Nutrition Sunday: Eating for Two

Nutrition  Sundays are provided by MaxMuscle Manassas. 

Review: Orphs of the Woodlands

Alright, so it is summer and your kids are always on your phone/their phone/your iPad/their iPad.  Let's be honest here.  If they're going to be on the screen, you may as well have them do something educational with  Orphs of the Woodlands at Tangletree from Star Toaster. The app is only $1.99 at the iTunes store, which I know because I didn't use my promo code in time for this review so I ended up paying for it.  However, it's a great concept, and I'll tell you why.  First of all, Orphs of the Woodlands is designed to teach reading comprehension and language arts concepts.  They encourage your child by rewarding them for reading with games which earn them points they can use to purchase items for their woodland orphans.   One thing that's really smart about the structure of this game is that your child CANNOT do any "jobs" (this is how they earn stars) until they unlock them by reading a chapter of the interactive chapter book.  That means they absolutely have to do a little reading in order to get to purchase items they want to get. 

This is my daughter's "Stumptown" screen.  She currently has no jobs available and has 9 stars to purchase with.  From this screen she can go to the main page (compass), read (book), earn stars in Stumptown doing jobs (star), or go to her goal page where she can purchase items.  When jobs are available, the 0s will change to 1 or 2 or however many "jobs" are available. Jobs are directly related to the reading your child has just done, for example: 

 In chapter one, you see halfway is a link.  If your child clicks on it, it takes them over to an explanation of compound words and gives them several examples.  When they go over to earn stars, one of the jobs will involve being able to fill in the blanks on compound words to complete them correctly. There are also comprehension jobs that relate to additional information provided on concepts, such as a "weather predictor" or "tail technician".  Some of these reading comprehension extensions are actually read to your child when the click on the link, which is nice especially if it is science-heavy.

Generally speaking, we really like this interactive book and game.  My daughter is happy to play it, and I don't feel guilty handing over my phone when there's reading involved.  We do have a couple of things we didn't like, however. 

Looking at the screen above, you'll notice that when there's a "letter" or "journal" the type can be VERY small.  My daughter didn't like that and thought it made it hard to read.  Also, some of the name choices in the story are questionable for less confident readers- such as Hattah and Eixie.  My daughter really struggled with that one- "The E says its name, right mom, because it's two vowels? But that's a strange name." Now obviously that small type would be fixed by being on an iPad screen, and when she plays on the iPad we don't have that issue, but we don't really take our iPad to go the way we take our iPhone, so that was a downside for me.  The only other issue we had is specific to my daughter who still likes to track with her finger when she reads- not ideal for on-screen reading, but that's a problem we have on lots of programs and devices, and hopefully as she becomes a more confident reader this will stop being a problem.  Luckily on this program, you actually have to click on the arrows to change the page, so she isn't swiping the pages away trying to read, but she did have a tendency to click on more information links when she didn't mean to.  Overall, Savannah liked this product a lot and is happy to read and play on my phone, so I'd give it a thumbs up the next time you need to purchase a few moments of sanity while you wait in line, at the DMV, at sports practice, or any of the 1,000,000 other places we all end up putting our kids in a boredom holding pattern! Happy playing! 

Getaway in Savannah, Georgia (Sunday)

This year all the stars aligned perfectly for us to be able to take a grown-ups only vacation! While my oldest was at scout camp, my younger two did the free day camp at the Marine Corps Museum, and then stayed with my mom for a week.  We met up with my sister-in-law and her husband in Savannah for a few days of fun and random mid-day naps! (Because if I don't have kids with me, I just want to nap.) Here's a run down of what we did.

Sunday: Getting In
My husband was SUPER concerned that we'd be late picking his sister up from the airport (closest is Savannah/Hilton Head International, which is really small), so we drove all night and got in to downtown Savannah around 2am.  Savannah is kicking on Saturday night/Sunday morning and they have this weird open container rule where people can just roam the streets with alcohol, so everyone was in a good mood.  We tried to get an early check in at our hotel (Residence Inn Savannah Midtown- it was just okay, nothing to really write home about, but we had Marriott points!) but they were completely booked, as was everything we passed, so we ended up paying $10 and sleeping in our van in a parking garage.

Welcome to the Hotel Dodge Grand Caravan.  

I've got to give a shoutout here to our Grand Caravan, which has seats that lay WAY flat and is super comfortable to sleep in.  Thanks, Dodge, for being so considerate of people who can't find a hotel.  One of my "must see" places was the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, but since I was traveling with 3 people who aren't religious, I only wanted to torture my husband, so we hit the 8am mass so that I could see the building and go to church all in one swoop. The cathedral is really beautiful, and you guys, early mass is SHORT! I'm not Catholic, but I can tell you that in the time it took for mass to happen, my church might have made it through the first worship set.  

And yes, we changed clothes.  Thanks McDonalds, for having lovely facilities that we were able to use to change in.  After mass, my crazy wonderful husband decided we couldn't pick up his sister after driving in our car, and so we had to find a car wash and wash/vacuum the car.  

For Real. 

Luckily there's one really close to the airport, so we did that and then picked up my SIL and her husband.  Unfortunately our hotel didn't have a room clean yet for an early check in (but they'd probably have one around noon), so we headed to Clary's for brunch/lunch.  The nicest part about this restaurant was that it's in a really historic neighborhood and we had fun peeking into gardens and taking pictures of oak trees covered in Spanish Moss while we waited. 

So we ate lunch....

Aaaand, our hotel was still booked and couldn't get us in any earlier than 3pm, so we headed over to the Savannah College of Art and Design's museum. 

Note: You can't actually take this picture.  There's only one "insert" but Joe is a Photoshop Ninja.

The SCAD museum is really neat, although I have a hard time paying for museums (the Smithsonians have ruined me for life).  It was $10 per person (military/senior discounts are available), but there was a family pass for $30 for a family of 4, and we are, actually, all related so we did that :)  The exhibits switch out, but while we were there they had a bunch of neat modern art, a Carolina Herrera exhibit with tons of gorgeous dresses, and something about complex motion- the bulldozer in the picture below actually looks like a cathedral and the man who made it didn't give it a motor, but everything can move, so it could, in theory, work.  The docents are all SCAD students and while most of them are just quietly lurking in the corners with iPads, several of them are SUPER EXCITED about art and want to tell you all the cool facts that they know.  We liked those people a lot.  I wish I'd made some kind of an effort to remember the names of the really fantastic docents, but as you may recall, I slept in my car the night before, so you're lucky I remember I went to this museum to begin with. So there. 

After dinner, we went back to our hotel (!!) room and I played the mom and made everyone pick things they wanted to do so that we didn't just sit around all week doing nothing because we had to plan each morning.  

Okay, I initially planned on doing this in one post, but this is getting a little long, so we're going to divide this sucker up.  So that was Sunday, and it ended with me getting to sleep in a bed.  Which was amazing. 

Family 4-Packs for Farm Aid

Ticket 4-Packs Now On Sale for Farm Aid 2016

Bristow, Va. — To help more families enjoy Farm Aid’s all-day music and food festival, the organization announced today the availability of a family 4-pack that includes four lawn tickets for just $149.00. Farm Aid 2016 will take place Saturday, Sept. 17, at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Va.

Farm Aid 2016 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews — with Tim Reynolds — as well as Alabama Shakes, Sturgill Simpson, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Jamey Johnson, Margo Price, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Carlene Carter and Insects vs Robots.

Farm Aid 2016 is a family-friendly music and food festival with hands-on activities in its HOMEGROWN Village. Families can learn skills like papermaking and fermentation, and get their hands dirty learning about soil, water, food and farming. Festivalgoers will also experience Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Concessions®, featuring family farm-identified, local and organic foods like chicken, pork chops, corn dogs, rice bowls, salads and more.

There are a limited number of 4-packs available, and the offer applies to advance ticket sales only. Fans can purchase 4-packs and pavilion seats to Farm Aid 2016 at Livenation.com, the venue box office, or by phone at 800-745-3000. Individual ticket prices range from $49.50 to $189.50.

For event updates, follow Farm Aid on Twitter (@farmaid) and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/farmaid), and visit www.farmaid.org/concert.

Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $50 million to help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

PWA for Junior Kindergarten

Why Choose PWA for Junior Kindergarten?

At Prince William Academy, Junior Kindergarten is not a daycare program. We offer a rigorous yet developmentally appropriate course of study that provides ample opportunity for students to grow in body and mind within a nurturing and caring environment.

With an advanced curriculum, our Jr. K students learn at a kindergarten level and leave our program with a solid foundation for elementary school. Most recent academic data shows that students who attend PWA Junior Kindergarten significantly outperform peers in Kindergarten who did not. Our 2016 data shows: 

After successful completion of our Junior Kindergarten Program your child will be able to demonstrate:

• Letter Knowledge
  
• Phoenemic Awareness (phonics)
  
• Sound and Letter Associations
  
• Fine and Gross Motor Skills
  
  
  
  0. Through thematic lessons and problem solving activities, Jr. K students at PWA are able to connect academic instruction with real world experiences. Spanish is offered four days each week, as well as the choice of Mandarin or Arabic twice each week, providing cultural opportunities students can use to expand their understanding of the world and their role as global citizens. Physical Education, Art, Music, and Technology help round out our curricular approach.
     
     
     At its core, our program is designed to help our students develop self-confidence as they learn in a cooperative setting, interacting with their peers and acquiring skills to explain themselves and their reasoning. 

Nutrition Sunday: Fit Mommies

Nutrition  Sundays are provided by MaxMuscle Manassas. 

Review: Beric the Briton

You guys have read on Facebook about my deep and abiding love for audio books, and Heirloom Audio Productions does fantastic radio drama adaptations of the G.A.Henty books with Beric the Briton.

We received a hard copy of Beric the Briton (CD set) as well as access to several bonus materials including a study guide with comprehension questions, vocabulary, and thinking further sections (note: just the questions, not the answers, so you'll want to listen along, too), an inspirational poster from Julian (a character in the story), e-book, promotional poster, and more.   What you're probably wondering is just what exactly a "radio drama" is.  I grew up listening to these every weeknight on Christian Radio, so the format was familiar to me- but if you're not used to it, think of it like a play with no video.  There are sound effects, background music, and numerous actors voicing the characters, unlike an audio book which is just someone reading dramatically.  It's a very engaging format.  This book is a combination of historical fact and engaging fiction, and it ends up being about the treatment of early Christians in Rome.  Yay Gladiators and lions in the arena!  Now, on to the real experts, my kiddos :) Caution, you may find some of these points to be spoiler alerts.  Riley (Age 12)- I thought it was a fun book.  I liked the historical aspects entwined with the fictional story.  I liked that the story was about early followers of Jesus.  For younger kids, this might be a little scary because it has a lot of death, battle scenes, and lions who eat Christians.  The gore isn't really described, but I didn't think it was scary at all. My favorite part was when they killed everyone in the one town early in the book during the uprising.  It was very action-packed.  Logan (Age 10)- I felt that it's for more mature ages, like 9 and up, because it could get gruesome at times with things like wars and a bit of torture, gladiators, and stuff like that.  There were wolf hunts, too.  But I thought that the narrating was great- they got multiple people to be in it so each character had a different voice and I thought that was really cool.  My favorite part was probably when the people talked about Jesus because they had to do it in secret, and they still did it anyway.   Savannah (Age 8)- I thought it was really good. I liked that it was good for you about Jesus, but it also had history in it.  It was a little scary, though.  The sound effects were really good.  My favorite character was Beric because he was really brave even when his mom died in the battle with the queen, he still had to be brave and lead his people.  You can find more information about Heirloom Audio Productions, G.A. Henty series, and Beric the Briton on social media:  Beric The Briton FB Page

The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty series FB page

Heirloom Audio Productions

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeirloomStories

Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/114534826166314080647/114534826166314080647 

Instagram: @HeirloomAudioOfficial