If I were to be honest with all of you, I have been facing some major homeschool burnout lately.  At just the right moment, I was given the option to review the Homeschool Rescue program from Only Passionate Curiosity.  It sounded good in theory, but I had no idea how much it could change me in a few short weeks.

About the Program:

In just 60 days, Homeschool Rescue can help you go from stressed and broken homeschool mom to feeling more confident, organized, and passionate for homeschooling with more time for the stuff that you want to do.  Each lesson takes about 20 minutes or less of a video course and then some “homework”.  The homework is printable worksheets to start getting your thoughts down on paper and preparing to be more efficient in your schooling.  You can go at your own pace and do the program at your convenience.

There is also an online support group for homeschooling parents where “being real” is encouraged and frustrations and successes can be talked about with other moms.

There are currently 5 modules in the program.  Course content includes studies on the following:

• Triage Your Homeschool
• Time Management Systems and Organization
• Curriculum Planning and Organization
• Setting Students up for Sucess
• Teaching Older Students
• And More!

Prices start at $97 for the eCourse or $137 for the eCourse along with one-on-one coaching sessions.  This is the one time, lifetime access price!

 

My Thoughts:

Goodness I knew I needed this course!  With 4 homeschooling kids and a wild toddler, I have been thinking about throwing in the towel.  Some days around here are crazy!  During the course, I learned a few tips on toddler wrangling during our homeschool day, but most of all, I learned that it’s ok to have an off day!  I really enjoyed the tips on getting organized and so I’m already starting to plan, in detail, our next school year.

The lessons on pacing the homeschool subjects and eliminating ones that weren’t benefiting us was also helpful.  My biggest takeaway was remembering to look around my house and getting rid of things that do not bring any joy to our lives.  Decluttering and cleaning out household stuff and curriculum will help me be more relaxed and ready for each day.

I have also found the online support group to be extremely helpful.  I was able to ask questions and get feedback from other moms.  I  can learn from them and they can learn from me based on our prior experiences.  That’s how life should be!

Even if I wasn’t writing a review, this would totally be worth the investment for the encouragement, tips, and printables.  With the printables, I made myself a binder and as I worked through the course, I put the pages in the notebook so I could keep up with my goals.  I cannot recommend this program enough if you are a homeschool mom.  You can benefit whether you have all littles, all bigs, or a mixture.

For More Information:

For more information, please visit the Homeschool Rescue website.  Enrollment is going on right now to take the course this summer.

You can also find out more on their Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+.  You can also click the banner below to read more reviews on this product by other members of the Homeschool Review Crew.

Math is something that we just can’t get enough of in the early years.  It’s so important to understand how to use math!  The past few weeks, we have been checking out  both the Grades 3/4 and the Grades 5/6 Lessons from Algebra for Breakfast to use as math enrichment for our children.  My oldest is in pre-algebra right now and I thought she could benefit from the Grades 5/6 Lessons as a supplement, and figured my 4th grader could get a head start using the Grade 3/4 version.

Algebra came easily to me during school, but I’m noticing that teaching algebra to my children is a harder concept than just learning it, especially when math doesn’t always come easy.

About the Product:

Algebra for Breakfast is an online, video based program that comes in grades 3/4 and grades 5/6.  The only difference in the levels is the content.  You can watch a video here to see more about how the programs differ and how they work.

Learning concepts are taught using physical math tools such as math manipulatives and flash cards, online video lessons, skip counting songs, and printable worksheet exercises.   This program requires special manipulative blocks, which are included in the Full Membership Pack.

Topics covered in Algebra for Breakfast include Skip Counting, Integers, Binomials, Mental Math, and a whole lot more!

Currently there are 40 lessons available, but more will be added soon!

Our Thoughts:

We received a 6 month subscription and in the weeks that we have been using it, we have been able to get through quite a lot!  This could definitely be used during the summer months as a supplement, in my opinion.

I love that Algebra for Breakfast is a hands-on course that is also on the computer!  In a large family, sometimes it’s hard to drill in the concepts needed for Algebra and Mom only has so much time.

Before you begin, there is a section of Prep Activities.  These are things you want to do before you start the program.  They are fairly simple, such as making flash cards, learning about math dice, or instructional videos on how to play games such as Addition War!

Once you have prepped for the program, you’re ready to begin.  When you get to the lesson you are working on, there is a video to watch.  Sometimes there is more than one video to watch.  At the bottom, there may be a downloadable worksheet or game to work on.  Each lesson is fairly short so that kids don’t get bored, but it’s enough to definitely supplement what you are already learning.  Answer keys are included in the “Parents Corner” so I was easily able to check through the work my children completed.

Algebra for Breakfast definitely gave me some great tools to use with my kids with the games.  I think we will be continuing to use these tools and finish up the lessons during the summer.  It felt like fun to the kids, so they didn’t feel like they were actually learning!

For More Information:

For more information, please visit Algebra for Breakfast.  You can also find out more on their Facebook page.

Algebra for Breakfast is a monthly membership program, and you’ll want to check out the Full Membership Package for the best benefits.  It includes:

• 1st Month of membership access to 40+ video lessons
• Skip Counting CD
• A Set of Math Dice
• A set of Math Manipulatives
• Printable Worksheets

You can also click the banner below to see a review of this product by other Homeschool Review Crew members and reviews on other great homeschool products as well.

I love being part of the Homeschool Review crew.  It’s always fun to check out new homeschool material for my children.  The next thing on the list to review are these two American history sets that greatly complements each other.  Our friends at Memoria Press generously provided us with The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History Set for us to review for you guys.

About the Products:

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set is made with middle schoolers in mind and consists of a teacher’s guide, student’s guide, and a text book.  Each lesson has several “Facts To Know” about the subject that help explain key figures or words.  Next comes vocabulary, comprehension questions, and an enrichment section to further knowledge.  There are 32 lessons in this book set.  The teacher’s guide has the answers for the student guide and also a tests and keys section.  Maps and copies of important documents and speeches are also included.  The text book is simply The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and the Great Republic by H.A. Guerber.  There are 85 chapters but each chapter is very short and is fairly easy reading.

200 Questions About American History Set is a supplement to the set above and features a list of 200 questions that everyone should know about American history.  This set includes flashcards, a student book, and a teacher’s guide.  This course is designed to be used over 32 weeks and has a couple book recommendations to go along with it.  Tests and Keys are also included with the teacher guide in this set.

Our Thoughts:

History has never been my thing so I was happy to check out a program that would help me to teach history to my children.  I really appreciate that these 2 sets work together to teach facts and help your students to remember what they have learned.  Inside the 200 Questions about American History Teacher’s Guide, there is a recommended weekly schedule.  We were able to follow the schedule fairly close.  It has chapters listed for reading and which drill questions go along with those chapters.  The chapters are fairly short and read like a book, so that made learning easier.

To work both courses, simply look at The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic student book to see which chapters are covered in a particular lesson.  Do the lesson once you have read those chapters and then review your drill questions and take any appropriate quizzes or tests.  Pretty simple once you see how they work together.

I really like that the lessons cover more than just history by working in vocabulary and research topics as well.  I read the chapters to my 2 bigger kids and then my oldest did the lessons.  She didn’t seem to mind and quite enjoyed all the enrichment projects.  We worked at a pace of about 2-3 lessons a week and it seemed to be enough.  We were able to review our flashcards daily during the week.

For More Information:

For more information on Memoria Press, please visit their website.  You can also find out more on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  You can read more reviews on this product and a couple other products by Memoria Press by visiting clicking the banner below.