What are your kids watching on YouTube?

Thanks to Focus On The Family you can learn more about what your kids may be watching on YouTube. 

Plugged In has reviews of some of the most popular You Tubbers, so check them out and find out what your kids are watching.

As parents it's up to you what you find allowable media content in your home and for your family. Always be mindful of who your children are allowing into your home via the Internet. There is lots of good material out there and then there is even more that is lurking out there to harm the hearts, minds, and souls of our children. 

Keep watch and be vigilant in keeping your children safe. 

https://www.pluggedin.com/ also reviews books, TV shows, movies, games, music and YouTube channels. Check them out today. They share the good, the bad, learning opportunities and discussion topics to have with your children and teens. While you are on the site check out Adventures In Odyssey, a great radio drama series for those age 0-110 years old! Fun for the entire family.

Keep your kids safe on the Internet and teach them to use critical thinking skills when viewing any sort of media source.  

A love of literature?

During recess The Homeschooled Young Man was playing with Lego's and made this sign. It says "I LOVE LIT" he is really enjoying his literature class. He set up the picture and took it himself. You can see his Lego bags handing under the kitchen table, he is in the process of sorting all his Lego pieces into bags while I read his literature to him.

I LOVE LIT

Ah, the blessings of homeschooling, never a dull or boring moment in learning. Learning is for a lifetime and is not a time of loathing. We are reading through the Abeka Of People Literature book.

How are things going this week in your homeschool? What are the kids enjoying? What needs some work? Have you done any tweaking this year?

Have a wonderful week!

Duet 11:19

FALL IS HERE AND A FREEBIE!

FALL IS OUR FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!

The time of year when the leaves are turning colors and falling, great photo weather! But we can also get the blahs, with less light in the mornings and dark in the earlier in the evenings. We need something new to perk us up and what better to do that than with awesome free printable calendar pages! 

I like to spice things up as the seasons change and a new calendar can change my daily perspective as I keep track of our schedules. 

Confessions of a Homeschooler is one of my all time favorite blogs and she has tons of great ideas and goodies for you! Check out here free printable calendars on this link. Leave her a comment and let her know you found her link on The Home School Gal's blog. 

We love to find you the best freebies and fun family ideas for homeschooling.

Keep checking back for more goodies. 

The Homeschool Gal

Institute For Excellence in Writing Review

Long, long ago, at a home school convention far, far away we first heard of Andrew Pudewa and Institute For Excellence in Writing. Homeschooling friends that came with us to the convention attended his workshop and bought the program. I spent an entire school year hearing about how wonderful the program was, but the cost still turned me off. During the course of that school year our son had loaded several of the convention speakers sessions onto his Ipod. Our son went crazy over Andrew Pudewa! But I thought there is NO WAY I am spending that kind of money on a writing program when we have tons of notebook paper, pens and pencils right here in our own home for FREE!
 Guess where our writing program had advanced to BEFORE starting The Old Schoolhouse Review Crews review of Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI)?

Yes, exactly we were still at square one, having days, weeks and years of a student staring at a blank piece of notebook paper. My son would stare in wonderment at the blank paper wondering how on earth to take notes. Even though I thoroughly explained how to take notes (jot down the most important stuff! How hard is that?) It was a struggle for my son to fluff up a story that needed a few more lines, to write creatively or to write an essay. I knew how to do all these things, but I just was not teaching it in a way that was clicking with my son.

 

For this review we received the Teaching Writing: Structure & Style (TWSS) DVD Seminar and Practicum Workbook

We also got the Student Writing Intensive-Preparing Students to Write with Structure & Style Student Seminar Materials Level A set for grades 3-5. There are 3 levels. Level A grades 3-5, Level B grades 6-8 and Level C grades 9-12. The nice thing is that you just need to buy the student materials for each level, the teacher materials stay the same.

What this home school Momma liked about IEW

1. I really liked the parent/teacher training. I have know a few people that did not do well with this program, I am now seeing why, they did not buy the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. They were just trying to use the student materials.
2. I love how he chats about practicing musical instruments…lol…boy did that catch my son off guard! LOL.
3. Often times I wondered what was going on in our media room where my son watches the DVD’s, there was constant laughter coming from in there when he was watching Andrew.
4. He is so funny in how he chit chats with the kids while he is teaching them, I think sometimes I get WAY too serious when I am teaching.
5. After a few weeks of using Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI),  my son started to put what he was learning to work. I had signed him up for a study skills and note taking class at the local college, after the first class the teacher wanted to talk to me...LOL…being the mom of a boy, I thought “Oh, no!” Well she was interested in where he had learned to take notes since he was the only student (grades 6-9) on the first day of class doing so without having been prompted. I was dumb founded, where did he learn to take notes? Well after finding out that he was using the outline system from IEW, I knew the material was taking hold and carrying over to outside school activities. SOLD!
6. That same week we attended a home school convention, I attended the IEW vendor workshop and purchased a few more items. I bought the Level C set and the book FIX-IT! Grammar and Editing Made Easy with Classics.
7. Love the “Dress Ups” that is such a great way to remind the kids to dress up their papers.
8. Teachers notes are AWESOME!
9. Andrew is so funny with how he read the stories and makes noises and such mayhem…lol. Definitely a boy thing!
10. The course schedule is so nice, I like something that I can cross off what we have done. It’s also nice to be able to look ahead at upcoming lessons.
11. There are so many take a ways for me that will help me in teaching other subjects. Just the outlining format will help with research papers, history assignments etc.
12. I liked the Handouts, I put them in page protectors and used a magnet to hang them up on our dry erase board to use as a reminder. I made notes, drew arrows and pointed out many things from the Handouts.

What this home school Momma did not like about IEW:

1. Andrew was easy to hear, but the adults in the training DVD’s and the students in the Student Writing Intensive DVD’s that were answering questions were off mic and it was rather annoying to me that you could hardly hear them. This might be a minor annoyance to some but I have worked in radio/TV for many years and it drives me bananas to hear something like that.
2. I was a bit overwhelmed at how long the DVD’s were, DO NOT wait until just before school starts to make your purchase of Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI). You will want some time to look over the materials and watch the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style DVD’s. Don’’t fret though, there are Easy Start Instructions included in the student materials, but I highly recommend watching the teaching DVD’s first.
3. I did not like how he had said that grammar books can be dangerous, that could cause kids to become negative towards grammar books. He does go on to talk more about this, but I think it should be discussed in a different fashion when working with impressionable children.
4. I wonder if the Adverb and Prepositions sheets might become a crutch over time?

What this home school student liked about IEW:

1. I liked his humor.
2. Andrew relates well to boys and that is VERY helpful in writing because most boys don‘t like to write.
3. I like how the DVD stops at certain spots, because sometimes I don’t know where the remote is and it’s helpful to not lose my place on the DVD.
4. I like how he talked to the kids about everyday things such as practicing musical instruments.
5. I liked how he addressed those watching at home. It seemed like I was right there with the other kids.
6. Easy to follow along.
7. I liked how he talked about writing wild and crazy things in letters to friends and how we don’t always have to be formal in a letter.
8. The stories were fun.
9. I liked how he made words come to life in the writing, they were more colorful.
10. In the middle of this review I was enrolled in a note taking and study skills class at our local community college, the first day I started taking notes when class started. The instructor stopped teaching and commented on what I was doing. I told her I was taking notes, she walked around the classroom at that time and pointed out how some students were doodling, some were staring off into space, one was sleeping and I was the only one taking notes. She was very impressed, she even talked to my mom after class and complimented me in front of her. She was really surprised to find out that I was home schooled, I guess home schooled kids should not know how to take notes? LOL.
11. Later in the week we went to the state home schooling conference and I asked my mom if I could buy the Portable Walls which is the Handy fold-outs with writing models and word lists on it. She let me!
12. I like the way that Mr. Pudewa is so animated when he read the stories.
13. My favorite story was The Boy Who Cried Wolf, I like the way Mr. Pudewa got goofy in the way he read it.

What this home school Student did not like about IEW:

1. I can’t think of any thing that I did not like.

Institute For Excellence in Writing will give your student the ability to take notes, write stories, summarize using main ideas, write reports. Oh, I almost forgot, how to have fun with and fine tune creative writing skills. Another exciting thing that I found out through having the privilege of taking part in this review is that a friend of mine's son uses Institute For Excellence in Writing at his private Christian high school. I thought that was pretty cool that even brick and mortar schools use IEW. Please be sure to check out the rest of the http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ website for many more great products for your homeschool. If you have a chance to attend an IEW vendor workshop at your local homeschool convention go for it! I attended one this spring and learned so much about IEW.

 

 

My son has truly been blessed through this review, it's helped him stop struggling so much with writing, though he still has to gain more confidence before posting any of his work on my blog. We have a few more lessons to get through on Level A, we plan to skip Level B and move right on to Level C which I bought at convention.

How To Get Your Boys To Write In 2 Easy Steps

Got boys that don't like to write? Reluctant writers? Boys with writers block? Guess what? I have found an awesome easy fix! In just 2 easy manageable steps you too can have a writer on your hands.

STEP 1: Ok, homeschool Mamma secret #1 is here...lol...what is one way to get boys to write? Get them interested in something...lol. BINGO! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! Lego, Star Wars, hunting, fishing, running etc. What do your boys like to do?

STEP 2: Give them a safe platform to find their nitch in writing. The answer? BLOGGING!

I am pretty excited and a bit nervous as my little Homeschooled Young Man steps out into the world and begins his blogging journey. You can check him out over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog.

He plans to chat with other boys and teens about Lego's, making airplane models and creating 4-H projects. He is pretty excited about starting this blog. He won't be making any money on the blog (I think he thought he would make millions...lol), guess you have to be 18 to be able to have ads on your blog. Which is a great safety feature over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog. No worries over nasty ads appearing on the pages.

He is hoping to do some product reviews from companies, but has not done any work on that yet, so he is just buying the items himself and reviewing them.

I hope that you will feel free to pass his blog on to any young boys and teens that would enjoy what the Homeschooled Young Man is offering on his blog. Most of you are already familiar with his writing that he has done when he contributed to The Old Schoolhouse Magazines' product review. Also as readers you know our content will be safe for young readers. Also all comments are on moderation. He is also looking for guest bloggers, so contact him through his blog if you have a boy interested in WRITING (hahaha-insert sarcastic laughing), you can check out their grammar & spelling skills in their blog post.

Boy, am I getting pretty savvy or what at this homeschooling stuff-hahaha, wish I was this calm and laid back in the very beginning. Back when I first began homeschooling I would have never thought about blogging as being a writing, spelling or grammar assignment. I would have relied on worksheets, textbooks and grammar/spelling rules. We've come a long way baby! Have I ever said how much I am loving the teen years?

I hope that you can see your homeschool evolving over time into YOUR homeschool and not someone else's idea of what homeschooling is.

Take care,

Schoolhouse Teachers all-in-one Homeschool Buy 1 Get 1 year free sale!!

Looking for something quick and easy to get your school year started? 

SchoolhouseTeachers (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, owner) has a great inexpensive option that is good for the entire family to use (one membership for all to use). Yet another useful home education tool provided by SchoolhouseTeachers is that it is set up by graded sections, pre/K & elementary, middle school and high school with drop down menus for all. You will find everything for homeschooling with topics such as logic, math, science, history, fine arts, Bible and many more electives as well as helps for the homeschool mom. 

Get in on the BUY 1 YEAR GET 1 YEAR FREE Sale!! Click here for more details and use PROMO CODE: SHARK20. The ENTIRE family can use 1 membership for 2 years!!! WHHHOOOO!!!!!!! You can get transcripts too.

Courses from SchoolhouseTeachers are a must for all homeschoolers, whether you are a boxed curriculum homeschooler, eclectic or unschooler this site has something for your student with 400+ classses. Our homeschool has tended towards the boxed curriculum (we have started branching out in recent years though) but it was always missing something. I’ve found what was missing and it was SchoolhouseTeachers.com, there are all sort of goodies to find on this site. 

It just so happens that my son was given an acoustic guitar as a gift and he has been getting library books on how to play the guitar, but they have been either way over his head or contained music that does not fit our family values. As we looked over the site we came across the guitar lessons.

Our son has only been using the guitar lessons from Schoolhouseteachers for about a week and a half and by no means is he jammin’ out on the guitar, but he is making music and not just noise anymore. LOL! 

A great feature of SchoolhouseTeachers site has unit for parents, it has a monthly menu feature and more.

Another area that I liked was the logic section. We have always struggled with teaching logic in our homeschool, so I was thrilled to see Logic on the drop down menu under middle school. I like how the lessons are set up so that my son can just go right in and get started. It has helped foster independence on his part. I know that we have a few years to go before college, but when I look at the SchoolhouseTeachers website, I’m thinking about how using this site will help our son out in the long run. Online college classes are the future for many of our children and what better way for them to be prepared than by teaching them in pre/k & elementary, middle school and high school with methods that they will continue to use down the road.

We plan to continue searching through all the goodies over the next year that SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers. Post and let me know what you think of the site and how it's enhanced your homeschool.

Get in on the BUY 1 YEAR GET 1 YEAR FREE Sale!! Click here for more details and use PROMO CODE: SHARK20. The ENTIRE family can use 1 membership for 2 years!!! WHHHOOOO!!!!!!! You can get transcripts too. Schoolhouse Teachers Sale!!

Will It Be The Big Yellow Bus or Homeschooling this year??

A while back, I was with the Homeschooled Young Man at a Civil War Re-Enactment that he was re-enacting in and my cell phone rang. It was one of my doctors calling me with a report. Of course, it was VERY loud on my end with all excitement and cannons being fired that goes on with a re-enactment. The doctor asked me where I was and I explained we had taken the day off from homeschool to participate in the re-enactment. My doctor looked out his office window and he could see the general area that we were in and he said "Wow, your son gets to do the coolest things!"

As parents, we can all offer up cool opportunities for our children to experience, but it's so much easier to just put them on that big yellow bus and let someone else handle it all for 8+ hours a day. No worries and no responsibility for our kids. Sometimes the Easy Button is not the right button to push.

Are you considering home education for your child this coming school year? It is not too late, even if you have already registered them for the big yellow school bus to take them away each day. You can do it!! Let me know how I can help you.

What School Supply Item Are You Addicted To?

STICKY NOTES!!!

I must have them in all shapes and sizes, 

not to mention all colors...lol.

LOL...this is just my secret stash in my school supplies, I've got sticky note pads in my car, date book, living room, media room, kitchen and dining room...lol.

I asked the child what school supplies we need for the school year, he says "NONE." I say "I think we need some sticky notes." (they are my weakness!!!). He yells out "With all the sticky notes we have, I think we are preparing for Sticky Note Y2K!" lol...Maybe we can just bypass my sticky note obsession and move on to the question at hand? "How on earth does the child know about Y2K?"

 

 

A Homeschoolers Experience with the Public School

I’ve had an interesting time with the Homeschooled Young Man during a volunteering opportunity. We spent 2 days with around 140 kids ages 8 ½-11 years old. These public schooled kids took part in engaging and hands on activities over the course of two school days. The presenters were upbeat and kid friendly. The kids were well behaved and quiet...too quiet actually for my liking.

Over the course of 8+ hours I spent with these adorable 8 ½-11 year olds, I did not hear the usual giggles from the girls that I am use to hearing, nor small talk amongst boys that I am use to hearing. I saw emotionless faces, frowns and blank stares from these children. But, I saw a hunger in the children for attention from the presenters, when those men and women engaged one on one with these children. Each boy and girl was eager to talk with and spend time with these adults. But after each session they became like little robots. Back to frowns and staring at the floor while being told to line up against the wall, "1-2-3 eyes on me" by their public school teacher. I know that public school teachers will say that this is a must to keep order. But it makes me think of when we had 4,000 adults and children for a homeschool meeting at the state capitol a few years ago. There had to be order and quiet voices with almost 2,000+ kids involved, there were no robot children in the group nor forced lining up against the wall, yet there was no chaos.

At 14 years old The Homeschooled Young Man was a group leader of about 25 children and 2 public school teachers. He held the door open for the group on 11 different occasions and was told “Thank you.” only 3 times over the course of 2 days each lasting 8+ hours.

I was pushed and shoved numerous times throughout the days without so much as an excuse me, sorry or anything by these students.

Then after awhile I had opportunity to sit back in a chair in the back of the room and sort of take it all in. It was then that I noticed the clothes that the teachers were wearing. Skin tight workout pants that stop at the calf, that showed panty lines and a bold written word across their backside, another one wore a similar pair of pants that were way too small and every time she bent over her pants came down and her shirt went up to expose her bare backside (she looked like a plumber, KWIM?). Yes, these were public school teachers of 8 ½-11 year olds.

I guess I could look past that, but the thing that really struck me was the manners that the teachers displayed, yes these are the people that are entrusted with most American children for 7+ hours each day, 30+ hours each week, 5 days per week, 180 days per year and nearly 1,300 hours per school year. I saw teachers not sitting properly in chairs (ya know one of the things that drives us parents crazy at the dinner table is when our kids don’t sit properly, slouching down in the chair with the rear on the edge of the seat and their neck on the back of the chair), teachers talking to each other during the presentations (ya, know it drives us crazy when our kids do this), teachers yawning like roaring lions (ya know how many times you have been trying to teach your child to yawn with their hand over their mouths?). I saw so many kids being grabbed by the arm and yanked around like dogs on a leash and teachers yelling in the face of the kids and the blank looks on the children’s faces while they have an adult standing over them yelling. This must go on often because the other teachers never even looked over to see what was going on. Think about where your kids bad habits are coming from, those things that drive you crazy when your kids do them.

The icing on the cake was the way that the teachers spoke to the children. Every time there was an instruction of “Throw your trash away, PLEASE & THANK YOU!” I thought to my self that “PLEASE & THANK YOU!” really comes out sounding snide and rude no matter how you say it. That phrase seems to be up and coming. We were eating out about a month ago and the waitress said that to us when she gave us our check. The Homeschooled Young Man commented how rude that sounded, even though he knew she was not meaning for it to be rude. 

Now mind you this is NOT a representation of all public school teachers, I happen to know some fine teachers. But this was a peek into the system and I do think this was a typical day in many school systems.

As we drove home I was thinking about all this and here was my take away. Hey Homeschool Momma, are there things that you are doing during your homeschool day that might be negatively effecting your children? Are there things that you are unknowingly passing on to your children?

This brought to light a few things I need to work on in my homeschool. Take some time to assess things that you think of and then improve your homeschool for you and your children.

Picaboo Homeschool Yearbook Review

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew (TOS) we have been privileged to make a homeschool yearbook through Picaboo Yearbooks. (Pronounced PeekABoo).

I'm grinning from ear to ear! I have to say that this was so much fun to make! It might make #1 in our top reviews of the TOS year! Here is the Moe disclaimer for this product. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK! Have I ever told you that you need to read or watch the instructions for a product before using it? lol...yes I attempted to click around on the Picaboo Yearbooks website and I failed miserably. lol

I have made many photo books in my time using other companies, but I‘ve never thought to make a homeschool yearbook before being given this review opportunity! WOW, the possibilities are endless for the homeschool family! With Picaboo Yearbooks for homeschoolers! there are autograph pages, QR CODES Add video to your printed yearbook pages, and the real plus for us homeschooler is that there is no minimum number of books to order. You can also do an eYearbook for people to view on line. You can even sell your book on your own yearbook store front, customers pay for books and shipping costs directly to the store front. No collecting $$ for the books. Each person that purchases a yearbook from your store front can custom design the cover of their yearbook. PRETTY NEAT! Think fundraiser!! Businesses can even use Picaboo Yearbooks to make customized directories. These can be shipped to schools or individual homes. You get to pick either matte or gloss laminate for the cover. The yearbook that we created for the TOS review contained 20 pages, were 8 1/2 x 11 sized and the cost was $9.49 per book. Additional pages are 22¢ per page and additional personalized pages are 99¢ per page. Shipping cost is $8.99. Here is a link to the ordering page. Click here and then scroll down to the softcover yearbook.

Easy to use design tools--no minimum order--3-week turnaround--free tools & support


(pages from our actual yearbook we made) We added some of our favorite sayings from our school year.

After figuring out the software and making our first Picaboo Yearbook I think that I could probably whip out another yearbook in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. That was the most time consuming part was trying to decided what pictures to use. Since we were doing this as a TOS review we had a set time frame to get our yearbook made. For the normal user like you, pictures can be gathered year round and then added to the yearbook.
 

This is a stock photo from Picaboo Yearbooks and not from our actual yearbook

What this homeschool Momma liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) Love the idea of making a homeschool year book, we did one for junior high. 
2) Once I got the hang of it, I LOVED it.
3) I liked the features of being able to place pictures wherever I wanted on the page, turn them, tilt them etc.
4) This would be INCREDIBLE for co-op groups or homeschool groups to make yearbooks.
5) I liked how you could organized your photos, it made the pages flow a better than trying to remember what you had on which page.
6) Great inexpensive way for schools to create yearbooks.
7) Love how the books come in hardbound or soft cover.
8) Other parties can add photos, so you can have more than 1 person working on the book at a time. GREAT for yearbook clubs.
9) Looks like it would be easy to import many student photos at one time and the program has the ability to sort the photos by grade.
10) You get to pick the number of pages for your book.
11) Great fundraiser ideas for schools, churches, and other groups.
12) The Live Chat that is GREAT! I had to use it for a question and they were very friendly.
13) AWESOME PRICE!
　
What this homeschool Momma did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) There is a learning curve with this program. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK!
My student picked up right away on how it all worked, but I needed a bit of a tutorial on it…lol. I have used other photo book makers with no trouble, but this one threw me for a curve…lol. I finally figured it all out and it is actually VERY easy to use. After making our book, I think I could probably whip one out in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. 
2) I wish that the softcover yearbook would open up flat, it does not want to stay open.


Pictures from our actual yearbook and the white page is an autograph page.

What this homeschool student liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) VERY easy to use, I figured it out right away and stared adding pictures. Watch the tutorial videos, they will show you exactly what to do. And be sure to lock your pictures when you are done with each section.
2) LOVED that background choices, sticker options, fonts and colors that I could pick from.
3) I liked how I could move the pictures around easily.
4) I liked how I could change things if I did not like how it looked, after I previewed them.
5) There are some pretty cool stickers, but we decided not to use any (can’t wait to see how the other TOS reviewers used them).

What this homeschool student did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) I did not realize that I could add a title to my yearbook cover.
2) I did not like the automatic page photo inserter (not sure what to call it) it would cut off part of the pictures and it was easy to miss.

You might wonder what on eart making a yearbook has to do with homeschooling? How to teach yearbook as an elective class. We like history and our school year is historical (yes, sometimes it’s even hysterical as you can see from our Picaboo Yearbooks!) Yearbooks work on art, grammar, spelling, creative writing, organization and many other skills. I think that kids of any age could use this if they know how to use the computer. I would guess ages 10 and up.  We will be making another yearbook for our next school years. I plan to make a yearbook folder on my computer to add miscellaneous picture for our next time we make one.

　

An Easier Homeschool Day? How Can It Be?

Another great blog post 10 Ways to Make your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly

I am stealing several of these ideas!!

No reason to reinvent the wheel!

Which of these 10 ways speaks to your heart? Post below in the comments.

Ideas for Homeschooling High School

There are lots of brand new homeschooler starting high school this year.

What worked for you and what did not work? How do you make a push for independence? How do  you set up school work accountability? Will you work in dual credits? AP classes (where did will your kids take these tests? Did you get your material approved for AP?), will you do dual enrollment? College classes? Online classes? Any non textbook things you plan to use?
Oh, the list seems endless!

Love is in the air...Homeschool love that is...

Today is a HOT summer day, but in our home it was like Christmas. Our homeschool packages arrived!

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

Apologia Physics Instructional DVD

 The Homeschooled Young Man could not wait to tear open this package and see what was inside!

When the Homeschooled Young Man see's bubble wrap, he knows it's gonna be a good day! 'Cause any boy knows that bubble wrap serves 3 purposes.

1. Bubble Wrap protects our purchases

2. Bubble Wrap makes for great workout routine jumping up and down on all the bubbles

3. Bubble Wrap drives a Homeschool Mom crazy with the popping sounds and the jumping up and down in the house!

Apologia Physics

The box is not yet unloaded and the Homeschooled Young Man has the book open and is reading through the lessons...lol...ah, the glory of homeschooling. 

Have you ever seen a child who is hold up in classroom all day, for 180 school days per year and are this is excited when their Apologia Physics Instructional DVD arrives in the mail? Yes, I know, we are weird, we homeschool, need I say more?

Praise the Lord for the learning everywhere about everything mindset. Our world is our classroom and we are loving it. Learning is not a chore it is a lifestyle in the homeschool.

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

SpellingCity.com Review

As homeschool product reviewers for The Old Schoolhouse Magazines TOS Review Crew we were given a Homeschool Membership to SpellingCity.com, it's a family membership for up to 5 students in our family. I had to giggle and reminisce back to the first years of our homeschool. We loved using SpellingCity.com, back in the day the homeschooled young man loved to play the free games and practice his spelling using the program. We had found our homeschool curriculum's spelling lists on the site and used those daily. Other times I would import my own lists for history, science and reading words. But there was something lacking in that whole process, now after using the Homeschool Membership of SpellingCity.com, I know exactly what it is. We were lacking accountability in knowing what was actually getting done, I just knew my homeschooler would tell me "I got X number wrong." or "I played this or that game."

Letter Fall game

With the Homeschool Membership you get so much more for your homeschool shopping dollar. SpellingCity.com has an age range of K-12th grade, but I played around with some of the games and had a lot of fun, though I struggled with the Letter Fall game, the homeschool young man LOVED that game and played it a lot.

When you sign up and start the Homeschool Membership, you as the homeschool Momma type in the students' names, it's that easy! Then when your students sign on to SpellingCity.com, they just log in and they will automatically go to your parent homepage.
All activities done on SpellingCity.com will be recorded for you to later view in your parent account. Spelling test results will be right there for you to see and are recorded including the score
              as well as the words that were spelled right or wrong.

I allowed the homeschooling young man to goof around on the site and find what he wanted to work on and he found some pretty cool areas that I did not even know existed on the site. He came across some very COOL science vocab lists that are by grade and by subject, as well as GERMAN word lists. Now how cool is that? He was messing around with those German word lists day and night, big thrill for him since he is taking German this year. The other games that he really liked were Hang Mouse and Word Scramble.

Word-O-Rama game

I do have one hint for you, coming from a homeschooling family that has used SpellingCity.com in the past, MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD USES THE CORRECT ACCOUNT THAT IS HOOKED UP TO YOUR PARENT ACCOUNT! At first I could not figure our why things were not being recorded in my parent account, I figured that I (not being tech savvy in the least!) had goofed something up. Well come to find out the homeschooling young man was going in and doing activities on his personal account, he was so use to entering in his (free account) info, that it never dawned on him that he was using the wrong account. And ya know how us homeschool mothers get busy...lol. We finally got it straightened out.

Flash Card

"Differentiated Learning": you can assign different tasks to each of your children

"Efficient record keeping": Great for states where homeschoolers must track their students because the tests results and student activities are recorded right away.

"

• *Set up year-round homeschool spelling word and vocabulary practice with our Word Study Playlists
• *Students can create and customize their own word lists
• *Receive immediate feedback on all games and tests
• *Review and assign learning activities to match your homeschool vocabulary curriculum
• *Easily review your child's work from the parent portal
• *Accessible anywhere

SpellingCity.com also offers Mobile Apps, and now they even offer an Android App and a Kindle app. We used the Kindle app and it worked really well.

All in all we had fun playing with the SpellingCity.com Homeschool Membership and I think we learned from using it too. Make sure you check out the FAQ section, lots of helpful info there and also a great video guide is on the site too.
P.S. SpellingCity.com comes in handy when homeschool Momma is busy and can't stop just right then and there, she can send her students to play on SpellingCity.com...lol. The kids won't even know they are learning, they will be having so much fun!! Also, SpellingCity.com is a great learning tool for homeschoolers. See SpellingCity.com for more information.

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VideoText Interactive Review-Homeschool Math Program

Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post is published.
OK, so I have been just itching to tell you all about the VideoText Interactive review that we have done for the TOS Review Crew...I mean so many times I have started to brag about it in a blog post only to remember "I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT VideoText Interactive TIL July!!" ARGH!! Sometimes being a reviewer is hard!! I just wanted to shout from the roof tops about VideoText Interactive. For all of our homeschool years we have used the spiral method for math, know what that is? Boring worktext pages with tons of math problems that you do each and every day. VideoText Interactive uses the mastery method so you keep moving forward as you learn the material. We were blessed to receive the use of VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course for 3 years for the use of 2 students. Online Programs have a full 30-day money back guarantee. You can also request a FREE DVD sample (it's really nice, I got one).

VideoText Interactive is not new to our family, we have seen their booth many times over the years at homeschool conventions, but the price was totally out of reach for our family. $529 for the complete DVD set with textbooks was way out of our price range. BUT!!!! Now VideoText Interactive is available at a reasonable price for the online version, you get 3 full year courses for one price! You will get Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and you can use it with 2 students! Now if you want to add additional students, it's small added fee per student. Did I mention that you can try the full online program at no risk? VideoText Interactive offers a FULL 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! WOW!!  VideoText Interactive is for any ages from 6th grade student through adult, for more information on if your child is ready for this excellent math program click here to read the FAQ section VideoText Interactive FAQ #3. There are 170 lessons, course notes, student work text, solutions manuals, and progress tests all included and don't forget that you can use this for 2 students! Need to add on a 3rd or 4th student?

Don't laugh but I am hearing that age old slogan being yelled... 

"CALL NOW!! OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY,

CALL NOW!!"

Scope & Sequence Rational pdf has a lot of great information that can explain in detail better than I can about the actual program contents. The Algebra Schematic pdf is a very nice chart that explains in detail when and where each type of lesson is taught. For example when polynomials are taught (Unit 5) and when quadratic equations (Unit 8) are taught. Very nice set up and easy to follow.

I knew this program was for us when I read this on the website...
Remember, “It doesn’t have to be that hard when you use a video textbook!”

If you know me, you know I am a total math phobic! lol. To say the least! My thoughts are going crazy and around 90 mph about VideoText Interactive. This math program is the BOMB! The author Tom Clark has 46 years of experience teaching math and science, VideoText Interactive is a family affair with Tom's children, his brother and sister helping to bring the whole curriculum together. You can read more about the Clark family here on the About The Author page.

What this homeschool Momma liked about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) 3 full high school math classes for 1 money! You get Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.
2) You can follow a 1 year, 2 year or 3 year program. So depending on the ability and needs of your student they can work at a faster or slower rate to make sure that they have the materials mastered.
3) EASY on the homeschool Momma (what more can I say about that  :O)
4) Tom Clark the author is AWESOME! He spent time talking me down off the cliff of homeschool Momma terrors! lol. What a man is all I can say!
5) Easy grading, no hoops to jump through.
6) Pretty much hands off for homeschool Momma, besides grading.
7) Wonderful people at the help line.
8) We had started out with our normal math company we had been using from the beginning and had a few struggles with me teaching it along the way. So I was really scared when we started Algebra A Complete Course from VideoText Interactive, but our homeschool young man picked right up on it and has been going strong since.
9) Our homeschool young man did 6 lessons per week (yeah, he wanted to work on Saturday too!) What on earth? lol.
10) No wasted printer paper, just print out daily worksheet, quizzes and tests. Easy on the printing budget!
11) I love that the guy on the video NEVER gets upset when the homeschool young man needs a repeat lesson or does not quite understand the lesson and needs to hear it again. That guy never sounds like a grouchy homeschool Momma who has to repeat herself! That guy is cheerful the first time he explains it and he is still cheerful the 3rd and 4th time if we have to repeat the video...lol.
12) I learned a very interesting fact from talking to Tom Clark on the phone, he told us that story problems are actually Algebra problems. No wonder the Homeschool young man struggled with story problems in the lower grades, he had not yet had Algebra. Now he is understanding them and actually likes the challenge of a good story problem. AMEN!!

What this homeschool Momma did not like about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I love this program so much, but I did find a few things that needed tweaked. Nothing at all wrong with any of the teaching, it's high quality, laid out nicely and easy to learn.
2) The video looks a bit dated, there also needs to be more light shed on the subject. The video is very dim.
3) The solution manual seems to be in very small print, I can enlarge them, but then it's hard to scroll around the pages. If anyone knows a homeschool Momma, ya know she has bi-focals by homeschool year #3 and really needs tri-focals by homeschool year #6, but she ain't buyin' them! lol. But seriously the exponent numbers were really hard to see and sometimes I could not tell a division sign from a minus sign.
4) I would like to see the Progress Checklist be online instead of printed out, I don't know how many times we had to turn the house upside down to find that crazy sheet of paper that should have been in the homeschool Young Man's FOLDER!! But instead was nowhere to be found. lol.

What this homeschool Young Man liked about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I liked how I could do 3 years of math in 1 year if I worked hard.
2) Made math fun!
3) Made math my favorite subject! Before we used the Spiral Method and I did not like having pages of boring math problems to do.
4) Wish homeschool Momma had bought this years ago at convention when she first saw it!
5) Glad that they have reduced the price so more homeschool kids can enjoy math.
6) I liked how the teacher made reducing fractions so much easier than the old way I learned.
7) Liked how easy it was to figure out how the program works, I just watch the video (pause to answer questions out loud/then listen to answers on video), read the course notes, do my assignment, grade it using the solutions manual, then usually a quiz the next day, after so many days a test. They even include graph paper to print out if needed.
8) Mr. Clark the author was fun to talk to on the phone.
9) Thanks to Mr. Clark I now like story problems, and the more complicated the better! I can understand them now. I use to cry in the younger grades when I struggled with them.
10) I am looking forward to the Geometry course.

What this homeschool Young Man did not like about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I did not like the old look on the video screen.
2) I wish I could access the quizzes myself, since if Homeschool Momma was not home, Homeschool Daddy did not know the password.

So there you have it folks! An endorsement for VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course, we are loving it and wish we had done this much sooner.

If you are done with Algebra and ready for Geometry, come on and check out the other TOS Crew Reviews as many received the VideoText Interactive Geometry A Complete Course that includes Geometry, Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus, 3 full high school math credits all in 1 affordable package! Just click the box below.

 

Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak Review

Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post has been published.
We are SUPER CHARGED with excitement to share with you The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak for grades 3rd-8th from Home School In The Woods.

Hard at work? Or hardly working because this is so much FUN?

 We received a download version to review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Home School In The Woods also offers a CD versions too. You can find it here at 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.
　

Completed Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak for ages 3rd-8th grade is seen above and below is a list of what is included.

The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak comes with the following areas of study:

Newspapers & TV Media
Sports
Persons of importance
Conflicts around the world
Politics
Medical
Space travel
Art history
Architecture
Writers & books
Musical movements
Transportation
Historical events
Missionaries
Disasters
The Stock Market Crash
Science and Inventions
Food Trends of the 20^th Century
Clothing styles
Jargon of the 20^th Century
Timeline
WarsThe 20th Century in America Lap-Pak also comes with a booklet to make that contains more information about the history of the 20^th Century.





What this homeschool Momma did not like:

I failed to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. I just jumped in and started printing everything off. Big goof! Some pages needed to be printed on colored paper and some needed to be printed back to back. My goof, but I think for us rushed home schooled Momma’s it would be great if on the main page we were told to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. LOL...chalk this up to operator error and nothing against Home School In The Woods. I'm must showing that I am a real life person and do goof up!

I think this would be hard for younger kids to follow all the detailed instructions by themselves, so younger kids would need a lot of supervision with this, BUT I think it would be a great learning experience and lots of fun to work on together.

What this homeschool Momma liked:

I found that this Lap-Pak contained projects that work on the following skill sets including art, drawing and creative writing. This Lap-Pak allows the student to delve into fun topics all the while learning historical facts. Use of research skills and math skills (using measurements to make sure that the pieces went together correctly) were also used.

Our student got totally lost in this Lap-Pak, he would spent hours working on it. He was coloring, cutting, gluing, taping and putting brads on. I was so impressed by the work that he was doing. Following each direction to a T.

This was so cool! We used overhead projector transparencies to make windows for these.

 Our 12 year old 7^th grade student was able to work totally on his own with this.

Our student was thrilled with this Lap-Pak and wants to tackle The Civil War one next.

Our student did have some difficulty figuring out the photocopying of the back to back/back to front of pages, but I am putting that down under the “What I liked” section, because he learned how to use the copier and flip the pages over to photocopy on the backside. So I was very pleased that he learned some real life skills through this review. How many of us homeschool moms struggle with “which side do I put up in the paper tray, when we are making photo copies. (waving hand in the air)

This record player is the neatest thing! It spins and has different saying that show up.

What this homeschool student liked:"It was really a fun project.” “I liked the section on “Dining Through The Decades“, the recipes were fun and I liked learning about the different foods such as the Dagwood Sandwich.

Instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. I was able to complete the Lap-Pak during the review. Everything was explained step-by-step.

I really liked how the project shapes for each area corresponded with each area I was studying. For example, the “Medical Advances” used a syringe that you cut out and put together. You then pull the plunger up and a new medical advancement shows up in the window.

Fun way to learn history.

“I liked the fact that there was more to do than in an ordinary lap-book. I think that this Lap-Pak was made for older kids and was a lot of fun to do.

I want to review the Civil War Lap Pak next!

I plan to use this with my 4-H project this year too.

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!

What this homeschool student did not likeI wish that there was an easier way to figure out how to photo copy the pages from front to back, I goofed several times and ran out of colored paper. I started to get frustrated and then finally figured it out. YEAH!



The Home School In The Woods Lap-Paks are fun and a great learning tool for your homeschool. There are several to choose from and lots of fun learning to be had by all ages. We are thankful to Home School In The Woods for allowing us this great learning opportunity to review The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.