Math Mammoth ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

Math is a big struggle here.  Pretty sure I've mentioned that before.  Maybe several times.  While the punks are good with most concepts there are a few holes we struggle over and over to fill.  One or the other is better at some things, but I decided to just run both the bigger littles through Add & Subtract 2-A, Clock, and Money from Math Mammoth's Blue Series.  If you're looking for a complete year of grade level math, their Light Blue series books are available for 1st to 7th.

These units are available as a download, CD, or in print.  Our books came as a download.  I had no trouble grabbing them and saving them to my computer.  We used these workbooks *in addition to* the math we were already using.  The boys have learned many concepts in the upper elementary range, but they just have an awful time remembering these three concepts.  Rote memorization of addition facts is just not working for us, so we keep looking for new ways to practice the use of facts without being boring.

Each "worktext" contains the student worksheets as well as the instruction part of the lessons.  You will not have need of a teacher's manual to instruct on these topics. A full list of answers is in the back of the book.  The copyright allows for one teacher or parent to make copies as needed for their class or family.  Each of the individual math units are very affordable.

Math Mammoth Clock
Clock - for grades 1-3. This unit covers reading the clock, writing the time in several ways, the passage of time, and using a calendar.
$4.75
80 pages
The approximate grade level equivalents are

• 1st to the half hour
• 2nd five minute increments
• 3rd to the exact minute

You may really want a practice clock of some sort.  One of my guys used it extensively.  The booklet starts using only the hour hand at first and then adds in the minute hand.  Students learn half hour, then five minute intervals, and finally, to the minute time telling.  They will also learn to calculate the passage of time and finally the calendar.  While we are still working on the clock segment, I'm not concerned about the calendar part for these guys.

Math Mammoth U.S. Money
Money - for grades 1-3. In US Money, students learn to count coins and dollars, make purchases and count the change, and add money.
$3.55 
56 pages
The realistic looking coins and color clip art still printed nicely on my black and white printer.  I really appreciated this because I *have* used money work sheets that looked atrocious when printed and were nearly impossible to differentiate some of the coins.  The use of real currency is an option for many of the exercises.  Xav has gotten very good at counting his own money and is often counting it to "save up" for some thing or other.

Math Mammoth Add and Subtract 2-A
Add &Subtract 2 A - for grades 1-2. Students learn to add with numbers 0-100, this book does not cover carrying or borrowing.
$3.95
71 pages
The punks are learning strategies to help them to remember adding and subtracting numbers 0-20, using memory "tricks" like doubles and one more.  They'll learn difference, word problems, and fact families using number rainbows, dots, and number lines.

I wish I had chosen Add & Subtract 2-B which covers carrying and borrowing.  Other than that, I am very happy with the units and the progression through each of them.  They're so affordable, I will have no problem purchasing 2-B and beyond.

Blue Series individual math units cover many other topics, including multiplication, geometry, fractions, and place value.  The units together cover all the necessary subject matter for grades 1-6, as well as some of grade 7 math.  This table tells you how to place your child in each of the grade levels and books.

I printed out a week worth of sheets for both punks in each of the books.  Some days, we were out of our home for co-op or sports, so we completed about three or four days with Math Mammoth over the review period.  While it is easier for them to use the books as printed worksheets, there is an option for filling out the sheets on the computer with Adobe Reader.  If you have a student who does well using the computer for this type of work, it's a great option.

Sheets for the week.

We're about half to a third of the way through Addition & Subtraction 2-A and Money.  It will take us longer to work through the clock booklet.  It's a bit longer and it's more difficult for one of the punks.  Every segment of the book regularly reviews the topics that have been covered.

Online song, games, and videos can be found on the included safe resources lists that reinforce the concepts being taught.  In this subtraction video, the author, Maria Miller, talks about fact families and that she does not advocate drilling facts.  She got me right there, because we have been working on this for years.  Drilling doesn't work for all kids.  (Confession:  I use "tricks" of my own for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  I have not memorized these facts yet.  Well, some I know instantly, others not.)

I had hoped to use the clock unit with Merrick at this time (he just turned five).  I'm afraid that will have to wait.  While he is able to read hours, those few minutes before the next hour are confusing.  The unit progressed way too quickly for the little guy.  That's not a reflection of the book, just saying that my five year old will not be using it *this year*.  I definitely plan to use each of them when he is ready for the concepts covered.

I really liked the convenience of individual topics.  We often talk about how homeschoolers can be at different grade levels in various subjects, but no one seems to ever discuss that a child can be all over the place in one subject.  This can really make it difficult to educate the punks.  I know that I had been holding them back in all math when they weren't progressing or improving in some areas.  I wish someone had been more open with this information with me once upon a time.  I hope that this review can help someone else in a similar situation.

The Light Blue Series from Math Mammoth is a complete course by grade level.

You can find Math Mammoth on social media.
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If you also have a Homeschool Planet subscription with the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, there are lesson plans available.  I don't have a subscription, so I really can't tell you much about that, but several of the Crew members did gain access to those lessons.  Go ahead and check them out. We were offered the opportunity to review many different books in the Blue and Light Blue series of math products, including international options.  Click through and see if anyone used something your students might benefit from.

I'm such a Dork.

I was just looking over a few things on my other blogs.  I'm kind of trying to figure out how and if I want to combine the whole shebang into a single blog.  It just makes more sense now than it used to.  Anyway, over at Learning to Be a Light, I found this sitting in my drafts.



It's dorky, I know.  Today, after leaving a phone message for my own dad and before I called my stepdad, I called God.  On the phone.  Weird, huh?  I dialed a number I thought sounded godly and spoke to Him like I was leaving Him a message.  I spilled my guts.  I cried.  I asked Him to call me back.  The phone hasn't rung all night.  Bummer.

But I know he's there.  And He heard me.

It might be time to call my Heavenly Dad.   "Hello?  It's me again."

Renaissance and Reformation ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

I was never good at history.  It was just a lot of boring dead people and dates to remember.  We didn't learn things that made sense to me.  I didn't understand how things were connected across the globe and through time.  I'd like to help the punks make better sense of things, so I can really appreciate the use of timelines and such.  Home School in the Woods offers a curriculum that matches my hopes for hands on history lessons and with HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Renaissance & Reformation, which is for students in 3rd-8th grade, we're getting a handle on one of my favorite periods.

Home School in the Woods uses a Christian perspective.  The award winning curriculum has won accolades from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and The Homeschool Review Crew, receiving several of our Blue Ribbon awards over the years.  Amy Pak and her husband, Ed, and their four children run Home School in the Woods from their little homeschool in the woods (and fields, creek, and ravine).  A homeschooling family since 1996, they enjoyed learning history through living books and a timeline.  Amy designs their timeline figures herself and one of her sons does most of the research and writing involved in their products.  Home School in the Woods is truly a family business.

I had two reasons for wanting to complete the Renaissance & Reformation Passport this year.
1. Renn Faire
We take the boys to a HUGE (well, to us) and fairly authentic renaissance faire every summer.  I absolutely loved the idea of studying this era with them this year, so they would have a deeper understanding of what exactly is happening when we are there.  I sometimes think they forget it is a real time period!
2. Unit Studies
I like unit studies.  The boys like unit studies.  I never do unit studies anymore unless the Homeschool Review Crew offers them, well, because I am a glutton for punishment.  And by punishment, I mean irritable children who complain non-stop about school.

I also had one concern.  It looked super involved.  We school year round and keep breaks to a minimum, which means we can also enjoy shorter days than some with older elementary students.  That means I won't spend an hour or more on history when we can't really set aside math and language arts.  These World History Studies are broken down into 25 lessons and you might expect to take six-12 weeks to complete the Renaissance & Reformation, we will take nearly twice as long.

The study is set up like an actual tour of the times and places.  You'll "travel" to Florence, London, Switzerland, and many other places on this journey which takes place from the 12th century to the 1600s.  You learn about every day life for the rich and the poor and "meet" royalty, artists, scientists, and clergy throughout the lessons.

Basic items you will need to complete the unit.

• binders (1 1/2" or 2") per child (however, we worked as a family through everything and only needed the one 2" binder)
• file folders (again, we worked together or took turns, so only needed one)
• colored card stock
• white card stock
• copy paper
• colored copy paper
• glue sticks (or white school glue)
• colored pencils

Some items that would be good to have (they're recommended, but I didn't use them at all).

• a larger 3-ring binder for the teacher
• double-sided sticky tape
• acetate
• lamination sheets
• corrugated cardboard (any old box will work)

You'll also need a few other things for various projects, like cookie ingredients and chalk pastels.  If you don't have a certain item, you can always skip that one activity.  There are so many hands on and listening projects, it's totally OK if you can't get to some of them.  I based my decisions on the abilities, interest, and strengths of the punks.

Photocopy (or multiple prints) for use within a family is allowed under the copyright.  There are additional resource lists for books, audio books, videos/DVDs, and music broken down for each stop.  We borrowed several books and DVDs from our library.  The basically had *none* of the listed resources, but it wasn't difficult to find a few suitable biographies, fiction and non-fiction books, and we had an excuse to borrow the boys' favorite video on daVinci.  (They wrote reports about him last year.)

Color or black and white print options are available for binder covers.  I really like being able to choose line art, so I'm not printing color pictures on my black ink only printer.  I always think that looks pretty terrible.  One file I noticed was a bit odd.  Both the color prints and the black line art were on the same page.  I'd have preferred a couple sets of each were on separate pages.  So I didn't have to print two copies of the page. 

The giant zip file took just seconds to download.  The sheer number of files was intimidating for this Home School in the Woods newbie. I have to say, six weeks in, I still feel overwhelmed by it, but we keep plugging along.  There is so much great content, I definitely recommend that you go to the website and download the free sample lessons.  I especially think your family will enjoy these history studies if you are lapbookers, notebookers, or hands on explorers.  There is something to engage every kind of learner.

In the Renaissance & Reformation study your students will create a newspaper, take audio tours, dine out, make crafts, and more.  Don't forget your passport (which is included).  You'll be able to use that through all of your travels to different time periods, not just the Renaissance period.  So pack a bag, try out the sample lesson, and take a fun journey to your favorite historical place and time.

So far on our stops, we've heard two of the included audios, a day trip in Florence and a chat with Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel.  We all enjoyed them and the boys have voiced a desire to really go on these trips.  I'm most looking forward to the audios with Sir Francis Drake and Shakespeare.

The bulk of the printing seems to be done at the beginning, the very first stop.  I was put off by that just because of the sheer number of pages.  There are a lot of individual page files, which just felt more daunting.  There were instructions to print one page on the back of another, but because they were two separate PDFs, I needed to keep trying to orient the page back through the printer.  This is a newer printer to me, and this wasn't going well for me.  While I understand the size of the files was quite large (hence the zipping), and some pages were to be printed on card stock or various colored pages, I felt there was no reason some pages couldn't be combined to ease the printing burden.

When you first download and unzip the files (or start the CD), you would go into the START file and this opens on the internet, which I found confusing.  The "Start" file takes you to a website which was a more helpful list, but locked up my browser (not responding message) from about 30 seconds to several minutes each time I accessed it. The pages are all listed there in order of use, but when you click, it opens the file in the same tab, so when I click the back button, the browser locks up again.  I would *LOVE* a start PDF that listed each thing in order the way the web based START file does.  The travel planner sort of does that, but the file designation (ex. M-7-3 - which means Master file, stop 7, file 3, if I remember correctly) isn't listed there and all the components for that stop aren't listed (example the Guide Book text readings aren't included).  I'd rather have a straight forward document that just lays it all out for me.  I wish the Travel Itinerary PDF listed the file designation of each of the files I would need also.

With the 25 lessons (stops), we are averaging about one Stop each week.  It fitted us best to break it down over several days.  There was quite a bit to read from the Guide Book text, as well as the timeline, lapbook, postcards, and crafts to complete.  (Speaking of the postcards, which are blank on one side, I found some artwork that complemented the notes written on one side and the boys color the pictures and we glue them to the front of the cards.  I *know*, far too well, that if I asked them to draw a picture on the postcards, they would all be decorated with trains and Delorean time machines - though that would almost make sense.)

Stop 1 is mostly prep and I did that all myself.  I did read the text aloud to the boys and discuss some of the things we already knew about the era.  They were somewhat excited to learn some of the things we would be learning about were relevant to the Renn Faire.

I did not print out the Travel Itinerary pages or the Guide Book Text pages (BTW, the Guide Book Text pages are in a file simply titled text), therefore I didn't need a teacher binder.  It's all in the computer, so I didn't feel there was a need for one more binder.

I love, love, love the timeline.  I chose to create it in accordion fold.  Next time I make a timeline, I will print the images on sticker paper and just cut them out and adhere that way.  Right now, they're on card stock, which I did accidentally while printing something else.  Aaaanyway,  I'm using a piece of packing tape to adhere them after the boys color them.  I do *not* want those puppies falling apart after we put all the work into them!

Whew!  As you can see, I have mixed feelings about a few of the aspects of HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Renaissance & Reformation.  I want to be clear that I am not technologically inclined, which may be part of my issue.  I just didn't get "intuitive" out of a good chunk of the tech aspects of opening which files and following the flow of the work.  On the other hand, I did see incredible value in the projects, audios, and text.  There is a ton of information packed into this study and we're enjoying what we are doing.  Xav often asks if we are going to "do that history thing" for the Crew today.  No one whines when we work on it.  Those aspects make it worth it to me to spend a little time figuring it out.

Available as a download or CD, Home School in the Woods also has Passport studies for Ancient Egypt, The Middle Ages, and the newest title, Ancient Greece, with Ancient Rome to follow next year.

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The Crew has a lot to say about each of the HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Studies.  Click below to read more reviews and learn about the other studies.

E is for Enemy.

Notice I didn't title this "The Enemy."  Certainly, as Christians we have *the* enemy, but there are other kinds of enemies.

• Satan - the enemy of all of God's people. 
• Military enemies - A country or people who are against "us" as a nation or people.
• Frenemies - People who pretend to our faces to be our friend, but in reality are against us.
• Enemies who are against us because one might believe differently than they.

Webster's 1828 says this about enemies.
EN'EMY, noun [Latin inimicus.]
1. A foe; an adversary. A private enemy is one who hates another and wishes him injury, or attempts to do him injury to gratify his own malice or ill will. A public enemy or foe, is one who belongs to a nation or party, at war with another.
3. In theology, and by way of eminence, the enemy is the Devil; the archfiend.

It's interesting to know that frenemy is a very new *official* word.  There have been frenemies since the beginning of time.  One might even consider the serpent in the Garden of Eden to have been a frenemy.  Certainly, Delilah was no friend of Samson.  Job's "friends" weren't very friendly.  The saying, "with friends like these..." doesn't even need to be completed for you to know what I'm talking about.

In Luke 6, we're told "²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."  Seriously?  That is whack.  But I've done it.  And I'll keep doing it.  It isn't easy, but I pray for the soul of an abuser.  I don't spend time with that person, but I continue to pray for them from time to time.  As I was typing this, I realized I actually found it easier to pray for the non-Christian who misused me terribly for many years than to pray for a couple of Christians (I can't even tell you how much I wanted to put quotes around Christian, but I realized I'm sometimes the kind of Christian who deserves quotation marks.  Funny how you have one idea when you plan a post and something completely different comes out of it.) who maybe offended me far less.

What a mess we are.

So keep loving people.  Try to not hurt people.  Pray for all people.


My other E posts:
Enthusiasm


Read more Blogging Through the Alphabet posts here.

(Wondering About the) F is for the Fountain of Youth

While driving around the other night, we were discussing various explorers: Leif Erikson, Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, Amerigo Vespucci, and Ponce de León.  That led to the Fountain of Youth.

The Fountain of Youth or similar legends have been around for as long as the 5th century BC.  People believed that drinking from or bathing in the spring or fountain would bring long life.  You can visit The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park located in St. Augustine, Florida.

I had questions.

If one drinks from the fountain, how young does one become?

If you become a child, do you stay one forever?

Or do you just stop aging at the age you are?

How often do you need to drink from it?

If you stop drinking from it, would you start growing older at a regular rate from the age you became?

Or would you suddenly become the age you would have been (or dead)?

Can it be removed from the fountain and taken somewhere?

So much musing and no answers.  It's fun to consider the possibilities.

D is for Dreams

Dreamsssszzzzzz.

And nightmares.

Some days, I allow the boys to watch some videos on youtube.  They were getting somewhat obsessed, especially with Thomas the Tank Engine "remakes" that people were posting.  I sometimes found the dialog a bit...  sassy, maybe, with jokes that weren't really inappropriate, so much as a bit rude.  It turns out that the videos weren't exactly remakes of favorite Thomas episodes, just grown men making their own very silly videos with Thomas toys.

I paid less and less attention to the videos the boys were watching, because let's face it, they aren't intended to appeal to adults.  Or were they?  At one point, there were a few inappropriate words smattered throughout the videos, so the boys watched them with the sound muted.  Sodor trains crashing are still funny as silent films.  Supposedly.

There's more to this story, but to keep it short, we found out the boys were sneaking the videos when no one knew they had them.  Devices were put away in the living room and boys were waiting until everyone else was in bed to sneak them to their rooms.  We found out, of course, and that's when we found out the shockingly inappropriate things that the boys had found in videos supposedly portraying Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends!

Every night, one of the boys has been praying that God would protect him from bad dreams.  And every day, he wants to watch the videos he has been banned from seeing.  (Obviously, he does not get to see them!)  These videos were actually inducing him to have nightmares.  I was reminded of the children's song Be Careful, Little Eyes.

Be careful little eyes what you see.
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.
For God is up above
And He's looking down with love,
So, be careful little eyes what you see.

There are more song verses about what we hear, do, say, and where we go.  God does care what we consume on this earth.  He doesn't wish to lose any of His children.  I think this is a perfect example of why we should protect ourselves from harmful media.  Until our children are able to protect themselves, we need to do that for them.  Even if that means they don't get to watch things they enjoy.

D is also for Diligent.

Times Alive ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

I know math facts can be difficult for some children to memorize.  Many programs take it for granted that all children are able to handle this.  Some kiddos really struggle with multiplication facts.  Drilling flash cards are often promoted as the best way to memorize.  But there is a much more enjoyable way to learn multiplication.  Times Tables the Fun Way's online math course Times Alive uses songs and stories to teach multiplication to boys and girls of all ages and abilities.

My children really enjoyed using online lessons with animated songs and stories to learn times tables the fun way!  The stories were memorable and even after finishing the program, they love going back and rewatching.  But, before I get into all of that, let me tell you about the Times Alive program.

Here's the list of the first eleven lessons.  Each is marked with the type of lesson it is; story, song, paint, quiz, or test.  As the child works through the lessons, they receive a circle in the first column that indicates if they viewed or completed the lessons.  This is Malachi's lesson list.  The songs annoyed Mal, but that's not necessarily program related.  He often has trouble listening to "kid sing," if that makes any sense. You can see from his first column that he eventually stopped listening to the songs.  They are only marked "viewed."  Even so, the stories held the attention of all three of the boys. 

Also on this control panel, you'll see the buttons that enable the student to navigate the program.

• The Back button sends a student back one screen, 
• The mute button which controls the sound, 
• A button to pause the video, 
• The quit button, which *must* be clicked when you finish your session to be sure it is saved.
• The Student Progress Report (this screen is below),
• A help button,
• The lesson list button,
• If you miss something or don't quite understand the lesson, click the do again button,
• And lastly, the next button will advance you to the next screen.

This is also Malachi's Student Progress Report.  It's pretty similar to the previous screen, but also shows his quiz and test scores and times.  There's a handy scroll bar on the right to view all of the lessons.

The timed quizzes throughout let you know how your child is doing.  

To find your child's baseline just have them complete the first "Nuts and Bolts" test.  This test is comprised of 48 questions.  Once the student clicks on start, the timer begins.  When he is finished, he clicks the done button to display the number and percentage correct, along with the time it took to complete the test in minutes and seconds.  If you have a child who is not good at taking tests on the computer or you need something on paper to include in a portfolio, you can print a blank test.

At the end of all of the lessons is a second Nuts and Bolts test.  Compare this one to the quiz at the beginning to see the students' progress.  Mal didn't miss many questions the first time through, but you can see that his time was nearly slashed in half after going through the program just one time.

Merrick reminds me often that he can't wait to turn *16* so he can drive a *4x4*.  It's even sticking with him, and he just watches the stories once in a while with his brothers.

Once you access Times Alive, it remembers your students place in the lessons using cookies.  We didn't have any trouble with this, but it's important to know that if your cookies are set to be deleted regularly, all work is lost.  You must use the same computer *and* browser every time to save the work.  Now that Malachi has completed all 18 lessons, it doesn't matter on which computer he watches the stories.

I would love to see the program do the following:

• Show which facts were missed when the student or parent views the test information.  The only time you can see that is immediately after the test is completed and the student clicks "Done."  Once the "Next" button is clicked, the answers the student gave are no longer accessible.
• Possibly show which problems were harder to do than others.  (If the entire quiz took 4 minutes, but some problems took 5 seconds and others took 30 seconds, it would be helpful to know, even if the answer was correct.)
• If you could use the program on multiple devices, that would be great though that's less important to me than seeing which facts gave the kids more trouble than others.

All in all, this is a fun and thorough math supplement for learning multiplication facts.  I really liked that all facts were covered.  0s, 1s, 2s, and 5s were lumped together, each in their own lesson, but those are easy once a child understands the concepts for each.

We received a three month subscription from City Creek, but Malachi had finished his first time through the program in about two weeks and Xav is on track to probably finish it within the week.  Even after they have finished the program, we can clear their scores and use it all again.  Practice, practice, practice.

More about them rewatching their favorite stories.  Malachi has three times given up his 20 minutes of youtube videos so he could just watch the stories again.  And that's since he completed the program.  Times Alive is really a good supplemental math program that I think would work with any child or adult struggling with their multiplication facts.

You can see samples of some stories and songs on Times Tables the Fun Way's youtube channel.


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C is also for Courage ~ Field Trip Friday

I already wrote my "C is for..." blog post this week, but I wanted to mention this great C word, too.

Courage

Webster's 1828 says this about courage. 

COURAGE, noun [Latin , the heart.] Bravery; intrepidity; that quality of mind which enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear or depression of spirits; valor; boldness; resolution.

This week, we had a nice field trip to the Police Department and Fire Department in a small city nearby.  We were unable to go in the "back" and check out all the behind the scenes  stuff at the PD because they had someone in the holding cell.  We did get a tour of the Fire Department and all the great trucks and the brand new, high tech police cruiser.

Several officers, including a young lady who is headed off to the academy this week, made time for us.  I thought it was interesting that two of the officers were or had been also fire fighters.

I try to get the punks to the fire hall at least once a year.  It's a good reminder to make sure your kids know what your fire exit strategy is, to see a firefighter in his gear and know he is a safe person to go with in a fire emergency.  I had never thought much about visiting the PD before.  I'm really glad we did.  These guys take their jobs seriously.  Serve and Protect.  Please support your local PD and FD.  I'm sure the officers there would be happy to talk to your family and show you around as well. 

C is for "Can You Eat Just One?"

So, I haven't talked much about my weight loss/get healthy journey lately, but I had decided to not knock myself out over the holiday season.  With Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas dinner and parties to look forward to, I knew I could get myself into quite a funk over all I was "giving up" to lose weight.  Instead I focused on maintaining my weight loss and finding more ways to keep fit.

I'm pleased to say, I did quite well and rarely felt like I was missing out on anything delicious.  However, I did find these tasty little morsels and decided to enjoy a few.  I did not read the bag before hand and promptly ate 7 (that's seven) teeny, tiny little chips.  Then I put them away, all satisfied with myself for not scarfing down the whole bag.  When I returned to the treats a day or two later, I knew I wanted to pay a bit more attention and was shocked *SHOCKED* I tell you to discover that THREE chips is a serving.  Seriously.  I took out my handy-dandy weight watchers scanner and found out a serving was seven Smart Points.   I totally felt cheated.  The seven chips I ate the other day were more than half of my daily allotment of Smart Points.

I ended up eating one chip each day until those puppies were gone, one 2-point chip.  So the answer to the ancient Lay's Potato Chip question, "Can you eat just one?" is yes.  Yes, I can.  Even if that chip is a tasty dark chocolate coated chip.

And seriously, Google images for Lay's "Betcha Can't Eat Just One" ad campaign from the '80s.

Well, do that *after* you go see what everyone else wrote for the letter C this week.

Other C is for... posts.
C is for Contentment.