The Heart Changer- a mid grade novel {a review}

by Meghan // July 12, 2019 // Comments off

Our family (my oldest child in particular) enjoys learning through historical fiction; we have been reading a wonderful Biblical fiction book from Jarm Del Boccio, titled The Heart Changer.

The paperback is 116 pages, with a glossy cover and thick, bright white pages.
The Heart Changer opens with a poem, The Master Weaver, and closes with a beautiful note from the author.
The fictional details of a true account in the Bible bring meaning to what may have been happening to a young girl behind-the-scenes; her life story may seem almost insignificant at first glance, but The Heart Changer is a book that helps dive a little deeper to see God’s hand at work in this famous Old Testament story.

This is the story of a young Israelite girl and the heartache she endures, the losses she experiences, and the changes she goes through. Much like our every day lives, Mirriam has no idea that the Lord’s plans for her life far exceed the angst and tragedy she has endured thus far. Torn from her family during an attack and chosen to serve the family in charge of destroying her village, Mirriam must overcome these obstacles (and more) in order to fulfill God’s victorious plan for her life, and those she will impact.

We hear Mirriam’s dialogue as she talks to God, wonders about Him, his authority, and his will. We watch as her heart changes from almost rebellious against The All Powerful One (because He could have stopped everything bad from happening) to one of love, understanding, and faithfulness.

She comes to realize, through the people Jehovah has placed in her life, that He is A God that Sees.
He sees her, her family’s situation, and all along had a plan of redemption.

I will say, seeing some favorite people from the Old Testament emerge in this book was exciting!

What We Think and How We Used It

My almost 9 year old, third grade daughter read The Heart Changer front to back in the course of a day and couldn’t put it down! We talked about what Biblical fiction means, in relation to history, and fact vs fiction. She enjoyed comparing this fictional book to the Bible’s Old Testament book, used as the base of the story.

We also used the free Teacher’s Guide (provided on the book’s page) to open some discussion, and learn more about life surrounding the story. The what’s in a name activities were the most fun- we looked up the Biblical characters’ names, our family names, and the different names of God. We enjoyed finding where those names are found in Scripture, and how they’re used differently. The Teacher’s Guide offers other activities and recipes that can be made together.

This book is lovely, and has been a blessing to our family. It would make a perfect gift for a young (or old) person in your life-it is suitable for ages 7+, easy to follow the story line, and full of surprises.

Connect with Jarm Del Boccio:

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The Heart Changer {Jarm Del Boccio, Author Reviews}

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Homeschool Writing with Memoria Press {a review}

by Meghan // June 12, 2019 // Comments off

Homeschool Writing with Memoria Press #hsreviews #homeschool #writing #elementarywritingskills

Memoria Press has hit a home run, again, with their Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) and Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) with Teacher Key. We have been using these for writing practice, and I *love* them.

As with everything we’ve tried from Memoria Press, my children have been eager to use the books, and it has been very easy to implement in our homeschool.

About Simply Classical Writing

Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) is set up in an easy to use format. The beginning pages provide all the “rules” of writing the student will be using during the book (and in life, of course). The simple lessons include color coding parts of sentences (green for the first capital letter, red for ending punctuation, etc), sentencing copying, and creating sentences on their own.

What do Lessons Look Like

In Book 1, students should look over the rules about sentences in the beginning as review, of the book before lessons. Of course this could be done orally with the parent. I really like that they have broken down the Teacher’s Notes in day by day steps. There are also modification suggestions (yay!) and helpful ideas if some of the work is too easy. This makes it fun, and creates confident learners.

My soon to be first grade son has been *begging* to work in this book! He really enjoys it; I think he likes unscrambling the words to make a sentence and color coding the most.

You will begin each lesson by reading the assigned Bible story, learning the rule of that lesson (or reviewing), and then work through a creative exercise that involves applying the rules to writing sentences. Creative exercises may be a copying a decodable sentence, a read aloud sentence, illustrating the Bible story the lesson focuses on, and writing a sentence to describe that picture. Color coding parts of the sentences helps solidify the rules of writing. I really like how the lessons put emphasis on different parts of writing-like proper nouns, describing words, etc.

In Book 2, my 8 year old has been working independently. She also enjoys her lessons, and wanted to begin at the beginning of her book… my little Type A 😉

This book provides writing and grammar rules (yay for grammar), copywork, and opportunities for students to create their own good sentences every week. The Teacher’s Guide provides How to Teach step by step instructions, as well as Additional Tips. I really like how Memoria Press includes information for parents that helps them understand some developmental elements to our children’s learning- it is natural for children to make certain mistakes, and they ease parents minds with a little info here.

In Book 2’s Teacher Guide you will find a suggested schedule offering 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and 4-day schedules. Rules About Sentences are provided in both student books and the TG.

For lessons, teacher and student will read the assigned Bible story, follow the directions for the lesson(s) based on the schedule you have chosen … or go at your own pace like we do (which is doing more than one lesson)! And then edit the work together. I like the emphasis Memoria Press places on gentle correction of any errors. Writing is actually pretty complicated for children- it requires a lot from their brains. Few people are born natural writers; most students need gentle practice, and lots of it.

The process these books take to break down writing so students can fine tune their skills really helps solidify those rules of grammar and composition. i like that further into the books I see words like similies, adverbs, and even categorizing.

Memoria Press has integrated reading, writing, and grammar seamlessly in Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) and Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition).

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Read More Reviews about these and other Memoria Press products by clicking the banner below:

Classical Writing & Spelling, American History & Jewish Wars {Memoria Press Reviews}

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Homeschool Planner with The Old Schoolhouse® {a review}

by Meghan // June 6, 2019 // Comments off

The Old Schoolhouse® has issued their Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year written by Gena Suarez! This year’s cover is absolutely beautiful. This homeschool planner is going to keep you organized, and on top of your game this year!

You may have read about how I plan before, but mostly I journal what we have done as we do it. The other thing I do is plan out developmental and educational goals for each child for the year (this includes the tot as well). These plans remind me of our goals as we go through the year, and I am able to write out how they have accomplished that goal, vs worrying about adding in a lot of worksheets/busy-work as “evidence” for our hard work. =)

The Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner has metal spiral binding, thick, high quality paper, numbered pages, and so much potential for the school year! The monthly calendar spreads begin with July 2019, and provide ample room for writing in special dates, activities, doodles, lists, and all the things! All the monthly calendar spreads with their coordinating devotional, and notes pages are found in the front of the planner.

All the week of pages are found after that; their spreads again, offer freedom to plan in a way that fits you best! If you’re taking off a week- no need to fill in the dates and information. You can use the grid however best suits your family. There are columns for 5 children, and 7 rows to fill however you wish- days of the week or by subject.

My favorite part of the planner are the goals pages-

In the back of the planner are goals pages for each child (up to 5). These pages contain goals for the year, and then provide forms for you to break those goals down by semester.

So how I use these pages, and incorporate it into the rest of my planner?

I write out the goals for each child under the yearly form. Then I break that down into semester goals, on the correlating page. I will then go to the monthly spread we are working in (August for example), and jot down the goals we want to work on that month. This keeps the goals right in my face, where I will see it and know we have a focus, an intention for all we are doing (both at the school table and in life). That makes it so easy to know what we have accomplished, what we are still working on, struggling on, and brings to light what we may need to add to our goals.

The Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner has room for everything you need to plan your school year! The space, mama devotionals, and planning forms will help keep you organized, on top of goals, and feeling confident! It has really helped me think about how we can simplify and amplify our homeschool learning!

They’ve already sold out 98% of this print run, and have no plans to print more this year. So hurry and get yours!

Connect with The Old Schoolhouse®

Click the banner below to read more reviews for the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner, from The Crew:

Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year {The Old Schoolhouse® Reviews}

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Homeschool Math & Logic (plus a coupon code)- The Critical Thinking Co. {a review}

by Meghan // May 9, 2019 // Comments off

One of the most popular posts on my blog has been about math and logic in early childhood education, so I know my readers are always looking for math ideas! That’s why I was excited about this review-
My 8 year old has been using The Critical Thinking Co.‘s Pattern Explorer Beginning (for grades 3-4) physical book (they offer a digital version) for logic, fun, and developing her number sense. Read towards the end for a free shipping offer + a great coupon code from The Critical Thinking Co.!

What it is

Pattern Explorer Beginning is a book of 40 pattern problems divided into the following 5 themes:

Pattern Predictor
Equality Explorer
Sequence Sleuth
Number Ninja
Function Finder

As the student moves through the 84 page book, the problems get more difficult, building upon one another. This is a book you would have a child complete in order, not pull from randomly for enrichment. Of course if a child is ready to begin in a different spot, they could always choose to start further into the book. The pages are perforated for easy removal and the paper is high quality 9very little shadowing through the page), bright white paper.

Something I was happy to see in the book is the acknowledgement that these books, this whole process of developing, is challenging! I often refer to my teaching degree program here on the blog, but this is one of those times I can attest to what the product is saying- Yes! Moving from the developmental stage of concrete thinker onto abstract thinker is something we can nourish and support, but not something we can force. By giving a child these pattern problems, we aren’t “making them smarter,” we are enriching what is already developing.

I wasn’t an abstract thinker until almost high school, it seemed. I struggled through honors math in 8th grade. I simply *couldn’t* get the abstract thought that was required for the work. Then I hit 9th grade and *boom* I not only loved math, but was finally GOOD at it! It just took time for me; my brother on the other hand seemed to live in an abstract world and was able to understand the harder math younger than I could.

So when the book suggests it is for 3-4th grade, and your 3rd grader is struggling, please know it is normal and the book itself is a process. It is fun, and meant to be like working a puzzle on paper, using numbers. It isn’t meant to judge cognitive ability, or assess a child. It is to be pursued

with a sense of adventure and perseverance. Some pattern discoveries may come quickly, while others may require patience and determination.

Each activity has a companion hints and solutions section towards the back of the book, so students can check their work, but also, when a student gets stuck, they can get a hint for how to move forward. Also I really like that the publisher has provided solutions that may be most common, but emphasizes there is more than one way to solve a problem. Every child’s thought process will be unique to them, and that is not only okay, but just as it should be!

How We Use Pattern Explorer Beginning

My daughter worked on the book about 3 days a week; it was a real challenge for her (in a good way). She is a younger 2/3rd grade level, just beginning multiplication in her 2nd grade math curriculum, so this book advanced for her pretty quickly. But she has loved it so far! Because she didn’t know all her multiplication facts, I printed her a simple multiplication table chart from the SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This gave her the numbers she needed to help her especially with the Number Ninja puzzles.

In the first Number Ninja puzzle, she was given 4 blank boxed-the instructions were something like “write whole numbers in the empty boxes so their product equals the number on the right fo reach row, and the number on the bottom for each column.” Yes, we had to read the directions more than once 😉 haha… mama included! But she did it! She used her multiplication chart for the times tables she didn’t yet know, and she worked through many of those problems!

I love seeing her thought process on paper, how she uses what she knows- using tally marks, addition, making groups, pairs, etc) to solve the problems is so neat to me. During my student teaching internship, I was never surprised by the ability of my students, but it still doesn’t change how in awe I am of children’s minds.

It is even more fun being a part of it as their homeschooling mama. =) I am really appreciative to companies like The Critical Thinking Co. that make math and problem solving fun and challenging in our homeschools!

You can see ample space is provided for writing the answers to this pattern challenge … my daughter squeezed them in above the question, rather than below. Don’t ask me why.

Here is the best part for my readers- you can add this, or any other Critical Thinking Co book to your homeschool, or summer enrichment at a great price! Get *free shipping* + 15% off any size order using the coupon Coupon: TOSCREW19

This offer expires Expires: 12/31/2019. I can’t wait to add one of their other books to our homeschool (and who doesn’t love free shipping?!)

Connect with The Critical Thinking Co.

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Glow in the Dark Easter Eggs: Egglo Eggs {a review}

by Meghan // April 16, 2019 // Comments off

This post was written 5 years ago, and still these eggs are a joyous tradition in our home! While you can no longer find these specific eggs for Resurrection Sunday, you can purchase the scrolls to go inside any glow in the dark egg HERE.

In our home, we have never done Easter egg hunts, or Easter baskets. In the spring, the kids get a spring basket, that is completely separate from Easter itself.

For the Resurrection, we read scripture leading up to that Sunday, learn about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, and have a nice family dinner. We avoid Easter bunnies and chocolate- Everything is pretty low key.

I had the chance to review Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs and the book, The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure by Egglo Entertainment.

About The Program

Egglo Eggs are different; they aren’t just another egg you stuff full of candy for your children to hunt on Easter morning. This program is based on John 1:5, “The Light shines in the dark and the darkness has not overcome it.” This entire set encourages your children to learn, love, and truly enjoy the real meaning of Easter. Though it is designed for children ages 4-13, it can be adapted for all ages. I used it with my three year old and 18 month old.

Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs and The Great Easter Adventure book are fun and Christ centered. The eggs either have a beautiful cross on them or are plain. There are 12 in a box, consisting of four colors- blue, green, yellow, and pink.

What I received

A box (12 eggs) Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs ($11.99)
The book The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure ($12.99)
The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure audio download ($2.99)
Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls ($4.29)
The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Program Guide ($14.99)

How we use the Program

Lexie and Max are both obsessed with eggs in general- Max likes to eat them, Lexie likes to crack them when we bake. We have one little play egg, I am not even sure where it came from, but they both obsessively play with it. Now that we have the entire set of glow in the dark Egglo Eggs, they like to go in the closet and watch them glow; we charge them several times a day! haha

I overheard big sister telling the tot, “Now, this light is just like the light Jesus.”

I wasn’t really sure if they would be into hunting the eggs, but I laid them on the counter and let them “charge” under the light so they would glow really well. The directions say to let them charge for about 30 minutes in direct sunlight, or 45 minutes under in-home lights.

So, we looked through the book (which in many ways was over Lexie’s 3 year old head, but was valuable non the less. Then I hid the eggs in her room (we have blackout shades in there so it was nice and dark) while they waited in the hall.

*I cannot tell you how much fun they had hunting for these glow-in-the-dark eggs!* But then, Lexie also understood the lesson of the glowing eggs, what they represent, and how they tie into Easter. It was a win-win for us all!

hunting egglo glow in the dark easter eggs

(it was dark in her room, but the flash on my camera is on)

We may have hidden and found the eggs a dozen times the first day. Quite possibly more. She has asked to do them once a day ever since. They are such a joy and I feel good about using them in our home.

After we tired out from the excitement of hunting the eggs, the kids enjoyed coloring some of the pages from The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Program Guide. There was something in there for both the kids to enjoy. The program guide includes lots of valuable activities, fun snack recipes, and items to print to add to your Egglo Eggs. It is also set up for both schools/churches and families. I highly recommend purchasing it to accompany your eggs.

As part of my review, I received the scripture scrolls as well- we love these! They take the eggs to a whole new level. We put the scrolls inside our eggs before hiding them, and then after the kids found all the eggs, we opened each one. Lexie thought it would be fun to choose a few scriptures as our memory verses for the coming weeks. Max just liked to shake them inside the eggs and make music. =)

Overall Experience

Our experience with the Glow In The Dark Egglo Eggs and The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure has been a positive one. It was a great way to add a little more fun into our Easter celebration, and keep Christ in the center of it all. Lexie understands the real meaning of Easter, and the little Mister is on his way to understanding too. That is what this program is about- and that is why I can gladly suggest this program to anyone interested in doing an Easter egg hunt or celebration with their children.

Connect with Egglo Entertainment

Homeschool STEM Challenges

by Meghan // March 22, 2019 // Comments off

During the end of winter, we’ve had to get a little more creative with our learning time here on the farm. Some days have consisted of running a lot of errands for the remodel, we’ve had a LONG season of sickness, and Daddy has been home with us a lot lately. So using Tied 2 Teaching‘s STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading for some of our learning time activities has been a great fit!

What it Is & How We Use it in Our Homeschool

The STEM Activities bundle from Tied 2 Teaching is organized by months; each month contains 4 themed activities to go with the holidays or season of that month. These are in PDF format, which makes it easy to print out the pages you need, or just view on your device.

Each activity comes with links and a QR Code to a reading passage about the project. This gives the background information students need to complete their activity correctly-following guidelines for the STEM activities is a BIG part of completing them! The reading passage will also be needed to complete the comprehension portion of the activity sheets, before starting the STEM activity. The passage includes fun facts, often focuses on a new vocabulary word or two, and provides much needed background knowledge for completing the challenge.

Next is the design challenge itself; this includes the objective of the challenge, the necessary design criteria, materials needed and suggested, and the final product questions to think about. These are some starter questions that help students think about the design they’re going to make- how will you ensure the stability? What materials allow for the best model? How will it be unique?

The provided activity sheets allow for many different learning styles-there are options for more writing, drawing sketches, and some are laid out like a graphic organizer, perfect for visual learners. I chose to have my children (ages 8 and 6) dictate to me, and I wrote down their responses to the prompts.

Their favorite challenge from the several we’ve completed is the Groundhog Burrow Challenge. First I read aloud the close reading passage, and they answered some prompts before beginning the activity. They collected their supplies, and worked through several different strategies for creating their groundhog burrow. I really enjoyed watching their creativity peak! They chose a specific box because it would look like a cut out, to allow people to look into the burrow like an amphibian exhibit at the zoo, or like the cutout pictures book we read.

What’s wonderful about STEM activities is that while yes, children are creative and do these types of things using their imagination naturally, the prompts and process help with systemic problem solving and lay foundational work for more scientific discovery down the road.

Today, as this mama recovers from the flu, I have plans for them to complete the Totem Pole Challenge- as we can do this outside in the sunshine with our building blocks, or inside if I need to catch a recovery nap while they work. =)

These activities can be expanded for all age ranges; the final product and challenge prompt answers will vary depending on ability and developmental level. Older students will do more expanding while younger students will be learning more foundational listening and problem solving skills. My 4 year old tagged along

The STEM challenges are unique activities that will be perfect for any homeschool; if your family enjoys unit studies these would fit right in, as there are sure to be activities for just about any topic, holiday, or season! They are great for expanding math and science concepts for all ages. I was more involved with the first few challenges we did, and then after that they were able to work more independently.

You could easily make these the center of your morning time, expanding with videos, living books, and notebooking! This is how I plan to use these in the future.

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Homeschool Practice With IXL {a review}

by Meghan // February 21, 2019 // Comments off

We have been using an annual membership from IXL Learning. This included all IXL subjects– math, language arts, grades 2-8 science, grades 2-8 social studies, and intro Spanish.

This has been such a fun supplemental program to review! We do plan to continue using it for the year, and will renew our membership.

How we use IXL Learning

About 3 days a week, each of my older 3 children (8, 6, and 4) work in the IXL program for 20 minutes. The program is very parent and child friendly; each child has their own profile where I customize their learning practice. We really love using the app, but my 8year old used the computer quite a bit to access IXL. Parents are able to select the grade level of practice for each subject, for every child!

This is perfect for customizing learning for homeschool children, as many students work on different levels in different core subjects. Parents are also able to customize what “standards” they would like their child to work under. This is of no concern to me, as we don’t teach according to anyone’s standards, (most curricula cover the same concepts, regardless of “standards,” but it is an option for those parents in states that require certain standards!

I found what worked best for us was having 1 child work in IXL on the ipad or computer while I did 1:1 school work at the table with the others. We continued this rotation through, until I had done our reading and LA with each child, and they were all ready for their independent table work.

My 8 year old saw the Spanish section and wanted to practice learning Spanish; this and spelling are her favorite subjects in IXL. Where my son is a natural born speller like his mama, my very intelligent oldest child struggles in that area, so I am excited that she is excited about practicing spelling concepts in IXL.

For my 6 year old, math is the favorite subject, but he has enjoyed working in each one. I like that I can also receive an email letting me know what they completed and has well they did. A quick glance at their profile under any subject tells me what they have completed in each category of that subject.

My 4 year old used the app on the iPad while working in the PreK level. She mostly worked in the Language Arts section, and worked slower than the others. She is still learning about using the ipad, but she truly enjoys IXL.

Here is an example of the 2nd grade language arts subject- you can select any category for practice as seen below: reading foundations, reading strategies, writing strategies, vocabulary, and grammar and mechanics.

What I Think

We don’t use many computer or online learning activities, choosing to limit screen time, but I knew I wanted to try IXL and I am so glad I did! We are diligent about our core studies- reading, language and math and reading aloud (which covers everything else, right? haha)- and IXL is a wonderful supplement for extra practice and learning.

Children can have instructions read to them, as well as having words/problems pronounced aloud. This is a huge help for beginner readers like my 4 year old, or children with learning differences, allowing them to practice independently.

Each time a child misses a question, IXL gives an explanation of how to correctly solve the problem in subjects such as math, or explains the language arts concept for the child. See the example below:

While IXL is wonderful for review and practice, it is not a substitute for teaching. I would say my 8 year old could learn independently with this program, though. If she didn’t understand what was being asked of her, and she missed a question, I feel the explanation would be adequate for her to learn from her mistake. This would work because of her ability to learn independently and her grade level … much lower or much more difficult levels would be better suited for practice only.

It is complete in the subjects covered, and the explanations when answers are incorrect are simple but effective.

Christian History Audio Drama for the Whole Family {a review}

by Meghan // February 15, 2019 // Comments off

During our morning time, we have been enjoying the latest publication, For The Temple from Heirloom Audio. My children have LOVED this listening experience. (You can see our past Heirloom Audio review HERE)

We reviewed the 2 disc physical CD set, as well as the digital PDF study guide.

The guide is full of details and comprehension/deeper thinking questions found under sections: Listening Well, Thinking Further, and Defining Words. You will find each section has its own content for each chapter of the story. Thinking Further includes activities, such as googling images/information from history that pertain to the story and reading Bible passages for comparison/historical context. The study guide itself is beautiful and takes the adventures of G.A. Henty to a new educational level; meant to help parents have juicy conversations with their children, it can also be used independently by older students. (My 8 year old enjoyed using it on her own, while the others used it orally with me.)

What It Is How We Used It* What We Think*

Heirloom Audio is one of our favorite companies to support- you can read more about who they are HERE, which outlines what they believe, and how they get these great history stories. I love that their stories are wholesome, being safe for my kids to listen without me needing to know every detail before pressing play.

Based on the book by G. A. Henty, For The Temple is another gripping, family entertainment, audio drama from Heirloom Audio. Though John wants to stay home and follow in his parents’ footsteps as a farmer, he knows God is calling him to fight the Romans. He shows great leadership skills and integrity while defending the Jews, rescuing innocents, and encouraging the men in his army. Later, we see God has been preparing John, as he is called to defend God’s people once again in Gamara.

What began as the story of a young boy, silly and not ready for marriage, turned into a hero’s story of brave risks, integrity, and Godly intent. As John realizes he has been called by God to lead an army against a great threat, we see great excitement and purpose in his life, which God saw all along (of course). He overcomes not only defeat in the field, but also slavery, as God’s hand writes his life story. In the end we rejoice with John and his family as they accept Christ and become followers of Yeshua.

This is so much like our own lives- we have plans, feel our personality is best suited for one thing or another, and yet God sends us through trials, introduces us to people we may have never known … all so we can do His work and come to know Him better.

He equips the called.

My 8 year old’s favorite part of For The Temple:

“While the Romans were trying to reach the temple, John took a lot of fishing boat on the Sea of Galilea, and everyone held torches to make the Romans think they were a large army-he said if it worked for Gideon, it could work for them. Another part I liked was when the Romans were waiting for the people to starve inside the city, because the Jews couldn’t reach food and water without going outside the walls. But John was brave and fought the Romans with swords, even though he was out numbered. But I don’t think John knew Jesus, because he didn’t believe, at first, that He rose from the dead.”

The production team, acting cast, and recreation of this original G.A. Henty story is top notch family entertainment. We like to turn on the audio each morning during morning time, but be warned- it can be hard to turn it off! It is also a great independent listening time for the kids while mama gets a shower, tidies up, or prepares a meal.

Beautiful life lessons and Biblical character traits are threads throughout all the Heirloom Audio stories, and that is no different in For The Temple. We meet characters from the Bible and how their stories would have impacted people during this era of history. Even the youngest of listeners can recognize those people, and see the impact Jesus’s death would have had during that time.

—I want to add, that exploring their website is worth the effort! The “Kid’s Corner” and other resource links are safe for young children, and full of family fun! You will find videos, links, quizzes, and more!

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Live Online Violin Lessons for the Entire Family {plus a special offer & review}

by Meghan // January 16, 2019 // Comments off

My oldest has been playing violin for a while; we have attended lessons on and off between moves. This summer, at a time in our homeschool and family life when things were just too hectic-we really needed a slow down of running from place to place- we were blessed with an opportunity to review a Family Subscription to Live Violin Classes from Practice Monkeys. My 8 year old has been using Practice Monkeys for a little over 3 months, plus had an assessment (which determines if the student ready to move up to the next level/where you are).

We are thoroughly enjoying this program!

About Practice Monkeys Family Violin Lessons

Practice Monkeys is an online violin program perfect for the entire family! Your membership includes classes and practice resources for all the members of your family. Mrs. Sarah is a wonderful, smiling, attentive teacher that loves hearing and helping her students play. Everything you need is found in your Treehouse online, and Mrs. Sarah is very helpful and thorough when learning about your new violin lessons.

Live Group Classes:

Membership includes live lessons 4 days a week; each class level has its own assigned time slot Monday- Thursday (ours was 4pm central). There are 4 lesson videos loaded each week that are from last week’s live lessons. So if you miss a class, have no fear! You can make it up in your own time the following week. There were weeks that we made 1-2 classes, there was a week where we made them all, and weeks we didn’t make any. Practice Monkeys is unique because of the 4 live classes each week-this is where students really get their help, Sarah gets to hear them play the pieces they’re working on, and help them with improving. She works with students individually (which in turn helps the other students in class), shows fingerings, gives examples, has students copy her, and truly teaches students to play their violin. It is very fun and beneficial!

Each level of classes is made up of all the students in that level, our level 5 class had 3-4 students attend most days. Some classes have more, some fewer, students. The live classes with Mrs. Sarah are so fun! My daughter is always smiling when we finish and eager to continue her practice.

What is Included & Navigating your “Treehouse”

You will need to provide your violin, Suzuki book, and listening CD (comes with the Suzuki book). Mrs. Sarah provides links for purchasing supplies and renting violins. We are *very* blessed to have a local violin shop where we are treated so kindly and have been able to purchase beautiful violins at very reasonable prices.

Aside from those 3 things mentioned above, Mrs. Sarah provides everything for learning violin in theTreehouse, all the way down to purchasing your assessment for promotion to the next level! (More about assessment in a bit.) Below is a sample screen shot of helps which you may see at the top of your Treehouse:

The Treehouse is where you find all of your videos and support between lessons. It is online, and set up step by step:

registration & placement for new students
link for attending 47 live lessons each year
parent orientation videos
student set-up, learning about violin
tuning your violin (I learned to tune our violin via a tuning app, y’all!)
4 practice classes uploaded each week (last week’s lessons to makeup or review)
instructional Teaching Videos for 10 Skill Areas per Level
all the printable practice forms, skill sheets needed for staying on track
printable sight reading books, activity books, etc for helping students along

Students are expected to practice with live classes or make up classes 4x a week, PLUS 2 fun song practices! My daughter became a little obsessed with learning her fun song and didn’t do the review she should have during the last few months. I wasn’t watching her practice sheets very closely. =/ Now that we have a good routine for placing violin practice back into our school days, we are doing a lot better! haha Mrs. Sarah is very gracious, understands life, and is firm about expectations. I *love* that! You can’t improve if you don’t practice…

Assessment:

An assessment is purchased separately from classes/lessons, when you feel your child is ready to be promoted to the next level. In your Treehouse you can find the assessment form (similar to a ruberic) to make sure your child has accomplished most everything in their level. Online, you will schedule an assessment with Mrs. Sarah where she will spend 30 or so minutes listening to the student play different pieces/watching skills they’ve mastered.

During our assessment Mrs. Sarah spent a good while helping my daughter work very hard on her fingerings and scales for her fun song (which all transfer over to her Suzuki practice, too). Sometime in December we both had Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing stuck in our heads, so she just started playing with the fingerings until she got it (about 2-3 days). Mrs. Sarah helped her hear the tuning fingers for those notes and more! She’s very excited about it!

Help Classes:

If ever you need help understanding something, working through something on the violin or in the Treehouse, etc, Mrs. Sarah offers help classes for this very thing! She is always available via email, but help classes are really easier for getting help, and again, that live video help is so valuable!

We are continuing our lessons with Practice Monkeys for the intro $39 a month. I am very excited to continue and focus more on our daily violin practice routine. There are so many benefits to 4 classes a week online, with a real teacher, versus driving to lessons 30+ minutes away 1x a week. In this season especially, online lessons are such a blessing for us, and we can always add students to our membership when they are ready. I dunno … I love playing Lady’s violin, so maybe I will take lessons as well! =) Either way, this has been perfect for our family and I can only imagine it is just what other families are looking for as well.

Special Reader Offer:

Click Mrs. Sarah Van Kleeck’s smiling face below, for a special reader offer: get introductory pricing for year one’s subscription cost- of $39 a month for the entire family! Using this link locks in your price, so you can pay this super reasonable price for the lifetime of your membership for the entire family! The regular price is more, so this is a steal; offer expires February 1, 2019.

Connect with Practice Monkeys

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A Real Christmas Lesson: If He Had Not Come {a review}

by Meghan // December 2, 2018 // Comments off

With the holidays coming up, it is important to our family to focus on the reason for Christmas- Jesus Christ’s birth. We were able to read and review a precious book, If He Had Not Come. Originally written by Nan F. Weeks, it has been reintroduced by David Nicholson, a retired school teacher and missionary.

This is a wonderful story for any Christian family that wants to truly show their children what Christmas celebration is all about. Though the book is recommended for ages six and up, my (just turned) four year old really enjoyed and understood it. The casebound hardback version can be purchased for $18.95, or choose the e-book version at $3.99.

About If He Had Not Come

This book was such a pleasant surprise to receive in the mail! In the front cover was a special, handwritten note from David himself, which Lexie thought was just wonderful. The book is a beautiful hardback, illustrated by Charles Jaskiewicz- there is a lot of detail in the illustrations that support the story so well. We have read this book many times already, and Lexie has noticed something new in the pictures each time.

The story begins with a young boy, Bobby, getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve, anticipating opening the gifts from his family the next morning. (I will say, one of my favorite things about this book is there is no mention of Santa Claus). But when he goes to sleep, he dreams of a world where there is no Christmas; there is no church, no Christian run/owned businesses like homeless shelters, hospitals, etc. When he goes looking for each of these things, in its place he finds a sign reading, “If I had not come.”

After realizing what a desolate world he would live in were it not for Christ, Bobby wakes up and thanks Jesus for coming, for being the very best Christmas gift.

What We Thought and How We Used It

This is honestly one of the best Christmas books we own. Really. It isn’t too much for a young child to understand, and it clearly and honestly opens their eyes to Christmas and the Christ in Christmas. The story shows them not only would we not have Christmas to celebrate His birth, but our world would be so different without Jesus. There are so many things we take for granted that we would no longer enjoy if Christ had not come to save us. This is a great book for all families, and Sunday school classes alike!

We have been reading this book for my four year old’s bedtime routine. I wasn’t sure at first what she would think, or if she would enjoy it. Well, she has requested it for nap and bed time since the day we introduced it! My husband and I have been able to take If He Had Not Come and go deeper into the meaning of Christ’s birth-even farther than the meaning of Christmas. (in the picture she was in her gymnastics leotard and I am not sure what was up with the crazy headband ..)

In the back of the book you will find several helpful pages. There is a page of interactive topics for families and Sunday school teachers- the questions are thought provoking and open ended to allow plenty of discussion. They will really help you have a deep, wonderful, honest, discussion with your child/ren.

There is also a section titled, “Going Deeper;” these are questions to help you and your child explore what the Bible says about the birth of Christ. I really like this section, as it has possible answers for you to share/follow up with, and references specific Bible verses! That is really helpful for any parent trying to lead their little one to God. There is also a small section on the last page with an idea to help you celebrate Christmas using a fun activity.

If you are looking for a book to add to your Christmas collection, or want to do a unit on Christmas with your children, this is the book I would suggest you look at first.