SpellQuizzer Giveaway

We were contacted about a month ago by Mr. Dan Hite, owner of SpellQuizzer.com, a great new educational way for kids to learn through a spelling program that helps children master their spelling and vocabulary. SpellQuizzer is spelling software for students that need help learning their spelling and vocabulary words. There are pre-made spelling lists you can download and use from the SpellQuizzer website. Even the most misspelled words!

Miss Virginia and I enjoy SpellQuizzer and what it has to offer homeschool kids. It has a voice that speaks to them so they hear the words being recited to them and they get the opportunity to type in the spelling of the spoken word. You can also create sentences for them to read that gives clues to what the word is. I feel this is a great program that also helps them learn some typing skills too. They even have a page just for homeschoolers.

It does take a little bit of time to program in your chosen spelling words, but it's worth it. Once you take the time to train your child how to use the program, which is quite easy, then they can get on the computer for some fun learning.

SpellQuizzer is not like any other online educational program. SpellQuizzer is downloaded to your computer for you to keep!

Mr. Hite has graciously offered to give away a copy of this software to one blessed reader and here's what you can do to win this program:

-Blog about this giveaway on your blog.
-Send out a message on Twitter and include the link to this review. Hashtag #GGMgiveaway
(limit once a day, but feel free to tweet every day for more chances to win)
-Post about it on Facebook, in a NOTE and tag all your homeschool connections.
-Leave a comment below with your links for verification.

As you can see there's a lot of chances to win, just keep telling others about it and you'll have a higher chance of winning.


Sisterlisa is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Growing in Grace Magazine and owner of AGMinistries, a devotion blog for women. She is married and homeschools her four children while remaining active in serving the Lord in her community.

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How the Camera Works: Aperture

by Miss Jessica C.

How the Camera Works: Aperture

Cameras are all about light, in fact, images are created by recording the amount of light that is allowed to hit the digital sensor of a camera. Understanding how light and your camera settings work are essential parts of learning proper photography skills. Essentially, the lens on your camera gathers the light reflected off your subject, merges it at the focus point, sends it through your aperture, inverts the image and then travels to your sensor on your camera, creating an exposed image.




Aperture is one of the three main controls that you use to control how much light hits the sensor. If you allow too much light in, your image will be overexposed (too bright) while if you don’t allow enough light, your image will be underexposed (too dark). The other two controls that are used to regulate your light are your shutter speed and the ISO (International Standards Organization). All three of these (Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO) work together to create an exposed image. The aperture works much like the iris of our eyes – a bigger aperture lets more light in, a smaller aperture lets less light in.




Aperture values (or the diameter of an aperture) are measured in f-stops starting at f/64 (the smallest opening, see illustration above) and ranging up to f/1.4. There are more f-stops out there in the world but f/1.4 to f/64 are the most common. We should also note here that there are other ways to write f-stop than just f/2.8, though that is the most common. Other ways include 1/2.8, f-2.8, and 1:2.8.

Each time you stop up, or open your aperture by an f-stop, you double the amount of light hitting your sensor. To compensate for this, your shutter speed will have to change – either faster if you opened your aperture, or slower to allow more light in if you closed your aperture. Here’s a list of the more common f-stops and the shutter speed needed to get an equivalent exposure of f/2.8 with shutter speed of 1/500.



One way I have heard the relationship between the shutter and aperture described is by likening it to filling a glass with water. “The exposure process is like filling a glass with water. The glass is the film (or digital chip) and the water is the light. To fill the glass (expose the film), the faucet is turned on partially or fully (the aperture)–the amount affects how long the tap needs to run before the glass is full (the shutter speed).” - John Hedgecoe in The New Manual of Photography In other words, the faster the shutter speed, the larger the opening of the lens needs to be and vice versa.

But that’s not all aperture does. The aperture is also related to what is called depth of field (or DOF). Simply put, depth of field is the area in which things will look focused in your image. Large apertures have a narrow depth of field and small apertures have a wider depth of field. Generally speaking, a large aperture is used when taking portraits and creative shots while smaller apertures are useful for landscapes.

You cans see this illustrated in the two images below.

In this picture I used an aperture of f/3.2 and you can see that her left eye is in focus while her right eye and both hands are not in focus. This photo has a very shallow depth of field.




This picture however, was taken with an aperture at f/7.1 and though not taken with a small aperture it was considerably smaller then the above picture thus resulting in nearly the entire picture in focus.




All digital cameras have modes that automatically control the aperture and shutter speed, but many allow you to manually change the aperture through a setting called AP or Aperture Priority mode. In AP mode you adjust the aperture and then both the shutter speed and ISO are automatically set to maintain proper exposure.

Learning how to use these features can drastically improve your skills and help you develop your own personal photography style.

I hope this little article has helped you understand not only how your camera works but also increased your awareness on how light affects everything we see! In the same way we need to become aware that we are reflecting His light in our lives. How much light can others see reflecting off you? Are they seeing His light or the cares of this world? We should be daily studying Christ’s word and desiring to be more like our Savior!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Have questions? We love hearing from you and encourage you to comment with questions for discussion!

Miss Jessica C. enjoys many activities, but the main things include sewing, harp, photography, reading and blogging. However, with all those personal “diversions” the Lord has been teaching her, she feels that they are insignificant when compared with his work and calling as a daughter and sister. You can read more about her at Seasons of a Heart.

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