Create Your Homeschool Transcripts with Confidence

This month makes it official, I now have a high school student! There is so much more to consider, credit hours, graduation requirements, extracurricular activities, SAT and an official transcript. The one thing on that list that scares me more than anything is the transcript. The big bad transcript, the one thing that summarizes my child's high school years...it a daunting task to do on your own. Luckily for me and other homeschoolers there is a wonderful new website, My Home School Grades.

My Home School Grades was created by John Echols and Jordan Shute. JOhn Echols is a homeschooling father. Jordan Shute is a homeschool graduate whose passion is computer programming. John & Jordan put all of their personal experiences and knowledge into My Home School Grades! What could be better that homeschoolers helping other homeschoolers?

My Home School Grades provides a secure place to record your students classes, grades, and extra curricular activities. My Home School Grades allows you to print out official transcripts when you need them. There is no need to send away for them.

This less than tech savvy person found this program very user friendly. Once you add your student you are able to create their classes. They have done most of the work for you! You choose the title of the class, the subject, the credits(if needed), grade level and whether or not you would like to grade it. My Home School Grades has many homeschool curriculum publishers preloaded for easy record keeping. If your publisher is not listed, you can choose other or contact them and they will add it as soon as they can.

My Home School Grades customer support is second to none. They have how-to videos to guide you for every step in the program.
 

If you need help beyond the videos, or prefer to speak directly with them, you can contact them via email or even call them directly. You can tell by their wonderful customer service, that this is their passion. They truly want to help you succeed in creating your child's transcript.

My Home School Grades information:

• FREE 14-day Trial
• Lifetime Membership $49.99...includes ALL future updates.
• Website
• Facebook
• Contact Email

 5 Things I Love:

1. It is super easy to use.
2. It allows flexibility.
3. I can use my own curriculum
4. It calculates final grades for me. 
5. I no longer dread record keeping or transcripts.

What I would Improve:
     1. Grading Scale...my state requires a different grading scale. They are currently working on making this an option! Yeah!
     2.  Projects...I wish there was a way to include projects. We do a lot of project based learning.

Those would be my only suggestions. I know that this program is only going to get better. They are constantly improving it and making changes.

Saving Memories Forever Review

  
Saving Memories Forever turns your smartphone into a family history recorder. Just sit down with your kids, parents or grandparents and hit record. Every Story Teller has the opportunity to share there thoughts and memories. Saving Memories Forever provides you with a list of story starters. They are questions that go from their childhood into adulthood. They ask everything from sing your favorite song to what historical events do you remember to tell us your favorite joke. You can always add your own questions.

The neat thing about the smartphone app is the upload button. The upload button uploads your story to their website. Once on their website you can edit your story, add pictures, and share your memories with your family. Your stories are safe on their secure website.

My thoughts:

I wish that I had this app before my grandparents passed away. I would love to be able to hear my grandfather's voice again. I can imagine standing next to my grandmother and recording us cooking together. :) I think that Saving Memories Forever is an amazing app. I plan on taking this with me when I travel and see family this summer. I am hoping to use the app to have a cooking session with my mom. What fun would it be for my daughter to be able to always cook besides her grandmother! I want to capture as many memories as I possibly can.

Saving Memories Forever has a free and a subscription account. The subscription is only $3.99 a month! Not bad. You can use their comparison chart to decide which is the best fit for your family.

Get the FREE app here.

Spanish for You! Review

                                  


Spanish for You! is an affordable Spanish curriculum designed for elementary and middle school children. Spanish for You! is a great introduction to the Spanish language. Spanish for You! uses a thematic approach to teach the fundamentals of the language. I received a copy of their Estaciones curriculum. I received e-books of the teachers manual, worksheets, audio and the native speaking audio. 

Tracker was especially excited to start this program. He has wanted to learn a second language for a long time. He loved the fact that it a 'short' lesson everyday. He enjoyed the audio portion of the curriculum. This is perfect for his dyslexia. He is able to hear it and not rely solely on the reading. The one thing that he did find confusing were the pictures for the flash cards. He had a hard time differentiating between a few of the words. We are in the process of redoing the cards, so that they are less confusing for him. 

I found the downloads a little confusing. The original worksheet downloads were not sorted by grade. I am happy to report that Debbie from Spanish for You! has already made that correction. I would also of preferred for the audio to be just a tad bit slower and easier to go back. I found it difficult to just replay one word. We ended up listening to the entire lesson over a few times to.

Our overall opinion was favorable. I think that this is a great starting point for the elementary age group. I would recommend this curriculum to my friends. 

Spanish for You! offers FREE mini lessons and worksheets. 

You can purchase  a 4 or 6 week trial....

 4 week trial of the Viajes (travel theme)  Grades 5-8 for $9.99
 6 week trial of the Viajes (travel theme)  Grades 3-4 for $12.99

Spanish for You! has a variety of packages available:

Fiesta: $39.95 for 2 grade levels or $64.95 for grades 3-8
Estaciones: $39.95 for 2 grade levels or $64.95 for grades 3-8

Teacher lesson plans are also now available. They are $12.95 - $14.95.

 
 
 

  
            

Apologia Planners...Review

I have admitted many, many times that I am a disorganized person. I would love to get better organized, it would help my perfectionist side. Yes, I am disorganized perfectionist. When I was offered the Apologia Planners Review, I jumped at the chance. I told my kids about the planners, they were excited. I was excited that they were excited!

When the package arrived, my kids argued about who could open it. I received The Ultimate Homeschool Planner, The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students, and The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens. I knew that Dragon would like the planner, what surprised me was how much Tracker wanted one. He sat down with the Teen Planner and immediately asked me to purchase one for him. I did just that. I found ordering the planner quick and effortless. The planner arrived quickly and in perfect condition.

I really cannot say enough about The Ultimate Homeschool Planner by Debra Bell. I sat down to flip through the planner and ended up reading every single page. I found tips on how to encourage my children to become independent learners. There was advice on becoming a better teacher and just a better person. There are a variety of planning pages included in the planner. They include yearly planning sheet, goal sheets, a resource list, a field trip recording and much more. The monthly planners are blank, which allows easy personalization. The weekly planners gave you a couple of options on the layout. I chose to list the subjects at the top and the children's names along the side. I like this because, I feel like it is less structured. I set it up as a weekly goal, it is not set to one day. This allowed my rebellious side out.

The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens is just as great, if not better than mine! It really gives responsibility to the teen. There is an area for the teen to track his own hours and even keep track of his credit hours. The back of the planner has tips, tricks, and guides of all kind. My favorite part was a couple of pages on how to cite references. I find the encouraging quotes perfect! They are not too young, nor too old. I think that all teens would find them helpful.

The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students, is perfect for students of all ages. It has a little bit more writing room than the Teen Planner. Just like the Teen Planner, this planner has pages full of tips and data. There is suggested reading list, a fraction chart, and a space to record your own activities.  Once again, I love the fact that it is all geared to the kids becoming independent learners.

Final Opinion:

These planners are well worth the money. They have a  spiral binding and plastic covers. I really think these were made for people like me.  The planners will be a valuable resource for your homeschool. I never knew what I was missing until I received my planner.

Pros:

• Spiral Binding
• Laminated cover
• Undated monthly and weekly planner
• easily customizable
• Informative guides
• Encouraging words for the parents and students. 

Cons:
  I really couldn't find one. The one thing that I would love is a chart to track our days. We have to homeschool for 180. I would love to see that included in the planner. The other thing that I would like to see is more pages to record the books read. We tend to read a lot of books in our house.


Product Information:
 Apologia Planners

• The Ultimate Homeschool Planner  $28
• The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens $19
• The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students $19

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....

I was watching television the other day and saw a lead in that made me question some of the things that we do on a daily basis. The lead in was 'Kids and Modern Technology and their Brains'. There were some interesting points raised in the news story. The first is that the phone/text messaging is affecting children's ability to communicate efficiently with each other. They are not learning tone and the many nuisances that are learned while talking with each other. Instead of families talking over dinner, they are checking their emails, facebook or playing games on the various devices. Instead of children going over to their friends' houses and using their imagination, they are playing video games or sending ims and instagrams. The next great point that was raised is that children are losing their ability to entertain themselves. The example that was used was in a restaurant settings. The adults hand a child their smart phone so they can have adult conversations. Kids are losing their ability to wait their turn. They want things instantly. I admit that I am not the patient person in the world. When I get an idea in my head, I want it done yesterday. Back to the topic, kids tend to go to their electronics instead of going outside and inventing a game. They turn to facebook games, instead of board games.

I personally have a love/hate relationship with technology. I think that it is wonderful, but I also see the downfall. We are constantly connected now. We are never out of touch, we can be found at anytime. We no longer have a separation of work and home. Everyone brings their jobs home now. I personally feel naked without my phone. I worry that someone will not be able to reach me. I am learning that this is not the way things should work. I realize that my children are using the electronics way too much. \I want the conversations that happen over the dinner table and not during The Big Bang Theory. Instead of audio books in the car, the kids have headphones in their ears listening to the latest songs. Instead of debates about the books we have read, we are talking about the newest app they have. Instead of taking time to cook our food as a family, we are finding the quickest methods possible.

The news story reminded me that we need to slow down. We need to step away from the electronics and go outside. We need to enjoy the small things in life, because those small things will become the big things. 

We Choose Virtues Review and Coupon Code

 

" Good character is not a list of rules, or a unit study, it is a lifestyle."

                                                We Choose Virtues Teacher's Handbook                                                             

I have looked for a secular 'values education' program for years. I was excited to hear that We Choose Virtues had a secular version. I thought that this is perfect for us!  

Heather from We Choose Virtues sent us The Teacher's Manual, Family Character Assessment Tool, Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book, Memory Verses, Bible Heroes, and Truths, Butterfly Certificate and a sample Parenting Card and their Virtue Flash Cards.

I excitedly printed out the Family Character Assessment Tool and the coloring pages. I sat down to read the teacher's manual and was slightly disappointed. I found the first section encouraging. It helped me see how I could be a better teacher. There were tips, activity and wonderful snippets throughout the chapter. I found it geared more towards a classroom than the homeschool family. The second section describe the different tools that they had available to go with their program.


Squirrel and I sat down to take the Family Character Assessment Tool. I was surprised as to how attuned she was. She hit everything right on and was a little bit more critical than I would of been. Squirrel decided that she needed to work on Patience first. While she colored her page, we discussed why patience was important. She said she needed patience in her baking, playing games and while shopping. I asked how we could practice patience, she said baking,puzzles,  monopoly and even saving money. Great idea!! The next day we sat down to game of Monopoly. We continued to play games everyday. She would remind me at times that I needed to be a little bit more patient. I love it when my kids take their lessons and teach me something.

My overall impression of We Choose Virtues was okay. I did not find it as secular friendly as I had hoped. I wish that they had memory verses that we secular. I also found their secular merchandise to be more expensive than the Christian merchandise. If you are looking for a religious program, this is perfect for you! I will be recommending this to my friend who teaches Children's Church.

We Choose Virtues has a variety of products for you to choose from, they range in price from FREE to $200. You can use their comparison chart to pick the perfect program for your family. 

We Choose Virtues have given me two coupon codes to pass on to you. 

HOME20 will get you 20% off the Homeschool Kit. It is good through the end of April. 

VIRTUE15 will give you 15% off everything else. They currently have a sale going on, so it is the prefect time to make a purchase.

To see what other reviewers thought, check out their reviews here.

Teaching Finacial Independence....FamilyMint Review

In today's economy, teaching financial smarts is a requirement. One of my goals of  homeschooling is to make sure that my children are responsible and independent. I think that a key to that is financial no how. When I went to school, we didn't learn about finances. This is why I was so excited to review FamilyMint's Money Management Certification program.

I could not wait to start the program once I received their workbook. The workbook is broken up into 4 chapters, Tracking Your Money, Goal Setting, Budgeting and Interest-Growing$. Each chapter includes information and worksheets for the children to use. I made copies for the kids and put them into their own folders. The index card is covering up Dragon's log in information for Family Mint Online.

The first thing that my children did was count all their money and log this as their beginning balance. Once everything was done in their folder, we then entered everything online. FamilyMint suggested that the children make a money jar to keep their money in. My boys did not particularly like this idea, Squirrel used an old money jar that she made last year.


Once they logged their totals into their balance sheet, we talked about the importance of saving money and setting goals. This is a difficult task for even adults. They each picked a goal to save up for. Tracker chose a new snake, Dragon a Crème Brule Torch and Squirrel is saving her money for a cake decorating class. I thought that these were great goals! We then spoke about the envelope system. My kids had a little difficulty with this task. I had to sit down with each one and speak with them. Once this was done they got a handle on it.

My overall opinion of this program is good. My kids really enjoyed writing their own checks. I think that it is necessary program for high school students. If we make sure that they have a good financial understanding, they just might not rack up all those credit cards. You should include this in your curriculum!

One other thing that I loved is that this program was great for all three kids. Two of my children prefer pen & paper and the other is completely digital.

FamilyMint offers the following options:

1. Introductory Offer:
        Money Management Certification Program Workbook + a LIFETIME subscription to the FamilyMint Premium...only $29.99!

2.  Premium Online Application Subscription:
      Annual: $24.99    Monthly: $4.95

3. Free online application only

You an find out more information on their product here.