HSMJ Spring is HERE!

In my life this week…
I am so pleased to feel the beginning of spring weather.  I took a walk in the neighborhood with Sir N and there are so many flowers celebrating the warmth.

I am always amazed at the detail the Lord has placed in every flower.  The care He takes to paint each petal.  I photographed this flower on our walk to celebrate spring.

In our home school this week…

• We have been delightfully reading our books in week 5 of Core B from Sonlight.
• We have been exploring the delights of ancient history
• Sir N thoroughly enjoyed The Hodgeheg.  Such a funny cute story.
• Sir N has enjoyed discovering the many ways that Pattern Blocks can be combined to form many interesting shapes and he enjoyed using mirrors to create more intricate patterns.

 Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

• For those of you using Diana Waring's History Revealed curriculum on the 16th of September there will be a new member site for supporting and encouraging you.  Pop on over to Education thats Relational for more information.
• If you are a Homeschooler any where in Australia please take a moment to read this article over at HSLDA and sign the petition.  We really need to stand together in this and for homeschoolers any where else please pray that this can be resolved soon.
• Are you looking for a new way to incorporate spelling and in depth look at your current read aloud ?  Mary shared her Read Aloud Door idea this week.
• For my friends in the southern hemisphere who are nearing the last quarter of their homeschool year and are in need of encouragement  A Prayer for the Ephesians and for Weary Homeschool Moms
• CC Blog Carnival - August 2013 in Review  
• 401st Carnival of Homeschooling  over at The Informed Parent.

Enter at A Glimpse of our LIFE

 I am inspired by…

•  Interresting post “What’s stealing your joy?”
• “Nineteen ways to be amazing, and counting…” an encouraging post on friendship
• I'm so excited {MADE} has started.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• We celebrated the beginning of spring by going for a picnic playdate at the beach.  It was so much fun.
• Kelly Sports on Tuesday
• Tennis on Thursday.
• I've been for a follow up at the Orthodontist. Sigh money, money, money

My favorite thing this week was…

• Anne of Green Gables Inspired Wedding Shoot
• 17 Problems Only Book Lovers Will Understand 
• Loved this photo story of a pregnancy I've seen it before but it was so nice to see it again.  It's amazing how creative some people are

What’s working/not working for us…

• I love reconnecting with homeschoolers I meet on the net.  It's been a while since I've visited Learning All the Time.  I enjoyed reading her perspective on Brimwood Press Products.

Things I’m working on…

• A post on Book List Resources that I use.  It was fun.
• Help There's NO money for Curriculum! 
• Time 4 Learning Review

On My Bedside Table ...

• Gosh it's been a delightful week reading. Six books in seven days.  ♥♥♥ 
•  I love reading old scifi books and this week my brother loaned me the Crystal Singer Series by Anne McCaffrey.  Needless to say nothing got done around the house other than school this week.
  Crystal Singer
  Killashandra
  Crystal Line

In Bloggy world I’m reading…

• “Worn out, stressed out, couldn’t care less…” over at Given Breath 
• Is life too easy on our kids? 
• Love this photo essay  Ballet dancers in random situations
• This photo essay was rather interesting as the people in the photographs were complete strangers! Doppelgänger portraits of complete strangers
• Portraits of soldiers before, during, after going to Afghanistan
• Pinterest and abortion: The top “abortion” search results
• Choosing Hope and Grace: How two babies who shared one heart momentarily brought heaven to earth
• Meet Walter Joshua Fretz ... Read this article with caution.  It's the heart wrenching story of a family who miscarried their son. Along with precious photographs of their baby boy at 19 weeks gestation.  So please follow this link with caution.
• ‘You are having these babies right now!’: my miracle twins

I’m cooking…

• Nothing new although I am gearing up to start The Trim Healthy Mama cooking soon.

On Pinterest I found...

• Homeschool Journal Prompts
• The Old Schoolhouse Magazine 

I’m grateful for…

• Friendships that are deepening over time
• Friendships both old and new

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…


This is one of the most inspirational clips I have seen.  Be sure to watch it to the very end!

Blessings

Chareen

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

Time 4 Learning {Review}

For the past month Sir N has been using Time 4 Learning as part of his daily home school routine. He has been working through Grade 2 in the lower level student area. Time 4 Learning is a complete on line curriculum from PreK to 12th Grade.

The longer we use this resource the more I discover.  There are some wonderful gems available.  I discovered recently that there is a Time 4 Art resource available as well as Time 4 Writing. The system is a fully automated on line tutoring that is self graded and keeps transcripts for you. Time 4 Learning can be used as the spine for your homeschool program, an after school program or a summer learning program.

To view any of the graphics in more detail please click on them for a full screen preview.

What we received
We received a six month membership on a Grade 2 level covering the following subject areas

• Language Arts Extensions 22 Chapters and each of these had two lessons and a quiz review. {315 activities}
• Language Arts 9 Chapters containing an average of three sections each. {210 Activities} You can view a complete list of spelling words for second grade on line. Each lesson covers phonics, reading, comprehension, vocabulary, reading fluency and grammar.
• Math 20 Chapters. Each of these were divided into smaller chapters which in turn are broken down into lessons finishing with a quiz.
• Science 3 Chapters.  6 with 14 lessons and 6 quizzes. {21 Activities}
• Social Studies 4 Topics,  11 Chapters with 14 lessons and quizzes {23 Activities}

What We Did

• I registered as a parent to start and then enrolled Sir N.
• He then logged in via the  Lower Level Student Log in page using his first name, last name and a password.
• This then opened up the welcome page.  On the welcome page there are six menu options {start, intro, Playground, help, page colour and parent}
• From the start page Sir N had access to five subject areas {Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions, Math, Science and Social Studies} He would click on a subject.
• The next page would bring up the chapters in that subject.  There would be an arrow pointing to to chapter he was working on.  Once he had completed a chapter a green tick would appear over the graphic with the word "Completed" through it.  This made navigation super easy.  At a glance we could both see where he was.
• Once he clicked on a chapter it would take him to the lesson page.  This worked the same way as the chapter icons.  Once he completed all the relevant activities a green tick with the word Completed appeared over the icon and an arrow would appear pointing to the next lesson for him to complete.
• Once he clicked on the lesson a new page would open with a number of activities for him to work through.  Once completed he would then click on the Quiz.  
• In the Quiz he had the option of having the questions read to him.  They were all multiple choice type questions. Most of the quizzes contained ten questions.  Feedback was instant at the completion of the quiz we knew straight away which questions he had answered correctly and which ones were incorrect.

Screen shots of Time 4 Learning Grade 2

Each day we followed the same routine. This was really helpful as it took the guess work out of what we needed to do and gave Sir N confidence in his ability to proceed as he knew exactly what he had completed and what he needed to do next.

What I liked

• I liked that I could look over a complete lesson plan for each grade and choose the level best suited for Sir N to work on.
• Sir N was able to work at his own pace
• Sir N is a beginner reader and most of the tests had the option of having the questions read to him.
• There is a clutter free easy member log in page for the student
• Easy navigation. Each navigation button contains a graphic to help non readers navigate. Upon hovering over a button there is also an audio prompt.
• Students need to work for a minimum of 15 minutes before they can access the playground. 
• Most of the lessons use flash based technology which made them fun and kept Sir N's attention the whole time.  (Due to the use of flash technology Time 4 Learning can not be used on iPads, iPods and iPhones) 
• There is the ability to select which level to work on (1, 2 or 3) for each subject.
• I liked that it is an automated system and is sequential.  Each lesson builds on the information from the lesson before.
• It is flexible.  We were not locked into using the system during a specific time.  We could log in any time and from anywhere. 
• One of the great features of the classes is they are interactive. The student is taught a concept and then there is a question to answer or a small activity for them to do in order to reinforce their learning.  
• I also liked that it automatically graded his work, kept a log of his usage and summarised his activity by subject and activity.
• A student portfolio in which you can see a day, week or month at a glance. You can see at what time your student logged in and worked on any subject.  The activity worked on, their score and the subject name for the particular activity partaken of.
• In the portfolio section I was able to generate a student score card.  In this card there was the lesson name, date completed, time completed, score achieved, status (pass/fail) and duration in hours, minutes and seconds) for every single lesson we did in once place.
• I could read this on line or generate a PDF document.

A sample of Sir N's Student Score Report.

YouTube Tour of the Lower Level Log in


There is a Parent Orientation Video as well as a channel showing you how to overcome any technical issues you may experience.

Details

• PreK - 8th Grade $19.95 / student per month. $14.95 / month for each additional student.
• High School $30 per student per month (includes 4 courses)
• Parental Forum
• You can see a personalised demo on the website.
• I discovered that Time 4 Learning has a complete Time 4 Writing website with a whole page of free resources.
• You can view a complete Lesson Plan by Grade and Subject on their Scope and Sequence Page.

Connect with Time 4 Learning

• Sign Up
• Call (888)771-0914
• FAQ
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Our Opinion
We both enjoyed using Time 4 Learning. Sir N really enjoyed the teaching delivery method of interactive videos.  He found learning fun and he never complained when I said it's time for school.

The only negative experience we had was in the Social Studies section. The program assumed we are American citizens and therefore familiar with the annual public holidays and history of the country. This could easily be upgraded and taught in the same way the balance of the Social Studies lesson were. It made answering questions difficult and we had to guess in order to proceed.

I was pleased that we had access to the grades above and below for each subject area.  This gave us the freedom to customise his schooling and it also made more work available for Sir N to work through.  He really enjoyed the Science and Social Studies area and did extra work in these classes which meant that he completed his grade level within the month.

We will be continuing with the Math, Social Studies and Science area's of learning.

If you are looking for some fun interactive learning to supplement or provide a spine for your home school I would encourage you to look at Time 4 Learning.  If you are in crisis mode in your home school I would highly recommend you use Time 4 Learning for your students.

Blessings
Chareen

HELP There's NO money for Curriculum!

A while back I stumbled upon a post by Jimmie and Pam called: What if I had no money for a curriculum ?  This has been playing on my mind especially after sharing my extensive home library of books with you this week. I began thinking what would I do if there was NO money for any curriculum. As I pondered this question I came to realise that this question has a two fold answer. For most people reading this post they would have regular access to the Internet and for some people they would not own a computer much less have regular access to the Internet.

On the Internet
The Internet is fast becoming the new home school support network and we have some really generous home school mom's who have supplied some excellent resources. There are new resources being continually added to the Internet on a regular basis.

If I had access to the Internet and a reliable computer I would make use of this amazing resource. Earlier this year I shared over 90 links in a Homeschool for FREE Resource List.

You will find links to

• Curriculum by Grade
• Curriculum by Subject
• Complete unit studies by subject and grade
• Websites dedicated to compiling free curriculum by subject
• Blogs that generously share what they find on the net by subject
• Bloggers who have a weekly Freebie 
• Pinterest boards to get you started on finding free resources by subject. (you don't need an account to use these)
• A list of veteran homeschoolers on Pinterest who have collected some amazing resources.
• Facebook pages to like and follow that share where to source Free curriculum.

If you are a blogger I would encourage you to build a network of followers and then apply to be on the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  This would open up opportunities to receive curriculum for FREE in exchange for a review.  I estimate you would have access to an average of $ 1,000 worth of curriculum a year. Once you start doing this you would receive offers from other companies to review products.

No Internet

If I had no Internet access I would use public access Internet to  request a catalogue from Sonlight Curriculum. I love the Charlotte Mason philosophy of twaddle free literature and this company offers the best collection by grade I've ever come across.

• Armed with this I would join my local library and home educate with the list of books provided. 
• Add in a couple of extra books that are interest led by your students.
• Get your children to journal about what they are learning or do mini projects in a notebook.
• Get to know your librarian and she will help you put together an amazing curriculum. 
• Libraries these days have some excellent math resources on hand. 
• Do old fashioned math. Memorise math facts daily.
• Use a world map and memorise countries and their capital cities.
• Frequent your local opportunity shop and see if you can find any treasures on their shelves.
• Make friends with some local homeschool Mom's.  Most homeschool mom's I know are quiet happy to help, impart knowledge and or share their supplies. 
• Get to know the area you live in.  Visit the local park.  Read the signs.
• Go to your nearest Tourist Information office and pick up brochures to learn about what you can do and see in your area.
• Go to a travel agency and pick up a few travel brochures and do unit studies on the destinations talked about in the brochures.
• Read your city councils What's on page to find Free family activities. 
• Go to community helpers (police, vet clinic, Doctor office, pharmacy, Fire Brigade) speak to the receptionist and arrange an interview with a helper and learn from them.
• Visit a retirement home and discover the wealth of informative learning through friendships here.
• Get to know people in your church. One of the families in our homeschool group wanted to learn to knit so they asked around church till they found someone willing to teach them and they go over for an hour a week lesson.

One of the most important things to remember on your home education journey is that you can not teach everything there is to know.  You need to learn how to learn together.  Answer questions together. Search for information together.  Most importantly you need to enjoy time together.

If you had no money for curriculum what would you do ?  I've enjoyed the challenge of thinking about this question.  It has helped me count my blessings and realise just how privileged we are.

Blessings
Chareen