I’m a day late in posting this, but it’s been a busy few days. Thursday, some dear friends from Oklahoma came into town for the International Balloon Fiesta, which is held annually here in Albuquerque.
Here’s a little video of some of what you will see if you ever come for the fiesta . . .
So, Thursday evening, our friends came to our house for supper, and then last night, Friday, we all went to the Fiesta for the special shapes Glowdio. We did take lots of pictures, but my camera is currently charging back up, so I’ll do another post later (to catch up on the Ultimate Blog Challenge), so you can see some of what we saw last night. Until then, we’re heading out to lunch with our friends at Dion’s, which is one of our family’s favorites. Can’t wait to introduce it to our friends! 🙂
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I have to admit to you right now that after I was accepted for this review, I did have second thoughts . . . and third thoughts . . . and even fourth thoughts! In fact, if it were not for the fact that my kids had been begging for some time to learn how to play chess, I very likely would not have even expressed interest in this particular review! But, they HAVE been asking for a while, and so when this came up, I went for it, without letting them know. But then, I got picked, and thought, “Oh no! What if it’s too much for them?” Remember, with four boys who have a variety of special needs, many of them having to do with developmental delays and mental retardation, it can be easy to think they wouldn’t be able to follow something and learn from it. Boy, was I wrong this time! 🙂
I mentioned above that I chose not to tell the boys about this review until it came, so they were very excited to see it when it was delivered!
•Elliott’s Chess School DVD 1 – “Pawn Level” introduces basics of chess in easily digestable chunks, keeping it fun and interesting for youngsters as well
•All purpose chess set that will last for years.
•Solid plastic chess pieces with 3 3/4″ regulation size king. Easy to obtain replacements.
•Odor free chessboard made in USA. 20″ x 20″, 2 1/4″ squares.
•Chess bag keeps all 32 pieces, roll-up chess board, and DVD together and portable. 24x8x3″
Everything was packed within a very sturdy, easy to transport carrying case in an attractive dark green color. Other color options are black, navy, green camo and tan camo.
This set is appropriate for all ages, and worked very well for my boys, who range in actual age from 12 – 20, but in developmental age from probably 4 – 12.
My boys were excited to get going with this review, so we popped the DVD in and began watching.
Here, we have everyone, “The Batman”, “The Artist”, Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” all watching as the teacher, National Master Elliott Neff, showed them step by step how to play this game that has actually been around for 1500 – 2000 years.
I really do credit the DVD in this kit (Elliott’s Chess School #1 PAWN Level) for getting my boys engaged and excited to learn this game. The topics that they were taught with on the DVD are:
•Intro to Chess (board, names of pieces, values)
•Pawns
•Rooks
•Bishops
•The Queen
•The King
•Knight
•Castling
•Pawn shields and when to break it
•Development
And the features on the DVD are as follows:
•Bonus booklet with practice positions for every topic helps the learner practice and master the material presented.
•Introduction of each piece
•Understanding of the values of each pieces
•Best strategy for each piece
•”Pawn Shield” strategy (how to BLOCK your opponent’s army)
•Learning about the most important squares to control
•How to start a chess game with the BEST strategy
The DVD is not so long as to become tiresome, it comes in at 49 minutes, and after each topic is introduced and taught, we paused the DVD so the boys could play the practice game using just that topic’s pieces.
Here is just a little clip from the DVD showing how Elliot Neff teaches the game in a way that my boys were able to understand . . .
The practice games are given in the bonus booklet, which is tucked right into the DVD case.
Here, you can see the twins, “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler”, playing one of their many games (they play it the most right now, although “The Batman” and “The Artist” do play with them at times.)
As you can see, they have set up their own little audience of action figures to watch them play! 🙂
I am very pleased with this set. It has exceeded my expectations, and my boys have been able to understand the clear teaching by Elliot Neff. They are remembering what each piece is, how it moves, and what it can do. They are learning strategy, something that up until recently, I was unsure they would be able to do. And most importantly, because as you all know, I believe learning should be fun, if at all possible, they are having FUN! They are also no longer asking to play with the glass chess set I have decorating a shelf in our home, lol!
You and your children can also easily learn the game of chess from Elliot Neff. The Starter Chess Learning Kit from Chess House is available for the current price of $39.95 (regular price $49.95) with the Product Code: KP100.
Once you have mastered the Pawn Level DVD, there are other levels you can move on to in order to improve your skills:
Elliott’s Chess School #2 KNIGHT Level
Elliott’s Chess School #3 BISHOP Level
Elliott’s Chess School #4 ROOK Level
Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew also received the Starter Chess Learning Kit from Chess House . . . to find out what they thought of it, please click on the graphic below.
As always, I would love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life”! Please use the “sign me up” button at the top of the blog . . . just enter your email information and you’ll never miss an update again! 🙂
Nothing says autumn in Albuquerque like seeing all the hot air balloons flying! Here is a time-lapse video from the International Balloon Fiesta:
My family, along with good friends who are coming in from Oklahoma, will be going this Friday evening for the Glowdio. And then, the beautiful fireworks after!
We went one evening last year, and it was wonderful! This year, we will not need to rent a scooter, because my husband finally was able to have his spinal surgery, so he won’t need one.
We are very much looking forward to the event, and I will have a full report for you after we’ve been! 🙂
Yesterday, I posted a review of a book about George Washington that my boys and I are using as a read-aloud. Today, I want to talk about a conversation we had when reading about the Boston Tea Party, and breaking unjust laws.
Last year, when my cousin Kathy and her boys visited us, we spent several hours walking around in the National Petroglyph Monument Park, right here in Albuquerque. You can see below some of the pictures from that day . . .
Today, because our esteemed President is deliberately attempting to make things as uncomfortable for as many people as possible, and refusing to negotiate with those who do not agree with him, we cannot go to the National Petroglyph Monument Park. It is shut down. Now, please, be aware that I have no issue with shutting down the visitor’s center, it does cost money to staff that. However, in the entire time we were there last year, that was the ONLY place we saw any government paid employees. The rest of the place is simply open area where people were walking, or sitting and quietly enjoying the scenery.
Today, they are paying people to keep us out of the park. It is likely costing more federal funds to do that, then it cost to pay the person in the visitor’s center, because there are several entrances into the park, and they have to make sure nobody enters through any of them, I guess.
We talked about this, and we talked about what the WW2 vets did in knocking down the barricades around their memorial.
All the while, the President’s federally funded golf course remains open . . . the National Mall, closed to American citizens, is being opened solely to permit a rally for illegal immigration reform, etc . . .
If nothing else, I guess I can thank the President for the fact that I had a “real world” example from current events to bring to life what we were studying from over 200 years ago . . .
So, Saturday evening, while sitting on the couch watching TV and crocheting on a baby gift I’m trying to get completed (so I can send it back home to our former piano teacher who just had her first baby), the left arm (or temple, not sure which it is called) on my glasses broke off. It didn’t just come unscrewed, it actually broke right off.
My glasses are extremely expensive, even AFTER the portion the insurance pays, so I, of course, became very worried (since that is one of my biggest spiritual struggles, after all). You see, I am very aware that our health spending account is just about depleted for this year. In fact, once we pay the bill to the surgeon for my recent surgery, I’m pretty sure it will be completely used up, so there is just no way to replace these glasses at this time. We are still paying off both of the surgeries my husband had in December and January.
Well, on Sunday after morning service, we went to Sam’s Club Optical. Unfortunately, the smallest replacements they had in their spare parts were too big, so they suggested we head over to Wal-Mart Optical, which we did. They DID have the correct size (yay!), and replaced the broken one, although they could not put a matching one on the right side, as the screw holding it in would not turn. They did give it to me though, along with two screws, in case it should come out later. So, while the arm on the left doesn’t match either the front of the glasses OR the arm on the right, at least my glasses will stay on my face now, so I can see, and they didn’t charge me anything at all!
The glasses may not look so great, but they will hold me until we can afford new ones now. God is good, even when we lack faith.
I had never had any experience with materials from YWAM Publishing, but when I saw what was being offered as a possible review, I really wanted to give this one a try.
I was curious as to what YWAM stood for, and before I had the chance to find out, my husband (who puts all of my review deadlines into my phone calendar with reminders for me) looked it up.
YWAM, according to their own website, stands for Youth With A Mission. They are one of the largest Christian charitable organizations in the world. To learn more about them, go here.
After taking a look at the descriptions for both, I decided that George Washington would be the best choice in our family, for a variety of reasons. First, we have been studying early American, and also, because my kids are very interested in the period covered by this book because of some other things they have been doing.
I received this book as a pdf download, along with the curriculum unit study guide, which came as two separate pdf downloads. The book is available as a paperback, for the current price of $6.99 (regularly $$8.99), and the curriculum unit study guide for $7.49 (regularly $9.99). The book HEROES OF HISTORY: George Washington: True Patriot is also available in a Kindle edition, a Nook edition, and as an audiobook edition.
You may click here for a sample of the unit study curriculum guide.
We received both the book and the curriculum unit study guide in pdf format, and have been using the book as a read-aloud. It is actually amazing to me (though it really ought not to be!) how much even I have been learning (especially about George Washington’s early life) while we have been reading this book together! I have read a great deal of it to my kids, but some of them have taken turns at the reading as well, including my reluctant reader, “Mr. Loquacious”, who actually ASKED to have a turn after listening to “The Puzzler” read for a bit, lol!
Here is “Mr. Loquacious” reading a portion from the book . . .
Here is “The Puzzler” reading some of the book . . .
The Curriculum Unit Study Guide came in two parts. First, there was a four page download with a fact sheet, two outline maps and a timeline, and second, a 64 page unit study guide with a good number of possible activities which included things like:
chapter questions
Key Quotes (for copy work or memorization), but which WE used orally, to get discussions going.
Ideas for doing a display corner (this was not a good fit for us, but would be great in a class room, or for a family with access to artifacts having to do with this story)
Student Explorations, which included things like essay questions, creative writing, hands on projects, audio/visual projects, and arts & crafts projects.
There is also a section called Community Links, with suggestions for field trips and other resources, such as having a guest speaker come into a classroom.
There is also a Social Studies section in the study guide, with suggestions for incorporation social studies using the five different categories given:
Places . . . covering significant places related to the story and mentioned in the book
Terms/vocabulary . . . ideas for studying some of the terms used in the book
Geographical characteristics . . . suggestions for mapping some of the physical characteristics of places where George Washington lived
Timeline . . . so the students can, if they like, choose to research the time period in which George Washington lived
Conceptual questions . . . that a teacher (or parent) can use to have their students write a paragraph or two in response to a given question, present an oral report, or discuss the question as a group.
Related themes to explore (to make this into a cross-curriculum study)
Culminating events (which we have yet to attempt)
There is also an appendix listing many additional books and resources, and an appendix which gives the answers to the chapter questions.
As we generally do, because of the various special needs in my group, we did these things orally. I was surprised (and very pleased!) at how enthusiastically my boys got into answering the chapter questions and discussions, as well as the many times, especially once we got past the section of the book which deals with George Washington as a child, my boys frequently exclaimed about what they thought was about to come next, because they recognized what was happening. This was because of their obsession with a certain animated series set during the American Revolution, which we own in its entirety on DVD. 🙂
We have very much enjoyed reading HEROES OF HISTORY, George Washington: True Patriot, and I believe we would most likely enjoy many other of the books offered by YWAM. I also believe that the price for them is such that they are very affordable to use as read-alouds, and although I am not sure I would use the unit study curriculum other than orally at this point in my children’s lives, I also believe they are a good value for the price.
As always, I would just love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life”, by simply going to the “sign me up” button at the top of the page. Just enter in your email information and never miss another update! 🙂
Now and then, we who are members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew are given an opportunity to review something that is just for us homeschooling mamas. This is one of those times, and I feel so very fortunate to have been chosen as one of the reviewers for the KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible, which has just recently been published to go alongside their NIV version, by Zondervan.
It was so exciting to me, that there would now be a KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible, because, as regular readers of my blog are aware, the KJV is the only version of the Bible my family uses, or will ever use.
The Bible I received is a hard-cover, jacketed book, with 1504 pages. As you can see from the picture above, the cover is so nice looking, it almost looks like something I would do when making a scrapbook page or a card. The cool thing, for those of us who usually wind up being book jacket challenged, either losing the jacket or having it become worn and torn, is that if you DO remove the jacket, the actual cover of the book looks exactly the same as the jacket! No boring, plain cover on this one, that’s for sure! 🙂
There is a very encouraging one page foreword written by Vickie Farris, who is the wife of Homeschool Legal Defense Association founder Dr. Michael Farris. I was privileged to attend one of her sessions during the CAPE-NM convention here in Albuquerque during April of 2013. I thought her forward was well written, and spoke well to the things we, as homeschool moms, need to hear.
Along with the complete text of the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible, this book includes 365 daily devotions, which are short (one page) readings which are specifically targeted for homeschooling mamas, each written by Janet Tatman. Janet Tatman homeschooled her own children for over 25 years, and then joined Alpha Omega Publications as a copywriter in the company’s homeschool division. She spent much of her time there writing the Daily Focus, a daily email devotional sent to subscribers. It became so popular that it is now offered as a year-long devotional book, and has been included as part of the KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible.
The daily devotions are spread throughout this Bible, as opposed to being all grouped together as one large section. I like that, it encourages me to read the section of the Bible that is right by whatever devotion I am looking at, even if it has nothing to do with that particular devotion. Each devotion has a scripture passage to help in directing my focus to God’s Word, and ends with a short, suggested prayer to help get me started in talking with The Lord.
The devotionals also have a “go to” format, meaning that at the bottom of each devotion’s page is a line telling me on which page in my KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible I will need to turn to the next day when I want to read my devotional.
There is also another option that I very much like, and that is the Topical Index, which is at the end of the book. I really enjoy going through the topics, because whenever I do, I find one right away that speaks to SOMETHING I am dealing with in my life. So, not only do I have the complete text of the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible, but without needing to get out a second book, I also have my daily devotional, plus a topical index, telling me which devotionals go with which topics!
I feel very blessed to have been given the KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible to review, and would encourage other ladies who are now homeschooling or who are thinking of homeschooling, to take a look at this wonderful addition to our mom toolbox! Truly, the only thing I would suggest doing differently is to have it offered in large print for those of us with tired eyes, lol!
The KJV Homeschool Mom’s Bible is available in the hard-cover edition I received for $34.99, and is also available as an e-book or in the Italian Duo-tone format.
Please click on the graphic below, if you’d like to find out what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of the Homeschool Mom’s Bible!
As always, I would love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys”. Just go to the “sign me up” button at the top of the page, enter your email information, and never miss an update again! 🙂
Back a little over a week ago, on September 22, 2013, we attended our first annual “Round Up Sunday” at our church. We had just started attending last year, but that was after the Round Up Sunday for 2012. So, we were really looking forward to it, especially the kids, and we were not disappointed at all!
I went to Savers, a thrift store here in Albuquerque, and found western style shirts for the boys, cowboy hats, and holsters with play western guns to put onto their belts.
As you can see, they were completely into the whole thing!
I also found a western shirt (at Sam’s Club, of all places!) for my husband, and a hat at Savers. For me, I went with a western style shirt I had gotten when I modeled for Christopher & Banks the previous day, along with a jeans skirt and the leopard print cowboy hat the kids talked me into getting at Savers. It went well with my leopard print top and purse, they said! Now, I just need to find leopard print cowgirl boots for next year!:-)
Here’s a picture of the whole family . . .
Our guest speaker was Jorgen Rundquist. He was just so good, we very much enjoyed his singing, but even more importantly, his speaking. I really think it touched so many who were there.
“The Batman” got picked to go up and help when Bro. Runquist did some rope tricks.
Bro. Runquist did some wonderful singing for us as well . . .
After the morning service, we had a great meal of BBQ beef Brisket, and then some activities outside for the kids, including a petting zoo . . .
“The Batman”
“Mr. Loquacious”
“The Puzzler”
“The Artist”
And a set up to practice roping cows!
“The Batman”
“The Artist”
“Mr. Loquacious”
“The Puzzler”
During the evening service, the Sunshine Kids Choir sang. “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” are both in this choir.
Here is the special skit and song that they did!
As you can see, a good time was had by all, and more importantly, a BUNCH of people were reached for Christ!
As always, I would just love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys”! Please go to the “sign me up” button at the top right of the page and put in your email information . . . never miss an update again! 🙂
Often, when we receive review opportunities from the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we get things which really add some fun to the day. Fundanoodle, another product that I had never heard of, was just one instance of that sort of thing!
Both of these tablets are suggested for ages 5 – 6, or K – 1st grade. Because of their developmental delays, along with other special needs, these were the tablets I chose when asked which products I would like to review.
“Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” were adopted four years ago at the age of 8, and could not read or write much at all, something we’ve very slowly been working on, along with other things that had to be made priorities. Now, though, they have progressed to the point that they can sit and do this, so we wanted to give this product a try.
“Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” our twins, have been working with these two books during the review period. What I have chosen to do is have them work together on the same page, by alternating lines, as you can see below . . .
“Mr. Loquacious”
“The Puzzler”
The Fundanoodle Handwriting Program was actually developed by two pediatric occupational therapists, Michelle Yoder, OTR/L, CIMI, and Amy Bumgarner, MS, OTR/L. Between the two of them, they have over twenty years of experience, with therapy specialty areas such as:
– sensory processing disorders
– autism and
– therapeutic listening
– the interactive metronome method
– TAMO and
– the SOS feeding approach
BOTH “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” have sensory processing issues, and “The Puzzler” is on the autism spectrum, which definitely caused this product to be of interest to me, when I read that the specialty areas of the developers of these products included both of these disorders, something I didn’t realize until I fully explored the Fundanoodle website.
We really liked the special instructions at the top of each page in the I Can Write Lower Case Tablet, words like “Zip” (make a straight line), “Zoom” ( make a diagonal line), “Buzz” (make a curved line), “hop” (hop on the page), “Bump” (curve the line down), and “Dot” (make a dot). These illustrations words really helped “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” to “see” what they needed to do when they are making different letters.
The letters are taught in a logical progression, having been sequenced according to a child’s development of visual and motor skills, with letters grouped according to the way they are formed. For example, l, I, & t all have similar movements, and so they would be taught in order before moving on to letters such as o, c, & a. There are also extra practice pages in the back of the tablet, along with a page on the website where you may download extra practice pages by entering the numbers from the upc code on the back of the tablet.
In the tablet I Can Write My Own Stories, “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” are practicing handwriting and writing concepts, including creative writing, sentence completion, story sequencing and more.
Story sequencing is a big thing for them to work on, so I really like that aspect of this tablet. In the very first story, they were given four pictures that told the story, and had to place a number within a smaller square on each picture to show which order the pictures belonged. After that, they were to write out what Alphie was doing, in order, to tell the story.
On a different page, they had to write a number next to the pre-written sentences to show what order they belonged in, and then draw a picture of what the story was about.
One of the things my boys most enjoyed, of course, was that for each completed page, there is a corresponding “I did it!” sticker to place at the bottom of the page. Since “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” are doing these tablets together, they are taking turns applying the stickers as well. Here is “The Puzzler” attaching the “I did it!” sticker to a page from the I Can Write My Own Stories! tablet . . .
These are spiral bound tablets, and in my opinion, one of the really nice things is that they are top bound, making them both left and right-hand friendly. I have an older child who is left-handed, and this would have benefitted him greatly when he was at the stage of learning to form letters.
Another great thing about Fundanoodle is that it takes very little time to do a page, so (at least in the case of MY boys), this product is beneficial when your kids have a very short attention span. Anything that takes “too long” becomes a battle around here.
I think “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” are both enjoying I Can Write Lower Case! and I Can Write My Own Stories!, which makes them worth the price to me. I’m fairly sure that we will continue using these tablets as a fun addition to our educational time, probably twice a week, unless they ask for it more often.
To read what the other Schoolhouse Review Crew members thought of the various products from Fundanoodle, please click the graphic below!
As always, I would LOVE it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life! Just go to the “sign me up” button at the top of the page and follow directions. Never miss an update again! 🙂
My Journeys Through Life . . . Herding Cats In New Mexico! 