Our New Little Friend

It's that time of year again here in MO, the turtles are on the move. Today the girls found the first cute little guy of the season. Check him out and let us know what you think. 

At first he didn't want us to see him.

But...

Then...

He decided we could have a little peak and he poked his head out.

Devonian GREEMU Review

Great new product by Devonian it's called GREEMU and you can find it at http://www.korunaturals.net/. 

What is GREEMU you say. It's a beauty oil that is made from a blend of butters and plant oils that replicates the fatty acid composition, properties, and texture of emu oil. It's basically a non animal version of emu oil. 

I love Emu oil I used it all the time, on everything from my dry cracked hands to small kitchen burns. How ever I do know some people like a non animal derived products.This is probably the next best thing if you would like to go the Non animal route. I love all the ingredients in GREEMU, I have used each one individually and they are all wonderful. When put together in a blend they are just yummy.  First impression: I though it was bit heaver than Emu oil it hangs out on the skin a tad longer. I also thought it was slightly sticky for a few minutes. Neither of these things really bothered me. The color is about the same I compared it to two different Emu Oil brands. 

I tried it as a facial moisturizer for several weeks. I found it to be to heavy during the day, but I did like it as a night time moisturizer. Since it's a bit heaver than standard emu oil, I found that for me it worked best as a lip moisturizer. It seems to penetrate well and is helping to keep my chronically dry lips stay a bit softer. I have been using it on my lips for about 4 weeks and I am now thinking of getting some refillable lip gloss tubes on amazon so I can carry some in my pocket. I have also been using it as a cuticle cream in the evenings. I work with my hands a lot and I find my cuticles very dry and ragged. A little dab in the evening seems to be helping smooth them out. It comes in a 4oz bottle and a little bit goes a long way. I can see this bottle lasting me quite a while. I also used GREEMU as an additive in my lotion, so far it is looking promising. I used the same recipe and simply swapped out the emu oil for the GREEMU. The lotions consistency, feel and moisturizing abilities seemed to be about the same.There was no real noticeable difference. I have used Emu oil on healing scars and scrapes and had good results but I have not yet tried GREEMU on healing scars and scrapes mostly because no one has gotten any boo boos. 




If you are looking for an alternative for Emu oil GREEMU is the way to go. The other Crew Members also tried out GREEMU and I would love for you to click the banner and see what they have to say. 

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Writers in Residence Apologia Educational Ministries Review

Learning to write is just plain hard for some kids. While my oldest has a wonderful imagination she has a hard time getting her thoughts together. I was excited for her to try out Writers in Residence by Apologia Educational Ministries. This curriculum is for grades 4-8. My oldest will be in 4th grade in a couple of months. But I felt good starting it a tad early. This is a writing based language arts program. It teaches students everything from sentence structure,to capitalization and usage. This program is designed to help students learn how to create engaging stories that you actually want to read. It has a biblical based framework that I of course love. 

Some of the main features that drew me to Writers in Residence:

• It's a complete writing curriculum covers grammar, punctuation and capitalization. I don't have to teach a separate grammar class.
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• It has an answer key and teachers book so I get the help I need to teach well.
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• It's got color and the assignment topics are FUN !
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• It's and all in one student text and workbook.
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• The student text is easy to understand.

I am going to admit she was a little intimidated when she saw the size of this

student book. This thing is huge compared to the other books we have been using this year. The reason its so big is because its both the student text and the workbook combined into one. After some assurances that she did not have to complete the entire book tell the end of 4th grade she calmed down. Now that we have had it a while I would have preferred a separate student workbook. It would make managing the book easier. The student text/workbook gives a suggested daily schedule. It is set up to be a 4 day a week program. I started her out on three days a week because I was afraid she would get overwhelmed. We are working up to the 4 day a week schedule that we will use in a few more weeks.  Each unit has a different theme or topic that they write about. As you work through the unit it builds from simple bite sized assignments that eventually give them the steps put together a hole story. Each day starts out with a lesson that you have to read. Then it gives an assignment that goes along with it. The first unit was themed When I was Young. The first assignment was thinking of a special place and writing it down. (Super Girl chose the Campground as her special place) The second assignment was making a memory chart. A memory chart was new to me but it was effective. It had her write down her favorite place at the top. Then it had her add in things like Favorite person or people, favorite thing you did with them, any specific details that she could remember. This simple assignments helped her get started and not feel afraid of writing. It broke it down into steps and that is exactly what she needed. 





We are well into Unit 1 but it's going to take a while for us to complete Writers in Residence. It has been so good for her she is finally understanding the writing process and I am pleased that she is not dreading writing assignments quite so much. We hope they come out with another level for next year. I would love for everyone to click the banner and read some of the other Crew reviews on Writers in Residence.

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A+ Interactive Math Math Mini-Courses Review

Introducing Math Mini-Courses from  A+ Interactive Math.  A+ interactive math is now offering a way to close learning gaps. They offer 20 different Math Mini Courses. Each course offers an in-depth review of math concepts from a basic to advanced level. You get 1 year of access to the online courses and prices range from $9.99 to $19.99. You can review the course as many times as you like with in that year. 

With a Math Mini Course you get video lessons, interactive Review, Worksheets+test, automatic grading and printable reports.

We used Elementary and Middle School Division for 1 parent/1 student. We also received the Money Mini Course for 1 parent/student. 

The Elementary and Middle School Division course covers a lot. It starts out with an introduction to division and moves on through division in relation to subtraction and multiplication. Then Division using objects, and travels on through to end with dividing a 4-digit number by a 2 digit number. As a mom who does not excel in math I was pleased to see how it broke things down and that the lessons built on each other. I though it was fairly simple to follow. The lessons are clear and were easy to understand. 


When they log in it takes them to a main dashboard from there they can select the video lessons w/interactive review. Printable work sheets and test and a how to get started video. You can also view a PDF of the lessons. The girls start with the video lessons w/interactive review. I have them complete all the lessons and reviews before they move on to take one of the test. I did find the printable worksheets to be great. They fit in with the lessons and help to reinforce the concept that was being taught. We have used a lot of printable work sheets. 

Our only real complaint is on the video lessons. You have to remember what lesson you completed last. It does not automatically progress to the next lesson when you log in the next day. My daughter has to write down what lesson she did or she forgets by the next day. Not a big issue but some sort of check off would be helpful. You also have to click update lesson status so that it marks that you completed the lesson and marks down a completed date. They also must click the frog to submit an answer on the Interactive Q & A questions.

We also had the opportunity to try out the Mini-Course Money, This starts out with counting pennies, nickles, dimes etc. and continues through to making change and ends with calculating sale prices and interest rates. My 6 year old is working with this one. The beginning lessons on counting and making change are great. She is doing well with them I am pleased to see her money counting abilities are getting better.  I like how it progress through the course. Each lesson is building on what they learned before. The graphics are great. She loves that the Interactive Q&A  questions are corrected right away. How ever the interest rates are a bit over her head. 

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Jr Treehouse Masters

Have you ever seen Treehouse Masters on Animal planet. I am sure most of you have seen the show at some time or another. In case you haven't its basically its a show about the building of treehouses. Most of them are grand treehouses that have things like tv's, plumbing, insulation etc. My girls have taken a liking to the show. Surprisingly enough it has inspired them in new way and big way. They have been bitten by the treehouse bug. Every where they look on the property they are trying to figure out what tree would make a great treehouse. They are not looking for grand just something to climb around in. Maybe camp out in during the summer when the cousins sleep over. They would like a pulley so they can raise and lower things to the top and a roof to keep them dry when its raining. They can envision a low table and some fluffy pillows to sit on and do classwork. Just your basic kids stuff. No matter how much I wish I could give them this dream, this single mom just does not have the money to build such a thing right now. So for now the girls have accepted that a tree house is just not something mommy can do right now. Today while I was working in the garden two little voices ask can I have this stick of wood. Sure I said just don't hurt your self on it.  I went on with my work. A few minutes later hey mom can I have this other piece of wood. A few minutes later how about this piece of rope? my youngest yells dangling a 4 ft piece of rope from her hand. Now I am curious as to what they are up to. Dusting off my hands and jeans I follow the sound of little voices, they were not arguing or fighting they were sounds of two sisters working together.  This is what I discovered in the only tree in the yard that is low enough for them to climb. My two JR Treehouse Masters hard at work trying to build that little treehouse dream. Its such a small tree it doesn't really fit in the tree most of it is on the ground. It's a dogwood so I don't think it could sustain the weight of a treehouse but they are giving it there best. They are doing so well working together and trying to figure things out. This is one proud momma I only wish I could help them build them an actual treehouse.

Homeschool Copywork Review

What homeschool mom doesn't love good copywork. I am excited to be using Homeschool Copywork we received a  Lifetime Membership and its awesome. This is basically a site where you can print some really great copywork. I am so happy I don't have to make to copywork my self any more. Copywork not only helps kids with handwriting but it also builds good punctuation and vocabulary and reading skills. The Site has something for most grade levels. We found Early Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Junior High-High School. We found copywork based around things like the human body, the Wright Brothers, lots of different scripture copywork sets. There are also character building pages. Not all of the copy work is scripture we did find some that were things like, poetry from Emily Dickenson and Lewis Carroll.We also discovered some different holiday themed sets that looked good.

Due to the girls ages and grade level we really only got the chance to use the Early Elementary Copywork section. I did explore the other levels just to see what was offered that we might be able use in the future. The Human Body pages will come into use soon enough.

Copywork is not the girls most favorite thing to do. I hear a lot of But MOM! when I pull out copywork pages every week. So when I first
approached the girls with this coppywork, I started them out with Dragons of the Bible Copywork, notebooking, and coloring pages. I started with this one because they both love Dinosaur's and I though it would be a fun way to kick off copywork. They both love dragons and dinosaurs so I figured it would be a hit. This set has 22 verses of the Bible that have to do with "dragons" (aka dinosaurs) These verses give proof to the existence of "dragons" aka dinosaurs and this book is based on creations science. It has both print and cursive in and full size dragon coloring pages. It contains 154 pages. I liked the cursive pages the best since that is what we are concentrating on right now. I have been satisfied with the verses they chose. We did find that on some of the longer verses the girls would run out of room on the lined portion. We have been printing some of the blank notebooking pages to give them extra room. My youngest would like smaller lines but that is just her personal preference. They are both enjoying the beautiful artwork that they are getting to color when they finish the copywork. Here is one of the Dragon pages that my oldest did. As you can see this verse was from Malachi. She was not happy with it because she didn't think her writing looked nice enough. I encouraged her to practice more and allowed her to select the next copywork page that interested her. I found that letting them choose what page to do next helps them to stay more interested.

I let the girls flip through some of whats offered and they are excited to do some of the holiday themed copywork pages. We found a Thanksgiving and a Christmas that look very nice. The Christmas one could easily be used as an Advent and comes in ESV and KJV. I was very pleased to see the Thanksgiving copywork pages. The scriptures that were chosen are beautiful and capture the real meaning of Thanksgiving. The pictures on all the pages we looked at were beautiful and offered the girls some coloring fun to enhance the activity.

Not only are the girls getting handwriting practice but they are also getting great scripture lessons and a little art all at the same time. Other crew members have tried out other copywork pages so you will want to click the banner below and see what they thought.

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Picture Monday

Today is Picture Monday. Its raining and the kids are busy with school.These are just some fun pictures that I took last week when the weather was nice. Me and the girls went exploring just for fun. Take a break have a little fun and go exploring. Don't forget learning happens out side the classroom to.

For the Month of APRIL TOS and I are offering up these three products for Free!  That's right they are FREE !  We would love for you to follow my blog and like TOS on Facebook. Then at check out simply use the code JBCREW16 at check out.  

Keeping the Garden

Creative Nature Study: Ideas to Jump-Start or Invigorate Nature Study in Your Homeschool 

Fourth of July a Nation Built on Freedom

April Fools

Happy April Fools Day ! 

Let the Fun Begin ......

The girls woke and walked around the house for 20 minutes before they realized they had marker mustaches. They burst out laughing. Just wait tell they find out the juice is really jello and the water faucet is going to sip out green water. 

Have a fun day everyone! 

Memoria Press Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set Review

It's time for lit in our homeschool. My oldest is doing Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set by Memoria Press. This is designed to challenge kits with reading so that they become superior readers. The study guides for each set help your student to become an active reader. It covers things like vocabulary spelling, and comprehension.

This is what is included in the Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set:
Dangerous Journey: Student Guide and Teacher Manual
The Blue Fairy Book: Student Guide and Teacher Manual
The Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set comes with the following:
Cricket in Times Square: Student Guide and Teacher Manual
Homer Price: Student Guide and Teacher Manual

As you can see it only has the student guide and teacher manual. You will need to get the actual
books from the library or you can buy them. They do offer an option on the website that includes the actual books they will need to read. I was able to find all the books for this set but one either at our local library or on the digital library.

For this review we mainly focused on the Blue Fairy Book. We chose this one because it was the first one available on our digital library and the others had a longer wait list. We are waiting on The Cricket In Times Square to become available. The Blue Fairy Book is composed of several short stories. For some reason the digital version we checked out had slightly different stories than what was in the student guide. We were able to use the majority of the student guide.  I like the selection of books that are offered with the fourth grade set. I read many of these books when I was a child and I feel that its a well rounded selection for this grade.

All the Student Guides are set up similar, but they cover different things for each book. I love that they all sort of work together to make one great Literature set. All the books together make a great well rounded lesson. The Student Guide for each lesson has Reading Notes. This section has words from the story and the definitions. The Vocabulary section is great. It offers a sentence with a vocabulary word in bold. Then they need to match that bold word with one of the definitions from the definition bank. The Comprehension section helps kids to consider what they have read and find the important parts of the story.  You will find a Quotations section where the child is given a quote from the story and they have to identify who said it. They are then given discussion questions to answer and an enrichment box where they are ask to do something like draw a picture that has to do with the story they just read.

The Teachers Manual has teaching guidelines for getting started. It offers answers to the student guide. But it also has test and test answer sheets in it. There is a quiz for ever two fairy tales. The final exam covered the last two fairy tales. I found both the quizzes and final exam to be well rounded.

My Third grader who reads on a upper 4th grade level really enjoyed this set. She says she liked the hole thing even the enrichment box where she had to draw something. The student guide really engaged her into the story. She wasn't just reading to read, she had to pay attention to the details of the story. She was no longer just floating through the stories. I found that a good portion of the vocabulary words actually stuck and she began to use them in day to day conversations. She got so much more out the books than she was getting before. I am excited to finish up the Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set.  We have reserved the last couple books on our digital library.

Other Crew Reviewers had the chance to try out other Memoria Press Literature Guide Sets so you should click the banner to learn about the others.

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Wordless Wednesday !

My BuddyTag

Have you ever had the fear of your child slipping away from you? I didn't when my girls were smaller but now that they are a bit older I worry. My oldest is friendly and she is becoming more independent. She also gets distracted easily and tends to wonder at times. We got to try out the My Buddy Tag. It is a bluetooth child tracker. Its bluetooth so the range is not super far especially in a building with lots of walls. http://www.mybuddytag.com/. But because they are blue tooth they are affordable. They sell for around $39.99 and you can get a silicone wrist band, a Velcro wrist band, a terry cloth wrist band or a disposable wrist band. We received the silicone wrist band and a Velcro wrist band. They come in a bunch of different colors that are crazy cool.

Features:

Out of Range Alert: Uses bluetooth technology to send an alert to your phone when your child is out of your proximity. 

Water Safety Alert: It alerts you when it is submerged in water.

Panic Button: Located on the wristband your child can push it when they are in fear or a threatening situation and it sends a loud alert to your phone. 

Personal ID: The wrist band has a place for you to put a contact name and phone number in case your child is ever separated from you.

Email with last seen location: It can email you a map location and time in which you child was last picked up by the BuddyTag app.

It is Iphone and I Samsung compatible. It works with Iphone 4S and newer and Samsung Galazy S4 and newer, Note2 and newer with android 4.3 or higher. 

So basically you download the BuddyTag app. It is a free app I put it on my Iphone. While its is downloading you take the BuddyTag button which is a little disk shaped piece and insert it into which ever wrist band you bought. Be sure to align the panic button on the BuddyTag button to the one that's on the wrist band.  Then you open the app you will see a New Device icon. You swipe the Icon to connect the BuddyTag. You can connect more than one buddy tag to the app. The Icon will turn yellow when it is connected then you should test it.  To test your BuddyTag you simply press the panic button on the BuddyTag and the app on your phone should sound. 

From the app you can then adjust different settings, You can turn the alarms on or off, set a distance alarm, check the battery, get the last seen location and disconnect the BuddyTag. 

You always want to disconnect the BuddyTag when you are not using it. This shuts the BuddyTag button off so the battery will last longer. The batteries are not replaceable you just buy a new BuddyTag button that's why the come out of the wrist bands. The Bands are all reusable except for the disposable bands. The Silicone bands have a little pin the screws together to keep it on. Terry cloth one just slips on like a bracelet. The Velcro one Velcros on. The Disposable one has a plastic snap and must be cut off when you need to remove it.

How well it works: This is not a GPS device its not going to find your kids at long distances and it doesn't give you pin point location detection. But it does get you close to there last known location. The alert lets you know they are getting to far way so you can find them before they are lost. We tested this out both in a store and out side. We tried it out in Walmart the range is not as good in a place like that. Then again I don't want my child getting very far from me in a busy place like that any way. It sounds off when she started to get too far away. It did not really show her location in the store but I had the alert if she started moving away from me. We then took it out side and I let the girls run around. The last location part worked decent enough it showed the general location they were in. It how ever was not super accurate in rural area where there were no roads on the map it was a little hard to figure out where they were. The best part of it really is the Range Alert and the Water safety feature. It worked well enough when we were out and about and in crowed areas like festivals and the park. The Water Safety feature was also cool. It sounds when the BuddyTag is submerged in water. I didn't want to throw the girls into the river to test it so we just plunged them into the bath tub. My phone started alerting me very quickly. It would be handy if you have smaller children and you are out and about where there is a water source. Its not a replacement for watching your child but its a little extra something.

I found the BuddyTag to be worth the price it was handy and I can see if being great for smaller kids just starting to toddle around. I can also see it being handy for an elderly person who might tend to wonder. Both my girls thought the Silicone band was the most comfortable and they really loved the bright colors. My 8 year old said it was stylish and she didn't feel like a baby wearing it.