Music History with Byron’s Games ~ a Crew review

Disclosure: I received this product free through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Byron’s Games has brought us another fun learning game. This time it is an exploration of music history through composers with the game Maestro Mastery – Explore the Composers.

Whether your students are already familiar with many composers or are early on in their experiences with composers, this matching game will meet them where they are. Featuring 52 composers, the game comes with a set of matching cards for each composer. Both cards have matching pictures of the composer, the country of origin, the musical time period, and the composer’s birth and death dates. One of the cards also has a banner across it with a short, interesting biography of the composer. The basic idea of the game is to match cards and learn a bit about the composer in the process.

Also included in the game is a large poster with all of the composers on it it, a time line card, and instructions for play. The instructions also include information on how to access samples of the composers’ music on the Byron’s Games website. This all comes in a study box for storage.

My youngest just turned 12 and she has been enjoying this game. She adores playing games and learns quite a lot from games such as this. She has asked about once a week to play Maestro Mastery since we received it. I certainly don’t mind since music is such a part of our family life.

We played by picking one of the 2 decks of cards. Each deck has 26 composers in it so it is a large number of cards and each set has a good variety of composers, featuring at least one from each time period (the way the decks are sent – that would be different if you have mixed your decks up, which we have not yet). We lay them out face down and just do a simple matching game. We take turns and with each card we turn over, we look at it, read the composer’s name, nation of origin, and music time period. If it is a match, we keep the set and go again. If it is not a match, the other person gets a go at it.

As we get matches, we line them up according to music time period. We keep the musical period timeline visible between us so we can point out where the match is from on it. We also have the big poster close by so we can see what other composers are part of that time period.

To further the experience, it is a wonderful thing to listen to music from the composers. While 26 selections is a bit much for one game and it would prolong the game a lot, we pick one composer and put on a CD. (We have a large library of music and are excited to have another way to share our favorite composers with the girls.) You can also access samples of each composer’s music on the Byron’s Games website, using the information included on the instructions card.

As with all of the games we have seen from Byron’s Games, this is a very flexible game that can be modified to fit multiple age levels, interest levels, or ability levels. I could see using this matching game with a younger student by having one of each of the composer card sets already visible so they are just trying to find the one to match what is turned over. You could also make it more difficult by having all of the cards out. If you wanted to focus on listening, you could use a set of 4 or 5 composers, listen to their pieces, and then play what my college teacher would call “drop the needle” even though we weren’t using record players. (I’m not quite that old!) Have the student try to identify which composer wrote the piece of music that is played out of the 4 or 5 composers shown.

A variation we used was to combine this with the Continent Race game, also from Byron’s Games. After we had found our matches, we grabbed the continent maps and placed the composers on the correct continent. We then identified the countries for each of the composers on those maps. You could add yet another variation by each person trying to get matches for a certain continent or country.

One constant for us, though, was to listen to at least one piece of music by a composer from the game either while we played or after. A favorite way to choose was for Miss J to find a composer whose name sounded interesting. The website selections are easy to access by choosing the picture for the composer that aligns with the poster for the game. The play button is right on the card for each composer.

This is a wonderful game to add to our collection and I am thrilled that it is music related. We have enjoyed playing this game a good bit and will continue to play in the future. A definitely recommend.

Other Homeschool Review Crew families have been playing Maestro Mastery – Explore the Composers but other families received the The Family Journal. Visit the Crew blog page to read more reviews on both the game and the journal from Byron’s Games.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Indoor Games for middle and high school

Now that our girls are getting older, our games have changed. We still really like games but what the girls like to play has shifted to some more complicated and/or differently challenging activities. This past two weeks has really given us the opportunity to engage in some fun indoor games, as we were unable to leave our house for 12 days. (Thanking the winter storm and central Texas’ ability to handle it. 🙂 )

One of our newest favorites is from Finders Seekers. This is a subscription company with at-home, escape room style boxes each month. We received a 3 month subscription as a gift at Christmas and I just renewed it on a month to month basis. I don’t know if we’ll keep it very long but we’ll do at least one more. We have explored Toronto, looked into the fabled life of Anastasia Romanov, and dallied in the National Parks. Next one to come is supposed to Machu Pichu. Looking forward to it.

Forbidden Island is a cooperative game that we enjoy playing. It doesn’t take too long and it is fun working together to do gather the four statues and get off the island before we get stranded. It isn’t difficult and we enjoy it.

Haunted Mansion is one that Miss J loves to play but she has to get her dad to play with her because I don’t enjoy it at all. It is based on a choose your own adventure book and follows much the same format, choosing different actions from the cards and going where that choice takes you. It is a cooperative game, also.

Prime Climb is a math game that Miss J likes to get out. It works on math facts and prime numbers up through 101. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in all sorts of combinations to make your way to 101. We have a good time and I do feel like she is learning a lot each time we play. The strategy combined with working the equations to get the most out of each move can be a lot of fun.

Maestro Mastery is a new one that we have played a couple of times. It is a fun one and the full review is coming up soon.

Mancala is a fun marble game that we were told originated somewhere in Africa. A friend had her dad make us this game board when we got married and it has had a whole lot of use and laughter over the years.

Guess Who – this one came from a fast food restaurant years ago but we have kept them around and the girls enjoy playing with them. They are small and my “getting older” eyes definitely struggle with it sometimes but we still enjoy it.

Another strange one Miss J and I enjoy is a curling game. It’s little stones are plastic with a marble and they glide over a smooth plastic alley. Fun and simple.

We keep a lot of games around and we play them often. Other favorites include Go Fish, War, Slap Jack, Uno, puzzles of all sizes, Dixit, Connect Four Launchers, Scrabble, and Boggle. Miss J also loves to play her Bird Bingo game. There are tons of others, I am sure, but these are the ones that come to mind and we play most often. What are some of your favorite games for middle school and high school? We could always add to our collection. . .

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

This is being linked up at the Homeschool Review Crew as part of the weekly blogging and social media challenge. Head over to read about other families’ favorite indoor games. Find a new favorite!

Visit the Homeschool Review Crew Round Up for more great posts to read.

Math Sprint by Byron’s Games ~ a Crew review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Math is a skill that takes practice and repetition. Games are a fun way to learn and practice. Byron’s Games has combined the two in Math Sprint  – The Mental Math Game. This board game is designed for 2-8 players and is marked for ages 7+. (However, if students are learning addition, they are ready for this game so students as young as age 4 or 5 could easily play.)

Byron’s Games is a company that is named after the main creative power – Byron. Byron was only 6 years old when he had an extensive hospital stay. During that time, he was fascinated with the Olympics and geography. That manifested itself in the creation of his first original game – Continent Race. (Read our review of that game.) Since then, he and his family have founded a company that carries Continent Race and other items and just released its second original game – Math Sprint  – The Mental Math Game. A portion of the profits is returned to select children’s charities.

Math Sprint  – The Mental Math Game is a board game that can be a quick 30 minute sprint or a longer distance race. It is appropriate for students learning their beginning math facts up through students who benefit from a review of math facts. There are even blank cards that can be used to create more challenging problems to solve. This adapatibility makes it a great classroom or homeschool or family fun night game.

Math Sprint comes with the board (which is a running track with 8 lanes), 258 cards with 2 math problems on each, 10 dry erase cards, 1 dry erase marker, 8 runner playing pieces, and instructions. It is tucked into a sturdy box. Each of the player pieces corresponds to a picture in the instruction booklet, allowing students to choose one that has similar interests to them. The “runners” have interests of chemistry, games, baseball, gymnastics, tricks/magic, soccer, basketball, and dance. This allows the student to get more involved in their game.

Game play simply involves moving forward each time a math question is answered correctly. There are multiple distances that can be chosen, each affecting the length of the game.
– For the shortest game, choose the 100m dash. This works well for the youngest players, for the shorter games time/length, and for the first time playing while learning the game.
– The next distance is 200m and it is good for older players or players who want a longer game time. It also allows for more variation in the game.
– The longest marked distance is 400m. It is for the most advanced players and for the longer game times. Again, it allows for additional variation.

The card deck comes with 258 cards that each have 2 problems on them. They are color coded for addition/subtraction facts and multiplication/division facts.

There are different colored cards for the challenge cards. These included some double digit addition and subtraction problems as well as some word problems. The wild cards were also color coded and each included an event (getting blown off track, for example) and an advancement or backwards movement.

These cards are where a lot of the variation can be created and where the game can be focused for individual students.Variations can come through mixing in the wild cards and the challenge cards. You can also use multiple distances for multiple ages or use the blank cards to write more difficult mental math problems. You could do a relay race with older and younger students working together. The initial rules have a correct answer worth 2 spaces; you can vary that and allow the student to choose an easy question worth 1 space or a harder question worth 2 spaces. You can vary the deck used for students, pulling out specific fact cards you want worked on. The possibilities for variation grow as the game becomes more familiar.

Miss J is 11 and is fairly strong in her basic addition and subtraction facts. Her multiplication and division facts could use some strength. We played with the multiplication and division cards. We kept it to the upper numbers (sixes through twelves) so that she was working the facts she struggles with having memorized. She did not enjoy having the wild cards in the deck so we did not use those. We played a couple of variations of the game, including one where I had to go around the board 2 times and she had to go around once.

While the game is marketed as a game for all ages, it definitely suits the students in the elementary age range the best. Mental math in this game refers mostly to memorizing math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. And this is exactly what is needed for the elementary ages. With the runners having hobbies that the students can relate to, Math Sprint  – The Mental Math Game will be a hit.

Be sure to visit the Homeschool Review Crew to read additional reviews from families with other aged students who have been playing this game in their homes. Also, Byron’s Games has released an app for Continent Race that is available in both Android and iOS operating systems. I have been playing it on my phone and really enjoying it. This free app will help players learn the regions and countries of the world.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Bored? Game Ideas

One of the things that has come out of us having more time at home is a night game of some sort. Mostly it is Miss J and I but we are sometimes joined by others or even the whole family. I just thought I’d share a few of the games we enjoy for a quick round before bedtime.

OK Play – A quick game of strategy for 2 or more players, similar to connect 4 (or 5 in this case) using square colored tiles on the table top.

Tabletop Curling – Miss J came home from Christmas with a tabletop curling game where you use little “curling stone” set on marbles and a curling lane of slick plastic. It is a fun little game and make a fun game before bed.

Boggle – This is a word find game where each person is looking for their own list of words from the letter dice. You can make words from letters that touch but you can’t use a letter more than one time per word. The whole family will get involved in this game.

Blink – This is a fast paced card game for 2. You each have half the deck of cards and start with one card each face up in the playing space between you. Each person is trying to get rid of their stack of cards first and you do so by matching the playing cards as quickly as possible. You can only have 3 cards in your hand at a time and you have to match by shape, number of shapes, or color. Lots of fun!

War – This 2 person game utilizes a regular deck of cards. You each have half the deck and turn one card over at a time, at the same time. The highest card gets to keep them and the goal is to get all of the cards in your hand. If you both turn over the same card, you then have a quick battle of three face-down cards with one face-up. Whoever has the highest face-up cards gets all of the cards on the table.

Go Fish – This game can have 2 or more players and uses a regular deck of cards. I think most people know how to play this traditional game.

Monopoly Deal – I do not like the regular Monopoly game but this one I’ll play. It is a card game and it doesn’t generally take too long to play. Look it up. Lots of fun! We can often get at least one sister to play this with us.

Forbidden Island – This is a collaborative game that Miss J enjoys a lot. It is one we have to have at least 30 minutes to play and often it takes longer than that. But it is a fun one of strategy, with a good bit of luck. It can be just 2 players but it is a bit more fun with more.

Chutes and Ladders – This classic game is one that my sweet 11 year old still enjoys. It is a fast play and we can laugh a bit before bedtime. A good one.

Candy Land – Again, this is a classic but is fun and simple and makes a good pre-bedtime game.

Tenzi – This is a very fast game played with sets of 10 dice each. If you buy it, it comes with sets of colored dice. Similar to Yahtzee, you are trying to get the same number on all of your dice as quickly as possible. The first one to get the same number on all of their dice wins.

These are just a few that I came up with off the top of my head. Our game closet is packed and it has been fun taking time many evenings to play a game to send us off to bed in good spirits.

Does your family have a favorite board game that doesn’t take too long to play?

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Linking up with some other Review Crew for a weekly linkup hosted by A Net In Time. Head over there to see more boredom buster ideas.

 

 

Continent Race Game ~ a Crew review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Board games can be transformative in how material is learned when you get just the right one. Geography has always been interesting to me and to find a board game to go along with it has been lots of fun. Byron’s Games has created a geography board game that can teach everything from country names to capitals to location in the world, depending on how you choose to use it. And that makes Continent Race  such a good game.

About Byron’s Games:

This company is named after a young boy who was stuck in the hospital and got bored. He was challenged by one of the staff members at the hospital and he rose to the challenge. And he started creating. The result is Byron’s Games. Byron’s purpose with the creation of Continent Race was so that other kids in the hospital could play a fun game AND learn something while they recovered. I think he was successful.

Byron’s Games has a mission, too. The company gives back to several children’s charities to help other children through difficult times. What a big heart for a young boy!

About Continent Race:

This is a geography game that is designed to teach a number of things about the world. It comes with a large board with a printed and color coded world map. It includes over 200 flag cards that are color coded to go with the map and have the flag, country name, and capital city name.

There are also 5 continent maps that are include larger, easier to read areas of the world, color coded to the larger map and the flag cards. One side is a map and the other side is a listing of the country names from that map.

It does include a page of instructions and rules for play.

Play is simple and revolves around collecting a full set of cards for the continents. This means that each player is trying to get either 2 or 4 cards from 3 different continents in order to win. For example, since Australia/Oceania has so many few countries, you must collect 2 cards from that continent. But from all other continents, you have to collect four flag cards. Once you have a full set for 3 different continents, the game ends.

Byron’s Game Continent Race winning hand

There are included options for challenges and upping the difficulty level built right in. One of the sets of flag cards is actually color coded orange and does not coordinate with a map. This is to challenge the players to figure out which continent the flag/country belongs to.

Other options for increasing difficulty or upping the learning? Maybe you have to spell the country or find it on the maps before you get to claim the set as complete. Maybe you have to read and spell the capital city. What are you wanting to reinforce? Make it a part of the game.

We used the map option to increase the challenge. Miss J and I had to collect the full set for the continent and then point out each one on the map before we could lay them down.

Byron’s Games Continent Race

Miss J’s Thoughts:

It was a good game. It is interesting. I like to play it as a school game.

Thoughts:

This is a fun game. It can be simple but sometimes simple is the very best way to reinforce or teach something. I don’t know about you but even though I enjoy geography, the way the world keeps changing borders, I don’t know all the countries. So, this helps. Additionally, as the Olympics approaches (hopefully it will be able to go on as scheduled!), this game can help prepare for those opening ceremonies where the flags are carried for all of the participating countries. Having learned many of the flags ahead of time will really make that an interesting ceremony and it will be additional connections in learning. That is what makes the world interesting!

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Be sure to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read additional reviews on Continent Race  and reviews of the Connections Stationary Kit, a letter writing kit for kids ages 6+. Just click on the banner below.

 

Artchitectural Feats with Building Planks from Brain Blox ~ a Crew review

Brain Blox has created yet another exciting, challenging product that allows children to tackle architectural feats. Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks have been a joy for our youngest giggly girl. Miss J has tackled all sorts of fun and interesting builds with these lightweight wooden planks. The whole family has enjoyed using these, building together and separately, but Miss J has certainly used them most often.

We received the kit of 200 planks. Each plank is the same size and thickness. The solid wood, lightweight planks are made of 100% pine from New Zealand. Each piece of wood is chemical-free and safe for children. Since these non-toxic Building Planks are nothing more than wood that is a few inches long, they are safe for children of all ages, from 4 to 104.

Needing nothing more than stacking and gravity, these Building Planks allow for hours of imaginative building and creativity. The kit contained the planks, a canvas drawstring bag for storing the blocks, and a booklet of ideas and inspirations. There are many free resources and ideas on the Brain Blox website. The Brain Blox YouTube channel also has some fabulous resources with their building videos and challenges.

Miss J used these Brain Blox often while listening to the read aloud she is working through with her dad. She can listen to the story and build parts of it, such as the train the characters rode on or the chair one of the characters sat in to study.

 

train made from Brain Blox planks

another train made from Brain Blox

chair made from Brain Blox planks

The logic challenges from the YouTube website were lots of fun and really challenged Miss J to think outside of the box. Each one set up a shape and then challenged the student to change just a couple of pieces to for a new shape.

 

Some of the free resources that are available for use have been mentioned already. These include the booklet with image challenges for building. Also included are the logic challenges from the YouTube channel. There is also the Brain Blox University, downloadable curriculum resources for levels 1 through 6.

Here is a slideshow of some of the many different builds that Miss J had tackled.

 

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Many of these builds she has tackled often. She built some of these multiple times. Some she tried to build with more space in between each block or more blocks or closed in some of the spaces to try to make them smaller. This play with spatial thinking is one of the many benefits of an innovative yet simple toy like these Brain Blox Building Planks.

It is so simple to consider that these are a toy for youngsters. But they aren’t. These Building Planks have longevity. They are fun for everyone in the family to use and can be used to illustrate many concepts in education. Whether providing a hands-on activity or being used in math lessons, there are many ways that these will be used.

I am going to leave you with one of the videos that Miss J made after she knocked down her tower that was much taller than she was. It was a time of joy for her and she build and pulled down her tower many times. What a fun thing to encourage and see her attempt many times over.

We highly recommend these Wooden Building Planks from Brain Blox. Hours and hours of enjoyment, stretching the mind and creativity. If you are looking for more fabulous products from Brain Blox, check out our review of Fun Family Chess, a way to learn chess that can be used by young and old alike.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Please visit the Homeschool Review Crew to see what other families thought of the Brain Blox Wooden Building Blocks by clicking on the image below.

Learn to Play Chess With Fun Family Chess ~ a Crew review

Chess is THE game of choice with the youngest giggly girl. She has played for years and loves it. She was excited to participate in the review of Fun Family Chess from Brain Blox. The game of chess is exciting and strategic and challenging. All of this is still found in Fun Family Chess, even though they make it simple to learn.

Fun Family Chess is the brain child of the family owned company Brain Blox. They are a small company that creates and sells ingenious educational toys for families. With the mission of helping families become more intentional and more conscientious, their product bring families together. Meaningful play strengthens family bonds and strengthens children’s brains and thinking processes. A Win-Win mission.

Fun Family Chess is a beautiful chess set for students. It is designed to be played in two different ways. You can use this set to play traditional chess but you can also use it with the Fun Family rules which help teach even very young children how to play chess.

The set includes a beautiful black and white board that folds in half and has claps on the outside to lock it closed for safe and easy storage.

When it is opened, the undersides are lined with black velvety cloth and have cavities for storing the other pieces of the game. There are some cards, instructions, a die, and two black, drawstring bags for storing the pieces. The black and white pieces, each in their own bag, are made of painted wood and the bottoms are covered with cloth to keep them from scratching the playing board.

Fun Family Chess begins with setting up the board. The instruction booklet gets you set up and started. There are two cards printed on thick cardstock that have examples of how each piece can move. There is also a die with shapes on it to indicate each of the pieces. To play Fun Family Chess, you roll the die. You then move whatever chess piece is indicated by the roll, referencing the card as needed. Take a look at this video by Brain Blox to learn more.

This simplified version of chess really helps novice players learn the moves for each of the different chess pieces. As the player learns, they also pick up on strategies for how to move those pieces to their best advantage. Move by move and piece by piece, the game of chess is learned without the stress of having to know it all right now, right away. That is brilliant!

Chess can be very intimidating because the smartest people play the game, right? Fun Family Chess has definitely taken away that intimidation factor and proven that anyone can learn the game.

Once a player feels pretty comfortable with playing the game using the die, that can just be set aside and the traditional style of chess playing can commence. There is little difference in the actual use of the pieces for moving from the Fun Family Chess to traditional chess. The main difference is that the players have to now decide which piece to move each time. However, moving into traditional chess means that check and check-mate are now in play for the game. This is where students get excited. After all, they have now learned how to play the game of chess, the game so many people are intimidated by. But the students know how. They are no longer intimidated.

The YouTube channel for Brain Blox includes several other videos to help you play Fun Family Chess and advance on to standard chess play.

While Miss J knew how to play chess before receiving this game, her skills have greatly increased in the weeks we have used this. She insisted on learning to play using the die and played with it that way quite a bit. She even was able to play herself using the die since she didn’t have to make nearly the number of strategic decisions. It really strengthened her knowledge of each of the pieces and gave her confidence in her move choices. So while she did not need the Fun Family Chess version to start learning with, it has been a great advantage for her to learn and strengthen her knowledge. A definite recommend!

And check out our review of another of this company’s great products – the Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Be sure to visit the Homeschool Review Crew and read about the experiences of other families who have used Fun Family Chess from Brain Blox. Just click on the banner below to read their reviews.

Matific Galaxy (math practice) ~ a Crew review

Once in a while, we end up with a program that just captivates one of the girls’ attention. Matific Galaxy has done just that. This online math practice program is such an enjoyable way to practice math that when Miss J asks to play computer games, this is where she goes. She will easily spend as much time as I will let her practicing math on the Matific Galaxy site.

Even when she gets stumped, she doesn’t mind asking for help since she is having so much fun. We started her off on the 5th grade level since she is a rising 5th grader. I figured it would give her a bit of a challenge but if it was too hard, we could easily go back down a level and truly call it practice. Even the hard stuff she is enjoying. I don’t remember her being frustrated with this once.

Matific Galaxy is available worldwide in a huge variety of languages. It is not American and thus is not aligned with anything in the US (such as Common Core) YET it does a great job of teaching the math skills the students need. With a research-based spiral curriculum, this is a challenging and encouraging supplement. They list all of the skills taught in each grade level right on the website, with the opportunity to try one of them before purchase.

Matific Galaxy is an online subscription. It requires internet access and a paid subscription. You can choose a single grade option or a multi grade option. The material goes up to 6th grade. Each student must have a separate account as it tracks individual progress. There is a 25% discount for each additional student according to the website.

There is not a placement test that I could locate.  Since the skills are listed on the website, it was fairly easy to make a determination of where to begin. It is easy enough to move them up or down grade levels if needed.

The student will login and it is easy to get right to work. The student works through different episodes. Each episode has a cute little pixelated character that shows progress within the episode. Each completed activity earns more pixels to complete the character. You can see the difference here with the completed character and the one being worked on.

 

The activities are fairly straightforward. Miss J’s favorite are the activities that work on geometry. She has really enjoyed those. It will ask her to identify the number of sides or the number of vertices or some other identifying attribute and then click on shapes that match that. Within each skill area, there are just a few question so that it doesn’t wear the student out or frustrate them when working on a challenging skill. I believe they ranged from 3 to 7 questions per skill.

 

If it was a computation skill, there is a calculator that comes up on the screen to help the student figure their answer. This was helpful in some of the multiplication skills. Miss J still needed paper and pencil or whiteboard and marker for many of the skills she was working on. She had not worked on multiplying decimals or adding fractions before so this was one area where she needed help from one of her big sisters or a parent. We had to teach the skill and then she could practice it. While it meant the game took a tad bit longer, it was a great way to keep doing what she was having fun with for math and still get in the teaching of new skills and concepts.

One of Miss J’s favorite parts was taking care of the characters after she had earned them. Each character continues to want care – cleaning, toys, and food. When you do this for the characters, more coins are earned which allows more clothing or accessories to be bought for the character. While this has nothing to do with math, it is something that Miss J enjoyed about the program. AND, she could replay the math games to earn more also. Miss J did this often as she wanted to earn more coins to buy the characters the things they wanted, like new handkerchiefs or hats or construction equipment.

 

There are reports that allow you to see where your student is excelling or struggling and the reports are simple to read and understand. There is the activity highlights report that tells you how much has been completed and the average of scores for overall categories.

The Results by Topic report breaks the categories down by skill area and gives the percentage correct. It also gives a comparison of the average for all students using that level of Matific Galaxy.

There is also a report that breaks the skills down further by the assignment within each episode.

You can select to receive a weekly update via email to get reports how the student is progressing, if the weekly time goal was met, and other information.

If the student is struggling, you can access a few worksheets that correspond to some of the skills. They are not simple to get to for the homeschool teacher as they are found on the classroom part of the site but they can be sent via email one by one for the topics where more help is needed. I was looking at what was available for work with decimals and found this one that I had emailed to me. I can then print it out for Miss J when she is working on that skill.

This has been a wonderful program to have come across. I imagine in just another week or two, Miss J will have completed all of the grade 5 skills. This is because she will spend, easily, 4 hours a week on the program as opposed to the suggested 45 minutes per week. That’s okay with me as she is really increasing her math knowledge at great speed.

I plan to have her go back over the skill areas where she didn’t have above 80% since this is where her greatest challenges are being shown. Most of these are where she had to be taught the skill to complete the game and so she struggled a bit. Not a problem! She can tackle them again in order to earn more for her characters. A Win-Win!

After she gets those averages up, I plan to move her on to the 6th grade skills. Why not? If she loves it and is learning, why hold her back? This program is a huge hit and I feel no hesitation in recommending it.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Please visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read about the other families who have been using Matific Galaxy. Just click on the banner below.

Wits & Wagers (Family) ~ Blogging Through the Alphabet

We are all the way down to letter W in Blogging Through the Alphabet!

Recently, the girls’ grandparents were here for a few days and we pulled out some games to play. Wits & Wagers Family was pulled out and, oh, we had so much fun!

If you like trivia yet don’t ever remember all the specifics, Wits & Wagers is for you!

Each person gets a dry erase board, a marker, and a couple of voting characters. The big meeple is a vote worth 2 points and the small one is worth 1 point, if you place them on the winning guess.

For each round, a person reads a question off a card. These are random! One of ours was “Are there more cows or more people in America?”

Each person then writes down their guess. All guesses are numeric in form. After everyone writes their guess down, they are put in numeric order. Each person then makes their vote for which guess they think is closest without going over. You can vote both your meeples on one card or on different cards. Then the answer is read and the right guess is determined. Points are awards for correctly voting and for writing the winning guess.

Then on to the next random question.

We had tons of fun with this. Up to six people can play. The more people we had playing, the more laughter we experienced. This is a fun one if you are looking for a new game for the family.

At Home.

Please visit A Net In Time and Hopkins Homeschool and link up your ABC posts.

My ABC Posts:

A – Always Learning
B – Be A Pearl Seeker

C – Crave

D – Degas books

E – Electrical Circuits

G – Giraffe Party

H – How to let go?

I – Ice Cream

J – Just Sit Still

K – Kids Can

L – Leadership through Lads to Leaders

M – Motivation

N – Nature Research

O – Our God, He Is Alive

P – Prepared

 Q – Quizlet

R – Recital (violin)

S – Saving

T – Travel Book

U – Under the Lights

 V – Visiting Texas Rangers

W – Wits & Wagers Family

X Y Z

Quizlet – Blogging Through the Alphabet

This week is letter Q for Blogging Through the Alphabet. I had thought and brainstormed and kept coming up with things I could make work but didn’t really spark my own interest. I didn’t want to waste your time. Then, today, while thinking about the work one of the giggly girls still needed to do, I asked “Have you worked on Quizlet today?” And my brain registered the Q and said “That’s it!”

So, Quizlet.

Do you know Quizlet?

This is a free, online quiz system. It is wonderful. We have used it for tons of things. I can create my own set of cards to quiz over or sometimes, I can look up the questions I want that someone else has already done and made public. Now that has been wonderful!

When I go to Quizlet and make my own set, I have a question and answer series that I enter. It is as simple as entering the question and its corresponding answer. Then move on to the next question/answer. On and on until you have entered them all. At that point, it is time for the kiddos to start quizzing.

There are several functions on Quizlet, or ways in which the quizzing can be done: flashcards, learn, spell, test, match, and gravity.

Home Screen in Quizlet for this study set

 

For flashcards: One part is shown. After making your guess, you click the corner and it shows you the other side. You can mark ones that you struggled with and then work on just those. You can do it all again. You can do the question first or you can do the answer first. The flashcards are pretty flexible, which is awesome!

For Learn: It gives you either the question or the answer and you type in the other part.

For Spell: This one works best for vocabulary and spelling words. It tells you the part you are to type in. If you are using it for Bible study with younger ones (as we often do), the spelling will get them and they will end up with a lot marked incorrect. We seldom use this function.

For Test: This gives you a series of questions and you supply the answer. Again you can choose which part you want it to give you. The test generally has 20 questions: 5 type in the right answer, 5 matching, 5 multiple choice, and 5 true/false. This is a feature that Miss E likes to use.

For Match: The questions and answers are put out there and you drag and drop the matches onto each other. Simple and fun. All three of the giggly girls use this one a lot. This is probably the MOST used function for our family.

For Gravity: This is a game where asteroids have to be destroyed. It gives you one part and you have to type in the other part. You can use the term/question, the definition/answer, or select random for it to go back and forth. This is one the girls do like but it is harder for Bible bowl study due to the way the questions are worded.

On the main page, you see a list of the questions in your set. You can arrange them the way you typed them in, alphabetical, or by stats (how many are missed most/least/etc.). This is nice if you have only one person using it and you can quickly see what needs worked on. Even as a family, we are able to see where we need to work on our Bible bowl questions.

This is a fun and easy to use resource that really does a tremendous job of helping the girls study their Bible bowl questions and memory work. We most often access it on the desktop computer or a Kindle. It works well either way. I don’t know that the exact same activities are on both platforms but we use it both ways and the girls can move easily from one to the other.

If you are looking for a free resource to help with memory work, definitions, spelling, or other memory work, check our Quizlet. It was simple to make a free account and I can share my work with others or use quiz sets that someone else has made available publicly. I have a filing cabinet where I can list those for the girls to pick from. Quick and easy.

At Home.

Please visit A Net In Time and Hopkins Homeschool and link up your ABC posts.

My ABC Posts:

A – Always Learning
B – Be A Pearl Seeker

C – Crave

D – Degas books

E – Electrical Circuits

G – Giraffe Party

H – How to let go?

I – Ice Cream

J – Just Sit Still

K – Kids Can

L – Leadership through Lads to Leaders

M – Motivation

N – Nature Research

O – Our God, He Is Alive

P – Prepared

 Q – Quizlet

R S T U V W X Y Z