W is for white broilers

It's that time of the year again...time to start the meat birds :)  We got the chicks in the mail on Wednesday (it's always so funny to get chicks through the mail!)

Feeding three teenagers takes a lot of food!  Thankfully we can raise our own chicken so that we have meat that we can trust...never have to watch re-calls!

Here's a few thoughts about the broilers that we raise from a few years back:  http://troutwife.blogspot.com/2011/07/fresh-chicken.html

One of the things that makes raising them easier is having three kids to do the chores :)  

Camp!

Summer camp...I have such great memories of camp when I was little...now my kids get to go :)  One child going to a computer camp -- the other going to a Christian camp.  So thankful they get these opportunities :)

Re-upholstering...a boat?

Big job for the beginning of the summer...re-upholstering the boat :) Wow!  Am I in over my head?  That is yet to be seen... ???

:) Here we go!  Just don't expect a dinner invitation...the kitchen table is kind of crowded!!  :)

Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series -- my REVIEW

Are you a reading family? Do you do a lot of read-alouds with your children? Do you like to read (historical) fiction that enhances your understanding of different time periods? Our family enjoys learning through traditional textbooks as well as by reading literature set in historic settings, whether the point of that story is to teach you about the time period or it is just set in an older era, allowing you to pick up bits of information about that time.

I was given the opportunity to review a series of books whose goal is to use a fun story to teach youth about American history. The series is the Adventures of Rush Revere #1 New York Times Bestselling Book Series by Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh. This is a set of five books written by Rush Limbaugh (some co-written by his wife Kathryn Adams Limbaugh).  Besides just the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series, there is also an accompanying website which contains different activities and further information about the characters and events of the books.

The books, themselves, are nicely made...hardcover with shiny dust jackets and heavy "aged-document-looking" pages. They are definitely a quality-made product. The author, Rush Limbaugh...well, we are probably mostly all familiar with him from his radio show. In the acknowledgments section of the first book, Limbaugh shares his inspiration for writing the series: his wife Kathryn reminded him of his "frustration with what many kids are learning today and suggested that (he) tell the amazing stories of our country's founding in an easy to understand way." And so we have this series from the Limbaugh family.

The books follow Rush Revere, a teacher passionate about history, who substitute-teaches and otherwise engages students from his local middle school. He wants to share his passion for history with the students, but also wants to teach them about life today through a historical context. His methods of teaching are based on time travel, aided by his camera and his time travelling buddy, a talking horse with lots of abilities named Liberty. Liberty has a lot to say about mostly everything.

Book one finds Rush and Liberty (and a few students) experiencing life with the Pilgrims, from before they began their journey to the new life at Plymouth. In book two, Rush, Liberty, and some students get to meet "the first patriots" -- folks such as Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and more (and have to stop a student from trying to change history!). In book three, one of the students' father is deployed overseas -- in the time travel adventure he and a few others visit the time period of the American Revolution to learn why people fought/fight and why freedom is so important, both then and now. Book four features a different student as Rush takes him and a few others to Washington D.C. to learn about our country's government and its history (and even the national anthem!). Book five is all about the presidency; students are engaged in an election in their school and they learn about some of the past presidents by visiting them and their families.

My 12 year old daughter was the one in our family who dove right into reading these books. She enjoys reading mostly everything and was glad to begin this series!



So what did we think? First of all I'll share her thoughts: "I liked reading the books. They’re more like story-ish than informational. I wouldn’t use them for actually learning in depth. It focuses on the horse a lot. It’s kind of too much that the horse can do. I like the history part of it too. But still, they are nice stories."

I also read some of the books, and truthfuly, I did not love them.  I agree that so much of the book is about Liberty the horse, as well as how they were doing what they were doing.  I realize that this is part of their appeal, it just didn't appeal to me.  The writing style (and grammatical style -- punctuation, sentence structure, etc.) was not what I would consider "good writing" -- and that annoyed me a little as well.  I think that maybe it was written in a casual, chatty style, which, I'm sure, will appeal to many folks -- it's just not my favorite.

All in all, I'd recommend these books as recreational reading for children; fiction which teaches about history is a good thing.  My daughter, at 12 years old, is probably at the top of the suggested age for these books.  I can imagine a family with younger children enjoying these as read-alouds, giggling together at some of the things Liberty comes out with.

You may also enjoy the many facets of the website that accompanies the Adventures of Rush Revere on which readers can play games (both online and printed), find resources for homeschoolers, take quizzes, find book suggestions, learn fun facts, and more!

One of the word scramble games on the site

Please click on the link below to see what other reviewers have to say about this series!

V is for Vehicles...Remotely Operated Vehicles...underwater ROV's continued!

Wow, wow, wow. I am so impressed with the SeaPerch build that my older 4-Hers just completed this week!

They learned to use tools such as pvc cutters, drill, soldering irons, multimeter, and so much more! They followed directions, built the ROV, wired the control box and the motors, and soldered all the connections. So impressed with these kids and this program!

We received a grant from the SeaPerch program/Office of Naval Research to pay for the ROV kits and the teacher tools. I HIGHLY recommend this program! For more information on the program, check it out here:

Internship for High School Credit -- my REVIEW

With kids in high school and looking at colleges, a word that pops up occasionally is INTERNSHIPS. I think this is kind of an "in thing" right now. Addressing this topic in a homeschool setting is a book from Apologia Educational Ministries entitled Internship for High School Credit. I was given the opportunity to review this resource, and based on past experience (as well as the reputation they have for high quality) I was happy to check out these materials by Apologia Educational Ministries.



The book begins with an introductory section that gives readers a definition of an internship along with many reasons why internships benefit a high school student (or anyone in general). Some of the internship benefits they list are:
*Explore a career
*Learn day-to-day job responsibilities
*Discover job likes and dislikes
*Focus more closely on a college major
*Bolster a college application
*Gain experience related to career goals
*Increase scholarship opportunities
*Gain marketable skills
*Increase potential job offers

Homeschooled students usually have a more flexible schedule than those in traditional school, so an internship may be easier for them to fit into their week.  The benefits of an internship are definitely educational, and as such, many parents may wish to incorporate an internship into their child's transcript.  This book gives ideas and advice about how to do this, whether it be a one-semester internship or a two-semester.

Creating an internship "course" for the transcript, some parents may wish to incorporate having their student make a written record of different aspects of the internship/job.  Included in this book are many ideas for this, including a place to record goals for the internship semester and several guided writings and questions to encourage the student to think about different things and record them.

 

Sprinkled throughout the book are little tips, such as the one seen below--lots of little bits of practical advice for internships or jobs or life!

Other valuable contents included a section on how exactly to choose an internship.  I thought this part was very well-written and helpful for a highschooler.  Yes, you may want to go into haute couture fashion design, but you may not be able to find an internship at that level :) :) -- so how about checking out other aspects of the same field, such as upholstery design, or something related however peripherally?  This is a great eye-opener to those who feel that an internship would not be available in their desired field--maybe there is one close to it which will still give you many of the benefits and a similar experience.

There is a segment on resume writing for a high schooler, which I thought was very helpful.  It's hard to know what to put on a student resume, especially if your paid jobs have been few or none.  The suggestions for resume contents plus suggestions for interviews are something every student should read, whether they are looking for an internship or not.

One part that was almost a big turn-off for me was at the beginning of the introduction section.  I really felt like they were almost down-playing a college education to the point of discouraging students to go that route.  I think that this is something possibly negative that some who tout the importance of internships and experiencial based learning tell themselves and others. Yes, an internship can help you get an edge or help you hone in on career goals, but I really personally am a believer in a college education.  So much more is learned in college than just preparing one for a career.  My husband works for the fish and wildlife department and he quite often sees high school students coming in looking for a job, saying they have had an internship with a related field.  While this is good for them, it does not change the requirements of the department that an employee in this field have a minimum of a bachelor's degree--no matter how many internships they have held.  I will say, however, that as I read on in the intro and further into the book the feel seemed to be more that an internship could synergistically work with further education to advance your career goals.  

I have a high school daughter who wants to go into a computer science field and has wondered about internships.  This book was helpful in giving her (and me) more information about them as well as about how to meld them with homeschooling high school.  As it stands, however, her course load is such that adding in an internship is just not right for her at this point.  Perhaps next summer or at some point in her college years.  

I found that this book, Internship for High School Credit, is a nicely-put-together journaling activity to use throughout an internship which will help a student verbalize his or her experiences in such a way that it can be later viewed as a reminder of what was done/experienced/felt/wondered along the way, instead of struggling to remember those things at a later point when wishing to recount them for a future opportunity.

So...overall?  Well, I think that this book is good in a sense.  Good for record-keeping, good for idea-opening, good for helping you think through the process of using internships on a transcript.  Some of the parts of the book were things that one can learn about in other arenas, but if you are curious about internships, you might gain some great help from this book.  

I was glad to have the opportunity to review this book by Apologia Educational Ministries.  Some other members of the Review Crew were able to use and review another product from Apologia entitled  How to HOMESCHOOL with Stunning Confidence, Contagious Joy, and Amazing Focus (DVD & Coursebook).    You can check out those reviews as well as other reviews of Internship for High School Credit by clicking on the link below:  

U is for underwater ROV build--coming this week!

I'm so excited that I received a grant from Seaperch/Office of Naval Research to make ROV's with my homeschool 4-H Club!

We received the materials a couple of months ago and they've just been sitting there ... waiting ...

Now tomorrow begins the building fun!  :)  I'll have to post a "U is for" part 2 when we are underway!

At any rate, take a look at the website and see if it might be something your group is interested in!  Who wouldn't want to make ROV's?  :)

Here's their website:  http://www.seaperch.org/index