I got the recipe from Homemakers Mentor. You can see my review here.
That was the comment out of the mouth of one of the lad's friends around a Pumpkin Bar. She was so enjoying the taste she could hardly get the words out. I got the recipe from Homemakers Mentor. You can see my review here. what can I say... this was an excellent find out of the Homemaker's Mentor. :)
Hey Lad.... "what do you think of this review idea? It's called The Chess House". "Chess?" was the query. "Chess? Oh.. Chess!" "YES MOM PLEASE... Can we try to get this review? I want to learn how to play chess. Please mom, please?" For the next week I heard "mom... did we get the chess review yet mom? Did we?" And then when we learned we did get the Chess Review it was a constant, "has it come yet mom, has it?" Product Information Vendor: Chess House Product: Starter Chess Learning Kit Price: Retail Price is $49.95, price from Chess House is $39.95 Age Range: all ages but ideally suited to children in the 6-12 year old range. My son's excitement is evident here. :) The kit even came with a chocolate bar. How cool is that? How we used it. We (as in the whole family) immediately sat down to watch the DVD when it arrived. Hubby's response was: "Oh.. that's interesting. I didn't know that. Well done video". The lad's response: "OH! Mom, they all move differently. When can we play?" My response: "Well done video. It's good to touch up on the rules." Then we sat down to play. Dad played with the lad (lost). Mom played with the lad (won). The lad (who doesn't have a competitive body in his body - SNORT) was immediately spurred on. "Mom, can we play again? I want to beat you". And thus the addiction was born... The Chess Set - which comes in a handy carry bag goes with us almost everywhere. He has played Chess with so many different children it boggles the mind. It is a well crafted set. I love that the playing mat is rolled up and not made of stiff cardboard. Means it can easily travel. The playing pieces are of a good size and don't feel or look cheaply made. It comes with a handy booklet as well with different challenges to help you fine tune your skills in playing. I plan to use these with children from our homeschool group when we start our Chess Club in three weeks. :) The lad is hyped. We have played individually as well as with each other many of the challenges. It is just as fun to work through the challenges as it is to play a full game AND you learn how to move your pieces more thoroughly. :) Sunny afternoons, rainy afternoons, mornings at the Library, afternoons at friends house, visiting with Gramma... the constant refrain (when not caught up with bugs and crayfish) is "I have the board set up, can we play chess?"
I have to admit to being fairly competitive myself and I don't like to lose...even against my boy child...but HE HAS MANAGED to beat me... much to my chagrin. HE is simply delighted by that. :) TWICE! I love playing Chess and have been absolutely delighted to pass on this love to my boy. To read of the delight or not delight of other reviewers, please click on the link below. Thanks for stopping by. :) The Homemaker’s Mentor grew from the creative idea of Martha Greene and Rebekah Wilson. They ran a website that offered help in the areas of homemaking that many people needed. Offering hands on help with cleaning, cooking, organizing, decorating, and other such useful skills. This collection is like a big ole classroom waiting to teach you skills. Product Information Click here to learn what is all included in the Homemaker's Mentor. The Homemaker’s Mentor comes in CD form, stock full of PDF files. It has 33 file folders, over 100 documents, pictures, or audio in the files. It covers topics such as cleaning, cooking, sewing, organizing, making things pretty and much more. Lots of things to keep you busy, and teaching your children. Price: Normally $47, currently on sale until October 18 for $37. Age Range: Adult led, but good for children as well. Vendor: Wholesome Childhood. What I thought and How I Used it. I read through most of the books included in this collection, found them simple and straightforward, easy to read, not confusing, and encouraging to try new skills. Due to various issues in our household I did not have a chance to complete many of the projects...but I did get to some of them. As I have time over the next couple of weeks to complete more projects I'll do up a post or two on them. :) Let's have fun eh? :) I also found hints to help with housekeeping, various recipes, directions for making my own shower curtain (plan to do so just haven't had the time), and just a whole whack of other things. Lots of things in this package to keep you busy that's for sure. Here's comes the cruncher. Is this something I would recommend you buy? I don't know, I honestly don't know. Here's why. When I looked through the collection I was sad that many of the categories only had one file it. Some of which I have gotten free through a freebie site. Many of them have a vintage look (deliberately so I think)..... And so I thought hmm.. with a little legwork I could have gotten these myself. And would I want to pay someone for something I can do myself? Aaah...not really. But in truth I need to say that only 11 of these books are available in the public domain, one is completely new and the rest were in from a private site that has now released them for public sale. There is lots of good stuff in this collection. It's just my frugality stating... would I want to buy something that with some diligence and effort on my part I could find on my own? (make sense?) YET.... On the other hand... I never would have thought about making my own shower curtain if it hadn't been for this collection. I never would have learned how EASY it is to make bath salts and granola. This collection encouraged me to do so... if only to say I've worked on doing a good review for you all. .. but it is SO much fun to learn new things! I am so happy that I took the risk on learning something new. Now I can easily make hubby and son happy making my OWN granola. Pretty neat huh? Also someone had to do the work to put the collection together, and that is worth something yes? Indeed. So if you want to be inspired, and you are willing to pay someone to put it all together for you, get this collection WHILE it is still on sale. It's on sale until the 18th of October so strike while the iron is hot. :) Go ahead.. be inspired to try something new. You'll be glad you did. :) Here's another inspiration. it was SUCH a hit. :) Pumpkin Bars. More Reviews are available to seen by going to this link. :) A Giveaway Two copies of the homemaker's mentor are available in this giveaway. Plus another giveaway
Click on this link please. Mega-giveaway. ONE lucky winner will receive the amazing Grand Prize Bundle (pictured below) with a real value of over $400! Do note this is only for USA residents. I'm going through a small book right now called "A Woman's Journey with God" by Mary Price. In this book she has a short devotional and then different bible verses and short quotes based around a singular theme. Today's Theme is Trust. All these bible verses below will be copied viaBiblegateway. I have not included all of her quotes because then you would have no reason to get the book yourself. :) Proverbs 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Never be afraid to Trust an unknown future to a known God. - Corrie Ten Boom Psalm 56:4 English Standard Version (ESV) 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that? My thoughts So what is trust? Pastor Jim's sermon last Sunday was called More Faith? In that sermon I received the startling thought that Trusting God was just trusting God. There is no "having more faith or more trust" it was just a blanket thing. God says "TRUST ME". Faith the size of a mustard seed that's all that is required, but it is required. God says trust me...not just in the big things, but in the little things as well. In the easy things (like trusting God will take care of my future), in the hard things (like trusting God will give me the strength needed to clean the basement up after ANOTHER flood and the grace to not complain about it), in the medium things (like will my boy ever learn to read well?). Trust is merely an act we are to perform in everything... and when we don't.. all we can do is say "Lord, help me in my unbelief, forgive me for not trusting you with THIS Specific thing, help me to trust you in ALL things". It's not easy. But it is necessary. When I remember to trust God this is what happens... the pressure is off. After all, when I trust I am showing that I am ultimately not in control... it's no longer MY problem. This enables me to just relax and work my way through whatever is facing me. It helps me to take a longer term view on things. So it may be hard now (and sometimes it is very hard) but ultimately God will work it out. So trusting him is crucial to my life. It removes a lot fear and uncertainty, it relieves pressure of "I have to do this just right", and it helps me to remember just who I love... God... the one who sustains me (psalm 55:22) Psalm 118:8-9 (English Standard Version) 8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. My affiliate link is below should you wish to look up the book yourself. :) So today I join Marcy as we blog through the alphabet. Since we are just beginning we start at A.
So why did I do A is for annoyed? Well.. because I am annoyed. I"m annoyed that for the second time in three weeks I have a nice flood in my basement. Annoyed that I don't have time to homeschool AND clean and wipe things up. Annoyed that my boy will have to fend or help out instead of doing some book learning and increase his math skills and what not. It makes me feel annoyed with my time not being my own. But you know... As I sit here and consider what all I am annoyed by.... a still voice within me is correcting me. A still voice that says... so.... how are you trusting me in this? And I have to admit... it's hard to trust God in this. I know what I have to do. I know that my back ACHES... I worked so hard last time to clean it all up and then I worked hard last week with fall chores and this 48 year old body is NOT happy with me.. so I look at the flooded basement and I am SO annoyed because I don't see how I can do it. And so God says....so.. how in this, are you trusting me? And so I see my own frailty. I see my own fears of... not being a good teacher, of not being a good sport about things, about not just letting it go and realizing that it will all work out. It will. But all I see is myself and my own weaknesses. And that's when I realize that in this I MUST TRUST GOD. If I don't I'm not really trusting him you know. God says trust me. He doesn't say trust me in this, but it's okay not to trust me in that. He simply says TRUST ME. That's a pretty all inclusive statement you know. It's something I say to my boy when he's letting his fears get ahead of him. TRUST ME... I"ll do my best to keep you safe... but even if you can't trust me my boy you can ALWAYS trust God. ALWAYS. Doesn't matter the situation. Doesn't matter if you get hurt or scared or fall down or look weak... Trust him regardless cause he really does know best. So as much as I am annoyed... at the end of it all.. what do I see? My need to trust. Trust God and him alone. ----- thanks for stopping by. If you want to know what others are saying as they blog through the alphabet, stop in at Marcy's and check it out. :) In the morning, two books we tend to read. One page or one chapter (depending on the book) every day. :) In the afternoon, just one book. And we absolutely adore this one. A nest for Celeste. :) Sometimes we are so caught up in it, we read TWO chapters. :) in the evening - the rule is I read until 9 p.m. No later. :) Sometimes too much conversation about what we learn or what we are thinking cuts down on just how much we read. :) One chapter, paragraph, or page depending on the book. We read one history book, one book with poems, one just because book, one "read with mom" book, one fact book (sometimes two), one book on Canada, and one geography type book. Think you can figure out which is which? :) Magic Tree House #16 Pocket Factfile of the world Bugs On the banks of Plum Creek Coastal Habitats A book I can't find on amazon called "What's cooking" it's from Byeway Literacy Ladder and I so wish I could find another 10 of these books. They work SO well with my lad, just so very very well. The New Days and Deeds - has poetry in the back, one poem a night...some inspire stories. :) and currently we are reading YWAM's George Washington. Learn Touch Typing. This online program will assist you with learning and improving your typing speed! Practice each lesson over and over to at least get all three stars. It really doesn't take much to learn, a few minutes a day for one to two weeks and you will be a pro!
Nutrients for Life. A series of videos. Are you looking for a way to bring the outside into your classroom to make learning more engaging? Would you like a visit to your classroom from a horticulturalist or farmer to help your students learn why soil nutrition is so important? With the addition of a virtual classroom to the Nutrients for Life curricula, this is now an option! The virtual classroom complements Nourishing the Planet in the 21st Century. Looking for information on starting a school garden? Check out Nutrients for life Learning Garden series: http://bit.ly/NEw8la Houghton-mifflin math resources. for Grades k-6. Loads of math sheets to practice your math. :) You can pick from
Lapbooking 101 teaches you how to make lapbooks and unit studies. I find it a valued resource. :) Came a lad in all worried. One of his crayfish is dead and another is not moving very well. What's wrong mom? I had no clue so....we did what all good homeschooling parents do... we did some research.
Ehow taught us how to raise crayfish. We think the problem is that we have too many crayfish and not good enough filtration. So tomorrow we'll take a trip back to the river and release some of the crayfish. We have enough calcium in the water we think. Wiki-how taught us that crayfish are excellent escape artists and the males are bigger than the females. On a side note: the lad is writing a book about Kale the Crayfish. It has pictures and drama in it. It's quite interesting. At our family dinner today everyone had to read it. :) I love it... the lad wants to spell words and he's learning to write it all down and do his punctuation and everything. :) VERY COOL. :) I'll have to let you read it at some point, it makes me smile. We needed to do some research for it as well as there is a villain...the LOBSTER! Here's one place we stopped at. SLGO. Here we learned that lobster can get up to 1.8 metres long (time for some impromptu math). :) The lad was suitably impressed. The image below is from that site. When the YWAM review came up, I had a choice between Jim Elliot and George Washington. Both studies interested me a great deal, but I chose George Washington since with the business of the school year, knowing I would be reading it before bed, I wasn't prepared to answer the hard questions that reading Jim Elliot would bring. :) As it was, picking George Washington was an excellent choice to read with my eight year old boy. He was captivated from the get go and asked VERY good questions throughout our reading of the book and unit study. Product Information George Washington: True Patriot - I received this as an ebook, read on my tablet. George Washington: True Patriot Unit Study Curriculum Guide (parts one and two) - these I received in PDF form. Vendor:YWAM Publishing Price: George Washington: True Patriot sells for $6.99 for both the paperback or electronic version. The George Washington: True Patriot Unit Study Curriculum Guide sells for $7.49. Reading age: 10+ Listening to understand read aloud age, I would put at 6+ years. There are 19 chapters in the book. On the tablet this runs to 146 pages. The text is of a level for children 10 and up to read fairly well, depending on their reading ability. My son is 8, I would sometimes need to explain what a word meant if he didn't ask me first. :) I read it out loud to him. Comes with a very useful two part study guide. In the first part of the study guide we find an introductory section reminding you the teacher that you know your student best, and that you are to "choose those activities that are best suited to your student". They provide a large variety of activities. The Activities were as follows 1. Key quotes. These are excellent to use for memorization or copywork. 2. Display Corner - this seemed group oriented. 3. Chapter questions, each chapter had four questions
5. Social Studies. This area was divided into five categories
7. Culminating Event. The authors suggest making a final day for this study, whether that be throwing a tea party or serving food common to the time or even having a period dress up day. Find some way to finish off the study with a bang. I could see this working really well with a larger group of students. An extensive bibliography is provided, as are answers to the chapter questions. How we Used this unit study. I used this as a read aloud book. I read to the lad, he listened and asked good questions. I would occasionally stop and ask questions. The chapter questions mentioned above helped with coming up with some harder questions for him. He paid close attention. If I failed to read it, he would bring it up. He only does this for books that he likes me reading to him. For the activities we did the chapter question, did some copywork, looked at some maps of early USA history, took a walk imagining what it would be like to be a surveyor.. having to chop down trees, needing to camp out in the woods in all sorts of weather. It's good to spur on a lad's imagination. After taking that walk, you could really see this book coming out in his play. Would I recommend the YWAM unit studies? Indeed I would. Excellent well written materials. I have to admit, that the learning can be done without the learning guides. BUT the learning guides add DEPTH to the study. Going for a walk and talking about surveying... I would not have thought about doing that... or seeing how it captured my lad's interest. :) I very much appreciated that. :) You can click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew or click on the image below. Either will take you to a place where you can read some fantastic views on what others thought of the YWAM materials. :) " This post written with some help from my mom. I don't like to write, my mom does. And she is faster. You start with boys in the water looking for crayfish. Mom won't let me tell you who they are, but they are best friends with me. You then put those crayfish into a tank where they can stay for a while. My friend told me to put a bubbler in with them. Dad says they will need a filter too. Mom made me do some reading and bookwork before I could put my tank together. I wasn't happy with her, but I did my work. I really like the mouse book mom and I are reading together. The mouse is called Celeste. You give the tank a good clean, and then start putting stuff into it. MAKE SURE YOU DON"T get your head stuck! It's a tight fit. We used gravel and sand. I will probably have to put more sand in it 'cause Dad helped me do some research and crayfish like digging in sand. This is what my toads were in before, I put them in with my crayfish. They are very silly, they keep going in the water. I will need to find them a board or something to sit on. Oh... Mom helped me find a board thing. See the wood thing my mom found for me? it's supposed to be a rabbit hidey hole but her rabbits don't like it. I used to use it to make toad houses outside but I forgot about it. Can you see my big guy in the pot thing? I think he's happy. What do you think? Oh.. I have seventeen crayfish in here. Did you know they eat anything they can get their claws on? Don't let them get you... IT HURTS. |
Who Am I?
Archives
September 2017
Categories
All
2013 TOS Reviews
IXL.com
if you were me Chess House YWAM Seed Sowers Time4Learning Family Hope Center Reading Kingdom Bible Study Guide for all ages Bird Cage Press Christianity Cove Math Mammoth Joyce Herzog Homeschool in the woods SuperCharged Science Adventus LoneStar Learning A+tutorsoft Math Wet, Dry, Try App Schoolhouse Teachers French Essentials Dogwood Mudhole Circle Time Gryphon House Essentials in Writing In the Hands of a Child A journey through learning Ed Douglas Picaboo Yearbooks VocabularySpellingCity 2014 TOS Reviews Science4Us.com Egglo Entertainment. ScienceandMath.com Supercharged Science. Philippians in 28 weeks. CTC math The Brinkman Adventures. Maestro Classics. Logic of English. Learning Breakthrough Go Science DVD's Veritas Press Happy Kids Songs Wizzy Gizmo: In his image UberSmart Software. Essential Skills Advantage: Other Reviews
My Beloved ..
Homemaker's Mentor Don't Miss the Boat Tokens of Promise Biff and Becka's .... A Child's Geography Homeless at Harvard 30 Days of Bible Study... Topaz and the Evil Wizard Alone yet not alone Lead me Home I am Second Can't wait Willow Hey God.... This is Our Time What I wish I knew at 18 Classical Composers Seeking Christmas. Raising boys by design. The Ruby Ring. Knowing God By name. The Jesus Bible, NIV. One Realm Beyond. |