REVIEW: Mango Languages Homeschool Edition

Latha math! (That's "hello" in Scottish Gaelic.) Foreign language is one of those subjects I have not taught consistently. I've had the best of intentions to start teaching my children Latin and French, and it's never quite happened. We've done a little Spanish, but nothing for long. I have avoided online foreign language programs, because I would prefer to keep us off the computer as much as possible, but I just had to give Mango Homeschool Edition from Mango Languages  a try. For the purpose of this review, I received a one-year subscription for three students. I signed up my daughters and myself, and we began European French.

The program is intended for children ages 6 and up, even adults. They offer all levels of coursework, which makes them a great option for any grade level, but particularly for those of us trying to figure out how to homeschool high school. Because it's browser-based, it works on both Apple computers and PCs.

We decided to make our French lessons part of our morning time, and did the program together orally. My girls and I had a little competition going to see who could remember things first as we went through the lessons. We had a LOT of fun. Even my 6 year old joined in and learned along with us. He frequently comes up to me and says things like, "Mom, I know how to say 'â bientôt!' It means 'see you later!'" I am impressed by what he's picked up, because honestly, he's not all that interested in sitting still and participating with us most of the time. He's usually playing with blocks or trucks while we are speaking French to each other, although he will sometimes say things along with us.

There is no written component to this program, but European French does come with a Course Guide for each of the three levels. I printed those, and have had my girls copying out the sentences as we learn them, so they see how the words are spelled and become familiar with the sentence structure. It makes good copywork for them.

While we chose to work on French together, Mango's language programs are structured so that students are able to work independently. A few times, when we got started later than usual, I sent the girls to do their school work and asked them to do French on their own. They were able to do it with no problems at all.


I also took a look at Scottish Gaelic. I didn't have as much time to spend on this as I'd hoped, but it was still fun. I've always wanted to learn Gaelic. At this time, there is only one level of Gaelic available, but that's a lot more than I know right now!

I like the way the program works. I wasn't sure, at first, because it's completely different from the way I learned French. However, right from the beginning, students learn things like formal vs. familiar methods of addressing other people, and how to construct simple sentences. You don't sit down and conjugate verbs, but you learn the different verb forms as you listen and respond in the lesson conversations. It's a more natural method of language learning, I think, than sitting down with a textbook, even when there is audio available. The phrases we learned initially were greetings, so we can have simple conversations with each other. It's a great way to practice.

What did my girls think?

• They both enjoyed using the program.
• They both thought a written component would be helpful. My oldest daughter has spent the most time writing the phrases we learned into a notebook, and she said it helped her a lot.

We reviewed what you might call the "beta" version of Mango's Homeschool Edition. They offer more than 60 different languages! The lessons are all recorded by native speakers, which makes such a difference in language learning. There is phonetic spelling available on demand, so you can see how it's pronounced in phonetic spelling like you'd see in a dictionary. That's extremely helpful. Sometimes I had a hard time hearing, thanks to years of college marching band, so the phonetic spelling gave me some much-needed hints. Along with conversation and grammar, there are cultural insights, customs and etiquette. One particularly nice feature is the voice comparison tool. It allows you to speak into a microphone and see how your accent compares to the native speaker's. We learned that we do need a separate microphone for that; our computer's microphone didn't pick up enough.

You may have seen Mango Languages at your local library. That's where they started, and they've grown from there. At the library, you may not have access to all the languages Mango offers, and only one level is available for any language through the library system. The homeschool version has all languages and levels, and the community feature, which isn't available through the library.

Mango's vision is to have a community for language learning, where students not only work on lessons, but are able to interact with others learning the same language and eventually with people who know the language well. Currently, the program offers these features:

• Progress assessments
• Built-in journals, discussions and wikis
• Collaborative learning spaces
• eNote messaging/chat rooms
• Access to embedded/downloadable content
• Support from other community members
• Calendars to schedule meetings or study groups

Additionally, over the next few months, they plan to add lots of new features, like enhanced tracking and progress monitoring, including seat time, for students and parents; goals and personal lesson plans (both stand-alone and tied into Mango courses), and a resume and portfolio builder.

Overall, I'm not sure I would use this program on its own, but it's a perfect complement to go along with any curriculum. You have access to as many languages as you want to try. I am fascinated with languages (I majored in linguistics in college) so I feel like a kid in a candy store when I look at all the languages I could explore with Mango.  They have Ancient Greek! Ancient Hebrew! Pirate! (Yes, Pirate!) Malayalam! I don't even know what Malayalam is, but now I want to learn. I love the idea of a language-learning community, where you can ask questions and talk to others learning the same languages.

Here is the pricing structure for subscriptions to the Mango Homeschool Edition:

• 1 subscription - $18 per month or $125 per year
• 2 subscriptions - $28 per month or $175 per year
• 3 subscriptions - $38 per month or $225 per year
• 4 subscriptions - $48 per month or $275 per year
• 5 subscriptions - $58 per month or $325/year total
• 6 or more subscriptions - special group rate, dependent on the number in your group

Obviously, there are significant savings when you sign up for a year rather than making monthly payments. I hope you'll take a look!

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Praying Mantis Update

I have some sad news. The last of our praying mantis babies died this week. We only had three left, and it seemed that they were trying to shed their first skins, and couldn't get them off. I did a little research, and it sounds like they needed more moisture in their environment.

This certainly has been a learning experience. Hopefully we will be able to do a little better if either of our other two egg cases hatch. I was so very sad to lose that last little bug today, though. So were the kids.

REVIEW: Amazing Science DVD

My little man, who is currently 6 years of age, loves to do "experiments." If I don't have an actual science activity for him to do, he makes up his own. That can get messy. I'm not the greatest at coming up with experiments, to be honest, so I was delighted to have the chance to review Amazing Science, Vol. 1 from ScienceandMath.com. I received a physical copy of the 2-DVD set to review. There are 23 different videos, covering such topics as electricity, magnetism, heat, and more.

This DVD set is aimed at grades 1-3, but these science experiments are great for any age, really. I hadn't done most of them before, and I enjoyed them quite as much as my son! He would get the DVD and pop it in every day, to see what we were going to do next.

Mr. Jason Gibson is the scientist who presents the experiments.  He has degrees in physics and electrical engineering, and was actually a rocket scientist for NASA! In each video, Mr. Gibson gives the materials list, shows the complete experiment, and explains the science behind what you're doing. I had to laugh at Isaac; he had no interest whatsoever in the explanations and really just wanted to get on with the cool part. I, on the other hand, learned a lot and had a great time!

When we did the first experiment, "Color-Changing milk, I went and got whole milk (recommended in the video), and then we set to work. I was amazed at how carefully Isaac did exactly what he had been shown in the video. He *loved* that experiment, even though I only had yellow and green food coloring for the first run. He got to mix it all up and make "green milk" at the end, which he thought was fantastic. He enjoyed the experiment so much, we had to do it again when Grammy and Papa were visiting so they could see, too. (It was a bit of a trick to find non-gel food coloring. I located it with the spices, rather than with the cake decorating things, FYI.)

Check out this video of the color changing milk experiment:




The next experiment we did was "Egg in a Bottle." My husband was home to help with this one, which is always fun. We lit the matches, dropped them in the jar, placed the hard-boiled egg on top, and watched it squish itself right down into the bottle, even though it clearly did NOT fit through the mouth of the bottle before dropping the matches in there.  We actually did this experiment several times, because my science-loving husband knew if he blew really hard into the bottle, he would reverse the process and force the egg back out.  We have done it again since, too, which has resulted in us getting to eat a lot of deviled eggs, because I'm not going to boil just one egg at a time!

Another fun one was the "Floating Egg" experiment. This one was so simple, and yet did a great job illustrating buoyancy. Mr. Gibson explained how the salt dissolved in one glass didn't really go away, so the water in there weighed more. Because it weighed more, there was a stronger buoyant force pushing back against the egg, so it was able to float. Simple, but fascinating!

The experiments shown on these DVDs are my idea of fun, living science. You get to see how the experiments work, with clear, simple explanations. I watched the videos with Isaac, but in the future, I might set them up for him, let him run them (with help as necessary), and have him narrate what happens. Then, we can watch the videos and hear the explanations. The supplies you need are readily available, and if you don't have them at home you can find them easily. It's fun to go through the experiments sequentially on the DVDs, but you could also use the DVDs as a resource and pull out experiments to go along with whatever science program you're using. My girls enjoyed doing these experiments with us, and they are old enough (12 and 13) to do the experiments on their own and keep a science journal with the steps and results. My girls were able to do these with my little man, too, and they all enjoyed that. I could see this being a great resource for co-op situations, as well.

Amazing Science Vol. 1 is available from ScienceandMath.com for $17.95, and as a digital download for $14.99.

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Praying Mantis Update

Well, we're down to three surviving mantis babies from our first egg case. I'm not quite sure what happened, except that perhaps I didn't get them the right food quickly enough. I had been feeding them ground beef, but read that it didn't have enough chitin in it, which is apparently something insects need. I started looking for alternatives, and the recommendations I found online were that we use either pinhead crickets or flightless fruit flies. Isaac and I drove to an exotic pet store, hoping they'd have something, but all they could offer were mealworms - which are, frankly, disgusting, and far too big for the mantis babies. They told me to go to Petco and get flightless fruit flies. When we got to Petco and inspected the flies, I observed that while they cannot fly, they do JUMP, much like fleas. I decided to try "extra small" crickets, in the hope that the mantises could handle those.

Alas, it was not to be. While the crickets were shorter in length than the mantis babies, they were much wider. Most of the little mantids were afraid of the crickets, and the one I did see try to catch one was unable to do so because the cricket was just too wide for it to grab with its little hooks. Back to Petco I went for the fruit flies.

At that point, we had separated as many babies as we could into individual pint and jelly jars, because the population was decreasing steadily as the carnivorous little beasties ate each other. It is quite a trick trying to get fruit flies into small jars. There are always escapees, and there are several out and about in my house now. Unfortunately, even though we'd finally found a good source of food for them, the remaining little mantids kept dying off. At this point, we have one left in a jelly jar, and two left in our butterfly enclosure. The three remaining ones seem to be doing well. We take each one out now and then, and talk to it, and let it climb around on us for some extra exercise. They really are cute.

We still have two more egg cases, so if they hatch, at least we have food ready for them. It's been a good lesson in why God would have so many would hatch at once, because their little lives are so fragile, you need lots of them so that at least a few have a chance to survive until adulthood. We were hoping to raise one for each of us, but now I will be thrilled if even one of them lives to be an adult!

REVIEW: Talking Shapes App from Talking Fingers

My 6 year old boy (that says a lot right there, doesn't it?) does not like anything that looks like actual school work. I try to keep lessons short and fun, but at the end of the day, he still has to hold his pencil properly and do his best to write his letters, you know? This child in particular responds really well to technology-based learning, and while that doesn't thrill me sometimes, there are a lot of great apps out there. One of them is the Talking Shapes iPad app from Talking Fingers, Inc. I received a copy of the app for free so I could review it for you. It's intended for preschool to kindergarten aged children.

The app starts out with a story about two girls and how they invented the alphabet. They come up with pictures for the letters, and as they introduce each letter, the child has to trace the letters with their finger.

In this first story, the child learns 6 phonemes: C, A, T, F, H and S. Here are their pictures:

Aren't they cute? I love the concept of associating a letter with a picture. As they learn the letters and corresponding pictures, the child is asked to say the word describing the picture - for example, INCHWORM, which goes with "I." Then, when they practice drawing  "I," they can tap on the picture of the inchworm and hear themselves saying the word. We had a little trouble getting my iPad to hear us say the words, but I think that's because my case covers up the microphone somehow.

When you open the app, there are three options on the main screen: "Read to Me," which allows you to choose which story you'd like to hear; "Draw Letters," in which you choose which of the three stories you'd like to practice tracing the letters; and "Play Game," which, naturally, takes you to the game for the book you select.

When playing the games, the child first drags letter pictures down
to squares to spell words. Then, the little story is shown, and the words that teach the phonemes for that book are highlighted, one at a time, in red, then removed from the picture. Balloons, chickens with flapping wings, and flying pigs (depending on the story) move across the screen with different words in them, all from the story, and the child has to read the words and choose the correct one to fill in the blank. I will say that I found the chickens distracting. Their shapes were a little too small and the flapping wings made it hard to read the words. Isaac didn't seem to mind, though. Once the game has been completed, a fun little scene plays at the bottom of the screen. Isaac loved those and would replay them over and over just to laugh at them.

The only drawback I found was that when drawing the letters, Isaac figured out quickly that all he had to do was scribble with his finger until the letter outlines were filled in. The app didn't require him to trace the letters. Once I saw that, I made sure to have him trace the letters properly. I would love to see the app require actual tracing. This app is certainly not our only source for handwriting practice, but it does seem like a child would get more out of writing the letter with their finger.

Isaac loves this app. We used it most days, and he was willing to spend a few minutes to go through one part each day - on the first day we'd do the story, the next day we'd work on drawing letters, then finally playing the games. I have seen significant improvement in his ability to put letters together to form words since we started working with it. He enjoyed it, too. Even while I was looking through the app as I wrote my review, he came over to see what I was doing and play with me. It's a nice addition to any reading program, and provides interactive learning with a fun way for a child to practice letter sounds and word building.

• The app is available from the iTunes store for $5.99.
• Connect with Talking Fingers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

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REVIEW: Motivated Moms Ebooks

To anyone who knows me in real life, and actually, probably to anyone who reads my blog, it's no secret that I am "housework challenged." I have a terrible time keeping track of what needs to be done, or even knowing what should be done on a daily basis, much less on a monthly or annual schedule. One thing that has helped me tremendously is the Motivated Moms Chore Planner Ebook. I have used it for several years now, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to review it for you!

The Motivated Moms planner provides a chore schedule for you, so you don't have to make one yourself. The list includes yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, and if you complete the tasks on the list each day, your house will stay consistently clean and picked up. You'll find everything from clipping children's fingernails, decluttering a bit at a time, cleaning your refrigerator (one shelf per week) to cleaning the kitchen light fixture. I have read many, many books on how to clean my house, how to declutter my house, how to have my kids help clean my house, and honestly, the Motivated Moms house system is the only thing that has worked for me.

I prefer the printable planner, myself. I tried the app last year. It has some cool features, like being able to assign colors to the kids and add custom tasks to your heart's content. I found it was too easy for me to ignore it on my iPad. This year, they added some new features, including being able to email and print the task list, manual sorting of tasks, and synching between devices. The synching trick might persuade me to try it again next year, because each child in my house has an iPad (I know, I know) and that would be easier than having it just on mine.

One thing I love about this planner is, each day is new. You don't have to carry over the chores you didn't finish. I suppose you could, but I don't. I do what I can every day and aim to get better about completing each day's list. The lists are very doable; I am just easily distracted and forget to check what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm already much further ahead than I was, and the list really does help keep me on track.

This year, I decided to try the half-sheet version. I have a half sheet sized purple binder, and I printed my pages and put them in that. I take out the daily page and stick it on our kitchen white board, where everyone can see it. My girls and I each choose three things from the list to do in the morning, and then I try to get to the rest of the items throughout the rest of the day. I can also have my 6 year old help with many tasks, like changing the hand towels in the kitchen and bathroom, feeding pets, and helping unload the dishwasher.

The only drawback I found with the half-sized version was that the PDF file is not set up for double-sided printing. I did print it on both side of the paper, and the days ended up being out of order. The months ended up grouped together for the most part, and it's not a big deal to do a little flipping to find the current day's page, but it would be nice to be able to print it double-sided. I wouldn't have minded printing it on single sheets, but it wouldn't have all fit in my little binder. I understand why they did it this way; if they made it so that it printed properly on both sides of the paper, it would be funky-looking for those who prefer to print one day at a time. This was not an issue with the full-size planner.

The Motivated Moms Ebooks are available in full page and half page versions, with or without daily Scripture readings, with color or black and white. The price, no matter your chosen format, is $8.00. The app is available for either $.99 per month ($1.99 for your initial purchase, which includes 2 months) or $7.99 for the year.

I love this system so much that I became an affiliate. If you'd like to try it for yourself, please feel free to use the purple "MoMo" button on my sidebar to click over to their site for purchase.

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Seed Starting: Origami Pots!

This year, I am DETERMINED to do a little gardening. I love growing things, although I haven't tried gardening for food since setting up my own household. I like flowers. Since having children, and especially since starting homeschooling, I haven't made as much time for any kind of gardening. However, my children have wanted to have a vegetable garden for years, and now that Isaac is 6, I think we could handle giving it a try. We're going to make some small raised beds, and see how it goes.

A year or so ago, I picked up a book on organic gardening. The author recommends raised beds for gardening here, for a couple of reasons. First, we have red clay soil, and it's a bugger to amend it so plants can grow. I've been told that root vegetables are nearly impossible in our clay soil. Secondly, you don't have to try to till up soil, which spreads weed seeds and means a lot of work trying to keep ahead of plants you don't want in your garden before you've even gotten started. From talking with several people in our area, I've learned that raised beds are the way to go here, so that's what we're going to do.

We decided to try starting some of our own seeds. My 6 year old is so excited about seeds, he can hardly stand it. I let him choose two packets of seeds from Walmart while we were there this week. He chose an assortment of gourds, and cone flowers. He wanted to go outside and plant them RIGHT THEN, and it's been difficult convincing him that we need to wait a little while yet. Starting some seeds in the house is a wonderful way to wait these last few weeks before we can plant things outside.

Seeds need to be planted in something, and I didn't want to buy seed starting thingies. I searched the internet for ideas, and learned how to make my own pots, origami-style, from newspaper! You can plant them directly into the soil, and the paper will decompose. This is *fantastic* because I won't have more things to store in the garage!

I watched a couple of different videos and tried some different methods for folding pots, and this is the one I liked best:

However, I did find that it was a little hard to pay attention to the video while folding, so I made a tutorial with pictures so you can follow along at your own pace! Here are the supplies I used:

• Newspaper
• Butter knife
• Potting Soil
• Seeds
• Plastic cup with water
• Disposable 9"x13" cake pans with clear plastic lids

Once you've assembled your supplies, you can get started!

First, get your newspaper. I bought newspapers on Wednesday, and got to read some lovely recipes while I was folding pots, as well as discovering that one of the papers has colored comic strips, even during the week! I love reading comics in the paper. I love the crossword puzzles, too. But I digress.

1. You will need to tear your paper down the center crease, so that you have individual sheets of newspaper. A butter knife works really well for separating them, and you can do several sheets at once that way.

2. Next, we start folding! Fold it exactly in half, overriding the original fold, so the top and bottom edges match. Then, fold it in half from left to right, so that you have four loose corners together at the top. You can use your butter knife to make your creases. It will be easier as you go along, just like with regular origami, if you make sharp, precise creases, but there is no need to worry about that too much..

3. Unfold your last fold, so you have your long sheet folded in half just once. Then, fold the corners in to the center line, as if you were making a paper airplane, or a newspaper hat. I marked the center with my favorite hot pink Sharpie so you could see what I was talking about.

4. Turn your paper so the point is at the top, and fold the top layer, at the bottom of your paper, in half up to the bottom of the triangle. Then, fold it again, up over the bottom of the triangle, using that bottom edge as a guide. It still seems as though we might be making hats, doesn't it?

5. Flip your paper over, and fold the outside edges into the center line, as if you were folding paper airplane wings. (Work with me here. I know you probably make much more aerodynamic paper airplanes, if that were your end goal.)

6. Your paper now looks like a rather tall house. Fold the paper at the bottom of the house in half, up to the base of that rectangle. Fold it up again to cover that rectangle. (This is similar to what we did in step 4.)

7. Now, look at your construction at this point. If you unfold it a bit, you can look inside and see little pockets. You want to tuck the flap of your paper into those little pockets.

8. Now your paper does look like a little hat. Actually, it looks like a cat-sized hat. There was a cat handy while I made mine, so I tried it on her. She was not impressed. (I assure you, no felines were injured in the making of these paper pots. Offended, perhaps, but not harmed.)

9. Now, take the triangle and fold it over the rectangle on both sides, creasing on each side, like so:

Those might not seem like important folds, but if you've ever done origami paper folding, you know that each crease has a purpose, even if it's not immediately apparent. Trust me, folding the triangle over on both sides will make your pot-making experience more pleasurable.

10. This next fold is a cool origami trick. Look at the pictures below, and note the two pink corners, one at the top and on on the bottom left corner of your triangle. Take that top corner and bring it over to the bottom corner, and crease. You only need to crease to the base of the triangle, not all the way down.

11. Put your hand inside the pot, and expand it out into a three-dimensional creation. See how that tricky little triangle fold we just did helped the base of the pot fold itself flat?

12. You might need to "encourage" the base of your pot to do what you want it to do, but it will turn out with a nice flat base. It may not sit exactly flat on the table, but that will be solved in a moment.

13. Now your pot is ready to be filled with dirt!

14. Once you have dirt in your pots, they are ready for seeds. Poke the seeds into the dirt, water them, and put them in your tray. I used disposable 9"x13" cake pans I purchased at the grocery store. I had originally intended them for some freezer cooking, but never quite got around to it. It worked out better this way, actually, because the lids are too tall to make them practical for the freezer, but they make wonderful mini-greenhouses.

15. When you've planted enough pots to fill a tray, you can put the lid on your pan (if you have one) and set them in a sunny window to germinate.

There you have it! I will keep you posted on our gardening process. It's always so exciting when the seeds start growing, isn't it? I have killed many, many seedlings in previous gardening attempts, but this year, I have children who can help me remember to water them and keep the kittens away (I hope).

Review: KinderBach Beginner Piano Music Curriculum

I am always looking for fun things to do with my little man, who is 6. I've also wanted to have him try some music lessons, but he's really too young (and too wiggly) for traditional piano lessons. I play the piano, but I knew Isaac wasn't ready for sitting down with me at the piano to learn with the piano books I could find at the music store. I was delighted to have the opportunity to review the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner, meant for children ages 3-7, to see how he liked it. I received a 6-month subscription for us to try. There are currently 6 levels with a total of 240 lessons available, with more coming.

Let me tell you - this program from KinderBach has been a huge hit! Karri Gregor, the author, clearly knows young children, because there is very little sitting involved, and lots of FUN in these early music lessons! Each video lesson is between 3-4 minutes long, and if there is any coloring or other activity to do, it's done during the video. There are pictures associated with the concepts, like a little house for Dodi the Donkey, who lives over the two black keys on a keyboard, and the Beat Bugs, who help introduce counting beats per measure. There are songs to sing, and MOTIONS to do. We were standing up tall for high notes, squatting down low for low notes, and hanging out in the middle for middle notes. Isaac loved it, and wanted to do a week's worth of lessons each time! In our short time using the program, I've heard him clapping along with songs in the car to the beat - that's a pretty big improvement.

We used my iPad Mini to watch the videos, and that worked out very well for us. There are printable workbooks to go along with each level, and we printed off the Level 1 book to have ready when we did our lessons. You can see the printer icon in the image of the lesson screen, which also makes it simple to print the page you need when you open the lesson, if that works better for you.

There are lots of fun activities that go along with this program, and if you have children who like to do that kind of thing, you will be able to have lots of fun. Isaac enjoyed the video lessons, but wasn't terribly interested in the activities. He did agree to do some of the coloring, but would only do what was absolutely necessary. I was tempted to print and laminate many things, but resisted the urge, because I knew we wouldn't use them. My girls would have loved all that stuff at this age, though.


We did most of our lessons at the piano, and kept our crayons handy over there. When the lessons required a keyboard, Miss Karri told us right at the beginning. One of the best parts of this program was Isaac getting to play a song right away (by week 3). Also, even though I let him go through several lessons at once, there is a lot of review throughout the program, so I didn't worry about him missing something. We could always go back and review a lesson.

The Teacher Corner contains lesson plans for each level, along with the Teacher Guide, which includes lots of activities to go along with Levels 1-3; Audio MP3s for all the songs; and links to download the student books. Additionally, you will find a storybook, coloring pages, and song books with additional music to use with students. The resources in the Teacher Corner are really intended for use in a classroom setting, but there are lots of fun activities in there, like puzzles and games, etc. that you could print and use at home, too. I could see those being VERY helpful if you had lots of little people trying to do the same lesson.

In order to use this program, you will need a few things:

• A computer or tablet for watching the online video lessons and downloading the student pages
• An internet connection, faster than dial-up, to stream the videos
• A printer, for printing out the student pages and any activities you'd like to use
• A keyboard with at least 3-4 octaves, if you don't have a piano
• Some basic craft supplies: crayons and scissors
• Some lessons call for a rhythm instrument, and Miss Karri shows you how to find something to use, like a pot and spoon, if you don't have one already

The only thing I noticed about streaming the videos is that they have to stay pretty small in order to be good quality. They were all right on my iPad, but they wouldn't have looked very good on my full-sized monitor. There is an iPad app which puts all the lessons right at your fingertips - the app itself is free, and you can try the first two lessons of Level 1, but after that you have to purchase more lessons. There doesn't seem to be a way to log in to your KinderBach account and use your subscription through the app.

KinderBach is currently offering their Online Piano Lessons with Teacher Corner Membership for $95.88 per year, which works out to $7.99 per month for full access to levels 1-6 and all corresponding materials. If you've ever paid for music lessons, you know that's a great deal - and it's for any and all children in your family who might want to use it. I love having this resource for homeschool music lessons - one less thing that requires me to leave the house! You can try two weeks of lessons for FREE to see how you like it!

If you'd like to know more about KinderBach, you can find them on Facebook (Facebook for Teachers, too), Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.

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Our First Egg Case Has Hatched!

I'm so excited! I had to come over and post about our new critters. The first egg case laid by our praying mantis, Scipio, hatched! If you missed hearing about her, you can read my posts here and here. Emma saw the babies in the jar while we were making lunch. There are lots of them, and we've separated out several to put in their own jars. Because they are carnivorous, they will most likely eat each other if we leave them all in the same container.

The tricky part is getting them into something that will contain them. They're so small, they could easily get out of the lid we had on Scipio's tank. We kept the egg case in a quart-zied mason jar, with a piece of nylon panty hose over the top. Today, we pulled out all my jam and pint-sized canning jars, put some coconut bedding in them, small sticks for climbing, and then put the lids on with pieces of cut-up flour sack towel. I didn't have enough knee-high nylons to make covers for all those little jars!

I looked up what to feed them, because I have no live food for them at this point, and learned we could feed them ground meat. I had some thawed, thank goodness, and stuck it on their climbing stick. They really liked it! I saw some of them fighting siblings away from the food. Hence one of the reasons they need to be separated.

They are so terribly cute - they look like mini Scipios, except they are twig-colored for camouflage. They already act just like adult insects. We watched one sway back and forth, checking us out, while sitting on Abbie's hand, and we've even seen them cleaning their tiny feet and legs, just like their mama used to do. They got all defensive when I tried to move them into their own jars.

You should hear us all crooning at these little insects. They're adorable and we're besotted. We've missed Scipio a lot since she died, so having her babies in the house now is just that much more fun for us. In the pictures below, you can see how tiny they are. Aren't they amazing?

What this means, of course, is that I need to get the other two egg cases into some kind of container with a better lid, so if those hatch too, I won't have a battalion of little mantids running amok.

Boost Your Blog 100 Day Challenge

I'm excited to participate in the Boost Your Blog in 100 Days Challenge, coordinated by my friend Thaleia over at Something 2 Offer. She's a busy homeschool mom of 4, and created this challenge as a way for folks to get to know more bloggers and encourage each other in the process. Along the way, we will learn about things like Twitter, SEO, Blog Post Topics, Pinterest, and increasing blog traffic.

The first 10-day challenge started yesterday(!), and it is to comment on 10 blogs for 10 days. Thaleia is providing the links to the blogs for each day, so all you have to do is click and comment! Anyone is welcome to participate in the challenge and learn along with us.

Mark Twain Said...

Is this the same as sleeping with books under your pillow to absorb the information by osmosis, do you think?

What's For Dinner: Ravioli Casserole

One thing I have never quite mastered is meal planning. I know my life would be simpler if I made a meal plan, but I never remember. I should go do that as soon as I'm done writing this post. We will see!

Anyhoo, how does one who does not plan meals ahead manage to come up with anything for dinner? Well, I'll tell you. I try to keep standard (for me) ingredients on hand, so when I'm ready to make dinner, I can take some meat from the freezer (or, hopefully remember to thaw it the night before) and pull something together. Sometimes this works better than others. Occasionally, when my husband asks what we're having, I reply with something like, "Funny you should ask! It started out to be one thing, but when I started to make it, I realized I didn't have everything for the recipe, so I had to improvise." Heh.

I love to use my slow cooker. There are a couple of nights each week that go much more smoothly if I have dinner in the crock pot. This last week I made a recipe I hadn't made it quite some time, remembered how much I enjoyed it, and thought I would share it with you! It's from a lovely cookbook called Slow Cooker Ready and Waiting, by Rick Rodgers. Actually, the version I have is (ahem) a few years old and it's simply called Ready and Waiting. The recipes in this book are fabulous. Mr. Rodgers calls for real, whole foods, and while they do take some planning and preparation time, they are worth it!

Additionally, Mr. Rodgers provides clear instructions for every single step in his recipes. When I purchased this book, I was a newlywed, and had very little experience in the kitchen. I mean, there are steps to things (Mr. Rodgers calls them "principles of good cooking"), and I had no idea what I was doing. This cookbook was a wonderful addition to my collection, and I've used it often over the years. It does more than provide recipes - it teaches you how to use a slow cooker. I've been flipping through it again, and have found more recipes I'd like to try. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as my family! does 

Ravioli Casserole

From Slow Cooker Ready and Waiting, by Rick Rodgers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 - medium onion, chopped
• 2 - garlic cloves, minced
• 1 - 28 oz can peeled tomatoes in thick tomato puree
• 1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb bow-tie pasta or fettucine, freshly cooked
• 1- 10 oz packaged frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed to remove excess moisture
• 2 C ricotta cheese
• 1/2 C freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic, stirring often to break up lumps, until the meat loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Tilt the pain to drain off excess fat, then transfer the beef mixture to a 3 1/2 quart slow cooker.
2. Add the tomatoes with their purée, the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and pepper, stirring to break up the tomatoes with the side of a spoon. Cover and slow-cook for 7 to 8 hours on low (200˚ F). 
3. Skim the fat from the surface of the meat sauce. Stir in the cooked pasta, spinach, and ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, and slow-cook for 5 minutes. Serve the casserole directly from the slow cooker.

My notes:

• This recipe was posted with permission of the creator, Rick Rodgers.
• My husband requested that I leave the spinach out, so I have.
• Instead of "tomatoes in thick purée," I use crushed tomatoes. I have one who doesn't like chunks of tomatoes. (Also, I am not sure I've ever seen a can labeled, "tomatoes in thick purée.)
• I make my own Italian seasoning from this recipe. I ran out of Italian seasoning from my little jar one night, so Googled how to make my own. It's easy to do, I had all the listed ingredients, and one batch lasts a long time. It does say to combine the ingredient in a spice grinder, but I don't have one, so I just mixed them together and put them in a little container.
• We like it with cottage cheese just as well as with ricotta cheese. 

Party at Church!

A Girl and Her Dad...

will make really cool tunnels in the sandbox!

Drawing with Rich Davis

A few years ago, someone posted a link to Rich Davis' blog, Draw With Rich. If I recall correctly, people were looking for some art ideas. I have followed his blog ever since, and have enjoyed drawing all the little things he posts. Recently, he started posting some step-by-step drawing instructions for different buildings. He's developing a new game. The idea is to give the instructions to children and see how well they can follow along, without much coaching. This week, we drew the first one in the series, the barn. We worked from this picture:

And here are our drawings! 

I have no idea why Isaac decided to draw a big swirl, or write "DOG." However, I thought he did pretty well on his barn for a boy of 6 who mostly refuses to hold a pencil. Of course, you could see it much better before he got ahold of the silver Sharpie, but I digress. The girls both had fun with their drawings, too, and you can certainly tell that Abbie took more care with hers than the rest of us. I was thinking, "This was supposed to be a quick, fun start to our morning, not take you all day, dear child..." That's all right, though. We're looking forward to next week's drawing.