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Week in Review: August 7-11

August 12, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Wow…this week has been soooooo full! And I don’t even feel like we accomplished much. I already hadn’t planned on doing school and I’m glad!

Sunday

My in-laws arrived, we had church, celebrated Rose’s birthday early

Monday

We start to empty the living room in preparation for new carpet coming on Wednesday and my in-laws left

Tuesday

We celebrated Rose’s birthday for real (She is now 12!!!!) and finished emptying the living room.

Wednesday

I pack the girls up and we head out to the library and to shop while my husband stayed home to get the new carpet…and their van broke down so no new carpet!

Thursday

New carpet (For REAL this time!) and the girls and I shopped again. Then we started putting things back.

Friday

We finished putting the living room in order and my sweet neighbor came over and helped! Then my in-laws got here again.

So I’m looking forward to some time this weekend to work on a major writing project. It’s a good feeling though because most of the house is now organized. I’ll also be prepping for next week and our official start of school!

How was your week?

No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials: A TOS Crew Review

August 8, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

My girls are getting older and I’m always on the lookout for where we are heading with math in the higher grades. I’ve had my eye on Math Essentials for a while now because of recommendations, incredibly low price, and the availability of video lessons if desired. I was super excited to have the opportunity to review No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials. I decided to have my middle daughter, Beth, give this a try. She is beginning 5th grade, but has always found math to be both enjoyable and fairly easy. To be honest, she’s never been challenged really. My husband and I decided it would be good for her to give this a try and see how she did. I also have been working hard to brush up on my own mathematics skills. It isn’t my strength, but this does not need to mean it is a weakness. I’ll touch on my own experience at the end of the review. I love the title. No-Nonsense is absolutely the best description for this course! There are no frills or excessive practice pages. Honestly, there isn’t a need with the direct way the course approaches math is beautiful. I struggled to excel in mathematics once I passed the elementary levels and I can’t help but think a more stream-lined approach may have helped me. The instructional videos are clear and easy to follow. They are also fairly short, so if a student needs to watch a video again it will not feel it is taking an excessive amount of time.

As I said before Beth is entering into 5th grade, but has never found math challenging. She just turned 10 and almost always makes a perfect score on every math assignment I give her. I honestly rarely even have to “teach” a concept to her in the traditional way because she intuitively understands mathematics concepts and reading the instructional information is usually enough. Because of these things which are consistently true to her nature I was pretty certain she would do well with this Algebra course. I was not disappointed! Beth thoroughly enjoyed doing her math on the computer. I was a little surprised because while she enjoys the screen time we give her, she’s never been one to ask for computer-based learning. She told me she liked the lesson because it was easy to understand. Because Beth finds math easy, it is never a subject she complains over completing. What was really neat to see was that she was even more eager to complete math lessons than usual and this is really high praise indeed!

Our standard course for mathematics is to use graphing paper for written assignments. This math course is non-consumable (My favorite kind!!!!) so students will need to copy the problems onto their own paper. This was excellent for Beth. Our regular curriculum does not function this way and I found this to be a skill in which she was lacking! For the first time in a very long time Beth missed several answers. Now this may not be cause for celebration for most people, but it was for me. Finally my smart little girl was being challenged! What I discovered was all but one of the mistakes was due to a transcription error. This was only in the first lesson, but she was learning about the concept of negative numbers which was completely new to her. She comprehended the lesson completely, but the transcription errors were her downfall. This was an incredible learning experience for her I had not anticipated.

Since Beth is young compared to most students beginning an algebra course, I had her take more than one day for each lesson. This was an excellent pace for her. The first day she watched the video and completed half of the written work. I would check the work. If there were multiple errors the second day she would watch the lesson again if needed and correct her errors. If there were no errors we moved forward and finish the rest of the written work. This gave her between 8 and 10 problems a day which worked very well.

Beth has thoroughly enjoyed this program. I too have enjoyed working through it, although at a slightly faster pace. The concepts were more familiar for me. I did not feel the need to watch the videos as the instruction in the book were adequate for review. Because this is review I felt very comfortable working on one lesson a day and did so rather quickly. If I were not already stretching my time as far as possible I would have been able to complete two lessons in a day. For anyone needing to brush up on higher mathematics prior to testing for college entry this would be a good course with which to begin.

I highly, highly recommend this math course. In fact, it has been such a great fit for our style of learning that I fully intend to explore the other courses available from Math Essentials.

Check out what my fellow Crewmates have to say!

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! – Level 3 Set fromGreek ‘n’ Stuff: A TOS Crew Review

August 7, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

When your grandfather is a professor who teaches Greek in seminary, it may mean you have a keen interest to know more about biblical languages at a young age. My dad has been teaching Greek for years so it did not surprise me when Rose came home having learned how to spell her name in Greek letters when she was in 2nd grade. She began writing her name this way on everything she created and for her science class as well! While she has had a keen interest in learning Greek, we have not had an opportunity to pursue it yet. She was very excited when our package with Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! – Level 3 from Greek ‘n’ Stuff arrived! I have heard wonderful things about this curriculum and when I mentioned it to my dad he was already familiar with it. I was surprised to learn that my daughter would start in level 3, but this is because the first two levels in the series are for elementary aged students. Since Rose is in 7th grade now, this was the best fit for her.

I love that the first lessons focus on Greek alphabet recognition, writing the letters, and memorizing their pronunciation. The pronunciation CD is quite helpful for beginning students and parents who do not have a base knowledge. While 1 page a day is the intended use, it is strongly encouraged to not move faster than mastery will allow. This was very important for Rose because this was her first formal instruction in biblical Greek. As she filled the practice lines with the Greek letter she was studying, Rose would also pronounce the letter to aid in memorization. This worked well for her and she found learning the alphabet less tedious. For students who have already completed the first two levels or have previously learned the Greek alphabet the beginning lessons would act as review.

Rose completed 1-2 pages a day when she used studied. I really liked that the memorization of the alphabet included visual, tactile, and auditory components. I use this type of method for note memorization while teaching music and I think it is highly valuable. She did feel a little awkward speaking out loud while writing I think, but quickly noted the benefits of learning the letters this way.
I also very much appreciated the handwriting lines given for writing. This provided clear guidelines for how to correctly write the letter. Three lines of writing space were adequate for this activity.

Each lesson is expected to last about a week, but the first two lessons took her a little longer than I expected. Because she was learning the letters for the first time and it was important to master them fairly well, we took our time. I was excited to see her move into the next lessons where she began mastering specific Greek words. Some of the things I love about these lessons is that there is explanation in the student book for pronunciation and a place to draw a picture. My girl loves art and this is a wonderful component for her and her learning style.

The teacher’s guide is an incredibly helpful tool. My dad is an expert in Greek, but I am not! I have never taken any classes or studied Greek in any way. Still, I feel completely confident in guiding Rose through this course because of the teaching guide. In addition to teaching tips and explanations, it is a full answer key with even the handwriting portions completed! I personally am intrigued for myself and am considering getting my own guide to learn biblical Greek.

The last portion which I absolutely love is the inclusion of flash cards and copywork from the Greek New Testament. These are two components which will help ensure mastery of the language. The flash cards are available in the back of the workbook, but may also be purchased separately for convenience. For the copywork you will need your own Greek interlinear Bible, but this is easily obtained whether in a digital format or hard-copy. We are very pleased with this course and Rose is eager to continue as we will soon begin our traditional school-year. I’m excited for her to learn biblical Greek as a foreign language for her own benefit as she continues to study God’s Word on her own.
Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Week in Review: July 31 – August 4

August 4, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our New Schoolroom as been a big hit! The girls loved it and have told me repeatedly how much better it feels, less chaotic. I agree that it makes me very happy to just walk in! Now to make sure we keep it this neat…

Two of my girlies were working at their desks and the other was reading outside. They have been able to focus well with the new arrangement and Rose especially likes our setup.

This week Rose worked on more Pre-Algebra work, Grace is almost finished with 2nd grade math, and Beth is working on some Pre-Algebra. They are each reading a biography which will carry on into the school year. Just one chapter a day and they are enjoying it! This week they are reading about Daniel Boon (Rose), Helen Keller (Beth), and George Washington (Grace). They are also reading a literature book of their choice. After they finish their current novels I will be assigning one to them.

We will be taking next week off as we enjoy a visit with my in-laws and getting new carpet. There may be a field trip later in the week. We’ll have to see! The following week we will be back to Heart of Dakota and our regular curriculum in full swing. Yay! We are already for our normal routine again!

In the Reign of Terror from Heirloom Audio Productions: A TOS Crew Review!

August 1, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

One of our favorite activities is listening to radio dramas. There is something captivating about listening to a story without visual stimuli which captivates a unique portion of our imagination. It is a beautiful form of drama I adore so much I create a radio drama with the homeschool English class for junior high students I teach. Although I have read rave reviews of the company, In the Reign of Terror is our first opportunity to hear a production from Heirloom Audio Productions. We were thrilled to hear the tale from G.A. Henty and it exceeded my expectations!

The story is set at the start of the French Revolution. I remember reading about this event when I was in high school and I’ve read a few novels with the same setting, but honestly nothing really stuck out in my mind about it. I suppose I equated it with the American Revolution. Through this incredible story I heard more about the horrors of what occurred during this time and realized the two “revolutions” were completely different. My interest is also peeked and I am excited to study further about the French Revolution.

As you listen to this fabulous drama you will be transported to a time very different from our own. You will feel the fear as the family tries to escape the horrors brought about by those leading the French Revolution. You will anxiously await the fate of the family and earnestly wish you could help them. You may even cry, as I did, at certain moments where bravery in the face of certain peril shines forth. I can’t tell you anymore because I don’t want to spoil it for you!

We listen to a lot of high-quality radio drama from a variety of companies. I was so incredibly impressed with the excellent acting, fabulous sound effects, and incredible music! This is a professionally made drama with well-known actors helping create it and we even recognized some voices from other things we have heard. We were all thoroughly absorbed throughout the story. While we listened the girls colored and drew most of the time. This is a great way to spend time together in the evenings as a family.

One note of caution is to be aware this is a very intense story. My youngest, Grace, is seven. We had been listening for about an hour when she came over to me and asked if she could go into another room. She struggles with nightmares and we are cautious with what she listens to, reads, and watches. I did not think about this being scary for her, but it was very intense. We had not even gotten into the most intense scenes yet, but she was starting to feel nervous. I was happy to allow her to slip out of the room. I say that just to let you know that this is so realistic and emotional that sensitive children may have difficult time listening to it. Both Beth (10) and Rose (11) absolutely loved it and was not bothered by the intensity of the scenes.

A really neat aspect to this production is the availability of a study guide. There is more historical information which I found to be excessively balanced and more informational than what I was taught in traditional schools. Each track has a set of “Listening Well” questions to help students (especially the younger ones) better understand what they are hearing. There are also “Thinking Further” questions that are excellent for older students. Each track also has a set of vocabulary words which may be unfamiliar. The “Expand Your Learning” sections provide even more opportunity to learn about the cultural, social, and political aspects of this time. There are also many other activities to go along with this section to further learning and discussion.There is also a beautifully outlined Bible study available. This could be a great small-group opportunity for youth and would be very unique.

One of my favorite extra resources is the chart comparing the American Revolution and the French Revolution. I was always led to believe they were incredibly similar, but nothing could be further from the truth. This logical chart shows the spectacular differences, many of which are alluded to in the drama.

If you want to get even more out of your experience, the Live The Adventure Club is a great place to go! Here you can access even more content such as the original e-book, the official sound track, printable posters, and the official script. There are so many wonderful features you can use this as a spring-board for a fabulous unit study.

Check out this incredible preview!

We can’t wait to hear another production from Heirloom Audio Productions!

Don’t forget to check out what my Crewmates have to say!

The Noble Servant by Melanie Dickerson: A BookLook Blogger Review

July 31, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

She’s done it again! Melanie Dickerson’s ability to weave a spell-binding tale amazes me. I’m captivated with every one of her novels from page one to the end. I especially love her fairy tales. These classic fairy tales are put into the context of real history minus the magical elements.

In this story Melanie Dickerson retells the classic Grimm tale, the Goose Girl. This fairy tale is not one I was very familiar with, so it was kind of fun to read without any preconceived ideas of what I should expect. As usual, the characters are likeable and full of good qualities. I love that they experience growth throughout the novel. They feel real to me and I love reading a novel where I would like to be friends with the characters.

The heroine desires to save her people, but she is poor and must seek to wed a wealthy duke. When her plans are thwarted by a servant she has no idea what to do, but befriends a shepherd. The find out there is a plot against the area and must try and find a way to stop it before it is too late.

Mystery and intrigue are seamlessly woven alongside this beautiful love-story. Whether this is your first time reading a Melanie Dickerson fairy tale or you are a seasoned fan, you will fall in love with her writing, cheer for the hero and heroine, and not be able to put this down! I can’t wait for her next fairy tale title!

English Grammar Teaching Method from English on a Roll: A TOS Crew Review!

July 31, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Before I became Mommy, I was an English teacher to middle school students who were sadly lacking in basic grammatical understanding. I tried to teach what I could, but I was fresh out of college and struggled to know how to bring them up to an acceptable middle school level. Grammar is viewed as very tedious to learn and teach, but it doesn’t have to be! My daughters are growing up learning the parts of speech, how to diagram sentences, and how to speak and write in an intelligent way and it has been rather painless. Giving them a good foundation for sentence building has been my goal and I look for fun ways to do so. I was highly intrigued by the English Grammar Teaching Method
from English on a Roll.

When I opened our box my girls were intrigued as well and wanted to know when we were going to play the new grammar game! It does look like a game for certain with the many worded cubes and fun lesson book. Everything you need comes neatly packaged with incredibly clear instructions in the first few pages. The great part about this is that even though it looks like a game, it is really all about hands-on-learning through manipulatives, a technique proven highly useful for mathematics and now ingeniously applied to grammar instruction!

These little cubes will work in just about any learning situation you can imagine. They are intended for students who are at the mental maturity to be understand how to structure a sentence, about 5 years old. Some examples given by the company are teaching homeless children to sight read and spell, giving students on a higher level of academics a base for writing complex sentences, using them in English as a second language classes, special needs classes, or adult literacy classes. Our homeschool is just traditional, no special needs or non-native speakers, so I was really excited to see how this would work for us.

The teacher guide includes reproducible pages to give as handouts for each student. This was the first really cool part about English on a Roll. While my girls all learn grammar, they have just begun 2nd, 5th, and 7th grades. This does not typically lend itself to group grammar lessons! It was great to have something we could do all together.

The beginning lessons were fairly easy for them because they do already have a grammar base. What I noted is that this would feel easy even for students who do not have a solid grammar background, which is exactly why it is so great! Grace has the least experience with structured grammar and really enjoyed the fill in the blank lessons. Beth enjoys anything hands on and is a thinker, so greatly enjoyed the dice. Rose, who has a very strong understanding of sentence structure and word usage, did a great job helping her sisters understand with the cubes. It was really neat to see her take over as teacher without even realizing it because the word cubes lend itself to very easy instruction. This was great to see because I know it means they would be easy for everyone to use, not just English teachers like me!

Set-up and prep were just a matter of copying a few student pages and setting the cubes out for use. Each lesson shows you at the very top exactly which cubes you need and a handy cube guide along with color coded word dice make this super easy and efficient. I was able to read through a lesson once and feel ready to move forward with the teaching. I do also really like that there are a variety of options for games, conversations, and activities to teach the same concepts. This may be the most open-and-go grammar curriculum I’ve had a chance to use.

This is hands down my new favorite addition to our homeschool. I love that I can teach the girls all together and that they had a great time using it!

Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Love Letters from God – Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart: A BookLook Blogger Review

July 31, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our family tries to have family devotions as many nights as possible during the week. Usually we skip Sunday and Wednesday nights because we are already at church, but we do our best to include this as a family tradition the rest of the time. Since Rose (who is almost 12) was just an infant we started doing this by reading children’s devotional books. We have read many, many books and were excited to have the chance to go through Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart.

All of the girls have really enjoyed it, but Beth (10) and Grace (7) have enjoyed it the most. It is written to elementary aged girls and gives them the perspective of what God would want them to know from many of the wonderful historical accounts of women presented in the Scriptures. The retelling of the stories is accurate. Although some details may be skipped over, it is not inaccurate. I appreciate that the reference to the original account in Scripture is given.

After each story there is a sweet letter as if written by God to the little girl reading. Grace in particular likes this part. She always wants to be the one to read it aloud. It is sweet and reflects exactly the promises we hold dear in God’s Word.

The only small issue I had with this was the extra verse given. I love it when more Scripture is included, but sometimes the verses were reworded so much from the original verse the meaning felt different from what was intended originally. I do understand younger children may have a hard time understanding everything in the Bible, but I think we ought to give children the opportunity to grow and learn. They often surprise us in what they can comprehend and eve if they do not, there is nothing wrong with still taking the time to teach and explain. Eventually they will!

Overall I thought this was a very sweet book. I would recommend it to families with elementary aged daughters. We have been reading the extra verse straight from the Bible instead of reading the abridged version from the book. This has worked nicely and takes care of the only issue I have. I hope you will take some time to check it out for a little girl you know!

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book as a part of BookLook bloggers. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

Week in Review: July 24-28

July 30, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

What a week! It has been anything but relaxing, but still really great! Daily school occurred and the girls continued reading their chosen literature book, chosen biography, and daily math assignments. We also spent some more time at the pool with friends and relaxed. Sadly, I have no pictures of this. What I DO have pictures of is our homeschool room/music room makeover!

Here is a before…

This has been our setup for several years. I have always had our desks (at one time tables) in the center of the room. This met our needs well when the girls were little and each needed me accessible for the majority of their learning. Alas, as much as it is hard to admit, they are growing up. With Grace (the youngest) quickly approaching age 8, it was time for a change. They are all significantly more independent and they want to be so. They often will have several items on their school list done for the day before I “officially” start our school day. It’s an incredible place to be, and I am needed, but not to the full right-in-their face extent I had been. We needed to make a change that would work better for all of us.

The initial prompting for this change was that we were given (YES! GIVEN!) enough leftover flooring from friends who moved in to redo the entire room. I was overjoyed to get this old carpet up! The girls and I cleared most of the room on Thursday afternoon. My husband and I moved the big furniture and then took the girls to my parent’s house. I need to give a HUGE thank you to my parents who kept the girls for several days so we could do this more easily!

My husband and I spent half of Friday morning putting down the flooring.

Officially this is considered the dining room of the house. We don’t need a formal dining room. We certainly aren’t formal and using the room for school and as a music room so I can teach piano from home serves a much better purpose!

We then spent Friday afternoon placing the furniture and Saturday was spent re-filling the shelves. I am absolutely in love with the after of this room!!!!

The only thing in the same spot is our corner cabinet because it is the only place it will fit! Every shelf is housing a different item than it was before. You will notice the girls’ desks are against the wall now. I have found for the last several months when I do work with the girls individually it is easier for us to move to another room so we don’t distract and disturb whoever is working independently. They will absolutely still have freedom to move elsewhere in the house or outside to work, but I think they will like this setup better. You’ll also notice I don’t have a desk anymore. I don’t really need one since I’m working with the girls in other rooms. I have my teacher guides handy on a shelf and that is perfect for now. I may need to adjust some things, but I am incredibly excited about this new setup!

Our solar system posters are still hanging across the room! You just can’t see them. If you are interested in those this is a link:
http://www.teachersnotebook.com/…/solar-system-poster-set

They are slightly different than mine, but really a great set!

I’d love to hear if you have recently redone a room for school or restructured your organization in some way. Please share in a comment if you have something new for your school year!

USA Activity Bundle from The Crafty Classroom: A TOS Crew Review!

July 25, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Summer is the time when I like to fill in the gaps. Sometimes it’s things that are not covered as deeply as I like in our regular curriculum or things which I intentionally want to cover with all three girls together. This has been the summer for covering the location of the states and their capitals! While this is covered in what we normally use eventually, I have been waiting for Grace to be old enough to both participate and retain the information. I had already decided we would be working on this and was thrilled to be able to review the USA Activity Bundle from The Crafty Classroom. Included in this PDF download are activity pages for every state, a maze for every state, and state bird cards. Each activity page includes a little USA map to locate the state, a larger outline of the state flag, bird, and flower to color, and space to identify the state’s abbreviation, number of being added to the union, nickname, state flower, state bird, and a place to write down facts. Wow! This is a ton of information on one piece of paper. It is orderly and neat, something I greatly appreciate.

There is no set order for completion, so I decided to order the states by region, beginning with New England. I printed an entire set of states for each of the girls and organizing them by region was very easy as they are alphabetized. Each of the girls has an expensive United States road Atlas for kids I’d had tucked away for a while now. It was great for them to each have their own resource for this so they could find information for themselves. I had several other United States fact books as well.

After I gave each of the girls their state sheet we would look up the information for the state abbreviation, state number, nickname, state flower, state bird, and located the state on the mini map of the United States. The page suggests mapping the capital, rivers, lakes, and mountains on the larger outline of the map. I chose to focus on just the capital because that was one of my main goals. I loved how versatile and felxible I could have this set be!

After identifying and recording the above mentioned facts, I read from the state fact books. These gave brief historical information as well as some fun and unique facts. I asked the girls to choose two facts that stuck out to them and they recorded those in the facts and notes section. When we finished a page we would slip it into a page protector and then in a small notebook I gave them to collect them all. They also found the mazes to be fun and they thought the bird cards were so fun! These were nice little additions that just added to the fun of what we were already doing.

I originally figured we would do one state a day this way, but when your kids beg you to do more work, it’s really hard to day no! They found this to be very enjoyable and they are eagerly learning their states, their locations, and the capital of each one. I do realize my girls are already eager learners, but the reason is because of good quality resources, such as those from The Crafty Classroom. They have some other wonderful resources like Bible ABC Curriculum Notebook, Learn to R.E.A.D. Curriculum Notebook, How to Write a Paragraph, and others that my Crewmates have reviewed. Take a minute to browse the website as there are resources for all the subjects that look absolutely amazing!