First Time Skiing - at Paoli Peaks

This past Monday we were able to be a part of a fantastic field trip. One I never thought that we could ever do. But that was before we moved to SW Indiana. We were a part of a skiing field trip. We did have to drive about 1.5 hours to the location, but that's not much farther then some trips we've done back in SC to go to a beach - or the length of time we'd have to stay in a car because of traffic to get just a few miles.

Another great thing was that my husband was able to come with us this time. He and my son decided they would try out snowboarding. The girls stuck with me to get skis.

The only problem was that there apparently had been a LOT of cancellations of previous planned trips so when we got to the meeting place at Paoli Peaks we found out there were 5 other homeschool groups and 2 school trips!! The lines were SO LONG! That was the least fun part of the entire trip.

Then the boys got done first so they were heading to the slopes while we still stayed in line to get our skiis. Finally a more experienced staff member came out and his line was going SO FAST we jumped lines. After an hour and a piece of waiting we finally got outside, only to find out that my son somehow went down a mcuh harder hill then he should have and my husband couldn't catch up to him. We ended up having to ask someone to go after him. I was so nervous and even though I've been skiing it hadn't been in at least 2 decades!! Thankfully, this nice younger guy found him and brought him back to us ... and in one piece!

 Seanan decided to switch soon after that when he and my husband got tangled up in each other and my husband flipped over him (I think my son decided haphazardly to switch where he was going and that caught my husband off guard.)

After our lunch me and all 3 kids decided to hit the slopes again. This time, I had to teach my son and then we went to the 'flatter' practice (bunny) hill. After a few times down that side the girls said they wanted to go back to the first hill we were on. So we did that a bunch of times. They were really getting the hang of it.

On the ski lift. Not a favorite part for me.

Then we decided to give the family trail a try. They did pretty well, but we went ALL THE WAY to the bottom and the line to get back on the lift was so long. The chairs could take 3 but since we had 4 in our party I didn't want my son to go alone. There were no seat protectors or bars to hold you in. By the time we got back up we had to leave (so dad could get back in town to go to work for his night class that he teaches.)

The girls had it, my son was still learning after switching.

All in all they had a wonderful experience. We learned patience (long lines) and practice will be our friends in the future if we are able to make it to the slopes again. I was impressed with myself of how everything I remember from a teenager about skiing came back to me. I would love to go again ... maybe before the end of the season.

Have you ever been skiing? Any pointers for those of us less experienced? I'd love to hear from you!

Guitar 360 Method - A New TOS Review!!!

Many years ago my husband wanted to learn how to play guitar. We found a good price on a smaller guitar that would be used as he learned and then save up for a better guitar. That year for his birthday I bought him 2 guitars. But with church, work, and other responsibilities, he didn't have a lot of down time for many years. He'd play on them sporadically, but not enough to get by playing an entire song or anything like that.

Fastfoward life until now, a few kids later and more responsibilities, but as we were moving and we came across ALL of the instruments we realized he (and some of the children wanted to as well) get back into learning how to play the guitar. Then we received notification that there was a course to help learn how to play guitar online from Guitar 360 Method. It is an online course that he could start right now called Semester 1 Bundle, which includes the Absolute Beginner Course and Bonus Songs. I asked my husband if he'd like to take part of this review and get back to playing regularly and he said sure. My son and eldest daughter also showed interest in learning and since we have a plethora of guitars I figured we could give them a shot too!

So what do you get in the Semester 1 Bundle? Well you get a 3 week beginner course for anyone who has NEVER touched a guitar. This was where my son and daughter would start. They know what one is and that the strings have letter names, but that's about the extent of their knowledge. There are also two bonus song mini courses that you learn after your first 3 weeks. Impressive, right?!  Then the Semester 1 course is 13 weeks long and cover a multitude of topics from chord vocabulary and chord shapes; strumming with confidence; understanding scales and the difference between major and minor scales; as well as learning how chords fit together in a key; barre technicque; and many other functional lessons to help you become a well-rounded guitar player.  This is just a sampling of what the course offers and how indepth it is really.

A sample of the breakdown of what is taught in a week.

The regular price for this course is $149, but Krisz is offering homeschool families a 20% discount which makes this course just $119.20! (That's less than $10 a week BEFORE the discount) I love a good deal and this is certainly one of them. Just use the coupon code HOMESCHOOL20 when you go to checkout.

But why pay for an online course to learn how to play guitar when you can get lessons in real life? Well for one the cost is a fraction of the price. Secondly, who doesn't want to be taught in a manner that intuitively makes sense with the instrument you are using? Watch this little intro video that shows you a little bit more of why this course is different.

Confidence, Freedom and Creativity on the guitar.

So my husband decided he would beging at the Absolute Beginner part of the course with my son who was most interested in learning with his dad.  At first they watched the videos and then they watched a second time while playing with their teacher. I remember hearing my husband say that his fingers were sore after doing the fingering exercises Mr. Simonfalvi showed in the very first video lesson. Later on my daughter also watched and she has been slowly working on practicing her fingering as well.

The 4 finger warm-up in this part of the course has been the one to slow my children down. They are working on having faster finger dexterity and being able to move down the neck as they practice. My daughter has moved on and started working on her first two chords and practicing how to strum properly and is already working on her first song! It has been slower then the initial 3 weeks that the course is stated to take, but we have been packing and moving from one location in our new city to another one and so that has taken up some of our time. Plus I think taking it slowly will be best for them to build a strong foundation for hand and finger placement.

This absolute beginner part of the course breaks things down in bite sized chuncks that would help anyone learn.

My son is still working on the 4 finger warm-up exercises as well. He is using a smaller guitar that fits him better, but his finger dexterity needs work. He also has deemed it a little harder than he anticipated so he has not been practicing daily like I would like him too. He has a tendency to give up easier than my daughter and husband.

clear videos and simple to understand instructions

Showing the fret.

Here are some thoughts of how my husband felt the program went:

"In the beginning he focuses a lot more on hand position and skills to help you with hand positioning. This was something I was weak in even though I've been playing guitar for a while. He uses a spiral curriculum, which is where you go back over things as you continue moving forward, always reviewing what has been learned. At first it is skill-based. But as you get to the second level of the spiral he starts teaching you music theory based on the skills from the first spiral while also introducing new skills. This process continues throughout all the spirals as you go from week to week in the course."

I knew my husband would appreciate the Semester 1 Bundle especially since it seemed to have a strong connection to music theory. Both of us have musical backgrounds and theory is rarely highlighted as the necessity it is. Guitar 360 Method does that and much more. I also have enjoyed watching my children learn to play the guitar alongside my husband. It's been a very fun experience to watch and enjoy.

Here are some other tidbits I can share about the course even though my 'students' of guitar haven't progressed far into the course (my husband really feels he needs much nimbler fingers before charging ahead.) The online teachings are done with professionally done videos that are clear and concise. Mr. Simonfalvi goes at just the right pace. The lessons are clearly laid out which makes navigation easy AND they can be viewed multiple times. So my son can watch the absolute beginner first week lesson multiple times even after my husband and daughter had already 'completed' that part of their lessons.

You will also have some ear training, printables including chord diagrams, and even some quizzes. The other great thing is that the video lessons are rather short, so they can be fit in to small chunks throughout the day. Our family is certainly enjoying using this program and I'll be updating in a few months when we "hopefully" get much further into the course. That way when we need someone to lead some worship songs for home church or at outreaches we'd have a few to choose from!

I love that all of them can each work at their own pace and not mess the others up. My husband has been playing music for years (he played saxophone in high school band and also as a part of The Million Dollar Band in his first year of college). We both were on the worship teams for our church. I have been singing and playing piano for years. We always knew that music would be an integral part of our family life and I'm so blessed to be a part of the Review Crew to have access to programs like Guitar 360 Method with their Semester 1 Bundle including the Aboslute Beginner Course and Bonus Songs!  Don't forget about the coupon I mentoned earlier - 20% off!! You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as always go read some of the other Crew member reviews by clicking the link below!!

New Job! New City! New State!

Over a year ago we blogged about the call we felt the Lord was asking us to journey on and that we were waiting for HIS timing and HIS path. Well just about a year later Stephen was called up for a job interview with Ivy Technical College, but in the business department. We found out about 2.5/3 weeks later that he was second for this job as well, something he had heard from every other job he had applied and then was called back for a second interview. However, this time they asked him to fill out ANOTHER application, but this was in the math department ... doing essentially the same job he's had for several years at the tech college he's been teaching in South Carolina.

So he applied. The NEXT day, they called to let him know it was received. We had to wait over a week to hear that they were wanting another FIRST interview, so they scheduled and it took place. The day after that they called to do a SECOND interview and since we had just driven up there in July they said they'd do a video phone conference. At the end of the interview they informed my husband that HE was their FIRST CHOICE, but with not too many details. They really wanted him up at Ivy Tech as soon as possible, but with any job you have to go through the steps (in this case getting board approval and such.)

Since I was trying to get a little more info I did some research and saw that their classes started back on 8/20 and they have full semester classes, a 12 week term that starts in mid September and 8 week terms (like Fall 1/Fall 2). I also knew that his current position also started back on 8/20 and that if he stayed we'd have about 8 weeks until the term ended in mid-October. But that was a lot of "what if's" and we were already at the 9th/10th of the month. I had a tiny feeling that we would need to be prepared and ready to be up in Indiana by the 20th, but sometimes you don't trust that inner voice. Instead you suppress it and ignore it and walk away from your faith a little bit.

But then on Monday morning around 10am (EST) Stephen got a call from the school asking him if he would be able to come up to start on Monday August 20th at 8am (CST). WOW! He said yes. And from that moment we did all we could to get him here. We thankfully have WONDERFUL family and friends and they are keeping an eye on our house, our dogs, and our children so that we could take a fully packed van and travel 12 hours. Thankfully we have a place we can call home temporarily while we continue to make trips to and fro for the next little bit.

In the meantime we need prayer warriors standing with us in the GAP. You can read more about #MissionEvansville here and you can also see more about what's going on by following our Facebook page. If you do join us in prayer, please fill out this link and we will be sending out monthly (hopefully) updates on the work we are doing here.  If you would like to support our ministry efforts you can do that as well.

And if you have any questions, please leave a comment!

Math Refresher for Adults ~ A New TOS Review!!

You ever feel that you just don't know enough to teach your kids? Especially in MATH! I hear this all the time so I was happy to be able to review a book created for adults to work on their math skills by Math Essentials. I know that sometimes as homeschool parents we feel that we just won't be able to do it all when we get to those high school years and harder math concepts, but I totally disagree. I know that God has put you here as their parent and guide and books just like Math Refresher for Adults is exactly what you might need to get you through.

Math Refresher for Adults covers general math skills including Whole Numbers, Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Geometry, Integers, Charts and Graphs, and Word Problems. Then it moves into Pre-Algebra and Algebra skills including equations, word problems and even some probability and statistics. At the end of each sub-section there is a review built in and at the end of both the general math section and Algebra section have Final Review sections. The book also includes a Solutions section, a Glossary, and Important Symbols and Tables. There are also online video tutorials that you have access to if you need a little extra explanation for the math concepts you are working.

As you can see this book covers elementary math concepts all the way through Algebra which is typically your first year of high school. My husband who teaches at a local technical school says that this book would cover 4 of their 'developmental math' classes. So if you are thinking about going back to school I'd HIGHLY recommend going through this book BEFORE you take the placement test, that way you at least would place into College Algebra.  This would also be great if you need to take any kind of math tests to further advance at your job, entering a medical or technical field, even for preparing to take the SAT or PSAT among many other reasons.

Each lesson, as I mentioned, has a video that corresponds with the lesson subject taught by the author Richard W. Fisher. All you have to do is go to Math Essentials and look for the online videos. You also have access for the more advanced tutorials available for Algebra! At the front of the book is a detailed Table of Contents so you can quickly see the sections that you might want to jump to and start working. You can also work the book in order if you are wanting a more full 'refresher'. The solutions are in the back of the book and they suggest that you receive an 80% to consider yourself as passing that section.  And if you are using the book as a refresher for you - the parent - to help your student, watching the video together might be very helpful.

So why and how did I use the book? Well, my eldest has just completed Algebra 1 and will be moving into Geometry. Thankfully right now my grandmother-in-law (a prior head of high school math department at 2 different public schools and has been a math teacher for over 50 years) has asked if she could continue teaching her. BUT, as some of you may have read we may be moving (VERY SOON) to Indiana and wherever she is we will want to continue. Now, my husband could absolutely take over teaching her and probably will be the main teacher of all math after 'General Math', but I don't want to be not able to answer questions AND when we first move we don't know how busy he will be.

So, I decided to jump straight into the Geometry section. There are 15 lessons and have covered topics that include points, lines, planes, measuring angles, circles, area, and a few others. After reviewing these concepts I feel confident I won't be totally LOST when Arianna has a question and I'm the only adult available. I also will take advantage of the video teachings just in case I'm not clear enough with any instruction. ;)

Each lesson took me about 20 to 30 minutes and honestly I did a couple each day. I did have a few issues with the answer key because I was working on the Geometry section there were multiple answers to each question ... too many to print all in the book so they had the answer as answers may vary. The only problem with this is that if you are an adult who hasn't seen or touched math in 20, 30 or even 40 years you might need a little more then 'answers may vary'. So my suggestion would be that online they have a Solutions section for this book and put all possible answers there. It won't take up more space and allows one not to have to guess. It also allows the adult to feel that they weren't totally wrong if the back of the book had only a few of the possible answers such as 'answers may vary such as ...".

My other con for this book is the online video tutorials. Right now you have to hunt and peck for them based on which section you are working on. So if I need Geometry help I need to click on that video from that book. But if I need help with Square Roots from pre-Algebra I'd have to find that book and click on the link for square roots.  For the other books you can click on the book and then click on the section you want to watch the video from. I'm hoping that in the future they put a picture of this book and then list the sections covered and link the videos (that are already on their website) to the section. It would just make it a little less confusing to find the section you are needing help on if they were all concise like the rest of the other books.

These lessons like I sad were short. Some review exercises followed by a few helpful hints for the lessons, two sample questions and about 10 questions, then 1 word problem. The setup is exactly the same as other of Mr. Fisher's books which is great for consistency. There is a small side columb where you will write your answer, but there is not room for you to do the problems and show your work. He HIGHLY RECOMMENDS (and I and my husband concur) that you should rewrite the problem in a notebook and then SHOW your work. If you are going back to school showing your work can mean the difference between a C and a B on a test, literally. It also allows you to spot where you may have gone wrong when you look at the Solution or go back and rewatch the video portion of the lesson.

All in all this is a very thorough refresher book that will cover math skills from general math through Algebra. Math Refresher for Adults could also be used in a myriad of other ways -- like using it to help with a little more practice on areas that your late elementary or middle school students are having some trouble grasping. I was glad that I was able to use Math Essential's refresher to help wake up my math cells in the realm of Geometry.  Feel free to check out all the other Crew members by clicking the link below to see how they used the Math Refresher for Adults book. You can also find Math Essentials on Facebook.

NatureGlo's eScience MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle - A New TOS Review!!

We really like math in our house ... hard not to with a dad, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother who also are math people (all teachers across the board for high school and college). So when we had a chance to be part of the review team for a new approach to math I wanted to check it out! I knew that my art loving children would love this new approach with NatureGlo's eScience. We have been enjoying our review of the MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle where we focused on one class, called Math Connections in the Real World, that has taught us TONS on the Golden Ratio, Golden Rectangle, and the Fibonacci sequence. My kids have been going all around the house and outside searching for items that fall into the Fibonacci numbers.

We had access to all the classes offered within the MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle - Math Connections in  the Real World, MathArt in Ancient Cultures, MathArt: Patterns in Nature, and Mathematics in the Arts & Sciences. All of them were created to show the connections between art, nature, culture, and science with MATH. That is amazing! A lot of times math is taught in a vacuum without it's connection to the world. Really the world is FULL of math! Each one of these online classes have 6 lessons and can be done "live" in a classroom setting or done on your own time.

Each lesson is jam-packed. First you have the slide show presentations. Most of us thought that the way they were presented were a little weird ... more because it was recorded live and we were watching a play-back of the lessons being taught. There were some times where she seemed to have lost her place on the slide or where there were slight tech issues. There were also some times where the students were interacting, but there was some silence so we wouldn't know if it had glitched or if it was just because we were waiting on the students to respond. Once you get used to that, they are fine. There is a way to go through the slideshow on your own (which I did the first time by accident.) At the end of each part of the lesson you hit the MARK COMPLETE and it will bounce you to the next part of the lesson. You can't move to the next lesson without completing the previous one.

Each lesson has 3 - 9 sections and within those sections there are extra videos, activities, and projects that can be delved into. There are also worksheets you can print and a studyguide to help write down the information the student is learning. Depending on how many activities/extras you do, each of these lessons will take longer than specified ... so a 6 week course (on your own time) could take much longer. And if you have younger children (this is recommended for 10 and up) then you might want to leave out some of the harder projects. We opted to try and do as many of them as we could do. Some we couldn't ... like making Fibonacci cookies (I was really just being lazy and might do this later this month) would have been an all day project since we are trying to do gluten free for my son and I have no ingredients to make cookies to fit GF and DF and dye free! (It's been an eye-opening experience). But they LOVED going out in nature and finding flowers and pinecones (even buildings) to see if they fit into the Golden Ratio/Golden Rectangle pattern.

We are just in the 4th lesson of Math Connections in the Real World, but my eldest daughter is really into history and specifically Cleopatra. She is loving doing this one, which I was sure she would.  My son also loves history so he may have more interest in the slides for this one ... we will see. The first 3 and a part lessons have taken us about 2 weeks to complete each. They have been using all the information they have learned to complete fun designs, pictures, builds, etc. I think they have really enjoyed exploring the math concepts they are learning. And the last lesson explores music and the Fibonacci sequence so I expect they will be fiddling with the keys on the piano and trying to make songs that fit the sequence. We have a toss up between MathArt in Ancient Cultures and Mathematics in the Arts & Sciences for which class we should take next. If we do the second of those first I can not WAIT to delve into Celtic Art and my husband will love the sections on Fractals!

Here are some of what my girls thought about the course:

Arianna - The way that the slideshows were put together were cool and hearing her read it helped it go by faster. We learned a lot of interesting information. The Fibonacci sequence is certainly found in a lot of places in the world and in nature. A lot of grass plants around our house seem to also grow with the Fibonacci sequence as their base. We also checked out dandelions and the blowy part of their flower which also seemed to have that same pattern. Even our wild growing the way the Carolina Jasmine grows the buds would turn as they came off of the stem in the angle similar to the Fibonacci sequence. I found a wild strawberry(or raspberry) plant and if you look closely at it the leaves are in 3's on each stem. The flower itself has 5 petals in the shape of a pentagon if you draw a line from the point of the top of each petal. Mom took a picture so you could see.

Audrie - I loved all the activities that went along with each lesson where we were able to explore each section in depth. We watched LOTS of You Tube videos. I think I know the Fibonacci sequence really well now - well up to 55. ;) 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 ... yep that's as far as I can get. We also made some spirals and other cool designs. I made this flower - a rose, mine were close to the Fibonacci numbers, but not them exactly. I also drew a  pineapple and some doodles with spirals and flowers. I had a lot of fun doing all of the activities.

My husband sat in on a few of the lessons. He did not feel it was as organized as well as it should have been. He thought the information was good, but the original "live" slideshow he was put off by. My younger son (only 9) didn't like those either, but he is younger then the age range and he was usually engaging when we were doing the activities and extras. My husband did say that the activities and all the extras she gathered were well developed and helped really cement the subject matter.
All in all, Gloria Brooks has created a fun way to show the connections of math to real life. This is definitely a must in today's world which is largely full of people who comment that they hate math or want a job that has nothing to do with math. I believe this program would be helpful for the math 'hater' as well as the math 'lover' ... both coming to grips that we can't live without math. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube!

Other members of the Crew explored other of the courses available through NatureGlo's eScience MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle, so be sure to check out those by clicking on the link below! Leave a comment and let me know which course you would most like to try.