Time 4 Learning Review

Well....Where do I start?

Overall it is a nice program. The kids enjoyed the lessons. I found the science portion informative and made it kid friendly..the kids enjoyed it. The first grade math was good too. The only thing this program does not cover in 1st grade is the math facts. We only got through one section in math. I thought the Language arts lessons to be really nice. It covered reading within the lessons while teaching phonics.

For the kindergarten lessons...They are really good too. I liked that it covered letter sounds. I had to supplement for reading because my daughter is reading and from what I remembered it did not do reading.

I guess overall..Both the kids and I really liked the program. At this time though we can't afford the monthly cost. I think the cost would be better if it was one monthly payment for the entire family and not a monthly payment per child.

Time 4 Learning Review

So..It has been awhile since I have written. I have been busy with home schooling and taking care of the family.


I have been checking out other curriculum. One curriculum that has caught my attention is Time 4 Learning. They have offered a free 1 month trail in exchange for a review so.....


I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.



Stay tuned for my complete review of this curriculum.... 
Blessings.....  

Keep Your Tongue from Evil

Have you missed reading my posts? I am finding myself super busy these days. Between doing school with the girls, caring for Silas, and taking care of the house..then I have my photog business and going to school myself, and Church, and Awana...I am pretty busy. But with God's strength I have been able to tackle it all of it.

So..last week we did our usual, letters, reading, math, writing. This week I changed it up a bit. For Hunter, I follow EP pretty closely...but have now added more from the 1+1+1=1. She has a packet that has a bible verse that matches each letter in the alphabet. So this week I added the work from the packet along with EP work. It seems to be just enough for Hunter. I have also slowed down to 1 letter a week. Doing 2 a week seemed a bit fast..she seems to know her letters but I want to really make sure that she knows them. This week was letter "K". The bible verse was "Keep your Tongue from Evil". Of course we talked about what it means...so of course it stuck with them and tattled on each other or used the verse when one of them was not saying something nice.

On to Rayanne.....

I am on the right course now with her. I am happy on where I have her in the curriculum. We did a science lesson this week. We learned about Biotic and Abiotic organisms. Both Rayanne and Hunter caught on to the lesson and they had fun doing the activity. I have also set up an account with xtramath.com..this will help with math for her. Otherwise we did the usual reading, poems, worksheets, hand writing..etc.

Today...was Free Day Friday..we usually go to the library...but went yesterday instead. The girls had their ice cream cards to finish in order to get a free scoop of ice cream. So today we did our first lap book. We did it on Bees. They had a great time doing it and want to do it every week. I have lap books planned for Johnny Apple Seed, Stone Soup, 100th day of School, and the Ancient Egypt (used in the EP lessons).

Well..That is all I have today from the last two weeks. We still have Awana on Tuesdays and WINGS at the Y on Wednesdays.

God's Blessing

Week Three

I am typing this first..while I figure out a name for this blog post..lol

We finished up last week with letter "G" and "H". We also did our usual run to the library on Friday. I love working on reading with Rayanne. Teaching her how to read was one of my fears..but turns out it is one of my favorite things out of home schooling.

Last week I also started cleaning and arranging the basement and converting a section of it into a school area. Jim and I brought their school desks down there. Both Rayanne and Hunter are anxious to do school down there.

We are now in week 3. I have implemented Grade 1 curriculum for Rayanne. I switched out the reading though...day one was a success. I am happy..she seemed to be even happier...more stuff for her to do and more of a challenge. Rayanne did a rhyming work sheet, we read a poem together and found rhyming words, she did her reading, and we also read together and she had to tell me about the story, Math was easy..count to 20..but in the up coming days..we start to work on even and odds, counting to 100...which I think she already know a bit from last year..so it still may be a bit of review..but at least we are doing 1st grade work.There is also a few other subjects that have to be implemented...So I am going to have to sit down and figure out a weekly schedule on what days we are going to do what subjects.

Hunter is still working on learning her letters. So far she has known them except for the letter "G". This week we are on Letter "I" and "J". Hunter is learning to write the letter too.

Our activities start this week..Awana on Tuesday and WINGS on Wednesday afternoons through the home school group.

Well..I suppose that is it for this blog post...I wish it was more interesting and had pictures..but for now this will have to do...Again..if you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to leave them. Oh..and I didn't think of anything creative to name this post...so..it is named Week 3 :-(

God's Blessing

Week 2

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. We didn't do much. We had 2 wonderful families over on Saturday for a fire and smores. They are also home school families and our kids have become fast friends over the last year.

On the home school front....It was bitter sweet yesterday seeing all of the first day of school photos of friends kiddos..But I quickly snapped out of it and stuck to the fact that I am doing the right thing for my kiddos. Also, yesterday I scored two really nice school desks from a local parochial school that down sized because of low enrollment..I paid $2 a piece. I can't wait to get started on cleaning up my basement and making an area for school. We will have two computers and the two desks and some selves..and a desk for me to start with..over time I am sure stuff will be added.

I also joined a local home school group and signed up for classes that are through the group but held at one of our local YMCAs. The classes start next week Wednesday. Awana also starts next week Tuesday. I am pretty happy with the activities that I have set up for the kids...Between schooling, field trips, library, Awana, and the classes at the YMCA..we will be pretty busy.

On Tuesday we started with the letter "G" and worked on "G" today. We will be moving onto letter "H" tomorrow and Friday..No review day this week because of it being a short week. Also, heading to the library on Friday. I am working on some changes to the curriculum..adding some more challenging stuff for Rayanne..since I am finding out that she can handle harder stuff.

Today while working with the girls while Silas slept..I really was loving teaching them. I felt like I connected with them on a whole different level...seeing it in their eyes that they were learning and I was the one teaching them was an awesome feeling.

Well...I guess that is it for now. It is the hubby's bday, so I am going to go and spend time with him..since he worked late tonight. I hope to update previous blog posts with pictures.

Good Night all and God Bless..please feel free to leave comments..I would love to hear from you.

Wrapping Up Week 1

Here is a recap for the two days that I did not blog....

Hunter did the letter "F" on Wednesday and Thursday. She knows the letters A-F so far. Rayanne is concentrating on reading for now. 

Today, we went to the library and picked up books for next week. They coordinate with the  letter that we are doing... the letter "G" and "H". We are going to read about horses and goats. We then came home and at lunch. After Silas laid down, the girls and I made Dirt Pudding..recipe is at then of this entry. They had fun filling the cups with layers of oreo cookie and pudding mix. This activity was to be part of letter review for letter "D". 

On a personal note..I hope I am doing everything right. Over all the week went really well and I have figured out things that work and got more organized. It just feels really weird because kids go to school for 8 hours a day, and being raised going to public school...I feel like I am not spending enough time doing school work. But everything I read says that I am pretty on course with how much time it takes.I am so glad I am doing this. I really enjoy seeing my kiddos learn...they love doing school. 

Goals:
~ To finish by Memorial weekend
~ To school Mon-Thurs, with Friday being a fun (Educational of course) day and library day..
~ Have more creative ways to teach

Well..can't think of much more to write..HAVE A BLESSED LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Dirt Pudding

1 pkg Oreo cookies
1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 8oz Cool Whip
2 3.5 oz Instant Vanilla Pudding
1/4 Cup butter
2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
Gummy Worms

Mash cookies to dirt size cumbs and set aside.
Cream butter (Crisco), cream cheese and sugar.
Mix Pudding per instructions on box.
Fold butter mixture into pudding - fold in cool whip.

Layer Oreo dirt & Mixture.
Gummy worms on top or throughout whatever you want to do.

Ee is for Elephant......

Today Hunter finished up the letter "E". I like to give each letter 2 days and on the last day we do a review..so two letters a week. So far she knows up to "E". We did a elephant hand craft....both girls made one and had fun painting their whole hand brown to form the elephant. For Rayanne...she did the reading for day 3 in GR2, practiced writing the letter "T", which she knows how to do, but she liked doing it. I am hoping that things will pick up soon for her. I think she needs to be challenged a bit more. I am also doing research and trying to find a happy medium for her. But..the first year is all about trial and error..right?

Also..today I waited and we worked on school stuff while Silas was asleep. It was nice to be able to give them my undivided attention. It worked out great. I do want to expand and do more stuff.. like themes. So as I get comfortable..I will be adding more stuff. Right now I am doing things the traditional way...and just focusing on the basics and will work up from there.

I am waiting to hear back from a home school group with information about their group. It is smaller than the one I was looking at originally. My goal is to be apart of a group by this weekend.

Tomorrow..heading to the library..hopefully..Rayanne has been saying she doesn't feel good.

God's Blessing...

School In Session

Well..Today went like any other day...Kids had breakfast and played for awhile. We then sat down at the table and started doing school work. Hunter is on letter "E". Rayanne started in GR2 (Getting Ready 2). She seemed to be pretty content with what I started her on. We did the first 2 days of school work..and that was plenty. It is a bit easy for her but I feel confident about starting her in GR2...we will see what the future will bring.

The reality hasn't set in yet that  they will be schooled at home. I am sure once public school has started then it will..or maybe after a few weeks it will set in. I am in a chat group for Easy Peasy curriculum. I was told a few great links from a lady that is in the group...here they are...
https://www.spellingcity.com/ 
http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Contents.html. 

I should probably back up and let you all know what curriculum that I am using...It is called Easy Peasy All in One Home school...here is the link http://allinonehomeschool.com/.
It is completely free and is a Christian curriculum.

All in all...nothing very exciting happened. Library day Wednesday and have to sign up for Valley Home Schoolers for field trips.

God's Blessing....

Getting Back in the Groove

Well...It has been really busy this last month and I did get off track from schooling. I was up north with the kids and had no internet connection..ok.... so I lied..I had my data plan but was on restriction. We have been home for a few weeks and are now in the swing of things. I am now working on getting the curriculum ready and doing a major purge of all the clutter in the house. I want to start this year with the least amount of stress and clutter. I am also working on putting together freezer crock pot meals so that I can just pull one out of the freeze and put it into the crock pot and forget about it.

One challenge that I am running into right now is figuring out were Rayanne falls in the curriculum. The first year of Easy Peasy (EP) is actually a grade ahead. Then I tried the Getting Ready 1 at day 172 and that was not enough. She was looking for work sheets to do. Both the kids love doing work sheets. Then I looked at Getting Ready 2. She knows the stuff in GR2..but after carefully thinking about and reaching out for advice..I am going to start her in GR2, a lot of it will be review..but I am sure some where along the line it will get more challenging. I explained to her that it was going to be review and will be easy at first but will get more challenging as we go along...oh and another deciding factor is that GR2 has work sheets but less of them..so she is getting the balance. Hope this make since.

We are "offically" starting on Monday. I have been doing things on and off but will be in a regular schedule on Monday...

God's  Blessing till next time....

P.S...We have also started our daily devotional using Keys for Kids...and Awana starts on Sept 10th

First Time Blogging

Well...this is my first blog entry. I am hoping to blog everyday about how the day went, the activities that we did and anything else that comes to mind. I am also going to be doing a few back posts since I have started home schooling already.