​I still remember the nervous pit I felt in my stomach before each new year of elementary school began. Of course, it faded away after the first day and was replaced with excitement, but as a mom, I experience those same nerves before starting my children’s homeschool year! Each year has its ups, its downs, messes, and moments of utter chaos, but a few tips help me to pull through and make the most of this messy journey!

​This works particularly well if you're running a 4 day per week homeschool schedule. Work with child A and C on Monday to Thursday and child B and D Thursday through Sunday. There's less of a break for mom, but the days themselves may just be more peaceful! 
 
Another option to divide and conquer if you're on a 5 day per week schedule is to work with one set of children in the morning, and another in the afternoon. In our house, this looks like morning lessons with my pre-school and 1st grader, then an after lunch history storytime with all my children, then more focused lessons with my 2nd and 4th grader.

​Certain subjects are easier than others for each child. Depending on age and strengths, find a streamlined online option for that student to work through. For example, my five-year-old loves math and enjoys Mathseeds, so that's one subject she can work on independently with a program that I trust to build a strong number foundation.

​I know in the homeschool circles we run in, rhythm is a common catchphrase. Think of it like breathing. There's the inhale, the fast-paced run around or higher stress lesson times, and the exhale of independent play or quiet reading time. Simply observing the natural rhythm that takes place without intervention can help you build off of a hidden pattern that's already taking place around you.
 
For example:  Our days tend to be tense from 9-10, while some of my students work [and fight for my attention], but we take a break around 11 to start lunch. That's an inhale, and an exhale.
After lunch and outside time, it's time for another inhale with some of our more challenging lessons, but an exhale comes around 2 when I attempt to get my toddler to nap.

​With the presence of video chatting platforms these days, why not incorporate a video call with a relative as some learning time? My son enjoys reading chapters of books to his grandparents and quizzing them after, and my daughter likes memorizing poems to share. You could even consider asking a relative to pitch hit a lesson via zoom. 

​It's ok when lessons don't go as planned… It's ok to switch curriculum in the middle of the year… it's ok to blaze your own path… it's ok to say "no" to too many activities. Give yourself the grace to grow just as you give your children grace to learn and explore.  Remember, there isn't a right or wrong way to homeschool- just what works for you and your students!

Learning to correctly form letters and practice penmanship can be one of the most tedious parts of the early learning process. Inspiring children to want to practice their handwriting is half the battle! We recently checked out a unique handwriting practice book that offers some creative ways make writing fun! Handwriting Practice: Reusable Letter & Number Tracing Workbook features a spiral bound book with letters etched into each page for easy tracing and comes with a disappearing pen to make this product fun and reusable with multiple children! 




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My [almost] 5 year old loved tracing the letters and then waiting for the ink to disappear, it made her writing time exciting and the etched letters made the task simple while muscle memory was being built!

Similar products could be found on apps like Wish, but the shipping time took weeks and many complained the product was too small. This handwriting practice book solved those problems, bringing the book to your door swiftly and at a reasonable price!

On top of covering the traditional upper case and lower case ABC’s, the book features number practice and tips on how to implement proper posture for your students.  It’s colorfully illustrated, thorough, and easy to use for your smallest learners!

My daughter completed this page multiple times, and there is no ink residue left over!

​If you have a student who is in need of a fresh and fun approach to handwriting, consider checking out Handwriting Practice: Reusable Letter & Number Tracing Workbook on Amazon, and let the fun begin!
 
Have a great week!
Alex

​Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

         
​           Home School in the Woods has become a trusted source of unit studies for homeschoolers. We’ve heard about their programs for years and were excited to check out their Time Travelers U.S. History Studies New World Explorers. They have so many neat topics to explore including Make-A-State packs, Colonial Life, and even a US Elections pack, which is great for learning about the election this year!

                My 8 and 6-year-old had just wrapped up their study of the middle ages, and left off at the perfect position to jump into learning about exploration to new lands! I received a download of the program, and got off to a glitchy start due to my own lack of reading directions- oops! Make sure you “express” the files so that they open and function as they should. The program opens in an internet window which neatly lays out the lessons, the print outs needed, as well as helpful information on how to use the program. We assembled a binder to keep the worksheets in and began forming the lapbook, which becomes a final project for the program. 

​       Because we were technically on “summer break,” which is somewhat undefined in our house, we exclusively used this program during the start of our review time and my kids felt like it was an at-home summer camp! Each lesson comes with multiple activities that truly immerse children in a sea of learning and exploration. I didn’t even hear complaints about having to do school work during our break because they were having so much fun!

        In Lessons 1-5, we learned about reasons explorers would leave their home, about the ships they sailed on, and the living conditions within- made flags and even became “limey” and drank lime juice, which many sailors would do to prevent scurvy!  

​​​Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

​MaxScholar offers a unique online approach to teaching children to read and improve their comprehension. By using Orton Gillingham Software, MaxScholar has become a trusted program used by school districts and homeschoolers alike. It is considered a “reading intervention program,” and provides thorough testing to develop a starting place for learners, identifying troublesome areas for each student to work through. 

​As a homeschoolmom, I was really happy that there was a placement test so my students wouldn’t be working through concepts we already spent our time on. My five-year-old,  who will be starting 1st grade in the fall, began with a letter placement test, which quizzed her on each and every letter. It took about an hour to complete, but she was frustrated after 20 minutes. Guess who finished the test and knows all of their letters?

​If you feel like your student has mastered their letters, you can simply log into the teacher’s account and manage whether or not your student needs to take the placement tests. If you're confident in their ability, you can assign them to a level and turn off the test feature.

​ I set my five-year-old’s level to “blends,” and my pre-k on “alphabet” so they could learn where they’d left off and I could see the differences offered in the two levels.  For older students, a reading test is offered that focuses on comprehension is recommended to determine a starting place. 

From the teachers account, I allowed my two youngest students (4 &5) had access to MaxPhonics and MaxReading and opened up all of the programs for my oldest student.
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The most basic level on MaxPhonics is the Pre-K, followed by the Alphabet Level. This level goes through each letter, children learn to recognize it by its form, it’s verbal sound (watching and listening to a person speak it), and by its drawn form, as well as practice forming it on a computer and identifying words that start with (or end with) that sound. The next level offered is the Blend Level, which offers lessons in a similar format as the Alphabet lessons. Digraphs are the final level covered under MaxPhonics.
 
MaxReading, for the youngest learners, involves looking at pictures and answering questions. This helps children focus on main ideas and attention to detail. As they advance, they are presented with reading material appropriate to their level and asked to read and answer questions.  
 
Additional programs offered include “MaxWords, MaxMusic, MaxPlaces, MaxBios, and MaxVocab.” My oldest learner enjoyed MaxMusic the most, which uses popular songs to help children practice reading and identify parts of speech. MaxPlaces was also a neat way to learn geography. It provides access to a map, with places to click on and learn more about. These additional learning programs really increased the educational value of MaxScholar and added something interesting for everyone!

I felt like MaxScholar was unique in their thorough placement test which isolates areas your student needs to work on and target their learning accordingly. This maximizes your time spent on the program and is a valuable feature for homeschoolers and traditionally schooled children alike. I was impressed with how much material was available for older students, which made me feel like this program would be ideal for 3rd grade + students looking for an online learning program to increase their phonics awareness and reading comprehension.  

Many other members of the Homeschool Review Crew checked out MaxScholar, be sure to check out their thoughts on the program by clicking the image below!

​​Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Spelling is an area that requires constant practice and repetition to master new phonics patterns and difficult words. Online games can add an element of fun to a tedious learning task. My family was excited to try out Spelling Shed so that my 8 and 5-year-old could improve their spelling. We also were able to practice math facts in a similar game format through the Math Shed program! 

When we started, I created each child a student account from my teacher account and then simply let them log in and play. They enjoyed the program until the words began getting harder and harder. Then, I knew I needed to adjust the difficulty levels on my end. This presented ME with the challenge. Spelling Shed allows teachers to formulate their own spelling lists and assign them to their students, but each time I would try to assign them something, they would go to play and it wouldn’t be the assigned content. Finally, I found all the spelling lists I had assigned to my students on the student's accounts, under the “more…” tab. The ability to make custom spelling lists is really helpful for adapting this to each student in a way that complements their current learning curriculum.       

​If you aren’t looking to assign spelling lists, you can simply select a spelling curriculum for your students to work through.  I was able to assign beginner phonics for my five-year-old and I started my 8-year-old with “first 100 words.”  They offer a variety of well-known spelling lists such as Dolch's, Fry's and UIL lists for grades 3-8. 

​The Math Shed program doesn’t require the teacher to select curricula or assign content.  Instead, the level and topic is adjusted at the game level, so my students could log in and click on the topic they needed to practice. My five-year-old practiced addition from 1 to 10 on the easy level and enjoyed her work. My 8-year-old had many more options to explore. He enjoyed the multiplication and basic division and would work through the ten questions, focusing on speed and accuracy to earn more points.
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Ultimately, this wasn’t a good fit for our family. My students didn’t want to play the games, and I felt the amount of stages, levels, and material made it overwhelming for me to sift through and make sense of for our family’s use.  I can see how it would be beneficial to school programs or co-ops that are looking for some educational quiz games for larger amounts of students to play. If a larger group logs in at once, it seems that the children could play games against one another, which could be fun for students!
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Many other members of the Homeschool Review Crew tried out EdShed and you can check out their thoughts on the program below to gain additional perspective!

​Reading Unlocked Simplified Reading Program helps emerging readers learn to read with 10-15 minute online lessons. By teaching phonics and then gradually expanding concepts, students will grow their reading ability lesson by lesson. While students are learning to read, they’ll also practice their writing ability, auditory recognition, abstract words, and read clever poems at the close of each lesson with a parent or teacher.

One thing that drew me to wanting to try out Reading Unlocked is that it reminded me of language learning software I had used in the past. The program intuitively incorporates matching letters with pictures for beginning readers. It also asks students to write words on paper, as well as in the air so that students receive more than just computer learning practice. The program offers a structured lesson rather than a game, like many programs out there today, and that was something I felt would be valuable to my daughter’s learning. 

My five-year-old used Reading Unlocked 3-4 days per week. We started by checking out the first lesson of level one, which started with the letter “c” and by the end, my daughter was reading the word “cat.” She was already familiar with those basic words, so we decided to try level two. Lesson one of level two started with a capital “T” and guided her to match capital letters with its lowercase counterpart. The level two lessons built up to “st” digraphs words like “step” and “list”. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my 5-year-old was doing well on level two. Once children understand the basic sounds and blending, they might be ready for blending consonant sounds in level two! 

Reading Unlocked did an exemplary job by providing amply auditory practice. Lessons would include activities that would give the child tasks like “turn sit into pit,” which would teach listening comprehension as well as helping build phonics awareness. The one downside, I felt was when you log in to the program, it takes you immediately to the lesson. When the lesson is complete, you’re logged off. This was a bit cumbersome if you wanted to do more than one lesson, or felt the need to repeat a lesson.  Individual lessons can be selected in the "settings" section, if you feel your student needs to practice a concept again, but a map or ticker to track progress might be fun for kids to see! Overall, we enjoyed using Reading Unlocked and feel like it’s a great choice for parents looking for online reading lessons! If you’re looking for structured online reading lessons, this is a great program to check out!

More members of the Homeschool Review Crew checked out Reading Unlocked with their students! Check out there thoughts below:

As a part of our Montessori Cloud Study, we decided to take a cloud scavenger hunt. Our spring weather has been ideal for rapidly changing cloud movement. One moment, it's beautiful and a few hours later, spring showers have rolled in. This has been ideal for helping my kids learn about different types of clouds. 

To be clear, there are a lot of types of clouds, but I mainly wanted them to master 4 types:
Cumulus
Cirrus
Stratus
and Cumulonimbus

With this knowledge in hand, they can "read" the sky at a level appropriate for small kids and possibly even predict the weather.

The scavenger hunt was enjoyed by all, and mostly focuses on having children draw what they see in the clouds and relate it to the cloud vocabulary they have been learning. If your students are new to cloud vocabulary, grab the free montessori cloud cards here!

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Albert Whitman & Company has been creating beautiful books for the last 100 years! Recently, they released “The Boxcar Children” series, originally written by Gertrude Chandler Warner in 1924. I vaguely remember hearing about the series when I was a kid, so I was intrigued to find out more about the new The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set geared towards students ages 6-8. 
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Albert Whitman & Company will be producing a total of 8 books through 2020. We received the first four paperback books in the series and I began by reading out loud to all of my kids to spark their interest.  They immediately connected to The Box Car Children because they were a sibling group four, just like my four kids. The second book my son read independently, then I asked him about it, and the third and fourth book we read together. I would read one page out loud and then he would read the next. I found this to be the best way to go through them at his reading level, so I could help him with words he didn’t know and be sure he understood the story. 

Ultimately, we enjoyed the stories. Because they’re written in an “easy read” fashion, there’s not tremendous character detail or plotline establishment, but The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set offers mysteries and adventures for emerging readers to explore!
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Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Homeschool Review Crew’s thoughts!

These last few weeks have been chaotic to say the least.  Cold temperatures mean we’ve been stuck indoors and we’re at that point in the years where we risk turning into the Donner Party by staying in, or picking up some nasty sickness by going out. What’s a mom to do?
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Well, I ended up changing our schedule and incorporating some new learning activities into the afternoon when the level of chaos seems to get unbearably high. I decided to pull some of the Montessori Method into our afternoons. It’s a bit more work for me and involves more planning than I enjoy, but  I do think that the extra intentionality is beneficial in directing my kid’s independent learning time.
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So, I started by creating simple stations at the kitchen table. Traditional Montessori Schools place activities on trays and allow children to pick their tray, do the activity, and put it back, but we’re going tray-less for now! Each spot has an activity for a child to do. Ideally, they’ll spend about 20 minutes at a station and then switch spots. But, it’s been slightly less organized than that. For the stations, I’ve pulled manipulative toys from our downstairs that have been getting very little play because they’re downstairs where the boogie man apparently lives too. For my older kids, I made some Montessori cards about clouds to supplement some lessons I don’t think they grasped the previous week. 

​You can download the cards here, cut them out, and glue them to cardstock of your choosing.

When I printed them, I had to hit “scale to fit paper,” because the top and bottom was getting cut off.

The benefits of the Montessori cards is that kids can match pictures with names, read about the picture, and then I have my kids draw their own version of the picture, and copy the definition of each into their workbook. The following week, I add in two more cloud terms and a Bible verse for my kids to familiarize themselves with (Card Set 2)!

It’s been a hit, except for some groans about the amount of writing from my 7 year old, but that’s to be expected ;)
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I hope you enjoy the download! Have you used Montessori Cards before? Do you enjoy them?

​    Reading Eggs has become a staple program in the homes of many homeschoolers and traditionally schooled students alike. The online program offers an array of engaging lessons that feel like games- and even include access to an online library!  We started using it in 2017, and have continued to enjoy it as a supplement to our English and Math programs. Recently, Reading Eggs launched a line of workbooks which complements their online program so we were thrilled to check out 200 Essential Reading Skills for Second Grade!

     200 Essential Reading Skills for Second Grade is a 36 week program and each lesson is designed to take about 15 minutes. The lessons include an easy to follow format which targets comprehension, spelling, and grammar. Each lesson is one page long (which my son loved!), and every 9th week is a review week to reinforce the skills learned.

     The second grade program helps deepens children’s reading comprehension by helping them identify main ideas, make inferences, compare and contrast, visualize, make connections, predictions and study words. The grammar section focuses on parts of speech which are relevant to second grade like proper nouns, adjectives, action verbs, and tenses.  The spelling sections cover the diagraphs: ar, or, qu, oo,wh, ea, ee, ai, Suffixes: s, es, y, ey, ing, ed, er, est, ly, dge, ge, ful, less, ar, or, ment and ness. And prefixes: scr, spr, str, un, as well as exceptions, tricky words, homophones, and irregular past tense verbs. All this information is neatly presented to you in the year- long planner, which makes organizing a breeze.  

​     Teachers and students who are interested in the Reading Eggs Workbooks don’t need an online subscription and never need to touch a computer; the workbooks can stand alone. However, there are notations in the upper right hand corner which point to books from the Reading Eggs library if students are interested in reading the entire book which is used in the lesson.  Currently, Reading Eggs is offering a 4 week free trial to Crew Review Readers, which you can unlock here. 

     Though our family uses Reading Eggs fairly regularly, my son had not used Reading Eggspress, which is suitable for 2nd grade. He stopped online lessons after completing the first Reading Eggs program for ages 5-7. Because we hadn't unlocked Reading Eggspress, I was unsure of how the workbook could be used in conjuction with the online program without completing some 50 lessons to unlock grade 2 on our account. Turns out it is INCREDIBLY easy- all you have to do is edit the program level on your family dashboard and then you can match the workbook lessons to the online program! This is perfect for families who might want to limit screen time, but have the option of online learning for extra practice!

     Ultimately, we love the ease of the workbook. The lessons are simple and frustration-free. Concepts are introduced; different practice questions are presented and then elaborated upon to reinforce learning. I love that this is program has the optional online component for extra practice. I also really liked that I didn't need to purchase a "teachers manual," as all of the answers were neatly located in the back of the book!  I would highly recommend the Reading Eggs Workbooks to homeschooling families who are looking to simplify their English lessons with a proven and engaging program! 

​Memebers of the Review Crew checked out different levels of the Reading Eggs Workbooks, be sure to check out there thoughts on the program below!