Schoolhouse Review Crew: VocabularySpellingCity

I have two children with (undiagnosed) dyslexia - and pretty extreme cases. Apparently one of the big indicators of dyslexia is a profound inability to spell well because of an inability to hear the individual sounds - called "Phonemic Awareness". While I wish I had known that years ago before I tried to teach them to read, it is good to be aware of it now - and to look for tools that might help with that. 

In this case, we are using the online program VocabularySpellingCity to see if it will help increase their spelling ability, as well as to test out where Maestro is at with his spelling abilities, and to get Buttercup started on her journey to good spelling as well. In short: this Schoolhouse Review Crew program offers things to cover the entire family!

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Bridgeway Academy - Easy Essay Writing (High School Level)

I have mentioned my struggle with getting certain children to write in the past, and have tried several writing programs - all of them off-line up to now. I've tried co-op classes, in-home books, younger grade levels, older grade levels, and one in-house as part of a junior-high-level-boys-only group (which was a wonderful experience, but I have not seen where he is doing another right now.) On top of that, said now-teenager has expressed interest in going to a brick-and-mortar school for years, so I thought perhaps an online course might be a way for him to try out a classroom situation, while still being home and getting some writing instruction in. Enter the Schoolhouse Review Crew's offer to try out Easy Essay Writing with Mrs. Kimberly Kulp offered by Bridgeway Academy, an online homeschooling group.  

This program is designed for students in grades 9-12, so Maestro is the only one to fit the bill, age-wise. To be honest I wasn't sure whether he would be ready to take on the responsibilities of an online class. I've been looking at the possibility for most of this year, though and thought this would be a good opportunity to find out how he'd do. Find that part out at the end of the review. Read on to find out how our experience with online learning went!

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Diary of a Real Payne

All of my older children have enjoyed books like Wayside School is Falling Down and other such somewhat silly, zany stories that use a lot of imagination in the writing. Eleven-year-old Chef even keeps a running list of his "favorite" authors (Roald Dahl tops the list currently) and is making plans to visit their museums and where they lived some day. This is to say that reading in our house is pretty serious stuff - most especially when it's reading about the Crazy we find in life. And really: What kid doesn't like the silly, make-you-laugh stories? Well, Schoolhouse Review Crew came through again by offering the chance to read and review a book called Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton. 

The first book in a still-being-written series, Real Payne is a 192-page story aimed at the 9-12 year old group. The story is built around the imagination of a young girl named EJ Payne, who lives in a small town but yearns for more. How many of us are not affected by a desire to experience life in the patch of grass on the other side of the fence? I find this is especially true with children because they really don't have as much control over their day-to-day lives as they might like.

Several Aspects to Young Living

This is a tiny bit long (when am I not long-winded about something I'm excited over??) but please read and bear with me!

I got thrown into a bit of a cold-water bath the other day. I had a friend call me up to tell me that a woman I had only recently met (and that my friend had met only once or twice as well), had said something about me. This woman was someone I had spent several hours talking to about a wide variety of topics, including Essential Oils. She had even come to my most recent Essential Oil 101 class, and that is where her comments stemmed from.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: The Presidential Game

Chef loves board games with strategy games being the all-time favorite. When Schoolhouse Review Crew came out with a chance to review a new board game - The Presidential Game - I thought it could be a fun one to try, especially since Chef often has trouble finding people to play some of his strategy games with (Risk, etc.) Though I didn't know much about the game just from the website, it also looked like it could be a fun way to help the kids understand so much of the political goings-on when elections come up. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: PeopleKeys Personality Style Binder

There are so many personality tests and quizzes out there that it can be hard to know which ones will work to give you information that you can really use. When The Old Schoolhouse folks put up a review opportunity for StudentKeys Binders, I thought it might be a good one to try. Maestro will be 14 in November and one of the things we are working on with him this year is taking control of his own education - helping keep track, set his own goals, etc. And PeopleKeys offered the opportunity to strengthen his knowledge of himself through their StudentKeys Personality Binder.

Maestro is a little bit younger than the stated age range for the binder - the binder is advertised for high school students, and while technically he will be 14 this year, his birthday is so late that we are having him make sure that all of his "8th grade" knowledge is sound before throwing him into the high school melting-pot of educational ability. Regardless, his reading and other skills are such that I felt it would be a good experience and help him to find his direction in doing such a course. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Greene bark Press: Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again

With an absolutely fearless two-year-old in the house, it is important to re-enforce certain safety concepts as early as possible. The wonderfully illustrated, perfect-for-the-youngest-kids book Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again, distributed by Greene Bark Press, fell into my lap for a review just as said Mr. Magoo had figured out how to open the storm doors and make his daring escape up the street!