Notebooking Review

Our family loves to be able to notebook our way through our school work. You can imagine how excited we were to be chosen to review NotebookingPages.com and their Lifetime Membership!

       

When we  began our homeschooling journey I spent a great deal of time trying to decide what was the proper fit for our family. With several special needs students and a cluster of younger children on their way up the school ladder we needed hands on activities that would reinforce our learning. We very quickly learned that worksheets were not for us. There is something just so stifling about looking at a stack of worksheets to complete. It was even worse to look at a stack of worksheets that needed to be graded! 

After doing quite a bit of research and reading countless homeschooling blogs we discovered notebooking. Notebooking is simply the newfangled word for keeping an old school journal with the added twist of artwork, paper art, maps, etc. 

Our children are very artistic and have always enjoyed keeping journals and doing scrapbooking projects. Notebooking seemed to be the perfect combination of the two activities. I made a trip to a local office supply store and had them put together several notebooks from colored cardstock.  Then we were left with the task of figuring out how to fill all of those empty pages. I found several notebooking pages here and there online but it took quite a bit of time on my part to hunt down interesting  pages that were not just "more of the same". 

When we found NotebookingPages.com I was in heaven! The site is a treasure trove of notebooking pages! From plain lined pages for any activity to subject specific pages covering Bible/Character, Famous People, Fine Arts, Geography, History, Holidays, Language Arts, and Science/Nature.

 

 Our family chose to use the History and Science notebooking pages as part of our school routine. I purposely chose our curriculum for it's compatibility with notebooking and hands on projects. Each day we complete a group reading of our assigned material and then begin working on our notebooks. In order to make our day's progress smoothly I go through and print up a wide variety of pages and keep them in a binder by our school materials. 

I absolutely love that each section is divided into different areas of study and has the option of downloading the ENTIRE section in just one click! It is so tiring go through individual listings to save and then print them one at a time. I loved that I could download the entire collection in one click!

 Our family has been studying the middle ages for history this year. I found not only some fun coloring pages for the little ones to complete but also a great deal of person specific notebooking pages. 

When it is time to work on our notebooks I pull out the binder and let the children chose which pages they would like to fill out. After they have chosen which pages they want to complete we sit down with our notebooks and begin working on projects. 

Our older daughter chooses to complete written summaries of her readings while our younger children are more likely to draw pictures that remind them of what they have heard. I am very easy going when it comes to what method they take for their notebooking work. After they are finished working on their pages I ask them to narrate what they have written or drawn so that I can be sure they understand what we have been discussing. 

                               

So what did we think of NotebookingPages.com? We loved it! I am absolutely thrilled to have been given a Lifetime Membership! I am positive that we will be using this resource for many years to come. Want to know what the other Schoolhouse Review Crew members thought of NotebookingPages.com? You can click HERE or on the banner below to find out!

   

June's School Update

So what have we been up to for our most recent three weeks of school? So much I have had my hands full trying to keep up with them all!

I think the biggest break though would have to have been for the twins. They both read their very first books this month! We are still at the sounding out every letter stage but they are making some great progress. They finished their first math workbook this month as well! It is funny how quickly it all goes when it finally "clicks" in their little brains. I am so blessed to be able to be part of these moments in their lives.

This month was also our very first Rain Gutter Regatta with Frontier Girls and Quest club. We had never taken part in a Rain Gutter Regatta before but were blessed to be able to borrow the rain gutters from the local boy scout troop. We met as a troop and built our boats together. The children then headed outside to race their boats against the other members of the troop. We had never built our own boats before so we got to do quite a bit of hands on learning while figuring out what makes a boat float. It seems were were quite good at making boats that sink!

The biggest event this month would have to be our oldest daughter competing in the Special Olympic games! She and I moved into the dorms for the weekend and took part in all of the festivities. We had an amazing time and loved every second of the competitions. She did amazing and won a gold in the 50m breaststroke, silver in the 50m freestyle, and silver in the 50m freestyle relay. 

Also this month our oldest daughter has been working on her architecture hobbies. She has spent many hours locked in her room building new doll houses for her shopkins dolls. I might be a little biased but I think she did a really amazing job on her projects. Especially when you consider she had absolutely zero adult help with either project.

We did do the full three weeks of school work this month I promise! Although Caesar the cat tried his best to stop it from happening every chance he got. Here he is disrupting our 9 year old daughter's spelling lesson. It seems his belly needed to be scratched at exactly that moment.

 

Our last big project this month was spent working towards earning our Postcard badges. The children met with their troop and made their own postcards while learning about the use of postcards throughout history. One of the requirements for completing the postcard badge is to put together a postcard collection. I took it a step farther in an attempt to sneak some geography into the mix and assigned a 50 states postcard collection. Luckily we have a lot of friends all over the United States who all happily stepped forward to help us fulfill our goal.

We have started out week long school break for the month and I have to say it came just in time for me. I would like to say we have been completing all kinds of fun projects and activities but in reality I have spent the entire week cleaning, meal planning, grocery shopping, making and attending appointments and other very mundane activities. I love having this week off to get caught up on all of the things that get dropped or pushed to the back burner while schooling full time.

I am looking forward to July's school work however. There is some sick part of me that loves seeing those workbooks all filled out and the lesson plan full of check marks. I guess it is the little things in life!

5 weeks of healthy habits

I am starting my 5th week of intentional healthy habits. In some ways it feels like it has been a very long road. While in other ways it feels like I just started the process. I know that I am healthier and stronger but really wish I was seeing more of a physical change. I am however down 5 pounds and a whole inch off of my hips! I am not going to complain about that!

For those who have not been following along on my journey (What?! Where have you been?) I had three goals. First was to work on my sleep patterns, secondly I wanted to eat healthier, and thirdly I wanted to increase my exercise routine.

I am happy to say that my sleep patterns are now set in stone and going well. I am tempted at times to stay up late in an attempt to spend time with my husband.  I however know that if I stay up late one night I will sleep late the next day and it is a slippery slope for me.

My eating has been going well but I am really tired of tracking my daily calories. It is tedious. I however need some way to monitor my daily intake. I tend to either eat way too little or way too much if left to my own devices. I have been tracking my calories in an attempt to hit the sweet spot of 1,200 to 1,500 calories.

Exercise has been going well and I have been hitting my 12,000 steps a day every day! Unfortunately that has taken me two hours a day out of the house walking on the local trails. While I love walking on the trails it has started to get difficult to fit into my schedule. I have been walking in the evenings when it is slightly cooler but that means I am either missing dinner or eating way to late and feeling light headed and shaky. I have the option of going out early in the mornings but I am holding that card as a last choice. I am not a morning person at all! Getting up early does not appeal to me in the least.

Now that I am starting my 5th week of intentional healthy habits I am making yet more changes to my goals. The initial stages of eating healthy and exercising are over and I am ready to ramp up my efforts. After reading an article in Running World I have decided to set my goals for three week periods. the thought process is that it takes 3 weeks for your body to no longer find a challenge in a new activity. With that in mind you need to change up your routine at least every three weeks in order to continue to challenge your system.

So what are my goals for the next three weeks?

1. Maintain my sleep patterns. I feel it is very important that I get enough rest each night. Without the proper amount of sleep I am useless and more likely to crumble and purchase fast food while skipping my exercise routine.

2. Eating healthy of course. I would like to try something new for the next three weeks. After doing some reading and poking around the internet I have decided to use a version of the 21 Day Fix. I am not purchasing the program nor have I even read the book (although I will be checking to see if they have it in the library). I however have found some interesting printables online that I think could be beneficial. The process is pretty simple and relies on portion control and exercise. You are allowed a certain amount of veggies, fruits, protein, seeds/nuts, etc each day based on your calorie range. As you eat your meals you check off a block under the appropriate category. When you are out of squares to check you are done eating out of that category for the day.  For a more in depth look at he program you can check out this pin which has tons of information. My goal is to check off the foods on the checklist each day instead of tracking them on the tracking software. I am hoping that this will make my calorie tracking simpler to complete throughout the day.

3. Exercise is a must. I would like to change things up in this area as well. My goal is to increase my intensity while decreasing my time spent exercising. I have turned my nightly five mile hikes into two mile runs. I will be working my way up to running a 5k very soon. I am also about to start increasing my strength training as well. I have made the questionable decision to begin crossfit workouts. I am slightly terrified but excited to give it a try. My friend recommended the location and was able to score me a $100 gift card towards my first month's membership. Tomorrow is my first workout! Hopefully they do not kill me in the process.

I am excited to see what the next three weeks has to offer! What healthy habits are you working on?

And four weeks in the books

I have officially made it four weeks on my path towards a healthier lifestyle. I am not going to lie it has been hard. I have spent every day of the last three weeks sore and thinking about what to eat for my next meal. I have also spent the last three weeks happy with my effort and proud of my accomplishments.

I have met my personal health goals every single day for three of the four weeks! That first week was difficult in a different way. Even though I wanted to make the changes I found myself struggling with my motivation to do so. I was quite comfortable on the couch eating pizza thank you very much. Getting up and going for a 5 mile hike and then eating a salad did not sound nearly as appealing. I however was physically miserable so I had to do something drastic to change my behavior. Enter my weekly healthy habits updates! While my scale is not feeling the love I am happy to say that I am feeling much stronger physically and my shorts are getting quite baggy.

My goals for my fourth week included reaching my newly raised goal of 12,000 steps per day while eating "clean" and sleeping on a strict schedule. Even with our extremely busy schedule this week with school work, house work, and a weekend at the Special Olympic Games I managed to meet each of my goals!

I have to say three days and two nights at the local college for the Special Olympic Games would have been the perfect excuse to stop working towards my goals and "fall off the wagon" again. I however was determined to meet my goals even while traveling and chaperoning the girls on the team.

Before leaving on Friday I made sure to get in my 5 mile hike to a local lake. I was regretting this just a bit when I fell into bed after moving into the dorm room and then attending the opening ceremony. The sore legs and aching feet at the end of the day were worth it however.

Also before leaving I made sure to pack myself a "go bag" of healthy snacks. I do not normally eat processed foods but we did not have access to a refrigerator or a kitchen while we were at the games.  I needed shelf stable options that could withstand heat and jostling in my bag for days. After much reading of labels I went for organic items with ingredients I could pronounce and understand. I found a few types of organic rice crackers, organic breakfast and snack bars, and pretzels. I also packaged up some pistachios, homemade trail mix, carrots, apples, and bananas.

I would have to say that this week was a big success! I am quite proud of myself even if my scale did not move very much. I could have gone off the deep end and reverted back to my former unhealthy ways but I held strong. I managed to rack up 94,024 steps! That is a new weekly record for me!

 Speaking of racking up records our daughter did amazing at the games! She earned 3 metals! A gold in the 50m breastroke, a silver in the 50m freestyle, and a silver in the 50m freestyle relay! We could not be prouder of her!

My goals for week 5 are the same as the previous week:

1. Maintain my sleep schedule
2. Eating "clean" healthy foods and tracking on myfitnesspal
3. Reaching my 12,000 step goal each day

This week should be much simpler in terms of exercise and diet. The majority of our activities are finished and we will be staying home to do school work each day. I am looking forward to having time to exercise and cook without having to run from one activity to another.

How did you week go? Any healthy successes you would like to share?

Convergence Insufficiency

 I have mentioned several times that our 9 year old daughter has been having a great deal of difficulty with reading. We have spent the last two years working on her reading fluency and have hit wall after wall. We took her to her Pediatrician and multiple Optometrists, all of whom said her vision was perfect and not the issue concerning her reading difficulties. 

I did my research and decided to take her to an Ophthalmologist. The Ophthalmologist found that she has exotropia as well as a convergence insufficiency. The muscles in her eyes are so weak that she can not keep her eyes in the proper position for reading. When we read our eyes turn towards one another. If the muscles in the eye are too weak to hold this position the eyes are constantly pulling back to center. This results in her eyes constantly moving between inward and center in an attempt to refocus while reading. The results of all this movement are words that move around the page and blur together. 

The treatment consists of very simple eye exercises that strengthen the eye muscles. Our Ophthalmologist recommended a specific computer based convergence therapy program. The program uses special 3D glasses to help the user see a 3D object on the screen. The object moves around the screen and the user has to "find it".

                                    

I was shocked to see the scope of her convergence insufficiency. She can see the object if it is directly in front of either eye. If the object crosses into the area between her eyes she can not see it at all and swears it has "disappeared".  After completing her first week of lessons we are seeing some very slow progress. Her scores are going up slightly each time which shows some muscle strength improvement. We could not be happier to see some improvement, however small, with each use of the program.

I wish we had known this 2 years ago when we started questioning her vision while reading. I am sharing in the hope that we can save some other family all the frustration and wasted time we have experienced.

MaxScholar Review

Our twins had the wonderful opportunity to review a MaxScholar online product. We were given a one year license to MaxScholar Reading Intervention Programs!



Our family can be quite unique when we start discussing learning and medical difficulties. Each of our six children have a diagnosis for some sort of learning or medical issue. Some were evident very quickly while others did not appear until they were of school age. Our older daughters have a mixture of autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula, ADHD, and an eye muscle weakness. With all of these learning issues already at play in our home I am very sensitive to learning issues in our younger children.

Our six year old twins both have epilepsy and have been on anti-seizure medication for years. Our neurologist has let us know that the medications they are taking can have a negative
impact educationally as well. I have been watching their educational progress and I do see signs of slight delays in different areas for each girl.  One area they both need a bit more help with than average in would have to be reading.

Memorizing the sounds associated with 26 letters and then adding in the sounds associated with the multitude of blends is a bit overwhelming for any 6 year old child. Add in possible learning delays like their older sisters and a medication that can cause educational delays and it is overwhelming for ME to think about!

That is why we were so excited to review the MaxScholar Reading Intervention Program! This program was specifically designed to help students who are dealing with dyslexia, ADHD, processing delays or who are just struggling with learning to read. The program uses a systematic approach with an explicit muti-sensory program based on the Lindamoon-Bell Process.

So what exactly is included in the K-2nd grade curriculum we were give to review? The curriculum is broken down into two main areas of learning. The MaxPhonics and the MaxReading sections.

Within the MaxPhoics section the children go through sets of letters that are grouped together in units. You can choose which letter to begin with and are then taken though several different multi-sensory approaches to learning the letter sound.  The child "draws" the letter on the screen, sees a picture of an item that starts with that sound, sees someone say the sound, etc. They are then taken through a series of exercises where they match pictures that begin with the letter sound they are working on. If they are having difficulty with a letter sound they can repeat the lesson as many times as needed and move through the curriculum at their own pace.

In the MaxReading section of the curriculum the child is given several sets of sample stories to read. The curriculum then grades the reading ability and comprehension to set the child's reading level. Our children were not quite ready for this level of the program. The stories were a bit too advanced for them at this time. We did read through the stories together however and they were a hit!

Of course our children's favorite part of the lessons would have to be the games section! There were several games available, all of which were designed to encourage the development of their memory and reading skills. Better yet the children had no clue they were learning. They just knew they were having fun on the computer when they were supposed to be doing their school work!

So what did we think of MaxScholar's website and their K-2nd grade MaxScholar Reading Intervention Program? I really liked that the program could be paced based on the child's abilities. We could go as quickly or as slowly as we needed. I also liked that the information was presented in several different ways. Sometimes when dealing with learning difficulties you need to say the same thing several different ways before it will finally "click" for the child. I liked that the program took this into account. The website itself was easy to navigate and the girls had no trouble moving between activities or completing the lessons on their own while I worked with the other children at the table.

I would recommend this program to anyone who would like an online muti-sensory based approach to learning to read. Our children really benefited from their time using this curriculum. Want to know what the other Schoolhouse Review Crew members thought of the MaxScholar curriculum? You can click HERE or on the banner below to find out!

Essential Skills Advantage Review

Our six year old twins were thrilled to hear they had a new product to review! We were very excited to dig into the Essential Skills Advantage and check out their Complete Home Learning Suite!


Our family was given an online subscription to the Essential Skills Advantage website in order to use their Complete Home Learning Suite program for our two six year old twins. We received the activation link and were easily able to set up accounts for each of our girls within the umbrella of the initial sign in procedure. In other words I use my information to sign into the program and the girls are then able to find their name on the home page and start their program on their own without additional input or passwords from me. I found this to be a great time saver for our family. In a normal day I have a minimum of 4 children at the table all doing some form of school work. I am rotating between children answering questions, checking their work, and keeping them moving through their assignments. It is a great advantage to me to be able to sign into a program once and then have the children rotate through the use of the computer without my having to sit down and log one child out and another in repeatedly.

So what exactly is the ESA Complete Home Learning Suite? It is exactly what it sounds like! This is an online based complete school program designed to be used to help a child build those essential skills needed for their later school career.



Within the ESA Complete Home Learning Suite there are six main subject areas.

Reading - Grades K-6: This area covers beginning phonics and later reading comprehension work.

Language and Grammar - Grades 3-6:  This area contains lessons on writing fundamentals, grammar, vocabulary, and creative writing.

Spelling - Grades 1-6: This section contains fun spelling games and spelling "stumpers"

Math -Grades K-6: Are you looking for a complete math, operations, and concepts curriculum? This section of the website has you covered!

Science - Grades K-3: I have to say as a science nerd I love this section. They cover Earth and space, physical, and life sciences.

Geography - Grades 3-5: This section contains map and globe skills as well as World, American, and Canadian geography information.

As I mentioned our twins are six years old and are just beginning to "do school". On a daily basis they complete lessons in math, handwriting, reading, science, history, and extra phonics work. When looking though the ESA Complete Home Learning Suite I decided to start our girls on a 3 day a week routine. Each girl however obviously has different strengths and weaknesses so their routines and assignments within the program were different.

Emma is our oldest twin and a rock star when it comes to math. She is doing simple addition problems without issue and usually blows through her math assignments each day. She however has been having trouble memorizing the letter sounds and completing her reading assignments. She is getting there it just takes her a bit more effort to do so. I started her on the reading program within the online curriculum. After completing her normal reading work with me I set her up with the computer program to work through the kindergarten level phonics program. She found the curriculum to be fun and enjoyed "teaching" her twin how to work the program. It was a wonderful way to help concrete those phonics lessons we have been covering for the last few months.

Within the kindergarten reading section there are three units: Readiness Skills (Picture vocabulary, Visual skills, etc), Sight words (Word lists, colors and numbers, etc), and Stories.

Lacy is our younger twin and a rock star at reading. She is blowing though her reading curriculum and has an amazing memory when it comes to letter sounds and blends. She however is at a loss when it comes to her math lessons. She is getting there but like her sister she is just moving along at her own pace. I chose to start her on the kindergarten math section of the online curriculum.  She really enjoyed playing what she called the "math games". In my opinion any time you can get a child to ENJOY doing math you are succeeding!

Within the kindergarten math section there are six units: Numeration (addition, subtraction, etc), Patterning (What comes next? What is missing? Etc), Measurements (Telling time, temperature, etc) Geometry (2D naming, 3D naming, etc), Data Management (Counting, sorting, etc), Probability (Chance).

So what did we think of Essential Skills Advantage and their Complete Home Learning Suite?  Our girls really enjoyed using the programs within the curriculum. They begged to be able to do "computer school" each day after their formal lessons were finished. I however could see this curriculum being in depth enough to be a stand alone curriculum. The units were quite in depth and informative all on their own.

 I will definitely be keeping this curriculum in my back pocket for next year when our son begins "doing school". He has a pronounced hand tremor that makes writing difficult. Being able to type his answers could be the answer to his problems.

Overall we loved this curriculum and can not wait to use it though the rest of the year! Want to know what the other Schoolhouse Review Crew members thought of Essential Skills Advantage and their Complete Home Learning Suite? You can click HERE or on the banner below to find out.

Healthy Habits ~ Week 3

Today marks three weeks of trying to be more intentional with my healthy habits. When I think back to how I was feeling 3 weeks ago I am shocked by the change I have gone through. Three weeks does not seem like a very long time in the grand scheme of things. Twenty one days seems like a piece of cake when you are discussing just about anything else on the planet. When you are discussing exercise and eating healthy it seems like a lifetime however.

My three initial goals were to get a handle on my sleep difficulties, my unhealthy eating, and my lack of exercise. After having to start a multitude of medications for various health issues it seemed like the perfect time to turn over a new leaf. Not that I have not turned over this very same leaf over and over again in the past. I seem to be the queen of losing weight and exercising....until faced with a life change. When faced with a move to a new state, or country, I always fall off the wagon and back to my previous ways. I seem to be a creature of habit. When my habit is changed by a significant break in my routine I fall back to my "baseline" brownies on the couch binge watching tv.  I am taking comfort in the fact that I have learned that this is an issue and can then in turn face it head on in the future.

So how have I been doing this week? Pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

My sleeping has become routine. Which sounds weird I know. I however have been able to fall asleep by 10pm every night this week and wake up by 8am without issue. Considering when we started this journey I was not falling asleep till 2am and then wanting to sleep all day I am seeing this as a huge step forward. I am noticing that if I have a hard workout late in the day I tend to want to sleep a bit more in the mornings. Sore muscles are not an incentive to jump out of bed and get moving for the day.

My eating has also become routine. I am eating "clean" and avoiding all dairy products due to an intolerance. This has been a little difficult due to the fact that I had a freezer FULL of freezer meals that are not the healthiest things on the planet. I worked up the freezer meals to give myself some down time during the week while attempting to teach 5 children, keep the house running, and the baby of the family out of trouble. I however did this before starting my attempt to eat healthier. We have been able to alter just about all of the meals to be healthier however. If it is something blatantly full of calories I feed it to my underweight children or my active husband. I believe we are down to just 2 freezer meals. I went shopping this week and purchased ingredients to make "clean" dinners this entire week. I am not sure how I will do with adding in meal prep again while doing everything I need to do during a day. We will see how week 4 goes.

I think my favorite part of this journey has been the exercise. I know that sounds nuts. I dug my fitbit out of a drawer a few weeks ago and have been challenging myself to reach 10,000 steps per day. The first week that was a HUGE challenge. I went from 2,000 steps per day to 10,000 and felt like I was climbing a mountain each day. By week 2 it became easier and I had to think about it less and less as the week went on. Last week it was actually EASY. I was hitting the 10,000 step mark by 1 in the afternoon. I found that if I hit my goal early in the day I was more likely to slack off and just lay around later in the day instead of pushing myself to get more steps. For week 4 I have adjusted the step goal up to 12,000 steps per day. My hope is that by upping my goal a little bit each time it gets easier I can continue to push myself to do more.

I have recently found several hiking trails near my home that I love. Getting to get out of the house alone and explore the forests near my home has been very relaxing for me. I really need this time away to recenter and relax. I recently did my longest hike in years. I completed 6.25 miles! I will be honest that last mile was an exercise in mental toughness more than physical. My body felt fine but my brain wanted to quit so badly. I am so proud of myself for sticking with it and pushing through.  I am attempting to share my love of hiking with my children. We recently found a local children's hiking club. Who knew this was a thing? They have hikes scheduled for every day of the week at different local trails. We attended one this week and loved it. I can see us doing a lot more of that through the summer and fall.

So what were the results of this weeks work? I have lost 3 pounds, my shorts from last summer are fitting perfectly, and I am a great deal stronger. Even better than the outward signs of my progress are my mental signs. I am happy. Not content but HAPPY. Two months ago I had to go on medication for depression. I scored so badly on the depression checklist that the tech that took my information looked nervous to leave me alone in the room.  Even with the medication had taken affect I was still scoring as mildly depressed on the check list.  With the addition of my healthy habits and time spent working towards my goals I am happy to say that things are amazing. I am scoring a great big ZERO on the depression checklist!  I know it has a great deal to do with the changes I have made over the last 3 weeks and I am determined to maintain my progress and push towards my new goals for the new week.

My goals for the next week are simple:
*Maintain sleep schedule
*Eat "clean" for every meal
*Reach 12,000 steps per day

Nothing earth shattering there but life changing never the less. I would love to hear about your healthy journey! Care to share?

Boys and bandaging

Why is it that boys don't come with warning labels?

Something along the lines of:  "Requires multiple trips to the emergency room".

I should have purchased stock in x-ray film and band-aids the second I found out we were having a son.

Luckily this time he ended up with just a nasty bruise and not a broken foot. I am honestly scared to see what he is going to do to himself next.

Raising a boy is not for the faint of heart.

Good thing he is adorable and gives the best hugs.

Think it is too late to buy a bubble to put him in?