Dana

Homeschool is in full force after the holidays and for review this week, we have Homeschool Complete. Homeschool Complete is an all-inclusive curriculum that is designed to help you confidently teach your child with fun thematic curriculum and unit studies. Homeschool Complete Unit Studies are for grades K-6.

(I really need new printer ink – sorry these didn’t print clearer for you all.)

For our review, we were able to choose various Unit Studies of our choice. Though there were many wonderful choices, I picked the ones I felt I could use the most for the younger kids at this time. The studies I chose are Colonies, Pilgrims, Seasons, U.S. Symbols, and Ants.

These studies are really all-in-one units of fun for your young ones. The studies cover reading, spelling, math and more. The studies are extremely well laid out with educational tips and how-to’s to make it easy for you to just teach. There is required preparation for each study which differs for each study. They should be printed and set up prior to the date you begin the study.

Things required for each unit are pretty simple. You’ll need scissors to cut apart the word cards. You may need some craft or creative supplies for certain parts of the unit. You will need pencils for completing the math and writing portions of the units. You may need crayons to color some of the pages as well.

Colonies

I chose this unit because of the area we live in. I try to teach the kids history about the places that we live and give them first hand experiences of history through these types of lessons. We’ve been very lucky to live near where many colonies first began, such as the colony at Charlestown and Prince George Parish now known as Georgetown, SC. We’ve lived other places as well that have allowed so much history to be learned first hand. So Colonies was a perfect fit.

This unit discussed a great bit about the settling of America and the early colonists as well. The children were introduced to new words through the study. They learned about the Queen’s purpose in allowing colonist to settle America, as well as other countries who also settled.

This study was designed for students in 1st and 2nd grade but can be used with older kids if you choose to. My younger kids had no problems with working through this study and they loved learning about the colonists as we worked on it. The math was simple enough for them to complete as well.

The Colonies Unit Study is around 46 pages long. It begins with a Table of Contents, followed by an Introduction to the Homeschool Complete program. This is followed by a brief discussion of Teaching Procedure where the author truly tries to help you gain insight on planning for this study. Next you will find a Skills List which shares what you can expect to accomplish while working on the study. A Materials List is included so you can prepare ahead for lessons.

This particular study includes a Calendar, a Hundreds chart/Number Line, Spelling Squares, Graph Paper, Sight-Word Cards related to the lesson, Time Flashcards, and a fun Bingo game. These can be printed, cut apart and laminated as needed to use for the week long course and even after you’ve finished. It’s a really great bonus for learning.

There is a list of literature used for this course. Each separate lesson specifies what materials are needed for that lesson in particular, as well as skills, calendar, language arts, math and social studies and art or music standards and lesson specifics. After these you will find the actual lesson worksheets. Each lesson has it’s own worksheets to complete. At the end are the student worksheets as well to complete for the course.

All these things come together to make a complete lesson course for your student that is well rounded and educationally complete. These courses last around a week and don’t take a huge amount of time. All subjects are covered in each unit. The other units are similarly set up to this course.

Pilgrims

The Pilgrims unit is designed around Thanksgiving and the story of the Pilgrims and their day to day lives. Here you meet Squanto and discuss his importance in the early days of America’s settlement. This unit is designed for students in grades K-2 and is easily followed. Like the unit before it is a complete unit, encompassing all of the subjects and takes approximately a week to complete.

This unit covers map skills, tens and ones in Math, quilt patterns in Art, and also includes a Bingo game specific to this unit.

Seasons

I chose Seasons because Jack is really enjoying and noticing the differences in the seasons around our home right now. He’s always loved the outdoors and nature. He loves seeing different animals at different times of the year, collecting leaves and rocks, and is learning how the temperature affects the world around him and the seasons. So I wanted a study that would bring this all together for him and clear up details that may be confusing. The Seasons unit was great for this! It is a complete unit study that helps your student understand what is happening in the world around him seasonally.

This is a first grade unit and designed to last around a week for study. It covers all the basic course requirements. It’s fairly simple and easily followed and completed. There are fun activities like creating a styrofoam ball Earth and shining a light to see how the Sun affects Earth as it shines. Math is fairly simple early math like greater and less than, counting, and some addition type stuff. There is a painting activity to finish a snowman. There is a cookie recipe as well, just for fun!

U.S. Symbols

I chose this study because I tend to fall short when discussing the every day U.S. Symbols with the kids. We discuss so many educational things every day, including symbols but we never do a thorough lesson about them. So I thought this unit would be a great way to ensure we’ve discussed the most popular symbols and the reasons they exist. It was really great for that!

This unit discusses things like the Liberty Bell and why it is cracked, the American flag and it’s stars and stripes, the President’s Seal and the Bald Eagle, and the Statue of Liberty which we look forward to seeing in the next year in person! The activities in this study are appropriate for students in 2nd grade and this study is also a week long study.

Ants

Last but not least, we chose the Ants unit study. I chose this study because we live in the South where Ants are plentiful! And they bite, often. But I wanted the kids to know more about them then they bite and sting a lot. So I thought what better way to learn more than with a Unit Study on Ants!

This study covers all the basics and is appropriate for students in Grades 3-4. It’s also a week long study. It does begin the same as the other levels, with the calendar, hundreds chart, spelling letters and more but it is a more extensive in lesson expectations and work. This unit includes bigger words for your student to learn, as well as higher math concepts.

Your student can make playdough to use to create their own Ant. They will learn all the body parts of an Ant in this study. They will learn about the Life Cycle of the Ant and some about the purposes of the Ants in the world.

This is a fun unit that is really educational to use.

My kids loved all of these units. They did get a little bored with the symbols unit but I expect that to change once we make our trip to see the Statue of Liberty in person. Overall, I found the units to be informative and easy to put together and complete.

There are many more Unit Studies available at Homeschool Complete and many more to come in the future.

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The Homeschool Review Crew has many other members who write wonderful reviews as well. For this vendor, we reviewed levels K-4 of their Complete Curriculum, as well as various Unit Studies offered by Homeschool Complete. You can read more reviews by clicking the banner linked below.

We let our guard down and we began to feel safe. The Monster held his visits for what seemed like forever, making us believe that we were safe, that she was safe. We thought maybe, just maybe she could stop the medication and live a normal life. But that was just a dream.

Twice this week, Laycie had seizures through the night. We had lowered her medication a few months back in the hopes that she could come off of it. Our hope was that since it had been longer than a year, that perhaps she had outgrown the condition. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened but we now know.

The first seizure Laycie went through alone. She didn’t understand what had happened though she was awake for much of it. It woke her at 2 am and after she went to the bathroom, she asked for something to drink and she returned to bed without even saying a word because she was unaware of what she was actually experiencing. This was her first seizure that she “remembered” and felt the experience of. This was the first time she could tell me what she feels, what she sees, and any details from her own viewpoint.

A few nights later, Laycie was extremely tired suddenly and said she needed to sleep, which she did but only for 30 minutes before waking again with so much energy that she couldn’t settle down. She and I sat in the living room and watched TV together for a bit. Then, following my instincts, I asked her to come sleep in Mommy’s bed. Even there she was restless but I got her to sleep. I dozed off and woke to her body beginning to shake. My heart broke as I knew from many many nights of sleeping next to her, what was happening. I turned her as she had her face laying against her pillow and her body was pulling her down further. I woke my husband.

She fought – my girl fought against this seizure and was determined not to let it defeat her. She turned herself. She grasped onto my voice and pulled herself out. We applied Frankincense to help her relax and we waited and talked until she was able to rest again. But even now, days later, she’s terrified to even try to sleep.

Laycie is 10. She’ll be 11 in April. She’s had seizures since she was 4 months old. This is the only life she knows. She’s never had a day without medication to keep her seizures in control, so we were hopeful for this chance of a normal life. But it will not happen for her, at least not for now.

So for now, we have increased her medication. We have an EEG scheduled for a few weeks out. We are hopeful to find some new info on this EEG and to look at the next steps in her care as she heads into the teen years. For now, she sleeps between my husband and I so that we can keep a close eye on her. She’s still nervous about it happening again and so am I. I’m not letting her far out of my sight.

This was her first seizure with my husband and he’s been amazing. He reminded me to use the Frankincense. He calmed her fears. He even slept on the couch with Jackson one night since when Jack was feeling left out because sissy was getting so much attention. He is the best Dad and best Husband I could ask for. I’m so thankful.

We will remain on watch until we have the EEG and discuss our future with Epilepsy. We’re in this for the long haul and we will continue to help Laycie fight this Monster. We will not let it win and we will not give up.

Until next time…
Dana