Disclosure of Material Connection:

Some of the links on this blog are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and/or believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Book Review: Would a Worm Go on a Walk? #WormOnAWalk #FlyBy

worm on a walk

About the book:

“Would a worm go on a walk, if you could lead him down the street? / Would he wear his tiny tennies, if he had two worm-sized feet?”

So begins this humorous and imaginative picture book that introduces children to the idea that animals are uniquely created by a loving and wise God. Would a Worm Go on a Walk?, with its colorful, comical illustrations, is a fresh, fun way to teach young children that God created all things very good. He gave all the animals, and children, too, wonderful qualities and unique strengths. Children will giggle over the ridiculous scenarios presented, and they will come away with the knowledge that we all are loved and special.

Format: Jacketed hardcover

Page count: 32

Reading age: 4-7

About the author:

Hannah C. Hall is the author of best-selling children’s books, including God Bless You and Good Night and God Bless Our Christmas, as well as an award-winning blog, HannahCHall.com. Hannah lives in Prairie Grove, AK with her husband, Josh, a worship pastor, and their four children.

My Thoughts:

Would a Worm Go on a Walk?  Is a beautifully illustrated, fun and silly story that helps kids realize that we are all made the way we are for a reason.  We are all different, but we are just how God made us!  My little ones loved this story! 

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Find this book and others at ShopBetterBooks.com, it is also available on Amazon.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

GIVEAWAY:


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Field Trip #208 Friday Blog Hop (Road Trip)

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Blog Hop designed to share 'FIELD TRIP' related Blog Posts(does not have to be a 'home school field trip', can be any trip to any place with your children!)

**NOTE:  Before linking up please review guidelines HERE!

Our next big stop was Oklahoma City, where we met up with my brother and his family.  We spent 2 nights there, and visited the Oklahoma City Zoo, as well as spent some time in the hotel pool.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Review: NotebookingPages.com (TOS Review) #hsreviews #notebooking #journaling @NotebookingPgs

notebookingpages review

For this review we used the The Lifetime Membership from NotebookingPages.com.  This membership also includes a one year trial to The Notebooking PublisherTM web-application.

Notebooking Pages has a wide variety of themed notebooking pages, as well as blank ones, and with the free trial to the publishing application, the opportunities are LITERALLY ENDLESS! 

If you are not familiar with Notebooking Pages, think of journaling or scrapbooking.  Its a great way for kids to show what they have learned, and to keep it all together in one spot. 

Since we recently returned for a 2 week road trip, we used the notebooking pages to highlight our trip.  We used National Park pages, as well as state summary pages. 

notebooking pages

My son is not one that likes to write!  He has enjoyed looking up information about the places we visited though and writing about them.  He also liked adding some of the pictures we have taken.   He only does a little at a time.  But he worked on them 3-5 times a week.  We used books and the internet to find the information. 

I have been really struggling trying to figure out what to do for him for Science next year, as we typically do science together as a family, but he will be 5th grade, and my other two will be Kindergarten and 2nd grade.  We are hitting up Life Science again (He had it in 1st grade) and I needed to either get him something different or beef up the program we used and loved previously.  So now, he will be Notebooking for the year in Science, and also some in History!   I am so thrilled! (We will be using these amongst many others!)

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Another way to use this product would be in child-led learning.  You can have your kid pick a topic they want to learn about and let them at it!

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They have ABC pages that would be great for younger kids too!

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Now if you don’t find what you need at NotebookingPages.com, you can use the publishing app to make what you need!  It’s free for a year with a lifetime membership purchase (and you can activate it at anytime, it’s good for a year after activation). 

A few hints (learn from my mistakes):  Don’t print the entire set, when you download a theme there are several pages, they are basically the same page but with different writing area (some have blank lines, some of lines with dashes, some have more writing space, some have less, etc..).  I wasted A LOT of paper by not really looking at them first before printing! 

When you register, you get a few emails with tips for how best to go about getting started.  (I am horrible at reading these type of things, it’s my kinesthetic learning style), but I suggest you read them!  They are helpful!

This is a very versatile and inexpensive homeschooling tool!  It’s only $10 for the first month and then $29 a month for 3 more months after that (or a onetime payment of $97) for a LIFETIME of notebooking pages!  Anything new that will be added is included, as well! 

you can purchase individual sets and there are several FREEBIES available as well. 

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These are definitely one of those things that 'I didn’t know I needed!’  I highly recommend them!

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debrareed.notebookingpages/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotebookingPgs  @NotebookingPgs

Notebooking Pages Lifetime Membership Reviews

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Thursday, June 23, 2016

Field Trip #207 Friday Blog Hop (ROAD TRIP)

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Blog Hop designed to share 'FIELD TRIP' related Blog Posts(does not have to be a 'home school field trip', can be any trip to any place with your children!)

**NOTE:  Before linking up please review guidelines HERE!

Next stop:  The Grand Canyon

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We got lucky, this side of the park opened for the first day of the season when we got there!  We didn’t even look into that… oops!  It was also a little chili, we were not dressed for the cooler weather.  I mean it’s Arizona!  We had NO IDEA! 

We also got in this park on the Every Kid in a Park pass for 4th graders!


Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Review: LearnBop (TOS Review)

LearnBop

For this review we used LearnBop, LearnBop for Families subscription.  My (almost) 10 year old was the primary user, we used the Single Student Plan.

We used this as our primary math program during the review period, so he used this 4-5 days a week.  He only used it for about 10mins a sitting though.  I have to be honest, he didn’t really like this program, and he can’t seem to explain to me why.  I’m at a loss.  I do know that he worked on it one time for quite a while and it took him about an hour to complete a ‘bop’.  The lesson seemed never ending to him, and I think that is a lot of what turned him off of it.  Maybe we should have adjusted the level to 3rd grade (we had it set on 4th grade).  I told him he could just use it for 10mins a day (in an attempt to not overwhelm him).  So he moved really slowly through the lessons, and I don’t feel like much was accomplished.

I found the program hard to navigate as a parent too, I just didn’t really get it.  It was too complicated for me.  My son and I are both kinesthetic learners, and when there are a lot of directions and such to work though it becomes overwhelming.  I think that was a lot of the problem with this program.  There was just too much stuff to navigate through.  We both prefer something more simple and more cut and dry. 

I would also prefer programs with email notifications, with 4 kids, I get busy, I forget to check up on things (sometimes even when I am reviewing items).  I like daily, or at the very least weekly emails that tell me what my child did and how he is doing.  I think I have acquired ADHD in my adult years, and well, I tend to forget to check up after my child sometimes.  The emails are a great way to keep me on my toes and in check with their progress. 

I know there were several people who just RAVED about the program though, so I’m going to chalk this up to not a good fit.  If you have a visual learner, I think your child would really enjoy this program.  There is a 30 day money back guarantee, so there is no risk to try it out!

The program is designed for grades 3-12 to help catch up or to get ahead in Math.  When a child gets a problem wrong it takes them through step by step to explain why and they correct way to do it.  It can identify learning gaps and adjusts the program accordingly, to meet your individual child’s needs. 

When you get a problem wrong, the program then breaks the problem down into smaller steps.  Helps are also available, such as hints, to help your child learn how to do the problem.  If your child is still not successful, more work in that specific area is added to the workload.

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This is where it was frustrating for my son.  I went through the program and I think it is well laid out and explained, but since my son is not a visual learner (particularly in math) all the reading of problems and such wasn’t working for him.  He did enjoy the videos associated with the concepts, but there are only a few, and are not part of the individual bops (lessons).  Perhaps having an auditory factor available for each problem, would be beneficial to those students who are more auditory/kinesthetic learners. 

Here is an example of a problem

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Problems like this really threw him off since several of the answers are No match. 

The program bumped him down to the 3rd grade map, even though I set him up on 4th grade math (which he had almost completed in another program we had been using).  The 4th grade map covered a lot of concepts he had not learned yet, so I’m not sure how the level work is determined.   it did not change his road map label though (still said 4th grade) so he didn’t realize he was on a lower grade (and I didn’t either, until I change it myself and was playing with the levels).  I do like this because won’t feel down about being ‘lower’ than they feel like they should be.

They also offer a lot of rewards and other incentives along the way.

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This program is not just for homeschoolers though, this would be a great way to help a kid struggling in math who doesn’t homeschool or a way to help keep math skills polished during summer months!

For every LearnBop subscription bought they also donate an equivalent to a student in need!  Love this!

I am really bummed that this was not a good fit for us, it seems like a really great and solid program.  If they added some more audio components to the program, it might help others who are less visual learners in math.  I think we will revisit this program though, and try again in the future.  Try it out, maybe it’s a good fit for you child!

LearnBop for Families Review

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Saturday, June 18, 2016

Review & #Giveaway: Bible Belles: Esther the Belle of Patience #BibleBelles #FlyBy

bible belles

Synopsis:

Bible Belles’ The Adventure of Rooney Cruz is an original children’s series that presents real life heroes like never before. The series highlights five superhero women of the Bible: Hannah, Esther, Abigail, Ruth and Deborah.

We’re setting out to present women in the Bible in a way that has never been done before. We want girls to connect with them and find out what being truly beautiful is all about. We want girls to remember their names, their stories, and how special they are.

Book Trailer

My Thoughts:

This is a really cute, inspirational series.  This is the first book I’ve read in the series, but I love the positive message.  I love how it applies biblical teachings and lessons to life today, and I love how it highlights women in the bible!  This is a great book for the little girl in your life!  The book also has a book template in the front (perfect to gifting) and It has bright, colorful pictures as well.

Summary:

In this story, the little girl, Rooney, has a guardian angel named Mari.  Mari gifts her with bells to help her remember the virtues she teaches in each book.  In this book they travel back in time to Esther to learn how to solve a problem that Rooney is having on the soccer field. 

Giveaway:

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”



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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Field Trip #206 Friday Blog Hop (Road Trip)

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Blog Hop designed to share 'FIELD TRIP' related Blog Posts(does not have to be a 'home school field trip', can be any trip to any place with your children!)

**NOTE:  Before linking up please review guidelines HERE!

The road trip continues, after Rexburg we headed to Salt Lake City!

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We only were there for an evening and a night and then took off in the morning for Zion National Park!  (Free with the 4th grade park pass!)

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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Review: Progeny Press, The Sword in the Tree E-Guide (TOS Review)

Sword in the Tree PP

For this review, my almost 10 year old son used The Sword in the Tree E-Guide from Progeny Press

This is not our first time using Progeny Press Study Guides, you can see our other reviews as well:

Stone Fox and The Courage of Sarah Noble

We used this unit 3-5 days a week, he did one page a day (any more and he would have not been happy, as he doesn’t like written work much).  Though we have used these study guides before this was the first time I actually had him do the majority of it on his own, written, not orally with me.

Though the guides have a type answer option, I choose to print the packet and have him hand write the answers.

The Sword in The Tree_zpsmnvu1klr

I have to be honest, he does not really like these.  He prefers to read a book, and that’s it.  He doesn’t care to break it into chapters and answer questions about it.  But, he got over it.

We took this product with us on our recent road trip, and he was able to do a page a day in the car!  So it made for great car schooling! My son was able to navigate the guide pretty much on his own; little help was required from me.

I love that the literature guides also work in scripture study, this allows you to combine two subjects together, which is always a plus!  If you have a your child write in complete sentences (mine did mostly short answer) it could also qualify as writing, and there is vocabulary work as well. 

These are Christian based studies (as I mentioned scripture study).  The books are used to point out life lessons and are applied to scriptural concepts. 

The Sword in the Tree was on our reading list this year for the Middle Ages, so it was a great way to use the book in our history studies, as well as adding in the other subjects. 

The E-Guide is a downloadable product, in PDF format.  It does not include the book, it must be acquired separately.

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Progeny Press has a wide range of study guides to choose from, for all grade levels (K-12).  I felt that this particular book was easy for a 4th-6th grade range, my son could read on higher levels, but then that allowed for the focus to be more on the questions in the guide.  This has been our experience with the other guides also.  The reading levels were lower than what they were listed, but the guide work was always more difficult for my son.

The guide also includes an answer key!  This is very handy!  It makes checking answers so much easier (because in all honesty, I general have a chance to read the book myself).  Additionally, it comes with a list of fun Post Reading Activities (to rope in even more subjects) and a list of additional resources, including other related titles.

If you are looking to work literature into your curriculum, but would like it to cover a wide variety of activities/subjects in addition, this would be a great way to do so. 

They have lots of wholesome literature to choose from.

The guides are $18.99 and are available as an instant download or a physical product (either on CD or as a printed book).  They also have the books available for purchase.

Because my son dislikes the units so much (only because of the writing aspect) it isn’t something we would do on a regular basis, but I do like to work in at least one a year. I’d also like to try some of the lower elementary choices next time with my 2nd son.  If you do have a child that doesn’t like to write, it’s nice that typing is an option, and previous units we have also done a lot of the questions orally!

Literature Study Guides from a Christian Perspective {Progeny Press  Review}

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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Field Trip #205 Friday Blog Hop (ROAD TRIP)

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Blog Hop designed to share 'FIELD TRIP' related Blog Posts(does not have to be a 'home school field trip', can be any trip to any place with your children!)

**NOTE:  Before linking up please review guidelines HERE!

Our next stop after Yellowstone was Rexburg, ID.  We stayed here for a couple of days in a cabin we rented with my BILs family and my MIL.  The kids had a great time with their cousins!  One of the places we visited while there was the Sand Dunes.  The kids also enjoyed playing on the paddle boat on the property, in the small pond.  We stopped by the Rexburg Temple on our way out of town.

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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Review: Shiloh Run Press, The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins #hsreviews #glasscastle #jerryjenkins

The Glass Castle

We read The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins from Shiloh Run Press as a family read aloud during our recent road trip. 

This book was most enjoyed by my almost 10 year old son.  I would say the age range for this book would be Middle School (5th – 8th grade), though most certainly could be enjoyed by older children and adults as well.  The reading level is on par with 5th – 8th grade, however.

This is a suspenseful book with a lot of mystery as well.  Be aware this is the first in a series, and A LOT of questions are left unanswered at the end.  (This was a very frustrating factor for my husband). 

The story starts out about a 13 year old girl named Avery and her brother, both of whom are kid napped by an old lady in the woods.  Avery is separated from her brother and taken to a castle.  There are a lot of 13 year olds living in this castle, all of which are orphans, except Avery.  They must live quietly in the castle, behind the scenes, so that no adults know they are there.  They do all the work in the castle, such as baking, mending, mail reading, etc… for the king that lives there.  The king is soon to be wed to a woman, whom is not very nice. 

As Avery learns her way around the castle she realizes she knows this place.  She grew up hearing stories about this exact place, from her mother.  She also discovers that the necklace she was given from her mother is the same necklace the former queen is wearing in a picture she finds.  These are just a few of the mysteries that begin to unravel during the story.

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She tries to find out why she is there, where her brother is, what her mother’s connection to the castle is, why is she the only one there that is not an orphan (or is she?), who is the old lady that kidnapped her, and more…

Slowly we learn with Avery some of the answers to the mystery, however, many things are still left unanswered at the end of the book, which leaves you in wait for the next book.  The Ruby Moon will be available October 2016. 

My son’s favorite part of the book is a scene where they play human chess.  This part of the book inspired him to create a large chess board and make large chess pieces to play.  He also was disappointed at the end of the book, exclaiming, “That’s it??”  I loved that he was so enthralled, and understand his frustration.  (I often wait until an entire series is out before reading even the first book). 

This is definitely a book that keeps you wondering, and as a result turning pages!  I’m interested to see what happens in the next book.

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarbourPublishing
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/barbourbuzz @BarbourBuzz


The Glass Castle {Shiloh Run Press Review}
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