Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Review: Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) Fix It! Grammar (TOS Review)

Fix It! Grammar Review
Fix It! Grammar Review
 
Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) over the last several weeks as part of a review.  This has been a GREAT program for us!

Fix It! Grammar Review
Fix it!  Grammar is exactly that…a grammar program.  In Book 1 your child is introduced to different parts of speech, which they then identify in a sentence.  Each daily lesson consists of ONE sentence.  Each sentence compiles on the other to make a story.  After the identify the parts of speech (ie noun, verb, etc).  They then rewrite the sentence.  Each sentence also consists of a bolded word to be discussed for vocabulary purposes.  They may also write the word and it’s definition (if it’s a new word for them).  Homophones are also introduced in the first few weeks (such as there, their or they’re).
The lessons are THAT simple!  Each program also comes with grammar cards for quick reference as reminders of the parts of speech and what each one is. 
The ‘Fix-It’ part of the book comes by fixing errors.  In Book 1 to this point those errors are only missing punctuation, but as time goes on more errors are introduced.  I really like this concept because editing is a very important skill that is beneficial in so many aspects.  It also helps improve and build upon your own writing skills when editing others mistakes.
My 8yo son DOES NOT LIKE writing; however, he never complained about these lessons.  He is also enjoying the story that he is piecing together in the process.  I often find him reading ahead to see what happens!
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The Teacher’s Manual and Student Manual are spiral bound. The Teacher’s Manual, however, comes with a downloadable PDF version of the Student Manual.  You will also need a notebook of some sort to rewrite the sentences and the vocabulary words.  I attached a pocket in the back of our notebook for the grammar cards, as well.
We used this curriculum 3-4 days a week.  The lessons take maybe 10mins.  They are super easy, but my son has learned a lot and enjoyed them.  We use it as our handwriting lesson as well, so he is to use his best handwriting when copying the sentence each day. 
The cards that come with the program are also great.  I have even learned a thing or two while using this program.  For instance, we all know a noun is a person, place or thing, but, they also defined a noun as something that can be counted, and a word that you can use an article with.  That seems obvious, but I never thought to explain it that way.  These ways of explaining have really helped my son distinguish the parts of speech easier. What I love most about this program is the use of application of what is taught!
If you are unsure as to where you should start your child in the program there is a placement test.  My son has had some grammar exposure, but nothing really formal, therefore we started with Book 1.  It has been simple for him thus far, but it’s also been great practice.  I expect it to get a bit more challenging, but each lesson builds on the previous, just like the story is building on itself as well.
We will be continuing with this program throughout this school year.  It is an easy add on to what we have already been doing without adding on much more time!
This program is recommended for grades 3 through 12.  The Teacher Book is $19 and the Student Book (Spiral Bound) is $15. 
Click to read Crew Reviews
Crew Disclaimer

Monday, September 29, 2014

Poppins Book Nook: Wild West Resource List and #Giveaway

Poppins Book Nook
<div align="center"><a href="http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/2014/02/poppins-book-nook/" title="Poppins Book Nook"><img src="http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n597/enchantedhomeschoolingmom/ProfileImage_zpse3f27ae8.png" alt="Poppins Book Nook" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
Grab the code above to come and link up each month and share what YOU do with the theme!  We look forward to hearing from you!


This Year’s Co-hosts


Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama


We have not actually gotten to the Wild West yet in our US History Study, BUT….I do have a list of resources that I want to share with you that we plan to use, and when we get closer to the unit I, of course, will share our finished unit as part of our US History Series.


Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett (the units listed are no longer on sale)


Free Wild West MEGA Printable Pack


Do You Want to be a Cowboy Printable Unit


Western Coloring Pages and Printables


Cowboy Printables


Homeschool Share Cowboy Unit


Cowboy Printable Unit


PBS The Wild West (also available on Netflix and Amazon Prime)


Kids Songs Wild West Fever (AP)


Horrible Histories:  Wild West (Hulu Plus)


Netflix Academy: The best streaming videos on Daniel Boone, Annie Oakley, and other American folk heroes

Cowboy & Wild West Children's Books

Check all the other great Wild West themed ideas from other members of Poppins Book Nook linked below and be sure to enter the giveaway!!


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Wild West Learning Bundle Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky cowpoke will strike gold and win a bundle of fun for the theme of the Wild West.  This bundle will include a copy of the storybook Westward Ho!: An Activity Guide to the Wild West (Hands-On History) and one Wild West Toob. So mozzy down to the corral for your chance to win today!

Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here. Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Saturday, September 27, 2014

Week 6 in Review

week

Sometimes I feel like we never actually ‘do’ much ‘school’, I guess these reviews come in handy to see what all we do accomplishment, even when we aren’t at home for homeschool!  I have to laugh when I write ‘normal school day’ on only a couple of the days each week….since ‘normal’ doesn’t seem to actually be ‘normal’.  HA!

Saturday – Soccer Games!  Weather was beautiful!   Then C went to Brickfest (the tickets were his birthday present back in August with DH, and the other 3 and I went to an MMA demo and to McD’s for dinner.

Monday – Normal school day followed by their first day of MMA class (for the older two) and 2nd day of art class!  We will now have MMA every Monday and Wednesday as they started a new homeschool class! 
monday

Tuesday – Normal school day and C was on FIRE!  He got everything done a lot earlier than usual today, and it was a normal workload!  Then we had gymnastics for c.  We came home and did a science project (cloud in a jar) and then we watched a few educational films…to which they all fell asleep!  That rarely happens!  Guess they were tired!

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Wednesday – Another Field Trip to Maryland Science Center, See Field Trip Friday!  Then MMA in the evening.

Thursday – Co-op and a trip to Costco.  Soccer was canceled because of the rain, was nice to have a nice calm evening at home!

Friday – Swimming and then we met up with some extended family for a Children’s Miracle Network Fundraiser in honor of my cousin’s baby who lost his life 2 years ago to a brain tumor at the age of 3mos.  Tomorrow is full of soccer games and service projects for The National Day of Service.  This has been a really busy week, and next week starts with a field trip on Monday!

Link Ups this week -

Pirate Resources
Workbox Wednesday
Field Trip Friday

Reviews this week -


Posts this week -

I posted Unit 4 of our US History Curriculum this week!
Unit 1 – Vikings, Columbus and Pocahontas
Unit 2 – Jamestown
Unit 3 – Plymouth Pilgrims, Native Americans and The First Thanksgiving
Unit 4 – Colonial America (Prerevolutionary)

I also posted another unit in our Earth Science for Early Ele, the last several have been mostly just for PreK/K, but this week I posted resources for K-3rd about seasons and the water cycle.

Linking up at:

and Weekly Wrap up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Blog

Share it Saturday!!

Share it Saturday- final_thumb
 
Please visit my co-hosts:

Karyn from Teach Beside Me
Colleen & Leann from Sugar Aunts
Mary Catherine from Fun-a-Day
and Tiffany from Life & Lessons From a Country Road
Kimberly from Natural Beach Living *(NEW!)
 



 


 

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Field Trip #141 Friday Blog Hop (Maryland Science Center/Baltimore)

Field Trip Friday!
Photobucket
Blog Hop designed to share 'FIELD TRIP' related Blog Posts

(does not have to be a 'home school field trip', can be any trip to any place with your children!)


Please stop by and visit my co-host’s blog and give them a shout out!
Lisa @ Our 4 Kiddos

**NOTE:  Before linking up please review guidelines HERE

 

    It has been homeschool days this month at the Maryland Science Center. We participated in two days of the event! 

    2014-09-18 09.58.05

    First Trip -
    We saw an IMAX movie called Forces of Nature.  We also explored the museum for several hours.  My 5yo was signed up for the Planetarium, but I thought it was a class and only signed him up, then he didn’t want to go by himself…so we didn’t see it.  (I’ll know better for next time).  I had only signed up my 8yo for the IMAX, but was able to add the rest of us in before it started!

    md science

    Second Trip – We learned about moon phases at the planetarium, the younger boys went to a mixing colors class and C went to a class about the sun on the roof (Observatory).  Then we watched a demo on static electricity as well as checked out places we hadn’t seen yet.  K and I hung out in the kiddie section while all the boys were at class!

    md science2

    Wednesday, September 24, 2014

    Workbox Wednesday Link Up #18

    Chestnut Grove Academy
     

    Welcome to Workbox Wednesday!  If you use workboxes, tot trays, or anything similar, feel free to post a link to your blog post or a picture (pictures can be from facebook, but please make sure they are PUBLIC so we can see them, or use a host like photobucket.com to get a URL for your photo) that shows WHAT IS IN YOUR BOXES!

    Please visit my co-host at Tots and Me
    Another host is joining us in October!!  So excited!

    Visit others that link up, leave comments, follow, etc.  The favors will be returned!  Feel free to grab a button too, so others can find the link up and join in the fun!

    I planned to have the next installment of our Preschool/Kinder Earth Science Unit up this week, but ran out of lamination, and with it being a short week for us it got moved to the back burner.  So stay tuned for next week! 

    Tuesday, September 23, 2014

    Earth Science (Early Ele): Seasons and The Water Cycle


    See Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter posts.  I spent a lot more time on each individual season with the younger kids (PreK and K).  I didn’t feel my 3rd grader needed so much concentrated attention on seasons.  Next we will start to talk about various weather conditions.
    Workbox Wednesday next week will be Clouds/Rain activities for the little kiddos. I was going to post it this week, but there are only 2 days of ‘school’ this week and I ran out of lamination!

    (and Early Elementary)

    Activities:

    Stamp Page:  Seasons and Weather (Postal History Foundation) – $5 shipping fee for up to 5 topic choices.

    From EnchantedLearning.com ($20/yr subscription fee)
    An Apple Tree Through the Seasons
    Seasons Word Wheel
    Label the Seasons
    Label the Clouds
    Label the Water Cycle
    Sorting Season Cards – FREE from Montessori For Everyone
    FREE Water Cycle Graphic by Kids Discover

    Cloud Viewer - FREE
    Science - FREE weather unit for PreK-4th Grade #weather #preschool #kindergarten #science
    Lots of great printables and experiments and it’s FREE!
    Weather Station and Observation Chart

    We used this one^, but there are many to choose from OR you can make your own.

    You will need a thermometer, an anemometer, a wind vane, rain gauge, cloud chart (I have NOT tried these out, they were just ideas I found online).
    Cloud in a Jar

    Books:

    Free Ebook – CLOUDS HAVE NAMES
    Montessori Cloud Book $2.59
    Picture of Weather (Level 2) - IR


    For Kindle:


    *I got both of these when they were FREE sometime ago, the Water Droplets is the TEXT version only…the picture one is probably better.

    Watched:

    Magic School Bus – Wet all Over (Season 2, Episode 5) Netflix
    The Water Cycle & Cloud Formation (AP)
    Water Makes Life Possible/The Water Cycle (AP)
    Floods, Fronts & The Water Cycle (AP)
    Earth Science (Amazon $1.99 rental or purchase for $14.99)
    NeoK12 Water Cycle for Kids (several short youtube clips, quiz games)
    Brain Pop Jr – Water Cycle, Seasons
    Brain Pop – Seasons (FREE), Water Cycle, Clouds, Solstice and Equinox (FREE)

    Apps:

    iPhone Screenshot 1


    iPad Screenshot 1
    Water Cycle HD


    Water Wonders – Amazon Appstore

    Monday, September 22, 2014

    U.S. History - Colonial America (Prerevolutionary)

    history4

    Life in Colonial America Curriculum
    Lapbook Study from Hands of a Child ($6.00)

    Books:

     

    Additional Activities:

    Stamp page – Occupations in Colonial America
    Sarah Noble Unit Study by Progeny Press
    DIY Colonial Hat

    Watched:

    Freedom & Repression in Colonial America (AP)
    The Growth of Prerevolutionary America (AP)
    Drive Thru American History (FREE Streaming online at iTBN.org)  This site tells you what each episode covers.
    Dear America:  Season 1, Episodes 1&2 (Netflix)
    Story of America:  Season 1, Episode 1

    Other Resources Used:  Veritas Press & Golden Prairie Press

    Other Options:
    Moving Beyond the Page – Literature Study (Sign of the Beaver)
    History Pockets, Grades 4-6, Colonial America

    Field Trips:  Jamestown, Williamsburg, McFadden Art Glass (glass blowing).

    Find More:
    Unit 1 – Vikings, Columbus and Pocahontas
    Unit 2 – Jamestown
    Unit 3 – Plymouth Pilgrims, Native Americans and The First Thanksgiving
    Unit 4 – Colonial America (Prerevolutionary)