YUCK!

I have a yucky review to write for you today. The stuff I am reviewing was yucky. I did not like it. But it was yucky, so my children did. Did I mention…YUCK!?

Yuck is…well, I am not even sure how to describe this stuff. It is a white powdery substance that comes in little baggies, but worry not, it is not an illicit substance. Well, as far as the law is concerned. Mothers everywhere might disagree.

You add water to this yucky stuff and you get varying degrees of other yucky stuff. Man, I should be a writer. I am so good with the words!

Perhaps pictures are the way to go here…

Sticky Yuck
Dry...

Water Added...


Snowy Yuck
Dry…

Water added…


Chunky Yuck
Dry…

Water added…


Saucy Yuck
Dry…

Water added…


Okay, in all seriousness, this stuff is kinda cool. It came with an entire paper labeled ‘Yuck Games’ and another little booklet called ‘Yuck Science’.

While I am not a messy kinda of gal, and I try to keep the mess far from my homeschool (my poor children), I think having some Yuck on hand would be just the perfect thing for that rainy day that really needs a little something special…or yucky!

You can go here to find out more about Yuck and even order your own sample pack, and you can go here to see what others on The Crew had to say about Yuck!



Happy Homeschooling!

LanSchool

LanSchool is a way for me to keep up with what my kids are doing on the computer. In this day and age, computers are a blessing and a curse. We can do so much with them; we have so much available at our fingertips, as a homeschooler, computers have helped me immensely with educating my children. However, we also have access to all manner of garbage. Some of the things that can take up our computer time are simply vapid, and some are downright dangerous.

LanSchool allows me to check on what my children are doing (or have been doing) at the click of a button. I can see their screens on my computer, I can see their history, I can even see their keystrokes if I so choose.

I can also take over their screen and control it from my computer. This has come in very handy when I wanted to show them something. Or I needed to edit a paper. They could watch me do it from my computer on their screen. Way less printing and/or emailing papers back and forth.

I can also chat with my children on the computer. A little screen pops up if I need to tell them to remember to do the word problems on a page or something like that. They can also initiate a chat. This has worked SO well! For instance, my son will be in his room working on a paper. He might initiate a chat, show me his screen and ask me a better way to write a particular sentence. I can then take over his screen and fix it, or give him a few examples.

It is super cool!

At first my kids were none too happy to know that I would have access to everything in their computers (little did they know I already do!! I set up the computers and passwords, silly kids!) but now that we’ve been using it for a while they’ve seen the benefits. I like that they know at any minute I can view what they are viewing. So if they decide to pop on Facebook for a minute, I will know. It helps them be accountable.



I currently have three of our computers linked up. I am very, very happy with this product. It’s not just a ‘big brother’ type spying device; It has really been useful in our homeschool.

You can go here to see the pricing structure. (I am pleased with how they set this up. It seems very reasonable to me.) and you can go here to see what other people had to say about LanSchool.

Happy Homeschooling!

Foundlings, Book One in The Peleg Chronicles

I have to be honest here. I am not a fan of fantasy. I am not a fan of the whole dragon/dinosaur type of book. Mostly, I have a hard time reading a book where I cannot envision myself because the setting does not actually exist. However, for me, that is a personal preference, not a moral conviction.

The Foundlings published by Zoe and Sozo, is a book that is sort of like that and sort of not. Mr. Harding refers to his book as a Historical Fiction "Fantasy" with Fantasy in quotes. He can explain his reasoning for that better than I can.

Why do you use the term Historical Fiction "Fantasy"?

Actually, I wish I hadn't. Fantasy has too many negative
connotations from a Biblical perspective. When we are at
conferences I'm able to explain that I put the word in quotes,
because some of what the world calls fantasy, God calls fact or
reality. The Peleg Chronicles has dragons/dinosaurs on the
earth with man, giants, some mega fauna, and a
technologically advanced civilization at a time when secular
evolutionists don't expect to see them. So what is normally
thought of as fantasy is actually part of the exciting truth that
is God's world. By using the word fantasy I have inadvertently
given the opposite message of what I intended. I reject
mysticism, magic, creatures that are half human and half
animal, occult beings, talking dragons, etc.

Honestly, I skimmed this book. I really have a hard time with fantasy, but as I said, that is personal taste, not conviction. Here is what I do like about this book. It is safe. It is clean. I can trust that I can hand it off to my children and not be worried that they are going to get a bunch of garbage that goes against what we believe. It’s a nice, clean, fun story that is exciting and enthralling and thrilling all without compromising values. That, I LOVE. In fact Mr. Harding states on his website that this book (and subsequent books in this series) are free of Magic, Humanism, and Evolution.

From the website…

Foundlings weaves together the Biblical
principles of chivalry, truth, courage, duty,
faith and love within the framework of Genesis,
and a bold adherence to its historicity. It's an
exciting page turner that leaves you wanting
more, but more importantly it leaves the
reader with Godly heroes to think on and
emulate, and a young earth creationist view of
history that conforms to the Word of God.
No Magic
No Evolution
No Humanism

How can you not like that?

You can go here to read more about this book, book series, (and there is even a unit study based on the book!!). You can go here to see what others had to say about Foundlings. And by the way, while I didn’t get in to the book, I handed it off to my daughters and have not seen it since. It is on one of their beds, being enjoyed, safely, before they drift off to sleep every night. I’d say that’s a win.

Happy Homeschooling!