Mathletics

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

Seriously. I have reviewed a. lot. of math products over the last year and a half. I feel like every time I turn around I'm writing another post about math. As a matter of fact, in the next couple of weeks I will be writing at least two more posts about math. Which is really kind of funny because I don't like math. But I have to admit, I do like Mathletics.

I was first introduced to Mathletics a couple of years ago when G9 participated in the World Math Day event that they host at their site. This is a fun event where students can compete against students all over the world doing timed math problems. It was really neat watching my then 7 year old compete against other 7 year olds from the United Kingdom, Australia, and more. I had no idea that a subscription to Mathletics.com would allow him to do this all year long!

But that's only the beginning of what you will get with a Mathletics subscription. First, your student will get to create their own Avatar. (This is like creating a Mii on the Wii games.) I'm not sure what the attraction to this is, but our kids absolutely love creating these cartoon versions of themselves. Once they do this, they will begin to "play". But actually, they are really reviewing math facts!

Your student will be given categories of math facts to review based on their grade level, but the Mathletics will adapt the categories to your student offering more problems in their weak areas and less in the areas that they have already perfected. When they complete drills and tests they are awarded with printable certificates and points that can be "spent" by "buying" extras for their avatar (like backgrounds, clothes, and accessories). Like I said before, they can also compete with other students around the world in Live play, but there is no communication among students keeping a safe online experience.

As a parent, you will have access to your student's reports, allowing you to see and print the work that they have been doing. You will even get a weekly progress report via email.

Mathletics is being used in schools and homes around the world. You can read through this brochure about the benefits of using Mathletics with homeschool.

Truly the only thing that I'm not necessarily thrilled about is the price of the subscription. A year long subscription to Mathletics is $59 per student. However, you can get $10 off that price if you know the Human Calculator's favorite number (it's 9 btw). Still that's awfully pricey for a large family like mine. It's not that I don't think Mathletics is worth $59 per student per year, it's just that I can't afford it! That's why I was absolutely thrilled when another homeschool mom contacted Mathletics and was told that they could get the reduced school rate (only $10 per student per year!) if they could get 25 subscribers. Sign me up, because that is SO worth it!! You'll need to contact Mathletics yourself to get the details, as I couldn't find any on their site. Apparently one homeschool mom will need to organize and collect the money, but each parent will be able to manage their own students' accounts.

Like I said before, I've tried a lot of math products. So far, Mathletics is our favorite!

For more reviews, check out the TOS Crew blog.

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Tektoma

As a 2nd year member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out more products and giving you my honest opinion.

I know I'm posting a review right in the middle of Christmas Movie Unit Study posts, but I really needed to get this review up and its been a little crazy around here this week. I promise I will let you know about the rest of our Movie unit!

In the meantime I wanted to tell you about this neat product that we got the opportunity to review. Being a part of the Crew has been so awesome, because we are constantly getting the chance to try out things that we maybe never would have otherwise.

We received a 3 month subscription to Tektoma, which is an online game tutorial for kids. What does that mean? It means your kids can actually learn how to create their own computer games!

Tektoma was created by Tom Marx and Matilda O'Connor. They actually run summer camps for children interested in computers and technology. They had a desire to "provide 24 hour a day, 365 days per year access to engaging video tutorials that teach children game programming" and so Tektoma was born.

The tutorials are geared towards children age 7-17 and include instructions on how to make many simple arcade style games including a racing game, memory game, fantasy game, and more.

Windows XP or Vista is a requirement to use this program as is a free downloadable game software. (Instructions to download are given when you sign up.) It's also recommended to have a broadband connection.

G9 and I were the only ones big enough in this house to really give this program a try... (well, that statement doesn't give my hubby much credit, does it?) Okay, G9 and I were the only ones big enough and who had enough time to try this program out.

How we felt about it: I actually felt like the video tutorials were very thorough. I wouldn't necessarily say that it is an easy to follow program, however. I have always been a bit of a slow learner when it came to anything science, math, or technology related. So, I had to stop, rewind the video tutorial, and try again several times while attempting to create a game. G9 was interested at first, but needed my help to work through it...apparently he takes after his mom on the technology end. He became bored with it after about a half an hour and to be honest, I sort of did as well.

That being said, I really don't want to leave you with a negative view of this product. It's actually a good product, but just not necessarily one that hits a particular interest for our family. Tektoma offers a safe learning environment for kids. None of their games include any inappropriate content such as language or violence. Membership also includes a private and secure Member's Only Forum to post questions.

14.95 per month or $140 per year gets you access to all the tutorials as well as online help via the forums. It's payable by credit card or Paypal on the Tektoma website. You can also try Tektoma for free for 14 days.

Many of my crew members found great success with Tektoma and their kids really enjoyed making computer games on their own. You can read their reviews here.

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Christmas Movie Unit - Day 2

It's A Wonderful Life

Our second day of our Movie Unit was focused on the classic Christmas tale, It's A Wonderful Life. Now, I have to admit that I had not actually seen this movie until today...I know, I know it's like blasphemous or unpatriotic or something equally as terrible...and we actually didn't get to complete the whole thing as our movie was interrupted by Baby L's speech therapy appointment. But we will be finishing the movie later.

It was a little hard to prepare lessons for this movie, since I hadn't seen it. There are a couple links on the site that I got the Christmas Movie Unit idea from, but they are geared towards older kids. I knew that the main character in the movie had a guardian angel, so I decided to theme our lessons around angels.

First we read about biblical angels at this site.

Then we did an art study of famous paintings with angels at this site. We continued to dialogue about biblical angels, specifically the descriptions of what angels look like (and the lack of biblical descriptions) and how artists have given their own interpretations.

The kids then drew their own angels.

We also worked on some simple spelling and copywork worksheets (Christmas and angel themed) from Enchanted Learning. Some worksheets are available for free there, but we have a membership which allows us access to all of thier worksheets.

BTW, here's a picture of our Who Pudding that we made for our Grinch study yesterday:


I've never had rice pudding before and the best I can really give it was that it tasted ...interesting. The kids seemed to like it, but I think it was really just the novelty of it that they liked.

Tomorrow: Miracle on 34th Street

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Christmas Movie Unit - Day 1

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I recently came across these homeschool lesson plans for a Christmas Movie Unit. This is a perfect time of the year to do a unit based on movies because we're just too busy to do a unit based on anything else! Besides, its impossible to get through the season and not curl up to watch a few Christmas classics, so we might as well turn them into a homeschool lesson.

The hardest part was narrowing it down to just one movie a day. Our plan for the week:

Monday: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Cartoon)

Tuesday: It's a Wonderful Life

Wednesday: Miracle on 34th Street

Thursday: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Friday: The Nutcracker Prince

So this morning we all gathered around to watch the Grinch's heart grow three sizes and then discussed these questions about the movie. We also took an online quiz about the movie here.

To add a little living math and home-ec skills, we also made Who Pudding. It'll be ready in the morning.

While we were waiting for the pudding to cook, the kids made these Grinch Masks and worked this Whoville Word search.

Our big project of the day to create a Whoville newspaper. The kids searched through our own local newspaper to see what a newspaper should look like.

Here they are with their finished product:

Yeah, the masks are a little creepy. Anyone have a handgun and a getaway car?


The Whoville Chronicles based out of Whoville, Onthespeck (get it?) turned out great though. G9 and A7 were both assigned articles to write and all four of the oldest came up with Who advertisements.


Advertisements:

G9: Flying Dee Stoogle for only $1.

A7: Buy your Rainbow Tree today at Toys-R-Who.

E5: The Sock Walk. It's Remote Controlled and helps you walk when you've broken your leg!

H4: The Dora Who Doll. She talks, walks, and moves her hands. Buy at Who-Mart!

Articles:

Miracle on Who Lane!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
and came back with it.
By: Gavin Wavin Who

The day before Christmas the Grinch heard everybody getting ready for Christmas. That night he decided to steal Christmas!

He dressed up as St. Nick, using red paper and pillow stuffing. He put a horn on his dog Max which made him look like a reindeer.

"Well, I was just jealous of everybody," the Grinch told reporters. "I was thinking that if I stole the Who’s Christmas, then they would all be miserable like me."

The Grinch rode down to Who-Ville on his sleigh and began to take everything.

Six year old Eli Wiili Who said, "He took all of my toys! My bang-boogle, my airplane with a exploding dee-stoogle. He even took our roast beast!"

When the Grinch was going through the Who houses, little Cindy Lou Who almost caught the Grinch. She saw him trying to take her Christmas tree and asked him what he was doing. But he thought of a lie, and gave Cindy Lou Who a glass of water and sent her to bed.

Then the Grinch drove his sleigh full of Who stuff to the top of the Who Mountain to wait to hear the sad cries of Who people.

"Instead of Who cries," the Grinch said. "I heard the singing of Whos. They were singing and singing. It made my heart three sizes bigger!"

After his change of heart , the Grinch decided to take the Who stuff back down to Who-Ville. He gave all the toys back to the children. Then the Grinch himself carved the roast beast during the annual Who Christmas feast.

Grinch Almost Caught!
Cindy Lou Who’s Story
By: Aubrey Wabrey Who

When the Grinch was stealing from the Whos, he stopped at Cindy Lou Whos house. Cindy Lou
Who is 2 years old and is very small. She has short blonde hair and wears pink dresses.

As the Grinch was trying to stuff the tree up the chimney, an ornament fell and woke Cindy from her sleep. She went downstairs to see what was going on.

"I saw Santy Claus trying to stuff my tree up the chimney!" Cindy Lou Who explained.
But it really wasn’t Santa Claus that Cindy saw. It was the Grinch. But he told Cindy a lie.

"I told little Cindy that the light was broken on the tree and that I needed to take it to my workshop to fix it." the Grinch told reporters.

"I believed Santy Claus - I mean, Mr. Grinch. He gave me a glass of water and sent me to bed." said Cindy Lou Who.

In the morning, little Cindy Lou Who woke up to no presents and no tree. "I felt really sad that Mr. Grinch tricked me. But even though we didn‘t have presents, we still had love." Cindy then went out with her family to sing Christmas songs.

"I was so surprised when Mr. Grinch came back with our presents. I always forgive my friends, so I forgave Mr. Grinch." Pin It Now!

I Love Blue Eyes

Strong eyes. Eyes that laugh and love. That look at me confused. Eyes that forgive. Eyes of my beloved.


Eyes like his daddy's. Eyes that are concerned, curious. Eyes that think they know everything, but have just begun. Nine year old eyes.


Demanding eyes. Eyes that are beautiful, but questions it. Eyes that are looking to see who's looking back. Compassionate eyes. Seven year old eyes.


Laugh out loud eyes. Eyes that surprise me with wit and intelligence. Eyes that will get lost if I don't draw them out. Brave eyes. Six year old eyes.


Passionate eyes. Eyes full of emotions. Eyes that are silly, laughing, adoring one moment and reserved, stubborn, or furious the next. Eyes that are always lovely. Four year old eyes.


Irresistible eyes. Eyes that flirt. That explore. Mischievous eyes. Eyes that always tell the truth. Two year old eyes.


Independent eyes. Eyes that want to know, want to be adored, and wants to do it on her own. Eyes that are wild and free and innocent. One year old eyes.


Cherished eyes. Eyes that wonder and instill wonder all at the same time. Eyes that remind me that there is a God who loves me more than I know. Three month old eyes.

These are the eyes that I love.

Thanks to Rebecca at Renaissance for posting the Foto Friday Challenge: Eyes. Looking forward to participating in more!

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Kids make gifts...again

I posted earlier about the Kid's Craft Bazzar that our children participated in and the Christmas stockings and scarves that they made. Here are two more simple crafts that they made for the Bazaar...


First, they made beaded bookmarks. I pretty much just handed them some craft string and beads and let them do their thing. They sold these for 50 cents a piece.


They also made Christmas Tree ornaments from pine cones. I got the directions from Enchanted Learning. It was a simple project but very messy. Needless to say, the kids loved it.


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Chrismas Photo Cards for $5!

"We're going to take family pictures today!" I announced one day last week. So Chad and I headed downstairs to the family closet...yes, we have a family closet but that's a post for another day...to pick outfits for each of the kids.

An hour and not too many tears later everyone was dressed, brushed, and scrubbed. We headed outside armed with two white sheets, a step stool, and a camera. I draped one sheet across our deck railing and laid the other on the deck floor. With the stool in the middle, we started arranging children.

Every picture was adorable and since I was taking them myself, I didn't have to pay an outrageous fee or pick out my favorites. I could keep them all...for free!

Here are a couple of our favorites...

The sunny day made for great lighting which was really what made the pictures turn out so good. My photo editing software was also helpful when it came to cropping and erasing the shadows from the deck rails that shown through in some of the pictures. My favorite editing software is Memory Manager from Creative Memories. I used to be a CM Consultant and the investment in that software has been well worth it.

Also well worth the investment, is the digital scrapbooking software they offer, Storybook Plus. This is what I used to create my Christmas cards. I googled 'free digital scrapbooking' and found that there are many sites that have digital scrapbooking programs that can be downloaded for free. I can't vouch for any of them, so you'll have to do your own research if you're wanting to try them out.

The key is that when you create your card you need to make sure that you choose a 'custom size' of 4 by 6 inches. Design your Christmas card however you like using your digital scrapbooking program.

Here's how ours turned out...

The reason you want your card to be in a 4x6 size is because you can now order your cards as 4x6 prints. I usually order from walgreens.com because they often run deals for 10 cent 4x6 prints. Also, I can usually pick them up in an hour or less from my local walgreens store. I bought 50 Christmas cards for $5.

By the way, if I ordered the customized photo cards from walgreens I would have had to pay $12.99 for 20 cards. The only difference is that mine are a different size.

I've used my digital scrapbook program to make birth announcements, birthday invitations, and thank you cards as well. My program is really easy to use and it usually takes less than 15 minutes to create a card.

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