Not to brag or anything, but my husband is a published author. He went to a private college on scholarship thanks to his writing ability and has written both fiction and non, short and long. At this point in life, writing is a hobby. His career is on the other, more editorial side of publishing. Obviously, I fancy myself a bit of a writer as well. My point really isn’t […]

When I was a child, memorizing the multiplication tables was a big part of elementary school. I remember the “times tests” we took each week, a page full of multiplication problems that you had to correctly complete within a couple of minutes in order to move on to the next one. I remember the big display on the wall: a race track where each student was represented by a race […]

When I first opened the box with Essentials 2nd Edition by Logic of English, I was immediately overwhelmed. There were books and flashcards everywhere. We had never used a product that contained so many parts and pieces! Here’s what’s included: The Essentials Teacher’s Guide The Essentials Student Workbook Spelling Journal FIVE sets of Flashcards (Basic phonogram, Spelling Rules, Advanced phonogram, Grammar, and Morphemes) Two sets of Phonogram Game cards Phonogram […]

Maybe it’s just me, but science always seems to be the hardest subject for me to plan and teach. It’s not just the hands-on, “it’s hard to do experiments when you’re not in a classroom” kind of stuff, I just have a hard time with all of it: finding a good program, explaining scientific terms, coming up with activities to make science learning fun… Because of this, I was really […]

I know I’ve said it many times before, and I know if you have kids around the age of ten you probably have experienced it too, but my kids are crazy for Legos. If it weren’t for video games, Legos would be EVERYTHING in our house. Which is great. They inspire creativity, they work those engineering brain muscles, they’re all around awesome toys. Zonderkidz recognizes how great these toys are, […]

My kids have recently discovered how fun and interesting Bible stories are. With the opening of the Children’s Museum’s Sacred Journeys exhibit, we really began studying different religions and their stories. I’m partial to Old Testament, so when GrapeVine Studies offered us the chance to review one of their products, I guess I probably should have broadened our horizons and gone with the Birth of Jesus, but I couldn’t help […]

You guys, this is the year. Twelve years into marriage, five years into official homeschooling, two years into blogging, NOW I am finally going to hunker down and get my life organized. As my life gets busier, it also gets a whole lot more chaotic, and I have got to find a way to make things easier. First step: a homeschool planner. OK, truth be told, I have been telling […]

One of the most well known names in homeschool products is Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). IEW is known for its fun and effective approaches to many subjects, including reading, writing, and public speaking. Through the Review Crew, I was recently offered the opportunity to review three IEW products: Timeline of Classics, Teaching with Games Set, and A Word Write Now. As someone who has heard much about IEW, […]

Recently, Progeny Press offered us the opportunity to review one of their study guides for the blog. My Big Boy is my big reader, so I asked him to choose which we would work with. Because he’s in fourth grade, we headed to the “Upper Elementary” options and made a selection. We received the digital download of the study guide for the novel Stone Fox for the purpose of this […]

When I was offered the chance to review Reading Kingdom, I wasn’t really sure it would be a good fit for us. My sons are eight and ten, and though Little Man (8) started reading just within the past year, I still wasn’t sure he needed a “learn to read” -type program. HOWEVER, upon checking out the site and seeing that it is geared towards children ages four to ten, […]