I Don't Want to be Exturbed

My Schnicklefritz is known for many things but being quiet is not one of them--if he's not humming a composition of his own he's making explosion noises.  Today on the way to church the back seat was silent.  My husband assumed he was admiring the falling snow and asked him what he saw out the window.  The question had to be repeated.  Finally a little voice said "Daddy, I don't want to be exturbed right now."  We hoped the giggles from the front seat about this new vocabulary word weren't exturbing him.  Finally he announced "I just finished counting to 300 by threes."

I had the opportunity to be a recipe tester for an upcoming Molly Green ebook.  We were assigned Sausage Macaroni and Cheese.  Anything with Mac 'n cheese already has my Schnickelfritz's approval, but we went ahead with this taste test to keep things honest (and I had to take a picture of the prepared dish).  The recipe was a simple, throw-it-all-in-a-crockpot deal.  The hard part was taking a picture--what color bowl should I use?  Does the flash wash out all the color?  Now the dish is starting to look dry.  I kept the picture honest--no photoshopping here.  When I flip though cookbooks I find I'm always trying the dishes with pictures first and I wanted to give other cooks a fair idea of what to expect.  I can't share the recipe here, but look for Molly Makes $7 (and under) Crock-Pot Dinners soon.

First Snow

We had the first snow of the season overnight.  While the east coast is measuring snow in inches and feet, we would have to use millimeters to amount to any significant number.  It didn't even fully cover the grass.  In the eyes of a seven-year old though, we had a winter wonderland.  My Schnickelfritz dressed himself early with four shirts and two pairs of pants and announced he was prepared to tackle the elements.  

He stamped the front yard with a snow angel before heading to the garage to find a sled.  There is a slight hill in our back yard and I was surprised to see he was able to travel quite a distance considering how little snow we actually had.   In fact, I became a little concern because just past the barn it becomes a steep, tree covered ravine.  I could see Fritz getting braver and closer to the edge before "bailing out."  

Review: Maestro Classics

I love reading aloud with my son, but there are times when it helps to have someone else to the reading for me--during car trips, when I'm making dinner, etc.   That's when we pop in a CD like  Maestro Classics' The Tortoise and the Hare.

The concept of music playing an integral part of the story telling is not new.  We're probably all familiar with The Sorcerer's Apprentice or Peter and the Wolf (both of which are available in this series).  But Maestro Classics have gone a step further and created original compositions to go with other familiar children's stories, in this case one of Aesop's Fables.    They've also greatly expanded the story --in addition to falling asleep, the hare has time to stop at a bistro for a bowl of French onion soup. 

I have to say that the music really adds to the story. In fact, it was the hare's theme music that first caught my Schnickelfritz's attention and got him to stop riding his plasmacar around the basement.  The music and the lively narration then kept him rapt  in amusement.    He also picked up on two morals in the story:  the time-honored "Slow and steady wins the race,"  and thanks to the story's expansion, "It's not good to brag."  This CD is best used for car trips or during active times of the day, not as bedtime fare.  The lively music and narration would probably prolong the time it takes to fall asleep.

After the story came a track with more information about Aesop's original version and a track about the musical instruments and themes.  There is also a stand alone performance of The Pretzel Vendor of Paris song that occurs within the story.   Once you've been informed and educated there is a second opportunity to listen to The Tortoise and the Hare.   I'll confess that Fritz went back to riding his plasmacar during the informative tracks.   Also be sure to check out the booklet in the jewel case.  There are puzzles, information about the orchestra, and an explanation about why this is the "Tortoise and the Hare" and not "Turtle and the Rabbit." 

The Tortoise and the Hare CD is available at Maestro Classics for $16.98 or you can purchase three of their titles for $45.00 with the coupon code MAESTRO45 .   You can read what my fellow Crewmates thought of The Tortoise and the Hare by clicking here .

I received a free CD of The Tortoise and the Hare for the purposes of completing this review.  I received no other compensation.

 

Review: Mathletics

As we progress through this year on the Homeschool Crew, I realize how fortunate I am to have a son that enjoys math.  There certainly seem to be a lot of products out there devoted to making math more fun (or at least tolerable) for students.  Our latest review product was a subscription to Mathletics , a website that helps students around the world learn and drill mathmatics.

Because this is an online service there are certain minimum requirements

1. 
   
   Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS 10.4 and above
   
   


2. 
   
   512 MB of RAM
   
   


3. 
   
   Internet Explorer (7 or above) or Mozilla Firefox (2 or above)
   
   


4. 
   
   The latest Adobe Flashplayer
   
   


5. 
   
   Broadband internet connection preferred (we were able to use this fine with dial-up)
   
   

The annual subscription for one student is $59.  (DEAL--if you know the human calculator's favorite number is 9 you can save $10)

After subscribing, you set up your student: creating his or her own avatar, and assigning a grade level.  A word of caution: be sure to review the curriclum under the "About Mathletics" tab on their website to get an idea where to place your student.  I set up Fritz as a 1st grader to match where he would be assigned, based on his age, if he were in public school.  But as homeschoolers we know that our students can be doing 3rd grade math and 1st grade spelling.  Fritz is currently working on adding columns of 4 digit numbers, so the 1st grade "1 + 3" questions were absurdly too easy for him.  You can adjust grade levels for you student, but only a limited number of times. 

Fritz enjoyed the "work at your own pace" portion of site.  Most of his questions involved pointing and clicking at one of the possible answers.  (He's really in a gameshow mood right now and this reminded him of Who Wants to be a Millionaire).   Using a mouse is much easier for him than hunting and pecking keys.  The screens were colorful and he enjoyed watching his progress on the side meter.

The whole program seems to be incentive driven--he could earn certificates after earning a certain number of points.  Reaching certain point levels also unlock new features.  They can also "purchase" items for their avatar--new hair styles or sunglasses, etc.  Fritz doesn't play online or video games so the whole avatar feature held no appeal for him.  He accepted the standard model and didn't even try to make it look like himself.

As the teacher/parent, I was able to log on with my own password and see reports on Fritz's activities--when and how long he was logged on, which activities he tried and his scores,  and the number of points he scored.   There was a separate report that showed his strengths and weaknesses. It requires a sufficient amount of activity to determine  what these are.  When I had Fritz as a 1st grader it always said insufficient data under the weaknesses (he was getting 100s on everything).

This is a bit pricey for our budget and since Fritz is already excelling in math I don't think we will be subscribing at this time.  If you have a student that needs a little more "fun factor" in math you may want to give Mathletics a try.   It may also appeal to those with a competitive streak -- there is a daily listing of top scorers from around the world.

To see what my fellow crewmates think of Mathletics, click here.

Note: I received a free 45 day subscription to Mathletics for the purposes of completing this review.  I received no other compensation.

Advent Conspiracy

Did you know that Americans spent over $450 billion on Christmas last year?   Did you know that it would only take a small fraction of that (about $10 billion)  to make sure that everyone on the planet had clean water to drink? 

These are some of the things our church has been learning as we participate in the Advent Conspiracy.   We all complain about how commercial Christmas has become--well know we're learning how to do something about it.  It's just four simple steps.

Worship Fully   Jesus is the reason for the season.   Keep him first.

Spend Less   What if you got one less present for everyone in your family?  What if you stopped buying presents out of obligation for you second cousin's hairdresser's mailman?  What if you made rather than buy some presents?

Give More      Give the things money can't buy--give of yourself, give time.  Have a family game night.  Make cookies together and deliver them to the neighbors.  Adopt a grandparent at church and invite them to dinner.

Love All   Share God's love in a tangible way.  Take some of the money you didn't spend on Christmas and share it with those really in need.  I doubt you have $10 billion to bring clean water to the world, but it only takes $10 to bring clean water to one child for life.

This year Schnickelfritz and I made loaves of persimmon bread for the neighbors and Toolman's co-workers.  We're also making hand warmers and heatpacks from flannel sheets and deer corn. 

(You can find the instructions here).   I sew and he pours in the corn.  Toolman and I are spending less than $20 on our gifts to each other.  We'll be sending our money to Living Water International.

A small town Christmas

The first community event we attended when we moved to Missouri was the Hometown Christmas party.  They close down the streets around the courthouse square and the merchants invite you to step in from the cold and get your face painted or decorate Christmas ornaments.  Where else can you get a ride in an open sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer (pay no attention to the red Kowasaki 4X4 in the very front).

There were big barrels holding bonfires for roasting marshmallows,  giant urns with hot chocolate, and hot dogs to eat.  The cafe off the square made dozens of sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

You can see the penguin Schnickelfritz had painted by someone in the insurance agency.  I had a snowman on my cheek.  While we were holding very still despite the ticklish brush, another little boy came in.  They asked what he wanted painted and he answered "A mustache."  One of the ladies painted on a curly, handlebar mustache.  Little did this kid know what a trend he had started.  Fritz immediately requested a mustache to go with his penguin.  As the day went on we saw dozens of boys and girls sporting facial hair--some in traditional colors, some in red and green.

As dusk approached (around 5:30), there was a parade around the square.  Hand decorated trailers were pulled by tractors and pickups.  This is probably as close as I can get to living in Jan Karon's Mitford.