Online Learning

Welcome to the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop, where over 50 of my fellow bloggers from the Schoolhouse Review Crew are going to be sharing various posts on the subject of homeschooling. As I have been spending the last month sharing different products in my Back to School/5 Year Blogiversary Celebration, I am going to be sharing with you some of my favorite products, ideas and resources for different subjects. These aren't written in stone, but I plan to share some ideas on:

• Teaching Children to Read
• Online Learning
• Hands-On Learning
• Science
• Math

In honor of today's Back to School/5 Year Blogiversary Celebration review of ABC Twiggles, I would like to focus on some fun online learning sites we have used in the past, some of which we still use. 

Thanks to the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we have had the privilege of reviewing quite a few online programs. I have also reviewed a couple of these on my own. While I do enjoy hands-on learning, there have been some great benefits to using online learning. I can usually let the girls do their work while I get other things done, such as doing things with the little ones, cleaning, cooking, or napping (yes, napping). Their progress is usually recorded so I can see what they have gotten accomplished. And, frankly, they see it as playing on the computer which is so much more attractive to them than working at the table. Fortunately, they are learning at the same time.

Here are some great online sites you may want to try out. I have sorted them by subject and linked to my review if applicable.

Preschool Sites:

• Sesame Street- This is a site that the girls used to get on when they were younger. It is free.
• Starfall- This is another free site for learning. The girls learned letters, letter sounds and reading with phonics.
• More Starfall- This site is one we used in the past but didn't renew this year, mainly due to finances. For just $35 a year you get additional phonics practice, plus they have songs, rhymes, colors, and math. If you purchase a subscription to more.starfall.com you also have access to some 1st grade math and reading, as well as 2nd grade math.
• ABCMouse.com- We reviewed ABCMouse.com and the children still ask to get on it daily. This early learning academy has many subjects for young children. All 3 girls were able to have an account, but it is really more suited for Hannah.

Math:

• A+ TutorSoft, Inc- We reviewed the A+ Interactive Math Online Homeschool Edition.
• CTC Math-  We reviewed the 12 Month Family Plan, gaining access for 5 family members.
• 3P Learning- We reviewed Mathletics, gaining access for the two older girls for a year.

Science:

• Science4Us.com- We reviewed their Online Subscription which gave us access for both older girls for 6 months. This program is suitable for K-2 grade, though it can be used as review for older children.

Full Curriculum:

• Time4Learning- This is an educational program that includes lessons for preschool through high school. We got to review this with Tabitha and Amelia last year.

Spanish:

• Early Expert Spanish- We reviewed this as a part of my Back to Preschool Blast a couple of years ago. We were able to have access for all the girls and could have added one more.

Language Arts:

• VocabularySpellingCity- We had the opportunity to review their Premium Membership. They do have a free basic package as well, full of fun, game-based learning.

Music:

• HomeSchoolPiano- We were given a lifetime membership for up to 5 students as a part of the review. 

What are your favorite online resources?

There will be a wide variety of homeschool posts shared this week by my fellow Crew mates on the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I hope you will find some time to stop by and see what wisdom you can glean. There are always wonderful posts by these great ladies. Here, check out today's posts: Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break shares My Back to Homeschool Checklist: Schedules and Routine Tara @ This Sweet Life shares 26 Back-to-School Muffin Recipes Laura @ My (re)Viewpoint shares Spending Money on Books to Safe Money on Books? Yes! Alyson @ Family Style School shares Breaking the School Year Into Bite Sized Chucks: Lesson Planning. Kemi @ Homemaking Organized shares Our Methods (and Madness) Anne @ Upstate Ramblings shares Back to Homeschool - 10th Grade Curriculum Julie @ Nurturing Learning shares Morning Time- Getting the most out of your school day Beth @ Acorn Hill Academy shares Making History Relevant: Maps Also check out the main post on the Schoolhouse Crew Blog, for all the participating blogs and a chance to enter the huge giveaway worth $1300.
Speaking of giveaways Don't forget to enter to win in this week's Back to School Weekly Giveaway There will be 2 winners again this week! Each winner will receive a copy of The Reading Game

It's almost time for the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop

School is just around the corner for us, though I know some have already started, some school year round , and other won't be starting until September. We are planning on starting back to school on August 25th. That sounded so far away, but the weeks have zipped by and now I am looking at just two weeks to finish getting ready. I will be sharing our curriculum choices and school room soon. My Back to School/5 Year Blogiversary Celebration is headed full steam ahead to the Grand Prize Giveaway (August 17-31). This week is going to be full of reviews and Back to Homeschool posts. Additionally, this is my last week for a weekly mini-giveaway. So stay tuned for that in the first Back to Homeschool post tomorrow.  There is going to be a wide variety of homeschool posts shared this week by my fellow Crew mates on the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I hope you will find some time to stop by and see what wisdom you can glean. There are always wonderful posts by these great ladies. 
Hope to see you there!

Homeschool Blog Hop: Making New Friends

Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom hosts the Homeschool Blog Hop and this week she is doing things a little differently.  In an attempt to make new friends we are to follow the instructions and go visit new blogs, hopefully finding blogs of interest and new friends.  Here are the instructions:

Follow these steps:

1/. Write a quick post about this Making Friends Home School Hop and add in the linky code (at the bottom of this post) to your post.

2/. Add your blog post into the Link List below

3/. Choose TWO BLOGS from the list (if you are early to link up you may need to come back). Try to choose blogs that you have either not visited before, haven't visited in a while or don't often get the time to visit......the idea is to make some NEW friends.

3/. Comment on their Making Friends Home School Hop Post, letting them know that you are visiting from the Making Friends Home School Hop.

4/. Don't forget to follow them if you enjoyed their blog. 

5/. Come back here and comment on this post, letting us know which TWO BLOGS you visited and what you liked about them.

6/. Double check that you have followed all of the steps. 

7/. Have fun!

Homeschool Hop: Favorite Family Board Games

Well.....it's been a while since I have linked up to the Homeschool Blog Hop.  Here is the new topic:

Favourite Family Board Games

Time to share some more family fun, with your favourite games. Cherised oldies that have been played over and over again or even some new finds, it really doesn't matter, as long as your family loves them.

Share some of these games with us and the reasons why they are favourites for your family.

Tabitha likes to play some board games and even Amelia joins in, though most of the time she will not last the entire game, totally normal, I realize this.  They really love it when daddy will play with them.  One game they really like to play with daddy is Green Eggs and Ham, a game where they are learning to recognize rhyming words and improving their memory as the pieces are to be turned over one per turn and, if not matched, flipped back over for a future turn.  Actually, to make it easier for Amelia, they have started to play with the card facing up to see if it will be easier, we will see.

Another game they enjoy is Candyland.  It was during the play of this game a couple of months ago, that I realized that Amelia was starting to recognize her colors.  I love that young children can play, because all they have to do is match the color on the card to the color on the board.  I do wish they would bring back the old board, because I feel the new board is way too busy making it distracting.

We have Chutes and Ladders, but they are still getting the concept of this one.

They seem to enjoy the Winnie the Pooh/Watermelon seed game I made when we were doing the letter W.   This was the first "board game" I made.  However, we also enjoy the Feed a Penguin game we made back in January.  

The older kids and the parents do tend to enjoy playing a couple of games after the little ones are safe in dream land.  My favorite 2 are Scattergories and Mille Bournes.  

Scattergories is fun because you really have to stretch your brain (wouldn't recommend playing it while tired) and you have to think out of the box. You have a list of 12 topics (and there are 12 different lists of topics). The many sided die is rolled and you need to write down, before the timer goes off, one answer for each topic that begins with the letter that was rolled.  Extra points if the answer has more than one word that starts with the same letter.  For instance, fictional character starting with T: Tiny Tim would get 2 points.

Mille Bournes is a card game where you need to reach 1000 miles before the other players or team.  You lay down mileage cards, but only if the opposition hasn't laid a hazard card on your pile.  Such as: Out of gas, Accident, Flat tire, stop or speed limit.  Then you need to play the remedy card or safety card (which will prevent future hazards of a certain type) before you can place mileage cards again.   It looks complicated, but is quite easy to follow once you get started.  We used to play this at my ex's grandmother's, amongst other card games.  So when I found it at the mall we grabbed it up.

Looking for some more great game ideas?  Check out the links in the hop hosted by Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom.

Homeschool Hop #8

Well, I just realized today that a new post had been started by Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom for the Homeschool Hop.

There is no theme this week, just a chance to hop around, meet other homeschool bloggers, maybe get to know them all over again as it has been a while since the last Homeschool Hop theme. Which, as I look back now, I realize I missed. The theme on March 23rd had been "state requirements." In Pennsylvania we do not have to be "official" until the girls turn 8 years old. Which is nice, seeing as after that the requirements are quite strict from what I have been able to gather. I don't know the laws that well yet. I figured I would start worrying about it more when the girls reach kindergarten age. I thought maybe I would start keeping records at that point so I could get in the habit of it before having to be stressed about it.

I mean in Pa, we need to keep a portfolio, which is to include records and materials. We need to log what we read and provide samples of work. We also need to have the girls take standardized tests in grades 3, 5 and 8. And have a written evaluation done yearly. In elementary school, these are the courses we must include:

English, to include spelling, reading, and writing; arithmetic; science;
geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety
education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and
prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and
art.

Of course I have been looking into unschooling, which at first glance looked impossible in Pa. However, there are plenty of people who do unschool in Pa. I guess it is just a matter of knowing how to look at what you are doing in daily life and being able to see how to word it to fit the requirements. I love the concept of unschooling, but I don't think I have it in me to pursue it. And definitely not to the extreme. I know we will be eclectic and possibly relaxed. I spent quite a bit of time a couple of weeks ago reading up on unschooling again as Good Morning America had done a piece on a Radical Unschooling family which had brought about a lot of negative responses. Granted, GMA did a terrible editing job and made the family look like they did nothing and there was extreme bias against unschooling. I started reading my book I got with my Christmas money, "Christian Unschooling" by Teri J Brown. I wanted to see if unschooling could really be an option for a Christian. Most of the info I find about unschoolers are from a radical perspective and they are definitely secular. (Not that I am saying that all radical unschoolers are secular, it's just what I have been able to find and I would love to find some unschoolers who are Christian so I can learn more).

The Homeschool Hop #6

It's time for The Homeschool Hop again, hosted by Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom. This week we get to answer random questions, a little peak at each other's lives, what fun!!

1. What time is it right now? 5:40 pm

2. What are you wearing? My peachy orange colored floral dress with my green long-sleeved turtleneck. One of my favorite outfits (and the one I have been taking pictures of my growing belly throughout this pregnancy)

3. What is your mood? Happy and relieved!! I found my camera an hour or so ago. It had fallen down behind the filing cabinet (hubby kept saying he felt drawn to the filing cabinet, but I kept looking in the drawers to make sure I hadn't over looked it, and now my son tells me he dreamed it was back there 2 nights ago). I was quite giddy when we found it, praise the Lord!

4. What is one thing your children learned today? Learned about the sky.

5. What did you (or are having) for dinner? Chicken tacos (not the normal kind, just throwing chicken in the pot in place of hamburger, this recipe was found at allrecipes.com and we love it. You cook the chicken up in a combination of lemonade, lime juice, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce. You do have to make sure to cook it all the way down, which means cooking it a bit longer than the recipe calls for, the flavor is so much better. And we love adding mashed avocado to the traditional toppings. Yummy.

6. What's one book you are currently reading? Breaking Dawn (last book in the Twilight Series, also my favorite)

7. What behaviour (in people) is the most common but also the rudest? Burping loudly (like my 13 year old daughter likes to do) and thinking it is funny.

8. What can you see out of your nearest window right now? The car (green Subaru Legacy) we gave to my son and the old thrift shop, which is now owned by Acorn and I believe it is going to be torn down so they can expand)

9. What are you currently praying for? A safe labor and delivery

10. What is your favourite hot beverage? Would have to be coffee with some sort of flavored creamer. I don't have it often though.

STOP: Please DO NOT add your link below unless you have a post published about the blog hop and the current theme, and the McLinky code showing in that post. All links added that do not play fairly are removed.

Homeschool Hop #5

The Homeschool Hop is hosted by Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom. Come join in and have some fun checking out other's homeschool blogs. So far we have met each other and the families and also found out why we are homeschooling. This week the theme to share is "Style." What style or approach to educating your kiddos are you using?

I remember when I first learned about homeschooling over a decade ago and the only thing I could picture was a school-at-home approach. When I started to really research homeschooling as a "real" option for my "babies" I was surprised at how many different approaches there are. I looked into Charlotte Mason and liked some of her ideas, such as dictation, narration and living books. When I read about unschooling I was intrigued. But I can't see me, with my personality, being able to stick to such a radical approach. I find myself leaning more towards a relaxed approach with the girls. I want to make sure they are learning the basics. I want to make sure I have some sort of plan to go by to make sure we are doing something. Right now we have 5 years before we have to be official. The plan right now is to use the "curriculum" I can throw together, though sometimes this seems a bit too overwhelming as I found a bunch of stuff at the thrift shop for really cheap, but of course it is not complete (most of it was Abeka) and I am not sure how to combine it all. I have several different books for beginning reading/phonics. Always felt I could see if one approach worked, if not try another. But now I am wondering if that will frustrate the children. (Just for an example of why I am a mite confused) Right now all we are really doing is a letter every week or two using some ideas from Letter of the Week. Mostly I get some ideas for books, poems and theme words from this site and I try to come up with craft ideas, because I love doing crafts with the girls. Some are out of my head, others are from ideas I've seen. But we also review word cards and play "I hear 'ssss' when I say 'sun'" (for example). I make sure to focus on the sound the letter makes instead of the name, though I do share that too. Something I learned while working at the Montessori and that was reinforced when I read the book by Barbara Curtis called "Mommy, Teach Me to Read!" She is trained in Montessori and has homeschooled her children. I have also included Montessori activities, some of which the girls seem to enjoy others just sit on the shelf. I would love more room to be able to have more activities out at a time. I try to teach from what goes on during the day. When I have energy we have done baking and I try to teach math concepts from that. And while we eat. We read lots of books too.

Anyway, while the girls do not have to be officially homeschooled we will definitely be throwing things together. When they are old enough I have toyed with using the Weaver Curriculum, not sure what that will make us. I like that I can work through that curriculum with the girls together and they can each learn the same thing just at their level.

Not sure if this is really sharing my style or not, but this is what we do. Check out the links below to see what others are doing.

Homeschool Hop #4

Welcome to another week of Homeschool Hopping, an idea and blog hop started by Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom. There is no theme this week. Just a chance to discover other's homeschool blogs. Let's get to know one another. If you want to join in just follow the instructions below:

This is the perfect to join up if you haven't done so before as all you need to do is get the McLinky code added to your post, no need for a theme related post.

Please note: You must create a post that inlcudes the current McLInky Blog Hope Code (below) and have it pasted into your post. ALL links added that do not adhere to this will be removed from the list.

The Homeschool Hop #3/It's Cool To Homeschool

I am editing this post to include the It's Cool To Homeschool button and to link up to Mama to 3 Blessings blog.  Let's celebrate homeschooling together.  As Kylie asked several months ago over at Our Worldwide Classroom, now Nicole is asking: Why do you homeschool?  My answers can be found below.  

Here is this week's homeschool hop post. Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom is hosting this blog hop. First, the details:

Theme For The Week - Why?

Why? It's probably the most frequently asked question of homeschoolers, except of course the one about socialisation. So why do you home school? Are the reasons you home school today different from what they were when you first made the decision?

There are so many reasons why I am homeschooling my precious girls. My reasons haven't changed since I first thought about homeschooling, they have multiplied!

When my older children were little, I wanted to homeschool them because of religious reasons, a couple of families in our small Mennonite church homeschooled their children and it seemed to me as if that was the way God wanted it. Unfortunately, the children's father wouldn't allow it. And after the divorce I didn't see any feasible way to homeschool anyway due to my work schedule.

Since that time I have watched my children go through the public school system and I do not want my babies to have to suffer through the same system.

So my reasons for homeschooling are many:

1) Still a religious conviction, though stronger now, that I should be the one educating my children in the way that would bring them up for the Lord. Not being influenced by evolution everywhere they turn around especially.

2)I want my children to be able to read and comprehend. Something all my older children struggle with I feel in part because of the way it is taught in the school and the way they are pushed through, ready or not.

3)I want my children to have a love of learning and not just learn just enough for a test and then forget it again.

4)I want to be a part of those special milestones, see the ah-hah moments, the gleam in their eyes as they discover something they didn't know before.

5)I don't want my kids to worry about being bullied as my older ones have been.

6)I don't like having been at odds with the teachers throughout the older children's schooling. Trying to help the children with homework, but being told I wasn't doing something the right way because the teacher taught it differently. Never quite knowing how to help.

Now that Tabitha has just started Sunday School, she is quite eager to go to class and every once in a while I wonder if preschool would be a good thing for her. Then I realize the bad influences she could be exposed to even this young, I realize she is learning quite a bit at home and I know I am doing the right thing.


Addition Aug 5, 2010:
When I discovered my 18 year old son, who just graduated from high school and my 14 year old, can't answer simple questions such as, Who did we fight in the revolutionary war?  And: Who was fighting in the Civil War, I decided I will never falter in my decision to homeschool my children.  Check out the links below and over at Mama to 3 Blessings blog, to see why others are homeschooling.

The Homeschool Hop #2

This week the theme is: Your Family

Our's is a blended family. My three older children are from a previous marriage. They all attend public school, as their dad wouldn't let me homeschool them. Steven is a senior, who is struggling right now with his senior/graduation project. He is my musical one, is in band, chorus, jazz band, show choir and our church's worship team. He plays trumpet. He has been accepted to college and he is engaged. Floyd is my middle son, and he lives with his father. He is the artist in the family. (The art and music skills seemed to have passed from my parents to them, skipping me. My father was quite the artist and my mom plays piano, which I have been trying to teach myself.) He is now looking at using his skills for future financial gain. Krystal was my baby (okay she is 13 now), never thought I would have any more children after the divorce. She also participates in band and chorus. She loves to bake and is constantly asking if she can make something.

Four and a half years ago I met my husband when I chanced to sit in his mother's car at a Koinonia event we were both attending. Somehow, through the conversation his mother and I were having, we both discovered the other was single, though with children from a previous marriage. Similar circumstances within those failed marriages seemed to draw us together. We ended up getting married 7 months later.

Hubby is an LPN who works night shift in a nursing home environment. Of course, this means his time with the children is limited. He gets an hour or so with them when he gets home in the morning and then eats dinner with us before leaving for work. The children love getting to wave to him out the window. He is an avid Buffalo Bills fan, I would use the word "obsessed." Though I am not a huge football fan myself, I have learned to enjoy the game a lot more since he has explained the game and rules to me. Though my team has to be the Giants, as that was my father's team. The only time this will cause conflict is if our two teams are playing against each other, as I will root for the Bills otherwise. DH also enjoys hockey (Buffalo Sabres, and no conflict here), and NASCAR.

As mentioned, dh does have children from his previous marriage. The thing is, we hardly get to see them because of his new work schedule. He doesn't get a full weekend off anymore, only the Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday, making it impossible to get them down here (they live a couple of hours away). His oldest has graduated from high school and last we knew is looking into college. The twins, girls (I know, I am not using names as I am not sure how well received that would be by their mother) are the same age as my Floyd. And his youngest is 15. And I feel terrible that I really don't know them well enough to mention anything about them. Obviously it is hard to form a relationship when we hardly see them. Though I was hoping for more before the wedding.

Let's see, my precious babies, babies we never thought we would have. I know Tabitha is not a baby anymore having just turned three, but I can't stop calling her my baby girl. Tabitha amazes us with her verbal development. At two and a half she was talking in 11 word sentences. So different from my older children. Her vocabulary is amazing, she shocks us when she uses words like perforation in the correct context after hearing it only once or twice. She is excited to have just started Sunday School. When we drive by the church she will ask if she will be going to her "class." And I have to remind her that church isn't until Sunday. She is very imaginative and loves teaching her little sister.

Amelia is our miracle from God. When I was only 10 weeks pregnant we were told there was a problem during a routine ultra sound. We were sent to a specialist who informed us that due to the extra fluid behind the head and neck, meaning most probably that the lymph system wasn't developing properly, the baby would die in utero or soon after birth. The only option we were given was termination of the pregnancy, which we vehemently refused. The prayer chains were started after our return home, though my faith was quite shaky. At our follow up visit 6 weeks later the fluid had diminished to an acceptable level. Praise God. The specialist had the nerve to tell us, "That happens sometimes." Though we were given no hope at the initial visit. When Amelia was born she was a healthy baby. And she has developed normally these last 20 months. She loves having lesson time with sissy, especially when coloring and gluing is involved. She also loves music and dancing. Amelia is definitely more of a handful and their are many times I have to remind myself she is my "work of the Lord." Which is what Amelia means. God gave me this name after my initial doctor visit where we confirmed the pregnancy. I was driving home and the name Amelia Joy just came to me. It wasn't until I got home and looked it up on the internet, that I discovered the meaning. She is quite the climber and she is into things that were quite safe with Tabitha.

Both girls love going outside to play, we are fortunate to have a park right past our back yard, though it is closed in the winter.

God has blessed me with a wonderful family. We are looking forward to the birth of baby Hannah in less than two months. Tabitha already loves her baby sister. She will rub my tummy, get really close and say, "Oh,the baby is sooo cute." She got a doctor kit for her birthday from grandma (who was actually looking for a nurse outfit so Tabitha could be like daddy). She will listen for the babies heartbeat using the stethoscope that lights up with a heartbeat sound. I also get shots regularly from both girls.

Check out Our Worldwide Classroom for more homeschool hop stories.