Nov. 6, 2009 - All American History II

I was so excited to get All American History II in the mail to review as part of the Old Schoolhouse Crew.   It’s a complete American history program that covers the Civil War through the 1990’s.  The curriculum contains 32 lessons that are easily adapted to a multi-age environment; I’d say K-12.  I probably would do something like this when your oldest is 5th or 6^th and adapt it for younger children.  The publisher states that it’s written at a Jr. High level but adaptable lower and higher.

One of the features that make this curriculum stand out in my opinion is the worksheets that go with each lesson.  They are really more like notebooking then workbooking.  By that I mean it’s not so much a fill in the blank guided answer as spaces to put down the important events, timelines, key figures etc… in your own words.  What I also like about these is that many have maps included right on them!  I get so tired of searching for maps or honestly we often leave them out and not so with this curriculum.  All American makes maps easy!

The sheets also tend to keep my kids busy as I read.  There are often photos of key figures and flags of countries to cut out and paste in.  Now I do have to say my daughters age 9 and 11 like this feature more than my boys ages 14 and 16.  The 16 year old tolerates it but I pretty much have to make the 14 year old do it.  I’m not sure if it’s an age or gender issue but I think its great reinforcement so we did/do it.

I’m not sure that a short review can really do this curriculum justice as it’s quite comprehensive!  You really do want to get the student activity book, reader and teachers guide.  The teachers guide has all your answer keys as well as suggested additional reading by age level and other recommend added activities by ages.  The student activity book has all the notepages, maps, key figure pictures and reproducibles.

There are special pages and suggestions if you want to do a Native American notebook, war battle pages (civil, WWI etc...), and president pages.

Please ask questions if there is anything I haven’t answered about this curriculum.  You may want to bookmark the blog as well as we’ll be using All American for much of our history after the 1^st of the year and I’ m sure I’ll have blogs to write as we go along!

Can I think of any negatives?  This is tough!  I really have a hard time coming up with any.  For some it may seem costly and though it is from a Christian perspective it’s not quite as apparent as for instance Mystery of History curriculum.  That’s not necessarily a negative but something some might want to know.

I highly encourage you to check this one out!  It’ available from Bright Ideas Press.   All three are $68 and they are also available priced individually.  On the website they also have sample pages so you can see for yourself.

Nov. 5, 2009 - Educaching

Did you ever go Letter boxing or heard of Geocaching?  Well this Educaching is using your GPS for educational purposes.  I'd never heard of this product that was up for review by the Old Schoolhouse Crew. 

We were sent free materials from Educaching in exchange for our reviews.   It’s a 128 pages guide which gives you lessons and instructions to use your GPS for education.

There are five sections to this manual; teacher education, lesson plans, field sheets, acquiring GPS and beyond the basics.  I spent quite a bit of time on the teacher education as this was a pretty new concept for me!

This section defines a lot of the lingo like geocaching, waypoints, educache and more.  “Basically” it boils down to using Longitude and Latitute coordinates to have students find hidden things and plot certain points. 

Once you figure out how that’s done which requires a little knowledge of your GPS (more on that farther down) you’re on your way to the lessons.

The lessons range from math, science, thought process and more.  Ideas are also given for modifying to fit your own needs.

Honestly we don’t have time for a lot of extra things beyond what we are already studying and some of lessons the kids would all need to have studied the same things so if I were to use this I’d be modifying and making my own lessons a lot.  We did find one on chemical and physical changes which we studied together last year so we decided to test that one.

You could take many of the ideas but exchange your science or history concepts but it would take more teacher preparation.  Some of activities like types of triangle, finding perimeter etc… would obviously be more suited to a group of same age rather then multi-age kids.  It would work very well in a class or co-op setting, even a co-op class specifically on Educaching would be a neat idea.

We did use the field sheet section to print the worksheet that went with the Chemical/Physical change lesson we chose.  It basically was a fill in the blank sheet to write in the coordinates and locations as you found them along with whether they where chemical or physical changes.

For the activity you place things (or I used slips of paper naming the item) that demonstrate a chemical or physical change in container (or I used zip locks.)  The book gives you the suggestions.  Things like a burnt match (chemical), rusty nail (chemical) or popped balloon (physical).  Then you go out with your GPS and find your place and write down the coordinates. 

Though this could be a very fun activity it obviously takes a lot of teacher prep time (without kids in tow) to complete. 

Well on to our experience…

My 9 year old daughter tried it out with me.  I first got all the coordinates and then I gave them to her to find.  This is where we started having a lot of problems.

Our GPS did not handle this very well.  Apparently our GPS only does street directions and won’t go “through the woods” so to speak.  By coaching her (since I knew where they were) we were able to do the exercise but it obviously wasn’t ideal and not nearly as fun as it could have been.

My recommendation is to definitely check out your GPS and know how it works.  In the manual they go over what to look for in a GPS but having ours already we obviously didn’t follow these guidelines.  We had problems with charging our GPS and keeping it off the charger for very long.  Prior to this we only used it in the car constantly (pretty much) plugged in, so battery life is an issue. 

I truly don’t know much about GPS systems but my husband though more expensive models would do the off road that ours wouldn’t.

With the frustration of our GPS aside I think this could be very useful for a homeschool family especially if you take part in co-op’s or classroom situations that could make use of it.  You would also need to consider if you have the teacher prep time.  One option could be to have one of your older children “plan” the event and do all the prep.

The price is very reasonable at $32 so if you've been wanting to check out this technology with your kids this might be your ticket!

Nov. 4, 2009 - ACT Advantage Discover program

For Old Schoolhouse Crew we received both printed material and access to online functions of the the Discover program from ACT Advantage.  Their site describes it as, “.... (a)career planning process (that) begins with a research-based assessment system that allows students to assess their interests, abilities and values—a critical step to building a career plan based on personal strengths.  Students can then explore multiple career paths using DISCOVER's up-to-date databases of occupations (including military), majors and colleges.”

 My daughter who is middle school helped me take a look at these materials though we plugged in some information for our high school boys too. 

We first received a lot of printed pdf material which actually looks like it’s free for download from their site here.  This appears to be how to use this in a classroom setting.  As typical for us at home it seems to me anyway that things for the “classroom” take much less time at home so we condensed and did some of the information from these pages orally.  We did some T/F type sheets about preconceived ideas about particular careers and used questions on worksheets to talk about ideas you’ve heard from your family and society about working.  These are obviously geared toward the typical classroom, secular environment but I just adapted as I went.

As we worked through the information (typically condensing and doing 5 or so of the “prepared”  lesson in one setting) we’d come to a point where there would be a worksheet I would print like a sheet to write out what job/chores she liked best least and why or thoughts about 1^st job she ever wanted to do and what she wants to do now.  Then it directs you to go online and check out a particular section related to what you just looked at.

Honestly, it was a bit confusing but I think we did get some good discussion and information from it.  We spent a lot of time on the paper information and I’d probably in hind site skip sooner to the information online.  Once she went online it was again a bit confusing at first but the career information was very good.  The paper parts would be a good place to spend some time if your child still needs some thinking about work, careers, values etc…  If they have some solid ideas you might benefit more from exploring specific careers online.

They use a “World-of-Work” map which confuses me a little.  It’s supposed to be a pie wedge graph that breaks up careers into segments and places the results of your interest inventory within the proper “pie”.  Maybe I’m not visual enough to appreciate this but we did better just using the selections in wording that they tell you were the highest areas.

The biggest plus to this program in my opinion is the career information.  When a particular field is recommended you then explore many choices within that area.  What I really liked is they give you extensive information about that particular career.  Often we’ve done career things that give you a list but then if you don’t know or just have vague ideas of what particular careers are you have to do further investigations.  With Discover all your choices and lengthy definitions of what those choices entail and require are just clicks away.

There was only one inventory to complete but the focus here I would say is more on investigating choices.  Once you chose a field/career it gives you majors, classes and even lengthy lists of schools that have what you want.  As you start investigating you can save your favorites to come back to later.

My boys have better ideas of what they want so we played a bit with this feature.  While they do have extensive information on Computer programming (one of my oldest son’s interests) we could not locate specifically computer “game” programming which is what he wants to specialize in.  So if you have a “specialty” it may not give everything you need but it does give a lot on the general major of computer programming.  It lists high school classes recommended for that particular field which pretty much correspond to other lists we have found. 

There are also a lot of screens and help on resume building, interviewing and job seeking as well. 

Would I go ahead and do it if I wasn’t reviewing?  Yes, I think I would if we needed some direction in that area.  Right now we seem to have been checking into a lot of career’s/majors and the kids are pretty confident of what their doing and the plan they have so at this time I wouldn’t but if you’ve got a Jr. High or High Schooler who needs some direction this may be worth checking out.   The cost is $19.95 for a three month access.  They also have a demo to view on their site.

*Free materials and trial of the site were provided me in exchange for my opinions.

Nov. 3, 2009 - Christmas before you know it!

It’s November already and before you know it Christmas will be here!  I’m big on not rushing over Thanksgiving because I believe it’s important to focus on family and Thankfulness but I am also a big believer in preparing for Christmas.

If we don’t prepare for Christmas often we get sucked up in the busyness and lose the focus of Christ that we intend to have.  Because this is important to me I’d like to devote a blog entry each week from now until Christmas on preparing.  Some of the entries will include;

Gifts to make

Traditions to turn our focus to Christ

Foods

Planning

Decorations

Books

Thoughts

Stories

Simplifying

And more!

To get an idea of some of the past things I’ve covered at Christmas click on the Christmas category at the right.

A couple of my favorite from past years are listed below.

Jesus Stocking (not much to the entry but it’s been such a profound thing for our family)

Advent (two entries, love the picture on the older one, it remains one of my favorite Christmas pictures) 1st one, 2nd one

Funny Christmas Eve story (this really happened and though not so funny at the time it is now!)

Holiday Candies (my favorite quick thing to do with younger kids!)

So enjoy and hope you can stop back for more!  Be sure to leave your comments with your thoughts or to share your ideas as we go along!

Nov. 2, 2009 - ABC Teach

ABC Teach is a membership site that has a plethora of worksheets, tools, clip arts, forms and much more to use in your homeschool.  When my kids were younger I had found this site and a few other similar sites online I used once in awhile but as our ages increased and we became more eclectic and needed less busywork I found we used these type of things less.  If you find yourself wanting/needing extra worksheets/colorsheets etc… this might be a great tool for you.  One of the things we still used (today in fact) are the book report forms . 

One of the best things about ABC teach is that you can check out a lot of it for free!  Just go to abcteach.com and start searching, much of it is available without membership.

It is obviously geared toward regular school students/teachers.  For instance there are lots of bulletin board and desk card tools. If you look around however you can find many things that would lend themselves more toward the typical homeschool family.

They have many “generators” where you can create your own worksheets or puzzles.  This could be very helpful for families who are creating their own curriculum.  Since my daughter has been asking for more handwriting sheets, and I didn’t get her a workbook this year, we checked out that feature of the site. 

There is a tutorial which tells you how to use the generator that I bypassed and just went right ahead in creating.  The generator has many types of font to chose from.  You can create the cursive (or print) to copy or select “dotted lines” for your child to trace.  If you want to reinforce learning in a particular subject you can create copywork to go along with curriculum you already have.  We chose to type in some of the definitions we’re learning in Economics to help her improve on her cursive.  It does take time however for you to put in all the information rather than have a prepared copywork.  They do have a few prepared click and prints but very limited.

We don’t follow typical school scope and sequence so when I typed in some of the content of our history to see what was available I didn’t find a lot.  If you use curriculum that corresponds more with regular school curriculum you might find more already prepared options.  I did find some on Plymouth and Thanksgiving that could be extra options for us as we study that era.  One of the things I downloaded was a 7 page guide on the mayflower and pilgrims.  It had timeline, who/what/where/when sheets, etc…

Another area I check out was the literature section.  There are a lot of question and answer type worksheets for various novels.  I did save a couple that I thought we might be reading soon and though I wouldn’t give them out as worksheets as they were intended I would use the questions for discussion.

I would recommend this if you need some “extras” and especially if you have time to create using their generators to fit your existing curriculum.  I encourage you to check out their freebie’s first to get a feel for the site. 

It’s $40 for a one year membership.  Be sure to visit ABC Teach for more information and to check out their freebies!

*ABC teach provided a free one month membership to me in exchange for my review.

Oct. 30, 2009 - My Access writing program

My Access  is a web based writing program like I had never come across before.  Have you ever wanted a program that could actually show your child where to improve in the areas of focus, organization, content & development, language use and mechanics?  This program actually does that! 

Have you ever struggled with knowing what to suggest to help your child’s writing become better?  This program helps you know where they need help the most.

Most other writing programs I’ve looked at focus mostly (or even exclusively) on mechanics; things like punctuation and grammar.  This is the first I’ve looked at that is able to use a computer to measure some of those other area’s like language, focus, content etc…

Now let me just say that it obviously isn’t perfect but I’d say it’s pretty good.  Any computer is going to sometimes give you suggestions that are not correct.  Think of this like your spell check.  It usually helps you out but sometimes it gives you a word suggestion that isn’t even the word you wanted.  Just like you have to train you children to think when using spell check they do need to think when using this program. 

But with that being said, I think this could truly take loads of time and instruction off of a busy mom and put some accountability to the computer instead of the teacher.  I’m not saying it can replace the teacher but it covers a lot of ground and reiterates a lot so you don’t have to.  At our house I know sometimes it’s hard for mom to always be the one saying rework that or fix this.  When my children were working for a goal on this program they wanted to do the work without me telling them!

Each child has their own account they log into at myaccess.com.  Once in they chose from a list of prompts to get them started. They start earning point by writing, revising and completing tutorials.  You can set rewards (that you chose) for certain point levels which was hugely motivational for my girls (ages 9 and 11.)  I will say somewhere in the site I read to set your first goal low as points take awhile get and I disagree.  The lowest you can set is 250 which is what I chose since they wanted to watch the kick-off of a favorite TV show that was only a week away, they blew it away in one afternoon!

I do have to mention that my girls were thrilled with this but my boys (ages 14 and 16) were not quite as enthralled.  My 14 year old prefers to write what he wants to write and not follow any prompts (this was a hurdle for him) and honestly my 16 year old was too busy with all of his other subjects to give it much time.  I did have them each do 250 points worth and they did but not without prodding.

You can add your own writing prompts if you want to.  I did put one in on Ben & Me that we were doing with our Total Language Plus curriculum but I found the more new ones I put in the kids would rather do first before they’d revise what they’ve already got there.  If you were going to use this as a years curriculum I’m sure you’d get through their premade prompts and need some more (I would say there’s about 30-40 per level premade.)  If you use Total Language Plus many of your personal thinking questions could easily be modified into these prompts.

There is not an assignment set up, like they log in and it says do this or that today, but you could easily set that up on paper.  In fact they do have a sample calendar as a suggestion to follow or modify.  You could also only assign them one prompt instead of letting them chose from the list and set up the expectation that they complete or do a certain amount of revising on that one before you assign the next one of your choosing for the next week.

The parent or teacher can go in and see the progress and view assignments as well as set new rewards (something I need to do!)  We had not been doing it as curriculum but just for fun and when they hit their reward point level they tend to stop using the program.  This is the area where I think parents could be tempted to just let the computer take over and never give feedback themselves.  I really do think parents/teacher would still need to make a point of reading through assignments, seeing the progress themselves and make any corrections or comments.  Like I said it’s a computer program so there will be things a live teacher may need to correct or notice that a computer won’t.

They do have video demo’s on their site so I encourage you to check them out if you're considering purchasing.  This gives you some idea of the content and what the screens look like.

The program is available for 1 year for three students for $99.95 or 6 students for $129.95.  This is a substantial cost but in my opinion it could be used for a good part of your writing curriculum so it’s worth considering especially if you’re a parent who struggles in how to coach your child in their writing.

 *This program was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of my review as part of the Old Schoolhouse Crew.

Oct. 28, 2009 - The Amazing Bible World History Timeline

We love history so when the The Amazing Bible World History Timeline  came in the mail it was no chore to take a look.  This timeline of sorts was given to me as part of the Old Schoolhouse crew for review.  It’s really quite different then any timeline I’ve seen.

As you can see from the picture it’s sort of circular and colorful.  The colors represent the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth (Noah’s sons.)  You may not also be able to tell from the picture but it’s HUGE.  The actual measurements are 38” by 46”.  We put it up in our hallway as that’s the only spot we had (we have wall space issues, too many bookcases in the way!)  I suppose you could also put it out on a large table when you wanted to look at it as well.

You find the person or event you're interested in and follow that section to see what people or events were going on elsewhere.

Since my 14 year old’s bedroom door is right across the hall from the wall we placed it on he would often spout off little facts he’d read on the timeline.  I’ve asked him to recall some just now and he really can’t remember but he’d say things like, “…did you know so and so was alive when such and such happened.”  He loved to peruse it while brushing his teeth stalling for bedtime!

We tried to use it with our history study but found much of where we’re at not there.  It is a broad overview and we do quite an in depth study.  For instance Oliver Cromwell was on there but Elizabeth, Charles I & II were not (all in lessons of Mystery of History III.)  I think earlier in history like with Mystery of History I more of the subject/lessons would be on there.  Also, there would be a lot of relevance with an Old Testament study. 

 Because we do such in depth study we do prefer one with a lot of detail.  Of course the one we have takes up a lot more space so this one would be nice or families who just want an overview and want it out all the time.

This timeline does include an index which is nice to try to locate a particular person.

If you’re never used a timeline like this it is truly something to check out.  It’s interesting to notice what was going on at the same time in different parts of the world.  That’s certainly not something most of us got growing up with our education.  This is an especially good one if you want to keep one up on your wall.  I must say it does get more “look” time this way if you can find the space for it.

The timeline is available for $29.97 plus shipping at agards.com .  As a bonus with purchase you also get some downloadable interactive holy land maps too.

Oct. 26, 2009 - Virgina Soaps and Scents

Virginia Soaps and Scents site is like a feast for your eyes.  The soaps look so good you can almost smell them through the screen!  They truly are pretty to look at as well as fun to use!

As part of the Old Schoolhouse Crew we were sent samples of Virginia Soaps and Scents laundry detergent to make, shampoo bar and regular soap bars to try. 

Let’s start with the soap.

First of all I had to fight my daughter to use them!  She was especially attracted to the oatmeal one.  They have a good lather and are rather creamy.  The scents are pleasant and not too strong and they are very “pretty” to look at!  I do have trouble with scented soaps sometimes as they make me sneeze.  These did not leave me sneezing.  Our only problem is we are fairly accustomed to the pump type soaps and no longer own any soap dishes.  I’m not sure that we’re ready to switch back to a bar soap but if we did these would be fabulous.

We had never tried a shampoo bar so I was the first to try it.  I would love to say I had fabulous results but I did not.  My hair was very hard to brush through (I have fairly long hair) and it felt almost gummy or sticky.  The best way I can describe it is when you get too much chlorine build up.  Anyway, I had heard that a vinegar rinse can get rid of build up so I tried that then shampooed again and had very similar results.  The third time I shampooed with the bar I used my regular cream rinse after and it was tolerable but still not as silky feeling as I was used to.  After my experience I chose not to try it on my daughters hair that I already have a difficult time brushing.

Our water here is slightly hard so I don’t know if that is part of it or what.  I know many of the crew members had great results so I encourage you to read their experiences as well if you’ve been thinking of a shampoo bar.

The third product we were sent to review was a laundry soap kit.  It comes with complete instructions for “making” the laundry soap (basically add water, heat and thicken.)  I have made my own before so I was familiar with the process.  The picture shows what it looks like after thickening.  We “funneled” it into a rinsed out old detergent container.  It is sort of globular so you “pour” or glob out ½ cup per load.

Our first few loads went fine and we were happy with the results however it didn’t get the smells out of the workout clothes.  Again, don’t know if it’s an issue with our water or what?  I tried adding more soap to the next load but still the odor remained.  We love homemade laundry soap but for us this one isn’t quite strong enough for all the odors.  Again you may want to check out other crew member review as many had great results.

To check out the other crew member reviews click here.

The soaps are $4.50 per bar or 3/$12, the shampoo bar $5.50 each or 2/$10 and a laundry “kit” to try is $4.95.  I encourage you to check their site out, it’s really fun to look through. 

Oct. 22, 2009 - Seed Saving

Yesterday was such a beautiful day here in Southern Michigan, the sun was shinning, the leaves were magnificent and you didn’t need a jacket!  We won’t have too many more of those days so we chose to take advantage of the outdoors.

As we walked around our yard and woods I noticed my now browned morning glories.  Slowly I began picking of few of the seed heads and removing the seeds into my hand.  Well, before you know it we were going into the house for small containers to gather more seeds.  This year I had an incredible about of morning glories due to my Grandma who is an incredible seed saver!  Almost every year she gives me little envelopes and containers labeled foxglove, columbine or morning glory.  This last year she gave me TONS of morning glory.  So much that I kind of just threw them in here and there because I ran out of places to put them!  The ones on the vegetable garden fence did the best because they got watered regularly.

Once Lexie (my 9 year old) and I got going on morning glories there was no stopping.  Seed gathering can be kind of addictive!  We moved on to balloon flowers, pink coneflowers and hibiscus.  (The pictures were obviously the morning glories and hibiscus before the frost!)

If you live in the Midwest it’s probably about seed saving time!  The best time to get them is when they are dry on the plant.  If you get them too early they are still “green” and don’t come off as easily.  Most of the time you can let them dry out right on the plant and then just rub with your fingers and the seeds will literally fall into your waiting container.  Don’t forget to leave some on your plant or drop some there so you’ll have more volunteers next year!  You don’t want to wait until moist snow (or weeks of rain) set in because they can get moldy and damp.

                                                                                                                  hibiscus seed pod

When you do pick them if they are not quite hardened (a little green and slightly soft yet) just dry them out for a few days before storing.  You can lay them out on newspaper or even just have them in your oven with the pilot light on for awhile (this is what my Grandma does.)

I had to call Grandma yesterday, as picking seeds makes me think of her!  She lives 2 hours north of us and it has been wet there so she’d been trying to dry some in the oven.  Mine are mostly ready though some of the morning glories I may spread out on newspapers for a few days.

For more information on saving seeds go to seed savers website.  This link gives you a search box where you can put in the flower or vegetable seed you're interested in saving and it tells you how.

If you are interested in morning glories or bright pink hibiscus leave a comment with your email and I can mail you some (US only please.)  This of course is while my excess supply lasts!

Oct. 19, 2009 - Sarah's Wish

Oct. 15, 2009 - Flying

This week Taylor got to go “flying” with some friends from our homeschool group.  Our group has been having these one day “workshops” on various subjects.  This one was on radio controlled planes that his friend Keaton did.

They had instructors there to help the kid “fly” the planes.  The instructors used a control box that has connected controls so that they can take over if you mess up.  It’s called a buddy box.  Taylor was really concerned about wrecking a plane so this really helped him feel comfortable.  He actually did very well and didn’t need to worry about “messing up”.  The instructors do the take-off and landing and guide you what to do in the air.

I actually tried it too and it was pretty fun.  Taylor said he was pretty good at it from playing flying video games.  Since I don’t play those games it took me longer to get used to the controls.

His friend gave a talk explaining how the planes work.  I was really impressed about how much he knew about aviation and engines.

Oct. 13, 2009 - Guardian Angel publishing

Oct. 9, 2009 - Free Lapbook/Unit study

Old Schoolhouse is offering Autumn Treasures FREE right now.  It’s a bit young for most of my kids but I wanted to share so those of you who still have younger ones could take advantage. 

We’ve done an Amanda Bennett before and this one seems to have similar features like clickable links to sites and videos as well as extensive book lists.  It’s got the notebook page type activities as well as the lap booklets. 

It’s designed to be a 5 day study but I can see lots of ways you could use it besides strictly a 5 day study.  You study the seasons, leaf pigment, autumn poems, Johnny Appleseed and more!

I didn’t see an age range (though I truly scanned it so it may be there and I missed it) but I would guess up to 2^nd or 3^rd.  My youngest (4^th grade) might enjoy some of the activities but many would be a little young for her.  

So go ahead click on the picture and get yours, it's FREE! 

Oct. 7, 2009 - New Way of Eating

This fall has found our family on a new adventure with a different kind of eating.  With some of the issues my husband has been having with his Stills disease we were led to start investigating how foods relate to your heath.  It’s been quite an experience!

It all started back at homeschool family camp in late August.  Chris was on some pretty significant drugs and having some pretty big side effects and pain from his disease.  In talking with someone he met there she mentioned she had a lot of success in curing her Rheumatoid Arthritis through her diet.  He talked with her quite a bit and had some names of books she recommended that we went home with.

Well long story short, we did a lot of ready in a short amount of time and felt like this was an answer or at least a possible avenue God was nudging us towards.  Basically the ideas presented from multiple sources (books by Fuhrman, McDougall and China Study) all support that people who eat exclusively plant based diets have virtually no chronic conditions.  In fact they site many instances of people being “cured” of MANY chronic conditions through food choices.  It is really interesting reading even if you’re skeptical.

We are starting on our 5^th week of eating this way and so far we believe it’s helping.  The thing with his disease is that he has ups and downs so it will be hard to tell positively for awhile but it seems to be helping.  He’s definitely not getting worse (which he was day by day until we started this) and he has reduced his medications considerably.  He would like to be off them completely but they are not the kind of things you should quit cold turkey so it’s a weaning process.  I do believe this is an answer from God.

Now, do me a favor, if you’re a believer stop reading right now and just send a bullet prayer to God.  You see every time we give God glory in this area Satan attacks so your prayers will help cover us.  Thank you!

Okay, back to the issue at hand… 

Now the hard thing for me has been cooking for this!  Those that read my blog probably know I’m big into freezer cooking and my lifestyle is not real condusive to figuring out each day what we’ll eat that night.  Frankly it stresses me out!  So I’ve been on a search for recipes that will fit his new eating plan that I can make ahead!

Thankfully, I do now have a few in the freezer which will make my life SO much easier.  Last week I did 50lbs of potato’s in various ways (all that he can do) that are now stashed in the freezer.  If you want to know what to do with 50lb’s of potato’s check out this blog.  This time I modified that plan a little (vegan cheese, soy bacon crumbles etc…) but did essentially the same.

Another recipe I modified and created last night was Black Beans and Rice.  It was incredible!  I made a double batch so we’ve got one in the freezer but next time I’ll definitely make 4 or more!  Even non restricted eaters would love this one!

Black Beans and Rice (this makes two small or one large)

2 cans black beans drained

1 can of corn (or you could use frozen, I was out)

2 cups uncooked brown rice

2 jars salsa (I used one mild, one medium each 16 oz.)

1 jar spaghetti sauce (think this was 20oz, I used Vegan friendly kind but use what you like)

½ t. cumin

½ t. oregano

Combine all the ingredients and pour into a large 10X15 or two smaller casseroles.  Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes (till rice is done.)  Either eat right away or cool and transfer to freezer bags to store for future meals!  I served shredded cheddar on the side and I didn’t have sour cream but that would be a great side topping too!

Oct. 6, 2009 - Nature Friend Magazine

Receiving two free magazines and study guides from Nature Friend Magazine for review was certainly fun in the mailbox!  We’ve had a lot of fun reading, doing, writing and drawing through the magazine.

Nature Friend Magazine is self described as, ”a creation-based, monthly nature magazine for children that the whole family will enjoy.”  Each monthly issue contains a “You Can Draw” art lesson, "Pictures and poems" sent in by readers, very neat photo’s in “Creation Close-ups, seasonal stories and photo’s in “Nature Trails” submitted by readers, an experiment type activity to do in “Learning by Doing” as well as puzzles, hidden pictures searches and several nature related articles.

Probably the best way to get yourself acquainted with the magazine is to visit their site and peruse the samples.  They generously have three complete issues you can “sample” to get a feel for the magazine.  The August 08 in here but visit their main site to also view the June and July of 08 issues.  Just go to the “magazine” tab and chose samples.

My daughters dug into the issues we received.  Lexie cast a footprint following the directions in the “Who Walked Here?” article from the August 09 issue.  We walked around our 5 acres but since the trails are mostly pine needle and leaf covered it was hard to find tracks.  Our dog run area proved to be the best place to get a casting. 

Ariel drew the sunflower from the August 09, “You can Draw” feature. The instructions are really quite detailed, for instance for the background it recommends, “...take your scissors and, using the one side, gently shave off blue powder from the tip of your sky blue pencil.  Then carefully rub it in to the background, creating blue sky and clouds.”  It certainly would help with your “art” curriculum if you took the time to use it.

As I write we have cups of crushed plants sitting on our dinning room table for the “Learning by Doing” from the September issue.  It’s on Plant Pigments.

All of the above mentioned articles and activities pertain to the magazine itself which is available for $36 per year.  Currently there is a blog coupon available which will take $3 off for new subscribers.  Use code BLOG93. You can order at nature friend magazine.

The second part that Nature Friend Magazine included was their study guide.  Just like the Magazine itself they have complete samples of the study guide portion.

The study guide is $2 per issue more per month and contains many more puzzles, further research suggestions, a photo taking feature and a writing lesson with nature.

We were especially intrigued with the photo feature in the August study guide.  They went through how they got their cover shot which was an owl swooping and catching a mouse in its' talons.  When the issue first came I remarked that it was an amazing shot!  The study guide section goes through how they actually set this up.  It was very interesting!  I won’t give away the details!

We really enjoyed reviewing this magazine and have a hard time finding flaws to point out!

The two things that I can say might keep us from ordering would be time and money.  It is a bit expensive probably to some for a monthly magazine, although I must say in my opinion you get a lot for your money!  The second thing is for the cost I want to make sure we have the time to use it.  There is a lot there but finding the time to do the activities some months for us would seem impossible.

To negate those concerns I would definitely consider making it part of an elementary/middle school science curriculum.  With a little creativity and a library you could certainly expand on some of the ideas/articles and have a well rounded curriculum.  Though I don’t believe this is the intention of the magazine it seems very feasible to me and then it becomes the base for quite an inexpensive curriculum!  Another possibility might be to do whatever you normally do for science 3 weeks of the month and chose to work through the magazine for the 4^th week. 

It is a great magazine and study guide all by itself but I know for us I would have to carve out the time to justify the cash outlay.

I hope you’ll take the time to go to Nature Friend and check it out for yourself!  Don’t forget the discount code!  The discount is only available till the end of November so don't delay.

Oct. 5, 2009 - Fun You Tube

 Some of you have probably seen this video before but it's still funny the second time!  My daughter insisted I put this on the blog so she can tell friends to go watch it!

It makes light of some of those true or not so true things that are commonly thought of homeschool families.  Enjoy, permission granted to LOL!

Gina

Oct. 2, 2009 - College Prep Genius

College Prep Genius The No Brainer Way to SAT Success is next for review with the Old Schoolhouse Crew.  Again the timing of this one is great for us since we have a high school Junior who will probably take the SAT later this year.

We received a book, workbook, and DVD to look over.  The opening of the book states, “College Prep Genius contains hidden secrets and little-known patterns found on the SAT & PSAT/NMSQT/NNSQT tests.  By unraveling these concealed codes, students can score higher on these tests and in return receive up to full scholarship/full ride to colleges of their choice.”  That sounds good but could it be true?

We dove into the program and did as it recommends.  They suggest first to take a practice test which we found online at collegeboards.com.  Logan did this without any study or preparation.  In fact, he really had no clue what a SAT was.  He was shocked that a test could take so long!  After scoring it I was surprised he was above “average” (whatever that means!)  Not that I didn’t think he could do well but like I said he really had no idea what this test was about or what he was in for.  We don’t do very much “testing” in our homeschool.

After the practice test you’re supposed to read the book through 2-3 times.  Logan had trouble getting all the way through it once.  It is pretty repetitive.  I told him to go ahead and start working the sections with the DVD.  That helped but having already read the sections he had a hard time keeping focused as it was essentially the same information as in the book.

The information seems to be very good and somewhat different from what I’ve seen in other “prep” guides.  We definitely learned a lot about the test and how it works.  One of the key things you keep hearing is that the test is “logical”.  They focus on acronym’s that help you remember certain test taking points.  These really do help you eliminate wrong answers and narrow down the correct ones.

As you go through each section you work in the workbook with the video following along with on screen samples.  The DVD goes through each one and uses whatever acronym you’re working with to show how you apply it to actual test questions.  This part is very good and I’m quite sure it has helped Logan with his test taking skills. 

So far Logan’s done the Critical Reading section including Passage Based Reading short and dual passage sections.  He's done the text on the Math but not the DVD part yet.  The sections he has yet to do are the Essay and Writing sections.  He’s been working on this two afternoons a week (about 2 hours most days) for 3-4 weeks to get this much accomplished.

Logan felt like overall this would prepare him well for the test but it got very repetitive and some of their suggestions seem a bit over the top.  For instance the book recommends 3-4 hours study per week for Juniors and 3 months before the test at least two hours a day on weekdays and 10 hours on the weekends.  The DVD recommended the week before the test taking one practice test per day.  Now you have to realize the practice tests take about 3 hours each!  I’m sure putting in all this time would help but for most teens we know this would be difficult if not impossible to attain.

The book also contains scholarship and loan information as well as lots of forms to help track your progress on practice tests and scholarship locating.

 Logan may take the PSAT the second week of October and will probably take the SAT once if not twice later this year so keep watching the blog and I’ll let you know if the proof was in the pudding for us so to speak!

Summing it up Logan and I feel like it’s good SAT prep material but a bit tedious.  I’m not sure however how all this material could be “exciting” so take that with a grain of salt.  It’s just a lot to get through.

The DVD set which includes the text and workbook is available from College Prep Genius for a special limited time price of $79.  They have also graciously given us a code so our readers can get free shipping and handling!  Use the code HSBlog09 (it expires November 15,09.)

Sep. 30, 2009 - The Complete Career, College, and High School Guide for Homeschoolers

Boy did this come at a good time for us!  I’ve got two boys here that need to figure out what they’re going to be when they grow up soon!  One of the latest product for review with the Old Schoolhouse Crew was The Complete Career, College, and High School Guide for Homeschoolers from Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services (EDUDPS.)

The guide contain four assessments that your student takes and scores to give them input on what college and career path might be right for them.  These are not quick little check lists but lengthy assessments that took my boys about 1 ½ hours to complete.  Once they did this they recorded their “scores” on a “career summation form”.  This form then tells them what to do with each result and where to go to get information pertaining to that result.  Each step from there takes time to look through lists and think through the information given about each result.

If this sounds complicated it’s really not, complex yes, but not complicated.  They just followed the steps as outlined in the guide and it gave them some direction based on their result.  It doesn’t give just one career or college major but rather several ideas and lists of possibilities for them to choose from.  We started to see a lot of overlap between the results of each assessment that gave the boys some directions to look at for their future.

Once they make some choices they then fill out a Career Plan Form.  This is where the action plan comes in.  From the work they’ve already done they now form an “action plan” of sorts.  This is where they plan to do things like interview people in the careers they’re considering,  decide or consider what courses to take based on recommendations for the choices you made and consider activities from lists that also go along with your choices.  This “action” part we have not had time to complete yet.

From everything so far you can see why the author suggests this could be ½ credit on your transcript!

One of the things I appreciated about The Complete Career, College, and High School Guide for Homeschoolers was the comments about lifestyle as well as just career.  For instance it’s pointed out that boys may want to consider if what they are choosing would give them time for a family and girls are asked to consider some careers that lend themselves to part time or from home.  These are just given as things to consider but definitely are not something you’d find in a secular resource!

Besides being a great assessment tool it has many bonuses like CLEP testing formation and suggestions, SAT prep suggestions, transcript information and more.  I would not say it gives lengthy information on these “extra’s” but enough to get you going.

We look forward to working more with the information in the coming months and planning the course for my two boys.  So far for my oldest it really helped confirm a couple directions he was already headed.  This gives us more confidence in going ahead and investing more money and time into these areas.  For our younger son who is “almost” completely undecided and really wanting a direction it gave him some areas to check out and really made him think about possibilities.  We hope over the next year to follow some of the suggestions for checking out a few possibilities.

I think this would be very helpful for any homeschool family that has middle or high schoolers.  It’s on sale for a limited time in e-book form for $26.20 or $39.95 for soft bound printed.  We did work with the e-book but I would just caution on this one it’s 225 pages.  It worked for us just to print the assessments for the kids to take and the form pages to fill out which was probably about 50-60 pages.  I let them look over the lists and other things right on the computer.

Please do note how their e-books work before you make your decision.  It’s not the typical pdf type you might be used to.  Our computer worked fine with their system but I was very concerned with getting it printed as their system only allows two prints.  I was very reassured when I contacted them that they would work with me to make sure I got what I needed before my two “prints” expired.

This one also has a free sample so check it out too!

Sep. 30, 2009 - Roots and Fruits

First of all let me say Roots and Fruits was designed by Jill Dixon of Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services (EDUDPS) to be a comprehensive vocabulary curriculum for grades K-12.  It contains 673 Roots and 1718 vocabulary words and was designed to be done over years in only 15 minutes a day.  It’s one book for all your children K-12!  Wow!

She recommends a 5 day weekly schedule, which for those of you who know me won’t be surprised that we didn’t follow.  The guide suggests posting the words you're working on for the week on a large wall chart on the first day.  We did this.  Then you look up the meaning in the dictionary and write your words, definitions and whether they are Latin or Greek based on the cards.  The guide offers suggestions for how many words each week and exactly what information to put on cards depending on the students age.

The next day she recommends reviewing and the next day giving the words in sentences as well as choosing a game for the day.   There are 14 games to choose from, some requiring a little preparation but most don’t.  This part of the curriculum makes the learning very fun!

On the 5^th day you’re supposed to again use the word in a sentence and play one of several games to evaluate their knowledge.

What worked for us was to do this two days a week.  On the first day we put up the chart wrote out our cards and used each word out loud in a sentence.  The second day of the week we used the words in sentences again and played one of the games.  One of our favorite no prep games is 20 questions.  It’s just like the one your probably familiar with and have played in the car many times only now with your vocabulary.

The guide is designed in alphabetical order.  Since I have a high school Junior we decided to do the top 205 most common words on the SAT first (she notes those for you in italicize.)  How you go through it is up to you.  The guide also notes with an asterisk’s the words most appropriate for younger children so if that fits your family you could start there.

If there is anything I might want to add to this program is a type of periodic evaluation which the guide does recommend, “… at the end of each month or 4 week segment.”  It does recommend doing the games to evaluate but especially for older kids you may want something more concrete.  Personally, I may do crossword puzzles from a free site with the words and definitions we’ve used as additional evaluation.  This will take a little work on the teachers part.

I’m sure we will be using this for years to come and the guilt free part is that it’s supposed to take years.  There’s no pressure to “finish” the book!

It’s available at  EDUDPS   for a “limited time” pricing of $11.25 for the e-book or $19.98 for a comb bound copy.  Please note when making your choice their e-book system which is explained on the site.  It’s a different system from the typical pdf you may be familiar with.  My computer worked fine with it and I went ahead and printed this one out in it’s entirety (72 pages) and put it into my own binder.  If you don’t want to print it all out you may want to consider the bound copy instead.

If you're still not sure check out their free download of the letter A roots and give the system a try first!  On that same page are some free downloads of their other products so check it out!

Sep. 29, 2009 - Plimoth Thanksgiving and Rembrandt

We had our first history co-op last Friday and it was a Plimoth Thanksgiving dinner.  If you’ve never checked out Plimoth Plantations’ site they have excellent interactive content on the first Thanksgiving.

Our co-op is following Mystery of History III and All American I right now.  We mix them together because there is so much overlap at this point in history.  Once a month we meet and make a meal together based on one of the lessons and do an activity from another lesson.  Each child also makes a presentation from something they’ve studied that has to do with one of the lessons from that month.

For our dinner we did have Turkey and pointed out they would have had wild fowl, fish and shellfish and Venison.  We also had steamed clams.  The Pilgrims probably would have had mostly meat as that’s what was available.  The corn at that time would have been dried so we did make a cornbread “pudding” and a pumpkin “pudding”.  They would not have had sugar by that time and it’s not even certain if the chickens survived.  In my research I found they only had spoons and knives, no forks so we ate without forks as well.

Here’s the pumpkin we modified;

1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons molasses
2 eggs
2 cups bread or cake crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup raisins

We microwaved this until set (not sure how long, about 15 minutes?) due to the oven being used by other things.  It obviously has a little sugar and molasses in it but we did want the kids to eat the food and not simply waste it.

Here’s the one we used for Indian pudding, again we did add some sugar.

2 cups milk
1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup molasses, warmed
4 tablespoons sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
sweetened whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat milk with cornmeal. Whisk from time to time until thick. Heat molasses and butter, and whisk in sugar.

2. Gradually beat hot cornmeal mixture into beaten egg. Add cinnamon and raisins. Place in 8-inch-diameter glass baking dish or ceramic mixing bowl. Bake for 1 hours, or until top is rounded and set. Serve hot topping with whipped cream, if desired. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

We also talked about how they would have had nuts, and dried berries but there were no potatoes.  They probably had pumpkin and squash but it wouldn’t have been made into a pie.  On another note, there were only 4 grown women to cook it all!

For our activity we chose to focus on Rembrandt and his painting techniques.  We did an activity sheet highlighting 4 techniques.  You can find the instruction and notepage I created here.  The etching one is a little hard to get to turn out but I think it at least gave the kids an idea of the process.