by Deborah Hanyon, MPH, RDN, ACE-CHC | Jun 5, 2020 | Holidays and Special Events
Of course I had to come up with some awesome Father's Day gift ideas for you to get your gift-giving creative juices flowing. And who better to help me with that than my hubby? (Post contains affiliate links).
I mean, if my husband doesn't know what a man wants for Father's Day, who does, right?
So, I put him to work…
And let me tell you, this was no small task for him. He is not, what you would call, “typewriter inclined,” if you know what I mean. He's the “hunting and pecking” kind of typist. Plus, he really had no clue how to use affiliate links before this little project. But guess what? He does now! =) LOL
So, here are some awesome gift ideas for Father's Day that any man will be happy to have.
You will notice that many of these are “cooking” connected. For example barbecue accessories and such. This is because it goes with our theme here on Homeschooling Dietitian Mom. However, my hubby couldn't resist adding a few other gadgets to his list.
In fact, he hasn't said it, but I'm pretty sure this is HIS Father's Day wish list! HA!!
Awesome Father's Day Gift Ideas
- Men’s Flannel Long Sleeved Shirt – Flannel shirts come in handy on cold days. Plus, they look really nice and are versatile. For example, they can be worn alone or layered, and are great for camping in the wilderness.
- Karoad Black License Plate Frames – This is what is needed to keep the license plate from curling up. Men think stuff like this is important.
- Beam Electronics Universal Smartphone Car Air Vent Mount Holder Cradle for iPhone – If your dad is anything like my husband, he likes having his phone propped up while in the car. Especially if you are using GPS. My husband chose this one because he has an iPhone 7, and because the price was right.
- Portable Outdoor Backpacking Camping Stove – My husband knows about cooking gear, so you can trust that this is a goody. It is so portable it doesn't even look like a stove. This stove would be great for a hiker or anyone else who's going to be outside for an extended period time, including fishermen. Especially, if they don't like eating cold food or they want to eat their catch right then and there.
- WORSPODAY Survival Gear Kit – These are always good to have when you are out in the wilderness.
More Awesome Father's Day Gift Ideas
Free Printable Father's Day Cards
10 Effortless Snack Ideas for Preschoolers
25 Gifts a New Mom Will Love
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by Deborah Hanyon, MPH, RDN, ACE-CHC | Jun 3, 2020 | Education Materials
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE 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).
I agree with the above statement and I should know, since my son and husband have enthusiastically completed sculpture projects from ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. for the past three years. Thus, you can probably imagine that I was excited when I was asked to review ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model.
Speaking of which…Since my son has been working through ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction for 3 years, I will be discussing both products which are designed with 6-12 graders in mind.
My son, who is 15, has been into sculpting since he was in kindergarten. So three years ago when I came across ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture books, I was immediately Interested. Three years ago, we started with the Construction (even though my son preferred the Model) because it made the most sense.
This year, being part of the Homeschool Review Crew gave me the awesome opportunity to grab the Model book. So, we spent the past several weeks working on the awesome projects contained within ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model.
We have been taking our time and haven’t completed the Construction book. But that’s okay, because it’s not necessary to do everything in order. My son and husband have done most of the projects together. Below are a few examples from ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction:
Handmade Paper
Handmade Paper and Wire
Shockwave from Transformers
The previous pictures show the different projects that involved handmade paper. My son and husband made the paper according to the directions in the first Unit of ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction. They made a bunch of different colored sheets, but they’ve used most of them!
The past few weeks we have been working with hard putty and air dry clay.
Hard Putty shapes.
Rock Hard Water Putty Still Figure – Graboid from movie “Tremors.”
Rock Hard Water Putty – Still Figure, Trout.
Air dry clay – Harley Quinn
Air-Dry Clay – pot using rib tool to add texture
The best thing about working with different media is that you learn the strengths and weaknesses of each.
The first thing we learned almost immediately is that hard putty is completely different from clay. For example, the hard putty dried quickly. In fact, it dried more quickly than the time we thought we had. We also learned that with hard putty, it is extremely important to use the exact amount of water the recipe calls for. We discovered the hard way that one of our measuring cups is inaccurate. This was a good thing to know and is all part of the learning process. (See pictures above).
My husband and son created three different kinds of products. The first was thicker and dried almost immediately. The second type of project involved using newspaper, masking tape, and then painting with a thinner version of the hard putty. The third was a figure in motion and also involved wire. The second and third projects were lighter than expected.
When you work with hard putty, you’ll learn how easy it is to create rough edges so it definitely takes practice to get a really top notch product. But I think my son and my husband did a great job.
You can see the last couple of pictures are air dry projects. We had to wait quite a while to get the Gesso. So they didn't paint the air-dry projects right away. But this weekend they were able to do the gesso and some painting.
Based on the way the painted items turned out, I would say that gesso is extremely important to the quality of the finished product. (See pictures below). For example, the shininess you’re seeing is from the paint alone. In my experience, when you paint clay with acrylic paint, you don’t get the shine. I did not realize how important gesso is. We’ve never used it before because we didn’t realize how much it improves the final product.
Pots with Gesso Only
Harley with Gesso covering face plus other “Strange Guy”
Painted bowl
Painted pot
This looks like an Alien head, but was not intentional.
Painted Harley Head
Bottom line with ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model is that the instructions are clear, the pictures are really helpful and are given as part of the instructions. Also, the units contain review questions for kids to answer upon completion of all projects. Templates are also included as well. ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model includes everything a student needs to earn high school credit, if needed. This is icing on the cake, in my opinion, because regardless of whether the course is taken for credit or not, you students will add hours and hours of enrichment to their daily lives, as they work through the exercises.
To find out more about ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model as well as other ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. products, click here.
Brenda from ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. has just notified us that she added a couple new art courses. So, if you have K-3 grade budding artists, Click here now.
AND, if you have children who love to draw, click here for some awesome FREE drawing videos.
To check out the other awesome reviews of ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. products, click here.
by Deborah Hanyon, MPH, RDN, ACE-CHC | May 19, 2020 | Education Materials
(Disclaimer: I received a FREE 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).
Learn Latin – Prima Latina Complete Set by Memoria Press
Did you know that English is considered a “Latin-based language?” If you're a teacher or a homeschooler, you probably already know this. However, I think it is an interesting phenomena.
Even though I've not studied language much, I heard this years ago. English, along with Spanish, French, Italian, German, and many others are all Latin-based languages.
What this means is that if you learn Latin, or if your child learns Latin, many words will be easier to learn in English and the other Latin-Based languages.
Knowing this inspired me to take advantage of the opportunity to review Memoria Press Prima Latina complete set. My son just turned 15 this May. However, he has absolutely no background in Latin. Other than the Latin he gets simply by knowing the English language. And this is the same for me. This is why we chose to start at the very beginning.
Even though Prima Latina is specifically written with 1-4 graders in mind. It was the right level for us.
Goals for the Prima Latina Complete Set include:
- Learn Basic Latin alphabet and pronunciation of vowels and consonant sounds.
- Learn 25 practical Latin expressions and 4 prayers in full.
- Pronounce, spell, and translate approximately 125 Latin words.
- Learn numbers 1 through 10.
- Learn names of popular constellations
- Understand concept of derivatives
- Grammar – Learn parts of speech including verbs, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions
- And more.
When the title says, “Prima Latina Complete Set,” it literally means “a complete set.” What I mean is all that's needed to teach and learn Latin is included. See the list below:
- Audio CD – Leigh Lowe has a really nice voice – This is a quick and easy way to listen to the pronunciations and to practice saying the words out loud. It plays like a music CD, with 38 tracks that you can skip through as needed. This is mainly what son uses.
- DVDs (Video) – I couldn’t figure out how to get the DVD to work on my computer. Plus, I felt that the audio CD and the books were sufficient. My son resists looking at unfamiliar faces. As a result, he would have been distracted by the teacher’s visual presence. However, I perused the three DVDs this past week:
- The DVDs work perfectly on our TV and add not only substantial value to the package, but are almost as good as being in a live classroom.
- The only downside is you can’t question the DVD instructor. But obviously that’s no big deal.
- However, a HUGE benefit is that you can press stop, rewind, fast forward, and choose to review chapters in order or out of order. And every DVD has a “Table of Contents.”
- Teacher Guide – Basically the same as the student guide with teacher helps and an answer key.
- Student Book – Super simple. My son didn't complain too much. He doesn't like to write down words with a pencil. The fact that there is a little bit to write every day was perfect for him so that he didn't feel overwhelmed.
- My son was able to independently work through the lessons with a bit of encouragement from me. (After we went through the introduction together, which includes a pronunciation guide and a grammar overview).
Sample of completed lesson page.
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- The hardest thing for me to get my son to do is to talk. He doesn’t like to use names of people, for example. So getting him to say the words out loud wasn't particularly successful. This is only because he has Autism. However, I can tell by the accuracy of his workbook exercises that my was understanding the words and learning what they meant.
- He seems to like learning language and I hope to continue teaching Latin through next year when he will be in 10th grade.
- One especially neat thing about the program is the Latin prayers.
When Completing the Prima Latina Complete Set, your child learn prayers in Latin. But he or she can learn and memorize the English versions as well.
- Downloadable tests for each section. For example, Lessons 1-5. Quizzes are in the hard copy book.
- Huge Deck of Flash Cards
Be sure to check out the complete Memoria Press series, which includes not only the Prima Latina Complete Set, but also the Latina Christiana Complete Set, and more.
And don't forget to read the other awesome Homeschool Review Crew Members' Memoria Press Reviews for more awesome reviews on the Prima Latina Complete Set, The Latina Christiana Complete Set, and more by clicking the image below:
