Living Sola Gratia

Chess Made Easy - Chess House Review

2013-10-15T17:14:00.003-04:00

I have always wanted to learn how to play chess, but for some reason have been a little intimidated. I have always thought of chess as being too hard to learn to play.

Several weeks back we were sent a Starter Chess Learning Kit from Chess House. Our kit included:

Elliot's Chess School Level 1 DVD "Pawn School"

1 Vinyl Chess Board

Full 32 Piece Chess Set (plastic)

Travel Bag to hold the board, pieces and DVD (several color choices are available)

Two of my children have had a real interest in learning to play chess. Once our package arrived Computer Girl and Alpha Boy wasted no time and dug right in. The package was open and the DVD was playing with in minutes of the UPS man leaving our house.

Chess School is taught by National Master Elliot Neff, who has been coaching students in chess for the last 18 years. The Chess House teacher, shows beginners the in's and out's of chess in this 49 minute video. The DVD is broken into 10 different topics, which explain the value and best strategy for each chess piece.

Intro to Chess (board, names of pieces, values)

Pawns

Rooks

Bishops

The Queen

The King

Knight

Castling

Pawn shields and when to break it

Development

The Chess School Level 1 video simplified learning the game of chess for us. The video gave us enough knowledge, strategy, and confidence to now be able to play chess with ease.

We felt that the DVD was very easy to understand, as well as easy to rewind if we missed something {wink, wink}. I liked how this DVD takes you step by step with each piece, so that you really have good foundation for understanding the game of chess.

The chess set that we received has a vinyl board that rolls up easily for storage and travel. The board is 20"x20" and features a built in grid. I love that it comes in such a portable bag!

My children that used the chess set and DVD are 10 and 7, but this starter kit is really for all ages.

This Starter Chess Learning Kit was a blessing to us! We have unsuccessfully tried to learn to play before from a book, but the DVD was much easier to understand. The kids are happy to pull out the chess set and play, now that they know how!

The Chess House Starter Chess Learning Kit that we received is available online for $39.95, plus shipping. It would make a great

We would like to continue learning with Chess School, they actually offer four levels in this series. They are available as a set, or individually.

Be sure to checkout what other TOS Crew members are saying about Chess House!

A chess board that is odor free and made in the US

A full plastic chess set that is durable and has easy to replace pieces

A handy carrying case that holds all 32 chess pieces, the roll-up game board, and the DVD all in one handy place.

- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/chess-house-review/#sthash.rBuvrTo3.dpuf

ludes:

Elliot’s Chess School DVD one ‘Pawn level‘
A chess board that is odor free and made in the US
A full plastic chess set that is durable and has easy to replace pieces
A handy carrying case that holds all 32 chess pieces, the roll-up game board, and the DVD all in one handy place.

- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/chess-house-review/#sthash.rBuvrTo3.dpuf

ludes:

Elliot’s Chess School DVD one ‘Pawn level‘
A chess board that is odor free and made in the US
A full plastic chess set that is durable and has easy to replace pieces
A handy carrying case that holds all 32 chess pieces, the roll-up game board, and the DVD all in one handy place.

- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/chess-house-review/#sthash.rBuvrTo3.dpuf

Running for President in The Presidential Game

2013-09-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

We love games! They are a wonderful way to get in some family time. If you were to come to our house, you might possibly notice that we have a whole 3 tiered shelving unit solely dedicated to games. We like action games, card games, board games and last but certainly not least, educational games!

Recently we were given the opportunity to review a game called The Presidential Game. The Presidential Game

I thought it would fit in nicely with our study of the states and presidents this year.

The Presidential Game is really neat, it is fun and it gives the kids a really good understanding of how the election process works. It is a strategy type of game that teaches kids (and lets face it, adults too!), exactly how those electoral votes work. The object of the game is to get to 270 electoral votes to take the win, well the Presidency.

All of the kids, ages 5-12, have played this with me, but it is suggested for ages 11 and up.

At the start of the game you decide how many weeks until the election, the amount of weeks you choose are actually the amount of rounds you play the game. You split into two teams, Republicans and Democrats - this actually opened up a great discussion of what each party stands for.

There is also an optional WebMap Calculator that is available online to use during the game. This calculator is a map that calculates the electoral votes each party has, as well as who is leading in the state or if it is still neutral. The WebMap was a great visual for the kids, and it really added to the fun factor. I thought that the WebMap was also a great way to help with keeping score.

This is the WebMap Calculator that can be used online.

To get started you pick teams, ,roll and the high rolling team goes first. During each turn, the playing team can choose to campaign or fund-raise for their party. Both of these choices include rolling the dice and placing votes, well chips, on various states. For each turn your team rolls three dice, when you are campaigning the each one of the dice rolled end up being the amount of votes that you can place on three states of your choice.

When you fund-raise, you can pick either Texas, California, New York or Florida. You roll the dice and then you can use all or at least half of your total roll for votes in that state. We seemed to be in constant battle of the state of California, because they have the most electoral votes. One of the added benefits of fundraising is that you get to draw Politics Cards, depending on the card these can help or hurt you. Here are two examples:

Wisconsin Teachers Union lays off 30% of it's employees. Your opponent adds 2 votes to Wisconsin.

Your opponent appears as a guest host on a popular late night comedy show and is very stiff and not very funny at all. Pick up 5 votes to be used any way to like.

During each turn you have the opportunity to win the vote of different states, even those that are controlled by the opposing team. We really enjoyed this part of the game, and we all became quite competitive too! The team controlling the state is the team that has the most votes, or coins on that state. If you add votes to a state that an opponent "controls," each chip you place on that state knocks out one of their votes or chip. So, if you have enough chips you can take the lead and control the state.

After the allotted weeks, or turns are up, then all the teams each roll the dice to decide who wins the neutral states. The team with the highest number of electoral votes wins the game, and takes the presidency.

Once you understand the game, and play a few rounds it is a lot of fun! The kids and I all really enjoyed this, but they did mention that they preferred to play with about 15 weeks verses 30.

You can purchase The Presidential Game online for $35.00. It makes a great addition to any study on U.S. History, presidents, states or elections. This game would also be an excellent choice for family game night. My favorite games are the kind that are fun and have educational value, this game has both!

Check out what other TOS Crew members have to say about The Presidential Game!

Seed Sowers, Gospel Planting Adventures

2013-09-22T22:59:00.001-04:00

I love reading about missionaries and how the Lord uses them for His work. To read accounts of their trials and triumphs in spreading the gospel has been a huge blessing to me over the years.

Several weeks back, we were blessed with the book Seed Sowers by Gwen Toliver. Gwen is a state based missionary at the Wycliffe Linguistics Center in Dallas, Texas along with her husband. She is also a homeschool mom to eight children and a fellow TOS Review Crew member.

A few years ago Gwen started a two year project of collecting information from various retired missionaries and Bible translators of their gospel planting adventures to share with others. This collection became known as Seed Sowers, Gospel-Planting Adventures.

This book has 165 pages and contains a collection of 21 stories that move and touch the heart. These stories remind us of God's mighty hand in the mission fields. It has been amazing to read of these men and women that, with the Lord's leading, up and move to a completely foreign country, sometimes not even knowing how to speak the language. AMAZING!

One of the stories in the book that really captured my heart was about Bob and Jo Ann Conrad, called Never Give Up! This couple's story was pretty fascinating to me. The Conrad's gospel planting adventure took them to Papua New Guinea. They went to live with and learn from a tribe, the Iwans, that just seven years prior befriended and then massacred many people simply because they were not part of their tribe. Oh, and by the way the Iwans were cannibals!! What courage the Lord must have given this couple!

Reading these stories about missionaries that leave every thing they know and dive head first into the unknown for the sake of the gospel just does something to me. These stories really help me to put my life's little problems into perspective. They also help me to evaluate what I am doing and NOT doing in sharing the gospel.

Back to Bob and Jo Ann, as they lived among the Iwan people they we able to learn their language and culture. While in Papua New Guinea, the Conrad's developed a written alphabet for the Iwan language, taught them to read it and and translated the gospel of Mark for them.

Eventually, Bob and Jo Ann had to leave Papua New Guinea, but God continued to use them to spread the gospel! You can read about the rest of their story, along with many others, in Seed Sowers, which is available for $12.50 through Grace and Truth Books.

Seed Sowers is written to about a sixth grade level. It makes a great afternoon read for an independent reader or as a family read aloud. Either way, it is a great addition to the family library.

Gwen has even offered a sample chapter for you to check out called The Whistling Man.

Check out what other TOS Crew members think about Seed Sowers.

Logic of English

2013-09-13T00:29:00.001-04:00

Logic of English is a fun, multi-sensory program that takes a systematic approach to teaching reading, writing, spelling and grammar. Logic of English was created by home school mom and ESL teacher, Denise Eide, as she searched for a program to help her own struggling readers and spellers.

There are several components of the Logic of English curriculum, that accomidate varying ages and skill levels. We were given Foundations Level A, which teaches students letters A-Z and consonant blends, for review.

Foundations is geared for students ages 4-7. This curriculum has four levels, A, B, C and D. Level A, the one are reviewing, is for beginning readers. The following products were sent to us for our review:

Foundations Level A - Teacher's Manual and Manuscript Workbook (cursive is also available) $56.00
Foundations Reusable Resource Set - which includes Phonogram Flash Cards, a Student Whiteboard, Tactile Handwriting Cards, 2 Sets of Phonogram Card Games. The cost of this set is $40.00
Phonograms App - available for iPads, iPods and iPhones through iTunes for $2.99

The Foundations Level A Teacher's Manual and Manuscript Workbook contain 40 lessons that offer a various learning games and activities. The teacher manual is very user friendly, I think it is laid out nicely and easy to understand. The student workbook is a colorful, attractive and fun to use book. It includes phonics activity pages, handwriting pages, pull out reader books and games. Some of the games include blending games, phonogram bingo, phonogram tic-tac-toe, and charades.

Let me walk you through one of the lessons to give you a feel for how they are laid out. At the top of each lesson you can read the lesson objectives for handwriting, phonemic awareness and what Common Core Standards they are meeting, along with the matierals needed.

Lesson 9 focuses on the phonogram C, listening to the beginning sounds of words and practicing blending sounds into words.

First you would start with phonometic awareness and work on beginning sounds. The student would open their workbook to lesson 9. As you read beginning sounds like ch in chair and d in desk they would find the picture that begins with that sound. There is also a fun challenge to do. You would say a sound like d, and have students find an item in the room that start with that sound like a desk or a door.

Next, you and your child would move onto a blending treasure hunt. As a word is sounded out, your child would run and find that object. Like if I sounded out p-e-n-s-i-l, they would go and grab a pencil.

You would then spend some time on phonograms. You would practice all prior phonograms learned up until this point, and learn the phonogram c. I love that each time you learn a new letter sound she gives you fun ideas to go along with that letter. For c she suggests eating cake, carrots, ice cream cones, cabbage or corn. Kids could play cars, pretend they are camping, practice counting or cut out circles.

After learning the sound of the letter c, now your child will learn how to write it. The Foundations currciulum encourages starting with cursive handwriting, but also offers manuscript workbooks. The teacher manual gives instructions for both cursive and manuscript. The teacher manual gives step by step instructions for forming each letter. The tactile cards are also helpful at this point, students can practice tracing the letter c with their finger.

Last, but certainly not least is the phonogram practice section. This section is kinda like the cherry on top of a sundae! In other words, for the kids it's the best part. This part of the lesson includes games like phonogram aerobics, where kids practice writing their letters as big as they can in the air. Phonogram hopscotch (both indoor and outdoor versions included) and a phonogram relay race. My kids love these active games and I am a firm believer that kids learn best when they are actively doing something. I really appreciate that she has included these games to help reinforce what the children are learning!

I hope that gives you a general idea as to how Foundations is laid out. Not everyday is the same, some days include reading and spelling practice, and there are many different games and multi-sensory activites sprinkled through out the curriculum.

You can view a few sample lessons (samples are on the right side column), as well as the scope and sequence here.

I like Foundations. It does require a fair amount of one on one teaching time, as do most reading programs. I feel that it is a solid, well rounded program that include lots of interactive, hand-ons activities that are wonderful for active children. This is one of those programs that children look forward to doing. Mrs. Eide has done a great job in combining phonic skills with fun activities.

We have also enjoyed using the Logic of English App called Phonics with Phonograms. This App has a pretty simple format, it kind of reminds be of electronic flash cards. It is an interactive way to practice phonograms, but I think my son would have liked it better if it were a game. He didn't dislike it, it just didn't seem to be something to hold his interest for very long. It does however get the job done.

I would recommend Foundations. As I said, it is a solid program with lots of fun hands on activities for phonetic practice. My only hesitation is the price. I felt it was a little on the high side. But in saying that, she has eliminated a lot of work for mom. I am always looking for fun things to add to our phonics program, but with Foundations the work is already done that for me.

Click here to read more reviews from the TOS Crew.

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again

2013-09-04T23:36:00.003-04:00

We live on a pretty busy street, so I am always concerned about my little guys when they play out front. Many, many times have I told them about the dangers of our busy street. I do not believe that anything I have said to them has come close to grabbing their attention like the book Look Left, Look Right and Look Left Again by Ginger Pate.

Look Left, Look Right and Look Left Again, published by Greene Bark Press, is a cute, informative board books that teaches street safety. Wally Waddlewater, an adorable little duck, learns about street safety around cars, stop lights, emergency vehicles and balls in the street. He learns to look left, look right and to look right again, when crossing the street.

This simple story has stuck with my little guys, my youngest now recites part of the book whenever we go to cross the road.

This book is for children ages 3-8, both my 5 and 7 years old boys both enjoyed it.

I recommend this book, it is a great way to teach street safety habits. It is available though Greene Bark Press for $8.50.

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Beauty in the Heart, A Study of Godly Beauty for Young Women

2013-08-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

Doorposts is a company that we have known, loved and trusted for quite some time now. Their Bible Based Parenting and Character Training materials have been a blessing to us.

Knowing that they stand firm on biblical truths, I was glad to have my oldest daughter use one of their newest Bible Studies, Beauty in the Heart - A Study of Godly Beauty for Young Women.

The Beauty in the Heart is a Bible study for young ladies, about 12 and up, that was written by Pam Forester. The goal of the study is two fold, to focus on a girl's heart, and not just their outward appearance while showing young ladies the importance of true godly beauty. This study also focuses on teaching Bible study skills.

We received the soft cover booklet, there is also an eBook available in PDF form, which is 128 pages long. The chapters are as follows:

Beauty in Submission: An Inductive Study in 1 Peter

Beauty in the Heart: A Verse Study on 1 Peter 3:3-4

Beauty in Trusting God: A Character Study of Sarah

Beauty in Humility: A Book Study of Esther

Beauty in Modesty: A Verse Study of 1 Timothy 2:9-10

Beauty in Serving: A Word and Topical Study

Beauty with out Discretion: A Verse Study of Proverbs 11:22

Beauty in Crisis: A Chapter Study of 1 Samuel 25

Beauty in the Gates: A Book Study of Ruth

Beauty in Review

Also included are alternate questions for young men that are doing the study. I thought these were very helpful if you were to do this study as a family.

As you can see this is a meaty study! Through this study children learn to use a concordance and marginal study notes. They study specific topics and characters to show examples of the godly beauty that we should adorn.

I had the Lil' Chef use this study for her personal Bible study. At first she was a little over whelmed with the different things involved in the inductive study. I encouraged her to stick with it. As with most things, once she got used to the study she did fine, and is moving along quite well.

Each chapter is broken down into 7 Days of study. In Study 1, Beauty in Submission, the week breaks down like this:

Day 1 Pray and Read
My daughter read the entire book of 1 Peter and answered several questions about it.

Day 2 Observe
Here she was asked to answer who, what, when, where, why and how questions from select passages. She studied the background of 1 Peter and did some highlighting in her Bible.

Day 3 Organize and Observation
This part of the study had her charting some of her observations from her study done the previous day.

Day 4 More Observation
She answered several questions, like What did Jesus do? What did Jesus NOT do? Why did Jesus act this way?

Day 5 Interpret
Here she defined several words from her study, like submit and subjection.

Day 6 Interpret and Apply
This part taught her clue words that helped to interpret what she was reading, like therefore, so and likewise. Explaining these clue words, and going back over the previously read scriptures really helps a reader's understand.

Day 7 Conclusion and Application
To wrap up this study, the reader answers several questions from certain passages like, What does Peter tell the reader to do? Then readers are to pray and summarize what they have learned through this study.

Not every study flows exactly like this, but I thought this would give you a general idea of how the study is laid out.

This study would be perfect as an independent study for a young girl aged 12 and up. It would also be an excellent bible study for girls to work on in a group setting, or as a mother/daughter study.

I highly recommend this study. The godly examples that are studied, like discretion, modesty, trust, humility and service, are the character traits that we need to instill in our girls.

You can purchase your own copy of Beauty in the Heart, A Study of Godly Beauty for Young Women
through Doorposts for $14.00

There is also a study for young men called Because You Are Strong, A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men that was written by Daniel Forester. It teaches young men to use their strength wisely for God's glory while reading about the lives of David, Samson and other "mighty men of valor." It is also available for $14.00

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!

Back 2 School Special from GeoMatters - Ends 8/21/13

2013-08-18T22:13:00.001-04:00

Hey Trail Guide to Learning fans, GeoMatters is having an AWESOME special this week, it runs through August 21st.

Here's the deal, if you Purchase ANY of the Trail Guide to Learning Complete Packages, you can choose between one Pre-Printed Student Page Pack OR the Lapbook CD for FREE! Each of these have a $60 value.

Also, if you use the Coupon Code LSG15 to purchase Any of the Trail Guide to Learning Complete Packages you will receive $15 off!

Taking Another Look at Reading Kingdom {Review}

2013-08-18T17:50:00.001-04:00

You may remember that a few years ago we had the opportunity to review Reading Kingdom, an online program that teaches children ages 4-10 to read and write to a 3rd grade level.

Well, to be honest, at the time Reading Kingdom was not one of our favorites. I used it primarily for Computer Girl and Alpha Boy, who were 7 and 4 at the time. They did not really enjoy Reading Kingdom which I attributed that to the lengthy Reading Skills Survey, but I noted in my review that I believed this was a good program and could be a good fit for other children.

It turns out that Little Bits is one of those "other" children. He LOVES Reading Kingdom and is doing really well with it.

Little Bits likes to build words and sound them out with Reading Kingdom.

Little Bits just turned 5 in July and started kindergarten about 6 weeks ago. Up until now, we had not done much in the way of formal phonics with him. At this point he is learning phonics, but we are moving at a gentle pace. He has been doing Reading Kingdom several times a week, as a supplement to his phonics program.

Let me tell you a little about how Reading Kingdom works. Reading Kingdom is based off of the research and experience of Dr. Marion Blank, "a world renowned expert on literacy and the Director of the Light on Learning Institute at Columbia University," who developed this 6 skill model approach to reading...

The Reading Kingdom approach goes beyond the phonics and whole language approaches, and includes several other necessary skills for reading and writing success. By focusing on all six of these skills, children can master both reading and writing more easily. Reading Kingdom is currently the only program that includes all six of these skills in their approach to learning to read and write.

The Reading Kingdom believes that every child is different. Instead of fitting each child into a "one size fits all" box, children are given a thorough Reading Skills Survey test to properly place them in the program.

Once children are tested on their reading and writing skills, they can then beginning learning from their personal reading level. Children do not have to continue going over something that they already know, which can lead to boredom and lack of interest. Nor are they pushed a head to a level they are not ready for, only causing frustration. I believe that with the help of the very thorough Reading Skills Survey, Reading Kingdom can almost perfectly place a child in the right reading level.

Children also learn their way around a keyboard while they are learning to read.

My little guy is just learning his letters, so after taking the Reading Skills Survey test he was placed at the beginning of the program. He started out doing visual sequencing and keyboard skills. He is great with a mouse but is still getting used to when the letters on the keyboard are, which is a big part of Reading Kingdom.

Little Bits has been having a good ol' time with Reading Kingdom. He is currently "making words," as he calls it. He gets pretty excited and likes to call me over when he learns a new word.

My little guy has been processing well with Reading Kingdom. I plan to continue out the 12 month subscription with him, along side his regular phonics program.

A Reading Kingdom subscription is available for $19.99 per month, or $199.99 per year per child. The yearly subscription gives you a 20% discount. Additional children are given a 50% discount at a rates of $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

Reading Kingdom offers a 30 Day Free Trial that you might want to check out prior to subscribing.

Visit the TOS Crew Blog to see what others are saying about Reading Kingdom!

Notgrass American History {Review}

2013-08-14T00:36:00.002-04:00

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned the Notgrass Company's History Curriculum, America the Beautiful and how her kids really loved it. After hearing her rave review, I knew that once my kids were old enough I wanted to check it out.

The America the Beautiful History Curriculum from the Notgrass Company was given to us to review for the TOS Crew. Let me tell you what we were given to review and what we thought of them.

America the Beautiful Parts 1 & 2

These two hardcover textbooks are the meat and potatoes of the curriculum. They are beautifully bound hardcover books with pictures on most every page, some black & white and some color.

Part 1 takes you from 1000 to 1877, and Part 2 continues from the Late 1800's the Present. Together they tell American history from a Biblical Worldview.

I have to say, I am not usually a fan of textbooks, but these are pretty impressive.

The books are set in chronological order and consist of 15 units each, making a total of 30 units. There are several different types of lessons in the America the Beautiful books:

Our American Story - These lessons are about the major events in the time period the unit is based on.
God's Wonders - These lessons teach students about God's creation, like the Chesapeake Bay, Yellowstone and the great Mississippi River.
American Landmark - Here you learn about important sites in American history, like Plymouth, the Erie Canal and the Alamo.
American Biography - This focuses on a particular person that lived during the time period being studied. In these lessons you get to learn more about people like John Jay, President of the American Bible Society, George Washington and Robert E. Lee.
Daily Life - These lessons give a glimpse into the day to day lives of the people of the time period. In the unit on the Civil War, the daily Life lesson is called Two First Ladies. Here we learn about Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis.

I liked the layout of the books. I found them to be very informative and enjoyable. I do however wish they were a little more on the conversational style that we are used to.

If you have read some of my other reviews, you probably know that I love to learn from living books. I think using only a textbook can quench a child's love for learning. In saying that, I do feel that there is a time and a place for a textbook. Currently, the kids and I are starting to read about the American Revolution. We are learning a ton from biographies, chapter and picture books, but there were several things in the America the Beautiful that did not read about in our other books.

After reading each lesson, there is a list of several activities, usually about 4-6, that include writing, vocabulary, timeline, map, and workbook assignments. There are also Thinking Biblically assignments that have the students looking up scriputre to answer questions. There are literature assignments from We the People and recommended living books, like Amos Fortune, Across Five Aprils and Little Town on the Prairie. You or the student can pick one or several of the assignments to be completed for the day.

They encourage family discussions about the days lesson. The book also has family activities, like making an Iroquoian Longhouse, have a peaceful Boston Tea Party, and make a Liberty Bell Mosaic.

The way that we have been using this, is that my 8th grader has been reading the lessons independently and doing some of the actitivies on her own.

I have also found myself picking it up and reading it for fun. Yes really, for fun. I have also used it to better educate myself on the topics we are studying, so that I can casually pass the information along to my younger kids.

We the People

This hardcover black & white book is a wonderful collection of writings from America's history, that include historical documents, poems, letters, songs, newspaper clippings and songs.

One of the assignment suggestions is to read selections from the book that relate to the lessons topic. We like this book and find it to be a wonderful addition to the curriculum.

Maps of America the Beautiful

This workbook has maps that correlate with the lessons. Students are given assignments to color and label the various maps.

Timeline of America the Beautiful

Also in workbook form, this black & white timeline allows students to color and label the timeline as they work through history.

America the Beautiful Student Workbook

This workbook includes fun word searches, matching, multiple choice questions and drawing assignment. Probably best suited for children in 4th-6th grade.

America the Beautiful Lesson Review

Full of daily lesson and literature review questions to help parents measure children's comprehension of the material being studied.

My 8th grader and I have done several of these together orally.

America the Beautiful Answer Key

You guessed it, this is where all the answers are {smile}. This includes answers to the timeline, vocabulary, Student Workbook and Lesson Review questions.

Over all, I really love this curriculum. I know it will remain on my shelf for the duration of our homeschooling years. It is excellent as a source of reference for American history. It also makes a well rounded American History curriculum for 5th-8th graders, that could be used independently for older students. I also believe this would work wonderfully for multilevel teaching.

America the Beautiful is designed to be completed in one school year, working on it 5 days per week. It would, however, be very simple to adjust the schedule to complete it in two years.

I appreciate the flexibility America the Beautiful offers with the variety of student assignments, and literature suggestions. They offer all the bells and whistles of a traditional textbook, but also have a unit study type feel to them. This my friends is a keeper!

You can purchase the America the Beautiful curriculum, for $99.95.

The Student Workbook and Lesson Review can be purchased separately.

Please see what other TOS Crew members have to say about Notgrass products including America the Beautiful and the Draw the Learn Bible Series.

Bible Study For All Ages {Review}

2013-08-11T20:50:00.001-04:00

I love all things multi-level teaching, meaning subjects that I can teach everyone the same thing, at the same time. Bible is one of those subjects where I try to keep everyone on the topic or study.

I had not heard of Bible Study For All Ages, until the opportunity to review for them came about from the TOS Crew.

The Bible Study For All Ages is a curriculum that has families {or Sunday school classes} studying the same part of the Bible at the same time, but on their own levels. This curriculum takes you and your family through several parts of the Old and New Testaments each year.

There are 416 Bible Lessons that take you through an in depth study of the Bible.

We were given the following materials for this review:

Beginner Level Student Pages

Beginner Time Line

Children's Songs CD Set

Advanced Level Student Pages

Bible Book Summary Cards

Let me give you an example of how the lessons are laid out. Let's take a look at lesson 14, we are studying Genesis 49-50, which is the account of Joseph. We have been studying Joseph since lesson 1, which started at Genesis 37.

Here is a sample of one of the Beginner Student Pages.

Here is the layout for the Beginner Student Pages and how it works for us.

Learn the Basics

We review our timeline cards, which we have hanging on a large kitchen doorway.

These have been really helpful to us. The kids love to take turns reviewing the cards.

Sing & Remember

In this portion we told to review books of the Bible we are memorizing (Matthew - Galatians)
We sing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, which is on our Children's Songs CD
We also do about 4 or 5 review questions.

The kids love to do the review questions, they especially LOVE THE SONGS! They now know all of the names of the sons of Jacob thanks to a song we've been singing!

Get Active

This section give ideas to get up and do something. This one has you blindfolding one child and talk about who takes care of us.

Discover the Bible

Here is where are read over the scripture for the day. Most days it is a one chapter in the Bible, today there are two.
There are several pictures that show what happens in the scriptures we just read. Each picture has an explanation and something to do. For instance, one of the pictures talks about Jacob wanting to be buried in a cave, so the child is asked to color the cave brown.

This is the main part of our study. We read through the scriptures, discuss and follow along with the activities they has us do. I fell like this part is really helpful.

Apply It!

This part has a picture to color and application questions.

At the end of our study we talk about the picture and go over the review questions together.

Now for the Advanced Student Pages, these pages are set up a little differently. Here is how we use them...

Remember It?

This is the portion with review questions. They are a little more difficult than the Beginner Student Pages. Today the review is in the form of a matching/fill in the blank activity.

My girls do these on their own. I do the review questions for the Beginner Pages aloud with everyone.

Memory Workout

Here the kids are asked to review the New Testament Books and the Genesis Bible Book Summary.

We do the Bible Summary Card reviews together. These are 8x11 flash cards that summarize the books of the Bible with one or more pictures. On the opposite side of the picture there is a description that summarizes the book of the Bible that the card represents.

Guess What...

These are mostly Bible facts like what a cup bearer and baker were to the Pharaoh.

My girls usually read these on their own and share their new fond information with the rest of us.

Discover the Bible

Just like with the younger pages, this is where we read the scripture and go through the pictures and questions.

We do this part together as a family. The Advanced Questions are more challenging than the ones on the Beginner Pages. My girls have been fine following along with us for the scripture reading and then doing the questions on their own, asking me for help when needed.

Timeline or Map

The timeline has several questions that the kids get to answer from reading a biblical timeline on their student page.
The timeline portion alternates with mapping skills. Which include labeling areas that were discussed in our Bible readings.

My girls do this on their own as well, of course I am available if they have a question.

Get Active

This is basically the same activity as the one on the Beginner Page, except this one goes more in depth with the application on blind faith.

We generally don't get to these.

Apply It!

This is the application part of the study. Today's lesson includes re-reading a scripture, answering several questions related to our scripture and a prayer suggestion.

You guessed it, they answer these on their own as well{smile}

Conclusion

I like the over all idea of this program, a lot! But I found it was hard to get into a "groove" with the different student pages. It was a little frustrating at first, to be honest. I felt like everyone was all over the place and Bible was taking a really looong time.

The way that I tweaked this to work for us was that I stopped reading the scriptures twice. At first I read the scripture while the boys colored the application picture. THEN, I would re-read the scriptures as we did the Discover the Bible portion of the study.

I decided to pick and choose what was most important to me and focus on those things. So we do the songs, timeline and review questions from the Beginner Student Pages. Then we do the Discover the Bible portion, this is the scripture reading and discussion part. Then we finish with the application.

At first I was trying to go over all the parts of both levels together, this did not work for us. I am really glad that I found a way to make this work, because I love many things about this study.

All of the different components in this Bible Study really set it apart from the rest. The constant review through questions, songs, timeline and summary cards help the children to remember what they learned even two weeks prior. I am amazed at what the kids have learned and retained about Joseph by using this study. I believe my 5 year old could tell you Joseph's whole life story!

Another thing I want to mention, I liked that they did not include scripture on the student pages. I know that may sound strange, but I think it makes it much easier to use your own Bible version

The student page booklets each have 26 lessons, priced at $5.95 per booklet. To complete the whole program you would need 16 booklets per student. First, you need to choose the products that would best suit your family, depending on grade and reading levels.

I would love to continue with this program, but I am not sure it would not be affordable for us. I am figuring that it would cost a total of $380.00 for all four children to complete the whole study.

If this was more affordable for me, like say if I could purchase the all the lessons together as a pdf download at a discounted rate, this would be what we used for Bible.

You can see what other TOS Crew Members have to say about Bible Study for All Ages by clicking HERE!

The Schoolhouse Expo GIVEAWAY! Speakers & Topics You Don't Want to Miss!

2013-08-11T16:06:00.001-04:00

The Schoolhouse Expo is coming up!

August 19-23, 2013

1:00pm-8:00pm (Eastern) /10:00am-5:00pm (Pacific)

While all of the speakers and topics look great, there are several on my "be sure not to miss these" list. Here they are...

Monday

Marie Rippel - Effective Teaching Methods for Struggling Learners
Evonne Mandella - Organic Multi-Media for Homeschooling Families
Barbara Beers - Spelling, Grammar, and Latin, Oh, MY!
Antony Kolenc - Five Common Mistakes Homeschoolers Make

Tuesday

Kim Kautzer - The Lazy Child
Tami Fox - Homeschool Encouragement
Molly Green - Frugal Living
David Stelzl - Starting a Business in High School
Ray Comfort - Living Water
Joaquin Fernandez - Calling All Christian Homeschoolers to Love Their Neighbor's Children

Wednesday

Andrew Pudewa - Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day
Jessica Hulcy - Multi-Level Teaching
Todd Wilson - Taming the Techno Beast – Parenting in the Internet Age

Thursday

Terri Johnson - Facing the Giant... Homeschooling Through High School
Deborah Wuehler - Power, Prayer, and Perseverance!
Hal and Melanie Young - Shining Armor

Friday

Davis Carman - Give me one Good Reason to Homeschool
Malia Russell - Homeschooling Through Times of Transition
Dr. Jay Wile and Diana Waring - Textbook Myths and How to Deal with Them

Even though I really want to hear ALL of the above listed topics, life is busy and I know that is probably not possible. I am so happy that the Schoolhouse Expo recordings are included in the price of your Expo ticket. The links are available after the expo week is complete. YAY!!

Schoolhouse Expo Tickets are available for $24.

You can also enter to Win a Schoolhouse Expo Ticket!

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - The Wrap Up

2013-08-09T21:37:00.000-04:00

Thanks for joining me this week! For those of you that are just joining us, here's what we have done so far for our unit study:

Picked a topic and gathered some of books about it. Ok, let's not kid ourselves, we have gathered a ton of books!

We have worked on some notebook pages, a lapbook or both.

The kids have done some hands on activities, since that is how they learn best {wink, wink}

We have also taken the kiddos on a field trip or two. Yes, a field trip! Pack a lunch, throw something in the crockpot and roll out!

Last but not least is the wrap up. The wrap up is what we like to do at the end of a unit study that allows the kids to show us what they have learned, complete a project or just do something fun. Here are some example of wrap up activities:
I mentioned earlier how we wrapped up our horse unit. The kids {well, the older 3} each choose a horse breed and did a little presentation. They choose a mustangs, appaloosas and pintos. They each focused on that breed through out our study. They took large poster boards to sketch a large horse and colored it according to the patterns of their horse. They also labeled them and shared several facts about horses and their specific breed. They even dressed like cowboys and put on a little show for us. It was one of the most awesome moments of our homeschool journey!

If you are studying kings and queens you could have a medieval feast! You could "dress up" like kings and queens. Make royal crowns. Dress as kings, queens, knights, princesses, and even have a jester! Invite guests and eat some of the foods that they ate. The could also pick their favorite king or queen to do a little presentation of.

Let's say you are finishing up a unit on inventors. I would have everyone pick an inventor, dress like them and "invent" something new.

One option could be that they dramatize what they have learned. My kids love writing skits and acting them out.

Another thing that we like to do at the end of a unit is watch a family movie and discuss the differences from the books you have read with the movie. Like at the end of our Revolutionary War unit we will probably watch Johnny Tremain.

A diorama is another fun way to end a unit study. You could create a scene from a book you all are reading. An under water diorama would be neat if you are studying sea creatures. The skies the limit, you can definitely get creative here.

Do you do any thing special at the end of a unit?

Have you checked out any of the other 89 TOS Bloggers that are doing the 5 Days of... Hop?

Trail Guide to Learning - Paths of Settlement {Review & GIVEAWAY}

2013-08-09T19:23:00.000-04:00

For the 2013-2014 school year, we are excited to continue with the Trail Guide to Learning Series from Geomatters.

Last year we learned about explorers and pioneers with Paths of Exploration (POE). This year we will continue our journey with Paths of Settlement (POS).

For those of you not familiar with Trail Guide to Learning, it is a history based, all-in-one program. TGTL was created for students in grade 3rd through 7th, but it easily adaptable so that younger and older children can easily join in. The series includes history, science, language arts, literature and art.

The Paths of Settlement Complete Package

I have to tell you, this curriculum excites me like no other. I actually considered skipping POE and going straight for POS last year. I am so glad we didn't, but I am very excited to finally be starting Paths of Settlement!!

This year, Paths of Settlement has us studying some of the founding fathers and leaders that the Lord used to make our nation great! We will be reading biographies of historical figures like...

Abigail Adams
Francis Scott Key
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Robert E. Lee
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Clara Barton
Samuel Francis Smith
Theodore Roosevelt

Reading these stories of these men and women will help us to see how they lived, understand the time period and remember the facts about America's history. We will see how their lives and beliefs helped to shape our nation. This is my favorite way to learn history, and my favorite things about Trail Guide to Learning!

The Sowers Series, which I had never even heard of prior to TGTL, is amazing! Currently, we are in the middle of reading Abigail Adams: First Lady of Faith and Courage, and we are loving it! I love how this series shares how these people lived out their faith, and they even have scripture sprinkled through the books.

Paths of Settlement also includes several great historical fiction books, as well as a Drive Through History DVD.

The Courage of Sarah Noble
Matchlock Gun
Ambush in the Wilderness
Munford: The American Revolution
Guns for General Washington
The Cabin Faced West
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
The Eve of Revolution
Janie's Freedom
Samuel F. Smith
Munford: The Klondike Gold Rush
Yankee Blue or Revel Grey
Cowboys
Drive Through History, America DVD {my kids love this guy!}

Paths of Settlement continues its Charlotte Mason style approach by connecting history with science, geography, language arts and art. I think Geomatters explains it best when they say that they...

"Utilize Charlotte Mason's philosophy of developing thinking skills naturally through observation and narration, while connecting subjects in a thought-provoking way."

For science, POS focuses on Earth Science as it relates to geography. This study includes weather, rocks, minerals, the periodic table, and the natural features of the earth.

We created Weather Watcher Notebooks. Aren't they adorable!

Geography includes a study of states, this is another things that we are really enjoying. Each week the kids study two states. They do this by reading about them in the Children's Illustrated Atlas, completing state maps and state notebooking pages. The kids like reading the facts about each state, and drawing the state birds and flowers. Eating Your Way Through the USA has also been a huge hit! Our goal is one recipe per state. The blueberry pie that they made was out of this world delicious!


These State Pages are part of our geography and history studies. They are part of our Student Notebooks.

Language Arts is a large part of the Trail Guide to Learning Series. Daily copywork assignments are taken from their current student reader, which the students alternate with copying famous quotes. The children complete oral and written narrations, and discussion questions. POS focuses on writing mechanics, spelling and vocabulary words which are taken from our history studies. `

State Pages include map and fact page. Science notebook pages include diagrams for the kids to color and label.

The hands on activities included in POS include several games like bingo, concentration, Quoits and Corn Hole. Students learn how to paint with water colors, work on cooking, make a weather station, make candles, do soap carvings and keep create a history timeline. There are plenty of hands on activities, but they are not to the point of overwhelming. Just enough I would say.

One way that I incorporate my little guys is with picture books that coincide with the states or science topic that we are studying.

I am quite pleased that the worksheets and activities that we do with POS coincide with what we are reading. Everything is done with a purpose, we are not just spending time doing busy work. The science we study, the copywork, narrations and writing the kids do, along with the activities, they are all like pieces that make up one big puzzle. It is such a blessing to see the light bulb moments in my kids when they have connected the dots.

The Trail Guide to Learning teacher's manuals really could not be any simpler. They are laid out day by day, and they are very easy to understand and implement. Not only do they include daily lesson plans, but they also give teaching tips {which have been ever so helpful}.

The student pages are found on a cd that I print off for each child one unit at a time. These notebooking style pages are used to create a student notebook, which also doubles as your student's portfolio. The POS Complete Package also includes a USA Activity cd that includes worksheets that work great for younger students.

We received the Paths of Settlement Complete Package for review. The package includes the books I mentioned above, along with the other resources to complete the POS curriculum.

We also received downloads for the POS Middle School Supplement and the POS Lapbooks. The middle school supplement gives my 8th grader more advanced literature selections and additional activities that are more on her level. The lapbooks, on the other hand, go to the other side the spectrum for my younger guys. The lapbooks are a fun way for my younger guys to show what they are learning with less writing.

GeoMatters has allowed me to offer my readers $15 off of ANY Trail Guide to Learning Complete Package. This would include POE, POS and POP. Just use COUPON CODE: LSG15

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

They have also graciously allowed me to offer a F-R-E-E Download of Paths of Settlement to one of my readers. This includes the downloads for Paths of Settlement Volume 1 & 2, as well as the Student Notebook Pages. This download is valued at $120.00! This does not include the resource books, but it does include all of your teaching materials and student pages!

The giveaway will run from now until August 17th, 2013, with the winner being announced on August 18th, 2013. To enter please use the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - Field Trips

2013-08-08T01:02:00.003-04:00

If you have been following along with this series, then you know that we have already chosen our topic of study and gathered lots of good literature. We have talked about adding in some notebooking or lapbooks and doing some hands on activities.

Now what???

What I like to do is go on a field trip, either at the beginning of a unit to create excitement or at the end of a unit to kind of crystallize what we have be learning. We do not field trip all the time or every month even, but I do try to do them here and there. My kids and I always enjoy them.

When we were on vacation we stopped in to the Visitor Center at Assateague Island. There was a lot to see and do, we even earned Junior Ranger Badges.

We don't live to far from Washington, DC. So, for our study of the Revolutionary War we might visit Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington or Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We would look for an opportunity to watch a war reenactment or we might even visit Colonial Williamsburg.

This past spring we did get to check out NASA's Visitor Center.

If we were doing a study on Botany, we would visit the nearby Botanical Gardens. The NASA Visitors Center would be on our list if we were studying space.

I love this one! The boys are learning how to spin at a historic mansion nearby.

This spring and summer we have done a lot of field trips. Some were tied into what we were learning, and some were just for the "fun of it." Either way, the kids were always learning something. We have even gotten into visiting local historical sites, I had no idea of some the rich local history right here in my county.

Maple Sugaring!

Another place that has become a favorite for us are the local {and not so local} nature centers. We have experienced maple sugaring, as well as learned about various critters. We have explored the centers, most are very hands on with tons of things for the kids to touch and feel, which my kids LOVE! We have done nature scavenger hunts and hiked a few trails. I have also had the kids bring colored pencils and a notebook, so that they could pick their favorite thing to draw and write about.

Learning about scat, first hand!

I am learning that there are a lot of learning opportunities out there, if we are looking for them. I would venture to say that they are field trips for most things that we study. Sometimes we might have to get a little creative and think outside the box, but they are out there. And when you get out there, your kids will be learning and love it!

At the American History Museum in DC. The kids got a lesson from a weather man from the early 1800's.

What was your family's favorite field trip?

Don't forget to catch up with the other 89 TOS Crew Bloggers on our 5 Day Hop!

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - Hands on Activities

2013-08-07T00:50:00.001-04:00

Glad to have you joining me again! We have already picked our unit study topic and collected books to read. We have also looked at some ways for our kids to document and display their work with lapbooking and notebooking.

Now, let's get talking about hands on activities. Most kids love hands on activities, it's the fun stuff! Kids seem to learn best, and retain more, the things that they can experience with their senses.

Here are some hands on activities that we do around here:

Play games - just today we played Made for Trade. Little did they know we were having a history lesson. I am sneaky like that {wink, wink!}. Games are also great for learning phonics sounds and memorizing math facts. Last week, the boys and I played Phonics Go Fish, they had a great time while they were practicing their sounds.

Cooking - this year along with our state studies we are trying to make at least one thing from each state. For instance, for Maine we made a homemade blueberry pie, with homemade crust. This week we are studying Pennsylvania and I plan on letting them make homemade pretzels. We have been using Eat Your Way Through the USA and The United States Cookbook: Fabulous Foods and Fascinating Facts From All 50 States.

Building - at one time or another we have used Legos, Lincoln Logs, K'Nex, magnets, card board brick blocks, Tinker Toys, Popsicle Sticks, tooth picks, Play dough, and Salt dough to build and sculpt things we are learning. When we studied the human body, the kids made a very cool skeleton out of tinker toys. They have built forts and cities that we have studied.

Dramatizing - My kids love this one! They love to dress up and come up with skits and songs about things we are learning.

I remember last spring when we were studying horses, the kids were asked to pick a horse, study it and do a presentation. Well, they ran with the idea and did a whole cowboy show for the Hubs and I. They had a grand ol' time and they learned a ton!

Create Something - this can be a drawing, a diorama, a collage, a project or poster board. Even an art or craft project that goes along with what you are studying.

Back to the horse study I mentioned. I helped each child draw their breed of horse on a large piece of poster board, they colored it, labeled the body parts and gave us 3 facts about their horse.

Models & Kits - There are tons of great kits out their to make learning hands on and fun! Like Snap Circuits for instance, we got these for the kids for the holiday and they still love them! My only regret is not getting the larger kit.

We have even done paper models. We did this one of a Medieval Castle when we studied the Middle Ages, and I plan to do this
American Fort Model soon.

Experiments - is there a science experience that would go along with your study? When we get to our study of the American Revolution I know that we are going to be learning about Ben Franklin. A quick google search leads me to several experiments and games that the kids can do, like The Lemon Battery.

We also have several of the Magic School Bus Science Kits & Young Scientist Club Kits that the kids love. You could actually pick a science kit and do a unit study around it.

As you can see there are lots of ways to kids to learn that don't involve a textbook or a worksheet. I have found that hands on activities work very well when they compliment a book we are reading or a topic we are studying.

Are there any other hands on activities that you could add to my list? If so, I'd love to hear them.

Don't forget to head over the check out what the other 89 TOS Crew members are talking about.

Please note that I have included several Amazon affiliate links in this post. If you like the things that I have suggested in this post, and you purchase them through my link I will receive a small compensation. Thanks!

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - Lapbooking & Notebooking

2013-08-05T23:17:00.001-04:00

Thanks for joining me again, as I discuss how we do unit studies over here at the LSG House.

Ok, so far, we've picked The American Revolution as our unit study topic, and gathered lots {and lots and lots} of books. I would say that we are off to a pretty good start.

They are several different ways that children can show what they are learning. Two of my favorites are notebooking and lapbooking.

Here are a few sample of our notebook pages from Trail Guide to Learning, plus a few coloring pages.

Notebooking is kind of like educational scrapbooking, normally done in a 3 ring binder, where students get to display what they are learning. Notebooking can include pictures, drawings, worksheets, lists, pictures, maps, copywork and written narrations.

I have also been known to allow my kids to color pictures that go along with our theme, as I am reading a read aloud. Once they are finished it goes into their notebook. For instance, we have a coloring book called Ships From the American Revolution that the kids will color from.

This is a Thanksgiving Lapbook that we did several years ago.

Lapbooking is a type of portfolio made out of regular old file folders. Lapbooks can contain mini books that have special flaps and folds to display pictures, drawings, diagrams, timelines and your child's written work (copywork, written narrations and answers to questions). This is a super fun way to learn! It can be a little labor intensive for mom if she has littles, due to a lot of cutting. One way I have found to enjoy lapbooking is to minimize the pieces that we use.

Here are a few reasons that I love notebooking and lapbooking:

They are your portfolio, other than math and phonics. They are both tangible ways to show work, and a lot more fun than a workbook!

The kids get to be creative and show their uniqueness! Especially with their drawings and coloring pages. They do not have to fit inside the box for this activity. As long as they are showing me what they are learning, I am happy to allow some creative freedom in this area.

They make great keepsakes. Back when my now 8th grader was in 2nd grade, we stepped away from our traditional curriculum and used Adventures in My Father's World. This curriculum had us studying the states and doing this thing I had never heard of before... notebooking. It was literally like a breath of fresh air and I have never looked back!

This is basically what we are doing with our Trail Guide to Learning - POS study, we are compiling a notebook of our studies. So, I went to the garage and pulled out the state notebooks that I had saved from my girls. I wanted to show the boys what they would be doing. My girls were so excited that I had saved their notebooks from 2nd grade and kindergarten! I am not a saver of school stuff, but these were special. The Lil' Chef loved telling her siblings the things she remembered as she flipped through her notebook. It was a really a blessing.

My Favorite Lapbooks & Notebooking Sources

For an all inclusive curriculum, that is unit study-ish, we love Trail Guide to Learning. This curriculum offers student pages at various levels to create a student notebook. They also offer lapbooks.
Homeschool Share is my favorite for FREE lapbooking and notebooking pages. They have unit studies, lapbooks and notebook pages for just about everything!
Notebooking.com is a membership based site, but they offer lots of freebies.
Notebooking Fairy is another site with lots of freebies!
We have also enjoyed several lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning.

Have I left any sites out? If you have a favorite that I didn't mention, please let us know in the comments.

Don't forget to join me tomorrow as we continue discussing Learning with Unit Studies!

Check out what other TOS Crewbies are talking about....

Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids #38 Edible Paint

2013-08-05T19:20:00.001-04:00

I know that we've already made Homemade Body Paint for outside play or bath time. It was such a hit over here that I went searching for another fun way to paint. Guess what I found??

Homemade EDIBLE Paint! You could do this on poster board, like finger painting or they could paint their bodies. Either way, I am sure your kids will have a ball!

You can head over to Laughing Kids Learn for a full tutorial on how to make your own Homemade Edible Paint.

Click here to see more Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids.

Have Fun!

(You may have noticed that I changed the title of this series from 101 Activities to 50. Good eye you got there! I had to downsize due to getting really behind from being sick and life. Thanks for understanding ; )

5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies - Read, Read, Read!

2013-08-05T00:12:00.000-04:00

This week I am joining 90 TOS Crew Bloggers in the 5 Days Blog Hop. I am going to be talking about Learning with Unit Studies, our favorite way to learn!

I feel that learning with unit studies gives my children an opportunity to really dive into a topic and study it from all different angles.

For those of you not familiar with unit studies, let me explain a little bit about them. A unit study takes a topic, and then studies it in a hands on, engaging way. Studying your topic could include reading wonderful living books, learning historical information , doing science experiments and projects, writing reports, dramatizing, doing arts and crafts, learning geography, cooking and more.

You could do a unit study on an elephant, Ben Franklin, baseball, cowboys, The American Revolution or the States. Anything really! You could do a unit study on a character trait like Obedience. You could even do one on a favorite book like Caps for Sale.

Once you have your topic a picked out, you could purchase a unit study, find a free one online or make your own. Personally, I do not feel the need to recreate the wheel {smile}. I have come to love KONOS and Trail Guide to Learning {TGTL}. They are very different from each other, but both are unit study in nature and have done all the work for me. KONOS focuses character traits and TGTL on American History. Another favorite source for unit studies is Homeschool Share.

This week I am going to walk you through how we do unit studies. I am going to use the American Revolution as my topic, which we are going to be starting it in a few weeks.

So, now that I have my topic I will start by pulling any books from our shelves that go along with my topic. I would also go online and request books from by library. Lots and lots of books! I would make sure to include biographies, historical fiction books, as well as picture books for my younger guys.

I plan on reading and using books like:

George Washington: Man of Prayer and Courage (The Sowers)
Johnny Tremain
Guns for General Washington
The Eve of Revolution
George Washington’s Breakfast
If You Grew Up With George Washington
Sam the Minuteman by Benchley
George the Drummer Boy
If You Lived in Colonial Times
And then what Happened Paul Revere?
Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution
What’s the Big Idea Ben Franklin?
Phoebe the Spy
Can't You Make Them Behave King George?
You Wouldn't Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party!
Great American Artists
How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning
Joining the Boston Tea Party

As you can see, one of the main things we do when doing a unit study is read, read and read!

From reading great books, my kids learn A LOT! When children read "living books," stories that are interesting, they feel a connection with the people and their story. This builds interest and a love of learning. Many a day I try to stop reading and my kids literally beg me to go on.

Just from reading these great books, we will learn what the American Revolution was all about, will learn about some of the main historical figures that played important roles in the American Revolution. We will learn about the time period, how people lived back then and what they believed. We will learn the whos, whats, wheres and whys of the American Revolution!

I feel that each of these books is like a piece our American Revolution puzzle. Putting them all together gives my kids the big picture, or completed puzzle, of our topic.

Join me tomorrow as we continue with 5 Days of Learning with Unit Studies!

Check out what other TOS Crewbies are talking about...

Schoolhouse Expo Giveaway!

2013-08-01T01:00:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again, homeschool mom's are planning their year, ordering curriculum and gearing up for a new year. One thing that I like to include in my gearing up for the new year plan is to get some fresh encouragement.

There are several ways to do this. You can pick up a new homeschool book, go to a conference or you can join the Schoolhouse Expo.

I like the Schoolhouse Expo. I get to listen to seasoned homeschoolers, who have been where I am, right in the comfort of my own home {sometimes in my pjs, hee hee!}

A week-long Schoolhouse Expo Event

August 19-23, 2013

1:00pm-8:00pm (Eastern) /

10:00am-5:00pm (Pacific)

There are going to be 30 popular speakers at the Expo, I can't wait!

I am really looking forward to hearing Jessica Hulcy {one of my fav's} talk about multilevel teaching. Todd Wilson will be talking about Taming the Techno Beast – Parenting in the Internet Age.

Andrew Pudewa talks about Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day. Boy oh boy, do I need to hear this one!

Some of the other speakers that I am excited to hear are Jay Wile, Diana Waring, Davis Carman and Hal & Melanie Young.

As you can see there is quite the line up of homeschool wisdom!

I got good news for ya, I have one FREE Schoolhouse Expo Ticket to giveaway to one of YOU! Enter here to win....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run from August 1 - August 15, 2013.

You can also purchase Schoolhouse Expo Tickets for $24.

Disclaimer: This is a promotional post in exchange for a free ticket to the Schoolhouse Expo!

Fun & Frugal Summer Activity #37 Peanut Butter Play Dough

2013-07-31T23:44:00.004-04:00

Another oldie, but goodie... Peanut Butter Play Dough!! This stuff never gets old with kids. My kids love it because not only can you play with it, but you can EAT it too!

If you have never made this stuff before, let me encourage you to go for it! It is always a big hit.

Ingredients

2 cups powdered milk
2 cups peanut butter
1 cup honey
Optional food ideas for creating - pretzel sticks, raisins, marshmallows, chocolate chips

Directions

Mix all ingredients together until everything is incorporated.together.
Knead until smooth.
Let'em at it!

After the dough is ready, the kids can make pretend animals, people, foods, etc. Cookie cutters are fun with this dough as well. It's just like playing with regular play dough, except for the added bonus of getting to eat your creation!

I suggest keeping a little flour or corn starch in a little bowl nearby to help with the stickiness.

Click here to see more Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids.

Have Fun!

Fun & Frugal Summer Activites #36 Sidewalk Games

2013-07-30T22:54:00.001-04:00

My crew loves games, so when I came across the idea of sidewalk games, I knew it would be a hit.

Here's what I found...

Over at Craft Drawer you will find game ideas like Four Squares, Mini Golf and an Extra Large Checkerboard.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom has some AWESOME sidewalk games. She shares ideas like Sidewalk Simon and Sidewalk Sudoku! Be sure to check these out!

Last but not least, I came across a neat game called Sidewalk Skellzies. You can find the directions for this one over at Spoonful.

What sidewalk games do your kids play?

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Fun & Frugal Summer Activites for Kids #35 Super Cute Pet Rocks

2013-07-23T17:54:00.001-04:00

An oldie but a goodie, the Pet Rock! Just yesterday Computer Girl made me a pet rock. See, isn't she cute....

There are lots of ways to decorate rocks. You could make some fancy bug rocks like these ones....

You might like to give your rocks a hair do and googlie eyes....

Photo Source

How about Minion rocks...He's my favorite!

In honor of Monster's University you could make these little guys...

Hope these ideas inspire you all to get creative!

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Fun & Frugal Sumemr Activities for Kids #34 Marshmallow Sculptures

2013-07-23T00:17:00.002-04:00

Here's a fun little craft for the kids to get into on a too hot to play outside afternoon. It's really frugal and lots of fun! Marshmallow Sculptures!

Supplies

Lots of Marshmallows

Lots of Toothpicks

Yep, that's all you need.

Here is a little bit of inspiration for y'all....

Photo Source

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Picaboo Yearbooks {Review}

2013-07-21T18:45:00.000-04:00

There are few things that I feel we, as homeschoolers, miss out on. Over all, I feel that we are very blessed with the experiences we have had in our homeschooling journey. But, if I was being honest, I would say that I have thought it is a bummer that my kids would not get to have yearbooks. Yearbooks are one of those sentimental keepsakes that most kids look foreword too.

I assumed that was just one of the things my kids would have to do with out, until now. Recently, we were given the opportunity to make our own yearbook through Picaboo Yearbooks!

Picaboo Yearbooks offered us a 20 page, soft cover yearbook that I got to completely design online!

The process probably took me about 15 hours or so from start to finish, but this also included me having to take the time to organize my pictures.

Here is how the process worked for me:

First, I signed up for my free Picaboo account. This allows you to choose what type of yearbook you are making. BTW, all Picaboo accounts are free, you are only charged when you order your yearbook.

After I signed up, I decided to check out all of the different page backgrounds that Picaboo offered. There are TONS of backgrounds to choose from, plus you can import your own.

For this yearbook, I decided to choose one theme for the whole yearbook. The theme I choose was Amelie, which is different shades of blues, greens, tans, and browns. I liked the flow and simplicity of all the pages coordinating with each other.

If I was working on this yearbook through out the year I may choose different backgrounds through out, but I really do like the way this yearbook turned out with the coordinating pages. One of the great things about Picaboo Yearbooks is that you can work on your yearbook through the whole year, instead of all at once. Which I have already started to do for next year.

Ok, picked my background theme. Next, I started to label each 2 page spread. For instance, I gave each child their own 2 page spread just for them. I also made sections on learning together, playing together, holidays and field trips. These are the pages with everyone doing things together, even my and The Hubs are sprinkled in there.

At this point I have a plan, my yearbook now has a layout. Yay me! With a plan in place, it is smooth sailing from here on out.

With my plan in mind, I now start to organize my pictures according to the page sections that I have labeled in my yearbook. The organizing took a little bit of time, but the outcome was well worth the effort!

Now, I am ready to start going through the yearbook and completing my pages, which is done simply by dragging and clicking to move pictures and text boxes around.

Some of the pages I completely designed myself, for others I choose Picaboo's layouts. One of the features that I really liked with the Picaboo site was that even if I chose one of their layouts, I could still tweak it and make it my own. In addition to all of the backgrounds, they also offer over 800 "stickers" that you can use to jazz up your pages.

For the kid's pages I placed at least one large photo of them, and then lots of smaller ones. I also included a little bit of journaling around the pictures. For fun, I also added their current favorite book, movie, and color. I listed their hobbies, and what they wanted to be when they grow up. These will be fun to see change through the years. Because these yearbooks are so simple and inexpensive, I plan to keep them up through the years.

I was very impressed with the selection of backgrounds, stickers and the FONTS! I felt that Picaboo made the process of making the yearbook was very simple.

After all my pages are complete, and I have quadruple checked them for mistakes, I am ready to publish my master piece, ahem I mean yearbook.

Pretty much immediately after submitting my yearbook to be published, I received a digital eYearbook! That was pretty cool!

It only took about 2 weeks for us to receive our yearbook. And it is something that we will cherish for many years to come!

Here are some highlights from our yearbook...

Here are the Picaboo Yearbook Prices:

Softcover yearbooks start at $8.49 and Hardcover yearbooks start at $18.99. For that price you get 20 pages, but you can add additional page pages for $.22 each.

{Note: I felt that 20 pages was plenty for our little crew}

Shipping costs are $8.99 for your first book, and $.99 shipping for each additional book.

I would definitely recommend Picaboo Yearbooks! They are great for homeschoolers, scouts, church youth groups, co-ops and family photos.

Thanks Picaboo, we really loved our yearbook!

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Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids #33 Sand Paper T-Shirt Transfer

2013-07-21T17:58:00.001-04:00

I know you all remember these from back in the day! Making an iron on t-shirt from crayons and sand paper. This used to be one of my favorite things when I was little.

Photo Source

Supplies need

Crayons
T-shirt
Sandpaper - I suggest using a fine grade for a more even transfer
Iron
Cardboard - sized to fit inside T-shirt)
Aluminum Foil

Directions

Using your crayons, draw a picture on the rough side of the sandpaper. Make sure you press hard when drawing so there is a thick layer of crayon. {NOTE: If you are writing words, write the words and letters backward so they will be correct after transfer}

Cover your piece of cardboard with aluminum foil, being careful not to create creases in the foil. This will help color adhere to shirt.

Next, insert the foil wrapped cardboard inside the t-shirt, to protect the back side of the shirt.

Lay sandpaper with drawn design CRAYON SIDE DOWN on front of t-shirt where you want the picture to be.

Turn iron to the warm or rayon setting. Once the iron is ready, apply heat to the the back (the smooth side) of the sandpaper. Hold iron on each part of sandpaper for approximately 10 seconds to melt the crayon design onto t-shirt, it really does transfer that quick.

Allow t-shirt to cool before peeling back sandpaper.

Wash in cold water and hang to dry to keep design from fading.

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