Progeny Press Review

Vendor: Progeny Press

Product: Mr. Popper’s Penguins E-Guide

Price: $17.99

Age: Upper Elementary-Grades 4-6

About: Progeny Press presented me with the wonderful opportunity to review Mr. Poppers Penguins E-Guide. Progeny Press is a wonderful company that I been able to review for before. They make wonderful literature study guides from a Christian Perspective. Mr. Poppers Penguins E-Guide is for children in Upper Elementary, about 4th through 6th grade. I got the book from the library to go with this for my daughter to read.

The book is a 1939 Newbery Honor book, crazy to think how old it is and yet it is still a wonderful classic. It is about a house painter, Mr. Popper, who is a dreamer of a man. He doesn’t have much and just makes it by with what they do have. He has always fancied Antarctica and wished he had traveled before he had settled down. The book goes on to tell about how he ends up with some penguins and the fun they have.


Then you get into the E-Guide, which allows you to print off or use in Adobe Acrobat Reader where you can type in the answers straight to your computer. The study guide comes in at 60 pages long. These are divided up into six sections. Each of these sections covers four chapters. In those sections the guide contains vocabulary questions, reading comprehension questions, Dig Deeper, optional activities, and the answer key.

In the vocabulary section some of the activities were using the words in sentences, matching words, finding the definitions.

Reading comprehension questions were short answer type of questions about something in the story. Then there were think about the story questions that were more thought type questions that needed longer answers.

Dig Deeper section used Bible passages to see why characters did things they did. The questions would help them compare the book characters actions to those in the Bible.

The optional activities have several different hands on things you can do to extend the learning. From things like more writing topics to map making, and even just more discussion topics.

How we used: We worked on this a little each day. Kailea is in 5th grade going into 6th. I had her reading and once she read four chapters I would stop her and then she would do a section in the e-guide. Since she loves to read she would usually read her chapters in one day. Then I would have her to do at least a page a day on the study guide until she finished the section and moved onto her next four chapters of the book. She worked most of the guide alone until we got to the Dig Deeper questions. I wanted to do those with her so we could talk and make sure she was getting the understanding of the Bible versus right. Like when it went over pride. Pride is something we  go over a lot here because it can be both bad and good. Sometimes it is hard for kids to understand between the two. As the parent I fall short in doing a good job at finding the perfect Bible verses sometimes to go with studies and Progeny Press never fails. They really are the best and such a great light into our hearts and home.


Mr. Poppers Penguins E-Guide is for Upper Elementary, but Progeny Press also has guides for Lower Elementary, High School, and Middle School so be sure to to read the other reviews to learn the differences between these levels. I think any Christian home that enjoys reading and extending it to a little learning and some Christian values will love these E-Guides. 

Forbrain Review

Vendor: Forbrain – Sound For Life Ltd
Product: Forbrain
Price: $359
Age: 5 years to adults



About: I was so excited when Forbrain - Sound For Life LTD sent me a package with their bone conduction headset! Forbrain used technology to enhance your language by using your own voice to stimulate your brain. How cool is that?! The headset is designed to be able to use with children as young as 5 years old and even as old as the adults as well. Since Forbrain has many uses it can help at many levels for those different age levels.

Some of the uses:

*Memory Work

*Speech-Fluecy/language development

*Singing

*Attention and Memory

*Reading Difficulty

*ADD/ADHD to help focus

*Strengthen Auditory Reception and Process

It comes in a nice protective case that holds the headset as well as the charger. Also included is the user manual, quick start guide, and 3 spare mic covers. There is also a 2 year warranty for the headset. When fully charged the battery will last approximately six hours. 

For correct placement you will want to make sure that the earpiece is on the bone in front of the ears. This is very important as this is how the headset works. The recommended usage is to use daily. For young children use 15 minutes a day, for older teens and adults use 20 minutes a day. 

I  mainly used this with my son who has a speech impediment. When he went to pre-k in a public school he was given speech therapy for it. We never had much luck with the whole repeating of words and trying to hold his mouth in the correct way in order to get him to say the words or sounds correctly. He also has ADHD so it is hard to get him to sit and focus on much at one time. I really enjoyed this because he thought it was cool to wear it and hear himself. It also was nice because it did not actually add anytime to our studies, just a couple seconds to put the headset on. He just wore it while we did some of our other work. Usually when we were working on learning our letter sounds and sight words. That way when we would say them after me he could hear himself. So we do put it on daily but usually he will keep it on longer than the 15 minutes. I think it has helped him because not only is he hearing how he is saying things better to correct himself he is also blocking out the outside sounds around him making him be able to focus more and not pay attention to those distractions. Which is huge for him because normally he would nit pick at the little noises around to interrupt us.

I think that this would be a great tool for anyone that needed some speech, memory, singing, reading, auditory, or focusing help. I love to sing myself and did try it on once to see how well it did with singing. I don't like hearing myself when it comes to and audio system as it makes me feel like I sound off. I was very pleasantly surprised at the clarity that it had and I could actually hear pitches well and it made me feel confident. I didn't want to use it much more so that we could focus on him using it, but I plan to try it out more for myself as well. I could very well see someone using this to aid in their singing lessons.

Social Media Links:

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/forbrainLTD
Twitter : https://twitter.com/forbrainheadset
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/forbrain---retrain-the-way-you-process-information

Be sure to check out what my fellow crew members had to say about it. See how their kids used it and how it may have helped them.

Life is a Gift

“I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” -Walter Anderson

Prayers for Growth

Prayers for Spiritual Growth by Joyce Meyer

Do you want to grow, but don't know how? The solution is simple: Learn the Word.

Ephesians 3:16Strengthen me in the inner man.

Ephesians 3:17That I may be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.

Ephesians 3:18Let me grasp God’s love – the breadth and length and height and depth of it.

Ephesians 3:19 That I might be filled through all my being with the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:19 That I might become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself.

Philippians 3:10 That I may “know” Him and the power of His resurrection.

Ephesians 1:17 That He might grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Ephesians 1:18 That the eyes of my heart be flooded with light.

Ephesians 1:19 That I might know the greatness of His power in me.

Philippians 1:10 That I may learn to sense what is vital and of real value.

Philippians 1:11 That I may abound and be filled with the fruits of righteousness.

John 17:12 That He will keep and protect me from the evil one.

(Jesus’ prayer)

Colossians 1:9 That I may know God’s will.

Colossians 1:11-12 That I may be strengthened with all power, [to exercise] every kind of endur

Grace

Sometimes the best thing you can do is give yourself grace and pamper yourself some.

Be easy on yourself on things that aren't that important, and pray that God will help you to be firm on yourself in avoiding sin solutions.

Give all your strength to protecting yourself so that you do not fall into sin.

Don't allow the comforts of sin to be your comforts.

Domestic Violence and Abuse

Did you know 1 in every 4 women have experienced some type of domestic abuse?

Think about that ratio for a minute. One out of every four of your friends is facing or has faced some type of violence or abuse. Now do you realize that you probably don't even know who they are? That's because it has been silenced and shamed for so long. Women have thought it was their fault and kept it to them selves, never seeking help or even comfort.

Did you know I am that 1 in 4? When I finally told those that I thought were people that I could trust and would be there for me for emotional support,  I was let down. I had some great support but there was the ones that didn't believe me. I actually think that hurt more than any of the abuse I went through. All I wanted was comfort of knowing people cared about me and I wasn't the horrible person I was told I was.

I guess what I wanted to get out of this is to tell you all to have open ears and open hearts. The things we may not always think we can handle but we can always bring it to prayer with God. Do not let your friend or your neighbor be silenced. Do not let yourself be silenced. God can change hard hearts and heavy hearts, we just have to open up those silenced hearts first.

Abuse can come in many forms. It's not always physical. It can be a mental break down of who you are. They could be controlling of you and what you do.

While it is terrifying to believe an abusive  person has been studying you like a book. He knows your strengths, weaknesses, blind-spots, emotional reactions and what lengths you are willing to go to, better than you do. That is because he has been studying you, testing you and training you like a dog to react a certain way. And that is no exaggeration, such people are expert manipulators. You are playing against a stacked deck already. No matter how confident, self-assured or competent you think yourself, realize that he knows your strengths and weaknesses before hand and is building his strategy around that knowledge.

If you are in a marriage that is controlling I belive that is a form of abuse. You really do have some choices before you move out. As a Christian woman we want to do what is right and try to save our marriage. You can give your husband the choice of being controlling or of being frustrated. The reason we get frustrated in our lives is that things we want to happen don’t. That doesn't mean we have to use it against those we are married to.

For example: you might want to buy a new pair of shoes. He yells {the normal way to try to control is to use intimidation} at you, and you respond sweetly: “I’ve thought about your request that you should go buy them for me with what you think is in budget, but I think I can pick some out with in the same budget and it will allow me some time out of the house. But thank you for the offer to help me, I just really enjoy shopping for my own shoes” He says: "You’re just selfish.” You could say: “I love you and and it will be nice for me.” If he is prone to violence, have the phone near by to call 911 if he threatens you physically. If he hits you, call the police and have him arrested. It’s against the law to hit women for not wearing what you want them to. On the other hand, he might decide to start respecting you when you decide to start respecting yourself and taking a stand for yourself as a partner in the marriage. When controlling people don’t get their way, they will end up frustrated. Some people don’t have a high tolerance for frustration. Those people do not make good candidates for a strong relationship such as marriage. A controlling person will not change without your first making some decisions about the quality of your and your children’s lives, and without YOU making some changes.

With any violence we have to stand up for ourselves. That doesn't mean put the boxing gloves on and get in the ring with them. That means known your worth as a person, as a woman, and then as a wife. Even in a marriage you are not less than the man you are married to. You are his partner to stand with him. He is to lead you to the path of honor. If he isn't then you have the job to take the lead of your own life and and lead the way there. Just know you are not alone ever.

Hey Mama! Print Homeschool Planner 2016-2017 Review

Vendor: The Old Schoolhouse
Product: Hey Mama! Print Homeschool Planner 2016-2017
Price: $29.00 USA

About: I just love The Old Schoolhouse so I was super excited to get the chance to review their new planner, Hey Mama! Print Homeschool Planner 2016-2017. I mean who doesn't need need a good planner to keep them organized these days? Hey Mama! They got you covered! Hey Mama Planner is 196 pages long. It is 9"x11" and spiral bound as well. Shipping is free and they also ship to Canada and international for additional cost of the planner.

Hey Mama Planner has monthly calenders to keep tract of appointments,  birthdays, special occasions,  or trips. There is pages for notes, your goals, reading book logs, and weekly agenda. Then what every homeschool mom is looking for, there is a great section for curricumum tracking. Which will be nice to keep together what we are using. Hey Mama also offers some devotions for those times you need that extra kick to get you through the day.  There are also some additional things that help in homeschool like story starters and transcripts.

Since our new homeschool year has not started yet we have not gotten to write in the planner yet. Hey Mama! Don't let that make you think I don't have a list of things I am planning on putting down in it. I really like the calendar the best I think. I've never had a planner than had a calendar big enough for me to write in. I usually always print one for each month to write our appointments, homeschool park days and activities in. Now I can have it in the same place as my planner so I don't have to go back and forth with my planner and my binder when planning to see what days are busy. I also am in love with the Hey Mama Planner's devotions and inspiring scripture. I am a Christian and though I strive everyday I know I still fail too. I need and love to see those to uplift me and to remind me there is a brighter day and I am forgiven. The weekly agenda I will use to put what I will be working on weekly with the kids. Since I don't personally have a lot of planning for myself I will use it for their school work lesson planning. Then the space to put the book lists will help us keep track of what we have read for the year.

My kids are not old enough to need to start a transcript but this will come in handy for those that have high schoolers. Also this will make me want to continue to use this planner so when the time comes I can be familiar with it and use it to make my transcripts for the kids. I really think this planner "has it all". It has more writing space than most planners, which I write big so is helpful for me.

I am also a full time college student. I can see this being helpful to me as a mom and student to keep me organized if I had wanted to use it for more me than just my kids studies. It seems like it would be pretty versatile. Hey Mama go check it out!

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Also click the banner below and see what my fellow crew mates have to say about how they used the planner. You know everyone has different needs so it may give you different ideas on how this may benifit you in a different way.