SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE or LSAT Study Resource on the Web

The Wall Street Journal All Things Digital has a great review of Grockit, an online resource for studying for college entrance exams.

Grockit makes studying for the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE or LSAT less expensive with lessons, group study and solo practice while being fun and educational, according to reviewer/reporter Katie Boehret. Grockit also has practice for English Language Arts and Math for grades 7 - 12, and can be a part of your home schooling curriculum.

• Check out Grockit.com
• Read SAT Prep on the Web: A) a Game; B) Online Chat; C) All of the Above from The Wall Street Journal
• College-Prep Homeschooling: Your Complete Guide to Homeschooling through High School 

When to Start a New Paragraph - Middle School Writing

Recently, my homeschool student wrote a short compare and contrast report of the book, Nim's Island and the Nim's Island movie. What was handed in consisted of two long paragraphs when it should have been broken down into several paragraphs, although I reviewed that a new idea or subject requires a new paragraph before the writing began.  My student thought that anything written about the book was one idea and one paragraph, and anything written about the movie is another idea and paragraph.

Even though I write for a web site professionally, I wasn't effectively teaching the concept of how to know when to start a new paragraph.  Worse yet, after decades of "just knowing" when to start a paragraph, I could not come up with another way to teach this.

I did some research to get help with teaching about paragraphs, and found Purdue's Online Writing Lab's On Paragraphs to be a great resource to help with explaining paragraphs.  Homeschool teachers can translate this information to the appropriate grade level for their students, while older students can use it as a refresher when needed.  On Paragraphs is printable, and check out the Purdue OWL resources for grades 7-12 for more writing resources and instructional material.

10 Online Games That Teach Kids About Earth, Ecology & Conservation

Check out these ten online games and game websites that teach kids in a fun way about the environment and the world around them. These interactive educational websites teach that each action has an effect on the Earth. When kids learn about animals and conservation in an interactive way, the lessons learned are sure to be remembered.

• 10 Environmental Games That Teach Kids About Earth, Ecology and Conservation

Via makeuseof.com

Lesson Planning and More: Homeschool Skedtrack

Homeschooling takes a lot of lesson planning, with reading, workbooks, online activities, field trips and other academic planning. I started planning on paper, and then created a spreadsheet to track hours, but still needed a flexible tool for daily lesson planning.

Homeschool Skedtrack Today Screen
IRT Web Solutuions

I tried three different online applications for homeschool lesson planning, all of which integrated a grading tool, report cards, transcripts and other helpful features for getting a home school organized. I found that Homeschool Skedtrack was the easiest online lesson planning tool to get set up, and after two or three weeks of use to get proficient with it, I'm finding Homeschool Skedtrack to be very dependable, free lesson planning software (donations accepted, if you're so inclined).

Homeschool Skedtrack was developed IRT Web Solutions, with the combination of over 20 years experience in Information Technology and 5 years of homeschooling. IRT Web Solutions intends to keep their online app free and guaranties, "by the grace of God, the continued availability, further development, and improvement of" Homeschool Skedtrack.

What I like about Homeschool Skedtrack:

• The printable reports are excellent for use as reference, or as documentation of planned or completed class work.
• Course activities that are not completed for the day automatically roll forward to next day the course is scheduled.
• My child/student has her own account so she can log in and get her lessons plans, and check off activities as she completes them (I approve her completions later).
• Flexibility for grading options, course dates, setting up days off from school, setting up field trips.
• There is no 'basic' or otherwise crippled version for a free trial. It's always free to try, free to use.
• Data can be exported, which I recommend doing every once in awhile to have a back up of plans.

My Homeschool Skedtrack wish list:

• Drag and drop for rearranging course activities (inserting and rearranging activities could take fewer keystrokes and mouse movements, in my opinion).
• A weekly calendar view, to reduce the need to click back and forth between calendar and lesson planning tools.
• A quick data export/back up tool that allows for downloading all of the Homeschool Skedtrack database(s) created by a user at once.  As a software reviewer and former network administrator, I am fussy about data backups.

Check Out Homeschool Skedtrack    ||   Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School


Shelley Elmblad has been testing software for ages, and writes for About.com Financial Software.  About.com is currently looking for a contributing writer at this site to cover mobile banking applications.  Interested? Apply for the job.

Homeschool Unit Studies: What is a Unit Study?

A unit study is study of one topic (mammals, ocean, Civil War) that incorporates many cross-curriculum subjects, like history, science spelling and writing. Unit study author Amanda Bennett defines a unit study as "a complete immersion into the topic so that the student will see things as a "whole" instead of bits and pieces learned throughout their education."

Some reasons that unit studies are often used by homeschoolers in place of text books and work books:

• Unit studies generally engage children easily because the studies allow them to think through problems and to be creative.
• Using cross-curricular skills allow students to understand how to use math, composition and other skills practically.
• Homeschoolers often share unit studies online, complete with lesson plans and links to resources required to teach the study.
• The same unit study can be used to teach multiple child at once, regardless of grade level. Assignments are varied by the students' grade levels, but separate text books and other resources are not required.

A great place to start exploring unit studies is with the Stone Soup Homeschool Network's comprehensive unit study data base, organized alphabetically.

Chronicles of Narnia Study Book 1: The Magician's Nephew

I've been learning more about C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia after my middle school daughter was looking to do some end-of-summer summer reading. I didn't realize that The Chronicles of Narnia actually consisted of seven books, and neither did my daughter.  Although the books weren't written in chronological order, they can be read in this order.

I found a Narnia boxed set of the books on Amazon for around $30, which brings the cost of each book down to around $4.25 a piece.  My daughter loves fantasy stories, mysteries and books that reflect a character's ethical growth.  After reading a few of the reviews on the Amazon page, I decided the books would be perfect for my daughter, and I was looking forward to reading them, too.

I decided to tie her reading in with some sort of a study and vocabulary words, and would use the time spent on the home work toward the 875 hours of education per year that kids are required to complete in Wisconsin.  It's late in August, she has many free hours on her hands, and she is gobbling up the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, so why not "make hay while the sun shines"?

I had a difficult time finding Narnia unit studies that were age-appropriate for a middle schooler.  Just about everything I found was for grades 3-5, which surprised me because although the books are a fairly quick read, there are a lot of upper level concepts in the books.  So, I started putting together my own Chronicles of Narnia study for middle school by using the study questions found at love2learn.net and some of the vocabulary words list on this Narnia Unit Study.  I found these pages while doing some searching off of The Old Schoolhouse Chronicles of Narnia study page, which is an excellent resource for putting together a Narnia unit study.

Here are the questions I compiled for the first book in the Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew:

• Book 1:  The Magician's Nephew Study Questions for Middle School Students

I'll publish the study sheets I put together for each book in the Narnia series as I complete them.

Bookswim : Convenient Homeschooling Book Rentals

Here's a great resource for renting books for home schooling students from preschool through high school, without leaving the house.




Bookswim is an online book rental service that lets you put together a queue of books to be delivered to your door. Among the classifications for children's book rentals are sections by age, literature, science and nature, animals, people and places. Adults will find tons of books covering all genres and topics as well.

To get started, go to Bookswim.com and set up an account, choosing a pricing plan that meets your home schooler's reading schedule. Plans start off at $23.95 a month to have 3 books out at once, all the way up to $59.95 to have 11 books out at once, and there are no due dates. The monthly fee includes shipping and handling, and a convenient return envelope. When you return a book, Bookswim automatically ships the next book on your book rental list.

There are no late fees, due dates or time limits with Bookswim book rentals. Right now, you can use promo code HOMEREADS to get 3 months book rental for the price of 2 at Bookswim.

Book Review: The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities

As I read through The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas, I found myself wishing I had known about this resource years ago.  Even though I was not home schooling at that time, my daughter and I would have had tons of fun with the activities presented in this book.  I am starting to home school my daughter in middle school, so the activities are too simplistic for her.  However, the first 33 pages of this book explain how to help children of all ages learn and how effective mastery of educational subjects involves more than a prescribed curriculum.  This really opened my mind to new ways too educate.

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas:  500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Aged 3-12 by Linda Dobson is packed with inexpensive, fun activities for teaching children at home over summer and holiday vacations as well as in a home school. 

For more information, check out my full review of  The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas:  500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Aged 3-12 by Linda Dobson on Associated Content.  This book is packed with inexpensive, fun activities for teaching children at home over summer and holiday vacations as well as in a home school.

 

4 Software Picks That Teach Kids About Money

As the financial software guide at About.com, I take personal finance education seriously, but I had fun researching online and desktop software that can be used to teach kids of all ages about money.    Each of these free or low-cost educational software choices has a unique feature that may be especially appealing to your child.

Learn about software to teach kids about money at About.com, and please let me know if you have used software to teach consumer math or money management to kids (hint: you need not register at About.com, just enter a guest name).

Signs of Stress in Children and Family: Are Your Kids Doing Too Much?

We often hear that kids are too busy these days, yet most families continue to participate in multiple activities with little or no downtime. Home school families can be just as susceptible as other families to the lure of getting kids involved in too much, whether it's out of pressure from comparing to other home school households, insecurity about developing curriculum, or other reasons.

Keep tabs on your homeschool activities to avoid over-scheduling and burn out, and read Do Your Kids Have Too Much to Do? to determine if your kids or your family is stressed out and in need of some time relax together.

Home Schooling in Wisconsin: Everything You Need to Know

Home Schooling in Wisconsin:  At Home with Learning has been written by experienced home schoolers and is published by the Wisconsin Parents Association.  This book is updated regularly, with my copy being the sixth edition, published in 2006.

I first considered home schooling my child in first grade, but felt intimidated at the prospect of doing so.  Still, I remained interested in this method of education.  My child is now in middle school and due to a number of factors, I decided to look into home schooling again.  Had I read Home Schooling in Wisconsin:  At Home with Learning seven years ago, I would have started homeschooling sooner.

Home schooling takes preparation and requires dedication to the task of teaching by the parent, but the rewards are usually worth the effort.  This book explains how home schooling in Wisconsin is plausible with information and explanations for Wisconsin home school laws, how to choose a curriculum and learning resources, how to get started with home schooling, socialization concerns, home schooling through high school and other topics.

You won't find Home Schooling in Wisconsin:  At Home with Learning in online or bricks and mortar bookstores.  This 286-page reference book can only be ordered from the Wisconsin Parents Association.  Cost with shipping is $34, or join the WPA ($30 per year) and pay $27 for the book.



The WPA is a statewide, inclusive, grassroots organization, founded in 1984 to oppose legislation that would have severely limited homeschoolers' freedoms by giving the Department of Public Instruction power and authority over homeschools in Wisconsin.