Category Archives: Uncategorized

Disclosure: I received this complementary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

The Critical Thinking Co.™ provides fantastic critical thinking resources for young students such as Building Thinking Skills® Beginning 2.

I was very happy to receive Building Thinking Skills: Beginning 2 from  The Critical Thinking Co.™ to use with “The Batman,” because this company provides fantastic critical thinking resources for young students such as Building Thinking Skills® Beginning 2.

With “The Batman’s” developmental delays, the only book offered to us for review that would work for him at this time was Building Thinking Skills 2, so this is the one we chose. This book addresses many skills he has struggled with all of his life, such as:

• Auditory Processing
• Fine Motor Control Development
• Classifying
• Analogies
• Creative Problem Solving
• Patterns
• Arithmetic Reasoning
• Aural Reasoning
• And many more skill sets!

There are plenty of areas in which my son has gone significantly higher than we were told we should expect, such as reading and spelling, but many areas that are extremely difficult for him, such as those listed above. He has always had fine motor control problems, but he did not complain at all while doing work pages in “Building Thinking Skills: Beginning 2,” which makes me feel we have perhaps found a company to stick with. If we can get him through this book, then maybe he can handle the next one, as well!

When the book first came, “The Batman” was very excited to see it! He likes the colorful-ness of the pages, and the fairly clear instructions. I have only had to explain what he was being asked to do a few times.

Here are a few of the work pages he has done so far (there are really too many to put in here!)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

His hands shake an awful lot when he tries to write, make lines and circle things, but he does really love this book! To quote “The Batman:” “It makes me think a lot, and it is really fun to do!” That to me is a good indicator that this is an excellent tool for learning. My long time readers know that I have pretty much always said that the learning which is enjoyable is the learning that will stick!

To learn more about the Critical Thinking Co., please check out the following:

Social Media Links: The Critical Thinking Co.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCriticalThinkingCo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/criticalthinks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecriticalthinkingco/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/criticalthinks/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVEVNa6UpVqXxo_t5sbb7Q

There are 37 other Homeschool Review Crew member families who received this and other books to review from The Critical Thinking Co. I invite you go and discover their thoughts regarding this company and its products by clicking here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

Disclosure: I received this complementary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

I was excited to receive a six month subcription WORLD Watch to use for studying current events with my children, and to review for you!

World Watch is an online news/current events daily broadcast for teens, but honestly, I have been enjoying watching along! Each weekday program is approximately 10 minutes, with a variety of topics.

 WORLD Watch news reports cover a variety of topics such as: history, technology, science, economics, government and world cultures.

On August 10. this is what came in my email to show me what was on the site for us to watch that day:

• Taliban captures fifth provincial capital
• Faithful former coach Bobby Bowden dies
• The Smithsonian Institution turns 175
• Caleb explains the Rural Electrification Admin.
• Hannah reports how neon signs are made

Today, we are watching the following stories:

• Taliban overtakes entirety of Afghanistan
• Acapulco recovers from earthquake
• El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as official currency
• Arlington explains budget with Legos
• Caleb reports on flyovers

I like that while this program is giving the news, we get “Just the facts.” with no opinion slant at all. News broadcasting over the past several years has become very slanted to one political view or the other, and I don’t like that at all. I majored in Journalism, and was taught that my opinion as a reporter didn’t matter, to simply give the facts and let the reader/viewer come to their own conclusions, so I have been very disappointed in how the news has such slant, more so with every passing year. I also dislike a lot of the adult topics in the news, such as LGBTQ stories. I would prefer to discuss these things with our children within a Biblical viewpoint. World View does have a Christian viewpoint, bit not in a preaching style.

My boys seem to like the fact that the stories are in short bites, with each program lasting right around 10 minutes, as mentioned above. There is always a main story, and sometimes a history of something interesting.

WORLD  Watch has a 30-Day FREE Trial to see if it is right for your family, which is something I appreciate as a homeschooling parent. We have to be careful of the pennies, so having a good amount of time to be sure of whether something is a good fit befor investing in it is definitely a positive thing!

World Watch is a very good program with which to introduce our kids to regularly watch the news, while at the same time helping them to gain discernment while watching. eventually, they will be able to divide out what is fact, and what is opinion while watching or reading news reports. I very much recommend World Watch for regular viewing.

Check out World Watch at their social media links!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldwatchshow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldwatchnews/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhlnq_RLfpSdQ8Fm6VEEjw

29 Homeschool Review Crew families have been using World Watch, giving their own reviews. Please, go here to read about their thoughts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

He loves ALL of his boys, and boxes of wrapping paper, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

It’s been so long since I crocheted anything! The last time was shortly after moving to New Mexico, when I made a baby blanket for our former piano teacher back in Michigan.

This is the beginning of one for our Youth Pastor’s wife’s baby shower!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

Disclosure: I received this complementary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

For the last few weeks, “The Artist” has been reading Archer and Zowie from Hans Bluedorn.

Archer and Zowie is Hans Bluedorn’s newest book, a sci-fi novel written for kids in the 6-13 age range. This is a 233 page soft cover book, with engaging illustrations drawn by the author, The illustrations look to me like pen and ink drawings and fit quite well into the story.

The story is about best friends Archer and Zowie, a boy and girl who could not be more different! “Archer likes to plan, explore, and find things over the next hill” but “Zowie likes to look around, feel life, and find fun right where she is.”

At the beginning of the book, Archer and Zowie are stuck inside on a rainy day, with a babysitter. Archer has gone into the kitchen and after staring at the microwave on top of the refridgerator, grabs the cord and pulls it down, and brings it in to the dining room where he sets it on the dining table. Zowie asks if they are going to be “using their imagination again,” reminding Archer of how much trouble they got into the last time they did that. Archer then untwits a coat hanger and bends ito a V, making an antenna and taping to the top of the microwave. He writes the word  TELEPORTEE on the door in permanent marker and the adventures begin!

The “Teleporter Order Catalog,” which Archer has written himself, is a list of products with numbers next to them, such as:

• Big Hot Pastrami Sandwich . . . 3345
• Spinach and Mushroom Pizza . . . 1204
• Milk . . . 2030
• Soda Pop . . . 8392
• Fork . . . 8943
• Miniature Nuclear Reactor . . . 2934
• Antimatter, 10 ounces . . . 2851
• Black Hole Kit . . . 8744
• German Shepherd Puppy . . . 7283
• Milk Cow . . . 8830
• Blaster Gun . . . 5258

“Borrowing” the babysitter’s credit card, Archer orders a Glaster Gun, which, according to Zowie looks like a dust buster. After they argue and accidentally shoot the  TELEPORTEE (microwave, it goes a little crazy and shoots out a big penguin like alien. FRom that, Archer and Zowie end up using their imaginations to go to other planets.

This book is written in script form, and “The Artist” didn’t care for the format, so I ended up taking over and reading it. I do think that if I give it to “The Batman,” he will enjoy it though. I did not care for things such as Zowie supposing that “Rain is God’s pee.”

Overall, this is a pretty good story, but “The Artist” says he would like it better if it were written in a more standard novel format.

Please check out the books and the author on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fallacydetective
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansbluedorn/

27 families from the Homeschool Review Crew have been reviewing Archer and Zowie and The Fallacy Detective (also by Hans Bluedorn), and I invite you to read what their thoughts are by clicking here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

• 

• 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

Disclosure: I received this complementary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

I’m going to come clean here. I hate Math with a passion. I’ve tried not to pass that on to the boys, though, and most of the time they are quite happy to do it. This time around, The Artist” has been using the Speed Wheel Drills for Multiplication since the beginning of July, and has been enjoying the challenge against himself using a stop watch.

Each of the books have 1,444 speed wheel drills to help the student(s) develop instant recall of their math facts, which ultimately makes all math much easier for them to learn. In the Speed Wheel Drills from Math Essentials, the student(s) learn the facts in a fun way, fast. They can easily see their progress, too. Each page has 12 speed wheel drills, with each Wheel having one math fact family. So, if the student(s) do a page each day, the student(s) will be practicing math fact families 1 through 12 everyday. With over 100 pages of Speed Wheel Drills, I believe they would have every one of the fact families down cold by the time they finish the book!

The way each wheel works is, each one has “spokes.” In the center (hubcap) is a number. In between the spokes are numbers that “The Artist” had to add the hub number to. On the outside, in between each spoke, is a space to write the answer. Above each wheel there is a line to record how long that particular wheel took to complete, and how many the student got correct.

In the beginning of each of the workbooks are instructions to the student on using the workbooks:

In the back of each book you will find a Resource Center with the following sections:

• Math Glossary
• Important Symbols
• Multiplication Table
• Commonlt Used Prime Numbers
• Squares and Square Roots
• Fraction/Decimal Equivalents
• Speed Wheel Drill Solutions

“The Artist” was disappointed that he “had” to do this, at first. He did not care for the wheel format at all! However, he very quickly came to realize that he was going to be competing against himself each time he worked on a wheel. Here are a couple of pages that he had done at the time I was taking pictures:

A close up of just one of the Speed Wheel Drills shows how each one is recorded:

At the very back of the workbook is a one page solution for all of the Speed Wheel Drills:

In the end, The Artist found enjoyment in this workbook, because of competing against himself!

We were also given Speed Wheel Drills for Addition and Speed Wheel Drills for Division. Ultimately, I will be having “The Artist” work through Division, and “The Batman” work through Addition.

A number of other Review Crew families have been checking out the Speed Wheels Drills for you! I encourage you to check out their experiences by clicking right here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

This past weekend “The Artist” and “The Batman” helped with this month’s freezer menu plan. “The Batman” went with me to help with the big shopping at Sam’s Club, and “The Artist” went with me to Smith’s (Kroger) to get everything else. Here’s what we put together!

As you can see from the written in items, we ended up with 29 supper entrees!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Here is our final product!

• 

• 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)

Aren’t they cute? A summer rainbow!

• 

• 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As always, I would just love it if you would join me in all of “My Journeys Through Life.” Just go to the subscription box at the top of the blog and enter your email information. After that, you will always know when there is something new happening. I hope to see you here very soon! -)