4 H County O'Rama

Every year in the spring 4 H has several county contests.  Usually we have B Day which stands for Bicycles, Bait Casting, and BB Shooting on one day, and Talks, Talent, and Fashion Review on another day.  This year they decided to do all the events in one day.

Monday afternoon we started with B Day.  For Bait Casting there is two parts: a written test, and actual bait casting 3 standing, 3 sitting.  Cloverbuds ID 5 fish, juniors do 5 fish and 5 body parts and seniors do 10 fish and the body parts. Nick and Alex led the Bait Casting and I scored the tests. Alex, Christian, Lily, and Emmie competed in Bait Casting.  The girls both got 2nd place, and Alex and Christian both got first.

For BB Shooting there is also a written test and then they shoot at a target.  Nick, Alex, Christian, Emmie and Lily all competed in BB shooting.  Nick and Christian got first place, Alex and Emmie 2nd and Lily participation.

For the Bicycle contest they have to ride through a course.  Every time they put a foot down or knock over a cone they loose points.  Anthony, Christian, Emmie, Lily, and Alex competed.  Anthony and Alex got first, Christian and Lily second, and Emmie 3rd.

Then we had a 30 minute break and we ate strawberries and a sandwich at the park.  Next we headed over to the EH House for Talks, Talent, and Fashion Review.  Lily was the only one who competed.  She played Oh How I Love Jesus on the piano and won 1st.  Talks, Talent, and Fashion Review lasted 2.5 hours so we were very tired by the time we got home!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Princess Cut from Watchman Pictures

Recently I had an opportunity to watch and review the movie Princess Cut from Watchman Pictures.



In the movie Princess Cut, Grace, a young lady in her early 20's dreams about finding a man who will love her forever and slip a Princess Cut diamond on her finger.  When her boyfriend of 15 months tells her he has something special in mind, Grace believes he is going to propose, but it doesn't go the way she plans.  Her next boyfriend does not have the same values as Grace does.  Grace, after listening to her father's council, decides to try and figure out what it really means to love a person and what kind of relationship she truly needs in her life.

Princess Cut is a Christian Film that was Dove Approved for ages 12 and up.  It is a wholesome movie that runs around 1 hour and 30 minutes long.  There is a scene where Grace and her boyfriend go into his apartment and later she tells her mother that he pressured her into kissing him.  There is a scene where Grace's friend talks her into seeing a counselor and she tells Grace that what she needs is a "starter marriage."  In one scene Grace gets into an argument with her brother and her brother has an accident right after, but the accident isn't shown on the screen and there were no major injuries. There is another scene where Grace's ex-boyfriend physically attacks her current boyfriend.  It is intense but not incredibly violent.  There is no bad language or any other content that would cause parents to hesitate in letting their pre-teen/teenage children watch the movie.

My girls are only 6 and 8 and the title was too girly for my teenage boys to be interested in watching so my husband and I watched Princess Cut for our date night movie.  I thought the overall theme of the movie was very good and important for our young people as they are getting older and getting ready to date.  We want our girls to know that they don't have to chase after love but instead wait for the right relationship. The movie showed obvious differences between the boyfriends that did not share Grace's values and the man who did and how these things affected her life and even her relationship with her family.  I loved how the family closeness was portrayed and that Grace trusted her parents (mostly her father) advice and help. I love happily ever after type movies and Princess Cut fit the bill for that.

One thing that I wished was different was that while the movie focused on Grace's unhealthy relationships with men, it did not even touch on the unhealthiness of her relationship with her best friend who obviously did not share the same Christian values as Grace and her family.  It did not touch on Grace sharing her faith with Tessa either.  At times the plot seemed to move pretty slow and took some strange twists and also in several of the scenes in the movie some of the acting seemed very forced and not very natural.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Music Appreciation I

Memoria Press is one of my favorite companies to review for.  When I saw them on our vendor list and went to research the products they were offering, it was very hard to decide which product would be my first choice, they all looked so good!  Since my daughter Lily started taking piano lessons this year I thought she would enjoy reviewing Memoria Press's brand new Music Appreciation I. 


Memoria Press is a family run company that publishes Classical Christian materials in a variety of subjects for homeschools and private schools.  Memoria Press curriculum is easy to teach and requires no previous knowledge of the subject being taught, but have high Academic Standards.  We have used several different products from Memoria Press and have been very impressed with all of them.

Music Appreciation I was designed to be used with children grades 3-5, but it could also be used with older students as well.  In this course students will learn musical concepts such as rhythm, form, pitch, and more while listening to famous pieces of Western classical music.  They will also learn facts about the composers, and the history of music as the course goes mostly chronologically through time.  This course will give students a greater understanding and appreciation of classical music.

Music Appreciation I ($23.90) includes a 137 page paper book that contains the readings for all of the 26 lessons.  It also has the review tests with the answer keys and the music for the examples on the CD so you can follow along or musicians can play along  The course also includes 2 companion audio CDs that students listen to throughout the lessons to be able to hear the concepts that are being discussed. On the Memoria Press website, there is a link to all of the songs you will need to listen to on either YouTube or Spotify.

Each of the lessons follow a similar format.  The first step is to listen to the piece of music via the Youtube or Spotify link.  There is a chart  that tells where to stop and start.  Next you read the section in the book titled A Little History which gives information about things such as the composer, music at the time period, instruments etc..The third part is called Musical Concept.  There the musical concepts are defined and you listen to examples of the concept on the accompanying CD.  The next section is titled About the Piece and gives information on the piece being studied and you listen to a short portion of the piece on the CD.  Some of the chapters have another section titled Music History and then there is a summary of Facts to Remember about the chapter.  The last step is to listen to the music again.

After every 4 chapters there is a Review Test that contains fill in the blank, matching, multiple choice, and answering questions.  Students also listen and identify portions of the pieces they have studied.

I have been using Music Appreciation I with my 3rd grade daughter.  My 5th and 6th graders have been listening in as well.  Some people may find it easier to break up the lesson over the course of  a week, but for us it has been easier to complete an entire lesson in one day.  I have been reading aloud the sections from the book, but it can easily be used independently by 3rd grade and up as long as the younger students are strong readers.

We have been using this course for around 6 weeks and have already learned many things that we didn't know such as the piano was first called the arpicembalo, and then pianoforte (soft/loud) before it was shortened to piano.  I think the course does a great job presenting the information without making it seem overwhelming.  We have enjoyed listening to the music and learning about the concepts of form, melody, solo, tutti, and more.  We like reading and learning about the composers backgrounds. There have been several instances when after completing a lesson we have heard the music being played and Lily has recognized it.  Last week after we finished the chapter on Beethoven and Fur Elise, Fur Elise was on the play list for Lily's ballet class and she recognized it right away.

The only thing that has been challenging for us is that the track numbers in the book for the CD do not match up with what shows up on our TV when we play the music through the Playstation.  The tracks in the book are labeled 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc.. but when they show up for us on the CD it is just 1,2,3, so they do not match what is listed in the book.  I had to renumber the tracks in the book so we would remember what to play for each lesson.

Members of The Crew reviewed a variety of products from Memoria Press including their brand new Traditional Spelling I and II, and Prima Latina, Latin Christiana, First, Second, Third, and 4th Form Latin + Henle I  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 28

It was very cold outside at 3:30 this morning.  32 degrees!  Why was I outside at 3:30 on a Sunday morning?  Well, our baby chicks came Thursday so I went out to make sure their heat lamp was still working properly and that they were warm enough.  It was and they were so I hurried back inside where it was warm!

This week something very exciting for me happened.  Nick started driving himself!  He drove the truck Monday and Tuesday while he dad drove the car to make sure everything was functioning properly and then he started driving the car on Wednesday.  Monday when I told the children we did not have to have all our work finished by lunchtime they cheered.  It will make life a bit easier to not have to leave to drive him to school.  And he even volunteered to run to the store for me the other day to buy milk when we were out.  It is handy having another driver in the house again.

Week 28 in Our Homeschool

Bible: We are on Vol 1 of the Answers Books for Kids, part of the Elementary Apologetics Curriculum from MasterBooks. This week we completed 4 lessons on topics such as: Why did God make a week 7 days long?Why was the first person created a boy?Why did God let Adam name the animals? Did Adam give the animals the same names we call them today?

Read Aloud: We read 4 chapters of Brady (we only have two left to finish the book), and 3 chapters of YWAM's Abraham Lincoln.  One of the things we read about was Abe's mother, aunt, and uncle dying of "milk sickness."  We had never heard of this so we googled it to see what it was.  Technology comes in very handy when it comes to things you may want to learn more about.  In case you are curious it was a sickness that was caused when a cow ate a poisonous plant called white snakeroot.  It killed the cow and those who dank the tainted milk.

Geography: This week we learned about the Philippines.

History: In America's Story Vol 2 we read lesson 4 on Important People of the Civil War.

Music Appreciation: In Music Appreciation 1 we completed lesson 6 on Beethoven's Fur Elise.  Every time I hear that song it reminds me of the McDonald's commercial from when I was a child of the little girl at the piano recital.  Anyone remember that?  I looked it up on Youtube and showed it to the children.

Science: We continued on in our study of Chapter 2 of Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology  by finishing reading the chapter and doing the notebooking exercises.  We have one experiment left to finish the chapter.

Math: Christian and Anthony completed 4 days of A + Interactive Math (2 lessons per day.)  Emmie wanted to try it out too so she did 3 lessons and also did a lesson in MLFLE.  Lily completed several lessons in MLFLE.  She is learning division and has figured out that LEGO pieces make good math manipulatives.

Spelling/Reading: Anthony and Christian finished Step 12 of AAS Level 5.  Emmie completed lessons 44 and 45 in AAR Level 1 and Lily completed lessons 32 and 33 in AAR Level 4.

Language Arts: In Basic Language Skills, I reread two pages of the story to Emmie and she read one sentence to me.  We did a picture study.  She worked on a page of lowercase letters, and made dictionary pages from her word list by writing the word and drawing a picture.  The pages were included in the curriculum and I really like that idea. Lily is still working on daily grammar for Language Arts but I have a new review starting next week for Homeschool Navigator, a language arts curriculum and she will be the guinea pig for that.  The boys are still working through the lessons on Because of Winn Dixie in Readers in Residence.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday Once a month I get to go out to eat with some homeschool friends.  This is something that I am so thankful for.  It is nice to sit down with people who understand and share ideas and frustrations along with all of the good things too!

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics.

Wednesday at Kid's Club our lesson was on First Kings 18:1-40 and the theme was God is real.

Thursday Lily had piano.  Both girls had ballet, and our baby chicks arrived (Nick picked them up for me.)  There is nothing cuter then baby chicks!  They don't stay that way long though....Last year we were wearing shorts the day we got our chicks.  This year it has been freezing cold!  But it's supposed to be 80 on Thursday.

Friday we ran errands and then were indoors the rest of the day because it poured down rain all day long.  It was Art's last day at his job.  He starts his new job Monday morning.

I have been shopping for next year's curriculum.  It is not easy to do with just catalogs and a computer.  It would be nice if there was a convention that was close enough to go to so I could look at things in person, but the closest is several hours away.  So I am thankful for online samples and the catalogs that come in the mail.

This is Carl.  Alex found him in the shop.  Everything that wanders into my yard becomes a pet.....

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 27

Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!!

Chelsea had to work this morning, but I went and picked up Liam and brought him to church with us.

Our egg hunt had to be in the Fellowship Hall because it poured down rain this morning.  Not quite as much fun, but it went well.  Liam was excited about the eggs.

He was so well behaved in church.

Today is also Christian's birthday!  So he got candy, presents, and cake!

After a week off last week, we were ready to dive back into our schoolwork.

Week 27 in our Homeschool

Bible: We started the Elementary Apologetics Curriculum from MasterBooks. The Teacher Guide with the corresponding worksheets is on back order, but when I emailed the company they sent me the first few weeks digitally so we will be able to start on those next week.

Read Aloud: We read 4 chapters of Brady.  We also read 3 chapters of YWAM Heroes of History Abraham Lincoln: A New Birth of Freedom.

Geography: This week we learned about Cambodia.

History: In America's Story Vol 2 we read lesson 3 the Story of Abraham Lincoln Part 2.

Music Appreciation: We completed Lesson 5 of Music Appreciation 1 on Mozart.

Science: We started lesson 2 of Apologia Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology on bones.  We did some fun experiments one adding toothpick "bones" to a clay figure to make him stand up, another using eggs to show how our skull and the fluid protects our brain, and another showing that the measurement from our fingertips to fingertips is about how tall we are.

 The tape measure in our kit was only 5 feet long so we had to get out a different one for Alex.

Math: So I had an opportunity to review the Family Package from A + Interactive Math.  Normally I try to avoid reviewing Math curriculum because jumping from curriculum to curriculum can be really confusing.  But, I need something new for Anthony next year since he is on the last book of MLFLE and the next recommended book from MasterBooks will not be a good fit for him, and I'm looking for something different for Christian too.  So they started A+ math this week to che3ck it out and see if it is something we would like to use next year.  The girls continued on with MLFLE.

Spelling/Reading: The boys finished Steps 10 and 11 of AAS Level 5.  Emmie completed lessons42 and 43 in AAR Level 1 and Lily completed lessons 30 and 31 in AAR Level 4.

Language Arts: Emmie started Basic Language Skills from MasterBooks.  We read the first story and she practiced writing her alphabet.  Lily did 4 lessons in daily grammar and the boys did 4 lessons in Readers in Residence on Winn Dixie.  I bought the movie to watch after they finish the book.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday we had a STEM 4 H meeting.  The boys did a presentation on their R2D2 robot.

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics.

Wednesday was a Kid's Club day.  Our lesson was about Solomon and his wisdom.

Thursday both ballet and piano was cancelled.

Friday Lily had a make up piano lesson and we did our errands.  Friday night pizza and a movie with Star Wars the Last Jedi.

Saturday we made an Easter Dessert and colored some Easter eggs.  We tried something new with color swirls in cool whip when the foam in the kit I bought flopped.  It didn't turn out great but they had fun doing it.  We almost went to go pick up some new bunnies, but that fell through.  Hoping we will have some by the end of May. 

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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