At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing that Eats (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing that Eats  is part of a three-volume series complied by Franklin Sanders.  The "Letter-from-the-Editor" entries Sanders wrote to anchored his  monthly newsletter, The Moneychanger, become the base for this book.  These letters, written over a the seven years that span from 1995 through 2002,  chronicle the journey of the Sanders family from city folk to homesteaders.  Though the author and his family live in Tennessee, the subtitle for this volume takes its title from Mrs. Sanders' oft-ignored plea to not return from the Rippley, Mississippi "First Monday" Flea market with "anything that eats."

As I began reading, I was pulled right in to the story.  However, as it went on,  I felt like I was reading two different books.  The first quarter of the book was written in a humorous, light-hearted manner.  I loved it.   It then turned heavy and political over Sanders' issues with the IRS.  I thought maybe the book was a purposeful dichotomy; the initial near banter was going to turn more introspective.   However, it then turns back to the light memoir within two more chapters, then some more political opinion, and then back to the memoir style.  While each chapter was well-written, the book lacked transitions and cohesiveness for me, and I began to wonder which book I was going to get when a new chapter started.  While the narrative of memoir was expository yet lighthearted, the political content felt snarky and rant-like, like the author found a soapbox and was determined to use it, rather than just a continuation of the story from before.   I understand how these experiences affected the family's decisions, but the almost belligerent tone made it difficult for me to want to continue reading. I also was frustrated by the Sanders' obsession with Y2K and the feared "implosion of the universe."   Back in the late 1990s when everyone was starting to panic, I admit that the only "preparing" I did was a few extra groceries because I had a 2 year old and I wasn't leaving the house over Christmas week unless the world really did end.  I often found myself skimming through to read more of his farming stories, which were hysterical.  

Sanders' description of the "Southern Gentleman" personality is clear and  extensive.  While editorially and grammatically proper, you can hear his dialect a-tryin' ta bust on through in the conversational tone of the letters.  During the lighter portions, Sanders is verbose, yet not boring; the writing successfully paints a picture of what is going on and recounts his experiences so matter-of-factly that you just have to laugh.  One of my favorite quotes was:

"Christmastime shredded my schedule. Can you imagine how a knot in a shoelace feels when you pull it through the eyelet? That’s how I felt over Christmas, but I survived, and even remembered once again to buy my wife a present."

I never thought of a shoelace knot as a metaphor for the time around Christmas, but with little kids -- yep, it fits!

I have two friends who are from central Tennessee, and I could hear their voices narrating the story in my head.  Sanders writes like they talk - like he talks.  At times, I almost felt like I needed to take notes, because there were so many players and goings-on; hearing the voices of my friends in my head made it all seem so rapid fire.  These ladies know may have southern accents, but they don't "drawl."  They talk so fast that it takes a careful ear not to miss the second half of a sentence becuase you're still trying to decode the first.  However,  rather than making me want skim ahead because the pace was almost dizzying,  Sanders' bantering descriptions of the people and places make me want to go to Tennessee. 

Being a city girl transplanted to farm country, I can identify with the steep learning curve.  I admit I was only trying to grow a kitchen garden, but if you saw how I had my cucumbers strung up for support that first year, it screamed "Rank Amateur!" I swear I saw the farmer that rents our field laughing at me and wondering who let the City Girl loose at the garden center as he threshed and baled the alfalfa hay. I loved reading about how the Sanders family attempted to outwit the dogs, save the chickens, and wrangle the livestock.  You can read sample chapter "Pig Persuader" to read about one of their wrangling attempts. I can totally agree with the "This seemed like a good idea at the time..." thinking, and the determination they had not to be outsmarted by a critter.  As for me -- one of these years I'll get more than four tomatoes out of six plants, I'm definitely not going to raise chickens, and after reading the chapter "No Green Acres," I am mighty glad we rent that 10 acre hay field for somebody else to farm!

At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing that Eats is a satisfactory introduction to the series.  It is available through www.dogwoodmudhole.com.  A paperback copy can be purchased for $22.95; readers with US addresses are eligible for free shipping if they enter the code TOSFREE at checkout.  (Kindle/ePub/PDF versions are available as well; list price is $16.95.  For this review, I read the Kindle version and was happy to see there were no blatant errors in layout, punctuation, etc.) This tome ends as the last of the Y2K supplies - two rolls of toilet paper fished from the bottom of the empty stockpiling barrel - are retrieved for use in September 2002.   Volume 2: Best Thing We Ever Did (scheduled to begin shipping 11/15/2013) is available for preorder as well, and will pick up the next part of the story as human and critter Sanders families expand.

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 Back in February 2013, we were given the opportunity to review Apologia Educational Ministries' Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day homeschool science curriculum and absolutely fell in love with the Apologia Science program.  Although Luke had tried another high school Chemistry program, he just wasn't happy with it.  Yes, he still has to learn Chemistry, but if he's homeschooling and we have the flexibility to change things, why NOT?  He pulled out Jude's text from before, decided he really liked the program style, and wanted to try Apologia's high school program.  Jude overheard the decision making process and asked, "What's chemistry?" and found out it is a science course that contains potential for "experiments that blow stuff up."  Suddenly, Jude wanted to do Chemistry too.  When Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics was offered for review, I practically begged for the opportunity to work on this one.  A first-grade level explanation of how to explode the universe?  Jude was so excited to get started.

The textbook for this program ($39.) is fairly evenly split between chemistry and physics. Chapters 1 and 2 are a good meld of the two, beginning with shared basics like matter and the differences between solids, liquids, and gases.  Then the book starts to get into details.  Chapters 3, 4 and 5 then focus on chemistry - atoms, compounds, and mixtures - before the focus shifts to physics with motion, energy, sound, and light covered in chapters 6 through 10. A last chapter of a more chemistry-leaning topic - thermodynamics- rounds out the Chemistry offerings, and then the physics course completes with electricity, magnets, and machines.  If you had a student who liked new things often, you could follow trajectory of the text as written; if he preferred to explore one subject fully and then another, it would be very easy to skip around from section to section.

One chapter that overlapped with both Luke and Jude was was thermodyamics.  I got a kick out of Luke trying to explain things to Jude.  Jude also enjoyed working with Luke in a pseudo-lab setting (the kitchen).

I am very particular when it comes to lab safety.  Having been a science major at one point, I've see how even the most careful of scientists can have an accident.  Generally, they have only ended in a mess (a half-full bottle of crystal violet goes a VERY long way), but it is so important to wear goggles (the splash as it bounced thankfully got my goggles, not my eyes).  While all of the experiments in this book used household items, and I tend to think cornstarch isn't going to cause any problems,  I was pleased to see the "You will need..." section of many experiments included "safety goggles."  It is never too early to focus on safety, and the student that wears goggles from the start will be less likely to balk as he gets older -- "put on goggles" will just be automatic.

As much as Jude enjoyed working on formal experiments, we were also able to do "real life" things that brought home the ideas.  For example, when studying thermodynamics (Unit , we learned about heat conduction.  Jude now understands why he doesn't want to leave a metal spoon in a hot pot, and he does want to use "oven mittens" because the heat from the oven will make the cookie sheet hot.

 As we studied crystals, we then looked for them in our daily life.  Sugar in the brownies, salt on our french fries -- all were crystals to examine.  Even Mommy's engagement ring -- a diamond -- is a giant bunch of crystals.  We also found a bunch of great videos on minerals.  

We also found a YouTube video from Bill Nye the Science Guy as we read Lesson 4 and chemical reactions.   We learned chemistry is everywhere!  Jude especially enjoyed learning about chemistry in the kitchen - baking soda + vinegar + a few other ingredients =  "Wacky Cake" for dessert!

Jude watched the chemical reaction as he stirred pancakes - when we added milk to the flour and baking powder, the batter grew.   (And while it may not be quite what he had in mind when he wanted to blow things up, he agreed that the small explosions were delicious.)

While we didn't delve into physics too much, we did do a little bit of study in that field.  We learned about simple machines, and how we use them in our daily lives.  We learned about six simple machines - inclined plane, puley, screw, wedge, lever, and wheel and axle.  While we learned about how ancient civilizations, like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese, used simple machines, we also explored them in our daily lives.



Apologia's program includes not just the text book but also companion Notebooking Journals.  Because the general program is geared toward students in Kindergarten through 6th grades, there are two levels of journals.  We worked with the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journals  ($24.)  that are meant for the K-2nd grade crowd.  (If you click on the Crew banner below, you will be able to find out how the program worked with the "regular" journals geared toward 3rd-6th graders.)  In addition to the activity and journal pages, the notebook includes coloring pages and copywork.  I like the illustrations that show the "real" applications of the concepts.  For example, one of the illustrations for the unit on Matter is a trio of children panning a stream for gold.

The illustration clearly matches the concept: scooping up liquid water to separate solid gold.  It is also paired beautifully with a verse from Psalm 19:

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.  (Psalm 19:  9-10)

Coloring is an activity that often gets overlooked once a child starts school.  It not only develops an artistic eye, but the act of coloring itself strengthens small hands to prepare them for writing, develops eye-hand coordination, and helps a child learn to control the pressure and speed of his hand.  Jude receives occupational therapy once a week, and often his OT would ask for schoolwork for him to do, so that he wasn't having an hour of OT and then having to go home and do school besides. Many of his coloring pages were filled in at the hospital.

Jude and Miss Amanda also usually do a copywork page, so he can work on his handwriting.  This is a fine motor skill Jude needs practice with, but also it's a focusing skill that is hard for him.  20 consecutive minutes of seated work is one of our goals, and handwriting a Bible verse takes him between five and ten minutes, a good start towards his goal.




Damien (PK3) also joined in the fun!  He had his own Junior Notebook as well.  While he stuck mostly to coloring in the notebook, rather than even dictating facts,  he sat and listened as we read the textbook lessons aloud.  He thought the gems in Unit 4 were pretty, and was excited when we made and compared paper snowflakes, stand-ins for the crystal-based real ones.  His snowflake and Jude's snowflake were different, just like they are!


Even though it is written as a program for young students, Apologia's Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics is not a lightweight course.  The explanations and examples in the text are simple enough for a younger student begin to grasp the fundamentals of chemistry and physics, but expansive enough for an older student to be well prepared to move on to higher level courses. Even after having read entire chapters aloud, I believe we will be able to return to each one as each boy gets older, and revisit concepts and lab experiments as their understanding grows.  What we liked most was it made chemistry and physics FUN, which is what science should be all about!

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

IXL K-12 Math and Language Arts Practice (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

Given that we spend so much time away from home, I'm always looking to streamline the bags.   On a "typical" hospital day, my car trunk looks like this.

 

My thought when I was chosen for this review was, "Sounds promising!  I'm already carrying around the laptop or tablet...maybe it will be a few less books and we can downsize a bag or two!"

IXL Math

Jude is an old pro at the IXL program.  I first discovered it when he first became a homeschooler, so this is his third year working on it.  What drew me to it was that the program is simple.  There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, but there are rewards that keep the student's interest. At the end of each activity, if you had enough correct answers, you earned a ribbon; often, you also earned a "sticker" for your effort depending on how much you did (stickers are meted out based on activities mastered, number of problems completed, and time spent working).  When you're a four-year-old preschooler, it's all about the stickers, right?  However, we have transitioned to more of a book-based program as we've gotten beyond "assess what he knows" and Jude is learning new things.  I was curious how well the program would keep up with a first grader.  

When Jude first started, the program didn't go into high school math.  Now, it has programs for students from preschool through 12th grade.  Beyond having the opportunity to see how the first grade program worked, Luke also was able to work with the program. He is currently taking the semester off from math and will start Geometry in the spring.  I liked that it was going to be a six-week-review that forced him to practice his math skills.   Yes, I'm sneaky like that.  I was surprised that he was just as happy to get his "stickers" as Jude.  He wasn't necessarily motivated by getting one, but rather guessing what would be revealed next. 

Now, I know there are people who are going to gasp and faint away when I say this, but I will anyway.  I like the concept of the Common Core.  I don't think a standard "everybody needs to know this basic skill" program is a bad thing.  Notice I said I like the concept.  What I don't like is how it gets implemented.  That's a whole disaster unto itself.  But having a checklist of sorts (you can connect to your state's standards)  to make sure you don't miss a basic, foundational skill and realize it a couple years later?  That works for me.   This is a place where IXL is very strong.  It doesn't "implement" anything. What it does do is take the concepts a student is supposed to master in each grade, and break the year down into practice areas and checklists.  The parent gets to choose what concept the student should be working on, and in what order.  If your student completes the tasks at one level, you can start in on the next level and continue building.   If your student is uneven and stronger in one area than another, you can work across multiple grades.  But if a student completes an entire section in a grade (all the addition skills, all the geometry skills, all the money skills, etc.)  you know your student is ready to move onto a new level. I really feel like using this program as a way to make sure I didn't miss anything, and didn't assume he knew something but didn't.

With Jude (first grade), sometimes I choose to review and practice something we are working on currently.  Other times, I will go back and do something "easy" (like counting or adding small numbers) so he gets some kind of math practice.  I also like it as a way to help assess what he has organically learned, so we don't waste the limited "formal school" time we have.  For example, we haven't spent much time formally doing geometry.  However, he breezed through the section on geometry and identifying shapes.  Since he has proven to me he already can identify them, I'm not going to spend time "teaching" them to him.  We'll use the time work on something he struggles with (like skip counting).  One thing that is nice about the way the IXL program is set up is I don't have to do things 'in order."

I like that we can easily stop and start.  If we are working and a doctor comes in, we can exit and not lose our place.  When we come back, I just choose that activity again and we pick up where we left off.  If we are mid-work and I have to run to get somebody from school, we do the same thing.  Or, if Jude just isn't getting it, we can stop and come back another time.  If I thought he knew something and it turns out he didn't, again, I stop, reteach, and then we come back later.

PreK through 1st grade has the added bonus of "click-to-read," so that your child can work independently.  Clicking on the speaker icon activates the program to read the problem aloud.  We found this was kind of mixed.  It is a very mechanical-sounding voice, with very little inflection.  I found it better to work with Jude and read things to him.  He also has speech and hearing issues, so that may just have been what worked better for him - I could add inflection to help him pick up context.  Sometimes, it also just spoke too quickly for him, so repeating the text more slowly helped him understand.  What Jude did like about that audio support was even if he needed me to read the problem, he could click to hear the answers.  Between the context clues of a picture, and the voiceover for the text of the answer, often Mr. Independent was able to choose the correct one without Mom's help.

In some ways, we have been able to use IXL for Jude as a teaching program.  Once you have the idea of adding two numbers together, it's really just practice, practice, practice to gain proficiency, so we started working with adding numbers within five, then up to 10, and now are moving to up to 20. For "new" concepts, we worked on learning about vertices -- the corners of a shape.  Learning and practicing counting the vertices of a square or triangle easily happened simultaneously.  First grade "equations" and geometry is fairly simple to learn.  10th grade geometry...not so much, to Luke's chagrin.

For an older student, IXL truly is more of a practice program.  While if you get a problem wrong, it will explain to you the correct process, it takes a lot of wrong answers to learn how to do it.  IXL is better for reviewing material to make sure the student has the concept.  Luke began working on the Geometry section, and frustration quickly grew.

Having had the equivalent of two years of Algebra 1, I thought the first section -- a review of Algebra 1 concepts like ratios and linear equations would be a breeze for him. I was wrong.

At first, the frustration was over how he typed information.  For example, if the answer is 1234, you can't input "1234" or the programming will mark it as incorrect.   It took about 6 "wrong" answers for him to realize it needed to entered as "1,234" with the comma.  There were other times when he knew he had to do this but simply forgot (unless actually working on place value as a concept, he's never had to include commas in number writing), and it got marked wrong.  This snowballed because IXL uses something called "Smart Score" to assess proficiency.

Smart Score is IXL's proprietary algorithm that weights answers based, among other things, on how difficult the problem is and how many in a row you get correct.  Scoring isn't simply complete 20 problems, multiply by 5 and there's your score.  Some problems are worth more (harder problems, problems earlier in the assessment) and some are worth less.  One thing that really frustrated Luke was a wrong answer might lose you 20 points, and it would take four or five questions to gain them back.  If he got two or three problems incorrect (either because he flat out misunderstood, or because of mistakes like addition errors or "that stupid comma thing"),  it would take him a dozen to claw back up to where he was.  At one point, he spent TWELVE HOURS working on a IXL section.  After the second hour, he was disgusted.  After the fourth hour, he was determined.  One time, he was at an 88, and finally felt like he was mastering the topic.  Nope, a mistake on the next answer sent him down to a 75%, and a mistake two problems later landed him in the 60s.  He was devastated.  Another four hours later, and he was still only at 70% proficiency.  I took his laptop away and told him to go to bed, and try again in the morning. If he got to 88 again (the equivalent of a B+, I'd call it good enough).  He was overjoyed to finally score a 90, and I heard him whoop and then say "Just WALK AWAY!!"  He really wanted to hit that 100% mastery -- it was "personal" now.  But he didn't want to spend another 12 hours on math.  He laughed when later that morning, there was a certificate for "10 hours completed" in our email inbox.  When he said "Do you think I'll get another one of these tomorrow?" (I think he was only half joking.) Thankfully, most have gone faster than this, but there have been three very hard-won 90% sections.  When IXL says "limitless" questions, they aren't kidding.  In the 10 hours and 53 minutes he spent on Simplifying Radical Expressions, Luke's 90% proficiency took 623 problems to earn!

The rest of the frustration followed when Luke also attempted the "new" Geometry ideas.  Even ignoring the "Smart Score" and just trying to figure out problems, and then studying what he did wrong if the answer was incorrect, he was way over his head.  He used a web-based program to try to learn the material, but the program didn't click for him.  Though we may revisit some of the lower-grade sections just to exercise his brain, he again "officially on break" from math again but intends to go back to IXL when he formally starts Geometry in the new year. He definitely sees the benefit to using it for practice, but not until after he's learned the topic material.

Having multiple students is not an issue.  Each student can pick an identifying icon, so you can tell easily which profile you are working in.  For a non-reader like Jude, this helps avoid "Mommy, read this to me," and for a big kid like Luke, it lets him pick an avatar that interests him.  (When we first started, I chose a facsimile of him, but he's changed it a few times since.)

You also have the option to add a "secret word" to each student.  For Jude, we didn't add one; for Luke we did so that Jude couldn't accidentally access his section.










Remember how I said we can use this on the laptop or an iPad?  The iPad app is a relatively new feature.  I really like it.  Jude has tried a few sessions on it, and I have to say that the text is very crisp, even on an older-generation iPad. (Sometimes I find app versions of website programs can be a little fuzzy.)  My approaching-middle-age eyes appreciate this!

I also appreciate that it is easy to navigate AND you can access the sticker rewards via iPad.  I was afraid that the coding wouldn't work so well, but they are easily earned and acquired.

IXL Language Arts

There is also a Language Arts program for students in grades 2-4. While Jude is on par with his peers for math and spacial skills, his language skills are developmentally closer to a preschool level, so he was unable to do any of the program. Luke, a 10th grader, clearly is too old for the program. This is a new addition to the program this year, and hopefully will be expanded in the future. Since we really enjoy the math program, I will be putting it on my "revisit" list for the little boys as they get older. Adding it to the math program is a very reasonable charge for another way to practice their skills.

Pricing

IXL offers multiple membership options. The first table below shows the pricing schedule for monthly memberships, while the second shows the prices for if you'd prefer to pay annually.

Overall, we are very happy with IXL.  I was happy to get the opportunity to review it using multiple users, and a higher level student.  For our purposes -- being able to do schoolwork with a minimum of things to cart around -- it is perfect.  I can teach on "home" days and use IXL for practice and review while we're on the road, and feel confident that despite our crazy days the boys are learning everything they need to be successful at math.

100 families have been honing their math skills with IXL.  Check out their reviews by clicking the banner below. 

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Away We Go Media: If You Were Me and Lived in... (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 Carole P. Roman has written an adorable international themed book series.  There are four titles:

If You Were Me and Lived in...Mexico
If You Were Me and Lived in...South Korea
If You Were Me and Lived in...France
If You Were Me and Lived in...Norway

Each paperback book is about 25 pages long.  While the books are easily standalone volumes, together they make a foundation for a multicultural unit study for a preschool or early elementary student.  PKer Damien and first grader Jude enjoyed these books, while 4th grader Celia felt they were a bit babyish.  If they were part of a planned unit study, rather than as a standalone reading book, she might have felt differently, but that would still be the very upper edge of the age range I would use these with.  I plan to go back and re-use these as with the little boys as the "reading" half of a read-and-cook program.  I think it would be great to read about the country, and then hop into the kitchen and make a food that the country is known for.  They also would make a great read-aloud for a Daisy or Brownie Troop celebrating Thinking Day.

Rather than spouting dry facts about each country, each books shares information that shows how children from from around the world really aren't all that different after all.  They each go to school, celebrate special holidays, and have favorite foods and sports.  Whether you call her Mamá, Omma, Maman, or Mama, your mother is still a special lady.

It was interesting to see the different popular names.  Some were fun to guess - Alejandro is the Spanish version of Alexander, one of our cousins, and Celia was right about Mathis being the French form of Matthew.  However, I can't say we know anyone named Minjae or Bjørn.

I liked how there was a pronunciation guide at the end.  When reading it aloud to the little boys, the Spanish words were easy to pronounce.  Luke read the books to them as well, and after so many years of Spanish, only faltered a little with French.  I have to say, though, we both stumbled through Norwegian (even after many trips to Epcot, we haven't mastered much beyond a not-yet-caffeinated  "God dag!" as we stumble into the Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus) and I'm certain that we butchered Korean, but we gave it our best shot.  Kimchee and taekwando were the only things that came naturally to us on that one.  The pronunciation guide was very helpful.  The books also explained things in reasonable detail so that the language never really was an issue.

These books are filled with simple but detailed illustrations that explain as much as the text.  Each theme has a two page spread with the text usually on one corner of the page and the rest of the area filled with a visual interpretation of the concept.  I liked the pagination detail - each book has a "signature" picture by the page number.  The book on Mexico has a red chile pepper, France features croissant while South Korea's food feature is a bowl of rice noodles.  Norway shows a dog sled team.

The title If You Were Me and Lived in...Mexico is a Summer 2013 recipient of the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award.  This award was given by the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs in the category "Best Children's Interest Book."  Congratulations, Carole!

All of these books are available through the author's website; retail price ranges from $9.99 to $11.99.  We definitely enjoyed them. While they are available individually, I think they would make a great addition as a set to any young student's library.  Be sure to click the banner below to see what other crew members though about these books!

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 For several months now, Celia has told me she wanted to learn how to sew.  When the opportunity to review Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns came up, we jumped at the chance.  Gram taught Mom how to sew, Mom taught me, and now is my turn to teach my daughter.   I am excited Celia wants to learn because it really is a useful skill, and depending on what you are making, a real expression of art. I have sewn everything from children's clothing to figure skating costumes for the boys; in fact, I made many of Celia's clothes until she was a preschooler because her medical issues kept her from fitting into standard sized baby clothes.

Starting out with doll clothes is perfect - the items are smaller, meaning the scale of the project is as well.  Less cutting, less fabric to try to not catch in the machine, and still something she can show off when she is finished.   Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course with 8 Free Doll Clothes Patterns  is designed to teach you how to sew in about 12 weeks, but the year-long access (US $47.54 or AU$49.94 - note US prices may fluctuate slightly due to exchange rates) gives you plenty of time to work at a relaxed pace.   (The program is geared toward students ages 8+; Rosie also offers a DVD copy of the program for a one-time cost of US$66.53/AU$69.94, which may be more economical if you have several young seamstresses or tailors in the wings.)   The patterns included are for 18" dolls - perfect for making clothes for Celia's American Girl Dolls Rebecca and Katie.  There are also patterns made to fit clothes for a Cabbage Patch style doll.  They can either be purchased separately, or you can email Rosie and request to switch to them, if you do not have a dolly to sew for that fits the other patterns. 

Special price note from Rosie's Blog: 

From now until midnight on the 24th December, 2013 when you purchase my How to Make Doll Clothes video course I’m giving away an additional pattern of your choice absolutely free!

By now you are probably wondering, "OK, who is Rosie?"  Rosie is a mom from Australia who loves to sew.  She too learned how to sew from her mom at a young age.  When her daughter asked her to make clothes for her doll, she put her seamstress skills to work...except she found that sewing doll clothes was not quite the same as people clothes.  At first, I thought Rosie put things together in a strange pattern, but for sewing doll clothes, the steps make perfect sense!  Her experience and persistence really shine here.  For example, she starts with the hem of the shorts (Pattern No. 1).   For a beginner, this makes sense since it is a straight line - a good place to start - rather than a curved seam.  However, the "secret trick" here is sewing it while flat means you are using your machine to run up the hem, and are not hand-stitching because there is just no way a the leg is going to fit around the arm of the machine.   This is something I had not considered (see all those sleeve hems up there that I should have done before sewing the arms...).  Even for experienced seamstresses, this program is a worthwhile course if you want to make doll clothes with less aggravation.

This program has two six week long sections - a "how to" instructional, then sewing practice.  There are two ways to work on the program.

1- Watch all of the background info (or at least the first three weeks' worth of videos), then dive into the sewing pattern.

2 - Watch Week 1 Lesson + Week 1 Pattern simultaneously.

In total, there are 130 individual videos, from "What tools you need" to "How to finish off your seams."   When I first looked at the site, I thought we would do the pattern right away, because Celia is itching to sew something.  However, after looking over the site before we started, I realized there was so much background information to sewing.  Much of it I learned by watching my mother - nobody ever showed me how to lay a pattern, I just watched and helped her enough that I knew.  I never realized how much I had just "picked up" over time.  Most of the sewing I did was when Celia was little, so while she did watch me, she wasn't really paying attention or helping. 

If you're new to sewing,  I recommend really trying to be patient.   Watch the how-to videos,  then go into the pattern section and start sewing.  This way, you have the opportunity to learn about different sewing tools, and then go to the sewing store and get ones you wish to have.  (I need me a Bodkin to help with elastic!  I have always just hooked a safety pin on the end and used that to feed it through, but invariably it opens midway through and sticks in the casing.)  You'll also learn about coordinating laying out a pattern with a fabric's grains, patterns, and nap, which is especially important if you want to use remnant pieces.  We have been going slowly - watching a few videos at a time.  Now that we have made it through many of the background videos, we are getting to making our first item - a pair of shorts.  (Or, rather, two pairs of shorts, because Rebecca can't possibly have new clothes and not Katie!)

There were several things I'm glad that Rosie said.  One actions she was most emphatic about -- DON'T USE FABRIC SCISSORS ON PAPER!!  I've been saying this forever and ever, and constantly rescuing my "good" fabric shears from the hodgepodge of scissors.  (At one point, I even put a band-aid on the handle so I knew they were the "new" good ones.)  Now that someone else has said not to do it...


There is a video on how to print your patterns.  It seems silly, but you want to make sure you choose the correct printer settings, or else your pattern pieces may print differently.   If you're making something with multiple pattern pieces, if you do not print it right, your outfit will not come out right. It stresses making sure you have "fit to page" unchecked and you are using the proper size paper.

The patterns are downloaded in two files: the pattern pieces and the instructions.  The patterns themselves have length on them, so you can gauge how much fabric you need.  Many pieces can be used with larger scraps (usually less than half a yard; depending on what you are making, a fat quarter could be sufficient), but if you are going to be choosing "new" fabric, print your patterns/instructions first so you know how much to ask for at the fabric store.  The printable directions that go with the patterns also include a notions list, including any "optional" things (like buttons to decorate the night dress' bodice).

 Aren't these outfits adorable?  All of them are included with the program!

Each written step has a video to go with it.  So many times, I have looked at the "next step" of a pattern and said, "WHAAAAT?" because the writing and what I am holding in my hand do not mesh into a clear visual.  So many times I have called my mother, "OK, I give.  What is this telling me to do?"  (My mother is a fantastic seamstress - she once designed and made a dozen elf costumes in under a week for a Christmas play for my grade school.  Although, to give credit where it is due, my father is an amazing pattern maker and seam presser as well.)  Usually we figure it out because she has already made something similar, but it is hard for me to describe what I am doing and what I want to do and make the imagery work for her, too.  Once I have done it (and seen it!) I am invariably left thinking, "Duh."  The next time I do that pattern, or make something else similar, the pattern makes sense.  Having the well narrated and clearly recorded videos to go along with each step helps it make sense before I start muttering under my breath.

I think it is wonderful that Rosie is open to suggestions from her clients. For the nightie, she has "her" way of making the shoulder straps.  Another seamstress tried it, struggled, and worked out a way that was easier for her, then shared it with Rosie.  Now the pattern contains "alternative directions" that include the new method, in case that process makes more sense to others as well.

After a month of watching the videos, Celia is excited to finally be ready to sew.  While it might be possible for an older student to sit through the videos in a few days, being only nine with a shorter attention span plus having homework and projects to work around means it has taken us longer than she would like.    I have watched ahead to the sewing videos, and although she may need a little help working my sewing machine, I really think Celia is going to be able to make the items almost totally by herself.  (Rosie discusses recommended stitch length and tension, but does not really get into specifics on how to set these, since all machines work differently.)  Celia has her dolls, her fabric, and her notions, and is ready for Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns to help her start sewing wardrobes for her "little girls" - just like Mom. 
.

There are lots of very well dressed dollies now!  

Read about how Crew families made wardrobes for their dolls by clicking the banner below.

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

VocabularySpellingCity (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

VocabularySpellingCity is an online, game-based way for students to learn vocabulary and spelling.  There are two kinds of membership - one is free but with limited access, the other is a premium membership that allows full access to the site's entire repertoire of word lists and games.  Our family received a premium membership that allowed all five children to test the site out.  I was very excited because this is a program that ALL students can benefit from, regardless of where they receive their education.

Often I am skeptical of free vs. premium memberships.  Most times, premium memberships don't give you enough value when compared to free options.   A VocabularySpellingCity premium membership is $29.99 per year.  Perhaps I'm biased because we had so many users, making the cost-per-child ratio lower - so on one hand, you could say "At six bucks per kid -- how can you go wrong?"  However, even if I had ONE child using this, I think it's worth the cost.   The flexibility of this program amazes me.

First, there are several more activities available to the premium member.  In fact, the entire "learn the words as vocabulary" program is open to premium members.  This alone makes it worthwhile -- I think knowing what a word means often helps gives clues to how the word is spelled.

I love that this program is multisensory - hearing, seeing, tactile interaction.  Some of the activities are basic, dry, "match the word with the definition," which really is a necessary part of learning vocabulary.  VocabularySpellingCity tries to make it fun, but sometimes, you have to accept that matching definitions requires memorizing.  However, the program tries to use different methods of presentation to help students learn.  Vocabulary is presented as "Choose the correct word from a multiple-choice list," "Use context clues to put the word in a sentence," and "Match the lists."

With several ways for a student to learn and manipulating words on a list, the focus is on the activity, not on "Oh, I never can remember this word!" or "This activity doesn't help me!"

Speedy Speller, another premium game, requires the student to master both accuracy and speed.  For my in-school two, this is really helpful, because when they have their weekly spelling tests, the teacher only spends a minute or two on each word -- either you know how to spell it, or you don't.  Speedy Speller helps them learn the word correctly AND quickly, so they're prepared for the next word when it is given.   Speedy Speller takes away the "OH no, I only have 30 seconds to write the word," because they know can do it (correctly) in nine, still leaving time to go back and make sure penmanship is legible.  For my homeschooler, Luke, speed is still important. When he needs to write timed essays, he can't spend all of his time trying to figure out how to spell a word. 

You can never run out of words to use with VocabularySpellingCity.  There are pre-loaded lists for students from Pre-Kindergarten through the end of High School.  Damien and Jude are playing using early Dolch sigh-reading words while Luke has taken advantage of the upper level Chemistry, Geometry, and SAT prep.  Matthew's school-assigned vocabulary book is already partnered with the program, so I can import his weekly words with a few clicks.  Celia has teacher-assigned words that we easily enter into the program each week.  For these fourth grade level words, the definitions are already in the program.  However, you can also enter your own words and definitions.  I think this would extend the life of the program to beyond high school - even college students who need to learn definitions (especially math and science majors) could enter in words and definitions and take advantage of the program.  Here's a list I created:

 (Can you tell which department we've visited recently?)

Second,  a premium membership is beneficial for homeschooling mamas because it will track progress - and grades - as well as assignments!  I'm not opposed to grading tests, but really - if I have the opportunity for an independent grader to give me a number to throw in the grade book, I'm happy.  While I'm not grading the little boys, Luke's spelling and vocabulary scores are being averaged into his subject grades - even math.  To me, it's just as important that he knows the language of what he is talking about, not just that he can move the numbers around.   Celia has generally been a good speller, but she has more confidence going into her Friday tests.  Matthew struggles with remembering vocabulary, and the extra practice has definitely helped him, bringing his grades from failing into C territory.  (Hey, it's a hard-won C, so I'll take it!)  However, watching his grade creep up each time he repeated a week's assignment meant that words were "sticking," and he felt prepared to take the in-school test on Fridays.  He felt like he would be able to do reasonably well, rather than being resigned to just going in and letting whatever he knew come out and result in yet another failing grade.

The premium membership also allows me to customize a program for the individual student. Each child has his own login within our family's account, so I can assign tailored programs to each one.  For example, I can assign the PK Dolch words for the little guys and the high school word lists for Luke, but none has to sort through the others' assignments - each gets his own list.  I can choose the activities assigned to each student based on what they need (Damien isn't quite up to learning definitions - I just want him to start understanding that letters make words), and what they prefer (Luke likes the matching definitions,  Matthew prefers an extra round of sentences to help him cement context clues.)  I like that I can set the programs to "lock" the order -- this way, they do the "practice" tests first and then the final test last, rather than "getting it over with" and failing before taking the opportunity to really learn the words.

Third, these games are FUN.  Ok, maybe there wasn't a whole lot fun about a spelling test, but learning the words sure was.   VocabularySpellingCity is a family-owned educational software company with nearly 40 employees dedicated to creating "game-changing" educational systems. The founder, John Edelson, has a history in the gaming industry that stretches back nearly 30 years and includes producing the popular game "Croc: Legend of the Gobbos."  The graphics are crisp and clean regardless of platform - with five students, we employed every one in the house --  Mac, PC and iPad/iPod*.  They are age appropriate regardless of level - our family's favorite game (HangMouse) was simple enough for the younger ones yet still considered whimsical by the older kids.  This program quickly became a favorite post-homework gaming activity for Matthew and Celia and an anticipated school task for the others.

*Note: due to programming issues, the iPad/iPod App does not support all of the activities.  My face value, non-techie understanding is they require something iOS doesn't play nice with in order to work.  However, if we only had an iPad as our only way to use the program, I would still consider it worthwhile - out of 28 activities available to a premium member, only five are not available via App.  All of the other non-game features, including recordkeeping, are still supported.

There is one more population I want to focus on: the student in the classroom.

We are a hybrid schooling family.  Because of having homeschooling brothers, Matthew and Celia had the opportunity to try out the program, and it really worked for them.

I am a huge proponent of cutting back on homework.  I can see where some work has merit, but when you have a child like Matthew who is simple done by 3 pm, it's a fight that I don't look forward to.  But he NEVER considered this as homework.  This was a game. This was fun. Yes, as a 7th grader he realized it was educational, BUT he was willing to work on it.  In fact, he would hustle through his homework in order to not lose "SpellingCity Time."   One afternoon, I had to go to the Apple Store to get Jude's iPad repaired, and Celia disappeared into the sea of "Try us" laptops. When I went to tell her it was time to go, she said, "One more minute...I'm playing Spelling City!" 

I wish we had known about this program sooner.    Having seen Matthew's grades go up so dramatically in four weeks, I think this could have saved us a lot of drama and tears.  It's also been far more effective than his usual Vocabulary homework.  I couldn't tell you the last time his vocabulary grade was above an 80; he even got a 100 on the spelling portion of the test.  I also intend to discuss with his teachers the possibility of implementing it school-wide, because I can't believe I have the only student that struggles with learning spelling and vocabulary.  I know that our school's budget is very tight (what school's isn't these days?) but I feel that this is something that the Curriculum committee really needs to consider.  We have reviewed a number of other programs that could be used by both home- and "regular"-schoolers alike, but this is the first one where I've felt that the program has filled a niche that nothing else I've seen can.  And, at less than two dollars per student, I think that even a modest fund-raiser can add this to the curriculum and reap great rewards. 

There were only two major problems that I found with the program.

• Dictation during tests. This was probably the biggest problem we had with the program.  When taking the spelling and vocabulary tests, many words were said so quickly that they were hard to hear.  At first, I thought it was just Luke (he does have some auditory processing issues), but then Celia remarked she couldn't understand, either.  I sat in on a test with each, and wasn't sure what was being said, either - even when I had the word lists up on my screen.  When I re-tested them verbally myself, they both knew the correct spelling of the word and the definition, so it was definitely a testing issue, not a learning deficit.  During other spoken activities within the program, the dictation was not as hard to understand - it was better enunciated and at a still rapid but more easily understood clip.  But for the tests, it was said quickly and too evenly - with no appropriate syllable stressing.

• Some games really need a word bank or list.  

I had to print out/handwrite lists for games such as "HangMouse" and Crossword really could use a word bank, especially for younger students.  Without the words next to him, Jude got every attempt wrong at HangMouse -- after all, when you're just learning words, do you know how many three letter words are out there??  A LOT.  But with a list in front of him, he was able to not only complete the task without tears, but use process of elimination - "The word 'and' has three letters, let's try A...ok, there's no A in the word, so that means it can't be 'can' either..let's try F for 'for...'" or "Ok, the A is in the middle, so it's not 'and' but it could be 'can,' so let's see if there is a C."  Even for Celia and Luke's words, having a list at hand was helpful.  This way, their focus was on the six-letter words on their lists, not needing to memorize a list so they knew which words to recall.  While we solved this by copying the words down ourselves (not inherently bad because that added another way of learning), it would be nice if there was a word bank option (even a drop-down hint box) so that the student was not trying to play and keep track of a printout all week.

VocabularySpellingCity's Premium Membership is a program that I am very, very happy to have had to opportunity to review.  A nice balance of "traditional" word-and-definition learning and classic games, it has provided all of the students in our family - from PK through High School -  a multisensory way to learn and reinforce learning vocabulary and spelling.  The Premium membership has been worthwhile for the homeschoolers in our  family, providing individualized programs and recordkeeping, while the "regular" schoolers have been able to work on their own teacher-assigned lists as well.  This program is Fun ("With a Capital F," says Matthew),  far more engaging than another worksheet, and provides instant feedback and a second chance if a wrong answer is given.  Having the iPad App option really came in handy - one child could work on a computer while the other was on an iPad.  This is a program I look forward to continuing to use for a long time to come.

100 members of the  Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using VocabularySpellingCity.  Find out what they thought of the program by clicking the banner below.

©2012- 2013 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com