Planning a Senior Year in Home Education

Can I just say, this isn’t my first rodeo but I think it is a lot harder this go-round? Trying to meet what a student needs to prepare them for life while balancing expectations is tough. Those expectations are sometimes the hardest thing to over come.

Currently, I am wrestling with what she truly needs for her future with the time she has to dedicate to school topics. She truly needs time in the dance studio but that comes at a cost as well. What to do?

My heart-of-heart reminds me that we are planning a non-college bound future for her so she doesn’t need the typical 4 math, 4 science, 4 English, 4 history, etc. that a college would be looking for. She will need that diploma to enter a ballet trainee program, I believe. But what else?

She is excellent at communicating her thoughts, presenting logical arguments with support, writing those thoughts and arguments and research. She has basic math, though we are going to focus on geometry this year. I feel like she needs a final course of American history. I may have her read another dance anatomy book but I am not sure that another science is worth her time and effort. She has read a good variety of literature books and we’ll have her read some more this year. She will participate in Lads to Leaders (lads2leaders.com) again this year, with her participation likely being Bible Bowl, article submission, debate, speech, songs of praise (song leading), reading through the Bible in a year, and perhaps the Pearls class. I am sure she will also create an art piece to submit.

I feel like I am missing a major piece of the puzzle but perhaps that is just because she is such a non-traditional student following a non-traditional path. And that is hard in our society. Even among homeschoolers.

I guess my purpose in writing out these musings is to encourage others who have students trying to follow a non-traditional path. I know she will be fine. My oldest daughter is training as a store manager and teaching dance. She is doing well and she followed a non-traditional path, also. Still, sometimes, doubt and concern creep in.

If I were talking to you, I would say “keep your head up and your eyes focused on God and His will.” Maybe I just need to tell that to myself over and over. 🙂

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Questions When Considering How & Where to Educate Your Children

I have been thinking about what questions one should consider when looking at what education fits your family best, whether it be public schools, private schools, or home education. These are some of the questions I have had come to mind.

• What do you want your child to get out of education? Is it to finish all the boxes required for college entrance? Is it to learn how to learn independently? Is it to set them up for life and a life of learning? Is it to keep them immersed in a particular world view or to keep them out of a particular world view? What is the goal of your child’s education?
• What is your family’s lifestyle like? Home education is a lifestyle. There is no denying that since the children are a part of daily life, appointments, volunteering, chores, everything. Can your family lifestyle adjust to that?
• What is your vacation style? If you are one who likes to take off on a moments notice or spend two weeks in another state, can the education format you are considering work with that? Will they work with that?
• What is the work schedule of you and/or your spouse? How will the children’s schedule in any given education style impact their time with a parent? How high is that in your priority list?
• How flexible are you? How flexible do you want to be? Some education styles are firm and set; some education styles are the definition of flexibility.
• What do you value about your child’s personality right now? In the future? How will each of the education styles you are considering help or hinder that growth?
• How important is independence and out-of-the-box thinking to you? How important is it for there to be a single right answer to something? How important is it for there to be many ways and options to answer a question?
• What do you consider important in the child’s personal growth? Will your educational style encourage and support that growth? Will you have to change your ideals to fit into the style of education you are considering? Is that okay with you?
• Why are you considering each of the educational styles you are looking at? What is appealing about each one and what do you not like about each one?
• What concerns you about the world? How is this dealt with in the educational setting you are considering?
• How important is freedom to you? Freedom to act, think, choose, change, move about, schedule, time, etc. Does the educational style you are considering support those freedoms? To what extent?
• How do you feel about knowing, or not knowing, what your child is studying? Will it be easy to communicate with the person teaching them and choosing their curriculum?
• What does the word socialization mean to you?
• What kind of time are you willing to dedicate to your child’s education? How much of it needs to be “time on task” and how much is discretionary time?
• What is your child’s learning style? Are they an auditory learner? A visual learner? A kinestetic learner? A combination or maybe even something else? Can this be supported in the educational style you are considering?

Are you noticing the question that keeps coming up?

“Can this be supported in the educational style you are considering?” Or “Will the education style you are considering support and encourage (or hinder) _________________________?”

This is a big part of the thinking through process when you are seeking to find the right balance of priorities and values for your child’s education. And it is tough. There is not an answer that is better or worse for most of these questions. There is an answer that is best for you or one that is better suited than others. But there is a lot to consider. These are not all the questions you can ask to decide where your child’s education should happen. These are just some things that I think are important to consider.

Do you have any questions you would add to the mix? Leave them in the comments section, please, for others to consider on their journey.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Schedule Options (MS & HS) – a day in the life Crew challenge

How many different ways are there to schedule schooling options? As many as there are subject variations, I imagine. I thought I would share a couple that are working well for us. I have three children and each of them is working on a different schedule.

High School – 11th grade with dual credit for two classes a semester

This student is a slow-starter but a hard worker. She is forcing herself to get up to an alarm and get moving every weekday, even when she doesn’t have to. Last semester, she worked on a fairly traditional schedule. But this semester, she came to me and asked if she could work hard on one subject a day, planning to complete at least a week’s worth of work on the subject. She had a sound reasoning as to why she thought it would work for her. So, she scheduled math one day, biology one day, and literature one day. She is doing history and sign language through dual credit and so is working on those more than one day a week. She does her physical education daily (dance), also. But the beauty of this schedule is that it is what she sees as being a strong way to work on it for her and so she will work hard at it.

Block schedules are not a new thing. I remember as an elementary school teach using block schedules for math and language arts. The high schools have done this before also. Their schedule is not typically one subject a day but they block it into larger chunks of time, maybe 3 subjects a day, so that the students can get on a roll with an idea or concept and not have it cut off just as they start to understand. So, after listening to her reasons, I was thrilled to see her taking the time to consider, come up with a sound argument for her idea, and present it to me logically. Her ideas was granted permission so long as we see sound progress.

High School – 9th grade working with a boxed curriculum

This student is a go-getter to the max! She is one who embraces everything being done as well as possible. (I work really hard not use the word perfectionist with her!) She is working on a combo of daily work with a looping schedule. With a looping schedule, she is working for a set amount of time completing one lesson after another down the page of the curriculum guide. When she hits the end of the day, say Monday, she jumps to the top of Tuesday’s column and starts there, whether or not it is Tuesday. These are subjects like her history, writing, reading/literature, Bible, and science. Her math, Bible, physical education (dance), foreign language, and violin are daily work. She does each of these and then starts in on her loop for the day.

This has worked well for her. She makes continuous progress without getting overwhelmed at the sheer volume of materials. She will earn 11, yes 11, high school credits when she completes these courses. No wonder she felt overwhelmed trying to hit every subject every day and was spending hours and hours on it. She is not moving at one the pace of the curriculum guide – 1 calendar week = 1 curriculum guide week – but she is making strong and happy progress. It’ll take a bit longer than one year to get through the curriculum but that is okay. She’ll earn more than one year of credits for it.

I do probably need to address Bible for her since it is both in her loop and her daily schedule. For the loop schedule, it is whatever is assigned in the curriculum. They have several Bible items for the student to work on, earning a Bible credit with this curriculum. She also works on several projects and studies for church, as well as teaching one of the Sunday classes for preschool. So she works on Bible Bowl, Pearls (book study), debate, memorizing scripture, other Lads to Leaders materials, or Sunday school prep on a daily basis for a large part of the school year.

Middle School – 6th grader

This is one smart cookie who gets easily distracted. She finds things really interesting but can then get just as interested in something else. She is working on an eclectic curriculum. She is doing well with it. She works 4 days a week, doing each subject every day. She has a daily checklist in a spiral that she uses to help keep her on track. She has math (online), history (includes literature, vocabulary, and writing), science, Bible, sign language, and physical education (dance). She spends a good bit of time each day on her curriculum, often because she gets distracted or doesn’t concentrate. Hers is a “check everything off each day” schedule.

We also spend a good bit of time finding fun, short videos on things she is interested in to watch. She helps me cook and do laundry (sometimes on the laundry) and she loves to read (finally!!). She enjoys spending time with people and helping out. She has started spending quite a bit of time drawing for fun. All of these are learning opportunities, too. So, when I feel like this child isn’t spending enough time on “learning,” I remind myself of all these other things that she does that are also learning, just not out of a book.

Final Thoughts

My purpose in sharing this is to remind each of us that we are different. Even our children are different. As they get older, they can have more say in what works for them. Yes, I am still responsible in making sure that what needs to get done is getting done. I can, however, allow them the freedom to help decide how to tackle it. Just the other night (at 11:20 PM!), the two older girls were working together, evaluating each other’s Powerpoint presentations and teaching each other how to do some background work, edit and transition work, and copyright notifications for images used. I don’t have to worry about whether they are learning as I can see it, day in and day out. Or night in and night out as the case may be! 🙂

Go with your gut and find non-traditional ways of schedule so that your students are successful. After all, isn’t that what it is about?

The Homeschool Review Crew bloggers are writing about their take on a day in the life of a homeschooler. Head over to the post to find the links for the other bloggers additions. Linky is at the bottom of the post.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Winter Education Doesn’t Have to be Different

You know, I struggle to think of education during different times of years as different. And that is okay. I can stay the course and be pleased with that choice.

We often see others posting of all the great things they do differently for a change in season or a holiday or what-not. At that time, it is easy to let the monster of comparison creep in. But don’t, y’all! We are not all the same. I am speaking to myself here. Just this morning, I was thinking how I needed to get the girls outside more because they aren’t “active enough.” But my girls are; just in different ways than that parent was talking about. I was letting comparison slip into my thinking and my decisions. Bad choice. That seldom turns out good for me. 🙂

So, what does winter education look like? Well, it looks like regular school days for most of the time. It looks like more breaks and a few special, fun activities. We do tend to do more puzzles. We take more holiday time off. In a “normal” year, we spend some time with family and visit NM, where we get to see good snow and do some hiking and maybe visit a museum or two. But, really, those kinds of things happen other times of the year, too.

So, winter education is really no different for us here in central Texas. And that is okay. So, to the mom or dad who is looking around, get some ideas but remember you know best what works for your kiddos. Mine need routine and time in the dance studios. Time outside doesn’t rejuvenate them like others say their kiddos need. Give mine a good song and a barre for their rejuvenation. Pick and choose what is right for your students and don’t waver in your thinking just because someone else posts a fun looking idea. You know. Stay the course.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Linking up with the Homeschool Review Crew for their monthly blogging challenges. This week is How do you homeschool in the winter? Head over to the blog to read up on lots of ideas and takes on this theme.

Using SchoolhouseTeachers.com Recently ~ a Crew review

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

The Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership accessed through SchoolhouseTeachers.com contains a wealth of information, classes, planning tools, helps, and encouragement. From video courses to text courses, from PK classes through courses interesting for adults, you will find just about anything you could want in home education and resources to support all types of learning – home education, virtual learning, blended learning, or others that I don’t even know about.

One of the great things about SchoolhouseTeachers is that you can browse on the site in so many ways. You can search by grade level, subject type, need, keyword, learning style, and more. You come up with lots of options to explore and you can pick and choose what looks like a great fit for your own crew. And if it isn’t? No problem. Search again and pick something different. You have access to it ALL! One free for one year of ALL material on the site.

So, what have we been doing with the site?

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe Literature Kit

With my 6th grader, we read the book together during December. We used some of the information from the kit to discuss. We talked a bit about C.S. Lewis. We looked at the background for why the children went to the country. We had previously done a WWII study so she was familiar with a lot of but it was good to check in with the history again. She kept a list of all the foods mentioned in the story as we read and we talked about what “tea” meant. At the end of the story, she did a bit of researching of recipes and picked from her list of foods to create a tea party. She cooked and invited her family and we enjoyed a Narnia tea time.

This literature kit is set up for a study to last several weeks. Because we were using it as a one week study during a break from our regular schedule, we adapted by picking a choosing a few of the discussions and activities to do. Activities we didn’t use included making snowflakes and snowflake ornaments, researching beavers, a study on Father Christmas, looking up flowers, how to draw a mouse, and much more. There is a four week lesson plan included.

I also had her pop over to the Literature Lessons for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. We had some quick discussions about some of the questions there. They covered characters, setting, plot, conflict, and theme. There are suggested answers in a separate file. These questions can also be done using an interactive content tool. It asks the question and has a space to type the response. The responses are emailed to the email address entered by the student when starting the quiz.

Foreign Language – French

We have been hoping for a French class to show up on here and one did. I have just started to explore it a little bit to see how it will work for my 9th grader. It appears that they are 3-4 years worth of high school materials for her so we will likely be taking this up soon. It includes course work from elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Videos

We were excited to see in the Christmas Corner of the Seasonal Resources that there was a video on The Candy Maker’s Christmas. This relates to a favorite holiday book we read every year so we were pleased to watch the short video on it. It also had a worksheet to go along with it if we had chosen to use it.

There are a lot of other video options, from materials to go along with specific classes (one of our favorites is always Drive Thru History) to devotional materials available through RightNow Media. There are over 450 videos available with your membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.

Holidays

There are tons of holiday materials that are written specifically for the holiday or are a part of a larger course that have been separated out to make doing a holiday unit study easy. With Valentine’s Day and President’s Day both coming up next month, there are plenty of materials available to pick something to add a change to the school routine. I was looking at a couple of the printable games to use for Valentine’s Day or perhaps a poetry study. There is a book by Patricia McLaughlin titled “All The Places To Love” that reads like poetry and has a study but there is also a study of Shakepeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?” Both look like short but strong options for a 6th grader.

Other Resources

I can’t discuss them all but I want to name a few more that are worth checking out:
– School Boxes (grade level curriculum options) – these are full of curriculum choices for a particular level to be able to quickly and easily pull together a full curriculum
– Literacy Center
– Special Needs Center
– Parents eBook Library
– Focused Learning Centers
– High School Help
– Planning: includes printable planners and schedule makers to customize

Much more is included on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This just barely scratches the surface. Many other reviewers for the Homeschool Review Crew have written about how they have recently been using the Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership and some about how it will continue to be used in the coming months for their homeschools. Please pop over to the Crew blog and read more reviews.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Blue Ribbon Awards, 2020 edition

The Blue Ribbon Awards is a tradition with the Homeschool Review Crew and it is a fun one for us as participants. I imagine it is also fun for the vendors. A number of categories are shared and every family in the Crew votes for their favorite in that category. We don’t vote in all categories since we didn’t review something from each of the categories.

Please visit the Crew blog to read about the overall winners from the Crew and to find other families who have shared their individual favorites. Without further ado, here are our family’s choices for the Blue Ribbon Award 2020.

Favorite Complete Curriculum – My Father’s World

Favorite Reading Supplement – Reading Eggs

Favorite Language Arts Resource – IEW

Favorite History/Social Studies Resource – Home School in the Woods Time Line Collection

Favorite History/Social Studies Book – YWAM – Jacob Deshazer

Favorite Science Resource – Journey Homeschool Academy – Upper Level Biology

Favorite Math Curriculu – CTCMath

Favorite Math Supplement – Critical Thinking Co: Mastering Logic & Math Problem Solving

Favorite Fine Arts Resource – Beyond the Stick Figure

Favorite Bible Resource – Drive Thru History Adventures – Bible Unearthed

Favorite Elementary Product – Let’s Go Geography

Favorite Middle School Product – Byron’s Games Continent Race

Favorite High School Product – Journey Homeschool Academy

Favorite Mom/Teacher Product – Fermentools Starter Kit

Best Resource I Didn’t Know I Needed – Fermentools Starter Kit

Favorite Fun Resource – Byron’s Games Continent Race

Kid’s Choice (Miss J chose this one) – Beyond the Stick Figure

Teen’s Choice #1 (Miss L chose this one) – My Father’s World

Teen’s Choice #2 (Miss E chose this one) – Journey Homeschool Academy

My Favorite – Sonrise Stables/History on Horseback

So, there you have it. Our favorites for the year. We got to review a some new products this year and we got to know some new vendors. We also got to use some old favorites that we know work well with the girls. We are continually blessed by the Crew and are looking forward to another year with them.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

Complete Curriculum For The Whole Family – SchoolhouseTeachers.com ~ 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.

We have been members with SchoolhouseTeachers.com, a site with online classes, for, well, a good number of years. We started with a membership there just a few months after we started homeschooling the girls. So, I guess we are on our 7th year and we are constantly benefitting from this wonderful, online subscription.

The Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership is the best option for a multi-age family as it gives you access to everything on the site for one price for the year. Sign up now and that price is set low, as a price increase is coming in February. If you would rather, you can also choose a month-to-month plan, though that cost is a bit higher.

The access, though, is for a complete PK-12 curriculum that not only includes all of the core classes you need, but also a whole slew of extra-curricular choices. The scope and sequence charts are some of the best ways to narrow down choices for each child.

Recently, we were looking for a science course for my 8th grader who is capable of high school level work but doesn’t just love science. So, I downloaded the scope and sequence chart for 8th grade science but what I found was that most of the science classes at her level have options that make their grade range 7th-12th. Perfect! Options! But narrowed down. I debated between Botany and Geology, both 16 week courses for this spring semester. I settled on Botany but that Geology course is still on my radar. (I may do it myself.)

What Is Great About SchoolhouseTeachers

Variety is the spice of life, right? Well, you get it with SchoolhouseTeachers. Whether you are looking for preschool or something for an adult, there are tons of choices.

Full curriculum means math, science, history, and language arts. These are all there in abundance. You can choose between different classes for lots of the levels. And then there are the extras or high-interest classes – photography, music (for example: Advanced Music Theory), art (for example: Everyday Easels), drama, speech, fashion, technology, unit studies, health, and more.

Navigation of the Site

I know that when a site has a ton of content, it can be overwhelming and intimidating. Let me reassure you, this site is navigable by multiple ways which makes is less of a burden. Are you looking for a particular class type, such as cooking or geography? Look under the Scope and Sequence chart or browse by class. Are you looking for a grade level to plan the whole year or multiple grade level subjects? Use the Browse By Subject tab to get started. Are you looking for something just for you as a parent? Head over to the tab titled Planning or Resources.

Two other nagivation options? There is a search bar at the top, which, while it can be helpful, also pulls things from a single lesson inside of a course. This can be good if you are building your own study, like we did a while back on India. That was really helpful to find a unit on tigers and a recipe to make. Bits and pieces came together to make a fabulous study.

The other option is to use the chat icon in the lower right. The folks who handle the chats are really knowledgeable and are able to give links directly to classes to check out that might meet your needs to help you find things that fit you needs.

Other Benefits of SchoolhouseTeachers

Planners! Any homeschooling parent knows that there is a need for a good planner. But we often want different things than are typically found in planners or we want this page from one planner and that page from a different one. Well, you can find two different planners to meet your needs. The Schoolhouse Planner is over 750 pages so that you can pick and choose what you want to print to meet the individual needs that you have. There is also a planner for high school students to help them be responsible for their own materials and requirements.

World Book Encyclopedia! Research is something that we all need to do and teach. As a member of SchoolhouseTeachers, you will receive access to the full World Book Encyclopedia online. This kind of access is really quite remarkable and is a great tool. Whether researching people or events, the articles, images, and timelines are very useful.

RightNow Media! Access is also available to many, many videos from RightNow Media. Whether a Bible study, a missionary study, or a cartoon for the kids, the variety on RightNow Media is extensive.

Interactive Content! There are multiple ways in which your students can have interactive content. You might choose a course (such as Drive Thru History) that has a video segment for teaching. You might find one (such as geology) that has both a video segment and an online quiz that sends results directly to your email.

Lesson Plans! Most of the course (maybe all, I am not sure!) have a printable lesson plan that takes the student step-by-step through what should be done for each day. For example, with Botany, I printed the lesson plan and put it in a folder with notebook paper. The lesson plan tells Miss L which pages to read in the text (which we downloaded as a PDF to the computer so she can read from there but we could also put it on her Kindle) and which questions to answer. If there is an activity, such as writing a paragraph on a scientist, it tells her that, also. If there is something she needs to print, you’ve got it, the lesson plan tells her which page to print.

Literacy Center! This is a center that focuses on teaching reading. With a grade level of PK – 2nd grade for pre-reading and reading activities and grade level or 3rd-4th for their comprehension activities, there is a lot of support in this center for assisting parents who are teaching their children to read.

Focused Learning Centers! These are various areas that focus on topics like math, reading, special needs, foreign language, high school, college planning, or science. These materials will direct you to the materials – whether courses or particular lessons – on the site that will help you teach and address the particular area of need that you have.

So Really –

I could keep going because SchoolhouseTeachers truly is a site that is packed to the brim with materials and information. I could easily use this site to teach everything my girls will need to know. It truly is a complete curriculum choice and with the current sale going on, it would be hard to not call this a bargain. Please check out the site and see what would benefit your family.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

There are many Homeschool Review Crew members sharing their reviews of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, a complete curriculum site. Please click on the banner below to read their reviews.

Literature Class for High School – a series of ideas

Disclaimer: This post does contain an affiliate link. I did not receive anything for this post but if you choose to purchase through the affiliate link, I may receive a small commission for it.

Literature – that word either thrills you deeply or scares you deeply. Your reaction could very likely be a response to the literature classes you had as a high school student. For me, I had a strange literature year in 9th grade where one semester we focused deeply on a single writing assignment before the teacher moved to Germany and the other semester we had a creepy teacher who taught only Sherlock Holmes novels. I also think about the year that Ms. McKay taught lit in junior high and we had a fabulous time with all sorts of unique ideas for how we shared about the books we read. I like to try to allow my girls to lean more towards the Ms. McKay style year than the other one. Literature has so much to teach us but it can be easy to make it a miserable experience when the focus is in the wrong place.

So where should the focus be? Why, the story of course and what the reader is getting from it. The focus should not be on what the teacher thinks the student should get from it because we are all different and see different things in stories. And what a wonderful thing that is. My girls have taught me so much by listening to their thoughts on books. That’s why we did Story Spiels one year. And why we have not done a traditional book report. Ever.

I would suggest the following for a literature class for high school.

• Allow the student say in what is read and studied. Yes, it is a good idea to have them read stories they would not naturally pick up but they shouldn’t ONLY be reading things they wouldn’t normally choose. A good blend of their choice and yours is stronger than either by itself.
• If a prepared curriculum is preferred, there is no reason to not use it. Try to allow for modification, if would make the experience more enjoyable. We have used Sharon Watson’s materials and loved them, planning to use them again, because of the way in which she approaches the story of any book. We did not use it 100% as written but used a large part it and will with her other one in the future. We are also using one this year and modifying it to fit age level (see what I share towards the end on To Every Nation).
• Allow the student freedom in how they will share what they glean from the story. A one-size-fits-all report form is not going to sit well with a student who really understands on character but doesn’t really pay all that much attention to what year it is in the story. Finding a way for the student to share their own insights will broaden their understanding and give them a pride in their shares.
• Require a mix of creative and unique ways to present coupled with some writing. It is high school and if there is any chance whatsoever that the student will go to college, there is a need for the student to be able to express their thoughts not just verbally but also in writing. Having a challenge of half of their presentations for the year involving some form of writing will give them freedom to choose which books fit more naturally into a written form and which they would rather do something wildly creative with.
• Provide ideas that are open-ended. With specific ideas, it can be difficult for students to broaden that to their own creativity. With open-ended ideas, they can adapt the idea to their particular story and idea. Open-ended suggestions give freedom and open the option of creative ideas that might not even be on your radar but fit the student’s ideas perfectly.
• Allow for a mix of paper/pencil projects, technology, artistic, theatrical, and more. Every idea should be allowed for consideration.

We have selected the books that our sophomore is reading – the YWAM series of Christian biographies (affiliate link). She is also working on the workbook To Every Nation (courtesy link) from Not Consumed that we purchased. In addition, since the books and workbooks fall “below” her reading level, we have required her to add a final project for each of the biographies. We created a list for her to choose from following much of the criteria above.

I am going to share an idea a week (at least that’s the plan) with you from our list of what project choices we have come up with. I am going to share with you whether Miss E has used that option and if so, how it has gone. I can’t wait to encourage you in thinking “outside the box” for high school literature. After all, there is so much to learn from reading literature books that we ought to make it fun and enjoyable.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

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.

Hey, Mama! Planner ~ a Crew review

I am a pen and paper kind of gal. That makes a printed planner a necessity for me. And my very favorite one is published by The Old Schoolhouse®. I have been using it for quite a few years now, except for one year when I couldn’t get it. But the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year is just what I needed.

The author of this planner, Gena Suarez, has been down this homeschooling road and knows about the hopes and desires and worries and concerns that inundate the life of a homeschooling mama. She wrote this planner with all of that in mind. It seems like that part of the planner – the part that offers encouragement to stay strong and remember why you tackled this homeschooling journey in the first place – actually came before the planning part of the planner. That is what I like most about this planner and why I come back to it year after year. I find great encouragement here.

You specifically see these encouragement posts each month. Every one starts out with Hey, Mama! Gena is talking to me. And to you. And to whoever is using this beautiful planner. We all have down days and days of struggle. These Hey, Mama! letters are found in the calendar part of the planner (I know getting a bit ahead of myself but I’ll get there). One letter for each month. And I go back to them more than once in the year. Because they are so encouraging!

A quick note about the quality of this planner – it is fabulous. The cover is beautiful and this combination of my favorite color with flowers just makes me smile. And who doesn’t like something that makes them smile. 🙂 The planner is spiral bound with laminated paper covers. Okay – laminated is probably not the right word but they are thick paper with a nice glossy finish that will allow it to withstand a lot of use, which it will get. The pages inside are a thick and of a high-quality. The slightly rough finish is smooth to write on. All of this adds up to a lovely planner that is a joy to use.

Now, on to the other pages of the planner. As I mentioned, there are calendar pages of several sorts. There is a year-long view set up month by month so you can see all of 2019 by itself, all of 2020, by itself and all of 2021 by itself. The whole year. There is a monthly view, where you get the month in a two-page spread so you can make plans for the month and see it all at once. Then you have the weekly view in undated pages. So you can make those work for you in whatever way is best, week by week.

You get some transcript information, because at some point, every child will need some kind of a record of what has been covered. There is one page on “Creating an Academic Transcript” followed by an academic transcript if you want a pre-made form. There are checklists for skills learned and a page to track other courses. These are all found up front.

After your weekly view planning pages, you have planning pages for up to five children. There is a page for notes, a page for curriculum planning, an attendance chart, a book list page, a page for yearly goals, and pages for semester goals. That allows you to really think through and plan for your children’s education each year. But, it is also really flexible and you don’t have to use any of these forms that don’t work for you.

For me, I have already color coded our schedule for next school year, starting in July.

I have also started keeping track of the learning and reviews that will happen during July. I use the notes page that comes with each month to write down what videos we watch, what field trips (or camps/mission trips) we take, what books we use as a read aloud, and what reviews are being worked on by which girl. You can see that in the image up above with the example of the encouragement letter.

The monthly view is another way I track the big picture. I tend to write on it our places we go and activities done. As you can see, I color code everything I write down for the girls. I use blue, pink, and purple to make notes on their course work, attendance, book list, activities, etc. I use red and/or green for anything we do as a family. This helps me see at a glance what has been done or what is planned.

I also plan to use the curriculum planning pages. I like to track which program each girl is using, especially for any high school level courses. So, for two of the girls, I will have some high school level courses to track.

I also keep track of attendance. I am not required by the state to track that but it is a good measure of the amount of work done and time spent. And if I ever need it, I don’t have to try to figure it out. It is right there.

The Old Schoolhouse® has done such an amazing job with the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year that they are about 98% sold out. There are not plans to print more for this year so you might want to grab yours quickly if you are interested.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

There were several families who were able to get a copy of the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year for this review. Head over to the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews.