I admit I have a makeup addiction. I don't wear make up every day, but I still want all the makeup. lol
Depending on who you are I may or may not have a lot of makeup. I have about 5 eye shadow palettes. I wish I had so many more.....lol
I tend to get a new palette and forget about the other ones I already have. So I was thinking that I should make a point to use all of my palettes.
I was thinking about doing something like using only one palette each week and then I thought I should make sure and do a different look each time and make sure that I do at least 5 looks.
I thought I could make a weekly blog post out of that. A 5 looks 1 palette post each week.
Earlier today I did a very simple brown eye look and a bit ago saw that it had pretty much worn off so I decided to play with a brighter palette.
i use my Morphe palette for my first look. This is the cheapest palette I own, but I have been using it so much! I am drawn to these cool tone browns and pinks.
It's hard for me to get a good picture with my phones camera. The colors were brighter in person, but this was a simple brown look.
I then took my Alamar Cosmetics palette this evening and played with brighter, fun colors.
These colors are also much brighter in person. I will try to get better images for my future posts, but what do you think bout this idea?
Are you looking for a whole new way to do science?
Then you might be interested in CrossWired Science. CrossWired Science is a video based science curriculum. The website is designed to appeal to any age but is primarily designed for students ages 4-18. I can tell you that I really enjoyed the videos!
Each course is set up in the same way. When you choose a course you will see a screen set up like this.
This is from the Sound Course. The first row has your main video lessons. Each video lesson page will have a video to watch , an online quiz to take after watching the video and a link to print off additional worksheets.
Here is an example of a video page. In the top left corner you will see the link to download the worksheets.
Here is an example of the online quiz. Each quiz contains 10 questions.
And here is an example of the worksheets.
The second row is all about going the extra mile with what you have already learned.
You can pick from a list of experiments to do, find ideas to do research papers, get links to additional videos, and a list of more activity ideas.
Here is an example of an experiment page. You can click on the links and it will tell you the supplies needed for that particular experiment. Sometimes it will have good instructions, but some of the pages don't have very detailed instructions. You may have to do a search for better instructions or you may be able to figure it out by the picture.
The extra links given are one of my favorite aspects of the program. These are all so fun to watch. My son loves them. He is only 4 so a lot of these are more entertaining to him than the main videos are.
The U-Choose activities page has numerous activity ideas. There are many more than what I am showing you here, but this is an idea. I love that they include field trip ideas and even evangelism ideas!
The third and fourth rows are essentially the same as the first two rows were but for lessons 5 through 8. It will give you a field trip box at the end where you can choose from a multitude of field trip ideas!
The last part of the course page goes even deeper. Here you will find reading plans, books to read that follow the same topics, more lessons that go even deeper than you've already went plus they even have devotionals to go along with each course!
Each course also has something called First Timers and Second Timers. What this means is that there are basically two different courses for the different age levels. If your child is older they may still do the first timers if they are not already familiar with the topics, and then go through the courses again as a second timer, or if they are already familiar they can start as a second timer.
The videos are the same no matter what timer you are, however the questions and the Digging Deeper sections and some of the extra stuff are different and on a higher level.
Now, you may be wondering then, how can the courses be designed for 4 year olds and 18 year olds if all of the videos are the same?
Good question. I have a 4 year old, so what we did was basically just watch the videos. We obviously didn't do any of the quizzes or worksheets, but we really did learn a lot from the videos. After watching one of the videos I was like."Hey, now I actually understand how an airplane files!"
These videos are wonderful at explaining science concepts where everyone can understand them.
I particularly like the General Links section because they have additional links for videos to watch that are on the same topics and here I found videos that were more on my son's level.
There is a suggested calendar schedule that can simplify things for you if you are one that needs or likes a schedule.
The examples I have shown you are from the Sound Course, but the Fluid Dynamics Course is set up the same way.
While this program is not a Christian program per-say, this is what they have to say about the Christian aspects of the program.
"For the Lord and His Glory!
We’d love to develop a significant friendship with all who join hands with us in showing the glory of the Lord to others through the things He has made. To us this is a battle to encourage the church and to do our part in attempting to save our nation for our children’s and grandchildren’s sake. We want to co-labor with many and be a blessing and be helped with ideas ands suggestions as well. (It’s our belief and hope in the Lord that He can use the beauty and wonder of what He has created to help many understand His reality and His love for them.)
We hope to launch nationwide to secular charters and public schools in 2-3 months. The entire site is designed to be able to be converted to a site that can get into public schools. Our prayer is for many parents and children to come to know the Lord as they study the incredible work He has done in designing this Creation. Our prayer is that many “in darkness would see a great light, ”and that the faith of believers would be tremendously strengthened."
"Most of the Ties to the Lord and the Word are Found in the Digging Deepers and the Gold Digs.
There are dozens of devotional sections all through the Digging Deepers and the Gold Digs. We put these in written format, because, for the way they are structured, this is the best way to convey them."
So whether you are Christian or secular, you can use this program.
You can use this program as a stand alone curriculum or as a supplement to any science curriculum you may already be using.
At the moment there are only two Global Topics to study; Sound, and Fluid Dynamics. Each project has two Global Topics. Right now there is only one project, but there will be 15 projects total that will cover all of science grades K-12. Each project will be added as it is finished. You can definitely get started with the first project and another should be added before you are finished with this one.
Our goal is to provide “Projects” that glorify the Lord for the same price of a Disney movie once the affiliate discount is applied. We welcome and cherish your suggestions and help!"
The price of this program is unbelievable to me. It is only $27.95 for a whole year! And if you have more than one student it is only an additional $10 per student.
I think it is totally worth it. Even with Brently only being 4 I still think it is worth it just for the videos. They are interesting and it gives him an introduction to Science and as he gets older he will understand the topic even better.
I am not the only one who has reviewed this program. Please check out my fellow Crew Mates reviews to see what they thought of CrossWired Science.
There is such an age gap between my last two children that I am not in the loop anymore when it comes to new homeschool programs. I am amazed at some of the new products that have come out in the last five years.
This is an ingenious approach to handwriting, in my opinion. How this program works is very simple. Your child gets to watch some really cool videos that show them how to form the letters. The videos have really upbeat music and your child will love to sing along to the songs. That's another benefit to this approach. Your child learns the songs, and then when he is writing, he can recall how to form the letters.
Here is a video of my son jammin out to one of the videos. You can get an idea of what the videos are like here as well. There are also four more videos for you to look at on their website so you can get an better idea of what the videos are like.
You can let your child watch the videos as many times as you want before actually tackling the letters. You could have your child watch the same video every day of the week then practice on Friday, or you can have them watch the video and practice writing the letters every day of the week.
The second part of this program that I also think is ingenious is such a simple idea, but one that I have not thought of. Your child can use a dry erase overlay to place over the workbook pages. This way a child can practice all they want or need to before actually writing in the book! Like I said, such a simple concept but so smart!
The handwriting book is set up to begin with the letters that are easiest to write and progresses to the harder ones. The book also uses green, yellow and red lines that resemble a stoplight, to help the children see where to start, slow down, and stop.
In the past I have repurchased handwriting books because you only get one chance to write in them. I will never have to repurchase a handwriting book again with this program. Brently can write in it as many times as he needs to with the dry erase overlay. I LOVE this!
Practicing his favorite letter, B.
When he has mastered a letter, then he can write that letter in the workbook. His workbook will then be filled with nice handwriting and become a keepsake.
The book itself is very nice. It is spiral bound, which I love because it is easy to write on no matter which side you are writing in. Handwriting books that are not spiral bound are harder to write in because you can't get the pages flat and you cant fold the other pages underneath either. Having it spiral bound is a great function.
The pages inside are super cute. They offer something to color on each page. Each letter page has a learn section and a practice section. In the learn section it shows the child step by step how to form that particular letter. In the practice section they start off tracing a bold line and progress to a dotted line and eventually they are writing the letter all by themselves.
Another thing that I really like about this handwriting program is that there are not too many letters on each page. Children have such short attention spans and their hands get tired because they are not used to writing very much at their age, so the shorter lessons are perfect for them.
Inside the book you will find short stories for each letter type that corresponds to the videos.
The same terms that your child hears in the videos are in these short stories. (Long line down, across, jump up, etc.)
There is also a Pre-Assessment and a Post-Assessment so that you can physically see the difference in your child's handwriting after they finish the program.
Here is a video of a full lesson that Brently and I did together.
Sometimes my back really gets me down, so we have even done some of our handwriting lessons in bed!
I really like this program. I love the idea of the dry erase overlay and I LOVE the videos. I like that this program incorporates more than one learning style by having the videos. Your child can not only see, but hear how to form the letters. This is a program I will continue to use. I used a different program with my other two children and planned on using it again with Brently, but... I didn't know about this program. Now that I have used it, this is the one that I will continue to use with him.
You can get your own Rhythm & Writing book for only $19.99. If you prefer you can get the digital version for $12.99. The Dry Erase Overlay is only $1.00. I highly recommend you get this! You can also find practice pages on the website as well.
Now the videos can be purchased two different ways. You can purchase individual videos for $4.99 each. Some of the videos only cover one letter and some cover two or three. There are 20 videos total. If you were to purchase them individually it would be over $99. Now if your child has most of his or her letters mastered and only needs help on a few particular letters, then this would be a great option to purchase those particular videos. If however your child is just beginning and will be learning all of their letters, there is a video subscription option for $49.99. You will receive all of the videos for half of the price. This is the way to go, in my opinion. Remember, there are samples of the videos on the website so you can see how helpful they would be before purchasing them.
I really think that you and your child will love this handwriting program. I am not the only one who reviewed Rhythm & Writing. Some of my fellow crew mates also reviewed this, so be sure to check out what they thought of it too!
Be sure to check out Rhythm & Writing on social media as well:
