Skating in the Park

Our city opens an outdoor skating rink each year during the holiday season. This year, my three girls and I tried it out and found it to be a lot of fun! The rink was smaller and more crowded than the indoor rink, but the atmosphere was great. The air was 50 degrees, so it was quite pleasant. I even got too warm to wear my jacket after a while. As it became dark, we were able to see the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree display nearby in the park. I think this will become a new annual holiday tradition!

If He Had Not Come (Review)

If He Had Not Come, by Nan F. Weeks and David Nicholson, is a sweet Christmas story that is sure to be enjoyed by all ages. The story was originally written in 1938 by Ms. Weeks, and has been republished by Nicholson, who added illustrations and devotional material.

The premise of the story is that a little boy, Bobby, reads the words, “if I had not come,” from John 15:22 before bed. He then dreams of a world that has never known Jesus, a world with no churches, no Christian hospitals or homeless ministries, a world that exhibits little kindness or compassion.

I enjoyed reading this book with my daughter. We’ve read many Christmas-themed books, but this stands out with its unique plot.My teen enjoyed the book too, so this isn’t just a story for young children, although young children would certainly enjoy it. We read the book and discussed the “interactive topics” and “going deeper” questions one night for our advent devotional time, discussing all the ways we thought our world and our lives would be different if Jesus had not come to earth. The illustrations are sweet and old-fashioned, suitable for a book that is set in the 1930’s.

I read the Kindle format of the story, but would recommend the print version. On my 8.9” Kindle Fire, the pictures were very small. If I held the Fire vertically, the pictures were on a separate page from the accompanying text. In landscape, 2-page view the pictures were on the facing page, but not full-page size as I would have expected.

Other than the formatting oddities, I do recommend If He Had Not Come, and we will certainly read it again next Christmas.

I received this book free in exchange for my honest review from BookLook Bloggers.

Christmas

We just concluded a wonderful Christmas week. Both of my older girls were home for the whole week, and John Michael, who lives in town came over several times. Allison’s boyfriend, James, was also here for most of the week. It was wonderful to have all my family home at the same time!

On Christmas morning, Allison made us Eggs Benedict. Yum! It’s such a treat to have someone else cook!

Everyone was slow to rise, and by the time we’d finished breakfast, it was well after 10:00. We opened stockings, then gathered in the living room for presents.

The after mess!

We went to my parents’ house in the afternoon for a delicious ham dinner.

I am so blessed to have my wonderful family. My heart is full.

Cherry Bon Bon Cookies

This is a recipe that we make every year for Christmas. It’s one on our all-time favorites, and also makes a pretty and delicious gift. We always double or triple the recipe.

Cherry Bon Bon Cookies

Mix:  1/2 c. butter

          3/4 c. powdered sugar

          1 tsp. vanilla

           1 1/2 c. flour

           1-2 Tbsp. water

Drain  a 10 oz. jar of maraschino cherries and spread cherries to dry on a paper towel.

Roll dough into balls, flatten, then wrap each piece of dough around a cherry. Bake at 350 until set, but not brown (12-15 min.).

After cookies have cooled somewhat, dip into thinned green icing and set out until frosting has hardened.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com SALE

I’ve shared before how much I love SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This site includes a wealth of teaching resources and lessons, including homeschool planners, complete courses, supplements. I’ve especially enjoyed using the literature and writing lessons, but your child could study marine biology, sign language, or architecture. Looking for ideas for hands-on science activities or art instruction? You’ll find that here too.

Right now, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is running a sale until Christmas with up to 50% off membership rates, so it’s a great time to try it out!

Many  members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have written reviews this month, so you can find out more before you commit!

Mermaid Crazy

I have been so so so busy for the past few weeks making mermaid costumes. This is my first time to be on the retailer end of the Christmas rush and it has been crazy! Lots of  little girls are asking Santa for mermaid tails this year!

I’m still trying to carve out some time each week to spend on Christmas baking and “fun” activities. We went to an ice skating show last weekend that one of Emily’s friends skated in and I’ll be hosting a church youth group party at our home next week.  Both of my “big” girls will be home for the week of Christmas, so I do plan to close up the “mermaid shop,”  relax, and take some time enjoy my family by next weekend.

Biology Lab—Mitosis and Meiosis

Last week for biology lab class, I brought out the Play-Doh  and had the students reenact the processes of mitosis and meiosis with the dough “chromosomes” and paper “cells”. Hands-on activities seem to engage them well and help them understand the material better. I’m glad I had the Play-Doh inspiration!

Forming chromosome duplicates

Cell Division during Mitosis

Then we took out the microscope and identified and drew phases of mitosis in Ascaris cells. They looked briefly at the Allium root tip cell slide, but we ran of out time, so they didn’t draw those cells.

We’ll be taking a break until January. The students will skip ahead and do Module 9 (Evolution) on their own since there are no experiments in that chapter. In January, we’ll learn about Genetics and do some fruit fly genetics experiments.

Big Sale at Currclick

Save up to 70% at Currclick for Cyber Monday. This great sale begins on Dec. 1 and continues until December 14. I always love Currclick’s sales. They’re great opportunities to stock up on downloadable products for now or the future.

Don’t miss the Doorbuster Deals….up to 94% off on Monday only, from 9:00am to 3:00pm CST.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful day with a huge group of family—my parents, 3 sisters and husbands, 3 of my 4 children, 12 nieces and nephews and a few extras! I’m so thankful that we had this opportunity to fellowship together (and that I have a family that all get along wonderfully).  I’m also thankful for my sister, who is brave enough to host a group this big!

Hoping that you all had a wonderful day!

Biology Lab: Learning about DNA

Last week’s biology lesson was about DNA and the role it plays in the manufacture of proteins in cells. First, we did an experiment to extract DNA from dried peas. The students

1. Blended 1/2 c. dried peas with 1 c. water and 1/4 t. salt in a blender.
2. Strained the pea residue and mixed 2 T. clear hand soap with the pureed peas and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. (The soap dissolves the phospholipids in the plasma membranes of the cells, allowing the DNA and other cell contents to escape.)
3. Stirred in 1/4 t. of meat tenderizer. (Meat tenderizer dissolves the proteins that coat the DNA, exposing the strands of DNA. 
4. Poured rubbing alcohol on top.
5. Watched and waited as stringy strands of DNA formed and moved into the alcohol layer.

This was fun to do. It’s pretty amazing knowing that we could cause DNA to clump together in large enough strands to see. The results weren’t as impressive as I’d hoped, though. A few years ago, we extracted DNA from a tomato and the results were more formed and stringier. The students hypothesized about why the DNA clumps didn’t form as well as expected—possibly because the dish soap was under-measured.

Then we did an activity to help the students learn the very complex process of protein synthesis. The students acted out the process using paper models of DNA, messenger RNA, transfer RNA and amino acids. I think they all ended up with a better understanding of the process in which the DNA in the nucleus conveys the instructions for the RNA in the ribosomes to manufacture different types of proteins.  Hands-on activities can be so helpful in understanding difficult concepts!

Homeschool Product Reviews: Blue Ribbon Awards

I blogged about my favorite Schoolhouse reviews last year. Wondering what the other 200 reviewers judged the best products of the year? We all voted for our favorites in a variety of categories and the results are posted on the Crew blog. (Just click the banner!)  You’re sure to find some great ideas for curricula to use in your home school!

Wrapping Up Another Crew Year

The Schoolhouse Review Crew is wrapping up another year. As I’m looking forward to a six-week break from my review responsibilities, I’ve been looking back at the last wonderful year and all the great products that Emily and I got to try out in our homeschool.

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but some of our top choices for favorite are:

Mango Languages:  With over 60 languages to choose from, we are a bit boring to focus on Spanish, but this online program has been a fun way to learn (for both of us)!

Middlebury Languages: Yes, another language program. This is the first subject Emily chooses to do each day. She loves this program and is learning a lot.

Moving Beyond the Page:  This high-quality hands-on, literature-based program encourages critical thinking skills.

Homeschool Piano: Another program that Emily and I are BOTH using. I love the way improvisational skills are taught along with basic music theory. It’s just fun!

Artistic Pursuits’ new sculpture programs are such fun!

If you like hands-on learning, Supercharged Science can’t be beat!

I was surprised by how much Emily enjoyed Veritas Press’s Omnibus 1. This very meaty program covers ancient literature and history.

Standard Deviants Accelerate has been a fun way to learn and review high school level subjects.

There are so many more products that we loved—too many to list. I feel very blessed to be able to use all these different curricula in our homeschool.

 

If you are a blogger and would like the opportunity to review for the Schoolhouse Review Crew, there is an opportunity right now to apply for next year’s review team.

The Edible Cell Project

This week, I got to witness the creativity of my biology students as they brought in their “edible cell” projects. They were instructed to design a cell model from any type of edible materials. We had pizza cells, jello cells and cookie and cake cells. Every one was different, and most of them were delicious! 

The students were instructed to label every part of their cell—some had tags right in the cell, and some had keys to identify the organelles.

The students voted to decide which of the cells were most attractive, most accurate, and most disgusting. They were all great, though!

Most Attractive Cell

Most Accurate Cell

!

Most Disgusting Cell!

Snake Oil Game (Schoolhouse Review)

Our family loves games, so we were happy to have the opportunity to try out Snake Oil ($19.99), by Out of the Box Games. Snake Oil is for 3 to 10 players, ages 10 and up.

The premise of Snake Oil is that you are a salesman, trying to create convincing sales pitches for unusual products. One player is the “customer,” and draws a customer card. Each card actually has a customer type on each side of the card and the player can choose which type of customer he would like to be for that round. The options are varied and fun, including a babysitter, a hunter, a super hero, a witch, caveman, and hostage.

 

The other players are all salesmen and choose 2 cards from their hands to create a unique product that might appeal to the target customer. Can you convince a teenager that she needs some “fashion glue—perfect for repairing those fashion emergencies such as torn hems or slipping straps?” Or a babysitter that she needs a “child cage” for those especially difficult children, or maybe for any lazy sitter? 

 

The customer chooses the product (and presentation) that he likes the best and that salesman is awarded the customer card. We’ve really enjoyed playing this lively and imaginative game. We pulled it out when Katie, our resident “drama queen” was home for the weekend and had lots of laughs and for-fun arguments about our “valuable and unique” products. Emily even had a real-life lesson about how putting down another product or interrupting another salesman’s presentation did NOT help her sell her own item. 

The game is supposed to end after each player has a turn to be customer, but that was much too short for our group of three players. We played until we’d each had three or four turns as customer. I do really like that the game time is open ended—you could play for a certain time period, until one player earns a specified number or cards, or just until you are tired of playing. It’s really nice to have a game that can be played in 15 minutes or stretched out to an hour, depending on the situation. It’s also great for spurring imaginative thinking and improving communication skills.

There are four decks of product cards. We haven’t even opened two of them and have used fewer than half of the cards in the opened decks in several game plays. Furthermore, the cards can be combined in thousands of ways, so this is not a game (like a few we have owned) where you will run through the cards in a few games and need to buy replacement decks, retire the game, or wait for a year until you’ve forgot what’s one the cards. There are fewer customer cards, but that’s no problem—there are LOTS of items that a particular customer might love to “buy.”

We’ve played the game several times with just three players, but I think it would be even more fun with 5 or 6 players. The competitions would be even livelier and we will be sure to pull the game out next time we have a bigger crowd here. I also plan to send it with Emily to youth group sometime.   

I do wish the game had come in a standard game box with a top lid. Instead, it has a side-opening box with a pull-out plastic tray, which is awkward to use and just seems like the manufacturers sacrificed quality to save a few cents.

Other than this slight nuisance, we do love the game!

 

 

Purposeful Design (Schoolhouse Review)

We tend to take our amazing world for granted, yet when we stop and really notice how incredible creation is, it is so obvious that it all comes from God’s Purposeful Design.

Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation ($18.95), by Jay Schabacker, is a beautiful book that describes and explains the science behind the wonders of creation, directing the reader’s attention to the Creator and His amazing creation. This book appeals to all ages, although the reading level and scientific concepts addressed are probably best suited for upper elementary  and middle school aged children.

The seven chapters in the book each focus on one day of creation.

• Chapter 1: The First Day, Creation of the Heavens and the Earth tells the reader what the Bible says, then discusses the solar system, the application of the second law of thermodynamics to the movement of the planets, and explains that the universe is orderly, that the rules of nature do not change.
• Chapter 2: The Second Day, Creation of the Atmosphere and Water explains the rain cycle and discusses how the fact that 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water creates an atmosphere perfect for life.
• Chapter 3: The Third Day, Creation of the Dry Land and Vegetation tells about the various uses of vegetation.
• Chapter 4: The Fourth Day, Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars explains the seasons and how they are created, the orderly daily changes in sunrise and sunset times, the phases of the moon, tilt of the earth, and ocean tides.
• Chapter 5: The Fifth Day, Creation of the Birds and Fish and The Sixth Day, Creation of Land Creatures and Humans discusses the amazing design of these living creatures, how each is perfectly made for its own environment, and how they live in symbiotic relationships with each other. Many pages are devoted to the amazing design of the human body.
• Chapter 7: The Seventh Day reminds the reader for the need for rest and for giving honor to our creator.

This is a wonderful book—part theology, part science—all on an interest and comprehension level for children, but still containing a great deal of scientific information that is fascinating for all ages. The colorful photos and drawings make it ideal for a coffee table book to pick up and glance through for a few minutes, or to use as more serious study.

To make this beautiful book even better, there is a “Young Explorer’s Club” free  PDF curriculum available from Purposeful Design with questions reviewing the scientific concepts for each chapter, scripture verses for reflection, and faith application questions for each chapter. I had Emily work through this workbook and thought it was an excellent way to review and encourage her to further apply the lessons in the book. This definitely would be a great science/Bible program for an elementary or middle school student.

As soon as this book arrived, Emily disappeared with it. She told me that it was very interesting, and taught her many facts that she hadn’t known. She also commented that she enjoyed the study guide because it asked for her opinions instead of being a multiple choice format. I didn’t even have a chance to look through it myself until she was finished with it! I gave her 2 weeks of Bible study credit for reading the book and doing the study guide, but she would have been happy to read and study it just for fun. I think this will be a book that is read over and over many times.

IXL (Schoolhouse Review)

We have been using the math portion of  IXL for a few years. We’ve tried out quite a few online math programs, but I keep coming back to IXL Math as my favorite math practice program, so I was thrilled to be able to review it again in exchange for another year’s subscription.

Until now, we hadn’t tried out IXL Language Arts. It’s a newer aspect of the IXL site and until very recently, there weren’t practice activities for older students. However, language arts activities are now available for second through eighth grades, so Emily (ninth grade) was able to give language arts a try as well.

IXL Math includes practice problems for Pre-K level all the way through pre-calculus. The scope and sequence is extremely thorough, including as many as 309 different skills per grade level. Emily has been working in the Algebra level, which is more thorough than her textbook! That said, it is still a practice program. Students are able to see explanations and worked-out solutions for problems that they miss, but no initial teaching is provided prior to beginning a section.

A subscription offers access to all levels of the program, so a student is able to skip from one level to another at any time. Emily is studying geometry this year, but I have her working in algebra in IXL for review. At any point, she can choose to practice a geometry skill, or even a basic math skill from a lower level. That’s an advantage over some programs that keep the student locked into a particular level.

Upon sign in, you pick your grade level….

Then you choose a topic to practice. Topics that have been attempted or mastered have a score and/or medal beside them.

As you answer questions correctly your “smart score” goes up. If you make a mistake, your smart score goes down. A score of 100 earns a medal. Virtual prizes are earned for mastering skill areas and for practice time. Emily didn’t care about this, but enjoyed this feature when she was younger.

If a mistake is made, the student can see an explanation.

IXL Language Arts works the same way. The eighth grade level covers a wide variety of topics—punctuation, parts of speech, clauses, Greek and Latin roots, reference skills, figurative language, and much more. By spending just 10-15 minutes a day on IXL language arts, Emily is able to review or practice her grammar and vocabulary skills. The nature of the program doesn’t allow it to teach the aspects of  language arts that I consider most important—literature and writing, but it is a great tool for covering the mechanics of language.

The reports section of IXL is amazing, allowing the parent to see how much time the child spends practicing in a day, week, or month, which areas were practiced, improvement over time, and smart scores for every topic.

 

I think that IXL is engaging, enjoyable, and comprehensive. It is an important part of our curriculum and is a great homeschool or after-school supplement.

IXL is $9.95 a month/$79 a year for one subject or $15.95 a month/ $129 a year for both math and language arts. Additional students in a family are an additional $2/month or $20/year.