curriculum reviews Archives

How to Teach Kids to Type with Typesy Homeschool Typing

March 25, 2019 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Typing is one of those skills that was expected to die out. After all, no one uses typewriters anymore, right?

But now that so many kids, including mine, use computers at an early age, typing is actually more important than ever.

The faster and more accurately a child types, the more capable he or she is of using a computer to interact with others, complete school assignments, and work online in the future.

Which is why I was excited to try out Typesy Homeschool Typing with my kids!

We’ve used several homeschool typing programs in the past, but my kids have enjoyed this one the most.

Read on to see why? And for more curriculum choices for early grades, take a look at our minimalist kindergarten curriculum picks!

Disclosure: I received access to this program in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own.

How to Teach Kids to Type with Typesy Homeschool Typing

When you first begin using Typesy Homeschool Typing, you have the option to set typing and accuracy goals for your children.

If you’re unsure about their abilities, you can simply use the recommended goals and then adjust as you see fit.

Naturally, Typesy begins with a discussion of correct hand and finger placement, as well as proper sitting posture. What I love about it is that the program uses short videos that do all of the teaching for you.

My kids just started a lesson and were off on their own in no time!

Like most typing programs, Typesy begins with a lesson on home row keys. As kids work on typing those letters fluently, they can simply follow the on-screen prompts.

Since Typesy is completely online, there is no program to download and no special textbooks to buy. Students can simply follow the course and pick up where they leave off each day.

My six-year-old has been asking to do more of it every day since.

What about kids who tend to get bored easily?

Typesy Homeschool Typing has several online typing games for kids that are great for keeping their attention and improving their typing skills.

My most active learner was thrilled to see that they have a game called “Type-Man”, a typing version of Pac-Man.

It was fun, it helped him practice his typing, and it was no-stress. After all, we want our kids to enjoy what they learn, right?

If you’re looking for a simple, no-prep, fun typing program for kids, I can definitely recommend Typesy Homeschool Typing. Check it out for yourself and see how your kids like learning to type with Typesy!

Don’t miss these other homeschool curriculum choices!

And see more choices for your homeschool year on my Homeschool Curriculum Choices Pinterest board!

Save Money on Ink with a Homeschool Printing Service!

August 15, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

How many printers have you gone through during your homeschooling journey? We’re on number three.

There’s no doubt that homeschoolers use a lot of printer ink. And when I say a lot, I mean a LOT. I finally just set up a subscription ink service because I got tired of always running out…lol.

And, since I both use and make printables for homeschoolers, I go through even more printer ink and paper than normal. Which is why I was so excited to try the homeschool printing service from The Homeschool Printing Company!

If you use a lot of printer ink (and I’m sure you do), you’ll want to read on to learn more about how you can save money on ink this year and save yourself a lot of preparation time in the process!

By the way, to give you an idea of just how affordable this service really is, I’m sharing my actual estimates for each product I had printed. You won’t believe how inexpensive they are!

Disclosure: I received this service in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Why Homeschool Printing Can Be So Expensive

As I mentioned earlier, a lot of homeschoolers use a ton of printer ink. If you haven’t noticed, printer ink is among the most expensive liquids on earth.

Think about it: We pay about $2 to $3 for a gallon of gas and when it gets much higher than that, we all start shouting about how gas is too expensive. But we’ll pay $30 or more for three ounces of printer ink without batting an eye. That says something about how much we actually spend in printer ink.

Public school educators go through a lot of printed materials each year and, increasingly, they have to cover some of those costs themselves. And for homeschoolers, it’s no different. Except we have to pay for everything out of pocket.

If you’ve got several children in different grade levels (like we do), then your printed homeschool curriculum can cost you a pretty penny each year.

How to Save Money on Ink With The Homeschool Printing Company

So what makes the service from The Homeschool Printing Company so incredible? They do all the printing for you! They provide the paper, the color and black ink, and the work that goes into printing them. All you have to do is send in the PDF files you want printed and they’ll do the rest.

Want your documents printed double-sided? They’ll do that.

Want your documents spiral-bound? They’ll do that.

Need some pages laminated? They can do that too!

They don’t provide more complicated services, such as cutting documents or folding them, so if you use a lot of lapbooks, you can request that The Homeschool Printing Company print the pages. But you’ll need to assemble them yourself. (Which is half the fun, anyway.)

I chose to have several of my store products printed, since we’ll be using some of them with the kids this year.

As you can see, you receive all of your documents from The Homeschool Printing Company in one shipment. My entire order was for 500 sheets – one whole ream of paper.

This is a look at my African Kingdoms Unit Study, which is designed for elementary grades. This unit study is 61 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $4.88.

I chose to have my pages printed one-sided, because some of them include cut and paste activities. But if you decide to have your products printed double-sided, then you can really maximize your order and get twice as much printed. I also chose not to have anything laminated or spiral-bound. I wanted to do that myself (which I’ll talk more about in a bit).

As I mentioned, all of the products come in one stack, but this handy-dandy separator sheet is in between each individual item.

I used the to-do list on the back to keep up with what I needed to do with each product.

This is my All About Leaves printable unit study – 30 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $2.40.

This is my ebook “Homeschooling with ADHD” – 67 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $5.36.

Here are my Fall Alphabet and Number Playdough Mats – 41 pages.

My color-printed estimate: $3.28.

Our Construction Contractions Language Arts Unit – 68 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $5.44.

Our ebook “How to Afford Homeschooling” – 24 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $1.92.

Our Amusement Park Addition Flashcards – 42 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $3.36.

Our Spanish Community Helpers Printable Pack – 33 pages.

My color-printed estimate: $2.64.

And our We Got Jazz Unit Study – 139 pages long.

My color-printed estimate: $11.12.

The grand total to have all of the resources printed in color: $40.40 plus $10.75 shipping. That’s it!

When I got the estimate, I was honestly shocked. I was expecting it to be way, way, way higher.

Now for the details:

When you place a request with The Homeschool Printing Company, the normal turnaround time after you get your estimate is two to three days. During peak homeschool planning season (July through September), it could take up to a week, but they’ll get back to you!

Since I opted not to have my pages bound, I had to do it myself for select products. But that’s okay, because it gives me a chance to use this beauty.

And then we could get to work with our African Kingdoms unit!

As you can see, the pages are printed clearly and cleanly, so there are no readability issues.

Looks like this service is going to be a big hit!

Interested in learning more? Visit The Homeschool Printing Company today and request a free estimate! If you decide to place an order, tell them Selena from Look! We’re Learning! referred you and get a 10 percent discount on your first order!

Get more tips for organizing your homeschool on my Homeschool Organization Pinterest board!

Learn with Diagrams: Online Sentence Diagramming for Kids

June 5, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My middle schooler is a total grammar nerd. I can’t imagine where she might have gotten that from…*cough* it was me *cough*.

I remember loving Language Arts in school. I was totally into learning parts of speech, creative writing, poetry, and all the things that make English great.

But by the time I got to diagramming sentences, I was being homeschooled. And my mom had no idea how to do it, so I never learned to do it. That was…a certain number of years ago now, but I always regretted never learning how to diagram sentences. It looked like it would have been fun.

So now that my daughter is at the age to learn how to diagram sentences, I was a little apprehensive about how to teach her. Which is why I was so thrilled to have a chance to review the wonderful online sentence diagramming program Learn with Diagrams!

See how this online grammar program makes it easy (and fun!) to learn how to diagram sentences!

Disclosure: I received access to this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

How Online Sentence Diagramming Works

Learn with Diagrams is a fully online grammar program. While it’s awesome for homeschoolers, it also works for afterschoolers or even public school families that want to give their kids a bit more practice in ELA.

Since the program is completely online, there’s no textbook (which saves storage space). And it’s a cinch to use!

We started off with Level 1, which is a nice introduction to how diagramming sentences can help kids learn grammar. It’s also a good, quick review of the parts of speech.

Each level of the program begins with a brief video that explains a set of grammatical concepts and how they are used in sentences. So kids are really getting a set of grammar lessons with coordinating grammar games.

Basically, when you diagram a sentence, you break up the words according to the part of speech to which they belong. When you diagram correctly, you show that you understand each word’s role in the sentence.

After the introductory video, which is short, kids get to try navigating the game through a guided level. This helps them learn to play the diagramming game correctly before the grammar lessons get too difficult.

The sentences begin at a very basic level: just nouns and verbs. As students progress, though, the sentences become a bit more complex.

Like so. So the program builds on itself, gradually increasing the parts of speech used in each sentence once students show they understand the previous lessons.

When kids complete a level successfully, they can unlock the next lesson. This is fabulous if you have a “skip-arounder” student who likes to just click all over the place. They can’t really do that in this program.

How to Use Online Sentence Diagramming to Teach Grammar

Since my middle schooler loves all things ELA, I didn’t have much trouble getting her to continue using Learn with Diagrams. But I was surprised at how much she learned in just a few lessons.

She has a nice grasp of grammar, because she reads a lot. But I also want to make sure that she learns the correct terminology for each part of speech she uses.

In the early lessons, she had no trouble at all. As the lessons progressed, though, she started to pay closer attention to the section videos.

After she watched the lesson video, she would start to practice diagramming the sentences based on that lesson.

The tips at the bottom of the screen were very helpful for remembering what each part of speech meant and how to use it. And the first few examples are guided, showing students where to place their newly introduced words.

She was moving on to prepositional phrases in no time!

I don’t want to make it sound like she got every question right. She didn’t. But when she incorrectly identified a part of speech, the online sentence diagramming game would let her know and she’d try again.

In some cases, we’d rewatch the lesson video to grasp exactly how each part of speech is used and to note some examples to watch for in the exercises.

She learned so much about grammar (that she didn’t know already) in just the first several lessons!

And I (finally) learned how to diagram sentences! Woohoo!

Visit Learn with Diagrams to start helping your child learn how to diagram sentences the fun way! Plus, score $10 off with the promo code Grammargame!

Learn more about Learn with Diagrams by following the company on social media!

And see even more tips for teaching ELA in your homeschool on my Homeschool Language Arts Ideas Pinterest board!

How to Improve Reading Fluency with Nessy Reading & Spelling

April 18, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My seven-year-old is well above grade level at reading comprehension, math, and writing, which thrills me. But his reading fluency needs a little help. Because he has ADHD, he’s super active. (And I mean, super active.) And that makes him rather…impatient.

When he tries to read aloud or spell words, he gets frustrated whenever he can’t do it right the first time. But, like most kids, he loves to play. So it was it a wonderful gift to get to try out Nessy Reading & Spelling – a game-based reading and spelling program that makes it simple to improve reading fluency for active kids or children with dyslexia!

Read on to see how we’re using this fabulous reading program to help our child with ADHD work on reading and spelling. Plus, learn how to score a 15 percent discount on a monthly subscription AND a free book about dyslexia!

Disclosure: I received access to this program in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

How Nessy Reading & Spelling Works

Nessy Reading & Spelling looks and operates much like a video game, so your kids are not going to fight you when it’s time for reading practice. I promise. 🙂

When you first sign up, you’ll receive login information and then you can create a “monkey” (an avatar) for your child. Or you can let them create it on their own.

Kids can use their own name to sign in, so you don’t have to worry about helping them remember a username. Once they log in for the first time, they’ll get a quick tour of how the program works.

The tour is really helpful, because it shows kids how to navigate between “islands” (game levels) and how to find all the activities for each island. Nessy Reading & Spelling is touch-centric, so it’s awesome to try on a tablet, by the way.

After completing the video tour, kids receive “nuggets”, which are basically points. As they progress through games and levels, they receive more that they can use in MonkeyTown, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

Once they take the tour, kids are prompted to complete the Nessy Challenge – an assessment of their current reading level.

During the Nessy Challenge, kids fill in blanks with the appropriate word. As they complete words correctly, the questions get more and more difficult.

I will admit: The Nessy Challenge is long. It takes kids through all ten levels, and the challenge automatically proceeds to the next level once one is finished.

After about five levels, my guy was at the end of his patience limit. So I let him stop and go on to the Home screen to find an island he could explore. (You can always resume the challenge or take it again at a different time.)

Here’s a look at the “islands” in Nessy Reading and Spelling. Each one corresponds to about half a grade level, so Islands 1 and 2 are roughly equivalent to kindergarten, while islands 9 and 10 equate to fifth grade or so.

You might wonder: How can you go over half of an elementary grade on one of these islands?

Easy! By including a ton of standard-specific exercises! These islands are jam-packed with reading practice, lessons, games, and even printables!

There’s even sight word and mnemonic practice included – and that’s just in Island 1!

Remember MonkeyTown? Here’s a look at it. After kids complete their schoolwork for the day, they can go play in MonkeyTown – a game area that’s just for fun. You can set limits as to how long they can play in this area or how many lessons they must complete before entering.

Using Nessy Reading & Spelling to Improve Reading Fluency

Once my seven-year-old finished the Nessy Challenge, he was placed on Island 5. After looking through the standards, we started him on compound words – a topic he hadn’t learned much about yet.

Since he was already familiar with the concept of compound words (two small words joined together to make a larger word), he went straight to the games.

In the game “Monkey Words”, kids can help their monkeys jump to the top of the tree by correctly combining small words to form compound words. My guy did pretty good with this one.

See? At the end of the game, you can see a report that shows you which words kids learned, how they scored, and how long it took them to complete it. You can set the passing score however you like, but the default is 8 out of 10.

Then it was on to another game – “Hands Off My Bananas”. This was a great activity, because it was practice in typing, spelling, and recognizing the same compound words he just practiced in the previous game.

In this game, he had to listen to the compound word being spoken and then type it correctly. I love how Nessy Reading & Spelling lets kids work on reading and recognizing the same group of words through a variety of exercises. So much better than just drilling them over and over!

And, as you can see, even though he worked on the same group of words for about 20 minutes, he didn’t get impatient or frustrated at all. He loved it!

Finally, for that lesson, we used one of the printable resources: A compound words bingo game! We printed out the game and let my two boys play against each other.

As with the previous exercises, this game focused on the very same set of compound words. The challenge for each boy was to find the compound word I called out and get “BINGO” before the other.

Since the game boards aren’t identical (each one contains different words), there’s truly no way to know who will win.

But my seven-year-old won anyway. 🙂

And I made them both shake hands afterward. Good game, fellas!

We really had a ball working with Nessy Reading & Spelling and this was just a few exercises from one of the over 100 lessons! There’s so much to work with here for kids from grades K-5. It’s truly an excellent, comprehensive program for building reading fluency and spelling skills!

To learn more about Nessy Learning and how you can get a subscription to Nessy Reading & Spelling, follow the company on social media:

And if you’re ready to sign up for a monthly Nessy Reading & Spelling subscription, you can save 15% with the promo code BLOG17!

Plus, score an ebook about how dyslexia affects kids – FREE! This is super important if you have a child that struggles with dyslexia or if you suspect your early reader may be displaying signs of a learning disorder. Download the free Dyslexia Explained ebook to learn more about how to help your kids master reading, even if they’re living with dyslexia.

Get more tips for helping your readers on my Reading for Kids Pinterest board!

Affordable Homeschool Standardized Testing for Families

January 17, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Standardized testing is a somewhat controversial subject among homeschoolers. Some families perform testing regularly to assess their children’s performance each year. Others decide not to use standardized testing at all, opting for other ways to check their children’s understanding.

Our state requires us to assess our children with a standardized test occasionally. And, while I’m not a big fan of testing in general, I do want to know where my kids need the most help so I can adjust my homeschooling methods to assist them.

Which is why I was excited to try MAP testing from Affordable Homeschool Testing Services LLC! Read on to see how we used the company’s MAP test to administer a standardized test to our kids with almost no prep at all!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

The Challenges of Homeschool Standardized Testing

We’ve been homeschooling for eight years, so we’re not new to offering standardized testing to our kids. But over the years, we’ve found that giving a test at home can pose quite a few challenges.

Deciding on a test format: This can be daunting. There are so many tests to choose from! From the CAT to the ITBS to the PASS, there are several standardized tests available and trying to find the best one to assess your children can be confusing. Some tests are not even available for parents to proctor and must be completed at an assessment site, which can be inconvenient.
Scheduling a test for more than one child: Think back to taking a standardized test in school. Remember having to sit in a quiet room for at least an hour so you could concentrate? How do you offer that kind of environment when you need to test more than one child?
What adjustments to make for active kids: Since some of our children have ADHD, I was concerned about making a few adjustments to the testing schedule to help them stay focused during the assessment.
How to help the kids after the test is over: Once you get the testing results, how can you go about helping the kids to master the concepts they struggled with? A final score alone is not enough to help us know what to teach going forward.

How to Take MAP Homeschool Standardized Testing Online

With Affordable Homeschool Testing Services LLC, though, we found that all of our concerns were met. The Measures of Academic Progress test (MAP) is a thorough assessment of exactly which concepts kids grasp and which ones they need additional help mastering and that’s the test we administered.

The test assesses three subjects: reading, math, and language arts over the years of three days. On the first day, the kids were tested in reading, then math on the second day, and ELA on the third.

I set my two oldest kids up at the school room table (also known as the dining room table) with separate computers they could use. Each child has to work at his or her own computer, because the test is administered entirely online.

The test is designed to be challenging, so kids will only get about half of the questions right. Fortunately, they don’t know if they’re getting any right or wrong. The test just moves continuously. No error messages or warning sounds, which can be discouraging.

I did make sure that the kids had a couple of pencils and some scratch paper nearby, especially for the math portion. Other than that, all we had to do was log into the testing site and wait for the test proctor to call us to set us up. Since we scheduled our testing days and times in advance, we were ready to go.

With the reading portion, the kids really needed to slow down and concentrate, which is something they struggle with because of their short attention spans. For example, the reading test often featured a passage for them to read and then answer a few questions. On the next page, they might see the same passage again – this time with different questions. So they couldn’t just run through and assume they knew the answers.

Another option I appreciated was that the kids could go back and review their answers before finally submitting the test. That gave them a lot of flexibility to reassess their answers, just in case they had completed the test in a hurry.

Since the test was untimed, we could take breaks as needed. I didn’t allow them to decide when they wanted a break. Otherwise, they’d have been asking for a break every 10 minutes. But we did take them every 30 minutes or so.

The actual length of the test varies according to each child’s performance on the assessment. If it seems that your child has grasped a specific concept, the test may shorten by a few questions. If it seems that a concept is challenging, it may add a few more. My daughter, who was taking a 6th grade assessment in all subjects, had about 50 questions per subject.

We finished taking the test on Wednesday morning. By Friday afternoon, I had an extremely detailed report (around 60 pages) that showed me the grade level each child was performing at in each subject. The report also included a list of the specific subject objectives that were mastered and those that needed reinforcement.

But, what I really loved was the math objectives list. Not only did it explain which math concepts my kids needed assistance with, it included links to those specific objectives on Khan Academy so I could view the videos with the kids. That was a goldmine of information. Sometimes the way educational standards are written can be confusing, but seeing the specific objective in action gave me a great starting point.

Have you administered a standardized test to your kids? Do you have questions about using the MAP test with your family? Ask away in the comments!

Now is a great time to try out MAP testing from Affordable Homeschool Testing Services LLC, because through July 5, 2017, you can save $5 on the assessment with the coupon code MAPTest17!

To learn more about Affordable Homeschool Testing Services LLC and the different homeschool testing options available, visit the company’s website to schedule a MAP testing appointment or follow them on Facebook!

Don’t miss these other homeschooling posts!

Plus, get more tips for teaching kids at home on our Homeschooling Pinterest board!

STEM for Homeschoolers: How to Build a Toothpick Bridge with Pitsco Education!

January 3, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

STEM education is a huge priority in our homeschool these days. We’ve got a busy middle schooler and I want her to get a good introduction to science, technology, engineering, and math during these years. That way, as she goes on in her schooling, she won’t be intimidated by these subjects later. And who knows? Maybe she’ll become an engineer herself!

So I jumped at the chance to try the Toothpick Bridges Maker Project from Pitsco Education! See how this curriculum helps kids learn how to build a toothpick bridge and learn about design and engineering at the same time!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.

Pitsco Education Toothpick Bridges Maker Project

Pitsco Education offers many, many resources for homeschoolers who want to work on STEM concepts with their kids. Each of the resources are grouped by category. For example, if you want to focus on math, you can browse plenty of awesome math projects. What I love about Pitsco’s product selection is that all of the lessons feature hands-on projects, which are an incredible teaching method for active homeschoolers (like ours).

The Pitsco Education Toothpick Bridges Maker Project was the foundation for our lesson. In the kit, there are:

Structural glue
A ton of toothpicks
Bottles for handling the glue
A toothpick bridge tester
And an instructional video on how to design your own toothpick bridge

We also received the complete lesson plan Masterpiece Toothpick Bridges: A Guide for Teachers and Students, which was a huge help for me as the educator. The plan includes plenty of activities, research, and illustrations to make an entire month of lessons based on this concept. It’s very, very detailed and an excellent in-depth lesson we’ll be working on through the rest of the year.

How to Build a Toothpick Bridge

I was so thankful for the Toothpick Bridges DVD. It really helped my middle schooler to “see” exactly what the process is for designing and creating her bridge.

Since she has ADHD, she watched the video once and said “I got it!” As we started on the project, though, I could see that she didn’t really get it quite yet. So I played it a second time and watched it along with her, pausing frequently to ask about her understanding. That really helped her get a clearer idea of what was involved in the process.

In the Toothpick Bridges teachers’ guide, there are examples of stunning toothpick bridges constructed by students. Some of these are practically works of art. This time, though, we stuck to the basics.

We started by creating a paper template to use as the design for our bridge sides. My middle schooler used the template on the DVD as her guide.

Then it was time to start measuring how many toothpicks we’d need for each side. We laid them down on the template to get a look at how to place them before we started adding glue.

As the video shows, building these bridges takes time. You can only create one side at a time and you can only construct one set of diagonals at a time. Which meant that we’d work on it for a while, let it set up, then resume working on it. For a child with a short attention span, this was an excellent activity for working on a longer-term project.

Once the individual sides dry, you can stand them up and attach them together, forming your bridge. As you can see, we used a LOT of glue. Next time, we’ll cut back on that a bit…lol.

Once our bridge was constructed, it was time to test it! The goal here is to put as much weight as you can possibly can on the bridge to see how much it can bear before it breaks.

As the video showed, we put on some safety goggles first. No one wants to catch a toothpick in the eye.

We placed a piece of wood (from the Toothpick Bridge tester) on the bridge and tied the bucket to a string. Our bridge wasn’t quite wide enough for the piece of wood to lie straight down, so it’s possible that our results were a bit skewed. Next time, we’ll be sure to use the piece of wood as the template for how wide the flatbed of the bridge should be.

We gradually added sand to the bucket until…the bridge broke!

Afterward, we weighed the sand to see how much our bridge could hold before breaking. It was 6.5 pounds! Who knew you could hold up six and a half pounds with just toothpicks!

This was a STEM activity we truly loved. And we’ll be repeating it again this school year now that we have a better understanding of how to engineer a bridge from scratch.

Are you working on STEM concepts with your kids this year? Be sure to check out the incredible products available from Pitsco Education for kids!

Plus, get more ideas for teaching STEM on my STEM for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

How to Teach Kids to Care for Pets with Fish Toys!

May 23, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My kids have been begging for a pet for months. My 11-year-old daughter, in particular, has been cooing about how “cute” and “furry” kittens and puppies are, while simultaneously exchanging a knowing glance in my direction. I can take a hint.

But my kids aren’t used to caring for pets and I’ve been a tad…concerned that they’re not quite ready to be responsible for one. So I was considering buying a fish. Honestly, though, I wasn’t thrilled about exposing a living creature to the possibility of an untimely death at the hands of my children.

Which made me thrilled to try out the fish toys for Lil’ Fishys! Read on to see how I used Lil’ Fishys fish toys to teach my kids to care for pets!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Why I Love Lil’ Fishys Fish Toys

Take a look at the awesome products available from Lil’ Fishys!

We got a Fishbowl Habitat featuring two fish from Lil’ Fishys, which was what we used for our mock “pet care” lesson.

We also received several other fish, including Orky the Orca Whale and Wheldon the Whale. What makes these fish toys so great is that they actually spray water, so they are awesome for water play!

Plus, we also got a giant swimming Clownfish, Jitters the Electric Eel, and Lucky the Clownfish! Lucky was our “pet”.

Inside the Fishbowl Habitat were two fish and decals for decorating the fishbowl.

So we added some stickers to our fishbowl and filled it with water. Simple!

Now when it came to assembling the fish toys, I was a little intimidated. But the instructions were very clear.

I simply twisted off the top and unscrewed the battery compartment cover. The fish all take AAA batteries, so be sure to stock up on those.

Then I simply reattached the top and adjusted the tail. As the instructions show, you angle the tail, depending on the size of the water tank your fish will be swimming in. I angled ours all the way up because he would be swimming in the fishbowl.

To get a look at Lil’ Fishys in action, check out Orky the Orca Whale swimming around in our bathtub! My three-year-old daughter was thrilled. 🙂

Water play with @lilfishys Orca Whale: Orky! It really sprays water and swims! 🐳🌊 (Excuse the excited three-year-old in the background…) Review coming on Monday! #ihsnet #homeschooling #kids

A video posted by Selena Robinson (@lookwelearn) on May 10, 2016 at 1:01pm PDT

How to Teach Kids to Care for Pets with Fish Toys

Here’s one thing to keep in mind with Lil’ Fishys: They need to come out of the water when you’re not actively playing with them. So I couldn’t leave it in the fishbowl all the time like a live fish. Otherwise, though, I was committed to making this as much like caring for a real fish as possible.

We took time to observe our fish in action each day.

We even spent time “feeding” the fish twice a day. A small container of ground thyme served as our “fish food”. I had them go through the motions of shaking the container over the fishbowl and everything.

And, of course, you have to change the water in the fishbowl every few days.

This was definitely a great exercise for my kids, because they didn’t have to worry about hurting the fish, they were able to follow my instructions without feeling nervous. And, as they found out, it takes a LOT more to care for a pet than they thought. I think they’ll wait a while before asking for another one. 🙂

Lil’ Fishys fish toys are great toys for kids of all ages. They’re easy to assemble and fun to play with. Plus, they’re the easiest pets you’ll ever own! 😉

Add more fun to your fishy learning with these adorable free coloring pages featuring Lil’ Fishys!

Get a chance to win all kinds of Lil’ Fishys goodies, including a Fishbowl Habitat and a grab bag of Lil’ Fishys fish toys! Three people will win! To enter, use the Giveaway Tools widget below!

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If you’re on Instagram, be sure to check out the Lil’ Fishys Instagram challenge now through May 27!

And don’t miss the iHSNet Lil’ Fishys Twitter party on May 26! You could win awesome prizes from Lil’ Fishys and Atmosflare!

To learn more about Lil’ Fishys, follow the company on social media:

Mozart Composer Study for Kids with Zeezok!

March 11, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I got into listening to classical music in my tween years. My mom went and bought some classical cassette tapes (remember those?) and played them for weeks on end.

While I grew to love classical music, I never really got to know much about the composers themselves. Which is why I was so excited to have the opportunity to review the Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades program from Zeezok!

Not only do you get to hear classical music, you and your kids get to learn about the lives and experiences of the masters, which greatly influenced their work. Take a look at how the program makes music education a snap and how we used it to complete a Mozart composer study!

Disclosure: I received this product for free and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

How Zeezok Makes Composer Study Simple

Teaching classical music can seem rather complicated, especially if you’re new to homeschooling or if your kids don’t really love history. But Zeezok’s Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades really makes it simple.

Here’s how the program can handle some of the common objections homeschooling parents might make:

It’s too hard to plan my own lessons. Lesson planning is a serious time investment for homeschoolers. But Zeezok’s program already has the lessons planned out for you! There are weekly reading assignments, projects, and worksheets ready to go!
I don’t know enough about classical composers. As I mentioned above, I didn’t either. But the books and workbooks are so thoroughly written, I ended up learning about these composers right along with the kids!
I can’t get my kids to enjoy listening to classical music. When you mention “classical music” to your kids, you might not get the most excited response. Let’s face it: Kids are more likely to listen to Bieber than Bach. But the Zeezok Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades program gets kids involved in learning about the composers, which makes them more interested in hearing the music they wrote.

As you can see, the Zeezok Book 1 Collection includes composer studies for seven musicians: Beethoven, Paganini, Schubert, Bach, Mozart, Handel, and Haydn. Each composer has a chapter book with lovely illustrations and a set of weekly lesson plans in the workbook.

There is also a lapbook CD, which has lapbook printables for each composer, and a multi-disc music collection featuring works by all seven composers. It’s an amazingly complete curriculum.

Mozart Composer Study for Kids

For our first composer study, I decided to go with Mozart. Since he started composing at such a young age (five years old!), I thought he would be more relatable, especially for my boys.

The Mozart book is entitled “Mozart, the Wonder Boy” and it’s a lovely, well-written chapter book about Mozart’s childhood, career, and early death. It’s written in a very kid-friendly tone, but it doesn’t mince words about Mozart’s problems, including his financial issues and his sickness.

We used it as a read-aloud and the kids really enjoyed it. As we read each chapter, we’d turn to the corresponding section in the Music Appreciation Book 1 workbook and complete the activities.

Mozart played several instruments and the Music Appreciation Workbook lists them all. Some of them like the clavier and the clavichord are no longer in common use, but some of the other instruments are.

To hear these instruments, we visited the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids website and listened to the sounds of the harpischord, organ, piano, and violin. The organ was the favorite by a long shot. 🙂

Towards the latter part of his career, Mozart branched out into writing operas, including “The Marriage of Figaro”. Since my kids knew almost nothing about operas, we read the section about the story in the Music Appreciation Workbook.

Then we watched this Opera in Brief video to try to understand what happened in the plot.

It was neat for the kids to learn that opera is not always serious. It can be funny! Plus, it’s impressive to realize that composers can write what is basically a sitcom, except set to music and sung live in Italian. That takes talent.

We love using lapbooks and I was really enthralled with the Mozart lapbook, which is included in the Lapbook CD. You just print the pages and follow the directions.

One of the first activities in the lapbook is a geography minibook that lists countries and cities that Mozart visited. The country minibook is good for younger kids, while the city minibook suits older children. Since our boys were making the lapbook along with Tigger, we printed both geography minibooks and let them complete both separately.

As the boys found each country on our giant wall map, they ran back and drew a line from the name to the place on the map. Tigger did the same with the city minibook.

Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, so we decided to learn more about the town and its history. This Rick Steves clip was super helpful.

Can I just run away and live there now? So, so beautiful. My boys weren’t that enthralled with the scenery, but they really liked the funicular railway. To each his own, right?

Now that we had a better understanding of Mozart’s early life, we started working on the timeline in the Mozart lapbook. Tigger sorted out the life events and glued them in the correct spot in the minibook.

It was so tragic to learn that Mozart only lived to be 35. It’s astounding to think of how much music he produced in such a short period of time.

And our lapbook is complete!

If you think this was extensive, let me just add that this only shows a few of the activities for the Mozart unit. Plus, there are units for SIX other composers! Zeezok’s Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades is truly a comprehensive music curriculum. We’re looking forward to using the rest of the program through the rest of this school year!

Stock your homeschooling library with the Book 1 Collection from the Zeezok online shop!

Get a chance to win Zeezok Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades in the company’s giveaway! To enter, use the widget below!

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Now’s the time to score the Book 1 Collection for 10 percent off! Through March 25, save 10% on the program with the promo code ihomeschool16! Get your set now!

To learn more about Zeezok’s product offerings, follow the publisher on social media!

Simple 3D Printing for Kids with Atmosflare!

March 1, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’m kind of an old, so the whole concept of 3D printing is still kind of “weird science” to me. But 3D printing holds a LOT of promise. Scientists are even trying to use the technology to make organs for organ transplants!

So it’s worth it to introduce it to kids. And that’s why I was excited to get a chance to try the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen! While it’s an artistic tool, it’s also a cool way to introduce 3D printing for kids! Take a look at how the pen works below!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

How the Atmosflare 3D Pen Introduces Kids to 3D Printing

In short, 3D printing works by layering molded plastic into a specific design shape to make a product. And that’s how the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen works as well!

For me, understanding how 3D printing works was a bit…difficult. But when I broke it down into steps (design, layer, create), it made more sense. And that’s why using the Atmosflare pen is a simple introduction to how 3D printing works: you can use the exact same steps!

As you can see, the Atmosflare pen comes with the pen, two ink cartridges (blue and red), and a battery.

In the box, there are all the pen components and a very simple instruction diagram. But if you’re unsure how to assemble the pen, you can find instruction videos directly on the Atmosflare website.

How to Use the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen

So, here’s my take on the Atmosflare pen: simple to assemble, not so simple to master.

As you can see, it fits nicely in your hand – just like a pen. To use the pen, you just squeeze the ink cartridge between your fingers….

and hold down the light curing button on top to harden the ink as it flows out.

After a few practice shots, we built a simple 3D shape – a cube.

We established a base, drew the sides, and then connected the top. We had to add a bit more ink at the corners to hold it together.

On to our first structure!

It’s a swing set! Kind of…

This pen is a lot of fun to work with, but it takes some practice to learn to use it properly. So if you have a child who’s easily frustrated, prepare him or her in advance for the fact that it will take a while to learn how to actually make something with the pen.

Atmosflare 3D Pen Usage Tips:

There is definitely a learning curve with the Atmosflare 3D Pen, so you can find helpful instruction videos on the company website. But here are a few tips we picked up as we used it:

Decide what you’re going to make before you begin. Once you start using the pen, it’s kind of hard to improvise without making a mess. Have an idea in mind before you start.
Always start with a base. It’s nice to think that you can just start drawing in the air, but you can’t. You need a base first, then you can start building up from there.
Go slowly. When you push the curing button, the ink tends to harden on the tip and clog. So try to work slowly to give the ink a chance to catch up with your movements.
Work in stages. I found that if you’re creating a structure, it’s best to work on one part at a time. You can even form a complete shape flat on the table and then attach it to another shape by just joining them at a corner and using the curing function on the pen.

Are you ready to introduce 3D printing for kids to your family? You can get an Atmosflare 3D Pen at ToysRUs, Best Buy, Amazon, and from the Atmosflare website!

But if you want to get one for FREE, you can win one in the huge Atmosflare giveaway! 30 winners will get an Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen absolutely free! Use the giveaway widget below to enter.

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For more 3D drawing tips, keep up with Atmosflare using the social media links below!

Improving Math Thinking Skills with Redbird Mathematics

January 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

How many of you think that you’re “bad” at math? I didn’t think I was bad at it, but I didn’t think I was exactly good at it either. I mean, I can get through it, but it’s not a pleasant journey.

So, I was thrilled to get a chance to try Redbird Mathematics from GiftedandTalented.com! Since the program was developed by Stanford University, I knew it would be exceptional for teaching kids how to use mathematical principles to think their way through operations, rather than just memorizing them. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Read on to see how we used Redbird Mathematics to improve math thinking skills with our second-grader. Plus, enter to win a three-month subscription absolutely FREE!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

What If My Child Hasn’t Been Labeled as Gifted?

Don’t worry! You can still use Redbird Mathematics by GiftedandTalented.com. One of the things I love about this program’s philosophy is that “giftedness” should be the destination, not the starting point. Which means that your child doesn’t have to be termed “gifted” in order to use it.

Instead of being a program catered to gifted kids, Redbird Mathematics strives to help kids of all learning abilities develop their own mathematical gifts. And, since we’re trying to combat the “bad at math” stigma in our family, that’s a philosophy we can get behind!

How Redbird Mathematics Works

When you purchase a subscription to Redbird Mathematics, you’re not tied to a single grade level. The program covers math concepts from kindergarten through grade 7, so you can move up or down as your child needs.

If you’re unsure which grade level your child should use, Redbird Mathematics gives you the option to look at the concepts covered in each grade. Since Pooh was already familiar with the Grade 1 concepts, we decided to start with Grade 2.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Once you choose a grade level for your child, the program gives him or her an assessment test to see what concepts they already know.

I’ll be honest: It was extremely tough for me NOT to help Pooh with the problems on the assessment. I had to keep telling myself “It’s just to see what he knows. He doesn’t have to get them right.” Eventually I just walked away. So this part might be hard if you tend to be a helicopter parent like *ahem* me.

Once the assessment is complete, the program automatically chooses a starting point for your child. Then it’s time to get started!

How Redbird Mathematics Improves Math Thinking Skills

What separates Redbird Mathematics from other math programs (to me) is the way that the program encourages kids to think about math operations.

Pooh already knows his addition and subtraction facts through 12, but he had never used a hundred chart or base 10 blocks before. So it was almost as if he had to relearn adding and subtracting.

Frankly, it was as if I had to relearn them too. So, if you are used to teaching math in the traditional manner, expect a fairly steep learning curve when you first begin using the program.

I also found that it was not a program Pooh could use on his own. But that’s okay. I don’t expect a lot of independent math learning in second grade anyway.

In the beginning of each lesson, Redbird Mathematics gives you an overview of what your child will cover, as well as a few sample problems. That’s really helpful, because it can help your child prepare for what to expect as the lesson moves along.

Here’s what I really loved: Pooh had to really use his brain to learn how to add with the hundred chart. For example, when he saw the problem “8 + 10”, his first instinct was to start adding it in his head.

Instead, I asked him to follow the program directions and learn how to find the same answer using the hundred chart. After a few minutes of practice, he got the hang of it.

But if he already knows addition facts, what’s the point of learning to use a hundred chart?

Well – if he can understand how numbers are related to one another, then his ability to solve math problems becomes more flexible.

As the program showed him, moving up and down by rows increases or decreases numbers by 10.

And moving left and right increases or decreases numbers by one.

Once he grasped that, he could find missing numbers in equations and alternate counting by ones and tens quickly. That’s good practice for counting change, telling time, and algebra!

There were a few times that I supplemented Redbird Mathematics with some hands-on tools. For example, when we were learning about how to find the distance between 42 and 67 on the hundred chart and then place the resulting numbers in addition and subtraction equations, it was time to break out the chalkboard.

Once Pooh saw that we were using the numbers on the chart to fill in an abbreviated fact family, he understood what to do with them.

When Pooh finished working with the hundred chart, the program moved him on to learning to add and subtract using Base Ten blocks. That’s right. After learning to add and subtract with one strategy, Redbird Mathematics introduces another strategy to learn the exact same skills.

But here’s what’s good about that: If kids can learn how to perform the same operations with differing data, numbers, and methods, they begin to understand mathematical principles better. Which means they can use them in various situations with ease.

And that’s what we want, right?

With the Base Ten blocks strategy, I also used a hands-on tool: Unifix cubes.

Breaking the rows apart into single cubes to replicate the math problem on the screen really helped Pooh “get” what we were learning.

As he found out, you can regroup 6 ones and 7 ones into 1 ten and 3 ones.

Which means that 6+7 is equal to 10 + 3!

And that is the beauty of learning to add in different ways!

If you’d like to boost your child’s math thinking skills, now’s the time to purchase Redbird Mathematics! You can score a 10 percent discount on a three-month subscription through February 1 with the promo code LEARNMATH! Just be sure to enter the code during the checkout process.

Now – on to the giveaway!

Ten winners will receive a free 3-month subscription to GiftedandTalented.com’s K7 Redbird Mathematics: Advanced Edition – a $60 value! This giveaway ends January 28, 2016.

To enter, use the giveaway widget below!

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To learn more about Redbird Mathematics from GiftedandTalented.com, follow the company on the social networks below! And don’t forget to sign up for the Redbird Mathematics Newsletter while you’re there! You’ll find the signup form on the company website.