May 15 2013

We discovered a pick up soccer game and it was fantastic!

X invented his own game of 3 balls and 8 cones

**Copied from my Austin blog absolutely loved this park.

June 1-2013

I taught the kids how to play Mexican train with dominos. 

Elizabeth is on a mission to try every flavor of Jarritos Mexican soda. 

We had a protected bird build it's next on our porch

The ants decided to invade. The kids and I were very worried for the lives of the little baby birds. Thanks to some friends suggestions we sprinkled the wall in cinnamon. It had about a 24 hour effectiveness before they came back in full force. 

 Apartment progress!

We decided to try to be creative and make jello fish "swim" in their own little pools. Unfortunately the fish dissolved into the jello leaving disappointed kids.

 Thanks to Ikea all our board games are organized and out of the way.

Chris found a cool old mac.

Elizabeth learned about Roman Numerals. She liked them so much she decided to answer some of her math questions in them.

Chris and Elizabeth left for Florida on Wednesday.

Lambie got her wings.

Xander got to have lots of mommy time. 

Bruce likes to snuggle with Xander at night. Xander stole my sonic screw driver and investigated Bruce. 

**copied from my Austin Blog 

Spelling You See B March 2014 Review

My lovely 8 year old daughter has been seriously struggling with spelling. We have done the same Abeka spelling list for 8 weeks and we still have not mastered it. As hard as it was to admit defeat, Abeka grade 3 spelling wasn't working for us. One of the joys of homeschooling includes being able to customize to your child's needs. Elizabeth is currently reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but she can't spell at her level imposed by age and grade. It doesn't mean that she isn't brilliant, it just means we need to take a step back and master a more basic level of spelling.

In comes Spelling You See. Their placement test tells you where to start. There is no you are this age or this grade start here. You are placed by you skill level which is fantastic. I love that she is in level "B" so she also doesn't have feelings of being in a "remedial level" but just where she is right now is level B.

I have been stalking the Spelling You See fan page on Facebook awaiting the arrival of something "new" to try. I am so very pleased with what we have found.
I would like to note that I purchased this curriculum with my own funds (well my husband's). No one has paid me to write how I feel about it. I just want to share with my friends and others who might be interested. I believe in this product and hope that many others will purchase it. I am including pictures of what the pages look like for the first week so you have an idea of what the text is like.

This is what you get with Spelling You See Level B. Can I just take a moment to say THANK YOU to Math U See for fixing their whole not writing out all of "you". It would be so silly for it to  be Spelling U See. I absolutely hate when companies don't spell words correctly in their names.

The full week of work sheets are pictured below. Each week you do the same nursery rhyme for the whole week. Every day is presented with two pages of hand writing practice as well as learning to spell the words in the rhyme. Very sneaky and fantastic! These 2 pages did not take my 8 year old long to complete. She was engaged, focused and seemed to enjoy it.

A sneak peek at level 18 shows that there is growth in ability as you progress through the text. Every level is also a different nursery rhyme to keep kids interested. I think kids and parents would go insane if you had to do "Jack and Jill" for 18 weeks straight!

You can order your own copy of Spelling You See on their website. The Jack and Jill student pack is $30 and the instructor handbook is $16.

My cuties! As you can see we will be using all of the Spelling You See Levels 3 times! My only complaint with the whole Spelling You See and Math U See is that I didn't order it all at the same time. I ordered Math U See Beta and the manipulative, then Spelling You See and now I have to place a third order for more manipulative and the cool box to keep them in. 

So far with our "You See" journey my children are only disappointed that there aren't magnets in the blocks like on the dvd. They are also sad that you can't make a 900 block castle with the blocks that come in the starter pack. (But that is for our Math U See review).

Interested in Spelling You See level A? See my other review here.

Spelling You See March 2014 review

Our copies of Spelling You See arrived on March 24!! We ordered on March 17th. I am very pleased with how quickly it arrived at our door. I thought with it being brand new to the market we would have to wait several days or even weeks for it to arrive. Fresh out of the box this is what you get for level A. My 4 year old son is working on this level and my daughter is doing level B.

I would like to note that I purchased this curriculum with my own funds (well my husband's). No one has paid me to write how I feel about it. I just want to share with my friends and others who might be interested. I believe in this product and hope that many others will purchase it. I am including pictures of what the pages look like for the first week so you have an idea of what the text is like.

For level A you do one simple work sheet per day. With a total of 5 pages per week. Xander is 4.5 years old and was very happy to do this even though he is only fluently writing half of the alphabet so far. It is not overwhelming and took about 10 minutes for us to discuss and do the page.

I am looking forward to doing this curriculum. After trudging through Abeka with their piles of books and supplements it is a nice breath of fresh air. I think it has been well thought out and it is not only easy to teach, but east for the child to complete. 

If you are interested in purchasing your own copy visit the people over at Math U See. It is affordably priced at $14 for the instructor's handbook and $20 for the student work book. There are 36 weeks worth of activities doing one sheet per day 5 days a week. 

Watch for more reviews on what we are doing! I have also purchased level B and C for my 8 year old and Math U See Beta.