My Journeys Through Life . . . Herding Cats In New Mexico!

August 30, 2018 · 12:32 pm

Make-A-State Activity-Pak From Home School In The Woods {Review}

Adding in the Make-A-State Lap Book from Home School in the Woods‘sHands-on History Activity-Paks series has been the perfect hands-on addition for our studies. We have reviewed other products from Home School In The Woods, and you can read those reviews here.

We have been wanting to learn about all of the states we touched on during our big move from Michigan to New Mexico, so we chose to begin with Michigan, since we were all born and raised there.

HSITW MI 5

We like the Hands-on History Activity-Paks because while they are Lap Books, they are not HUGE Lap Books. This works for us because we deal with short attention spans around here.

The Make-A-State Activity-Paks come in more than just the Make-A-State Lap Book. Also available in this category are:

Artists
Composers
The Old Testament
The New Testament

Each Activity-Pak is available for download at the price of just $18.95. This is an excellent price, as it gives you the opportunity to print as many copies as you need for your children, to re-use it when younger children are ready, and in my case, to re-print pages that got messed up for whatever reason

Before “The Artist” began the Michigan Make-A-State Activity-Pak, I got out the file folder (only one!) he would need. I then printed out the pages showing the placement of everything in the Lap Book. Then, I printed out the pages which told, in order and with small pictures, which activities to do and in what order. I used THAT to tell me which pages to print out for him. I also let him into my paper crafting stash to choose what color card stock he wanted to use for the two inside pages of his Lap Book.

Once everything was printed and contained in the folder, I had “The Artist” begin doing the projects.

Having never been really successful with using glue sticks on Lap Books, one of the supplies we keep on hand is double-sided tape. Other supplies you may want to have on hand (and probably already do, if you are a home schooling family) are colored pencils, crayons, scissors, regular pencils, printer paper and card stock.

This Activity-Pak has 20 activities to create for your Lap Book:

Key State Facts
Origin Of State Name
State Motto
State Symbols
State Song
State Industry / Agriculture / Climate
State Wildlife
Regions
State Geography
State Government
State Seal & Flag
State History

And more!There also some bonus pages:

State Pages to help with some information for your chosen state (though it will still be necessary to research information which is not included)
A Name That State file folder game to print out, assemble and play.

Even though all the people in our immediate family were born and raised in Michigan, there ended up being things we either did not remember, or just didn’t know. I just asked “The Artist” about that and he says that he only knew (without looking it up) one famous person from Michigan, didn’t know much in the Industry / Agriculture / Climate section, or what the state seal looks like. So, even if you elect to study the state you live in, you might be surprised at how much you will learn!

Here is “The Artist” showing me page by page, his lap Book.

Home School In The Woods is a hands-on history company, with multiple product lines which are as follows:

Project Passport: Ancient Rome study has been release ahead of schedule, and is now available for download here. The now complete Project Passport collection is available here.

To read 89 additional reviews written by my fellow crew members about many of the products from Home School In The Woods, please click on the banner just below.

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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! -)

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August 29, 2018 · 1:25 pm

Spoiled Puppy!

Spoiled Puppy

This post is linked up at Life At Rossmont.

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August 28, 2018 · 2:20 pm

Learning About Science From WriteBonnieRose {Review}

We like to add fun subjects like science to our summer studies so I was excited to receive Learning About Science Collection, Level 3 (Cursive) from WriteBonnieRose!

I have done one other review of a WriteBonnieRose publication, you can read it here.

“The Artist” is my most enthusiastic science kid, so I was certain he would enjoy doing Level 3 of the Learning About Science Collection. I let him look over the options once we received our download for the purpose of this review, and he decided he wanted to begin with Life Science: “What’s Going On Inside Plants?’

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Filed under Bonnie Rose, home education, Homeschool Science Curriculum, homeschooling, Homeschooling Science

August 27, 2018 · 3:00 pm

Dinosaurs and the Bible From Northwast Treasurs {Review}

We recently had the opportunity two review the online class Dinosaurs and the Bible as well as the introductory video Taking the Mystery Out of Geology from Northwest Treasures.

“The Artist” has long been fascinated by dinosaurs, fossils and all the things which go with them, so I was very excited to get the opportunity to review this course with him, especially because the courses from Northwest Treasures are taught from a Biblical perspective.

Before getting into this six part course, we viewed the 20 minute video titled Taking the Mystery out of Geology.

This is an excellent video as an introductory class, and we enjoyed it very much. We learned a good deal, too, from Taking the Mystery Out of Geology! In this mini-class we learned quite a few terms which are intended to make it easier to understand when viewing the 6-part classes such as Dinosaurs and the Bible. There were terms which include:

History
Philosophy
Evolution
Creationism
Rock Cycle
Tectonics and Orogeny
Geological Time Scale
Geology
Fossilization

And others.

This little mini-class enabled us to better understand the Biblical framework with which we can learn how the flood and the ice age come together, and gave us clarification as to what is the science of geology, and what is the philosophy of it.

After watching Taking the Mystery out of Geology, we settled in with the six-part course Dinosaurs and the Bible.

When my boys were little and had dinosaur toys, they wanted books too. We finally found dinosaurs from a Biblical perspective. Well, “The Artist,” who is by far the biggest dinosaur/geology fan among my kids and really enjoys learning about them. I however, have always been hesitant, because as far as I could find, there were no classes from a Christian world view. Little did I know, Northwest Treasures exists, and is a wonderful place to go when you are looking for true, Biblical Based teaching on these and other topics!

Dinosaurs and the Bible is a very interesting series of video lessons. You have to have access to the internet as well as a vimeo account (free) After purchasing the lessons, you would simply then watch them on your computer or other device. I wanted to put them up on our television so that they could be watched in a more comfortable seating area, but was not able to add the vimeo app to our T.V. with the other apps we have. But then, techie husband came to the rescue and taught me how to cast the lesson videos from my cell phone right onto our T.V.

Here is “The Artist” watching:

As you can see by the way he has become more alert when watching, he really enjoys this! You should also know that each lesson has an accompanying printable worksheet and an answer key, all in pdf.

Here he is working on one of the worksheets:

Dinosaurs 1

The course has the following lessons on video:

How We Got Our Modern View of Dinosaurs
The Classification of Dinosaurs
The Great Dinosaur Rush
The Extinction of Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs and the Ice Age
Fossils, Age and Soft Tissue
Worksheets and answers
Comprehensive exam and answers (for those parents who want to test retention and/or those who would keep a portfolio for the state)

We really like this course! It could be much longer, and we would still want to do it! There are other offerings fro Nortwest Treasures which look extremely interesting to me, one of which is Northwest Treasures Curriculum Project. This is one that I’d love to be able to explore sometime with “The Artist!”

To read the reviews written by my fellow crew members, please click of the picture right below!

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August 27, 2018 · 1:29 pm

Warm & Cold Nails

Nails 2 Nails 1

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Filed under Fingernails, Nail Art

August 23, 2018 · 3:28 pm

Smart Kidz Radio From Smart Kidz Media {Review}

Smart Kidz Media’s newest offering, Smart Kidz Radio, can be described as edutainment with songs for kids. I really have liked listening to the live-streaming radio programming. This is actually created for children from age 2 – 10, but can also be enjoyed by older kids (like me!)

But there is much more than songs here. We’ve been greatly enjoying the podcasts, which are actually radio dramas of well-loved fairy tales. Everything is focused on teaching a character value. In fact, even as I am typing this review, we are listening to Treasure Island, and earlier we listened to The Three Musketeers and Rumplestiltskin! Most of the audio dramas are around 20 minutes long, and are like short movie without visual. They are acted out beautifully, and include scoring and sound effects.

When I go to the podcast section, I see numerous choices, and click on the one we want to hear.

Cinderella, which is 00:19:07 long
Goldilocks and The Three Bears, which is 00:20:14 long
Hansel and Gretel, which is 00:19:38 long
Jack and The Beanstock, which is 00:19:39 long
Little Red Riding Hood, which is 00:15:46 long
Pinocchio, which is 00:19:55 long
Rip Van Winkle, which is 00:18:32 long
Robin Hood, which is 00:21:20 long
Rumpelstiltskin, which is 00:19:15 long
Sleeping Beauty, which is 00:18:24 long
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, which is 00:20:05 long
The Three Little Pigs, which is 00:19:33 long
The Three Musketeers, which is 00:17:13 long
The Tortoise and The-Hare, which is 00:19:22 long
Treasure-Island, which is 00:18:48 long
Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, which is 00:18:18 long
Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves, which is 00:20:35 long

Our favorites so far have been those mentioned previously, along with Aladdin and His Magic Lamp and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

You and your children can stream Smart Kidz Radio on a variety of devices, making it easy to go mobile if you are away from your desktop, or your child wants to listen when you are listening to or watching something else.

This is not a strictly Christian broadcast program, but it is definitely character based. It is nice to discover something that children can listen to, without their parents needing to worry about objectionable themes and language. My kids are older, and I still stay mostly away from radio because you just never know what will be played next! Even your little ones can listen to the music, and you know that they will be listening to something clean.

I wouldn’t even object to private listening with headphones!

Everything I have talked about here is free! They will also have an upgrade offering on demand listening, which will be available for a small fee.

To read 79 other fair and honest reviews of Smart Kidz Radio written by my fellow crew members, please click on the banner just below.

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August 23, 2018 · 1:01 pm

Adaptive Math Online From A+ TutorSoft Inc. {Review}

With the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online from A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.) we are able to identify and address learning gaps in “The Artist’s” math skills.

Several years ago, we reviewed a different math product from A+ TutorSoft, and you can read that review here.

“The Artist” appears to have the same ~~phobia~~ dislike of math that I have pretty much always had. I like to think that it’s because our strengths are more on the creative side of our brains, but whatever. 🙂 Regardless, it’s still pretty important for us to have a better grasp on this subject, in my opinion.

The Adaptive Math Curriculum Online is set up to please any parent who would really like their child/children to be able to work mostly independently. The parent enrolls their child in a target grade level, and then the program gives them a pre-test for each topic , and if he/she passes, then they are not given a lesson and just move on.

At first, I put “The Artist” in the sixth grade because he had worked in a book on pre-algebra. He immediately came to me and told me it was too hard and asked to be put back in the third grade, so I agreed, and changed it. This is a real positive with this program, you are allowed to go into your side of the program and make changes like this. It also gives you reporting so that you can see how well the child is doing. After passing a lesson, the system gives them a page telling them how well they did and giving them a grade. You could print this out, if you need to keep records, or simply want them to keep for your child.

So, back to “The Artist.” Once I allowed him to go back to the grade he thought was more comfortable, he began taking the pre-tests. At first, he was passing every single one, which meant that the program didn’t create a lesson and he just moved on. Eventually though, he stopped passing them, and the program created custom lessons, based on where he was weak in the section.

Here is “The Artist,” working at my computer. You can see that he is also using paper and pencil to figure out some problems.

Once he was on a roll, he started enjoying the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online, and I believe that this was because whenever he passed the pre-test he was able to move on to the next thing. He wasn’t having to “complete five pages of stuff he had already proved he could do.” I like that as well, because whenever we’ve done workbooks, it irritated me to make them continue if they showed they “got” it after a page or two.

This is a VERY good program! You can sign up for one student, or for a family plan which covers two to ten students. You can go one month at a time, three months at a time, or a year at a time. It’s all-inclusive, meaning you have access to all the grades 1 – 6 and Pre-Algebra.

Some crew members reviewed the Family Math Package, which is different from Adaptive Math. Family Math does not pre-test, but does give a recommended lesson plan and instant grading.

As a parent who loves any plan which takes care of placement, creating custom lessons AND does the grading for me, I highly recommend Adaptive Math Curriculum Online !

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August 22, 2018 · 2:48 pm

Paddington Bear Unit Study From Branch Out World {Review}

When offered the chance to review the literature study Paddington Bear from Branch Out World, I jumped at it!

A couple of years ago I had given a copy of Paddington Bear, along with Paddington himself to a friend who was having a baby. Had I realized that “The Puzzler” didn’t even know who Paddington was, I would have gotten two sets! Because he didn’t know about Paddington, I really wanted to do this.

Up until now, I had never even heard of the company Branch Out World, but I am sure glad I know about it now!

Branch Out World is a homeschooling family based in West Yorkshire, a metropolitan county in England. I believe strongly that whenever possible, supporting homeschool families with your educational purchases is a good thing, just like when I go shopping in person I prefer to keep my dollars in my own city if I can.

This literature based unit study was written to accompany the book Paddington, written by Michael Bond. It is part of the Picture Book Explorers Series. Here you can see “The Puzzler” and me with the book (he hates having his picture taken!)

Paddington 4

This unit study, like all of those from Branch Out World, is written as if the reader is in the United Kingdom. This is fun, because we got more of a view of where and how Paddington lives, and where he came from (Darkest Peru). It is not at all difficult to work out different spelling and different terms. I thought it was fun for example to read in the list of things to get, a library “ticket.”

The Paddington Bear 69 page Unit Study is intended to be used over a five-day period, with different topics to be covered each day. The idea is to read the book, and cover the topics for that day, then each day after that, do the same thing with another topic. Using this study as intended, you will cover:

Day 1 – Exploring the Setting – when and where
This section looks at history and geography, and looks at the themes
presented in the book.
Day 2 – Exploring the Words
This section looks at literary devices and some grammar, as along with
giving opportunities for creative writing.
Day 3 – Exploring the Pictures
This section has the student looking at the pictures in more detail, giving ways for your child to create his or her own artwork.
Day 4 – Exploring Science
This section looks at scientific topics that come up in the book, from animal
studies to hands-on experiments.
Day 5 – Exploring Maths, Crafts and More
In this section, your child will lightly touch on math activities in a way
that relates to the story. Math will also often come into the
suggested craft activities and recipes intended to bring a fun ending to your
exploration journey.

“The Puzzler” really enjoyed the map and flag activities the best! He loves coloring, and here, he is coloring the included map of the United Kingdom, after labeling England, London and the River Thames.

Paddington 2

Here, you can see him sticking Paddington’s explorer flag as close to London as he can get it. He used a very small piece of double-sided tape on just one end, so it would partially stick up.

Paddington 1

As you can see above, the page where he colored the flags of England and Peru is peeking out.

This study is actually written towards ages 5 through nine. However, with special needs children at varying levels of ability, this worked very well for us. In fact, I could have used it with all of the boys, and I am thinking that I will at some later point when we can delve even more deeply into all of the rabbit trails and projects. I think it will be fun for us all to do it together as a collaboration!

While browsing the Branch out World catalog, I saw a number of interesting options! I would love for example, to do the Earthquakes & Volcanoes Bundle together with my boys. I think they would love it!

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August 22, 2018 · 1:17 pm

After a Mile: Dirty-Dash Piglet Run, Edgewood NM

Mud Run

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Filed under Dirty-Dash Mud Run, family, Kids

August 20, 2018 · 2:21 pm

God Schooling:How God Intended Children to Learn{Review}

I am always so happy when I am blessed with something meant for the homeschooling parent, as opposed to the children to review, and God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco has been a powerful blessing indeed!

For many years now, I have leaned toward a very relaxed, almost Unschooling style of education with my children. In our case, we sort of slid accidentally into this while readying ourselves to move, in 2004, I believe. But when we set out to home school, I was afraid to even try without a boxed curriculum telling me what to do day by day! As it happened, even with a written school in a box curriculum, we stumbled. I became anxious and frustrated when the book said we were supposed to be on “Day 35”, but we were still on “Day 15,” because my first child was having serious trouble with vowel sounds. My husband wisely said “There are no ***** police, just don’t worry about what page you’re on.” {curriculum name blocked out with *****} So, we put away everything except the vowel sounds, and worked on just those for two weeks. And “The Batman” learned them, now that he wasn’t worried about how long it would take, and neither was I! 🙂

I did eventually discover that something different was needed for my boys, and stumbled around until I became a lot more relaxed.

I have read other books by Unschooling authors, and when we moved to New Mexico several years ago we even joined an unschoolers park day group. We didn’t fit in. It appeared that we didn’t fit anywhere, not with the unschoolers (secular), and not with the strict, school in a box groups. We are Christians, but believe more in natural learning. Well, Julie Polanco validates everything I believe about education, all throughout her book! And, she validates it with Biblical support, too! For example:

What about reading, writing, and arithmetic? Shouldn’t they know this by now? Kids in “school” start these things at an early age.

“does a child really need to know how to read at age five?” {Pg. 16, God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn} Biblical support for not following “the traditions of man”: Colossians 2 : 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Julie Polanco rightly points out that while Paul was writing here about rules and restrictions about diet, diet, worship, etc . . . she follows up by stating that it can be applied to any unbiblical philosophy which would be dependent upon human tradition. Things which cause us to trust more in what the world says, rather than in Christ.

How did the people learn in Biblical times? they sat at Jesus’ feet. They followed Him, and learned while doing. I would say, they did not build schools with rows of desks, and a teacher up front, nor did they attempt to replicate that in the home.

After each chapter, the author has written some study questions, which I really liked.
The chapters are:

Part 1: Dispelling Myths

Biblical Support for Natural Learning
Motivation & Excellence

Part 2: Practice

Thoughts on Teaching Children Under Age Eight
Thoughts on Teaching Children Aged Eight to Twelve
Giving Teens the Wings to Fly
Spreading the Banquet
Getting Started
Some Q & A
Record-Keeping and Structure
Concluding Remarks

Author Julie Polanco is also a regular contributor for the Old Schoolhouse Magazine and the Homeschooling with Heart blog. She is also the high school botany instructor for Schoolhousteachers.com She continues to be a professional freelance writer, with her work appearing in health and wellness, food, and trade publications. She also ghostwrites books for others.

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to review this, Julie Polanco’s latest book, and blessed that she even took the time to write a note with her autograph in my copy!

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