Scripture Scribes: Men of Honor and Women of Grace ~ a TOS review

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It’s important to me that my children have neat, legible handwriting. It’s also important that they know how to read cursive writing. I have many friends whose children are in public schools who tell me their children do not learn how to write cursive, let alone read it. That, my friends, is a travesty in my opinion. In our homeschool we require that everything, except math, be written in cursive starting the second semester of the school year. Since handwriting is a skill that requires daily practice to keep proficient, I have enjoyed having Mikayla use the Scripture Scribes: Men of Honor and Women of Grace, from Laurelwood Books.

The Scripture Scribes series that we received is one of three volumes available for purchase for $19.95. The other two books in this series include His Name is Wonderful  and One Another   and are a series of consumable penmanship and copywork programs for students to write. The volume 1 we received is intended for upper school aged children, 7^th-12^th grade and presents your student with learning opportunities on 22 different character traits. Each lesson asks, “What is…?” and the lesson then provides the answers through:

~ a dictionary definition

~ a Bible definition

~ 5-6 pages of quotes from specific respected “men of honor” and “women of grace”

~ Scripture versus about the character trait

Long ago ... God gave us His Holy Word, and learned men painstakingly copied it so we would have it today. We have given you His Word in several versions so you can READ it, WRITE it, and THINK of it.  "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:11 NIV)

Within the lesson, space is provided for the student to trace and copy the selected quotes and verses in their best handwriting. The character traits covered in this volume include:

~ honor

~ mercy

~ compassion

~ love

~ justice

~ grace

~ joy

~ peace

~ truth

~ long – suffering

~ faith

~ hope

~ honesty

~ trust

~ patience

~ humility

~ gentleness

~ kindness

~ faithfulness

~ loyalty

~ diligence and

~ purity

I have been using this copywork book with Mikayla, my rising 8^th grader. She needs a little more work on fine tuning her cursive writing and this book is the perfect set for her because it’s not too “babyish”; her words, not mine. She was able to work through the book two days a week and complete the full page of copywork. She chose to use her fancy, colorful pens.

I like that this book provided character traits and so many great quotes from famous men and women and scripture verses too. I would definitely recommend this series if you have a child who needs just a little bit more handwriting practice and you want to simultaneously work on instilling character traits.

Be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of this program and the other products available for review including State the Facts: a Guide to Studying Your State , Patriotic Penmanship  , and Olim, Once Upon a Time in Latin: Derivatives I  by clicking on the banner below.

Company ~ Laurelwood Books

Product ~ Scripture Scribes: Words for Men of Honor and Woman of Grace

Price ~ $19.95, consumable

Ages ~ 7^th – 12^th graders

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©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

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Wordless Wednesday

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MySchoolYear.com: Homeschool Record Keeping ~ a TOS review

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I am really trying to be more organized in my thoughts and plans. Because we have a lot going on in this season of life and I don’t want to forget someone or something. In our schooling I am trying to stay ahead of the game now that we are headed back through high school again. My state is pretty relaxed as far as record keeping goes, but I do like to track attendance and keep lesson plans for myself. Recently, I've been using My School Year (Homeschool Record Keeping) from MyShoolYear.com to do so.

MySchoolYear.com is an online lesson planner and record keeper that allows you to keep track of all the important things you need to track. It features:

 ~ automated attendance tracking 

~ lesson plan generators 

~ automated grading ~

 friendly teacher’s reminders 

~ activity tracking for awards, reading logs, volunteer work, and sports 

~ reports to create transcripts, report cards and more 

~ lesson plan sharing if you want to share with others 

At first I will admit I was like a deer in the headlights when I started using this program. Not fault of the program, just my own. I was overwhelmed by the days activites so I logged out and came back the next morning refreshed and found that it is actually quite user friendly after I played around with it for awhile.

Setting up your account with your student’s information only takes a few minutes for each child. Once that is done, you can begin adding in classes and daily lesson plans. Tracking grades, attendance, reading, and extracurricular activities is a breeze with this program. Because we are in our summer learning period right now, I did not add in any current lesson plans, rather, I went ahead and started adding in stuff for the new school year. I am super impressed with the book log and can’t wait to have a place where I can list all the books the girls have read or been read to for the year. It will be a great visual accomplishment to look back and say you read this many books this school year; especially for my daughter who is not an avid reader.

Another feature of MySchoolYear that I am impressed with is the report card feature. Recently my children asked for a report card and I was happy because they wanted one, but then I thought oh no, I need to prepare one. Now, all I have to do is make sure I input the grades into this lesson tracker and the program will automatically generate a report card for me. YES!!! A huge plus in my book. The program will also produce a transcript for my high schooler too and that is one less thing that I have to do.
Overall, I am super pleased with this homeschool record keeping program! I am personally a paper and pen/pencil kind of girl, but I do see myself being drawn into the digital/online world utilizing this online program for the rest of our yearly subscription and beyond, especially since it generates the reports that I need and want to track. At $5.00 a month or $40.00 for the year, it is priced just right for my “extras” budget. And because we are a large family, that price is for unlimited students whether I have 1 or 12 MySchoolYear.com has me covered.

Be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of this program by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ MySchoolYear.com

Product ~  My School Year (Homeschool Record Keeping)

Price ~ $5.00 month or $40.00 yearly memebership

Ages ~ homeschool planners

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©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

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LearnBop ~ a TOS review

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So you have heard me talk about the “summer slide” quite a bit these last few weeks, right? Well, it’s because I am battling it head on to keep my girls at the top of the stairs so to speak and nowhere on the slide. Recently we have had the chance to review an online math tutor program from LearnBop. We received a 12 month subscription to the Family Plan of the LearnBop for Families program which gives access for up to 4 students. I used Madison, Mikayla, and Montana as my students.

LearnBop is an online interactive learning system that delivrs personalized, self-paced math help to students in 3^rd to 12^th grade math through step-by-step support. And because LearnBop is specifically built for family learning it doesn’t just test what your child already knows, the program actually teaches your child to solve math problems just as if a teacher was right beside him or her by identifying knowledge gaps right away.

Benefits to using LearnBop:

• Increase your child’s confidence in problem solving and exams like PSAT, SAT, and ACT.
• Personalized math help all year long at a fraction of the cost of hiring a live tutor.
• Step-by-step guidance to help master math concepts quickly
• Catch up or get ahead in math by working at your own pace.
• Parents can monitor progress with dashboards and reports for immediate feedback.

LearnBop contains 11,000 lessons for 3^rd -12^th grade math and includes unlimited access for your subscription period! Including video lessons that teach the math concepts before the student actually starts to practice completing problems. With positive reinforcements the program builds the students confidence in helping them see that they can get smarter and stronger in math.

Logging on and setting up account for my girls was super easy. Madison and Mikayla used their own laptops for access to the program while Montana used a combination of computers including my desktop, laptop, or using their family computer. It really just depended on what we were doing at that time of her accessing the program. Being able to choose from comprehensive learning plans or math by subject was great. They each have their own cute little avatar for their learning site and I can track progress by looking at the parent dashboard. With the comprehensive learning plans the program was able to identify just where each of my girls needed help.

We ended up having to do some backpedaling to get them started but that’s okay I would rather them have a strong foundation in math to build on throughout their lives. Even though two of my girls complained about their time using the program, I made them push through. Because not everything in life is butterflies and rainbows and one needs to learn to push through and finish the task at hand with a cheerful heart. The built in positive reinforcements also encourage the students to work through and master concepts and complete units within the program.

By using LearnBop two to three days a week for 20-3 minutes each session my children have grown more confident in their math skills. Their individual effort levels have improved as well as the frustration levels have gone down. Which in my book is a win-win! We will definitely be incorporating LearnBop into our weekly math lessons during our regular school year even if It is just one day a week. Be sure to see what my CrewMates thought of this program by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ LearnBop

Product ~ LearnBop for Families

Price ~ $19.95/mo or prepay 12 months at $199.95

Ages ~ students working at 3^rd – 12^th grade math

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©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

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Progeny Press: The Drinking Gourd ~ a TOS review

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School’s out for most of us and we are settling into a nice summer routine. I don’t want the learning to come to a complete stop even though our official school year is done because I have seen the effects of the “summer slide” and it is not pretty. I am so glad that we are able to incorporate literature guides from Progeny Press into our daily reading and learning.

 Our family has a fond affection towards good books. I try to fill our bookshelves full of good books as well as check them out from the local library. Trust me when I say our bookshelves are overflowing. Over the last few years I have found that literature guides make reading even more enjoyable and fun. Have you ever checked out the literature guides from Progeny Press? For this review we received a downloadable interactive PDF copy of the study guide for the novel The Drinking Gourd.

Progeny Press has been a family owned and operated company since 1992. They produce high quality literature guides from a Christian worldview ranging from lower elementary years through high school. They literally have 100+ guides and add 3-6 new titles each year ranging from lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school, and high school. If you are looking for a literature guide, they have got you covered!

The Drinking Gourd is an engaging story about the Underground Railroad. It is set in 1851 in a small New England town where Deacon Fuller and his wife and six children live. One Sunday morning Deacon Fuller sends his son, Tommy, home early from church for misbehaving during service. While at home, Tommy uncovers a shocking discovery in the family barn. A family of runaway slaves. Tommy learns that his father is breaking the law to help this family of four get to freedom in Canada as part of the Underground Railroad by following The Drinking Gourd, which is a song with a secret message with directions northward by following the Big Dipper.

The first week I used the time to read the book aloud to my younger girls Montana (9) and McKenzie (6). After we finished the novel we then dove right into the chapters working through the vocabulary and reading comprehension questions. Vocabulary is addressed in many ways to make sure the reader has a full grasp, even at the elementary level. Using a thesaurus and a dictionary to study definitions is also taught. This was a timely study for us as we were just winding down in our study of the Underground Railroad.

Our family finds that literature guides make reading even more enjoyable! We give this guide 2 thumbs up and I look forward to adding more literature guides to our collection over the course of the school year. We enjoyed our literature guide and have purchased and/or reviewed several guides in the past and will be purchasing more in the future. I love that there is no limit on copying pages for use within our homeschool. Progeny Press Guides are economically priced from $10.99 to $27.99, The Drinking Gourd sells for $11.99.

Be sure to browse the online catalog for individual pricing on all the available guides. Be sure to check out what my Crewmates thought of this guide and the many other guides being reviewed, Minstrel in the Tower, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, The Sword in the Tree, Give Me Liberty, Indian in the Cupboard, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Great Expectations by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ Progeny Press 

Product ~ The Drinking Gourd 

Price ~ $11.99 E-Guide 

Ages ~ Lower Elementary, K-3

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©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Montana and McKenzie bridge to Juniors and Brownies

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©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

 http://astablebeginning.com