My Teaching Library Download Club- A Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

If you are looking for educational resources to add to your homeschool, be sure to check out the Download Club from My Teaching Library. With two children in high school and nearing the end of their homeschooling journey, online homeschooling resources have become valuable to our family. I love having the freedom and flexibility to select resources which work for our family. For this review, we received a one-year subscription that allows us to access all downloads and all the other resources on the site.

My Teaching Library offers the flexibility of either purchasing just the specific resource you need or getting a subscription that allows your family unlimited downloads. With resources from Pre-K to Twelfth grade, this site has a lot of resources to offer. The site offers resources for:

• Arts
• Character Education
• Electives
• Language Arts
• Languages
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• Miscellaneous Areas
  • Skills and Concepts
  • Classroom management
  • Family and Home
  • and more

The site offers educational videos, diplomas, coloring pages, flash cards, and more. Families have the option to pick resources that work for their family. Whether you need materials for notebooking, worksheets, or just want items to keep younger children occupied while you teach your older children, you should be able to find waht you need on this site.

Whether you need resources for your Pre-K student or high school resources or a mix of all the grades, you may find exactly what you are looking for on this site. I loved the ease of navigating and downloading on this site. I just selected the resources I wanted to download them. Then the resources were added to my download center where I could download them all or just particular ones at one time.

Because our children are in high school, I concentrated on two major areas: math and music. We selected a Geometry resource entitled “30 Minutes A Day to Geometry” as our first resource. It comes as a PDF download. So I elected to print out some initial pages, but I also loaded it to a note-taking app to allow for learning on the go. Here are some sample pages from this book.

This Geometry book covers topics such as:

• The Basci Building Blocks of Geometry
• Types of Angles
• Working with Lines
• Measuring Angles
• and more

I selected this book for our 17-year-old daughter to use. She is not necessarily a mathematics lover, so I thought perhaps this book would be one she could make work. She found it adequate, which was acceptable to me.

The second resource I selected was The History of Music. I selected this book because our youngest son and third-born child plans on majoring in music in college. So I thought this would be the perfect homeschooling resource for him. This book covers everything from Ancient Music to Medieval Music to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and ends with the Middle Nineteenth Century. I elected for him to just read this book and then verbally tell me different things he discovered. We are using it more than a Unit Study approach instead of a complete textbook. Here are some pages from this resource:

You can find My Teaching Library on Social Media at the following links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyTeachingLibrary/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/homeschool_mtl
Instagram:
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lyndaackert/my-teaching-library/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLCFIasgcKaLD5lHu2x6bNA

So if you are looking for educational resources that include notebooking, homeschooling worksheets and more, you need to examine the educational resources to add to your homeschool, because the Download Club from My Teaching Library may be exactly what you need.

Other members of the Home School Review Crew are sharing their thoughts on the Download Club from My Teaching Library this week, so click here or on the graphic below to read their reviews.

#homeschooling #Homeschool #education

Review of College-Ready Writing Essentials™ from BetterRhetoric

 

For success, college students need strong academic writing skills so we were excited to use and review the Premium Package of College-Ready Writing Essentials™ from BetterRhetor. Our eighteen-year-old son is approaching the time when he will be filling out college applications and having to write essays for his application, so I was excited for us to have the opportunity to review the premium package of this product.

BetterRhetoric strives to improve a student’s academic writing and provide for student success both when applying for and while attenidng college.  Regardless of what major a student strives for college readiness has to include proficient writing skills.

This online program includes a variety of videos, worksheets, and more to guide the student through the process of writing a persuasive essay.  Because my husband and I also have aspirations to get our masters degrees in the future, I felt this program would also be worthwhile for us to watch.  So in addition to our son watching the videos and doing the assignments, I did them as well.  Probably at some point in the future my husband will go through the material as well.

The course materials are located on the Teachable platform, which we found very easy to use. The course builds on each previous lesson from the overview in Lesson 1 to selecting a topic in lesson 3 to the outline in Lesson 10 to writing the introduction, this course provides excellent instruction, directions, and worksheets to help the students prepare.  Here are pictures of the course contents.

Our family loved how the worksheets could be filled out online and saved to a file either on our own computer or an online application that allowed our son to work on his paper wherever he was.  Here are some of the completed worksheets.

Because we selected the premium package, we also submitte a copy of the essay to be reviewed.  We opted to send in a rough draft of the essay.  With just a click of a few keys, the essay was emailed for review.  We received a prompt notification that our essay had been received.  Then it was just a matter of waiting for remarks to come back.

Dr. William Bryant, founder and CEO of BetterRhetoric reviewed the essay and sent detailed remarks for us to examine.  Here are some examples of the remarks we received.  We all felt the remarks were presented in a manner to help improve the paper rather than to tear down the student.

You can find BetterRhetoric on Social Media at the following links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/collegereadywriting
Twitter: https://twitter.com/collreadywrite
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/collegereadywriting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collegereadywriting

All in all, our family recognizes the importance of writing effectively and correctly.  However, getting to that place is not always easy.  Sometimes it definitely benefits a student to have an outsider critique their work rather than a parent.  I feel BetterRhetoric andthe Premium Package of College-Ready Writing Essentials™ does an excellent job of preparing students for college writing.

Other members of the Home School Review Crew have been writing about the Full Package as well as the Preium Package of College-Ready Writing Essentials™.

Click here or on the graphic below to read more reviews of BetterRhetoric and their Full and Premium Packages of College-Ready Writing Essentials™.

Home School Review Crew Blog Hop – Motivation Mondays

Dear Homeschool Mom,

If you are having what you consider a “bad start” to your week?  Or if you feel like you are failing your children (or at the minimum not doing everything you should), take a deep breath,  say a prayer and realize we have all been there and felt that way.

Homeschooling can and will look different for every family and that’s okay!  What works for one family or even one of your children versus another child may be different.  It is okay.  If you feel overwhelmed and out of sorts, take a day to just spend time reconnecting with your children.

Also, for the mom who maybe is entering your first year of high school, again take a deep breath and don’t become overwhelmed by the choices and what other homeschooling friends or acquaintances are doing.  Breath in and realize you are the one who knows your child best.  As the mom of two homeschool graduates and two in high school currently, I know it can get stressful.  But, you can do this.

If you would like to visit the other Home School Review Crew members who are participating in this Blog Hop, here is the list.

Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Betty @ Let’s Get Real
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Christine @ Christine Howard
Christy @ The Simple Homemaker
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Felicia @ Homeschool 4 Life
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together
Kellyann @ Walking Home …
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama
Marla @ Jump Into Genius
Meredith @ Powerline Productions: Being World Changers/Raising World Changers
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through The Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

If you would like to read other posts for this post, click here or on the graphic below.

Tasty Tuesdays – March 13, 2018

 

For lunch today I had a salad made with spinach leaves and arugula leaves along with cherry tomatoes, snow pea pods and an avocado I cut into pieces. I then took a package of imitation lobster claw meat I bought at Aldi, added diced onions, celery pieces, fresh lemon juice, and Olive Oil Miracle Whip.  I mixed it all together and added salt and pepper to taste.  I topped the salad with the lobster salad mixture.

Here is a picture of the salad.

Then for dinner tonight we had sushi that we made with sushi rice, the seaweed wrappers,  crab meat, carrot sticks, and cream cheese.  We bought a sushi kit from Amazon that we tried for the very first time tonight.  We also made a ginger sauce and ginger dressing from scratch.  We fixed a version of Japanese Miso soup, egg rolls, fried rice made with steak and chicken, and zucchini sauteed with onions.  The meal was absolutely delicious.  Normally, we would not make this elaborate of a meal on a weeknight.  All in all, it took us about two hours to fix the meal.

Here are some pictures of our preparations this evening.

 

And here are some more pictures of our preparation and our meal.

 

So what are you cooking at your home?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew have to say, click here or on the image below.

Words of the Year 2018 – Simplify & Joy

So for the last several years, I have picked a word or words of the year.  This year I picked two words thanks to the help of a tool from Dayspring.  The first word I selected is “Simplify”. I want to simplify our home, our routines, and our belongings.

The second word I have selected is “joy”.  I want to find joy in our family, my everyday tasks, and in my spiritual walk.

I plan on sharing more about my words during the year.  Have you selected a word of the year?  If you have, I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read words that other members of the Home School Review Crew have selected, click here or on the graphic below.

 

A Look Back at 2017

A lot has happened in 2017.  First, our family became part of the Homeschool Review.  We have really enjoyed participating in the various reviews.

Our family also found a church home.  We have participated in a variety of activities.

We experienced our first evacuation from Hurricane Harvey (although our family went through numerous hurricanes while living in eastern North Carolina. And my husband and middle two children became part of the local homeschool band. With this participation, our oldest son, our youngest son, my husband and I served as adult leaders for the Christmas parade for the combined private school (2 of them combined) plus a few of our homeschool band members at our city’s Christmas parade.

I have to say, I pray that in some ways 2018 is a better year.

How was your 2017 and what are you looking forward to in 2018.

If you would like to read other posts by other members of the Homeschool Review Crew, click here or on the graphic below.

 

 

Our Holiday Traditions

So our family is still getting ready for Christmas.  We have several traditions that we try to keep every year.  The first tradition is starting to decorate the day after Thanksgiving.  Usually, our tree goes up first.  Every year we try to buy the children a new ornament with significance to that particular year.  For example, this year I will be on the hunt for a saxophone for our youngest son and a baritone for our second son.  They have both started playing in our local homeschool band along with their father and me.

Another family tradition is going to a Candlelight Church service on Christmas Eve.  Being military, we have moved several times in the last eight years, so that does not necessarily work all the time.  Fortunately, this time last year, we found a new church that does have a Christmas Eve service.

Finally, another tradition our family enjoys is driving around to look at Christmas lights in the area where we live.  So of course, we have to put up Christmas lights outside ourselves.

What are some traditions your family enjoys at Christmas time?

This post is part of the Homeschool Review Crew’s look at our family traditions.  If you would like to check out some other posts, click here or on the graphic below.