Tag: review

Cookie Sheet Activities Review…and Giveaway!!!!

Grace-Filled Writer

Homeschooling three little girls fills my heart with joy…and sometimes my life with challenges. My biggest challenge is keeping my girls productive and engaged while I’m working individually with one of their sisters. I am fine with letting them play on their own, but really like to keep them in learning-mode as long as possible before we switch to play-mode. My girls get so caught up in their pretend play that pulling them back to focused learning isn’t always easy.

This summer I gave in to Pinterest and was soon falling in love with lots of great ideas to keep my girls learning while I was teaching the others! The only problem was how much time each of these great activities took to make. With the school-year already underway, I kept looking and found The Cookie Sheet Challenge over at the Make, Take, and Teach Blog.These engaging activities were the perfect compliment for the educational level of all three of my daughters (Yay!), they were colorful and engaging (Double Yay!!), and already created (Triple Yay!!!). I couldn’t wait to try them out!
Volume 3 was a great choice for Beth (Kindergarten) and Rose (2nd grade). I love that there is more than one activity included in each challenge set! There was something for both girls. Even Grace (K-3) could enjoy portions of this set. 
Since we already had a large set of magnetic letters, and some extra cookie sheets, all the preparation this took was printing. I prefer to use photo paper for printing activities I know I’m going to reuse. It creates an almost laminated feel and lasts much longer than traditional card stock. I also like the shiny look the pages had. It didn’t take long to print the whole set, but there were SO many pages! I didn’t realize just how much came with this until it kept printing…and printing…and printing! The girls always know when I’m getting something special ready for them. They were watching the printer as much as I was!
Beth is already an excellent reader. She is also unbelievably creative and loves to make up stories. Building sight words with magnetic letters is a great way to help her start to learn how to transfer all those great ideas from her head on to paper! I was pleased with how quickly she took to this activity and really enjoyed searching for the right letters to create the correct word. There are so many of these pages she won’t ever get bored! She was so proud of herself for finding all the right letters.
Another neat aspect to this activity was my youngest daughter was also able to build these words. While she is not yet reading, she is learning her letters. This activity is a great for pre-readers as they begin to recognize letter relationships and how they build words when placed together. (Grace was feeling a little big camera shy this morning, so you’ll just have to take my word for it!)
Another activity included in this set is placing the correct site word in each sentence. Included in the set is a page of these words which you cut and place in the squares at the bottom. I cheated 🙂 I already have a magnetic sentence building set which includes all of the typical sight words so I used those. This was a great activity for Rose because she often wants to make up whatever she thinks the word is. she is also an excellent reader and loving books far above her expected reading level, but she likes to read so quickly she often just looks at the first couple of letters and then guesses what will come next. Filling in the words helped her see context and forced her to think about what should be there. This was the first page and they become progressively more difficult. 
Rose really liked this and was so happy she was able to have a fun activity as well! Now I just have to convince Beth she can do this activity just like Rose. She often thinks that because she is younger she has to wait to do the same things as her older sister! This will be a great activity for her as well as she moves towards context word connections. 
So, are you ready to win Cookie Sheet Activities Volume 3: Sight Words!?! There are lots of ways to enter! Don’t forget to head over to the Make, Take, and Teach Blog to check out all of her great ideas! Also visit her store at Teachers Pay Teachers to check out Volume 3 which I reviewed,  all 5 Volumes of Cookie Sheet Activities, and many more other learning activities! The giveaway begins October 1st at Midnight and will run until October 8th. 
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*I received Cookie Sheet Challenge 3 for this review

All About Spelling Review…And GIVEAWAY!!!

Grace-Filled Writer

When we brought my daughter home mid-year from 1stgrade to begin homeschooling one of the areas she seemed to be struggling with was spelling. We realized later that the words she was being taught were high 2ndand 3rd grade level words which explained her struggle, but I didn’t know that at first. So I sought to figure out how to teach spelling. I was a horrible speller because I do not memorize well and that was the strategy I was taught in school. I was given a list of 10 words, tried to memorize them by Friday, only miss two or three, but struggled with retention.
I had seen All About Spelling mentioned on several blogs and websites, so I discussed the situation with a veteran homeschooling mom and asked about the curriculum. She told me a lot of parents she knew used it and that it was very rule oriented. Bingo! I knew it would be perfect from my rule-oriented daughter!
I received the box after just a couple of days and was thrilled to get started! The brightly colored tiles intrigued my daughter and she eagerly asked when we could start. It is suggested that you start at the very beginning in level 1 to make sure their foundation is laid strongly. Because she was already devouring books on a 3rd grade level the beginning seemed too easy, but after having been through half of the second level I am extremely glad I followed the advice to start in Level 1. There are somany things which are built on from that level which seem insignificant at the time but are truly stepping stones to upcoming levels.
We have a beautiful white board hanging on the wall. We also have a young preschooler! Add in brightly colored letter tiles and you have an enormous mess and the possibility of some missing letters! I opted to purchase 2 cookie sheets and 2 small platters from the Dollar Tree. One cookie sheet holds the basic phonemes which I use with both girls. The second sheet holds the letter combinations I use with Rose. we use the small platters for the girls to do their tile work. This has worked really well for us so far. One day we may switch to the white board, but for now this is a better solution!
**Confession**
I didn’t buy the box that you can purchase from the website. In hindsight I wished I had! I have one that is working, but it definitely won’t continue to hold all the cards!
Because the beginning lessons were basically review I did about 1 lesson a day until we reached something new to her, about lesson 14. To be honest, my daughter was done with the tiles after about a week. So I tweaked. We use the tiles to learn a new concept, but everything else is done on paper. This has worked well for her. Once we reached the “new concept” point we now take about 1 lesson a week.
Although spelling is not her favorite part of the day, it is certainly more enjoyable now that she is learning rules and succeeding.
I have once again started with level 1 with my next daughter. She just started kindergarten, but has completed her phonics program and is reading on a 2nd grade level. I would highly recommend waiting to begin spelling until after finishing a year of phonics. From my experience it seems to work best if done in this order.
Since she was younger at the start I took the whole program slower. She took about 2 weeks to memorize the initial yellow phonograms. She didn’t have any trouble with the consonants and already memorized the basic long and shorts sounds of each vowel, but remembering the new sounds for those was harder for her to remember. She mastered them this past week and was able to quickly review all the sounds. I accidentally included sounds taught later in the book like /th/ and /sh/, but she breezed through those without a second thought! Beth has currently been working on segmenting the words and she really likes sliding the colorful circles!
  
The only portion of the program I have not used as much are the green index cards with words on them. It is a good way to keep track of which rules and words she has mastered, but I think I would prefer a checklist that I could look at easier.
I didn’t quite get the need for so many colored letters, but now that I’m well into the second book I appreciate the various colored tiles for different phonograms. This is a huge bonus for visual learners and my daughter quickly recognizes letter patterns because of them.
**Secret Bonus**
I finally figured out why I wasn’t a good speller…I never learned the rules. Why oh why wasn’t I taught these very clear and helpful rules when I was in school? I had no idea there was actually a rule for when c says /s/ and when it says /k/ or how to know whether to use c, k, or ck to make the /k/ sound. Now that we are learning the rules we are all spelling better! 
To find out more about All About Spelling click on this link!

And NOW for the giveaway! There are a few ways to enter, but nothing too painful! Our giveaway will run until September 24th. Good luck!

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*I received Level 4 for this review

Little Hearts for His Glory

Grace-Filled Writer

We use Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota Publishing as our Kindergarten curriculum. The first time I completed this as a K-4 program to prepare my un-preschooled daughter for public school kindergarten.  It definitely suited my needs at the, but after using it for kindergarten I enjoy this program even more.
One of the nice aspects of the entire Heart of Dakota curriculum line is they can be used for various grade levels. You simply choose the options which best suit your needs. This also allows students to be combined for history and science while still working at their own level for math, handwriting, and reading. I prefer not to combine my girls within guides, but I like knowing I have the option one day if I ever choose to.
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Grace often draws while I read her history aloud.

I love that the curriculum is all-in-one and very cohesive. History readings are the core of the program going along with the Charlotte Mason idea of education.  All other subjects are connected to this core with the exception of handwriting, reading, and math. Each week activities for science, history, rhymes, and Scripture memory are completed. Showing my children how all the subjects relate seems to bring a deeper understanding to what they are learning.

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Heart of Dakota activities get my girl excited!

I appreciate that the history spines are biblically grounded and we even read quite a bit of Scripture as part of history. Teaching my girls history and science from a biblical worldview is something I will never take for granted. As we were studying creation during the first week I was thinking of how much I had prepared my older daughter, thinking we would be sending her to public school, that she would be taught things that were different from what we believe the Bible teaches. Knowing I don’t have to tell my children anymore that they may be taught fallacy is an added benefit to homeschool I had not considered before.

Two of our favorite parts are the weekly rhymes and read alouds. Each week we learn a new rhyme which emphasizes a concept learned from history. The read alouds are classic American folk tales which involve characters from Thorton Burgess, Uncle Wiggly, and Beatrix Potter. These classic stories are enhanced with questions to get little minds thinking about right and wrong choices as well as predicting what will happen next in the story.
As with the entire Heart of Dakota line, math, handwriting, and thinking skills have suggested items, but are not required to make the program work. The recommended programs are Earlybird Singapore, A Reason for Handwriting K, and Rod and Staff books D and F or 1st grade Thinking Skills.
We are using the Singapore math, but will switch over to Rod and Staff for 1st grade. I also am using A Reason for Handwriting, but will also begin using Rod and Staff for this when we finish the book.

**Update 2015**

For my third time through this guide we are using Math Mammoth (Our final settling ground for math!) and a combination of Fundanoodle and A Reason for Handwriting for the handwriting. 

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Finally we have chosen to use the 1st grade Thinking Skills because she completed the Rod and Staff D and F options in K-4. I really love the ABC series from Rod and Staff and have allowed her to continue with G,H, and I for this year as well. It is only a couple of extra pages and provides extra critical thinking activities.

**Update 2015**

The 1st Grade Thinking Skills book is no longer in print and so we have stuck strictly to the Rod and Staff ABC series. 

Because we complete Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons prior to Kindergarten we use Abeka’s K-5 and 1st grade reading really cement her phonics solidly. We also use All About Spelling, level 1 as it is a phonics based spelling program. In addition to these allow my girls devour any books they want. I am thrilled to have avid readers who can’t get enough reading to satisfy them!

**Update 2015**

With Grace after finishing the Abeka Phonics we moved into the Emerging Readers used in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and Bigger Hearts for His Glory. She was ready and has loved reading all of these classic stories included. 

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Already learning geography in Kindergarten!

I have found a home in Heart of Dakota Publishing. I feel so very confident teaching my daughters because of the easy open-and-go setup, unit cohesiveness, and overall simplicity of the activities. I could not ask for a more well rounded and balanced curriculum. 

Bigger Hearts for His Glory

Grace-Filled Writer

I use Bigger Hearts for His Glory for our 2ndgrade program. As with all of the Heart of Dakota curriculum guides all other subjects are tied to the history spines. For this guide we are focusing on the period of explorations to the early 1900’s.
One of the nice aspects of the entire Heart of Dakota curriculum line is they can be used for various grade levels. You simply choose the options which best suit your needs. This also allows students to be combined for history and science while still working at their own level for math, handwriting, and reading. I prefer not to combine my girls within guides, but I like knowing I have the options one day if I ever choose to.
Studies of history include weekly entries on a timeline, narration, vocabulary work and notebooking entries. This is the first guide in the series where narration is formally used. This concept took some getting used to as I had never experienced narration before Heart of Dakota. It is briefly touched on in the previous guide, Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, but I felt like I was floundering a little bit at the beginning. The biggest help I found in this area was searching for YouTube videos for examples of narration.
In addition to history read alouds there are weekly activities which explore geography, historical life, and more. These are always hands on and very engaging. I try to always take pictures of these activities because my girls have so much fun!
Science always relates to what we are learning in history and includes weekly narration, experiments, and notebooking entries. The experiments are very hands on and include written record of a question we are answering, a hypothesis, a picture showing the experiment, and finally a conclusion statement. This seemed like a lot at first, but I do appreciate that my children are being exposed to a formal scientific process even before they realize that is what they are doing.
A weekly poem is studied as well as introduction to some of the more formal aspects of poetry like rhyme scheme and symbolic meaning. With my background in literature I truly appreciate this gentle approach to teaching poetry at a young age.
Bible study focuses on a passage to memorize (1-2 verses) from Proverbs and daily discussion about the verse. These verses have brought out some great discussions, but more importantly I see the principles learned showing up outside of our school time. I am so encouraged when I see my daughters begin to follow after Christ on their own. The Scripture also always relates to something learned about in history that week.
Spelling is learned through a Charlotte Mason method called dictation. The students study a short passage (usually 2 sentences and several extra words) then try to write the passage without any punctuation or spelling errors as it is dictated to them. This was another part that is new with this particular guide. I like the way it is taught, but also wanted to give my daughters more formal rules and so I have added All About Spelling in addition to the dictation. We work this out by doing alternating days of dictation and All About Spelling.
Finally is something near and dear to my heart…grammar! I know that sounds a little crazy, but my background is teaching junior high English. I cannot begin to tell you the struggle I had with grammar when I was teaching full time before the kids came along. I am so pleased with the grammar choice from Heart of Dakota which is Rod and Staff. There are no frills or fancy gimmicks, but it is very strong even in the earliest level which is taught along with this guide.
I believe my favorite part about the grammar is that it is very biblically based, which honestly surprised me. The very first lesson teaches that God created language, that He is a God of order, and that our language reflects this order. That is just so beautiful to me!
As with the entire Heart of Dakota line, math, handwriting, and reading/literature have suggested items, but are not required to make the program work. The recommended programs are Singapore, Cheerful Cursive, and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. We have chosen different programs for each. For math we are using Rod and Staff grade 2, for handwriting we are using A Reason for Handwriting T and C for cursive, and for literature I am using a more informal approach. We are reading the recommended books from Drawn Into the Heart of Reading for the 2/3 level, but are simply discussing the book as it is read. You can click on the various links to read reviews about these differentiations in our program.
We have found our education home with Heart of Dakota. Without these guides my girls would still learn all they needed to, but it certainly wouldn’t be as much fun!

Math: Rod and Staff VS Singapore

Grace-Filled Writer

As far as math programs go you could not get two on such different ends of the spectrum. Singapore is recommended by Heart of Dakota Publishing (Our homeschool curriculum) but this program was a real struggle for us. I used the now retired Earlybird Kindergarten books which we enjoyed immensely. I was very surprised that we struggled. I’m not certain if our struggle came from my difficulty teaching the concepts or the abstract thinking processes or a little bit of both, but for us Singapore just didn’t work. I read both rave reviews and incredibly negative reviews. I tried all of the suggestions. I followed the prescribed manipulatives in our guides, but it just didn’t click with me or my daughter.
After several weeks of frustration I sent her to my husband with her workbook and asked that he give it a try. He willingly set to work, but within minutes came to me asking what in the world he was supposed to be teaching her. My husband is really good at math…I mean really good. When he took the AP test for calculus in high school he received a 5, the highest score possible. He placed into college calculus his freshman year as his original course was to become a math teacher. God called him into the ministry instead…but I digress.
I had to spend about 20 minutes teaching my very skeptical, and very mathematically oriented, man the concepts behind Singapore’s method. After some incredulous looks he finally went back to try and teach it to my daughter. Needless to say, this did notgo very well. After that didn’t work he approached me with looking for another curriculum. I told him my biggest concern was that I didn’t even know what to look for! He said to just look around to see what I could find and that he would take a look at it with me.
The next day I wandered over to homeschool reviews and started browsing various curriculum choices for math. The reviews were all over the place some saying one curriculum was amazing while another said the same curriculum just didn’t work for their family. Another raved about the manipulatives in one curriculum while another person felt they got in the way. One curriculum was too hands on while another reviewer said the same curriculum wasn’t hands on enough. It didn’t take long for me to become very frustrated.
Then I found reviews for Rod and Staff math. I was already familiar with their company because I use their preschool books grammar series. Every…every…reviewer said the same thing. It was simple. It was direct. It taught concepts logically and in small steps. The only downsides listed were the number of problems practicing a concept (More practice? I’m okay with that!) and that all of the illustrations were in black and white. (No colors? We’ll get over it.) I reviewed samples for several grade levels and became very excited about what I was seeing. Not only that, the price was about half that of any other I had seen.
I approached my husband with the curriculum and he said, “I knew you could find one that would work!” So we ordered. I anxiously awaited the box eager to see what it was like. The reviewers were right…no frills, no color, no gimmicks…and I loved it! We all did actually. My husband was very impressed with the progression and my daughter begged to start using it that night.
The workbooks which were reviewed basic math facts (addition then subtraction) for the first month or so, which I thought may be too easy for my daughter even though she was struggling with this very thing earlier in the year. I approached my daughter a couple of weeks in and asked her what she thought. She said, “It’s a lot of writing, but I like it. I’m just glad I understand it.” I was sold. My girl feels confident again in an area where she struggled and is still working on grade level.
We intend to stick with Rod and Staff and progress at our daughters’ pace. One of the things I love about homeschooling is I’m not restricted to force them into a specific grade level. I can give them higher level or lower level as their individual learning needs dictate. Of course our goal is to get them to their grade levels or above, but if they are struggling I can back up or slow down or re-teach or whatever to help them succeed. So far, I was frequently re-teaching Singapore…Rod and Staff, no re-teaching necessary. 

Rod and Staff Tot School: About Three

Grace-Filled Writer

So imagine you have an adorable almost three-year-old who is watching her big sisters work hard at school every day. This little sweetie is begging you, “I want to do lessons too Mommy!” in such a darling voice you can’t bear to deny her! So you do what any good homeschooling Mommy of a pre-preschooler would do…you let her learn!

This looks different for everyone. I had already made busy bag ideas like these for our previous year. They worked well for a while, but they just didn’t hold her attention anymore. I was planning to make some more bags with a few harder skills when she brought me a paper she had been working on. It was an early letter tracing worksheet and she had traced all of the letters. My kids continue to amaze me with their abilities which I have never taught! This set me on a quest to search out something which would be easy enough for her to complete, but challenge her enough not to bore her!

I searched several places and settled upon Heart of Dakota’s Little Hands to Heaven (check here for my review!) and Rod and Staff’s 3/4 preschool curriculum, About 3.

The Rod and Staff curriculum includes four books which are just right for her because she already is able to hold her pencil well and have some control. They are also very inexpensive. The drawings are simple. I appreciate they are not so flashy as to distract her from the task she is completing.

The books are completed A-D with very gradual skill progression. I appreciate that teach a skill by example in very small steps. So far she has loved these books and becomes frustrated when I tell her she is finished for the day in the books! I have started allowing her to color the beautiful pictures which has helped this some.

I highly recommend this company’s materials. I have read some reviews which cut down their materials for being too old fashioned. I happen to think this is a nice side-benefit. We will talk about farming, sewing, cooking, and other more traditional skills which are often forgotten. All of the curriculum from Rod and Staff is also very Christ-centered. I appreciate that what we are teaching them about the Bible is reinforced through all aspects of their curriculum.

You can check out these books and more from Rod and Staff publishing here. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Little Hands to Heaven

Grace-Filled Writer
Little Hands to Heaven is an all-inclusive preschool curriculum I discovered when my oldest daughter was almost 2! That was way back in 2007 and I’m using it again this year for a third time!

This is the youngest guide in the Heart of Dakota Curriculum series. It includes all of the elements of a solid preschool program including Bible, letter recognition, pre-reading instruction, number recognition, counting, art, pattern recognition, color recognition, music, drama, thinking games, and much more! The interactive activities are lively and creative allowing even very young children to participate fully.

Each unit is 5 days long and includes a unique poem to teach basic phonic sounds while reinforcing the Bible lessons for the week. A special motion is assigned to the letter and sound for easy review. Daily music selections retell Bible stories and weekly drama games are included which allow children to explore their emotions. Number recognition and counting is also reviewed weekly. The art projects are simple enough for the very young with optional older child instructions.

The thing I find most beautiful about this curriculum is how all of the learning disciplines connect together. This is a feature found in all levels of the Heart of Dakota Curriculum. I appreciate the time the author, Carrie Austen, took on even the youngest guide to connect Biblical truth to all other aspects.

I used this with my older two daughters, but wasn’t very committed either time. I had a new baby in the house with both of them and it just wasn’t a priority. Now that we’re officially homeschooling until further notice my youngest daughter begged to begin lessons. I was more than happy to pull this guide out once again, this time with better focus. It has become such a sweet time for my little girl and I to play and learn together! I’m so grateful for guidance as I would be lost as to what to include for preschool and definitely wouldn’t be able to connect it all together the way Carrie has!

Child Training Bible: Review and Giveaway!

Grace-Filled Writer

Who could use a fabulous resource for teaching your children Spiritual truth in an instant? When I first read about the Child Training Bible on facebook I was intrigued. I sent my husband a quick e-mail with the link to website assuming we would talk about it when he got home. Within 10 minutes he responded with a note telling me he had already ordered the kit and we could go look for a Bible the first chance we had!

The Child Training Bible is an inexpensive way to put the Word of God at the fingertips of you and your children. In an instant you can address such issues as pride, anger, or lying straight from the Word of God. We all know the principles Scripture has laid out, but how many of us can flip to the correct verse the first time, every time, we need to address an issue with our children?

Not only is this an excellent resource for you as a parent, this gives your children an opportunity to find appropriate Scripture to address issues they know they are dealing with. Young children cannot handle a concordance very well, but the color coded system presented here makes the Bible so easy for a young reader to use on their own!

This is what you receive when you order a child training Bible in addition to instructions for how to make one. The laminated pages are 9 x 6 so you’ll want to measure the inside cover of the Bible you choose. The first page will be taped or glued into the front cover. Double sided tape worked beautifully! The last three pages are tucked inside for reference when needed.

The other materials you will need are highlighters in each color shown, post-it flags in each color shown, and double sided tape. There are multiple verses for each topic, hence the highlighters and tabs! The directions guide you through the process of highlighting and tabbing.

We chose to use the New King James Version Bible because this is the version the kids memorize Scripture out of for Awana. I spent about a total of two hours over the course of a week working on this in the evenings. The girls anxiously waited to see what I was making! They asked a lot of questions and enjoyed flipping through the tabs.

I learned a couple of important things in putting our Bible together. We bought a Bible with Jesus’ words in red letters. Now this is not a major problem until you get to the portions highlighted in red. This only affects a handful of verses, but in hindsight an all black letter Bible might have been a better choice. I have heard some people use crayons or colored pencils and find this works fine on the red lettering. Also, the highlighters can tend to bleed through the page so I learned to keep a tissue handy to “blot” the ink as soon as you highlight.

The small investment made in this project has already been returned in full from the responses in my children. Being a pastor’s family they have been trained in these truths from early on, but seeing it written in the Bible means more to them, just as it should.

This is my first ever giveaway! Don’t forget to sign up below and there are several ways to earn entries! I wish you call could win! If you don’t head over to their website and pick one up!

(Here is our completed Bible. Three girls meant a nice girly purple/pink Bible. They love it!)

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