Thursday, February 27, 2020

Ten Little Eggs: A Celebration of Family Book Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived


DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this book complimentary from Zondervan and HarperCollins Christian Publishing through the ZBlog Squad 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.

Ten Little Eggs: A Celebration of Family, illustrated by Jess Mikhail, is an adorable hardcover book about how families can come in all shapes and sizes and it's love that holds them together. This children's book has a mama bird asking, "What in the world will my little egg be?". Kids will love the fun illustrations and playful rhyming text. This book is written especially for children ages 4-8.

Zari reading Ten Little Eggs.

Our Thoughts:

Zari and I enjoyed reading this book a bunch. In this book the mama bird has 10 eggs in her nest that she is excitedly waiting for to hatch. As each egg hatches this book counts down. This is great for building counting skills for little ones. Each egg hatches a totally different, unique animal, but mama bird loves all of them for who they are. This super cute book is great for Easter since it is all about springtime and new birth. It is also a great book to read at bedtime because it ends with the mama snuggling for bed in the nest with all her babies. I recommend this book for adopted kids, foster kids, blended families, extended families, and every family in between.

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Let's Go Geography, Year 2 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 trying Let's Go Geography, Year 2 from Let's Go Geography 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.

Let's Go Geography is a wonderful geography curriculum that is perfect for kids in kindergarten through 4th grade. This can be used by one teacher for all their students in their class(es). Great for homeschool, co-ops, and small classrooms.

This curriculum is a course to introduce younger kids to geography with a different country every week. This curriculum has a total of three complete years of world geography. This covers most of the countries of the world. Each year covers two regions of the US plus 26 or so countries. The subscription is for a full year. You can either choose getting the lessons one semester at a time or the entire year all at once. You can do the lessons online or you also have the option to download the entire semester or year (PDFs) to your computer and do them offline. These are designed to be done in order, but you can also jump around to teach about the countries you are most interested in. You will also get a very handy reminder email every week with the link to the lesson for the following week. The Standard Membership gives you access to the lessons for two years. They also have Lifetime Access.


Second Year Curriculum Break Down
Semester 3

  • Year 2, Lesson 1: The Continents (N. America, S. America, Europe)
  • Year 2, Lesson 2: USA – the Pacific Northwest
  • Year 2, Lesson 3: USA – the Mountain West
  • Year 2, Lesson 4: USA – the South Atlantic
  • Year 2, Lesson 5: Mexico
  • Year 2, Lesson 6: Honduras
  • Year 2, Lesson 7: Costa Rica
  • Year 2, Lesson 8: Jamaica
  • Year 2, Lesson 9: Brazil
  • Year 2, Lesson 10: Venezuela
  • Year 2, Lesson 11: Argentina
  • Year 2, Lesson 12: UK - England
  • Year 2, Lesson 13: France
  • Year 2, Lesson 14: Ireland
  • Year 2, Lesson 15: Portugal
  • Year 2, Lesson 16: Germany
Semester 4

  • Year 2, Lesson 17: Netherlands
  • Year 2, Lesson 18: Greece
  • Year 2, Lesson 19: The Continents (Asia, Africa, Australia)
  • Year 2, Lesson 20: Kenya
  • Year 2, Lesson 21: Ethiopia
  • Year 2, Lesson 22: Egypt
  • Year 2, Lesson 23: Uganda
  • Year 2, Lesson 24: Russia
  • Year 2, Lesson 25: Kyrgyzstan
  • Year 2, Lesson 26: India
  • Year 2, Lesson 27: Indonesia
  • Year 2, Lesson 28: Myanmar
  • Year 2, Lesson 29: Sri Lanka
  • Year 2, Lesson 30: Japan
  • Year 2, Lesson 31: Israel
  • Year 2, Lesson 32: Australia

Here is the curriculum syllabus for all 3 years.

Your student can also make a Travel Journal in a 3-ring binder to keep all the geography pages organized. The subscription comes with free printable covers for the journal. The Passport pages are an additional cost to print out (we as crew members did also get this for free). Store all Travel Itinerary, maps, coloring pages, Passports, and projects in the Travel Journal.

The lessons are very hands-on with crafts, activities, and links to engaging videos and other online content. Each weeks lesson takes about an hour and has 6 chapters including: Map It!, The Flag, The Music, Let's Explore, Create!, and Printables. While your student learns, each lesson has all kinds of fun stuff for them to do. Your student will color flags, find things on maps, watch and listen to songs that go with the theme and sing along, watch videos or read books about the country, look at pictures of the highlights for the country on scrapbook pages, write on decorated notebooking pages or color a themed page, and make a craft. These hands-on activities make every lesson more interesting in this fun homeschool geography.

Let's Go Geography, Year 2 Online

Lesson Chapter Overview
  • Chapter 1: Map it! – Print the map, find and color the country on the map, and explore and answer questions they provide about the country using the map. There are also more map activities (like coloring, labeling, and exploring more) you can pick from as well for the older student to do.
  • Chapter 2: The Flag – Print, color, cut, and glue the flag into your Travel Journal or in your Passport.
  • Chapter 3: The Music – Read the lyrics & listen and watch the music of the country with online videos.
  • Chapter 4: Let’s Explore – Go sightseeing! Learn about fascinating facts about the country. Your student could learn about the landscape, about the people, places to visit, etc.. Optional writing assignments are also given so your child can put into writing what they learned. Pictures of country highlights are included to add to the Photo Album part of your student's Travel Journal.
  • Chapter 5: Create! – Color a picture or make a fun craft! These hands-on activities have step-by-step instructions and a list of any supplies you need. Color pages are usually located in the Printables section.
  • Chapter 6: Printables – This section has notebooking pages, extra flags for the classroom, coloring pages and more.



How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I did this with my daughter Zari, who is 9. We received the standard membership unlike year 1 when we received lifetime membership through the crew. We did one lesson per week which put us at 5 lessons during this review period. We picked a day to do each lesson every week. We did the lessons in order as they came so I could keep track of them easier. I downloaded all the lessons to my computer so that I would have them there if I needed to use see them while I was offline. We learned about the: Continents of N. America, S. America, and Europe; Pacific NW, Mountain West, South Atlantic, and Mexico so far. We found that the pictures of the flags for the Travel Journal were very small and hard to color with anything, but a very sharpened colored pencil. We loved doing all the hands-on activities: watching videos, coloring, and crafts, etc. while we learned this kids homeschool geography curriculum.

Zari making the first three Continent Dividers for the notebook.

For The Continents Part One we learned about North America, South America, and Europe. We mapped some items on a world map. We also answered questions about the climate from another map. We listened to a song about the world's oceans and put together continent dividers for our Travel Notebook. There are 3 continent dividers for this lesson and 3 in lesson 19. Since this lesson was not about a particular country and instead focused on three continents it was structured a bit differently. We watched a short movie clip about each of the three continents in this lesson. After each clip Zari made the continent divider that went with each one. There is also a video clip about Antarctica, but no divider to make for it this year since it is actually covered in year 3. There are also extra activities for older students like: reading a webpage about the continents, getting books to read from the library, atlas reading, and writing what you learned in the notebooking pages that can be printed out. Zari skipped those for now. Since it was just Zari and her sister we didn't play the The North-South-East-West Game, but it sounded fun for when we had more players.

Zari Painting the Mountains and Trees craft for the Pacific NW.

For The Pacific NW we learned about 3 states in the USA: Washington, Oregon, and California. I was concerned a little bit by Let's Go Geography's definition of the Pacific NW. The common definition actually refers to the Pacific NW as the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In broader terms, the region also encompasses Alaska, Yukon, California, western Montana and parts of Wyoming. So really saying that Washington, Oregon, and California are the only three states comprising the Pacific NW, like Let's Go Geography was doing, is actually not entirely correct. Anyway, enough of my geography rant...on to what we did and learned this lesson. We did a bunch of mapping and answering questions from using the map. We colored a tiny American flag and glued it to a page of flags for the notebook. We listened to the National Anthem of America and the folk song of Washington. We looked at color pictures of highlights of the places which actually included pictures of things in Wyoming and Montana as well (I would think this would be confusing for others since Let's Go Geography stated that Pacific NW was Washington, Oregon, and California). It also includes a picture of rock formations in Utah and the Four Corners??? 😕 We also learned about reforestation, the Sequoias of California,  Mt. Saint Helens, Crater Lake, etc. by watching video clips. Zari loved doing the craft of the Mountains & Trees of the Pacific Northwest. I told Zari that we live in the Pacific NW.

Zari making the Desert Sunset with Cacti craft for the Mountain West.

For The Mountain West we learned about 8 states in the USA: Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, known better as The Mountain States. We did some map activities and answered some questions about these states and the surrounding area. We listened to the National Anthem (this time a different person was performing) and folk music from cowboy days. We learned about The Rocky Mountains, buffalo, and the Hoover Dam. We looked at color pictures of highlights of the places like: Lake Mead, Snake River, etc. Some of the same pictures as were used for the Pacific NW PDF were in this PDF, but this time they actually went with the theme. We watched a video of drone footage of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Grand Canyon set to music which was awesome!  We loved watching the time lapse video on International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico and learning about growing potatoes in Idaho. Zari enjoyed making the craft, A Desert Sunset with Cacti. I told Zari that I used to live and go to school (Provo High School and Utah Valley State University) in Provo and Orem Utah and that her Daddy and I got married in the Jordan River Temple in South Jordan Utah.

Zari coloring The South Atlantic coloring page.

For The South Atlantic we learned about 8 states in the USA: Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, & Florida. We did some map activities and answered some questions about these states and the surrounding area. We listened to the National Anthem (this time a different person was performing) and a folk song from American past. We learned about the Mason-Dixon line, Georgia crops, etc. We looked at color pictures of highlights of the places like: homes of some of the presidents, the Biltmore House, New River Gorge Bridge, etc. We watched a video of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian Trail, Washington DC, etc. Zari wanted to color the coloring page this time for the Create section instead of the craft this time. I told her that other than her and Teela everyone else in our family has lived in Florida before.

Zari coloring the Mexico coloring page.

For lesson 5 we learned about Mexico. We did some map activities and answered some questions about this country and the surrounding area. We colored a tiny Mexican flag and glued it to a page of flags for the notebook. We listened to the National Anthem of Mexico and a Mariachi Band. We learned some facts about Mexico and then looked at color pictures of highlights like: Aculpulco, Popocatepetl, Monarch Butterflies, etc. We watched videos on visiting Mexico, and seeing some Aztec & Incan ruins, etc. Zari loved the video about making the hats. It was really interesting because we learned they had to be made in caves. Zari colored the picture of the 5 things to remind her of Mexico that we printed from the PDF. The picture had a Mexican Beaded Lizard, sombreros, maracas, hot peppers, and cactus.

We had a great time doing this geography curriculum for kids. It is a great stand alone curriculum for younger children, but for the older kids would be a great supplement to use with another geography program. I recommend this to homeschooling families with kids in Kindergarten through fifth grade. We can't wait to do more of these lessons.

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Check out Let's Go Geography, Year 2 from Let's Go Geography. For a Limited Time, use Coupon Code SOAR468 at Checkout for a 15% ​DISCOUNT on Year 1. Order the Year 2 standard plan (2 years access) or the lifetime plan (unlimited access).

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Let's Go Geography, Year 2...
Geography for Kids - Year 2 {Let's Go Geography Reviews}

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Bible bb's Save The Animals Women's Tee Shirt Review and Giveaway #biblebbs


Bible's bb's® is for families who want to celebrate their faith in a fresh new way. They have a line of shirts for the whole family and books for kids featuring their cute little Bible Hero cartoon figures.


Save The Animals Women's Tee is a t-shirt that has the design of Noah's Ark with the animals inside in adorable cartoon graphics. This is printed on a light blue slim fit jersey tee. This shirt also has a kids’ match for a Mommy and Me option!

Here are the specifications:
  • 2 oz 100% combed ringspun cotton fine jersey
  • Topstitched ribbed collar
  • Relaxed draped fit
  • Side slit with high-low rounded hem
  • Machine Washable/Tumble Dry Low

I requested and received the medium size because in my experience 100% cotton shrinks a bit in the wash and I like a slightly loose fit anyway. This t-shirt is super cute! I love the message. I think that this message still resonates because there are so many animals that are: threatened, vulnerable, or are on the endangered species list that need saving before they go extinct.

This women's top has the scripture reference to Genesis 7:3. If you look this scripture up it reads: "Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth." I am not quite sure why they picked that scripture and not Genesis 7:2-3 for the shirt. 7:2 reads: "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female." These two scriptures together would have been better for shirt's design, in my opinion.

Me wearing the Bible bb's Save The Animals Women's Tee shirt.

Also, my t-shirt looks like it has a printing mistake on it. It has three small dots on the outer edge of the design that look very out of place and don't appear on the online picture of the tee.

I do like the softness and comfort of the t-shirt material and the length is great. Cotton has always been a preference because of how soft and breathable it is. It is a longer shirt, so it would be perfect with leggings and skinny jeans.


BUY IT
Get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up for the Bible bb's Newsletter.


WIN IT
  • Prize: A Bible bb's Shirt
  • Host: Bible bb's and FrontGate Media.
  • Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
  • Selection Process: Winner will be selected on 3/15/2020 and notified by email.
  • Where to Enter: Go to this link https://www.blessedfreebies.com/bible-bbs-giveaway.html and fill out the form to enter.

    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.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Operation Blessing Recipes From Around The World Book Review and Giveaway


Operation Blessing (OB) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to demonstrating God’s love by alleviating human need and suffering in the United States and around the world. They have served in every state and over 90 nations. For over four decades OB has been working on programs such as disaster relief, health and medical care, hunger relief, and clean water with the support of their generous partners. They help those in immediate need by providing physical relief and equipping them with new knowledge to create sustainable solutions to combat poverty. They listen to the community's needs they serve, instead of telling them what they think they need. They address the core issues behind poverty, rather than only treating the symptoms. Go here to see their global impact.



Operation Blessing Recipes From Around The World is a wonderful softcover booklet of 34 international recipes. These range from breakfast, side & main dishes, breads & desserts and drinks. The recipes originated from 15 countries namely Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Kenya, Israel, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, China, and United States. Along with the recipes OB has a relief story for each country of how they helped a situation and made those people's lives better. These stories are just some of the wonderful things OB does to reach out to those in desperate need.


What We Thought:

Operation Blessing is a fantastic organization. We are so glad that they are helping those in desperate need. They have already blessed the lives of so many.

This cookbook that OB has put together is beautiful and inspiring. The stories and pictures are so heartwarming. I love that it has color pictures of each finished dish for each recipe. I love international cooking and foods. This assortment of culinary delights from across the globe brings so many different dishes to the table and the warmth from each country they are created from. I have fond memories of my childhood friend making rice and beans and fried plantains when I would come to her home to visit her. The Pastelitos de Carne and Imam Bayildi recipes sound so good! These are among the recipes in this book. I can't wait to try all of them.

I highly recommend this cookbook! This would be a great gift for someone who loves to cook a variety of foods. It is a wonderful cookbook to expand upon your taste palate and explore other global cuisine from home.


 Complimentary Offer for Operation Blessing Recipe Cards:

We are pleased to offer four (4) recipe cards inspired by international recipes from Operation Blessing’s latest cookbook, “Recipes From Around the World.” Anyone can sign up to receive this free gift after which, requests will be processed and delivered straight to their mailbox.
  
BUY IT

My readers can get their own copy by giving a donation of any size here!  https://www.ob.org/give/recipebook/

WIN IT
  • Prize: Win a copy of Recipes From Around the World
  • Host: Operation Blessings and FrontGate Media.
  • Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
  • Selection Process: Winner will be selected on 2/16/2020 and notified by email.
  • Where to Enter: Go to this link https://www.blessedfreebies.com/recipes-from-around-the-world.html and fill out the form to enter.

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.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Darn Good Yarn Sale for February!


Darn Good Yarn provided me with this promotional information and offer to share with my readers. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Darn Good Yarn is having some awesome sales store wide. If you know of anyone that loves yarn, knitting, crocheting, felting, or any kind of fiber arts this is the sale for you! They have some wonderful gifts that would be great for gifting during the holidays too. This would be a super Valentine's gift for fiber arts fans.

Here are the sales that are going on now:


Shop Darn Good Yarn

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Darn Good Yarn for providing me this promotion information. 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 posting this promo. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.