Music, music, music! This week, beginning yesterday morning, our church is having a Biblical Music Conference. We will be having special meetings tonight, tomorrow night, and Wednesday night, all at 7:00 p.m., and will have supper served beforehand, at 6:00 p.m. Our speaker is Pastor Steve Foster, who has come with his wife and some of his children (some are away at college), and is teaching us so much biblical truth about music, and what the Bible says about music, how it is to be used in the House of God, what kind of music is really wrong, Biblically, and why. We are learning so much!
The church is providing the meals tonight and tomorrow, with Wednesday being potluck. Today, I am making home-made chocolate/cherry cake for the supper. Tomorrow, I will make my “Totally Bad For You” cake with frosting, plus I am singing the special tomorrow evening. And I have a casserole to make for the potluck on Wednesday, one that I sort of made up last week out of stuff we had on hand, and everyone really enjoyed, plus a pineapple upside down cake.
I wish you all could be here, so I could invite you to come to the meetings, because it is amazing, the things most of us really do not know about music, and how the Bible applies to what we choose to do with it! The messages are being put on the church’s website, with all the sermons, in fact the first three of them are already there! So, if you are at all interested, please do go there and listen, and learn! 🙂
Love . . . first, the biggest and best love, the love that God had for me, that He would send His only begotten Son, to sacrifice Himself to cover my sin. It just amazes me, that God would do that. For me. It’s so hard for me to understand how there can still be any people who would reject that love, that gift . . .
Love . . . that I feel for my husband of nearly 23 years. It hasn’t always been perfect, but I love my husband, and I’m so glad he’s still here, that he survived his surgeries, and is still here with me and our children.
Love . . . that I feel for each one of my children . . . I did not conceive or give birth to any of the four of them, but I could not love them any more if I had done so.
My life would be empty without these loves in it . . . I’m so very glad they ARE in it!
My family was recently given the opportunity to review Exact Change, a card game that
uses cards of various colors and values to teach your kids how to count money. The
cards come in four colors and all the basic denominations up to one dollar. In addition,
there are “Loose Change” cards, Wild cards and others I’ll detail a little later in this
article.
Game play is fairly simple. Each player gets seven cards, with the remaining cards
placed face down in a draw pile and one card placed next to it face up to start the discard pile. The player then draws a card and has several possible options. They can: 1) discard a card of the same value
2) discard a card of the same color
3) discard multiple cards that add up to the value of the card played
If the player has nothing they can play on the top card in the Discard pile, they must continue to draw cards until they get a play. The first player who gets rid of all the cards in their hand wins that round.
For example, my son discards a blue $1.00 card. I look in my hand and see a blue card and a yellow $1.00 card. But I also see 3 quarters, 2 dimes and a nickel. Guess who just got rid of six cards on one play!
That quickly taught the kids a basic strategy of the game, which is to discard your lowest-value card for the next player to deal with. This discovery, coupled with the fact that three of our 4 boys were beginners to the concept of counting change, made the first round a little long . . . be prepared for this.
The instructions also recommend starting with the basic denominations before adding the extra cards. These include:
• Wild Card: can be used for any color or value, but the player must state the color and value they are claiming for it
• Loose Change: these are cards of various amounts which require the player to add up multiple cards to play ($1.06, for example)
• Bank Withdrawal: you can choose another player to randomly draw a card from your hand and add it to theirs
• Collect Tax: everyone EXCEPT the player who play this card must draw a card from the draw pile and add it to their hand
Scoring is somewhat random. The player who has discarded all of their cards gets to choose one other player who still has cards and add up all the currency value of their hand. This is the amount they get to add to their total. The first player to get to $2.00 wins!
As mentioned earlier, play can take a while if you’re working with beginners. On the plus side, our boys caught on quickly, and we were able to start incorporating the other cards. We started with the Wild cards, then the Loose Change cards. Then, finally, we added the Bank Withdrawal and Collect Tax cards. We found this was the best process for introducing this game to our kids.
We found that once we mastered the learning curve in Exact Change, our boys couldn’t get enough of it! My husband calls it a “stealth” game, where they’re having fun while learning something under the radar. Exact Change has become a welcome addition to our game night rotation, and in my opinion, is a bargain, retailing on http://www.continuumgames.com for only $9.99. Further, I discovered a number of other games on the website that interest me for our family, along with finding a store locator which showed me three different stores in my city that carry games from this company. Since I am trying to focus more on educational play for my family, this company was definitely a good find for me!
When I was given the opportunity to review the e-science program from Supercharged Science, I was both excited, and nervous. I have NEVER really been much of a “science geek”, and so I’ve always wondered if I was short-changing my kids in some way, or even creating a science phobia in them.
With e science, Aurora Lipper has created a fun, exciting way to get kids (and their science phobic moms!) right in there actually DOING science! 🙂 When I told my kids about Aurora, especially when I told them she was a “real” rocket scientist, they all exclaimed “Just like Mrs. J.”! (Mrs. J. just so happens to be my very best friend, and did, in fact, work as a rocket scientist. :-)) But, I digress . . .
Back to Aurora, who has worked at NASA, taught mechanical engineering at Cal Poly, flew airplanes, launched rockets, and help design engines for a very special F-15.
While teaching at the university, Aurora came to realize how bored the students appeared to be, and decided to look at how science was being taught to kids. At that point, she thought that if she were being taught that way, she would be bored, too, and eventually, Supercharged Science was the company she created, in order to get e-science out there and make science FUN!
The first thing I did, when I received my log in information, was to go on the site and just start exploring. This would be when I REALLY began to get nervous! There is SO much content, it was really hard to decide where to begin. Of course, I wanted to begin with something basic, so since my kids and I have never really done much formal science, we began with learning the scientific method.
First, we watched the video in which Aurora walked us through all the steps of the scientific method by just doing it so we could really see it in action.
After that, my kids really, really wanted to do an experiment, so we decided we were now confident enough to move on to the “scientific method experiment” section of the web site. Here, we found a very cool experiment called “Underwater Presidents“. The idea is to use the scientific method in this (and every experiment), to do the following:
1. Observe: look at the penny. How big is it? is it clean, dirty, in between? is it heads or tails? Basically, we wrote down in our notebook the size of the penny (yes, we actually measured the diameter, LOL), we wrote that it was relatively clean, and that we were using it heads up.
2. Make our hypothesis: here, we each made a guess as to how many drops of water we could put on the penny, before it would overflow. Our guesses were, “The Batman” – 20, “The Artist” – 35, “Mr. Loquacious” – 24, “The Puzzler” – 15, and Mom – 10.
3. Conduct our test (experiment): we each had a turn with the medicine dropper, to see how many drops we could put on the penny before it would overflow.
4. Collect our data: we kept careful count, drop by drop, on each person’s turn, writing them down beside each person’s name. Then, we added all the totals together, and divided that number by five (because that’s how many tests we did) to arrive at our average amount of drops on the penny before it overflowed.
5. Report the results: Here is where we wrote in our notebook what happened. In test 1, I had my turn, and got 18 drops on the penny before it overflowed. In test 2, “The Artist” beat me out by getting 33 drops to stay on the penny. “The Batman” did test 3, and he managed to get 29 drops to stay put. “Mr. Loquacious” got 18 drops in test 4, and “The Puzzler” got 25 drops in test 5. We added them together, for a total of 123 drops, and then divided that by five, the number of tests we conducted. Our average came out to 24.6 drops which stayed on the penny before the next drop would overflow.
“The Batman” is putting drops of water onto his penny . . .
And finally, “The Artist” is seeing how many HE can get on there!
OK, so now, we were getting a little more confident, and my kids were wanting to get moving on to “more real experiments, Mom”! So, it was time to decide what unit we were going to work in.
After looking over the abundance of topics provided, we chose to go with Unit 3, which is “Matter”. I’m going to be quite honest here, and admit to you that the primary reason I chose this unit for us to begin with is that we already had about half of the required materials in our house, and the remaining supplies were extremely easy to find with one quick stop at Wal-Mart. In fact, if I had more time the day I went out, I probably could have gotten many of the supplies at the dollar store. The other reason for my choice was simply this, it all looked so interesting, and when I was reading to them what kinds of things we would be doing, my kids thought it was a cool unit to go with, as well.
In unit 3, “Matter“, we first watched a seven and a half-minute long video in which Aurora gave us information about the different forms of matter. After that, we were ready to jump in and DO STUFF!
Here are just SOME of the cool experiments that we did in this unit (we will be completing as many of the remainder as we can get the supplies for, as we find time to fit them in around other studies):
We also made plasma gas. I was not able to get a good video of OUR experiment, so here is one of Aurora doing it . . .
As you can see, we found so much to keep us interested in science! We will continue using e-science on the Supercharged Science web site for the next year, and I can see already that just doing this we will learn so much!
As a reviewer, I was given access to everything all at once, specifically so that we could choose which portion we would use during the review period. When you subscribe to e science, you will receive immediate access to the first seven units, along with units such as “The Scientific Method“. Each month after that, you’ll get one or two more units, but if there is a unit you want that hasn’t yet been opened to you, all you need to do is send an email requesting it, because Aurora wants you to be able to follow your interests, or to be able to use a unit which goes along with what you are currently studying.
This program is great for homeschooling families, particularly if you have multiple children.
If you want to use e-science along side another home school curriculum, there is a conversion chart on the website to show you what to use, when.
If you go here, and scroll down, you will see another chart giving you a comparison of e-science to 13 home school curriculum providers that charge more, and still don’t include everything the e-science program gives you.
One thing that is important to me is whether or not a science curriculum covers evolution. As a Christian, I prefer that it not. From the website . . .
“The e-science program does not cover creation or evolution so all families may participate with our program. We focus on how to build the robot, take data and measurements, work a microscope, launch the rocket, why a laser works…basically sticking to the physics of what’s going on and how to build the projects. Of course, you can always add to it in any way you see fit. Our curriculum is fully compatible with any religious perspective and has been used by thousands of Christian, secular, and others”.
The only down-side I can see is the price. I think it’s a wonderful program, and I hope my family can continue to use it after our review membership is over, but I think many homeschooling families will be priced out of using e-science. Most homeschooling families are one income families, and on pretty tight budgets. It would be nice if a substantial discount were offered for paying a whole year at once.
We reviewed the K – 8 section of e-science. The e-Science K-8 Membership (Standard) is available for $37.00 per month. If you would prefer to go with the e-Science 9-12 & Advanced 5-8 grade plus K-8 Membership (Premium), you can get that for $57.00 per month. You can try it for one month, with a full money-back guarantee.
There is a free sample offered for you on the Supercharged Science website.
Overall, I think this is an awesome program, and Aurora Lipper does a fantastic job of getting kids AND parents involved and excited about what they are doing.
Some crew members reviewed grades K – 8 of Supercharged Science, while others reviewed grades 9 – 12. Sail on over to see what they all thought of his program!
This is day 2 of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge,
and I’m touching on several “B” words. First, an update on yesterday’s word “agony”, because of my “Back” injury. It’s no better at all, in fact my husband took me to a work in appointment at our doctor, who gave me a prescription for a very strong pain medication. I took the first one 15 minutes ago, and it’s definitely working, so . . . YAY! Along with that, the doctor told me to go ahead and take my prescription muscle relaxer. My back is now feeling MUCH better, at least until the meds wear off, but the hope is that it will allow me to relax enough to actually sleep tonight, and that it will help my back recover from whatever happened when I was cleaning off the ottoman yesterday. Unfortunately, because of this, I was unable to attend Ladies Bible Study at church tonight :-(, but it is absolutely my intention to go to church tomorrow night. After all, I won’t have to drive, Mike can do that! 🙂 Which brings me to my next “B” word . . .
. . . “Bible”. As a matter of faith and practice, our family, and our church, uses only the KJV Bible. We believe it to be God’s preserved word for English speaking people. My Bible . . .
. . . which of course, anyone who knows me well would immediately know it was mine even if it didn’t have my name on the cover, given that it is purple, is extremely important to me. My Bible reminds me that no matter what happens in my life, the Lord is still in charge, and even if for some reason I get to feeling that He doesn’t care, well, He really does, and everything, even things I may think are bad at the time, will work to God’s glory at some point. My Bible can answer any spiritual questions I really need answered. The words contained within are at times a comfort, at times an encouragement, at times they are instruction, and always there to show me God’s love. My Bible is the manual for the human race, and it is God’s love letter to us.
“Boys” . . . of which my husband and I have four, four boys who we love beyond reason, and would willingly give our lives for, if necessary.
This was taken right before we left Michigan, on our big move across the country to New Mexico. The boys (“The Batman”, “Mr. Loquacious”, “The Artist”, and “The Puzzler”) are playing in Torch Lake, which is between Kalkaska and Traverse City, Michigan, a lake I grew up going to, and where we wanted to go one last time before moving away. Our boys are very much the joy of our lives, second only to God. We home-school, so I get to spend LOTS of time with them. I have known lots of moms who say they couldn’t stand to spend so much time with their kids. Sometimes I feel sorry for those moms . . .
Having moved to Albuquerque, NM, we see a LOT of my next “B” word, “balloons”, as in hot air balloons!
This picture was taken from right outside out front door, after my youngest came running to get me after going out to bring in the newspaper one morning. Aren’t they beautiful? We often see several hot air balloons when we have errands to run in the morning, as early morning is when they generally take off. Our city is home to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, which we were fortunate enough to get to attend for the first time last October. It is awesome, seeing so many hot air balloons all at once! Until we moved here, I had never seen one in real life, only in pictures, movies and TV shows.
Another “B” word, “Bed”. Doesn’t go with the other words, but I’m proud to say that for the most part, I’ve gotten into the good habit of making ours look pretty every day . . .
Our bedroom furniture was a gift from my mother before she passed away, and we purchased it at Emory’s Furniture in Port Huron, MI, in their used furniture department. Isn’t it pretty? I just love it! As you can see once again, proof that my favorite color is purple, LOL!
One final “B” word for the day, “Baptism”.
Here is “The Puzzler” being baptized in our church back in Michigan, shortly before we moved to New Mexico. He asked the Lord for salvation on the final day of VBS, and was baptized the Sunday right after that. I’m so grateful that he finally understood what salvation was, and that now I can know for sure that all four of our kids will be with us in Heaven when the time comes. 🙂
So, there you have it, just some of the words which begin with the letter “B”, that have importance in my life for one reason or another.
Today, we did laundry. Yes, laundry can be part of a homeschooling day . . . I do want my kids to learn how to be part of maintaining our home and family. We also worked on some upcoming review products, a lapbook about the Earth (you all know how much the boys enjoy doing lapbooks!), “The Artist” worked on 3 lessons in his A+ TutorSoft math (and the other 4 grade levels we ordered with their 50% off discount which expires at the end of this month arrived today in the mail, yay). All four of the kids did a read aloud of part of an ebook we’re reviewing about Sacagawea, and in between, they watched a few educational programs. Right now, they are watching the last half hour of Disney’s Earth on DVD before they all go to bed.
Because we’ve had a stomach virus going through the house (“The Batman” got it first, and got hit the hardest Monday night a week ago), and “The Artist” is still suffering some of the effects slightly, we will be waiting until next Thursday to attempt resuming our weekly home school park day. I HOPE everyone is all better by then, the kids miss going, and I miss it, too, because I get to spend the time visiting with other moms!
So, tomorrow, we’ll finish the laundry I didn’t get to today, and work some more in our educational projects, and then some errands with my husband.
We were (sadly!) hindered by the massive snowstorm that hit a large part of the country during February, because we were waiting for our keyboard to arrive so that we could begin using this material. Of course, this delay was in no way the fault of Adventus, in fact, shipping was affected all over the country, from what I understand. Even though we live in the desert (New Mexico), I-40 was closed from part way into our city all the way into Texas for several days! Because we did not have a midi capable keyboard already, we needed to wait until ours arrived before we could begin our Children’s Music Journey!
As I am admittedly NOT technologically savvy, my husband’s help was needed when it came to installing the software and getting us going, however, when even HE had to call for tech support at Advantus, I didn’t feel quite as technologically dumb as I usually do! The person my husband spoke with on the phone was very patient, and took plenty of time to help him get the program up and running. We did need to attach a small external speaker to the keyboard, because for some reason the sound was not coming through at all. Fortunately, my husband had a little ipod speaker he had won during a give away at his job, because we’ve used it in this, and at least one other review, as well! 🙂
Before I get into what my boys have been doing with this program, let me tell you what you get with your subscription to Adventus MusIQ Homeschool:
â—¾unlimited, full-feature access to all the MusIQ HomeSchool software titles (over $450 retail value)
â—¾a discount on MIDI piano keyboards
This means that for the low subscription cost of $10.95 per month, you would receive access to ALL levels of the Advantus MusIQ Homeschool curricula, which is a phenomenal value, especially if you have multiple family members wanting to learn, even though they may be at different levels. This is a seven-year program, and you can have multiple student log ins, allowing for even large families to benefit from computer based piano lessons without paying separate lesson fees for each of them.
â—¾Early Curriculum: Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 or Macintosh OSX and an internet connection.
â—¾Multi-level Curriculum: Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 and an internet connection.
You will also need a MIDI Keyboard. If you do not already have one, Advantus carries a very nice one here, and your subscription includes a discount on the purchase of the keyboard.
The subscription is really budget friendly, because it is, as I said, a monthly cost of $10.95, and can be used by multiple students, at several different levels. However, there are other options for purchasing the software outright, listed on the Adventus website, including packages which would include a keyboard along with the purchase.
Now, to what has been going on in our house, in just the short time we have had Adventus MusIQ Homeschool! I especially wanted to focus primarily on having my twins use this program, as they have had no piano training whatsoever, and I wanted to see just how well it would really work for them. They do have some developmental disabilities, so even though they are almost 12 years old, I put them into Children’s Musical Journey 1, which is actually recommended for ages 4 – 10.
Here is “The Puzzler”, watching a lesson given by Mr. Beethoven, in animated form.
Your children will enjoy the lessons, as they are very short (which works well with my boys), and taught in an engaging way by many famous composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Joplin, Mendelssohn & Villa-Lobos. My boys finished the first five lessons, and are excited that when they go on for more today, they move on to a new teacher!
“Mr. Loquacious” is having HIS lesson
In fact, even my oldest son, “The Batman”, decided to give this a whirl . . .
As you can see, even his Batman action figure (seated in front of the keyboard) is being introduced to Mr. Beethoven! 🙂
The Children’s Music Journey is set up to be fun for the kids. After their short lesson with a famous composer, they can go into different areas, such as the practice room with “Miss Melody”.
After viewing the lesson, here is “The Puzzler” at another time, in the practice room.
They can go into the game room, where various games will be unlocked, depending upon which levels the child has completed. My children, of course, LOVE the game room!
“The Batman”, in the game room, with his own Batman action figure in his hand to help him play!
Although “The Artist” said he was not interested in participating in this particular review, as you can see here . . .
. . . even he came in to watch and see what was giving the others so much enjoyment!
Included in the downloadable lesson plans are coloring pages and worksheets, to reinforce what the children are learning during each lesson.
Here, “The Batman” and “Mr. Loquacious” are doing some of the pages.
In addition to the lesson room, the practice room, and the game room, there is also the improvisational room, where children may compose their own pieces using a variety of instruments and background music, and the library, where the student may review previous lessons, listen to music composed by the teacher they have already been working with, listen to music they themselves recorded in the improvisation room, or learn more about musical history.
In the edition of Children’s Music Journey 1 that we have, they have apparently changed Miss Melody’s appearance, because she looks more old-fashioned, with different hair and a long dress, which we like, it seems to fit better with the era of the composer we are currently on. Of course, I don’t know, her appearance may be different in different levels, depending upon what time period the composer/teacher is. I guess we’ll have to wait to find out! 🙂
Adventus has also provided additional materials for parents and teachers in the MusIQ Library, which include the following:
How to Insert Links Into Blogs: Have your students download their homework! How to insert links into your class blog
Certificates: Instructions for printing and distributing Certificates (all levels)
Blank Keyboards & Staffs: A collection of blank staffs and keyboard templates of various
GAME: Grand Staff Ladder: Fun for students of many ages and abilities!
MY children are really enjoying this program, especially my twins, “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler”. As I sit here writing this review, “The Puzzler has been in here no less than five times asking if I will go set the keyboard and laptop, up so he can do his next lesson “NOW, please?”, LOL! Now, THAT’S the sort of response I love to get when it comes to educational products, because it means they are learning with fun, not with drudgery. As my husband likes to call it, it’s “stealth” education!
Today, my husband Mike posted the following on his Facebook status:
“One year ago today, my life (and the lives of my family) drastically changed. It’s the day we found out the office in which I worked would be closing.
We had good options and more than 90 days notice. We could take a severance package based on seniority, interview for a different position within the company, or “move your desk” and keep the same job in a different location.
The first thing I did after the “all hands” meeting where we received the announcement was to call my wife…I did NOT want her to find out first by watching the TV news.
Once I got home, I got on the computer and researched the web site we were given to investigate our options. Lori got on her computer and looked for home school friendly states. We compared notes, prayed, researched and prayed some more…and we decided on Albuquerque.
That was a year ago. We’ve had trials and challenges, victories and defeats. We miss our old friends and old church…but we’re making new friends and love our new church! The center I work in now has a much better morale and is more relaxed then my old one. At this point, I’d have to call this whole adventure a blessing!”
He’s right, too! For me, it’s been a scary journey, but one well worth all the researching, planning, packing, having the moving sale, etc . . . it was scary when Mike left for Albuquerque at the end of June, knowing the kids and I wouldn’t be leaving for another month. It was really hard to be on my own for that month, without him to help me get us ready and moved. It was scary knowing I had to trust him to choose a place for us to live, too! (but he did pretty well!) 🙂 And it was REALLY scary when the kids and I set out on our cross-country drive, knowing we were about to begin a brand new life, 1700 miles away, at the end of the longest distance I have ever driven without help! But you know, we did it! I had awesome friends back home in Pt. Huron, MI, who helped me get a moving sale set up (thank you, Phyllis Blount and Kim Milton!), and my awesome friend Phyllis who came and stayed with me from early morning all day each day of the moving sale, who kept my kids for me when I needed to do things without them, who took them each day to VBS at our wonderful church back home (this was the first year I couldn’t do it).
There were wonderful ladies at our church (Sparlingville Baptist Church who brought meals for my children and me during the last four days we were there.
There was a very sweet lady at church who asked if I would sing “one more special” before we left, so I sang the special during our final service, Sunday night, July 30, 2012. At the end of the service, I was just floored when Pastor Milton called the boys and me up to the platform and gave us this beautiful plaque:
Which is proudly displayed in our new home . . .
Yes, it has been a whole new journey for me, for us. It is hard to be so far away from everything and everyone we’ve known and loved. But, we are living someplace where I’ve been wearing sandals all winter! God has placed us in exactly the right church for us (Mesa Baptist Church). We are making friends, and we have an awesome church family here, too! Just as when I had surgery back in Michigan, and our church family helped so much, with meals and such, when Mike had his back surgery this past December, our new church family rallied ’round, and we had meals, and someone to stay with our kids for the day (thank you, Charles & Charlie Wright!). Then, when less than six weeks later, he wound up back in the hospital for surgery on his back AGAIN, with less than 24 hours notice our church family was here for us again. We had two ladies here the next day with practically no notice (thank you, Ann Wright & Rose Yates!), to stay with our kids so I could be at the hospital with Mike. They took them to church that night (it was a Wednesday) and I met them there for service and took the boys home. And, again, ladies from church provided meals for us. As did three different people from our Thursday Home school Park Day group.
We enjoy Albuquerque, New Mexico, more than I thought we would. I’m even getting used to the big-ness of it, in comparison to Port Huron, Michigan. I’m getting used to the traffic, and getting used to spending much more time in the car, as everything is further apart than it was in the Port Huron area (hey, Pt. Huron is about seven square miles in area, and Albuquerque is 187 square mile in area! It’s quite a change to get used to, lol!)
Tonight, we went somewhere for supper that we’ve never been before, Chik-Fil-A, where for the first time in over two years, I was in a restaurant where they had something other than water for me to drink! I don’t do carbonated anything anymore, and no sugar drinks. This place has an awesome fresh squeezed diet lemonade. GOOD, GOOD, GOOD!
Since moving here, I even have worked up the courage to do something I’ve wanted to do for some time, I applied for, and was accepted as a member of The Old Schoolhouse MagazineSchoolhouse Review Crew. I’ve wanted to get back into writing, and it is helping me to be more disciplined about getting on here more regularly and writing these posts! I have hopes of writing professionally one day . . .
I have made some good friends at our new church, and have been able to be a help via email to the mom of one of them, who back in October had weight loss surgery herself.
I hope my family is as much of a blessing to our new church family as they have been, and continue to be, to us.
I hope we live here in the Albuquerque area for a long, long time . . . I’ve grown to love it here, it feels like home now, and our church feels like home, too. 🙂
My children and I have recently had the opportunity to play and learn with a product from Lone Star Learning. We actually are reviewing TWO of their products, because there was a little mix up in shipping, and the company allowed us to keep the set they originally shipped to us, AND the correct set, which they shipped out as soon as they realized the problem. 🙂
The set I was assigned to review was Target Vocabulary Pictures, MATH Set 1. I received the small cards, which measure 5.5″ x 4.25″, and cost $29.99. They also come in a larger size, which I think would be great in a classroom setting, measuring 11″ x 8.5″, and are available for $34.99. There are 50 – 56 cards in each set of Target Vocabulary Pictures, and they are intended for grades 3 – 8. Set 1, which is what I received, contains the following word list:
acute angle
area
circumference
complementary angles
cone
congruent
cube
cylinder
decimal
decreasing
diagonal
diameter
dividend
divisor
edge
equilateral triangle
even
exponent
exterior
face
greater than
hexagon
horizontal
increasing
interior
intersecting lines
isosceles triangle
less than
line segment
mean
median
mode
numerator/denominator
obtuse angle
octagon
odd
ordered pair
parallel
pattern
pentagon
perimeter
perpendicular
polygon
radius
range
ray
reflection
right angle
rotation
similar
sphere
supplementary angles
symmetry
translation
vertical
X axis
Y axis
These cards are very colorful! each one has the vocabulary word incorporated into a clever picture, designed to help the student remember the meaning of the word.
At first, I wasn’t sure how, exactly, we would best make use of these cards, but I realized pretty quickly that they work for several grade levels or age/ability ranges at the same time. The first thing I did with them was give them to “The Artist” . . .
. . . who spent part of each day looking at them and copying down the definitions to keep in a notebook.
To be honest, the first time I really looked at the cards, I thought they might be too advanced for my children, but “The Artist” already knew several of them, and was able to memorize many of the ones he had not yet learned. He is still working on about half of them, but that’s OK, as I pointed out before, these really do work for multiple ages.
The set I was originally sent by mistake is the Target Vocabulary Pictures, SCIENCE Set 1, which has 40 cards and measure 5.5″ x 8.5″. They are available for $29.99 as well, and contain the following word/pictures:
In addition to having “The Artist” write out the definitions of the Target Vocabulary Pictures, MATH set 1, I wanted to include my other three children in using them, so we made up a game. After gathering all the boys together in one room, I had “The Artist” show and read each card, one at a time, to “The Batman”, “Mr. Loquacious”, and “The Puzzler”. THIS was when they began really having a good time!
Whenever one of the other boys could give a reasonably accurate definition of the card, he got the card to put in his pile. If nobody could get it, then “The Artist” kept it in HIS pile.
All four of the boys ended up having a really great time (as you can see in the picture below), and discovered that one, they already knew a lot more than they had realized, and two, that they were learning even more, just by playing a little game with the card sets.
What I like: The cards I received are the perfect size for a home school setting. They are very bright and colorful, which my children liked as well. The words are incorporated into very clever pictures, making it easier for the children to often figure out the meaning, even if they don’t already know it. The cards are sturdy, and I think they will last a long time.
What I wish was different about them: I wish they came in a case for storage. We have ours on the bookshelf, each set has a rubber band around it. I also wish that the paper with all of the definitions on it was made like the cards, instead of being just a piece of paper. I plan to take both definition sheets to an office supply store and get them laminated so that they will last as long as the picture cards.
Bottom line? At first I thought these cards were too pricey, but now, realizing that they can be used with multiple ages, grades and ability levels, I think they are at a good price. I was able to use them with all four of my children, who range from age 11 – 20, and have various special needs which include developmental delays, among other things. Because this product is a supplement, as opposed to a curriculum, there are so very many ways that one could come up with to use them in a child’s education. You could make up games with them, as I did, or have a child write the definitions into a notebook. You could hang them on a wall, you could choose out the specific cards that go with whatever topic the child is currently studying, and add them as reinforcement. I think that if you are able to fit them into your educational budget, they are worth the cost.
Lone Star Learning has the math vocabulary picture cards available in primary, set 1, set 2 & set 3, and the science vocabulary word picture cards available in early grades, K – 2, along with sets 1 – 4.
Crew members reviewed these and other products from Lone Star Learning . . . please go and check out what they had to say!
So my stepson “The Artist” will be turning 16 this coming Monday. Because his dad will be returning to work that day after about two and a half months off recovering from TWO seperate back surgeries that were done within five weeks of each other, and will very likely be exhausted when he gets home that day, we chose to celebrate this evening.
“The Artist” asked to go a restaurant where he could have tacos, and my husband and I wanted a sit down, order and have the food brought to your table restaurant, so we settled on Chili’s, since none of us have ever been to one before moving here to Albuquerque.
We had a pretty good time, and the food was excellent! “The Artist” got his tacos, the younger boys got pizza from the childrens menu, “The Batman” (the artist’s older brother) and their dad both ordered these HUGE bacon cheeseburgers with huge fries, and I got chili pepper queso steak, which was awesome, though as usual, I finished about half and had the rest boxed up. And then, of course, I left the box sitting on the table when we left, lol!
At the end of the meal, they brought “The Artist” a hot fudge brownie sundae and sang a birthday song, totally embarrassing him, which was, of course, the whole idea. He was very full from dinner, so pretty much all of us had a few bites of the one dessert, which was more than enough for all.
“The Artist” said he really liked it, and I’m very glad we were able to manage it for him. He really missed being able to have a birthday party with our best friends back in Michigan, so it was good to be able to give him something special. 🙂
Now we’re back home, and all the boys are getting into their pj’s, and having their settle down for family TV time before they go to bed. Their dad and I have just tonight and tomorrow night to stay up late watching the shows WE like, and regularly DVR, because we have church on Sunday and he goes back to work Monday, so no more being up very late!
My Journeys Through Life . . . Herding Cats In New Mexico! 