A Stable Beginning

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Homeschool Easy ~ 1st Grade Entire School Year Curriculum ~ a TOS 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. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

Howdy friends! If you are new to homeschooling, today I have a great homeschool curriculum to share with you. Are you looking for a complete packaged curriculum that doesn’t implement the Common Core? If so, be sure to check out or need a complete package, you'll want to check out the Entire School Year Curriculum sets from Homeschool Easy.

We received the 1st Grade Entire School Year Curriculum and I have been using it with my son, Micah who is 6. This easy-to-use curriculum gets the job done without the extra fluff! Your children will learn all subjects including math the way you were taught, straight forward and to the point.
Through daily worksheets your child with work through the 32 weeks of curriculum material covering the 6 core subjects of: ~ Grammar: focuses on beginning English grammar ~ History: includes links to videos with a focus on basic American history and geography, art projects included too  ~ Math: Common Core free. Includes flash cards to focus on traditional number sense ~ Reading: daily reading lists, books with corresponding comprehension sheets, flash cards, puzzle games, word search, and other materials to learn 1st grade level words. ~ Science: hands-on science related art projects and videos to cover basic science knowledge ~ Writing: beginning writing process Internet access is needed to access the curriculum materials and video lessons. You will also need access to a printer to print out the worksheets.
I love how organized this curriculum is! Every subject is tucked away into folders and subfolders. Finding exactly what you need is easy because everything is clearly labeled by week.

During this unprecedented time when parents are faced with what to do for their children education this year, Homeschool Easy is here to provide an affordable solution. For just $100.00 you can gain access to this consumable curriculum. You get access to an entire year of curriculum that not only is comprehensive but will save you the parent time and undue stress of what exactly you are supposed to teach your child.

For our review period I have spent time focusing on Micah’s reading. He, like his sisters excels in math, so while we did look over it, we didn’t spend too much time on this component. His reading has come a long way and he is reading even more fluently within the past 6 weeks. While he is not a huge worksheet fan I have tried to remedy that by printing the reading lists on vibrant colorful paper.

Overall, this program has been a great fit for us and we will continue to use it throughout the year. It is engaging and complete if you are looking for an all in one curriculum. Homeschool Easy also has complete grade level curriculum up through 5th grade so be sure to check out the other levels offered too. And don’t just take my word for it! Click the banner below to read some of the review of my 45 CrewMates and see what they thought of the 1st Grade Entire School Year curriculum and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, an 5th grade programs as well.

Homeschool Curriculum for Grades 1 to 5 {Homeschool Easy Reviews}

Company ~ Homeschool Easy

Product ~ 1st Grade Entire School Year Curriculum

Format ~ online, PDF files

Price ~ $100.00

Ages ~ 1st graders

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http://astablebeginning.com

Friday, August 21, 2020

Our week in pictures ~ Week 1

We have had a great first week of school! We are not at full schedule yet. Next week we will be adding in Latin for all (well, except Mikayla ~ her Latin studies are done) and writing for Montana. We have some tweaking to do with our schedule, however, I am holding out for the girls training schedule to make anything permanent just yet. But other than that it has been a great week, enjoy our week in pictures!

goggles make school better

now McKenzie has the goggles :-)

dinner out on our first day of school

meeting with our new history co-op

http://astablebeginning.com

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Learn to write with Structure and Style from Institute for Excellence in Writing {IEW} ~ a TOS review

Morning! Have you narrowed down what you will use to teach your children to write this year? Writing…I know! The thought of teaching writing can either strike fear into you or make you giddy. Honestly, I have been hovering between the two camps since earlier this year as I have been searching for a writing program to use for my 5th grader. Typically, I don’t teach writing until the latter years of middle school, but this year I wanted to give McKenzie a gentle start as she has shown interest. We have dabbled with many middle and high school writing programs before over the course of our 12 years homeschooling so you can best believe I was supper happy when the opportunity to try Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A from Institute for Excellence in Writing® (IEW) with McKenzie over the course of the summer.

If you are a new homeschooler I am pretty sure you have heard the buzz about IEW. If you don’t know, IEW was founded by Andrew Pudewa who sought to provide a better way to teaching children the skill of writing. Because we were knee deep in life I didn’t even track my box after we received our shipping notice. So when my box arrived, I did a little happy dance as I unpacked the contents.

Everything you need to start the writing program is inside the box, including:

~ Student Binder and Packet ~ Teacher’s Manual ~ DVD or Streaming instructional videos

*you get to choose your format, we received the Streaming option for this review which means we can reuse the program with multiple students.

The Structure and Style for students program comes in three levels A, B, & C and provides instruction for children in grades 3-12. The students are instructed in writing by Mr. Pudewa who is teaching in a small group setting and directly to your child as if they were sitting inside the classroom as well. Mr. Pudewa injects his sense of witty humor into the program through his assignments etc.

This course covers covers 24-weeks of instruction using IEW’s structural models and stylistic techniques and lays a solid foundation in writing. If you need/want to stretch out the course there is a 30 week schedule available as well.

So, McKenzie my 5th grader, was my tester for this review. As I said above she has just started showing interest in learning to write so I want to take advantage of her eagerness and willingness to learn. I am so happy to report that McKenzie has flourished with using this program! I love that she has taken the initiative to want to do her writing each week.

Watching her find her keyword outlines and then retelling the story to me has been great! For about 1 hour, three times a week McKenzie has been able to work somewhat independently on the program. She is able to pause the video when needed to write her Key Word Outline and I am never more than an arms reach away though in case she needs help.

This is not our first time using IEW. Years ago I owned IEW and used it with Marie. I will admit, I failed at that time and the program was overwhelming to me and it just did not “click” with the girls so I sold my SWI-C set. A few years later we were given the opportunity to give IEW another shot to use SWI-B with Mikayla and I am so incredibly thankful for that chance because it clicked for her. From that point forth we have moved forward full steam ahead with IEW’s approach to writing. While we have been taking our writing slowly, I have seen great improvement in McKenzie’s writing and the ability to pick out the key word outlines and putting her thoughts on paper.

Our experience with IEW has been fantastic and I recommend this program hands down! This is one of the few programs out there where you have to look past the price and just go for it! Think of it as an investment in your child’s future especially if you have more than one!

My 8th grader is also using IEW for writing, utilizing our SWI-B set that we already have. It's going to be a great year of writing! Be sure to check out my CrewMates thought of this product as well as the other two writing programs reviewed. Click on the banner below to read all the review.

Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A, B & C {Institute for Excellence in Writing® Reviews}

Company ~ Institute for Excellence in Writing®

Product ~ Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A

Format ~ Forever Streaming

Price ~ $149.00

Ages ~3rd-5th graders

Social Media Links:

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http://astablebeginning.com

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Wordless Wednesday ~ First day of School edition

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Monday, August 17, 2020

The LIFE Plan ~ a TOS review

Morning friends! We are in full swing today in our 2020-2021 school year. It’s great to be back and getting into somewhat of a routine. Today I am excited to tell you about a new homeschool Bible curriculum that we have been using from The LIFE Network. We have been using The LIFE Plan for a few weeks now so I am excited to tell you more about it.

The LIFE Plan is a set of six volumes created by Allen L. Elder, an ordained minister from South Carolina where he put together The LIFE Plan for his home church. LIFE stands for Living Intentionally For Eternity and the LIFE Plan is built around the Bible’s story, structure, and service plan for our lives.

Each of the books in this series contain 36 weeks of lessons with each volume having a central theme that all flows together as a set. The Volumes themes include:
~ The Bible’s Story ~ Abraham and Israel~ The Structure of the Bible ~ The Life of Jesus on Earth ~ The Church ~ Your Personal Ministry

Using this curriculum is really easy and user friendly. Since the lessons within the week plan each follow a similar pattern:

~ the theme/topic

~ The lesson aim

~ Scripture reference

~ Reading selection, typically just 1-3 pages in length

~ Lesson outline

~ More scriptures to broaden your understanding

~ Theological connections

~ Lesson glossary

~ Comprehension questions about the theme passage (don’t worry, the answers are in the back of the book if you need a little help).

Simply complete one lesson a week to build the strong foundation upon Christ.

The best part of this curriculum is that it can be used for homeschoolers throughout the course of your child’s compulsory education, grades 1-12, by using one volume each year. So if you begin in your child’s first grade year you will go through the series twice, digging a little deeper each time through the topics.
Originally I had planned to use this program for all of my children’s Bible curriculum this year, a different volume for each one. However, with shipping delays due to COVID the Volumes 2-6 of the curriculum did not arrive until the end of July and our Volume 1 arrived a few days later. But I didn’t let shipping delays stop me once we got these books in our hands. Instead, I jumped right into Volume 2, which covers Abraham and Israel, because it lines up perfectly with our history studies this year. Typically I read from the volume during the evening at dinner time. I would look up the scripture as well and read that. Afterwards we would discuss the questions that were provided at the end of the lesson. I like that the way keeps us at the table as a family for just a bit longer.

Overall, I can say that this is a comprehensive study of the Bible. I like the way each section is broken down into tiny chunks so that the information is able to be retained and placed within our hearts. I will continue to follow this same plan of reading and discussing over dinner for this year. I highly recommend you taking a look at this curriculum if you are looking for a disciple-making curriculum for your family. But don’t just take my word for it! Nine of my CrewMates also reviewed this homeschool Bible curriculum. Click the banner below and see what they thought too!