30 Blessed Years!

Today’s my birthday and I’m thirty years old.  To celebrate we went to one of my favorite places – the zoo.  I still love seeing the animals and bringing my children along makes it even better.  I love hearing them ooo and ahh over God’s amazing creations.  I thought I would share a few pictures from the day and then I’m off to spend more time with my family. The first animals we saw were the flamingos.  Pink pink pink! Oliver walked a good portion of the day just like this – with his daddy.  Here they were heading into the reptile house.  We saw lizards . . . and tortoises. Most of us rode on the Carousel, but Oliver decided he didn’t want anything to do with it.  The closer we got the more upset he became.  He and Caleb ended up sitting on the sidelines with daddy instead. Did I mention this was Caleb’s very first trip the the zoo?  He did wonderfully, awake part of the day and then he fell asleep.  I got this picture before laying his seat back so he could nap: About midway through the day we stopped to eat our lunch.  I’ll just give you a peek now, but these Easy Lunchboxes are now our favorite way to pack food on trips!  My review is coming in May, and I’m an affiliate so if you click on my links I’ll get a small credit for any purchases you make.  My budget thanks you!   Some of the other animals we saw today were gibbons . . . and black swans . . .

and even an ancient Chinese lion that tried to eat Daniel:All in all it was a wonderful day with nice cool weather and a mix of sunshine and clouds.

What are you doing with your family today?

A Library Trip

We like books – these are the ones we got at the library today.  Well, technically, they are just the children’s books.  I also got 4 for me, but they didn’t make it in the picture.  Remember my post about the top 10 ways I use my library?  I thought today I would give you a rundown of what a real trip to the library with mom and 6 little ones entails, since we just went this morning. 

First we had to get everyone dressed, diapered, and the books we were returning gathered.  That took about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes.  Some of my little ones have learned how to take off their shoes, which is not always helpful.

Everyone loaded into the 12 passenger van and we turned on an audio book.  I warned them not to panic when I went to the library drive through first.  I wanted to drop off books and pick up the stacks waiting for us without wrangling the little ones.  We went through the drive through and then drove around the building and parked the big van, unloaded the double stroller, and fastened the baby and 2 year old into it.

We walked in the doors and headed straight for the elevator to go down to the children’s level.  Bliss!  Other than librarians there was only one other person with a child there, a toddler, and they left quickly.  We went to the book sale room first and found these five books for FREE:

Yay!

Next we headed to the play tent and aisles of books.  Oliver, the 2 year old, was set free of the stroller.  Baby Caleb was content in his seat.  Makayla headed to the nonfiction section, Emma was in the picture books, Joseph explored I don’t know what, Daniel and Oliver played, and Caleb fell asleep.  I parked the stroller with baby Caleb inside and sat down to watch the little ones. 

My children came to ask where to find various books.  Makayla wanted some on being a vet, Daniel needed help finding the Curious George section, Joseph looked at train books.

The librarian came over and offered to open up the children’s room so we could explore the Recycled Art exhibit that is being taken down tomorrow.  We were thrilled!  Remember our recent unit on Recycling?  And Makayla’s Recycling lapbook?  There were so many neat creations.  I wish I had brought my camera along. 

After about 20 minutes exploring this room Oliver discovered the mural wall with storybook characters.  He and Daniel spent time naming everything they saw.  Makayla offered to take the stroller with the baby while I followed the little ones around. 

Finally it was time to head home.  Oliver sat in the double stroller for the elevator ride upstairs to check out our books.  Makayla asked the librarian about the Civil War paper she had seen hanging up and was given five to take home, one for each sibling.  Have you heard of Flat Stanley?  This cute and colorful booklet is a spinoff all about Johnny Clem, a native of our town who was a drummer boy in the Civil War when he was only 9, and a sergeant by age 12.  The Flat Johnny Clem is to cut out and take on adventures during 2011 as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. 

On the drive home we had fun discussions of our Civil War unit study.  Everything was pulled out to look at again when we got in the house.  You can see our Civil War lapbook here.

Not too long after that my children began scattering to the four winds with books.  I got them to lay everything out on the table for the picture at the beginning of this post before they disappeared completely.  We took a break from reading to eat lunch and now everyone is either napping or looking through their library treasures for quiet time.  I’m going to read something just for me.  What are you doing right now?

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! Level 1 Review

Last fall our family was chosen to review a few level one materials from Greek ‘N Stuff as part of our work with the TOS Homeschool Crew.  We were sent the following:

• Hey, Andrew!  Teach Me Some Greek! Level 1 workbook ($14.95)
• Answers Only Answer Key ($4.00)
• Pronunciation CD ($10.00)

This level of the program focuses on teaching early elementary age children the Greek alphabet, both how to write and pronounce it.  It focuses on koine (biblical) Greek.  We were able to use it with no parent with a background in the language.  As the workbook is heavy on writing we assigned our 9 year old Makayla to do this review. 

The workbook is divided into 28 lessons of 107 student pages.  The majority of the lessons have four workbook pages to do, and there are flashcards to copy or cut out in the back of the workbook. 

1. The first page introduces the Greek letter, both what it is called and how to write it.  The child has two handwriting lines to practice writing the letter.  This is the day I would give Makayla the flashcard for the new letter.
2. The second page introduces the letter’s sound, such as “Theta sounds like th in bath.”  The rest of the page is 6 lines to practice writing the new letter, with a check box at the bottom to mark when the child has practiced their flashcards.
3. The third page is called “Let’s Practice”.  The student is asked to write all the Greek letters they have learned to that point in order from memory.  The bottom half of the page usually has an activity such as circling the Greek letter that comes after the ones in a chart, or finding the letter listed in one box of a chart in the area underneath.  There is a place to check off when flashcards have been practiced.
4. The fourth page of each lesson is the most varied, but revolve around helping a child practice matching Greek letters they have learned with their names or sounds.  This page has the flash card check off spot as well.

What We Thought
The curriculum was easy to use, laid out in a way that made sense, and had continual review built in.  I really appreciated how well this program was put together because I had no prior knowledge of Greek.  After the first few lessons my daughter was able to do her Greek workbook without me, especially because she could use the audio cd to check how to pronounce each letter correctly.  She was even able to correct her own work using the answer key booklet we received. 

Our family has no real interest in learning Greek at this time, so we have no plans to purchase the next level.  However, I can give a wholehearted recommendation to check out Hey, Andrew!  Teach Me Some Greek! for those families who are interested in learning the language. It seems to be a well-written program and my daughter was able to learn fairly independently with it.  See sample pages of the workbook here. 

Be sure to read my Crewmates’ reviews of this and other products from Greek ‘N Stuff (including more levels of Greek and even Latin) if you want to know more.

{Disclaimer: I received this product free to review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Procrastinating . . .

Next week is the beginning of our new school year.  I’m not sure whether to be thrilled or nervous.  You see, we’ve been doing this for quite a while now and I know that the first month is always full of adjustments.  I plan out the routine I think will work best, taking into account children’s personalities and the baby’s schedule.  Inevitably changes need made.  I’ve not even sat down to decide the routine yet.  I don’t know when we’ll do art, or music, or spelling.  I know what we’re doing, just not when.

I think I’m in denial.  My oldest is heading into 5th grade while I will also be teaching 1st grade, Kindergarten, a preschooler, a toddler, and a baby.  Thankfully we will do a lot of our subjects as a group and my oldest is able to do a lot of independent work (she prefers it that way).  I suppose I really ought to figure out my plans.  That means I need to start some serious praying – I’m sure God’s got a routine in mind and things will go smoother if I use his plan instead of mine.  It’s also time to print out a new homeschool planner.  Maybe that’s what I’ll do during quiet time today. 

I really want to get things gathered for next week into one spot before Saturday too – it’s my birthday - I’ll be 30 and if the weather is nice we’re taking a day trip to the zoo.  If the weather is iffy we’ll stay closer to home and go to the Arboretum instead. 

I suppose I should get off this computer and get working.  My desk needs cleaned off again and our workboxes need cleaned out too.

What are you putting off right now that you should be doing?

31 Days to Clean–Free Today Only!

Cleaning is something I have a love/hate relationship with.  I love the feeling when I finish cleaning an area in my home.  I hate that cleaning tasks are an endless cycle and that nothing I do will stay clean for long.  From now until midnight (EST) author Sarah Mae is offering a FREE download for her new e-book "31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way".  I’m excited because this book is aimed at the heart issues we face in our cleaning battles.  That is what I need.  I’ve got the “how” part of cleaning figured out, it’s the contentment and joy issue that I struggle with. 

You can learn more about the book here and check out this link to see how you can get a free copy too.  Hurry, after today you’ll have to buy it – though at $4.99 it’s certainly a reasonable price.

Eric Carle Resources and Book Club Day

We really love the time we spend with the families at Homeschool Book Club twice a month.  One meeting is about a chapter book, the other about picture books.  For today’s picture book meeting one family was home sick (we missed you ladies!).  We read and looked at books by Eric Carle.  The ones pictured at the top of this post are titles our family owns.  After talking about his artwork the children were given glue sticks, crayons, and lots of tissue paper and turned loose to create their own pictures.  Here are the three that came home to my house:

Our activity was very simple.  Each child was given a white piece of paper for a background, but a blue piece of construction paper would make a lovely ocean scene while black lends itself well to space.   

Eric Carle paints his own tissue papers before creating with them it was much more practical for us to use tissue paper that was already colorful.  You can find it in several places in a store.  The first option is with scrapbooking materials in tiny packs with sheets no bigger than 5 inches square that are rather expensive ($4.99 where I went) and look like this: The other place to find it is in the gift wrap aisle in large sheets like so:  At my local Hobby Lobby 100 large sheets in ten colors was $5.99 for 277 square feet of paper, which is clearly the better buy.  My favorite tip – print out a discount coupons from a craft store’s website before shopping – we got our tissue paper for $3.60 – 40% off!

Depending on the age of your crafters you may like using liquid glue and Qtips to brush the glue on pieces.  With our group of children ages 1-12 we chose to use glue sticks.  Some children used scissors, others tore the paper into shapes.  Some used crayons to add details, others didn’t.

Eric Carle Resources – Just in case you want to do an artist study or picture book study I thought I would share some of my favorite free links.

Mister Seahorse unit study – I wrote this unit for Homeschool Share a while back.  Mister Seahorse is a neat book because of the acetate pages that camouflage some of the animals.

A House for Hermit Crab unit study and lapbook – My children did this adorable unit and lapbook several years ago.  We even got pet hermit crabs to go along!

Eric Carle Insect unit study – This page links to units on Homeschool Share for seven of Mr. Carle’s bug themed books, including the popular Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The Official Eric Carle Website – Lots of fun on this site.  You can see a slideshow of how he makes his pictures, or one of how he paints his tissue paper, a list of all his books to look for at the library, printable games, and coloring pages.  There is more to find, so go look around!

An Eric Carle Author Study – This article from Scholastic has a lot of neat information and ideas.

What is your favorite book by Eric Carle?

Top Ten Ways I Use My Library!

I wanted to share the top ten ways I use my library because I’m especially grateful for it this week. 

{1} As a fun field trip.  My kids enjoy visiting our library and we don’t even attend any of the children’s programs!  We specifically avoid the children’s programs if truth be told and go at times when there are none going on.  They love to play with the puzzles, sit in the book house and browse books, and of course grab stacks of their very own to bring home.

{2} Ideas for homeschool.  Believe it or not I do not know everything there is to know about many things.  When my children come up with some of their interests one of my first stops is the library section about that topic.  I flip through every book in a section to see just what the possibilities are for our study of the topic.

{3} Books for homeschool.  This one is pretty obvious, we check out books to read aloud, books for a unit study, and books on artists and composers.

{4} Audio Books on CD and to download.  My husband loves this even more than my children, but we are definitely an audio book family.  We listen to over 40 hours of audio books just during quiet time in a single month, my husband listens to far more as a truck driver.  They’ve got a great system of audio books available to download directly to the computer and add to my IPod too.  I don’t even have to go out of the house – talk about making it easy to support our audio book addiction!

{5} Books for mommy.  I’m a bibliophile – I love to read books!  Many times I am looking for a specific title or author, but I also enjoy being able to browse the shelves and discover something new.

{6} Books from far away.  Our library is wonderful at requesting books.  They have made interlibrary loan accessible, with no limits on how many books we have delivered (other than the 99 book limit per card).  I use their online catalog from home to do this.

{7} Used books to buy.  Many, if not most, of the books on the shelves of our home were once library books.  As our library goes through their collection and removes books that are not circulating well or have been donated they sell them inexpensively.  We have bought literally hundreds for less than $20 total over the years.

{8} Foreign language for free.  Our library offers free access to Mango, which I hope to incorporate more as my children grow.  Mango gives us 34 different languages to choose from.

{9} A drive through window.  I can pick up books or drop off books from my van without hauling all the children inside if we’re just passing by on a busy day.  Yes, a real drive through.  It’s wonderful.

{10} A quiet place.  I’ll admit it.  Occasionally I go to the library just because I know everyone has to be quiet there.  With 6 little ones my house is rarely quiet.

What are your favorite things about your library? 

 

I linked to today’s:

Botany Because She Wants To

Children are driven to learn and my job, in a real way, is to encourage and support them in their quest for knowledge.  I may do that by offering an introduction to things I think they will be interested in or by finding books and materials to explore an interest they already have.  Sometimes I just remind them that they can learn about their questions and that mommy is not going to tell them everything, they have to put in the work.  When Makayla showed an interest in plants recently here is how the process went:

First she asked about sprouting beans like we did a long time ago.  She wanted to see the roots grow.  I told her to figure out what she would need and let me know.  Now a week later we have this: She decided a napkin, pinto and black beans, water, and a ziploc bag would work.  She was right. 

Then Makayla brought out the Exploring Creation with Botany book and asked me to read it with her.  I agreed IF she was willing to do the notebooking assignments in the book to record her learning.  If not, she was more than welcome to just read the book on her own.  She agreed to notebook and we’re partway through the first chapter, taking turns reading aloud.  Today she did a lesson on taxonomy.  She then did her own taxonomy with shoes and I remembered to take a few pictures.  She gathered one shoe from each pair on the porch. She lined them all up. Then divided the shoes into four kingdoms based on how they are used:

• Walking shoes
• Play shoes
• Church Shoes
• Work shoes

Here you see that she has begun dividing those kingdoms into phyla and then from there she made more divisions based on other characteristics.

After the activity she recorded what she did in her notebook.  The neat thing for me is seeing how she understands things.  The vocabulary makes sense to her, though she may need help pronouncing a word or two.  I don’t have to explain every other paragraph, she gets it. 

We both really like the way the Exploring Creation books are written.  It’s a very conversational style that makes it fun to read aloud – not something you find often in a textbook!  It is also really nice to have the notebooking suggestions written right to the student and sprinkled in at good break points instead of all at the end of a chapter. 

My other children have all requested to learn about different topics.  That is one of the joys of homeschooling!  Each child can learn about what interests them.  I will be sharing more about how I help several different children who are all following different topics in future posts.  Joseph will be learning about robots, Emma about bees, and the little ones about Winnie the Pooh - of all things!

How do you help your children keep that love of learning strong and thriving?

Jesus is Risen

He lives!

Have a blessed Easter as you focus on the Savior!

A Simple Easter Lesson and Treat

Last night we did a simple lesson and treat with the children about Easter and I thought I would share what we did.  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been talking about Easter for weeks, ever since the first bunnies and eggs appeared in stores.  Those conversations began by centering our children on why those “commercial” things are not a part of our Easter celebration.  Easter has nothing to do with chicks and bunnies, candy and eggs, which is why we do not have those in our home for Easter.  We focus on our Savior, the Atonement, and the Resurrection.  Last night we wanted to really focus our children on the story, on some of the events that happened, especially our younger ones who don’t remember it well yet.

Last night began with a shoebox and a Bible.  Inside the shoebox I had four items:

• nails
• a white cloth napkin
• cinnamon
• a stone

We passed out the nails to each child and talked about what that had to do with Jesus and Easter.  We read John 19: 15-19.  We described what it means to crucify someone, encouraging the children to gently press the nail point into their palm.  We talked about how much love Jesus had for us to let them crucify Him.

We passed around the white cloth napkin and the stone and read Matthew 27:57-60 and talked of what happened as Jesus died (storms), and his burial.

The cinnamon was passed around next as we read Mark 16: 1-4.  We talked about how oil and spices were used to help preserve a body at burial.

Finally Daddy carried around the now empty shoe box(representing the tomb) to let each child peek inside to see what the women saw as they visited the tomb.  It was empty!  We then read Luke 24: 1-9 and talked about what resurrection is.

After that short lesson we told the children we were making Resurrection Rolls.  I’ll share what we did, but let me warn you it gets a bit messy when you have children making these.   

Ingredients:

• Marshmallows  (represents the body of Jesus) - 1 per roll. We will use mini marshmallows next time to cut down on the gooey mess. 
• 1/2 stick melted butter (represents the oils used to anoint body for burial).
• 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 c sugar, mixed (represents the spices used to prepare the body for burial).
• Dough (represents the tomb) - we did 2 tubes of crescent roll dough to make 16 Resurrection rolls. Next time I’ll make my own dough instead of using crescent roll dough so we can just cut it in rectangles to wrap marshmallows in.

Step One: Drop a marshmallow in the melted butter and stir to coat.

Step Two: Fish out the marshmallow and drop in bowl of cinnamon sugar mix.  Roll around to coat.  Lick your fingers.

Step Three: Put marshmallow on dough and wrap up, pinching edges shut to seal.

Step Four:  Put on greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Step Five: Take them out of the oven and see how messy it gets when kids don’t quite seal the dough. 

Step Six:  Cut open a roll to see that the marshmallow has disappeared!

Have a blessed Easter!

Week in Review #89–Pictures and Randomness

It is Friday again and so it’s time for a review of homeschool.  All in all it was a nice, even week and I even took a few pictures, so those will be sprinkled throughout this post.  My children did their work with more (or less) enthusiasm.  The less was mostly on Makayla’s part for math, but she’s got those 7’s multiplication facts down now I think.  We will keep reviewing those while adding the 8’s next week.  Joseph and Emma’s reading is moving along nicely.  I need to pick a new vowel team to practice next week, I’m not sure which yet.  I also think it is about time to officially start Joseph on All About Spelling, and maybe Emma.  I have the materials for them already, it is just a matter of getting the habit down. Makayla wrote a few stories and a poem this week while her younger siblings did copywork.  Emma seems to be reversing fewer letters, which is progress.  Daniel has worked more with air writing. We have also spent time enjoying the many flowers we planted last fall.  Daffodils and tulips are up, as are one other kind of flower (can’t remember what it is called) and all are in several colors.  The trees have baby leaves growing and plenty of rain to make everything green.  Of course, that means the grass needs mowed but it has been too wet to do it.  Our garden still lies covered in last year’s dead plants.  I hope to corral the children this weekend or next (depending on rain) to clear it out.  Then the plan is to let them plant it all this year and see how it goes.  We’ve also got berry vines spreading along the fence that we need to trim and redirect so they stay beside the fence.  Art and music have been easy.  We’re still looking at Van Gogh’s works and listening to Tchaikovsky.  Makayla is doing really well in piano lessons and the other children are beginning to ask for lessons. 

Okay, my time on the computer is up!  How was your week?

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up.

See the Light Art Class DVD Review

Our family received art lessons recently.  The convenient part is we did the lessons from the comfort of our own home – no packing up the kids and going somewhere else.  You guessed it, we got to review a DVD-based art program as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew.

 See the Light sent us the first dvd in their Art Class series, Volume 1: The Basics with Pat Knepley.  Currently it is only sold as a set with the subsequent 8 volumes for $99.99, but keep reading to see how you can get a good look at the first several lessons for free!

This dvd has four lessons plus a bonus lesson about chalk art.  The main lessons are:

1. Tools of the Trade – Introducing you to a basic artist toolkit, one that really is basic! 
2. It all Starts with a Line – Learning about different kinds of lines and trying to make them is the focus in this lesson.  Contour drawing is introduced.
3. Contours & Composition – While practicing more contour drawing the students learn how where you draw on your paper affects the final drawing’s appeal.
4. Draw What You See – Using a shoe as the model the student pulls together all the previous lessons into a finished drawing.

Over the course of two weeks I sat with my children to do these lessons.  My oldest three, ages 9, 6, and 5 were the ones who really paid attention to the lessons.  Each was able to follow along and attempt the drawings.  I found that the lessons had two parts.  The main portion is learning and applying art techniques.  This was really helpful and what we were expecting.  I had been hoping that some art history would be included but there was not really much at all in the DVD we reviewed.  Something as simple as seeing and learning about a famous artist’s contour drawing or painting of apples (the subject in several lessons) or of shoes like the student draws in lesson 4(Van Gogh did several) would have been ideal.

The second part to each lesson is a scripture devotional by the artist in each episode, reading from a Bible and sharing her thoughts.  This is the part that made my 9 year old roll her eyes.  In her words, “Mom, she just wasted time reading to me instead of teaching me art.”

I think my daughter hit the nail on the head there.  For the cost of the DVD series we would have enjoyed another 10 minutes or so of art instruction per dvd, (an extra hour and a half over the entire series!) in place of the scripture sound bytes in each lesson.  

Ultimately, the Art Class series is not the right fit for our family.  However it may be just right for someone else and I have a surprise for you.  Right now you can get the same DVD I just reviewed for FREE from See the Light right here.  If you’re in a hurry to take a peek you can also watch the first three lessons on their website right here.

Check out my Crewmates’ reviews here to see what their families thought of Art Class.

{Disclaimer: We received this DVD free to review.  We received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are ours.}

Sweating is Good for Me, Right?

Phew!  Today has been so busy I am just now finding time to sit at the computer for more than 2 minutes.  The day has been full of the regular things like meals, laundry, homeschool, and reading to children.  My biggest accomplishment today had nothing and everything to do with my children.  How’s that for confusing?

Today I dove back into exercise to go with my decently healthy eating.  You see, Caleb turned 5 months old yesterday.  I love him so much.  However, I don’t really love the extra pounds that are still on my body after having him.  I’ve got 6 lbs to lose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Er, let me be a bit more clear, that is only to my pre-Caleb pregnancy weight.  I’m sitting at 194 lbs and have been for quite a while.

Once those 6 lbs come off I still have plenty of weight left to lose from my other 8 pregnancies.  Yep, I have lots of work to do and I’m tired of making excuses.  I realized recently that I spend way too much time working up to a real workout.  Sure, when I’m three weeks postpartum it’s a good idea to start slow, but I’m 5 months postpartum.  Today I did 3 miles of this DVD: I was sweating long before I finished, but I was able to do it without feeling like I was going to keel over.  My goal is to consistently exercise (5 days a week) doing at least 3 miles per day.  In two weeks I plan to try this DVD: I own it already.  I tried it once upon a time between pregnancies and it kicked my butt.  It is a 6 week boot camp with 3 levels and customizable play options.  I think I’ll be ready in two weeks.  Gulp. 

I also know that I eat better when I’m exercising because I look at the food and see just how long I would have to work out to burn off those calories for an extra cookie and it’s just not worth it!    

To make sure I get my workouts in I talked with my husband and we decided that it is my biggest priority in the day.  The only thing I can do before exercising is feed the kids breakfast.  There is no homeschool, no getting distracted cleaning something, no excuses – nothing happens until I’ve exercised. 

How do you make time to stay healthy?  What is your favorite workout DVD?  Do you have any other get healthy or lose weight secrets that work for you? 

Reading–Savor or Devour–Does it really matter?

Are there ever things you think you believe in your head, but you’re not sure you want to do in real life?  I thought I would post about one I’m trying because it relates to homeschooling. 

If you know me in real life, you know I am an avid reader and can devour a book in a single day.  When I read aloud to my children we typically read several chapters at a time and they are still begging for more.  However, in my head I know that if we took more time to savor a book  then they would make deeper connections and remember it better.  In my head it makes complete sense.

For example, if we read one chapter of a story and put the book down for a day or two we have time to think about what we’ve read, wonder what will happen next, consider everything that happened in that one chapter, what could have been done differently, and so on.  We could talk about any of these things as well.  A book like The Magician’s Nephew, our last read aloud for Book Club, had 15 chapters.  With this method it easily lasted 3 weeks (reading Mon.-Fri.).  Imagine doing the same thing with a history or science read aloud.

Contrast that with reading four or five chapters (or more!) of a book every day, polishing off a book in five days or less.  The child has had the same amount of material presented but instead of taking time to savor and think about it, they have been inundated with pages upon pages of story in a very short time.  They can remember the main points, but there is little time to think about it, anticipate what may happen, or develop relationships with the characters and material being presented.

We’re changing the way we study history and trying this savoring method of reading the books.  We begin May 2nd, but between now and then I will start reading the books that way myself.  I want to be a bit ahead of the children so I know what is coming up. 

What do you think?  Do you prefer to savor or devour books?  Can it really make a difference in our children’s learning?

Signing Time Anniversary–Super Sale - 2 Days Only

I’ve mentioned in the past the language struggles my son Joseph had, being completely non-verbal at 2.  One of the things that helped us get through that time, that we have used with the other children as babies as well is American Sign Language.  We use the Signing Time DVDs and love them. 

Today and tomorrow only Signing Time is offering all single DVDs for $10 each to celebrate their 10 year anniversary.  This is the biggest sale I have ever seen on their products.  The only catch – the limit of DVDs you can buy is 10.  Now, for my family that meant we were finally able to finish off our collection and we’ll own every Signing Time DVD they make.  If you have been waiting around for a good sale to buy Signing Time this is it.  If you want more than 10 DVDs I suggest you hand money to a family member or friend and have them make an order for however many more you want.  This price will probably never happen again (I’ve never seen it in 5 years!).  There is no coupon code needed for the sale, you’ll see the price for individual DVDs already marked down to $10 through this page.

If you have any questions about specific DVDs or which series/level to buy for your kiddos just drop me an email (tdrowlee@yahoo.com ), I would love to help you figure it out!

And just in case you’re wondering – no, I’m not affiliated with Signing Time in any way.  I’m just a happy mom who uses their products.

My Foolish Heart–A Tyndale House Review

I have read several books by author Susan May Warren so I jumped at the opportunity to review My Foolish Heart for Tyndale House, due out in May 2011.  The book tells the story of two people: Isadora Presley, a woman who secretly hosts a radio show from home as Miss Foolish Heart, and Iraq veteran Caleb Knight, the new neighbor who is hiding his battle scars while applying for a coaching position at the local high school.  Issy never leaves home if she can help it.  She suffers from post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) after the traumatic death of one parent and near death of the other.  The only way she can control the panic attacks is to stay home, to stay safe.  As Caleb gets to know his neighbor he wants to help her.  Events bring the two together in friendship, but does God have bigger plans in mind? 

It was a great book!  I’m unfamiliar with PTSD and this story really brought it to life for me in a way that made sense.  I could identify with the characters and found myself caught up in the story so much that I read all 350+ pages in less than 24 hours.  This is Christian Fiction and Romance at its best!

{Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House to review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

It’s a new week, what’s in your workboxes?

Our workboxes hold many of the same things as last week and a few new additions. 

Family Workbox
Van Gogh – This week we’re studying a painting of the Bridge at Arles with Women Washing (it’s at the top of this post).  We will read van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt this week as well.
Tchaikovsky – We’re all about Swan Lake this week using our Maestro Classics CD!
Reading Aloud – We’re reading some books from Yesterday’s Classics on my Kindle this week.

Makayla’s Workbox
Multiplication – Still trying to cement those 7’s facts.  She’s always struggled with this aspect of math, so we’re just plugging away at it.
Typing – Still using Typing for Kids.
Writing – She’ll use the Story Builder cards some days, but not all.  That is because of the new addition to her workbox - Botany – She brought me the Exploring Creation with Botany book this morning and asked if we could read it together.  I agreed, on the condition that she would do the notebooking parts.  So this morning she and I read the first half of the first chapter and she wrote about botany, biology, latin, and binomial nomenclature for her notebook.  

Joseph’s Workbox
Copywork – His copywork this week is about the book he and Emma are working on reading – Frog and Toad Together. 

Reading – Today we focused on the vowel team “oa” before beginning the book I just mentioned.
Math – I want to try tackling reading a clock this week.  We’ll see how it goes!

Emma’s Workbox
Copywork – Her copywork this week is about the book Frog and Toad Together.
Reading – Today we focused on the vowel team “oa” before reading.
Math – She’s going to work on her skip counting by 5’s and play clock games with Joseph. 

Daniel’s Workbox
Air Writing and Salt Box Writing – He’s learning the chants for letters from Peterson Directed Handwriting.
Recognizing Lowercase Letters – We’re playing games with letter tiles and he finds the one I need or puts a set of letters in order.
Counting to 25 – He’s pretty solid on counting to 20 now, so it’s time to go on.

Oliver’s Workbox
Talking with Mommy – Just lots of one on one reading of books and naming things.  Paint Markers – He loves to color and I’ve not pulled out the Do A Dot paint markers in a long while.  I’m sure he’ll love them, as will the other children.  We also have the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler so I may print some of the dot pages if anyone wants one.

That’s what’s in our workboxes this week – what are you doing?