Home School Interaction part 2

So for this year's school season, we are really going into Interaction for my kids.  They love school now, so its time to show you what I'm doing to make school more fun this year.  

 Fishing for 100 Days: Last year we tried to focus on having a 100th day of School party, but due to our cercumstance and situation of being on the go since we were living with family in their home, I forgot to keep track.  So this year I'm making it up to them.  Especially since now both kids are in "real" school grades.  Here's our super fun chart, that cost me 50 cents.  Its great!  We use our neon wipe off markers to mark the days we do school.  The kids get 2 options with this.  Have me fill in each school day with the color they choose or have them each take turns coloring the fish in each day.

Last year my children really struggled with "counting their blessings" being grateful for anything, especially really understanding why being grateful and saying Thank you is so important.  So I created a Gratitude Tree last year, that was bigger than this one, but due to space on our walls I had to re-paint a new Gratitude Tree for this year and start over.  But the kids like seeing their Gratitude Tree during our whole school day, so its a great swap.

For my Second Grader, he really wants to know what his schedule is, what subjects he will be doing each day, and how long each subject will last.  So I bought him a Job Chart for school.  I have a list of every subject we'll cover this semester.  Than I color in the subjects we'll do each day.  Then as we complete a subject my Second Grader gets to erase that subject for that day.  So far he's loving it...we haven't kept every subject exactly yet, but its working better than not having something for him to keep track with.

My Kindergartener was getting jealous that his older Brother was having a "School Chart" so it was time to get him his own too.  This one is scaled down for his age, and a little more fun to look at.  So there's an apple for each day, and on each day I will do one of two options.
1. Write all subjects out in the same colored wipe off marker ink,
2. Write each subject out in a different colored wipe off marker ink.

Then he too, gets to erase the subject he has completed.  This is really helping this little guy because he has a short addention span, can't hold still worth beans unless its REALLY FUN for him, or complains that school takes SOOOOOOO long.  So now he knows just how long school will be, and how much smarter he will get each time he finishes a school subject.

Home School Interaction part 1

This is my first year where I'll actually be accountable for Home schooling 2 children.  I will be doing Kindergarten, and 2nd/1st grade too.  We are in our own place now, and actually worked all summer on creating a fun, school area/room for me and the kids.  Since we're going to be stable in our own place I no longer needed to have a Home School on the Go.  So now I'm focusing on a fun, interactive home school experience for myself as Teacher, and for each of my children.  To start this interactive focus off with, I found some awesome calendar/ weather charts that are high quality enough/ strong enough that kids can use it without ruining them.  First off, my Calendar package that I bought on Amazon here.

package

what's included

well sewn quality

here's what it looks like today!

Pros: I love this whole package, love the images, love the colors, love the ease of use for children

Cons: none

My Rating: THUMBS UP

 Secondly, here's my Weather package.  I bought it from Amazon here.  My children and I love charting weather over a monthly basis.  It helps make our school day more fun, and brings in science weather into a more focused understanding.

Here's the company who sold this product online

Kaplan mailed my packed all bent up...not cool

numbers, days of the week, and weather images galore!

There are no perforated lines, so I had to free hand cut these out.

I was able to get all the pieces to lay flat after a few
days of being flattened by heavy books.

Their cards for "past, present, future" measuring were WAY too big, so I cut off about 2/3s off.

here's what it looks like today as we use it!

Pros: love the chart idea, love the images, love the hot, cold, windy, foggy cards as well, easy for K-2 aged children to use

Cons: I don't like how I had to free hand cut all these cards out, I don't like how I don't have any storage options attached to this chart, I am still disappointing that this company bent the chart when shipping it

My Rating: Thumbs Up still works well over all

Smart Fab Fabric

Details: Smart Fab is a disposable art and decoration fabric, colorful, durable and easy to work with, endless creative possibilities, and an excellent choice for schools.  Smart fab fabric is super easy to cut, sew, paint, staple, fold and glue.  The colors don't fade, while the fabric is strong but very flexible, and will not fray.  Indoor and outdoor use and most importantly recyclable.  Smart fab rolls are available in 3 sizes and 15 colors: 48"x 40ft, 48"x 120ft, 36"x 600 ft.  Smart fab cut sheets are available in 2 sizes and 3 color variations: 9x12 (for a 45 sheet pack) and a 12x18 (for a 45 sheet pack).

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Review:  Let me tell you, this product had me so impressed just by reading about it.  As a school teacher I'm always looking for creative supplies to use in my classroom, as well as creative tools my students can use for school projects.  I love all the beautifully bright fun colors, perfect for any holiday, event, bulletin board or what have you.  Just by going on to Smart Fab's website they give you project ideas, lesson plans, and how to directions to make some super cute ideas.  For my review, I was given a sample size of Orange, Sky Blue and Dark Pink smart fab rolls.  These sample sizes are the same as what you can buy except the length and width of these sample rolls.  I was also given a free color swatch book, which I just love because let me tell you I'll be keeping it on hand throughout my school year so I can get holiday colored fabric rolls, and sheets for my class.  I'm such a creative person that when I'm given a limited supply of anything super fun, I tend to save it and just not use it, so coming up with a cleaver idea on how to test and use this fabric was actually hard for me...but what I chose I'm very pleased with.  Here is what I have found out: this fabric really doesn't fray, is easy to paint or use markers one (but with colored fabric only specific colors work best), can be sewn.  I love it, and once school starts I'll be able to let you know if my students like it as well, but I'm sure they will.

What I created: I made a bulletin board, using the sky blue smart fab as the background, and some of the orange and pink flowers are smart fab, but not all of them.  I also made 16x20 pin boards for each of my kids for school to use along with fun colored wipe off boards.  Lastly I made simple aprons the kids can wear during messy activities.

Pros: awesome product, great company, claims are true

Cons: none

My Rating: Thumbs UP

Spanish Learning Songs for Kids

Details: Whistlefritz offers Spanish Learning Songs for children.  Lyrics and translations are included, all songs are sung in Spanish, Cd comes with 15 fun songs.  Child friendly songs such as Good Day Little Friends, Old McDonald had a farm, Toys, At the Zoo, Clap, Clap Little Hands and more, perfect for children to get up and sing along, and dance along with the great music.  Comes with the lyrics written out in Spanish, so you can learn to read along with the songs and learn the lyrics that way as well as by just listening to the songs.  There is also a Vocabulary section for each song, giving the English translation for each word so you can figure out what the song is about, and what you are learning to say.  You can buy this on Amazon.

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

  My Review:  As a home school teacher I was planning on keeping this CD a surprise for my children for the new school year this fall.  I was planning on listening to it when they were sleeping or with head phones so they couldn't hear it, but before I could they found it in my pile of school supplies I'm organizing. My children love happy music so much, that they have literally taken control of this CD and listen to it whenever they can. My 7 year old is begging for Spanish lessons, his 4 year old cousin and newest Aunt are primary Spanish speaking, and my son really wants to be able to talk to them better than he does now.  My 4 year old loves learning how to be big like his older brother, and is super excited that he has now figured out how to use the CD player without help.  He switches the CDs around, and sits in bed listening to music once his brother has fallen asleep at night, or he'll get up early and turn the music on to wake his brother up.  With this Whistlefritz CD I have found my kids hiding all around the house listening, singing along as best they can, and dancing when I'm not looking.  Its super cute to see them so excited about music, dancing and Spanish!  I am very impressed with how fun this CD really is for kids.  I love being able to see the Spanish lyrics so I can learn them and teach them to my kids, and I love seeing the English Translations so we can learn about what we really are singing.  I recommend this product for teachers, parents, Home School teachers, and well anyone who loves good music, loves to dance, and enjoys Spanish.

Pros: AWESOME

Cons: none

My Rating: Thumbs UP

Stress Release Reading Rulers

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Details: Crossbow Education: Eye Level Reading Rulers: 10 duo window rulers one of each color: yellow, sky, celery, purple, grass, magenta, jade, pink, aqua and orange.  Place over text and start reading.  Gloss or matte surface, reduces glare, improves focus, assists tracking, narrow window isolates single line of text, wider window for reading paragraphs.  Crossbow is a family business that started back in 1992 by Bob Hext, who was a teacher at the time.  After dealing with struggling readers, and especially his dyslexic students he wanted to create resources to help students with reading issues; and so in 2005 the Eye Level Reading rulers became one of the leading brands for Visual Stress products in the UK.  Visual Stress is the difficulty or discomfort experienced by some people when looking at text against a white background.  It can happen after long periods of time reading, or immediately affected.  Visual stress affects over 20% of the population.  There are symptoms that help figure out if you are suffering from Visual Stress.

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Review:  As a home school teacher for 5 years of preschool, and now home schooling a first grader as well, I have found that my oldest really struggles with reading, much like I did when I was his age.  For him, he not only struggles learning to read, but fights it because its so hard for him to concentrate, remember, and focus on the words on the page.  So when I was introduced to Eye Level Reading Rulers I had to jump at this chance to find out if my son is affected by Visual Stress, and how I can help him better if he is.  So here is what we started with.  I was given the Visual Stress Assessment that will help me figure out which colored ruler will help my son be less stressed when reading.

I used the abridged version of the Visual Stress Assessment Pack that Crossbow offers on their website.
Step 1: use the room your child reads in the most, set up a table where the child can sit with his feet planted firmly on the floor, and then choose the test reading sheet with the font your child reads the most.
Step 2: start with the ruler at the top of your color order, so you would start with magenta, then test the child by having them read without the ruler and then with the ruler.  Ask which was easier to read.  Then move through the whole list of 10 ruler colors, keep a pile of the rulers that your child responded to positively, separate from the pile of rulers they did not respond positively to.
Step 3: once you have a positive pile, do the reading test again to find out which one works the very best for your child.  Your child may have 2 that work best and that is okay.
Step 4: enjoy reading!

As I did this test on my 7 year old here is what happened: he liked the magenta ruler, he liked the sky ruler, he liked the pink ruler better than the magenta and sky rulers, then the yellow and pink rulers were the top choices.  In the end we used both the Sassoon 18 point font test sheet, and the Arial 14 point font test sheet for the tests.  I started with the 18 point font first, and then when I needed to find out which one or top two rulers worked best for my 7 year old we then used the 14 point font.  I am very pleased with how well the yellow ruler is working for him, and how well he is now able to focus and read without visual stress.  I recommend these products and highly suggest getting your child tested (since you can do it from your own home) to help them read easier.

Pros: easy to use test assessment, useful, works well, easy to carry along, love the paragraph section that is separate from the single line section

Cons: none

My Rating: Thumbs Up

Home Schooling with Foam

Lately I've been so focused on teaching my kids what they need to know, focusing on their subjects and getting through the school day that I haven't been making school very fun.  We are about a month behind on our school due to all the missed days through the school year so we have to school through the summer, which will actually be good so that my kids don't forget anything, and so that they aren't as bored this summer as well.

So I've decided that for the next 35 school days I am going to make school more fun!  Today we did something that made reading, writing, spelling, shape recognition, and following directions more fun for both my preschooler and first grader.

At the Dollar Tree I found these packs of sticky foam (similar to play dough, just a different texture) in a bunch of different colors.  I let each child pick up a color and bring it home.  Some of the foam packs we've used are super sticky and some are not as sticky.  So just be aware your children might complain if its super sticky because the little foam balls will stick all over their skin.  But letting the foam air out helps it not be so sticky.

 My Preschooler loves to be surprised with what we do every day for school, so making daily activities and exercises more fun helps keep that surprise element and helps me be a better teacher.

Using foam to make letters

making shape outlines

making solid shapes

making numbers

3D shapes

following lines or directions

My First Grader has struggled with reading and spelling this year and last year as well.  But doing fun activities like this, he really enjoys learning to do his school work instead of fighting it.  For this happy smile I'll work harder at making school more fun!

uses foam to spell words

using rhyming flash cars

using a white board and a plastic sheet cover

we use lower case

letters with the foam

and upper case

letters with the foam

like this

or like this

Marble Raceway 2.0

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Details: The Learning Journey International: Techno Gears Marble Mania Raceway 2.0: Race series 200+ pieces, action packed marble maze with a marble launcher.  Comes with a full color instruction manual, windmill marble drop, marble twisters, QI scanner codes for marble action.  Best for children 6 and older.  Not recommended for children under age 3 as there are lots of small choking hazard pieces.  "Kids with race to the finish as they build and create their own raceway."  You can find this toy and others similar on amazon.

my kids dressed up

My Review: I am a home school teacher.  I have a First/ Second grader, and a Preschool/ Kindergartner.  They love learning, but struggle when I don't make school fun.  As a teacher and their mother I am always on the lookout for fun educational tools, toys, and games.  The Learning Journey's Techno Gears Marble Mania Raceway 2.0 is exactly one of those fun educational toys and games.  When I signed up to test, try and review this product I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.  I didn't realize how much I would learn from this tool as well.  I didn't realize how much fun the hard work it took to set this up would make it all worth it.  So let's start at the beginning.  We got the package delivered in the late afternoon, but due to base ball games and bed time we weren't able to set it up right away.  My kids were begging every hour it seemed until we were able to set it up.  So I started working on this at 11 am.  We pulled the pieces out of the box, I started taking pictures, then we started reading through the instructions.  Looking at the full color manual I noticed my pulse quickening.  Taking pictures of all the bags of ALL the pieces I started hyperventilating.  How can something that looks so fun really take that many pieces?  How the heck am I going to put it together?  Because even though my oldest is 7 almost 8 there is no way he can put this together all by himself.  Let me stop and give you all the experience I have at building with tiny little pieces.  Um...yep...basic Lego's (I can build a house, sheep, and a wagon), Trio Blocks ( these aren't small pieces so I can be more creative with them) that's all the experience I have had.

 So we started separating all the pieces (but kept them in their numbered bags), then we started at the beginning.  I went slowly from page to page one part then three parts and so on.  It literally took me a whole hour or longer just to build this raceway.  My oldest helped a lot along the way (I'd give him a set of directions like attach #9 to the #13, then attach that set to another #13 and a #12.).  But he didn't always want to help because it was taking so long.  I begged my husband to come help, but he said he wanted to see me do it so I would feel good about myself.  Around 12:30-12:45 I was done, and got to start taking pictures of the finished product and start filming my kids playing with it.  I have kept it up in our school area for the last 3-4 days and they play with it every day as part of school.  I highly recommend this product.  Not just because its a fun toy for children to play with, but that its a great home school tool.  Learning is great when we as teachers can make it fun and realistic/ or life like for our students.  I have a ton more pictures and some little video clips posted on Youtube.  Here is a link for you to follow to see my kid's reactions to this toy.

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Did I run into any problems? Yes.  The first was while I was building it.  On page 14 of the manual it gave a set of instructions but it wasn't until page 16 or so that I realized that I didn't fully get what the instructions were saying, so I wrote down my notes in the manual.  Once this is built, it is pretty much impossible to take apart, so if something comes off or "breaks" accidentally its not easy to fix.  You really have to know how to put it together again, so to easily fix this problem I highly suggest keeping all the extra pieces, the manual, and even the box too.

Pros: super fun to play with, you get to teach/ learn reactions, speed, processes, sequencing/ what comes next, following directions, sciences

Cons: as mentioned above I did run into a few problems, but I easily came up with solutions, so at this point I don't have any cons to mention.

My Rating: Thumbs Up!