Sharon Watson: Jump In, 2nd Edition (Review)

For whatever reason, writing has always been a struggle in our home school. My son would read for hours without complaint, but ask him to write a paragraph or, even worse, an essay and he will spend more time fighting about it than writing it. I have tried multiple programs but Jump In, 2nd Edition by Writing with Sharon Watson looked like a thorough but not overwhelming program and so when the opportunity to review it came up, I decided to give it a try.

I received the digital version of both the student and teacher editions, which was nice because I could print out what I needed as we got to it and keep from feeling overwhelmed. I will also be able to use the program with my younger daughter next year since I have the digital version.

Jump In, 2nd Edition was designed to be a flexible writing program for students in grades 5-8 and can be completed in a year or spread out over up to three years of instruction. This is a very open and go program and aside from printing out the pages that we needed (you could also do this all at once and place in a three ring binder) it was ready to start. I went over the instructions with my son but he was able to complete the assignments with minimal help from me. I would check over his work each day but he was able to read the lessons and complete them independently.

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During the review period, we were able to complete the introduction section and the section on how to write an opinion paper. I have a very opinionated thirteen year old so this worked out to be a very good place to start. Each thing is broken down into small steps so that the student does not become overwhelmed. For example, with opinions the first step was to look at a list of items (colors, ice cream, songs, books, etc) and then write down favorite and least favorite as a way to start thinking about opinions. The next day you moved on to step two which was giving an opinion and three supporting reasons. These strategies and steps moved you from a brainstorming list up to steps ten and eleven where the student wrote a short (150-200 word) opinion essay, proofread and corrected the essay.

The teacher’s manual had a variety of helpful resources including sample schedules, rubrics, answer keys, and other helpful checklists. In addition, there are sample essays that have been graded to help parents understand what an ‘A’ essay would look like at this level. I found this to be very helpful because grading writing can feel so subjective.

Table of Contents Teacher Edition

Table of Contents Teacher Edition pt. 2

check list

Sample Essay

I like the question and answer parts of the curriculum and I really liked how I got to pick what I was going to write about. Matthew, 13

I would love to tell you that my thirteen year old suddenly has developed a love for writing and will never complain again. That may not be the case, but I did find that most days he worked without much complaining, it was easy to understand and complete, and I saw progress in his writing. We plan to continue to use this program after our summer break and have my rising sixth grade daughter begin using it as well. Don’t forget to check out all of the other Crew reviews by clicking on the banner below.

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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.

Pollinator Week Resources

Happy Pollinator Week! This may seem like an odd ‘holiday’ to celebrate, and it certainly is not as well known as many other holidays, but I think it is a great time to teach about all of our beneficial pollinators.

Each year in June, a week is designated as National Pollinator Week in order to celebrate and educate people about our pollinators. Pollinators are vital to our food supply and environment, but unfortunately, many of them are declining in population.

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Our Adventure Into Beekeeping

Several years ago, we became much more aware of pollinators and all they do for us as we became hobby beekeepers. This experience has taught us so much about bees and pollinators in general. Last year we even lost an entire hive of bees to a municipal spraying program designed to reduce the mosquito population but accidentally reached our bees.

I think that the best way to help pollinators is by teaching children about them and their importance. There are many small ways that we can help in our own homes to protect them and allow their populations to grow and thrive.

For many people, the term pollinator brings bees to mind. Bees are an important pollinator, but they are not the only pollinators; birds, bats, butterflies, and even beetles are all important pollinators.

As we celebrate this week, I encourage you to start by educating your children about the various pollinators and then finding at least one small way in which you can support pollinators in your area.

I will also include a list of some fun crafts and recipes to turn your learning into a fun celebration. If you have time, I encourage you to look for local field trip opportunities to really get hands-on in your learning.

Pollinator Resources

There are many resources for learning about pollinators. The American Beekeeping Foundation has some great information and resources. Pollinator Works is a great website to learn about various pollinators. In addition to websites, there are an abundance of books that talk about pollination and pollinators, such as Bees, Bugs and Butterflies, What Lily Gets From a Bee, and From Seed to Sunflower. I have also included a more extensive list of websites, videos, and books at the end of this post.

Helping Pollinators

Once you have learned a little about pollinators, it is time to take action to help the pollinators. There are many things you can do right in your own yard to help various pollinators. You can plant beneficial plants, set up habitats conducive for birds, or clean up trash that is dangerous for the birds.

You can check your garden and lawn chemicals to make sure that they are safe for pollinators. Watch for plants treated with Neonicotinoids. If you need more ideas, Kidsgardening.org has a great list of Ten Tips to Help Pollinators.

Pollinator Fun

Now it is time for a little fun! Try to make a pipe cleaner bee, draw a chalk pastel bird, or even hatch your own butterflies. You can make cookies shaped like pollinators, taste some raw honey or bake a honey dessert (baklava anyone?).

You could even listen to Flight of The Bumble Bee while you enjoy your pollinator snacks. See the list below for more recipes and craft ideas.

20161102_081000 — Pollinator Doughnut Activity

Pollinator Field Trips

Finally, if you have a little more time, try to fit in a pollinator field trip. You could find a local butterfly garden, a beekeeper that is willing to show off his hives, a science museum with displays, or even a zoo that has bats, birds, or bees. This week there are many places doing special pollinator activities, but if you cannot make it this week, there are still lots of opportunities to learn more about these wonderful animals from various experts.

I hope that these resources are helpful as you learn more about pollinators and what we can do to help their populations grow and thrive. If you do something to help out our pollinators or learn more about them, I would love for you to share in the comments. I have also started this Pinterest Board for pollinator resources.

Books and Websites on Pollinators

Wild For Pollinators

Junior Master Gardner

Magic School Bus in a Bee Hive (video)

Magic School Bus inside a Bee Hive (book)

Magic School Bus (episode on bats and one on butterflies)

Bee and Pollinator Activities

Bat Pollination Information

Crafts and Recipes

Honey Recipes

Bee Themed snack (fruit and kix)

Bee Themed Cookies

Butterfly Cookie Cutter

Flower/Butterfly Mini Set

Mixed Set of Bee, Butterfly, Dragonfly

Healthy Butterfly Themed Snack Ideas

Pollinating Doughnuts

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Kingdom Code Review and GIVEAWAY!!

When I was asked about my interest in reviewing the The Complete Starter Kit by The Kingdom Code, I knew that it needed to be my son’s decision. He was very interested in starting and growing his own business but he is on the upper end of the age range that the program was designed for. However, after looking over the samples he was enthusiastically onboard with reviewing this program. According to their website,” The Kingdom Code is a Biblically-based, fun, hands-on program which helps parents and teachers educate kids and young teens about money management and how to become entrepreneurs.” Each student that goes through the program will create and run their very own service based business.

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The day it came in the mail he was ready to unbox it and get started. He already had a business idea and couldn’t wait to figure out how to turn his idea into a reality. The kit contained the student textbook, student packet, and teacher’s guide. All I needed to add to have everything ready to go was a couple of three ring binders, tabs, and a few pencil pouches. I was really impressed with all of the resources in the student packet. In addition to worksheets for each lesson, it included a wide variety of forms to help get the business going and keep it organized. There were survey forms, ledger forms, calendars, and even a receipt book. There was also a nice map and stickers to track the student’s progress through the program.

The Kingdom Code is a really cool program. I enjoy using it to start a business. It teaches me about how to sort the money you receive to pay expenses and keep some for you and such. It taught me how to keep a ledger and make sales calls. If you are looking for a good business program I would recommend this program. – Matthew

I sat down with my son that first night and spent about thirty minutes getting everything set up in the binders, looking through the program and getting ready to begin. We then met once or twice a week to go over material from the next lesson and he would work through the other parts independently. If you had a younger child, they might need more hands on guidance at first. The lessons vary in the amount of time/sessions needed to complete them but most include two to four 45 minute sessions per lesson. My son was sometimes able to move a little quicker because of his age and some previous experience with business.

Cutting Grass

Weedeating

Choosing a business to start was easy for us because my son had been cutting grass for a family member and really wanted to turn that skill into a business. He even has long term goals of running his own landscaping business one day.

Each lesson contains a variety of components that introduce Biblical money management concepts, business terminology, practical applications, and actions steps towards owning and operating a business. I noticed two things right away, the inclusion of Bible verses and Biblical principles, and that they went ahead and got started on the business very early on in the curriculum. By lesson two, they were choosing the service based business that they wanted to start. The Biblical foundation was important to us as a family because those are the principals that we try to live by as well as how we strive to operate our own family business. Beginning the business early in the program was a huge win because it allows children to practice what they are learning immediately as well as keeps them from getting bogged down in the terminology and business lessons while waiting to get to the ‘fun stuff’.

Some programs just give a basic overview of a child’s business and then leave them to do the best they can. I really appreciate that this program takes them through step by step including details like keeping money records, writing thank you notes, sales etiquette, making goals, etc. It also teaches them economic principals like capitalism, supply/demand, being financially responsible and managing money.

We are finishing up lesson eight this week and my son already has one consistent customer and several folks that are going to use him on an as needed basis for vacations and such. He has learned to budget his money and has his ledgers and books all set up and is ready to keep growing his business.

We have been very pleased with this program and I look forward to sharing more of our progress and my son’s business as we continue on with this program. Make sure to check out some other reviews at the link below. Today, I have two special opportunities for you from Kingdom Code. First, you can enter to win a prize pack from The Kingdom Code by simply leaving a comment on this post telling me what kind of business your young entrepreneur would like to start or what business you had when you were a child. I will use a random drawing to choose a winner on Monday, June 24th. This pack includes The Kingdom Code Coloring Book and The JR KCK Budget Kit. (This giveaway is open to those living in the United States and APO/FPO addresses only). In addition to the giveaway they are offering my readers 10% off of any products ordered online from The Kingdom Code. Use Code: 10TKC08 to receive your 10% discount.

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Q is for Queen Esther

Q is for Queen Esther! It is not often that I write a post about a book I have not actually read. In fact, I think this may be the very first time. I was having a bit of a difficult time coming up with a book to share for the letter Q and I remembered this great series that we had reviewed last summer, Barbour Publishing Kingdom Files Biography Series . We reviewed the two books about Mary and Jonah but they have a book about Esther that looks great. I love the story of Queen Esther and how by stepping out in faith she allowed God to use her to save her people.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

This series of books, written by Matt Koceich, teaches children about Biblical people and each book is set up to contain three parts: Fact File, Action File and Power File. These parts take them through learning the basic facts about the person and timeline, telling the story of that person, and then walks them through how that all applies in their life today.

These are great for independent reading for roughly ages 8-12 and for family read alouds or devotional times. There are currently six books in this series which each focusing on a different person from the Bible.

Have you read any of the Kingdom Files books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter Q.

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Deals and Freebies

June 13th -15th 20% Sale at You Are An Artist!

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Flag Day Resources

Flag Day is an often-overlooked holiday, but there are many great resources to help us celebrate and the history tie-ins are abundant! While it will probably never share the ‘fame’ of Independence Day on July 4th; Flag Day is a great day to learn more about our flag and our nation’s history. I know that summer is here for many of us and we may not want to have to make one more lesson plan, so I gathered some fun resources that you can easily use to celebrate Flag Day in your home with very little preparation. Some are more ‘school like’ but there are also some fun ideas, like a flag cake and art work that can feel more like a party than a history class. It’s flag day because, on June 14, 1777 the second continental congress decreed: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. * My children love to make a flag cake. We typically make one for Memorial Day (which often is the same weekend as my son’s birthday) and Independence Day but it would be a perfect treat for Flag Day. Simply make any rectangular cake that you would like (we use two yellow cake layers with strawberries in the middle) and then top with sweetened whipping cream. Once you have a nice white rectangle, they can use blueberries for stars and cut up strawberries to make the stripes. For something a bit more savory we have also made this yummy American Flag Dip.

There are a variety of great art projects and crafts ideas for Flag Day. We really liked this free chalk pastel flag tutorial or this video lesson. If you like those lessons, you should check out Nana’s US History Course. In addition to chalk pastels, there is a great list of crafts here including one for small children using paint and star shaped cookie cutters that I think will be fun with my five-year-old. Older children might enjoy these patriotic jar lanterns or these washi tape flags. If the history of the United States and her flags is interesting to you and your students, I have also added our fun ‘US History Through Flags’ packet to the free resource library. This will give you a fun and easy way to incorporate these topics in a few minutes a day throughout the year. You can also follow the US History Through Flags page on Facebook to get daily bits of history right to your news feed. I have included a variety of resources below to help you tailor your Flag Day celebration to your children. I would love to know what creative ideas and resources you use to celebrate Flag Day in your home.

Flag Day Resources

History of Flag Day US History Through Flags Smithsonian Star Spangled Banner Flag Day Poster Flag Day Worksheets 21 Ways to Celebrate Flag Day Flag Etiquette Flag Coloring Pages Patriotic Poems Why Are There Stripes on the American Flag? (Free on Kindle Unlimited) F is for Flag Story of the Star Spangled Banner Flag Day Resource List (Still Learning Something New)

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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. Resource Library 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.

Deals and Freebies

gned up for #LifeSkillsNOW? This is such a fun and beneficial program!

Life skills help kids be confident, capable, and ready for anything.
Your kids and teens will build critical thinking and know deep down that they can do hard things.
Productive screen time instead of passive scrolling
The #LifeSkillsNow Screentime Promise: We promise to give your kids the shortest amount of (productive) screentime possible, and then OFF into the real world.
Expose your kids to topics you’ve never thought about (and might not know yourself).
Bridges the gap in traditional education with practical life skills, critical thinking, tech savvy habits, and understanding money

Journey Homeschool Science has some great online summer camps starting this month! They are a fun way to keep the learning going for the whole family.

What If You Could Give Them an Education That Truly Aligns with Your Values?Education shapes the worldview of your child. Did you know early learning forms lifelong ethical foundations? Use coupon code MAMABUG25 by June 20th, 2025, for a $44 Family Quarterly Membership (regular price: $89/Quarter). Find Christ-centered homeschool curriculum at SchoolhouseTeachers.com and set their hearts on the right path.

Lightning Lit & Comp: Hewitt Homeschooling Resources (Review)

My thirteen-year-old son loves to read. He goes to bed every night reading, takes books in the car to read, and often spends his free time reading. However, he has never enjoyed literature courses, until we had this opportunity to review Gr 8 Lightning Lit Set by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. This included the teacher’s manual, student guide, and workbook.

One of the first things that I noticed was that instead of stopping every couple of chapters to analyze and review the book, Lightning Lit had him read the entire book before he began completing worksheets related to the book. For a student like my son, who reads really well and enjoys long stretches of reading this was a huge benefit. There were comprehension questions for each chapter but the teacher’s manual explained that they could be asked at the end of the week for all of the chapters that had been read that week. If that proved to be too long of a stretch for your child you could ask them more frequently, or if they were doing well you could wait and ask them at the end of the book.

The first part of this eighth grade series featured a short story. We spent the first two weeks of the program doing the introduction and the short story. The short story was a little ‘cerebral’ and he needed a little help understanding it but thought it was quite funny once we had discussed it. Once he had read the short story there were a variety of worksheets and writing prompts that could be completed to accompany the story. Those included activities to work on fact and opinion, capitalization and apostrophes, and author’s purpose. There was also a crossword puzzle in there to keep things interesting.

Then in week three we got into the first novel of the program, Treasure Island. This adventure-filled book was an excellent choice for my son and he enjoyed reading it. He is now working on a variety of activities to go along with Treasure Island.

Once we finish Treasure Island, we will be taking a summer break before having him pick back up and finish it in the fall. The program rotates between short stories or poems and novels. This means that after Treasure Island he will work through a short grouping of poems before moving onto the next novel. We are really looking forward to A Christmas Carol at the end of the first semester as well as The Hobbit during the second semester.

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The teacher’s manual gives a schedule broken down into two eighteen week semesters but you could easily adapt this to various schedules to suit your needs. It also includes mini-lessons to help you work on various skills and the answer keys to the discussion questions and workbook pages.

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If you complete this course in its entirety, it would work well to cover literature and composition. There is also grammar review included though if your student is weak in that area you may want to supplement with a grammar curriculum. We worked through the first two chapters using it in its entirety and found it to be a solid but interesting program. Since we also have a writing program that we enjoy, we will probably finish it with a focus on the literature part and skip over some of the composition components. I really appreciated that this curriculum is easy for me to adapt in that manner.

If you are looking for a literature and composition course for your middle school student, I encourage you to check out the Gr 8 Lightning Lit Set and other resources by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. They also have programs for elementary and high school so make sure you check out the reviews from the other Review Crew members at the link below.

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Our Summer Bucket

We often talk about summer bucket lists this time of year but today I want to talk about our actual summer bucket. I got this idea from a book study that I’m doing with my friend Jenn over at Homeschool Fanatic. The book study is all about being organized and getting your things together for summer was one of those challenges.

I decided but it would be far easier for me to say yes to summer fun if I had everything together and ready. I didn’t want to go out and spend a whole bunch of money but I wanted to be able to make things easy. So, I gathered supplies that we already had and made a trip to the Dollar Tree to finish it out. I’m hoping that we can use these things throughout the summer for some fun family time. With everything all together I won’t have to worry about taking the time to gather things we can simply go outside and enjoy.

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You might choose different things depending on the ages of your children and what they like but these are the things that I found to put into our bucket. My kids range in age from thirteen to one so I chose versatile items that would allow us to all have fun together. In the heat of the summer, I’m always looking for a little bit of water fun but we don’t have a big pool at our house am I big kids are too big for most of the little kiddy pools. I put together some water squirters and water soaker balls that would be easy to use and we’re available at the Dollar Tree. Some folks might choose water balloons instead of soaker balls but we liked that the balls could be used over and over again and would not leave trash on the ground.

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I also went ahead and put sunscreen in our bucket so that would have it ready so we can enjoy our outdoor time safely. Then I added some sidewalk chalk because it’s fun for all ages. Other fun toys could include bubbles, balls, or even outdoor lawn games like ladder ball. You might also add bug spray if those tend to be a problem in your area ( you might also want to try the amazing Spartan mosquito eradicator. )

As I was putting together this post, I realized that there was one more thing that would really help out our bucket: towels! If you have extra towels, it is always nice to have them together with the water fun toys so we don’t forget to bring them outside and have to come back in dripping water all over the floors.

In addition to these summer bucket basics, a few larger items that I purchased to keep from year to year include a Little Tikes slide that I found at a yard sale, this really fun splash pad that my son got for his birthday, and a sprinkler. For my older children, they have these fun hammocks that they can hang up in the backyard to relax or play. Another larger purchase that we have found to be really beneficial is the sun shade they can go over a play set or some other play area in your yard to help keep it a little cooler and the sun off of your little ones.

Now when the children get bored or are begging to do something fun together, I have all I need to to go outside and have a great time together. What items would you put together in your Summer Fun Bucket? Do you find it makes it easier to do fun things if you have all of the supplies ready to go?

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Have you signed up for #LifeSkillsNOW? This is such a fun and beneficial program.

Life skills help kids be confident, capable, and ready for anything.
Your kids and teens will build critical thinking and know deep down that they can do hard things.
Productive screen time instead of passive scrolling
The #LifeSkillsNow Screentime Promise: We promise to give your kids the shortest amount of (productive) screentime possible, and then OFF into the real world.
Expose your kids to topics you’ve never thought about (and might not know yourself).
Bridges the gap in traditional education with practical life skills, critical thinking, tech savvy habits, and understanding money

If your feeling a bit overwhelmed with homeschooling and all the decisions and options, check out this boot camp with Kerry Beck that is live next week!

Journey Homeschool Science has some great online summer camps coming up soon! They are a fun way to keep the learning going for the whole family.

P is for Penderwicks!

P is for The Penderwicks! This funny and charming story about four sisters and their father is fun for the whole family. This is the first in a series of five books that chronicle the adventures of these sisters and their friend Jeffery (whom they meet in this first book). The sisters, Rosalind, Jane, Sky, and Batty show a love for each other and while they do not always agree, they are great role models for positive sibling relationships.

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While there is a bit of a romantic crush discussed in the book, it is a mostly clean and wholesome book that had us both laughing and crying. The girls make mistakes, but learn from them and have some really grand adventures on their summer vacation with their father. Their mother died shortly after Batty was born and so the girls have learned to really stick together. They play soccer, watch pet rabbits, get chased by a bull and a host of other silly adventures.

My 11-year-old daughter said, “I like the Penderwicks because they go on adventures, whether they go somewhere or stay home. I also like their dog, Hound.” You might think that because it is just a group of sisters it would be a book for girls, but my 13-year-old son also enjoys listening to all of their adventures.

In addition to The Penderwicks, I have listed below a list of other favorite P books that we have enjoyed or that my readers recommended over on my Facebook page! Have you read any of the The Penderwicks books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter P.

Letter P Books

Peter Pan

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Paddington (You can also check on this Unit Study.)

Prince and the Pauper

Poky Little Puppy

Princess and the Pea

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Hey Mama! Homeschool Planner (Review)

Gena Suarez from The Old Schoolhouse® has created a wonderful new tool for homeschool moms! I was excited to get a chance to review the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year and try my hand at using a paper planner. This is a beautiful 188 page spiral bound book with a variety of planning resources and devotionals included.

IMG_20190520_180737_067 — Homeschool Mom Planning Kit

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

The calendar portion of this planner begins with July 2019 so I was not really using that portion (though I did go ahead and plug in some important dates and events). However, this is not just a calendar; there are a variety of planning pages in this planner that can help you get your new year planned, goals set, and curriculum organized.

In the past, I have typically used my computer to plan and one of the first benefits that I saw with the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year was that it was very portable. Instead of planning while sitting at my desk, I was able to take the planner with me wherever I wanted to go. Planning while sitting in a swing and watching the waves on the river proved to be much more relaxing than staring at my computer. I also took it along on a family camping trip and used campfire time to discuss first semester goals with my two older children.

This planner starts out with information for creating an academic transcript if you have a child that is in high school and then flows into annual calendars for the next several years. Then the really good stuff gets started, you have the first devotional from Gena Suarez. Each month has a one page encouraging devotional for mom before the planning page and two-page calendar spread. This pattern continues from July 2019 through June 2020.

After the calendar pages are lesson planning pages, each week is a two page spread offering spaces for up to five children and seven different subjects. These are undated which allows you to fill them in as you go and not worry about weeks off or changes in plans. There are also some great devotionals distributed throughout those pages.

The Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year finishes with planning pages for each child (up to five children). There is a blank page for notes, a curriculum planning page, attendance, Books Read page (my children are excited to track their books this year), annual goals and semester goals pages. I really liked how these were laid out and kept it fairly simple. We worked together on our goal planning and I think that having the goals right there in the planner will help us stay focused on them as I am reminded of them whenever I use the planner. The goals sheet was broken down into seven different areas to address the ‘whole child’ and not just academic goals.

Goal Areas:

Educational
Spiritual
Physical
Personal Talents
Life Skills
Financial
Relational

My older two children both chose similar physical goals and are looking forward to training for and competing in a 5K during the first semester. They have even picked out the race they want to run on Thanksgiving morning. I was most appreciative of the relational goals because we are working hard on their relationships with each other.

If you are looking for a homeschool planner I encourage you to check out the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year from The Old Schoolhouse®. I think it offered a variety of resources that would be useful for planning for younger or older children and could help keep your home school year on track. I do need to mention that they are 98% sold out and do not plan to print any more until next year. If you want to find out more about how other families are using this planner make sure you click the link below to read more reviews.

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O is for Otis!

Otis is a charming and entertaining tractor. Yes, I said tractor. This adorable book series, written and illustrated by Loren Long, is based on the adventures of an old farm tractor and his farm friends. I don’t know that I ever thought my children could learn so many life lessons from an old tractor but this series is full of great lessons woven into engaging stories.

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In the title book of this series, Otis, the kind old tractor enjoys his life working on the farm and sleeping in the barn near his friend the calf. Then one day Otis is retired when a new tractor is purchased to do the farm work. This is a sad day for Otis and his friend, but in the end when his friend is in trouble it is Otis who saves the day.

My four year old loved that books so much that I had to read it over and over. Once he found out there were more books in the series he asked for them all. We have been collecting them at various holidays or when I have been able to find them at yard sales or used book sales.

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In addition to Otis, we have Otis and the Kittens, Otis and the Tornado, and Otis Gives Thanks. Otis Gives Thanks is a shorter book because it is a board book and great for toddlers. My son loves all of these books and has me read them to him often. I love the moral lessons that they fit seamlessly into the stories. They teach children to value friendship, be kind, be helpful, and work together.

These adorable picture and board books make a great read aloud to toddlers and preschool age children. They would also be fun reading for young elementary aged children. They are the kind of books that I plan to keep even after my children are older, so that I can read them to my future grandchildren.

Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter O. Have you read any of the Otis books?

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