Thursday, January 16, 2020

Harry Potter Crochet: 14 Magical Projects From The Wizarding World Kit Review


Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Thunder Bay Press publishes a wide range of titles and categories. They have fun, interactive activity titles and kits on subjects such as origami, cooking, crafts, games, and art to reference books suitable for gift-giving in categories like art, fitness, pets, travel, history, culture, sports, and nature. They have something for everyone.

Harry Potter Crochet by Lucy Collin is the first of many Harry Potter movie tie-in titles for Thunder Bay Press as part of a new partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. This project kit comes with a 76-page instruction book to create 12 amigurumi dolls, including Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dobby, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Snape, Hedwig, Voldemort, McGonagall, Ginny, the Sorting Hat, Norbert the Dragon and other fun fan favorites. Included are everything to make Harry Potter and Dobby (with his sock!): 9 colors of yarn, stuffing, yarn needle, embroidery thread, plastic safety eye beads, and a special crochet hook shaped like Harry’s wand.

Harry Potter Crochet Kit inside.

What We Thought:

The Harry Potter Crochet: 14 Magical Projects From The Wizarding World Kit is a super fun kit that comes with all the yarn and supplies to make Harry Potter and Dobby with his sock. There is a full color instruction book that guides you to be able to make Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dobby with a Sock, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Snape, Hedwig, Voldemort, McGonagall, Ginny with a Broomstick, the Sorting Hat, Norbert the Dragon and student robes and scarves.

Harry Potter Crochet Kit contents.

The Harry Potter Crochet kit is a great start to make some cute amigurumi figures from Hogwarts.  When I opened the box I noticed the wand shaped crochet hook is made of flexible plastic and has some rough edges that might catch on the yarn when being used. It looked like something I probably wouldn't actually use because of this, but it is still a great addition to the kit because it looks neat. I think though it would be better if it were not made of plastic. I hope that the yarn and other materials that it came with will completely make the two projects it says it will. It does look like it might. The binding of the instruction book is stiff and I wish it would lay flat so that I could see the pages while I crochet. I do love that the pictures in the book are in full color and show me step-by-step what I need to do. In the front of the book there is an introduction, about this kit, abbreviation chart to help you know what those mean, some notes on tools and materials, crotchet stitches and techniques, embroidery stitches, and a word on wands. Each project in the book has a description of each character, materials list, the size of the project, and instructions with a few pictures.

Harry Potter Project Instructions.

Since I am a huge fan of Harry Potter I cannot wait to start crocheting with this kit! It looks wonderful. I will enjoy making these amigurumi dolls and their clothing. My favorite has to be Hedwig! The kit looks like it would be a great gift for someone that is a Harry Potter, Wizarding World fan.

BUY IT
You can purchase the Harry Potter Crochet: 14 Magical Projects From The Wizarding World Kit on Amazon.



DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this complimentary product to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Wordless Wednesday Bald Eagle

Can you spot the Bald Eagle in the tree on the far side of our field?

There it is perched on a branch.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

SchoolhouseTeachers.com Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived


Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. Affiliate links are in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

My family had the privilege of once again having the opportunity to have a subscription to the Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.


SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a wonderful homeschooling website for wholesome Christian worldview based courses which saves time, resources, and money. They are self-paced and flexible for you and your children and once you start the membership you have all their Christian homeschool curriculum right at your fingertips. They have courses in many subject, including: Bible, Language Arts, Math, History, Geography, Social Studies, Science, Art, Computer, Drama/Speech, Languages, Music, Health/Fitness, Electives, Unit Studies, Literacy Center, Preschool, Learning Center. The curriculum is very flexible. You can build your own curriculum or use the information found in the Scope & Sequence to put a subject or grade together. Parents can easily build a customized curriculum that matches the specific needs of their children. This is an online membership with downloadable, printable elements as well as online classes and video components. Interactive courses are also being added as well so that the parent or guardian doesn't have to directly teach the student. All updates and enhancements to courses are included in the membership, so as more interactive courses become available, they are automatically added to your membership. Once you have your membership you can browse by grade: learning together, elementary, middle school, and high school or by subject.

Subjects Included in Membership

Also, ALL of Molly Green’s digital content has been added to the SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership. I love Molly Green! With your subscription you will have access to back issues of her magazine, canning and gardening planners, eBooks on homesteading, and tons more!

There is also a Literacy Center that helps teach your child how to read in 101 simple steps. The Literacy Center covers pre-reading and reading from a preschool-2nd grade level and reading comprehension through a 3rd-4th grade level. In this center they have downloadable books for Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. There are also other series and classics as well to read. 

The Focused Learning Centers are also included in the membership. These are resources available when your student needs help in a particular area. They have resources for math, reading, special needs, foreign language, high school, college planning, or science.

A SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership is one price for the entire family with courses for all ages. From preschool through the last high school year, SchoolhouseTeachers.com has it covered, and the price is locked-in for as long as you keep your membership!

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
We checked out the 3rd grade art because my daughter, Zari, loves art and this would be age appropriate for her. We looked at all the curriculum and settled on the "Let's Do Art Outside" lessons. It has a lesson plan and 20 lessons that you can download and print if you like in PDF format. The Lesson Plan is a PDF and has the class length, schedule, resources needed, instructions, lessons completed (you check the box by each lesson as soon as they are finished), and a table with date, lesson, materials required, and notes that you can fill in yourself. Each activity has an introduction, materials list, discussion questions, instructions, ways to support, ways to extend the lesson, and curriculum connections. We love being outdoors in nature and doing lessons outside is a big plus because it gets the wiggles out and lets minds explore. I thought that overall the lessons all looked like fun and so we picked one to do that my daughter was interested in trying. She picked the one called "Painted Pebbles". We went searching for a good specimen rock to paint on and she decided to paint a ladybug on it. This particular lesson was inspired by the Twinkl original story, ‘Treasures in the Garden’. This is an ebook located on a separate site that in order to access we had to create a separate account. I didn't really care to do this, but since it was free I did so we could experience the whole lesson. Then when I did it really wasn't free at all and I couldn't access the ebook unless I paid for a premium subscription which I didn't want to do. I basically only did the free parts of the lesson because of this. I really wish that the membership covered all the parts of the lesson. She still had a lot of fun with what we could do and definitely will want to do more of the lessons when it isn't as wet outside.

Zari with her Ladybug rock she painted for the lesson, "Painted Pebbles".


Lessons of Let's Do Art Outside...
  1. Acorn Art
  2. Build a Bird’s Nest
  3. Eco Printing
  4. Flour Handprint Art
  5. How to Make a Leaf Owl
  6. How to Make a Leaf Squirrel
  7. Journey Sticks
  8. Little Acorns Story
  9. Little Acorns Nature Stamping
  10. Little Acorns Sorting and Comparing
  11. Little Acorns Woodland Watcher Art
  12. Painted Pebbles
  13. Playdough Leaf Prints
  14. Rainbow Wind Chines
  15. Teaching Ideas
  16. Teaching Ideas-DIY Natural Paintbrushes
  17. Teaching Ideas-DIY Natural Paintbrushes-Painting Leaves
  18. Teaching Ideas-Land Art Challenge Cards
  19. Teaching Ideas-Stick Frames
  20. Yarn Bombing Activity

Let's Do Art Outside overview page

There is also a great video library that you get access to with the membership of SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This has 450+ videos across several academic areas, as well as kids’ entertainment, marriage and parenting, apologetics, Bible study, and holidays. There are some videos in this library that are hosted on RightNow Media. You will need to have an account with RightNow Media in order to view these videos. These videos are noted by the orange banner in the upper right hand corner of the image. The videos that are strictly North American are noted by the red banner in the upper right hand corner of the image. There are videos that are only included in the Ultimate membership and these are noted by the blue banner in the upper right hand corner of the image. Some of the videos in the library are parts of the many classes on the SchoolhouseTeachers.com site. The video page is a library with all the videos rounded up in one place so that you can find them easily and all together. If you click on the images then it goes directly to the lessons they go with or the streaming video on their site. We absolutely love the Drive Thru History videos and Violin and Guitar lesson videos.

I love that with this membership you have the flexibility and ability to build a customized complete curriculum. You can create a schedule for each of your children using their Schedule Builder. You can choose a weekly schedule or a 9 week schedule. The scope and sequence will help you build you schedule and know what needs to be taught depending upon the grade or subject. You can build a whole curriculum for your child or pick and choose courses to use as a supplement to your child's education.

There are so many pockets on the SchoolhouseTeachers.com that I have not even gotten a chance to see yet and they keep on adding more things. I definitely haven't mentioned everything. I am going to love exploring more and expanding both mine and my children's learning. I know I can count on SchoolhouseTeachers.com to have wholesome Christian based lessons which save me time, resources, and money.

Follow Them on Social Media:

BUY IT
There are currently two membership options:
  • Ultimate Membership – PreK – 12th Grade – Access to Every Course
  • Standard Membership – PreK – 8th Grade – Access to Hundreds of Courses.
Save on the Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership now and get access to every course available PreK – 12th! Until the end of January you can join SchoolhouseTeachers.com for $99/year by using discount coupon code: ONLY99 or $12/month using the discount coupon code: ONLY12

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for SchoolhouseTeachers.com...
Online Homeschooling For the Whole Family {SchoolhouseTeachers.com Reviews}

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Wordless Wednesday Zari's Zebra Dress

Zari's Nonnie got her this cute Zebra striped dress and she had to put it on right away.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020