Saturday, July 29, 2017

Some new curriculum! (and a planner)

I am sorry blog readers! I really need to get on the ball on this blog. It has been a struggle to get anything up on this blog the past few weeks. We just haven't been doing much in the way of schooling. Now that I have my family and personal stuff on the other blog I have to figure out what to post about on here now, especially during the summer when not a lot of formal schooling is going on.

It is that time of year to start getting ready for the new school year, so I thought I'd share some new curriculum. I am not buying much this year. I have so much already that I'm saturated with curriculum between the review crew, and the charter school the last 2 years. Not to mention we haven't made it through a lot of what we already have!

But, the boys have been wanting to do chemistry, so I went ahead and ordered this set from Apologia young explorer series, Chemistry and Physics. They are excited for this new science.

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I also ordered my favorite planner while I was at it. I have to have a paper planner too! (as well as the computer planner) I have used this one for the past 3 years, so I am used to it. I love it.

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This is another Apologia science set (for a review) that I received recently. It is a high school Marine Biology course, but I am the one doing it! I've always loved studying the ocean, and I'm enjoying reading and studying it as if I was doing the class for myself!

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That's all I have to share for now for new curriculum. I have some Life of Fred to possibly order still, and then I think we'll be good for the new school year! Oh, and new student books for All About Reading Level 1. I will share as I get more!

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Trust Fund Movie (A REVIEW)

Mapelle Films

We had the opportunity to watch a movie with a new twist on the "prodigal son" story from Mapelle Films for this review. This movie, titled Trust Fund, has all the elements of the original prodigal son story, the loving father, money, and the jealous sibling who worked hard all along. Add this to a modern setting with modern money problems, and you have a great faith based movie to enjoy!

Trust Fund Movie

We received a physical DVD for this review, with the above picture on the cover, and the movie itself is rated PG

The movie title begins by showing scenes of two little girls who appear to be best friends as they are growing up. That would be the sisters Reese and Audrey. They grow up to be 2 very different women. Reese is a "dreamer and a visionary" as her Dad describes her, and is feeling kind of lost in life as the story starts. Audrey is a hard worker, and knows how to make sure things get done. She is very orderly, and likes things done a certain way. 

Reese has just gone to Italy, and met a guy whom she thinks she has fallen in love with. She comes home from Italy, lost and unsure of what she wants out of life. Her Dad offers her a job at the family publishing business. She stumbles across information about an inheritance from her Mom, thinks that she should have that instead, and only takes the job to please her Dad who thinks she is not ready for the inheritance.

She can't resist the fact that there is a large amount of money just waiting for her, and manages to take it. She takes off back to Italy with the money, and meets back up with Milo, the man she met during her short time in Italy before. While in Italy she lets this man "invest" all her money, but it turns out he's up to no good. She realizes this at the same time she realizes how wrong she was in taking the money and leaving home. She calls Dad and asks "can I come back home?" 

When she comes back home her Dad welcomes her with loving arms, and is happy she is safe. Of course Audrey sees this, and is not happy about it all. She tells her father "while she was gone, I was here working." The sisters have to work through some things in their relationship, and the mess from Italy follows her back home briefly. That part was a little suspenseful! I won't say much more. I might have already said too much. In the end it all works out for good.

This movie was very well done. I enjoyed the suspense, and mystery. I also enjoyed the love story, and the prodigal daughter theme to it. I think the scenes were all filmed very well, and it took me right to Italy, and made me enjoy the dreamy place that it is. I'd recommend this for a family movie night, or a gathering of a group of teens. A study guide is also available for further discussion.

Another thing to note is that this movie is also has a book, Love Was Near. This book offers a behind the scenes look at the movie. It's a little more thought about Reese's life and what she's thinking throughout this story. I did not request a copy of the book to review, but some other reviewers did, so you'll have to click on the banner below to see what they say about it.

If you'd like to see more reviews about Trust Fund movie also, you can click on the banner below.

Trust Fund Movie {Mapelle Films Reviews}
Crew Disclaimer

Sunday, July 16, 2017

T is for Twister

For the letter T I have Twister. Every once in a while the kids just love to pull this one out. It definitely gets them moving and laughing. It's pretty easy to play.

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 Spin the spinner...

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And reach for it!

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The cat thought it was for him... (yes his tail looks funny because it was healing from a wound)

IMG_1960 The end.

IMG_1959 Here are the other abc blog posts:

A is for aggravation
B is for Bingo
C is for Chess
D is for Derby
E is for Evening of Games
F is for Face
H is for Hullabaloo  
I is for It 
J is for Jenga  
K is for Kitten
L is for Laser Maze
M is for Math
N is for Nothing yet (lol, I need an N!)
O is for out 
P is for Pictionary (coming soon)  
Q is for Qwirkle
R is for Rummikub
S is for Sequence (States and Capitals)
T is for Twister
U is for clU
V is for 
W is for 
X is for 
Y is for 
Z is for Zingo 

Friday, July 7, 2017

K is for Kitten

Well, I completely failed at keeping up with the abc posts on a weekly schedule, but there are still some great games I had lined up to share. I think I'll finish it anyway! It's almost over, so I can't link any of the past ones up, but oh well!

I'm going to go back to the ones I missed, and fill in from there.

The first of the ones I missed is the letter K. For the letter K we have a game called Exploding Kittens. We first discovered this game at a library homeschool game day. One of our friends brought his game, and all the kids had a great time laughing. We even had to shush them a few times because they were just getting loud.

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I've played it once since we bought it. The kids love it, I can take it or leave it. It's definitely an interesting game. Too hard to explain the full game, but basically you don't want to draw the Exploding Kitten card. It will blow you up. There are other cards that will keep you safe if you have them. Each card has it's own action or purpose.

That's Exploding Kittens! No action shots, sorry!


A is for aggravation
B is for Bingo
C is for Chess
D is for Derby
E is for Evening of Games
F is for Face
H is for Hullabaloo  
I is for It 
J is for Jenga  
K is for Kitten
L is for Laser Maze
M is for Math
N is for Nothing yet (lol, I need an N!)
O is for out 
P is for Pictionary (coming soon)  
Q is for Qwirkle

Thankful Thursday

It's always a relief to not be sick anymore. I am thankful for feeling better after a sickness, and also for the healing power that the ...