Activity Bags (Schoolhouse Crew Review)

When I first visited the Activity Bags website, I had high hopes that the activity bags would fill some specific needs in our family. Lauren has lots of medical appointments and I'm always on the lookout for worthwhile activities to do while we are waiting. The Travel Activities in a Binder looked perfect for our on-the-go days. The Science Activities in a Bag looked like it was custom-designed for the homeschool parent that doesn't do a great job of planning for science experiments. Often, I'd love to do an activity to illustrate a science concept but I get stuck trying to gather all the supplies or remembering to pick them up at the stores.

Travel Bags:
The Travel Activities in a Binder are created in a binder with clear page protectors instead of in ziploc bags. I assembled our binder and gathered some dry erase markers the night before some doctor's appointments for Lauren. She typically spends appointments playing on my iPod so I doubted that she'd enjoy the binder. I was surprised to find that it was a big hit with her. Her favorite activities are the one where she and I both play together -- tic tac toe, boxes, rolling dice, etc. I'm going to expand on this idea and add even more games to her binder.

Science Activities in a Bag (eBook1, eBook2, and eBook3):
Each Science Activities in a Bag ebook contains 25 simple experiments to assemble. These activities in a bag can be assembled as part of an activity swap where each person makes a specific number of bags all containing one experiment and then swapped with other participants so that everybody gets a collection of bags. I chose to assemble an assortment of activity bags for my own children to use.

Unfortunately, the activities did not turn out to be as complete as I had hoped they would be. I hoped that I could assemble everything on one weekend and then keep the bags until we had a day when we wanted to do some science activities. I found, however, that many of the activities required supplies added to what was already in the bag. These materials are not difficult to find, but I cannot be certain that I'd have them on hand when we started to do the experiment. For instance, one of the experiments called for red cabbage, and another called for earthworms. Some of the experiments called for food ingredients that we don't often have at our house -- whipping cream, eggs, etc. I had hoped that I could gather everything at one time, but it seems like the science activities bags will still often require me to plan ahead to have supplies/ingredients ready to go. Parents of children with a latex allergy should be aware that several of the activities in each book require balloons.

My other disappointment for these materials is a bit of semantics. I try to follow a scientific definition of an experiment -- an activity in which the student uses the scientific method to test a proposed hypothesis. Many of the activities in these ebooks are simply observation activities, not actually scientific experiments.

The Travel Activities in a Binder eBook is available to download for $15. It seems most appropriate for elementary aged students, but I have a feeling that my older kids (sixth and ninth graders) would enjoy playing along while we wait somewhere. Each Science Experiments in a Bag eBook costs $15. They offer package deals for each the first two ebooks for $27 or all three ebooks for $39. All of the science activities are geared towards elementary students. Activity Bags also offers activity in a bag ideas for preschoolers, reading games, and math games.

If you'd like to see some examples taken from the various Activities in a Bag ebooks, you can receive a free ebook sampler by signing up for completing a short survey. The link is on the main page of the Activity Bags website (look for it towards the top of the page).

Disclaimer: I received four Activity Bags ebooks 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 is for Imagination

I never cease to be amazed at the extent of Lauren's imagination.

The other night, while I was tucking Lauren into bed, she asked me if I liked the coloring pages she had taped up on her walls. I looked at them for second and couldn't think of how to answer her.

I know she can color much better than that, and I had told her earlier to not print lots of pages unless she was going to color them. I stalled for a second or two, and then thankfully, Lauren explained. Those pictures, the ones closest to her bed, were the ones McKenna, Addi, and Laurie had done that afternoon. No wonder they weren't colored neatly; the girls are much younger than Lauren.

A picture of the artists -- Laurie, McKenna, and Addi (from left to right):

The picture Lauren colored was hanging on a different wall where I couldn't see it.

I'm thankful for Lauren's imagination that brings so much fun to our days!

I'm linking this post up with other "I" posts at Ben and Me. We'd love to have other bloggers join us as we blog our way through the alphabet. You can jump in anytime.

A Month of Thankfulness -- Day 3

I am thankful for a gorgeous day to spend outside enjoying the beauty of the mountains.

We even managed to take a great family photo to use for our Christmas cards. I'll save that one to share later.

A Month of Thankfulness -- Day 2

I'm thankful for time spent with my parents this week. Lauren and Brennan are thankful for a marathon game of Monopoly that lasted for much of the day.

Setting up at about 9:30 this morning:

Finally declaring Brennan the winner (about 6:00 this evening):

They did take a sizable break this afternoon while Lauren had Occupational and Physical Therapy. Thank you Dad for taking Lauren to therapies so that I could explore sewing shops with Mom.

A Month of Thankfulness -- Day 1

Tonight I'm thankful for the huge smile on Addison's face when she walked out of chorus practice, clutching a portfolio of new music. After just two months of singing with the Tucson Girls Chorus, she was invited to move up to their Advanced Choir.

She's thrilled to have thirteen new (and more difficult) songs to work on perfecting between now and Christmas.

A Goal-Planning Update in Pictures

It seems like I post my goal plans more often on Tuesday (or Wednesday) than I do on Monday.

Two weeks ago, I listed four goals:

1. Run at least once.

2. Catch up (and stay caught up) with my daily Bible reading.

(I took this picture about mid-week last week. I was ahead.)

3. Unpack, purge, organize.

Baby steps.

4. Freeze pomegranates.
(Some were frozen whole, and I popped the arils out of the others. It's a science experiment.)

Last week, I made goals but I never actually posted them.

1. Move books from living room to upstairs.
Before:

After:

2. Organize the books in the school area.

Before:

After:

It's really hard to see an improvement so I didn't take a pictures. I've unpacked probably a dozen boxes worth of stuff, but the floor is still a disaster.

3. Run.

(I did better when I remembered to put on my knee support thingy.)

4. Stay caught up on my daily Bible reading -- focus on daily.

I was doing great with making the time for daily reading until I hit the craziness of the weekend, a few days of allergy sickness, etc.

5. Stay off of the computer (especially off of my gmail) until at least lunchtime every day. I did pretty good and got lots of work done. My inbox is bursting at the seams, though, because many of my afternoons were busy with activities away from home. I need to figure out a good balance.

My big accomplishment for the past few weeks is shown by all of the empty boxes below. 

I'm scaling way back on my goals for this week. I will definitely continue with my daily Bible reading (emphasis on the daily). We're having company come to visit and I want to enjoy time with them instead of worrying about getting the rest of the house unpacked. I have a few blog posts in mind and a few reviews due soon so I'll probably be online at least some in the evenings (or late at night). My running goal depends on how my allergies fare the rest of the week.

I'm linking my post with others at Real Life Unscripted. Thankfully, my friends there understand that my real life often means a Monday post that doesn't happen until early in the morning on Wednesday. 

Sugar Creek Gang from Beloved Books (Schoolhouse Crew Review)

My children have been audio book fans for years. It started with a few CDs that I checked out of the library when it seemed like we spent hours on the road to various doctors appointments in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and DC. Over the years, we've built a collection of CDs. We still listen to audiobooks in the car, and most nights Lauren and Brennan go to sleep listening to audiobooks.

Recently, we added Sugar Creek Gang stories to our collection, and they quickly became favorites. Paul Hutchins wrote a series of books about the Sugar Creek Gang starting in 1939. These books were later recorded as radio dramatizations.

As soon as I started the first CD, I was taken back to a simpler time -- a time when boys played outside for hours at a time. I thought it reminded me of  Leave it to Beaver, and Brennan, who had seen some of the old episodes at Nana's house, agreed.

Brennan likes this series because it is Christian focused without having any "lecture-preachy" parts. Addison elaborated by saying that it tells about "boys earnestly trying to figure out God." She remembers a line in one of the stories when a character says, "One night I slept over at Poetry's house and he talked to God like he was right there in the room" She appreciates the way the stories are told from a child's view of God and not from the perspective of an adult teaching about God.

All three of my children enjoyed listening to the Sugar Creek Gang in the car. We decided that it was most appropriate for children ages 8-12 and still entertaining for older children or adults. Lauren (age 6) is still a bit young for the series, and therefore it isn't her first choice of audiobooks.

The first volume of Sugar Creek Gang CDs contains twelve stories on 6 discs, approximately 12 hours long. There are six volumes available, and I have a feeling I'll be buying more of the stories for us to enjoy. Each volume costs $54.95, and there's a significant discount if you choose to buy all six volumes at once.

An mp3 version of the entire first story, "Swamp Robber," can be downloaded from the Beloved Books website here. Also, if you'd like to purchase anything from Beloved Books, they have generously offered a coupon code to share with my readers. The code Calm-Storm-20 will give you a 20% discount on your entire purchase.

Beloved Books specializes in wholesome literature in audio format. In addition to the Sugar Creek Gang audio CDs, they offer scripture songs, missionary stories, and more. I personally would love to hear the Jim Weiss audio version of Carry On, Mr Bowditch that they carry.

Disclaimer: I received Sugar Creek Gang, Volume 1 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.