Monthly Archives: April 2016

April 27, 2016 · 12:15 pm

GREEMU: A TOS Review

I have recently had the fun of trying out a product for the moms, as opposed to just for the kids!

GREEMU is a plant based alternative to Emu Oil, which we reviewed last year. GREEMU is distributed by Devonian, and is available from Koru Naturals.

As more and more people begin to turn to plant based products instead of animal based, particularly when it comes to cosmetics and skin care, this is a fine new addition to the line up!

GREEMU contains natural ingredients such as

  • Rice Bran Oil
  • Sunflower Seed Oil
  • Shea Butter
  • Macadamia Seed Oil
  • Palm Oil

We received a 4 fluid ounce bottle of GREEMU to spend a few weeks trying out. I applied for this review not just for myself, but because two of our boys, “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” are African/American, and one of them, “Mr. Loquacious”, is GREATLY resistant to putting lotion on his skin and/or oil in his hair. My hair stylist, who also cuts their hair, consistently has to put what looks like a LOT of oil on his head after he gets his hair cut! So, this is why I thought using this product might help.

“Mr. Loquacious’s” biggest issue is always with either the scent, the feel, or both when it comes to lotions or oils. GREEMU, however, is practically scentless, and is not greasy at all. So far, I think the use of GREEMU for them is a good choice, since they tend toward very dry and scaly scalps without some kind of oil. If I can get them to continue use (or at least “Mr. Loquacious”, since “The Puzzler” is completely willing to use it), I believe. I also think it may be helpful on their elbows and knees, which tend to get ashy looking. As I said before, “The Puzzler” will put lotion on every night whether reminded or not, while “Mr. Loquacious” will not without putting up a fight. Hopefully, this will change. 🙂

I personally really love the feel of GREEMU on my own skin. I have been ill for some time, and haven’t been taking care of my skin or wearing make up. I have decided to try putting a drop or two on my face and rubbing it in, as a way of getting back to taking care of my skin. So far, I am pleased with the results. It really does take only a drop or two, and any that is left on my hands can be rubbed into them and onto my elbows.

As you read above, last year I reviewed the Emu Oil which can be purchased from the same company as GREEMU. I will tell you now that as nice as GREEMU is (and it is nice!), I personally preferred the Emu Oil. When I used it, my skin appeared to feel softer for a longer period of time, but that could just be me. They feel and smell almost identical, with the exception of one being slightly thicker than the other. Also, as I don’t have issues with sticking to plant based products, I don’t mind using the Emu Oil. I do know people who feel strongly on the topic however, so I feel that this is an excellent product for them, and I applaud Devonian Health and Beauty for spending the time and effort to develop it.

To read what other crew members think of this product, please click here.

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April 27, 2016 · 11:08 am

“The Puzzler”

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April 26, 2016 · 6:10 pm

YWAM Digital Unit Studies: A TOS Review

For a few weeks now, along with 99 other crew review members, we have been reviewing one of the wonderful YWAM Digital Studies from YWAM Publishing.

A little something I had wondered about this company was what, exactly, the initials stand for, so I wet looking on their website.
According to the FAQ, YWAM is Youth With A Mission, and these unit studies are from the publishing division of the organization. Having looked at the YWAM site, it looks like a very good organization!

My boys and I were fortunate in that we received my very top choice when I applied, and thus, we have been reading the book Corrie Ten Boom, Keeper of The Angel’s Den and using the Digital Unit Study to go along with it.

 

For our review, we were sent the book Corrie Ten Boom as a physical product, and the unit study as a digital product.

I remember reading the story of Corrie Ten Boom in the book “The Hiding Place” when I was much younger, and have wanted to introduce her to my own children. I want them to fully understand that no matter how difficult they themselves often find it to choose their faith over fear of anything, whether it be fear of ridicule, fear of violence, or whatever it may be. Corrie Ten Boom is SUCH a wonderful example of this, along with her family!

Corrie and her family lived in Holland, in a home above their watch shop. Holland was eventually invaded by the Nazis, Corrie’s family, the Ten booms; began working to help save the lives of Jewish people who were, as we all know now, were in terrible danger.

They hid Jewish people in their home, and were part of the underground to help Jews escape the Nazis, and the death camps.

The Ten Boom family was eventually caught and arrested. Corrie and her sister were sent to a concentration camp called Ravensbruck, where they were definitely in danger of being killed by being gassed.

Corrie’s faith never wavered, though, and through it all, she showed others how to be tankful for even tiny things, such as the tiny fleas which infested the barracks in which she and her sister were held. Because of the fleas, the guards NEVER even stepped foot inside, which allowed the Ten Boom sisters to study their hidden Bible at night.

The Digital Unit Studies from YWAM are so good, and work for the different levels of our children.

I will tell you, that as we do with many unit studies, we are doing this as a group. Questions are given for each chapter, and we discuss them out loud. This seems to help with learning even more than trying to write everything out, particularly if you have reluctant writers.

The questions mentioned above, are always my favorite part when we are studying something, because if a question sparks another question, and another, then so much the better and we’re off on a rabbit trail! 🙂 However, there are geography sections, ideas for social studies, hands on activities, essays, and so on, therefore, there should be something that will work for just about everyone!

We like YWAM Unit Studies, and we think you will, too!

To read what 99 other crew review members think of this and other YWAM Digital Unit Studies, please click here.

As always, I would just love it if you would join my on all of my “Journeys Through Life”. Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email, and then you will always be notifies when there is a new post! Hope to see you here! 🙂

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April 21, 2016 · 1:17 pm

Writers in Residence: a T. O. S. Review

For several weeks now, we have been checking out another resource from Apologia Educational Ministries. This product is called Writers in Residence, and it is a very good, full language arts program, designed to be used over one year.

I must tell you, first and foremost, how overwhelmed I was when I opened the box! Even after reading about this program, I truly did not expect such a BIG Student Text and Workbook! It is an all-in-one book, and this program, Volume 1 Apprentice was written by Debra Bell. And when I say it is big, I am NOT kidding, because it comes in at 575 pages!

There is also a thinner (thank goodness!) answer key for the parent or teacher.

At first, when I saw that the first 30 or so pages were just for me to read, in order to learn how the Student Text and Workbook is to be used, I got a little panicky. I REALLY like for things to be kind of “open and go”, much like the “plug and play” games my kids used to have for the TV. However, once past those 30 pages, depending upon your student, it did end up to be sort of a “let him go to it on his own” sort of thing. There are suggested daily schedules in which he can check off his own boxes as he goes, for example.

Throughout the Student Text and Workbook, there are spotlights on Christian writers. These are very complete interviews with a variety of authors. I had never heard of any of them until now, but have become interested in looking for and reading their works.

This review did hit home with me in that we have never done “formal” grammar lessons, however, to be honest, it does not change my feeling that the way we have taught them, by example and with verbal correction has worked for our family.

I do think that this is a very good writing curriculum however. “The Artist” really enjoys writing stories, and so he was definitely interested in this review. He is always (like every day, in fact!) asking if he can go on the computer to write on one of his stories. He generally has more than one going at a time, sort of like me when it comes to reading books, lol!

I do like that you are encouraged not to force perfection on your child, but rather to reward their effort instead of marking it “wrong.” In my opinion, this helps the child to keep going, and wanting to succeed. I believe though, that we will take more than one year on this one; simply so that one, we can be thorough, and two, we can work at “The Artist’s” own pace.

 

To read what other crew reviewers think about Writers in Residence from Apologia Educational Ministries, please go here.

As always, I would just love it if you would join me on all of my “Journeys Through Life”. Just go to the top of the blog and enter your email information in the subscription box, and you will be notifies whenever there is a new post. Hope to see you here! 🙂

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April 19, 2016 · 2:36 pm

Early Birthday Gifts!

Longed for, and long awaited!

“Mr. Loquacious”

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“The Puzzler”

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They are so happy! Their birthday isn’t actually until May 1, but we got the bikes and had nowhere to hide them, lol!

 

As always, I’d love to have you join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life”. Just enter your email information into the subscription box at the top of the blog, and you’ll always be informed of anything new! I sure hope you will! 🙂

 

 

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April 4, 2016 · 11:07 am

Logic of English: a T.O.S. Review

Well! This is the first experience we have had with the company Logic of English, and what we received was a very large, very full box!

For our review of Essentials 2nd Edition from Logic of English, we received, as I said before, a ton of stuff! First up, the hard cover teacher’s guide. Coming in at over 600 pages, it is very comprehensive!

Next up, we saw the very nice Student Workbook, for multi-level Reading, Spelling, Grammar & Vocabulary, which is over 300 pages. The really interesting, and different thing about this workbook is that it has three different levels in it, making it easy to use all three levels in a row for your child. It allows you to individualize you instruction for different children. Within this workbook are pages used in many, many spelling, vocabulary, phonics and grammar activities, which you will find in the Teacher’s Guide.

There is also a VERY nice Spelling Journal, A Student Created Reference. (I love the beautiful colors on the cover!) Your student can use this resource to help with troublesome words. They will check them for sounds that have more than one way of spelling, for example. They may enter the word in their journal, categorize by sound, figure out the possible spellings, discard options, and throughout, they are reinforcing the phonograms and spelling rules. This journal certainly will aid the student in mastering common misspellings by giving them a self-created tool with which to help them become more proficient.

Beyond what I’ve already described, we received the following:
  1. Quick Reference Guides (spelling rules, phonogram, etc)
  2. Spelling rule flash cards
  3. Grammar flash cards
  4. Basic phonogram flash cards
  5. Advanced phonogram flashcards
  6. Morpheme flash cards
  7. Phonogram game cards and game tiles

We were also blessed with the Essential Readers, which came in download format. These are great for the struggling older reader, and the one thing I think may convince “Mr. Loquacious” to continue with this. He has an issue with reading “anything that doesn’t interest me, or is to babyish”, but, he’s also resisted formal learning for as long as we have had him, so almost 6 years given that we adopted him and his twin in 2009.

My own personal opinion is that this is a very structured program, whereas I am NOT a very structured person, lol! However, if it works for him, and we can continue without argument, I can force myself int more structure if need be.

To read what other review crew members think, please click here!

 

 

As always, I would love to have you join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Please just go to the email sign up box at the top of the blog, enter your email, and you will always know when something new is going on! 🙂

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