Review: North Star Games

Ho Ho Ho!  We're in the thick of the holiday season right now and you're probably either hosting or will be attending a party or two in the next few weeks.  Recently the crew received a party game to review and you may want to have it on hand to play with friends and family.

Wits & Wagers Family is really a junior edition of the award winning Wits & Wagers game by North Star Games.  The scoring is simplified, the questions have more of a kid appeal, but it can still be played by all.  "It's good for ages 8 to senile," as my mother put it.  There are five different colored sets of pieces, but you can play as teams so the number of people playing is unlimited.

The rules are easy to pick up:  A question with a numerical answer is read aloud.  Each person (or team) writes their answer on a dry erase board and the answers are placed on a table in order from smallest to largest--there is a preprinted default card with a 1 on it.  Then each person or team has a large and small playing piece, called a meeple, that they place on the card they believe has the closest to the correct answer without going over.  You can place them both on your own card or split them up and put them on separate cards to improve your scoring chances.

The person who wrote the winning answer (closest without going over) scores one point.  Small meeples on the winning card score one point, large meeple score two.  The maximum anyone can score in one round is 4 points.  The winner is the first to reach 15 points.

Unlike most trivia games, you're really NOT supposed to know the answers to the question.  The fun comes in the guessing and seeing how diverse the answers can be.  In fact, we "threw out" the questions with obvious answers like "How many teaspoons in a tablespoon."   Sometimes in addition to discussing the actual answer we mused on who sat around investigating the answer (who really thought up the one about how many tennis balls you can fit in a dog's mouth?)     We're not really up on pop culture in our family so some questions may be more obvious to you than us (eg. How many books are in the Lemony Snicket series?)   Once we were asked the height of the world's tallest roller coaster.  Schnickelfritz, who wants to build an amusement park called Seven Flags when he grows up knew exactly.  When he scored four points in that round he declared Wits & Wagers "The best game ever."

The game only comes with 150 questions.  This may be enough if you only pull the game out for occasional parties.  If you want it to be a regular in your family game night line up like we did, you may purchase the expansion pack (this is really for the original Wits & Wagers edition so the questions may be over kids' heads).  As a homeschooler, I can think up dozens of sources to write my own questions.  Pull out a history book--When was the Fall of Rome?   How many casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg?  Perhaps you prefer science--What is the diameter of the largest eagle's nest?  What percentage of hatched sea turtles make it to the ocean?   I'm certainly not touting this as an educational game, but it could be fun to write questions throughout the school year and then "test" their retention level with a game at year end.

Wits & Wagers Familyretails for $19.99.   North Star's website is being updated to help you find retailers near you and is currently directing visitors to Target's website for purshases.  The expansion pack is $14.99 for 700 additional questions.  

You can see what my fellow Homeschool Crewmates think of  Wits & Wagers Family game by clicking here.

Disclaimer: I received a free Wits & Wagers Family game for the purpose of completing this review.  I received no other compensation for my honest opinion.

Pressure Canning

It was a day for the  homeschool teachers to switch roles and become students for a day.  One of the moms contacted the extension office to arrange a class in pressure cooking and making jams and jellies.  With the downturn in the economy,  more and more are pulling out Grandma's canner and planting gardens to preserve the harvest.  A WORD OF WARNING--do not use Grandma's old recipes or any recipes dated before 1989.    Science caught up with home economics at that time--the ability to test pH levels of food and put thermometers inside the jars.  Some things that used to be canned in boiling water now need pressure canning.  Other things like pureed pumpkin shouldn't be canned at all at home.  The danger isn't that you'll get peas exploded on your ceiling, but that those jars can harbor potentially deadly botulism.

For class we canned carrots and made quick grape jelly and a wonderful spiced blueberry jam.  We got to taste a little leftover jam while it was still warm.  Guess what my husband's fellow workers will be getting for Christmas?  I ran right over to Walmart (which still had a good supply of jelly jars).

Give More

We've reached week 3 in our Advent Conspiracy--Give More.  I have to say the evidence of giving was all over the church today as the presents  were due for the Crisis Pregnancy center.  Each year the need has been greater and each year our church has sponsored more families.  There were 400 tags on the giving wreath this year.  Our church also takes responsibility to ring the Salvation Army bells several days during the season.  I'm not saying this to brag,  I just want you to know that as a congregation we've embraced the whole concept of spending less on ourselves or giving unappreciated gifts out of obligation and are instead sharing with those who truly need to feel God's love in a tangible way right now.   As part of Advent Conspiracy we are also giving financial gifts to Living Water, an orphanage in Mexico, and a Safe House for abused women in children in our county.

Giving to those in need is only half of the giving more equation.  The other half is giving more of ourselves--making time to spend with those who matter most.  Some of the best gifts don't necessarily have to cost much, but they do require imagination and effort on our part.  The pastor shared one example of a young man who gave his dad a bag of coffee beans.  The beans could only be ground and brewed when the donor and donee were together and the time had to be spent with the dad sharing memories with his son.  I bet the dad never smelled coffee again without thinking of the precious time he and his son spent together.

Last year I gave my father a copy of a cookbook from one of his favorite restaurants and told him to place his order--entree, side dish and dessert and invited him over for a family meal.   Quality time can also come from making the gifts, not just giving them.  I also got to spend time with my son making persimmon loaves to give to my husband's co-workers.  (I find watching Ratatouille before we start builds his enthusiasm to cook).

You can learn more about Advent Conspiracy at their website.

Hanukkah

We've hit the wall in homeschooling--you know the one between Thanksgiving and Christmas when nobody is very enthusiastic about learning spelling rules or how birds migrate.  So we're doing a mini unit study on Christmas around the world (the one thing Schnickelfritz is still gung-ho about is geography).   Someone from my homeschool co-op made an open invitation to come see how her family celebrates Hanukkah--so we expanded our study to include this Jewish holiday.    I must say how impressed I was by all the effort she put into the day.

When we arrived we were offered hot chocolate and donuts.  Donuts are fried in oil and the miracle of a small amount of oil lasting eight days is at the heart of Hanukkah.

After a brief lesson (not quite brief enough for Schnickelfritz) we had a craft project.  She had made up bundles with craft sticks, paper flames and Bible verses for each child to make their own Hanukiah.   It has eight candles with a ninth "servent candle" raised in the center.

The children then got to take turns lighting a real candle.

Then it was time to learn the Dreidel game.  The symbols on the four sides stand for "A Great Miracle Happened There."  (The dreidels made in Israel say "A Great Miracle Happened Here).  Each child got a pile of chocolate gelt to play with.  And they quickly learned what each symbol meant--they whole trip home Fritz chanted "Shin, Shin, put one in."   The dreidels were pulled out and played with when the Jews feared someone might burst in and discover their illegal Torah study.

And finally we were served latkes for lunch.   These were made with mashed sweet potatoes rather than shredded potatoes.  But they were delicious served with sour cream and garlic salt.  Once again we were cooking with oil to remind us of the miracle.

Spend Less

Week two of the Advent Conspiracy focuses on Spending Less.  This is not the advocation of standing in line at 3 AM to catch the bargains of Black Friday sales.   It is instead, the conscious decision to not purchase the obligatory fruitcake for your second cousin or perhaps decide that everyone in the family could still be happy with one less present. 

According to their website,  Advent Conspiracy claims Americans spent $450 billion of Christmas in 2008.  How much of that was spent in that aisle each store has filled with gifts for people you don't even know well enough to know what they'd like for Christmas--coffee mugs, yuletide ties (or worse, underwear),  or generic gift certificates.   

Before you call me the Grinch, I'm not saying you shouldn't express your love or appreciation to these people.  Next week we'll learn how to give of ourselves, not of our pocketbooks.  And the money we save by not buying unappreciated gifts--well according to Advent Conspiracy it would only cost $10 billion to make sure everyone in the world had access to clean water.  In addition to supporting Living Water, or church is also donating to an orphanage in Mexico and a battered women's safe house right in our own county.   Oops, I think I'm getting ahead of myself.  Stay tuned for next week's topic :  Give More.

You can learn more about Advent Conspiracy at their website.

Review: Smart Kids

Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of sitting in the large green recliner with my mom and taking turns reading pages of books.  I’ve been carrying on the “reading chair” tradition with my Schnickelfritz –and sadly, I know our days of fitting together in the chair are numbered.  A recent Homeschool Crew review product gave us another chance to build some reading chair memories. 

 Nanuq: A Baby Polar Bear’s Story  is one of Smart Kids My Animal Family series.  The young title character has a brother, Suka, who is all play and no work.  While mother bear is trying to teach her cubs the necessary skills for survival or just catch up on her sleep (sounds like a homeschool mom to me), Suka is only interested in goading his brother to wrestle.   When he is rescued from a potentially deadly encounter with some walruses, Suka finally learns that there is a time for being serious as well.

 I was glad for the opportunity the book provided to talk with Fritz about the need to devote time to chores, sleep, and studying—yes, he’s one of those little fellows that would rather be building forts all day.  He did get the point of the story as well.

 Fritz didn’t care to sit beside me and look at the pictures though.  When I had the chance to study the pictures rather than read I didn’t linger too long either.  I can only describe the illustrator’s style as dissonance for the eyes.  Somehow the pictures seemed slightly out of focus and I wanted to rub my eyes to remedy the problem.   Just be aware of this if you have a child with sensory issues.  I did share the story with some Thanksgiving guests and they didn’t seem to mind the pictures as much from a distance so maybe this book is better read like the librarian at storytime-seated in front of the kids.



 Far more enjoyable for us was the included DVD.   Crisp videos of polar bears in the wild filmed by the BBC were narrated by a child portraying Nanuq.   There were also fun polar bear facts and a music video.

In the book (behind the DVD) was a card with a passcode to log in to the MAF Kids Club website.  Your kids can create their own explorer avatars and play several games themed to the arctic habitat of Nanuq.  If you register other books (currently there are five) you can explore the ocean, the jungle, or the savanah with dolphins, chimpanzees and elephants.   There are virtual jigsaw puzzles to complete or more video-gamish activities like trying to "catch" snowflakes.  Nothing is too difficult--the website is geared to kids K-2.

Smart Kidz bookstore has Nanuq and the four other My Animal Family books for sale at $10.39 plus s/h.  You can see what my fellow Homeschool Crewmates thought of Nanuq by clicking here.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Nanuq: A Polar Bear's Story for the purpose of completing this review.  I received no other compensation.

Worship Fully

 

Our church is starting its third year of involvement with Advent Conspiracy.  For the next four Sundays leading up to Christmas we will cover one of the four tenets:  Worship Fully,  Spend Less, Give More, Love All.   The goal is to escape the commercial trap of Christmas and return to the message of God's love for the world displayed in tangible ways--like drilling wells for clean water around the world.

Today's message was to Worship Fully.   You may have seen the sign "Jesus is the Reason for the Season."  That's true, but so much more than that as well.  It's not enough to think only of the baby in the manger.  He grew into a man, he was the perfect sacrifice, he is our Redeemer.  He deserves our praise and focus on more than just the 25th of December.

For a sermon illustration our minister invited two volunteers on the podium.   Normally when our pastor asks for volunteers my husband and I try to avoid making eye contact--I won't go into the reasons now.  The two volunteers were seated at a cafe table and the minister offered to serve them lunch.  He opened a cooler and pulled out the Thanksgiving turkey carcass in a Ziploc bag saying "I think you can pull a few bits of meat off that."  He follow up with stale rolls left out for three days, cold mashed potatoes and congealed gravy.  The two volunteers were beginning to wish they had avoided eye contact as well.   The point being was this is how some of us worship God--He get's the scraps of our time, the change left in our pockets.

Having made the two guests suffer enough, the pastor's wife came from the baptistry area with two hot plates filled with a lovely Thangsgiving meal.  We are to give God our first fruits, our best -- knowing He can take them and turn them into so much more, just like the loaves and fishes.

Next Week:  Spend Less