Sunday, October 16, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Road Trip ~ Mississinewa 1812
Looking for a fun Road Trip for this weekend? Visit Mississinewa 1812 outside of Marion, IN! About 2 hours NE of Indianapolis, or just over an hour S of Ft Wayne, Grant County Indiana is the place to be this weekend!
Mississinewa 1812 is a history lesson or two, food, fun, music, shopping, and trees just getting their fall color against a bright blue sky. We have been several years in a row, and highly recommend it! Mississinewa 1812 is the largest repeating War of 1812 reenactment event in the US. While there were some spectacular events in the last year to commemorate the end of the War of 1812, this is one you can count on seeing every year.
The grounds of Mississinewa 1812 are open from 9-5 on Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday. You can view this year's schedule here. For those who love to be entertained, there are strolling bards, seated dulcimer players, and a magician or two. For those who love textiles and other handmade goods, this is one of the best Midwest events to stock up on wares like pottery, millinery, and woodwork, as well as herbs, soaps, and tinware.
If you like to learn how things work, you can often find a printer, typesetting, spinners, and blacksmiths hard at work. Visit the camps and see meals being prepared or firearms being cleaned.
Each day you will have the opportunity to see a battle recreated. While this is not an actual representation of the battle of Mississinewa (because there aren't enough natives who participate to recreate the actual day of battle) it is a wonderful representation of how the battles of the time were fought. After the battle is over, the various groups will march in parade fashion in front of the spectators for review. One of our favorite part of visiting on Saturday is staying until 4 p.m. and watching them retire the colors for the night.
Here are a few more tips from our past experiences:
Take a backpack! Besides being a great place for your water bottle, it can carry your morning snack. After you've eaten your snack it can hold your jacket and the wares you're sure to want to buy. :)
A wide variety of vendors offer all sorts of tempting foods. Even if you pack a sandwich, be sure to try something from the yummy offerings.
Take cash! While many of the vendors will accept credit cards, it makes it much easier to navigate the crowds and get lunch when you want it if you pay in cash. Wear a hat and/or sunblock. A light jacket in the morning, and dressing in layers makes for a much better experience.
Go visit the various camp areas. There are re-enactors from all over the US, and often some from Canada as well. Almost all of them love to share their stories with guests... just don't get between them and the stew pot at dinnertime.
Follow the signs to the parking area. Once you park, take EVERYTHING with you that you'll want for the day as there are NO in/out privileges. The grounds have lots of port-a-lets, and pumping water stations for cleaning your hands, but you might want to throw in some wipes or hand sanitizer as well when you're organizing your backpack. You will be doing a lot of walking, so wear your most comfortable shoes! There are some hills. If you have little ones, take a wagon or backpack carrier.
Get to the battlefield early! 30 minutes before the scheduled start time is usually the latest time to get a seat on the bleachers. After that you'll sit on the grass on the hill.
Have a wonderful time...and if you see the White River Guard ~ tell them we said Hi!
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers ~ A Crew Review
The Homeschool Review Crew was recently asked to review several titles from Janice Campbell's Everyday Education, LLC. If you've ever been blessed to get to hear Janice's presentations at one of the numerous Homeschool Conventions she speaks at each year you will know why I was excited to see her company pop up on our list. Janice is a gracious, well-spoken lady who simply and thoroughly shares her love for learning through Literature at all age levels. Janice is probably most well known for her Excellence in Literature High School level program.
The title we received to review is the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers. This guide is designed to help your High School student improve their own writing and transition them into writing quality papers for college. Besides being a guidebook for the actual writing process, it is a great reference for all the finer points of writing that often get muddled in our brains over the years like when and how to properly use abbreviations, punctuation with quotations, and how to properly write your reference page.
Because it was late summer when we received the e-book version of the Handbook for Writers, I decided to use it myself during the review, and now have plans for how to incorporate it into Arlene's writing assignments for this Fall and Winter. I knew we would want to use this resource for the two years Arlene has remaining of her High School journey so I sent the PDF to our local print shop to have it printed and three hold punched. I was certain we did not want to print it at home since it is 420 pages! The Handbook for Writers is available as an e-book ($29), a printed - spiral bound book ($39), or in a set with the e-book and printed version ($49). I am certain that you all will better enjoy my posts after I finish reading and applying what I learn from the punctuation section!
The Handbook for Writers is a combination of two book written by Canadian Ian Johnston. With his permission, Janice has combined them, adapted the rules to American verbiage and grammar, and presented them as one big reference book to help your student "communicate accurately and gracefully." I love that about Janice, she is full of grace not only in what she says, but how she presents it. Whenever I hear Janice speak, or read her email newsletters I am reminded of the true definition of a Lady.
The first half of the Handbook for Writers is devoted to teaching your student HOW to write a persuasive essay or a research paper convincingly. If your family is using a Charlotte Mason or Thomas Jefferson approach to education, you can probably hand the book to your High Schooler and they can self-teach their way through it. This book is quite thorough without being boring! It begins with helping the student understand WHY they might want to write a persuasive essay and which topics are worth the effort to write about. It helps them differentiate between established fact and opinion. Then it teaches them the parts of the essay and how to structure it. Your student will learn about thesis statements, defining their terms, and both deductive and inductive reasoning. While remaining focused on writing, it pulls from politics, social studies, and logic lessons to help them understand how other people will read and understand what they themselves have written.
Along the way Janice has pulled out a few key points to highlight in the sidebar of the page, like this one from page 106: "Evidence requires interpretation which links the facts to the point being made..." These writing gems help your student really think through what they want to communicate beginning with their ideas, working through their outline, and finally writing their paper.
The second half of the Handbook for Writers is the nitty-gritty of what is correct grammar and punctation usage. Although in her introduction Janice asserts no one book can contain everything you need to know about grammar, this one gives your High Schooler a huge, health dose of help! When searching this section of the Handbook you will really come to appreciate the 21 page, highly detailed table of contents! There are nine chapters in this part covering everything from Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences to References and Bibliographies. The ninth chapter focuses on accepted Basic Format points such as fonts, type sizes, and margins. If you need it for writing in High School, it is probably in here!
As with every title I've had the opportunity to see from Everyday Education, the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers is topnotch! If you're a family that focuses more on the Parent teaching the lessons to the student instead of your High Schooler being an independent learner, you will probably do well to use the Handbook for Writers alongside the other titles in the Excellence in Literature curriculum. Like I mentioned earlier, many students who are used to working independently can gain a lot from simply reading the first half of the Handbook and them referencing the back half for the finer points of grammar whilst writing their essays and research papers. Either way, this is a title your students will use over and over again during High School and beyond. For that reason, I suggest you purchase the printed copy!
A huge thank you to Janice Campbell for the opportunity to review this title, and for the encouragement she has always brought to me through her presentations, and our talks at her booth over the past 4 years. The first time I heard her speak I thought "Yes! What I'm already doing really does work for other families and I'm not the only one who has veered off the modern path of education and back to the tried and true methods that worked so well for my grandparents and great-grandparents."
The Homeschool Review Crew members received a variety of titles from Everyday Education. I encourage you to click the banner below and see what was offered in the age range appropriate for your children!
The title we received to review is the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers. This guide is designed to help your High School student improve their own writing and transition them into writing quality papers for college. Besides being a guidebook for the actual writing process, it is a great reference for all the finer points of writing that often get muddled in our brains over the years like when and how to properly use abbreviations, punctuation with quotations, and how to properly write your reference page.
Because it was late summer when we received the e-book version of the Handbook for Writers, I decided to use it myself during the review, and now have plans for how to incorporate it into Arlene's writing assignments for this Fall and Winter. I knew we would want to use this resource for the two years Arlene has remaining of her High School journey so I sent the PDF to our local print shop to have it printed and three hold punched. I was certain we did not want to print it at home since it is 420 pages! The Handbook for Writers is available as an e-book ($29), a printed - spiral bound book ($39), or in a set with the e-book and printed version ($49). I am certain that you all will better enjoy my posts after I finish reading and applying what I learn from the punctuation section!
The Handbook for Writers is a combination of two book written by Canadian Ian Johnston. With his permission, Janice has combined them, adapted the rules to American verbiage and grammar, and presented them as one big reference book to help your student "communicate accurately and gracefully." I love that about Janice, she is full of grace not only in what she says, but how she presents it. Whenever I hear Janice speak, or read her email newsletters I am reminded of the true definition of a Lady.
The first half of the Handbook for Writers is devoted to teaching your student HOW to write a persuasive essay or a research paper convincingly. If your family is using a Charlotte Mason or Thomas Jefferson approach to education, you can probably hand the book to your High Schooler and they can self-teach their way through it. This book is quite thorough without being boring! It begins with helping the student understand WHY they might want to write a persuasive essay and which topics are worth the effort to write about. It helps them differentiate between established fact and opinion. Then it teaches them the parts of the essay and how to structure it. Your student will learn about thesis statements, defining their terms, and both deductive and inductive reasoning. While remaining focused on writing, it pulls from politics, social studies, and logic lessons to help them understand how other people will read and understand what they themselves have written.
Along the way Janice has pulled out a few key points to highlight in the sidebar of the page, like this one from page 106: "Evidence requires interpretation which links the facts to the point being made..." These writing gems help your student really think through what they want to communicate beginning with their ideas, working through their outline, and finally writing their paper.
The second half of the Handbook for Writers is the nitty-gritty of what is correct grammar and punctation usage. Although in her introduction Janice asserts no one book can contain everything you need to know about grammar, this one gives your High Schooler a huge, health dose of help! When searching this section of the Handbook you will really come to appreciate the 21 page, highly detailed table of contents! There are nine chapters in this part covering everything from Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences to References and Bibliographies. The ninth chapter focuses on accepted Basic Format points such as fonts, type sizes, and margins. If you need it for writing in High School, it is probably in here!
As with every title I've had the opportunity to see from Everyday Education, the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers is topnotch! If you're a family that focuses more on the Parent teaching the lessons to the student instead of your High Schooler being an independent learner, you will probably do well to use the Handbook for Writers alongside the other titles in the Excellence in Literature curriculum. Like I mentioned earlier, many students who are used to working independently can gain a lot from simply reading the first half of the Handbook and them referencing the back half for the finer points of grammar whilst writing their essays and research papers. Either way, this is a title your students will use over and over again during High School and beyond. For that reason, I suggest you purchase the printed copy!
A huge thank you to Janice Campbell for the opportunity to review this title, and for the encouragement she has always brought to me through her presentations, and our talks at her booth over the past 4 years. The first time I heard her speak I thought "Yes! What I'm already doing really does work for other families and I'm not the only one who has veered off the modern path of education and back to the tried and true methods that worked so well for my grandparents and great-grandparents."
The Homeschool Review Crew members received a variety of titles from Everyday Education. I encourage you to click the banner below and see what was offered in the age range appropriate for your children!
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