Through the Calm and Through the Storm: March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Sing praises to our God {Scripture and a Snapshot}

Our whole family is more than just a bit tired after a wonderful weekend at the Leadership Training for Christ conference this weekend, and I wasn't going to share any pictures tonight. I couldn't resist posting just one.

When I arrived at the conference center Friday afternoon, I found my husband outside rehearsing with our youth chorus. I just had to have a picture, and I'm thankful for a friend who took one for me when I couldn't find our camera anywhere.

What a glorious weekend we all had! I'll share more pictures soon.

B is for B90 -- Bible in 90 Days

Around Christmastime, I saw a friend post on Facebook that she was starting a Bible in 90 days group, and I was tempted to join.

I've read through the Bible several times in the past. I can remember at least twice that I've followed a yearly Bible plan -- once when we were living in Germany and again last year. I've also done the Bible in 90 days plan twice.

I like the challenge of the Bible in 90 Days (B90) plan. When we were in Arkansas, I downloaded a digital Bible to my nook and tucked my schedule into the cover. Lauren had either occupational or physical therapy every weekday, and I did my Bible reading while I sat in the waiting room. Normally, I could read a little extra on Fridays and Mondays to make up for busy weekend days.

When my friend posted about doing the challenge this year, I realized that I didn't have nearly as much waiting room time as I have had in the past. Lauren only has therapy on two days of the week in Arizona.

I thought about waiting for a better time to do a B90 challenge. I even thought about just reading through the Bible in a year again. I realized, thought, that I need a challenge. When I read through the Bible in a year, it was far too easy to catch up if I got behind. When I challenge myself to read the Bible in just 90 days, I know that I can't miss more than a day or two at a time.

The first two times I read through the Bible in 90 days, I read the books in canonical order. This time, my friend recommended a specific Chronological Study Bible that I've really enjoyed. I like seeing how different books of the Bible include the same historical events, sometimes with the exact same language and sometimes with slight differences in the details. The chronological version also allows me to see the Bible as one continuous story from beginning to end. When I first read a chronological version of the Bible, I realized what it means to take a particular verse in context. The real context for any verse is the whole Bible, not just the few verses surrounding it in the text.

I only have 10 more days left in this Bible in 90 days challenge. I have a few ideas of what I'm going to do with my study time after this, but I haven't made a firm decision yet.

I'm linking this post to others that are Blogging Through the Alphabet. It's not too late to join us on this round -- jump in anytime!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Math U See Pre-Calculus {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

I've often said that one of the best perks of being a homeschooler is being able to experiment with different curriculum options until we find that one that fits our child best. For Addison, we've found that Math-U-See fits her perfectly.

Recently, Addison skipped ahead a bit in her math studies so that she could review the Pre-Calculus level from Math-U-See. (She's currently about two-thirds of the way through Algebra 2, and it looked like the beginnings of Pre-Calculus did not require her to know anything that she hasn't covered before.) Pre-Calculus includes Trigonometry and covers other topics such as identities, polar equations, logarithms, sequences, and limits. The full table of contents can be found on the Math-U-See website.

I'm pleased to report that Math-U-See has made Pre-Calculus manageable and even perhaps a little fun.

At the heart of most lessons is the clear video instruction from Steve Demme. We didn't time any of the video segments, but Addison estimates that they are all between ten and twenty minutes long. She would have noted (and complained) if they had been much longer. Mr. Demme does an excellent job of explaining even the most complex math concepts so that the student fully understands what is going on and isn't just memorizing how to work a problem.

Following each lesson, the Math-U-See materials provide several practice pages in the student workbook. The Pre-Calculus lessons have four regular practice pages and an optional honors page for each lesson. We like the way that the practice pages are in a separate workbook so that Addison can do the work directly on the page. Occasionally, she needs to use scratch paper to do parts of the problem, but often she can complete all of the work in the allotted space. The goal of Math-U-See is not for the student to complete all of the work pages, though. The goal is for the student to practice long enough that they master the new concept. Addison rarely needs to use all four practice pages before moving on to the next concept, but I like knowing that there are additional worksheets that she could use if she needed to.

The Pre-Calculus materials come with optional honors pages in each lesson. The honors lessons expand on the concepts in the text, challenge the students with more word problems, and provide practical applications. Some of the honors lessons help the student develop higher level math thinking skills so that they'll be prepared for a science or math field of study in college. Occasionally, the honors lesson will include a concept that might not be covered elsewhere in the materials, perhaps a interesting factoid or unique application.

In addition to the student materials, the Pre-Calculus curriculum comes with a full Instruction Manual. At times, Addison has used the written lessons to substitute for the video instruction. Most of the time, however, we refer back to the text so that we can easily find a single concept in a lesson that needs to be reviewed. The textbook lessons include explanations, sample problems, and practice problems (with answers).

The Instruction Manual also includes all of the answers for the student worksheets, the honors lessons, and the tests. Each of the answers include the steps needed to complete the problem, not just the answer. I appreciate seeing the steps to the solution so that I can help Addison find her mistake instead of just marking the answer as wrong. Our only complain about Math-U-See is that Addison sometimes finds it difficult to figure out what format her answer should be written in -- should she simplify fractions, use her calculator to find the square roots and get an approximate value, etc. When her answer is in a different format, I either tell her which form to convert it to or I do a bit of a math myself to make sure she's answered correctly. It isn't a big deal, but it would be easier if the instructions on the worksheets were clear about how to format the answer.

The real question about a math curriculum isn't necessarily about the curriculum at all. The real question in my mind is whether it works for the student. Math-U-See not only teaches math in a way that makes it easy for Addison to understand, it somehow makes it fun too. When I asked her about the Pre-Calculus curriculum she responded,

"What I really liked was the honors page for lesson 6 where we combined trigonometry with algebra."

I laughed.

She responded, "I know. It was so fun!"

I think that statement clearly illustrates why we love Math-U-See. It works for Addison and somewhere along the way Steve Demme has taken a daunting subject and made it "fun."

The Pre-Calculus materials include the Instruction Pack (DVD and Instruction Manual) that costs $72 and the Student Pack (Student Workbook and Pre-Calculus tests) for $32. In addition, Pre-Calculus requires that the student have a scientific calculator that does square roots, trigonometric functions, logarithms, and natural log. Addison is using my husbands old scientific calculator, and I'm able to check her work using a free calculator app on my iPad. Pre-Calculus is intended for high-school students who have already completed geometry and algebra 2 courses.

statement regarding FTC Regulations for reviews

Thursday, March 28, 2013

A Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real Easter {Think Back Thursday}

Earlier this week, while organizing scads of digital pictures, I hunted for some Easter-themed snapshots to share for this week's Think Back Thursday post. It's been a while since I've participated, but I'm inspired to share more of our older pictures now that I'm slowly getting them sorted out.

Last night, I picked some random favorites, but I was sort of hoping that I'd find some inspiration to put them in a post. I wanted them to be at least somewhat organized.

This morning I happened to see a photo link-up called "Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real" on Like Mother, Like Daughter. Perfect. The stated purpose of the project is to "capturing the context of contentment in everyday life." My pictures aren't necessarily everyday life, but I think back three years to a pleasant Easter Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia with contentment and happy memories.

Easter 2010

Pretty:

Sadly, we only got one decent picture of Lauren's pretty Easter dress. She wasn't in the mood for picture taking, and I told her I'd help her off the stool after she sang a song. I don't think she looked up at the camera the whole time.

Happy:

Funny:

Real:

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Hovercraft {Wordless Wednesday}

Monday, March 25, 2013

Adventus MusIQ HomeSchool program {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

photo musiqhomeschool-software_zps4cb3ceea.jpg

Adventus has developed computer-based teaching materials to make music instruction easily accessible for all student. Their MusIQ HomeSchool program is geared to preschoolers through high schoolers, with a collection of materials to fit every student in a family.

The Children's Music Journey software is appropriate for ages 4-10. Each of the three levels contains 25-35 weekly lessons, computerized practice sessions, games to reinforce the lesson content, and up to 50 new pieces for the student to learn to play on a keyboard.

Older students (age 10 and up) will use three programs -- Piano Suite Premier for keyboarding instruction, Ear Training Coach, and MusIQ Challenger Game for music theory. The Piano Suite Premier portion of the program has over 500 pieces to learn, both classical music selections and modern works that include jazz, country, and rock.

For the past several months, I've been using the Children's Music Journey part of the program with Lauren. We already had a portable keyboard, and I was able to purchase an inexpensive cable to use the MIDI outputs on it to connect it to our computer. (Adventus also sells affordable keyboards if you need to purchase one.) She has been exposed to some music but not any piano or keyboarding instruction so she started at the very beginning.

We found the Children's Music Journey program to be very easy to use. Each lesson started with an introduction from a famous composer. Lauren's first lessons were led by Beethoven, and in addition to teaching music concepts he also talked a bit about some of his most famous works. By looking ahead through the materials, I know that other composers are featured throughout the three levels of the program.

Adventus, MusicIQ, computer music instruction

After listening to Beethoven teach the short lesson, Lauren moved on to either the practice room, the games room, or the improv room. I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical about learning improvisational skills this early in a music program, but I found enough help in the lesson materials to help me feel more confident. So far, Lauren practices improv by experimenting to see which notes sound best with the piece that that the computer is playing.

In addition to the computer activities, MusIQ HomeSchool included Lesson Plans for each level. I appreciated the way that the lessons gave us additional practice ideas that could be used away from the keyboard. For instance, in lesson three, Lauren learned about short and long notes. We made up some of our own phrases to practice clapping the rhythms. I also found a few fun printable activity sheets in the lesson plan materials to reinforce the music concepts from the lessons.

I'm quite impressed with all that is taught in the Children's Music Journey program, and I'm also pleased with the way it is presented to the children in an age-appropriate manner. The description of "bird notes" and "whale notes" really seemed to click with Lauren, and we're still working together to master the idea of long notes and short notes when clapping (or playing) a rhythm.

Our biggest complaint about the MusIQ program is that only the younger levels will work on our Mac computers. Addison loves music and really wished that she could try the upper levels. Honestly, after seeing the written materials and working through the lower levels with Lauren, I'm tempted to install Parallels/Windows on one of our Mac computers so that she can use the program too.

MusIQ HomeSchool is available as a subscription that costs $10.95 per month and gives you access to all levels of the program. If you'd like to purchase the Children's Music Journey programs instead of subscribing, they are available for $89.95 each. The lesson plans that I used with Children's Music Journey are included in the $89.95 price but are not included in the online MusIQ Homeschool subscription. If you'd like to purchase them separately, they cost $29.95 for each level. All of the programs require a portable keyboard with MIDI capabilities.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

My peace I give you {Scripture and a Snapshot}

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

When I saw this week's memory verse for our 100 Bible Verses in 2013 challenge, I immediately thought of a time when I desperately needed peace and comfort.

I took this picture of a rainbow almost four years ago. It was the view from Lauren's room on the sixth floor of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Lauren had been in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant for four months at this point.

When I think back to those days, I cannot explain how I had so much peace. Peace that helped me dream up imaginary games to entertain an active three-year-old on long afternoons. Peace that allowed me to get a good night's sleep on the couch next to Lauren's hospital bed. Most importantly, peace that filled my heart with a confidence in knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was in control.

That sort of peace can only come from God.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Classical Academic Press Logic {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

I've always been impressed with the materials we've used from Classical Academic Press. Last year, Addison used their The Art of Argument materials to learn informal logic. Since we gave those products a favorable review, we were excited to receive The Discovery of Deduction materials this year so that Addison could study formal logic. The course materials include The Discovery of Deduction: An Introduction to Formal Logic for the student's use and a corresponding Teacher's Edition.

Addison jumped right into the course materials. She thought that formal logic would be interesting, but wasn't sure how applicable it would be. In one of her lessons, she found that formal logic is very useful in determining if you have contradictory beliefs without knowing it. She has especially enjoyed the square of opposition, but she says that the grammar nerd in her does not like translating sentences into categorical form.

She even drew a diagram to show some of what she has learned. She left it by the computer for me to see for a few days, but then moved it back up to her room so that she can reference it while she studies. (As a math nerd, I get her joke about the square of opposition, but she's lost me with all of the terms and relationships in the square.)

From a teacher's standpoint, I found this course to be among the most difficult that Addison has studied. The student text is set up so that she can work through the materials independently. After she had completed a few chapters, I sat down to check through her work. The teacher's manual has a complete copy of the student text with all of the answers filled in. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to make sure Addison's answers were correct in some cases. Many of the questions are short-answer style and asked her to give an example of a new concept. Her answers were similar to those in my book, but I'm not completely certain that I would be able to tell if they were completely correct.

In the case of Addison's logic studies, I'm content with her to just work through the materials independently. I hope that if she runs into any problems along the way that she'll be able to work them out by referring to the answers in my teacher's edition. If she can't, then I guess I'll start at the beginning of the book and learn formal logic alongside her.

Despite the fact that I don't fully understand what Addison is telling me about the logic she learns, I can tell that she's really thinking through the materials. I'm thrilled to have a logic program that challenges her.

The Discovery of Deduction student workbook costs $26.95 and the Teacher's Edition is $29.95. Classical Academic Press recommends it for students as young as eighth grade, and I think it is appropriate for any High School student.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A is for Arizona

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to Blog Through the Alphabet again. I had the hardest time coming up with a topic that begins with A, and up until last night, I thought I'd just have to say "Here we go, again."

I finally remembered that I had promised my friend Jennifer a blog post for her "Glimpses of our Country" series. Since I now live in Arizona, I decided to finish up my post for her and then just send everybody over to her blog to see what I'm sharing. Thank you, Jennifer, for letting me be part of your series, and thank you for not complaining when I didn't account for the big time difference when I promised you my post by late afternoon. Since Arizona doesn't change the clocks for Daylight Savings Time, I sometimes forget that we're so far behind all my friends and family in the eastern part of the US.

Since we've lived in Arizona for the past eight months, I've found quite a lot that I love about this area. I'm sharing eight of my favorite things (with pictures). Please visit A Glimpse of our Life to see all of my pictures.

I'm linking this post to others that are Blogging Through the Alphabet. As we start back at the beginning, this would be a great week to join us!

Monday, March 18, 2013

My fancy to-do list {Goal Planning Monday}

Another week, another few baby steps down the path. Even if I haven't made any big goals lately, I'm thrilled that I haven't given up on any of my ongoing goals.

Progress on ongoing goals:
1. Exercise: I finished the 5K Race for a Cure Fun Run yesterday. (I posted pictures last night.)

2. Bible Reading: All caught up!

3. Scripture Memory: One of this week's verses is part of a passage I started last week so I get a bit of a break.

4. Read: I'm not sure I read anything other than my Bible, the teacher's instructions for a new reading curriculum, and the read-alouds to the kids. I'm going to pull up something fun to read before I go to bed tonight.

5. Blog: I survived another blog hop. As always, I'm promising myself that I'll plan ahead better next time.

New goals:
Work on pictures! I need to spend at least 20-30 minutes each day working on getting our digital pictures backed up and then organized. Last week, we set up our apple TimeCapsule to back up both the laptop and desktop. I was concerned because I have about 5 years worth of photos in iPhoto on the desktop. Somewhere in the midst of the backup, the TimeCapsule failed. It completely quit and we could no longer access anything on there at all. We had been using that as an extra hard-drive and had all of our older pictures stored on there. For a frantic couple of hours last Wednesday morning, we thought they were all gone. Thankfully, my husband remembered that we still had an old hard drive around here. I breathed a huge, huge sigh of relief when I realized that all of those pictures weren't lost after all. I don't want to take any more chances with our photos so I bought a USB drive and a memory card to make extra back-up copies (one to keep here and one to send to a relative).

I'm adding my list of goals and accomplishments to the others at Mama Manuscripts. I'm thankful for all my friends that meet each week to cheer each other on.

©2009-2013 Through the Calm and Through the Storm. All rights reserved. Photos and content may not be reproduced. http://throughthecalmandthroughthestorm.blogspot.com

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Run and not grow weary {Scripture and a Snapshot}

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Almost three months ago, a few ladies at our church decided to start a running club. We trained with the Couch 2 5K plan with the intention of running in the Southern Arizona Race for the Cure fun run.

Earlier last week, I limped home from a routine run in the neighborhood because my knees were hurting so badly. I was incredibly discouraged to be injured so close to the race. (I dropped out of a half-marathon about a year and a half ago because of knee pain.) I wasn't sure how my knee would hope up to even a 5K today, but I decided to give it my all.

Thank you God for running and not growing weary. Thank you even more for an injury free day both for me and for the rest of our team.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Touch Math {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

As a homeschool parent, I like to think that I would notice as soon as one of my children started to have problems in a subject. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. Apparently, Lauren has been faking her way through her math work for a while now. I knew she hadn't memorized all of her addition facts, but I thought she understood all of the concepts we had covered. I was so confident in her abilities that I chose to review second grade math materials.

For more than thirty years, TouchMath has brought multi sensory teaching methods to elementary classrooms. Recently, TouchMath introduced their materials to homeschoolers. We received the complete Second Grade Homeschool Curriculum (divided into 6 modules) and many of the wonderful hands-on manipulatives that add an effective hands-on learning component to the curriculum.

I downloaded the instructional files and was almost overwhelmed with the amount of material that was included. The second grade curriculum was divided into four units, each containing six study modules and ninety student activity sheets. Thankfully, the materials were well organized and easy to implement. I printed the activity sheets for Lauren and transferred the teacher explanations to my iPad.

During our school time the next day, I pulled out my instructions, Lauren's activity sheets, and a few of the manipulatives. Many of the activity sheets had an apple symbol on the top indicating that they were to be completed with together with a teacher. As we worked together, I realized that Lauren did not fully understand the concept, especially if the problems were presented differently than she had seen previously.

I pulled out our TouchMath manipulatives and illustrated the idea of addition and subtraction by using the TouchNumerals.

We have spent several weeks practicing addition and subtraction with the help of TouchMath materials. Because we had so many optional manipulatives to choose from, Lauren didn't ever complain, "I've already done that." We counted the TouchMath dots on the foam numbers, set up our own number line to walk along, and then did some written work.

I was immediately impressed with the way that the basic concepts were taught so thoroughly that children will fully grasp the math principles and cannot merely fake their way through figuring out which numbers to put in the blanks. After practicing for a few weeks, Lauren now has a better understanding of basic number concepts.

After using this program for just a few days, I wished I had access to more worksheets to use for extra practice. I learned, however, that Lauren didn't necessarily need more worksheets -- she needed more practice using the hands-on manipulatives. This program forced us out of our worksheet based math-rut and helped Lauren fully grasp the concepts I was teaching.

For us, the TouchMath program might be the perfect math choice. It showed me how to use a variety of hands-on materials to better help Lauren understand the math concepts. The TouchMath activity sheets require Lauren to apply her math knowledge to a variety of situations, not just to similar problems she's seen on other assignments.

I'm thrilled with the way that TouchMath has helped Lauren make strides in her math understanding. I'm also thrilled with the way it challenged me to reconsider how I teach Lauren; she thrives on this hands-on approach.

TouchMath offers their Second Grade Homeschool Program as either four individual units ($59.95 each) or as an entire set for $199. The manipulatives are available separately -- TouchNumerals for $99, tens sets of Student number cards for $24, and FlipCards for $19 per set (12 sets are utilized in the second grade level). TouchMath also offers corresponding computer software for $99. Depending on the student's learning style, only some of the materials will be needed. For our family, the TouchNumerals have been very helpful. We use either the numerals, the touch point dots, or the base 10 trays almost every day.

Disclaimer: I received the TouchMath Second Grade curriculum and several hands-on manipulatives as a member of the 2012 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the materials and how they worked for my homeschool family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Homeschooling on a Battlefield {Crew Blog Hop}

As I thought about what to write for the last day of the Teaching Creatively Blog Hop, I asked Addison what hands-on schoolwork she remembers doing. I thought she'd mention the time that we shot Halloween candy across the kitchen with a homemade catapult or the time I let her climb on the roof to experiment with gravity (by dropping balls, not by jumping off).

She didn't have to think for long. Her hands-down favorite study was our study of the Civil War -- a unit study that lasted most of a year and included readers, read-alouds, computer simulations, a huge lapbook project, and best-of-all at least a dozen field trips to Civil War Battlefields.

1. Great books

A small (perhaps very small) sampling of the Civil War resources we used:

2. Computer simulations

Tim found wonderful computer simulations that showed where the troops were standing at various point during a specific battle, how they moved, where reinforcements were coming from, etc. Instead of hearing that one side won that battle, we saw the outside factors at play and often why that battle ended the way it did.

I snapped this picture the night before we visited Gettysburg.

3. Walking along the battlefield, visualizing what we'd studied.

We didn't just drive past the battlefields. I remember holding Lauren and listening to Tim show Addison where the troops were standing and which directions they moved during the course of the battle. When we walked Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, we could see what the Confederate troops were facing and ultimately why they weren't successful that day.

4. Capturing the information and the memories in a lapbook to treasure.

Addison still has the lapbook she finished in fourth grade, and she is still very proud of it. When I wanted to take a picture of it, I found it on the bookcase in her room beside her school materials for this year. She's studying American History for her freshman year of high school and wanted the lapbook for easy reference.

I sometimes wonder if Addison would be so interested in the Civil War if we hadn't immersed ourselves in that study. I definitely know that she wouldn't have remembered nearly as much if we had just read a few chapters in a textbook.

Perhaps what I should be wondering tonight is how I can apply these ideas to our other studies. The Schoolhouse Review Crew has been blogging about Teaching Creatively this week. I think I need to find some ways to add some much needed creativity to our days.

If you want to see what everyone has shared, be sure to click on the links below or visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. Also, don't forget that today is the last day to enter the Teaching Creatively Giveaway.