Much needed playdate!

Jayden and Caitlin have been asking for a playdate for a while now. Last week Vanessa invited us over and our kids were so happy to see each other! 

Food, music, and toys! The kids came home and were so exhausted they actually ASKED me to go to bed!

<3

Time4Learning Review

As a blogger, forum user, and homeschooling mom, I often "run into" a lot of people seeking a complete curriculum. Curriculum can be expensive, so it's hard to buy a prepackaged set without knowing whether or not it will work for your family.  Whenever I see/hear this question, I immediately suggest an online curriculum called Time4Learning.

At first I was skeptical of an online program. I took the plunge because my son loves computers and games. I saw that the program was interactive and that was something I knew my son would need in order to keep his interest. Another must for me was a secular program. So far we have not encountered anything that would conflict with any religion or non-religion. As a parent you have your own login so you can review the lessons prior to your child going through them. Another must for me.

We have been using this program for nearly a year and we love it.  This online curriculum offers hundreds of activities for all of elementary school up to 8th grade, in all of the core subjects. Apart from the regular lessons, parents can access worksheets as well as answer keys under the parent login. While some lessons have worksheets, not all do. This is easily remedied by Google searches though! You can find worksheets or even make up your own if your child needs extra help.

I *LOVE* the fact that parents can login under a separate section and can access everything the student has done (or not done). I can check to see if Jayden has completed the entire lesson, passed the scored activities, and passed his quizzes/tests.Jayden is in the first grade so I am not sure if there are more quizzes/tests in every subject later on, but right now there are enough for me to see what areas he needs help in and what areas he is understanding the concepts being taught.

I love that each lesson is animated and has interactive activities, which break down the work in simple terms. Jayden is learning SO much. I can download detailed daily, weekly or monthly reports. Reports can be broken down by attendance, subject, type (lesson, quiz, test) or viewed altogether.

Time4Learning allows students to have access to three grade levels. You pick the level you want and you have access to the year before it and the year after it.

I also love that you have several options when it comes to memberships. You can have a monthly setup ($19.95) if you fear the commitment, or aren't 100% sure you want to keep the program. This past summer we went for an annual membership which saved us 3 months worth of payments! Time4Learning is a more affordable curriculum.

Now I have to admit there are a couple of cons.

One, I don't think there are enough lessons in science and social studies. We have our own separate curriculum for those subjects. Technically, we could "beef" up what Time4Learning already offers. We could probably make month long lessons out of their subjects. But we don't. Jayden easily retains the information that they have set up so we just have a separate curriculum for those subjects.

Two, I don't like how the Language Arts sections has the same story 3 times per section.  I find this to be a bit repetitive. This could be because Jayden is beyond this level, but he dislikes it too. I am hesitant to move him on to the second grade for LA yet because I want to make sure he understands the concepts being taught before we move on.

For us, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I find that this program helps me stay organized, helps Jayden go at his own pace and is lots of fun! We definitely plan on continuing this program. 

*Disclaimer: As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your own curriculum review.

Christmas Tree Lighting

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Christmas tree lighting. We had cookies, crafts, and live Christmas music!

Here are some of the ice sculptures they were making right in front of us.

Hanging out on the sleigh

Getting sugared up at 6pm!

 Making Christmas ornaments

 Gettig Christmas tattoos

 Kids on the naughty list! Haha!

Live Christmas music

More cookies!

The huge Christmas tree that Santa lit

 My girl loves music! She had to stop eating her cookie and feel the music.

Then Hayzel asked Caitlin to dance.

At first Jayden was embarrassed. Then he decided to join in.

BFSU

The kids are still trucking along on their school work.

      

Since we have slowed down on our science activities outside of the house, I thought it would be the perfect time to start our BFSU book. The objectives of this lesson was the following:

1. Recognize and use the following words in their proper context: organize, organization,
category.
2. Recognize and describe how items are arranged in categories in homes, stores, libraries, and other situations in everyday life.
3. Use organizational in thinking/memory exercises.


We talked about how things were organized by category in our home, in the store, and at the library. Then I took out our geometric shapes and the kids had a good time trying to memorize what I took out after looking at it for 60 seconds.

What I took out

How they organized it

What I took out

How they organized it

What I took out

How they organized it

Then we discussed the main reason of this lesson, which is our brains are incapable of handling a lot of info at the same time and we must provide patterns to process it all.

And finally, Jayden's baseball trophy arrived. We missed his last game so we never got a chance to pick it up. Jayden's coach mailed it to us and it is now sitting on our shelf!

A new library!

I've been really busy (and lazy) lately so I haven't had time to update but I am back! Rest assured school has NOT been put on the back burner. I am still aggravated with all of my pictures being off the blog but it's time to get over that.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a new library that is just fan-freakin-tastic! I love it! Unfortunately, since it is not in our town, we don't get to borrow books from them unless we pay an annual fee. We do get to take part in any of their events though! So we went to their story time. First of all, the children were all around Jayden's age so he LOVED it. He dislikes story time with preschoolers because they are (understandably) not always quiet and he can not focus on the story being read. This time the kids were all 1st-3rd graders (minus Caitlin) and we had a really great time.

The librarian read stories about planets, space, and aliens. The perspectives of the other children were so interesting. There was a little boy there who must truly be fascinated with the solar system because he was spouting off facts left and right!

Afterward, the kids went to a table in the back and made slime. We have done this activity several times and as always, it was a hit.

The kids then played a game of "Pin the Astronaut on the Spaceship" (just like Pin the Tail on the Donkey) and got candy canes.

We will definitely be visiting this library more frequently!