ALEKS - math program

ALEKS is a math program that can be used in multiple settings. It's like having a tutor in your own home. This program is great for an individual who is independent, takes instruction well and likes to work at their own pace.

I watched my kids work on this program for a few weeks now. Normally, they are quite independent although sometimes they need different types of instruction in order to fully understand something. All three kids complained that it was boring, but as I watched each child master a topic, I knew they were complaining about nothing. Yes, this program doesn't have videos, bells and whistles but it is comprehensive and challenging.

This program allows the parent to keep up with what's going on via e-mail progress reports and a master account that can control the student's progress. By sending weekly updates, the parent can see what topics have been learned, the hours spent on the progress and quizzes. The parent can print worksheets anytime for extra practice. The program generates these worksheets as a review and challenge of any topics covered. The parent can also schedule quizzes as needed.

Students also have the option of printing worksheets themselves and clicking "review" periodically to assure mastery of subjects. As their "pie chart" fills, they gain more confidence in themselves and their abilities. Even my son, who dreads math, has found several topics actually fun!

The program has what is known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). I decided to test this AI myself. I created a trial account for myself and went through the assessment after choosing a relatively low level. The AI picked up on my correct answers and proceeded to challenge me further. It finally got into things I had long forgotten since college. The only drawback here that I noticed is that it left me on the low level but picked topics for me to challenge and teach me in the areas I was weak. I would have guessed that I tried to pick a level around 4th grade, but some of my topics were definitely higher than that. Not many 4th graders I know are already doing X,Y line plots on a graph to solve an equation.

For my family, it isn't budget family. Our looneybin has 3 kids, 2 adults and 1 dog. My husband is a pastor, so every penny counts. ALEKS can be purchased month-to-month for $19.95 per month, or $99.95 for 6 months, or $179.95 for 12 months. Family discounts are available for 6 and 12-month subscriptions when purchasing for multiple students. Even with the discounts, I can't justify this with my family. I will admit it is a great program and it will be missed when our trial runs out, but right now, we just will passing on this great offer. For everyone else who takes up this program and fully enjoys it to its fullest potential, I say, "May you have a full pie!"

Maverick Books - Hank the Cowdog

Hank the Cowdog is a series of books that takes the reader through the so-called adventures of a dog who thinks of himself as Head of Security at a ranch in Texas. His inflated ego proves for hilarious commentary. Our family reviewed three products from this line.

The first, and by far, the favorite of the products was a game called Tornado. It comes with a cassette. This game and cassette are based on a book in the series by the same name. This product sells for $12.99 on the website. Tornado plays a lot like Sorry or Trouble. The way it folds up and stores all the pieces is ideal for travel! Trust me, I was stacking some things on my already overcrowded computer desk (I am consistently a clutterbug) and inadvertantly knocked over this game and some other items. I was just dreading finding four sets of buzzards and dogs(two colors of dogs, mind you) that belonged with the game. I ran around the desk only to find that the game was still tightly closed. Now, my kids had already been having a great time with this game and the evil thought of keeping them occupied for long hours on the road was running through my head. This game could survive in my truck! The pieces themselves seem to be sturdy and shouldn't dislodge easily either. To me it seems like a win/win situation. All in all, I would say this would be a great buy for people with kids who can understand or are learning to lose graciously, travel, or love these types of games for their family.

The next product on my list was the Tales and Tunes CD. It's sort of a sampler of audio from 10 of their books plus nine songs. This is where I want to proceed with caution. I understand that not everyone views the world the same way and different families have different "limits" on things. That's wonderful. For my family, I think this would be a "no, thank you". While I see the humor in the stories and the songs, I was concerned about some of the words used. My husband wasn't impressed either. We aren't super-strict people but we do like to control what comes into our home. I listened to the CD first before deciding whether to allow my kids to listen. The humor is directed toward kids under 12, I believe. The wording though...well, I'll be specific. I don't allow words like "stupid", "idiot", "shut up" or "dangburnit?" to be used. I will be honest and admit that on occasion I accidentally let "shut up" slip but the other words are viewed as bad words in my house. Although at $3.00, you do get a taste of Hank the Cowdog for yourself. It's a very inexpensive way to find out if your family would like it or not. I personally know several families who would love this series, it's just not for our family. And like I said before, the dog's ego is funny as well as some of the situations he comes across.

The last of the items was a book in the series. It is book #8, entitled The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse. My youngest daughter had read the book before and proceeded to tell me how much she loved it. She immediately claimed it for her own, but I explained I had read it myself. The wording in the book was what I had come to expect from the CD. It disappointed me. This was a great book. Hank is going from case to case and acting like a nutcase! The books on the website are priced from $4.24 to $5.24. Audio versions of the books are also offered for about $17.99. Book #54 just came out, so apparently the series is going strong. I was just slightly disappointed in some of the content. Like movies nowadays though, something always has to be thrown in that really wasn't necessary. It makes me sad.

The website also offers a variety of signs, games and shirts as well. There is a place to join Hank's team. Just watch out that he treats you better than Drover!!

A Wonderful Way to Share the Bible!

Am I allowed to gush??? I do not believe I could say enough about this exciting Bible study program.

First of all, let me say that I am NO artist. I've been doing stick figures most all my life. Even my trees look sickly. Second of all, my creativity is often under question when it comes to teaching my kids. I really prefer them to be independent learners because of the age gaps. And thirdly, my kids rarely get excited about anything to do with school and ask to do it. So needless to say, I started this program carefully!

Out of the all the wonderful options available through this company, I chose the Old Testament Catechism. It's a basic overview of 225 questions covering the entire Old Testament that is free of doctrine. It has questions like:

How did God view all that He created?
What happened to Job in one day?
Name Jacob's wives.
What furniture was in the Holy of Holies?
How many kings did Daniel serve?
What three things do we know from the Old Testament about the Messiah?

All three of my kids (ages 13, 10, and 8) fell in love with the book immediately. They enjoy helping each other review questions while I prepare papers for the day. They simply got the paper they needed and their colored pencils when I was ready to teach and went to town drawing and learning. Hard to remember details are made simple with this book. My husband always tells me if you see something, write something, and hear something; you're more likely to remember it. Well my kids are seeing the drawings come alive as they write them after they have discussed answers with me. Their memory on concepts is greatly increased.

I guess my favorite part of this whole lesson so far has been near the beginning. My little "nuts" and I discussed God. There were only two simple questions on this particular day and two scriptures. The questions were: Who was in the beginning? and What did God do in the beginning? The scripture was Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1, both of which the kids could quote. The discussion that day got deep even with little minds present (mine, of course). We began to talk about what and who God was in our lives and why it was important for us to establish that before anything else. My kids amaze me at every turn with their profound answers. They end up teaching me so much. So when they drew their purple triangles to represent God that day, other aspects became very real as well.

The teacher ebook in this series is only $19.95 and the student ebook is the same price. Print books are also sold with the teacher book being $24.95 and the student book being $19.95. I have found that ebooks are much easier to deal with since I have three kids to teach (and there is the luxury of no shipping costs with ebooks!). This is just one of Grapevine's multi-level courses, so all kids can jump right in and have a blast. You just print the copies you need when you need them and there is no waste. Of course, my kids love doing things their own way, but then most homeschooled kids do, right?

Grapevine also has other levels for specific ages and shorter studies those who want to either go deeper in a subject or just spend a short amount of time getting to know the program. I was just browsing their list and came across a study in Esther, Biblical Feasts and Holy Days, Birth of Jesus, and New Testament Timeline.

When I signed up on the e-mail list, I began to get FREE mini-lessons each week from the other studies. This is terrific and allows you to get a glimpse into the study it comes from to see if you would be interested. Again, these are NO COST samples. Can't really go wrong with that! Besides, what homeschooler doesn't love the word "free"?

Right now, Grapevine Studies is offering the readers of this blog a whopping 30% off on all their books until September 15, 2009! Just use the coupon code CREWS. You will not regret this order. I know I can't wait for them to come out with a New Testament Overview and then I'm going to dive in deeper with some of the other studies.

Have fun with stick figures!

Works in progress

You know we are all works in progress. Even adults as old as, well me. I think there should be a learning curve in life somehow, somewhere, especially when it comes to kids. Maybe I could take a mulligan here or there. That way they won't repeat my words or act like I do too much of the time. I see myself in my teenager so much. Sometimes, that is scary enough in of itself. You see, like the name of my blog implies, I'm a little nuts, down to earth, but a little nuts.

Other works in progress around here is my house. My husband and his father are in the process of remodeling the attic of our new home to put in some bedrooms and a bathroom for my girls. Now that is a more stable work in progress albeit an expensive one! I'm excited about the changes taking place around me.

I have now survived VBS and a youth trip to Eureka Springs. I feel like I've accomplished a lot!

Now I need help accomplishing something else. This is a new blog and well, I'm depending on my few followers to help me find some more. I would really like to take this places. I plan to share some of my looneybin homeschool antics as the school year starts. That ought to be enough but on a semi regular basis, I would love to have giveaways. I have a few things in mind starting in September. So we have a few weeks to spread the word. In the meantime, I'm going to be figuring out how to put a video of my beagle on here. Don't turn me off yet, people don't believe me when I say we get him to do an "inside bark". Actually, it's me who does the training of this trick. I got tired of the absolute beagle bark in my house since he's an inside dog. I figured if you can train a dog to do tricks and train kids to use "inside voices" then surely you could do an "inside bark". Sure enough, he'll do it for me.

So hopefully, these things will give you a reason to help me promote my blog. Reviews are coming near the end of the month for 3-4 products of which I'll be doing some giveaways using those products which my family has done or doesn't need. It's always great to get free stuff!

Until next time, blessings and looneys to all!!
DebG

All moved in

Well, all our "stuff" is at our new house. Moving for the second time in six months was a chore, but God blessed us with our very own home this time.

In a week, vacation Bible school starts. I'm very curious about other churches and families where it comes to this. Are you doing a VBS and if so, what materials are you using this year? Our church has chosen to do the Underground Church of Rome. I'm excited! There is more to do this year than teach, sing or do crafts. With this literature, I'm actually get to use my loud mouth in a drama each night. I am going to play one of the ladies who gathers for the underground church and eagerly awaits word from Paul! This is going to be so fun.

This week though, we are starting a study in the Old Testament with our children here at home. We are using Grapevine Studies to teach the kids an overview of the basics of the OT. This will be a wonderful start to my oldest daughter's study in Proverbs 31. I have been eagerly awaiting the start of that study as well. I anticipate being able to watch her bloom into the woman God intended for her to be.

I'll keep everyone updated as to our progress. OH! I almost forgot, my youngest child has a lot of trouble with math. I'm considering using Math-U-See but I understand there are others like it out there. Any comments or suggestions are VERY appreciated!

Thanks and blessings from
Deb G

Oh my aching back!

I hope ya'll will all understand as I take a few days off to move into my new home. God has blessed us with more than we could imagine with this house. My husband is already taking loads over as we speak and I needed a definite break with this old back of mine.

Ya see, yesterday I shampooed carpets there and well, it was the first time I had EVER shampooed carpets anywhere. Last night it felt like someone had sucker punched me in the back at my lower ribs!! Ouch! Today I will be going to get some Thermacare or something similar and use it while I make spinach dip for a July 4th celebration that our church is doing.

Tomorrow in church, we will celebrate a different type of independence. The one we are given as Christians should bring us to our knees in thankfulness and humbleness each day. We will be celebrating this all day and end with the Lord's supper that night. This Lord's special is extra special for me, because it is the first that we will celebrate with our new church home and the first that my entire family will be able to participate. All three of my children have been gloriously saved and baptized! I feel so blessed.

Think about what type of independence you are going to celebrate today and tomorrow. Be safe and see ya'll hopefully in a week!

Deb

Have you seen this???

The Old Schoolhouse has a huge new planner for 2009-2010! This thing is full of everything you could possibly imagine. For scatterbrained, disorganized geniuses like myself, well sometimes we need some things to keep us in line just so things actually run during the day.

To begin with it has forms you can actually type onto with Adobe. I have already begun to type in doctor's appointments, moving dates and other things that I can't afford to forget onto the interactive calendar. Then I can just print and post! How simple is that? Because it comes in an e-book format, you can print off just what you need at the time. Truly, there will be so many times in the year when you could really use a list or short lesson and it will be there to simply look up and print. All nice and neat for you to use.

I was one of these people who said, "A planner is a waste of time, I don't need that." Well, after looking at this one, I have changed my mind! It doesn't just have school related forms and items, it also has household forms, checklists and other miscellaneous items that I would have never thought to have. I have been doing flylady.net things on and off and even have her organizer for myself, but this planner even has forms for the kids! For example, there is a form to print out for your child for the chores he/she can do each day. One form I really needed was a library book form to keep up with what I had and when it was due. Maybe now I won't have so many overdue fines!!

Did I mention it had extras? How about two yummy recipes to try each month? My mouth started watering over some of them as soon as I started scrolling through the planner. That's 24 recipes that you won't regret trying.

The homeschool forms included really are very useful in getting your act together this year. I'm sure we all need that from time to time. The forms are very adaptable to the user's needs and there are even different versions of many of the pages to fit your needs. I have three children and there is one particular form where I can type in their assignments for each subject for the week, print and post it. I hadn't thought of it before. Whether you grade by day or by test/assignment, there are forms for keeping track of that also. I personally think the journaling pages for different age levels and subjects are going to be hit at my house this year.

There are also tons of helpful links to go with a particular subject each month. They are like a "focus" for the month. Lists are included that are relevant to each focus and links follow for more information or resources available at TOS.

I guess to sum it up, whether you unschool or have a strict schedule or anything in between this planner is a must have this year. It doesn't matter your family size, it is easily adapted to everyone's needs. I believe you will be completely blown away with this planner, but don't take my word for it, go by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Website and get one yourself!

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=109&products_id=10450