Garden of Gems

Pancakes

2011-04-03T13:55:00.004-04:00

I tried to come up with a really cool alliteration for the title of this entry. However, these pancakes were so good, I just couldn't come up with a fitting "P" word to describe them. I have been experimenting with different flours lately. I have this great grain mill that I was only using for grinding wheat. I felt like there was so much more that I could do.

Not long ago, I got some oat groats and started making oat flour. If you don't know, oat flour has a very low level of gluten, which can be either good or bad. In a scientific sense, gluten is what makes for good yeast bread. It makes the dough sticky and respond properly to the yeast. Different kinds of grains, even different kinds of wheat have differing amounts of gluten. Therefore, oat flour, because of its low levels of gluten does not make for great yeast bread on its own. I can be great for quick breads, cakes, or muffins that use baking soda/baking powder. I thought it would be fun to try in pancakes. I started with a combo of wheat and oat flour. I followed the recipe exactly, just substituting oat flour for part of the wheat flour. They tasted fine, but came out more like crepes than pancakes. The batter was way too runny, and they did not fluff up at all. It was a very good lesson in the texture of oat flour and how it works.

That brings me to last Friday. I've been wanting to try spelt for quite some time. Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat. It has a higher level of gluten than oats, but for some people that have a gluten intolerance, they are able to tolerate spelt, I've read. The problem with spelt is the cost. The same bucket of wheat that I can get for around $40, costs about $100 for spelt. Definitely not something I want to pay for on a regular basis. However, I did want to try it. I splurged for a small one gallon bucket, and it came in on Friday. I decided to give it a go making pancakes again. I mixed it with the oat flour to make a nutritionally packed pancake. I had no idea how they were going to turn out, or what they were going to taste like. However, taking my lesson from my first attempt with oat flour, I changed the recipe a bit to adjust the amount of liquid. The pancakes came out really light, fluffy, and delicious. DH and I are both very particular about how we like our pancakes. However, those particulars are very different. In this case, we both agreed that these pancakes were fabulous. The 12yo said, "For some reason, these pancakes are really good." The picky 8yo, who doesn't like much of anything, ate them without complaint.

The Recipe:

2 cups spelt flour

2 cups oat flour

2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder

6 Tbsp sucanat

1 tsp sea salt

4 eggs

2 cups almond milk

I also added a smidge of vanilla and cinnamon. I can't tell you how much though, because I didn't measure.

For those of you who don't have a grain mill, you can buy both spelt and oat flour at the store or health market. The next day I also made bread substituting spelt for 1/2 the wheat in my normal recipe. The bread came out really soft and yummy. I am starting to think that spelt may be worth the splurge.

We Interrupt This Program

2011-03-21T07:51:00.003-04:00

One of the most fabulous things about homeschooling is being able to tailor the program to exactly what each individual child needs. Some days that means we need to stop what we are doing and work on something totally different.

For example, with my 12yo, we actually use a combination of two different curricula for math. He LOVES Life of Fred, and actually doesn't fight me to do math as much. He doesn't love the math, but the story and the way the book is written. There are also limited problems each day. However, sometimes we get to a topic where he just needs a little more practice. That is when we pull out the Saxon Math and practice for a few days, or sometimes longer. Saxon Math is a great curriculum, he just does not love ALL the repetitiveness and many, many problems. Therefore, the combination of the two seems to work the best for him.

This brings me to the challenge of the day. My 8yo is still at a tender age where he is not ready to handle all the information in current events. I do not watch the news in my house, and only discuss with them what I think they are ready to handle. I read my news from multiple sources, so as to try to get the full story and find out what all sides think on an issue. I had not discussed with them the tsunami or the situation in Japan at all. However, my parents were over for lunch yesterday. My dad brought up the tsunami as a topic of conversation. The 12yo was very curious and wanted more information. That's great. We discussed this with him and answered all his questions. After lunch, the 8yo went to his room and was crying. I had no idea what was wrong. It took me quite some time to get him calmed down enough for him to tell me what the problem was. He was scared that a tsunami was going to destroy America. It took me about half an hour to explain thing to him. I thought he understood and was fine after that. Around 8:30pm, he came into my room and said, "I will not be able to sleep. I think a tsunami will destroy America at night." Sometimes it is a very good thing to be obsessed with science. I just happen to have "Our Planet Earth" and "Our Weather and Waters" that I picked up from the Creation Museum when we were there a couple years ago. I knew I wanted to do them someday with the boys, but we hadn't got to them yet. Well, today's the day. We have been studying Swimming Creatures. We interrupt our regularly scheduled swimming creatures lesson to break into studying geology and weather. I'm thinking a trip to the beach may be required to fully study the waves too.

"Green Eggs and Ham"burger

2011-03-18T08:48:00.003-04:00

I am not Irish. Well, at least I don't think so. Not that that really matters. St. Patrick's day is really more of an American celebration of a non-Irishman who happened to go to Ireland. Of course, if St. Patrick saw how he was being remembered by most, he would probably be very broken hearted. That is not really my point. My point is that I don't like corned beef. I'm not all that crazy about cooked cabbage either. The kids, however, like to do a little celebrating of the greenness of St. Patrick's day. Therefore, I decided to give St. Patrick's day a little Dr. Seuss flair, since we missed his birthday a little more than a week ago.

"Green Eggs and Ham". I'm sure you can already guess the multitude of problems I have with that. First, ham is a severely processed meat that is not part of my balanced diet. Second, I am trying to avoid any kind of artificial food coloring. The first problem was an easy one, I just turned ham into hamburger. The second problem was pretty easy too. I just added some lovely green vegetables. The eggs were not really green. They were still very yellow, but the dish as a whole was a lovely green color. I probably could've baked it and turned it into a quiche, but I didn't think about that until just now. Oh well, it was a very delicious meal anyway, and my 12yo actually ate his green vegetables. That hardly ever happens, unless I mix them into a smoothie. The 8yo did not eat it, but that doesn't surprise me. He is still in that phase of not eating anything. He had an apple, some grapes, and some baby carrots for dinner.

How I made the green eggs and hamburger:

brown 1 lb of ground beef, remove from pan
saute about 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a green pepper both finely chopped (the smaller the better in my opinion)
add in a bunch of kale, cook until wilted which only takes about 30-60 seconds (I prefer to just use the leaves for cooking. I hear the stems are good for juicing, but I just fed them to the rabbit. He's got to eat too. I have been blessed with an overflowing of kale lately, from a friend's garden. I have been looking for creative new ways to use it. This was perfect.)
In a bowl, whip up about 6 eggs with whatever liquid you would normally add to make scrambled eggs. I also added a bit of sea salt and black pepper. Add this once the kale is wilted. Cook until eggs are well scrambled.
Add beef back into pan, and mix well, just making sure everything is warm.

After it was done, I thought it would be good on a tortilla. Of course, I didn't have any. I wrapped mine in lettuce instead. The 12yo just ate it with a fork, covered in ketchup. The important thing is that he actually ate it. DH at it in a very large bowl, adding a dash of cayenne pepper. His sense of smell and taste are not very good. Therefore, he prefers to eat things that are on fire.

I had a difficult time coming up with a green dessert that didn't involve artificial color of some kind. I finally found some directions online for natural food coloring, so I decided on chocolate cupcakes with a mint frosting.

Chocolate Cake/Cupcake Recipe:

Mix together 1 3/4 cup fresh milled flour (use soft white wheat for cakes, or if you are buying the flour you can look for whole wheat pastry flour, or if you prefer all-purpose flour will work too), 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt
In a separate bowl, mix together 2 eggs, 1 cup milk (I used almond milk), 1/2 cup grapeseed oil, 1 cup honey. Add to dry ingredients.
Mix for about 2 minutes.
Slowly add in 1 cup of boiling water. This will make the batter really runny. It's ok, it's supposed to look like that.
Bake at 350*F for about 25 minutes for cupcakes, 30-35 minutes for cake

For the frosting, I read that you can mix in about 1/2 of an avocado to get a nice green color. Start with 1 stick of butter, beat until fluffy. Mash the avocado and mix in with the butter. At this point, I added about 1/2 tsp of mint extract. Add powdered sugar about 1/2 a cup at a time. You can add in a little milk in between, if necessary. Keep adding until you get the desired consistency. I think I ended up using about 2 1/2 or 3 cups of powdered sugar. It came out a lovely off white color. It was so not green. Not even close. So, I caved and added a dash of green food coloring. Oh well, I will try again with something else next time. On the bright side, it did get my kids to eat avocado. I may continue mixing it into the frosting just for that purpose.

Chicken Coleslaw Wraps

2011-03-07T22:12:00.002-05:00

This one started as a crazy post online. I said, "What can I make for dinner with a head of cabbage and two leftover pieces of chicken?" Here is the surprisingly tasty result.

What you need:
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups diced (cooked) chicken
1 cup diced apple
1 cup red grapes, halved
1 diced jalapeno pepper
1/2 cup organic yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I made that from scratch too, but you probably don't want that recipe. It wasn't too good on its own)
1 Tbsp lime juice

Combine cabbage, chicken, apple, grapes and jalapeno in a large bowl. Stir in yogurt, mayo, and juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I don't think it needed any, but hubby had to add some.

We had this on fresh ground wheat tortillas. It would also be great wrapped in butter lettuce. One day, I would love to figure out how to make a spinach tortilla or something like that.

For dessert, we had tortillas. Brush tortillas with melted butter. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes.

Banana Muffins

2011-01-26T10:42:00.002-05:00

My son has been begging for banana muffins since last week. I made blueberry muffins one day, and he liked them a lot, but said that banana muffins would be even better because of how much he likes bananas. I don't exactly have a recipe for banana muffins, but I was able to adapt my mom's banana bread recipe, with a twist.

4 bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cups flour (I use fresh milled soft wheat, but am going to experiment with some different grains next time)
1 tsp baking soda

Mix together liquids first, then add flour and baking soda. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Then I topped with a crumb topping of hemp seed coated with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. It made 18 muffins.

Finally Successful Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-01-26T10:19:00.004-05:00

I have been having a horrible time trying to make chocolate chip cookies over the last year. I want to make them substituting better ingredients than processed sugar, shortening, etc. For some reason, this is the one recipe that I could never get to come out right. The cookies would end up running all over the pan. I could make them into bars, and it would taste good, but I just couldn't get the cookies to come out right. At Christmas time, I made a discovery about substituting coconut oil for butter. You have to use less. I've also learned the same about honey. When you substitute honey for sugar, you can usually get by with about half the amount. I finally got the nerve to try again. The dough is much stickier than what you might be used to, but the cookies came out perfectly. Here is what I came up with.

1.5 cups coconut oil
1 cup Sucanat (evaporated cane juice)
3/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp water
4 eggs
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix the first six liquid ingredients, then add the flour and baking soda. Add chocolate chips last. Bake at 350F for anywhere from 8-14 minutes depending on oven, pan, etc. I bake on stone, so it takes a little longer, but comes out much better. I baked mine for 12 minutes.

Peace and Comfort

2011-01-18T06:17:00.003-05:00

I made it a goal this year to share a Bible verse a day on my facebook status. However, today I felt a great need to share more than that. I was lying in bed this morning, not sleeping. I felt a heavy burden on my heart for two specific people. I had a bunch of verses running through my head. I have no idea whether those two will read this or not, but I do know that God can use this to inspire who needs it.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8

Wherever you are. Whatever you are going through. God loves you. You see, I know how much I love you and care about you. I love you so much that I was awake at 5am praying for you. God loves you so much more than that. He was willing to die for you. Think about the person/people you love most in this world. If you have children, think about them. Think about how much you love them. Now, multiply that love by the biggest number you can think of. God loves you more than that. Unconditionally.

"The LORD looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one." Psalms 14:2-3

Look at that word ALL. That means me. That means you. That means your neighbor. That means the nicest person you know. That means the murderer on death row. That means the most innocent little child. ALL means everyone.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

There it is again, the word ALL. This time it goes a little further. Yes, it says we ALL messed up. But now, it says we ALL have grace. We ALL have redemption. How do we find this grace and redemption? We ask. Yes, it really is that simple.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:9-10

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13

What does grace and redemption really mean right now? How does it apply to our daily life?

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-6

Let me break that down into a practical, real life example. My 8yo son recently took a fall right on his front teeth. We went through three weeks of a dental roller coaster ride. The results were that one of his front teeth needed to be pulled. The other one needed a root canal. Yes, they are the permanent teeth. This is a serious injury that will affect him the rest of his life. If you are a mom, you know that the worst kind of injury you can have is an injury to your child. Ten years ago, I passed out and basically broke my whole jaw and a few teeth. That was much easier to deal with than this situation with my son. Through it all, I felt nothing but peace. God gave me the strength every day to keep going. Yes, it was frustrating being passed around from one dental professional to another. However, because I had the peace and comfort of Jesus with me, I could make it through. We can "woulda, shoulda, coulda" all day long, but no matter what we think or try to do we can't change the past. We can only receive forgiveness and forgive. Then, we must move forward.

Zuppa Toscana

2011-01-17T10:42:00.002-05:00

I thought I had posted this before on here, but I guess not. I started my "What's for Dinner?" series, but then got caught up in a dental nightmare. We are back to "normal" this week, so I will need to start posting again. This is what we are having this evening. I absolutely love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup, but shouldn't really eat it for several ingredients on the list. Here is my version.

Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper use only if a spicier flavor is desired
1 pound Italian Sausage (see below)
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic
about a gallon of broth (I am making some veggie broth in the crock pot right now. It should be ready by the time I go to make dinner.)
2 large potatoes scrubbed, and cubed (or 4 small potatoes)
1/2 cup milk (I am using coconut milk today)
1 bunch kale lightly chopped (do not add stalks)

Preparation:
In a large pot, add broth and bring to boil on medium high heat. Add potatoes and kale, cover, and cook on Medium High. While cooking prepare sausage as directed below. Finally, add sausage mixture to pot and continue cooking until potatoes are soft. Total cooking time should be about 30 minutes.

Directions for sausage:

I use one pound of ground turkey. To that I add:
1 clove garlic
some sea salt
a bunch of black pepper
a bit of crushed red pepper flakes
some oregano
(sorry, I don't measure it)
Mush it all together then brown it, as you would hamburger.

Next, add the onions and garlic and saute for about 5-10 minutes.

Friday Dinner

2011-01-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

It's Friday!!! Today was kind of a crazy day in our little world. We had an all day outing for dental chaos. It was great fun!? The wise thing to do would've been to plan ahead to throw something in the crock pot, premake something, or plan something quick and simple. I did not do any of that. I didn't really want to think about the dental appointments, so I didn't really want to plan ahead. Plus, it's Friday. I decided, on the way home, that we would stop at the store and get some fried chicken. Yup, you read that right, fried chicken. I told you, I'm not perfect. I was tempted to get some chips or french fries to go with it, but decided to only be half bad. I made some mashed potatoes to go with the chicken. Well, I guess you would have to call it potatoes/cauliflower. I steam and puree cauliflower, then mash it in with the potatoes. I use a bit of almond milk and coconut oil. We also had some fresh oranges for dessert. My mom brought over some oranges yesterday from her neighbor's tree. It was very yummy.

Crock Pot Chicken and Bok Choy

2011-01-06T19:19:00.003-05:00

I wasn't sure what tonight's dinner was going to taste like. It was definitely what you'd call experimental. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually pretty good. I had to find something to do with my bok choy that I got in my organic goodies box this week. When I found something that could go in the crock pot, that was a bonus. The crock pot has got to be one of the most fabulous inventions ever. The only thing I had to make extra was a side of rice.

Chicken and Bok Choy:

bok choy - chopped (I used one whole head, it was large, not baby bok choy. You could use baby too, you'd just have to use more of it.)
1 large green pepper - chopped, sliced, or diced
1 pound chicken breasts (I actually used 1.65 lbs, or 3 breasts)
sea salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth (I used turkey broth, because that's what I had in my freezer from Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys. Vegetable broth would work too.)
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp ginger
1 Tbsp red curry paste (see below)

Chop and throw the bok choy and bell pepper into the crock pot. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and arrange on top of the green stuff.

In a bowl, mix broth, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and curry paste. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you get started late, you can cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Curry Paste:

I was going to just buy curry paste. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what curry was. I got to the store, and read the ingredients on the jar. That's what I do. I don't count calories, but I do read ingredients. I was surprised to find that it was really just tomato puree and a blend of spices. I could have looked online to find a recipe, and I'm sure could have found one. However, I had some surprise guests this morning and just wanted to get done. I remembered the best I could from the jar at the store, and just kind of made it up. I ended up with slightly more than a Tbsp when I was done. I took about 1.5 Tbsp of tomato puree, 1 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric, and 1/4 tsp chili powder. I'm not sure if it tasted like curry paste or not, because I've never used curry paste before. It was good, whatever it tasted like.

Coconut Rice:

This is the part of the meal I was really unsure about. I've never cooked rice in anything but water before. Two cans of coconut milk seemed like a lot of liquid for one cup of brown rice. I cooked it anyway, and prayed that it would turn out. It did, for the most part. Only a little bit of the rice stuck to the bottom of the sauce pan and overcooked. The rest of the rice was just fine. It was more moist than plain rice, though. It really was almost like a rice pudding, but not quite that liquidy.

My 12yo devoured the rice and wanted seconds. He wasn't a big fan of the chicken but did eat it. The 8yo had a pear. I can't wait until he outgrows this phase of not liking everything. Hubby and I really liked all of it. I am not a big fan of cooked green stuff, but the bok choy was quite tasty. The rice in coconut milk was really sweet, and almost could be eaten for dessert.

Fried Rice

2011-01-05T16:08:00.002-05:00

Fried rice is a very versatile meal. It's cheap and easy. It's a great way to use up leftovers. It's also great for nights like tonight. You see, I am out of meat. I found a really great recipe for chicken to go with my bok choy, but it is a crock pot recipe. I didn't find it until 3:00 in the afternoon. We have places to be tonight. I decided to wait until morning to head to the store for chicken. That's what lead me to fried rice. It has protein without meat.

How to make fried rice:

Take one cup of uncooked rice and cook it. The thing I love about rice is that you can put one cup into the pot and it's more like 3-4 cups when it is done cooking. Rice is a very frugal food. I use organic brown rice. I have read conflicting information as to which rice is best for you. I've had no issues with the brown rice, so I'm sticking with it. Also, the rice can be cooked ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a quick throw together dinner.
Meanwhile, I take out my large stir fry skillet and heat about 2 Tbsp of coconut oil.
This is where you get creative and throw in whatever you have on hand. Tonight I will use about 1/2 of a chopped red onion, some green beans, and some green bell pepper (I think I have a half pepper to use up).
Add the cooked rice and mix well.
Then comes the fun part. Move everything off to the side and add 2-3 eggs. I usually beat them in a bowl first. You are going to kind of scramble the eggs a bit before mixing everything together.
Heat until warm. I usually do not completely cook the veggies.

It's also fun to throw in leftover chicken or turkey. If you eat pork, you could add that. I recommend you don't eat pork though. Don't believe me? Read up on it. I even used lamb one time. That was really good. Whatever you do, have fun with it. I don't think I've ever made fried rice the same way twice.

Taco Tuesday

2011-01-04T18:51:00.002-05:00

Everyone keeps asking me what I eat. I am going to try to post daily (or as close as I can get) for a couple of weeks to inspire you. Today was Taco Tuesday. My family loves tacos. Well, except for my 8yo. He only eats the tortillas. I gave him an apple with his tortillas. He is at that age where all his food has to be just so, and he will only eat about 10 things. I just do the best I can to fill him up. I know he will outgrow this stage. His brother did. Now my 12yo is on the see food diet. You know, the one where you see food and eat it. Though he still has a bit of an aversion to green vegetables. We are still working on that. What does Taco Tuesday consist of? Three things for which you need a recipe. The rest you can just add what you like.

Taco Meat:
For my family, I use two pounds of meat. That ensures we are all full, and a little extra for lunch the next day. Tonight it was beef. I usually use ground turkey. One time, hubby even ran some chicken breasts through the meat grinder attachment for my stand mixer. That was quite tasty. Just brown the meat. When the meat is browned, you are ready to add your seasoning. Don't drain all the fat, it will give your tacos a better texture.

Seasoning for the Meat:
I make my own. Most commercial season mixes contain some form of MSG, which should be avoided. Actually, it took me a while to find a good chili powder that didn't contain MSG. I finally found a good organic chili powder from a co-op. Wal-mart has some in the Latin section that are just dried chiles. If you use that, I would suggest using a bit less and adding more cumin. My recipe is as follows for 2 lbs of meat: 1/4 cup chili powder, 1 Tbsp cumin, 1 tsp sea salt, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 to 1 cup water. Mix all ingredients together before adding to the meat. One time I tried just adding each ingredient to the meat, it turned into a runny mess. About the flour, do not use whole wheat flour from the store. There is no reason other than taste. It does not taste good. I use my fresh ground wheat. If you don't have that available to you, go with an all purpose flour. I wouldn't recommend that for anything else. We all know white processed flour is not good for us.

Salsa:
This is really a preference thing. I will post what we do, but you will need to adjust the recipe to your taste (especially the heat of the peppers).

3 Tomatoes (the bigger, the better)
2 bell peppers (any color will do, but I like to switch it up to make it look pretty)
5 jalapenos (this used to be really hot for me, but I've worked up to it. If you are not a spicy lover, start with 2)
handful of cilantro
juice of one lemon and one lime
garlic to taste (I think I usually use about 3 cloves)
one onion (I usually use white or yellow, but I really like red onion)

It's not hard to make. I pretty much just chop everything up and throw it in a bowl. I prefer to use my food chopper for the onion and bell peppers. I use the food processor for the tomatoes, jalapenos, and cilantro. For the garlic, I just use the press. A professional chef, I am not.

The Tortillas:

Yes, I even make those from scratch. Though, it would be much easier if I had a tortilla press. I just use a rolling pin and my pancake griddle. I cannot share the recipe, because it is from a book. I did not alter it in any way. Visit here to view the cookbook. This happens to be the same book where I get one of my bread recipes, and much more. This is also one of the sources I use to order my grain.

Tonight, I ate my tacos on the shell and threw in a bit of lettuce, spinach, and broccoli slaw. Sometimes, I'll just make it a salad and throw in a bunch more stuff. I like corn, kidney beans, tortilla chips, or whatever is in my refrigerator.

New Year Recipes

2011-01-03T18:27:00.002-05:00

This year, I would like to take some time to post more recipe and meal ideas on my blog. Many of my friends keep asking me, "What do you eat?" I want to be able to share some of those things with you.

Really, I eat the same things I ate before. Now, I just have to substitute some ingredients and make everything from scratch. I think the best way I can help you, is for you to tell me what you eat. I want to know your family's favorite meals. I will make it my mission to come up with a recipe that I would eat.

A few notes:

I am not a doctor.
The things that are healthy for me, may not be the best option for you.
I am just a mom trying to feed my family the best food I can, based on the information I have at the time.
I am not a chef, but spend a lot of time watching them on TV. I find it very helpful to understand the science behind cooking.
If your favorite meal is lasagna, I will probably not be able to come up with a recipe for that. You may just have to use your recipe, but limit it to once a month.

There you have it. Tell me your favorite meals. Tell your friends to post their favorite meals. Oh, and not just meals, but desserts too. I love to bake. Even more than that, I love eating what I bake. Maybe you shouldn't send me desserts.

One Year Later

2010-12-30T08:05:00.003-05:00

One year ago, I embarked on a journey. Well, actually, it was a three month weight loss/healthy gain contest. I can do anything for three months, right? Even though it was only for three months, I had my doubts as to whether or not I'd be able to do it. You see, one year ago, I was highly addicted to food. I was even more addicted to sweet food. I was most addicted to ice cream. I had struggled for the last 12 years, since my oldest son was born, to lose the weight. I had tried diets, but was seriously unsuccessful. I failed because I did not have the tools nor the proper information to succeed.

What was different this time?

It was a contest. I am just slightly competitive.
It had a deadline. In three months, when it didn't work, I could go back to the way I had been living and be just fine.
I was ready. Seeing some of the health struggles that older relatives were going through, made me realize that I needed to make changes now. Seeing what the all natural soap did for my skin, made me wonder what would happen if I applied that same principle on the inside.
I wanted my kids to be healthy, and to learn to be healthy at an early age.

After three months, I was about 20 pounds lighter. My face was clearer. My headaches were nearly gone. I was off the daily sinus pill and ibuprofen regimen. I felt better than I had ever felt. Why would I give that up and go back to the way I had been living? That is when the journey really began.

After one year, I am now 50 pounds lighter and I am once again finding myself in need of smaller pants. I did let up some after the first three months. I had the 80/20 philosophy. I figured as long as I mostly adhered to the plan, if I was out with others I could splurge. Over time, the splurging is becoming less and less. Once you start eating REAL food, homemade goodness, the rest of the junk out there seems gross. Every day, I am learning more and more. I have accumulated a lot of great recipes. I no longer enjoy eating out. I no longer enjoy convenience foods. For example, I made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. It was dairy free and contained no processed sugar. The crust was homemade. It was delicious. I enjoyed it with some coconut milk ice cream and it was fabulous. I didn't have to feel guilty about it either. There was nothing bad in it. It was even made with a real pumpkin that I had pureed myself. For Christmas, someone else provided a store bought pie. The ingredient list was 1/2 a mile long, loaded with bad stuff. I tasted it. That's it, just tasted it. I'm sure a year ago, it would've tasted great to me. It was not good at all.

One year later, body and lifestyle makeover is here to stay. Do I have adversaries? Yes, I do. You would think that the dramatic changes would be enough to convince anyone that, "Hey, maybe she's got something there. Maybe I should watch and learn." Many have said that to me. Unfortunately, it's always those closest that are the hardest to convince. I have been accused of depriving my children. I am depriving my children by feeding them good food and trying to keep them healthy? Yes, that's a logical argument. I do allow my children to have the same treats others are having when we are out. I do occasionally still treat them to pizza. They are growing and are healthy. They have healthy teeth, for the most part, except for the one my 8yo decided to knock out a couple weeks ago at the park. No, I don't think my children are deprived in any sense of the word. Yet, I still find the need to defend myself against my attackers. Did I mention the attackers are the same as mentioned in point number 3 above? Enough on that already.

What's next? The journey is not complete. I am still learning every day. I don't think the journey will ever be complete. It is the same with my spiritual journey. Every day, I am trying to be the best that God wants me to be. Every day, that means something different. This physical journey is very much connected to that. I could not have done any of this without God. He is guiding my journey all the way.

That leads me to where He wants me to go next. This next year is going to be a totally different kind of makeover. I have been under serious conviction lately that I need to change the way I look at money. At age 16, I started working at a bank. I excelled in my high school accounting classes, and majored in business in college. I know how to balance my checkbook and work from a very limited budget. It's not about the math. It's about the attitude. I am going to work this year at taking frugal to a whole new level. I need to be a better steward with that which God has blessed my family. Get ready to join me on my 2011 Money Makeover.

Isn't Eating Healthy Expensive?

2010-12-14T18:58:00.002-05:00

One of the most common questions I get these days is about the cost of eating healthy and organic. Many people go to the grocery store and suffer from sticker shock. You pay HOW MUCH for a dozen eggs? I will admit that initially, I didn't think that I could afford to eat organic or healthy food. However, over time, I have learned otherwise. Yes, I pay $3 or more for a dozen eggs. I have many other cost saving things that make up for it.

I will start by being completely honest. I do not buy 100% organic. I have some co-ops that I am part of to get much of my organic fruits and vegetables. I have a friend who raises chickens where I get my farm fresh eggs. I buy the best I can with the resources that I have. I do try to buy everything fresh to make all my food from scratch. Here are some of the ways I save.

1. Buy in bulk. I get all my grains in bulk from online sources or co-ops. I buy whole wheat berries to grind into flour myself. Instead of buying loaves of bread at the store for $1-$3 per loaf, I make it myself at home for about 75 cents.

2. Make my own broth/stock. I am not sure exactly how much cans of chicken broth go for these days, but let's say they are $1 for easy math. I don't know about you, but I don't always get to eat all my vegetables before they start to wilt or go soft. I don't throw those vegetables in the trash. Instead, I throw them in the crock pot with some water. Cook them all day, or start in the evening and cook them all night. I will usually put in onions, bell pepper, carrots, celery, and sometimes spinach. I've even been known to throw in some jalapenos. Add in some sea salt, pepper, a couple cloves of garlic, and any other spices you like. I can't really give a cost on this, but does it really matter. I've used up stuff that would've otherwise gone to waste. I can give you a better idea of cost on making chicken broth, which I just did yesterday. Instead of buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts which can be kind of pricey and sometimes have extra stuff added into them, I buy a whole chicken. Yesterday, I cooked the chicken in the crock pot with a couple of carrots, some celery, sea salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover with water. For dinner, we had chicken breast with salad and homemade biscuits. Put the leftovers through a colander. You have chicken broth. Pull the remaining chicken off the bones and save for another meal. Take all the bones, skin, and even the packet of giblets and put back in the crock pot. Add in whatever vegetables you've got on hand just like you would for the vegetable broth. I also add in about a tablespoon of vinegar to draw the flavor out of the bones. I use apple cider vinegar, but any other vinegar would also work. This I let cook overnight. Between the broth I got from originally cooking the chicken, and the second cooking of the bones I got the equivalent of 10 cans of chicken broth. Assuming a can costs $1, that would've cost me $10. I paid $6 for the chicken. We also will get two whole meals from the chicken. The easiest way to store the broth is to freeze it in ice cube trays. I like to use ice cube trays for simplicity when it is time to use it. One ice cube equals about two tablespoons. It saves me from trying to measure a big frozen blob of broth for a recipe. You could also measure two cups into a small freezer bag. Two cups is about equal to one can of broth.

3. Make the meat stretch. Meat is one of the more expensive parts of a meal. Rather than putting a big piece of meat on your plate, use the meat as an add in to a dish. Rice or beans are inexpensive ways to make a meal stretch. I make dishes like fried rice, rice and beans, chili, soups, stews.

4. Homemade laundry soap and cleaning agents. A box of "good" laundry detergent can cost $30 for the big bulk size box. I can make an equivalent amount of laundry soap at home for under $4. Not only that, but there are less chemicals in it. White vinegar makes a great fabric softener. I can get a gallon for $1.99. I know a small bottle of fabric softener is much more than that. Vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean many things around the house. I am researching more homemade cleaners also.

These are just a few of the things that I do to save money. As I think of more, I will create another post.

Afraid to Homeschool?

2010-12-07T07:16:00.004-05:00

I think the comment I get most often when people find out we homeschool is, "I could never do that." I often read about people getting mean comments about homeschooling, but I don't get a lot of that. The people I talk to seem to want to homeschool, but are afraid of failing, or maybe afraid of succeeding. Marianne Williamson had some words profound enough to be quoted by Nelson Mandela, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Whatever is the fear, I understand. This is our fifth year homeschooling, but we had to start somewhere. The beginning of our journey really started in 1998 when my oldest son was born. We immediately began teaching him how to eat, how to smile, how to love, how to roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, talk, make animal noises, and more. You get the idea. We discussed homeschooling at that time, but didn't really know much about it, and just filed the idea for something to think about later. At two and a half he was reading letter flash cards. At three we sent him to preschool, but did not stop teaching him. Just before his 6th birthday, he started Kindergarten at the government school. He had a great teacher there. The next year, he started 1st grade. That was the longest year of our life. The homework they sent home really should have taken about 15 minutes three times a week. It took us about 4 hours. I had to reteach everything, and it was a constant fight. He was tired after being forced to sit in a box for 8 hours, and we were miserable. We knew something had to change. We once again brought up the idea of homeschooling. However, with the experience of just helping him with his homework being so miserable, the idea of homeschooling scared me to death. Instead, we started looking into private schools. That was not to work out. I would've had to return to working full time just to pay for it, and then my little one would have to go into daycare. My whole paycheck would be paying for school and daycare. Plus, I would have a lot less time to spend with my children. I would be paying to have someone else raise my children.

If you recall, a few sentences ago, I mentioned that we started teaching our children from the time they were born. Everyone does. It is a natural parenting instinct. But what finally convinced me that I could homeschool? Well, I started researching a bit more, and then God led me to the path of a great homeschool mom. Up to that point, we knew no one that homeschooled. It was this foreign, scary, uncharted territory. Now we knew someone else who did it. It encouraged me to do more research. I started looking at curriculum, and started thinking maybe it wouldn't be as hard as I thought. No, not really. The days and weeks leading up to the time to start brought many tears. I was scared to death, and I felt backed into a corner. I didn't see another way to get my son the education he needed. I started anyway. I bought some curriculum, and just started. The first year was difficult. I was trying to make it like school. What else would I do? I copied what I knew. Clearly that was not the answer. After trying a few different curricula, I was getting more and more frustrated. However, I was still not nearly as frustrated as I had been with the homework in first grade. I was very thankful for my afternoon exercise class with the other homeschool mom. Then, in the middle of the year, we did something crazy. We moved across the country.

That move led me to find an incredible group of homeschoolers. That's when I really started to learn. I learned that each family's homeschool experience is very different. Really the only requirements to homeschooling are knowing how to read and loving your children. The rest is completely up to you. Some families get a complete boxed curriculum with all the workbooks planned out in order. Some families don't use any curriculum. Then, there are all kinds of families on the spectrum in between there. We kind of use a mishmash of curriculum. I have found books that I really enjoy for teaching science and history. I do not get all my books from one certain company, and sometimes I just make things up as we go along. You know the best part? It's all O.K. The bottom line is that we teach our children character and give them a love of learning. If they love to learn, they will be able to accomplish anything to which they set their mind. The other thing that we can give them is a program suited to their specific gifts. A classroom with 20 - 30 kids cannot tailor a program to suit every child's needs. They can only teach a preplanned program suited to the "average" child. If my child expresses an interest in science or drawing, I can look for extra materials in those areas to encourage them and help them excel. If my child is struggling in an area that is vitally important, I can look for the best way to help. Sometimes if they are struggling in something not vitally important, it is better to just move on and come back to it later.

My best advice if you think you want to homeschool, but are afraid or "don't think you can do it", talk to someone who is living it. I would even recommend you talk to more than one person. One person may use a method of homeschooling that wouldn't work for your family, but the next person may use a totally different method. You have to find what will work for you and your child. That is different for each family, and most of the time for each child in the family. Most of all remember, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 and "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5. Therefore, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." If homeschooling is the path that God wants you to take, He will be with you for the journey. Keep in mind what God says in Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." We are each responsible for training our own children, and as long as we ask and seek God, He will be with us. I leave you now with some final words of encouragement, "Let Go and Let God."

My Crazy Breakfast

2010-12-06T09:41:00.003-05:00

If you don't yet know, I love smoothies for breakfast. I can pack them with exactly the nutrition that each individual needs. I used to always look for recipes, but gave that up a long time ago. Now, I just kind of make them up as I go along. I have learned what flavors go well together, what don't, and what flavors can cover up some of the nutrition taste. The end results, tasty as they are, are not always pretty. For example, this morning my smoothie came out to kind of a blah looking grey color.

Here are the smoothie making basics. Start with one cup of liquid of your choosing. I've used all kinds of juice, almond milk, rice milk, or coconut milk. Then just add in whatever else you would like for your nutritional needs. I usually use 1/2 a frozen banana and about a handful of some other frozen fruit for good smoothie texture. I prefer to use frozen fruit over ice cubes, because it doesn't get watered down and maintains its texture longer. It sometimes takes me an hour or more to actually finish drinking my smoothie because of distractions.

This morning, my smoothie was a bit more creative than usual, mostly in the 1 cup of liquid. I had a bowl of grapes in the fridge that just did not look all that great, and nobody was eating them. I thought, rather than waste them, I would juice them. I did manage to get about a cup of liquid, but then the kids of course wanted to try some grape juice. That took me back down to about 1/2 a cup. That's when I had to get creative. I had a couple apples to juice, but they weren't very juicy. I still didn't have enough juice. I ended up having to add one kiwi, a plum, and a starfruit. Did I mention that was just the juice? I poured that into the blender. Then I added a Tbsp of coconut oil, 3 Tbsp hemp seed, about 3 spoonfuls of organic yogurt, a handful of fresh spinach, and a whole frozen banana. Upon seeing the resulting color, I decided to add a few frozen strawberries to try to make it look better, but it didn't help. It really did not look good at all, but it tasted great and was packed with nutritional goodness.

The Biggest Struggle

2010-11-18T08:55:00.003-05:00

Someone asked me today what the hardest part of my journey has been. I didn't really have a good answer at the time. However, after pondering the question for a while, I've had some thoughts. I have been an ice cream addict for as long as I could remember. If I desired a comfort food, it was ice cream. I was a very emotional eater. When I would eat emotionally, I would always choose ice cream. In addition to that, we ate cheese with pretty much every meal that wasn't breakfast. For breakfast, we would generally have cereal, with milk. Our diet revolved around dairy products. That doesn't include all the prepackaged foods that contain dairy. Products that you would not think about having milk in them, actually do.

Why is this important? Dairy products are the leading culprit in many health issues that you would not even think about. Regular retail dairy products also contain growth hormones, and may or may not contain antibiotics. You may think it would be good to have antibiotics. You'd think that would mean that no one should ever get sick. Antibiotics should kill any infection that you come across. Really, it just kills the immune system. Organics are better, but still can cause issues.

Let me stress, that I have not cut out dairy 100% yet. I still do indulge in a pizza now and again, or the occasional ice cream cone. I do not eat near the amount I did, however. I do eat a serving of organic or farm fresh yogurt about 4-5 days a week. I have gone from having 75% of my diet being dairy, to less than 1%.

How did I break the addiction? First, I was challenged to try it for a month. I agreed to that. I can do anything for a month, right? That was the beginning of the end for me. After that month, I had some pizza. I got a headache. For about the last 12 years, I have suffered from nonstop sinus headaches. I was living on allergy meds and ibuprofen. I stopped dairy, stopped the allergy meds, and stopped the ibuprofen. I didn't need them anymore. Once I realized how poorly I felt after eating dairy, I didn't crave it anymore. My biggest struggle became easy. I have learned to really trust God for the emotional stuff, instead of my food. I eat for nutrition now. I know that the better I eat, the better I feel. The better I feel, the less stress and emotions get to me.

I also think it is worthy to talk about another huge health issue I've dealt with from childhood. Every single year of my life I have dealt with serious coughing issues. As an infant/toddler, these issues put me in the hospital more than once. Twice a year, during cold and flu season, I would catch a cold. Unlike most people who blow their nose for a week or so and get over it, I would continue coughing for weeks. It would progress into things like croup or bronchitis. Cough medicine would only make it worse. Cough drops did not help. It made it difficult to sleep, difficult to work, it was horrifying in middle school. I have been journeying over 11 months now. I should've had 2 episodes in that time. I've had none. I thought I was getting a cold at one point, but got over it within 24 hours.

I think the thing that was most important in overcoming the biggest struggle is that I was ready. I had to decide to make the change. If someone had tried to tell me all this stuff 18 months ago, I wouldn't have listened. I started the journey to lose weight. I started for 3 months. That's it. Except, that after the three months was up, I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to go back to feeling like garbage. I didn't want to gain those 20 pounds back. I didn't want to put on my fat pants again. Every month after that got easier and easier. I've gotten used to eating good tasting, home cooked food. I love the challenge of trying to take the junk that I used to eat and turn it into something healthy. I love blowing people's minds when I show up somewhere bearing baked goods without processed sugar or hydrogenated oils. It blows my mind that people are now looking at me to find out how I've done it. My question to you is: HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

Stock Your Pantry

2010-11-05T09:02:00.002-04:00

Everyone has a different idea of what's healthy and what's not. Also, others may have different nutritional needs than I do. If you have gluten issues, diabetes, or some other allergy your pantry will likely look very different from mine.

When I first started my health journey, I was torn between the world of being healthy and the world of couponing. I am all about saving money. We are an one-income, homeschooling family. I need to save money where ever I can. If I could get $100 worth of groceries for $25 by using coupons I was thrilled. The problem is, most of the foods I was getting with the coupons were not on my list of edibles today. I had to figure out another way to save money. I can occasionally find coupons for some organic veggies, or a $5 off $50 coupon, but for the most part I avoid the grocery store as much as possible. I have a small list of things that I pick up at the grocery store like almond milk, organic butter, peanut butter and fruit spread (not sugary jelly), and a small amount of meat. I do not buy organic meat. I can't. It's just too expensive. I do the best I can with what I have. The rest of my food is bought in bulk from various co-ops and/or online sources.

I get most of my veggies from local co-ops or farmers markets. I also found some great containers and bags that are designed to extend the life of your veggies. Because the co-ops are only once every other week, I need my veggies to last. It has really cut down on the amount of waste.

I buy my grains in big 5-gallon buckets. I grind the whole wheat berries into flour and make all our own bread. I have three different kinds of wheat in my pantry. I have hard red wheat, which makes a bread that tastes like whole wheat bread. It gives it a really good flavor. I have hard white wheat (not the same as white flour). Hard white makes great bread also, but it tastes more like white bread - only more nutritious. The hard white is also great for making things like dinner rolls, hamburger buns, pizza crust, tortillas and more. I also have soft white wheat. Soft white has a lower gluten content than the hard and is better for making things like cakes and cookies.

Yes, I still make cakes and cookies, not to mention things like homemade cinnamon raisin bread. That brings me to the next section of my pantry: sweeteners. I do not buy white processed sugar, anything with corn syrup, or any artificial sweeteners. This is the section that you will want to ignore if you are diabetic. My first choice for sweetening is honey. That is what I use for all my bread, and many baked goods. Honey can get a little pricey though. Thankfully, because of its strong sweetness, you do substitute less honey than the amount of sugar called for in a recipe. Honey works well to replace white sugar in most recipes, but not brown sugar. For that, I use Sucanat, which is a brand name for evaporated cane juice. It is a less processed sugar. I order it in a one gallon bucket. That one bucket lasts me about 6 months. Although it is less processed, it is still sugar and still should be only used in moderation.

What else do I have in one-gallon buckets in my pantry? Rolled oats can be used for many things. We actually do not eat oatmeal for breakfast. I don't like the texture of oatmeal. I do make a baked oatmeal that involves peanut butter and raisins. Check the history. I'm pretty sure I posted about it. It can also be put in the food processor to be made into flour. I have used it to make blueberry muffins that way. I also keep a bucket of organic popcorn. I know popcorn has some issues, but I can't give up all my vices. I figure making organic popcorn on the stove is way better than the microwave variety, so there you go. I keep a bucket, or two, of organic virgin coconut oil. That is the oil I use the majority of the time. There is also a bucket of brown rice. That can be used to stretch so many foods. We make fried rice, beans and rice, rice soup, you get the idea. There is also a bucket of flax seed, a bucket of gluten, and a bucket of raw sunflower seeds. I want to order buckets of beans, but those are a little more expensive so I've just been getting the small bags from the grocery store. Of course two cups of dried beans, once rehydrated, can feed about 20 people.

I also keep my freezer well stocked with frozen fruits and veggies, a small amount of meat, veggie purees, homemade chicken and veggie broths, and sometimes baked goods.

I plan my meals around the fresh veggies that I get. I use the staples from my pantry to make them stretch and feed everyone. Things work much more smoothly when I plan ahead and prepare things ahead of time. I know this, but I still have problems always doing it. When I don't plan ahead, I get into trouble and we don't end up eating as healthfully as we should.

One more tip for money saving, I make many of my own cleaning products. I make laundry soap. I use white vinegar as a fabric softener, window cleaner, and much more. I have even made an attempt at making shampoo. I'm still working the kinks out of that though.

Victories and Frustrations

2010-11-04T10:18:00.003-04:00

It has been 11 months now on my health journey. I am down nearly 50 pounds, which is great, but it is not why I continue. I have learned much over the last 11 months about foods that can help, and foods that can hurt. I continue, because I feel better than I have ever felt in my life. I continue, because I see positive results in my family. I continue, because at least 3 members of our extended family have diabetes or are pre-diabetic. I continue, because of health issues that I thought the doctors should be able to "fix".

Good health is not the result of doctors "fixing" problems. Good health, comes from a lifetime of taking care of yourself, listening to your body, and giving your body good fuel. Good health is not convenient, and does not come out of a box or a bottle of pills. I have learned that you really have to be committed to good health. Don't get discouraged, though.

First, let me tell you that I do not count calories. I do not follow some fad diet program that has strict rules about carbs. Those programs may help you lose weight in the short run, but they are not about gaining health. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have lost weight, but I am more thrilled about feeling great. Did I mention that I ran (well jogged really) yesterday for 20 minutes straight? I have never been able to run in my life. I know now that, as a child, I suffered from exercise induced asthma. I couldn't run, because I couldn't breathe. No one really understood what was wrong at the time, and no one could help me. Now that I understand how to train, how to breathe, and proper techniques, I am running for the first time in my life. Oh, and I'm enjoying it.

What do I do, then, you ask. I look at ingredients. There are a few ingredients that I avoid at all costs. The first one is soy. Do not take my word for it, but research soy for yourself. You will soon discover why I avoid that one. You might even find some information in my past blog posts. That is harder than it sounds, too. Go to the grocery store one day and pick up any package of food. I dare you to find one that doesn't have soy in it.

The second thing I avoid as much as possible is dairy. I do eat organic (or raw milk) yogurt. When I say I, I really mean that my goal is for my whole family to be dairy free. This is where the frustrations come in. Frustration #1 is due to the fact that my family LOVES dairy: pizza, ice cream, cereal with milk, etc. If it's made from milk, they love to eat it. Frustration #2 relates to dealing with others. It is easy to explain to others why I don't do soy, but most still aren't willing to try it for themselves. Dairy, on the other hand, has such a good marketing campaign that it is very difficult to get people to buy not having it if you are not allergic or lactose intolerant. What I tell people is to try it for a month. Then, go out and have pizza and ice cream and see what happens. Most people, however, are not willing to commit to that for even a month. Really, you would be shocked what the results would be. It does affect everyone differently, though. The benefits in our family have been different for everyone. I have stopped getting sinus headaches (a little salsa helps with that too). My husband has stopped snoring. I can tell when he slips up and eats something with dairy, because then I can't sleep due to the snoring. My son has stopped being constipated.

The most difficult part is breaking old habits. As I write this, my children are sitting here begging to go to a fast food restaurant. I think it is most difficult for my 12yo. I spent 11 1/2 years of his life, living conveniently. The first six years, I was working full time. We ate a lot of boxed microwave meals, fast food, and frozen pizza. I quit working full time, but old habits are hard to break. We continued on the same pattern for a long time. When he was 3, he started suffering from chronic ear infections. My chiropractor tried to tell me to take him off dairy. I refused. That would be too difficult. Plus, that couldn't be the answer. The doctors would fix him. I can't dwell on that and live in regret. The only thing I can do is move forward, and know that I am doing the right thing now. As you would expect, the husband is also a difficult one to convince. After 11 months, I think he is finally starting to see the light. I think he also understands a little more now the danger of diabetes. He knows that it's the right thing, just misses some of the old foods. He doesn't, however, miss the acid reflux.

The bottom line is that, after 11 months, I am more determined than ever to raise my family to be healthy, naturally. This is not intended to be medical advice. I am simply sharing my journey and what I've learned on it so far.

To Be (political)...Or, Not To Be

2010-07-24T09:18:00.003-04:00

It doesn't matter who the president is, someone is always not happy. Many people right now are frustrated and want to get involved in the political world. I have been very consumed with thinking about the government and what's going to happen in the future. Then, I started reading a book that changed my way of thinking a bit. I was reading an historical fiction novel about the apostles and the early church. First, a short history lesson.

Peter, Paul, Mark, John and many others lived and witnessed during the time of Caesar Nero in Rome. If you've never herd of Nero, you need to research him. He was the ancient Roman equivalent of Hitler. He made spectacles of executing "the Nazarenes", or followers of Jesus. He was the cruelest of cruel, a vile, evil man. Many, many believers and apostles of the early church were martyred under Nero, including Peter and Paul it is believed. It is even believed that he killed his own mother, a wife and a half brother.

All of the apostles and early believers faced many difficult challenges. They were all sought out and persecuted by both the Roman government and he Jewish elders. Paul was arrested, beaten, and shipwrecked for starters. John was boiled in oil, but lived to later be exiled to the island of Patmos. These were not men with special abilities. Peter was a fisherman. Paul was a Pharisee who was one of the first to persecute the early church before his conversion. Paul was also a tentmaker. These were just ordinary men who answered the call of Jesus. I think we can learn a lot from these men and how they dealt with their political environment, as well as how they focused their attention.

Paul was in Rome under house arrest. Acts 28:30-31 says, "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kindom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ." Did you catch that? "Boldly and without hindrance" Pal did the very thing that got him arrested while he was still under house arrest.

1 Peter 1:24-25 says, "For ALL men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever." Therefore, putting your trust in a politician to fix things - no matter how charismatic or powerful - is futile.

1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,a holy nation, a people belonging to God,that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into is wonderful light." Peter was clearly not referring to Rome as a holy nation. In fact, his letter was addressed to people in many nations. Peter was referring to the Church, the followers of Christ as a holy nation. He was referring to us. We are to be declaring God's praises. We have to be very cautious in the political arena. Politics have a way of stirring up anger. Anger does not declare God's praises.

Peter continues in chapter 2, verses 11-12, "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, thy may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." If we are truly living our lives for Christ, we will be accused of many things. We will be persecuted. Jesus himself said in John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." James 1:2 says,"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

Then, back to 1 Peter 2:13-17, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."

In chapter 3, verses 15-16 he says, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

Bottom line is, we are to live our lives to spread the gospel. It matters not, who thinks they are in charge here. We know the truth. God is victorious, and the victory is ours. "As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:36-39

My Curriculum Plan

2010-07-20T18:21:00.004-04:00

I am very excited about this school year. I loved reviewing all the curriculum last year, and it really gave me a feel for what I like and don't like. But alas, there is a time for everything, and I am very glad that I get to choose all our curriculum this year. I am really going to be focusing on language for my 6th grader. I do not have all my lesson plans done yet, because I just got the books today. I would still like to share my list of books we will be using.

History: We will be finishing up Mystery of History Volume II which goes up through the middle ages. This was one of my reviews from last year, but with everything else we were reviewing we did not have time to finish. I love it because I can teach both kids at the same time, but the activities can be tailored for approximate grade level. I can give a bit tougher project to the 6th grader.

Science: First, we will finish Real Science Odyssey: Chemistry. This was another review that we got toward the end of the year. After we finish that we will move on to Apologia's Exploring Creation series with Sea Creatures and Land Animals. I would like to finish both of those this year, because my oldest will be a 7th grader next year and will be ready for General Science.

Spelling: We are going to continue with the All About Spelling series. My 2nd grader is going to review book 1 first. My 6th grader is going to start with a review of book 2 and then move into book 3.

For the 6th grader:
Reading Detective from The Critical Thinking Company. He will be doing level A1 for 5th/6th grade. I ordered the CD-ROM as opposed to the workbook so I can reuse it for the little one.
Word Roots (Level A1) also from The Critical Thinking Company on CD-ROM. This is designed for grades 4-12. It teaches prefixes, suffixes, and latin roots. The benefits listed on the CD are improves spelling, increases vocabulary, enhances reading comprehension, and sharpens deductive thinking skills.
Red Herring Mysteries Level 1 (a workbook) from The Critical Thinking Company. It is for grades 4-6 to help with logic and critical thinking skills.
Novel Units are study guides to all different kinds of literature. They include activities to teach reading, thinking, and writing. I have tried a similar program from Total Language Plus, but have not tried Novel Units. I just ordered one to see if we like it. The study guide I picked was "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books 1 and 2. I think it should take about 8 weeks to complete. We also have a Total Language Plus to finish for "The Whipping Boy". I will decide what to do next after we finish the Novel Units book to see if we like that.
Wordsmith Apprentice, a self-directed program for grades 4-6 that will develop appreciation and enthusiasm for written language through imagination-stretching exercises. Basically, they become the editor of a newspaper.
Mind Benders and Scratch Your Brain from The Critical Thinking Company. Two more little workbooks to improve thinking skills.
I know that sounds like a lot. That is where the lesson planning is going to come in very handy. I need to plan very carefully how much he will do each day.
Finally, for math my friend introduced me to a very unusual program called Life of Fred. Fred is a five-year-old who teaches math at the university. The math book is written as a story, and all the problems relate to Fred's life. It totally avoids the problem of "when am I ever going to use this?" because they are all real life situations. This program starts after the student knows all their basic facts through long division. I ordered the first book in the series which is Fractions. It should take about 1/2 the year at which point if we like it, we will order the next book Decimals and Percents for the 2nd 1/2 of the year. Completing those two will have him ready for Pre-Algebra next year. I can hardly believe that he grew up that fast.

I do not have quite as long a list for the 2nd grader. For math he will be continuing Math Mammoth that we got to review near the end of the last school year. He is on unit 2 of 3rd grade. Yes, you read that correctly. He is starting 2nd grade on unit 2 of the 3rd grade math book.
I also got a Novel Units study to try with him. His is for three Frog and Toad books.
He has almost completed Language Smarts Level B from The Critical Thinking Company. I ordered Level C so we have it ready. This is a great program for teaching grammar and language skills. What is especially great is that he loves doing it. I wish I'd have know about this program when my oldest was that age. I probably wouldn't have to do all the back work that I am doing this year with him.
Cursive Handwriting from Handwriting Without Tears. He got interested in cursive near the end of the year last year, so I figured I'd go ahead and order it. The main problem we've had up to this point is that his thinking skills have developed far quicker than his fine motor skills. He is finally catching up, and now I think he is really going to start flying.
Reading Detective CD-ROM beginning level for grades 3/4. I ordered this, because I needed some kind of CD game for him to avoid issues of "my brother gets to play on the computer, I want to play on the computer too".

That's it for now. I will try to update as I get my lesson planning done as to how we are going to fit it all in. Then again, I will update when we start to see if real life actually works out as well as my plan. We are planning of starting August 16th.

The Trouble With Treasure

2010-05-31T20:26:00.002-04:00

I once again had the chance to review a book from Kregel Publications. This book is "Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure" by Susan K. Marlow.

Thirteen year old Andrea Carter, called Andi, is home for the summer from boarding school. Her home is the Circle C ranch in California in the late 1800's. Andi and her friends decide to go on an adventure searching for gold. Along the way, they run into plenty of trouble.

I am unsure as to what reading level you would label the book, and I don't think it really matters. I could've easily read the book in fifth grade. My fifth grade son, not so much. But he also wouldn't be particularly interested in the story line, because it's about a girl. There are boys traveling with Andi, and plenty of adventure though. Some boys would probably find the story interesting. After all, it is a treasure hunt. I found the story very enjoyable. I love historical fiction of any kind. I am not really picky about reading levels. I know some of my young friends, that I think will particularly like this story also. Overall I recommend this story.

The book can be found here for $7.99. You can also check out several other stories about Andi and her friends.

Peterson Directed Handwriting - A Review

2010-05-26T16:43:00.004-04:00

Peterson Directed Handwriting is a unique method for teaching handwriting skills, both print and cursive. Their creator is very passionate about helping your child succeed by helping you succeed as a teacher. I was given the opportunity to review a couple of their products with my children in exchange for my honest opinion.

My 1st grader has never really worked on handwriting before. Therefore, I chose printing to work with him. He wanted nothing to do with it. "I already know this, Mom." OK, so let's work on cursive. He liked that idea. The program is very simple to use, however the idea of saying things out loud while writing did not appeal to the little one. He likes to work quietly and independently. Unfortunately, the speaking out loud and writing to the rhythm is part of what makes the Peterson program unique and beneficial. If you skip the rhythm part, it becomes the same as pretty much every other handwriting workbook out there. Though it did not work for my son, I can see how the program would work very well with others. I think that it would've worked very well for my older son had he used it at that age.

One of the perks of the program is that it is an e-workbook. They are available for download here for $19.95. Be sure to choose the individual license for home use. You can print the pages over and over again if your student has trouble with a certain item. That is definitely a plus over a workbook that they can only write in once. You can click here to view the workbooks before ordering.

AP Chemistry Prep - A Review

2010-05-19T11:53:00.005-04:00

Cerebellum Corporation produces educational DVDs and media product for students of all ages. I received from them Light Speed Chemistry AP Exam Prep to review.

I have to admit, this was difficult to review as to whether or not it would actually help as my students are still in elementary school. Oh no, my oldest has just started middle school (eeek). I will give you my best impression and tell you what is included. You can check out other TOS reviews here. I'm sure someone was able to use it with their students.

The DVD is hosted by high school (or maybe just out of high school) age students, not a boring old teacher. It goes back and forth between video of the students talking and notes on the screen much like a power point presentation. The format is pleasant to watch and easy to follow. If I knew I had to watch it and pay attention, it would not put me to sleep. As it is, I am a homeschool mom with 10,000 other things that need to get done and so it was a little frustrating for me to just sit and watch. Then again, my college Chemistry class was a lot like that too.

The DVD is broken into three parts. Part one, "Taking the Test", tells all about the parts of the test, what to expect, and how long each section is. Part two talks about the free response section of the test. This goes into more detail about the specifics of that section. Part three goes into the nitty gritty of what information you will need to know on the test. It breaks down the 30 essential topics into 30 minutes. As a bonus, the package includes a CD-Rom with a workbook for extra practice. The workbook contains lesson plans, worksheets, and quizzes. Some of the topics covered include atomic theory and structure, chemical bonding, gases, stoichiometry, thermodynamics, and more. Total viewing time for the entire video is under an hour. However, I'm sure the third section will be watched more than once when really prepping for the AP Exam.

This DVD is regularly $49.98, but you can order it right now for $39.98. Cerebellum Corporation also has AP Exam Prep for History, English Language & Comp, and US Government and Politics. I can't even begin to tell you all the other topics and classes they have available. I know I will be thoroughly investigating the website and looking for some stuff for our next school year.

Instant Oatmeal Alternative

2010-05-15T17:16:00.003-04:00

My kids love eating oatmeal for breakfast. The only problem is, they will only eat the instant kind. I can't really blame them. That is what I grew up on, so that is what I always bought. I just cannot get past the texture of "real" oatmeal, even though I know it is so much healthier. Then, you have to love that the instant ones now have "low sugar" varieties - NOT. Read the ingredients. They contain the sugar substitute sucralose (brand name Splenda). There is much debate within the scientific community as to whether or not sucralose is safe or not. I'd rather not take my chances after my personal experience with phenylalanine (Aspartame/Nutrasweet).

Thanks to Five J's blog post I read the other day, I now have an alternative: Baked Oatmeal. Of course, I did change some of the ingredients to make it fit my requirements. It was a winner. Even Mikey liked it. Here's what I changed. Instead of brown sugar I used Sucanat (evaporated cane juice). Sucanat is still sugar, but it is a more natural, less processed form of sugar. It is not lower in calories or some magic formula, just more natural. For the milk, I used vanilla almond milk. As usual, I used coconut oil instead of butter. As good as peanut butter and chocolate are together, I could not do the chocolate chips. Organic chocolate is terribly expensive and quite frankly does not taste very good. I substituted raisins for the chocolate chips.

What's great about this recipe is that not only is it oatmeal that my kids love, but because it also has eggs they are getting the protein they need in the morning. Don't forget that you don't have to always follow recipes exactly. Once you learn what ingredients you can use in place of others, you can make pretty much any recipe healthier or more suited to specific dietary needs.

Madsen Method - Review

2010-05-13T16:09:00.003-04:00

English for Life - The Madsen Method is a comprehensive K-12 Language Arts curriculum. This is a multi-sensory approach that the Madsens believe is how the "founding fathers" learned. Their multi-sensory approach uses saying, hearing, writing, and teaching. This is a heavily scripted program that really teaches you how to teach. There are a total of four levels. They recommend a daily schedule (5 days a week) of 35-55 minutes. At that pace, students should be able to complete all 4 levels in 6-8 years.

I received level 1 of the curriculum to review. Level 1 sells for $299.95, but for home educators it is discounted to $219.95. That may sound like a lot, but this is a complete program covering penmanship, spelling and grammar, composition and reading. It takes about 2 years to complete. So really, divide the cost in half and then compare the price to other curricula. Also, it is non-consumable. That means you can reuse it with multiple children. Level 1 starts at the very beginning. It teaches proper body position for learning and writing. Then, it moves on to forming letters. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

What I got in the box:

Spiral bound directions for Sections 1-3 of Level 1

Spiral bound directions for Section 4

3 spiral bound direction books for Section 5

The Madsen Method Standardized Spelling and Reading Tests

Spiral bound book with copyable games, coloring pages, and a comprehensive index.

Folder containing copyable templates for record keeping, report cards, handwriting sheets and more.

4 "Listen in Library" CD's

One "Sounds of the English Phonograms" CD

One CD-Rom of the templates.

There is no question that this curriculum has been well researched and planned out. It is very well laid out and fully explained. There is no wondering what to do today or how to teach. Everything is exactly scripted, and all the parent has to do is read and follow the directions. The program is not designated for a specific grade level. It would be great for a Kindergarten student just starting out. However, it is also great for older students who may have gaps in what they've learned. Also, for those who just haven't got it yet. My high energy students are a little beyond this, and got frustrated by the tediousness of the directions. We have a very different education style in our house. If you want to read standing on your head, well, as long as you're reading. Sitting in proper position at the table just did not work here. I know for a lot of people, that is very important and this program will work great for them.

Be sure to check out The Madsen Method web page for all the detailed information on the complete program. There are also videos, samples, and other parent testimonials. You can also click here to find out what other Crewmembers thought of the program.

Beeyoutiful Hair Shine

2010-05-07T08:51:00.002-04:00

Beeyoutiful is a company whose motto is "Healthy Living for the Real World." They have a variety of natural products to help you take control of your own health. I got to choose from a few different products which one I wanted to review. I picked the Hair Shine.

About six months ago, I had the opportunity to review some natural shampoo from another company and have been using it ever since. My hair is soft and healthy and didn't really need a conditioner. However, swimming season has started. I love, love, love to swim, but don't love the effects of chlorine on my hair. However, I am not going to swim in a lake, ewww.

Hair Shine is an all-natural spray-on, leave in hair conditioner. It can be used on wet or dry hair for conditioning and detangling. Hair Shine is an organic blend of aloe and essential oils of lavender, rosemary, and citrus. I tried it on both wet and dry hair. On a day to day basis, I prefer to use it on dry hair to get rid of the frizzies and give my hair a little shine. It does not feel greasy at all. After swimming, I put it on wet hair to help condition and detangle after the damaging water.

Last Monday, we spent all day at a water park. I was not able to get a shower before leaving. This was perfect. I sprayed a little on and was able to comb my hair right out. Beeyoutiful says on the website that Hair Shine also helps with sunburn. It makes perfect sense, because it is aloe. This was also beneficial after spending all day at the waterpark. We did use sunscreen, but it appears when we reapplied, both my husband and I missed a couple spots. I got a mild sunburn on the front of my shoulders. His was a little more blotchy. I have sprayed the hair shine on once every day. I noticed this morning that my shoulders look great (more tan than red). My husband did not use anything. He still looks bright red.

Hair Shine comes in a 4 fl. oz. bottle for $15. This is much higher than I am accustomed to paying for hair conditioner, but when you consider that it is organic ingredients and essential oils it is understandable. I am going to order two more to make sure I get through the summer. I have two more trips to the waterparks this month alone.

Be sure to visit the TOS Crew page to read reviews of other Beeyoutiful products.

Super Star Speech - Review

2010-04-28T12:11:00.005-04:00

My seven year old is very bright. He excels in all areas of education. His speech skills were overall very good, but he had a little trouble with his TH sound. It did not offer me enough concern to pay for expensive speech therapy, but I did want to do something about it. Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple! offers parents the tools to help their children improve their speech skills at home. It is available in a convenient 3 ring binder for $22.95, spiral bound for $18.95, or in an e-book for up to 40% off.

I was given the opportunity to review the all new Super Star Ch, J, and Th: Speech Therapy Made Simple. This was the perfect tool for what we needed. I skipped over the CH and J sounds, and went straight to TH. This is an e-book, that I was able to print off pages and work with him one on one at home. He thought it was great, because he didn't have to do "language arts" on the days we worked on this. He also had fun doing the short little lessons. I think really his problem was that he had gotten into a lazy habit saying the F sound rather than the TH sound. It took about 3 weeks of lessons to get him to slow down and think about the sound. I now notice a huge difference in his daily speech. He still has to slow down and think about it a bit, but he really is. He even makes up excuses to "practice". I will hear him playing and counting in ordinal numbers: fourth, fifth, sixth just so he can say them all. It is really cute. Super Star Ch, J, and Th is $12.95 and only available at Curr-Click. Also available are Super Star R & L, and Super Star S, Z, and Sh. These can all be used to supplement the core speech therapy system or on their own as we did.

Also available are Super Star Games. These are fun, printable games to supplement your language, social studies, or science lessons. Here are some of the topics: Explorers, The Solar System, Egypt, Insects, Parts of Speech, and more. Warning: These really are not for black and white printing. You need to print them in full color to get the most out of them. At only $3.50 each, using color ink is not a huge deal.

Happy, Healthy Update

2010-04-16T17:14:00.001-04:00

This morning I stepped on the scale to discover that I have passed the thirty pound mark. I am in shock. When I started this journey 4 months ago, I really didn't think I would be able to do it. I have pretty much carried these extra pounds with me for the past 12 years. I gained about 30 lbs my first pregnancy, gave birth to an almost 10 pound baby, and still weighed 30 lbs extra. I am very good at math, but that just doesn't quite add up for me. I have continued to exercise off and on through the last 12 years, sometimes more than others. I lost about 15 pounds just before I got pregnant the second time. I was pretty careful, and only gained about 20 pounds during that. When that 9+ pound baby was born, I weighed less than when I got pregnant that time. Again, not getting the math there. When little one was around three, I got really serious about exercise for about a year. I was really in shape, and felt good but still didn't really lose any weight. Then, we moved. I no longer had access to a great gym to spend an hour or two every day at. Over the next 3 years, I slowly gained back about 20 lbs. Enough was enough.

Through the help of Lynette Pate at Breath of Green and her book "Lose Weight the Pate Way", I have now dropped 32 lbs. The thing is, I have not really added a ton of exercise. I try to walk as much as possible, and I am doing a lot more physical yard work. If I were to add in more exercise, I can't imagine what would happen. Even more exciting was going to buy new shorts today. I have not worn this size since before children. I finally have the strength to resist food temptation. In fact, the thought of eating some things almost grosses me out.

Pork is not on my recommended eating list. That is not a huge problem for me. I have never been a big fan of bacon. However, I had a rack of ribs in my freezer that I had gotten a while back buy 2 get 1 free, how do you resist that? Since moderation is really the key to every good eating plan, I thought it would be ok to cook them up to get them out of the freezer. I lathered them up with BBQ sauce and threw them on the grill. I took one bite and could not eat them. They were literally disgusting to me. I'm sure my hubby will be thrilled when he gets home to discover a nearly full rack of ribs for his dining pleasure. The garlic and onion potatoes cooked in coconut oil were absolutely fabulous though. I could've eaten them all, but was good and saved some for my sweetie. I may have to make some popcorn to help resist eating the rest of them before he gets home.

I have four pounds to go to get to my pre-child weight, but that is not my final goal. I would like to go about another 10 lbs below that. If my ice cream/sugar addicted self can make this change, so can you. It really is not as hard as you think. All you have to do is decide you are ready. It also helps to have great, supportive friends.

Homemade "Granola" Bars

2010-04-15T17:05:00.002-04:00

OK, it's not really granola, but that's the easiest way I can think to describe these. I don't know if you know this, but boys love to eat. Even more than that, they love to snack. Well, you probably know that. The problem is finding stuff to keep them satisfied, but still be healthy. I have one that loves to eat fruits and veggies, but the other one doesn't. He would prefer things like cookies and candy. Granola bars are a simple snack, but most of them that are in the store are loaded with high fructose corn syrup or other not so good for you ingredients. It is easy to find recipes online, but a lot of those don't have the best ingredients either. After some research, here is my adaptation.

Begin by "greasing" a 9x13 pan. I would probably use coconut oil, but because I was almost out, I used butter.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine:

1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. peanut butter (I made my own)
2 Tbsp. Pure Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp. coconut oil (again since I was almost out of coconut oil, I used grapeseed oil)
1/4 c. Sucanat
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat until mixture just begins to bubble. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla.

In a large bowl combine:

2 cups oats
2 cups crisp brown rice cereal
1/4 milled flax seed
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Pour peanut butter mixture over oatmeal mixture and stir. Press into baking dish, cover with parchment paper and press firmly into dish. Cool in fridge.

Warning, it did not get very sticky, and does fall apart a bit. They taste great, though. I will be doing some experimenting with ingredients like sunflower seeds, hemp seed, almonds, and other dried fruits. I will post the ones that work. If you have any suggestions for other ingredients, I will try that too.

What Am I?

2010-04-15T15:13:00.004-04:00

Did I make you really wonder what this post was going to be about? I love it. "What Am I?" is the latest book in the new All About Reading series. This series can stand alone, or it follows along perfectly with the All About Spelling series that I reviewed here. "What Am I?" is level two and follows the Beehive Reader 1 that I reviewed here. I know, when I wrote that review I said that was the only book. I had no idea that they were going to introduce more. I love the All About Spelling program, and this is no exception. It is a great addition to the program.

Here are some sample pages of this really cute collection of stories:

The "What Am I?" reader will soon be available on the All About Spelling website for $19.95. You can also visit the TOS crew blog to find out what others had to say about this book.

Disclaimer: I received "What Am I?" free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other payment was received.

The Terrestria Chronicles - A Book Report

2010-04-09T18:31:00.002-04:00

I never liked doing book reports when I was in school. However, it probably had to do with the kind of books I was reporting. I have been looking forward to this book report since I first opened "The Sword, The Ring, and The Parchment", book one of the Terrestria Chronicles by Ed Dunlop. As part of the TOS Crew, I received this and book 2 "The Quest for Seven Castles" in exchange for my honest review.

The Terrestria Chronicles are about a boy, Josiah Everyman. In book 1, follow Josiah's journey from slave to Argamor, the evil one, to Prince Josiah son of King Emmanuel, King of all Terrestria. Learn with Josiah what it means to be a child of the King. With castles, knights, and a dark enemy, this book does not lack excitement. What could be better than an exciting book to keep kids' attention? One that really illustrates and helps them understand the salvation message. The book includes a glossary of terms. That was helpful even for me. The words in the book were not difficult, but they used a lot of terminology that referred to knights and parts of castles that I was not familiar with. The readers learn about salvation AND learn vocabulary, all while having fun. Do you see yet why I loved these books?

Book 2 starts one year after Josiah was rescued. Up to now, Josiah has been living and learning at the Castle of Faith. King Emmanuel has decided that it is time for Josiah to go on a quest. He must journey to 7 castles: The Castle of Virtue, The Castle of Knowledge, The Castle of Temperance, The Castle of Patience, The Castle of Godliness, The Castle of Brotherly Kindness, and The Castle of Charity. Josiah will face many dangers and trials on his journey, but in the process learns many important lessons. The names of the castles kind of give away the lessons, so I won't bore you by listing them again.

In all, there are seven books in the series. The books are written for ages 10 and up. We chose to read them together as a family read aloud for reviewing purposes. That way, I could really know the content of the story and see my boys' reactions. I can definitely see a difference in how they responded to the book. My 7yo enjoyed the stories, but didn't really "get the point". My 11yo, however, really seemed to grasp the concepts. It was always fun when we would get introduced to a new character. All the characters have very significant names, Sir Faithful for example. Every time we got to a new name, my 11yo would pause and try to figure out if it was a good name or a bad name. This was another source of good vocabulary for him.

The Terrestria Chronicles are available as a complete series for $47.99, or you can buy the books individually for $7.99 each. There is also a companion study guide available (that I think I'll be ordering) for $5.99. The one study guide covers all seven books. You can also print some free coloring pages here. It is important to note that this series is best when the books are read in order.

The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World

2010-04-07T18:07:00.004-04:00

The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks is an online virtual world for 7-14 year olds. It is based on a series of children's books by John Bittleston. It gives kids a way to really interact with history, geography, landmarks, inventions, nature, and more. They get to travel around the world and meet historical figures like Galileo, Albert Einstien, Beethoven, etc. The basic account is FREE to sign up, or you can upgrade to an Elite Quest Traveler for $5.99/month. I received a one month free upgrade in order to review the program.

My kids, and many of their friends love games like this. There are a few virtual world type games that are very popular in the local homeschool group. In our house, it was actually starting to be a problem, so I cut way back on the amount of time my children were allowed to play. Of course, if they are going to play anyway, why not make it an educational game. The problem is, my kids did not really enjoy this one. They played it for a few minutes, but then got bored. That's not to say it is not a great game, and there are probably a lot of kids who would enjoy it. I just can't really say much more about it, because the boys would not play it. There are a couple of videos you can watch here to find out more about the program to see if it will work for you. You can also read some more TOS reviews to get some other opinions.

Making the Most of your Solar Dryer

2010-04-01T11:26:00.003-04:00

When I start talking about the solar dryer, aka clothes line, I hear a few common questions.

1. I have an HOA, they won't let me have a clothes line.
A. From what I hear, HOA's cannot restrict you from putting out a clothes line. I guess global warming politics are good for something.

2. What about fading? Here is what I do, and I have not had an issue with fading yet.

Shirts: I have a pole in the laundry room. I hang all the shirts on hangers (even on days I use the electric dryer). When they are dry, all I have to do is hang them in their respective closets. This procedure has seriously cut down on the endless pile of laundry that needs to get put away.
I do not hang my pants or undergarments outside. I have an over the door drying rack behind the master bathroom door where I hang the bottoms and a hook in my private bath for the tops. My pants I hang over doors. They don't get quite as stiff as when they are out in the sun.
For the rest of the clothes, pjs, kid's and hubby's shorts, pants, and underwear, etc. I turn them inside out. I do this for two reasons. First, to prevent fading. When I take them off I make sure to shake them well and then turn them right side in. There is nothing worse than putting on a pair of pants with a bug inside.

3. The towels get so stiff and rough. Yes they do. Pretend it's a loofah. It matters not if you use the most expensive fabric softener. I use white vinegar as a fabric softener (which is also very good for color retention). If you wish, you can always throw them in the dryer on fluff for a bit to soften them up.

I'm not sure how much money using the solar dryer saves, but it really saves putting away time. Everything gets folded as it comes off the line. As I'm hanging them, I group like items together. Taking them off the line, I put my husband's clothes in first because that is my last stop when putting away. Then, I put in the kids clothes by child. On top, I put the towels. That way they don't get all smushed in the bottom of the basket. It maybe takes 10 extra minutes to hang them on the line as opposed to throwing them in the dryer. I have to hang mine out around 9 or 10. My line is on the east side of the house, so if I wait too late the sun moves and the clothes take longer to dry. That also gives me time to get them in before the Florida afternoon storms. If I put them out too early, it is still dewy. Depending how warm it is, the clothes will dry within 2 to 3 hours.

Convenience at What Cost?

2010-03-31T15:43:00.003-04:00

We live in a very convenient society. We have all sorts of electronic gadgets, fast foods, convenience foods, convenience stores, and more just to make life more convenient. Is that really how we are supposed to live our lives? Before you say, whoa and stop reading, let me clarify. I am the queen of convenience, well I used to be. I am slowly learning that forgoing the convenience can save money in a lot of ways. Of course, what we save in money is going to cost us in time, but is that really such a bad thing? Are we really as busy as we think we are? Sometimes all we need is a little better planning. Here's a couple of things that I have changed recently to become less convenient.

Cutting the grass is a task that needs to happen quite often in the summer. Up north the grass cutting season is relatively short. Down here, we have a much longer grass cutting season, and much different grass to cut. The most convenient method would be to hire someone to cut the grass. Of course, most of us don't do that. We have a lawn mower and do it ourselves. Have you ever thought about how much your lawn mower really costs you? I'm going to use the gas mower example. If you buy a cheap model, you may be able to get it for around $200 (unless you can get one used). Our situation is a bit different, because we rent and the lawn mower came with the house. With ever rising gas prices, how much does it cost in gas over that grass cutting season? Half the summer, the grass would get overrun, because we had to wait to buy gas for the mower. Then, there's the problem that I can never get the mower started. My dad replaced all kinds of parts and did repairs to make the thing run. Finally, last fall the pull cord just stopped pulling. I'm sure my dad could fix it again, but in the meantime my grass continues to grow. The mower gets fixed again and then dies again. I was sick of it. When my neighbor came over and asked if he could mow our weeds, that was the last straw. I had to do something. I decided on a classic reel push mower, see it here. It starts every time, because all I have to do is push it. I don't have to buy gas (or pay electricity to run it), and it was very inexpensive at just over $100. Don't get me wrong, there are limitations. It is a pretty good workout to cut the grass that way, which really isn't a bad thing when you think about it. The other thing is, it does not cut the really long weeds that make up a good portion of our yard. I guess that really won't be a problem now that we can keep up with it regularly, but I did have to pull a lot of weeds by hand today. When you think about it, that's probably better also. They are getting out by the root and not spreading seeds all over the yard by being cut down. The biggest challenge of pulling the weeds was that most of them were full of flowers. Did I mention I am deathly afraid of bees? Once I got rid of the worst of the weeds, the mowing was actually quite easy. It does not do well if sticks get in the way either. So, I still have more work to get the yard cleaned up, but I figure if I do a little at a time that soon it will just be easy maintenance.

Sliced bread is another great convenience. At what cost? It's not terribly expensive to buy a loaf of bread. I think the cost here really isn't monetary as much as it is related to our health. The purpose of eating is to nourish our bodies. Does sliced bread do that? Of course, it's enriched with all those vitamins and preservatives. In order to mass produce bread and extend it's shelf life, the processed flour they use really has little or no nutritional value. Yes, I'm even talking about the "healthy" whole grain breads. I decided that if we were going to eat bread, we would have to make it ourselves. Again, it does cost us with a little more time. This is time that is spent away from the TV and computer, working together. I'm willing to make that sacrifice. I bought a grain mill and ordered a big bucket of wheat berries. The mill is not difficult to use. I pour the wheat in, and turn the machine on. When it's done grinding, I turn it off. It takes about a minute or two at the most. I mix the dough in my electric mixer, let it rise, and bake it. It really is not difficult nor that time consuming. If I cannot be home for the whole time to let it rise and bake, I could make a loaf in the bread maker. I find it easier to not use the bread maker, because then I can make more loaves at a time. The final cost is about the same as buying the cheap store brand bread at the store. Oh, and nothing beats a warm slice of homemade bread fresh from the oven. Not only that, but there are so many different types of grains that I am looking forward to experimenting with.

Those are just a couple of the conveniences I have decided to give up to both save money and become more healthy. What conveniences have you given up? I would love to hear suggestions of other ways to make our lives healthier.

Balance Benders

2010-03-31T15:08:00.004-04:00

When I first saw the title of the book Balance Benders, it brought visions of yoga to my mind. Of course it has nothing to do with yoga. Balance Benders is a book from the Critical Thinking Co. to help students learn deductive reasoning through puzzles using balance scales. I really cannot say enough good things about the Critical Thinking Co. Critical thinking skills are something that is so crucial to life, but often overlooked in education. The Critical Thinking Co. has put together a vast array of resources to help teach these concepts to our children. Even if you don't homeschool, these are great resources for extra practice or even summertime exercises to keep your kids brains working all year.

I digress. Let's get back to talking about Balance Benders. This book is targeted for kids in approximately grades 2 - 6. I gave it to my fifth grader. If you were to categorize it into one of the core subjects, it would fit best in the math category. My fifth grader hates math. He loves Balance Benders. "Mom, can I do Balance Benders today?," he says. Then, he proceeds to do 4 or 6 pages. We've probably had the book for a month, and he is nearly through it. The concept behind the book is this: If a square weighs the same as a circle, choose the statements below that are true. They give about 6 choices. Do two squares weigh the same as two circles? Does a square weigh the same as a rectangle? Of course, in the book it is all in pictures. I think that is why he likes it so much. There are 4 levels of Balance Bender books altogether. We reviewed the beginning level, which is available here for $9.99. While there, be sure to check out all the other great products from Critical Thinking Co.

You can read other reviews of Balance Benders here. Also, some Crew members received Language Smarts Level C to review. You can see those reviews there also. My first grader currently uses Language Smarts Level B, and we both love it.

I received the book to review, but received no other compensation.

Family Mint

2010-03-29T18:44:00.004-04:00

Through the TOS Crew, I was asked to review Family Mint's free online website designed to teach kids about money management. This website has a ton of great features. Parents become the bank for the children. The children can log into their accounts to set goals and enter transactions. All transactions must be approved by the parents. The parents can also set interest rates, automated allowances, and many other things. It is set up much like the modern online banking systems. Much of children's playtime is spent emulating mom and dad (or other grown ups). They think it is just for fun, but in reality it is preparing them for the real world and what life will be like for them. I really don't know what else I can say about it. It's free - so head on over to their website and check it out. If you like to see what others said about it, you can click here.

I was not compensated for my review, other than getting to use the product.

Math Galaxy - Whole Numbers Fun

2010-03-29T18:09:00.004-04:00

I received Whole Numbers Fun from Math Galaxy to review. This is a computer math tutorial for students in approximately grades 1-4. It works on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, time, money, measuring, and more.

This is a great program to really help kids visualize the math problems without having to have little blocks all over the house. I love the idea of the manipulatives, but hate the mess. This is the perfect solution, in my opinion. Plus there are some fun games. The player can either compete against the computer or another player. Whole Numbers Fun can be purchased here for $29.95. Math Galaxy also has Fractions Fun, Word Problems Fun, Algebra Fundamentals, and more. There are also some e-books and worksheet generators. This is a great supplement to use with any math curriculum.

Really Yummy 'Not so bad for you' Milkshake

2010-03-25T15:00:00.002-04:00

My son wanted a banana smoothie for an afternoon snack. I discovered that I was out of orange juice (which I normally make his smoothies with). At that point, I got a little creative. Here's what I used.

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 small container vanilla yogurt
1 frozen banana
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 Tbsp local raw honey (to help fight allergies)

Mix it all up in the blender. It makes about 2 servings. It was seriously like drinking a milkshake made with ice cream.

Seasons of Faith Illustrated Book Series - A Review

2010-03-24T18:45:00.003-04:00

The Seasons of Faith illustrated book series is a series of 4 parables to teach kids about their faith in God. The stories are an adaptation of the radio script from Children's Bible Hour. Each book represents a "season" of our Christian walk. The books are $10 each, and come with a CD of the story read by Uncle Charlie. These are great little stories for reading aloud with your little ones at bed time. Elementary age students will be able to read it on their own. We took them along in the car hoping to keep my kids entertained for a 40 minute trip. My 7yo loved listening to the CD and turning the pages to the chime. The 11yo put his headphones on and wasn't really interested. However, I did catch him reading one of the books on his own yesterday and enjoying it. I loved the content of the stories. Also, Uncle Charlie is pleasant to listen to. He is very entertaining for the kids.

Here is a short description of each book from the CBH website:

Race with Midnight

Becky spends spring break on her cousin Sarah's horse farm in Montana. Taking horse rides amidst the beautiful mountains and valleys, Becky tries to share her faith with Sarah as she talks about God's creation. Will Sarah listen?

You Can't Come In
Adam and his new friend Zack decide to build a tree fort one warm summer day. After zooming down a hill and falling into a muddy pond, Zack asks Adam about going to church and salvation. Will Adam be able to explain his faith to Zack?

Seventy Times Seven
Batter up! When Brad accidentally breaks the ice cream shop’s sign, the owner forgives Brad. But when his best friend Doug ruins Brad’s favorite baseball cap, will he be able to forgive Doug?

Braving the Storm
When Thomás moves away from his neighborhood and into a mobile home in his grandparents’ backyard, he misses his friends. There’s nothing to do around the apple orchard with no friends, his dad works a lot, and his little brother was hurt in an accident. All his sister wants to do is play with her dolls. Will Thomás be able to rely on God to get through the difficult times?

You can check out what other reviewers said here.

I received these books in exchange for an honest review, and received no other compensation.

Egg Veggie Salad Wrap

2010-03-23T17:18:00.002-04:00

My freezer and pantry stock piles are seriously dwindled. I am still not used to making everything from scratch. I really need to work on getting a schedule made up so that I can plan my shopping accordingly. Coming up with last minute dinner ideas is really getting difficult. When you make things from scratch, you cannot do it at the last minute. I did come up with a pretty good option though. I did use store bought tortillas tonight, though. I can't wait to get my grain and a tortilla press. Really, tortillas should have like two ingredients. There is no need for them to have all that other junk that they put in the store bought ones.

Mix the following ingredients together in a bowl:

6 hard-boiled eggs chopped (farm fresh of course)
1/2 c. chopped cucumber
1/2 c. chopped zucchini
1/4 c. shredded carrot
2 Tbsp. chopped red onion

Stir together the following, then pour over the egg mixture and combine:

1/4 c. organic greek yogurt (plain)
2 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. almond milk
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp paprika

Layer one whole wheat tortilla, romaine lettuce leaf, chopped plum tomato, egg mixture. Roll up and enjoy. It should make about 6.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

2010-03-21T13:46:00.002-04:00

"Good spiritual food is for those who are strong in the Lord." Hebrews 5:14

This is from my boys' lesson at church today. God is amazing how he works. When He wants to teach you a lesson, He makes sure you hear it from several different sources. You know, like the smack upside the head. The food we put into our spirit is what comes out of it. If we spend our day watching garbage on TV, when the stress comes we are going to react to it much differently depending on what we've been watching. We are going to react differently, depending on who we spend our day hanging out with. Do you spend your day hanging out with negative people who complain all the time. That is what you will become. A couple weeks ago, we were at our Pastor's home. He used a teachable moment with the 11 yo boys. One was sitting down, the other standing. Do you think it was easier for the one sitting to pull the other down, or the one standing to pull the other up? I'm not sure if the kids got the lesson, but I did. It is what we do with our free time, and who we hang out with that affects how we react under pressure.

This also applies to the food we eat. Now, I'm getting to the point of my smack upside the head. I have been on this health journey for two whole months now. I have not had a headache in over a month. The thing that really inspired me was a friend telling me how sometimes our dealings with food can be sinful. Clearly, the Bible talks about gluttony. I just never thought about it like that before. I was addicted to food and especially sweets. Every time I would get in a bad mood, I would want a bowl of ice cream. If I had a headache, I would reach for a Diet Dr. Pepper (even though that's probably what was causing my headaches in the first place). My relationship with food was not at all healthy. I am not saying that my eating habits are perfect now, but they are greatly improved over what they were. I do not have the emotional relationship with food that I once did. Food is for nourishment. However, I still like to enjoy what I'm eating and have fun with cooking and recipes. Food is also a huge part of our culture. Things like parties, celebration dinners, church breakfasts all usually involve food. Sometimes these things like to stack up on each other. That was what happened this weekend. I cannot obsess about every little thing and eat perfectly all the time, I know that. I still try to make wise choices for the most part. Sometimes, however, temptation can sneak up on you. Friday, we had a big homeschool St. Patrick's day party. I had one kosher beef hot dog with no bun, a small piece of chicken, some carrots, celery, grapes, and one small brownie. That is not even close to what I would've eaten two months ago. It did contain ingredients that I should not eat. I was also outside all day and probably did not get quite enough water. Because of all the chaos of the day, I could not come up with anything to make for dinner. We went out to Chick-fil-a. I had two chicken fingers, some fries and a bottle of water. By that time, I could already feel the headache starting. It did not get any better yesterday. Little one had a baseball game. I made some popcorn before the game to help avoid the temptation of the concession stand. Instead of having fries and a Dr. Pepper, I had popcorn and a cup of detox tea. Then, my parents wanted to go out to Wendy's. I had chicken, a side salad, and a bottle of water. We then spent the afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful day. Again, not quite enough water and I could feel my headache getting worse. I did take ibuprofen both Friday night and Saturday night before bed. To finish off the day, we had pizza for dinner. I can't believe I agreed to that. I woke up this morning to a headache like I haven't had in some time. I learned my lesson. NO MORE JUNK FOOD!!!!! This morning when we went to church and they brought out the waffle iron, I was not even tempted by the smell. In fact, I was almost repulsed by it. I had eaten a good breakfast at home, and now I am sitting here enjoying my warm cup of Yerba Mate tea and listening to the rain. The dull pain of my headache is still there, but I am counting on it being completely gone by tomorrow morning to enjoy our field trip. I am also planning ahead to bring my own food. No more garbage for me.

A Blast of Chemistry

2010-03-19T22:23:00.004-04:00

In the past two or three years, I have developed a real passion for science. Growing up, I was always good at science, but never really appreciated it as much as I do now. What I am most passionate about is make sure my children and others understand what makes a good scientist. A good scientist questions everything, and then uses the scientific method to reach their own conclusions. That being said, I am very picky about the science curriculum I use with my children.

I recently received "R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, Chemistry Level 1" from Pandia Press to review. This program is designed for students in approximately grades 2 through 5. R.E.A.L. stands for Read, Explore, Absorb, and Learn. Pandia Press is a family company that publishes nonsectarian science and history curricula in a classical education style. The word nonsectarian can have slightly different meaning depending who you talk to. I do see reference to millions of years on the website.

Now, to get to the meat of the program. Chemistry Level 1 is a full year curriculum doing two lessons per week. I wish I would've had the full year to review it. Since I didn't, we did more than two lessons per week. We are actually up to week 11 according to the schedule in the book. In that month, we have learned a ton. The basic premise of the course is to teach young students about the periodic table and the building blocks of everything. The "book" that arrived, is not really a book. It is really a stack of paper, neatly 3-hole punched. I love that design. It makes it so much easier to copy the worksheets and activities, as opposed to a book that has to be bent and unfolded to try to copy. I also like it better than the e-format because I can take the book to wherever we are rather than being tied to the computer or having to print extra pages.

The reading is simple. It is written very story-like and even some poems to help kids remember the information. With every lesson, there is at least one lab or activity of some sort. So far, we have built atoms out of marshmallows, learned how to do chemical tests, made peanut butter play dough, and more. The boys each made an atom book, and are currently working on a notebooking project (kind of like a lapbook) to learn more about the elements. There are also other things like crossword puzzles scattered through the book.

Here are pictures of some of the fun we had.

I love how they included a lab supply list right at the front of the book. Most of the supplies are things you would have around the house anyway. You can also find a link to the supply list here. I did end up spending about $70 at the store, but that also included a few extra items. I also picked up some of the items I already had, just because I was running low and knew I would use them anyway. You wouldn't necessarily have to buy all the supplies at the beginning either. They do also break down the list by unit, so you could just pick items up as you need them. The big item I did have to spring for was a food scale. That was included in the $70 I spent.

What I like about this program:

The reading is simple, and the kids don't have time to get bored or lose interest.
The lab activities are fun and simple. They don't involve a lot of preparation.
All the activities and projects are explained very well and are simple to explain to the kids.
The kids LOVE IT, and they are learning. They beg me to do science.
I can teach both my kids (1st and 5th grade) at the same time.
The labs are all set up to help teach the scientific method.

What I don't like about this program:

NOTHING

Homeschool in the Woods Maps - A Review

2010-03-19T17:08:00.007-04:00

Homeschool in the Woods is a publisher of history resources. I received downloads of their new Olde World Style United States and World Maps.

The World Maps set contains over 130 maps and 40 notebooking pages to go along with it. There are ancient maps, modern maps, maps of Paul's missionary journeys, and much more. The notebooking pages are a great addition to any curriculum. For example, one page is title "Flora and Fauna from the country of..." It has lines to fill in information about the flora and fauna from whatever country it is that you want to study. It also has a couple boxes to include pictures. The student can print pictures, cut them from magazines, or draw them.

The United States Maps set contains over 180 maps and notebooking pages for each state (with answer keys). There are so many maps included in this set it is hard to know where to begin. There are maps of each individual state. Some maps have text, some are just outlines. The same goes for the complete US maps. This set also contains historical maps, like the original 13 colonies. There is even a map that shows where all the Native tribes lived before the U.S.

These sets can be downloaded individually for $18.95 each or together in a Combo-Pak for $28.95. If you prefer a CD, that is also available for $1 more plus shipping.

This is one of those investment pieces of curriculum. You buy it once and can use it again and again for years. It is a great supplement to whatever history and geography curriculum you currently use. I know there are many times when we were studying something and I had to search and search the internet to try to find a map. In fact, I think the one I had a really hard time finding was a blank outline of the states. Now I have them all in one place, any map I could possibly imagine.

To read what others had to say about the map sets, click here.

More On Getting Healthy

2010-03-17T08:00:00.002-04:00

In all my writing last night about getting healthy, I forgot to talk about my dh. Ever since I've known him, he has struggled with acid reflux. At age 28, he had his gall bladder removed. After that, the reflux got even worse. He was taking a prescription for a while, but then switched to OTC meds. He was taking them nearly every day. Since we've made the switch, he is completely off any kind of acid meds, PTL.

Part of the inspiration to make changes came from my 7yo. He was suffering from severe constipation. We had already been changing his diet significantly, because I knew I couldn't keep him on the prescription from the doctor forever. We had also found a few foods that helped him just as well as the Rx. One of them was a cookie recipe from a nutrition book I reviewed a while back. See that review here.

My whole life, breakfast has been about cereal and milk. There were the weekend days that my dad would cook eggs and bacon, or when I was old enough, I would get up first and make pancakes. Yes, I have always been a morning person. It's just how I'm wired, and I can't help it. What do you do for breakfast if you do not do cereal and milk. That has been a tough thing to get used to. All the options take more work than cereal. The kids really like oatmeal, and I have not totally transitioned them from the instant variety. I do try to sneak in some flax seed and/or coconut oil. My oldest also enjoys scrambled eggs. We love our farm fresh eggs that we get from our friend's chickens. Much cheaper than buying them from the store. Eggs are cheap, but if you want the good farm fresh ones you are going to pay. Finding a local chicken farmer is a much more affordable option. Of course, the best option would be to have your own chickens, but that doesn't really work for us at the present time.

My other favorite breakfast option is smoothies. They are very easily tailored for each person's tastes and health needs. Here's what I had this morning:
I made fresh juice in the juicer. I used one pineapple, three plums and a few grapes.
For a smoothie I use about 1 c. of juice.
I add about a handful of fresh spinach.
1/2 frozen banana (to freeze banana's I peel them, break them in half, and put in a freezer baggie)
1/2 container of greek yogurt (I used blueberry this morning)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
about a handful of frozen blueberries (we picked these last year from my friend's blueberry farm, we are almost out and I can't wait until we can go pick some more).

Really, you can put almost anything in a smoothie. It works best to use frozen fruits, because it give it a much better consistency. If you don't have frozen fruit you can throw in a few ice cubes to help thicken it and make it colder.

Colcannon

2010-03-16T19:08:00.002-04:00

OK, two posts in one day. Sorry, I don't want to overwhelm you, but the other post was just getting too long and I really wanted to post this recipe. For a food obsessed family this going healthy thing has been a bit of a challenge. We use food for everything. When we study geography, we like to have food from the country we are studying. We bake cookies to study math. We ate soup and bread for 3 days straight to get an idea of what life was like in the dark ages. So of course, when St. Patrick's day comes along we have to have food to go along with it. Well, last year the corn beef and cabbage did not go over very well. I don't even think the dh liked it, and he likes everything. However, cabbage is in season right now so I had some fresh cabbage from the organic co-op. What to do? What to do? My fb news feed popped up with the perfect solution, healthy Irish recipes. However, their definition of healthy did not quite fit in our currently dairy free house. So here is the modified recipe for Colcannon (which is a fancy Irish word for mashed potatoes and cabbage).

1 lb small red potatoes scrubbed and cut in half (It was so handy to have our new food scale that I had to buy for Chemistry class)
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (we always use the PC food chopper for this job to get them really small and unnoticeable)
6 cups cabbage, thinly sliced (about 1/2 head)
1 c. almond milk
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Cook the potatoes like you would to make mashed potatoes, but do not mash yet.
2. Meanwhile, heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent (about 2 min), add cabbage and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the cabbage begins to brown (about 5 min).
3. Reduce heat to low. Stir in almond milk, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until cabbage is tender (about 8 min). Add the cabbage mixture to the potatoes and mash.

Get Healthy Mission

2010-03-16T18:05:00.003-04:00

I have been so busy posting curriculum reviews that I have really been neglecting to post anything else. Shame on me for that, because I have started an incredible journey to take control of my health and my families. We are getting back to basics and trying to do things more the way God intended rather than eating and using chemicals. It all started back around October when I got soap in the mail to review. You can read my review here of Virginia Soaps and Scents to learn more about that journey. I never would have imagined that a bar of soap could change my whole lifestyle, but it really has.

After I saw the difference that using natural products for my skin, hair and clothes could make, I wanted to see what would happen if I changed the way I eat. Well, I came across the perfect opportunity. Lynette Pate with Breath of Green was co-sponsoring a green get healthy challenge. Through her book "Lose Weight the Pate Way" I have learned so much and totally revolutionized my lifestyle. I started her challenge in the middle of January. Since then, I have lost nearly 20 lbs, dramatically cleared up my skin, and basically eliminated my headaches.

Surprisingly, my biggest challenge has not been my sweet tooth or lack of self-control. That is partly due to the fact that I can still eat sweets, just not ones with processed sugar or high fructose corn syrup. You would be amazed at how easy it is to resist temptation once you eliminate those highly addictive things from your diet. There are so many great alternatives like honey, agave nectar, stevia, and more. I cannot lie, it does take more work and more planning. There are no quick, easy box meals and no drive through fast food. Even buying things like sliced bread and tortillas is not really an option. But eating healthy is too expensive, you say. Well, my goal is to make it as affordable as possible. There are some specialty items that I must buy, and I have been searching for the best prices. My goal here, is to help find the ways to make it affordable. Mind you, we are a single income homeschooling family so when I say affordable, I mean it. I have gone to some sites where they talk about meal planning and affordable food, and I do not have half that much to work with. That is part of the reason I have not been able to make the switch to 100% organic, but try to get as close as possible.

My first step to making organic affordable was to finally join the organic co-op. Twice a month, the co-op sends out a list of fruits and veggies available to order. They also have a few extras like salad dressing and honey. On co-op morning, I drag my kids out the door around 7:30 am so that we can help pack and check orders to earn a 10% discount. Yes, again it takes a little extra work but is very worth it. Thanks to my friend C, who told me about the Hefty Fresh Extend bags, my produces lasts much longer. If there are items that I need that I can't get from the co-op then I will try the local produce market, or at last resort the grocery store. I then plan my meals around the produce I was able to get. Of course the staples are lettuce (various kinds) for salads, and the ingredients to make salsa. Most salad dressings are not an option, and I do not much care for the oil and vinegar varieties. Instead, I use salsa to dress my salads. There are also many other items you can use it to top as well. Salsa is loaded with tons of nutritional goodness, if it's made properly.

The other leap we made was to order a grain mill to freshly grind our own grain and make our own bread. That is even an option if you are wheat and gluten free. I was disappointed to find out that it did not, however, grind flax seed. It was suggested that I get an inexpensive coffee grinder for that job. I will let you know how that works when my flax seed order comes in. If you live close to a store that sells bulk grains that is the way to go. If you don't, like me, I found another local co-op for that purpose. The grain is ordered from Bread Beckers, and by ordering through the co-op we save a tremendous amount on shipping costs. I ordered about 65 lbs of product that would have cost over $30 in shipping, but through the co-op it only cost me $8. Plus, we got an extra discount that basically covered most of the shipping.

I should mention how we helped pay for the grain mill through Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search and win site powered by Google. You set it as your home page and use it to search the same way you would use Google. While searching you earn "bucks" which can be translated into prizes. My favorite is the Amazon.com gift cards. I have earned close to $100 in Amazon gift cards so far. I used some for Christmas, I used some to help offset the cost of the grain mill, and now I am saving up to order a tortilla press and a butterfly kit for my kids. Click here to sign up and start earning your own Swagbucks.

Please, join me on this journey. I hope you will be blessed with money saving tips, healthy recipes, and other useful links.

Homeschool Library Builder - A Review

2010-03-12T19:45:00.003-05:00

It's funny, growing up going to school one of my least favorite classes was literature. I loved to read, but hated how we had to analyze stories. I just wanted to read and enjoy them. Now, homeschooling my kids, literature is one of my favorite tools to get them to learn. However, we are analyzing the stories in a much different way than I did in school. There are many great literature based curricula out there like Five in a Row, Veritas Press, Sonlight, and many more. The problem is obtaining the literature. Sometimes it feels like you have to spend an arm and a leg just to get the curriculum. The other option is to use the library. What if they don't have that book? What if it is not available when you want it? Let's face it, there are well over 200 homeschool families in my area (that I know of) using my same library system. There is a good chance at least a couple of them will be looking for the same book I am.

Homeschool Library Builder is here to help. They are a Christian family-run book business selling new and used books at less expensive prices. They offer a membership program that let's you earn points for every dollar you spend. Fifteen points is equal to $1 to spend on a future purchase. The membership is free. Many of the titles are between 25 and 50% below retail, and there are some even less. What is even cooler is the search by curricula function. Say you need books for Sonlight 2nd grade, you can click that option and they bring up the list of books they have available for Sonlight 2nd grade.

I was not in a position of needing to order curriculum right now, so I have not ordered from Homeschool Library Builder. I have thoroughly checked out the website, and am very excited to test it out when I do need to order. They even have some out of print books that are hard to find. Click here to read what some of my fellow Crew members had to say about this.

Graphics Toolbox: A Review

2010-03-08T11:30:00.003-05:00

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received a cool program called Graphics Toolbox to review. Graphics Toolbox was created by a team of software designers with over 20 years of experience in graphics programming. This is a program that can make:

personalized cards and invitations
science diagrams
photo editing
posters and business flyers
photo cartoons
scrapbook pages
blog headers and buttons

I have used a lot of "publishing" programs before, and made many photo projects. I didn't have a program that worked on my current computer. I was excited to give this one a try. I was especially excited to be able to make blog headers and buttons. The plan of the program creators was to create a program for everyday graphics needs that would be easy to use and understand. I have to disagree, but that was also partly my fault. I did attend the 90 minute online training session, but with everything going on in the background at my house I couldn't quite get as much out of it as I should have. I did have grand plans of making a project to post with my review to give you an idea of what the program can do. I didn't quite get there. You can go here to see samples on their website here, as well as some tutorial videos. I do have to point out that the customer service we received was incredible. I have to say that my shopping decisions are highly influenced by the kind of customer service I receive. These people were very eager to help and make sure that we fully understood how to use the program. So even though the program is not a simple, self-explanatory kind of program, the assistance and some practice made it much easier than I initially thought.

What makes this program different from others? First, your workspace is set up more like a table or desktop rather than one sheet of paper. Most other programs I've used start with a template and you just plug in your pictures, clip art and colors. This one gives you much more creative freedom with your projects. The possibilities are limited only by the size of your imagination. Click here for a full list of program features.

This downloadable program is available for $149, which will give you a license to use it on one computer. If you need it for more than one computer, there is discounted pricing for additional licenses. You can get a 30-day fully-functioning free trial. Click here to try or buy. If you'd like to see more reviews first, visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog. Also, be sure to visit my blog regularly, because I will get some photo projects added very soon.

All About Spelling - An Added Bonus

2010-02-24T12:23:00.005-05:00

You may remember a while back reading my review of the All About Spelling program. If not, click here to read it. A few weeks ago, I received the Beehive Reader. This reader, which sells for $19.95 goes along with All About Spelling Level 1. It is a collection of 10 cute little stories using the words that your kids are learning how to spell.

I cannot really give you much of a review from my children's perspective. They are 7 and 11 and have been reading for quite some time. So I will tell you my impressions from looking it over. Honestly, I wish I would've had this complete program when my children were first learning to read. It would have been very useful in cementing the phonetics in the beginning thereby helping them down the road. I loved using the All About Spelling program without the reader, but we were doing it late and after my children already knew how to read. If you are starting it in the beginning, I think the reader is a great addition to the program. It really makes it a more complete program for kindergarten or 1st grade language arts. The reader can also be used on its own, apart from the All About Spelling program. I was a little disappointed to find that this is the only reader. I was hoping there might be more to go along with the other levels.

Musical History

2010-02-17T23:04:00.003-05:00

Being part of the TOS Review Crew this year, I have received many interesting books, lessons, resources, and more. We were able to see the list of upcoming companies at the beginning of the year. Some of the companies I was familiar with, and some I had at least heard of. I did not know what to expect from Zeezok Publishing. When the package arrived, I was very curious as to what might be inside.

We received the Handel/Schuman Great Musician Set. We have studied some composers briefly before, but not like this. The set contained two story-style books, one about each composer. Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff and Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler are chapter books that I would gage at about a fourth grade reading level. They really go into detail about the story of the composers lives. We did them together as a read-aloud with my 1st and 5th grader. I would only read one chapter a day, but they didn't want me to stop. I did anyway. It is better to leave them in anticipation. In the middle of the stories they include the sheet music from what was composed at that point in the story. Then, to top that off, a CD came with the set. When they put the song in the story, we would stop reading and play that song from the CD.

Finally, the set included two study guides to go along with each book. The study guides include maps of places, timelines, reading comprehension questions, and other tidbits of interesting information. I really enjoyed the program, and so did the boys. The set is available here from Zeezok Publishing for $35.80. While you are there, be sure to check out their books for the other composers and also many more great resources. I look forward to studying more composers in the near future.

"The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling"

2010-02-17T22:11:00.004-05:00

When I found out that I was going to review a product from Apologia I was so excited. I have used two of their books for science and absolutely loved them. I was thrilled to have the chance to write about it. When I opened the package in the mail I found something totally unexpected. I found "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling" by Debra Bell. I didn't even know Apologia had books like that. I was thrilled to have this book. I have started working with new homeschoolers, helping them get started and choose curriculum that will work for their family. I thought this would be a great resource to help me help them. If I could point them to a book that would break down for them all the finer details of homeschooling, it would be immensely beneficial. I would've loved to have something like this four and a half years ago when I started homeschooling.

That was all before opening the book. Needless to say, my expectations were very high. I knew the quality of Apologia and expected nothing less from this book. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was a little surprised. I thought that I would just read the book to help others. I didn't think they could put anything in there that I didn't already know. After all, this is a book for beginning homeschoolers, right? Wrong. It definitely is useful for new homeschoolers, but has much good information for us more seasoned ones as well.

The book is broken into ten parts. Part 1 breaks down the pros and cons of homeschooling. So, if you know someone who is thinking about homeschooling, this book is great for them too. Part 2 is about choosing curriculum. I know that can be the most overwhelming part for new homeschool families. Even preparing for our fifth year, I am still trying to figure out what will work best for us. Organization and planning are covered in part 3, and part 4 talks about preventing burnout. Part 5 breaks down what to teach and when. It is filled with resources and strategies. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is that we can offer our kids practical, real life experience that they cannot get in a school setting. This section breaks down some of the how-to's of that. It tells you what is truly important for your child to know when they graduate. Part 6 talks about homeschooling your teens. Part 7 goes over computers, what's necessary, what's nice to have, and what is really not needed. Parts 8 and 9 cover some of the extras like other challenges, how to know if you are succeeding. Part 10 is a fabulous resource guide. They give data on organizations, suppliers, publications, academic contests, and more.

The book sells for $20 here. While there, be sure to check out the rest of Apologia's great products, especially the science. You can read some other reviews here.

Ray's Arithmetic

2010-02-10T20:22:00.002-05:00

Really, the picture above says everything. If you are looking for a curriculum that you don't have to spend a lot of money on, you can't do better than $59 for a CD-ROM of math curriculum that covers grades K-12. Ray's Arithmetic really is all it says. The CD includes: primary arithmetic, elementary arithmetic, algebra and higher algebra, geometry and trigonometry, bookkeeping, practical arithmetic, differential and integral calculus, elements of physics, and elements of astronomy. View a complete list and description of each book here. All the books are in an easy-to-use PDF format. This allows for easy viewing and printing from your computer. It is also great that you only have to buy the program once, and then can use it for all your students.

Ray's Arithmetic is part of the Eclectic Education Series (EES). EES was the U.S. standard of education from 1865 through 1915. You can read more about that here.

I received this CD-ROM to review. In the short period of time I had to review this CD, I was not able to go through every detail of each "book" included. I picked one book to test with my first grader, so that I could at least get a feel for the program. I used the Primary Arithmetic, but started at lesson 38 (multiplication). I should mention that my first grader is currently working on 3rd grade level math. He is very gifted in math and has no difficulty understanding new topics. In fact, he usually figures them out on his own without me teaching him anything. This program, he had a very difficult time understanding. I think part of it had to do with the old style language. All the problems are written out in words, even if they are not word problems. Example, "How many are 3 times 3?" The important thing to remember, is that math is math, no matter how you teach it. As long as the student understands that 2 plus 2 is 4, it doesn't matter which program they used to learn it. The key is to find what works for you and your student and gets them to understand. This one did not work for us. But if you like the classical style of education, you may find this very favorable. I do believe that it is a good value for the dollar also. Normally, math books will cost at least that much per level, and that's at the low end pricing.

Math Tutor - DVD

2010-02-07T16:13:00.008-05:00

One of the struggles I hear about most often from other homeschool parents is about trying to teach their children math. That's probably why there are so many math-help products out there to choose from. That in itself can be overwhelming. In my house, we have an interesting struggle. My brain works in numbers, and I am very good at math. I've taken college calculus and statistics. You would think I would have no problem teaching math. Well, that is half true. My 7-year old has a brain that works exactly like mine. Let me tell you, that is a homeschool parent's dream. It makes it so easy to teach them, because they just "get" what you tell them. My 11-year old, on the other hand, is very artistic. His strengths are in art, music, and video games - not math. It can be very frustrating for someone who completely understands something to teach it to someone that just doesn't understand what you are trying to have them do.

MathTutor DVD is one of the companies out there that is trying to help. However, let's be very clear that their DVD's are not just for homeschoolers. They are for any student struggling with math. They have levels ranging from learning to count through Calculus, and even Physics. I received two of their DVD's to review. The first is "Young Minds, Numbers and Counting". The second is "The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor, 8 Hour Video Course". I will go through them one at a time.

"Young Minds, Numbers and Counting" teaching counting from 1 to 10 through engaging photographs, classical music, animals, and everyday objects. My kids are both beyond that level, but I watched it anyway. It's hard to say whether small children would enjoy it. The photography is quite beautiful. It is great that the children can learn to count by using real life photos, many of animals. They are not only learning to count, but also learning vocabulary. The program is narrated by a child, and each new number uses a different classical song in the background. The DVD also contains a few bonus features: repeat play, guess the animal, connect the dots, and picture puzzles. They are not interactive, just demonstrated on the screen. This DVD sells for $24.99.

"The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor" was perfect for my children. My fifth grader especially struggles with word problems. The program is 2 discs, and 15 lessons. The lessons are broken up by operation. Disc 1 contains adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing whole numbers, and then decimals. Disc 2 covers fractions, percents, ratios and proportions. The DVD is set up to be able to choose which lesson you want to watch. Altogether, there are about 8 hours of lesson time. The teacher on the screen explains and breaks down each sample problem. The problem is printed across the bottom of the screen (see sample). He teaches students the key words to look for that determine which operation to use for the problem. That is the most common problem I see in math students. They do not know which operation to choose for a word problem. If you are looking for something exciting that is going to entertain your kids, this is not it. It is a math class after all. However, I feel the instructor, Jason Gibson, does a good job of presenting and breaking down the material. Click here to learn more about the instructor. This DVD sells for $26.99. This is definitely a program that I will use over and over again with my boys.

Math Mammoth

2010-02-04T10:48:00.003-05:00

The people of Math Mammoth were kind enough to offer to me my choice of curriculum to review. The were even kind enough to help me decide which book I should choose for my son. I decided to choose something for my 7 year old for a couple of reasons. First, my 11 year old has fought any attempt at learning math for the past 5 years. We have finally settled into a routine with minimal argument. I did not want to mess with that. Second, my 7 year old first grader is moving so quickly through his math that I cannot keep up. He was nearly finished with his 2nd grade book. The only thing we had not touched on was subtraction with borrowing. That's a long explanation to say that I finally decided to review Math Mammoth's Third Grade curriculum. This is a full and complete program.

It was interesting to get a math curriculum in e-format, but I really like it. I like to put all the boys' work into a 3-ring binder along with field trip materials, photos, certificates to make a kind of scrapbook of their year. I'll post about that another time. My point is that the e-format is much easier to add to their book than ripping pages from a workbook. I decided to print it one chapter at a time. That allows me the flexibility to change my mind in the middle of the school year (as I often do) without having printed a whole bunch of extra papers.

Now, to talk about the meat of the curriculum. It is difficult to really say if the program works or not in the short time I had to review it. I think I will post an update as we get farther into the book. For now, I will post my initial observations of Chapter 1. This chapter focuses on addition. Remember, my son is way ahead and has no trouble in math. Math Mammoth really focuses on mental math (doing the problems in your head). My son was getting very overwhelmed by this and would refuse to do the problems, saying he didn't know the answers. Just to clarify, he totally knew the answers and was just getting frustrated by the layout, having to do the problems mentally, and having so many problems on one page. Today, I decided to try something. I took all the two-digit numbers that he was supposed to add mentally and wrote them vertically so that he could add them on paper. He finished in 10 minutes. The other thing that seems odd to me is that there is not a lot of explanation of new topics. This is not a problem for me with this child, because his brain works the same way mine does. I can easily explain anything to him and he understands exactly what I am saying. That being said, I can make this curriculum work with him no problem. However, my older son would not be able to use this curriculum at all. He would get too overwhelmed by the layout.

Of course, you have to consider that no curriculum is a one size fits all children. It all depends on the child's learning style, your teaching style, and how much patience you have as a teacher. Math Mammoth does offer four different series of products available depending on what you're looking for.

I reviewed the third grade curriculum from the Light Blue Series. This series contains full curriculum choices for grades 1 - 5. Grade 3 is broken into two books. You can download the set for $29.70. It is also available in hard copy if you prefer. They have placement tests available here to help you decide which level you need.

There is also the Blue Series, which is worktexts by topic for grades 1 - 5. This is useful if you just need a supplement of one area, like multiplication for example. Prices range between $2 and $7 per book.

The Golden Series is worksheets by grade for grades 3 - 8. It does not teach the topics, but is just for supplemental practice.

Finally, the Green Series is worksheets by topic for grades 3 - 7. Like the Golden Series, it is for supplemental practice only.

KinderBach

2010-02-03T22:11:00.005-05:00

Is it ever too early to introduce your child to music? I've heard research that says to play music to the child in the womb. I don't know how much of that is true, but I do know the joy on a children's face when they are enjoying music. The next question is, how early should I introduce my child to the piano? Well, KinderBach has lessons to introduce piano to children between the ages of 2 and 7. All you need to do the lessons are a computer with internet access and a keyboard or piano. It does not need to be a full keyboard. If all you have is a small electronic one, that will work just fine.

We received a three-month trial to review KinderBach. I tried it with my 7-year old. I think the goal is to do one lesson a day. However, he wouldn't quit. He just wanted to keep doing lessons. He would do a several weeks worth of lessons in one day. He would probably have kept right on going if I didn't make him stop. The program mostly teaches by video, but there are some PDF printouts to go along with most lessons. That is the only reason I would make him stop. He would just keep printing the lessons, and I was going through a ton of paper. It's a good thing we invested in that laser printer. I'm sure with a younger child they would move at a more normal pace. He is at the upper end of age for whom the program is designed and could just fly through the lessons.

The online membership for KinderBach starts at $7.99/month if you pay for the year up front. If you choose to pay monthly, the cost is $19.99/month. Before you decide, visit their website to check out the video explaining the program, as well as free sample lessons.

I received no other compensation for my review.

Saxon - Facts First

2010-02-01T22:26:00.009-05:00

Here is an online math program that's great for the beginners. Factsfirst was designed by the makers of Saxon Math to help students become more automatic in the facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The goal is to make students more confident. It can be used in conjunction with a Saxon Math program, but does not have to be. You can use it to supplement any curriculum. The bright colors and cute pictures on the pages are great for the young students. Here are some sample pages.

The students will get a little character to dress up as they wish.

The lessons are colorful and fun. New facts are introduced gradually, to encourage mastery.

The arcade rewards kids for completing lessons. The kids just don't realize that they are still learning while "playing" in the arcade.

The parent page shows a matrix of the facts your child has learned.

I received a 90-day trial of FactsFirst to be able to review it. My first grader was easily able to navigate around and do the lessons. Of course, his favorite part was making the guy at the beginning. I love the smart technology. It builds off of what your child knows and becomes personalized to what they need to practice. You can go to the website to see more. A one year membership is $49.99.

MathScore - Another Great Math Resource

2010-01-27T17:10:00.005-05:00

MathScore offered me a free trial to review their math subscription service. The free trial is available to anyone. Click here to sign up and give it a try for yourself. After that, the subscription is $14.95/month for the first child, $5 for the second, and $3.75 for each additional student. However, right now they are offering a discounted rate of $9.95 for the first child. I'm not sure how long that will last.

For homeschoolers, MathScore offers a choice of either a full curriculum or a supplement to your regular curriculum. They offer levels 2nd grade through Algebra 1. I tried the 5th grade which had 105 topics to choose from. The computer makes recommendations on what you should do next, but the decision is ultimately up to the student. I like the fact that Lesson 1 is a CopyCat lesson. This helps to build up the student's keyboarding skills. Numbers are not always covered (or at least not very well) in typing programs. Learning to use the number pad (10-key) is immensely helpful in many jobs. For me, my 10-key skills have actually got me more than one job in the past. The way computers run everything today, that may be a more useful skill than the math itself. I'm kidding, of course. I like the way the lessons are quick and to the point. My easily distractable student is able to stay focused long enough to complete a lesson at a time. I am not crazy about the fact that you are timed and have to repeat the lesson if you run out of time. For some students, that challenge is a good thing. For the easily distractable and frustratable ones it is not. I do love that they can earn "trophies" for completing certain assignments. It is amazing how motivating even fake rewards can be.

As a side note, if you are not a homeschooler, MathScore also offers supplemental practice for school kids.

Keyboarding for the Christian School

2010-01-12T19:48:00.005-05:00

Keyboarding for the Christian School is a learn to type program by Leanne Beitel. I have to admit, when I first looked at this program I did not like it. Most learn to type programs you see now are all electronic, to immediately show errors and wpm scores. This program is all on paper with no bells and whistles. In fact, at first I did not even want to use it with my children. However, the more I looked at it and thought about it, the more this program makes sense. The lessons are laid out in a logical manner. Also, practically speaking when we type something in real life we generally do not copy it from an electronic format. If we are copying at all, it is going to be from a hard copy. Hence, learning to type from paper copy just makes sense. The beginning lessons, of course, are just typing letters starting with "F" and "J". The later lessons, however is where it gets interesting. The later lessons include copying Bible verses. There are also lessons on how to format the page using MS Word. They teach the proper layout for letters, reports, and some extra little formatting tools. I was really impressed with the overall quality of the program. The boys even enjoyed typing even though there were no cartoon characters involved. They just are just learning good quality typing skills. I might even suggest that the hubby use it. If you'd like to see some sample lessons, click here. The best part is that the program is a complete typing program for a very affordable $15.95. They also have an elementary version available for only $12.95. However, my first and fifth graders had no problem using the upper version either. So, either way you get a good product.

Review - Bertie's War

2010-01-08T18:32:00.004-05:00

Kregel Publications has a mission to develop and distribute biblically based resources. I was fortunate to receive one of their books to review.

"Bertie's War" by Barbara Tifft Blakey is a story about Bertie who enters seventh grade at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is a great story to share living history with your children. I love historical fiction. It really helps give an inside look to what daily life was like at a point in history. This story does just that, and more. Bertie not only struggles with the fear of the Communists, but also with just the daily struggles of growing up. I loved getting to know Bertie and more about the 1960's. This is an exceptionally great story to inspire preteens and young teenagers. Bertie's War is available from Kregel Publications for $7.99 here. While visiting the website, be sure to check out all the other resources they have available.

Create Your Own Video Games

2010-01-08T16:24:00.006-05:00

Have your children ever wanted to learn how to create your own video games? My children love video games and were given an opportunity to create their own games. Tektoma: Game tutorials for kids is a subscription service that teaches kids ages 7 to 17 to create their own games. They can create games for racing, arcade, memory, platform or fantasy. The subscription runs $14.95 per month or $140 per year. All materials, projects, and forums are moderated for age appropriate content. It works with Gamemaker, a free download. This is currently only available for Windows users, but they are working on making it available for Mac as well.

We were given a 3 month subscription to review. I was very impressed with how simple the program was to follow. Some programs will say that they are suitable for seven year olds, but really are more suitable for older students. My seven year old was able to understand quite well. I was a little surprised, however, that my children did not get into the program as I thought they would. Regardless, it is a great, safe resource for kids who want to learn the basics of creating games. In today's technology driven world, any experience in this area is a plus.

Worship Guitar

2010-01-06T13:16:00.002-05:00

For a long time I have wanted to learn to play the guitar. My oldest son, who is gifted with music, had also expressed an interest. At $15 to $20 per hour, lessons are just not an option. When I received a copy of Jean Welles Worship Guitar Class to review, I was thrilled. The only challenge was finding a guitar to use for practice. Well, I loaded the kids, the DVD, and the book into the car to drive an hour to Grandpa’s house. However, Grandpa only has electric guitars. Electric guitars are great for some things, but for this music acoustic really works better. Though, it did give us a good chance to look over the program with my dad who is an avid guitar player. He was able to give me some good input. I found the program very easy to use and follow. Now, that doesn’t mean that it makes the guitar any easier to play. That only comes with practice. Between the book and the DVD, I was able to figure out the fingerings for at least the first couple chords. I was also able to help my 11 year old learn them as well. I was a little skeptical that one could learn from a DVD program as well as lessons, but it is definitely doable. I would recommend it as a valid option for anyone starting out, without wanting to spend a fortune on private lessons. My dad said that the lessons were very good and he would recommend it also.

I was only able to view Volume I, which is available for $24.95. If you are ready to jump in with both feet you can get the complete class with all four volumes and some bonuses for $99.95. There are even some bigger packages that include a guitar. You can view a sample of the first lesson here. This particular program is designed for people ages 9 and up. If you have a younger musician, they do have another program available for kids starting around age 5.

The Tortoise and the Hare

2009-12-18T08:58:00.003-05:00

I always loved “The Tortoise and the Hare” as a child, but had never heard it set to music. Maestro Classics has done just that. They have taken many classical stories and put them with music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Simon. I was privileged to receive a sample of “The Tortoise and the Hare” to review.

First, on the CD is the story itself. I popped it into the CD player. I was curious, and my kids love music. I had no idea the results would be so entertaining. My seven year old was fascinated by the story. He started wandering around the couch in a circle. As the story progressed, it got much more interesting. As the hare was racing, little one would race around the couch. As the tortoise was racing, he would tiptoe v e r y s l o w l y and dramatically. He definitely enjoyed the story.

It doesn’t end there. The CD also contains lessons about the story and about the music. There is also a fun sing-along song. In my opinion, this is a fabulous way to develop a love of both classic literature and classical music within your child. The case also contains a little booklet. The booklet has a ton of information in it. It shows the instruments of the orchestra, notes and time signatures, information about the animals in the story, dot-to-dot activity, music for the sing-along, and more.

The CD is very affordable at $16.98, or 3 for $45. I am looking forward to ordering Peter and the Wolf. That is one of my all time favorite musical stories, and I can’t wait to share that with my boys. To see other reviews, click here.

Fun Math?

2009-12-15T10:40:00.004-05:00

Math. It’s one of those topics that you either love or hate. In my house, I have one child that loves it and is very, very good at it. I have another one that does not like it in the least. He fights about every little thing. It’s not that he doesn’t understand it. He is actually quite good at math when he stops fighting and puts his head into his work. So, I get very excited when I am allowed to test a new math program. Maybe, just maybe this will be the one to work. We were given a little over a month to try out www.mathletics.com from 3P Learning. This is a subscription based math program that has a few different aspects to it.

First, the kids get to make an avatar (little character). They earn credits to be able to buy new clothes, accessories, or backgrounds. My boys love this kind of thing. It can be a little bit of a distraction, though, depending on the child. There is a curriculum section where they do lessons to earn credits. L, the fifth grader, would do a lesson and then spend 20 minutes decorating his avatar. Then, after some prodding and whining, he would do a couple more lessons. After a couple of days, he did get the idea that he had to actually do some work. There was a lot less whining after that. E, my first grader, is a different story. He is working in second grade math, so I signed him up for second grade. He finished it in less than two weeks. For the rest of the time, he was working in third grade. I would actually have to stop him and pry him off if we had something else to do. I would not call it a complete curriculum, but rather a very effective tool for practice and helping cement concepts. The subscription, compared to a lot of subscription sites, is very affordable at $59 per year. However, if you know the human calculator’s favorite number, you can get the subscription at a discounted rate of $49.95.

There is also an area to play “Mathletics Live”. This gives kids an opportunity to drill and compete against kids from around the globe. It is very secure and no communication takes place between the children. It only shows their first name and what country they are from, along with their avatar. My oldest just discovered this, and thought it was cool when someone popped up from the UK or Australia. There are five levels to choose from in competition.

My little one is very disappointed that our trial period is running out. I am sure we will be renewing after Christmas. I would hate to deprive him of his math game. Oh, and just in case you don’t know, the answer is 9.

Spelling Success!! Finally!!

2009-12-02T13:35:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, the most difficult things to teach are the things we do really well. Spelling, in school, was never a challenge for me. With a semi-photographic memory, I could look at the list once and remember how to spell the words. I did not have to incessantly drill to get 100’s on my spelling tests. I did care why words were spelled a certain way. I just knew how to spell them. I don’t really ever remember learning the rules. They were just something that everyone knows.

Unfortunately, not everyone has a semi-photographic memory for spelling words. Everyone does not automatically know the spelling rules. I felt like my 11 year old son was way behind in spelling. No matter how many times we practiced spelling words, he still could not spell when it really mattered. I found from talking with my network of homeschool moms, that this is actually a common problem, particularly with boys. When I found received the All About Spelling program in the mail, I was hoping it would not just be the same old routine. They claim to be a multi-sensory approach to learning spelling that will work for students of every learning style. I opened the package, and was a little overwhelmed at first. Once I got everything sorted, it wasn’t so bad.

Here is how the program works. With each level, you get a teacher manual and a student material packet. The teacher manual is pretty self explanatory. The student material packet is quite unique. It contains flash cards, divided into groups. There are phonogram cards, sound cards, cards to learn the key concepts and word cards. The materials also contain a couple of fun extras. The teacher manual/student material combo sells for $29.95 for level 1 and $39.95 for levels 2 through 5. Level 6 is still in production. In addition, you will also need the letter tiles, magnets, and phonogram CD-rom. This is sold in a kit for $26.95, but is used for all levels. You can also order extra student materials if you wish, but that is really only needed if you have more than one student working in the book at the same time.

I started both my kids at level one at the same time. I have a 5th grader and a 1st grader. The books are not labeled for a grade level, so if you have an older child who is struggling, they won’t be offended by doing 1st or 2nd grade work. My boys love using the letter tile magnets (which you have to cut out and stick on the magnets). At first, in level one, my fifth grader was able to get through several lessons a day. Even though he seemed to fly through them, I still made him do all the lessons to make sure we didn’t miss any important concepts. Now he is working through level 2 and I can definitely see the results. Each concept is taught in a very logical order, and then reviewed in following lessons. He is finally remembering the rules and applying them to his other writing work. I cannot believe the progress he has made in two months compared with the last five years. I will definitely be continuing through all levels of this program. My 1st grader is now almost finished with level 1 and just amazes me day by day with what he is accomplishing. We had to spend some extra time on the concept of “th”, because he is only seven and still has a hard time saying that sound. Now he is hearing the sound finally and knows when it is used in spelling, even if he still refuses to say it properly. Yes, I said refuses.

To read more reviews, click here.

Great Free History Resource

2009-11-23T22:04:00.004-05:00

America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty is a free educational program developed originally for the Houston Independent School District. It has been made available from the American Heritage Education Foundation for all teachers. You can visit their website to download the free e-book or request a free CD. If you'd prefer, you can order a print copy for $19.50.

I received the CD to review. The CD includes lessons for elementary, middle grades, and high school on the same CD. The basic information is the same for each level, but the activities are tailored to the proper level. My children are in elementary, so we started those lessons. Because the program was originally designed for the public school classroom, I thought it would be more fun to include some friends in the lessons. I had a total of 6 students, ranging in age from 4 to 14. We had to make some adjustments and skip some things with the 4 and 7 year old, but the others all did very well. There are a total of 16 units. Each unit gives a breakdown at the beginning. It tells the purpose, objective of the lesson, and theme for that unit. It also tells what educational requirements that lesson meets based on grade level. It gives and approximation of how long it will take, what materials are needed, and what to prepare. I found the program very easy to use. I also love that the activities for each lesson are very different from each other. It is great for keeping the student's attention, so that they don't get bored by doing the same thing each week. It is not a comprehensive American history curriculum, but rather teaches an understanding of the foundation of our country. It helps the students understand why the government is set up the way it is.

Wow! What a Picture!

2009-11-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

Since I've started teaching my children at home, I have begun learning history in a whole new way. There are many things that I learned about in school in different classes that I now know actually happened at the same time. The Amazing Bible Timeline puts that into even more perspective. It is fabulous to see the overlapping of history and get an actual picture of when things happened. This incredible timeline includes 6,000 years of history all in a 37" x 45" chart. It is a great supplement to any history curriculum, really helping the visual learner. You can find out more information and order your Amazing Bible Timeline here for $29.97 plus shipping. When you order, they also have some interesting bonus downloads for you. I love the interactive map of the Holy Land. It gives you a base map, and then you can overlay the map from different points of history.

ABC Teach

2009-11-02T11:45:00.002-05:00

Are you looking for supplemental resources for your curriculum? Do you like to print worksheets? If so, you might want to look at abcteach. abcteach is an online resource with many valuable teaching tools. They have over 5,000 free printable and resources. But, for only $40/year you can get much, much more.

I was given one month to check out all the member site has to offer. Unfortunately, due to our busy schedule, I don't think I even made a dent in trying all the resources. What I did try, however, was fabulous. I was able to create my own handwriting worksheets. I chose to use Bible verses, but you can type in anything you want. There are many different fonts to choose from in both printing and cursive. You can also customize and print your own math worksheets, or puzzles using your own spelling lists. With over 35,000 printable worksheets, and updates being added all the time, the possibilities are endless. You can see why it was impossible to try everything in a month. I have used other websites in the past that offer printable worksheets. However, they were all mostly preschool/early elementary resources. I have never seen one that offers so much at so many different levels. I was able to find things that are perfect for both my first and fifth graders, and saw some things that would even be suitable for middle school and high school.

I generally do not like membership sites due to the cost and trying to keep up with it. However, abcteach at only $40 for the whole year is, in my opinion, well worth saving up for. I am definitely going to be renewing. It is even a great resource if you have kids in public/private school for extra practice just where they need it.

A Modern Education

2009-10-29T14:48:00.002-04:00

Technology today seems to be moving at the speed of light. Fifteen years ago, I loved all the new technology and being "up" on everything. Twelve years ago, I got married to a man who absolutely loves technology. I became very lazy after that. I would let him do things, because he really enjoyed it. Fast forward to today, I have really lost touch with technology and am a little behind. I hate to admit that there are even times I have had to ask my 11 year old for tech assistance. That being said, I appreciate the importance of familiarizing my kids with up-to-date technology in order to keep them successful in the highly competitive market of the future. The question is, "How do I integrate modern technology into my child's education?"

Educaching GPS Based Curriculum for Teachers is one answer. Allow me to explain. Geocaching is a fast growing outdoor hobby involving a handheld GPS device. Geocachers are on a treasure hunt of sorts. High tech hide-and-seek would be another name. A similar hobby that is very popular in our local homeschool community is letterboxing. A box is hidden somewhere with a logbook inside. You "sign" the logbook with your stamp, and there is usually a stamp in the box to "sign" your personal book to show that you were there. Educaching effectively combines those two hobbies to make a high tech educational experience.

The Educaching curriculum is 128 pages of resources for how to get started. The first section is teacher training. Even if you know nothing about how to use a handheld GPS device, you will be able to learn from and use this curriculum. Next, there are 20 lesson plans for you to follow with your children or class full of children. There are lessons on averages, money, collecting and organizing data, cause and effect, chemical or physical change, paleontology, nature, and more. My kids like the treasure/scavenger hunt idea so much, they don't even realize they're learning. Also included are printable worksheets to go along with the lessons. Though the book is well laid out, it is not the kind of curriculum that you can just hand to your kids and say "go for it". It does involve teacher planning and preparation. It is not difficult, however. I just want to to be prepared.

The curriculum is available in two formats. There is the electronic (PDF) format available for $32. If you prefer, you can get it already printed in a 3-ring binder with CD for printing worksheets. This is also $32, but you must add $6.95 for shipping and handling.

For more information, please visit the Educaching website.

Update on Sarah Books

2009-10-21T10:52:00.002-04:00

Author Jim Baumgardner has offered a very special discount to my blog readers. This offer is not available online, only by a special order form by mail. If you are interested in receiving the order form, please leave a comment with your email address or contact me personally. These are great books, and the owner/author is great.

Great Historical Fiction

2009-10-19T18:13:00.003-04:00

To me, it does not matter if you sell the most amazing product in the world. If the service is bad, I will not buy your product. However, if you have a good product and good service, I will not only keep coming back but will tell all my friends about it. Sarah Books is one such company. Jim Baumgardner, the author of Sarah Books sent to all TOS Crew members a copy of Sarah's Wish to review. Not only did he send me the book, but also signed it. He went over and above with all his friendly communication and extra touches when sending this out.

Oh, that's right, I'm supposed to be reviewing the book. Sarah's Wish is a story about a girl of 12 years old. Sarah lives with her mother who is a hand on the Underground Railroad. After her mother dies in a tragic accident, the story goes on to tell of Sarah's journey to find a new family. It is a great story to give kids a glimpse into what life was like during the days of slavery. The story is begins in the free state of Ohio. Just across the river in Kentucky, Sarah discovers what life is like in a slave state. I really enjoyed reading Sarah's Wish, and cannot wait to read the other's in the series. It is written at a level perfect for tweens. It can be a great read-aloud for the whole family, too. It's also fun for mom's who can steal a chance to escape and read, without taking too much time. You can read excerpts from all three Sarah Books here. You can order Sarah's Wish here for $9.99.

Guardian Angel Publishing

2009-10-18T18:57:00.005-04:00

Guardian Angel Publishing is an online children's bookstore. They have tons of fun, educational book choices for babies through elementary age. All their books are in e-book format. They are even beginning to offer some apps for your i-Pod Touch or i-Phone. I don't personally have either of those, but they look fun. There is even a freebie section on the website that offers some free mini-books and coloring pages. I received from Guardian Angel Publishing seven e-books to review.

Maybe We Are Flamingos by Safari Sue Thurman - I'm starting with this one, because it was our favorite. This is a cute story about two baby flamingos that wonder why they are a different color than all the other flamingos. They found out that flamingos get their color as they grow from what they eat. They go on to imagine what they would look like if they ate different foods. The boys were laughing their heads of by the end of the story (and I was too).

Hamster Holidays (Noun and Adjective Adventures) by Cynthia Reeg - This was a cute story. Even better, was the educational material mixed into it. All the nouns and adjectives are highlighted to help young readers learn about them. It also is a great book to learn about the months of the year.

Stubby's Destiny by Dixie Phillips, Rainbow Sheep by Kim Chatel, and Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair by Mary Jean Kelso were all great stories also.

No Bones About It... by Bill Kirk and Earthquake by Susan J. Berger are not really story books. These are both great science lessons. No Bones About It... is about bones. It is presented in a really fun rhyming manner to really help kids remember the bones of the body. Earthquake covers a ton of information, but is still presented in a way that is fun for kids.

Click on any of the book titles above to link to more information about the books. Also, be sure to check out the rest of Guardian Angel Publishing's website to view all their other e-books. They even have video previews of the e-books to view. Most e-books are around $5. They do have print books available for varying prices plus shipping.

Scrub a Dub, Dub

2009-10-13T11:43:00.004-04:00

Reviewing homeschooling products has been a great joy over the past few months. It is always fun to go check the mailbox or email and find a new surprise. You wouldn't believe my surprise when I opened a recent box to find soap.

Virginia Soaps & Scents was developed by a homeschooling family. It started as a school project and has blossomed into a great family business. They make handcrafted soaps from all natural ingredients. In other words, they make good, old-fashioned soap. In the letter that came with the soap, they claimed it to be very good for your skin and could even help clear up acne. That made me immediately skeptical. I have suffered from acne for about 20 years now. I have tried all kinds of products, including prescriptions. About five years ago, I found a product that I loved and that helped dramatically. I was not looking for a new product. However, since they sent it to me, I figured I may as well try it. WOW!!!!!! Now really, my face has been mostly clear for the past five years. The heat and humidity does not work well with oily skin, though. Add in a dab of hormonal issues, and I do still get quite a few breakouts. Virginia Soaps & Scents sent me three of their varieties of soap. The first one I tried was Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey. Within two days, my face was so clear that I hardly needed any makeup. I also received Coconut Lemongrass and Fresh Orange. I do currently have a couple breakouts, but still not nearly as bad as what it was before. When I order, I think I will stick with the Oatmeal, Milk & Honey. The other benefit, is that I have one bar that I use for my face and whole body. I do not have to have two different products, do not have to mess with opening bottles, and actually save water by taking shorter showers. Oooh, and I can't forget that it makes the whole bathroom smell yummy all day. The soaps are available online for $4.50 each or 3 for $12.

I also received from them a Ginger Lime Shampoo Bar. That one really baffled me. How does one use a bar of shampoo? Let me first say, that I have tried for years to find products to add volume to my hair and get it to cooperate with me. I decided, that if I was going to try the all natural shampoo bar, that I would need to try it without adding other products to my hair and just keep it all natural. I was amazed. After just the first washing, my hair had much more volume and I didn't have the need for gel or hairspray. I couldn't believe my eyes. It did point out the fact that I was overdue for a haircut. Once I got a trim, my hair cooperated even more. I can diffuse it and make it curly, use a round brush to make is soft and wavy, or straighten it. All the styles look great, and keep without using any other product. Unfortunately, I ran out and had to use my regular shampoo and conditioner this morning. My hair is once again out of control. I will definitely be ordering more and soon, possibly in some different scents. The shampoo bars are $5.50 each or 2 for $10.

But wait...there's more. I also received a kit to make laundry soap. The kit consists of a grated soap bar, along with a powder mixture of washing soda and borax. This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time, but just have not gotten around it. The kit made it very easy. I was a little nervous about how well it would work. I have some seriously tough laundry. My husband works outside in the Florida heat. His work shirts get just a little stinky (sorry honey). We have to buy the expensive laundry soap, or it doesn't even begin to take the smell out. My little one also still has some bathroom issues that make for stinky laundry. I was very eager to try the soap out on my laundry. The first load I did was the kids clothes. I really liked the clean, fresh smell. The next load was the stinky work shirts. It did not completely take the smell out. But to be quite honest, the expensive soap does not completely take the smell out either. So in my opinion, it did not work any better or worse than my normal brand. I think once I use up my supply, I will be switching to the homemade permanently. It is a great feeling to not use all the added chemicals and preservatives from the store bought products. The kit sells for $4.95 and makes 2 gallons of soap. They say this is enough to do about 64-72 loads of laundry. There are also other options for added savings, so be sure to check out the website.

Mystery of History

2009-10-11T13:47:00.004-04:00

What does the U.S. government have in common with Ancient Rome? Who was Nero? What do heart shaped cookies have to do with St. Valentine? These are just some of the questions answered by the "Mystery of History, Volume II". Bright Ideas Press sent me a copy of this book to review and explore with my kids. (Volume III is pictured below)I was thrilled to get this. I have been searching and trying various programs to try to find a history curriculum to fit. My boys are four years apart, and have very different needs academically. Regardless, in the end, they need to know the same information. There are some classes like language, reading, and math that need to be taught seperately. History, on the other hand, is something that can be shared if it can be made adaptable for each level. "Mystery of History" is exactly the kind of program I've been searching for. The book is designed to be used with students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. There are 28 weeks worth of lessons. Each week contains a pretest, three lessons, review, and excercise or quiz. The lessons all include a short reading and activities. The activities are what make the curriculum customizable. There are some activities recommended for all students, but do include some adaptation for the younger ones. Then each lesson has activities listed that are broken into younger (K-3), middle (4-8), and older (high school) categories. I have been able to do some of the middle activities with my 5th grader, or sometimes I just have them both do the activity for younger students. It is great to have the suggestions and options available. Volume II starts at Pentecost in A.D. 29 and continues to the invention of the printing press in 1456. I love how it integrates Bible and church history in with what was going on in the rest of the world. When I was learning history those were very seperated. We learned about church history at church and world history at school. It is very cool to see them interact with each other, because they are not seperate. For example, Nero was Emporer of Rome during most of Paul's journeys. This curriculum is also not overwhelming. I was able to add books from the library and add some projects to suit our needs. In a book my son was reading he came across a character named Nero who was modeled after the Roman Emporer. I had him write a paragraph to compare and contrast the two "Neros". That is not something he will soon forget.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the timeline. Part of the review activities is to create a timeline to hang on the wall as a visual reminder of what we've studied. Here is a picture of what we've done so far. (Sorry, it's not a very good picture.)

Bright Ideas Press also has tons of other great products for history, geography, and even a bit of science. Mystery of History Volume 2 is available in book form for $49.95. If you prefer, you could get an audio CD for $48.95 and CD-ROM with printables for $19.95. Visit the Bright Ideas website to see all the other products they have available, including Mystery of History Volume 1. I will absolutely be looking at the other volumes when we finish this one. I am also looking forward to going back through it in a few years and doing the projects for older students along with it.

Nature Friend Magazine

2009-10-07T20:43:00.003-04:00

Nature Friend magazine "Helping Families Explore the Wonders of God's Creation"

I recently received two issues of Nature Friend magazine to review. My boys and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring nature through the pages of this magazine. I personally am not much of an outdoor person, and do not like hands on contact with animals. I do, however, love learning about animals. My boys also really love learning about animals. The articles in Nature Friend are all presented in a way that is easy to understand, but does not talk down to the students. The target audience is 8 - 16 year olds, but can be enjoyed by younger siblings, parents, and grandparents. We had a great time going through and working together on some of the activities as a family. It was a great spark for some fun conversation. We were going through a word search, finding names of animals. We came to the word "gorilla", and my six year old bursts out with, "Male gorillas over the age of 11 are called silverbacks." He sounded just like a documentary. My fifth grader's favorite part was the learn to draw segment. He learned how to draw a sunflower. Both the boys love looking at the submissions from other kids their age. Nature Friend is also filled with amazing nature photos. A one year subscription will run you $36.

For an additional $2 per issue, you can get a study guide to go along with the magazine. The study guide is a great way to find out what your children are comprehending. It is filled with fun activities plus features on writing and photography. Right now through November 30, 2009, you can get $3 off a new subscription. Simply use coupon code BLOG93 when ordering. Visit the Nature Friend website to view some of their nature photos and for ordering information.

Write Like Dickens

2009-09-29T13:08:00.001-04:00

Would you like your students to be able to write like Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, or Robert Louis Stevenson? Or, maybe you’d just like them to be able to write a complete paragraph. “Write With the Best” is a two volume writing curriculum from Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services (EDUDPS). It is designed for students in 3rd through 12th grades who already have a basic understanding of the parts of speech. Each volume is designed to last about 18 weeks or one semester.

I started Volume I with my 5th grader. It is broken up into 9 units with 10 short daily lessons each. The lessons are designed to take from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the student. Each unit starts with reading an excerpt from classic literature. Unit One is about descriptive paragraphs. They used an excerpt from Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. It was a paragraph that describes the undersea creature. If you know anything about boys, you’ll have an idea about how excited my son was to read about a monster. Then for the next nine days, it helps the students break apart the paragraph and learn how to create one on their own. I think that for the right student it would be a great curriculum. For mine, it really has showed me some gaps in his language arts skills. So I am going to back up and go over some of the basics with him again. After I do that, we will definitely be finishing this curriculum, and probably continuing on to Volume II.

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks

2009-09-28T17:42:00.015-04:00

What is a lapbook? It is a collection of mini books on a topic, put together into a folder. There are a number of ways to do lapbooks. Many people are very creative and can come up with the ideas on their own. Other people, like me, need to rely on the creativity of others. Paula and Nancy from A Journey Through Learning are two such creative people. They have put together a collection of lapbooks and unit studies to help out us non-creative people.

My six year old and I worked together on the Autumn lapbook.

It was loaded with information. There is a one page informational reading followed by one or more mini books to stick into the big folder. Then, there is another informational reading followed by more mini books. I love all the different ways to make the mini books. Since, a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some pictures of the finished product.

This particular lapbook can be purchased from A Journey Through Learning’s website (click here) as a download for $13, CD for $14, or printed for $21. Here are some of their other lapbooks:

I am personally looking forward to the study “The Parables of Jesus”. My six year old is looking forward to learning about reptiles. Though, I will probably use the other books as a guide for making a notebook rather than a lapbook. I do not personally like making lapbooks, as I don’t know what to do with them when they are done. If I make it into a notebook, it fits nicely into each child’s portfolio binder. I will also be checking out some of A Journey Through Learning’s unit studies. When the boys get it in their head that they want to learn something, they have a one track mind for a while. This is a great way to thoroughly cover a topic without a lot of extra work for the teacher.

Making My Home a Little Healthier

2009-09-25T20:59:00.004-04:00

I am probably one of the pickiest eaters on the planet. It is not a big secret. I am always very up front with everyone I share a meal with that there are certain foods I just will not eat. On the other hand, I have many foods that I really love. Of course, not too many of them are on the good for your body list. I do know how important good nutrition is. I did study health and fitness in college, after all. However, having a head knowledge of something and applying it practically in my life are two very different things.

All of a sudden, that is changing. Well, maybe it's not all that sudden. I have been making an effort for a while to get my family to eat better. Then, I got the curriculum Nutrition 101: Choose Life. Like I said, I studied nutrition in college. But it was a very general, overall picture of foods that are good for you, foods that you should avoid, and the science of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. This book is so much more than that.

Nutrition 101: Choose Life is broken up into six units. Each unit covers a system of the body. We started with the brain/nervous system. There are several chapters in each unit that break things down even further. It really goes into detail about how the system works, what nutrients are good for that system, and what to avoid. The information is incredible. It is really making me realize why good nutrition is so important. The boys love listening and learning even though some of the information gets a little too detailed for them. Next, we went to the digestive system. This was a great unit for my family. For those of you who don't know, my 6yo suffers from some digestive issues (severe constipation). Initially it was caused by diet, but we have been trying to correct that. This unit gave us even more information on how to do that.

I haven't even told you the best part yet. It is great to have all this information, but really, how practical is it to apply this to everyday life in busy households? How can I make these foods into a meal my family will eat? Every single chapter has a recipe to go with it. Did I mention how much I love to eat? We studied the countries of the world last year, and had to make a dinner from that country as we studied it. I was thrilled that we could do the same thing with this. I like that it is only one recipe though. We make the recipe and then combine it with something more familiar. That way, we get to try a little something new without being overwhelmed. Some of the recipes are guacamole for the brain, spice cookies for digestions, No Dairy No Chocolate "Chocolate" Pudding for respiration, and hummus for the joints. We are only to the second unit, but our favorite recipe so far are the spice cookies. They are loaded with high fiber foods that my 6yo desperately needs. I was afraid he wouldn't eat them. I told you I was a picky eater, but he's even worse. He loved the cookies. I think I am going to be making these cookies a lot.

The 448 page curriculum is available from Growing Healthy Homes in two formats. The book format is $99.95, and the CD is $79.95. Let me just say, it is worth every penny. I like having it on my computer, because then I can print out the recipes and not have to worry about the book getting spilled on in the kitchen. This is definitely a must have book, especially if you (like me) struggle with making healthy choices.

Visit the Growing Healthy Homes website for more information and ordering.

God Gives Me Just What I Need, Just When I Need It

2009-09-24T22:42:00.003-04:00

Sometimes life can get in the way of God. It is difficult to see the forest through the trees. There is so much garbage and stress everywhere we turn. I received a great package in the mail today of another curriculum to review, but it was oddly discouraging at first. Not the product, but it made me think of something else. I am purposely being vague about what it is and why it was discouraging because I do not want that to reflect poorly on my future review of the product. And the product actually is an answer to prayer and something I've been looking forward to teaching my kids. So what's my point? After being discouraged, I took a few moments to stop and pray about it, but then had get kids ready for activities.

After the activities finished, we came home to start the bedtime routine. Chris always reads the boys a story, and then reads from their boys' devotional Bible. Tonight, their reading was from 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. When I'm looking for encouragement, 2 Chronicles is not normally the first book that pops into my head. That is one of the history books that talks about wars, and Israel doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, then repenting and repeating the circle all over again. I should know by now that the Living Word is meaningful and encouraging in every book. It just always amazes and awes me that scriptures seem to show up just when I seem to need them.

I am going to highlight a few verses from the chapter that hit me the hardest, but I highly encourage you to read the whole chapter for yourself. At this time, Jehoshaphat is king of Judah. They are at war with Moab and Ammon. It appears that the people of Judah at this time are in the stage of serving the Lord. A Levite named Jahaziel is speaking in verse 15 "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.'". Jahaziel may have been speaking to Jehoshaphat and the Judeans, but the Lord was speaking directly to me today. In verse 17, he goes on to say, "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you." Goose bumps. Then, they get ready to go out to the battle. Verse 21 says, "After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army saying: 'Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.' As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated." WOW!!!!!!! Seriously? They sang praises to God, and He did the rest.

That reminds me of another story. Let's skip ahead several hundred years to the book of Acts, chapter 16. Paul and Silas were in prison. What would you do if you were thrown in prison today? I imagine most of us would carry on some sort of whoa-is-me act. What did Paul and Silas do in prison? Why, they prayed and sang praises to God, of course. I'm sure most of you know what happened next. Verse 26 says, "Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose." Through that incident, the jailer and his whole family were saved.

The bottom line is simple. No matter your battles today, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever." Sing praise, sing praise today, tomorrow, and always. Let God handle the tough stuff. Peace and blessings.

A Really Cool Gadget

2009-09-23T08:13:00.003-04:00

I think the picture says everything, but I am going to tell you about this cool gadget anyway. Wasn't I shocked one day to get my mail and find a book holder? Honestly, I was not all that excited. I was thinking in my head, "what am I going to do with a book holder?" Let me tell you, my opinion quickly changed when we started using the STUDYPOD. It is probably the greatest thing for students since the pencil. At first, I didn't think it would be valuable to us because my oldest child is in 5th grade. He does not use books at the computer to take notes and write reports like the picture shows. After I took it out of the box and set it up, I had to find a book to try. My son's 5th grade math book was conveniently left on the table, so I opened it and set it on the STUDYPOD. Several weeks later, the book is still there. My son absolutely loves it. There is no longer a need to worry about the page accidentally getting turned, because the STUDYPOD holds them in place. It also is portable. You can fold it up to the size of a book and carry it to the library, school, or wherever else you might study. Our STUDYPOD is black, but they do come in other colors (including my favorite, pink). The regular price is $19.95, which is very reasonable and worth the price. Of course, I know you love a deal as much as I do. The company was kind enough to offer a coupon code for my readers who would like to order online. Visit the website to place your order, and enter coupon code TOSBLOG5. Then, enjoy your new cool gadget.

Boy, Oh Boy!

2009-09-04T16:07:00.002-04:00

Today has been one adventure after another. It is, however, nothing unusual for the mother of boys. I, myself, have one sister. Growing up, I was a shy child. Other than a couple of boy cousins, I had very little interaction with boys. Really, it wasn't until I met my husband that I said more than a few words to anyone of the male species. I really wasn't even very good at talking to my dad. But, meet my husband I did. We got married, and 14 months later God blessed us with a bouncing baby boy. I was quite intimidated at first, not quite sure what to do with him. I had practiced all my life taking care of my dolls, doing their hair, dressing them up in cute dresses, etc. I was one of the girliest girls you'd ever want to meet. I don't like animals, and really don't like bugs. The name we gave him means enlightenment. Oh, did he enlighten me. Not only to the challenges of boys, but also the joys. Then, four years later, we were blessed with another boy. Don't get me wrong, there are times I long to have a little girl, but I would not trade my boys for the world. In a million years, I would've never dreamed I would grow up and have two boys. I'm glad God had other plans.

As I've already said, boys bring one adventure after another. Today was no exception. First, we were in the car on our way to the park. We had picked up some friends on the way. I am driving along listening to the conversation of my 6yo son and his little 6yo friend (who is a girl). They start talking about money. They both are wishing for all kinds of money and trying to out do each other. Then, our little friend says, "I'm broke". My son replies, "I have some money. Cents is money, do you have any cents?" She says, "I had some cents, but I can't find it." He says, "I have more cents than you." Mind you, I am listening to this while driving. I cannot contain my laughter. I am getting tears in my eyes from laughing. I think the cutest part is that they each knew exactly what the other was talking about. It was just an innocent conversation about how much cents they had. It makes me smile just thinking about it. That, however, was just the beginning.

There are a lot of "firsts" that children go through in their lifetime. It is always an emotional time for parents. We are excited because they are growing up, and we are sad because they are growing up. When you think of firsts, there are a lot of events that come to mind. First steps, first words, first day of school, first date just scratches the surface. There are some firsts, on the other hand, that a mom doesn't really think about until all of a sudden it happens. Especially with boys, there are firsts of things that I never went through and, therefore, had no reason to think about them. Today was one of those firsts. My almost 11yo is in band. Sports are a new thing that we are experiencing with my 6yo. Last fall, he started playing baseball. He wanted to sign up because his friend was playing. He really had no interest in baseball. I didn't think he would ever want to play again after that first season. Well, he decided to sign up in the spring again because he heard they got trophies. That was all it took. One little trophy, and now he is hooked to baseball for life, I think. This fall, we signed him up for the 7 -8 year old group even though he won't be 7 until the end of October. He was so much bigger than all the kids on his team in the spring, and I knew there would be new 4 year olds starting this fall. Even on his new team he is one of the tallest, though everyone is much closer to his size. I can't imagine him on the team with little tiny 4 year olds. Sorry, I am off on a tangent. The 7 and 8 year old group hits the ball from a pitching machine. The pitching machine is set to pitch at 40-something mph. Many of those kids can really hit that ball hard when it is going that fast. Therefore, we decided it was probably important that he be protected. Herein lies the first of today. That is an item I never would've imagined buying in a million years. So I'm standing in Target just a little bit intimidated again. How does one know what size to buy? Does he really need it? Should I buy it or not? Oh, the questions that were running through my brain. I did finally decide on one to buy, now I hope and pray that it is the right one. Just another ordinary day being the mom of boys.

Quarter Mile Update

2009-08-30T20:00:00.002-04:00

I just received an exciting message from Christopher at Quarter Mile Math. He is offering a discount to all my readers to receive $5 off any standard or deluxe product. All you have to do is visit http://www.quartermilemath.com/ and enter coupon code 7L7R7. Happy Shopping!!!

The Lowdown

2009-08-26T23:05:00.002-04:00

Things have been absolutely crazy in my world lately. It's been super busy, but in good ways with one exception. We had to make an unexpected trip up to Indiana because Chris' dad had some major complications after a surgery and we weren't sure if he was going to make it or not. Thankfully, he is doing much better and is almost ready to go home finally.

The boys are growing up so fast. My oldest will be 11 very soon and has started 5th grade. I don't feel old enough to have a fifth grader. I remember some very significant events from when I was in 5th grade. That was the year we moved to Wisconsin. I was not happy about that at the time. In January of my 5th grade year was when the Challenger accident occurred. Back to my son, he has started piano lessons. I think in a few short weeks, he has surpassed anything I've ever been able to do on the piano. He is very musically gifted (gets that from his dad). He may be starting percussion in band as well. Little one, who is in 1st grade now, is mathematically gifted (like me). He just started 1st grade and is about halfway through his 2nd grade math book. Amazing. He has also become very taken with the game of baseball. He started playing last fall because his friend played. He hated every minute of it, played in the sand, and would not do anything he was supposed to. Then, time for spring season came around and he announces that he wants to play again. He found out that they gave away trophies in the spring. He was much improved. I still wasn't sure if he would consider playing again. A few weeks ago, he saw a sign on the side of the road advertising football. He said he wanted to play football. OK. I start looking into various football programs. I find one that will fit, and ask him if he is sure he wants to play football. "No mom, I want to play baseball again. I want to get more trophies than (my friend)." No, he is not competitive at all.

I am working with some other homeschooling families to open a new non-traditional private school. The paperwork and fundraising for that has kept me very busy in between schooling and extracurriculars. Glory Bound Academy should be sending out enrollment packets starting next week. If you would like more information on that, please email gloryboundacademy@gmail.com.

Getting chosen to review homeschooling products has been such an unbelievable blessing. When we order our curriculum every year in February, we usually just get the basics. Occasionally throughout the year we have the opportunity to get something a little extra, or try something new. But since July we have been receiving all sorts of new things to try, and having a blast doing so. If you haven't seen the reviews, please go back through the history and take a look. I have definitely found some great products to add to our regular shopping list. We will be making some changes for now, and the future. I think our favorite product that I've written about so far is the Grapevine Studies. The boys are still enjoying that. Though we are taking a break this week because I am waiting for new ink for the printer. There are a bunch more things that we are working on and some we need to get started on. I will give you a little sneak peek into what we are doing. We started a new history book yesterday and so far really enjoying it. We have a nutrition course to get started on. We have five lapbooks about various topics and I am trying to decide which one to do before I have to write the review. We have a very interesting writing program that we started with my oldest one this week. Writing and spelling has been something that he has struggled with. So if this helps even a little bit, it will get a glowing review from me. It utilizes some great classic literature. This week we are working with a passage from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". I can't wait to see what will be delivered next.

What Boy Doesn't Love a Car Race?

2009-08-26T09:32:00.002-04:00

The Quarter Mile Math is a self-competitive software for practicing math skills. Children solve math problems to make either a horse or a race care move up the straight, quarter mile track. They are racing against their previous best scores. I love that concept. I am very competitive with myself. I love to try to beat my past times, scores, goals, whatever. Unfortunately, I'm afraid, my children did not inherit that same passion. Or maybe it is just because it involves math. The graphics of The Quarter Mile Math are very simple. There are not a lot of distractions all over the screen. It is just practicing math, and challenging yourself.

There are over 70,000 problems ranging in level from kindergarten through pre-algebra. The Standard CD version is split into three levels. Each level is $39.95 each, or you can get the complete set for $89.95. The Deluxe version comes with student progress tracking, includes all levels, and is a very good value at only $2.95 per month for the whole family. Yes, you read that right, two dollars and 95 cents. That includes printable progress charts that would be a great addition to your child's homeschooling portfolio.

We have only had the program a few weeks, and to this point my children are not that excited about it. In this world of 3-D graphics and Wii games they are a little bored by the game. But I am going to keep at it for a while. I think after another month, I will post a follow-up to share if they have enjoyed it anymore, or made any progress.

"Hank the Cowdog" Maverick Books

2009-08-21T22:35:00.004-04:00

I love getting packages in the mail. When I got the package in the mail from Maverick Books, I was expecting a book. Wasn't I surprised to find so much more inside. We did get a book. It is titled "The Case of the One-eyed Killer Stud Horse". It is book eight in the "Hank the Cowdog" series by John Erickson. This is definitely a book series for boys. My boys found it hysterical. Unfortunately, I found it a bit lacking in manners. It did not use any bad language per se, but it did occasionally word things in a way contrary to our teaching.

We also received a CD of songs and excerpts from several of the stories. Again, I got the same feeling that it was OK, but just not the manners I want my children to imitate. "Hank's Tornado Game" was also in the box. The game is pure, good, family fun. It reminds me a lot of the game "Trouble", but instead of a popper it uses a spinner. The pieces you move around the board are characters from the book. My 10 year old found it a little boring, but my six year old loves it. The great thing is that it is portable. The board folds in half and locks together, keeping all game pieces safely inside.

If you are interested in learning more about Maverick Books and "Hank the Cowdog", click HERE. The books sell for $4.24 each for paperback. "Hank's Tornado Game" sells for $12.99.

HTML - What Does It Mean?

2009-08-21T21:53:00.002-04:00

We hear the letters all the time, but what really is html? Is it possible that I could ever understand it well enough to design a website? What if I told you it's so easy that a child could design a website?

We had the privlege of reviewing a DVD lesson called "Web Design for Kids...and Curious Grown-ups". The DVD is one hour and 22 minutes long, but is broken up into seven chapters. Each chapter is a very simple lesson on how to use html codes to design your very own website. It transforms the technical into simple language that anyone can understand. They call it Sesame Street language. It is specifically targeted for ages 10 to adult. The only computer software required is notepad and internet explorer. Notepad comes free with most PC's. Also, you do not have to post anything on the web to see the results.

We tried the DVD with my 10 year old first. We just popped it in the DVD player and hit play. He sat on the couch with the laptop and followed along with the DVD. I was able to pause the DVD to let him catch up with typing (that's definitely the next skill we need to work on). It was very cool, because as he completed a step, then he would go check to see how it looked. He loved typing in the code and then quick checking to see what he did. The great thing is that we left the DVD paused and just let him play and experiment for quite a while. Overall, my son really enjoyed the program. I love anything that will get my kids excited about learning. The problem we ran into was that my six year old also wanted to participate. After much prodding on his part, we finally let him give it a try. As expected, he struggled and did not get much out of it because dad ended up having to do most of the work. I should add that my six year old is quite a bit ahead academically, working mostly at a 2nd and 3rd grade level. He just was not quite ready for this.

For a limited time, you can order "Web Design for Kids...and Curious Grown-ups" for only $19.99. Click here to check out the website.

ALEKS Math, Take Two

2009-08-17T09:32:00.002-04:00

ALEKS math is an online math curriculum that is smart. It keeps track of the lessons your child has completed and mastered. When beginning, it starts with an evaluation to see if there are any lessons mastered before you start. It is great to have that, and to know that yes my children have actually learned something. ALEKS uses a pie chart to keep track of progress. The kids love the bright colors and seeing the chart get filled in. The programs are designed for third through twelfth grades, and even beyond.

I signed my 10yo up for fifth grade. He did his initial evaluation, and tested out of about 1/4 of the lessons. He loves that he gets to decide what to do. I am not crazy about that idea. He picks all the "easy" lessons, and then never gets to the things that are really important. The other problem we ran into with him is that he doesn't test well. He would do his lessons, know the stuff, but would not get the questions right on the test. That causes the lessons to be added back into his pie. Then he gets to redo things that he already knows, and again doesn't get to the important stuff. He loves doing it, which is a huge challenge. But he just doesn't seem to progress.

I signed my 6yo up for the third grade. It really isn't as crazy as it might sound. He is currently starting first grade, but is working through second grade math. I thought, it couldn't hurt to try. He did the evaluation, and also tested out of about 1/4 of the lessons. I was very impressed. He was able to do a few lessons, but many of the things were way beyond where he's at right now. If we had already done regrouping, I think he would've done very well with the third grade program. He is a much different learner than my older son. Little one takes direction much better and would not hesitate to do difficult lessons. I wish we could have done more with him, but it was just a little above his head and I did not want him to get frustrated and burned out.

I also got to sign up and give some things a try. I tried Algebra. I really love the program, and think it is a fabulous way to lay out the lessons. When I was in school, I would have loved a pie chart like that. I am very competitive, especially with myself. I love to see the pie getting filled in. I think for an independent, goal-oriented learner it is a fabulous program. Sometimes, though, the explanations don't really make much sense. It is good for practice, but not necessarily great for teaching. I would love to see a little more explanation, or maybe a video demonstration. I think my oldest son would do much better with the challenging lessons if explained better.

Fun with Stickfigures

2009-08-15T22:17:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not an artist. My children, at a very early age, have far surpassed my artistic abilities. So when I first saw Grapevine Studies: Learning the Bible through Stick People, I had to laugh. Stick people are right within my range of artistic ability. We chose to study the New Testament, Level 1 so that it would be suitable for my first grader. I was worried that it would be a little beneath my fifth grader, but figured it couldn’t hurt.

The first week of the study was an overview timeline of the entire New Testament. I printed the pages. There are about three to four events on each page of the timeline. I took out the dry erase easel and started drawing stick figures for the boys to copy onto their timelines. There is a short description of each event to go along with the picture. I read as they drew. Now, I should clarify that my boys do not like to do anything that is related to school. I struggle on a daily basis to get them to do their work. They LOVED this. First, they thought my drawings were hilarious. The 10yo decided that he would rather look at the computer screen to see the pictures. I think that was just a 10yo thing, because my pictures really did look just like the ones on the computer, and his weren’t any better. I was a little worried how the 6yo would do, if he had the fine motor skills to be able to draw the pictures. But, they both did fabulous.

The second week went back to the beginning to really study each event, starting with John the Baptist. There is a Bible verse to copy, several stick figure drawings, and Bible reading. It is very simple, one page each day. The boys do not get overwhelmed at all. In fact, they beg to do the stick figures. Here is a sample picture that my 6yo drew for week three.

I don’t know about you, but when I find a curriculum for anything that my kids beg to do, I am thrilled. I also love that it is already all planned out and very simple to use. I wish that I could find a program like this for all the classes. I will certainly continue to use this study, and probably order others.

To check out all the studies that Grapevine has available, click here. They offer both hardcopy books, or e-format (which I love). Also, Grapevine Studies has been kind enough to offer a 30% discount to all my readers. Upon checkout, simply enter coupon code CREWS. Offer expires September 15, 2009.

Thankfulness

2009-07-17T08:17:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in our day to day drama, worry, and stuff going on in the world. We tend to dwell on what is wrong so that we can fix it. We forget to think about what is right. We forget to think about how many blessings we have. We live in the richest country in the world, even during a recession. The news keeps talking about the gloom and doom of how bad the economy is. Well, I'm here to tell you how good the economy is. Do you have a place to live? Then you are blessed. Do you have a car to drive? Even if it's old and beat up, you are blessed. Do you have $1 in the bank or your wallet? Then you are more blessed than 80% of the world. So today, instead of worrying about tomorrow, count your blessings of today. Be thankful for what you have, and don't worry about what you don't have. Continue to work hard in all you do and remember God is with you.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Luke 12:22-25

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

Spelling Helper

2009-07-13T06:25:00.005-04:00

Spelling, in our house, has been a bit of a struggle. My 10yo ds tries to spell things phonetically, but makes up his own phonetic rules rather than following the ones set forth in the English language. I do have to agree, though that the phonetic rules of English can be overwhelming. There are so many rules, exceptions, and then exceptions to the exceptions. I spent a long time studying Spanish, and am just amazed by the simplicity of their phonics. All the vowels have one sound, period. Just imagine how much easier it would be to teach spelling. No more long hours of spelling practice, drilling, and quizzing.

Daniel Hite has created a program that he hopes will help with the drilling and quizzing. The program is called Spellquizzer. It is a simple program to be used with your own spelling lists. You enter this week’s spelling words into the program, and record an audio to go with them. You may either just say the word, or say the word and a sentence, or whatever you feel like. There is also a function to import lists from others, including your child’s teacher if they use the same program, or export your lists to others.

Then the program takes over. Your child gets quizzed on their spelling words. They play the audio, type the word, the program tells them if they got it right or wrong. If they get it wrong, Spellquizzer shows the correct spelling. At the end of the list, the child is asked if they would like to practice the missed words again.

I don’t know if the program will work for us or not. We have never spent hours practicing spelling words. Maybe we need to do a bit more of that. My son seemed to like the program for a minute, but then got bored with it. And when we do practice spelling words, I rather enjoy spending the time with my kids. Usually, we practice them during dinner time. But if your time is limited, and need your child to get the extra practice, you may want to check it out. Spellquizzer is available for $29.95, and the website is great at showing exactly what you are getting. There is also a free trial available if you’d like to give it a try for yourself. Happy spelling!!

Looking for a Plan?

2009-06-19T18:53:00.001-04:00

Who wouldn’t like for their life to be easier? I’ve always wanted to have a schedule, a plan, goals, and be able to stick to them. A couple of weeks ago I saw an e-mail advertising the 2009 Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I read over the description and then dreamed about being able to buy it so that I could create a plan. Needless to say, when I was asked to review it I was overjoyed.

What is the Schoolhouse Planner? Wow, it is so much more than just a calendar. It is a 375 page bundle of calendars, forms, educational material, and more. The planner is broken into sections. The first section is the actual planner, broken up by month. The month is split into two pages. The first page consists of Sunday through Tuesday, and Wednesday through Saturday on the second page. You can type information for each day, and then print out the calendar. Following the calendar, each month has its own little unit study. I am especially fond of February’s study on the miracles of Jesus. I can’t wait to dig into that one further. There are also studies on American government, the planets, letter writing, and more. They also have included lists of additional resources (with links) available from the Schoolhouse Store to go along with that month’s study. Each month also includes two recipes.

After all twelve months (July 2009 to June 2010), there is a section of additional educational information. There are charts on measurement conversions, states and capitals, US Presidents, timelines and more.

The next two sections are my absolute favorites. Forms, forms, and more forms. The first part is all kinds of homeschool forms. There are annual, monthly, and weekly plans, report cards, transcript forms, forms to use for co-ops and more. All of them allow you to enter information and print them out, or print them out and write in the information. The second part is household forms. There are forms for menu planning, chore charts, budgeting, garden planning, and more.

Overall, I would call the planner very useful. I love the forms. I love the bonus material, a.k.a. the lessons. There is even a Bible reading schedule. I really need that. If only it came with accountability as well. What I don’t like is the way the monthly calendars are split in half. I guess if I were to print it up and hang it somewhere, I wouldn’t notice. Also, on some of the planning forms I wasn’t able to type in as much info as I wanted. But again, I could always print them out and write in what I want.

Bats

2009-05-27T06:00:00.002-04:00

"They're creepy and they're cooky, mysterious and spooky, they're altogether ooky..." That line from the "Addams Family" theme song pretty much sums up most people's opinion of bats. At least it was mine, until we started studying them. Bats are not creepy or spooky. They are amazing, helpful creatures that this world would be a nasty place without. Part of bat's public opinion problem is that they are nocturnal. They come out in the dark. Darkness is associated with so many scary, evil things. Therefore, it is logical to assume that bats are scary and evil. Bats are also associated with Halloween and vampires. Let's put that to rest once and for all. Yes, there are a few species of sanguiniverous bats. That is a big vocabulary word that the kids and I learned. If you studied animals at all, then you know the "iverous" part of the word has to do with what animals eat. And, if you've studied Latin or any of her related languages you will be able to figure out that the "sanguin" part means blood. But these saguiniverous bats do not go around turning into vampires or drinking human blood. The animals they do bite are usually sleeping and are less affected by the bat than by mosquitoes. The majority of the bats we have in the U.S. are insectivores. I don't know about you, but anything that eats insects immediately is a friend of mine. If there is any creature I am not a big fan of, it's insects.

Yesterday, we had some friends over for the afternoon. The kids wanted to do some art projects. I instructed them they needed to make bats. And then I left them to their own creativities. The 10 and 11 year old boys immediately asked if Batman was allowed. "Of course," I said. They did not end up drawing Batman, but instead plain old bats. It was the scenery that went along with the bats where it got a little interesting, including alien ships. The girls and my 6yo ds had very different ideas. Their bats involved glitter. Lots and lots of glitter that ended up on the bats, the sky, my dining room table, the kitchen tile, the living room carpet. But, it was well worth it to see the resulting pictures. They took something that most people think is scary and turned it into something sparkly, shiny, and pleasant to look at. After the glue is well dried, I am going to attempt to scan their pictures without glittering up the scanner.

Homework

2009-04-23T20:48:00.002-04:00

Homework: Juggling Home, Work, and School Without Losing Your Balance

This book from The Old Schoolhouse is packed with inspiring stories of families who not only homeschool, but also run businesses. It is their unique story. Each family has their own style of schooling. Each family has a unique business. All the families have a passion for what they are doing.

I have tried my hand at multiple ventures. The problem I had, was that I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I knew I needed something to make extra money, so I followed every whim. Somewhere in the middle of my last whim, I realized that I had not found what I could truly be passionate about. This book really inspired me to begin that search. It talks about so many different types of businesses. Some of them are very unique, designed by the family to meet their specific needs and passions. Some of the businesses are consultant businesses, working with a bigger parent company. The variety was very helpful, giving me some ideas to take to the drawing board. Most of the contributors talked about daily life. How do they balance all they do? I found this book to be inspiring. Even if you don't want to run a business, it is an inspiring tale of how to organize and balance school and life.

Writer's Workshop

2009-04-23T20:15:00.003-04:00

Writer's Workshop: Getting Kids Excited About Writing by Maggie Hogan

This is a great resource for anyone thinking of organizing a co-op. This will take you step by step through the process of organizing, planning, and running your "Writer's Workshop". It does not, however, give any actual writing lessons. Many of the steps and ideas given are similar to what I use for a science co-op. But, there are many unique elements that only apply to writing. I have not been a fan of the WeE-books up to this point because of their broad generalizations. This one, however, is perfect for its purpose.

Homeschooling the Rebel by Deborah Wueler

2009-04-20T11:37:00.002-04:00

I was really excited to dig into this book. My oldest son is ten years old. We started homeschooling him after first grade. I was scared to death. When he was in first grade he had homework. It was very simple work that should have taken about 15 minutes. It would end up taking three hours, and usually involved some yelling. In fact, I wish I had this book then. It could have spared me from the downward spiral of the last three years. It is extremely frustrating trying to teach someone that refuses to learn, follow directions, and do their work. Opening this WeE-book I thought, "great, finally I will learn how to change my child." I really should know better than that by now. Instead, I opened the book to find clear directions on how to change me: my teaching style, my attitude, my reactions to his rebellion, and what I teach. The book reminded me that I need to spend more time in prayer. Overall, I don't think the book really told me anything that I didn't already know. Partly because I have been researching this topic for some time now. It's the practical application that I struggle with. Though it was very encouraging. This is the second WeE-book I have reviewed. The problem I see with them is that they are very generic. There isn't a lot of space to go into great detail on the topic. I would be interested to read Part 2 of the series before I recommend this one way or the other.

Flying Creatures

2009-04-17T16:41:00.003-04:00

We have been studying birds for several weeks now, but I have been lax in posting about it. I am thoroughly in love with this study. The reading just cracks everyone up. I will read part of a section, and then stop for discussion. We always come up with some great conversation about what I just read. Then I will start reading again, and I swear almost every time, it will say exactly what we just talked about. The kids have been drawing some amazing pictures of birds. We built birdhouses. We made bird feeders out of juice bottles. I will have to see if I can scan some of the kid's pictures and post them here. I have also been having a blast photographing birds. It all started several weeks ago when we went on a nature scavenger hunt. I did not want the kids actually gathering all the "nature stuff" on the list. I am more of an indoor kinda girl, and don't do well with dirt, bugs, or most other outdoor stuff. So I thought, rather than collecting the things on the list, we would photograph them. Since then, I have been taking my camera everywhere and getting pictures of all sorts of different birds. It probably helps that we also just got a new camera that I absolutely love. It is a Nikon Coolpix P80. I highly recommend it for the non-photographers like me. It is so fun and easy to use, that even I can take good pictures with it. And don't get me started about the stop motion feature it has. I have gotten some great shots of birds using that. So last night, I was looking online at ordering some owl pellets and some caterpillars or butterfly larvae. I think those would be great fun to add to our lessons. Next week we are talking about nesting. Our project is to see if we can build a nest as well as birds. Of course, that involves mud, dirt, and other "yucky" stuff. I may have to look for an alternative craft, that uses some materials that are less gross.

"Just How Important Are Communication Skills Anyway?"

2009-03-23T14:06:00.003-04:00

"Just How Important Are Communication Skills Anyway?" is a WeE-book from The Schoolhouse Store. My first encounter with author JoJo Tabares was online through a homeschooling support group she organizes. I am an avid reader of her Art of Eloquence blog, and have wanted, for some time, to try one of her communication studies. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to review one of her books, I was genuinely excited.

This is a great book for parents just beginning their homeschooling journey. I remember starting out, wondering, "What do I need to teach my child?" Communication skills are essential for everyone, student or not. Each person has their own unique way of communicating. This book is a great reminder of how God intended us to communicate. This book, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. It is really a lead in to the "Say What You Mean" series by JoJo Tabares. It did reiterate the importance of, not only teaching my children good communication skills, but also working on my own.

Time to Catch Up

2009-02-26T19:57:00.002-05:00

Wow, have I been slacking lately. At least as far a blogging is concerned. I knew it had been awhile, but I didn't realize it had been nearly 6 weeks. So here is what we've been up to.

First, my headaches are nearly non-existent. I have probably taken some ibuprofen no more than once a week. That is a huge difference from every day. I have completely cut out the allergy meds. Not only that, but the vitamins have made a huge difference in how I feel over all. I am sleeping better at night, and have more energy for the day. It is even helping some of my unexplained muscle weakness. I am trying to exercise more as well, but that is not happening as much as I would like. We made the leap and invested in a Wii, but do not yet have the Fit. If nothing else, it takes what the boys were already doing and makes it a little more active. At least we will all have nice looking right arms :)

For school, we just went through a period of restructuring (I guess you could say). Last fall, we purchased the science curriculum from Answers in Genesis. They were three books on more physical, mechanical science. I thought it would be what my son was interested in. It is a very good program, and I love the material. However, the reading was really dry and I felt it did not capture the kids' attention. We absolutely loved the Apologia Astronomy that we did last year, so I decided to go back and try another one of their books. We ordered the book Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, and it arrived on Tuesday. It is as good as the Astronmy book. I am interested, and I am not a big fan of birds (not to mention the six-legged flying creatures). We started the reading yesterday. Lesson one is all about zoology, what is it, how do scientists group things, how species are named, etc. I had my 10yo journal the classifications, and then make up his own mnemonic to remember the order. The journal is another part of the restructure. Today, we did a review of what we learned yesterday. We had some friends with us today. I listed the classifications up on the board. They all worked together as a group to make up a mnemonic. They came up with: "Kids Play Catch Or Find Giant Squirrels". They remember the sentence, but I'm not sure they remember what it means. We will have to keep working on that. Then, I had each child draw a picture of a different species of bird. We then looked up the latin name for each species. It was great.

The next part of the restructure is History. Last February, we ordered Veritas Press Old Testament and Ancient Egypt study. We did a few lessons, but the problem was that there were a lot of extra books that needed to be ordered along with the curriculum, and we did not have the funds to do that at that time. Then, I had heard some great things about My Father's World. So I thought we would give that a try. That was June. We did that for a while, but it just got overwhelming for me. So around October, we sold that. We have kind of been in History limbo since. When we ordered our new books this month, I decided to order some of the books that went with the Veritas Press study, and we are going back to that. Of course, come to find out, I have still not ordered all the right books. But I am going to stick it out this time, and order some more books if I have to. I think it is a good program. And really, every program can be as good as what you make it.

Math has been a huge struggle this past year. My 10yo is learning right on schedule, but he fights it terribly. We have had some severe power struggles over doing math. At the beginning of January, I read a review about Aleks online math program. They were offering a free trial, so I took it. It was wonderful. My son had control over which lessons to choose. He was no longer fighting me about doing his math. But then came the tests. He would take the tests, and get questions wrong that I knew he knew how to do. He was repeating lessons over and over again, and not really getting anywhere. After much inner turmoil, I decided not to pay for the subscription. Last week, we had a week off due to some out of town guests. We started fresh this week back with his Saxon. So far, he has been doing very well. He has not fought me too much about doing his math, and has even done much of it independently. That is a huge leap for math kind. Just pray that this new attitude continues.

Now, my 6yo is amazing. Yesterday, he started Learning Language Arts Through Literature for 2nd grade. He is in kindergarten. He is nearly done with Saxon 1st grade math. He amazes me how quickly he learns the concepts and remembers his math facts. He is also doing a book called Language Smarts (level B) which we will probably alternate with the LLATL. The Language Smarts really focuses on phonics concepts and the roots for spelling. I think that is where I went wrong with his older brother, and why he doesn't read and spell at a 4th grade level yet. Little one is also more involved with history and science now too that he is getting older, has a longer attention span, and I know what he is capable of.

The bottom line, is that we are spending much more time on schoolwork every day, but much of it is just listening or doing fun projects. I feel really good about what we accomplished this week, and pray that I can continue this momentum. I will try to be better about posting special projects and such as well.

Oh, and we also started a little lesson for Lent. I will have to see if I can find the link to the website where we got it, because it is quite fun. There are a list of activities (one for every day of lent). We cut them out and put them in a bucket. We draw out one activity to do every day to help remind us of Easter coming and what Jesus did for us. Some of them are activities, some are Bible readings, some are singing songs. I had wanted to make a Lent lesson, but again Ash Wednesday snuck up on me before I could get it done. I really should work on it now, every day during Lent, then it will be ready for next year.

I think that's all I have for now.

One Week Later

2009-01-11T09:02:00.003-05:00

Surprisingly, it has been a really good week. Other than Tuesday, when I had to take some ibuprofen, I have not had a headache. Until this morning. I did feel one sort of starting Friday afternoon, but I drank some more water and it went away. This morning, well really the middle of the night, I woke up and thought it was going to be a really bad day. My nose was all congested and I could feel the throbbing on one side of my head. But the shower and just sitting upright seemed to help. I can still feel it a little, but it is not quite enough to label it a 1. I think what I really need to do is figure out how to treat my allergies. That is what is bothering me the most. But all in all, so far so good.