Review: Whit's End Mealtime Devotions, The Second Helping

From Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishers, this 112 page paperback book is packed full of fun and interesting discussions for you and your family to have around the supper table. This book contains 90 different devotionals all with a 5 course menu.

• mealtime prayer-a fresh way to bless your food
• appetizer-a fun question or activity
• main course-an object lesson
• table talk-questions to spark conversations
• vitamins and minerals-a way to thank God for your time together

You can view the first chapter here.

I think the Whit's End Mealtime Devotions are a great way to get fun and meaningful conversations going around your table.  The titles of the devotions are cute.  Things like: Mud Pie, Freshly Squeezed, Frogs for Dinner, and "Lettuce Pray" are great titles that make you want to read what's in the devotion.  Even though the devotions follow a similar format, there is quite a bit of variety among them.  Some of them for example have scripted mealtime prayers while others have suggestions for what to pray.  Some of the appetizers have questions, others have activities, some even have jokes.  The main courses give a short Bible lesson and questions that apply to the lesson. Table talk questions will get children talking about a variety of subjects, and the vitamins and minerals give a Scripture verse relating to the lesson.  Even if you have never done any kind of prayer or devotion at your table you will be able to get started with these.  Even if it is not possible to sit down at the table altogether, you could use these at snack time, or even in the car.  Even if your family is resistant to answering some of the table talk questions, they will get something important out of these short mealtime devotions.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations. 

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Review: If You Were Me and Lived in Australia by Carole P. Roman

Last year as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we had an opportunity to review 4 books by Carole P. Roman in the If You Were Me and Lived In....series:

Mexico
Norway
France
South Korea


I was recently sent one of the newest books in the series, If You We Me and Lived in Australia ($8.99) to review.

This series of book were written for children ages 3-8 years old and teaches them about people and cultures from different parts of the world.  Each book follows the same basic format.  The first page shows a picture of the country and the capital on the first page.  The next page shows where on the globe it is located, with the following page discussing the capital city.  Then the book discusses common names, what you call your parents, what the currency is called, and a native place people like to visit.  Also we learn about what typical foods are eaten, the most popular sport, a special national holiday, and about the school.

The books are beautifully illustrated with two children going through the book and experiencing the things on each page.  At the end of each book there is an illustration of children holding hands around the globe and the words, "So you see, if you were me, how life in ___ could really be. There is also a pronunciation guide in the back of the book.

I think this series is a great way to teach young children about  different cultures around the world.  The illustrations are sweet and the topics are things that children can easily relate to.  The pages are a good length, not too short or too long for the targeted age group.  Because the books follow a similar format, children can easily go through the series and see how cultures are different but that they all also have things that are the same.  We enjoyed reading and learning about Australia in this book.

It does mention on the last page that people native to Australia have lived there for over 40,000 years which may be something you want to know ahead of time, especially if you believe that God created the earth a little over 6,000 years ago.  I think the author could have easily left a number out and just said the culture was isolated for many years before the Europeans arrived in the 1700's.  It is not a huge issue and can be easily edited, but worth mentioning.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: Roman Roads Media

Roman Roads Media publishes Classical video curriculum for homeschoolers from a Christian perspective helping, to instill a lifelong love of learning in your children.  When they appeared on our vendor list, I took some time to investigate the products they were offering.  Several of the items on the list were products we have already used and LOVED.  But, there was one product we did not have that stood out to me. I was very excited to have an opportunity to review Old Western Culture: The Greeks. Old Western Culture: The Greeks is a "Christian approach to the Great Books."  It is for grades 8 and up and is divided into 4 units: Greeks: The Epics Greeks: Drama and Lyric Greeks: The Histories Greeks: The Philosophers
Each unit takes 9 weeks to complete which will allow students to complete the entire course in 36 weeks.  The course is made up of video instruction, reading assignments in the great books, workbook exercises, and an ending exam and term paper for each unit.  Throughout the course, students will explore history, theology, philosophy, poetry, and art from the greatest works of literature in the Western world.  By the completion of all 4 units, your students will have earned a full credit in both literature and history.
There are 12 video lessons in each unit taught by Wes Callihan.  Each of the video lectures are approximately 30 minutes long.  Each of the lessons starts with a brief review before diving into the material being presented in the new lecture.  After viewing the video lesson, there are lecture questions for the student to answer.  These are available in printed format or as PDF downloads depending on what you choose to purchase.  Assigned readings are given at the end of each lecture and are also shown on the suggested schedule and in the workbook assignments.  Links to digital versions of assigned readings are included with your purchase. Term papers are assigned for each unit and due at the end of the unit.
The first unit, The Epics covers the two great poems of Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey.  Students will have an opportunity to view over a hundred exhibits throughout the course of the video containing historic artifacts and classical art work.  They will learn about the back drop of the plays and also be guided through plot, poetic devices, philosophy, and history of the plays as well as read them themselves. 

Drama and Lyrics covers a selection of Greek plays and poetry including works from Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, and more.  In this section students will learn about the earliest comedies and tragedies of the Western world as well as the early theater and performances.  Also, Greek lyric poetry of this era will be introduced as well. 

The Histories covers three of histories most influential historians.  Students will read and learn about Herodotus, "The Father of History", and read his book The Histories.  Students will also study and read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and Xenophon's Anabasis.
  The Philosophers covers readings from Plato and Aristotle.  In this unit Callihan discusses how the church and society have been influenced by these early philosophers.  Texts covered in this unit include: Plato's Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Republic and Aristotle's Metaphysics, Ethics, and Poetics.  
You can purchase the complete set of The Greeks (all 4 units) in two different formats: DVD ($224) or Digital Streaming ($199.)  Both formats include the videos, Guide to the Art, Student Workbooks Answer Keys and Exams in PDF format.  You can choose to purchase printed student workbooks for each unit for $12 each.  If you wish to purchase one of the DVD sets, you can buy them for $56 each.
Sample Lessons
Old Western Culture: The Greeks is Year One of what will be a 4 year course. The Romans will be finished by December of 2014, followed by the Christendom in 2015, and Early Moderns in 2016. 

I love history and literature and am happy to say that my children have followed in my footsteps in that area.  My oldest daughter especially.  Chelsea just graduated from our homeschool in May, but since I knew this would be something that she would enjoy, I asked her to help me out with this review.  She has been working through the first unit The Epics following along with the suggested schedule taking some time off when she was out of town.  In the meantime, I have been working through getting an overview of the entire course by sampling the first few lectures of each unit and completing the assigned readings and questions for each of the lectures that I have viewed.

One of the things that I worried about when I first started homeschooling was the more difficult subjects or those which I didn't feel that I was qualified to teach.  What I have learned along the way is that you do not have to have knowledge in all of the subjects that you want to teach or your students want to learn, instead you can bring in "experts" in those fields to teach those subjects for you.  That is what Roman Roads Media is doing with their video courses for homeschoolers. Bringing the professor into your home to teach your children (and the parent too in some cases.) Old Western Culture: The Greeks is a course that is very easy on the parent.  The course can be completed independently by your high school students.  The PDF files are not only included on the DVD, they are also available on the website making it easy to download to an iPad or other tablet. They also include links on the website to digital files of the source texts used and even links for you to purchase the physical books if you wish.  I thought the materials page was fantastic and made using this course that much easier.  Plus they include a suggested schedule for completing the course in 9 weeks.

The lectures themselves are wonderful.  Mr. Callihan has a wonderful story telling way about him and his lectures are educational, interesting, and humorous.  Throughout the lectures we have an opportunity to see beautiful works of art, timelines, maps, and even many of the places he is speaking about.  I love too how he talks about the different meanings of words and what they meant then and how they relate to us and what they mean now.  

One of my favorite parts to the course is the included Guide to the Art booklets for each unit.  On these you will find the video lesson number that work of art is discussed in, the art work in color, and a great description to the work of art.  I mentioned above that this course earns a student a full credit in literature and history, and with all of the art shown and studied, I would even award a 1/2 credit to my students in art history.
My favorite part of the course is that it is all based on a Christian perspective.  It does of course discuss many topics that are not Christian is nature (gods and goddesses for example) but it is all taught through the Christian worldview lens.  Mr. Callihan talks about why we as Christians should study and read things like philosophies that were written by pagans and he makes points that are absolutely true and will help young students put it all into perspective.
The course is recommended for ages 14 and up.  It does discuss some mature topics and shows classic artwork some containing nudity.  Parents will want to decide based on the maturity level of their children if this course will be appropriate or not.  Also, there is a significant amount of challenging reading which may be a factor for deciding whether or not this course would be right for your child, especially if they are in the younger half of the age range.  
Members of The Crew had an opportunity to review several different products from Roman Roads Media. To see what my Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.

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5th Grade Curriculum Choices For the 2014/2015 School Year

Since we are getting ready to start a brand new school year, I am sharing our curriculum choices for each age group.  We do as many subjects together as we can, so you will see several of the same books for all the different age levels.  We will of course make room for reviews and also will add in some electives as we go along.

This year my 5th grader will be using:

History: Mystery of History Volume III

Science: Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics

Math: Math U See Delta

Bible: Apologia What on Earth Can I Do?

Writing: IEW Medieval History Writing Lessons

Spelling: All About Spelling Level 4 (we are about halfway through with this book from last year)

Grammar: Junior Analytical Grammar (this program only takes 11 weeks and we are almost halfway done)

Literature: Instead of a formal literature program, I have chosen several books off of Sonlight's reading list.  He will complete one book per month.

Plus whatever review items come our way!

I am looking forward to the start of our new school year!

*All About Spelling is an affiliate link.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!

Curious to see what my 7th Grader will be using?  Our 7th grade curriculum choices are here.

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Compass Classroom Summer Sale!

Compass Classroom is having their summer sale starting today (August 4th) and lasting until August 11th.  Enjoy sale prices on products such as:

Visual Latin

Economics for Everybody

Dave Raymond's American History

Filmmaking

Grammar of Poetry

Modern Parables

Your Story Hour Bible Audio Recordings

Old Western Culture: The Greeks

Introductory Logic

Lingua Latina

Henle Latin

New Testament Greek (online course)

In addition to the sale prices you can also get $5 off for you and a friend (see details on the Compass Classroom website.

Some of these products have been absolute favorites in our house, and I am excited to see so many new offerings.  Check out the sale!

*links to Compass Classrooom are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend.

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: 3P Learning

Recently we were given an opportunity to review Mathletics  from 3P Learning. Mathletics is an online, supplementary math program for grades K-12.  Mathletics covers all aspects of math and contains over 1000 learning activities.  Students earn gold bars and printable certificates for completing activities.  There is no special equipment needed and nothing needs to be downloaded to use Mathletics on your computer.  Each student receives their own log in and can access Mathletics from any computer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is also a free Mathletics app available for iOS and Android devices that Mathletics subscribers can use.  There are PDF workbooks that you can download and print out to complement the online learning activities.

At the time of this posting, you can purchase a 12 month subscription for one student to Mathletics for $59.  You can sign up for a free 10 day trial here.
There are several different parts of Mathletics:
Live Mathletics- compete live with children all over the world in 10 different levels of Math
Activities-Answer math problems in a variety of topics depending on grade level and difficulty. Students get immediate feedback whether or not they have the correct answer and earn gold bars and certificates and unlock games for completing activities.
Problem Solving-games you can play that become unlocked after completing activities
Concept Search-math dictionary and concept search
Rainforest Maths-Interactive Math activities for grades K-6
Times Tables Toons-music videos with cartoon characters to help students memorize their times tables.

I have been using Mathletics with my 7 and 9 year olds.  We have played it on the computer and the iPad and also have printed out some of the math workbooks.  The boys have used Mathletics 15-20 minutes per day three times per week.  

My boys love playing computer and iPad games and I am always on the lookout for games they that like to play that are also educational.  Since Mathletics is a supplemental math program, I thought they would enjoy "playing" the games and reinforce some of the math skills at the same time.  The program is easy to use.  You receive a log in for the students using the program and also a parent log in.  The boys got to create their own avatar which they loved.  You choose the grade level and course you would like your student to start with.  Then they are ready to go.  
When the boys first started, I had placed them in the Common Core State Standards for their grades (1 and 3.)  But, the problems seemed to be very advanced for them, even when we selected the make it easier option.  They would go along and be able to answer some of the problems within a topic and then get to a topic that they had no understanding of.  The home license allows you to change your course 6 times in your 12 month period.  So I switched Anthony to Common Core State Standards Grade 2 and Christian to Virginia Grade 1.  There is no placement test on the site and no descriptions of what each of the courses cover or where they start and finish, so these were just random choices.  But, they seemed to be a much better fit for the boys so we have stuck with them.

They really like the Problem Solving section the best because this is where all of the games are. They prefer to play on the iPad app over the computer but the Problem Solving section is not available on the iPad.  The report features allow you to see exactly what your child has worked on, for how long, and how they did. There also is a task manager that allows the parent to assign specific activities for the child to complete before they can go to any other area or activity.  I really like the downloadable workbooks.  There are workbooks series A-M (grades k-12) and you have access to all of the levels regardless of what level your child is working on in Mathletics.  Also, there is an audio option that will read the instructions aloud for the student which I think is wonderful. Students are given immediate feedback on their answers so they know right away if they got it correct or not and any area they did not do as well as they wanted to they can go back and redo.
I really wish there was a description of the different courses to choose from and a placement test so you know where your child should begin.  Also, there is a figure on the screen that seems to be some type of super hero with xray vision that I feel has no purpose and is very distracting.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.

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4 H Cloverbud Picnic in the Park

Today was supposed to be a 4 H Cloverbud Picnic in the Park.  We were going to read Eric Carle books and make crafts that went along with the book and then eat our picnic lunch.  But, it started raining on Wednesday and it was still coming down this morning.  So the picnic in the park got moved indoors.  But, we still had a wonderful time!

There ended up only being 7 Cloverbuds who attended plus Emelia (who is 3 and 1/2) but the smaller numbers wasn't a bad thing.  The children were split into groups of 2 and rotated through 4 different stations.  At each station they were read a story and then made a craft to go along with the story.  If there was more time left over, they read through a few more books.


The Very Clumsy Click Beetle

The Little Cloud

The Grouchy Ladybug

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Then it was time for a bit of exercise as they read from Head to Toe and acted out all of the motions.

We read Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth altogether and did one more craft to go along with it.

Time for our indoor picnic lunch!

Ms. Tina made a yummy dessert for everyone.

Each child got a bag to put their crafts in and take home that said they went to the Picnic in the Park.  The bag also had some coloring pages and a box of crayons in it.

My crew had a wonderful time!  And if you missed out, they are planning on doing it again next summer.

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