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

20160404_162252

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!

Resource Library

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.

Resource Library

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.

Deals and Freebies!!

FREE: Check out this great new FREE resource for classical and Charlotte Mason education! Classical Christian Education & Charlotte Mason. Great for folks already homeschooling or if you have friends that are looking into it!

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.

FREE Poetry Pack from Write Shop! 20 Printable Activities and Worksheets, including: Practice exercises, brainstorming worksheets, poem planning worksheets, word banks, and colorful lined writing pages

“Psst! Did you know that SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a sale? Not just any sale, but one that can open up a world of opportunity for your children for only $99! Plus, you get a FREE collectable tote bag and a print issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine mailed to your door when you sign up for our annual membership! That is one year of access to over 380 different courses, not to mention the resources and videos and World Book content. Hurry over and sign up at SchoolhouseTeachers.com before the sale ends on May 31! And don’t forget your coupon: YEARLYOPTION.”

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.

kidsemailpicture

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.

kidsemail4

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 .

Resource Library

Free Choice Lego Projects

I’m so excited to be able to share with you all of these wonderful Lego projects submitted by readers. These children have done an outstanding job with their building and creativity. I believe that building and creating allows them to not only build fine motor skills but engage their minds in creative and critical thinking that is every bit as beneficial to their brains as ‘book work’.

This month’s theme was ‘free choice’ and you can see we had a variety of ideas related to that theme. (If you forgot to send in your pictures I will take submissions through the weekend.) The theme for May is ‘summer fun’.

Lyra M.

Elizabeth P age 10

Benjamin P. Age 4

Matthew P.

Conner H. and Anna H.

Please feel free to share this post to show your friends and family your hard work and invite your friends to join in next month’s Lego Challenge.

When you sign up for our 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.

Resource Library

Read-Aloud Family Book Study: Chapter 1

read aloud family

For years I have known that reading aloud was important to children of all ages, but it is so easy to let it get pushed to the side as our children get older. I read often to my young children and continue to read to them as they grow but lately I had found that more and more that time was pushed back to make room for all of the other things that seemed to be more important. When I saw that Sarah Mackenzie was releasing a book, The Read-Aloud Family about reading aloud I knew that I had to read it. She does a podcast that we already enjoyed and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her new book.

It is my personal goal to allow this book and study to re-energize my read aloud efforts and give me new and fresh ideas for creating that family culture of reading. Last month as I looked at ways to encourage a love for reading we talked about Reading With Your Ears and using audio books. I want to continue using audio books but also increase the amount of time that I am actually reading with my children.

My plan for this study is to go through the first 11 chapters of the book at a pace of one per week. Each week I’ll share my thoughts as a blog post as well as questions and discussions in our Facebook group. Chapters 12 through 15 we will look at as a group since they are suggestions on books for various ages.

“I want to make sure you know what this book is really about: it is about you and me going all-in for our kids.”

The quote above is one of my favorite from chapter one. I want to go all-in for my children. The great thing is that reading aloud is so powerful and yet honestly so simple. It doesn’t require lots of time or expensive equipment. Aside from the ability to read (or use a CD player) it does not require a specialized skill. Simply choose a book and spend a few minutes each day (or most days) reading it aloud to your children. If you need some book suggestions to get started check out A Few Favorite Books. This chapter really lays out how reading aloud can change you and your family. “As I lay huddled under the covers that night, it seemed to me that Jim Trelease was saying that reading aloud had the power to change the world. What I never could have predicted was how it was about to transform mine.” I pray that this book and study will transform all of our worlds.

If you are just learning about this study or still thinking about joining us it is not too late. You can purchase the book (or audio) and jump right in. You can simply follow along here or join us for fun discussions in the Facebook group.

PS. I won’t spoil it for you in case you have not read the chapter yet but the story of how she started her podcast was both inspiring and hilarious. It reminded me that I just need to stop thinking about and dreaming about things and just do them.

Resource Library

Friday Deals and Freebies!

FREE: Check out this great new FREE resource for classical and Charlotte Mason education! Classical Christian Education & Charlotte Mason. Great for folks already homeschooling or if you have friends that are looking into it!

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.

The Tummy Team is doing a 25% off sale in honor of Mother’s Day! Simply use this link and the code MOMSTRONG. If you want more information about Tummy Team or my experience you can check out my post My Tummy Team Experience .

North Carolina Junior Historians

20180427_144456

Several years ago we stumbled upon a great program that has enriched our home school experience. The North Carolina Tar Heel Junior Historian program based out of the North Carolina Museum of History is open to students in grades 4-12 and has some great opportunities. We started a small club of only two families (though there are much bigger clubs in other areas). There are clubs in schools, homeschools, and even clubs formed by museums and historical sites.

Each club meets monthly to study and learn about history. You can focus on a particular topic or change topics each month. We do a lot of field trips as well as service time at a local historic site, Tryon Palace. They publish a bi-annual magazine filled with interesting state history that can be included in your studies or just used as a fun read for the students.

Each year the organization holds a convention and contests. My 10 year old daughter says that her favorite part is the workshops at the convention. The contest entries are turned in prior to the convention and they present awards to the winners on the afternoon of the convention. They have different contest divisions covering essay, exhibit, photography and more. My son loves the art/exhibit contest best. The first year his Lego model of Tryon Palace actually won first place for his age group and was displayed in the museum for the year. This year he completed a model of two of the helicopters from the North Carolina Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association. He didn’t win but he had a good time and learned a lot during the project.

During the convention students have the opportunity to attend several workshops on various history topics. This year their two favorite ones were a sword fighting demonstration and a presentation on recycled crafts. My daughter also enjoyed a presentation about Native American ceremonial dancing clothes.

This club has encouraged my children to write and create (it is so much easier for them to write a paper for a contest) and study various components of our state history. My son in particular does not enjoy writing and will often try to avoid writing. These contests have given him added incentive to write and helped me to strengthen his writing. They have also had the opportunity to meet children in clubs from all across our state.

20170728_150545

I need to be a proud mama and club advisor for a minute and tell you the results from this year’s contests. Three of the kids from our club entered a group project into the video documentary contest and won first place! You can check out their video about the North Carolina Vietnam Helicopter Pilots here. We also had a 2nd place in the magazine article competition, and recognition in the artifact search. Finally, we received and award for Rookie Club of the Year! The children put a lot of time and effort into all of their projects and I was really proud of them.

I encourage you to look into this program if you live in North Carolina. There are many clubs across the state. If you are an out of state reader check to see if your state has a similar program. It is a great way to expand your history studies and meet some great people.

Friday Deals and Freebies!

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.

Resource Library

Kayla Jarmon Book Review

In case you are new here, my name is Dawn and I’m a ‘bookaholic’. We love books and I jump at the chance to review them, especially from an author like Kayla Jarmon that is new to me. I had the opportunity to review A Boy and His Dog, Don’t Forget Me , and Dying Is Part of This World. The first two I did with my children and the third one I read myself and will share with my children at a later time.

A Boy and His Dog Cover-01

A Boy and His Dog was a fun read that I read with my four year old and had my older children read on their own. This book features short sentences and cute pictures. It details a day in the life of a young boy and his dog. Each page has only a few sentences and is short enough to keep the attention of young children and great for new readers. My oldest felt that it was too ‘simple’ for him but both my four year old and 10 year old enjoyed the book. I would recommend it for the preschool/early elementary ages.

Don't Forget Me Cover-01

Don’t Forget Me is a cute but meaningful story about a baby growing in its mother’s womb. The story is told as an imagined conversation between the unborn child and God. The illustrations show the baby growing in the mother’s uterus as well as the mother and father. It does show the birth of the baby but in a very tasteful and modest way. We have a two month old baby in our house, so this one was a big hit with my children. I would have loved to have had it to read prior to the baby being born but they enjoyed it afterwards. This book included scripture references at the end. This book does not go into any of the biology of conception or birth but rather focuses on the Creator and the relationship between God and ourselves (particularly the unborn child). It is a great book to read with siblings expecting a new baby or to help children understand that they are created by God for relationship with him. In my opinion, this book is great for elementary ages. Preschool ages may also enjoy it but will probably need some discussion to help with understanding.

Dying is Part of This World Cover-01

Dying Is Part of This World tackles the difficult topic of death in a way that is meaningful and appropriate for children. I chose to read this one myself at this time and not with my children since they are not currently asking questions about this topic. I plan to use it with them when they are asking questions or if I feel like there is a personal need in our family. To me it was a well written and appropriate book to help facilitate a difficult conversation but not a book that you would read just for enjoyment. This book is longer and includes seven short chapters. Each chapter includes scripture references and discussion questions to help you use it to facilitate discussions with your children about the topic of death and the fear of dying. This book could be used with a wide range of children as a family or one on one discussion starter.

These were interesting books from an author that was new to me. I recommend checking them out. She also has an audio version that will be coming out soon if you are like me and enjoy using audio to facilitate read alouds. Which book by Kayla Jarmon most interests you?

Resource Library

Field Trip Friday: USS North Carolina

Have you ever heard of a mechanical cow? That was one of the many exciting things we found aboard the USS North Carolina, a retired battleship and floating memorial to the citizens of North Carolina who served and died during the Second World War.

battleship

We have been enjoying our study of World War II and were excited to be able to include this trip to a World War II battleship. The USS North Carolina is located in Wilmington, NC and open for tours 365 days of the year. While not all of the ship is open for tours there is a lot available to see. You start inside the welcome center with a short video explaining the history of the vessel and how it came to rest in Wilmington. Then there is a small museum with some great artifacts from the ship on display. We also found the volunteer interpreters to be quite knowledgeable and engaging.

Then you walk onto the teak deck of the ship. It is amazing just to realize the true size of the ship, all 729 feet of her. They even have one of the sea planes still on display on the deck. The self guided tour takes at least two hours. You can go up in one of the main gun turrets and see how tight the quarters were, very little has changed since her active service. This allows visitors to have a great look at what life would have been like aboard a major warship during the 1940s.

Next, you can go down below deck and see the various parts of the living and working spaces. This ship is like a small floating town, home to almost 2,400 men. There were galleys (or kitchens), dining halls, doctors and dentists, offices, bunks, radio rooms, a small store, printing room, barbership and even a post office. I mentioned the mechanical cow earlier; we found this down below near the store and post office. This is a machine that used water and butter to make milk for drinking and to serve the ships ice creamery. These ingredients stored longer than fresh milk and according to the sailors accounts made much better milk than powdered milk.

One thing we found very beneficial on our tour was purchasing the app to help guide us and give us more details and stories about various parts of the ship. Purchasing a code from the ticket office was only $1.50 and there was a tremendous amount of information on the app. We were not able to listen and watch everything but much of it is available even after you leave so we plan to continue to use the app to learn more about the ship as we finish up our studies.

Where: USS North Carolina, located in Wilmington, NC

Hours of Operation:

Labor Day-Memorial Day 8 am-5pm

Memorial Day-Labor Day 8am -8pm

Costs: Home school rates:

Preschool: FREE
Students K – 6th grades: $3 each
Students 7th – 12th grades: $6 each

If a home school has more 10+ students, one teacher/adult will be admitted for free per 10 students. If a home school has less than 10 students, ALL adults are $10 each.

Homeschool Discount: Yes, Monday-Friday during traditional school year (bring proof of homeschool status)

Website: http://www.battleshipnc.com/

Food: There are vending machines on site and restaurants with-in easy driving distance. There are also tables and benches available for picnics.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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.

Resource Library

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.

Resource Library

YWAM Heroes of History Book Review

20180416_121810

For the last several years we have been using some of the wonderful biographies by YWAM Publishing to supplement our homeschool. However, we had never used the study guides prior to this review. We received the Heroes of History-Alan Shephard book and study guide from the Heroes of History series for this review. My son was very excited to add it to his collection of books and I was excited about having a unit study already planned out for me.

This book like the other ones we have read from this series did not disappoint. While it would make a great family read aloud, the level of difficulty in the book makes it appropriate for independent reading for upper elementary and middle grades students. My 11 year old, 6th grade son was assigned this book and parts of the unit study to complete as an independent reading assignment. We chose to take about two weeks ) to cover this book and study. We could have easily increased that amount of time if we had covered everything in the study guide.

He loved the book and would have been happy to read it on his own during free time. It was an engaging story with lots of great information. I loved seeing him come to his father or myself and excitedly sharing some new tidbit of information he had gleaned as he read. He has been interested in astronauts and space so this was a great fit for him. I love the way the books incorporate the historical accomplishments and the moral character into the books. This gives our children great examples of heroes that they can look up to with qualities they can emulate. My son enjoyed it so much that he is hoping to get several other titles from this series for his birthday which is at the end of this month.

In looking at the study guides I was amazed at how many ideas and activities were included. We could have used this study for many different subjects in our school day, including history, reading, writing, geography, and science. We did not complete all of the activities in the study guide but did a variety that fit well into our day and my son’s interests. There were over 84 pages of information, ideas, and worksheets for just this one book included in the study guide. They even listed other books and resources that could be used to further your study. One section that we did not get the opportunity to really incorporate but that I think is a great resource is the community links section where they give ideas for incorporating community resources into your unit study.

He completed part of the questions that went along with each chapter, a timeline and information sheet about Alan Shepard, and a couple of other activities and projects. One of the activities was to build their own rocket and launch it. There are some fairly simple ideas for this available on the internet but since he had been given a small rocket kit for Christmas that he had not yet completed he used that for the project. He was pretty impressed with himself for being able to turn his rocket kit into ‘school work’. As you can probably tell from the picture below he and his sister both enjoyed that part of the study.

20180423_180036

We have used the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series before with our missionary studies for the last several years including my children’s favorite one, George Mueller. We also incorporate this biographies into our history whenever possible, most recently using the audio version of Heroes of History- Theodore Roosevelt.I highly recommend these books as family read alouds or as a part of your curriculum. They are interesting, engaging, and full of excellent information. Check out all of the other Crew reviews of various selections and tell me in the comments which one you would like to read.

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies!!

Resource Library

Friday Deals and Freebies!

Friday Deals and Freebies!

Resource Library

Where: USS North Carolina, located in Wilmington, NC

Hours of Operation:

Labor Day-Memorial Day 8 am-5pm

Memorial Day-Labor Day 8am -8pm

Costs: Home school rates:

Preschool: FREE

Students K – 6th grades: $3 each

Students 7th – 12th grades: $6 each

If a home school has more 10+ students, one teacher/adult will be admitted for free per 10 students. If a home school has less than 10 students, ALL adults are $10 each.

Homeschool Discount: Yes, Monday-Friday during traditional school year (bring proof of homeschool status)

Website: http://www.battleshipnc.com/

Food: There are vending machines on site and restaurants with-in easy driving distance. There are also tables and benches available for picnics.