My new must have small kitchen appliance

Not long ago I acquired a new small appliance for my kitchen.  All I can say is where have you been all my life! What is it you may ask?  An electric frying pan!

I love this thing! Why have I never bought one before? My mom has always had one I have had a fleeting thought here and there that maybe I would use one.  It was really in expensive.  I bought it Aldi for about $18.

I have browned ground beef, cooked chicken, eggs, grilled cheese (when it is just the boys and I~I have a large griddle when Larry is here), made beef bbq, taco meat, fried onions and much more. Being able to control the temperature is great and I can adjust it as needed.   I really like that I can bring the entire pan to the table if I want to and it also gives me an additional heat source when the stove burners are being used.

This is definitely an appliance that will get a lot of use here. 

Time for Learning~Review

Time for Learning is an online curriculum that can be used for Pre-K to 8th grade students. You could use this as your primary curriculum or as a supplemental curriculum.  Time for learning covers the following areas:

• Math
• Language Arts
• science
• social studies

There are more than 1000 interactive animated lessons. The lessons are broken down into levels for each grade. Time for learning also gives the parent the ability to track your students progress and print out reports.

We had the opportunity to try out the PreK level.  The Pre K level is broken down into two levels.

Level 1~gives fewer and easier commands and options

Level 2~is for learners who can understand multiple commands and more options.

 

In the picture above you see a list of topics.  The child clicks on one of the topics and then are given different choices such as:

• Find It
• Storybooks
• Paint It
• Match It
• Vocabulary
• Memory Match
• and much more….

What we thought:  Kaden loved this.  The graphics are awesome and he had no trouble following the commands. Your child does not have to know how to read to be able to navigate this site.  He was able to go from topic to topic on his own with little help from me. He really enjoyed using this site.  The topics were fun and engaging.

The one con for us is the cost. $19.95 per month is just a bit steep and would not fit well into our budget. However for some families this many not be a problem.

To see more reviews of Time for Learning please visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

 

 

 

 

What Am I?~All About Reading~Review

Back in March I reviewed The Beehive Reader (which has been renamed Cobweb The Cat) from the creator of  All About Spelling.

What Am I? (regularly $19.95 and currently on sale for $15.95) is the second book in the All About Reading story collection.  Once again here is a reader that delightful stories for the beginning reader. 

There are 10 chapters in this book. Some of the titles you will find are:

• The Beach
• Broken Robot
• The Bake Sale
• Pine Tree Pet Shop
• Skunk Hotel
• and much more…..

What Am I? does correlate with level 2 steps 1 thru 14 All About Spelling but you can use this as a stand alone reader.

 

As I mentioned in my earlier review. This is a quality hardback book.  The ink and pen illustrations are fabulous!  I love that we can use it with All About Spelling but could just as easily use it as a stand alone reader.   The stories are just sweet. My boys loved the stories and I will be using this with my five year old as he learns to read as well as with my eight year old with his All about Spelling lessons.

Check out the TOS Crew blog to read more reviews of What Am I?

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

Terrestria Chronicles~The Crown of Kuros and The Dragons Egg~Review

 

As part of the TOS Crew I was sent The Crown of Kuros Book 4 and The Dragons Egg Book 5 of The Terrestria Chronicles to review. These books are  Christian allegories. There are seven books in this series written by Ed Dunlop. The books are available for $7.99 each or $39.99 for the entire series.  Recommended reading age 10 and up.

These stories take place in a medieval type setting. There are knights and dragons and ladies and lords throughout these books. You will meet characters such as Prince Josiah (the main character)  Sir Faithful, Sir Dedication, Sir Wisdom, Lady Prudence. You will also hear about places such as The Castle of Faith, The Castle of Compromise, The Golden City of the Redeemed and much more more.

The Castle of Faith is in an uproar when the priceless Crown of Kuros is stolen in broad daylight from the castle keep. All evidence points to Morphina who is in league with Argamor. Prince Josiah, Prince Selwyn, and the other knights of the castle engage in a quest to find the crown before it falls into the hands of Argamor. But Josiah alone can recover the crown, and to do so he must engage in an impossible battle.

 

 

When Princess Gilda and Prince Selwyn refuse the offer of a gift forbidden by King Emmanuel, Prince Josiah accepts, not realizing that his actions will impact the Castle of Faith. For a time, the young prince is able to conceal his act of treachery, and it seems that all is well. But when a Cararian Greatwing—the fiercest of dragons—begins terrorizing the kingdom, Josiah learns too late that he is powerless to control the beast that he has unleashed upon Terrestria.

 

What we thought: These books are very heavy on the allegories.  I decided to read these books myself rather than  read them to Justin or have him read them.  If you have a sensitive child I would agree with the reading age of 10 and up. 

I found the names of the characters and places  very distracting. Characters such as Captain Covetous, Captain Confusion, Captain Discontent and places such as The Forest of Decision, The Village of Indifference and others I have mentioned above.  The writing is good but not what I would call high quality literature. 

A couple of things in the book that did bother me is that  Argamor (the devil in these stories) wants to introduce spellavision (television) and stone music (rock music) to the people who love and serve King Emmanuel (God).  This implies or gives the impression  that television and rock music are inherently evil.  I do not believe that. I personally love rock music and I think that television has its place as well. True these things can be used for evil but it is man that makes it evil.   While I am sure Mr. Dunlop may not have intended it to be this way.  That is the feeling I get from reading these books.

These books are stand alone stories, however there were parts of the stories that I felt I was missing because I had not read the previous books.  Such as how Josiah came to be a son of King Emmanuel? How the book/sword that Josiah uses came do be. There was part of the story that had had me confused when I read that Josiah’s book was glowing. I had really no idea what this book was or what he was referring to.  I did figure it out. For me personally I do not like to start a story in the middle of a series even if the books are stand alone. But that is just me. You may feel differently.

All in all I would say while I did not love these books I did not dislike them they just were not my favorite. Will I buy the rest of the series? Probably not.  Does this mean you will not like them? Absolutely not.  What does not fit my family may fit yours. 

You can decide for yourself and visit The Terrestria Chronicles site.  You can read an excerpt from both books as well as the other books in the series.

Be sure to visit my TOS Crewmates to read more reviews of the the Terrestria Chronicles.

 

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

Balance Benders~Review

We had the opportunity to review Balance Benders from The Critical Thinking Company. The book we received was Balance Benders Beginning for grades 2-6. They also have   levels 1,2 and 3 available. Each book sells for  $9.99 each.  The books are reproducible.

 

Balance Benders teaches logic and algebraic reasoning. Each page has a balance  scale at the top  and a list of possible answers. The student is to find three correct answers.  The problems start out easy and get harder as the book progresses.  Here is a sample page of what a problem looks like.

There are balance tips and solutions in the back of the book to help you out if you get stuck on a problem.

What we thought: To be honest I was not sure about this book. I looked through it and tried a few of the problems.  I really didn’t get it at first. I gave it to Justin and he seems to like it and can figure the problems out.  So he has been helping his mom with these! 

Would I recommend these. If you have a child that loves to solve puzzles for sure! I like that they are reproducible so that you can use them with more than one child. 

Be sure to stop by the TOS Crew blog to read what my crew mates are saying about The Critical Thinking Company products.

 

 

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

Strawberries and gardening!

No there are not any fresh strawberries in NJ yet but soon! Last year my brother gave me 7 strawberry plants and I think now we have about 20.  Today I noticed our first two strawberry blossoms!  I’m excited!

Yesterday while I was out shopping I picked up some potting soil to start our seeds this week.  I guess I better get started on our garden. I want Larry to build me some more raised beds.  We have one that now is housing the strawberries.  I am going to put at least two on the other side of our house.

This year I want to grow:

• tomatoes
• lettuce
• scallions
• peppers
• string beans
• peas
• lima beans
• watermelon
• pumpkins
• squash
• cucumbers
• pickling cucumbers

and a few other things. We do raised beds (square foot garden style) and container gardening.
Do you have a garden? What do you plant?

The Help~Book Review

 

Not long ago I kept hearing about this book The Help. It seemed on many of the blogs and message boards I read this book was being mentioned. I decided I need to pick it up myself and read it.  I am so glad I did! This book was excellent! It is one of the best books I have read in a long time! It is set at the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1960's.  It is the story of black maids working for white families in Jackson Mississippi during that time. It is narrated by mainly by two of the black maids Aibileen and Minny and Miss Skeeter a young white woman who has just returned  from college to find her beloved maid Constantine suddenly gone from the family after working for them for many, many years.

Miss Skeeter becomes sympathetic to the plight of the maids and how they are treated by the white women they work for. Miss Skeeter  wants to become a writer and decides secretly that she to write about the maids everyday lives,  their views of the white women that they work for and the injustice, abuse and heartbreak they suffer while working for these families. The story is compelling and takes you in. I fell in love with the characters and felt as if I knew them. 

You get a feeling of just how frightened these women were during this tumultuous time.  How they feared for themselves and their families simply because they were black. The injustices they suffered because of the color of their skin. You get a real feel for what segregation feels like. How the black families could not shop at the same grocery store as the white families unless the maids were shopping for the households for whom they worked. How they could not swim in the same pool or ride in the front of the bus or get ice cream from the same window as white families. These women were made to use toilets that were separate from the main house toilets, many times the toilets were outside and had to be used regardless of the weather and yet these maids  were entrusted with the care and raising of the children of the white families as well as the responsibilities of practically running and maintaining the households for very little pay.

You could see how much the black maids came to rely on the white families for their livelihood and how word of mouth could ruin any job you may have had in the future if a particular white woman decided they did not like you regardless of the excellent job you did. 

For me personally it bought back memories of my childhood. The story takes place in 1962 the year I was born, and while I did not grow up in Mississippi or anywhere near the south, the setting and references in the story remind me of my childhood.

The Help is a book that will stay with me for quite awhile. I loved the characters and just did not want the story to end.

Family Mint~Review

 

As part of the TOS Crew I was asked to review Family Mint.  This free  site  that allows you  to help your children learn to handle and manage money.

With Family Mint you will be able to:

• track your children’s allowance
• track your children’s spending
• set goals
• set and adjust interest rates
• have all your children’s accounts in one central location.

My thoughts:  This was super easy to set up and very user friendly. You can set up an account for each of your children and have them set goals weather it be saving for a small toy or something larger and longer term such as an Ipod touch as my son Justin would like.

I think this is a great tool for teaching about money management.  There is no actual money exchanged through this site and you are not linking any bank accounts to the site. You are simply tracking your children’s allowance or other money that they earn.  Parents have full control of the accounts and your kids can customize their accounts as well.

This is a free service.  Family Mint will be releasing a PRO version that charges a fee.  Go and check it out and get your children on the road to managing their finances.

Please be sure to visit my crew mates on the TOS blog for more reviews of Family Mint.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in anyway for this review.  The opinions on this blog are strictly my own. 

Whose Toes are these?

Can you guess?  Well if you guess mine you are wrong!

They are Kaden’s ever since he saw my toes polished last summer he wanted his done. So today was the day! I bought some blue. His current favorite color.  He calls it his toe nail paint!  It sure is some bright blue he has on those tootsies!

Lets Go Fly A Kite!

The boys received kites in their Easter baskets.  Yesterday was a beautiful day for kite flying! So we ditched school and went to the park!  Let’s just say that Justin is an awesome kite flyer and his momma not so much.  I tried to get Kaden’s kite to stay in the air but I didn’t do so well. On the other hand Justin seems to be a natural! (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

 

Kaden was really trying to get his kite going!

  

  great job Justin!

up it goes!

We’re flying high now!

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

Hmmmm…..maybe I should go buy the Download N Go Kite Capers

Math Galaxy~Review

We were given the opportunity as part of the TOS Crew to review some of the  products from Math Galaxy. 

Math Galaxy is a stand alone math tutorial program for students  grade K-12.  They offer a variety programs from whole numbers to algebra.  Each program is $29.95 and includes free shipping. 

You can try the tutorials found on the Math Galaxy home page. Scroll down the page and click on what you would like to try. If you are happy with the trial version  you can purchase the full version.  They also offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with your purchase.

We used the Whole Numbers Fun tutorial  which covers topics such as  adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, time, place value, length, area, volume and much more.  In addition to the tutorials there are games and worksheet generators.

What we thought: The program is user friendly and the instructions are easy to follow.  Justin liked it well enough  but to be honest he was not crazy about it.  These programs do not have a lot of bells and whistles and seem a bit slow. They just did not hold his attention like I hoped they would. 

One thing I really do like about them is that you do not need a subscription like so many of the other math programs out there. You can buy what you want and use it period. Overall I liked them and I hope to use this a bit with Kaden although it is not something I would run out and buy.

For more reviews on Math Galaxy please visit the TOS blog to see what my crewmates are saying.

 

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

The Stone is moved….

We made our Easter garden last week…..

Today the stone was moved…..

But he will rise and sin's disguise
Will be open for his body has been broken
To redeem us
So lay down your life and receive his and live

~The Roar of Love (Narnia CD)

A little ABC practice

Kaden loves reciting the alphabet and loves to write. The other day I gave him something new to work on his ABC’s with. He loved it. If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time you know I like frugal ideas. This is one of them! all you need is paint and a zip top bag.

Kaden loved it. He was able to write his abc’s on the bag over and over again. (if you are worried about paint all over you can seal the top of the bag with some packing tape ) I used gallon zip top bags and some tempera paint. I also taped it to the table so it would not move around on him.

Do you see the A?

I also printed an alphabet sheet for him to copy. I printed both the upper and lower case and laminated them together so he can practice both anytime he wants to.

Sorry I’ve been MIA

I’m sorry I have not been around much for the last week or so. Last week I had surgery on my left breast to have a papilloma removed and took a few days to recover. I went for my post-op visit today and everything is ok. While there were some atypia in the papilloma my doctor feels everything is fine. I will have my mammogram in May or June and go back in six months for another check up.  My doctor will be monitoring me closely for any changes.

Over the next week I will be back with some blog posts and a few reviews that I need to get to.  I have missed posting!