Diane Allen Homeschool Reviews

TOS Review: Celestial Almanack

2012-02-08T23:20:00.001-05:00

One of the more exciting science activities we have ever done with our children is astronomy study. I use the term "study" lightly because between my husband and I know virtually nothing about astronomy. We studied biology! Give us a frog to dissect and we're good! Talk intelligently about orbiting planets? Not so much. The last course I took in astronomy was in junior high - and that is a

Cool Astronomy Links

2012-02-02T00:12:00.003-05:00

My daughter is taking Astronomy as a one semester course through Landry Academy. The teacher is very good and he's chosen a simply, yet not "simplified" text book. It has short reading sections, great illustrations and wide margins for note-taking. (It is also out of print so I'm not going to tell you the name.) To enhance the web white board function, the teacher creates really clear

The most imporatant step for a new homeschooler!

2012-01-31T21:23:00.001-05:00

In our local area, Raleigh NC, homeschooling seems to be exploding. At the local homeschool store, we've had reports that 8 out of 10 people in the store on a given day are new to homeschooling. On our local forum there have been numerous requests for "any tips" or "all help appreciated" on how to get started homeschooling. These are exactly the type of open ended questions that are most

What To Do With A Reluctant 6 Year Old?

2012-01-13T00:12:00.001-05:00

Every month or so, on our local homeschool yahoogroup, some young mother and beginning homeschooler writes desperately seeking advice on what to do to motivate their young elementary child to happily complete their school work. After all, all the curriculum companies picture a neatly dressed child happily working away at their math sheet while mom does the dishes -- isn't that the norm? Often,

TOS Review: Z-Guide to Movies

2012-01-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite ways to change up school is to use a movie to introduce, supplement or substitute for a literary work. Here's why -- Well-made movies help students visualize the time period you are studying. Movies that stay true to the text can offer a quick substitute - or just a great introduction - for a long piece of literature if your student is not a 'reader'. Some literature

TOS Review: Real Homeschool Spanish

2012-01-06T01:14:00.002-05:00

Over the 19 years I've homeschooled, teaching a foreign language was a necessary evil in our scope and sequence. I've seen and/or tried just about every foreign language program sold to homeschoolers at various different grade levels. We have tried multiple Spanish programs over the years and quite frankly, hated them all! I tell you this so you'll read this review with a critical eye and

The 12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-30T11:26:00.001-05:00

Here in the south -- back when I was a child -- it was common to "keep Christmas" from December 25 through Jan 6, which was traditionally noted as "Old Christmas". I remember we used to put our the tree quite late in the month, but leave it up, lights on, until Jan 5th or 6th. On the NC Outer Banks, Old Christmas is still quite a big deal. Despite modern cultural differences, I still find

End of the year wrap up

2011-12-28T22:55:00.001-05:00

I feel like the two weeks after Christmas are almost magical in their powers of renewal. The week before Christmas is always happy rush. The four days "of" Christmas are exciting and filled with activity. Then comes the quiet lull between the 26th and the New Year. No school -- no practices. No commitments of any significance. I try to actually finish Christmas cards this week when I have

Activity for the Road

2011-12-22T23:37:00.000-05:00

Someone once asked our son what our family tradition was. His reply was: "First mom and dad have a big fight trying to load all the stuff into the car, then we drive to Grandma's!" Tomorrow we hit the road again - hopefully skipping the "big fight". Watching for certain decorations has been a favorite passtime. In fact our children will often text me a photo of a great find. To change

A semester wrap up - part one.

2011-12-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

I started counting down to the holiday, but somewhere in the midst of ending school, attending parties, wrapping up gifts and in general getting ready for Christmas I lost count! I don't want you to think I've dropped off the blogsphere, so here is a semester wrap up of sorts with information of some looming deadlines. Online Class through Landry Academy Ginger finished her one semester

Christmas Countdown # 6 - Timely Expectations

2011-12-06T17:50:00.001-05:00

On Friday I had an appointment that lasted several hours into the afternoon - pretty far past the expected. Naturally, because it is Friday - the traffic was slow and extended the return home from 25 minutes to almost 90 minutes? Oh -did I mention that I was slated to drive two teens to a dance and needed to stop and pick up a savory snack for them to take? I ended up arriving home with a

Christmas Countdown #5 - Less is More

2011-12-05T17:36:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny how you get busy with things during the holiday season and soon notice that you are missing entire days in your mind? (Maybe this is just a symptom of my advanced age -- if you are under 40 and feel this way how about commenting so I won't feel alone :)) I'm missing Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from last week - well, not really, but it feels like they went missing on my

Christmas countdown #4

2011-12-01T23:20:00.002-05:00

The weather has turned chilly here this week, thank goodness. I really can't get into community holiday events when it is 70 degrees outside like it was yesterday. The slight damp, brisk breeze and temperatures in the 50's make the right combination to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon. So, taking a break from children's Christmas books and classics, here are two of my personal

Christmas Countdown #3

2011-11-30T21:44:00.001-05:00

This week I'm highlighting reading with your children as a holiday tradition. My daughter insists that I offer these Christmas read aloud titles as well. We found these books from our friend, Jen. In her family, they wrap their Christmas books in paper and put them in a basket under the tree. Each day the younger children choose a wrapped book and - surprise! - this is the book they

Christmas Countdown #2 - All About Barns

2011-11-29T22:11:00.004-05:00

As we were discussing our favorite Christmas reads this week, my daughter reminded me of a book we found several years ago on the recommendation of our librarian - The Christmas Barn. This is a true Christmas memory by a North Carolina author, C. L. Davis, so that is a special plus for us. The setting is the southern Appalachian mountains during the Great Depression. It lends itself to

Christmas Countdown #1

2011-11-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

Like many families, reading as a family has been one of our cherished holiday traditions. I have several volumes of Christmas selections - poems, novels and short stories. I also have a collection of children's books that we started when the children were very small. As we began homeschooling, and especially as our children were in late elementary and upper grades, I have used the weeks

A First for Us

2011-11-27T23:31:00.000-05:00

We've had a firm tradition in our family, enforced in the move loving way, that Christmas could not be acknowledged in our house until Dec 1st. Certainly not at all until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. No carols - no Bing Crosby - No Nat King Cole - No Handel! No decorations! Absolutely no egg nog! My husband's birthday is the second week of December so I made it a point to buy our tree

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T21:16:00.001-05:00

We're on Thanksgiving break the rest of this week. After a really, really busy Monday, which followed a weekend of Ginger suffering from a cold and concentrating hard to finish two projects for science, it is time for a break. She spent the last two days making our traditional Thanksgiving cookies. These are a really delicious mildly spiced cookies that have a butter cream icing. In my

TOS Review: Time Timer

2011-11-19T09:51:00.004-05:00

The name is a little redundant. When I first heard I was going to receive a Time Timer, I was "ok happy" - no cartwheels. It was a timer after all, I have tons of timers. I like timers; I've used them for years. I didn't give it another thought. Then the box came. And I opened it, unwrapping the little clock with no hands. Mmmm... how will this work? "What've we got?," she said. "Oh,

Favorite Resource Friday: Librarian and Eductor's Services

2011-11-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

Just in time for Christmas shopping - here's new series for Favorite Resources. Since there are not so many Fridays before Christmas, I'll probably go outside the bounds of Friday posts for the next couple of weeks, as the notion strikes me. You might consider subscribing to posts so you don't miss anything. To get things started, here is absolutely my FAVORITE shopping resource for books and

TOS Review: Make It Real Learning by Mammoth Math

2011-11-17T00:09:00.002-05:00

A Product From Mammoth Math Do you have an math student who says, "When am I ever going to use this!" That is a constant, woeful refrain from my math student. When will I ever need to do linear equations? What could I possibly need this quadratic formula for? What possible use could there be for calculus? for statistics? If your student wonders what they will ever use math for in "real

TOS Review: College Prep Genius

2011-11-16T00:36:00.000-05:00

I don't subscribe to "teaching to the test"; but it is truth that preparing for a test is important. When that test determines so much about college admission, it is essential to prepare. The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test, published by the College Board) is used by most colleges to sort and select student applicants. These SAT test scores also are used in scholarship awards. With so much

More Math Options for High Performing Math Student

2011-11-14T22:52:00.000-05:00

After talking about two popular math programs this week, my friend Michelle wrote to suggest another math curriculum homeschoolers might consider for their high performing math students. I know that the authors may disagree with this statement, but the truth is, the two math programs I talked about last week are popular because they are easy to use and they explain math well to the students and

Friday Update -- on Saturday

2011-11-12T23:25:00.001-05:00

Its time for another weekly update, typically the Friday meme post - except this time it is Saturday. In last Friday's post, I optimistically predicted we'd catch up this week; we're still treading water instead! We started the week disappointed that Ginger's soccer team was knocked out of the quarter-finals of the state championship by a much less talented team (in my humble opinion!).

What is being left out from our math programs?

2011-11-10T21:09:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I posted a link to a free online math assessment. If you followed the link and took the test, I invite you to post your impression in the comments section. I made 30 out of 36 and missed the problems I expected to. I didn't know a formula or two and I also made a calculation mistake. I found the 10th grade level test challenging. This test truly reflects the material covered in