Homeschool Review: Math Facts Now

One of the products we were asked to review for the TOS Crew was a computer program called Math Facts Now. In a nutshell, this is computerized "flash cards". And, if you generally utilize flash cards for math, this would be an awesome option for you!

You can either download the program ($15.95) or purchase it on CD ($15.95 + $3.95 S/H). It's a small, easy-to-use computer program. It can be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.  The parent spends a few minutes setting up a lesson. You choose the math facts your child(ren) needs to work on, how many problems are in the lesson, how much time to allow per problem, how to handle missed problems, etc. Then turn your child lose with it. That's really all there is to it. It gives the child math problems, they type in the answer, it tells them if they're right or wrong. If they're wrong, they type out the whole problem 2 or more times (depending on the criteria you set up), and are given the same problem again (sometimes several times) during the lesson to reinforce it.

This can be used for any age that's learning math facts, from the earliest addition (younger children might need you to sit with them and do the typing for them, since inaccurate, or too slow, typing is going to mess them up), until the child has learned all their math facts through the 12s.

As I mentioned earlier, if you use flashcards for math, you're going to love this option! It's going to be a good fit for anyone who teaches "math facts" using flashcards, workbooks, or "school" of any sort.  Unschoolers, or other relaxed schoolers who "teach" math through lifeskills, probably aren't going to use this much. That said, even though we fall into that last category, the girls enjoy occasionally "doing math" with this program, so it can work for anyone, but we probably wouldn't "get our money's worth" out of it if we had purchased it.

Teacher prep is minimal, it only takes 30 seconds or so to set up a new lesson. But since this isn't web-based, if you have multiple computers you're going to have to set it up separately on any computer you use. When we first got the program, I just put it on my computer, figuring that way I'd only have to set up each lesson once, but after a day or two of having to surrender my computer during "math time", I changed strategy and installed the program on each of their computers. Now I have to set up each lesson "twice" so that's more teacher prep, but then my computer isn't tied up while they're doing the lesson.

This program wasn't an ideal fit for our family, but it also isn't something that's targeted at our "style". I honestly don't understand why someone would want to make something "just educational, not entertaining". If you want your kids to memorize math facts (I've stated before, that I think math, certainly basic elementary level math, is better learned through life, so that children recognize, from the beginning WHY 1+1=2 AND why they need to know that), why not at least make it fun? So, I don't really understand the premise behind this program. BUT, that's just me, hee hee. Moving beyond that, does it do what it claims to do? Yes. Does it do it well? Yes. Even though there are many options the parents can set, I would like even more options. I'd like to be able to skip the "type it out 2 times' or at least be able to decrease it to only once when they miss a problem.  I'd like to be able to completely opt out of the timed aspect of this, I suspect if we used this regularly, that would trip them up sometimes if they got distracted by baby sister, etc. in the middle of a lesson.  And, I'd like to be able to choose "both sides" of the equation. The program is set up so that you can choose which number(s) to test, but, whatever number(s) you choose, it's going to give problems adding (or subtracting, etc) that number to all numbers from 0-12 . So, if we chose, to start by learning addition facts through 10+10, this would be a problem, because there's no way, that I found, to avoid having the program also test for 10+12 if you choose the 10s.  All that said, when we first began reviewing this program, the minimum number of problems per lesson was 50. Several of us asked about changing this & the company was quick to change this, reducing the minimum to 5. So I think in most cases, any changes like this, would be something the company would work with you if you asked.

My kids actually seemed to enjoy this more than I anticipated. Probably because "flash cards" is a novelty to them, hee hee. We got this program right at the end of our "season of travel", and we plan to stay closer to home over the winter. But since this isn't web based, it's something I think will work well in the car. I'll pre-set a few lessons on each of their computers and they can quietly work through them during Little Bit's nap or anytime they need a change of pace as we drive. There's also an option to set a reward if they get 100% correct. If we're going to use this in the car, I'll probably set those rewards to be some type of treat (candy, etc) to surprise them when they get to the end.

Disclaimer: We received a free download version of this program free in exchange for writing this review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Homeschool Review: Positive Action for Christ (Bible Curriculum)

 Positive Action for Christ sent their Bible Curriculum to us to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. Since, when I signed up for the TOS Crew I listed the girls as being in 1st grade, they sent us the First Grade Curriculum, Enjoying God's Gifts.  As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I sometimes get frustrated with people assuming that we are at a specific "grade level" since homeschooling allows us to move at each child's speed in each subject. So in some areas they're ahead of grade level, in others, they're at or below grade level. However, I do understand that for simplicity's sake, the TOS Crew needed to easily classify each reviewer and grade level was the easiest way to do that. However, in this case, I think a 2nd or 3rd grade level might have been a better fit.

We received both the Teacher's manual ($33.95), and one student manual ($12.95). After looking through the student manual (workbook) I decided against using it for L and A at this time. There was only one, and two of them, so we would have had to order a second one (or take turns with it, or something . . .), we're not big on workbooks anyway, and it seemed below their grade level. We've been able to use the curriculum quite nicely without it, often adapting the concept of the workbook pages to use without the workbook. For example, when the workbook page was a picture of a field and stream and the assignment was to add fish, birds & animals to the picture, I just had them each draw a picture of a scene with fish, birds and animals in it. That said, if you LIKE workbooks, this one seems really nice, brightly colored, and well done.

There is also a music option with this curriculum. The lessons include a recommended "hymn" (for example, "Jesus Loves Me")  and "chorus" (for example "This Little Light of Mine"). The words (but not music) are included in the teacher's manual. There are also music CDs or Tapes available.

This curriculum consists of  35 lessons. Each lesson is designed to last one week. The teacher's manual includes suggestions for using it 3, 4, or 5 days per week. Each lesson includes a memory verse, vocabulary, Bible story, discussion questions, teaching strategies (including how to use the workbook pages for that lesson and other ideas), an application story (story about kids that "teaches the lesson" of that week's lesson, my kids LOVE this part, they would be happy to just go through the book and read all of those stories, hee hee), and some character trait assignment ideas.

This curriculum is definitely designed to be used on a typical "school year" calendar. The song lyrics, are listed by "month" (September's hymn . . .etc). And it looks like it includes Christmas stuff for Christmas time, but since we just started using this curriculum in November, things didn't line up that way for us.  Something to be aware of if you school year-round.

It's also designed for the teacher to do some prep-work in advance. The recommendation is to pre-read the Bible stories and other stories and then tell them to the children rather than read them. And, of course, decide in advance which teaching strategies to use and have supplies ready for any assignments. I'm just not that organized. I just read the stories and it works fine. My kids are used to us having to go hunt down supplies in the midst of assignments, and usually it's just a matter of drawing a picture or something, so that works too. But it IS designed for the teacher to spend at least a few minutes in prep-work. It's also designed for a school-setting. So some of the discussion questions and such assume separate "school" and "home" time. So far it's been pretty easy to adapt those for us.

As I mentioned, we were sent the first grade curriculum "Enjoying God's Gifts" to review. This year focuses on God's Gifts, including Creation, friends, children, etc. While the workbook is pretty grade-level specific, I think the curriculum overall would work well for preschool through 2nd grade (roughly).

Since this was designed for classroom use, it probably fits best with a more "school-at-home" teaching style, but we haven't had any problem adapting it to use in our more relaxed style. That said, I don't know that I would choose to purchase this curriculum for our personal learning/teaching style. I think we could just as easily us e a book of Bible stories and come up with memory verses and "assignments" to go with them. But I'm cheap that way.

I think for it's intended audience, this is a great product. It's not an ideal fit for us, but we have enjoyed it, and may continue using it for the next couple months (we were at a transition point for Bible when we received this, so I may be lazy and just continue with it for a little while).  If you're new to homeschooling, or new to adding Bible to your curriculum, this would be a great way to have it all laid out for you. If you've included a heavy emphasis on Bible and character development (using Biblical examples) in your home or homeschooling for several years, you might want to go another direction, or look into using a higher grade level. I find the Bible stories and discussion questions to be below my girls' Biblical knowledge, but we've had weekly Bible lessons for church since birth, and a  heavy emphasis on Bible and Character Traits throughout our homeschooling, so understandably they're at a different place in their Bible knowledge than a child just coming into a Christian school environment without much home training in this area would be.

As I mentioned, the girls have enjoyed the stories. They also like that we sing as part of Bible class now (I don't have the CD but this week's chorus is the first song we've come to that I haven't known, I looked it up on YouTube to get the tune).

In addition to the product we reviewed, Positive Action for Christ has Bible curriculum available for K-6, Middle School, and High School. As well as Bible study products for churches.

Disclaimer: Positive Action for Christ provided us with a free Student manual and Teachers manual in exchange for writing this review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up - January 2

Welcome to 2011, how did THAT happen?! We had a nice, quiet, week-after-Christmas last week.

We had snow the first part of the week. It was BITTERLY cold, so I didn't take Little Bit out, but the big girls had fun with it.

School has been "lite":

- Bible:  Positive Action for Christ curriculum (watch for that review tomorrow! EEK!! Must get busy writing it!)
- Spanish:  Calendar plus Speekee (another review)
- Music:  We started a study on Peter and the Wolf (another review . . . notice a trend?)
- Science & History:  Listening to Jonathan Park CDs in the car, LOVE them!!!

We're starting to work on some cleaning & organizing around here.  Getting all the Christmas stuff packed away, obviously. But also doing some additional organizing & decluttering.  Right now we're working on the kitchen. Each girl gets to choose a cupboard or drawer and clean it out (I get say in what goes back in and what doesn't. My goal is to continue doing this around the house, getting rid of stuff we don't need and putting anything that "doesn't belong" into boxes that I stack in the spare room. Then once things are organized, hopefully with "extra room" in most storage spaces (cupboards, shelves, etc), I'll start going through the "doesn't belong" boxes, and either FIND a place for it, pack it away if it truly is something we will use later but don't need access to now (clothes the big girls have outgrown, for example), labeling it such that I can find it again in storage when we do need it, or GET RID OF IT!!  At least for now, the girls are enjoying helping.

Knitting continues to be a favorite passtime. I'm working on a poncho for L (we found ones for both Little Bit & A at Goodwill, so L's feeling left out). I didn't find any patterns I liked, so I'm using A's as rough template and making it up as I go, we shall see if it turns out.  L is still perfecting her wash cloths, and A decided to try to make a poncho for one of her dolls (using "mommy's pattern" so we'll see if it turns out too).

And finally, we're working toward a rather major re-arrange in the girls' room. A few weeks ago A had a small stomach bug and threw up in the night. For convenience sake, I put some blankets on the floor and she slept there the rest of that night, and has been sleeping there ever since (because she likes it). Not to be left out, L decided SHE wanted to sleep on the floor too. So at the moment, they are both sleeping on folded up blankets on the floor of their room. I started thinking about it, and figured, hey if they want to sleep down below, we might as well rearrange things to utilize the space with that in mind. Bonus, we may actually succeed in moving Little Bit into their room if they're on the floor too. So we're still in the planning stages (and making sure they like sleeping down below). But the plan is to get futon-type mattresses from IKEA (love IKEA) and rearrange the floor (including moving some of the stuff currently on the floor up onto the loft). Then we can stack the mattresses during the day and pull them out at night. So there will still be floor space for play during the day, and added incentive to clean up EVERY DAY, hee hee.

So, lots of planning and organizing and stuff going on around here.

Happy New Year!!!

Is it bad that I'm glad New Years Eve falls on Friday night this year because it's a great excuse to not stay up or otherwise "celebrate" it? I must be getting old, but staying up till midnight just doesn't hold much appeal these days . . . maybe it's because I'm often up AGAIN by midnight with Little Miss Never Sleeps . . . hee hee.

Oh, and a small, thing. Over a year ago, A1 went through a brief phase where she wanted to be called by her full name, which starts with an A, rather than the nickname we'd used for her since birth. At that time, on this blog, I switched from calling the twins L & A, to calling them A1 & A2. It was a brief phase and now she's back to going by her nickname. I think a new year is a nice "neat and tidy" time to switch back to calling the twins L & A on the blog. So, L = A1,  and A = A2.

ANYWAY . . . I've never been much for resolutions, maybe because I never stick with them anyway, but I did want to share a "plan" we've developed for the new year.

I'd been thinking about several things for awhile now. Figuring out a way to  get one-on-one time with each kid when I have a toddler who doesn't sleep and a husband whose job keeps him from being home very much. Figuring out a way to have one-on-one time with my husband once in awhile. While I don't see a need to "separate the twins" significantly (as is considered necessary in some schools), I think at this point it would be good for them to occasionally have an hour or two away from each other.

I already have a book club that I attend on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Little Bit comes with me (though at some point I suspect they're going to want me to leave her home, we'll have to rearrange things then (or quit the book club). So, that week was pre-determined as "Mommy/Little Bit" time and "Daddy big girls' date night".  We fit everything else around that and came up the following (other than book club, we didn't assign a specific NIGHT, just a week, which night it is that week will vary depending on Rodney's work/travel schedule and occasionally our travel as well):

First week of the month = Mommy & Daddy date night. This will require a baby sitter. I'm assuming between various friends, we'll be able to find someone willing to watch our three monsters-I-mean-blessings one night a month

Second week = book club as already mentioned

Third week =  A's week.  On the determined night, she will get to choose to go on a "date" with either Mommy or Daddy. The other parent will stay home with L & Little Bit.

Fourth week = L's week. Same as A's week only for L instead of A.

The girls are SOO excited about this. They love the idea of having a "babysitter", they love the idea of going out with a parent. They already love Daddy date night on my book club night. When we presented the idea, they said "we get something fun EVERY WEEK" so that's a good thing :)

We already have a babysitter lined up for next Thurs night so Rodney & I can go out, woo-hoo! The big girls are excited (they adore Miss Starla).  Fingers crossed that Little Bit does well with it. She did great when she stayed with Judy (our neighbor and the girls' "adopted grandma") for our anniversary but she doesn't know Starla as well. I'm counting on the fact that her sisters will be with her to make it ok.

So that's our main "resolution" for the new year.  I'm also hoping to move us toward more healthy eating. I purchased a nutrition curriculum that we'll be starting in the next couple of weeks and my hope is that, as the girls learn WHY we should limit sugar, eat more vegetables, etc. They'll be more "on board" and it won't be "Mean Mommy" saying we have to eat whole wheat bread instead of squishy white bread, it will be their own choice because it's healthier.  We shall see . . .

Holiday Crafting . . .

When I reviewed the Homestead Blessings Art of Crafting video, I promised some pictures when we actually tried some of the crafts.  Well Christmas snuck up on us this year, but we DID make potpourri and  gave it to a few people as Christmas gifts.

First we went on a walk in the woods to see what great nature stuff we could find for the potpourri. We discovered that our woods have very few evergreens and those we do have don't have pinecones (at least this late in the year) but we did get a couple different types of evergreen branches and some red berries.

We also ate LOTS of oranges (no hardship, all 3 girls LOVE clementines, the 3 of them will easily eat a 3lb bag in a day!) and dried the orange peel. Then we admit defeat in having completely natural, from our property, potpourri this late in the year, and went to the craft store for some little pine cones and red beads and little silver ball things.

We dumped everything together in a bowl and mixed it together and added cinnamon and sweet orange essential oils.

Then we put it all in a gallon jar and shook it a few times a day. Don't we have a cute jar-shaking-helper?  Yes she's sitting in the middle of the table, it's her favorite spot.

Right before Christmas we put the potpourri into little bags, tied them with ribbons and gave them to the grandparents, etc. for Christmas.

And I had great intentions of getting a picture of the 2 big girls with all the pretty bags of potpourri, and completely forgot, so you'll just have to take my word for it . . .

But, bottom line. We had fun, and it was super easy!! You should try it!

Gratituesday - Snow (that doesn't stay around too long)

Saturday night (you know, CHRISTMAS) Rodney told me that they were calling for snow, up to a foot, starting overnight that night. EEK!!! The whole "go stock up on milk & bread" thing doesn't work on CHRISTMAS!! And to add to it, we buy our milk & eggs from a Mennonite (or Amish, there are so many "levels" of each & I can never tell and don't know how to politely ask, not that it really matters LOL) farm so they weren't going to be open on Sunday either. Now the reality is, we keep a deep freeze stocked and a pantry stocked and we could probably live for a year and not actually starve to death, but we DO like our milk and eggs and I usually stock up on those before any predicted storm.  We live at the bottom of a steep hill and the snow plow got stuck plowing us out once last winter, so after that he left us for last, so we do need to plan for being "stuck" for awhile if we really do get a big snow (and for where we live, 10-12" is a big snow!).

Sunday morning we woke up to no snow, so I at least went to the regular grocery store and made sure we had other food for the week (way to encourage me to get back into menu planning!) I also got a box of powdered milk so at least we'd have SOME kind of milk if we were stranded for very long (dh is a big milk drinker, the rest of us only use milk in things, but those "things" include hot chocolate which the kids like to have when they come in from playing in the snow, I figured powdered milk, while nowhere near as healthy, would do in a pinch for hot chocolate (and still be better than the powdered hot chocolate mixes) and in cooking.

It started snowing Sunday afternoon and snowed all night, but we only got a couple inches. Woke up to a beautiful white world and an already plowed driveway. So we were never stranded, and the kids had a great time playing in the snow yesterday (though the 4 degree F wind chills kept Little Bit and me inside, I figured she'll see snow again this winter).

She was so cute today though, as we were running errands. She saw the snow (what hadn't melted) and kept pointing to it and saying "no" for snow.

So, this week I'm thankful for the beauty (and kid-fun-factor) of snow and I'm thankful that we weren't snowed in on a week when I was feeling unprepared for it.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Weekly Wrap-Up - December 27

This past week was, of course, all about Christmas!!

We were busy cleaning, getting presents ready, making cookies, cooking and such.  We did continue with school, to keep up with our review items, and our Jesus Tree devotions.

Rodney was home on Wednesday & Thursday so that gave him and the big girls a chance to make dozens of cookies and other such fun things.

The girls were very proud of themselves for making the alpine casserole for Christmas dinner "all by ourselves" (though Mommy DID chop the onions, they haven't yet found a way to do that without "crying" so they don't like to do it)

We celebrated Christmas, with all the grandparents and such here, on Friday, so did our typical "Christmas Eve" traditions on Thurs evening.

They eagerly opened their new Christmas nightgowns (from Mama & Papa, Mama made them and sent them home with us after our anniversary weekend). Little Bit, despite being a confirmed nudist, was excited to put it on (she likes clothes in theory, she just doesn't like keeping them on LOL). And then was VERY excited when, abit later, she realized that hers was just like big sisters' nightgowns. It was so cute to see her realize it and "tell us" by pulling on her nightgown and then pointing to A1's.  And with the incentive of being "just like sisters" she actually kept hte nightgown on ALL NIGHT (and most of the next day LOL, the big girls also decided to wear their new nightgowns all day Fri. instead of getting dressed).

Then they moved on to their Christmas Eve gifts. Which are always books, games or videos, that we can play, read or watch on Christmas Eve. This year I opted to get a game the big girls would enjoy, and a video, Elmo's Christmas Countdown  that I figured was primarily for Little Bit. My thought was that she could watch the video while the big girls & I played the game, without her "help".  As it turned out, while they liked the game, they also liked the video, so we started it over after we finished the game, so they could see the whole thing LOL. I must admit, if we must watch the world's most annoying red monster, this video was less annoying than most Elmo things. After that we made our annual monkey bread, read their new book, and sent them off to bed.

So that was our "Christmas Eve". Friday morning everyone actually SLEPT IN!! We're in a nice little pocket of time where the big girls are big enough to figure the stockings will still be there, so they don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, and Little Bit's too young to know she needs to wake up at the crack of dawn LOL. Got up, the girls opened their stockings, the monkey bread baked, we did some final cleaning & dinner prep type stuff, then read the Christmas story out of the Bible, and the girls put Baby Jesus in His nice, soft manger. At the beginning of the month we made a paper nativity set (since all my other nativities had the baby attached to the manger), minus the baby, and any time I "caught" the girls being kind without being told, they got to add a piece of "hay" (yarn) to the manger, so Christmas morning they got to put Jesus in the manger.

By then family was starting to arrive, and so the present-opening began. I realized when I looked on my camera just now, that I really didn't take any pictures, will have to get pictures from my Dad and SIL. The big girls were thrilled with their new American Girl dolls (A1 got Ruthie, Kit's friend, and A2 got Elizabeth, Felicity's friend (not that she has Felicity, but she wanted Elizabeth because she has "removable earrings" and Felicity and co were being retired as of this Christmas, so if she was going to get Elizabeth it was going to have to be now). My mom surprised me by giving me Felicity (my favorite), so now the girls are quite sure that I should "play American Girls" with them sometimes, we shall see LOL. They were also thrilled with the AG accessories they got from each other, and from us, as well as the plethora of books, Schleich animals, etc. Another hit was the doll A1 got for A2.  When we were in Goodwill a week or so before Christmas, Little Bit was loving all the dolls, and A1 said she wanted to get her one for Christmas. I have to admit, I was less then thrilled, since I knew she was getting several other dolls for Christmas and felt like another one was really not needed, but also didn't want to discourage generosity, so agreed. The doll she chose was a larger, nicely weighted baby doll. Little Bit loved it, and enjoyed carrying it around. But A2 *also* fell in love with it because of it being a good size to be a "real baby" for her, and being weighted enough to feel more real as well.  At some point (I'm not sure when, A1 decided to give it to A2 instead of Little Bit, which was fine with me, though A2 has had to "share" some, since Little Bit does love the doll as well).  A1 was excited to give A2 the doll and A2 was thrilled to get it, so it was a hit all around and fun to see A1 being excited about the "giving" side of Christmas. The picture on the right shows A2 "wearing" her new doll in my Kozy Karrier.

Little Bit loved her dolls and Schleich animals, the obnoxious Elmo puzzle that will be going to live at Mama & Papa's house next time we got there, TWO stuffed Elmos (and yes, we must bring them BOTH with us, everywhere we go), and the felt house that my mom made. It's a fitted "table cloth" to go over our card table (the idea being, it can be folded up and put away when not in use, but that seems to be several months down the road, as much as she's loving it LOL). It's currently in the middle of our (rather small) living room, I'm trying to decide if I should make room for it in the girls' room, or in a corner of the living room. I'm thinking for right now, the living room is the better option. It will allow the big girls to play house in it during Little Bit's naps, and give her more time to play in it since she can't go upstairs to play w/o the big girls up there with her. I THINK with a little rearranging, it will fit into a corner where it won't be TOO in the way, we shall see . . . But she definitely LOVES it!

After presents were open and Little Bit was napped, we fixed, and ate lunch, then visited some more before everyone headed home.

After everyone left, the big girls got dressed (after wearing their new nightgowns all day), and we put together a plate of cookies to take up to our neighbors, and adopted grandparents, the Butlers. I'd told Judy ahead of time which dolls the girls were getting, so she'd made an outfit for each of their new dolls, as well as getting Little Bit a very cool book, and making her a basket bed for the doll we gave her for Christmas.  Then the big girls & I (and the Butlers) headed to the church to go caroling, while Rodney took Little Bit home (he decided watching Little Bit was preferable to being out in the cold, singing LOL. And I was just as glad to not have to keep track of Little Bit during caroling). The girls LOVED caroling, and want to do it every year (I told them that would, obviously,  depend on whether the church does it every year, I don't think they have in the past, so not sure if this was a one time thing because Christmas Eve coincided with Friday night).

It made for a late night after a busy day. Sabbath morning I had to wake all 3 kids (and Rodney) up at 8:30 which meant we didn't make it to church in time for the big girls to do a craft at 9:15, but it was my week to provide the craft, so the girls just did it in church instead (using pipe cleaners and red & white pony beads to make "candy canes").

And that was our week. I hope all the rest of you had a wonderful Christmas as well!