African Violets?

 I was given a dead African violet. At least it looks dead. And it had no roots. And it has a super long "neck" stem thing. Soooo...I looked to the internet for help and here I go! 

Okay, so this is what I start with...

Cut off that neck thing? and then the little guy on the side too?

So it said to scrape off the brown scabby parts of the stem thing (I'm really scientific here...)

snd then just put it into potting soil

We'll do it with this one too...

ready for the potting soil

I'm super curious to see if this actually works! 

I guess time will tell! :) Updates later...if there is an update ;) 

Drive Thru History® Adventures -- my REVIEW

 Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Drive Thru History® is a name that has been pretty popular with my family members over the years. We were happy when we saw the opportunity to review a new Drive Thru product this semester, called Drive Thru History® Adventures, and the course title is Bible Unearthed. This is actually a course that has twelve episodes and accompanying worksheets/activities that allows a homeschool family to use this as a multi-week mini course on archaeology.

The videos are all streaming online and when you purchase the course, you get lifetime access to the video series. This set of videos are shorter than you may imagine if you have watched the Drive Thru series before, with the approximate lengths of the videos being around 15 minutes. 

The videos feature Drive Thru History® favorite Dave Stotts, this time taking a "back seat" (haha! get my corny joke/pun?) to archaeologist Titus Kennedy; also present for the discussions is the head writer for the show. 

When we watched these videos, they were very different from what we had expected, given our past experiences with the Drive Thru products. My daughter hit the nail on the head when she described them like a type of podcast--but a video podcast. This is the feel we got when watching these episodes. 

Titus Kennedy gives a short lesson, almost like a show and tell, or an illustrated talk (for those of you taking speech right now!), using artifacts as well as video clips to teach a lesson about archaeology. Oh yes, that is the focus of these videos--archaeology--archaeology relating to the Bible, more specifically. 

Dave Stotts is kind of like a fun comic-relief segment of these episodes, though some clips from his Drive Thru shows are included. 

To go along with the videos, there is a complete course guide. This guide includes a weekly schedule to give a structure to the course, twelve weeks of using the materials. 

Of course you can use your own plan, but this is a great guideline to stretch the course out for every day in twelve weeks.  You will see from this suggested schedule that there are a lot of materials to go along with the course, and they are all available as downloads when you purchase this course, Drive Thru History® Adventures. There is a summary (which is also on the page beneath the video) which walks you through the material that is covered in the lesson. A good time to read this would be directly following the lesson; the website version of it contains some great visuals as well as the summary text. 

There are discussion questions that encourage active listening and thinking. I know I listen better if I know I will need to answer questions after a lesson! These are short-answer type questions, so your student will have to think about the answers a bit.

Along with each lesson is a Scripture passage which relates to the lesson. There are also optional activities and recommended articles for further reading and ideas for further research. Depending on the age/interests/time available of your students, you may choose to do one or all of these. 

SO--although this course was not what we had originally thought, it is still a well-made way to learn about archaeology and archaeologists, especially Biblical archaeology. It is not at all like the "regular" Drive Thru History® videos, but it does make a good history-type currriculum for a student.

We have reviewed Drive Thru History® videos before (Acts to Revelation and The Gospels) and have also viewed many along with our subscription to SchoolhouseTeachers,com ... any my kids used to watch them with a streaming TV service years ago. Our usual method of enjoying Drive Thru History® videos is basically just as entertainment, learning while not realizing we were :) 

I think that for my family, this series is not so much a sit-in-the-living-room-and-watch-a-show-together-type series, but more an academic video series. Not that it is not interesting, it just does not have that same feel.

Before I go, here are some quick thoughts from my daughter: I have seen lots of drive thru history episodes before, so I was excited to try these new ones. Unlike the others, where Dave drives around and shows places that were mentioned in the Bible, these remind me more of a podcast. There is an archeologist, Dave, and the show's head writer, and they basically sit at a table and talk about stuff. These episodes had a lower energy level then the others, and were less interesting. If I was more interested in archeology, these would be nice. They were like lectures, but with Dave doing funny stuff in the background.

So--although this series is a bit different than other Drive Thru History® series that we have seen in the past, it is still a good quality, good educational series that is laid out in an easy-to-use format.

To read what other reviewers have to say about Drive Thru History® Adventures, please click on the image below! 

PEM LIFE -- my REVIEW

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Did you ever have a course in finances, spending, earning, taxes, investments, and related topics? Was it when you were in high school? I remember a brief unit on taxes, but not much more from when I was in high school. I do think that it is very important for students to learn through an academic course (as well as from their parents) about financial principles that they will need throughout their lives, and this course that we were able to use for review purposes, Personal Finance Illustrated, Homeschool Edition is an option for homeschooling families who are looking for such a curriculum. 

This curriculum is a broad-use curriculum that has been created by PEM LIFE and can be used by largely different audiences, ranging from high schoolers to college students to adults. As a homeschooling family, we have used a different financial literacy curriculum before and we were curious to check out this curriculum as well. 

PEM LIFE is set up to be used either as an instructor-led course or as a more self-study course. It is broken up into eighteen separate units which are to be used over the course of one semester (1/2 year.) The course has a Biblical base and there are references to God and the Bible throughout.
Lessons consist of video lessons, which are clear and understandable. 

There is a book that goes along with the course (an e-book, which was created by PEM LIFE) and students are told to read certain chapters to go along with the corresponding units.

 

There are interactive elements that students can use along with the lesson which help them to see how different factors can affect outcomes, such as if you have an investment at X% and you put in Y$, what will be the return. 

There are many types of responses, as well, ranging from written discussion posts (which if there were a lot of classmates, might be nice to use as interactions) to quizzes about the vocabulary and the content to essay writing prompts.

When the student completes assignments such as the discussion post and the essay prompts, an email is sent, saying that the item has been completed. When the student takes a quiz, their work is immediately graded and their score is entered into their gradebook. From the dashboard along the side of the webpage, the overview grade can be found, as well as the scores for different items. I'm not sure completely if the program will score/grade the discussion posts and essays for the student, but we did not see that happen in my daughter's usage of the course. 
My 16 year old daughter was the individual to use the course, and I had her use it independently, not with me teaching the lessons to her. She found it a bit unwieldy at first, to figure out what to do when, and I had to help guide her through a plan of how to move through the lessons. I do think that for a homeschool audience, it might be nice to have a clearer plan of expectations of what should be done when, on what timeline. As far as the content goes, it was pretty solid. I liked the topics that it covers, such as debt, expenses, investments, taxes, mortgages, and more. It is a well-designed course, nice videos and pretty graphics, and the interactive tools were quite helpful for showing what changes as other things vary. There were not many typos that I saw (okay, I included one picture just because I like corny funny stuff and this just struck me as silly: 

See why I think this is funny? :) 
You know, "with drawl" as opposed
to "without drawl" y'all! :) 
hahahahaha!! Okay, you are probably rolling
your eyes at me by now ;) 

 I think that this class might be a great idea for a college student or young adult. For my 16 year old, it was a bit involved or asked her to imagine just too much. For someone who is just applying for her first job other than babysitting, financial projections are a bit much. However, the tips about living on what you make and saving for the future, kind of a delayed gratification theme...definitely timely! I think I would hope for a little more emphasis on that type of thing at this age, although the time is quickly coming when she will need that other information.
To read more reviews of this product, be sure to click on the graphic below!

Calm and quiet

1The power is out at our house. there's a tree on the line and more disruptions in town, due to some big gusts of wind. Right now I am thanking God for safety, quietness, and the woodstove!!!! (it's 32 degrees outside) :)

Refurbishing old screens

 We moved into a new house this past spring and have been working hard on sevaral different projects. One that was SO much easier that I had anticipated was repairing the window screens. This house was built in 1969 and I'm pretty sure these screens were original to the house. There were several with holes and tears and they were just dirty and oxidized and though we tried to clean them, they were still not very nice. I looked online (thank you This Old House!) and found it is pretty easy to do!

Here's a pic of the before and after on one set--a definite difference!

Basically I just measured the screens and ordered the screen and spline online (from Amazon) and it came with a cool little tool to use too.

Step 1 was to remove the old screen--very easy, as the old spline just peeled out and the aluminum screen popped out/was pulled out. 

Next, I put the new screen material on top of the frame (the new material was lighter weight and a fiberglass material) and cut it so that there was one inch overhang on all sides.

I put the spline in place and pushed it in with the special tool.

Moving around the frame, I basically pulled it taut on every side as I pushed the spline into the groove...it might have been easier if I had used a clamp or something, but it worked just fine. :) 

I again used the tool to push it even further into the groove (I used a screwdriver at the corners to make sure it was securely inserted there). I forgot to say that I cut the spline to size, but you probably figured that out already :) 

Once the spline was all in place and I was happy with the tautness and alignment of the screening, I used a utility knife to cut off the excess.

The final step was to pop them back into the windows and ooh and aah about the difference it made! (in this picture the upper window is where the screens are--what a difference, right?!)

And there you have it! An easy project with a large impact! If your screens are a little less-than-desirable, give it a try! :) 

Who is it for?

My thoughts for today are self-talk, self-reminding. Here are two verses that I need to really focus on more, 

1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God."

Psalm 100:2a "Serve the Lord with gladness." 

What do you think of these verses? Are they things that seem easy to obey? It sounds great in practice, but what if the face of "serving the Lord with gladness" is someone who has hurt you, or someone who is rude and unthankful? 

It may be hard...but we are told to do this...and if the attitude switches from serving that person or people to serving the LORD, that may be easier (?) That's the point, right? Serving Him? 

Lord forgive me for my bad attitudes and help me to serve YOU in everything that I do.

Music for Memorization

Do you use music to assist with memorization? I am looking for some ideas to help memorize some longer passages of Scripture--any ideas? 

When my kids were younger they used to memorize AWANA verses by setting them to music, and who doesn't remember the books of the Bible by a little tune? 

The US Presidents, the 12 disciples, what else do you remember by a little musical ditty? 

SO---Any ideas of good tunes to set longer Bible passages to? Thanks in advance for your ideas!