2015-2016 School Year - Plan of Attack

Continuing with the school theme for another Monday, today I want to share with you the curriculum we have chosen to use this year.  Because I have been doing this homeschooling thing for over 17 years now and because I review homeschooling products on the side, we have come in contact with a lot of great, and a few no so great materials.  We have even come to realize that some things we have used have been great for one child, but not the best fit for another.  After all, I have four very different children with different strengths and weaknesses, not to mention different learning styles.

What does that mean for us?

It means that planning for every new school year takes some work on my part.  I pull out the specific grades' storage bins, remind myself of what I have and then decide what will or will not work for that particular child.  I make a list of the things I need to change and then get busy ordering if the need arises. Luckily for me, I often review new products that I set aside once our review period is over to use in a new school year cycle.

This year is a year of several changes for us but I am excited to officially get started in another week!  I will have to let you know what the boys think! ;)

3rd grade-

READING- Sonlight Literature
  Colby likes to read, so this "just" read a book and answer questions orally method works for us.

GRAMMAR- BJU English 3 and Evan-Moor Daily Language Review, Grade 3
     The reason we chose BJU this year was that I like how the chapters alternate between writing and grammar.  For my active child, it helps cut down on the monotony he is prone to experience.  We are using the daily review as part of his independent time.  Though it only takes him a few minutes to do, I am hoping it will help give him some confidence to begin doing some school independently.

SPELLING- All About Spelling, Level 4
  Admittedly, Colby is a good speller, but this program just calls his name!  It is active and hands on enough to keep him engaged.

MATH- Teaching Textbooks, Math 3
  In the past we have used Saxon until about 5th grade, but I do not think this child could stand another year of it- he just wasn't challenged enough!  I did get the hard copy of the text, but I am betting he will use and love the CD on the computer the most.

HISTORY- Veritas Press Self Paced History- New Testament Greece and Rome
  This we actually started at the beginning of the summer, taking a few weeks off here and there.  I NEVER thought when we reviewed this program last year that this would become one of our all time favorite curriculums.  We walked away from a history curriculum we had happily used for years because Colby just cannot get enough of it.  He has learned so much from Veritas and continues to be as excited about it today, a year later, as he was when we first tried it.  If you are not familiar with Veritas Self Paced History, I encourage you to read our review!

SCIENCE- Nancy Larson Science 2 and 3
  Yes, you read that correctly.  We are planning to use two levels this year.  Colby really enjoyed level one last year but tends to ask to do several lessons in one sitting, so I know we can cover two levels this year.  While this does not come from a Creationist point of view, I am comfortable with the information Nancy provides because we do it together.  I LOVE that it is an all-in-one boxed kit.  It makes planning ahead NOT necessary and the lessons fun!

BIBLE- Grapevine Studies
  This will be our first year using Grapevine, but so far I like what I see!  Another program we highly recommend is Bible Study Guide for All Ages, especially if you are schooling multiple ages at one time.

GEOGRAPHY-Evan-Moor Daily Geography Practice 3
  I know, I know, a third grader doesn't necessarily need geography, but this simple little workbook is again a chance for Colby to gain confidence in doing school independently. Plus, who doesn't like playing with maps?

SPANISH- Flip Flop Spanish
  Yes, we have done this before, but because of the timing of our review we never finished the complete program.  It is fun and active and a great fit for my hands-on kid, so we are excited about doing it again.  We have a ton of Spanish resources we will use to supplement if needed.


8th Grade-

READING- Lightning Literature-
  We reviewed this and loved it, so we put it aside to continue this year.

WRITING- Institute of Excellence in Writing (IEW) Student Writing Intensive
  There is just no better writing program out there than IEW!  I do like to save it for upper middle school and lower high school grades.

SPELLING- IEW's Phoentic Zoo, Level B
  We are getting ready to begin and review this product.  It is my prayer that because it has a large auditory based style it will be the answer to our poor spelling problems.  Stay tuned.

VOCABULARY- Wordly Wise
  Great, simple program.  Salem did the online version last year but chose to use the workbook this year.

GRAMMAR- Easy Grammar Plus, East Grammar Ultimate Series 8th grade and IEW's Fix It
  Yes, I know this may seem like overkill (please do not tell my son) but since this may be his last formal year of basic grammar, I want to make sure he has got it down to a science!  I was going to stop using Fix It for a while, but since we have seen some good progress with the program I decided it was just too good not to finish.

MATH- UnLock Math Pre Algebra
  We have used Teaching Textbooks at this level with much success, but after doing this review recently, Salem chose to stick with it.  Alecia is a great teacher and Salem really likes her teaching style.  When a child asks you to do a specific math, just go with it!

HISTORY- Sonlight
  After many years of using Sonlight for History, two years ago we changed to Notgrass after reviewing their America the Beautiful program.  We are returning to Sonlight just for the year because I love the books used in their American History- Core 100 program.  We are going to use this year as a "bonus" in History, and return to Notgrass for Salem's high school years. Yes, sometimes there are so many good programs out there that it is hard to decide which to use.  Unless you are me, and you choose to use them all! ;)

HEALTH- Total Health
  All kids needs some basic health lessons in my opinion.  Boys especially! ;)

BIBLE- Apologia's Who is My Neighbor?
We used this series as a review item twice now, and are going back to finish this book!  We love it!

GEOGRAPHY- Memoria Press Geography II
  We reviewed this geography several years ago and I just happened upon the new level again this year.  Salem liked that it was fairly simple and straight to the point, but also used maps and taught some neat facts about the different countries.  It is a nice solid program that doesn't take up too much time, but teaches good material.

SCIENCE- Apologia's Physical Science
  Why try to fix what is not broken, right?  Plus, we are blessed that a friend does labs with several kiddos twice a month.  She is my hero!

SPANISH- Classical Academic Press- Spanish for Children, Primer A
  There are a lot of good programs out there for Spanish, but we really like that this one has video teaching, listening CDs, and very strong grammar-based lessons.  You can begin it at a younger age, but we decided to use it for 8th and 9th grade then move on to three more years at a higher level.


Wow, are you tired?  I am!  But I am also very excited too.  Mark your calendars- September 7th starts our week one of Sabbath Week Schooling for 2015-1016!

Join us on September 7th as some friends join us to show you what different homeschoolers' days REALLY look like!  You just might be surprised!

Linking up with friends-

Blessings,

KinderBach -TOS Crew Review

We love the sound of music in our house.  Do you?  That's why we were so excited to be asked to review Kerri Gregors' KinderBach .  We had the opportunity to review the iPad app of KinderBach last year and loved it, so I jumped at the chance to review the Online One year Membership with Teacher's Corner.

Intended to teach piano to children ages 3-7, KinderBach has 6 levels of piano instruction, each containing 10 weeks of lessons.  Each week contains four videos, lasting several minutes a piece.  The site is so easy to navigate.  Each weeks' screen has colorful buttons for the four videos to choose from.  Once you choose which video to watch it will also show you the goal of that day's lesson so you will know what you are going to be working on.  For example- "separating and numbering the finger digits."  It also has a reminder button and link of the corresponding coloring or activity page you will need to print from the book if you have not already done so, as well as any additional supplies you may need like glue an scissors.  A workbook file is included at each level for you to print.

The Teacher's Corner is a special section for you the adult!  It has digital downloads to help you teach your child or even a group of children.  Lessons plans show each week broken into two days worth of activities.  From playing games, to using rhythm instruments to actual piano work, Kerri tells you exactly what you need to teach your child.  A teacher's aid book contains all of the games and activities you will need to print out and use.  The teacher's guide is geared towards a teacher of a group, but talks about goals and theories used.  There are also audio MP3 files, the student book and even certificates.

How we used this program.? I have to admit that we did not use this program twice a week.  Nope!  We were on it much more often!  CJ loves music and he loves Ms. Kerri, so it was an almost daily activity with us.  To make sure we did not go through the level too fast we did repeat many of the videos.  Since we had reviewed this program's iPad version last year, we started a few weeks in.  I initially thought we would be able to begin with level two, but he had forgotten some things so we went back for a while and reviewed earlier lessons.  That is one of the great things about this program, you can bounce back and forth between levels and weeks according to your needs.  If your child needs additional practice on one lesson, you can re-watch that video as often as you need. While the lesson plans are broken down to 4 days a week, one of the glories of this program is that you can adjust it to your child's needs or desires.  We would often watch all four videos for the week on a Monday and then repeat the ones he enjoyed most for the next few days or focus on the ones he needed more work on.  I printed out the entire workbook for the level we were doing at the time, but loved the visual reminder on each day's lesson of what page would be used.   

What did we think?  We love this program!  It is easy to use and so kid friendly.  Kerri has a great personality that I think just naturally draws kids to her.  CJ thinks she is so much fun.  She often asks the child a question and then waits to give them time to respond before moving on.  She is also full of praise and encouragement.  I also like that this program appeals to many learning styles. The videos are done well and have lots of color and animation to capture a child's attention and the catchy music and voices are great for those who have auditory learners.  We did find the volume level tended to be more variable than we would have liked, but all in all it was not a huge problem.  If you have a child who loves arts and crafts there are games to cut out and plenty of pictures to color and worksheets to do.  One of the things that worked to our advantage was that we would pull up this program on the laptop and then take that laptop to the piano while we worked.  Kerri often asks the child to play a song with her so if your computer is not near your piano or laptop, you will have problems with that part.  If you are looking for a complicated way to teach, you will not find it here. Using cute characters like Dodi the donkey and his friend Frisco, Kerri helps kids associate certain parts of the keyboard or music scale with pictures, making them easier to remember.  Dodi's "house" is represented by two black keys as seen below and a train station is a set of three back keys together. By combining these fun visual clues with her instruction, Kerri makes learning the piano fun.

Because my older girls already play the piano well, this has been not only a fun program for my 6 year old, but also a huge confidence builder.  As you can see from the pictures below, he was so excited to be able to "teach" his sister his new song.  From my experience, the younger you can start a child on the piano and with music skills, the better.  To be able to do so in a non threatening, fun format is the best.  KinderBach is sure to deliver that and so much more.  We highly recommend it for a beginning piano instruction program!

KinderBach is currently running a special price of $95.88 for its one year online membership.  That breaks down to about $7.99 per month.  If you have priced piano lessons lately then you will know what a deal this is.  A free online trial is available and will give you a good idea of what you can expect from this program.  I encourage you to check out it with with your child and see what they think.

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/kinderbach
Facebook for Teachers:  www.facebook.com/classroomkinderbach
Twitter: @KinderBach
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/KinderBach/

YouTube: KinderBach Preschool Piano

CREW Review- Math Made Easy!



Math Made Easy, created by Glenda Brown James, puts a whole new spin on learning math facts.

  A GOOD SPIN!

Children learn addition and multiplication facts without counting on their fingers.

Mastery of facts in 6 weeks.

Only 36 facts to memorize!

Here are the basics:  Mrs. James explains that most kids know or can see quickly that they know the 0, 1, 10 and 11 facts! Show them how easy they are and get them excited about what they know already. Then show them how those facts are the same regardless of which number comes first! THEN, mark all of those facts off a fact chart and show them they only have 36 facts left to learn...6 a week for 6 weeks! 6 RANDOM facts. Each week, with the help of included fact cards, your child practices the facts out loud and then does a quick worksheet to solidify that learned knowledge. Each sheet is labeled for the week and day you are to do it. An organized, my kind of lady! Love her already! That's it! Repeat with week 2 through 6 - six new facts and the worksheets will also review the ones from the previous week. In addition, Mrs. James has included several games in the back of the book to cut out and use to further reinforce practice. OK, yes, my oldest son was a little old for this program, but I LOVED it anyway. Let me tell you why! He learned skip counting at the time he first learned his multiplication facts. A common way to teach. You know, 7, 14, 21, 28.... And he is pretty good at that. But, that is where his knowledge stopped. Ask him 7 x 8 and he has to stop and think or skip count his way to the answer. It may get him through during the normal day, though not efficiently, but it is a horrible problem when testing time comes! So he needed this practice! By teaching facts in a random order, it forced him to learn each fact again, non-dependent on the one before or after it in a number family. Viola! KNOWLEDGE!  We have already seen a HUGE improvement on not only his knowledge, but also his confidence. The worksheets have been understandably under his level as a 5th grader, but no doubt would be just fine for a child just learning their multiplication tables THIS WILL FOREVER CHANGE HOW I TEACH MULTIPLICATION! Really!  The next time around, I assure you we will be skipping the traditional lessons and using Math Made Easy for learning basic math facts!

 This Homeschool Multiplication Package can be ordered at Math Made Easy for $24.95.  Classroom editions are also available!

 To read what fellow CREW members had to say about this product as well as the addition version click on the banner below!

  Disclaimer:  We received a copy of Math Made Easy, Multiplication in exchange for our review.  Opinions expressed are our own, and were not influenced by the company in any way.