Homestead Blessings: The Art of Dairy Delights Video WINNERS!

Sorry guys I almost forgot to post the winner.  We've had some painting done this week and I have been trying to put my house back together again.  The winners this month are....

Sweetpeas said...

I heard about this giveaway on the TOS Crew forum.

AND
 
The Unsell Family said...

I follow your blog with google friend connect

AND
 
jkmom said...
Just Liked Homestead Blessings on FB.

jkmom, you didn't leave your email address.  Please email me you address so that I can get your video out to you.  My email addy is bkeefe98@aol.com.

Congrats!!  I am emailing you ldies directly.  Thanks to everyone that entered.

TOS Crew: Math Essentials Review

Through the TOS Crew we were able to review America's Math Teacher by Math Essentials.  America's Math Teacher is a web based math program that offers four math courses:

Course 1 Basic Math Skills
This first course focuses on topics like whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents, integers, geometry, and more. This level is geared for 4th and 5th grade students.

Course 2 Advanced Math Skills
In the second course students will learn about whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents, integers, geometry, and more. This course helps the student to prepare for pre-algebra.

Course 3 Pre-Algebra
The third course in the series teaches the student integers, exponents, order of operations, ratios and proportions number theory, linear equations, probability and statistics. This course is a required prior to the Algebra I course that Math Essentials offers.

Course 4 Algebra I
In this fourth and final course, students will learn and master all of the essential skills in Algebra.

This math program was created by a 5th and 6th grade math teacher, Rick Fisher, who has successful helped many students excel at math. Many of his students do so well that they even skip 7th grade math and move right into 8th grade Algebra!

For this review we focused on the Basic Math Skills, because the Lil' Chef is in 5th grade this year. Each course has several math lessons for you to watch, the Basic Math Skills Course has about 85.  Each lesson is is taught with great detail, Rick is very good at explaining the problems so that the children (and mom) can understand. There are also downloadable worksheets to coincide with each topic studied.
To be honest, at first I thought of America's Math Teacher as more of a "tutor," but after using the program more I have found that this program could be used as a core curriculum or as a supplement.  If you have a child or children that are struggling in math or if you lack confidence in teaching math than this program is definitely worth taking a peak at.

America's Math Teacher is available to homeschooling families for $195.00 for a one year subscription.  The program offers several video lessons that you can sample because you purchase.

For our family, I would enjoy using this program as more of a supplemental program if it was more cost effective.  I think this program would be great for families with several children in 4th grade and higher.

This web subscription was given to us free of charge for review purposes  I was not paid in any way and the opinions expressed were my own.

He Knows My Name

by Tommy Walker

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

Chorus
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call

 
We learned this song during VBS this year and sung it in church last week.  I really love it!  It may be short and sweet but it is very meaningful!  You can listen to it HERE.

TOS Crew: Spelling City Review

I have another great review to share with you from the TOS Crew.  Have you ever heard of SpellingCity.com?   It is a great website that helps the kids with, you guessed it, their spelling words.  This website is loaded with super fun games that the kids beg me to play great educational games to help the kids learn to master their speling words.

Here is how it works, first you enter in your child's spelling list and then SpellingCity.com teaches it to your child.  Let me give you an example, if one of their words is tent this is how SpellingCity.com would teach it...

They would say the word - TENT

They would then spell the word - T-E-N-T

Then you would hear it in a sentence - The campers slept in a canvas T E N T. 

After going over their spelling word, the kids can go PLAY THE GAMES!  The Lil' Chef and Computer Girl both LOVE Hang Mouse.  Of course Hang Mouse is like Hang Man, but much more fun!  The Letterfall and the Crossword Puzzle are also favorites.   Several of the games not only focus on the spelling of the words but also the meanings.  SpellingCity.com really does make learning your spelling words much more enjoyable!

Then once they have had their fill with all the fun games, you can even give them a handwriting printout for them to practice, practice, practice!   The more they write, see and say their spelling words, the easier it will be for them to remember them.

Ok, so now it is the end of the week, your kids have their words down pat and here they come "Mom, can you give me my spelling test?!"  If you are anything like me you may respond with, "Hang on, I am right in the middle of something."  OK moms, have no fear, SpellingCity.com is here.  Your darling little children can do their spelling test right online and it even gets graded!  Does it get any better than this??  I think not. 

The moral of the story is, SpellingCity.com is a super great resource for homeschoolers and teachers and parents.  They offer their basic services at NO COST, but their Premium Service is $24.95 per year.  The premium service tracks activities of up to 5 students, records their test results, and offers has premium games like Speedy Speller and Letter Fall.  Well worth the small fee, in my opinion.

Please know that we received this product free of charge for review purposes. The opinions stated in this review are our own and we were not paid in any way.

Homestead Blessings: The Art of Dairy Delights Video Review & GIVEAWAY!

OK, so remember the other day I told you I had some exciting news.  We have been blessed with the opportunity to review the Homestead Blessings Video Series made by the West Ladies.  I am going to be reviewing a new video each month AND each month Franklin Springs Family Media is allowing me to GIVEAWAY 3 (Yes, T-H-R-E-E-!-!) of the videos that I reviewed that month to 3 of YOU!  Told ya it was exciting news!

If you don't know who the West Ladies are, let me tell you a little bit about them... They are a mother daughter (well 3 to be exact) team who focus on homesteading, or country living if you will.  They invite you into their home and show you everything from bread baking to candle making to quilting.  I just love their personalities, they have good ol' country charm that just draws you in to what they are doing. 

The West Ladies are always adding to their video collection. but currently The Homestead Blessings Series consists of 11 videos:

• The Art of Quilting
• The Art of Sewing 
• The Art of Dairy Delights
• The Art of Canning
• The Art of Gardening
• The Art of Herbs
• The Art of Cooking 
• The Art of Soap Making
• The Art of Candle Making
• The Art of Bread Making
• The Art of Crafting

This month the kids and I watched Dairy Delights, not to sound corny but it was delightful!  Vicki, Cece, Hannah and Jasmine walked us through making homemade ice cream, butter, mozzarella, cream cheese, and yogurt.  as a bonus we even learned how to milk a cow!  Being a visual learner myself, it was so helpful to have the ability to see everything step by step. 

We decided to try making butter, yogurt and ice cream.  Can you guess which one the kids loved the most??  Of course it was the ice cream!  The ice cream was there favorite thing to eat but the butter was their favorite thing to make.  I thought that everything turned out great!  At first, I thought my yogurt didn't turn out that great, but after it sat in the fridge a bit, all was well. 

Remember I told you I would share how I had made the yogurt.  Here is the recipe from the Dairy Delights video...

Homemade Yogurt
Items that you need:

• Quart of Milk (I used organic, whole milk)
• 1/4 cup of Store Bought PLAIN yogurt with LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES (this is your starter)
• Quart Sized Jars with Lids
• Small Cooler
• Hot Water
• Food Thermometer

First you need to get your milk to 180 degrees and then let it cool to 110 degrees. That was the hardest part, waiting. Once your temperature is 110 degrees you add your yogurt and pour in the jars. Top with lids. Place the jars in your little cooler and pour in the hot water. The water should be as high as the yogurt in the jar. Closer it up and then wait, 4-8 hours, depending on how strong you want your yogurt. Like the ladies said, if your yogurt isn't perfect the few time or two, don't give up. It kinda takes practice.

Heat the milk to 180 degrees and once it cools to 100 degree add your yogurt.  I doubled the recipe.

Place milk/yogurt mixture into your jars.  Top with lids.

  

Place jars in a cooler with hot water.  Close it up and wait 4-8 hours, depending

on how strong you want it. 

It was a little lumpy but still very good. 

The Homestead Blessings videos are great family films that make wonderful tools for training up our daughters to be helpers in the kitchen and home, and to of course prepare them to run their own homes one day.  Mother and daughters will no doubt have great fellowship and bonding time as they work through this series together.  This video series also makes for a top notch home economics program. 

The ladies used an old fashioned hand cranked ice cream maker but we used our electric one. 

Didn't take long to get thick and creamy. 

Not sure that I even need to comment here, I am sure your mouth is already watering. 

The Lil' Chef making butter.

Computer Girl taking a turn.

Yes folks, that is a big ol' hunk of fresh, homemade butter.  And boy is it good!

I doubled this recipe and this is what I ended up with.

I ended up sticking some in the freezer.

On to the GIVEAWAY!  I am just so excited to be able to share these videos with you!  The giveaway is going to run until September 10, 2010.   Here is how you can enter to win Homestead Blessings, The Art of Dairy Delights:

Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS! Here are the ways that you can enter:

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.  
• Please visit the Franklin Springs website, let me know which other Homestead Blessings videos you would be interested in.  
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Like Franklin Springs Family Media on Facebook.
• Like Homestead Blessings on Facebook.

We received these products free of charge, from Franklin Springs Family Media, for review purposes. The opinions stated in this review are our own and we were not paid in any way.