Head To your Local Family Christian Store 2/28! #Fcblogger #VeggieTalesNoah

Super special IN STORE event February 28!  A showing of the new VeggieTales DVD Noah's Ark, which we reviewed here will be playing in the children's area of your local Family Christian store, starting at 10 a.m!  There will also be fun and games going on, so be sure to stop by!

AND a very exciting SALE will be happening, as well!  30% off everything in the children's department!  One day only, only on Feb. 28.  Check the store locator for the Family Christian store location nearest you!


Thanks for clicking for us!

In Freedom's Cause audio drama

In Freedom's Cause couldn't have come at a better time for our family!  We're in the middle of learning about castle times in our homeschool history, and reviewing this amazingly well done audio drama from Heirloom Audio Productions fit in perfectly.  

We received the In Freedom's Cause Single Package.  This is the radio theater version of G.A. Henty's book about William Wallace.  I didn't really know much about Wallace, aside from what I remembered of the movie Braveheart, so it was a learning experience for all of us.  

This 2 CD set runs for 2.5 hours and sells for $29.95.  We also got access to some great downloads, including a really neat behind the scenes look at the making of the drama, a study guide, a character guide (which was a handy "who's who" broken down by scene), and more.

Prior to it's arrival, I told the kids it was coming, and we watched the preview for it online.  We were excited by the star studded cast, including actors from Lord of the Rings and Narnia and Downton Abbey.

Jack, Eli and I listened to it together during our school mornings.  Sometimes Josiah joined us, too.  The story was fascinating, and we were all mesmerized by it.  The boys always wanted "just one more chapter!"  I love being able to give my boys real life heroes to look up to.  Men like Wallace, who stood up for what they believed in, knowing there would be a high cost.

The downloadable Study Guide has vocabulary and comprehension questions you can use to make sure your kids are understanding what they're hearing.  It also contains links and pictures.  The Thinking Further questions are often quests to research more obscure bits of the story for greater understanding.

In addition, listening to the story of William Wallace inspired us to "bird walk" a bit on our own, and learn more about Scotland and Wallace's life.  I had the boys color these maps of the British Isles during one of our listening sessions.

When we listened to the part of the story that talked about the "Goat Woo" my kids were enthralled.  I heard the words "goat woo" in a very poor Scottish accent for days.  I decided to get them a practice chanter (the pre-bagpipes learning instrument).

This resulted in mass hilarity, with each of us having a go at it.

Our poor cat doesn't appreciate Jack's musical talents.  Here, judge for yourself:

I'm deeply grateful to In Freedom's Cause for inspiring us to pursue something new, but it wasn't until we watched the "behind the scenes" documentary of the making of In Freedom's Cause that we learned that the goat woo was a completely made up instrument!  I had wrongly assumed it was a reference for a sort of primitive bagpipe.

We decided it was time to dress up like a highlander again.  Eli ironed pleats during part of our listening times.

And here's our finished Scotsman!

My very own fierce warrior.

The boys were fascinated with the brooch and "sock knife" (or sgian dubh) that I added to the costume.

The little letter opener is about as far as you can get from the Wallace Sword, which we learned is over 5 feet long!

The printable prayer of William Wallace that we received made good handwriting practice for the boys, and was a nice way to wrap up, after we finished listening to the disks.

Having really enjoyed both Under Drake's Flag and In Freedom's Cause, I'm excited to announce that Heirloom Audio Productions is working on another exciting G.A. Henty story!

With Lee in Virginia is set to release around Memorial Day.  You can follow them on Facebook for updates.

You can connect with In Freedom's Cause on Facebook, Twitter, G+, and Pinterest.  Read what other Crew families had to say about this fabulous audio drama by clicking the box below:


Thanks for clicking for us!

A Little Mandarin CD review & #giveaway

Three of my children were born in China.  I've talked before about ways to expose your kids to foreign language, and one of those ways is through music.  That's why I was so excited when I was approached by A Little Mandarin to review their music CD!

The CD arrived in the mail, and while we were listening to the peppy tunes, I realized that one of the tracks is the song Katie used to sing when we first adopted her.  You have no idea what a treasure this is to me.  I was so enchanted by her sweet little voice singing, "āi yā āi yā bá luó bó!"  It was one of the ways we knew she was content.  It's so special to finally learn what the song is about, and be able to reintroduce her to it.

It is such a blessing for us to be able to continue to expose the girls to Mandarin in fun ways.

You can find the lyrics to all the songs, in Mandarin (both characters and pinyan) and English on the A Little Mandarin website.  You can also listen to the songs online.  They're very pleasant!

In addition to our giveaway below for the A Little Mandarin CD, they're having a contest right now on their Facebook page!  Download their free Happy New Year song, then share a video of your child singing and dancing to it!

Enter our drawing to win a copy of A Little Mandarin!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can connect with A Little Mandarin on Facebook or Twitter!  Happy Year of the Goat!

Thanks for clicking for us!

Our Week After Valentine's Day

You know how I keep hoping we'll start getting more schoolwork done?  Yeah, not so much.

On the up side, free time gives kids the chance to be creative.

In addition to the monster truck here, Eli also built a hatchet, in honor of the book series he's been reading.

Every year, we do conversation heart math on Valentine's Day.

The kids don't mind Saturday schoolwork so much if it involves eating candy!  Graphing, sorting, counting, reading...  Lots of ways to "carpe perceptum" (seize the learning opportunity) with this activity that has become a tradition.  With a lot of things getting pared back or set aside in this difficult season, I'm glad I made the effort to pick up a couple bags of hearts for the kids.  When your high schoolers willingly participate, that says something.

I started printing a counting bear page for Katie, and the printer ink ran out, so it turned into a coloring page instead!  (After I changed the ink, I reprinted the pages, and will be using them to help her learn matching and patterns soon.)

This week, we learned about crests.  The boys designed their own.

Jack has crossed swords and a cross on a green background.

Eli went with a wolf and a cobra on silver.  Unfortunately, our silver Sharpie started dying, so the left side is more silver than the right side.

Jack was using Katie for a pillow, and Katie told me to take a picture.

This week in art, we watched our Home Art Studio DVD and learned how to make Name Aliens.

Eli tracing his folded name to make the "reflection" which causes the two halves to be symmetrical.

Jack missed the "touching the line" part, so he ended up with two monsters.  Now that I see this, I'm not entirely sure I had his right side up when I took this picture.

We did a review of money with a neat new book.  After the boys were done with it, I gave the play money to the girls to play with in their purses.  Both of them love to squirrel things away in bags and backpacks.  (Speaking of backpacks, I have the cutest thing to show you, coming soon!)

I know I keep saying this, but hopefully next week we'll get our groove back.  After we finish the curriculum week we're (still!) working on, we get to start learning about China, which, of course, is one of my favorite topics.  I only wish Hannah were off track so she could be home to enjoy it with us.


Linking up with Home to 4 Kiddos and:

Thanks for clicking for us!

AYL Lantern

Our family got to try out the AYL Starlight 330 LED Lantern!

This durable lantern is battery operated, taking 3 D sized batteries.  One set of batteries lasts for up to 6 days of continuous usage.

The bright LED light never needs replacing, and lasts up to 100,000 hours.  That's over eleven years of continuous use!  Unlike other light sources, LED light generates little to no heat, making it safer than a traditional lantern.

I found this lantern to be sturdy and well made, and had no problem with my kids giving it their typical rugged testing.

They got creative and used it for light inside their fort.  There's also talk of taking it out on the trampoline at night for a camp out when the weather warms up.

I like that the AYL StarLight 300 Lumens LED Lantern has a fold down carrying handle on the top, and also a fold away hook on the bottom, so you can hang it from either end.

The lantern has 3 light settings, low, high, and strobe.  It also has a tiny green dot light on the front that flashes to help you find it in the dark, in the event of a power outage.

With summer coming soon, this light would be great to have along on outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and boating.  It's also nice to have it on hand at home, in case of emergencies.

Thanks for clicking for us!