And the Winner ...

for the 4 Little House on the Prairie, the Musical tickets is..

jswylie!


Congrats!

Giveaway! 4 Tickets to Little House on the Prairie, the Musical!! ($100+ value)

A few days ago I shared about a new musical coming to the Fox Theater next week, Little House on the Prairie, the Musical.

I know the Little House series is popular among homeschoolers, just for pleasure reading or to use with curricula such as The Prairie Primer. For a fun field trip, the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection includes Laura Ingalls Wilder's manuscripts for The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years. No matter how you incorporate it, Little House is such a great, wholesome series to use in your homeschool.

Homeschooling or not, most of us will remember watching the Little House on the Prairie TV series, which aired 1974 - 1982 and starred Mellisa Gilbert as Laura. I remember what a bully I thought Nellie when I watched the show as a little girl! It will be great fun to see Mellisa Gilbert play Ma in the musical!

For more information on the show:

http://www.littlehousethemusical. com
www.OlympiaEntertainment.com

The Fox Theater Box Office or Ticketmaster 800-745-3000

I am very excited to get to attend the musical as a "Little House Ambassador". I wanted to share the fun and asked the Little House Musical folks if they would be interested in offering tickets as a giveaway for the homeschooling community and beyond. They happily agreed and are offering the following for one lucky winner:

4 tickets for opening night, Tuesday, Dec 1 @ 7:30 p.m. at the Fox Theater in Detroit, MI

The winner will be selected and contacted by the sponsors on Monday, Nov 30, 2009, who will be gathering the entries from this blog post. I will be notified of the winner so that I can announce it here as well. Tickets will need to be picked up at the box office 15 minutes before the show.

Because of the time sensitive nature of the tickets, the winner will be required to respond to claim their tickets by Monday, Nov 30th at 3 p.m., otherwise another winner will be selected. If you enter, please be sure to check your email and this blog regularly on Monday!

Now, how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post with one or more of the following:

• your favorite Little House on the Prairie title
• your favorite Little House on the Prairie character
• your favorite scene from a Little House on the Prairie TV episode

Additional entries can be earned by:

• Tweeting about this giveaway
• following my blog publicly
• posting about this giveaway on your blog (please include link)
  

Be sure to leave another comment for any of the additional entries!

That gives you a total of four opportunities to enter! You have until Monday, November 30 at 10 a.m. to enter. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, so make sure you have your email address clearly noted in your comment!

Little House on the Prairie, the Musical

Do you remember Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls in the television series? She is starring as "Ma" in this stage show coming to Fox Theater in Detroit, December 1 – 5. Very fun!

Our family has been selected to go to the musical on opening night as "Little House Ambassadors" and I will be happy to share our experience the following day! I'm hoping it will be a great show and we are very excited! As part of my involvement, I also get to share with friends a code for discounted tickets. If you'd like to enjoy this wholesome musical with your family, be sure to use the discount price code FAITH when purchasing your tickets.

For more information or to order your tickets go to:

http://www.littlehousethemusical. com
www.OlympiaEntertainment.com

The Fox Theater Box Office or Ticketmaster or 800-745-3000

Detroit is the third stop of this musical tour. If you aren't in the area, check out the schedule for a show near you.

First NFL Football Game

We aren't a huge sports family. I think my husband went to one football game in college at our Big Ten university. I bought season tickets one year, at least. However, over the last couple of years my husband has watched quite a bit of football. I'm not sure what initially sparked the interest, but it has been a fun past time for father and son to hang out.

Yesterday, my husband took my son to see his first NFL football game! Better yet, the Lions actually won! How often does that happen? I think he would have been thrilled to go whether there was victory or not, but he looks pretty happy as is, doesn't he?

Review: Life on the Farm

Q: why did the cow run frantically across the road?
A: So she wouldn't get creamed

Q: How do you tell a cow is exceptional?
A: It's out standing in its field

Q: What are a cows favorite subjects in school?
A: Moosic, psycowolgy, cowculus

You shouldn't tell jokes about cows. Nobody likes a cattle-tale

I'm not sure what it is about cows that makes them so udderly funny! Perhaps it is because they are such simple creatures whose main job is to graze, moo, and provide for our tables. At the mention of cows and farms, we often think of a time in American history when family farms dotted the rural Midwest. However, have you ever wondered what it would be like to run a family farm in the present day? Now you can, with Life on the Farm.

Keith Gohl, a midwest 3rd-generation dairy farmer in Minnesota, came up with the idea of Life on the Farm after a fun evening of trying to explain the ups and downs of farm life to his city cousins. Players get to step away from their fast-driven city life and experience the adventures of milking cows, fixing tractors and tilling the land.

Each player starts with $10,ooo and no cows. As players move along the cow path, they acquire cattle and experience events that happen on any real-life farm. Players may have to pay neighbors to help them gather escaped cows because a hunter cuts the fence, at $10 per cow. A cow may be hit by a car, removing one from the herd. Not all the squares result in loses. Heifers mature, adding cows to your herd and there is opportunity to purchase more cows each time you land on Cattle Auction. When player makes a round the board, they collect "Milk Money" for each cow.

There are both Expense and Income Card spaces, adding more fun and surprises to the game. Income cards involve events that bring cash to the farm, such as collecting an inheritance from a late uncle, selling bushels of corn, or receiving a cow from another play for past help. Expense Cards have money going out the barn door and involve paying taxes, vet bills, and filling fuel barrels.

The first to retire with 60 cows and the original starting money wins the game. Winning sounds easy, until your herd starts growing. Just like real farm life, the larger the herd the quicker you earn - and lose - money.

Life on the Farm was a hit with my whole family. Throughout the whole game we were all counting our cash and cows. Who knew one could be so competitive over cows? Those with larger herds would be feeling pretty good about the farm when the "Milk Money"was collected, only to grumble when a vet bill arrived through an Expense Card.

Don't be fooled by Income Cards as they don't always mean profit. While most Income Cards will pad your farm pockets, one card results in a loss because your are forced to slaughter your cows for less than you paid for them. When I asked Ev Johnson, one of the creators of Life on the Farm, the reasoning behind the card, she replied:

As in real life, when a farmer is forced to slaughter a cow, and receives income as a result, that farmer has to report the amount received as income. Doesn’t make too much sense does it? But that is the way it works and so that is the way it is played in our game.

While I like that the game really does reflect true life on the farm, I have to say that this card brought out the mad cow competitiveness as being unfair. It was a certain male adult family member that declared the card be changed to collect more for a slaughter than a purchase. I proposed a government subsidy be added to the card to offset the loss! What was really neat about the discussion is that our kids learned a little about business and real life. My oldest even asked for more "business type" games.

I love that this game was easy to play, enjoyed by every family member, and taught a bit about a life style that is unfamiliar to this suburbia family.

Probably the only downfall to the game is it can be rather long. A short version suggested only 30 cows and $5000 to win. My family probably played for 1 1/2 hours and no one had reached 60 cows, so we move to the short version. The winning criteria is completely "tweakable" without changing the rest of the game. Name your winning cow herd and dollar amount for the time you have to play.

Life on the Farm is a prime choice as a Moo-y Christmas gift. Both city folk and country bumpkins are sure to find it moo-velous and udder-ly fabulous. Life on the Farm can be purchased for $25 at the WeRFun website. It is lalso available at Kmart, where a current sale promotion on toys runs through Nov 25!

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew's blog to read more reviews on this product and others.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.

Review: Gymathtics by Exploramania

I've read numerous times the benefits of getting kids moving while learning. To increase retention, experts recommend activities such as tossing a ball back and forth while learning spelling words or performing jumping jacks while reciting multiplication tables. I've found the science behind this theory to be valid. My daughter used to reduce the time required to memorize AWANA verses by jumping rope with the words. A mini-trampoline in our school room has also been utilized to set physical rhythm to items for memorization with successful results. An added bonus is that my kids are getting a bit of exercise in the process.
This movement and learning correlation has been embraced by Gymathtics, an exercise DVD by Exploramania. In this 30-minute DVD, Carrie Scheiner, Exploramania founder, leads four young people of various ages (age 6 - college, meet the cast) through exercises integrated with math instruction . You can read about Ms. Scheiner's inspiration for Gymathtics here.

Four exercise segments appear on the DVD: Shape Stretches Warm Up, Counting Calisthenics, Pattern Power, and Well-Being Wind Down. The following video shows a clip from each section.




The math concepts taught are approximately a 2nd - 5th grade level. Basic geometry is taught in Shape Stretches, counting (odd, even, place value) numbers in Counting Calisthenics, and patterns (using sequence of exercises) in Pattern Power. The last segment, Well-Being Wind Down, does not include any math concepts. Instead, this segment focuses on relaxation and lifestyle sayings in combination with the stretches.

While I like the concept, this DVD didn't go over well in our household. The age of my kids, 10 and almost 13, was most likely a contributing factor. Not only are my kids beyond the math concepts, they felt the DVD was a little too cheesy to make it tolerable. I tend to agree with the hokey assessment and I found the numerous high fives between cast members a bit irritating. Of course, I've never been one for a Richard Simmons approach to exercise. We have numerous exercise DVDs geared toward kids collecting dust in our household, an indication that the anti-Richard Simmons movement is genetic.

I think younger kids, perhaps in the age 5-8 range, may have a better appreciation for Gymathtics. The exercises are easy enough for younger ones, but still provide a good workout for various ages. I liked that there are several ages in the DVD with varying abilities. This will avoid discouragement among viewers. If exercise DVDs are your thing, Gymathtics would be a productive method of getting the wiggles out while learning. Save time by doing PE and math review at the same time!

For the math concepts, I liked the Shape Stretches the best as I felt it most successfully merged the physical body with the math element. I would have liked to see the math carried through to the last segment, Well-Being Wind Down. Instead of math instruction, comments like “Eat healthy foods in moderate portions,” and “Respect and appreciate people and the planet,” are said throughout. While some respond well to this sort of encouragement, it just adds to the hokey factor for me. It also struck me as a rather abrupt shift away from the math in the rest of the DVD.

With the cold weather approaching, this DVD may be the perfect tool to keep your kids appropriately active indoors and a welcome change to seat work. The award-winning Gymathics can be purchased for $24.99 at the Exploramania website. You may also be interested in the second of the series which targets 4th-7th grade, Gymathetics 2.0, due to be released soon.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew's blog to read more reviews on this product and others.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.

Review: AVKO Membership

A few years ago, I was trying find resources to help my son, a struggling speller. My search led me to pick up the phone and chat with Don McCabe, founder of AVKO.

AVKO is a non-profit organization dedicated to literacy. You can read more about AVKO philosophy at the website. Also from the website:

AVKO is a non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive), and keyboarding. AVKO is dedicated to the teaching everyone how to read and spell, regardless of their mild to moderate learning disabilities, dyslexia, poverty, or opportunity.

You may be familiar with Sequential Spelling, a spelling program that teach spelling using the patterns of the English language. While Sequential Spelling can be used with any learner, dyslexic students in particular benefit from the breaking down of words. In addition to Sequential Spelling, AVKO provides a variety of support products and information for teaching spelling.

To my surprise, Mr. McCabe didn't spend our phone conversation convincing me his program was my answer. Instead, he simply discussed with me my questions concerning dyslexia. The AVKO headquarters is located less than an hour from my home and Mr. McCabe even offered me free tutoring for my son. He was quick to stress that I could teach my son and he would teach me how to do so if I was unsure. I was impressed at how much time Mr. McCabe spent with me, at a time when I was having trouble getting answers elsewhere. In gratitude, I decided to support the non-profit AVKO and become a member.

At the time, an AVKO annual membership provided a print copy of To Teach a Dyslexic, three e-books, and 25% off any purchases for the duration of the membership. I read the book and purchased a few products, but didn't renew as I felt I gleaned what I was going to glean that first year. When I received a 1-year AVKO membership for review as a member of the TOS Crew, I was curious to see changes in membership benefits have taken place over the last couple of years.

An annual membership ($25) to AVKO gives 25% off all AVKO printed materials for the year, as well as access to a new membership section on the website. While membership does not include access to the Sequential Spelling program, you can develop a spelling program on your own with the information available in the membership area.

Visit the website for a list of the Benefits of Basic AVKO Membership, including titles available for download in the Members Only area of the website.

There are several items that were not part of the membership when I was a member years ago. One of the items I was absolutely thrilled with was The Patterns of the English Spelling, Volume 1-10. This was an item I would have loved to have years ago, but the $360 price tag for all 10 volumes in a printed version was well outside of my budget. I'm thrilled to see this 1631-page PDF document included FREE with membership. Mr. McCabe spent an immense amount of time (over 30 years!) creating this categorization of every word imaginable into word patterns or rimes. If your child is needing work with a particular pattern, you will have no trouble finding words for practice and example. You can see a sample of this PDF file here.

I also enjoyed some of the audio recordings from some of Don's workshops, also new resource with membership. There are six total, a $15 value. Also of interest is AVKO's pairing with Spelling City. With the resources available to members, members will be able to create individualized spelling lists for a completely customized spelling curriculum.

In addition to the main titles, there is also a section of humor, puns, and stories for fun and to use during lessons (dictation, for example). A word of caution – do not blindly print items without viewing and hand them to your children. Some of them contain humor that might not be appropriate for some families.

Is this a membership for you? If you already use or are considering AVKO's Sequential Spelling program, the supporting information in the member's section will certainly be useful. In addition, the savings on future purchases will help offset the cost of the membership. Parents of struggling spellers will find tools to use with their current program or to develop your own program. While there is a lot of interesting information on this site, if you have natural spellers that rarely need to reference Mr. Webster, then you may not find a membership all that beneficial.

To learn more about AVKO, the products available, and the benefits of membership, visit the AVKO website.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew's blog to read more reviews on this product and others.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.