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Thursday, November 28, 2013

My Little Pony:Party of One App Review


Sing with me..."My Little Pony, My Little Pony..."

Educational apps are just about the best thing around. They are fun but still teach something. You can't beat that! What makes them even better is if they are familiar characters that my kids already love. That's why My Little Pony:Party of One from PlayDate Digital has been such a hit in our house. We have loved My Little Pony for many years now and I foresee it continuing long into our future.

My Little Pony:Party of One App is the My Little Ponies you have come to love telling a story all kids can relate to. This app is interactive and has many items to explore. Your child can choose to read the story for themsleves or have the app read it to them.

This is a sweet app that your kids will love. I know mine have. I tried to get a picture of the 3yo playing with it but she was always too excited to sit still for the picture! This app is available for ipad, iphone, and ipods and can be purchased for $2.99. The ages for the app are stated at being 0-5 years old but my 8yo had a blast with it and my 11yo 'just had' to go through the book one full time 'just to check it out!'

I played with the app myself and found that I enjoyed touching the horses or objects and finding out what they were going to do or say! It's like a digital pop-up book. You and your children will love this app. The colors are bright, the graphics are great, and the characters you already love are in it. How can it get much better than that?


About the App: My Little Pony: Party of One is an interactive storybook app. It is based on a favorite My Little Pony TV episode and adapted for a preschool audience. It teaches kids social emotional values -- friendship, trust and belonging. It was developed in partnership with educational experts. Here is the app description and our learning goals:


Description: Get ready for an adventure with Pinkie Pie and her friends in MY LITTLE PONY, Party of One, an intriguing new interactive tale about the magic of friendship. Who throws better parties than Pinkie Pie? Having just finished one celebration, Pinkie Pie sets off to invite all of her favorite ponies to a NEW party, but suddenly every pony seems to be QUITE busy. What’s going on? Join the investigation as Pinkie Pie visits her My Little Pony friends looking for clues. Bold graphics, bright colors and lots of animations make Party of One an enjoyable and engaging way to be entertained and practice reading skills. Perfect for My Little Pony fans and beginning readers.


Key Features:

Your favorite ponies are here: PINKIE PIE, RAINBOW DASH, FLUTTERSHY, APPLEJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE and more!


Featuring the official voice of PINKIE PIE from the show FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC


Watch the characters animate in playful moments during every story spread


17 scenes that come to life as children tap and explore each page.


Tap on the ponies to move the adventure forward


Highlighted words to help test and build age-appropriate vocabulary


Word round-up to reinforce learning goals


Parents can track children’s learning progress


LEARNING GOALS:

Everyone wants to belong. MY LITTLE PONY Party of One uses thoughtful language and lively scenes to gently help children to understand their feelings about friendship membership, tensions and misunderstandings.


Practice reading skills

Introduces new vocabulary words

Test problem solving skills

Social Emotional skills

Social skills may be reinforced by parents and children reading together and discussing:

· Seeing things from someone else’s perspective

· Understanding the dilemma that both the ponies and Pinkie Pie are facing

· Developing empathy for both Pinkie Pie and her friends.

· Learning how to maintain supportive and honest friendships

· Understanding the importance of communication and learning

 

Find them here:

You can watch a video here:

http://youtu.be/QlBCgIul_9U

If you want to see what other reviewers thought of My Little Pony: Party of One App, head over to Mosaic Reviews and check them out!

 

Thanksgiving

Today we get to spend the day with family. We get to eat, visit, and remember our blessings. We are truly blessed. Bug and her family are celebrating together and we will miss her-we aren't all here without her!
Enjoy your families and hug them often.
You can also read my latest article over at Homeschool Mosaics today. Check it out!


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Our Week...end...

Last week Sarah, Naomi, Hannah, and I were involved with Triple Threat's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Sarah was Miss Dorothy, Naomi was a Stenographer\Modern\Jailbird\Soloist, Hannah was a stagehand, and I was the choreographer.

Triple Threat is a great company in that it is for 1st-9th graders and everyone that auditions gets a part. Wee try to give everyone the opportunity to have speaking and singing parts. It is amazing to watch these kids blossom as they learn to act, sing, and dance. They grow in confidence and I am privileged to be a part of it.

The show went really well and I am so proud of the kids. I choreographed quite a bit of dancing and they learned it all! Last week was Tech week so the entire week was full of rehearsals and then four performances. We are exhausted but satisfied with a job well done.

Sarah did an amazing job as Miss Dorothy. She is such a natural on stage and I love watching her perform, she lights up the stage. One night an actor didn't make his entrance so Sarah and the girl playing Millie had to ad lib quite a bit. They were hilarious! They stayed in character and made up several minutes worth of conversation. No one could tell it wasn't in the script.

Naomi was fantastic in all her roles. Her solo went off without a hitch. She is fun to watch on stage and is just about as lively as her older sister. I can't wait to watch her develop as an actress!

Hannah was super busy as a stagehand. She was hauling desks, jail cells, and just about everything else on that stage. She was constantly busy and completely exhausted by the end of each show!

I am so blessed to a part of this company and can't wait for the next show to start...just not for a couple of months!!

 

(pictures will be coming soon!)

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Finding things out

I have been so bad about keeping the blog up lately and I have been struggling to understand why. It's not that there isn't a lot going on at our house. On the contrary, there is a ton happening but still I can't seem to blog about it.

I have been thinking about it and here is what I have figured out. I am not blogging because I can't. What I mean is anytime I share something on MY blog about MY family I hear backlash from people I know in real life. If I blog about how much I love our church I hear how I hate our old church and how I am saying bad things about it. If I post about the theater group I work with I am bagging on a different theater group or I am jealous of different groups. If I blog about the difficult times in the last year for my family then I am gossiping or saying bad things about others and being hurtful to them(don't even talk about how they are talking about us and being hurtful to us). If I blog about our family being sick or hurt I hear that no other family on the entire planet ever gets hurt or sick and we are the only family in the history of ever to have that happen. If things that happen to our family happen to others it is funny or sad but if it happens to us it is fodder for jokes and jabs at us.

Yes, I hear it all. I can.not.say.anything.about.anything without someone telling me that I shouldn't say that or how could you say that. Or making fun of us for it. It is really quite amazing.

So I quit blogging altogether. I hate that because I love blogging about what is happening in our family and use it as a scrapbook of sorts (since I am inept at real scrapbooking!) I print the books off at the end of the year and keep it as a history of our family.

But this year I let others dictate to me what I can and can not blog about. No longer. I am pretty fed up with people thinking that every stinking think I post is about them or any particular situation is something they know about and not just ramblings from a tired momma. Yes, there are things going on in our lives that I wish weren't and yes they involve people we know in real life but I haven't and won't post names or call people out. I will post my frustrations and hurts over situations on MY blog and if that offends some, so be it. I am not blogging to please others. I am blogging as an outlet for me and a record for OUR family.

Cranky? Yup, you're right. I am. I am tired of people that lie to your face and then turn around and stab you in the back and I am tired of people telling me that I have no right to say things on MY blog about MY family. I am tired of people pretending to be friends and I am tired about worrying over every little thing I say all the stinkin' time.

I am going to try and catch up this next week with back posts so I have a record of our lives. It won't be pretty but at least I'll get it done!

Sorry for the rant but sometimes it just needs said, ya know?

Saturday, November 2, 2013

See the Light Art Projects-Dreams of Joseph Review-Mosaic Reviews

 

It is no secret that we are not really artists. I can barely draw stick figures, a few of the girls can draw a few things; but we are pretty inept when it comes to real painting. I wish we could but it just might never happen.

However, See the Light Art Projects might help us get a little better at it!

I was a little wary of this review just because we are so bad at art but was kind of excited to try as well. We were going to give it our all no matter what. The disc we received was The Dreams of Joseph. We loved it.

Here is a little about it:

Dreams of Joseph

In the style of Marc Chagall!

Watch and Produce Your Own Masterpiece
in 4 Step-By-Step Lessons with Master Artist Pat Knepley!

DREAMS OF JOSEPH is the sixth in a series of ART PROJECTS that advance skills and learning as students complete wonderful works of art in the style of a variety of famous artists.

DREAMS OF JOSEPH includes an in-depth Art History focus on the style of Marc Chagall, explores related Art Elements and Art Principles, and uses a variety of media. Biblical integration is woven into every single lesson!

DREAMS OF JOSEPH is geared for ages 10 +. The 4 lesson DVD runs approximately 1 ½ hours, but the student should allow approximately 3 to 4 hours to complete this fabulous work of art!

Synopsis of each lesson:

1. Outline Key Elements in Black (29 minutes)

2. Paint the Background (33 minutes)

3. Paint Joseph's Colorful Robe (22 minutes)

4. Finish Your Painting with Joseph's Dream Details (24 minutes)


But this description doesn't do it justice. I have always thought that Art History was a little boring and would check out when teachers would start in on it. Sad but true. Not with See the Light. Pat has a way of integrating Chagall history in an interesting way that makes it relevant to today and keeps the viewer waiting for more. I was so intrigued with learning about Chagall life that I didn't realize we were learning Art History until the first session was over! We all were remembering and talking about the different aspects of his life and some of the paintings Pat showed us. Plus, we had the black-line beginning of our painting.

We were all pretty thrilled with what we saw already.

We kept watching the videos and added to our paintings. We had a glorious time painting and learning together. I did include all of my children in this; but only the 8yo, 11yo, 14yo, and 15yo's painted. But the 3yo was completely mezmorized with Pat and the paintings on the videos.


We laughed our way through our struggle to recreate what Pat was working us through. The instructions were clear and really easy to follow-if we could you can-and each process was step by step. It really couldn't have been any easier to follow unless Pat was to come to our house and do it for us! We just had a great time learning to paint this picture.
We were thrilled that we ended up with paintings when we were finished. Plus, we learned aobut Chagall's life, paintings, and more about the Bible story of Joseph. Pat weaves the Bible into each session in a natural way that makes you want to read the stories again.
I was very impressed with See the Light Art Projects. The quality is outstanding and is well worth the $14.99 for this disc. You can purchase each Project individually or in a set for High School Credit for $99. Head over HERE to see all the wonderful products See the Light has to offer.
Want to see our final projects?
 
A little about See the Light:

With a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, a heart for children, and a passion for ministry, Dave and Pat Holt bring you the SEE THE LIGHTteam:


ARTISTS with specialties that include teaching a large variety of techniques, art history, chalk artistry, performance art, gospel chalk art (with black light), crafts, creative lettering, and more;
MUSICIANS whose talents include songwriting, musical performance, arranging, and producing. The SEE THE LIGHT team is dedicated to bringing scripture and biblical principles to viewers in a fresh, engaging way. . . and promising to teach some exciting art skills along the way!

 


Head over to Mosaic Reviews to see what other reviewers thought of this great product. And head over to See the Light and check out all the amazing products they offer.