My Weekly Notebook: journals, moon cookies, bubble gum

Life this week...

April has been getting fun things from the University of Oregon. The excitement is really building up. She's looking forward to starting. They sent her a poster, microwave popcorn bag, stickers, playing cards, seeds for flowers, and a few other little things. I'm glad they are sending her fun things like this. She'll start mid-September. 

Homeschool this week...

Thinking Tree books. I discovered these books just recently and I really like the ideas behind them. We have our first 2 books and have started on them this week. One is for me and one is for Alex. I have more on the way so Aric will have one soon too. I really love them so far. Alex does too. I am hoping they are a good fit for us.

One of the pages that I worked on. I did get my mom-time basket going too! I discovered that I've always kind of had one just not all in one place! It was nice to get everything in one place.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We finally got our boat out of storage and ready for a day at the lake. Lake day was on a Thursday because we just don't dare to try to go on a weekend. It can get pretty busy. It's much more enjoyable when there's not a lot of noise and boats everywhere. Thankfully it was pretty quiet, and it was a beautiful day.

The only kid that wanted to get on the tube this time was Alex, so he's sitting in a 3-man tube all by himself. He still had a blast though! I rode with him once. Maybe we need to go with some friends.

We took a picnic lunch to eat on land in the nice picnic area at Foster lake. We just park the boat and bring our food up into the trees. it's such a nice peaceful area.

Other than tubing or eating we also swim. We just anchor the boat and swim off the boat. Alex loves this, and it's always the first thing he wants to do.

My favorite thing this week was...

Looking at the moon through a telescope. It's pretty amazing to see the moon in real life. Even if it is through a telescope. We could see so many details, even craters. Alex absolutely loved it. He loved it so much that he invited the neighbor kids out the next night. They all loved it.

And, making moon sugar cookies. This wasn't really a planned activity. I had made a batch of sugar cookies last weekend and never got around to making them into anything, but I really needed to get the dough out of the fridge. I wanted something quick and easy. I decided to just make circles instead of some cool shape like I was hoping to do (I just wanted to practice decorating them), so I decided circles could be easily made into moons for the kids. They loved it, and they ate them all week. Even the neighbor kids. I was worried about having so many moon sugar cookies. The kids took care of them, so no need to worry!

My kids' favorite thing this week was...

If I asked him he might say looking at the moon, but I'm going to say his 2nd favorite thing (for the sake of something different) is going to be the glow light swim we had in our pool. It was pretty spectacular. He loved it so much that he didn't get too cold from the excitement.

Things I'm working on...

I'm working on plans for the school year. I've been trying to avoid it, but now I have to start as it's inevitable that school is starting for everyone around us soon, and some of our other classes are starting back up. Time to prep!

Random things the kids worked on...

Alex decided one day to sort the big bag of gumballs into color combinations. It all started with the yellow and green (Oregon Duck colors) for April to admire. Then he decided to do some other fun ones. Fun project!

What we're reading...

One night when we were looking for a book to read at bedtime Alex said he wanted more picture books. We had a lot more chapter books at the time, but for some reason, he just hasn't been as into chapter books as I thought.  When he requested more picture books I jumped on it and requested a bunch. He has started reading again.

All of our libraries are still not fully open. They are pick up only, for the most part, so everything has to be put on hold. One of our libraries has started making some grab-n-go bundles at the entrance. You have to take the whole bundle which isn't a problem at all. It's actually kind of fun. They had the whole series of these Library Mouse books, so I grabbed it. There were like 5 books in the stack, and Alex loved all of them. They were really fun to read together.

Movies we watched...

April and I watched the new Little Women movie. Now I want to go back and watch the old one again. I also really need to read the book. I want to compare it. It was a pretty good movie though!

I'm cooking...

I got to try out a Bosch mixer this week for the very first time. Sure it's really old, but it was still fun to try! April found it at a 2nd hand store for only $8. She wasn't entirely sure how well it worked, but we told her to get it anyway. She brought it home, we cleaned it up and tried it out. Mike made the pizza dough for our Sunday pizza day, and I made cinnamon rolls. I have to admit I wasn't impressed. The dough stuck to the sides, but it might have been because it was a small batch. Mike's dough mixed up pretty quick and efficiently. He made a lot more dough than I did. We'll have to try some other things out. I am pretty happy with my Kitchenaid, but it's fun to try this out. I've wanted to for a long time. I have some friends who swear by Bosch mixers over Kitchenaid.



I'm grateful for...

The new season headed our way...Fall or Autumn. Whichever you like to call it. I think I really like calling it Fall.

ThemeVille Math (A REVIEW)

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.

Who loves options for math? Me! I love to have many choices and ways for my kids to learn math. We always have their main curriculum and then many other supplement choices to practice with, so I am always up to try another math curriculum out. This time we tried out ThemeVille Math. A full curriculum.

It's always fun to receive a real physical math book, so I was pretty happy to receive both a worktext and a solutions book for Grade 3 to try out.



The worktext is 568 pages of workbook pages including lesson instructions, examples, and the math work itself. The lessons and examples are very short and often the child fills in things and works through the problems as they are learning how to do it. In the picture below my son (4th grade) completely understood how to do division after that very short, half-page instruction, and he was very excited that he "got it." It was so simple yet so helpful. I think that's what I really liked about this math book. Simplicity. The instruction seems to be just the right amount, not long and drawn out. Yet there are videos available if needed. There are also simple instructions for activities for the teacher to do with the children outside of the bookwork as well.



What is a lesson like in ThemeVille Math? There are 2 pages of a pre-lesson, and then 2 pages of the lesson, so a total of 4 pages to complete a full lesson. The Pre-Lesson is a review/warm-up of previous concepts taught, and the lesson covers the new concepts and teacher-led activities. There are some lessons that call for manipulatives (which are available for purchase through ThemeVille's website), but those are optional. There are many pictures and examples throughout the book that make it engaging and easily adaptable with or without manipulatives. I think if I were purchasing this for the school year though I'd definitely get the manipulatives. I think manipulatives up any math program in my book, and my boy always loves using them.

The Grade 3 book covers such a wide scope. It has a little bit of everything a 3rd grader should be learning in math. I feel like it is a rigorous math curriculum with a lot of actual working through math problems and thinking through the lessons. The lessons don't feel like they are long and drawn out, and each lesson feels like it has just about the right amount of work (although my son would say it's too much, always). Some of the concepts covered in level 3 are multiplication/division, clock reading, money, word problems, calendar, area and perimeter, symmetry, and much more totaling 120 lessons in all. A very complete curriculum that I can say I would happily continue using for the coming school year.

If you'd like to see what others said about this math curriculum, and/or to find out about the other levels you can click on the banner below. There are 5 levels available (Grades 1-5).

Thankful Thursday: Sunshine

Foster Lake

It has been way too long since I've done a Thankful Thursday! I just need to stop and be thankful tonight before this Thursday is over with. We just spent a full day out in the sunshine, and it was just so nice. We haven't really done much of anything this summer, so it was nice to finally do something we love.

Tonight I am Thankful for:

42. A boat that allows us to be out and just enjoy the beauty of the earth and water all around us.
43. New ideas, thoughts, and inspiration for the new school year (because I wasn't having any for a while)
44. Things starting back up such as parkour (PE) for the boys, and homeschool co-op.

 This is a continuation of my thankful list. My last thankful Thursday post was on 7/9/20.

Homeschool Easy {4th Grade}--A REVIEW

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.

When I first started homeschooling I really wanted something all laid out for me. I didn't want to have to figure out what to say, where to find the answers, and what to do next. I am pretty sure there are a lot of new homeschooling parents out there right now who are in the very same boat as they try to navigate their way through their new homeschooling journey. If you're a new parent or even a seasoned one (who just wants something simple) you might like this complete curriculum from Homeschool Easy. It's an all-in-one, weekly curriculum for grades 1-5. For this review, we were able to try out the 4th-grade entire school year curriculum.

There are no textbooks. This curriculum is completely downloaded from the link provided at purchase and then printed up from your home. Everything that you need is given to you except a few literature books that might be needed from the library, on the public domain online, or possibly purchased. Most of these literature selections will be readily available though. The child will need to have access to a computer with internet for the videos and research on Britannica Kids or other websites as well. There will also be projects that the child might possibly need supplies and/or guidance with.

The first week of homeschool work for 4th grade all printed up and ready to go. There is work in 7 subjects.

Each of the seven subjects is split up into weekly chunks giving the child 32 weeks of materials. The core subjects include Grammar, Science, History, Reading, Math, Spelling, and Writing. Each week's worth of work is split up into 5 days with each page labeled with the letters a, b, c, d, or e. So on day 1, week 1, the child would work on the page that says 1a. On day 2 it would be 1b.  It's a nice way to keep track of where the child should be and helps to break up the workload for them.

The first history lesson on week 1 for 4th grade has my boy learning about Native Americans. He has some fill-in-the-blank questions, and then a paragraph to write.

Let's talk about the worksheets themselves! What exactly are the lessons and what does the child do to complete them? The worksheets are pretty good at guiding the child through. For History and Science, they look up some information, and/or sometimes they are asked to watch a video, and then they write or answer questions about what they learned. Math, Grammar, and Spelling are more about mastery and repetition, and Reading is a comprehensive understanding of a certain book or story which for 4th grade it was about 2 chapter books per month.

Alex working on the answers for his Britannica Kids search on Native Americans.

The lessons are packed with a lot of great material and interesting things for the student to learn about and explore. I liked that the wording was not always exact so the child has to think a bit more as they are looking through the reading to find answers. It's not always a direct path to an answer. It's tough but so good for thinking skills. There is a lot of writing in some of the subjects, and my boy isn't a big writer, so I had to help him by letting him dictate to me some of the time. The amount of writing and research was a little hard for him, but I love that this curriculum challenges him to do exactly those things.

History lesson, week 1, day 1 completed.

A science project about minerals at the end of week 1.

There is a lot of printing to worry about with this curriculum! I used several pages just printing each subject for week 1. I found it best to just print a week at a time, but it's very possible to print up the whole year at once.

I had to print all this to get started in each subject. Plan to print a lot with this curriculum!

This curriculum truly is easy for homeschooling parents/teachers. There's no planning, not a lot of prep, and the lessons are pretty straight forward and easy to understand. I think this is a great option for new to homeschooling parents, and even old or seasoned homeschooling parents who really just need something easy and simple to use.

If you'd like to see what others had to say about this curriculum or any of the other grade levels you can click on the banner below

Wordless Wednesday: Cinderella

Cinderella LEGO set: Built by April

Our Weekly Notebook: quilting, birthday donuts, and swimming

Life this week...

Life kinda got turned upside down last week when I ended up taking April to the hospital due to a really high fever. She had a procedure to remove kidney stones on Friday, August 7, and a few days later while she was recovering she got very sick with a high fever. The urologist told me to take her into the ER, as he was worried about an infection. Sure enough, it was an infection and it landed her in the hospital for 3 days. It was a long week, and thankfully she's doing much better on antibiotics.

Homeschool this week...

With me being out of the house for 3 unexpected days last week not much was done. Actually, nothing was done except life, and that was ok! I am hoping for a better week this week.

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

I love to take back to school pictures of the kids about this time of the year. It's definitely one of my favorite traditions, but I don't know that we have many school traditions anymore and that makes me kind of sad. I think I need to be intentional about traditions more in our family and school this year. As the kids have gotten older a lot of the things we used to do they have grown out of, and I haven't replaced it with anything else. I am planning to read some of the Homeschool Review Crew's ideas in one of their recent blog posts, Homeschool Traditions {2020 Not Back to School Hop}. I think it's important to have traditions even in our homeschool. 

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Not much happened in the going places category. A lot of time at home during April's recovery and helping her get better at the hospital was the focus of our week. I guess we did have a visitor! Grandma Winz came to help watch the boys one day. That was fun for the boys.

My favorite thing this week was...

Getting my new Wonder Woman crockpot delivered from Amazon. I've never had a "fun" crockpot before, so this was a nice addition to my kitchen. I still haven't tried it out. This reminds me that I need to get something on the menu this week to cook in it!

Things I'm working on...

I finally started a quilt that I've had the fabric for a few years. It is supposed to be a quilt for our bed. I'm excited to have finally at least started. I got only a few squares done before the hospital fiasco, but I'm excited to work on it over time.

Random things the kids worked on...

She's not so much a kid anymore, but she's still ours... April built a Cinderella LEGO set that she got for her birthday.

What we're reading...

I had a lot of time at the hospital just sitting and waiting, so I grabbed a small book that I could carry in my purse to read. It ended up being The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz. I had never read it before, and wanted to see if it would be a good read-aloud for Alex. I am almost through the whole book! We are also reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Alex read-aloud), and I picked up a stack of Library Mouse books when I went to the library to pick up holds.

Movies we watched...

We watched Scoob. Alex really liked it. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open so I don't really know how the second half of the movie went. The first half was okay though.

I'm cooking...

April wanted gluten-free donuts for her birthday "cake". So I attempted these. She liked them so I guess that's a win!

I'm grateful for...

Thoughtful friends who bring food/desserts at the end of a stressful week. A good friend/family brought a blackberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream over on Sunday afternoon. The cobbler was even still warm and so delicious. So grateful!

Other fun stuff:

I am really wanting to create more videos of life and family. I'd love to get a vlog going, but I don't know if I'll be consistent with it. I made this video of us swimming in the pool with Alex a few weeks ago. It was fun to edit. Especially the part where I lost all the edits because I didn't save, so I had to start over. Yeah, that was super fun. Lesson learned. Save often. Or period. Oh well I still love the video and that we have this memory. Enjoy!

Super Teacher Worksheets (A REVIEW)

Disclosure: 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.

I have a really great resource to share with you today! I discovered Super Teacher Worksheets a few years ago when I reviewed them for the first time. I haven't stopped using them since then! When that free subscription ran out, I paid for another year. Now they have offered for us to review them again through the Review Crew and I am super happy to share about this great resource once more!

The Super Teacher Worksheets website.

I have to admit my first glance at a whole website of worksheets made me a little unsure, but these are some well put together worksheets that can be used in so many ways. I love how creative and simple these worksheets are. All you need is a good printer because there are thousands upon thousands of great worksheets to choose from, and they are accessible from anywhere there is an internet connection! There is something for every subject including math, science, reading, spelling, phonics, social studies, and more, and they have something for kids clear up through 6 and 7th grade. I will touch on just a few of the subjects we used.

Spelling:

The spelling flashcards for Unit D-1, Fourth grade.

I really love their spelling units. I decided to start my 4th grader at the beginning of the 4th-grade level spelling unit at Super Teacher Worksheets as that will be his spelling for this coming school year. There are so many activities and worksheets within a spelling unit. I printed them all up so they would be ready to go as we worked through them. Some of the activities include flashcards (pictured above), alphabetical order, fix the misspelled word, sentences, crossword, word find, writing the word twice, and a test. There are a lot of great activities to choose from within a spelling unit.

An example of a 4th-grade spelling unit worksheet.

It's summer, so I decided to introduce Alex's new spelling worksheets to him in a creative way, the pool! Even though these are "worksheets," they can be used in so many different and fun ways. Take his spelling list for example. Rather than simply going over the words with him, I wrote the words down on pool rings and had him find them in the pool. Once he found them he practiced spelling it out to me. Once the spelling list was introduced and he reviewed the words he was ready to work on the worksheets.

A 4th-grade spelling list from Super Teacher Worksheets

 A video of Alex using the flash cards:

Science:

Science Worksheets: Human Body Scavenger Hunt

The science worksheets at Super Teacher Worksheets are just phenomenal. I have used many of the science worksheets, but my favorites are these scavenger hunts. These are a great way to get kids moving around while learning. The kids love these worksheets too because they can walk around and work together or separately.

The part of the scavenger hunt that the kids fill out with a clue to where the first fact card is.

To complete a scavenger hunt there must first be a lot of cutting and hiding. The teacher cuts out the fact cards, laminates (optional), and then has to disperse them throughout the classroom or home for the student to find. I took it a step further this time and gave them clues to where they were hidden because I wanted a little more challenge for my boys. But, it also works to just "hide" them around the room for the kids to randomly find.

Cutting out the fact cards for the scavenger hunt takes a little time, but so worth it!

When it's all ready the kids take their paper on a clipboard and go around finding the fact cards. They can write the answers as they go along.

Answering questions on the scavenger hunt.

Sometimes they just like to go find the fact cards and bring them back to the table. This works if there aren't any more students needing to find them.

He got tired of carrying his paper around so he decided to find the fact cards and bring them back to the table.

I had both my 4th and 7th graders work on this scavenger hunt separately. They both had a good time, and I think they learned a lot about the human body without even realizing it!

The 6th grader's completed worksheet from the scavenger hunt.

I chose to laminate the fact cards this time so that I could keep them around and let the kids flip through them on their own to review the facts they learned. I just used a ring to bind them together.

Fact cards turned into flashcards with a ring!

Math:

A math worksheet puzzle for the 7th grder.

Math is another subject we use Super Teacher Worksheets for a lot. I just love their math worksheets! There are so many great math worksheets to choose from, and most of them are super simple and fun.

Putting together the math puzzle worksheet.

There are so many math concepts covered at Super Teacher Worksheets that it could be used as a supplement for kids even up through middle school. I had my 7th grader work on this Math Puzzle Picture to build his multiplication skills.

Seasonal/themed worksheets:

A little summertime themed worksheet activity from Super Teacher Worksheets.

One of the best times to use worksheets is when things are busy and you just feel like you aren't getting a lot of "school" done. Super Teacher Worksheets has a lot of great themed and seasonal worksheets too. They have worksheets to go with holidays such as Christmas or Halloween. They have worksheets to go with the seasons such as the "summertime scramble" worksheet pictured above. This summer has been busy, but I like to keep my kids' learning going, and being able to just print up an activity where they take the word "summertime" and find new words is great. It's simple and gives them a little challenge.

As you can see I really love Super Teacher Worksheets. It's a really nice resource for both supplements and for those days when you just can't get much else on the table as far as school goes. There are so many fun worksheets to choose from, go check it out! If you'd like to see what other Review Crew members had to say about Super Teacher Worksheets, click on the banner below!