Roads to Learning

I Love My Library

2012-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post on why I Love My Library.

Plans for the New Year

2011-12-27T16:31:00.000-08:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post about planning for the New Year.

Pre-Christmas Excitement

2011-12-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post about how to keep your kids occupied during the week before Christmas.

The World's Greatest Stories

2011-12-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

Visit my main blog at Ramblin' Roads to read my review of The World's Greatest Stories.

Artistic Pursuits

2011-12-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Visit my main blog at Ramblin' Roads to read my review of Artistic Pursuits.

Traditions and Non-Traditions

2011-11-22T16:23:00.000-08:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post on Traditions and Non-Traditions.

Life Experience and Literature

2011-10-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post on Life Experience and Literature.

Say Anything Family game

2011-10-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

Visit my main blog at Ramblin' Roads to read my review of Say Anything Family.

Families Writing

2011-10-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post about encouraging your family to write more.

Piano for Life

2011-10-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Read my review of Piano for Life on my main blog at Ramblin' Roads.

Times Tales DVD

2011-10-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

Visit my main blog at Ramblin' Roads for my review of Times Tales DVD.

Scruble Cube

2011-10-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

My review of Scruble Cube is on my main blog at Ramblin' Roads.

Sonlight Core Tips

2011-09-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post about how I developed the Sonlight Core Tips for hands-on ideas.

Flea Circus game

2011-08-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

My review of Flea Circus is posted on my main blog at Ramblin' Roads.

Just Average

2011-08-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post about my kids who are Just Average.

Knowing My Kids

2011-07-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

Visit the Sonlight Blog to read my post on Knowing My Kids.

Read for the Heart

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

My review of Read for the Heart is on my main blog at Ramblin' Roads.

I Can Study Esther

2011-04-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

My review of I Can Study Esther is at Ramblin' Roads.

See the Light

2011-04-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

My review of See the Light is posted at Ramblin' Roads.

Latin Alive!

2011-03-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Who is God?

2011-03-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

We're ready!

2011-02-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

My family is ready for homeschool convention season! Check out my schedule to see if you'll be at any of the conventions where I will be hosting the Sonlight Curriculum booth. Be sure to stop by and say "Hi!" if you are!

Bible Dictionary for Kids

2011-01-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Life of Christ Bible Study

2011-01-14T11:55:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

See-n-Read

2011-01-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Phonetic Zoo Spelling

2010-12-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Wits & Wagers Family

2010-12-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

The Write Foundation

2010-11-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Collectorz

2010-11-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Buckets o' Fun

2010-10-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Notebooking World History

2010-10-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

For ideas on how to make a World History notebook read my post at Ramblin' Roads.

Field Trip to Fort Walla Walla

2010-10-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

Visit Ramblin' Roads to read about our field trip to Fort Walla Walla.

Tweaking Sonlight Core 6

2010-10-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Visit Ramblin' Roads to read my post about how we are using Sonlight Core 6 this year.

LanSchool Technology

2010-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Zoe and Sozo Publishing

2010-10-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Schleich

2010-09-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Salem Ridge Press

2010-09-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Vocabulary Cartoons - review

2010-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Math Tutor - review

2010-09-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Lewis and Clark Adventure

2010-08-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Read about our trip over the Lolo Motorway...

First Day of School

2010-08-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Read about our first day of school...

Travel the World Unit - review

2010-07-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

My New Crewmates

2010-07-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

As a second year veteran of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been assigned as a First Mate Mentor to oversee a Mini-Crew during the 2010-2011 voyage. That just means I'm supposed to be available to answer questions. I'm not sure how good of job I'm doing so far.

The first time I tried to email my mini-crew I mistyped one of their email addresses. After several back-and-forths of chatty, getting-to-know you emails, I got a response that said, "Please take me off this list. I don't know any of you." I thought that was kinda weird since we were all just getting to know each other. Then I realized what I had done! Oh, dear! Dontcha just love technology? But hopefully we're all straightened out now, and looking forward to a fun year.

Here's my Mini-Crew blog list. Stop by and say "hello" if you get a chance!

Homeschool Resources

2010-06-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that this blog is still getting hits, and I've wanted to archive my homeschool review posts and other information of interest to homeschoolers, so I've decided to revive this blog-- after a fashion. My plan is to continue posting everything to my main blog @ Ramblin' Roads, but cross-post the homeschool topics here. So... if you follow Ramblin' Roads you wouldn't also need to follow Roads to Learning. On the other hand, if you are only interested in homeschool topics... and not everything else that interests me, this is the place for you!

I have been asked back for a second year with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, so I'll be posting new reviews starting in July (I think).

In the meantime, I plan to go through my posts from this past school year and archive them here for reference. Thanks for bearing with me!

Mathletics - review

2009-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Tektoma - review

2009-12-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

All About Spelling - review

2009-12-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Professor in a Box - review

2009-11-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

GyMathtics - review

2009-11-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

AVKO - review

2009-11-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Homeschool Blog Awards

2009-11-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

If you discovered Roads to Learning through the Homeschool Blog Awards nominee list, I hope you'll join me at my main blog: Ramblin' Roads.

Rather than maintaining separate blogs, I recently made the decision to merge my blogs. I will be continuing to blog about homeschooling and other random things that interest me there.

America's Heritage - review

2009-11-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

Read my review at Ramblin' Roads.

Blog Merger

2009-11-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

*Gulp!* I think I'm gonna do it. Yep, I really am.

You see, I've been trying to maintain 3 blogs for awhile, and it's just gotten to be too much. In case you hadn't noticed, I had two other blogs going besides this homeschooling one-- one for my book reviews and one for general topics. I love to blog, but I was finding it all a bit overwhelming. So after a lot of thought, I've decided to merge back into one main blog. I think it will make my life easier, and make blogging more fun for me again. I hope you'll continue to ride along with me!

Bright Ideas Press - review

2009-11-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

One of the companies I got to work with recently, as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, was Bright Ideas Press. They gave us a list of products and asked us to pick our top 2 choices from the list and they would send us one of them to review. Imagine my delight when I actually received both products! Not only that, one of the workbooks I received had been written in. I wasn't sure if they meant to send it that way or not, so I emailed to ask. Turns out it was a mistake, and they quickly and cheerfully sent me a brand new one. Great customer service!

Christian Kids Explore Biology is written for 3rd through 6th graders. I love the format of a relatively short reading portion each day, followed by hands-on activities and comprehension questions. There are lots of detailed drawings and diagrams, suitable for coloring with colored pencils or fine-tip markers. The pictures are very detailed, but a just a little pixely (not as sharp as they could be).

I especially like the very detailed appendices which includes lots of reproducible forms and supplemental activities.

This book is $34.95. The copyright grants permission to make copies of the reproducible pages for your own child, co-op or classroom.

I also chose the Student History Notebook of America to go along with our study of American History. We are making a big American History notebook/scrapbook this year and I thought this might be a good resource for that.

The bulk of the book is made up of patriotically decorated blank notebook pages in 2 different formats, one with space for pictures, the other with only lines for text. There are also blank time-line pages, forms for listing the states and presidents, and more.

The most helpful section to us was the blank map pages, each with different features. One has the states labeled, another has rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges labeled. Others are unlabeled.

This book is $12.95. I appreciate that the copyright gives us permission to make copies for one student, so we are able to mix-and-match the different pages as we build our own notebook.

ACT Discover - review

2009-11-03T21:30:00.000-08:00

What are you going to be when you grow up?

Personally, I'm still trying to figure that out! I have decided that a lifetime is too short to do everything I would love to do. I'm hoping we'll get to keep learning and doing when we get to Heaven!

But in the every day world we live in, my high school daughter is thinking about the future... whether or not to go to college... what career to pursue. It's definitely not an easy process with so many options to consider.

The ACT Discover program helps to simplify the process with a series of quizzes that evaluate a student's aptitude and interests in a wide range of fields. It then offers a list of suggested careers or majors the student might want to pursue.

My daughter and I sat down and went through the quizzes together. In the end, we discovered that some of the careers she had already thought about were on her list... as well as some she hadn't considered but was definitely interested in... and even a few that were just "way out there."

The program also offers further tips on what to do next, with information about majors, schools, scholarships, and careers. Overall, we found it to be a helpful tool. The cost is $19.95 for a 3-month license or $24.95 for a 6-month license.

We were given a free membership for review purposes. For more reviews of this program visit the TOS Crew blog.

ABC Teach - review

2009-11-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

If you're a homeschooler, you probably already know about ABC Teach. If you don't, you definitely need to check it out!

Not every child enjoys seat work. My older daughter does not. But my younger daughter can't get enough of it! And for her, that's a good thing. She learns best with lots of review and repetition of concepts, so I am always on the lookout for supplemental work she can do on her own that will enhance what she's learning. ABC Teach is a fabulous resource for that.

For years I have appreciated the thousands of FREE educational printables that are available at ABC Teach just for the downloading. Recently I had the opportunity to experience a full membership... and was so impressed with the wide variety of materials available. The one draw back was that there is definitely more available for younger students than for middle-school or higher. Even so, I was able to find quite a bit of material to supplement my daughter's studies this year.

In addition to all the ready-made worksheets, ABC Teach also offers over a dozen worksheet generators for you to create your own custom worksheets. How cool is that? My favorite was the handwriting copywork generator. I just typed in whatever passage I wanted and then was able to print out that passage in the handwriting style of my choice (the Handwriting Without Tears font, in our case).

Membership is a bargain at $40 a year. But don't take my word for it... check it out for yourself! With over 5,000 free worksheets you will definitely get a good feel for what it would be like to have access to the more than 35,000 worksheets available to members.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog for more reviews of this resource.

Lewis & Clark free online resources

2009-10-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

We are currently learning about the Corps of Discovery in our overview of American History. Here are some great printable resources I found online to use in our notebooking approach to American History:

Worksheet - fill-in-the-blank
Worksheet - "follow the instructions" tracing the Corps of Discovery route
Puzzle sheets - maze, crossword, and word find
Coloring pages - scenes of the expedition
Bingo game - with full-color photos
Paper dolls - Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and Pomp (can also be used as coloring sheets)
Paper doll of Sacagawea - full color, with 3 outfits
Fact card - Has a L&C graphic with "Did You Know...?" and then blank lines for writing whatever you like (half sheet size)
Art lesson - Step-by-step instructions for drawing a portrait of Sacagawea
Lesson plans and activities - middle school level (This was much more in-depth than we took time for, but each lesson has a printable student page.)

Virginia Soaps & Scents - review

2009-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

I love bar soaps! I especially love all-natural home-made bar soaps. I think I'm turning into quite the "crunchy" granola mama in my old age! I keep finding myself leaning towards old-fashioned made-from-scratch products. Who am I kidding? I've always been that way! In any case, I was especially excited when the TOS Crew had the opportunity to review a selection of products from Virginia Soaps & Scents.We received 3 bars of pure soap in the most delightful scents. My favorite was the Fresh Orange. My husband liked the "green one" (aka Coconut Lemongrass). And my daughter was partial to the Oatmeal, Milk & Honey bar. The soaps are $4.50 for one bar, or less if you buy several bars at once. I'm tempted to order the Bed & Breakfast Sampler for $18 for 12 smaller bars just to smell them all!

We also received a Ginger Lime shampoo bar. Have you ever tried shampooing your hair with a bar of soap? It was an interesting experience. I liked the idea of having a shampoo bar to take along on a hiking trip, or even traveling in general-- no sticky liquid shampoo to have to worry about spilling. As far as liking it as a shampoo... eh... it was okay. I probably won't use it on a regular basis. It was too hard to manipulate the bar through my long, thick hair. Shampoo bars are $5.50 each or two for $10.

The other product we received that was new to me was the Laundry Soap Kit.
It contains a grated bar of cleaning soap plus borax and washing soda. You mix these ingredients with water to make a liquid laundry soap. You can buy the kit (enough to make 2 gallons) for $4.95 or you can buy just the bar of cleaning soap (which is enough for two batches) for $3.95 and get your own borax and washing soda locally.

Virginia Soaps & Scents also carries other natural bath and body products such as lotion, powder, and lip balm. Their products would make great Christmas gifts!

Amazing Bible History Timeline - review

2009-10-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

History is big... and it's complicated. To me it's like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. Does this piece fit with that one? I find it fascinating.
When I received the Amazing Bible World History Timeline to review I was intrigued. I love the visual it provides of showing what was going on all over the world at approximately the same time as Bible events. And that's what I consider this product to be: a visual aid. It's not an absolutely error-free history reference tool because, other than the Bible, there is no such thing.

When it comes to extra-Biblical history it is important to consult as many sources as possible to get an accurate view of what really happened. This timeline does that. However, in my opinion, some of the sources referred to are more accurate than others. That does not negate the value of this product as a visual aid for my family because I realize that it would be impossible to create such a resource that was completely error free.

One of my hobbies is genealogy. No, I'm not a Mormon. It's just something I enjoy in my spare time. Over the years as I've researched my family tree I've discovered branches that go back-and-back-and-back, clear to Bible times. However, I have learned to take such "research" with a grain of salt. Sure, we all had to have ancestors that reach clear back to Noah, but the truth of the matter is, record-keeping over the ages has been sketchy at best. There's just really no way of knowing for sure exactly what happened exactly when.

I do recommend the Amazing Bible Timeline as a helpful visual aid to your study of ancient history, as long as you keep in mind that not everything on it comes from the Bible. I would also recommend you read the other reviews at the TOS Homeschool Blog, as well as the publisher's response to some concerns about non-Biblical sources used in the creation of this chart, before you purchase it. Some reviewers had stronger objections to these issues than I do, and it may be of concern to you as well.

This chart is a huge 37"x45". In fact, it was hard for me to find wall space big enough to hang it up. Some families (who have larger tables than ours) put it on the table under a clear vinyl tablecloth.

The Amazing Bible World History Timeline is $29.97. This includes the wall chart as well as bonus downloads of Interactive Maps of the Holy Land, and a digital version of the wall chart.

Educaching - review

2009-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time many years ago... okay, really only 7 years, it just seems like "many" because my children look like such babies in this picture... my family discovered Geocaching. Probably you've heard of it, but if you haven't, it's basically a high-tech treasure hunting game. The "treasure" (or cache) is usually a waterproof container with a log book and a few trinkets for trading hidden somewhere along hiking trails or in parks or other publicly accessible places. Coordinates to the cache are posted online and players can use their GPS receivers to find and log caches.

This was the first cache we found.
It was tucked down inside the hollow stump,
covered loosely with some pieces of bark.

We found our first few caches without benefit of a GPS unit, based on directions and descriptions posted for some of the easier caches in the area. A basic GPS receiver costs about $100. I wasn't sure we should spend that much money for "just a game" but my husband convinced me we should get one. After we got it and started using it I realized what a valuable educational tool it was. It allowed us to search for even more caches and developed into an ongoing family activity.

It's fun!
It's good exercise. (Our favorites are the ones involving a short hike.)
It's great for nature studies. We like to watch for wildlife, flowers, and rocks when we hike.
We have learned a lot about navigation and coordinates by using the GPS.

All of that is great, but I had often wondered if there wasn't something more we could do with it to make it even more educational. I hadn't come up with anything on my own, but a few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to review a GPS-Based curriculum called Educaching.

To be honest, I hadn't put much thought into what would make good educational activities but the folks at Educaching sure have! First of all, you don't have to have experience in Geocaching or even in using the GPS to get started with the Educaching curriculum. The Teacher Training section gives very clear directions on how to use a GPS receiver, along with some easy activities to practice on.

The second section is Lesson Plans. They are divided by age level, covering the whole spectrum of school subjects. A large percentage of the lessons deal with math and science, but there are a few for history and language arts as well. If it's hard for you to imagine how you could use the GPS for teaching so many subjects, as it was for me, check out the free sample lessons you can download on the Educaching website.

The third section of the manual contains reproducible Field Sheets-- the forms for the students to use as they complete each lesson. Section four is on how to acquire a GPS unit. And then the final section is Beyond the Basics.

I found the manual to be very creative and thorough. I wish I had had this a few years ago when my children were younger. There are many of the activities for younger children that I know they would have enjoyed. I also think it would be a fabulous resource for homeschool co-ops.

The Educaching manual is $32. It is available in either print format or an electronic download (PDF). The print edition costs an extra $6.95 for shipping. For more reviews of this product visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Sarah's Wish - book review

2009-10-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

You can't imagine how avidly I've been combing the library this year for supplemental books about American History. I've mentioned before that my 14-year-old daughter has some learning challenges. She seems to retain information best when it's presented in several different ways... and the more repetition and review the better. So we've been checking out lots of "picture books" (the ones for older kids with lots of detailed illustrations) and as many audio books as we can find that have to do with the historical events we are learning about. It goes without saying that I've also been reading to her by the hour.

When I received a review copy of Sarah's Wish by Jim Baumgardner I was pleased to see that it was a historical novel about a young girl who is involved in the Underground Railroad. Sarah, the main character, is 12 so it is at the perfect interest level for my daughter.

We aren't quite ready for that period of history so I thought I would read it to myself and then set it aside to use as a read-aloud later in the year. My daughter struggles with reading, so I thought I would need to read it to her. But guess what? I'm not going to have to read aloud after all! Turns out the print book includes a code for a free download of the audio book in MP3 format. My daughter will be able to listen to it on her MP3 player. (It is also playable on the computer if you don't have an MP3 player.)

I wish all books came with that feature! That would be so handy! The special "author's price" is only $9.99 for Sarah's Wish. That includes the print book and a code for the audio download. Since even the "author's price" for the audio book on CD is $16.99 that's a real bargain!

There are a total of 3 books in the series. Other titles are Sarah's Promise and Sarah's Escape. You can read excerpts from all 3 books here.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog for more reviews of this product.

Guardian Angel Publishing - review

2009-10-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Crew reviews that I'm doing this year, I had the opportunity to review 3 e-books from Guardian Angel Publishing. The books I was sent are children's books which are somewhat hard to use in e-book format. However, they are also available as print books which would be a better way to go for the benefit of little hands, in my opinion. The books are rated for children of all ages, 0-12.

My favorite of the three was Hamster Holidays. It's an educational book for young children introducing nouns and adjectives in a fun rhyming format with the cute little hamsters celebrating holidays throughout the year.

Andy and Spirit Go to the Fair is a story for older kids, about a disabled boy and his albino horse. It is part of a series, but not the first book, so it seemed as if there were parts missing that we might have known if we had read the first book. The theme of the story is that it's okay to be different. It was interesting to read about the fair from the perspective of a boy in a wheelchair. The book also contained some extra information in the back about wild horses.

Earthquake is a non-fiction title that would make a great science book if you live in California or another area prone to earthquakes. The scientific information is educational no matter where you live, but several pages in the book focused on earthquake preparedness. I'm afraid the detailed suggestions would scare my daughter unnecessarily, as earthquakes are not common where we live.

You can download these titles as e-books for $5 each, or purchase the e-book CDs for a total of $15.90 each. The print books are a total of $17.90 each for Hamster Holidays or Andy & Spirit Go to the Fair, and $18.90 for Earthquake. I know I would prefer the print books, but I'm not sure I would be willing to pay that much for them.

Guardian Angel Publishing also offers a few free e-books and coloring pages. Check it out!

10 Minutes to Better Study Skills - review

2009-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

As a high school student, my oldest daughter wants to do most of her schoolwork independently. She likes knowing what her assignments are for the day, and then having the freedom to decide when and how to get the work done. The problem is, she doesn't always make the best use of her time. I have been trying to think of ways to help her be more motivated and organized.

Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills from Bonnie Terry is designed to help with issues like that. I received a free copy to review, but I have to say I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped to be. The book is 58 pages, printed on one side only... so not all that big. Some of the pages seemed pretty obvious to me, such as the list of Supplies to Make Studying Easy. The overall focus of the book is more on basic writing skills, but it did include a few pages of study, note-taking, and test-taking tips, and a whole section on spelling and grammar rules.

Many pages are reproducible. The writing forms are great! There are forms for organizing your thoughts for writing paragraphs, essays, research papers, book reports, outlines, and letters. Most of the forms are available at different ability levels, which is handy. You can start off with the more simplistic assignments and work up... or just use the one most appropriate. Since writing is one thing we are heavily focusing on this year, I am happy to have these forms to help my daughter improve her writing skills.

This book is available from Bonnie Terry for $37. Other products available include: 5 Minutes to Better Reading Skills, Making Spelling Sense, The Comprehension Zone: Rocket Rap, The Sentence Zone, The Math Zone, and more.

Nature Friend magazine - review

2009-10-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Have you browsed the children's section on the magazine rack at your favorite "newstand" lately? (Okay. No, we don't have newstands around here, either... but it sounds better than "place to buy magazines", doesn't it?) Anyway, sometimes when we travel I like to pick up a magazine for each of the girls to take along. What I've found is that most of the magazines out there for kids revolve around TV and movie characters. As if that's the only thing a kid could possibly be interested in. Wrong!

My younger daughter is particularly interested in animals, so I was happy to have an opportunity to review Nature Friend magazine. I was pleased to notice that there was not a single celebrity or pop trend anywhere to be found on it's pages. No ads either. I'm liking it already!

The photography is amazing! It's a full-color magazine with articles on all kinds of fascinating nature facts. My daughter enjoyed the pictures, and she was interested in the topics of the articles... but unfortunately, we both found the articles themselves just a little dry. I'm not sure why. We read all kinds of things together, and she is usually a very willing listener. I've also heard from others that their kids just loved the articles, so maybe it's just us. We did thoroughly enjoy poring over the pictures, though.

The magazine itself is $36 for one year. It's not a very big magazine for that price, but like I said, it has no ads so that would tend to make it a little more expensive than the "twaddly" magazines with their cartoons and sugary cereals plastered on every other page.

In addition to the magazine, you can also subscribe to the accompanying study guide for $24 more a year. The study guide is bound into the center of the magazine (convenient to pull out, if you like) and includes 8 extra pages of puzzles, activities, and lesson ideas for supplemental learning. My favorite feature of the study guide (for myself, as an adult!) was the Photo Critique section. Readers can send in nature photos they've taken and a professional photographer will offer comments and suggestions for how to get really great photos.

I received the August and September issues to review. For more reviews on Nature Friend visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

College Prep Genius - review

2009-10-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted a preview about College Prep Genius. I promised to give you an update after I had a chance to look it over a little more thoroughly.

First of all, a month isn't really long enough to get the full benefit of the program. This prep course is intended to be used over a fairly long period of time, absolute minimum 3 months, but a year would be better, probably starting in the sophomore year so the student is prepared for the PSAT in the fall of the junior year. The DVD suggests maybe 150 hours as reasonable time spent.

I was expecting the DVDs to be of a speaker making a presentation. Instead, they are more like a PowerPoint presentation with a voice-over. They deliver the needed information, but they didn't seem to be as engaging as a live speaker might be. Still, having the DVD is more helpful than just a student prep book, which would require more student motivation.

There doesn't seem to be a clear progression through the materials, i.e. no overall guide giving a schedule or plan to watch this portion of the DVD, then read this section of the book, do this portion of the workbook. Also, I noticed the copyright notice on the DVD and text specifically states this can only be used by a single student, multiple student use is prohibited without specific permission of the publisher, which may be an issue for families with more than one child.

The math and essay sections seem to be the most useful. The book includes clear suggestions for the amount of time to spend on prep for each year of high school. It gives clear reasons for preparing for the SAT with specific examples. The book and DVD break down several examples of the different types of questions. They also provide acronyms to memorize and other strategies as a way to break the logical view down into steps.

I'm sure many students would find this program helpful as they prepare for the SAT test.

As I mentioned in my preview, the retail price for the full package is $115.85, but the special introductory rate is only $79 for everything.

For other reviews of this product visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Ideas from Other Sonlighters

2009-09-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

For years I've collected links and ideas for supplementing Sonlight. I've posted the ideas I've compiled on my website. (And, yes, it needs to be updated. I'm hoping to work on that soon! Let me know if you have links I could add to it.)

In my blog-hopping this week, I came across a couple of posts from other Sonlighters sharing how they added to their Sonlight adventures in creative ways.

Tanya @ Everyday Adventures: Exploring Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology
Donna @ Morningside Academy: History in Our House

I love that Sonlight has that flexibility built in, so we can add in any extras that are a good fit for our individual families.

We're having a great time with Core 3+4 this year, taking a notebooking approach and adding in lots of library books. I'll be sharing more about our experiences as we go along.

Oh! And I'll be announcing the winner of the fabulous Sonlight tote later this week! Just a few more hours to get your entries in!

Picture from Sonlight.com.

Growing Healthy Homes - review

2009-09-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

After covering Biology with my high school daughter, I was somewhat at a loss as to what to do next with her for science. She is not on a college track academically, and she is not strong in math (needed for Physics and Chemistry). I had considered going on with Advanced Biology... or perhaps Astronomy, neither of which she is terribly interested in. She does, however, love to cook! She is considering taking a culinary course at the community college after high school.

When I received the Nutrition 101 course from Growing Healthy Homes to review as part of TOS Homeschool Crew, and had a chance to glance through it, I knew I had found just what we needed for high school science this year! My daughter and I are both finding it interesting, if just a little on the dry side. It is beautifully illustrated, though, and includes lots of ideas (including plenty of recipes!) for hands-on activities to reinforce the concepts that are taught.

I received the book in e-book format, which is a little awkward for daily use. I hesitated to print it out because it is 448 full-color pages so it would be quite expensive, not to mention bulky. The most convenient way I've found to use it is on my laptop, with the page orientation turned sideways, so I hold my laptop sideways, open like a book. I have wondered if it would work with a Kindle (or other e-book reader) but since I don't own one (yet!) I haven't tried it.

Here's a little about what is covered (from the website):

Nutrition 101: Choose Life! is a three-in-one family nutrition and health program for all ages that presents the major body systems, how they function, their common health issues, the benefits of good food and the consequences of bad food. Its 448 pages include into six units:
The Brain and Nervous System
Digestion and Elimination
Respiration and Olfactory
Muscular and Skeletal Systems
Cardiovascular and Immune Systems
Endocrine System and Emotions
Biblically based and packed with hands-on activities, science and art projects and nearly 80 family-friendly recipes, this program teaches and reinforces the why’s of what we should eat, not just “because I said so.” Containing a complete reference guide filled with nutrition facts, charts, practical tips and an exhaustive index, Nutrition 101: Choose Life! will serve as a constant resource for improved health and abundant living.

It says it's for all ages, and some of the activities are appropriate for younger children... but I would expect the parent/teacher would need to be prepared to paraphrase or modify the text a good bit for students younger than high school age.

The price is in the typical range for a high school science text-book: $79.95 for the electronic version on CD-ROM, or a print book for $99.95, or you can get both for $129.95.

Study Pod - review

2009-09-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

One of the things I enjoy about homeschooling is that school can happen anywhere and everywhere! We "do school" all over the house and yard, as well as on the go!

A couple of days ago I spotted my daughter sitting on the grass by the front stoop, working on her math, using the step for a desk. That made me remember the Study Pod I had been sent to review. We got it out to try... and it was perfect!
The Study Pod is a portable book easel. It works great for my daughter's math book...
...but we've thought of quite a few other uses for it that make it a handy "gizmo" to have around. For instance, the music rack on my piano is really too low and horizontal for my comfort (and it's not adjustable)... so this works great sitting on top of the piano at my eye level! It could also work for music for other instruments. Or for a cookbook in the kitchen. Or for a crochet pattern (or a novel I'm reading) while I crochet... The possibilities are endless!

And the cool thing is, it folds flat so you can stack it with your books to take along wherever you might need to prop up a book. It also has space inside for storing pens, pencils, highlighters, sticky notes... or whatever other small loose things you might need.

The Studypod is available in black, red or blue. (Or you can get the similar Bookpod in gray or beige.) It is $19.95 for one, or $16.95 each for two or more. You can order online or find them at certain bookstores around the country. You can get $5 off your order by using this coupon code: TOSBLOG5.

Read other reviews at TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Journey Through Learning Lapbooks - review

2009-09-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason I had in my head that September 21 is the first day of autumn... but I Googled it, and no, apparently tomorrow is the first day of autumn. In any case, it's been a crisp, cool day in here in north Idaho, so it feels like fall in spite of actually being the last day of summer!

Now that summer is officially over, I find myself in the mood for some fall activities, don't you? I expect we'll soon get out our box of autumn decor to celebrate the season... and we usually buy some potted mums and pumpkins to brighten up the yard and porch as the summer flowers fade.

When I received the invitation to review some lapbooks for A Journey Through Learning, I was excited to see that one of the titles they sent me was Autumn! What a fun way to learn some fun facts about the season! A lapbook is like a small scrapbook tied in with a unit study on a particular topic. They are especially helpful for hands-on learners. The Autumn lapbook included both science and history info, as well as some just-for-fun activities. We've put our lapbook together and are looking forward to reading through the lessons and filling in the blanks now that autumn has arrived.

My 13-year-old daughter thoroughly enjoys the hands-on aspect of lapbooks, but I hadn't taken the time to do them with her before this summer. I have discovered that A Journey Through Learning makes my part easy! Last spring I told you about Susan Marlow's Circle C books which my daughter loves. We had the opportunity to meet Susan at the WHO homeschool convention in June, and she showed us the first lapbook that A Journey Through Learning had developed to go with her books. Of course we had to try it out! We bought the printed lapbook from Susan, which included all the pages (in full-color) as well as the folders that make up the base.

My daughter is old enough to do the cutting and pasting (the "busy work") on her own. She could probably even read the lessons and fill in the blanks on her own, but I enjoy doing that part with her. Then once the lapbook is finished she enjoys looking through it and reviewing all the things she learned. It might be "overkill" for many students her age, (they are designed for 2nd through 7th grades) but she seems to learn best with lots of review and reinforcement so lapbooks are a great learning approach for her!

Other lapbook titles I received that we will probably do later this year include: Amphibians, Desert, Parables of a King, and Reptiles. Then... if we have time, I'd like to order and work in the ones about: America's Presidents, An Overview of the 20th Century, and My State.

Printed lapbooks (printed in full-color and including the necessary folders) are $21 or you can download and print your own for $13. They are also available on CD for $14, in case you don't have high-speed internet. Both versions include a well-researched study guide. Wanna try one? If you sign up to receive A Journey Through Learning's newsletter they will send you the link to download An Overview of the 17th Century for FREE!

For other reviews of this product visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

I love libraries!

2009-09-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Aren't free public libraries one of the greatest ideas ever? I've alway thought so! My family didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up, but we were rich in books because my mother took us to the library just about every week!

I've often thought I could probably give my children a pretty adequate education with just a library card. I'm glad I don't have to, but I bet I could!

Yesterday my 13-year-old daughter and I made a library run. We are studying American History this year, based on Sonlight's Core 3+4. However, my daughter has learning challenges (probably ADD and auditory processing delays) so she needs to hear information over and over to be able to retain it. My approach this year is to read about the same event from a lot of different perspectives, so we are going through stacks of books!

Right now we are learning about the 13 colonies, George Washington, and the Revolutionary War. Here are the titles of the books we brought home yesterday:

General Washington and the General's Dog
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
Eyewitness: American Revolution
George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides
American Revolution Battles and Leaders
Hello USA (We got several of these, as there is a separate one for each state.)
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution
Cartoon Nation presents The American Presidency
George Washington's Breakfast
Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents: John Adams
In 1776
The Revolutionary John Adams
Midnight Riders
Row, Row, Row the Boats
Trouble Brewing
Take the Lead, George Washington
National Geographic Society: George Washington

I'm sure some of these are better than others. I haven't read them all yet. We will probably just skim some of them. But... that's the beauty of library books! You can take 'em home with you and peruse them at your leisure.

College Prep Genius - pre-review

2009-09-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges of homeschooling high school students is preparing them for college. With 2 years left of high school for my oldest daughter I am really beginning to feel the pressure of the work to be completed and the decisions to be made in the next couple of years. I am excited to have the opportunities to review the college prep package from College Prep Genius.

The package consists of: "Master the SAT Class" DVDs, College Prep Genius textbooks, and a Class Workbook. The retail price for the full package is $115.85, but the special introductory rate is only $79 for everything.

College Prep Genius promises to "give the solution to finding scholarships and paying for college through an exclusive program designed to increase standardized test scores." I will be going through some of the materials with my daughter in the next few weeks and I will be sure to let you know what I think! Stay tuned!

Hank the Cowdog - review

2009-08-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Years ago, before we had children, my husband and I liked to go to the theatrical productions at the local community college. One fall, the play was "Hank the Cowdog and the Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob." We had never heard of Hank the Cowdog, so we had no idea what to expect. And I'm sorry to say, we were not very impressed with that particular production.

A year or two later, my brother asked me if I had ever read any of the Hank the Cowdog books. He assured me that they were hysterically funny. After my experience at the theater, I wasn't too sure I would enjoy them just because he did, but I decided to give them a try. I checked out a couple books from the library and I was mildly amused. The books were definitely better-- and easier to follow-- than the stage play.

But then... along came the audio books! I noticed them in the library when our children were small. We listened to 2 or 3 of them. They are read by the author, John Erickson, and he does a superb job of personifying the different animal characters in the stories. My husband and I were nearly rolling on the floor laughing at Hank (who takes himself way too seriously as "head of ranch security"), his dim-witted side-kick Drover, their nemesis Pete-the-barn-cat... and a whole cast of other characters who make up the population of the ranch and the surrounding countryside.

The stories are pure humor, always with some "mysterious" twist to the plot, told from the perspective of a ranch dog. The only drawback is, sometimes ranch humor is not exactly appropriate for young children. Lyle and I decided we didn't want our kids mimicking some of the behaviors (particularly the "back talk" and name calling) portrayed in the stories, so we set Hank aside for a few years.

Now that our children are older, we have revisited the Hank stories. We took along the Tales and Tunes CD on a recent road trip and it was a definite hit with the whole family! I know we'll enjoy listening to more of the Hank CDs together on future road trips.

With our re-introduction to Hank and his friends, our 13-year-old daughter was excited to try out the Tornado game. It is very similar to Trouble... but it has the cutest game pieces featuring Hank, Drover, and Junior Buzzard. We also liked that it was designed for travel with a folding game board that holds all the pieces inside. (It is $12.99.)

We have discovered, though, Hank is not for everyone. We wonder if you have to be "dog people" to fully appreciate the stories. Also, some families may not be comfortable with the rough-and-tumble humor of the stories. The best way to find out is to try it for yourself. The Tales and Tunes CD is a great sampler with excerpts from several of the audio books, and it's only $3.00! You can also read other reviews at TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Web Design for Kids - review

2009-08-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing how quickly kids pick up all the latest technology? My 16-year-old daughter loves to get creative on the computer. She has set up a couple of blogs (using provided templates) and done some basic graphic design just by trial-and-error. She definitely has an interest in web design, but hadn't branched out much beyond the basic WYSIWYG drag-and-drop programs. (WYSIWYG is pronounced "wissy-wig" and stands for "What you see is what you get!" Fun bit of trivia, huh?) My husband and I learned HTML several years ago with the help of a great big fat book. I knew my daughter would be overwhelmed with that, but I just hadn't taken the time to explore other, more "kid friendly" options.
Then along came "Web Design for Kids"! When it came in the mail, I didn't even unwrap the DVD to look it over. I handed it to my daughter and said, "Here! See what you can do with this."

Two days later she handed it back to me and said, "Done!"

I said, "What do you mean, 'Done!'? Have you already finished the whole program?"

She said, "Yep!" And she showed me a half-dozen web pages she had made from scratch as she went through the tutorials. I was impressed! Click here to see one of my favorites.

What's even more impressive is that it's not a computer program. It's a DVD you watch. Then you just use Notepad to type the code into, and view it with your browser. You can view a free one-minute clip of the DVD here.

At $19.99 (the current "summer special" price) the DVD is a good bit less expensive than that great big fat book my husband and I bought!

For more reviews on this product visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Quarter Mile Math - review

2009-08-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

If you need a supplemental math program that will provide more than just basic fact drills, Quarter Mile Math may be just what you're looking for!

Topics covered in the drills include:

Numbers and letters
Whole numbers
Introduction to fractions
Fractions
Decimals
Percents
Math Strategies
Estimation
Integers
Equations

Quarter Mile Math is a math drill "game" with a racing format. The fun part is that the student gets to choose whether to race cars or wild horses. My older daughter prefers the cars (in honor of her daddy who is an avid auto-racing fan), while my younger daughter loves the horses.

The game format is pretty straight-forward. There are 6 racing lanes on-screen. The first one is assigned to the student, while the other 5 are the "opponents." There is a horse (or car) in each lane. Only the student's lane has math problems, and the student is to type in the answers as fast as she can. The faster she answers the problems, of course, the faster her horse or car will run. Eventually, the virtual racers in the other lanes are actually running at the student's own top 5 scores, and she is constantly trying to best her own top score.

There are several different levels (for grades K-9) available, in either the standard or deluxe version. We got to try out the Deluxe Version with the Levels 1, 2, and 3 Bundle. It is $2.95 per family per month or $19.95 per family per year or $34.95 per family for two years.

I first installed it on the kids' computer several weeks ago for the girls to try it out. Later, I wanted to look it over again before I wrote my review, but in the meantime their dad had upgraded their computer, and it was no longer installed. For my own convenience, I decided to see if I could just install it on my computer. Some software won't allow you to install it on more than one computer so I wasn't sure if it would work. This one did. When the pop-up asked for the activation code and password I just typed in the same ones we had used before. Much to my amazement, my daughters accounts and scores were still there... on a completely different computer! Come to find out, the students' scores are automatically saved to Barnum Software’s Quarter Mile Math server, rather than our own computers. For our family, with a network of computers, that feature is very handy!

After doing a little more digging on the features of the Deluxe version I also discovered that if you have a high-speed internet connection students can be in real-time tournaments with other family members on multiple computers! Oh, the possibilities!

Sound fun? You can try it out for yourself! There is a FREE demo download right on The Quarter Mile Math website. There is also a special page just for homeschoolers! Check it out!

For more reviews on this product visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Aleks Math - review

2009-08-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Often homeschoolers ask me for recommendations of web-based or computer homeschool courses. We don't do a lot of school online, but recently I was given the opportunity to try ALEKS for math. Not being familiar with ALEKS, I wasn't sure what to expect.

The first thing that appealed to me was the assessment tool. I was eager to test my daughter to see where her strengths and weaknesses are in math. After I set up my account, it took a good bit of fiddling around on my part to figure out that I needed to log out of my "master account" and have my daughter log in with her own user name and password to take the assessment. I don't know why that wasn't obvious to me to start with.

What I liked about the assessment results was the pie chart at the end. It was divided into different areas of math... fractions, multiplication, addition, place value, measurement... things like that. It was a very clear visual report of what my daughter already knew, as well as the areas she needs to work on. Here's an example of what the pie chart looks like:
As we continue with the program, she will have the opportunity to learn and practice her math skills and her pie chart will fill up more as she progresses. I like that it is tailored to especially give extra practice in the areas she needs more help in, rather than equal review to things she knows and doesn't know.

We've only just begun to use our 1-month free trial, so I'm not if we will continue with it after that. A subscription to ALEKS is $19.95 per student, per month, or $99.95 every 6 months, or $179.95 every 12 months.

The cool thing is, ALEKS is currently offering a free 1-month trial to any homeschoolers who are new to ALEKS. They only offer a 48-hour trial directly from their website so this is a special offer that they are allowing me to offer on my blog! Click the button below to claim your free trial. It's a $19.95 value!

Grapevine Studies - review

2009-08-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

For our Bible portion of school this year my family will be doing an Old Testament Overview from Grapevine Studies. The nice thing is, the study is available for different age levels. I got Level 3 for my 13-year-old daughter and Level 4 for my 16-year-old, and I will be able to use the same teacher's manual for both of them. I love being able to teach both girls at the same time, but at their own levels! (The student books are $28.95 each and the teacher book is $48.95, but for a limited time you can get a 30% discount. See details at the end of this post.) We got the e-book format, so we were able to print out the pages and put them in our own binders.

The Grapevine Studies website says, "Students will learn the Bible timeline and then study each point of the timeline by reading Scripture, stick figuring biblical accounts, and memorizing verses."

Since we haven't officially started school yet, we haven't gotten very far along in our study. My understanding is that my younger daughter will have some geography assignments in Level 3, while my older daughter will be looking up words in Bible study tools in Level 4. I anticipate that they will also learn from each other.

To start with, we began filling in the time-line with stick figures. The girls enjoy using colored pencils and adding their own flair to the simple drawings as we go along...

The girls also enjoy the hands-on element of being involved physically while they listen and discuss the Bible lesson. Me? I enjoy being able to provide that hands-on element without a lot of prep work or mess. I think it's going to be a great study!

Grapevine Studies are available for ages 5 and up, on a wide variety of different Bible topics... and for a limited time only they are offering a 30% discount to readers of Roads to Learning. Use discount code "crews" when you check-out. This code expires September 15, 2009.

Interested in reading more reviews about Grapevine Studies? Check out this post at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Things I Learned on Pikes Peak

2009-07-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today's adventure was a drive to the summit of Pikes Peak. It was sunny at the top, above the clouds!
Did you know? "Pikes Peak" has no apostrophe in the name! (Misplaced apostrophes are one of my pet peeves. But I found it interesting that there is officially none in the name of the mountain!)
We met a yellow-bellied marmot along the road! He was kind enough to pose for a picture... but he declined rolling over to show us his yellow belly!
Did you know? The words to America the Beautiful were inspired by the view from Pikes Peak. There is a monument about it on the summit.

Living Geography

2009-07-20T05:58:00.000-07:00

Learning is a lifestyle in our family... and the learning doesn't stop even on vacation!

We love to learn more about the places we visit. Often I will make up "trip journals" for the kids before we leave by printing out worksheets about the states we will be visiting. These are fun for them to work on in the car as we travel through each state.

Here are some sites that have state printables:

USA Coloring Pages - Apples4theTeacher.com
States Coloring Pages - Crayola.com
State Outline Maps - ColoringCastle.com
America Color Pages - Friends Across America
State Emblems Printables - KidZone Geography
Colouring Book of Flags: United States
USA Printables

Our route this year takes us through 10 states:
I'll be sharing more travel-related learning activities here during the next couple of weeks. I'm also posting scenery pictures on Ramblin' Roads, if you care to follow along!

Bears' "Ploughed Field"

2009-07-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

One thing I like to do on road trips is stop and read the historical markers along the way. As we traveled south through eastern Idaho today, we saw several. This was my favorite one of the day:

LONG BEFORE MINERS AND RANCHERS
SETTLED STANLEY BASIN, BEARS
DOMINATED THIS AREA
When Alexander Ross and his Hudson's Bay
Company trappers stopped here, September 20,
1824, they "observed at some distance the
appearance of a ploughed field, and riding up
towards it, found a large piece of ground more
than four acres in extent, dug up and turned
over. On getting to the spot, we observed
no less than nine black and grizzly
bears at work, rooting away," eating
camas, onions, and wild celery.

This was the first day of our 2-week road-trip. Stay tuned for more interesting things we learn along the way!

4th of July Learning Activities

2009-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some links I found with great ideas for learning about and celebrating Independence Day! Enjoy!

Crafts:
Firecracker Favors
Fireworks Flowers
Fourth of July Wreath
Independence Day Crafts
Independence Day Shaker
Parade Stick
Patriotic Candle Jar
Patriotic Flip-Flops
Patriotic Punch Cups
Stars and Stripes Shirt

Printables:
Fourth of July Coloring Pages
Fourth of July Crafts and Games
Fourth of July Worksheets
Independence Day Coloring Pages
Patriotic Pinwheel
United States Coloring Pages
U.S.A. Paper Airplane

Recipes:
Fourth of July Cake
Fourth of July Desserts
Fourth of July Jello Salad
July 4th Treats
Lemon Bar Flags
Patriotic Cake Balls
Patriotic Crispy Rice Sparklers
Patriotic Pastries
Red, White and Blue Delight

Homeschool Planner - review

2009-06-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges of homeschooling is getting (and staying) organized. I've seen many different organizational systems, books, and software over the years, so when I was asked to review The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner I wasn't sure what to expect.

It is a sizable e-book (375 pages) so I could tell right away that it was more than a calendar with record-keeping forms, though it does include those. This planner actually reminds me more of an almanac with a wide variety of useful information including: articles from leading homeschool authors, dozens of recipes, a different topical study for each month including web links. There are also scores of forms for organizing your school and your home. It is a great resource for any homeschooler.

My experience: I printed it out 2-sided and that didn't work out so well. Apparently it's designed to be printed on one side of the paper only, as some of the pages that should have been on the right side of the book ended up on the left side. I put the pages in a binder so I can take out individual pages (of forms or whatever) and make copies as needed. You could also just print that page from your original PDF file when you need them, as well.

It is designed in a monthly format, with a double-page spread calendar, followed by that month's topical article, activities, recipes, and links. For my organizational purposes I would rather the monthly calendar pages all be together, all the articles together, the link pages together, etc. But the nice thing about having it as an e-book is that I can print it out and arrange it in my binder any way I want. I think I'll add in some divider tabs, too.

Wanna read what others think about it? Visit the Homeschool Crew blog for links to more reviews.

WHO convention report

2009-06-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

Spring time is always so busy at our house getting ready for and attending homeschool conventions. This year I had 4 in less than 3 months' time. This past weekend was my last one for the season, the Washington Homeschool Organization convention. It is also the largest event I attend, and it was incredibly busy, especially on Friday.
My assistants and I talked to lots of interesting people and hopefully were able to help several families choose their materials for this coming school year. Naturally we were exhausted by the time the convention was over, but we had a great time!

My friend Heather wrote up an extensive report, with lots of pictures, about this convention:
Part 1
Part 2

Whew! I'm tired just reading about it from an attendee's perspective!

I really do enjoy the opportunity to talk to homeschoolers about Sonlight each spring, but I'm always relieved when the season is over, too. I can return my books to their proper shelves in my home library and settle back to a more "normal" schedule.

But I'm happy to help with questions about Sonlight year 'round, so feel free to email me if I can help you with anything!

CHOIS convention report

2009-06-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at the CHOIS homeschool convention in Nampa, Idaho this past weekend. It was a lot of fun connecting with "old" friends and meeting new ones!I loved the bright royal blue and white draping of the vendor hall this year. I thought it really set off my booth colors well.
I had a great workshop, too! This year I changed it up a bit, talking more about "how" I use Sonlight rather than "why" I use Sonlight. I have discovered that a lot of current Sonlight users like to come to my workshop at this event to glean ideas for their own homeschools, and I was happy to share! It was fun to offer free books as door prizes at my workshop.

This was a somewhat small event, so I was working by myself. When it was time for my workshop, I left a sign in my booth inviting anyone who stopped by to come to my workshop. On my way to the classroom I ran into a good friend of mine (another longtime Sonlight user) who has assisted in my booth before. She happened to be free during that time so she and her teen daughter were gracious enough to fill in for me in the booth. Thank you, Tracy and Kendall! I really appreciate your help!
I also had a drawing for a gift basket. I announced that I was going to have the drawing at 3:00 on Saturday and I invited everyone to come back by to see if they won. About 2:45 one of the ladies who had attended my workshop came by to ask what time the drawing was. I told her it would be in about 15 minutes. She said, "Well, I don't expect to win. I won one of the door prizes in your workshop, plus I just won a gift basket at another booth... but I thought I'd come by to see, just in case." And she sat down to wait.
At 3:00 I shuffled the cards, fanned them out in my hand and walked over to another booth to ask another vendor to pull a card. Imagine our surprise when the name on the card turned out to be the very lady who was waiting to see who the winner was! But it really was completely random!

Now I'm off to WHO for my last convention of the season! I understand a Sonlight Meetup is being planned for lunchtime on Friday. Plan to meet at the Sonlight booth at noon to chit-chat with other Sonlight users!

Learning on a Hike

2009-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

We haven't done a lot of formal nature studies over the years, but I'm always amazed at the things we learn just by being observant. Recently my family went on an afternoon hike while we were out camping. We didn't take along nature journals to make notes and drawings, but I did take the camera. I snapped pictures of the things we wondered about.I thought the yellow violets were so sweet. Later I looked them up in a wildflower book and discovered that there actually 5 different kinds of yellow violets in the western United States, and I determined that this particular kind is the Stream Violet.
My daughter caught a little frog along a stream. Or is it a toad? Yeah, I think it's a toad. We learned about the difference between frogs and toads earlier this year, but we should probably look it up again just to refresh our memories.
What kind of bird dropped this feather? I have no idea! Maybe we need a bird book, too. The feather almost looks polka-dotted.
Then we picked up this pretty piece of quartz. I recognized it... but my daughter is sure we need a rock book, too!
What kind of animal left this behind? Elk? Moose? Don't tell me we need a poop book! Oh, wait. We already have one! Really, we do! I'll tell you about it some other time. (I just can't find it right now, which is why I'm not sure whether it's elk or moose.)
Look close! Can you see the gold flakes in the stream? We wondered if it was real gold. Perhaps we ought to research that, too!

Isn't learning fun?

Interview with Mat Halverson

2009-06-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

This week I'm interviewing Mat Halverson, author of the Scripture Sleuth mystery books for kids. I first met Mat at a homeschool convention several years ago. At that time he had 3 books out, and we bought them for read-alouds. My kids were hooked, so we've added the next 2 to our collection as they have been released. When I saw Mat at the Christian Heritage conference in April, I asked if I could interview him for my blog. He graciously agreed. Here are the questions I asked him, along with his answers.

Hi, Mat. My family has really enjoyed your Scripture Sleuth books about Concord Cunningham. They remind me of the Encyclopedia Brown books I read when I was a kid, with each chapter a short mystery that the reader has the opportunity to solve before looking up the solution in the back of the book. It seems to be a format that kids love. How did you come up with that idea?

Hi, Karla. First of all, thank you for taking the time to interview me on your blog. When I was a kid, I loved Encyclopedia Brown, too. It was so much fun to read a short mystery and then try to solve it myself. When I started writing, I wanted to write mysteries with a similar structure, but I also wanted to connect kids to the Bible. I credit God for giving me the idea to write short mysteries that kids would solve by looking up clues in their own Bibles.

Could you tell us more about how the books work?

Each chapter is a fun mystery, so there are 12 separate mysteries in every book. The mysteries are lighthearted adventures, and they average about 5-7 pages each. At the end of each chapter's mystery, readers aren't given the solution. Instead, they're given a Bible verse to look up in their own Bibles. When they look up that verse, they find the final clue that they need to solve the case. After they they think they've solved the mystery, they can check their answers in the solution section at the back of each book. By the way, the reading level of the books is ages 8-12.

My daughter insists she can't read a Scripture Sleuth book without her Bible. Even when she has the answer figured out, she will look up the scripture hint before she reads the solution to see if she's right. And some of the scriptures are pretty obscure! How did you find them?

I'm so pleased to hear about your daughter. That's really my whole reason for writing these books--to excited kids about looking up Bible verses. As for finding verses and turning them into clues, that's the most difficult part of writing the Scripture Sleuth books. I don't have a secret formula; I just sit down with my Bible and start searching. Sometimes one verse will lead me to another. And sometimes I can search for hours and not come up with anything. And, of course, I use a concordance all the time, just like the main character in the books. The mysteries are in a current-day setting, and it's been a wonderful experience for me to connect a huge assortment of verses to everyday situations. My hope is that kids will see how God's Word is still completely relevant today.

What other kind of lessons would you say these books teach?

That's a great question because the stories themselves are not designed to teach huge moral lessons. They're just good, clean fun. The point of the series is motivating kids to use their Bibles to solve problems. The main character (kid detective Concord Cunningham) is very respectful to adults, and he completely trusts in God's Word. So, he demonstrates good qualities. But, again, the books are designed to be fun and are definitely not preachy.

There are 5 books so far... a total of 60 "cases"! Wow! I'm impressed that you've been able to come up with so many. And I understand there are more in the works. When will the 6th book be out?

I'm writing the 6th book now, and I hope to have it finished within a year. After I submit it to the publisher, it will take about 6-12 months for it to be released. So, realistically, the next book won't be out before late 2010 or early 2011.

We've purchased our books directly from you at homeschool conventions. Where else can people buy them?

You can purchase the books on my website: www.ScriptureSleuth.com. Once you're there, you can either buy the books directly from me, or link to other places that sell them. If you buy them from me, I'd be happy to autograph them.

Thanks so much for interviewing me about my books, Karla. I look forward to seeing you at the next homeschool convention!

Thank you, Mat, for being my guest today!

I've been accepted!

2009-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago I applied for the privilege of being a member of the 2009-2010 Homeschool Crew for The Old Schoolhouse magazine. I was thrilled to receive an email this week letting me know that I was in!

I am so excited about this opportunity to review a wide variety of homeschool products, and share my opinion with you. I'm not really sure what all this position will involve, but it's sure to be lots of fun! Stay tuned!

Circle C Adventure book giveaway

2009-05-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

My drawing this week will be for a free copy of one of Susan Marlow's Circle C Adventure books. Susan says, "I'm delighted to give away an autographed copy of my newest book, Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers. Or, if the winner wants to wait until February, I'm willing to give away Trouble with Treasure and a vial of real gold." Visit Susan's website to learn more about this series, and don't miss the interview I did with her earlier this week!

* To be entered in the drawing for this book, comment on this post before Friday, June 5. Be sure to mention which book you would like to win. That gives you one chance to win!
* Mention that you "follow" my blog to be entered a second time. (If you aren't already a follower, it's easy! See the section in the left sidebar that says "Blog Readers"? Click the "Follow" button!)

US addresses only, please.

Drawing will be held Friday, June 5... and I'll be announcing another giveaway then, so be sure to stop back by!

I am happy to announce that the winner of a copy of The Lewis and Clark Expedition is Sherry who blogs at Living and Learning. Sherry, if you will email me with your mailing address I will get your book right out to you!

Interview with Susan Marlow

2009-05-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago I "met" Susan Marlow when I won a copy of one her books (along with an adorable horse Beanie Baby) on a blog-giveaway. My tween-age horse-loving daughter was thrilled! Later, I won another of Susan's blog-giveaways of some bookmarks and a tiny plastic horse! Now I've quit entering her giveaways, lest I seem greedy! But she does have great giveaways! (Including one right here, later this week! Stay tuned!)

Susan writes "wholesome books for kids"-- specifically the Circle C Adventure series set in the Old West. My daughter and I are looking forward to meeting her in person at the upcoming WHO homeschool convention in June. In the meantime, I emailed Susan and asked if I could interview her for my blog. She graciously agreed. Here are the questions I asked her, along with her answers.

My 13-year-old "horse crazy" daughter absolutely loves your books! How did you come up with the idea for a series of stories about a "tween-age" girl and her horse in the late 1880s?

I started writing stories when I was about ten years old. I was greatly influenced by what I read and by what I watched during those impressionable years (the '60s). I watched two types of shows, mostly: space shows (like Star Trek) and westerns (like Bonanza). When I wrote my own stories, I always tossed kids (specifically--myself!) into these established "universes." I felt the stories could be greatly improved by adding characters my own age (at the time). This carried over into my adult life, when I was still writing stories with kids as the main characters (since I've had a hard time shedding my twelve-year-old 'persona'). When people started urging me to submit my stories for actual publication, I knew the stories I wrote about outer space would probably not fly. However, historical stories—especially if I included horses—would be more likely to find an audience. So the "tween-age" girl and her horse is pretty close to what I would have liked to be and do if I'd lived in the late 1800s.

Are there other people you know in real life similar to your characters, from which you draw for your stories?

A few Circle C characters are drawn from real life:
Nila Garduño, the Mexican woman who cares for Andi in Long Ride Home, is based on a dear Hispanic friend, whom I taught English for five years. She told me about her childhood in a poor village in Mexico. I even used her real name for the story.
A recent picture of my grandfather turned up, and he looks just as I imagined my Chad character should look. Chad is named for my oldest son, and acts a lot like him, as well.
Andi's friend, Cory Blake, is drawn from my youngest son, Ryan. He's on the cover of the new book, Trouble with Treasure.

So you have some involvement with the cover art for the series?

Purely by accident! Book covers make me nervous. I've seen some terrible ones. My daughter won't even read a book if she doesn't like the cover. So I sent my publisher a picture of a homeschooled girl I knew, only to give the designers some idea of what Andi might look like. I expected them to take the picture and draw a scene for the cover. Instead, they used the picture for Long Ride Home. That was the biggest surprise of my life!
Ever since then, I've been sending Kregel pictures for the covers. The kids featured on the covers are homeschooled students. The little Chinese girl on San Francisco Smugglers is the adopted daughter of a homeschooling friend from Pennsylvania, whom I have never met!

What kind of research have you done to learn about the Old West?

You mean besides watching Bonanza, The Big Valley, Roy Rogers, The Rifleman, and Rawhide? Seriously, one of my first research books about the Old West was the book, The Good Old Days, They Were Terrible! This book gave me the "rest of the story"--the parts Hollywood left out. I've read a number of other books since, like Daughters of the West, Everyday Life in the 1800s, and biographies of actual people--like the missionary who rescued the little Chinese slave girls, for San Francisco Smugglers. The Internet has been invaluable, as well, but I try not to believe everything there. However, it's a good place to begin. From the Internet, I found "primary sources" like More San Francisco Memoirs--1852-1899, which is a collection of writings from folks who visited the City in the late 1800s. I got a flavor for how they talked, what was sold in the streets, and what people did. The problem is: I can get so caught up on reading this fascinating true-life history, that I put off actually writing my book.

Do you have horses?

I don't have horses right now. However, my daughter, Kristel, had a horse when she was eleven. Panda was a pet rather than a horse for all the 4-H stuff like showing and competing. Kristel braided her mane and tail, hung out on her back, rode her in the field across the street, and just had fun with her. To learn about our ups and downs with Panda, go here.

I read on your website that you homeschooled your children. How many children do you have? Are they grown now?

My husband and I have four children--33, 32, 20, and 17. I did homeschool them, and now our oldest, Kristel, homeschools her six children. I wrote my Circle C Adventures when the kids went to bed, after a long day of homeschooling two teenagers and caring for two pre-schoolers, besides. I'm very glad there was no Facebook or blogging back in the 90s, or I don't think my books would have been written. I would have been doing what everybody else is doing these days for relaxation--social networking. I tried never to be on the computer during the day, because I didn't want my children to grow up seeing their mother in front of a computer screen. It just reminded me of those stereotyped stories about moms devoted to soap operas and glued to the TV while their kids ran wild.

We have the first 4 books in the series. I understand the 5th book is now out? And the 6th is in the works?

Book 5 is not out quite yet. Andrea Carter and the Trouble witih Treasure is due to be released next February, 2010. Here's a one-line summary of Andi's newest adventure: Andi's dreams of treasure turn into a life-or-death struggle when she and her friends seek gold in the Sierra Nevada.

I love doing contests and giving away fun prizes. For Treasure, I have found real gold flakes on e-bay, and I'm thinking of contests to hold so I can give little vials of gold away, along with copies of the new book. Folks can learn all about my contests and upcoming events by going to my website, www.susankmarlow.com, and signing up for my e-zine. I've given away two books and some gold already, although the winners have to wait until the book comes out to actually hold their prizes in their hands.

Book 6, Andrea Carter and the Price of Truth, has been contracted, but I don't know its release date yet. Here is a summary of that book: Andi's eyewitness testimony places a beloved citizen of Fresno at the scene of a crime. Will the price of truth be too high if it means losing Taffy forever?

We are looking forward to meeting you at the WHO homeschool convention in Puyallup, Washington, in June. Will you be at any other conferences this year?

I'm excited about having a booth at the WHO (Washington Homeschool Organization) convention, June 19-20. They placed me in "prime real estate" at Booth # 102--right as you come in the main entrance of the Exhibition Hall! If anyone would like their copies of Circle C Adventures authographed, bring them to my booth and I'll be happy to sign them. There will be a "Guess the Number of Horses" in a jar contest to win a prize, free bookmarks, free postcards for Trouble with Treasure, random drawings to win the new book, and just a lot of fun for all.

In addition to the WHO convention, I will be attending the WATCH conference August 7-8, with the Salt Shaker Bookstore. I will be there both days, signing books and offering contests, as well. The WATCH conference is at Eastside Foursquare Church in Bothell, WA.

Where can people buy your books?

Folks can pick up the books at any Christian bookstore. If the title you want is not on the shelf, the store can order it. It's also available from any on-line bookstore, like Amazon and CBD. My Circle C Adventures is featured in the CBD Kids 2009 print catalog, and they offer a great "set" price, as well!

As a special surprise, Susan has even offered a free Circle C book as a giveaway right here on Roads to Learning! Check back on Friday, May 29, for my regular weekly giveaway post for details on how you could win!

Thanks so much, Susan, for being my guest today!

Memorial Day

2009-05-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

"Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, is the day we honor Americans who gave their lives in military service.

This holiday was originally called Decoration Day and honored soldiers who had died during the Civil War. Immediately after the war, various towns in the North and South began to set aside days to decorate soldiers' graves with flowers and flags...

The first widespread observance of Decoration Day came on May 30, 1868, which Maj. Gen. John A. Logan proclaimed as a day to honor the dead. General James Garfield (later the twentieth U.S. president) gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery in remembrance of fallen soldiers, saying that

'for love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.'

Afterward, 5,000 people helped decorate the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.

Over the years the day became an occasion to remember the dead in all American wars, and came to be known as Memorial Day.

On the Thursday before Memorial Day, in a tradition known as 'Flags-in,' the soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place small flags before more than a quarter million gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol twenty-four hours a day to make sure each flag remains standing throughout the weekend. On Memorial Day the president or vice president lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the cemetery.

According to the U.S. flag code, American flags should be flown at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day, then raised to the top of the pole. At 3:00 p.m. local time, all Americans are asked to pause for a moment of remembrance."

--The American Patriot's Almanac, by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb

The End of the School Year

2009-05-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we get to set our own schedule. Some families have school year 'round with shorter breaks as needed throughout the year. We follow more of a traditional school year in our family. With warmer weather here the children are playing outside more, and are ready to be done with books for awhile!

We try to be done by Memorial Day, but since it comes early this year, I don't think we're going to make it quite. But hopefully by the first of June!

I don't know about you, but I always get to the end of the year wondering if we did enough. Did we cover everything we needed to cover? Did the children learn what they were supposed to for this grade?

But then as I pack the books away for the summer and take mental inventory of everything we did accomplish, I'm always surprised at how much we actually got done!

This is the end of our 11th year of homeschooling. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to realize that almost everything my children know academically they learned from me! It has been such a privilege to go through each level with them. And I seriously believe I have learned far more than they have!

Sight-Seeing on a Budget

2009-05-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Next month I have 2 homeschool conventions to attend on back-to-back weekends... one in Boise, Idaho and the other in Seattle, Washington. Allowing for travel time, we would only be home 3 days in between, so we've decided to just enjoy some sight-seeing on those extra 3 days!

Several months ago a friend told me about City Pass for Seattle. It is a package of tickets to 6 different attractions for about half price! They allow 9 consecutive days to visit the 6 attractions for that price. (In our case we'll have 3-4 days, but I think we can fit it all in!) So we'll get to visit the Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, the Museum of Flight, the Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, and take the Seattle Harbor Tour cruise! All of that for just over $50 per person!

What I like about it is that all of those "attractions" are educational as well as fun! You probably couldn't get into an amusement park for one day for that price. This is my kind of sight-seeing!

I didn't realize it when my friend was telling me about it, but I discovered that City Pass is actually available for 10 major cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, and Toronto. So even if a trip to Seattle is not in your future, if you happen to be in one of these other cities and have some time, you might want to check it out!

10 Things Your Kids Can Learn While Camping

2009-05-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

In our family we like to say that learning is not just for school time, but rather learning is a lifestyle. My husband and I take advantage of opportunities to teach our children as we go about our daily lives.

"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."

One of our favorite family activities is camping. I posted about our most recent camping trip at Ramblin' Roads... but for this post I thought it would be neat to share a few of the educational benefits we have discovered while camping:

Nature Studies
Survival Skills
Primitive Cooking
Physical Education (hiking, biking, pumping and carrying water...)
Exploration and Discovery
Socialization (They always meet any other kids whose families are camping at the same time!)
Reading (A very relaxing way to spend a lazy afternoon at the campground, when electronics aren't an option!)
Photography
Astronomy
Meteorology

And that's not mention the great family relationships we are building in the process!

What does your family like to do for fun and education?

Expanding Attention Spans

2009-05-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

"How do you keep the children's attention when you read to them? How do you make sure they are listening and comprehending?"

This is a question parents often ask me, especially about younger children who are just starting school.

My answer: "Let them do something while you read."I think sometimes parents have the notion that the children should be quietly sitting in chairs, with their attention completely focused on Mom in order to listen as she reads. That has not been my experience.

I have been reading to my children for 45 minutes to an hour a day since they were toddlers. My oldest daughter was 3 when I started reading chapter books aloud to her. I had read somewhere that reading aloud to children helps increase their attention spans, so I read to her even when she was wiggling about the room, playing. And you know what? It worked!

I remember one day when she was in 2nd grade the read-aloud was Ginger Pye. It is actually a rather long book for that age group, but I had just allowed the girls (ages 4 and 7) to play quietly as I read each day, not realizing that the 4-year-old, who happens to have learning delays, was even listening. The day after we finished Ginger Pye I showed them the next book on the list.

"Look! We get to start a new book today!"

My 4-year-old was crestfallen. "But! What happened to the doggy?"

She wanted to hear more about Ginger Pye! I was excited to realize she had been following along! Fortunately for her, we happened to have the sequel, Pinky Pye... so yes, we added that in to our Sonlight reading schedule that year!

Over the years my children have enjoyed a wide variety of "quiet" activities while I read to them. Here are just a few of them:

drawing pictures, often related to the story
practicing handwriting
jigsaw puzzles with pictures that tie in with what we are currently learning
coloring pages related to the book or historical period (Dover publishes some really great ones!)
Legos (When we were reading about Egypt they build a pyramid, with a tiny Lego person wrapped in tissue for the mummy inside!)

My only rule is that they have to be perfectly quiet, therefore they can't work on the same activity together-- otherwise they'll try to whisper.

I have been amazed at how much they retain of what they hear when their hands are busy!

Finding "something to do"...

2009-05-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

With all the "cool" technology available today... as well as opportunities for organized outside activities, sometimes it is challenging to motivate our kids to "find something to do" that does not involve electronics or adult supervision. My girls love The Daring Book for Girls and the sequel, The Double-Daring Book for Girls, as a resource of ideas for all kinds of old-fashioned fun. (There are similar books for boys, The Dangerous Book for Boys, etc.)
Last week the girls asked for permission to try their hand at making a pinata, according to instructions in the book. They know the rule is: If you make a mess, you clean it up... so I gave them permission. I was impressed with their finished product... and so were they! They decided it was so cute they didn't want to cut it open to fill it with candy and then whack it to pieces! They just wanted to look at it!

My older daughter then posted step-by-step instructions, accompanied by pictures she took of the process, on her new blog for teen girls. (That's another activity she has recently taken up, and while it does involve electronics, I encourage it as a fun way to improve her writing skills and learn useful computer skills.)

I'll be curious to see what the girls come up with next. What creative activities have your kids surprised you with lately?

The Land of Story-books

2009-04-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.

These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.

I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.

So when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story-books.
--Robert Louis Stevenson

Homeschool Convention Report

2009-04-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Christian Heritage homeschool convention in Redmond, Washington this past weekend. I appreciated so much the young men who volunteered to help unload my booth supplies! That is always such a huge help.

Booth set-up went smoothly... and I took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I had my camera shutter speed set wrong, so they all turned out slightly blurry. But maybe you can get an idea of how it looked anyway...
My favorite part of the convention is, of course, talking about Sonlight! After all, that's what I'm there for... and that's why I have this job! I love connecting with veteran Sonlight users that I've gotten to know over the years-- hearing how their year went, helping them plan for the coming year. And I love introducing Sonlight to those who are not familiar with it-- parents with young children who are just starting out, or those who have just pulled their kids from public school, or even those who have been using another curriculum that just isn't working for them. I even enjoy helping those who are happy with another curriculum that they are using, but are just looking for some really great books to supplement with.
One highlight of this event was the door prize system. The event organizers gave each person who came through the door a ticket. Then they allowed vendors to draw from the bin of matching tickets to offer door prizes. We displayed the tickets in our booths, and convention attendees would search through the booths checking to see if they had a matching ticket for a prize. It was a great way to get traffic through the vendor hall. And it was so much fun when someone had a matching ticket and I got to give them a prize! I gave away 5 prizes like that over the weekend!

Speaking of prizes... have you entered my drawing for the Sonlight Cooks book yet? I'll be announcing the winner on Friday!

"Sonlight Cooks" giveaway

2009-04-22T07:25:00.001-07:00

As a special Thank You to my homeschool blog readers I am going to start hosting weekly giveaways here on Roads to Learning. It will be something different each week, but for my first giveaway I am offering a brand-new copy of Sonlight Cooks, a compilation of recipes from Sonlight users. It even includes a section of recipes for supplementing your child's education with recipes from Greece, Rome, and America's Colonial Days. And... if you win this copy from my blog, I'll even autograph it for you, as I am the cookbook's compiler! (I'm sure that will make it much more valuable to you! ;-) Won't it?)

How can you win? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Friday, May 1! That gives you one chance to win!

Want more chances? Do any or all of the following (and be sure to tell me you did) and you'll get another chance for each one:

Follow my blog, or tell me that you already do. (See the section in the left sidebar that says "Blog Readers"? Click the "Follow" button!)
Blog about my giveaway.
Twitter about my giveaway.
Join my private forum, or tell me that you're already a member. (Email me for an invitation.)

US addresses only, please.

Drawing will be held Friday, May 1... and I'll be announcing another giveaway then, so be sure to stop back by!

Geocaching

2009-04-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

With warmer weather my family is beginning to think of more outdoor activities. One of our favorite extracurricular activities as a family is Geocaching. Have you heard of it?

Basically, it's a high-tech "treasure-hunting" game, using the internet and a GPS. The "treasure" (or cache) is usually some kind of well-labeled, weather-proof container hidden in an accessible area, often out in the wilderness. The cache always contains a logbook for finders to sign, and usually a collection of trade items for finders to swap with. The kids love the trading aspect and enjoy seeing what is in each cache we find.Sound fun? To get started, log on to Geocaching.com and put in your zip code. That will bring up all the caches in your area. They are rated as to difficulty. Then you can enter the coordinates into a hand-held GPS unit and off you go!

We like to choose caches that are off the beaten path, and our favorites have been those that include a short hike. We have been Geocachers since 2002 and aren't nearly as active as some, but we love to try to hit at least a few caches each summer.

Supplementing Sonlight Curriculum

2009-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

When you order a Sonlight Core package, chances are you will get more materials than you can complete in a year. Most families don't try to "do it all"! However, if you're like me, occasionally you will read a book or hit upon a subject that your children are particularly interested in, and you want to learn more about it.

Several years ago, when my children were quite young, I began to compile a list of links that enhanced or supplemented the Sonlight Core materials we were using. I posted it on my website, and many Sonlighters have told me that they have found it to be very helpful. Each year I have added to that list. I am still in the process of updating these pages for 2009, but hopefully you'll find something helpful there.

Please let me know if you have corrections or suggestions for my list! Thanks so much!

Resurrection Cookies

2009-04-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

How do you celebrate Holy Week and Easter in your homeschool? One year, when my children were younger we made "Resurrection Cookies" as a family the night before Easter. It was a meaningful devotional time and the confections were yummy! Here's the recipe we used:

Resurrection Cookies

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
Plastic Ziploc Baggie
Wooden spoon
Rolling pin
Tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (Do this before doing anything else.)

Place nuts in baggie and beat them with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3
Open the vinegar and let everyone smell it. Put 1 teaspoon into the mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, all He was given to drink was vinegar. Read John 19:28-30
Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11
Put a little salt into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. (If you have lots of kids, put a pinch of salt in yourself, and then let each child taste the salt…otherwise there will be too much salt in the recipe) Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27
So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Sprinkle a little sugar into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16
Beat with mixer on high speed for 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents our purity in God’s eyes because our sins are cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18
Fold in nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and TURN THE OVEN OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door shut. Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66
Now go to bed. Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22
On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the third day, Jesus followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9

He is Risen!