April brought us another teenager!

We celebrated Austin's 13th birthday yesterday!

His wish was to be as tall as me for his birthday. Almost there!

It was a great, relaxing day of remembering the night of Austin's birth and commemorating his fabulous life. He is a man of stealth and humour. We love him immensely and thank God for the honour of being his family.

xo

VocabularySpellingCity {Review}

I was given the opportunity to review VocabularySpellingCity with my younger two girls. I will just start off by saying, this is an incredible website. I have been thrilled with all the content and choices the girls have had. It teaches spelling and vocabulary, but with the premium membership there is a wealth of additional activities and subjects to explore. 

Here you can see the differences in the free vs. premium activity choices . . . 

Here is just one example of the geography offered on VocabularySpellingCity . . .

And another example of games offered . . .

Here is Maya enjoying her Word Search . . .

It is very easy to customize the program for each child according to their learning level. For this game alone (above), there is choice between easy/hard, short/long, and timer on/off. As well, you as the teacher/parent get to choose which words your child/student works on in his/her lessons.

This is a fantastic website that I highly recommend for any child, whether homeschooled or not. Teachers in a regular school setting should also know about this great resource for their students. We look forward to continue our learning with VocabularySpellingCity! 

VocabularySpellingCity offers a variety of Premium Membership options, depending on whether you are a parent, teacher, school, or district. 

Options include:

Family - A family membership includes five student licenses for $29.99

Classroom - A classroom membership includes 25 student licenses for $49.99.

Additional student licenses may be purchased for $1.95 each (with a minimum purchase of 5 student licenses). For orders of 300 students or more, contact us at 954-357-1150 for discounted rates.

They also offer Apps for iPhone/iPad/iPod and Android.

Find them on Facebook or Twitter.

Disclaimer: I was given a Premium Membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review. VocabularySpellingCity helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as Unscramble, Hangman, WordFind, andCrossword Puzzle. Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of dozens of free teaching resources on topics such as Multiple Meaning Words and Possessive Nouns .

There might be more free memberships available for bloggers. If you're interested, find out how you can review VocabularySpellingCity.com.

A Journey Through Learning {Review}

I was recently given the opportunity to review a lapbook from A Journey Through Learning, a company which produces a multitude of lapbooks in just about every possible subject. The company is co-owned by homeschool moms, Nancy and Paula.

So first of all, if you are not a homeschool mom or are new to homeschooling, you may be asking "what on earth is a lapbook?" Great question! Here is a definition (yes, from Wikipedia!):

A lap book generally consists of a paperboard folder such as a file folder with small pieces of folded paper glued inside. These folded papers may contain facts, diagrams, illustrations, etc. related to the subject. Lap books can be adapted for any subject and grade level. Teachers and parents who use lap books with students say that they enhance creativity and critical thinking while integrating subjects such as science, language, history, geography, and mathematics, depending on the subject of the lap book.

You can go to the How To Videos on the A Journey Through Learning site for several visual demonstrations of the materials needed and how to make the two types of folders needed for their products. I am not a lapbooking homeschool mom, so as you will see, we did not use the typical folders with our "lapbooks". We used scrapbooks, which is my preferred method. (You could also use the notebooking method.)

Here is a list of the supplies needed, in addition to the lapbook pages:

3 Colored File Folders
Scissors
Glue
Stapler
Brads (not needed for every lapbook. If brads are not available, a stapler will do.) 
Hole Puncher (again, not needed for every lapbook.) 

We chose to go through the Knights, Castles Lapbook to go along with a book from our literature-based studies. I went through this unit with my children who are in grade 5 and grade 2, and I also included my grade 1 student because she loves this kind of learning. The recommended age range is grades 2-7. We received the instant download version, which was easy to download and print. I, obviously, needed three of each page of the templates and activities. I only needed one copy of the text that contains the history lesson. This was a tiny bit time consuming, but not a drawback, in my opinion.

The lesson titles include:

The Fall of Rome Paves the Way to the Middle Ages

How to Become a Knight

A Knight's Weapons

Knights in Shining Armor

A Knight Dresses for Battle

Heraldry

Castles-From Dirt Pile to Dignified

Lifestyle During the Middle Ages - Work, Eat, and Work Some More

Housing During the Middle Ages

Christianity During the Middle Ages

The lessons were informative and included history, vocabulary, a tiny bit of geography, and interesting facts, i.e. a helm could weigh up to 13-14 pounds! Ouch. 

In these photos you can see how we utilized our scrapbooks . . .

We used this product about four days per week. I would read the lessons, which were only one to two pages in length, aloud to my children. I would then help them cut out the templates, answer the questions and glue them into their scrapbooks. The youngest, especially, needed my help with cutting and knowing what to write on her pages, but my grade 5 student could probably have accomplished this on his own, if necessary. He even took one of the lessons and read it aloud to his sisters, first in an English and then in a Texas accent. Very fun and lots of giggling from the girls during that lesson!

One of our favourite lessons was the one on heraldry. The children had the opportunity to design their own coat of arms. I learned that women typically had a certain design, called a lozenge, on their coat of arms. My girls did not stick to that rule for the 21st century, but I still found it interesting. Here are their designs . . .

Benjamin's coat of arms:

Ava's coat of arms:

Maya's coat of arms (upside down):

We had fun with this unity study and recommend it to anyone who wants a supplemental resource for studying the Middle Ages. 

The prices are as follows:
Instant download: $13.00
CD: $14.00, plus shipping
Printed: $21.00, plus shipping

Next, I think we will go through The Earth Lapbook (grades 1-4). 

Also check out Letters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5) or Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7)!

A New Strategy - The Journey To Transformation

For 15 years George Otis, Jr. and the Sentinel Group have researched stories of transforming revival from around the globe from both a biblical and historical perspective.  These are amazing stories of where the Lord’s presence comes and not only changes lives but impacts the social fiber, the government and even the ecology itself.  For example,

·         Almolonga, Guatemala – Jails closed because crime has decreased; carrots the size of a person’s arm are being harvested.

·         Cali, Colombia – The world’s largest drug cartel is dismantled through the prayers and fasting of the church of Jesus Christ; in restaurants, press boxes and newsrooms, residents are hungry to talk about God stories . . .  they can’t get enough.

·         Fiji -  Villages repenting of idolatry and darkness invite the Lord’s presence to come down and heal relationships and the land.  Once dead coral reefs suddenly spring back to life, and fish that have been gone because of the oppressive weight of sin on the environment return in abundance.

There are 800+ stories like these that the Sentinel Group has documented.  The curious observation is that only 2 communities are recognized in North America.

So we at IFA want to humbly ask the question, “Lord, if there,  then why not here?  Would You come to our community?”

George’s research has discovered predictable patterns and principles that make communities attractive to a touch from heaven.  In fact, in Scripture we are invited to seek the Lord and ask Him to come down . . . but on His terms . . . 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Two weeks ago we started training 16 coaches from across the U.S. to walk with communities through a “Journey to Transformation” by learning the biblical, current and historical findings that the Sentinel Group has compiled through the years.  We believe that there are friends gathering around the country who are longing for this transforming revival to touch their own neighborhood.  These current day experiences are grounded not only in biblical hope but present, life-giving reality. 

My role as a coach is to come alongside community leaders in 25 states to help cast vision, teach and prepare for this kind of spiritual awakening.  This is humbling and awe-inspiring for me personally.  I have experienced some similar miraculous stories and heavenly invasions both in North America and internationally, but I have never lived in a community where the pervasive presence of the Lord is so tangible.  We are walking and preparing with friends here in northern Virginia for this kind of spiritual awakening.  We believe this grass-roots strategy is the Lord’s heart to help bring some healing to our fractured, imploding nation.

To find out more about the Journey to Transformation, go to

http://www.transformingamericathroughprayer.com/

Thanks for your continued prayers and partnership.

Bob Royce

Mobilization Coordinator

Intercessors for America

PO Box 915

Purcellville, VA 20134

800-USA-PRAY

540-317-2097 Direct

GetAmericaPraying.com

Weekly Menu Plan {1 April}

(This mouth-watering French bread was made by Emma last week, and I imagine it may requested again this week. We enjoyed slices of it along with a little cheese for lunch one day. Simple and delicious!)

Happy April! 

I hope this finds you with more signs of spring and hope for new life this week. We are still a little chilly and very breezy here in Northern Virginia, but the birds have been singing their lovely songs as soon as dawn breaks in the mornings. We know warmer weather will arrive soon.

Here is the tentative plan for this week . . .

Monday - Hawaiian Pizza (This idea comes from Erin at $5 Dollar Dinners to use up that leftover Easter ham. And thanks to our cousin Marcia for sending some home with us yesterday!)

Tuesday - Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken (from leftovers in the freezer) on buns

Wednesday - Some sort of pasta (hopefully our favourite from Dani Johnson - 

Penne Pinching Pasta)

Thursday - Grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday - Some kind of soup

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Homemade cheeseburgers (Austin's requested birthday meal. Yes, we are celebrating a birthday! And another teenager in our household. Wow!)

xo