I have always loved the paper calendar. I get so much enjoyment out of writing different appointments on the calendar with different colored pens.

However, I had always liked the idea of having my calendar with me at all times.  Needless to say it was time to go to a digital calendar.  This is been the second full year that I have used just a digital calendar.  Boy, that hard switch for me. The actual switching part wasn’t really very hard at all. It was letting go of my enjoyment of my colored pens. I would always feel such a sense of accomplishment once I had written different people’s schedules on the calendar.

I can now say though, that having a calendar with me on my phone has been awesome when I’m out and about. It has also been great when schedules get changed around so much with our six kids… No more needing to cross things out or white them out. I can just delete or change it on my phone.

The next thing to change in my digital change over has been a home organizer.  I have looked and looked over the last couple years to find some sort of app that would act as my paperless home organization or management system. However, I never have found one.

I wanted something that would keep track of all kinds of my family’s information as well as chore charts, meal planning, and schedules.  Of course there are apps that do some of these things. But none that do them all.

However, it was all about to soon change when I was asked to review an e-book called Paperless Home Organization.  Stay tuned to read about how awesome it has been….review to come in a couple days! (Don’t purchase it just yet, when I post my review there will be a code for 30% off!)

The post Old habits die hard..leaving the paper calendar and other ramblings appeared first on Home In the Trenches.

Also, a quick FYI that they have a homeschooling discount! Make sure to check that out before you go, you have to make reservations in advance. Our family of 8 was able to go for around $100! One ticket is normally $65!

Also, I have a review posting about Paperless Orgnization that you won’t want to miss coming up in the next few days! What a great product!

So, while we are done with our regular school for the summer I am still having my kids work on math, wrtiting, and whatever review items we get to try out. So this means Latin for some as well as a drawing/ cursive handwriting program!

Looking forward to a more relaxed summer. Yeah right! I have us signed up for the Bible Bee (really looking forward to that) as well as kids and hubby in another musical…Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Plus, I have a list a mile long of things I won’t to get done or work on around the house and on school curriculum!

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Sacha’s<25: A unique one minute mystery book recommended for ages 8-12 which has the reader use their science knowledge and critical thinking skills to solve the 65 mysteries.

Home in the Trenches Product Rating (out of 10 stars)

Is it worth our time? 9 stars
Did it help us learn? 9 stars
Is it worth the money? 9 stars
Is it useful to me? 9 stars
Practicality-10  stars
Quality- 9 stars
Kid Rating- 10 stars

We received One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! from Science Naturally to review.  I was super excited to get to review this since I loved listening to short mystery stories as a kid and trying to figure them out!  I was expecting that these would be the “who dunnit” type stories that I had heard as a kid.  I don’t know if you are familiar with those kind but these were not that.  However, they are really great too!

Here is an explanation from their website:

These mysteries have a clever twist—you have to be a super sleuth, tapping into your science wisdom and critical thinking skills to solve them. Each story takes just one minute to read and challenges your knowledge in a variety of science disciplines.

I handed this book over to my kids to take a look at.  I had to laugh because when I went searching for the book about a week later my 13 year old son had taken it to read.  He was choosing to read these minute mysteries at night before going to bed instead of some of the other stuff he had been reading.  When I asked my kids if they liked it the response I got was, “Matthew wouldn’t let us have a turn with the book!”  

Click here to read 3 sample stories and see why my kids didn’t want to share the book.

When Joy (11) finally got a chance to read the book she really enjoyed it.  She felt she wasn’t very good at solving the mysteries but she loved reading them.

These one page mysteries with the answer solution following on the backside of each page are written by the father daughter team of Eric and Natalie Yoder.  This book is the second Science Mystery book they have written and they have also written some One Minute Math Mysteries.

What I liked:

• Educational aspect…they are learning scientific principles while having fun reading and solving mysteries.
• The stories are short and don’t take a lot of time to read.
• These would be great to read out loud and discuss with your kids…one story each day…good luck at keeping it to just one story : )
• These are real life type mysteries which are solved by applying science…how would bugs end up inside a closed bag of apples, how to tell raw from boiled eggs, why some mornings are so much cooler than others, etc.

What I didn’t like:

• Nothing to say here…we were really happy with this product!

To sum it up: This book and the others that this father daughter team have written would be just perfect for incorporating learning into your summer, without your kids even realizing it!  This is a really fun book to read with your kids or to have them read by themselves.  Highly recommended and check out below for a special offer on purchasing some of their other books as well!

The important information:

One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder, January 2013
Ages 8-12, 8.5” x 5.5”, 180 pages,
Paperback ISBN 10: 1-9384920-0-5
E-Book ISBN 10: 1-9384920-1-3

Order from: Science Naturally

Price: $9.95

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

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I lost my mom to cancer when I was just 18 years old. As much as I have to be thankful for on this day…6 beautiful children and a wonderful husband, a great step-mother and super mother-in-law…The day is still tainted with sadness.

I know I am not the only one who has a hard time pretending that Mother’s Day is a perfect, happy day.

You may be one of the many women who have experienced loss. Your loss might be from a miscarriage, or the death of your mother. It could be from an abortion you later regretted and the what if’s attached to it. Maybe the depths of infertility have left you empty handed or you have a mother who really wasn’t the type of mother you’d like to celebrate. Or it could be that you don’t feel like you are living up to your own expectations of being a great mom.

I just want you all to know there are others of us who feel the same way you do today. Those of us who are thankful for what we do have, but still have a roller coaster of emotions that go with Mother’s Day. Please know I don’t have any easy answers…there aren’t any. However, I will be praying for you today and ask that you would do the same for me.

P.S. I’m not writing this post to be a downer today but to be an encouragement to those who struggle with this day, you are not alone.

The post When Mother’s Day just isn’t all it is “supposed” to be… appeared first on Home In the Trenches.

Home in the Trenches Product Rating (out of 10 stars)

Is it worth our time? 7 stars
Did it help us learn? 7 stars
Is it worth the money? 5 stars
Is it useful to me? 6 stars
Practicality- 7 stars
Quality- 9 stars
Kid Rating- 6 stars

“I like the pictures.  I also like most of the games. I think that it is the same thing over and over again. There’s no variety between the lessons.”

What I liked:

• For a student who thrives on repetition or gets easily flustered trying to learn a new concept and a new activity at the same time this app is perfect.  The activities are very similar, if not identical in each level.
• Starts right at the beginning with letter recognition and moves all the way to a first grade reading level.  This app/program really packs a lot of content into it!
• Loved the reading practice portion of the program.  It was something very different than I have seen in other reading programs we have reviewed.
• The graphics are really good.

What I didn’t like:

• The app was crashing on my first-generation iPad. I’m having no problems with it on my iPad mini though.
  
• It is very easy for your student to skip ahead to different lessons, or parts of lessons, without really understanding what is going on.  I especially found this with my 4 year old. She spent a lot of time clicking around all of the lessons rather than just working through them in order.  I would have liked the program to unlock different levels as a student completes the previous one.
• Faith thought the activities we too repetitious.
• The price seems high for an app.  I needed to get it out of my head that it is an app and remember that it has the content of a complete reading program.
• Some of the words for the letter sounds were different.  TH-thud with a rock.  I-Italy…why not inchworm or something a little more common for a 4 or 5 year old phonics based program?

To sum it up: Take a moment and try out the first 10 lessons free with the lite version of Phonics and Reading with McGuffey. This might  be a good fit for your student.  While it wasn’t a favorite of my 2 girls they did enjoy using it and didn’t complain when I asked them to spend time working on it.

The important information:

Phonics and Reading with McGuffey app

Order from:

Price: $19.99

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

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Sacha’s<25: This study is geared to give elementary students a hands-on element while learning about the 12 Great Empires in the world from both the past and present.

Home in the Trenches Product Rating (out of 10 stars)

Is it worth our time? 8 stars
Did it help us learn? 7 stars
Is it worth the money? 8 stars
Is it useful to me? 8 stars
Practicality- 8 stars
Quality- 10 stars
Kid Rating- 9 stars

We were given the downloadable version to review.  Downloading to my Mac was a piece of cake.  I did find that it was a little bit more time consuming printing out the pages I needed for each empire.  They were saved to my computer as individual PDF’s.  So I had to click on each PDF to see what it was and decide how many copies I needed of each page.  Sometimes I had 5 kids working on a specific page, other times it was just 3.  Actvities varied from mapping projects, recipes, games and printable projects.  We found it was great to put all of the activites into a binder for each child.  I recently purchased a Pro-Click binding machine and we were easily able to punch holes into our pages and add to our binders easily.

What I liked:

• I could pick and choose what activities we wanted to complete from each Empire we studied.  There were plenty of different ones to do!
• Very flexible in how much time we spent …we could go in depth and spend hours in one sitting on it or just 20 minute sessions over multiple days.
• Love PDFs.  Super great for my 5 kids…I could print out as many copies as I needed for my family.  Also, when we spilt water on a page it was no big deal to print out another one.
• The graphics are gorgeous.

What I didn’t like:

• It was a little hard to sometimes figure out what pages I wanted to print from each section. I had to open them all up individually to see them.  They were not organized completely by topic.

To sum it up: This was a great change of pace for my kids.  They really enjoyed all of the hands on activities, which is something we don’t tend to spend much time doing.  It was very easy to use and jump right in learning and completing the activities.

The important information:

Great Empires Activity Study

Order from: Home School in the Woods

Price: Download Version-$18.95, CD Version-$19.95

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

The post Home School in the Woods: A Schoolhouse Crew Review appeared first on Home In the Trenches.

Now, more than ever, I sense the urgency to get as much Scripture into our kids and ourselves as possible.  The world is becoming more and more hostile to Christians and it is important as believers to know God’s word.  And more importantly to know it CORRECTLY and to be able to DEFEND it.  Too often I am finding Scripture misquoted or taken out of context.

We have the kids memorizing Scripture and doing devotions during the school year with a program they are in called Truth Trackers.  But they have the summer off from that program.  We also take school pretty lightly during the summer and just focus on Math, lots of reading, and a little writing.  This leaves us a lot more free time.  What better activity could we spend our free time on than Bible Study and Bible Memorization as a family?  I think you would be hard pressed to find anything better! This summer my family has signed up to participate in the Bible Bee.  We are super excited about it!

The program officially starts June 1st, however registration has already begun!  I would like to challenge you and your family to get onto the Bible Bee website and see if there are any hosts in your area!  Then I challenge you to sign your family up.  Here’s a really quick overview of what it entails….

At the end of the summer there is a competition to help motivate your kids to study well this summer….

I strongly urge you to consider what you have your kids do this summer…how are they going to spend their time off from school?  Is it going to be spent watching TV and playing with friends?  What will you be able to tell your friends your family did at the end of the summer?  Will it have an eternal impact?

I know that for my family we will be able to tell you that we participated in the 2013 Bible Bee where we made new friends, strengthened the bonds within our family and most importantly made an eternal impact in our lives by studying God’s Word and memorizing it together.

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My sister forwarded this info about this really cool Scripture memory CD that is free to download!  We are really enjoying listening to the music. So I wanted to pass the information on to you…What a cool resource to add to your arsenal of Bible Memory techniques and tools!

Here’s a quick blurb about it from the website:

This project started as a hobby five or six years ago when I started writing simple Bible songs, inspired by my morning quiet times. One day, moved by Mark 9:37, we decided to try to recording these songs. Many unexpected twists and turns later, we have our first album. Our prayer is that parents will find these songs helpful for their children to become familiar with some important Bible verses. It was recorded simply, using acoustic instruments and an old laptop with GarageBand. My wife Lisa sings lead, along with Kaela, Lizzy, Zoe, Maria, Kallie, Rosey, Ellie, Audrey, Cora. I sing some backgrounds, along with playing the instruments. The project was mixed excellently by Dan Dybing. Artwork created by Zoe B.

Just click the here to download WORDology and start listening today!

Follow WORDology on Facebook!

The post WORDology:Free Scripture Memory CD Download for kids! appeared first on Home In the Trenches.

I bet you’re wondering what it is?

Enter the NutriBullet…

We’ve have by no means eaten even close to perfectly at our house.  However, we think this might be a step closer to getting a little bit better at breakfast.  At least we will be eating more fruits and vegetables…a step in the right direction.

I think that we can all say that we can improve what we are doing in the realm of eating.  I think it is important not to get down on ourselves but to make baby steps towards better eating.  Maybe that means just trying to eat more meals at home rather than the drive-thru between your kids activities?  Maybe it means not having a second soda during the day?  Maybe it means trying to plan to eat a vegetable at every meal?

I don’t know what it is at your house but for us right now it is trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed food and we think this might just be a great way to do it.  (We will give you an update in a month or two and let you know how it is going and if we still love the NutriBullet.)

What can you do to eat a little bit better this week?

This post is a link up to Hearts at Home Third Thursday Blog Hop.  Check out what others are saying about “No More Perfect Meals”.

The post “No more perfect meals”–A change at our house appeared first on Home In the Trenches.

It’s hard as a homeschooling mom of many different age groups to get “equal” time with everyone! Making sure everyone is getting their schoolwork done and meals on the table, as well as feeding a newborn and changing diapers can leave a mom a little harried and little ones feeling like they aren’t getting enough “mom time”.

I remember all the neat projects and trips I took my 2 oldest on when they were little and before the rigors of homeschooling upper grades set in! I tend to feel a bit of guilt that my younger ones aren’t getting all of those same experiences. (I know, they are getting a whole bunch of different experiences my older ones never had at their ages.)

Anyways, today was a day I had some time to do some mommy time with the younger ones. Faith was sick and unble to go to our weekly homeschool co-op so we took advantage of some time together with her younger sister and baby brother!

Faith, Grace and I had so much fun painting.  Yes, I painted WITH them.  Sometimes I get the paints out and sit with them while they paint but today I painted too.  They thought that was so cool.

Here are some of the pictures we painted:

And I had to save the best for last…Faith made this one for me:

I am so thankful for the time I had with them today….just them….something that doesn’t happen very often.  I took the time today to be just with them…I had plenty of things I needed to get done…but those will wait.

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