Merry
Christmas
and Happy 2017!
Dec 24, 2016
Dec 14, 2016
My Least Favorite Christmas Songs
Some songs just drive you straight up a tree. You might love some of these songs, and that's totally OK. Obviously, they resonate with someone because they are "hits," but I'd be completely happy to not hear any of them ever again.
1. Christmas Shoes
I heard about 5 seconds of this one today in the car and I can't stop hearing it now. It isn't even a good song. It's intended to manipulate people and make them cry, just like all the fictional tearjerkers on Facebook.
2. Last Christmas
I really liked George Michael in both his Wham! and solo career, back in the olden days. I can't help but wonder if he was tired when he wrote this one.
George: "Sorry, I can't seem to think of any more rhymes. Let's just keep singing the same verse over and over. At the end, we'll shake it up a bit, but it will still be more of the same words."
Bandmate: "Brilliant!"
3. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Apparently (according to wiki), telling "scary ghost stories" was a quaint old Victorian tradition, that's pretty much forgotten. My grandparents were born in 1900 and 1904, basically the end of the Victorian era, but you'd think it would have been a tradition when they were small and it would have been mentioned at some time or other. Either way, that's all I can think about when I hear this song. Obsessive much? Perhaps.
4. Sleigh Ride
While not a terrible song, per se, I am adding it to the list because it romanticizes something so uncomfortable. For a sleigh ride, you need snow. For snow, you need cold. We're looking at a wind chill of -30*F later this week. I don't like being cold. I'm cold all the time in the house, wearing layers. Brrr... So, yeah.
5. John Lennon's So This is Christmas
As someone in the household says, "He's a hippy." I'm sure there's more to it than that, but it for sure makes the list of annoying Christmas songs.
What makes your "cringeworthy Christmas songs" list?
1. Christmas Shoes
I heard about 5 seconds of this one today in the car and I can't stop hearing it now. It isn't even a good song. It's intended to manipulate people and make them cry, just like all the fictional tearjerkers on Facebook.
2. Last Christmas
I really liked George Michael in both his Wham! and solo career, back in the olden days. I can't help but wonder if he was tired when he wrote this one.
George: "Sorry, I can't seem to think of any more rhymes. Let's just keep singing the same verse over and over. At the end, we'll shake it up a bit, but it will still be more of the same words."
Bandmate: "Brilliant!"
 |
| George, dude, you're wearing a wedding ring, why are you brooding about the chick who gave your heart away? |
3. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Apparently (according to wiki), telling "scary ghost stories" was a quaint old Victorian tradition, that's pretty much forgotten. My grandparents were born in 1900 and 1904, basically the end of the Victorian era, but you'd think it would have been a tradition when they were small and it would have been mentioned at some time or other. Either way, that's all I can think about when I hear this song. Obsessive much? Perhaps.
4. Sleigh Ride
While not a terrible song, per se, I am adding it to the list because it romanticizes something so uncomfortable. For a sleigh ride, you need snow. For snow, you need cold. We're looking at a wind chill of -30*F later this week. I don't like being cold. I'm cold all the time in the house, wearing layers. Brrr... So, yeah.
5. John Lennon's So This is Christmas
As someone in the household says, "He's a hippy." I'm sure there's more to it than that, but it for sure makes the list of annoying Christmas songs.
What makes your "cringeworthy Christmas songs" list?
Dec 5, 2016
Fall Photo Shoot
Sometimes things just don't go as planned. Like my whole life, it seems, on "those days." (That's not *all* bad!) But God has a plan. His ways are not my ways. It's difficult to remember that on those not-so-good feeling days.
One gorgeous fall day, I decided to take a nice picture of the boys out in the leaves and pine needles scattered around the yard. It wasn't really sunny at all, but I found out the hard way that all the punks have sensitive eyes like their dad. The gray sky just sort of diffused the sunlight so it was everywhere. There was NO way to shield their peepers or sit in the shade of a tree. It was just, well, bright.
This is quite literally, the best photo I got before giving up in frustration. I found myself angry. With them. And with myself. I think I was most upset that I actually had a good idea for homegrown photos of the boys, got them all in their new black autumn shirts, rounded them up, and actually - most importantly - went out to take them while the situation *seemed* ideal to me.
How often do we think the circumstances are perfect for our ideas and something goes "wrong" to our way of thinking? God sees everything that happens to us from an entirely different perspective. Something to think about.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8
One gorgeous fall day, I decided to take a nice picture of the boys out in the leaves and pine needles scattered around the yard. It wasn't really sunny at all, but I found out the hard way that all the punks have sensitive eyes like their dad. The gray sky just sort of diffused the sunlight so it was everywhere. There was NO way to shield their peepers or sit in the shade of a tree. It was just, well, bright.
This is quite literally, the best photo I got before giving up in frustration. I found myself angry. With them. And with myself. I think I was most upset that I actually had a good idea for homegrown photos of the boys, got them all in their new black autumn shirts, rounded them up, and actually - most importantly - went out to take them while the situation *seemed* ideal to me.
How often do we think the circumstances are perfect for our ideas and something goes "wrong" to our way of thinking? God sees everything that happens to us from an entirely different perspective. Something to think about.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8
Dec 3, 2016
The Adventures of Earl and Hobbes
After the foot of snow we were gifted with last week, we've had some pretty decent weather. The wind has been howling at night, but the days have been mild and in the high forties to mid-fifties. Today, I went out to dig up another row of carrots from the garden. The kittens have been dying to get outside and they sneak out every chance a slow moving child leaves the house. I decided to take them out with me and they had a blast, checking out the empty chicken coop, the garden, crossing the crick, and climbing trees.
I had an awful time keeping Merrick from chasing them so they could just be curious kitties. He called the outing The Adventures of Earl and Hobbes like it was an exciting TV show. Earl is a much better climber than Hobbes, who can only get a couple feet off the ground before hopping down. They both got their feet wet, which does not make them happy. Within minutes of me heading back into the house, they were at the backdoor waiting to be let in where I gave them treats.
They spent the next four hours sound asleep.
I had an awful time keeping Merrick from chasing them so they could just be curious kitties. He called the outing The Adventures of Earl and Hobbes like it was an exciting TV show. Earl is a much better climber than Hobbes, who can only get a couple feet off the ground before hopping down. They both got their feet wet, which does not make them happy. Within minutes of me heading back into the house, they were at the backdoor waiting to be let in where I gave them treats.
They spent the next four hours sound asleep.
Nov 25, 2016
Best of the Best ~ 2016 Crew Awards
After taking 2015 off from The Crew, we happily rejoined this year. It has been a whirlwind of amazing homeschool products. Many were return vendors we know and love and there were lots of fresh, new companies joining us, too. Some curricula were on my "short list" for "some day" and some were wonderful surprises. We used and reviewed just over forty products for The Homeschool Review Crew, plus some single reviews for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which you'll also, eventually, get to read about here.
Last week, The Crew reviewers and their kiddos were all invited to vote for our favorite reviews of the 2016 run. I have to say, this is probably one of the absolute hardest parts of being on The Crew. You get to vote for *just one* thing in each category. It's incredibly difficult, sometimes, to narrow it down.
My personal *blog* requirements are a bit more lenient in that I allow us to choose several items in categories I want to use. To simplify, I used subjects for the categories or I could go on and list nearly every review we did here. So, here goes. Here are Redhanded Homeschool's High Fives for the 2016 Homeschool Review Crew. All links will take you to my original reviews.
Malachi's High Five
Familyman Ministries' The Familyman's Christmas Treasury
We all like these stories so much. Almost every time we get in the car, they ask me to play Cootie McKay, Captain Chaos, or The Stranger.
Xavier's High Five ("Obviously.")
Stopmotion Explosion's Stopmotion Animation Kit
We've all liked this and have made it a bit of a hobby. I'm even teaching the kids at co-op a class based on the information I learned from SME and other kits, and videos we've been using.
Merrick's High Five
Talking Fingers, Inc.'s Read, Write, & Type
Who doesn't like teaching pesky Vexor a lesson for bad behavior? And there's the bonus of learning to read, write, and type as you go.
My High Fives for Moms
MyFreezEasy
Love, love, love this one! I've tried freezer cooking before, but it was always overwhelming to me. Not anymore!
SchoolhouseTeachers.com
While on the surface, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is for classes, there are also tons of resources for moms and the whole family.
Most of the following products are favorites that we have finished, kept using through the year, or will be using in the future.
Language Arts
LOE Foundations A
Merrick used several reading and writing programs this year and he (and BooBear, his teddy) really enjoyed this one.
IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
"Ooey gooey was a worm..." We all had a blast studying and memorizing poetry this year. This program will be with us for years to come.
Progeny Press' The Sword in the Tree e-guide
This was a really good study based on a book that really held their attention.
Can Do Cubes from jollyliteracy.com
While Merrick liked using these with Jolly Phonics, the beauty of these cubes is that they can be used with any program. All of my kids like manipulatives. Why not have them in LA also?
Language Arts ~ Honorable Mention
I have one honorable mention again this year. This is a *great* writing program, but we just weren't able to finish it for various reasons. I almost held a co-op class in my home using Here to Help Learning, but we had a bunch of balls in the air at that time and I couldn't figure out a good time to do it. I'd be so happy to use it again sometime, though.
Math
CTCMath
I love this math times 1000! Malachi especially does well with it. He worked tirelessly this summer to get his scores up in multiplication, working the section over and over. I was so proud of him, but more importantly, he was proud of his own achievements. We use CTCMath almost every day.
Math ~ Honorable Mention
It's a game. It's math. It's Sunya the Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting. This is a fun card game (with a really long name) for memorizing math facts and comes in multiplication and division as well. We should use it more often. And get Merrick playing it with us.
Science
Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy 2nd edition
We had a great time using this edition with Merrick (and Xav who can't get enough science). I'd used the first edition with Mal and Xav years ago. We have loved each Apologia science we've used.
Social Studies
Heirloom Audio
We love every. single. one. of Heirloom Audio's Henty titles we've heard. Most we received through The Crew, but we've also listened to a few I purchased. I love the downloads that come with the CDs including the study guide which turns the stories into a nice historical unit.
Extra-Curricular
Zeezok Publishing's Music Appreciation
Not only is this an AMAZING music appreciation curriculum, it also has a lot of historical information in it as well as a focus on positive character traits.
Memoria Press' Traditional Logic hurt my brain. I obviously don't have a high schooler, so I worked on this course my own self. It's a great program.
Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Spanish Starter Set
This was such a fun video Spanish class. The boys love that it takes place on a day in the life of three brothers.
Middlebury Interactive Languages Elementary Chinese 1
This is the third course we've used from Middlebury and our first foray into Chinese. It's a great program and I liked that it also taught some characters and had special paper to download for writing practice.
Just For Fun
The Pencil Grip's Kwik Stix
We bigfatpuffyheart Kwik Stix tempera paint. They were easy to use and worked great on paper, cardboard, wood, and canvas.
Enlivenze FlipStir
Enclosed puzzles with no loose pieces. What's not to love? They're fun and challenging.
Special Category - Best Gift
CrossTimber Name Meaning Gifts
I had to include CrossTimber, but it isn't curriculum or a puzzle, so... New category invented. Check. Hey, it's my blog and these are my favorites. I'm not sure if the best part about CrossTimber is that they can make something meaningful for *any* name, or seeing how happy you can make someone with one of their Name Meaning Gifts.
You can see how the official voting of The Homeschool Review Crew went on the blog.
Last week, The Crew reviewers and their kiddos were all invited to vote for our favorite reviews of the 2016 run. I have to say, this is probably one of the absolute hardest parts of being on The Crew. You get to vote for *just one* thing in each category. It's incredibly difficult, sometimes, to narrow it down.
My personal *blog* requirements are a bit more lenient in that I allow us to choose several items in categories I want to use. To simplify, I used subjects for the categories or I could go on and list nearly every review we did here. So, here goes. Here are Redhanded Homeschool's High Fives for the 2016 Homeschool Review Crew. All links will take you to my original reviews.
Malachi's High Five
Familyman Ministries' The Familyman's Christmas Treasury
We all like these stories so much. Almost every time we get in the car, they ask me to play Cootie McKay, Captain Chaos, or The Stranger.
Xavier's High Five ("Obviously.")
Stopmotion Explosion's Stopmotion Animation Kit
We've all liked this and have made it a bit of a hobby. I'm even teaching the kids at co-op a class based on the information I learned from SME and other kits, and videos we've been using.
Merrick's High Five
Talking Fingers, Inc.'s Read, Write, & Type
Who doesn't like teaching pesky Vexor a lesson for bad behavior? And there's the bonus of learning to read, write, and type as you go.
My High Fives for Moms
MyFreezEasy
Love, love, love this one! I've tried freezer cooking before, but it was always overwhelming to me. Not anymore!
SchoolhouseTeachers.com
While on the surface, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is for classes, there are also tons of resources for moms and the whole family.
Most of the following products are favorites that we have finished, kept using through the year, or will be using in the future.
Language Arts
LOE Foundations A
Merrick used several reading and writing programs this year and he (and BooBear, his teddy) really enjoyed this one.
IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
"Ooey gooey was a worm..." We all had a blast studying and memorizing poetry this year. This program will be with us for years to come.
Progeny Press' The Sword in the Tree e-guide
This was a really good study based on a book that really held their attention.
Can Do Cubes from jollyliteracy.com
While Merrick liked using these with Jolly Phonics, the beauty of these cubes is that they can be used with any program. All of my kids like manipulatives. Why not have them in LA also?
Language Arts ~ Honorable Mention
I have one honorable mention again this year. This is a *great* writing program, but we just weren't able to finish it for various reasons. I almost held a co-op class in my home using Here to Help Learning, but we had a bunch of balls in the air at that time and I couldn't figure out a good time to do it. I'd be so happy to use it again sometime, though.
Math
CTCMath
I love this math times 1000! Malachi especially does well with it. He worked tirelessly this summer to get his scores up in multiplication, working the section over and over. I was so proud of him, but more importantly, he was proud of his own achievements. We use CTCMath almost every day.
Math ~ Honorable Mention
It's a game. It's math. It's Sunya the Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting. This is a fun card game (with a really long name) for memorizing math facts and comes in multiplication and division as well. We should use it more often. And get Merrick playing it with us.
Science
Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy 2nd edition
We had a great time using this edition with Merrick (and Xav who can't get enough science). I'd used the first edition with Mal and Xav years ago. We have loved each Apologia science we've used.
Social Studies
Heirloom Audio
We love every. single. one. of Heirloom Audio's Henty titles we've heard. Most we received through The Crew, but we've also listened to a few I purchased. I love the downloads that come with the CDs including the study guide which turns the stories into a nice historical unit.
Extra-Curricular
Zeezok Publishing's Music Appreciation
Not only is this an AMAZING music appreciation curriculum, it also has a lot of historical information in it as well as a focus on positive character traits.
Memoria Press' Traditional Logic hurt my brain. I obviously don't have a high schooler, so I worked on this course my own self. It's a great program.
Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids Spanish Starter Set
This was such a fun video Spanish class. The boys love that it takes place on a day in the life of three brothers.
Middlebury Interactive Languages Elementary Chinese 1
This is the third course we've used from Middlebury and our first foray into Chinese. It's a great program and I liked that it also taught some characters and had special paper to download for writing practice.
Just For Fun
The Pencil Grip's Kwik Stix
We bigfatpuffyheart Kwik Stix tempera paint. They were easy to use and worked great on paper, cardboard, wood, and canvas.
Enlivenze FlipStir
Enclosed puzzles with no loose pieces. What's not to love? They're fun and challenging.
Special Category - Best Gift
CrossTimber Name Meaning Gifts
I had to include CrossTimber, but it isn't curriculum or a puzzle, so... New category invented. Check. Hey, it's my blog and these are my favorites. I'm not sure if the best part about CrossTimber is that they can make something meaningful for *any* name, or seeing how happy you can make someone with one of their Name Meaning Gifts.
You can see how the official voting of The Homeschool Review Crew went on the blog.
Nov 22, 2016
Our Family Grew By Two
I wanted to spell that "tew" so the rhyme would be spelled the same. Alas, tew is a real word and it would definitely have changed the meaning!
Our kitty (God love him) is about 14 and he just isn't the mouser he used to be. We were overrun with chipmunks this summer. We had decided to get a new kitten, but, really how excited would a 14 year old male be about an adorable, playful kitten? Not so much, right? A friend from our homeschool co-op had a litter of three month old kitties all ready for a new domicile. We decided to get two. They can bug each other and leave Stitchy alone. Mostly. They were outdoor kittens, so love to be outside already. They're in for the long winter while they grow and then they can head out there and chase some vermin in the spring.
Meanwhile, they're loving (and hating) all the attention from the punks. They're playing with crinkly, feathery toys. They get the kitty treats from time to time while we teach them to come when we call. They're chasing the laser pointer. They enjoy naps in my chair, of all places.
If there's a hiding place in the house,they've found it. I can't tell you how many times we've gone looking for them! The shelf under the kitchen table is a favorite. I keep finding the history books I keep there on the floor. They're acclimating well to spending all their time indoors right now.
Our kitty (God love him) is about 14 and he just isn't the mouser he used to be. We were overrun with chipmunks this summer. We had decided to get a new kitten, but, really how excited would a 14 year old male be about an adorable, playful kitten? Not so much, right? A friend from our homeschool co-op had a litter of three month old kitties all ready for a new domicile. We decided to get two. They can bug each other and leave Stitchy alone. Mostly. They were outdoor kittens, so love to be outside already. They're in for the long winter while they grow and then they can head out there and chase some vermin in the spring.
Meanwhile, they're loving (and hating) all the attention from the punks. They're playing with crinkly, feathery toys. They get the kitty treats from time to time while we teach them to come when we call. They're chasing the laser pointer. They enjoy naps in my chair, of all places.
 |
| Meet Earl (Gray) and Hobbes. |
Nov 19, 2016
Let it Snow!
While the boys are waiting for more snow outside (we haven't had a decent snowfall since the one in October), Merrick found a way to allow C3PO to partake of a favorite winter pastime. Here he can be seen making snow angels. This is very similar to a scene that was cut from The Empire Strikes Back.
The punks are hopeful to get some snow soon for their own angels. The forecast is calling for some next week.
The punks are hopeful to get some snow soon for their own angels. The forecast is calling for some next week.
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