A Stable Beginning

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Wordless Wednesday

http://astablebeginning.com

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

LightSail for Homeschoolers ~ a TOS review

Disclaimer: I received a Complimentary 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. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

Hi there! For the last few weeks we have been using LightSail for Homeschoolers that focuses on the four areas Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, and Fluency with Micah. He really has been enjoying this program to work on improving his reading. LightSail for Homeschoolers is a complete language arts program built to advance literary skills of students in grades K-12. There program offers a huge variety of books, audio books, encyclopedias and more to help your child succeed at reading.

The complete platform of learning offers materials in faith based or secular based resources. The faith based resources are broken down into different denominations such as Catholic, Christian, Judaism, Islam, and Orthodox to name a few. I will be upfront and say that the secular based resources contain materials that deal with LGBT, Horror stories, Dating, and such. To navigate this, I used the parental controls and blocked any material that I do not wish for him to have access to. I also stayed close to Micah as he picked his reading activities to make sure they were appropriate for him.

Getting started with the program was really easy! Micah took an assessment that helped determine his first reading level. He was distracted at the time of the evaluation, and I believe he would have scored a bit higher if he was not. However, he placed in the right level and then a few weeks later the program self evaluated him and bumped him up even higher in his Lexile scoring.

Micah reads well for his age and grade. He is constantly wanting to read and learn or listen to the audio book selections. His new favorite are the books on coding since he wants to code his own video game in the future.

The LightSail for Homeschoolers also includes Writing, Vocabulary, and Fluency sections. There is so much to this site we have only hit the surface! I can’t wait to continue this with Micah and McKenzie too as we dive into the program more over the course of the rest of the school year. Be sure to check out what my CrewMates think of this program by clicking the banner below to read their thoughts.

Improve Reading Skills with LightSail for Homeschoolers

Company ~ LightSail for Homeschoolers

Product ~ LightSail for Homeschoolers Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, and Fluency

Format ~ online platform

Ages ~ K-12

Find LightSail for Homeschoolers on these Social Media Links:

Facebook ~ Instagram

http://astablebeginning.com

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Bible Study Printables from Teach Sunday school ~ a TOS review

Morning friends! I hope this blog post finds you well. Like many Christian parents my greatest goal in life is to make God known to my children in every aspect of our life. To teach them His words and help them hide them in their hearts so that when needed they can call on scripture in times of trouble. And most importantly know the truth found within the 66 most important books you will ever read found in the Bible. As part of my morning quiet time I have been journaling scripture with help from the variety of Bible study tools such as the Book-by-Book Bible Breakdowns from Teach Sunday School.

We received a digital download for this Bible study tool. I chose to print this curriculum out and punch it to fit on the disc’s of my big Happy Planner. I also decided to reprint the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance that I received from Teach Sunday School a few years ago to include as well so I would have both to reference as I do my personal Bible study.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament Breakdowns are formatted in the same way. The top of the page includes the background information for the book as well as colorful graphics that detail the number of chapters, book type, date written, the time period it covers, as well as the author.

Below this information you will find the books of this book broken down in chronological order by chapter, verses, and subject. Each subject is broken down with a brief phrase and popular verses found within that chapter. The blue colored verses indicate a popular Bible verse for quick reference.

I really love the simplicity of these printables and how they enrich my quiet time. I definitely plan on printing these out again for my University girls to bring back with them after Christmas break.

Having quick access to key verses on hand will make it easy to find a particular verse whenever they need it. Many of my CrewMates also reviewed these Book-by-Book Bible Breakdowns, be sure to check out their thoughts by clicking the banner below. I wholeheartedly recommend you checking out this Bible study resource!

Boob-by-Book Bible Study Printable Breakdowns

Company ~ Teach Sunday School

Product ~ Bible Breakdowns

Format ~ digital download

Price ~ $34.99

Find Teach Sunday School on these Social Media Links:

Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ YouTube

Friday, October 8, 2021

Reading Kindgom: Story Smarts

Having a solid foundation in reading is very important right from the start. For the last few weeks Micah has been plugging away at an online reading program called Story Smarts from Reading Kingdom.

The Reading Kingdom program was created by Dr. Marion Blank, world renowned reading expert and Director of the Light on Learning Program at Columbia University. Using the program she created can teach your children, aged 4 to 10, to read and write to a third grade level in a fun and exciting way.

Story Smarts is a series of stories that the child reads or has read aloud to them. They are then tested on sequencing and putting the story back together as well as reading comprehension.

With easy-to-use and interactive components, the program offers a customized online reading instruction for your child. During the whole process, the program targets your child's weaknesses while also keeping them confident in their strengths. Reading Kingdom is easy to start, no need to download anything. Just log on to the website and start reading!

If you want to try Reading Kingdom out for your family, you can sign up for 30 Day Free Trial. After the trial period has ended and you would like to continue, a subscription costs $19.99/month (with no monthly minimum), or $199.99 per year. Additional children on your account get 50% off ($9.99/month or $99.99/year) and you can cancel your subscriptions at any time. In addition, because Reading Kingdom is so passionate about everyone getting to enjoy the joy of reading there is a scholarship program available for those who qualify.

Overall, we have enjoyed Reading Kingdom and the phonics and reading platform it supports. I look forward to continuing to use this over course of the rest of the school year so that Micah stays actively involved in reading and phonics instruction. I encourage you to look into giving it a try for your family too! Check out what my CrewMates thought by clicking the banner below!

Spelling, Reading, and Math Fun at Reading Kingdom

Find Reading Kingdom on at these Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingkingdom
Twitter: https://twitter.com/readingkingdom
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingkingdom/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/readingkingdom/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReadingKingdom

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary ~ a TOS review

Do you have a favorite homeschool company that you always seem to navigate back to? I am a huge fan of The Critical Thinking Co. so I was thrilled when we were picked to receive Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary to use with my youngest daughter, McKenzie, who is in the 6th grade. The Critical Thinking Co.™ provides fantastic critical thinking resources for young students, let me tell you a little more about this one.

The Critical Thinking Co. is a family-owned business that has been “empowering the mind” for more than 50 years. They sell critical thinking products/supplements that cover reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history. Instead of rote drilling and memorization, students are encouraged to “carefully analyze what they are learning.” The Critical Thinking Co. is on a mission to develop the critical thinking skills in all children.

Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary is written for students in 6th – 8th grade and is available in print or as a digitial PDF eBook. We received the digital copy which only works with PC computers and retails for $16.99. The book includes 15 lessons that have twelve words each with the goal of helping kids gradually increase their vocabulary. The best part of this program is that all of the words are taken from the PSAT so your child is getting a head start on learning 180 PSAT vocabulary words!

Each lessons list of words includes the pertinent information about the word including the part of speech, pronunciation, definition, and a list of synonyms, idioms, or phrases that pertain to the word. A variety of lesson exercises are included to help use the words in context including multiple choice, fill in the blank, unscrambling words, and writing sentences to name a few. As your child progresses through the lessons they will encounter words that they may encounter while reading.

Vocabulary is one of our focus areas for McKenzie this year in addition to spelling. During our review period we took the lessons really slow by working with the words and lesson for a minimum of two weeks. Since there are 6 activities within a lesson I scheduled our vocabulary time out to be 3 days a week. Because I had the eBook version of the book I was able to print out the lesson pages for McKenzie to work on. We simply stapled the lesson together so we would not lose any of the pages as we worked with them over the course of the two week time period.

McKenzie had a little bit of trouble at first because the program actually uses different forms of the words given and not just the standard words on the list. Once she figured that out though, she didn’t have as much trouble completing the activities. She also liked that the words were being used within the context of a story.

Overall, I found this to be a great vocabulary program and I am excited to continue using it with McKenzie. I do plan to set it aside until January as we work on completing her current vocabulary program but we are both excited to pick this back up in January. Be sure to click the banner below to read the thoughts of my CrewMates who reviewed this curriculum and the following others; Building Thinking Skills® Beginning 2, Tell Me a Story , Science Mind Benders®: Animals, Science Vocabulary Crossword Puzzles, and Understanding Fractions.