Review~ The Giving Manger from WorthyKids

Disclaimer~ I received a COMPLEMENTARY copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

 

Good morning! I'm so excited to share with you a wonderful activity to add to your Advent traditions! 

The Giving Manger from WorthyKids is a wonderful way to bring the true meaning of Christmas into your family. It will help your family learn about the importance of giving during Advent and Christmas. 

The beautiful book and activity will help your family get back to the real meaning of Christmas. 

For this review, we received the box set.

Each box set contains everything you will need to start this beautiful tradition. 

The Giving Manger Picture Book

A heart-warming story with beautiful illustrations that bring to life the tradition of giving. The story helps get children excited about participating in this new tradition of giving back. The book has a hardback cover so it will last for years.

Wooden Manger

A simple wooden manger that should be placed in a visible spot in the house. This will help keep the idea of giving front and center.

Bundle of Straw

A piece of straw will be placed in the manger after the children perform an act of service. 

Baby Jesus

A simple swaddled Baby Jesus that will go in the manger on Christmas Eve after the manger is full of straw from all the acts of service the children will do during the Advent season. 

I love the idea behind The Giving Manger. 

It is a wonderful way to bring the real meaning of Christmas to your family.

I wish I would have had this when my kids were little. We made our own wooden manger out of popsicle sticks when the kids, This box set is so much cuter!

I love the idea of encouraging the children to work on little acts of service. 

We called them good deeds. It brings to life the true meaning of Christmas for children when we live in a world so focused on the commercial aspect of it. 

Since my kids were a little old to enjoy this. I have taken it in to use with my Sunday school class. We already have a good deeds jar to fill for the year. This tiny manger will be a wonderful way to encourage them to do more during the season of Advent. Too often, the season of Advent is overlooked. People focus on Christmas and think the season starts before or after Thanksgiving. Christmas actually doesn't start until Christmas Eve! I love helping my little ones learn about Advent and the importance of preparing for the Christmas season. 

This beautiful box set would make a wonderful gift for a family with young children. The family could start this tradition when the kids were little and continue to grow with it over the years. When my kids were little we had the tradition of searching for the traveling wisemen (instead of a certain elf that is so popular). That tradition was fun, but the giving manger is fun while encouraging children to have a giving heart. A giving heart is one way to encourage them to grow closer to Jesus and the kingdom of Heaven.  

And if you are worried about the straw getting lost or ruined, I figured replacement straw can be found at your local craft store or dollar store. Parents will be able to continue the tradition for years. 

Just a word of advice, keep Baby Jesus away from puppies. They tend to eat him. We've lost two Baby Jesus dolls over the years. One was eaten by the dog, the other went missing after a cat decided to steal him out of the manger! 

Life with kids and pets is never dull!

Learn more about The Giving Manger and Worthy Kid Books

Facebook

Instagram~ The Giving Manger

Instagram~ Worthy Kids Books

Pinterest

Want to see how families with young children used The Giving Manger?

Check out the rest of the reviews from The Review Crew!

Till Next Time,

Monique

Sunday Inspiration~ November 7, 2021

Please Note~ This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to click on a link, add it to your cart, and complete your purchase, I will receive a small percentage. We are very grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you. 

Till Next Time,

Monique

Georgia O'Keeffe Unit Study

Georgia O'Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz 
1918

We recently studied about the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

She is one of the most famous female American artists.

She created beautiful pictures of flowers and desert scenes. She is a great artist to study if you have boys and girls. She will appeal to both of them.

We read a variety of books to learn more about her and then created our own masterpieces.

Here are the books we used to learn about Georgia.

I found some wonderful worksheets over at Garden Of Praise.

They have a coloring page of the painting Light Iris, which you can print on cardstock so the kids can watercolor the picture.

They have a biography page, a word search, a word scramble, a crossword puzzle, and a test.

After learning about Georgia, we had fun creating some art!

Red Poppy

We created our own poppy by using scrapbooking paper and some glue.

Princess P's creation.

Lego Man's poppy.

And Mama's poppy

Georgia O'Keeffe

Jimson Weed, 1936

Jimson Weed

We used acrylic paint to recreate the Jimson Weed painting.

Mama's Jimson Weed

The kid's interpretation of the Jimson Weed.

Our artwork on display!

I hope you enjoy it!

Till Next Time,

Monique

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2021-2022

Please Note~ This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to click on a link, add it to your cart, and complete your purchase, I will receive a small percentage. We are very grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you.

Happy November! Can you believe summer is gone and another school year is here? Summer went by too fast if you ask me. I can't believe we are heading into our 3rd month of school. I realized I forgot to share what we are doing this year.

We actually started school on August 23rd, then took a week off, and will start back on the 7th of September. Therese was asked to go to the beach with a friend and Micahel was asked to house sit/pet sit, so it all worked out.

I thought I'd share what we have planned for this school year. It's hard to believe that this is our 14th year of homeschooling. Micahel is a senior and Therese is a junior. 

Michael's 12th Grade Curriculum

English~

American Literature in Historical Context from SchoolhouseTeachers.com 

Advanced Math~

CTC Math

U.S. History Year 2~

American History Year 2 from Guest Hollow

Science~

Chemistry from Guest Hollow

Electives~

Cooking 101

SAT Prep- Khan Academy 

Personal Finance in Bite-Size Chunks from SchoolhouseTeachers.com

In the Spring, he plans on taking a few college classes and taking his EMT training

Therese's 11th Grade Curriculum

English~

American Literature in Historical Context from SchoolhouseTeachers.com 

Math~

Algebra 2- CTC Math (review)

U.S.History~

American History Year 2 from Guest Hollow

Science~

Chemistry from Guest Hollow

Foreign Language~

Spanish 2 from SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Electives~

Cooking 101

ACT Mom Online Class (review)

Painting with Watercolors (previous review)

SAT Prep from Khan Academy

In the spring, Therese thinks she might like to take 1 or 2 college classes at our local community college. 

Till Next Time,

Monique

First Grade Religious Education (CCD)~ Week 4 Mary and the Rosary

Please Note~ This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to click on a link, add it to your cart, and complete your purchase, I will receive a small percentage. We are very grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you. 

Good Morning, dear friends! I hope you are having a wonderful week.

This week in class we focused on learning about Mary and the Rosary.

Our Saint~ Saint Bernadette

I read a quick biography about Saint Bernadette from the Picture Book of Saints by Father Lovasik. While reading about her life, the kids worked on coloring her picture. 

Saint Bernadette Coloring Page 

Saint Bernadette Coloring Page 2

A wonderful story to read and share with the kids is Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes. Therese loved this book when she was little. Bernadette: Our Lady's Little Servant from Vision Books is great for kids that are just a little older. 

Other great resources for Saint Bernadette...

The Song of Bernadette DVD- great to watch as a family

Bernadette The Princess of Lourdes is a great movie for little kids!

Ideas for Celebrating Saint Bernadette's Feast Day and Our Lady of Lourdes

Obviously, we are not able to do all of these great things since we are on a limited time schedule, but they are wonderful activities to do at home. 

Our Virtue~ Fortitude

Fortitude is being brave and strong in the face of trials

We talked about when fortitude could be used. When we are scared when we need to stand up for what is right, stand up to a bully, and help someone that is being left out. 

Role-playing different scenes can help students learn to help others and stand up for them when no one else will. 

Week 4 Lesson~ Who is Mary?

                            The Rosary

So who is Mary? Why is she so important? Every year I asked this and every year I get the same response.

Mary is Jesus's Mother and she's important because she's the mother of God! 

Easy question, simple answer. The kids always seem to get it!

This year I picked up a new book about Mary to share with the class, Our Blessed Mother by Christina Virgina Orfeo. The book is beautifully illustrated and shares the life of Mary with children. It tells about her early life, her role as Jesus's mother, and her ascension into heaven. The storybook is geared for kids ages 7-9, so perfect for 1st grade!

Immaculate Conception Coloring Page

Immaculate Conception Coloring Page 2

A wonderful collection of Mary coloring pages!

After talking about Mary, we spent some time learning about the rosary.

Learning to pray the rosary can be easy for children to do.

Learn to Pray the Rosary Worksheet for Kids

Praying the Rosary with Children Chart with Prayers

A wonderful way to help your child to pray the rosary is by using the Make Your Own Rosary Kit. 

For some other great resources to try at home, check out the blog by Elizabeth Claire. 

Till Next Time,

Monique

Review~ Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press

Disclaimer~ I received a COMPLEMENTARY copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Homeschooling high school English literature does not have to be difficult! Recently, we were given the opportunity to review the Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press. We were sent the download link for the study guide. Once, we got the download, we headed to the library to check out Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Therese has been wanting to read this book for a while now.

Progeny Press is a Christian company that offers homeschooling families a large, wonderful selection of study guides that help students gain valuable insight into strong, classic literature books. We have used a few of the other study guides from Progeny Press throughout the years.

Tuck Everlasting

The Indian in the Cupboard

Macbeth

The Hound of Baskervilles

Animal Farm 

What are the E-Guide Study Guides from Progeny Press?

The literature study guides come in an E-guide form and can be easily downloaded. They cost around $22.00. The Frankenstein Study Guide is recommended for students in grades 10th-12th grade. The study guides can be used in two different ways. The interactive study guide can be opened with Adobe Reader which allows the student to fill in their answers directly into the study guide while working on the computer. The second way the study guide can be used is by printing out the pages for multiple students to use. I always chose to print out the entire study guide. I then place the pages in a small binder, so they can work through it as they read the book. This helps with writing skills and penmanship! I print the entire study guide out at one time, but of course, families can choose to print the lessons out one at a time too. 

The purpose of the study guides is to help students better understand the literature they are reading. The guides help students understand how the authors craft their stories, understand the themes being presented, and the ideas introduced during the story. The guides allow students to dig deeper into the literature. For the high school guides, students should be able to complete them in 8-10 weeks. If students work through the study guides for 8 weeks, families can complete 4 different literature guides during the school year. These guides are a great way to complete a high school English literature course. 

How was the Frankenstein Study Guide Set Up?

The Frankenstein Study Guide is broken up into 16 sections. 

The first section is for the teacher/instructor. This section completely explains how to use the study guide. 

Next up is the brief synopsis of the story. This provides the students with a brief summary of the story, introduces them to the plot, and important characters from the story. This section is followed by an introduction to the author. Here students will read a brief biography about the author. They can easily research for more information about the author. This would make a great topic for a small research paper. 

The next section is an introduction to the time period when Frankenstein was written. This section gives students some knowledge of the scientific discoveries that were taking place at this time. Students are introduced to the literary movements of the time: Classicism, Rationalism, Romanticism, and Gothic are discussed. Students will also be informed about the 2 great revolutions happening at this time, the American Revolution and the French Revolution. 

Pre-Reading activities are up next. This section gives ideas for various projects the students can work on before they begin reading the book. Research the time period, read Faust or the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Write a paper about the book read. Mapwork and research bioelectricity are other topics students may want to research.  All of these are some great ideas presented to the student to further their knowledge and learning. 

The next few sections are where the chapters are broken up. 

Letters I-IV

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-16

Chapters 17-22

Chapters 23 & 24

These sections are to be completed by the student once they complete the story. They can use their books to help answer the questions. They should also have a dictionary, thesaurus, and a Bible ready to use too. Each of the sections is broken up into different topics. 

Vocabulary

Logical Thinking

Questions for Comprehension

Questions for Analysis

Dig Deeper Questions

Optional Activities for Students to complete (art projects, research papers, history projects, and science projects)

The next section is the overview. This section discusses plot, characters, and literary terms like conflict.

Optional Essays is the next section. This section gives students a few more ideas for a writing assignment to complete. They can choose from a compare and contrast paper, a research paper, a literature analysis, and so many others. A few even have references to the Bible to bring faith into the lessons. 

The last section in the study guide for the students is the additional resource page. This provides students with other stories written by Mary Shelley, other stories similar in style, and videos and movies to watch. 

Each study guide comes with a full answer key. This comes as a separate download so that only the instructor has access to it. I do not print this out. I just look at the answer key on the computer when I need to check Michael's and Therese's answers. I do grade the study guide as part of their English grade. 

How Did We Use the Frankenstein Study Guide?

I opted to print out the study guide for Therese. She was already wanting to read Frankenstein, so it worked well for her. Michael was not part of this review. I printed the entire study guide out, 3-hole punched the pages, and then placed them in a sturdy binder. 

I had Therese read the book first. Then she worked on the chapters according to how they are broken up in the guide. She worked on the study guide 3 times a week this time since she was already reading quite a few other books for her U.S. history class.

What Did We Think of the Frankenstein Study Guide?

I love how the study guides go along with great classic novels. I love the ability to be able to print the guides for both my kids. Since the study guides are reproducible, I can easily print two copies off and save money at the same time. One thing I like is how the company has a Pinterest board for each of its study guides. These boards provided more activities to utilize. I loved the recipe section to go along with the books! These added activities really make a Literature class come to life. 

Discover more about Progeny Press. Find them on social media.

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

The Review Crew was given the opportunity to review four different study guides.

Wagon Wheels for Grades 1st-3rd

Cricket in Time Square for Grades 4th-6th (a great book for Christmas)

Redwall for Grades 5th-10th

Frankenstein for Grades 10th-12th

Want to learn more about any of these other study guides?

Click the picture below and find out more!

Till Next Time,

Monique

Happy Homemaker Monday~ November 1, 2021

Please Note~ This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to click on a link, add it to your cart, and complete your purchase, I will receive a small percentage. We are very grateful for this additional source of income. Thank you. 

Good morning, dear friends!  It's been a while since I joined in on Happy Homemaker Monday. Things have been crazy here again. Therese is finishing up driver's education this week. I'm actually sitting in the car waiting for her as I type this up. She finishes up tomorrow and if things all go well...SHE WILL BE A LICENSED DRIVER!!! Scary but I know my babies are growing up. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a busy one again. On Saturday, the kids had a shooting competition in the neighboring state. It was a regional match. They both did well. Therese took first in one discipline and Michael took 2nd in a few of his disciplines. Super proud of them both. It was a cold, rainy day.

On Sunday, we had Mass and Sunday school. We had an All Saint's Day celebration/party. The kids dressed up as saints and we did a little parade for the church members. Just a few of the Saints we had were Saint George, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint Francis, Saint Lydia, and Saint Philomena. The kids looked so cute and loved playing our Saint Bingo game!

Enough about the weekend, let's get on with Happy Homemaker Monday. Be sure to drop in a visit a bit with Sandra, our beautiful hostess over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom!

The Weather~

Fall temps are here! Tomorrow night it is supposed to get down to 28 degrees!! I am not all that happy about that. I am a summer/beach girl. We had a horrible rainstorm on Friday and Saturday. Yup, we stood outside in the rain and cold temps on Saturday at the competition. Fun times! 

Monday~Sunny, 55

Tuesday~ Rain Showers, 47*

Wednesday~ Mostly Sunny, 50*

Thursday~ Cloudy, 47*

Friday~ Partly Cloudy, 49*

Saturday~ Mostly Sunny, 51*

Sunday~ Mostly Sunny, 55*

What's for Breakfast~

So far I've had coffee. We had to leave the house early, so no breakfast yet. I'll probably just have an early lunch when we get home.

Looking Around the House~

I need to clean the house. We have been running out every day for the past 2 weeks. Laundry has piled up and my house is a disaster.  I need to mop and vacuum the floors. The bathrooms need to be cleaned. Heck, who am I kidding, the entire house needs cleaned. I hate when life gets too crazy and nothing gets done.

On the To-Do List This Week~

Laundry

Clean my house

Organize the sewing room

Start Christmas shopping

Meal plan

Catch up on some blog posts

Grade some schoolwork

Currently Reading~

The next book on my list to read is The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat. This story is based on an incredible true story of courage and hope in World War II.

Last night I finished Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. The book was made into a movie a few years ago. I have to stay this is one time I liked the movie better than the book. The book wasn't bad, just different.

What the Kids are Reading~

For US history, they are reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

On the TV~

Outlander Season 5

I just picked up the DVDs from the library. 

Criminal Minds Season 9

On the Menu this Week~

Monday~ 

Tuesday~ 

Wedensday~ 

Thrusday~

Friday~ 

Saturday~ 

Sunday~ 

I have no clue yet! I just picked up a new cookbook at the library and I love it! I definitely will be buying it for my own collection. It's called Hope's Table. It was written by Hope Helmuth and contains so many delicious-looking Mennonite recipes, as well as quite a few other recipes to enjoy. 

If I Have a Few Minutes to Myself, I Will~

Work on my Christmas tree skirt

Make my sister's Christmas present

One of  My Simple Pleasures~

Something Fun to Share~

I am HUGE Christmas fan. I decorate around before or right after Thanksgiving. When I worked retail I always decorated before Thanksgiving because after I never had any time. The tree stays up most years until February 2nd, which is the Candlemass, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. 

Scentsy has so many cute Christmas warmers this year. I have 3 favorites that I really want to buy.

A tin Santa and Snowman duo 

and a beautiful nativity one! 

I always decorate making sure we have the true meaning of Christmas represented and the more fun side too! You can check out our entire holiday line on my website!

From the Camera~

This little fellow showed up at the house this past week. He was starving and meowing like crazy. We feed in and Therese was able to pick him up. With 5 cats already, there was no way we could keep him. Even though he was so cute. I called our local shelter and they agreed to take him in. They thought he was adorable and said that they would find him a good home. He's so sweet, they said someone would snatch him up quickly. I hate that people dump animals!

Inspirational Post, Quote, Bible Verse~

Praying For~

Our Country and leaders

The elections taking place in

The world and all the craziness that is going on in it right now

My first grade Sunday school class

My friends and family

A friend whose husband passed away from cancer last week

A friend who is recovering from surgery

Till Next Time,

Monique