Our Homeschool Reviews

Monday, December 6, 2010

Clive & Ian's 12 Questions of Christmas

If you like the What's in the Bible? series, Clive and Ian are asking and answering questions about Christmas all over the web for the next 12 days! You can follow them around to different blogs and you’ll also have a chance to win copies of What’s in the Bible?. The first three days have already been posted. To follow along on their tour, click HERE.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Holiday Bliss - December 4

For the month of December Our Homeschool Reviews will be participating in "Holiday Bliss" hosted by Brenda at Garden of Learning.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Holiday Bliss 2010 - December 3

For the month of December Our Homeschool Reviews will be participating in "Holiday Bliss" hosted by Brenda at Garden of Learning.

Every year since our daughter was little we have set this Little People Nativity Set up under the tree. She loves to take it out of the box each year and play with it.

Weekly Wrap-Up #7

For the past couple weeks we have been focusing on science, specifically Astronomy. We started on Apologia's Exploring Creation With Astronomy and have worked through the first chapter, which is an overview of Astronomy, and are now in the second chapter, which covers the Sun.

The project from the first chapter is to create the solar system using balloons. We decided to just string ours together instead of tacking them to the ceiling. Here's what they ended up looking like.

In case you can't tell, the orange balloon at the top is the Sun. Oh, and I'm still recovering from blowing these balloons up. They were by far the hardest balloons I have ever blow up and a few hours later I had a sore jaw, which lasted for days, and got way worse before it got better. I may never blow up another balloon again!

We also spent a lot of time this week learning about the season of Advent, which I talked about in an earlier post.

How was your week? Thanks for Joining Our Homeschool Reviews and for more Weekly Wrap-Up, this week I am linked up with Kris over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Homeschool Astronomy Review and Giveaway

I had the opportunity this week to review one of the available presentations from Homeschool Astronomy. There are currently 11 presentations to choose from:

Tour of the Solar System

Big is Relative

Extreme Phenomena

Far

Jupiter and Saturn: The Gas Giants

Manned Space Exploration

Pluto and the Edge of the Solar System

So you think you know The Moon

Ice Giants: Uranus and Neptune

The Mighty Sun and the Cooking of Mercury

The Milky Way and other Galaxies

All presentations include a full screen presentation, script to read along with each slide, and discussion questions.

I received Tour the Solar System and my daughter and I watched it this week.

My Thoughts: The presentation is very easy to use. Once you open it, all you have to do it hit F5 to view it in full screen mode, and use the space bar to advance the slides.

It first starts off with an objective and a warm up activity, which I thought was nice. The pictures are from NASA and beautiful, but some of the wording was a little hard to read, either against the background color or against the pictures.

The information was accurate and complimented our current studies nicely, although I wish there was mention of God, especially when talking about how perfect the earth is for us. I do have to mention that there was one slide that was describing Venus as the average person’s conception of hell. It said that if you were to land there, you’d be crushed to a Frisbee-sized chunk of flesh, and although that probably helps paint an accurate picture, it wasn't so fun read that to my 7 year old. With that said, I would view the presentation ahead of time, just in case.

Thoughts of a 7 Year Old: It was really colorful and I enjoyed it because it was pretty. I liked the pictures, and it told me some things I never learned before!

Find Out More: You can purchase any of these presentations on the Homeschool Astronomy website. You can either receive each one by email for $9.95 or on CD for $11.95, and they each come with a money back guarantee.

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So, here's how to enter to win a Homeschool Astronomy Presentation! Only ONE comment is necessary to enter.

1. Visit the Homeschool Astronomy website and let me know what presentation you think your family would like best. This is the only entry!

One random winner will be selected using Random.org on Friday, December 10, 2010. (U.S. Entries only.) If I am unable to reach the winner within 48 hours, an alternate winner will be selected. Your entry is only valid if you include a way for me to contact you (either an email address in your comment or on your profile).

Disclosure: This product was given to Our Homeschool Reviews for free for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I have received no compensation from it and all opinions and experiences within this review are my own.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Holiday Bliss 2010 - December 2

For the month of December Our Homeschool Reviews will be participating in "Holiday Bliss" hosted by Brenda at Garden of Learning.

To participate, I'll be sharing favorite holiday recipes, crafts, traditions, things we do during the month, thoughts on Christmas, pictures of our family during December, or just anything that has something to do with this blessed holiday season.

Today I thought I would share what we do to celebrate Advent. Each year it seems like I find something different, so hopefully what I have found for this year will be continued.

Two years ago I requested a free Countdown to Christmas booklet from Unity. It looks like they still offer free resources but they are in PDF form. It was a perfect little booklet for my then 5 year old. Each day of the booklet contained a word of the day that reflected a spiritual idea and a short message about how your child can relate to that idea. There were also activities and crafts each week.

This year a friend sent out a link to A Holy Experience - Free Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Book. To receive the booklet you need to subscribe to updates and look to the bottom of the post in your reader or email and you’ll see your gift link. I subscribed and printed out the ornaments but the devotionals each day were a little too much four our daughter.

Then Tracey at A Slice of Smith Life posted about Holy Heroes. This is definitely more our level! Again, you subscribe and get email updates with links to the daily videos. We have enjoyed watching the children talk about the meaning of Advent and how they celebrate. Here is our Jesse Tree so far.

I also picked up the following two Advent calendars at DaySpring last year at their after Christmas clearance sale.

This second calendar is actually used for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The bottom is a drawer that holds all the cards. They you add the cards that correspond with the current season to the numbered boxes. Each day you pull out a box, read the card, turn the box around to the correct picture piece, and read an excerpt from the book that comes with it. Once all 12 boxes have been turned around, they form a picture for the season.

Lastly we have our homemade Advent Wreath, which is still on the process of being made. It's a painted paper plate and four pieces of a paper towel roll. Once we glue them on, we'll use tissue paper as the light on the candles.

So that is a look into how we celebrate Advent! Hope you enjoyed and maybe you got some good ideas to use as traditions in your home!

Gift Ideas

Out of all the reviews we have done to this point, I thought I would highlight a few of the items that we have enjoyed the most, just in case you are looking for that perfect gift or curriculum idea!

What's In The Bible? DVDs. When I heard about these DVDs I knew they would be something that our whole family would enjoy!! I reviewed the first three DVDs back in September and the fourth one last month. The 13 DVD-series released in March and takes you from The Beginning to Revelation. Their website has some great information and fun activities for the kids. We love these and I'll catch my daughter singing the songs throughout the day!

Read, Write & Type: Talking Fingers. I reviewed Talking Fingers back in October and this is a program my daughter absolutely loves! She likes the story line and wants to find out what is going to happen next to Vexor, the computer villain, who steals all the letters. As she has continued to move further in the program, I've noticed that she works on using the correct hand and finger positions when she is typing, even if she is just typing for fun.

I See Cards: PyraMath. We enjoy playing card games in our family but I wasn't sure how well a math card game would go over. When I received PyraMath we immediately opened it, watched the online instruction videos and started playing. The game is simple, quick, fun, and educational, all at the same time! Plus, the price is right at only $6.95 per deck!

Greathall Productions: Jim Weiss CDs: Jim Weiss' CDs were my most recent review and we just LOVE them! Jim has been a storyteller for over 25 years and you can tell just by listening as he retells story after story. These are not your boring books on CD either! Jim has the natural ability to take a story that has been retold year after year, and bring a new life to it. Titles include American Tall Tales, Arabian Nights, The Three Musketeers & Robin Hood, Tales from the Old Testament, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and so much more! Great for stocking stuffers! Oh, and I still have a giveaway going on for one of his CDs until December 6th.

I hope as you shop for great gifts for your family that you will take some of these into consideration!

Disclosure: I have received no compensation for making this list and all opinions and experiences within this post are my own.

Thrifty Thursday

I'll be adding more freebies and samples throughout the day to Our Homeschool Reviews, so please check back, or better yet, follow along with Google Friend Connect on the right or "like" me on Facebook! If you find any good freebies or deals, let me know by commenting below!

If you haven't already entered the giveaway going on now, you can enter to win a Jim Weiss Audio CD!

Hallmark Coupon
New Hallmark coupon to save $5 off any $5 purchase this weekend! Valid 12/3 - 12/5.

Kohl's Coupon Code
Save an extra 20% online at Kohl's with coupon code NEXTORDER20 through 12/06

JC Penney $10 off $10 Purchase

Get $10 off a $10 purchase with coupon code GIVEJOY. They are also offering “Ship to Store” for FREE. I was able to order a shirt last night for $0.43!!! (although the site was running really slow)

Starbucks B1G1 Christmas Blend

The Starbucks daily deal for Thursday 12/2 will be Buy Get One FREE Starbucks Christmas Blend Coffee. This is while supplies last at participating locations. You know I will be there getting this one!!

Wendy's FREE Natural Cut French Fries

Print a coupon for FREE Natural Cut French Fries from Wendy’s. Good at participating locations.

Swagbucks
Have you checked out Swagbucks yet? Swagbucks is an online portal dedicated to helping you earn digital dollars called "Swag Bucks", which can be redeemed for exclusive Swagbucks.com merchandise. I've been able to cash in my "bucks" for $65 in Amazon gift cards...no catch! Go HERE to start!

Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day
Columbia Coral Fleece Throw for only $10.49 and eligible for FREE shipping with Amazon Prime!

Amazon Cyber Week Deals
Dora and Diego Let's Cook for only $9.32 and eligible for FREE shipping with Amazon Prime!

Potato Chip Science: 29 Incredible Experiments for only $10.77 and eligible for FREE shipping with Amazon Prime!

New Junior Cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens Cooking) for only $8.48 and eligible for FREE shipping with Amazon Prime!

FREE Sample Roundup

Check out the FREE Sample Roundup from Deal Seeking Mom!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Holiday Bliss 2010 - December 1

For the month of December (I can't believe it is December already), Our Homeschool Reviews will be participating in "Holiday Bliss" hosted by Brenda at Garden of Learning.

To start, I thought I would showcase our Christmas village. Every year we put up our village in front of the fireplace. This year my mom donated some of her larger pieces to us, so our town is now bustling more than ever!