I have been wanting to put in some front facing bookshelves. I used to have rain gutters as bookshelves, but my husband did not want me doing that again. lol
So I got this idea!
I just bought some baskets from Dollar Tree and some cushion pads.
I originally tried to use velcro strips but they weren't strong enough to hold very many books so I ended up using screws, however, someone told me about Monkey Hooks, so I would use those instead!
What do you think? These take up no space besides a little wall space. Is this something you would consider? What other ideas do you have for front facing books?
One of the best parts about being on The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew is finding a product that you have never tried before, and LOVING it!
This is exactly what happened when Singapore Math Inc. sent us a copy of their Dimensions Math PK-5 curriculum. We received a copy of the Pre-KA grade level, which included a teachers guide, a workbook and a textbook.
I have heard of Singapore Math before, but in all of my 17 years of homeschooling I have never tried it. Singapore and Dimensions Math both use the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach.
I really can't tell you all of the details about what makes Dimensions Math different from the original Singapore Math ( I do know that it is more geared towards US students) or other math programs, but I CAN tell you about our experience with this particular curriculum, and I can tell you right off the bat that we loved it, and will be purchasing the next semester when we are finished with this one.
(This review is picture heavy, but stay with me! With these types of products you really need to see the product to understand)
My son, unboxing his new math curriculum!
He is a character!
We received a Teacher's Guide, a Textbook and a Workbook.
The teacher's guide is geared towards a classroom, however, I really think that it is the key piece to the curriculum. The textbook and workbook are self explanatory, but the teachers guide is full of great suggestions and helpful content to take your child's learning to a whole new level.
Inside the teachers guide you will find a table of contents that show what all your child will be learning this semester.
It shows you a list of materials that you will need for each chapter. It also tells you what blackline masters you will need along with optional storybooks and snacks.
It includes a suggestion outline of the number of class periods it should take to complete each chapter, but we all know that, as homeschoolers, we make our own schedules! And this teacher's guide is very easy to tailor to your individual child/children. You can easily pick and choose what activities you want to do, or what you may have time for that particular day.
Here is the scope and sequence for the PKA level.
Dimensions Math offers some really great online resources to make the curriculum more fun and complete.
The videos are super cute and really bring the songs to life.
Here is an example of a lesson in the teachers guide. It will tell you the materials needed and the objectives for that lesson.
The explore section is my favorite. This is what really brings math to life. You will be using actual items to reinforce what you are teaching. You will be showing your child items of different colors, different textures, different sizes, etc. By using real life examples your child get to see and touch, and they can feel what bumpy is, and what smooth is. They can visibly see that one item is taller or shorter than the other. It is all about hands on and bringing the concepts to life.
Brently's favorite part of this program is going on missions. When we learned about the colors red and blue, green and yellow, etc., I sent him on a mission to find something in each of those colors. When we learned about counting he went on a mission to find two things that were green, one thing that was red, three things that were blue, etc. Even if the teacher's guide doesn't specify a "mission" for a certain chapter, I still make one up because he continuously asks to go on a mission!
The teacher's guide also includes the answer keys.
The student has two books of their own. The textbook and the workbook. They work in correlation with each other. The child learns the topic and practices a little bit in the textbook and then has more practice in the workbook.
Here are some of the workbook pages that we have done so far. The lessons and the practice pages are perfect for early learners. They don't ask the child to do anything too hard, and my son thinks they are so fun!
Here are a couple of videos from our counting lessons.
As I mentioned earlier, I have homeschooled for 17 years, and have tried a lot of early math programs. This is by far my favorite! I love how it incorporates real life, hands on learning. You can use manipulatives, or the blackline masters, household objects, etc... The child really gets to feel and see the concepts. They are actively involved in their learning. It feels more like playing than doing "schoolwork."
I have really enjoyed this program, and am honestly very grateful that I was chosen to review this product. I likely would have never tried it on my own.
If you feel like this would be a good fit for your family, you can find all of the grade levels here. (If you are looking for the Pre-K and K levels, scroll all the way down)
Our crew reviewed several different levels of this curriculum from grades Pre-K to 3. Be sure to check out the rest of the reviews to find other grade levels, or what other crew members thought of Dimensions Math.
It is the place to go to practice anything that your child is learning from grades Pre-K to 12.
IXL has personalized learning practice from learning your shapes and letters to calculus.
IXL describes itself as a comprehensive curriculum for grades K-12.
The subjects include Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and even Spanish. Science and Social Studies don't begin until the 2nd grade.
For most of the lessons, your child needs to have already learned or be learning that specific skill. There are, however, things the child can learn from some of the lessons. For example.....
Your child could learn counting by using this program, but would need to be at least familiar with the concept of counting.
The same goes for long and short. If they have the concept down, they can practice and really start to understand the concept.
Now, in this lesson, it asks the child to find the letter c. Now the child could look at the letter and then look to find something that matches, but it would be best if the child had already learned, or is learning about the letters, and then use this as a way to keep practicing what they are learning.
In the below example you can see what I mean by the student would already need to know or be learning certain concepts before using IXL in that topic. If a child had no idea what fractions were, they would have no idea how to answer this problem.
There are no official lessons in this program, but if a child gets an answer wrong, it will explain the process of getting the answer. For example:
There is a Diagnostic Arena where your child can go to answer questions and see where their levels are and get recommendations.
In the earlier years you could use IXL to teach and practice. As you see in the above example of the younger stuff, you could easily teach it to your child with this program. For the higher grades though, they would have to already understand the concepts and use this to practice. Much more fun than worksheets!
Brently is 4 so we focused on Preschool. We practiced counting, tall and short, short and long, shapes etc... You can see how much there is to offer just in Math and Language Arts.
The program doesn't automatically talk to your child so they would either have to be able to read, have a parent read to them or know how to push the speaker button to have the program read the problem to them.
Once your child selects their answer the program will show a phrase saying things like Good job! You got it! Brilliant!. Unfortunately, this is the one thing that I wish were different because it doesn't say this out loud to the child. Unless you are there reading it to them, they won't know what it says.
Once the child has completed a section they receive awards!
There are even certificates that your child can earn that you can print out!
As the parent you can log in and see all of the child's awards and certificates.
Here are a few screenshots of some of the other, higher grade topics.
As you can see, there really is something for everyone and every age.
Brently really enjoys "doing his school"
"Me so smart at this"
I think the sections are broken into small enough sections to keep kid's attention and they don't go on so long that the child gets tired of it.
I can see using this daily or I could see using it on Fridays instead of your normal book school to practice everything you've been learning through the week. That is what is great about this program; the personalized learning.
Will we continue to use this program now that the review period is over? YES! I have looked through so much of this program to see what all it has to offer and it has a LOT!
I think the price is amazing. You can choose from several packages. If you just want to practice one subject, you can. Two? That's fine too. You can get the family membership that includes ALL subjects for only $19.95 a month, and it is only an additional $4 per extra child.
If I could make any changes to the program it would be that it automatically spoke to the child, or had an option to turn on the speaking so that younger children could more easily do this on their own and so that they could hear the praise they were getting when they got an answer correct. Other than that, I think this is a great program, and we will definitely be getting more use out of this program!
I am not the only one who reviewed IXL. Other families have used this program with different age groups as well. Be sure to see what others thought abot this program and how it worked for their families.
