2012

Happy Birthday to My Birthday Girl!! {Thoughts From Me}

April 11, 2012 by Dana

April 8, 2012

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby Laycie. She’s 4 year’s old today. I can hardly believe it. Time has passed so quickly.

It seems like just yesterday I was being prepped for surgery in anticipation of seeing her precious little face for the first time. Due to complications, I was put to sleep and the first time I saw her face was in a photo. She had thick dark hair and a scrunched up baby face. Within an hour, I was holding her tiny body in my arms loving on my sweet girl. It was as if we’d never been apart.

The first time Emmalee saw Laycie, she told me “Mommy, she’s our Angel”. And she surely has been. She is a true blessing to each of us and fills our heart with Joy every single day. She is the sweetest little girl I know. She’s thoughtful and fun and filled with God’s light. A precious gift of God.

The older she gets, the more her personality shows and it is such a strong and triumphant personality. She has strong opinions and a strength to overcome so much in life. Nothing seems to get her down. She loves everyone, loves to ask questions, sing, dance and read. She has a hard time choosing between Mommy and Daddy’s girl and that’s just fine with us.

She loves playing outdoors, riding in Daddy’s truck helping him do whatever he needs, getting dirty, and looking for life at the pond with Mommy or Daddy of course! I fully expect she’ll be a logger just like her Daddy and Grumpy when she grows up though Daddy wishes a different life for her.

She’s definitely no longer a baby and my Mommy heart is a bit sad to say goodbye to her little days though I am overjoyed to watch her become a little lady a little more each day. God blessed me with each one of my children and my Laycie is certainly a blessing to everyone she comes in contact with. She is a true gift from God and I could never imagine life without her!

So on her 4th birthday, I send my little girl lots of love and joy, just as she’s given to me. I pray for her to grow into the young lady God wishes for her to be and she seems to be well on her way.

TruthQuest History – American History Vol 1 {Crew Review}

April 11, 2012 by Dana

TruthQuest History may be one of my favorite history programs ever! This curriculum is written in a completely understandable way with lots of fun activities and book suggestions included. Written with a Christian perspective, TruthQuest History is a wonderful addition for any homeschool.

For this review, we reviewed TruthQuest American History for Young Students Volume 1: Exploration – 1800 . This volume is available in both print for $24.95 and PDF file for $19.95. Optional companion resources are also available to use with this and most volumes of TruthQuest History curriculum.

We really enjoyed using this particular book in the TruthQuest series. We had many of the suggested books to use on hand either in our home library or available from our local county library. Suggested spines to go along with this particular book are Story of the Thirteen Colonies and Story of the Great Republic by H.A. Guerber, as well as This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall. Also suggested are From Sea to Shining Sea for Children by Peter Marshall and Daniel Manuel, Light and the Glory for Children by Peter Marshall and Daniel Manuel, and Story of the World Volume 3 by Susan Wise Bauer – all three of which we already have in our homeschool library.

As already mentioned, this book covers American History from beginning exploration through the 1800’s. After a brief explanation on how to use the program, the book then dives into history chapter by chapter providing extensive information on different subjects throughout America’s history. From the Discovery of America, to the lost colony, to Jamestown, to George Washington, our countries’ historical wars, and much more are all included in the pages of this book.

Each chapter is set up with a brief introduction to the topic at hand, often providing a ThinkWrite topic to broaden your students subject interest. Then the chapter provides a break down of books that are suggested for reading, allowing a large selection to pick and choose from, followed by suggested activities to assist in better understanding the information covered on the topic. Audio and video suggestions are made where fitting for use to broaden the subject even more. At the end of the book is a list of all materials suggested to use with the program in alphabetical order so that you may prepare for the program ahead of schedule as needed. There is also an appendix listing the ThinkWrite suggestions found throughout the curriculum so they can also be prepared for ahead of time.

This curriculum is a wonderful program for any homeschool to use, teaching History through books and not just facts. The suggestions are wholesome and show strong Christian value while thoroughly covering each topic at hand. TruthQuest History can be purchased online through various vendors or on their website at www.truthquesthistory.com. For more reviews of this curriculum, please visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew on the blog!

Disclaimer- This volume of TruthQuest History was provided by the publisher, as well as the TOS Homeschool Review crew, for free in exchange for my honest opinion on the curriculum as used in my home. No money was exchanged in the process of this review.

Amazing Animals By Design {Crew Review}

April 5, 2012 by Dana

In the book, Amazing Animals by Design by Debra Haagen, John and Sarah take a trip to the zoo to learn about the Amazing Animals there. They quickly learn that every animal is created in God’s design for his purpose. From elephants to giraffes to zebras, every animal is made especially for God’s plan.

This wonderful book, written by Debra Haagen from The Old Schoolhouse’s Homeschool Review Crew, provides answers to many of the questions children often ask about animals in relation to God’s reasoning. Taking her direction from the many animals at some of the top American zoo’s, Mrs. Haagen provides an interesting and educational story that children in grade pre-k through 3rd will greatly enjoy.

Amazing Animals by Design is currently available as an eBook, PDF file, for $7.99 or in Paperback for $8.99. It can be purchased online or at your local bookstore. To learn more about this book please visit www.AmazingAnimals.blogspot.com. For more reviews of this book, please visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew.

*Disclaimer – An ebook copy of Amazing Animals by Design was provided to me FREE for review by Debra Haagen and The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion provided in a blog post on my blog.

Tuesday’s For Us {Epilepsy Awareness}

April 3, 2012 by Dana

Our weeks are always filled with busy-ness but Tuesdays are generally our busiest days since we have to get up earlier than our normal days for therapy. Generally, our weekdays start at 8:30 – 9 am and I let my kids sleep until they wake up. On Tuesdays, we must be up by 8 am to make it to therapy on time. This is perfectly fine for my early-riser son but my sleepy-headed girls don’t like it any more than I do.

So we drag ourselves about our Tuesday mornings getting ready, making sure Laycie has her medicine, finding shoes and socks, then heading out the door to drop Winston off at Maa-Maa’s, and then heading to our destination at our pediatric therapy. Speech, physical and occupational for Laycie and physical for Emmalee. The girls enjoy this time a lot and I appreciate that they do since they need the extra help to correct differing issues for each of them.

After therapy we often run our town errands. Today was picking up a photo, shower curtain and groceries. Then we head back home to retrieve our darling brother, spend a little time visiting and back home to get whatever needs done, done.

Seriously, just thinking about our Tuesday’s tires me out!! I truly think the pregnancy fatigue doesn’t help though. Tuesday afternoons are generally filled with educational videos or books and lots of play since we don’t have a lot of time left in the day. Sometimes Laycie and I will catch a quick nap, depending on how tired she is after her therapy.

The rest of the week is spent slowly, just like we like it, with no early-rising (except for Winston, of course – but he enjoys his morning alone time) and going through the day as it comes up. Activities for school are completed as scheduled and fun play happens as we find time during the week.

So all of that said, I find today was a rather long Tuesday for me, probably because I couldn’t sleep last night and had to rise early today. Bedtime will come sooner rather than later and hopefully I will make up for last night’s lack of rest.

How did you spend your Tuesday??

I See Sam {Crew Review}

March 30, 2012 by Dana

For this review, we were provided set 1 and 2 of Academic Success for All Learners’ I See Sam’s Little Books. I personally chose these two sets for both my struggling reader and my upcoming reader to use. The stories were wonderfully simple enough for my struggling reader to read to his little sister.

The Little Books program is a sequence of 141 color coded books in 8 sets from Kindergarten to 3.6 grade level of reading. Each separate set contains 27 books. The book sets are correlated for Core Curriculum and the No Child Left Behind mandates. Every book builds upon the previous books in the series to create a balanced reading program for children.

These book sets are printed in black and white but filled with lots of interesting pictures, as well as many Dolch words which my struggling reader greatly needs practice in. The books encourage improvement in phonemic awareness, comprehension and fluency in reading. They definitely helped improve my son’s confidence in reading and we truly loved reviewing these book sets in our home.

These books can be used individually or in a group setting by teachers, parents, older peers and more. Each set of I See Sam’s Little Books cost $30. You can purchase these book sets from Academic Success for All Learners online at www.iseesam.com. For more reviews of this product please visit the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog!

*Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free for review by Academic Success and the TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog post review of this product.

Action Alert {Crew Review}

March 26, 2012 by Dana

Action Alert is a downloadable safety program protecting children from online dangers while using the computer. This program has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show and has won multiple awards for it’s easy to use, protective programming.

Action Alert has two versions available: a free download for immediate use and the Maximum Protection download for the ultimate online protection for your children. This program allows remote access, allowing you to monitor computer usage from your phone when you are away from home, as well as shutting down your computers system if inappropriate access is found. Activity alerts are also programmed to be sent to your phone or email as you see fit. Video recording is available with this program so that you can see who is using your computer and what is going on while you are away from home.

Site blocking, content filtering, keystroke logging, time allowance and email and chat logging are also provided with this program. These things combined allow parents to protect their children from the online dangers of today such as sexual predators, inappropriate behaviors and sexting, over sharing, gaming addictions and much more.

Action Alert can be purchased and downloaded from their website for FREE download or $29.99 for the Maximum Protection program. To read more reviews of Action Alert please visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew Blog.

*Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free in exchange for my honest opinion shared in a blog post by Action and Alert and the TOS Homeschool Review Crew.