Wednesday October 28, 2020 was National First Responders Day, and I wanted to make cards for first responders that my family knows from our church. Here are all the pieces I cut to make several cards:
Here are four finished cards, for our First Responders:
I wrote notes of thanks inside each one. Card making is fun!
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! -)
“The Artist” is cutting boneless pork chops in half (they are very thick!) while I peel and slice the Granny Smith apples . . .
Prepping the Apricot Meatballs for the freezer (those are homemade meatballs, not store bought!) . . .
Bounty of less that 3 hours of work . . .
Here are some of the meals . . .
Baked Fried Onion Pork Chops
Slow Cooker Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff
We can hardly wait to have the other meals in this current ser of recipes!
This is such an easy way to have a good variety of entrees in my freezer! I use My Freeze Easy, and I can either use one of the pre-designed plans or create my own. Go here to check out the “Try it Free,” to get a sample plan. Do it yourself and see how easy this is!
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! -)
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.)
If you favor a relaxed homeschool science approach, you’ll want to check out NaturGlo’s eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle from NatureGlo’s eScience like my son “The Artist” has been doing!
Given that we are a very relaxed homeschooling family, I had the feeling that this program would work well for us, and it does not disappoint. I have simply been letting my son choose what he wanted to learn about, and then jump in and go for it!
Here is what it looks like when he is inside the program, doing a lesson.
His favorites so far have been in the catagory of Natural Science, focusing on Herpotology. He has done a unit on the Komodo Dragon, and is working his way through a six week course called Herps.
The Komodo Dragon Unit contains these topics:
10 Amazing facts about Komodo Dragons
History connection
Geography connection – Indonesian Islands
Art Connection – how to draw a Komodo Dragon
Liturature Connection – Indonesian Tale from the lands of the Komodo – Too-too-moo and the Giant
Creative Writing – your version of Too-too-moo and the Giant
Here is a drawing of a Komodo Dragon that “The Artist” did for Art:
For Creative Writing, “The Artist” did his version of the story which was in the Liturature section:
Herps contains units on:
Reptiles –Amphibians – The Anura: Frogs and Toads
Reptiles – Dwarf Geckos & Chameleons
Reptiles: Lizards – The Geckos
Amphibians: The Giant Salamanders
Reptiles: The Testudines: Turtles Overview
Marine Reptiles: The Marine Turtles
Here is “The Artist’s” line drawing of a Chameleon for Art
Upon completing sections of a course, the student receives digital achievements. Here are some that “The Artist” had earned at the time I took the following picture:
There is so much more that I want to either have my son do, or do for myself!
I would like to go through MathArt: Patterns & Shapes in Nature.
The lessons are:
Main Lesson Downloads & Introduction to Patterns and Shapes in Nature Pre-lesson Activity
Main Lesson Video with NatureGlo
Fractal Explorer – Online Interactive Art Design Tool
Video & Patterns in Nature Treasure Hunt
I REALLY want to take a look at The Geometric Beauty of Snowflakes!
We live in a desert state now, but we were all born and raised in Michigan, and lived with snow every year! This class has the following:
The Geometric Beauty of Snowflakes Main Lesson Slideshow Download with Activity Guide
Prezi – Snowflakes and Geometry by Allison Kelley
Activity – It’s Snowing Angles!
Going Beyond – Videos, Web Resources and Projects & Activities
Snowflake Growth and Symmetry
Wilson Bentley, the Snowflake Man (1865 – 1931)
Another course I’d like to get into is Polygons & Patterns in Nature.
Lessons in this course are:
Outdoor Nature Challenge-Finding Polygons and Polyhedra in Your Backyard
Math Connection: Interactive Polygons
Math Connections: Interactive Polyhedra – Right Rectangular Prism
Math Connection: Video (22:15) Every Strictly-Convex Deltahedron
Art Connection: Video (3:13) Seda Saar: Polyhedron: Art + Reality Are One
Literature Connection – Triangle Trouble Poem and Rogie in the Land of Polygons
History Connection – Video (4:04) – Kepler’s Model
Student Project – Art Connection: Fold an Ancient Chinese Dice
The 13 Archimedean Solids
I am a lot more interested in the courses that I just listed, while my son absolutely loves Natural Science. I know he will continue on his way through all of the science courses available.
I would love to have you check out what other Review Crew members are saying about NatureGlo’s eScience! Just go here to check them out!
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! -)
So this past Friday, I got to go have a little bit of “me” time. I usually go get my nailds done about once a month, and this was the day! Here is the end result!
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! -)
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.)
The Download Club has so many rescources that I think it could take years to use them all!
It is so easy to find just what you want! You can search based on grade 0-Pre K – 9th – 12th.
You can search by topic:
Arts
Electives
Languages
Science
Character Education
Language Arts
Math
Social Studies
And the many sub-catagories within each of these.
I chose to focus primarily on Math and Writing. “The Batman” has severe fine motor control issues, which show a lot when he tries to write anything, whether print or cursive. While he can read very, very well, and can writie his thoughts down quite well, it is extremely difficult for anyone to read it when he’s done. So, I went to downloads like Trace and Color Animals.
I also had him do beginning Math. He has mental retardation due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, so Math is an area in which he has never gone much above Kindergarten, but he really likes it for some reason! He really wanted this packet, so I downloaded it for him!
For “The Artist,” I focused on Writing and Science. He only really likes writing on his Chrome Book, and I want him to get better at writing by hand, so I printed out monthly writing prompts for Septembber and October. I like that they force him to go outside of his box, think about topics he might not, and write his own thoughts about them.
I also printed out on white card stock a page of insect note cards. These are kind of cool in that he can choose his own insects, look up the information on them, draw the insect and color it. Here are 3 of the cards he has been making.
We have been perusing the available offerings in the Download Club, and anything they are interested in within the topics I specify, I print out for them.
Among other offerings, under Languages you will find American Sign Language, French and Spanish.
There are electives:
Architecture
Religious Studies (Christian, Jewish Studies)
Home Economics
Health
Economics
Under Arts, you will find Art, Crafts and Music.
There are monthly and holiday themed learning, teacher helps, and all sorts of miscellaneous topics searchable by grade or topic.
I really like how organized the searching is, in that I can search by topic or grade level, and find anything I want for my boys! I like looking through the various downloads before deciding, and then sending them to my download page, where I can click them and receive the pdf straight to my computer files. I like being able to click on the “What’s New” section and see the absolute newest bundles available. We did that as well, just to see what was available.
All in all, we’ve really enjoyed using the Download Club from My Teaching Library, and will continue to use it!
To read 69 other fair and honest thoughts about this product, go and see what my fellow Review Crew Members have written 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! -)
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.)
When I researched this curriculum to see the company’s doctrinal statement and foud it to closely match my own beliefs, and to discover that any scripture directly quoted is from the Bible version used by our family (King James Version), I was so happy that I immediately ordered a second Student Manual/Workbook so that both of the boys could use it.
With 160 pages, the Student Manual/Workbook is colorful and easy to navigate for the student.
Lessons 1 – 13 cover things such as the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, emphasizing His teaching and atonement for us, with the following titles:
Who is Jesus?
The Promised Messiah
The Boy Jesus
The Land Where Jesus Lives
Victory Over Temptation
The Disciples of Jesus
The Ministry of Jesus
Jesus Reveals His Power
Responses to Jesus’ Power
Jesus Teaches with Parables
Jesus Teaches About Salvation
The Crucifixion of Jesus
The Resurrectionof Jesus
Lessons 14 – 17 cover The work of the Holy Spirit in believers with the following:
The Arrival of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit’s Work in Us
The Fruit of the Spirit
Who Controls Your Life?
Lessons 18 – 28 is going to cover examples and explanations of godly character from both the Old and New Testaments:
God Cares for You
Your Inner Character
Confidence in God
Compassion for Others
Courage to Stand Alone
Learning to Trust God
The Value of Humility
Learning Submission
Patience to Endure
The Need for Forgiveness
Making Wise Choices
Lessons 29 – 35 teach the student about he life and ministry of the Apostle Paul with the following:
Saul the Persecutor
Saul’s Conversion
Paul’s Missionary Journeys
Earthquake at Philippi
Paul Faces Trouble
Paul’s Final Journeys
A Race Well Run
The Teacher’s Manual, has a good section of teaching materials, along with copies of the student pages with the answers.
The Teacher’s Manual also contains the quizzes for each lesson.
There are 10 Hymn lyrics in the back of Student Manual/Workbooks the books,
as well as a page for making a record of the student’s Scripture Memory.
There are 35 lessons, and this is intended to be a one school year curriculum. We are using is with one lesson per week, which is going quite well. My boys have some special needs (especially the eldest), and this is perfect for them. “The Batman” was excited the second he saw the crossword puzzles, which were easy enough for him to handle!
There is a sample from the Student Manual/Workbook and the Teacher’s Manual on the site for this curriculum.
His brother “The Artist” also liked the crossword.
They both enjoyed finding and reading the Bible verses to find the answers to the clues.
Here are some more pictures that I took the first week the began their lessons (after that, they wouldn’t let me bother them with the camera while working!).
I really, really like the Building Life Casles from Positive Action Bible Curriculum. I like that my boys are both willing and eager to jump into it everytime I ask, and I love that it fits our beliefs and the few times I’ve seen a piece of scripture directly quoted, it was KJV. If you do not use the KJV, it is very easy to use your own choice of Bible, because for the most part the lessons simply note which verse/s to look up.
Connect with Positive Action Bible Curriculum on Facebook.
Positive Action Bible Curriculum is giving my readers in the USA free shipping! When you order, just use the code Review20.
To read the fair and honest reviews of 20 other Homeschool Review Crew Families, please click 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 you know, with help from “The Artist” I do a freezer plan about once a month. I use the menu planner from My Freeze Easy, which makes it so easy to plan my menus and know what to shop for.
Here’s what we did this time . . .
Since I can set the meals up for my choice of servings, I choose 8, which allows me two meals per package. So the recipes listed above each give me two separate packages, so with 16 packages I get 32 meals total. Plus, I ended up with 4 packages of plain chicken breasts that weren’t used in the recipes, to use for quick meals, so a total of 36 meals by the time we finished.
Butterflying and then cutting all the way through to get 2 thinner pork chops each . . .
Crispy Cheddar Chicken Bake
Poppyseed Chicken . . .
Poppyseed Chicken
S
Slow Cooker Pepperoni Chicken
A couple of the meals we’ve had so far . . .
Slow Cooker 3-Packet Pot Roast
French Onion Pork Chops
The bounty of 3 hours and 18 minutes of our work (counting the time spent when I had to go back to the store for something I thought we already had)!
The inside of the freezer when we were done!
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! -)
So, my regular readers know that I (with a lot of help from “The Artist,) put up meals in the freezer, raw and ready to cook. That will be another post this coming week. This time though, we needed Apple Butter for one of the recipes. We haven’t been able to get it in our preferred grocery store lately, so I went hunting via Google for an Apple Butter Instant Pot recipe. And I found one, very quickly!
Here is “The Artist coring the apples, then cutting them into quarters . . .
Here are all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot . . .
And the finished Apple Butter, still in the Instant Pot . . .
We used a good deal of it for the recipe we would make in the freezer menu plan, and had this to put in our fridge for later!
It took a bit over 40 minutes total, and for FAR less cost, to make our own fresh, no preservatives, Apple Butter!
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! -)
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.)
If you are looking for a straight forward homeschool math program, I suggest checking out the Grade level of ThemeVille Math which would fit your child the best. Because one of my special needs children has never been able to get beyond additions with a sum of less than 10, I decided to work with him in ThemeVille Math Grade 1.
The author of ThemeVille Math is Dr. Avi Patil.
Dr. Patil immigrated to the United States in 1996. He became a citizen, and completed his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He loves to teach.
One of the good things about this curriculum is that the Worktext is all in black and white. For my son, this is very important because it is much less distracting for him than colorful pages generally turn out to be. You can see below, he is working on a very plain and uncluttered page, and next to it, another simple, uncluttered page.
The Worktext is 590 pages. It covers:
Forward and backward counting
Comparison
Addition and subtraction with number lines and bar diagrams within 20
Word problems
Place values in operations
Hundreds chart
Numbers composition
Numerals – words
Money
Skip counting
And a good deal more! There is also a six page Appendix at the end regarding manipulatives, many of which we already own or can use household items to substitute. There are also instructions for making your own rulers.
There is a pre-lesson (review) for each of the 120 lessons in the worktext, enough to get you through the entire year.
There are 10 tests scattered throughout the Worktext, and a grading page in the back. The idea is to write the grade there each time a test is taken. The total grade for the year is calculated based on the cumulative grades for all of the tests recorded.
The seperate Solutions book is much thinner. It is laid out with four student pages on each solutions page, as you can see below.
I have not needed the solutions book much yet, except for a couple of times when looking at a given page helped me to better explain what my son was supposed to be doing.
My son is not at all intimidated by the thickness of this worktext, and eagerly asks to do his math every day, and it is my hope that this will be the curriculum which finally makes it easy for him to get beyond where he has been stuck for so many years. So far, it’s working!
36 other Crew Members have been using this and other grades of ThemeVille Math. For there fair and honest reviews, please click 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! -)
My Journeys Through Life . . . Herding Cats In New Mexico! 