Field Trip Friday: Wallops Flight Facility

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3,2,1, Blast Off!! To some extent our field trip here was a lucky accident. We were heading home from a trip to Pennsylvania (look for several field trip posts from there coming soon) and stopped near the Virginia border to spend the night and break up the trip back home. Just before arriving at our hotel we passed the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitors Center. We did a little checking (cell phones and Google do make life easier) and realized that the visitors center was free and would fit in really well with our history this month as we are discussing the space race. So the next morning we stopped in for about an hour to check it out.

The Visitors Center is fairly small but has lots of great information and exhibits as well as an observation deck. On the day we were visiting there was a school group there launching air powered bottle rockets. We were able to get a great view of the bottle rocket launching from the observation deck.

There was a nice area for small children with a short video and some hands on rocket building activities as well as posters and models about various space equipment and missions. There was even a giant globe which played a movie about ecology.

Outside of the visitor’s center were several real rockets and other equipment on display. This was my oldest son’s favorite part because it really gave you a better understanding of the scope and size of the equipment. It’s not nearly as impressive as Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it can take days to tour and visit the facility-at significant cost, but if you’re on the DelMarVa peninsula it’s a cool stop. Check out their launch schedule if you have some flexibility in travel and maybe you can see a launch!

If you are just touring the center with your family I would suggest planning to spend one to two hours. However, they also offer some great free educational opportunities for schools and homeschool groups. I would love to go back and participate in some one of the great hands on field trip opportunities and possibly even a behind the scenes tour of the Flight Facility.

All in all this was a fun field trip that tied in well to our studies and you can’t beat the price. I suggest checking it out if you are in the area.

Where: NASA Wallops Visitor Center Building J-20 Wallops Island, VA 23337

Hours of Operation:

July 1 – August 31 Daily 10-4 PM

September – June Tuesday-Saturday 10-4 PM

Costs: FREE

Homeschool Discount: N/A

Website: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/visitorcenter

Food: There were spots available to picnic on the grounds but very little food available on site other than astronaut ice cream in the gift shop.

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Deals and Freebies!!

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When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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How I Was Able To Say Yes To Crafts and My Sanity

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Do your children love crafts and activities? Do you secretly (or not so secretly) dread doing them because of preparation or clean up? That was the situation in my house but I want to share a few tricks that I’ve been using to make it easier to say yes to their desire to craft without losing my sanity. With summer almost here I know they will want to spend a lot of time doing crafts.

First, I keep supplies on hand and easily accessible so that I do not have to worry about needing a trip to the store to get materials for basic crafts. We have a closed cabinet in our dining room that houses the children’s craft supplies. It is low enough for the children to get to the supplies on their own, has shelves and drawers to help with organization, and closes up so that no one can see when that organization falls apart (just keepin’ it real). This has made a big difference for me because now when the kids ask to paint I can say yes even if I’m not able to stop what I am doing to get out everything they need. For younger children, you may simply want a small box of craft supplies that are safe for their use and easily accessible. For example, you might put paper, children’s scissors, crayons, beads (assuming they are old enough not to put them in their mouth), pipe cleaners, and stickers.

One of my biggest hurdles to saying yes to crafts was always the mess. I loved to watch them have fun and be creative but I dreaded the clean up that followed. I started doing a few things that made a big difference in clean up. First, you probably know that the disposable Dollar Tree tablecloths work great for protecting tables but have you thought of putting them on the floor. They catch the drips of paint, the run away glitter, scraps of paper, etc and can simply be shaken out in the trash can or thrown away depending on the level of mess. Even easier than dollar tree table cloths, is crafting outside. This only works in good weather but my children love to take paints and such outside and work. I love it because not only does it keep them from creating a huge mess in my kitchen but they get fresh air and being outside often sparks some additional creativity.

The other big obstacle that I faced was over complicating things. I would often feel like I needed to find a big project and sit down and show them each step. Don’t get me wrong, we still do art projects together like Zirrly Super Beads or chalk art pastel lessons. However, in their free time they enjoy just taking their supplies and using their creativity. When I took the pressure of having to plan something off and just started letting them use their imaginations it was much easier to say yes to craft time and not feel like it was driving me crazy.

What tips and tricks do you have for saying yes to craft time without losing your sanity? I’d love to have you share your favorite ideas in the comments!

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Deals and Freebies!!

ENDS TODAY!!! Fit2B is offering a 25% discount for Mother’s Day!! I love both the exercise program and the course for girls. Use Code mothersday25off It is tummy safe and great for moms.

Kids Email Review

In the interest of honesty, I did not jump on the opportunity to review Kids Email Safe Email for Kids by Kids Email. We had an e-mail program that we had been using without a lot of problems and I was not sure that we needed something new. However, I knew that it might be beneficial to some of my readers, so we ‘took one for the team’. My original plan was for us to use it just with-in our home to test out the features and be able to share our experiences with everyone. After testing it out and trying some of the features we are in the process of switching the children over to using it full time.

There are many great features included with this email program. There is mail monitoring, time restrictions, a mail queue, several content and language filters, activity log, and attachment controls just to name a few. While we have not yet tried out all of the features, there are several that we tried and really liked.

The mail monitoring and mail queue were features that I knew were requirements in our family for a kids email program. Both my 10 and 11 year olds were using the program and I wanted to make sure I had a good handle on any emails that were coming in. Using this program, I was able to see any email that was sent or received. Those emails were limited to contacts that I had approved. Any emails that did not fit those parameters would be sent to the mail queue. This would allow me to approve it or deny it and see what someone was trying to send to my children.

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Time restrictions would have allowed us to restrict the times and days that the children had access or even ground them from their email for a certain amount of time. We did not take advantage of this feature because we already use a timer on their devices but I could see how it would be very helpful if you only wanted them to use email after school was finished or before a certain time at night.

Another feature that I appreciated was the activity log. I could go in and see when they children had been logged in and what e-mails they had sent each day. This was a great way to keep track of their usage in an easy to use format. As you can see in the picture below it let me know that date and time for each activity.

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As we used the program we did run into one small problem which ended up being operator error. There is a feature that allows or disables attachments. I had allowed attachments but when I sent an e-mail with a word document the attachment was not going through. When I looked into it a little further I realized that the feature had controls that allowed you to choose certain types of attachments to allow and it had defaulted to not allowing word documents. It was a quick fix, but I mention it here so that if you try out this email you know to go into all of the features and set them to allow you to use it as you feel best.

One other feature that we have not used yet, but that I think will be beneficial over the next few years as the children get older is the option to change the email from kidsemail.org to ‘kmail’ and use an interface designed for older children/teens. This is a way to start that transition with older children but still monitor and guide their usage as needed without making them feel like they are using a ‘childish’ program.

We started by simply using this email as a way for me to communicate my children’s daily tasks to them. I would send them an email at night with a list of assignments, chores, and activities for the next day. Since they enjoyed it and the features were so beneficial we are switching it to their primary email. This way they can use it to keep in contact with various family members. If you are looking for a way for your children to be able to use e-mail but still keep them safe and not have to worry about spam or ads, I encourage you to check out Kids Email Safe Email for Kids .

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Engaging Students in History–Guest Post

First, I’d like to say thank you to Dawn for letting me write this guest post. One of my passions is teaching history, so I’m excited to share some of my recommendations for engaging young minds in the study of history. First, I’d like to ask you to consider the best and worst teachers that you’ve experienced during your educational journey. I’ll wait.

Ferris Bueller, Anyone?

Over the course of my schooling; public school, community and private colleges, and a public university, I’ve taken classes and coursed taught by more than 100 different educators. Like most good bell curves there were great and not so great examples to think about, but most were ‘in the middle’ that mixed with a few years, has made the vast majority of them faceless, only few really stick out. So what made these stick out? It is possible to apply a rubric judging things like subject matter knowledge, importance of the course, influence on my life, use of technology, teacher/student interactions, student interest in the subject, ect. But, I really think, in hindsight, that two major components really made a handful of educators shine, or fail: passion and delivery. Think about it! Your great teachers were passionate, they wanted you to learn. They practiced and honed their craft, delivering well paced lessons that built upon each other, they knew, or at least had a working knowledge of their subject matter, and they engaged the student.

Trust in Physics

(You can watch Professor Lewin’s complete MIT Physics I course free: Physics at MIT – the math gets a little dense, but this is a tremendous introduction to Newtonian Physics, suitable for upper middle and high school students. His book is here: For the Love of Physics, or the audiobook: For the Love of Physics MP3)

Of course, we all remember ‘bad’ teachers too. Lessons didn’t build upon each other, the instructor stumbled over terminology, mispronounced words, delivered poor lectures (or even worse, just read from the text), favored certain students, or even wore too much perfume. Maslow teaches us that even the smallest distracting factor can ‘turn off’ the student’s learning. Now, some of us face other distracting factors that exponentially grow this problem, but in the most simple forms, if students are too cold, or too hot, or scared, or hungry, or have to use the rest room, their focus is off of the instruction.

So how do we overcome these obstacles?

First, you, as the teacher, must be engaged and interested in the topic. If your kids realize that you think the topic is unimportant, they will likely turn-off. No amount of ‘good curriculum’ can overcome that. “Class, turn to page 38 and begin reading.” (newspaper ruffling)

What does that look like for you, at home, teaching your children?

You, as a family, must work to craft an environment where learning is important. Naturally, individuals will gravitate towards areas of interest. Our family likes history, we have friends that like nature, or art, or technology. My kids can tell you about the royal governors of North Carolina or discuss the Tet Offensive, but would be hard pressed to write a simple computer code or identify cubist art. Our prejudices influence how and what we teach, as an example, we spend a lot more time on history than art. Athletics is an area where this often becomes very evident. Unfortunately, once these interests are established breaking the cycle can be a huge challenge. This is often consolidated under the educational principle of predetermination.

I encourage you to take a moment and evaluate your approach to different topics as you teach them. Do your prejudices show through to your kids? Do you approach history (or art, or math, or literature…) by saying, ‘the pacing guide says we have to cover this material, but I don’t know why, you’re never going to use it.’ If so, those absorbent little minds will see your disinterest and mirror it, effectively putting a psychological wall between the material and themselves.

It’s a huge challenge to approach a wide range of topics with interest, even harder to approach with a true passion. Don’t be afraid to use your resources! Team up with other family members, friends, associates, and your community to find the most passion, for each topic, you can put in front of your kids. Maybe Dad likes computers and Mom can hardly turn one on – doesn’t make sense for the mother to teach C+ from a manual. Maybe Mom loves basketball and Dad has ‘two left hands’ – who should teach free throws? Look at grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors…many would love the opportunity to accompany your kids on a field trip, using their experiences to engage your learners.

I have the passion, but they won’t engage!

The passion we’re talking about isn’t, and can’t just be, limited to the teacher’s interest in the subject. The teacher needs to engage in a pattern of behavior that shows passion about sharing the information-the passion for teaching.

Take the time to experiment with different approaches to ‘less interesting’ material. I’m going to stick with history for this explanation. Most topics are multifaceted. If lists of names and dates don’t trigger interest, change directions. Maybe an immersive living history experience, like Colonial Williamsburg, will spark some interest. Perhaps a historically accurate movie (like Apollo 13) or television series will engage the learner. Maybe a battle reenactment will stimulate their interest. Use books with different ‘angles’ to find one that works for you. Some learners do well with first person accounts; others need the ‘big picture’. Most common historical periods are rife with resources and in many cases events. Excellent historical accounts abound, find ones that meet the needs of your learner (from both a sequential learning and content perspective). Historical fiction can be an easy way to engage your young reader in the period, hopefully stimulating them to read more ‘serious’ history accounts as they expand their base.

Passion? Check! Resources? Check!

Now, it is time to take a crucial step that I alluded to in the last paragraph, evaluate your audience. In discussion of historical events with my kids I tend to drift into hypothetical, what if type scenarios and controversial evaluations. This week our dinnertime conversations revolved around the Great Depression. Last night I asked, “guys? Do you think the alphabet soup of federal agencies helped end the Great Depression?” We had just spent thirty minutes talking about those programs so of course both kids said, “yes!” I realized pretty quickly that the question was loaded, my audience didn’t have enough information to answer the question authoritatively. I failed to ‘know my audience.’

There are loads of ‘formal’ audience assessment tools out there (see more from Scholastic here), they’re probably not necessary for your homeschool. Consider their ages, what foundational material they have been exposed to, and tailor the lessons/experiences to their level. Math is an easy analogy here: no first grade student is ready for calculus- you (or your curriculum) built their lessons around fundamental math skills, numbers up to 20, addition, subtraction, ect. In the Great Depression example above, I allowed my deeper understanding of politics, history, and economics (shaded by my political views) to lead them into a question well above their grade level. A question that I was then forced to answer on my own…which brings me to the next point.

Do I have to be a subject matter expert?

The short answer is no. You don’t need to be a subject matter expert. BUT, and I’m sure that you as homeschoolers are aware of this, kids tend to see and evaluate things much differently than adults. When engaged and learning they will ask questions, sometimes very random, abstract, or specific questions. Occasionally, you can punt and assign a homework/research project based on their questions and drive them towards independent learning. Please play that card carefully. If you don’t know the answer don’t make it up either, they can smell horse hockey a mile away. It’s perfectly acceptable to say, ‘you know what? That’s a great question, let me look into it.’ But do that! Research it on your own and share your findings.

I encourage you to get out there, engage your kids in learning. Work to meet their interests and needs. Especially with history, there are so many fascinating aspects and levels to explore-find their angle and, if history isn’t your thing, you may find your own along the way.

Check out more from Chris Peluso with his new historical fiction novel about the Vietnam War at Heroes Next Door.

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Weigl Book Review

For this review I had the opportunity to check out three different types of books from Weigl Publishers and the digital content that accompanied each book. We reviewed Glaciers, A Lion’s World, and There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant. These were digital books with interactive content. For each book you receive a PDF of the book and inside the PDF there are instructions for going to the website and entering in the book code to access the digital features of the book. You do need internet access in order to use the digital content and extras but you can view the PDF of the book without internet access once you have it downloaded.

The first book was Glaciers from the series “Earth’s Water” published under their imprint Lightbox. This book was geared towards upper elementary and middle grades students and packed with information. While it technically is a nonfiction book, it was so much more than a book. There were awesome web links, videos, and other activities included as you read through the book. I could have done an entire unit study on glaciers based off of this book and the extra activities and information that were linked in the book. There were maps and even quizzes included with the book. The illustrations were excellent including real photographs as well as diagrams that were beneficial to understanding the science concepts. The end of the book included a cool science experiment. We thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to go back and revisit it later when it ties into our regular science curriculum. I do want to mention one thing that may be an issue for some of my readers, it did discuss a timeline for glacier movement that spanned millions of years.

The second book we looked at was A Lion’s World belonging to our “EyeDiscover” series. Weigl says that it is intended for a K-2 interest range which I believe is appropriate but my four year old also really enjoyed it. It was much shorter with more basic (age appropriate) information. It included audio aspects that were a great way to keep younger children involved and interested. Benjamin (4) said when reading about lions and watching them run, ” That is like how fast I can run with my big strong legs.” Each page had one sentence and the sound and movement made the book a wonderful experience for my son. After I showed it to him initially he asked several times to read it again.

The third book was a fiction title that was geared toward lower elementary school students, There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant. This was a silly rhyming fictional book. You could choose to have it read to the student or for the student to read it themselves. While this was probably our least favorite book as a family, I know some other students who would have really enjoyed the silly story. The ability to have it read to them while they followed along with the words is a great strategy for developing readers.

We enjoyed these books, particularly the non-fiction titles. I recommend them for families looking to add a digital element to their reading or wanting to support developing readers with the read aloud options. Check out all of the available titles by Weigl Publishers and let us know which ones you think your family would most enjoy.

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It’s Time To Party (and Read)

Nothing says fun like a good party! So why not encourage reading by combining it with a party. There are many ways to combine books with parties, some are super simple and some more elaborate. While I do not discount them, I am not talking about parties that are rewards for having read a certain amount of time or books, but parties that incorporate reading. As one of my favorite authors once said, “Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” – C.S. Lewis

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One of our favorite ways to combine parties and reading are our “Poetry Tea’ times. During those times we sit around the table, complete with table cloth and our nicest dishes, and enjoy reading poetry while partaking in snacks. Sometimes it really is hot tea with cookies; other times it might be lemonade and popcorn, or milk and a bit of cake. I will read a few poems and then the children take turns reading poems. They look forward to these times of fun and reading.

There are times when we combine books and parties by focusing on the time period or geographic location of a book. For example, if we are reading Little House on the Prairie we might cook over our camp fire or make recipes from that time period. We loved making maple candy as they discussed in one of the Little House Books.

One I have not yet done with my children but have seen other children really enjoy are character parties. You can choose a book or let each child choose their own book and everyone dresses up like their favorite characters. You can have generic party snacks or if it is appropriate you can have snacks that are representative of the book. For example, if I was reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar I could have the snacks that the caterpillar ate. If I was reading a book about a ballgame I might have traditional ball park fare like hotdogs and popcorn.

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One idea that we recently participated in was a book tasting. A good friend of mine had seen the idea and offered to set it up for our 4-H club. It was so much fun. The children each brought some of their favorite books representing different genres and some fun easy to eat snacks. Then we put the books on different tables based on genres and gave the children ‘menus’ that they could fill out with information about books that they thought they found and thought they would enjoy reading. This gave the children exposure to a bunch of different books in various genres that were enjoyed by their peers.

Today is the last day of the 5 Days of Homeschool Blog Hop. I hope you have enjoyed it! Check out the rest of the posts from today: homeschooling with the Brain in Mind

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SPECIALS!!!

I wanted to take a minute and let you know about a few great deals going on this week that you don’t want to miss.

Today Apologia starts their big sale. $5 Shipping and 25% off of many of their products including Young Explorers!

Notebooking Pages 50% off sale! This is a great deal for a lifetime membership and some added bonuses.

You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels has just opened up enrollment for the Clubhouse program (an annual membership). In honor of that the entire site is 25% off!!

Schoolhouse Teachers is doing a Huge Spring Sale that could have you set for curriculum for next year. Only $99 for your whole family! And as a bonus they will mail you a beautiful tote and a new print magazine. Check it out here.

Use Codes: $9.95/month – Monthly Membership [Coupon: MONTHLYOPTION ] & $99/year – Annual Membership [Coupon: YEARLYOPTION ]

History Through Reading

We really enjoy learning about history and feel that it is a vital part of our children’s education. However, we do not want history to be about memorizing a bunch of dates and random facts, but an understanding of our past and how it shaped our lives today. One of the ways that we encourage this love of history is by combining it with our love of reading.

There are some excellent history and historical fiction books that help us to really understand the ‘story’ of history. Some of our favorite historical fiction books are classics like Johnny Tremain and Number the Stars. We recently read, The War that Saved My Life, while we were studying World War II. They enjoyed it so much that I’m planning on purchasing the sequel, The War I Finally Won for us to enjoy as a family.

Historical Fiction for Homeschool

Through these historical fiction books the children have a chance to understand what if might have felt like to live through the historical events and in various times and places. It allows them to understand not just the facts but the emotions and implications of those events.

Of course our favorite historical fiction book is Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24. I am sure I’m a bit biased but it really is a great way to learn about what life was like for our men who served in the Vietnam War. And now for an interview with my favorite historical fiction author, my husband, Chris Peluso author of Heroes Next Door.

1) What made you decide to write a historical fiction novel?

We run a bookstore. A while back, we took in a huge lot of Vietnam era material. I read a few of the memoirs and thought, ‘these would be great to share with my son.’ Unfortunately, the adult targeted content was far above his reading and maturity levels. Not long after that our next-door neighbor came home with a Vietnam era helicopter on a trailer. I saw an opportunity to connect the two in a way that would share some of the stories with younger readers and engage their interest and awareness. I choose the historical fiction approach to allow freedom in story flow and bring elements together as I felt they worked best.

2) Why do you think reading historical fiction is beneficial to children?

I think it gives an opportunity to connect with an individual and experience history through their perspective, in a comfortable, low stress, enjoyable reading environment. It is so easy to be overwhelmed with history, facts, dates, statistics; historical fiction helps remind us that history happens to people, not just calendars.

3) What was your favorite historical fiction novel when you were a child?

I remember The Machine Gunners, by Robert Westall. It is set in England, during the Battle of Britain. A group of kids find a downed German bomber and recover the tail gun. They then build and equip a small fort, preparing to defend Britain from the impending German invasion. I wasn’t exposed to them when I was younger, but now I really appreciate the works of G.A. Henty.

4) Tell us a little about your novel.

So my book, Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24 follows two precocious kids as they interact with their next door neighbor, who just happens to own a Vietnam era helicopter. The kids help refurbish the aircraft, during their time ‘next door’ they learn about Army aviation, duty, honor, respect, teamwork, and current events in the 1968-69 period. They follow Mr. Ed through a series of stories, trying to connect the men who flew helicopters with the war. One important theme explores the cost of war, both in lost opportunity and individual sacrifice, concepts that are easily lost when studying what I’ll call macro-history.

5) Any teasers about future books?

The business side of writing is tricky, editing, publishing, marketing; with this first book I had to navigate through those, that was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. The writing part is really the easiest part for me. There’s so many great stories out there picking which ones to explore next is really difficult, but, yes, I’m working on the next edition with a new set of characters in a new conflict. With a little support and interest, I can see several more after that. Please like and follow https://www.facebook.com/HNDHornet24/ @HNDHornet24 for updates plus bonus material/conversation starters.

We would love to answer any questions that we can about writing a book, historical fiction, or Heroes Next Door.

Check out all of today’s other 5 Days of Homeschool Blog Posts: When College Isn’t the Next Step

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SPECIALS!!!

I wanted to take a minute and let you know about a few great deals going on this week that you don’t want to miss.

Today Apologia starts their big sale.

You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels has just opened up enrollment for the Clubhouse program (an annual membership).

Schoolhouse Teachers is doing a Huge Spring Sale that could have you set for curriculum for next year.

Keep Them Reading…Our Favorite Series

Sometimes series of books can get a bad reputation for not being good literature. Some may deserve this reputation just as some non-series books are not good literature, but there are some excellent choices available that can help you encourage a love of reading in your children.

A good series takes you upward and inward, exploring the story in new ways. It expands the characters and helps you feel like a part of the experiences and lets you vicariously live the adventures. Series can help fuel the hunger for reading by building excitement and anticipation for the next book in the series, no one likes a cliffhanger afterall. For some children this is as simple as offering them the first book to read; but for those that do not even want to get started you might try a read aloud. You can read the first book in a series aloud and once their interested provide the others for them to read on their own.

When I was a child I loved reading mysteries! There are several series that I loved then and have had the pleasure of introducing to my children. It has been fun watching them learn to love the characters as much as I did. The Boxcar Children are short chapter books that are so much fun. The children have grand adventures. I prefer the original ones that were written by Gertrude Chandler Warner to the later ones that were written by other authors. Probably my favorite series of all time is the Mandie series. I would read these so fast that my mom could not keep up with purchasing them. I loved feeling like I was right there with Mandie as she went on adventures and solved mysteries. Later I even visited historical Moses Cone Manor because scenes from a Mandie movie were filmed on location. There are Christian messages throughout the series.

Some series are perfect for new readers. They are short, easy to read, and have the same characters which can make it easier to follow along for young readers who are still working on decoding words. The Billie B. Brown series is a great example of a series that works well for newer readers. Fancy Nancy is another one that my daughter really enjoyed when she was first reading on her own. In that series Nancy likes to use new ‘fancy’ words which she then explains. It is a great way to build vocabulary in a fun way.

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Some series have stood the test of time and became classics in their own right. One of our family favorites to read aloud, and that my son enjoys reading on his own is the Chronicles of Narnia. This series by C. S. Lewis is full of adventures and lessons. It is a great analogy of the story of Christ wrapped into a wonderful and fun fantasy. Our family enjoyed this book so much that we are often quoting various lines in our day-to-day life; I may have even hidden a few in this blog. The Little House series is another series that I remember from my reading as a child. This series can make you long for ‘simpler’ times and while making you appreciate all of the luxuries of today. These like the Chronicles of Narnia are longer chapter books that are probably best enjoyed by stronger readers or as read alouds.

Two great series of biographies are the Christian Heroes Then & Now and the Who Was.. series. The Who Was.. series are shorter easy to read chapter books but even my sixth grader who can read much more difficult books still enjoys them. The Christian Heroes Then & Now books are longer and more in-depth. My son reads these frequently on his own and I use them for our missionary studies and to supplement our history studies as read alouds. This series (along with several of the other ones I’ve mentioned) is also available on audible.

There are many more series including the Green Ember series, The Penderwicks, and Giada De Laurentiss’ Recipe for Adventure that our family enjoys reading. Finding engaging books that keep the children begging for more is a great way to encourage a love of reading. There are series for all ages, tastes, and reading abilities. Even C.S. Lewis’ dear friend penned a well known series that has found renewed interest-can you name it in the comments? What is your family’s favorite book series?

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Check out all of the other 5 days of homeschool blog posts and my guest post over at the Crew blog today: Encouraging Reading

SPECIALS!!!

I wanted to take a minute and let you know about two great deals going on this week that you don’t want to miss.

You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels has just opened up enrollment for the Clubhouse program (an annual membership). In honor of that the entire site is 25% off!!

Schoolhouse Teachers is doing a Huge Spring Sale that could have you set for curriculum for next year. Only $99 for your whole family! And as a bonus they will mail you a beautiful tote and a new print magazine. Check it out here.

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Reading With Your Ears

I love the feeling of a good book in my hands. I am one of those ‘hold outs’ that can’t quite get into reading on our electronic devices. We do have a Kindle and I use it occasionally for informational reading, but it is just not the same. However, life is busy and I do not have time to read every book we want to read.

That is where audio books come into play in our family. We have found audio books to be a great way to supplement our other reading and give our family hours of enjoyment in situations where traditional reading isn’t really feasible.

How to Use Audio Books in Your Homeschool

There are multiple ways to use audio books. The most common for our family is listening while we ride. Whether a short jaunt to grandma’s house or a long road trip the audio books help make traveling with children a much more pleasurable experience.

We have found that having that story going helps keep them from getting bored and irritated with each other. It also supplements my read alouds and helps to give us that common experience of a story.

Another great use of audio books is during quiet time for children who are not yet reading. As my children out grew their naps I found that it was still beneficial for them to have a quiet time in the afternoon and having an audio book to listen to can help ease that transition and keep them quietly in their rooms.

Audio Books for Struggling Readers

Audio books are also beneficial for struggling readers. You can have them listen to the audio to hear information or stories that they would not otherwise be able to read or to reinforce content written above their grade level. For example, our Apologia Science text is available on audio.

You can also have them use the audio and book together to strengthen reading skills. By following along in their books with the audio their comprehension is increased but they are still getting reading practice which is so important for struggling readers. It is much harder to enjoy something that is a struggle, so increasing that fluency is important.

Where Do You Find Audio Books?

I am often asked where to find good audio books. We use a variety of resources for finding great audio books. One of the most versatile is Audible which is a subscription service that you can use to download audio books. (You can try free for a month and get two free books.

Also, you can cancel at any time and you keep the ones you have already purchased) In addition to the credits we get from our Audible subscription, we can often find additional books on Audible for very reasonable prices. They also download easily onto our Kindle making them very easy for us to take with us and listen on the road.

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Another great resource for audio books is Heirloom Audio. Heirloom does great dramatizations of GA Henty books. These books are rich in history, story, and moral character. The children love them for the excitement and I love them for the lessons they teach.

Focus on the Family radio theatre is another great option for dramatized audio books. They feature mostly classic books like The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, or our personal favorite The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

There are many great stories that you could start with depending on the ages and interests of your family. As I mentioned above we love The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. The Tales of Beatrix Potter is another great one to start with, especially if you have younger children. Recently we have found the Green Ember Series.

What Audio Books Do You Enjoy?

Audio books are a great way to support and supplement your other reading times. Whether you are listening just for enjoyment or education there are many wonderful options available. What is your favorite audio book?

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Check out all of the other 5 day blog hop posts over on the Crew Blog: Fostering Independence

Planet 316 Story Bible App Review

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When I asked to be on the review team for Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App I was thinking about my four year old but it turns out that my 10 year old enjoyed it as well. This is a beautifully illustrated children’s book of Bible stories and a really neat app by Planet 316 and WorthyKids/Ideals.

When we first started using it I would sit down with my four year old and let him pick the stories and we would use the app together. My 10 year old saw us looking at the book and app and asked to use it as well. While the stories were geared towards a younger audience she really enjoyed the technology aspect of it and it became something they could do together.

As you chose a story you could aim your phone or certain tablets (apple products) at the pages of the book and make the people and animals ‘come to life.’ They would move and talk on the screen adding an extra dimension to the reading experience. For example on the page where Noah is loading the Ark he says, “elephants check, giraffes check.” and if you touch the animals they make their animal sounds.

In looking at the book itself the illustrations are colorful and beautifully done. My son enjoyed looking through them even when he wasn’t able to use the app or have someone read to him. I also really liked that each story included the scripture reference for where it came from so that you could look it up and read the actual scripture if you chose to do so. Most of the stories are only a page or two which was a great length for keeping the attention of younger children.

We had the benefit of having this book and app for Easter this year so I used the stories leading up to Easter both with my son and on Easter Sunday in my Pre-K class at church. The children loved the stories. My son kept asking me to read them again. When I asked him his favorite stories he showed me the story where Adam was naming the animals and Noah’s Ark first but then he started showing me almost all of them and saying, “and this one.” I think it is safe to say he enjoyed all of the stories we have read so far.
My one complaint is that it was a big difficult to line up and see using my phone. The app worked on the phone but holding the book and lining up the small screen on my phone so that both myself and the children could see the characters on the phone screen was a little bit difficult. I think using a compatible tablet would make that a lot easier but we did not have a tablet that would work with the app at this time.

All in all I found this to be a fun and engaging activity to do with my four year old. I think it would be most engaging for the preschool and early elementary ages though as in our house, older siblings may enjoy using it with the younger children. This would not replace our family Bible time but was a great supplement. Check out the Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App and let me know what you think.

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