Tuesday, February 26, 2019

WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group - The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Book Series Review



The Bible is definitely not a boring book to read in many parts.  We recently had a chance to review more titles in new series released The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series by WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group and written by M.J. Thomas.  We we able to review Book 3 - The Great Escape and Book 4 - Journey to Jericho.




Created for elementary reading level, about ages 6 - 9, The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series brings Bible stories to life.  This Christian children's series places your children in the Biblical events in a fun, and un-scary way.  Peter and Mary think they are spending time with their boring Great-Uncle, only to discover that he is an archaeologist that has discovered hidden scrolls that allow them to travel and solve clues.  Boredom solved!


We had a chance to review The Great Escape - Book 3.  In this story, Peter, Mary, and Hank (their dog) take a trip back to ancient Egypt.  They meet Princess Shephara and her father the Pharaoh.  As they are living in the palace, they meet a young slave boy named Joseph.  The kids learn about the issue of slavery and then they meet someone they have only read about, Moses.  The kids needed to solve the puzzle within 14 days in order to return to the present time.  The angel Micheal helps the kids realize what is happening as the ten plagues begin to reign down on the Egyptians.  


Throughout the The Great Escape both Peter and Mary learn to rely on God when they are scared.  They remind each other how important this is.  It was a great reminder throughout the story.  Peter and Mary were even able to travel with the Israelites to the Red Sea and cross it as Moses parted it.  

In the other story, Journey to Jericho - Book 4, Peter and Mary are whisked into the world of spies.  The Legend of the Scrolls take them back to the tabernacle of the Israelites.  They have God's name revealed to them.   Michael the angel is back in this story and guides the kids to Jericho.  They met a young woman named Rahab and her family.  And she helps them sneak out of the city safely.


Again the kids are reminded to rely on God for strength.  That no matter the problem, there is help.  They just need to have faith.  I know that many young kids have their youth Bibles with illustrations and short Bible stories to keep their attention.  As kids get older, they need to look at Biblical accounts more in-depth.  The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series, is a great way for young Bible students to read Bible accounts in an easy to understand format.   It really shows kids the real action side of the Bible accounts that they are learning about, and takes the "boredom" out of their Bible study.

We really are not working on either of the time periods that I mentioned above.  So we just used these stories as assigned reading material.  Lydia and Caty both enjoyed the stories.  At the end of both books, there is a list of the scriptural references so that your family can look up the event or story and read it directly from your Bible.  


Each of our kids have sat on the edge of their seat while reading the stories that are part of The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls Book series.  I highly recommend checking out this series and adding it to your child's bible study routine or read-aloud time with your child.  Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series The Great Escape - Book 3 and Journey to Jericho - Book 4.  Click on the link below to see how they used these books in their homes, and what they thought of them.  

The Great Escape & Journey To Jericho {WorthyKids Reviews}
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Saturday, February 23, 2019

Periodic Table, First Playoff Game, and the Planning Begins



We have one that has officially graduated.  But due to all kinds of turmoil in the house, we haven't been able to have a party for him.  So Joey is finally getting his graduation party soon.  I feel horrible that we didn't have it in the fall, but I was not well.  Caty was diagnosed then, and then Joe had his heart attack.  It literally has been one obstacle after another.  Joey is very excited and already spreading word.  He picked a super hero theme.  So we are working on that for him.


Our country in Geography this week was Italy.  I made the national dish of Italy for lunch on Monday and it was a hit.  Ragu Bolognese.



Some of the topics we covered in History this week were the Haitian Revolution, Hans Christian Anderson, the Napoleonic Wars.  We watched this very interesting video on the borders between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.


In Science we were working on re-introducing the Periodic Table.  One of our experiments was finding the gases that chemical reactions produce.  In this experiment the peroxide mixed with manganese dioxide made oxygen.





We placed a wooden coffee stirrer with a slight ember still going into the tube and it flared back up.





Our supplies were messed up with our other experiment, so we will try that again next week.

For art we talked about Paul Cezanne.  They worked on a still life.







The boys basketball team had their first playoff game this week....they won.


Joey and Joe went to see the first Gundam movie on the big screen.    It was a special showing.


Lydia received a pretty amazing reward for hard work this week.  She has a new riding sponsor.  So excited for our upcoming riding season.


Friday night the boys played at the Fulton County Special Olympics Homecoming.  Joey actually spent 1 1/2 years at this school several years ago.  His picture is still in the hall way 💚.




Joey wanted to make dinner.  He used premade country fried steaks, and I showed him how to make homemade white gravy and mashed potatoes.  He was pretty proud and says he has a new favorite meal.



Caty planted some seeds early.  Peas, parsley and some onion sprouts.  Keep you updated on how they grow.




Hope everyone had a wonderful week!!!  See you next!



Friday, February 22, 2019

IXL Learning - IXL Online Review






We have been reviewing  IXL Learning - IXL online annual membership recently in our homeschool.  IXL is an online learning program that makes practicing assignments more fun.  Created for Preschool through 12th grade, IXL Learning provides over 2,500 activities that allows kids to practice and master essential education skills in topics that include Math, Language arts, Science, Social Studies, and even Spanish.

IXL Learning - IXL is a practice to mastery skills program.  As your students works their way through skills, IXL Learning has Continuous Diagnostic that adjusts materials to your student's abilities.  This ensures that the student continues to make progress, stay on track, and in most cases even exceed what is expected of them.  

This is a program that I had been contemplating, but not sure how the girls would like it.  For the most part, they DO NOT like "practicing" skills. Learning games they are ok with.  And forget worksheets, they are not fans of those either.  So I have been trying to figure out how to get them to "master" skills they have been learning, and also have the abilities to document those mastered skills.


IXL Learning has been a great help in this area.  Caty has been working through the Spanish areas.  She has had a couple semesters of elementary Spanish.  So we just looked for her skill set, since this program is written for younger to older students.  We were able to find several sections in her levels that she was able to review and even learn new phrases in.  In one section I thought it was great that culture and tradition facts were also included to help expand her knowledge.  It wasn't just about memorizing and repeating phrases.



She was able to earn certificates as she finished various levels.  I received them in my email, and so I could easily track her progress.


I get a weekly report in my email to let me know how the kids are progressing.



Lydia was working in the Social Studies area.  She was working on areas of Citizenship, that are not covered in our current World History curriculum.  It was an area that I know she needed some extra help in remembering.  These were not just all review questions.  They did provide reading material and graphs to help her understand topics and answer questions.



I was very impressed with the material presentation in the Social Studies sections.  Yes it was a review of topics for "seventh" grade level, but some of the topics she had not done yet, and she was still able to learn with the help of the information provided.  

Depending on the topic and subject, you are looking at roughly 20 minutes, but maybe longer with upper level math to finish each lesson area.  IXL could be used daily or weekly along with your current curriculum to reinforce the materials your student needs for mastery.  This is all tracked inside the parent section of your login.  You can see how much time they have spent in the various areas, and also what areas that they are struggling with.  

The girls do get really excited when they finish a lesson and they see they have earned a reward.  I honestly have not had them react to "virtual" rewards like this.  As she has progressed, she asks me to print her certificates so she can see them hanging by her work area.  

The User interface is very well laid out.  You can simply pick by grade level or topic.  There are thousands of topics for all grades levels and almost every subject that you are looking for.


Depending on your state, IXL does match up with state grade level standards. So if you need that for state records, you will have that also if you are using IXL.  

IXL Learning - IXL really has created a great educational world for kids to visit and learn to mastery.  It's very easy to use and provides wonderful review for so many areas of your child's education, I highly encourage you to check out IXL.  You can also click on the banner below to see how other Crew members from the Homeschool Review Crew felt about the IXL Learning materials, and how they used it in their homes.


Immersive, Adaptive Learning Online {IXL Learning Reviews}
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