Spelling Power

At the beginning of the second semester of first grade, we needed a spelling program because Thing1 had outgrown our Reading Reflex routine.

I remember my mother liking Spelling Power for some of her children, and I have a friend who uses it currently and recommends it highly. I decided to give it a try.

Here's why I love it:

• Buy one book, and you have spelling lists for elementary through adult levels.
• A placement test determines the student's level rather than using a "first grade" or "second grade" list. In other words, the spelling words are always challenging.
• The student takes a five-minute test every day and only has to study the words he misses on the test.  Tomorrow, he will have only the words he missed from today's test plus more new ones.
• Using the methods Spelling Power outlines to study the missed words really works to solidify the spelling in the student's memory. There are even some Montessori-inspired components.
• And here's the big one: For a student to whom first grade academics come easily, it is great to have ten minutes (or more, depending on attitudes) a day when that student gets to learn how to get something wrong, study, and try again.

Unfortunately, Thing1 does not share my love for this program, but he did approve this post before publishing.

**This is a real review. No compensation.**

My Well-Planned Day Update

I promised I would update my opinion of My Well-Planned Day software after I used it for awhile. This review is unsolicited, unbiased, and written on my own initiative.

I love the concept behind their lesson plans and assignments. I am a checklist person, and this satisfies my need for seeing accomplishments in list form while keeping records of which days we "did school" throughout the year.

The Lesson Plan page (link is to tutorial page) is where you divide your curriculum into a number of lessons.  It is like a holding area for future assignments. At a glance, you can see your progress in any subject you have planned. Don't let "lesson plans" scare you. It is as simple as determining how many days you will work on a certain subject throughout the school year. Then if you want to be super detail-oriented in your planning (like I am not), you may edit each lesson to reflect your plans for each assignment. Or you may not...

The Assignments page is for assigning those lesson plans to a certain date/time/student.  Once you assign a lesson, it is no longer on the Lesson Plan page. You could assign an entire semester in one click (because you have already told the program on which days and at what time each student will be doing each subject) or you could assign one week at a time. I assign one week's worth every Sunday. Honestly, most of the time I do it on Monday morning at 8:25.

What I do not love is that there is still no mobile app and that the calendar still does not sync with Google Calendar. The Husband and I live by Google Calendar.  My dream is that when Well Planned Day finally syncs with Google, my homeschool life will sync with every other part of my life. There is lots of potential in the chores, shopping list, and calendar. But those do not interest me if I cannot pull them up on my cell phone.

That's it in a nutshell.

Is it worth $65? Perhaps. If you need help in organizing lesson plans.

Will it be worth $65 when it syncs with Google and comes with a mobile app? Yes!

 

Famous Figures of Ancient Times: King Narmer

Today we used our Famous Figures of Ancient Times, which was [one of] my non-essential splurge[s] in curriculum shopping this year, for the first time.

What I did not realize when I purchased this book of 21 movable figures of historical characters (including Moses, Aristotle, Hannibal and his elephant) is that the book includes two copies of each character: one in color and one in black and white.

Perfect! One for each kid.

Today we made Narmer, a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, and each boy dictated something about him for their notebooks. We used a 1/8" hole punch and mini brads from the scrapbooking aisle at Michael's.

Making King Narmer dance occupied and entertained Thing2 for quite a while this morning.

I shy away from cluttery projects because the kids do not want to throw away something they work hard on. However, if we keep everything they work hard on, it takes about a day for the house to be overrun with cluttery projects. To store this, I put the doll and the narration in a page protector so it would fit nicely in their notebooks. I like projects that lie flat.

Ever the perfectionist, Thing1 could not finish coloring and cutting his figure before lunch time. We might have to take turns with the color and black and white figures so Thing1 is not always stuck with the coloring.

Bonus feature: There is a mini bio with a small picture of each character at the beginning of the book. I cut out the tiny picture and glued it to our timeline.

If I am able, I will buy the Medieval set and the American Revolution set when we need them, but 6 and 4 seem to be perfect ages for this. Who knows if they will still like to make paper dolls by the time we are studying American History? Making the figure sparked much more conversation about the character and his time period than just reading about him. Granted, there are ways to get the same result without spending $20, but in this homeschool, projects do not happen unless they are easy. And this is easy.

The CBD links are affiliate links, but no one is paying me to write about Ancient Figures. I like it, and I thought you might, too!

My Well-Planned Day

I am trying a new planner this year. I just downloaded My Well Planned Day software. It is brand new. I bought it today, the last day of the cheaper beta testing price, and I hope it works for me. It has so much potential! I am betting that the slowness and kinks today are because they are getting ready to go online with the full version tomorrow.

What sold me on this software is that I should be able to pull up our schedules, shopping lists, calendar, etc. on my mobile device. And supposedly it will sync with Google calendar (which I already use heavily) once the full version goes live.

I will update soon on its usefulness!

I am not getting anything from Well Planned Day for this post. I paid for it just like everyone else!