What we'll be working on this week....

So I am not quite sure why my post didn't post...but actually completely deleted!!!  So here is a quick preview of what we are doing this week.

I am very happy with myself (and I'm not bragging....just so happy).  I have 6 weeks of lesson plans done.  Now to see if we can stay on task.  Already hit our first road block.  Joey was sick all evening on Sunday night.  We are not sure what he got into.  So he has been up 24 hours now since he couldn't take his meds.  Ugghhhh.....Joe and I are exhausted too, because we took turns trying to stay awake all night to make sure he stayed out of trouble.  But Joey is like the Energizer Bunny.

This is the plan this week.....

Joey
Math - Our assessor on Friday advised that we give up trying to master our multiplication facts.   She said we would be better to move back into our regular math program if he just has not "got" it yet.  So we will work on some practice here and there and continue with Teaching Textbooks next level.
Grammar- Time 4 Writing program (watch for the upcoming review)
Spelling - Spelling City and Spectrum Spelling book
Science - Chemistry experiment book
Unit Study- We are continuing our Summer Olympic unit from Amanda Bennett.  We have our medal chart up and ready for the Olympics to start.  We will be concentrating mainly on sports, and the history of the Ancient and Modern Games.  Some athletes also.  I love Amanda Bennett unit studies because so much information is included, but you can pick and choose what you want to use for your students.
Handwriting and Typing - Christian Keyboarding and Getty Dubay
Health - First Aid.  He has been asking to study First Aid again.  I was going through some of the 4H books and found their program to be very educational and interactive for him.  So he is going to start a 6 week study using this program.
Top Secret Adventures-He flys into Ireland for a stay there the next couple weeks!

Brayden
Math-Teaching Textbooks
Grammar - Spectrum Grammar
Spelling - Spectrum Spelling
Unit Study - Schoolhouse express Summer Olympics.  I am including him on some of Joey's studies also.  But he prefers independent reading, etc.
Science - Brayden doesn't want to do the experiments.  So he opted for a unit study on cats.
Handwriting and typing - Christian keyboarding and Getty Dubay
Unit Study - With Brayden's latest obsession being Cats, he is going to do a 6-8 week study of cats using the 4H Purr-fect Pals unit.

Lydia
Math - MUS #9 Addition with larger numbers
Grammar - First Language Lessons and her Folk Tale book.  So more on common and proper nouns.  And she will also be learning a new poem this week.  Her story this week is The Magic Fish.
Science - She will be starting a 6 week unit on Birds and Bird watching.  We'll be covering local birds and birds of the world
Phonics/Reading - Headsprout and Reading eggs.  I have noticed Lydia still struggling with Blends when reading.  So we are going to include Reading eggs along with Headsprout.  Also her site words this week are at, be, from, have, this.
Literature - We'll be continuing to read Wizard of Oz and American Girl McKenna.
Handwriting/Typing - Same as the boys, except Lydia wants to learn more cursive too.  So I have a dry erase set for her to practice with while I am reading her Wizard of Oz
Social Studies - We'll be working on our American Girl Manners book.  And also learning about what a city, country, urban, and rural.  Also how communities change over time.

Caty
Math-She will finish up her Scooby Doo math activities.  I found an older Scott Foresman Math book to include in her drawer along with her UmiZoomi.
Reading - We are going to read Carl the Dog Books all week
Science- She will be sitting in on some of the bird items the next week.  I printed a Bird theme packet from 2 Teaching mommies.
Explore the Code - Start with Review on Monday and then start Letter R
Alternating activities - Preschool Drawing from Scholastic (to encourage her pencil grasp) and her new favorite workbook--Leapfrog Preschool.

History
Since we do History as a group, there will be some group and some individual.  We are going to learn about Squanto this week.  We have the movie to watch.  The boys and I will be reading a classic tale on Squanto listed in our Truth Quest History book.  The girls and I will be reading about Squanto on a less intensive scale and also reading Pilgrim Cat.  They will all also be looking at what life was like for the Pilgrims.

Lydia will have violin lessons, and we will also be helping out at the Humane Society.  Joey will have guitar lessons at a new time this week.  We are going to try AM time for a few weeks.

Meals that are planned:

Chicken wraps
Chicken and dumplings
Baked Chicken
Ghoulash with salad and GF breadsticks
Chili dogs (for a quick lunch day)
Chicken ala King over biscuits
Sloppy chicken sandwiches w/ sweet potato fries
Potato Skins
Shrimp Alfredo
Tacos
Unbourban Chicken
Sub Sandwiches

Everyone have a wonderful week!!!

Knowledge Quest - Map Trek Review

Timelines really do help children visualize a time period.  I can say the year 1692 and 1776, but the kids really don't get the difference.  Or so what, maybe that just happened yesterday.  So we have been trying to do more time line work and also working more with maps.  My fear though is that of "over-teaching".  A common homeschool issue, where do you find the balance.  There is so much information to teach our children, and never enough time to each it.  I know I am not the only one that feels that way...lol.

Knowledge Quest is really a one-stop curriculum when it comes to map work and even time line work. This has been a great addition to our homeschooling household.  I have lost count how many times that I may have forgotten to print off a map or try to track down a map for the area we are studying in history.  Of course, the kids are always wondering exactly where we are talking about.  I also have this internal battle between history and geography.  I feel like I am over teaching them and trying to cram down too much information if I try to teach both Geography and History in the same day.

So really Map Trek has taken that struggle away.  I can teach geography right along with the history.   The kids are developing skills for both subjects.



Map Trek has lesson plans included for you.  It is broken down into three different categories.

• Level A - Children in Grades 1 -4
• Level B - Students in Grades 5-8
• Level C - High Schoolers (9th -12th grade)

These levels are made though so you can adjust to your student's needs.  Maybe you have a younger student who loves a challenge, or an older student who needs a little help.  You match the level up to your child's needs.  The map work is fun and interactive.   There could be just a few steps to fill in on each map, or several.  That is up to you.  I have done less with Lydia, but increased what the older boys need to be marking on their maps.

The kids loved to mark their maps as we have been studying early American History.  Visually they were able to see the spots on the map that we had been reading about.  The nice thing about Map Trek is even though there are lesson plans provided for you, you can use this program alongside many of the popular history curriculum that are used.  We are using this alongside our TruthQuest History program. Map Trek has allowed me to make a few clicks and have all the maps I need for each area.  No more hunting and searching for possible downloads online.  Which means more time for me...lol.

There is enough material to provide your students with a weekly map lesson, right along side your current history.  There are even colored teacher's maps provided in the book as a guide for you to help your students progress.  So no "over-teaching"!!!  

The Map Trek ebooks are available individually or as a set of 6, for the low price of only $14.95 each or the group for only $47.00.

Not sure yet???  Why not take a look at these Map Trek ebook Sampler pages.

Here's a brief video about this wonderful company.

We are going to continue using the Map Trek Series along with our History program.  It really helps me to know that I can cover so much CORE information, and no extra lessons need to be scheduled. Still not sure, why not check out what the other Crew Mates thought of Map Trek.

*****Disclaimer......I received Map Trek from Knowledge Quest free of charge for the sole purpose of this review for TOS Homeschool Review Crew. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Our Weekly Triumphs and Accomplishments

We had a great week.  Yeah we had tears and whining...show me a house that doesn't have that...lol.

We actually accomplished all of our book work.  Unfortunately we didn't get much done on our Summer Fun List.  We did some activities, but we didn't get anything accomplished off our list.

We started off the week finishing up fair projects.  Lydia had 4 projects that she was entering for the State Fair.  They were alot of work to get finished.

The Dangers of processed foods......The lady that laminated the poster at Office Max actually was asking me questions about how to get real foods in her diet.  Bravo Lydia!!!

 Horses

 Her American Girl Felicity project

 And a Solar Print project.

 We had a field trip to the local Minor league baseball team....The Toledo Mud Hens!!   Joey started to yawn as I snapped the picture.

 My sister-in-law took our family pic.  We had a lot of dad's on this field trip...lol.

 There was learning too...Here's Lydia working on her word wall.  She added 14 words this week (which are not in this picture) between her site word recognition and Headsprout words.

This was History this week.  We are learning about the Pilgrims.  The House on Stink Alley is an older book about the Pilgrims before they left for American.  Then they watched this classic, The Mouse on the Mayflower.

 Joey and Brayden are learning about the Summer Olympics.  We are actually using the Amanda Bennett 4 week study.  But these are some extras we found at Sparklebox.  I printed a poster for each sport and we are learning a little about each sport that is part of the Summer Olympic Games.  We are also learning about a few of the Countries that are participating and famous athletes of past games.  This is emphasized in the book, but since we do World Travelers Club not a main target for us.  My main thing is to learn about the sports and the history of the Olympics.  Joey is reading the Magic Tree House - Hour at the Olympics.  And I am using the Magic Tree House non-fiction Reference guide to go with our learning a bit more about Ancient Greece.  We are using a 3 ring binder to hold all our little projects.  We are doing a print out about each famous athlete.  And on the printouts of the sports, we are answering the questions for each sport that are asked in the unit study.  When we are done, I will bind them all with our binding machine.  We are adding so many pages right now, I thought I would wait until the end to do that.

 Here's our medal chart up and ready for tracking.  There are 79 countries participating.

This was our lemon cake that we made in honor of Greece.  It got a little messy as they all wanted to do it all by themselves....what an afternoon.

They made gluten-free/dairy-free lemon cake for our Olympic activity.....in honor of the early Olympic games.                                   

We were adjusting the recipe as we were going, so the cake could've used more sweetener and lemon juice.  But the homemade frosting made up for it...lol.

 
Joey working on his math worksheet trying to learn his facts...We are really at our giving up point.  We were told by our assessor to just move on with this.  Keep progressing and just use lots of reminders.  We'll keep moving forward with our normal Teaching Textbook program...whoohooo.  He may be able to catch up close to grade level this year.  He is doing great in Math, as long as he doesn't need to remember his facts.

Joey also has a chemistry experiment book that he is working on.  He did a experiment with Swedish fish, instead of gummy bear....because I couldn't find any.  He'll be doing 2-3 of these little experiments each week for the next couple months.

His fish did grow bigger, and as he predicted...the water did get a pink tint to it.  But we didn't predict that the fish would fall apart.

Joey had judging for his project.  He did Focus on Photography #1.  And he did wonderful.  It was interesting because of course Joey couldn't stay on topic and answer the questions that day.  Everything had to be re-worded.....repeatedly.  But overall he interacted very well with the judge.

He was so tired after going through judging for 4H and running errands, that he fell asleep while waiting for his guitar teacher.

We have had massive issues with Caty regressing in her potty training.  We are trying hard to get back where we were almost a year ago.  I was walking down the hall Thursday and discovered this scene.  Turns out Caty figured out her doll could go potty (an issue we didn't point out right away).  Lydia volunteered the information.  They mixed up some juice and Caty started getting a wet lap.  So she quickly stuck the baby on the potty where you are supposed to go.  I just wish Caty was in as much of a hurry for herself...lol.

Lydia did get through all her schoolwork.  Even with all her projects to finish earlier in the week.  She is progressing well with her addition in MUS.  We have almost reached the second section of Headsprout Phonics.  When she reaches Section 41, I am going to let her switch between Headsprout and Reading Eggs.  She is still struggling with sounds and merging them together.  I have noticed that Reading Eggs emphasizes site words and sounds a bit more.  So we'll wait and see.  At least she is starting to recognize more words.  Whoohoo!!!!  In Grammar, she is memorizing her poems well.  She has memorized 2 in the past couple months and is getting ready to start her 3rd in the next week or so in her Language Lessons book.  She has a firm grasp on Common and Proper nouns and can identify them in sentences.  The pronoun lesson is coming up in the next two weeks.


I couldn't sleep the other night, and since I was so alert, I stayed up until 2 am working on lesson plans for the next 5 weeks.  Got them all typed and printed.  

All 4 kids are planned out until the end of August.  Lydia is going to be working on a unit on Birds.  Caty will be learning some of the same sections.  Joey and Brayden will be finishing up their study on the Olympics.  Joey will start a unit on First Aid and also his computer class.  Brayden is going to be working on a Cat project book for the next month or so.  He will also be learning more about penguins, clouds and zoo animals (all at his request....I let him choose his next few unit studies).

Hope everyone had a great week!!!  Ready for next week to start....I am feeling a slight bit of organization power...lol.

Homeschool Mothers Journal - Week 8

In my life this week.....


Well many of you may have read that I had a meltdown...yep a total computer meltdown.  My hard drive died!  I lost everything for the past 1 1/2 years.  Needless to say I learned one of those ever important life lessons....backup...backup....backup.  The week wasn't very nice to me.  I spent half the week redownloading curriculum that I had bought online, finding review materials that I hadn't posted reviews for yet.  And just when I thought there was a turn around....the keyboard on the laptop died...yep after my hubby installed the new hard drive...the keyboard died.  Go figure!!!!


So my hubby was kind enough to share his laptop with me.  It's funny how we went from all of us having a laptop or desktop at our disposal...to scrambling to find a laptop/desktop for everyone to use for school work.  One of the kids older laptops took a dive the week before and Joe's trying to fix it.  Not near the same issue as mine.


Do you want to hear the quote to retrieve my data....drumroll......$1,750.00!!!....yep that's right.  The cost of a used car or a small family vacation for us.  Ouch...and so not happening.  So my hubby is going to possibly try and do the repair job on his own.  I mean, what's he going to do, break it...lol.


I also hurt my foot pretty good last week.  Extremely painful....kicked the entire left side of my foot into a 2x4 by our kids slide.  The next morning, I was hobbling around and fully kicked the couch leg with the exact spot on that foot.  The squeals and tears could most likely be heard for miles!!!  Thought it was broken, and finally went to the ER the other day after my hubby argued with me about making sure it wasn't broken or might develop blood clots because of a fracture.  But turns out just severely bruised inside of my foot.  Supposed to wear a fracture shoe to protect it.  I am trying, but it still hurts.  And as you all know....life does not stop because your foot hurts.


It's definitely been one of those weeks that it is hard to be optimistic about anything.  I started thinking about it, It's hard to think of the glass half-full...when someone keeps dumping my glass!!!  I keep trying to be optimistic though....lol.


I did get the book cases moved around in the hall way and finally got the ones I bought at the auction installed.  Took a whole case of books out of there too for donations.  Things they were not using or were getting too old for.


In our homeschool this week....


Believe it or not, we have pretty much stayed on task.  The kids got cool prizes at the library today for finishing the first 12 hours in their summer reading program.  They are actually ahead of the 12 hours, but we hadn't been to the library to get their prizes.  They got to choose a book.  The boys weren't with me, because we are still waiting on the van to get out of the shop (on the bright side...tomorrow!!!).  But Brayden was pretty excited when he saw the Magic Tree House book I selected for him.   He was like, "I get to keep this...I don't return it?"  I said, Nope...it's yours!  I asked if he wanted to read it with me.  "Okay!"  And started to take it out of the room.  I said, "Shouldn't you leave it in your workboxes so that we know where it is."  He's like, "Sure....dad get a copy for me for my iPad."  Loves reading on his e-reader...lol.


We actually are on track for all our subjects.  I have to say (and not patting myself on the back), that I am happy with where we are doing school work.  I think starting next week we are going to start instituting our September schedule, so that we can get used to the times we will be traveling for co-ops and field trips, etc.  So I feel comfortable with our schedule and not scrambling all stressed out about finishing school work.


I really like using a more classical approach for history, including the use of movies.  We have been doing our reading in the evening and trying to include a movie in what I can.  We are reading about the Pilgrims this week and next.  The kids enjoyed watching the classic movie, Mouse on the Mayflower.


Joey is still struggling with multiplication.  We are trying a new program that we are reviewing and I hope it helps him.  Brayden is loving using the School Express units for topics he wants to learn about. Joey and I started a Summer Olympics study for the next couple weeks, so I printed the one from School Express for Brayden.  He also has a thing for cats right now, so I printed that one too.  I bind them with plastic combs and he works on his own.   I double check him and quiz him to see what he learns.  It's one of those....If it ain't broke...don't fix it....things.


What I am reading.....


Cleaning House.....A mom's 12 month experiment to get rid of youth entitlement (discovered Blogging for Books...lol)


American Girl McKenna (with Lydia...lol)


Wizard of Oz (with Lydia...lol)


Magic Tree House - Hours of the Olympics (and the non-fiction guide)


Squanto : Friend fo the Pilgrims (for history)


What I am cooking.....


Been kind of stressed the last week or so.  I actually allowed take out for the entire family one night and most of the kids had some sort of fast food at least once this week.  Trying to get State Fair and County Fair projects finished just about killed me trying to finish them.  I was also planning for the kids assessments.  


That's been a real challenge.  I did have a meatloaf frozen, which worked for a couple meals and was able to use the last of it like mini-meatballs in some homemade spaghetti.  On Sunday we had family visiting, so I made a mexi-pasta salad and BBQed some chicken, which last for several meals also.  I cut chicken up in friend potatoes for breakfast one morning.  


I need to work harder at sticking to the meal plan next week...lol.  


What's working for us....


Actually one day this past week when it was so hot, I let the kids get in the pool in the morning right after breakfast.  Normally we make them wait until later in the day.  Actually worked quite well.  So I think I will start planning for physical activities in the morning right after breakfast.  And then do a couple hours of schoolwork.


Places we went this week....


We did an really cool field trip to explore the Toledo MudHens stadium.  They are a farm team for the Detroit Tigers!  We got to go behind the scenes and visit locker rooms, the dugout....and learned some really cool stuff.  Watch this weekend for my post on our trip.


Picture to share.....


He has been playing outside more.  Too bad he cannot stop talking.  So improvements in some OCDs and several steps backwards with others....never a happy medium.  But he is letting the sun touch his skin again...on his own terms.  And yes he is outside in his pajamas....but I wasn't going to argue with him!

Keyboarding for the Christian School Review

I really taken my keyboarding for granted.  I learned how to type in high school, even went to competition.  I forget most days that I am not even staring at the keyboard.  It amazes the children.  I sure didn't learn with the fancy keyboarding programs that kids have access to now.  There were no cutesy cartoon characters or dancing animals.  The only music I listened to while typing was whatever I was playing on my cassette player...yes I said cassette player.  I could type 95 words per minute then.  I have lost a bit of speed over the years, but still use that keyboarding skill even more now.  Makes me wonder though, do kids really need all the extra bells and whistles?


I wasn't sure what to expect from Joey when we first started using Keyboarding for the Christian School.  Joey has shorter fingers, so holding the standard finger position for keyboarding can be difficult for him.  Needless to say flashy dancing computer game typing classes leave him frustrated then.  Because he isn't always able to move as quickly as they may require.  So really him just learning proper finger position


I basically just included this in his workboxes.  I included the book every other day.  At first he didn't know what to expect, because there was no extra flashy bells and whistles.  Kind of think he expected a song if he turned the page. 


He did very well using it though.  The lessons each are very short in time frame.  So perfect for his extremely short attention span.  Miss Mabel the ladybug guided him through the lessons.  A brief scripture is listed at the top of each lesson.  Even better, the practice pages are scripture excerpts.  So if you are looking for a non-secular keyboarding curriculum for your family, this would make a good fit for your needs.  


There are 32 lessons broken down by the alphabetic keys, numbers and symbol keys, number pad, centering, enumerated lists, and of course timed writings.  


You could either use this as a curriculum for a full year or allow your child(ren) to move at their own pace doing multiple lessons each week.  The age group for this curriculum is elementary school, so you could use this with as young as a child who recognizes letters through the recommended 5th grade level.   You judge your child's abilities.  Lydia will be beginning this program also.  She is at a good age is start learning correct typing.  


This will definitely be included in our workload to keep their keyboarding up and teach those who still need to learn.


Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Edition is available in e-Book format for the low price of $12.95!!!!  You can choose standard print or large - print (which is the one we chose to use).



But right now, if you order through August 29, 2012 and use the code SUMMER2012 you will get 20% off your purchase.  


This is a great addition to your homeschool day and great for anybody in the family to use.  So even if you need a little help yourself in keyboarding skills, check their program out!  You can check out the ease of use by viewing some of their sample chapters.








Check them out on Facebook.


See what other Crew Mates thought of Keyboarding for the Christian School and other products from Christian Keyboarding.





*****Disclaimer......I received Keyboarding for the Christian School free of charge for the sole purpose of this review for the TOS Review Crew. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

What we are up to this week....

So........wow......did I get behind in the blog.....again!!!  I didn't get my Homeschool Mother's Journal done because my computer crashed, and it was hard!  The drive would cost $1750.00 to retrieve my data.  Can we see the importance of a back up service????  Oh yeah...going to be done from now on!

Anyway.....it's going to be one of those weeks.  Tuesday, we have an awesome field trip.  Can't wait!!!  We are going to be touring a Minor League baseball stadium.  

Joey have 4-H judging for his photo project.  

Today I spent all day running errands for Special Olympics, and the Sporting Goods guy was more than willing to follow me around spending almost $500.00 under his sales table made him look good.....oh and I finally went to have my foot x-rayed.  They said it wasn't broken, just a deep contusion that has caused all the swelling and bruising.

The kids have their assessments on Friday.  Since we know Char, she's coming over for a BBQ since we still are having issues with Brayden leaving the house.  We'll wait and see how tomorrow goes.

I know I am forgetting some activity.  But we will squeeze a bit of schoolwork in too.

Joey

Math - New Multiplication book (watch for the review)

Science- He will be doing some work on mass and fun experiments

Language Arts/Spelling-His new reading book is Magic Tree House An Hour at the Olympics and the non-fiction guide to go with it.

Handwriting - Getty Dubay

World Geography - Top Secret Adventures.  He's been slow going in his Australia book.  His new one arrived this week, so need to finish that one.

Project - Summer Olympics

Brayden

Math - Teaching Textbooks

Science - Same as Joey

Language Arts/Spelling - Reading his choice

Handwriting - Getty dubay

Projects- Cats and Summer Olympics.  Brayden is having this thing about cats right now.  So I thought, let's go with it.  He also loves doing these books from SchoolExpress.  So if it works....don't fix it!

Lydia

Math - MUS -- Adding single numbers, she is using the MUS blocks, but I also am teaching her Touchpoint for those times where she might need a reminder but doesn't have manipulatives handy.  Also found her some great flashcards at Office Max yesterday.  Better than the ones I made.  They have the dots on them, so we can use them for a few weeks as she learns the facts, they will be replaced with the regular cards.

Science - The needs of the trees.  We'll be finishing this section up in Science.

Grammar/Phonics- First Language Lessons for Little ones and Headsprout.  She will also be using her site word worksheets

Manners - The American Girl Guide

Handwriting - Getty Dubay and practice early cursive.  She's getting letter formation down, and she so wants to learn cursive.  So found this book at Office Depot yesterday while waiting on her posters to be laminated.

Caty

Just doing what we can, and throw learning into whatever we can.  Here's her drawers for the week.

 Great book from Scholastic Express

 She loves the Leap Frog videos on Netflix.  Found this at Office Max yesterday.  She can work on this and got a Kindergarten one too.  She actually could do most of that one on her own too.  So she should be pretty excited to see this.

In History we will be learning about the Pilgrims.  Watching Mouse on the Mayflower and reading lots of books about the Pilgrims and Squanto.  The kids will also be done will be getting new sheets for the library summer reading club.  They have read through the first sheet and starting the next.  Very happy for them.  They also finished two other clubs.  Whoohooo!!!  Incentive to get little prizes, so I need start using little prizes to keep them going!

Everyone have a great week....hoping ours stays positive!!

Professor B Math Review

Math tutors are expensive.  Math is also not a strong subject for me to teach.  I am OK with the basics....and then we start getting into the higher levels of teaching decimals, fractions, and even early Algebra.  In fact, Math is an extremely difficult subject for me to teach.


Joey is struggling with Math.  He gets some of the concepts and not others.  He also has trouble memorizing the facts.  This area is Joey's weakest subject by far.  So I am always looking for a new way to possibly help him grasp more in his math.


We were very excited to get the opportunity to try out Professor B Math.  It helps to build a strong foundation for future math.   This program was designed to help Teach the parent teach their child math.  It's not a program that you just sit your kids down in front of and walk away.  Parent-child interaction is crucial for success with this program.  Professor B is designed to help the parent succeed in teaching their child(ren), but also is designed to help you children succeed.

       


The program is designed for children Pk - 8th grade.  



The levels Professor B teaches:


LEVEL I Pre-k though 2nd graders and remediation of older learners. Introduction to Addition/Subtraction Facts – Counting to One Hundred – Lower Addition and Subtraction – Higher Addition and Subtraction – Place Value Fractional Parts & Order – Time – Money
LEVEL II 3rd grade through 5th grade and remediation of older learners. Multiplication/Division Facts and Problem Solving – Introduction to Fractions – Fractional Equivalence – Addition and Subtraction Fractions
LEVEL III 6th through 8th grades and remediation of older learners. Multiplication/Division of Fractions – Decimals – Percents


The pro about this program is that our children fit into all levels.  So we could have used it with all the children.  The girls looked around a bit in the lower level teaching, but were not excited.  I liked the simplicity, but the girls really enjoy interactive type programs....especially Caty.  This program is not as interactive as ones we have used in the past.  They didn't mind review worksheets that I could print from the online workbook.  


Joey started with Level II.  I was debating on where to start him, since he grasps concepts at such different levels.  Level II started out with multiplication and a way to remember your fact tables.  We spent much time on this section together.  We reviewed the material daily, and even used the printable lessons from the online workbook.  


He struggled with the fact that there is no sound.  He really thought the bee should be talking to him.  He kept checking the speakers to see if they were turned up.  It was rather comical at times, but even I kept waiting for the bee to blurt something out...lol.  
The concept of no speaking from the character is that parents are the teacher.  The parent is hands-on, and does not leave the child to teach itself in front of the computer.


That is good and bad.  Joey also did not like the lack of interactive activities in the program.  He kept waiting for a game to reinforce the skills he was learning.  He did pick up on a couple of the tricks for figuring his multiplication problems.  The lessons also were not very long


What did we really think?  I think the concept of Professor B is wonderful.  The proven success of this program with other families is high!  Unfortunately it did not work well for our children.  One is a very hands-on and a visual learner and requires manipulatives.  And Joey just plain struggles.  Given the short amount of time that we have used the program, I still love the concept and want to continue working with it.  Joey did have a little bit of a light bulb turn on in some of the lessons we were able to complete.  He grasped the concept of using his fingers to count by 2s, 3s, etc to help him solve simple multiplication problems.  That says a lot about that approach.  We will be continuing to use the product.


My wish list for Professor B.  I wish the Bee would talk and just give sections of the lesson to the kids.  They would love that, and I think it could adjust the attention aspect we deal with too.  I am grateful for the shorter length of the lessons.  I also think it is a bit pricey for our budget.  So swinging the program for all 4 of our children would be very difficult.


But if your children is able to grasp math concepts easily, this program is for you!  They offer 3 years of math can be taught in 1 year!  That's a lot of math for your dollar!


If you are interested in Professor B, you can check out a Sample lesson here.  They do offer a 30 day free trial.  Try it....I recommend it.  What other program turns you into an accomplished math teacher!!!


Costs:
$20.00 per month for each Level.  If you would like to purchase more than two levels at a time, it would be $20.00 for the first month and $15.00 for the second level.  And if you would like to buy all 3 levels at the same time each month, you coast would be $20.00 for the 1st, $15.00 for the 2nd level and $10.00 for the the 3rd level each month.  


Check out what other Crew Mates thought of Professor B.












*****Disclaimer......I received a Professor B trial free of charge for the sole purpose of this review for TOS Homeschool Reviews. I was not required to write a positive review. The views I have expressed are my own and are real experiences with my family. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html>:"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."