A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Review

Winter Wonders

By 2 Comments


We started working on the Winter Wonders unit study/lap book from DownLoad N Go.

We actually completed all of this unit study and I was certain that I had posted on what we had done for days 3-5 but alas, I cannot locate it, or maybe the computer glitched or something. Anyways, day one and two are here. 🙂 Day 3-5 are in hinterland.. but they inspired us to do make this bird feeder which is here. 🙂 Day 3-5 consisted of lots of drawing, nature walks, examining snow and what not.

Now what can I tell you about downloadngo unit study/lap books? They are super easy to do. They come loaded with links, videos (embedded youtube for safety), suggested reading, lap book activities and materials and much more. They are NOT highly indepth, they are overviews of studies. Going in depth of course, is not an issue since lots of reading materials are suggested.


This particular unit had tons of drawing which an art minded lad thoroughly enjoyed AND…. it had BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!! We studied the snowshoe hare. We did it more in-depth than the unit called for but my boy and bunnies…what can say.. he LIKES THEM. 🙂 He found it fascinating watching the videos of them… and there lies my one complaint about this study. Putting a video of an artic hare in with the study on snowshoe hares is just a trifle confusing…similar colour and adaptive abilities but DIFFERENT animal. One is bigger than the other, and they have somewhat different behaviours and locales. An update: my comment re the artic hare was noted by one of the powers that be and they acted on it immediately. No more artic hare video in the study on the snowshoe hare. How’s that for proactive service? I thought it was very cool. 🙂


Each day we study something different.

Day 1: What Is Winter?
Day 2: Science Secrets of Winter
Day 3: People and Places of Winter
Day 4: Time for Tips and Treasures of Winter
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Winter

I find it funny that he often talks about the bird thieves .. the sparrows and blue jays of the world. And how the squirrels can be bad squirrels stealing the birds food.
j -“Do you think mommy that they are playing tricks on the birds”?
m -“Yes, buddy, I’m sure that’s what they are doing. Silly squirrels, silly birds… why can’t they just share”?
j -“They should all be friends mommy, and not steal from each other.”One of the things that I liked in this study was taking nature walks. We went to a local park and on a 30 minute walk found turkey footprints, rabbit footprints, and deer footprints as well as lots of people footprints. We watched birds at a bird feeder…one very pretty grey and red one was there. Don’t know what kind it was, and lots of sparrows and chickadees. We spent time outside tobaggoning and examining snow. We even froze some to see if it would change in the freezer – it didn’t expect when we took some out and it melted a little bit, but it still tasted like snow.

To find this unit go to Download N Go where you will find it here, listed for $7.95. 🙂

You can read more reviews here. And if you want to read more about Amanda Bennet the creator, you can go here. 🙂

I received this study in return for my fair and honest review. This so far has been our most enjoyed study from DownLoad N Go. It was just FUN. 🙂
.

Christmas Break Books

By Leave a Comment

A houseful of Christmas

I have to admit, when I first read this book, didn’t think much of it. But the boy child seemed to like it so we read it again. It grew on me. Caused the lad to ask questions which I always appreciate.

Mog and the granny.

We got this book out because it’s about a cat! It’s actually a fun read about a cat and how she likes things to stay the same.

happy Christmas Ginger.

A simple book about a cat experiencing Christmas. One part made the lad laugh and say “why mommy, Why would the cat like cookies???”

If you were born a kitten

this book surprised me. and the lad would sit and listen as opposed to play and listen. he’s often stick the thumb in his mouth too. Found that an interesting response. Talks about different ways that animals are when they are born.

Farm-Fresh Cats

I really just need to write a lapbook on this book. It’s just a very fun read for a child to have. 🙂

So Many Ways to Defend Themselves

A non-fiction book about how animals defend themselves. Some things we knew, others were a complete surprise. Interesting read.

Camouflage by Kennon O’mara

We got this book out to go with the camouflage unit study that we continue to work though. Good book. Caused questions to be asked. had some good pictures in it as as well. Really showed the lad how white the artic hare and the artic fox where.

The Holly Hill Christmas Treasury

A good collection of stories, poems and more all about bunnies celebrating Christmas. The lad enjoyed it immensely.

The Golden Christmas Treasury

Can’t say I liked this one as much. Neither did the lad. It had a couple of good stories in it, and poems that were fun, but that’s about it.

The Christmas Cat

The lad liked this book and for the most part so did I. Decent read.

The Innkeeper’s Daughter

I have to admit, I’m fussy with books that are Bible based… or at least bible story based. I didn’t mind this book but found it a bit far-fetched and therefore couldn’t really get into reading it beyond the once. Did lead to a good discussion with the lad about whether or not it was possible to have that kind of healing happen.

A visit from St. Nicholas and Santa Mouse too!

the mouse saved this story for the lad. 🙂 Santa’s not real mommy he said with a frown. Who’s that mouse mommy? And so we read it. Not a bad book at all.

Bunny Christmas

An okay read, didn’t read it beyond one or two times. he had a fondness for a couple other books more.

Waiting for Christmas Stories

Read it twice. Stories seemed not real to the lad, so he didn’t much listen to them.

Snow Dog’s Journey

The lad liked this book. Surprised me a bit that he did. he’s not real big into dogs at this point, but this book he had a fondness for. Read it quite a few times. Always with different questions too.

The little reindeer

sometimes flights of fancy are just fun to read. And this one fit well with the season of sometimes pretend.

MEOW

LOVES this book. Makes him laugh.

Daniel’s Gift

Another sorta bible based story. Made the boy listen and think, so I liked that. He knew it wasn’t a true story though. 🙂

Creation Camouflage – DNG Review and Contest

By Leave a Comment

Ah…animal lovers…here we come. DownLoadNGo has a unit study/lap book on Critters and how they hide. 🙂 Creation Camouflage available now. 🙂 Creation Camouflage was the review of the week for DownLoadNGo. Given that it is the Christmas Season, we had five days of an incredible amount of snow falling with needing the help clear it, we only brouched two days of this study. Day one and day four. All told we got about four feet of snow, which compacted down to 2-3 feet. It was heavy sloughing for a while. Download N Go studies are 5 day – complete unit studies. All you have to do is “download n Go”. There is no prep work needed!! They have lap book elements so it’s easy to turn your work into a lap book. Lots of graphics, lots of links, lots of information, and a really good book list which you can use or not.

Each day has a particular focus.

Day 1: Hiding in Plain Sight
Day 2: Getting to Know the Rain Forest
Day 3: What Is in the Desert?
Day 4: Hiding in the Ocean
Day 5: Cool Things About the Tundra

My lad was absolutely fascinated to learn that hunters and the hunted can use the same way to hide! Tigers can use stripes so what they are looking forward can’t see them, and at the same time what they are looking using stripes so they can’t be seen! Absolutely amazing for him to learn this. Having a bunny with a white coat on white snow was a good way for the bunny to hide…but I can still see him mommy. Showing him a brown bunny on snow made it really clear to him which one was easier to see. For a boy who likes bunnies and cats VERY much this section really worked for him.
🙂 I was able to remind the lad how we found the Cicada shell on the bike in the backyard and on the tree bark and which ones were easier to see, and how we found one still alive that had just crawled out and how it was able to cling to the bark and when we were farther away from it how hard it was to see it.

And how can one hide in the ocean? “It’s just water mommy.” He learned that in the ocean there is much more than water. There are plants and rocks and coral…. and all the fish can use those things to hide in. Learning about how a squid hides was hard for him to really get a grasp on until we played a computer game called Animal Genius from Scholastic. On that is a game where the octopus has to hide from a fish by using his ink! That was FUNNY and it worked “HE GOT AWAY MOMMY!”. was hollered with great excitement!
What my lad likes about these studies is he has lots of opportunities to draw things. He doesn’t always like what he’s asked to draw, but often he can encouraged to do so, or we find a new way to do things (aka can you trace over top of this drawing?). I love the fact that there are so many links included that finding different ways of doing an exercise isn’t very difficult at all.

Creation Camouflage will be on sale from Dec 13-18 for $5.95 at DownLoadNGo.
You can read other reviews here. And did you know that DownLoadNGo has a blog? Yep, you can find it right here. 🙂 Catch all the latest news.

Oh and Guess What? I’ve been allowed to offer up ONE copy of this study for you! Isn’t that cool? Leave me a comment by December 23rd with your favourite camouflaging animal. Tell me what makes the animal interesting. 🙂

There’s a contest up at DownLoadNGo...but I think it may be over by the time I get this posted. 🙁 Sorry about that.

As part of the DownLoadNGo Review Team I received a copy of for my free and honest review. I liked it and hope to finish it in the new year with my eager animal lover son.

Library book – December 7

By Leave a Comment

Farm fresh cats – scott santoro

The lad just LOVES this book, and I have to admit, it’s a good read for me too. If you have a child who likes cats..get this book out. If you have a child who likes the unexpected…get this book out. It is a fun read. We get this book out over and over and over again, and everytime we read it he’s right there looking at the pages and listening actively.

Justin says “I love cats! There is too much cats in it!” (with a huge grin)

Meow – Judy Reinen

Justin says “I love the cats in it”.
And this book is full of cats, some in funny places. Makes a lad smile. 🙂

have you seen birds – by joanne oppenheim

I got this book out because the illustrations were done by barbara reid, and she lives up to her standard. BUT it ended up being a good book. Inspired the boy child to act out the different birds using his stuffed animals.

Justin says “there are too many birds. That it starts with a cat!”

I am Canada – heather patterson

Not a bad book at all. Introduces children doing different things in this beloved country of ours. As Justin says about this book “I AM CANADA”. 🙂

Room for Rabbit – Roni Schotter

This book was oft requested. It’s about a child dealing with the after-affects of divorce. Wasn’t sure about introducing that topic to Justin but overall he was more curious about what rabbit had to say to his little girl.

Justin says “that rabbit says there’s not enough room”

Wish Come True Cat – Ragnhild Scamell

Sometimes wishes come true in ways we don’t expect.
Justin says “that a cat goes thump on a window” 🙂

The other goose – judith kerr

This book is a fun read about a lonely goose. It performs a good deed and gets an interesting reward because of an observant little girl.
Justin says “that the goose things there’s a goose in the car!”

Spring Thaw – steven schnur

this book makes me think I could make a unit study or lap book out of it. A decent book with different observations about a spring thaw.
Justin says “there’s a horse in it”.

Ben Franklin – DNG Review

By Leave a Comment

I signed up with DownloadNGo to do the Ben Franklin study. I have to admit, I was somewhat hesitant to do so, I like getting stuff free and then being able to review it, but I see Benjamin Franklin as being a real American icon, and did I want to take time to teach a five year old about him at this stage? Really wasn’t sure, do know though that I’m glad I signed up for it. “Mommy! Can we learn more??” I heard this twice during the study. 🙂

On Day one he drew this On Day Two we learned about making trade signs and different places in the world that Ben went to. We used our big map to look for those countries and when we went out in the afternoon, they had a big map there too so the lad needed to use his memory to figure out where Ben went. 🙂

And Today we learned about inventing and being a person of good Character. We had a hoot playing a glass armonica and learning about electricity and street lights! We tested out how to be honest, generous, curious and being brave. This was just fun to test out emotions and thoughts by the things we say and do.

Here’s an overview of what you get in a unit study from DownloadNGo
We haven’t made it to day five yet and not sure if we will this week or not. Time will tell, when we do, I’ll link to it here as well. 🙂

Each study is set out to be done over five days, but you can do them however you wish, they are easy to modify and easy to take side trips off of (aka… we took a side trip to figure out why Ben Franklin disliked the eagle and liked the turkey). The lad wasn’t sure if he agreed with Ben or not. 🙂

Day 1: Who Was Ben Franklin?
Day 2: People and Places in Ben Franklin’s Life
Day 3: The Accomplishments of Ben Franklin
Day 4: Lessons to Learn From Ben Franklin
Day 5: Remembering Ben Franklin

Each day has a variety of activities to complete from colouring, drawing, making small books, activities for older children and younger children, books you can get out of the library, embedded videos, and links to a variety of pages on-line.

Now I have to admit I had two problems with this study
1. conflicting information on-line. For instance when asked how many brothers and sisters ben had, one site said one amount, another site said a different amount. That was confusing and caused a “I DON”T KNOW MOMMY!!! THEY SAY IT DIFFERENTER FROM THE OTHER!” (he likes to be right and sometimes gets loud if he just doesn’t it or if the information seems wrong) Mind you, it did lead to a quieter discussion of how it is sometimes hard to find information that tells the truth online, and sometimes even in books, and that’s why we go to different sites/books and compare and then take the commonly accepted answer UNLESS there’s a reason not to.

2. maps. We need different maps. Trying to match up a detail map with a non-detail maps was very simply beyond our scope this week. And I just wasn’t up for a search to find my own better map…though hold on.. I guess I could have gone to blackline to see if THEY had a detail map of the colonies….. hmm…I will need to look into that. 🙂

You can get Ben Franklin from The Old schoolhouse for $6.25 right now, usually it costs $7.95. It also comes as part of the patriotic package. with George Washington, Constitution Celebration, and Ben Franklin. for $23.85.

The Study of Ben Franklin is currently on sale for $6.25 is available at DownloadNGo

To read what other reviewers have to say, go here. I know that I learned new ways that I can expand out study from reading them. Some were just a fun read. 🙂

Library Books to Return – November 17

By Leave a Comment

Fox walked alone

what an excellent book. The lad enjoyed this one so much he almost has it completely memorized. it’s a noah’s ark story.

Scaredy Squirrel

This book was just a fun read about a very silly squirrel. Generated questions of “why does he wash his hands?” “why is he scared so that?”

There’s a cow under my bed!

Another silly book that had the boy looking serious and sucking his thumb. Not a lot of comments made, but lots of intense listening.

A Pioneer Thanksgiving.

I got this book out for the craft and game ideas, never did get around to it as it’s been a busy three weeks, complete with a cold. Some good stuff in it though, also read one story to the lad which kept him curious and interested.

Wake Up Henry Rooster!

Another just fun read. An easy to read story about a fun loving rooster, inspired lots of crowing by the lad at night when we read it.

Miko, It was me, Mom!

a good read, entertaining. Inspired questions. Talked about burglars, and why some things are bad and other things are right.

Nobody’s Nosier than a cat

We have had this book out so many times. A favourite of my cat-loving lad. it’s a fun read, you get to watch a cat chase a mouse throughout the book. The lad has it 90% memorized and KNOWS when I miss a page.

A dog for a friend

Requested twice to read by the lad, this book is a quieter book with a surprise in it. Caused a “huh?” from the lad. It’s a longer read so not one I chose as a bed time story, more of a day time story book which is when I chose to read it.

Clara and the bossy

The lad surprised me with this one, he chose it several times to read as a night time story. it’s a good read about friendships and being yourself.

Camels Always Do.

This is a true stories about camels in Canada. I found it quite interesting, the lad less so. “I don’t like camels Mommy” he told me with all seriousness.

Spark the firefighter

Would YOU think of a dragon being a firefighter? I wouldn’t. Read the book to find out why. 🙂

Two Dogs Swimming

This is a make me smile book. Caused the lad to pose questions as well. It’s a decent read about two best friend dogs with one small problem.

Review: Expedition Australia

By 1 Comment


Let me start off by saying that I got a copy of this unit study in return for reviewing it.
I’ve been interested in the expedition series ever since I first heard about them as country study I find fascinating. These unit studies are well done. They’ve done all the research for you, while allowing side trips if you want to take them.

Well, let me explain that my five year old has been not feeling well for the past couple of weeks and this week his head and chest have exploded into a rather nasty cold. This has caused us to go slowly with our homeschooling efforts.

So we managed to get day one done of this study. Woot woot! We will over the next 4 weeks cover the rest of this study. 🙂 Here is day two’s review. 🙂

We took our time with it and just had fun with it.
There is a map of the world that we’re supposed to colour code, they gave suggested colours…but “mommy! can I do it differenter than that”?
“Sure buddy, just pick whatever colours you want”.
And…so he did. 🙂 We did our own version of colour coding the world.

Today we looked at how far Canberra is from us, and learned that going backwards was faster to get to Australia then going over Africa. He found that immensely funny and then proceeded to exercise that new knowledge by testing out shorter ways to get from one place to another in our house and by drawing different maps on pieces of paper. Oh.. we couldn’t get the link – the one included for seeing how far it was from our town to Canberra – to work for us for some reason (possibly because we live in a small town) so we went to google maps. Google maps made us both laugh as they suggested we kayak across the ocean. 🙂

NOTE: we are in the middle of renovating our living room so having a five year old doing things “backwards” as he practiced finding shorter cut going backwards was at times a bit of a talking through challenge. 🙂 White footprints (plaster dust) in places one doesn’t expect always adds interest in life doesn’t it? 🙂 Humour is good.

We learned today just how big the great barrier reef was….the lad found that fascinating. One of the videos they include has a plane flying over the barrier reef. All those little items was just a cause for curiousity.

Some of this study is over the head of a five year old, and the animal of the day being koalas…well what can I say. I can definitively say that the lad DOES NOT LIKE koala bears (which incidentally aren’t bears, they are marsupials). Marsupials have pouches which is for some reason very funny. How can a mommy carry a baby in a pouch? Doesn’t it fall out? How does it get out? Does it bounce when the mommy jumps? that baby must get all wiggly…. complete with a five year old doing a wiggly dance of a dizzy koala baby. (I had to keep him from hitting his head on the coffee table). 🙂
So…I suppose you might want to know what the rest of the study entails.

Day one: Where on Earth is Australia
Day two: Some of the special places in Australia
Day three: A bit of Australian History
Day four: Cool things to know about Australia
Day five: Fun and Games in Australia

Each day includes videos. Activity sheets. An animal of the day. Vocabulary words and so much more. It’s a well done study.

And hey! DownloadNGo is doing an Australia map giveaway! Go there, enter. My philosophy…if you don’t enter you can’t win. And well…winning is fun! 🙂

If you go here, you’ll learn how you can get Expedition Australia for $5.95 from now through Nov 8.

Also available at the Old Schoolhouse. 🙂

You’ll find more reviews listed here.