The Wild, Wild Web!

****Update On Morley****

Please check out Forward To The Past for previous post.  The note below is from Morley's wife Esther and this couple & their family still need your prayers please - but it would be so good if this wasn't cancer but just inflammation:  The note below was posted from Esther yesterday.

Thank you for praying :)

"Update on Morley

I am so tired right now I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I'm off to bed after I post this.

Morley had a biopsy done this morning. The doctor put him under so she could get a 'big chunk' as she said. And she told me, IT MAY NOT BE CANCER! We won't know for sure till we get the test results back, in another week or two, but she said it looks like it's just inflamation. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, because I know it could still come back as positive, but, I am praising God for even this hope!

She kept Morley in overnight, so I'll have to go back tomorrow and bring him home. I was at the hospital with him all day and part of the night.

It has been hard this past two weeks. But God has been with us and I know the prayers of everybody have helped.

Schoolside Press -- "Geography that's fun to learn and easy to remember!"

The Little Man In The Map, by E. Andrew Martonyi.  Illustrated by Ed Olson.  $19.95.

Schoolside Press   Learning with Imagination. 

FrogsJumpUSA blog for The Little Man In The Map

I was delighted to receive this book to review.  I didn't know what to expect when I saw it on the list, but when it arrived I was so pleased with its quality.  It is a large hardcover children's book, with engaging colorful illustrations.  The illustrations draw you in immediately.  Once you pick it up and start reading, the rhyming lyrics and unique description of  each of the 50 states keeps your interest.  My kids enjoyed learning that Kansas is MIM's backpack.

My husband sat down to read this book to our children the first night we received it.  A few pages into it, he said ... "And we get to keep this book?  Cool!"  My 13 year old daughter keeps picking it up to read it again.  My 7, 9, and 11 year olds were studying our United States wall map and pointing out the states that make up MIM (Man In the Map).  My 4 year old pointed to Oklahoma and said "this state scoots over so MIM can sit on this state,"  as he then pointed to Texas.   All that was after the first reading!  We'll never see the map of the United States the same way again.

This book will help your children learn the names and locations of the 50 states, and they will enjoy the learning process.  Andrew Martonyi has also written an accompanying teacher's guide with math, writing, geography, art, and music activities designed for K - 6th grade students.  It can be used for a unit study in the homeschool, or for classroom activities in a co-op or school setting.  The teacher's guide will be available soon at the website.   Schoolside Press sells an accompanying wall map, and there are free coloring pages available for download on the Schoolside Press website.  

The Little Man In The Map by E. Andrew Martonyi is delightfully well-written and illustrated.   It's a beautiful book that every home library, school library, and public library would benefit from having in its collection.  The Little Man In The Map would also make a wonderful gift for the elementary-aged children in your life.

Click the banner to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.

Trusting in Him,
April

Broncos

This new schedule has been working out great.  I got my 6 loads of laundry done during the day and didn't have to go outside after dark to hang out wet laundry in the dark.  We worked on school early today.  We made homemade pizzas for dinner which is always a treat to everyone.  My husband went hunting with three different children this afternoon.  Still no deer!  I don't know if we will like the meat, but we are sure going to try it if he gets one.

I am working on a Denver Bronco's quilt for my 16 year old son who is a football nut.  He has always just loved the Broncos and so I am making a quilt for his room.  I am making the rag quilt.  I should finish it tomorrow so I will take a picture once it is finished. 

Blessings,

Brenda

A Path to a Simpler Life

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

I Can’t Live Simply Until…

Why is Life Not Getting Simpler?

A few people have asked how to know if they are on the path to acquiring a more simple life. Since this is generally subjective and case specific, I often have to reply by asking some questions. Have you ever tried to change certain aspects of your lifestyle to accomplish something and then asked yourself if you have accomplished your goal? Hmmmm…

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Spears Art Studio -- teaching art at home

I love art!  My kids are creative, but I rarely do art lessons with them.  I help them figure out how to use a new art medium or how to draw something when they ask me, but I don't do formal lessons with them.  Every year, I vow to add in art ... but never do.

That is why I was glad to receive a copy of Spears Art Studio to review for the TOS Homeschool Crew.  Our family received the K-8 curriculum, and I love it!  I love that there is a weekly lesson for each age, for every month of the school year.  It includes seasonal ideas, as well as more general art projects.  There are simple lessons for the elementary students, and a more in-depth art lesson for the middle school children.  The middle school students will learn several art techniques through the year, such as shading, pointillism, and layering colors.

For the K-8 students, I wouldn't feel it necessary to do every lesson in the curriculum.  But even if I only chose 1 or 2 lessons per month, and used it for several years, it would be a worthwhile investment at $39.95.   No more relying on myself to come up with lessons or activities, and follow through.  All that is required is to acquire the art supplies, read the lesson, and teach it!   Dr. Diane Spears has done the hard part, and has provided an easy to follow teacher's guide for the rest of us.

Every Christmas, we make calendars to give to our extended family.  Each calendar page includes a photo of someone in our family, and a piece of artwork from the children.  Usually I give them stacks of small sheets of paper and just tell them to draw.  Well, obviously they run out of ideas after the first 10 or so pictures.  Artist's block!!   This year, I printed ideas from our Spears Art Studio and gave them to the children.  We are working our way through the ideas, one project each day.  Making the calendar art has never been easier!  And we won't end up with 30 robot drawings from my 7 year old son, either.

Each Spears Art Studio lesson includes a list of supplies, lesson objectives, a theme Scripture, art history ideas, teacher's inspiration and preparation, instructions for the project, and directions on how to assess the artwork.  The curriculum provides a rubric to use in grading the finished art, as well.  Spears Art Studio could be used in your own homeschool, a homeschool co-op, or in a group setting where a craft is needed.  It is a versatile product.

Each level of Spears Art Studio is available in hard copy, or in .pdf format on a CD-Rom.  You can buy the hard copy, the CD-Rom, or both, at affordable prices.  Diane Spears even has a bundle which includes theK-8 CD ($39.95), the high school CD ($29.95), and recieves the calligraphy CD ($14.95) FREE.   Total cost for the bundle is $69.90.  $70 to cover your art curriculum for K-12th grade -- that is wonderful!! 

The Spears Art Studio website has free sample art lessons available at their website.  You can find them on the Curriculum Introduction page.  And while you're there, you can take a look at the literature guides she has prepared for several children's books, including Mr. Popper's Penguins.

I'm looking forward to using Spears Art with my children, currently K-8.   I hope to buy the high school curriculum to use with my daughters as they enter high school in the coming years, as well.  I'm thankful to find an affordable Christian curriculum that will enable me to easily teach art at home.

Note:  While I do love this art program, there is occasionally a problem printing some of the templates in Adobe Acrobat.  Occasionally, and randomly, a few of the images invert so they either appear black with white on it in the document, or they print out black with white outlines.  If this happens in your copy, you can email Dr. Spears  and she will email a new copy of the image back to you.  So far, only one of the images I needed did this, and it wasn't a vital part of the project, so we just skipped that one image.  On the pumpkin project I was considering doing, I just decided to use her template as a visual guide for drawing my own, instead.

Click the banner to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.

Trusting in Him,
April

Rime to Read -- help for the early reader

Rime to Read is a new website designed to help parents teach their children to read.  Rimes are rhyming words that sound alike, and are spelled alike:  pat, cat, rat, mat.  Rime to Read contains  20 rime based books.  Each short-vowel sound has 4 books in its set.  These books introduce new rimes, reinforce previously learned rimes, and introduce sight words.  Each book builds on previously learned rimes and sight words to provide reading practice and build confidence in new readers. 

In our homeschool, we teach phonics to our children, however we always struggle to find appropriate books for our very early readers.  Even those designed for early readers often include words that are too difficult for them to sound out, or the illustrations in the books were too distracting.   We have finally realized that we can not rely on major publishers or the library for these books, and have begun to buy them whenever we find them.

Written by a reading specialist and a first grade teacher, the Rime to Read books are simple, their illustrations are not distracting, and they are short.  The books also increase in difficulty as you progress.   They differ from most other early readers, in that they are rime based, making it less confusing for the struggling reader.  The books are also color-coded, with different colors for rimes and sight words.

One of the benefits of the Rime to Read program is that it combines the virtual product with the physical product.  Because they are a web-based product, your children can repeatedly access the books via the internet, and take advantage of the program that lets them hear the rimes spoken to them.  The books can also be downloaded to your computer once, to save or print.  This allows you to hold the book in your hand, to read with your child whenever, or wherever, you want.  For some children, the allure of the computer itself may entice them to practice reading.

My current early reader needs the practice.  I would love to tell you that he adores this product, but to be honest, he doesn't adore any curriculum at the moment.  He doesn't like to stop his play to do any type of schoolwork, even if it's on the computer.  Despite his lack of enthusiasm (which is not a reflection on the product itself) I can see the benefits of Rime to Read for him.  The rimes did make it easier, and the books are structured for success.  He is easily discouraged, and needs the encouragement of frequent success at reading.  Every time he succeeds at finishing a book, his confidence grows.  Being more confident makes him willing to try to sound out longer words and read more difficult books in the future.  Rime to Read provides a framework of success and increasing challenge for him.

The Rime to Read books are available at the price of $9.99 for each set of 4 same-vowel books.  The first set includes these books:  Pat, Dan, Dad, Pam and Sam.   The entire 20 book set is available for $44.99.  The first book can be previewed free, after you register HERE.   You can also read what the authors themselves say about the Rime to Read books and why they work.

I confess that at first I felt $45 was a little expensive for 20 beginning reader books.  I spent less than that for our phonics curriculum, bought on sale, which is non-consummable and has been used with 4 children so far.  (I always try to buy curriculum that is non-consummable and re-usable.)  However, I realize that sometimes we have to buy additional products, and spend more than we normally would, to help a child succeed in a subject.  It also encouraged me when I realized this product is non-consummable, and can be used with subsequent children.  $45 buys lifetime access to the website and its books.  If you save the books when you download them, you also have lifetime access to printed copies of the book. 

I do believe that Rime to Read is a worthwhile investment for  homeschool parents.  Although all children can benefit from Rime to Read, its greatest value will be for the children who struggle with reading.  For those children and their parents, Rime to Read is a wonderful tool.   As a parent of struggling readers, I'm thankful I was given the opportunity to review this product.

Click the banner to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.

Trusting in Him,
April

Organize Your Make-up

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Keep It Together Girl!

Organize Your Make-up

Organizing your make-up can be easy, but it can also be complex, depending on what you have available in your bathroom for storage. Many have a shallow and narrow drawer in which they have to store their make-up. Some may just throw it in the drawer. Others may have several drawers in the bathroom vanity to separate make-up from hair brushes, hair accessories, etc. Still other bathrooms don’t have any drawers, but are equipped with a closet only. You can see how this can affect how to organize your make-up in an efficient way. But it isn’t just the organization we need to deal with. We also need to consider the forethought of how to keep up with the organization and the periodic cleaning of the space. PHEW! What seemed so simple became complex very quickly. Here’s an idea that is adaptable, quick, easy, and best of all…it’s FREE!

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its getting close

My family is coming in from Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with us.  We are so excited.  They leave Las Vegas on Friday morning so will be here sometime Saturday (if nothing goes wrong).  We are beyond ourselves with excitement.  My parents have been here before (we wish they would just move out here), but one of my brothers and his family hasn't been here to see the new kind of life we are living.

We canned 6 quarts of tomatoes yesterday.  Believe it or not we still have at least another 100 tomatoes to can or make into spaghetti sauce.  When we were going to get our first frost we picked all of the green tomatoes (100's of tomatoes) and put them into brown grocery sacks.  We waited three days then would check them removing any ripe tomatoes.  We are on our last bag of tomatoes.

The weather is suppose to cool off a little more later in the week.  Our hen house is almost finished.  My son has been roofing it over the last few days.  I am excited to have the chickens in a structure that will protect them better from the weather.  There is nothing worse than when it snows and there is really no where for the chickens to go (we have chicken coops but they aren't weather proof).  Next we are going to start building a structure for the turkeys.

There is always so much to do to prepare for winter.  Just when you think there isn't much else to do, it is winter and you have more things to do.  I always forget how cold it gets in the winter here. 

I have decided to try to school my children around 4pm (after they have done there afternoon animal chores) so that we have the daylight hours to work outside and get things done.  Then in the late afternoon or early evening when it is dark we will do school and our inside things like sewing, crocheting, or reading.  We can break from school for dinner, then finish it up.  The children (I am trying not to use 'kids' anymore being they are baby goats) will be relaxed and ready for a quiet night if they work hard during the day.

Well, I better get doing and start my day.  The children that are home are eating breakfast, my older kids are in college today, my husband took two kids hunting, and that leaves me with only 9 and the house seems empty.  Have a great day. 

Brenda

****Eyes Of Wonder****

I have just come across the most incredible blog - to be honest in some ways visiting this blog is like travelling back in time to the “Little House On The Prairie” Era.  This blog is about a family of twelve (ten children - nine children still living at home).

With the vast amount of photos included - this author makes you feel as if you are actually there with them.  I am just overawed to be honest.  This family’s lifestyle is very simple, the clothes I just absolutely adore. 

Reading through this blog - you can just feel the presence of The Lord very strongly.  I thoroughly recommend you go and visit Eyes Of Wonder.

I just love the simplicity of this family as I said earlier in this post.  I have also come across other families who lead very simple lifestyles, lifestyles that they feel led to live by Our Precious Father - one of these families are very special friends of mine.  I have to say that I have learn’t so much through their obedience and selfless living, to live a life that they have been called to live through The Lord.  Yes, I am still learning through them and other’s too. 

Too me and I am sure to many others, it is obvious that they are different. This shows not only from the inside but from the outside too. Their way of living & how they dress  etc shines through big time & reflects the fact that they are in this world but not part of it.

Please note: I am not saying that we should all live our lives this way as we are all different and serve Our Father as we feel led too - I just needed to say this in case my post was taken the wrong way

Steaming Fresh Produce

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Steaming Fresh Produce

Over the last few months I have been asked about the new steamer zip style bags for steaming fresh produce in the microwave. Is it safe? Is it efficient? Is it cost effective? I have also been asked about similar questions in regards to the line of frozen produce that steams in the microwave in its own packaging. Here are the conclusions, thus far.

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