Search Results for: homeschool

If you want to learn to make things or find patterns, check out Craftsy!  Right now you can score a Premium Membership for just $.79 for a year!  This gives you access to over 1,500 of their premium classes for just 79¢!  This is normally $90!!  I just signed up and I can’t wait to check it out! I love to crochet so I’m looking forward to learning more and finding new things to make.  I plan to incorporate this into our homeschool with some of their cake decorating, baking, cooking, and knitting classes.  So many things and too much to list!

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Throughout our homeschooling years, all of my children have used various online programs. One that has always been used in their younger years, and one of my personal favorites, is Reading Eggs.

For review purposes, we have been using Reading Eggs with my 1st grader and 6th grader. This program is geared toward children ages 2-13. Even though the title implies reading skills, Reading Eggs is far more than just simply learning letters and sounds.

The program offers MathSeeds, Reading Eggs, Reading Eggs Junior, Reading Eggspress, and Fast Phonics. All of these programs are available both on a computer and as an app. I’m always a fan of programs with an app feature!

My 1st grader asks to work on Reading Eggs almost daily.  He loves to play the racing games and learn about phonics, but Math Seeds is his absolute favorite.  I’ve noticed his skills getting stronger then more he works on Reading Eggs.  It’s also a great way to keep him occupied and learning while I try to work with his older siblings on their school work.  Fast Phonics has also helped him to grow his phonics knowledge.  I like how it will take one word and ask you to change one letter to make it into a new word.  This is great for practice!  We will continue using Reading Eggs with my kids until they age out since it has so many benefits and we see such great results!

Each program inside Reading Eggs offers the ability to see progress reports.  Below you can see how my son is doing with Fast Phonics:

I like that it shows me what words he worked on and how he did on the quiz.

For my 6th grader, she has been working on reading comprehension with Reading Eggspress.  This is an area that she has struggled with so I’m happy there is a program that can assist her.

In addition to the online games, Reading Eggs also offers free printable worksheets inside the online program!  I’ve utilized these with my kids to help with their understanding.

For more information, you can visit the Reading Eggs website.  You can also find out more on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.  You can also read more reviews on this product and others from the Homeschool Review Crew by clicking the banner below.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

There are now five books in the Horses in History series by author Mattie Richardson: Appaloosy, Dusty’s Trail, Day and Night, Golden Sunrise, and Blue Skies West.  These books are stories about history told by the horses themselves. In a previous review, we went over the first four books.  Now we get a chance to check out Blue Skies West, the newest!

About the Book:

Thoughts From My Daughter:

Some of you know that I’ve been teaching at a homeschool co-op. I wanted some fun teacher shirts and found this seller on Etsy called ModaTee. I was able to get some fun shirts for just $12.60!! They also offer free shipping on orders over $35, so I snagged 2 teacher shirts and a fun inspirational shirt.  They are great quality and I’m really excited about them! They have all kinds of shirts, not just teacher ones! Check out their store and all the great deals they have currently!

I heard wonderful things about the audio drama called Jonathan Park – The Adventure Begins Series 1 since my older kids were little.  We were finally able to check out these cds in the past few months and now I regret not trying them out sooner!

About the Product:

This 4-CD Series pack includes over five hours of audio adventures!  The Original Series contains nine albums and is recommended for ages 7-13.   In each album, you will hear as Jonathan and his friends travel around the world and find evidence of creation according to the Bible.

Audio dramas are basically like story-telling with sound effects and different character voices.  Unlike an audio book, audio dramas include everything you need to hear in order to feel like you are present with what is happening.  You may hear waves crashing on the beach, wind blowing, water dripping, footsteps, and more.

Synopsis of The Adventure Begins Series:

While running from a storm, Jonathan and his father collide with the Brenan family as they seek shelter in a hidden cave. After discovering a massive dinosaur graveyard, these two families combine forces to build a creation science museum to spread the message of the Creator!

Special Offer:

The Adventure Begins (Series 1) is currently discounted by nearly 60% on website!  You can score free shipping in the US when you use code jpcrew22.

For More Information:

For more information, please visit Jonathan Park website or their Facebook page.  Listening samples are available for each volume on their website if you want to check it out before committing to purchase.

You can also read more reviews on this product and others from other homeschooling families by clicking the banner below.

One of the benefits of homeschooling is getting to go snag some fun freebies when they are during the week.  We are excited that Nothing Bundt Cakes is giving away a FREE Confetti Bundtlet to the first 250 guests at each bakery location on September 1, 2022 to celebrate their 25th birthday!  I’d recommend getting there a bit early to wait in line to snag your freebie.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

My kids enjoy listening to audio dramas for bedtime and in the car.  For the last several weeks, my kids have been listening to The Adventum, Volume 1 as they get ready to sleep.

The Adventum is an audio adventure series that features powerful music, over 50 actors, and amazing sound effects so that you feel like you are actually present at Bible events.  In Volume 1, your family can experience Adam walking in the garden, Noah building the ark, and Abraham taking Isaac to be sacrificed.  This volume is over 4 hours long.   There are 4 cds in this set so siblings can share and listen to separate cds at the same time.  Digital downloads are also available if that is what you prefer.

The three-fold objective of The Adventum is to:

1. Identify with Bible heroes of the past – real people with real struggles – much like us.
2. Stir the imagination and create a deep sense of wonder about the stories of the Bible.
3. Ignite a hunger to study God’s Word.

Our Thoughts:

I was impressed with The Adventum audio series.  This review is the first time I’ve heard of this company and I’m glad we had the opportunity to check it out.  My 4 younger kids (ages 15-6) listened to the adventures and all gave it a “thumbs up”.

Here’s what my 11 year old had to say about The Adventum:

I thought it was a nice cd to listen to because it had good descriptions for the people of the Bible and made it sound real.  It also was neat to hear and learn more about God!   It had fun voices for the characters in the stories.  I want to ask for more of these for Christmas.

I think given the feedback from my daughter and from the rest of my kids, these will definitely be on the Christmas list and even be a great option to gift to others.  It’s always great to have something to listen to that teaches God’s word and is fun!

Discount Coupon:

The Adventum is currently on sale for $19.99, down from $39.99 – a 50% savings!  You can score free shipping (US only) with discount code advcrew22.

For More Information:

For more information, please visit The Adventum website or their Facebook page.  Listening samples are available for each volume on their website if you want to check it out before committing to purchase.

You can also read more reviews on this product and others from other homeschooling families by clicking the banner below.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.As a homeschooling family, we love reading books in our house.  You can take the books a step further by using a literature study guide.  We’ve been working through The Story of Ping Study Guide from Progeny Press with our first grader.

A couple of years ago we reviewed Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide  from the same company and loved it, so we knew this one was going to be just as wonderful for our family.

About the Story:

Ping, the duck, lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China. Every day he and his duck family are taken by their owner to feed on the riverbank. Later, when it is evening, Ping is the last duck to return to the boat, so he hides to avoid being spanked. The following day Ping, feeling lost, begins to swim in search of his family. Along the way, Ping observes some cormorant fishing birds. A boy captures Ping for his family’s dinner, but the boy releases Ping that evening. Upon being released, he sees his master’s boat. He hurries to return to his family knowing he will be the last duck again, but this time he accepts the punishment

Our Thoughts:

The Story of Ping is such a great book.  In fact, it was my husband’s favorite book as a child so I had him work through The Story of Ping Study Guide with our son.  This story guide is an interactive PDF file so we can print the work or we can type in the answers online.  We ended up orally discussing the answers together instead of doing either of those options, but we did print the fun coloring pages, word search, and maze.

I really liked the pre-reading activities.  This gave us a links to watch videos online to help enhance learning.  It also listed Bible verses to read together and discussion questions. In addition to discussing the story, there are opportunities to discuss the artwork as well.  After-You-Read Activities of course are activities for after the book is read.  These were amazing ideas on discussing family trees, emergency plans, and even planning field trips.

So much great information and activities were packed into The Story of Ping Study Guide.  I’m so thankful we had the opportunity to use these great materials and I look forward to checking out more literature study guides from Progeny Press.

For More Information:

For more information, please visit the Progeny Press website. You can also find out more on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can read reviews from other homeschooling by clicking the banner below.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

As a homeschooling family, we occasionally need a little extra work in certain areas or even just some busy work. One of my favorite websites to turn to in times like that is Super Teacher Worksheets. Through this website, we can print a variety of worksheets for the whole family!  I have been using this website since my oldest, who has now graduated, was little.  

At a quick glance, I can easily see that worksheets are provided for math, reading comprehension, writing, phonics, grammar, spelling, literacy units, science, social studies, brain teasers, and more. This barely touches the surface of the vastness of the website, though. The more I looked for worksheets, the more I found! There is even a huge section for foreign language worksheets! It would take all day to tell you about the many things included in a membership, so I will tell you about the top ones on my list.

My favorite aspect of this program is the Worksheet Generator. This is as awesome as it sounds! All I have to do is select the type of worksheet I’d like, from addition problems to classroom Bingo, to word searches. Then I adjust any settings and instantly I have a brand new worksheet for my kids! This is great, especially for when I have a student struggling with a particular concept. The generator can also help create quizzes and tests with ease!  My co-op students love it when I make a word search with all of their names in it and then they have to find everyone.  

In addition to just busy work and learning enhancement, Super Teacher Worksheets offers worksheets for holidays, special events, and topic studies, too.  

I have been using the worksheets often with our local homeschool co-op and the kids are always excited when they see what new ones I have for them each week.  I’ll be teaching science this year and I’ve already made quite the lesson plans just using the wonderful worksheets available.  We will be focussing on Space and Weather, both of which have plenty of worksheets available.  

For more information and to browse to see what is available, you can visit the Super Teacher Worksheets website.  You can also find out more on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Although there are some worksheets available for free, you can also purchase a subscription to have access to far more worksheets and the generator. A year subscription to Super Teacher Worksheets is only $24.95. In my opinion, and with this variety of worksheets at your fingertips, it’s well worth the investment.

Be sure to click the banner below to read more reviews on this product and others from the Homeschool Review Crew.

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

This summer we took a break from school for the most part, but we added in the 12-month Family Membership from CTCMath as an adaptive online math curriculum to keep the kids learning a bit through the summer.

About the Program:

CTCMath is a complete math curriculum for students ages K-12.  There are video tutorials to watch and then lessons to complete afterward.  Each tutorial is between 4-9 minutes long.  There is a tab to watch the video for each lesson.

After the tutorial, the student will click the Questions tab.  On this tab, there are interactive questions which are scored and available for the teacher to view. You can also see if there are worksheets or study sheets to print.  CTCMath is self-paced so students can return and repeat whatever lessons they need more work on before moving forward.

Once they have finished that, the program moves right along into the next topic.  With a 12-month family membership, members receive access to all grades!  This includes Kindergarten through 6th grade math, followed by Basic Math and Pre-Algebra, Elementary Measurement, Elementary Geometry, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus.  A bonus to the program is that you pay one rate and then have access for up to five students.  As homeschoolers, this is huge to just pay one price for your children!  Plus if I know my child is struggling in a topic that was discussed in a previous year, we can click on that grade and then right on the topic to refresh.

Throughout the year, you receive progress reports via email that show where your child is at in the program.  I can also log in to see results at anytime.

Our Thoughts:

My kids spent most of their time this summer working on the speed drills and challenges, but also did a few lessons.  There are fun games that they enjoyed using to practice their math facts.  My rising 6th grader liked the lessons and how things were explained, however my rising 1st grader was not a big fan of doing math online.  I think as he gets older, he will like the program a little better.  He’s more of a hands-on kid.

As a mom, I find this program to be a great way to learn from home and I plan to continue working with my kids using the tutorials and games to reinforce what we are learning.  I found the website to be very easy to navigate and pretty self-explanatory to move between sections.

Although we haven’t officially used the high school courses, I did spend some time watching some of the videos and checking out the work.  From what I have seen, I think it would be a great option for high school, especially for self-motivated students.

Discount:

CTCMath is offering a 50% off discount for homeschoolers!  Simply click through this link and you’ll see the special offer!

For More Information:

For more information on CTCMath, you can visit their website.  You can also visit them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.  You can also click the banner below to read more reviews on CTCMath from other homeschooling families.