Free Kindle Book:Getting Better Grades: A Strategic Approach for Inside and Outside the Classroom

Click here to get a free copy of Getting Better Grades: A Strategic Approach for Inside and Outside the Classroom.  FREE Kindle Book

I have not read it yet, but it looks good! Let me know what you think of it.

Thanks,
Moe

Does this make your heart ache?

My little Powder Monkey on the left, at a Civil War Re-Enactment.

I got this from a friend this week, made my heart ache.

"A note from Mrs.______, my son's new teacher in honor of next Monday, the first day of school :

'Twas the night before school started,
When all through the town,
The parents were cheering,
It was a riotous sound!
By eight, kids were washed
And tucked into bed...
When memories of homework
Filled them with dread.

New pencils, new folders, new notebooks, too!
New teachers, new friends...
Their anxiety grew!
The parents just giggled when
They learned of this fright
And shouted upstairs-
"Go to bed! It's a school night!"

I've heard a few of my son's friends complaining about the new teachers that they are going to have for school this year. I ask my son if he told his friends "Look at me, I've had the same teacher for 7 years! LOL." He just smiled and told me "NO!" The kids have teased him about starting back to school in July, but what those kids miss out on is our AWESOME fall break that we take to attend fall festivals, shopping trips to the Amish lands, Civil War Re-Enactment weekend, and our exciting time of going to see Dr. Ben Carson speak. Our classroom does not have 4 walls, our classroom is our God given world.

What excites you about this new year of homeschooling?

Lone Star Learning Math Review

 

 

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, we were sent a set of the Lone Star Learning companies Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1 flashcards. You can find these flashcards by clicking here lonestarlearning.com/ they come in two different sizes:
The Large cards measure 11″ x 8.5″ $34.99
The Small cards measure 5.5″ x 4.25″ $29.99
Grades 1st-8th

We were given the small cards to review. I think at first our 7th grader thought, "Oh, yeah! Flashcards! YIPPEE!" Well by the end of the review he was telling me that
"The Target Vocabulary Pictures Math set 1 flashcards would be great for high school students that needed a math review."

What we liked about the Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1 5.5x4.25 size cards:

PERFECT size for homeschool use (the larger size would be great for classroom teachers)
GREAT for on the go use in the car.
FITS perfectly in purse or bag to use while waiting at appointments.
FUN to play with.
DOES not feel like we are doing school when we use the cards.
HIGH quality flashcards, I don't see these falling apart anytime soon, they are laminated.
GREAT for all ages, recommended for 3rd-8th grade, but could be used with 1st-12th grade.

What could be better about the
Target Vocabulary Pictures Math Set 1:

STORAGE there is no box to store these in. I actually think that I am going to hole punch each card and put it on a ring for easy storage.
PRICE since I have an only child, these were a bit out of my price range, ($29.99 for 57 flashcard) but they are WAY COOL and if I had the extra money in my budget I would buy them for the coolness and fun factor to help with teaching math terms! We both actually learned several new terms using these flashcards.
ANSWER SHEET was on just plain paper, it was not on a flashcard type of paper or laminated and it started looking pretty wrinkled up after just the first week of use. So I laminated it myself and it's holding up well that way.

Paper Answer Sheet

We had a lot of fun with this review and learned a lot, it's amazing how much you can learn when you see the word and then also see a picture of what the word is describing (cone and a picture of a cone). I would recommend these for any homeschooling family and even classroom teachers. We used these as flashcards for guessing, writing definitions and just general math review each day.
"Target Vocabulary Pictures Set 1 consists of math vocabulary presented visually to facilitate recall. Sets are not arranged by grade level. Please view sets to determine the appropriateness for your students."

 http://store.lonestarlearning.com/