TOS CREW Review- At Home in Dogwood Mudhole

It makes my heart smile to get to say my last review for this TOS Review season ends with a book! Seriously!  You all know how I love books, right?  And At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing That Eats?  What a book to end on!


Meet author Franklin Sanders!  Father of seven, husband to Susan (who I am pretty sure has the patience of Job), and writer turned agrarian.  For 17 plus years, Franklin has written The Moneychanger Newsletter, telling stories and teaching his readers on everything from money to history to farming. Now those published articles have been collected into three volumes for your reading pleasure. I had the honor of reading the first in the series-  At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing That Eats, which sells for $22.95. Volume two, Best Thing We Ever Did, will be available to order on November 15th, just in time for Christmas.


It would be a fair assessment to say I begged for this review because I dream of farm living!  I know, I am crazy like that.  I tend to read everything I can get my hands on to learn about that way of life so when the Good Lord takes me to the farm, I will be ready.  It is also fair to say this book has given me second thoughts! ;)

OK, not too many second thoughts but a few.  (Farming is HARD ya'll!)  Firstly, this is NOT a how to book.  Instead imagine yourself sitting down with a friend who tells you all about their day to day adventures.  That is what the book feels like to me.  A chat with an old friend.  A funny friend!  I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion, sometimes every other paragraph, and have made my poor family listen to me read aloud several times.  Franklin's witty, dry sense of humor is not only fun to read but I am sure has been what has gotten he and his family through a few rough spots- like being put in jail for not taxing the exchange of silver and gold.  (Crazy tale!)

The threat of Y2K drove Franklin, his wife, children and their spouses and grandchildren to the farm, but it is not what kept them there.
"...just behind the edge of every minute lurks some glorious surprise..." Page 378

Don't you love that?

Let me tell you what else I loved-

This book has animals- Franklin has a love- hate relationship with chickens.  He keeps buying them, the dogs keep eating them.  Easy for us to laugh because the stories he tells are funny, after the fact, I am sure. But funny, none the less!  And dogs...well let's just say that he may be more of a sucker for dogs than I am. Some not so smart ones either.  And horses!  And cows!  And pigs! "I named them 'Pork' and 'Chop' to give everybody the hint that their residence with us was not a permanent arrangement.  I'm not supporting a petting zoo."  p.172

This book has restaurants- The man likes to give credit where credit is due.  When he talks about a meal they had while on the road he will describe it in great detail and then give you the name, address and phone number of the restaurant...some all over the country!  You could take this book on a sightseeing adventure and be guaranteed good food!  Some of his descriptions had my mouth watering.

This book has History-  One of the things the Sanders family enjoys in their free time, not sure when that is exactly, is historical reenactments and history.  Sprinkled throughout the book are tales of their ancestors and tales of the south- and trust me Franklin knows how to tell a story!

This book has family- Family is obviously precious to Franklin and you can tell.  Stories about his children and grandchildren will make you smile and warm your heart. "There may be something better than being a grandfather, but I haven't yet figured out what that might be. " page 132  Did I mention that Franklin and his whole family moved to the farm? Together? For a while in one house?  Yes, they are a brave and devoted family.

This book has God- Franklin is a Christian and it shows.  Occasionally he asks for prayer, occasionally he shares a prayer and throughout the book his faith is woven in. "The best part of  living in the country is that daily the mighty works of God are played out before your eyes." p. 211

No, it is not, but it sure sounds like a place I would like to visit!  If you yearn for a simpler life, love history or just want to snuggle under a blanket this winter and giggle, ponder and relax, then I recommend you get this book and join Franklin Sanders and his adventures at Dogwood Mudhole!

TOS CREW Review- Apologia's Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics

Wouldn't you know it that my second to last review this year for TOS Crew would be my hardest to write.  There is so much I want to say and so much to show you and I do not want to lose you halfway through! There are a lot of GREAT things to share with you so hang in with me 'til the end!  I promise it will be worth it!

Remember Apologia Educational Ministries?  I have had the pleasure of reviewing their What We Believe series, Journeys of Faithfulness Bible Study, and the book I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Love them all!

So when offered the chance to review their newest book in their Exploring Creation series, I asked if I could give it a try.  OK, I begged!  We have used the other six in this science series written for elementary age students (ideally K-6th), and I would not want to break up a set, you know!

This is what we received-

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics-$39.00

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal-$24.00

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal-$24.00

Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics is a 288 page, 14 lesson, hard bound book designed to teach your elementary age children the basics of Chemistry and Physics.  Each chapter is full of colorful pictures to engage the interests of younger children and has a ton of hand on experiments! TONS! Throughout each chapter you will find little blue boxes that say Try This!  Each Try This is a mini experiment to help further explain the concept being taught. There are 10 Try This! activities in Chapter 1 alone.  Each chapter ends with an additional project and/or experiment that seems to be a slightly more time consuming assignment.  Each chapter also ends with a What Do You Remember section for review.  The answers to these questions are at the back of the book for ease of the teacher!  Lastly, there is a Notebooking section. This section gives an additional project for your child to do, from just writing down notes of what you learned to making comic strips!

That brings me to the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal!

To make life easier, Apologia has created Notebooks to correspond with each of  their books and recently added the Junior Notebooks for even younger kids.  If your family is use to notebooking, this will be right up your alley.  If you have never done notebooking before, this is a great way to learn how.  There are pages for your child to take notes on with spaces for pictures as well, places to do any of  the activities listed in the textbook, crossword puzzles, scripture memory work (manuscript and cursive), and mini books to assemble.  You will also find a place to journal about all the experiments you do, lists of additional projects and recommended books and a What Do You Remember Section.  If you wish to further test your child, there is a 50 question review at the end of the journal reviewing the entire coursework.   The junior notebooks are quite similar, just on an easier level with not so many things to do.  The line spacing is somewhat bigger for beginning writers as well.

What did we think?

I am so glad you asked!  No surprise, we love this book!  Present tense, because we are still using it about four days a week.  (Yes, we ditched our initial science we had planned for the year.  I can do that- I am a homeschooling momma!) One of the bonuses for having the notebooking journals is that Apologia has a 28 week schedule in the front for your convenience.  That schedule allows for science two days a week, but we have found with all of  the experiments we usually work an extra day or two.  I was initially concerned about the subject matter- I mean, who teaches younger kids Chemistry and Physics, but this is by far our favorite book in the Exploring Creation series.   It is written so that your child can read it on their own, which is helpful when you are schooling several kids at the same time.  We do a lot of reading together around here and sometimes it is just nice to have a subject they can do on their own if needed.  I was also concerned about the experiments.  If you have followed me for any length of time you KNOW I do not particularly like experiments.  But, I am trying hard to be a good science teacher and must admit these experiments have been worth the minimal mess.  Apologia has a supply list on their website as well as in the back of the book.  You might as well start gathering supplies because your children are going to want to do every.single.experiment.  I know, because we have about done them all so far.  In no particular order, we have made bouncy balls-

Studied salt crystals-

Studied expanding gases and blown up balloons without our own breathe-

Made sorbet-

Learned about buoyancy-

And talked about Volume and density!

As you can see from the pictures, the fun and learning went beyond my 6th grader doing the course and often included the 1st grader and 10th grader, who happens to be doing Apologia's High School Chemistry this year as well.  I had planned to have my 1st grader do all of the lessons with us but the reading was over his head and he lost interest early on.  That of course, did not stop him from doing just about every experiment with us.  No one wants to miss the fun parts!  I am going to hang on to the junior notebook to use with him in another year of so.  There are so many other really fun experiments to try, so if for no other reason than that, make sure you check out my other Crew members posts by clicking on the banner below.

We did the lava lamp one and did not have great success, but I have seen some others' whose pictures are fantastic!

Why do we love it?

My husband suggested I do a top ten list for you, so here it is-

So if you are one of those people who skips down to the bottom- here is the bottom line - you NEED this program!  We love it and I know you will too!

TOS CREW Review- If You Were Me

For the past few weeks we have visited France, Norway, Mexico and South Korea!  Too bad it was only with the help of books, but it has been fun none the less!

We received four books in the If You Were Me And Lived In... series...South Korea, Mexico, France and Norway, the newest book in the series.   All were written by children's author Carole P. Roman from Away We Go Media to expose children to different countries and their cultures.

Each 20- 26 page book is filled with facts about the country in a fun, conversational tone.  By introducing things like what you might be named if you lived there to places you would see and what you would eat, your child can learn a lot about these remarkable places. 

Also covered are family names, types of money used, popular foods and games and special holidays celebrated.  Each book starts with a map to show the location of  the particular country and ends the same way- "So now you see, if you were me, how life in ....could really be"  While the rest of the book is not written in rhyme, I love the way it wraps up that way.


One of the things that makes these books extra special is the pronunciation guide at the end of each book.  We had fun trying to see if we could figure out how to say certain words and it pleased my son that we could now "speak more than just English and Spanish!"  ;)   Of course, our favorite book in the series was the one about Mexico.  We enjoyed seeing how many words we already knew since we are studying Spanish and my youngest son, who was adopted from Guatemala, was excited to recognize other similarities between the two places.

These books are targeted for ages Pre K to 8 years old and with some help my 6 year old was able to read them.  Because each one goes through the same topics he was able to pick up on the themes quickly and then had fun reading them by himself.    

For us reading is always fun, but when we can incorporate a book into our studies they are even more valuable.  These little readers would make a perfect addition to a basic geography lesson as well as world history.  They cover just enough to be educational without being a boring read for younger students.  Carole blessed us with a blow up ball with the earth on it and these books sparked an interest in Geography anew here.  The kids, yes even the 15 year old, had fun throwing the ball to each other while calling out a country's name.  The person that caught the ball then had to tell the capital of that country and pick a new one to call out.  Who said learning cannot be fun?!  My intention had been to eventually put these books away with our school curriculum, but my son quickly squirreled them away with his own books in his room- guess that is a sure sign that he likes them!

You can purchase the If You Were Me and Lived In... series for $8.99 each except for the newest release of Norway which is listed for $8.62.  These paperbacks are also available in Kindle format.

TOS CREW Review- Rosie's Doll Clothes

Do you love sewing in your house?  How about dolls?  We would answer yes, to both of those!  Even though my girls have grown out of the doll stage we have a few precious ones set aside to pass on to the next generation and that we pull out occasionally to share with little visitors.   And the sewing machine- well, it is a little bit quieter these days with my oldest at college, but it still gets some use!  I believe that sewing is a dying art, so I was excited to see the review possibility for Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns!  What a great way to teach young people, recommended for ages 8 and up,  to sew with something that is fun to do!

Rosie's is a wonderful site!  We were given access to a 12 month online subscription to Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course which allows you access all of her videos and 8 free patterns to make adorable doll clothes.   The 130+ videos are well organized and vary in length from a few minutes to about 10 minutes, but never too long as to bore or lose a younger student!  In the introduction, the teacher introduces herself (you will love her beautiful Australian accent) and does a little Let's Get Started talk.  From there, the videos include:

Setting Up Your Sewing Room

Tools That Make Sewing Doll Clothes Easy

Everything You Need to Know About Fabric

Know Your Elastic

How to Use Your Sewing Tools

Cool Tips When Using Your Sewing Tools

How to Print and Prepare Paper Patterns

Trouble Shooting

How to Sew Basic Stitches, Hems and Sergers

Casing, Tubes and Strips

Elastic, Gathering and More Advanced How To's

Trimmings and Fastening

More "Cool Tips"

Then there are separate videos to walk you through step by step to make the following -

Sports Shorts

Crop Top

Sarong

Halter Top

Summer Nightie 

Hat 

Pumpkin 

Underpants

Yes, that is a lot, but again, each video is broken into a manageable chunk for younger children to be able to handle but still challenging enough for a experienced sewer to enjoy.  In addition to the patterns that are supplied for you to print out, there is a step by step video series for each garment you can make.

Now, honestly, I do not even sew people clothes, so the thought of sewing doll clothes makes my head hurt, but my oldest daughter...now THAT is a different story.  Not only does she make many of her own clothes and work at a costume shop, but she also has a business making and altering other peoples' clothes, so she was thrilled for the opportunity to try this program out.  Even though she has a lot of experience with real size clothes, things on a smaller scale were much newer to her and she hoped to pick up a few new tips from someone with even more experience!  I am going to turn it over to her for a while...

Hello, Ashton here. =)

 I chose to use three patterns, the crop top, sarong (which is more like a wrap skirt), and hat. 

 The instructions are really easy to follow, and the videos walk you through step-by-step!

The pattern pieces are also really easy to use, and clearly marked.

 All you have to do is print them (super easy!), cut them out,

 glue them together, and you are ready to go! Helpful hint - make sure you turn off the print to size feature on your printer or the measurements will be slightly off.

 I cut out the sarong using weights and a rotary cutter. This method takes some practice but is super quick once you have the hang of it (and can control your hand).

  I cut out the top using the traditional pins and scissors method.

-BONUS tip- Don't cut out your pattern piece beforehand. Just lay it on the fabric, pin, and cut. Not only does it save time but it also stabilizes the pattern and your fabric while you cut.

 Sewing! I used one of the industrial machines where I work, but you can use your home machine and be just fine.

 Topstitching, and almost done...

 Ta Da! Not super fancy because I'm not at home and didn't have any cute trims available to me, but super cute all the same!

 And a hat!

Yay! This was super fun, and I wish I had had these patterns and videos when I still played dolls. I think my favorite thing about them is that there is so much room for customization and alteration. You can easily change up the patterns to look exactly like you want!  I did pick up a few new techniques and ideas when working with smaller garments and I love having these patterns to hopefully use with my own children someday.  I do think that the level of difficulty is appropriate for elementary age kids with some supervision (because of safety with the moving parts of a sewing machine).  The directions are clear and easy to follow and the patterns are ones that will appeal to young girls, especially.

 Michele here!  As you can see, these are some cute projects to do!  With sewing being a harder art to find a teacher for, I think it is wonderful that a company like Rosie's exist to pass on the knowledge of sewing and the skills it takes.  While you may be able to learn some of the techniques from a basic book, there is nothing like a "real, live" teacher to show you how to do something, especially for visual and auditory learners.  One of the other things I really appreciated about this videos was that Rosie did not jump right into the sewing, but took the time to teach you about the things involved in sewing first,  from the fabric to the tools you should have.  If you had no previous sewing knowledge or "stuff" on hand, you would know exactly what you needed to buy and how to get started. Many programs assume you know those basics and that is often just not the case, especially with younger sewers.

Based on our experience, we would highly recommend this program not only to new sewers, but also to more experienced ones as well who are looking to add some new skills and techniques to their knowledge!

Fellow CREW members also used this program, many with their younger children, so I would encourage you to check out their reviews by clicking the banner below.  Enjoy looking at all the young talent and the fun creations they made.  So cute!!!

Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns 12 month Online option can be bought for $47.85.  If you wish, you can also now buy the DVDs for $67.02.

Happy sewing,