I haven't posted a Stick with it Saturday post in a while. I've still been going to Weight Watchers and I've been wearing my pedometer and I've been running with my Jeff Galloway 5K app. I've lost 76.4 lbs total now but haven't lost anything new in a couple of weeks. (frustrating but after all of this time I just know that it's OK and things will move again soon.)
I had two big walking days recently. I took a trip to New York City and had over 10 miles on my pedometer that day and a trip to Boston with just over 9 miles walked. I love that I am physically able to do these things. I never could have done it before. It was so much fun (even if it was exhausting).
I still love running. I am thinking of signing up for a local race. I have no intention of "racing" to win but rather just to participate and finish. The race I chose is for a good cause (a local shelter). I'm excited thinking about it.
Link up your own diet/exercise post over at Sam's Noggin.
Remember high school English and trying to learn a million vocabulary words in preparation for the SAT? I sure wish Vocab Videos were around back then! Vocab Videos help students learn SAT words in a very fun way. The videos are hilarious and it really helps kids to not only remember the words and their meanings, but also to understand them. This is one review item that I have not had to pry my daughter(s) to watch. They want to watch them and do it on their own.
The way it works is that each word is used in a video segment. The word is introduced on the screen, then a short video followed by a sentence that sums up the story using the word. The word and definition appear on the screen at the beginning and end of each segment so students are exposed by audio and video.
Screen shot of the beginning of a video
screen shot of the same video but at the end of the segment
(Scroll to the bottom of the review to watch a sample and find a link to more samples. I'd put it here, but once again am having html issues with blogger.)
In addition to the videos you will find multiple study resources including a downloadable study guide, a glossary, words by group, crossword puzzles, quizzes, worksheets and more. (Quizzes are available online or in a printable version.)
Every lesson has a crossword puzzle, interactive multiple choice quiz and a worksheet.
Student results are easily accessible
Every word in Vocab videos is listed in the glossary which gives the definition,
pronunciation, sample sentence, synonyms and a link to the video clip with the word.
Students can make online flashcards to review. They can add the words with definitions, mnemonic devices, sentences and even a picture or video link if they wish. Taking the time to make the flashcards would also be a great review activity.
A sample of what the first page of a flashcard would look like.
You can choose to repeat the word (it will come up later) or
flip it so that the definition shows rather than the word.
The same flashcard with the "answer" revealed and a picture that I pasted in.
This is a clip of one way to enter information for flashcards.
The other way to do this is by entering information on the worksheet section of each lesson.
Again, I cannot stress enough how much we like these videos. However, there is a downside to these videos. I will not let my younger kids watch these and even have some reservations about the older kids. They are very secular in nature and are similar to what you might see on a TV sitcom. You'll see male/female relationships and hear some mild language as well. Otherwise, I highly recommend them.
Vocab Videos are available for $24.99 for a 6 month subscription or $39.99 for a one year subscription. A companion workbook is also available for $11.99. I don't have one of these, but I think it would be a great addition to the videos.
disclaimer: I received a free year long small educator subscription to Vocab Videos in exchange for an honest review. A small educator account covers up to 20 students and is priced at $74.99 for 12 months. If you have more than one student you may want to look into this option. The small educator account allows you to easily view all of your student's progress.
This Week in History is a really neat resource that I am happy to have the opportunity to tell you about. TWIH is an online weekly "bundle" of resources that relate to every day of the year. It is a cross curricular resource that incorporates math, science, language arts, geography, current events etc. all tied to events in history.
There are two ways to access This Week in History. First, you can go to the website and secondly, you can receive it in a weekly e-mail. I really like getting the e-mail as it is a reminder to me to use it and everything is right there for me without having to go to the website to sign in. The e-mail is optional so if you prefer to just go to the website you can do that too. I think it would be nice to get a daily e-mail so each day would be right there ready for me but having the weekly e-mail is a nice convenience.
The content is searchable by date, topic and keyword. Subscribers also have access to the entire year at any given time. So, you can plan ahead or choose a date that is special to your family (birthday, anniversary etc) and use it that way.
1. In advance, you review the coming week's resources and consider how they fit with your interests, your kids' projects, etc., and plan how to use it.
2. On the day of, you get up and review that day's resources, print out a few pdfs and preview a few topics, and then invite the children to discover with you.
3. In the moment , you bring up the site and wander your way through it like a treasure hunt.
4. Review the archives (available at the bottom of each week's article, or by searching by date or keyword) to explore for a date of interest, like a child's birthday, your wedding anniversary, or even some random date chosen by your child-of-the-day, and explore what is notable about that date.
I haven't ever used this by planning in advance, but I love being able to go to the page each day and find something to learn about with the kids. We've learned about opera, people in history, states, patents, and so much more. This has been a fabulous summer resource to keep the learning going all year long. I will continue to use this throughout the year.
If you are a fan of Delight Directed Learning this would make an absolutely wonderful basis for your homeschool. You could also easily create your own unit studies and lapbooks. If you are a traditional textbook family then this would make a nice addition to your normal routine as well.
a partial sample of one day
See more sample pages. I love how everything is clickable so all of the work is done for you. You'll find a bit of history and lots of links to explore then questions for discussion and activity ideas. Lots of fun and learning all in one place.
Prior to this review I had never heard of Thomas Jefferson Education. It is based on an educational philosophy and a methodology by which great individuals throughout history have been educated. Discovered and articulated by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Thomas Jefferson Education is based on 7 Keys of Great Teaching and the 4 Phases of Learning. Read more about the founders and find TJEd on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Purchase This Week in History for $9.99 a month. It appears you have to set this up as a subscription through Paypal which is not something I've ever done, so I'm not exactly sure how that works. It is explained on the website. Visit the TJ Ed store to see other books, e-books, audio CDs and mp3 downloads.
I think I have found the answer to how to teach writing. Create Better Writers is an easy to use, affordable writing program that you are going to want for your homeschool. Over the years, we have tried many different writing programs. Create Better Writers uses a step-by-step approach that works for all types of writing. I received three e-books from Create Better Writers: How to Write a Paragraph, How to Teach the Five-Paragraph Essay, and The Home School Writing Action Plan.
If you're like me, the following statement could cause you to scoff. "Writing instruction does NOT need to be difficult." This is the claim of author David S. Dye. For the first time in my homeschooling life (since 1998) and the first time in my educational life (started school in 1973), I think I believe that. You begin teaching your students how to set up their paper to write a paragraph using a pre-writing technique that focuses on one main idea for each paragraph. Students practice setting up their paper and then delve into paragraph writing.
Watch this video to see what I mean:
How to Teach the Paragraph will teach you to teach your children how to write a paragraph starting in the 3rd grade. If your students are older that is OK too. This works for anyone (even adults). Once they know how to write a paragraph they can transition easily into writing essays, research reports and more. The e-book version is only $7.99 and comes free with How to Teach the Five Paragraph Essay or The Complete Writing Program.
How to Teach the Paragraph is 21 pages long including 2 topic sentence worksheets and a paragraph assessment worksheet.
The Homeschool Writing Action Plan presents the intricate subject of writing in clear and uncomplicated fashion. It presents a Summary of Steps, moves on to Pacing Charts, and finishes with The Road Map. After completing this study, your student will know how to write strong essays, research reports, great stories and intelligent descriptive sentences. They will also have a well developed vocabulary and be completely prepared for the SAT/ACT writing college exam.
This book is divided into 3 parts:
Part I – Summary of the Steps: We will begin with a summary of each step. The summaries of the steps are listed on a few pages. This will help you know, at all times, where you should be, where you are headed, and where each step fits into the big picture of your child’s writing.
Part II – Pacing Charts: Part 2 gives you sample pacing charts that will help you decide where and when to begin and how much time to spend on each activity. If you are beginning this program with an elementary school student, you will see how to slowly build you child’s writing skills over time. If you are beginning this program with a high school student, you will be shown how to quickly, but effectively, deliver the same information.
Part III – The Road Map: Part 3 will show you how to implement each step and give you strategies to help reinforce the writing concepts. However, this section will not give you specific lesson plans.
I like this book because it is written with homeschoolers in mind and really works for students of all ages (grade 3 and up). The one thing I didn't like about this book was that sometimes the sample sentences talked about vampires and ghosts. (not big on that here)
How to Teach the Five-Paragraph Essay is the third book I received. This builds on How to Teach the Paragraph using the same straight forward pre-writing approach. You can see the Table of Contents and view The Steps in detail. The steps are: List of Steps, Pacing Chart, Detailed Lesson Plan, Bells and Whistles, and the Next Level. The steps are covered in the first 36 pages of the book followed by 10 appendices: Topics for Five-Paragraph Essays, Sample Essay Outlines, Five-Paragraph Essay Assessment Sheet, Five-Paragraph Essay Rubric, Types of Introductions, Interesting Introductions Worksheets, Commas, Transition Words, Transition Sentences, Writing Portfolio Project-Cover Sheets. Comprehensive?? YES!
I think this is the first time that I feel confident teaching writing. I couldn't be happier to have found this.
Watch this video to learn more about Teaching the Five-Paragraph Essay: (I tried to embed this but I am having trouble with the html in this post.)
All in all, I highly recommend these e-books (though I think I would prefer physical copies-which technically I have since I printed them all.) I am very glad that I had the opportunity to review this and I will be using this all year with all of the kids (4th grade and up). I will admit that Ryan was not thrilled with doing any of this but I can see progress in the short time we've been using this and so we're all going to be doing it. I think this will help me as well. (Now please don't go checking my paragraphs!! ;) )
There is a page on the website dedicated to homeschool teachers that you should check out. It also includes a 53 minute video.
disclaimer: I received a free copy of How to Write a Paragraph, How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay and the Homeschool Writing Action Plan in exchange for an honest review.
The chart below shows the subjects covered by grade and age.
Zane offers a variety of publications to help you in your homeschool This comes with any 12 month membership subscription or you can purchase the guides for $49.95. The first guide is the Zane Education Learning Video Catalog which is a 266 page downloadable e-book that provides an in-depth introduction to Zane's online educational video library and all of the 260 curriculum topics and subjects subjects except for math videos. You can find a free list of the math videos here. (The math videos are from Kahn Academy and not owned by Zane.)
Secondly, there is a Christian Learning Guide, another downloadable e-book that is essential reading for any Christian parents and teachers that need to be reassured that the learning material being provided to their children and students fully conforms to Biblical teaching. This 424-page Christian Companion to Zane Education's Online Learning Video Catalog was specially written for Zane by Marshall Foster and Ron Ball you can read a much more detailed overview of the entire contents of this ebook are available here on the Christian Learning Guide page.
These guides are both extensive and well done. It adds structure to the videos so that you could use this as the basis for your homeschool if you wanted to.
They also offer two free guides. One is the Zane Educational Video catalog which you can download here. This is a shortened version of the full learning video catalog mentioned above. The second free guide is the math guide also mentioned above.
All of the quizzes are also available with the basic free membership as well.
This is a screen shot of a quiz question. Each question is multiple choice. Students can go back and change their answers at the end if they wish.
The summary report at the end of the quiz. If answers are incorrect students each answer is then explained for the student. Students can print their results or email them to you (or themselves).
Here is a screen shot of a video:
The video cannot be made full screen. This is a small screen shot, but the video player is about 6" x 4"on my 17" screen.
What I like about Zane:
There are so many videos to choose from.
The subtitles are a great feature.
The education guides are excellent.
The quizzes and study center are a great help.
Video learning tools include a glossary, encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus and World Fact book
What I don't like about Zane:
These "videos" are in a Power Point style rather than actual videos. My kids don't like watching them. They remind me of filmstrips and documentaries that I watched in school (and I'm in my mid-40s)
The videos cannot be made to fit the full screen.
The videos have buttons in the left corner that do not do anything.
One word of advice about the videos. I did come across a couple of videos that I would not want my younger children to watch. (One in particular was a video about teen pregnancy which did show some pretty graphic pictures and video.) Also some of the videos have evolutionary content. The Christian Education guide would come in handy in steering you to appropriate videos.
I do think that we will continue to make good use out of these videos even if I have to coax the kids to watch them. I don't think I would ever pay for this service, but it may be just the thing you are looking for. This really does save you the time of trying to find videos to go along with whatever you are teaching.
There are several levels of pricing. Monthly subscriptions begin at $8.99 a month and go up to $17.99 a month. Year subscriptions start at $98.99 and go up to $197.89 a year. Don't forget to register for a free basic membership to try it out or try a Topic Taster membership for $5 a month. For the month of August you can save 35% by using code ZE763HSM.
Find Zane education on Facebook. They have an extremely active Facebook page.
No-Nonsense Algebra is a text book with access to free (with the purchase of the book) online video teaching.
Chapter 1 Necessary Tools for Algebra Chapter 2 Solving Equations Chapter 3 Graphing and Analyzing Linear Equations Chapter 4 Solving and Graphing Inequalities Chapter 5 Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities Chapter 6 Polynomials Chapter 7 Rational Expressions (Algebraic Fractions) Chapter 8 Radical Expressions and Geometry Chapter 9 Quadratic Equations Chapter 10 Algebra Word Problems
No-Nonsense Algebra also includes: a “How to Use This Book” section, chapter reviews, final exam, solutions for all problems, glossary and a resource center.
Though there is teaching in the text, much of the teaching is in the videos. The videos feature a white board lesson with audio. I like how the teacher encourages students to actually take notes and I think this is perfect training for homeschooled students who don't necessarily learn traditional note taking (at least I know that has been lacking here.) The video lessons are concise usually lasting about 5-10 minutes and the teaching is easy to follow.
Choose the lesson you wish to view by using the arrows above and below the lessons.
This is a clip of the video player. You can view it as a full page or smaller player.
My husband has been a math teacher for over 20 years and he looked this book over and likes it. He said the newer algebra texts have too much "nonsense" in them. (OK he didn't really use that word but that was the idea and since this is No-Nonsense Algebra I thought it was the appropriate word.)
The lessons in the book are divided into an Introduction where the new skill is introduced, followed by Examples, Exercises then Review of previous topics. Solutions are provided for all of the exercises (but they are solutions only...they are not worked out step by step.) You could always remove the answer key pages if this is a concern for you but frankly, you can't do most Algebra in your head so if your student isn't showing their work, you already know there is a problem.
This is not a Christian curriculum but I did not find anything offensive in the book at all. I highly recommend you try No-Nonsense Algebra. I plan to use this in our homeschool for a long time to come.
We also received Mastering Essential Math Skills Geometry. This is from a series of books written for 4th-5th graders though I think it contains an excellent introduction to Geometry for any age student that might need it. Each lesson takes about 20 minutes to complete.
It contains Review Exercises which covers arithmetic and review from lessons as you go, helpful hints for the current topic, next you will find a section of exercises followed by a word problem.
This book has 63 pages of exercises including a final test, followed by an answer key and glossary for a total of 80 pages. View the Table of Contents and Sample Pages. I do like this book but find it lacking in detailed teaching. As a former math major (and with my husband being a math teacher) I am completely comfortable with this, but someone less comfortable with math may not be. (This is different from my opinion of the Algebra which I feel is thorough.)
You can purchase No-Nonsense Algebra text book with online video access for only $27.95 which will also come with a free ($4.99 value) A+ Math Kit. (limited time offer...prices current as of this posting.) Can you believe that price?? It is an amazing value! This has to be one of the most affordable Algebra courses on the market.
The Math Essentials offers a no risk guarantee. At the end of 30 days, if you do not see a dramatic improvement in math skills among your student(s), simply return the materials and for a full refund. There is absolutely NO obligation.
Learn more about the author, Rick Fisher and how these books came to be.
See what others on the Crew are saying about various Math Essentials programs on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. Titles being reviewed include Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 1 and DVD, Mastering Essential Math Skills Book 2 and DVD and Mastering Essential Math Skills Pre-Algebra. View all available courses here.
I received free copies of No-Nonsense Algebra with online lesson access and Math Essentials Geometry in exchange for an honest review.
Last week, I missed my Stick with it Saturday post. We left for our family vacation so I didn't have a chance and then I just didn't feel like blogging while we were away. We got back last night so I went to a Weight Watchers meeting this morning (my usual day is Wednesday). I was down 2 lbs (though some of that may have been from my morning run.) We went out to dinner twice while we were away. I had a grilled haddock dinner one night and the other night I had a salad with greens, pear, goat cheese, craisins, glazed walnuts and grilled chicken. Although both meals were "good" choices they still racked up some Points Plus values. I can't imagine what it would have been if I had gone for less healthy choices. Both meals were delicious and I was very satisfied with my selections.
I am continuing to use Jeff Galloway's Easy 5 K app. I am able to continue running but lessen the intensity and it just makes it fun. I made it my goal to get at least 10,000 steps on my pedometer each day and I did that and more. This morning I did a 3 mile run and went grocery shopping and I've already got 12,000 steps in. The pedometer is SO motivating.
So while I was away I did lose enough to be over 75 lbs lost now. 75 lbs....that's a lot of weight I'm glad I'm not carrying anymore!
There isn't a new Stick with it Saturday post at Sam's Noggin, but I'm posting anyway.
