homeschool curriculum Archives

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!

Supplemental Homeschool Programs That Make Teaching Easier

August 11, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When you’re teaching kids at home, it’s perfectly normal to start out full of enthusiasm…only for that initial excitement to fade and then drop off a cliff a few weeks later. So if you’ve been feeling like that, you’re not alone!

We’ve been learning at home for the past nine years and I too have experienced that sharp drop-off in homeschooling enthusiasm. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I realized – it was mostly my fault.

It’s a big job to teach kids at home (and we have four – each at a different grade level), so by expecting myself to do ALL the educating, I was setting myself up for homeschool burnout. And it kept happening year after year after year.

Then I caved and started looking into some online homeschool programs that would help to enrich our lessons and things got so much better! So, if you’re feeling stretched to the limit, take a look at these supplemental homeschool programs that make teaching easier!

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

Five Supplemental Homeschool Programs That Make Teaching Easier

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op has an award-winning selection of all-inclusive homeschool curriculum, unit studies, supplements, and additional teaching resources. When you buy all-in-one or multi-subject resources from the co-op, you can save up to 93 percent!

At the co-op, you can browse several different kinds of Multi-subject Homeschool Curriculum, including five supplemental homeschool programs that are a great choice for families that learn at home.

IXL

We’re using IXL with our third-grader this year, so I’ll be sharing more about it in an upcoming post. This program includes practice in up to four subjects, such as math, language arts, science, and social studies. It’s available for grades K-12, so you can use it no matter what grade your child is in this year.

Brain Pop

Brain Pop has been a favorite of ours for years. My oldest daughter used the Junior version when she was in preschool and it was a big hit. There are video cartoons for each lesson, multiple video lessons in each subject, printable activities to complete, and online quizzes and games that reinforce what kids learn.

Brain Pop is available in four versions: Brain Pop Jr (for K-3), Brain Pop (for 3-12), Brain Pop Español + Francais (for native Spanish and French speakers), and Brain Pop ESL (for ESL learners).

Discovery Education

If you use videos and web clips in your homeschool, then Discovery Education is a must-buy. This program offers parents access to hundreds of thousands of educational videos and clips that kids will love, including nature programming, math tutorials, and even audiobooks. Plus, there are additional enrichment resources, such as quizzes, assignments, and lesson plans.

Education City

Education City, designed for grades PK-6, provides practice in language arts, math, science, and computing – as well as math for Spanish speakers and ESL lessons. But this is more than just an after-school practice program.

Kids can also use it to take assessments and tests that will give parents a clearer idea of how their students are progressing. It’s a really useful way to find out what kids need to practice more and what they’ve already mastered.

Plato Learning

If you’re homeschooling from kindergarten through high school, then PLATO Learning is a program you’ll definitely want to consider. This comprehensive resource features subject lessons by grade levels (K-5, 5-8, and 9-12), so you can place your children in elementary, middle, or high school subjects as needed.

Have an advanced high school learner? You can sign up for the AP course package to get your student ready for college! You can purchase PLATO Learning on an annual or month-to-month basis.

How to Sign Up for Supplemental Homeschool Programs with Homeschool Buyers’ Co-Op

So, how can you take advantage of these and other supplemental homeschool programs? Take a look at all of the homeschool multi-subject curriculum programs available from the Homeschool Buyers’ Co-Op and then visit the program sign-up pages that interest you.

The co-op operates on a group buy policy, which means that as more parents sign up, the price can get lower and lower. Since all of the programs have unique purchase policies, it’s essential to read the terms and conditions before you purchase.

On a personal level, I will say that I have never been disappointed by a single purchase I’ve made from the Homeschool Buyers’ Co-op. Every single one has been a huge value to our homeschool. Every single one.

Find out more about the all-in-one and online homeschool programs you can score today and start making your teaching experience much, much easier!

Need to see more curriculum ideas for the new homeschool year? Check out my Homeschool Curriculum Choices board on Pinterest for inspiration!

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 6th Grade, 3rd Grade, 2nd Grade, and PreK

September 5, 2016 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

We usually hold off on beginning our new homeschool year until the first week of September each year. Which means we’re starting up this week! Woohoo!

Since we’re entering our 8th year of homeschooling, I don’t have the same intense excitement I once did. Now it’s more of a relaxed anticipation to what we’ll learn this year.

I’ve also changed my entire homeschooling approach this time around. After many years of hoarding curriculum and books, I’m making the change to minimalist homeschooling. I’ve been exploring it for the past few months and now I’m finally ready to take the plunge.

So – what does minimalist homeschooling look like when you’re trying to teach four children? Take a look at our minimalist homeschool program for 6th grade, 3rd grade, 2nd grade, and PreK!

Image c/o: Mr. Webicon / depositphotos

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 6th Grade

Our sixth grader has definitely become a more independent student. So her workload is substantially heavier than the younger kids, as it should be for a middle schooler.

Still, since she has ADHD, it’s important that I don’t overwhelm her with lots of different curriculum choices. All that changing up takes a mental toll on her and adds to her stress level. This year, we’re keeping it pretty simple.

Here are my 6th grader’s homeschooling resources for this year:

ELA: National Geographic Hampton-Brown Edge Interactive Level B – A teacher friend of ours gave us this book and the accompanying practice workbook when she retired and, boy, am I glad. This is an excellent resource for teaching reading, writing, and language.
MATH: For math, we’ll be using CTC Math, which my daughter is loving. Plus, we’ll be supplementing with pre-algebra classes via Mr. D Math.
HISTORY: This year, we’re focusing on the 1920s using the book The 1920s in America from Kendall Hunt Publishing. We’ll also be reviewing ancient civilizations
SCIENCE: We had so much fun with Real Science-4-Kids Level 6 that it’s going to be our science curriculum!
GEOGRAPHY: I’m putting together her geography curriculum based on the National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers and the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. We’ll be covering both world cultures and the inequalities of human society.

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 3rd Grade

My third grader has a huge interest in animals, so we’ll be visiting the zoo a TON this year. Since he’s an avid reader (as are all my kids), he’ll have a substantial reading list to complete. (I’ll be sharing all the kids’ reading lists in the coming weeks.)

For 3rd grade, we’ll pretty much be using these three resources:

What Your Third Grader Needs to Know – The CoreKnowledge series is excellent for giving you a framework for the elementary grades.
CTC Math – We have the Family subscription, so all of my three oldest kids are using this program.
Ancient and World History Unit Study Bundle – It’s time to introduce my boys to ancient civilizations, which is one of my favorite history topics! This is a super huge unit study bundle that is worth every penny.

With these, we’ll get the math basis we need and we’ll get the introduction to our other topics as well. When we find a topic of interest, it’s off to the library we go!

Since this is a standardized testing year for him and for my 6th grader, I picked up Spectrum Test Prep: Grade 6 and Spectrum Test Prep: Grade 3. But other than that, I’m not stressing too much about teaching to the test.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 2nd Grade

My ultimate goal is to combine my 2nd grader and my 3rd grader into one mega grade each year. Think of how much lesson planning energy I’d save! Plus, they could study together and help each other out! One day…

For now, I’m doing a sort of 2/3 year with the two. So their topics of study are pretty much the same this year. I’ll just be adapting specific lessons as needed to make sure they each understand everything they’re learning.

Our 2nd grader will be using these resources:

What Your Second Grader Needs to Know – Yes, again. It’s a really good way to make sure you cover all the bases.
CTC Math – This is my most active child and he has really taken to CTC Math. I couldn’t be happier!
Ancient and World History Unit Study Bundle – My boys are pretty much on the same level with reading comprehension, so they’ll be taking history together this year. Plus, it saves me time!

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for PreK

It feels a little strange to think about what a minimalist homeschool program is like for a preschooler. After all, we’re talking about a preschooler. But I’ve been a first-year homeschooler and I remember stressing about planning my preschool curriculum for my first daughter. Oh, how times have changed.

My preschooler’s homeschool program will consist of two main resources:

Teach Me Mommy – A wonderful preschool-at-home program written many years ago that is affordable and thorough. Just really, really good.
Starfall – This is a free website and app, but you can pay $35 a year and get the full version. It’s worth it. My preschooler loves it! And because it’s has PreK through 1st grade content, she can skip around and learn whatever she likes. She’s already learning about parallelograms!

What are you using for homeschool curriculum this year? Have you ever tried a minimalist homeschool program? Let me know about your experiences in the comments!

Interested in learning more about minimalist homeschooling? Check out these posts!

Get more ideas for your homeschooling year on my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the 2016 Back to Homeschool Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read other awesome homeschool curriculum choices from my fellow bloggers!

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!

Entry -Form

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!

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!

Entry -Form

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.

Fifth Grade Creative Writing: Brave Writer Review

September 7, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Creative writing is one of the most difficult subjects I’ve ever had to teach in our homeschool. I was an English major in college and I love the writing process, but letting go of what English “should” sound and look like has been a real issue for me personally, so it’s hard for me to teach my kids to write freely.

So I was thrilled to get a chance to post a Brave Writer review after trying the program’s Faltering Ownership for fifth grade creative writing! In fact, I loved Brave Writer so much that it’s going to be our creative writing program for this homeschool year!

Check out our review to see how we used Brave Writer to make creative writing accessible and fun!

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

The Faltering Ownership Philosophy

For fifth grade, we used “Faltering Ownership”, the Brave Writer program that’s geared toward 11-12 year olds. I was a little puzzled by the title until I read the introduction to the program, but it turns out that the title fits the program perfectly!

As Julie explains in the intro, middle school is the time when children begin to “take the wheel” of the writing process. It’s kind of like giving your child the keys to the car for the first time and riding in the passenger seat as they drive.

They make turns you’re not expecting and the loss of control can be unnerving for parents, but the experience is essential for kids so that they can take ownership, even if it’s faltering, over their own direction. And Julie applies that analogy to writing.

In middle grades, kids need to develop more confidence in their writing ability. As parents, we shift from teachers to consultants, giving our children direction but also instilling them with confidence to write what they feel. And that means letting them learn to look at language differently.

Once I read the introduction to the program, I had a new outlook on what it means to teach creative writing, even though I’ve already finished a degree in English! So Brave Writer taught me quite a lot as well. 🙂

Fifth Grade Creative Writing: Brave Writer Review

We jumped right in with the activities in month 1 – Word Collecting and Building.

One of the first monthly exercises in “Faltering Ownership” is to collect words and learn to use them as building blocks for writing prompts and expressions. Tigger started off by listening to television shows and conversations, as well as by reading signs, snippets of books that were lying nearby, and product labels in stores.

Once she filled several pages of paper with various words, she copied them onto trimmed pieces of index cards.

As you can see, we ended up with quite a lot. She really liked collecting those words.

When we had all of our index cards completed, it was time to group the words into piles. In Faltering Ownership, the instructions are quite liberal, so Tigger could group the words however she wanted: alphabetically, adjective/noun pairs, similar topics, or any other way she could think of.

We aimed for about six or seven words per pile.

Then she started matching them up to create two-word phrases. Faltering Ownership suggested pasting the words on household objects, so we started with our homeschooling space: the dining room.

Fifth Grade Creative Writing: Brave Writer Review - Look! We're Learning!

From the random word pairings, we got some great phrases, including “fuzzy television”,

“teetering library”,

…and “beautiful friendship”. Awww… 🙂

After creating another phrase “cheeky station”, Tigger wrote a short story:

A Land Where Objects Talk

“You should go to Weirdoland. Objects talk, flowers and trees dance, and MUCH MORE. For instance, one day the sun said, “I will shine.” The clouds said, “We will glide.” A grumpy train pulled in. “You’re the grumpiest object I’ve ever seen!”, laughed a cheeky station. “STOP!” snapped the grumpy train. (Psst…they’ve never gotten along.)”

Faltering Ownership recommended asking students how their perspective on language has changed after completing the word building activity. When I asked Tigger, she wrote down her answer:

“Before when I learned language, especially in school, I used to think that language was easy. Now I’m learning that sometimes you have to think about some things. And guess what? IT’S NOT BORING!”

She’s absolutely right. Creative writing is not boring, especially when you can learn to look at words differently and free your mind to use them in new ways.

How to Use Faltering Ownership

Faltering Ownership is designed to be used along with The Writer’s Jungle, the focal point of the Brave Writer curriculum. The Writer’s Jungle is a homeschooling creative writing course that is geared toward parents.

It’s a complete overview of language arts in general – from narration and freewriting to editing and publishing. If you’re unsure where to begin when you’re teaching creative writing, The Writer’s Jungle is basically a guided journey through teaching language arts to your kids.

Since Faltering Ownership is a year-long curriculum, there are exercises for an entire year of creative writing. Naturally, we began with Month 1: Wild Words, but the program continues for 9 months more, covering topics such as historical writing and composing reports. There are also two bonus activities, in case you teach year-round or just want to round out your program with more activities.

Faltering Ownership is based on three core segments: language arts, oral language, and writing projects. One of the things I’m truly enjoying about the program is its emphasis on appreciating language in general before beginning to write. So children can learn to use copywork, narration, and dictation (core components of the Charlotte Mason approach) as keys to examining literature. These are great stepping stones to building their own creativity for what they’ll write later.

Plus, the ebook is beautifully laid out, complete with pictures, diagrams, and prompts. All of the instructions are included for each activity, so you don’t have to be an expert on teaching English before you begin. I can’t tell you how much of a help that was, especially when you’re teaching kids with ADHD and you need to get a lesson done before their attention span goes out the window. 🙂

We can’t wait to use Brave Writer for our fifth grade creative writing program to see how much further we can stretch our writing muscles! If you’re interested in trying Faltering Ownership or another one of the Brave Writer programs, you can save 10 percent on your purchase with the code iHomeschoolDiscount. This code is valid through September 21, 2015 only.

To learn more about Brave Writer, visit the program’s website or keep up with Brave Writer on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram!

Essential Skills Advantage Review

February 24, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Good morning! It’s a new day at Look! We’re Learning! because today we’re featuring our first-ever sponsored post from our good friends at Educents!

The program we’re highlighting is Essential Skills Advantage and it’s an excellent reading and language computer program for children aged 4 to 12! In the past Essential Skills Advantage has been used in the public school system, but the program is now available for homeschoolers and tutoring!

This is a sponsored post. I received access to this program in exchange for this review. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Essential Skills Advantage Review

A quick rundown of what the Essential Skills Advantage program consists of:

Thousands of activities for grades K-6
Reading, Language, and Spelling activities
A $7.99 monthly membership that includes access to all seven grade levels

The multi-grade level access is what really won me over to the program. We decided to start Roo out with the kindergarten level, just to see how he did. He did so well at it that we’re going to go right into the first grade level with him afterward! Since Essential Skills Advantage allows parents to work on any grade level with their children, it’s simple to go up or down a level as you need to.

As soon as we started, I noticed that the program has a constant background sound of crickets and birdsongs. It literally sounds as if you’re sitting outside while you’re working. It’s very peaceful and relaxing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t contribute to Roo’s ability to sit still during the lesson, especially since he has ADHD.

We began with the “Picture Vocabulary” unit in the Complete Reading Grade K program. Rather than working on sight words and phonics right away, ESA starts with simple picture words that are paired with spoken words and related sounds.

For example, in the Animal Names lesson, students are shown a picture of an animal while they listen to the name of an animal being said. If the animal name and picture match, kids click a checkmark. If they don’t match, they click an “X”.

After the Animal Names lesson, we went on to Animal Sounds where Roo matched animal pictures with the sound they make. Since the program shows one picture and plays one sound at a time, it was easy for Roo to concentrate without becoming overwhelmed.

He could also click a picture of an ear when he needed to hear a sound again. The screen uses picture icons and very few words, so he was able to navigate it himself.

In the Food, Transportation, Action, and Clothing units, kids get to play a memory concentration game. They’re asked to flip over cards that match a picture with a written word. The program says the written word as well, which is great for kids who are still working on their reading skills (like Roo).

As they match cards, they get to see part of a picture below the puzzle. For Roo, that was a big incentive to finish the activity, since he wanted to see the finished picture underneath.

While Roo was working on the Transportation unit, he had to listen to transportation words to see if they matched the pictures of transportation vehicles such as bicycles, cars, and vans. After the word played, Jay would try to distract him by saying “He didn’t say ‘motorcycle’. He said ‘Popsicle’.” or “He didn’t say ‘truck’. He said ‘duck’.” Each time, Roo would say, “No, he said ‘motorcycle’.” or “No, he said ‘truck’.”, which just goes to show how well the program held his attention.

At the end of the Human Body unit, there was a word search activity. Initially, Roo was a little confused about how to do a word search, since it was his first time. We showed him how to look for the beginning letter of each word in the puzzle and then spell out the following letters to make sure he chose the correct word.

It wasn’t long before he got the hang of it. And the look on his face when he found his first word all by himself was priceless. 🙂

What was even more impressive to me about Essential Skills Advantage is that it was so engrossing, Roo sat at the computer for a solid hour and did not move ONCE. We’re talking about a boy who cannot utter a single sentence without turning around in a circle. And he sat in the chair for an hour working on this program. Incredible.

Happy four-year-old learner for the win!

One more thing I loved about Essential Skills Advantage is that it presents small challenges to kids to keep them on task. For example, in the Action Names lesson, Roo was asked to match pictures of action with spoken words. When the program would say a word like “walking”, he would have to look at three pictures and select the one that showed walking.

Of his three choices, two of the pictures rhymed. One picture showed someone walking, and another showed someone talking. That kind of challenge requires kids to practice active listening skills and deliberate attention on their tasks.

We absolutely loved using Essential Skills Advantage! It was a wonderful program that even managed to keep a four-year-old ADHD learner’s attention! If you’d like to learn more about ESA or sign up for a free trial, visit the Essential Skills Advantage website today!

Like this post? Check out some of our other curriculum reviews!

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