UPDATE: Even though it is now July 3rd, the link to the free PDF still seems to be working (at the time of this update), so grab it while you still can.  This may be a valuable and helpful homeschool resource!  Have a safe and relaxing  Independence Day weekend.

This is a limited time offer, so download this free PDF now before the offer ends!

Yes, we’re late with this information for use on Columbus Day this year, but if you have a desire at some other time to teach your children about Christopher Columbus and the story of his explorations, we hope that this post will be of benefit to you and your children.  Using this information as a unit study also is a chance to do something different in your daily homeschool lesson plans.

Reading and History:

Study about Columbus and his voyages.  Use any book at the library that is age appropriate and you will find ample and intriguing information.  A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus (Picture Book Biography) by David Adler, for example, is good text for the lower elementary grades. The Story of Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the Ocean Sea (Famous Lives) by Mary Osborne  is more suited to the upper elementary grades.

Gather information from these books and then write three – five major facts from the information gathered.  Make a mini book of Columbus accomplishments. Or write a simple biography of Columbus life and voyages.

Geography:

Make a map showing Spain, Portugal and Italy or show a map that outlines his route to San Salvador.  Free electronic maps can be found here.

Cooking:

Make a Italian meal. Try something unfamiliar, but easy for kids to help you make. We made lentils and sausage from a recipe found in this book: Italy (Festivals & Food)

Science:

• Make a compass. Use it to explain how Columbus would use this instrument to chart his course to the Indies.
• Identify the phases of the moon and explain to your kids about how Columbus’ understanding of the heavens helped him know when an eclipse would occur.
• Play a spice game.  Have children identify certain spices only by smelling them.  Have a list of the spices to choose from and see if they can pick the correct ones.
• Buy, identify and taste tropical fruits that would have been unfamiliar to Columbus.

This is a simple list of ideas for learning about Columbus.  We hope it gives variety to your lessons and your children a greater zea to learn more about this world. Have fun!

At the end of October Apple made another big splash and announced the new Apple Magic Mouse. As with most Apple product announcements, the internet world was abuzz with excitement.  I have to admit that I succumbed to the hype and decided to buy one. I’m glad I did. This is one cool device.

All Just Hocus Pocus?
You may be asking yourself, what makes the Apple Magic Mouse magical?  At first glance, one might be tempted to say “not much”. Wireless optical mice have been around for years and while the idea of having an untethered mouse may seem a bit astonishing, it is certainly not new. Additionally, the concept of “no visible buttons” has been a part of the Apple Mighty Mouse (now re-named as the “Apple Mouse”) for a while too. Even the updated laser tracking mechanism, which is very responsive on a variety of surfaces, isn’t necessarily the “ooh, ahh” feature of this device either.

Prepare To Be Amazed
What makes this device very unique, however,  is how you interact with it. Apple has eliminated buttons and scroll balls in exchange for Multi-Touch™ - the same interactive touch technology made famous by their best-selling iPhone® and the iPod touch®.  Almost like a detached laptop trackpad, nearly the entire surface of this mouse is touch sensitive.  If you have ever picked up an iPhone and slid your finger across the screen to flip thru a photo library, you know just how cool and natural this technology can be.  This mouse works like that.  Want to scroll thru a document or web page? Just slide your finger up or down the surface of the mouse and, lo and behold, the page scrolls.  Want to click on a link?  Just press your finger down on the left side of the mouse surface.  (Are you a lefty?  Just re-configure the mouse using your Mac’s System Preferences and you can click on the right.)  Want to make it behave like a 2 button mouse?  There’s an app setting for that.  You can also configure it to recognize a two fingered left or right swipes (a.k.a. gestures) to navigate back and forth between pages in a browser or a PDF document.  Quite nifty.

Not All Smoke and Mirrors

Finally, like most other Apple products, this mouse looks great and is well-made.  The touch surface is a completely smooth and is made of a highly reflective curved white plastic.  The only item visible on the surface is the Apple logo (of course).  The base is made of aluminum, which gives the mouse some heft and a feeling of sturdiness.  Also attached to the bottom are two rails that lift the mouse slightly off the desktop and allows it to glide across the surface. These rails also surround and protect the on/off switch as well as the battery access panel (2 AA batteries are required).

Final Impressions

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase.  This mouse looks good, feels good in your hand and responds very well to all movement, clicks and gestures.  As a long-time user of the Mighty Mouse, I do miss the ability to program the trackball/button to activate the Application Switcher in Mac OS X.  I needed a day to adjust to the flatter shape and behavior of the new Magic Mouse, but the rest of the family (young and sold) began working with it immediately. I predict that this mouse will very successful for Apple and will generate a myriad of copy-cat devices.  I would recommend this mouse to any Mac owner that is looking to upgrade to a wireless mouse.

Summary

Overall Rating:  4.25 out of 5 stars

The Apple Magic Mouse can be purchased from Best Buy,Amazon, MacMall and, of course, the Apple Store. For more product information, check out the Apple Magic Mouse product page at Apple.com.

UPDATE 1: After one month of use, I had to change the batteries in the mouse for the first time today. I would have hoped that they would lasted longer than this. I’ll be disappointed if this battery consumption trend continues.

UPDATE 2: There are a couple of things I want to mention and clarify in this update: My prior criticism of the Magic Mouse battery life may have been in error. I based that opinion on the batteries that were included with the device. Ever since I’ve replaced those batteries with a fresh set, I’ve found that the battery life of my Magic Mouse is much improved.
I also noted in my original review that I was a little disappointed to lose some of the functionality found in the wired Mighty/Apple Mouse (Expose, App Switcher, etc.). I am happy to report that I stumbled across a great little third party application called MagicPrefs that adds all those functions back and more. If nothing else, this application proves that Apple continue to build upon the functionality of the Magic Mouse with a software upgrade. If you’re a Magic Mouse owner and you wish to be able to program your mouse to do all the Apple intended it to do and more, check this one out!

The owners of this site were not compensated in any way by Apple for this review.

Hooray for free stuff!  The folks at  Christianaudio.com are offering John Piper’s highly acclaimed book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, in audiobook form as a FREE download.

This offer is valid only for the month of November (2009). Simply follow this link and use coupon code “NOV2009“. Don’t procrastinate. The month of November will end sooner than you think!

UPDATE: This promotion is now over.  Christianaudio.com is now offering a free download of the audio book, The Brothers Karamazov (Abridged), by Fyodor Dostoevsky thru the month of December.

Heads up South Floridians. On Saturday, October 24, 2009, North Creek Presbyterian Church (Coconut Creek, Florida) will be hosting their 2009 Conference on the Protestant Reformation, “Know the Biblical Gospel“. This conference will feature guest lecturers Burk Parsons and Dr. R. Fowler White. The conference is free and child care will be provided. This is a great opportunity to listen to some great lectures and to fellowship with other believers.  The conference is coming up soon, so sign up today!

For more information and registration, click here.

Speaker Bios:

Burk Parsons

Burk Parsons serves as minister of congregational life at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, and he is the editor of Tabletalk, the monthly Bible-study magazine of Ligonier Ministries. He holds a degree in biblical studies from Trinity College and the master of divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. He is the also the editor of Assured By God: Living in the Fullness of God’s Grace published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishers.

Dr. R. Fowler White

Dr. Fowler White serves as President and chairman of the Biblical Studies department at Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies.  Dr. White served for almost two decades as a professor and an administrator in theological institutions, much of that time co-laboring with Dr. R.C. Sproul.

Homeschoolers should take a few moments to view and listen to Gary DeMar (American Vision) interview Kevin Swanson about Christian homeschooling and more. Though brief, I found it encouraging and worth sharing here. Be sure to take 15 minutes and check it out.

UPDATE: According to an email received on 4/109 from ParentalRights.org, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (MI) and Senator Jim DeMint (SC) will be holding a press conference at 3:00 p.m. Eastern to announce the introduction of the Parental Rights Amendment in both houses of Congress. They now have 70 co-sponsors. Video below.

When it comes to the upbringing of our children, it is the parents’ rights, not the government’s…

According to this recent WorldNetDaily article, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., will be re-introducing the Parental Rights Amendment again this Tuesday (3/31/09). Unlike the last time this was attempted, they will now have the backing of 66 Congressional Representatives.  This opportunity is good news for homeschooling parents and all those who wish to keep the state from further interfering in matters best decided by the family.  Please pray for their success this week. In addition, contact your Representatives and encourage him or her to support this amendment as well.

If you have not know the details of the proposed Constitutional Amendment, I have provided a copy of the draft text below for your review:

Considering how our government has been overextending its reach lately in matters of the economy, the timing for re-introduction of this Amendment could not be more appropriate.  The time to act is now.  To learn more about the movement to secure parental rights here in the United States and how you can offer your support and help, click on over to ParentalRights.org today.

So my wife loaded up the kids in the van this morning for a fun homeschool field trip to a radio station located on the campus of local, well-known church. When she gets there, the place is swarming with police officers that had apprehended a man who held one of the homeschool mothers and her children at gunpoint as he attempted to rob them. No one was hurt, thank the Lord. After being taken into custody, he allegedly was found to have an assortment of additional firearms in his car. Very scary stuff for that mom and her kids to face. Pray for them if you are so inclined.

I’m sure no one attending that event thought that this is how their day would play out. Situations like this can really make one think about how little control we actually have of the events in our lives and how we always need to be ready, especially as Christians. Though no one was hurt, Ecclesiastes 9:12 is brought to my mind as I ponder this event:

May God bless you this day.

The word socialism is being thrown around in conservative circles quite a bit lately since the recent bailouts and, of course, the passage of the much-debated American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 . If you haven’t taken the time to teach your kids about socialism in your studies of government and economics, now may be a good time to instruct them in the basic concepts. I hope that some of the links below will be helpful to that end and will also help you increase your understanding of the topic.

Before you leave this site to view the links, check out this great YouTube hosted video which provides a short, but excellent, general overview of governmental systems.

This page from historyguy.com provides a handy guide to types of government that could be helpful in your homeschooling lessons.

These articles provide some wise perspectives on the implications of our government’s recent tendency to move toward socialism.

Back on Uncle Sam’s Plantation by Star Parker

Spurgeon On Socialism by Joel McDurmon

Beating Back Obamanomics by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

This weekend I was reading The Dark Side of Islamby R.C. Sproul and Abdul Saleeb. I came across a statement by Dr. Sproul that poignantly reminds us of our fallen tendency to have a low view of God’s holiness and a misplaced view of own.  It is a quote worth sharing:

“As long as we can keep the character of God in eclipse and can conceal from our vision who He is, we can continue to flatter ourselves that we can balance the scales of justice or earn our way into the kingdom of God. This is the greatest human delusion there is.”

I pray that you have a wonderful Sunday of worship and rest.