mathematical reasoning (a TOS review)

 

   Mathematical Reasoning Level F (Grade 5)

   The Critical Thinking Co.

    Currently on sale for $37.99.  Regularly

    $42.99.

 

 

When I requested reviewing Mathematical Reasoning I had no idea what to expect.  This was my first encounter with The Critical Thinking Co.  And let me just say…WOW!  They offer SO much more than I had imagined!  I’ll be using some of their products next year…and being the curriculum shopping time of year, I highly encourage you to go browsing and see if any of their products fit your needs!

 

 

But back to Mathematical Reasoning…

 

 

This 440 page workbook is filled with Math skills that target building problem-solving and computation skills.  Skills that are greatly utilized when moving onto higher level Math.  It can be used either as a Core Curriculum or as a supplement.  Answer Key is located in the back of the book.

 

 

 

 

The pages are colorful (mommy likes) and the concepts are presented in a spiraling manner.  Meaning…a new concept may be presented once and then not again for a while.  I happen to be a fan of spiraling. 

 

 

 

My 5th Grader and I both really really enjoyed this review!  His primary Math curriculum is Saxon.  And while I think Saxon is a great fit…it does tend to be a little dry.  Text booky.  Adding Mathematical Reasoning to our daily workload spiced things up!  Also, it helped me to see if he’s generalizing (meaning…he can work problems out when presented in a different way) all of the information we’ve been working through.

 

 

I’m personally not sure I would use Mathematical Reasoning as my CORE curriculum choice but it’s definitely a great supplement! 

 

 

…danielle

 

 

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product in exchange for my honest and timely review.  All opinions expressed here are my very honest own.  Click here to see what other TOS reviewers thought of this product.**

Trevy’s fave warm weather fine motor play-tivity: write and squirt the alphabet

 

This is totally not an inspired idea.  You’ve probably already seen it/done it/moved on.  But since we’re having so much fun right now I thought I’d share.

 

 

What you Need:

• Sidewalk Chalk
• Water filled squirter of your choice
• Any chalk friend surface (opinions may vary on precisely which surfaces are chalk friendly )
• Children

 

 

 

Trevy (when I say Trevy…I really mean mommy) has been driving daddy bonkers with the chalk.  He’s drawing everywhere.  On everything.  A regular graffiti artist in the making!  Actually, we may have two or three of them in the making.  That big square that Trevy in enhancing (below) is his big brother’s chalk drawn Strike Zone.  Where he practices pitching with a tennis ball.  From approximately dawn til’ dusk. 

 

 

Anyway…

 

I may have rolled my eyes at the hubs’ chalk hating ways.  I also may have guilt tripped him to “let the boy write” and “the rain’ll wash it away” retorts.

 

 

Which gave me the bright idea to let TREVY wash it away!

 

 

I mean the monkey already has a passion for squirting things.  We keep a little squirty bottle ready for bed head fixes.  It is not uncommon to get misted at the most unexpected times.  And to look up and find Trevy cheesy grinning behind the weapon.  So very proud of his aim. 

 

 

 

So I decided to make it a little more structured by drawing the alphabet on the fence for him to wash away.  And you can get as creative as you dare.  Pull letters from a bucket and then go erase that letter.  Use words instead of letters.  Draw shapes.  Colors.  Whatever!

 

 

The bottom line is…

 

 

it’s crazy fun to squirt things!

 

 

And Trevy loooooved it!

 

 

Of course, I played therapist by making him use “two hands”.  Which he hates.  He will ALWAYS prefer his left hand only.  Forcing him to “work” did put a damper on some of the love.  But I have no doubt this’ll be his fave thing to do ALL summer long!  Especially when I randomly allow him to get in a mommy squirt too. 

 

 

…danielle

our favorite new place to study

 

 

They looked so cute and study-licious at our new (to us) patio table.  Listening to K-love on the iPad.  Bristel in her princess dress that she insisted on wearing because we hung up a mosquito net over her bed which makes her feel like a princess.  Therefore, she must dress like one.  

 

 

It was all just so adorable that I had to grab the camera!

 

 

 

Of course, what you can’t see in the picture was the arguing about whether to lift the umbrella or not.  They didn’t know I could hear them.  Cue mom eye roll.

 

 

Just keepin’ it real.

 

 

Smile & Sigh.

 

 

 

But other than the umbrella saga, we have been LOVING the warm weather stretch and the new patio set!

 

 

…danielle

freebie app palooza

I have not actually tried any of these apps.  But hey, they’re free!

Shape Galaxy

The Moogies

Smart Twins

Chuck & Friends: Ruckus Reader

SeaWorld: Ruckus Reader

Crayola: Ruckus Reader

Sushi Monster by Scholastic

Practice English for Kids

Nova Elements

Fotopedia National Parks

Family Cart

Enjoy your Pad!

…danielle

 

my newest (homeschool) mommy toolbox essential: TOMBO glue

   Every mommy has her toolbox of mommy-hood essentials.

My homeschool mommy toolbox includes things like:

Netflix
Our iPad
Internet
Painter’s Tape
My laminator (which here’s hoping the hubster unclogged it for me!  Don’t ask…)
Whiteboards
Velcro

Yep…that’s right.  I’ve crossed Velcro right off my list!  I’ve had a love-hate thing with Velcro forever.  I love how it allows me to reposition things over and over and over and…  But I hate how tacky it looks.  At least if you happen to place everything cross-wise like me!  I hate how it gets fuzzy stuff stuck in it.  And so on…

Which is why I’m SO excited to have found an alternative!

TOMBO multi-purpose glue!  You can use it as a permanent adhesive by sticking things in place while the glue is still wet.

OR…

You can let the glue dry to a tacky goop and use it as repositionable adhesive! 

I’m totally addicted!

I’m using it on EVERYTHING! 

It even sticks things to my painted (because it was WAY easier and we’re lazy like that) wall paper when positively nothing else will stick to it!  I found mine at Michael’s but you can google and price compare.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to tack-i-fy!

…danielle

how we’re doing family worship today: Keys for Kids

Like every family out there we have struggled with consistent family time  worship.  We’d find something that worked for a while but then inevitably we would hit a Life bump in the road (early work schedule, late night baseball games, etc etc) and it would stall out.  Before we knew it months would pass before we were gathering together for worship at home again. 

Then one day not too long ago, I was feeling sappy.  And somehow my mind wandered back to when I was a kid.  And I remembered how my parents used to read Keys for Kids with my brother and I.  My memories may be fuzzy but I distinctly remember enjoying them. 

I convinced my hubby (who is more of the read right from the Word kinda guy…which is great and important but it just wasn’t working with the two littles.  He agreed. :0) to try out Keys with our kiddos. 

It’s been working wonderfully!

You can read it online, order the booklets or do like us and listen to the audio version!  We just gather on the couch around the iPad and listen to Uncle Charlie share that day’s Key.  I love that there is a little worship tune on the audio version too.  We’ve found that mornings work best for us.  And while we still haven’t managed to meet every.single.day, Keys has been helping us be more consistent.  

Anyway…

I just thought I’d share in case there might other families out there looking for a family worship time idea.  Give Keys for Kids a try…it might be the right fit (for right now) for your family too! 

…danielle

Trevy’s April (montessori/tot school) Trays

 

 

Trevy attends our local public school’s integrated preschool program four half days a week.  Although next year is K…sniffle sniffle.  Integrated is just a fancy way of saying half the class or less is special needs and half the class or more should be peer models.

 

 

I like the program we have wrapped around him.  It’s working and he (mostly) enjoys school.

 

 

But we also do a lotta learning here at home too!

(homeschool mommy syndrome?)

 

 

I’m in love love love with the workbox/tot tray concept.  The OCD in me adores how organized it is!  Plus it looks so cute and learn-y all cozy in the school/therapy room.

 

 

 

 

Inside each of those little drawers (I call them trays) lives mommy picked toys and activities.

 

I rotate what’s inside them on a monthly basis.  Sometimes more often.  Depending on how creative and energetic I’m feeling. 

 

 

   

 

 

We’re blessed to have some amazingly gifted people working with Trevy.  One of them gave me the 3 – 2 – 1 – all done! idea to help Trevy maintain his focus.  I have 3 strips (hanging on the whiteboard for now) with coordinating pictures on the drawers.  Once Trevy fills a strip (which means completing 3 trays) he’s All Done!  And can choose anything he’d like to play – usually that means outside or iPad.  Although he does have a recent infatuation with Chuck the Truck.

 

 

Ideally, we’ll go through all 3 sets of trays each day.  I don’t know about your place…but at our place life doesn’t typically flow ideally.     Most days we make it through 1 set.

 

 

Rather than go in depth with the trays now…I thought I’ll just do a quickie skim.  And maaaaaybe…I’ll do a post for each tray individually? 

 

Set 1

 

All About Reading Tray

Ziggy Zebra and a couple other puppets live inside here.  My AAR tote bag hangs on the back of the school door. 

 

Pattern Blocks Tray

I found these awesome easier pattern printables and only have the blocks needed to complete the two patterns in the drawer.  I do keep the blocks in a Trevy safe tupperware so I don’t have to worry about choking.

 

Pre-Writing Tray

I do use a large binder which doesn’t fit in the tray as a slated surface.  Dry erase crayons are in the little tupperware.  Again…Trevy safe.  Trust me…I’ve wiped enough crayon off enough walls!  And from between enough teeth!

 

Set 2

 

T for Trevy Tray

Spelling his name with magnetic letters.  I intend to start erasing the prompt letters one x one to see if he can generalize.

 

Hand Writing Without Tears Puzzle Tray

I printed HWT templates and cut the shapes from foam sheets.

 

Gross Motor Play Tray

I found another great printable with movement prompts for the letters of the alphabet.  We have to do at least 5 movements to complete this tray.

 

set 3

 

Speech Therapy Tray

Lots of oral motor play goodies plus flash cards, PECS and a sentence strip or two.

 

Craft Tray

We’re making our own ABC book with coloring sheets.

 

Life Skills Tray

We’re using I Can Dress Myself by Your Therapy Source to help learn about self care.  We also dress to dolly as we play.

 

 

And that’s a peek in his trays this month.

 

 

…danielle

netflix-ing

I knew the kids would love this movie because they’re very into mysterious things right now.  But I was not prepared to love it too!  Such a wonderful wonderful movie with a great story line and even better take home point!  Beautiful scenery too…being set in Ireland.  Reminded me that I once dreamed of visiting Ireland for my 20 anniversary!  I highly recommend adding Secret of the Cave to your instant que!

Another goodie!  Especially with it being baseball season right now.  Based on a true story and set in Mexico (geography…are ya with me moms? ). 

Great for girly girls!

…danielle

if you give a kid an iPod… (a video clip marathon)

 

 

A handful of little video clips I found on the kids iPods…

 

 

How they entertained themselves on our schlep to Boston Childrens for Trevy’s neuro appointment…

 

 

Ever wonder what Trevy's voice sounds like when he says "poooooop"?

 

 

Bristel teaching Trevy how to boogie before church

 

 

What Trevy says and does with the iPod when nobody’s looking!

 

 

I helped Bri (my budding crafty girl) make this little clip but Trevy was toooooo funny in the background not to share!

 

 

…danielle

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry (a TOS review)

 

Science is one of those subjects that scares me just a lil’ bit.

 

 

Oh…I loved Science as a school kid.  Especially all things involving animals and anatomy.  I just knew I wanted to be a vet when I was little.  I’d try to nurse bees who’d lost the stingers back to health.  Snuggle every stray creature I happened upon.  But Physics?  Chemistry?  Unh uh!  Made my knees knock! 

 

 

And in some ways still does.  It’s one of my homeschool mommy insecurities.

 

 

Enter…

 

 

 

 

Bright Ideas Press offers more than Science products too!  I highly encourage home educators to snoop around their website and explore all the various options.

 

 

But today – we’ll be chatting about Chemistry.

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry ($39.95) is one of four different Science curriculums in the Christian Kids Explore series.  You can also purchase a separate resource cd (on sale $9.95) to help making copies easier.

 

 

It was like the Author’s “Don’t Be Afraid!” and “Don’t Be Intimidated” notes were written just for me!

 

 

And it wasn’t just empty words either.  Everything is super organized and easy to understand.  In fact, they even tell you how much time to plan for per lesson and recommend how many times you should teach Science per week!  How did they know I’d need my hand held?! 

 

 

In this curriculum (target: 4th-8th grade) you’ll find 30 lessons divided into 5 different unit studies.  Covering topics like The Basics of Chemistry and Atoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click me to read the table of contents.

 

I love that vocab is incorporated into each unit study!  Because it’ll make us all sound smart.  Also, I’m a fan of anything that saves me time and brain power!  I love that there is a listing of materials (click here to get an idea of materials you’ll need) needed for the hands-on projects.  The kids love wearing their safety goggles (aka sunglasses) and lab coats (aka robes) for experiments.  Because looking like a mad scientist makes everything more fun!

 

 

We did not have a chance to fully explore this curriculum during our review but I’m in love with it!  In fact, I intend to use Christian Kids Explore Chemistry as our primary Science next year!  And everybody knows…if you give a mom a curriculum she loves…chances are she’ll be purchasing the rest of the set too!

 

 

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry definitely gets two thumbs up from our fam.

 

 

…danielle

 

 

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew, I received a pdf version of this product in exchange for my honest and timely review.  All opinions expressed here are my very honest own.  Click here to see what other TOS reviewers thought of this product.**

his 5th grade workboxes: learning to love reading

You might be a homeschool mommy if…

you get a printer for your birthday and you LOVE it!

I’ve been itching to make new workbox labels for aaaaaages and now that I have my beautiful new printer (sigh) I did!

Since Tobes is a bird lover I went with a birdy theme.  He doesn’t appreciate the vintage black and white appeal…but I do. 

I have their labels hanging in the school/therapy room on little pocket charts I snagged in Target’s dollar section last year.

The tags start on the To Do section and as completed move down to the Done section.

Both of the big kiddos are still using and loving their workbox totes.  I found them at Walmart for just five buckaroos.

Bible

Is currently morning devos as a family.  However, we recently bought him his very own Bible and he’ll be doing more independent Bible Study soon.

He’s also in a Bible Club at my parents’ church.  There he works on Scripture memory and character building.

Math

He’s about 25 lessons into Saxon 6/5.  It’s mostly review for now so it’s been easy peasy.

Reading

Next year I plan to incorporate some kind of reading comprehension curriculum.  I was snooping through some options at Barnes & Noble recently but haven’t chosen anything yet. 

It’s been such a joy watching his love for reading blossom this year.  In the past it was like pulling teeth to get him to enjoy books.  And I tried all the tricks in the bag.

But something has clicked this year and now he can often be found with his nose in a book!

His current addiction is John Grisham’s Theodore Boone series.

I’ll probably be using this list of the 50 best books for boys and young men from the Art of Manliness blog to help guide my selections for next year.

English

We’re using ACE this year.  I’ll probably stick with it next year too.  Grammar is just not his thing and that’s okay.  Cause it’s mine.  So we get to spend some quality bonding time over prepositional phrases and sentence diagraming. 

Spelling

ACE too.

Civics (includes history & geography)

ACE but next year we’ll be switching to Mystery of History.

Writing/Computer

Jump In for his writing curriculum this year.  And I’m having him complete his tasks in Word to give him computer practice.

Not all learning happens in a file tote though…

PE

It’s baseball season!

Piano

Lessons with Grams.  He’s waaaay past my musical ability!  In fact, now that Grams has an iPod touch we almost had to FaceTime her when he was stumped one day!

Science

Apologia’s Exploring Astronomy

and

Christian Kid’s Explore Chemistry (for review purposes)

Character Building/Community Service

Our church is small…but we do have a boys group.  They’ll be representing Ransomed Church at a Dodge Ball tourney this month to help raise funding for a Children’s Museum!

He also volunteers for Special Olympics.

And his newest fave hobby which I’m waffling between calling Economics or Analysis or Management?  Because when you home educate it’s aaaaaall learning, right?!    We’re letting him commission his very own fantasy baseball league!  It’s going to be a daddy/son league and includes some local friends plus some siblings of other little ones who share a diagnosis with Trevy!  I’m really excited for Tobes.  What a great way to have fun and connect with other boys and maybe just maybe learn something useful along the way! 

And that’s a peek at some of the things we’re doing around here…

…danielle

Fabulous Fractions (a TOS review)

 

 

 

The Deets

• Fabulous Fractions is filled with hands on ideas for teaching fractions to kids in grades 3-5.  Although, I found the ideas easy to adapt to younger students too.
• $21.95 for the print version (I’m an old fashioned hold it in my hands kinda girl) or $19.95 for the PDF version.
• Click me for a 15 page preview.
• Extra hands-on accessories you can purchase include pattern blocks ($15.95), fractional tranparencies (14.95) and more.
• From their website:  Each learning experience in this book is designed to help build a concrete basis for thinking about fractions and operations. Many also explore applications to problem solving, geometry, and data display and analysis. Students will benefit as they develop a visual image of the actions that they are taking when working with fractions within an equation.
• AIMS offers products in other topics too.  Click me to see what else AIMS has to offer.

 

 

How we Used Fab Fractions

 

  Even though Fabulous Fractions is geared for older students, I thought the hands on ideas would be a great addition to our morning meetings.  Especially, since my 1st Grader is exploring fractions in her Math now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Many of the ideas required extra prep work.  Cutting out circles and what not.  I love the idea of cutting out the fraction circles but some days I just didn’t have the time for extra prep…so I used the white board instead.

 

 

I’m also a fan of my felt fractions set.  A friend made them for me a while ago…but they came in handy during this review too.

 

 

 

 

We even let the preschooler get in on the actions sometimes!

 

 

Here he’s given all 5 of our stick people hair.  4/5ths of them have nice hair because big brother helped with hand over hand guidance.  1/5 of our people has CRAZY hair (no hand over hand) which made our WHOLE class giggle!

 

 

 

Fabulous Fractions has helped make learning fractions fun for our whole family!

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

So now you’re probably wondering if should invest in your own copy of Fabulous Fractions, right?

 

That’s such a very individual question and only you know your student’s needs.  If you have a child who is highly Kinesthetic – this could be worth it for you.  In fact, it would be a great resource to use if you wanted to start a Math group!

 

I did feel like this book is quite pricey.  I have small budget so price is always a big factor in my decision making.  We all know you can find so many wonderful resources out on the big wide web for free.  In fact, you probably have a Math Pin Board already just like me!  But the reason why a book like this could be worth the investment is how well organized it is.  I love Pinterest and freebies too…but sometimes I need hands-on-super-organized resources myself!  While I find a lot of ideas online…it does save surfing time to have a book to turn to that’s already filled with great hands on ideas.  My 5th Grader grasps the abstract concepts of Mathematics easily…but I have two littles coming up who are more touch & feel (like their mommy).  I would probably purchase a book like Fabulous Fractions to add to my teacher resources. 

 

 

…danielle 

 

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product in exchange for my honest and timely review.  All opinions expressed here are my very own.  Click here to see what other TOS reviewers thought of this product.**