We can all use a few more hands
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Admittedly, I am horrible at drawing. Stick figures that don’t even really look like stick figures. My kids do enjoy drawing but as a homeschool family, I have to use outside resources to help them further their skills.
We were given a one-year subscription to try out the drawing program which included instruction for beginning drawing and levels 1-3. Each level has between 6-8 projects. The Drawing Program is limited to three media including Pencil, Colored Pencil, and Charcoal and each lesson has a list of supplies needed to complete the project. These items can be picked up through the Creating a Masterpiece website or at your local craft store.
The first drawing we decided to work on was from the Beginning Drawing section, Lessons in Pencil: Hoot Owl. For this one, my middle three children (7th, 4th, and 3rd grades) and my husband watched the videos to learn how to draw this project. This project required drawing paper, drawing pencil: 6B, and a retractable pencil eraser.
There were six videos to watch to draw the owl. The lessons are taught by Sharon Hofer and she’s easy to listen to and understand. Each project is broken down into simple steps and shapes to create the drawing. The videos can easily be paused if extra time is needed to catch up. We did have to pause the video several times, but it wasn’t an issue at all. Everyone enjoyed doing the owl and they all looked forward to doing more!
The next rainy day, after we had completed the rest of our school, the kids asked to do more drawing. Absolutely! I love that they are asking for more art time!
This time, we went with one on the Drawing Level One for a bit more of a challenge. The kids tried Lessons in Pencil: Tuckered out Turtle. This project also required drawing paper, drawing pencil: 6B, and a retractable pencil eraser. I think they turned out excellent. The turtle was my 7th grader’s favorite project.
We tried to have a little more fun with the next project by creating Lessons in Pencil: Giraffe in Cartoon. This was my 10 year old’s favorite project. Such a cute giraffe!! I do need to work with my daughter in making sure she has the paper turned the correct way as shown in the video.
This morning the kids heard that I was going to be typing up this review and they begged to do one more to show what they have been learning so of course I said yes. This time we went with the Lessons in Pencil: Drawing the Egg. The picture on top is from my 4th grader and bottom is from my 7th grader. I like that it was teaching my children how to shade and do light and shadows.
We have been so pleased with our experience from this review. The kids are asking for more art supplies and have been drawing on their own more frequently since starting this program. There are still many more pictures to learn to draw through Creating a Masterpiece and we look forward to being able to do all of them.
For more information, please visit the Creating a Masterpiece website. You can also find out more on Facebook.
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In the program, each child has their own unique login and can get straight to work. I like that my children get instant results and answers and can see their progress. It gives little tips and reminders along the way to help keep the kids going.
Above is a sample problem from my 3rd grader’s work.
Above is another sample also from my 3rd grader’s work. I like that it’s teaching classification through Venn Diagrams. I don’t think I had worked on those with my younger students yet so I appreciate the program is working with them on classifying. In this sample she needed to put “not yellow” in the first circle and “triangles” in the second circle. Of course the “not-yellow triangles” go in the middle since they can be classified in both groups.
Behind the scenes in the parent dashboard, I can see how my kids are doing with the program and make sure they are continuing to work on it. I like that Smartick will send me emails when they have completed a day’s session and lets me know how they did. You can also get absence emails when your child misses a day.
The only complaint I have about this is that it would send me emails on Saturday and Sunday, when we aren’t doing school. There is an option to go in and manually select that a child would be absent on a given day, but I found it easier to just turn off the absent notifications instead of going through the year and marking every weekend. I would love to see Smartick change this option in the future to allow Smartick on certain days without absence notifications. On the calendar above, the scroll means that it was as revision session. The lightbulb indicates that it was a logic session.
Each problem a student has 1 chance to get it right before they move on. In doing so, they earn “Ticks”, which are the programs incentive. Then at the end they can go back and fix problems to get extra “Ticks”. It will be marked on the parent page if the student got it right on the first try on second try or not at all. Then I can click and see how they answered the wrong questions.
The “Ticks” are used to earn pets and prizes to decorate their room on the program. My kids like collecting the pets and items. It also encourages them to keep working on the program since they have to earn “Ticks” to feed their pets. Above is a sample of one of my children’s rooms.
Here are a few things my children had to say about Smartick.
3rd Grader: I love it because I can earn “Ticks” and buy things for my virtual room and send my siblings gifts. I think I’m learning and it helps me get better with my subtraction facts.
4th Grader: I hope I can play this forever! Sometimes it’s hard when it asks me a question that I don’t know. I like that I can send gifts. I like being able to fix things that I got wrong. I can change the season to be Halloween or sunshine or different things.
7th Grader: I like it but sometimes the questions are hard. I don’t like that it counted some things wrong for me if I typed in a comma where it should be, but overall it’s good.
Interested in giving Smartick a try? Simply use this link and receive 25% off your first subscription! You can also get a free 15 day trial on their website to see if it is a good fit for your family.
You can also find out more on the Smartick Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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Another great and busy week ahead! My husband is finally back on the road for work starting today. We are ready to get back to our normal routine, but I have to admit, I’m a little sad to see the weekends off thing go away.
Last night, we went out to a local fall festival. If you’re looking for some in the Athens area, be sure to read our post on Athens Fall Activities. Lots of things are listed.
The week ahead, we are celebrating our oldest son turning 13! That’s right, we will have 2 teenagers in the house now!
Monday: Chicken, veggies
Tuesday: Chili
Wednesday: Grilled cheese, soup
Thursday: Dinner out
Friday: Chicken and brown rice soup
Saturday: Meatloaf
Sunday: Lentil soup
What are you making this week?
It’s that time of year! Time to order your LEGO Advent Calendars! They tend to sell out quickly, so I recommend going ahead and grabbing them now. This year, there are 4 different ones from which to choose. Which one is your favorite?
LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar
LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar
I just registered us for this FREE event and think it will be a great addition to our homeschool.
The Compassion Experience is coming to Jefferson, GA November 15th-18th. This free event features an interactive journey through the true stories of children living in developing countries like the Philippines, Kenya, Uganda and the Dominican Republic.
In over 2,000 square feet of interactive exhibit space, visitors will step inside homes, markets and schools — without getting on a plane. Each child’s story starts in poverty but ends in hope.
Not in Athens? Click here to find a Compassion Experience near you!
Any books that help bring the Bible to life is a win in my book and these books do just that.
The following book review is written by my 16 year old, who really likes to read these books! The following is her perspective as an avid reader:
I’m always excited when my kids are eager to read wholesome books. I have been very pleased with what I’ve seen produced by WorthyKids and we look forward to reading more from them in the future. I hope they continue this series for many years.
For more information, you can visit the The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls website. You can also find out more on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can also read more reviews on this product and others by clicking the Homeschool Review Crew banner below.
I have to say that Brain Blox has been probably our favorite item to review as a family. Everyone has had so much fun from the 4 year old to the adults! I love to see how creative our projects have become.
We received the Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks set that includes 200 wooden building planks. The 200 block set is the perfect amount to put together amazing creations and even for siblings to share. The wooden building planks are 100% all-natural, precision-cut, chemical-free New Zealand pine wood.
Included with the set is a drawstring bag for easy storage. I’m all about toys that come with their own storage bag!
The owners of Brain Blox are also a homeschool family, so they know what items homeschooled kids need and love.
I have to admit I was a little skeptical at first since it just seems so simple to just have little wooden planks, but once the kids flipped through the building guide, they were set for hours. My children were able to construct several of the many samples in the inclosed full-color Build Ideas Booklet. There are so many fun options but plenty of room for creativity and free play, too. The possibilities are truly endless!
Above, you can see the robot my son created by following a design in the booklet. I was pretty impressed since it takes a lot of patience and coordination to get some of the building ideas to stay together.
My 8 year old daughter made something a little simpler. She made a flower that was also featured in the booklet.
We were also able to find a ton more ideas of how to use the blocks on their Free Stuff for Blocks website page. This website is an incredible resource! On this site, they include ideas such as building letters and shapes, how to build castles and bridges, brain puzzles, and even a curriculum! I plan to use these blocks to help my 4 year old remember how to form his letters and shapes. The printable card ideas that are available on their free stuff website will help us with that.
With Christmas coming up, Brain Blox are a wonderful gift idea to help kids think and they do not require batteries or accessories at all. I think they would also travel very nicely in the bag if you plan to take any road trips and need things for kids to do at Grandma’s or in a hotel. Interested in purchasing a set? You can find Brain Blox on their website and on Amazon. Currently Amazon has a sale on Brain Blox!
I am so thankful we had an opportunity to review this amazing set and we look forward to playing with it for many years to come.
For more information, please visit Brain Blox on their website. You can also find out more on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
You can read other reviews on this product and many more by clicking the banner below.
I received a 50% off discount on this item from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This weekend was a much needed chill weekend. It’s been so crazy the past year that we really just needed some downtime.
We did get some great news on Wednesday, though! My husband’s latest cancer scan was clean! Radiation did it’s thing and the lymph nodes are back to normal. With that being said, they did find some degenerative issues with his back as a result of the cancer. Not sure what the next step (if any) is for that.
Anyways, here’s what we plan to make this week!
Monday: Spaghetti
Tuesday: Southwestern Chicken in the Crockpot
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Friday: Eggs, sausage
Saturday: Kielbasa, veggies
Sunday: Dinner out
