Sunday, March 4, 2012

Feb Goals Check in and March Goals.

 

 

My February goals were

  • To have a planned grocery day each week.

This has been going fine according to me.  According to meeting the goal as far as having a set day.  That has not happened.  However it has stayed between Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.  I mostly wanted to do this because I live in a small remote town and the grocery stores here are out of so much over the weekends.  They are also super, I mean SUPER, busy over the weekends too.  I have been menu planning using E-Meals and I just go to the store when my menu runs out (which would mean I am out of groceries for the weeks menu). 

  • To workout 5 days a week

This has been much more of a challenge.  I was doing so great.  I worked out every morning until about Feb 14th.  My husband was off for a week and it just messed with my schedule.    That’s my excuse.  LOL. 

So my new March goals will be:

  • To get back to working out.  I was really feeling good about myself, I drank more water and I had more energy. 
  • To have a scheduled dinner time each night.  We are going to try for 6:30pm to be sitting at the table eating.  

 

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Family Game Night


This Winter has definitely not been as harsh as predicted.  We have barely even had enough snow to go sledding.  The temperatures have only gotten below 0 a few times.  Last year we spent the entire month of Feb barely making it above 0.    I am sad for that as well as grateful.  We still have been doing some fun indoor activities.  We pulled out the Twister game and had such a fun game night.
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Emily has been playing Pick and Draw, often and with friends.

All the kids have been having fun on the video games we own. 

We have also been getting in a ton of Science Experiments! 

We have also signed the kids up for some new outside activities.
Tommy is in a MMA class, yes fighting, I know, but I really like his Sensei and the values they teach. 
Emily is taking a Be The Best You class.  It teaches that beauty is from the inside.  It is a really neat class, with a bunch of homeschool girls her age. 
Katey is going back in swimming lessons.  She is taking the next level than she did last time. 

Winter is already almost behind us and then Summer is on it’s way.  Ahhhhh……….

K5 Learning

Online learning supplements are becoming more common nowadays.  One thing that many of them lack is the ability to be personalized. K5 learning really sets themselves apart here.  It can be totally customized to your child in no time.  There are over 3000 different prewritten lessons.

With K5 Learning your child can take 2 separate assessments.  One is for reading and one is for math.  When you are requesting their assessments you do need choose their current “grade level” in order to get the ones that would closest match them.

After the assessment the results are very easy to read.  It shows you exactly where your child placed as well as the grade range.  So it is very easy to see if your child is in their range.

 

Your child has their own log in separate from the parents. This is so you can set up personalized spelling lists, schedule or even exempt your child from certain lessons.

 

The lessons are fun and engaging even for my 5th grader.  They didn’t feel too childish for her, and sometimes she said she felt funny pretending something. (example: you pretend you are on an underwater mission for the assessments)  Other times she loved it. 

 

You can easily see exactly where your child is at. 

K5 includes 4 reading and math programs

K5 Reading helps kids become strong readers and develop a love of reading. This award-winning program covers phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

K5 Math is an award-winning program which builds self confidence and a deep understanding of math concepts. K5 Math covers numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis.

K5 Spelling is an advanced vocabulary program which improves language skills one word at a time. We feature adaptive instruction, automatic word generation, an optimized visual interface, and a 150,000+ word database.

K5 Math Facts uses adaptive technology to help kids develop instant recall of basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Progress on each and every math fact is monitored until mastery is obtained.

                                                                                                                           ~taken from website

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite things of K5:

The parent dashboard.  The way you are able to customize everything and see exactly what your child has done and how well they knew the content.   It is full of reports, you know right where your child is at any time.

There are also math worksheets to bring the learning offline.

Some things to remember:

K5 was created as a supplement curriculum, a type of afterschool help, not a complete curriculum.  It is nice to keep skills fresh over the Summer or for the children of the mother that just had a baby.  The kid that learns on the computer or even a child that needs to learn how to use the computer.

K5 does things by grade level, however you can have your child’s grade adjusted up or down. 

It is full on instruction and not just review work.

There are no ads, no chat and no outside links.

It is 100% online, so you will need internet access.

They have sample lessons.

 

Monthly subscription

First child..........................$25

Additional children..............$15

Annual subscription

First child..........................$199

Additional children..............$129

Subscribe now

14-day Free Trial Offer!

- no obligation

- no credit card needed

- free math and reading assessments

- 14 days of free lessons

To see what others though of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Blogging through the Alphabet Letter B

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B is for Blogging.

I love blogging.

It is one of the ways I unwind.  I enjoy reflecting back and documenting our lives.

I love the tips and such that I get from other bloggers.

I hope that I can repay by sharing some tips of my own.  

Blogging really is my outlet.  It relaxes me and of course I get quite a few benefits from it.  Friends, ideas, items to review, I have won items from other blogs. 

I love that my children will be able to look back and read about their lives whenever they want.  

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Miami Vineyard Live Music CD~ Review and Giveaway


Uplifting music

I received the Miami Vineyard LIVE CD.  This is a unique collection of worship music.  It is really fun to move to.  We listened to it as we were cleaning our house and it really kept the spirits up and we were able to clean to this fun music. It reminds me of Summer at the beach!  Ahhhh, relaxing and praising.  It is very hip gospel music.

About Miami Vineyard LIVE:
What happens when a group of 20+ musicians and 10+ songwriters steeped deep in their own musical traditions of Black Gospel, Latin, Caribbean, and Anglo come together to create a new tradition and sound? What happens when the fusion of Black, Anglo, Latino, Caribbean, and Cuban voices unite together to worship in one voice? Among the 2000 people that attend the Miami Vineyard Community Church, there are over a hundred singers, instrumentalists and songwriters that make up its eclectic worship ministry. For one night, these musicians joined together in worship and invited the church to document the sound that is uniquely MIAMI VINEYARD LIVE.
This distinctive bi-lingual liturgy is filled with many flavors, from Latino claves to gospel two-step to funk and soul to delay-laden rock guitars of modern worship, yet they all work together seamlessly to create a new sound and voice that is authentic and refreshing. From anthems of praise and proclamation to songs of intimacy and adoration, there is a common thread running deep throughout this recording and that is true worship of the Living God as an expression of His Kingdom breaking in on the streets and beaches of Miami, FL.

Would you like to more about this type of music? 
Miami Vineyard LIVE (released 10/18)
The CD sells for $11.99 
A Download of the Album is $9.99

You can win a free copy of your very own. 
This is also my first Rafflecopter Giveaway.  You will need to sign in with Facebook.  These are so easy to enter in!




Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Reading Eggs, YES IT WORKS!!




Reading Eggs has been an “eggcellent” resource for Katey and Tyler too.
Reading eggs is a reading website for children ages 3-12.

First of all both Katey and Tyler love online learning that they can do themselves.  I love that they can each spend about 30 minutes a day doing something double educational without my help and I can use that time for teaching other children or getting lunch or dinner ready, etc.

Reading Eggs is an online educational website.  Your child works through maps.  There is a placement test for your child and it is supposed to place your child at the correct level.  Katey took the placement test.
I felt like it did place her at a lower level than she actually was at.  However, I let it go since I figured it would give her a chance to get used to the website and a little review never hurt anyone.   I just had Tyler start at the beginning. 
Then it puts you on the “map” at your level.  Each number is a lesson, each lesson has about 10-12 sections.   While at the map you can choose to do puzzles, play games, spend your eggs, and more.  Each place on the side unlocks after certain levels. 


The interactive lessons are all fun, and if you get one wrong it gently guides you to the correct answer.  The activities within the lessons vary widely.  This is so great about it.  Katey never got bored.  There is always new “games” to play. P1010054
The beginning lessons are all about learning the letters and their sounds.  They also start with simple words like am.  Tyler has been playing on these easier lessons. While he is only 2, he is actually very computer literate.  I do not put any pressure on him to learn things, he just plays on it when we wants to.  He does do very good at finding the letters that he is supposed to find.
Each lesson also has corresponding worksheets to go with it.  This really helps reinforcing the lessons offline. 
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Then there is the Reading Eggspress side. It is for better readers.  It focuses more on comprehension. In the comprehension gym you read stories and answer questions play games that show your comprehension level.

There is also a comprehension assessments.

Katey spends most of her time with Reading Eggs, sometimes she goes over to the Reading Eggspress side with the comprehension gym.

Another things about this program is the parental dashboard. It shows you right where your child is at.
reading eggs screenshot
reading eggspress

Reading Eggs has a variety of subscription options.
Yearly is $75 with a 50% discount for each additional child.
6 months is $49.95 with a 50% discount for each additional child.
Monthly is $9.95
They also offer optional book packs. They range in price from $65 to $110.
The Mega Book Pack is our BEST VALUE PACK. It contains all of the Level 1 and Level 2 books matching the first 80 lessons of the Reading eggs program. The pack includes 80 reading books + 400 stickers, 8 mini posters, 8 Activity books and two packs of durable Flashcards with games. These would normally retail for $244.20. You save a massive $104.20!

You can try Reading Eggs out for FREE!  Sign up for a free 2 week trial.

Check out the Reading Eggs FAQ page.



To see what others though of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.



As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.

Blogging through the Alphabet- Letter A

 

 

My friend Marcy over at Ben and Me is hosting a meme, Blogging Through the Alphabet. It is 26 weeks of blogging about a topic that starts with the letter of the week. 

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This week is letter A.

Alarms!

I use alarms for everything. 

Just on my phone:

  • An alarm to wake up. 
  • An alarm to wake the kids up.
  • An alarm to order my Bountiful Baskets
  • Alarms for Tommy’s outside activites.
  • Alarms for Katey’s outside activities.
  • Alarms for Emily to attend her outside activities
  • An alarm to take the garbage out to the street, once a week.
  • I set up alarms for medicine if someone in the family requires some.
  • Bed times

I use a timer alarm for other things:

  • How long friends can be over.
  • When to switch the laundry
  • How long someone can be on the computer or TV.
  • How long until we have to get ready to leave somewhere. 

I use alarms for so much more, I am sure.  They just come in so handy to keep me on track.  I really do get a lot more done this way.

Join us blogging through the alphabet.  Next week Letter B.

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