American Girl Saige Book 2 - Reading Comprehension and Activity Guide

Here is the link to the Reading Comprehension and Activity Guide that I created for Lydia to use with Saige - Paints the Sky (Book 2) by Jessie Haas.

Saige - Paints the Sky - Book 2 - Reading Comprehension and Activity Guide

Here is the link to Book 1:

Saige - American Girl - Book 1

Please note my terms of use:

This is for personal use only. I am providing them free of charge.  You may use this at home or in a classroom.  You may print as many copies as you would like. You may share the link to our blog to others interested in our packets. 

You may not:

Sell or distribute this file.  Host this file on your website without permission from myself.  Upload this file to a shared website (Ex. 4shared.com)

A Cry from Egypt Giveaway!!!

Have you ever wondered what life was like in ancient Egypt? As an Israelite? And a slave? Want your children to understand the Bible is history?

We are so excited to have been contacted by Hope Auer to giveaway an autographed copy of her book A Cry from Egypt.

We had the opportunity to review Hope's book this past fall, and we really enjoyed it.  You can read our review here.

Hope is a recent Homeschool graduate that loves children and being an author.  

If you haven't had a chance....please check out A Cry from Egypt.  This well written biblical tale is wonderful for both bible study and history.

You can enter to win an autographed copy below....


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visiting Franklin Institute - Part 2

Franklin Institute was so much fun!!!  Way too much for one blog post!

They had K'nex that the kids could create a moon buggy to try and drive on the rocky terrain.

 Large telescope with a way to see what you would have seen if looking through the viewfinder.

 A piece of meteorite found in Arizona....they could touch it.

 A really fun hands-on exhibit.

 Sitting on the chair makes different sounds...the boys thought this was great.

 This was fun....shoot the various Air Cannons to move the sparkly material.

 The boys rode in the Max Air simulator...they thought this was great.

 I don't think I will be flying with them anytime soon.

 The girls were too short for Max Air, so they got to ride in the Adventure Flight.

Homeschool Mothers Journal - Week 47

In my life this week.....

We are back from Philadelphia.  Saw a lot of historical sites and fun ones also.  Philadelphia is a great place if you don't want to relax and see lots of stuff.  I always feel like I can't sit still when we are there because there are so many things to choose from and see.  I will be posting pics of all of our adventures over the next week or so.

Have you ever felt like someone threw a stick into your bicycle tire?  And off you go flying...not sure what is happening next or if it will hurt when you land.  Well that's how I am feeling right now.  Philly was up and down for us.  We will need to go to St. Louis soon, but then we just found out we need to go to Tennessee in two weeks.  So not prepared for that.  We were just getting back on the bicycle (or at least I felt like it)....and wham!!  Someone stuck something in my tire to trip me up.  Oh well....Looks like I am going to get my wish to go and relax a little in Nashville.  Maybe this trip I can visit that clothing store in downtown where the actors from the show Nashville keep getting spotted shopping.  That'd be so cool to run into someone from the show!

In our homeschool this week....

We took it easy, just doing some reading on Monday & Tuesday.  Wednesday they had the day off.  Today we did some basic stuff.  History reading, Science and math for Joey.  Lydia did math (money), phonics/spelling, grammar, and reading.  She also worked on an American Girl project for Saige.  She's starting her "art" board.  Caty did basic alphabet and math.  Brayden....well Brayden didn't do anything!!  I threatened (and to him it is a threat) to send him back to regular school.  We'll see how he does tomorrow.

We had American Girl Club today, and there were some great projects that moms planned.  Lydia had so much fun.  She won't take off her cowrie shell necklace (we had our last meeting for Addy today).

Places we're going.....

Well we just got back from Philadelphia.  While there we visited the Franklin Institute, Independence Visitor Center, Carpenters Hall, George Washington's house, Independence Seaport Museum, Atlantic City Steel Pier and lighthouse, the 9/11 Memorial National Park and Eastern State Penitentiary.  When we got back, we had American Girl Club today and the Special Olympics Craft show this weekend.  Joey and Lydia are also helping Grandpa pick up trash for Earth Day (it was rescheduled because of the weather).

Things I'm reading....

Same stuff as last week.  Although I did manage to finish both the American Girl Saige books and the study guides will both be up by the weekend on this blog.  I am still working on Papa's Pearls...watch for the review.  Need to finish the Karen Robards book I started and haven't finished.  And I also need to get going on my photography class.

Things I'm cooking....

I made Mexican Meatloaf with homemade potatoes.  Then repurposed the leftovers into potato patties for lunch and tacos for dinner.  Still have enough for leftover sandwiches tomorrow.  Tomorrow going to be baking cookies for the 4H Bake Sale over the weekend, and Lydia and I will be re-creating a girl scout cookie for our troop.  I also have reviewing a Molly cookbook, and will be trying a new recipe from it tomorrow.

Things I'm working on.....

Well I was going to be getting ready for the Book Sale for our homeschool group, but that will now be changing since we are going to be in Tennessee that week.  I guess I will be re-packing all our suitcases, and looking at a school schedule for the next two weeks.   I also will be working on a couple field trips for the summer.

I rewarded my kids this week....

They got to pick their choice of junk food at the store yesterday....and yuck they picked poptarts.  They ate way too much junk food this past week anyway.  So we need to make some gradual adjustments back to a more normal eating routines.  This weekend we will have a campout in the living room and watch movies all night (or as long as they can stay awake).

A favorite thing this week......

Caty is obsessed with dandelions.  She stops and must pick them no matter where we are.  There were some at the lighthouse in Atlantic City that she had to stop and pick.  I keep reaching in my purse and my fingers turn yellow because there are so many dandelions in the bottom of my purse most days...lol.  The simple things in life.

Photo from the week....

Our family at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.  A nice lady who was also touring at the same time took the photo for us.  This was a great tour!!!

Linking up with other moms at iHomeschool Network at Homeschool Mothers Journal.

Dr. Craft's Active Play Review

*****Disclaimer......I received Dr. Craft's Active Play! free of charge for the sole purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Kids are a massive bundle of energy.  And if they don't have a good outlet, watch out....they are going to terrorize anyone around them.  At least that is the way it is in our house.  Caty has a tendancy to be like her brothers and not really want to do a lot of physical activity.  How do I make it more exciting?  Some days I just feel so frustrated when I think I have a good idea, and she hates it.  Then I received a wonderful package in the mail and Dr. Craft's Active Play came to my rescue.  In my package, I received Dr. Craft's Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children book and DVD set ($39.99).

Dr. Craft's Active Play! includes over 50 creative activity ideas for children as young as toddler through early elementary.  Even Lydia enjoyed playing these games.  The boys even got into a few of the games, since their sisters were laughing so hard. 

You might ask though, what's wrong with just sending the kids outside to play.  Well let me just say, that's great if your kids can keep moving and entertained for more than 2 minutes without screaming they are bored.  Or better yet, if it's been cold and windy or even rainy and the kiddos can't play outside.  Caty will go outside and just sit in the sandbox for hours if I let her.  So most times, it's great to have a list of outside/inside activities to get the kids moving.  And something that is a lot more fun than just walking with mom.  

So you might be asking, how do I get started?  Dr. Craft's Active Play! provides detailed instructions, and even includes a 20 week daily lesson plan schedule.  The beginning of the book also has been put together providing teachers/parents with answers to many of their questions.  These include suggestions as to how to include the activities throughout their already busy days or even how to work with special needs children.  Suggestions are also given to developmental milestones and how to keep kids safe while playing these games.

How did we use this in our school?  

I tried to follow the lesson plans as close to possible, but then the girls started asking if they could pick activities.  So we watched the DVD of a few activities and then I let them choose those in an order they wanted to do them.  I would then select a few more activities and let them put them in order.  This allowed the girls to feel a little more in control of their "gym" time as they called it.  

Did it help get Caty moving more?

Yeah, I would say it did.  After I let her start choosing what activity (from a list that I presented her), she seemed to not mind playing more.  

You can take a look into Dr. Craft's Active Play! by viewing these sample pages.

Will we continue using this?

Yes!!!  In fact, as the weather warms up (we have very...very close quarters) I cannot wait to get to do more of these activities outside in the fresh air.  Like I mentioned earlier, the laughter was contagious causing the boys to want to get involved in some of the activities too.  So if you have a wide age range with your children, do not be afraid to allow the older ones to "teach" the younger kids these games.  They will have just as much fun as the younger ones.

It was really nice to have a guide to follow.  It didn't require me to spend a lot of extra time researching games and rules for the kids.  Everything is neatly presented in the book with minimal prep time involved.  How easy is that!!!  And the games included will quickly become favorites, so the kids will not tire out as your rotate through this list repeatedly.  The girls and I have set a goal of repeating this book at least 3 times from the official start of summer to the official start of fall.  They are going on our summer bucket list.

These games and activities are also nice to have on hand for kids parties, family reunions and other times where you might need to entertain children at the last minute for any reason.  Again, most supplies people have already laying around the house or they can be inexpensively purchased at dollar stores.

I do have to apologize that I cannot provide any pics of the kids.  Turns out that Lydia deleted my memory card in the camera that I was using to snap pictures during a few of our sessions.  I went to download them, and they are all gone.

Several other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew has the privilege of using Dr. Craft's Active Play!.  Be sure to stop by the blog and check out how it worked out in their homes with their families.

Visiting the Franklin Institute - Part 1

What did we do our First Day in Philadelphia?  Visited the Franklin Institute.  This is such an enormous science center.  I felt it is a fitting tribute to Benjamin Franklin as he was really such an inventor and there was so much there for the kids to experiment with.

I love the entrance to this museum...

What is inside our blood...we made "blood" this past summer, but of course no one seemed to remember it.  Go figure, ours was similar to the mixture in the tube.  Do you know what color blood really is?

These are super cool benches!

Learning about the importance of exercise.

The Giant heart

Learning about issues in our lives that we can change to help stay healthier.  he had to check his risk factor for heart disease by putting a black block on side if he could say no, and a white block for yes on the other side.  And then it showed what his risk factor was....

This was pretty neat...Great activity to show how plaque builds up in your lungs.

This was very cool.  There was a video of a surgery playing.  I found it very interesting.

They could see the differences in a CT Scan, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound as they moved the screen over the body.

There was a whole section on Electricity.  I didn't get to see it all because the exhibit was loud at times,  and freaked Brayden out.  So we waited outside for everyone else.

Some of Ben Franklin's experiments.

This static electricity was cool.  And I got shocked pretty good.

 Kicking back and letting someone else do all the work.

 Seeing how the cooling system in a space suit works.

A cooling suit layer.

The difference in cameras and why NASA wants higher pixel cameras.

 This was fun to see where things are actually "sitting" in our atmosphere.

 Joey and some other kids controlling a flight.

I will have another post....this science museum is chocked full!!!