Learning Aisle - Free Premium K-12 Online Curriculum!

LearningAisle.com is a premium K-12 curriculum from reputable teachers. And it's FREE!!

Connect & learn from peers, inspire AND get inspired!

Learn by creating 'study lists' (like iTunes playlists), choose the study methods that work for you!

Parents connect & share learning experiences, exchange reviews & teach other students.

Take LearningAisle.com for a one minute test-drive.

ABCmouse.com FREE for 30 Days!

At ABCmouse.com they make learning child's play. They offer a full online curriculum in reading, math, beginning science, social studies, art, and music. Simply click your mouse and little learners will have access to over 3,000 individual learning activities-from online books and games to original songs, puzzles, art activities, and printables. Additionally, ABCmouse.com offers mobile apps that include interactive books, educational games, and more.

• Help your child learn reading, phonics, and math in a fully interactive environment.
• Help your child develop a love of learning at an early age.
• Help your child gain essential learning skills that will last a lifetime.
• Build your child's educational foundation before entering school.
• Prepare your child with these essential reading and math skills to succeed in school.
• Give your child an educational head start before entering school.
• Allow your child to learn at his or her own pace.
• Six Academic Levels

The Step-by-Step Learning Path presents the full ABCmouse.com curriculum in a carefully designed program of more than 350 lessons in six levels. As your child completes each lesson, he or she is guided to the next one and is motivated to continue learning by ABCmouse.com's Tickets and Rewards System.

The lessons of the Step-by-Step Learning Path consist of books, puzzles, games, songs, art activities, and/or printables that relate to a specific topic. Each lesson offers children several different ways to learn, in accordance with the recommendations of early childhood experts.

Reading

ABCmouse.com's reading curriculum helps children to quickly learn the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, as well as learn to instantly recognize the sight words that are most important for beginning readers. Your child will learn to love to read with our hundreds of fables, fairy tales, nonfiction books, and more.

The reading curriculum includes: uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, phonics, recognizing sounds, rhyming words and word families.

Math

ABCmouse.com teaches numbers, shapes, patterns, and measurements. The site's games and creative activities make math fun while giving young learners the practice they need to build a strong foundation for success.

The math curriculum includes: recognizing and counting numbers 1-100, "More than" and "Less than", identifying as well as drawing shapes and simple patters, and the meaning of addition and subtraction.

World Around Us

ABCmouse.com's World Around Us curriculum helps children understand the things they see and experience every day. This is usually taught as part of social studies, science, and health.

The World Around Us curriculum includes: the body and health, sports, plants and animals, weather and the seasons, and the earth, moon, sun and stars.

Art & Colors

ABCmouse.com's unique drawing and painting program gives children of all ages the opportunity to use lines, shapes, and colors to create original works of art. Games, books, paint-by-number activities, and puzzles teach children to name and use a variety of colors.

The Art & Colors curriculum includes: primary and secondary colors, shades of colors, paint-by-number activities, and number and letter dot-to-dots.



Are you ready to try it out? They are offering 30 days FREE! Click here to check it out for yourself!

Foreign Language Online Courses: Choose from 14 Different Languages!

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• Retail price $150.00!

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Weekly Wrap-Up/Homeschool Mother's Journal

This week was a crazy week. Between the hubs hurting his arm/chest & missing a few days of work, to me waking up with a sore shoulder & not being able to move it for a whole day (getting old I guess), M6 & J12 getting sick, & now me....we hardly got anything done!! 
Oh yes...almost forgot that I had run out of ink for my printer over the weekend & wasn't able to print anything until Wednesday morning!!

We were eventually able to do some free Christmas printables that I found online. You can find those:
-FREE Christmas Resources Round-up
-More Great Christmas Resources For Free

On Monday we received a package from our lovely friends from England! All sorts of baking gadgets (Doctor Who themed!!) & a few things were put away for M6's birthday party next month. She has been planning a Doctor Who party so these couldn't have been more perfect! We were all hoping to be able to use them but we haven't yet for reasons stated above. Yes, we will Christmas-up these cookies! Doctor Who & Christmas just go together. There is also a gingerbread T.A.R.D.I.S. in the plans. ;)

J12 has been wanting to do a Victorian-themed Christmas unit so I have been finding a bunch of goodies for that. I will post those at a later date when I have it all organized. Also, I am planning a Grinch unit for M6 & L8 next week from a blog post I found recently at Lemon Lime Adventures .

One thing that did get started this week was our review of Keyboarding Classroom. 

I set L8 up with this one & was surprised when he took to it & actually liked it! He's the one who fights me the most on school & lately it's been the worst. I only asked him jokingly if he wanted to do it & he said yes so I ran with it! As of now, my review copy is a single-user license but when he is finished with it I can use it for the girls if they wanted to. They do have options to buy dual or more licenses & the finger guards are free! (Which honestly our 1st thoughts were that they were disposal razors! haha)

I finished up my review for Write From History earlier this week. That was a lot of fun & we are planning to continue using that this year since it fits so perfectly with our history study!

I also started another Facebook page: Daily Deals From A Nerd Mom. You can find that & this blog FB page on the right side up top. ---->

Hopefully next week I will have some Christmas-y goodies to blog about! I cannot wait to get started on our cookie & T.A.R.D.I.S. decorating...plus I found a cute idea on Pinterest to make mini graham cracker houses! This would be a neat way for each of the kids to decorate their own house.

Happy Holidays!

Review: The Write From History Series

I was so excited to be a part of the Write From History series launch group & to get started on this! As most of you know, we are studying the Middle Ages this year. So when I found out that there was a Medieval History book in this series I was even MORE excited &, of course, chose that for my review!

In this series, there are 4 books: Write From Ancient History, Write From Medieval History, Write From Early Modern History, & Write From Modern History.  Each one has 2 levels to choose from, except Write From Modern History. This one only has Level 2 for now and Level 1 is to come summer of 2014. You also have the choice of manuscript or cursive & sells for $22.95 in your choice of printed or eBook.

Level 1 is for grades 1-3 & is a writing curriculum that combines writing, history, and handwriting practice all in one workbook. 
Level 2 is for students in grades 3 to 5 & includes manuscript writing models from interesting historical narratives, excerpts from primary source documents, poetry from or about ancient times, and fun cultural tales from around the world. (Taken from the Brookdale House site.)

Table of Contents

Write From Medieval History covers 600AD to 1600 AD & is divided into 4 Chapters: Historical Narratives, English Tales, Poetry From/or About Medieval History, & Cultural Tales. All 4 chapters include the reading selection, a page for a written narration, & also 2 passages to use as the writing modules.

 What I love so much is that you don't have to go in order in the book or even in the whole series! Whatever you are working on, or want to work on, you just look through the Table of Contents, which also serves as a timeline, & choose what/when you need!

Included are suggested schedules for using the book. It also suggests including a grammar study which I thought was really neat! With 3 kids it's always great to be able to include as many subjects into 1 lesson! J12 was even a part of this so, as you can see by the above pic, I had her write her modules in cursive since she needs more practice. It was a great grammar review for her as well! I hadn't even attempted to start grammar lessons with L8 & even M6 but this was a great introduction to nouns for them! (M6 didn't do that part but sat in on that convo.) For the grammar study, it suggests introducing each part of speech 1 month at a time to make sure they have it down before moving on. 

The only problem I had with this book was that it doesn't have an answer key for the grammar part. It does have a quick reference guide in the Appendix though which was a big help.

We will definitely continue with this book during our studies this year! It's a great addition & doesn't take long to do either!

For more reviews, head on over to Multi Taskin' Mom!

Review & Giveaway of Celebrate Jesus: An Advent Journey For Families

(Contains affiliate links.)


I am so excited to share with you my review of Celebrate Jesus: An Advent Resource For Families By Amy Blevins. This advent guide is full of great ideas to celebrate Jesus!

I love how she has everything laid out for you with a daily schedule with daily scriptures, advent candles, activities/crafts, simple treats/recipes, copywork, & more! It is so easy to just open it up to the day you are on & go. That makes life a lot easier since I don't have to sit down & plan out what to do every day! There is also a Master Supply List so you can have everything you need ready beforehand. I have been known to skip things in the past when we come to it & realize "Oops! I didn't realize we needed that so let's just skip it!". All of these crafts are very easy to do & there are also links for coloring pages & songs to go along with the study!

81 page eBook includes:

-Daily Schedule for 24 days (starts Sun., Dec. 1)

-13 Holiday Recipe cards (plus blank ones for you to include your own!)

-24 pages of copywork

-Master Supply List for all activities/crafts

  
(click image above to order your own copy)




Here are a few samples of what we have done so far:

There are some great recipes that we plan on trying as we continue this study. In the book it suggests some simple treats during the study but there are also some great recipes such as Peanut Butter Fudge, Ginger Creams, & even some Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free ones!

All of this is packed into 1 great eBook & for only $4.99!

The kids are loving this study! It really helps us to get into the holiday spirit...especially since here in Florida the weather is still near the 80's! 

About the Author:

Amy Blevins is a military wife & homeschooling mom to 6 kids (including twins!) who lives in southern California. Her other eBooks include "Thanksgiving Copywork for Children" & "Listening To Learn: Using Audio Files In Your Homeschool". She is also a blogger & can find her at Bow of Bronze & Homeschool Encouragement.

Giveaway:

One reader will win a copy of Celebrate Jesus: An Advent Journey For Families! Winner will be selected Sat., Nov. 30.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Happy Holidays!

2013-2014 Curriculum

Official school started back for us in August. I changed things up for us again but there are a few things we are still using. 


J12

Since J12 was doing so well with the Easy Peasy AllInOneHomeschool.com last school year we decided to continue the full course this year. She is a hard one to keep challenged so I had made a few adjustments to what she was doing on there & still need to bump her up! Because she is 12, I had her in 7th grade lessons & now I have bumped her up to the 8th level, which is actually 9th grade level work! I have also  loaded her Kindle Fire with a ton of free classic books that she reads on her own. She loves to read so there is no problem there! You can find the free Kindle books here. 


L8

We found out over the summer that he is having problems with his focusing & attention. This is something that we have been dealing with since he was 5 but it was verified for us recently. Also, he has been dealing with vision problems which caused him to get his first pair of glasses this past week. Put these things together & that was the main cause of his reading problem. At least now we have dealt with the issues & are able to know how to move forward. Things have to be a lot more hands-on for him & in short periods or I lose him! This has turned us towards Unit Studies.

For math & reading he uses Funnix. It's a computer program with printable workbooks. He is continuing them from last school year. 

M6

She has decided that now she is old enough to learn how to read. She had no interest in it last year when we were doing Kindergarten because she was "too wittle". We are using the Ready2Read Level 1 units from The Moffatt Girls. For math she is also using the Funnix lessons.

All 3

I decided to do unit studies this year. I had dabbled in it a bit in the past years & we all loved it. Since we needed more hands-on activities I thought it would be perfect. So, I decided to start with the Middle Ages since we had read about the vikings during the summer! In my search for all things Medieval, I came across Story of the World Vol.2. We absolutely L O V E it! Between crafts, videos, stories, activities, games, & anything else we can find it makes it so much fun!











Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2012-2013 curriculum (M6)

M6

*ABCMouse.com - She had begged me to start using this because the commercial was ALWAYS on. I decided to give in & get it for her. After about 1 month she decided it was boring....LOL. Ok then...I cancelled that one.

*Funnix Reading & Math - This is her main curriculum now. I set her up at the computer with her headphones & printable workbook & off she goes. She loves it & says she feels like big girl. That's because with RockerGirl doing her school online M6 feels like she is doing the same thing. So cute!

*Reading Eggs - Since L8 was already using this, M6 was jealous because she wanted to play super fun games for her school too. So I decided to get her own subscription & she will play on it all day if I let her. She really does learn!

*Expedition Earth (http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography)  We actually started this last year in the middle of the year. This is so much fun too but it took up a major chunk of our day so we decided to use this during this summer. It is a ton of printing as well but you can print most of it out in black/white to save $ on ink. There is also an animal minibook for each country, animal classification study, & Christmas Around The World! Comes with lesson plans for each country, crafts, recipes, etc.

*Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool - We used the Getting Ready 1 & 2 for the letters & numbers at the beginning of the school year. We did a letter a week (unless she already knew them then we would bunch up 2 or so) followed by a letter craft on Friday's from No Time For Flashcards. These letter crafts were hung up across the top of 1 of our dining room walls as you can see below!

*Confessions of a Homeschooler-Letter of the Week - We used this along with EP. It is a lot of printing but you can pick & choose what you want/need so you don't have to print it all!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2012-2013 curriculum (L8)

L8

*Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool ( http://allinonehomeschool.com/ )
I started using the 1st level since he isn't picking up reading so much & EP is VERY much reading based. She has them starting in PreK/K (Getting Ready 2) with McGuffy Readers. My son was getting frustrated with it so we switched to something else for reading.

  We used EP for Math, English, Science, History, Art, & Music.

*Ready2Read program Level 2 by Moffitt Girls  (http://moffattgirls.blogspot.com/p/ready2read.html) We had already used the Level 1 last year & he loved it but this level was moving too fast for him. It is a great program & fun & looks super cute! BUT there is a ton of printing & laminating if you want the stuff to last. You could also put the worksheets in a page protector & use dry-erase markers so you can use them over again! Follow the link above to see the program in action on her blog.

*Expedition Earth (http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography)  We actually started this last year in the middle of the year. This is so much fun too but it took up a major chunk of our day so we decided to use this during this summer. It is a ton of printing as well but you can print most of it out in black/white to save $ on ink. There is also an animal minibook for each country, animal classification study, & Christmas Around The World! Comes with lesson plans for each country, crafts, recipes, etc.

*ClickNKids Phonics program  (https://www.clicknkids.com/Pay/order_cnr/about_program.php)
I will admit that the only reason we have this is because I found a great deal on a lifetime subscription that I couldn't pass up. It helped my son at 1st but it seemed he hit a roadblock & while the program was advancing he was not & was getting very frustrated. When I have to fight my child to do something that makes him upset then it's just time to throw in the towel & find something else that works.

  Don't get me wrong, we liked it but it becomes repetitive & honestly it is really more of a supplement than an actual teaching tool. We will use it for review of the earlier lessons. You can also transfer 1 subscription to another child & the original childs progress will be erased. This is great for when my son doesn't use it at all & I want M6 to use it without having to pay for a whole other subscription.

*Funnix Reading & Math (http://www.funnix.com/index.html)
Again, I only started using this because during the month of Dec. they were giving away their Reading & Math programs for free! L8 is really only using this sometimes but we love it. M6 uses this 4 days a week. It's just like it says..."a tutor in your computer." I did end up having to buy both programs ONLY because I messed up & accidently deleted some stuff so it wouldn't work anymore..LOL. I think it's worth it though especially when I can set them up with their printable workbook & they can work on it by themselves. I quiz them afterwards to get an idea of whether or not they are staying on track.

*Reading Eggs (http://readingeggs.com/)
It was time to find an awesome reading program for my son who is sooo struggling with it. It seems like 1 day he gets it & then the next day he looks at the same thing as if he has never seen it before & never learned how to read! I had heard so much about Reading Eggs & had come across a great deal for a 1 year subscription. I jumped at it! I'm so happy I did, as are my kids, because they will sit & play on it all day if I let them! To them it's a computer game but they are really learning! It's a bit pricey but worth it in my opinion if you have a child struggling with reading.

*Math Mammoth (http://www.mathmammoth.com/)
We needed something a little extra for math lessons than EP was giving us. After some research I decided on Math Mammoth. I chose the 1st-3rd grade bundle & glad I did since he is needing some review from 1st grade before continuing with the 2nd grade curriculum. They are pdf files so you print it all out but it's not just supplemental worksheets. It actually has the lessons taught on the worksheet! Just read it & go!











Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2012-2013 curriculum (J12)

So here's a bit of a rundown of what has worked (& didn't work) for us this year.

J12

*FLVS (Florida Virtual School)--this was our 1st year using a virtual school. I thought it would be best for her (& my sanity!) if we went this route. I was going to have all 3 kids doing "official" school this year & since I was planning it all out myself using bits of pieces of what I could find online I thought hers would be a lifesaver & give me more time to have 1-on-1 interaction with the 2 younger ones. It wasn't. I do have to say that she absolutely loved her Language Arts class & her Science class but that's it. The schedule was not flexible & to do 4 core classes it took her ALL DAY. Who, as a homeschooling student & teacher, wants to do school ALL DAY?! I also had to help her out A LOT which defeated the purpose of why I signed her up in the 1st place. Plus. you have to be very computer smart since the projects they have to do require some skills.

  We have decided we will not continue with FLVS for the core subjects during the next school year. She does though want to pick up a class at a time of the "extra fun stuff" as she calls it...LOL.

*Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool ( http://allinonehomeschool.com/ )
LOVE LOVE LOVE this site for her! Since she was down to 2 online classes at the time I figured it was time to add more. I had already started using EP for my other 2. I started J12 on Year 4 level M which is the "extras" such as Bible, Science, History, Art, Music, & some Computer. She reads through the directions & does the work ALL ON HER OWN & enjoys it! She will finish the EP curriculum in maybe an hour tops! She has already decided to use it for the full curriculum next school year. Lee (the creator of EP) is an awesome homeschooling mama herself & has created this whole curriculum for PreK-8th so far. She is working on 9th grade+ now.













Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”