A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Homeschooling

Culture Happens

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Over this past year we’ve added some “Culture” to our lives.   We’ve done this mostly through the Centre in the Square, but have added some other venues as well.  We are trying to make more “Culture Happen” in our lives.

This year we took advantage of the Centre in the Square in Kitchener’s new subscriber package.   This package said that if you bought one package, you got a second package free.  WOOT WOOT!   That means that sometimes dad takes mom out on a date, and sometimes he takes son out on a date.  🙂   It was a wonderful deal, cheaper than going out to the movies and just as fun.

We taken in a few concerts so far.

Dancing through the Decades dad and I went to.  We had a blast.  Just so much fun.  I wanted to dance but my body was hollering at me to just set still, so I did but had a hoot watching the Dancers up front.

Dad and son went to another …they got all dressed up and fancy like.  Enjoyed a nice meal out and came back full of laughter and conversation.

We all went to the behind the scenes subscribers night.  Learning all the special things that make the Centre in the Square the world-class place that it is.   It was a rather neat event.

Other events we’ve taken in:

The Musical Little Women at the Christian High School.

There was something else… the musical night here in town at Christmas.   Singing, readings, lots of music.  🙂

I am hopeful this year to find a theatre production or two that is affordable to go to with the lad, take in a play or two now that he’s getting older and more aware of what is going on.  Would be fun to see his reaction now that he’s a bit older again to some of the longer plays that say…. Stratford Theatre puts on like the Shakespeare, or the comedies.  Time will tell.  

 

Review: Torpedoed! A World War 2 Story

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Sometimes, in the course of a war, events happen that have repercussions unexpected.  Torpedoed! tells us of one such event, the sinking of the Athenia.  Cheryl Mullenbach, pulls out two children in this sad tale, to bring this story to life for middle school students.  This is a World War II story of a Sinking Passenger Ship and Two Children’s Survival at Sea. 

Until I read this book I was unfamiliar with this story, and this book spurred on my curiousity to know, sending me to youtube.  There weren’t a lot of videos about the Athenia, it is an easily forgotten bit of history, what with Germany invading Poland around the same time.

Ms. Mullenbach, doesn’t tell a story as she writes this book, it reads like a text. She didn’t make up a fictionalized story to compell you to read the story, but she grabs hold of two children to help personalize the text that she imparts.   Walking through the days with Florence (age 14) and Russell (age 11) does a great job of helping us to see how the war affected the lives of innocents.  We were able to see how the war caused unexpected disruption and hurt families. 

Images dot the pages from back in the day, bringing to the life the reality of what these individuals needed to deal with. 

I appreciate the time that Ms. Mullenbach took to organize this book in a logical manner.  Walking us through the planning, the travel and the thought processes. She closes off with a good bibliography complete with time line.  

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, this book was different than I expected, and that’s not a bad thing.  I fully expected a fictionalized account, a story, not a middle school textbook.  It was a good read that I suspect your students would enjoy reading.  This is a concisely written factual book that  shows the repercussions … in the immediate (the sinking of the ship, the loss of lives) and in the Long-term (Nuremberg trials).  Torpedoed is written at a middle school level without a lot of extra drama. It would be an excellent book to start off a study of World War II.  The graphics that fill the pages helped to round out the story and showed well what things were like during the War.  Good book.  

Torpedoed!  A World War II Story of a Sinking Passenger Ship
      and Two Children's Survival at Sea.
Cheryl Mullenbach
Chicago Review Press
Hardcover, 176 pages
World War 2, U-boats, Sinking Ship, Adventure, non-fiction

Reviewed for: Chicago Review Press.

Where to find it?  Amazon link.

Other books on the wars that I’ve reviewed?  We will not be silent.  Prisoner of Dieppe.   Once was a time.

Our Curriculum Needs

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I think that when one looks at curriculum posts, it’s great to know the reasoning behind why people make the choices they do with their curriculum. As I introduce you to what we use, I hope to tell you why we use it.

Our Curriculum needs, not just what we are using from grade seven, but also the why of what we are using.

The reasons we choose our curriculum varies, sometimes it is chosen for us by the Homeschool Review Crew, using a math they need tested, or books they need read.  Sometimes my lad lets me know what he wants to learn so I look for something to fulfill that need.  At other times I have a skill set I want sharpened, or a mindset I want developed, and so more curriculum is discovered. 

Not our choice:

Some of our curriculum is determined by the reviews that we do.  It’s part of reviewing homeschool curriculum right? Trying to find something that will fit but also needing to meet the needs of the current crop of companies and what they want reviewed.   I will only mentioned that which we are currently using.

Unlock math: independent, incremental learning.  Sometimes goes too slow my lad says so I give him permission to skip ahead as needed. 

Innovator’s Tribe – Engineering Course: My son loves this course.  It is so much fun to see him enjoying this course, recently he had to make a fidget spinner.   This boy who NEVER schools any longer than he has to, worked on it again after supper, wanting to get the bearing in the middle done.   “I wish I had a 3 D printer mom, then I could make my own spinner”.

Digital Savvy:  When I told my lad he only had the course until the end of February he was less than impressed.  “I’m sorry mom, I forgot about it for a while.  I’m not going to get done!!!  How much does it cost to get it again?”  I told him just to work on what he most wants to learn and let the rest go.

Chosen out of a specified request:

Good and beautiful:  MOM!   Can I learn how to spell better?  He’s not keen on looking at the art pictures, but he loves the spelling lists and their approach to learning the spelling rules.   You can learn more about them here.   His enjoyment and the fact we can work through it as fast or as slow as we want makes it a keeper, I am considering buying the already bound set for next year instead of using the free one.

Once a month country study: “Mom, can we continue learning about a different country every month?   I like trying new foods and seeing new things from around the world”.   We’ve done Korea, Azerbaijan, Finland, Sweden, Georgia, Russia, Australia and Iceland.  We’ll be doing Spain soon. For a while we used a simple geography program for ideas, but then just started picking countries.  We’ve missed a lot of months, but it’s easy enough to pick up again eh?  🙂

From Sea to Sea:  “Can we finish off that book we did last year?   I want to keep learning about Canada.”   He is even wanting to do the tests and quizzes this year.  That’s a nice thing eh?  It’s such a “boring” curriculum in a lot of ways, but we are both learning a lot and we can supplement however we want. 

 

Material I chose:

God’s design – an overarching science that would cover the various topics depending on what the lad was interested in at the time.  Independence with supplementation.  Covers all grades through highschool, so he can easily work at the level that he is at.  You can find parts of this series on Amazon. 

Holy Land on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. – his pick of the 8 or 9 options that we had.  He likes the video and the simple question and answer worksheet.  He’s learning some history and some geography.  This MIGHT (if we get selected) be replaced by the Adventures Series being looked at by the Review Crew.

Research projects – gave the lad a list of different types of ways to present research, every week he needs to do a project and meet a new project type.   Some of these projects have been natural extensions of his interests in life (mice, ants, engineering, STEM projects) some have been the result of his studies (like making a poem of vertebrates).

Studying the Heidelberg Catechism using the book Comforting Hearts.   Good to know the doctrines of the church.  I have a friend who had her children memorize the confessions of the church starting at an early age.  I don’t need my lad to memorize them, but having him very familiar with them is a good thing.  Good talking points to be made through this book.

We read a longer chapter book together almost every day, one chapter at a time.   Right now we are reading the book Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter.   We are enjoying this book, it frequently has us looking up different birds and flowers.  Some favourites: Nest for Celeste, Irish Chain, and others that are just slipping my mind at the moment. 

The lad is also doing a book called “Who is God” by Apologia.   I’ve looked at it off and on for a couple of years, the lad thought it doable so we got it.  It’s giving him a good grounding in aspects of God he doesn’t always think about.   He tells me “it’s good”.

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t remind you that SchoolhouseTeachers.com is on sale until the end of January.  Don’t delay eh?   It’s a great deal.  Here’s my affiliate link.   Use the codes to get the deal.   SchoolhouseTeachers constantly adds new classes, many of them with videos.   It’s an excellent “backup” for me when I’m looking for something quick to fill an interest the lad has, or to continue giving him options for things like geography, art, and science.  I like giving him some independence in what he wants to learn.

The virtual homeschool fair is  hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds.

 

Looking for more curriculum ideas? Visit my fellow homeschool bloggers!

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST on Monday, Jan. 22nd.

Our Homeschool Plan for 3rd, 6th, 8th, & 12th Grades by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

Our 10th Grade Plans by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Planning Out Our Unschooling Studies by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool

The Details of Curriculum by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays

Reflections of a Curriculum Junkie by Brittney @ Mom’s Heart

Freedom through nature journaling. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love

How I pull together a homeschool curriculum without packaged curriculum by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool

Our Favorite Curriculum and Resources – An Annotated Bibliography by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ

Our 2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool

Top Home Educating Resources by Sarah @ DeliveringGrace

Homeschooling Curriculum We Are Using This Year by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World

Use the Force and Complete the Course by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Choices, choices – how to choose your curriculum wisely by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home

Our Curriculum Needs – grade seven by Annette @ A Net in Time

The Heart of Our School by Laura @ Four Little Penguins

What I Use with 7th and 9th Grader – Virtual Homeschool Fair -Week 3 by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

How to Avoid Gaps in Education by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset

Tricky Subjects and Starting the Decision Making Process by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens

High School Syllabus by TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy @ GoldenGrasses

Review: Betty Before X

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Do you know one of the good things about going to the ER?  It gives you a chance to read an wonderful middle school book. It’s good to read while you wait you know?  The book in this case is Betty Before X.  Ilyasah Shabazz with some help from Renee Watson. 

Betty is a young negro girl who for the first few years of her life was raised by her auntie.  She then moved in with her momma, new siblings and momma’s husband.  She moved out of the south to Detroit in 1945.   Betty isn’t sure of her momma’s love, or her momma’s want of her, and thus the story unfolds, spilling out into school, church and community. 

This is a story that has real pain and sorrow in it, but it isn’t kept at the forefront of Betty’s life.   The forefront of Betty’s life is the Lord and seeing the blessings he has provided.   This book had so many blessings along with hidden questions and ideas in the heart of this girl child.  Hardships she needed to face up to, but life that she needed to live.

Most of this book is just about Betty, as a youngster, growing up.  What helped to formulate her mindset and shaped her day to day life.  A book that draws middle school students into the life of a black child in Detroit in the mid-1940’s. 

The largest part of the book is simply black and white. Numbered chapters that varied in length, it is divided into six sections, the first five containing a quote and a set of years.   Just like you see below. 

 

At the close of the story, we find the image to the right, after the image we find a section talking about characters and places in Betty’s life, as well as an timeline overview of her life.  Betty grew up to become the wife of Malcolm X.   In the story we are introduced to ideas that are more fully explained her without the ease in telling that you’d find in a story.

 

This quote from the book just sits with me… making me wonder… where do uncried tears go?

My thoughts:

I really appreciated that this was a book filled with looking for the positive even amongst the hard things of life.  Not diminishing the hard things, but not making them a point of hate or anger, just a longing for something more and better and seeing the good in what you have.  This makes it an easier read of black history that I would want my middle schooler to read.  The close of the book doesn’t skirt the truth, it gives the facts so that we know the behind the scenes of the story.  Sharing them so we know the pain of that time, a knowing of the history.   If you pick this book up, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and learn much! 

Betty Before X
Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
Farrarr Straus Giroux
Trade paperback, 256 pages, 
Middle school, Upper Elementary, Fiction, Black History

Reviewed for: Raincoast books. 

Where to find: Amazon Link.

 

On Being a Writer – Arrange

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The question this chapter asks us is this: How do you arrange your life to show that writing is important to you?   It also asks, how does writing spill out of you and are you comfortable with how it does so?

As a writer we need to arrange our tools, space, time, and mind.

How does writing spill out of you and are you comfortable with how it does so?

For instance, do you like writing long hand? Or does a computer work for you?  Maybe a typewriter is where it is at.  Do you need to play around with the different methods until you find what works best for you?

Do you write at a desk?  A table?  Sitting in a comfortable lazy boy?  Maybe you have a roll top desk that sets the mood for you?

Is silence golden or do you like the sound of your family about you or a radio/tv on for background noise?

Does clutter annoy or does it add to the creative process?  Is cleanliness the key to unlocking your creativity?

You know what the thing is right?   EVERYONE is different.  My hubby works best with noise around him, he can watch TV well and write and research all the time.   Me on the other hand… prefer silence when I write but I have learned during the course of our marriage, to tolerate noise, but I often miss what is happening in the TV show if I am really concentrating as I write.  BUT one thing I do love is writing and chatting with a friend online.  For some reason that brings out my creativity and SPEED.  Go figure eh?   🙂   Can I sustain that though?  No.  Works for about a half hour and then one or the other has to stop.   Hubby, if the house gets too messy, gets stressed and tense.  Me.. I just ignore it and move forward until I can’t find something and then suddenly it’s too horrible for words and the house gets cleaned top to bottom (or honestly until I get distracted by something).  🙂

How do you arrange your life to show that writing is important to you?

Admittedly, this can be a hard one.  One has to make a living right?  One has to school their children, raise them, keep the house in order, keep up friendships, indulge their hobbies, spend time with family, and all that other daily living stuff.  So how in the midst of all that good stuff….do you find time to write?  It’s hard!  

Sometimes it’s a real balancing act, as you work through real life needs and real writing needs. It is work to try to figure out what type of job you can do that will also allow you to be creative in your writing.  It’s a struggle to understand how to care for the needs of your family and still grab writing moments.  

Solutions that writers come up with: Grab 15 minutes here and there throughout the day.  Find a job that doesn’t use up your creative energy.  Book time away, a weekend if you must, an afternoon that is just yours to enjoy. Get up earlier in the day or go to bed later at night.  Forgo movie night with the kids so they can chill with dad as you write in your favourite spot.   What solution fits you? 

What it all comes down to.

Take the time to see what works best for you, learn what you need, help your family see it’s importance, get friends who will understand when you need to write instead of go to the latest movie.   The key is this, work to understand the following: What time works best for you to write?  Where do you write best?  What space is important to your creativity?  What do you need to do to spur on the creativity of your mind?  Do you have special tools that make the process go easiest?  

I made up a printable to help you work through these questions.  Click here or on the image below. 

Figuring out the tools, location, time that we need or can write is part of being an writer.Other posts on writing that you may find helpful.

Organizing how you put your words to bring emphasis.
Your Identity. 
Begin Sentences with Subjects and Verbs.

Liking to give credit where it is due, the original photo I used came from Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash.

 

 

 

Review: Bold Women of Medicine

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Imagine, wanting to do something and being told that you can’t.  Determinedly sticking to your guns being degraded by fellow classmates.  Imagine treating the unwanted, the hurt, the broken that no one wants to touch.  Imagine finding ways to treat people that haven’t been done before and changing lives of the one or two.   Imagine these things, now… go grab a copy of Bold Women of Medicine.  Be impressed by these women pioneers.

The stories in the book are amazing, spanning the globe, showing us the determination and grit of these pioneering women.   I learned about hospital and college start up, pioneer nursing stations, innovations in osteo medicine and more.   Women fighting and learning and working.  Striving hard to meet their goal of easing the suffering of others. 

Just who are these women?   Florence Nightingale, Mary Edwards Walker, Elizabeth Kenny, Virginia Apgar, Jerri Nielson, and Adele Levine, just to name a few.  Women from the early 1800’s through to the late 1900’s.  Women, boldly pursuing their dreams in medicine. 

Images dot the pages. These images give us glimpses into the lives of these extraordinary women.

My thoughts:

This was a engrossing book to read, the lives of these women, their determination, it sticks with you.  It would be a great book to give to any girl or women interested in the field of medicine, inspire them and help them make wise decisions as they start their journey.  I found it inspiring read their thoughts embarked on their journey, sometimes choosing a discipline for conducive to families, sometimes seeing a need and then working to fulfill it, and finding ways to work around help problems to meet the patients needs.   These women were galvanized into action, and their stories should inspire the same from us. 

Bold Women of Medicine
   21 Stories of Astounding discoveries, daring surgeries,
      and Healing Breakthroughs.
Susan M. Latta
Chicago Review Press
Hardcover, 230 pages
Medicine, women, healing, young adult
Series: Women of Action
Reviewed for: Chicago Review Press.

Where to find: Amazon Link.

STEM: 3D viewer by Tinker Crates

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My son and I have been doing KiwiCrates for a while now, and last year finally upgraded to doing the TinkerCrates. Tinker Crates are for kids 9-16.  They are a bit more involved and have a fair number of projects available to them in the TinkerZine.

When we first started doing the crates, the lad needed a lot of support from me in order to finish them, so I think it is just superb watching his confidence blossom.  It admittedly took a while for my sensitive minded boy to realize that as much as mom LIKES building these crates with him, I also LOVED watching him branch out on his own with Tinker Crates.  Now of course, there is no stopping him.

Recently he took on this project “3D Viewer”

It was great to watch him work through the stages to building it, step by step.  He played close attention to the instructions. The instructions are so clear, and the images show the pieces exactly, so properly making the3D viewer is pretty easy to do “as long as you pay attention, make sure you tell them that part okay mom?”.   So pay attention, don’t miss steps, and you can make your own 3D Viewer.

Slowly but surely it came together.   Piece upon piece, fitting together just perfectly.

It hardly seemed like anytime had passed and he was calling me “come see mom, come see”.  And low and behold we had a 3D viewer.

Once he finished this big build he turned his attention to the smaller activities found in the tinker zine.   Here he learned about perspective by looking at some art, and playing with 3D mirrors.

My son really likes the tinkerzines because “they tell you stuff, like more about what you just built, and teach you new ways to look at stuff”.   “They give you good small projects to try too”.

After seeing how perspective was influenced by a 3d mirror he had a chance to try his hand at drawing within that knowledge.  It worked!   I’m glad he figured it out because I struggled with this one.  He’s got a better grasp on the spatial aspect of things I guess.

  To see this viewer being built, check out this video.

Anyways, Tinker Crates are a great monthly addition to our home.  I hope you will consider them for your home as well.  They are a great way to involve your children in a monthly STEM project and have fun learning.  Foster that independence, learn some good science, you never know where it will take you.

In case you are curious, Kiwi Crates also makes crates for children of all ages and interests.  Cricket, Koala, Kiwi, Doodle and Tinker.  I am tempted to get the doodle crate as well….just to see what type of activities they put in them for artists to do.   But so far, the Tinker Crates are a hit.

Now if you want to round our your experiences with Tinker Crates, NotebookingPages.com will be on sale January 24-26. Here you can find all sorts of notebookingpages to help round our your studies with the Tinker Crate.  It’s worth your time to check out their lifetime membership.