Review: Math Made Simple

I recently did a review for a friend from Hearts at Home.  I thought I'd share it with you guys!  Enjoy!

Math Made Simple Review

We were very excited to be able to review Math Made Simple.  I must confess that math is my son’s favorite subject, so in that way only, our review is slightly biased.  However, my 11 year old is reviewing (with me) the Algebra package, so it was a bit of a challenge. However, after watching the demo, he was hooked and wanted more.  

We found each lesson to be easy to follow, with step by step instructions, adding new, more challenging concepts one at a time.  This gave the opportunity to conquer one thing before moving on to a new concept.  I think my son’s biggest complaint was that the lessons were long.  They are each about 50+ minutes.  We would complete about half of the lesson a day.  It is easy to break down the lessons, because there are “sections” of each lesson which make it easy to find a stopping place. 

The lessons are arranged such that they are made up of mostly practice problems. The teacher (of whom you only see her hand) shows a problem, and solves it, step by step, on the video.  My son would pause the video and try to solve the problem.  Then he could see exactly where his mistakes were and remember to correct that before the next problem.  At the end, there are review problems which mix all the concepts together.  The explanations are also given for these.  The first lesson in the series had a lot of vocabulary which was very necessary for completing the problems and understanding the explanations in the rest of the videos. 

What is nice about this curriculum, is that it can make a great stand-alone curriculum…especially for people who are afraid of higher level math (you know who you are;).  In addition, each lesson is sold separately at a very affordable price so that if you need a supplement, a different person/way to explain a concept, a few more practice problems with explanations, or even just a break from being the math teacher for a lesson or two, you’ve got options!  The packages are a great deal too. The lessons never expire and are transferable to your other children, which makes the great price even better. 

                                                                                               

Thoughts from the student:   The teacher is easy to understand and she tries not to make it sound boring.  I like how they don’t give you a few examples and then give you 100 identical problems to do on your own.  The only thing that would make it better would be if the teacher told some jokes.  Overall, I’m enjoying the curriculum, because it’s math, and it sounds interesting.  

You can check out their website here.  

*It should be noted that the opinions expressed here are my own.  I have not been compensated for this review.  I have been given the curriculum to keep for review purposes.  

Weekly Wrap-Up: Surpassing Survival!

Survival at Its Finest...
Well, we've survived again!  I'm just so glad that I've decided this year is a survival year, cause then, when we have great weeks like this one, I can say I've surpassed my goals!

Monday I "survived" on 1.5 hours of sleep!  Actually I thrived.  I managed to leave work almost 2 hours late, run some errands, get home, nap (hence the 1.5 hours), run another (unsuccessful errand) and get our free JCP haircuts.  Well, mine wasn't free, but the 3 chilies were!  Hubby showed up and got his cut too!  Who new haircuts could be a family affair!?  Then, I planned, organized, put together all the amazing things for our "Back to School/Not Back to School" party!!! Whew... it was 2300 before I made it to bed! By Wednesday I was dragging!

Back to School/Not Back to School Party
So.... I guess you're wondering about our "Back to School/Not Back to School" party.  I started feeling guilty reading all these blogs with people who have great back to school traditions. We have just always started... no fun, no traditions, no frills or lace.  So, I thought I'd do something fun for a change! Well, my God-daughter and niece both go to school and one of our homeschooling friends follows the county schedule too.  And we, as you know, have been schooling since June... so it's a back to school/not back to school party.

At our party, I set up stations.  At one station, each child had their foot outline drawn, weighed themself, cut yarn to match their height, and put all of that on a piece of construction paper.  Another station had different "About Me Printables" and suggestions to add to them.  And, at the last station, each child painted their hand print onto a piece of construction paper.  Next year they can pull all of these things out and compare how much they've grown.

We had pizza, this amazingly cool cake I made (though it wasn't as pretty as the picture) and we debuted the first "First Coast Kids News" video! I had mentioned that I might post that here, but the kids' first and last names are in the video, and I'm just not comfortable with that. So, you'll have to believe me when I say it was so amazing!  It was phenomenal, and while I was ready for it to be over with, I am motivated to engage in another project, and I think the kids are too!  WOW!!!
















School
Well, aside from the party- Hey, public school has party days too!!!  Aside from our party day, we did very minimal school.  This is our last week with Crazy K before she goes back to PS.  We did have Grommy tutor this week, Bean Boy is doing great with LOF and has kept up with it, we had one science lesson, and I didn't really work with the girls much.  The kids did learn about opposable thumbs, and walked around for about 10 minutes with their thumbs taped to their hands!  They hated it!  So, I'm sure that will be added to the list of things they are thankful for!!! We didn't necessarily do "Bible" but we have sung our hymns and Bible verses...we even sang our verses while we were preparing for our party!

I'm starting to fizzle out, and will need a break soon I think! I looked at the calendar and figured out we've done 8 weeks of school already!  We started, did 2 weeks, then took 2 weeks off...one for VBS, and the other to recover from VBS! We've done light schooling for sure, but have had a great summer.  I think I'll be taking a week or two in the near future, to clean out my school room, work a few extra hours to pay for some things, and to just have a break.  I never take off long because the kids drive me crazy when they don't have scheduled activities! 

Other Miscellaneous
We had hair cuts, eye doctor appointments, movies again, and gymnastics, and gymnastics!  Gymnastics already takes up so much of our lives, and there is more to come I'm sure.... Crazy K, Little Bit and I will be at Yes You Canvas again Friday, and if I have time, I'll post pics...they are doing koala bears this time.


Crazy K
Crazy K has had a tough life.  Things are really looking up for her.  I can really tell a difference this summer compared to previous summers.  Her mom swears she's moody and frustrating....hey Bean Boy is 3 weeks younger and I want to strangle him more often than not... but this year, I've enjoyed K more than any other!  She gave her life to the Lord last school year, and I can really tell the Holy Spirit has calmed her heart.  She has been a major blessing to me and our family, and I am truly sad to have her going back to school!  And, not just because she won't be here to make lunch anymore! LOL! She's added so much to my life!  I am excited that she said she'd continue with her Thankfulness Journal and will email them to me...and I promised to email her our singing verses! I'm so proud of her, and am sure God has big plans for her.  How blessed am I to get to watch her journey!  I'm adding that to the list!!!

Work
Well, I'll be working 3 in a row this weekend and next weekend.  That is including an actual overtime shift.  Hopefully that will help pay for the dog's tooth extraction (probably 3 he goes in on Friday morning) the eye doctor, glasses, and contacts for me and Bean Boy, and groceries!  So, you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I link up with Time-Warp Wife.  I'm working on another piece on gratitude... maybe it will be done by then!

Have a great weekend!!!


Wrapping up the week with Kris again!

Curricula Corner: 2012-2013

Our local homeschooling conference is this weekend.  This will be the first time since my oldest was 4 that I will not attend!  It is kind of sad in a way, but I did get to go to our state conference, and I really don't need anything else... plus, instead of going, we shipped off our beloved chilies to a friend's house, and are enjoying the time alone!!!! WOW- that RARELY happens!

It seems that conference times bring planning times, and there is a lot of that going on with my friends, and in the blogging world.  So, I thought I'd share what we are doing around here.

I've put the girls together. They are in K and 1st...

Bible/Hymns/Scripture Memory
My one main goal this year has been to have a worship/Bible study time.  The past few years we have attended Community Bible Study which I HIGHLY recommend for a great in-depth Bible study, a wonderful homeschool program, and kids program.  BUT, with my work schedule, we struggle already to get our school work done, so one more day out of the house just isn't a good idea for us.  SO, I searched high and low for something my 6th grader reading on a 9-10th grade level could share with my K/1st graders.... I didn't find much.  What I did find was Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  It was really inexpensive, so I figured that if we don't like it, I haven't wasted too much money.  It is a little childish for my 6th grader, so he does all the oral readings for us.  AND, what I've noticed that is just the added benefit, is that he is helping the girls, we have more community in our family, and the kids are growing closer.  We also use a Scripture Memory box/system like the one described here.  We put most of our verses to music- some of our favorite Veggie Tale songs, nursery rhymes, hymns, etc.  One day I'll have to blog those to share with you all!  And, we do a hymn study using 101 Hymn Stories by Kenneth Osbeck, and following the monthly schedule set out by ???? the url is not on my printout and after a long time of searching, I am unable to find it- though we don't do the handwriting with it. 

Math
Right Start Mathematics  *my son absolutely loved Right Start, and I even learned so much the first time through. He is taking very slowly the Geometric Approach level.  It will be interesting to see what I learn this time around with the girls.  We actually have 2-3 lessons in level A to finish up, then on to level B.   Baby T may need some remediation, but she seems to be catching up.

Bean Boy is also using Life With Fred Fractions and will have that finished next week already and be on to Decimals.... He was having problems with these in his day to day work.  Now I will never be allowed  to leave the Life with Fred series.... He LOVES them!!!!

Reading
My other BIG goal is to get both of the girls reading mostly independently.  Little Bit has really struggled in this area. Baby T has really excelled in this area.  We have used an eclectic approach to this to try to find ways to help Lydia.  I have used Spell to Write and Read, Simply Charlotte Mason's Delightful Reading, flashcards, and just any beginner book we can put our hands on.  Unfortunately, Little Bit still hates it... I keep praying that will change! 

Science
If we could just do science, I would be a happy momma!  I'd love to do daily nature study.  I would love to get through all of Apologia's science curricula, and probably their other stuff too.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their books.  This year we are doing Land Animals of the Sixth Day.

History
I truly have a love/hate relationship with history.  I LOVE to study it, read about it, teach it.... but I know so little of it, it makes the teaching part difficult.  Since we are in survival mode this year, I went with Story of the World, Level 3.  Both Little Bit and Bean Boy are listening to the CDs and doing some workbook pages, and such. We haven't really done any of the projects, though I would love to extend our days to 50 hour days so I could do more of this too! Baby T pretty much does gymnastics as quietly as she can while the others are listening...


Computer Programming
Despite my having started a blog, and what you may think, my poor kids have been cursed with having parents that are technological idiots!  Seriously!! If you're not sure, look at my posts that have videos in them... I digress. I am confident one day my son will take over as our technological expert!  He wanted to learn about programming, so I found KidCoder when we were at our state conference.  He loves it, and is motivated to keep going, learning independently.  I did ask the vendor, and yes, he can call or email them for help so I don't have to learn this!  This makes me happy!!!  He is motivated, because in the 2nd book, he will learn to program games!  Happy all around!
I also read aloud from various books.  Right now, Bean Boy and I are finishing up a book that I can't wait to be done with....Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped.  Ugh.... I don't like it!!! Anyway, as soon as we are done, we are going to read.....drumroll please!!! The Hobbit!  We are both very excited about that... then I will unleash him on the trilogy on his own!

The girls and I are reading many short, fun books, as well as the Thorton Burgess Bird Book for Children.  We finished his Animal Stories and really loved it!

We do practice handwriting daily, but usually just from printouts we find on the web, or cards we are making for friends, or something to keep us practicing....

Well, I do believe that about sums it up.  You can read about our Olympic study here.

Link-up here with your plans in the curricula corner, so I (and others) can get more ideas!
I'm linking up to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers too!




If you use Apologia, check out Sarah's blog. She has linked up with other Apologia users to help share ideas...
Also linking up with iHomeschoolNetwork