There Sure Are Better Ways to Spend a Saturday Afternoon.....

Actually I planned on doing some heavy cleaning and also writing a couple of reviews today.  But, as I started to pull the lunch stuff out of the fridge, I looked out the kitchen window and saw Nick helping Anthony hop down the hill towards the house.  Not a good sign.  I opened the door and asked what happened and Nick said he didn't see what happened but Anthony was bleeding and crying.  I put him in a chair and found the source of the blood on the bottom of Anthony's 2nd toe on his right foot.  After cleaning the blood as best I could I found a very, very deep and ugly cut.  It seems as though he was riding his bike with no shoes (not unusual for one of my boys to be barefoot) and ran into the metal pole of our basketball net and sliced his toe open.  We still aren't entirely sure how he did it.  Art and I cleaned the cut and decided yep he needed stitches.

Chelsea quick made a PB and J for him and we loaded him up for the hour drive to the nearest urgent care facility.  We waited an hour in the waiting room (they were pretty busy!) and then went back to a room.  The nurse and doctor we had were awesome and very good with Anthony.  It has been so long since he had even been to a doctor (2 years!) that I didn't even know what he weighed so he did have to hop on the scale.  I guessed 60 pounds and he was 58.  He had a slight temp and was pretty pale.  We took the iPad with us and turned on Madagascar 3.  He watched the movie while they worked on him.  He did really well for his Tetanus shot, but when they numbed him we had to hold him down.  He still could feel them cleaning it, so they numbed him again.  He only cried for the Novacaine.  After that he just watched the movie.  Every once in awhile he would try to look and see what they were doing but we kept bringing his attention back to the iPad.  He got 8 stitches in his toe!  We were in the room for about an hour.  They did give him an antibiotic because of where the wound is.  He was such a brave boy and went out of the office smiling because he was on his way to get an M and M McFlurry.

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Homeschool Art Class 11/2/2012

Last week we finished up Egypt and today moved onto Rome.  They learned about the Colosseum, gladiators, and chariots.  The children drew a design for their shields they will be making next week.  Then they did some pencil drawings of gladiators, weapons, and the Colosseum.  They painted watercolors using the same theme.  For their last project the children constructed chariots using paper, tape, and markers.  Some of the children made horses to pull their paper chariots.  They are really looking forward to making shields and weapons next week.

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Pens or Pencils?

I talked about this a few weeks ago on my Facebook page and kept meaning to post something about it here for those who are not on Facebook, and this is the first chance I have had.  What do your children write with, pens or pencils?  Up until recently, mine all wrote with pencils.  This is something I had never really given a lot of thought to before.  When I went to school, you wrote in pencil, until you were in the upper middle or high school.  I just thought that was what children were supposed to write with.  I thought pencils were easier and of course they have to be able to erase their mistakes, right?

When I was getting everything ready to start PAL from IEW (review coming next week!) one of the suggestions was to let your children write with pens.  I was very surprised because why should a 5 year old write in pen?  But, after listening to why they suggest this I decided to go ahead and give it a try.  Then I went back and read the article by Andrew Pudewa talking about why we should let our children write in pen.  I was amazed by what he had to say!  In his article he talks about how much time is wasted by erasing when with ink all you have to do is cross your mistake out and move on.  He also talks about  the inconsistencies of pencil  and children constantly sharpening to get the perfect point and gripping the pencil too hard and making their hand hurt.  Writing  is one of the biggest struggles I have had with my oldest son.  It takes him forever to write because he is constantly sharpening and taking a long time to write and erase.  He also complains all the time about writing hurting his hand and making it tired. 

I am absolutely convinced now that it is much better to let children write in pen and get rid of the pencils.  I have been teaching Christian to write using pens and it is going great.  My next two older children do not do a whole lot of writing right now, but when they do I am letting them use pen.  My oldest son does not adapt to change well and even though I know it will be much better for him, I haven't been able to convince him to give up the pencils.  Baby steps.  A little at a time.

To read the article, Convert to Pens, click here.

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Schoolhouse Review Crew: Beloved Books

It is amazing to me when God shows us He cares about all of our needs no matter how big or small.  When we were chosen to review the Sugar Creek Gang volume one audio series from Beloved Books, I can honestly say it was an answer to prayer and God meeting the need of an eight year old boy that may seem small to some, but was huge to him.




The Sugar Creek Gang is a series of 36 books that were written in 1939 by Paul Hutchens.  Paul Hutchens first career was an evangelist.  He traveled around the country leading people to Christ.  In 1925 he was ordained as a Baptist minister but was sidelined from the ministry when he contracted tuberculosis.  While recovering Paul decided to try his hand at writing and that's how the Sugar Creek Gang stories came about.  They are adventure stories written for both boys and girls to enjoy.  They are so much more than adventure stories.  They are wholesome, family friendly Christian stories with the Gospel message central to the stories.  Though the stories are full of fun, mystery, and adventure, they really present the Gospel to children in an easy to understand (and then model) way.

Several years ago, Paul Ramseyer dramatized the series for radio.  These recordings are dramatically read straight from the books.  The entire 36 book collection is now on 72 CD's (2 Cd's for each book)  and includes over 100 hours of story time.

Vol 1

The Swamp Robber
The Killer Bear
The Winter Rescue
The Lost Campers
Chicago Adventure
The Secret Hideout

Vol 2

The Mystery Cave
The Palm Tree Manhunt
One Stormy Day
The Mystery Thief
Teacher Trouble
Screams in the Night

Vol 3

The Indian Cemetary
The Treasure Hunt
Thousand Dollar Fish
The Haunted House
Lost in the Blizzard
On the Mexican Border

Vol 4

The Green Tent Mystery
The Bull Fighter
The Trapline Thief
The Blue Cow
The Watermelon Mystery
The Tree House Mystery

Vol 5

The Timber Wolf
Western Adventure
The Killer Cat
Locked in the Attic
The Colorado Kidnapping
The Runaway Rescue

Vol 6

Cemetery Vandals
Battle of the Bees
Case of the Missing Calf
The Ghost Dog
White Boat Rescue
Brown Box Mystery

You can listen to the entire first story, The Swamp Robber free by clicking here.

You can purchase each volume for $54.95 or the entire set for $279.70 (a savings of $50)  with free media mail shipping.  Click here to order.

Special Discount for my readers!!
 Use coupon code  Happy-Homeschool-20 to receive 20% off your entire purchase!!


I heard about the Sugar Creek Gang books a few months ago when I was searching for book recommendations for my boys.  My oldest son loved them and read all the ones he could get his hands on.  He would sit and talk them all the time and how he couldn't wait to read the next ones in the series.  My 8 year old is dyslexic and reading is a huge struggle for him.  He listened to his older brother talk and talk about the Sugar Creek Gang and he felt so left out because he couldn't read them.  He didn't want me to read them to him either.  He asked me one day if they made Sugar Creek Gang in an audiobook (he listens to a lot of audiobooks), and I told him I would look into it and see if I could find any.  Shortly after that, Beloved Books appeared on our upcoming vendor list.  I had never heard of the company before so I clicked on the website to see what their product was.  I couldn't believe it when I saw that they carried the complete set of Sugar Creek Gang audiobooks!!  I hoped and prayed that we would be chosen to receive a set for review and soon found out that we were getting the entire first volume!!

I didn't tell Alex what was coming.  When I saw the package in the mail I saved it for him to open.  I wished I had taken a picture of the look on his face when he saw what was in the package.  His smile lit up the whole house and it was all I could do not to burst out crying!  Even though he could not read them on his own, the audiobooks have allowed him to enjoy these wonderful, uplifting stories.

Alex colors or draws while listening to the Sugar Creek Gang

Alex isn't the only one who has enjoyed these wonderful audiobooks.  We spend a lot of time driving and have been listening to them on the road.  Although the targeted age range is from about 6-12 years old, the whole family from the youngest to the oldest delights in listening to the adventures of Bill, Poetry, Circus, Dragonfly, Big Jim, and Little Jim.  Even though the main characters are all boys and the adventures are a bit "boyish" they can be enjoyed by girls too.  We love the narrators voices and the dramatic sound effects in the story.  In fact, the children told me that the aubiobooks sound way better than anything I have read out loud.  But the best part about the Sugar Creek Gang is that it does present the message of the gospel in a way that is easy for children to learn and understand.  These are the stories and characters that you want to have your boys look up to and learn from.

To see what other crew mates had to say click here.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy pf Vol 1 of the Sugar Creek Gang for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation. 

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Homeschool Art Class 10/26/2012

After Friday's At Class, the children and I had to go out of town.  I still wanted to post some pictures even though it is a little late.

We finished up Egypt this week.  Next week with will be moving on to Rome.  This week the children did some more drawing exercises with things related to Egypt.  They were given a series of directions they had to follow (ex. draw a pyramid above the Nile River.)  Then they were shown some Egyptian illustrations and got to choose one to duplicate.  They also drew mummies in pencil, then outlined them in marker, colored, cut ,and glued them to another paper.  Their favorite project was to make a sundial.  They painted a circular piece of paper yellow and put a stamp at 12,3,6. and 9 o clock and put a string on it.  They thought that was so cool!  Anthony went running outside to try to tell the time, but it was raining and the sun was not out.

The little girls drew with pencils and crayons.  Lily did decide she wanted to paint and joined the older children to make the sundial.

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October Cloverbud Meeting

For our October meeting, I decided to have a meeting on pumpkins.  I needed something fun for fall that could be finished including feeding the children a snack in about an hour.  I bought bags of mini pumpkins from Walmart for $2.50 a piece (5 in each bag.)  I also bought a pack of Crayola washable paint for $4.97.  Our club does not have very much monye, so to offset the cost of supplies I am having each child contribute $1 for supplies every meeting we have. 

We started out the meeting with pledges, announcements, and information about our next meeting.  Then a read a book to the children about pumpkins showing pumpkin growth from the seed to the finished product.  I used my iPad to read the story because I had found a free ebook on pumpkins from Amazon that I downloaded to my Kindle app.  Then we painted pumpkins!  I had two for each child.  One to take home and one to donate to the nursing home.  The meeting including snack lasted right at an hour.

We were supposed to be playing soccer last night after the meeting.  It would've been the last game for Nick and Christian (Alex's team has another week.)  I made cupcakes for the team we are coaching as a special treat.  But, a little after 4 it started to pour down rain and there was a flash of lightening or two.  Games cancelled.  It is very hard to try to be conducting a 4 H meeting when you keep getting phone calls and text messages about soccer that I had to return so everyone would know we were cancelled.  That made things a little more chaotic than usual.  I was very thankful for some helpful parents!!  The 17 painting children did a great job on their pumpkins and the nursing home will be able to enjoy the ones we donated.

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Schoolhouse Review Crew: Samson's Classroom

Samson's Classroom is an online series that helps students in grades K-5 become better readers.  The program focuses on 3 areas: spelling, sight words, and reading comprehension.  For the last several weeks I have had an opportunity to use and review Samson's Classroom with my eight year old son Alex.





Let's talk about the 3 different areas in Samson's Classroom (Samson by the way is the cute dog in the graphics.)


 

Sight Words With Samson helps students master the 224 most common words used in the English language.  Sight Words With Samson is divided into four levels.  Each level has 7 lists with 8 words in each list.  They go through 5 steps with every list.  Step one is to learn the words.  The words are spoken, shown, spelled and said in a sentence.  In the second step the student builds the words that is spoken and spelled by clicking on the letters that are shown.  In the 3rd step the student clicks on the word as it is read in a complete sentence.  In step 4 they spell the words that is spoken by clicking on the letters in the alphabet.  Step 5 (pictured above) a sentence is read and the child fills in the missing word.  As each step is completed feedback is received and an online trophy is earned.  Children have to master each of the 5 steps to earn a star for that list and move on to the next list.  As  they complete each level they earn a different color belt.




   

Reading With Samson is reading comprehension.  It is split into 4 levels with 15-25 passages in each level.  The student reads a passage and then answers questions about that passage.  They earn hammer swings for getting correct answers and hammer points on their swings.

 




 

Spelling With Samson- over 5000 spelling words in prepared lists, or you can choose to input your own words.  There are 4 areas to Spelling With Samson: Study Zone- master the words on your list, Missing Letters- help Samson his way through the missing letters, Spelling Scramble- watch out for Terrance the Tarantula as you collect letters and turn them into words, and Crunch Time- watch out for Wally the Walrus as you try to keep Samson warm and dry by spelling all the words correctly.

You can try a demo of Samson's Classroom by clicking here.

The cost of Samson's Classroom for one user is $30 per year or for a family of up to 4 is $50 per year.  To see all the pricing options click here. 

The main reason I was so excited about the opportunity to review Samson's Classroom was because of the reading comprehension section.  For the first time this year, my son will have to take a standardized test and I thought this would be a great way to practice.  Now as 8 year old boys sometimes do when they think they are getting more "work" he grumbled a little bit when I told him about the new website.  But, once we started using it, he actually asked to do it!  Alex is a struggling reader and so I have been doing the reading comprehension section with him by reading it out loud and him answering the questions.  We also are working on building his vocabulary with the sight words and spelling sections.  Earning the trophies and the different color belts have been a great motivator for him even though he grumbles a bit when he has to go back and redo the step when he makes a mistake.

He was so excited about using the website, that he got very disappointed when our laptop wasn't working.  I didn't want to dim his enthusiasm so we loaded Samson's Classroom on the iPad using an app called iSwifter.  Samson's Classroom worked great on the iPad too!

There is immediate feedback for the child and a lot of encouragement.  The words and sentences are spoken clearly and are easily understood.  The program is simple to log in to and to use.  There are not a lot of bells and whistles (that is a positive thing!) but simple graphics and fun activities.  Earning hammer time swings and points didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because the points don't really get you anything but possibly your name on a leader board, but Alex thinks it is great fun and will do an extra assignment just to earn more hammer swings.  Parents can easily see exactly how their child is doing through their dashboard.  There are also many printable flash cards and work sheets that can be printed out for extra practice or reinforcement.  Samson's Classroom has definitely been a great addition to our homeschool.

To see what other crew mates had to say click here.

Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary subscription to Samson's Classroom for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation.

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