The Bug Has Hit!

The theater bug that is! It was no mystery when my daughter was younger that she would love theater. She's loud. She's imaginative. She loves to perform and belt out tunes. Unfortunately, there weren't many theater opportunities in our early homeschooling years.

Things changed several years ago when some moms in my homeschool support group decided to try their hand at a homeschool production. The end result was fabulous and put any school production with similar aged kids to shame. Everyone loved the experience and the group has since turned out two more productions. While I knew my daughter would love theater, I was surprised to find out that my son did as well. This is the same boy who used to hide behind my legs and pretend he couldn't hear whenever an unfamiliar adult or child approached him.

Last fall the theater fever in our house continued to climb when my kids decided to branch out and audition with a local theater company. Every other year this youth theater invites children to audition for A Christmas Carol. I thought it would be a great experience to audition, but didn't expect my kids to get a role given the numbers who turn out for the parts. I was proven wrong when they both received parts. The shy quiet child played Tiny Tim!


A few weeks back the same theater group put out a casting call for their Little Women production and mentioned they would consider a homeschooled girl age 12-14 for one of the parts. Of course, my daughter was game. This audition was a bit different since adults were also trying out for the one part also open to children. The audition requirements were different as well. A monologue, resume and head shot were required in addition to preparing a song as last time. Also, there was only one part and some of the competition were friends.

The audition was on a Wednesday and my daughter was called back for Friday. Sadly, her friends didn't make the cut so she was torn with excitement and disappointment for them. The callback audition was 2 1/2 hours long and had more participants than expected, including another child for the same role. I was impressed at my daughter's confidence, despite knowing the odds. By the following Wednesday, she received a phone call offering the part of Amy. She held the huge smile throughout the conversation and followed with squealing and bouncing after the hang up.

Theater has been a wonderful experience for both of my children. It was been an outlet for my rambunctious child and a safe form of expression and confidence builder for my quieter child. My kids have learned much - from public speaking, presentation, dealing with mistakes, managing multiple commitments to team work. I highly recommend having your children try theater at least once.

Yep - I'm afraid this bug may now be chronic.

Classroom Expectations

My husband is pretty uninvolved in the day-to-day aspects of our homeschool. He trusts me to educate the kids and doesn't step in unless I request Daddy intervention. On occasion, though, he'll bring home something that shows our little homeschool is always on his mind.

He brought this little treasure home from work yesterday.


The "sass factor" has always been high with one child in particular, who would rather be outside riding a bike or playing with Legos. My husband made sure to review the classroom expectations of our homeschool with said child, especially the "Follow all staff directions the first time they are given."

I think I'm going to change the following line of "Be prepared," to "Be prepared if you don't!" :)

Review: College Prep Genius (Introduction)

As homeschoolers, most of us abhor the standardized test and would much rather focus on learning. Frankly, the current model of the pubic school system to teach to the test and nothing else is reason in itself to homeschool. However, like it or not, there comes a time when standardized testing has very high stakes. College admissions. If you have a college-bound student, you are probably acutely aware of the importance of an impressive SAT or ACT score for acceptance and offers of scholarship by the school of your student's choice.

Let's face it, college admissions can be pretty cut-throat and competitive. It is a game of one-up. It is a game of evaluating 13 years of schooling largely by a single test score. With homeschoolers who often have transcripts of “Mommy grades”, this is especially true. If you are going to play the game, you need to know the rules. Knowing the rules could pay off big in attractive offers and even full scholarships.

COLLEGE PREP GENIUS explains the rules and gives students specific plays to stay in the game. Author Jean Burk has over 10 years experience preparing students to take the SAT. Through her DVD course, book and workbook, students will learn common patterns of SAT questions, tricks to answer questions more efficiently and unique acronyms to learn recommended steps of approach for each type of question.

While my oldest has taken standardized tests before, her preparation consisted of little more than learning how to transfer answers from the booklet to the answer sheet and to bubble cleanly. Beyond that, it is her knowledge that has carried her scores. Standardized testing has always been used as a tool for my own information, a basic measurement of how our homeschool was doing with an outside tool. However, I can't deny the stakes involved in tests like the ACT and SAT. Well-trained athletes know the rules of the game and the likely plays of the opponent. Coaching on the rules of the SAT will allow your student to better show their abilities.

Over the next few weeks, I will be having my daughter go over some of the material presented in this course. We'll start with a retired SAT test, as recommended, for a baseline. After going through the materials, I'll report back on how this product worked for our family. In the meantime, you can check out the COLLEGE PREP GENIUS website and browse the articles found there. For a limited time discount, the entire COLLEGE PREP GENIUS DVD set only costs $79, which includes the revolutionary textbook, workbook and teaching DVD. That’s 30% off the retail price!

Be sure to check back for a personal review of this program.

Subscribe to The Old Schoolhouse™ Magazine for only $7.95!

Homeschooling is a Labor of Love, and the Old Schoolhouse™ Magazine is celebrating your hard work as a parent by putting their one-year print subscriptions on sale! For a very limited time, you can subscribe or renew for $7.95! (US only). International customers can subscribe to the digital edition for only 7.95!

You can buy a gift sub for friends, too! To gift a subscription:
1. Go to the one-year subscription page (uS only)
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
3. Enter the name, address, email, and phone information for each recipient
4. click "Add this to my cart".
5. The information will display in your cart and simply proceeed to check out.

There are only 2000 of these available, and they are going quickly! Your subscription begins with their Fall Issue.

If you live in an international location, you can subscribe to their digital edition for only $7.95! It's the same great content as their print magazine, except it is instant and interactive!

Here are the two links:
http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_176_181&products_id=12261

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_178_185&products_id=2330

Wuzgonnadoit

At first I thought my kids were coming down with some bizarre virus. Or maybe they just have some strange allergy. It is the weirdest phenomenon. Every time I ask them a question, all they can say is, "Wuzgonnadoit."

Um...God bless you?

Did you finish cleaning your room? Wuzgonnadoit

Did you do your math? Wuzgonnadoit

Did you take out the garbage? Wuzgonnadoit

Did you read the next chapter in your science book? Wuzgonnadoit

Yep, must be allergies...to work!

I'll have to try out this new wonder word of theirs next time they ask, "When's dinner?" or "Did you wash my favorite pair of jeans?" Wuzgonnadoit.

Do you think they'll bless me?

Review: Aleks (a revisit)

Those of you that followed my reviews last year may recall my review on Aleks, a web-based service that utilizes artificial intelligence for comprehensive math instruction for grades 3-12. . Aleks wasn't new to our family at the time; we've used it as a supplement in the past. Still, it was nice to revisit the program for the review. You can read last year's review here.

I've been asked to revisit Aleks once again as part of the 2009-2010 TOS Crew. Specifically, I was to take a look at some changes made to the Master Account features based on customer feedback.

One of the positives of using Aleks is that students have the opportunity to independently learn mathematics. In the past, the overseeing parent or teacher had access to progress reports or could visually view progress on a pie chart, a unique feature of Aleks. Parents could also request an assessment test at any time and reassess the students placement. All of these features are still available. However, two new features have been added to assist parents and teachers in utilizing this program even more, while still maintaining independent learning.

The first is the attendance record. Rather than a running total of weekly time spent and items learned per hour, parents can now view daily records. A click of a button give a daily breakdown of how long the student logged in, how many topics were attempted and how many topics were mastered during that time. At a glance, it can quickly be determined if little Johnny is moving through the material, stuck on a concept or is perhaps sneaking time IMing friends or playing World of Warcraft rather than mastering new topics while still logged in to Aleks. Not that any of us have disobedient children(!), but extra accountability is always a good thing.
The other added feature is the ability to set up quizzes for your student. Different from the random or requested assessments, which can be quite lengthy, parents have more control over the quiz length and content. Parents can select content and number of questions to appear on the quiz. Once the student takes the quiz, parents can view results and even create a printable report of the quiz questions and answers. Click here for a sample printable quiz report. Below is how the results page appears.

I'm always impressed with companies that not only take the time to talk and get feedback from users, but who actually listen and implement changes to their product as a result. The new attendance and quiz features are nice additions to the program and help busy homeschooling parents to get the most out of the program.

A subscription to ALEKS is

• $19.95 per student, per month, or
  
  
• $99.95 every 6 months, or
  
  
• $179.95 every 12 months.

Visit the Aleks website to find out more. There is a free 48-hour trial on the website, but Aleks has a special offer to new users for an extended trial. Click below to find out more.



Also be sure to read the full reviews of the new 2009-2010 Crew members who are giving Aleks a try in their homeschool for the first time at the TOS Crew official blog.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.

Review: Maverick Books (Hank the Cowdog)

Hank the Cowdog. Have y'all heard of him? Why, he's the most popular West Texas cowdog among the homeschooling community. I'll fess up. I had heard of Hank, even had a few titles hangin' out on my shelves, but I had not read a one. Not a one, I say! Great guns, was I missin' out!



The Hank the Cowdog series by John Erickson has been around for years. Erickson, while working full-time as a cowboy, farmhand and ranch manager, began to publish short stories in 1967. In the early 80's, Erickson started his self-publishing company, Maverick, and the Hank series took off immediately. The popular audio recordings, performed by Erickson, soon followed and became the longest running successful children's series on audio ever.

What a fun package we received for review from Maverick books! Included were a book titled The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse, A Tales and Tunes from Hank the Cowdog CD, and the Tornado game.

Each story is told from the perspective of Hank, a mischievous, smelly, cowdog who is takes very seriously his job of Head of Ranch Security. Drover, Hank's sidekick, is a loyal "little white mutt" who looks up to his pal Hank. Hank is quick to fill in his buddy Drover with his infinite wisdom on daily happenings at the ranch and life, like when he informed Drover he was just being a "hypocardiac" about his conveniently bum leg in this title. The books are really quite hilarious. The Texas slang and colloquialisms, especially from the perspective of a cowdog, make for an enjoyable read.

My son, who isn't much of a reader, finished this title in no time. I actually was able to squeeze a book report out of him as well, though he despises writing. While it was certainly not a thorough report of the whole story, it was rather telling of the boy appeal these books have with talk of Hank being whacked on the nose with a spoon, Hank eating bacon grease and throwing up in Sally May's shoe, and Sally May scaring off the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse with a shot gun. After finishing this title, he actually requested some more to read. Hank equally appeals to girls, and my daughter fondly remembered reading Hank from years ago when she saw the review package and snuck a read of the new title.

These books have a rough and tumble sense of humor. This is a cowdog, afterall, not some sophisticated show poodle. For many, Hank's tendency to be uncouth in ways that only a cowdog could is what makes for great belly laughs. For those more sensitive to such humor, a pre-read may be in order. Hank's character doesn't hesitate to call another beast of the ranch a moron, but all-in-all one can tell he's just trying to earnestly be Man's Best Friend and protect the ranch. Hank usually suffers the consequences of his poor actions and feels remorse, giving some moral stories interwoven into all of Hank's mischief.

The Tales and Tunes CD is a collection of songs and story excerpts. Erickson portrays each character with a unique voice and I have to say he does a fabulous job. After hear Erickson's voice in character, the books are all the more enjoyable. There are 9 songs included on this CD, including two that came from the title sent in our package. However, I vote "It's Not Smart to Show Your Hiney to a Bear" the most humorous title on this CD.

Lastly, we were sent the Tornado game, described as the "wildest race and chase game ever!" This game plays very similarly to Trouble. There are four colors with three characters: Hank, Drover and Junior Buzzard. Players take turns spinning the center spinner and moving their characters around the board and then safe to home. Players can get sent back to home if another player lands on them and then have to wait again for the appropriate number to come up in a spin before moving their player out to the board. The game comes with a 30-minute cassette tape with excerpts from The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado. I like that the game folds in half and the pieces can be stored inside, making it a convenient game to take on travels.

Sure'nuff, Hank was good for a giggle or two in our house before we started some more studious readin' this school year. Book titles retail for $4.24 (paperback) to $12.49 (hardcover). The Tales and Tunes CD is a very reasonable $3 and the Tornado game is $12.99. Maverick has a host of other products available at their website, including audio books, plush toys, t-shirts and playing cards. Kids can also join Hank's Security Force, explore the ranch, learn about the characters and leave Hank a message.

To read more reviews on this product, visit the official TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew, a team of 100+ homeschooling parents. While the product was provided at no expense to me in order to provide this review, I have not received any other compensation. Furthermore, receipt of the product does not guarantee a positive review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons of how the product works for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.