World's Greatest Stories, The Prophets! TOS Review

 

Today I get the chance to tell you about a wonderful line of CD's called The World's Greatest Stories! These audio CD's bring the scriptures to life for children! George W. Sarris does all of the reading directly from scripture using multiple voices, music, and sound effects. Currently they have 6 CD available for sale, The Prophets, The Life of Christ, Beginnings, Joshua and Esther, Joseph and his Brothers, and Defeating the Giants! We received The Prophets(NIV) for review and it contains the story of, The Blazing Furnace, The Handwriting on the Wall, Daniel and the Lions Den, Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, and The Prophecy of Jonah.
"Actor George W. Sarris brings to life in the mind's eye the characters and events of some of the most treasured stories in all of history. The texts of all of the stories are taken directly, word for word, from the Bible. They are told, however, using the art of a dramatic storyteller, incorporating carefully chosen music and sound effects. The result is a very exciting story that comes straight from the words of Scripture."

 

I really did not know what to expect when I put the CD in to listen, but let me tell you the children loved it! George is a extremely talented story teller and it is amazing how he can bring the verses to life with just his voice! All 4 of my children were completely captivated and listened intently. We listened to the story of Elijah and the Prophets of Baal the other day when we were driving to the coast. It was so fun to hear the kids commenting, laughing and really getting into the story. You can purchase all 6 volumes directly from their website in either NIV or KJV for $7.95+SH each. If you are at all interested in resources for teaching Bible stories to your children please visit The World's Greatest Stories website and listen to the sample audio clips they have available. I do not think you will be disappointed!

The World's Greatest Stories, The Prophets was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

To read what other Crew members are saying visit the Homeschool Crew Blog!

Thoughts on Advent/Christmas!

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

As I sit here in the silence right now I wish I was more poetic and inspiring, but despite the fact that I am not I would still like to encourage you all to take the next 10 days and truly focus your hearts towards the one that we are celebrating and anticipating this Christmas season! I love the idea of Advent and the meaning of of the Latin root Adventus which means Coming! When we celebrate Advent we are remembering the first coming of the Christ and anticipating and preparing for his eventual second coming! What more perfect time of year is there for us to set aside a time to focus on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love; The Hope that was given to Israel for their coming Messiah and that we have in the second coming of Christ. The Peace that we can experience in Jesus and the eventual Peace that will come upon the earth. The Joy that was experienced when the angels proclaimed His birth and the Joy that we find in our salvation. Finally the Love that came down to earth as a babe and became a living sacrifice for our sins! This year more than any other has brought much reflection and joy to my own heart! I find it so important to teach these things to our children, and in doing so I am really starting to see it beginning to sink into my own children's hearts and minds. It is such a blessing to hear the thoughts that come from the mouths of babes! This week Buster was doing a science notebooking entry and the verse he was asked to copy was:

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Isaiah 11:1

Immediately after reading it his eyes lit up and he said, "Mom that's our Jesse tree verse."

He got it! It is sinking in!

I'm so glad I decided to add a Jesse tree to our Advent this year. It is so important for us to remember and to learn how the old testament ties into the new, and how God had an entire plan worked out from the beginning.

One of my all time favorite things about Christmas is singing Christmas Carols! I'm so blessed to be able to sing these along with my children and to hear their sweet little voices. Last Sunday during our wreath lighting we sang a few and it was so sweet seeing Buddy rest his little face on his arms and just take in the music. I wish I had captured that moment with a photo, but it will forever be in my heart!

 

He is wearing his newborn baby hat here!

May you all be blessed this Christmas season as we are blessed, and may you be a blessing to all those around you!

Snowflakes,Cookies, and St. Nicholas! Oh My!

We have been continuing with our daily Advent activities, and I thought I would share a few with you here! On December 6th we celebrated St. Nicholas day. The kids remembered to put out their shoes and I stuffed them with chocolate coins and one real one dollar coin each. Yes they knew that I did it, but it is still fun.

We also took the opportunity to read about St. Nicholas! He was an amazing man, and I would encourage you all to read about his true life! We have a book I bought last year from Voice of the Martyr called The Story of St. Nicholas. More than reindeer and a red suit.

 

We made paper snowflakes with coffee filters!

Tonight we made my Grandma's soft sugar cookies! I had a lot of help!

Yummy!

 

They each took turns cutting!

Next came the frosting and sprinkles!

 

This was messy, but it was a blast!

When we were done we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas and enjoyed the results of our labor! Even though Charlie brown is tacky and somewhat annoying, it always warms my heart to see a cartoon that actually proclaims the true meaning of Christmas! This week we have also been blessed to enjoy some drive through lights, I took the two big kids to a local production of A Christmas Carol, and we went to a drive through Nativity! Buster and Sweetpea loved the Christmas Carol play and I was so happy with how mature they were. It was also so wonderful to see the expressions on my kids faces when they got to see the Nativity story acted out! Buttercup absolutely adored it!

Fractazmic! TOS Crew Review!

 

Are you always on the look out for fun ways to reinforce or introduce math topics? If you are, you will want to visit the I See Cards Website! We recently received the card game Fractazmic from them to review. Last year we had the opportunity to review Pyramath so I was already familiar with their games, and Buster is always excited to try out a new card game. Fractazmic is a fun and easy card game that teaches how to add like fractions. The instructions are short and to the point and were very easy to figure out. Here is a run down of basic game play:

First you need 2-4 players 6 and up. Next you pass out the cards, and players take turns either drawing a card from the deck or discard pile. The object is to make a hand of fraction cards that make a 1. There are 3 sets the Sixteenths(red), the twelfths(blue), and the tenths(green). Any combo of fractions can be used within a set to make a 1. When you make a hand you set it aside, and play continues until someone runs out of cards. The player with the most hands wins. For additional ways to play visit http://www.fractazmic.com/

 

What I like most about this card game is the helpful pictures that make learning fractions fun and easy. I also like how easy and fast game play is, which makes it an ideal addition to a busy school day! You can also play an online version of Fractazmic here!  

You can purchase Fractazmic and other fun educational games from I See Cards! Fractazmic costs $6.95+SH. For more info visit their website!

Fractazmic was given to me free of charge from I See Cards in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

If you want to read what other crew members have to say about Fractazmic visit the Homeschool Crew Blog!

Advent week 1!

Our Advent Season has gotten off to a great start!

My husband got our new calendar done just in time for the first, and the kids helped!

 

They each painted 6 of the boxes!

 

The kids get to open up the boxes they painted with a special key!

 
We are still trying to decide what to put in the center.

 Inside the boxes are candies, one of these books, and a note with a daily activity! So far we have, had my husbands Aunt and Cousin over for turkey dinner and watched Christmas carol, went to a walk through live Nativity and celebrated my birthday, the kids got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's while we went shopping, and today they got to unwrap some new ornaments as well as hang up a Nativity in their bedroom.
 

We also started our Jesse Tree on the 29th! I hope your Advent is going well too!

See my previous post for more about what we are doing for Advent!

Weekly Wrap Up!

Yes we are still going with our lessons here and keeping busy! I gave the kids the week of Thanksgiving off, and we started Advent on Nov. 27th! We have two more weeks of regular school before Christmas break Buster will be half way through his curriculum at that point! Here are some pictures of some of the things we have been up to:
The kids made some thankful trees!

 

and some hand print turkeys!

 

Spanish Lessons! You can read my review of El Espanol Facil here!

Buddy and Sweetpea did a bunch of preschool learning!

Sweetpea practicing her spelling words!

 

 Buster working hard at adding and subtracting money!

 

 Buttercup learned the letter F this week!

 

 Buster had fun this week reenacting some Revolutionary War battles!

My birthday was Friday, and the kids made me a cake!

Here is more about how our Advent season is going!

For more Weekly Wrap Ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/