Sunday, May 28, 2017

All American Youth Show



Lydia has been working very hard for many weeks preparing for the All American Youth Show in Columbus Ohio.  We had a bit of craziness getting there, but we made it.  I didn't get a ton of pictures like I normally do.  But I wanted to share a few.

Ms Lydia did wonderful!  She's so excited and hopes to get to go again next year.

This is my favorite picture....she was in her new showmanship outfit.  Hair and makeup all ready.




She placed 5th (which was basically middle of the pack) in Showmanship.


Getting into her chaps.


Ready for Western Equitation




She placed 2nd in Equitation.  Since it's and EWD category, her coach signed her up for having assistance in the arena.  This was her first time in this show.  If she would not have an assistant in the arena, she would have placed 1st.  It was crazy how they combined the categories.  Lydia said she's taking 1st next year!



Showing off her beautiful ribbons.




Friday, May 26, 2017

Cedar Point is in the Air, GS Bridging, and a Great Sports Banquet



When we got home from the All American Youth Show, we had some extra kiddos with us.  My niece and nephew were here while their dad was at the dr.  So we took them to Cedar Point and had a great family day.



Selfies with my nephew



The next day we all had Cedar Point hangovers.  But all the kids had a schoolwork packet to work on during the week.  The Girls had their Girl Scout bridging ceremony, so we headed to the park and did some of our schoolwork there while waiting for our friends.


Nature study... our niece missed her bridging, so our troop was sooo sweet to let her bridge with us.


She was very excited and happy.


The older girls helped hand out patches and awards to the younger kids.


Then our troop had a mad science camp where a couple of our scouts had created gross concoctions for our troop.  They led activities making a cool Koolaid playdough


And a really neat slime with contact solution.


The next day after Lydia was done at horse class, we headed back to Cedar Point to play.



And on Wednesday we had Cedar Point hangovers again, but Brayden, Caty and I were still able to attend a Master Gardening program at our local library put on by a dear friend of ours that works for the OSU extension office in our county.  We learned a lot about various plants and important insects.


Lydia and Joe put together one of the chicken's nesting boxes.  We still have two more to put together.


While they were putting that together, I finished painting the shed.  Or I should say, I ran out of paint and almost finished the shed.  But the important parts are finished.  The garden areas.  I was able to plant our lettuce, kale, radishes, beets, eggplant, and sweet onions.  I only need to plant the zucchini, which they were selling when I was at the greenhouse.  So I'm going back this weekend to pick up those plants.  So our garden is 100% in the ground.  Even Joey is helping to water it, although he won't touch a single bite of food from it...lol

Then the next day, (and yes...this was a busy week).... was our Sports Banquet.  The kids earned pins in all the sports they participated in.  The girls had a very long list... a very long list.  They did tennis, swimming, soccer, competitive cheer, and basketball.  Caty also earned an award for Hustling during Basketball.  Brayden earned the Most Improved player on the School Aged Basketball team.

Lydia missed the banquet because of her programming class.  She earned the 2017 Player of the Year Award.  So proud of her!!




I was honored to receive the 2017 Volunteer Parent of the Year Award.  I was very humbled.  I love working with all the athletes!

And it kept busy.... the next day I had helped to coordinate a Homeschool Used curriculum sale.  It last two days.  I managed to get a few things gone.  I didn't make as much as I spent, but at least I am set for almost all subjects.


During the Homeschool Sale, Lydia and Caty set up a table to invite new troop members.  It helped them earn a new patch.


To keep our busy week going..... our 4H club volunteered at the stables to help them get ready for the competition next weekend.  Lydia, Caty and their friend Bradie were cleaning up around the pens.  Lots of hard work.


The curriculum sale was two days.  It took up a lot of Time and then when I finally got home on Saturday it was time to clean up around the house from all the craziness from the last couple weeks.  But I also had to pack because the girls and I were heading for a wedding out of state the next day.

The kids all finished their practice worksheets for the week.  We'll be starting back to regular schoolwork again next week.  I'm working on making a plan for summer also.  We won't be doing full-time, just part time in certain subjects.  It going to be a busy summer.  Joey, Lydia and Brayden will be doing volunteer hours at the library every week.  Lydia is also increasing her time at the stable, and going to horse camp.  Lydia also has 4H Science Camp.  Both girls will start competitive cheer again.  Caty has Farm Camp at a local metro park also.  Joey will be working 2 days a week with a local company to learn what it's like to develop a work schedule, as part of a summer youth program our county offers to kids with special needs.  I have a feeling I'm going to be in my van a whole lot!!  But I'm excited for all the opportunities the kids will be getting.  More on summer soon.....

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!!

Weekly Wrap-Up


Thursday, May 25, 2017

The Typing Coach - The Typing Coach Online Typing Course Review




We recently had the opportunity to review The Typing Coach Online Typing Course from The Typing Coach.


The Typing Coach Online Typing Course is an online course that introduces your student to the very basics of keyboarding skills.  They can work at their own pace using video, audio, and written instructions to learn classic keyboarding skills.

Proper keyboarding techniques are shown through both video and easy to print course materials.  Students will learn about how to sit properly for keyboarding (which is great to avoid wrist injuries later in life) and how to use their full hands to type first characters and then work their way up to full words by learning the entire keyboard.

Students will use both the Typing Coach Online Typing Course along with whatever work processing program that you have available.  An online testing area is available for student's to try out the new skills.

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course is a great approach to classic keyboarding skills.  It works out great, especially for elementary level kids that may have outgrown cutesy cartoon character programs.  It was created to be used by both younger students, but could easily be used for students who are older.

I didn't learn keyboarding skills until late middle school, early high school.  The Typing Coach Online Typing Course is similar to the approach that I learned when I started learning how to type properly.  This approach allowed me to eventually make my way to professional typing in an office position, as well as winning various office skills competitions while still in school.

I have actually been looking for this type of program to help improve Lydia and Caty's keyboarding skills.  Most kids today start on computer keyboards at such a young age, that they develop their own style of typing.  We have been using The Typing Coach Online Typing Course with Lydia and Caty both.  Lydia has developed some not great keyboarding habits.  She can type well, but I wanted her to improve more on her skills.

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course has been doing well with this.  Each lesson can be about 20 minutes in length for the audio lessons.  She follows along in her student guidebook.



I have noticed changes in a few of her keystrokes.  Her typing has been becoming more accurate.  Her trouble is watching the screen.   When I learned typing, we were literally always translating and watching a page, but now she is translating thoughts from her brain to the page.  So she obviously watches the screen more.  I wanted her to use The Typing Coach Online Typing Course as more of an accuracy improvement.

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course has been working well for Lydia in this regard.  I like that it's the "old-fashioned" way of learning.  Learning to type doesn't need all the extra bells and whistles that some programs throw in.

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course offers timed testing also, which you can have the results emailed to you.  Great item to have in their annual portfolio for assessment time.

If your student is more of a visual learner, like our Caty, they may struggle a bit.   You will not see the keys they need to hit on the screen.   I let her try one of Lydia's earlier lessons, and it didn't work out very well.  I think with a little more familiarity with the keyboard, she may not struggle as much.  So we will be trying The Typing Coach Online Typing Course with her in the future also.

But this is no big deal.  The Typing Coach Online Typing Course is a very affordable option for families.  It's only $17.00 per user for an annual access pass to the program.  This is a great value, and since it's a self-paced program, if  your student needs to go over a few lessons to continue to improve, it's no big deal.  They do not need to be stressed to catch on immediately.

We will be continuing with The Typing Coach Online Typing Course and I encourage you to check this great program out.  Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to try out The Typing Coach Online Typing Course from The Typing Coach.

The Typing Coach Online Typing Course {The Typing Coach Reviews}

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