Blogging Through the Alphabet >> with LEGOs starts April 7

 Blogging through the alphabet, LEGO edition!

No one is too old for the classic alphabet game of naming things that start with each letter of the alphabet and making your way from A all the way to Z! Even my big kids enjoy playing that game in the car on long trips. That's why we are starting a new round of Blogging Through the Alphabet for moms and dads using this same idea of naming something for each letter of the alphabet and turning it into a blog post, spending a week on each letter. We will start with the letter A next week beginning on Wednesday, April 7 at 2pm (PST), and each Wednesday we will move to the next letter in the alphabet.

Sometimes the things for each letter relate, and sometimes they don't. It's up to you! You can choose a theme, or it can be about whatever is on your mind or in your life during that week. You can join one week or all! It's fun to see if you can get the whole alphabet! So, if you can join the link-up each week, we'd love to have you.

My theme for this round will be LEGO-themed. I will have a new build that my kids or I have worked on, or it may just be a fun LEGO project or topic. I am excited to share some of our LEGO fun because we just love building with them. In the past, I've done games, and field trips. Both of which I didn't get to all the letters of the alphabet. I'm hoping to finish those alphabets someday. But, for now, my challenge will be to get through all of the LEGO alphabet.

Please join my co-host, Chareen, and me as we blog through the alphabet:

This round of blogging through the alphabet co-hosts: (copy and paste either one of these for your blog post to link back)

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: Blogging Through the Alphabet starts April 7

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: Blogging Through The Alphabet begins 8 April 2021!

#abcblogging

You can use this image if you'd like!

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate.

2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares.

3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want.

4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love.

5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way.

6. The link up will be available for one week for each letter.

7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!

Homeschool Court (A REVIEW)

 Disclosure: I received this product free through the Homeschool Review Crew

I didn't realize how excited my kids would be about learning about the court system, laws, and having a mock trial until we started using Homeschool Court curriculum. It just never even crossed my mind to teach it! But, when this review came up and we started it my 4th grader was so excited that he wanted to build a podium and dress up. He was ready to go to court! And, he most definitely thought he should be the judge.

But, before he could be the judge for anything there's a lot of lessons to get through with a lot of information about how a courtroom works first. We received digital files of all the materials we would need to work through this course. Here's a list of what we received:

• Homeschool Court Teacher Manual
• Homeschool Court Student Worktext
• Student and Teacher Case Summary: Dog Bite at the Dog Show
• Student and Teacher Case Summary: Forging Mama's Signature? (Contested Will)
• Student and Teacher Case Summery: School Prayer

There are also high school supplements, but we did not receive that for this review as I used it with my 2 younger children who are 4th and 7th grade. I love that this curriculum spans such a wide age range of kids! It's perfect for homeschool families to teach as a group or individually.

My printed copy of the Teacher Manual. It's a 165-page document, so I printed out portions at a time.

The Teacher Manual has loads of information to help the teacher lead a class through this course. In the beginning, there is information on how to set everything up and prep work that needs to be done before class starts. It is also laid out exactly how the course will go. I kind of felt underqualified about how to teach any of this material because I just don't know very much specifics myself, but this walks the teacher through step-by-step. There are so many useful tips too. By the time I was through all of the beginning reading and notes to the teacher I felt much more confident that I could actually teach about our court systems and have a mock trial be successful. The teacher manual also contains the Student work-text, so I know exactly what the kids are seeing in their books as we go through the lessons (see example below).

The gray highlighted text is what is included in the student text. The unhighlighted text is what I'm supposed to use for talking points or general information. It all flows really well.

The Student Worktext contains all the reading and worksheets the students will need to follow along in a lesson. It can be read individually by a student or read as a group. We chose to read as a group and that worked just fine! The kids could follow along when it wasn't their turn to read. I ended up doing a lot of the reading because there is a lot to read, and so much important information and so many things to talk about that I didn't want them to miss anything.

My printed copy of the Student Worktext. This one is a bit shorter at 108 pages.

What other materials are needed with this curriculum? In the teacher's manual, there is a list of supplies and resources needed for each chapter, and not every chapter needs something, so the list is very minimal. For example, chapter 1 needs a whiteboard or paper, a printout, and an optional Judge Judy DVD (for a high school supplement activity). I was able to obtain all the things we needed easily, and even though we aren't doing the high school portion I located a Judge Judy DVD from my local library anyway because I thought it would be good for us to watch and see a courtroom in action.

"No Vehicles in the Park" printout needed for chapter 1 discussion.

How did we use this? We did this as a group reading through the chapters together, having discussions, and doing activities as they were presented. We have not made it to a mock trial yet, but there are little cases presented throughout the chapters that are up for discussion. I was surprised to find out how logically my boys thought about some things. In chapter 1 we discussed what they knew about the law and court and judges. I wrote their answers down on the whiteboard. It was interesting to see what they thought about it all, and how much of their knowledge comes from TV shows and movies. Basically they think judges all have funny hair and are old and boring. That made me laugh, but I am excited to help them see that this is not the case as we move through this course.

What my kids know about law, judges, and courts.

At the end of the course (the last 2 chapters), it is time to prepare and complete a mock trial. The kids choose their roles (or they are given) and have to prepare for those roles by reading and learning the case summaries. The courtroom needs to be prepared. It can be a real one if available, or a living room that is transformed into one with chairs and tables. The kids are encouraged to dress professionally with the boys wearing a white shirt and tie, girls in a dress skirt or suit if available. The judge can even wear a graduation gown if available (we have one already for when we get to our mock trial). It is encouraged to make the mock trial and courtroom as realistic as possible to help the kids really get into their roles. The mock trial will be a fun culmination to this course, and I look forward to seeing all the kids have learned.

What a great curriculum this is, and I would highly recommend this to any family who wants to teach their children about law and the court system. If you'd like to see what others have to say about this, click on the banner below:

Book sharing Monday: Children of the Dustbowl

There are so many fascinating books that we come across for school reading and this is one of them. This particular book was on the reading list for Aric's co-op class studying the World War 2 era. I read this as well because it just looked interesting. It was!

This is a story about farmers and their families from the panhandle of Oklahoma, called "Okies." They left Oklahoma for California for what they thought would be a better life because their farms were failing due to weather and economic problems. They heard that California had jobs and land they could work with. Only when they arrived they found neither of those things to be the case. There were no jobs, and the locals didn't want them there. The children suffered in the schools from bullying because they were so poor and lived in homeless camps. 

One man decided to make a difference and started up a special school where these kids could learn valuable life skills and become something more than the teachers and kids at the public schools said they'd be, always poor and dumb. The school was built by volunteers and the kids, and many donations. Weedpatch Camp school became a thing to be proud of for the kids and a place where they could feel proud of who they were. 

The school was shut down after about 4 years. But, right before the school was closed parents from the other schools were looking to get their non-"Okaie" kids into it because it had gained a lot of popularity. The local school district that didn't want the poor "Okie" kids in their classrooms, in the beginning, decided that they should be integrated back into the schools now.

Both the superintendent and the principal had their own kids enrolled in the school. They also had a real airplane that the kids had a chance to drive down a runway if they did well in their arithmetic.

The kids built the school from the ground up. They learned practical skills such as plumbing and masonry. 

Today's book: Children of the Dustbowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley

My Weekly Notebook: Spring break, Raya, and a birthday

Life this week...

It was spring break week over here in our little part of the world. All of our things were on break including co-op, parkour, music lessons, and our charter school, so it was such a nice quiet week.Oh and April was off for college too. I forgot how busy all those things make us. We had some very nice downtime, and time spent at home. We had nothing special planned, so we just hung out at home and knocked out a few projects.

Homeschool this week...

No formal school days happened this week. Just reviews that we needed to work on and whatever interested the kids.

Reviews we are working on...

I checked this out from the library to go along with one of our reviews (a different title was suggested, but this is the only version of Judge Judy our library had). I haven't watched any of it yet, but we have been discussing a lot about the law and our justice system for this review. I am learning things I didn't even really understand or know either! Review coming this week.

 

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

There are a lot of great blogs to read at the monthly Homeschool Review Crew's Homeschool Blog Post Round Up. It's a fun round up of ideas, curriculum, and words of encouragement.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We went to the Tulip festival (last weekend) and the Garden store. Oh and Bi-Mart to get paint to paint April's room. The lady that mixed our paint at Bi-Mart really wants us to come back and show her a picture of the end result. We will do that this week. She was a really nice lady.

My favorite thing this week was...

Building a LEGO Surf shop. Because I always dream of going to the beach for Spring break, but building LEGO's is always fun. Post to come soon.

My kids' favorite thing this week was...

• Alex really enjoyed having a friend over for a sleepover on Friday night.
• April loved getting the green light to paint her room, and she loves the result.

Things I'm working on...

I am really trying to get the basics of the ukulele down. I have wanted to learn it for a long time, and an opportunity to join an adult group lesson came up, so I did. Also, I'm finally using the online uke lessons I purchased a long time ago.

 

Random things the kids worked on...

For some reason this week was not a random creative project week for the kids. 

Something I accomplished...

I got a bird feeder back up and full of new seed. I haven't had any bird feeders up this winter. I already have birds visiting after just a few days. I also pulled weeds and got the back yard mowed for the first time since the fall. The yard still needs a lot more work, but it's already looking better.

What we're reading...

I finished Father-ish by Clint Edards. I loved how much I could relate to his funny parenting stories and advice.

Movies we watched...

Friday night we watched the new Disney movie Raya and the last Dragon since Alex was having a sleepover. It did cost a little bit, but it would have been about the same as if we would have gone to a theater, but this way we are comfy at home and we don't have to wear masks through the whole thing. Good movie, and now we have access to it anytime! The kids really liked it. I think we might have to have a movie night again!

The 2 sleepover kids made beds on the floor to watch the movie.

   

Games we played...

I can't believe it! We didn't really play any games this week either.

I'm cooking...

I made homemade pizza on Friday night instead of our usual Sunday since we were having company and kids usually love pizza. We had steak and mashed potatoes on Sunday night (although I didn't cook the steak), and that was yummy as I had been craving a steak for a while now.

We're celebrating...

Last Sunday was Michele's 45th birthday. We had 2 cakes, both his favorite. One was German chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting, and the other was a yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. They were delicious. 

 

What's working/not working for us...

Audible is working great for us. Having books to listen to in the car or at bedtime is so nice.

I'm grateful for...

A full and stocked fridge with enough food for the week and beyond. I am also thankful for good food.

That wraps up our week! How was yours?

This is how we garden

I love gardens and flowers, but I'm not very good at keeping them. I don't tend to them enough and most things die by mid-summer. But I can do a few things, and I've discovered that I do better with things in pots. So, we found some pots and soil at Costco, freshened up our already existing pots with some new dirt, and picked up some flowers at a local garden center. Alex was my helper. He loves gardening, perhaps a bit more than me. He wanted to get planting right away.

Alex planted the strawberries. He had a pot with strawberries last summer and wanted to have them again.

The Costco pots fit nicely on our front patio. We still have one pot to fill. 

This wooden pot is at the front of the patio, and I love to put some color in it. Usually, it's pansies.

I have an indoor plant-loving daughter who is freshening up and replanting some of our indoor plants. We picked up some new pots and she painted them with some fun designs. The left pot is for our aloe plant to be replanted into, and the right pot is for that "swiss cheese" plant to go into. 

We don't have a lot of window/sun exposure so we have very few indoor plants. This one has been relocated to the living room from the window sill kitchen. We are hoping this will be a good space for it so it can be out where more people can enjoy it.

So, that's how we garden! It's not a lot, but it's what we can handle for now. I don't know if we'll have a food/vegetable garden this summer. The space we have for it needs to be tilled and it's a mess right now. I think I'd also like to build new garden boxes, but I am not sure I have the energy for that at the moment.

Thankful for pots for now! 

I am linking this up to The Homeschool Review Crew's weekly social media challenge.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Yurt camping trip

Camping at Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park, Oregon, March 12-13

We are so excited that the campgrounds are opening back up and decided to jump on the opportunity with a yurt camping trip last weekend. We also joined family that was camping in their trailer. It was a mighty chilly weekend so we were glad to have the yurt to warm up in. We arrived Friday around 4:30pm just in time to get things set up and start thinking about making dinner which was roasting hot dogs over the fire.

When we arrived we found this fun little display. It looked like someone purposely put the greenery there and then we discovered the painted rock too. It was a fun greeting.

Getting the fire going was kind of a pain. The wood we bought from the state park staff was a bit moist so it was difficult to get it to light. After several attempts to light the fire, we finally prevailed! It was finally time to roast some hot dogs. We were all pretty hungry by now, and it was getting dark.

It was so nice to have the fire for warmth as it got even more chilly when the sun went down.

The boys decided to drive over to the other campsite to visit with family. I stayed at the campsite around the fire to stay warm and to watch it, so I read my book for quite a while. It was nice and peaceful. For those who are interested, I was reading Father-ish by Clint Edwards.

On Saturday we explored the campground and the boys took some rides on the sand vehicles. Alex wanted to go on a rock hunt and see if we could find more painted rocks. At this point, he had already found 2. We never did find anymore, but we had fun walking around.

We explored and found other interesting things like this ravine.

These clovers were outside the bathroom. It reminded me of St. Patrick's Day which was just around the corner.

We played a few games of UNO inside the yurt while warming up. I definitely needed some breaks from the cold. My body just doesn't seem to handle the cold like it used to.

We had planned to camp until Sunday, but the weather was calling for rain on Sunday morning. Thankfully up to Saturday evening we had been rain-free, but we decided that we should probably just go home after dinner on Saturday evening to avoid packing up in the rain in the morning. So, we had our dinner of chicken and rice before we headed home. I do enjoy cooking outside.

That wraps up our first camping trip in 2021!

Welcome Spring!

 Happy First Day of Spring!

My Weekly Notebook: holidays, camping, life

Life this week...

I love holidays. Even the little ones like Pi day and St. Patrick's Day. Those were both on different days this week, and I pretty much failed to do the things I wanted to do for both. On Sunday I had a super mega migraine, so no pie was baked or consumed that day. Then St. Patty's day was on Wednesday. That's my busiest day of the week with co-op so I didn't get the things planned and ready, and nothing seemed to be working out for me that day. I should say, there were a few things that turned out well. We wore our green and ate lucky charms for breakfast! Not all was lost. But for the things that were lost, we made up for those on Thursday. I was finally able to get all the ingredients for the stew April and I had planned to make, and I finally got the pie made and baked to eat for dessert. All the food was delicious, and I am glad I finally got pie.

We've had this book for a few years and have hoped to get to recipes every year at St. Patrick's Day time. We finally made 2 of the recipes this year, Beef and Guinness stew and Classic Brown Soda Bread.

It doesn't look great for presentation, but the stew was delicious. We had mashed potatoes on the side. This stew does not have any potatoes, instead, it is served with mashed potatoes and works like gravy.

April's soda bread. It was good!

Blueberry pie for our belated Pi day dessert

Homeschool this week...

I think we're all ready for Spring break because we had a hard time focusing on school this week. Alex learned to draw Tom Nook from Animal Crossing on Art for Kids Hub last week, so he wanted to make it into a canvas this week. He did it all from memory and added in the details himself. He was pretty proud of his work. Now it's up on the wall!

 

Reviews we are working on...

A lot! We have some math programs, paper dolls, a biography, art, and mock court. I am looking forward to sharing a lot of fun reviews over the next few weeks.

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

The Homeschool Review Crew Blog is sharing all about the Perfect Picnic this week. There are a few who have shared what  they think a "perfect picnic" might be like for their family.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We went camping in a yurt last weekend at the dunes/coast. It was so nice to be outdoors! Yes, it is a bit chilly still, but that's why we had a yurt- to warm up! I will have a post all about that soon.

The yurt we stayed in. It's so nice to have a warm place to go inside. It was about 45-50 degrees during the day.

My favorite thing this week was...

Delivering St. Patrick's Day treats to some friends. I called it a St. Patrick's Day survival kit.

 

Things I'm working on...

I am learning the Ukulele! I am finally working through an online course that I purchased on Groupon about a year ago. I am also doing a 6-week adult ukulele class. I am loving it, and so excited to be actively learning an instrument myself.

Movies we watched... 

Moving along in my Marvel movie series, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy on Friday night.

Games we played...

I played Aggravation with Alex one night.

I'm cooking...

Besides the small celebration meal I didn't cook much else this week. I think I made fajitas one night, and spaghetti another.

I'm grateful for...

The sounds of nature that bring so much peace.

Wordless Wednesday: Salem the cat

52 lists ~ The ways you can rejuvenate your space (week 11)

This week's list is perfect for how I'm feeling. I think I have the spring cleaning bug and want the whole house to be clean and organized. Unfortunately, my energy levels aren't matching that ambition, so making this list will probably be as far as I get, lol. Hopefully not! But, I've just not had the energy. Although I am dreaming about painting all the rooms and freshening up everything.

List the ways you can rejuvenate your space:

• a fresh coat of paint
• clean out the clutter
• change up decor
• new art work
• deep cleaning
• rearrange furniture
• make new usage of space
• add lights
• add color
• add nature
• organization/storage solutions
• out with the old, in with the new
• add some seasonal decor
• decorate the mantle
• hang new family pictures
• add some flowers
• create unique wall art
• hang your favorite quotes
• add/change lighting
• houseplants by sunny windows
• baskets/bins to hide junk

The challenge: pick one thing I can do this week and notice how my space (and mood) changes. 

I need to focus on our bathroom remodel still, and the boys' room. This will definitely help my mood if we can get these spaces done/under control.

Handbook for Writers (A REVIEW)

Disclosure: I received this product free through the Homeschool Review Crew

I love to write. It's something that I've always loved to do, and want to improve on. And, it is definitely something that takes practice, knowledge, and skill acquired through many lessons and sources. Now my children are learning this writing thing in their school years, and I hope to help them in the best way possible, and maybe even pass on that love of writing to them. To help me in this educational endeavor (and for myself), I am excited to have and share this resource from Everyday Education. It is Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers.

Cover: Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers

We received the ebook version for this review, but I plan to print it up to have for a reference for years to come. It will just take a little bit of time because it's over 400 pages long, and I will need to print it in chunks! The book is available to order as either an ebook or a print copy. I think having an ebook version is nice for when working at the computer individually, but having the paper copy will help when working with my children.

Everyday Education website where the Handbook can be ordered as well as other great Literature resources.

So what is inside this Writer's Handbook? The book is broken up into 2 sections: Part 1:Introduction to Essays and Arguments, and Part 2:Introduction to Usage and Style. Within those parts, there are sections that are broken down even further into different individual topics. So many topics. There are hundreds of pages of instruction and examples to help a student/writer write a great paper or guide a teacher/parent through correcting and editing of papers.

The table of contents is many pages long and helps the student/teacher find exactly the topics needed.

This book is so informative and useful. There are tips, instructions, tools, examples, and even a few exercises that put what was just explained into action. There are topics that cover the basics like Capitalization, and there are very complex topics like "The Challenge of Shakespeare's Work." There are so many great things to read and gain an understanding of for writing, and I think this Handbook does an amazing job of bringing so much of writing together in one place all the while making it easy to read and very user friendly. A great tool for students and even adults!

An exercise in reading the opening paragraphs of an essay to determine which sample best conveys the topics/arguments covered in the paper.

How did I use this and how will I continue to use it? I have been reading it myself to prepare to use this for my high schooler when he is ready. I am also reading it to better myself as a writer, completing the exercises as I read. I am looking forward to reading the sections as I continue to print them out and ultimately I will bind them and put them together for a full reference book to use with my boys as they move up in their writing. Right now none of my boys are thrilled to sit and read it cover to cover with me, but as I read through sections I will find important things to share with them that will help throughout their studies.

What do I think of this Writer's Handbook? I think it is very well organized. I love that I can find a specific topic very fast in the contents at the beginning. I love that it covers so much. I never realized how much there is to great writing. This brought to my attention some things I've never even considered or learned. I am thrilled that I can fill in those gaps for my writing and make sure not to miss them with my kids. It's a great reference tool and guide.

Would you like to see what other Review Crew members thought of this Handbook? Click on the banner below to see how they used it and what they have to say.