Lone Star Learning: Greek and Latin Roots Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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When I was in college and studying to be a middle school English teacher I spent a lot of time researching vocabulary. I was taught via the memorize-each-word-and-definition approach in school. To be honest, my vocabulary increased more through reading, but this didn’t help a lot on tests like the SAT. As I researched and studied I came to be a believer in knowing roots from Greek and Latin. I incorporated this into my vocabulary teaching and still do with the homeschooled middle schoolers I teach once a week. 
PhotobucketStuck in the back of my mind was always the desire to teach Greek and Latin roots to my daughters, but they are still very young and I wasn’t quite sure how to go about doing this. Lone Star Learning has made this easier than I ever expected with their Greek and Latin Roots Picture Vocabulary Cards. Pictographs beautifully illustrate the definition for each root in an memorable way for elementary students…or any age!
The package costs $39.99 and contains 60 sturdy, laminated flash cards comprised of 30 Greek roots and 30 Latin roots. Also included is a definition card with sample words. A separate page gives helpful tips for studying and creative ideas for using the cards including activities and games. While the cards are intended to be used with upper elementary and middle school students (3rd-8th grade) I found them very appropriate for my second grade daughter, Rose. She already reads at a higher grade level and is constantly asking what words mean so she was more than ready to be introduced to Greek and Latin roots. 
My daughter saw me open these the day they arrived in the mail. She was so intrigued that she began studying them even before I had a chance to look through the pack myself! She was immediately drawn to the colorful, artistic illustrations. Because her grandfather teaches Greek at seminary, she already was excited about learning Greek roots. He has taught her to write her name in Aramaic Greek and she was very excited to begin learning more. Rose literally danced a little jig when I told her it was time to study her Greek roots! 
We spent two days a week studying and reviewing roots. In just four weeks Rose has mastered the 30 Greek roots! The cards were easy for Rose to read and quite often she could figure out the root’s definition simply by the picture. There were a couple of cards which were more difficult for her, but even those didn’t take her long to master. I had her study them by saying the root name out loud, then the definition. Once she reached 20 roots I decided to see if she could remember the roots without the cards. She knew all 20 I quizzed her on the first time!
I had already explained how roots make up a lot of the words we use daily and knowing them helps us understand their definitions. The day I realized this was really taking root (tee hee) was when she was reading her book for literature to herself in the other room and she came running in saying, “Mommy! Mommy! Guess what? I just found the word hydrate! It has to do with water, right? Just like hydr?” Success!
I intend for Greek and Latin to be a part of their entire education. This has been a beautiful way to start my daughters learning about roots!
Don’t forget to check out the other reviews by my Crewmates! 

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Disclaimer
I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Abraham’s Journey: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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My Kindle Fire has become one of my favorite tools for homeschooling! I love finding books, unit studies, and pdf documents. The girls enjoy it as well because of the apps, but I limit their playtime. While I’m happy to have learning apps, I have hoped they would enjoy reading. I was very excited for my daughter to read Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream, by Kathleen and Robert K. Basmadjian, written for students ages 7-12.

PhotobucketThis unique children’s book combines beautiful illustrations reminiscent of traditional comic books and an engaging story. You can purchase either the book version ($14.95) or the Kindle or i-Pad version ($9.99). While the story takes place during present day, historical figures provide an unexpected twist. The story revolves around a young boy, Abraham, trying to help his parents who have both lost their jobs. With the help of historical figures Abraham discovers what the American Dream means and is inspired to find a way to help his family.

Rose and Zoe, our kitty cat, snugged in for some reading one afternoon with this book. She eagerly jumped at the chance to read on Mommy’s Kindle and settled into her beanbag chair. She enjoyed the story. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said she really liked the illustrations and that Abraham Lincoln was in it as well.

The idea behind this book is so many in America have lost their hope in what is possible. We used to call it, “Living the American Dream.” The dream used to be taught and encouraged in schools. Now children are often taught America isn’t as great as we were once told. The evils of our history are emphasized while the triumphs and events we can be proud of are diminished. The authors of this books are hoping to instill once more the ideals of what “The American Dream” is stood for.

The American Dream includes aspects of faith, courage, imagination, innovation, compassion, self-sacrifice, and so much more. In spite of those commonalities, it always looks different for each individual…

…My great grandparents surviving through the Great-Depression by running a bakery from their home in Illinois when my great-grand father lost his job at an oil refinery. 
…My grandfather working long, hard hours at a coal mine in Kentucky until he had saved enough money to buy his farm. 
…My parents moving from New York to North Carolina when I was six and leaving full-time ministry as a pastor so my dad could earn his doctorate and become a seminary professor. 
…My husband and I both graduating from college debt-free. 

We want our girls to see they can do more than expected too. I appreciate the author’s desire to reteach this to our youth and inspire them to reach higher.

At the end of the book is a list of definitions and mini biographies of each historical figure in case students haven’t studied them yet. I really like this feature because my daughter, for instance, had only studied about Abraham Lincoln. She had heard the other’s names, but didn’t really know much about them yet.

I asked Rose if she’d like to read another story like this one and she enthusiastically said, “Yes!” That is enough of an endorsement for me!

Don’t forget to check out other reviews from my crewmates!
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Disclaimer
I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

College Common Sense Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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Hubby and I met in marching band in college!
(Yay Liberty University!)

Ahhh college…sometimes it feels like forever ago and sometimes it feels like just yesterday! My girls are so young right now I don’t even want to think about college…but it is inevitable! College Common Sense gives parents the tools they need to help them through the process of finding scholarships, touring colleges, and getting their students prepared early on with their Going to College and Paying for it Online Video and Workbook

Visiting the falls on the campus where
I went to college!
(Yay Toccoa Falls College!)
Although college is not something I am thinking about very often for my girls, my husband and I have talked about how important it will be for them to apply for as many scholarships as possible, take CLEP tests, and work in high school in order to help pay for college. We mention going to college and how great it was for my husband and I. We also have taken them to our own college campuses. While we would not be angry or upset if they chose a different path than college, we want them to know we believe in them and will help them along the way as much as possible.

PhotobucketCollege Common Sense encourages parents to have a continuous dialogue with their children about their goals, dreams, and hopes for the future. For $25 a year (Or a one-time payment of $50 for a CD copy) parents receive access to videos, a workbook, and a monthly curriculum with age-level friendly ideas from elementary to high school. While a large portion is obviously going to be on what to do in your junior and senior year, there are also ideas for elementary and middle school as well.

Many of the ideas we are already implementing. We talk to the girls frequently about different jobs they can do when they grow up, we take them on field trips to see different occupations, we happily answer questions and look up information online about various careers, and most importantly we talk about the importance of seeking God in all of their life decisions.

We are also careful to encourage whatever their ideas about the future may be, even if they seem a little odd. Rose went through a year-long-phase of being convinced God wanted her to be a policewoman so she could help people. Just two weeks ago she informed me she was now going to be an artist!

Another idea is for kids to begin a journal where they write down their ideas about the future. It’s called an All About Me Notebook and I really liked this idea. While Rose, who is seven, is the only of my girls ready to keep a journal like this herself, the idea of letting the kids express who they are and what they love each year as they grow up intrigues me. I remember all too well how my own interests changed constantly as I grew and matured. It would be a neat thing to show my children if I had kept my own notebook like this.

One of the things I found interesting as I began to review College Common Sense was that there are scholarships available for children as young as 6…are you kidding me? While we know the colleges our daughters choose will be their choice, we both attended Christian universities and would be very happy if they could do the same. In order for this to happen, however, scholarships will be an absolute must. The fact that the girls can apply to some scholarships this early on is a vital piece of information I was missing!

College Common Sense is a great way to make sure you’re on the right track whether college is coming up next year or in another 11 years like it is for us!

Make sure to check out the other reviews written by my crewmates!

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Disclaimer

I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Our Schoolroom

Grace-Filled Writer

We incredibly blessed to have a dedicated schoolroom in our house. This doesn’t mean we never migrate somewhere else inside or out, but it is great for me to have everything I need for learning in one location. It’s really just the formal dining room and since we are not formal diners it has become a beautiful haven for learning.

Our schoolroom is a work in progress and it probably always will be. As the girls grow and our learning needs change, so will this room. Most of the room is still the same. The basic layout of the room hasn’t changed, but I have added some things, taken some things out, and changed some organization, so now it is serving us better.

My red tables are now regular table height and we purchased 4 chairs from Craigslist for $10. They are extremely sturdy, cushioned, and vinyl. The seat height is 16 inches, which works great for Rose, but is slightly short for Beth and much too short for Grace. Grace’s booster seat is in her chair and we found a seat cushion at Goodwill for $1 which puts Beth at the perfect height.

Just to the right of the chalkboard you will see our calendar area and the girls’ assignment board. The blue stacked boxes used to contain my girls’ daily work. Now I use them for manipulatives which used to reside on the blue bookshelf. The girls’ supplies now are under each of their chairs. Hopefully I will find a tote for each of them instead of the crates I’m using now. It is functional, but difficult to slide in and out. Speckle, our school mascot, still keeps guard over their work. I also keep our pencils, hole punch, CD player, pencil sharpener, and laminator in this area.

This is also our History/Geography corner. I fell in love with the map of the United States with a vintage feel. The best part was I used my Staples rewards from turning in ink cartridges to purchase it. I purchased the world map which looks just like it with my last set of staple’s rewards! We also keep all manipulatives related to these topics in this area. I have a few more things I want to add, but so far my favorite is our world map puzzle with the pieces shaped like the countries.

Here is my new world map which features a new island off the coast of Alaska. Is this new to you? It was to me too, not to mention a little frustrating s it was added by a five-year-old who was curious what crayon would look like on this pretty paper while I had it spread out on the table! I’ve inherited the Goldenbook Encyclopedia set from my dad for the girls which was his when he was a child.

You’ll also notice our classroom pets which my girls insisted we needed after watching the Magic School Bus. We settled on glofish, which are completely fascinating! Their names keep changing, but we have Oceananna (green and named after a baby actually born on the Mayflower crossing), Boo Boo (orange), America (blue and named by our neighbor), Babe (blue, and named after Paul Bunyan’s Ox), Rosetta (pink) and Vidia (purple). The last two are both named after two of Tinker Bells’ friends.

To the left of the chalkboard is the rest of our school storage. The dart board rarely gets used, but when we want it we just take down the tables and move the chairs. The blue bookshelf has been loved for many years first in my bedroom as a child and now in our schoolroom! Each of the baskets holds more subject oriented manipulatives: pink ~ logic, purple ~ literacy, blue ~ mathematics. They originally held my girls school books, but they weren’t quite sturdy enough. Mr. Bones there on the door will eventually have labels to teach parts of the skeletal system but for now he’s just going to be hanging around.

The large blue cube which matches the girls’ school work cube holds the materials I use frequently. This includes my current Heart of Dakota guides, All About Spelling books, and teachers guides for grammar and math from Rod and Staff. I also have several small folders which contain lesson plans and our state-required attendance forms. We live in NC and our state is extremely easy to homeschool in, but I still keep meticulous records in case we are ever questioned. The rest of the blue bookshelf holds various materials we use frequently, but don’t use as often.

The tall bookshelf was given to us by friends in our church when they purchased new ones. This has served many purposes and currently holds more curriculum on the top two shelves which we don’t use as often. The third shelf and cupboard on the bottom hold our art supplies. I took a lot time to decide to make the art supplies more accessible. I kept imagining disasters from having these so easy to get to! However, since my youngest is now 3 1/2 I’m realizing I can let them have a little more freedom with boundaries. My girls couldn’t believe I had given them so much access! The top of this shelf holds our play-doh and a variety of empty boxes for storage I’m sure I’ll find uses for eventually.

I’ve added some things to our science corner, much to the joy of our girls! I really wanted to encourage my girls to explore with science as much as possible beyond what our regular curriculum does. The computer table and chair were given to us by friends who were moving and under it is a light box for my girls to play with. That is why it’s covered with dark fabric. When we do experiments I move the girls’ laptop and we do as much as we can in this corner. I also keep all of our science books over here so the girls can explore as they want to.

Here are my additions up close! We purchased a good quality microscope and telescope which we are learning the benefits of as well as receiving some fun models for review. I’d eventually love to have some more human body models for learning. Two of the dinosaur models came from our neighbor’s son who was so excited to add to our collection.

One thing I knew I wanted in our corner were field guide posters. We also have smaller, individual matching field guide posters in a notebook for each of the girls. These were very inexpensive too! I searched and searched for posters, but everything I found was $15 or more. These are a set of 16 posters from Smokey the Bear which cost $10.50 for 15 large posters and 4 sets of small posters. This is not a misprint! The catch is the posters come in bulk. I got together with several of my homeschool friends and we chipped in to purchase these. If you’re looking for poster sets like this take time to see the 8 1/2 x 11 size as well as the 20 x 30 size. Six of us went together to get these and it is one of my favorite purchases so far!

I will add to this as we continue school, but the one big thing on my wish list is a microscope. I’d also love a telescope, but I’m not quite sure how to fit it in the room yet! For now we’re learning the order of the planets through a great set of posters I found through Pinterest.

Thanks for taking time to stop by and see our schoolroom. Let me know what you think!

Week in Review: February 18-22

Grace-Filled Writer

This was one of the best weeks we’ve had since the craziness that was our Christmas break! I remind the girls frequently to work diligently and Beth has started praying at meals and bed for her and her sisters to work diligently during school. I make sure to take time to praise them when this happens and it’s been neat to see Beth recognize answers to her prayers!

We’ve been busy checking out some great homeschooling products for the Schoolhouse Review Crew and are having so much fun! My daughters are loving all the new areas. This week I posted my review for A+ Tutorsoft math for 1st grade. If you are looking for a computer based math program you really need to check this out! Also don’t forget to check out the other reviews from my Crewmates!

PhotobucketI was trying to figure out why our week went so well. Everyone had good attitudes…the girls worked diligently every day…we completed our work most days before lunch with out a little left after lunch for my oldest daughter to finish a couple of days. I think there were several factors…1. I kept the girls on their chore routines so they started out the day knowing they were going to be held accountable.2. The school room was neat and orderly each day.3. My husband made sure we had family devotions before he left for the church each day.4. My daughters prayed for each other each night (on their own!).5. I spent more time in His Word than I have been.I know the main reasons for our success were the last three. I know centering our family and our day around Christ is going to change the atmosphere in our home and throughout our day. Other things helped of course, but nothing can compare with it. Did my girls still disobey? Yes…Did I still sometimes get frustrated? Yes…Did they bicker with one another? YES…The difference was how quickly our hearts responded to what we were out of step with the Holy Spirit. I’m hoping this lesson will stick with us for a while!Now for the learning of our week!Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 13 (Finally completed!!!!)

Grace had a great time finishing up Unit 13. We started last week, but since I caught their cold from the week before we didn’t quite get through everything like I wanted to. She continues to adore her About 3 books from Rod and Staff. She is about half-way through the B book, although she would happily finish these all up in a week if I let her! I’m still limiting her work to one page a day, but since we’ve always done this she isn’t upset about it like she used to be.We’re also in the process of reviewing one the best preschool math program I have ever seen! I can’t wait to share more about it with you in a few weeks. It has been a perfect addition to my littlest learner who literally cries each day when her lessons are over! It is difficult for her to understand I have to teach her older sisters as well!

The activities in Little Hands really are so much fun for all of us. I love when my older two daughter don’t hesitate to jump right it and play with their younger sister. This has been one of the joys of home learning for our family. It means so much to Grace when her big sisters willingly participate and have fun doing it! I typically have my older girls working independently while I teach Grace first and they often both stop what they are working on the listen in on our stories, say the letter poem, and join in the dramatic play! We read Bible stories last week about the early life of David. We talked about how David and Jonathan were friends and probably shared secrets with one another. The girls really got into this and enjoyed playing Pass the Secret with each other. There was a lot of giggling involved as you can imagine! 

These girls are just such sweet sisters! 

For our letter play this week Grace learned about K. She is so easy to teach because she tends to be a good listener and rarely defiant. This results in very good direction following! She loves gluing things onto her letter of the week and also working with Do-A-Dot markers. There are a number of websites with free printables and since my little girl is so anxious to keep working I try to give her a variety each week. The only trouble with the gluing was she kept wanting to eat all of the Cheerios. She was sweet and shared her Cheerios with her sisters.




Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 19 (Finished up!)

Beth has been asking recently, “Do we have to do school today?” I reply simply, “Yes.” And then we move on. She doesn’t complain at all, but she still likes to know! I am blessed that my daughters enjoy learning and work well for me most of the time. I typically schedule a break about 9:00 so they can have a snack, but I’ve been careful to watch for cues they need breaks other times as well. Beth especially seems to need more breaks in between her work. I’ve been giving her active ideas, like bouncing 3 times around the house on her bouncy ball. She gets her energy out, has a great time, and doesn’t mind getting back down to business afterwards! One of Beth’s favorite parts this week was her poetry. Each week she has a rhyme which helps her remember a concept from history, learn things like the days of the week, and spiritual truths. This week she learned about the Trinity, not an easy concept for a Kindergartner! She loved the poem though and went around the house saying it even when we weren’t doing lessons. This is a posed picture because during the action shots of her poem she was so active I couldn’t get a picture not blury!Another reason I love learning at home is my little sweeties are not limited in their learning. They can move forward to stay still for as long as they need to. Beth has mastered addition. She doesn’t mind the practice at all, but allowing her to move forward into the 1st grad math material was a fabulous decision. She never misses an answer and she’s excited to be able to move at her own pace, often doing more than one lesson a day. She continues to excel in spelling as well. She loves spelling and I’m so glad since this is not a subject I enjoyed as a child! All About Spelling has really changed how I view this subject. I have become a better speller as well. Beth is halfway through level 1. She’ll continue at her own pace, which is typically one lesson every 1 or 2 weeks. I want to challenge her, but not so fast she can’t master the concepts.


Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 21One of the benefits of my daughters growing up is a result of the training them from preschool to do some work on their own. Now that Rose is now in 2nd grade she is very used to working independently. If she becomes distracted by her sisters she either joins in their learning or asks to move to another room to work. She sets a fabulous example for her younger sisters and knows I will be working with her individually as well. 

One of her independent assignments is always handwriting now that she knows how to form her letters. I have been very happy with A Reason for Handwriting because of the short lessons. I’m still trying to decide if we will continue with this next year or just move to copywork once her book is finished. Copywork seems to be the way to go, but we’ll see.

Rose moved forward in Level 3 of All About Spelling and was excited to start using her Silent E detective book. As she finds different words which utilize silent E she places them on the page showing the rule it is following. There are way more silent E rules than I ever knew! We still use the dictation from Heart of Dakota. I am really seeing a difference in Rose’s spelling using both of these methods. 

We did have one activity last week which we didn’t get to in Bigger Hearts about map coordinates. After we completed the activity she asked if she could make her own map of our school room and include coordinates. Of course! What a great way to see how well she mastered this concept. Rose told me the reason it was so easy was from playing Battle Ship. You have to love when learning happens without even realizing it!

We both loved the poem this week called The Land of Counterpane. I love the beautiful poems chosen so carefully for each unit. Rose has begun writing her own poetry and even was chosen for publication! She told me this morning the reason she loves poetry and knows how to write it now is because of studying poetry for lessons. Wow! Thank you once again Heart of Dakota!

A new aspect of homeschool we started this week was literature study. I have been assigning Rose books at her reading level all year, but have chosen to just let her tell me about the story and discuss the aspects of literature like character, setting, and conflict. I felt now it was time for her to begin literature as units. Heart of Dakota has a great literature program, but I chose not to use this for two reasons. The first is my background is in teaching literature. My husband confidently encouraged me to develop my own units because it’s what I know and love! The second reason was cost. I was able to piece together literature units by genre which I’ll be able to reuse with each of my daughters and after this week I am thrilled with the outcome! 

We began with the mystery genre at Rose’s request. She is reading a book she was given for Christmas. I chose her project to be a clue journal where she will record clues from the mystery for each chapter. In addition to the clue journal she is recording vocabulary words she is unfamiliar with and tracking the emotions in each chapter. The last part of her literature study is a page which she will complete for every book she reads which will record all of the basic elements of literature for each novel. We had a really good week. I’m looking forward to next week to be just as much fun!

A+ Tutorsoft Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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Math is not my favorite subject to teach. I didn’t mind math in school…until I hit my sophomore year of high school and Algebra 2. Math wasn’t the easiest subject for me, but I understood the concepts up until that class. I quickly lost confidence in my ability to do math and that hasn’t really ever gone away.
PhotobucketI anticipated reviewing A+ Interactive MATH from A+ Tutosoft, Inc with mixed feelings. While the idea of giving over the actual teaching portion of math sounded appealing, I’m typically not someone who uses computer-based teaching. I was impressed with the concepts covered for first grade and decided to look forward to this opportunity with an open mind. Beth is in Kindergarten, but completed her kindergarten math by the end of October and was more than ready for something to challenge her thinking. The program costs between $99 and $124.99 depending on whether you want to be able to have parental track and reporting (feature available for up to 5 students). It also offers levels 1st-6th grade as well as Pre-Algebra and Algebra and is available in an online version in addition to the CD format I received. 
My husband helped me install the program the day after we received it in the mail. It was easy to setup and easy to get her started. I simply needed to print the corresponding worksheets for each lesson. I also had the option to print the answer key, but decided just to use the answer key on the computer to save paper. The pages are colorful, but not overly distracting with lots of unnecessary illustrations. I appreciated this fact since Beth tends to get distracted with wanting to tell stories about the pictures! 
My sweet little girl was over-the-moon excited to use the computer for one of her subjects! The girls typically only get to use the computer as a reward after school-work is completed. She was also excited to be the only one of her sisters to get to use it. 
Beth used headphones most of the time since we school all together each morning. It was very easy for her to use the mouse and to know where to click to move the program forward. She did not want to repeat after the lady who was teaching the lesson, but after some coaxing I convinced her she would learn her math more easily if she followed the directions completely. She seemed to feel a little self-conscious about this until I told her she could whisper. After that she didn’t mind so much.

Both Beth and I really liked the virtual quiz given at the end of each lesson. She loved when the little frog would ribbit as she pushed the submit button for her answer. The first time this happened she giggled and said, “Mommy! The froggy says, ‘Ribbit,’ when I get it right!” Nothing makes my heart smile more than hearing my girls enjoy learning! I really liked this portion because if she missed something the program immediately reviewed the concept and then gave her another chance to answer immediately. The only issues we had with this was the frog wasn’t always present and she was sometimes confused what to do when he wasn’t there. 

Next came the worksheet portion of the lesson. My sweet girl can get overwhelmed when she thinks she has to do a lot of work, so when I handed her multiple pages she gave me a rather panicked look. I quickly explained there were only a few problems on each page and then she was fine. In fact, when she finished the day’s work she would typically ask to do another lesson! There were a couple of times I had to explain a concept, like how to group tens, one more time, but overall she did great on her own letting me know this program was doing it’s job! 

At the end of every unit is a test which looks very much like the daily worksheets. I wasn’t certain how Beth would do for several reasons. Because she is only in kindergarten she had not yet taken a formal test. In addition it was 9 pages long and contained 40 problems…many more than she had ever had to do at once. To my pleasant surprise she took this in stride and just handed me page after page as she finished. She was getting over a cold as well, but this didn’t stop her! Out of all the problems she only missed 3, which I was very pleased with. 

The one downside is I missed being the one to teach her this particular subject. Although I could check her work I did miss being directly involved in the learning process. However, this is a program I would like to revisit as my girls move forward into more difficult math concepts I may not feel as confident teaching. 
Overall I feel A+ Tutosoft, Inc math program is an excellent program for any family looking for a computer-based math curriculum. It is thorough, builds skills logically, and reviews concepts for the students when they don’t quite get something. I also liked that I could track my daughter’s progress and review any missed problems from the program in addition to her worksheets and tests.
A+ Tutorsoft, Inc has generously offered Review Crew readers a coupon for 50% off! If you are looking for a computer-based math program this is an excellent opportunity! 
Use SPOFFER50 at checkout for 50% off until the end of March.
Don’t forget to check out other reviews by the TOS Review Crew!

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Disclaimer
I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Week in Review: February 11-15

Grace-Filled Writer

The girls were sick last week, and Mommy came down with their cold this week! We still had a good week and got through our work…mostly! We’ll be finishing up our Little Hands to Heaven and Little Hearts for His Glory units next week.

Well, it’s snowing out right now which is a big deal for me! We in the south have had a couple of mild winters and I’ve missed seeing snow! They say it isn’t going to stick much, but it sure is beautiful coming down! My girls are with my parents for the day but they should see some snow as well. It is a beautiful end to a lovely week.

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit…Umm…13ish
Okay, so when Mama gets sick thing don’t go as planned! Grace was happy playing with some of her manipulatives and we did things a little differently. We did all of our Bible readings, but didn’t manage to cover our finger-play for letter K or any of the awesome activities about David! We will definitely be revisiting Unit 13 again next week!

I’m sometimes amazed that my girls can make their own learning activities. Grace had been playing with Cookie Sheet Challenge: Volume 2 the right way…then I caught her sorting numbers into matching stacks! Who decides what the right way to learn is anyway? Of course I gushed over her and made sure she knew that her new way of playing was just wonderful!

Grace has been blessed the last few weeks to be my guinea pig for a couple of products I am reviewing. She hasn’t minded one bit!

The giveaway for Cookie Sheet: Volume 1 ends Sunday night! Don’t forget to take some time to enter. This is a fabulous manipulative for pre-readers and early readers!

We are really enjoying being part of the Review Crew! This week I reviewed a fabulous pre-k learning program, Flowering Baby, which ranges in age from birth to 5 years. You may think this is a little young, but I was incredibly impressed with the engaging ideas included for even the youngest  learners. Click the picture to see my full review and to see review from more of my Review Crewmates below!

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The rest of the time Grace enjoyed writing on the white board. She’s finally getting to the point I can let her do this without fear of white-board marker getting on her clothes, the walls, or the carpet. She’s always so very serious about her work.





Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 19…for the most part!
I’m not going to go back and add in what we missed for Beth, but I’ll admit we didn’t get to everything this week. When we have an off week I make sure we get to the basics: Reading, handwriting, and math. We did get more than just these accomplished, but not as many of the activities as we usually do.


Beth is continuing forward and worked on unit 14 in All About Spelling. If you haven’t looked into this program I would strongly encourage you look into it! The upfront cost really isn’t too bad when you remember that this is completely reusable and has a high resale value used.


Beth has also been improving her handwriting with this program and learning to write smaller since we use a wide ruled notebook. We’re working on uniform letter size as well as her willingness to let letters like j and y hang below the line! For some reason she just doesn’t like to let them do this on regular ruled paper.

Who else loves it when your child says, “Can I do my work under the table?” I love that when my sweet 5-year-old Kindergartner gets a little wiggly I can let her have the freedom she needs to move around! On this particular day she worked on quite a bit of her work on the floor!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 20
Rose seemed to really enjoy her grammar lessons this week. We were studying about when it was appropriate to use were and was. After learning the correct use of these verbs she tried some sentences using them in correctly. She said using them this way was cowboy talk! She found this hilarious. Here are some examples…
We was going to the store to get some milk.

She were so happy to be home again!

Rose also learned how to add three digit addition in Rod and Staff. She is doing so much better with math this year. She feels much more confident and even enjoys doing math now to the point that she asks to work on that first usually. 
She finished all of the history and also was able to watch a National Geographic DVD about Lewis and Clark. We studied about them last week and the movie was very well done. It was recommended on Bigger Hearts Facebook Group and I was thrilled to find it at our library! I love connecting with other HOD moms and getting ideas from them. It’s wonderful to share our journeys together this way!
It’s still snowing and my girls are having fun at their grandparent’s house! 

Flowering Baby Review

Grace-Filled Writer
(Flowering Baby is generously offering a 10% discount to my readers! Read to the bottom to find the discount code!)

When my first daughter was born seven years ago I was full of joy…and completely clueless. I had taught full-time for two years, worked for many years with children in our church, and had countless hours of babysitting experience — all with older children. I was an only child and the youngest of my cousins, so I was never around babies in my family and felt rather intimidated by this squalling little creature God had blessed me with.

I figured out the mechanics of baby care rather quickly, but as far as for providing learning I had to make it up as I went. I figured things out along the way, but felt like I could have been more intentional with how she learned. I enjoyed spending time with my sweet little girl, but feared there were skills I was neglecting to teach her. It was typically when our pediatrician asked if she was doing a certain skill that I would know we were on or off track. 

Flowering Baby is a full birth through preschool curriculum which gives parents a guide to make sure age appropriate skills are being addressed. The five separate levels (birth-one, one-two, two-three, three-four, and four-five) include cognitive skills, engaging activities, fine-motor skills, and enrichment appropriate to the age and presented in an easy-to-follow week-by-week guide. The curriculum comes as a pdf download or CD and costs between $30.00 and $38.00 per year or $132.00 for the entire 5-year program ($26.40 per year). I love any curriculum which comes as a pdf because I can use it on my Kindle Fire!

Although my youngest daughter is three I was impressed as I browsed through the younger years at the wonderful ideas and activities presented for this age. I particularly liked that each month included books to read even to the youngest babies. That is something we did with our daughters and they all three are avid readers!

I have been using the three to four-year-old level with Grace and she has loved the new activities! There are two parts to this level and the four-to-five-year-old level. The first part is a monthly curriculum guide. This guide includes a suggested list of books which correlate with different ares of discovery like color, part of the body, weather, and foods. A list of supplies for the month is also included. Following these lists are daily plans for 13 days of fun! Activities include sensory exploration, signing, and fine motor skills. Detailed instructions for each day are listed making this a truly open-and-go curriculum for our youngest learners!


Each month we explore a different style of music. This month was classical, one of my favorite genres! I listen to classical music a lot in the car with Grace and she calls it, “Mommy’s music”. The girls and I make up stories about what we imagine is happening as we listen to the melody. For one of the Flowering Baby activities Grace drew pictures while she listened. She drew several people and said, “Some are happy. Some are sad.” I asked her why and she said, “Because the music made them that way!” We were listening to a particular piece by Beethoven which did in fact change in mood from sad to happy. This was a fabulous way for Grace to experience music I had never thought of!

The second part is my favorite! Along with the monthly curriculum guide is a theme guide with suggested themes for each month. You can follow these suggestions, or do like we did and pick your own themes each month. I thought it might be fun to do a winter theme in the middle of summer and the summer theme during one of the cold winter months! Our favorite theme we studied was gardening.

Like the monthly guide each theme contains a list of suggested books and monthly supplies. Also included are field trip ideas and suggested websites for learning. I plan our garden for spring in January, so it was the perfect time for this theme! We read several books about gardens including Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert and Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. Grace loves books and this was a great way to introduce the theme!

Daily activities engaged Grace and immersed her in the gardening theme. She enjoyed investigating vegetables with a magnifying glass. We talked about the texture and color of each vegetable and for dinner we ate some of the same ones she investigated!

We also planted seeds for our garden this spring. We started four varieties of tomatoes, two kinds of peppers, gooseberries, huckleberries, wonderberries, and ground cherries. We’ll have much more we plant once the last frost date hits, but this is a great start!

If I wasn’t still recuperating  from surgery at Christmas we would have made a field trip during our unit to the Butterfly House at our local children’s museum. Admission is free on Wednesday afternoons for county residents and we take advantage of that when we are able. This beautiful indoor garden is always a pleasant respite during the cold months of winter. Butterflies are everywhere and often will even sit on your finger! I really wanted to be able to go for a field trip, but I just wasn’t up to it. Instead we looked at pictures of our previous visits and talked about how much fun it was!

Flowering Baby is a comprehensive curriculum which will challenge your young learner and give you a wide range of ideas and activities. By following this curriculum you can be certain your little ones experience a variety of learning and be academically prepared to begin school.

Use the code Blog10 to receive a 10% discount on your order!

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Disclaimer
I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 1: Review and Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer
I’m so excited for the another week of the Cookie Sheet Challenge! If you missed my first two reviews you can see Volume 2 here and Volume 3 here! These lovely manipulatives are made by Julie at Make, Take, Teach. They are incredibly easy (and cheap!) to put together and will provide endless amounts of educational fun. 
Volume 1 is great for students learning their alphabet, rhyming, and word building. Grace recognizes her letters and can recite them so now we are working on learning more about their order. Beth is working on basic spelling. She is an excellent reader so spelling is the natural next step. Visually seeing the words correct is one of the ways we’re beginning spelling. This Cookie Sheet Challenge is perfect for them both!

One thing I love about the Cookie Sheet Challenge sets is just how simple they are to put together. Print (I like photo paper to get a sturdy, laminated feel), get out your magnetic letters, put it on a cookie sheet and you are ready! This particular set needs a small sized magnetic letter set, so you’ll want to double check that you have those! I happened to have a second set from my sis-in-law since her boys have outgrown the magnetic letter stage. I’m so glad these were small! It took about 10 minutes to print the sheets and everything was ready for my girls!

Grace wanted Beth to help her so on the first sheet, which has all the letters of the alphabet, they worked to see how fast they could match up the letters. The second page for the alphabet has letters missing. This was fabulous for Grace. I haven’t ever tried an activity like this so I wasn’t sure how she would do. First we put all the letters which were listed on the page. Before I even had a chance to explain what to do next she was starting to fill in the missing letters! She didn’t get them all correct, but we’ll keep working at it!
The word building pages are a perfect fit for my Beth. She is doing very well with our spelling curriculum, but I’ve been looking for something to help her think about word building with a more hands-on feel. I particularly liked that Beth practiced matching lower case letters with upper case. You can find lower case magnetic letters, but this is one area she is a little weak in, so this was my preference. 
Also included in the packet are rhyming activities. This is a little beyond where Beth is at and I’m not quite there with Grace, but when I get there these will be great! There are several different rhyming pages along with small pictures to place in the right category. 
Julie, the creator of Make, Take, Teach, has a wonderful store at Teachers Pay Teachers. I’m certain you’ll find something there to catch your eye!
Are you ready to enter the giveaway? Don’t forget to spread the word to your homeschooling and classroom teacher friends! These activities are excellent for either type of learning.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer
I received Cookie Sheet Challenge 1 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Week in Review: February 4-8

Grace-Filled Writer

Wouldn’t you know it? One fabulously healthy week and then we’re back with colds again! My little Grace came down sick first, mid-week it was Beth’s turn, and last night Rose started coughing and sniffling. It’s just part of life I suppose. I honestly thought homeschooling would keep at least some of the germs at bay. Then again it would mean we were isolating ourselves and that’s not going to happen!

I’ve had the chance to review Apologia’s Zoology 2 over the last few weeks and it has been great. Take some time to check out my review, then click on the link at the bottom to read some other reviews by my fellow TOS Crew Review bloggers! This is my first official review for the Crew and it has been so much fun! Look forward to some great reviews in the coming weeks for everything from a full pre-K (birth and up) curriculum to math to music!

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I also have a giveaway for a fabulous manipulative for pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st grade! Click on the picture to see my review. Even if you don’t win the price for this manipulative packet is very reasonable and well worth it since it can be used over and over again! 
And here is our week…
Little Hands to Heaven: Sick Week…ugh!
I’m really not thrilled to have been off schedule again, but what can you do? So we didn’t have a lot of school for Miss Grace, but we did have a lot of coughing, sniffling, and chilling out!
Poor baby felt really crummy…
By the end of the week she was feeling better enough for some fun! “Hey Mommy…I need a football. I’m a footballer!” Yes, that is the Armor of God…and a Redskins football!
Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 18

Beth didn’t start feeling badly until the end of the week so we completed most of her work without too much trouble. She’s working on her Rod and Staff books here. I really love the newest books, G, H, and I. Beth also works in Thinking Skills 1 as recommended by Heart of Dakota, but I honestly haven’t liked it as much as these Rod and Staff books. She completed G and F in preschool and I plan on Grace doing the same, but not using Thinking Skills 1 with her.
I started using a new journal book I purchased during the last dollar sale at Scholastic. I love their dollar sales. The only area I wish HOD focused on more earlier is creative writing…probably because I am an English teacher! My girls love to write stories and be creative anyway so adding this in is not a chore for them. Beth drew a Penguin from directions and then finished a few sentences I love how she is learning to write in such an interesting way. Do you see the stick-figure girl? She felt the penguin needed an owner to take care of it, so she drew herself. Beth is our storyteller! 
Here are Rose and Beth working oh so diligently in the morning sun!
Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 19
Since I teach my girls all at the same time there are frequently times when it can be extremely distracting for Rose to focus on independent work, like math. When this is happening she will often ask if she can move to the kitchen table so she can focus. She doesn’t seem to mind if I suggest it either and she typically finished very quickly. We still are loving the simple style of Rod and Staff and Rose is genuinely mastering her addition facts this year. She is gaining confidence in math and it is wonderful to see!
I loved the poem we studied this week along with our unit about Lewis and Clark. Rose did too. She said it was her favorite so far this year. As an English teacher I love seeing her learn how to interpret and understand poetry and poetic language. She highlights the end of the stanzas in order to visually see the rhyming patterns. Rose has started writing her own poetry and was even accepted to be published in a poetry contest! I’m so proud of her!
We have also been studying Greek and Latin roots! You’ll hear more about these fabulous flash cards in a few weeks. Rose loves learning Greek. Her grandpa teaches Greek at a seminary and has taught her how to write her name in Greek. She can’t wait to show off her new knowledge to him!
So this was our week! While Heart of Dakota curriculum is incredibly easy to use because it is already laid out and planned with cohesive units for an entire year, I make a weekly checklist. I do include a few extras in our day, but not very many. This is mostly to make sure I don’t miss anything! I’m using a different guide for each of my girls and I feel that is the best for our family, but without my weekly checklist there is no way I’d remember every subject every day! So on Thursday or Friday (and sometimes Sunday night!) I sit down and fill out our grid. It only takes about 30 minutes…if I’m uninterrupted…and it is well worth the time I spend. The best part is my Hershey Kiss pencil…I love chocolate…sigh…
I hope you had a lovely week!