review – Page 9 of 9

Logic of English review

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February 12, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

I was so excited to meet Denise Eide at Allume and sit with her at dinner one night!

We both share a love and fascination for language and she offered her curriculum, Logic of English, to me to review.

This is an extremely comprehensive program and I am very impressed with all the research and hard work that Denise and her family put into this. It is quite amazing.

As a former English teacher, I can tell you: this program is all you’d ever need for a language arts program with your students or children. It covers reading, spelling, handwriting, grammar, the works!

Read about how the curriculum is structured in three parts at their website.

While my girls are at different stages and we can’t utilize some aspects of the program at this time, we do love some of it right now and I plan to use the games and supplements with Tori and Katie next year.

Elizabeth is mostly beyond most aspects of the curriculum, but the grammar cards are perfect for her Latin review. I love how advanced some of them are! They cheer this little grammar girl’s heart!

Liz reviews advanced noun cards.

Tori and Kate’s favorite aspect of the program right now is the cursive workbook. They practice the directions with their fingers and then practice the letters with a pencil. The directions refer to baseline and midline. They really get it. Better than any other cursive workbook I’ve found. We like simple.

The reading program is a bit advanced for them (especially for Tori) right now and we’re already halfway through another curriculum this year, so I plan to hold off and pick it up when we’re finished with that other one. I love that the curriculum uses phonetic symbols on the flashcards. Kate can read the cards on her own and understands them and loves it! I plan to introduce the grammar cards to the girls very soon and get some basics down for them.

Alex and the girls love the book Doodling Dragons! Even though they already know their letters and sounds, it’s fun!

I am extremely impressed with all aspects of this curriculum. It works with classical and Charlotte Mason style education perfectly, with memorization, dictation, and narration aspects. I look forward to utilizing it to the fullest extent.

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The girls really like the workbooks and knock out a lesson almost every week. We refer back to the flashcards for review. This is a complete English Language Arts program that helps my girls analyze phonics and learn to read well.

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Coconut Oil Review and Giveaway

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January 21, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 11 Comments

I’ve been hearing about coconut oil for a while now and didn’t know what to think. I saw a tweet asking bloggers to contact Tropical Traditions for blog reviews. Oh yeah!

I asked some friends who use coconut oil how they use it. They told me they use it as a substitute for all oils and butter. Really?! I was skeptical. I LOVE butter. I’m from Georgia, y’all. Butter is a food group. So is bacon grease, but that’s another story.

I decided to fix me up a messa greens. I used coconut oil to sauté them babies. Here we have mustard greens, collards, and two kinds of kale, all organic, from Harmon’s.

I sautéed up some chopped onions, minced garlic, and bacon chunks. In the coconut oil. Then I tossed in the chopped greens to wilt. Add a pinch of salt and a dash of lemon juice, a little twist of the grind of nutmeg. Voilà!

They were divine. They’re usually greasy with butter and/or olive oil. These were better than perfect. Light and clean.

Next, I plan to incorporate coconut oil into my beauty routine with my essential oils and hair care. Visit my Coconut Board on Pinterest.

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Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

Substitute coconut oil for butter and vegetable oil to make delectable foods.

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Epiphany: Grapevine Studies in a Classroom

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January 15, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

I love using Grapevine Studies in our home as part of our homeschool curriculum and personal Bible study.

I was recently asked to lead the children’s program during our new Wednesday family nights at church. I immediately thought that I could incorporate stick figuring through the Bible! I contacted Dianna and received her blessing. I do love her!

For our first lesson, I chose to teach on the Three Kings, or Magi. Epiphany had just been last Sunday and I thought this would be a fun topic. The adults “de-greened” the church (took down all the holiday decorations) while I kept the kids occupied.

I began with a story about the “other” wise man that follows a lost fourth Magi through the crucifixion of Christ. It is so beautifully written and illustrated and I got all choked up in front of the kids!

I showed the kids pictures of the gifts the Magi brought baby Jesus. I brought some frankincense essential oil to let the kids apply to their wrists. They thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I divided the white board in the classroom into 4 quadrants and taught the lesson from the Bible and Grapevine Studies text. The kids weren’t sure about it all at first.

I had the kids at two tables. I taught students ranging from age 3 to 10. The three older girls were “helpers.”

One table ended up being almost all girls. I had one helper at this table. Katie and Tori knew what to do!

The three older girls were primarily in my classroom as “helpers.” They sheepishly asked me for pages to do while I taught the lesson. I think that is the perfect testimony to how great Grapevine Studies are! The big kids wanted in on the fun too!

The other table got the boys and two helpers.

Those boys really enjoyed drawing their stick figures. I know this was a new concept for them. That’s my Bubba there with his new Traceable page too!

Katie modeled what to do with her Traceable page. She loves this new concept! It helps her focus.

I gave the boys different pages according to their ages and abilities. One Traceable and one regular page.

For this lesson, the Traceable page only has two scenes whereas the older kids had four scenes on their pages.

I handed out some take home Bible verse pages about the Wise Men. After the lesson, we did this really fun 3 Kings paper chain craft. I prepped it all by tracing them out and all the cutting. The kids just colored them. It saved time and was still fun. Most didn’t even finish and had to take them home to complete them.

I’m pretty excited about using Grapevine Studies to teach the Bible to these kids every Wednesday night! I can’t wait to gather materials for my weekly themes.

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Firmoo Glasses Review

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November 2, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert

Check out the great selection at Firmoo!

Firmoo’s Aim – Vision & Fashion the Frugal Way

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Check me out in my new sexy glasses! These are the largest frames I’ve every worn. I think they make me look smart!

I like them!

Want a closer look? And look at the mostest adorablest little glasses cleaner cloth! How did they know I bleed pink and teal? How?!

And look at the sides: SWIRLIES. Are they not the coolest? I love these and I haven’t taken them off since I received them. They’re comfortable, stylish, and…well, functional.

My prescription strength isn’t that strong, just annoying enough that I can’t see road signs or TV (road sign reading is kinda important). And that pesky astigmatism gives me headaches.

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Here at Firmoo, we offer over 300 styles of affordable and stylish frames for you to choose from. Customers even can buy 8 pairs of different eyewear on our site instead of only one pair at the local retail outlet or mall with the same amount of money.
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You even are able to use your own photo to try our eyewear virtually, and also you can share your awesome try-on photo on yours and Firmoo’s Facebook wall and see what your friends think of it.

All our dear bloggers thought highly of this function in their review posts. They thought it’s pretty fun and helpful! You are welcome to visit Firmoo on Facebook if you want to hear more about what other bloggers think of Firmoo’s products and service.

So, head on over to Firmoo and get your free pair of glasses. Lots of selection! And ya can’t beat free.

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We Choose Virtues Review

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October 24, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We just began We Choose Virtues for a review

We love We Choose Virtues!

Just ordered the KJV homeschool kit and it’s a hit!
Coloring Virtue:

I plan to put their coloring pages on our board each week (or however often we change out our virtue.)
Our board in progress:

Tori and Katie did Jonah and the whale mazes and copywork. I just Googled for the mazes. DLTK had some fun crafts too.

Our completed We Choose Virtues wall.

We have our posters and verse and coloring pages and virtue card. Ideally, I would have a bigger board, but it works for now.
The girls really are getting this. When they consider disobeying, I gently remind them of our virtue. They’ve memorized the phrases and they get convicted and correct themselves!

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Grapevine Bible Studies Old Testament Survey Review

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October 23, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We’re loving the Old Testament study from Grapevine Bible Studies!

This study has the typical catechism layout with questions and answers. We go over one page each day with two questions. I ask and explain if the girls aren’t familiar. We read the Bible passages that pertain to that lesson. We draw stick figures!

Here are my lovely drawings of the story of Moses.

Tori and Katie wake up and immediately rush to the living room to do their drawings and copywork. Before breakfast! They really love this format and that it’s different every week. The catechism is a great review for us to make sure we know our Bible stories!

The only suggestion the girls have is they wish that the student pages had lines instead of blank space for them to write their answers to the catechism questions. This might not be an issue for older students, but they struggle to keep their writing neat and straight.

We love the review of the Old Testament to go along with our Bible history and worldview studies!

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Grapevine Studies Ruth Review

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August 9, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We were SO excited to get our Ruth Bible study books in the mail from Grapevine Bible Studies.

I met Dianna Wiebe and her friend, DeeDee, at the Utah Homeschool Convention down in Provo.

Liz and I went out to dinner with them and then joined them at their hotel and hung out in the pool. It was a great evening.

I also recently reviewed the Esther Bible study. It was awesome. A fairy tale!

My drawings. I never said I was an artist. I did figure out if I draw a grid to make four squares on the board, it makes it easier for the kids to follow along. It matches the 4 square grids on their papers. Tori especially was mixing up the drawings on her paper. She’s a perfectionist and her stick figures are awesome.

Liz relaxing while she draws her stick figures.

Tori and Katie act like they compete to finish the quickest.

The teacher book has everything drawn out for me to copy onto the white board. I alternate between reading the Bible story, drawing the stick figures, and summarizing the lesson. Some of the drawings crack the girls up. They love it. And they remember it.

The student books have the blank grids for the kiddies to draw in the stick figures like mine. It was an important moment when I had that revelation to draw a grid on my white board to match theirs. No more tears or questions about where we were in the lesson! My three girls are always on a different picture from each other. Of course, nothing is ever easy.

Then our favorite page: Draw your favorite part of the lesson. The girls love this one. And then they write their memory verse.

Alex’s favorite part was when I drew Boaz sleeping. He kept pointed to the stick figure on the board and telling me, “He’s sleeping!” He recognized that. Precious. I told him the man’s name is Boaz. “He’s sleeping!” Then for the next stick figure, I drew Boaz finding Ruth at his feet. They’re both sitting on the threshing floor. Alex’s reaction: “He’s up now!” Glad he’s part of our Bible studies!

Check out my other Ruth review. Liz Curtis Higgs raps the book of Ruth!

Liz and I got a little crazy and rewrote The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Come on, you know every time you hear the name Elimelech, you want to sing it.

We’re very excited to start Old Testament Basics next month. Look forward to that review in a while though. It’s a much longer text! A great big thanks to Grapevine Bible Studies for providing the Ruth study free for an honest review.

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Grapevine Bible Studies Esther Review

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July 9, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

I’ll have to tell you: I’ve seen reviews of Grapevine Bible Studies for a couple years now and it just did not look appealing to me.

Then I had an epiphany: maybe it’s not appealing to me, but it’s really designed for my children, so shouldn’t they be the judge? I’ve been looking for a multilevel Bible study that we can all do together. This was totally what I was looking for and we love it!

And it certainly helped that I actually met Dianna Wiebe at the Utah Homeschool Convention. See my post about when I met Dianna. LOVE HER! She really knows her Bible and Bible history.

We got to review the multilevel Esther study and it was great with three girls! A Biblical fairy tale!

Here’s the info from the website:
Take your students back to the ancient Persian Empire and see how God used a young woman to save an entire group of people. This chronological study of the book of Esther will engage your student’s intellect and imagination!

Study the People:

King Ahasuerus
Queen Vashti
Mordecai
Esther
Haman
The Jews
Learn how Purim became a yearly celebration. Select a study for your students today.

My review:

Of course, Alex just wanted to draw on the board, but he was quiet and kind of listened and sometimes even answered questions in his cute little toddler way: “Je-shush!”

Isn’t Jesus always the answer?

I’m very impressed with how these lessons forced encouraged Tori to be more independent. She is such a perfectionist! I kept telling her it didn’t matter; they are stick figures! There were moments when she cried that she couldn’t possible draw a horse or the star of David and I helped her out of pity, but mostly, she drew everything right well.

I just copied the drawings from the teach manual, whew!

Katie is our special girl. She likes to draw while laying down. Better perspective, I guess.

I love their concentration on their drawings.

They really love the page at the end of each lesson: Draw your favorite scene. They would even add fun details to those.

Alex liked watching big sister Lizzie drawing. He was so snuggly.

I liked that we were asked at the end of each lesson: How do we see God in this? Made us think! It’s good to think.The girls loved the drawing. It really helped them learn the lessons and remember it. The review questions were spot on: not too difficult but made them think. Again, thinking is good.The timeline helped us all put it together and understand it. Very thorough and comprehensive lesson about a well-loved Bible story.

So, we absolutely love Grapevine Studies. Bible study for the whole family!

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