Science and Snickerdoodles

 Got your attention, didn't I? *smile* What does science have to do with Snickerdoodles? Read to the end of the post and see...

Science Games at 4YOU4FREE

(I just found this site, so I can't guarantee the quality

of every game, but the ones I saw were well done).

Actually, today's TOS Homeschool Blog Cruise topic is "Share your favorite homeschool science resource." Well, I have a LOT to say about homeschool science, and many resources to share, but rather than write a post a mile long, I am just (mostly) going to re-direct you to my Homeschool-for-Free website's science page. There you will find over 100 links to all things FREE and scienc-y on the Worldwide Web. The resources are organized according to science discipline. Covering Biology to Physics,  using entire online curricula (like Biology4Kids and Biology at Pronto Lessons) and unit studies (check out the one on anatomy from Guest Hollow), you can teach science to your homeschoolers without spending a cent. You will also find plenty to supplement your existing studies, from challenging games (I love Poke-a-Muscle), to virtual dissections of owl pellets and pigs (eeyeuw...don't try this one unless you have a strong stomach), and many useful printables. There is likely something to interest everyone in your family, so please go check out Homeschool-for-Free! (I will throw in a quick disclaimer, though. It has been a while since I went through and checked links, so if you find any that don't work, I apologize. Please feel free to leave me a message here and I will fix it asap. I found one inactive link this morning, and wound up finding the item again just by Googling the keywords, so if something looked really good to you, don't despair! Just try, try again!)


That said, I do want to share my all-time favorite science resource with you here, just in case you are strapped for time and don't want to get sucked in by all 100+ resources on my other site (I counted them this morning). Years ago we discovered a site called AE Mystery Spot. It is a collection of interactive mysteries, written to teach your students about the scientific method and investigative science. Each one focuses on a different topic, which include things like infectious disease, a plague of frogs, and killer bees. If you check out AE Mystery Spot, the mysteries you will want to try are on the left (with button images) with names like Venom, Angry Red Planet, Arctica, and Sneeze.

I didn't see our all-time favorite mystery CROAK there anymore, but I found it by Googling the name, so you can still try it. Yay! These mysteries are geared towards a middle school aged student, but are appealing to all ages, as long as there is an older reader to assist with longer passages. High School students will enjoy doing them for a fun change of pace (after all, I loved doing them!). In Croak! you have to solve the mystery of why all of the frogs are disappearing from a town by interviewing certain people within a given time frame. You only have enough time to interview a few people, so you have to make good decisions on what you choose to do with your time. It's a great exercise on planning and decision making. If you think you solved the mystery, you email Access Excellence your answer, and they email you back. Just plain learning fun!

Another just-for-fun favorite is a collection of six old LPs from the 1950's with science songs on them. There are a few interesting facts about these songs. First, the man who produced them also wrote The Unchained Melody, and secondly, the man who sings three of the albums wrote "On Top of Spaghetti." If that combination doesn't make you want to check them out, I don't know what will! Topics covered include: weather, the seasons, astronomy, magnetism, animals, the ocean, flowers, and more. There may be some evolutionary references in a few of them (it's been a while since we listened to them all), but you can filter those out. You can download the songs by clicking on either the 32 or 160 next to the song, then save as into a file. Your computer will then open the file in Media Player (or whatever your default player is), and you can add it to a play list. Download the ones your little ones will find useful. It's a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. You can let your kids work on some animal notebooking pages from Homeschool Share while you listen, or complete one of their many  animal lapbooks.

I am going to try this recipe from Andrea's Recipes next.

It looks similar to my old favorite.

That brings us to the Snickerdoodles. Other than starting with the same letter of the alphabet ("S") and the fact that cooking does involve a little bit of science (measuring, experimentation, changing states, chemical reactions), Snickerdoodles really have nothing to do with my favorite science resource. We did, however, make them last night using a recipe from a cookie book I thought I'd really like...and it was a huge fail (in my picky opinion...my kids loved them).

 I can't find my old favorite recipe anywhere, so I was wondering if any of you folks who might stop by to swap science resources might consider swapping Snickerdoodle recipes, too? If so, leave me a comment with a link to your favorite, tried-and-true recipe, or just leave the recipe. I am hoping to make some yummy ones to share with others in my family, so we will just employ that excellent advice (good for both science and kitchen experimentation) and try, try again (never say the kids minded eating up the "failed" experiments!).

Blessings,

One last idea: If your weather is on the edge of Spring like ours is, you can still send the kids outside with this "winter" scavenger hunt and I am pretty sure that they will be able to find everything. Mine are heading out right now to seek and find what they can...I think yours might enjoy the break, too.

Check out what other homeschoolers say are their favorite science resources at the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog Cruise!

Happy Homemaking---Menu Plan, To Do's, and a Good Read Aloud

Happy Homemaker Monday at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

The Weather: We are expecting weather in the 70s all week, with perhaps a trip to 80* over the weekend. We may have some showers tonight, but mostly the weather is clear. The Amigos stayed outside for over 7 hours today playing...the did a scavenger hunt, played in the trees, and had a hike pretending they were lost waifs in the woods who needed to find food (they eventually shot a deer--PBJ sandwiches---and "found an apple tree"). What fun!

On My Reading Pile: I will admit it. This week I have been reading a collection of four Christian romance stories by Lauraine Snelling called Dakota. The ladies in it are from Denmark (we are Danish on my father's side) and it is neat to learn about some of the customs. I have also been reading The Essential 55 by Ron Clark (I watched the movie about him on YouTube last week and it was excellent!) and Your Child's Strengths by Jenifer Fox.

Our Read Aloud: A Tree in Sprocket's Pocket by Paulette Nehemias. Environmental awareness from a Christian perspective. We found her other book, Wiggler's Worms, years ago and the boys loved it. I came across this one for just a quarter at the library and it is already a winner. What a find!

On My TV: Not a whole bunch. We watched The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (narrated by Pierce Brosnan) tonight and it was fascinating. We've been listening to A Peep Behind the Scenes by Lamplighter Ministries (available for free right now at Oneplace.com) during breakfast, and the first book in the Mistmantle Chronicles when in the car (another amazing find at the library for $1). I will probably watch a few NUMB3RS episodes while folding laundry before our trip this weekend. Folding laundry is so much less boring when accompanied by an entertaining show. ;-)

Menu Plan Monday at organizingjunkie

Our Menu Plan:

Monday: Pizza and a movie night early since Mommy and Daddy will be gone this weekend (at the Teach Them Diligently Conference in SC). 

Tuesday: French Dip sandwiches (made by covering a London Broil in the crockpot with 4-6 cups of water, adding 4 beef bouillon cubes, and cooking for 6 hours, then shredding with forks, and serving on hoagies with melted swiss cheese...easy and delicious), pasta salad, nacho chips.

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet to clean out the fridge before we go, OR eat at church (pork chop night) before Awana.

Thursday-Saturday: We will be traveling. The kids will be staying with Nanny and Poppy. I am sure they will be appropriately spoiled. I am glad.

Sunday: Probably the Stouffers I keep in my fridge for emergencies. We can add a quick salad and have a nice meal with little effort. It is worth it to pick up a few of their family-sized ones on sale from time to time.

     Goal Planning at mamamanuscripts.com

Goals for the Week:

1. Work on cleaning our front porch while the weather is good in preparation for the wonderful spring months when we get the most use out of it...it's an enclosed porch and tends to collect junk over the winter when nobody wants to trek to the garage.
2. Install baby gates on both sets of stairs for the deck to keep the chickens off of it (can't stand stepping in chicken poo).
3. Several blog posts---another giveaway to be posted Tuesday (the other movie giveaway ends the 15th), a review of The Art of Argument, and a review of Progeny Press. Also, the blog cruise topic is favorite science resource and my favorite resource is my other site's Science Freebies page with over 100 free and educational science resources!!
4. Finishing all the laundry and getting it put away, so I can pack. Pack.
5. Church Wednesday. Clean the car on the way.
6. Plant some more daffodils. They grow wild in the woods and we are going to go on a hike to get some more. Tex wants to do this for me. So sweet.
7. We are going to the Teach Them Diligently Conference in SC on Thursday. I can't wait to hear Ken Ham, Voddie Baucham, and Doug Phillips. Hubby is looking forward to hearing Stephen Kendrick speak at the Men's Breakfast. I am hoping to meet a former Crewbie for lunch or breakfast one day.

Homeschooling Goals for the Week: Character training. Practice Awana verses. Let the kids play outside a lot. Creative play is very educational. More nature studies and art during the warm weather. Reading aloud. Tex wants to get his work done by Wednesday night so he can have an extended weekend off. I hope he manages it. 

What I am Sewing: This should be what I am supposed to be sewing...my yo-yo quilt top. Um, nope. I plan to take it with me to the conference, though, so I will have something to keep my hands busy when there are no kids to keep me busy!

Looking Around the House and Yard: It has been gorgeous outside today. The house is pretty clean and organized (as long as you don't look in my closet or at my laundry. I am feeling like we are "getting there." The kids are happy. That's the best part.

On My Prayer List (and a picture to share): My SIL has been having some worries about her pregnancy (8 weeks along...I got to go see the baby last Thursday!), so please pray for her and the baby.

Have a blessed week, friends.

Blessings,

To Test or Not to Test...That is the Question

When I started homeschooling about fourteen years ago, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to test Bubba at the end of the school year. At that point, although I was a certified teacher in my state (I still am), I was unaware of the Certified Tutor Statute, which would have allowed me to instruct my child as I saw fit and to not test. So I dutifully picked a curriculum (we used A Beka in the beginning), set up a desk area for Bubba to work at, and started "doing school" at home.

Since I was a certified teacher, I got signed up with Bob Jones to be an approved tester, and planned to test him myself at home. We did some practice tests at home, more to get him used to the process of filling in bubble sheets (because we never did this during regular school time), and he did very well, scoring well above grade level (he was in fourth grade his first homeschooled year) in many subjects, on grade level in a few, super well in reading and comprehension, and not so well in spelling and mechanics (as in when to use a comma, etc.). Well, I guess that showed me where we needed to invest time the next year!!

We made adjustments the next school term, and by the end of the next school year, I had connected with a group of military homeschoolers, and offered to coordinate testing for their large group of children on base. We tested with that group of homeschoolers, and this time Bubba's scores were great across the board. Phew! I was relieved. Realistically though, I remind myself that the public schools had him for four years, and it just took him a year or two to recover from that. LOL. I personally think it was the additional reading time he had that improved his writing and spelling scores, not any extra book work we did.

The year after our second year of group testing, we were in a different state, with different rules, and we wound up not testing for the years we were in that state. I found that I didn't miss it one bit. I actually preferred not having that "threat"  looming over our heads, as if I had to keep proving my ability to teach over and over, or he had to keep proving that he was smart. When we moved back to our home state, I registered under the Certified Tutor Statute, and we decided to forego testing PERIOD, because I just didn't see the need for it anymore.

Just in case you are hyperventilating at this point, thinking I am crazy, keep in mind the following things: Bubba wound up graduating from our homeschool with a high average. He completed five apprenticeships while in school (two horticulture ones, three farrier ones) and went on numerous mission trips, including a five week cross country gospel drama trip. He went from homeschool to farrier's school, and had no need of testing of any sort to do any of those things. The fact that he was not inclined to go to college right away was fairly clear early on. He currently takes college courses as he chooses (usually one a semeseter, which he pays for, and in in which gets all As...he finds that he is very well prepared for college based upon the education he received in home school) and got into that college based on his homeschool transcript and an entrance exam which he aced. He owns his own business, just bought a house (other than his mortgage, he is debt free, including his business equipment), and is getting married in June. He had no need for stressful yearly testing (it did stress him out mightily, and me as well, because when he is stressed, everyone is stressed). Testing served no useful purpose.

Now, Tex is a bit different. So far, we have not done a standardized test on him. Why? It hasn't come up as being important. We have used various tools to assess his progress in individual areas such as math and language arts. When he was younger, my mom, a Reading Specialist, gave him a test to check his reading level and comprehension skills (which turned out to be great!). But a yearly standardized test? No.

Have I thought about it? Yes, I have considered doing one at the end of this year so he can see where he is compared to other students his age...solely for the purposes of making sure he takes his upcoming 9th-12th grade years seriously. He has indicated an interest in college, though he doesn't know for sure whether what he wants to do will require one. He is interested in computers and in owning his own business. This is the year we are working on setting up his first apprenticeship, and are trying to help him come up with an idea for a ministry that might make use of his particular skills in computers, working with people, and helping others. I personally think that is more useful and important than testing, but that is just how I feel.

In our minds, it is more important to take each child as an individual and help them determine what their gifts are, and to figure out the best path for them to travel so that they can use those gifts in a way that glorifies God. For some, that might add up to a Classical education with yearly testing, the SATs in 10-12th grades, and a scholarship to Patrick Henry College. For others, it might add up to a Charlotte Mason style education, serving in the children's ministry at church, learning sign language, and being an interpreter during conventions and church services for a few years until getting married. For others, it will be a computer-based fairly traditional education with yearly testing and a straight track to vocational training, following a few years of being dad's apprentice in his appliance repair business. Everyone is different. God did not make us all the same, and we should not feel bound to follow the exact same educational track (or fit the same standardized test scores).

I am simply saying that when it comes to testing, YOU are the best judge of whether your child needs to be tested. Do you worry that he or she is behind in a few areas? Then test and see where you need to do more work next year. I always told Bubba that the test was to see if I was doing a good job of teaching, so he'd be less stressed about it. Do you have a child who is determined to go to college? Then maybe yearly or biennial testing is the thing to do. It will enable your student to be relaxed when testing, and will keep your progress well-documented in case it is needed when you make a transcript (though in our experience, it is not completely necessary...but it may give you peace of mind). Do you have a concerned mother-in-law who just won't quit questioning your sanity over homeschooling? Maybe testing will ease her mind and give you something firm to stand on that she (or other naysayers) will understand. Does your state require testing for your situation? Well, then I guess you have no choice, but don't let it drive how you school your children. If you read a lot and are loving learning, I would venture to guess that your child is getting more out of "school" than the average public schooled child, so take a deep breath...you will be fine.

If you have to test because the state says so, then find the way that works best for your child. Hire a person like me to test your child at home where he will be more relaxed. Or if she likes working in a group, find a group to test with. Whatever works for each individual child or family (if your family is large, you may not be able to suit everyone's preferences, but you can customize to an extent). If you can do a portfolio evaluation, that may be the best route for some children, especially those with learning difficulties or special needs. It may also be a more relaxed approach for you, the teacher. Just make sure you  know what is required of you and get recommendations for a quality, trustworthy evaluator. Remember, it is your job (as the teacher and parent) to take all of the information you know about yourself as the teacher, and about your students, and prayerfully decide what works best for everyone's personality, abilities, and goals.

But then that is true of all aspects of homeschooling, isn't it? The Lord gave us these children and put homeschooling on our hearts. He asked us to teach them diligently, to walk with them and talk with them. To love them and disciple them and discipline them. What a marvelous calling that is! And what a blessing it is to be able to homeschool our children and to be able to make those decisions using our understanding of our children and their uniqueness...leaning on the Lord's wisdom and resting in His peace.






To see what others on the 
TOS Homeschool Crew have
to say about standardized 
testing in their homeschools, 
check out the Blog Cruise.









Blessings,

K5 Learning--A Real Teacher's Helper

Sometimes there is a season in your life when the picture of all of your children seated around the dining room table working diligently together on a Bible lesson does not bring a contented, warm feeling to your heart. Instead, it makes you get all jittery and anxious, because for whatever reason, you just can't manage to do that right now. It might be pregnancy, illness, care of a loved on, packing for a move, unpacking from a move, lack of support, lack of confidence, or the need to hold a job. Whatever it is that makes you worry that your kids can't still be homeschooled during this difficult time, there are answers other than putting your kids back into the public school system. Online learning is one of them.

Or maybe you have a student who seems to need just a little more practice on some targeted skill areas. You can see there is something they are missing...you just aren't sure what. Perhaps you are NOT a homeschooler, and you feel your child is not getting enough practice in certain subjects at school, and you want a reliable and easy way to ensure your child receives extra help every day...but the cost of a tutor sounds like something you can't possibly afford. For these reasons, and many more, there are affordable solutions. Yes, you can find FREE! online resources and build yourself a fantastic program from the ground up. But you will have to do all of the research, work, teaching, and grading yourself. If that sounds a bit daunting to you, then consider the option of checking out K5 Learning.

K5 Learning is a company dedicated to meeting the needs of parents of Kindergarteners through 5th Graders in regards to providing abilities appropriate educational enrichment in the areas of Language Arts and Math. 


There are four main teaching areas: Math Facts Drill, Spelling, Reading, and Math. The Math Facts Drill uses adaptive technology to help kids quickly recall the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The Spelling program has a 150,000 word database and drills your child one word at a time, coming back to that word in subsequent lessons until the word is mastered. The Reading program covers phoenemic awareness, sight words, phonics, and comprehension. The Math program covers everything from numbers and operations to algebraic thinking and statistics.

When you sign up for K5 Learning, you will be asked to request an assessment of your child's abilities (or you can start at the very beginning without the assessment...this is fine if you have a child who is very young). Once your child has completed that assessment, you will be notified via email of your child's performance and he will be placed at an appropriate level within the K5 curriculum. If you have problems with your student's placement (I felt Cowboy's performance was a bit under par for him as the lessons he was getting were a bit simple for him), you can call their customer support line and they will talk to you and make adjustments accordingly (I did call and they did adjust).

Your student will sign on each day to see a screen which allows them to choose from doing their math and reading lessons, a math facts practice, or a spelling drill. If you choose math and reading, your student is given the option to complete a Reading Lesson or a Math Lesson. Optionally, the parent can be more involved by selecting certain lessons (in areas of student weakness) that need to be completed. These are called the math or reading "assignment" and appear on the same page. Thus, your student could have four lessons to complete in those areas daily, along with the math facts and spelling drills. That's a lot of practice! You don't have to do all of them every day, but the option is there, and of course, your student can do more if he wants to.

Parents can log in via the Parent/Teacher screen and check on their student's progress. They can also adjust the Assignment lessons daily or weekly, using the bank of over 3,000 tutorials.

Each lesson is clear, colorful, and interesting to the students. The animation is pretty good (in other words, while it is simple, it's not so simple that it detracts from the program). Every lesson my kids completed was done verbally (in other words, the computer talked to them the entire time, so they did not have to guess at what to do if the directions were too difficult for their reading level...that was a bonus). During lessons, the students are asked to "play a game" from time to time that is educational, not entertainment. My kids see any time on the computer as "fun" so it wasn't difficult to convince them that this program was something they liked to do, instead of "work." 

What We Liked About the Program:

• Mom: I liked that it was not a bunch of time-consuming "fluff." Every lesson was obviously tied to a useful objective. The lessons were not random, they were very structured and goal-oriented.
• Mom: I appreciated the ease of adjusting the lessons, via both the computer and the helpful customer service representatives.
• Ladybug: This program is AWESOME! I love it. I want to keep doing it. I think it teaches me a lot every time I play it. I really like the reading and I am great at spelling.
• Cowboy: I like K5 Learning. It is fun for me. I like the math the best. I liked that I could click on the stoplight and stop whenever I wanted to, but not have to go back and do the old parts over next time.
• Firefly: I like it. It was a little bit hard, but Cowboy and Ladybug helped me. (Mom says, "She is under the target age, but we decided to try it anyway to see how it went. She does all right, and does not get too frustrated, however, she would be better able to do it alone in a few months to a year.)
• Mom: As a family, we have tried quite a few online programs, and I have to say that this one is the most solid. I discovered that I prefer that completing lessons is not tied to playing games (that was distracting). My kids are happy just doing the learning activities. They don't need more games.
• Mom: I really appreciated being able to see where the kids were academically courtesy of the online assessment. They were right on grade level, which is what I hoped, but it was comforting to see it on paper (or rather, on the computer screen).

Our overall feel for the product is that it is a wonderful answer as a supplement for almost any child who enjoys working on the computer. I would not have it be my main curriculum (it was created as a supplement for After School Programs, not as a stand alone curriculum), but for a child who could use some extra work on a topic, well, out of all the other programs I have tried, this is the one I would pick to use.


In fact, we may consider keeping Ladybug on it for a while since she could use a little bit extra work in some areas of reading to boost her confidence level (in addition to reading aloud, which she already does). However, the pricing is a bit steep at $25 a month for one student ($15 for additional children) or $199 per year ($129 for additional students).

You can sign up for a free trial of K5 Learning and see for yourself if this program can provide the help you were looking for...it's a real teacher's helper.

See what others on the TOS Review Crew had to say about K5 Learning at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: I received a brief free trial of this program in order to review it. No other compensation was provided. All opinions expressed are our own.

Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

In my life this week: Hubby was out of town all week, so it was a bit different than usual. I had quite a few reviews due, so it was a bit of a squeeze. Tex, as usual, was a big help. Thanks, buddy. My SIL announced she is pregnant, so we are all excited for them. This new baby with be their third child. Nanny and Poppy visited for the first time since their return from Iowa and the kids were so excited!! Oh, and our washing machine broke, and got fixed. The guy made $95 for a ten minute visit. I doubt the part cost more than five bucks. Anyone looking for a career change? He said he can't keep up with the demand...

In our homeschool this week: It was a quiet week, more or less. We had the Bookmobile here on Wednesday, along with friends for lunch and fellowship. The kids loved Awana on Wednesday, and worked hard on memorizing their verses. The nice gentlemen there gave us the extra pizza they had to take home. Thank you, guys! All Three of the Amigos love their Who Am I? Bible study from Apologia. They listen to the cd while they are eating breakfast each morning. Firefly is progressing with her All About Reading and likes to play Reading Eggs and Ooka Island. Ladybug and Cowboy also love their Reading Eggs lessons, and have enjoyed a brief trial of K5 Learning (review on Monday). They all *heart* Math Rider! Nanny worked with Ladybug on her reading and said she is doing very well. Cowboy is also doing quite well. I think we will do more book work and some notebooking/lapbooking next week. All of these online product reviews have taken us away from that and we miss it.

What we did for "Fun Friday": It was a rainy day, which means it is a good day to stay inside around here since you practically need a boat to get around parts of our yard when it is wet. The kids played a few "games" online (Ooka Island, Big Bibletown), colored in their doodle books, tried their hands at I Spy, worked on paper dolls (the girls), and listened to Adventures in Odyssey. You can listen to episodes online at OnePlace and even watch episodes at Jelly Telly.

Helpful homeschooling tip or advice to share: Character First. I truly believe that if you are developing your child's character in the right direction, then the rest will not be far behind. You can give your child a Harvard education, but if his character is not solid, what was the point? But a child who has godly, admirable character can get far in life, no matter what situation they are put in. I did posts recently focusing on character traits and resources: Our Favorite Character Resources and the ABCs of Character. Another old favorite of mine is Bible Pictures of Godly Children.

Favorite site this week: Cute printable paper dolls for the girls in the family. Use card stock. Here are some Betsy McCall's dolls  and  and some more Besty Mcall's dolls, and two pages from Marilee (Marilee One and Marilee Two) of links to more, including Hedgie cut outs with clothes.

Places we went and people we saw: We basically just went to Awana and church. Without Hubby around, I am not so enthusiastic about taking all the kids out. While I might be used to handling them alone (with Tex's help, of course), without that "break" at the end of the day (Hubby usually puts them to bed and tells them a story), it is too tiring to go far from home.

My favorite thing this week: Visiting with my mom and dad. We all missed my folks a lot.

What's working for us: Online classes/activities/lessons are great. They work in a pinch when you haven't planned anything else, or when you are not feeling 100% (I had a headache most of the week since our weather was so variable). However, I'd have to say that if you are beholden to them (like having to use them for a review), then they can be a bit of a burden, too.

Things I am working on: I am still working on fixing up our "library" and study room. That was my February "Just Learn to Do It" challenge for myself, and I got a good portion of it completed. However, there are still a few shelves in the back and hallway that need more organizing, as well as a bunch of games to sort and cull. This month's challenge is to finish my yoyo quilt top so it will be large enough to cover our dining room table. 

Check out my Yoyo quilt update

I am very happy about moving the buffet from the back to the dining room. We had to move our huge big tube tv to do that, but I actually prefer the tv in the parlor. It has a couch and is more conducive to seating large groups. Our eventual plan is to get a flat screen that will fit in the armoire (the other tv is one inch too big) so that we can close the door on it, and pretend it isn't there. Anyway, I have arranged many of our daily supplies and books into the buffet in the dining room which makes them much more accessible. I wish I had thought of it long ago.

What we read: I must admit that we mostly listened to Adventures in Odyssey this week. Maybe we will read more next week.

What we watched: For pizza and a movie night we watched The Real Macaw on Netflix. It was a treasure hunting adventure with a talking ex-pirate parrot as the co-star. The macaw was a bit rude at times, but mostly it was fun.

Don't forget to enter my Movie Double Feature Giveaway to win a copy of Three Hearts or The Mighty Macs for your Family Movie Night! The giveaway ends March 9th.

Something to share: We told Firefly and Ladybug that they were going to be flower girls in Bubba's wedding and they were both very excited, but wanted to know what they were going to have to do. I said, "Well, mostly you will just walk down the aisle and toss flower petals on the ground as you walk." They considered that for a moment, then Ladybug said, "I guess that's okay...as long as it is flower petals and not horseshoes!" Seriously. She really said that. How funny. I just love kids.

A friend of mine heard this story and suggested that tossing some horseshoe confetti in with the flower petals would be just the thing to do (since Bubba is a farrier, of course). I found some horseshoe confetti online. What do you think?

How was your week? See how others fared this week by checking out the Weekly Wrap Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Blessings,

EGG-cited About Reading Eggs!

Every once in a while, you come across a learning tool that really gets your kids excited. Reading Eggs is one of those things for our Three Amigos. Ladybug (age 8), Cowboy (age 6), and Firefly (age 4) all think that Reading Eggs is eggs-traordinary!!

This is the Reading Eggs Map. It shows your child's progress.

There are 120 lessons on this map, plus 96 more spelling lessons.

You can get to all the fun activities from here, too, once they are all unlocked.

Reading Eggs in an online program that teaches and reinforces reading skills for ages 3-7. From letter recognition to phonics skills, from sight words ro early reader stories, Reading Eggs will progressively take your child from knowing zero about reading to being a reading hero!

This is a sample of the placement test. 

Each child is placed along the path at an appropriate level 

so they are never bored or excessively challenged.

If your child already has some reading skills, don't worry that he will be bored, because Reading Eggs will give your child a placement test to make sure that he is placed in the right location on the Reading Eggs board. The program works towards mastery, so at certain points there are tests which you must pass in order to move on to the next section of the program.

This shows the Floating Island of Reading Eggspress.

You can access the library from this screen, as well

as other fun activities you child will enjoy exploring.

Reading Eggs has 120 learning to read lessons, then your Reading Eggsplorer will progress to 96 spelling lessons. After that (or in conjunction with it), there is a new section of the site called Reading Eggspress, which houses a collection of leveled readers to entertain your child and challenge her new reading skills.

This is a sample of a comprehension test from Reading Eggspress.

At first, Ladybug found these a bit hard and I needed to help her

once she'd read the book, but now she is doing them all by herself.

Books in the library are sorted by genre (type of story) and difficulty, so your child can read books that interest her. Fairy tales, funny stories, non-fiction books about animals, health, and the universe, science fiction, and even math readers are just some of the types of books available in the library. Each one has a comprehension test at the end of it to test whether your reader is truly understanding what he reads. 

This screen allows you access to the many fun and challenging

areas of Reading Eggs. More fun educational activities are

being added each month...more exciting stories are planned

for Pirate Cove in the Storylands soon!

Both areas of the program, Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, offer areas in which your child can play as they learn. Reading Eggs allows your student to customize an avatar, and decorate a house for that avatar. Reading Eggsplorers earn golden eggs as they complete activities (not all activities are unlocked immediately...some have to be earned), and these are redeemable for items they can add to their homes. They also earn "pets" for every lesson they complete when one of the golden eggs hatches. In Reading Eggspress students also earn special cards for their card packs, which is motivating as well.

This is a sample activity of an early lesson.

The student must reorder the words to make a sentence.

The lessons are full of learning and very targeted towards developing specific reading skills, but they are also fun. Puzzles, learning games, silly songs, and colorful characters capture your student's attention, and make the lessons multi-sensory. With Reading Eggs, you will never have to hear, "Awww, do I have to?" when it is time for a lesson.


The program is available on a monthly basis for $9.95 per month, but you can save money by purchasing a six-month ($49.95) or twelve-month ($75.00) subscription. If you have a second child who would benefit from the program (and enroll them at the SAME time), you can purchase their subscription for half off the usual rate. You can also purchase printed packs of the readers used with the lessons, so if your Reading Eggsplorer really loves their Reading Eggs lessons, the learning doesn't have to stop after the computer gets turned off!

Here is what Ladybug, Cowboy, and Firefly have to say about Reading Eggs:

Ladybug (age 8)

• I think Reading Eggs was very good for me to help me learn how to read better.
• I was excited when I finished lesson 120 and got to start my spelling lessons.
• The spelling lessons help me learn how to spell lots of big words and I like when I get presents at the end to add to my house.
• My favorite part was earning all of my pets, because they were funny. My best pet is "Fox in Socks."
• I really like the fairy tale books in Reading Eggspress. I get to read a book when I am done with my daily lesson.
• I write stories sometimes in Reading Eggs at the Story Factory and I keep them on my bookshelf. I can read them whenever I want to.

Cowboy (age 6)

• I like it! The part I like best about it is the Playroom. I think the Play Mat (a memory game like "Simon") is the best.
• My favorite part of the lessons is when I do something right. The computer goes "Yahoo!" and I get golden eggs.
• I like the new (or new to us) Storylands section. I get to learn new words and do fun activities, then read a good story at Clinker Castle.
• Sometimes I do Driving Tests (of sight words, letters and sounds, or content words) to earn more eggs so I can play games in the Arcade (those games cost "money").

Firefly (age 4)

• Reading Eggs is great! I like to get all the pretty eggs when I do my lessons.
• My favorite part is all the funny songs. I play them a lot.
• I like my person (avatar). She is a panda!
• I like to do the matching activities the best. The dot-to-dots are fun.

--You can read what others on the TOS Crew had to say about Reading Eggs at the Homeschool Crew Blog.

--Sign up for a FREE! 14 Day trial of Reading Eggs and see what your little Eggsplorer thinks about the program.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: We received one 3-month subscription (for Firefly) to help us evaluate this program for the purposes of offering our honest opinion here on our blog. Our other subscriptions were purchased by us (we have been using this program for almost a year for two of our children). Our positive opinions of this program are honest reflections of the experiences our children have had with Reading Eggs. If you have questions about our experiences, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.