Organizing my bathrooms!

I’ve been on a bit of an organizing kick lately. My cabinets, throughout the house, are a mess. A big part of that has been that I just have too much stuff! However, I went on a search to find some tools to help me organize and corral all that “stuff.”  (I did throw away or move some of it during the process.)

I’m rather embarrassed to show this “before” picture. What a mess. This is Emily’s bathroom and she is supposed to keep it clean, but you can see that doesn’t happen! We had too much in here and weren’t utilizing some of the vertical space.

I found this great under sink organizer at The Container Store ($29).  Now, everything has a place!

I loved it so much that I bought one for our downstairs powder room too.

My master bathroom has two tall narrow cabinets on each side of the sinks. Again, I have a lot stored in here. It’s a nice storage area that partially makes up for the fact that I have 2 pedestal sinks and no counter space. However, there was vertical space that I wasn’t using.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the cabinets are less than 11 inches wide, it was hard to find any shelves that would fit. Again at The Container Store, I was able to find a 10” square shelf that was perfect. I also found some nice stacking organizer trays that were ideal for corralling toothpaste, make-up, soap, and band-aids. (I do a lot of couponing and sale shopping, so I often have large supplies of some items).

I love how neat everything looks now and how much extra space I have with the addition of a few shelves and stacking bins!

I was surprised to find that The Container Store had the best prices on most of the cabinet organizing shelves and bins that I bought, compared to Target and Amazon, as well as a bigger selection. Some of their products are very pricey, but there were bargains there, too.

Coming soon…kitchen cabinets!

IEW Resource Set (Schoolhouse Review)

Institute for Excellence in Writing is best known for their comprehensive writing program (reviewed by the Schoolhouse Crew earlier this year.) They also publish many other innovative products for homeschoolers. We got to try out three of IEW’s resources this month:
Timeline of Classics
Teaching with Games Set
A Word Write Now  
Timeline of Classics: Historical Context for the Good and Great Books ($29.00), by Gail Ledbetter, is an index of books, plays, recordings and movies that correlate with each period of world history from the ancients to the present. These resources are arranged in chart form, giving the year and topic (such as 1500’s, British-Spanish conflict, Armada), Title, Author, and interest level (elementary, middle, and/or high school). This type of resource can be very helpful for putting together one’s own history program, supplementing a traditional textbook curriculum with additional books, such as biographies and historical fiction, or just exploring interests in a particular topic or time period. As much as we love books, I was very happy to see other resources as well, such as Jim Hodges’ recording of G.A. Henty books and documentaries and movies for each time period. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year searching for movies to supplement our history; it will be great to have a resource with suggestions now! I’ve started looking for resources and labeling ones that our library carries in the margins.

One nice touch that the Timeline of Classics has is a quote on each page from a book from that time period.

God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? –Benjamin Franklin

I didn’t always agree with the suggested reading level of the books. I saw many that I would have deemed appropriate for early elementary ages that were classified as Elementary/Middle and elementary/ middle books that were classified as Middle/High. We all have different standards for reading material, though, and I’ve found that even picture books can pack a lot of great information into an easy-to-read format. As always, it’s best to look at a book yourself to decide if it’s a good fit for your family.

Interested in adding some fun to your school day, but don’t know where to start? The Teaching with Games Set is packed with great ideas and even ready-to-use games. The 116 page book ($19) begins by briefly explaining the advantages of using games in the classroom (or homeschool). Did you know that studies show that students retain 5% of material from a lecture, 10% from reading, and as much as 90% from immediate use and application? Those facts certainly make a good argument for hands-on learning!

The bulk of the book explains and teaches different types of learning games in these categories:

1. No-Prep games
2. Matching Card Games
3. Question Games
4. Math Facts Games
5. Make as You Teach Games

The author explains the rules and preparation needed for each game, provides blank templates for cards, Bingo, and board games, and includes many ready-to-use games. The pre-made games cover topics like math facts, world geography, planets, ancient Egypt, and geometry. But more importantly, the reader will be empowered to create her own game on any topic.

I particularly like the idea of no-prep games. These include games like hangman, and Wheel of Fortune and Pictionary adaptations. The make-as-you-teach games are even better. As the students create their own game boards for bingo or lotto games, they are learning the material. Then, they can practice the concepts again as they play the games.

Some of the games do require preparation, but still are not difficult to make and just require making flashcards or drawing out a game board.

The corresponding Teaching With Games DVD set ($29) features a conference that the author presented teaching the material in the book and demonstrating the games. It included the same material as the book, but I found it helpful to see the games in action. One disc also includes an e-book form of the Teaching With Games book and some bonus games for alliteration and similes. Some of the games do require larger groups—teams or at least 3-4 people to play. Since our homeschool has only one student, these won’t work for us, so we’re choosing from the ones that will and looking for opportunities to play games in larger groups.

This is a super simple game to practice adding and subtracting integers. Just make a number line from –10 to 10, find a marker and a die, and you are ready to play. The marker is placed on 0 and players take turns moving the number on the die (one player adds, and the other subtracts). The first player to reach “her” the end of her side of the number line wins. I wish I had thought of this game a few years ago when Emily was learning this concept. Every day, I would draw a number line at the top of her math notebook for a visual reference, because she wasn’t “seeing it” in her head. This would have helped!

We played this Jeopardy-type game with our chemistry lab group. I made question cards in four different categories with content from their chemistry book. Questions were assigned point value depending on their difficulty and students competed for the most points. This was a really fun way to review those tough concepts!

A Word Write Now: A Thesaurus for Stylized Writing ($35), by Loranna Schwacofer,  is a unique reference book. At first glance, it is an easy-to-use thesaurus. Section A includes a double page spread for each of 23 character traits: anger, cheerfulness, envy, gossip, honor, etc. Each page defines the target word and gives a quote or two about the character quality (Hostility—“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” Albert Schweitzer). Then a long list of is given (in nice big print) giving synonyms and related words for the character quality in these categories: nouns, nouns (characters), adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. And my favorite feature—excerpts from classical literature on every page. These excerpts demonstrate the featured character traits. For example, the Dishonesty page has quotes from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Although A Word Write Now stands well just as a reference book, we also used it to inspire creative writing assignments. I gave Emily one topic, like “courage,” and had her write a descriptive paragraph using at least 6 words from the list. It was fun to see what she came up with and I could tell that the list sparked her imagination in addition to encouraging her to use more descriptive and more specific words. We’ve done this creative writing assignment for several of the key words and it’s been a fun way to do creative writing.

Section B of the book is similar in format, but includes words in the categories of appearance, color, size, time, temperature, texture, and shape.

The appendix includes ideas for word games, an introduction to literary genres, and definitions and examples of literary devices. This is such a useful book that would be an great supplement to any curriculum.

All three of these resources will be helpful in our homeschool!

Koru Naturals Again! (Schoohouse Review)

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to try and to review two Koru Naturals products: Emu Oil and Lanolin Cream. I loved both and am still using them. The Emu Oil is especially wonderful—the best facial moisturizer I’ve ever used! This month, I tried out three more products by Koru Naturals:

Skin Clear Cream
Manuka Honey Propolis Soap
Emu Oil Shampoo and Emu Oil Leave-in Conditioner

Manuka Honey Propolis Soap comes in such cute beehive themed packaging! It’s a nice big bar of soap and smells absolutely wonderful. I just love beauty products that smell good and it makes me happy to use this soap every time I get a whiff! The soap is leaving my skin feeling soft and moisturized and works well for shaving my legs. I wasn’t sure what propolis was until I researched it. Propolis is a sticky resin produced by bees from the tree sap that they collect. It is thought to have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Skin Clear Cream contains Manuka Honey and East Cape Manuka Oil. Other ingredients include Kawakawa and Harakeke, Burdock Root, Thyme, and Canadian Aspen bark, chosen for their astringent, anti-inflammatory, and preservative qualities. This lotion is especially designed for clearing up acne, but is also a high quality moisturizing cream. It also has a wonderful, citrusy smell.

I was a little nervous about using this lotion, since I don’t have acne, and my skin tends toward the dry side. I thought it might be drying. However, I have found it to be very moisturizing and have used it in place of my usual lotion.

Emily has been the primary user of the Skin Clear Cream. She has oily skin and mild acne, but the Skin Clear Cream cleared up those tiny bumps immediately. She absolutely loves the cream! Actually, she loved it for the fragrance even before she tried it! I tend to think that acne needs a product to dry the skin rather than a moisturizing cream, but this has proven me wrong. It’s a really nice product, and I love that it’s natural and doesn’t contain the harsh substances found in many acne medications.

Emu Oil Shampoo and Emu Oil Leave-in Conditioner

The Emu Oil Shampoo is a little different from commercial shampoos. Because it doesn’t have all those bad-for-you ingredients, it doesn’t lather up a lot, so that took a little getting used to. It left my hair feeling “squeaky clean.” I’m not sure why, but my hair felt cleaner, somehow, with this shampoo, and less weighed down and looking thicker.

I love the idea of the conditioner. It makes sense to spray on conditioner and leave it rather than rinsing it out. It was hard to know how much to use, though, and I’m still experimenting with that. Too little conditioner, and my hair didn’t feel conditioned and soft. I was afraid to use too much, though, and end up with oily-looking hair. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to control the frizzies as well as my regular conditioner. On bad hair days, I was able to give my hair a few touch-up spritzes with the Emu Oil Leave-In Conditioner during the day, and that did help to tame the frizziness, so that’s a definite advantage to the spray-on version.

I’ve been impressed with Koru Naturals products and hope to try more of them soon. (I definitely will be ordering more of my beloved emu oil in the near future!) Other members of the Crew tried some different Koru Naturals products, so be sure to read what they have to say!

Blessed is the man…

Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth (Schoolhouse Review)

Do you enjoy beautiful nature videos? Then you will love Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth, sold at FishFlix.com. Emily loves learning about marine life, so I knew she would enjoy this video, but it even surpassed my expectations. Through beautiful cinematography, Living Waters teaches the viewer about aquatic creatures, in particular, the amazing abilities and design of dolphins, turtles, salmon, and humpback whales.

This video would appeal to a wide range of ages. Young children would enjoy watching the captivating footage of sea life, from jellyfish to whales, even though some of the narration might be beyond them. Older children through adults receive an impressive science lesson on a variety of ocean and river life. Although we watched it primarily for entertainment at this point, there is enough detailed information on anatomy and physiology to count it as an hour of credit toward a biology or marine biology course. If we were to do that, I think I would pause the video at points to let Emily copy the detailed drawings of the internal anatomy of the dolphin and whale.

Through it all, the script points to God as the Creator. By showing the viewer the incredible complexity of the navigational radar systems of dolphins (far better than anything man has been able to reproduce), and the amazing means that turtles find their way back to their hatching grounds to lay the eggs of the next generation, through magnetic imprinting, the viewer is shown that evolution based on random mutations could never produce these results. Salmon also find their way back to the place they were hatched, yet using an entirely different method. The theorized evolution of the humpback whale is discussed, and the problems with this theory pointed out. The argument for intelligent design is not over-emphasized; instead, the producers focus on the amazing complexity of nature, then point out the difficulties with random chance producing what we see.

In addition to the beautiful photography, many drawings are shown that illustrate the anatomy and physiology of these animals. It was so interesting to see and learn about the methods dolphins use to produce sound and to utilize echolocation to not only locate, but to identify, their prey and the direction and speed of its movement. I was very interested to learn that a dolphin chasing a school of fish locates and follows just one particular fish out of the hundreds of fish to be its target. Amazing!

 

Emily and I sat down to watch this video one evening, with the thought that we’d watch part of it, finishing it up another night. However, Emily insisted that she didn’t want to pause it, but wanted to watch the whole film in one sitting. I’m sure that this is one video that will be viewed over again.

Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth is currently $13.99 at FishFlix. It is the third in the Living Waters Intelligent Design DVD Design of Life series, and is preceded by the films, Flight and Metamorphosis, which were reviewed by other members of the Crew earlier this year.

Homeschool Curriculum Review Opportunity!

 

I’ve been a reviewer with the Schoolhouse Review Crew since 2009, and it has been a wonderful experience. The obvious benefit is lots of new (free) curriculum products to try out, many of which I couldn’t have afforded to purchase. In fact, for several years, most of our curriculum came for review products. Yes, being a part of the “Crew” is a big time commitment as well. Reviewers are expected to actually use the products with their children for about a month, and to write a fair, balanced (not necessarily positive) review. They are also expected to blog regularly in addition to review posts. This takes time, but I have enjoyed the process.

 

In addition to the new products to try out, I’ve made a wonderful group of friends (mostly online, but I have met several in person as well) that are a source of good advice, prayer support, and just fun to chat with. I’ve been challenged to improve my writing skills and to learn more about blogging and social media. This online support group has been an unexpected blessing.

 

Are you interested in being a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew? Applications are open now for 2016. If you are a homeschooler with an active blog and have followers, you are eligible to apply. Don’t miss the opportunity, because the application window ends on Oct. 31.  (Click on the banner to learn more.)

Progeny Press: Intro to Poetry (Schoolhouse Review)

I have used several Progeny Press study guides for literature through the years, and we have always enjoyed using them. The comprehension questions and story analysis are good either for individual work or discussion, and the vocabulary exercises, literary analysis, and essay and research ideas are ideal for rounding book studies into complete language arts units. This semester, Emily is using a guide with a somewhat different format: Introduction to Poetry. Progeny Press

Introduction to Poetry: Forms and Elements Study Guide, by Judy Cook, uses three inexpensive poetry books: 100 Best-Loved Poems, 101 Great American Poems, and Great Short Poems, (Dover Publishing), as the texts for a fairly comprehensive course of poetry study. Because this guide is divided into several units, with individual lessons covering one or several poems, the course does not need to be done all at once, but may be completed as individual parts.

 Introduction to Poetry begins with a timeline depicting the types of poetry through the years, from the Greek and Roman epics through modern poetry. Then the three main types of poetry are introduced: epic, lyric, and dramatic. Each lesson teaches a feature of poetry and has the student read and analyze one or more poems and answer questions about that feature as it relates to a particular poem.

The first part of the guide covers the elements of poetry (word choice, rhyme, meter, sounds, imagery, etc.) Part two covers the form of poetry, teaching about the sonnet, haiku, the villanelle, blank verse, ballad, free verse, etc.

Some lessons were very analytical, requiring the students to count meter or identify the rhyme scheme; other lessons required more thought about the meaning or intent of the poems. I thought that there was a nice variety of topics. Each lesson was a bit different from the last.

For example, the lesson on “words” gives the student a list of words and asks him to name  a synonym with a positive connotation and one with a negative connotation for each. Then the student reads the poems, “Richard Cory” and “Still Here,” defines terms as they are used in the context of the poems and discusses her perceptions about the characters from the word choices made by the poet. Finally, the student reads a Bible passage and compares the message with that in the two poems.

The lesson on meaning asks the student to read five different poems, mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in each, count the feet, and identify the meter (iambic, trochaic, dactylic, and anapestic) for each. Then she reads “The Destruction of Sennacharib,” by Lord Byron, finds the meter, and compares the poem to the Biblical account of the same story.

Emily would have preferred completing all the lessons independently, and the format of the study makes it easy to do that. We did some lessons orally together, though. That required us to read the poems out loud (as they are intended) and to discuss the poems. I find that Emily learns more from discussion than from just writing down a quick answer on her own.

The original Progeny Press guides we used were printed. The more recent guides have been interactive PDF’s that allow Emily to type her answers directly into the guide. She then saves it into Dropbox on her computer, which allows me to view her lessons on my own computer. So easy! We really love these interactive PDF’s!

We have almost completed the first unit of the book, Elements of Poetry. We will then take a break to do a book study and return to Introduction to Poetry next month to complete the final unit. We  found Introduction to Poetry to be a worthwhile study, one that will enrich Emily’s reading and studying of poetry in the future.

Another talented daughter

 

Last week, I shared some of my daughter Allison’s artwork. Today, I want to show off Katie’s work! Katie has a degree in Music Composition and teaches piano and violin full time. A few months ago, she branched off into songwriting and performing. She’s been performing her songs in a variety of venues in the Birmingham area and released an EP album in June. I think her music is quite impressive. Hop over to her website, www.katielott.com, and you can listen to some of it!

 

Teaching High School English

When I considered homeschooling for high school, the subject that concerned me most was English. I love to read and did read many classics in high school and college. However, I had no confidence in my ability to teach a student how to analyze literature, to understand its meaning and context, to analyze the literary elements. But I found that for English, as for the other subjects, there are several programs that will help me do that!

When Emily was in 6th or 7th grade, we reviewed Excellence in Literature. She was a bit young for the program, so we just did a couple of units, then put it aside until she was a bit older. Still, I realized that this program gave me some structure and enough guidance that I felt that teaching high school literature and analytical essays was doable. Then, I discovered Lightning Literature. It was a bit easier to use, both for me and for Emily, so that was our primary curriculum for 9th grade. In addition to comprehension questions and essay prompts, it provides explicit lessons in each unit for topics such as plot elements, conflict, rhyme, and setting that are incorporated into the writing prompts.

This year, we’re using Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide. The focus of this course is the use of conflict throughout each of the focus novels. It includes vocabulary, comprehension, writing, discussion, literary elements, and projects in each chapter.

Here are reviews I’ve written on each of these literature programs:

Lightning Literature

Illuminating Literature

Excellence in Literature

We did some grammar instruction for 9th grade, but won’t be studying grammar formally anymore. We will incorporating some vocabulary study. This year, we’re using Greek Morpheme Lessons. We’re also using The Power in Your Hands for additional writing instruction this year. I am hoping that Emily’s writing will become more polished this year and want to focus on teaching her to write well-organized essays.

As Emily begins the 10th grade, not only am I feeling confident about teaching classic literature and writing skills, I’m excited about re-visiting books that I read long ago and looking forward to finding more favorites.

Read more about High School Language Arts at these other blogs!

Carol from Home Sweet life shares Homeschooling High School- Language Arts (&History!)

Leah from As We Walk Along the Road shares Teaching Language Arts in High School: Curriculum and Activity Choices

Tess from Circling Through This Life shares Teaching High School Language Arts: Resources

Michele from Family, Faith and Fridays shares Language Arts

Wendy from Life at Rossmont shares Highschool Language Arts

Erica from Be the One shares Language Arts Resources

Kym  from Homeschool Coffee Break shares History in the Form of Stories

Gena from I Choose Joy shares Homeschool High School: Using Socratic Discussion for Literature Studies

Laura from Day by Day in Our World shares How to Teach High School Language Arts Without Tears

Middlebury Spanish (Schoolhouse Review)

Last year, Emily took the Middlebury High School Spanish I Course. She enjoyed this course and learned a lot, so we were happy to have the opportunity this month to review the Middlebury Interactive Languages Spanish II Course. Foreign languages are one area in which students really need outside help if there isn’t a native speaker in the home. Certainly, a classroom, or better yet, a private tutor would be ideal for learning languages, but homeschoolers can’t necessarily afford, or even have the opportunity to learn languages in this way. We’ve tried various Spanish programs and have found online programs to be a good choice for good instruction in a cost-effective manner. With Middlebury Interactive Languages, Emily is able to listen to a native speaker (which is not typically the case in school classrooms), receive immediate feedback for her lessons, and review lessons as many times as needed.

Each Middlebury Spanish II Unit is 5 days long and includes vocabulary, grammar instruction, culture lessons, listening, speaking, and writing practice.  Days 3 and 4 include quizzes, and day 5 consists of a unit test and a writing or speaking test.  There are 18 units in a semester, so it is necessary for the student to complete a lesson every day in order to complete the course in a timely manner. Emily was able to complete lessons in 30-60 minutes, though, so keeping up wasn’t a problem.

Middlebury offers a fairly traditional approach for language learning. The early lessons teach basic vocabulary and phrases along with basic grammar concepts, such as present tense conjugation, proper use of adjectives, word order, etc. Listening, speaking, and writing activities all reinforce the grammar and vocabulary for each lesson. (Middlebury also offers an immersive curriculum, which may vary in presentation—I haven’t seen that one.) By the start of Spanish II, all of the instructions are in Spanish (although there is fortunately a translation icon), and the speech is quite rapid.

Activities include:

• Matching pictures with vocabulary.
• Matching full sentences with the corresponding picture.
• Repeating words and sentences in Spanish.
• Writing out paragraphs that use the key grammar and vocabulary from the unit in response to a prompt.
• Recording responses to a prompt.
• Listening to a recorded sentence and putting the scrambled print words in the correct order.
• Filling blanks in sentence with properly conjugated verbs.

Our experience: Emily is finding Spanish II quite challenging. Last year, she completed Spanish I, semester I, then used some other Spanish materials, so I thought she would be ready for Spanish II. She’s doing well, but it is definitely stretching her abilities! Right now, she’s working on memorizing the irregular forms of the preterite tense. There are several different activities to help her practice this, but it is a lot to cover in a week or two. She has complained that the speech is too fast and it does, indeed, seem very rapid for Spanish learners. Fortunately, she is able to listen to the sentences and longer narratives over and over as she tries to pick out words. (It’s kind of fun to see her hunched close to the computer listening intently!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two forms of Middlebury Language Programs: Without teacher ($119 per semester) and With Teacher ($294). We used the No Teacher option and found that there were a few features lacking, since it seems to be designed to have one of their teachers checking work. While most assignments are checked by the computer, some, such as writing assignments and recordings, are sent to a “to be graded” folder. While I could see the written assignments and give them a grade myself if I chose, there was no way to mark that grade to be included in Middlebury’s grading calculations. Also, some of Emily’s recorded assignments didn’t save. They were marked as completed, but her recorded speech was not there for me to listen to later. Despite these little glitches, Middlebury Spanish is a very solid program. I feel that Emily is making a lot of progress in vocabulary, grammar, and in listening comprehension.

Changes I would love to see:

• A parent log-in that allows the parent to reset lessons and tests if the student needs more practice and that allows the parent to assign a grade for the teacher-graded assignments.
• The interface is a little strange. Upon opening the program, the user sees a calendar with lessons scheduled and may click on those lessons to open them. However, the lessons were pre-scheduled, beginning before we even had access to the program and offered no days off, so the dates were all inaccurate for where we were in the program. There was no way for me to change this. I would have loved to be able to adjust the calendar myself. This didn’t affect our use of the program at all, but I’d rather not see a calendar at all than one that showed Emily to be continually behind schedule.  Lessons are also accessible from the Table of Contents tab, which is what we generally used.

Overall, this is my favorite language program of the many that we’ve tried because it is enjoyable, comprehensive, and follows a traditional enough scope and sequence that I feel comfortable giving high school credit for it and trusting that Emily could transfer into a classroom or eventually a college class and be on track. Emily is enjoying the course and it’s usually the first assignment she completes each day.