Buildings and Forts

Around here if you leave the kids to their own devices for too long, they begin to build...in every space possible.

R9's Kapla block creation...

I7 has been building castles with the Klutz castle cards.

E11 builds elaborate forts using whatever he can for his LEGO Star Wars characters.

I know what you are thinking...WHERE can I get that lovely paneling on her wall? If paneling with farm equipment on it would compliment your decor, leave a comment and I will have Dan set it aside WHEN it comes down. One whole other wall is already down and I believe makes the backing of our metal pantry shelf in the basement, but I can save some for you. No problem...

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Have you ever participated in The Great Backyard Bird Count?

Starting next Friday, February 12th you can count the number of birds you see in your backyard and name them by type. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is one of the sponsors of the event along with Audubon and Bird Studies Canada.

There are many resources for families and classrooms participating including a section on kids and the Backyard Count. There is even a section for educators.

There's advice on tricky identifications- birds that are close in how they appear. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology even has an online guide to birds you can check out.


Inside Birding is a resource for new birders to learn how to identify birds. I've had a post on this in my drafts since summer and I figured this would be a great time to mention it. There are videos on size and shape, color pattern, behavior, and habitat. Take a few moments to learn a little more about identifying birds. The videos are very good.

So, I'll admit to you now that we have no bird feeders at our house. Even wild birds are high maintenance. I mean once you start feeding them you have to keep going and they eat a lot. I've got my own little birds who are hungry constantly (it seems) and I don't need to add bird feeders to the mix.

However, we have a lot of trees in our yard and we have a lot of bird families. So, we just count the ones that enjoy our habitat even though we don't feed them!

Once you submit the data you collect, then you can have fun graphing the data that comes in from this year's count.

So join the fun!

TOS Crew Review: FactsFirst

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given a 3 month subscription to FactsFirst an online math program by Saxon. The program is designed to help students develop instant recall of basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

In addition to math fact practice, there is an opportunity for students to solve real world word problems. The program is highly visual and the problems are launched in a setting that is a pretty detailed version of where the problem takes place. You learn math facts in pairs and do word problems and subsequent drill on each pair.

It is a timed drill which R9 did not enjoy- particularly because even if you get the answer correct it may only give you a check instead of a check plus. That was a deal breaker for her.

The cost is $49.99 a year and each household license has four student profiles.

Although, this seems like a great program specifically for learning math facts which is essential for students to progress well in math, I'd be hard pressed to pay almost $50 a year for just the four operations and low level operations at that. There are no options for advanced arithmetic with FactsFirst. It seems to me that my dollar goes farther with a program designed to practice all levels of math concepts not just operations.

TOS Crew Review: Christian Keyboarding

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given an electronic copy of Keyboarding for the Christian School and Keyboarding for the Christian School Elementary Edition. Leanne Beitel, the author, aims to "fill your student's mind with God's word using typing skills."

The elementary edition is for grades K-5 and has a colorful keyboard as a feature on some pages. Touch typing on a QWERTY keyboard is taught beginning with the home keys.
The revised edition is for grades 6 and up and is not as visually pleasing since it lacks a picture of the keyboard on each lesson page. This edition teaches kids how to use the tab key and how to make elements of a written paper based on MLA standards. This is a very useful tool- especially for those of us who learned to type some time ago. Plus, it's a great resource on formatting a paper which may be new to a homeschool mom.
The contents are Biblical in nature so students learn verses as they learn keyboarding. Skills specific to computer keyboards are taught such as using the number pad.

Cost: Right now on the website there is a special running where you can purchase both of these books for $22. The author also has other products to see including a lesson plan book for the keyboarding class.

If you are going to teach your children touch typing technique, this is a great alternative to web-based programs which are very popular. Students can learn transfer skills which are required if they need to type from a paper or rough draft.

The cost is reasonable for the product and the bonus is the content. So much of what we introduce kids to is interactive which is the advantage of the computer based typing programs. However, I think Ms. Beitel does a good job of providing a product that is easy to use and effective and doesn't require the internet. In addition, the teacher has the option of printing the whole book or a portion at a time for the lesson which are short so you can implement the program in a variety of ways.

TOS Crew Review: MATHSCORE.COM

As part of the TOS Crew, I received access to MathScore.com which helps kids to improve their math skills through adaptive math practice.

Once you are logged in (and there is a free trial version to test out), your student can choose a topic for example, multiplication. The choice generates a worksheet of math problems your student must finish within a certain time frame.

On the home page there is a 2 1/2 minute video introducing you to the way MathScore works. This is a great way to see what the screen looks like to the kids and how they interact with the problems.

Students have a choice of either doing practice worksheets or seeing a concept explained in a mini-lesson.

Once the students log out, then a report is generated that day of the work they have done. You can see a sample of a report below. This one is from the first time E11 tried out MathScore. The copycat is a session where you follow the leader so that you learn how to use the program. It records idle time as well though I'm not sure how that is defined. I had to remind my kids not to run somewhere for a moment because it counts as idle time. R9 went to eat lunch and then continued and since she was logged in it docked for not doing anything.

Topic Name	Rating	Points	Overall Accuracy	%	# Worksheets Completed	Worksheet Time	Engaged Time
Copy Cat 10:35:54 - 11:03:55	0 → 50	50	206/206	100.0%	11	0:06:06	0:07:27
Fast Addition 10:40:09 - 10:44:21	0 → 15	37	53/55	96.4%	5	0:02:13	0:03:34
Copy Cat Preparation 10:47:08 - 10:50:42	0 → 100	145	100/100	100.0%	10	0:02:49	0:03:54
Total		232	359/361	99.4%	26	0:11:08	0:14:55
Long Idle Times	594 seconds, 10:52:44 - 11:02:38 Total Long Idle Time: 0:09:54

The cost: the home version is $9.95 per month for the first student. The second student is an additional $5 and each student beyond two is $3.95 per month. There is also a free trial for you to check out.

My kids enjoyed getting to use MathScore quite a bit. The cost is reasonable in comparison to the other computer based practice programs we have used this year. I really like the significant discount for each student beyond the first. That makes it doable for a large family to try it out.

This program is reader intensive with less graphics to make it fun. So, I7 had a harder time with it. I think once he spends more time with it, things will be easier, but his first time was rough.

I thought the page long worksheets with a time limit were pretty clever compared to the rapid fire pages that come up one at a time in other programs.

Once again, if you and your children like computer practice then this is a nice addition at a reasonable cost.

I will be reporting back to you on MathScore as we use it even more and in full disclosure the vendor has allowed me to use and try out MathScore.Com for free for another 5 months in exchange.

Writing Ideas and Progress

Just some random writing assignments to share here with you all...

I7 (our resident leftie) gets to choose from the Draw Write Now volumes and use one selection per day. So, he does his artwork and then writes the four sentences. I really like this for the consistency and he likes making choices.

Each day R9 writes something. Lately it's been using cards I give her with words on them and she has to write a sentence with each word. She likes to lay them all out and form a theme then she puts them back into the pocket and chooses one at a time. She's also been doing some letter writing- mostly thank you notes.

Once R9 has done her assignment, I edit it and we talk about the changes. And there will be some. You can see on this day we went over some homonyms (where, wear, ware) and she had to look up ware. She uses the dictionary for correcting the misspellings and writes a final draft. Sometimes I look for the final draft on the same day and sometimes I do not.

We work in the wide-ruled loose leaf with R9 now. She will do several drafts and then she copies it over onto a separate loose leaf. I'm planning on putting those final drafts together into a portfolio of some kind.

Now that R9 isn't using handwriting paper, she appears to be a tiny writer. I didn't see that coming at all. You can see I like to use the space given to me.

Caves- Preschool Style

Hello from Denver, Colorado!

I've been here since Wednesday night enjoying some primo training time at MOPS Int'l headquarters! So, while I have just a moment...I wanted to be sure and update my blog while I can. We've been getting some technology training (so we can connect with moms and MOPS Leaders better) and what a scary thought that if I don't blog for five days- I'm irrelevant! So...here I am! Phew...that was close.

So, you might remember that we've been studying caves. The other night J4 requested a reading on Rocks and Minerals and of course I obliged. How fun that he assisted with his head lamp. He is all about rock types and cross sections of the earth. He likes to point to the different layers and name them.

J4 sports his head lamp while I read about Rocks and Minerals at bedtime- at his request.

Future geologist? Maybe... for now he is just crazy cute with that head lamp. Every kid needs to have one. WAY better than a book light.

I'm looking forward to catching up on the cave reading once I arrive back in NY Sunday evening.

Until then...I will continue experiencing the Rocky Mountain High. The Rockies are still stunning (if you've been reading a while, you might remember I saw them for the first time this time last year and it took my breath away).

And I enjoyed a Sonic drink for the first time on this trip. My MOPS staff prayer partner gave me a Sonic gift card for my birthday in November. I've been waiting to use it here in Denver ever since.

Daily slushie goodness. It's everything I thought it would be.