2013

Memoria Press: Geography I {Crew Review}

June 17, 2013 by Dana

Memoria Press has been creating Classical Christian Educational materials for Western Civilization since 1994. Their products focus upon simplicity, affordability and quality and are designed with flexibility in mind for homeschooling families who know little about the subjects they are learning about. Memoria Press products provide high academic standards for learning.

For this review, The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew was offered a choice between Memoria Press’ Prima Latina and Geography I. I chose Geography I for us because it was more fitting to the ages of my children. It is also a current interest in our home education.

Geography I arrived boxed nicely together in a few weeks. Our box contained a teacher’s guide, student text and student workbook for Geography I and a Teacher’s Key and Student Workbook for the United States. The set is soft-covered with crisp white pages inside. Most of the print is black line master.

Geography I’s teacher guide contains the answers to all of the questions through the Geography I Student Workbook. In the back of this book are quiz and tests for review of the lessons learned. There is no other lesson information in this guide aside from the answers to the questions and the quiz and tests provided in the back.

Geography I’s student text covers The Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The student text breaks each of these continents down into countries. As you work through the text, the student learns a little about each continent. They learn first the Story of the Land which tells the history of the land. Then they learn the Land of the Story which tells specifically about the land itself. Each section also includes Fast Facts to tell you quick facts about the area.

Each of the continents is broken into countries. Each countries page tells the student about the history of that country and then tells what the country is like today. There are also Fast Facts included for each of these countries, as well as a picture of the area, a flag to color in and a map on the opposite page showing the country and area covered. This repeats for every country and continent shared in this text.

At the end of the Student Text is a colorized section of country flags for review and also to help the student know what color to color the flag for the country they are currently learning about. Lessons are approximately two pages long, though they are thorough on information provided about each continent and country.

The Student Workbook is where the work is at. In the workbook, students must identify and label the countries on the continent maps. They must break each country down, sharing capitals and facts. This is repeated for each continent and country covered through Geography I.

The United States set is a review for students learning in Geography I. Just like the Geography I teacher’s guide, the United States teacher’s guide provides the answers to the student workbook and also quiz and tests through the back of the book. There is no lesson guide provided in either of these teacher guides. Lessons are provided through the accompanying workbooks and student texts.

The United States Student Workbook is a States and Capitals Review text. In this workbook, students will review the states and capitals of all of the United States. These are broken down into regions to make the review easier for the student. There is a United States map as a whole included in the front of the workbook.

These books work together to provide a full curriculum for Geography I. Depending upon the teacher and student, this curriculum could be covered in a matter of weeks to a year. The lessons are not long and can be completed quickly and easily. Review expectations were for us to use this curriculum 3-4 times a week through the review, which allowed us to cover much of the curriculum before the review period ended.

Geography I is for students in grades 4-8. My students that used this curriculum were ages 10 and 12. I also did work with my 5 year old, allowing her to listen while we read through the country and continent information and providing her maps to color as we learned about each country.

We enjoyed using Memoria Press’ Geography I in our lessons because the lessons themselves were not long and the information we learned was just the right amount as to not be overwhelming each day we worked on them. Our lesson week began with discussion of the continent and completing the workbook pages to go with it. Then we worked through countries, taking our time to learn more by looking them up online and checking the news to see if they were mentioned recently. After doing this research, the kids were left to complete their worksheets for lesson. I placed the worksheet into dry erase covers so they could both complete the necessary worksheets for this curriculum.

Memoria Press offers Geography I as a part of their 4th Grade Curriculum. It can be purchased as the 4th Grade Geography set for $48.00 plus shipping. This set includes the Geography I teachers guide, student text, and student workbook, along with the United States States and Capitals Review teacher’s guide and student workbook. Geography I covers The Middle East, North Africa and Europe in the text. To view more curriculum from Memoria Press, please visit their website!

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Educating the Small {Homeschooling}

June 15, 2013 by Dana

Children are amazing. They can hear the quietest whispers. They can smell things that we sometimes miss. They absorb the smallest details of everything.

God gave them these sensitivities for one reason: to learn. It’s a fact that children will learn regardless of how they are educated. They will soak up knowledge from everything that surrounds them.

Educational experts today will tell you that children should begin to learn as soon as possible. This is true. They should. But not through text books and forced education in a building that allows them no experience with the real world. Children should be presented with experiences that allow their minds to broaden and feel and exist in the world that was created especially for their senses to be developed in.

From the day we are born, we are learning. We look around and take in everything that we see, touch, feel, hear and taste. We learn from these things.

If something tastes bad or gives us a shock when our tongue touches it, we learn not to taste or do that again. If something hurts when we touch it, we learn not to touch it again. If something is loud when we drop it, we try not to drop it again. As the opposite if it feels soft, we want to touch it. If it tastes good, we want to eat all that is offered and then some. All learning experiences.

Today’s world is indoctrinated into believing that from birth, children must be prepared for schooling. What is missed is that children are already learning. Worksheets and a teacher standing at a blackboard are not necessary for education. Neither is a room filled with one to two adults and approximately 30 children.

What is needed, in my opinion, is a person that will allow a child to experience the wonderful things the world has to offer. The experiences that God intended for children to have in His world. A field trip to the park to beach to play in the sand and collect shells to count. A walk down the road to pick up pine cones and see what birds are flying by. Even examining a puddle after the rain can bring about a learning experience that a child won’t soon forget.

These are experiences my children and I have every day through homeschool education. Yes, we are lucky to be able to enjoy these things. Maybe you could too? Stop thinking about the educational path that society wants for children and begin to look at all the educational things to enjoy while they are still young and with you. Children grow up too fast to waste time doing anything else.

Birdcage Press – Art Up Close: Museum of Modern Art {Crew Review}

June 14, 2013 by Dana

Birdcage Press specializes in unique books and games for children. Brilliant museum-quality images are presented on every product, allowing children to learn about some of the greatest creatures and works of art in the world. The award winning products at Birdcage Press are unforgettable.

The Schoolhouse Review crew was given their choice of products from Birdcage Press to use for this review. Games containing photos of great works of art, animals and Ancient Egypt were available for choice. Each game allowing a different form of play and lessons unique to itself.

I personally chose Art Up Close: The Museum of Modern Art for our review product. I thought my oldest daughter would greatly enjoy this particular game. Since she wants to be an artist, I thought this game would be a great way to introduce her to different artists and artworks that we may miss normally. Needless to say, she really loved viewing each of the cards during this review period.

Art Up Close is thus named because the game presents the cards as the “normal” art piece complete with the Artist’s name, the pieces name, and the year created. The accompanying card match shows an up close piece of the artwork which allows the player to see more detail in the artwork. It also makes the player think about the details to figure out which piece of art the up close piece belongs to.

Art Up Close can be played as a game in 5 different ways. You can play memory with them, where the players match the cards to create pairs in order to finish the game. You can play Old Master which is Old Maid without the maid. You simply chose a card to be the Master and go from there. You can play Painting Pairs which is a lot like Go Fish. You can also play Treasure Hunt, where the players are dealt works of art and must try to find the matching pieces.

My youngest child’s favorite game was Memory, while my oldest two enjoyed playing Painting Pairs and Old Master. My artist took the cards and thoroughly went over them detail by detail. She laid them out and worked on creating her own works of art by examining the details on the cards she had chosen. Each time she chose a new piece, we researched the piece online to learn more about it. She enjoyed having the artwork to get her started in learning more about the artist, artworks and year.

This card game was able to be used in so many enjoyable ways by all of our family. My children are ages 5-12 and each one benefited from it in some way. Even I enjoyed learning more about the art pieces portrayed throughout the game.

Art Up Close: Museum of Modern Art is available through Birdcage Press for $10.95. This art deck includes 48 cards featuring artists like Picasso, Monet, Klee and more. The recommended age is 5+.

The Epilepsy Monster Strikes Again {Epilepsy Awareness}

June 12, 2013 by Dana

Days at Luv’N Lambert Life appear fairly normal. There is no general chaos or drama unless it’s caused by the outside world. We go about our days, living and enjoying life with little issue.

But there is a hidden danger that lurks here every day. It strikes when I least expect it. It completely wipes my child out and hinders my days and weeks.

Epilepsy is our hidden danger. You don’t see it physically in my children on a daily basis but it’s there, lurking, waiting to strike when I let my guard down and think everything is ok.

Yesterday morning it hit us again.

Monday night went as planned: dinner, kids baths, kids to bed, get things laid out for therapy on Tuesday. It’s our routine. We do it every week. No problems.

The kids went to bed. They were staying over at Grandma’s house. Laycie, as always, slept snuggled next to Jackson and Grandma in Grandma’s bed. All was well and everyone slept nicely. I slept at our house, not 100 yards away.

Morning came and my phone buzzed heavily. I honestly thought it was my alarm telling me to get up and get ready for therapy. It wasn’t. The phone said “Mom”. My heart dropped as I answered it. All she said was, “Get over here NOW!” My mind raced to think “which one of my babies is hurt. Oh God, please let everything be ok!”

I knew better. I knew something was wrong. I ran into the house and yelled to my Momma, “where are you, what’s wrong”. I could hear her calling Laycie by name. It was all like a terrible nightmare.

I walked into her room to see my baby, my tiny sweet precious girl laying with her legs straight down, arms pulled stiffly up to her body. Her lips were grey, blue. Foam was pouring out of her mouth. Vomit mixed in.

She was seizing and there was nothing I could do. I remember saying, “is she ok? Is she breathing?” No, at that point she wasn’t. Her heart was beating, her breathing had stopped and she was stuck in the midst of this seizure that we couldn’t stop.

Poor sweet Jackson was laid at the end of the bed just looking around. He had no idea what was going on, as this is his first experience with his sister’s Epilepsy. He looked from me, to sissy to Grandma and wondered why no one picked him up though he was smiling sweetly.

Laycie was our only concern at that moment. I had left my phone at the house, so I grabbed my Mom’s. Thank God it was charged. I dialed 911. A man answered. I left the room, my baby with my Mother and ran to get my Mother-in-law, all while telling this kind man the details of our emergency.

On the way, I told Winston and Emmalee to get up. I remember telling Emma, “your sister is sick, get Jax now”. My sweet strong, Emmalee who went through all of this so many times herself is now on the other side, watching her sister suffer. And my rock Winston who I could not have made it through without.

I remember telling the 911 dispatcher my address while running across the yard to my Mother-in-laws. I remember telling him my number. I remember telling him “my 5 year old is having a seizure, please God hurry” “she isn’t breathing, she’s blue, she’s foaming”. I am quite sure he thought I had probably lost my mind by this point.

I remember standing in front of my Mother-in-laws door thinking “should I knock or just walk in”. I knocked, then I reached for the handle. “Is it locked, oh please don’t let it be locked”. As I reached for the knob I could hear the dogs barking so I knew she’d be getting up to see what was wrong. I called for her.

She was coming down the hall and asked “what’s wrong”. I told her “Laycie is having a seizure. I need you to come now”. I turned around, left and ran back to my baby. She followed.

I ran back into the house and updated the dispatcher on Laycie’s condition. She was still seizing. Her body jerking uncontrollably while my Mom talked to her, trying to console her. She was still pale. We rolled her back onto her side. She was so still but she was breathing again. I remember taking a breath at that point and thinking “thank you God, it’s almost over. Please don’t let her go into a another one.”

The dispatcher was still on the phone. At some point I ran to our drive to see if the first responder was arriving. I remember him telling me the fire truck would come first. At this point they weren’t there.

I ran back inside. Laycie was still but not seizing. I ran back out and the fire truck was pulling in. The dispatcher hung up. I waved the fireman over. I told him she was inside. I led him to her and let him work. I could hear my Mother-in-law saying “the ambulance is here”. I heard her telling me “you need to get dressed so you can ride with her to the hospital”. I ran out, waved the ambulance to the back. I ran to get dressed. I grabbed my purse, my phone, threw on clothes, grabbed Laycie a dress and ran out the door.

By the time, I got back the EMT was carrying her to the ambulance and she was crying uncontrollably. But it wasn’t a cry, it was a scared, rhythmic whine. She wanted her Mommy but I couldn’t hold her.

I jumped onto the ambulance first. Then the EMT lifted her in, along with herself. She laid her on the gurney and buckled her on. She handed her a huge stuffed bear, as big as my Laycie and she snuggled right into it.

I realized about the time we got down to the mailbox and I began to breath again knowing she would be ok for now, that I still had my Mother’s phone. Everything had happened so fast that I had forgotten to hand it back to her.

When we arrived at the ER, Laycie’s eyes were still dilated and she was still doing her rhythmic whining. They lifted her into a bed. It wasn’t long before the ER doctor came in. He asked all the usual questions. I told him I simply had her brought in to be monitored. He asked “what kind of monitoring are you expecting?” My honest emotion to that question was “what the hell?!” I replied, “I want her vitals checked and I want her here in case she seizes again to be sure her seizures are controlled”.

Laycie’s seizure was a Grand Mal. It lasted approximately 4-5 minutes. She was postical for 3 hours. She was completely unresponsive when the first responder arrived. My Mother said he insisted the EMT’s carry her in. Other than us, he saw the most of the results of her seizure.

It took Laycie 30 minutes to become responsive, other than the rhythmic whine she had in the ambulance. Her first response was to shake her head. It was barely visible and she would only tell me yes to simple questions that I asked of her.

It was another 30 minutes before she would speak to me. She couldn’t see me because her eyes were so dilated and out of focus. She couldn’t speak because her seizure had locked that part of her brain at the time. She couldn’t take her medicine because she couldn’t open her mouth. She wasn’t able to control that part of her body.

She didn’t talk until her Daddy came in about an hour after arriving at the hospital. She was so happy to see him. She lit up the room with the expression on her face. He climbed in the bed with her and she snuggled right into him. It was then she started talking.

She was quiet and slow but she was coming back to herself. We were finally able to give her her meds which she took with applesauce, though she wanted her usual yogurt.

She wanted to eat so her nurse brought her juice and crackers and found her a sausage and cheese biscuit. Laycie ate the sausage and picked at the rest. Her tiny body was so tired though she was trying to gain control of it again.

After eating she snuggled up to her bear the EMT’s had given her and took a nap. It only lasted about 15 minutes but when she woke back up she was back to herself again. She wanted to get off the bed. She wanted to go home. She kept trying to pull her wires off and put them back on. She was ready to be Dr. McLaycie, as we often call her at home.

Her least favorite part, even though she tried to prepare herself, was having bloodwork done. She did so well though. She tried not to cry but when the needle went in she lost it. Poor, sweet angel.

It wasn’t long after that we were able to go home. She’d had no seizure activity in the ER. Her vitals were all good and strong. The ER doctor called her med team at MUSC, who advised them to tell us to increase her morning dosage on her meds and to call and schedule her next appointment to be seen. So that is what we are currently doing.

We came home and we’ve been relaxing together ever since. She’s laid in Mommy and Daddy’s bed and watched tv. She’s eaten well and has a strong appetite. The med increase is making her excessively thirsty.

I’ve tried to encourage her to sleep but she’s scared. I asked her why and she told me a Monster tried to take her over. I can only assume she means her seizure. I’ve held her and talked to her until she felt safe enough to sleep.

I’ve personally struggled to go to sleep. I’m terrified of her having another seizure and being alone in it. Or worse, not waking up from it. I worry that I will wake up to find my baby not breathing. It is a living nightmare. A horror movie come to life.

Every twitch she makes, I wake up and check to see if she’s ok. I refuse to disturb her other than checking to see if she’s having a seizure and I won’t leave her side for long. When I do, someone is with her: Grandma, her brother, sister or Daddy.

Right now I’m in watch overdrive. She on the other hand, appears to be back to normal. She feels great, she says. The only set back is her fear of sleep and the thirst from the meds. I wish I could feel as at ease as she does.

She now carries her big white bear with her everywhere. We’ve named him Mr. Snuggles. In one day, they’ve been through a lot together. I imagine they will go through a lot more.

I’m sharing our story so that others have an idea of what a family and a child with Epilepsy goes through. Everyday people see my child and think “there is nothing wrong with her”. I only wish that was so. You can not see her disorder. It attacks when we least expect it, when we let our guard down and begin to think it’s ok. But it’s there. It’s a daily part of our lives and we are always looking, waiting, preparing for it’s attack.

Other Momma’s who do this daily understand. But not everyone gets the picture. My hope is that our story, our blog, our life helps give you a better understanding of what Epilepsy really is. And my prayer is that you never have to experience it first hand. SEIZURES SUCK!

God bless.

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Christianity Cove {Crew Review}

June 12, 2013 by Dana

Christianity Cove brings Jesus to life for children all over the world. Their unique Sunday School curriculum can be found in many Sunday and Christian School classrooms. They strive to make Jesus real, not just a person children read about in books, but someone they can personally know in their lives.

Christianity Cove offers many products that can be used with children in many age groups. The Schoolhouse Review Crew was offered our choice of two of these products to review in our homes. I personally chose to use their Bible Science Experiments and their Make and Take Bible Craft curriculum with my children ages 5, 10 and 12.

Bible Science Experiments provides lesson plans for 25 different and unique science experiments that show the glory of nature through God’s vision. Experiments ranging from optical illusions, shadows, using a color wheel, harnessing the power of air, and much more are provided in this Bible Science Experiments downloadable PDF.

This curriculum begins by telling the reader that every child is a natural scientist. Children are provided fun, hands-on experiments to complete that show the world through God’s creation. Lessons are backed up with scripture related to the experiment being completed. Every lesson has a different verse to accompany it.

Lessons also begin with a list of necessary materials. The steps to complete the experiment are listed next, followed by an answer to the experiment questions. An explanation of the experiment from the scientific viewpoint is also provided. The last section for every experiment is the Understanding God section which provides reasons for God’s plan in nature. This is repeated for each of the 25 Bible Science Experiments.

We randomly did experiments throughout this PDF throughout our review period. My children enjoyed the process of following the provided steps, listening to the answers and explanations for each. Most of all they enjoyed having these experiments related to bible verse and God’s intentions for these instances in nature.

For extra work, I printed the verses as copywork for the kids to remember. We looked up videos of other experiments like these to see if our results were the same or different. We also did research online about different aspects of many of these experiments.

The experiments use many things that can be found already in the home so there isn’t a lot of extra cost to complete them. They are easily implemented and don’t take a lot of time to complete. They can be used with school-age children from Kindergarten through High School. Children in younger grades should be accompanied by an adult before attempting any experiment.

We also worked through the Make and Take Bible Crafts curriculum from Christianity Cove. I pulled several of these crafts to work on throughout the weeks of our review. There are 47 crafts provided in the Make and Take Bible Crafts PDF. They each take approximately 20 minutes to complete and are appropriate for young children. All three of my school age children enjoyed the projects though.

Make and Take Bible Crafts provide fun and simple crafts to complete for the basic stories of the bible like Noah’s Ark, Moses at the Burning Bush, Jonah and the Whale and much more. There are 20 specific crafts that go with the story of the life of Jesus. There are also 7 crafts that reinforce the basic christian values. A table of contents share the craft’s for each important biblical story and what page to find it on.

Lessons begin much the same as the Bible Science Experiments PDF does, with a list of materials needed provided. These are common items that can be found around the home or can be easily obtained at low cost. They are needed to complete the project for each lesson and differ per lesson.

The next section provides scripture related to the lesson. The full text is provided so that the teacher and student don’t have to locate the story within the bible. This makes the lesson easy to complete and keeps the information in one place. A short explanation for preparation of the project is provided next, followed by the instructions to complete the project to be completed.

These lessons were quick and easy to complete. The kids really enjoyed them and the lessons learned. My older children new many of the bible stories but had not done some of the projects provided in the Make and Take Bible Crafts PDF. My 5 year old greatly enjoyed hearing the stories and completing the projects. Noah’s Ark and the Fruits of the Spirit Charm bracelet were two of her favorites.

My favorite was the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed Are” Wreath. We used the handprints of all the kids to create this project so that we could use it to view the Beatitudes together. We have this hanging in our classroom area to keep them where we can view them often.

We greatly enjoyed reviewing both of these products from Christianity Cove. I recommend them for using in a Sunday School classroom or a Christian Homeschool or even just for extra bible lessons at home. They provide a fun way to learn more about the Bible.

Bible Science Experiments is available as a PDF download for $25. Make and Take Bible Crafts is also available as a PDF download for $29. There are lots and lots of other products to choose from at Christianity Cove so be sure to take a look around while there!

The “U” Word {Homeschooling}

June 10, 2013 by Dana

I have four children. Three who are school aged and one sweet baby. I chose a long time ago to homeschool them. If you have been on my blog long, or are my Facebook friend, etc then you already know all of this.

We are not traditional homeschoolers. I don’t have time for that! But we are homeschoolers none the less.

I came to realize recently that I don’t talk a whole lot about our homeschooling adventures. I honestly have no idea why except maybe it’s because, to me, our homeschooling doesn’t look a whole lot different than the everyday normal. We play, we eat, we draw, write, color, watch tv. This list could get pretty long. We do all the same things you do when your children are home, only we do them as part of our schooling.

See we are Eclectic in educational style. We are extremely relaxed. We border strongly on Unschooling.

I can hear your sharp intake of breath. “Did she just say Unschooling?! Isn’t that doing no school at all?! You mean she’s not teaching those kids?! The shame.”

No, no! That’s not what Unschooling is at all! Unschooling is allowing my children educational freedom to learn on their own. Unschooling is having faith in God to lead our daily studies. Unschooling is letting my children be children as God intended for them to be.

I teach by playing with my kids or seeing to it they have the necessary tools to learn with. I teach as they ask questions to learn more about something they want to know. I teach by explaining that it’s not proper to say “I ain’t gonna play with she today” and why it’s not. This list can go on too.

What you won’t see in my home every day is me standing at a black board writing out words or me standing over my daughter as she practices her writing. You won’t find me patiently waiting while they finish up a test or timing them as they learn their math facts. You won’t find my children learning rote memorization of facts they don’t find interesting or us reading from a text book written just so they can be equal educationally to millions of other students.

What you will find is a library stocked with interesting books on 1000’s of subjects that they can and do pick up and read at will. You will find a stocked video area and a subscription to Netflix, along with a full channel satellite package so they can view documentaries and other educational movies at the drop of a hat as we learn. You will find the internet connected at all times so we can research things that catch their interest or puzzle their minds. You will also find tons of toys for interactive play, legos for building and math, crayons, paper, coloring pages, and a working printer for challenging them to absorb their world daily.

That is the way of Unschooling and Relaxed, Eclectic education. We learn every day about many different things in a way we love, making education something we love. And I, nor my children, would have that any other way.