Amy's Wandering

review – Nature Friend magazine

October 7, 2009 By: amyswanderingcomment

Nature Friend magazine was met with Oohs and Aahs as soon as it was pulled out of the mailbox. We received a free copy of the August and September issues. The photography is stunning! Everything about this magazine is beautiful, from the God-focused articles to the lovely thick paper on which they are printed.

There is no advertising in Nature Friend, so it is just page after page of fascinating animals, insects and natural habitats. We were excited to find an informative article on Cicadas since that was a popular topic in our home at the time. One of my favorite features is called Wondernose. It is fun to read the clues out loud as everyone tries to guess the mystery creature. The monthly drawing lessons are perfect for nature journals. You can view sample magazines HERE.

Our magazine included an 8-page Study Guide companion. It is conveniently bound into the middle of the magazine. The study guide reinforces the articles with puzzles, a writing assignment, and even a nature photography lesson. The study guide costs $2 a month. You can view sample study guides HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

$36 for a 1 year subscription
$68 for a two year subscription
$24 additional for 1 year of study guides

Order by November 30th and get $3 off with the code BLOG93

Things I Like:

The focus on God’s amazing creation.
It is enjoyed by the whole family. I might even like it more than the kids!
The pages are thick & high quality. These are meant to be kept and enjoyed for years to come.
Because there are no ads to chop up the articles, it is very easy to browse just an article or two at a time.

Value: The cost is a little high on this one for me right now, but I definitely think you get what you pay for in this case. I will be subscribing as soon as the funds are available. I won’t be getting the study guide, but I can see how it would be worth the money if you want to use Nature Friend as a curriculum.

Go see what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about Nature Friend magazine!

wfmw – a cleaning competition

October 7, 2009 By: amyswandering2 Comments

Today’s WFMW has a Cleaning Tip theme. (Excuse me for a minute while I step away to laugh and make something up.)

Ok, I’m back, and I actually do have a tip that works for me : a cleaning competition! I use this little trick when it’s time for a major house cleaning.

I walk around the house and make a list of every little thing that needs to be done. I make it very long and detailed so there are plenty of choices for everyone. I give the kids a minute to look over the list, and then everyone chooses one thing on the list and writes his/her name beside it.

And they’re off!! It is now a race to complete that chore, check it off, and get your name down again beside another task.

We do have a few rules:

You can only have your name by one task at a time – no dibs on the next.
The job must be done neatly and correctly.
Older kids cannot claim all of the easy jobs & leave the hard stuff for the little ones.

My kids love this game because they get to choose what they clean. I love this game because the work gets done quickly with little whining. There is no time for lollygagging about because someone else might claim the job you want next!

Run on over to We Are That Family for tons of great cleaning tips!

my kids are writing a book

October 5, 2009 By: amyswanderingcomment

ywp_logo_h131

Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. Participants begin writing on November 1st with a goal of finishing a novel by November 30th.

My kids will be taking part in the Young Writer’s Program. We are setting aside our writing curriculum to use these 100% Awesome, Non-Lame Workbooks.

I can wait to see what they create!

review – EDUDPS

October 5, 2009 By: amyswanderingcomment

Writing is an area that needed a lot of improvement in our home, and EDUDPS came to the rescue. We received Write with the Best Vol. 1 and Roots and Fruits.

Write with the Best Vol. 1 teaches students to model writing after great works of literature.

Describing an Object from Jules Verne
Describing a Place from Charles Dickens
Describing a Character from Daniel Defoe
Dialogue from Kenneth Grahame
The Short Story from O. Henry
Fables from Aesop
Friendly Letters from Robert Louis Stevenson
Poetry – Rhyming Verse from William Wordsworth
The Ballad or Narrative Poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The lessons are short and we really enjoyed the variety of activities. We read the passage, talked about descriptive writing, and searched for different parts of speech in the story. You can sample the first two units here.

Something to Note: EDUDPS has an unusual security feature on their ebooks. You are only allowed two printings, so you need to print the entire book at once. I understand their desire to protect their product, but I wish there was a way to only print a page or section at a time.

The Nitty Gritty:

e-book $19.95 on sale for a limited time for $14.95
pages only – no binder $22.95
3-ring binder $24.95

Things I Like:

Very teacher friendly – just open and go.
You can go through the material as quickly or slowly as you want. We needed some extra work with adjectives and adverbs, so we stretched that part of the lesson out a bit longer.
This is very easy to use with students in different grades.
Kids are exposed to classic literature.

Value: I think this is a great price for what you get, especially if you buy it on sale. We will probably stretch ours out for the entire school year.

Roots and Fruits makes learning vocabulary easy. It teaches your child to decode words by learning roots and prefixes and their meanings. I learned to decode words like this in school and I still use this method as an adult.

You can see a sample here.

The Nitty Gritty:

e-book $14.98 on sale for a limited time for $11.25
pages only – no binding $17.48
comb binding $19.98

Things I Like:

It covers grades K-12
Very teacher friendly – just open & go. (I’m seeing a pattern here. LOL)
The list of words is extensive with 673 roots and prefixes.
There a several fun games to play to reinforce the vocabulary words.
It only takes a few minutes a day.

Value: I think this is a steal! You get a K-12 vocabulary curriculum for less than $15.

Note: This has the same security restrictions that I mentioned above.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about EDUDPS!

review – A Journey Through Learning

October 1, 2009 By: amyswanderingcomment

We recently had a chance to review A Journey Through Learning lapbooks. We’ve only tried lapbooking once before with a very complicated set, so I was eager to get a look at a different company.

We decided to start with the Autumn study. We also received these studies to view:

Amphibians

Desert

Parables of a King

Reptiles

We are still not crazy about lapbooks, but I am very impressed with these! There is a good balance between the information and the work involved.

The Nitty Gritty:

Instant Download $13.00
CD $14.00
Printed $21.00

Things I Like:

The graphics are very appealing.
There is a lot of learning going on while working on these. It is not just a bunch of busywork like some of the other lapbooks I’ve seen.
The study guide format is easy to follow – each lesson & the matching lapbook components are together (instead of all the information, then all of the pieces, which leaves Mom to piece it all together).
They have a lapbook for any subject or season!

Value: These are priced about the same as other lapbook study guides, but the end result is much nicer in my opinion.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about A Journey Through Learning!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: