Bible Study Fellowship

 

I am so very excited to start a new year with BSF! This year we will

be studying the book of Matthew. I cannot wait to see what God will 

impress upon me throughout this study. No matter how many times you read

scripture you are apt to discover deeper truths as your walk with the Lord grows. 

This year they have something NEW! You can now choose to order a 

spiral bound book that contains lessons, lesson notes, and pages for lecture notes. 

I ordered a book and am loving having everything all together. 

I had written in my Bible that in 2000-2001 I did the book of Matthew with BSF. 

WARNING FOR DOG OWNERS!

 

DO NOT FEED YOUR DOGS DEER ANTLERS,

OR ANY OTHER ANTLERS!

Last week we took our service dog Mazie for her yearly check-up. Everything was good except she has a cracked back tooth. The vet said that we needed to do something sooner than later so that it didn’t end up getting infected later on. We could put a sealant on it but most likely later on it would eventually have to be pulled. We decided to pull to tooth. Of course this will require putting Mazie under anesthesia. While out her teeth will be cleaned and she will look closely at all of her other teeth. She doesn’t expect any other issues as Mazie is a very healthy dog. We asked her what could have caused the tooth to crack. After discussion we found out that deer antlers are a HUGE NO NO as they are way too hard on a dogs teeth. The vet said if you can't make an indentation in a chew toy with your nail it is too hard for your dog's teeth. I so wish we would have known this. Pulling this tooth is going to be VERY EXPENSIVE!! She said to stick with only nylon bones as they have give to them. Since Mazie is a service dog we have to treat her as we would ourselves.

I am angered that these are even in the stores. Please learn from my $700.00 mistake. If you do not believe me then please google this information and you will see other people says the same things as well as vets.

Stick to Nylon Bones if your dog is a chewer. They come in various sizes and flavors. My dog loves them.

WORLD Watch

I received this complimentary product through the 

Homeschool Review Crew.

WORLD Watch is an online subscription only daily news source for teenage students. Each weekday students can log in and listen to daily news delivered in ten minutes. WORLD Watch news reports cover: history, technology, science, economics, government, world cultures, etc. worldwatch.news cares about the content that your students hear and so as a parent you can feel good knowing that all news reporting has as its foundation, biblical discernment. "Whatever the news, the purpose of the Lord will stand." The news is reported in a way that students can understand the stories on their level. 

Meet the Whole Team

Every weekday morning you will receive an email link for the daily WORLD Watch news. It will have a headline picture and then, Today on WORLD Watch...listing the major headlines for the day. There will be a button that you can click that will take you right to the site. 

What is great about WORLD Watch is all of the news reports are recorded. You do not have to watch the full ten minute report in one sitting. You can break it up into more than one sitting if needed. If your student is bogged down with schoolwork and cannot watch the news that day they can simply click on the day or days that they missed. The news is archived by month and goes back all of the way to the end of 2020. The archive is a wonderful feature if your student needs to research a particular topic for school. They can search the archive using keywords. 

The main stories covered each day are summarized underneath the headline each day. 

The headline story was about the fires threatening Lake Tahoe. 

One of the other main stories was President Biden's decision to evacuate Afghanistan. 

They briefly talked about President Biden's Approval Ratings. 

Another major story was Texas's fetal heartbeat bill that makes it illegal to 

abort any baby after the detection of a heartbeat. 

The main story was the Olympics finally beginning after a year long

wait. No spectators meant that the stands would be eerily silent. Three times

in the history of the Olympics had the Olympics been canceled and that was

in 1916, 1940, and 1944. All eyes would be upon Simone Biles. 

 

The Mars Rover, Perseverance, is digging on Mars in the soil for 

the Jezero Crator's composition. 

The cicadas have come and gone and have left behind what is called flagging. 

Essentially, slits in the branches of trees where the cicadas left their eggs. This flagging

causes the tree leaves to die. Eventually the eggs hatch will fall and burrow into the ground.

They will remerge as cicadas in 2038. 

The stories are not all serious. Some of the stories are downright funny, entertaining, and just fun to watch. Here are a few of those stories:

• Burkina Faso, which is in Africa has chickens dubbed "bicycle chickens" that are delivered via the bicycle to restaurants, fresh. 
• Idaho actually has a one of a kind, single BNB in the shape of a giant potato.
• A Russian student combines her love of science and art to make Mold Art. She grows bacteria in Petri dishes. She collects bacteria everywhere she goes throughout the day and combines it in a Petri dish to create art. 
• What in the Word? Flying By the Seat of Your Pants. This phrase comes from aviation. Douglas Corrigan wanted to fly from New York to Dublin, Ireland. American Aviation Authorities denied his request. So he planned his flight to California instead. He headed the wrong way and ended up in Ireland. The American Aviation Authorities did not buy his story that he got lost and went the wrong way. He had to get back to America. Upon his return by boat he was greeted by a ticker tape parade. Headlines news said, "Corrigan Flies By the Seat of His Pants." 
• Signature Science: Squirrels ~ In this news episode they are using flying squirrels to help scientists understand the decision making skills of these squirrels with their leaps and jumps. The scientists created an obstacle course to help them understand this data. 

What is nice about the news that WORLD Watch puts out is that it is just that, it is NEWS. It is totally unbiased. They give you the facts of stories from around the world and do not put a political spin on them. They are not criticizing, putting down, or badmouthing anyone. They are just reporting the news. WORLD  Watch has a 30-Day FREE Trial to see if it is right for your family. 

I was impressed with the content provided each day. I liked knowing that my teens could watch daily news and hear current events without the drama that has drawn me away from watching mainstream news. The added segments on science, technology, history, etc. are definitely worth watching. Be sure to read what my Other Crew Members  had to say about WORLD Watch. 

Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldwatchshow 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldwatchnews/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhlnq_RLfpSdQ8Fm6VEEjw

The Fallacy Detective

 

I received this complimentary product through the 

Homeschool Review Crew.

The Fallacy Detective is a softcover workbook that contains thirty-eight lessons on how to recognize bad reasoning. What is a fallacy? A fallacy is a "mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument. A failure in reasoning which renders an argument invalid. An error in logic, a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking." I don't know about you, but over the past year or two I have been saying more frequently to myself and others, "What has happened to logical thinking in America? So many things that are happening are just jaw-droppingly crazy." This book will help students and even adults recognize bad reasoning. The Fallacy Detective is recommended for ages 12 and up. 

Each of the thirty-eight lessons are followed by fill-in-the-blank exercises for the students to complete. Since I read the lessons aloud to several of my kiddos, I read the exercises aloud and had my kiddos take turns answering the questions. We had some pretty fun and interesting conversations. The book starts out with an introduction explaining, What is a Fallacy? The goal behind the book is to help you better be able to spot fallacies in everyday life, in what you read and hear, and in yourself as well. We as parents needs to give our children the tools to help them sift through the myriad of thoughts and views that are bombarded their way every day during a very impressionable time in their lives. By the time students complete the thirty-eight lessons they should be able to know how to spot bad reasoning, put a higher value on good reasoning, and know how to avoid fallacies in their own reasoning. For students in high school - The Fallacy Detective can be used for 0.5 or 1.0 high school credits in either logic or critical thinking. 

What is included in the book?

The Inquiring Mind

1. Exercise Your Mind
2. Love to Listen
3. Opposing Viewpoints

Avoiding the Question

1. Red Herring Fallacy
2. Recognizing Red Herrings
3. Special Pleading
4. Ad Hominem Attack
5. Genetic Fallacy
6. Tu Quoque
7. Faulty Appeal to Authority
8. Appeal to the People
9. Straw Man

Making Assumptions

1. The Story of Aroup Goupta
2. Assumptions
3. Circular Reasoning
4. Equivocation
5. Loaded Question
6. Slippery Slope
7. Part-to-Whole
8. Whole-to-Part
9. Either-Or

Statistical Fallacies

1. What is a Generalization?
2. Hasty Generalization
3. What is an Analogy?
4. Weak Analogy
5. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
6. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc in Statistics
7. Proof by Lack of Evidence

Propaganda

1. What is Propaganda?
2. Appeal to Fear
3. Appeal to Pity
4. Bandwagon
5. Exigency
6. Repetition
7. Transfer
8. Snob Appeal
9. Appeal to Tradition and Appeal to Hi-Tech
10. Find Some Propaganda on Your Own

Lesson 19 which is a lesson on Part-to-Whole which is defined as "when someone says that what is true of part of something must also be true of the whole thing, he is using the part-to-whole fallacy." They give an example of a child's understanding of one single feather's weight verses a feather pillow. Another example is someone who talks about how delicious their homemade cake is going to be because their ingredient are of the finest quality. Well, if the person doesn't know how to bake a cake, just because it is made of the best ingredients may turn out horrible. There were several other examples given in the lesson. 

One of the Exercise Questions was:

Rich Husband to His Wife: Dear, I haven't spared a penny to get the most exquisite materials and furnishings for our new home. I hope you're happy. It's the best house money could buy. 

Wife: Why does this marble floor in the dining room seem to slope down toward the kitchen? Look! The zebra book dining table is sliding toward the dumbwaiter! And what are the bronze electrical outlets doing in the vaulted ceiling? How am I supposed to reach them? And why does the hall light switch make all the toilets flush? And what is a smoke detector doing inside the fireplace? 

                 part-to-whole fallacy                                                 not part-to-whole fallacy

The answer to this question is part-to-whole. This falls under the Making Assumptions category. 

Here is another example of an Exercise Question taken from another lesson. 

What form of bad reasoning, if any, do you find in the example?

"That company's products can't possibly be good. It was started by a narcissistic creep." 

The answer to this one is Genetic Fallacy. 

The definition of genetic fallacy is - "condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or who began it."  This falls under Avoiding the Question. 

A form of a Statistical Fallacy is Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc - "Assuming that since A happened before B, A must have caused B."

A commonly know form of Propaganda is Appeal to Fear - "Moving us to fear the consequences of not doing what someone wants."

Throughout the book you will find funny fallacy cartoons. Here are just a few. 

At the end of the thirty-eight lesson is a game, The Fallacy Detective Game. In the game you actually get to make your own fallacies. Also in the back of the book there is a section entitled, Short List of Fallacies. This is a three page list of all of the fallacies taught in the book. Each fallacy is listed with its definition and then an example. At the end of the book is the Answer Key for each lesson. 

I found the content of book to be both relevant and easy to understand for upper middle school and high school students. My 13-year-old and high school age siblings used this book. My middle schooler was able to understand and follow the lessons and engage in the exercises. I will be using this to go toward a half credit hour in Logic for high school. I will be counting this as early credit for my 8th grader towards high school credit. I would highly recommend this book to other homeschoolers who are looking for a fun yet thorough way for your student to learn informal logical fallacy. Be sure to read what my Fellow Crew Members  had to say about The Fallacy Detective as well as Archer and Zowie which some of my other crew members reviewed. 

Social Media 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fallacydetective 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansbluedorn/ 

The HomeScholar LLC

I received this complimentary product through the 

Homeschool Review Crew.

The HomeScholar LLC is an online tool to help parents homeschool their high school students. The Total Transcript Solution helps parents create professional quality homeschool transcripts. I received a 6 month membership for the review period. What is great about Total Transcript Solution is that it costs $47.

What exactly do you get with your membership: 

• over 7 hours of Homeschool Transcript Modules on making transcripts
• Homeschool transcript eBook
• 10 transcript templates in Word, Excel, and Pages (Mac) format
• One 20 minute phone or email consultation with Lee Binz
• Lifetime Access
• Bonuses 

There are 4 main sections to the Total Transcript Solution. 

1. Training
2. Book Instruction
3. Choose Your Favorite Template
4. Get Feedback And Support

Training

The information in the videos that Lee provides is amazing. The workbooks, sample transcripts, handouts, and planning guides were very helpful to me as I am a very visual person. Being able to print out these aids for reference is very helpful to look back on as you are working on your child transcript. In the video, High School Grades and Credits, Lee provides a color wheel to break down three different grading scales. In the, One Hour Transcript Workshop, Lee breaks down what a student needs to accomplish in order to receive a full credit, a half credit, and then an A, B, C, and then grades below a C. This is extremely helpful, especially for those that are creating a high school transcript for the first time. The GPA calculator! Knowing how to calculate a GPA is simple and easy. Lee's handout give's you step-by-step instructions. I will say that Total Transcript Solution would have really helped me a lot back when I was creating my very first high school transcript.  

With each audio download additional resource material is provided which can be printed out if you wish. 

Choose Your Favorite Template

This is taken from the FAQ: Will this work on my Mac? "The templates are formatted for MS Word, Excel, and Pages. The Pages document will run on a Mac. If you need to open a Word or Excel document on your Mac you will need a special application. There are many free and paid programs out there that allow Macs to open Microsoft products."

There are 10 sample transcripts in various formats and styles. Some of the sample transcripts are completed so that you can see what a completed transcript should look like. I really like that she has so many sample transcript options available. Everyone has a different idea as to what they feel looks best and works best for them when it comes to working with a transcript. Lee points out that colleges and universities prefer to have more detailed courses on a transcript. For example instead of English III, English IV, they like to see Writing and 20th Century Literature, Writing and British Literature. Be sure to add in your student's extra curricular activities, volunteer positions, honors, etc. Driver's Education can count as 0.5 credit hours. These are just some of the things that you will learn about creating your students transcript. 

Book Instruction

This eBook is for those that learn best from reading. I enjoyed reading through the eBook and found that I actually took in more by reading that by listening to the audios. Important take aways are in highlighted boxes or are bolded. This eBook will be your best friend during the 4 years that your student is in high school. It is definitely worth printing out! 

Examples of highlighted boxes and bolded text. 

Lee provides one 20 minute personal phone consultation. 

Get Feedback and Support

I was very impressed with Total Transcript Solution. The HomeScholar LLC has several other resources for the parents of high school age students. My Fellow Crew Members reviewed the four following HomeHighSchoolHelp.com resources: Total Transcript Solution, Comprehensive Record Solution, High School Solution, and College Launch Solution. Be sure to check out what they had to say about all of the resources. 

Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehomescholar
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehomescholar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homescholar/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/homescholar/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/homescholar/