2013

IXL {Crew Review}

November 8, 2013 by Dana

IXL is a well-known name in Homeschooling and education. What began as a Comprehensive Math program has expanded to include Language Arts as well. This amazing program can be used to supplement any math or language program available.

IXL provides thorough instruction and practice of important skills in both Math and Language Arts. The program is designed to be set up to meet State Standards but can also be used to simply supplement extra practice in subjects or units as needed. Covering grades K-12 in Math instruction and grades 2-4 in Language Arts, with future plans to expand, this program provides just the right amount of supplementation at home.

The formatting of the program is set to basically allow children to read through the problem then choose an answer through A, B or C options. This allows a child to process and answer quickly when using the program. Children can work on, above or below grade level as needed and parent/teacher options allow this to be set per child as needed.

There is audio available for math skills in the younger grades, which is helpful for students who may struggle with reading skills. An iPad app is available as well for extra math practice. Students can work either by grade level or by topic as needed. Working by topic allows the student to work strictly on Addition or Estimation or Algebra as needed, wherever the student needs the extra help.

Language Arts is set up similarly to Math, allowing the student to work on grade level or by topic. So if your student needs extra practice with Sentences or Nouns and Pronouns, you can simply choose that topic to start them on.

In parent mode, you can set up each child’s account through the Profiles and Settings options. I was able to set up a parent account and one account for each of my older children. I input their names and chose a picture to fit them so they can tell who is who. These are fun little images to help them distinguish their personal accounts. I can also opt to set a secret word for each of them to log in with or to leave the account without a word in this section.

Through my parent account, I can check the progress of each student. I can print reports of their progress, as well. I am able to view awards for each student’s progress to see how well they are doing in their work. I can also view my state standards to see how well my children match up to their grade levels and their educational knowledge through the program.

We’ve used IXL for several years off and on now. It’s a program that I have personally enjoyed though it’s not always been appealing to my children. However, it’s a wonderful program to have them use as a go to just to cover review lessons quickly and gauge their personal progress.

The style and set up of the program lessons remind me of the Standardized Testing that I used to take yearly in public school. It’s pretty much presented as a problem with fill in the blank answers, or online choices in the place of fill in the blank. This isn’t necessarily a problem but it doesn’t completely mesh with our homeschooling style. My children are extremely hands-on and prefer to watch a video on a math lesson or to actually work out a lesson using blocks or some kind of manipulative over choosing the correct answer from a group of answers.

This program would be amazing for students who are preparing for testing in their state. In our state, testing is not mandatory, so it definitely doesn’t benefit us there. It would also be a great program for a family who wishes to meet their state’s standards or to stay aligned with the public school’s standards for education.

My children enjoy being able to see their accomplishments through the Awards in the program. They also enjoy seeing the information they’ve covered in lessons, and I enjoy that as well. It’s also nice to be able to print off the areas they have covered and passed thoroughly so I can see what we need to work on next. This allows me to bypass parts of lessons that my children aren’t struggling with and concentrate on those areas they are struggling with.

IXL is available by subscription for $9.95 for Math only, $9.95 for Language Arts only, or $15.95 monthly for both. A years subscription of $79 is available for either Math or Language Arts or $129.00 for both subjects for the year. Additional subscriptions for each child are $2 a month per child, or $20 per year per child.

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Carole P. Roman: If You Were Me And Lived In… {Crew Review}

November 6, 2013 by Dana

Carole P. Roman is an award winning author who began writing books on a dare from her son. Her love of writing children’s literature shines through in each book she creates. In the series “If You Were Me And Live In…” Carole’s love of exploring mixes with her interest in the world around us and comes together to teach children about other’s in the world.

For this review, the team received four books from her series “If You Were Me And Lived In…”. Each book is written the same but features different characters and information specific to the area it concentrates upon. Children are sure to learn interesting facts and specifics through these books which provide introductions to cultures around the world.

This series can be read and presented in any order, going along great with any study you may be doing on a culture or read together with the other books in the series as a geography/culture study. Each book begins with a drawing of the country and it’s capital. The next photo shows where the country is located on a globe drawing. Then we begin learning a little about the capital itself. As you follow through you learn specifics of the culture, like the words for Momma and Daddy, what kind of money is used to purchase items in the country and how people live there. At the end of a each book is a pronunciation guide to help you speak the language taught within the book.

Each book is 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in size. Each book contains a softcover and is approximately 20-30 pages in length. Each of the books also features large text for easy reading.

This series includes If You Were Me And Lived In… Mexico… A Child’s Introduction to Cultures Around the World. This particular book discusses Mexico and it’s culture, teaching that the Peso is used as money and that Mexico is located below the United States on a globe in South America.

Next comes If You Were Me And Lived In… South Korea. Through this book we learn that Seoul is the capital of South Korea. It is the largest city in South Korea and was built on the banks of the Han River. As a child, you would call your father Appa.

Following South Korea is If You Were Me And Lived In… France. France is one of my personal favorites. It is located in the Western Europe. It’s capital, Paris, is nicknamed the “La Ville-Lumiere” or “City of Light”. You would celebrate Bastille Day with fireworks and parades much like we in America celebrate the Fourth of July, only this day is celebrated on the Fourteenth of July.

Last in the series is If You Were Me And Lived In… Norway. In Norway, you pay for items using kroner. Skiing would be a favorite pastime, along with Ice Fishing. Your school is called a skole. This book on Norway has not yet been released but will soon be available for purchase.

Each of the books in this series are unique. They each teach facts specific to the region being covered. They would make a wonderful addition to any geography course or just to have in a home library to read like we chose to in our home.

In addition to the books in our package, we were sent two pencils featuring flags of different countries and a small bouncy ball containing a flag inside. We also received a small passport to follow along in our travels which was a nice addition to the lessons already provided within the stories themselves.

You can purchase the If You Were Me And Lived In… series online at Carole P. Roman’s website. Each book is available for $8.99 in paperback or $.99 in Kindle format via Amazon pricing at the time of this review. These books can be used with any age child but are written more for the Early Elementary age: 4 and up, in my opinion.

To read more about the If You Were Me And Lived In… series, please click on the banner below!

Awareness for my Daughter {Epilepsy Awareness}

November 5, 2013 by Dana

Spreading awareness for all of my babies. This is my daughter Laycie, who has had Epilepsy since she was 4 months old. She went Status Epilepticus when she was 4 1/2 months old. She was diagnosed with Rolandic Epilepsy at age 4. Most of her seizures happen when she’s asleep. I blog about Epilepsy to share our life living with this disorder with others. Learn more about Epilepsy at www.epilepsyfoundation.org.

Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns {Crew Review}

November 1, 2013 by Dana

I believe sewing is a very important skill that children should learn. My own mother was a seamstress and taught me to sew by hand from a very young age. My children have watched and helped her with small sewing tasks from young ages. So I knew that Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns would definitely be a program that my children would enjoy using.

I’ll be honest, I kind of handed this one off to Emma and my Mom to work on. I read through the program, set up the lessons, printed off the patterns, set up the videos for Emma and Mom to view and discuss them together, then allowed them to work their magic. It was an amazing bonding experience for Emma, learning a skill from her Grandmother that she will use for the rest of her life.

The Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course begins from the very beginning and basics of sewing, providing over 130 videos to introduce every little thing one needs to know about when it comes to sewing equipment and basics. Needles, thread, the machine itself, patterns, cloth and so much more are discussed within the video course. And that’s all outside of the patterns themselves.

This course is designed to last 6 weeks but could last longer or take less time depending on how well your child works. Experience is not necessary, as Mom can learn right alongside of their daughter. The course truly teaches you step-by-step, everything that you need to know.

The course that we used teaches Emma to make doll clothes to fit her 18 inch American Girl style doll. This was perfect since her Aunt had given both my daughters dolls in this size for Christmas last year. Emma was very excited to be able to learn to make clothes to fit for both dolls. There are also patterns available for Cabbage Patch dolls which we are planning to look into. They are reasonably priced for purchase, giving Emma more sewing to accomplish.

I must admit, Emma was impressed by the name Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns right away. Rosie is what she named all of her dolls and pets from the time she was age 4 to 9. Needless to say, she was intrigued to find out what she’d be able to learn through Rosie’s lessons. She and Grandma got started on this review right away and it was challenging but fun for them both. The clothes were just the right size to sew. A Barbie pattern would have been too tiny and overwhelming, while a child’s size would have been too large for her to manage.

Since I had set up the program, all Emma and Grandma needed to do was log into the website, watch the videos, which Emma was able to do while Grandma supervised and did other things. Emma would review what she learned with her but most of those parts of the lesson were completed by Emma alone.

Grandma also helped Emma with setting up her machine, teaching her the hands-on parts of sewing after Emma finished her videos. She visually pointed out the parts of the machine, as well as showing her how the tension worked and the foot peddle ran the needle.

Grandma also helped Emma to cut out her patterns, lay them out on the material, learn to mark them with chalk, then cut out the material so she could sew them together. She assisted Emma in learning to line up her sewing, placing the edge under the needle foot and applying pressure to the foot peddle to sew her patterns together. Emma has learned so much from this program and it’s truly a joy to see the together time she is spending with her Grandma.

The patterns were easy to download and print out. Just make sure your printer is not set to “fit to page” when printing so the dimensions are correct once you cut the patterns out. Material and pattern choice is completely up to you and needs to be purchased a head of time. Something we like to do is purchase skirts or shirts in large sizes that can be cut up and used with the patterns. This saves cost and re-uses things that would generally be thrown away.

Rosie’s Doll Clothing Patterns: Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course is available for subscription purchase for $47.23 and is for children ages 8 and up. This includes 8 patterns for shorts, top, sarong, nightie, underpants, hat and even a Halloween costume. The live-stream videos for the program are also included for the subscription price.

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VocabularySpellingCity: Premium Account {Crew Review}

October 30, 2013 by Dana

If you can remember my review from last year, then you’ll remember how much we LOVED VocabularySpellingCity! This website is amazing for teaching spelling and vocabulary, all in one place. Designed to be fun and easy, one could not ask for more!

VocabularySpellingCity helps you, as the teacher and parent, set up lessons that work for you and are manageable. Through interactive gaming, students learn what vocabulary or a word list that you have set for them. Best thing is that VocabularySpellingCity also helps you keep track of it all, all in the same place.

All you have to do is:

log into a parent account,
set up a classroom,
add your students,
set the lessons either by choosing premade lessons or creating your own
and your children can get started.

VocabularySpellingCity makes it all super easy to do.

With a premium membership you can choose:

special learning activities for each child’s grade level
assign different lists to individual children
record test results and create accountability for lessons
import lists
create flashcards to use online or print
teach definitions, antonyms, synonyms or parts of speech for the spelling or vocabulary lists chosen

There is so much available through VocabularySpellingCity to make learning easier and ensure children are thoroughly learning both spelling and vocabulary through their online lessons. VocabularySpellingCity can also be used off the computer by printing out worksheets, flashcards and other resources for expanding lessons offline.

Through VocabularySpellingCity, you can find list for Science words, Social Studies, words that rhyme, abbreviations, word families, words with more than one meaning, the Dolch-sight word lists and even more. You can also find Language Arts lessons on nouns, parts of speech, compound words, figurative language and more. Extra helps for handwriting and spelling are also available.

In the Premium account you can add up to 5 students and customize each account to the child’s grade level. I personally chose not to set grade levels for my children but I did set lessons for each by assigning them to each student as they fit to my student. I allow my children to work on word and vocabulary lists that fit what we are learning. I simply input what words we are learning for the week and VocabularySpellingCity does the rest for me. My child can then log-in and complete their work as assigned for each week. It doesn’t matter what time they go on to use the program. It will be there when they are able to get to it.

Now I’ve said this website is super easy to use throughout this review but if for some reason you find yourself lost or stuck, there are lots of videos to explain just what you need to know. There are even videos for the student lessons at VocabularySpellingCity. Everything you need is right there at your fingertips.

You can use VocabularySpellingCity for free but you won’t get the extra writing and vocubulary options that are available with the Premium membership. However, you still get plenty of activities and it’s a great way to try out the program, which can be used with all students in grades K-12.

Premium account game extras include:

Vocabulary Test Me
Flashcards, which I mentioned several times above
LetterFall
Sentence and Paragraph Writing Practice
Match It for Sentences and Definitions
Which Word? for Sentences and Definitions
Word-O-Rama
Crossword
and Parts Of Speech

Each of these extra games allows more detailed instruction and more fun for the lessons being taught.

You can purchase a premium family account with VocabularySpellingCity for $29.99 a year. This allows you access for up to 5 students for a full year. Access for more than 5 students can also be purchased.

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Redirection {Thoughts From Me}

October 28, 2013 by Dana

I’m at a point that I need to refocus and find redirection in my life. It excites me that the crew year will soon be coming to an end and though I’m anxious to start the next one, if I’m welcomed back in return, I will be happy to have a little break. Please, someone remind me of this after two weeks of no reviews, as I’m sure I’ll be chomping at the bit to work again!

I simply need a break. I am wanting to sit down and plan some things to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas next month. I want to spend that time enjoying my children. Life is short, time is short and days are passing quickly. I want to enjoy my children and create memories before these days have passed.

And so I’m making big plans for my time off. Plans to work more in the house. Plans to play more with my kids.

I must refocus my life, adjust to some new findings and allow myself to find the direction I need to be traveling in. I will allow God to guide me where He wishes me to be. Until then, I’ll be listening and waiting for the answers I’m seeking and enjoying what the days have brought to me.