R is for River Tour

I know I am super behind on so many letters for my abc field tripping! I am working on getting those caught up! I can't promise anything, but I am working on it!

For the letter R...

We had an awesome opportunity to go on a river jetboat tour the day after April's graduation with her leadership class. Her teacher invited all of us (me and boys) to come, and we had never been so we decided to go too.

We arrived at the Willamette Jetboats bright and early in the morning as our boat was scheduled to leave at 9:15. This was a super hot day, so we were all eager to get wet, and get wet we did!

I tried to get as good of a picture of the whole boat as I could while waiting for our time to board.

Finally we were off! This is the beginning because we are still dry!

We went under several bridges in Portland. The tour guide was pretty hilarious, and had us laughing the whole time. Along with jokes, he told us quite a bit of history and fun facts.

The city line was just gorgeous...

We saw some points of interest, including the fire boat station...

 A really old boat that is also now a museum...

Different parts of the city that were accessible by boat...

And, of course we went to the Willamette Falls in Oregon City. I was super excited about this part because I had never seen the falls from this view. We drive by it all the time, but I have never stopped to see it up close.

Just as we were starting to approach it we could hear the rushing water.

Finally up close. I had never realized how big it is.

It was so pretty and the sound was just soothing.

The boys are still kinda dry! Although we had gotten a little wet at this point (which was the turn around point for obvious reasons ;).

I had always wondered about these old factories too! We learned a lot of history about the old abandonded buildings, and the plans for the future for this area. Apparently there are plans to improve and change it.

Lots and lots of factories from long ago are around these falls.

After the falls we headed back to our starting point (behind OMSI). It was a pretty exciting ride so I didn't take a lot of pictures on the way back. We had both speed and water. That boat is amazingly fast, and can definitely kick some water up on the passengers if it's driven a certain way! As evidenced by our last picture. We were all soaked! Completely!

We had other plans that day up in Portland, but we were all too cold and wet, so we ended up going home. Pretty cool field trip though!

Wordless Wednesday: Powell's books

These two found their favorite book sections at Powell's books in Downtown Portland. They couldn't believe how big their sections were.

The Kingdom Code (A REVIEW)

My kiddos are always trying to think up new ways to earn money for whatever new thing they want to buy, but I want them to learn more than "how do I earn a few dollars for such and such toy." I want them to go beyond that concept and know that earning and spending or saving money has much more to it than just getting stuff, but honestly I haven't been very sure about how to go about doing that. With The Complete Starter Kit we received from The Kingdom Code, we had the chance to learn how making a business and being successful goes beyond the making money aspect. It takes a student step-by-step through the process of deciding, creating, and being successful with their own business in God's way.

The Kingdom Code lesson/text book. This is the main book we do lessons with.

Not only are the lessons in this curriculum packed with great activities, there is a lot of stuff offered with The Complete Starter Kit. To begin with, we received all the physical books needed to complete the lessons. The lesson/text book (pictured above) is a complete guide with full color pages, easy to read and follow lessons, and lots of great information. It is broken up into 27 lessons, each lesson being several pages long and completed over the course of 2 or 3 days.

The Teacher's Guide. I put mine in a 3-prong folder.

The Teacher's Guide breaks the lessons down into daily chunks, and helps the teacher know what needs to happen as the lesson progresses on. I received this as a 3-hole punched set of loose leaf papers. I put it into my own plastic folder with metal prongs. I think that's great because then the teacher has a choice of how they want to bind the Teacher's Guide. This is what worked for me. A binder might have been great too.

Activity pages, ready to be put into a binder.

Along with the lesson book and teacher's guide we received a packet of activity pages. These were also loose papers (in order) ready to be put into our own binder. It was super quick and easy to put these together with the instructions in the teacher's guide.

Another fun part of this kit is The Kingdom Code coloring book. It has all kinds of coloring pages that go along with the lessons and Bible verses. These are great for reinforcing and helpful for busy hands that need something to do during the lessons.

Some of the pages my boys colored from the coloring book!

Kingdom Code Kids receipt book.

There are many components to this kit! We also received a KCK Receipt Book. I would have loved to have one of these as a kid! To make real receipts for a business transaction feels so official, and it makes everyone more comfortable when there's a paper trail (knowing who bought what, and how much was paid).

We received an extra Kingdom Code Kids budget packet.

As a bonus for this review The Kingdom Code sent us an extra "JR KCK budget kit." This was for use with a sibling that might also want to work through this at the same time, so we used it as I had two children that wanted to do this together. If you have more than one child using this curriculum there will be some extra things to buy (consumable activity pages, coloring book, and budget kit), but the textbook can be shared.

Using The Kingdom Code Curriculum

Starting our first lesson. We had to go slow and steady at first as there were a lot of new concepts specific to this curriculum as well as the econimics aspect.

As I said I used this with two of my children. They are 3rd and 5th graders, and this curriculum was a perfect level for both of them. It might have even worked for my 8th grader, but he didn't want to participate. We did the lessons together as a group (me and my 2 boys), going over each part and talking through everything. We had some great discussions, and used the activity pages (usually the older one would do the writing, and the younger one would give answers). There are plenty of stories, new concepts, character development lessons, and hands-on activities packed in each lesson. As well as lots of scriptures and even some story writing. There is a lot of talk about "codes," clues, and armor of God, and treasure all through out the text. It has a complete "knight" theme, which definitely appeals to young children, and my boys could really relate to it. Everything is tied into this theme, so it has to be something your students could get into and enjoy.

Vocabulary cards are so helpful, and they come in the activity pages!

With every lesson there is new vocabulary, and as part of the activity pages we received a set of vocabulary cards. These are so useful in reviewing some of these new buisness and money management words like income, debt, and financial responsibility.

One of the things I had to obtain on my own in order to prepare for doing this curriculum was some pencil pouches. These are the pouches that the kids need to use once they start making money. They are separated into J-O-E-Y-S (a letter for each pouch) which is: Jesus, Others, Education, You, and Savings. We didn't get to using this part yet, but I am excited to try them out. These pouches are stored in a binder that I also had already.

The binders that housed the J-O-E-Y-S zipper pouches/budget (on left), and the activity pages (on right).

With all these books there is a lot of material to cover in this curriculum. There is so much to do even within a lesson. It starts in the beginning with just thinking about the kind of jobs a child could do and create, then they create a plan, get things ready to start a business, learn how to take care of the money and budget, evaluate their business and fix things that need to change, and keep going to be successful. All this is learned through 27 incremental lessons.

My boys' list of their top 5 service business ideas that they'd like to try. They both picked a lot of the same things, and yes they still need a few more, but for the most part they decided on yard work.

The Kingdom Code suggests the student starts out with their first "treasure builder" (business) as a service business, and beginning in lesson one the kids are making lists of their top 5 favorite service businesses. Service is a tough one for these two younger boys to do as their skills are not quite yet refined enough for a making sure things are quality work. They also aren't an age where I'd let them go around doing services on their own. So, my son had the idea to make a slime business.

My son's first batch of glow in the dark slime for his new slime business.

I am ok with him trying out selling goods for now until he can get old enough to mow lawns or something. He did great figuring out how much to spend on the materials to actually earn a profit. He checked several stores for prices, and decided how big of batches to sell for what price.

Glow in the dark slime for sale!

He hasn't yet sold any of his slime because he hasn't officially opened it up for business yet. He needs to get through a few more of the lessons that teach about sales (lesson 7) and making sure everything is in order (lesson 8) for launching his business. I am excited for us to get through more of this curriculum to get to that point! There are so many great lessons in this curriculum, not only for an entrepreneur, but also for life! So many great life skills are taught along the way.

Overall, I really enjoy this curriculum. It has a lot to go through and think about for kids wanting to start a business. Things I haven't even thought about! So, I am learning too.

As a special discount offer for my readers you can use a code to receive 10% off The Kingdom Code products. The code is:  10TKC09

If you'd like to see what others had to say about The Kingdom Code you can click on the image below.

Library summer reading program

All of the local schools are out, so that means the summer reading sign ups have started. I had 2 boys who were super excited to go sign up today. So that's what we did! We stopped at our 2 favorite libraries today to sign up for their programs. Our local library and one just North that we stop at a lot when we are in that part of town. They have to read double if they want to sign up for both!

First stop was our local library

Then we headed up to the Wilsonville library. They had a fun set up, so we had to get some pictures with their fun back drops. Alex happily posed.

 We had 2 sign up for the elementary reading and science logs...

One kid signed up for the teen reading log...

And 2 of us signed up for the adult program. (April is now considered an adult, so she had to pick that one) I was super excited to pick one up for myself too. I could use a good challenge. There is a bingo sheet on the other side.

I love summer reading!

Lightning Literature (A REVIEW)

Reading great books, stories, and poems should be a part of any good literature curriculum. That's why when I saw the reading choices that Grade 7 Lightning Lit Set had, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a try. With titles like: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and many poems and stories as well, I thought it would be a great curriculum to explore. Hewitt Homeschooling Resources offers many levels of Lightning Literature & Composition, but I chose grade 7 for my middle schooler who needed something new in the literature/language arts area.

For this review we received three physical books. One for the teacher, a student guide, and a student workbook. The covers on these books are laid out pretty simple with all the important information, and an intriging picture of lightning in the background. All three books pretty much say the same thing on the front except for the line where it says "Teacher's Guide," "Student's Guide," or "Student Workbook." I wish there was some other distinguising factor between the books so I could tell them apart more quickly, but otherwise they look like an interesting curriculum from the outside.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Teacher's Guide

The Teacher's Guide begins with a few pages of introduction on how to use the course and a schedule to follow. The rest of the Teacher's Guide has all the teacher help and instructions for each part of the student lesson including the writing assignments, and contains all the  answers for the student workbook pages. It does not contain the lesson information that the student guide has, so if you are following along with your student for their lessons you will need to look at the student's book for the lesson.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Student's Guide

The Student's guide has all of the important lesson material. This book is the main guide that the student follows as they make their way through the book or story that is being read (more on that in a bit). As the student makes their way through the lesson they can complete them in sections which consist of the following:

An introduction to the author/book
Vocabulary list
Comprehension questions
Literary lesson
Mini-lesson
Writing exercise

Each section is clearly laid out so that the student knows what part they are working through. Also, this book is not written in because there is a separate workbook.

An inside the book shot of the Student Guide.

Along with the reading and instruction in the student guide the student has to read the actual stories or poems from separate books that we had to obtain. There are 5 different books used in this level, with one of the books (pictured below) containing many stories and poems so it is used more than once throughout the curriculum.

One of the books used along with the level 7 Lightning Lit curriculum. Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages by Harold Bloom.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. This is one of the poems that is read from Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat continued

The Student Workbook is a consumable book meant to be a place where the student can write down answers to all the questions and assignments given in the guide. There are also multiple choice questions, word searches, paragraph editing exercises, matching exercises, and so much more. Some parts are required for the student to work on while other parts (such as the word searches) are optional.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Student Workbook

An example of one of the workbook pages.

My 7th grader struggles with literature and reading, so getting through this curriculum is a very slow process for him. It takes him a long time to get through the lessons because there is so much information covered, and a lot of reading and writing. Overall this is a great literature curriculum that covers a lot of great stories and literary works. We will definitely continue using it through the summer, and possibly into next school year.

If you'd like to see some of the other levels that were used by the other crew members you can click the banner below to read their reviews.