Brigadier General and Financial Appeal

Friends,

This week I had the privilege of meeting one-on-one with a decorated Brigadier General (Ret.) here in the nation’s capital.  For an hour and a half, I listened intently to his wartime experiences, his coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and his perspective on what is happening in our nation politically, socially, spiritually, economically.  His wisdom on having lived in DC for 30+ years is a valuable resource to me on how the culture operates here in the area.

I shared my heart for spiritual awakening and revival for our nation.  He frankly disclosed his observation, “Bob, if you have faith for it, I will hang on with you, but I really don’t see it.”  He did confess that we are way past the point of trying to fix this ourselves and only an invasive touch from heaven can bring what we need.

He prayed Numbers 6 for me and our family as we closed our time together.  What a gift.

From a fiscal perspective, first, I want to say thank you to our donors for your generous and sacrificial giving in 2012.  Through both one-time and monthly donations, you helped to literally lay the financial foundation for us to live and work here.  

Here are a few stats I want to share:

2012 Giving

45 U.S. Donors

12 Canadian Donors

 2 Organizations

Second, we are behind in financial support for 2013.  We are appealing this month and beyond to build on what has been started.  You can help in three ways: 

1.       Pray for financial breakthrough for us to continue to move forward.

2.       Connect me with others who might be interested in joining our support team.

3.       Make a donation today by clicking on Field Staff Support below.  We need a significant boost by Wednesday, March 27:

https://www.ifapray.org/donations.php (Click on Field Staff Support and then my name.)

Thank you for partnering with us!

With deep gratitude,

Bob

Bob Royce

Mobilization Coordinator

Intercessors for America

PO Box 915

Purcellville, VA 20134

800-USA-PRAY

540-317-2097 Direct

GetAmericaPraying.com

READS Parent/Child Reading Comprehension System {Review}

EGM Educational Systems, LLC is a company that has developed the READS Parent/Child Reading Comprehension System, which I was given the opportunity to review. The READS System was developed by certified reading specialist, Elaine Meyers. Ms. Meyers has 25 years of experience in the reading field.
The READS System comes in a reusable clear storage pouch. It includes the parent guide, question cards on a metal ring, a rewards chart with accompanying stickers, a "magic finger," a reading guide strip, and a handbook of spelling words for the student. 
See below . . . This material was developed for elementary children, grades 1-4. It is geared for children who are at or below reading level. It is available for the purchase price of $19.95. The program is to be used on a daily basis during the child's structured reading time. The child is to pick a book of his/her choosing, pick a card from the ring and discuss the question, take the reading guide strip or magic finger and go to read on his/her own for a set amount of time (set by you the parent, for the individual child). They then come back to you to answer the question from the question card.
I used these products with my Ava who is in grade 2, and who has struggled a bit with her reading. She has made great use of the reading guide strip as she is reading. She is able to read many words, but I think she goes too quickly and then gets confused, so the reading guide strip helped her to stay on track and more focused. 

Ava really enjoyed having the Speedy Speller Handbook. It contains lists of 1,400 words, plus punctuation and other symbols, capitalization rules and several lists of common abbreviations. There is also space on each spelling list page, arranged alphabetically, to write one's own words. How sweet that one of Ava's first words to enter in her book was "Mom"!

The question cards are designed for use with your child's daily reading time. There are 30 cards in total and each one has a picture clue to go along with the question. The child is to choose one question per reading session. The purpose of the cards is to encourage reading comprehension. While I believe reading comprehension is crucial, it is not my main concern with Ava. Because we have read some many books aloud over the years, and discussed them, I think she has a pretty good foundation in understanding what we read. She has done a great job at answering the questions from the cards after her own reading times.

My main concern with her has been her actual ability to read the words. This program has helped her to slow down, focus, take her time and stay on track with the reading guide strip. She is more excited to read her books now and has been checking out more of them from the library. She is thrilled with her own little book of spelling words and wants to keep adding to her lists. 
We have not fully used the sticker charts, although we did start keeping track this month. The parent's manual has ideas for rewards once the child has completed a row of stickers. These rewards can include: extra computer time, a play date, a trip to the library, special board game time, books, bubbles, craft supplies and anything thing else you come up with to reward your child for their efforts. One of Ava's favourite rewards is to get to read a book aloud to Mom! 
The only thing I did not care for regarding this product was the "magic finger", which we found a little creepy (kind of like it belonged to the witch from The Wizard of Oz). I think some kind of "pointer" could be helpful, especially with younger kids who are just starting their reading adventure, but a green and red finger is not it. If it had been an animal or a character or even a cute vegetable, like a carrot, we would have liked and used it more. As it is, we kept the creepy finger hidden.
Overall, I recommend this product for homeschool and non-homeschool families, alike. This product can help a child who is at or even above reading level progress further and/or can help a child who is not on track get to where they need to be. 
To read more reviews, click on the banner below.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse 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. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Birthday Time!

Yesterday, our Ava-Love turned eight!!! She feels like she has reached a fantastic milestone . . . no more booster seat! She even went with me to take Austin to his class in the evening so that she could ride in the car for the first time without it. We had a fun day celebrating her sweet life!

Thank you for the birthday card and cheque, Gammy!!!!

Monkey bread for breakfast . . .

Thank you, Jacque and Joe, for the great new clothes! We had fun trying them on. Mommy loves the sparkly shoes!!!

And big sister, Emma, blessed us once again with her dessert-making skills! Ava requested Oreo Cheesecake this year . . .

Happy Birthday to our "Why Not?" girl! We love watching you grow and enjoy life so much! xoxo

Artistic Pursuits {Review}

ARTistic Pursuits, The Curriculum for Creativity is a wonderful, Colorado-based company that offers products for teaching art in the homeschool setting. They have just revised and updated their 3rd edition books. They offer material for the preschool level all the way up through high school.

Benjamin and I were given the opportunity to use and review their Elementary 4-5, Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition curriculum. Several of my children had the opportunity, while living in Canada, to take art lessons from an amazing teacher (we miss you, Jody!). We haven't be able participate in any art classes since being back in The States, so we were excited to have the opportunity to use this book. This book contains 92 pages with 68 lessons. It sells for $47.95 and is written for students, age 9 and up.

The recommended scheduling for these lessons is two classes per week, one hour per class. This is a gentle approach to art and I am enjoying it very much. The first unit covered space, and we learned about "line", "value" and "form". The material covered the basic concept of space and whether to turn our paper in a horizontal position or vertical position for drawing the object at hand. As you can see in the photo above, I read the lesson to/with Ben, at times. Other times he would read on his own.

The first drawing Ben worked on was of his Airsoft gun. (I'm sorry if this offends anyone. In our home, boys have the freedom to be boys.)

The first lesson also included a short mention of the artist, Emmanuel Leutze and included his painting Crossing the Delaware. We have always enjoyed learning about different artists, so I was happy to see this included in our studies. 

In the second unit, we learned about line and shape. We were encouraged to make observations of things that we encounter every day but to view them in a new way. I have to say that Benjamin is already a very, very observant person, but it was still fun to do this exercise. The featured artist was Oscar E. Berninghaus and his painting was Indian Farmer. As a cool aside, we had recently visited the National Museum of the American Indian in D. C., and Ben remembered seeing an exhibit for this artist. I love it when this kind of connection is made!

Below is one of Ben's drawings. He was to take a photo or an object and draw it, starting with the lines and then filling in the shape. The photo was a shot that he took of a swan in Canada several years ago. It's one of my favourite photos and it was quite challenging for him to draw.

These next two sketches are starters that Ben is working on of trees from the front view of our home. We are now in Unit 3 and learning about drawing texture. Ben will add to his drawings as we go along. We are very pleased with this art curriculum and look forward to what we are going to learn next!

Just a note about the art supplies you will need for this particular book. Here is the list of supplies needed:

Units 1-7:

4 - Ebony pencils

1 - vinyl eraser

1 - metal pencil sharpener

1 - sketch pad for drawing

1 - paper sack

1 - drawing board

Unit 8:

4 - sheets of scratch-art paper (black on white or colored background)

Units 9-10: additional supplies

1 - white colored pencil (Prismacolor)

8 - sheets black construction paper

1 - scissors

1 - glue stick

Units 11-14

1 - Pigma Graphic marker 1mm (pointed tip marker)

1 - Pigma Graphic marker 2mm (flat tip marker)

1 - ruler

I did not have most of these supplies on hand and had to purchase them. I went to my local Hobby Lobby, but ARTistic Pursuits also offers the complete Art Supply Packs for purchase.

To read more reviews, click on the banner below.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse 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. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Winner of the Veggie Tales DVD!!! {Updated}

Well, it turns out that Mary had won a DVD from another blog and would like to give someone else a chance to win. So I've consulted random.org once again and this time the winner is . . .

Mama V!!!

I will email you soon. And thanks to Mary for sharing the Veggie Tales love!

xo

*****************************************************************

Congratulations to . . .

marypopmom!!!

I will email you soon with the details!

And thank you to all of you who entered the giveaway! More to come soon.

Blessings on your day! xo