My daughter is entering second grade this Fall and is pretty excited about it. We have been doing a minimal amount school over the Summer and this helped me to see areas that need improvement in her studies. In doing this, I’ve noted that Phonics and Reading is an area that she should spend extra time on this year. She does have fairly good reading comprehension skills already but her confidence in reading aloud hasn’t been very strong. We were using a Phonics program which kept her interest at first but overtime it seemed to move along slowly and her eagerness to continue doing it was lost in the slow pace and over repetitiveness. In other words, she wasn’t being challenged enough and grew bored. We needed a new and better approach in this area.
In being a member of the Schoolhouse Crew Review team, I was given the privilege to review Horizons 2nd Grade Phonics & Reading Set. I previously was looking into buying this exact set for Fall and Winter school season. I have had a good experience with Alpha Omega Publications curriculum for the past few years and feel very much blessed to have been given this opportunity. Continue reading
Science is something that I feel is important to include in our home-school studies. Children need to understand the how and why things work and form their own conclusions in solving problems. Science causes one to observe, form a hypothesis, experiment, and interpret what’s going on. It’s the basic foundation of how we learn about everything!
Up to this point, my children have been learning about the world around them by doing a science project every few weeks and watching like themed videos. I’ve been creating units myself for the kids. My initial goal for the upcoming school year has been to increase these studies. Cementing certain scientific concepts in memorable fun way has always been the goal. However, I’ve been finding myself spending far more time than I imagined getting everything together and have found myself running out of steam! As it so happened, through the Schoolhouse Crew Review team, I was given the opportunity to share our experience with
Funtastic Unit Studies book
Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers and Teachers. It honestly couldn’t have come at a better time!
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I’ve found that one of the best ways for my children to learn history is through age appropriate video documentaries, audio books, and in visiting many different types of field trip destinations. During the Summer season, my family had the opportunity to go on vacation for several days. Our destination was several hours from home and that meant a good amount of time would be spent in the car. I’d been pondering activities to do in the car to and from to keep the entire family occupied that would be interesting, engaging, and educational. My daughter tends to get car sick when playing on electric devices and when reading books in the car so those options were completely out. However, a good audio drama seemed to be an excellent choice.
As part of the Schoolhouse Crew Review team, I was given the opportunity to share my thoughts upon Heirloom Audio Productions latest audio theatrical drama adapted from a book, by G.A. Henty. This particular tale presents the history of the civil war with focus on Confederate generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee. With Lee in Virginia includes a physical 2 CD set, a digital download study guide, MP3 soundtrack, and a few other things. The package has everything one would need to delve deeply into this portion of American history in a fun, adventurous, and memorable way.
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Field Trips are something that most children enjoy. In getting out on the field, children are often completely engaged in their topic of study. Multiple senses being awakened increase every learning experience . Field Trips trump learning through a book or video because you just can’t substitute the real thing. In realizing the importance of these experiences, I’ve been planning many field trips to supplement our schooling. Our trips mainly revolve around personal interest and age appropriate educational experiences that I feel my son and daughter should witness first hand. Continue reading
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