Attack at the Arena by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker

Beth and Patrick are off on another adventure.  This time they will visit ancient Rome as they search for a silver chalice in order to save Albert from the mysterious Lord Darkthorne.  The cousins enter the imagination station, a time machine, in Mr. Whitacker's workshop and exit in an arena in ancient Rome.  A tiger starts to chase them but they are saved by a slave.  Thus begins a series of adventures for the cousins as they try to find and bring the silver cup back to Mr. Whitacker.  They meet up with Telemachus and the emperor Honorious and see one of the Roman games.

Here is book 2 in the new historical fiction series from Focus on the Family for children.  Written by Mrianne Hering and Paul McCusker for ages 7 and up with a grade level rating of 2.3. 

The story line moves quickly and keeps the reader's attention as the characters move through many different scenes and meet a variety of people.

My 11, 9, and 7 year old children each read and enjoyed this Christian fiction book.  The story line was interesting and included some details of what ancient Rome was like.  I give this book four stars and my children each give it two thumbs up.  This book would be a great addition to an ancient Rome study.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in order to write this review and have shared my honest opinion.

Today

I'm trying not to slack off on blogging but my back is hurting and I've been spending my afternoons in bed resting.  My upper back is finally feeling better but now my lower back is acting up.  The pain and muscle tension wears me out.  I'm stretching and walking each day and trying to keep my stress level down.  If I get stressed out I can feel my back trying to lock up.  It's really annoying!  I'm hoping all of this means my back muscles are getting back to work after all of the visits I've made to the chiropractor this last month. 

I am able to be up and about until after lunch so we get most of our schoolwork finished each day.  The children have been good about their chores and my oldest daughter(11) has been offering to help me if I need it.  The little boys lie down in my room for nap time while I lay in bed watching a movie.  I could read instead of watching a movie on the laptop but the movie seems to relax me more than a book.  I guess it's less work for my brain. 

The older children play out in the sandbox and take their turns playing the wii.  My oldest son is home from school this week so he has been able to keep on eye on everything while I slack off.  My husband says it's good for me to take some time to rest.  I'm trying not to feel guilty for all of the time I'm not doing what I think I should be doing. 

I would like to get out to the garden to do some more planting this week.  Nathan dug a hole for me today so I was able to plant a bare root rose my husband bought for me.  I hope it makes it.  I have killed all of the bare root strawberries I ever planted but keep hoping the rose will make it. 

I should be sewing.  I have not made any more progress on my Scottie dog pillow.  I'm not sure I will even make it now.  I'm trying to decide whether I will view it as clutter or not before I start working on it again.  I have not quilted in forever but I did work on knitting last night.  I'm working my way through an instruction book to practice different patterns before I begin another project. 

I have been taking photos or reading my camera manual everyday.  My husband just ordered a 50mm lens and I can't wait to try it out.  I'm hoping to be able to do some portraits of my oldest for his senior pictures.  We are trying to figure out where to go besides a park and the mountains for nice backgrounds.  I want the pics to reflect his personality.  We will definitely be taking some with his laptop to show off his computer nerd side.

That's about all that's going on around here, well, besides the general lawn and garden destruction taking place outside but I'll save that for my garden post this week.

TOS Crew Review: Latin Alive 1

Latin Alive Book 1 by Karen Moore and Gaylan Dubose from Classical Academic Press.

My son Nathan and I had the chance to review the Latin Alive Book 1 bundle which includes a softcover Latin Alive Book 1 Student Text, Teacher's Edition, Latin Alive 1 DVD and CD set.  Book 1 contains 29 chapters and 7 unit review chapters.  The Teacher's Edition is identical to the student book but includes extra information throughout each chapter along with the answers to the exercises.  Latin Alive is for grades 7 and up.

Each chapter starts with a Latin motto and its definition used by the U.S. government or one of the states.  The motto is included to show students how Latin is still being used in this modern age.  Next, new vocabulary is introduced along with an exercise to help you learn the new words.  And then different language concepts are presented along with exercises to practice each concept.  The lesson ends with a chapter reading, culture corner, derivative detective and let's talk section to give the students more practice with their new vocabulary and a review of the vocabulary from previous chapters.

Each unit ends with a reading section in which you read a passage in Latin and answer comprehension questions.  7 tests, one for each unit are included in the teacher's edition.

The website Headventure Land offers further free support through vocabulary games, videos, and readers.  While at Classical Academic Press you can download charts, conjugation worksheets and other printable resources.

The DVD is a live presentation of the book by Karen Moore.  Ms. Moore is pleasant to listen to and work with as she presents each lesson.  It was much easier to learn pronunciation and to understand unfamiliar topics after watching the lesson DVD.  We would have been lost without it.

My son and I took this course together.  The presentation was simple and easy to understand.  With the help of the DVD we were able to progress through one lesson per week.  As with any foreign language you will need to spend extra study time on the vocabulary lists in order to achieve mastery.  New information is presented bit by bit and builds on what you have already learned to keep from overwhelming you. I think it will be exciting to be reading ancient authors in their own language by the end of the book as is the main goal of this program.

I would highly recommend using the DVD lessons if you undertake this study!  It is nice to be able to watch a lesson over again for review or if you don't understand it the first time.  Even though the book contains pronunciation guides I found it much easier to learn how to pronounce new words by listening to Karen.

I used the online resources to print out verb conjugation charts which I hung next to our computer where we study Latin.  We practiced conjugating new words by pointing to the chart and saying them aloud instead of writing each one.  It was also helpful to be able to look up at the charts as we watched a lesson with new verb tenses so we could compare them to what we had already learned. 

We liked using the flash dash flashcard practice at Headventure Land. It made practice a little more interesting as you try to beat the time and get the highest score possible.  You can practice words from any chapter with three levels of difficulty.  I also found the video readings helpful for learning to pronounce Latin words.  There are videos, games, and readers for younger students which are helpful for those studying Latin Alive book 1.

Latin Alive Book 1 Bundle
$139.95

I received a free copy of this  Book and DVD set in order to write this review and have shared my honest opinion.  To read more reviews by other members of the crew please visit TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Poor Chicken!

The white egg is a large store bought egg.  The green egg was a double-yolker laid by one of our chickens.  I hope she was o.k.!  The children ate it for breakfast before I got a chance to take a pic of the double yolk.  Elijah was excited to find this egg in the chicken coop.  He even measured it! 

Book Review: The Fight of Our Lives

The Fight of Our Lives by William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn shows us how public opinion has changed since 9/11.  Gone is the call to arms against terrorism.  Political correctness now dictates that it isn't even spoken of in an official manner anymore.  Not much is mentioned of radical Islam as we strive to be a country that embraces every religion.

To understand the issues we need to see why and how things have changed so we can know what to do in the future to keep the America we know and love.  The authors show us what happened between 9/11 and now to make us a complacent people and why that is dangerous to our survival as a nation.

This book explains where our weaknesses are and how to get back into the fight before it's too late.  The book starts with the tragedy of Fort Hood and the controversy surrounding Nidal Hasan.  The authors try to awake the reader to the problems surrounding us.  It is time to take action before another attack takes place on our country. 

Sometimes as individuals we feel helpless to do anything that will help change what is going on at the national level.  But we can do something.  I can educate my children to know what our country was founded on and how our leaders in Washington and our state capitals were intended to govern.  I can refuse to give in to political correctness and call terrorism and terrorists by those names.  I can give my children something to believe in and live for so they won't fall away from their moral values.

This book has helped me see what has happened over the last 10 years and has given me the desire to see change.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishers and have shared my honest opinion.

Time Out For Manners

I have my children take a time out once in awhile. We were discussing manners at the dinner table and I remembered the manners books I had ordered for the younger boys and girls.



There's the time out chair next to the piano.

I had the brilliant idea to place them across from the timeout chair on the windowsill.  Now, when I send them to the timeout chair for something like calling their sibling a name I ask them to find and read the relevant passage in the book as they sit waiting to talk to me about what they did.

After they get up I like to have them read the passage aloud before they go apologize for their unkind act.  

Now I just need to remember to use the books once in awhile to cover general manners. Sometimes my children just think I'm making things up but if I back what I'm saying up with something from a book they will take it more seriously.

I am including this little parenting tip in next week's Christian Home Magazine.  A new issue is out each week.  Go visit Mrs. White's blog to read the current issue.  If you would like to include something you've written click the button below.

Be Prepared!

You know how you are sick for a few days and when you get back on your feet again the house is a huge mess that you have to clean up?  That is the worst way to get back into your usual routine.  Here is how I try to prevent that from happening.

My back is currently spazzing out and I'm spending some time  in the below pictured environment.  We are having guests over tomorrow and I can't do much to prepare the house which could be a disaster if I were the only one who knew what needed to be done, but I'm not.

All of my children help with the household chores and if they do them each day our house will be relatively clean and in decent order.  There are still those things that only a woman's touch can take care of but I can safely go to bed for a few days to rest without having piles of laundry and dishes to tackle when I'm better. 

Below is our little chore center.  One clip holds the weekly zone cleaning which I will take care of.  These are the extra jobs that need to be done in each part of the house once a month, such as, washing windows, a really good vacuum, or getting at those cobwebs.  My children can do many of these jobs also and I will ask them for help when I need it.

One clip holds the chore lists for the children.  Each child has a list including our two year old.  The chores on their lists are vacuuming, dusting, wiping appliances, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning their bedrooms, etc.  Each child is also in charge of one room.  They have to make sure everyone collects their belongings each day and do any little extra jobs like sweeping to keep it reasonably tidy.  The children also do the dishes.  I have six children who are capable of helping in the kitchen so this isn't a lot of work for them!  My nine year old is in charge of the chickens and receives twenty five cents per dozen eggs for taking care of them.  I have also taught the children how to cook and they handle their breakfast and lunch each day and even dinner more often than I want to admit.  They like cooking and feel priveledged when they are old enough to join the kitchen crew.

The third and fourth clips hold their paychecks and their earnings statements.  I mark off one point for each of four categories for each day.  They earn one point each for school, chores, getting along with others, and picking up the house.  I award extra points if they do extra work.  Each point is worth five minutes of wii or computer time.  They may spend thirty minutes per day. 

And this last picture I threw in for fun.  We are in the middle of renovations and started a graffiti wall on this unfinished area.  Gumby, a plastic snake, and little plastic men have been by to visit.  Right now a frog from my son's birthday card is hanging out to make us smile and not worry about all the work we need to do to our house.

I'm including this article in the next issue of the Christian Home Magazine. You can find it at Mrs. White's blog along with daily encouragement for homemakers.  If you would like to join in the fun of writing for the magazine click on the button below.

Fit Mommy Friday

David napping in the middle of the hula hoop I bought to add fun to my exercise.

I am late again, sorry!  I was going to write this last night but my back spazzed out and I ended up in bed early so I could lay there and not sleep well until after 2am.  I had another episode this morning so I've been sent to bed to rest for the day and I'm borrowing my husband's laptop.

I had a decent exercise week and as usual I gained some weight, .2 pounds.  Isn't that lovely?  I do feel smaller and my abs are looking flatter.  My hubby keeps encouraging me by telling me I'm gaining muscle.  I'll believe him.  I think I'll just stop weighing myself each week.  Who needs to hear the snotty little wii groan when I step on the fit board to be weighed anyway?

I'm not sure what to do about my exercise since I made my back spazz out again.  I carried a heavy planter and I think that's what caused it.  I stopped doing push-ups and upper body work and have been concentrating on my legs and behind.  I guess I'll just keep focusing on that and add in some weights for my biceps and triceps as long as I don't use my back muscles.  I want to build some upper body strength but I guess I have to let my back muscle heal first. 

I have a knot in my mid back on my right side and that's where all of the pain comes from.  My husband has been massaging it each night before bed and it has been shrinking.  I just don't know how long it will take to heal and I am tired of waiting!

Well, anyway, I did well with eating fermented and raw foods at each meal.  I'm adding a tiny bit of lemon juice to my water today.  I'm considering starting some goat milk cheese.  I've been off diary except for butter since September of last year and I think it's time to add some back.  I know I don't need dairy but I feel I'm missing some nutrients and the dairy will help.

This week I will rest as needed.  I will admit my limitations and let one of my strong guys help me instead of being impatient and overworking.  I am also going to try to do more T-Tapp since that can work my upper back gently and help my back stay in proper alignment.

How did your week go?

Timeberdoodle Review: Daily Geography Practice

Timberdoodle

Daily Geography Practice published by Evan-Morr for Grade 5.

This reproducible daily practice book contains 36 weekly sections to get your students up to National Geography standards.  Each section begins with a page describing the lesson for the week.  Each week is on a different topic.  For example, week one is about parts of a map.  The first page tells the teacher what the student will be learning and how to present it, also what additional resources(map, globe) to use to teach the lesson.  There is a vocabulary section right on the page which makes it easy to explain the new words each day they are used in the lesson.  The answer key is on the teachers page so you have everything you need for the whole week on one page.  There are 3 pages to copy and hand out to the students.  In lesson one the handouts are a map of the U.S. and two pages of questions for days M-F.  Each day the student answers two questions with an extra challenge on Friday.  The first week's challenge is to find the great lakes on a map.  this book also contains 36 transparencies of the handouts to use as you teach the lesson.

I used this book with my 3rd and 5th grade students.  It was easy to implement without any teacher prep.  I just opened the book to the lesson, showed my students the page as I explained what they were looking at and then went over the vocabulary.  After we talked about the new skills for each week I asked them Monday's questions and let them answer aloud.  Then each day of the week after that I would ask them the new questions and explain anything they didn't understand.  This takes us about 5 minutes per day to use and my students enjoy it.  My children object to worksheets but I had no problem converting the lessons to oral work.  I will print out the maps when they need to label or draw in details.  You could come up with different ways to reinforce each lesson by using the map beyond what is listed in the book.

I think this is a quick and easy way to get some geography into your school week with a minimal time investment.

Beginning Geography published by Evan-Moor for grades K-2.

This book contains 93 reproducible activity pages and 2 student friendly, colored wall maps.  3 review pages are included to be used as a review or quiz to assess what the students have learned.  Beginning Geography starts out with the basics such as "What is a map" and ends with a section on the different continents, including their locations and the animals that live there.  Each activity page is interesting and they are completed by coloring, cut and past, filling in the blanks, drawing, or circling the answer.

My daughter Sarah, a first grade student, helped me review this book.  I made a copy of each page for her to work on.  She is a good reader and was able to do each page on her own after I presented any new concepts.  She enjoyed her work and actually asked to do a second page most days.  Sometimes she didn't want to do the page exactly as directed so after I asked her the answers I let her customize the worksheet.  My five year old did a few of the first worksheets before giving up.  His is not writing words yet and some of the concepts are above his comprehension so we will wait a year or two and try again.

I think this is a great intro book for geography study.  The only teacher prep needed is to copy the pages and hand one out each day.

I appreciate the variety of ways the topics are handled.  My daughter liked coloring and cutting and gluing in order to complete each page.  The worksheets are easy to customize to your student's learning style.

I received free copies of these books from Timberdoodle in order to write this review which is my honest opinion.

Why Do You Blog?

My daughter agreed to be my guinea pig when I tried out the portrait setting on my new camera.

Just curious. 

The reasons I blog have changed since I started almost two years ago.  I started this blog to share what we were doing in our garden and around the house with my mom who lives out of state.  She doesn't read my blog so I started writing about other things.

She's wearing a St. Patrick's day shirt that I forgot to give her on St. Patrick's day.

Then I got into reviewing and you will usually find at least one review each week.  I try to also blog on a "real" topic each day I post a review. 

Umm, mom, do you know what you're doing?

Now I'm starting to include some of the things I write as I practice writing daily.  That's what was up with yesterday! 

It's kinda cold out here.

I'm not sure what I want my blog to be about or if I want to confine myself to certain topics.  I just want to build on the habit of publishing something each day.

She did laugh every time the flash popped up when I didn't want it to.

Do you blog for comments?  I go back and forth with that issue.  I want to love blogging but I feel like a dork if I don't get any comments.  I don't want to write only for comments though. 

Another one!

I would like to share something which will enrich your life each day but some days I don't feel I have it together enough to advise anyone on anything.  Plus, I feel bossy when I'm always telling you how I do things.  I don't want you to think, I think, I'm all that. 

This is not what I agreed to! 

So what's up with your blog and blogging habit?

I Am Alone in the Cool Blueness of the Pacific

I imagine myself at the beach listening to the breaking waves with my feet dug into sun warmed sand. 

The beach, it is my escape.  I rode the waves, floating out beyond the breakers as I labored with my babies. 

The sounds of people become a gentle murmur as I float, far away from the shore.  The swells lift my body gently and then let me down again as the salty water holds me.  I lean my head back, eyes closed and enjoy the heat and light of the sun as it shies its brightness through my eyelids.  Sometimes I think I could sleep out there, floating on the ocean, great depths of water beneath me.  I should be afraid of what could be below me in the dark, but I'm not. 

The sun is hot and the water cool.  I feel safe.  Safe from critical eyes, work and life.  Safe to be myself with my thoughts.  I am silent as I float alongside my friend.  We both are.  It seems wrong to speak and pull ourselves from our safe ocean world.  Finally the water chills us and we swim, then body surf, our way back to shore to lay on the hot sand and warm ourselves before returning to the comfort of the ocean. 

Thousands of people on shore, hundreds playing in the water, yet I am alone in the cool blueness of the Pacific. 

Trouble Together

Hemingway on why we write, "Not the why, but the what."

My oldest two children have always wanted my attention although now they have different ways of seeking it than when they were little boys.

The culprits!

After a long morning of working and playing with two energetic little boys and a baby I needed a break.  I sent the boys down to their room each day while the baby was napping so I could rest.  I would stretch out on the couch with a good book and relax. 

Every once in awhile I'd see one boy or the other peeking around the corner to see what I was doing.  Sometimes I'd send them back down to their room but most of the time I ignored them.  Whenever they saw me watching them back they would run down the stairs.  That was a fun game for them for a few days.

Thing 1

One day as I was having adventures in Jane Austin's world I saw a little boy out of the corner of my eye.  He ran up next to me, set something red on the floor and ran back to the stairwell.  I heard some whispering and then quiet laughter.  Then another little boy ran back, picked up the object and ran back to the stairs.  Then I would hear the footsteps of both boys as they ran back down to their room.  This happened a few times before they wrenched me from my imaginary world. 

I looked at the object placed next to me and then my oldest son, now bolder than before, as he stood in the hallway and counted down 3, 2, 1.  When he reached 1 he pushed down a plunger as he watched me for some kind of reaction.  Then he grabbed his legos and ran for his room as his brother joined him in laughter.  Then I realized that the object they kept placing next to me was a bomb made from legos.  That got my attention but I continued to ignore them.  They played this game for a few days before they moved onto a new way to get my attention. 

Thing 2

This is one of our favorite stories to tell to my younger children.  The little guys think it was brilliant and wish they had thought of it.  We have a whole set of funny Caleb and Jacob stories which we love to tell and hear.  Those two are only 17 months apart and were best buddies when they were little.  They got into a lot of trouble together!

The Battle Between My Heart and Mind

Did you check out The Christian Home magazine issue #7 today? 

I was am going to write about the thoughts I had today after seeing a snuggly little baby while we were out shopping.  But I won't.  As you know I have 8 children so I'm sure you can guess where I was am going with that topic.

6 hours old.

I just spent some time looking at pictures of my last baby when he was a newborn.

Poor Sarah!

Oh, those chubby cheeks and that frowny face.  How I miss them!  All of those night feedings were so worth it!

She was only four years old.

Did I mention that two days before he was born our daughter Sarah broke her leg?  She was in a splint all weekend and didn't get her cast until Monday.  Our baby was born at 1am Monday morning.  Let's just say it was a stressful time! 

She didn't start using the crutches on her own until a few weeks before the cast was off.

The poor girl was in a cast for over three months!  She did get three different casts which we decorated each time.  You would be amazed at how a four year old can get around without crutches.  She crawled, hopped, and got people to push her around on a chair with casters.

My favorite cast.  I stenciled it.

Anyway, back to the tempting baby pictures.  All of the pain, anxiety over due dates, and missed sleep is so worth it!

8 days old.

My brain always tries to talk me out of wanting another baby.  It reminds me of how much work I already have to do.  Of how I can't keep up with everything now. 

Two weeks old.

But my heart shows me all of those sweet times I get to enjoy as I care for my little one.

One month old.

My body remembers the feel of that soft little head resting below my chin or lying asleep on my shoulder.

One month.

It's an ongoing battle between my heart and my mind! 

Hope for the Summer to Come

Gardening teaches patience.  You have to be patient to look at something like this and not give up.

We will have to sift the gravel out of the soil.

Gardening teaches you to work hard.

Just doing some clean up can make everything look better and help you see what you have to work with.

The mess created by excavating for the sandbox.

We moved the soil to the beds at the back of the house.

You have to be able to visualize how things will look after you have planted flowers, trees, shrubs, or a veggie garden.

Gardening teaches flexibility.  Things are always changing as your plants grow larger or die, as the flowers bloom and the colors that you see change.  You have to be able to work with what you have.

I'm sure I could keep going about all of he character attributes you will learn as you work in your garden but I want to show you some flowers that are blooming on my 1/2 acre right now.

Sometimes instead of looking at all of the things I would like to change or all the work I need to do it is refreshing to stop and look at the beauty around me.

Even on the dreariest day of winter I can appreciate the form of a tree which has dropped its leaves for the winter.

I am enjoying the warmer weather and being able to get outside to do some work.

Each day as I walk through the garden I notice new changes.  The Little plants sprouting from the soil and the buds ready to burst open on the trees give me hope for the summer to come.
 

My head fills with plans and dreams, a little sitting area here, some more roses there.

The dreams are fun to think about but I don't let them steal the joy I have right now by making me wish for what I don't have.

No wonder I love gardening so much.  It gives me time to think and helps me realize just how small my place is in this world.

It is amazing to see and work with God's creation on my own little piece of earth.

How does your garden grow?

I am including this in the next issue of The Christian Home magazine.  You can read a new issue at The Legacy of Home each Monday.  If you would like to write for the magazine please click on the button below.