Write Shop

WriteShop offers various writing programs for kindergarten through high school in order to teach homeschoolers how to write with confidence. Their programs provide your children with step by step instructions to build their writing skills. In itself, WriteShop is not a complete language arts program but one which does encourage “growth and awareness” in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

With WriteShop, the teacher’s manual is the heart of their program. Only a small portion of the teacher manual covers scheduling and teaching strategies while the main portion of it teaches you how to edit and evaluate your child’s work.

According to the WriteShop website, the WriteShop programs teach the elements of styles from developing strong paragraphs with good word choices and variety to essay writing.

Placement help can be found on the WriteShop website HERE.

You can also view sample lessons HERE.

Several TOS Homeschool Crew members have received one of four different products from WriteShop to review.

WriteShop Primary Book A is recommended for kindergarten or first grade. It may also be used with reluctant second graders. The program accommodates pre-writers as well as beginning and developing writers, teaching the skills of the writing process at the very simplest level.

WriteShop Primary Book B is recommended for first and second grade. It may also be used with reluctant third graders. The program accommodates pre-writers as well as beginning and developing writers, teaching the steps of the writing process in a simple, engaging way.

WriteShop Primary Book C is recommended for 2nd and 3rd grade. It may also be used with reluctant 4th graders. Students learn to write simple stories, articles, and reports with parent help. The program accommodates beginning and developing writers, teaching the steps of the writing process in a simple, engaging way.

WriteShop Junior Book D is recommended for 3rd, 4th, or reluctant 5th graders Students learn to write and publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry using a variety of pre-writing games, graphic organizers, and self-editing tools. Effective with both reluctant and enthusiastic writers. Accompanying Activity Pack is REQUIRED.

The elementary WriteShop products we reviewed can be purchased in both print and e-book formats with price ranges varying from $4.50 to $39.95 depending upon the product and version.

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Click here to see what Crew Members had to say about the various Write Shop Primary levels and Write Shop Junior Book D!

A big thank you to Barbara of Alive in Spirit for writing this introductory post.

CapJaxMathFax

CapJaxMathFax is a fun computer program designed to give students practice and drill on math facts.  Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are included in the facts practice.  The program was designed by Jack Fretwell of Starboard Training Systems.  “Mr. Fretwell earned a Masters degree in Educational Technology and has spent over thirty years in education and computers.

With Mr. Fretwell heading up CapJaxMathFax™ for the last 10 years, we have seen many children develop stronger math skills and confidence.

Starboard Training Systems’ goal is to help organizations that teach, train and mentor our children so that not one is without basic math abilities.

If you teach math your students will benefit from CapJaxMathFax™. “

Installation of CapJaxMathFax is simple, by either download or c.d..  The program is customizable by the type of facts included in each practice session and the difficulty of the facts.  Teachers / parents can even opt to set a ‘super seconds’ target (usually 3 seconds) to challenge students to recall facts quickly.  With CapJaxMathFax, the student becomes the calculator.  They learn to have the immediate recall of basic math facts that is lacking through most traditional math curricula.

The beauty of CapJaxMathFax is that teachers / parents no longer have to make up facts quizzes and drills.  These are automatically generated by the program and automatically scored.  Students love the immediate feedback. Students progress through different levels as their skills increase.  As they gothrough the different levels, they are able to earn merit badges It is recommended to begin students at lower levels and allow them to progress through the entire program.  This builds student confidence and gives reinforcement for skills he /she already has.

CapJaxMathFax is available on the website beginning at $29.95 for the downloadable product.  A cd version is also available, with a small additional charge.  Our crewmembers have been able to enjoy using this program for a  couple of months now.  To read what they have to say about it, click on the linky below.

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A big thank you to Sarah Dugger of ‘Ahoy Maties!’ for writing this introductory post.

5 Days of . . . Blog Hop!

The Homeschool Crew is pleased to bring you our . . .

5 Days of  . . .  Blog Hop 

5 days, 65 bloggers, 325 blog posts

Sixty-five of our wonderful review bloggers will be blogging every day for 5 days on a chosen topic. That’s 325 creative, fun, informative, inspiring blog posts in less than one week! You’ll find everything you can imagine, from homeschooling to home management, science to history, art to music,  and some creative themes you’ve never even considered!

If you’re burned out, be renewed. If you’re just beginning, be encouraged. If you love hearing what other homeschool families are doing, be inspired.

The fun begins on Monday, May 14, so check back first thing Monday morning.

Each blog post will carry this 5 Days of  . . . Blogging banner, so you can click back and find the next blog to hop to!

Be sure to check back each day between May 14-18. You won’t want to miss a thing! Click on any button below to find out more!

Enjoy hopping around!

Go Science

The Crew was excited to have the opportunity to review Go Science. This is a Creation based Science DVD Series, authored by Mr. Ben Roy.

Mr. Roy has taught elementary and middle school, also serving as principal. He has been awarded Teacher of the Year, and maintains teacher certifications in two states. He is a past director of a TV newschannel Science Theater, and continues to travel extensively with his live science shows.

Presently, there are 6 DVD’s in the Go Science Series. Running time per DVD varies from 29 minutes to 59 minutes. Each DVD is divided into several smaller, 3-6 minutes, attention grabbing segments, with each segment spotlighting a specific experiment. Ben Roy “captivates, motivates, and inspires students to be excited about science, while providing effective instruction based on science phenomena. Each spectacular demonstration of physical or chemical science has a spiritual application and points to our Creator!”

Regularly listed for $14.95 each – or $79.95 for the set of 6 – Library & Educational Services makes the Go Science DVD’s available for just $8.97 each, or $47.95 for the entire set. LES is a wholesale company, serving “resellers, educators, librarians, home educators, as well as church leaders such as pastors or directors of children’s ministries.”

Motion: Discovering the Laws of Gravity and Motion - includes a Gyroscope and Newtonian Cradle

Simple Machines, Sound and Weather – includes an Incline Plane, Trebuchet, and Making a Cloud

Magnetism, Engineering, Electricity, and Design – includes Making a Compass, Light Bulb, Solar Energy, and a Heat Engine

Chemistry, States of Matter, and Life Science – including Chemical Luminescence and Optical Illusion

Air and Flight – including the Bernoulli Effect, Drum Crush, and Balloon Balance

Water, Space, and the Solar System – includes how to Boil Water in a Paper Cup, and how to Make a Rocket

After every demonstration, Mr. Roy reminds us that, “Every time we learn something about SCIENCE, we learn something about our CREATOR GOD!”

~

If you have questions or comments for him, you can contact him via email - benroy@gosciencezone.com, write - Mr. Roy, 27 Winter Lane, Ringgold, GA 30736, or call – 423.596.7469.

Judah Bible Curriculum

Judah Bible Curriculum is designed to help you produce Godly character in yourself and your students. It uses the Principle Approach to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, and build strong, Godly character in your children. You will learn to apply God’s word in every area of life by using the Bible as the textbook to study the hand of God in the lives of individuals and nations.

The Judah Bible Curriculum is designed to help you teach your student how to study and research the Bible and apply biblical principles to their character. It will enable you to teach the Bible to you and your students without using a curriculum so you can become self-educating students of the Word of God.

Every year you will teach the main ideas and principles of the Bible, but the student will be studying different details. Judah Bible Curriculum calls these details Bible Keys and they include individuals, events, institutions, and documents. This allows you to design the daily study to fit your family with the doctrinal emphasis left to you. A summary of the Bible Keys you will study can be seen in the Scope and Sequence.

The Judah Bible Curriculum can be purchased as a download ($44.00) or hard copy ($69.00) and includes:

• Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual or e-book
• Elementary Notebook Ideas Booklet, download or view online
• Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminars on CD, download or listen online

The Old Schoolhouse Crew received the download version of the Judah Bible Curriculum.

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A big Thank You Lisa McClanahan of McClanahan 7 for writing this introductory post.

Blog Cruise: Childhood Memories

Childhood is fleeting. Ask any mom and she’ll tell you . . . the days are long, but the years are short. It does us all good to stop for a few moments and think about the legacy we’re leaving for our children. In the busyness of day-to-day life, at the end of their childhoods, what is it that you want them to remember? This week’s Blog Cruise poses that very question:

What’s the one thing you hope your children remember from their childhood?

Brandy, at Kingdom Academy — Things Remembered

So I guess that’s the answer. When my kids get older I want them to remember that raising them was our top priority. And that spending time with them was what we chose to do, even if it meant a LOT of sacrifice on our part. 

From Nicole, at A Journey to Excellence — Being Here, There, and Wherever . . . A Priority

I don’t do everything right as a parent. But, I am involved. We are involved. We are always there, unless it is just physically impossible. Our kids are not lonely.

From Heather, at The Blessings Pour Out — All We Need is Love

When my children leave home, I want them to have on their minds that they are loved by the Lord, and I pray for each one of them that they come to asaving faith through Jesus Christ, and are fully committed to loving the Lord with all their hearts.

From Beth, at Ozark Ramblings –You must remember this

I spend a lot of time trying to fill my son’s head with facts–multiplication tables, dates from history, the taxonomy of a leopard, don’t take candy from strangers.  What sticks should serve him well some day.   But the one thing I hope he remembers from his childhood is that I love him and God loves him more.

From Marcy, at Ben and Me —  I Want Him to Remember

Most of all, I want Ben to remember that God gave us to each other. That when this mom, struggling through infertility, received the call that a baby boy had been born and needed a momma, and I fell in love the moment I held him in my arms for the first time, it was no accident. 

What’s new at SchoolhouseTeachers.com?

Click the screenshot below to see an exciting intro about SchoolhouseTeachers.com!

Teaching high schoolers? Struggling with math? This month, David Chandler joins SchoolhouseTeachers.com to help you transform a frustrating learning experience into a joyful one! This physics, math, astronomy, and computer programming instructor presents three teaching videos about the confusing, perplexing, mysterious mathematic digit know as pi. Your students will see pi in a whole new light as they use pi to find the circumference of the earth around the equator, use pi in problems that involve the distance from the earh to the sun and how fast the earth travels, and even . . . pi poetry.

Also in May, Mike Sims comes on board as the economics teacher and welcomes students to a field of study that ranges from armed robbery to zoo management and from Anchorage to Zanzibar.

Mike takes what can be a dry, dusty subject and turns it into a fun, real-life study by viewing economics through the lens of some pretty needy people: people who consume chocolate. Your students will enjoy fun activities that include creating a Personal Household Chocolate Inventory, a Chocolate Retailer questionnaire, and a Chocolates self-test—all while learning the basics of resources, supply and demand, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, and much more that makes up the world of economics.

Homeschool dad, economics professor, and assistant city manager for the city of Terrell, Texas, Sims is well qualified to present lessons on real-world economics.

Also in the sciences, Andy Harris is back in May with computers and technology. His first lessons have dealt with Google Earth and programming with a tool called Hackety Hack, and Harris has upcoming lessons on building your own computer games.

We’ve got plenty in the arts as well. Kim Kautzer of Writeshop, Inc. is one of the country’s most renowned writing instructors. Brave soul that Kim is, she tackles one of the more formidable teaching assignments for either younger or older students: how to write the well thought-out, well developed, and even exciting book report. Kim has marvelous tools for students in this area.

Our music-voice teacher, Joy Sikorski,  continues to offer instruction using the Whole Family as the Student (WFS) model. Joy shares lessons and tips for voice lessons and music training. In May, celebrate the birthdays—and unique styles—of some of the most famous singers and songwriters of the last two centuries.

• Our Daily Art and History Expedition themes

• Daily Grammar and Writing lessons

• Get any of the digital The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine back issues—whichever ones you want, they’re yours (and easily searchable).

• Log in daily for the popular This Day in History and This Month’s Menu features.

• Download a 2011-12 Schoolhouse Planner! There are five to choose from, or take all five! They are more than just planners! Go see for yourself. And be one of the first to download the new 2012-13 Schoolhouse Planners when they are released!

• And don’t forget to download your new free E-Book for May!

  The value is unbelievable and for those of you who are members, it’s all yours—start digging in. May is ready, and it just keeps getting bigger and better every month. Receive daily, weekly, and monthly content in nearly all subject areas. See you at SchoolhouseTeachers.com ! Let’s do our homework together!

Want to join the TOS Homeschool Crew?

Do you homeschool your children? Do you have a blog? Do you enjoy reviewing homeschool products? Do you want to be a part of a dynamic reviewing team?

We are now accepting applications for the remainder of the 2012 Crew year. It runs from June through mid-November and we are looking for a few new folks to join our ranks.

Are you interested? We are interested in you! CLICK HERE to fill out the New Crew Application Form!

Homeschool Library Builder

Libraries. Homeschoolers love Libraries. We envision our walls lined from floor to ceiling with good wholesome books for our children to read. We long for peaceful days, tucked under blankets, safely sitting on the sofa, traveling to places that only our imagination can go.

Trouble is, books cost money and for many homeschooling families that live on a budget, cost is the single most prohibitive part of building that cozy homeschool library that lives in our mind.
TOS Homeschool Crew Members would like to share with you a website; one that hopes to help you build that library of your dreams.

They offer quality new and used living books, at bargain prices. You can search by curricula, and find books for Five in Row, Tapestry of Grace, Beautiful Feet, Sonlight, Ambleside Online and more. They have a wide selection of Vintage & Hard to Find Books, to compliment your child’s learning.

They offer a newsletter, IT’S FREE!, and you will have access to a free e-book, activities to do with your kids during the month, and a bit of encouragement.

With their FREE Membership, you have the opportunity to earn book points and stretch your homeschool dollar. You will receive notification of great sales, before they happen. Access their book search feature for help finding that hard to locate book. There is also a way for you to bless others by purchasing from their Helping Hands section.

Stop by Homeschool Library Builder in the month of May to receive 25% off everything in the entire store, and start building your library today!

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Blog Cruise: Tips for Record Keeping

Keeping records for your homeschool can be a hassle. Most states require some kind of record-keeping, even if it’s only a record of attendance. And some states have very stringent requirements.

Whether or not one lives in one of these more demanding states, most homeschoolers desire to keep some kind of record of their students’ learning throughout the year.

For this week’s Blog Cruise we wanted to hear about the creative ways members of the Homeschool Crew find to keep track of all their kids are learning.  So, we asked:

What are your favorite homeschool record-keeping tips? 

At Life at Rossmont, Wendy explains, “How We Record Our Homeschooling Adventures at Rossmont“.

In, “For the Record”  Marisa shares how she uses various forms and techniques to keep track of learning at Lighthouse Classical Academy.

 Lisa, from The Berry Patch, has tried a variety of methods and finally settled on “Record It Bloggy Style“.

At Homeschool Coffee Break, Kym does a great job of “Keeping Track” using a tracking program.

Beth, at Ozark Ramblings, recently discovered how important it is to “Backup, Backup, Backup“, when a laptop crash cost her greatly in a state where keeping good records is vital.

“How do I keep track of all this stuff?” Great question! Find out the answer from Brandy at Kingdom Academy.

Nicole says, “Record Keeping . . . Blech!” at Journey to Excellence.

Mary is very organized in “Write This Down” over at Winecup Christian Academy.

And lastly, I share how we creatively keep track of learning in “Ways to Remember {or Homeschool Record Keeping}” at Ben and Me.