Homeschool Crew Review: New York City ~ By The Way

We recently had the opportunity to read and review New York City~ By the Way one of the newest books in the By the Way Book Series.


The By the Way Book Series was written by Joy Budensiek. Each of the books are hardcover and have beautiful illustrations. The series follows the journies of Alex and Lexi as they travel to different locations and learn about the culture, history, and natural habitat of the place they are visiting. Through their explorations they learn about God and His creation.

There are currently 10 books in the series with more titles being added soon.

Florida's Treasure Cost ~Here We Come!

Smoky Mountains ~ Here We Come!

Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come!

Ohio ~ Here We Come!

Washington ~ Here We Come!

Colorado ~ By the Way

New York City~By the Way

Alaska~By the Way

Indiana~By the Way

Ireland~By the Way

 

 

In New York City~By the Way  Alex and Lexi join 5 friends and 2 adults on a youth group trip to New York City.  While they are there they see famous sites such as the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations Building, the Intrepid, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Chinatown, Trinity Church, Empire State Building, Staten Island Ferry, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and more.  Throughout their travels they are challenged to look for God's animals and nature.  The children do not believe they will see much nature in the city but they see many examples of God's creations including birds, squirrels butterflies, flowers, trees. ducks, fish, horses and more.  Throughout the book there are fact boxes with interesting facts about different sites and animals, and they talk a lot about all of the different zip codes that New York City has.  There are some great stories about different people such as Robert Fulton and Fanny Crosby and a focus of the diversity of people that God created and the different cultures that exist in the different areas of New York City.  There are Bible verses every few pages and reminders of Biblical truths such as "Remember, the world will never see lasting peace until Jesus the true 'Prince of Peace' sets up His kingdom."

I read this book aloud to my 7,9, 11, and 13 year olds.  Even though the book is only around 48 pages long, there is a lot of information packed into the book so we took almost two weeks to read through it.  I chose this book because we had read about New York City when we studied immigration in history but we had never covered it in much detail.  We learned a lot of interesting information that we did not know.  We had never thought much about the nature aspect of a big city and so we appreciated all of the information about the plants and animals being included.  When we read the section on the statue of Balto being in New York City, we decided to watch the movie Balto for our Friday night movie.  I love the beautiful photographs included in the book.  We love that the books in this series put an emphasis on God and His creation.

Member of The Crew reviewed several different books in the series.  I would love to take a look at the one on Ireland next!  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

 

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Review: The House at Saltwater Point by Colleen Coble

Book Description

"The dangerous beauty of Lavender Tides is harboring secrets that reach around the world.
Ellie Blackmore is making a name for herself as a house flipper. But when her sister Mackenzie disappears, Ellie can’t focus on anything but uncovering what happened. Her only clue is the bloodstain on the deck of Mackenzie’s boat. Ellie knows her sister isn’t on the best of terms with her ex-husband, Jason, but he wouldn’t kill her—would he?

Coast Guard intelligence officer Grayson Bradshaw believes Mackenzie faked her own death after stealing a seized cocaine shipment. The problem is convincing Ellie, who seems to view him as the true enemy.

Both Ellie and Grayson want truth, but truth—and family—is often more complex than it first appears. From international terrorism to the peaceful lavender fields of Puget Sound, The House at Saltwater Point is a thrilling race to uncover the truth before it’s too late."

The House at Saltwater Point is the 2nd book in the Lavender Tides series.  Although it could be read as a stand alone novel as in most series books you get a more complete picture of the story if you read them all.  The View From Rainshadow Bay is the first book in the series.

As with all of Ms. Coble's novels there is a lot of suspense in the story.  There are many mysteries to be solved.  The story is not overly gory or graphic but several people do die. There is also a budding romance going on in the story but not overly romantic or anything inappropriate.

Another element of this series is that many years ago three siblings were separated during an earthquake.  Shauna was the only one old enough to remember and for a time believed these siblings to be dead but that was not true.  In The House at Saltwater Point she finds her long lost brother and the location of her sister.  In the final book we will get to hear more of the story of the reunification of all three siblings.  I loved that Tidewater Inn was brought into The House at Saltwater Point briefly and it looks as though Rock Harbor will be involved with the next story.

I loved The House at Saltwater Point and look forward to the next book in the series!

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 the FTC regulations.

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Homeschool Crew Review: The Captain Sun Adventures

My boys enjoy comic books and stories about super heroes.  They were excited to have an opportunity to review Book 1, Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith from The Captain Sun Adventures.


Rescue Me! is a 38 page paperback comic book.  There are a total of 8 chapters with bright illustrations and comic dialogue boxes.  The story takes place in Capital City where a strange darkness starts taking over and the people are looking to Captain Sun to arrive and save the day.  Captain Sun battles Black-Out and he is captured, but the villain escapes and Captain Sun has to call in some super hero friends.

At the end of each chapter there is a page from the Capital City Chronicle which looks like a page from a newspaper. These pages discusses a devotional topic that relates back to the story and gives a Bible verse.  Devotional topics include: The Origin Story (God made us in His image and in Jesus wants to give us a new identity), The Greatest Rescue (Jesus died on the cross for our sins), The Bad Guys (we are all bad because of sin, Jesus' battle at the cross defeated sin), The 'Super-est' Power (the power to live like Jesus), The Good of Others (heroes help those in need), Your Secret Identity(we shouldn't do things to look good to those around us),  A Team of Heroes (God's team, the church), and Being a Real Hero ( a true hero lives for God's glory and the good of others.)

  Book 1, Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith is the first of the series.  There are two others at the time of this writing: Captain Sun and The Army of Fear and Captain Sun & The Scourge of the Shadow Dragon.  All three books are available as a paperback or as a digital download.

I read Rescue Me! aloud to my 7,9,11, and 13 year olds.  We all enjoyed the story and the lessons learned.  The comic book part by itself is a great super hero story of the battle of good and evil, light and darkness.  It is very family friendly and suitable for all ages.  There is of course a bad guy, but it is not  scary or violent.  The story is not very long making it easy for younger readers to enjoy it but will also appeal to older children.

The devotional lessons throughout the comic book takes this up a notch from a regular comic book.  There are some great Biblical lessons  for the children to read and apply to their own lives as they are going through this story.  "When no one else is looking are you living for God through the power of Jesus?"

We would definitely be interested in reading other Captain Sun Adventures.  To hear what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 5

 Our new rabbits, Oreo and Milkshake.

Week 5 in our Homeschool 

Bible: We finished Vol 4 of Answers For Kids and started Vol 5.

Read Aloud: For our morning read aloud we started and finished Who Was Mary Mother of Jesus? In the evenings we have been reading through the Felicity American Girl books.  We are are also still reading through the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place.  We are on book 4 The Interrupted Tale. 

History: We completed lessons 8 and 9 in America's Story Vol 3 on The Stock Market Crash and The Great Depression.

Science/History- We have been reading through New York City ~ By The Way which has a lot of historical, science, and nature facts and information.  One of the things we read about in the book was the statue of Balto that is in New York City, commemorating the dogs that got the medicine for the diptheria epidemic.  Friday night for our movie night we watched Balto (the girls had never seen it.)  We will be starting back up with Apologia Human Anatomy next week.

Spelling: The boys finished Step 20 in All About Spelling Level 5.

Language Arts: Christian and Anthony did the key word outline, rough draft, and final paragraph in IEW SWI A on Pillbugs.  Lily completed 4 lessons in Hake/Saxon Grammar and Emmie completed 4 lessons in Language Lesssons for a Living Education 2.  She also did some Reading Eggs.

Math: Christian, Lily, Emmie, and Anthony all completed 4 lessons in Math Lessons for a Living Education.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday night was Mom's Night Out.  I am so thankful for this every month! 

Tuesday the girls were back to gymnastics! 

We had about an hour and a half to kill after it was over before Christian's soccer practice so the girls roller bladed while Christian and I walked and then they played on the playground.  Lily did something to her knee and has been complaining about it off and on ever since.  Christian's practice ended a little after 8 and we were off to the house to get ready for bed.

Wednesday was our first day back to Kid's Club!  It was a great first week back.  We are continuing moving chronologically through the Bible and this week's lessons came from the book of Ezra and taught that God can see and change our hearts.  Nick is helping with craft again this year and Alex with recreation.  Anthony has outgrown Kid's Club and moved up to junior high youth.

Thursday Liam came to visit. Lily had piano.  Then Emmie had dance.  She is enjoying her new class and teacher and asked if she can learn tap too.  The tap class is right after ballet so she will be able to try it out this week.

Friday we had a STEM homeschool co-op at Grandview.  The topic was Macro-invertebrates.  They waded in and canoed in the pond looking for cool samples of things they could look at under the microscope.  They all really enjoyed it! 

Saturday Art and I had a big date!  We went out to eat, to Lowes, the co-op, and grocery shopping at Walmart.  It was nice to be out without the children.  I bought some extra groceries, hopefully enough besides milk and produce to last a little over two weeks.  I'm hoping staying out of the store will help save some grocery money!

I sold all of this year's 4 H chickens.  That still leaves us with 7 hens and 2 roosters.  I have so many eggs right now!  Lily was not happy to see them all go but I told her if we did not sell them she would not be able to get new chicks next year because we wouldn't have any place to put them. 

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Picta Dicta Natural World

We have been having fun increasing our Latin vocabulary with Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media.


Roman Roads Media publishes classical, Christian curriculum that is high quality, affordable, and flexible for Christian homeschoolers.  We have used several products that they sell and have been impressed with all of them.  When I saw Picta Dicta advertised on their Facebook page, I thought it looked like a great product and was excited when we were given an opportunity to review it.

Picta Dicta teaches elementary aged students over 400 English and Latin nouns in the Natural World.  Students see a picture of the word along with the written word, hear the word pronounced and repeat the pronunciation aloud, and read something about the topic they are learning about.  Picta Dicta can be used on PC, Mac, iOs, and Android. The program tracks the users progress and customizes quizzes and reviews.  Some of the topics include:

Basic Animals
Fruit, Berries, Nuts,
Anatomy
Land Forms and Terrain
Small Animals
Parts of Trees and Plants
Water
Birds
Growing Things
Sky and Weather
Animal Anatomy
Sea Life
Trees
Constellations
Exotic Animals
Flowers and Herbs
Vegetables and Legumes
Insects, Arachnids, and Worms
Sign and Habitat
Light and Fire
Metals and Stones
Ground Cover and Vegetation


There are different levels depending on age/ability.  Once you purchase a license for Picta Dicta,you have the ability to change the level you are working in if you need to.  Levels include:

Natural World Basic- Learn English and Latin names no reading or spelling required

Natural World English- teaches English to young children who cannot yet read

Natural World Reader I-For children already comfortable with reading English.  Students will recognize English and Latin words, read short descriptions on them, and spell English and Latin words.

Natural World Reader II- For children in upper elementary of junior high.  Students will read stories from history and literature related to the words they are learning in Latin.  They also recognize and spell words in Latin and English.

Natural World Express- For older students or adults who want to move through quickly with no English assignments or review.


We have been using Reader I and II in our home.  I have an account for Reader II and my 9 year old daughter has an account for Reader I. We have used it both on a PC and on my iPhone 7.  I liked having the option to play Picta Dicta on the go, even though the screen was a bit small.  On my iPhone it would cut off the bottom of some of the pictures, or put the last letter of the word underneath the word. But I still could figure out what I needed to choose.

Under each category in Reader I you have the following games:

Learn English
Article I
Learn Latin
Latin-Picture
Choose English
Spell English
Choose Latin
Spell Latin
Review 

In Reader II you have the following games:

Learn Latin II
Latin Picture II
Article II
English II
Spell Latin II
Review

The articles in Reader II are much longer and give a lot more information then the ones in Reader I.  If you are trying to decide between Reader I and Reader II, I would start with Reader I unless it is a child that is around junior high age.  You are asked questions about the articles. You can change your levels whenever you need to.

We have enjoyed using Picta Dicta and have learned a lot of Latin and even some information in English that we didn't already know.  Did you know that a female cat is called a Molly?  I think the format of seeing the picture, hearing the word, seeing the word, and reading about it really helps you learn and remember the word.  I cannot believe how many words we have already learned over a short period of time. The illustrations are very well done.  The spelling was the most challenging for me.  My iPhone kept auto correcting my Latin words when I was trying to spell them and then I would get them wrong, but if you just hit done as soon as you finish spelling without putting a space then it didn't auto correct.  I love all of the built in review.  If you get an answer wrong, you are shown the correct answer and then asked the question again later on.

I did see a few glitches as I was using the program.  It asked me what animal is raised for meat and eggs and I chose chicken and it said I was wrong.  Then it asked me again later and it was correct.

Picta Dicta Natural World is an excellent resource for students of all ages and abilities to increase their knowledge of Latin and English!

Members of The Crew reviewed Picta Dicta Natural World, Picta Dicta Vocabulary Builder, and Fitting Words.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Kingdom Files from Barbour Publishing

We love to read and were happy to have an opportunity to review Who Was Jonah? and Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus? from the Kingdom Files series written by Matt Koceich and published by Barbour Publishing.

Kingdom Files was written for children in the 8-12 year old age range, but can be used with children a little bit older or younger.  Each book in the series explores the life of a specific person from the Bible. These illustrated books are less then 100 pages each and contain:

Fact File: lists the name, occupation, timeline of the person's life, and more

Action File: key information about the character and the things that they did for God's kingdom

Power File: memory verses and ways to apply lessons learned from the character in your everyday life

Throughout each book you will also find Clue Boxes that help point out certain insights.

There are currently 6 books in the Kingdom Files series: Who Was Jonah? Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus? Who Was David? Who Was Esther? Who Was Daniel? and Who is Jesus?



Who Was Jonah? tells the story of Jonah, the prophet, who told God no and refused to go to Nineveh to share God's truth.  Jonah gets tossed overboard and spends 3 days in the belly of a big fish and afterwards was a changed man who wanted to do God's will.  Jonah goes to Nineveh and after hearing him preach the Ninevites believed God.  Even the king humbled himself before God.  Jonah became quite upset.  But this time Jonah didn't run, instead he talked to God.  God taught Jonah a lesson using a plant to show Jonah that people and their hearts matter and that God cares about all people.

The Power-Up file gives 10 memory verses for children to read or memorize and 10 Power-Up lessons including:

Obey God
Don't Be Afraid
God Cares
God Loves
God is Faithful
Live by Faith
Pray Hard
God is Grace
God Doesn't Abandon
God Provides



Who Was Mary Mother of Jesus? tells the story of the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus. Then it moves on to the visit of the Wise Men and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus' escape to Egypt.  The next chapter tells the story of Jesus and Mary going to look for him at the temple and then we learn about the first miracle Jesus performed when Mary asked him to.  In chapter 6 we read about Mary and and Jesus' brothers calling Jesus out of a house and then Mary at the cross when Jesus is crucified.  It also talks about the last time Mary is mentioned in the Bible, after Jesus rose from the grave.

There are 10 memory verses in the Power Up File and 10 Power-Up lessons including:

Let Your Life Glorify God
Rejoice that God is Your Savior
God Knows You
God Blesses You
God Does Great Things For You
God Gives You His Mercy
God is Mighty and Carries Your Burdens
God Lifts Up the Humble
God Meets All Your Needs
God is Helpful

I read Who Was Mary Mother of Jesus? and Who Was Jonah? aloud to my 7, 9, 11, and 13 year olds.  We read and discussed 1 chapter per day.  The chapters were short and easy to read through.  The information was presented in a way that was interesting for the children and I enjoyed it as well.  Both books stuck to what we know to be true from the Bible and did not take any "artistic license."  Some spots say something like we can imagine the look on Mary's face when the strangers came to her door, but it does not add or take away from what the Bible tells us.  The clue boxes spread through the story gives us deeper insight and things to think about when reading.  The black and white illustrations are a perfect compliment to the story.  The Power-Ups in the back of the book takes the lessons we learn from the Bible and helps children relate to and apply to their lives today.  We really enjoyed reading both of these books and would recommend them to others.

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

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 4

County Fair Week!!

We took the whole week off of school.  We did have a lot of learning and teaching opportunities during the week.


Monday 

In the morning we went to the fair grounds and set up our fair booth.  We also took rabbits in the morning.  Nick wanted to trim his rabbits toe nails and wanted our Ag agent to show him the best way to do it.

Later that evening when Art made it home from work, we loaded up goats and chickens to take them up to the fair.  The trailer still needs some sanding and painting but we were able to use it.

Tuesday morning we entered all of the exhibits.  We fed and watered animals and exercised goats.  We went home for a little while in the afternoon and that evening I headed back with Christian to feed and water.  We watched some of the sheep show and then I took Christian to soccer practice.

Wednesday was our longest day at the fair.  We had to be there by nine to feed and water and for Christian to fix one of his LEGO exhibits before the judging.  I left all of the children except for Anthony at the fair with Chelsea to take care of the animal chores while Anthony and I went to the 4 H office to help pack goodie bags for the 400 + teachers and students that were coming through the fair on Thursday and Friday.  We went back and picked them up and went to the pizza place for lunch.

Then headed back to wash goats for the show.  Also the rabbit and chicken judging was going on.  Nick and one of his friends helped the judge by putting rabbits in and out of the cages and I helped by putting all of the ribbons on the cages.  We learned a lot from the judge.  He taught the children what kinds of things they look for in rabbits at a show.  We also learned that one of our Netherland Dwarves is not a Netherland Dwarf :(  (don't trust animal people unless its someone you know or recommended by someone you know)

Nick won 1st and 1st with his Dwarves.  And 4th with his mini lop.

Lily and Anthony won 1st on their chickens and Emmie won 2nd on hers.

The judging on the booths and the exhibits were also finished.  I did not get photos of everything.

The booth won 1st.

Nick entered a robot 1st, a cross 1st , some beads 2nd, a puzzle 1st, and a LEGO set 1st.

Alex entered a bat house 1st, deer string art 1st, a LEGO set 1st,another LEGO set 1st, and  a candle 1st.

Anthony entered a LEGO set 1st, a robot 1st, a wooden toy 1st, a wooden motorcycle 1st, and color changing crystal 2nd.

Christian entered a bat house 1st, LEGO police station 1st, custom made LEGO camper 1st, cardboard car 3rd, 3 photographs 1st, 1st, 2nd, and some chocolate chip brownies 1st.

Lily entered her rag quilt 2nd, pillowcase 2nd, Starry Night painting 1st, candle 2nd, cross 1st, and crinkle cookies 1st.

Emmie entered a potholder 2nd, Starry Night painting 1st, Water Lily painting 2nd, candle 2nd, cross 1st, and 2 photographs 1st and 2nd.

All of the children entered one jar of jam and one jar of jelly.  Most of those got 1st and a few got 2nd.

That night was the goat show.  We had all 4 goats at the fair.  The boys showed in showmanship and then each goat showed in commercial and market in their weight classes.  Christian won 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd.  Alex won 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd.

We got finished a little after 8. Emmie said Mom can we go for ice cream?  We hadn't even had supper yet!  So we got some milkshakes and chicken strip sandwiches from Sonic.

Thursday we had to be back up there by 8.  We had to feed and water and get set up for the first day of school groups.  We taught chickens and rabbits.  There was around 200 children.  We made it home for about an hour before I had to head out with Emmie for ballet.  She enjoyed it.  I cancelled piano because Lily had not been home to practice at all.  Christian had soccer that night so Art and Christian went back up to feed and water.

Friday morning we were back for the other half of the school groups.  After lunch some of the children participated in the Livestock Skillathon.  We made it home late afternoon and Nick and Alex went back to feed and water.

Emmie made a new friend they spent most of the week together

Saturday morning was the Livestock Auction.  Where we live, you don't actually sell the animal (a lot of places do.)  What they do is "auction" the animal and local businesses bid on them.  The child still keeps the animal but the money donated helps them in their projects.  Livestock projects are not cheap and every bit of money helps!

Our animals were released at 4 and we got them home and settled back in (we came home with a new male and female mini rex rabbit.)

Sunday after church we headed back to take down the booth and pick up our entries and just like that the County Fair was over!

Back to school next week!

I hope you had a good week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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