A Stable Beginning

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Happy birthday Mr. M!

Happy birthday!

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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Stinky Kid Math ~ a TOS review

We have been blessed to review several different math programs over the last few years while apart of The Old Schoolhouse review crew. Today I am pleased to share with you a little gem of a program from a company called Stinky Kid Math.

The Stinky Kid company began back in 2007, when the CEO and creator, Todd Matia, was on assignment at the University of Minnesota to teach math teachers how to better teach high school students pre-engineering concepts. Mr. Matia wanted a way to teach students the why and how math works, so that they were not strictly relying on memorizing.

Now, don’t be fooled by the name. This program offers online math tutoring to help your children master Algebra and Geometry by breaking down each concept into a practical easy to follow manner. With over 350 videos taught by Mr. Matia you will be sure to find the concept that is giving your child trouble.

Getting started was as simple as logging into the course site and watching the video. With some of the lessons there are textbook pages to read and there may be a few worksheets to choose from too depending on the concept being taught. There are also an assortment of challenging games to be played.

We were given a six month subscription with access to all the videos offered and I used it primarily with Mikayla who is just starting 7th grade. I enjoyed that the program is made up of streamed online videos that can be watched anywhere you have internet access. While Mikayla was not a huge fan of having to work on videos after hours of practice, I do like having this program as an option if she gets stuck on a concept. I also found that it came in handy when my older daughter, Madison who is in 9th grade, needed another explanation of how to master a concept.

Overall, we were please with this program and have already recommended it to several families. With a name like Stinky Kid Math, it’s hard not to forget it, and I like that it is truly a helpful program. Stinky Kid Math offers a free month trial, be sure to check it out to see if it is a good fit for your family. Also, be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of this program by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ Stinky Kid Math

Product ~ Stinky Kid Math

Price ~ $9.99 a month

Ages ~ pre-algebra students and up

Format ~ online

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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Happy 9th Birthday Montana

The cake

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Saturday, September 5, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up ~ Weeks 3 & 4

It’s been a busy two weeks in our neck of the woods. From birthdays to promotions and everything in between its been good.

McKenzie turned 6 on Aug. 28th. Wow, my baby girl is 6. That time went by so fast! She is still a peanut compared to her peers but she is a fireball and can hold her own Smile

Since she was turning an even number, she was able to have a friend party. She choose to go to Chuck E Cheese, with 12 of her friends. I ended up booking the party at 930AM, which turns out to be the best time if you want to beat the crowds. We literally had the place to ourselves until about 1045ish.

After all was said and done she had amassed 3049 tickets, Oh, my! When we went to the redemption counter she was like “I want a tootsie roll”. Tootsie rolls are 10 points. After I guided her focus to the big prizes, things went smooth at the redemption counter and she picked some neat prizes that have not ended up broken and in the trash yet.

She was so happy and had a fun time with all of her friends that came to celebrate with us. Chuck E Cheese was great too spending time with McKenzie. Micah on the other hand wanted nothing to do with him, lol. Totally understandable…

After leaving the party I had sensory overload, big time! My head hurt so bad and it felt like I had ingested a whole 5 lb bag of sugar. Since I had errands to run to find the girls white shorts and to get Madison to her softball practice I drank a lot of water. Which in hindsight was not the best idea for this public restroom phobic girl.

Last Sunday my husbands command had a family photo session. The children were all to wear white shorts and the black command kids shirt or white onesie. Do you know how hard it is to find white shorts that are of decent length, Sheesh! I finally ended up going to the Goodwill and finding modest shorts for all the girls.

The picture was a great time. It was my first time meeting the CO/XO wives in person and many of my husbands co-workers too. One of the highlights of the day is when I went to get dressed and discovered that I thought I had a black dress to wear. I had a dress but upon looking at the tag it was a size 6…momentary panic set in because I didn’t know if it would fit and we were leaving in 20 minutes.

After rifling through my closet and doing a bunch of negative self talk I finally just sat down and said a prayer. I had two options, try on the black size 6 or wear the size 8 black one with flowers. Lets just say I jumped for joy when I actually tried on the solid black dress…it fit! I have been exercising and eating correctly and the hard work paid off that day. I am so glad, because I would have been the only one in flowers.

This week on Tuesday afternoon I got one of the best calls from my husband. He was busy running errands preparing for his upcoming trip and he called and said that he was on the promotion list! Praise God! All of the hard work and sacrifice of being away is paying off. Good job babe, so proud of you!

Wedesday Mikayla started her PT routine. It’s rough guys. The clinic is 45 – 60 minutes away with traffic and Wednesday alone I was cut off by two drivers. I now know why my husband leaves so early for work to beat the crazy drivers who feel like they own the road. The appointments are 45 minutes long and we are already seeing improvement in her ankle/foot and flexibility. The therapist works with a lot of the gymnasts who come in so it’s a win-win situation.

Want to hear a funny story? One morning last week we dropped Mikayla off at the gym and as we were leaving a blue van just like our old one pulled in. Right away, I exclaimed to the girls, “that’s our van”! I don’t know what it was but immediately I knew it was ours. When we came back to pick her up in the afternoon, it was there again. The new owner came out and talked with me about something else and complimented my new van. I told him we had just sold a van like the new one he bought. I am glad the new owner will enjoy the van just as much as we did. Funny how things work out.

On the school front, things have been progressing well over the last few weeks. McKenzie is having trouble with spelling her words on paper now that they have gotten more challenging. She can say them orally, but when she goes to write them she mixes the letters up or writes a completely different word than I said. I may drop the testing part for her and just focus on oral spelling for now. Her reading is progressing along great. She enjoys reading and especially enjoys doing her math lessons and the Explode the Code workbook. This weekend I am hoping to make a schedule similar to the one that Carissa made over at 1+1+1=1. McKenzie is always asking what she has to do and I think the visual will work will for her.

Montana is doing well in her lessons. She excels at her spelling and enjoys doing her Bible readings along with history. Saxon Math 3 does not seem to be a challenge for her yet, but she is still in the review phase. She enjoyed having her friend over on Thursday morning to play while I taught science. We still have not added science or Latin in for her, but I plan to next week for sure!

Mikayla will finally be starting morning training on Tuesday {hooray}. I look forward to the routine and having a set school time. It was tricky these last few weeks getting in her school time with summer schedule in full swing, but I think we managed well. She started General Science on Thursday. I teach her and 3 other girls at our house. I think that this will be one of her most challenging subjects this year because of the workload, but I hope to make it fun for them all so we learn a lot too. We are also adding in a study on mental toughness as part of her logic study. I am hoping this will help train her brain and break the cycle of “I can’t” on the beam.

Madison has been plugging away at school. She is a good student and gets her work done. However, I don’t think she is actually spending enough time in each subject to fully master the material. So, starting next week I am going to set the timer for her and she needs to spend the prescribed amount of time on each subject. It’s one thing to complete your lessons, but if you are not showing the results of completing those lessons on the test, in my opinion you are just wasting your time.

I take full responsibility, I may have been giving her too much leeway, but I am glad I caught it now instead of weeks from now. Madison is a smart girl, I want to help her succeed now early on in her high school career so that when she too leaves for college she will be prepared. So we are making some changes…

Micah is just plain cute every.single.day! He is a joy and keeping him busy while doing lessons is a challenge some days, but he is well worth it! I love that he will “color” and “draw” in his notebook for short periods of time and he loves to look at books and read. His vocabulary is increasing each day and he is saying more and more words and less signing.

Marie is doing well at Liberty! She has had her first two tests and scored in the high 90’s on both Math and Evangelism exams. She was upset with herself because she wanted to get 100%. That’s my girl, the overachiever Smile This weekend is the first football game and she is going to go with a group of friends from her dorm. She doesn’t really like football, but I am glad she is going!

How has your week been? Have you started school yet? I am linking up this post, stop on by and see what other homeschoolers have done this week.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Dig-It! Games: Roman Town ~ a TOS review

There are so many opportunities for game based learning nowadays. There are especially a lot of game based apps for the elementary crowd, so you can understand my excitement today as I share a game based product geared especially for the middle schoolers in your life!

Sometimes playing video games is educational. Especially when you play the new game, Roman Town from Dig-It! Games. With this new game your child will take an educational journey back in time and explore the ancient ruins of Pompeii.

Dig-It! Games was founded in 2005 by a professional archaeologist and former middle-school teacher, Suzi Wilczynski, who sought to develop educational games which promote independent learning, creative thinking and cultural awareness.

Roman Town is a puzzle-based game that will have your child exploring Pompeii through playing games and solving puzzles to track down the master thief, Ladrone. Exciting game play has the user gathering clues by solving challenging mini-games that push your logic and creative thinking skills to the limit. You’ll need to use all your expertise to beat Ladrone at her own game.

This game features many aspects of ancient Roman games along with information about the Roman way of life. With a chance to solve 35 different puzzles, it is sure to keep your child hot on Ladrone’s tracks.

The game includes:

35 unique, replayable puzzles
Investigate clues to track Ladrone
Play ancient Roman games
Detailed factual information about Roman life
Explore Pompeii
Free to download

Mikayla, my 7th grader, was my tester of this game and she enjoyed it! Roman Town is packed with history and geography information to keep you busy and learning. I will say that there is a lot of reading involved in this game, and that slowed down game play for her. However, it is still a fun and exciting game to play especially since she is just diving into Roman history. Overall, she was pleased with it and requested to play while going to and from the gym.

I should mention that Roman Town does require iOS 8.0 or later to run and does have in-game purchase options. Don’t let the add-on purchases scare you, I think they are totally worth it for game play. I would love to see this game available on a Kindle or Android operating system.

Mikayla enjoyed this game and learned a lot by playing the games. I like that she was able to play the game and get a mental workout when we were not able to get to our formal history studies. Do I think you should check it out for your family? Most definitely! It’s free after all, and you will be getting a great game filled with awesome historical information.

Be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of this game and the other game being reviewed, Mayan Mysteries (Online Game) by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ Dig-It! Games

Product ~ Roman Town

Ages ~ middle schoolers

Platform ~ iPad, iPhone, or iPod {iOS 8.0}

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