We received the IQ Circuit from Timberdoodle to review for you guys.  It’s a fun “Connect the Dots” style, one-player strategy game.  We’ve taken it on road trips and camping with us and everyone in the family has enjoyed it.  It’s a very portable game!  Although it’s geared toward ages eight to adult, my almost six year old son also had a ton of fun with it.

To start the game, simply decide which of the 120 challenges you’d like to do.  These range from “easy” to “expert” in difficulty.  Then you set up the dots as shown in the challenge.  You use the remainder of the pieces to try and finish the puzzle where the dots connect.  The pieces are all different shapes and the paths have curves, so it does take a lot of concentration, problem solving, and thinking skills.

 

We definitely recommend adding this game to your logic/thinking skills manipulatives and see this as something we will play many times over the years.  You can find this game for sale on Timberdoodle.  It’s is also part of the 9th Grade Curriculum Kit that Timberdoodle has put together.  

 

Homeschoolers, it’s time to enroll your children ages 4-12 in the Pizza Hut Book-It program for 2021-2022!  Head on over to their website and enter in your information to the program.  We’ve done this for several years and the kids always enjoy going to get their free pizza.  Yum!

Things are a little different this year as tracking is done online and then reward certificates are printed.  It looks to be a fairly easy program to use.

You also have the option to enroll in Camp BOOK IT!, which will run June-August, 2021. Just check the box to opt-in when you enroll!  PreK students (age 4 by Sept. 1st, 2021) are now eligible for BOOK IT! Be sure to include those students in your enrollment!

Students may redeem one Reading Award Certificate per month, and the certificate must be used to reward the student who earned it. When a child redeems their Reading Award Certificate with Pizza Hut, they are celebrated with a one-topping Personal Pan Pizza.

Here’s another fun homeschool tip for you guys!  Have you heard of the website Grammarly?  If not, you’re going to love this!  Grammarly is the world’s leading automated proofreader. It checks for more than 250 types of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, enhances vocabulary usage, and suggests citations.

With Grammarly, you can:

• Copy and paste any English text into Grammarly’s online text editor or install Grammarly’s free browser extension for Chrome and Safari.
• Grammarly’s algorithms flag potential issues in the text and suggest context-specific corrections for grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Grammarly explains the reasoning behind each correction, so you can make an informed decision about whether, and how, to correct an issue.

Even better, it’s FREE to use!  Head on over to check it out and create and account!

The kids and I have been doing various Bible studies as part of our homeschool throughout the years.  This study by Not Consumed has been one of our favoirtes – My Brothers Keeper – Learning to Love Your Siblings God’s Way.  They’ve recently updated it so I’m eager to check out the changes.

As a mom, I was very encouraged watching my children pray for and with each other during the study.

Just wanted to share a little about what we have studied.

Do you have any great studies that you’ve tried?  I’d love to hear about them!  

I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
We received 12 months of access to Reading Unlocked’s online learning to read program to review for all of you.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on Reading Unlocked’s program with my 4.5 year old son.  Being the youngest in a family of 5 kids, he’s eager to catch up with his siblings and start reading.

When we first started Reading Unlocked, honestly I didn’t love the program.  I found many of the words didn’t match up to what we typically call items here in the United States.  My preschooler particularly struggled with the concept of a hat being called a cap.  He also struggled with a water faucet being referred to as a tap.

There were also times that I even had a particularly hard time understanding what word the program was trying to get us to use.  One that we struggled with was “ran” and “rang”.  The accent of the computer was hard to differentiate for us.

One part that I wish had a little more instruction is the letter writing practice.  It simply shows the letter and says “draw it in the air and then write a row of them on paper”.  I think having a little animation showing how to write the letter would be very appropriate rather than just showing the letter and asking a young child to write it.  This was definitely a program that I had to be right with my son the entire time he was working.

Once we got used to the accent and the way things were done, we both started enjoying the program.  It’s suggested to use the program several times during the week for about 10-15 minutes each session.  My son asks to do Reading Unlocked daily, but we typically do it about once or twice a week.  I felt that it was a little more advanced for him at the beginning, so we are taking it slower than most.  Taking it slower has helped build his confidence and get frustrated less.  We are spending the other days practicing the letters and words we learned.

I’m super pleased and surprised at how quickly he is picking up on the words at a young age!  Thanks to Reading Unlocked, he has been recognizing the word “cat” and others when we read books together.  He also is starting to try to write more words or asking me how to spell things.  The other day, he made his deputy dad chuckle when he was able to read and write the word “cop”!

 

My son’s favorite part was the “Say it with me” section.  A letter would flash on the screen and the child was to make the sound of that letter.  He loved being surprised with what letter would come up next.  Overall, we are thankful we had a chance to review this program and we plan to continue working on it at our slower pace over the next year.

For more information on Reading Unlocked, please visit their Facebook page.  You can also find out more on the Reading Unlocked website.

To read more reviews from other homeschooling families on this product, please click the banner below.

 

 

For a limited time, you can score 2 months of ABCmouse.com for only $5!  After this, then you can cancel or continue subscribing at their published rate.  At this price, it’s a wonderful start to see if it’s something your family will enjoy.

We have used ABCmouse.com for many months  and my children enjoyed it.  It now goes from 2 years of age through 2nd grade!  My 4 year old loves this program and it keeps him busy with his own “school” while my big kids work.

I love when public schoolers are back in session and places offer homeschool week!  Here’s the latest info I’ve received.  Be sure to read it carefully!

LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Atlanta invites homeschoolers to Homeschool Week on September 9 – 13! The week is complete with free LEGO® Education Workshops and activities that address curriculum standards. Students and their teachers will engage with subject matter through interactive and hands-on learning across science, mathematics, language arts, technology and more!

Local homeschools can book a fieldtrip by visiting http://bit.ly/ldcatlantahomeschool and completing the registration form. Homeschools must send the registration form and declaration of intent via email to LDCATL.Groupsales@LEGOLANDDiscoveryCenter.com or fax to 404.848.9591 prior to visiting.

Homeschool Week costs $10 per adult and $7 per student. For every five student tickets purchased, one adult ticket will be granted for free.For more information, visit facebook.com/LDCAtlanta or atlanta.legolanddiscoverycenter.com.