Art History

This year I get the privilege of teaching Art History at our small Co-op (and literature, writing, speech)

We are starting at the beginning and walking through history through art.  Our first discussion was Preshistoric art.

Of course,  we made our own "cave paintings".  I encouraged them to use the same materials to paint that prehistoric people had - leaves, rocks, sticks.

I like how they turned out!

A weekend Home!

This is a tad late getting posted, but...better late than never!

We brought the first born home from UMHB for a weekend.  Can I tell you how wonderful it was to have all of them back under one roof!  (it's only been 2 weeks...but it feels like forever!)

So, what did we do?


We played Pandemic...alot!

We ate - we made every favorite meal and feed him continually....Including the special sister cookies for the dorm!

We made music together - my favorite part of the weekend!

We drafted our Fantasy Football teams (Go Precious Lil' Players!)

We chased each other in the backyard

We danced in the rain - really... King TUT!

And,  we loved every minute together!

 Dropping off at college the second time was not easier... We cried all the way home.

Educeri Lesson Subscription Service from Educeri ....... Educeri a division of DataWORKS: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Educeri Lesson Subscription Service from Educeri .......  Educeri a division of DataWORKS 

  I love to plan the "perfect lesson", don't you?  But, I have a problem spelled T-I-M-E (the lack of it...)  Let me tell you about a new treasure - Educeri Lesson Subscription Service from Educeri .......  Educeri a division of DataWORKS .
This online subscription allows you to access over 1000 resources and lessons that are already planned for you!  For grades K-12, there are lessons in Math, Language Arts, Science, History, and much more. 
Educeri is not a complete curriculum, but it is just what you need to add to your existing plans to keep it new and fresh.

Its a very easy to navigate site.  You can search for lessons by topic, or by grade.  After you log on - you can access the lessons as you want to - everything is available 24/7 at your convenience!  We are currently studying ancient history and I found the perfect supplements in Grade 6 - History.

The lessons are created with classroom use in mind, but work well in our homeschool setting.  They would be excellent additions to your co-op classes.  Each lesson is a series of slides. All lessons are correlated to Common Core standards (if you care...) and are professionally produced.   Each teaching point is highlighted for you and answers show up in red.  Everything you need to know to teach the lesson is right there for you.

Since we have several high schoolers, I spent a good amount of time exploring the options for my older learners.  Science was filled with great lessons, and I let them explore on their own as well.  The lessons include passages to read, and identify key points.  Great practice for standardized testing, and a fun alternative to the average textbook.

But, my favorite lessons were found in high school English Language Arts (ELA).  There are great resources for helping you tackle upper level literature.

But, not only for the older kids!  The elementary ELA is fantastic as well.  Let me show you...

This is a lesson from Grade 2 - Describe Characters, Setting & Plot

Many lessons include downloadable worksheets and/or quizzes.  This is the student worksheet for this unit:

As you follow through the slides (this unit had 18) the concepts are taught.  The side bars offer teacher tips and answers highlighted in red.

Additional ideas to explore this topic were included as well.

How easy is that?  I love this site - be sure to check it out with their FREE 30 Day Trial   

Find Educeri .......  Educeri a division of DataWORKS  on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educeri/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/teacheduceri   @educeri

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Educeri/

Hashtags: #hsreviews #educeri #educhat #dataworks-ed 

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MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership from MyFreezEasy: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

 MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership from MyFreezEasy


This is a new FAMILY  FAVORITE -  MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership from MyFreezEasy!

This online subscription allows you to build and print your own meal plans with just a few clicks of a mouse.  This easy-to-use site offers several options to make meal planning easy.

You can choose from pre-designed meal plans for the month. The plans include 5-10 recipes that can make 10-20 meals.  You can make and serve, or make and freeze for later.  Each plan includes the recipe, shopping lists, assembly instructions and labels.  Recipes include modifications to make them gluten or dairy free. They offer various plans to choose from, and plans are updated monthly.  We were able to download September's plan and October's plan during our review time.  We tried almost every recipe and they were all hits with my family!

Plans include:

You can build your own meal plan with the MyFreezEasy desktop app.  Your customized plan will include recipes, shopping lists, assembly instructions, labels and even video instructions for 5 meals that you select.  Build your own plan allows you to access the vast recipe library that is organized in easy to search categories including:

• Chicken recipes
• Slow-cooker recipes
• Ground beef recipes
• Dutch-oven or saucepan recipes
• Gluten-free recipes
• Other beef recipes
• Baked recipes
• Dairy-free recipes
• Pork Chop recipes
• Gluten-dairy-soy free recipes
• Skillet recipes
• Other pork recipes
• Grilled recipes
• Paleo/Whole 30 recipes
• Seafood recipes
• Vegetarian recipes
• One-dish meals
• Top 8 allergy free recipes  

 Simply select the meal you want, including number of servings and drag it to your custom plan.  Being able to select an 8 serving plan was HUGE!  With 9 people at home (and some of them little) this is the perfect size for us.  It was so nice to have the correct measurements, and not rely on my math skills for doubling or tripling the recipe!   Add 5 meals, and your plan is created and ready for you to print in a handy PDF file. 

If you need help, My FreezEasy includes videos that will walk you through the assembly process for the month's meal plans.  Additional how-to videos will teach you the basics of flat freezing and safe, quick thawing, in no time.  A Bonus Side Dish cookbook is included with your Premium membership.  This was another sanity saver for me - I never know what to make in addition to the main dish.  The plans all include a recommended side to serve as well.  I printed out the Side Dish Cookbook and kept it in my recipe binder for easy use.

My main tester is my right-hand kitchen helper...my 13 year old.  She has fallen in love with creating new meal plans for us with the desktop app.  (it's that easy to use!)

Some of our new family favorites are "Lazy Lasagna Bake" and "Bacon Ranch Chicken".  They ask for them over and over.  With the plan, we make one to serve and one to freeze and save for a busy night.  The prep and assembly instructions make it so easy.

The Crockpot meal plan is far and away my favorite.  We are busy and on-the-go most nights and utilizing my crock pot with these yummy recipes has been a lifesaver.  Be sure to try "Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff"  - your family will love it.

Meal planning has never been so easy!


Find MyFreezEasy on Social Media:Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/freezeasy
Instagram:  http://www.instagram.com/freezeasy
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/5dollardinners/freezeasy

Hashtags: #hsreviews #freezeasy #freezermeals #5dollardinners #freezercooking

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Something new... Poetry Time

We're trying something new this year...

Starting our day with some poetry.   We choose these two books, and Edward Lear for our first poet.

I'll keep you posted...so far, so good!

Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers from Everyday Education, LLC: A Homeschool Crew Review

Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers from Everyday Education, LLC
Writing.  It's full of twists and turns, and our high school students need to know the correct path to help them now and into college.  We have discovered a must-have resource -  Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers from Everyday Education, LLC.
This 420 page reference manual has 2 parts.  Part One offers models and instructions for writing persuasive essays and research papers.  Part Two is full of tips on grammar and the mechanics of writing.
This is a resource you can use over and over again. Author, Janice Campbell has gotten permission to adapt Mr. Ian Johnson's, a college professor, writing handbooks into this one comprehensive volume. We have been long-time fans of Janice's Excellence in Literature series, and were not disappointed in the Handbook for Writers.
I have 2 testers currently in high school, and another in college.  I decided to print out our downloadable ebook and put it into a binder, so we can all access it.  I would recommend purchasing the print copy for $39 (the printing cost was much more!).
With both of my high schoolers knee-deep in ACT and SAT exams, the sections on writing essays were of particular help to us.  Janice takes them step-by-step from the initial comments of their essay to building more complex and interesting arguments. 
I used some of her "brain teasers" in this section to challenge them to think and reason in their essay as practice for their upcoming tests.  Good news - they did great on the essay section!
I have also referred back to this invaluable book over and over as I teach our Communications and literature classes for our small co-op.  Openings, defining a thesis, an organizing arguments and acknowledging opposition have all been topics we used to build our speeches, and her examples were just what I needed to brush up and be ready myself!
Additionally, hundreds of grammar and usage tips are included in the second part.  This was a reference section we found ourselves reading just for fun - we're such homeschoolers!  Formats like APA and MLA guidelines are clearly detailed.  My college age son actually asked to borrow it for his upcoming research paper, so he can follow along with the proper format. 
She includes a section on misused words that was a great vocabulary review for my testers.
The Handbook is well organized, and you can use the detailed (9 pages) Table of Contents to find what you are interested in. Throughout this book, she includes literature references and examples. This is a book that you can use over and over throughout the years - both for yourself and your students.
This is a great resource for every high school (and college) student. Highly recommended!

Other members of the Crew reviewed two other products you should check out: Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting (elementary or remedial)
Working it Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert.

Find Everyday Education, LLC on Social Media:

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janicecampbell/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/janicepcampbell

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/excellenceinlit/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicepcampbell

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JaniceCampbell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/everydayedu

Hashtags: #hsreviews #excellenceinlit #copywork

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Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com: A Homeschool Crew Review

Brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com “If You Were Me and Lived in…” series
The Bentz Test Laboratory is excited to introduce the “If You Were Me and Lived in…” series brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com.  We received 4 of the 9 new books to enjoy: If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1) If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient China: The Han Dynasty If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)
If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7)

These easy to read books are designed for ages 8-14.

They explore what life may have been like if you lived in a different time period in countries around the world.

Printable, worksheets, & resources are available on Carole’s Blog to go with the books as well.

Carole began writing as a dare from her sons,  I love it! She uses our natural curiosity to capture her readers and introduce them to other times and places.  Be sure to check out her Geography series - "If You were Me and Lived in..".here's a my review.

The first book we opened was If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1).  This softcover, 54 page book takes you back to Ancient Greece.  It is fully illustrated with delightful watercolor style drawings.  The book begins with  "now" and "then" pages with drawings of Greece - encouraging you to compare/contrast.  It then goes on to discuss geography, daily life, clothing, food, education, occupations, family, and more.  It introduces the Greek gods and goddesses and gives a brief description of each.  Famous people like Greek Philosophers and Alexander the Great are mentioned.  One thing we appreciated was having the pronunciations for all those greek names included in the text!   My testers found this to be easy to read and understand, and they really enjoyed it.

Since we are studying ancient history this year, we were excited for If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient China: The Han Dynasty.  It can be hard to find quality resources for this time period and place.  This 76 page softcover was the perfect complement to our study!  The books follow a similar outline by discussing geography, daily life, and important points for your student to know.  From why you got your name to how you wore your hair, the book tells students all about life in Ancient China. Important people are introduced and discussed in an easy to read way.

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6) is a 97 page book, that gives you a in-depth look at life in the Middle Ages.  From what living in a castle was like, to what happened when you got sick, it gives a great snapshot of life in that time period.

If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7)  is 54 page book.  This book takes you to the American West.  From what was in your wagon, what you ate, to the Famous people of the West - you get a chance to explore together. Native American tribes are introduced too. 

We love these books, especially my 3-5th grade students.  They can be read in one sitting, or over several.  They are interesting, and filled with great facts that my testers really wanted to know.  The glossary in the back of each book is a great resource.


These are great books to supplement your history studies.  We highly recommend them! Be sure to check out the other titles as well:

If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)

If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)

If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4) 

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)

If You Were Me and Lived in...Viking Europe 

Find Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com on Social Media:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/caroleproman/

Good Reads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5854108.Carole_P_Roman

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/caroleproman

Hashtags: #hsreviews #childrenshistory #historystorybooks #culturalstudies

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