~February Skies~

Curriculum review: Aleks math

As a member of TOS crew both of my children were given the opportunity to try out the online mathematics program Aleks. What is Aleks? This is from their website:

Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course she is taking.
ALEKS also provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any Web-based computer for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor.

I admit that I have tried this program before a couple of years ago but neither one of my kids were quite ready for it. This time seemed to work a lot better, especially for my daughter who is 10. I was really impressed with the way the initial test could set each child's individual level. My son who is 12 but developmentally at a lower level started out doing well with it until it became more challenging for him. With his disability he requires a lot (I MEAN A LOT!) of repetition before he truly knows something,especially if it something he isn't particularly interested in. So I found that for him there wasn't enough review for him to get the problems right without me helping him extensively. He did seem to enjoy the program though and looked forward each afternoon to trying it out with me. My daughter? She loved the fact she didn't have to do a ton of repetition when learning a concept and the review that came the next day was the perfect amount for her.

Both children really enjoyed the pie that kept track of their progress. At the end of doing lessons for the day they both would ask to see their pie graph. (this illustration below is showing the middle school math but we are doing the elementary math)






I plan on continuing out the rest of the school year with my daughter using this program. In the past for math we have concentrated on on one math skill at a time but I really like how this teaches different concepts at the same time. This seems to help with the monotony of just doing problem after problem of the same thing. 

The program isn't just for children either!  It can be used for high school and for adults wanting to continue their education.

How much does ALEKS cost? A subscription to ALEKS costs:

$19.95 per student, per month, or
only $99.95 every 6 months, or
only $179.95 every 12 months.

Learn about their family discount program.

What better way to find out if it works for your family but to try it yourself?


If you would like to read what other TOS members thought of this program check out their reviews!

Disclaimer: I received this product from TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review; all opinions stated are how this program worked for my family.

What type of homeschooler are you?

When we began our homeschool journey (it's been 6 years this month woohoo!) I tried to follow a very structured course of action with all that we did. We took our son out of public school a little over halfway through his kindergarten year and at the time my daughter was in preschool in the morning so that made it easy to work with my son in the mornings. This really helped in getting him caught up in some areas that he wasn't being taught at school but was capable of. The next fall I started homeschooling both of them. I really wanted to try classical homeschooling. Also I wanted to buy a boxed set of certain subjects to simplify things but instead it complicated things for me as I had to do a lot of prep work. Having a child with a  learning disability requires a lot of extra time with physical therapy,occupational therapy, and a lot of specialized doctors. Add in the fact that a child with special needs requires a lot of extra time period. I'm not complaining (ask anyone that knows me) but that is a fact.

If I had to put a type on us I would say we are eclectic homeschoolers. I always start each year out with a plan of action still but often a few months into it I have to switch my approach, even if we are learning the same goals, to something different. A good example would be that for years I have used a certain series of math curriculum that focusses on one skill alone at a time until it is mastered. This worked well with both children for several years but a month ago we were able to try out a different math curriculum that focusses on a wider range of math skills at one time. Guess what? For now it is a great fit!

Another hurdle I have encountered that has gotten bigger this year is that it is pretty much impossible to teach both kids simultaneously. I have to work with them one on one.  It seems to be working itself into a groove though that works for our family. In the last four months my 10 year old daughter has started doing a lot of her work on her own. She likes to wake up early  (before me I'm a night owl;) and independently does her Time4Learning school work. She gets it done a lot easier also as normally her brother sleeps later than she does so the house is completely quiet for her. So then I get up and get breakfast for everyone (sometimes she cooks as she likes to make breakfast) and then I sit down to do A~man's computer work with him. Meanwhile she either reads, crochets, or writes letters to family and friends. I like our online curriculum as it covers pretty much everything but in the afternoon we often do a lot of hands on activities like using our Lego education kits or get books from the library to back up our T4L stuff. Right now A~man is studying about Eskimos/inuits and Z~girl is studying about the Incas and Aztecs.

Another thing we like to do is field trips! Last week hubby took both children with our homeschool group to see a play about the underground railroad. I was disappointed not to go but I was sick and didn't want to share cooties. We go to several plays a year and lots of other learning adventures with our friends. Girl Scouts also has opened up such a learning opportunity over the years as we have a wonderfully creative leader.

So that is how we approach our learning adventure! I must say things rariliy get boring in our home with this approach. Sometimes I do find myself envious of my friends that are classical homeschoolers or those that have a neat and orderly way of doing things. We tried one year having a room JUST for school...but it just didn't work for us. I guess that is the neat thing about homeschooling, tailoring it to meet your own families needs!

Homophones

What exactly is a homophone? Wikipedia says this-

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too.

Learning about homophones and other word skills can be fun with vocabulary games. Sometimes though if a child already has challenges with spelling, introducing the words together can be very confusing. It sometimes helps to teach the one spelling and meaning separate from the other one until the child has it solid in their mind. Growing up I remember being very confused with these three homophones in particular- there, their, and they're. I think I figured out "they're" first as the ' replaces the a in "they are". Next I learned that for the word "their" it had the i and meant that something belonged to them. A reminder for me using there is that the last part is the same as where. So if someone asked "where" you could say "there". Rereading that it sounds silly, but when learning sometimes things just trigger something in your brain to help you figure something out. I'm also a big fan of online homophone games to reinforce vocabulary skills. Of course that wasn't available when I was a child.

Here is a cute homophone video I found that is from Between the Lions.

I also found this online that uses homophones (incorrectly) to make a very punny poem.


 Eye Halve a Spelling Chequer


It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.


(Sauce unknown)

TOS Review~KinderBach

Recently as a TOS Crew member I was given the opportunity to try out an online piano/music class. KinderBach is typically for children ages 3-7 but I decided to try it with my music loving 12 year old who has some learning challenges. He already takes drum lessons so he was familiar with some of the basics. KinderBach teaches beginning piano lessons and even some basics such as
note reading, rhythm, singing, and composition.



Music can help stimulate the body and mind and provides many benefits to children with developmental disabilities. When my son was a baby/toddler he slept a lot and the one thing that was sure to get him active was when I played a variety of music for him. He would just start MOVING!


 


When I sat down with my son to try KinderBach out I initially thought he would think it was too silly/young. Surprisingly he was glued to the computer screen. A cool thing about that is, because of it's simplicity, he was able to do it completely on his own. (a lot of online programs require me to be at least sitting by him in case he needs help or needs to be redirected)

 


The online lessons start out at $7.99 for a one-year membership (you can buy a one-month membership as well), DVD with CD packages start at $40.45 plus shipping, CD packages are $23.95 plus shipping, and there are several low-priced (some even free!) games, crafts, and coloring books. KinderBach also has a classroom program that would be great for a preschool classroom!
I would definitely recommend this online program to introduce a preschool/kindergartner to the joys of music. I would also recommend it for a child older than that age that has developmental delays or challenges. Oh, and you can try it out for free for two weeks of online lessons by subscribing here.

If you do decide to place an order, use coupon code TOScrew2012 to receive 30% off of any order - homeschool, classroom, online or DVDs!



~Disclaimer: I received the chance to try out this product for free in exchange for my honest review. This is my own opinion and no other compensation was received.~
Click here if you would like to read other TOS reviews on this product!


 

~Great Thoughts~

There are so many different variations and ways to homeschool. Some families homeschool using only religious curriculum while others prefer keeping religion out of their education and choose a more secular education approach. How does my family homeschool? We use a more ecclectic approach which is a mix of a little this and a little that. I love to run across something in a blog or in a book and use it for our school.

 Recently I read the sweetest story that I picked to do a review for. The book is " Schoolroom in the Parlor" by Rebecca Caudill. The book was written in 1959 and tells of a much simpler time period of the early 1900's. You can go to Homeschool Literature if you would like to read the review. My favorite part of the book is something I'm going to try and implement in our home. The big sister that was teaching the younger children each morning would start the day with a "Great Thought". These were words of wisdom that great men had thought. Althy the older sister said "Whenever you learn a great thought, you can think it, too. A great thought is something nobody can take from you." Here are some examples from the book- "Don't give up the ship. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. A merry heart doeth good like medicine." She would tell the great thought to the children and they would memorize it then talk about it. After that the next oldest sister would write the quote in her tablet so the younger sisters could copy it into their tablets.

I LOVE that! So I'm going to find a few a week and do the same thing. I have all kinds of favorite quotes stirring through my mind. I'll try and and share some that I choose this week.

laughing on the inside

Tonight we went to our local Chick Fil A. I have pretty much sworn off most other fast food places but I love Chick Fil A on occasion. Well we were getting up to leave and my husband had already gotten up to empty our tray. Z was following hubby and A~man was with me. There on the side of the table sat a ketchup container. I'm not talking about the little foil pouches of ketchup. I'm talking about the new pouches that hold three times MORE ketchup. Do you see where this is going? Do you? If not I will show you a picture-

 
There it sat. A~man looked down and after that everything was in slow motion and I could not do a thing to stop it. He karate chopped it. No exaggeration ketchup went all over our booth and six feet beyond.  Honestly I do not think he meant to do it. He was pretending to karate chop it and his hand slipped. IT WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE. A few seconds before I noticed a homeschool mom with her two kids walk by. (I do not know them but recognize them from some event)  I did not yell. I may have exclaimed but I did not yell. I'm sure if someone was studying my face they would have noticed I almost...almost busted out laughing. I knew the harm that would follow if I did that. It would happen over and over. I very firmly told him to go get napkins and clean it all up. After the initial shock wore off his face (he didn't really plan on doing it) he ran off to get napkins and promptly cleaned it up. I was mad, I was embarrassed and by gosh I was about to bust out in hysterics. I did not look around for reactions from others...I just remember hearing the other homeschool mom tell her sons "watch out for the ketchup!" and one boy said "what happened?"

Walking out to the car I guess Z told hubby that I was REALLY mad. In the car I had to turn away quickly after telling hubby what happened. Later he said that he thought I was laughing...or maybe crying.

I had a flashback. A similar thing happened to me at that age. I remember after a basketball game or some event we stopped at McDonald's and were eating outside in the front. My best friend at the time was wearing white jeans. Do you see where this is going. There was a packet of ketchup on the ground. I jumped on it. My friend was covered in ketchup. I will admit it was NOT funny yet I was joking around just like my son and my foot slipped....

Life is ALWAYS interesting in my little world.