Gold Rush!

What is valued above gold? God's Word!

Above Gold is a new iPad app where you can earn gold and precious gems when you unscramble Bible verses -- the real treasure!

My husband, Paul, designed and developed this new app with goal of helping you and your kids learn and meditate on God's Word. You can unlock four levels of difficulty from "easy" to "hardest"...starting with short scripture verses and moving into longer and longer ones.  

To get the gold, you need to beat the clock to solve the puzzle. Use the golden arrows to roll the letters into the right position and create the verse. You can use hint buttons to reveal the reference, the verse or both, but it will cost you some time. 

More and more loot is added to your treasure chest as you complete each puzzle. By the end, your chest is filled with coins, gems and bouncing pearls. Surveyed kids called the treasure room "a game within a game" because they loved watching the active treasure!

More important than the earthly treasure, however, is what you might gain in head and heart knowledge as you solve, read and meditate on the scripture as you go!  

So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  Isaiah 55:11

For only $.99, you can challenge your brain, spend time in God's Word, and get some gold!  For more details about this and the other Digital Worship apps, like Dad's Prayers (free), Heavens Above, and Bible Shuffle, click here!

Flinging Fun & History!

From Alexander the Great, to World War II, to current-day "Punkin Chunkin" contests, catapults have been favorite weapons of war and tools for fun for a loooong time!  Pitsco brings catapults and trebuchet siege machines into your home and classroom as a history lesson, a science lesson, and an all-round fun time!

When the Pitsco box arrived, my then-12-year-old son took over with glee.  He opened the package to find a booklet telling him all about the history, "science, technology, engineering, and math of medieval siege machines."  After an introduction into the history and safety in the use of the catapult, the 32-page booklet covers topics like tension and torsion, mass vs. distance, metric conversion, calculating averages, elasticity, experimenting with rubber bands, gravity and levers, prediction (math), force & motion, and more.  For several experiments, there are charts to fill in for scientific testing.

Okay, so being a boy, and mostly kinesthetic at that, the book was soon pushed aside a bit and my son began to build the thing!  He found the catapult to be easier than the trebuchet.  The instructions and pictures for the trebuchet were harder to understand.  But, with some help from Dad and a bit of perseverance, both weapons of mass destruction were together within hours (spread over a couple of days).  The siege machines really work and my son was soon pelting clay missiles at things and having a grand time.  Soon, we will be going back through the book and filling in the head knowledge more completely.

This kit would be a great accompaniment to your medieval (or other history) lessons.  You end up with sturdy, usable weapons/toys and a sense of accomplishment from self-building.  The lessons are based on the standards of the National Science Teachers Association, International Technology Education Association, and National Council of Teachers of Math.  This kit is aimed at grades 5 through 12.

You can see what the catapults and trebuchets look like here.  But, Pitsco offers many other curricula and products you might enjoy...If you want to encourage a budding engineer, architect, scientist or math whiz, be sure to check out their other offerings on their website store.

The catapult and trebuchet go for $10.95/each and the Siege Machines book is another $3.95.  You do want the book!  If you are hosting a co-op, you can get reduced prices for groups of 10 ($8.39) or 30 ($7.67).  Or you can get a package deal with the catapult, trebuchet and Siege Machines book for $21.95 which includes the weights for flinging!

If you really want to go indepth, Pitsco also carries a more expensive package that includes all of the above, as well as two in depth teachers/curriculum guides that provide another 20+ hours of teaching materials for each kit.

I was provided the Catapult and Trebuchet kits, plus the Siege Machines book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  I honestly think your hands-on, science-types will love them!

Like Wits & Wagers? You bet!

We had a lot of fun testing out the Wits & Wagers Family game by North Star Games.  Choosing from the stack, the first question is read aloud.  Everyone whips out their trusty little wipe-off boards and pens and quickly writes a guess.  The guesses are then placed in number order on the table, or floor, or wherever you happen to be playing.  Then you decide whether you like your answer best, or someone else's.  You have two "Meeples" playing pieces, one large (2 pt) and one small (1 pt), and you use them to "wager" on the correct answer.  You can place both on your own answer, one on yours and one on some else's, or both on other people's cards.  There is always a "1" card available if you think everyone's answers are too high.  When the answer is read, points are scored for the winning guess that is closest to the correct answer without going over, and for any Meeples placed on that card.  The wagering aspect makes it easier for the younger players to get points, since they don't have to think of the correct answer themselves.

Since every question involves a number or statistic of some sort, there is a lot of estimating going on (unless you just happen to know the correct answer -- and, mostly, you won't).  For example:

*In feet, how wide is a regulation soccer goal? 
*What percent of Girl Scout cookies sold are Thin Mints? 
*On average, how many hours per day does a wild sloth sleep? 

Each number answer is accompanied by an interesting, and sometimes silly, fact.  The first player to reach 15 points wins, so the game doesn't last super-long unless you decide to go into extra innings just for the fun of it.

There were only a handful of references that my children wouldn't know (i.e., The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) or that we would not appreciate (i.e., Harry Potter), but these are easily dealt with by skipping the question, blotting it out, throwing it away, or setting it on fire, depending on your level of enthusiasm about it.

The instructions are simple and clear and the wipe-off boards, Meeples and question cards are both colorful and engaging for the prescribed ages 8+.  You can play 3 to 5 individuals at a time, or break a larger group into teams, so this is a great game for a family night or a fun party.  North Star Games also sells a "Party" version of this game.

Wits & Wagers Family sells for about $15.00 at Amazon.  This coming Friday afternoon, you can check out my review of another of North Star Games' fun products, Say Anything, here.

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, I was provided this game free in exchange for an honest review.  For more TOS Crew reviews, click here.