GPA LEARN - Review

Math and Miss K do not go together. It is the cause of me pulling out my hair or banging the table or some days just laughing so I don't cry. Basically, math is a challenge. I have tried various programs. I am not giving up. I continue to look and see what might help her learn math. So when I was given the opportunity to review GPA LEARN's math program, GPALOVEMATH I jumped at the opportunity knowing that Miss K loves working on the computer and thought that maybe math on the computer would be something that would help her learn math.




GPALOVEMATH is a web-based math program. It can be used on PC, Mac, and tablets. We used it on the Mac.  It is for grades K-5. Each grade has an animated character that serves as the "Learning Coaches." There are over 150 lessons and more than 10,000 problems -- that should keep Miss K busy for a long time.

Miss K is working on Grade 1 math. When you login, the first thing you see is the Dashboard, which gives you a summary.

Here Miss K has completed 15 lessons and attempted 52 lessons. Each time a lesson is begun but not completed it is considered an attempted lesson. Based on the results from the quiz the student gets a Rockstar, Excellent or Nice Job.

The section, Learn, gives the lessons. The lessons are in three areas: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base 10, and Measurement and Data and Geometry. The lessons are locked until certain lessons are completed so that concepts are learned in proper order. In order to unlock a lesson you need more than 6 correct.  Each lesson has three sections an instruction section, practice, and then a quiz. Each level has a character. We were in Grade 1 with Pi, the penguin. His accent took a bit to get used to though I don't think it distracted Miss K.

I set up Miss K's account and for the most part let her work on this as her math time.  I am normally in the room while she is working so that I can watch what she is learning and then work to review and reinforce the learning.

Miss K is able to do things on the computer. She is able to read the lessons and if she can't it is easy to just click on the words and the character will read the words for you.

I love getting progress emails. Even though I am there and watching for the most part it is nice to have the report that gives me what lesson she was working on as well as if she completed the lesson or needs some more help. I am also able as the parent to go through the lesson without it recording it as her attempt at the lesson. There are rewards that you can set so that when the child has completed so many lessons or earned so many points they get a reward.

The lessons took about 30 minutes to complete. I noticed as she had done this for a few weeks that sometimes it was just a bit long for Miss K to sit and do math. I was unable to find a way to bookmark where we were in the lesson. So if we stopped the lesson and began again it began from the beginning and would count as another attempt.

Working with a special needs child I did find that I needed to know what she was learning so that I could review again and look for ways to reinforce what she is learning. She needs the learning from different approaches. There were times that problem was shortest to longest and then it was longest to shortest. While I understand that is to help in thinking skills, it does make it more challenging for the special needs learner.

Overall Miss K liked it. She looks forward to doing math. I will say that this was a help and something that we will continue to use as part of our math learning. As we walked home today, she was looking at all the house numbers and we were counting by 2's. Numbers are beginning to make sense.

GPA LEARN offers an entire year math curriculum including grades K to 5 for $129 per year per child with the promo code GPAINTRO15. This is regularly $149. It is also available for $12.99 per month per child.





Beth

Five Things that Make me Smile in the Kitchen

I needed some inspiration for things to blog. It has been cold and grey so we are not going out for outings. We are doing the same thing day in and day out for school or at least that is what it seems like. I just feel like it is the same old. When I can't think of anything else to share, I will share Five Things. This time it is Five Things that make me smile in the kitchen.

The Pig - It is just known as "the pig". Put the pig on the table. Do you want the pig? The pig is a cutting board but don't use it as a cutting board through if you look you will see that at times it has been used as a cutting board. It was made by my grandfather.

The wooden plate and the chicken. The wooden plate was made by my father. I think I have one other bowl that he made but not that many pieces. The chicken is one that I found at a thrift store. The rooster is across the room. I remember deciding to buy them and putting them at the cash register while I was looking and someone else was interested. Yes, that made me want them just a bit more. They have some chips which give them character.

My vintage coffee can - It is another thrift store find. I love coffee and this is just great to hold the capsules for my Nesspresso. Yes, there is a theme of thrift store items that make me smile.

The blue and white bowl of fruit. This did not come from a thrift store but from Thailand. Years ago when I worked in Asia, I traveled to Thailand regularly and if I was there on a weekend I would often visit the weekend market and see what blue and white dishes I could buy. This is a very traditional Thai pattern and dish. It is usually full of fruit. I have some other dishes in storage.

There is a window leading to the utility room and up on the top I have space for some Menno art and some milk bottles from Hong Kong. Menno Shirk was a folk artist who lived near where I grew up. I think these are the only pieces that I have. I would love a few more (hint, hint) but I am not willing to pay eBay prices. This is an interesting collection -- a bit from where I grew up and a bit from Asia all mixed together.

There you have Five Things that make me smile in the kitchen.

Beth

Week in Review 13 March 2014

Look at how nice and neat the week was at the beginning. Look at how little I plan. I didn't take a photo at the end of the week. Some weeks there are all kinds of notes on the page -- books we read, scores of quizzes or tests, and other things. 

Look at this mess of cards on the table. J's challenge is to take the stack of cards and organise them. The goal it that it will help him remember his Latin. Some days I think it helps other days I am not so sure.

Look at Miss K doing some math with stickers. She had been working on addition and I was hoping that make stickers and the visual aspect would help. I am not sure but it was worth a try.

Look what J made -- it is another 3D map -- this time Roanoke and Jamestown.

He added a bit of green to his tree.

Look - we got our hands dirty and planted our "grow your own potatoes".

That was just a bit of our week.

Beth

Therapy Thursday

Welcome to another week of Therapy Thursday. This is a place where we share ideas, resources and activities that we have done relating to therapy for your homeschooler. It might be physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy or another therapy that you are using to help your child reach their potential.

This week I pulled out some of my cards from Super Duper.  These are just full of ideas for quick moving or strength building.

One of the ideas was push-ups against the wall.

We also have Yogorilla cards. Just looking at photos of a gorilla doing yoga might inspire you that you can do these stretches and exercises as well. Miss K is working on one of the exercises. She had her workout shorts on.

A few things to know before linking up:

• Please link up to a specific post on your blog, not the main page of your blog.
• The specific blog post linked needs to be related to therapy. Please note if the post is not therapy related it might be deleted. 
• By including your blog on this link you are giving permission to have your post linked to other social media and graphics used in featured posts. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Beth

Week in Review 7 March

I know it is Monday and I am finally getting a chance to reflect on our week. We were at a conference all day Saturday and so my ritual of writing on Saturday morning didn't happen.

I made Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast. I had for some ham and just fried that and made scrambled eggs with spinach as my green.

Miss K enjoyed her breakfast. She sat and read the book while eating.

We made some cupcakes for our co-op that we put in the shape of the hat. It was a fun way to share with our friends.

One of the fun books that I have been using is Interactive 3-D Maps American History. We did the Settlements of Roanoke and Jamestown. It is nice to have something for the kids to do while I am reading. I need to think of all the things that the kids do while I read that keep them busy.

I know it is Monday evening and I am finishing this. It was a good week. Now to this week.


Beth

Egglo Entertainment - Review

I love spring -- the end of winter but even more it is the time of year when we remember Jesus' death but more importantly his resurrection. I love opportunities to have fun and teach Biblical truths. I was recently given an opportunity to review Egglo Entertainment.


Each year I try to look for something new to teach the truths and meaning of all that happened during this season. I want to take advantage of this season. There are a number of things that Egglo Entertainment has to help teach the truth of Easter. As part of my review, I received the following physical products Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs, The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure book, Egglo Treasures Scripture Scrolls, and Egglo Bible Verse Stickers. I also received The Egglo Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt Event Curriculum as a download.

Darcie Cobos, the founder and CEO of Egglo Entertainment, shares a bit of the inspiration for Egglo Entertainment. It began with a desire to teach her own children about the significance of the events of the Easter week. One part of that was an egg hunt in dark and as she looked at the small lights she realised how a small light can change the world. The Egglo tag line captures that idea, "Helping children to see the light of Jesus with Egglo Eggs."


I was impressed with the quality of the eggs. There are four different colours though the green and yellow are very similar. They are easy to "charge" so they glow and also have room so you could fill them with treats or even the scrolls.

The scrolls have various truths from the Bible written on them with the reference. "Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. (based on I Corinthians 15:3,4)" I wish it were the verse and not just based on a verse.

The Event Curriculum or Program Guide is packed full of ideas of ways to use the eggs and resource pages like colouring pages. I was impressed with the number of ideas found in the guide.

The eggs were the highlight at our house. We lined the eggs up on the windowsill. Yes, it was a sunny day here just to prove that not every day in England is grey. Later that evening we just had a simple egg hunt meaning I didn't put anything in the eggs. We just did it in the living room. I can't wait for a warm evening to do this outside.  Miss K loved it. As I sat and watched I heard a number of comments how this is cool. Miss K then hid the eggs for J. They enjoyed them. I think Miss K might have even taken an egg to bed.


Miss K and I sat down and read the Egg-cellent Easter Adventure book together. It is a picture book but a bit long of a story. We read it over a few of our read aloud times. The book tells the story of three cousins and their adventures with a glowing egg. The cousins have some obvious character flaws and as they go on their adventure they begin to see the truth of God's word and that changes them.

The Egglo Eggs and all the extras are a fun way to teach the meaning of Easter. I am sure we will enjoy these for years to come. If you are looking for something new and different for Easter, I think Egglo Eggs are perfect for that.




Beth

Therapy Thursday #8

Welcome to another week of Therapy Thursday. This is a place where we share ideas, resources and activities that we have done relating to therapy for your homeschooler. It might be physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy or another therapy that you are using to help your child reach their potential.

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you just don't feel like you are getting things done? Maybe your "to-do" list is getting longer or maybe you just feel like all you are doing is running around. Here it is Thursday and that is a bit how I am feeling. School has been done but therapy is just getting put to the side. So the question is how do you keep up with therapy when you don't feel like it.

Have Miss K walk. On Tuesday we walked to church for Bible study and then we walked a bit further for co-op. We didn't have the car so when it was time to go home; we walked. Walking is not her favourite thing to do. She has been known to sit at the window and watch dad drive away with the car and realise that means that we have to walk. Walking is good exercise and we need her walking more for our holiday trips this year.

Assign therapy activities to her brother. They have been doing morning stretches before school. He has also been coaching her on ballet. It is not that he is a dancer but rather that he sits and tells her what to do.

So that has been therapy this week. Hopefully you are having a great week.

A few things to know before linking up:

• Please link up to a specific post on your blog, not the main page of your blog.
• The specific blog post linked needs to be related to therapy. Please note if the post is not therapy related it might be deleted. 
• By including your blog on this link you are giving permission to have your post linked to other social media and graphics used in featured posts. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Beth