Speak Russian Like a Minion

With the exception of Japanese, all of the languages the children have been studying, in our house, have alphabets very similar to our own.  This summer, we've been playing around with some of the other alphabets out there - not to seriously, and really just for fun.

I'm not sure how it works for iPads or iPhones, but Amazon offers a number of free apps for Kindles.  Many of them have advertisements, or offers to buy products within them, but most are just straight forward, extended samples of the games.  They are great for when you just want to play around, or check something, like the Cyrillic alphabet, out.

So, besides alphabets, we've also been working through a number of different apps,  this summer. Which, is how we happened onto ABC. Russian Letters, from ABCgamesoft.

It's a very simple, flashcard style app for the Cyrillic alphabet.  I don't speak Russian, so I can't tell you if the pronunciations are any good or not - but I can tell you, the voice (of the ladybug?) sounds just like a Minion. 

It's had everybody in the room laughing, and repeating the words, and letter sounds aloud (a very important, but difficult to encourage step in language learning).

If you're looking to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, or just looking for a fun way to pass some time, and have a laugh, I can highly recommend this app.  I mean really, who doesn't want to speak Russian like a Minion?

Dragon Box Elements, Geometry Game - And My Second Favorite Homeschooling Tip

My second favorite homeschooling tip of all time (you can see my number one, favorite tip -  here) is to spend some time each summer sorting through all your books and supplies BEFORE you buy any new books or curriculum for the fall.

It's amazing how much you forget you have.  And, often times what didn't work before, might work later on.

Don't forget too, that "supplies" include apps, games, and videos you might have downloaded, or stored somewhere in cyberspace.

Sorting through our Kindle apps is how I happened to remember that we had a perfectly good geometry game sitting practically unplayed in our library.  And, wouldn't you know it, three of the teens are going to be working through geometry in the fall.

The last time (about two years ago) we checked out Dragon Box Elements, one of the children had just finished working through a geometry unit, and I had all those postulates and theorems fresh in my head, and found the use of them without any explanation of them in the game, to be frustrating - so I didn't worry too much when the children found it frustrating, and we set it aside.

When I set up a new player, to check it back out, this time though, it had been quite a while since anyone in the house had picked up a geometry text, and the theorems and postulates were fuzzier in my memory.  This time, instead of thinking of geometry, I thought of logic problems - logic problems filled with cute little characters...

...and more information than I needed to solve each problem...

...and trying to work from what I given, to what I knew, to what I needed to know - and it dawned on me, that's exactly the leap that most students struggle to make when they first encounter geometry. And here it was being presented in an entertaining format, that even my 10 year old (playing on easy mode) could grasp.

Naturally, I made everyone play it.  Okay, not made, it's summer after all, and we are almost unschoolers, but encouraged...meaning anyone who wanted to go to see Finding Dory with me while it was still playing at our local theater, needed to hustle their way through to the end of the seventh level (you can't really blame me for not telling them I was already planning on taking them all as a family outing, anyway) - why spoil the fun? And, I think they all did have fun, too.  C and E (ages 10 and 11) played on the easy setting, D and A (ages 13 and 15) on normal, and G (age 17) on hard - I tried all three, and found them all quite enjoyable, and even a little more than challenging, in a few spots.

T (age 18) got a free ticket to the movie, because well, I was just so happy he was still willing to be a good sport, and tag along with the rest of us, when I'm sure he would have much rather been seeing some crazy, sci-fi/action flick or other...and, of course, he finished high school geometry, old-school style, some time ago.

Rainy Day Fun - Building Giant Card Houses

It looks like rain today, so I'm hoping for an afternoon of finishing up our latest audio book (Swiss Family Robinson), and building card houses with the girls.  Not just any old card houses, though.  Not when we've got a deck of Monster Mega Playing Cards.

I picked up the cards, a while back, to have on hand for a birthday party.  They've turned out to be pretty nifty.  Something about their size (8.25'' x 11.75'') makes even the most mundane of card games - like for instance, Solitare...

...interesting and new.  They can be a little bit of a challenge to shuffle - I generally have to brace them between my feet while shuffling with my hands (no pictures of that, thankfully).  And, while they are glossy, and look like their smaller cousins, they aren't quite as sturdy as regular playing cards.  Though, they are still just sturdy enough to make basic card houses...

...as long as there is no trace of a breeze in the room, and you hold your breath while placing the cards.

We bought our deck of cards off of Amazon, but I understand they can sometimes be found at the Dollar Store as well.  And, I've been told that the Dollar Store variety are thicker and even more playing card-like, which would really make them great for giant card house building.

Aww-Cool! D.I.Y. Educational Science Fun

My sister sends a big box full of assorted candies and presents to the children for Christmas.  This year, in among the Life-Saver type candy books, scarves and hats, craft kits, and toys that she assembled were three Aww-Cool! DIY Educational Science/Toy kits - a maze challenge, a bowling set, and a bubble machine.

We pulled them out today to put together, starting with the maze challenge.

At first, I thought it was a pretty basic, complete-the-circuit, electric science sort of thing.  Following the instructions, the children inserted the components into their proper places on the board, connected the wires, added batteries, turned the switch on, and it was good to go.

That's when I realized it was actually a build-your-own-toy set.  With the switch on, the object of the game is to move a looped wand over and around a twisted, roller-coaster shaped length of wire (that you bend, shape, and reshape again later, yourself), without touching the loop of the wand to the wire (completing the circuit and causing a bell to ring, like in Operation).

We all took turns giving it a try. 

And, that's when I realized the boxed kit was really a catalyst for creative thinking, problem solving, and scientific investigation, as the children began to notice things like the spark generated when the wand got near to, but not touching, the wire (you can only kind of see it in the picture below - but in real time, it was very visible)...

...or asking questions like - how does the spinning arm ring the bell, when it clearly isn't long enough to reach it?  (Hint: It has to do with a stretchy spring arm, and centrifugal force)...

 
...or when they realized they could bypass the on/off switch by touching the metal wand to the correct connector spring, and make the bell ring even if the switch was off.  Anyway, all that to say that without additional questions, or answers, or suggestions for further exploration, the toys simply lend themselves to very natural learning.

In fact, we didn't even manage to get the bubble machine put together...

...before C (age 9) noticed a comment about making soap bubbles with your hands or other simple tools (written by someone to whom English is clearly not a first language)...

...and she was off and running with a series of experiments of her own.

I can't wait to see what happens when we finally get back to the kit - especially now that I've read that you can connect all the toys together for even more challenges and fun.

It might be a while though.  For now C's pretty happy with her sink full of soapy water.

Scripture Typer - A Free Memory Verse App

When T(age 18) was little, he was very good at memorizing and reciting verses.  That's him below, repeating part of John 14.

He was our oldest, so naturally we pushed him to succeed.  And, because he was oldest, sometimes we pushed too hard (a rookie parenting error).

When he started AWANA (a Wednesday night verse learning program for children) as a preschooler, we not only ordered the regular club book (with it's tiny little half verses) for him, but also the extra extended book, full of longer, more complicated passages.

As he grew a little older, we continued "encouraging" him to learn the passages, and earn every patch and trophy he could along the way.

I had always been good at memorizing, myself, and I have to admit my competitive, type-A personality might have kicked into overdrive, just a bit.

T, however, does not have a type-A personality, and by about the 5th grade he'd had enough pushing.  He dug in his heals, and refused to learn another verse.

Needless to say we learned our lesson, and backed off a good deal with the younger children - letting them set a slower pace if they liked, and ultimately switching over to a Wednesday program that combined more teaching and game time in with a single verse per week, learned by the whole group together.

Unfortunately, by the time we had learned our lesson, it was nearly too late for T (poor first child).  His determination to stop memorizing, gradually morphed into a belief that he couldn't memorize. A belief that is about to be tested, as he's enrolled in a Bible college class that requires the memorization of several passages - word for word, with proper punctuation.

Happily, he found Scripture Typer, a free Kindle app that makes memorization a snap, by walking you into it step by step.

1. Download a verse, or verses off the internet, from your favorite Bible translation.
2. Type the first letter of each word, as you read through, and familiarize yourself with the passage.
3. Memorize the passage by typing in the first letter of each word, filling in the blanks of words that have been dropped away (different words drop away each time through)
4. Master the passage by typing the first letter of each word onto a completely blank page, filling the words in as you go.  If you type the wrong letter, the word will be filled in for you in red, and your score will be marked down.
5. Repeat the Memorizing and Mastering steps over the course of several days, until you have the passage down pat.

Even T is willing to give it a try.

Crayola Watercolor Paints, Drip or No-Drip - Review

The girls and I had the paints back out today, to brighten up a gloomy Saturday afternoon (spring rain turned back into snow). Sigh.

Still we had the Bee Movie to watch (again), and new paints to try - Crayola's No-Drip Watercolors.  The girls (ages 8 and 10) had liked the No-Mess Paint Brush Pens so well, I thought we'd give another "mess free" product a try.

The package promised no drips, and no spills, which the paints delivered.  You don't even need a cup of water.  But, they also turned out to be less than fun - at least according to my two.

The brushes were hard, like marker tips, and didn't allow the paint to wash over the paper the way the girls wanted.  And, while it was easy to get the paint onto the brush, it was really hard to get back off.  Typical of Crayola though, the colors were bright and clear, just like the regular Crayola watercolors the girls love.

And luckily, we had some of those, too.

Crayola Paint Brush Pens - Review

I've been walking past, pausing, thinking about, and then deciding against buying Crayola's paint brush pens, at our local grocery store, for the last few months.

Finally, in a moment of madness, I tossed a couple of packages into the cart, for the girls to try out.  I paid somewhere around $3.50 for each pack.  They are more on Amazon, so I'd say look for them in a store. 

When the children were toddlers, I loved the Crayola No Mess, ColorWonder products.  They weren't exactly mess free, but they were close (I'm not being reimbursed for these opinions, either - just sharing mom to mom), and the children really enjoyed using them.

These paint brushes, with the paint in the brush, promised to be no spill, and low mess, too. But honestly, they didn't look, to me, like they held much paint.  I envisioned them running dry midway through the first masterpiece.  Still, I figured we'd never know until we tried them.

I'm happy to say, we found the paint pens to be pretty much as promised.  They are low mess.  They don't splatter, even when flicked (I tried), or dropped (which happens). 

Some, but not all of the colors blend - just like paint.  Purple and yellow, for instance, make a lovely, tree trunk brown, and yellow and blue do produce green, but we couldn't quite get an orange from the red and yellow, or a purple from the blue and red.  But, purple is an included color, anyway.

The younger girls enjoyed the pens (that are somewhere between paint brushes and markers) so much, that it wasn't long before they were joined by one of their older sisters, ready to give them a try, too.

All three girls gave the paint pens high praise.  The younger girls painted away throughout the day.  I enjoyed the fact they could come, and go without a lot of set up, or clean-up involved.  And, after several hours of work, and many more paintings than these pictured here...

...we didn't have any of our paint pens go dry.  All in all, a far better performance than we expected.  Not quite painting, but close enough to satisfy my young artists - and clean enough to pull out during spring cleaning, without adding to the mess.

A Devotion Book for High School Graduates

When I was looking for graduation gift ideas for T(age 17), I was absolutely thrilled to find a grad edition of Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest.  I don't think there's anything that sets the grad edition apart from the usual editions, except for the cover - but it's extremely special to me, and a perfect extra little gift for T.

Chamber's 80 year old, short, scripture-based readings for each day of the year, were a favorite of my father's, when he graduated from the college T has just been accepted into, more than 60 years ago.  He was so taken by the challenges presented in its pages at that time, he named the summer Bible camp, started with a few fellow class-mates, after it.  A camp that still exists, and my own children have had the privilege of attending.

My father died when I was a child - long before T was born.  I'm so happy to be able to pass along to T a copy of the devotional, that influenced his own thinking about his faith.  As T reads through each days offering, he will be following in his grandfather's footsteps, seeking the will of the Father for his life.

Winter Fun - Mind Challenging Puzzles

Challenging: testing one's abilities;  demanding, testing, taxing, exacting; stretching, exciting, stimulating, inspiring; difficult, tough, hard, formidable, onerous, arduous, strenuous, grueling.

I'm not sure whether or not you've happened to notice the unfinished puzzle lurking in the background of the pictures from our last few posts.  It was there while G was editing her short film.

It was the reason there was only room for four of the challengers at the table for our hot chocolate tasting (the other two were set-up at the kitchen counter).

And, it was there for the whole of the gingerbread house disaster.

In fact, it was there before the gingerbread was even baked.  Truth be told, it's been on our table for more than a week - ever since I pulled it out to work on with my mother during her pre-Christmas visit.

It's actually been in our game cupboard since July.  I bought the 1000 piece EuroGraphic's puzzle of Raphael's "Small Cowper Madonna" to go along with the book we were reading at the time - Laura Marx Fitzgerald's Under the Egg - in which the painter's work features heavily.  A house sale/fail, and packing for a move kept us from doing it then, but Christmastime seemed like an even better time to piece together the Madonna and Child, anyway.

EuroGraphics (non-affiliate link) has a number of very lovely puzzles to choose from, and an entire section of "fine art" prints to choose from.  Putting together a puzzle is a fantastic way to really focus in on, and get to know a painting - but, be warned!  If the rest of the EuroGraphics puzzles are as difficult as this one - then be prepared for a lot of slow, and painstaking piecing.

It's not the difficulty of the design, or the number of pieces, but the fact that they are oddly shaped pieces.  So oddly shaped, that it takes three, or four to come together to fill in space for what appears to be made for one normal puzzle piece.   I like puzzles, and occasionally I like a really difficult puzzle - one more challenging than the average floor puzzle I do with the children - one to remind me I'm not as smart as I can start to think I am, when comparing myself to the intelligence of my normal companions - a group of children.

This "Small Cowper Madonna" fit the bill, and was perfect for passing a stormy winter evening, or two...

...or ten.

Poppin Cookin' - Fun With Japanese

Several of the girls' favorite Youtubers have posted Popin Cookin' tutorials, and the girls have been very keen to give the Japanese candy mixes a try.   I noticed the kits weren't very expensive (in the $3.00 to $5.00 range) on Amazon, and ordered a bunch as a look-what-you-get-to-do-once-we-get-moved-in kind of incentive to lessen the bitterness of moving.

The kits come with everything you need to make tiny treats.  All you have to do is add water, and pop a few of them into the microwave, and just like that, you have adorable little cakes and candies.  The catch being, that all of the instructions are in Japanese.

Of course, as I mentioned, there are a number of video tutorials in English, that you can follow along with, if like us, you don't know any Japanese.

On the other hand, the colorful boxes can also provide a fun inducement to learn a little of the language.

I printed off Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese "alphabet") charts, so the girls could write down the English alphabet, phonetic spelling of each symbol, basically translating the words into romaji, the Romanized version of the Japanese spelling.

Then, they were able to type the English letters, or romaji words, into a Japanese/English translator online...

...to cherry pick a few of the easy, or often repeated words from the instructions.  It was more like code breaking than translating, but by the time the girls were done, they were becoming fairly familiar with the symbols and sounds of the Katakana and Hiragana "alphabets", had learned a few simple words...

...and had a good time creating tiny, tasty (or at least tasty looking) treats...

...as a reward for all their hard work.  Whether miniature ice cream cones, and frosting filled tarts will really lessen their sadness over leaving friends behind, or not, remains to be seen.  Now, at least they have something to email home about.

Virtual Owl Pellet Options

For those of you studying owls this fall, and contemplating the pros and cons of real verses artificial owl pellets, before you clear the kitchen table, and prep your oven for sanitizing the regurgitated remains of an owl's lunch, you might want to consider your virtual options.

We tried out a couple this evening, and found them fun, informative, and mess free.

Kidwings.com offers a free virtual owl pellet.  As you move, and click the mouse, you dismantle the pellet, and can move the bones inside to a labeled, or unlabeled bone chart to fill in a small skeleton, while interesting facts about owls flash across the screen.  D (age 11) worked happily through the site this evening, and gave it a positive review.

We also tried out an Owl Pellet Adventure app on the Kindle from Frogguts.com.  

The Owl Pellet Adventure is the first in what is supposed to be a series of K-6, interactive science apps.  It provides information about owls in a short story form, allows children to virtually dissect three pellets, and put together three different skeletons - a vole, a shrew, and a mole, as well as fill in a food web, and take a short, self-grading quiz.

We found the video story a little hokey, and a bit glitchy, but the dissection portion was interesting, the bone charts, and food webs informative, and I appreciated the short quiz at the end.  We paid $1.99 for the app on Amazon.  It was worth it for my younger two (ages 8 and 9), but for older children I'd probably stick with the free options available online.