Luv'N Lambert Life

Mental Health, Homeschooling, Epilepsy and More

Apologia: iWitness {Crew Review}

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For this review, I received copies of the three books from the iWitness series from Apologia Educational Ministries.  I received the following titles: iWitness Biblical Archaeology, Old Testament iWitness, and New Testament iWitness.  All of these were written by Doug Powell.
Each of these titles are priced at $14 per book through Apologia Educational Ministries.  The series is designed for persons with a reading level of age 11 and up.  They can be used with younger students as well if read along with an older person.
Each of these books features a different aspect of learning about the Bible.  In true, Apologia fashion these books are awesome.  If you read my blog, then you know one of my favorite ministries and products to use in homeschooling is Apologia Educational Ministries.
The books are formatted as multi-media artwork, much like a journal.  Each is filled with wonderful information sharing important points on the Biblical topic they discuss, as well as important proof to prove truth in the facts shared.  The books are small but jam-packed with interesting information.
I personally read through these and shared the information with my children as I did.  I enjoyed the fun format and found it intriguing to read through.  I learned so many things about the Bible that I didn’t know.  
For instance, iWitness Biblical Archaeology, which was my favorite of all the books, tells of the stories related to the Big Flood of Biblical times.  I did not know that there were so many stories from different nations that tell of the great Flood.  Through reading I found this fact to be true.
These books also share photos and facts that you may otherwise miss in regular stories of the Bible.  They show you what really happened in the time period and what life was really like.  It was interesting to see all of these things compiled along with the wonderful facts about them.  And best was that because it’s an Apologia series, I know the facts are right simply because of the standards of Apologia Educational Ministries.
These are books that will be added into our home library.  My daughter has already picked them up and read through them several times.  Even my Mom has enjoyed reading these and she’s pretty picky about the things she reads.
Each of these books share such unique details about the Bible.  Stuff I have honestly never seen in a book I have read.  It was a great joy to read through these and truly helped bring the Bible to life for us. They would be great to use as a Biblical supplement or even just to read through.  There are so many uses for these titles.
You can purchase this series through the website at Apologia Educational Ministries:
You can view an author interview for the iWitness series from Apologia here:
You can find Apologia Educational Ministries in the following places online:
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Better Late Than Never {Thoughts From Me}

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Here’s a little fact about me: I am 35 years old and I don’t drive.  *Gasp* You heard me right.  I’ve never even had a driver’s license.

About 6 months ago, I received my first permit but even then I haven’t driven much.  I have this weirdly irrational fear of driving that is really hard for me to overcome.  That is until recently.

Last week, I just felt it was time to get started on really learning to drive.  So I have been.  This week, I decided I needed to come “home” to my hometown where I grew up and spend some time with my best friends who have all been proactive in helping me learn to drive.

And you know what?  I am doing it!   I really am.

I don’t know why I have felt afraid to do this for so long.  Yes, there are dangers and it’s always a risk but it’s something I’ve been needing to do.  I need the independence and I need to be able to take my kids  places, just me and them.  I’m well on my way to making that happen and I know they are so proud of their Momma.  Seriously, I thought they’d be driving before I would!

So this is what I am up to right now.  Learning to drive about 20 years later than a normal person.  Better late than never though!

Fortuigence: Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis {Crew Review}

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Writing is a course that we’ve recently introduced into our family’s learning program this year so when this review for Fortuigence came up I was immediately intrigued.  I knew that my children were not quite ready to complete this course but I was interested in trying it myself so that we could possibly use it for homeschool writing in the future.  I signed up for the Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course.  
I, personally, chose this course so that I could brush up on my writing skills for review purposes.  I felt the need to have an extra challenge and a class all of my own to complete.  I wanted to make sure I was providing the best in writing that I am able to and this course was perfect for that.
Fortuigence provides a course of lessons which help to inspire students to perform better.  It helps students learn to become independent writers and self-sufficient thinkers through each lesson of the course.  This is true learning at it’s best.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course is a short course of 7 lessons, complete with video instructions for completion.  Each section of the course requires the student to watch a short video on an explanation of what’s expected during that part of the course.  Then the student can either read through or listen to the next section of the course, learning to put in place the part of the lesson they are learning.  Lastly, students must create their own piece of writing to turn in for the assignment they are working on.  This writing assignment is checked and corrected by Lily Latridis herself, the Founder of Fortuigence.  Lily then emails the student back with constructive criticism on the student’s selected work.
I found these courses to be exceptionally easy to follow along with and complete.  I was encouraged in using the program.  I knew that I was a good writer already but this program did help me to polish some of my skills and encouraged me to continue on the path I am on in writing.  Sometimes I have self-doubt, after all we are our biggest critics.  Through using this course, I learned that I am often harder on myself about my writing than it is necessary for me to be.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course is for students who are ages 12-18. A Textual Analysis is simply a review of another person’s work, which is exactly what I blog about several times a month working for the Schoolhouse crew.  This course helps develop critical thinking skills and helps students learn to explain how they feel about something they’ve read, seen, or even used.  They learn to be descriptive in their writing by really telling about the product or subject.
Essay Rockstar Textual Analysis Writing Course from Fortuigence is available for $57 for the 7 lesson course.  Each lesson varies in length but follows the same format as I mentioned above.  The lessons are very thorough in covering the method step by step, one leading to another.  There are also various other writing courses available through Fortuigence for around the same price per course.
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Preschoolers and Peace {Crew Review}

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Preschoolers and Peace is a great company that helps those who are new to homeschooling, as well as those of us who are experienced homeschoolers.  They provide inspiration e-Books and tools for homeschooling with little ones at home and give Mom’s that extra boost of confidence that is often needed during this stage of learning and life.  For this review, we were sent an e-Book copy of Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet.  This book is a must read for all Momma’s with little ones.
Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet is just what a Homeschooling Momma needs.  This e-Book is 47 pages long, jam packed with ideas, tips and inspiration that speaks right to the homeschooling Momma’s heart, where it is needed.  Each section is created especially to inspire Mom’s like me and show that we can do this, even when we think we cannot.
This e-Book contains 13 chapters, a meal planning section, final word of encouragement and resources to use both for creating the book and suggestions for you to read through to inspire you as a Homeschooling Momma even more.  Chapters focus on things like What A Homeschooling Momma Needs, Circle Time with preschoolers, how to bring preschoolers into school time, How to Not Kill Time and how to incorporate preschoolers into day to day things like chores and learning.  All these things and so much more come together to show us how to make the most of this Homeschooling life we live.
I personally read through Preschoolers and Peace as a book to help myself.  I have three older children I am currently homeschooling and a two year old who is well beyond his age in maturity.  He’s growing fast and sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with him.  It was my hope that through reading this e-Book, I’d refresh myself and gain some helpful tips from my reading.  I must say I was not disappointed in the suggestions given throughout this text or by the inspiration within the book.  It was a great read and left me ready to dive into this journey during this new stage of life: Homeschooling three of school-age with a young child by our side.
Some of the advice in the book are things we already try to do, so these things were nothing new but reading them in the book gave me the confidence to know that what I was already doing was the right thing for us.  There were other things that we weren’t doing which we will be trying in the future as we continue to grow in learning with each other.  Having this book on hand these last few weeks has been really beneficial to our family.
I think my favorite section was the one on scheduling.  I often battle to keep a schedule and sometimes just give up.  Reading this section reassured me that it’s okay to toss the schedule at any point and just start again if need be.  As kids grow so do we, and so do our schedules.  That’s how it’s supposed to be and so therefore, it’s okay to just toss it out and start all over as our lives change.
There are a lot of other great ideas shared within this e-Book but to read them,  you will have to purchase it yourself.  Every Momma who has littles should get a copy for their home to read through and read again as your child grows.  You can purchase your copy of Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet for $2.99 online through the website at Preschoolers and Peace.  This is one e-Book that is definitely worth the price!
Don’t forget to check out the Preschoolers and Peace website as well!  There you will find great inspiration through the blog to help you stay motivated in this homeschooling journey.
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IEW: Fix It! Grammar {Crew Review}

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For this review, we were given a copy of the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s Fix It! Grammar.  We were allowed to choose which book we reviewed and I chose the first in this series for my children: Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree.  We received both the Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree  Teacher’s manual and the Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Student book for Book 1.  This is a 6 book series which sells online for $19 for the teacher’s manual and $15 for the student book.  This program series is for students in 3rd grade and up.
IEW’s Fix It! Grammar is one of the best programs I have used thus far.  The program is wonderfully thorough and so easy to use.  It was perfect for our homeschooling.
We have been looking for a great Grammar program to use for a while, especially for Emmalee.  She’s a very independent learner and doesn’t require or want a lot of instruction from the programs she uses.  So I had been searching for a program that would teach her exactly what she needs to know as quickly as she learns.  The program also needed to be somewhat adjustable and easy to pick up on because Emmalee wants to learn so quickly right now that instruction bores her and makes listening hard for her to do.  
With Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree, Book 1, I was able to give Emmalee a brief lesson on what she was learning and have her jump right into completing her lesson in the student workbook.  The Teacher’s manual covered everything I needed to teach Emmalee how to use Fix It! Grammar and what we were learning about in the section we were working on.  It also helped that Emma is a great student and she loves learning which made the program flow a lot easier for us.  I would not have had the same results with my son, who does not learn as easily as his sister but this program is still great for him as well.
Students do need a binder for his program which will need to be purchased before they get started.  Within the binder should be dividers organized as Fix Its, Grammar Glossary, Rewrite, and Vocabulary.  Students should start their week out by reading through the “Learn It” section, being sure to cut out the weekly grammar cards that are located at the back of the student book.  I laminated these to make it easier to use and keep up with them since they are to be used for the year and beyond of learning through Fix It! Grammar.  The first few times we did the lessons, I helped by modeling the lesson on the dry erase board to show Emma exactly what was expected of her while using the program.  As I already mentioned, it did not take her long to catch on.
Emma enjoyed fixing the passages she read through.  She also enjoyed the interesting reading that was provided through some of the passages she edited.  She also enjoyed the rewrites for each lesson.  It made for great copy writing practice to help build her handwriting skills as well.
This was such a great program for her to use and just what she was needing for the stage of learning she is now in.  I’ve watched Emma blossom in her learning while working through Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Book these past few weeks and I love seeing the love of learning on her face.  It’s the best feeling ever to have a product and know it’s working so well for your child’s learning skills.
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September Update {Epilepsy Awareness}

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Life is been full of doctor’s appointments for us lately.  It’s  not leaving a lot of time for other things to be done.  Being on the road is definitely time consuming but of course, my children’s healthcare is more than worth it.

Jackson started Parent Child Interactive Therapy a few weeks ago.  We are doing great with this therapy and have already passed through the first part of the series after 2 weeks of sessions with our therapist.  We are now moving on to the next step which is to give Jackson demands and work on his temper issues, as well as building discipline.  We hope this will help both us and him learn to better deal with our day to day and also help with his breath holding spells. Time will show us if it does or not.

Emma sees the neurologist this week as well.  It will be our first visit.   We hope he will be able to tell us why she is toe-walking since no one can tell us that.  Once this is done, we will move on to repairing her toe-walking.

Last week we ordered Jack a helmet.  Hopefully, it will be done soon and we will be able to use this for both of his therapies.  It will be great for his headbanging as well.

Laycie and Winston are doing great right now.  No issues for them which is wonderful.

That’s it for a current update and where we are at with our day to day issues.

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