Otter: Our wiggly 7th grader
Homeschool Graduate Bear: Our big bear in the Army who works on Chinook helicopters and wants to be a pilot
Homeschool Graduate Emily: Our froo-froo daughter with a psychology degree, working on a communications degree & writing up a storm
January 20, 2012 - How to Convert Metric Numbers Help Sheet
Otter was having trouble understanding how to convert metric numbers so I made a help sheet for his math notebook. If you'd like to download it, click on the picture below.
January 19, 2012 - amBooks by Mining Gems Review / Opinion
My rating:
Otter's rating:
"I like amBooks but parts of them can be boring."
AmBooks are digital books that have a combination of text, video, explorations, games, animations and experiments presented in an engaging, interactive format. There are a variety of topics to explore with chapters covering a multitude of science concepts. A small sampling of the chapter titles currently available are:
- Chemistry:
- Elements, Compounds and Mixtures
- Acids & Alkalis
- Earth Science:
- Earth's Landforms
- Weathering, Erosion and Rocks
- Life Science - Biology
- Respiration
- Diffusion, Osmosis and Active Transport
- Physical Science
- Measuring Volume, Mass and Density
- Transmission of Heat
There are lots of other titles available with plans for more additions.
Each AmBook can be purchased for around $4.00, downloaded to your computer and installed as a small piece of software. Each chapter has to be activated before using it by entering in your email address and password. You can only have one computer activated at a time. I downloaded 10 different chapters matching some of our current science topics. As soon as Otter saw me open up one of the colorful "books", he was chomping at the bit to try one!
When you first open up a "book" there is an introductory page that tells you what you will be studying. All of the subsequent pages are tabbed on the right hand side and can be accessed with a click. The book featured below can be purchased from the Physical Science section of the website and covers the transmission of heat.
As you click through the pages, you learn about the topic by reading, listening, watching and doing.
Here is an interactive exercise where you drag the items to the proper bin. (Yeah, yeah, I know copper should be dragged into the other bin...lol.)
And here is a video that helps illustrate conduction:
Each amBook has a different amount of pages. The longest one I ordered had 26 and the shortest had 13. This particular book has a total of 17 pages. Within many of the pages are additional "sub" pages or activities.
Here on page 14, when you click on one of the large purple buttons....
you get a popup box that has additional information.
In this particular book there are couple of check point quizzes to make sure you understand what's being taught. If you get an answer wrong, a popup box explains why. On the last quiz it said if you get all 7 answers correct you'll get a secret code to move on to the last section. Well, we got all of the answers and the code, but it didn't really appear that the code did anything at all. 
To get to the last section we just clicked on the tab as usual.
There are also some boxes on a couple of pages where you can type in a prediction and explanation. Also, at the very end, there is a summary of all the main points covered in the book (which is great for record keeping purposes), a concept map and a test yourself section with essay (or interactive in some books) style questions such as: "Explain why only radiation can happen in a vacuum."
As you can see from the screenshots, amBooks are colorful. Each page just begs to be clicked on and explored. Otter really enjoyed the short videos that usually demonstrate an experiment. He also liked the activities. One of the problems I ran into though was getting him to stop clicking around like a maniac and actually read and study the text!
That's one potential problem I see with amBooks. A student can click around and "play" without really taking the time to truly absorb each concept. Even though there are quizzes, you don't have to pass them to move on to the next section. In one way that's convenient because you have instant access to each topic within a book. However, there is no way for you to know your student actually studied the material unless you assign the questions at the very end of the book. If you do assign the questions, there are no answers for you to check so you'll either have to be familiar with the concepts yourself or you'll have to read over the book to know if your student got them right! I think this could be solved in the future by letting teachers download an accompanying PDF answer key.
After trying out all of our amBooks, I would say they are appropriate mostly for middle schoolers, although younger and older students could also benefit from some of the material. The only thing about using it with older students is that some of them might be put off by some of the "kiddy" graphics, although some of the books have a more mature feel to them like the one about solutions and suspensions. As for using it with younger students, there might be some activities are concepts that are too advanced. For example, we ran into some math in one of the books that kind of made Otter's eyes glaze over. A student would need to have a good understanding of pre-algebra to be able to complete it unassisted.
After reading the above page, you are asked to calculate the pressure exerted by a brick if it's placed on its largest and smallest surfaces. Otter wasn't sure how to proceed and there is no hand-holding to help explain the math. There is a solution if you get it wrong, but it was all mumbo-jumbo-yeah-whatever to Otter.
The book just assumes you have this level of mathematical knowledge. If your student doesn't though, he can just move on to the next section anyway.
I also ran into an error in one of the books. On the page below there is a little "Remember This" box that says, "To read more about mixtures, click here." Otter clicked and got an alert window that said that feature is not available. 
Maybe this is a bug that has yet to be worked out.
I'm glad I had a chance to review amBooks as they have added a fun component to our science studies. Otter likes them, but he has to be told to sit and actually study each page instead of jumping around to see what novelty each click will bring. He thought the books were mostly fun, but a few books didn't engage him as much as the others (hence the 7 stars rating, instead of something higher). I did hear comments like "Ohh neat!" and "Hey mom, look!" frequently enough to know he was having a good time, for the most part.
Overall, I think amBooks does a good job at getting concepts across in a way that is engaging and memorable. The animations and videos help make things very clear. The interactive sections are generally fun and bring a lot of life to what could otherwise be just plain, old-fashioned reading. Visual learners will likely think amBooks is a treat, but some students may be totally distracted by all of the choices, colors and cartoons all over the page. There is still some room for improvement. Some pages could have used more detailed explanations (like the math in the Force and Pressure book, as mentioned above) and sometimes there was a wide mix of graphics and activities that don't seem to know just what the intended audience is (elementary, middle school or high school?). The price is right for most of the chapters. $4.00 will get you about an hour's worth of learning and entertainment mixed. This time period might be shorter for some of the smaller chapters.
If you are looking for something to jazz up your science lesson and your kids enjoy learning things on the computer, amBooks are an affordable solution that you can purchase and download in a matter of minutes. They can help get a concept across that ordinary textbooks might not be able to.
You can download a free chapter of amBooks from the Mining Gems website. Just click on the contact form and make your request.
*Note: We received amBooks for free in exchange for this review. However, our review was not in anyway influenced by this fact. All our reviews reflect only our personal opinion(s) of materials. We aren't experts! We're just a homeschooling family with 3 kids and ideas of our own about what works and what doesn't for US. 
January 10, 2012 - Ancient History
My ancient history schedule is finally posted online! You can find it here.
January 9, 2012 - We have a new baby!
We're really busy this new year homeschooling Otter AND our new baby, lol. Puppy is learning the commands to sit, stay, come and most importantly, go potty! Yikes, I forgot how much work it is to have a puppy. It's like having a toddler running around all day!
December 9, 2011 - In the Hands of a Child Renaissance Project Pack Lapbook
Wow! It's been a long time since I've worked on my website or blog! I've finally found a minute to post a review of In the Hands of a Child's Renaissance Project Pack Lapbook.
My rating:
Otter's rating:
This 72 page, affordable lapbook project pack from In the Hands of a Child has everything you need for a 7 day unit study on the Renaissance! It's designed for grades 6-12, although I think it could easily be adapted down to 4th grade.
I've always liked lapbooks. They offer a hands-on, interactive way of learning a subject. Lapbooks are crafty, they break up writing into manageable chunks and they look GREAT as a finished project.
In the Hands of a Child contacted me and asked me if I was interested in reviewing one of their lapbooks. I jumped at the chance. Our history study was heading into the Renaissance and this offer came along at the right time! Over the years we've finished lots of lapbook projects. Some have been absolute hits (like this one I made for nutrition) and others have been disastrous flops! Here are my impressions of this particular lapbook project pack.
My project pack came as a PDF. Instead of printing out the entire thing I only printed out the items/elements I wanted to use and read the instructions from my computer.
Graphics / Illustrations:
- All of the graphics and illustrations are in black and white or grayscale.
Pros Cons Printing only in black helps save expensive color ink. Some may find black and white graphics boring. A creative child may enjoy coloring things in. A kid who doesn't like coloring might think it's busywork to decorate his lapbook.
The sample lapbook displayed inside shows most of the lapbook elements printed on colored paper, which kind of jazzes things up a bit more (note: the picture below only shows part of the lapbook). I think the sample actually looks quite nice:
Everything appears to be clip art-based with different fonts for variety. This is not a beautifully "hand" illustrated lapbook like the ones featured at Homeschool in the Woods. However, the graphics are mostly crisp, clean and print well.
Content:
- This lapbook covers a wide variety of topics from the Renaissance. All of the research for each lapbook element has been done for you and put together in an easy-to-read format sprinkled with pictures and clip art. Culture, art & artists, religion, architecture, music, literature, government, and exploration are all explored.
Because the lapbook is intended to cover only a 7 day period, nothing is covered in great depth. However, you get a good overview of the main topics and what the Renaissance was all about. I think this lapbook would be a good addition to just about any history curriculum and it could stand alone as well if you didn't want to linger in this particular time period too long.
Lapbook Elements:
- There are quite a few different lapbook elements to create (20 in all). A few of the items you can make are:
- Booklet for vocabulary words
- Flip flap book about Renaissance facts
- Venn book comparing the Middle Ages to the Renaissance period
- Shape book about Gutenberg
- All of the lapbook elements come with written instructions on how to construct each one. I thought it was a little inconvenient that the instructions were separate from the actual lapbook element pages (all instructions are together in the beginning of the lapbook guide), but you could easily print the instructions out for reference. Perhaps it was designed this way so that they aren't cluttering up each project page.
- Answers for each lapbook element are contained at the end of the guidebook. Most of the answers are suggestions showing what your child could write on each project piece.
- Reluctant writers may like how each element breaks down the task of writing into a smaller chunk. Instead of writing papers, information is displayed on each lapbook element.
Fun Factor:
Crafty kids who love to cut, paste and color will most likely enjoy completing this lapbook. Kids who like their schoolwork to be cut-and-dry will probably groan their way through it. If you already know your children like lapbooks, then I think this particular one will probably go over pretty well. It's one of the better ones I've seen for this topic. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the most awesome activity we've ever done in our entire school career) I'd give this lapbook about a 6 1/2. Otter rated it as a 2. When I asked him why, he said there was too much writing and he didn't think it was varied enough (with drawing or cut/paste activities, etc.). He also disliked the lack of color.
Overall Impression:
I think the In the Hands of a Child Renaissance Project Pack Lapbook is a solid choice if you are a fan of lapbooks or want to give one a try to add some variety to your studies. I think this particular project pack is a great overview of the Renaissance with plenty of activities at an affordable price. This is definitely something I would have considered purchasing to supplement our history lessons and add in a hands-on element. It's well put together and saves a LOT of time! Unfortunately though, Otter doesn't like it at all and while I like the content, I'm not in love with all of the graphics. I think it's a professional product but not as polished as I personally would like it to be.
Check out the free sample at the In the Hands of a Child website and see for yourself whether it would work for you and yours!
*Note: All our reviews reflect only our personal opinion(s) of materials. We aren't experts! We're just a homeschooling family with 3 kids and ideas of our own about what works and what doesn't for US.
October 11, 2011 - Free book
Amazon has this Kindle book for free right now:
You don't need an actual Kindle to read Kindle books. You can also read them with a variety of free Kindle apps. Keep your eye on the top 100 free Kindle books list to see what other deals pop up from time to time!
I'm a Kindle convert. I LOVE books and have acquired over 450 free books from Amazon just by keeping my eye on the above linked list. It's like a never-ending yard sale with a TAKE FOR FREE box!! Yes, there is plenty of junk on there, but sometimes there are some really great titles. Good books are often only free for a few days so you really do have to keep your eye on things if you want to snag the worthwhile freebies. I'll try to post some of the really good ones here from time to time.
I never thought I'd actually want a Kindle. When I say I love books, I mean it. I like to hold them. I like to see them lined up neatly on the over 70 linear feet of shelves we have in our home. Every cover is a part of a beautiful buffet. It's a sickness...lol. Kind of like being a curriculum junkie. 
I blame it all on my mother. She used to bring me home books from the library where she worked. In the summertime she would sometime take me to work and I would wander the shelves all day, in book heaven. On the weekends we would go to garage sales and she'd give me a couple of dollars to spend. For 10 cents each I could bring home a LOT of books. Treasure!
At first I was a little skeptical of e-books. They seemed so gimmicky and, well, sterile. You just can't beat picking up a REAL book and thumbing through the pages, breathing in that book smell and listening to the rustle of each turned page. There's just something about books. You fellow books lovers KNOW what I'm talking about!
And yet...
The first one in my family to succumb to Amazon's evil plot to take over books was my grandma. My mom and I huddled together discussing how she and I would NEVER go over to e-books. They weren't the same. No way. We were highly skeptical. Book snobs. And then...
My mother was bitten by the Kindle bug! She got one and suddenly the criticisms turned to praise. It was so convenient! It was so light! You can carry a bunch of books on it all at once (3000 give or take a few? SERIOUSLY). She could take it to work! She loved it! I should get one! Ahhh what had Amazon done to my book loving mother?
I picked hers up with a hostile curiosity. Wow. It looked like real paper. It was easy to hold. Easy to read. You can change the font size (good for my aging eyes). You could buy a book and start reading it in less than a minute. Instant book loving gratification. 
It was like being on Star Trek. For real. lol...
Then I started paying attention to the....list. The one with 100 freebies. I started downloaded books for the free PC Kindle app. One book became 10 which became 20 which became...over FOUR HUNDRED. All for FREE. My virtual shelves were filling up and it didn't matter. No need to take a loan out for an extra room added on to the house for more places to stack my ever growing book collection, lol...And when it was time to order school books for Otter, I found that I could spend HALF the cost and not have to wait for anything to ship. We could start reading my purchases in the next five minutes!
Another great thing: you can mark each book up as much as you want and it doesn't ruin it. Yes, I'm one of those people who are horrified to write in a book. It's just sacrilegious! Yet with the Kindle books I can highlight and make notes to my heart's content. Don't know a word? One click and I can get the definition, instantly.
If my computer crashes...it doesn't matter. Amazon has all of my books anytime, available to me in just seconds and saves all my notes and highlights, even the ones I've made *GASP* in library books!
OK, so what can I say, I love Kindle books. I guess the Kindle bug is catching (thanks mom). It's become a great and useful tool for our homeschool and now with the cheapest Kindle less than 100 bucks something I am definitely eye balling for the Christmas season (right now we are just using the free PC app).
Remember, you don't need an actual Kindle to read Kindle books, including the ones you can check out from the library. Just check out the free app and start reading!
October 4, 2011 - We're back with Amazon again!
I recently received this via email:
"California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislation repealing the law that had forced us to close the program to California residents. We are pleased to invite all California Associates whose accounts were closed due to the prior legislation to re-enroll in the Program."
All of our links to Amazon are working again. Every time you click through we'll get a small commission! Thank you ALL for your support and thanks also to those of you who donated via Pay-Pal during the time we were unable to participate in the Amazon affiliate's program. I'm so appreciative to everyone who has helped keep this site up and running with your generosity. 
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Current Projects:
Awesome Timeline History Schedule
Physical Science
Learning to use my Nikon
Digital Scrapbooking
Learning how to make Amigurumi
...and other various assorted things!
Blogs & Stuff I love:
Pioneer Woman
Sites with freebies I visit:
Homeschool Share
Curricula Otter is using:
Awesome Timeline History Schedule
MCT Grammar & Vocab.
Writing with Skill
All About Spelling
Holt Literature
Holt Math Course 2
Singapore Math
Life of Fred
Visual Latin
Lingua Latina
Otter's Physical Science
The Art of Argument
and a bunch of other stuff!
Homeschooling for me:
Lynda.com
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