Enjoying the Chaos

I love books and Captain loves it when we get books in the mail to review. This latest one turned up and Captain was really excited. I used to love books with flip ups and pop ups when I was young. This book is cute and has flaps that are in the form of a letter from God. The book is written for children from four to eight. Captain is at the higher age bracket and can read extremely well. He loves the book and likes that it's just a fun easy to read book. It combines both prose and poetry to tell the story of Jesus's birth. There are seven stories starting with Isaiah's prohect and ending with the visit of the wise man. After each storie there is a letter written as if from God attached to each page. There is a little space to write the child's name, so they can be addressed to the child. There are special bible verses, and words of love, promise and hope. The book is written by Glenys Nellist and illustrated by Rachel Clowes. The pictures are amazing full of det...

Today Captain and I did a fun science project today. It was super easy. If you have the Apologia Astronomy book. The experiment is in the chapter about Earth. We needed a small lid, cork, needle, and a strong magnet. It took about 10 minutes and boom! Captain loved it!

I love Christmas books. I was sent a wonderful Christmas book called  Where Jesus Slept by Norma Lewis This is a cute picture book written by  Norma Lewis  and illustrated by  Katy Hudson . My kids loves it when I get our Christmas books out. Captain was so excited when he opened a box to find a new book. The story starts with the announcement written in Luke 2:10-11 that the Savior has been born in Bethlehem, the city of David. It's a very simple but sweet story that tells about the birth of the Savior. I love the illustrations and although the story is very simple it is written in a very nice way. The last scripture is John 3:16 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life'. This will be a favorite in our Christmas library for many years. I have a great opportunity for one of my readers - You can enter to win a copy of this book! Enter below. Entry -Form "D...

We love board games and so I was really excited to add  Commissioned  from  Chara Games  to our selection. I was very happy with the quality of the game when we recieved it. It is very well made and compares nicely to other high quality games in our cupboard. Jam was the leader when it came to playing this game. He spent a lot of time watching the official 'how to play' video. I linked to the video below so you can check it out. We played this for the first time when my husband was out of town and my parents were visiting. Jam was very good at explaining the game to everyone. The main difference with this game is that everyone is working together. Because of this it takes a little getting used to. My youngest kept on asking how he wins. We explained a few times that everyone either wins or loses. I love that this game is history based, and cooperative so if you can turn a family game night into family argument night then this game style might help. As ...

Although I live in the USA my Dad was in the RAF for 22 years. I honor all those who have served in both of these great countries I love.

Boo asked me a few months ago about learning sentence diagramming. Although I teach English as a second language and have a pretty good understanding of grammar I hate diagramming sentences. So I actually distracted her and hoped she would forget about for a while. Of course I'm a member of the Homeschool Review Crew and what should pop up on our review list  Sentence Diagramming Beginning  for grades 3-12+ by  The Critical Thinking Co.  It was perfect timing and she was very excited. Yes, you read that right - excited for grammar! We have used products from Critical Thinking Co before and have always been impressed with their quality and ease of use. So I was hoping that they could make diagramming understandable too. The Critical Thinking Co.™  has been around since 1958 and has a great selection of award winning products. All of their subjects whether it be reading, math, science, writing, or history contain some aspect of critical thinking. They belie...

Have you done your duty and voted today?

I was born and raised in the United Kingdom and so American history was something I was taught as an outsider. It was someone else's history - not mine. However, since adopting this great country as my own I need to make sure that I give them a great understanding of this country we call home. We have been using a fun micro-study program called  Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims  from  Homeschool Legacy . This study is perfect for this time of year as it's a great reminder before the Thanksgiving holiday. I have been working mainly with Captain as the others have studied this before, but they enjoyed telling him what they know as well as discussing it as a family. The once a week micro-study is designed to be used over 6 weeks and we are about half way through. It's been really interesting and I am looking forward to the rest of the study. It's broken down well and is easy to follow. I printed out the study book, it's 22 pages but I kept the PDF on my compu...

Have you ever wandered around the store looking for those perfect stocking stuffers for your kids. I have different ages of kids and so I love it when I can buy a variety of one thing that everyone loves! I have raved about my love of  Kwik Stixs   by The Pencil Grip Inc  before but I have been recently using some amazing new varietys!  Neons  and  Metalix . We love painting but I hate the paint mess that comes with regular paint! My kids love them and we have had some great fun with them but for this review I wanted to play with them. I used a mixture of the sticks that I have and used a canvas. I wasn't sure how the canvas would work but I was thrilled with the result! Now I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination but I love sunflowers and wanted to paint something fun and bright. The look these give on the canvas is really fun. Of course the biggest plus is that I did this with no mess, no bottle of water to blend colors, and no wet s...

The Internet is a wonderful but scary thing! There is so much information to help us, but also so much we don't need to see. It's hard when you have children that are learning to negotiate through the World Wide Web! I recently signed up for the  Family Plan  from  Accountable2You . We have been using it for a few weeks now and we really like it. They also offer a Group Plan, Individual Plan, and a Small Business Plan. We have always tried to have some kind of Internet protection as our children each have their own laptops and my oldest two have smartphones. We have used software and apps that limit searches etc in the past but I was really interested in trying this new accountalility software for my older two children. My youngest still used our old program that really limits his online experience, as he is only eight I felt this was important. However, with my older two I thought the way this program works was really a really great way to give them more freedom. ...

Yesterday was so much fun I forgot to wish you all a Happy Halloween!