Weekly Wrap Up 25

This week, we finished up learning about Solomon and began learning about Elijah.  

Eli made a black spice drop shish-ka-bob.  I'm always amused to see the kids' creativity.  

Brianna took this picture right after I blew out the candles on my birthday cake.

Yup.  I had a birthday.  

Josiah caught this picture of Katie not being happy.  I don't know what she was upset about, but I thought it was cute enough to share.  Even pouty, she's adorable.  

This week, we began learning to mix our own paint colors.  Only 3 months of school left, and we're finally getting into the paint & marker cards included in our curriculum.  I've been wondering about those!  

Mixing paint is not as easy as it sounds.  There's a learning curve to it.  

But it was fun to play around and achieve new hues.

Even the mixing palette is pretty sometimes.   

Last week, we started working on an exciting science review!  We have been watching videos online, and this week we did our first project.  Pictures coming!  It was awesome, and I can't wait to share it with you and give you the chance to win!

When we toured the Old Schoolhouse last week, the kids read from McGuffy's reader.  The moral at the end of the story the kids read aloud became our copy work this week, and Brianna "artified" hers by adding a wolf and a forest.

In another branch of science, we colored brains and listened to our heartbeats.

Excuse the messy "I-don't-have-to-leave-the-house" hair, please.

It's very handy to have a Daddy who is an EMT/Fire Captain in the house.

More art.  More blending, another paint card.

This time, we're reproducing Albrect Durer's Dung Beetle (you can see the art postcard just above Eli's left hand; this was our example).

Doing a little research for a coming trip.

Next week, we get a break from Israel and head off to India to learn about other religions, and the caste system.  

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Sales & Bargains for March

Can you believe it's March already??  Finally!  Some hope of spring and summer weather!  And to get you ready for that summer weather, I would like to mention that Honest Company has several new prints of swim diapers available.  Personally, I like the sharks and the surf boards.

They've also released their new SPRING PRINTS for diapers, and I can't wait to get them in my next monthly shipment!  I'm still a fan of the skulls, but I think the bikes and the giraffes and the new floral will be a fun way to change things up a bit.  I love that Honest Company Diapers aren't the same boring, babyish ones in every package.  And, let's face it, I also love never having to make an urgent diapers run to Target or Toys R Us, because they show up on my doorstep!

Zulily has some great SCIENCE kits and toys, including human anatomy models, individual Magic School Bus science kits, geek t-shirts, and more.

I also wanted to mention that SchoolhouseTeachers.com has some great new stuff up, including ASL and Photography and more!  I always forget to use my membership, so I am hoping to get Brianna back into the art section soon.

Lilla Rose has released their new March Flexi of the Month, the hummingbird.  They're 15% off on March 7 & 8, plus the current sale is 10% off any item that comes up in a search for "Celtic."

Educents always has neat educational deals going.  It's a flash sale site, like Zulily, so the offerings change, but two of the things I've purchased there are the Magic School Bus kits we've been enjoying, and the Write From Ancient History book we're using.  They have a celebration coupon code, "5MILSAVED" in honor of hitting 5 million dollars they've saved educators by offering their great deals.  This will give you an extra 5% off your order through Sunday night.

Do you know about MyPoints?  I've been a member for many years, and Paul and I used to use the gift cards I got from MyPoints to go out to dinner while the kids were at AWANA.  It was a cheap date night.  You earn points from using their search engine when you do your regular web searches, or for clicking through their links to do your regular shopping at dozens of retailers.  I just realized that I have enough points to redeem again, so I'm off to see what gift card will work best for us this time.

Happy saving!  Please don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for Dial Hand Soap!

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Talking Shapes preschool reading app

Yippee!  Another Katie review!  

Have you heard of the Talking Shapes app from Talking Fingers?  Is there a pre-reader in your house?  Check it out!  This is a preschool reading program in app form.  

Despite having NO prior experience on the iPad, Katie quickly caught on to the idea of hitting the NEXT button at the end of each page.  

You can see from the photos that Katie's hands are different than yours and mine.  Katie has ABS, or Amniotic Band Syndrome.  While she was in her birthmother's womb, bands of amniotic tissue wrapped around parts of her body, causing constrictions and amputations.  She's not in pain, but sometimes she does things a little differently.  

You can see that I am "helping" her here.  This is normal, toddler-learning-to-trace-letters help, not anything related to her special hands.  

Talking Fingers has different "books" or stories within the app.  It tells how two little girls used to love to tell stories, and they came up with the alphabet as a way to write their stories down, so they could remember them.  The letters have shapes based on what they remind the girls of.  In the picture above, you can see the C is based on a curled up cat.  

The first book introduces the _AT words.  Cat, hat, sat, and so on.  As you can see from the photo above, Katie started getting the idea of tracing the letters on her own after a few letters.  This interactive learning was a fun way for us to spend a few minutes together each morning while I waited for the older kids to finish chores so we could start school.  

The app repeats the letter and the sound it makes, and encourages the child to repeat certain words and sounds.  Sometimes it will say, "I didn't understand that.  Say, CAT."  Katie's got a quiet little raspy voice, due to banding on her neck, and the app often didn't "hear" her attempts.  

In addition to the "read to me" section, there is also a "play games" area for each book.  This reviews what you learned in the book, and reinforces the letters/words through games and videos.  If you look closely at the photo above, you can see Katie is repeating the app.  

She wasn't ready yet to select the floating balloons with the correct word on them, but she was able to find the hidden picture.  Given that this is a pre-K/K app, and Katie is only 3, with 7 months exposure to English, her "delay" is totally understandable.  I'm sure she'll get it in time.  

One of the games was selecting chickens that have the correct word on them. Unfortunately, when you touch the wrong chicken, it explodes (like confetti, not gory), and it's not clear that this is the WRONG choice. I think maybe a buzzer noise would help to clarify. 

Jack wanted to play on my iPad one day, so I asked him to try this game.  Jack is 9, and the app is designed for Pre K & K level kids, so I knew it would be "young" for him.

As I expected, he bored with it quickly.  But it gave me the chance to see that the things that make it "boring" for a 9 year old, make it great for younger kids:  the app speaks slowly and clearly, the stories are simple.  I realized it would be ideal for Hannah.  

Like Goldilocks hitting the right bowl of porridge, Hannah was just right for this app.   

She enjoys playing on tablets (she recently inherited Jack's old Leap Pad), and the reading level was perfect for her.  

Although Hannah is 6, and in the first grade, this is a good, interactive review game for her.  

I think as Hannah works through the other 2 books and Katie watches her play the games, both girls will benefit.  Talk about a win-win situation!  

Talking Shapes is available on iTunes, and is $5.99 at this time.  

You can connect with Talking Fingers on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  

See what other families thought about Talking Shapes by clicking above.

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Dial Hand Soap GIVEAWAY

I've got to say, I love getting these fun little boxes in the mail!  I received this package of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap from Purex Insiders to review.  

The scents we received were Water Blossoms (blue) and Coconut Lime Verbena (green).

The kids love to help me try out new products, so they were eager to smell them.

Personally, I was really surprised!  I'm not a big fan of coconut, usually, but I decided to try the green soap first, because it goes better in my bathroom.  I replaced my "mall store soap" with the Dial Coconut Lime Verbena Deep Cleansing Hand Soap, and it smelled just as good, was just as rich and and performed just as well.  

How would YOU like to try out Dial's new soap??  

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St. Patrick's Day Snack - M&M Pretzel Treats

This is a crazy easy recipe, great for little kitchen helpers.  

You will need square pretzels, Hershey Kisses, and green (we used mint) M&M candies.

Step one, spread pretzels on a cookie sheet.  This would be a good fine motor skills activity for the smallest helpers.  

You get to eat the broken ones, of course.  The kids have made these pretzel treats with me so many times now, that Brianna made them all by herself this time.

Step 2, remove the wrappers from the kisses.  This is a good job for a slightly older, quicker child to tackle, while the youngest is working on the pretzels.  You don't want a toddler/preschooler holding on to the kisses so long that they melt in their pudgy little fists while they're trying to get the wrappers off.  

Step 3, put one kiss on each pretzel.  Everyone can help with this one.  I'm sure this meets some "matching one to one" standard for early math.  

Step 4, place in the oven at 200*, and set the timer for 2 minutes.  Post a little person at the oven door, and ask them to tell you when the kisses get shiny.

This is important, because you want the kisses to melt, not burn.  The ones above burned.  Now, my kids ate the pretzels and kisses anyway, but we were unable to complete Step 5 with this batch, so this was "scrap" as far as I was concerned.  Chocolate doesn't burn like rice does.  Chocolate gets hard, instead.  

Step 5 is to remove the tray from the oven while the kisses are shiny and melted, and quickly place an M&M on each and press down to adhere the 3 components to each other.  This is a job for older kids and/or Mom.  You have to work quickly, before the chocolate begins to set, and you need to be careful not to touch the hot pan, and not to get chocolate on your fingers.  I like to put the M&Ms on "m" side down, but it doesn't really matter.

Step 6, set the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate becomes firm again.

Now you're ready to enjoy!  These are easy and tasty and popular!  It's fun to make variations.  At Christmas, we make them with red & green mint M&Ms and dark chocolate kisses.  You can use pastel kisses for Easter treats.  If you like salty & sweet together, give these a try!   

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