National Tax Training ~

 

Would you like to make some extra money?  Or even just save some money?

Now hear me out before you run away scared after reading the title.

National Tax Training has created a home study course in Federal taxes. 

In 20 lessons -each one is suggested to take 8 hours each, (more on that below)- you will learn the ins and outs of the federal tax code, and since most states codes follow the federal codes you will have some state tax knowledge as well.

National Tax Training teaches using short –what I call- Nuggets of information.  In easily readable format.  They also use real life case studies, that way you get to practice the knowledge you just learned on what could be a real life situation.

National Tax Training Federal Course offers you 10 resources, being:

The text material.

Up to date materials that come conveniently in a 3 ring binger.  The lesson plans are written to the average person, with the assumption that you have no prior tax knowledge.

 

Inside the binder you will also find some pre-addressed envelopes in order to send in your tests to be corrected.  (more on that below. 

Each assignment has a table of contents that ranges from about  11 pages to 16 pages.  Each topic is divided out by a section.  This has made for very easy reference when needed.  I have referred to it while taking the tests, which are open book.

See the complete course outline.

Self Check Practice Problems

At the end of each lesson is a practice test, in which the answers are directly below the problem.  The book advises you to cover up the answers with a sheet of paper, answer the question and then check your answer and score yourself.  This has been a great way to prepare you for the chapter exams.  In a small way, I sort of wish the answers were on the next page, but then I think how it is nice to correct it one problem at a time. 

Examination Problems

There are the exams right in the book, directly after the practice test.  This is a picture of a test that has already been corrected and sent back to me. 

Instruction and Grading Services

As you can see above the tests are hand graded.  When you get your test back in the mail with a score you also receive a complete answer sheet including explanations to the problems. This is perfect for when you don’t understand why you missed the question(s).  Notice the #208 etc. at the end of each answer, that is referring to the section where you will find the answer in the book.

Practical Case Studies

Each chapter in the book provides real life scenarios where you will see the tax laws as they would apply to real people.  In addition to that you get a book full of practical case studies.  This enables you to practice on real life situations.  You also get a Guide to State Personal Income Taxes.  Both of these booklets along with others come after lesson 17.  With your lesson 17 exam, you send in a form to request these materials.

Student Guidance Services

There are actual teachers at the school to help you.  Each student is assigned a teacher, and while I don’t know how many students each teacher has, your teacher is there to answer your questions by phone or email.  I haven’t had to contact my teacher, as I never had any questions.  When I didn’t pass a test, (yes, that happened to me, and I have excuses, LOL) they sent me a very nice letter letting me know as well as a new test.  No answer sheet with this one.  haha.  

Building and Operating a Successful Tax Practice Book

Reference Book

Both of these books come after lesson 17 (where you mail in the request with your chapter 17 test).  These books I haven’t had much time to look at as they came just a few days ago, however they included a letter about how the school was closed for a few days for a school break, as per the school calendar. 

Graduation Certificate

Obviously I haven’t received these yet, as I am only on lesson 6.  However, with the chapter 17 request form, I received another form to fill out in order to request my graduation certificate. 

Post Graduate Services

National Tax Training offers a few post graduate options based on the price you pay.  The prices range from $495 for 2 years of post graduate assistance to $795 for 4 years of post graduate assistance. They also have payment plans for both choices.   You will receive notices on changes in the tax laws, regulations and rules in a bulletin that will come out annually.  This way your tax knowledge will always be current and up to date.  Consultation and advisory services  also allows you to request a consultation regarding tax laws, and the establishment/ operation of your tax practice.  Each of these 2 items is available to you for the time of post graduate services you pay for. 

 

A few things to note. 

This course can be and has been completed in as little as 8 weeks.  I have had access to it about 6 weeks and I went on vacation one of those weeks.  This is also not my biggest priority.  I have completed 6 of the 20 lessons or about 33% of the course.  At that rate I will compete it within 6 months total time.  They allow you up to one year to complete the course. 

It took me about 1-2 hours to complete each course (not the 8 suggested), remember though I did fail one test. 

 

I felt quite overwhelmed with the giant binder, so I took about 3 to 4 lessons at a time and transferred them to a smaller binder.   I was able to take this to the park with me and study while my kids played and even at home this felt less overwhelming to me.  I used a sticky note as a book mark. 

It took about 3 weeks for me to get my test results back, however, they were on a school holiday for 1 week of that time.  I believe their normal time is quicker than that.  

 

They are implementing an online version of the school, and while I think I would prefer the paper method,  I would love to be able to do the exams on the computer. 

It is not necessary to complete schooling to be certified by the IRS to prepare taxes for others.  All you need to do is pass an exam.  National Tax Training completely prepares you for that exam as well as prepares you to be able to actually know what you are doing. 

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

Disclosure: 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.  No other compensation is provided. 

 

Is planning for the spontaneous?

“To fail to plan is a plan to fail” 
That’s what they say anyways.
I find that to be somewhat true in my life. 
You see, I am spontaneous. To the point that I eloped with my husband, to the point that we picked up and move our entire family to a small town where we didn’t know anyone or anything about it.  So spontaneous in fact, that one day we just pulled our kids out of public school and began homeschooling.  Yep!

Well I am proud to say that I have been HAPPILY married for 9 years, we love our little town, and our homeschooling is going strong!

You see, none of those things were planned for.  However they are all successful due to planning.

My marriage: We made a plan to always communicate.  ALWAYS! 
My town:  We made a plan to try and find happiness.  ALWAYS!
My homeschool:  Let us go into a little more detail with that one.
First of all we have created a homeschool schedule.
My next best friend has been simple flexible (remember, I’m spontaneous) planners.
I have 2 main planners. One is specific to my Five in a Row plans,  since that is quite a teacher intensive curriculum, it gets it’s own binder. The next one in my main planner.
Let’s start with the FIAR planner.  In here I have sheets for planning which I downloaded a while ago from a blog that is no longer.  I see that Proverbial Homemaker has a very similar one.  On  the bottom is where I write a few themes of the book as well as any additional things I may need, such as food, or other items I still need to purchase.








Behind each book specific sheet I have some worksheet type activities. For this book she will be notebooking and some ordinal number pages. 

I also have a file for FIAR activities. In these folders are pieces or activities that don’t fit well in the binder. 
This includes things like lapbook pieces, our geography disks, any cut outs and anything I have laminated. 

The rest of the homeschool planning is all done in my Mom Main Planner.  I use mostly planner pages from Schoolhouse Teachers.  
In the very front I put any papers I may need quickly, kinda a misc spot.  In the front right now I have a sheet from 4H inviting me to leader training.  I have a few contact papers from items I am reviewing.

I also have my Mom Fun School pages in there.  These are 2 pages back to back that are in sheet  protectors.  I write on them with dry erase markers.  Obviously  Thursdays are our co-op day in the afternoons so I don’t plan fun school on that day.  That day is also my library check out/return day.  Our co-op classes are usually at the library. 

When I plan my Mom Fun School, if I am planning a unit study like this simple machines one we are working on right now. I usually type it up and print it.  The reason I type it, is I save it on my computer to be able to click on any links I have saved. 
Behind all that, I have tabs for each kid as well as a FIAR tab and a tab for Tommy’s math, (which is where the answers are). 
Behind Katey’s tab it has her weekly planning sheets, which I do type out.  I only print 2 weeks at a time, back to back, that makes it easier for me to move plans when we have a spontaneous day.
The next page is the current FIAR page we are working with.  Obviously in my planning we don’t fully follow the schedule.  So I just cross of what we have done and work on what we haven’t yet.  I plan out FIAR about 12 books at a time every 15 or so weeks, I need to leave room for….. whatever!  
Oh and at the back, behind that FIAR tab is where I keep my blank planning pages as well as a yearly schedule.  I also do much of my FIAR planning on my Pinterest Board. As you can see we have already had to move a few books around.

Emily’s plans look like this….

She is doing Prairie Primer so much of her work is in that book.  I just list the numbers she is to do.  I have plans to type hers up, since I think it looks so much nicer, but I have already written hers out so we will finish up with the written ones.  I will print hers out a book at a time.   I plan Prairie Primer out about a book or two at a time. 

Tommy’s plans come next.  His is very similar to Emily’s his are also written and I do plan on typing his up also, but only printing 2 weeks at a time.

Do you have any good planning tips for me? 

The Pilgrim Story ~ Dayspring Christian Academy

 

Who is Dayspring Christian Academy? 

Dayspring Christian Academy is a school in PA.  They teach using the Principal Approach.  They also offer online classes such as The Pilgrim Story

What is the Principal Approach?

The Principal Approach uses Biblical Principals to teach.  Principals like Christian Character, Self Government, Perseverance, Christian Liberty and more. 

 

What is The Pilgrim Story?

The Pilgrim Story ($99)  is an online program which teaches your children about the Pilgrims and their very religious journey to America.  It is not a live class, that means, you can attend anytime you want for how long you want.  It is self paced.  You will have 6 months to complete the course of 17 lessons.  The final lesson is a virtual field trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts.   Course Access begins 48 hours after purchase.

The Pilgrim Story teaches the history of the Pilgrims from King Henry to the first Thanksgiving in America over the course of 17 lessons spreading out over 5 units.  Each unit has a unit test, that can either be done multiple choice style or essay style.  I really liked that they had a choice, however my children always chose multiple choice.  

The lessons are presented audio style with slideshow type pictures.  Many lessons have interactive pictures too.

 

Each lesson has a vocabulary list and a note sheet for you to fill out as you watch.  Each slide is manually advanced, the answers are right on the slide.  My kids were able to take as much time as they needed to fill it out.  (more on that below).  There are often other printable pages such as Christian Principles or Quotes and activities, such as mapping and graphs.

How we used The pilgrim Story and my thoughts.

We are fairly secular in our homeschool, we found this to be very religious in nature, which I felt is a good thing.  America was founded on religious freedom and that is a very real part of our history.  So while it differs from our normal history style, I was glad not to have all the religious aspects left out.  I am not sure how you would even tell the story of the pilgrims without it. 

We began using The Pilgrim Story with my 2nd grader, 6th grader and 8th grader.  The age recommendations are grades 3-6.   I was grateful for a new way to teach my children about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims.  I usually just do a quick overview of them around the middle of November.  I decided that since this was so full of information that they would all be watching and participating. 

I watched the introduction lesson first, by myself.  That let me know to create a portfolio where the children would be putting all their work.  We needed to make it nice so it could be a keepsake for them in the future, and they could refer back to it.  I then decided to print out the entire first unit’s sheets they would need.  This process entailed me to go into each lesson and download the materials for each lesson one page at a time.  I understand that we were supposed to download and print each sheet off during the lesson.  It did make it nice to have them all printed out beforehand.  I wish they had a way to download them all at once, or even a unit at a time, as well as leaving them individual in the lessons.  That way it could work either way.

We all sat down to watch the first lesson.  I hooked my laptop up to my TV.   My 2nd grader took so long filling out the note sheet that the older two would get frustrated.  So for the second lesson I decided I would do the writing for her and she would just repeat the sentence.  Then that lesson talked about Queen Mary and how she got the name of Bloody Mary, and well we have had an incident here where some neighbor kids have told Katey  about Bloody Mary and a whole scary story about a year ago.  Katey slept in my bed for weeks after that.  She completely lost it when she heard this and is convinced it is a scary history lesson each time,  so needless to say, I found out the hard way that she is definitely not ready for this curriculum. 

Tommy and Emily have continued to use it and love it.  They found many of the facts are fascinating especially those that show how they had to have faith in so much to persevere, and make it to America. 

I appreciate that it is multi-sensory.  You watch the slides, they have the facts written on them, for you to read.  You listen to the narrator reading the facts, and you do a fill in the blank type note sheet to write them down. 

They both like the review questions at the beginning and the multiple choice questions at the end of each lesson.  The fact that many of the lessons had interactive slides helped keep them from becoming bored with it.  (not that it is boring). 

Each lesson is suggested to be approximately 30-45 minutes.  It our experience it has taken us about 45-60 minutes.  There are quite a few writing assignments throughout the lessons.  We just have a family discussion in place of the essays. 

Dayspring Christian Academy also offers other online classes.  Three are self paced and one meets live.

You could start now and be working on learning about the Pilgrims right through Thanksgiving! 

 

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

Disclosure: 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. 

 

Busy Bag-A-Thon ~ Week 2

Welcome back!

This is week 2 of my 4 week busy bag-a-thon! 

It seems like this time of year we need more activities to be able to keep our toddlers and preschoolers busy, older kids back in school or being homeschooled, and the holidays quickly approaching.  I hope these ideas make your life and your toddlers life so much fun! 

Every Sunday I will post a bunch new busy bag ideas!   Stay tuned and in case you missed last week, here it is!

1. Shape matching disk.  Use clothes pins with shapes drawn on them and shape cut outs on a disk.  Double side it!  (See #2)
2. Color match using clothes pins and opposite side of shape matching disk (#1).
3. Threading game.  Thread shapes of felt onto ribbon with buttons attached.
4. Color popsicles. Colored felt sewn into rectangles that thread over popsicle sticks with color words and matching colors on them.
5. Clothes line game. Cut felt into clothing shapes, string line across two items, (I use kitchen chairs) and have child hang clothes to dry.
6. Letter flashcards on a key chain.
7. Shape making game.  Have sheet with the number of sticks needed to build each shape.  This is really good for older kids.
8. Fun play letters.  Pretend play that requires imagination- So great!
9. Colorful shape making game. This is an easier version of #7 for younger kids.

I hope you are able to keep your toddles busy this time of year. 

This post is linked to

Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family