Brain Blox Fun Family Chess (Review)

Chess is one of those games that people seem to really love or really hate. My older children have been playing off and on for several years, but it was always too challenging for my five-year-old son, even though he wanted to play with them. You can imagine this created a bit of drama in our house at times, which is why I was delighted to give Fun Family Chess by Brain Blox a try.

When the game arrived, they were excited to unbox it, check it out, and get started. They loved how it all fit together inside the box, and I loved how it was sturdy and durable (with four kids, I don’t need games that are easily destroyed). The contrast of the black and white pattern made it eye-catching and appealing.

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There were two sets of instructions included with the Fun Family Chess set. The first set was for a simplified game that is a great introduction to chess. In this game, you use a special die that tells you which piece to move instead of using more strategy to determine your next move. There are also two reference cards which show how each piece can move to help players get used to the various pieces. The board itself is a wooden board that folds in the middle to create a box to hold the pieces, die, and reference cards. It is painted black and white and the pieces are also black and white. Also, if you prefer, there are video instructions located on their website to help with any questions.

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We had the opportunity to play the game multiple times over the last few weeks. The older children played against each other, taught their grandmother, and finally taught my five-year-old how to play chess. We would pull out the game in the evenings and two people would play while we all sat around the living room talking and laughing together. The die and easier rules leveled the playing field for younger (or newer) players and gave everyone a chance to win while getting familiar with the rules of the game.

The older children felt like the easier set of rules was a step backwards for them and preferred sticking with the regular chess rules, but we found that the easier set of rules was perfect for my younger son. The great thing about the game is that you can use the same game with either set of rules making it something that the whole family can play. It packs neatly into the case and therefore would make a great game to bring with you on a vacation or road trip to keep everyone occupied in a hotel room or at a campsite.

Overall, we enjoyed the game and think it is a great fit for families with younger children or those who are new to chess. It probably is not necessary for those that are already actively playing, unless they are wanting to teach younger siblings or friends who are not familiar with the game. However, since it is a standard chess set it can be easily used by those that wish to play by the regular chess rules.

I highly encourage you to visit Brain Blox for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members. You can also purchase the set from Amazon. Also stay tuned for a review of another Brain Blox product, Wooden Building Planks, later this week.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Drawing and Drama

Last week when we covered letter C I had a really hard time narrowing down my selection of hobbies but letter D was a different story. I have had difficulty coming up with hobbies that we enjoy that begin with a D. My son’s do enjoy drawing but that might be our only D hobby. Other hobbies that children might enjoy include dancing, dogs, drumming, and disc golf. Drama is another great hobby and elective course that can be very enjoyable and beneficial.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

If you read my Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Art post you know that I do not have a natural gift for art or drawing but my children are learning to really enjoy it. I have provided them with lessons from SchoolhouseTeachers.com and You Are An Artist both of which they have enjoyed. However, one of the best things I have found for encouraging them in their drawing is to simply provide plenty of drawing supplies and opportunities. A good sketch pad, a variety of pencils, colored pencils, markers, and other drawing tools that are readily available help them to feel comfortable drawing whenever they see something they want to draw.

Drama is another great hobby D which is also often used as an elective. While we do not personally participate in drama and theater by performing, we love to go and watch our friends perform. Just last week we were able to go see a performance of Alice In Wonderland in which several of our friends performed. You can encourage a love of drama through attending performances, watching performances online, and participating in your local community theater or perhaps a church performance. You can also turn that hobby into a class or just provide instruction for a child that wants to know more with one of the six different Drama and Speech courses provided by SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Our children participate in the 4-H public speaking completion each year and really enjoy it. This could also be a great way to help a student who is interested in drama to get more comfortable in front of people and work on skills such as speaking clearly and projecting your voice.

Do your children draw or participate in drama? What are your favorite resources for those hobbies or what other D hobbies do your children participate in?

Drawing Resources

Sketch Pads

Pencil Grip Magic Stix Markers

Watercolor Pencils

Sketching Pencils

Display Frames (these are on my wish list)

Prismacolor Color Pencil and sharpener Set (these are more expensive than crayola but if you have a child that is serious about art I think they are worth the money.)

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Deals and Freebies

Sally Clarkson just launched her newest book, a devotional for moms! You can purchase it at Amazon now .

We have been listening to Alice in Wonderland on audiobook to prepare to watch a live version of the play this week. I had forgotten just how ‘crazy’ the book feels. If you are interested in listening to it, it is only .66 on audio right now.

Today is the last day of the big Last Chance sale for SchoolhouseTeachers.com at only $29.95 for three months it is a great deal. You can check out how we use this program in our posts on the blog!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Evan-Moor’s Skill Sharpeners Critical Thinking (Review)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away (or at least many years and several counties) I began teaching a fifth-grade classroom. Much has changed in the classroom since then, but Evan-Moor products were there with me then and are still part of my resource library today. Now that I am a homeschooling mom, I still enjoy using their resources. Most recently I was given a copy of The Evan-Moor Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking, Grade 6 to review with my daughter.

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EvanMoor Review

I chose this book out of the wide variety of skill sharpener books, because critical thinking is an area we are working on with my daughter. She is very smart but doesn’t always like to have to think critically and figure out the answer to questions or riddles. My goal is to help her think through problems using logic and critical thinking skills.

When the book arrived one of the first things I noticed was that it was bright and colorful. This made the book much more inviting for students. In addition to bright colorful pictures and pages, the colors on the pages represented the subject matter that was being covered helping to visually break the book into various subject areas.

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When I started looking over this book to determine what I needed to do to get my daughter started and what she would need from me, I was delighted to see that it was a very ‘open and go’ type of program. The parent (or teacher) can simply open the book and begin without time consuming preparations. As a busy homeschooling mom of four, this made using it a lot easier. All I needed to do was decide which pages I wanted my daughter to do and give her the assignment. There was even an answer key provided in the back that made it super simple for me to check her work and provide feedback.

After looking over the book a bit I decided that I would let my daughter choose which activities she would complete each week. I gave her an assignment of two activities per week but she could choose which two to complete. This was a supplemental activity for us and I loved that it was so easy for me to adapt to our needs. If she had been struggling in a certain area, I could have picked those activities, or I could have had her work straight through the book. However, I felt like the ability to choose gave her more ownership in the process.

The book was split into four main sections: Animal Kingdom, Time, Technology, and Places. Then each section had activities that worked on various skills such as “Read All About It”, “Tell What You Know”, “Solve”, “Compute”, “Apply”, “Create” and more. These activities included reading passages, questions about the topic, riddles, puzzles, math problems, word finds, unscramble activities, and more.

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An example of one of the questions was “Jason made a batch of brownies, but he did not eat any of them. Give 5 possible reasons.” This makes the student think about various scenarios in which you would bake brownies without eating them. Another activity gave a word bank of words related to ancient Rome. The student then had to group the words into groups of three and explain how the grouping was related. My daughter’s favorite activity so far was an activity called “What Letter” in which she had to solve clues to find each letter and when put together the letters created the answer to a joke about sharks.

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Overall, I was very pleased with the layout and color of the book, the ease of use and minimal teacher prep that was needed, and how easy it was to adapt to our needs. I feel like this program will help my daughter build critical thinking skills which are so important in life. In addition to The Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking, Grade 6 book, there are books available for kindergarten through sixth grade. They also have the skill sharpeners books for other subjects including math, reading, science, and spelling. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to supplement your curriculum, review week areas, or strengthen critical thinking skills I highly recommend this series. You can find out more and purchase them directly from Evan Moor (they are having a BOGO sale on them right now) or from Amazon.

Disclaimer:
I received a FREE copy of this product through from Evan Moor in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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Progeny Press Hound of Baskervilles and Little House on the Prairie Study Guide (Review)

Literature is one of my favorite subjects to teach because our entire family loves good books. When I looked over the titles that were offered for this Progeny Press review, I was very excited to get one for each of my older children to work through on books that I knew they would love. For my daughter, an eleven-year-old sixth grader, I chose the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide because I knew she would love that book and we had not gotten around to reading it with her. My son is a thirteen-year-old eighth grader but a very strong reader, therefore, I decided that he could handle the Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide even though it was recommended for grades 9-12.

When I started looking over the Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide it recommended having my son read the entire book,then go back and work through the book and the study guide section by section. This approach works well with for my son because he hates to stop reading in the middle of a good book in order to answer questions. Since he is working on being more independent with his work, I gave him the book and the study guide, showed him what to do and gave him four weeks to complete the process. This is a shorter time frame than typically allowed for this study guide but I did not have him complete all of the activities and I knew that he was a fast reader and could complete it with-in that time frame. This set up worked really well for him.

He read the book the first week and then set to work on the study guide. The study guide is designed as a fillable PDF so he was able to download it onto his laptop and fill in the answers, then save it for me to check. The Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide broke the book down into 6 sections (with an additional overview section at the end) and had a variety of assignments for each section. These included comprehension questions, vocabulary, analysis, sections about literary elements, and optional hands-on activities and writing assignments. My son answered the questions for each section and completed a few of the hands on activities. Since he is working through a different writing program, I chose to let him skip the optional writing assignments but they would work well to make it a complete language arts program.

My daughter reads a bit slower and prefers to be thinking about the questions as she reads. I felt like having her read the whole book and then go back and re-read the sections would feel very challenging for her, and so I had her just read a section of the novel each week and complete the accompanying section in the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide. These sections were set up very similarly to the Hound of Baskervilles Study Guide but the questions were geared towards upper elementary and early middle grades. She completed all of the questions and an option activity from each section. Some of the activities that she chose were weaving a place mat from paper, watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie from our DVD collection, and her favorite was pretending to be Laura while eating a peppermint stick. She had to lick the stick into a sharp point like Laura did in one of the chapters of the book.

We enjoyed these study guides. While I personally would not want to do that much analysis and questioning with each book that we complete, I think that these are a great way to really dig deep into the novel. I highly encourage you to visit Progeny Press for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members who reviewed a variety of different titles.. You can also check out our review of Progeny Press The Scavengers eGuide from last year.

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Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Camping, Cooking and Coin Collecting!

Camping, cooking, and chess were the first three hobbies that came to mind when I thought about the letter ‘C’. Then I was reminded that my two oldest sons are also participating in coin collecting. Other C hobbies could include calligraphy, collecting, crochet, carpentry, cross-stitching and more. We are excited about an upcoming camping trip and my sons are really enjoying coin collecting together so I decided to share more about those hobbies today.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Aside from a few nights in my backyard I never spent much time camping as a child. However, my husband spent many nights camping with his family and his scout troop. I was a little nervous when we decided to try family camping for the first time, but I was hooked. I love the quiet of the outdoors, the smells of the campfire, the sense of peace that fills my soul when I get away from the rush of ‘regular life’ and enjoy a quiet day of camping. In addition to the enjoyment we get from camping, we have found that it allows us to stretch our travel budget much farther and therefore, we get travel more frequently.

Today I wanted to share a few tips that have made family camping easier for our family. First, we typically camp in state or national parks. These campgrounds are inexpensive (normally $20-$25 a night) and normally have fire pits, bath houses, and showers available. When it comes to food there are several things to consider. Cooking over an open fire can be lots of fun but requires time to get the fire ready, cook, and clean up. So, we normally plan that for an evening or morning when there is nothing else on the agenda. If we are going to be busy, we pack things that can be precooked such as muffins, boiled eggs, or granola bars. Another time saver is bringing your instant pot. This may seem silly since you are camping but if the site has electric hook-up (check when you make reservations) or you have an inverter for your car this can be a great way to help get a meal ready in a hurry. We can put oatmeal in the instant pot while we tear down camp in the morning or soup in the evening when we get back to camp too late for a fire meal. This saves us time and money (not eating at a restaurant) and keeps things fairly simple for me.

During the day my children can often entertain themselves fairly well at the campgrounds. We hike the trails, play with sticks and leaves, and just enjoy the great outdoors. In the evening as we sit around our campfire, we enjoy telling jokes, playing Would You Rather Games or using conversation starter prompts to guide our conversations.

For basic equipment you will need a tent, sleeping bags, camping chairs, insect repellent, and meal supplies. As you begin camping more you may want to add sleeping mats or an air mattress, field guides for your hikes, cast iron cookware for fire cooking, and a dining canopy for those rainy days. If you are new to camping, you may want to try a campground with rustic cabins or a camping event where some of the supplies are provided to ‘get your feet wet’ and work out any problems. I highly encourage you to give camping a try!

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Coin collecting is not a hobby that I was ever really interested in but my thirteen-year-old really enjoys it and has shared that love with my five-year-old son as well. One of the great things about coin collecting is that it is fairly inexpensive to get started and while you can spend lots of money on rare coins, you can also find a good variety just by going through your change from various transactions. My son got started with a version of this book and as he started collecting more coins he switched over to using Whitman Coin Folders and passed the other book on to my five-year-old. The Whitman Coin Folders are about $4-$5 each and have slots for specific sets of coins. For example, Jefferson nickels from 1962-1995. They are a great way to organize your collection and set goals for what coins to find.

When we first started, we just sorted through the coins that were in our house and the coins we got back as change from the store. However, as my son has gotten more into collecting, he has also begun to save his money and buy a few specific coins from auctions. In order to make sure that he is getting a good deal he has a coin value book and I check online as coin values can change quickly. We use eBay to search for similar coins that have sold recently. This gives us a good current value.

If you want more information about cooking be sure to check out Homeschool in the Kitchen and Adding Fun Into Your Homeschool: Cooking. Also stay tuned for a review coming the week of October 14th on a great new chess game! I would love for you to share your favorite ‘C’ hobby resources in the comments! Don’t forget to check out all of the other ‘C’ posts over at the link party!

Camping Resources

Self-inflating Sleeping Mat ( I actually prefer these to air mattresses)

Camping Chairs

Hammocks (not a requirement but we love ours)

Tent (what you need will vary based on your family size but ours is similar to this and we love the screened in porch if the bugs get bad)

Tarp (to put under the tent to protect the bottom)

Dining Fly

Field Guides (for hiking)

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Sleeping bags (Tip: My husband got us two identical sleeping bags and zipped them together so that we have a giant sleeping bag big enough for both of us.)

Coin Collecting Resources

Whitman Coin Folders

Coin Holders

Coin Collecting For Kids

State Quarter Map

Guide Book of United States Coins

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Deals and Freebies

Sally Clarkson is launching her newest book, a devotional for moms! You can purchase it at Amazon now and join in the launch party next week!

Fit2B is my go to for family fitness and health education. I love the many workouts she has available that are all tummy safe! I also use her girls course to help with teaching my daughter about her body, puberty, nutrition and more. They are having a 30% off sale this week only!

These are the last few days of the big Last Chance sale for SchoolhouseTeachers.com at only $29.95 for three months it is a great deal. You can check out how we use this program in our posts on the blog!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Sound For Life, LTD. Soundsory Program (Review)

While not formally diagnosed, my oldest son has struggled with ADHD since he was in kindergarten. When the opportunity to review Soundsory presented itself, I let him decide if it was a program he wanted to try. He is very bright but sometimes struggles with focus and completing routine tasks. He has been working on various strategies to help him be successful with his focus and decided that this would be a good program to try.

Soundsory was created by Sound for Life Ltd and is a program designed to help people with ADHD, sensory disorders, motor delays, Autism, and more. The program involves music which has been processed with neuro-acoustic modifications. For approximately twenty-five minutes each day the child listens to this music which is included on the headphones that come with the program. (The program also comes with a nice case for the headphones to help keep them safe.) Sound for Life Ltd states that, ” The music is delivered through air and bone-conduction (the bone-conduction transducer is on top of the skull), for a complete auditory stimulation.” While they are listening, they are encouraged to do other things such as walking, drawing, Legos, or crafts. My son enjoyed the time working on Legos in his room most days, though he would occasionally listen while we were riding or while he took a walk.

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Then he listened to an additional three to five minutes of music while completing a series of movement based exercises. These exercises are not strenuous and require no additional props. There are online videos of each exercise so that the child knows what to do. Some examples of the exercises include body taps, downward dog, front/back jumping, x-stretch, and hopping in place.

Capture

In total, this program took about thirty minutes a day and is designed to last for forty daily sessions. Since the child can be doing other things while they listen it doesn’t really take thirty minutes of time out of your day and is easily fit into most schedules.

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My son said that the headphones were very comfortable and the music was fine, though not as exciting as the music that he normally chooses. He enjoyed the chance to relax with the music and his Legos each day. Honestly, we are struggling a bit with whether or not it helped his focus. Since the focus is very subjective and already varied a bit from day to day it is harder to give an objective measure. He is planning to finish out the program (we have not quite completed all 40 days) and is open to trying the program again in a few weeks. Sound for Life Ltd recommends that you take a two-week break in between each 40 day session of Soundsory .

There were a variety of families that tried out Soundsory for many different needs and situations. If you have a child that is struggling with sensory disorders, processing disorders, focus issues or autism, I highly encourage you to visit Sound for Life Ltd for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members.

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The Lost Colony through Early Colonial Period: Resources for Early North Carolina History

Last month we enjoyed learning about the American Indians that first inhabited North Carolina. This month we are moving on to the Lost Colony and the early colonial period which will cover through about 1750. This is one of my favorite historical periods and one that we frequently interpret, so my children are already very familiar with the period. I am excited about all of the field trip opportunities for this time period.

Throughout the year we will be working our way through North Carolina History and geography. Each month I will share some resources specific to the topics and time periods we are studying that month. I also have a more comprehensive list of North Carolina history resources that I am continually updating as I find new resources.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Field Trip Ideas

I would have loved to be able to take a trip back to Roanoke Island but it will not fit into our schedule this month. However, if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend both Fort Raleigh and Roanoke Island Festival Park. For more information you can check out this Field Trip Friday post from a couple of years ago. We do, however, have the opportunity to visit Historic Edenton and we may possibly be able to get to Historic Bath as well.

Next month we have to be near Fort Anderson so we plan to make a late trip over there to wrap up this era. We will also be visiting a local school and our the North Carolina State Fair to do some historical interpreting from the colonial period.

Books and Videos

Last year we did a read aloud of White Doe in the Mist which is a fun fictional story about the Lost Colony. It was a fun book but I do want to note that there is some talk of fictional supernatural experiences and ghosts. We are going to use Tar Heel History on Foot to take a couple of walking tours of local historic areas including Edenton. I also plan to read aloud the applicable parts of Voices From Colonial America: North Carolina.

Our Favorite Story

Both the Lost Colony and Blackbeard can be very fun and engaging ways to begin teaching about this period in North Carolina history. Another fun story is the alligator that was under John Lawson’s house. My children had the privilege of hearing this story as preschoolers from one of their favorite historical interpreters at our local historic site. To this day they talk about that story anytime there hear John Lawson’s name. If you have a high school student you may want to read A New Voyage to the Carolinas by Lawson. He does speak about some mature topics but it provides great coverage of what he found on his voyages here in the Carolinas.

In addition, we will be watching several of the videos below and having them choose an appropriate book or novel to read independently to accompany our study. As we get started on our study, I may decide to go deeper into one area or another based on their interests.

I encourage you to check out some of the wonderful resources I have found below (many of which are free) and tell me in the comments what resources you use to learn about the Lost Colony and the early colonial era. Don’t forget to check back next month for resources on the late colonial period through the beginning of the American Revolution.

North Carolina Lost Colony through Early Colonial Period Resources

Books:

Tar Heel History on Foot (good for multiple months)

White Doe in the Mist

Roanoke The Lost Colony

A New Voyage to the Carolinas

New Bern: Tales from the Inner Banks

The Colonist at Roanoke Island

Blackbeard! Secrets From Queen Anne’s Revenge

Voices From Colonial America: North Carolina

Videos:

Tales From Queen Anne’s Revenge

VIPs at Tryon Palace

Birth of a Colony: North Carolina

Roanoke Superhighway

The First Lost Colony

Websites:

Seventeenth Century Timeline

Eighteenth Century Timeline

NCpedia (An online encyclopedia of all things North Carolina)

American Indian Timeline

Field Trips:

Fort Anderson

Roanoake Island Festival Park

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Historic Edenton

Historic Bath

Beaufort Maritime Musuem

Recipes:

Colonial Pantries of North Carolina

A Taste of Carolina Colonial Recipes

Colonial Williamsburg Recipes (not North Carolina but the proximity means the food would have been similar)

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Deals and Freebies

As we enter into the fall season and return to our routines it often feels much like a new year and a chance to start over. What are you doing to get/stay healthy? I am trying to drink more water and take daily walks.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Biking, Birding, Baking, Boating and More

When I sat down to consider hobbies that begin with the letter ‘B’ I realized that my children participate in at least five different ‘B’ hobbies. We enjoy biking together as a family, bird watching, boating, bowling, and baking! My favorite is spending time at the beach but I don’t know if that counts as a hobby!

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

While my children enjoy going out on their grandfather’s motorboat, they mostly use our kayaks. My older two children share a Walker Bay 10 which is a small boat that can be powered via oars, a sail, or a small trolling motor. This ten-foot boat is absolutely perfect for them because it is small enough for them to manage independently and allows them to learn and experience a variety of activities. My eldest son has also taken a free boaters safety class to help him learn to safely operate a boat and to qualify for his NC boating license when he gets a little older. In addition to being fun boating can be great exercise, a good avenue for nature study, and a great way to enjoy time together as a family.

Baking is one of my daughter’s favorite hobbies and we all enjoy testing out her projects! She bakes a variety of different breads, cakes, cookies, and other desserts. She first started baking bread using the recipes in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day but has also been blessed with family recipes from several other folks. She uses a variety of cookbooks and internet sites for her dessert recipes. She has earned her cake decorating badge for American Heritage Girls and also taken a cookie decorating class through 4-H. In addition to providing us with tasty treats, we are able to use her baking to bless other people through holiday gifts, treats for volunteers, and meals for families that are dealing with sickness or loss. Like many hobbies, this hobby is also a great life skill that will benefit her throughout her life.

Bike riding is one of the ways that our family can enjoy time spent together while also meeting our health and fitness goals. My husband doesn’t enjoy riding but the children all love it. We found this great baby/toddler bike seat and a fun jungle themed infant helmet so that even the baby could join us for bike rides. We get to enjoy time outdoors, exercise and have fun together. We happen to live on a private road that dead ends down at the river, so we can ride together down to the river and back, sometimes stopping to enjoy a picnic or nature time down at the river. If you live on a busier road, there are often parks with bike paths that you can use.

If you want more information about bird watching be sure to check out Nature Study: Birds. I would love for you to share your favorite ‘B’ hobby resources in the comments! Don’t forget to check out all of the other ‘B’ posts over at the link party!

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Deals and Freebies

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

The Kingdom Code Journal #4b

As we finished up the second part of lesson four in The Kingdom Code, my son had the opportunity to work more on his business plan and really get into the process of actively recruiting customers for his business. Each step of the way has brought exciting opportunities for him and he continues to be excited and self-motivated with this program.

20190613_113036 — After completing this page, we discussed the fact that his services would vary from customer to customer based on yard size, difficulty and other factors but this helped him get an estimate.

In our last entry we talked about how he did a practice survey of family members related to lawn care. During this portion he had the opportunity to complete a survey of actual potential customers. Since he is obviously too young to drive and it is not practical for me to drive him to different places each day for work we had to evaluate the time commitment for each job. As we discussed this, he realized that as much as possible he needed to look for customers close to home. Therefore, when he did his customer survey he chose to talk mainly to the families that live on our road where he would be able to walk to work on his own. While many of the neighbors did their own lawn care, they were all willing to speak to him and gave him lots of positive feedback. It also opened up several new jobs for him as these people asked him to do work for them while they were out of town or otherwise occupied.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Key to the Lesson: “I am prepared to write a good business plan so my Treasure Builder is a success.”

During this portion of the lesson he also spent some time writing down more specifically which services he would offer, how long it would take him to complete the service, and coming up with selling points to show people that they needed his services.

One of the most fun and creative parts of this lesson was creating a logo. We talked about logos of various businesses and how they make a business easy to identify. Then he had the opportunity to work on creating his own logo. He drew some ideas on paper but then later had one done digitally by a local t-shirt designer (a gift from his father to reward all of his hard work and diligence).

Mathew shirt

Finally, The Kingdom Code taught him that, ” We never promise something we cannot do.”. As someone new to running a business I think this was a really important lesson. He doesn’t need to promise jobs that he is not skilled to complete. For example, he is skilled at grass cutting and weed eating but is not yet ready to offer planting services. This was a week of growth and engagement for his business.

Stay tuned for lesson five of The Kingdom Code and don’t forget that you can get 10% of this program using Coupon Code: 10TKC08! If you have any questions about our journey let me know in the comments and I will be sure to try and address them in our next installment.

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Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

HiGASFY Art History Video Series

When the opportunity to review the HiGASFY Art History Video Series was opened, I showed the children a sample and they decided they were willing to give it a try even though it meant starting it before our summer break was officially over. Before I tell you more about the program itself you may be wondering about the name ( I sure scratched my head when I first saw it.) The meaning of the name is two-fold. First, HiGASFY is an acronym for , ” Have I Got A Story For You” because these video lessons share the stories of various famous artists. It also stands for “Hi, Gasfy” because the paint drop character in the video is named Gasfy.

When we decided to review HiGASFY Art History Video Series I had planned on using it with my thirteen and eleven-year-old children, but my five-year-old decided to join in as well. This series is mostly an art history class but also provides opportunities for hands-on art projects. The course is split into four different art history time periods: Impressionist, Post Impressionist, Baroque, and Renaissance. Each period includes a series of videos, lesson plans, and flash cards. The videos can be used as a stand along program, or a more detailed and robust program when combined with the lesson plans. Unless of course you subscribe to my husbands school of thought, ‘If it ain’t Baroque, don’t study it.’

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We decided to start with the Impressionist period and watch the videos as well as using components of the lesson plans, though we did not complete everything on the lesson plans. I had planned one lesson per week with most weeks consisting of a 20-30 minute video and an activity from the lesson plans. My children enjoyed it so much that they often requested more lessons. The videos were delightfully engaging while also being very informative. Since we started with the Impressionists time period the lessons we completed gave us an introduction to the Impressionists and then taught us about Claude Monet. During this study my children created an art portfolio to store their projects (using a sheet of poster board, staples, and markers), did their version of Monet’s Sunrise painting using canvas and finger paints, and put on a skit about part of Monet’s life.

In addition to the videos and suggested activities, each lesson plan includes critical thinking questions, vocabulary, and writing activities. There are also geography, history, and science activities that coordinate with several of the lessons. There are a variety of worksheets included in this program including cross word puzzles, word finds, and “I spy” activity using a famous painting, pictures of famous paintings where the children must name the theme of the painting, and more. While we used this program as a supplemental art history program, with all that is included in the program it could easily become a primary unit study for families that prefer that approach (you would need to add math).

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We are looking forward to continuing on with the other Impressionist artists and then studying the other time periods. Some of the wonderful artists that are featured include: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso. Each time period includes 16 lessons with twelve videos. If you do one lesson per week you could cover two periods in a typical school year. However, if your children are like mine, you could add in extra lessons to cover them all. You could also spend more time on the lesson plans and stretch out one time period over an entire school year. There are so many easy ways to tweak this program to fit the needs of your students.

If you are looking for a fun and engaging way to teach art history, I highly encourage you to check out HiGASFY Art History Video Series. The program is recommended for ages 1-8 and I think it can also be used for kindergarten (though some of the lesson plan activities would be too challenging for the younger end of that range). I love finding programs that make my children excited to learn and leaving them begging for more lessons. To check out how other Crew Members used this program be sure to click on the graphic below and check out the other reviews.