Tuesday Tips: The Hidden Benefits of eBooks and Kindle Unlimited

*Some links are affiliate links, see disclosure below*

This tip is a little different from most of my recommendations because it focuses more on the homeschooling mom than homeschooling in general. However, I think it has benefits for both.
First, let me be transparent: I fought against eBooks for years, and to this day, I still love a good physical book. I have a stack on my bedside table and a bookshelf in every room except the bathrooms.

A Little Background

As a child, I read voraciously; I stayed up late, spent my free time reading, reading in the car, etc. I have fond memories of my high school years of hanging out with my friends at the bookstore with a cappuccino and a book.

Fast forward a few years, I was in the thick of motherhood, and I felt like I had no free time, and any time I did spend reading was parenting and later homeschooling books. While those were beneficial, I was losing out on the joy of reading for pleasure.

Several years ago, I started trying to intentionally add more pleasure reading to my book lists. I knew this would be beneficial for me and also for my children. I want my children to be readers, to love reading, and to choose to read. If I want that for them, I need to model that behavior. I added some fun fiction to my summer reading and eventually kept it going throughout the year.

That was beneficial, but I still wasn’t getting as much reading done as I had hoped. I am still a busy work-from-home, homeschool mom who doesn’t have much free time. I often wanted to read at night after everyone was in bed, but the lamp would keep my husband awake.

My Discovery

This was when I discovered the benefits of reading on my phone. I could read at night without keeping my husband up, I had my book with me wherever I went, so I could sneak in five or ten minutes of reading while waiting in line or at the doctor’s office. Before, I would scroll through social media during those times, but I felt like reading was a better use of my time. It helped me achieve my goals and find my reading joy again.

How Does Kindle Unlimited Fit Into This?

You may wonder why Kindle Unlimited is integral to this process for me. You can take advantage of reading on your phone without Kindle Unlimited, but it was a key component for me. It meant that there were always new books waiting for me; I could read from a wide variety of genres and books and easily switch back and forth between informative and fictional books depending on my mood that day. Am I the only one that has multiple books going at once?

For a low and easy-to-budget amount each month, I had access to what felt like unlimited book options. I was also able to use it with my children. We got books for their curriculums and more pleasure books for them to read. Like me, they still adore real books, but we found that when riding in the car, traveling, etc., the kindles are super convenient.

Recently, our subscription allowed my two teenagers and me to read the same book together and then discuss it without purchasing three copies of the same book or waiting until we had time to pass it around to each other.

Conclusions

I feel like our Kindle Unlimited subscription has helped me to read many more books than I otherwise would have read and reclaim lots of waits and riding time. (Bonus, I now get car sick when I read regular books while we ride, but I can read eBooks without a problem.)

I encourage you to check out the free trial and see if it can help you get in more reading time and share more books with your children and teens.

I would also love to hear from you what other strategies you employ to help you get more reading done.

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When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Bible Blueprints (Review)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Last year we shared about Bible Breakdowns from Teach Sunday School, and this year we are excited to share about their new product, Bible Blueprints. The Bible Blueprints are divided into Old Testament and New Testament.

What Are Bible Blueprints?

With-in the Old and New Testament sets, each page covers one book of the Bible. The page includes important information such as:

When it was written
Time period covered
Type of book
Number of chapters
Author

There is also a short one-paragraph overview of what that book covers.

Below that information is a guideline or blueprint of what is in the book, which breaks it down into more significant information sections. For example, 1 Corinthians is divided into three sections: Quarrelling and Resolutions, Advice on Eliminating the Sins of the Church, and Explaining the Spiritual Gifts. The author then goes on to give an explanation and overview under each of those headings.

How Can You Use Bible Blueprints?

These could be great to use in your homeschool to help students get a better understanding of the sequence and flow of the Bible. Sometimes students have difficulty understanding how it all fits together, and these pages can help them see it more in the big picture.

The Blueprints are also an excellent resource for your Bible study. You can use them before you dig into a particular book of the Bible to help you get a bit of context (what type of book, who wrote it, and when it was written) as well as an overview of what will be covered in the book.

I could also see them being a lot of fun used in a trivia or Jeopardy-style game with your students. They could help them memorize the authors, the location in the Bible, timeframes, etc., and then answer trivia questions about that information.

Our Thoughts

We thought this was a great resource. I appreciated how it included the background information at the top to help you better understand the context of the book.

The layout was simple and easy to read while still being visually appealing. The use of different colors helped to make it easier to read.

I think Bible Blueprints would make a great Bible resource for any family, and anyone old enough to read could use them.

I encourage you to click on the graphic below to check out what other Crew Families thought about this resource.

Healthy Habit Trackers (Review)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Summer can be a great time to focus on starting (or getting back to) good healthy living routines.

This summer, we have had the privilege of trying out some neat Healthy Habit Trackers from the American Coaching Academy.

What Are Healthy Habit Trackers?

The Healthy Habit Trackers are a set of twelve different trackers designed to help children keep track of various things, including exercise, nutrition, and even chores.

They are creative and visually appealing to help make them motivating for your children.

They include:

Muscular Endurance
Household Chores
Healthy Body
Kindness
Nutrition
Locomotor
Boot Camp
Yoga Flow
Cardio
Flexibility
Muscular Strength
Bee Fit

How Can You Use Healthy Habit Trackers?

These are designed to use a different one of twelve different trackers to be used one per month. However, you can decide what your family needs most, and you might stick with one for several months or use more than one per month.

Some families choose not to do yoga, so you might not even print that tracker. These give families a great deal of flexibility in how they use them.

For example, a family might decide to use the healthy body one every month because it motivates children to brush their teeth, get plenty of sleep, etc. Other families might find that the routines and habits are in place after a month, and they want to move on to a different tracker.

If your children like the trackers, they might want to do several at once, while other students might find that a bit overwhelming.

I felt like starting with one was a good fit for our family because I was using them with my younger sons, and I knew I would be responsible for helping them keep track. We started with nutrition because we had already been working on helping my eight-year-old better stay hydrated and eat well.

What Did We Think About the Healthy Habit Trackers?

I think the Healthy Habit Trackers are an excellent tool for helping children become more consistent with their healthy habits. I love that they are all visually different so that the design works well for the particular habits and keeps things visually interesting for the child.

I also appreciated the bonus blank tracking forms that allow us to track other habits or activities. For example, I am planning to use one of them in the fall to help my son track his music practice and motivate him to be more consistent.

Conclusions

If your children struggle to be consistent with their exercise, nutrition, tooth brushing, etc., these might be a simple and inexpensive way to motivate them. Though our family will not use all of them, they are a great set, and it is easy to pick and choose the ones that will work best for your family.

I encourage you to click on the graphic below to see how other Review Crew families used these in their homes.

Hymn Study: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

As I have been working on a new hymn study each month, I find it very interesting to know how the song came into being. Sometimes they are written by people who made a career of writing songs, but often there are personal stories that led to the writing of the hymn. I think it is incredible to see how God works through so many situations.

*some links in this post are affiliate links, see below for disclosure*

Hymn Story: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less was written by Edward Mote with the music composed by William Bradbury. Mote was a Baptist minister and, on his way to work one morning, had the idea to write on the “Gracious Experience of a Christian.” He had written the four verses by the end of the day.

Later in the week, he visited a friend and his very sick wife. They did not have a hymnal, so he took out his new song and sang with them as support and encouragement. The woman was so touched by the music that she asked for a copy of it. Mote wrote two additional verses (which are not typically included in modern hymnals) and then sent if off to the publisher.

Activities for My Hope is Build on Nothing Less

When our family does a hymn study, we like to start by simply listening to various versions of the hymn. This allows us to get familiar with the tune and the lyrics. I have included some great examples of this song in the resources at the end of the post.

Next, we like to use the lyrics for copywork. This helps my children memorize the songs and gives us good handwriting practice.

If your students enjoy music and play a musical instrument, you can have them learn the hymn on their instrument of choice. My daughter loves to play the different hymns on her violin, and you can even use an inexpensive recorder to play the melody.

Finally, we love to add art to our hymn studies. You do various activities, but if you want something simple but structured, I highly recommend the hymn lessons (included in the clubhouse membership) from Nana over at You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. She has a beautiful lighthouse acrylic (that can also be done in chalk pastels) to accompany this hymn.

If you want to take this hymn study deeper, you could look up verses related to the hymn, pray through the lyrics of the hymn, or even do a nature study on the sand and talk about what the phrase ‘sinking sand’ means in nature and in the spiritual sense.

Concluding Thoughts

Hymn study is a great way to learn and worship together as a family. We know that music stays with us for many years, and we can lean on those lyrics during difficult days. Do not feel that you must make your hymn study long or complicated. You can spend as much or as little time as you want on a given song. Just enjoy learning and praising God with your children.

If you liked this hymn study, check out all of our other free studies!

Hymn Study Resources:

Southside Gospel Choir

Piano Instrumental

Instrumental Jazz

Download Your Freebies Below!

Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Free copywork is available in the resource library!

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password; we are adding new items to the library each month. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through my links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great BOGO sale!!

Tuesday Tips: Choosing Curriculum “What is Best For Me, Might Not Be Best For Thee”

I love helping families transition to homeschooling, and I could talk about curriculum for hours. As a mom who has been homeschooling for ten years, runs an online book store, and reviews curriculum, I have seen and tried a lot of different programs.

Almost always, one of the first questions people ask me when they decide to transition to homeschooling is, “which curriculum is the best?”

Sometimes I wish this was an easy cut and dried answer. However, what works best for your family (and sometimes each child) will vary based on many factors. My motto when dealing with curriculum is, “What is Best For Me, Might Not Be Best For Thee.”

When deciding on the right curriculum, you must consider various factors.

Questions to Consider When Choosing Curriculum:

What are the goals of my homeschool?
How much parental input is needed/desired?
What are the learning styles of my children?
What is my budget?
Does this align with our family values?
How much time will this program take?
Is the program paper/pencil or computer-based?
Will I need additional materials?

How Do I Decide?

Now that we have established that there is no one size fits all solution to homeschool curriculum, you might be feeling more lost than ever and wondering if you will ever find the right fit. This news should be freeing. You can choose, and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer.

Too often, parents feel like they are failing when a popular curriculum is not working for their child. Other times, parents feel frozen in indecision because they are unsure if the curriculum they are looking at is “best.”

My advice is to talk to people you know and look at reviews, but also make sure you look at each program through the lens of the questions listed above. Then choose the one (or ones) that you think will work best for your family.

Try the curriculum for a while and if it works, keep doing it. If it isn’t working, do not be afraid to sell that one and try something new. It may take a couple of tries to find the right fit. You are not alone, and that is not a failure.

Other Curriculum Resources:

Remember, you can’t do everything, and just because it is a good program does not mean it is suitable for your family! Find out more about that in my post about getting rid of our Latin curriculum.

You can also learn more about picking a curriculum and see our curriculum reviews using the links below!

New Years Curriculum Reevaluation and Nature Study

Changing Up Curriculum Without Overspending!

High School Credit for Morning Time Studies

Reviews

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

Not Consumed is having their annual Back to School Sale! (They have great family Bible studies)

$10 Off for Amazon Prime Day

Pre-Order the Brand New Tuttle Twins American History book for a big discount and some awesome bonuses.

Try Journey Homeschool Academy’s FUN and Free summer courses this week! Check out the Stargazing Astronomy Course and the Backyard Bugs course.

Also, check out the FREE Unlocking the Bible course for teens!

Also, get a 15% discount on Thinkwell Math by using this referral link.

Tuesday Tips: Prioritize Encouragement for Mom

*Some links are affiliate links, see disclosure below*

I genuinely believe that homeschooling is one of the most important tasks that God has given me, and I am so grateful for the opportunity. However, I also want to be honest and say that some days (months, years) are hard! In the day-to-day grind, it is easy to forget that we do not “have” to homeschool, but instead, we are privileged to have the opportunity to homeschool.

One way to help combat the hard days is to ensure that you include some homeschool mom encouragement in your days.

What is Homeschool Mom Encouragement?

There are so many different ways to be encouraged as a homeschool mom. Different things will work better for different families, different issues, and even just different seasons.

Remember the Why!

First, remember why you homeschool! I highly encourage you to write down your whys and keep them somewhere that you can refer back to them on the hard days! They will help keep you grounded and focused.

Community

Next, find a group of homeschool mom friends. I firmly believe that we should have a variety of friends, but sometimes you need another homeschool mom who has been there, done that, and come out on the other side.

I am blessed to have a large community of homeschool mom friends. Locally, I have friends that go out to dinner once a month for Mom’s Night Out and other friends who gather for park play dates and field trips. I am also a member of many great homeschool communities online, where people can ask questions, share ideas, and find support.

Not many tough homeschooling days aren’t made better with chocolate and an understanding friend!

Books, Podcasts, and Movies

Finally, many great books, podcasts, and even movies are geared toward encouraging homeschool moms. Your first thought is probably not how to find these resources but how to make time for them in your busy schedule.

You do not have to spend hours a day or even hours a week reading or listening, but I encourage you to find some time each week to read or listen to something encouraging. You might listen to a podcast while you wash dishes or take a walk or read for five or ten minutes before bed each night. Audiobooks can be a great way to listen while driving from place to place.

Taking that time to get encouragement will pay dividends in the long run. Having a refreshed spirit will give you the strength to work through the tough days and enjoy the good days!

I would love for you to share your ideas for homeschool mom encouragement, and I have included some links and resources to help get you started.

Encouraging Books

Awaking Wonder

Lifegiving Collection (Encouragement for moms)

Adventuring Together

Read Aloud Family

Pocketful of Pinecones ( A bit idyllic but a light encouraging read)

Encouraging Podcasts

At Home with Sally

Read-Aloud Revival

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!\

Journey Homeschool Academy’s FUN and Free summer courses start this week! Check out the Stargazing Astronomy Course and the Backyard Bugs course.

Also, check out the FREE Unlocking the Bible course for teens!

LAST Day for 10% off All About Learning with code BUYEARLY

Pre-Order the Brand New Tuttle Twins American History book for a big discount and some awesome bonuses.

Critical Thinking Company The Language Mechanic (Review)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

At the end of every year, I like to take a few minutes to evaluate our school year, my children’s academic progress, and test results. Then I try to make sure I have a plan to work on any areas of weakness. This year, I realized I needed to spend more time with my eighth-grade daughter on grammar. I had the opportunity to review The Language Mechanic from The Critical Thinking Co.™.

What is The Language Mechanic?

The Language Mechanic is a paperback grammar book with eleven different units. The theme of the book is “Tuning Up English with Logic.” The book is designed for fourth- seventh-grade students, but I felt it would be a good fit for my daughter. She knows how to write papers but often struggles with the grammar conventions, such as commas and other punctuation.

Each unit is divided into smaller lessons (ranging from two to ten lessons per unit) and a unit review. Each lesson has a short teaching component, including examples, logic, and rule. That is followed up with practice questions that can be done together, “your turn” questions for independent practice, and challenge questions.

Also included in the book are a glossary of important terms, an answer key, and a few pages of instruction for the parent/teacher.

What is Included?

Capitalization
Run-Ons and Fragments
Pronouns
Modifiers
Verbs
Agreement
Unnecessary Words
Punctuation: ‘ ” ?!
Punctuation: Commas
Friendly Letter: Greeting and Closing
Spelling and Vocabulary

How We Used The Language Mechanic

For younger students, the parent or teacher would spend a few minutes teaching each lesson, and then the student would independently work on the “your turn” questions. However, since my daughter is older and just needed extra help with grammar, she worked through the program independently.

She was able to read the lesson and then go through the practice problems before checking her answers. Each lesson took her about ten to fifteen minutes, and we worked through a few lessons each week. I chose not to make her work through the units where she had already shown proficiency. She will finish the other units throughout the summer to be more prepared for her high school writing courses.

What My Daughter Thought

“Even though everyone dislikes the word grammar, this curriculum is good. I understood it, and it was not too hard for me to work through. There were many problems for me to work through to help me fully understand and grasp what we were talking about, and it was easy to follow and figure out what it wanted me to do.” Elizabeth, Age 14

What I Thought

I loved the book’s layout because it was simple to understand and use. I appreciated that I could skip around and choose the areas of concern. Using it with an older child, I appreciated that she could do it independently, but even with a younger child, it would be easy for the parent. It is very open and go and would not require prep work.

I also really appreciated the logic portion of this book. Most grammar programs teach the rules but not the “why” or logic behind them, and I believe that it helps it make sense and stay with them better.

Recommendations

The Language Mechanic is a great way to help children work through standard grammar rules and improve their writing. I think that, in general, the fourth through seventh-grade recommendation is correct, but it could go up or down a little bit depending on the student’s readiness and understanding.

Be sure to click on the graphic below to read more reviews of this product and other great products from The Critical Thinking Co.™.

High School Math Live At My Pace Geometry (REVIEW)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I love teaching elementary math to my children. However, once we hit Algebra 1, I find an online program to take over. My daughter is doing Geometry this year, and we had the opportunity to check out the Geometry At My Pace course from High School Math Live.

Course Layout

This course is broken down into two semesters (A and B), and we started with semester A. Once you set up your account, the student can log in to their account and see a syllabus for the semester. The syllabus lays out the course in three lessons each week.

There are video lessons (40 minutes to an hour-long), homework assignments, and quizzes and tests. Students can check their homework using the answer key in the back of the book and answers provided with the syllabus.

Quizzes and tests must be requested from the teacher. The teacher e-mails them to the parent to be given to the student and proctored by the parent. You then scan the quiz or test and send it electronically to the teacher for grading.

Each student has a teaching notebook located in one drive. This notebook has teaching notes for each lesson, links to virtual resources, and the student’s grade book. The teacher inputs the quiz and test grades into this notebook.

There is also some one-on-one tutoring available with the At My Pace courses, but my daughter has not needed the additional help yet.

Since this is an “At My Pace” course students are not required to work through the course on a particular schedule. So even though it is laid out in a week-by-week format they can work through it at their own pace.

Elizabeth’s Thoughts

“I was able to learn and understand her teaching, but it felt a bit chaotic, especially at first. There are things and links you need scattered around in different places, and the tests are complicated because you have to print them, fill them out, and then send them to the teacher, and if you are not used to doing that, it can be challenging. The lessons are long, ranging from about 40-50 minutes each. “

Parent Thoughts

The instruction in this program is solid and appropriate for high school students. The teacher we interacted with via e-mail was polite, prompt, and helpful.

I felt overwhelmed when we first looked at the program because it felt like a lot to figure out and find. That became much easier as we moved forward in the program.

It is a program where someone else teaches, and the parent is simply the proctor. Depending on your family’s needs, this could be a pro or a con.

I feel like this course will give my daughter a solid understanding of high school-level geometry, and we plan to continue with the class in the fall to provide her with high school math credit.

Conclusions

I think that the instruction for this course is solid, and it is a well-done and in-depth high school math course. It is a bit challenging to figure out initially but much easier to use once you have gotten through the first few weeks and understand the layout.

The lengthy videos and teacher-graded paper quizzes and tests make it more like a traditional math course than some other online courses we have used. This could be good or bad, depending on your student.

Other Review Crew families reviewed different courses from High School Math Live, so click on the graphic below to check out their reviews and see how the program worked for their families.

High School Credit for Morning Time Studies

We have done some form of morning time or family learning throughout our years of homeschooling. If you look back at what I’ve shared about our morning time over the years, you will notice that each year is different. We have changed what we did in different seasons of life and as we found new resources.

*Some links in this post are affiliate links, see disclosure below*

We are currently in a season of life which involves preschoolers to high schoolers. It is an exciting time, but it also has its challenges.

Today, I want to primarily talk about how we do morning time with a high schooler and when/how we incorporate it into his high school credits.

First, it is essential to note that not every part of a homeschooled high schooler’s education must be for credits.

The reasons we homeschool and the goals for our family have not changed just because our children are in high school.

For example, we memorize scripture because we believe it is beneficial to our Christian walk, not because we are trying to get high school credit.

However, when we can use our morning time activities for part of a high school credit, we do. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can be creative about structuring classes and education.

High School Current Events

One of the main components of our morning time this year was watching World Watch News. World Watch is a ten-minute daily news program (Monday through Friday) that shares real-world news for students from a Christian perspective. (You can also see our review: WORLD Watch News Review)

We started just watching it and discussing it as a family. However, we decided that our rich discussions were valuable and could be part of a social studies elective. So we took the watching and discussing and added a journaling component to turn that part of our morning time into a current events elective for my son.

We watched it together, discussed it together, and then had him complete a journal entry each day that shared what he had learned. Some days our discussions lasted five to ten minutes, and some days they ran as long as an hour.

High School Fine Arts

Another way to incorporate your morning time into your child’s high school credits is through fine arts. This can vary by family, but most morning time picture or music studies are not robust enough for high school credit on their own. However, they can form a great jumping-off point or base for the credit.

We plan to incorporate fine arts into our morning time next year by using the curriculum from You Are An Artist. We will go through some of it together and then have my high schoolers go more in-depth independently.

They have options by grade level or some unit studies for the whole family. I am still deciding which of their courses we will use, but I’ll make sure to share about it when I do my curriculum posts later in the summer.

You can find out more about their fine arts programs in this post about adding music to your homeschool.

High School Morning Time Literature Study

While we will not replace high school literature with morning time, it can be a great starting point. For example, we are working on memorizing some passages of Shakespeare together during our morning time.

We use Ken Ludwig’s How To Teach Your Child Shakespeare. We will also read a children’s version of the play and discuss the characters and plot.

Then my high school students can read the full version and have a more in-depth discussion as a part of their literature course.

You could also read other novels together during morning time and have your high schooler do literature analysis, projects, or papers connected to those novels as a part of their literature work.

High School Morning Time Conclusions

These are just a few ways to incorporate high school credit work into a mixed-age morning time plan! Look for part two of this post coming later, where I talk about using morning time for a few other subjects.

Remember, not everything has to be for credit, but it can be beneficial to look at how what you are already doing can be incorporated into the credits your child needs.

I would love to hear what subjects you incorporate into your morning time and high school credits.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

FREE Family Astronomy Course from Journey Homeschool Academy!

All About Learning is offering 10% off with this link and code: BUYEARLY

Evan-Moor Real-World Writing for Today’s Kids (Review)

*Links in the post are referral links; see disclosure below*

I have recently had the opportunity to review Real-World Writing for Today’s Kids from Evan-Moor. This is a workbook with nine different real-world writing units.

We reviewed the book for ages 6-7, but it is available for ages 6-7, 8-9, and 10-11. It is a paperback book full of brightly colored pages and fun, age-appropriate graphics.

Writing Units

Journal
Door Sign
Online Message
Greeting Card
Persuasive Letter
Pet-Care Directions
Yard Sign
Fundraising Letter
Toy Review

Real-World Writing Layout

Each unit begins with examples and instructions about that particular type of writing. Then there are activities for the student to do to help them understand that type of writing. Then they do an example of that type of writing in a template in the book. Finally, there is a project where they can do a real-life version of that type of writing outside of the book.

For example, after the unit on journaling, the student could cut out a journal cover from the book and attach it to plain paper and construction paper to create their own journal. The lesson on yard signs included some ideas and picture cutouts that they could use with a piece of cardboard or poster board to make their yard sign.

While the online message section was not yet applicable to my son, I loved that it was included. I know that, particularly since 2020, many students are involved in online learning and are engaging with teachers and classmates in that online format.

Our Experience with Real-World Writing for Today’s Kids

I used this book with my son, who turned eight during the review. He generally does not like to write and fights any writing assignments, and he was very hesitant about the book at first because he dislikes writing.

However, he loved the bright, colorful pages and found them very manageable. I appreciated that it started them out slowly and worked them up to a complete project. The way they lay it out in real-world applications was also very beneficial and engaging.

I knew it had been a success when he asked for his own journal to be able to continue journaling about our adventures. I love that the book made him want to engage in more real-life writing.

How to use Real-World Writing

You could work your way through this book from front to back like a typical workbook, but it also can be done based on your child’s interests. Each unit stands alone and can be done in any order. However, I do recommend working through the individual units from beginning to end because of the way it instructs, scaffolds, and then has them work independently.

I encourage you to learn more about Real World Writing for Today’s Kids at the Evan-Moor Website. You can also check out some of our other Evan-Moor Reviews below:

Evan-Moor Heart and Mind Activities (Review)

Organizational Freebies From Evan-Moor

Teacher File Box From Evan-Moor

Evan-Moor History Pockets Ancient Egypt

Avoid Summer Slide with Evan-Moor Daily Summer Activities Workbook K-1 (Review)

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we add new items to the library each month. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.