Join HOTM's Blog Carnival!

The Heart of the Matter
8 Ways to a More Organized Homeschool
Welcome to our 8 Ways to a More Organized Homeschool Carnival. Every Wednesday for 8 weeks we will publish a collaborative article brimming with tips and advice to help you organize all aspects of your homeschool life. Anyone can submit! Sift through your archives for posts that you would like to share, old or new.
Everyone who submits a post will be entered for a chance to win an amazing prize package, currently valued at $100! For an additional entry, simply tell your readers about the carnival and share our button and link on your blog. The winner of the giveaway will be announced at the end of the carnival on April 24th.

What is a blog carnival?
**From Wikipedia: A blog carnival is a type of blog event. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks to other blog articles on the particular topic.
Weekly Topics
Organize your physical space: cutting clutter, ways to store books and supplies, tips for small spaces, etc. Due by 3/4, posted 3/6.
Organize your morning: morning routine, time with God, chores, breakfast, getting off to a good start, etc. Due by 3/11, posted 3/13.
Organize your school schedule: schedules on paper, reviews of planners, time allotted for subjects, etc. Due by 3/18, posted 3/20.
Organize your records: grades, tests, attendance, etc. Due by 3/25, posted 3/27.
Organize your projects: storing paper, lapbooks, notebooks, and old projects. Due by 4/1, posted 4/3.
Organize your kitchen: menu planning, recipes, etc. Due by 4/8, posted 4/10.
Organize your activities: field trips, co-ops, etc. Due by 4/15, posted 4/17.
Organize your heart: priorities, good attitude, etc. Due by 4/22, posted 4/24.
To Submit
Please email the following to http://us.mc510.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=carnivals@heartofthemattermagazine.com&subject=Organization before the above due dates at 9:00pm EST. You may send all your information in one email or in separate emails as the weeks go on.
Your name (first name only is ok)
Name of your blog
Title of your post
Direct link to your post
Brief summary of your post
Week you are submitting for
For an extra giveaway entry: the link to the post in which you told your readers about the carnival Share and Enjoy:
Technorati Tags: blog carnival, clutter, Extra-Curricular Activities, home projects, homeschooling, Organization, scheduling, tips
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SpellQuizzer Review

Do your kids want to practice spelling without writing the words over and over again? Are you tired of saying the same spelling words repeatedly? The innovative SpellQuizzer spelling program solves these problems and more.

Simply record vocally each week’s spelling words and a clue phrase, then type in the correct spelling of each word once and you’re done. Your child can select the appropriate lesson and practice her spelling words as many times as needed. If a word is typed incorrectly, the correct spelling is shown and at the end of the list, your child is prompted to redo the wrong words again. My fifth grader gave SpellQuizzer two thumbs up—cool, interesting, and fun!

A single license for the SpellQuizzer spelling software is only $29.95. You just download it onto the computer your child uses and it’s ready to go. It can be used by multiple children for multiple years. SpellQuizzer is not just a spelling program; it can also be used to quiz children on vocabulary words. It’s totally customizable. SpellQuizzer works with any spelling program. Try it FREE for thirty days. What a novel idea and a great bargain!

Five in a Row Grows Up!

Five in a Row grows up! If you and your children loved the Five in a Row series as much and my girls and I did, you will be thrilled with Beyond Five in a Row. Your children will immerse themselves in great literature—two fiction books and two non-fiction books in each volume.

Instead of reading each book five times in a row for a week and having the same academic activities each week, you will read a chapter (or so) at a time and do activities relating to each chapter. New, fun, and exciting exercises include internet, drama, career path, fine arts and cooking activities, and thoughtful essay questions. Many lessons on history, geography, science, and language arts are also covered. You can read the books out loud together, or your children can read on their own since chapter summaries are included. Each book is a unit study and is great for multiple children learning together. Simply add math, grammar, spelling, and handwriting and you’re done with your lesson planning.

Each volume of Beyond Five in a Row is designed to last for a whole semester and costs $24.95. These delightful titles are covered in Volume Two: Sarah, Plain and Tall, The Story of George Washington Carver, Skylark, and Helen Keller. Instill a love of literature that will last a lifetime with Beyond Five in a Row.

Heads Up!

Heads Up! specializes in products for struggling learners. Their Frames, Readers, Double-Time, and Top of the Line products are especially helpful for children with short attention spans (ADD/ADHD), or those who are highly distractible. They also help children with visual tracking issues.

The frames block aside a portion of a page so that the child can focus on one or a few math problems (or other task). This can make a whole page of overwhelming math problems seem more manageable. The Readers, Double-Times, and Top of the Lines are variations of the same idea. They block off one or two lines of text at a time and the child moves them down the page as needed. It’s the same idea as using a bookmark or something similar to keep track of where you are on a page. All of these products come in six different colors. Certain colors have been proven to help with sensory issues and attention issues, so you can choose the color or colors you need. These products are very affordable, so you can buy all the colors to see which one your child prefers.

Although my fifth grade daughter does not have visual tracking or ADD issues, she is highly distractible. She was fascinated by the frames and readers. She tried out all six colors (of each product—very scientifically) and decided that the yellow ones suited her best and helped her to focus the best. I asked her why, but she had no other real reason for choosing yellow.

Heads Up! offers many other products to help with a wide variety of learning problems and a wide variety of learning styles. Check out Heads Up!

Math Tutor DVDs Review

“Caution: The use of this DVD will cause increased understanding of basic math word problems and will lead to higher grades.” This warning is on the front of Math Tutor’s DVDs and I love it!

Many of the issues we encounter trying to solve math problems stem from trying to convert words to math symbols. It seems like getting the problem set up properly is half the battle. The Math Tutor DVDs take those sticky word problems and teach your students how to solve them step by step. They are not affiliated with any particular math curriculum, which means that they work with all types of math curricula. My fifth grader viewed some of “The Basic Math Tutor Word Problem Tutor” DVD (an eight-hour video course). While she found each session to be a bit long for her (admittedly short) attention span, she did find the explanations to be helpful. “The Algebra 2 Tutor” (a six-hour video course) had my ninth grader saying “ah ha!”

These two DVDs are $26.99 each and are part of a nearly twenty-course lineup. Since math is one of my weaker subjects, I am thrilled to add the Math Tutor DVDs to my bookshelf. Go ahead. I dare you: order the Math Tutor DVDs and watch your children’s math comprehension and grades soar.

Life is What Happens When You Have Other Plans

When life interferes with my plans, my first tendency is to throw a temper tantrum; however, since I'm not two years old, that's not considered acceptable. Of course, I didn't consider it acceptable when my two year olds threw temper tantrums either. Anyway, when life hands you lemons, do you make lemonade, or do you throw the lemons on the ground and stomp all over them?

Life has happened quite a bit at my house and in my homeschool recently, and I've been guilty of stomping on the lemons (a true confession for those of you who read my blog, Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom @ blogspot). The other day, my friend Wendy sent me this very convicting quote: "Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies [or even your loved ones]" (Nelson Mandela). Yikes! It's time to start making lemonade. I decided to look for the spiritual lesson in all of this. I know I'm not the only one guilty of harboring resentment and stomping on lemons, so read on and let go of that resentment.

What do I miss when I'm holding tightly to my schedule in one hand and my resentment in the other? I miss cuddling with a little girl who will soon be too big to sit on my lap. I miss the opportunity to involve my husband in our children's education. I miss the fun of additional family meals. I miss the blessings of relaxing with infrequent houseguests. I miss the blessings of serving my incapacitated mother. It sure looks like I miss out on many of God's blessings!

Read the rest of the article at HOTM, a wonderful e-zine for homeschoolers. I'm thrilled to be contributing articles there about once a month.

Class for New Homeschooling Moms

If you’re intimidated by the mere thought of homeschooling, wouldn’t it help to have an experienced friend guide you through the whole process? Whether you’ve got an eager four-year-old dying to learn how to read, or a stubborn sixth grader you’d like to bring home from the public school system, the Homeschooling ABCs class is for you. Brew a fresh pot of coffee and get comfy as experienced homeschooling mom Terri Johnson comes over once a week for twenty-six weeks and sits down with you to help get you started on your homeschooling journey. Okay, Terri can’t come over in person, but she’s done the next best thing and written a set of weekly lessons that will be delivered straight to your inbox.

The Homeschooling ABCs class covers a wide variety of topics about which new homeschoolers need to think: how to start, what to buy, how to teach, when to teach, where to find resources, who can help, why to write a philosophy of education, and so much more. Each topic is broken down into small, easy-to-read snippets so you won’t be overwhelmed. LOTS of FREE resources are included in the form of bonus freebies from other vendors (over $200 worth!), Web site links, and book lists. One of the best things is that you are given a short assignment at the end of each lesson to reinforce what you’ve learned and to give you guidance on the homeschooling journey. Terri doesn’t leave you guessing about anything—it’s all spelled out very clearly.

As a veteran homeschooler, I found some of the material to be oversimplified; however, a newbie homeschooler may be less intimidated that way. Much of the material is geared towards younger children, so if you’re homeschooling a high schooler, you may need some additional resources.

I know, I know, you want to know how many arms and legs such a great service costs. Here’s the good news: it only costs $10 a month, which is only $2.30 a class session. You will receive six months/twenty-six weeks of weekly lessons delivered directly to your e-mail inbox. If, for some strange reason, you don’t feel you’re learning enough, Terri offers a 100% money-back guarantee. The Homeschooling ABCs class takes a big, scary topic and breaks it down into manageable, non-threatening pieces.

Sonlight Review

History did not start with Columbus. The western hemisphere is not the only one on the planet. Missionaries from past centuries have present-day applications. Use the Sonlight Core 5 Eastern Hemisphere curriculum to unlock the mysteries of the Eastern Hemisphere and to instill a life-long interest in missions in your children.

Sonlight’s literature-based approach uses real books to inspire your children’s imaginations. Expect the textbooks to get dusty! Conversations replace worksheets and prepare your child for the dialectic discussions you’ll have in a few years. Sonlight is “the way you wish you’d been taught.” Adventure and excitement await you in your explorations of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Over sixty books are included (divided into history/geography, read-aloud, and reader categories). The books include classics such as The Hobbit and Around the World in Eighty Days, biographies of great missionaries such as Hudson Taylor and Mary Slessor, and books to capture your child’s interest in the Eastern Hemisphere such as Ships, Sailors, and the Sea and Teresa of Calcutta. My kids had dibs on half the books before I finished putting together the Instructor’s Guide!

If you’re into notebooking, you will love the complete portfolio your child will make using the Eastern Hemisphere Student Exploration Pages (answer key included). The 2008 World Book Deluxe Encyclopedia (for the computer) is its recommended resource. My daughter did not enjoy researching the different questions and had a hard time finding some of the answers, but that could be because she doesn’t enjoy research in general. The Exploration Pages are a wonderful tool to explore the geography, cultures, religions, background, leaders, and more of the major countries in the Eastern Hemisphere. You can do as much or as little of them as you wish.

One of the best features of the Sonlight Core 5 program is that the lesson plans are already done—a real timesaver. It will take you several days to read through the information and to figure out how the program works, but it is worth it. Another feature I appreciated was the ability to choose between a four-day and a five-day schedule (you do have to choose for the whole year, not one week at a time). The extremely comprehensive Instructor’s Guide advises you through every step in the process from setting up your three-inch binder (a bit intimidating at first) to knowing which questions to ask when (and the answers!). Far more material is included than most people would use in a year, but think of it as an all-you-can-eat buffet: choose what fits best with your family and leave the rest.

Sonlight’s Web site offers newsletters, articles, and e-mails to help you teach more effectively. They also offer an exclusive forum designed to make available 24-hour contact with fellow parents and experts. If you purchase the complete Core curriculum (Instructor’s Guide, all the books and other resources—about $650), you will get ten percent off of all your purchases for a whole year, and enjoy other exclusive benefits. Not sure it’s for you? Sonlight offers a 100% money-back guarantee—for eighteen weeks! Sonlight is a complete curriculum experience. We especially enjoyed studying the Middle Eastern country where a family member is currently serving the Lord.