Gingerbread Houses

One of our best Christmas activities this year was making “gingerbread” houses out of graham crackers. We went over to a friends house armed with graham crackers and lots of candy. She provided frosting bags with royal icing and even more candy. We put everything on the table and said, “Have at it.”

The creations that everyone came up with are amazing. We ranged in ages from 8 to 20. The boys did big, spread out creations built on top of boxes. The girls kept them smaller, but no less detailed. I was awed by the creativity that showed in all the houses.

Christmas Eve, Eve!

It’s Christmas Eve, Eve! Or so my kids tell me every year on December 23rd. They learned this from watching the movie Eloise at Christmas Time. It has become a tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve, Eve. We do not actually do anything special except to say it to each other over and over. I think it is fascinating listening to what my kids pick up on in movies and books and this is one phrase that has stuck year after year.

So, for our Christmas Eve, Eve, we had a very busy day. We went to Sunday School and church. Then we had Christmas program practice. Then I did just a bit of shopping. Then it was time to go Christmas Caroling. This is a yearly tradition and much looked forward to. We gather at church, then car pool to various houses of older church members.

This year we had 27 people caroling. It was so much fun. The kids have a great time together, the adults laugh and joke. But what really makes it all worthwhile are the smiles on the faces of the people while we sing.

Another activity Ben and Rebekah engaged in this afternoon took a bit of imagination. For the next week, they are sharing their big sister’s room while their cousins are here. They sleep across the room from each other, Rebekah on a cot and Ben on a sleeping mat on the floor. They decided to use empty wrapping paper tubes and tape them together to make a long tube that will reach from one bed to the other. This way they can talk without disturbing Sarah. At least, that was the plan. Reality is that they both whisper a little too loudly, but they are so very proud of their “machine” to be able to talk to each other quietly.

Time Difference and Communication

Having a sister who lives half a world away from you is hard. But, I have found that there are advantages to being 17 hours apart. When I wake up too early and can’t go back to sleep, I can message my sister. It is late evening for her and she is usually on her computer before going to bed. We can then chat a little before she goes to bed and I have to get up and get ready for the day.

The same goes for phone calls, too. My sister will call me when she gets up in the morning. It is about 2:00 in the afternoon for me. It gives me a nice break in the middle of the day to stop and chat for a little bit.

The technology available to be able to communicate quickly and easily is wonderful. I love that I can just grab my phone and quickly send a message. If she has time to answer she will, if not she will answer when she can.

We communicate in some manner almost everyday. I am so very thankful for the technology that makes communication with my sister easy.

Advent Traditions

December is a month full of traditions and memories. In our family, we celebrate Advent, which starts on a Sunday four weeks before Christmas. What excitement for the kids as they go to church and see the first advent candle lit. They know that Christmas is coming soon. At home, we daily light our family Advent wreath while we are doing our devotions.

Each morning to begin school, we take our usual worship time and make it a time of Advent preparation. We light the Advent wreath, one new candle each week. Then we sing an Advent hymn out of our hymnal. I like to go over the words and phrases of the hymns with my kids to make sure they understand the meaning of each hymn. Then we say our prayers. The last part is a very special book called The Advent Book.

The Advent Book was given to us in December of 2003 by a wonderful friend. Since that time, not an Advent season has gone by that we have not used this wonderful, memory making resource. The book is a thick, hardcover book with very sturdy pages. Each page is beautifully decorated with a scene of a door. The doors are all different, some red, some wooden, some single, some double, some that look like castle doors. Behind each door is a wonderful picture and words of the Christmas story.

I love the way the entire Christmas story is told, with no embellishment. The illustrations are stunning. After 9 years of using this book, my kids look forward to a certain door because the picture behind that door is so beautiful. It has truly become a wonderful Advent tradition. I am thinking I should order four of these books to save for when my children grow up, get married and have families of their own to carry the tradition on.

Growing Up Wild

Missionary stories. My kids love to listen to and read stories about the lives of missionaries around the world. So we have been fascinated by watching Growing Up Wild DVD’s.

Growing Up Wild is a DVD series featuring the four Wild brothers who are growing up in the wilds of remote jungles in Indonesia. There are five DVD volumes with 3 episodes on each DVD. Each episode is about 15 minutes in length and focuses on one aspect of their lives. On a separate CD included in each set, is an activity guide that corresponds with each volume. The guides are designed as a “jumping off “ point to further the fun and learning based on the videos. The goal of the Growing Up Wild DVD’s is to testify to the greatness of our God and how He is working in remote parts of the world.

ClarkClan Experiences

We received volume one and volume four of Growing Up Wild. Volume one introduces the Wild boys and includes the episodes: 1)Home Sweet Hut 2)Supply Trip 3)Sun and Water. Volume 4 continues the adventure and includes the episodes: 1)Amazing World Around Us 2) Adventures in Culture 3) Tribal Calling.

Ben and Rebekah were fascinated with the videos. Each episode brought new ideas to talk about and discuss. I liked using the activity guide along with the video. It brought a greater depth to what they were seeing on the screen. On the first episode we filled in a Venn diagram of what was different and the same between our house and the Wild brother’s hut. This discussion was continued even after we were done with the worksheet. Ben and Rebekah kept coming up with differences and what was the same for the rest of the day. Another activity was building a Wano house like we see in the DVD. Ben really took to this idea. He spent a long time outside trying to figure out how to build a house out of sticks.

When I asked Ben and Rebekah what their favorite episodes were they both stated, the Sun and Water episode from Volume One. They liked the idea that all electricity was solar powered. Ben was fascinated by how the water system worked.

I feel one of the best parts of these DVD’s is that they show what real life is like for them. They show their house and how supplies are received. They show the problems with bugs and mice in their hut and how they attempt to solve some of these problems. They also show how they assimilate into the Wano culture while still also maintaining remnants of American culture. One of the best study guide activities, in my opinion, is the “Culture Worksheet” comparing our culture to the Wano culture. I feel the Wild family truly showed us what it is like to be a missionary in a foreign land.

Cost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• $18.99 for each Volume separately
• $80.99 for all Five Volumes at once 15% savings
• Each volume includes an activity guide CD
•  Activity guide sample
• Order the DVD’s from The Wild Brothers store

Many of my Schoolhouse Review Crew mates also reviewed the Growing Up Wild DVD’s. Visit the Crew Blog to read what they thought about the video series.

Disclaimer: As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received 2 DVD’s of Growing Up Wild for free from Growing Up Wild in exchange for my honest review of their product. All opinions given are mine and/or my children’s.

Apologia—Journeys of Faithfulness

• Journeys of Faithfulness
• by Sarah Clarkson
• Published by Apologia Educational Ministries, inc
• Written for ages 12 and up
• $13.00
• Available from Apologia Educational Ministries, inc.

About the Book

Journeys of Faithfulness is a devotion book written for women. It is a book that is easy for mothers and daughter from about age 12 to go through together. It is also appropriate for study by yourself.

Journeys of Faithfulness takes the life and faith of five women from the Bible draws you deeper into their stories. The book is written in the style of historical fiction. It takes the true story as found in the Bible, but adds the background details and characters. Sarah Clarkson captures the feelings of each of her chosen women. You can really feel the irritation of Martha with Mary. Feel the joy and concern of Mary as she tells her family of the visit from the Angel of the Lord.  Esther and Ruth round out the Biblical character studies in this book.

The book is divided in to four parts. Each part has three chapters. At the end of each chapter is a devotional and a short bible study. The Bible study is easy to understand yet has enough depth for both young women and adults alike.

ClarkClan Experiences

Sarah (15) and I enjoyed reading this devotional book. I, at first, wondered about the appropriateness of adding thoughts and words to the Biblical characters, but then decided that it added depth while not taking away from the true meaning of the actual Biblical account.

Due to our move that took place during this review period, I have used this book differently than I originally had planned. I had planned on doing it together. But with all the activity I had going on, we ended up each reading the chapter and devotion, doing the Bible study and then coming together to talk over what we had learned. This worked fairly well, but I am hoping for part four, to do a little bit more together.

Recommendation

I would recommend Journeys of Faithfulness from Apologia.Sarah Clarkson has a beautiful gentle style of writing I enjoyed. I found this to be a study that applied to both myself and to Sarah. Each of us found that we enjoyed reading the chapters and the devotional pieces. I know, for myself, that reading the devotional for the second chapter resonated with what I am feeling in my life. Sarah told me she really enjoyed each chapter and really liked the style of writing. She said it made the Biblical accounts of these women come to life for her.

Many of my Schoolhouse Review Crew members also reviewed the book Journeys of Faithfulness. Visit the Crew Blog to read what they and their daughters thought about the book.

Disclaimer: As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the book, Journeys of Faithfulness for free from Apologia Ministries in exchange for my honest review of their product. All opinions given are mine and/or my children’s.

Activity Bags

“Where Fun and Education fit in the same bag.”

• Travel Activities in a Binder – e-book 1
• Designed for elementary age children
• Over 40 activities included
• $15.00 available as an e-book

• Math Games In a Bag
• Designed for elementary age children
• 33 games with instructions

• $15.00 available as an e-book

About  the Product

Activity Bags began by the creativity of two ladies, Sherri MacLean and Paula Reetz. Both of these ladies homeschool their children. In 2002, Paula was wondering how to keep her 3 year old busy during the older kids school, while also having fun and learning. She called her friend, Sherri, and they got together and brainstormed ideas. From this small meeting of two mothers, Activity Bags came about and has been growing ever since.

Not only did they come up with the idea of creating bags filled with fun, educational activities, they also figured out how to create a swap with other mothers.  These swaps quickly became very popular.

A swap occurs when one person takes the lead, distributes the instructions, and sets a date to meet for the exchange. Then each mother gets instructions on how to create one activity. They make this activity as many times as they have participating in the swap. On Swap Day, everybody brings the activity they prepared. Participants will then exchange their bags so each person participating will go home with many different activity bags.

ClarkClan Experiences

We were the happy to be able to review the e-book Travel Activities in a Binder as well as Math Games in a Bag. I was given opportunity to choose which books to review. I chose the travel activities e-book because we tend to spend quite a bit of time in the car. I thought the math games would be a fun way to review basic math facts.

When I received the downloads for the e-books, I quickly downloaded them.  I encountered  no problems while downloading and saving to my computer. Then I set out to read the e-books and see what these books were all about.

I first checked out the Travel Activities in a Binder book. This e-book contains instructions and printable pages for over 40 activities. It was not hard to follow the instructions and, using colored cardstock, print out the various activities. Then I took an extra binder we had on hand, as well plastic sheet protectors. It took me about an hour to print and put together the activity book. I added the square of felt called for to erase the pages, two dry erase markers and two dice. Then the book was complete

I gave the book to Rebekah (9) the next day when she had to wait by herself at bell choir rehearsal. The book was a big hit instantly. She loved the variety of activities and spent the entire hour trying new things. Then I took the book back, and kept it for the next time we had to wait somewhere.

Ben (10) became so interested in what Rebekah  was doing that he quickly joined in most of the activities and liked them just as much as Rebekah. They loved to play “ad libs” and hangman together. The wide variety of activities was a pleasant surprise. There were, some two person games, some single games, scavenger hunts, mazes, road sign crosswords, blindfold drawing and many more activities to keep this book from getting boring.

Math Activities in a Bag also provided a much needed respite from the ordinary math drill. I made up about 4 of the 33 bags to choose from. We played a multiplication toss game with dice and beads. It also helped Rebekah solidify her math facts using another of the games made with math fact triangles. When these bags have served their purpose,  I  plan on putting together new bags to keep things fresh and fun.

Recommendation

I would whole heartedly recommend these e-books. They were simple, easy to use and easy to put together. Rebekah and Ben have really enjoyed using both the travel binder and the bag games. The bag games gave them a little bit of fun before we started our regular math for the day.  The travel binder took about an hour to print and put together, but has been well –used. They take it along on long car trips and other times they need a quiet activity while I am at a meeting.

I did not hold a swap, but read through how it is done. It looks fairly straightforward and easy to put together. If you are part of a co-op or have many homeschooling friends, a swap would be a great way to get all the activities with minimal effort on each participants part.

Many of my Schoolhouse Review Crew members were able to review many different Activity Bags books. Visit the Crew Blog to read what they had to say about these books.

Disclaimer: As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received two e-books, Travel Activities in a Binder and Math Games in a Bag, for free from Activity Bags in exchange for my honest review of their product. All opinions given are mine and/or my children’s.