Wow, it is time for summer to come to an and to get back to school. That is, unless you never stopped school. For some of us, we home school all year long, and the summer time is not even a time to slow down. Part of that is because it is so incredibly hot and humid in south Louisiana. We just need to stay in the air conditioning! Ok, so we are wimps, but the apparent temperature for most of this summer was 115 degrees F. The apparent temperature is a combination of the actual temperature and the humidity, figured together to tell you what temperature it “feels” like. 115 Degrees is HOT!

Another reason to school during the summer is an unsuccessful previous school year. Ok, what do I mean by that? Well, sometimes a student falls behind in one or more subjects during the traditional school year. Or perhaps they do poorly in the standardized tests. When that happens sometimes they need to do extra work during the summer. Sometimes that work can be accomplished by the student going to a brick and mortar, traditional summer school. Sometimes that work can be accomplished by the student attending an online summer school program.

As the new school year is set to begin it is not too early to begin thinking about what your student might need in order to avoid having to spend a summer in summer school, reviewing work they have already been presented. If you can keep good tabs on what your student is learning as they go through the school year, it is easier to address problems as they happen. One way to do that is through having your student do addition work in a subject that might be difficult for them. For example, spelling is a tough subject for my child. She just is not a good speller, doesn’t retain the correct spelling of a word when only reviewed once or twice, and did I mention my child hates to review? So, one of the things I do to help her see a correct spelling of a word, and practice it without seeming like it is a review is to find online spelling games for her to play. She enjoys the playing, she enjoys the air of competitiveness that games present, and she is getting more exposure to the correct spelling of words she needs to learn how to spell. Games like that can be found for math, language arts, and other subjects.

Best of luck as you begin the new school year, enjoy the time with your children. As you buy clothes for them at the change of season, you will see the truth in this….they grow up too fast!!

I know we are not the only homeschoolers out there that do not test regularly. Fortunately for us, we live in a state that does not require us to submit standardized test scores. This is not to say that we don’t regularly have chapter tests, and quizzes and that sort of thing. We do use that type of testing throughout our school year. Sometimes it is hard to tell if we are truly on level. I use scope and sequence that are attuned to state standards to try to keep us on target as far as level is concerned. I feel fortunate that the curriculum we use, Time4Learning, does a great job of making sure that the information presented is at least grade level.

There are times when I feel like I need to do some spot checking just to reassure myself that we are doing the best home schooling, and learning the right stuff. I have found that checking things like grade level math words, or other grade level vocabulary word lists help. When my daughter makes it through word lists that are grade appropriate, and I ask her to explain, or define the words and she is able to do that with ease, then I am reassured that she learned the concepts and is storing them in long term memory. In reality, it is almost better to spot check for this information at a later time than it is to test right after we finish a chapter. When we have just finished a chapter, the information may just be in her short term memory. When she can remember the work weeks or even months later, I know that she really learned the information. Do you do spot checking like this? Do you depend on the standardized tests to confirm this information? Do you have a different way of spot checking that you would care to share?

Time4Learning Middle School Math Curriculum…A Review

This week, I am going to do something a little different. I’m going to tell you about Time4Learning Middle School Math Curriculum. Probably the most important thing for me is that the curriculum plans my lessons for me. And next on my list of likes is that records are kept for me in a manner that allows me to sort the reports according to type of assignment, whether it is a quiz, learning activity, or chapter test. I can also pull the reports over my choice of date ranges, from one day, to an entire year. I can not say enough about how much this eases my work load as a home schooling parent.

My daughter enjoys the Math Curriculum for totally different reasons than I do. She is very active, and a visual learner. Time4Learning middle school math is multimedia, and interactive so it keeps her attention. She likes the fact that the narrator/characters read to her, or explain the part of math she is studying. Probably as important as the things I’ve already mentioned is this fact, the narrators give her the choice of reviewing the part of the lesson being taught. If she is ready to move on, she can opt to move forward. If she needs it explained again, then she can opt to have the lesson explained again, without penalty. The lessons and quizzes are not timed, which is good for my daughter, since she seems to have a terrible dislike of timers ticking off how much longer she has to do something.

All in all, I can give Time4Learning Middle school math curriculum a very glowing review. I like it, my daughter likes it, and she is definitely learning the material. The lessons make her think, and put the information taught into play, not just throw answers back. The biggest concern I might have about the curriculum is that if the child did not pack down the math facts and operations early on, there is not a lot of review of those things in the middle school area. That being said, there is a chapter available called “practice” which makes additional lessons available across the full year of math, in case your child might need a little extra practice, or needs something explained just a little differently.

My biggest complain about the curriculum? It only goes through eighth grade! I will have to find something else when we get ready to head to high school, but until then, I’m comfortable saying that my child is getting an excellent education in math through her middle school years.

I hope this review helps you if you are searching for a math curriculum for your middle school student.

See Homeschool Curriculum Review…http://thehappyhousewife.com/homeschool/homeschool-curriculum-review/

Ok, so another school year is coming to a close, especially for those people who have their children in public or private schools. Most of those public and/or private schools also had testing in the last month or so. Were you happy with the testing scores? Are you happy with where you child is in relationship to where your child should be academically? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you are going to be looking for something to help your child retain what they already know and perhaps get a head start on what your child will need to know for next year. You have a several alternatives available to you.

The first might be just having your child review bridge work books, or other text book based reviews. For some students these work really well, especially if your student is at level or above, and just needs to review information they already know. But for students who are really struggling, this method might not work because bridge work is meant to be a review, and if your child didn’t get the concept the first time, these books often do not have enough instructional information to help struggling students grasp the concept.

Summer school is an option, of course. There are a couple of problems with summer school. First on the list is that summer school is usually offered by the same school that just had your child for nine months. The methods that are used to teach your child in summer school are the same ones that were used to get your child to the academic point that they reached this year. Additionally, your student will not get a break from school. Summer school is run much like regular school. Considering that many students actually need the mental break from school to gain the ability to face another school year at summer’s end, this method is not necessarily ideal.

Private tutoring is another alternative to help your child over the summer. Since these are often in a one on one setting, and are designed for each student’s weaknesses these might be a better alternative than summer school. Finding a tutor is the next issue. If you live in a college town, you can probably find a starving college student who tutors in the basics. There are also the franchise tutoring and testing establishments, but they are costly. A third option for tutoring is online tutoring. These are really great for students who enjoy computer time and animated lessons. Another benefit of the online tutoring is that it is usually very cost effective, and are usually student paced, so your child will have the chance to have a more individualized experience.

For some of us, schooling year round has become a viable alternative. It gives us more days a year to educate, so we can spend more time on concepts that are more complicated or difficult to grasp. We do not face the problem of the idle summer months when children often forget some of what they learned the previous school year. And we do not get as much end of school year burn out which requires extended summer breaks. Because we can take shorter breaks all year long, without jeopardizing the 180 day school deadline, we experience less burn out. That is how it works for my family, at any rate.

Hopefully, one of the methods above will work for your and your family.

Enjoy the last days of the school year, and look forward to a great summer!

If your child is anything like mine, you are constantly looking for different ways to review. The big catch is, at least for my child, she hates to review. In fact, if it vaguely looks like a review, she balks. So, I have had to become very creative with how we go over information again, without it looking like we repeating something. My child is a visual learner, at least in part, and she likes her subjects presented in colorful, moving images. This is part of the reason that our online curriculum works for us. She wants information to come at her fast and furious! This is why I love the idea of learning games. We use games for math skills, music skills, spelling. Believe it or not there are even art games online which are geared towards detail recognition, colors, and matching artists with their famous pieces of artwork. Ok, so you probably get that I love learning games. But maybe your child needs more than just art games. Maybe your child needs an actual course. My daughter has been participating in an online art course that is, in part, a review of the things she has been learning in her regular art course. Not only is it a review, but it is also entertaining, and for my child, that is a great combination. So, if you are looking for more ways for your child to be exposed to art, and more ways to review art information, consider art games and an online art curriculum. It works for us!