Weekly Review: September 9-13

Grace-Filled Writer

We had such  a busy week without even doing our regular homeschooling. We started the first week of August, and I’ve always planned to take this week off since our classes at Deerstream begin. I also planned a major field-trip getaway for the end of the week.

Our tradition is to take our yearly pictures the first week of our Deerstream classes. This is only our second year doing this, but I intend it to be our tradition! Since we basically school year-round it feels like a good time to do it. So here are what are usually considered first-day pictures.

Grace will be 4 in a few weeks and I just can’t believe how much she has grown! She’s learning to read, understanding complex math concepts, and jumping right into every endeavor we make. My only issue with her and school is she can’t get enough of it and doesn’t like when I tell her that lessons are over for the day. We’re finishing up with Little Hands to Heaven this year as well as using Rod and Staff’s ABC series.

Beth is in 1st grade this year and loves reading and mathematics. She also loves making up her own stories and acting them out herself. She is using Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and has really enjoyed learning about the Pilgrims. One of her favorite new activities is doing word search puzzles. This is her first year taking classes at Deerstream Learning Center and she is thriving there.

Rose is becoming quite independent and responsible. She love to help me out by making her sisters breakfast in the mornings. Sometimes she is a little too motherly, but I’m learning that tends to be the way of oldest sisters. She is using Preparing Hearts for His Glory and just can’t get enough! She begs for more history every day and also loves to read. We’ve found a new friend in math since discovering Life of Fred. Her perception of math has changed completely after just using Life of Fred for a couple of weeks.

Beth’s first day was actually Monday because her class meets twice a week, but both girls went together on Wednesday when Rose has her science class. Deerstream is such a blessing. Although I strongly believe in homeschooling, I do see the value of corporate learning and exploring together. Science is one of those areas where I think group learning is ideal. 
This is where I am also blessed to teach English to 12-14 year-olds.  Deerstream is set up more like a private school rather than a co-op. The teachers are hired and are not always parents. In fact, I believe I may be the only current teacher who also has children attending Deerstream.
Every night this week we enjoyed missions conference! I completely forgot to take any pictures, but we thoroughly enjoyed hearing about God’s work in Russia. 
The end of our extremely busy week led us to Williamsburg. 
You can click here to read more about our adventure!
I love that learning takes place all around us whether I’m using our formal curriculum or not. Homeschooling just becomes more beautiful as the days go on!

A+ Tutorsoft: Giveaway! (And a coupon code!!!!!)

Grace-Filled Writer
I’m excited to have the chance to offer you the chance to win 3 months to a high-quality, computer-based online math program. Whenever someone tells me they are looking for a high-quality math program that takes the pressure off them to teach math, I point them to A+ Tutorsoft.

I found this to be very enjoyable for my daughter as well as something I could trust to be doing the job well. One reason I feel so strongly about this program is because it will reteach any area your student does not fully grasp right away. I don’t have to go searching through retrieved data to decipher where there may be trouble areas. Another reason is as you can see it isn’t strictly computer-based. The computer is the main source for instruction, but the student has practice which is completed on paper. You can click here to read my full review from last year!

I also have a coupon code to offer you which will give you a whopping 20% off!!!! This does not expire and can be used every time you order. I love coupons, especially ones that do not expire! 
GRACEFILL – use for 20% off your entire order!

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Seed Sowers: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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My husband is a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. A. B. Simpson did not set out to found a denomination, but rather a movement of God’s people to pray for, financially support, and send out missionaries to further the gospel all around the world. Now, more than 125 years later, our denomination still views its primary purpose as spreading the gospel around the world by equipping its members within our nation at the same time as equipping our international workers abroad. My girls have grown up within this culture and deeply love our times with international workers and hearing about God’s work around the world. 

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We also love to teach them about those who have gone before us in this endeavor. Seed Sowers: Gospel Planting Adventures by Gwen Toliver ($13.95) from Seed Sowers is a beautifully written book. It is also available as a hardback ($30.95) and in an Kindle format ($3.99) which we reviewed. Each section focuses on a different missionary who is now retired and some of their adventures focusing around their work with translating the Scriptures into the heart language of the nations. I love Gwen’s perspective as a current translator with Wycliffe. It is clear she has a true passion and love for seeing the Scriptures written in the heart-language (the language they most relate to) of groups all over the world.

We have loved reading this together, especially on Wednesday evenings. Children are welcome in our mid-week service and stay in during my husband’s Bible study. During the prayer time I take any children there to a small room just off the sanctuary to pray with them. If there is time after our prayer time I will have been reading to them from Seed Sowers. This is often just our three girls, but they love it and beg for more! They are disappointed when the adults are finished with their prayer time because it means I’m done reading.

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Her writing drew my girls in and captivated their attention from the first sentence. I have aimed to read aloud more to the girls and this has been a perfect place to start. I have had to, “Read just one more Mommy!” more than once as my eager little sweethearts soak in the spiritual heritage of those who have gone before us. Rose has tried to sneak off with my Kindle to read ahead and Beth has been playing missionary as she pretends. Anything which brings excitement to my girls makes me happy. When it causes them to grow more deeply in their understanding of God and His work, it thrills me.

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I love that these captivating stories were written after the author was able to interview many retired missionaries. They are first-hand accounts and this is invaluable. So many books of missionaries are written from research. This is not necessarily bad, but using primary source material for historically accurate books is vital. As I read I watch as my girls are transported to jungles, islands, and other far-away places. I typically allow them to draw while I read. More often than not they are listening spellbound as the crayons and pencils lay unused on the table and eager faces lean in waiting to hear what comes next.

My favorite response from my girls came from Beth as we prepare for our recent conferences where two married international workers shared about their work in Russia. When I was telling the girls about the services we would be attending each night Beth twirled around the room and said, “I’m just so excited! It will be just like our missionary stories!” To hear my six-year-old proclaim her excitement over hearing about God’s work in other lands brought tears to my eyes and joy to my soul.

I can only hope there is a sequel to this book. I know there are so many more stories of God’s faithfulness as many before us made so many sacrifices to bring God’s Word to then nations.

Read more reviews from my fellow Crewmates!

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Marvels of Creation Series: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

What do you do with kids who have insatiable curiosities? Give them more to learn from! I love how much I can trust anything I receive from Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group. Although I happily read all we receive, I don’t feel like I have to preview it before my girls get their hands on it. I know it will be solidly biblical and scientifically accurate in addition to beautifully illustrated and engagingly written! The most recent series I’ve had the chance to review is Marvels of Creation by Buddy and Kay Davis. Buddy Davis is known for his wonderful videos from the Creation Museum and Answers in Genesis. My girls love watching him teach them about dinosaurs!

I just barely had time to snap this picture before my girls whisked these lovely books away! They were jumping up and down behind me asking, “Are you done yet?!?!” I have used these books as resource material, but my girls just love reading them. They quiet time every afternoon after lunch and have been choosing a book from this series often. Each book has an appendix with a glossary of terms which is a nice addition. Other information is also included in the appendix which I’ll write about for each specific book.

Magnificent Mammals shows mammals from all over the world with beautiful photographs and information. Some of these mammals my girls have seen in our zoo and they love talking about that. I love how the appendix includes footprints and approximate sizes of these prints for a variety of animals. We’ve never come across animal tracks in our yard, but it will be fun to have as a resource if we ever do!

Sensational Sea Creatures is my personal favorite. I’ve always loved learning about the ocean and at one time though I’d like to be a marine biologist. Included in this appendix is information about the anatomy of fish. This is so interesting and not often covered in a book meant for children. I really like that my girls can see how a fish is built intentionally by our creator.

Breathtaking Birds has been the favorite of Rose who has become infatuated with owls in the last couple of months! This is her favorite part to read in this book. The appendix in this book contains information about the anatomy of birds as well as how and why they are able to fly. I especially love how many of the photographs used are of birds in flight. They are breathtaking!

Each page in every book has specifications about the animal’s height, weight and life-span specifications as well as special design features and lesser known facts. My girls are absorbing all of this information and can’t wait to tell me and my husband all they have learned!

One day I heard, “Come one everybody! It’s story time at the library!” I walked in to see my girl using the Marvels of Creation for their pretend storytime! It was so sweet and they were actually reading this information aloud for their little sister who is just learning to read.

These books are an excellent alternative for evolutionary based field-guides. You can see samples of the books on the New Leaf Publishing page when you click the links. I’m certain your entire family will enjoy these!

Disclaimer: I received the the Marvels of Creation series in exchange for an honest review.  I was not required to give a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way. 

Praise Moves for Children from Praise Moves: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

One are that is sometimes hard for me to fit into our homeschool day is intentional exercise and movement. My girls would much rather be reading or playing pretend rather than get active. We do get outside and run around, but before long we’re ready to come back into the house. I’ll also be honest and say intense exercise just isn’t my thing so I don’t always think to seek out ways to get my daughters intensely active. PraiseMoves is helping to change this!


A few months ago I had the opportunity to try out Morning and Evening PraiseMoves which was a great blessing on so many levels. I typically tried to exercise in the early mornings or evenings while the kids were in bed, but some days my young daughters would be around. It didn’t take long for them to join in! Grace especially seemed fascinated by the new “extercise” Mommy was trying out! She is your typical flexible three-year-old and can quickly maneuver into postures I still am struggling with completing accurately. Not to mention she is enormously adorable when she says things like, “I really love to extercise with you Mommy. Can I use your mat too?” Of course you can sweetheart!

I was very excited for my girls to tryout Praise Moves for Chrildren. Just as I have been encouraged to try out yoga, I’ve also been encouraged to give it a go with my girls. I’m very much aware of the roots of yoga and did not want my girls to have any part of it. Although I’ve been teased for my stance even by Christians, I have stood firm, knowing the latest trend does not always lead to a good end. My girls have been so greatly blessed by this sweet exercise DVD. They enjoy it and feel as if they are dancing while exercising.

There are two separate work-outs in addition to instruction on how to correctly form each posture. The girls were ready to jump right in and get active! I made sure they worse loose clothing and they chose to be barefoot. I only have one mat, so we just went with the carpeted floor which worked just fine until part-way through when the girls remembered seeing me use a mat. I quickly pulled it out and all three shared the same one. I’m sure glad it was long!
Rose and Beth were a little shy at first even though it was just me in the room with them! I think they were nervous about doing something incorrectly and looking funny. The wonderful thing is that soon after they stared they were quoting Scripture and forgot all about being unsure of themselves! I found it interesting how self-conscious they seemed to be and I realized I have the same tendency. I don’t typically enjoy exercising in front of anyone else, including my husband, unless it is something simple like a walk. Praise Moves is so wonderful in that it takes my mind off of me and focuses it on God instead. I don’t think so much about how I look or if I’m doing things right, but simply dwell on the Scripture while I work out. 
Oh to be so flexible again! Grace can bend and stretch in ways I can’t even begin to try! I’m sure this has to do with the limberness of young children and I hope Praise Moves can help her keep this flexibility. It was fun to see her bend and stretch without any struggle at all!
This was Rose and Beth’s favorite posture, the prayer warrior! This was a more difficult posture for Beth who is 6, but she allowed me to turn her foot and adjust her body until she was more correctly aligned. Rose who is 8 had no trouble with this one. By this time in the DVD little 3-year-old Grace decided she was done and was playing with some alphabet letters on the floor. The girls didn’t even seem to notice she was there as they were so focused on what they were doing!
I absolutely love this picture of Beth lifting her eyes towards heaven as she exercises because that is what Praise Moves is really all about. Yes it is healthy exercise, but it is just so much more. Laurette Willis consistently points the children towards thinking about Christ and His Word while also promoting a healthy accept who they are in Christ, encouraging them to view their bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit. I usually will exercise with the girls. There is nothing childish or too easy about this DVD and it excellent for me to model the habits I want to see in them. Not to mention giving me time to center on Christ myself! 
Other titles available for children are Power Moves Kids and the PraiseMoves Kids TV Show. Even with just my short time using PraiseMoves for my children and myself and I can tell you with confidence these would both be excellent 
If you are looking for a new way to exercise with your kids give this a try. They’ll have fun, learn Scripture, and be healthy all at the same time! 
Disclaimer: I received the PraiseMoves for Children in exchange for an honest review.  I was not required to give a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way. 

Week in Review: September 2-6

Grace-Filled Writer

Fall is here! This is my favorite season of the year and it seems to be coming early to the south. The leaves on our trees are starting to fall, something that doesn’t usually happen until mid-September at the earliest. My girls will soon be outside raking up leaves and we’ll be enjoying the cooler air. I decorated last week for fall inside, something I’ve done since we lived in Florida where fall simply does not exist! I’ve also been enjoying my favorite Yankee Candle, Pumpkin Spice…mmmmm!

School has finally seemed to hit its groove for us this week. We have the normal bumps, but much less dragging things out and a lot of

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 23

This week’s letter was S and the Bible lessons focused on Jesus performing miracles. For our math activity Grace practiced choosing which group had more or less. I even had groups of smaller numbers, like 5 and 7, and she was able to tell me that the group with 7 had more. I continue to be surprised by concepts she already grasps and continue to see the benefit of doing school with older siblings. Both Grace and Beth have learned many things I’ve never had to teach them simply from observing Rose.

We are also reviewing a new handwriting and letter recognition curriculum that is so much fun! I can’t wait to share it! As you can see, Grace’s fine-motor skills are really accelerated for her age. She’ll be four in a few weeks and already can write almost all of her letters without any help or guidance from me. There are a couple she forget or gets confused, but so far she hasn’t needed a lot of help.

This is my favorite picture of the week! After reading about the little boy Jesus healed Grace said, “That was so sweet. Jesus is really sweet to make the little boy well.” Then she asked to pray for our friend, Diego, who has cancer that Jesus would heal him too. I was again surprised at the depth of her connections to real-life.







Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 5

We have continued to study about the Pilgrims and I was reminded again this second time we are going through Beyond that there is so much I just wasn’t taught in school. I can’t help but wonder if it was intentional. I mean I know the whole argument of there is only so much time we have to teach and something has to be left out, but if they are going to spend time on the information in class, shouldn’t it be accurate and complete? The Pilgrim’s frequent imprisonment and hardships in Holland were never mentioned, but merely glossed over. My husband and I watched Kirk Cameron’s documentary, Monumental and there is much which we have learned included in it. This documentary is excellent and I plan to let the girls see some of it as we continue to study about the Pilgrims.

Math has always been a favorite part of Beth’s day. She frequently requests to do more than one lesson in a day and I usually let her. I’m happy for her to move at her own pace and she rarely makes any mistakes! This week she learned how to read a thermometer which is marked of by twos. Rose didn’t remember learning this before so Beth volunteered to teach her! It was so sweet to see her be the teacher and she did a great job! She explained the concept clearly, did an example, then had Rose try one. Since her answer was correct Beth followed it up with lots of encouraging words! Sweet moments that make homeschooling such a wonderful blessing!

Preparing Hearts for His Glory: Unit 3 (first half)

This history in Preparing has been so much fun for us! I had heard that it was a favorite guide for long-time Heart of Dakota families, and it is fun to finally experience it ourselves! Rose loves our history readings. She loves them to the point that she is incredibly disappointed that I don’t keep going. She also really enjoys the drawing for her notebook. She loves art anyway and it has been fun for her to do the independent history.

We have continued on with both dictation and All About Spelling and she’s doing great. We had taken a bit of a break from All About Spelling for the summer and have had a little trouble staying consistent with it, but that has been my issue with planning for all three and I’m getting the kinks in our day worked out. We started working with suffixes which gave us an entirely new set of tiles to work with! They’re pink and pretty. What more can I say?



The Rest of the Week

I’m trying to make sure I take time to enjoy my girls. This week we enjoyed more read-aloud time, playing Kids of Catan, and playing some putt-putt in the backyard. It is easy to get distracted with the duties I have, the work I must complete, and the things I would like to do, but I’ve decided missing out on time with my kids is just not going to be an option anymore. I will stop and take time to enjoy them, learn about who they are. I will not make it just something I check off a list or try to claim school-time is the same as spending time with them just having fun.

Next week will be a break for us and I’m looking forward to a really fun field trip at the end of the week!

Giant Roller Ramps from Lake Shore Learning: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
**Read through to find a coupon code for 20% off!**

Every birthday and Christmas my husband and I go through the same conversation. What toy are we going to give the girls which is first, worth the cost and second, worth the space it will take up. I’m happy for my girls to have toys and fun things to play with, but with three daughters there just is a limit on how much stuff they actually need. As I think about toys now I think about what will inspire them. Lakeshore Learning is a company with inspirational toys. 
We had the chance to review the Giant Roller Ramp Starter Set. What a fabulous toy! This set comes with 17 sturdy pieces and a ball. Sounds simple, right? My opinion is that simple is often best. This toy has captivated my girls for hours as they experimented with a variety of configurations. 

The girls started out by following one of the many options of configurations included with the pieces. I was pleased to see how clearly they were presented so both Beth (6) and Rose (8) were able to build what they saw. The ladder parts are stackable and a variety of heights can be used. 
The ramps easily snap together for children. It took Beth a little longer to figure this part out, but soon she was jumping right with the building and snapping! They are made so any one ramp will attach to another which makes creativity easy. They are extremely well crafted so the constant building and rebuilding does not put stress onto the connection pieces. 
The included rubber ball glides smoothly on the ramps. The girls called it their tester. They used this first to see if it worked for them. If the ball got stuck they looked things over to figure out how to get it moving again. It has been so fun for me to watch them discover basic fundamentals of engineering while they are playing. 
Notice the toy cars in the background? After using their test ball the girls would try a variety of cars to see which one would work best. They had a handful of cars they liked best. This was Grace’s favorite part! She struggled a bit with the building, but boy did she like the testing! 
Before long Beth especially was ready to try her own setup! I thought at first she was just randomly building and I enjoyed seeing her work, helping her when she asked. Imagine my surprise when she used her test ball and she grinned up at me saying, “It worked just like I thought it would, Mommy!” I questioned her on exactly what she meant. If you notice the setup, she intentionally created a ramp which would cause the ball to end up right back where it started. She told me she wanted to do it this way so she didn’t have to get up and chase after it. Wow! Seeing my recently turned 6-year-old deliberately build model that functioned in a specific way she intended from the beginning was eye-opening to my understanding of how her mind operates.
My girls have played with this almost daily since we received it. Some days small balls roll down the ramps, sometimes cars, and sometimes little characters going on a water slide (this was mostly Grace!). This is a wonderful set which I recommend to anyone looking for a different type of toy for their child, one which will engage them longer than the current trendy toys and cause their imaginations to soar higher than you may have ever thought!

Here is your coupon code: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/7413
(expires October 31)
Disclaimer: I received the Giant Roller Ramps Starter Set  in exchange for an honest review.  I was not required to give a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way. 

Foundations A from Logic of English: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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As a middle school English teacher I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from students and adults how the English language is confusing, illogical, and just to hard to understand all the rules. I’ve also heard some claim the reason so many children are struggling to read is because there are too many rules and they just can’t handle it. I vehemently disagree. The problem as I see it is the desire to understand how the English language works is missing. 
photo FoundationsWBs_zps93eebcdf.pngI love trying out any curriculum involving English! I just have a love for the English language which started in grade-school and only increased in my favorite college course: History and Structure of the English Language. Logic of English is a company dedicated to, “…addressing the literacy crisis through phonics, reading, spelling, and writing.” We had the opportunity to review Foundations A which included the hard-copy teacher’s manual ($38), hard-copy student workbook ($18.00), and the reusable resource set ($88.00). This is intended for beginning readers, typically kindergarten-1st grade. 
I originally thought I would be using this with Grace since she is my beginning reader, but after looking over the program I decided it would be best suited for Beth, who is an excellent emerging reader, but is ready to begin cursive. I also see great value in reiterating and reviewing the basic phonograms with my girls even after finishing their phonics instruction. Since she is used to this kind of review, she didn’t mind at all “going back” a little bit. There were even some aspects of phonics we hadn’t covered, like voice and unvoiced sounds, which were fun for her to learn.
I simply love how this curriculum teaches cursive with beginning strokes. Every other curriculum I have seen uses minimal curve practice, but this technique actually teaches all of the strokes which will be used in every cursive letter. Isn’t that just, I don’t know, logical? Because all of English, the handwriting, the grammar, the phonics…it really is logical! How exciting to find a curriculum which sees the logic I’ve always known was there within our language. 
Another aspect of this course which is just so excellent is the tactile handwriting cards. I have never see anything like this and it just makes so much sense. Once again, logical ideas for learning which just made it all stick in Beth’s mind. There are stroke cards which are tactile in addition to the tactile letters. Transferring what she felt on the tactile cards into actual writing was a very easy transition. 
This white board is amazing! I have handwriting whiteboards, but they are nowhere near as great as this one. You can see the one side in the picture above, but the reverse side has this beautiful, large handwriting portion which makes it so easy to teach the combination of strokes. Just lovely! 
We had already begun cursive instruction, but we weren’t able to move very quickly. Because of Logic of English we have been able to finally take some positive strides forward. Her handwriting, both cursive and print, has suddenly improved tremendously. I truly believe the awareness of smaller strokes as well as having names for the lines on manuscript paper (It just never occurred to me to give them names!) have made this wonderful difference. 
I highly, highly recommend this for anyone teaching phonics, handwriting, or grammar. There are many levels to choose from and this program is high quality. To see some of the other levels and what my Crewmates thought, click below!

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Time4Learning: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
Time4Learning
Online resources for homeschooling is becoming a huge trend in the home education world. You can find anything you need from supplements for fill in the gaps to full course curricula. The difficulty comes in trying to weed out the useful from the time wasters. I typically aim to keep our learning environment as focused on literature and hands-on activities as possible. Computers and screens are usually reserved for supplementation, so I’m pretty picky about what my girls use. 
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Time4Learning is a company who has made its presence well-known both within the homeschool world. Simply search for online homeschool resources and Time4Learning pops up very quickly! All of the core areas are covered including language arts, math, social studies, and science for $19.95 each month for k-8th grades. Discounts are given for each additional student signed up. Courses for high school students are also available. The learning environment definitely has more of the feel of a game and Beth, a six-year-old 1st grader, definitely saw using this as playtime. This is a great benefit when you have reluctant learners. Sparking interest is vital with any program whether a traditional approach or computer-based.

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Beth was the primary user for reviewing the program and used the 1st grade level, but her sisters were right there along with her and thoroughly engrossed! She tried out all of the subject areas and was able to quickly complete all of the language arts and math material. Her official grade-level is 1st, but her ability level is second grade or higher. One of the nice things about Time4Learning is if you find the material is too easy (or too difficult!) you can request a grade-level change. This takes about 24 hours, but I’m glad it requires confirmation so parents have plenty of time to consider.

One area which we were concerned about was how science information would be presented. Our family’s world-view is that all of Scripture is true, including a literal 6-day account of Creation. I appreciate that although Time4Learning is not a Christian-based curriculum, they have taken time to address these concerns and even have a specific board within their forum to address this. Click here to see what they have to say.

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Another wonderful aspect is the availability of lesson plans. We are blessed to live in a state where the regulations are easy to follow. Some states are a bit more challenging and require lesson plans. Time4Learning is a huge help for this. It is set up to be a full course curriculum. This can be reassuring for parents who are feeling unsure of themselves as they embark on their journey of homeschool can rest easy knowing their children will be able to meet what is considered grade-level requirements. My personal feeling is it is a little less rigorous than I like our curriculum to be, but my girls tend to be a bit advanced so I’m always searching for more challenges.

Whether you are searching for a full-online computer-based curriculum, fun educational or a supplement for any particular subject, you should check out Time4Learning! This is definitely a high-quality option for any of these scenarios. My daughter asks frequently, “Can I play my mousey game now?” Getting her to agree to play is never a chore and the bonus is she is all the knowledge she is gaining. 

Click below to see what others on the Review Crew had to say!

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Week in Review: August 26 – August 30

Grace-Filled Writer

Phew! I’m one tired mama! I’m always tired by the end of the week, but it is a good tired. Can you relate? This week has been good, a bit more relaxed and felt more in routine. We have one more week before Rose and Beth start classes at Deerstream Learning Center and I’m enjoying the slower pace.

One of my major goals this year is to make story time with the girls a priority. Until this year I have found it very hard to have a consistent story time. Not only am I doing the girls’ individual story times with their own guides more consistently, I’m also trying to do group story time. I let them color, draw, build with legos, or whatever else to keep their little hands busy. Right now we’re reading through the Felicity American Girl books in anticipation of a trip to Williamsburg coming very soon!

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 22

Sooo…I forgot to take any pictures of our Heart of Dakota work in Little Hands to Heaven this week! Our letter was R and Grace enjoyed the Bible stories about Jesus as a boy and the early part of his ministry. We also continued with reading lessons. Some days are easier than others, but she’s doing great. The biggest challenge is that she is convinced she can already read after 10 lessons and sometimes balks at doing a lesson each day!

We got a chance to review the sweetest little book about safety while crossing the road. All three of my girls loved it even though I think it was geared more towards Grace. You can read my full review here.





Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 4

Beth has matured an amazing amount from last year to this year.  A lot of this just has to do with age, but I also credit Little Hearts for His Glory. The beauty of Heart of Dakota for my goes far beyond the wonderful history readings and delightful activities. It reaches farther than the outstanding weekly poetry selections. Heart of Dakota has been a wonderful asset as we teach our girls of the grace of God. Beth accepted Christ as her Savior just a couple of weeks prior to beginning her kindergarten. Our curriculum’s primary focus is pointing our children back to their Savior. Yes, academics are major, but seeing my girls’ hearts seek after Christ is primary.

I clearly got distracted this week and flaked on taking pictures! Beth’s handwriting is becoming quite lovely and I am so happy with her efforts! Spelling is also going smoothly. Our pretest usually reveals a couple of words she needs to work on, usually rule breakers, and this has been going well. I tried orally quizzing her on her words this week, and this didn’t go so well…and back to our original quizzing it was!

Preparing Hearts for His Glory; Unit 2 (second half)

Rose is loving this year’s guide! I am seriously having trouble holding her back in history. I am going to go with at least one more week at half-speed, however, as we adjust to the schedule once her science class starts. As we move through our sweeping look at history we have continued to focus on the Ice Age.

She is enjoying every subject this year…except math…until this week! I am not a fan of changing curriculum for math or reading. There has to be a rather big problem for me to be willing to make a major change. The reason for this is because although math and reading are fundamental, no one curriculum teaching in the same way or order. I am, however, more than willing to try something new to supplement. Enter Life of Fred.

In addition to shortening the amount of work she does each day, Rose also has been reading a chapter (or more!) from Life of Fred. This is a very unique approach to mathematics instruction. While inteded to be a stand-alone curriculum I am choosing to use it as a supplement. Math is no longer an issue. In fact, for the first time in I’m not sure how long Rose is now asking to do her math lesson first each day. I typically find her giggle over something she’s reading about Fred. I’m not sure how far we’ll continue with Fred, but I’m thrilled he is now part of our homeschooling!

And so ends another good week. The girls are right now having their weekly slumber party in their playroom. I’m so blessed our girls enjoy one another. Today they told me they’d formed a club of which they were all a part. My girls are truly friends, not merely just sisters. Do they bicker? Yes. Do they get tired of each other sometimes? Absolutely! Yet, at the end of the day, there is a love and a bond which cannot be missed. I frequently pray their relationship continues to grow as they grow up.