Bible in 90 Days-Now What?

I did it!  I just finished reading the Bible in 90 Days (well technically I finished it in 78 days if I figured correctly, but I digress) In the last couple of weeks as I knew I was nearing the end I started to "worry" about what I was going to do once I was done.

Not quite 3 years ago, I read the Bible in 90 Days and after that I started reading the Bible using Professor Grant Horner's Bible reading method and I am going to do that again.  I love reading the Bible this way. After my last baby was born I fell out of the habit of reading the Bible that way and just used a daily devotional to stay in the Word.  The last time I used this method I printed out the bookmarks and tried using post it notes but with little ones around that did NOT work for me...so I printed out a Bible reading chart and just checked off each chapter as I read it and used that to help me keep my places.

I am thankful to Samantha Kelley and Mom's Toolbox for motivating me to try the Bible in 90 Days again and for the encouragement along the way. I will likely do this again should they run another session at Mom's Toolbox.

A fellow Bible in 90 Days participant blogged about what she is doing next and you can read about that here. In case you don't have time to click over, she is going to be spending the time that she was reading memorizing scripture.  I think this is a wonderful idea.  I am currently memorizing scripture in Sunday school (after a period of over a year not being in any organized scripture memory class--and therefore not memorizing).  It is hard work but it is worth it!

If you've never tried reading the entire Bible or if you've never read it in 90 Days I highly recommend it.  You don't need any special tools.  I read the Bible on my Kindle this time but you can just use the Bible you have now or an online Bible. There is a Bible designed for this as well as course materials and a daily e-mail you can sign up for at The Bible in 90 Days website if you are interested.

You may be thinking, what about Bible study?  Or maybe you aren't, but I was thinking about that as I decided what to do next.  I am currently in a Wednesday night Bible study that is an overview of the Bible, our Sunday school class is studying the book of Philippians using Always Rejoicing by John Goetsch and we use Balancing the Sword in our family devotions so for the time being I decided that continuing on in heavy Bible reading would beneficial.

I did want to say that there were times when I just felt that I was plodding through...maybe not understanding everything I was reading...or taking it all in ...but I know that the Bible says that God's Word does not return void so I would just remind myself of that and keep pushing through.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 
Isaiah 55:11 

I would love to hear about what you are doing for Bible reading and Bible study.

Expedition Canada

We just finished our "tour" of Canada using Download N Go's Expedition Canada.  I cannot express how much we have enjoyed every unit in the Expedition series so far.  This one is jam PACKED with so much you could easily spread it out over much longer than the 1 week that it is designed for.  There is geography, animals, history, inventions and more!

I waited until this time of the year to do Canada so we could visit a local sugar house at the same time.  We went to the sugar house last week and we'll probably go again now that we've studied a little more about it.  I kind of wish we still had snow on the ground so we could have made some yummy maple candy....

Every Download N Go unit has 5 days of topics.  In Expedition Canada you will find:

Day 1: Where on Earth Is Canada?
Day 2: Some of the Special Places of Canada
Day 3: A Bit of History
Day 4: Special Things to Know About Canada
Day 5: Fun and Games in Canada


You can view sample pages in the Download N Go store.

Though I didn't take any pictures for Expedition Canada and the review team is not officially reviewing this unit I wanted to include my thoughts about it because we enjoyed it so much.  We have only 2 of the 7 countries left to explore in the Download N Go Expedition series.  Next week we will explore Israel and we have Expedition Africa to discover in the near future.  The Expedition units are among my favorites of all of the Download N Go units we have done.

Today is $5 Friday at Amanda Bennett Unit Studies.  You can purchase Download N Go Spring Surprises or   Tremendous Trees for just $5 or try one of Amanda's month long unit studies.  Gardens and Oceans are also on sale for just $5.  We have used almost all of the traditional unit studies in our homeschool over the years and they are wonderful as well. My 8th grader has been using them all year long and enjoying each one. This is a great way to get a taste for unit studies at a low price!

Please consider following my blog.  I would love to have you!

**Though I did not receive this unit free in exchange for this review. I was given a copy of this unit in exchange for a preview review I wrote before receiving a final copy.

Kite Capers!

I have to admit I was very reluctant to sign up to review Kite Capers for Download N Go.  We still had snow on the ground and I wasn't really sure that I wanted to do this one but I am so glad we did!  It was a lot of fun and we learned so much about a variety of topics including Ben Franklin, weather, geography and of course kite flying (and so much more)!

Each Download N Go unit is a complete unit study designed for grades K-4.  There are 5 days of lessons.  In Kite Capers you will find:

Day 1: What Is a Kite? 
Day 2: The History of Kites 
Day 3: Kite People and Places 
Day 4: Science Secrets of Kites 
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Kites

We took advantage of one of the warmer days this week and went to a local field and playground to fly kites.  We had watched a video from the study that day with instructions on how to fly a single line kite (without running) and it was so helpful!  It made our kite flying experience very enjoyable.  We enjoyed watching many of the kite videos included in this study.  (Videos are internet linked and embedded on a safe page to protect your children.)

flying kites at a local park

Playing at the playground after kite flying

Katie making kite cookies while Emma watches (or something)

The fun part....decorating

Connor and Ellie

One edible kite

I recommend Kite Capers for your family.  I am looking forward to some great kite flying this summer at the beach!  Don't forget to visit the Download N Go blog for $5 Friday on March 18 where you will find some great deals.  Don't miss it!

See what others are saying about Kite Capers on the Download N Go blog tour:

**disclaimer: I was given a free copy of Kite Capers in exchange for my honest review.

Hoppin' Popcorn

We've been busy lately working on Download N Go unit studies but I haven't taken the time to write up any reviews.  One of our most recent units was Hoppin' Popcorn.  I LOVE popcorn and eat it almost every day.

Download N Go unit studies are written for grades K-4 but I have been successfully using them with my 2nd and 5th graders.  Hoppin' Popcorn was a lot of fun.

With each Download N Go study you get 5 days of lessons.  In Hoppin' Popcorn you will find:

Day 1: Popcorn—What Is It?
Day 2: The Story of Popcorn
Day 3: The Flavors of Popcorn
Day 4: The Science of Popcorn
Day 5: Fun With Popcorn

A few of the pages you will find in Hoppin' Popcorn

In this unit you will learn about geography, science, writing, history, Bible and  even math activities! One of the things I really wanted to focus on for this year was geography and every Download N Go unit we have done has included geography in such a way that we are being exposed to maps of not only the United States but places around the world.  I love that the kids are learning geography in a natural way.


We chose not to include any books from the library in this study.  We didn't need any.  Although we sometimes choose to use many books from the lists they are completely unnecessary.  I do appreciate the book lists though because when I do want to add to the study it makes it so easy.

One of the projects in this study is to sprout popcorn.  I really didn't know that you could take popcorn from your cupboard and sprout it.  We decided not to plant ours but it was fun to watch the sprouts grow.

soaking the popcorn

a tiny sprout after just a couple of days

sprouts were grown in a plastic bag on a wet paper towel

popcorn sprouts

We also popped a popcorn in a test tube over a candle so we could observe the moisture in a kernel of popcorn.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Emma watching the popcorn in the test tube

It popped! (and if you look closely you will see
moisture on the glass)

Overall, we really enjoyed Download N Go's Hoppin' Popcorn!  Now for the best part.  Download N Go has given me an opportunity to give away 1 copy of Hoppin' Popcorn.  The giveaway will run from today until  Tuesday at noon EST (or as soon after noon as I can get to it).  You get one chance by making a comment and one chance each by sharing this on Twitter, Facebook, e-mail or other social media.  Just come back and make a separate comment for each.  Tell your friends!  All entries MUST include an e-mail address so I can contact the winner.  The winner has been chosen and contacted.  Thank you for participating!

To see what others are saying about Hoppin' Popcorn.  Go on the blog tour: 

disclaimer: I was not given a copy of Hoppin' Popcorn for the purpose of this review but I did get it at no charge in exchange for a preview review before it was published.  The opinions expressed are solely mine.  

Snow!

A bowl of fresh snow.

 I love snow!  This year has been pretty snowy and I just can't get enough.  I love it!!  Anyway, in The Winter Nature Study E-book there is a suggestion to collect some snow and then melt it and compare the volume.  I finally remembered to do this at the start of the storm rather than after it was over.  I wanted it to just collect in the bowl but Emma didn't know that and filled it up with the snow and packed it in.

She filled this can that was in the recycling bin too.

So I packed snow in a quart jar

Starting to melt..you can see how it is "shrinking"

Looking at the snow with a magnifying glass

melting

This is how much water we got in the can.

This is the amount of water in the jar.
When we started Emma estimated
it would be half full.

This was a fun experiment.  I am hoping for lots more snow to play with before the winter is over!

Magnificent Moon

Last week we started studying the moon using Download N Go's Magnificent Moon.  We are 3 days into the study and have already learned so much!  I had planned to have it finished by Friday but sometimes life gets in the way of MY plans.

Download N Go unit studies are designed for children in grades K-4.  2 of my children are working on Magnificent Moon, Emma (2nd grade) and Ryan (5th grade).  This unit is easily adapted for older children.  Rather than print out this unit for Ryan I gave him a composition notebook and he is writing down what he is learning.  I still printed out maps and some of the lapbook components to glue into the notebook.

In Magnificent Moon there are 5 days of lessons:

Day 1: What Exactly Is a Moon?
Day 2: Getting to Know the Moon
Day 3: The Story of the Moon
Day 4: Science Secrets of the Moon
Day 5: Cool Things About the Moon

We have enjoyed learning about astronauts, space missions, the solar system and different aspects of the moon. This has been a wonderful time to study the moon.  Though we have had cloudy nights with no visible moon we have had daytime sitings and some spectacular views of the full moon this week.  As I am writing this, the moon is rising and it is truly magnificent. The kids have been taking turns looking at it out the window.  I was very moved by the recording we listened to this week of astronauts reading Genesis as they orbited the moon.  I was struck by what an accomplishment it was to put man on the moon.  I honestly never thought about it before.

The moon clearly visible in the afternoon.

I took this picture while writing this review.
It really doesn't do it justice as it looks so large in the sky.

In this picture you can see how it has an
 elliptical appearance.

Other subjects besides the moon are included in this study.  You will find geography, spelling and vocabulary, mathematical concepts, and even art!  Amanda Bennett has filled this study with a great book list that enhanced our study.  I would offer one word of caution in this department.  As with most "science books" you find in the library it is filled with the notion of "millions of years".  The books however, are completely optional and it is easy to skip over those statements or use them as a jumping off point for discussion.  We did  enjoy many of the moon books we got out of the library and my 15 year old who normally would not watch a documentary sat and watched a very long documentary on the first landing on the moon.  Truly a study for everyone!

I have to say I am really glad we are doing this moon study.  It really is magnificent and Magnificent Moon is a study I know that we will return to.  You could easily spend much more than a week using this unit but it can be done in a week too!  That is one of the things I really love about Download N Go.  It is very flexible.

We have a few activities that I hope to get to early next week and when we do I will add pictures.

Emma and our "Oreo" phases of the moon.
(note: Buy real Oreos..the filling in the Twist and Shout brand sticks)

Download N Go is running a wonderful special until January 31, 2011


The Cabin Fever Fun Pack, which includes Magnificent Moon, Winter Wonders, Expedition Canada, and Hoppin' Popcorn is currently on sale, and will be through 1/31/11 for $20 (regularly $28).  (I have all of these units and I can honestly say they are all great!)

This week there is a giveaway contest on the Download N Go blog for 2 standard Moon Maps by National Geographic.  (ends January 28,2011)

See what others are saying about Magnificent Moon on the blog tour:






**disclaimer: I was given a free copy of Magnificent Moon in exchange for my honest review.

Winter Wednesday-Color Walk

The Handbook of Nature Study Blog is having Winter Wednesday Challenges.

We took our challenge today since we had a large snowstorm all day yesterday.  This is week 1 and the challenge was to take a color walk.  So today Emma and I went outside and looked for colors.  There was plenty of white..that is for sure!  Here is what we saw:

It's hard to see in the picture but there is green lichen on the tree.

more green (and white)

rust colored leaves

red berries but I'm not sure what kind of tree
this is in my neighbor's yard.

The beautiful blue sky and the MOON!

yellow and brown grasses sticking up in the snow

a pink bird...oh wait..that is Emma

We didn't see as much color as I would have liked but we were very limited because there is too much snow for us to even walk in the woods.  I actually tried to walk to the middle of my yard and ended up with my boots full of snow!  OUCH!  I think I need taller boots!  I was hoping to see a cardinal or blue jay but not today.

This is my neighbor.  He drove up and wanted to know what we were taking pictures of so I told him and he said his uniform could be the black and gray.  Thanks Mike! :)

Here are a few pictures of our bird feeders: (this is what I was doing when I filled my boots with snow!)

Emma tying our pine cone bird feeders we made
 yesterday to the tree.

The birds have been very busy at all of our feeders.  Even the snowman
is a feeder.  Ryan sprinkles him with birdseed and hung a couple of pine cone
feeders on his arms.

I am really enjoying our nature study.  You can too.  Head over to the Handbook of Nature Study blog and get started.  In case you missed my earlier blog post on this, I purchased the Winter Nature Study ebook to help us with our nature study.  It also includes art and music.  I think it is well worth it but you do not have to purchase anything to do the challenges.  They are all right there on the blog free of charge.  Thank you Barbara!!