Strawberry Lemonade!!

My daughter found this recipe for lemonade for a crowd (makes like 100 servings!) and has been making it for the past two weeks--we are LOVING it :) Yummmmmmmmmmmmm

It is super easy and we just store the concentrate in the fridge and freezer. She made a few batches of strawberry lemonade as well -- the same recipe, just pureed strawberries added in.

Give it a try!!

CTCMath -- my REVIEW

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I enjoy math. Yes, I acknowledge that I may be odd in that sense :). We are pretty traditional here with math courses--using textbooks, one a year, copying the problems into notebooks to work them out.  I do understand, though, that some folks are not as math-loving as I am, and some homeschooling parents might get frustrated with math topics that they do not practice on a regular basis. Many of them turn to online or dvd courses for math instruction for their students. I was interested to get to check out one such program, CTCMath, for this review. I received the 12-month family membership and I got to use the program myself to work on my calculus skills!

This math program is very broad in its scope. It goes from early math skills up through calculus!  If you are not sure where your student should begin, there are a variety of diagnostic tests that you can use to determine placement. 

Once you have determined where you will start your student, they will begin and work through the lessons. I was using this program as both a parent and a student, so I'll tell you both sides!

From the parent side: you can either determine if you want your student to start somewhere and work straight through, lesson after lesson.

You will receive progress reports which show you which lessons they did and when they did them. You will also see the student's scores. If you would prefer to assign lessons (whether in order or not), you can use the task assignment function where you assign lessons and the dates that they are to be completed. It is very easy to do without much confusion on your part.

On the student side, those assigned tasks are very easy to find on your dashboard.

When a student enters the lesson, they will view the video for the lesson (which is like a blackboard-type with audio, so the student can see the steps to solving the problems). There is also a helpful lesson summary below the video which gives the overview of the lesson. There is a questions tab on some lessons which asks questions or math problems related to the lesson which the student completes and it automatically scores the answers as correct or not.

The worksheet is a full problem set to practice the concept. Some of these are automatically scored, others (like in some upper level calc lessons, at least) rely on the user to enter their score.

The video lessons and explanations are very clear and easy to follow.

The parent has a lot of control in this program, of course choosing the lessons they wish to be completed, but also other things like the score for advancement (for instance, maybe you want your student to get 95% of the questions correct before moving on...or maybe you just prefer something different.)

The students stats can be viewed online within the program, or if you are a person who would rather have paper records, there is a nice checklist that you can download and use to keep track of progress as well.

All in all, this program is very easy to use and might be something for you to look into if you would like math lessons for your student. This program could also be used as supplemental, giving a student extra practice or review in different topics. I actually think I'll have my soon-to-be-college-freshman take a look at some of the lessons before he takes his calculus readiness exam for college placement! 

The program is very intuitive and easy to use from both the parents' and the students' perspective. CTCMath is a pretty easy open and go type program without a terrible learning curve for parents. There are some user guides if you would like more explanations, but for the most part it is pretty self-explanatory. 

One thing that I like about it is that it engages the student on several different levels, they hear the material and see the problems worked out, they complete question/answer section, and they work through a worksheet. I think that CTCMath would be worth your looking into if you are searching for a math program for your student! 

You can read what other reviewers have to say about CTCMath by clicking on the graphic below:

Reupholstering chair seats -- no sew, just fabric, scissors, and a staple gun!

Our Saturday project turned out so nicely! My husband and kids and I sanded and stained these chairs...then it was time to re-cover the seats. It is quite an easy project and I have done it before--but it is nice to have kids who are old enough to learn and help with it!

MaxScholar for reading improvement -- my REVIEW

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software is a reading enhancement / improvement online program for readers (and pre-readers) of all ages. It touches many aspects of the reading experience, including phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, word roots and parts of speech, and more. The MaxScholar website and app are to be used by both the learner and the educator. The learner's work and progress are made available to the teacher through easy to read reports, graphs, and recommendations. 

As a student enters the MaxScholar program, his or her teacher can determine where they ought to begin. For many students, that might be at the phonics assessment. My children are high school aged and they are quite fluent readers, so we did not opt into the phonics assessment--this can be easily set on the teacher dashboard. 

There are seven main sections within which the student may learn. There are MAXPHONICS, MAXREADING, MAXWORDS, MAXMUSIC, MAXVOCAB, MAXPLACES, AND MAXBIOS.
Students should have their volume on so that they can hear the audible prompts and instructions for each segment. I'll tell you about a few of the sets so that you can get a taste of the program. :) 
Maxreading, as you might assume, allows a student to choose a topic to read about, with topics which will interest them according to their set grade level.  The passage for reading begins with a segment of maxvocab which highlights vocabulary words for that chapter; the student may click on each of the highlighted words to learn its meaning, its context, and any synonyms and antonyms which will help in the word's understanding. 

Next the student moves on to reading the passage closely and carefully, followed by a highlighting exercise in which the student highlights the topic, the main idea, and important details. This is corrected by the program so that the student can see what they actually were supposed to be. 

Next the student has the opportunity to make an outline of the passage, followed by a writing exercise in which the student is given a choice of different prompts to answer. There are comprehension questions which follow this segment, and if the student's score is at least a C+ they are allowed to play some games (which tie in to the reading segment). 

Okay, so that was the MAXREADING section. Let me now tell you abit about the MAXWORDS section. This area enables students to learn to break words apart into syllables (which helps with spelling, as well!), gives them spelling rules to follow, familiarizes them with prefixes and suffixes, and teaches Latin and Greek word roots. 

Each of these sections has multiple exercises and practice points for students to learn in these areas and to succeed in these areas as well. The audible instructions that accompany each part help the student to understand what exactly they are asked to do.
The MAXMUSIC section allows users to choose a musical artist and to use the lyrics of one of their songs to practice skills such as parts of speech (though my daughter got a bit frustrated here, as being verbs and helping verbs are apparently not included as "verbs") :) 

Other sections within the MaxScholar program include MAXPLACES and MAXBIOS which enable students to learn about other places or people as they read texts, highlight, and check their comprehension with questions. 
SO--if you are looking for a program to help out your struggling reader at any age, this may be something you want to look into! It seemed very easy for us to navigate through the program on the learner's side of things, and with the teacher's access it also was easy to view the student's progress. We did notice a few typos in several places, but they did not detract from the program. One thing that I really appreciated is the audible instructions on each step of the program. 
If you'd like to read more reviews of the MaxScholar program, please click on the link below!

Crash Course Biology videos

Just wanted to share a favorite resource for science...Crash Course videos on YouTube!! My favorite ones are the biology and A&P with Hank (of the Dear Hank & John podcast fame!) These videos are packed full of information in a very easy to understand way--lots of pictures, explanations, and humor! :) 

Here are two for examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ZZ6tcxArI&t=25s (about the heart) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtrYotjYvtU (about the excretory system). 

I use these when I'm tutoring or teaching and also I have recommended them to college students struggling in different areas of biology--they are SUPER helpful!

Check them out! :)