A is for Always Behind {Blogging Through the Alphabet}

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Once again I am going to try to link up with some fellow crew members for their Blogging Through the Alphabet. I'll admit, I have failed miserably in the past, but I'm going to really give this a hearty effort this go aound. I'm already a week behind, so on to the letter A......

A is for Always Behind

Like many homeschooling moms, I have stressed out over the fact that we never seemed to stay on top of our lessons and end up behind. Activities, field trips, unexpected visits from friends and family, and the dreaded sickness are all culprits that helps us fall behind.

In the beginning, I would panic and try to cram everything in. This just stressed the kids and I out. It made our homeschooling miserable and not fun at all. This was the last thing I wanted. I never wanted our learning to become tedious and a drag. I wanted my kids to love learning and be eager to learn. I knew that if we continued on the current path, we'd all begin to hate our homeschooling journey.

So for a few years, we tried schooling year round. This worked well. There was no longer any stress as far as our time table went. I didn't feel like I was shoving information into my kids heads. I no longer worried about what they were or were not retaining. I will admit though we missed our summers off. Sometimes, mom just needs a break. Heck, we all needed a break. We just wanted to relax and soak up those hours of summer sun!

What's a homeschooling mom to do?

After 10 years on this journey, I think I have it figured out. At least for our family. We start school in September and end in June. We take off the usual holidays. I schedule our lessons for 32-34 weeks, but have our school year 36 weeks. This allows us a few weeks to play catch up. Our classes end at different times, but that's fine. Right now, the kids have finished religion and English. Over the next few weeks, they will finish up all their classes except Math. Math is a subject we do year round. I've found it helps them retain information or play catch up if they are a grade behind.

My advice to all of those moms who feel they are falling behind..... Don't stress the small stuff.

Of course next year we start high school, so we're entering into a whole new world!

Till Next Time,

Monique

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Follow the rules below and link up with the wonderful hosts!

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool

Kirsten @ DoodleMom

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase

Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook

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Hillary @ Walking Fruitfully

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Till Next Time,

Monique

Living Like a Saint~ May 6, 2018

Till Next Time,

Monique

Review~ Douglas MacArthur from YWAM

Since we are studying World War II this year, I was thrilled when we were given the opportunity to review Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur from YWAM Publishing. I knew this would be a wonderful addition to our lesson about this important war.

YWAM Publishing is a Christian company whose goal is to provided quality, Christian books for families. They offer books about heroes from our past and heroes from today's world. They provide books for parents to help them along with their homeschooling journey and this crazy journey of life. 

YWAM Publishing offers families a fantastic collection of biographies about various Christian and historical heroes. Readers can read about Davy Crockett, Ronald Reagan, Harriet Tubman, Corrie Ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, Louis Zamperini, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These are just a handful of the titles YWAM Publishing has to offer. Click on over to discover more Heroes of History and Christian Heroes. They even offer a wonderful collection of books for those younger readers.

Duty, Honor, Country

For this review, we were given a physical copy of the book, Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur: What Great Honor and a digital down load of the study guide to go along with the book. 

Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur is geared for children ages 10 and up. Of course, this is just a suggested guide line. Advanced readers could easily read this book. If you're homeschooling a range of students, this would be a great book to read aloud together. The book was written by Janet and Geoff Benge. It's 204 pages long. In the front of the book, a map is given to help readers know where they are during most of the book. It's a great reference point. At the end of the book, a bibliography is given of various books about Douglas MacArthur. They would be a great place to start in learning more about this amazing man.

"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

~ Douglas MacArthur

After a brief description of MacArthur's evacuation from the Island of Corregidor, the books goes into telling about the young life of Douglas MacArthur. When we meet young Douglas, he is just a five year old boy living in Texas. The book then goes on to tell about the young cadet, his hard work, and his acceptance into West Point Academy located along the beautiful Hudson River Valley. It truly is gorgeous there in the fall when the leaves change colors.

Most of the book deals with MacArthur's life as an adult. We see him advance through the army and make a name for himself....cadet, officer in training, lieutenant, army chief of staff, and supreme commander. We see his genius in battles. We see his determination to win the war with Japan. The book closes with his life after war and his death. This is truly a wonderful read for students learning about World War I and World War II. 

To go along with our book, we received the study guide for Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur. The study guide comes with 3 different set of instructions for use. Classroom, Group, and Homeschool Overview allows the guide to be used in a regular classroom setting, a co-op setting, and of course, at home with your eager students. For this review, I will be focusing on the Homeschool Overview. 

The Homeschool Overview begins with a table of contents and an introduction. Both of these sections are provided so that families can make the most effective use of the Heroes of History biographies. There are guidelines on how to use the Heroes of History as a core curriculum for your American history class or how to use an individual book in your lessons. If my kids were younger, I would love to use the Heroes of History as our curriculum. They provided a wonderful chart for parents to follow. Begin with Christopher Columbus and end with Doctor Ben Carson. They even offer a suggested timeline to complete the books in one year. This would a fantastic start for American history for upper elementary students. 

Douglas MacArthur

source~Wikipedia

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."

~ Douglas MacArthur

 The student study guide is amazing. 

It adds more depth to the book and the study of Five-Star General, Douglas MacArthur. It is broken up into various sections. 

~Introduction~

This explains how to use the study guide and all that it offers. I definitely suggest reading through the entire guide and picking what you would like to do. You can try to do everything suggested, but it might be a little to much for your students. 

~Key Quotes~

Here you'll find 10 quotes that can be used with you lessons. In the Douglas MacArthur quotes, I was thrilled to see a quote from Pope Paul VI. 

"If you want peace, you must work for justice."

~Display Corner~

This is a suggestion for you classroom (if you have one)

Here they recommend creating a corner and displaying various items pertaining your book. 

A family tree, extra books to check out, maps, flags from different countries that are talked about, pictures of the people and battles fought.

~Chapter Questions~

These are a great way to check out your child's reading compression. It can also be a way for you to make sure your child is actually reading the book. There are 6 questions pertaining to vocabulary, factual events, comprehension, and opinion for some deep thinking.

~Student Explorations~

This is were you can really pick and choose what your student completes. There are suggestions for essay writing, creative writing, hands-on projects, visual projects, audio projects, and art projects.

I found some phenomenal ideas for their study of World War II. Make a recruitment poster for West Point Academy, make a relief map of Japan, or write an essay about nuclear bombs.

~Community Links~

This is were you try to find some engaging field trips for further learning. War memorials and museums and talks given by veterans are just a few ideas for General Douglas MacArthur.

~Social Studies~

This section offers suggestions for the maps and timeline provided. It provides a page just of vocabulary words with their location in the book. This is great for spelling!

~Related Themes to Explore~

Related themes, like math current events, military, government, and history, are suggested for this book. Students can research an area that appeals to them. This is a great way to encourage learning bu offering them a topic that want to dig in and explore.

~Culminating Event~

This is the end of the study guide. It offers suggestions for a way for students to bring closure to the topic. Host a theme party or event, act out a certain battle with friends (boys would love this), or prepare an oral report to present. If you have 4-H in your area, students could create a presentation and enter it in the fair.

~Books and Resources~

This final section provides additional books and resources for your study. It's long, so I'd suggest picking a few for your child's appropriate age level.

Each study guide offers students a chance to explore history from the books time period, geography, essay writing, creative writing, reading comprehension, art, drama, and public speaking.

The Study Guide also provides students with a fact sheet for their person and maps. For Douglas MacArthur, we filled in the fact sheet about him. The kid worked on coloring in and filling in important places, battles, etc on the maps. we received maps of Japan, Korea, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. A timeline is included so students can keep a record of important events that occurred during their person's life. Promotions, relocation, and battles were filled in for General MacArthur.

Be sure to check out the other books that the members were given to review! 

Just click the link below.

Till Next Time,

Monique

Review~ Help Teaching Pro from HelpTeaching.com

Today, I get to share with you a wonderful resource for homeschoolers. HelpTeaching.com is a website filled with thousands of worksheets, tests, and lessons. You can even create your own worksheets! For this review, received a one year subscription to Help Teaching Pro.

HelpTeaching.com offers parents lessons, worksheets, printable and online test, and games for students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. They offer thousands of resources for the busy homeschooling family. Parents and educators can make their own worksheets and tests. 

For this review, we received a subscription to the Help Teaching Pro. This is a one year subscription. It costs $39 for the year. The Help Teaching Pro allows parents and teachers access to tests, worksheets, the ability to create tests, and  the test room. The entire site is a wonderful addition to any homeschool curriculum. With all the lessons and worksheets available, I'm sure you could create your very own curriculum to fit your students needs.

So What is the Help Teaching Pro?

HelpTeaching.com offers a variety of tools for homeschool parents and educators. 

The site offers a variety of subjects for all grade levels.

Early Education

Arts

English & Grammar

Language Arts

Life Skills

Math

Science

Social Studies

Geography

Study Skills & Strategies

Physical Education

Vocational Education

and more

The span of grades covered allows parents and educators the ability to find worksheets and lessons for every student. This is essential for the homeschooling family teaching children of all ages. If you have a high school student and a preschooler, you'll be able to find something for both. I did take a peak at the little kids section and was impressed with the lessons and worksheets available. The seasons and holiday section is fantastic. There are some great resources for the younger kids. I wish I still had a few myself.

HelpTeaching.com is broken up into 3 sections. The sections are colored coded to make navigation on the website simple and easy. There is a lot of information on this website. This is my second time reviewing this amazing site and I'll still learning new things. I keep finding more and more things to be impressed about.

Tests & Worksheets

Over 3,000 free worksheets (even more with the Pro subscription)

Worksheets, tests, & activities for K-12th grade

Early education, elementary, middle school, high school, and AP materials

Common Core Aligned

Test Marker

Create custom worksheets & tests

Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, True or False, & Question 

1,000+ images to use on worksheets & tests

Test Room

Online Tests & Assessments

Track student groups & performance

Practice mode for review and exam preparation

The site offers online lessons. They include videos from Help Teaching, Khan Academy, YouTube, and Educator.com. They range anywhere from 15-120 minutes long. 

So How Did I Use Help Teaching Pro?

I went on to the site and poked around to find worksheets to go along with what we were already studying. I even looked into worksheets for next year. The collection is huge and can be a little overwhelming at first. Heck...I'm still a little overwhelmed with the selection. Thankfully the site is easy to use. 

I looked into the English, Language Arts, and Science sections. I was thrilled to find a a few worksheets pertaining to the books the kids were reading for English and history right now. For Michael, I found a worksheet/test about the Lord of the Flies. For both of them, I found a worksheet about The Diary of Anne Frank. The kids are currently reading this book for out World War II study. These are perfect for me to see f they are actually reading the books. I honestly don't think that they are not, but it's nice to have a way to check their reading compression and memory. 

I found a World War II worksheet that I can use as a quiz for them once we complete our study in a few weeks. 

We watched a lesson about the digestive system. I was pleasantly surprised that it played without any issues. It didn't freeze or just sit there loading. The lesson added a wonderful addition to our human anatomy lesson we were already doing. I liked how these lessons offer the kids another option and more information. 

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Check out a few more reviews!

Till Next Time, Monique

Wordless Wednesday~ Spring Flowers

Till Next Time,

Monique

Review~ Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia

The kids were recently given the opportunity to work through Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia. Over the years, we have used Apologia and have always enjoyed the materials they have provided.

Apologia is a Christian company and a leader in the homeschool curriculum world. Almost all homeschooling families have used it at sometime during their homeschooling journey. Even if they haven't used any of the curriculum offered from Apologia, they definitely have heard about it. Apologia offers courses in science, English, Language Arts, Bible, Geography, and more. They even offer homeschooling adds for students and parents!

Over the years, we have used a variety of Apologia's Exploring Creation science curriculum. The Exploring Creation series is geared for students in grades kindergarten through 6th grade, but can easily be adapted for use with students in 7th and 8th grade.

For this review, we received a wonderful collection of books from the Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology science curriculum. Our set included the Exploring Creation Anatomy and Physiology Textbook, the Human Anatomy Notebooking Journal, the Human Anatomy Junior Notebooking Journal, and the Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD.

So let's look at the materials a little closer. The kids and I have always enjoyed the textbooks from Apologia. The Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is a hardback textbook with thick sturdy pages. The printing is crisp and clear.

The books is filled with bright, colorful pictures and graphics. These images help the students understand the science topic being covered. The diagrams are absolutely amazing. The textbook is extremely well done and keeps the students attention. You'll never hear a student say this is boring! Even your non-loving science students will enjoy learning all about science.

The textbook is broken up into 14 lessons (chapters). Students will learn all about the human body.

Lesson 1~ Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

Lesson 2~ The Skeletal System

Lesson 3~ The Muscular System

Lesson 4~ The Digestive System and Renal System

Lesson 5~ Health and Nutrition

Lesson 6~ The Respiratory System

Lesson 7~ Life in the Blood

Lesson 8~ The Cardiovascular System

Lesson 9~ The Nervous and Endocrine System

Lesson 10~ The Nervous System Extended

Lesson 11~ Your Senses

Lesson 12~ The Integumentary System

Lesson 13~ The Lymphatic and Immune System

Lesson 14~ Growth and Development

The lessons are broken up into various sections. This allows the student to read and understand the topics being discussed. The lessons can easily be broken up into sections for easy lesson planning. Throughout the lessons, students will come across sections labeled Try This.

These sections help the students have a hands-on approach with science. They encourage students to try different activities to see how the body works, why things are as they are, and so on. Some of the suggested activities are fun especially for the younger students. My two, found some of the Try This sections too juvenile and many they had already done over the years. 

At the end of each lesson is a What Do You Remember section and a hands-on project or experiment to complete. Both of these sections provide students with more opportunities for learning. The review section helps the student see what they have learned and maybe what they may need to study a little more of. The hands-on project is a fun experiment or activity for kids to bring science to life. What child wouldn't want to create an edible cell, construct a digestion theme park, figure out lung capacity with balloons, or test your blood.

To go along with the student textbook is the notebooking journals. Apologia offers two different versions of the notebooking journal, the regular Human Anatomy Notebooking Journal and the Human Antamony Junior Notebooking Journal.

The junior notebooking journal is geared for students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade. It can also be used for the older student who may be slightly behind or have difficulty with handwriting. The junior notebooking journal offers a more simpler version for younger students. Students will find coloring pages, an easier version of a crossword puzzle, and much more.

The regular notebooking journal is geared for students in the upper elementary grades, 4th grade and up. This notebook can be used for students in 7th and 8th grade too. There is plenty of space for them to take detailed notes!

The notebooking journal offers students pages for note taking, diagramming pages, a crossword puzzle to help reinforce vocabulary, a biblical bible verse copywork page to practice handwriting, a page to secure their mini-book projects, and a what do you remember page. At the end of the lesson, there is a page that offers students opportunities to further explore the material covered int he lesson. Books, DVDS, and projects are often suggested.

The last few pages for each lesson offer students a page to record their scientific experiments that they worked on during the lesson. I love how the notebooking journal keeps everything contained nice and neat. Students don't have to search notebooks, binders, and folders. Everything is located in one place!

Finally. the last item we received was the Human Antaomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD. This a recorded version of the textbook. It allows families to take the learning with them. Running errands, heading to sports practice, music lessons, a trip to visit the grandparents just pop in the CD and you can listen to the textbook. It's perfect for car schooling. The quality is phenomenal. The readings are clear and easy to understand. The voice of the reader is calm and well timed. Students could easily take notes while listening to the CD. It really is an important component for the family on the go. The CD could also be used for that struggling reader, especially if they do better when read to.

So How Did We Use Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology?

We were already studying the human body with another science program we were working through this year. After a few months with this particular science program, I knew it was not enough to keep my science loving kids interested. I jumped at the chance to add this fantastic curriculum to our already planned lessons. It was the perfect addition.

I ordered an additional notebooking journal for Michael and we got started. We worked through the books a little faster than the recommended timeline. Apologia does offer a suggested timeline for completing the lessons. It can be found in the front of the notebooking journal. They have the lessons spread out over 2 weeks. We did a one lesson per week. Since my kids were older, it was a good fit for us. I broke up each lesson into 5 days. Michael and Therese read the chapter and completed the notebooking journal on their own. We reviewed the material together and I tied in the other science curriculum I had already planned out. So far, so good. Therese has enjoyed working through the book. I think she enjoys working through the material on her own and completing her school work. It's a good transition for her to work on her skill of working independently. Michael has said the material is too easy, but he's been working on the high school levels. To help him feel like he is getting more out of the program, he has checked out books to read about the human body.


Find out more about Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology or about any of the other great products Apologia has to offer.....

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Be sure to check out what the other the other members of the Review Crew had to say about Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology.

Till Next Time,

Monique