A Unique Advent Calendar & Merry Christmas

I was just reading my e-mail. I found a Christmas "letter" from Homeschool Marketplace...
read it here:   http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-zines/Christmas2009.html

From there I went to the Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar... Here: 


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/hubble_space_telescope_advent_1.html

Very humbling to think of us so small and insignificant a planet yet loved enough by our Savior that he was willing to be born here and later to die for our sins. I hope you enjoy the photos and the letter from Homeschool Marketplace... I did.

You can sign up for their newsletter, I get it, and they will send you freebies once in a while. In the Christmas letter they sent me a pdf callled Surviving Christmas... also very good. Sign up for their newsletter and maybe they will send it to you too. Sign up at the bottom of the Christmas "letter" page.

I am enjoying my Christmas Break so far: sleeping late, playing games on the computer and board games with my children and my Mom (visiting until Jan. 4th), baking goodies and eating them, doing my devotions, listening to music, watching old movies, and prepping for Christmas. I still have gifts to wrap and my bedroom is a mess with so many things around, but that is ok, the gifts have to go somewhere. We missed Church on Sunday due to the 18 inches of snow we got on Friday night - Sunday morning. We also missed caroling with our growth group... we had to cancel because of the snow. Hopefully nothing will prevent us from being at church Christmas Eve, it is a tradition for us. Then home and watch an old Christmas favorite, then to bed and then up early... way too early... Christmas morning, the kids ages 23 to 12 are still "young" enough to be excited, have a hard time sleeping and wake us early. We usually set a time and they stick to it though. My mom will definitely need a nap that day!!!

Well, have a great week and if I don't get time to post again...
God Bless and Mery Christmas

Adoration of the Shepherds

the picture is from   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gerard_van_Honthorst_001.jpg

Debbie

It all started here... Gaither Homecomings

This is facinating... old footage... seeing the older folks looking so young... I love Gaither stuff.



Hope you enjoy the music and the old footage.

I had to add this one too... this will just make you smile... love when they sing the song using only the Do, Ra, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do as the words. Just great. The tenor is 94 years old... wow!! Just great music!





Enjoy!!
Debbie

Christmas Ornaments

Every year for the past few, I have made ornaments for my children, my mother, my husband and myself. Below you will find pictures of them. I want the children to have ornaments to take with them when they leave our home and start their own home and their own Christmas traditions. I wish I had started this when the girls were little. They do each have baby's first Christmas ornaments and a few others given by friends and family over the years.

I am always on the look out for what I want to make for next year's ornament. I buy Christmas craft books at library sales, yard sales, Goodwill, anywhere I find them. Sometimes I buy a new book or project sets from a craft store. I also save sites and projects from the internet. If you have any good sites or ideas for ornaments I can make next year leave me a comment with a link. Oh, I don't crochet or knit, but I do most everything else. My daughter crochet's and knits and she has been making ornaments for the last few years too.


Well here are the pictures of the ornaments:

 These are from Court and my first Christmas together, 1984, they are done with candlewicking.

Here are some free candlewicking patterns from the internet.

http://crossstitch.about.com/od/patternsfromyourguide/ig/Free-Candle-Wicking-Patterns/

Some of the patterns at the site above would be great for ornaments, you may have to shrink them a little, unless you like really big ornmanents.

 Christmas 2003

 

 This is the back of the round ornament with the bear on it. It shows the date for you.

These were cross stitched and then I used double sided iron on facing to stick material to the back to make them look neater. Then I used pinking shears on the edges.

 

 

I only made one of him, I did not make him for the whole family. He was really hard to do, took a lot of time but he is soooo cute.He is made with felt and hand stitched. My sister-in-law made one too, then she made on using puff paint, it was much easier. I am not sure what year I made him. It was a while back.

 

 Christmas 2005. Done on Plastic Canvas

The boys ornaments have holly on their hats and the girls ones have snowflakes on their hats.

 These were in little kits from ACMoore. Each was a complete kit with hanger, material and the floss for stitching. I added our names myself, I forgot to put Rachel's name on hers. I am not sure which year these were from.

 

I am missing a few years ornaments here. I am not sure what they were or where they went. I could not remember what I made. Maybe I did not make anything, I am not sure.

Christmas 2008

These are plastic canvas. I used varigated floss.

After the stiching is done you use seed beads in the ceter or around the edges.

They turned out beautiful. We each have a different color.

 

 

 

 These are from this year. The stockings open up and you can put little treats in them. I already know what I am putting in them for this year. A special small gift I made for each family member, and a small candy or two. I can not show you the original because the pattern is from a book and copyrighted. The book is called "Christmas all through the house". You can find it at this link from Amazon.com. It has a lot of great projects I hope to do in the coming years. These stockings turned out better than I thought they would and look even better in person than they do in the picture.

 

These are some similar projects with stockings. You may want to check them out. I know... I went a little crazy but I hope these sites help someone out:

• http://www.cameoroze.com/interests/crafts/04_stockingorn.htm
  
• http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-Christmas-Stocking-Ornaments&id=1495930
• http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/stocking-ornament.html
• http://2good2lose.com/felt-ornaments.shtml
• http://www.bhg.com/holidays/christmas/ornaments/
• http://www.helium.com/items/1213827-how-to-make-holiday-decorations-or-ornaments-using-felt 
• http://crafts.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Free_Christmas_Stocking_Patterns 
• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1202816/three_easy_felt_christmas_decorations.html?cat=24 
• http://sunshinescreations.vintagethreads.com/2006/11/how-to-make-embroidered-felt-ornament.html 
• http://crafts.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Felt_Christmas_Stockings 
• http://www.craftelf.com/Craft_Elf_Holiday_Christmas_Candy_Cane_Mouse_Ornament.htm 
• http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=c5c0c137bf22f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=taxonomylist 

Here are some general crafting web pages:

• http://www.christmascraftfreebies.com/ornaments.html  
• http://www.allcrafts.net/needle.htm  
• http://www.craftfreebies.com/Christmas.html 
• http://www.christmas-projects.com/html/fabric_christmas.html
• http://www.christmas-projects.com/index.html (a new site a lady on one of my yahoo groups just sent me)

I hope you enjoyed this,
Leave me a comment,
Debbie

TOS Homeschool Crew Review - ACT - Explore and Plan

The people at ACT want to help administration, teachers,  homeschoolers, parents and students make sure that students are prepared for college. The "Explore and Plan" tests help with early intervention and planning for what students weaknesses and strengths are, before they are ready to take the college entrance exam - the ACT. 

I previously reviewed the ACT Advantage Discover program. You can see that review here. 


There are numerous web pages for the ACT. Here is a list of some of them.

• The ACT Advantage site Advantage Homeschool Solutions for Families (ACT stuff especially for Homeschoolers)
  
• The site for the Explore Program
• The student Explore page (with some extra's)
  
• The site for the Plan Program (ordering and such)
• The student Plan page (with lots of extra's)
• The page for ordering all products in the ACT Advantage program
  

Below, in the explanations of the programs, I have linked you to specific portions of these sites to help you out. 


Before I explain the parts of each test I want to tell you how we used it and what our results were. I administered one part of the test to the boys on each of four consecutive days. I set the timer and notified them if the time was getting close to being done. They did very well for never having taken standardized tests before. Oh, we did not study for these tests at all. We just took them. I wanted to see how they would do using the curriculum and products we have been using.



Christopher is in the fall of his 7th grade year. He took the Explore test meant for 8th and 9th graders. I was excited to see how he would measure up to others who had taken this test. First you have to take the raw scores and translate them to scale scores and from that you figure out the National Norms. Christopher scored from 90-99 percent on his tests. That means he did better than 90-99 percent of all children taking these tests in the Fall of 8th grade. His composite score was 94%, that is the score of all the test put together. He did better than 94 percent of kids who are a year older than him. I was so proud.

Nathan is in 10th grade and took the Plan test. He scored from 89 to 99 on his National Norms, with a 99 as his composite score. So he did better than 99% of students taking this test in the fall of 10th Grade. WoooHooo!

Explore is a standardized achievement test for grades 8 and 9 from the makers of the ACT. It is made up of four academic achievement tests:

English	40 items	30 minutes
Mathematics	30 items	30 minutes
Reading	30 items	30 minutes
Science	28 items	30 minutes

The student Explore page has some extra's to help your student get ready for the test, know what their scores mean and begin to plan for their future.

Plan is also an assessment test but for 10th graders. The test includes: 

English	50 items	30 minutes
Mathematics	40 items	40 minutes
Reading	25 items	20 minutes
Science	30 items	25 minutes

Once you know what each test covers, your test results can show you where you're strong or weak.
The ACT Student PLAN website has tips for taking the test, information on how to use your test scores once you have them back, and help with planning your/your students future. They also have a download of sample test questions. 

At the bottom of the ACT Student PLAN page there are further links to more information. This information is available to and useful for everyone with high school age children. The first quick link takes you to the "World of Work" map. Your child can choose a career and see what the potential earnings are, what further education after high school is required or suggested and other pertinent information on that career. It is really well done. The third quick link takes you to a list of college majors that you can explore with your child. See what topics you will study and what careers are available in that field. The links in the career part take you to the same pages the World of Work map takes you to.

With your Advantage Homeschool Materials you will also get (as you could see in the pictures above) a "College Readiness Standards" booklet. This booklet will help you to see, from the scores you child gets on the tests, what plans you should proceed with to prepare your student for college.

Both the Explore and the Plan programs can be ordered from this part of the site:  Ordering page for all ACT Advantage Homeschool Materials

Explore: Price: $22.95 each
Plan: Price: $22.95 each

Out of five stars the boys and I give the ACT Advantage Explore and Plan products:


Check out the other reviews of the ACT Advantage - Explore and Plan products here at the Homeschool Crew Blog. The Explore and Plan reviews should be marked as such. The Discover reviews also marked. they are all together in one post on the Homeschool Crew Blog.

***The ACT Advantage provided me with the Advantage Explore and Advantage Plan tests and booklets so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of them here in this post.

Debbie

TOS Homeschool Crew Review - Mathletics

Mathletics is an online math program that helps your child practice their math facts and topics in math, it is not a complete curriculum, but would be a great supplement.

Note: the pictures below are not from my son's actual tests and program. They are samples of how things look in the program.

Once you purchase your membership the first thing you do is choose your character. There is a boy and a girl character and then you pick facial features, hair, clothing, and accessories. This was one of Christopher's favorite parts. When you use the program you get points and the points allow you to purchase new clothing, hats, backgrounds, glasses, even new facial features and hair! You can try on several different things and see what you would like to purchase with your points before actually using the points. This make the game fun and makes the kids want to earn points... by doing more math!!

Next you pick the level of math your child is doing or the level you want them to practice.

To use the program the student picks a topic, like Geometry, and then chooses a sub topic like perimeter, area, circumference, etc. Then the student is given questions to answer.

During the practice your student can click on the question mark if they need help with a topic and it will give them a mini lesson to help them out. Then they will be redirected back to their practice page. 

If you get the answer correct you get a check mark. If you get an answer wrong they put a red x next to the little box where you type in your answer. Then the correct answer is shown. The questions are randomized but if your student gets wrong answers and wants to improve his score he can do that sub-topic over again and it will give similar types of questions. He can keep doing that section until he gets 100% if he wants to.

The bars on the main topic page, in the picture to the left, are on the student's main page. The results are taken from the test scores. The sub-topics are for practicing and then you take the test and the test scores are what shows up on your main page. If you get a good enough score you can get a gold bar, if not it is blue and the student needs more work on that topic. If you get 100% on the test you not only get a gold bar but the gold bar says PERFECT on it.

On the left hand side of my son's page he had a rocket ship. I am not sure what the item on the left hand side of the picture above is depicting. This part of the main page gives you your weekly points and a place to click to see your awards. On the right hand side of my son's page there was also a pie chart telling him how many gold bars he had achieved and how many more he had to do.

Students get a bronze certificate for getting 1000 points in a week. You can earn a silver certificate by getting 7 bronze certificates and you can get gold by getting 5 silvers (he thinks it was 5, he never got that far). He is not sure if there is something beyond the gold certificates.

There is a parent/teacher section where you can view and print your children's records for each week, what topics they covered and how they did as well as how many points they earned.  Each activity is given a date so you can also see what they accomplished each day of the week. You can print certificates, too. Good to put in your portfolio!! In the parent/teacher section you can also view and save pdf's (print now or later) for all the levels of Mathletics. If you have enough hard drive space you could save them all. I only saved a few from the level Christopher was doing. The pdf's have worksheets that you could use for your child's school work, to further practice certain topics he/she may be weak in.

Mathletics covers grades K-8 Christopher did 7th though he is a little above that in Math. It was a good review for him and he enjoyed the program.  

On the Mathletics website you will find more information. There is a homeschool brochure on the "About Mathletics" page. Also on that page is: "Why choose Mathletics", "The Mathletics Curriculum" (which lists the topics for each level), and a few other things too. There is a "Testimonial" page, an "International Schools" page, a "Purchase" page and a "Sign In" page.

From Mathletics:
Mathletics is a subscription and each annual subscription is for one child, as it's an individualized learning path for each child, keeping track of their results and progress as they work their way through their individual grade curriculum. Each child also earns points as they are individually rewarded and as they achieve mastery of concepts.

An individual subscription to Mathletics is $59.00 per child per year. If you know the Human Calculator's Favorite number, and you will once I tell you the answer is '9', you can purchase a single child subscription for $49.95 per child per year. The "secret" answer was given to you with permission of Mathletics. To purchase go to www.mathletics.com and put in the answer '9' then click submit to receive this special price.

Out of five stars, Christopher and I give Mathletics:


We liked this program. If you only have one child, or your student is having a struggle with a certain portion of math, this may be a good solution. It gives practice in a fun way. But because of the cost and the fact that you have to have a seperate subscription for each child I have to give this my break the bank icon. We could never afford to do these kinds of programs with our kids. We need non-consumables for Math that we can pass on from child to child.

Check out the other reviews of Mathletics here at the Homeschool Crew Blog.

***Mathletics provided me with a 45 day subscription to the website so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of them here in this post.

Debbie

Five Little Fingers

Found this today... what a beautiful song. Love the fact that he sits on the floor and sings it to the kids. So cute!



I hope you all enjoy this song,
Debbie

Simple Woman's Daybook - Dec. 14, 2009

.

FOR TODAY... Monday, December 14th, 2009

Outside my window... sunny and cold

I am thinking... that I need to call my Mom and wish her a Happy 87th Birthday. She will be here on Sunday and we will celebrate then.

I am thankful for... My husband's job, in spite of how annoying the boss and manager can be. There are a lot of people in our church and whom we know who are out of work or doing much less work, or working inferior jobs trying to manage and are struggling.

From the learning rooms... Nutcracker Study - Lapbook and Notebooking pages from

• Joyful Music - The Nutcracker Ballet & Tchaikovsky Unit Study 
• Squidoo Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet 
• Squidoo Overture from the Nutcracker Ballet  
• Squidoo March from the Nutcracker Ballet   

Reading The Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas; E.T.A Hoffmann Nutcracker Translated by Ralph Manheim, pictures by Maurice Sendak; Nutcracker by E.T.A Hoffmann, from thetranslation by Major Alex Ewing, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti

From the kitchen... cookies, lots of cookiesk, this week and next; dd Rachel is making Cranberry Apple Muffins for breakfast; need to do meal planning for the next few weeks so we are prepared with ingredients we need and planned ahead to make the days less hectic.

I am wearing... gray/blue pants, white turtleneck, blue sweatshirt nearby if I need it, blue slippers.

I am creating... gifts for Christmas

I am going... to Bible Study on Friday, out shopping for stocking stuffers one evening, out to look at an artificial Christmas tree a friend is giving away, and to the Library Mon. and Thurs.

I am reading... Stepping Heavenward (for a online Yahoo group Bible study), A Praying Life (for a Ladies bible study at Church), The Book of the King by Jerry B. Jenkins, The 4:8 Principle.  See my Shelfari in the left hand column for details on these books.

I am hoping... that we will all have a good Christmas and that our break from school will be restful and not

I am hearing... arguing... already and it is only 9:45, too much talking... not enough working.

Around the house... Christmas preparations and cleaning

One of my favorite things... Christmas Music especially this song by David Phelps  O Holy Night David Phelps with Gaither Vocal Band .mp4

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible Study, last week of school before Christmas Break, get the boys started on a guitar program and a typing program we have to review for TOS Homeschool Review Crew.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

 The Dried Flower Christmas Tree

at the Yuletide Tour at Winterthur Museum and Country Estate

Visit our Hostess, read the other Daybook entries and post your own Simple Woman's Daybook

Debbie

TOS Homeschool Crew Review - Tektoma

Tektoma is a website with tutorials on how to make online games. My boys were thrilled with this product. I did not have to do much to get them to do the Tektoma tutorials, they spent a lot of time working on their games and want to continue doing so.
 
I asked the boys to do the actual review of the website since they are the ones that used it. I think they did a great job. If you have any questions about the Tektoma membership leave a comment for us.

NATHAN'S Review
Tektoma makes video tutorials for use with a simple, yet powerful, game creating program called GameMaker 7. The tutorials are designed for kids age 6-16, and are explained clearly and precisely, and thus are easy to follow. They recommend starting with the beginner game tutorials, making a racing game, and working your way up to a fantasy adventure game, also known as a role-playing game. The tutorials take from 45 minutes to several hours, depending on the game you are making. They are each in 7-12 parts, and you can fast-forward or rewind to where you left off. The games they teach you are relatively easy to expand, as I did with my racing game; adding bonuses and a difficulty setting. The games you are showed how to create involve squishing or attacking enemies with weapons (axes, swords, etc.), but no blood or gore. Most enemies simply disappear or fade away when defeated.

Nathan's Racing Game (screenshot)

 
The site is user-friendly, and has several example games you can download, as well as FAQ's, help, and other helpful features. New tutorials are added every few months. There is also a small forum where you can ask for help or request a new tutorial.

Nathan's Platform Game (he is still working on this one)

Here is a link to Nathan's executable file. You can go to this link, download the racing game he made and play it. He revised this many times and says it is way better than the sample game on the Tektoma site. Play it and leave us a comment to let us know what you think.
 
Here is a link to Nathan's post about the games he created with Tektoma. He has more details and screenshots of the games on there. He also has a demo of his platform game that he is still working on.
 
CHRISTOPHER'S Review 
To start, the tutorials are easy to use. The person teaching you speaks fast enough so it doesn't take hours, but slow enough so that you can keep up with what he's teaching. It uses step-by-step programming, so that you can have time to do the things he teaches right along with him as you are viewing the lessons. You can have two windows open at the same time with the tutorial in one window and the Gamemaker program open in the other window and not just follow along but also create your own game as you watch the tutorials.
 
The tutorial has a pause/start button so you can stop the video and do something. You can also fast forward and rewind the video in case you missed something.
 
There are three hardness levels in Tektoma: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Furthermore, the site is easy to navigate. There are three main buttons on the home page: Create: Takes you to the page where you can choose tutorials. Play: Takes you to a page where you can download examples of the games you'll be making, and games that other Tektoma members have made. Share: Takes you to a page where you can upload your game.
 
An administrator will evaluate your game to make sure it's appropriate. Then if it is, it will be posted on the Play page. This function insures that the game you download will be safe for kids to play.
 
The Game Maker download is completely free. When you first start it up it will ask you if you want to use advanced mode. You need the advance mode to have all the features for making the game like the tutorials say. The Pro game costs money. If after you finish the tutorials you want to get a better programming experience then you can buy pro version.It does have some features the free program does not have but they are extra's and you have everything with the free program that you need to make the games in the tutorials.

Pros: EVERYTHING!
Cons: NONE!
 
General Information about Tektoma

• HOME (the basics and links to try out the games to see what can be made using the tutorials) 
• ABOUT TEKTOMA (information about the owners/writers of the tutorials  
• WHY TEKTOMA (more information about the website including safety of the games, content of the website, and pricing
  

PRICE: Just $14.95 per month or $140 per year gets you access to all the tutorials as well as online help via the forums. Payable by credit card or Paypal. Monthly fee automatically renews until canceled.

FREE MEMBERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
Free 14-day trial
Earn Free Membership Time by Telling Your Friends: Use the Tell Your Friends link at the top to invite your friends to try out Tektoma, too. When they become paying members, you get 15 days free. There is no limit to the number of referral credits you can earn.

***NOTE: If you sign up for Tektoma and pay for a monthly or yearly membership and use this link you will give my boys 15 days free. Please if you are going to purchase a membership use this link and help my boys have some more free access to make more great games.
 
You can of course still use the regular Tektoma link, but using the link above will give us the 15 free days. We only get the 15 free days if you purchase a membership not if you only do the free trial.


Out of five stars the boys give Tektoma:
 

We hope the boys can complete all the tutorials for all the levels that are currently on the site during our 3 month subscription given by Tektoma, if they cannot we may get an extra month or two for them. Later when new tutorials are uploaded we will consider getting memberships for short periods of time so they can do the new tutorials. They have thoroughly enjoyed the tutorials and it made it very easy for them to learn to use the Gamemaker software.

Check out the other reviews of Tektoma here at the Homeschool Crew Blog.

***Tektoma provided me with a 3 month subscription so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of them here in this post. 

Debbie

Scripture Song Medley Keith Green

I was reading Psalm 47 as part of my devotions this morning. I am doing a 90 day study: Reading through the Psalms and Proverbs, Reading Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss, listening to praise music, praying, and writing in a journal. It is an online study with a bunch of ladies over the internet, in a yahoo group. Anyway, I came to Psalm 47 and remembered a song that went with the words of verse 1. "O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph." So, I went looking on You Tube for the words and tune I sorta remembered. I found it in a great Medley by Keith Green. I hope these praise songs brighten your day. The song  "Clap your hands..." comes at 1:50 minutes, but all the songs are good choruses we used to sing at church when I was growing up. 

Psalm 47:1-2, 5-7 "O Clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding."

Terrible in verse 2 is not meant like we would think of it. I looked it up in the concordance and it means:

1) to fear, revere, be afraid

2) to stand in awe of, be awed

3) to fear, reverence, honour, respect

So God is a God to be honored, respected, awed because he is so great, so high above us, so mighty, so holy.

 



I hope this blesses your day,

Debbie

Carnival of Homeschooling

The current issue of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up. My post on our Nutcracker unit is the one I submitted. See lots of other submissions from homeschoolers on all kinds of topics.
 
Current issue:
Dec 08, 2009
The HSBA Post

Debbie

The Simple Woman's Daybook - Dec. 7

FOR TODAY... Monday, December 7, 2009

Outside my window... cloudy at the horizon but clear overhead. The sun should shine brightly once it climbs higher than those clouds. For now, some sun as the sun is still rising.

I am thinking... about our week ahead and the two more weeks of school we have before Christmas break. Lots of fun things for our Nutcracker Unit.

I am thankful for... past remembrances of Christmas, looking at the ornaments from when the kids were little, including stars made from pipe cleaners with a few beads on them; past ornaments I have made or bought, and ornaments we have received as gifts.

From the learning rooms... we are working on our regular Grammar and Math, and a few TOS review items, and then we are doing a Nutcracker/ Tchaikovsky Unit. See my former post to see the links of the resources we are using: Nutcracker - Tchaikovsky Study

I am wearing... jeans, a white turtleneck, a rose colored sweatshirt, pink argyle socks.

I am creating... Christmas ornaments and gifts. See my post later today or tomorrow on what I am making this year and things I have made previous years. I have been making a new ornament for each child, and my hubby, me and my Mom; each year. That way when the kids get married they will have lots of ornaments to take with them to put on their tree to remember years gone by and not just new store bought ornaments with no sentimental value. Also, since I make them for my hubby and I we will not have a bare tree when they take all their ornaments with them.

I am going... nowhere this week, that I know of.

I am reading... Stepping Heavenward (for a online Yahoo group Bible study), A Praying Life (for a Ladies bible study at Church), The Book of the King by Jerry B. Jenkins, The 4:8 Principle.  See my Shelfari in the left hand column for details on these books.

I am hoping... to be able to afford to go to the Yuletide Tour at Winterthur or to another special holiday event this Christmas season.

I am hearing... only road noise... the boys are still asleep, the girls are quiet.

Around the house... Christmas Decorating is done. We are enjoying the tree lights and other decorations as we make ornaments and do activities and do our Nutcracker Unit.

One of my favorite things... Christmas Caroling with my family. This year we are adding in our Growth Group. We will be caroling as a group Sunday the 20th. It should be fun!

A few plans for the rest of the week: the girls are going to have a friend over on Tuesday, I am finishing up my Christmas ornaments, we are mostly done our Christmas shopping but have a few things to still get, some TOS review items to use in our school day, and a review or two to get done.


Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Last Year's Christmas Tree

 

No photos of this years tree as my camera is now broken and unusable.

No photos until we can afford a new camera.

Check out our hostess's Daybook and the other Daybooks and/or write your own at The Simple Woman's Daybook

Debbie

 

Nutcracker - Tchaikovsky Study

this photo came from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/673850

Today I made a spur of the moment decision. My son Christopher asked if we were going to be doing a special unit for Christmas. I had told the boys we were not but I changed my mind this morning. They are only young once and this is an opportunity for me to relax the schedule and enjoy time with the boys. I was going to press on with our regular studies but something changed my mind this morning. We are going to be studying the Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky for the next three weeks until we take our Christmas break. For now I am going to be listing the links I will be using. I will be adding to this as we go along. I will mark the new parts in some way or do a new post with additions. I hope this will help someone out.We are looking forward to the study. We watched the Nutcracker today, this version and did a couple pages to get us started. I have some other DVD versions on order from the library and some books too. I will list the resources that we use, and like, later. For now this should get you started in case you want to join us.

Free Resources

• Joyful Music - The Nutcracker Ballet & Tchaikovsky Unit Study 
• Squidoo Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet 
• Squidoo Overture from the Nutcracker Ballet  
• Squidoo March from the Nutcracker Ballet  
• The Nutcracker and the Mouse King  
• Homeschool Share - Nutcracker Lapbook 
• Homeschool Share - Ballet Lap-n-note 
• Nutcracker Lapbook from a blog I follow  
• Nutcracker resources from Fun Lesson Plans website  
• Newspapers in Education 
• http://www.sfballet.org/media/pdf/nutcracker_guide_9.pdf from http://www.sfballet.org/educationcommunity/resourcesforteachers/teacherstudyguides.asp 
• Lesson Planet - Nutcracker Resources

Free Craft Ideas

• How to draw a Nutcracker
• Toilet Paper Roll Nutcracker
• Nutcracker Coloring Page
• Nutcracker Crafts doc file download
  

Resources that cost $$

• Hands of a Child - Nutcrackers and Story of the Nutcracker

Well this is what I have found so far. I will keep you updated and post pictures of things we are doing as I am able. We are doing this instead of History, Science and Writing. We are still doing Math and Grammar and any TOS things we have to do for review. I could not find to many crafts. If you know of any leave me a comment.

Debbie

Homeschool Review Crew - Professor in a Box

Professor in a Box "Financial Accounting" by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is an accounting course for homeschool/ high school students. Michael Licata is a professor at Villanova University, yet he brings his accounting principles to down-to-earth people like us. The program is laid out in logical steps with simple explanations and illustrations. It may seem fast paced at times but a simple menu "playback" bar at the bottom of each slide allows you to review things quickly and easily.

Mr. Licata first goes through each principle and offers a logical explanation for each. Next, he shows it's purpose within the accounting system and how it may be used in a company or corporation, and finally, offers how it would be used practically within the accounting forms themselves.

My husband and sons hope to some day have a business of their own, so Nathan and my husband Court did the lessons, with me just observing. We hope to complete all the lessons and plan to use the program with Christopher when he is older. Our son, Nathan, had a natural affinity for the involved work, although my husband Court was a little slow to understand. Nevertheless, even my husband could grasp the concepts and retain it's principles. Some programs take you through systematic steps to a final test with steps that cannot be retraced. Not so with this one. Every step can be played over and over again. This makes it ideal for those who have difficulty with the concepts as my husband did. You watch the lessons, do the homework problems, check the solutions and take the tests. The lessons are like PowerPoint presentations with audio of Professor Licata.

It is a well made program that is complete and thorough. No other CDs to buy. I think it is a great program for any student wanting to learn accounting or homeschooling family wanting to start a business.

• This is a college level course similar in content to the first accounting course taken by all students in university and college schools of business across the country.
• Featuring content coverage for the new CLEP Financial Accounting Exam
• Will help current and future business owners
• No textbook, no 40 page chapters to read
• Comes with three Student CD's and one Instructor's CD
  
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I know what you are thinking. That is expensive. Yes it it, but you have to take into account that it is equal to a complete entry level college course and if your child took the CLEP test he could save having to take this course in college. If you are planning a business, or have one already, think of the money it could save you if you do your own accounting.
Click here for a:

• Sample Chapter
• PDF of the Syllabus (which lists the topics for each chapter)
• The website also has more detailed information about Professor Licata and an FAQ page. Look in the upper left hand corner of the home page at Professor in a Box

Out of five stars we give Professor in a Box:


 

Check out the other reviews of Professor in a Box - Financial Accounting here at the Homeschool Crew Blog. 

***Professor in a Box provided me with the program on CDs so that I could do my review. Though I received this product for free I have given an honest review of them here in this post. 

 Debbie