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When life interferes with my plans, my first tendency is to throw a temper tantrum; however, since I’m not two years old, that’s not considered acceptable. Of course, I didn’t consider it acceptable when my two year olds threw temper tantrums either. Anyway, when life hands you lemons, do you make lemonade, or do you throw the lemons on the ground and stomp all over them? Life has happened quite a bit at my house and in my homeschool recently, and I’ve been guilty of stomping on the lemons (a true confession for those of you who read my blog, Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom @ blogspot). The other day, my friend Wendy sent me this very convicting quote: “Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies [or even your loved ones]” (Nelson Mandela). Yikes! It’s time to start making lemonade. I decided to look for the spiritual lesson in all of this. I know I’m not the only one guilty of harboring resentment and stomping on lemons, so read on and let go of that resentment. What do I miss when I’m holding tightly to my schedule in one hand and my resentment in the other? I miss cuddling with a little girl who will soon be too big to sit on my lap. I miss the opportunity to involve my husband in our children’s education. I miss the fun of additional family meals. I miss the blessings of relaxing with infrequent houseguests. I miss the blessings of serving my incapacitated mother. It sure looks like I miss out on many of God’s blessings! Read the rest of the article at HOTM: http://heartofthematteronline.com/life-is-what-happens-when-you-have-other-plans/, a wonderful e-zine for homeschoolers. I’m thrilled to be contributing articles there about once a month. |
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If you’re intimidated by the mere thought of homeschooling, wouldn’t it help to have an experienced friend guide you through the whole process? Whether you’ve got an eager four-year-old dying to learn how to read, or a stubborn sixth grader you’d like to bring home from the public school system, the Homeschooling ABC’s class is for you. Brew a fresh pot of coffee and get comfy as experienced homeschooling mom Terri Johnson comes over once a week for twenty-six weeks and sits down with you to help get you started on your homeschooling journey. Okay, Terri can’t come over in person, but she’s done the next best thing and written a set of weekly lessons that will be delivered straight to your inbox. The Homeschooling ABC’s class covers a wide variety of topics about which new homeschoolers need to think: how to start, what to buy, how to teach, when to teach, where to find resources, who can help, why to write a philosophy of education, and so much more. Each topic is broken down into small, easy-to-read snippets so you won’t be overwhelmed. LOTS of FREE resources are included in the form of bonus freebies from other vendors (over $200 worth!), Web site links, and book lists. One of the best things is that you are given a short assignment at the end of each lesson to reinforce what you’ve learned and to give you guidance on the homeschooling journey. Terri doesn’t leave you guessing about anything—it’s all spelled out very clearly. As a veteran homeschooler, I found some of the material to be oversimplified; however, a newbie homeschooler may be less intimidated that way. Much of the material is geared towards younger children, so if you’re homeschooling a high schooler, you may need some additional resources. I know, I know, you want to know how many arms and legs such a great service costs. Here’s the good news: it only costs $10 a month, which is only $2.30 a class session. You will receive six months/twenty-six weeks of weekly lessons delivered directly to your e-mail inbox. If, for some strange reason, you don’t feel you’re learning enough, Terri offers a 100% money-back guarantee. The Homeschooling ABC’s class takes a big, scary topic and breaks it down into manageable, non-threatening pieces. |
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History did not start with Columbus. The western hemisphere is not the only one on the planet. Missionaries from past centuries have present-day applications. Use the Sonlight Core 5 Eastern Hemisphere curriculum to unlock the mysteries of the Eastern Hemisphere and to instill a life-long interest in missions in your children. Sonlight’s literature-based approach uses real books to inspire your children’s imaginations. Expect the textbooks to get dusty! Conversations replace worksheets and prepare your child for the dialectic discussions you’ll have in a few years. Sonlight is “the way you wish you’d been taught.” Adventure and excitement await you in your explorations of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Over sixty books are included (divided into history/geography, read-aloud, and reader categories). The books include classics such as The Hobbit and Around the World in Eighty Days, biographies of great missionaries such as Hudson Taylor and Mary Slessor, and books to capture your child’s interest in the Eastern Hemisphere such as Ships, Sailors, and the Sea and Teresa of Calcutta. My kids had dibs on half the books before I finished putting together the Instructor’s Guide! If you’re into notebooking, you will love the complete portfolio your child will make using the Eastern Hemisphere Student Exploration Pages (answer key included). The 2008 World Book Deluxe Encyclopedia (for the computer) is its recommended resource. My daughter did not enjoy researching the different questions and had a hard time finding some of the answers, but that could be because she doesn’t enjoy research in general. The Exploration Pages are a wonderful tool to explore the geography, cultures, religions, background, leaders, and more of the major countries in the Eastern Hemisphere. You can do as much or as little of them as you wish. One of the best features of the Sonlight Core 5 program is that the lesson plans are already done—a real timesaver. It will take you several days to read through the information and to figure out how the program works, but it is worth it. Another feature I appreciated was the ability to choose between a four-day and a five-day schedule (you do have to choose for the whole year, not one week at a time). The extremely comprehensive Instructor’s Guide advises you through every step in the process from setting up your three-inch binder (a bit intimidating at first) to knowing which questions to ask when (and the answers!). Far more material is included than most people would use in a year, but think of it as an all-you-can-eat buffet: choose what fits best with your family and leave the rest. Sonlight’s Web site offers newsletters, articles, and e-mails to help you teach more effectively. They also offer an exclusive forum designed to make available 24-hour contact with fellow parents and experts. If you purchase the complete Core curriculum (Instructor’s Guide, all the books and other resources—about $650), you will get ten percent off of all your purchases for a whole year, and enjoy other exclusive benefits. Not sure it’s for you? Sonlight offers a 100% money-back guarantee—for eighteen weeks! Sonlight is a complete curriculum experience. We especially enjoyed studying the Middle Eastern country where a family member is currently serving the Lord. |
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Calling all frustrated teachers of reluctant writers: WriteShop has the solution to your child’s “I don’t know what to write about” dilemma! WriteShop has created StoryBuilders to jumpstart your child’s creative juices. They’ve solved the “Oops, I forgot to put the setting (or plot, or character trait, or character) into my story” excuse, too. StoryBuilders are FUN, creative, nonthreatening helps that will have your reluctant writer asking to do more. They’ll also have your creative writer begging to use them. My 10-year-old reluctant writer actually got excited about her writing assignments from StoryBuilders and requested to use more than one card from each element to spice up her stories. The WriteShop StoryBuilders are e-books that you print out onto cardstock (either a different color of cardstock for each element with black ink, or white cardstock with colored ink) and cut apart to make a deck of cards for each basic story element: characters, character traits, settings, and plots. Each StoryBuilder set is theme-based, so you can choose just one that fits your child’s interests or buy all three—they’re only $7.95 each. WriteShop StoryBuilder e-books come with a teacher’s guide to help you utilize them to their best advantage for your children. Each story element has forty or more cards, enough to last for a loooong time without having repeats. Since I have neither colored paper nor a colored-ink printer, I printed mine on white cardstock with black ink and then colored them to indicate which element they were. Check out the box in which I store all my StoryBuilder card decks. This method makes it easy for my daughter to choose which theme and which cards for each element she wants to use for each story.
Want to try a StoryBuilder for FREE? The World of Animals StoryBuilders is being offered for FREE (for limited time only) at The Old Schoolhouse Store: http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=62_128&products_id=2530 |
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Students can have FUN while learning to write a REAL novel and get a high school English credit in the bargain! Sound like a novel idea? Not if you’re using the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum. The One Year Adventure Novel is for high school students who love to write. It’s also for students who hate to write, and for all those who fall in between. The creator of the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum focuses more on the process than on the mechanics, although those are certainly not neglected. The writing process is broken into small, manageable DVD lessons with workbook and writing exercises to reinforce the concepts. Quizzes are even included, although you are certainly free to eliminate them. Students also study a number of classic adventure novels (to fulfill the literature part of the English grade) to give students direction and goals at which to aim. Online forums give instant peer feedback and support. If you’re worried about piloting your writer through the process because you are not a writer yourself, have no fear, clear guidelines for critiquing and assigning grades are given. Never has a curriculum been so anticipated or enjoyed as the One Year Novel at our house! I haven't seen my daughter this excited about school since kindergarten! It is well worth the $199 price tag. |
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Remember the review I posted a while ago about a great online math program called ALEKS? You can try it for one month for FREE! Go to www.aleks.com/webform/pr-87 to access your free trial. ALEKS stands for Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces. Here are the features: complete curriculum solution for math (no textbooks or supplements needed), artificial intelligence targets gaps in student knowledge, assessments, and individualized learning for students in grades 3–12, automated reports monitor learning progress, unlimited online access, FUN. Enjoy! Then, come back and tell me how your kids enjoyed using ALEKS and the feature you most appreciated about it. the discount, visitors to the site need to enter "FUN" in the customer code box during checkout. The coupon code is good for one week only, through February 2, 2009. |
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Everyone wants to save money these days, but do you struggle, as I sometimes do, knowing where to cut corners? Are you looking for innovative ways to save money? Molly to the rescue! Molly’s Money-Saving Digest for February is packed chock full of practical tips you can do to prepare for the coming spring, as well as pragmatic ideas you can use now. I love to plan and am eager to try the homemade cleaners and repurposing suggestions. Pour yourself a hot cup of tea, curl up in your favorite chair, and get ready to chat with Molly about the basics, gardening (yes, in winter!), homemade cleaners, and an inspiring story of a family who set a big goal and achieved it. Here’s a convicting quote from their story: “Experience has shown us that, as much as many people say they want to do something, very few are actually willing to meet whatever grubby, everyday challenges need to be met in order to actually move toward the goal.” So, the question is how much money do you really want to save? Molly’s Money-Saving Digest for February 2009 is coming soon to The Old Schoolhouse Store (use the store link on the right side of my blog). Check out Molly’s Web site at www.econobusters.com for more money-saving tips. |
“Mom, Mom, come here my peace for the school play! Can you help me decide what to where?” “Yes, I’m looking foreword to seeing you act. Don’t practice so much you become horse!” It’s not a complement if someone asks if you die you’re hare. The plain with the American Idle in it crashed into the see. Yikes! Have you seen similar erroneous sentences in your children’s writings? Do YOU struggle with its versus it’s or your versus you’re? I have to admit that those last two are my personal pet peeves in others’ writings. Struggle no longer! From the creators of All About Spelling come a brand new offering to help with word usage dilemmas: All About Homophones. All About Homophones is a multi-grade, multi-learning style curriculum designed to take the pain out of teaching about words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Have fun with games, cards, graphic organizers, worksheets, and more while teaching homophones in an engaging, relaxed, easy-to-remember way. The Tool Kit also contains a huge list of homophones separated by grade level to make it easy to make sure your kids are learning the appropriate words. The All About Homophones Web site includes FREE samples and how-to-teach articles. The creator is so sure that you will absolutely love All About Homophones that she offers a thirty-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee. You can purchase a hard copy for $29.95 and an e-book version that you can download right away for $27.95. Either way, it’s a bargain for a great tool you can use with all your children for many years. |
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“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6–7 NKJV). “Blessed is the man . . . his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night . . . he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1–3 NKJV). That’s what I want for my children. Isn’t it what you want for your children? Discovering a Christ-Like Character by Deeper Roots Publications will provide you with the tools to help your children develop the Christian maturity they will need to stand firm in this world. Discovering a Christ-Like Character is not fluff; it delves much deeper than a fill-in-the blank workbook. The lessons are comprised of memorization, journaling, reading, thought-provoking questions, and “cool activities” (according to my teenager). Each lesson also includes beautiful artwork, maps, prayer suggestions, and an unreached people group profile. It can be used for a full credit on a transcript for high schoolers. The lessons in this Bible curriculum are designed first to help young teen students focus on Jesus Christ and to come to a deeper knowledge of His character, and second, to enable them to personally develop a more Christ-like character. The lessons cover eight different aspects of Christ’s character with which young teenagers most often struggle. The Deeper Roots Web site says, “We believe that Christians only become truly like Christ by growing in knowledge and relationship with Him. Our part is to study God’s Word and obey it; God’s part is to conform us to be like Christ (Rom 8:28–29).” By taking time to discuss each lesson with your children, you will be discipling them and mentoring them in the most effective way towards growing deeper Christian roots. Deeper Roots curricula were written for homeschoolers. Student books are $19.95; teacher books are $28.95, and the bundle is $62.45 (includes a student book, a teacher book, and one set of Matthew DVDs). The Web site has FREE samples and highlights their many other Bible curricula choices for all age groups, and encouraging books for homeschooling moms. |
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As a homeschool mom (or dad!), have you ever wished for an online service or Web site to meet your needs, but been unable to find one? Or, have you found what you needed, only to discover that you couldn’t afford it? Do you have a great idea for an online service that would benefit the homeschooling community, but you don’t know how to implement it? Now is your chance to tell someone who has the opportunity to make your dreams come true! A homeschool mom received a grant to build a Web site to provide services to the homeschooling community for FREE! The best part is that she wants to know what YOU want! So, take a short, seven-question survey and let your voice be heard. http://www.surveymk.com/HomeschoolMom |
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Exciting News from TOS!
Attention writers! Grab your pencils and get those creative juices flowing!
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is hosting our second Storytime Writing Contest! We have two creative fiction categories: adults (16 and up 2,500 words or less) and children (15 and below 1,500 words or less). Deadline to enter is March 16, 2009. $7.95 fee per entry.
Grand prize winners in both the adult and child categories will receive prize packages valued at over $1,000, publication in the Summer 2009 issue of TOS, and publication in our Storytime 2009 Compilation E-Book. Eleven Honorable Mentions from each category will also be included in the E-Book in addition to receiving gifts from top homeschool companies.We look forward to reading your entries!
For a detailed list of prizes, official contest rules, to meet our judges, and to upload your story, please visit: www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com/Short_Story_Contest.php.
Need help teaching writing? We have over 200 writing products in the Schoolhouse Store!
Sissy (my 13 year old) can't wait to enter! She's forever writing stories and adding chapters to the stories she's already written. She also draws elaborate, detailed pencil sketches (and they're very good!) of all her characters. In fact, one of the things she does most frequently with her online besty friendy is saga. That's where they take turns (or sometimes work simultaneously) writing a story. It'll be interesting to see what kind of story she writes for this contest.
Keep watching my blog for a review of a great, affordable creative writing tool! |
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From the time I learned how to walk, every time I walked by the piano I would give a few of the keys a little plink. I never pounded or banged on the keys (right, Mom?). I begged and begged my parents to let my play it until my dad finally gave in and started me on a beginning piano book. I’ve been playing, performing, and teaching the piano for more than thirty years now. That’s fine for people who have a little music background and a piano in the living room. If you have neither and can’t afford a live teacher and a real piano, but your little ones are begging to make music, KinderBach has the solution for you.
KinderBach Learning Center offers online piano lessons for young children through Web video, printable activity pages, interactive games, and unique piano karaoke songbook participation. KinderBach is preschool piano lessons, music for young children at their level of understanding. KinderBach presents music using the piano keyboard (or a small, cheap keyboard) as the base instrument to maximize the beneficial effects on the growth and development of young kids. Children love the engaging teacher, and cute characters make learning easy. Parents love how easy it is for their children to learn music theory as well as how to play the piano (or keyboard).
With KinderBach, you can choose the learning path that is best for you. KinderBach offers online sessions, DVD lessons, or curriculum for early childhood classes. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee just in case you’ve got a budding Picasso instead of a blossoming Mozart. |
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Have you bought your 2009 calendar yet? If not, stop reading this blog post. Go buy a wall calendar, a purse calendar, a desk calendar, a family fridge calendar, refills for your Day Timer, whatever you use. Right now! Yes, really! Then come straight back. Now are you ready? First, make sure you have your current calendar beside the new one. Then, go through and add in all the birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, and holidays. Use a pen for all these dates. Next, find all those scraps of paper stuffed under the couch cushions and scribbled on the edges of the old calendar that have the events scheduled for this coming year. Write all these events in your new calendar. Use a pencil for these events. That way if there are last minute changes, you won’t have a scribbled out mess on your calendar. Be sure to update all your calendars (including the family one on the fridge) every time you make a change. The next most important tip is to use your calendar FAITHFULLY! Never commit to an appointment without consulting your calendar. Train your children (and hubby!) to do the same thing. Don’t forget to write down each and every new event right away, otherwise you’re likely to forget about it. Here comes the fun part! Let me tell you about my favorite products. My absolute favorite calendar organizational item is my Palm Centro (it goes EVERYWHERE with me and syncs with my computer calendar, too). I realize not everyone wants one of those (or could have one), but it’s what I use. My next favorite tool is a monthly, magnetic, dry-erase calendar by Boone (bought at Wal-Mart). Each week is a separate magnet, so we can always see ahead for an entire month ahead of where we are. All family appointments, classes, and other events go onto that calendar. Each family member has his or her own color marker to designate personal events. Each child also has her own small student calendar, and I am training them to put long-term homework assignments as well as schedules into these. We also have a few wall calendars by our desks, mostly for long-term reference. If you aren’t visiting with family or friends, New Year’s Day is a great time to make the official transfer from the old calendar to the new calendar. See, I’ve given you a whole extra day to go buy your calendars! |
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Higher test scores, here we come! An oft-repeated mantra in our house is “Think child, think!” While the Building Thinking Skills series may not help your kids remember to brush their teeth in the morning, it will help them to use their noggins to think through school stuff. The Critical Thinking Company has been teaching thinking skills in core subject areas for fifty years. What is critical thinking anyway? “Critical thinking is identifying and evaluating evidence to guide decision making. A critical thinker uses in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his beliefs clearly and accurately.” Isn’t that what we as homeschoolers want for our kids? I sure do! I want my kids to think through not only test answers, but also life decisions. I want to raise independent learners. Using Building Thinking Skills will help accomplish these goals. The hefty workbooks can be photocopied for use within your own family, making the $29.99 a worthwhile investment. My fifth grader test-drove Level 2 for grades 4–6. She looked forward to her assignments and breezed through them every day. My ninth grader, who has unhappily used other logic curricula, happily worked on the Level 3 Verbal book. The books are incremental and teach skills in a non-threatening manner. Kids have so much fun completing the assignments that they don’t even realize they’re learning critical thinking skills they’ll use throughout their lives. |
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Do you wish you could afford to enroll your kids in a computer class? Are your kids begging to explore the Internet and build their own Web pages? Do you know what HTML is? Now you don’t have to be a computer expert or shell out big bucks for a class in order for your kids to learn how to make a Web page. Motherboard Books' e-book Let's Make a Web Page! uses the Coffee Cup drag-and-drop software (a free trial is available). It takes kids step-by-step through the process of creating a Web page using HTML (hyper text markup language). It’s written so kids can work on their own (we love independent learning at our house!) at their own pace. It can be used over and over again, so if you’ve got a budding computer programmer, she can make multiple Web pages. If you’re worried about your kids surfing through the unprotected waters of the Internet, you can download the Coffee Cup software yourself and have your kids do all their work on your computer without being connected to the Internet. They can do all the work but not actually publish the page to the Web if that is an issue for you. If the Web page does get published, no personal information has to be floating out on public waters. It’s geared for ages eight through twelve, although it’s appropriate for older kids, too. My thirteen year old had a blast making her own Web page. My ten year old got frustrated quickly, but the extent of her Internet interest is Webkinz. I think I’m going to make her try again when we have more time to devote to it (or when her big sister is feeling in a helpful mood . . .). The 60-page How to Make a Web Page e-book costs $19.99, which is a special introductory price (will be $29.99). It includes a 30-day money-back guarantee. Included in your purchase is a FREE Internet scavenger hunt. What a great way for kids to learn how to build a Web page and navigate safely around the Internet! |
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Help! I need a different math curriculum! My child just is not getting fractions (or decimals, or beginning geometry). My child needs more practice doing long division and I don’t have time to scour the internet to make my own worksheets all the time. Math Mammoth to the rescue! The Math Mammoth Web site offers a plethora of workbooks from which to choose. The books are offered both as e-books, for those wanting instant gratification and no shelf space, and as actual textbooks that can be ordered from Lulu.com, for those wanting to hold a real book in their hands and flip through the pages. Full-length, complete math curriculum is offered in the light blue series for grades 1–5 for $27 per grade level. Math Mammoth also offers a full line of supplemental workbooks for grades 1–8 for as little as $2–$5 each. These are listed by grade and by topic. You can order just one, or a bundle with several related topics. Some series just have problems for extra practice, while some also include full explanations. The no-nonsense booklets get right to the point—no fluff. They’re great for a supplement or for a full-time curriculum. Don’t know which book or supplement is right for your child? Neither did I. I took a stab at it and asked for two I thought would work for my daughter. When I placed my order, I mentioned our areas of struggle, and Math Mammoth’s creator/writer made several recommendations for me and even threw in a supplement I wasn’t expecting. Although the Web site can be confusing, it does state very clearly that they will help you choose the right workbooks if you ask. Want to check out what’s available? Go ahead! The Math Mammoth Web site offers a TON of FREE, downloadable worksheets for all levels. Help! I don’t know how to teach math to my kids—I hated math when I was in school! Math Mammoth teaching emails to the rescue. Sign up to receive 280 FREE, bonus worksheets, 7 how-to-teach math articles, and 2 emails that explain the books. Sign up for the ongoing newsletter, and get 280 free worksheets as well as other sample pages from the workbooks. What a great deal! |
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Puppetools’ premise is that using creative play teaches concepts more effectively. Often, in our hurry to get through lessons (and housework, co-ops, sports, and music lessons), we toss textbooks and workbooks at our children and hope they catch the rest of the ideas by osmosis. Then we wonder why they drag their feet and balk at the prospect of “doing” school. Why can’t they just figure out that if they rushed through their schoolwork they’d have more time to play? Why can’t they seem to retain what they’ve skimmed through in their textbooks? The answer is because children learn best when they’re truly engaged in the learning process. How can we engage our children in the learning process? By teaching through play! Puppetools is an excellent resource to help the creativity-challenged homeschool parent engage her children through play in order to facilitate more effective learning. The good news is that you don’t even have to be crafty to make these puppets! The Puppetools Web site has 37 different, basic patterns you can print out. With variations, the possibilities are practically limitless. Check out the cute cat puppet we made.
Subscription Benefits: Check the website for pricing information. The downside to the Puppetools Web site: one can’t see anything from the general page without purchasing a membership. |
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Deck the halls with boughs of school books, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. ‘Tis the season to be busy, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. Don we now our anxious faces, fa la la la la la la. Sing of lapbooks, handmade orn’ments, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. See the piles of laundry ‘round you, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. Strike the doorbell, chase the toddler, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. Follow me for every minute, fa la la la la la la. While we sing of wistful summer, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la. Is it possible to homeschool sanely and still celebrate the Christmas? Yes! How? My two best tips are make lists, and start early. I love lists! I make lists of my lists (yes, really). I keep a running list in my Palm Centro of every person for whom I regularly buy gifts. As I hear hints or think of gift ideas, I make a note of it. I delete the item after I’ve bought it. This works for birthday presents as well as Christmas gifts. People who receive our annual Christmas letters/cards/pictures (depending on the year) are on a master database on my laptop. Every year I update the list for cards received and sent the previous year and who we’ll be sending cards to, then I print it out to check off names as new cards roll in. In early November, I print out address labels for the cards (I update my computer’s address book as needed through the year). By the end of the month, I’ve written the letter or pulled out the cards I bought at the after-Christmas sale last year. The cards are in the mail the first week of December. Throughout the year, I buy gifts for family and friends as I see things that would be appropriate. Since none of our family lives close by, all of their gifts are bought and wrapped early in the fall. All the rest of the gifts are bought by the first week in December. I usually wait until the weekend before Christmas to wrap the gifts because I don’t like to put them under the tree too early, but it’s written in my planner. I’m still working on my menu lists for our Christmas Eve party, and longer visits from family and friends. The calendar is updated daily, and the food/necessity shopping lists are updated as needed. Okay, that covers Christmas, but what about school? Well, I do try to make the kids’ workloads a bit lighter for the month. I make sure my lesson plans are done right after Thanksgiving so they know what to expect. All the parties, cookie baking, decorating, and shopping trips are good incentives for the kids to finish their schoolwork early. As far as housecleaning and other chores go, we do things the same way we do the rest of the year: everyone has assigned chores. A few things do get left undone (there’s my true confession for this post!), but even the very organized homeschool mom can’t do everything. Remember to slow down long enough to celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas season. Take time to read the Christmas story from Luke and to sing some traditional Christmas carols around the piano. Those are two of our favorite Christmas traditions. Leave me a comment telling me how you organize your holidays and your homeschool during the month of December. From our homeschool family to yours, may you have a blessed Christmas season! |
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Core Learning products (CD-ROM programs) make computer learning fun for all ages! The technology boat is cruising quickly through exciting destinations. Don’t miss the boat! “Core Learning’s mission is to provide effective learning solutions for the development of fundamental knowledge and skills. Its primary focus of skill development is in areas that both support higher order thinking, but also proved important life skills. Products address key elementary and middle school curriculum areas in math, English language arts, health, art, and technology. Core Learning also publishes software to help develop critical thinking skills and maintain mental processing capabilities in young and mature adults.” Core Learning has been the recipient of many awards. Do your kids love to play on the computer? Do your kids love to create beautiful art projects? Now they can do both with Core Learning’s brand new Crayola Art Studio! It is VERY easy to use and the tools produce realistic images. My kids (ages 10 and 13) continually clamor to use it. The Crayola Art Studio sells for only $24.95. The Corefx super-duper program allows you to draw, paint, animate, and edit photos on three different levels. It sells for $59.95. The new Creativity Express software sells for only $30 and is a COMPLETE visual arts curriculum for grades K to 8. It meets national standards and can be used by multiple students year after year. What a deal! You can download a FREE three-day trial of the Crayola Art Studio here: http://www.core-learning.com/pt_downloadrequest.asp?demo=artstudio&Title=Crayola%20Art%20Studio
The Health Series includes a program for kids and a program for families. Both are family-friendly, interactive, have cute, engaging, animated guides through the body, and cover a variety of topics appropriate for each age group. The Family Health Series offers five volumes: The Body, Illnesses & Injury, Staying Healthy, Becoming an Adult, and Emotional Health. It is $150 for the set of five topics on one CD-ROM, or get an individual title for $39.95. The Kids Health Series (for ages 7–10) offers two volumes: Explore Your Body, and Explore Your Health. It is $39.95 for both topics on one CD-ROM, or $29.95 for a single topic. The Math and Language Arts series are extensive. Check out their offerings at www.core-learning.com. The math series offers printed workbooks, textbooks, and help guides in addition to the computer programs. These courses are geared towards kids in grades 3 to 8, but may also be used for advanced younger students or remedial older students. The Language Arts series are geared for grades 2 to 6 and are comprehensive introductions and references to English grammar and writing skills. The lessons in all the series are engaging and interactive. Assessments enable exact placement; test results can be printed, and the lessons meet national standards. The CDs run about $49.95 each—a bargain price for a complete curriculum! |
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Do you wish you had a private math tutor who was available at any hour of the day or night? Do you wish you could find a math program your kids would actually like? Do you wish you could find an effective math program that based its recommendations on personalized assessments? Wishes granted! What: ALEKS is an interactive, math learning Web site subscription service. Pros: ALEKS uses a very specific assessment for each child to pinpoint exact strengths and weaknesses. It lets kids choose topics to review based on ongoing assessments. It’s totally interactive and explains each topic as kids go along. It sends parents a VERY detailed, weekly report straight to their inboxes. ALEKS reinforces what is being taught in your chosen math curriculum. Kids love using the computer and won’t even realize they’re learning since they’re having so much fun on ALEKS. Cons: The assessment takes a long time for each child to complete. You kids may not want to return to their dry, dusty workbooks. Bottom line: We love it! My kids actually asked to work on math—but only on the ALEKS Web site. An in-person math tutor would cost a lot more and not be as accessible. |
