How do we save money on entertainment?

I've had a few people ask me what kinds of things we do to save money. Living in California can be expensive (but you can say the same about a lot of places), so we need to be able to stretch our dollar where we can. One major way we cut costs is that we don't have cable. If we want to watch tv, we use:

We've been using Netflix with just the streaming portion of the services and we haven't been disappointed. Netflix offers a large variety of shows and movies, but also has some pretty good original content.

We also just got a Roku because our Chromecast and Blue Ray player have been acting up.

There are several versions, so it would probably be a good idea to talk to someone about which would be best for your needs. It was pretty easy to install and didn't take much time. Once you install it, you can download channels to use. It came in handy during General Conference because they had the BYU channel available to download. 

Although we did have to drop some money for the Roku, it is just a one-time payment. With cable, you have to pay a monthly fee. Overall, we really like using Netflix at about $10 a month and then the Roku for our other streaming needs. 

Special Blog Only Freebie: Long A and Short A Color & Sort

I've been working the last month or so on Long A activities for my mother-in-law and to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers. Since it has been a while, I thought I would share a sample of the activities that are included in the bundles. The two activities are for sorting long A and short A words.

Download it here!

The answer keys are available in the preview as well. If you have any trouble downloading the product, let me know and I can send it directly.

The full products can be found on TPT:
Long A Activities Bundle
Long E Activities Bundle
Long I Activities Bundle
Long U Activities Bundle

I'm pretty excited for the long O activities bundle that I am currently working on. Once I am finished, I will combine the products into one mega, growing bundle as well as sell them separately.

Patterns of Evidence: Exodus-A Review

I'm not always one for a documentary, but I am willing to watch with C when he suggests one. This past week we watched Patterns of Evidence:Exodus on Netflix.

The documentary follows this man as he examines arguments for why the Exodus did or didn't really happen.

I will admit, I was worried this would be one of those documentaries that try and get you to question your religion and turn you atheist, but I was pleasantly surprised. He goes through the arguments for both sides and the findings that he discovered.

He maintains that the reason we don't find evidence of Exodus events that took place in the time of Ramses is because the events took place a few hundred years earlier. I feel like most if not all of the questions/doubts he posed were answered.

Overall, this was a pretty interesting watch and clean.

A Schedule for 11/12 Months

So I've searched for a schedule for A several different times in order to find a sense of balance; however, every one I've seen doesn't really fit us, so I thought I would share ours. The times aren't exactly the same, so I'll just add the time range of when it happens.

Baby A Schedule

6:00-8:00 Wake up and have break fast

8:00-9:30 Playtime, then mom gets ready for the day

9:30-11:30 bit more play time, nap between 20 minutes to an hour

11:30-12:30 Lunch

12:30-2:00ish Daily Outing
Some days we get out sooner and/or have more outings than this one, but we always go out at least at this point in the day

2:00-4:00ish Snack then Nap
A takes a nap in this area. It has lasted between 30 minutes to two hours before.

4:00-5:00 Play

5:00-6:00 Dinner

6:00-7:00 Play time, Bath, story time, and bed
The goal bedtime is 7:00, but if A slept past 5 then I'll keep her up a bit later.

Hope this is helpful! What schedule do you have for your 11-12 month old?

The Sword of Summer and The Hammer of Thor: A Review

I've been pretty consistent with the books Rick Riordan has written ever since my students showed interest in the books. I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicles, so I figured I would try these out.

Both books follow the same style as Percy Jackson: misfit kid discovers that he has a godly parent and has to go on a quest to prevent the world from being destroyed.

I'm not sure if it is because I was listening to the audio book, but I didn't quite get into the story as much as I would've liked to. It was good, just not quite the level that Mr. Riordan's books have been in the past. They were somewhat enjoyable, just not memorable.

Overall, I liked The Hammer of Thor better than The Sword of Summer; however, it is very political. There is a transgender and gender fluid character that is likable, but Riordan is just so in your face about accepting her that it made me start to dislike the character. It was every few pages where we got lectured on how we should accept her and if we didn't agree with her life choices then we are bigoted, horrid people. There are other instances where the author is political and it comes off as "if you don't agree with me, then you are horrible," but these were the strongest.

If you have more conservative leanings, I would either wait until your child is old enough (in your opinion) for those topics or read the book with them in order to answer any questions that may come up. In the end, a good but very political series. Not sure if I'll continue the series, but I'm open to trying it out.

Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life Review

The new Gilmore Girls installment came out a few months ago, much to the excitement of many fans.

I have fond memories of watching Gilmore Girls with my mom and sisters, so I was excited to see the show.  We were left with a lot of unanswered questions....and we still have a lot of unanswered questions. 

The show follows Emily, Lorelai, and Rory over the course of a year following Richard's passing. I really missed the character, since he and Emily are my favorite.

I'll start with the bad points first and go from there...

I hated the musical portion except for the final song that they did. It could have been shorter and the time could have been used in other places. 

Lane got almost no time and it seemed like she had given up on her dreams. I would have liked to hear more about her.

Rory. Watching the original series off and on with my husband made me realize how Rory becomes this annoying, horrible character. She continues and gets worse in this series. I'm the first to admit that I am not perfect, but some of Rory's life decisions were stupid. Going back to Logan and messing up that interview for that internet journal were among some of the bad decisions we saw. I liked Logan, but he is ENGAGED and Rory has Paul. Rory treats poor Paul like dirt and is having an affair with a soon to be married man. Who does that? Then Rory has a place that is interested in hiring her and she doesn't even prepare, but she complains that she doesn't have a job and has like no money. if you need a job and there's one willing to have you, do your best to get it even if you think you are above it. You can always quit later. 

What I liked...

Lorelai's development was good and it was nice to see that from her. Her relationship with Luke has evolved from the original series. I really liked her pretzel monologue too. 

I still like Kirk, even though hearing ooober so often became annoying really fast. 

Jess was fun and it was cool to see how he's changed and stayed the same too. 

In the end, I'd watch more if it came, but I'm fine with it if they end Gilmore Girls for good right here. 

Long E Activities Bundle

(See it Here)

I've been working on this product for a long time and it is finally finished!
Teach, practice, and review long e words with this comprehensive bundle! Students will have fun with a wide range of activities to enhance their learning experience. This product also has students practice identifying long e words and short e words. 

This bundle includes:
+mystery picture activities where students identify words and color the picture based on the given code
+write the Room set to help get students out of their seats
+task cards for whole class, center, or individual practice
+sorting activities to help students identify the different long e patterns as well as to identify long e versus short e words
+a board game for small group practice
+word searches
+crossword puzzles

My mother-in-law mentioned that she was having a hard time finding long vowel activities, so I came up with these. They are available as separate products as well.