Sign Language in 2010

Our family has used American Sign Language (ASL) for several years.  We go in cycles where we talk more and sign less and then times where we have toddlers who need to sign to be well understood, so we sign more.  We also simply enjoy learning to sign.  I have posted before about why we sign and our favorite resource: Signing Time DVDs. 

Making plans for 2010 we knew we wanted more sign language practice.  We have Daniel, a semi-verbal 2 year old, and Oliver, a non-verbal 10 month old.  That means we need lots of signing as a family for them to pick up the signs we want them to use. 

Here is the basic plan:

* We will watch a Signing Time DVD daily and sign together.  We own 28 Signing Time DVDs at last count, so we have plenty of material to work with.  

* We will have special signs each week that we use as much as possible, especially when speaking to the little ones.  The big kids (Makayla, Joseph, Emma) will have opportunities to play teacher to the family at random moments in the day – this will be surprise announcements. 

* We will play “signing please” each day for at least 10 minutes.  I’ll describe the game to the kids like this: “Pretend we’re on tv and someone pushed the mute button.  We’re still playing, but nobody can hear us so we have to sign.”  The idea is simply that we all have to sign for those 10 minutes, that talking does not count. 

* We will have story time with board books that are easy enough we can sign along.  One great example is Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.  In this book we could sign the animals or their colors, or both.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom would be an easy way to practice signing the alphabet.

* Other easy games we can play:

• Charades – acting out animals or activities.  We can guess out loud, but we have to sign it too.
• Snack Time Signing – even meals and snacks provide opportunities for a signing game.  I can sign the options they can choose from (Do you want apples or bananas?), or the kids can sign for things I leave off the table (May I have a fork? – when we are eating spaghetti).
• Sing and sign – Signing Time has wonderful songs we can sing together and sign.
• Find It – Someone signs an item and everyone goes looking for it. 

What if you don’t own Signing Time DVDs?  I highly suggest the internet!  Resources abound online.  For example here are a few sites.  Be aware that I have not fully explored these sites, but they seem to be appropriate and are all FREE.  Some sell products as well, ignore that, I did!

1. ASL University – free online curriculum
2. iCANsign – some free baby sign resources
3. Video sign dictionary – from Baby Hands Productions
4. The Signing Time website - has free activity guides, coloring books, and more.

What about your family?  Do you have a special subject you enjoy learning together?

Tweaked Homeschool Plans

Next week we start back to homeschool so I thought it was time to put out an update of where we are and how things are shifting for January.  We have completed 135 days of homeschool so far this year thanks to our June start date.  Remember, we homeschool year round, with breaks as needed.  So we only need 9 weeks of 5 days each to reach 180 days and finish Makayla’s 3rd grade year.  We will stretch that out to 12 weeks and plan to finish official 3rd grade work by the end of March.  However, we are still part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew and will continue to have items to review through June.  I do not know what items those will be, but they will be fun to use!

Up to this point in the year we have been more structured using textbooks/workbooks.  The children learned, but we missed unit study based learning and lapbooking, so we’re going back to them.  For January our unit study of the month is Ancient Egypt with a side of Simple Machines.  It took a lot of simple machines to build those pyramids! 

In the review items category we will be using math from the Eclectic Education series, McGuffey’s Readers(also from EES), FactsFirst math(online practice), MathTutor DVDs, Worship Guitar, and Presidential Penmanship Italic Style.  Those are what come to mind at the moment, there may be one or two more.

We have also made our Gospel Study plans and Signing Time plans. 

For gospel study each day we will read a scripture story, sing 1-3 songs we are learning, and practice some scripture memory verses.  Gospel study will be the first thing in our day because it is the most important thing we want to accomplish.  We will have great opportunities this month to weave Old Testament stories into our study of Ancient Egypt(Joseph, Moses, and more).

I will do a separate post about our sign language plans soon as I have some resources I want to share.

I have to say I’m excited and so are the kids.  I have printed out lapbook pieces, gathered books, and set daily work goals. 

I still have some organizing (a family workbox!) and decluttering I hope to do over the rest of this week.  We started that process by taking the kids’ desks to the basement for storage.  They love those desks, but Oliver is able to get papers and crayons from them as we work.  We will move seatwork to the table for a while.  We have booster seats so the younger children will be at a good height for work, and Oliver has his very own seat and tray to play.  He will be up where he can see what we’re doing when he wants to, but out of reach of the crayons and paper he likes to eat. 

Booklists for History Part 2: Civil War

This is the second post in a series of book lists for history studies. This post will be books related to the Civil War time period. Some of these books I own, some I have access to through my library system.

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott– I’ll bet you did not expect that to be the first one I listed, did you? Well Little Women is set during the Civil War! While my children are a bit young to sit through the whole book, there are illustrated classics versions available. And Makayla may read the whole book – we’ll see when we get there.
2. Meet Addy by Connie Porter – The first in the American Girl series set in the Civil War. The 6 book series is good and covers slavery, escape on the Underground Railroad, making a life in the North, and more.
3. Welcome to Addy’s World 1864 – the nonfiction companion to the Addy series. This book is full of photographs and illustrations.
4. DK Biography: Abraham Lincoln by Tanya Lee Stone – subtitled a photographic story of a life, this is written in classic DK style with lots of information in 15 short chapters.
5. Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman – A Newbery Award winning book written for ages 9-12. Russell Freedman’s books are great to look at!
6. Who Was Abraham Lincoln? by Janet Pascal – This could be a fun reader for independent reading. It is illustrated with pencil drawings, almost cartoony.
7. Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling – A biography of one brave woman who, once free, returned time and again to lead others to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
8. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt – The story of Jethro, a boy who comes of age during the Civil War.
9. Civil War on Sunday by Mary Pope Osborne – Number 21 in the Magic Tree House series, this is an easy read that would be a gentle introduction for younger children.
10. B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet by Patricia Bauer – An alphabet introduction to the Civil War with simple verse for younger children and informational sidebars for the older children.
11. United No More by Doreen Rappaport – Seven true stories from both sides of the Civil War. This looks good!
12. Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky – Touching introduction to the idea of slavery. This one is hard to find – check your library!
13. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor – Story set after the Civil War around a black family that lives in the South and owns their own land. I have not read this yet, it’s is in my pile to go through.
14. Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder – Set after the Civil War too. Will, a 12 year old boy from the south, is sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Virginia after he is orphaned. He struggles to accept that his uncle did not fight for either side during the war.

I will add to this list if I discover any more great books for this time period. The posts in this series of booklists can be found HERE.

Booklists for History Part 1: Amish

We have plans to study American History from the mid 1800’s on. To prepare I have been gathering books for our home library and pre-reading to find the read alouds we will use. This study will probably take close to 2 years, knowing how much we like to read and that we like to follow bunny trails when interesting things come along. I own two books I am using as spines to give me places to start from and ideas of people, places, and events to cover.

Children’s Encyclopedia of American History – a Smithsonian book from DK, we picked this up at a Scholastic Warehouse Sale a few years ago. It is a 300 page overview of American history from early exploration to 2002. I love DK books that center around 2 page spreads with visuals that reinforce the information, this time under chronological thematic sections. Like any history book there are things left out, and you have to keep an eye on the more current sections for the author’s bias, but that is true of every history text.

Encyclopedia of the United States at War from Scholastic – another great book that covers from the American Revolution to the Gulf War. I like that this focuses on wars and goes through many battles. While I may know general information about each war, I certainly do not remember specifics. This will help fill in those gaps.

When I began typing this post I noticed it was becoming way too long. I’m going to break it up into a few posts over the next few weeks. Today I’ll list the books planned for a unit about the Amish.

Amish – We live in Ohio and there is a large Amish community we can visit. Before that we will read from these:

1. A is for Amish by Kim Gehman Knisely – The author and illustrator are both from Lancaster County Pennsylvania and have written and illustrated a sweet ABC book introducing the Amish community.
2. Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco – A young Amish girl who is tired of plain things finds a stray egg. When her hen hatches it turns out to be not so plain – it is a peacock!
3. The Ellie’s People series by Mary Christner Borntrager – a series of chapter books that begins with Ellie, an Amish girl and follows her family line both in and out of the Amish faith. I have 6 books in the series. The first 3 books center around female main characters, the last 3 center around male main characters.

Posts in this series will be booklists for unit studies on:

• Amish
• Civil War
• Ancient Egypt
• Industrial Revolution
• Church History and Moving West with Brigham Young - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• Gold Rush
• World War I
• The Great Depression
• World War II
• Helen Keller
• American Presidents

I’m sure I will add to this list, and as I finish each booklist I will link to it.

Christian Keyboarding Review

Computers are used in many aspects of society today. The ability to type fluidly and accurately is a skill that has many benefits. It is also a skill that needs to be practiced to be learned well.

I received Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Version ($12.95) to review. This e-book uses 32 short lessons to teach elementary children beginning typing skills. Here are the lesson topics:

• Lessons 1 – 20: Alphabetic Keys - beginning with home row keys two at a time, students practice the new keys for each lesson, and then a section with any keys learned up to the current lesson.
• Lessons 21 – 25: Numbers and Symbol Keys
• Lessons 26 – 29: Number Pad
• Lesson 30: Centering - this shows an example from Microsoft Word and then has the student typing four passages from Psalms.
• Lesson 31: Enumerated Lists - again uses Word as an example and then has the student typing a list called “How to Have a Personal Relationship with God”.
• Lesson 32: Timed Writings - these are for even numbered lessons from 6 to 28 and include words, phrases, and sentences.

To be used effectively the e-book needs to be printed out so the student can use each lesson. It provides a good basic practice for each key.

While the book is touted as for the “Christian” school, the main difference I saw is a scripture at the beginning of each lesson for the student to read. There are actually only 5 verses of scripture to read in the entire book, as they are the same in many lessons. None of those scriptures are typed by the student.

The lessons themselves do not have the student typing scripture except for lesson 30(Psalms 100, 13, and 63 are typed). If you choose to do the timed drill section at the end of the book there are some scripture passages to type while being timed.

My 8 year old was able to complete lessons in less than 15 minutes. She was not, however, impressed. Why? She was not typing sentences. Each lesson was just repeating patterns of the two new keys, review of prior keys, and then one line of a few words, (not even phrases!). Without the added meaning she could have gained by typing scriptures or an ongoing story (during lessons) keyboarding practice was just drill.

The drill work did help my daughter to become familiar with where the keys are on the keyboard. It was basic drill, which can have it’s place. I do not feel it was significantly different than a secular typing curricula would be, and it was not interesting enough to get my daughter to want to learn to type.

Free samples can be found HERE for some of the products offered by Christian Keyboarding. They offer Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Version ($12.95) - which we used - and another level for grades 6 and up: Keyboarding for the Christian School($15.95), as well as some tutorials.

To read reviews of this product and also the next level for grades 6 and up see reviews by my Crewmates HERE.

{Disclaimer: I received this product free to enable me to review it. I received no other compensation and the opinions presented are my own.}

TOS Magazine Sale Reminder

Going . . . going . . . almost gone!
The Old Schoolhouse®  Magazine is saying good-bye to their $7.95 subscription price (one year, U.S.) at midnight on December 31!
There is still time to treat yourself or share the gift of homeschool encouragement with your family and friends.
Receive 4 issues of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine RIGHT NOW for only $7.95! That is less than $2 per issue. Your subscription will start with their Spring 2010 issue.
This includes our one-year gift subscriptions!
Order the one-year plus current issue option and enjoy the Winter issue in January 2010 for only $12.95!
Plus, new and renewing subscribers receive bonus gifts!
Canadian and international subscriptions are also on sale—save up to 40% on a one-year print subscription.
Get all of the details here.
Hurry! December 31 is the deadline for these  sale prices.

Weekly Weigh-In and New DVDs

Wow~ Christmas is already past and I survived without gaining weight! Not only that, I managed to lose about half a pound. This week’s official weight is 187.6 lbs.

Each week we are invited to weigh in on topics related to weight loss. This week I wanted to mention the new exercise DVDs I picked up with my Christmas money. I have a plan for exercise in the winter. I want to exercise each morning and again at the beginning of quiet time each day. I love my Walk Away the Pounds DVDs, but I wanted more variety to choose from, so I off to Wal-Mart I went. I chose:

Leslie Sansone Walk at Home: 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk – I was thrilled to find this DVD. Leslie’s exercise is based off of 4 basic moves, which makes learning each new routine easy. This particular DVD offers 5 different 1 mile walks, 12 minutes each. It is much more challenging than my old Walk Away the Pounds DVDs due to her ‘boost walking’. In a typical morning I will do at least 2 of the miles off this one.

The Biggest Loser Boot Camp – I bought this on the recommendation of my sister. It is led by Bob Harper and consists of 3 boot camp levels. Using cardio and weights, this one will push me out of my comfort zone a bit. I love that this DVD can be customized in the menu. You can choose which parts to do and put them in the order you want. I just finished doing this for my first time. I chose the warm up, boot camp level 1, and the cool down. It was definitely a workout and I liked listening to Bob. It reminds me of watching The Biggest Loser.

The Biggest Loser Power Sculpt – Okay, I have not even watched this one yet. Here is what I know about it so far. It has 3 levels, lets you customize which routines you are doing each day, and looks to be another killer workout. The three levels are led by different instructors: Jillian leads level 1, Kim(the short term Biggest Loser Trainer) leads level 2, and Bob leads level 3. I’m not sure if I will like hearing Jillian, but I know if I went to The Biggest Loser she is probably the trainer I would need to motivate me. I’ll update you when I have tried this one.

What about you – do you have a favorite exercise DVD?

Be sure you check in on everyone else’s Weekly Weigh-In over at Eclipsed.

A Book I’m Reading

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl is what I’m reading for fun and research right now.  Can you believe that in all my years of public schooling I never read this book?  It seems as if a true story from the point of view of a 13 year old would have been a very interesting thing to read in junior high or high school.  As a matter of fact, looking back, I do not remember very many books being assigned in my history classes other than the textbook.  I think that is really sad. 

I know that textbooks are certainly not the best way to learn history.  They are compressed, fractured overviews of history that leave out too much and often are inaccurate in the few facts they try to relate.  For example I remember reading more than once inaccuracies related to the history of my church(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). 

We’ll be studying wars in history soon (meaning the end of this school year/beginning of next).  We will learn about the Civil War as well as both World War I and II.  One of the ways we will do so is by reading aloud stories set in each war.  The reason for stories is two-fold.  First, and most importantly, stories are more memorable than a list of dry facts and dates.  Even my littlest children can enjoy a story.  Second, stories help us imagine life in a particular time or event and motivate us to learn “what really happened”.  It gives us a reason to check those facts presented in the story to see if it really happened that way.  It offers the chance to study a situation for several perspectives or sides of the issue. 

For example, you would get a very different picture of the Civil War reading a story from the perspective of a Northern Abolitionist, or a Southern Plantation owner, a slave, or a Free Black in the North.

Do you have any books you recommend we read when we study the wars?  Feel free to list them in the comments.  I will post my list in a day or two for those who are interested, but if you need some ideas right now I suggest you check out the Sonlight catalog.  I like a lot of their choices! 

Bible Resources for Family Scripture Study

Time to update our goals planning, while I have a free minute.  I decided I will be reading through the entire Bible in 2010, a minimum of 5 pages a day.  What I really wanted to share today was our family scripture study plans for 2010. 

We will be studying the Old Testament as a family.  5 of the 7 people studying are under age 9 and 4 of those can’t read; we’ll be using a lot of resources to make it more accessible.  I thought I would share some of those resources here because most of them are free!

The Bible - We use the King James Version of the Bible.  HERE is the Old Testament free online to read or download audio MP3 files(look in the left hand corner). 

Old Testament Stories – We have the printed book, audio tapes, and a DVD version we can watch.  All of those are free online HERE.  We also will read this with the preschoolers in homeschool.

Gospel Art Picture Kit – We have these pictures printed up with the stories/scripture references on the back, but you can see them online free HERE.  They are great for visuals, review games, etc.

Primary 6: Old Testament – We have this manual, which you can access free online HERE.  It contains 47 lessons on the Old Testament for children ages 8 – 11.  They are pretty easy to adapt for younger or older children.

The Books in the Old Testament - We will learn this song as a family to be able to name the books in the Old Testament.  The music, words, audio, and sheet music are all free HERE.

Primary Partners Old Testament - The only resource we’re using that is not available free online.  I found our copy on Paperback Swap.  You can also purchase it HERE.  It is a book full of printables to go with the Primary 6 Manual listed above.  It is not something necessary, but we have found our children love to have some paper craft to color, cut out, and use when we are reading aloud.

I hope that those resources help your family to make scripture study a habit in the new year, or bring a renewed enthusiasm to another year of studying God’s word!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  While you are opening presents this year take the time to talk with your loved ones about the best gift – our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Here is one of my favorite paintings:

Merry CHRISTmas!

MathScore Review

MathScore.com is an online subscription site where students can practice math skills anywhere from 1st grade to Algebra 1. Each assignment is timed (this can be adjusted through the parent login to allow more time if needed).

One neat feature of MathScore.com is that it randomly generates math problems based on your student’s past performances. That means if your child is struggling in an area MathScore will not keep automatically increasing the difficulty. The opposite is also true. A child who is flying through with a perfect score on every ‘worksheet’ has increasing difficulty. An option often shows to skip ahead several worksheets to try a higher difficulty as well.

Visually, MathScore.com is a no-frills site. The problems show up on the screen looking just like a worksheet. The student learns to type with the 10 key pad, and the tab button moves the cursor to the next problem. It is a bit awkward, using the Enter key on the 10 Key pad would have made more sense to switch between problems in my opinion.

Students earn points as they practice math. Accumulating specific points increases your rank title (trainee, cadet, etc). A few fireworks show up on the screen at each promotion, which was cute.

There is an Awards area that shows a trophy case of empty boxes. Moving the cursor over a box shows a list of prerequisites that a student can complete to earn that award. Prerequisites are math areas to work in with a specific score to attain. The first award we earned was the Fingers of Fury, a gold hand shaped trophy earned by 10 key practice.

MathScore is a supplemental program, it does not teach lessons to the student for you. There are mini lessons for topics as a help though, which is a handy reminder for lessons a student has learned before.

Parents receive daily email reports for each day a student uses MathScore. This can be set to come at a different time frequency, such as once a week, if desired.

There is a free demo HERE. MathScore.com also offers a free 2 week trial, which is a great way to see if your students enjoy using the program. Sign up for the free trial HERE.

MathScore subscriptions are available in several options. Basic pricing is:

• First Child - $14.95/month
• Second Child - $5.00/month
• Each additional child account - $3.95/month

For the first two months the first child subscription actually only costs $9.95/month. There is an option to pay for a 9 month subscription that reduces your monthly cost to $9.95/month and locks in that lower rate permanently. Lump sum payments also give you bonus credit, such as paying $50.00 and receiving $60.00 account credit (20% bonus).

Our experience with my oldest was that while she can do MathScore.com, it was not something she was asking to do. She is a visual learner and did not find MathScore appealing with its minimalist worksheet look. However, for a student where colorful visuals or sound effects are distracting, MathScore.com’s design could be an advantage.

Check out my Crewmate’s reviews to see what other families thought of MathScore.com.

{Disclaimer: I received a free two week trial of MathScore.com to enable me to do this review. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.}

Early in the Morning

I was up before 6:00am today again.  I learned a secret a long time ago that I’m going to share with you.  Early mornings are my favorite time.  When I am woken up(by a child, a noise, or my bladder..LOL) after 5:30am I usually get up for the day. 

Being awake for even just a few minutes before my children wake up blesses me with that quiet space I will not have the rest of the day.  They often start trickling out of bed at 6:00am(Joseph), and then I have an entire day of little hands touching me and little voices talking to me.  I love that part of my day too, but I found when waking up at the same time as my children that I never had time just to be quiet and alone.  I am not a night owl, so staying up after everyone is in bed does not fill me up as much as getting up early. 

I like to read my scriptures in the early morning.  It is much easier to concentrate and ponder before five little children are surrounding me.  I get more out of my time with God when I meet Him early and alone.

What is something you do to find that quiet space each day, or to meet with God?

Tuesday’s Toolbox

I linked up my post on making an abacus to this week’s edition of Tuesday’s Toolbox!  What, you’ve not heard of Tuesday’s Toolbox for Learning?  It is hosted by Midwest Mama at Homeschooling Hearts and Minds.  You can read her introductory post on the meme HERE, then link up a post of your own.

Busy Day – Errands/Chores

My husband is home on Mondays.  Yes, I’m blessed.  Today we were a busy family getting many things accomplished.  I thought I would share a picture and then list the other things we did.

1. First up, haircuts were done for everyone who needed them.  Here are the 4 big kids because Oliver was napping when I had my camera (he is still asleep).
2. The checkbook was balanced and the bills paid.  This is not my favorite task, but now it is out of the way.
3. A trip to WalMart as a family to pick up a few things (including windshield wipers for the van).
4. Cleaning the house in general.
5. Wrapping all the gifts for Christmas.
6. A trip to the library that brought not only books I needed to check out, but also five free paperback books.  Of those, two were total God-blessings of books I needed for homeschool and have been hoping to find inexpensively. 
7. All the bedding in the house was stripped (that is 6 beds!), beds were remade with clean bedding, and I’m halfway through washing the dirty blankets.
8. The clean laundry on mommy and daddy’s floor was put away.  True confession here – I hate putting away laundry and neglect that as long as possible.  We had enough clean laundry to bury all 5 children.  The real reason it got put away?  So I could wrap gifts in my room out of sight of the kids. 
9. Clothing the kids have outgrown was packed away for younger children.
10. The treadmill was moved and cleaned under.

Okay, we accomplished more today but those are the things I was most excited about. 

Are You Setting Goals for 2010 Yet?

Today my husband and I started our yearly Sunday goals discussion. Every December we start talking over what goals we want to set for our family as a whole and the individuals in it for the new year. Often these repeat, or are just slightly different each year because we always have room for improvement. The first (most important) area we discuss is spiritual goals. As a matter of fact sometimes those are the only goals we make.

We are to the point where some of our children are old enough to participate in the process. For example while discussing it with Makayla today she said her goal will probably be to write in her journal at least 3 times a week. Joseph and Emma wanted to work on remembering to say their personal prayers in the morning when they get up.

Some family goals we’re talking over right now are making a plan for daily family scripture study and weekly Family Home Evening. In our church we focus on a different book of scripture each year on a 4 year cycle (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price). In 2010 the focus is the Old Testament. Our family scripture study will probably be from the Old Testament as well. I have gathered resources over the years and so I need to look through them and find the ones that pertain to the Old Testament.

I have a few personal goals I’m considering. One of those is reading either the entire Bible or the entire standard works (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price) in a year. I was doing the math using these scripture reading calculators. To read the Bible in a year (King James Version) I would need to read 4.4 pages per day. I prefer rounding that to even numbers, so 5 pages a day. That is totally doable. Reading the entire standard works in a year can be done with just 7 pages per day. Again, that should be doable. I have done it before in a year, though I did not have 5 children at the time.

Obviously, the big thing that keeps me from accomplishing my goal is my own self. My priority for my free time, which occurs early in the morning, during quiet time, or late at night, has gravitated to checking my email, doing the chores, or reading other books.

Yes, I’m not proud of it, but at least I’m admitting it. Hopefully I will be fixing those priorities in 2010 to put my scripture time first again. I’ll post the goals we set sometime between now and January 1.

What about you? Are you thinking over goals or small changes you hope to make in 2010? Do you set goals as a family too? What are some of the goals you are thinking about for 2010? I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment!

Kid Craft: DIY Abacus

Last night I was preparing some things for homeschool in January. We’ll be using some old-school review items. When I say old-school think one room schoolhouse please. I was reading through A Manual of Arithmetic to learn how to use Ray’s Primary Arithmetic. I realized Ray’s is very oral and hands on. Students work problems with manipulatives and out loud long before needing to write them down. Now I will be trying to use this with Makayla, Joseph, and Emma, which means I will be doing lessons from two parts of the book. Around lesson 26 it suggests using a ‘number frame’. The number frame looks a lot like an abacus, 10 wires with 10 beads each, so that is what I call it.

We’re not going to buy an abacus. I knew there had to be some way to make one with stuff we had on hand. A few searches around the internet revealed many ideas. Here is what we ended up making: I’ll explain the process below(with pictures!).

Step 1: Gather Materials

• 1 cereal box
• 1 pair of scissors
• 1 pencil
• yarn
• a ruler (optional, but helpful for the perfectionists among us)
• pony beads

Step 2: Cut the box.Cut the front or back large rectangle of a cereal box or other cardboard box. Ours was a box of Life cereal.

Step 3: Mark your spots. Using a pencil and ruler mark 10 evenly spaced spots down the long sides of the cardboard. Ours was every 3/4”, which left a 2” section at the bottom for a handle.

Step 4: Cut the slits. On both long edges cut in approximately 1/2” – 1” at each mark. Ours are 3/4” apart. Here is a closer picture: Step 5: Cut the yarn. Cut 10 pieces of yarn (long enough to wrap around the cardboard completely and tie).

Step 6: Count the beads. You need 100 pony beads, ten for each string. Let the kids sort them by color if you’re picky for fun.

Step 7: String the beads. String 10 beads on a yarn string. The easiest way to do this is to slide one side of the yarn into a slit on the cardboard (leave a tail behind the cardboard that reaches about the middle of the back). Then put the beads on. Doing it this way beads will not fall off the table and roll everywhere on your not very level wood floor. This is very important if you have little ones who like to eat the beads. Trust me on this one.

Step 8: Tie the string. Slide the yarn through the other slit. Turn over and tie the ends together. Trim the ends. Go back to step 7 and repeat for the other 9 strings. It will look like this when you’re done:And here is the front, which is the important part: Having made one already I have a few notes and suggestions:

• Alternating colors on the beads on a single string might make it easier to count with.
• Or you can do 5 beads of one color and five of a second color per string.
• If you have an abundance of cereal boxes to use you can take the second rectangle cut from a box to cover the strings on the back, simply glue it over all those tied strings.
• For alphabet practice you could always make one of these with letter beads instead. As a matter of fact I’m sure there are shape beads out there too.

Warning: As with any craft project with small pieces there is a choking hazard for little ones. Supervise them! Or buy really big wooden beads.

I have now linked this post up to Tuesday's Toolbox for Learning. Check it out by clicking on the graphic below.

Week in Review #29 – Christmas Break

This week began our Christmas Break. As such, the review is going to be pretty short. I’ll just highlight a few things I saw the kids doing on their own:

1. Reading lots of books.
2. Drawing and coloring.
3. Puzzles.
4. Dress up and pretend – the most memorable this week was Detective Joseph, who was solving crimes and mysteries all week.
5. Cooking and baking with mom – muffins, bread, etc.
6. Ballet at home and in class.
7. Bowling in the house.
8. Storytelling – the preschoolers would grab a book and make up a story to go with the pictures.

This will be the last week in review post until we resume homeschool in January. After all, next Friday is Christmas! I’ll try to post some of our family Christmas plans later, including the recipe for our special breakfast I make each year.

Don't forget to check out the Weekly Wrap-Up over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Letting God Lead in Homeschool

I like to be in charge.  I like to plan things out and follow that plan.  I know there are some positive things about that, but there are some negatives as well.  The most obvious negative is that I can be less flexible when changes come, or I may change and adjust with a bad attitude. 

Yeah, I’m not proud of it, but it happens.

This year has been a big year for God to stretch me in this area of flexibility related to homeschooling.  I actually knew it was coming and signed up for it…LOL.  When I applied to be a part of this year’s Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I knew it would involve using products I was sent in order to be able to review them.  That would mean dropping or putting on hold various parts of my homeschool plan throughout the year.

When I made the Crew I knew God was getting ready to stretch me.  I made the commitment to Him that I would cheerfully make a plan for homeschool and just as cheerfully take the lessons he sent to replace my plan instead.  I had no idea what I was saying. 

In the last several months we have had many review items that have temporarily put parts of my plan on hold.  Some have become wonderful blessings that were perfect for our family, others were teaching moments. 

As homeschool was winding down this month I began planning in my head the things I wanted to accomplish beginning in January.  I had my mental picture of what would be included in homeschool. 

Then the review items started pouring in and  I could almost hear God chuckle.  While up to now we have been able to keep some semblance of my plan going, the new review items will change that.  I have things that cover every curricular area and a few extra-curricular areas as well!

I could fight it.  I was tempted to fight it, to make my own plan and try squeezing the review items in around it.  I tried to tell myself that I could.  Thankfully, I came to my senses. 

Instead I am going to surrender my plan and use what God sends our way wholeheartedly.  January is going to be quite the adventure!  I am making plans right now that focus on using our many new review items as our curriculum.  That means I will start posting about things you’ve never seen me write about before.  Please keep reading and even commenting.  I have a feeling I will need the encouragement. 

Here is a list of things I will be working with, just so everyone is on the same page.  I will provide links you can click on to learn more, as our reviews will not be done for a long while.

• KinderBach – we’ve had this piano subscription course for a while, we’re really just finishing it up.
• Worship Guitar for Kids – never fear, we’re still doing music.  It just will switch to guitar, something I know nothing about.
• Presidential Penmanship Italic Style – we’ve not focused too heavily on handwriting.  As long as it is legible, I’m okay with it.  However we will now be trying out italic penmanship.  I’ll be learning right along side the kids.
• Christian Keyboarding – a typing book that Makayla will be trying.
• Rocket Phonics – we’re still using this one, and will be using it until we finish it.  That may take another year or two, but we love it, so we’re okay with that.  Our first review can be read HERE.
• MathTutor DVDs – we have two coming.  Young Minds Numbers and Counting will be for Daniel, Emma, and possibly Joseph.  Basic Math Word Problem Tutor will be for Makayla.
• Saxon Harcourt Online – a math subscription service, I’m not sure the details on this yet.
• MathScore.com – this subscription is a math practice site.
• The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell from Apologia – this is a big book I’ll be reading.
• The Eclectic Education Series from Dollar Homeschool – This is a huge CD of files.  I really can’t explain it well, but it includes books for math, language arts, grammar, science, and history.  However, these books are all from the 1860’s to early 1900’s, back when the one room schoolhouse was the norm (sounds like my house!), and children had a better education in 8 years than our public schools provide today in 13.  A few familiar names in this are McGuffey’s Readers, Ray’s Arithmetic, and Harvey’s Grammar.

So there you have it, the list of review items as they currently stand.  I am working to fit them all into a cohesive curriculum, and waiting on a few to arrive.  God’s got a great plan in mind, so I really need to go start asking Him about it – I’m sure He’s waiting to hear from me.

Kregel Review – Bertie’s War

I enjoy reading both to my children and to myself. When I received Bertie’s War to review from Kregel Publications I knew it was a book I would read to myself. The topic of the book is summed up by the line on the front cover, “In the fall of 1962, the world went crazy – and took a young girl with it.” With my children being eight years old and younger, this was not a book I thought they would really be interested in or understand. It is also, according to the website, written for tweens. I think that means almost teens.

The story is about Bertie, a sixth going on seventh grader who copes with her fears by living in make-believe as much as she can. One of her biggest fears is the Communist missiles pointed at the US.

I will be honest, I did not enjoy reading the book. The story was, to me, a lot of disjointed scenes showing Bertie’s fears and how she tried to cope by pretending. Then late in the book she has a spiritual awakening of sorts and has no trouble with fear anymore, which is unrealistic at best.

You can check out Bertie’s War for yourself for $7.99.

Be sure to read my Crewmates reviews to get a second, third, or fiftieth opinion about this book because everyone likes different books.

{Disclaimer: I was give one free copy of Bertie’s War to read for the purpose of review. I received no other compensation and the opinions in this review are my own.}

Busy Hands

Am I the only one who would sometimes love to take a weekend alone in a hotel with my computer and our school books?  I have review items pouring in that we will be trying to implement next month I am trying to wrap my head around.  I also am trying to get a clear picture of what we still need to do for our portfolio for this school year when we start back in January.  Our projected finish date for this year is the last week of March because we homeschool year round and began this year’s work in June.  I would love just a few hours, even, with two hands free (i’m holding the sick baby and typing one handed while he catnaps)and no little ones needing my help right this minute. 

Maybe I’ll stay up late tonight and sneak some time when everyone is in bed.  Besides, my children will only be little for a while, and these snuggles will only be offered for a short time before they grow up and don’t need me so much.

Hands-On Homeschool Carnival

Did you know there is a blog carnival just for hands-on homeschooling ideas?  I submitted THIS POST and it is in the current edition of the carnival over at Harmony Art Mom.  There are a lot of other neat ideas, so go check them out!

Weekly Weigh-In Week 3

With a crazy weekend that included my Emma’s 4th birthday party (cake and ice cream anyone?), a Christmas party for grandkids with Grandma (candy and then leftover cake and ice cream when we got home), and general laziness on my part, my report is better than I expected.  As in I did not lose weight, but I did not gain it either.  I officially still weigh 188 lbs. 

I actually have a very short topic to weigh in on this week: Sleep.  Because I have been playing nurse to my dear husband and 5 children, I happen to be lacking in sleep, so I can tell you just how important adequate sleep is.  It is a big requirement for motivation to exercise.  I know, trust me on this one. 

Now I seem to be getting some of what everyone else has – lots of nausea and a headache.  Or maybe I’m just pregnant.  (Around here you just never know…LOL!)  I’m pretty sure it is just a cold though, as the headache is pretty awful.  So excuse me while I go convince the little ones to go to bed so I can get some sleep.

Be sure you check in on everyone else’s Weekly Weigh-In over at Eclipsed.

Another Carnival of Homeschooling is Up

Just a quick note to say this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling is up over at The Common Room.  I submitted THIS POST, if you’re wondering.  It is about how we use movies in our homeschool.

Drawing for Fun

I just finished spending some time drawing with my girls.  They were looking for something to do and Makayla pulled out our Draw Write Now books and our StudyPod.  If you have never seen one of Marie Hablitzel’s Draw Write Now books let me tell you even a non-drawing person like myself can use them.  Each picture is broken down into simple steps.  The lines you draw in each step are red, while the lines you drew in previous steps are now black.  We used to check the books out of the library through interlibrary loan.  Then last year I was able to buy the set through Amazon for a great price after Christmas.  Each book has three themes and we are usually able to find something to draw along with our studies.   Here is one example from her site.  You can go HERE to see more free samples and enlarge the pictures to try it out.  She’s got a fun newsletter too by the way, so sign up while you’re there.  (And no, I’m not really reviewing these books, they are just something we have and enjoy using so I thought I would tell you about them.)

  Emma decided to draw a pregnant mommy dog (cute!). I played along with Makayla.  Makayla chose the pictures we were to do.  We drew an angler fish, sea star, and ship.  Here is Makayla’s:And this one is mommy’s attempt, no laughing please:  Remember that StudyPod I reviewed months ago?  We still use it every week, and today it held the drawing books open for us like this(though we did not end up doing the chipmunk picture):   While we have an art curriculum we love (Artistic Pursuits), these books are fun to get a child drawing.  For Makayla they were really helpful as she was one of those ‘paralyzed by perfection’ kids, she did not know how to draw something so she refused to even try.  Now she draws much more often, and so do I!

A Wrench in the Schedule

I am awake and my family is still asleep. There is a very good reason for that: everyone is sick. They have actually been sick for several days(the kids) to a week (my husband). Between the coughing, sore throat, and congestion in 6 people sleep is pretty much a wash. I wake up every time I hear someone coughing, then I go check on them. Thankfully the throwing up part is over and only lasted a day.

What does this do to our family schedule? Basically it shuts down a few parts of it. First, wake up time is erased. Everyone gets up sometime before 10AM, and nobody is expected to get up before they are ready. Which means I’m back to fixing 7 separate breakfasts if everyone feels up to eating. Again.

The second thing severe illness does to our schedule is throws quiet time out the window. We have quiet time happening all over the place, sometimes more than once a day, as children fall asleep in their tracks.

The third thing that changes is homeschool. We switch to a lot of easy to do learning. Mommy reads aloud to the children. We watch a lot of Magic School Bus for science, or Planet Earth. If a child gets to feeling energetic we do some “regular” assignments.

Do you remember the plans I posted for this week? I realized midway through the evening yesterday, when my 8 year old took a nap, that the children are still not up for homeschool work. I’m officially closing the school. Effective immediately we are on Christmas Break! (I love the flexibility of homeschooling, don’t you?) I will still be posting all week, including our Week in Review. Unless, of course, I finally get whatever illness it is that my family has. I am really praying I don’t, somebody has to be the nurse here.

Have a great week! Merry Christmas!

500 Posts! Out of the Mouth of Babes…

Would you believe this is my 500th post?  I know I’m amazed anyone is still reading my blog after that many posts, but I am also very grateful!  To celebrate my 500th post I want to share some answers my 3 big kids gave to a list of questions.  Answers are designated as follows: E = Emma age 4, M = Makayla age 8, J = Joseph age 5.

What is Mommy’s job?

• To do all the stuff at the house. – E
• To homeschool us. – M
• To be good. - J

What is Daddy’s job?

• To do the dishes. – E
• To drive a truck. – M
• To go to work every day. - J

What is your job?

• To play. – E
• To help my brothers and sister. – M
• To not make my room a mess. - J

What is your favorite thing about homeschool?

• Writing. – E
• I like lapbooks and science. – M
• To do lapbooks. - J

What is your least favorite thing about homeschooling?

• Nothing. – E
• Math. – M
• To be done. - J

If you were the mommy/daddy what would you want to teach for homeschool each week?

• How to wrap presents. – E
• Science. – M
• To do lapbooks. - J

Finish this sentence, “When I grow up I want to . . .

• be a ballerina. – E
• be a zookeeper. – M
• to make my kids do lapbooks.  That’s it. – J

So there you have it, a view of life from my children’s perspective. 

Happy Homeschooling!

Last Homeschool Week 2009

We are doing one more week of homeschool before taking a nice long Christmas break.  It will be a bit atypical as we have pretty much finished our big cats unit study and we are not starting one with only a week of lessons left.  So here is the plan:

1. Make a lapbook piece on mongooses and one on meerkats.
2. Use our Draw Write Now books to draw lots of big cats and their relatives.
3. Math – more on shapes and angles.
4. Grammar – a few more pages in our workbooks, including synonyms, nouns, and commas.
5. Geography – 3 more states and a quiz.
6. Memorize the 11th Article of Faith: “We claim the privilege of worshiping almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”
7. Artistic Pursuits – time to do some art!

The only other work is Rocket Phonics for the preschoolers.  It will be a fun and easy week, just enough work to keep us occupied, but not so much to make us tired.  Then three blissful weeks of vacation, of which the last two will be spent explaining to the kids that I am not ready to start homeschool back up yet and that they must go teach themselves.  They never last more than a week or two without asking to do some homeschool.  :)  Of course, that is not a bad thing! 

Maestro Classics Review

My children love audio books and music. Every day during quiet time something is playing for them to listen to. They were happy to find out one of our review items for The Old Schoolhouse was from Maestro Classics. Stories in Music CDs combine classical music with literature into a program that my children enjoyed. We received The Tortoise and the Hare, which retails for $16.98.

Here is the track listing:

1. The Tortoise and the Hare... Featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra with music conducted by the Maestro himself, Stephen Simon, and narrated by Yadu (20:43)

2. About the Story ...Bonnie Ward Simon (2:49)

3. Pretzel Vendor of Paris Song...
Maestro Classics / DixieLand band (2:06)

4. About The Music ... Stephen Simon (4:49)

5. Now That You Know a Little More... (20:43)

6. Want To Have Some Fun? Prepare To Perform ... Bonnie Ward Simon (00:35)

7. Pretzel Vendor of Paris Song - Sing-Along ... Accompaniment Only (2:06)

The CD was fun. While my children were familiar with the story already, having the music involved was neat, and the tracks that taught more about the story and the music itself really added value to the program. My children all liked the story, but the information tracks are a bit over the head of my preschoolers. I would say that ages 5-10 would get the most out of these CDs, though younger children will enjoy listening to the story itself, and even older children or adults can enjoy the CD as well. To get a good feel for the CDs you are able to download MP3 samples from each track of The Tortoise and the Hare(and the other titles) on Maestro Classics’ website.

Inside the CD case is a booklet that my oldest daughter claimed for our first listen through of the story in quiet time. When I finally got to see it I discovered photographs of the orchestra instruments in seating arrangement, information pages about music notes, measures, time signature, turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares, and a page about the contrabassoon. There was a dot to dot, music for the Pretzel vendor song, a word scramble, a crossword puzzle, and biographies of the composer, writer, and narrator.

Other titles available from Maestro Classics include:

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel


• Casey at the Bat


• The Story of Swan Lake


• Peter and the Wolf


• Juanita the Spanish Lobster (available in Spanish as well)


• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Each retails for $16.98, but right now you can buy 3 CDs for $45.00 with coupon code MAESTRO45.

You can learn more about Maestro Classics products by visiting their website or reading my Crewmates reviews.

(Disclaimer: I received one copy of The Tortoise and the Hare on CD free for the purposes of this review. I received no other compensation and the opinions presented here are my own.)

Continuing Education for Mommy

I am so excited I just have to post about it.  Today I bought tickets and reserved a hotel room for the Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati in April!  While I have attended a homeschool convention in the past in Columbus, I did not attend last year.  I love going to a convention for two reasons.

First, and most importantly, I love attending workshops and seminars to continue growing as an educator.  I can explore concepts I am interested in, learn from the “pros” in the homeschool circles, and gain a fresh enthusiasm for my job as a homeschooling mom.  I find joy being surrounded by thousands of other families who teach their children at home. 

Second, I love the exhibit/vendor hall.  There is something about touching and handling something instead of reading a description online, that helps me see what is really worth my time and money.  In many instances I am able to ask questions of the creator or publisher of specific curriculum right there in person.  That is invaluable.  I love browsing through books, seeing the possibilities first hand. 

This year will be an adventure.  In the past I have attended the homeschool convention with my mother, who is a huge support to our homeschooling endeavor.  We drive over and spend a day at the local convention before driving home.  This year my sister will be going with me!  (She homeschools her children too.)  Because this convention is further from home (several hours away) we are having a mini-retreat.  We will drive down Friday and spend all day at the convention.  Then we will stay the night in a hotel and spend a second whole day at the convention!!!  Can you see me jumping up and down?  I am so excited!  It is early April, which just happens to be right after we finish this school year (we started in June), and my birthday is in April too.  Happy birthday to me!

Week in Review #28

We finished another week despite the kids coming down with coughs and minor colds the last two days. We took time to focus on the essential studies for the week, and skipped a few things we really did not feel up to doing. You can read our original plans HERE. I also blogged about the 50 States Bingo game we made HERE. At THIS POST you can read about some of our Big Cats unit study fun.

In the unit we read about different big cats and their relatives each day, used art supplies to draw them, lapbooked information about them, hunted each other (predator/prey games), etc.

Other things we did:

Makayla did several math pages on angles and using a protractor. She did several grammar worksheets on synonyms and capitalization rules. She worked through more N states in geography, and did another step in spelling.

Joseph and Emma worked on shapes by finding things in the house with a shape I called out. We then extended that to finding things that begin with a certain sound, or finding a specific number of items. Daniel participated by finding specific objects I named like a book or crayon or pillow. Everyone used the markers and oil pastels for art this week drawing lots of big cats.

We worked as a group to learn the 12th Article of Faith this week: “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates; in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” We also worked our way through part of the kids Old Testament scripture stories, from the Creation through Noah, and then a jump up to Daniel and the Lion’s Den (hey – it fit with big cats this week!).

I got some planning done for January and all I will say about that right now is two words: Ancient Egypt.

We have one more week of school before we take time off for Christmas, so check back over the weekend to see what we are doing next week. I’m still deciding on that.

Don't forget to go check out the other Weekly Wrap Up posts linked over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Big Cats and a Poll

We have had a quiet week at home, no major surprises, taking it a day at a time in homeschool.  Our unit study on big cats has been a lot of fun.  Each day we learn about a big cat or two.  This week has covered tigers, cougars, bobcats, and lynx.  Today we learn about two cat relatives, the hyena and the meerkat.  Which means that combined with last week’s learning about lions there is one movie that just needs to be watched with my children.  Can you guess what it is? 

The Lion King. 

That’s right, lions, hyenas, and meerkats alongside other great African animals, music, and animation.  That is the big surprise in store for my children after they finish up their regular school work today.  We even have a  disc of special stuff for The Lion King which includes video of the crew’s trip to Africa in preparation for drawing the movie.  We’ll probably watch that, then draw our own animals from the movie if we are really ambitious. 

We’ll also take a poll of favorite characters to graph for math and you can help us!  Just choose your favorite character in the poll on the left sidebar of this blog.  Go ahead and vote, you’ll make my children’s day.

WFMW: 50 States Bingo

Yesterday my oldest and I made a quick Bingo card to help her practice the abbreviations for some of the 50 states. She used a list of the abbreviations to fill in all the boxes on her card. I read the names of states randomly from the same list. She had to remember what the abbreviation was for the state before covering the squares. It was quick, easy, and fun.

I copied my bingo board from our Hands-On Geography book, but you can print blank cards free at Bingo Cards Creator. Be sure to check out their site for tons of ready to print Bingo games (also free!). I see some covering history, geography(including 50 states), math, musical notation, instruments, and composers, numbers, and science.

The next version we’ll make will list the state names. We will probably stick with using blank cards so my daughter can get practice spelling the words herself. Then I will be able to say a capital city or the abbreviation and she can cover the appropriate state.

Oh, and don’t forget that you can use chocolate chips, cheerios, or other fun snacks as your Bingo chips. Once the game is over everyone eats their treat, a reward for a job well done.

Bingo is an easy game to review a sometimes tedious set of material, and that works for me!

You can read some of my other Works for Me Wednesday posts:

1. If/Then Chart
2. NaNoWriMo and Binding Papers
3. Kid’s Free Scripture Fun Online
4. Puppet Show
5. Undercover Agent Vegetable – Chocolate Beet Cake!

Be sure to also check out this week’s entries for Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Bethany House Book Review: Closer

I have never read anything by Jim and Cathy Burns before, so when I received their book Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together I was not sure what to expect.  I was interested in the idea of a book of weekly devotions for couples. 

The book consists of an introduction and 52 chapters.  In the introduction I learned that each devotion is set up similarly, with these parts:

• A scripture. 
• A story – this is related to the week’s theme and the scripture.  This is kept short and easy to read.
• Faith Conversations – an average of 3 questions that can get you and your spouse talking to each other related to the week’s theme.
• A Step Closer – this section in each devotional gives you and your spouse specific challenges to do to strengthen your marriage. 

What did I think?  Closer has some great material to get a couple talking and growing spiritually together.  Like any tool, though, you have to put the time in to use it.  I liked that it was only once a week so even a busy couple could make use of Closer with a small time investment.  While I have not used it with my husband yet, I have already enjoyed just reading through some of the stories on my own and thinking about the themes.  

(Disclaimer:  I received one copy of the book Closer for free from Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of this review.  I received no other compensation and the opinions in this review are my own.)

Weekly Weigh-In: Change it up!

It is time for another report on my weight loss journey. You can read last week’s post here.

I weigh in each Monday morning, and this week my official weight was 188 lbs. That means I lost 2 lbs this week and finally said goodbye to the 190’s! Horray! Only 38 lbs to my goal.

I want to blog a minute about one way I stay motivated to exercise. A gym membership is not practical for my family, and going walking with the kids is –ahem – more of a turtle’s pace than a rabbit’s. I own a treadmill, but currently I am not using it much. The only way I can do that is when the baby is sleeping, and I just have other things I want to do during that precious sleep time.

My exercise theme is “Change it up!”. I try to have a lot of options to choose from here at home. I may use resistance bands and do some pilates. I could turn on music and dance with the kids. Relay races and basics like jumping jacks, pushups, and stretches with the kids work. Or I pop in an exercise video. Here are some of my favorite exercise videos:

Walk Away the Pounds with Leslie Sansone - I own the 1, 2, and 3 mile walks. I love how gentle the 1 mile is, I can start it any time, even when wearing a baby in my Moby Wrap. The 2 mile challenges me, but all 3 levels are based off 4 basic moves that require little to no coordination or mastery of choreography. Even the kids can do these with me. She has a lot of DVDs out and I hope to try a new one soon.

FitMama Prenatal Workout with Leisa Hart - This one is split between salsa dance (that even a pregnant woman can do!) and yoga (which I never have enough balance for when pregnant), as well as some toning and stretches. I use this one even when I am not pregnant because it is fun. It does take a little more coordination.

FitMama Postnatal Workout with Leisa Hart - This one is broken into 10 minute segments that challenge me, but can be done in between homeschool subjects or when I have a few free minutes. Here are the sections for this DVD:

• Funky Fat Burn(25 min.) - Let's Dance: 10 minutes Get Funky: 10 minutes Groove: 5 minutes
• FitMama Yoga(10 min.)
• Power Pilates (10 min.) - Floor work concentrating on the buns and abs. Variations given for c-section and abdominal separation.
• Postnatal Stretch & Relax(10 min.)

There are so many choices for exercise videos, and I hope to find some more favorites in the next few months. I would love to hear what some of your favorite exercise videos are in the comments on this post, or some ways you stay motivated to exercise, especially in the winter!

Be sure to go check out this week's edition of the Weekly Weigh-In at Eclipsed.

Mathletics Review

Math is not a favorite subject at my house. Add in time limits and math goes from disliked to loathed in about 2 seconds. I was really worried about what my eight year old’s reaction would be to reviewing a Mathletics subscription. I explored the site a bit and found that there is a Full Curriculum section that is not timed, and a Live area where students race to do math problems against children around the globe. For the first week I did not tell my daughter there was such a thing as the Live area.

She began by making her avatar, a girl that with customized hairstyle, face, clothing, etc. This was important because doing math earns credits to use in the store. The store holds items to purchase for your avatar. Makayla loved this!

In the grade level we chose (2nd grade) there were mathematics areas that held 6-8 subtopics. A student answered 10 questions in each subtopic, and a test, in any order they wished. If they had trouble in a section there was a help area to walk them through a few problems, but it did not have auditory instructions, which I think would have been nice. Students earn points towards a printable certificate and credits to spend in the store for each math section you complete.

Many of the concepts are visually represented by graphics, which was helpful. Makayla did not mind the full curriculum area as it was a means to an end: buying things for her avatar. She was willing to try more challenging concepts than we are currently covering in her math curriculum because it was on the computer.

I then introduced her to the Live Mathletics area. A student answers math problems for sixty seconds. Their high score is tracked onscreen. Each round can be played with students from around the globe. Makayla played against students in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, South Africa, New Zeland, and Austraila.

Each player’s avatar is shown onscreen with a bar graph that advances as they answer questions correctly. You can also see if they get any strikes(miss 3 problems and you’re out) or if they leave the game or give up. Seeing that other students made mistakes and struck out was hugely motivating to Makayla, so much so that she asked to play every day. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I did what any good homeschooling mom would do, I let her do as much math as she wanted.

In the course of our free 1 month membership I have seen a big improvement in her basic computational skills simply because she is having fun while practicing math facts. She has also tried math concepts she has previously balked at such as two digit subtraction with borrowing, and seen success.

A Mathletics membership includes a parent login with weekly reports on your student’s progress, the ability to set challenges your student must complete before choosing another activity in the site with the Task Manager, a math related games area, and downloadable workbooks for many grade levels (from 1st – 8th). Learn more, including extensive listings of the concepts covered in each level of Mathletics, by clicking on the ‘About Mathletics’ tab on their homepage.

Cost: A 1 year subscription to Mathletics is $59.00 per student. If you know the human calculator’s favorite number {hint: it is 9} you receive $10.00 off the price, bringing a year’s membership to $49.00.

What Do I Think? A subscription to Mathletics is a great tool to use for both math concept practice in the full curriculum area and math drill for basic facts in the Live area, and may be motivating for a math-phobic child. I like the printable workbooks for areas my daughter’s current math curriculum may not be focusing on, such as plotting points on a graph, space and shapes, or probability. However, I do not think a subscription to Mathletics replaces math teaching with a parent. It is a supplement to make math practice fun and engaging. The reporting features tell you so much, including how many correct or incorrect answers your child makes in each area. I love that too. I do not have to sit right there to see what concepts my student is struggling with or breezing through, I can see it in the reporting area and adjust lessons accordingly.

Will we purchase a subscription when our freebie expires this month? Not yet. I am considering a subscription that would start this summer. We could drop all math textbooks for the summer and simply use Mathletics to keep skills sharp in a fun way, then continue Mathletics during next school year by using the Task Manager to lock free play until she completes with specific tasks each week outside our regular curriculum. Did I mention I really love the Task Manager feature?

**Update October 2010: We did purchase a membership and have been using it for months now. We still love Mathletics. **

Want to know more? You can read reviews from my crewmates HERE.

{Disclaimer: I received a free 45 day subscription to Mathletics for the purpose of review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.}