homeschool

Exploring Creation with Anatomy & Physiology by Apologia – Review

April 17, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

My people love science – like, really love science. So much so that My Little Man has been asking me to buy Apologia textbooks for him to read for fun over the past few years – but we’ve never had the chance to see the whole program. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity to use Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology – the textbook, the Jr. Notebooking Journal, the Notebooking Journal, and the MP3 Audio CD that accompanies the text.

This Apologia line is from a Christian worldview and is intended for elementary students. It’s hardcore science – there’s nothing watered down for younger kids. Knowing every single term was a challenge when the kids were younger, but My Little Man loves that now as a fifth-grader. The textbook is full of colorful diagrams and pictures, as well as boxes with simple experiments that you can do for fun. Most of these are shorter and easier than the formal experiments in the notebooking journals, and my kids love doing these.

We did one of these recently. As directed, we put a baby tooth into a glass bottle. The idea was to test the effects of soda on teeth.

My kids don’t drink soda, so they thought it’s effect on teeth must be pretty bad, but they were interested in finding out exactly. As you can see, just opening the can proved to be more difficult than expected for this one, and as the top popped, she was disgusted by the smell of the soda! Watching her do this was so funny!

My Big Helper carefully poured the soda into the bottle and observed it closely for a while ….

before wondering what the soda tasted like. She gave it a try, but she didn’t like it (phew!). I don’t think she’ll give it another try for quite a while.

She spent time over the course of the afternoon watching the bubbles rising off that tooth. She observed that the soda must be acting on it immediately, because the bubbles were only in that part of the bottle. I can’t wait to see what else they observe!

This tooth experiment was one pulled from the textbook. When my kids were younger, we’d snuggle on the couch together and read. Now that they’re so much bigger, they prefer to read the text on their own so they can study the diagrams, etc., as long as they’d like. We listened to the CD for a bit, though.

I was really impressed with the reader. She was enthusiastic but not cheesy and her timing was perfect – not too fast, not boringly slow. She read the text as if she enjoyed it and was having a conversation with a friend. When she came to an experiment box like the one above, she mentioned it and moved on. I could see us listening to this in the car, if push came to shove, because she made listening to the text enjoyable (and I don’t generally enjoy listening to non-fiction).

My kids followed along in the book as they listened. In the end, they agreed that they’d prefer to read it on their own, but I’m glad that the CD is an option.

Notebooking journals in two levels came with our materials. There’s a Jr. level and the regular notebooking level. I’ll show you examples of the types of pages in both.

I have to say, though, that these books rule. We’ve used Apologia before and appreciate the level of accurate information and professionalism that surrounds these books, but trying to use the hardcore book in a co-op situation where we had to keep up with other kids was too much for us.

Back then, I (falsely) assumed that these journals were like workbooks, and I’m not a fan of busywork. These notebooking journals are anything but, however.

This was an interesting-facts page from the Jr. Notebooking Journal. My Little Man cut out the colored sheet, folded the flaps, and glued it to another page in the book. Then he wrote facts and the answers to the questions behind the flaps. It’s definitely not your typical worksheet.

This is another page from the Jr. Notebooking Journal. There is a page like this for nearly every chapter. I love the way that these diagrams exist to help students dig in and study each part of the skeletal system – and the other systems, too.

In My Little Man’s Jr. Notebooking Journal, he cuts out the vocabulary words as flaps. Then he tapes each flap over the proper definition. He enjoys this much more than writing out definitions.

Both journals have copywork pages with scripture for each chapter. They’re available in both printing and cursive writing.

I love the options for writing that the Jr. Notebooking Journal presents. My Little Man can have super neat handwriting when he wants to, but he rarely does. His natural handwriting is very large, and having only short lines or small spaces in which to write stresses him out. Except for the diagrams and copywork pages, there are few pages that require writing in the Jr. Notebooking Journal. I love that this allows kids to participate fully in the work without having to write. Both journals study the same information in different ways, so you can choose the Notebooking Journal that works for you, regardless of the age of your student(s). Or, if you’re like us, you can use both, because they work really well together.

My Big Helper got really into her pages. She loved being able to draw this cell diagram, and she spent a long time on it. As soon as she was done, she pulled me over and told me all about each individual component of a cell – she had learned it well.

She liked writing out the answers to these questions, as well. There’s a page like this for most chapters.

Her vocabulary work in the regular Notebooking Journal is a bit more advanced than in the Jr. Journal, but it’s still fun. There are puzzles for all of the vocabulary activities. My Big Helper loves these!

So we’re loving these Notebooking Journals, and I’ll definitely be purchasing these for all future Apologia science work. They’re great!

Both Notebooking Journals also have this cool feature: paper people in three different skin tones in the back of the book with plastic overlays for the body systems. My kids both think this is gross, but in a good kind of way. You cut out your paper person, then you tape on each body system as you study it. You also cut out a picture of your head and tape it to the top, and then tape another paper person on top when you finish. Then you can lift the flaps, so to speak, and see where each body system is in relation to the others. My kids happily cut out and add their new body systems with each new chapter we study.

Between the textbook, the Notebooking Journals, the labs and activities, and the additional books and movies listed, there’s enough material in this course to keep you studying anatomy and physiology every day, all year long. As rather eclectic people, though, we’re also doing lots of other studies, and that would be too much for us. The layout makes it easy to choose the activities that are most beneficial for your students. We’ve been finishing a chapter about every two weeks by working two or three days each week. We break the chapter up into chunks to read, and the kids work on their Notebooking Journals a little bit at a time. I can tell they’re understanding and getting the information by the way that they make comparisons between the facts they read and items in real life, and it fits into our schedule well this way. I enjoyed the thoroughness of Apologia before, but after seeing this complete set of materials and using it for several weeks, I’m a HUGE fan. If you’re in the market for a science curriculum, give the Apologia line a try.

Apologia - Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Reviews

Taking Book Club to the Treetops with Go Ape USA

April 16, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I had a hard time finding books for book club (at least initially) when I was planning last summer. I had expected to use lots of classics, but I found that My Little Man had read every single one I pulled off the library shelf! After pestering our friendly librarian for lots of book topics, she suggested the Stranded series by Jeff Probst as a great survival story – and I’m glad she did.

The trilogy is about four kids, new siblings in a blended family, who get stranded on an island in the South Pacific and need to find a way to work together – and to survive. They’re fairly short, easy reads, and each book has cliffhanger endings until the third, which is why I asked the book clubbers to read all three.

In the third book, there’s an incident with a cliff and three of the kids. When I read that scene, I knew we needed to do some climbing – and the idea for our treetop adventure with Go Ape USA was born.

I worked primarily with a man named Jon at Go Ape’s headquarters, who gave our group a discount, patiently explained the details and rules to me, and helped us get set up. There’s a lot to know, because the rules and pricing vary for different age groups, and I wanted to make sure that our adventure went smoothly. Go Ape also requires one adult for every two kids, and so it was important to stay on top of the numbers – and for good reason. More on that soon ….

We got everyone together for a group picture before we headed off for our training session. Most of us were really excited, but a few people were pretty nervous, and, again, for understandable reasons: we were headed 50 feet up into the treetops and would tackle ziplines up to 500 feet long.

After getting outfitted with our harnesses, our Go Ape instructor walked us through a mini training course on the ground so that we could encounter the different scenarios we would face in the air. This was critical because no instructor would be in the air with us. We’d be in charge of hooking ourselves in and out of the safety gear.

Soon we were headed up ladders and into the trees. We were each decked out with a harness that stayed on us the entire time, and we used double lines and carabiners to attach the safety lines to our harnesses at each station. We went through five courses, with each one starting with a ladder and spiraling higher and higher into the treetops.

We encountered lots of these obstacles in the air. We were always supported by safety lines and our harnesses, of course, but we walked over wires, free-fell into nets, walked across swaying, wooden bridges, and much more. A few times there were even options for different paths with varying difficulties.

The sky was a beautiful blue on the day of our trip but the temperatures remained in the 40s, and oddly enough, we had several inches of snow the day before. Our landings from the ziplines were often a bit muddy, but since the trees hadn’t budded out yet, we could see pretty far, and the views were incredible.

It was fun to see everyone trying new things – only about three of us had done anything like this before – and we all worked together well.

Many of the obstacles were harder than they appeared, and they really tested your physical strength – and your bravery, too.

I dreaded this type of obstacle. They’re really hard for people like me with short legs, but even though I’m not any taller than I was the last time I did a course like this, it was easier. Maybe because I could depend on my harness to help me, or maybe because I was completely responsible for two girls and had to keep up with them – maybe both! – but while it was challenging, it was doable.

Even though I planned this outing and knew the benefits of it, I’m rather glad I wasn’t able to see my kids zipping. While I checked my Big Helper’s gear to be sure that she was hooked in properly before she stepped off the platform, she was quickly out of sight amidst the trees, and my Little Man was zipping around with DH, so I couldn’t see it. Even when you know it’s safe, it’s still hard to see your people jump out of a tree.

I’m thankful that a friend took such amazing pictures of them, though, so that we can remember our adventures – and that I couldn’t see them until we were all safely on the ground. Thanks, Lynn!

Sticking landings were hard and quickly became everyone’s goal, though most of the time we just landed on our bottoms in the mulch.

Did I mention that we were up really high?

I loved hearing and seeing the teamwork that happened during this event. Although I about half expected complaints, tears, or even a refusal to go up, everyone bravely strapped on their gear and climbed the ladders – even the people I knew were scared. I heard people cheering each other on, encouraging comments being yelled from one obstacle to another, and cheering when someone completed a hard obstacle. It was great!

My Little Man was one of those not wanting to go, and, really, Go Ape was bigger than anything any of us had done before. We watched the videos, we talked about harnesses and zipping and what to do if you were scared, but he wasn’t sure about the whole thing; when we got there, however, he was all in, and he wanted to take the hardest route every time there was a choice. He absolutely loved it and has asked several times to go back.

We definitely made memories during our treetop adventure for the Stranded trilogy with Go Ape.

Have you ever done a treetop adventure course?

Book Club: Hiking the Mountain-to-Sea Trail with “Nature Girl”

March 6, 2018 by Amy 2 Comments

We’ve been doing this book club thing with my daughter for six years now. She was a good reader before we started, but my goals have changed a bit along the way. I want more than just fun with books and friends now – I want to be able to dig in to the books and bring them to life. I’m looking for springboards for good discussions about life and faith and choices. I want to see thoughts and experiences that my book clubbers can take with them into the future.

That’s why I chose Nature Girl by Jane Kelley for our February book choice. It was an unusual choice for me as the main character Megan was annoyingly selfish in the beginning, but what makes the book so great is the way that she grows throughout the story. Her transformation – and the determination it takes her to complete the quest she’s given herself along a piece of the Appalachian Trail – is quite discussion worthy.

That’s how we found ourselves talking about Megan over lunch at Chick Fil-A in Durham. We all expressed our irritation with her selfish ways in the beginning of the book and whether we felt there was redemption for her by the end. We talked about what it must take to hike the full length of the Appalachian Trail and how we would personally handle moving to another region of the country for the summer like Megan’s family did.

Then we set off.

Not on the Appalachian Trail. As much as I wanted us to go and hike a part of that, it’s closest point to us is a few hours away, and that wasn’t really feasible. Instead, we headed out to hike a part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a path still in creation here in North Carolina that does just want it’s name declares: it starts on Clingman’s Dome in the mountains and finds it’s way to Jockey’s Ridge in the Outer Banks along the Atlantic, a journey of 1,175 miles. We chose to hike a six-mile portion along the Eno River in Durham, the same distance that Megan hiked each day of her journey.

We started at the Cole Mill access point to the trail. The temperature was in the low-to-mid 60s and the sun was out in full force, making it a beautiful day to hike.

The first part of the trail was the roughest, as we climbed down to the river and then walked along a narrow dirt path along the bank. We were happy to discover many trees fallen into the water, however, that were lined with turtles sunning themselves. This photo op – and the happy turtle above – kept us observing them for a little while before resuming our hike. We continued to see turtles all along our six-mile trek – nearly 80 of them altogether! Turtles are thriving in the Eno River.

The next part of our trek took us up stairs built into a hill, across a road, along a bridge, and down the other bank to the other side of the river. Road construction on the bridge kept the traffic to a minimum, making this part of our hike safer for us, and then we were back on the trail and moving along. The next few miles of the trail were the roughest, with an abundance of rocks and roots, making the hike not difficult, but making it important to watch your foot placement carefully.

There was a lot to see along the way, though. A neat feature of this stretch of trail are the historical ‘ruins’ we encountered along the way. There are remnants of an old pump station, and there are stone foundations, stone walls, earthen ridges, and more stretched out along a half-mile. The girls loved climbing all over these!

Besides turtles, there were lots of neat natural elements to see, too. The kids spotted a small brown snake along the trail at one point, along with lots of beaver slides and trees that beavers had cut down. We saw birds flying and spotted a woodpecker going to town on a tree. The trillium was just about to burst into bloom all along the trail, and the grasses were a brilliant green.

Just before we crossed the river for the last time, we began to encounter the remnants of houses. This one featured a sturdy stone chimney still standing, and the kids enjoying trying to climb it to sit on the mantle. The foundation was still visible, too, and we found pieces of a stove, bedsprings, and old pump all nearby. It was interesting to try to piece together what we found and guess about who might have lived there and what their lives were like.

After another two miles, we crossed our last creek and headed for the homestretch. Because we were so close, we stopped to play at the river’s edge, which for most of the kids meant throwing in rocks or crossing a small dam to a peninsula-like piece of land a few feet across the water. Unfortunately, several kids fell in at this point, but at least it was near the end of the hike, and they came up wet but laughing. I imagine it wasn’t any colder than what Megan experienced when she fell in that river in Massachusetts!

My Big Helper and I secretly laughed at two of these girls along our hike, because they kept saying that instead of ending our hike at the six-mile point, they wanted to turn around and hike back to the beginning. After falling in the river, however, and finishing our trip, they changed their minds and were happy to sit down and rest.

They didn’t rest for long, however! The girls were soon up and climbing around on trees and playing tag while we waited for our rides to pick us up. They’re full of energy!

Nature Girl was a great book for our club and has sparked lots of conversations in our family about the importance of discipline, hiking, and nature conservation. We’re hoping to do more long hikes in the future.

What about you? Are you a hiker?

Make History Come Alive with Drive Thru History – Review

February 27, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

A few years ago we used some Drive Thru History DVDs an part of our Colonial American history unit. We all loved them, which is why we were very excited to find out there’s more to Drive Thru History than just fantastic homeschool videos.

While you can still purchase Drive Thru History Adventures in that format, it’s now available as a subscription website and includes much more than just an American history series: there are also video series for the Gospels and Ancient History, with a fourth series to come later this spring.

It’s not just videos, though – Drive Thru History has written curriculum to accompany each video. I’m really hard to please with written lessons, so I don’t say this lightly – but I really love these! Each one is simple, making it easy to fit a wide variety of kids and their learning styles. They include really great information, though – questions great for essays or discussion, famous quotes to evaluate, scripture, and sometimes art. Linked up as well are expert papers and additional suggested readings, many of which are excerpts of famous historical documents. I love the layer of authenticity that this piece adds to the study, and for those old enough to go there, these will definitely take you deeper into civics, philosophy, and critical thinking.

Because deeper … we started using Drive Thru History when my kids were pretty little, but we didn’t care that they’re really targeted for kids over age 12. We loved the videos themselves – they’re wonderful. The premise is simple – host Dave Stotts travels to important places in history in a special vehicle and gives you a modern day tour, all while explaining the history of the place with animated art and crazy jokes. They’re real and serious but seriously funny, too, and you’ll learn loads just from watching the videos – but with the addition of the curriculum, Drive Thru History is a really deep and interactive experience. I love that you can see what each place looks like – that’s huge for this visual learner in bringing history to life – but by adding the reading, writing, and discussion elements to the videos, this program is really complete.

Even then, though, Drive Thru History has found a way to get even better. They’ve added a section called “Side Roads,” and it’s full of short, great videos about other topics. Some are about archeological finds. Others are about special days in history, like President’s Day or Valentine’s Day. Some feature Dave Stotts, the regular host, but some feature other colleagues, and some even feature kids. These videos are short but clear and will help the viewer understand more about the people and culture of the time.

“Side Roads” are also a part of Adventures TV, where there are even more great resources. The “Behind the Scenes” section includes a blooper video from the upcoming series in Israel and other videos about the Museum of the Bible. The “Dig Deeper” section includes videos about viewing to coincide with the Christian calendar and other background historical information. If you’re one to watch digital videos on devices, Drive Thru History has apps for that, too.

Adventures TV also includes a feature called “Dave’s Adventures,” in which weekly update videos are included. These might have info about Dave Stott’s family life, calendar history, or answers to questions sent in by viewers. This last part is really fun because it lets you interact with Stotts and see him respond to your query. My Little Man has enjoyed doing that, and it helps you become a part of the program, rather than it being only something you use.

My Little Man is super excited to learn history with Dave Stotts. He asks nearly every day if he can watch his next DTH video!

I let each kid choose which course they wanted to do – because as both kids are entering historical contests and are working under a deadline to complete their entries, we couldn’t set aside that work as we normally might for an opportunity like this. Even so, both kids jumped at the chance to use Drive Thru History, even knowing it would be extra history work for the duration of their projects.

We needed to do our schoolwork at church one day, so we hooked the laptop up to the projector and watched it big-screen style. My Little Man loved it!

My Little Man chose to watch the Ancient World videos. Because he’s a bit younger than the curriculum is aimed for (and hates writing!), we watched the videos together and talked about his impressions. I’ve enjoyed watching him re-enact Dave’s famous fight with the gladiator during his playtime and listening to him explain how issues of this time impact other points during history as he comes across connections. He’s absorbing it all and enjoys explaining these things to me. There are twelve videos in this series, each one lasting about 45 minutes, and My Little Man is too excited about them to watch only one per week. He asks often if he can watch the next one, and we have watched some back-to-back because the next one sounded too good to wait.

My Big Helper chose to view the Gospel series. There are 18 videos in this series, each lasting just under 30 minutes. We were happily surprised to see just how closely the first video dovetailed with our current Bible study, and we’ve watched it several times to absorb all that it has to offer. For My Big Helper, because she’s in the midst of writing a massive research paper now, I haven’t made her write out the answers to the curriculum questions, but we’ve enjoyed discussing them together. We’ve also watched a few as a family, and when I saw one on the Sermon of the Mount, I watched that one, too, because that’s what we’re studying in Sunday School right now. I love how full of scripture and history each video is!

Having spent the last month with Drive Thru History at our fingertips, we love this curriculum more than ever! The opportunities to interact with the staff through the secret Facebook group for subscribers is great because they answer questions and you can see how other families incorporate these lessons into their lives. While we love videos alone, the interaction that the social media and website provide are wonderful perks that make subscribing a definite plus over simply purchasing the DVDs. I love all the benefits of this program, and we’re excited to Drive Thru History with Dave Stotts over the coming year. It’s definitely our favorite history program ever.

PS – Drive Thru History Adventures is offering 20% for readers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. If you’re a subscriber, follow this link for more information about the special.

Drive Thru History Adventures - Subscription {Drive Thru History Adventures Reviews}

Learning to Type with an Ultrakey Online Family Subscription – Review

February 21, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

Hunt…hunt ….. peck … hunt… peck….

And so it goes. Watching my kids try to type their special school projects and emails to friends was painful. They were excited to be using the computer and didn’t mind the slow-as-molasses speed, but, me? I couldn’t stand it. That’s why I was jumped at the chance for an Ultrakey Online Family Subscription from Bytes of Learning.

After getting our log-in information, I checked out the dashboard, which is the main screen. From there you can set goals, add students, check progress, and more.

I knew that My Little Man couldn’t type at all, and My Big Helper wasn’t all that much better. I set their goals relatively low, between 10 and 20 words per minute, and got them ready to go.

Each kid worked with the program at least twice each week (except for when our modem died and we were without internet for a week). At first My Little Man loved the idea – until he sat down and tried it. He was soon frustrated by the posture (“You mean I can’t sit on my feet?”) and tried to make his fingers follow his directions (“It’s hard, Mommy. I didn’t get it right.”) After realizing that it was okay to keep practicing a single set of letters and not advance with each practice session, he stopped worrying. Within a week, he was typing over ten words per minute! Now he asks after breakfast each morning, “What should I do for school, Mommy? Math and typing?”

I love that it’s become a part of his regular routine. He’s comfortable with the program, knows how to use it, and is happy when he gets faster or achieves great accuracy.

My Big Helper’s experience was a bit different. She was excited all the way through and wanted to become a faster typist. She has a finger issue which has hindered her accuracy a bit, but she’s doing well and is approaching 20 words per minute. She’s been quite dedicated and hasn’t wanted to stop practicing a particular lesson until she passes, sometimes working well past the expected time.

To know exactly what they were doing, I set up an account for myself and logged myself in. I didn’t set a goal since I haven’t been timed while typing since seventh grade, but I jumped right in to the lessons.

There’s a lot of introductory material that’s important for new keyboardists but maybe not too exciting for experienced typers – like videos about proper posture. These things are great for newbies, though, and I’m glad they’re included.

The lessons are perfectly challenging for my kids: they introduce a few letters at a time and practice different combinations of finger movements. The idea is to start with simple, basic movements and practice those before layering on more difficult finger patterns. I like the way that I could see the progression. It made me feel very accomplished to see the skill levels light up and get crossed off.

Each lesson consists of working with a new group of letters starting with home row and moving out. After practicing those individual letters, you move on to words and phrases. I liked the variation in each practice session.

After passing a skill check, I moved on to a typing test. The tests let you choose the topic, paragraph length, and time length before starting. You can also redo the test if you don’t do well. I was surprised to see the ‘redo’ button, and so I pushed it. I got the above message after trying again. I love the encouraging messages that Ultrakey gives whenever you do well!

After taking a skill check, you can view progress reports. I love the simplicity of the bar graphs and the color coding of the charts – the teacher in me loves color coding!

Both of my kids have made great progress in only a few weeks of using Ultrakey by Bytes of Learning. They enjoy logging in and practicing their keyboarding, and the website is simple enough that they can do it all on their own. I can applaud their progress when they cheer for themselves and track their progress in the form of charts, graphs, and real numerical data whenever it’s convenient for me.

I love seeing how well they’re doing with their typing, and it’s even better that they love using Ultrakey by Bytes of Learning so very much. I can’t wait to see how fast they’ll be after a few months!

“Wulf The Saxon” by Heirloom Audio Productions Review

February 19, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

Our family loves to listen to books in the car when we travel – and since we live 45 minutes from our library and just about everything else, we do a lot of listening! So when we were offered the chance to try out Wulf the Saxon by G.A. Henty, an audio drama by Heirloom Audio Productions, we were excited – it sounded perfect for us.

Turns out that we were right. Listening to the audio drama Wulf completely spoiled us for regular book listening. The sound effects are amazing! They add much more than I expected to the story, and the further in we got, the more I found myself looking forward to more cool sounds. The sound effects and the cast of experienced actors really bring the story alive. The story takes place over two CDs and is about 2 1/2 hours long – perfect for traveling while listening!

The sound effects aren’t the only plus to the audio drama format. The voices are done by different actors, not just a single reader who can change up his or her voice. We’ve listened to myriads of stories over the years, and the best ones are read by readers who can really change up their voices and accents – and the worst sound robotic, with little change for characterization at all. You won’t find any of that here – the actors have all worked on at least one other major, famous project with a name you’ll recognize. The level of talent is impressive! Their voices are easily distinguishable and, with the sound effects, you could close your eyes and think that you’re listening to a movie.

I enjoyed the progression of Wulf’s character. Without spoiling the plot, he had definitely not reached maturity in the beginning, but over the course of the drama, his selflessness, generosity, and work ethic all improve greatly. He is a wonderful role model in the end, and there are many actions from which could spring lively family discussions.

There are several villains whose actions are despicable, and they, too would make great conversations, but even better are the actions of the King Harold Godwinson and his love. Both choose to sacrifice their heart’s desire for the sake of the greater good, and these choices could be greatly debated – and turned into dating and marriage conversations. As you follow these characters through the rest of the drama, more consequences come into play that will make the earlier decisions even more debateable. Can you see how hard I’m trying to be clear but not spoil anything should you give this a listen? And you should – it’s really good – but these characters had me wanting to yell at them in the car, because, really, were they really going to choose that? I could see it … it made sense …. but, NO! The personal pain! The agony! The sacrifice! The romance! I could see using these as a springboard for serious discussions about sacrifice, love, and loyalty. It would be interesting, as well, to have each person look up scripture relating to each theme as you discuss them. You could also talk about the differences that the culture of the day made in people’s actions, the changes in political climate, and more.

The story Wulf the Saxon itself is deep and complex. It’s set in Europe in 1065, and the politics of the day play a pivotal role in the story. It’s been a few years since we studied this time period, and a few times we had trouble following who was friends with whom and who the enemies were.

I really liked the way that the story began with an explanation of royalty and how the landowner system worked. I really didn’t know the order of the ranks, and this explanation helped me tremendously. My Big Helper expressed trouble partway through the story, however, saying that she was still a bit confused about the ranking order.

That didn’t stop us from being excited about the story. Every time we re-entered the car, My Little Man would start yelling, “Please, Mommy, can we listen to Wulf?” He loves that we own the CDs and that he can listen to the story over and over – and I love that he’s listening to a story with such strong, moral characters.

Wulf the Saxon would be an incredible addition to a study of this time period, but it’s wonderful for family discussion and general entertainment, too. We loved Wulf the Saxon. Give Heirloom Audio Productions’ audio dramas a try!

Wulf the Saxon {Heirloom Audio Productions Reviews}

Book Club with the Boys: “The Way of the Warrior”

February 14, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I was intrigued when I first saw The Way of the Warrior on the new-book shelf at the library.

I was hesitant when I saw the simple line drawings dotting the page – because I was looking for a middle-school book club pick and wanted something real and fun but meaty. Worthy of the time I’d put into reading it and planning the event.

I kept going, though, because of the synopsis – a kids’ book written by a former SEAL, to teach you to be tough?

I’m so glad I did.

In this first book of an illustrated middle grade series by a #1 New York Times-bestselling author, Marc learns to become a Warrior Kid after his uncle Jake, a Navy SEAL, comes to stay for the summer.

Fifth grade was the worst year of Marc’s life. He stunk at gym class, math was too hard for him, the school lunch was horrible, and his class field trip was ruined because he couldn’t swim. And the most awful thing about fifth grade? Kenny Williamson, the class bully, who calls himself the King of the Jungle Gym.
When Marc’s mother tells him that his uncle Jake is coming to stay for the whole summer, Marc can’t wait. Uncle Jake is a for-real, super-cool Navy SEAL. And Uncle Jake has a plan.He’s going to turn Marc into a warrior.

Becoming a warrior isn’t easy. It involves a lot of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, squats, swimming, eating right, and studying harder than ever before! Can Marc transform himself into a warrior before school starts in the fall – and finally stand up to the King of the Jungle Gym?

Find out in Jocko Willink’s Way of the Warrior Kid.

I loved this book initially because of the anti-bullying stance that it takes because I’ve seen that issue among the kids I work with, and I hate to see people excluding others. I love the way that author Willink handles it in Way of the Warrior Kid, and I had high hopes that it could help quell any uncertainty we might have in this group. It’s great on so many other levels, though, and I knew just the guy who could stand in for Willink: local martial arts master Earl Fuller.

Mr. Fuller worked with a group of my kids in the past, and he was fantastic. He was even more impressive this time.

Mr. Fuller began by sitting down and talking with the boys about his story. He shared his testimony, his personal experiences with stuttering and being bullied, and with his reasons for turning to martial arts – as well as the incredible success he found down that path.

He didn’t stop there, though. I don’t know if Mr. Fuller read the book, but he nailed every theme Willink write into the story: healthy eating, personal discipline, respect for authority, goal setting, etc. He spoke slowly, kindly, and you could tell he really cared about these boys.

Then they got to work. After doing some basic calisthenics and talking about the importance of being strong and physically fit, he taught them basic self-defense moves. They were the kind of thing to remember if you’re being mugged or attacked by a bully and can’t get away: the sort of thing that you can use to protect yourself.

He showed them how to put their arms up to protect their heads, and then how to use that position to block blows to the head. He had them practice blocking – isn’t My Little Man into this in the picture above?

Mr. Fuller taught them several other kinds of blocks, get-away moves, or ways to distract an attacker long enough to get away. They practiced a few holds and getting out of them, as well as hot spots to target if they were able to get a blow in themselves – all not to engage someone in a fight, but to get out of one.

After Mr. Fuller left, we picnicked while talking about Way of the Warrior Kid. The group agreed that it was their favorite book pick of the year!

Then we moved on to other aspects of the book. Inside, Uncle Jake asks Marc to write his own warrior code, and so I asked the kids to split into groups and do the same. They were excited to do so and listed some really good ideas.

Last, we watched a video I found online of a reporter challenging Willink to a grappling match so the kids could see what sort of results discipline could lead to – and then we tried the baseline tests that Uncle Jake gave to Marc at the beginning of the summer. We timed how many push-ups and sit-ups each kid could do in two minutes. Then we tried out the other exercises that Marc did daily – like burpees, diamond push-ups, star jumps, etc. They were really hard!

My Little Man came home with a new appreciation for discipline and ideas for ways that he could add some of these exercises into his daily routine. I love that Willink wanted to inspire kids to set goals and improve themselves, and Mr. Fuller did a great job of bringing that message home in person.

If you’re looking for a book for your book club, class, or young reader, give Way of the Warrior a read. It’s definitely worth it.

What are your kids reading this week?

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Hunting for Bigfoot with “Lemons”

January 31, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I love that our local library gets lots of new books – and many of those are books by debut authors. One of those books turned out to be a fantastic book club pick with loads of possibilities. It’s called Lemons by Melissa Savage.

Savage’s book is a wonderful story of grief, healing, friendship centered around the search for Bigfoot. It’s sad and funny and poignant all at once, and the possibilities for learning with this book are endless.

In the story, main characters Lem and Tobin take several overnight wilderness expeditions to search for Bigfoot, and when I read this story, I knew our book clubbers needed to do the same.

We made arrangements to rent a cabin in a local park. The girls came for the first night, and the boys for the second. We had t-shirts made especially for this event to match, as much as possible, Tobin’s Bigfoot Detective Agency, LLC’s, shirts. We also wore sturdy clothes and adventure hats.

After settling into the cabin and setting up camp, the girls found sticks for cooking and whittled the ends. Since Lemonade and her grandfather ate hot dogs and tater tots every night, we chose to do the same, campfire style. We also cooked baked beans and made s’mores.

When our cooking preparations were complete, we headed off to the lake.

Boating doesn’t actually feature in Lemons at all, but since we were camping within sight of the water, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We rented canoes and kayaks and spent some time exploring the nearby shoreline. After a while, several of the girls choose to tie their boats together and just bob around in the cove, talking and laughing. It was sweet!

Then we headed back to shore to begin our Bigfoot exams. Just like Tobin required Lemonade to take an oath before joining the Bigfoot Detective Agency, LLC, the kids showed off their Bigfoot knowledge. First, we talked about the ways that Bigfoot varies from humans – the stride, physiological differences, etc.

Next, we did the Yeti Spaghetti test. The kids had to dig through a basin filled with cold, oily spaghetti noodles to pick up the Gummi worms. Each book clubber had to find 3.

Then, they did the Toe Jam test. Each book clubber had to find five Gummi bears in tubs of cold oatmeal, blindfolded. They found this quite easy to do, but the gross factor was high, and the rest of us were in stitches the whole time.

After passing all three parts, the book clubbers took the same oath that Tobin required of Lem in order to join the Bigfoot Detective, LLC.

After that, we built the fire and talked about the book while the fire grew. When the coals were ready, we cooked our dinner. We had mixed success with that – while the kids downed the hot dogs and beans, our experiment of spearing Tater tots to cook was less than successful. The second night, the group just wrapped them in foil and threw them in the fire. That worked much better, although it wasn’t as fun.

All told, the entire experience was quite the trip, and everyone got plenty to eat.

After dinner, when it was dark (and pictures weren’t easy to take), we gathered our flashlights and our Bigfoot detective kits. We got magnifying glasses, bags full of plaster of Paris, water bottles and the like, and we headed off into the woods.

We took a trail around a peninsula-like piece of land and looked for footprints. With the temperature dropping and the dark of night full-on, it wasn’t easy – and neither group was able to find any. The girls were more excited about this than the boys, and neither one found anything worthy of breaking out the plaster – but it was a fun hike, nonetheless.

The next morning, after a breakfast of muffins and fruit, we headed off into the woods to play “Capture the Flag” like Lem and her new friends.

All too soon, it was time for parents to come and get their kids.

We had a great time talking about the themes of this book and enjoying the great outdoors, just like Lem and Tobin. Although we didn’t find Bigfoot, we made lots of memories.

What are your kids reading this month?

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Encouraging Hearts & Home

Book Club: “All Four Stars” by Tara Dairman

January 18, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’ve had trouble keeping up with our book club sharing, but we’ve been having loads of fun with books this year! All Four Stars was one of those books.

Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.)

Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea! Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brulee accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world. But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City – all while keeping her identity a secret! Easy as pie, right?

There are so many things that I wanted to do with my book clubbers for this book! The possibilities are endless, and they’re so very fun, but …. I couldn’t decide, so this one became a multi-day event!

On the first day of our All Four Stars book club event, we headed to Durham to the India Gate, a family-owned restaurant with a lunch buffet. This seemed like a great way for our kids, none of whom had ever tasted Indian food before, to sample some of the things that made up Gladys’ best meal ever.

The people at the India Gate couldn’t have been kinder, even though we took up fully half of their tables during their busy lunch rush. If you’re in the Triangle area of North Carolina, the India Gate is definitely worth a visit.

One reason I chose the India Gate over other local Indian restaurants is that they feature Gazar al Halwa on their menu. The orange-y dish in the front is this one. Several of the book clubbers were also excited to try goat, as they’d never eaten it before, and so one family ordered goat biryani and shared it with the group.

Following our delicious lunch, we headed to a Chick Fil-A down the street – not because we were still hungry, but because we wanted a quiet place to sit and write a review, Gladys-style, of the food we had just eaten without being overheard by the India Gate staff. The kids got in groups and wrote their reviews, trying hard to use foodie phrases and colorful, descriptive words just like Gladys.

The next day we continued our Indian foodie theme. A former missionary to India came to visit us, and she was wonderful! She brought photos of her life in India, told stories about cultural differences, and even brought a sari that she wore to a wedding during her time there. She helped each female put on the main piece of the sari to get a feel for what the traditional clothing was like. It was a beautiful sari!

She also brought money from India for us to pass around and compare to our American money. She brought storybooks, snacks, and more, too. It was truly a wonderful and informative visit.

After that, we baked Gladys’ green tea cupcakes with sesame icing. I love that Dairman has some of Gladys’ recipes on her website! We really had no idea what these would taste like, but we were all pleasantly surprised. Rather than tasting strongly of a new flavor (which would have been okay, just new), they were mild, with the icing tasting like peanut butter. Several of the kids had seconds!

For our last All Four Stars project, we Skyped with Tara Dairman herself! She was very nice and told great stories. I loved hearing the kids ask about her writing journey and her world travels. (I was so focused on the conversation that I forgot to take pictures!) I’m so glad that she was willing to speak with us. Why is it so important to meet friendly authors like Dairman? Find out here.

All in all, I loved our experiences with All Four Stars. We tried new things right along with Gladys, we learned about other cultures, and we tried our hand at writing restaurant reviews. If you have a fellow foodie or are looking for a fun, foodie read, definitely check out All Four Stars.

For even more learning fun, check out these projects:

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Have You Tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com? – Review

January 8, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined the Homeschool Review Crew this year! That will mean more reviews, more versatility, and a wider variety of great products and programs that I can share. Telling others about great discoveries makes me happy, and I hope to help you find products and programs that you love, too.

High-quality, Self-paced, Online Homeschool Resources {SchoolhouseTeachers.com}

The first one I can share with you is SchoolhouseTeachers.com – a subscription-based website with classes, videos, printables, planning guides, videos, research resources, and more. The kids and I have been digging all around this website, and we’ve found some things that we’re excited to try this semester. This website is accessed through a membership, and you can subscribe monthly or yearly; I’ll be sharing benefits of a Yearly Membership, which we reviewed, below.

My Big Helper loves architecture. I’ll randomly find her drawing buildings, sketching floor plans, or deciding how to rearrange the furniture in her bedroom to create a new look. She’s been asking for information about architecture, and so I was super excited to find just such a class under the electives on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. It’s worth a full credit for high school students, too!

The architecture class has thirty-seven lessons, and while clicking around to check out all the exciting elements, I chose to download the Frank Lloyd Wright – Fallingwater lesson for closer examination as I’ve visited that house personally.

The lesson is impressive. The base of it is text describing the history and style of the house, as well as basic biographical information about Frank Lloyd Wright. There are many links to more information, including pictures and videos, and there are activities, projects, quizzes, and vocabulary words. It is a very complete lesson, and with thirty-six more in the class, a student must gain a treasury of knowledge from it. If all of the classes are as well-written as this one, we’ll have more exciting choices than we know what to do with.

We’re often rather eclectic homeschoolers, though, and sometimes it works best for us to study things in our own way. This architecture class would be fantastic just as written, working through it sequentially – but it looks as if you could also, because each class is focused on a different structure, match the lesson with your topic of study. For example, we could have studied the Hoover Dam lesson and the Empire State Building lesson when we were learning about the Great Depression this past fall.

So, still excited about the topic of architecture, I hopped over to the World Book section of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, hoping for great things. My Little Man loves to sit and read dictionaries, and I think he’d do the same to encyclopedias if any were still around.

Happily, I discovered loads and loads of books about every subject – even architecture! There are lots of books about animals, though, too, and space, myths, legends, history, science, etc. My Little Man will love it! There’s even a classic books section with several hundred offerings – it’s like having access to your own little library.

There’s a video section to SchoolhouseTeachers.com, too, and I was curious as to what that contained. It turned out to be a master list of all videos found on their website, and I made a few fun discoveries. “Stevie’s Trek to India” is a 32-minute documentary style video that would complement the India study we just completed. There’s even a worksheet to go with it, if that’s your thing.

But the BEST PART about the videos? They have DRIVE-THRU HISTORY. ALL OF THEM. We love those! – but we only have a few. We will definitely be making use of this resource.

My Big Helper is currently in seventh grade. Time is flying by, and I know I need to be planning ahead for her high school classes, but it seems like such a huge and daunting task that I’ve procrastinated doing research about that. There’s a whole section of the website called “Member Resources” that contains ebooks, one of which is all about getting into college – CLEPs, transcripts, etc. I really like the printable section of that area, though, too – there are gradebook pages, GPA pages, college prep printouts, and more. These will all really come in handy, and I love that they’re all gathered together in one place.

That’s a lot, right? A lot of great things, and a lot of things in general. It might even seem overwhelming (kind of like the thought of sending my firstborn off to high school), but there’s another fabulous feature to SchoolHouseTeachers.com that’s definitely worth using: the chat-and-help feature.

Somehow, after joining the site, I lost my password. I’m not sure how – but the next time I wanted in, I couldn’t figure it out. Since it was only my second time logging in, I thought that maybe my registration had gone wonky or something. After learning about the chat feature, I starting type-talking to a super nice person who was able to find my info and get me access in minutes – and the problem was my own Christmas brain and not a registration problem. She solved my problem on the spot and offered help for anything else, too. How great is it to work with a customer service rep who’s really, really nice?

All in all, I can’t wait to begin using SchoolhouseTeachers.com with my kids. Since we’re still on Christmas break, they’ve explored the site with me a bit, but we haven’t resumed classes yet. They’re excited about these new options, though, and they’re going to love it!

Homeschool Curriculum for Everybody - {SchoolhouseTeachers.com Reviews}

You can find out more about SchoolhouseTeachers.com by clicking on the title and hopping over for a visit. I bet you’ll find great things for your family, too.