School's in!

On Friday we finished our second week of school and we are slowly getting into a new routine. After a year of many disruptions, I am enjoying a little bit of normalcy... well, enoying it while I can any way!  Sometime in the next few weeks we will welcome baby #5 and who knows what life will look like then!

This year I have a preschooler, 1st grader, 3rd grader and 5th grader.  As you can probably imagine our days are quite busy.

We are doing things a bit differently this year. During our past four years of homeschooling we have been quite eclectic in our approach to learning, not depending on one curriculum or method of teaching, but incorporating many different resources.  The benefits of this is you can meet the individual needs and interests of the learners.  We have had a very relaxed approach to learning as I attempt to develop in each child a love for learning.  My philosophy is once they love learning you can teach them almost anything and in many cases, they will learn on their own.

The down side of this approach for me is that it is very time consuming to pull all of these resources together, especially having so many different levels to focus on.  I also have a firstborn who loves routine and structure almost to a fault. This type of learning was not really fitting in with his style.  His desire to keep on a schedule was being hindered by a mom who's ability to think beyond a day at time especially the last 4 months of the school year, was lacking (think morning sickness, no energy, watching my mom slip away... not a good combination for being an organized homeschooler!!)

But this is the beauty of homeschooling... you find what works for your child and make it happen!  This year we are making more use of specific curricula.  Micaiah's is very structured and rigorous (traditional school at home) while the rest are a little more relaxed, but most of the planning is done for me.  And so far, 2 weeks in it seems to be working.

Micaiah (Grade 5/ Primary 6) is enrolled at A Beka Academy.  Video streamed classes with text books, reading materials, and testing materials for the entire year all sent to us.  All I do for him is supervise his learning, grade his work and be available to answer questions he may have.  He is really enjoying it so far, staying on top of his assignments and taking ownership of his schedule.  He loves to check off what he has finished and he enjoys watching the classes on line. 

Eli (grade 3/ Primary 4) and Eden (grade 1/ Primary 2) are using the same curricula,  learning a lot together and enjoying it.  Even through they are 2 grade levels apart the main curriculum covers ages 6 to 8 so it is a perfect fit for us.  I do  math, spelling/ reading separately for them but the rest is worked on together.

We are using Moving Beyond the Page which is a comprehensive homeschool curriculum that covers science, social studies, and language arts. It is a unit based curriculum which encourages hands on learning, and focuses on developing critical and creative thinking.  The first 2 weeks have been a lot of fun as we are learning about communities around the world.

For math, we are using RightStart Math which uses visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approaches to teaching mathematics.  Both are using the same program but Eli is moving at a faster pace as much of it is review for him and it is new learning for Eden.  So far I like the program but I will have to do a proper review after we have used it for a few months.

We are continuing to use All About Spelling which I used in the past for Micaiah and Eli.  It is new to Eden this year and I am combining it with All About Reading for her.  Again a kinesthetic, visual and auditory approach... do you notice a theme here??  I have 2 very hands on learners that I think will thrive with these programs.  The best part for me is that there is very little planning for all of them.  Most lessons I have to simply open the teachers manual and go to it.  There are some lessons that require some advance planning like having supplies ready, gathering books from the library etc. which I think I can handle!!

It was apparent in the spring/ early summer that Marcus would need a more structured preschool program. I was going to wait until he was 4 and just continue this year with learning though guided play and lots of free play as we had been doing.  He catches on to lots by listening in on everyone's lessons so I decided to do something a little more formal with him.  I found  ABC Jesus Loves Me which is a free curriculum plan.  These past two weeks we learned about Creation, counting using "5 Little Ducks" and the sense of hearing using "Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You?"  Each week there is a different bible story, book, number, colour and letter to focus on as well as ideas for fine motor and gross motor development.  Marcus also has bible verses to learn each week and he now proudly says Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  I'll have to post a video of him reciting it if he cooperates with me!

School's in for Mommy to... I am currently in the hardest season I have ever been in in my life but God is teaching me many lessons.  Prayerfully I'll have a good report card at the end of it all!  I will share these lessons with you in hopes that they will be an encouragement to someone else.

Lesson #1: to put my own ideas aside and be open to change.  Micaiah's program is not one I would have chosen or at first felt would fit into our style but I had to put my own agenda aside.  I depended on God to give me peace about it and he made it clear in my heart that this was the right route.

Lesson #2:  I HAVE to start each day with the LORD.  The days that I haven't tend to be disastrous.   The kids attitudes and behavours overwhelm me more on those days, I am more tired and cranky and have far less patience.  God truly sustains me. His power is always available for me... I just have to partake!

Lesson #3 I am currently reading Kingdom Woman by Tony Evans and Chrystal Evans Hurst (highly recommended).  Here is a quote that has really encouraged and kept me going over the past couple weeks.

"If you are going to live in excellence, you have to forget yesterday. Whether it was good, bad, or ugly, if it’s yesterday, you need to let it go. When you carry yesterday further than you ought to, you ruin today. If you ruin today, then you spoil tomorrow."

I will leave you with that and pray that it is an encouragement to you.  Whether you are a homeschool mom, single person, teenager, dad... whoever, it is true for you too!

Until next time,

Week In Review: Good Bye Summer

 

We said goodbye to summer this week and hello to another homeschool year... our 4th year of homeschool!  Hard to believe :)  The kids were eager to start after a nice long summer break and I was even more eager to get into a routine!

This year we have a 4th grader, 2nd grader, kindergartener and a little tornado tot schooler.  It should be an interesting year.  Here are some things we will be doing:

Mystery of History 1

Real Science 4 Kids (Chemistry pre level 1, Physics pre- level 1 and possibly Biology pre- level 1)

A Child's Geography

HomeSchool Spanish

Various unit studies I will scatter throughout to keep things fresh.

Micaiah (primary 5, 4th grade)

Math:  finishing Teaching Textbooks 4, possibly starting 5; ALEKS

Language: A Beka Language A

Spelling: finishing All About Spelling 3 moving on to level 4

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting C 

Art: A Beka Art A

Eli, (Primary 3; 2nd Grade)

Math:  Teaching Textbooks 3(very slowly) , Math Mammoth- Early Geometry

Language: A Beka Language 2

Spelling: finshing All About Spelling 1 moving on to level 2

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting B

Art: A Beka Art 2

Eden (Primary 1, Kindergarten)

Math:  Horizons Math K

Reading & Phonics: Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, A Beka Letters and Sounds

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting K

Art: A Beka Art K

 Marcus, Tot school (which really means getting into everything everyone else is doing !!) 

I will hopefully spend the first part of each day with Marcus on a focused developmental activity while the older kids are doing their independent work. Here is what we did this week:

scooping and pouring beans

playdough- Marcus loved this and asked to play with it every day

sorting and dumping bears

Here are some other highlights of our first week:

Finishing our work early on Tuesday and meeting friends at the beach (sorry no picture)

Taking a walk to visit some animals nearby

We started a unit study on The Galapagos Islands and the Blue-footed Booby.  We will continue next week and here is a sneak peek at our sensory tub to go along with it:

That was our week... I will try to be faithful in doing a weekly wrap up this year so stay tuned for the many adventures of Best of All Academy!!

linking this post to 

Weekly Wrap up & Moments to Remember

What Makes a Fish a Fish: A Review

Have you ever heard of a frogfish?

 It is one of the creatures we learned about while reviewing What makes a Fish a Fish which is one in a series of DVDs from a company called Dive into Your Imagination.  It's founder, Annie AKA "OCEAN ANNIE" has become one of America’s leading ocean-environ educators.

What Makes A Fish, A Fish is the first DVD in the Dive Into Your Imagination series. This DVD teaches children about astounding fish from around the world. In 2008 it won the Greatest Products call from iParenting Media Awards!

We were sent the DVD and given access to the PDF Educators' Guides. The DVD has 8 main chapters including Sea Anemones and Their Friends,   Bath Time for Fishes,  Frogfish are Funny Looking Fish and Dinner Time for Fish. and a couple of bonus tracks explaining scuba diving and production. 

When we watched it the first time the kids were fascinated by the Frogfish so I decided to use the teaching guide to develop a whole lesson around this funny looking creature. The lesson plans are well laid out easy to follow and can be adapted to meet the needs of your kids. They include background information about all the topics presented on the DVD and many activities to use with each topic which cover math, language arts, social studies and science.

For each of the chapters on the DVD, there is a chapter in the educator guide of the same name. Within the educator guides, you can choose from 6-7 activity stations per unit to share with your children. Both sets of guides, PreK-K and 1st-3rd Grades follows the same framework with age appropriate activities so if you download both sets you can choose your favorites. I was given access to both the Pre-K to K guide and the 1st to 3rd grade guide. I used both to prepare a fun day for all 4 kids. ( yes the almost 2 yr old also joined in. )

Here are some highlights from our FrogFish Day:

our Frog Fish Board

Checking out where Frogfish can be found around the world

Making their own Frogfish

Even Marcus joined in!

our diverse Frogfish

completing a language arts worksheet

Frogfish math

playing a frogfish memory game

catching fish like a frogfish!

 As you can see, we had a great Frogfish Day!  It was easy and fun to put together and as usual, I learned a lot too!

Other titles in the series are Who Lives in the Sea  and  Dive into Diversity.   The are available at Diveintoyourimagination.com.  Each DVD is priced at $19.95. 

It is important to note that the Educator guides are separate and are available as a printed version for $299 (for the whole set) or as individual PDFs for $69.95.  But check this out:

"As a special for the Homeschool Crew and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and followers Annie Crawley of Dive Into Your Imagination, she will gift you a set of PDFs with purchase of the DVDs. When you place your DVD order, just let her know in the notes that you are a Homeschool Parent!"


In order to obtain these 300 page information packed guides, just mention "homeschooler" in the comment section at checkout after you have added the DVDs. That's a good deal!  There is even free shipping for the month of June!

See what other reviewers had to say here.

Disclaimer:  As a member of TOS crew I received this product in exchange for an honest review.  All the opinions expressed here are my own.

WriteShop: A review

We were given the opportunity to review WriteShop Primary, a parent guided writing curriculum for kindergarten to 3rd grade. I had heard of the WriteShop writing program for middle and highschool students so I was excited to try out this Primary program with my kids.  We received level B as an e-book which is geared towards first and second grade and can also be used for reluctant 3rd graders. 

"WriteShop Primary teaches the skills of the writing process at the very simplest level through activities, crafts, and picture books. It accommodates pre-writers as well as beginning and developing writers, so your youngster needs no previous reading or writing experience. Slowly and gently, the child is asked to help with the actual writing, first in simple words and later, through copywork. And by turning these stories into a little craft, he will have a project to proudly share with others." (from the WriteShop website)

The curriculum has 2 parts, a very easy to use teachers guide  and a student activity set worksheet pack.  Both are available as hard copy or e-book format.  As I was given the e-book, I printed out one lesson at a time and the accompanying activity sheets and kept them together in a 3 ringed binder.  I made a binder for each child for them to keep their completed activity sheets and other pieces of writing.

The teachers guide was easy to follow and the lessons required some but not too much preparation on the part of the parent.  Each lesson is split out into 8 parts or activity sets and can be worked through using a few suggested schedules outlined in the teacher's guide.

Here are the 8 parts of each lesson:

Activity Set 1: Guided Writing Practice only
Activity Set 2: Pre-writing Activities and Picture Book
Activity Set 3: Brainstorming
Activity Set 4: The Writing Project
Activity Set 5: Editing and Revising
Activity Set 6: Activity Set Worksheet
Activity Set 7: Publishing the Project
Activity Set 8: Want To Do More?

Here is a sample lesson plan (click on it to see it full sized)
 


 Here is an example of a worksheet:

 

Our Experience:

I decided to use the program with both Eli (grade 1) and Micaiah (grade 3).  The level was perfect for Eli and although some of it was a little easy for Micaiah he still benefited from the structure of the program.  Writing has been an area that both boys, for different reasons have struggled with to some degree but Writeshop  has help them to gain confidence in their writing.  We have worked through a couple lessons--I found them easy to teach and the kids found them fun to work through.  Eden, my preschooler has enjoyed sitting in on the lessons,  even participating at times.  In lesson 1 the focus was on writing a friendly letter and I taught the kids the "Friendly Letter Boogie" suggested in the teacher guide to teach the parts of a letter.  That was a highlight for many days and even now weeks later, I catch Eli or Eden reciting it!

The thought of writing can be daunting for a beginning writer and even more daunting for a parent who has a reluctant writer (or two:), but Writeshop breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks, and throws in fun activities and crafts.  This in my opinion is a recipe for success!  The proof for me was hearing both boys enthusiastically say that WriteShop is one of their favourite parts of school!! 

The cost of WriteShop Primary B teacher's guide is $29.95 for the hard copy and $26.95 for the e-book.  The Student activity sheets are $4.95 and $4.50 respectively.  If you are interested in trying out WriteShop now would be a good time to order as they are offering 15% off  WriteShop Primary and Junior products in the WriteShop store (including e-books) using coupon code CREW15 at checkout. This offer is valid through June 15, 2012.   Visit their website for more information or see what other reviewers had to say here.


Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review (favourable or otherwise).  The opinions stated here are my own.

CapJaxMathFax: A Review

Do your kids struggle with memorizing math facts? At our house it is something we practice over and over.  For some it is a breeze, for others...ah, not so much.   I try and use different methods to get those facts to sink in. We recently had the opportunity to review CapJaxMathFax (I know a mouthful right! I just shortened it to JaxFax)


What is it?
 CapJaxMathFax is a downloadable math facts program


CapJaxMathFax™ system has controls that allow small-step goal-setting so progress is evident and guaranteed. (from the website)

• Uses a computer to provide drill and practice so that practice time is not limited by teacher availability. 
• Automatically generates exercises. Teachers don't prepare quizzes. They merely provide the parameters for them. 
• Builds exercises for any of the four math tables (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) or any combination of tables. 
• Guarantees student success by taking small steps through levels of difficulty. 
• Can focus practice at a single level of difficulty or may review earlier levels. 
• Randomly generates problems without repetition. 
• Allows variable numbers of problems in an exercise. 
• Reduces learner stress by timing facts individually. 
•  Provides immediate positive feedback for correct answers. 
• Provides extra reinforcement for fast, correct answers. 
•  Displays an overall performance report at the conclusion of each exercise. 
• Prints reports for teacher review and for use as certificates of achievement.
•  Displays and prints item diagnostic details. 
• Uses a rating system that allows students to keep personal scores and set goals. 
• Charts student rating progress graphically. 
• Maintains a database of student activity over time.

Our experience

If you are looking for a program with bells and whistles, high resolution animation and game-like features, this is not the program.  This is not a bad thing - it focuses on the math facts.  I found the screen to be a little crowded and busy but this didn't seem to bother Eli who was the child I used this program with.  It was simple to download and to use for both teacher and student.  Once I showed him how to use it he was able to work through a session on his own.  He could choose to practice, or to play for a rating where he tried to improve on his current score and reach different levels.

The per fact timing is preset at 3 seconds but this can be adjusted in practice mode for up to 10 seconds.  This will help build confidence in a child who may not be very quick to start.  The play for ratings mode is set at 3 seconds and the child is provided with immediate feedback with "super" popping on to the screen when they type in a fact in less than 3 seconds and "right" for a correct answer in more than 3 seconds.

Eli wasn't overly excited about CapJaxMAthFax but he didn't dislike it.  He does not have a very competitive nature so the level achievements were not a big motivator for him.  He did like to see "SUPER" pop up on the screen so that kept him going through the drill.  I have access to this for a few more months so it will be something we will continue to use as we try and get those facts to stick!

Other info:

The program is compatible with PC and Mac and is currently available for $29.95 and there is also a free trial available.


Check out their site for more information or click here to see what my other crew members thought of this product.

Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS crew, I was give free access to this program in exchange for an honest (favourable or otherwise) review. 



 

Judah Bible Curriculum: A Review

What is the Judah Bible Curriculum?

• A Principle Approach curriculum for Bible class.
• Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible.
• Build strong, Godly character in your children.
• Study the Bible together.
• Study the hand of God in the lives of individuals and nations.
• For homeschool, Christian school, Sunday school.
• Teach your children living Biblical principles to guide their lives.
• Apply God’s word personally in every area of life.
• The Bible is the textbook.

 From their website:

The Judah Bible Curriculum is designed to help you produce Godly character in yourself and your students.
As educators we are seeing our kids led astray by peers, musicians, cults, the media, the Internet, forceful and slick authority figures, and any number of other voices. In order to survive, our students must be able to stand on their own and truly understand the purpose God has for their lives.
Our crucial need is to educate our students to be Biblically literate. True literacy is more than just the ability to read. True literacy includes having a basis in Truth and the ability to reason from that basis to discover the answers to life's questions.

This product is more a Bible Study method guide than a curriculum.  It is a training manual to teach parents how to teach the bible to their children.  This is based on the Principle Approach to education.  This was a philosophy I was not familiar with.  If you would like more information on this you can read about it here.




What do you receive?
1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual;    
2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet;   
3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar.

What is the plan?
This curriculum is designed to be studied over 6 years, working through 5 themes per year.

Theme 1  Creation 
Theme 2  Plan of Redemption Begins 
Theme 3 Kingdom of Israel 
Theme 4 is Kingdom of God 
Theme 5 is Early Church


Students are encouraged to develop a notebook which will be built upon each year and are based on key sheets that are filled out through out the study.  These sheets outline key events, key individuals, key institutions, key documents.

After reviewing this product on my own it was clear to me that this was not a good fit for our family at this time.  When choosing any curriculum one of the major factors I need to consider is preparation time.  The Judah Bible Curriculum requires considerable preparation on the part of the teacher. While time is not the only factor to consider, I eventually had to accept that this curriculum required much more of me than I was able to give.  Perhaps when the kids are older and can participate more in the actual digging into the word we would have more success with this method of study.  A clear, solid understanding of the principle approach is necessary, in my opinion, for the successful implementation of this program.

Pricing:

Judah Bible Curriculum Pack hard copy $69.00, plus 5.00 p&h
You get:
1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual;
2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet;
3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar on CDs.

or you can get the same documents in a downloadable format for $44

You can read more reviews of this product here to help you determine if this would be a good fit for your family. 


Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS crew I was given a free copy of this curriculum in exchange for my honest review.  The views expressed here are solely mine.




 

Inference Jones: A Review

For more than 50 years, The Critical Thinking Company's award-winning products have helped students of all abilities achieve better grades and higher test scores with highly effective lessons that sharpen the mind as they teach standards-based reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history. Their products are fun, easy to use, and guaranteed to produce better grades and higher test scores.

The Critical Thinking Company sent me a e-copy of  Inference Jones to review. This is a 48 page work book with 18 lessons and is available as a hard copy for  $11.99.

From their website:

Inference Jones provides short, fun, and easy-to-use activities that improve critical reading and higher order thinking by developing the student’s ability to draw inferences from written text. Research shows inferential reasoning is a prerequisite component to superior reading comprehension. The National Foundation for Educational Research concluded that "the ability to draw inferences predetermines reading skills: that is, poor inferential reasoning causes poor comprehension and not vice versa."

Inference Jones: Beginning has a readability level appropriate for grades 3-4 but can also be used as a remedial resource for older students (grades 5-12+).

Micaiah and I worked through several lessons which comprised of a short story and questions to follow.  Here is an example:

The book was easy to use and didn't take a lot of time to complete.  Micaiah who is in grade 3 had no difficulty working through the lessons independently and while he didn't beg to do them everyday, he didn't mind working on Inference Jones when I asked him to.  I found it to be a solid and usable product and look forward to exploring the many other resources offered by The Critical Thinking Company.


Disclaimer: As a member of TOS Review team I was given a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (favourable or otherwise).


 

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry: A Review

Bright Ideas Press sent us this e-book and resource CD to review.

This text  is part of their Christian Kids Explore Science series which  cover one year each of Biology, Earth & Space, Chemistry, and Physics.

The Chemistry text includes 5 units which are broken down into 30 lessons and each lesson has 2 parts which you can teach over the week. These texts are multi-grade, the lessons are easy to prepare, and the lessons employ a combination of reading/research and hands-on activities. The material is well organized and written from a biblical world view, infused with scripture through out.

The target grade level is grade 4 to 8 but for the purpose of the review I was very easily able to adapt the lessons for Micaiah and Eli who are in Grade 3 and Grade 1.

learning to interpolate (estimate a measurement)

To me the best part of this package was the resource CD which included lesson plans, activity book printables, supply lists and more.

The cost of the e-book and resource CD is $39.95

All in all this is a good solid curriculum which I would definitely consider incorporating all of the subjects into our home learning environment when the kids are a bit older.

To read more reviews of Christian Kids Explore science titles, please visit the TOS Crew Blog.  


Disclaimer: As a member of TOS Review team I was given this curriculum in exchange for an honest review (favourable or otherwise).