Reviews

I know this seems like a theme with me lately. But... go to The Schoolhouse Store and check out the Amusing Mathematics module. It is a mini-unit study. If you are constantly looking for ways to make math fun and/ or incorporate it in different ways, then this module will be of interest. I made the mistake of printing the whole thing. That took longer than I think it should have.

It is meant to be used interactively.

The only downside is we don't let our kids get online. There is just too much temptation. Alot of this module is linked online. I wish I could have just turned it over to the kids. But I am thinking of making some safe sites the kids can go visit and maybe this will give me the motivation I need for that.

This was a fun way to experience math! Thanks TOS!

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=159&products_id=7262

(Oh! The best part is the price. At $7.95 for a 48 pages and a wide variety of activities for various ages, I think it is a great value.)

It is my pleasure to bring you a review on a product made by a company called One2Believe. When  my children saw this set arrive in the a mail, they descended on the set immediately and couldn't get it out of the package fast enough.

So far it is held up well to my childen (which is no small feat) ! I am a little concerned about the star being pulled off somehow, but my kids are rougher on toys than average children. I forsee this set giving my children a lot of enjoyment. Initially, I thought about letting them play with it a few days, and then putting it away until Christmas. However, they are having too much fun playing with it. Maybe I will have to get a second one!

The pieces are very sturdy, well made and guaranteed safe by the company that makes the set. It retails for $24.99 on their site www.one2believe.com

It comes with a little booklet in 3 languages. I love that it comes in different languages, but I was dissapointed it wasn't a little more to the booklet.

I highly recommend this playset if your kids like toy figurines like mine do. It also would make a great gift.

I know I have already written about the e-version of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. However, I would also like to post a review for the print version and tell about a special offer that is going on.

My first introduction to the TOS magazine was in the bathroom of 2 other homeschool families. When my friend Caryn told me about all the free things that came with the magazine when you order it, I went online and ordered! I always love "free".

Here I must admit that I am an "order on line and have your books delivered" kind of homeschool Mom. I do not attend the large conferences OR make regular trips to my local homeschool stores - even though we have at least one very large and great store relatively close and many teacher resourse kind of stores. I would spend way too much at places like these.

So, to me, TOS magazine offers a way to "browse" for homeschool items without leaving my home and be introduced to ideas and products that can help me while teaching my children.

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is the only homeschool magazine I subscribe to. I am sure there are other great ones, but I feel the scope and weight of this magazines is all I need. If you are a Christian homeschooler, then I highly recommend this magazine. There is such a wide variety of articles and many would be of interest to a secular or non-religious homeschooler, but the magazine is clearly written with a Christian worldview in mind.

I love the size of the magazine, the type and variety of articles as well as the thought and preparation of the articles. It is very professional looking. It goes with me everywhere until I read the whole magazine from beginning to end. I often go back and re-read or look up articles as well. I could go on and on about the kinds of articles, but there is such a variety and they are written by other homeschoolers.

Welll... now for the offer. If you want to susbscribe to The Old Schoolhouse magazine, do so now! (If you are like me and like FREE, they have some really great offers for joining now)

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/US_Promotion.php

It was with great interest I realized The Old Schoolhouse Magazine was offering a digital version of their magazine. Since I am the type of person that keeps her magazines and loves to have a way to look up specific articles and retrieve the information quickly, I thought I would love to have an e-book version. Plus, I am online a lot looking up articles and researching various subjects.

This is the first magazine I viewed this way (OK! So, I know they are not "new", but I just like the real deal when it comes to my books.)

Pros: The magazine is very easy to download and flip through. It was easy to read the articles and find  the information I was looking for and I save the copies on my computer. No magazine ink on my fingers when I am done. No wondering what to do with the magazine when I am done (Keep entirely, scan in pages, recycle, give to a friend?).

Cons: I didn't realize how much I look forward to actually getting my magazine in the mailbox. I anticipate when it will show up and then spend time throughout the day over the course of several days thumbing though. My laptop is not handy to throw in the car if I have a few extra minutes waiting at the doctor.

I found myself wanting to print out the articles I didn't have time to read entirely.

So, I do like the digital version of this magazine, but I like the paper version too! I found myself wanting both. I would (most likely) look thoroughly through the print version when I recieved it, but then pass that on to another homeschooler or someone thinking about homsechooling. Then I would use the downloaded version to look up the articles again.  Personally, I would probably want the digital version to be a free add on or come at a discounted price along with the paper version. I think the digital version is well priced as a stand alone.

I have been using a great new planner this year. Typically I do not actually use a planner because I have stuck pretty closely to using Sonlight and I can keep all my notes directly in the planner they provide. However, this year, my oldest two are doing mostly Switched on Schoolhouse, plus Apologia Science and Typing and some other subjects. My 10 year-old is doing Sonlight, Zoology 3 , Math U See , and my 6 year-old is doing a different Sonlight,  Professor B math, and the Zoology 3 (kind of).

So... I needed a way to keep it all straight and have plans written down for each day!

What I did not expect was not only does this planner have a variety of pages to be used in planners, but also just about every form you can think of for School and Home! Instead of this simply being a school tool it is equally useful as a household tool. The forms are able to be filled out on the computer and then printed out. There is enough space in the boxes for the average person to fill in by hand, but it seems I can't ever write inside of the boxes. Additionally it is hard for me to write clearly enough for the younger kids to read clearly.

In fact, the only regret I have about this planner is I didn't get it at the end of last school year. If I had more time, I think I would have been able to use it more thoroughly.

Currently, I am still trying to figure out a few features with it. Also, I tried to download using Firefox after placing my order, but the planner did not like to be downloaded with Firefox.

I highly recommend this planner. Even if you are well underway this year it is worth checking out.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know what you think.

Rating: 5 Rocks

Summary: One of a set of unique restaurants in the Triangle area. We stopped by on a whim, looking for something different. We were impressed with our friendly server, and the wonderful selection of quite different, yet appetizing-sounding entrees. Expect crowds usually - there's even a pool table in the waiting area, if you can manage to get a turn on it.

Pros: A quiet Tuesday evening, with the place pretty much to ourselves at almost closing time. Turns out this is an unusual night for the restaurant, but we still enjoyed it! The food was excellent; this restaurant specializes in seafood, yet offers a good selection of chicken, beef, and non-meat options. We shared a Soup Sampler so we didn't have to decide which soup to try, and enjoyed them all. Krista got the special, a pretzel-encrusted Mahi with veggies and onions. David ordered a peppered gouper, surrounded by withered spinach. This spinach was really, really, good - going to have to try making that sometime!

Cons: Crowded on regular nights; expect to wait an hour or two.

Who: Those bored with the regular chain food, and want to experience something new and delicious. It's something like Bahama Breeze, but not so exotic. Get someone to watch the kids, unless yours really like trying new and funny-looking stuff.

Rating: 5 Rocks!

Summary: A great multi-purpose PDA running Palm OS 4.1 (in other words, access to my mission-critical apps and thousands of other quality programs), with photo and audio apps added in. It also reads Sony's miniscule Memory Stick.

Pros: The screen. The screen. Did I mention the screen? Nothing comes close. It's like going from EGA to XGA, like going from dot matrix to laser, like going from night to day. The double benefit of double-resolution screen, and in color just take your breath away. Oh, by the way, it's a full-fledged MP3 player, complete with cool headphones and an inline volume/track/play controller built in. And (this just keeps going on) there's the Back button! Finally, I can use my deeply ingrained web behavior, and back up through the Palm. I've always floundered when I wanted to go back to a previous application, because Palm OS doesn't provide a close button. This is even better. OK, one more; the Memory Stick can be accessed from Windows through drive-letter access. I can stuff any kind of file on there. Time to get a bigger one.

Cons: The photo viewer doesn't read JPGs, they have to be converted to PGPocket viewer format. It's free, and it works, but that's more of a hassle then throwing the pictures on the Memory Stick. The video viewer is a joke - all grainy and jerky. Good thing I didn't buy it for that. OK, I'm trying hard to cover both sides here: touching the screen. I guess because of the space the front-lighting takes up, I have to press harder than I expect to touch the screen. As it is it's so beautiful I don't want to hurt it!

Who: I got mine for $260 refurbished at a Sony Outlet store. Great deal! These retail for $400, but you can find them used for less, because they're an "older" model. If you want color on a Palm OS PDA, this is the one for you. Other color Clies will probably work, too, though - they all have about the same screen. This one has the big bonus of the MP3 player, though. It doesn't have the keyboard that the 70s do, but I tried those in the store and didn't like how it worked anyway.

Rating: 4.5 Rocks (David 4, Krista 5) Summary: A 19th century man comes forward in time to charm an unabashedly 21st century woman with his gentlemanly ways.

Pros: There are plenty of funny situations without overdoing the time traveler bit. Meg Ryan does a great job with her part, and there's a solid story line.

Cons: How did they fall off the bridge and end up on the road? Making the dramatic requirement of jumping off a bridge to time travel isn't thought completely through.

Who: Anybody looking for a good solid, calm movie.

Rating: 2.5 Rocks (David 2, Krista 3)

Summary: A famous steakhouse in a big red barn; famous for good food, great service, and high prices. We visited the day before Mother's Day, arriving around 5pm. We didn't have to wait at all, so didn't get to experience the waiting area's amenities. We were taken to a table in the back by the windows, and soon all the tables around were full.

Pros: The service was the best we've had in a long time. Several greeters out front welcomed us in, and were friendly enough - a dramatic departure from the bored / tired attitude of most hosts/hostesses at other restaurants. Our waitress was friendly, efficient, and helpful. The h'ordeurves were definitly an unexpected plus; the kids loved the crackers, celery, cheese, and pickles.

Cons: The entrees were good, but far short of exceptional. There wasn't much ambiance where we were, but at least we were separated from the main dining room, with all its noise and crowds. If the food were much, much better, and the dining experience classier, the prices would have been justified. As it was, it was fancy restaurant prices for average food in a country atmosphere.

Who: There are plenty of other great steakhouses, so this would be for people who want to say they've been to the Angus Barn. We've heard the wine cellar is exceptional, so perhaps those into wine would better appreciate the restaurant. Businesspeople with substantial expense accounts looking for a unique restaurant to treat their clients would also be attracted here, especially if the clients are the type that are impressed with big-ticket items.

Rating: 4.5 Rocks (David 5, Krista 4)

Summary: This is one of the best children's Bible story books we've seen. The Bible stories are accompanied by verse excerpts to memorize, activities to share, and fun facts about the Bible story.

Pros: The writing style keeps the young kids interested and the illustrations are very well-done. The activities are great, and applicable, including making food, getting outside, etc. The stories are also followed up with character traits to learn.

Cons: God is more than love, and sometimes the stories gloss over some of the truth of sin.

Who: The book is targeted at preschoolers, but first and second graders enjoy reading along with the stories.

Rating: 3.5 Rocks (David 4, Krista 3)

Summary: A cute version of the old cartoon. Madeline is an orphan at a girls' school with an impetuous attitude. (PG)

Pros: The girls do a really good job, and the untranslated French and Spanish is refreshing in a modern film (instead of just a thick French or Spanish accent).

Cons: Nice, but kind of boring, and where is the red Vespa on the cover?

Who: Little kid movie, and just interesting enough to watch with them once.

Rating: 3 Rocks (David 3, Krista 3)

Summary: An epic-length telling of the day that will live in infamy, through the eyes of three people. (PG-13)

Pros: Focusing on the story of individuals lends a remarkably personal look at war, and how it affects people. Very good to get you thinking about the value of life, and how fragile it is.

Cons: Way, way too long. Also, war doesn't spare the heroes, making the whole saga of these two guys really improbable. And, for all the trouble taken in digitally recreating the attack, it was too fake. The smoke alone in that attack would have made "filming" extremely difficult..

Who: A war movie - watch with caution, and no kids.

Rating: 5 Rocks!

Summary: A man meets himself as a child, and gets his life back on the track he imagined it would be. (PG)

Pros: Really good acting on the part of the kid, lots of funny lines and scenes. There are pleny of unexpected twists to the storyline - you don't get bored.

Cons: Hey! Hey! Hey! Bruce has some brainless lines.

Who: Good family film.

We're checking into heating & cooling our home. Right now we have window A/C units, and baseboard electric heat - a really inefficient, expensive solution.

It's always expensive to retrofit a house with a central system, but our home's tri-level configuration compounds the problem by requiring extra ductwork. We had somebody give us a quote, which comes in around $8000 or so!! Wow.

The wheels start turning

But, hey! Talking with the HVAC guy, and from what else I know about sizing these systems, it's all about compromise: finding the best balance from different parts of the house. Not too mention the closet space you lose with the ducts. Well, since it's so expensive to run ductwork, why not install a room unit in each room? They would have to be heat pumps, not just a/c, and we want them to be in-wall, not window units. 6 units would take care of the house, and they have to be less than $1300 each to be competitive with central.

• Amana wall units run around $500
• Carrier has one, for $650
• GE has an extensive line, ranging from $500 to $800
• Whirlpool has a few, but only one in the wall. No pricing.
• Friedrich has a versatile line, with even split systems. No pricing.

It gets better

Doing a lot more reading, and I discover ductless split systems. These work just like a full-size regular unit usually does, with separate chiller and air handler, but are a single unit with no ducts. You put them in on a room-by-room basis. You gain a lot of efficiency, as each room is its own zone, and lose all the duct noise.

• According to their website, Mitsubishi apparently came up with idea, and has a few models available.
• Friedrich's systems are what caught my attention in the first place.
• More research on Google turns up Goodman/Janitrol, Enviromaster, and an article from James Dulley. Turns out Carrier, Fujitsu, GE, LGE, and Sanyo also make these units.

Several manufactures, zone cooling, no ducts, high efficiency, much lower capital expense - it all sounds too good to be true. Now to find some local dealers and see if this will actually pan out to all it's made up to be.

Rating: 5 Rocks!

Summary: Lots of fun, great gizmos! Cool action movie with an original storyline. What made it especially neat for us is that the girl's name is Carmen, there's an uncle Felix, and Antonio Banderas takes the part of the dad: all our kids' names! The whole movie is set in quite a hispanic setting, for a nice change. (PG)

Pros: Good gadgets, very clean movie, not even any stupid "kick the guy between the legs" scenes. Several unexpected twists to the plot keep you engaged.

Cons: Hmm. Can't think of any at this point.

Who: Anybody wanting a fun, clean action movie!

Rating: 4 Rocks (David 4, Krista 4)

Summary: A nicely done, interesting movie. Interesting characters and a well-developed pleasing plot provide the core to a pleasant village backdrop. It has almost a fairy-tale quality to it, considering the incredible power of chocolate in people's lives, and the (of course) instant romance between the gypsy and the wanderer. The most interesting and powerful character is actually the Mayor, who fruitlessly tries to enforce his traditions on his townspeople. (PG-13)

Pros: Nice music score, luscious chocolate scenes. We liked the references to Maya culture and Guatemala, and the pottery was neat. Gets you thinking of life beyond traditions, and ends with a solid "good" feeling.

Cons: Foul-mouthed grandmother, religion is mocked, two short scenes. The gypsies were the only people that were happy.

Who: Pretty much by the rating (older kids, adults), and it'll be interesting for everybody.

Rating: 5 Rocks!

Summary: A great 3.3 megapixel camera. 3x zoom, LCD preview, several program modes, creates Quicktime movies, accepts Compact Flash types I and II cards.

Pros: I love the flip-out LCD preview for getting the camera into awkward positions, or for self-portraits on the tripod using the remote control. The auto modes work great, and it's very nice to have the shutter priority, aperature priority, and full-manual modes to get photos in those odd settings. My favorite special mode is the Photo Stitch mode, which visually guides in taking several photos to later mix into one large composite on the computer. The battery usually lasts through a two or three 128MB cards full of photos/movies.

The hot shoe for an external flash is rare on this level of digital camera. I got a flash unit from a friend, and it helps a lot in people pictures. The Quicktime movies can be taken in 30 sec increments until your card is full, complete with sound. It's nice to be able to get superb stills, but still catch those funny action moments, too. The camera also supports those humongous IMB Microdrives, but my 128 CF card / laptop combination has been adequate for me.

The software included with the camera is very surprising. Usually the included software in these types of things is next to useless, but here is an exception. There is an excellent photo stiching program that intelligently makes great panorama view, even allowing you to manually match them up even better. The other great software is PhotoRecord, which is hands-down the best photo printing software I have ever seen. Professional-looking templates for layouts are nice, but it's even better how it lets you print any combination of photos, sizes, orientations, and arrangments on a page at superb quality.

One other feature of mention that I haven't tried very much is the ability to capture photos in RAW mode, which simply saves the CCD info for later processing on the computer. The problem with this is that the only way to get those photos is through the USB connection, which is a lot slower than the PC Card adapter method I usually use.

Cons: I wish I had a bigger zoom. The built-in flash usually overpowers the subject, and it's really hard to take crisp non-flash low-light photos without a tripod and really stationary subject. Using and external flash helps a lot. The included 16 MB CompactFlash card is a joke - why do camera makers expect somebody buying a 3.3 megapixel camera to be using it in low-quality mode? I get 70 hi-res photos on my 128MB card.

The usual lag-time trouble common with most digicams is here, too. Either you have to take the time to pre-set the photo with a half-press of the trigger, or you wait a long time for it to do it itself. I usually find that pre-setting is critical to checking the photo quality in the LCD, as the most common problem is the camera focusing somewhere else than what you expect. Kids move around so much!

Who: This camera isn't cheap, so you need to be really interested in digital photography to buy this. It's nice and small, takes great photos, and gives you the potential for manual control over everything. You'll need to come over and check mine out, or visit the excellent reviews at Steve's Reviews, Digital Photography Review (which also has owner reviews and forums). I bought mine from CDW.

Today this camera retails around $800. Is it worth it?  As of this review, we've taken about 2500 photos & movies with ours since we bought it at the end of January, and have saved 784 of those. So we've thrown away something like 1700 photos. Let's say those were all 24-shot rolls, developed at a Walmart price of $5 per roll: $350 would have been wasted in thrown-away photos in just 6 months! This camera is well on it's way to payback, simply in saved developing costs.

Rating: 5 Rocks !

Summary: A fairy tale (as the intro calls it) of an Italian Jewish family during World War II. The first part of the movie is a charming, funny story of how the couple meets and ends up married. The second part is an unusual view of a concentration camp: trying to pretend it isn't real. (PG13)

Pros: Hilarious lines, great scenes, touching story line. It's refreshing to see such a harsh time placed in such a soft light. Yes, war is horrible, but life is beautiful!

Cons: Impossible events, especially at the concentration camp. But, hey, this is a fairy tale, in which anything can happen.

Who: Families with older kids, couples, it's worth your time.

Rating: 5 Rocks !

Summary : The classic Winnie-the-Pooh cast takes a closer look at my favorite character, Tigger. He's on a search for his family, because nobody seems to want to bounce with him. But he discovers that his family is really the friends around him, especially Roo. (G)

Pros : Super-duper kid fun, great family message, tons of great Tigger-isms.

Cons : Ok, it might be a little too childish for some adults, go figure.

Who : Family, kids, anybody not afraid to cry at the end.

Rating : 3 Rocks

Summary : A workaholic FedEx guy is the lone survivor of an airplane crash, and lives several years on a remote island with a volleyball for a friend. He gets rescued to find his girlfriend married, so manages to make himself find a new life. (PG13)

Pros : Great acting by Tom Hanks, Wilson the volleyball is great!

Cons : Long, without much of a plot. I guess you can't expect much on a remote island. It's a little hard to believe that a modern jet would crash in a storm, or wouldn't have at least turned around.

Who : People who have nothing else to do, or like Tom Hanks a whole lot.

Rating: 2 Rocks

Summary : An advertising guru accidentally gets the ability to hear what all women are thinking. He of course uses it to his advantage in every way, but she loves him anyway. (PG13)

Pros : Pretty funny when you realize what people think and what they say are often worlds apart, and how embarrasing it would be to have your thoughts wide open. Teen sex is portrayed in a dissaproving manner.

Cons : Lots and lots of sexual innuendo, this guy is a ladies' man to the hilt. Why would she want him after he's lied to her, stolen her ideas, and all his "sensitivity" is nothing more than mind-reading?

Who : Forget it. The bad stuff way outweighs the funny.

Rating: 2.5 Rocks (David 2, Krista 3)

Summary : A long, slow movie about a miracle worker that ends up on death row. The guards believe him, and the bad guys get taken care of. Not sure what the point of it all is, though. (R)

Pros : The trick mouse is great! Makes you want to go start Mouseville yourself.

Cons : Wierd, God-less miracles. Doesn't leave you with many answers, especially when the good guy gets the chair anyway. Really intense electric chair scene, and lots of profanity and blasphemy also detract from the movie.

Who : Watch this if you're interested in wasting some time, definitely no kids.

Rating : 5 Rocks ! (David 5, Krista 5)

Summary : This is a great film that really gets you thinking about the values of life. Here's a guy that has it all, or so he thinks. He gets to see what his life might have been with a family, and even though it seems painful at first, the value of family over money becomes painfully obvious. (PG13)

Pros : Pro-family, thought-provoking, humorous, fully-dressed romance between husband and wife

Cons: A couple blasphemies, scene of wife in shower through frosted glass

Who : A must-watch for couples, and good for kids if you're good enough to blank the screen during the nudity.

Rating: 4 Rocks (David 4, Krista 4)

Summary : A few years in the life of Judah the son of Hur, who lived at the same time as Jesus Christ. He lives through some interesting twists of events, and crosses paths with Jesus a couple times. He ends up realizing that the forgiveness Jesus showed was the only way to conquer the bitterness he held toward those he hated. (G)

Cons : This is a long old-style movie, with somewhat tedious portraits that try to convey people's thoughts. It's unfortunate that the movie ends with Jesus in the grave, because His resurrection was more important that even His death.

Pros : Elaborate sets and full story line make the film interesting throughout. Jesus is placed in a remarkably good light for a secular production, and several dramatic scenes liven things up throughout.

Who : Anybody with enough time, especially those who are familiar with the life of Christ and the state of the world around Him.