Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story {A Review}

The good people at Barbour Publishing have done it again. 

They have came out with a new juvenile fiction book written by Annie Tipton.

The name of this book is Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story.

About The Company:

Barbour Publishing is a publisher with a niche in Christian book publishing.  They proudly publish more than 150 books a year. They were very excited to reach their 14 million publishing mark! 

About The Product:

Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story is a 192 page paperback book that is aimed to children ages 8-12.

The book is about a girl name Emma Jean Payne (known as EJ).  She is a ten year old girl that has a BIG imagination. EJ is spunky and often miss-understood by those around her. She lives in a boring small town and  Her father is a pastor and her mother is a 2nd grade teacher. 

EJ’s imagination was so big it would often times get her into situations, like the time she imagined she was a race car driver while in the grocery store with the shopping cart. (oops.)  Along with many other imaginations and antics happening all throughout the book.

Each chapter begins with a diary entry that gives you the preface as to what will happen in the upcoming chapter. The chapter then tells the story of what becomes of her wild imagination.

This book takes you through the holiday season and has some good lessons, like service, loving thy neighbor and doing things because they are the right thing to do.

This book sales for $5.99 directly from the Barbour Publishing.  At the time of posting it is on sale for $4.49.

Book 2, Church Camp Chaos comes out in March 2014. 

A day/week in our life:

I decided to let my older two read this on their own.  I spent some special time at bedtime with my younger two (ages 8 and 4) reading this book aloud to them.  We each had our laughs and some of us had tears too.

Our thoughts and feelings:

Clean fun engaging books are getting harder and harder to find.  This one hits all the marks. 

It is a good clean read with a good moral to the story about how God has big plans for your life- bigger than you can imagine.  While not being a “perfect model” Christian family (I’m not sure there even is such a thing) Many Christian character traits are shown in EJ’s family throughout this entire book.

It is a fun book.  It will literally make you laugh out loud. It keeps you entertained in a fun way.

It is engaging as it has someone that most people can relate to. From a young girl with big imagination and big dreams.  An annoying little brother.  A dad with a sense of humor and a mom with some well….. hair.

My family is not the only one who got to review this.  See what others think by checking out this post.

 

To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

God’s World News- God’s Big World- A Magazine for Preschoolers {REVIEW}

 

God’s World News is a company that provides news publications for Christians of all ages.

About The Company:

God’s World News delivers current news in age appropriate magazines for Pre-Kindergarten through High School. Each issue of God’s World News is packed with age-appropriate stories, activities, puzzles and full color pictures.

From Pre-K through Middle School a MAP- IT! world wall map is included in the September issue.

Every magazine, has a locator map which will correspond with the wall map to teach kids where in the World the news is happening.

A full-year subscription is priced at $28 and includes 10 monthly issues (every month except December and May).

There are other subscription options available. 

Here is a picture of each of the levels of magazines.

Each subscription includes access to their newly launched website, where you can find activities, stories and other articles to help your fuel your child’s curiosity.

Be sure and check out World Magazine, which is a magazine for adults from a Christian perspective.

 

About The Product:

God’s Big World Magazine is a child size peek into our big world.

 

A Biblical worldview is taken on age appropriate current events and fun attention grabbing stories. 

These small (24 page) magazines are full of big color pictures and short read-to-me stories as well as fun engaging activities.

There are also general skill building activities such as alphabet, number and sequencing skills.

Some examples of the stories that were in our October issue are:

Monarch Butterflies and their migration.  This 2 page spread includes a map of their migration paths and fun migration facts.  You also get to meet Mr. and Mrs. Hess and learn what they are doing to help increase Monarch Butterflies around the world.  On the next page there is a butterfly puzzle where you draw what you need to make the butterflies match.  - Is it a line, a shape or a color?

Another activity is learning about baby birds and grown up birds.  You match the baby bird to the parent by matching the lowercase letters to the uppercase letters. 

Tyler loved the story about the giant pumpkin as well.  It showed how a man tried his best to grow the largest pumpkin and how he wasn’t able to win the contest, but he still tried his hardest.

 A day/week in our life:

We did not read the magazine from front to back all in a row.  That just wouldn’t work for my 4 year old.  What we did instead is take 2 days per week and choose a story each time to read about.  This ended up being perfect for us, because it gave us the opportunity to create and then follow rabbit trails. – You know those times when you follow a child’s interest and research together and learn more. 

Our thoughts and feelings: 

I felt like this magazine is just the right size for young children and the articles are all age/ level appropriate. We both enjoyed that this was something special for my preschooler and I to do together.  I loved that the stories were not all negative. 

I’m not the only one who reviewed these, check out what other’s think here:

 

To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

The Day I Had A Nervous Breakdown

 

Our school year began a mere 25 school days ago & boy is it off to a rocky start.

We have really had a hard time getting into the swing of things.  I thought that I had it all planned out to start off slow and give us time to figure it all out. 

We began with two of the basics, reading and math. 

Reading was simple – so I thought- just read 20 minutes minimum daily in a book of your choice.

Math – Do 1 math lesson each day.

Simple right.  We went on like that for 1 week.

Katey was getting her work done – most of it requires me for at least a part of it.

But for the older kids there were struggles every day as far as me asking and checking if each child was doing their work before free time activities.  Everyday I would find that wasn’t happening until I really lay in on the supervision.  I had to make them do their work at the table or on the couch.  Basically, they had to stay in the room I was in until their work was done. 

My thoughts were that they would realize how much better it would be once I could trust them again and they could work where they wanted and when they wanted.

The next week we added in science -  This was continued on from our last years book (since we didn’t finish before our summer break), so this was nothing new. 

This was met again with much resistance.  They were simple not doing their work. 

I would talk to them about the importance of them doing their work and trust.  I would make them work around me.  It was still not completely getting done. 

Some examples of what I would find happening:

• Tommy was supposed to be doing math on the computer.  I would catch him on Mountain Biking websites.
• Emily was supposed to be reading a book.  She would be texting.
• Tommy was supposed to be doing science.  He would have to go to the bathroom and just wouldn’t come back.  This happens with all of them. 

Still by Week 3 we added in History – This year we are doing it much different then I have in years past for the older kids.  Katey has been doing history/ geography all summer. The older kids are just supposed to read out of Joy Hakim’s The Story of US series. I assign them daily reading.  Then we do discussions and activities around what they are learning.  At first in the discussions they were fooling me.  I then found out I had every kind of trickery going on, from skimming the chapter to not reading it at all.  I will give them some credit.  They did each read a small amount some days. 

By Week 4 – Emily had to work on her 4H portfolio which was due the following week.  This required a lot of help from me, and I required a lot of help from the 4H office as none of my kids have ever done a 4H Portfolio.

Week 5 begins.  I have to work about 10 hours this week.  I work Monday morning, we have art class in the afternoon.  Tuesday I have off – we get some schoolwork done in between me bitching at the kids to get it done.  Wednesdays are co-op days.  We have various classes all throughout the day and not all at the same place.  Our co-op doesn’t have a building, we use the library, the 4H classroom, the rec center and peoples homes.  Thursday we finish up Emily’s 4H portfolio and application for Teen Council – which she has been talking about doing since Tommy joined it last year.  (You have to be 7th grade).  For her portfolio she has to write her “4H Story”.  I read her story and she has written about how I missed the deadline for camp signups this summer and how she didn’t get to go.  Nice! Mom of the year, here.  The kids only get done whatever schoolwork I hound them to do.   Also during this week, I went to the grocery store twice with kids and both times I was overcharged, I always try to watch prices at the register, and I was distracted then by children so I didn’t notice.  My grocery budget was tight this week and I was maxing it out.

Friday- We head over to 4H to turn in all of Emily’s stuff.  We are told we missed the deadline to apply for teen council.  Oh nice!  She turned in her portfolio and we left.  I went out to the car and just cried.  I mean bawled vey eyes out.  Right there in front of my children.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  I officially sucked as a mom and I had no control over my kids. 

A few weeks later:

I am able to write about this.  - I still don’t have complete control over the kids and they are still fighting me on schoolwork.  I am pretty lax with them and I do not have them over booked as far as doing things.  I did implement some new rules that have been helping, such as I change the internet password at night and they can only earn the password when schoolwork is done.  I made a no eating between 10 and noon rule. Also no eating after 5 until dinner is ready and no eating after 8pm.  I know that sounds like a weird rule, but they were using always being hungry as an excuse.  They were not eating full meals and just snacking a lot throughout the day. 

I am still having a hard time and I am bordering on whether I can really do this or not.  I have cut back even more on my work hours. 

Today I checked out a book from the library on Love and Logic for Teens.  I have taken a Love and Logic course before and it was life changing for us.   So here is hoping for the book to give me ideas. 

I also had a good long talk with my mom about how I am not cut out to raise teenagers.  She made me feel better about it all.  She shared with me how hard it was for her.  She helped me to see the good and bad in it all.

I am still working on it.

The Homemakers Mentor

 

What is it?

The Homemakers Mentor is just that- a collaborative collection of over 110 PDF files on a single CD that will inspire and encourage homemakers of all ages and types. 

How did this all start?

Back in 2008, two women, Martha Greene and Rebekah Wilson, both of whom have been longtime homemakers, wives, mothers, small business owners and more, began encouraging other homemakers. Together they began a subscription only website to help and encourage other homemakers out there.  Many of the files shared on that website are now available all in one great limited edition collection, The Homemakers Mentor, at a price less then that of subscribing to the website.

Let’s talk more about it.

The plethora of items on this cd can be overwhelming.  Don’t worry though, it is very well organized into folders and subfolders, you can just click into what you are looking for- this is also proven handy for me as I was just surfing the collection.  I wasn’t sure where to start and by browsing through I was able to come across plans that struck my fancy.

The wide range of topics include, cleaning, cooking, baking, party planning, organizing, sewing, emergency preparedness, crafts and so much more.

See the complete list of what is included here.

I often want to go back to the “olden days” when the pace of life was just slower and people just enjoyed things.  My mom was a single working mom when I was growing up.  Much of her time was spent making money just to support our family.  She did her best to teach us kids how to cook and clean and organize, there just wasn’t always time for that.  So I am grateful for the opportunity to have a mentor right here in The Homemakers Mentor.

Some things that caught my eye:

The recipe for homemade oatmeal crème pies!  My son and I decided to make these together. We doubled the recipe batch because man- I love those things and so do my kids.  This made the mixer overflow and I had to run to the store halfway through for more ingredients. That was a lesson about planning ahead all in itself. 

The cookies ended up perfect.  They were amazing.  Once I asked my husband what kind of cookie he was eating and he said, “The good ones.” 

Such a fun way to spend some quality time one on one with my son and the whole family benefited by getting an awesome treat.  Plus we had plenty to share!

The Small Steps to Machine Sewing was a great file as well.  I do already know how to sew- my mom taught me that, but this had some tips in it that even I didn’t know.

The Mom and Me Aprons made out of towels are definitely a future project for my 8 year old daughter and I.

With the Master Bedroom Detailing File, I was able to get the encouragement and motivation to clean up my dump all bedroom and make it a more relaxing place for my husband and I.

Don’t just take my opinion on this, check out what others had to say here.

How to get all this for yourself:

You can purchase it now for $37 until Oct 18, 2013 with free shipping – after that it will be $47. 

You can also win a copy for yourself. I have two to giveaway. Just enter using the Rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There is also a grand giveaway for all that is pictured above.

Enter to win that here!

 

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Rufus and Ryan Go To Church {Review and Giveaway}

 

 

Let me introduce you to Ryan. 

He is a cute 4 year old boy who goes to church and he takes his best friend a stuffed animal monkey named Rufus with him.

Together these two are the stars of the book Rufus and Ryan Go to Church.  Written by Kathleen Long Bostrom and Illustrated by Rebecca Thornburgh.

The 20 page board book is full of beautiful watercolor pictures. 

The short story taking you throughout a typical Sunday in Ryan’s family, including getting ready for church, going to church and after church. 

During Church services they read the Bible, pray together, sing and have snacks.  Ryan is so excited to show Rufus all around church. 

The book itself is sturdy and the pictures with the story keep my son’s interest. 

This is the type of book I let my child take to church to keep him busy and quite while we listen.  It is also the type of book for a child who maybe hasn’t been to church and doesn’t know what to expect, or one who needs a soft reminder of how to behave at church.

Rufus and Ryan have another book out too!

Rufus and Ryan Say Their Prayers.

Would you like to win your own copy of Rufus and Ryan Go to Church?

It would make a perfect gift for:

• - Children ages 2 to 5 and their parents, grandparents
• - These faith-based board books make great gifts during any season: Christmas, Easter, baby
• - Toddler birthday
• - Gift from grandparents
• - Gift for your child's Sunday School teacher of children's minister
• - Perfect for church nurseries, Sunday school classes, preschools, and church worship settings
• Or even keep it for yourself!

Enter using the Rafflecopter below! 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Kathleen Long Bostrom is a published children’s author in both the Christian and trade markets. She has a Master’s in Christian Education and a Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching, and she has worked in children’s ministry for many years. Kathy and her husband, Greg, have three grown children and live in Illinois. 

About the Illustrator

Rebecca Thornburgh began illustrating children’s books full-time in 1996 and today has almost 100 books to her name. Rebecca’s vibrant watercolors have been showcased in previous Ideals titles, including the new edition of The Story of Christmas. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two daughters.

Rufus and Ryan Go to Church!

Written by: Kathleen Long Bostrom

Illustrated by: Rebecca Thornburgh

Publisher: Ideals Books

Board book

$7.99

Available at IdealsBooks.com

 

 

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Day Trip Scavenger Hunt

 

One of the fun things we did over the Summer was a special day trip with Katey.  It was a trip she really wanted to take. 

The Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum set up a scavenger hunt of all the DUP Historical Markers around our county.  It was a contest.  Once you got pictures of yourself at each of the 12 markers you could turn it in to win a gift basket.  Everyone entered and a name was drawn at the end of summer.  We didn’t win.  The girl that did looked so excited!  And we made some really great memories doing this.  All is well!

Now I will tell you something about me:  I love to stop and read historical markers.  In fact, I love it so much that I drive my husband crazy!  He always finds them interesting, however he is a deadline oriented guy.  I keep trying to tell him, it’s about the journey.  I still notice him trying to drive by them, hoping I won’t notice.

This was as much an opportunity for me as it was for Katey!

 

Her grandparents came to town to do this with us. 

 

We couldn’t find one of them.  We decided to ask when we went to turn her pictures in.  It was right out front of the museum. 

We learned so much about the history of our town.  I suggest one day you take the time to stop at historical markers!

VideoText Interactive {A Review}

 

One big question I always get when people find out I homeschool is how are you going to teach high school level math? 

I’ll tell you how!

VideoText Interactive.

About The Company:

VideoText Interactive, created by Tom Clark, is a company that specializes in bringing the textbook to life through technology.  Tom has over 46 years of math experience at all levels.

They offer 2 major math programs;

Algebra: A Complete Course

Geometry: A Complete Course

They both come in DVD format and the new online format.

 

About The Product:

We have been using the online version of, Algebra: A Complete Course for the past few weeks. 

This covers Pre-Algebra, Algebra I and Algebra II.  This course is for students who understand this checklist. For more information about if your child is ready, view this post.

There are 176 lessons total divided into 10 units. Each unit is divided into 3-6 parts and each part is divided into anywhere from 2 to 11 lessons.  Each lesson has parts.  This checklist helps show it better than I can explain it.  This is also the checklist I use for progress tracking for my son.

Don’t worry that this all sounds like so much.  Remember, it is basically 3 classes.  There are 3 different pacing guides.  Your students ability and understanding determines which one you will be on.  There is a one year, two year or three year pacing guide.  These are listed on the website.

The parent/teacher gets their own login access.  Which you are given access to complete PDF Units and the quizzes and results.  Below is a screen shot of the parent view main screen.

The parent view of the lesson plan also looks slightly different than the student version. 

The parent view:  (Note the green links, those are not visible on the student login.)

The student view:

The course notes are in PDF format for a total of 45 notes.

The worktext is in PDF format and for a total of 72 pages.

The quizzes are also in PDF format for a total of 76 pages.

Below is a view of the student main screen.  When they click on the link lesson link from the above picture this is what they will see.

It will begin in this order. 

A Quiz Reminder Alert- to make sure you took (and passed) the quiz from the previous lesson.

A Video Lesson Reminder – a reminder to pay attention and interact with the instructor as well as a reminder to make sure you understand the objective before moving on.

The Video Lesson – The actual lesson.  A video anywhere from 5- 10 minutes in length. 

Next comes the course notes – a PDF printable of what was gone over in the video. They DO NOT want you to be distracted by taking notes during the video.  You are supposed to be present and actively envolved, therefor they supply the notes.

The Worktext pages- a few example problems at the top and then the problems for the student to work.  It is suggested to have the student do either the even or the odd problems, then if they pass to move on and if they don’t they can go back and do the other. 

The solutions manual- This has the solutions to the worktext.  The student can correct their own work.  If they don’t understand why they missed a problem, they can call the video text helpline number listed on the screen. 

Once they have done all that, and passed, they then need to take the quiz (only accessible from the parent login). When a lesson has a quiz available, there are 2.  Quiz A and Quiz B.  This is so they have 2 chances to pass. 

At the end of each unit are two unit tests, also for 2 chances. 

The parent corrects the quiz and if the student passes they can move on.

There are other resources available on the website as well;

Extra practice problems, printable graph paper, and my very favorite – The HELP LINE!  An actual phone number you or your student can call and get actual live help with any problem.

 

A day/week in our life:

We have chosen to do the two year pacing plan. 

Tommy does pretty much stick exactly to the two day cycle.  It was difficult at first for him to remember what to do on each day, so I printed off the two year pacing plan for Tommy to look at when he is beginning math so he know what to do on each day. 

The hardest thing for us was the organization of it.  The course notes printed off directionally different.  The worktext was hard to see the problems, the solutions manual was hard to see. 

I ended up printing the entire PDFs from the teacher section and they all looked great!  This was a huge change for us as far as lesson time and frustration.  I created a 3 ring binder notebook for Tommy.  I divided it into sections.

The first section has the current weeks course notes, worktexts, and quizzes. 

The remaining sections look like this:

• remaining course notes
• remaining worktexts
• remaining quizzes
• “used” course notes
• “used” worktexts and quizzes

The hard thing about this is some of the worktext sections don’t divide up well.  Simple things, like the next unit starts halfway through the page of the previous unit.  This was easily dealt with.  It just would have been nice to have it be more divided by the lessons. 

I am completely organizationally challenged.  I wish this would have been more organized for me, or that I would have had a better way to organize it. 

I would have been completely lost if it wasn’t for the progress checklist. That is a great resource!

My son insists that I mention how “old fashioned” the videos are.  They are dressed in 80’s fashioned and at times the sound wasn’t that great.  I do have Tommy use headphones every lesson, for two reasons;

• so he can hear better
• so he is less likely to be distracted

The “old fashioned” videos do not bother me in the least, if anything I like them better that way, I want my children to be able to accept people no matter what they are wearing.  

Our thoughts and feelings:

What really matters is that it works, it works, it really works.  For my son who I made repeat pre-algebra and I just wasn’t sure what we were even going to do about his math this year.  When this math came up for review and I began researching it, I realized quickly that it was something special!  After using it for the past while, I am even more sure that this is the math for him. SO IS HE!!! 

****If you have any questions about this math program, please ask me!  I am happy to help you decide if this is the right program for you and your child.**** 

If you are already sure about buying the program here is how:

 

• ONLINE ALGEBRA Modules A-F: Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Algebra 2 (Classic Print Version – $529.00) ……. $299
• ONLINE ALGEBRA Module A – “Algebra Readiness” (Classic Print Version – $99.95) ……. $59.00
• ONLINE ALGEBRA Completer Package – Modules B-F: (Classic Print Version – $429.05)…….$240

($299 pricing reflects licensing for two students. Add an additional student in your family’s household for $49. A student license will last three years from the date it is activated for each student, and instructor accounts may also be turned on for a short period by request for SAT/CLEP prep after a student license has expired. Online Programs have a full 30-day money back guarantee.)

To see what others think of this click on the banner.

To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.