2013-2014 Curriculum

Oh, my goodness I can’t believe I just typed that title!  Eeek!  This is it.  Our first official year of homeschooling!  Although, we’ve been doing “school” for a while now, the fact that we are diving into full time studies is a bit overwhelming.  Is this the case for any of you other mama’s starting Kindergarten? 

With all the curriculum choices out there, I decided to go with one that was all inclusive.  However, choices were slim since my son is advance in reading.  A variety of programs didn’t give me the option to get the higher level readers. So, this year we decided to try Sonlight Core A.  We actually purchased it last year and did some of it last fall.  There are parts I like and parts I don’t, so we’ll see what happens.

Kindergarten

Bible: Sonlight & Awanas

History: Sonlight Core A Intro to the World: Cultures

Reading/Writing: Sonlight Language Arts 1 & All About Reading Level 1

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears

Math: Saxon 1

Science: Sonlight Science A: Biology, Botany, and Physics

Extra: We’ll be using How to Teach Art for some intro to art lessons.  Plus, he will be participating in soccer.

Other: Our family will be participating in a Co-op this year.  The boy is very excited about it, mainly because he’ll get to take karate.  Of course we will also be taking some time to venture out for some fun family field trips.

So that’s it in a nutshell.  I’ll definitely be taking it one day at time. 

Do you have any tips for this newbie?

Please be aware that affiliate links are present.  If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

Stealing the Preacher {Review}

Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer is a spin-off of from her novel, Short-Straw Bride. The novel is set in a rural ranching community of Texas in the late 1800s.  The storyline focuses on three main characters- Crockett Archer, a kidnapped preacher, Silas Robbins, thief turned rancher and his daughter Joanna.

Storyline
“On his way to interview for his first preaching post, Crockett Archer can scarcely believe it when he’s forced off the train by a band of middle-aged outlaws and delivered to the ringleader’s daughter as a birthday present.

Joanna Robbins can’t believe it either. For months, she’s prayed for a preacher—a man to bring life back into her community’s church and help her fulfill the promise she made to her dying mother. Despite the circumstances, is there any chance she can convince this stolen preacher he ended up right where he belongs?” ^{(Bethany House)}

Book Trailer

Overall Thoughts 
I was really excited to read this book because I absolutely LOVED Short-Straw Bride.  Although, this book was good it didn’t live up to its predecessor. I felt like the main characters transformed a little too quickly even though the book seems to cover a decent span of time.  Silas’ heart was changed after only a few events and Crocket and Joanna fell in love before they really knew each other.  There were a variety of storylines taking place in the book (God pursuing Silas, Crocket and Joanna relationship, Holly pursuing Crocket, the marshal pursuing Silas, etc.) so this may have been a reason the characters development was lacking. One of the things I love about Karen Witemeyer is the way she develops her characters, but this one fell a little short compared to her other books I’ve read.  Overall, the storylines were interesting, but I wish more time was put into the characters.  While this book wasn’t my favorite from Witemeyer, I still enjoyed it and look forward to her next title.

A Mommy Talks Reviews:  The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by Bethany House.  All opinions expressed are my own.  If you’d are interested in signing up to receive review copies from Bethany House, head to www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers!

A Monstrous Way to Learn

This week my son has been jumping at the bit to do extra school activities.  It all started with this movie, which in turn led to non-stop chatter about writing a sequel to it.  From there it was pretty easy to determine I needed to create some fun monster activities.

This monstrous theme was a huge hit.  Here’s a few pics.

	Tracing Monster University Names Getting my son to do any writing activities usually requires “pulling teeth.”  However, he was begging for me to print this sheet off for him.  (From K Extension Pack)
	Monster Skip Counting Puzzles I printed this activity 4 pages to a sheet to save some paper.  I cut the puzzles apart and he glued them all to the same piece of construction paper. He used the skip counting mats (not shown here) to make sure he was gluing down the right strip. This activity worked on skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. (K Extension Pack)
	Monster Graphing I think he did this activity at least 3 times in the same day.  We just put our sheet in the Crayola Dry-Erase Activity.  He rolled the die down the stairs for a little more exercise. *wink*  (K Extension Pack)
	Monster Pre-Writing As I mentioned before, my boy hates writing practice, but he was all over this activity.  He even added some kids behind the doors for the monsters to scare. (From Preschool Pack)
	Labeling Parts of a Monster This was another activity that we pulled out of the preschool pack.  He actually cut out all the words by himself!  He is getting so much better at cutting.  All our practice is paying off!

We have a few more we haven’t gotten to yet, including some from Disney’s Family Pack.  If you want to grab this fun kindergartner monster theme pack and/or a tot or preschooler pack head to 2 Teaching Mommies.


I’m linking up to Preschool Corner.

There are affiliate links, so if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

A Missed Opportunity

From the moment he walked out his bedroom door this morning, he was full of joy and had a story to tell.  A tale that he quickly rattled off the whole time Daddy fed brother.  A story that continue for the next hour and a half with only pauses for breaths.  There was no conversation, just a storyteller and his audience.  Sweet and perky and full of spirit.  Joy exuded from all his pores. 

And what did this mama do?

I caught myself tuning him out.  His ramblings were wearing me out.

Of course, he kept talking.  Sharing specific traits about all his characters. Breaking down the events into the smallest of  details.  

Desperate for a moment.  Just a moment to get my thoughts straight without an interruption.  A moment free of distractions from what I was trying to accomplish.  I couldn’t handle it any more.

So, what did I do?

Asked him to turn on the music.

Peace.

But only for a moment.  He continued his monologue the rest of the day.

Talking, chatting, gabbing, babbling, ranting, blah-blah-blahing.

My only breaks…snack, lunch and quiet time.  By the end of the day, my patience was gone. 

But a lot more was gone too…

I missed a big opportunity.  An opportunity to create with my son.

He so desperately wanted to create a good story, but his lack of a storyline and a point of conflict made me grow tiresome of his chatter.  I should have stopped.  With a little help and direction, we could have created a tale like no other. 

Lord, help me do better tomorrow.

Monster University {Review}

Mike and Sulley weren't always best buds and Disney's Monsters University tells the story of how their friendship came to be so strong. It's a classic weak-unite-to-beat-the-strong storyline loaded with laughs and a few heartfelt moments.

Similar to the first movie, Monsters University had a message that friends can accomplish more together than alone. Mike and Sulley find themselves relying on each other and a group of misfits for a chance to stay in the scare program. The movie also teaches kids to look past the exterior and see that some of the people we are prone to overlook are capable of the unexpected. You'll also find a message about honesty and resisting the urge to win at all costs.

Storyline
Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) was a little monster, he has dreamed of becoming a professional Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot MU legacy James P. Sullivan, “Sulley” (voice of John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer. The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. To make matters worse, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right.

Overall
If you liked Monsters Inc. you will enjoy this follow up. While Cars 2 seemed to diverge from the tone set in Cars (i.e., cars shooting at each other, impossible-for-kids-to-solve mystery element), Monster's University stays true to the spirit of Monsters Inc. I will say I was a bit nervous though when Mike and Sulley found themselves walking into a party at a fat house, but the scene didn't feature any of the college shenanigans that you might expect. Monsters walked around with the “red cups” and I recall seeing one monster taking a fall from too much to drink but that was about it.

Lil' Man loved Monsters University. It's practically all he's talked about since we saw it. He's been developing his own movie with some of the characters from MU and a few of his own creations. We are, however, having a hard time explaining to him why we won't be able to get the same people to do the voices for Mike and Sulley. (We don't have those kinds of connections...yet alone that much money.)

  

This was a great family movie and one we recommend.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?



Some extras
Looking for some fun family activities to go along with this movie?  Check out the free monster resources from 2 Teaching Mommies.  Plus, make sure and grab the family kit from Disney below.

MU Family Kit

A Mommy Talks Review Disclosure: I  received passes to attend the featured movie for this review, at no cost, from Disney for my honest review. I do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. All opinions expressed are my own.

Schooling Through the Summer

Last Fall I started doing Kindergarten with Lil’Man 2 days a week. He was 4.5. My goal was to provide a bit of a challenge for him, while giving myself some grace.   I was 6 months pregnant at the time and didn’t know how everything would go if I waited to start after Lil’Bro arrived.  This gave me 2 years to finish Kindergarten and learn to adjust to having a little babe running around, while homeschooling.

Unfortunately, things changed a little more than expected when Lil’Bro arrived.  Needless to say, school was put on hold.  I decided last month to jump back in, but with a limited focus.  We are only doing bible, math, handwriting and scissors skills.  We are also reading lots of books for our library Summer reading program and if the boy requests, some theme activity packs.

For math we are using Saxon K, which is a pretty easy for Lil’Man.  I wish I would have seen this placement test prior to purchasing it.  Saxon 1 would have been a better fit, but he still enjoys doing the activities.

Here’s a look at what we did this week in math.

	Saxon K Les 39: Identify/Count Pennies One area in math that is new to him is coins.  This week we learned all about pennies.  He knew its name, but didn’t know its value.  However, the other coins were a little more difficult for him.  I plan to make a Coin Observation printable to help him retain the info a little bit better.
	Saxon K Les 40: Naming Attributes This activity had Lil’Man laying the pieces out into a matrix based on attributes. When he finished I pointed and said this is a matrix. In which he quickly asked “What’s a matrix?” “This.” Yeah, didn’t work the second time either. I searched the term to find an easy way to explain it to him. Does anyone else find it hard to simplify things?
	Saxon K Les 41: Making a Pictograph Lil’Man has been working with graphs for quite a while.  We had to call our cousins and Meme to get a few more eye colors for our graph.  I think that was his favorite part.  Instead of creating the graph out of construction paper I went ahead and created a printable.  It took a lot less prep time.

Overall, our summer set up is pretty laid back and we can get it done before Lil’Bro wakes up from his morning nap.  Hopefully, it will stay that way.

There are affiliate links, so if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

A Noble Groom {Review}

Two strangers from two different worlds forced together by unexpected circumstances. He, Carl von Reichart, is a nobleman by birth and she, Annalisa Werner is a laborer who doesn’t think she is deserving of love, even love from her Heavenly Father.  Force to leave his life behind due to false accusations Carl flees to America and into the safety of Annalisa’s family under the disguise of Carl Richards.

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund takes us into the rural farm lands of Eastern Michigan where German mining immigrants have settled as farmers in hopes of owning their own land. Unfortunately,  Annalisa husband was a gambler and his death has left her to save the farm.   With a small daughter and another on the way she is forced to take on a farm hand to help while she waits for a new groom from her home country. 

Storyline

“Annalisa Werner’s husband failed her in every way. Why should his death be any less troublesome? Although she’s given up on the idea of love, she needs a good harvest to save the farm—and a husband to help bring it in. So her father sends a letter to Germany to find Annalisa a groom.

Then Carl Richards shows up looking for work. Desperate for help until her husband-to-be arrives, Annalisa hires him—only to discover this gentle stranger is unlike any man she’s ever known. But even as friendship and attraction grow between them, her true groom could arrive any day . . .” ^{(Bethany House)}

Overall Thoughts 

Judy Hedlund has a way of bringing history alive in her novels.  Though this is a fictional story I came away with a simple understanding of the difficulties and struggles the German immigrants of Michigan faced in their new country. Hedlund uses this hardship to shine a light on the virtues of her characters. Through these virtues I was able to quickly connect to Annalisa and Carl. I was drawn in even more as they labored through the rigors of farming, while trying to bury their budding feelings. These are two characters that you going to love. Definitely an enjoyable read.

 
My posts contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

A Mommy Talks Reviews:  The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by Bethany House.  All opinions expressed are my own.  If you’d are interested in signing up to receive review copies from Bethany House, head to www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers!

3 lbs. for May

Well, another month.  (Can I just say on a non-weight related note, that I’m not liking how fast these last two months have gone!  Time needs to slow down, so my babies stop growing! )

Ok, now that I got that off my chest, on to weight loss.  This was another month of low pound lost.  I matched last month with a lost of 3lbs. However, I’m ok with it for three reasons:

• mission trip 
• homeschool conference
• family visiting

Yep.  All 3 of those things happened this past month, each on a different week.  And to be honest I was not counting calories during any of those events, so I’ll take it!   

Previous Goal Check-In

-Calorie Counting using MyFitnessPal.

• Not so hot on keeping track this month, but hoping to jump back in now that things have started to settle back to normal.

-Transverse abdominal exercises from Lose Your Mummy’s Tummy. {affiliate link}

• Yeah.  Didn’t happen.  However, I am starting to train for a 5K, so at least I’m doing something.  This goal will be hitting the back burner as I train.

-Gallon of water a day.

• For real people…my water intake has gotten worst!  Now that summer temps are taking over I will definitely need to be more diligent in this area.

New Goals

-Train for the 5K at the end of the month.  

Overall, this month was pretty crazy, but that’s life.  It just reminds me that I need to be better prepared for the crazy.  If I can’t stay on top of my goals during the crazy then all my hard work in the non-crazy will never pay off.

How do you prepare yourself to stay on track during the busyness of life?

There are affiliate links, so if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

Swept Away {Review}

Inspired by the Andersonville Prison Regulators of the Civil War, Swept Away by Mary Connealy is the first book in the series Trouble in Texas.  The story takes place in the late 1800s in the small canyon town of Broken Wheel, where the Regulators join together to help take back a ranch that belongs to one of their own. 

Storyline
“Swept away when her wagon train attempts a difficult river crossing, Ruthy MacNeil isn't terribly upset at being separated from the family who raised her. All they've ever done is work her to the bone. Alive but disoriented, she's rescued by Luke Stone...so unfortunately, there are more chances to die in her immediate future.

Luke is on a mission to reclaim the ranch stolen from his family. But the more time Luke spends around the hardworking young woman, the more he finds himself thinking of things besides revenge. Will Ruthy convince him to give up his destructive path and be swept away by love?” ^{(Bethany House)}

Overall Thoughts 

I loved that this first book of the series was some what of a spin off from Mary Connealy’s last series, The Kincaid Brides.  Its always fun to learn more about characters you loved.  The main storyline follows Callie’s (from Over the Edge) brother, Luke as he reclaims their family’s ranch.  On his way home he stumbles upon Ruthy who in unconscious and had been washed away from her wagon train in a flash flood.  Ruthy is a hard working women who knows how to take care of herself, so it wasn’t surprising how quickly she jumped in to help Luke. 

Even though the story’s main focus was on Luke and Ruthy, Connealy did a great job of introducing the rest of the Regulators. A matter of fact Swept Away is full of intriguing characters.  Characters that I know will be cracked open as the series progresses.  

Overall, there were no surprises in this story, but the action in the last few chapters was definitely my favorite part . 

 
My posts may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

A Mommy Talks Reviews:  The featured product for this review was provided to me, at no cost, by Bethany House.  All opinions expressed are my own.  If you’d are interested in signing up to receive review copies from Bethany House, head to www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers!

 

Speaking of books…don’t miss this huge eBook bundle sale!

Don’t Miss this Ultimate Sale!

So, ladies remember my teaser post last Wednesday?  Today is the day!  Grab The Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle while you can!  It truly is an awesome deal you won’t want to miss.

A Few of My Favorites

Let’s break down a few of my favorites that are included in The Ultimate Homemaking eBook collection.  I’ve either read or used all of these:

• Raising Rock Stars — Kindergarten Bundle by Carissa @ 1plus1plus1equals1 ($10.00)
• K4 Curriculum by Erica @ Confessions of a Homeschooler ($15.00)
• Truth in the Tinsel by Amanda @ Oh, Amanda! ($7.99) 
• The ABC's For Godly Boys Curriculum by Lindsey @ Road to 31 ($8.00)
• Tell Your Time by Amy @ Blogging with Amy ($2.99)
• 31 Days to Clean by Sarah Mae @ SarahMae.com ($4.99)
• 31 Days to Build a Better Spouse by Ashley @ Ashley Pichea ($4.99)
• One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler by Tsh @ Simple Mom ($5.00)

Seriously these just skim the surface. If you were to purchase just the books above it would be $58 and some change, but you can get all of them and many more for the only $29.97!

Don’t want all of it?

No worries.  Here’s a few suggestions:

Divide it Up- I love going in with others to help lower the cost of a product.  If you know someone that would like to have some of the eBooks and or freebies you don’t want, why not split the cost and the books.  It’d be a win, win for both of you.

Give them as Gifts- Maybe you already have a copy of Truth in the Tinsel, but you know a friend that hasn’t purchase it yet.  Why not surprise her with the copy from the bundle?

Discard Them- Its your bundle you can delete what you want to.  {Totally just sang that to “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To.}

Please note: You can only gift them if you delete the original from your computer.

Make sure and browse this awesome library. Then don’t miss out and grab it while its available.  Sale ends May 4th.

 

There are affiliate links, so if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!