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Showing posts from October, 2012

October 30 ~ Read Aloud Challenge

Debra over at Footprints in the Butter has started back with her Read Aloud Challenge Link Up.  When the girls were younger we read aloud daily.  We have fond memories of reading aloud as a family.   Now that the girls are older I find it so much more difficult to carve out time to read aloud.   I keep telling myself that I need to make reading aloud a priority for Supergirl but unfortunately, I tend to push that aside as well getting caught up in striving to teach her to read, write, and do math. It’s not that we’re not a book loving family.  The 5 independent readers can all be found with a book at some point during the day and the not-yet-reading-independently-but-still-loves-books girl is frequently reminded to “put down that book.” We’ve done some reading aloud a few weeks ago.  We were reading Only the Names Remain, Sing Down The Moon, and Song of Hiawatha as part of our Native America studies. About 3 weeks ago Tailorbear started Sonlight’s Core 7 (oops it was Core 7 whe

H is for Holidays

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Yes, I know I am really behind on my blogging through the alphabet.  I started a post but didn’t finish it E is for Evergreen and F is for fall.  It won’t be linked up but I do intend to polish it and get it posted.  I don’t even have a topic for G but I’m sure I’ll think of something and again, It won’t be linked up but I am really striving to do a post or a combination post for every letter of the alphabet this time! This is the last day for linking up the letter H.  I was thinking of doing H is for health but I didn’t want to write a whining post about my health problems and I didn’t want to do the whole don’t take health for granted so I dumped that idea.  I moved on to H is for Hope.   I thought ‘oh I’ll do a post about how Christ is my hope!  I’ll find some bible verses and I’ll post on Sunday.’  It’s a good idea but I still have the doxology going through my mind and it’s lingering on the line “Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in Thee .”    But las

Crew Review: Samson’s Classroom

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Learning how to read and how to spell can be hard work, but just because it is hard work doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.  Samson’s Classroom targets students in grades K-5th using a fun game style format to teach reading skills.  Technically comprised of 3 separate programs students learn sight words, spelling words, and practice reading comprehension. Sight Words with Samson teaches the 224 most commonly used words in the English Language.  These commonly used words are divided into 4 levels with 7 lists each for a total of 28 lists.  Samson motivates students using a “black belt system.”   For each list of words that a student masters, she earns a star.  When she has earned 4 stars she gains another belt color level.  When she has mastered all 28 lists she’ll have earned the black belt of sight words. Each step is a different “game”.  The first step introduces the list.  The word is said, spelled and used in a sentence.  The second and fourth steps are similar and remind me

To Judge or Not To Judge that is the question!

My heart has been heavy over judgments that Christians (yes even myself) make.  Lately my thoughts have been consumed  with “judge or judge not.” When Christians say “don’t judge” are they being tolerant of sin?  What does it mean when people like me say “do not judge.”   I can’t speak for any other person but I do know that the meaning of the word judge depends on context.  Let’s first look at Luke Chapter 6 verses 35-38: “But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and it will given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Here’s

Crew Review: WealthQuest for Teens

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In today’s economy with so many families struggling with money, it is imperative that we teach our children sound money management skills now.  WealthQuest for Teens is a webinar based program that provides parents and teachers with a tool for teaching habits and attitudes about money to teens and helping those teens to develop a money management strategy they can begin to use now.   The WeatlthQuest for Teens program, currently available for $39.95 was developed by Jill Suskind .  The program targets teens ages 14-19 and utilizes an online video seminar.  The Video Seminar includes an online workbook.  The program also includes a Quick Start Guide for Teens EBook and a Free Parent’s Guide.  The program recommends MoneyTrail, a free online program for helping teens track their allowances and items like gift cards and checks received. I worked through this program with my 15 and 17 year old daughters.  We took about 1 1/2 weeks to go through the 7 modules of the online video seminar.

Crew Review: KinderBach at Home

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Supergirl just came up to me and said “ KinderBach is my most favorite thing ever!”  This is not the first time we’ve used KinderBach Piano at Home music lessons online.   I was first introduced to KinderBach in early 2011 during my first year with the Crew.  What is KinderBach? It is a fun, engaging and interactive way to teach music lessons to young children. Karri, the developer and teacher , is enthusiastic and encouraging as she teaches a variety of foundational music skills.  Piano Lessons with KinderBach uses “ playful characters to teach note reading, rhythm, singing, and composition” to children ages 3-7. Lessons are taught using videos.  We received the online version but there is also an app version as well as a DVD format .  When we first used the program, these online video lessons would not work on devices such as smart phones or tablets.  Now the videos will stream for tables, smart phones, and iPads.  In addition to the ability to stream to more devices, the i

Thankful Thursday 10-11-12

I’ve been feeling sorry for myself quite frequently lately.  Lots of things going on; some are big and some are little. Then a friend posted today’s date on his FB status as a “date funny” or something like that.  It made me smile.  I like things like having the date be three consecutive numbers. And then another friend posted a Thankful Thursday FB status update.  Hmm Thursday.. Thankful.. and it’s 10-11-12. So I’ll just make a list of things I am thankful for and maybe that will tame the inner toddler tantrums.  (That inner toddler really threw some nasty tantrums yesterday and she reared her ugly head again this afternoon.  She really hates being told no!) So what am I thankful for: Allergy Medication.   I do have some symptoms today but I am so thankful that I am not having the issues I was having in mid-to-late July.  I only wish I had known sooner that it was allergies and not a never ending cold! Tea.  Though I am out of Earl Gray, I do have some British Blend.  I find a

Backyard Wildlife: Birds

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Over the summer I started blogging about the wildlife that we’ve seen in our backyard.  I’ve been planning this post about birds forever (ok it just feels that way!) but haven’t taken the time to finish it. October is here.  It’s been a beautiful month so far.  An unusual month for us actually.  Lots of sunshine and little to no rain.  October heralds the wet winter season but my grass isn’t green.  It’s brown.  It looks like a strange type of science fiction alternate universe August outside.  Brown, dried out grass with leaves that are just beginning to change colors.  We have green grass most of the year.  We tend to need to mow the lawn from March through November. (Though really unless you water your lawn regularly the only thing that needs mowing in August are the weeds.) The sunshine this afternoon reminds me of the spring and that brings me back to wildlife in the backyard.  We had a bird family move into my beautiful plant.  They built a nest and laid an egg or two or three.

Crew Review: Box of I.D.E.As. SALT

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In the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that when I first visited the website for Box of I.D.E.As.   I did not immediately jump and down with excitement.  A box full of activity ideas focused on one topic such as Salt or Pearl Harbor?  Sounds too much like a unit study for this non-unit study mom. But I read the descriptions and Turtlegirl read the descriptions and my non-excitement became full enthusiasm when Turtlegirl shared with me how much she wanted to try out the BOX of Ideally Dynamic Enrichment Activities: SALT. We received a literal box labeled SALT filled with 10 Activity Bags.  Each bag is clearly labeled and contains nearly everything you need to complete the activity.  For example, the activity that teaches about sodium levels of food includes the laminated planner, a dry erase marker and a list of foods with their sodium content.  Another activity bag included ice melt, rock salt and extra bags for an experiment.  Turtlegirl only needed a pencil! and som

Games: They’re Not Just for Fun!

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If you’ve read any of my game reviews such as Notable Novelists of the 20th Century, Wits & Wagers (Family Edition ) or Say Anything (Family Edition) then you know that we’re a game loving family. We have lots and lots of games.  Here, let me show you: We have board games, dice games, and card games.  We have games that require a DVD and games that require batteries.  We have trivia games and games from other countries. We have fairly regular family game nights and we have a family tradition of playing games on holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. We play a lot of games during the Christmas Holiday Break because daddy is home and playing games is such a fun way to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. Lots of math and learn to read programs suggest games for learning numbers or letters or words but I don’t want to talk about those kinds of games.  Instead I’d like to list some subject areas and the games that we have that I could count for school hours if we needed them