Minecraft with Homeschool

One of the nice things with homeschooling is the chance to be creative in how subjects get accomplished. This can also be the most stressful thing to a homeschool parent. Although homeschooling is very popular now, there are still many people who are either completely opposed to it   or just don't know a lot about it.

We have homeschooled our son from the beginning and is now in 11th grade. We have tried many different approaches to learning throughout the years. Most recently, was adding in Minecraft. I have to admit, I was one of those parents who thought minecraft was just another addicting video game and put limits on it. After hearing about so many people incorporating it into school, I decided to check it out in more detail.

What I found, is there are many ways you can use it to learn about a wide variety of subjects. It allows the child creativity in learning and a way to put a personal touch on thinking.  Right now he is trying it out for a couple subjects. He has been studying Business Math, so I am having him create a city with buildings, roads, all types of stores that would be in a typical city, and set up a money system and learn/show how that will work.  He is also using Minecraft as part of Language Arts. For a child who hates to write (like mine) this is great. We are just starting so it's not very informative yet, but I can see ahead to great things. I had him choose a favorite book and recreate it. He chose to recreate the land of Eragon. He's reading the book again to find details to make things as close to the book as possible. He decided to focus on the major areas first which are most needed in the story. After he designs an area, he is taking a picture and writing about it on a blog he created. I'm hoping he will be comfortable writing about something like this and become more confident in his writing. To me, that makes it worth doing whatever it takes.

If you want to check out what he's doing, you can find his blog at My Adventures in Minecraft. I'm sure he'd love to see what you think!

The Man in the Box by Andrew Toy (Book Tour)

      This is one of the most creative books I've had the pleasure of reading lately. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really opened my eyes to a different style of reading. Normally, I am drawn to a more "real-life" type of book. What I found though by reading this book is that it was an escape from the norm which was convenient because that's where the book takes us. An escape from our life into the unknown.
       The story starts out as Robbie loses his job. We see the turmoil and stress this causes him, and his fears of how it will effect his family and their well being. He wants things to be an easy fix, and not worry about finding work, so he takes the advice from a co-worker. This advice isn't exactly legal, and when he's almost caught, he finds himself hiding out in a cardboard box. This is where his real story begins.
      When he gets in the box, Robbie finds himself in a cave in a transformed world. People and creatures seem to know who he is. He is completely confused and afraid, but at the same time intrigued with this land. The people there see him as a king and their leader. He has control there.
      When he wakes from his "dream", he is in the office and has no idea if what just happened is real.
He takes the box home with him and slowly begins making the box his place of comfort and escape. He finds himself preferring being in the box rather than being with his family. We learn how the land came to be from his creation of imaginary childhood friends. As scary as this other life is, it is also a security place he feels drawn to. When he finally makes the decision to get rid of the  box, that's when the dangers really begin. The "box" life starts to make it's way into his "real" life. Trouble starts to come as creatures use the box to enter home. When his family is threatened he also finds out co-workers of his have had the same experiences. They each are finding their own lands. Robbie realizes he must do whatever it takes to protect the family he has finally remembered to love.
      I can't give away the end, so you will just have to read the book for yourself and see  what happens. I will say it is a great ending!
      This book is full of great descriptions, adventures and interest. It is very well-written and kept my attention throughout. My son has already shown interest in reading it next! I highly recommend this book. Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have a life so far from our normal life. In this book we are given that opportunity to experience that. A great escape and a great read!

About Andrew Toy: 

Andrew Toy lives with his wife and dachshunds in Louisville, KY. He is currently editing books of nearly every genre and is a writing coach for aspiring authors. He and his wife are trying to adopt their first child, and he is using the means of writing and editing to accomplish the goal of enlarging his family. Check out some more of his writing and upcoming books on his popular blog: adoptingjames.wordpress.com

The Man in the Box

Book Synopsis:

Work provided Robbie Lake the perfect escape from his family. But his life is turned upside down when he is unexpectedly fired. When he finds a new way of escape through a cardboard box, everything changes. The imaginary world of his childhood has evolved in his absence and is now more savage and hostile than even he could have dreamed. Robbie is drawn in by the excitement of his secret world, but will the cost of abandoning his family prove too high?

To find out more about other reviews,and giveaways. Here is the link to the Blog Tour

Andrew Toy's  Links: twitter , facebook and his Blog
You can buy the book at amazon.com


Disclosure: I was provided only with the ebook to complete this review. My review is my honest opinion. No other compensation was given.

MailPix photo brag book

MailPix Photo Brag Book

      I love taking pictures, looking at pictures and creating memories with the pictures. When I was given this great opportunity to review a photo brag book for MailPix.com I was thrilled. I immediately started to think of what pictures I wanted in my book, and how the final product would look.

      I chose the 4x6 photo book. It was so much fun looking back at our family experiences and deciding what pictures to add to the book. This was my first time making a brag book and I was concerned that I  might do something which would make the book less than it could be. My fears were relieved when I saw how easy the actual process of making the book was. The site gives great help on how to do the book, and makes the directions easy to read and understand. I was able to upload my desired pictures onto the site from a variety of locations. An extra bonus was that it provides a way to upload by picking which book you are creating, and it automatically changes to the correct sizing. I liked not having to worry about whether or not the pictures would fit the right way. You have the ability to design each page by adding pictures where you want them. They offer a recommended design, but you can change it if you prefer a different set up. I tried changing the layout just to see how it worked. I was happy with the ease of the process. It's quick and effortless to go back through and make changes to any page layout and switch pictures around page to page if you want until you are satisfied with the final results.

      You can add text to the pages and that adds a personal touch to the final product. I even had a couple pages where I just put text to see how that came out. My son wanted to add a favorite Bible verse, and also a page with the chorus to a couple favorite songs. 

      I couldn't wait to get my book! I wanted to see my families faces when they saw the pictures, and to get their opinions of the book. The book turned out really nice overall. The book itself is of great quality. The pictures looked professional even thought they were mostly all from cell phone pictures and Facebook. 

      The only thing I was disappointed with was the fact that in the small book size, the quarter page pictures are not really large enough to get a good feel of the picture or see people's faces. I would stick with the half and full size in the smaller books.

      I was overall satisfied with MailPix products and will use them again and try other examples of the great Digital Photo Printing. Pricing is good also.  I love how MailPix allows you to be creative and they give you the tools to do that. I will recommend them to anyone needing great photo products.

Disclosure: I received a free photo brag book from MailPix in order to do this review. The review is my honest opinion and might differ from others.