Enjoying the Chaos

We love  Carole P. Roman's books ! We have reviewed them before but as soon as I mentioned to Captain he was super excited to choose three new ones to add to our collection. Captain got all of our books out and then compared them to the list available and immediately he knew which ones he wanted to add to our collection. There are a huge variety of  Carole P. Roman Books and Collections . Captain's favorites are the non-fiction ones! The three he chose to review were  Ancient Mail Empire ,  American West , and the  Middle Ages . These books have a fun reaction when they arrive in the mail! Captain grabs them and runs straight to the sofa to read them...all...all the way through. He then gets them out randomly to sit and read. He reads at a crazy high level for a nine-year-old and so he can read these books quickly. However, they are packed full of interesting information. Our first book -   If you were me and lived in Ancient Mail Empire . I love the facts included in th

I just had to leave this here.. 

Captain loves to do crafts! He loves doing things he can just get out and work on by himself. We were fortunate to be chosen to review  Super Beads  by  Zirrl y. There are lots of different kinds, Captain was super excited to get the  Super Beads Mega Pack . Captain loves using these beads. You place the beads one at a time on a special tray with little spikes on. The beads have holes in and one sits on each of the little spikes. You put the beads in patterns so that they make a design. When the design is completed you spray the beads with water and then wait an hour. After about an hour the beads have fused together and can be removed from the trays. Since they are so easy to do (no irons needed) Captain can work on these by himself. The only funny thing that you have to watch for is if you have a little dog like ours - If you do happen to drop a bead and the dog goes to 'sniff' it - it can quite possibly get stuck on their nose! This may or may not have happened! Do

Sometimes you just need that extra zing in your studies, I'm sure you agree. We have recently had the opportunity to review some excellent hands-on history curriculum items from the amazing  Á La Carte  collection by  Home School In The Woods . We had the chance to choose three separate items from the amazing collection. It was SO hard to choose as there are so many great things to choose from. I was able to try  The Art Of Quilling , Captain's choice was a  Name That State! File Folder Game , and finally a fun paper version of  The Jamestown Replica (3D) First, I will tell you about the things I chose and then I'll share the other ones I may have to get next! Sometimes the things I review are just for the kids, this time I have to admit that I chose something just for me. The picture below is the picture shared on the download I received. I have heard of quilling but I hadn't tried it. I was a little excited and bought a little starter ki

Last week was a full and busy week. The older kids had book reports to submit. I can't believe there is only four days left in this quarter!  They both worked on Shakespeare plays!  Jam did a video presentation of his play! Boo did that last quarter for Frankenstein. They have to finish up their science projects this week and then we are counting down the last quarter of the year! Boo drew a quick picture for Jam to.use for his video! We have started using Bento boxes for lunch Captain loves them! Captain has been learning to quill! I found it fun too. Check our new review to see the end project! We are getting quite good at homemade pizza! Fresh parmesan is perfect!

Cursive is one of those subjects that is likely to make me pull my hair out with my youngest. I basically gave up with my older two as they settled into their own hybrid style. With Captain I have goals...really neat proper cursive.  CursiveLogic  uses a really logical approach to handwriting. I received their  Quick Start Pack  which Captain has been using faithfully and their  The Art of Cursive  adult coloring book which I greedily kept all to myself - no children allowed! I watched the instructional video with Captain to give him a sense of ownership of the program. He loves to be self motivated and doesn't always like to wait for me to work on certain subjects. He likes to have a list of things he can get on with in the morning while I'm working on other things. I figured this was the best way to instruct him on the program - and boy did it work. He understood the instructions and was super excited to get busy. The program works by using a shape based approach and

So back in December I made a mistake when trying to trim Filey's hair. It took until a week or so ago for her to be ready for her first 'real' haircut. Luckily the damage I did in December was temporary (hair does grow back - even for puppies). She was looking a little over grown. Although she is still super cute, she was really ready for a little haircut. So I decided not to try again and booked her in with a local groomer. I decided to go with my neighbors recommendation. I paid a little extra because I wanted her hair left a little longer in the body, it is still winter after all! We were all super pleased when I picked her up. She looked really light though. Her hair must turn darker at the ends. So when they were cut she went very light. She smelt amazing. I really need to get some of the shampoo they use and it seemed to last longer than the kind I have. However when it was time for her next back I think I did a really good job! I managed bows! Isn't

Captain loves to color! We have tried lots of makes of marker and have mostly been disappointed. We have had the opportunity to try  Magic Stix Washable Markers  made by one of our favorites  The Pencil Grip, Inc . I have used these markers before  here  and we were not disappointed. So when we were offered a larger pack of 24 markers Captain was very impressed with the variety of colors we received. There are various shades of each color and it's a great selection. Each color is bold and bright and shows up really well on most paper. Captain had a great time using these markers. We got them just in time to help him decorate his Valentine's box. Have you tried to get a boy to make a valentine's box lately. No pink or purple here. The only way I could get him to put any hearts on it was to make an emoji face! This was a cute box made out of an oatmeal container. I cut a little flap in the plastic lid - it was perfect and held up to the kids posting all of