Kinderbach

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

This is the second year that our family has gotten the chance to review Kinderbach. Kinderbach is an online music curriculum for preschool or early elementary students. Your children can learn to play the piano, read notes, and learn rythem and music patterns through colorful and engaging videos. A membership subscription to Kinderbach will give you access to over 240 sessions for $19.99 a month OR only $7.99 a month if you sign up for a year subscription. Kinderbach also offers DVDs.

Our children have really enjoyed the Kinderbach lessons and I would reccommend it to any family who wants to educate their young children in the basics of piano, but has no prior experience with it.

You can read my full review from last year here.

Click over to the TOS Crew blog for more Kinderbach reviews. Pin It Now!

Dreaming of Sugarplums

A couple of weeks ago I laid L1 down for a nap only to check on her an hour later to find this...

Apparently we left a Christmas stocking full of candy on the dresser a little too close to her crib.

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Annual Snow Day

Well, we certainly don't get a lot of snow days around here...or very much snow when it does happen, but we sure do have fun when it happens.


Here's the whole gang (plus our neighbor, minus the baby) taking a group shot in the snow....what can I say? It's tradition.


How do you know you're a homeschool family? ...When you're 1st grader announces, "Look, Mom, I built the Great Wall of China out of snow!"


E3 makes a grass angel...er, snow angel.


The princess L1 can't decide if she likes the snow or not.


Scary woman without makeup in a pretty hooded scarf! I actually made this for my friend, but snatched it when I couldn't find my own...I needed to "test it out". Here's the basic pattern, in case you're interested.

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Christian Keyboarding

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

I never quite learned correct typing skills when I was in school and have often thought that I wish I had. I'm certain that I don't need to tell you how valuable such a skill will be to our children. In today's society, there is virtually no job field where computers are not being used. My husband often laments over this very fact. Even while managing a tire store, he would complain about how his "hunting and pecking" while attempting to enter in customer's information into the computer would slow him down.

Christian Keyboarding is a company creating products to help homeschools and private schools teach typing skills to their students. The most unique aspect to their curriculum is that they use Scripture to accomplish the task.

Keyboarding for the Christian School - Elementary Version is for grades K-5 and offers "the basics of learning the keyboard with the help of Miss Mable the Ladybug." I've been surprised at how much my 3rd and 2nd grader look forward to these lessons. They first learned the correct sitting position and placement of their hands. Then they have begun to memorize the alphabet keys and numeric keys. Other lessons will include "centering", "enumerated lists", and "timed writings" in which they will type several chapters from the book of Psalms.




Keyboarding for the Christian School is geared towards older students who need beginner lessons in typing. It covers the same lessons as the Elementary version, but also includes how to type APA and MLA reports, letters, tables, and more.

Both of these Keyboarding curriculum are offered in ebook format and can be purchased at the Christian Keyboarding website. Keyboarding for the Christian School is only $15.95 and the Elementary Version just $12.95. You can also receive $5 off your order when you enter in the discount code: NewYear5 before Feb. 28th. Pin It Now!

Mathscore

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

We were recently given a free two week trial of Mathscore.com. We've actually been given quite a few online math programs to try recently and its always interesting to see the differences in each program we try.

From the Mathscore website:

"MathScore is a no-nonsense, non-fluffy system that enables students to learn and practice traditional math concepts efficiently and easily. Developed by MIT graduates, MathScore is proven to increase test scores, and is used by a wide variety of homeschoolers and K-12 public and private schools. MathScore fully supports 2nd grade through Algebra I, and is often used by 1st graders. "

I think the first sentence in the above statement describes exactly how I feel about this program: no-nonsense and non-fluffy. I also think that this it what makes it stand out among other online math programs. There are no creating avatars or watching animated math lessons and I am sure that is a big benefit to students who are easily distracted.


As stated before, math subjects range from grade 2 to Algebra 1. Your student can choose to move through the program in order or pick and choose subjects that they are already learning in regular math studies for additional practice. Students will work through an "unlimited" supply of math problems to achieve mastery of the subject by getting all the problems correct and beating the clock. Once they have mastered a subject they receive a trophy under the awards tab.

Personally, I didn't find that this program was a great fit for our family right now. Our kids are still pretty young for Mathscore. I could tell that even our oldest (third grade) began to tire about halfway through the drill as there are many problems to complete. Our 2nd grader was very tense about trying to beat the timer and didn't enjoy it at all. Plus, I guess we've been a little influenced by our "more is better" culture, because....well, we like the fluff.

Nonetheless, Mathscore very generously offers a free trial so even you can "try before you buy"! After that it is $14.95 a month for one student and keeps getting cheaper per student that you add. Check Mathscore out and more reviews by homeschool moms at the TOS Crew blog! Pin It Now!

A Mother's Wisdom

In honor of a wise woman:

Lillie
Born March 1916
Died December 2009

A repost from Summer 2009:

True Beauty

This is my grandmother and this photo was taken three weeks ago at our family reunion.

She is 93 years old and every year the family gathers around this matriarch to sing her a song that she loves...an old country song..."Red Roses for a Blue Lady".

As the song is sung each one of her 14 children dances up to her in order of their birth and hands her a red rose.

Grandma's husband died when she still had 11 children in the home. She never remarried.

She has 52 grandchildren.

At last count, she has over 110 great-grandchildren and a dozen great-great grandchildren.

She is a "Mom of Many" and has an incredible legacy to show for it.

And she is beautiful.

***

I had the honor of sitting down with Grandma B. a couple of years ago to record her memories for a scrapbook that I was making. Here are just a few of her stories.

On pregnancy: "I didn't really know anything about being pregnant. I thought babies came out your naval!...They made you stay in (the hospital) nine days. You weren't suppose to get out of bed. Of course you know I did!"

On children: "When you're raising kids, you just do what you got to do...and love 'em to pieces...that's all."

On feeding a large brood: "The kids would sit at the table and when I would fix oatmeal for breakfast, they would come one at a time to get their bowl. By the time the last one sat down, the first one was back!" One of her children confided to me that Grandma B. would feed all of her children first. After they had eaten, she would scrape together any left overs from their plates to eat herself.

On being a single mother: "I took on ironing to pay their tuition. They embarrassed them at school if they didn't pay. They'd make them stand up and so-and-so hasn't paid their tuition. So I made sure their tuition was paid and I made their uniforms." Grandma B's hands went numb from all the ironing she did. She also watched other people's kids to earn money.

On teenagers: "The girls would go to the teenage club..which was fine, it was at the church...but I had a system. When they pulled in I would flick the porch light. Then I would flick it again. But they knew if I flicked it a third time, I was out there!"

On growing older: "I miss the kids...(Laughing) Well, I don't really because they're always around. And there's three phases to life: when you're young, when you have kids, and when you're old...and you enjoy each one of them. You just have to love life."

And she did. I can remember her driving tractors and go carts in her eighties. She was still fishing and reading a book a week in her nineties.

One of my favorite stories of Grandma B. was from just a couple of years ago. She was fishing with my aunt and landed a big one. Struggling to reel the fish in, she admitted to my aunt that she needed some help. "No, Mom," my aunt said. "It's your fish, you're going to have to do it." Grandma B's reply: "Alright. Then, turn up my oxygen!"

I asked Grandma what advice she would give to a young mother like me. "Enjoy them while they're young," she said. "Because it's the best time. I always enjoyed my kids. They were my life. And when they got older, we enjoyed each other." Finally she leaned over and said, "Do you know what the whole story is? ...Live your life and love it. Get up in the morning and say 'Thank you God for this day' and go with it."

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And the dog ate my homework...

So I'm afraid I owe you an explanation as to my absence over the past couple weeks. But do you really need one? It was the holidays afterall.

But this one did have a few unexpected turns.

The week before Christmas one of my grandmother's passed away. She was the mother of 14, age 93, and truly a beautiful woman.

We never did finish our Christmas Movie Unit. Well, we did watch the movies...*sigh*.

We hosted a Christmas party for my dad's side of the family and Chad's extended family for the first time due to the usual places being unavailable. We also had a small New Year's party, but we do that every year.

Chad was offered and accepted a position as an account exec. for a radio broadcasting company. He started this week. It is sooooo different from managing a tire store!

So there's my list of excuses. Pin It Now!

Christmas Memories - Decor

Christmas is truly such a beautiful holiday. It's really a shame that twinkling lights are so closely associated with this one holiday. Otherwise I think I might keep them up all year...on purpose I mean.

I thought I'd make sure to take some photos of the pretty little things that I just enjoy seeing around my house at Christmas.

Okay, so the rest of my living room looks horrible but at least the tree was pretty! I actually didn't have any gifts wrapped until Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed.


Stockings filled after a visit from St. Nick.


A beautiful angel to announce the birth of Christ. L1 actually screamed with delight when we plugged in this angel's lights.


I love the ruggedness of this statue of St. Nick. He stands by our fireplace all through December.


Two gifts sit under our tree all during the holidays. One is to Jesus and one is from him. We have a tradition that each Christmas morning we "offer a gift" to Jesus...it's usually a commitment of some sort. One might say they resolve to spend more time in prayer or bible study...much like a New Year's Resolution. The little kids often draw pictures. Then we open the gift "from Jesus"...it is a two sided coin. One says 'Eternal Life' and the other says 'Abundant Life'. We talk about the gifts that Jesus gives and read Luke 2.


The Christmas tree at church because its just so pretty.

It's Foto Friday, so you'll find more 'Holiday' themed pictures at Renaissance . Pin It Now!

Maestro Classics

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew,, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.


I played the violin throughout middle school and high school and I can still remember sitting in class, listening to my orchestra teacher describe the story behind the piece of classical music we were listening to. I loved how the story made the music come alive.

Maestro Classics is a company creating CDs that tell classic children's stories and combine them with beautiful classical music. On the same CD, they also educate the listener about the music they chose, the instruments played, and how it effects the story.

We received the Maestro Classic's The Tortoise and the Hare. This version stays true to the original, much-beloved tale but adds a few fun, new characters to the plot. The storyteller does a beautiful and entertaining job of portraying the characters and keeping the listener interested.

I brought this CD along with us when I had to load all seven kiddos up for a doctor's appointment on Monday. It's a 45 minute trip and I'm happy to report that the kid's were quiet, content, and entertained the entire way...even without a Nintendo DS or Gameboy!

Maestro Classics sells their CDs for $16.98 and they also offer gift sets that include picture books. Some of their other titles include Peter and the Wolf, The Story of Swan Lake, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. You can listen to samples of their award winning CDs here on their site.

And I don't know about you, but a classic tale combined with classical music is much sweeter to my ears while driving than the Mario Brother's theme song!

You'll find many more reviews of Maestro Classics from homeschool moms at the TOS Crew blog.

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Hot Topic - THE pill

Doing a little blog reading and came across this one.

Birth Control Makes Me Mad

I happen to agree.

This is certainly a touchy subject, but since complete strangers seem to feel no objection to asking me about my birth control methods...just this week, I was asked again , "Don't you know how that happens?"...I guess it just makes me a little less worried about stepping on toes.

Here are the facts that shocked me when I first found them and the reason we choose not to take the pill (and other similar forms of contraceptives).

As found on the above mentioned post:

"The quotes below are from Drugs.com. You will find the same info on nearly any birth control you search except for a simple condom. All birth control pills work this way. IUDs work this way. Implants that gradually release hormones into the bloodstream work this way.

What is Yaz? Yaz prevents ovulation (the release of an egg from an ovary) and also cause changes in your cervical and uterine lining, making it harder for sperm to reach the uterus and harder for a fertilized egg to attach to the uterus...

What is Depo-Provera? Depo-Provera is a form of progesterone, a female hormone that prevents ovulation (the release of an egg from an ovary). Depo-Provera also causes changes in your cervical mucus and uterine lining, making it harder for sperm to reach the uterus and harder for a fertilized egg to attach to the uterus...

What is Mirena? Mirena is a plastic device containing the female hormone levonorgestrel. This hormone causes changes in your cervical mucus and uterine lining, making it harder for sperm to reach the uterus and harder for a fertilized egg to attach to the uterus...

What is Norplant System (levonorgestrel intrauterine system)? Levonorgestrel is a female hormone. This hormone can cause changes in your cervical mucus and uterine lining, making it harder for sperm to reach the uterus and harder for a fertilized egg to attach to the uterus..." Pin It Now!