Help Teaching Pro Subscription Review

When I agreed to review the one year subscription to Help Teaching Pro by HelpTeaching.com I was expecting to use it with my older two children (ages 10 and 11). However, as we got into the review I found that it also had some great printables for my younger son who turned four during the review period.

For my four year old, I printed off lots of worksheets. He loves to ‘do school’ when my older children are doing school and while we do lots of hands on activities he likes to have a few worksheets that he can complete. There were some wonderful worksheets for working on various preschool concepts. We focused mainly on the numbers and shapes worksheets with him because that is something he enjoys learning more about and had recently been working on. They were short and simple which I think is important when you are dealing with preschoolers and he enjoyed completing them. As I look at planning for next year I intend to continue to use these types of worksheets to supplement our hands on activities.

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The older children were more interested in the lessons that are offered as a part of this subscription. There are lessons on a wide variety of topics and subjects but we chose to focus mainly on the various prefix and suffix lessons. These were short video lessons with a quiz that could be taken after the lesson. We worked through them together and the children seemed to enjoy them.

We are also using some of the ready to use math worksheets for review of concepts that they were struggling with this year in math as we prepare for our end of year testing. I have found that printing the worksheets and having the children complete them is best for my students, but they do have the option of online completion which may be a great tool for other families. With that option you can schedule it for a certain day and time and make it timed or untimed.

There are lessons for math, English language arts, science, and social studies. In addition to those categories, the printable worksheets also include seasonal activities, art, music, physical education/health, and vocational education, There are even sections of graphic organizers and study skills.

They have a test maker option that I think could be a great time saver if you are creating tests. You can either use questions from their test bank based on grade level, subject, and topic or you can add your own questions. There is also a worksheet component to this feature that allows you to create math worksheets and games. In the games section you could make a word search using whatever selection of words you want to use. This is a great review for spelling or vocabulary words.

I think there is a wealth of information and resources in this subscription. I do wish that the lesson options were a bit more comprehensive as I think some subjects and ages are covered much better than others. However, there are many great printable worksheets and you can even generate your own tests and worksheets. For most families this is not going to be a complete curriculum but a great supplement. I think Help Teaching Pro would be most helpful to families that were looking for more practice or review or those looking for resources in creating their own lessons.

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.

Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Review

I am excited to share my review of Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Apologia with you today, but first I want to give you a little back story. When I first started homeschooling almost six years ago I started with a ‘box’ curriculum. I figured out pretty quickly that it was not working for us and started creating my own science curriculum. Part of our studies that year included a study of the planets and a family member suggested that I check out Apologia’s Astronomy book as a resource. The children loved it and we ended up using it for the entire semester instead of just the month that we had planned on spending on astronomy. We have been using Apologia ever since. We have enjoyed each book that we tried and Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is no exception.

Apologia sent us the text, Junior Notebooking Journal, Notebooking Journal, and the MP3 CD. When it came in the mail, the children were thrilled to be able to ‘un-box’ their new goodies. My husband has more of a science background than I do and enjoys anatomy so we decided to do this science in the evenings as a family to allow him the opportunity to participate. We all gathered in the living room and my husband would read aloud a section or two of the text and then we would discuss what he had read.

As we went through we did many of the “try this” activities that are included. These are one of my many favorite parts of the curriculum because they provide hands on activities that are quick and easy and often need little to no advance preparation. For example, in the second lesson where we were learning about bones of them simply had the children hit a table with their hands and then hit the table with a cushion between their hands and the table. This helped to demonstrate the cushioning effect of cartilage between the bones.

There are also more in depth experiments at the end of the lessons and in the Notebooking Journals. The first lesson focuses on cells and the end project was making an edible cell using Jell-O and candy. That was certainly a hit with my kids. There are looking forward to some of the other experiments such as testing for Vitamin C and making a stethoscope.

While we did the reading and experiments together, the children worked through their notebooking journals on their own. My 6th grader used the regular Notebooking Journal and my daughter who is 4th/5th grade used the Junior Notebooking Journal. There are some activities and pages that are very similar but the Notebooking Journal is more involved. For example, in lesson one some of the pages are the same but the Junior Notebooking Journal has several coloring pages (which work great for keeping little hands busy while I read) and an extra ‘lapbooking’ style page. The Notebooking Journal has a crossword puzzle and review questions that are not in the Junior Notebooking Journal.

Did I tell you how much I love having the CD that goes along with this text? There are so many wonderful ways to incorporate it in our lessons. Sometimes we use the CDs to listen on the road. This is a great way to get some school done even on those busy days when we aren’t home. Also, my son loves to listen to audio books before bed and he can just put it into his CD player and listen to it, giving him a nice review of what we have learned so far. Since we do science together I have not used it to help a struggling reader, but I know several families that will allow the child to listen to the CD while they follow along in the book. The CD is the book read aloud word for word so this is a great support for struggling readers.

In case you couldn’t tell, we absolutely recommend this product. The science is in-depth and thorough but full of fun and easy hands on projects to make it all stick. You do need to know that it is written from a Christian creationist standpoint. This is a big positive for us and we love how it explains the role of the creator in the science, but we know that some people may wish for a different view point. While you are checking out Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology you can also take a look at the books in this elementary series.

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Homeschool Organization: A Work in Progress

Organizing my homeschool is a constant work in progress. As life changes (adding a new baby, changing curriculum, changing schedules, etc) our systems need to bend and change. I am certainly no expert and I’m still learning what works best for our family even after almost six years of homeschool. However, I have found a few tricks that work well for us.

One idea that has made a big difference for us is giving each child a book bag. We have a ‘schoolroom’ that we often use for our schoolwork. However, when we are doing school outside, on the road, or in the kitchen books and papers tend to get strewn around and lost. Having a book bag for those items to be stored in when we are not using our normal room has helped tremendously.

539022_373593769375412_580442425_n — Our schoolroom before we finished setting it up!

Another big help for us in organizing was to sort our huge collection of books by general subject (history, religion, science, chapter books, etc). This helps us to find the books we need a bit easier. We are also using the free Libib App to catalogue our books, so that I don’t buy duplicates. We are still working on book organization but this has certainly made things easier and I think once we get all of the books catalogued it will be a very workable system.

The other major change that we made that was beneficial is giving the preschooler his own little corner of the room. He has shelves which house the special toys and items that he can play with during school time in boxes. Each box has several different activities and he is only allowed to take out one box at a time. This helps keep the mess from becoming overwhelming but still gives him activities to occupy him when I need to be working with the other children. Since we have a new baby joining us in the school room and because we seem to get less organized as the year goes on, I am hoping to revamp and reorganize the room over the summer. I’m hoping to use the book ” Organize Your Homeschool in 20 (ish) Days” which I found in the Ultimate Homemakers Bundle that was on sale last week. You can find the ebook on sale here.

What areas of homeschool organization do you struggle with? I’d also love to hear your favorite organization tips and tricks. Share with us in the comments what works well for you so that we can all learn from each other.

When you sign up for our 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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Homestead Homeschool: Our Livestock Show!!!

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I promised that I’d share the results of the livestock show with you! The children had so much fun and learned so much. This was an all day event as we were there before 9 am and did not leave until almost 9 pm. I think we were all exhausted when it was over but it was a day well spent.

Elizabeth took her goat out in the ring a total of four times, once as a helper in the special needs show, once to be judged on showmanship, once to have the animal judged in the market class, and then for the final ‘auction’. She was awarded Reserve Champion (2nd place) for showmanship and 6th place for market class!

Matthew had three opportunities to take his pig in the ring, showmanship, market, and auction. He received 4th place in showmanship and 3rd place in market class. He did a great job and showed a tremendous improvement in control of his animal from last year. We were so proud of both of them.

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I hope you enjoy these pictures from the show. If you want to know more about their animals make sure you check out, Homestead Homeschool: Our 4-H Goat and Homesteading Homeschool: Our 4H Pig where I interviewed the children about their animals. Their next step will be to complete a project record book detailing their experiences and what they learned in the process. This is a great way for them to practice writing skills, typing skills, and financial math concepts. I love that they get a chance to use the things we are learning in a practical setting. It really helps them understand why they need the skills I am teaching them. Anyone else enjoy 4H projects?

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Deals and Freebies

Don’t Forget Our Giveaway Going On Now at Launch Day and a Livestock Show!

Free Poetry Pack from Write Shop!! 39 page PDF for grades 3-9

Sign-up Now for this FREE challenge that starts Monday! Don’t forget to sign up for the 5-day no-prep crafts challenge from Jamie at Hands On As We Grow. The deadline is fast approaching! It’s perfect for preschoolers to get crafty without the hassle! Click here to learn more!

This is a deal I “splurge” on each year to give me inspiration and help throughout the year. Need a little homemaking inspiration? Join 100,000 women who have said YES to the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle since 2012. Get 129 eBooks, eCourses, and printables designed to help you declutter and organize your home, balance your many roles, meal plan and serve healthier meals, plus resources for parenting, marriage, working from home, self-care and much more.

A SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership is one price for the entire family with courses for all ages. From preschool through the last high school year, SchoolhouseTeachers.com has it covered, and the price is locked in for as long as you keep your membership! Get a peek as you play our short Scavenger Hunt that ends with a chance to win fantastic prizes like Kindle Fire tablets, a laptop computer, and SchoolhouseTeachers.com memberships!

5 Days of For the Love of Reading

5 Days...For the Love of Reading!

I’m so excited to bring you a 5 day series, “For the Love of Reading”. Each day I will feature a short post on a different way to encourage a love of reading in your children. We will talk about audio books, a few favorite book series, Historical fiction (including an author interview), book parties, and location, location, location. These will be short daily posts each day that week. If you have any questions about encouraging a love for reading, ask them in the comments and I will try to answer them in one of our blog posts.

In addition I will be part of a blog hop featuring a variety of homeschool topics during those 5 days. There will be bloggers talking about history, books, manners, home ec and so much more. Check back each day for my post and a link to check out all of the others that are participating. If this sounds like fun make sure you subscribe to the blog to get notifications each time a post goes live!

Day 1: Where Oh Where Do We Read?

Day 2: Reading With Your Ears

Day 3:Keep Them Reading…Our Favorite Series

Day 4: History Through Reading

Day 5: It’s Time To Party (and Read)

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PS. On an unrelated but important note the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle for 2018 is out and has some really awesome stuff. There are lots of products I’m excited to read and check out but two of my favorite are “Teach me to Serve, 99 Ways Preschoolers Can Learn to Serve and Bless Others” and “Organize Your Homeschool in 20 (ish) Days” which sounds like a great summer project for me because we seem to be over run with homeschooling materials!! Check out the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle here. If you are not familiar with the concept, these are greatly discounted bundles that are only available for a limited time. This one includes 62 ebooks, 33 courses, 34 Printables, and 8 bonuses. I will never be able to read and use them all but just a few of them are worth more than the discounted price on the bundle!

Princess Cut: A Family Movie Review

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Am I the only one that has a hard time finding movies that are appropriate for our whole family but still interesting for the adults? So I was thankful to have the opportunity to review Princess Cut by Watchman Pictures. While I may be the one ‘officially’ reviewing this movie, we watching it together as a family movie night. The children were thrilled because we went all out and bought pizza to eat while we gathered in the living room to watch the movie.

As we started to watch the movie the first thing that caught the attention of the children was that it took place in our home state at a location that was very near a town where we have visited. The movie portrays a Christian young woman and her journey towards finding real love. Without spoiling too much of the plot, I can say that there are a few twists and turns in her journey that really surprised my children. She had setbacks but as any good romance movie should, it had a happy ending. One thing that stood out to me was how well it portrayed her relationship with her parents and how they were there to help guide her on this journey. It did not make it out to be a perfect relationship where no one made mistakes, but it showed how they could forgive and move forward after mistakes were made. I look ahead into my own daughter’s future and hope that we can one day (many years from now) help her along her own journey to finding real love.

The one ‘flaw’ that I noticed in the movie was that the timeline seemed a bit rushed. The entire course of the movie took place in less than one full crop season but lots of major decisions and relationships took place during that short amount of time. My children at 10 and 11 did not notice, but had they been a bit older we would have had a conversation about how they shortened things for the sake of the movie but in life those processes would take place over months or maybe even years. This certainly did not ruin the movie for us but is something that may be worth a conversation with your teenagers after watching the movie.

So what did everyone think? My 10 year old daughter said, ” I thought is was a good movie but I wish it had shown the wedding.” Before we started watching the movie, my eleven year old son grabbed a blanket and said he was going to use it to cover his eyes if they started any of that ‘kissing’ stuff as he does not much like ‘romantic’ movies. However, when I asked him after the movie what he thought he said that it was a good movie and he liked all of the surprising twists and events. My husband, who prefers historical films, watches these types of movies with me because he loves me. His thoughts were that is was like, a “Hallmark movie with Christian values”.

All in all, our family really enjoyed watching this movie. It was appropriate for the entire family without being boring for the adults. We felt that it shared values that are important to our family in a way that did not come across as ‘preachy’ or dull. I can wholeheartedly recommend Princess Cut to anyone looking for a fun romance with Christian values.

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Launch Day and a Livestock Show!

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This is an exciting and busy week in our house. The children have their livestock show this week and today is the official launch day for Heroes Next Door! I can not thank you enough for your support as we launch this book. It has been a dream of my husband’s to be able to provide a book that engages middle grades students while teaching them about history through story. This book shares the Vietnam War in a way that is real, relate-able, and age appropriate. In honor of launch day we are hosting a giveaway for a free copy of Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24. Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win. (Hint, there is also a bonus giveaway on our Facebook page)

If you are curious about the livestock show, I interviewed my son in Homesteading Homeschool: Our 4H Pig and my daughter in Homestead Homeschool: Our 4-H Goat. You can follow us on Instagram @dawnpelusoschoolinswag to get see some pictures from the show this week and I’ll share a blog post about their experiences Friday or Saturday.

Finally, if you are like me and struggling with being consistent with your time with God amidst a busy schedule then I highly suggest you check out this free webinar by Jami Balmet and the folks at Ultimate Bundles titled, “Finding God in Your Busy Day”. I have heard several presentations by Jami and they all have been excellent. I am looking forward to the opportunity to hear her again as I struggle to get back to consistency since the baby was born. Jami will teach you where to find unexpected pockets of time for God and devotions, where to find Bible Study resources, and what your Bible study time should consist of.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Deals and Freebies!

Don’t forget to sign up for the 5-day no-prep crafts challenge from Jamie at Hands On As We Grow. The deadline is fast approaching! It’s perfect for preschoolers to get crafty without the hassle! Click here to learn more!

‘History’ Lego Projects

I’m so excited to be able to share with you all of these wonderful Lego projects submitted by readers. These children have done an outstanding job with their building and creativity. I believe that building and creating allows them to not only build fine motor skills but engage their minds in creative and critical thinking that is every bit as beneficial to their brains as ‘book work’.

This month’s theme was ‘history’ and you can see we had a variety of ideas related to that theme. (If you forgot to send in your pictures I will take submissions through the weekend.) The theme for April is ‘free choice’. So anything they create!

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Please feel free to share this post to show your friends and family your hard work and invite your friends to join in next month’s Lego Challenge.

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Victory Gardens and Ration Books

20180405_120333 — It doesn’t look like much now since the seeds have not sprouted but hopefully by the end of the month it will have beautiful plants.

World War II changed the fabric of the United States in ways that are unthinkable to us today. How do we help them understand what life was like here on the home front during the World War II period? I really wanted my children to understand the sacrifices that were made by both our military and our civilians during World War II. This week we have been focusing on life on the home front. In addition to conversations about what it was like we planted a Victory garden and started using our simple version of ration books.

For the Victory garden, the children first researched what types of foods would typically have been planted in a Victory garden as well as the types of seeds that could be planted in our climate this time of year. Then they had to till the soil and remove any weeds. Once the soil was ready they went through and found seeds that were appropriate and planted the seeds. Over the next few weeks they will tend to the garden and hopefully get to enjoy some of the ‘vegetables’ of their labor.

If you do not have enough space or have other restrictions that do not allow for a full garden a few small containers can still give you a hands on experience. My three year old wanted his own so we cut off the top of a milk carton, filled it with potting soil and planted lettuce. You can make something simple like our milk carton planter or purchase indoor gardening kits like this farmers garden window sill kit or these herbs in a jar.

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Rationing can be a difficult concept for children who have been blessed to never live through it to understand. So we created a simple ration sheet and chose three things to ‘ration’ in our house for the month of April. We are rationing chocolate milk, candy, and kindle/computer time. Real ration books had removable stickers that you turned in to procure your goods. However, in the interest of simplicity ours is more like a check sheet that will get marked each time they use one of those items. Once all the boxes are checked for an item, they do not get any more of that item until May. If this is something you are interested in, you can find a copy of it with the items left blank in the free resource library (you can sign-up for access at the bottom of this post). The children are very excited about the project, but I’m not sure how they will feel when they run out of something before the end of the month. I’ll keep you updated in our history updates.

We also watched a few video shorts from training and propaganda videos for World War II. These were popular cartoon characters that were used to encourage support for the war or train soldiers. There are many of them but some of them may not be appropriate for all ages due to crude humor. I have shared some links below to some that we found were good examples.

I have also found a few recipes that were designed for making foods using rations and limiting ingredients that were hard to come by. We are going to try a few of those recipes over the next few days. If they are enjoying that, I may challenge them to modify some of our favorite recipes to be more ‘ration’ friendly and see what they can create.

I have included some links below that have great information on Victory gardens and rationing. I would love to know if you try any of these ideas or if you have other ideas for helping children understand what life on the home front was like during World War II.

Victory Gardens

Rationing

Videos

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Deals and Freebies!

As someone who is trying to balance a six week old, homeschool, blog, and all of the other things life is throwing at me and still be consistent with my daily walk with God this webinar really appeals to me. I also happen to love Jami Balmet and have done several of her online workshops.

Want to learn how to find God in the middle of your busy life? Jami Balmet and Ultimate Bundles are hosting a free webinar called Finding God in Your Busy Day (creative ways to grow your faith when you don’t have time for devotions). Jami will teach you where to find unexpected pockets of time for God and devotions, where to find Bible Study resources, and what your Bible study time should consist of. Register for the webinar.

Our new middle grades historical fiction novel, Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24 is now on Amazon available for pre-order with a release date of April 10th! We are super excited about this and would love to have you share it with your friends!

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring But It’s Not Boring!

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When spring finally arrives it seems like everyone wants to be outside and enjoy the warmer temperatures. However, spring often brings some rainy days. Rainy days can bring complaints of boredom or a bit of stir crazy but they do not have to be boring ‘stuck inside’ days. There are lot of fun things to do on those rainy spring days.

One fun and tasty idea is to get baking! You can choose an old favorite recipe or a brand new one and bake it with the children. One of our favorites is pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. They are so yummy and easy for the children to make. You could even have the children look through recipe books for a new recipe to try. My second favorite activity works great once the baking is done… reading. Whether it is everyone curled up with a good book or a family read aloud, rainy days are a great time for reading. Then you can enjoy your fresh baked good while you read.

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Do your kids love science experiments but you often do not have the time to get them all set up? Rainy days are a great time for those experiments that they always want to do. You could have a few prepared and ready or just give them an ‘experiment’ box and let them have some fun. For an experiment box, simply gather materials that could be used to perform experiments and let them design their own. This can be materials that are readily available around your home such as vinegar, baking soda, string, clay, balloons, foil, pennies, etc. If you want to make it a bit more exciting, you can purchase a set of inexpensive safety goggles and lab coat to make young children feel like ‘real scientists’.

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Arts and crafts are also a great option on those rainy days. We have been doing a Spring Chalk Art Pastel course that even includes a picture of rain that would be quite appropriate for a rainy day. There are tons of free resources out there with crafts for just about any age or ability. You could let them come up with their own idea or find one that you think would be fun. If you are looking for some help with independent activities Hands On As We Grow has a free “5 day indpendent activity challenge” starting soon to get you going with some easy ideas.

Finally, if none of those ideas sound like fun you can take the advice of my three year old and , “just ride your scooter in the rain.” I hope you enjoy some of these ideas and I’ve added a ‘Rainy Day Activities List’ to the free resource library with even more rainy day ideas. Share with us in the comments what you like to do on rainy days.

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Deals and Giveaways!

Deals and Freebies

Any other Green Ember fans? We are getting super excited to listen (we like to do the audio as a family) to the last book in the series after it releases in April! In honor of that release Your Morning Basket Homeschool Solutions with Pam Barnhill has an awesome FREE Green Ember Gala coming up! Sign-up today for FREE. https://pambarnhill.com/green-ember-gala/ref/247/

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale right now.

Would you like to join us for a FREE study of Heidi? (or choose a different book of your choice). LitWits.com has generously offered my readers a free study when they use the code: 11READ4FUN These are a super easy and fun way to engage your whole family in a good book. https://litwits.com/product-category/kits/

Evan-Moor is having a special sale this week on their Teacher File Box! TeacherFileBox is a subscription to digital lessons from over 450 Evan-Moor books including ALL grade levels and ALL subjects

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

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)