Nov. 20, 2009 - Gymathics

Today we did a workout with Gymathics by Exploramania.  It’s the next product up for review with the Old Schoohouse Crew.  The creator of  Gymathics states, “I wanted to create products that synthesize education and a healthy lifestyle, beginning with my passion for math education.”  I would describe it as a cross between a kids workout class and a math concept introduction.

The DVD is about 30 minutes of exercise set to some background music with graphics put up on screen showing various math concepts.  They concepts are things like skip counting, prime number, types of triangles and patterns.  It’s recommended for grades 2-5 for the math concepts and the exercise for kids of all ages.  There is a clip on their site so you can get an idea of the format.   For my own kids I could only get my 4^th grader to try it out.  My older kids gave me looks like, “You’ve got to be kidding.”    

One of the teaching concepts Gymathics is taking advantage of  is multi-sensory learning.  I know from my own research in teaching language arts to younger children that motion is simply more then keeping the kids busy, it’s actually been proven to help make brain connections.  Their web site has a page devoted to the research behind this philosophy.  The basic idea is that kids will retain the knowledge better the more senses they involve to learn it.

Lexie liked it okay but I don’t know if it’s something she’d do more then a few times.  I think younger kids may want to do it over and over more readily.  It sells for $24.99 so I know for our family I would want it to be something we’re going to watch more then once or twice.  My daughter already participates in a fit kids class so the exercise part may not be as novel to her.  The math concepts she didn’t already know she wouldn’t fully get from doing this once or twice but if you had a child who watched it repetitively I think they could gain familiarity if not mastery of some of the concepts.

It’s a great idea especially to get kids active and moving! 

One thing I do just have to note is that in one scene the main instructors t-shirt appears a bit too tight (or the room was too cold) which would be bothersome if my teenage boys had been watching.  They have been trained to look away if something like that appears.  I’m sure it was not intentional and my daughter did not notice but it was obvious to me and just want to mention it as it might be offensive to some families.

*The DVD Gymathics was provided to me free from Exploramania for the sole purpose of my honest opionions in the review.

Nov. 18, 2009 - Avko Membership site

We were given a free membership to the Avko site as part of the Old Schoolhouse crew in exchange for our review on the information there.  I have to say I was initially overwhemelmed by the amount of information that I found and quite unsure where to start!

For starters there are five e-books on various spelling and reading issues, along with one on teaching a dyslexic student.  These are not small e-books, but rather lengthy and in depth pieces of work.  For instance the one I downloaded on word families is almost 1500 pages!  It lists words by their patterns (like CVC, homophones or prefix) as well as Greek and Latin roots and so much more.  I don’t even think I can explain everything that’s in it!  It would be useful if you were devising your own spelling lists and wanting to take them from  those groupings.  The first pages of this large e-book goes through their method and philosophy of learning spelling to give you some ideas.

The book on teaching dyslexic students would also be helpful if you are thinking you may have a child who is struggling and either is or may be dyslexic.  I might mention also that there is  an audio file on, “I Think My Child Might be dyslexic, Does it Matter?”

Besides the e-books and audio’s of various convention workshops there are a variety of other stories and articles.  Some seem to be humorous, inspirational, information and some even a little goofy (like one titled, “TOP 8 MORONS.”) 

Some of the information on the site could be useful for any homeschool family but I think it would be especially useful for those using their Sequential Spelling program.  I have never used it and much of the site refers to it or is extra evaluations or worksheets to go with it.

If you’re looking for lots of information on spelling and somewhat on reading this might be for you.  For myself personally having not used their program much of the information was not particularly useful to me.  If my children were younger and I was still trying to figure out the spelling/reading thing the reading might have pertained to me more, or if I had a child struggling in that area.

The membership is $25 per year and their site lists ALL the many resources available there.

Nov. 13, 2009 - Wheel on the School

Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong is one of those books in the Total Language Plus program that we just have never gotten to; there are so many good choices!  We had a little gap in our read aloud schedule so we decided to squeeze it in!

What a delightful and unusual book!  Barbara Blakey, author of our Total Language Plus study guides, has always said it was well written and I must agree.  I was especially impressed with the way the author ties in individual events into one larger event.

Shora is the town that has no Storks on their roofs which is the catalyst for all the action in The Wheel on the School.  At the school, the children and teacher begin discussing this problem and why it exists.  From there thy take action and decide to find a wheel for their school.

In their search they encounter people and experiences they normally would not have.  It’s quite humorous at times and also makes you pause and think of similar people that you have maybe misjudged or need to get to know.  We laughed and I even caught myself with a tear in my eye when Janus tells his story about the boat but I won’t spoil it for you, you’ll just have to read it!

The Total Language Plus study guide has suggestions for projects on writing assignments on things like Storks, reports on being handicapped (Janus one of the main characters is in a wheelchair), mapping of Holland, Africa, fishing and so much more!  My daughter Lexie has decided she definitely wants to do this one!  She’s not quite ready yet, she’s on Whipping Boy right now, maybe next year. (It's suggested for 5th or 6th grade.)

Here’s a map we found online of the Netherlands (Holland) with cities and seas filled in, http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.m%2Dw.com/cgi%2Dbin/nytmaps.pl%3Fnetherlands and here’s an outline one http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.m%2Dw.com/cgi%2Dbin/nytmaps.pl%3Fnetherlands .  We could not locate Shora but you can locate Amsterdam where Janus talks about the man writing the newspaper column and you can of course locate the North Sea.

In the book they talk about sleeping in “cupboard” or “closet” beds.  I found articles from people who had toured and viewed them but no pictures.  We did find these replicas based off illustrations, http://www.remodelista.com/posts/childrens-rooms-bed-cupboard .  I thought they were really cute though they in reality I doubt were that “cute” in favor of more functional. 

We also thought there would be a lot of pictures and information on dikes.  I didn’t find a “really” good site though you can search and see vacation pictures of dikes.

Nov. 12, 2009 - Christmas Planning

Are you ready for Christmas?  This is about the time I start to take stock of all the gifts, foods, commitments and plans.  I’ve found if I don’t do it now I don’t have time to enjoy the season and fit in the important things. 

Here are some things I’m doing and I encourage you to do to take stock before busyness takes over:

• ·         Revise your gift giving list.  Hopefully you’ve saved last year’s list (I keep mine for years back just for reference) and take a look.  Do you need to add or subtract?  Don’t forget things like gift exchanges, gifts for charity (toys for tots, shoebox  etc…) or gifts for your husband’s employer or employees.  Did you want to have something prepared for neighbors, teachers (like Awana, Sunday School etc…) or family friends?

• ·         Set some spending limits.  How much you spend isn’t as important as the thought and giving itself.   I always like to give (and receive for that matter) homemade gifts which sometimes can save you a lot.  Be careful however not to stress yourself out making things if time is short (that wisdom is from experience, trust me!)  The other thing is to look for sales.  Sometimes at this point in the year it may be too late for this year but you can plan to start in January watching sales for next year.

• ·         Take a look at your schedule.  What do you definitely want to do and what might you want to consider trimming.  Sometimes you find you keep doing something just because you’ve always done it but maybe it’s lost the meaning and value for your family?  I try to keep things that help us focus on the real reason for the Season!

• ·         The last thing I like to do ahead is make some tentative plans for foods both for regular meals, holiday cooking and giving.  It’s great to have your regular meals all set and in the freezer at this busy time of year rather than end up ordering a lot of pizza’s!  Take some time make sure you’re on top of you menu.  Next, take a look at what you need to make for the holidays both in baking and special meals.  If you figure out now how many Turkeys, Hams etc… you’ll need for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years you can shop the sales between now and then and be prepared.  Also, you may want to decide how many cookies and other goodies and which ones you want to do so you can start stocking ingredients.  Keep in mind many cookies freeze well so you can actually start baking now instead of all in one long session.  We often give foods as gifts so I need to figure that as well.

From these suggestions here’re some of my ramblings:

• ·         Got my list made and most of my bought ahead items penciled in, need to check with Chris on things he has hidden away, especially for our kids.
  
  
• ·         Got the wish lists from kids, now Chris and I need to discuss and decide how much and what and split lists to give grandparents ideas or check if they want us to pick up (some do this since we’re long distance.)
  
  
• ·         We for sure want to do our Jesus stockings again so I need to remind the kids to be thinking of about their letters.  Also, need to check with the kids if they want to do a Jesus birthday party again?  Need to get the date for Caroling with our homeschool group to the nursing home.  Don’t think Chris has any parties for work or anything but he usually has a potluck I need to send something for so I need that information as well as how many work gifts he needs this year.  Don’t know if we’ll do a Christmas Eve service this year, we may want to do that night at home as a family?

• ·         Food wise I do still need a Turkey for Thanksgiving.  We’ll probably do something special for Christmas Eve just us.  Have to ask Chris what he’d like.  Had thought about making Blueberry Muffin mixes for our “teacher” type gifts, I dried extra blueberries this summer with that thought.  Also, need to do the usual Russian teacakes for Grandpa Flick and Turtles for my Dad.  I found Cardamom for the Christmas bread; we’ll probably make a few of those as gifts.  As far as cookies this year we need to revise some recipes to fit with Chris’s new restrictions so he’ll have something he can have at get togethers (better start experimenting, saw a vegan truffle recipe somewhere…)

Well those are just some thoughts.  Hope you already have your season all planned but if not maybe there were some good reminders here for you!

Nov. 10, 2009 - FREE Christmas magazine!

I was so impressed with the Holiday Digital Supplement from Old Schoolhouse that I had to share the link!  They are offering it FREE so check it out!

It is really FULL of Holiday ideas!  This isn't a skimmpy download, it's like 160 pages!  Enjoy!

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Digital-Supplement/Thanksgiving&Christmas.html

Nov. 7, 2009 - American Heritage Education

This curriculum I received on a disk free from American Heritage Education to review for the Old Schoolhouse Crew.  It comes in three levels; elementary, middle school and high school and is subtitled , “An Adventure in Liberty”, which it truly is.  Each level is about 160-180 pages in length.

The content is organized both by theme and date.  Some of theme’s are things like freedom, unity, progress and responsibility.  The dates range from 1776 to 2000.  Topics include many of the things you think of when you study liberty and American; things like the Bill of rights, the flag, the star spangled banner, declaration of independence and more.

Each unit contains a variety of items.  First it contains text teaching the subject matter then it contains discussion questions, activity and game suggestions, definitions and more.  It varies depending on the lesson.  For instance one of the activities is to learn the preamble in sign language!

As a homeschoolers we are used to adapting things made for the classroom for home use, this one will be no exception.  Some of the activities would be difficult to adapt but most could be modified with a little creativity.  This would also be a great resource for anyone who does history co-ops as well. 

Looking through the guide I had planned on trying out a game called Monarchy at our last co-op meeting but we ended up rescheduling due to illness so we’ll have to try it out next week.  In the game each student gets assigned a role like King, Queen, Noblemen, Merchant, Peasant etc…  They get pretend cash based on who they are.  As the simulation progresses things like taxes, colonization and war take place.  Money changes hands based on the event and at the end there is a suggestion of discussion and a worksheet to fill out about the role you played and how it felt.  This is in the middle school set but I think it could easily be used in a multi-age setting.

When we were in the medieval period I found something similar on-line and the kids loved it so I’m pretty sure this one will go over well too!

In our history co-op we are “almost” to 1776 so I plan on using a lot of this as supplemental material as we get into that era.  I do think most will find this a welcome addition to whatever they are already using though it could be used alone.

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!