Spanish for You! (Fiestas)-Review

Over the last few weeks we've been reviewing Spanish for You, Fiestas! We received a physical copy of Spanish for You, Fiestas, audio files, PDF format lesson guides for grade 3-8, and answer keys. Majority of it was downloadable, but all of which is under two minutes. This will vary depending on your internet speed.

Spanish for you was not only fun, but it also teaches the proper grammar as well. It's complete program of its own with a physical book, worksheets, audio, and games all in one. All this for a very low price of $64.95 (all grades 3-8) that can easily work for many homeschool budgets. However, you may purchase this level by grades starting at $39.95 and the extra books for $12.95.

We all learned Spanish through Spanish for You! Some more than others, but it's so great for everyone to work at their own pace. We follows the lesson guide because it provided a step by step instruction for what needs to be done. This reduces the stress of learning a foreign language because everything is laid out for me.

The step by step instructions is very easy to follow. It helped me to know when to print or which audio file to listen to next. There's room for challenging my children if I felt they needed to be challenged. However, we've been learning Spanish for a couple of months. So, we started off moving faster until we found the right spot. Then we began to slow down a little bit.

So, for the first week it wasn't very much fun because most of them were complaining of knowing it, but reviews are always good before beginning a new course. Once we were at the right spot, the complaining became to a dead halt. They all began to have fun learning and enjoyed the games suggested to play.

I personally enjoyed the audio files because some of my children looked at me with some of the funniest faces. I had my fair share of misinterpretations as well. However, the worksheets were one of my favorites here because each were at a different level, but all still working from the same program. Some of them were working together helping each other while I was with another child. 

Homefires (Papa's Pearls)-Review

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to review Homefires, Papa's Pearls by Diane Flynn Keith. We received a physical copy of Papa's Pearl. However, this book doesn't have a recommend age group, but it was originally written for adults. This doesn't mean it's not appropriate for children because in my opinion, it would be great for children 10 and up. 

There's a lot to learn from Papa, Diane had written this book to share her Papa's Pearls of Wisdom that he had passed along over the years to his family. As I read along, I saw that he had touched so many lives. He also made me laugh at times, especially the swimming in the sewer. That really isn't mind over matter, but tell yourself to disagree in some situations it may work, just not for me. 

After reading a few chapters, I thought it would make a great book report for my older children. So, they did just that. I also added a few questions to answer at the end of each chapter. the combination of the two assured me that they read the book. The book itself is full of lessons of its own that I thought my boys could benefit from. 

However, there aren't any picture in Papa's Pearls. So, for younger children this may not be the greatest story time book, with the exception of a few short portions that would be good to read to them. For example the swimming in the sewer might be fun for them, while teaching them one of Papa's Pearls. 

Diane has compiled 108 pages of her father's story. This book is a jaw dropping price at $14.97, but worth so much more. Papa's Pearls of Wisdom are the key to success, but it's applying those in your life is the hard part for some. Papa definitely walked the walk though-out his lifetime and wanted to make sure that everyone knows they are loved. 

Homeschool in the Woods-Review

We had the opportunity to review Hands-On History Activity Pak-Composers from Homeschool in the Woods. We enjoyed this composers lapbook. It was a great way to wrap up our composers studies. It also would have been great to have at the beginning of our study because there were so many great projects and activities.

The Hands-On History Activity Pak-Composers included over 35 projects and activities, over 90 minutes of MP3 files to listen to and 42 composers, such as Mozart, Gershwin, Beethoven, etc. Homeschool in the Woods recommends this to be used for Grades 3-8. There are two options available, CD $19.95 or download $18.95.

My son is in 5th grade, so the Hands-On History Activity Pak-Composers was a great fit for him. He really enjoyed learning about the composers through this lapbook because Homeschool in the Woods made this a fun learning experience for him to be engaged in the topic. The only thing he didn't like about it was the assembly of the lapbook, but that's only because he didn't the cutting.

After all the the pieces were cut, glued, and laminated, he was good to go. We took a trip to the local library to get the list of recommended books, audio, and video. However, not all were available, but were at other branches. So, it took some time to get them all, but we did have to purchase a few. Even with the set back of not having all these supplies on hand right away, it still worked out well.

Most days it was reading before he began digging into the lapbook. Once he was able to start writing or using the lapbook it all started to come together for him. That's when he began to enjoy learning, and video gave him a visual. The audio was nice for him to recognize the composers music.

One of my favorites from this lapbook was the seating chart. It helped my son understand the progression of the orchestra growth over the years. It really was a fun learning experience for a dry topic. 

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Feeding the Ducks

We went to feed the ducks today. It was so much fun because my children just thought it was the coolest activity ever. Anyone could tell that we are from the city because my daughter was trying to catch a bird.

I thought it would be challenging to keep them from falling in the water. It really wasn't all that hard because they followed the rules of not getting too close to the water. Sometimes we just have to let them go and have faith that we have taught the well.

As my in laws showed us pictures of the amount of ducks that would be out there wasn't the case today. There were maybe 10-15 out today, but still enough for us to feed. There was also the fish coming up to feed as well. So, that was interesting to see as well and not to mention the birds my daughter was chasing.

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Vacation in Tennessee

We left West Virginia to Bloomington Springs, Tennessee to visit with some more family. For those  following our blog this all started with our family tree several weeks ago. My husband reunited with some of his family members that he hasn't seen since he was 9 years old.

His sister lives here in Bloomington Springs, Tennessee. She has 4 children similar to the ages of our children. So, it was great for all of them to have cousin very close in age, as well as for the adults to catch up on all those lost years.

AmeriCorps

Park Ranger

We first began with a nature walk at the Tennessee State Park. They recently saved the park from it being demolished. AmeriCorps was there upgrading the park, by planting trees. The next task they will be working on are the trails because there're only 3 trails right now, the waterfall, a short cut to the waterfall, and the trail to get closer to the waterfall.

On our way back to the van we decided to take the restricted road and came across a old shack. It was tilted to its side and had a bunch of 2 X 4's inside. My 7 year old said, "Dang! That's a lot of would and we can make a house with that wood." Really, there wasn't that much wood, but to a child there is.

Last, but not least there was log that I thought would be great for them to balance themselves. So, we did just that. One decided to not use their arms and did very well. The other utilized their arms and also did well. However, they both fell off and got right back up and tried again.

 

 

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Our Drive to West Virginia

We drove a very long 12 hour road trip to Bluefield, West Virginia. This trip is normally 10 hours, but we made a few stops along the way to stretch out. This was challenging because we've never taken a trip this far from home, but definitely worth it.

We did some schooling or so they call it road schooling. For those of you that have been following our homeschool journey, a few months ago we went to Chicago. For those just following us, click here to read about our trip to Chicago. Well, I made a tally sheet for the amount of trucks, cars, train, etc.

So, our first assignment was with tallies, categorizing vehicles, street signs, list of cities and towns, etc. I've brought along our smaller whiteboard to help with spelling because some of them aren't able to write that fast as we past the names of the cities and towns. They completed this with some music on the radio.

We stopped at for Hinsdale, Illinois oasis for the KFC Family dinner. However, because of the long drive, we ate in the van. KFC provided us with plates, spoons, forks, and napkins. This helped us keep going and still have a decent meal for dinner. All while watching Tooth Fairy 2 and eating our dinner.

We then made a few stops, but by then they had stopped writing the cities down. We all just enjoyed the ride on the highway. We saw many things such as the floods from what the storm had caused. I think we were driving through the storm because it pretty much rained all the way down, but still loads of fun.

Often times when we take a family vacation, we all have stories. I think my first awful one so far was when it was sleepy time and we all took off our shoes. I can say that having four boys in a small area with shoes off is deadly. (LOL)

Next up was reading a couple of books. I read a couple and they each read a couple with the exception of the distractions from seeing the semi trucks. We still manage to get about 10 books read.

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Dr. Craft Active Play Book-Review

We had the pleasure of reviewing Dr. Craft's Active Play Book. This is recommended for for toddlers, but also provides recommendations for older children, such as "Alligator Pit." This requires balancing an object in hand, while someone on the side pretending to be an alligator trying to eat you. Then the child would have to watch out for the alligator and don't get bit by the alligator.

We received a physical copy of Dr. Craft's Active Play Book. The Active Play Book was bounded well because it was held together with a spiral bind for flexibility. This prevented the pages from falling out.

Dr. Craft's Active Play Book is a very reasonable price $39.00 . There are so many ideas, you wouldn't know what to do with. Thankfully, Dr. Craft's has provided an outline for us in the back of this Active Play Book. The best part is your child is having fun learning through play. Most of the supplies needed for these activities are what you already have around the house.

Dr. Craft's Active Play Book isn't just for physical education. The activities are great for your everyday activities because they think it's just another game. We not only did we add these activities to out physical education, but a great ideas for reserve for those rainy days or those days when the kids say there're bored.

Dr. Craft's Active Play Book recommends to start off with 15 minute session and then increase to 30 minutes after 6 weeks. I agree with this because when you start off your pretty much introducing these activities to your child. By the 6th week they are familar with these activities.

 

 

Thank you for visiting our blog. If you like what you see, stop by our Etsy shop for your hand crafted items. Also like us on Facebook and join our Facebook Group for homeschool support. Download our FREE Spring notebook page here.