Reading Journal: At Home in Dogwood Mudhole by Franklin Sanders (TOS Review)

 

I recently had the opportunity to review At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume 1: Nothing That Eats by Franklin Sanders from At Home in Dogwood Mudhole. This book is a collection of letters collected from his The Moneychanger newsletters.

I have to admit up front I am very leery about reading memoirs type books (or personal letters for that matter). I either hate them or love them. There is no middle ground. I will also admit the At Home In Dogwood Volume 1 fell in the "love it" category.

 

Told in letter format, Franklin Sanders tells his family's story piece by piece of how they bit by bit move out of Memphis while looking for property to start their farm. During this time he is fighting the government concerning whether or not gold or silver sales are taxable and all the while preparing for to survive Y2K.

After many years including a year that Mr. Sanders spent in prison they eventually find their farm in Dogwood Mudhole. Thus begins his family's journey to create a multigenerational farm, which makes for a fun and encouraging read.

There were several things I really enjoyed about this story. First was the focus on family. In this story we meet his wife Susan and his seven children. As the story progresses several of his children marry and eventually grandchildren enter the picture. The fun they share as a family as they attempt to farm show through in the writing and was something I could relate to.

I also enjoyed and appreciated his faith in God and which he unabashedly shares throughout the book, beautifully I might add.

      Some modern writers view life as a ghastly repetition of the pointless--another child is born, only to rear more like him and die. The labors of our life can seem pointless and burdensome. 

     What they fail to see is that the repeated journey, universally aloke but perpetually unique, delights the heart of God, who never tires of making daisies--and men. In our frenzied striving, we long for the Great Hit, the Excitement, the Stimulation. We miss, all along, the tireless mystery shown us in the sacramental procession of our days. Ahh, kiss the ones you love and sing in your heart for the work given you this day, and bless your Creator! 

Another was their experience in farming and all the animals they acquire.  In the beginning the reader meets Jack the thirty dollar dog, who eventually becomes the thousand dollar dog. More dogs join and along with pigs, horses, cow, and chickens.

When we shop for chickens, "dog-resistance" is our first concern. Our dogs are what you might call chicken fanciers. They never met a chicken they didn't like. Hence Susan immediately ruled out the giant rooster with the bass voice. Not only was his crow too low, he wouldn't last two nano-seconds around those dogs--too big and slow. At our house, any chicken with a life expectancy great than a quark needs both supersonic speed and a profound mastery of evasive tactics.

The Sanders family were also involved in Civil War re-enactments and have a love for the South. He sings the praises of many of the Confederate generals. I smiled when I read about his great love for the South. We lived in Texas for 6 years and I always got the biggest kick out of their southern pride and their continuing fight of the Civil War while living there.

At Home in Dogwood Mudhole isn't told in the smoothest style, but honestly, I liked it just the way it was. It is a real story told about real people who had no farming experience, yet they were willing to try and even when things didn't go right they just kept trying. I almost (repeat--almost) wanted to take up farming myself!

This was a book that I had a hard time putting down and I was constantly having laugh out loud moments and couldn't resist reading parts aloud to whoever was nearby. Yes, it was that funny!! (The pig stories alone make the book worth reading.)

Franklin Sanders' At Home in Dogwood Mudhole will be go down as one of my favorite reads for this year. Highly recommended!

At Home in Dogwood Mudhole will be a 3 Volume Set. Volume 1: Nothing That Eats is available in paperback for $22.95 or in Kindle/ePUB/PDF format for $16.95. Volume 2: Best Thing We Ever Did is available in PDF for $16.95 with paperback and Kindle/ePUB formats coming soon.
 

 

Football and a Crafty Idea!

Fall means football and listening to NFL and college football is big in this house!! When I first met my husband he had to teach me how to understand the game since I was totally clueless. I did my part keeping up with football for awhile until my boys were big enough to take over.

When Chantry was 3 he decided that the St. Louis Rams were his team. I'm not sure where this came from since we live in Oregon, but that was who he picked. So now our team loyalties are quite divided. My husband and Caleb go for the Seahawks, Chantry for the Rams, and I don't really care until the Green Bay Packers (my Wisconsin roots) play the Seahawks and then I go for the Packers. I know, I'm ornery!

So you are probably wondering where this post is heading. Well, with all this football loving it is easy to make my guy's day with a new Seahawks (or Rams) shirt and though Chantry will wear a Seahawks shirt the Rams is "his" team. Since we live in Oregon it isn't very easy to find football gear for my little Rams lover.

Thankfully, my parents are in the mid-west and occasionally make a trip to St. Louis. Several years ago Chantry had received a Rams shirt for a gift. He has worn this shirt for quite a while now and I finally had to tell him that it had to go since what had originally been a long sleeved shirt was now a 3/4 length shirt and it was just too small. Actually in the picture below it was already too short in the arms and he wore it for another year and half longer. So you can imagine how little it was on him now.

While folding up for the last time I really didn't have it in my heart to get rid of it, but how much stuff can you store? I decided to see if I could turn it into a pillow. Off I went to JoAnn's and found a little pillow form and came home and cut out the shirt, serged up the sides, stuffed it in, finished sewing the closure and had a pillow. The fun part was I didn't tell him what I was going to do so it was a total surprise for him and definitely made his day.

French Essentials - French Curriculum for Homeschool (TOS Review)

 

I have one student almost through high school and one on the horizon. The experience that we have had with foreign language hasn't been very positive and really left me in a quandary on what to do with the my up and coming high school student. Enter French Essentials Full Access Online Program which I have had the opportunity to review over the last few weeks.

 



French Essentials is a downloadable curriculum with online features developed for homeschoolers by French teachers. It is easy to use and uses four components to aid in learning French. They are:

• Watching
• Listening
• Repeating
• Speaking

These components are reinforced through the use of audio, video, and written exercises. There are additional resources available online which include quizzes, learning activities, and exposure to the French culture.

 

French Essentials is recommended for Grades 3-12 and offers 4 modules with 6 more coming. Younger students should work through one module a year whereas older students should work through more than one module a year. If they work through 5 modules they can earn a credit. If they complete all 10 it is equivalent to 2 years of foreign language.

Each module is broken up into units and each unit is broken up into lessons. The modules are downloadable and open in a PDF format. A nice feature about this is that the lessons can be done with the audio and video components, yet you don't have to have access to the Internet at the time the lesson is being done. Also available is the student workbook, answer key, and a checklist that can be downloaded for each module.

 

After I had set up our account I went in and downloaded all of Module 1, Student Workbook, Answer Key, and the Module checklist. I could have saved myself some time by watching the Quick Set-up video or opening a PDF that takes you step by step through how their downloadable lessons work, but being the person that I am I did not see this until later. I figured out how it worked by trial and error, which I don't think it was a bad thing since it shows how easy it is to use this program.

 

To do a lesson you click on the PDF lesson that is saved to your computer and start reading. Throughout the lesson are icons that can be clicked on and an audio clip or video clip will play. These can be listened to or watched as many times as needed. at the end of a lesson instructions are giving for signing into their French Essentials account and accessing the written exercises, online exercises and test.   

Destini did French Essentials and since she never done a foreign language she started in Module 1. She took full responsibility to work through this on her own. I showed her where to find the folders that she needed and she did the work. I had printed off the worksheets ahead of time and put them in a binder for her. She would do them at the end of each lesson and then would check them by accessing the answer key that was downloaded to our computer.

At first she kept skipping the online portion, but as she became more familiar with the program this was soon remedied. The activities in the online portion included flashcards and games. These in turn prepared her for the test.

The checklist for the Module she was doing was beneficial to me, since she was working independently. This helped me be able to see what she had finished and if she had gotten behind in anything. It also helped her stay accountable.

If I had any complaints that are small. One was that the sound wasn't very loud. We solved this by having Destini use earphones. Like I stated before Destini struggled with remembering the online component. Since the lessons and worksheets were downloaded to the computer is was easy to forget about the online component. Yes, I know it was in the lessons, but it took a while for her to get used to it. As she become more familiar with everything and then I started using the check off list this quit being an issue. Again these were very small problems and were fixable.

For us, I think we have found an answer for our foreign language woes which makes this homeschool teacher a very happy one! Destini really enjoyed doing this program. Her biggest reason was that no one had to hear her and secondly that she could work on it independently. I also think she found French more appealing than Spanish.

As mom I know this was a big hit with her because I didn't hear any complaints whatsoever!!! And let me assure you if she hadn't like this that is all I would have heard. It was also noticeable that she is learning since I heard quite a few French words being used in her conversations even when she wasn't doing French. French Essentials will be staying around with the goal to get 5 modules finished to earn one foreign language credit.

French Essentials can be purchased in a two ways:
Single Module - $69.95 (90 day period to download curriculum)
Full Package - $149.95 (1 year period to download curriculum)

Try out a sample lesson here.

 

 

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics with Notebooking Journal (TOS Review)

Science--a subject that as a homeschool mom I had faced with dread. It seemed liked everything  looked at was extremely boring and/or promoted evolution.  About five years ago I discovered Apologia Educational Ministries Elementary homeschool science curriculum and found that science wasn't something to be dreaded anymore. The last few weeks I had the opportunity to review their newest book, Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics book and Notebooking Journal for upper elementary students (a Junior journal is also available for younger students).

 

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics textbook and notebook journal written by Jeannie Fulbright and is for K-6 students. It introduces kids to chemistry and physics and follows a Charlotte Mason methodology with short lessons (if desired), narration, notebooking activities (or written narrations). The best part is that it comes from Biblical worldview that gives glory to God and shows confirmation to God as the Creator.

 

Topics covered include:

• Properties of matter
• Basic building blocks of life--atoms and molecules
• Laws of motion
• Laws of thermodynamics
• Energy
• Electricity
• Magnetism and more

 

 

The Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics is a colorful hardback book which is printed nice sturdy paper. There is a table of contents, an introduction, and a section on how to use the book. Each chapter is broken down in smaller sections that cover one specific concept. Throughout the readings there are "Try This!" sections which have you do small experiments that gives "hands on" experience in understanding a concept.  

 

Midway through the lesson is a spot to stop and have your child narrate what they have learned so far. The chapter then continues as before. A chapter ends with a "What Do You Remember?" section that has specific questions to ask your child.  The chapter is tied up with a notebooking activity and experiment or project.

 

At the end of the book is a supply list which lists everything you will need for each chapter's experiments. Most items needed are household items though some require some science equipment. The "Try This!" sections and experiments are easy to understand and for the most part easy to implement. Your child will have lots of opportunity to get "hands on" experience throughout each chapter.

 

There is also a course website available that has links to websites that enhance the subjects that you have read about. There is a small list for the whole book and then each chapter has a variety of links. This course website is password protected, but the password is available in the textbook.





The Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal is spiral bound. It starts off with a table of contents, note from the author, how to use this book, and a daily schedule included. The daily is broken down into a 28 weeks doing one chapter in a two week time period and two days a week.

 

Each chapter has a section titled "Fascinating Facts" which include lines for written narrations and places for the student to draw a picture. There is also sections for notebooking assignments, activities, and projects. Crossword puzzles cover vocabulary words and then there is a scripture included in printing or cursive for copywork.

 

In the back of the book there are cut and fold books craft activities that can be cut out and put together and then pasted on the page included for the book. The "Test It Out" section includes additional experiments along with book and DVD suggestions. There are then a few pages for a child to record their experiments by writing down what kind of experiments they did and what they learned from them.

 

Each chapter is ends with the "What Do You Remember?" section which has a list of questions for review. These questions can be done orally or used a written narration. This section is to help you child build retention as your child retells what they have learned.

 

I used this with my 7th & 5th grader. My kids are very familiar with Apologia's Elementary books since this is the only thing we have used for science. Even though I found Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics to be a more meatier book (as in the topic and amount of experiments) than the previous books, the set-up was the same and since I have done this for so long I have created my own schedule for working through Apologia's books.

 

I schedule one chapter for a two week period, but I spread the reading throughout 4 days a week rather than the suggested two. I think this helps keep the lessons short as Charlotte Mason recommended. I also had my kids take turns narrating after each section with the option of the non-narrating kid adding to the narration is they so desire. When the reading was done then they would enter their written narration in their notebooking journals. We also would do the "Try It!" experiments if we had the time and the items on hand.

 

Many times I found that we could read through the chapter in six days which was nice since I could go back and do an experiment that we missed due to time or not having items on hand. Also, this gave the kids a chance to catch up with any written narrations that they may have gotten behind in, do the crossword puzzle, copywork page, extra project, or make a mini book.

 

My daughter does not have any problems doing written narration so she just basically used the notebooking journal to record her narrations. She also did the copywork page and crossword puzzles.

 

My son isn't quite able to do written narrations on his own so many times I would write something on the white board and he would write it in his notebooking journal. For one chapter I just had him write the vocabulary words and their definitions for his written narrations and for another chapter he put together the mini book instead of the "Fascinating Facts" pages.

 

If any one can fail at experiments it is me, but I did give it a good shot. There are a lot more experiments in this book than in the others we have done and though we did many of the experiments, some days I ran out of time. I tried to just focus on the ones I felt that I could do with a small measure of success. I still think I only had a 50% success rate. You can't blame me for a lack of trying though!

 

I have to admit that the first two chapters presented a learning curve for my kids. Many of these concepts were new to them. (Remember science isn't my thing.) They are slowly starting to understand these new concepts and becoming more interested in them. I think of lot of this is due to the experiments that we have been doing.

 

Though this is recommended for K-6 I feel that Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics is a better fit for older elementary students and if you do all the activities and experiments in the textbook and notebooking journal a middle school student will have completed a very thorough science course.

 

I love that I am able to introduce my kids to chemistry and physic concepts in an easy to understand terminology, plus that is backed with a Biblical and creationist worldview that shows how God is the creator and how his Creation confirms it.

Apologia Education Ministries has available:
Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics $39
Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal $24
Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal $24

 



 

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: Random 5 on Friday

1. Birthday girl! 2. A new book in the Swallows and Amazons Series.
3. Delani loves to write her name. 4. Destini doing her demonstration
speech on making glass bead magnets. 5. I learned how to
make origami boxes.

 

Today's my daughter's 14th birthday so I am going to share five things about her.

1. Her daddy almost missed her being born. He went to get his lunch and she decided it time to be born. He did happen to walk in the door while there was a big rush to get everything ready. I don't know if he ever did eat his lunch.

2. At four months old she had RSV and had to be hospitalized and the next day put into the Pediatric ICU. While we were in the process of being admitted into the hospital and nurse told my husband that if we had brought her in an hour later she would not have lived due to her oxygen level being so low. By God's grace I never heard that comment which I think would have put me over the edge.. After 7 very long days she was released. Yes, she is a miracle.

3. She is my reader, but that almost didn't happen. I just knew when I started to teach her to read she wouldn't have any problems, but alas that didn't happen. She really struggled. Thankfully, God let me cross paths with another mom who's child struggled with the same issues and told me about vision therapy. At the end of the 15 weeks I had a reader on my hands!

4. She is one of my night owls. She loves to start talking about 10 pm and go for the next couple of hours. If she isn't talking than she is reading.

5. She has a great sense of humor and literally can make her brothers roll on the floor in laughter.

I am thankful that God has blessed us with her. Yes, I'm sad that she is getting older, but on the other hand I love watching her turn into a beautiful young lady with a heart for God.

So in other news:

It was my homeschool mom's meeting and we learned to make origami boxes. I honestly didn't think it was something that I would enjoy, but I did! I also discovered it is kind of addicting.

On the homeschooling front:

The big thing this week is that I had three kids who had something to present for co-op. It was Delani's week to do a presentation. She did two nursery rhymes--Humpty Dumpty and Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling.

She does confuse two lines in one of her rhymes, but other than that she did great.

Destini and Caleb did demonstration speeches. The problem was I kept forgetting to help Caleb with his "How to Juggle" speech and we were having a hard time coming up with something for Destini to do. We finally settled on Destini demonstrating how to make glass bead magnets. Well, they survived and next week they get to watch the rest of the kids sweat over doing theirs!

Chantry's presentation is next week. This week we will be working on a book report for his presentation.

Happy Birthday, Destini!

 

Wishing Destini, a Happy 14th Birthday!!!!

If You Were Me Series by Carole P. Roman (TOS Review)

 

 Are you looking for an easy way to introduce other cultures to your children? Recently we had an opportunity to review a series of books by Carole P. Roman titled "If You Were Me and Lived In..." that introduces children to learning and appreciating the different cultures that are around the world.
 

We received:

If You Were Me and Lived In...Mexico

If You Were Me and Lived In...South Korea

If You Were Me and Lived In...France

If You Were Me and Lived In...Norway

 

These books are geared for children up to age 10. Each book follows a similar format. The books begin by telling about the country and where it is located in the world.  They then introduce the capital city and historic buildings that are located there. Then they talk about what a child's name could be if they lived in that country and also on how mothers and fathers are addressed.

 

The books then cover what money is called in that country's language, special holidays that are celebrated, popular tourist attractions, the country's favorite sports, and where you would go to school. At the end of the book a list of the foreign words used along with their pronunciations.

 

There is at least one full page illustration and sometimes both pages were illustrated. The illustrations are all hand drawn and filled in with bright colors.

 

I read these books to Delani. We then found the country in the atlas and later we looked on our big wall map and found them. We also looked online and found pictures and a few video clips to enhance what we had read about. Even though some of the illustrations might have better represented with a picture it didn't seem to matter to my daughter.

 

I will admit that I was bad about referencing the foreign words in the back of the book. I am just too lazy and it does seem to break up a reading if I have to constantly flip the pages back and forth. For me, I would have preferred to have the pronunciation of each word in parentheses next to the foreign word in the reading.

 

A fun plus for us was that in the book about Mexico the tourist attraction was the Mayan temples at Chichen Itza. I had visited several years ago so I pulled up the pictures from my visit and she was able to see her mom right next to one!

 

If You Were Me and Lived in... Series are very simple books, yet interesting. I found them to be just right for Delani.  (If you think they may not interest an older child don't worry. Every time I read one to Delani my 11 year old was always hovering over my shoulder to check everything out!) The books were easy for her to understand and didn't give her too much information. I also think since the books followed the same format make them a great pick for a non-reader or a beginning reader.

 

Even though we didn't do a very in depth study, Delani has become very interested in the map and stops everyday to point out the different countries we learned about. She also sat down with her daddy and went through each book "narrating" them to him and sharing with him all that she learned.

 

Each book is available for under $9 and would make a great enhancement to a current study or be a great base for deeper study of a country and its culture.