Review: Asia Its People and History

Over the years one of my children's favorite activities with our homeschool group has been Geography Club. Each year it is done differently and in addition to getting to meet up with their friends they come away with a greater understanding of people that live in far away lands. So I was pleased to be able to do a review for a book that would help us learn more about Asia. Asia Its People and History is a sixteen week course for children that are ages 8-12 that was written by Bonnie Rose.

Asia Its People and History takes a look at six Asian countries from a Biblical worldview and encourages prayer for the persecuted Christians living there. The countries the book explores are-

• Laos
• Bangladesh
• Nepal
• China
• Iran
• Vietnam

The suggested age range for the book is 8-12 so my children are on the older end of it at 12 and 14 although A~man is at a younger level so it is actually very adaptable to his learning needs. We have a blow up globe and it was fun to find each of the countries on the globe. Also, we do not do as many formal learning activities together as when they were young so this book is a nice opportunity to come together to learn. We have only so far "traveled" to Laos but I look forward to traveling through the rest of the countries in the next month.

Each section has a story about a child living in that particular country and it also has some discussion questions. The information includes both history and the geography of each country. The book is Christian based and portrays what it is like for Christians living there and the importance of praying for them. Each section also includes suggested activities such as crosswords, map puzzles, word searches and also there is free bonus content available on Bonnie Rose Hudson's website.

I would definitely recommend this book to other homeschoolers and I can also see it being a wonderful resource for even a Sunday school class or youth group wanting to learn more about Christians in far away places! It is a great resource for a special needs parent to teach their child about people in other countries without having to use a big text book...which may be more information than they can comprehend. I look forward to any other geography books she may write! Here is a short bio about the author, Bonnie Rose-

Bonnie Rose Hudson works with both SchoolhouseTeachers.com and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® as a curriculum creator and editorial assistant. Her heart’s desire is for every child to feel the love of God and know how special they are to Him. She would love for you to stop by and meet the star of her children’s series at Exploring with Jake, look through the 10/40 window of the world and join others in prayer at Looking Out the 10/40 Window, or stop by her author’s blogWriteBonnieRose.com  for fun printables and discover how you can write for the homeschool market. 

You can find this ebook available at The Old Schoolhouse Store for $6.95 which I think is very reasonable for this book. Also, there is a  promotional code here- 02asia14! (make sure to include the ! in the code) that will give you 25% off the cost until March 15th 2014. You can also find it on Amazon.com for $6.95, and at Smashwords for $6.95. At Smashwords it is available in formats for Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and ibooks. Soon you will be able to get it as a paperback from CreateSpace.

Imagination

Do Over Days

I originally posted this last year on my work blog at Time4Learning.com but I decided that on occasion I would post some of my favorites from the past over here. 

Have you heard of them? These types of homeschool days are something that over the years our family has implemented, especially when having to deal with special need issues.

 Particularly in the past when my son was much younger as he had great difficulty controlling his words and actions. Basically, he often would not think things through before doing something. When this happened repetitively, which was often the case, something had to change in the day.

My daughter too, especially when she was younger, has had to have a restart to her day when attitudes and words have gotten sassy.

But wait! I cannot forget myself. Years ago I had severe PMS issues that would cause my normally calm demeanor to be short tempered. Children are not the only ones that may need a restart to their day.

What did we do? Sometimes I would suggest we start our day over or one of the kids would say they needed a do over. A little bit of grace goes a long way in turning a terrible, horrible, not good day around. If there were days when we did not do this and instead muddled through, the day usually ended up being completely unproductive and quite honestly draining.

Typically we would go to a quiet place alone (the key) and either read quietly, play quietly, or take a short nap. After a certain amount of time we would come back together and if needed apologize and ask forgiveness. Usually hugging would be involved too. If it was a homeschool day I would try to pick a fun activity like reading a book to them, doing some art together, or exploring our yard to give the day a fresh and positive restart.

Do any of your homeschool days ever need a do over?

Book Review- Seekers of the Lost Boy by Taryn Hayes

This last month I read a new book with characters that are homeschooled that I really enjoyed! Yesterday I put the review up on Homeschoolliterature.com but I thought I would also put a teaser here in my blog with a link to go check out the rest of my review. The review also includes a spelling word list and educational activities to go along with the book!

Seekers of the Lost Boy is an inspirational story about a homeschool family living in Cape Town South Africa. While out collecting shells for a homeschool project something catches 12 year old Simon's eye shining in some seaweed along the beach. What he finds is a bottle that has a brown envelope inside with a very special message written on it. The writer signed the message Joseph C, and also wrote the address of his school in hopes that whoever found the bottle could answer his very important question. Simon's family, including his three younger siblings, decide to search for the young boy who wrote the message and find out what has happened to him. What was the message? Well, you will have to read the book to find out! Go to Homeschoolliterature.com to read the rest of my review on this book.

If you do end up reading this wonderful book I would love to hear what you think about it!

Here is an interview with the author Taryn Hayes-

*~*~*~*~*~*

This week we have enjoyed some spring like weather and taken lots of nature walks in addition to doing some second grade science worksheets with the A~man. I love being able to do sit down work on the days that the weather is not great and then bring what we learn outside to explore nature!

Footprints in the Snow

The snow is long gone but I loved these pictures Z~girl took last week!

SNOW DAYS!

 It was a very unusual week here in WNC! I think it has been a couple of years since we have experienced a significant amount of snow fall. I LOVE SNOW! I was pessimistic though as I have been hearing forecasts of snow for a couple of weeks with nothing to show. It started out with a day that it snowed these HUGE beautiful flakes all day long but nothing stuck as the ground must have been too warm. I think my nose was stuck to the window about as much as Z~girls, just hoping for some snow to play in. Finally, on Wednesday I think we got 2-3 inches. 

Which was just enough snow to cover the ground so we could go sledding. (yes I went too!) But then...

We got another 5 or so inches the next day. I can only remember this much snow one time since living in our home and we have been here about 8 years. 

For dinner I made chicken soup with homemade noodles. I do not have a recipe for the soup as I just sort of throw stuff together (my granma would be proud!) but here is the very easy noodle recipe I used. (which I found here) 

Noodles

1 egg

1 Tablespoon of milk

Approximately 1 cup of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

My only regret was not making a larger recipe so we would have leftovers!

What did I make with the soup? Homemade bread. I've never tried this recipe before and it was amazing. 

Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread Machine Recipe

You may notice that both heels are cut off the bread. I cut this loaf in half as I sent Z~girl across the street to our sweet neighbor friends house with a mason jar of soup and part of our loaf of bread. (along with some other goodies) The other heel? Well, I had to taste it to make sure it was good enough to give to my family. (that's my excuse at least, okay?)

Last but certainly not least...

I think I may have made this once before kids but we also made the yummiest SNOW CREAM!!

What we did is put that big metal bowl outside in a deck chair and after a few hours it was full. Then Z~girl and I added approximately a half a cup of milk and a half a cup of sweetened condensed milk, plus a generous splash of real vanilla extract. IT WAS SO GOOD!

Even more amazing this week was the fact that even though we spent a lot of time playing in the snow, making new recipes, and watching Netflix....we still did school! My duo are obviously too old for kindergarten homeschool science  but this weather was perfect for talking about temperature, precipitation, and oddly enough after the earthquake last night, seismic activity...we had lots of hands on science. Check out my husband Techdadz blog too as he did a fun science project with the kids also! He made a little bot type creature similar to a Hexbug toy.  Plus they were quick to finish up the rest of their online work so they could play outside. Definitely a win/win situation!!

I'm also very glad I took the time to PLAY with my kids!

Through the eyes of your child...

I desperately need a new profile picture for work and for my Google+. Obviously anyone that knows me locally or has read my blog knows I love to take pictures!! But I do NOT like to be in front of a camera. It's not that I think I am unattractive but normally when I see a photo of myself I do not like it. I always have a "say cheese" very unnatural look on my face.

Exhibit #1- 

Now, while there is nothing really wrong with this photo it is not a real smile...and I do not care for it at all. This is my typical facial expression when someone tells me to SMILE. 

Next, I handed the camera to my daughter and had her take some photos of her mama. Yes, they are a bit out of focus but I LOVE them! A super model I am not but I hope these goofy facial expressions are something I display to my husband and children on a regular basis! 

Exhibit #2

Each one displays a more realistic image of my personality...

Exhibit #3

Which is obviously extremely goofy at times...especially when having fun with my family. 

Exhibit # 4

Me trying to grab the camera from "said" child's hands.

A close up is something I wouldn't dream of posting but this one Z~girl took of me I love! Wrinkles, age spots and all!

Exhibit # 5

For me I see very blue/green eyes and smiley wrinkles...which are completely okay in my book!

How does your child see you? I know plenty of times my duo see my angry look, (not pictured but I'm sure more wrinkles would be visible) but I hope they always remember me for my often silliness and smiles! 

Right now I have a bumper sticker on our "redneck mobile" (long story...but I may take a photo of it soon) it says "Wag more, bark less"....for this next week let me advise you all to SMILE more bark less...and think about the face your family is seeing. The face that they love!

Hint, Hint, I would LOVE to see some of my blogger friends hand the camera sometime to their kids this week...see yourself the way your children see you.