nearly five dollars for three days, but for twice that amount you get a whole month, and for about $30 you have access to the site for a year. That works out to about $2.50 a month, which doesn't seem like much, especially if you use the Internet a lot for your schooling. That one educational software site we found through Help Me 2 Teach was worth the price of a three-month membership, in my eyes! We've gotten so much use out of it! I've barely begun to explore the other links, but I think I'll be getting my money's worth, especially with that buy-one-get-one free offer. Didn't I mention that yet? Special through the end of the year: Buy one year for $29.95 and get a second year free. That works out to $15 a year, a pretty good subscription price for this product. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/618343/ Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/618343/ One of the fun things of being a member of this year's TOS Homeschool Crew is being introduced to new resources! For example, I don't remember hearing of Media Angels before. Since receiving The Missing Link: Found in my mailbox, I've heard good things about their Creation Science resources, which include: - Media Angels Science (Creation Science, Creation Geology, Creation Anatomy, Creation Astronomy) - Creation LapBook - Literature Study Guides - An Insider's Guide to Successful Science Fair Projects - Teaching Science and Having Fun! - Virtual Field Trips - Writing and Publishing - and more, including more in the Truth Seekers Mystery Series (see below) When you have a voracious reader like I have, you're always on the lookout for a decent book. We have a lot of classic literature under our collective belt, and still that child is thirsting for more. I'm sorry to say she developed a taste for Nancy Drew at friends' houses (though I confess, I had about eighty Nancy Drew books when I was her age, too... that was before I learned about twaddle versus brain candy). I was happy to discover Max Elliot Anderson's books. His Mountain Cabin Mystery was among the first modern books we read, targeted at 8-12 year olds, that espoused similar values to ours. (No boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, for one thing, as is found in most of what's out there. Including Nancy Drew.) Middlest has gone through all of the Black Stallion books, the Warriors series, Encyclopedia Brown, all the Nancy Drew we'd allow, Boxcar Children, Bobbsey Twins (do you realize how many were published???), several books by Louisa May Alcott, most of Jane Austen, The Shining Sword, The Happy Hollisters, and more books than I can mention. When The Missing Link: Found arrived, I was glad to hear the author's intent to provide fun, clean, exciting reading for youth. By "clean" I mean that parents are respected, not the stupidest people in the book, that young teens aren't subjected to boyfriend-girlfriend relationships (it's my opinion that 12yo children don't need to be dating), no occult themes and, while exciting, without graphic violence. Missing Link meets these standards. What's more, this is the first book in a series written by a homeschooling mother-daughter team! The first book in the series, Missing Link was begun when Christina Gerwitz was a young teen, and wanted to write a mystery novel of her own. I can relate to this. My voracious reader is embarking on the writing journey herself. After reading so many books, she's got stories in her head, ready to spill out onto paper! I've read the beginnings of her mystery-adventure novel, and it pulled me in! I'm looking forward to reading more... Anyhow, the Gerwitz mother-and-daughter team didn't know anything about writing novels, but they learned. The Missing Link: Found is not bad for a first effort. It's packed with action and adventure, and pressing mysteries to be solved by the young heroes, a brother, sister, and their cousin. Some of the author's youth and energy shines through in the cinematic scenes (think helicopter chase, explosions, gun battles, and a close encounter with alligators, just for a few). The story starts out with a homeschooling family on vacation, but soon the action focuses on the heroes, and a good thing, too! With so much happening, it's good to keep a tight focus and not get distracted. Lots of facts are thrown into the story, with a view to the debate between Evolution and Creation Science. Most of these facts are drawn right from major Creation Science sources, trimmed a bit so as not to slow down the story line, but recognizable by anyone who's been to a seminar put on by Institute for Creation Research or Answers in Genesis. There was one fuzzy statistic, regarding the number of teeth a shark loses in a lifetime, not really related to the Evolution debate. When we researched the "shark's teeth" issue, because the book spurred an interest in the topic of sharks, we found varying information. This issue will be addressed by the author on the Media Angels website. There's a discussion of carbon dating in the book, as well, that might be oversimplified for the sake of the young reader. There are also some typos, but since you'll find these even in big-name publisher books, I won't put a lot of emphasis on this. As a whole, Missing Link: Found is entertaining reading for your voracious pre-teen bookworm. Right now the publisher is running a special for the month of November, all three books in the Truth Seekers Mystery Series for $22, about a $5 savings from the price of buying all three individually. I haven't read the other two books, but middlest, when asked if she's interested in reading the rest, gives an emphatic, YES! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/617895/ Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:12:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/617895/ I've been meaning to mention this on my blog and kept getting interrupted, and now the contest is almost over! (Tomorrow, the 9th, as a matter of fact, so get yourself over and get entered!) Head on over to Free Book! and follow the directions there to enter. (And sorry about the short notice.) From the official announcement: Readers of the popular Terrestria Chronicles allegory series will be thrilled to learn that Ed Dunlop has just released The Quest for Thunder Mountain, the first book in his new Tales from Terrestria series. The Quest tells the story of a young minstrel whose life is shattered when his career comes to an abrupt end. The book was written to help young adult readers experience the wonder of finding and doing the will of the King. You can see the TOS review of the Terrestria Chronicles at: www.TalesOfCastles.com . There will be 15 winners for this contest. Each of the winners will receive a copy of The Quest for Thunder Mountain. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/616503/ Sat, 8 Nov 2008 15:17:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/616503/ Pssst. Come closer. Yes, you. Come closer so I can whisper. Ready? Math can be fun! I can see you looking skeptical. If we were back home where I grew up, you'd probably pull one side of your mouth awry, raise an eyebrow, and nod slowly, then say (unconvincingly), "Yah, sure!" But really! The November module that complements The Schoolhouse Planner (click on link to see a review) is all about math. Actually, it's forty-eight pages focused on having fun with math! Even my math-hating 12yo got drawn in, as I was reading a math trick aloud. She started doing the trick as I read each step, and pretty soon she was working out how the trick worked, and then she was looking over my shoulder at the page to see if she'd figured it out right! One of the math tricks didn't seem to work, the way it was written, but we had fun figuring out how the result was different from what we were expecting, and trying various ways to make it come out right. Next thing you know, she was reading over the math riddles, no doubt storing them up to quiz her sisters or her dad when he gets home, and while looking at the copywork (one of the items was that old poem about "Monday's Child") she wanted me to look up her birthdate to see what day of the week she was born. (No, I didn't remember. I'm blessed if I can remember what day of the week it is TODAY!) I discovered how to make small font size today. Isn't it fun? You'll find a little bit of this, a little bit of that in this November module. There are pages of copywork suited to different ages -- cute rhymes to help little ones remember how to form numbers, longer poems, pithy sayings by famous people. There are riddles, as I mentioned, and mental math tricks. There are games such as Sudoko and a word search, and coloring pages that could double as wall posters in a school corner. And if you're of the school that says All play and no work/Makes Jack an awful jerk, be reassured that there are also worksheets that you can incorporate into your math lessons: speed drills for addition and multiplication facts, worksheets (multiplication table, shape identification), telling time. Since this is an e-book, one of the advantages is the built in links! You'll find links to all sorts of math fun -- games, crafts, activities, lessons. (As a matter of fact, I had some difficulty reclaiming the computer from 12yo and her 10yo sister, to write this review, as they were deep in a Lemonade Stand sim game they found by following one of the links.) Also, since this is from The Old Schoolhouse, you'll find a one-page resource list of links to products offered in the Schoolhouse Store. Let's see, did I forget anything? Tangrams, puzzles, vocabulary... Oh, yes! For the puzzles and worksheets, you'll find a set of answer keys included. There are also a couple of recipes just right for cooler weather. I haven't tried them yet, but all the recipes I've tried from The Old Schoolhouse's publications have been yummy! The November module to the Schoolhouse Planner can be found at the Schoolhouse Store (click on the link and it'll take you directly to the module). It's a downloadable e-book, in PDF format, for $7.95. Whether you have math fans or mathphobes at your house, you'll find something here for everyone. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/615150/ Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:24:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/615150/ Remember I recently mentioned The Old Schoolhouse's Homespun Holidays? The TOS free offer with subscription has expired, but you can still get a free copy of Homespun Holidays right here! I have a copy of this lovely e-book (a $12.45 value) to give away. Homespun Holidays     recipes, traditions, fun! Comment here by Monday, November 17 to be entered in the drawing. Please include your email address (I don't do anything with it but notify the winner). If you comment about the contest on your blog, and give me a link to your post, you'll be entered twice! Youngest will draw the winner's name on Tuesday, November 18. (Youngest loves to draw winners' names!) Click here to read my review of Homespun Holidays, Fall and Winter. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/614193/ Tue, 4 Nov 2008 00:47:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/614193/ It's not as easy as you'd think. You see, youngest has a tender heart. There's so much in recent history that's disheartening. (Pardon the pun. Couldn't resist.) So far on my readaloud list I have: 1900 to 1920 or so The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk by Donald? Sobel All-of-a-kind Family series by Sidney Taylor Little Britches series by Ralph Moody Sergeant York? (Might be too graphic at her age) I think "Cheaper by the Dozen" fits here, too. 1930-1950 James Herriot's books The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (Another book about hiding from the Nazis, I have it on the bookshelf but forget the title) The Winged Watchman (re-read) by Hilde Stockum Snow Treasure (re-read) The von Trapp Family Singers (Maria's autobiography) Sergeant Donkey (not the whole title, but I forget the rest and it's late) House of Thirty Fathers (I think that's the title, maybe it's "Sixty") by de Jong YWAM's Gladys Aylward biography 1960-1990somehing Space program (Race to the Moon DVD set, perhaps a biography or autobiography to go along with it) Don't know what else. Some Beverly Cleary books, like the Ramona series or Ellen Tebbits? (shows life in the 60s pretty well, I think) Other Biographies: Norman Rockwell? (My parents loved his art, and we have a big coffee-table book of his works they gave us.) Churchill? (Saw a documentary about him, made by his granddaughter. What an adventurous life he led!) Bob Hope? (Incredible story of an immigrant who "made it" and then gave generously of himself) Martin Luther King, Jr.? (um. maybe, or maybe a snippet of his life and achievements, perhaps memorizing passages from his "I have a dream" speech--she'll get awfully upset if the book ends with his assassination. She's young, yet, and doesn't need to have the fact pounded in. She's aware of it, I think, in an abstract way. There's time to revisit the 20th century again when she's older.) This was all from brainstorming while waiting somewhere today. I'm sure there's more I can add to the list. Got any suggestions? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/609321/ Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/609321/ Hey, all! There's been a flurry of activity at our house, mostly due to the TOS Homeschool Crew. Several boxes have arrived, and we're in the thick of checking out new ideas and curricula. You'll be hearing our family's impressions and experience over the next few months. The Nativity Play Set One of the first things to arrive was The Nativity, a play set from the Tales of Glory series available from one2believe. We have several Nativity sets at our house; I bought my first one when our oldest daughter was very little. It's an elegant, white porcelain set. The figures are realistic in shape, but the only color to the set is a couple of touches of gold on the Magi (a gold crown and a box of gold that one of them carries). Memories in the Making There's a funny anecdote about that set. Our minister was walking up and down the church aisle as he gave his sermon, and he asked the church in general what they knew about Jesus. Our daughter (about three at the time) raised her hand eagerly, and he called on her. She confidently said, "Jesus is like a little tiny donut!" (Imagine our consternation. We're thinking, "What do they imagine we teach her about the Bible at home?") He laughed and turned it into a joke, saying something semi-profound like, "Some people even see our Lord Jesus in a humble donut." Perhaps he thought she was referring to the Donut Man. Some weeks later I was putting away the Nativity set and turning over the figure of baby Jesus in the manger, I saw that the porcelain figure was hollow inside, and the bottom formed a donut-shaped rim. In her careful fingering of the Nativity set as we'd arranged it the first Sunday in Advent, she'd evidently examined the figures more carefully than I had! Nowadays our lovely porcelain donkey is missing one ear, and the tips of the angel's wings are broken, for the set is made more to be looked at than handled. Children are drawn to handle the figures--which is why an unbreakable Nativity set can be such a boon. When I was little, my parent had a wooden Nativity set. Every Christmas, we children played out the Bible stories with that set. Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem with the donkey. Shepherds perched on high places, watching their flocks. An angel announced the Good News to them, and they went to the stable, bringing the littlest lamb along. Meanwhile, Magi were making their way through the long living room to the stable, to find the Holy Child and give Him their gifts. (I'm sad to say that the set disappeared between the time I left for college and several years later, when we helped Dad go through the storage areas in the house after Mom's death, or we'd still be using it.) Child-friendly I wanted to do the same with our own children, but I needed a sturdier Nativity than our lovely porcelain set, where I wouldn't be wincing every time a child moved to pick up a figure! I've bought a couple of sets over the years, one a heavy-duty (but still breakable) set, another made of snap-together plastic figures from Playmobil. The sets have had a lot of use over the past few years. The Nativity from one2believe is well-suited this sort of interacting with the story. There are seventeen pieces in the set, including a stable, two angels, a donkey, a camel, Mary, Joseph, a manger, a bale of hay, a baby Jesus, two shepherds, three Wise Men, and two sheep. The figures are about 2.5 to 3 inches in height. A small story pamphlet is included for your convenience, in English, Spanish, and French (though we probably won't use it; our children are used to reading the Nativity story from the gospels of Luke and Matthew). Our impressions: The colorful figures are made of heavy-duty PVC plastic. They're sturdy. I've stepped on one (by accident) and managed not to break it. However, the box warns that this toy is not for children under age 3. (There are small parts, and PVC is problematic if chewed or mouthed.) Our 12yo finds the figures "too babyish." This does not preclude her from playing with them, however. Her sisters think the set is "charming" and have spent a lot of time the last few days arranging and rearranging the figures, even playing out scenes and conversations between characters. The figures are cartoonish in style. Almost every one wears a wide-eyed expression of astonishment. They are designed to be appealing to small children. If you object to cartoonish Bible characters, you might want to look into a more realistic Nativity set. The figures are not in proportion to each other--youngest was both laughing and disappointed that the donkey was much too small to carry Mary, for example, the Wise Men are very large in comparison to their camel, and the baby is huge, nearly as large as the adults. The shepherds are androgynous and can be taken either as girls or beardless boys. If you were wondering about skin color, just about all the people are very light-skinned. I think one of the shepherds is a little darker than everyone else in the set. Hair color ranges from blond to brown. I didn't see any alternatives at the website. I like that the baby and manger are separate pieces. We have a custom of setting up the Nativity scene some weeks before Christmas, with the manger empty. We put the baby in place on Christmas eve. Most years the girls still play out the Story, starting with the Magi in the far eastern corner of the house, setting up the stable on the hearth with the shepherds in the "hills" on the mantel above, and Mary and Joseph traveling from the kitchen to the living room in stages, arriving on Christmas eve sometime during the day. The Tales of Glory Nativity is listed at $24.99 on the http://www.one2believe.com/ website. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/607536/ Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:15:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/607536/ Autumn is here with shorter days and crisp, cool nights. There's a homey smell in the air, combining woodsmoke and fresh air, while leaves blaze overhead and crunch underfoot. There's something about autumn that makes me take deeper breaths, and I often drop whatever I'm doing to watch the wild geese flying overhead, on their way to warmer days further south. You don't have to be living where the leaves turn bright colors and there's a nip in the air, to get that fall feeling. Just open up Homespun Holidays, Fall and Winter from The Old Schoolhouse, and you'll be transported into autumnal delights. Though Thanksgiving and Christmas are well represented, as you'd expect from the title, you don't have to wait for the latter part of November to start celebrating! Ideas for decorating suited to autumn and harvest will dress up your home to say "Welcome!" There are recipes here just right to greet cooler weather. Mmmm, I can just about taste that hearty soup simmering on the stove, can't you? A little this, a little that, wrapped up in eighty-some pages and tied up with a bright bow... Homespun Holidays, Fall and Winter is lavishly illustrated with colorful photos, and you'll find here ideas for crafts, homemade gifts, foods, hospitality ...even a few seasonal poems. There are books to read, new traditions to adopt, even a game to play on a long car ride as you head "over the river and through the woods." The recipes are easy to follow and sound delicious! (A couple that I've tried taste delicious!) Scattered throughout the book, they are also gathered together in the final pages for easy printing and reference. The craft instructions are clear and thoughtfully put together. There are hyperlinks in the text that give you access to additional crafts and holiday ideas. I was glad to find links for making Jesse Tree ornaments, and creative ideas for recycling Christmas cards, just for two examples. The cookie recipes make me think about hosting a cookie exchange! Homespun Holidays, Fall and Winter is the perfect read for this time of year. Why not heat up a little apple cider with a cinnamon stick and some cloves, sit back with a steaming cup, and start planning to add some spice to the season? Watch for this e-book, coming soon! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/602913/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/602913/ (Cross-posted on my "family life" blog) Great news! I got an email yesterday announcing that I’ve been selected for the new Focus Group sponsored by The Old Schoolhouse magazine. However, I’m interrupted by an insistent dog, as well as children looking for breakfast, so I’ll have to tell you more later! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/591839/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:02:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sweet2bhome/591839/