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Showing posts from August, 2013

{Book Review & Giveaway!} Alone Yet not Alone

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” My family loves history. We love books. We love reading books about history. I have always loved hearing and reading stories of the colonists and pioneers who built our country. When I saw that Alone Yet Not Alone was a novelization of real event in the family history of the author, I was eager to read it and share it with my family. Alone Yet Not Alone tells the story of Barbara and her sister Regina; how they were kidnapped yet did not lose faith.  Barbara draws her courage and her strength from her Christian Faith and does not lose sight of her goal to

{Crew Review} Dolphins, Porpoises, & Whales a Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child

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Several years ago I was introduced to the idea of lap booking and the very first lap books that my daughters completed were from In the Hands of a Child (HOAC). More recently, I’ve rediscovered using lap books with Supergirl. She loves all things relating to “under the sea” so I knew she would love the Dolphins, Porpoises, & Whales Project Pack .  , What is a Project Pack/Lap Book : A Project Pack from HOAC includes a research guide and a set of hands on activities. According to the website, HOAC was the original lap book company! Lap books are also called project packs, shutter books, file folder games and the list goes on! HOAC defines a lapbook or project pack as: What is a Lapbook? A 3-D presentation of what the child learned during her study A collection of mini books and graphic organizers pulled together into a series of file folders A hands-on approach to learning, replacing worksheets or other monotonous learning tools A scrapbook A unit study A portfoli

{Blog Cruise}NOT Cooking in the Summer!

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Here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest we melt when it gets over 80 degrees.  I know we’re pretty wimpy here.  In summer we like to grill or use the crock pot.  Grilling doesn’t heat up the house at all except for maybe the rice cooker.  I like using the crock pot in the summer because it doesn’t heat up the house like the oven does but s ometimes it’s even too hot to use the crock pot!  This week the Schoolhouse Review Crew is blogging recipes with the idea that It’s Too Hot to Cook ! I’m going to link to some different recipe posts I’ve done.  This first one is for my Tuna Macaroni Salad.  Yes you have to cook the pasta but I cook the pasta in the morning because my kitchen is relatively cool in the morning and very hot in the afternoon with the sun coming through the skylight.  Tuna Macaroni Salad I like serving fresh fruit as the side dish for pasta salads.  Two other popular-around-my-house summer salads are my Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad .  I don’t have a separate blog post

Random 5 on Friday {August 16th Edition)

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Some weeks these Random 5 on Friday posts are very easy to do; on those weeks I seem to have more to say than just 5 random things.  Then there is weeks like this one.  What did I do this week? 1. A friend of mine from church frequently shops at Goodwill and I keep meaning to take her advice and visit on a Monday.  On Sundays and Mondays Goodwill has one color tag that is $1.29.  Doesn’t matter what it is.  Throughout the whole week there will be one color tag that is 50% off.  I took two teens in search of clothes.  I got two shirts and skirt and my 14 year old got a skirt and a pair of shorts. My oldest purchased some things as well but not one of us found an item for $1.29.  We had the cart loaded with lots of items to try on but alas many things looked better on the hanger than on us.  (I love my new skirt though it is a little too big.) 2. I was warned that zucchini plants can be quite prolific. I think those people lied. Two plants and I only have one poor zucchini. I think Hon

The Dolphins by Supergirl

We’ve been studying Dolphins, Porpoises, & Whales a Project Pack from Hands of a Child. (Look for my review early next week!). Supergirl loves all things to do with the sea and oceans. One of the activities is called Dolphin Story.  I was going to skip it. I wasn’t sure she was up to writing a story but she wanted to write a “story poem” (um, nope, I don’t know what that means but it means something to her!). With very little prompting from me this is what she wrote: The Dolphins By Supergirl The Dolphins live in the sea. They keep swimming. They like playing fish games like fish tag. The Mom told the kids, “play in the water not go to the sharks” or the sharks will eat them. The kid dolphins played a game of Go Fish.  The Dolphins play restaurant and then they play tag again. They had fun! The End   She is so proud of her book! She demanded that Daddy read it.  Then she took it to each of her sisters so that they would read it. It’s moments like this that make home schoo

{Crew Review} Bible Study Guide for All Ages: Primary Level

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We began investigating home schooling when my oldest child was 14 months old. When she was not quite 3, we were introduced to Bible Study Guide for All Ages ( BSGFA ) .  We were far from ready for it but I filed it away as something I knew I wanted to use. We did use Bible Study Guide for All Ages Unit 1 and Unit 2 with all four girls (well mostly Supergirl just hung out with us) but I didn’t use any of the student pages.  The Primary Level didn’t even exist back then! Knowing how much I loved BSGFA, and wanting to use it again with Supergirl, I was excited to use and review The Primary Level (with both student pages and teacher guide) along with the Bible Book Summary Cards and Children’s Songs CD .   What is Bible Study Guide for All Ages?:   This is a comprehensive Bible curriculum that allows you to teach all ages the same topic.  There are 4 units that each cover 104 lessons .  Lessons are numbered 1-416 which emphasizes, in my opinion, the idea that it is one complete

Random 5 on 5 {August 9th Edition}

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Yup, I missed last week and the August 2nd Edition so I’m going to combine two weeks of Random Thoughts. 1.  August 2nd would have been my maternal Grandmother’s 100th birthday. She’s been gone 10 years now.  She died just a few days before 90th birthday in 2003.  BooBear and I were able to fly back for the funeral and for the annual family picnic at Como Park. 2.  August 2nd also marked the 2 month anniversary of my husband’s heart attack. He’s doing so much better. Especially now that he’s had some adjustments to his medication. He’s able to do more though he still has to be careful not to overdo it.  Recovery has been slow but steady! He’s even been able to serve in the altar again and he’s started taking his turn doing the Epistle reading.   3.  Supergirl got to be a flower girl in a wedding. The other three girls got to help out at the reception by serving punch. 4.  We harvested our carrots! They taste wonderful. We lost our tomato plants (we should have staked them!) but

{DVD Crew Review} Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura

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I remember riding my bike every week to the library and choosing the books form the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I had read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books; my favorite was The Long Winter .  Because I loved the Little House books so much, I faithfully watched Ma, Pa, Laura and the other girls every week on the tv show Little House on the Prairie.   I began reading aloud the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to my girls when they were in early elementary. Daddy took over when we got to Farmer Boy. Farmer Boy remains a very special family favorite because that’s the book that convinced Honeybear that Laura wasn’t just for little girls. I have passed on my love of all things Laura to a few of my girls, so of course we had to express very high interest in reviewing Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura DVD from Legacy Documentaries . This documentary tells the story of “the heartwarming childhood of America’s favorite farmer boy.”   Dean Butler, who portrayed Almanzo Wilder fr

Making my Favorite Snack: Popcorn

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This week for Lisa’s Try a New Recipe Tuesday, I’m talking about Making my Favorite Snack: Popcorn. Sometimes I think the main reason I went to the movies when I was younger, was just for the popcorn.  In fact when I worked at the mall, I would sometimes stop at the movie theater just to buy popcorn ! There was something about “Movie Theater Popcorn” that just could not be replicated at home.  And the microwave “movie theater butter” flavor? Um no. It just isn’t. Besides being incredibly bad for your with all those chemicals, it doesn’t taste (to me anyway) anything at all like the movie theater popcorn I ate on so many Friday nights. I rarely go to the movie theater anymore and the last time I ate it, the popcorn just didn’t seem to be as good as I remembered. (Still way better than that nasty microwave stuff that is clearly mislabeled as “movie theater butter”. Popcorn remains one of  my favorite snack foods.  I eat it less often than I use to but I still eat it several times a wee

BrainFood Learning: The Fascinating World of Mammals {Crew Review}

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Supergirl loves watching movies.  I’ve found that DVDs make a great supplement for her especially for science. Thanks to the Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I was introduced to BrainFood Learning . BrainFood Learning offers three DVDs: The Fascinating World of Birds , The Fascinating World of Insects , and The Fascinating World of Mammals . Fascinating is the perfect word to describe these fact-filled educational videos. I own all three of these amazing DVDs but this review will focus on The Fascinating World of Mammals .  Be sure and visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog to read reviews about all three different DVDs. The DVD menu has a play all, an individual mammal section, and a review section. The “play all” menu includes a general introduction, description, and facts about mammals. After the general facts that apply to all mammals, the viewer is introduced, one at a time to a select few specific animals. For the Mammals DVD, viewers will learn about 10 different mammals such as