Getting Ready

We are having a great time on our Christmas break, and some of us are getting very excited about the upcoming week full of celebration. I, however, am also busy with preparations for our next school term. We have pretty much reached the point in our educational lives where "just do the next thing" is preferred. We have all burned out a bit on fancy projects and lots of extra book gathering and heavy planning. Toward the end of last term we were pretty much just putting one foot in front of the other and were slightly surprised to find that it worked and we liked it. I am happy that, thanks to some TOS Crew review items, a freebie from a local homeschooler, and a few other things I can throw in, Daniel and Abbie have a complete curriculum that doesn't involve me scouring the Internet for ideas. Put that together with our workboxes and our daily routine and I foresee a lot of "getting stuff done" without extra stress and strain on the mom. Maybe the house will even stay clean this term???

This is what we are doing:

MATH:
Kaytie and Nate (3rd and 2nd grade, respectively) will be starting Math U See level Gamma. I am also supplementing with Math Mammoth Measuring 1 and Early Geometry. I really like the looks of these as a supplement, and the price is great!
Daniel and Abbie and Kevin will be starting on Shiller math. It's based on Montessori theory, and the lessons are quick and easy enough that I can/will let each kid go through the book at their own rate. I am expecting Daniel to fly though it, Abbie to jog through it, and Kevin (who is nearly six months younger than Abbie) to move at a regular pace. The books were free (to me) and we already owned, in some form or another, all of the manipulatives required. I'm hoping this will keep Daniel busy and engaged until he is ready for Alpha next fall.

GRAMMAR:
We are starting Rod and Staff Grammar with Kaytie and Nate, and I am hoping it will be more hands on and practical than First Language Lessons. I liked FLL a lot until we got to the end of the first book and I realized that we had just spent a year on nouns and the kids still struggled with what exactly one was. They can memorize definitions and spit them back out at you in the blink of an eye, but they need to actually use the information before they can understand it. I like the look of Rod and Staff, it remains to be seen what the kids think. We are starting with Grade Three: Beginning Wisely, since everything they don't know in the Second Grade scope and sequence is also addressed in the Third Grade.

HISTORY:
We are still trudging through Story of the World. The kids do not enjoy "living history" as much as I thought they would. Although, they did engage in the story of King Tut, and memorized every book I could find on the subject. I'm hoping that once we get out of the ancient ancients and into the Greeks and Romans they will find it a tad more interesting... I really really wish they would incorporate more Biblical history into their timeline, though. We had a flicker of interest when we were able to see where Abraham and Joseph fit into the timeline.

GEOGRAPHY:
We are off schedule on the number of states we have studied, but since I never could figure out how to fit 50 states into 39 weeks to begin with, I don't guess it signifies much. We are just going to pick up where we left off and study one state at a time. I have decided to drop all the "living books" and just have them read a couple of factual books about each state. The story books don't usually have anything to do with the state to which they are "assigned" and the kids are not making the connection. So I'm going to drop those books off of my library lists and use those slots for books of their own choosing.

SCIENCE:
We are going on with Apologia's Swimming Creatures. The kids are really enjoying this and getting a lot out of it. I do wish there was more experiments for their age level, but we are not exactly lacking in impromptu scientific experiments around here. Little boys and science just seem to go hand in hand. It has been easy to find library books to go along with each creature as we come to it. Some I read aloud to everybody, some Kaytie and Nate read to themselves, some sit idly by until I give up and take them back.

SPELLING:
We are finally starting All About Spelling Level Two. I am loving this program. The kids remember the rules, even though I can't, and when they are writing on their own, they apply the rules. It's great!

LATIN:
We are reviewing Latin Is Not So Tough, so I will talk about it when the review comes out...

BIBLE:
We are still happily working our way through Bible Study Guide for All Ages. Kaytie and Nate are working on the Intermediate Level, Daniel and Abbie will be starting the Beginner Level this term. I'm interested in seeing what it looks like and if it works as well as the upper level.

HANDWRITING:
I am tweaking Peterson Directed Handwriting a little. I made a salt-tray and I copied all the letters and numbers onto half of an index card for quick and easy instruction or review. Kaytie will be focusing mostly on numbers and Nate on the handful of letters and numbers that give him trouble.
Daniel, Abbie and Kevin will just be working their way through the alphabet, learning to write. I have some large foam letters for them to "finger-trace" as well.
And the manipulative ideas that I have collected for Kaytie's backwards writing will be used by everybody.

READING:
Kaytie and Nate are still reading aloud daily. More to help with their pronunciation of big words than for any other reason. It's sad to have a large vocabulary of big words and not be able to say them properly.
Daniel and Abbie will be solidifying their letter/sound knowledge with Get Ready for the Code workbooks. They will sit in on Kevin's introduction to the alphabet. Kevin will be working with all the different manipulative alphabets I have, listening to alphabet books, working on puzzles, playing on Starfall, and singing the alphabet songs I found on youtube.
Daniel and Abbie will also be using a reading curriculum that we are reviewing. So far, I am liking it a lot. The review will be out in February.

TYPING:
The kids are still using Talking Fingers for fun and typing instruction.

PRESCHOOL:
In addition to the handwriting, math, and phonics I mentioned before, Abbie and Kevin (and Daniel, too) will be busy with puzzles and coloring and shapes and colors and cutting and pasting and...
Gracie will just be playing/working Montessori-toddler style. She will be included as she chooses in the bigger kids lessons, and left alone if she so desires.

So there you have it. That is our line-up for the next 13 weeks. I can not express how happy I am that the only researching/planning/hunting for ideas I am going to have to do is for science. Everything else is just sitting there, ready to go... :)

TOS Review: Tiny Planets

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse review crew, we were given a subscription to the website Tiny Planets to review. This site is for kids ages four to twelve and is based on the space adventures of two aliens... Bing and Bong. On this site you will find books to read, games to play, and "tv episodes" to watch. A lot of the site is free, but some of it can only be used after you purchase it with "keys". The keys are bought by the parent with real money and the cost is as follows:
10 keys    $1.95  
25 keys    $3.95   
85 keys    $9.95   
250 keys  $25.95 
600 keys  $49.95 
A parent account is necessary to buy keys. Whatever you buy with the keys is available permanently to that account. A premium account is also available for purchase, which gives you access to more of the site, although I couldn't find the place to purchase it. 
Tiny Planets has a lot of different places to play and things to do. We explored it several times and I don't think we even scratched the surface. My kids mostly enjoyed the Labs, which is where the games are found. They were not interested at all in the "educational" part of the site. We had some difficulty finding our way around and the kids were very annoyed that they could not choose their own usernames. When asked, they said they enjoyed playing here, but it was not something they ever asked to play.
Sign up is free, however, so you can check it out yourself. Or you can see what fellow Crew members thought here.

This product was given to me free for the purpose of this review and all opinions are honest and my own.

Just a Thought

Are you wondering what to give Jesus for His birthday this year? I bet He would love if you chipped in to help Olga go home.

(photo borrowed from babynumber10.blogspot.com)

TOS Review: Good Morning, God

In our homeschool, we use Apologia Science, which we thoroughly enjoy. So we were pleased to discover that one of our TOS reviews would be a book from the same company.

Good Morning, God is a beautiful picture book written by Davis Carman with the goal of introducing kids to the idea of worshiping God with and in their daily activities. It is meant to be read every day for a week and there are questions and activities for each day at the end of the book.
This book was a hit with my children (who range in age from 4 to 8). We read it through and talked over the questions at the end each day. It was a gentle and fun way to discuss some important topics.

I liked the beautiful artwork and the fact that although the little boy was far from perfect, every naughtiness was paired with a parent gently reproving in the background, so my kids got the message that parents are there to teach us. Most books about children either portray them as perfect or they rampage unchecked. I also liked the subtle reference to homeschooling and the larger than average family, since the kids rarely see either in the books they read.

Kaytie's opinion:
I liked it because it is about a boy who does daily things every day of the week and prays every night of the week. It taught me that worshiping God isn't just songs, it is praying and helping others and being healthy. I liked the questions at the end, some were too hard... I had to look for the answer, but I found it!  .

Nate's opinion:
I thought it was nice. It taught me that I can worship God by enjoying His nature. The questions were boring because I don't like answering questions. (And it's true, I had to drag these three sentences out of his mouth!)

Daniel's opinion:
It taught me about God. It taught me about obeying the rules and that God likes me. I can worship God at church, at home, and by obeying and praising God.

Abbie's opinion:
She smiled a big smile and said she liked it. She learned that worshiping God is obeying and having fun with Mommy and with her sister.

You can order this book from Apologia's website for $14.

You can read what other Crew Members thought here.

And as always, this book was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions belong to us and are honest, (especially Nate's).

What We Are Doing On Our Christmas Holiday

So far, our break from school has been fun and relaxing. The kids are playing on NORAD's Santa Tracking site. They are also playing as much as I will let them on my new iPhone. Free educational apps rock! I even bought a Geography game for $.99! They are playing outside, although the allure of that kind of dimmed a bit when I confiscated the shovel the neighbor girl gave them. 

There has been a lot of reading going on. 

We made a paper chain, which I then could not bring myself to rip apart. It now hangs over the window and I keep forgetting to even read the Scriptures off of it. Maybe next year.

By the way, don't the boys' expressions say "Joy to the world"? Such festive attitudes we have around here!

This Build a Christmas Tree was a big hit. I printed off two of them so we only had half the fighting over whose turn it was. Our selection of dry erase markers is not that great. Black Christmas tree anyone?

We have also been playing with the felt Nativity, the teeny little glass Nativity I found last year (or the year before?) at the Dollar Tree, and the set of Christmas boxes that nest inside each other.

Our local garden gnome created his own measuring kit. See the Master Ruler? :) The dollar bills are there because someone told him a bill is approximately six inches. I don't know why the penny is there...

And the kid in the background made me this "award". I'm not sure what I did to earn it, but I accepted graciously and took its picture.

We are trucking along through Advent, reading the Story, coloring and drawing, and eating a candy cane every night. Not even an upset tummy kept us from that candy cane!

One of our favorite Holiday Activities so far is Christmas shopping! The kids drew each other's names in what we call "Secret Sibling". They also are shopping for some cousins and friend or two. Secrets abound in our house!

I am planning for next term and counting down the days until I can order our new curriculum! :)

Holidays!

We are officially done with our first term of this school year. Kaytie and Nate had their exams on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day and did admirably. Kaytie got all As and Nate got all As except for one B. They were not as excited with their report cards this time as they were last time. And both were highly offended that Daniel and Abbie did not have exams.
We did pretty well at keeping up with my lesson plans in everything except for science. The big kids finished All About Spelling Level One, and Math U See Beta, so they get to start the next levels in both of those in January. The little kids will be starting Shiller Math. I received a free copy of the books from a mom in my local homeschool group, and discovered that we already have all (in some form) of the manipulatives required. I think Daniel is going to zip through the first book, so I might mix in some Math U See Alpha for him. But I'll talk more about that in a "What we are going to do next term" post.
Meanwhile, we need to catch up in science. Also, they all are at a point in math (and the little kids in phonics, as well) that they need to practice the new concepts they just learned. I don't want to take a four week break before they do that. So the plan is to do "Holiday School". Basically, I will set up "centers" in the place of our workboxes. The difference is that they won't change daily, and will be geared for skill building instead of one time activities. We will work on our science book, review math, phonics and handwriting, and do fun Christmas crafts. We also have some review items to work on, but those are mostly on the computer and therefor "fun".

TOS Review: Master Innovations

When I first started teaching Kaytie and Nate about measurement, we spent a ton of time wrestling over the ruler. I bought a couple of regular wooden rulers and started talking about measuring. But then, every lesson, we had to go over which side of the ruler to use: inches or centimeters. Then, we had to figure out which line to talk about. They were confused, I was frustrated. It was no fun for anyone.
I just introduced Daniel and Abbie to measurement and it was much much MUCH simpler. Let me tell you why! I was blessed to be able to use Master Innovations' Master Ruler. We received two rulers made of sturdy plastic just like a regular ruler, a poster, and a reproducible workbook. There were two rulers because one is for inches and the other for centimeters. We lost half the headache right there! But even better, each ruler is actually several rulers in one. Linked together with sturdy plastic rings, the rulers flip and have only ONE unit of measurement on them. For example, the bottom ruler, which is white, has only inches marked on it. The others are all clear and are only marked with 1/2 inches, 1/4 inches, 1/8 inches, and 1/16 inches. They layer on top of each other so that as each measurement is taught, it can be added on top of the earlier learned measurement.  The centimeter ruler works the same way, with three rulers marked dm, cm, and mm. This made it all so easy! Kaytie and Nate even gained a better understanding of how it all worked after using these rulers.
The poster was sturdy, colorful, and fun, and compares each measurement to a real life object the kids can relate to. For instance: the ladybug is 1/4 inch, and an inch is the length between the first and second knuckle of the pointer finger. They really liked that.

And finally, the workbook. It consisted of a measurement chart, two pages of suggestions of activities to use to teach measurement, fractions, map skills, area, perimeter, volume and diameter, (not a ton of ideas, but a very good jumping off place) and worksheets for the kids to practice what they learn. We did not use all of the worksheets, because it covers everything and some of it is a little beyond where Kaytie and Nate are. I believe, though, that it has a worksheet for each measurement on the ruler. It has fractions and area/perimeter worksheets as well.
It's easy to tell that I liked this product a lot, but let me list some of the specific things I appreciated.
First, I like that it is sturdy enough that I can hand it to one of MY kids and expect to get it back in good condition.
Second, it is a brilliant idea and made teaching measurement so much easier! I really don't know why someone didn't do this long ago!
Third, I love that it goes beyond just a ruler and gives a visual way to present fractions, so we will use this for several years, in many different ways.
Fourth, I like the way the poster presents the information in an eye-catching, many-faceted way, so my kids liked to look at it and learned something from it.
And,  finally, as an on-a-budget mom to more than one kid, I love that the workbook is reproducible and I don't have to buy several copies of it.
All in all, this review left with me a strong desire to check out there other products, the Master Clock, Master Fractions, and Master Angles.
To find out what other Crewmates thought about this product, go here.

And as always, I was sent this product free in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.