The Seasons are a changin' or what I'm going to be for halloween

With the change in the weather....yes we have had some cooler temperatures here in NJ today.....even though we still have a few weeks of summer yet our thoughts have turned to all things fall. The other day the boys were talking about Halloween and mentioned several times they were going to be Star Wars characters. I was not surprised because it has been all things Star Wars since Justin's birthday. I live with two young Jedi knights after all!

Well the other night Justin suddenly says he has changed his mind about being a Star Wars character. Would you like to take a guess as to what he wants to be?

Are you ready?

An ICE CUBE!!!

I don't know where he comes up with this stuff! I was cracking up!

Kaden's response? I can be a glass of water and Justin can sit on top of me! I love these boys! I laugh every day!

Hank the Cowdog~Review

I was really excited to find out I would be reviewing Hank the Cowdog for the TOS Homeschool Crew. I have heard good things about the Hank books for sometime now. They have been on my reading list to check out this year, so this was perfect timing! We received three items to review.

The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse Book #8

Hank the Cowdog lives on a ranch in Texas. Hank has appointed himself "head of ranch security" and he along with his deputy Drover, another dog on the ranch who is Hank's best friend and sidekick are on a mission to protect the ranch.

The story is told from Hank's perspective. My boys loved the fact that a dog was telling the story. After all what could be more exciting than a talking dog?

Misfortune seems to find Hank starting with Sally Mae (the human as Hank refers to her) tripping and breaking her ankle and Pete the Barn cat getting all the leftover food scraps. Eventually Hank even ends up wearing a dress (....shhh Hank really doesn't mind wearing the dress!)

Hank and Drover encounter the mean killer stud horse Tuerto and ends up being in a very dangerous situation while protecting two little girls from Tuerto. Well Drover was with Hank until Drover's leg conveniently started to hurt him!

The story is laugh out loud funny! Hank is a bit rough around the edges, he is a cowdog after all!

Hank the Cowdog is written by award winning author John Erickson and published by Maverick Books. There are 54 books in the series and all the books are also available as audio books on cassette(up to story #49) or CD.

Tornado

Next up we played Tornado. This was a fun game! It is unique in that the board is self contained.

It made of sturdy plastic and is also the storage case for all of the game pieces. It folds closed for storage and none of the pieces can fall out which makes it great for traveling. It also is very compact when closed. Each player gets three game pieces, a Hank, a Drover and a buzzard. Instead of a popper in the middle with a die in it there is a spinner shaped like a tornado. Each person must get all of their pieces back to their home base and up to the finish line. It was alot of fun to play and both my four year old and eight year old could play it together and follow the directions easily. The game is for 2-4 players and recommended age is 5+.

The game also came with a 30 minute cassette The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado. Sadly

we were unable to listen to it as we no longer own a cassette player.

Our final product was Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog. It has story excerpts from 10 books plus 9 songs. We loved this! The stories and songs are hilarious! Our favorite song (so far!) is A Pox, A Pox on Emily Post!

Prices for all of the above items and more can be found at the official Hank the Cowdog website found here.

Justin and Kaden have been asking for more Hank and I know we will spend more time this year following along on his many adventures.

note: I felt that I should mention that some families may be sensitive to some of the language used in the books. In the book we reviewed there were words like stupid, numb skull, moron and shut up. For our family this was not a problem and we do discuss how and why these words were used in the story. I want to give an honest review to equip you to make a decision that is best for your family.

Each of us is different and what may be good for one family may not be suitable for another.

For more reviews on Hank be sure to stop by the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

The Blind Side - [HD] Trailer

I want to see this movie!!!

Reading Rainbow's Final Story

I am so sad. Reading Rainbow aired it's final show today. We love this show! We will sure miss it! I'm hoping more episodes will end up on Netflix!

Web Design for Kids (....and curious grown-ups)~Review

Have you ever wanted to learn HTML coding but were too intimidated by the overwhelming amount of knowledge that seems to be required to learn it? Have you or your children ever wanted to build your own web page but just did not know where to start? Well look no further! Web Design for Kids (....and curious grown-ups) is an instructional DVD that teaches you step how to write HTML code to create your own website.

There is no additional software to purchase. All you need is Internet Explorer and Notebook. Both of these programs come with every windows based computer.

Brian Richardson, a middle school computer literacy teacher uses a relaxed and gentle approach guiding you through each lesson. The lessons are clear and easily understood. Mr. Richardson speaks in plain terms and does not use hard to understand technical computer lingo. We had no difficulty following along and paused the video when we needed to.

Justin and I are excited about writing our own code and building web pages! I will be more at ease changing code on my blog now that I have a better understanding of how it all works. If you have no clue about HTML and want to learn this for you!

There are seven chapters and a bonus chapter. The bonus chapter teaches you how to create a file for your web page, where to store that file and how to copy and paste. There are screen shots of the actual code and also demonstrations on how the code should look as your are writing it and building your web page. I am a visual learner and it helped tremendously having someone show me how the code should look as opposed to reading it in a book or having someone try to explain what it should look like.

Some of the topics covered are:

Basic HTML code
Adding Pictures
Coloring letters and backgrounds
Making text move across the screen

and much more.....

The DVD is priced at $40.00. For a limited time it is on sale for $19.99 + $3.99 shipping.

You can see a free demo here.

Just a note that a portion of the sales of this DVD go to the following charities.
The Smile Train, Ronald McDonald House, Children's Miracle Network, Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and the American Foundation for the Blind

See what the other TOS Homeschool Crew members are saying about Web Design for kids!

Butterflies anyone?

Last week we attended a local fair. Kaden won a package of butterfly hair clips. He actually chose them not realizing what they were. I told him they were butterflies to put in your hair. At first Kaden tried to give them to me. I told him that he could use them for other things. My thoughts were things like putting them on his stuffed animals or attaching them to the side of a pencil.

Kaden had other ideas! Here is what he came up with!

What pretty butterflies!

Daddy needed butterfly hair clips!

We love daddy! He is the greatest!

The Quarter Mile Math Deluxe~Review

Recently we were given the opportunity to review The Quarter Mile Math Deluxe from Barnum Software. The Quarter Mile Math is math practice software. I found the software very user friendly. It is easy to install and you can set up each of your students with their own theme. You can choose to be either a race car or a riderless horse. (which you can change at any time). We were playing within a couple of minutes of installing the software. It is a self competitive game that allows your student to challenge themselves to beat their best time while learning math facts.

You begin play by choosing a math topic. The deluxe version has 323 topics and over 70,000 math problems. The grade range is from K to 9th grade. Once you have chosen your topic you push the start button and the racing starts. Math problems appear on the screen and you answer them by typing in the correct answer. When your answer is correct your horse or race car will accelerate. You play against five other racers who happen to be your five previous best scores.

Tournaments can also be played in real time with other family members on multiple computers simultaneously in the deluxe version. If you choose the standard version (see information about the standard version below) you can also do the tournaments by taking turns using a single computer and compare rankings based on top-five average scores, or they can compete on different computers and simply compare scores.

The Deluxe version of The Quarter Mile Math allows you to track your students progress online. Progress can also be printed out. You need an internet connection to track the progress but your student never actually goes on the internet.

Justin loved playing this! We started at the easier level just to get a feel for the game and see how fast paced it was. He has asked to play it every day and loves challenging himself to do better each time. Justin is a very visual hands on learner so this is perfect for him. We will be using it though out the year to help reinforce his math facts.

I think that it will not be long before I start Kaden using it as well. To be honest with you I tried it myself and I loved it! I always had difficulty with math and I think this will be a great way for me to refresh my math skills as well!

There is a standard version that you can purchase. This version does not require an internet connection so you cannot track your students progress with this version. Pricing options range from $39.95~$89.95 depending on which grade level/bundle you choose. This version is a one time purchase.

The deluxe version which I have reviewed here is a subscription service. Prices are as follows:
$2.95 per family per month
$19.95 per family for one year (save $15.45 over one year) and
$34.95 per family for two years (save $35.85 over two years)

You can find more information on pricing here. You can also see comparisons between the standard and deluxe versions here.

There is a free demo you that you can download from The Quarter Mile Math homepage. There is also a new homeschoolers section with several different topics and even a forum here.

To read more reviews of The Quarter Mile Math be sure to visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Playin' in the corn

The other day while visiting my grandma we decided to take an adventure into the cornfield. There is one directly across the street from her. The boys had never been in one before. They loved it! When my brothers and I were young we were always playing in the cornfield. My grandpop had a farm. So we had lots of fun playing in the rows of corn! I love doing things with my boys that I did as a child!

Fairy Tales~Library Program

One of our library programs this summer was Fairy Tales. We were not sure what to expect at this program. I thought it would be listening to fairy tales. It was much more than that! It was interactive.

Meet Miss Kathy. She is very good at what she does. Very good.

Miss Kathy does not read fairy tales. She tells a story and makes you feel like you are part of it. She is very talented. There were probably 20 children who attended this program. She started out the hour by going around and asking each child their name. Nothing too remarkable about that, right? She remembered each and every name. She called on each child by name and never once got a name incorrect. Very cool.

Miss Kathy told the children they were going to learn to be actors. The first step was to limber up.

Then volunteers were needed. Three Little Pigs......

and a big bad wolf.....

What a scary wolf!

getting instruction on being the Big Bad Wolf....or how to frighten the three little pigs!

Those pigs look very frightened....

there was alot of huffing and puffing going on! But you know the end of this story the three little pigs all ended up in the brick house and the big bad wolf was vanquished. Lucky for Justin the big bad wolf there was no pot of boiling water in the fireplace!

Learning to take a bow before the audience!

All in all Miss Kathy performed three stories with the children. The other two were Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding hood. Very fun. We also learned that Miss Kathy does story telling at our local mall each week. Guess where we'll be going!

GrapeVine Studies~Review

We in the middle of a great bible study. It is from Grapevine Studies. What is Grapevine you might wonder? It is a Bible curriculum that uses stick figures to teach the Bible. After emailing with Dianna Wiebe the creator of Grapevine, I chose The Old Testament Overview level 1-2 . Grade level 1st-4th. Justin has been very interested in the bible and I thought starting at the beginning with the Old Testament would be perfect for him and Kaden.

I was not sure what to expect when I started looking over the teacher book. Stick figures? How exciting would it be for the boys? Would Justin get bored drawing stick figures? Let me tell you that Justin was beyond excited to start. The lessons start with creating a timeline of the Old Testament. Each event in the Old Testament is recorded on the timeline. Justin was so excited he completed his timeline on the first day! This was supposed to take a couple of days but he could not wait. After you complete the timeline you go through each event/story more in depth.
Learning each story and stick figuring the important people and events, learning a memory verse and reviewing what you have previously learned.

Here is an excerpt from the teachers manual that gives a very good explanation of the timeline's purpose. I like the idea of having a solid foundation then adding the details of the story as we move through the study.

Grapevine Studies teaches the Bible as if it were a puzzle, doing the frame first. Once the
framework is in place (the timeline) then individual pieces (Bible passages, characters, and
events) are much easier to place and understand in the context of the "whole puzzle" (the
whole counsel of the Word of God).

The lessons are well written and very easy to understand. I like that this curriculum is so versatile that I can teach both Kaden who is four and Justin who is eight at each of their levels and understanding at the same time. You can do weekly or daily lessons or set it up to suit the pace of your school.

The Old Testament Overview contains 50 lessons that will take us through the year. The teacher book available in ebook form for $22.95 or the bound version for $45.95. The student book in ebook and bound version are $25.95 each.

Do you need anything in addition to purchasing the study? Yes a dry erase board and markers would come in handy although that would be optional and a good concordance or Bible dictionary.

There are many other studies to choose from at Grapevine from beginner to adult. There is the New Testament, The birth of Jesus, Feast Days, Esther, Catechisms and much more.

This would be wonderful Sunday School setting and could be used for many denominations.

We are very happy and excited to learn more about the Bible. I know I will be learning right along with the boys. Justin has already asked that I order the New Testament overview for next year.

Be sure to visit the TOS Crew. There are reviews of several of the other products that Grapevine offers.

SALE ALERT!!!!!!

Grapevine is graciously offering my blog readers a 30% discount on all their books until

Sept 15th use code CREWS when you checkout.

Simple Woman's Day Book~August 17th

Outside my window...dark and still very hot

I am thinking...the coming weekend. It is Larry's weekend off.

I am thankful for...my grandma that she is still here after 95 years and that my boys get to see her every week.

From the learning rooms...we're finishing up our Live Space class. The class is finished but we have some things to finish up. We are also working on our Nim's Island class and a new bible study that the boys and I are loving.

From the kitchen...fresh corn has been frozen, Korean beef made up and ready for a meal later this week.

I am wearing...black shorts and red shirt. No shoes. Never any shoes unless I really have to put them on.

I am creating...file folder games for the boys.

I am going...to bed soon.

I am reading...A Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

I am hoping...for a quiet week here with the boys and Larry.

I am hearing...the boys watching the Penguins of Madagascar

Around the house...I am continuing on with my decluttering efforts. I have cleaned part of the boys room, removed a small bag of trash, filled a bag for the thrift store and rearranged some things. I also am working on an area of the kitchen.

One of my favorite things...the new baskets I picked up at the dollar store to store my camera and label maker.

A few plans for the rest of the week...freeze more corn, go to the pool, bbq on the grill, enjoy time together as a family, maybe light the fire pit one night, do some star gazing.

Here is picture thought I am sharing:

Kaden's sunflower

Name the Shapes~Preschool file folder game

I have been working on some new activities for Kaden for our new school year. I made this game the other day. It is very simple to make and the cost is minimal.

Supplies you will need:

shapes border from the dollar store
a file folder cut in half. I also cut the tabs off.

adhesive of some type. I used double sided tape. You can use glue as well.

a snack bag for storing the pieces.

The border I found at Dollar Tree.

I just cut these down and removed the words. Save the words you will need them.

glue/tape the shapes onto the inside of your file folder.

play the game have the child place the correct word under or on top of the correct shape.

close up

attach a snack bag to the bag of the file folder to store the pieces. I used double sided tape.

Comets

Last month we participated in another Live class thru Currclick. This time it was Live Space. One of the first activities the boys did was to make their own comets. I think these came out great!