Wordless Wednesday: January 25, 2017
Wordless Wednesday: Little Feet January 25, 2017 {Wordless Wednesday}
Blank Thoughts {Thoughts From Me}
Sometimes I come to blog and I wonder what to write about. I have no idea where to start. I have no idea what to say. So I just sit and wait, hoping an idea comes to me. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Lately, I have had a hard time coming up with content to share. My brain seems to be shut off. Or perhaps there’s just too much inside to be able to truly bring it together so that my writing makes sense. Either way, it just leaves me going in circles and coming up empty.
So here I am, trying to think of what to write and all I can come up with is blankness. Empty useless thoughts that lead me no where. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Maybe the next post will be something worth writing about. For now, this is all I have.
Worldless Wednesday: Weathered January 18, 2017 {Wordless Wednesday}
Wordless Wednesday: January 18, 2017
Wordless Wednesday: January 11, 2017 {Wordless Wednesday}
My daughter Emmalee, age 13
SchoolhouseTeachers.com {Crew Review}
Quick note from me:
*Due to changes at the Homeschool Review Crew, a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, reviews for this team on Luv’N Lambert Life will now be marked {Crew Review} instead of the previous {Schoolhouse Review} in the titles. You can find my Homeschool Review Crew reviews by searching either tag in our blog’s search box.
*Due to changes at the Homeschool Review Crew, a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, reviews for this team on Luv’N Lambert Life will now be marked {Crew Review} instead of the previous {Schoolhouse Review} in the titles. You can find my Homeschool Review Crew reviews by searching either tag in our blog’s search box.
*This review contains affiliate links for SchoolhouseTeachers.com and the memberships provided. Through your purchase, I will receive a small commission.
As a long time reviewer for the Homeschool Review Crew, a divison of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I’ve been blessed to also have been a long time member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com which is also a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I was on the Crew when SchoolhouseTeachers.com opened it’s website and have found it to be a great place for our studies over the past couple of years. Recently though, SchoolhouseTeachers.com received a makeover from the original website and formatting which I’m really excited to share with you in this review.
About this product:
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is an online website created and presented by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. For this review, we were given access to the Yearly Membership available at SchoolhouseTeacher.com. This website provides studies in various subjects and grade levels, planning materials, helps to evaluate student progress, document learning and also celebrate achievements students receive. SchoolhouseTeachers.com helps to make learning easy.
When you join SchoolhouseTeachers.com you gain access to some pretty great materials which vary for grade level or topic. You also gain access to some of the greatest educational minds you can find through the courses provided through the website. Great educators like Amy Puetz Fox, Jan May, Cheri Blomquist, Brenda Ellis, Jan Bower, Diana Waring, Lisa Barthuly and so many, many more!
When you join, you also gain access to the Schoolhouse Planners, which are my personal favorites for planning our homeschooling days. You don’t just get access to one planner though but to ALL the planners The Old School House has available:
Hey, Mama! Schoolhouse Planner
Schoolhouse Planner
Special Learners Schoolhouse Planner
Primary Schoolhouse Planner
Intermediate Schoolhouse Planner
High School Schoolhouse Planner
Each of these are unique in their own ways and a great way to plan your year. These planners are updated yearly and currently SchoolhouseTeachers.com has the 2016-2017 versions available on site.
Not only do you get the Schoolhouse Planners but you also gain access to additional tools like the Custom Builder for planning, Ready-made Calendars, and Printable Info Charts which I must say are pretty amazing, filled with great information for various subjects you may be working on in your homeschooling.
Even more about the product:
As you’ve probably figured out by now, this is a pretty extensive website providing access to many great things that can definitely benefit your homeschooling and I’ve only just begun to touch on what’s available through a SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership. Many of the lessons also include videos, access to books needed for the courses, extra media and even tutorials on how to use the website, as well as some of the products available.
Bonus content is also included like access to the World Book eBook Library which contains more titles than I can begin to count for you! This is a seriously amazing resource that can be used along with the available courses on SchoolhouseTeachers.com or alone as you wish. I was really excited to see access to this wonderful library added to the website as I find it really helpful when I need a quick book on a subject we are studying.
There are also many great resources available for Focused Learning Centers, High School Help, Special Needs (a go-to I find myself using often), Literacy Center, access to the Schoolhouse Expos (always encouraging!) and so much more. SchoolhouseTeachers.com looks out for those days when we struggle as well providing encouragement materials in their Just for Parents section, a Monthly Menu to help plan daily meals, and even Help Charts and Certificates for boosting learning achievement.
There is so much more to this website than just meets the eye. There is a lot of heart behind it and encouragement for learning. So many things coming together with some great people to provide a place for solid, educational learning experience.
How We Use This Website In Our Home:
As I’ve already mentioned one of my absolute FAVORITE parts of SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the Planners section. I’ve used these planners for many, many years now. Originally, these planners were sold separately through the Old Schoolhouse Magazine but with SchoolhouseTeachers.com you are given access to ALL of the planners which I mentioned above. I like to take my favorite pages from t these and print them individually then place them into a binder so that they provide us with the best planner for our homeschooling needs. Just that makes the price of SchoolhouseTeachers.com worth it to me! But more than that, I use many of the various courses throughout the year for our homeschooling needs.
Now I must admit right now that I honestly found the old SchoolhouseTeachers.com website a little bit hard to utilize. It confused me and I struggled with using it which is rare for me since I’ve fairly tech savvy. But the whole new site SchoolhouseTeachers.com has just released has completely changed my feelings on that!
The new version of SchoolhouseTeachers.com works almost flawlessly. I honestly haven’t had a single issue with glitches or slowness from the website since the changes have been made. I love the new format, allowing easier access to finding the grade level and courses you may be interested in for your students.
I have four students of various ages and I personally try to combine as much of our studies as I can so it’s less work for all of us. SchoolhouseTeachers.com makes that easy to do by providing course studies by topic. You can also use the search option provided on the website to search for the topic you may be looking for as well.
Now sometimes, I also need to find particular subjects for my children’s grade level, like for Jack who is Preschool age. To do that, I simply use the Browse By Grade option found in the top bar of the website. SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a great Preschool Playground which we have utilized over the past few weeks of learning. The Preschool Playground covers topics for Bible, Manners, Motor Skills, etc. All those essential topics for Jack’s age of learning.
A Few More Details:
Now being a Special Needs Momma of four, I love when I find great resources that help our homeschooling on a website and I try to make mention of these sections when I can for my fellow Special Needs Mommas. SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a wonderful place just for us Momma’s of Special Needs children which can be found in the main bar under the Resources tab.
The Special Needs section gives us access to a wonderful program provided by Judi Munday, an educational consultant. This is a 19 part program which covers a multitude of special needs information to help us better understand our precious children and their personal needs. This is a wonderful resource to have access to.
There’s also a section discussing learning styles which will help you pinpoint your child’s style. This can help greatly when we are trying to figure out how to homeschool our sweet children and when what we thought would work isn’t working at all. There’s some really helpful information provided in this article.
Another favorite of mine is Homeschooling Through The Tough Spots. Lord knows, I’ve personally experienced many of those and I’m sure many of my readers have as well! Nancy Feliccia helps us find our way through these rough areas of life and helps us to get back on track with her wonderfully, written articles on the subject. This one was a home hitter for me!
And I was thrilled to find my dear, dear friend Heather Laurie mentioned in this section with Matthew Newell and Diane Craft under the topic, Homeschooling Your Extra-Special Blessing. Heather has been a wonderful mentor for me through this homeschooling journey, dealing with special needs and just making it through our day to day lessons. The webinars included within this section were really an inspiring blessing to me.
Wrapping It Up:
There is just so much to the SchoolhouseTeachers.com website. I’ve honestly just scratched the surface. So many wonderful people have been brought together for this site that I could write and write for days about it’s many great details. And the added bonus is that all these materials, great minds, easy to use and thorough lessons are provided all on this one website. SchoolhouseTeachers.com gets better every year and I’m honestly honored to be able to share it with you as well.
How To Join:
Joining SchoolhouseTeachers.com is easy to do. Simply visit SchoolhouseTeachers.com and choose which option best fits you.
I have a Yearly Membership which usually runs for $139 a year with a 10% discount included. From now until January 15, you can use the code CHRISTMASYEAR to pay only $90 for this year on the Yearly Membership.
There is also a Monthly Membership available which costs $12.95 a month if this option better fits your family. From now until January 15, you can use the code CHRISTMAS to pay only $9.95 a month.
Both these memberships give you access to everything provided at SchoolhouseTeachers.com and includes access for all members of your household which is a wonderful deal, in my opinion.
There are also additional discounts for HSLDA members, Civil Servants, Co-op groups and a few others so please check for those before purchasing your membership.
Additionally, there is a One Month Trial offer always available which costs $1 to try out the website if you’re not sure whether you’re ready to commit just yet. This deal is for First Time members ONLY and will not work if you’ve already registered with SchoolhouseTeachers.com in the past.
And don’t worry. I know this post shares a lot of information about this website but when you join there is a Start Here tab on the menu which will help you find your way around the website. It’s very easy to use and a great way to learn your way around.
Places You Can Find This Vendor Online:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOSMag
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tosmag
You Can Read More Reviews Of This Vendor At:
Disclaimer:
Word of the Year: 2017 {Thoughts From Me}
FOCUSIt’s been a while since I chose a word of the year for us. Last year we weren’t really online due to not having internet so I wasn’t really able to chose one. This year we do have internet so I’ll be picking our word of the year.
As I’ve thought and prayed over our Word of the Year, I was really torn between two words: Balance and Focus. Balance was my first choice but the more I prayed, the more Focus presented itself. I began to understand that our word of the year should be Focus.
Dictionary.com defines Focus as a noun meaning a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity. Focus is also described as the clear and sharply defined condition of an image. It can also be a verb meaning to concentrate: to focus one’s thoughts and to direct one’s attention or efforts. Synonyms for Focus are: heart, center, core, nucleus.
Our focus this year will be upon each other as a family. As a Mother, I wish to focus more on my children, enjoying the years we have left before they are grown. I wish to focus on each of their relationships with me and Donald, with each other, allowing them to strengthen these relationships in order to better our family.
I plan to focus on finding a way to sustain our family financially as well. I’m not sure where we are being led yet, but I know that God has a plan and my focus will be on allowing God to put us on the path he wishes for us to be.
As a family, we will also focus on strengthening our relationship with God as well. We will continue to pray together, and for others. We will learn more about God’s plan for our family through prayer, and through building our relationship with Him and with one another as well.
Focus is our main goal for this year and Focus we will do!
We are linked up with the Word of the Year 2017 from the Homeschool Review Crew, a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!
