Book Review: Sneak By Evan Angler

I'll start by saying that this book is a sequel.  If you've not already read the book "Swipe" then start your journey here- http://homeschoolingwiththekvenvoldens.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-review-swipe-by-evan-angler.html   I fell in love with the Swipe series with the first book.  My 13yo son has read along with me (actually he's read MUCH MUCH faster than me!)  since the first book and he, as well as I, am excited for the sequel!  This series is a young adult dystopian adventure series, that will likely captivate you and your children.   As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fiction reader.  I tend to prefer to read for information, but every once in a while, i delve into a fictional book, usually of a similar genre, and this was just perfect for my current fiction delve.  

The story surrounds the protagonists, Logan and Erin, as they deal with their own family situations and catastrophic result of Logan's failed mark appointment.  I don't want to say too much, for fear of spoiling the story, but i'll say this.  Angler is a skilled storyteller, one who is more creative than I can fathom being in devising intricate and elaborate story lines and leaving you wanting to find out what happens next!  

I will say that as a writer, i noticed some flaws in the series, First, it is pretty simplistic, language-wise, however, it is marketed for preteens so that would make sense.  Also, the situations in the story seem prone to be a bit far fetched and even sometimes unrealistic, (taking into consideration the genre).  My major complaint is that I find it really hard to tell who's speaking, with a preponderance of quotations, often back to back, its hard to tell WHICH character is speaking.  I've found myself stopping, and trying to figure out who said what, quite often.  But i'm a writer and a language snob, so take it with a grain of salt, and do NOT let that stop you from experiencing this fabulous series!  I reluctantly give it 4 stars due to the issues mentioned above, otherwise it would be a 5 star book easily.  LOVE it. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

How about a RADICAL Christmas this year? Part 1

Last year, we did something crazy.  We decided that our family would no longer be purchasing Christmas gifts.  CRAZY, right? I mean how could our children live without "A Christmas"?  Well, see, that's the thing... that expression really bothered me...  A CHRISTMAS? What is Christmas anyway? a big STUFF GRAB? is that what i wanted to teach my children about Christ?  Nope.   We'd agonized about what to do about Christmas for a number of years, pretty much our whole adult life, much like Halloween.   We'd gone to both extremes,  ALL Christmas is ok- santa, toys, everything.- to NO Christmas is ok- treat it like a regular day, blow off the cultural stuff.  NEITHER felt right.  We've experimented with a number of inbetween happy mediums-  Celebrating with gifts, but forgoing santa and secular holiday music-  Doing the same but working REALLY hard to inject extra "Jesus" into it.

But we never really felt... right...  

Last year, a bit late- already into the buying seasons, i read this article.  http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/12/when-christmas-gets-radical-whose-birthday-is-it-really/

And it finally CLICKED.  WHO'S BIRTHDAY IS IT?! Do I get presents on my husband's birthday? NO.  Does Elliott get presents on ASHER'S birthday.  YES!  HAHAHA...  But that's because they are twins.  Does Annabeth get presents on CHLOE'S birthday? Nope.   

Why would WE get presents on JESUS' birthday and how could we really, truly focus on HIM when we were focused on spending our resources on other than HIM. 

How do you suppose my children responded, last year, when we sat them down and told them what our plans were.  That there would be no more Christmas presents for them?  Yeah, initially it didn't go so well.   But watching the Advent conspiracy video   and when we talked about what it meant to be Christian- to REALLY be Christ centered, even the naysayers would not deny that what we were doing was right.  We prayed for peace and contentment, and now, a year later, we are all excited about our special date, later in December, when we better know how much we can budget, to sit down with our World Vision catalogue, some hot cocoa and Christmas music and rejoice in our wealth and our ability to make a difference for others this year.  

 Not that we are against gifts- gifts are fun! our family still sends gifts and that's ok.  I know that sometimes it can be a real blessing to give to others and we plan to do so also- we will be making presents for within our family and outside our family too, and baking cookies and caroling and sending cards.  The biggest difference is our focus, and where we spend our money.  Now this year is a bad example, because this year, we most likely will NOT have money to spend period.  Well, probably we'll have a little, and i'm trying hard to not be perfectionistic about it- Is it any kind of big deal anyway? Can our family really make any kind of difference?? (these are the thoughts that run through my head)  And i think the answer is a resounding YES!!

For only $25 our family can contribute to clean water to prevent disease- CLEAN WATER

The global sex trade is a thriving business.  I look at my sweet girls and think of how grateful I am that we live HERE, where i'm not forced to make the decision to sell my precious daughters to be sexually exploited or face not having food for any of my children to eat.  $35 can  restore physical and spiritual health to rescued girls by providing things like safe shelter, medical care, nutritious food, vocational training, compassionate counseling, and when possible, reintegration with a loving family. 

WOW. 

I think our gift of 3 ducks, costing us $18, about half the cost of pizza night at our house,  will mean a lot to the family who receives eggs all year long, and ducklings to sell to pay other family expenses.

Even WE can do this!!!! 

I challenge you to join us this year- To make a commitment to making memories with your family, and using the bulk of your money spent on gifts to give to Jesus, by giving to the least of these.

  

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’Matthew 25:39-41

Here are some resources to help you do so-

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389

http://www.compassion.com/catalog.htm

http://www.harvestofhope.org/

http://www.gfa.org/gift/?utm_expid=22040076-3&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gfa.org%2Fgift%2F

https://donate.mcc.org/giving-catalog

Stay tuned for how to make Christmas special for your family, coming soon- in part 2.

Making your own Abacus/Abaci

So when i took Annabeth and Nik to therapy, i asked their therapist, Judy, what I should do about annabeth's issues with understanding borrowing and carrying in subtraction.  we've been on it a while and she's JUST not getting it, at ALL.  So she recommended we use an abacus to help her visualize better the idea behind subtraction, so I remembered that Right Start has a really good curriculum for that, and even a book specifically for the abacus.  So searched online and happened upon a post on the Well trained mind forum about someone who made her own abacus using the instructions she found on a blog.  Well the blog was an old geocities blog from many years prior and wasn't there, but she'd uploaded a picture of hers and from that it was super easy to figure out how to do it, so i bought the supplies yesterday and today, inbetween my nap and our evening church services I DID IT! Follow through is not my forte these days, so i'm particularly proud of this :)

I made a bunch, i'm contemplating giving one to Judy, as  a thank you for all her awesome work with my kiddos, which would still leave me with 3 which i think is enough.    Together, it cost about $12 with no sales or coupons at JoAnne's so not bad for 4 abaci!

What you need:

50 blue beads (i ran out and used green for 2) and 50 yellow beads for each abacus
I bought a 1 lb packaged of assorted ones for $6

10 1/8 inch dowels.  I bought 2 packs of 22 for $1 each

4 large craft sticks per abacus.  they are like popsicle sticks but thinner and wider.

Glue gun and LOTS of glue sticks. i used more than i expcted, but i was careful to blob it on, that stuff is like cement if you blob on enough.

So all you do is sandwich the dowels between the two craft sticks liberally slathering with glue gun glue, being careful to work quickly, as it dries fast,  then add the beads, then add the other two craft sticks.  My dowels came in about 12 inch segments.  with the blue beaded ones, i cut off about an inch and a half, but by the time i got to the green i was impatient and didn't.  I'm not sure it matters either way.  

I"m pleased with how they turned out! they are super strong :)

Today's art project

Hey all! I thought i'd pop on and share our first fun half of the day!  I have a friend who makes these amazing, stellar, end of the week posts on her blog about all the cool stuff they've done, but i know there's no way i'll keep it all together in my mind, let alone be together enough to get it all done, so i'm going to be posting as time allows and as inspiration comes.  So today was definitely one of those inspiration days! Yesterday i had to have the "even though we homeschool, that doesn't mean you get to lay around in your jammies all day.  And actually i threatened to remove their afternoon free time if they didn't start getting UP and dressed in the morning!  And it worked and we were able to start promptly after ash got on the bus this morning, YAY! and we had a particularly long Bible study time and a great discussion.  it was about Holiness- what it means, and also about the flood and the history surrounding that.  At the end the older two wrote in their notebooks about the flood and i had Annabeth and Leif draw about it, and their interpretations were so hilariously different.

But the REALLY cool thing we did today was art! We worked with soft pastels, which are a GINORMOUS MESS.  You'll see my 3yo in the pic below looking like a chimney sweep, and the real life 3yo was even messier than the pic showed... but anyway, here's what we made

We got the idea for this project from the AMAZING list of pastel projects from Hodgepodge   We did specifically the draw a fall fruit project.  Leif chose an apple and the rest of us did a pumpkin.   I loved having a step by step picture tutorial, what a great help!  We'll most certainly be employing their projects in the future! so much fun! even if we do have a thick layer of dust on our carpet i'm sure! 

Thanks for reading!

The Homeschool Loop Schedule; How to make one, and why.

I discovered the idea of the loop schedule for homeschooling last spring and i keep coming back to it when my current plan isn't working as well as i'd like.   I just finished making mine, and I thought i'd share the awesome benefits of a loop schedule and how I went about making mine.

Why use a loop schedule?

I don't know about the rest of you, but my schedule is PACKED.  i'm homeschooling 5 this year, with one in college and one in special ed preschool, and there's a LOT to get done.  I find when i'm placed in a box of a list of things to get done, one of two things happens.  

1.  I rush through our subjects, not giving them the time and attention they deserve, or leave a child not fully understanding a math concept, for example. 

2.  We give each item on the list the attention it deserves but then have things left over on the schedule undone- which means, we either need to remember to do it on another day- and then get behind on THAT day, or skip it!  This is where we usually end up, and it usually means we end up neglecting certain subjects, artist study, art, music, and critical thinking are our go-to neglectees.  And as far as i'm concerned that is NOT cool. 

How to design a loop schedule?

I read a number of different posts and forum topics on loop scheduling and none were quite what I was looking for, so i opted to reinvent the wheel.  Here's what I decided to do, with help from my genius child who has not yet had all his brains sucked out by his children. (he doesn't have any) 

Step 1.  Make a chart in whatever word processing program you use, I used Word Starter.  Make headings of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  (you will end up deleting these)

It will look roughly like this- 

I kept it small and without a lot of detail so you could see closely what I was doing.  The reason I listed headings even though I was going to delete them later, is that it provided me a mental picture of what would be scheduled in that "perfect week" and how to space them evenly.  For example, if i were to do  history 3x a week, like you see on the schedule, if it were a regular schedule, M, W, F, would work just fine, but since its a loop schedule, the Friday history would be really close in proximity to the Monday history, so what i did was schedule History at the end of monday, and the middle of wednesday, and the beginning of friday.   After that, I added in other subjects where they fit best.  

Step 2.   Remove all the days of the week.  Number each item (optional) 

Here's what mine looks like. 

I could BARELY fit it with the snipping tool, so you'll see it started to cut off "nature study"

This gives you a list to work from. 

Step 3. Convert to a circle visual (optional)

I am omitting this step for me, because I think the list will work just fine- but if you'd like a visual, this is the idea.  It shows you also the problems i ran into trying to schedule straight on the circle and why a list, at least in the beginning is preferable.  

Step 4: Make lists of each subject

Finally you just need to make a list of each topic and what you will cover.  I've not done this part yet, and i might just "wing it" but i suspect that it will work better if its brainless- So i'll eventually end up making lists, and I'd urge you to do so as well.  OR just do the next thing in the subjects where its already brainless, like if you use just one math book.  (I like to complicate things by using several, plus living math literature)

How to use your loop schedule

Now that you have a loop schedule, you are all set.  Start on number one.  Go through as much as you want to on that day.  Start over the next day where you leave off.   *IMPORTANT*  At the start of the next week, take over where you left off, NOT at the beginning of the list or else you will miss out on whatever you didn't get done.  

One final note-  You may decide there are subjects you just plain want to be sure to cover every day.  For us those subjects are  Bible, including Bible study, memorization, and alternating days we do Biblical history and Biblical Worldview.   So we'd start our loop schedule after the daily items.  You may decide LA and Math need  to be done daily, which is totally fine.  Do them before you start the loop!  

Other blog posts on Loop Scheduling

http://home-school.lovetoknow.com/Homeschool_Scheduling

http://teachafish.blogspot.com/2008/10/weekly-review-loop-schedule.html

http://aquinashomeschool.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/going-loopy/

http://aquinashomeschool.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/going-loopy-made-us-loopy/

http://homeschoolblogger.com/juliainsk/575538/

http://eclectic-homeschool.blogspot.com/2010/08/flexible-time-schedule-for.html

http://homeschoolblogger.com/joyfuljouney/645972/

Thanks for reading and good luck scheduling!  I'll post later as to how well its working for us!! 

Book Review: The MoneySmart family system By Steve and Annette Economides

I have loved the Economides' books since they first came out.  I have their two previous books, also family financed based.  And I admit that i was fascinated by a couple who's name was "Economides" who wrote about money!   Too much for my little brain i guess :)  Anyway, I loved this book as much as I loved their previous books.  I think The MoneySmart family system is a GREAT addition to anyone's family library.

The author's write in an engaging way about why its important to raise money smart kids- they talk about the implications of children who are crippled by this lack of skill.  But they take it a step further and not only talk about WHY your kids need this skill, but give practical examples of how to practically implement this skill in your home! I found many great ideas that I will use in my family, as we definitely have "issues" in this area.  I love how the authors come from a background of a large family without a lot of money.  This I can relate to, and it not only makes them more credible, but means that they are providing the valuable information that us family people NEED.  I don't want to know about investments right now or building or maximizing our portfolio! i just want to raise children who love the Lord and who use their money effectively for HIS purpose.  Their system is one that shows me how to do that! Additionally, It also teaches responsibility all around.  And its doable being quite broke, as we are constantly!

I give the MoneySmart family system a 5 star review!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Our first day of school!!!!

And it was a SLAMMING success, by my standards!  Despite it being a bit of a difficult day sending Ash off and all!  

First, I'll post pics of all my beautiful kiddos, click to make them bigger if you'd like. 

         Isn't he a sweetie.  I <heart> my sweet Ashie.  He got to experience the schoolbus for the first time today... more on that later.  Next is Elliott, who is looking JUST like his Grandma Lois these days! holy cow! 

Next is Leif, Annabeth, Chloe, Nik and Alex :) 

And a couple of group pics, since it took 2 to catch everyone's face :)

So, we did pictures, and got Asher ready for the bus.  Then I brought him out to the bus.  I had been preparing him for a few weeks... talking about how a school bus would come to our house, and how it would pick him up, and he'd say "Bye bye mommy!" and go to school on the bus.   

Well, today came, and the bus pulled in...  after a wow... and a point by ash.... 

And then I walked him, no- nearly dragged him to the bus! his reaction was NOT what i'd expected. but he did get on the bus and I walked in with him and talked to him as he buckled in.  Poor guy was pretty shell shocked...   

It was hard- both Elliott (his twin) and I were bawling our eyes out. But we survived and had a pretty fun day.  

We started by sorting through papers, labeling dividers and making covers for everyone's binders.  We then did our Bible time, and our study in "Leading little ones to God"   Then we had some yummy cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa for snack. I think that will be a new first day tradition.  

Then everyone went outside and ran around, I finished binder work and when they came back in, we moved to the couch for read aloud time.   We got a total of 4 books read (or a chapter or two read, depending on the book) which I felt great about for our first day! 

Reading aloud is our primary goal for this year- there is SO MUCH great literature out there, and a good book is so inspiring, transformative, and all around FUN!  I'm loving independent homeschooling this year and am so grateful to not have to have so much accountability.  I love that we can learn what we want, when we want, and use as much "religious" material as we want! 

Ash made it home! and Elliott gave him a GIANT hug.  Everyone was so happy to see him!  He seemed really shell shocked and didn't seem happy to see us, but i suppose its the crazy newness of the whole experience...     

What was funny was he spent the entire afternoon/evening singing "Bus bus bus buh buh bus" to the tune of "the wheels on the bus"  I guess i know what song they did in circle time at school!  He's so musical :) probably a musical genius :) autism does have its benefits!  

Its never felt so good to rock my sweetie to sleep... ahh... i love my ashie... 

All in all, it was a good day.   Hopefully the first of many!