Our next lesson for Wednesday’s Around the World is about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego was taken captive, along with Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar II was king.  Nebuchadnezzar wanted to train these young men to serve in his palace.  The king tried to change these young men in several different ways.  He first changed their names.  They all had Hebrew names and the king changed them.  Then, he invited them to live in the palace, eat his food and learn the language of the king.  The king wanted to reshape their minds and way of thinking so they would become loyal followers of him.

While their names did change, they refused to eat the king’s food.  They didn’t want to defile themselves of all the food that the king was served.  While they didn’t change the way they believed, they did grow strong and were placed in service under Nebuchadnezzar.  While serving under the king, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, the king told them they had to bow down to a huge gold image that he had built.  But by being faithful servants of God, they refused.  This upset the king so much that he had Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego thrown in a furnace and heated up so hot that it killed anyone who went near it.  However, despite it being so hot that not one hair was singed on any of their bodies!  Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and couldn’t believe what he saw!  The guys were not burned or harmed in any way!  He also noticed that there was another person in the furnace with them!  It was God!  God protected his faithful followers!  Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t believe it and said this:

Daniel 3:28

Items we used to burn.

The material you need for this activity is a candle, metal tongs and several small items to burn.  We used a piece of chalk, polyester, plastic, strawberry top, piece of cloth, a paper clip, pine needles, plastic clip and a little of Samuel’s hair.  We also had a bowl of water to put out the items that caught fire.

Claire burning a strawberry top.

We lit the candle and each child took turns choosing an item to see what would burn and what didn’t catch fire.

Samuel burning his hair.

Once the kids saw how easy it was for the cloth and hair to burn, we talked about the miracle that happened with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.  How not even one hair on their body or even their clothes did not have any burn marks on them at all.   God had saved them from the fiery furnace!  It was a great lesson to show that if you are faithful to God, He will take care of you during those trying times.

What have you been studying in history and geography?  Have you done any fun activities or projects? I would love for you to share with us any history or geography lesson, project or activity that you have done in the last couple of weeks.  Just link up below!

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Chronicles of Dinosauria is this amazing book by Dave Woetzel that talks about the history of Dinosaurs and Man.  In this beautifully illustrated book, Dave Woetzel covers the Creation and the Dinosaurs, the Flood and the Dinosaurs, Fossil Evidence , the Historical Evidence, Artistic Evidence, Cryptozoology Evidence and Biblical Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man.

In this book, the author addresses one of the big questions that a lot of people have.  Did man and Dinosaur live at the same time?  Mr. Woetzel does a wonderful job of explaining and giving scientific evidence how man and dinosaur lived together. (Yes, I believe that man and dinosaur lived together.)

How did Dave Woetzel come to this conclusion?  He traveled around the world finding artifacts and talking to people.  In this books, he shares his own personal pictures and other papers, drawings and information that he came across during the search.

Between all of the information that Mr. Woetzel used to write this book and the amazing drawings that Mr. Richard Dobbs created to go along with the work, this book is put together wonderfully and answers many questions that one might have regarding how man and dinosaur lived together and what happened to the dinosaurs.

My kids and I have really enjoyed reading this book.  We definitely recommend it to others who want to learn more about man and dinosaurs living together.

Kids reading Chronicles of Dinosaura.

**Disclaimer: I was given this book by Master Books, a division of New Leaf publishing, in exchange for a review.  All opinions in the review are my own.  No other compensation was given.

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As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted a Wednesday’s Around the World in a couple of weeks.  It wasn’t because I didn’t want to post, I just couldn’t seem to get the post written.  The last couple of weeks, I have been struggling with migraines, allergy/sinus headaches and even a Fibromyalgia flare-up that lasted longer than what I liked. When I have a Fibromyalgia flare-up, I basically hurt from head to toe and have no energy whatsoever, which makes it very hard to think and concentrate.  I am praying that I don’t have one of those for a while.  It is now finally feeling like spring and the kids and I want to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having.  Now on to Wednesday’s Around the World where we are talking about Ezekiel, the prophet and the edible scroll.

We studied about Ezekiel a couple of weeks ago.  He was taken as a young man to Babylonia, just like Daniel.  It wasn’t until after he had been held captive of about 5 years before he became a prophet.  Ezekiel was a preist and a prophet to the Judeans that lived along the River Chebar.  This group was able to worship and live somewhat of a normal life.

The way Ezekiel prophesied was a little unusual compared to other prophets.  God gave Ezekiel visions that are hard for us to understand.  For example, Ezekiel wrote that he had seen creatures with 4 faces and 4 wings in a fiery cloud.  One of the strangest though was God gave Ezekiel a scroll to eat.  The scripture says,

Ezekiel 3:3-4

The activity for the lesson on Ezekiel, we were to make an edible scroll.  The kids liked this idea!  All you need for this activity is one slice of bread per kid, a knife and honey to drizzle.

The first thing the kids did was cut the crust off the bread and then made the bread as square as they could.

cutting the crust off and squaring the bread up.

Once they finished squaring off their bread, they were to write “Oh Israel” on their “scroll”.  This proved challenging to them, because it was hard to write with the honey.  I didn’t have a small bottle with a nozzle, so I improvised and used ziploc bags and cut off a very tiny part of the corner.

Writing on their “scroll” with honey.

The last things the kids had to do was then roll the bread up just like a scroll and eat!  I think this was their favorite part!

eating their “scroll”.

So what all have you been learning in the last couple of weeks?  Did you do any neat projects or activities?  I would love if you would link up and share it with us!

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Do you love learning about your family’s history or love hearing stories from days gone by? What about when your baby starts talking and wishing you had a way to capture the moment? With Saving Memories Forever App, you can preserve and save all of those special memories!

How does Saving Memories Forever work?  The first thing you need is a smart phone.  You will then need to download the Saving Memories Forever App.  Once you have downloaded the app on your phone, you will need to register on their system.  You also need to decide if you want to use the free version, or if you want to upgrade to the monthly paid version.  While the process is the same for both versions, you will be able to do more with the paid version, which is only $3.99 a month.

Now that you have registered with Saving Memories Forever, you are now ready to begin saving those precious memories of your family.  The first thing you will need to do is make a profile for the individuals you want to record.  Once that profile has been made,  Saving Memories Forever gives questions you can ask to the person, or you can ask your own questions.  There are different categories for different age groups.  The creators of Saving Memories Forever suggests that you keep the conversation recordings to 5 minutes or less.  Once you finish the recording of your profiler, you are then ready to upload and save the story, so that others can listen and enjoy the stories, as well.

Overall, I think this is a very good idea.  I know there have been times when I wished I had written or recorded stories of my parents and grandparents, that they told when they were growing up.

However, I had some issues with the Saving Memories Forevers App when I downloaded it.  First off, make sure you have room on your phone to download the app.  I had to delete a few other apps to make room for it.  Secondly, once I was finally able to download the app, it took several tries for me to get the app to work properly on my phone.  The app never did fit my phone screen.  It was just too large for my screen.  (I have an HTC).  While, I have had just a few issues, a lot of others have had a lot of success using the Saving Memories Forever app.  The creators are also very friendly and helpful for when you are having issues.  I can see this app being a success for a lot of history buffs!

**Disclaimer: I received this product free to review.  While I got it for free, all thoughts and opinions are my own.  No other compensation was received.

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Spanish For You is a curriculum that is for grades 3-8.  The curriculum was designed by a Spanish teacher to effectively build grammar knowledge, spelling, writing skills and speaking.  Students can learn to communicate in spanish and have fun while learning.  Students will learn how the language works with its unique design.  Spanish For You is very flexible and can work with most any schedule.  You can use this curriculum in a class or co-op setting, for the family or even just yourself.

Spanish For You has a couple of different curriculum packages that you can choose from.  You can choose from Viajes or Fiestas package.  We were give the Fiestas package.  When you order your package, it will come with:

• Spanish for you! soft cover book (allow up to 2 weeks for delivery) or E-book (trial pkgs.)
  
• Plus the following downloads:
• Audio download (MP3) of the entire book. You use these as the lesson guide instructs.
• A free bonus audio of the entire book recorded by a native speaker from Mexico. (MP3)
• 24-30 Week Lesson Guide (PDF) – The student (and parent if needed) follows this guide step-by-step to know what to do, at whatever pace works for you.
• Self-checking worksheets (PDF) – You just print these as you need them. The lesson guide will tell you what you need to print and when.
• Free set of pictures for making flashcards and other activity materials. (PDF)

Spanish For You has many activities and games listed on their website that you can use as you go through the curriculum.  This is a great idea for reviewing what you have learned and for practice.

Now that I have told you a little bit about the curriculum, here is our experience with Spanish For You!.  When we first received the curriculum by email, and I started downloading all of the files, it was all mixed up.  I had to go through and put all of the lessons and audios in the order that I would need to teach them.  That was a little bit discouraging for me.  When I purchase a curriculum, I like for it to be in order. (**This issues has since been fixed.  The creator of the curriculum has gone through and put everything in order, so you will not have this issue.)  While, the audio’s did help with the lessons and the curriculum was written very user friendly, my oldest daughter and I still had a hard time with it.  I think it is more of a personal issue with how it is taught, compared to how we learn.

So how do you know if Spanish For You will work for you and your family?  They have free lessons and free worksheets that you can download!  Once you see if the curriculum will work for your family, you can order the packages for a reasonable price, just starting at $9.99.

Spanish For You creator, Debbie, is very friendly and will help you out if you have any trouble at all.  While this curriculum did not work for our family, it just might work for you.

**Disclaimer~ I was given this curriculum for a review. All opinions expressed are my own.  No other compensation was given.

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The Earth has a huge magnetic field that is made in the outer core of the earth.  This magnetic field pulls harmful particles away from the earth.  The harmful particles is called a solar wind.  Without this magnetic field, we wouldn’t be able to survive on Earth.  Isn’t that amazing?

The magnetosphere that is around the earth actually blocks some of the solar winds that come from the sun.  The solar winds that are able to get through are mostly around the North and South Poles.  As they are traveling past the North and South Poles, they start running into gases in the earth’s atmosphere.  This is where those beautiful lights that are called “auroras” come from!

Now on to the fun part of this lesson, the project of making a compass!  The supplies for this project  that you will need is a cork, permanent marker, a lid from a yogurt or sour cream container, a sewing needle and a magnet (needs to be a strong magnet).

Claire running the needle over the magnet.

What you do first is label the lid with (N)orth, (S)outh, (E)ast, (W)est.  Then you run the needle over the top of the magnet several times, making sure that you move the needle in the same direction.  Then you will cut off a little piece of cork and put it in the middle of the needle.

pouring water in the lid.

Then you will fill the lid to the very top with water.  You will then put the cork and needle in the lid so that the needle is floating roughly parallel to the surface of the water.  Then watch what happens!  Turn the compass and you will notice that the needle continues pointing in the same direction.

Needle is pointing North.

Regardless of how you turn the compass, one end of the needle will always point to the north and the other end to the south.  Yes, this really works!

Checking the direction the needle is pointing.

How does this work?  Since you turned the needle into a magnet by running it over the magnet, it is affected by the Earth’s magnetic field!

My kids had a really fun time with this project.  Well I have to admit, I did too!  We can’t wait to begin the next lesson on the Moon!

I am linking up with The Homeschool Scientist and Apologia.  Be sure to stop by Apologia and check out the other projects that have been linked up!

Have you done any neat science projects or activities?  I would love for you to share them with us!

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Claire working on her Tortoise.

Aesop also used animals a lot in his stories.  He would use the animals to represent people in different positions in the society.  For example, the story about the Tortoise and Hare.

The activity for today’s lesson was to read a story from Aesop’s Fables and make puppets of the characters from that story.  Then have the kids renact the story using  their puppets.  I chose the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare.

Samuel working on his Tortoise.

While the Mystery of History book suggested using paper sacks or socks, we just used what materials we had on hand.  We used felt for the Tortoise and the Hare.  Then the kids used jewels and other craft supplies to decorate the puppets.

Samuel and Claire with their Tortoise and Hare.

The kids also used popsicle sticks to put on the puppets to hold them up.  I think they did a very good job making them.  The kids really enjoyed this fable.

When I had posted a picture of the kids on A Journey of Joy Facebook page, a friend mentioned that Jim Weiss had told the story for Home Educating Family Association.  You can listen to Jim Weiss tell there story, HERE.  He is an amazing story teller!

So what have you been learning about in History?  Have you done any fun projects or activities lately?  Please link up and share with us all!

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Just released this year is a new online curriculum.  It is Dew Learning, an online Christian curriculum.  They released the Kindergarten – Fourth Grade at the beginning of the year and will release Fifth-Twelfth grade in the Summer of 2014.  This online curriculum was made for the iPad.  However, you can use it on a computer as well.  Word is, that they are working on an android version for those who do not own an iPad.

Some of the features of this new curriculum include Daily Lessons.  They have 8 different subjects;

• Art – 72 lessons or two days a week
• Bible – 180 lessons or 5 days a week
• Language Arts – 180 lessons or 5 days a week
• Math – 180 lessons for 5 days a week
• Music – 72 lessons or two days a week
• PE/Health – 72 lessons or two days a week
• Science – 108 lessons or three days a week
• Social Studies – 108 lessons or three days week

Other features include:

• Interactive Games and Quizzes
  
• PDF Worksheets
• Lectures
• Teachers
• 24/7 access to the iPad and Computer
• Back up and Storage

What are the prices for this online Christian curriculum?  You can buy the curriculum by individual subjects for $65 each or you can buy all 8 subjects for $295.  You can pre-order by calling them at 770-240-1005.

You can also register to win an iPad or a full year of curriculum by filling out this form.

Be sure to stop by Dew Learning to learn more about their Statement of Faith and their Philosophy of a Christian Education.  You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post that I was compensated for.

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This week, for Wednesday’s Around the World, I am sharing with you the lesson from Mystery of History, Daniel and the Lion’s Den.   Daniel was a young man, when he was taken during the first invasion that Nebuchadnezzar made on Judah.  When Daniel first arrived to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar offered food and wine to Daniel.  Daniel refused and trusted God.  By trusting God, Daniel grew in all ways, including in wisdom and understanding.

The second year Daniel was in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.  Daniel was the only one who could interpret what the dream meant.  Everything that Daniel prophesied about came true!  Years after the rise and fall of the empires that Daniel had said would happen, he was thrown into a den of Lion’s!  Daniel trusted God to protect him and he continued to pray and serve God!  Daniel had the faith like no other.

The activity for this lesson was making a lion out of pasta.  I figured it would be easier to find a print out of a lion and have the kids glue pasta on for the mane and his tail.

Samuel’s Lion

The kids had a fun time doing this little project.  It was also easy for us to do.  We eat a lot of pasta for lunch in our house, so we always have pasta on hand.  As homeschoolers, we always have glue on had as well.  I told the kids to color the lions first and then to glue the pasta on.  I think they did a pretty good job.

Claire’s Lion.

We had a couple of people link up last week so I thought I would share with you what they did.

Ticia from Adventures in Mommydom has been teaching her kids about World War II.  She gave a list of movies, that are children friendly in this post.  I am excited about this.  I am always on the lookout for educational and child friendly movies for my children.

All Things Bright and Beautiful was teaching her children about World War I.  This is part 2 of her lesson and she is teaching her children about weapons and warfare.

Be sure to stop by both of these ladies blogs.  They have a lot of wonderful suggestions that you can use to teach your children about these important wars.

Now on to the link-up!  I would love to see what all you and your children have been learning in history and geography!

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The Ultimate Homeschool Planner.

Just how “ultimate” is this planner?  It is a huge book, with 263 pages.  What do you ask that takes up so many pages in this huge planner?  Let me give you a littl run down of everything that Debra Bell covers in this amazing planner.

• A User’s Guide (which is extremely helpful!)
• A One Year Planning Grid
• Student Goal Setter
• Pre-Planning Guides
• Monthly Planner
• Weekly Planner
• Records
• Teaching Tips
• High School Planning Guide and a High School Planning Guide Example
• Year in Review
• and a Notes section

As you can tell, Mrs. Bell did not forget anything in this planner.  She has been homeschooling for many many years and used her experience to put together this planner to help others. One of the things I enjoy as I am filling out the different sections is the little sayings and scriptures that she puts on the pages.  The really brighten my day and give e the encouragement and hope to continue on what I am doing.  Not only for my family, but to glorify God as well.

Inside the Ultimate Homeschool Planner.

Another thing I really love about this planner, is I can not only use it for my homeschooling plans, but I find the spaces big enough to allow me to put other information there as well.  I can make notes of appointments for all of us in our family, I can make notes about any reviews or posts that I have due.  There is even room for me to write down ideas that I have pop into my head.

I had chosen The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens for my oldest daughter.  She is in 9th grade this year and while she has been doing all of her work on her own, I knew it was past time for her to be keeping track of everything for herself.  I think helping and teaching kids to be more organized will help them in the future.  Mrs. Bell did an excellent job creating this weekly planner for teens.  Like with the Ultimate Homeschool Planner, she really did think of everything, even fun things that are important for teens. What all does Mrs. Bell include in this amazing 168 page planner?

• All About Me section (their favorites)
• 1st and 2nd semester schedules
• Monthly planner
• Weekly planner
• Grade pages
• Reading List pages
• Activities Log
• Credit and High School Records page

Mrs. Bell also includes wonderful sayings, quotes and scriptures throughout the pages of the planner.  She als has several pages dedicated to a list of books that she recommends to the teens to read.  There is a Guide to Punctuation, Italics and Capitalization,  Cite Right, Fractions, Decimals, Percent Equivalency Chart, Periodic Table, Measurement Equivalency Chart, Algebra and Physics Review, a Map of the World and the USA, as well as a Timeline.  She also gives a lot of high school and college admissions help, with several pages to just write down any notes that you may need to keep track of.

My daughter and I are really enjoying our planners.  I think it will help both of us become more organized as the year continues on.  We both need to be more diligent about keeping track of all sorts of information as we make plans for the rest of our homeschooling years.  Both of these planners have given us the tools we need to do this.

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