SpellingCity.com Review

A while back we were asked to do a review of SpellingCity.com.  We use Spellingcity.com EVERY DAY.  Admittedly, I haven't used many of the extras they seem to offer, here is what we do in our house:

 Every Sunday I add a new list from Heart of Dakota for the week we are on.  While we aren't presently using Heart of Dakota (again) we are using their spelling/vocab lists.  It's convenient and requires less time on my part for finding a list appropriate for Thing 1.  I upload 10 words while signed on as the parent/teacher.  I make my lists availale to other users, whether or not they use them is beyond me.
Spellingcity.com offers many different games for the kids to learn the proper spelling of their weekly words as well as games to teach them definitions.  I have the ability to choose with definition I want for each word when more than one is available. 
One of my absolute favorite features of spellingcity.com you ask?  The ability to preset assignments and save them.  It takes me only a few minutes on Sundays to prepare a whole week's worth of assignments for Thing 1.  Each day he does "teach me" for Spelling and Vocab.  Each day he has 1 or 2 more assignments after that to play games and work with the words and their definitions.  By Thursday night (we don't school on Fridays) he is ready to test.  Just this past week we did more than just testing on the computer-I printed the vocab  test for him to use at the table instead.  I liked it so much, we will do it again.  Thing 1 has to get either 90% of 100% to be able to move on to the next week.  If for some reason he doesn't pass (and that has yet to happen) he will do more games through the weekend and test again Sunday night.
Spellingcity.com gives me the freedom to work with other kids (or housework if I need to!) while Thing 1 works on work I prepared for him.
Spellingcity.com is a safe environment.  While Thing 1 works high on a stool in the kitchen up on a counter where I can see the screen no matter where I am in the kitchen-I know he is safe and only doing what I choose for him to do.

I absolutely LOVE spellingcity.com 


Please please please go here and sign up and see for yourself!

Different Strokes

Yesterday it hit me.  Ladybug may be better off (at least this year) in a school setting.

So I started searching.

Happily it didn’t take too long.  The new church we have been attending also has a private preschool. 

I’m hoping my information comes in the mail tomorrow.

I’m also waiting to hear back from the woman whom I spoke with yesterday-with Ladybug being 8 and needing to be in a 4 year old preschool, she had to speak with the director first.  I’m believing there will be no issues. 

I’m the worst blogger ever.  I try and try to be diligent but it never works.

I have so many pictures and stories to share but time escapes me.

Here’s a few uplifting things in our family:

the Mister and I both got “new” cars in the past few weeks.  We are so thankful….it was definitely time!

Ladybug, Thing 1and Thing 2 are doing so well in swimming lessons!  I’m incredibly proud of them.  I’m expecting some major changes by the end of the Spring 2012 session.

Ladybug and Thing 1 are loving gymnastics!!  Thing 1 finally was able to get on the rings last Friday.  I have been waiting for that boy to get on the rings since he was born.  He was just born with muscles-I always thought rings would be good.  Turns out, he loved them!  I’m looking forward to this week.

Thing 2 has had 2 violin lessons.  I’m so proud of him.  He knows all the open strings and does well using my (full size) violin.  I ordered one for him 2 weeks ago and it’s still not here.  I’m getting antsy, and so is Thing 2-it’s hard holding my violin for him while he tries so hard to play.  He’s a trooper though, he is doing so well!!

Jack-Jack is LOVING his special one on one time he gets with Mama while we do Before FIAR.  Each day we get to read the story and do one activity together-no other kids allowed.  He’s loving it and his behavior is changing so much!

The Mister and I will soon be (hopefully) certified foster parents!  Looking forward to where that road will lead us over the next few months.  We have CPR certification as well as 2 documents waiting to be turned in to our case worker.  We’re getting excited.

Our basement, thanks to me taking a break from school 2 weeks ago with the kids, is now a fully functional play area.  Everyone is loving our new space!

I will hopefully be able to grab more time tomorrow to share pics of our activities lately.  I’m loving all the Tweeps I follow sharing their amazing ideas on crafts with kids.  I’m completely stocked on ideas for my co-op class for the rest of the school year!

SpellingCity.com

In my previous post was a simple disclosure announcing that I would soon have access to SpellingCity.com

Day 1 was not as “plug and play” as I had hoped.  Nonetheless, totally worth it.  Truthfully, I was hoping to find immediate first grade spelling/vocab lists and just get Thing 1 on his merry way to spelling. 

Not the case.

HOWEVER, while our typical spelling/vocab portion of our day cost a bit more in time-day one ended very well for Thing 1 and his new spelling/vocab words.

I used the same spelling words as I would have without this program.  It only took a minute for me to type the spelling words into my own list.  I chose to publish my list so other members could use them as well.  (aren’t I thoughtful?) 

Immediately, SpellingCity.com prepared games and vocab exercises.  In order to get Thing 1 set up, I just had to add him as one of my children ( you get up to 5 with a YEARLY membership of $24.95!)  In my opinion, even on day one, I totally recommend using this program!  Once I had Thing 1 added, I clicked on assignments.  A wonderful list was already prepared for me to simply click on to assign Thing 1’s work. 

One of my favorite things (so far) with SpellingCity.com is the words I added were immediately assigned proper definitions (which I verified I wanted, you are given the choice of which definitions you want to coincide with the word).  i.e.  one of our words this week is tape.  I’m choosing tape, as in scotch tape…not tape as in record.  SpellingCity.com allows you to choose which one you want to use for the vocab exercises for the week.  Impressive! 

I’ve assigned Thing1 ten assignments with a due date of this coming Saturday.  (we’ve been on a school break so we need to school for 2 hours Saturday morning) 

So far Thing  1 has done a vocab test, a spelling test and “hang mouse” (which is not morbid like hangman)  lol  He did not know enough of his words by heart to do well at hang mouse so I did delete that one from his assignment and add different games.  I will re-assign that one later for him.  I’m enjoying the program for the computer time as well.  Thing 1 will have to learn more typing and location of letters on a qwerty keyboard-all good things to know. 

All in all, day 1 has proven to be very successful with SpellingCity.com  I’m incredibly thankful to Time4Learning for sharing this opportunity with me!

~Another Review~

I’m so excited to announce I’m going to get to do another review.  Time4Learning.com sent me an email explaining how I can do another review for spelling.

I’m so excited.

And I just can’t hide it.

I promise, I won’t lose control-I will post the disclosure instead.  Seems to be the mature thing to do.

 

Disclosure:

I've been given a premium membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review.

VocabularySpellingCity.com helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as Crossword Puzzle, HangMan, and Handwriting Worksheets.  Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of dozens of  free teaching resources such as sound-alike words, and contractions.  Be sure to come back in three weeks to read about my experience.

There might be more free memberships available for bloggers.  If you're interested, find out how you can review VocabularySpellingCity.com.

Co-Op Friday

Friday is our first co-op.  Though at the time this is actually published our co-op will have already happened.  I’m teaching the 3-4 year olds an art class.  Two of my children are in this class.  Thing 2 and Ladybug. 

We are going to be using FIAR for the class.  Since I don’t want to add any more work into my workload, I moved our homeschool FIAR ART day to Friday’s.  That way, Thing 2 isn’t missing out on anything.  KONOS works a co-op day into their curricula so that’s simply wonderful.  Making a 4 day week every other week for KONOS is simple. 

We are reading The Giraffe that Walked to Paris this week with Thing 2.  We are making this craft.

A paper bag giraffe.  Tomorrow night (Thursday) the Mister and I will be cutting out felt brown pieces, pairing googly eyes, and (hopefully) yellow fun foam pieces and piecing together a little kit for each student and placing everything in individual Ziploc baggies.  I have to time to how long it takes me to read the story tomorrow –I only have an hour with the kids.  Should be enough time.  I’m using egg cartons to hold the glue, and q-tips as a means to apply the glue to the pieces.

I will have some littles in my class too.  They are going to color a page of a giraffe after the story.  I’m looking forward to it.  can’t wait to add how it actually goes on Friday. 

**Friday has come and gone, I’m finally remembering to add this post.  The co-op went very well.  Thing 1 LOVED it and wasn’t ready to go after 3 hours.  Jack-Jack stayed entertaining to the nursery volunteers for the entire time. I’m so proud of him.  Co-op is during his nap, so I won’t expect every time to be like this one.  Thing 2 and Ladybug did rather well.  Their room is the most crowded and they do not switch rooms for every period like the older kids-so they did as well as can be expected. 

I played in the nursery with Jack Jack for the first period and enjoyed some non-sibling time with him.  During second period I taught Thing 2 and Ladybug’s class.  Since the book we read that week was a bit long, I took some liberties in shortening it for the other kids.  Thing 2 was very excited to read the book again. 

I think the giraffes turned out wonderfully:

Experiments in Review

I’m sorry for the lack of posting.  Sometimes I simply forget to upload some photos and actually remember what we’ve been doing together.

KONOS is proving to be an absolutely wonderful addition to our family.  There is very little sit-down-and-learn time.  It’s more hands on and the kids don’t feel like they’re actually doing school.  We are getting more time together doing fun activities.  We’re all liking it.

In addition to KONOS, is FIVE  IN A ROW  or FIAR .  We have been loving the time reading the same book 5 days in a row together.  Each day we do something new.  Some days it seems as though we read the book and talk about some words, locations, etc.  The kids are simply asking their regular questions they always do and it’s a part of the learning process for that day.  Loving it!! 

I was also blessed enough to get Jack-Jack Before Five in A Row over the weekend.  I’m hoping to pick up his books at the library over the next few days.  With one car, it’s hard to get to some places before they close.  Our days of having 1 are so almost over.  We are counting the days.  (hopefully hours)

Here are some of the fun things we have done and learned together over the past week:

Thing 2 and Jack-Jack enjoyed tracing items we found outside (leaves, mulch, a rock, grass) with paper over top and we rubbed crayons over them.  Jack Jack pressed too hard, but he enjoyed doing something with his big brother.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 did a scavenger hunt with cards that had words like:  Hard, soft, round, horizontal, smooth, wooden, etc.  Thing 2 totally won that game!  Our current characteristic in KONOS is Attentiveness.  This was just one of the many awesome activities we’ve done to teach attentiveness. 

Ladybug (who doesn’t have any ears) was able to do this awesome hearing activity.  We tied a tuning fork to a piece of string and banged it against the chair they were leaning over.  She was able to hear the sound vibrating through the string.  She was very excited.

We’ve done a lot over the past week,  I’ll work hard at trying to post more over the next few days.  This week was shortened with the holiday on Monday.  We got to enjoy some sweet time with family and relaxed and enjoyed a great rainy Labor Day.

Though I also wanted to share some great news about Time4Learning

Miss Ladybug doesn’t understand practically anything being read to her. When asked a question about a story just read to her, she will always get the answers wrong.  So, in an effort to reach her the other day-I listened to a story with her on Time4Learning and signed the major parts of each page to her.  (She isn’t fluent in ASL, but we’re working on it little by little) When we got to the questions about the story she only missed 1!  Oh yes, this Mama cried tears of joy at that accomplishment!  Needless to say that’s just another reason we love love LOVE Time4Learning for Ladybug.  And now, we are also making a HUGE effort to become fluent in ASL.  It’s completely Miss Ladybug’s natural language.  Now we are doing all we can to try to bring out the real Ladybug. 

That is all for now, goodnight friends.

Helen Keller

Play Academy Idea Swap Link Up

Just found this wonderful link up Found HERE!

Thing 1 and I are studying with KONOS.  And this week we started Attentiveness.  We got to watch The Miracle Worker about Helen Keller.  When the movie was over (and we rarely allow movies) we went outside.  I grabbed a blindfold and some ear muffs used at the range.

During the movie, the kids watched as Helen had her arms in front of her waving them around.  Ladybug, Thing 1 and Thing 2 all made separate mentions of why she was acting that way. 

Each of the older 3 (Jack Jack and gone to Nana’s for the night!) got a turn to be blind and deaf (though Ladybug is halfway to the second part, so they got a taste of their own sister’s hearing (or lack thereof) as well.)  I spun them around and took them to the middle of our yard. 

Each child eventually (didn’t take long) found his or her way to the entrance step of the big trampoline.  They were able to find out they were by waving their arms in front of them…just like Helen.

FIAR and Such

**Sadly I have no Wordless Wednesday post, I don’t’ think I’ve taken enough pictures of fun things over the past week to link up this week, or maybe I have, but I haven’t looked**

Today Thing 2 and I started FIAR.  We were incredibly thankful when The Mister’s mom went to the library for us to pick up our ready books.  (Currently we have 1 (gas guzzling) vehicle). 

She picked up Thing 2 and together they toted off to the library to pick up Thing 2’s elephant book (Babar!).  Thing 2 has always loved elephants, so I was happy to pick Babar as a starting point.  Also, in KONOS Thing 1 and I are learning about hearing and attentiveness and when I saw Babar in there for “hearing”.  It’s in the middle of the FIAR Volume 2 book, but who cares?  I also got our second week’s book so we’re prepared.

FIAR almost seemed too easy.  But not in any way other than you don’t have to do as much as you do in other curricula.  The kids seemed to enjoy it and I loved reading together outside on our big trampoline for school.  I’m looking forward to the next 4 days and we’ll see how it goes reading the same book 5 days in a row. 

Thing 1 is retaining what he’s learning in KONOS so I’m super excited about that.  We talked about a few things he’s learning and it’s actually sticking.  That’s the goal!

I’ve also read FIAR has a Christian  Characteristic addition to their work as well-if FIAR works for Thing 2 we’ll consider it-but the stories in the Bible to coincide with KONOS is doing the job just fine with all the children.

I re-upped Ladybug’s Time4Learning subscription.  Though she hasn’t gotten to use it today.  I got her all set up and I think Time4Learning was having some technical difficulties so we had to quit.  Not sure if we’ll get to it now today or not.

I’m thinking of doing something with a Montessori theme for our co-op in the 2nd semester with the 4 and 5 year olds.  I think there’s only 6 weeks or so about 10 kids I think, should be easy enough, right?  Suggestions are welcomed!!

Tomorrow we are going to make GAK in the evening-I never tell the kids what fun I have in store for them-it’s always a surprise.

I would also like to add, before I close, Time4Learning has exemplary customer service!  I called this morning to get Mayah up and running again and within minutes.  The woman I spoke with us cheerful and very helpful.  I highly HIGHLY suggest doing a trial with them and seeing how awesome they are for yourself!!

Always Adapting

Having four children, running an entire household, and homeschooling isn’t for the faint of heart.

Day 1 of KONOS was nothing short of amazing.  Thing 1 continually said how he was loving the short, fun day.

The day was no shorter than the rest of the days.  It was simply more fun.

We all thoroughly enjoyed reading a book together (not new to us) and building scenes we remembered from the book on our new, awesome (home made by the Mister!) felt board.

 

Math didn’t change as we absolutely adore Math-u-See.  I’m fully confident with Math-u-See Ladybug will be eventually able to add on paper.  Maybe not be given an actual real life addition problem-but I believe she will be able to add using the worksheets.

And now, on with the adapting.

Miss Ladybug is special needs and understands absolutely zero parts of a story being read to her…so Bible Stories, reading centered curriculum and analysis questions are out for her.  (I will certainly not quit having her be around the reading.)

No biggie, Ladybug did so well with Time4Learning we will be going back to that for her.  Hopefully this week-but next week at the latest.  I look forward to the one on one time with her helping her grow.  I will also be updating my official review of Time4Learning so it shows we will actually be continuing it.

Jack Jack is my only child to fully live in the terrible two’s.  Yikes.  I’m ready for my easy baby to come back.  In order for that to happen, I believe I will be needing to incorporate even more Montessori and hands on activities to include him.  Also, if we enjoy our trial period of Five In A Row, we’ll get Before Five In A Row for him.  (yes, there have been mentions so my curriculum addictions in the past.)

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are attached at the hip, completely 2 of a kind…except it’s not fair to Thing 2 to have him to everything his older brother is doing.  I was totally blessed by a person I’ve never met with Five in A Row I am going to try that with the younger 3 and we’ll see how it works out. 

Using different curricula for different children doesn’t really intimidate me, I like challenges.  I’m also sure many people have done it before me and many people will do it after me.  My biggest concern is maintaining household organization.

I’m pretty organized with new “systems” all through the house to make life easier for everyone living here.  I’m sure we’ll adapt again as time moves on and we learn more about how our new normal will be.

We will all continue with strictly KONOS for the week and begin more individualized studies next week…or until we start Time4Learning as well as the library gathering the books I’ve requested for Five In A Row.

Recycled Kitchen

This is my very first link up to Montessori Monday-

#1 because I’m new to the Montessori blog addiction and integration into our home classroom.

 

#2 because I steal everyone else’s ideas

This-technically I got from a friend after having coffee with her last week.

My children: Ladybug, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Jack-Jack NEVER played with their play kitchen.  They have tons of foods and play plates, etc to go with it-occasionally I would see one of them using it, but not often enough to keep it.  Until after I was at M’s house-her In-Law’s had given them a small wooden play china hutch and she put a few of her girls’ dishes in there so they felt like they were helping Mommy.  GREAT IDEA.  So, much like everything else I read-I did the only honorable thing left to do.

I stole it.

The idea, not the girls’ new china hutch.

I moved my new tea cart to the hallway and slid the kids’ kitchen into my kitchen.  I added the napkin holder and cleaned out all the drawers and added all of their dishes. 

I put their placemats on the top and now each child has to do something at meal time.  In the mornings, by the time they get up-I’ve finished the dishes and one of them (generally the older 3) but Jack-Jack also likes to help sometimes –has to put away their dishes in their kitchen.  After a week-they now do it without being asked and one of them assigns another to a task and together (all 4) they set the table with their items.

KONOS Starts Tomorrow

Before I recap the weekend and new hands on activities for Jack-Jack-I just wanted to say I spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon (Thankfully the Mister didn’t have to work!)  And prepared for our first week of #Konos.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m doing it “right” or not.  That’s the blessing of homeschooling.  I’ve got our first week planned with the regular bible verse, vocab words (picked from the 2 main stories being read) spelling words (also picked from the stories) a few science experiments, a MOVIE for Friday (it’s the “scheduled” co-op or activity day…AND….wait for it…I managed to get The Mister, while he was on the porch watching the older 3 play- cut out and create felt people and items to correlate with the story.  He is going to do 2 more “sets” for me today and we’ll be all ready for the week.  Seriously-I cannot wait to report how the first week went. 

Friday night-I had the awesome privilege of attending a women’s fellowship with my sweet friends.  I have been putting it off for a year or so and I have no idea why.  I’m sure God orchestrates His perfect timing into it though.  What an absolute blessing it was.

I didn’t get home until 2:45 a.m. and was in bed at 3!  WOW.  It’s been YEARS since that’s happened!

I will have pictures posted tomorrow.

Time4learning.com Review

Over the past month, the fab four have had the opportunity to review Time4Learning.
I was most interested in trying to find a way to reach Miss Ladybug.  If you’re new to our journey altogether, then you may not know Ladybug is going to be 8 but is more like a 3 year old who doesn’t understand too many things being said to her.
I was desperate to find a way to reach her and help to build her to her ultimate potential.

Time4Learning made that possible.  Lady has been able to incorporate speech work, signs, and utilizing the websites as well as maneuvering the computer mouse. 
For Ladybug alone, the monthly no-contract full curriculum fee of $19.99 seemed well worth it.
For Ladybug we used the pre-k curriculum.  We were able to learn shapes-which for her took over a week to fully sink in.  Even now, a few weeks later they are still sketchy.  No lacking on part of Time4Learning though!  The amount of repetitiveness makes it relatively easy for any preschooler to learn shapes and colors!
Thing 1 was jealous Thing 2 and Ladybug got to “play” on the computer so we added him for the month too.  While he enjoyed it, Thing 1 was in more of a hurry to simply get done than to actually learn.  Thankfully-I was able to follow along Thing 1’s work in 1st grade and see how he did on the activities and the tests.  Thing 1 was definitely retaining-as I would sit with him and “listen in” on his lessons.  He absolutely loved his first lesson on weather.  However, we had already purchased a curriculum for Thing 1(and the rest of the fab four) so officially adding him didn’t seem to make sense since it wasn’t the best way to reach him.

Thing 2-wow-he blew my mind!  I originally started him on Pre-k and within a week or two I added the K curriculum for him.  He absolutely loved Time4Learning!  Thing 2 easily moved from activity to activity earning great remarks (or checkmarks as they do in prek) for his lessons. 
All in all, using Time4Learning was a most excellent experience for the Fab 4 (though it was 3 of them, since Jack-Jack is still too little).  For one child-special needs or not-spending $19.99 a month is a great price.  Compared to other curriculum available for homeschoolers, Time4Learning definitely has the budgeting homeschooling Mom (or Dad!) in mind.

Let us not also forget Time4Learning has great resources available for parents.  Time4Learning encourages new users to follow along in their New Users Guide.  If you’re looking to connect in some form or another with other Time4Learning users in your area, Time4Learning has it covered!  Check out their forums and connect in whatever way you see fit to your needs.
I also would love to add, the customer service for Time4Learning is above any other I’ve ever experienced.  I’ve never received anything shorter than same day results 100% of the time.  Absolutely amazing. 
Keep up the good workTime4Learning. 

Our final decision as a family was to not pursue Time4Learning.  We had two main reasons:  1 while the price of $19.99 per month for one child is excellent, adding $14.95 per month more per child was a bit steep.  However, even if the price tag was cheaper our family prefers hands on learning and working together.  While we could have 3 children working simultaneously at the table-we were not interacting together. We will be doing a 1 month subscription during December when we are off school and that way the children can share activities.

Check out this Awesome Giveaway!

I am so entered into this drawing.  I think Miss Ladybug will absolutely LOVE getting this towel.

I’ve also fell in love with this towel from the Etsy site doing the giveaway:

Thing 2 would absolutely adore having this “FROG POND” towel.

I’m entered in about as many parts as I can minus a purchase (maybe I’ll get the frog one tomorrow!!) and Facebook.  (I divorced Facebook)

The drawing ends September 1 go to this blog:

http://mom-a-logues.blogspot.com/2011/08/auntie-ms-creations-review-hooded.html

And check it out!  I’ve also added her button to the right side of my blog, so grab it while you’re here.

Hands On Happiness

Thing 2 and Jack-Jack building macaroni E’s

Jack Jack sorted checkers with tweezers

Thing 1 built canals

Jack-Jack opened and closed containers with beads in them-he also had to sort them and pour them

Miss Ladybug had a good time sorting the checkers

Welcome!

I think it's only polite to welcome you to the new blog. I'm hoping to change a bit of the way I blog-though I'm sure that will take some time. Some of my buttons will move from my old blog-but mostly I don't want my blog to be a "former adoption blog" or something only adoption related.
Our family is so much more than a blog geared towards Ladybug-so in an albeit small effort to make some virtual changes in our (ahem, my life) I am also re-arranging my blog.
Tomorrow I promise there will be an update on our wonderful partial Montessori homeschool day today. Jack-Jack LOVED being included with his big brothers and sister.

Thanks for joining me. Please don't forget to click on "follow" on the right either by twitter or email updates.