A Christmas School Story - by Chef

I was cleaning off my dresser this morning, and am not sure how this gem stayed folded there for so long. But I enjoyed it so am sharing with you (along with some other summer-homeschool moments!)

The Lesson in the Nest

Several years ago, the kids received a DVD about hummingbirds as a gift from their Nana. It turned into a week-long theme study and a blog post. Yesterday, Mr. Magoo found a complete bird's nest on the ground, lying off to one side and it brought back memories of that week. 

Bruiser put it back in the tree

Schoolhouse Review Crew: A Life in Balance

I was recently given the chance to read and review the book A Life in Balance by Frank Belgau and his son, Eric Belgau, and distributed by the Learning Breakthrough Program. As a homeschooling mom, I can't help but keep watch over my children and asking: what have they missed; how could I be doing this subject better; is there something about his learning style that doesn't fit what I'm doing? And in truth, it can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride.

Here's the thing - our oldest learned to read with about the "normal" struggles and challenges. Our second and third took much longer to get into reading, and one still struggles a bit with longer words and books. And their spelling in the beginning was poor enough that even they can't tell what they were trying to write. And it was frustrating for them. I considered vision and tracking problems, ADD, ADHD, and so much more. What I discovered, well after they had worked out for themselves how to get around their difficulties, is that they both have pretty serious dyslexia. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Apologia's What On Earth Can I Do?

As we've neared the end of the school year, and it is beginning to warm up outside, the kids have been itching to get out and about. The problem is that we weren't done with our work yet and the odd, on-again, off-again winter weather had them going stir crazy in the house! There was a lot of bickering, arguing, and "me first" attitudes cropping up. Around the same time that all this began, the opportunity popped up to review the Apologia Education Ministries Program called What on Earth Can I Do? 

What we received in the mail

This program is part of the What We Believe series and helps kids gain a Christian worldview in a way that covers all the different learning types, and many different age groups. The ability to adapt this program across multiple levels is huge for a family spanning several ages, abilities and learning styles and makes it an excellent homeschooling resource to keep on hand. In all, we received the book linked above, plus What On Earth Can I Do Notebooking Journal, Junior Notebooking Journal, and Coloring Book.

Homeschool Review Crew: Micro Business for Teens

Can I tell you? I was super excited to get picked to review the Micro Business for Teens course! I have followed Carol Topp's Pinterest Page and Facebook page for a year now (at least!) because her advice is sound, her methods helpful, and my kids have attempted their own business ideas many times over the years, as have I. She has a Twitter Feed too, but since I don't tweet (yet!) I haven't been on there to look around. 

At any rate, I was excited. Very excited. To start, I told the kids about the program and left the books out on the counter in the kitchen for a day or two. The next thing I knew... they had vanished. And not in the same way that other stuff vanishes, where it's been stuffed in an "everything" drawer during a hasty after-dinner clean up, never to see the light again. More like, "vanished" as in, nowhere to be found because it's been squirreled up to a child's desk kind of vanished. 

Featured Product Friday: NingXia Nitro and NingXia Red - Energy for the Win!

This is sort of a Featured Friday and Testimonial Tuesday rolled into one post. I'm all over the place this week, but I'm so excited that my White Knight Crunchy Skeptic has given the nod of credit to this that I have to share! 

NINGXIA RED and NINGXIA NITRO

You've seen me mention before that the White Knight Crunchy Skeptic guzzles NingXia Red after a long run. WELL, he has been marathon training and been looking to add a mile a week average to his runs to get ready for his first attempts at a full. AFTER each of these long runs, he has come home to drink at least 8 oz. of NR (a healthy person would drink 2-4 oz. a day optimally). It may even be more than 8 oz - he drinks it straight from the bottle.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Home School Adventure Company

It will likely be no surprise that we have around 2,000+ books in our home. Every room has a bookcase filled to overflowing (and often two or three bookcases!) in addition to the full library room and storage-turned-school room! The library has a fairly comprehensive, though not complete, set of C.S. Lewis' books, which led me to request the opportunity to review Home School Adventure Co.'s Mere Christianity Journal.

I enjoy Lewis' fictional works and gain a great deal from them as spiritual allegory, but must confess that when it comes to his more "scholarly" texts, short though they are, I struggle. So I requested this review as much for 14-year-old Maestro, and 12-year-old Chef, as I did for my own edification. I also thought that working through the book (which we own, of course) together could provide some good discussion moments between the boys and the White Knight and I. The White Knight has read the book many times, so he served as a guide to our discussions within the confines of the Home School Adventure Journal.