Homeschool Easy

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

For the past month, Silas has been using the 5th Grade Entire School Year Curriculum from Homeschool Easy. Homeschool Easy is designed to be a simple, easy to use homeschool program with a back-to-the-basics approach to learning. There are no Common Core standards, which is a big selling point for me! Homeschool Easy has Entire School Year Curriculum available for 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade, with each one covering history, science, math, grammar, reading, and writing. I'm going to go over each of the 5th grade subjects briefly.

HISTORY:
The history lessons are focused on American history, starting with the Native Americans. When you pull up the American History file, each file is organized by months - month one through month eight. Within each monthly file, it is broken down into weeks. This makes it really simple to find just what you are looking for and to look ahead for the month.

The lessons come from two main sources: Britannica Kids online and YouTube videos. For example, in week 1 Silas had three YouTube videos to watch and two topics to search on Britannica Kids. Each day he also had questions to answer that came from the videos he watched or articles he read. I noticed a few hands-on projects, like posters, that are scheduled in.

Silas is not a fan of watching YouTube videos, and some of these were long. He had difficulty answering the questions afterward so I helped him out. He also had trouble reading the articles on Britannica Kids and finding the answers. He is the type of child that needs a physical book in his hand to read and flip through. We took the American History portion very slowly and didn't do it every day.

MATH:
The math lessons are broken down by week. The first few weeks were review with addition and subtraction. Each lesson is two pages long with a lot of practice problems! I love the fact that it's traditional math and not Common Core, but the massive amount of math problems was a bit intimidating to Silas. He did complete the first few lessons in their entirety, but after that I had him do about half of the problems in each lesson if he completed them correctly.

GRAMMAR:
The grammar lessons are also broken down by week. Each day Silas had one grammar sheet to complete. Honestly, the grammar is my favorite part of this entire curriculum. The lessons are short and to the point, with clear instructions and a very doable amount of work. Silas flew through these lessons. I appreciate the fact that each week is labeled by topic (as is the math), so I can quickly see what he will be working on each week. I also like the fact that each week focuses on one concept, like plural nouns or past tense verbs. The grammar lessons are great for parts of speech review!

READING:
I also love the reading units! There are eight books scheduled, one a month, for your child to read. The book selections are great! "Charlotte's Web", "Holes", "Hatchet", and "Number the Stars" are four of my favorite books and four books scheduled for Silas to read. I feel they are very age-appropriate books. Each day your child will read an assigned amount and then answer a few questions. I really like the fact that there aren't an overwhelming number of questions to answer! Two or three direct, to the point questions to check reading comprehension are written for each day. Silas also loved this part and he loved "Charlotte's Web."

SCIENCE:
The science lessons are organized by month, and each month focuses on one topic. The first month is about matter. Like the history, there are YouTube videos to watch and Britannica Kids articles to read. There are also simple science experiments sprinkled in along with the questions about what your child has read or watched. Like with the history, Silas had trouble answering the questions about the videos and articles. He did enjoy the science videos better than the history videos! I gave him plenty of help in answering the questions, but we didn't do science every day.

SPELLING:
I really like the spelling units! Each week has twenty spelling words along with flashcards, crosswords, word searches and fill in the blanks worksheets. The words were grade-appropriate and I think twenty words are very doable for a 5th grader.

WRITING:
The writing lessons are also organized by month with each month having a writing assignment. The first month's assignment is "Future Goals." I like the way the writing lessons are organized! Each week your child will work on one paragraph, and the four paragraphs will fit together to make an essay. Silas made a graphic organizer for each paragraph which helped him to break down and organize his thought and ideas. The writing lessons are short but effective!

MY FINAL THOUGHTS:
Homeschool Easy is a great homeschool curriculum for parents who are looking for a traditional, worksheet-based approach. At $100 for each entire grade level, that's a fantastic deal! You can also buy individual subjects for each grade for $10, which I think is also a great idea. There are a few subjects, like grammar and writing, that we will continue using. There are also a few, like history and science, that we will be abandoning. They don't match Silas's learning style, so we will go back to what works for him. The curriculum is very well-written, easy to find what you need each week, easy to print, and very organized. Check out what other reviewers thought of Homeschool Easy by clicking the banner below.

Institute for Excellence in Writing (Level B)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The past several months, Mercie has been using the Institute for Excellence in Writing Structure and Style for Students Year 1 Level B, which is for grades 6-8. Mercie is in the 7th grade this year so she falls right in the middle of the grade levels.

We received the Student Packet and Binder, Teacher's Manual, and 24 Forever-Streaming Videos, a $149.00 value. You can choose between the printed materials and DVDs or printed materials and the Forever-Streaming Videos, which are available to the original purchaser forever, and the price is the same.

Structure and Style for Students Year 1 Level B is a 24-week writing course that consists of 9 units:

1. Note Making and Outlines
2. Writing From Notes
3. Retelling Narrative Stories
4. Summarizing a Reference
5. Writing From Pictures
6. Summarizing Multiple References
7. Inventive Writing
8. Formal Essay Models
9. Formal Critique

There is a weekly scope and sequence with literature suggestions like, "The Twenty-One Balloons", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and "The Hobbit." There is also a Suggested Daily Breakdown for each week, and combined with the weekly videos, makes a mostly independent course for your middle schooler!

Your student will watch the weekly video, which is broken down into two days. The videos are more than an hour in length, so dividing it into two days makes it much more doable for your child. The videos are funny, interesting, and easy to watch. Mr. Pudewa normally starts with a joke, and Mercie has shared some of these jokes with her Papa! 

Mr. Pudewa writes notes on the board for each lesson, and these notes are printed in the Teacher's Manual. He will ask the kids in the class questions and write their suggestions on the board, so it feels as if your child is in a classroom! Each week also teaches the mechanics of grammar, such as adverbs, clauses, and quality adjectives and verbs, as well as correct punctuation and capitalization.

Mercie's favorite week so far was Week Two, so that's what I'm going to talk about in this review. Week Two was also the beginning of Unit Two and it was called "Disgusting or Delicacy?"  The goals this week were:

• to learn the Unit 2 Writing From Notes Structural Model
• to practice the units 1 and 2 Structural Models
• to write a key word outline (KWO)
• to write a summary from your KWO
• to create a title
• to add a dress up: -ly adverb
• to be introduced to the composition checklist
• to use new vocabulary: compensate, editor, larva, style

The things she had to do this week were write a key word outline, retell it to a partner, write a list of -ly adverbs, notice -ly adverbs in books and write a list, learn how to format her paper and write a title, write a summary from her KWO, edit it, make a final draft, and turn it all in!

The Source Text this week was called, "Disgusting or Delicacy?" and was about some of the strange foods people eat in other countries, such as raw octopus, ant larva, and even grilled seahorse! She had a blast reading the text, taking notes, and rewriting her paragraph! 

The materials are very high quality, the videos are fun, the instruction is clear and easy to follow, and the program is almost totally independent for Mercie! She has learned so much about writing from using IEW's Structure and Style for Students. It is well worth the investment for a thorough writing program for your child. We enjoyed every aspect of this program. The only problem we had was streaming the videos. We live rurally and our WiFi can be spotty. Sometimes it took her hours to watch the video due to buffering. That was pretty frustrating for her, but it was not IEW's fault! I do recommend buying the DVDs, and we will probably be making that purchase soon. She does want to continue with the program but without the streaming stress! 

Check out what other reviewers thought about IEW's Structure and Style for Students, Levels A, B, and C, by clicking the banner below!

Homeschool Highlights

I have been incredibly busy these past few weeks which is why I haven't hosted the Homeschool Highlights Link Up! I'm sorry I've missed a few weeks, and I'll try not to let that happen again! Let me share what I've been up to.

I started a cottage school type group called The Modern One Room School House. It was laid on my heart to begin something like this about a month ago. Rod and I talked and he shared that he had a location on his heart for years that he wanted to do something with. About a mile from our house, there is an old church that hasn't been used in 12 years or so. Rod said he had been thinking about that church for years, wanting to fix it up and use it for something. We decided to pray about it and find out who owned it and if they would let us rent it. I got into contact with a lady from the family that owns the building and land, and she was more than excited to let me use it for free as long as I wanted to!

We went to the church to check it out and realized we would have to replace nearly all of the windows, fix some plumbing, and do a massive amount of cleaning! We got to work right away. I got the electricity and water back on. The kids and I started cleaning while Rod fixed a few water leaks and killed about ten million wasps that had built nest all around the outside. Thankfully there were only a few inside!

I started buying tables, shelves, books, supplies, and have had a few people donate money or supplies to help me out. I still need lots of things, but I am trusting God to provide everything in His time and in His way!

We have 14 students, counting my three. We started on Monday. The school runs Monday through Wednesday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. I cover math, gentle grammar, reading, history, and science as well as a few fun things like art and STEM. I have a Kindergartner, three 2nd graders, a 3rd grader, two 4th graders, four 5th graders, a 6th grader, a 7th grader, and an 8th grader! I have broken them into two groups - K through 2nd, and 3rd through 6th. (The 7th grader is Mercie and the 8th grader is my nephew, Bryton. They do their own work together on their own.) Mikaela is helping me with the younger group and doing a great job!

I'm super excited about this new adventure, and I will be sharing more about the things we do in my Homeschool Highlights post each week. Thursday and Friday, my kids still have school. I started reading "The American Story" and "The Answers Book" to them each morning along with the Bible. Then Mercie does her schoolwork, while Titus and Silas have math, extra language arts, handwriting, devotions, and occasionally we will have an extra project.

This first week went better than expected! I have a few things to tweak a bit, but the first week was spent getting to know the kids and assessing their academic levels and abilities. All of the kids get along great! They loved the first week. I started reading "Centerburg Tales" to them each day, and was surprised that the majority of them had never had an adult read aloud to them other than when they were young. We have reading time every day and a puzzle table, and I encourage them to work with the "table mates" on their assignments. They were most excited they could talk amongst themselves, go the bathroom when they wanted to, and help each other out with work! The only thing they would change was having more snacks!

On a personal note, I've lost 15 pounds since July 14! I started counting my calories and staying at or below 1000 a day. I also started light exercise and moving more. I feel so much better. My clothes fit so good, I don't feel bloated, and I have more energy. I don't crave sweets anymore and I don't get as hungry. I have about 20 more I'd like to lose, hopefully by Christmas.

Zeke has also been weaned for almost two weeks! He finally started sleeping through the night, although he had a struggle falling asleep for naps and bed without nursing for a while. The past few days have been easier, so I'm hoping it keeps getting better!

We still do our Tot Trays! Here are a few we've done the past two weeks.

How was your week? Please link up any homeschool related posts below and use my graphic at the top of this post! Thanks.

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How to Teach Toddlers (Especially When You Have Older Children)

Head on over to the Old School House Homeschool Review Crew blog and read my guest post on teaching toddlers especially while homeschooling older children! I breakdown how I incorporate Tot School with Zeke by using Tot Trays and offer tips for a smooth and fun Tot Time with your toddler!

Super Teacher Worksheets

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I've had a subscription to Super Teacher Worksheets for years. I really love all of the worksheets and resources they have to offer. When I was given the chance to receive another subscription for a year, I jumped at the opportunity! I use Super Teacher Worksheets all throughout the year as a supplement to our homeschool curriculum.

Super Teacher Worksheets has over 16,000 resources, printables, and worksheets available! A one-year membership is $24.95 and gives you unlimited access to the downloads. The resources are mainly for preschool through 5th grade, but there are some for older grades available. We have never been sticklers for grade levels and have used resources meant for younger grades for my older kids and vice versa!

The resources on STW are organized so well. There are categories for math, grammar, spelling, phonics, reading comprehension, social studies, geography, science, early literacy, and more. Within each category are lots of subcategories, making it super easy to find the resource you need!

Each printable resource has a short yet detailed description of the worksheet, as well as a suggested grade level. This is helpful! I like being able to glance at the title, description, and grade level and know if it's something I want to look at or not.

There are also worksheet generators that make custom word searches, crosswords, cryptograms, and math worksheets. The generators are also super easy to use! I made this cryptogram for the first day of school in about two minutes.

Over the years we have used tons of printables from STW! We have used some of the chapter book units, such as "Holes" and "The Chocolate Touch." We have used spelling units, math practice pages, color by numbers, science worksheets and articles, maps and geography printables, and alphabet handwriting pages.

During this review period we used the Primary Paper with a Box for a Picture. Titus used these to record his science experiments and draw a picture. He also used them for journal style entries.

We also used the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" printables from the Preschool section. Zeke loves this book! We have matching cards, coloring pages, and stick puppets from this unit.

I also printed out some math practice sheets for Silas. I had him reviewing multiplication with some fun worksheets! Most of the worksheets are fun, like riddles and puzzles to solve, and that makes doing the math problems more tolerable for kids!

Super Teacher Worksheets is a great website for easy to find and print resources for your homeschool or classroom. I will be using several resources for our cottage school this fall, including spelling units and sight word units. Check out what other reviewers had to say by clicking the banner below!

Must Have Resources: Blog Hop!

I have been homeschooling for 12 years. Throughout this time I have found supplies and resources that have been invaluable to me. I want to share a few of my "Must Have" resources with you today. These links are not affiliate links; they are just for your convenience!

• A good pencil sharpener! This sort of goes without saying, but having a good pencil sharpener will make your homeschool day go much smoother! There's nothing worse than using a dull or cheap pencil sharpener and having your pencils break or not sharpen.

• Good pencils! Invest in good pencils and they will save your sanity. Ticonderoga have always been good. They sharpen evenly and don't break easily. The cute pencils with the decorative wrapping - skip those. The wrapping will come off, clog your sharpener, and cause you unnecessary grief!

• Sheet protectors! I use sheet protectors in our binders to keep our pages fresh and pretty. I hate when pages get torn out of binders and you have papers sticking out and falling out. Sheet protectors keep binders neat and pages in tact. They can be expensive, but it's worth it to me! 

• Laminator! I use my laminator all the time, especially with my younger kids. I laminate flash cards, games and pieces, resources I want to reuse, and charts. It makes things so durable and almost impossible to destroy. I have had my laminator for years and it still works perfectly!

Those are my top four must have resources for the school year! Tomorrow I'll be sharing about curriculum. 

Back to School Traditions: Blog Hop!

I have been homeschooling for about 12 years. We don't have any fancy back-to-school traditions, but we do have a few things that the kids always look forward to when we are starting a new school year.


NEW SCHOOL SUPPLIES! This is one of my kid's favorite things - picking out new pencils, notebooks, binders, crayons, colored pencils, and markers. They love to go through their new school supplies and organize and re-organize them. When I was a kid in public school, this was always the best part of going back to school for me!

NEW SCHOOL BOOKS! They also love flipping through their new math, language arts, history, and science books. Looking forward to fun experiments and interesting history lessons can make the school year much more exciting!

BALLOONS! I don't know why balloons make things more special, but they do! Last year I hung up balloons that looked like earth to kick off our world geography study! I haven't decided which balloons I'll use this year to mark the first day of school.

SPECIAL BREAKFAST! I usually cook cinnamon rolls for the first day of school. It's not something I make often, so it is a special treat for the kids!

SKATE PARTY! I don't know if we will be able to have it this year, but our homeschool group has a back-to-school skate party each August! Last year was our first year going, but we plan to make it a tradition. 

What are your back-to-school traditions?