The folks from Alpha Omega contacted me yesterday (comment posted in previous blog entry) and asked if I would put a link to their site on my blog. They thanked me first , of course, for mentioning their product in my blog. When I read their message, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about a company asking me to provide free advertising - but then I realized that I had already done it. Hahaha. Truly ~ I do not mind a bit that they contacted me and truly I am most happy to say I LOVE the Switched on Schoolhouse and Lifepac that we are using this year. I will happily include a link to their site on my blog and hope you'll give them a look.
Since I'm sending you to see what they have, I think it is only fair that I should share our experience with their products ~
We are using the History (sixth grade) Lifepac along with the Switched On Schoolhouse computer program. I was not familiar with either program when I purchased them. I purchased the Lifepac first. After looking it over, I wasn't happy with its simplicity. I knew that one pass through a lesson and filling in the blanks would not be enough for my fellas to retain important information. I needed something that would reach out and grab them. SO....I thought I would order a computer history program to see if it would capture their attention a little better. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the SOS History is the EXACT same program as the History Lifepac. We use the Lifepac as a supplement to reinforce the computer program - and so far, the boys are doing a GREAT job.
Maybe AO would consider selling a combination pack. *grin* *hint hint hint* Or maybe they already do, and I just haven't figured it out yet???
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have a happy Wednesday!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
We have settled into our school-day routine - surprisingly fast. I thought it would take at least a month for the boys to ease into their VERY full schedule. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. They are SO ready to learn and they are buzzing through their day at an amazing pace.
They both begin their day at 7:00am. I can't say they're happy about that part of their schedule. *chuckle* They eat breakfast, get dressed, and do their morning chores between 7:00 and 8:00. At 8:00, they are at their computers, working on their blogs (VERY fun way to sneak in some creative writing). The rest of their day goes something like this ~
8:20 - 8:40 Spelling Drills (Dr. Aardsma) and Copywork (See Copywork Blog Entry)
8:40 - 9:00 Vocabulary (Wordly Wise 3000)
9:00 - 9:30 Grammar (Easy Grammar)
9:30 - 10:00 Writing (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
10:00 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 10:45 History (Switched on Schoolhouse and LifePac)
10:45 - 11:15 Spanish (Rosetta Stone)
11:15 - 11:45 Math (MathUSee)
11:45 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 - 2:00 Science (Apologia)
I also require one hour of reading (They gladly read for longer periods of time....but as long as they give me an hour, I'm happy.).
It looks like they have zero wiggle room, but this is actually working out great for us! They've already learned that they can 'bank time saved' on one subject to use somewhere else. Without knowing it, they are learning time management.
They'll stay busy four days a week. On Fridays, we will have out-of-house learning. Every other Friday, we will spend several hours at the library (finding new books to read and doing research). On the Fridays we don't go to the library, we'll have a little fun!
Well ~ there you have it. The House of Hooligans Homeschool Schedule. It will make us stronger or it will kill us. Hahahaha.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have a restful evening!
They both begin their day at 7:00am. I can't say they're happy about that part of their schedule. *chuckle* They eat breakfast, get dressed, and do their morning chores between 7:00 and 8:00. At 8:00, they are at their computers, working on their blogs (VERY fun way to sneak in some creative writing). The rest of their day goes something like this ~
8:20 - 8:40 Spelling Drills (Dr. Aardsma) and Copywork (See Copywork Blog Entry)
8:40 - 9:00 Vocabulary (Wordly Wise 3000)
9:00 - 9:30 Grammar (Easy Grammar)
9:30 - 10:00 Writing (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
10:00 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 10:45 History (Switched on Schoolhouse and LifePac)
10:45 - 11:15 Spanish (Rosetta Stone)
11:15 - 11:45 Math (MathUSee)
11:45 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 - 2:00 Science (Apologia)
I also require one hour of reading (They gladly read for longer periods of time....but as long as they give me an hour, I'm happy.).
It looks like they have zero wiggle room, but this is actually working out great for us! They've already learned that they can 'bank time saved' on one subject to use somewhere else. Without knowing it, they are learning time management.
They'll stay busy four days a week. On Fridays, we will have out-of-house learning. Every other Friday, we will spend several hours at the library (finding new books to read and doing research). On the Fridays we don't go to the library, we'll have a little fun!
Well ~ there you have it. The House of Hooligans Homeschool Schedule. It will make us stronger or it will kill us. Hahahaha.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have a restful evening!
Friday, September 05, 2008
My first grade teacher (who was also my father's first grade teacher - if you can believe that!) deemed good penmanship a necessary life skill. I remember our handwriting lessons vividly. I look at my first grade work every now and then (my mom still has copies of stories I wrote all those years ago) and marvel at the difference in my writing and that of my children. Somehow, my daughter came through the public school system with beautiful handwriting. My boys, on the other hand, have not fared so well in that area.
A battle I continually fought with their teachers was over their penmanship. I simply could not accept the school's tolerance of the scrawl my boys were permitted to pass off as 'handwriting'. *I* knew they could do better and I demanded it. Their teachers knew they could do better, too. They would not demand it.
When we brought learning home, one of the first things I addressed was penmanship. I found Handwriting Without Tears and pushed my middle school level boys all the way back to the basics. I had them complete several lessons of printing, then bumped them up to cursive (something my fifth grade son had not been taught in public school - I was STUNNED). I had them complete the HWT Cursive book TWICE before I was satisfied they had mastered correct letter formation.
Still, they show a great deal of laziness in this area. I am determined this is going to change. *grin*
On the first day of school, I pulled out a notebook I found while cleaning out some boxes this summer. In this notebook I have a collection of quotes, poems, song lyrics, and 'blurbs' from short stories and plays I enjoyed when I was about their age. They looked at just a few pages and it hit them - everything was hand copied. Both commented on the neatness of my handwriting and how long it must have taken me to fill the notebook. Both of them then realized one of the quotes in my book matched one written on the white board in our kitchen classroom.
OH! THAT'S what this is all about ~ Mom is OH SO CLEVER!
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an awesome weekend!
A battle I continually fought with their teachers was over their penmanship. I simply could not accept the school's tolerance of the scrawl my boys were permitted to pass off as 'handwriting'. *I* knew they could do better and I demanded it. Their teachers knew they could do better, too. They would not demand it.
When we brought learning home, one of the first things I addressed was penmanship. I found Handwriting Without Tears and pushed my middle school level boys all the way back to the basics. I had them complete several lessons of printing, then bumped them up to cursive (something my fifth grade son had not been taught in public school - I was STUNNED). I had them complete the HWT Cursive book TWICE before I was satisfied they had mastered correct letter formation.
Still, they show a great deal of laziness in this area. I am determined this is going to change. *grin*
On the first day of school, I pulled out a notebook I found while cleaning out some boxes this summer. In this notebook I have a collection of quotes, poems, song lyrics, and 'blurbs' from short stories and plays I enjoyed when I was about their age. They looked at just a few pages and it hit them - everything was hand copied. Both commented on the neatness of my handwriting and how long it must have taken me to fill the notebook. Both of them then realized one of the quotes in my book matched one written on the white board in our kitchen classroom.
OH! THAT'S what this is all about ~ Mom is OH SO CLEVER!
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an awesome weekend!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Well ~ We're off~
We began the 2008-2009 school year quietly and we're easing into what is going to be a pretty intense academic schedule. When I asked what the boys thought of the new year so far, both yawned. They are more than ready to be challenged. We'll bump it up a notch today.
Yesterday, the boys started working with Rosetta Stone - Spanish Level 1. They LOVE it! Both are a little intimidated by the pronunciation segments - but only because they are nervous about everyone else in the house hearing them make a mistake. I found that if I walked away and busied myself in the other room (where I could hear them....but they didn't KNOW I could hear them), they did much better. This will be a challenge for Scott, whose ADHD seemed to get in the way a little bit yesterday. I could hear him self adjusting, though - and by the end of the lesson, I could tell he was more aware of his need to focus. I expect things will go better for him today as he knows more what to expect from the program. Nick - flew through the lesson and wanted more.
We got the Switched on Schoolhouse History and Science in the mail yesterday. I did some preliminary set up. Today we'll see if this is going to be a good fit for us. Pray for us! I am just about out of ideas (and money) for bringing these two subjects to the intersection of learning and enjoyment. With everything I have purchased for this year, I hope NOW I can pull everything together for a challenging and engaging course of study.
Alarm clocks are going off upstair for the second time now (gotta love those snooze buttons). I'm off to the races.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an AWESOME Thursday!
We began the 2008-2009 school year quietly and we're easing into what is going to be a pretty intense academic schedule. When I asked what the boys thought of the new year so far, both yawned. They are more than ready to be challenged. We'll bump it up a notch today.
Yesterday, the boys started working with Rosetta Stone - Spanish Level 1. They LOVE it! Both are a little intimidated by the pronunciation segments - but only because they are nervous about everyone else in the house hearing them make a mistake. I found that if I walked away and busied myself in the other room (where I could hear them....but they didn't KNOW I could hear them), they did much better. This will be a challenge for Scott, whose ADHD seemed to get in the way a little bit yesterday. I could hear him self adjusting, though - and by the end of the lesson, I could tell he was more aware of his need to focus. I expect things will go better for him today as he knows more what to expect from the program. Nick - flew through the lesson and wanted more.
We got the Switched on Schoolhouse History and Science in the mail yesterday. I did some preliminary set up. Today we'll see if this is going to be a good fit for us. Pray for us! I am just about out of ideas (and money) for bringing these two subjects to the intersection of learning and enjoyment. With everything I have purchased for this year, I hope NOW I can pull everything together for a challenging and engaging course of study.
Alarm clocks are going off upstair for the second time now (gotta love those snooze buttons). I'm off to the races.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an AWESOME Thursday!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Whatever doubts I had yesterday are gone. As I sat here today watching my lesson plans for the year finally begin to take on some definite...organized form, I became more and more convinced that I've worried for nothing about the upcoming school year - and the boys' seeming desire to return to public school. I am very pleased with the resources I've chosen for each subject and I'm reasonably sure the boys will be equally as pleased.
I have allowed for a four day in-house school week, with Friday as our day for out-of-house learning. The boys will work through five subjects each day - from 8:00am until 2:00pm. This probably sounds like a rigid schedule to some - but I tried a more relaxed schedule last year and the result was hearing my boys talk about going back to "real school".
If my plan grabs their attention as it has already grabbed mine, this should be a year filled with enough challenges and successes to redefine "real school".
Pray for us.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an awesome evening!
I have allowed for a four day in-house school week, with Friday as our day for out-of-house learning. The boys will work through five subjects each day - from 8:00am until 2:00pm. This probably sounds like a rigid schedule to some - but I tried a more relaxed schedule last year and the result was hearing my boys talk about going back to "real school".
If my plan grabs their attention as it has already grabbed mine, this should be a year filled with enough challenges and successes to redefine "real school".
Pray for us.
From the House of Hooligans ~ Have an awesome evening!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Aug. 25, 2008
The Countdown Has Begun
Actually ~ the countdown started about two weeks ago. I've been gleefully ticking off the days since my youngest son whined one sunny afternoon, "I'm boooooooored." Naturally, I suggested he could start school early and do a little math review - an idea he readily rejected (with the look of horror on his face).
The idea made sense to *me*.
Both boys, now 12 and 14, are talking more and more about going back to public school - and this breaks my heart. At first, I didn't know how to respond. I was torn between standing firm in the decision we made two years ago to leave that rat race behind us and giving in to their yearning for the 'normal life'. There are still days I wonder if I am doing the right thing - but for now, I've decided to dig my heels in deeper and stand firm.
So - the countdown has begun. School will be in session bright and early next Tuesday morning.
From the House of Hooligans ~ 8 Days (and counting)
The Countdown Has Begun
Actually ~ the countdown started about two weeks ago. I've been gleefully ticking off the days since my youngest son whined one sunny afternoon, "I'm boooooooored." Naturally, I suggested he could start school early and do a little math review - an idea he readily rejected (with the look of horror on his face).
The idea made sense to *me*.
Both boys, now 12 and 14, are talking more and more about going back to public school - and this breaks my heart. At first, I didn't know how to respond. I was torn between standing firm in the decision we made two years ago to leave that rat race behind us and giving in to their yearning for the 'normal life'. There are still days I wonder if I am doing the right thing - but for now, I've decided to dig my heels in deeper and stand firm.
So - the countdown has begun. School will be in session bright and early next Tuesday morning.
From the House of Hooligans ~ 8 Days (and counting)
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