Luv'N Lambert Life

Mental Health, Homeschooling, Epilepsy and More

homeschooling

Preschoolers and Peace {Crew Review}

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Preschoolers and Peace is a great company that helps those who are new to homeschooling, as well as those of us who are experienced homeschoolers.  They provide inspiration e-Books and tools for homeschooling with little ones at home and give Mom’s that extra boost of confidence that is often needed during this stage of learning and life.  For this review, we were sent an e-Book copy of Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet.  This book is a must read for all Momma’s with little ones.
Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet is just what a Homeschooling Momma needs.  This e-Book is 47 pages long, jam packed with ideas, tips and inspiration that speaks right to the homeschooling Momma’s heart, where it is needed.  Each section is created especially to inspire Mom’s like me and show that we can do this, even when we think we cannot.
This e-Book contains 13 chapters, a meal planning section, final word of encouragement and resources to use both for creating the book and suggestions for you to read through to inspire you as a Homeschooling Momma even more.  Chapters focus on things like What A Homeschooling Momma Needs, Circle Time with preschoolers, how to bring preschoolers into school time, How to Not Kill Time and how to incorporate preschoolers into day to day things like chores and learning.  All these things and so much more come together to show us how to make the most of this Homeschooling life we live.
I personally read through Preschoolers and Peace as a book to help myself.  I have three older children I am currently homeschooling and a two year old who is well beyond his age in maturity.  He’s growing fast and sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with him.  It was my hope that through reading this e-Book, I’d refresh myself and gain some helpful tips from my reading.  I must say I was not disappointed in the suggestions given throughout this text or by the inspiration within the book.  It was a great read and left me ready to dive into this journey during this new stage of life: Homeschooling three of school-age with a young child by our side.
Some of the advice in the book are things we already try to do, so these things were nothing new but reading them in the book gave me the confidence to know that what I was already doing was the right thing for us.  There were other things that we weren’t doing which we will be trying in the future as we continue to grow in learning with each other.  Having this book on hand these last few weeks has been really beneficial to our family.
I think my favorite section was the one on scheduling.  I often battle to keep a schedule and sometimes just give up.  Reading this section reassured me that it’s okay to toss the schedule at any point and just start again if need be.  As kids grow so do we, and so do our schedules.  That’s how it’s supposed to be and so therefore, it’s okay to just toss it out and start all over as our lives change.
There are a lot of other great ideas shared within this e-Book but to read them,  you will have to purchase it yourself.  Every Momma who has littles should get a copy for their home to read through and read again as your child grows.  You can purchase your copy of Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids with Success While Loving Little Ones At Your Feet for $2.99 online through the website at Preschoolers and Peace.  This is one e-Book that is definitely worth the price!
Don’t forget to check out the Preschoolers and Peace website as well!  There you will find great inspiration through the blog to help you stay motivated in this homeschooling journey.
You can also find Preschoolers and Peace online in the following places:

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UberSmart Math Facts {Crew Review}

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For this review, we were gifted a full download with lifetime license code for UberSmart Math Facts from UberSmart Software.  This program was wonderful.  It’s a great way to teach or review Math Facts for any age.
UberSmart Math Facts can be used with people of any age but is specifically designed to be used with students in Kindergarten through 6th grade.  It’s a downloadable software program that can be used with eight or more students.  The software requirements are for Windows 7, Windows 8, XP or Vista only.  The cost for UberSmart Math Facts is only $24.95.  That’s a steal for such a wonderful program to teach your student Math Facts!
The kids liked UberSmart Math Facts a lot.  All three of my school-aged students were able to easily use this program.  They simply logged on and began to work through the Math Facts on their own.
If you aren’t sure what a Math Fact is, they are your simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems that you probably learned in Early Elementary school.  1+1, 1-1, 1×1, and 1/1 are all Math Facts – place in any number you wish to create a Math Fact problem.  Math Facts are important to build a strong Mathematical foundation before heading into higher Math programs.
UberSmart makes teaching Math Facts easy through their many program options.  Your student can practice and learn Math Facts by selecting the Learn tab in the program.  They can then choose to learn with Dots (like those found on Dominoes game pieces) either with or without Numbers or learn with only numbers for the problems they are learning to complete.  The Dots show the amount for each number making it a bit easier for younger students.  This also gives the student visual reminders for the numbers amount, teaching one-to-one correspondence in Math.
After “learning” the Math Facts, students can then Practice their Math Facts by clicking on the second tab in the program which is labeled “Practice”.  Students are then given several Facts to answer in order to practice what they’ve learned.  Math Facts for addition and subtraction go up to the 9’s.  Math Facts for multiplication and division have the option of going to the 9’s or going to the 20’s.  The choice is yours and your students.
There is also a “test” for UberSmart Math Facts.  This can be found by clicking the third tab appropriately named “Test”.  This test is nice for the parents/teacher and student to see if the student is really learning their Math Facts and where they may need review.
The fourth tab for UberSmart Math Facts is a tab called “Compete”.  This allows the user to compete to test their skills against others.  This would be a great option for those who wish to test their child’s skills.  I don’t personally care for this option since we try to avoid competitions in our home but my Emma did enjoy testing her knowledge by using it – she is my competitive child when it comes to learning.
The fifth tab for the program is the Report tab.  This is where the teacher/parent or even the student can check in to see how they are doing with their learning.  It shows the tests, the passed levels of practice and basics of what the student has completed.  It’s a nice option to be able to see where your student may or may not need help.
The last tab is the Maintain tab.  This is where you set up your students and passwords.  You can also find program updates in this section and input your license for the program as necessary.  It’s basically the game settings area for the program.
That pretty much sums up UberSmart Math Facts.  We used this program on and off through the review period.  All three of my school-age children have accounts created and each was easily able to log onto the program.  They worked at Math for varied periods of time and enjoyed using it.  It was a lot like using flashcards, only interactively.  My son loved the program because it wasn’t overwhelming and it wasn’t too fast.  There also wasn’t a lot of reading involved for him to do.
UberSmart Math Facts would be great for public school students who need extra math practice, as well as Homeschool students who may need the same.  It would be a great program to use for early Math learning of Math Facts as well.  We certainly will be continuing to use this program in the future.
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Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms {Crew Review}

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I must admit I am the biggest fan of Apologia materials.  Each time I see the Apologia vendor pop-up on the Schoolhouse Review list, I make sure not to miss filling it out. They have the best homeschooling materials and the best inspirational books for Homeschooling parents like me.  Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms by Mary Jo Tate is no exception.
Mary Jo Tate has been through a lot in her lifetime.  She was left alone, a single Mom with four very young sons to raise.  It was her need to survive, to make it through and make a good life for her sons that lead her to the concept behind Flourish and later the writing of this wonderful book.
Mary Jo Tate is a survivor.  She took skills that she knew she had and turned to them when most people would wallow in self-pity, in order to make a life for herself and her sons.  She wanted to be home with her boys when they needed her most and she didn’t want her job to prevent that.  So Mary Jo did what she knew best and began to use her editing skills to create her own business to make ends meet.
As people began to question how she did it all, she explained that she wasn’t a SuperMom but simply a Mom who had a need.  She quickly learned that if she wanted to succeed she’d need to get out of her comfort zone.  Once she did she began to Flourish!
As written within the book, “Flourish means to grow vigorously, luxuriate, be revived or abound.” (Flourish by Mary Jo Tate, page 6)
When you flourish, you thrive.  This then trickles down into the lives of others.  Particularly, into the lives of your family.
Balancing life is hard.  Mary Jo Tate knows that all too well.  She struggled in life until she began to find her own way to flourish and through this book she hopes to help other Mom’s like her, like me and you, flourish too.
As a bonus this book is filled with encouraging quotes and notes from great minds and Moms as well.  These inspiring tidbits are wonderful reminders and full of positive thoughts.  All are there to help us thrive through the trials of life until we flourish on our own.
This book contains 16 chapters, each of which focus on a different aspect to encourage Moms like you and I to grow and to make our own lives flourish.  There are over 250 pages to help you learn to Flourish in your own life. There are two additional appendixes in the back of the book as well.  Appendix A shares recommended resources to use with the book.  Appendix B shares forms for planning to be used along with the book as well.  As with all Apologia books, there is also an additional website sharing book extras that will be a welcoming surprise to any Mom.
I cannot begin to explain the encouragement found within the pages of this book.  This book is designed to help you learn to balance your life.  The goal is to help you make the most of your personal and business life and to find balance together.  It will help you set goals and find ways to limit interruptions to make the most of your day to day.

 If you are a Mom who is struggling to find balance in life, then this is a must read for you.  If you are a Homeschooler who is looking for encouragement, this is definitely a book for you.  If you need a welcoming reminder that being a homeschooling Mom is where you should be, then, yes this book is for you too!

Flourish will help each of us to find balance, to find Faith, to find so much more than you could even begin to imagine in the days of our homeschool lives.
You can purchase your own copy of Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms by Mary Jo Tate from Apologia for $15 plus shipping costs.  This book is for Mom’s of all ages.  This is a must read book for any Homeschooling Momma and it will speak right to your heart.  Get it today!

You can also find Flourish and Mary Jo Tate in the following places online:
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CTC Math {Crew Review}

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Can I just start this review by saying how much I really love CTC Math’s 12 Month Family Plan?  When I first log onto the program several weeks ago, I thought it was just going to be like any other Math program online.  I admit, I was wrong.  This program is absolutely wonderful and it works well for our family.
CTC Math is an online Math tutor.  This program covers Math from Kindergarten all the way to Calculus and between.  It doesn’t teach your student Math but builds on what your child already knows with easy to follow lessons.  Designed to be used with students of every age and grade level, it truly tutors the child in learning Math.
Parent Login Area:
In the Parent Login, I was able to set up accounts for up to five children on the 12 month Family Plan which we were given access to for this review.  I simply inputted my child’s name in the Add Student area, created log-in information for each child and chose a passing grade for them.  I don’t normally use grades so that was a bit different for me to do for them, and I choose to leave it at 90 as passing since that’s what I recall using in Public School as a student.
In the Parent Login, I can view my students and see how many levels they have completed, as well as the rating for each level completed.  I can also print a summary or a detailed report for completed lessons for each student.  This is nice so that I can print and add it into their portfolio.  I can also see what areas they need to study and focus on learning.
Each week, through my email, I receive a progress report telling me how each student is doing.  I can print these as well and see what areas need more focus or need repeating.  When my children complete different areas, I can print awards and certificates for them straight from the program.  My kids really enjoy things like that.
Last on the Parent Login is a side panel that shows my students recent activities.  It tells me when they log-in and what they do while there.  This is a great way to make sure they are really doing their work and not just playing around.
Student Login Area:
Through the Parent Login, I was able to set specific logins up for my children to be able to use CTC Math.  When students come to the CTC Math page, there is a option to log in at the top of the page.  Once they click on this login area, a box pops up where they can enter their information and begin using the program.
Students or their parents and teachers can then choose a level appropriate for them.  For my children, I chose to use this program as a math review and tutoring program to begin with.  I allowed them to start from the Kindergarten level to see what concepts they really know and which they need to work on.  Each level of the program has a basic placement test to show knowledge of what the student is learning.  If the student passes this level then we knew we could move on and move forward.  Each lesson covers a different concept.
If a student needs instruction for that level, they can click on the separate lessons of the program.  These are short videos showing what’s being learned.  The student listens and follows along, following instruction as needed.  The next step is to answer questions about what the student has heard and learned in the video instruction.  These are much like the placement tests.
Both questions and tests are easy to complete.  There are online selections to choose from or answer boxes in which to type in the correct answer in number or written form.  Some questions have multiple choice answers to choose.  Some questions require students to click on in order to color the objects they are learning with.  The program varies throughout and by level being learned.  As expected upper levels will be harder than lower levels.

I allowed my students to work on this program for as long as they liked, which happened to be much longer than I would have actually have required.  I did not specify what they had to do or what level.  I simply started them at the lowest level and allowed them to complete the tests, then I’d mix it up by choosing another level and concept to see how much they knew.  This worked fairly well for us.

How We Really Liked It:
I did personally find some of the instructional videos to be a bit boring and basic. I didn’t find them exciting to learn from but I did feel they cover the important details and lessons needed.  My children thought the same thing as I did about the videos.
The questions were a bit more fun and the kids really enjoyed those because they were quickly and easily answered without requiring a lot of writing off the computer.  The kids enjoyed the colors used through the program and the characters for the lower grade level learning.  The fact that this program allows them to work are various levels and “test” themselves beforehand was something they enjoyed as well, which surprised me since I stay away from that type of thing in our learning normally.  I found I also enjoyed being able to see what they really know so easily by them completing such a simple test.
So overall, I found that what I initially thought was just a normal everyday online math program has more than impressed me and my children with the lessons and ease of use.  This is a program we will be continuing to use while we have the subscription and if we continue to enjoy it as we have been the past few weeks, then we may even subscribe again.  I recommend the program to students of all levels in public, private and homeschooling.
The price of CTC Math is currently discounted for Homeschoolers at 60% off the regular price.  I do not know how long this sale will last so if you are interested, my suggestion would be to purchase now.  A membership can be purchased for a single user or for a family plan of 2 or more students.
The Single Plan is $11.99 a month or $50.80 for 6 months or $78.80 for a year of the program.
The Family Plan is $15.97 a month or $78.80 for 6 months or $118.80 for 2 or more students for 12 months of the program.

You can also find CTC Math in the following places online:

Facebook CTC Math – https://www.facebook.com/ctcmath?ref=hl 
Facebook Aus (Maths Online)  – https://www.facebook.com/mathsonline.com.au?ref=hl 

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God’s Paths {Homeschooling}

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Have you ever thought about how the things in your past affect your day to day now?  As a little girl, I remember playing like most children.  I would play dolls and I would teach them.  I also loved to sing.

As an adult, I often think back to those childhood days and how those times of play have truly prepared me for my future, for today.  As a child, I never imagined that I would be teaching my children at home.  I always thought my career would be in education and that I’d also be singing somewhere outside of my home and church.

I remember sitting down with my dolls and with my imaginary pals, pretending I had an entire classroom in front of me.  I remember passing out pencils and worksheets, having those students complete tests and reviews of schoolwork.  I remember holding music classes with those students, singing and teaching those dolls to sing, too.

Now I have real students in my children and I know that all of my play was provided by God to prepare me for His will.  I am equipped by the Lord for this job that He’s provided me.  This is God’s plan come to life.

As a parent, I always allow my children plenty of time to play and use their imagination.  I do not direct their playtime.  I know from my own experiences that the things they learn and the actions they take during their play is God’s way of preparing them for a future that I cannot personally understand.  One day they will each do great things but these things will be as God has chosen for them in order to glorify Him.  Only He can lead them on this path that He wishes for them to follow, just as He has done for me before them.

What ways has God prepared you for your own journey in life?  What ways does He prepare your children?

September Update: Just a post of where we are! {Thoughts From Me}

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I haven’t been blogging much this month.  I’ve actually been enjoying a little time off.  The weather is gorgeous and it’s inspired me to do a little Fall cleaning around my house.  By the time I wrap up my daily to-do’s around the house, I’m really too tired to be inspired to do much online past my reviews and a quick check-in.

Last year, when I as pregnant, I wasn’t into housekeeping much so the house is a real disaster but that’s ok!  It’s only one season of our life and it passes so quickly.  Then there is the demand of keeping up with a baby, and his siblings – readjusting schedules, homeschooling through and watching him and them learn and grow.  It doesn’t allot for a lot of homekeeping time there either.

Add in the baby having reflux, food allergies and Epilepsy on top of it and my time diminishes even more.  Now that he’s a year old, and his reflux, food allergies and Epilepsy are somewhat under control leaves me time to catch up on the things I’ve been putting off.

Last week, I emptied an entire box that’s just been piling in my house for four years.  This box was full of my paints, my brushes and anything else related to my hand-painting crafts.  This hobby of mine was sadly neglected and not organized at all but now all those paints are stored behind my bedroom door in an over the door shoe organizer and it works for now.  I can see the bright colors which I attempted to sort them into.  I still don’t have a permanent home for the brushes but small steps will get me there.  I want a rolling drawer cart in the classroom so they will either go there or in my cubbies under my kitchen table where I now store my hobby items and review things.

This week, I’ve been catching up on work that should have been completed months ago but couldn’t be since Jackson was sick.  I’ve also been going through clothes from the building that have piled up.  I missed two whole boxes of 6-9 months clothing for Jackson because I didn’t have time to get out there while he was sick.  Those will now be sold to buy him new clothes in his size, which adds another thing to my must get done list.

I’ve also be reorganizing things throughout the house to make it better work for us and printing things in prep for school lessons.  I just purchased a great set of Eeboo All Around the World Alphabet Wall Cards second hand from Sam @ Sam’s Noggin.  I plan to use them with Laycie this year.  I know she’s really going to love those!

We also have our set of Touch Math that we will continue to work through with Laycie this year.  She really loves the hands on uniqueness of this program.  It really works well for her.  She will also continue to use her Logic of English curriculum that we reviewed last week.  Another program that she really loves!

For the next few weeks, I plan to clean, clean, clean and organize, organize, organize!  I will do my best to update when I can.  I have a few plans for the blog, too, that I can hardly wait to put to work.

But for now it’s just going to have to wait.

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