Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Being snowed in has finally given me time to do a bit of blog catch up. Numerous reviews, lots of homeschooling and many trips on weekends has kept us very busy this past fall and winter.

I have wanted to share a journey with you that I pray helps you look deeper into your own with new perspective. I will not share all the details but it starts in late summer last year. I started sensing God's urgency to pay attention to what we were learning, what our focus had become along with what we were doing for people with our tithes and offering. Wishing it was my husband getting the nudge I prayed God reveal it to him...this did not happen. Okay...so I go to him and share what God is showing me. He prays and takes some time to think about it and decides he agrees that it is a God thing. Now what???

As we got closer to making a decision people we didn't expect came to us with insight and scriptures that simply confirmed we needed a change. Why now? What were we in for? The hardest part was being led to leave our church...and not knowing where we were supposed to go. We had moved to another church before but we knew our move as we were leaving. Again, learning dependency on God through this was something I THOUGHT I had down pat...fail! I struggled at first trying to find what I "thought" we were missing. We filled the gaps trying churches for a few weeks to come home sandy from the spiritual desert we experienced.

Here is where it got interesting...with each church we tried God showed me something new inside ME. The first, my belief of what we needed was inaccurate and I wasn't trusting God to provide exactly what would benefit us. The second, I had a dependency on the church "model", I needed to focus on my own time in the Word throughout the week. At this point I started to reflect on the previous time that we changed churches and realized the answered prayers that came of that change. I was new in town, the only church family I had known and yet still really didn't have any friends. When we started in the new church family years ago, I had many friends, we had our house full of them on many Sunday's and I finally felt like this was home!

As my husband and I discussed the up and coming Sunday and where we would attend, I couldn't get the church my best friend had referred me to many times wanting to go visit it. I asked if we could attend this one. He agreed and the excitement kept me going all week! I can't even express to you the anticipation I had that morning! Here we go...(hence my title!)

I walked in and the sound of the worship brought tears to my eyes. I sobbed through the whole thing. As we went to pick up our children they looked at me with intent eyes and asked, "can we please come back?". Who doesn't want to hear their children say those wonderful words? Yes, God directed us and we found a loving, nurturing and warm environment that felt like we were home immediately!

So here is my lesson...even after being directed to a wonderful new church home that God had given us, he still taught me. Sharing with me how much he knows my love of soulful worship, this was his gift to me (the place to do so). He shared with me that these services should be my icing and not my food...I need to be fed throughout the week on my own. Although I viewed myself as an adult Christian, God was showing me I was more like an awkward teenager learning how to be independent, boldly walk the walk and talk the talk and learn how to deal with peer pressure, etc.

Oh, the places you'll go! Many months ago I never would have envisioned our journey, the lessons at hand and the strength that we have gained being fully persuaded to stay on the path!

ALEKS

What is ALEKS?
Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS offers truly individualized instruction that meets the student at her learning level and instructs her on the exact topics that she is most ready to learn. As a result, no two students will experience the same learning path while working in ALEKS. Learn more by watching a quick 2-minute video.

We first learned about ALEKS last year when my oldest stepson used it in public school for his summer school program. He loved using it compared to learning at school, he excelled and understood it. Fast forward to December where we were offered to review it for my son that I homeschool. I was excited to have access and see if it was as good as I had heard. What I discovered was completely unexpected! My son LOVES this program! By the end of December he had logged 4 hours and 21 minutes on his own time doing the lessons. He also spent a few hours on a separate trial link one DAY doing numerous lessons. Needless to say this transformed his schoolwork outside of workbooks. He enjoyed the online format and the variety of lessons.

ALEKS can provide you with the instruction and support that you need to homeschool your children in mathematics for grades 3-12. With a comprehensive course library ranging from elementary school math to complex subjects such as PreCalculus, ALEKS acts much like a human tutor to help take the stress off of homeschooling parents.

ALEKS offers highly-targeted, individualized instruction from virtually any computer with Internet access, making it a comprehensive and mobile education solution for your children. A subscription to ALEKS offers access to all courses and your child may take as many courses as needed during their subscription period.

ALEKS is a Research-Based Online Program:

* Complete Curriculum Solution for Math with Access to Full Course Library
* No Textbook Required
* Artificial Intelligence Targets Gaps in Student Knowledge
* Assessment and Individualized Learning for Grades 3-12
* Master Account Includes Quizzing and Automated Reports to Monitor Learning Progress
* Unlimited Online Access - PC and Mac Compatible
* QuickTables - Complimentary Math Fact Mastery Program for Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction

One of my favorite parts of ALEKS along with my son enjoying it so much, is getting the updated reports that are sent to my email. I am shown what he learned, mastered, how long he worked on it and more. I find this to be very important as a homeschool parent that needs to keep track of hours and having specific times instead of trying to keep tabs myself.

My son checked his pie chart often and let me know the percentage of what he completed. I love the thorough charts and information they offer at this website!!! I am so impressed with how excited my son is to get his pie chart done and motivated to spend his time working on his math to get it done!




A subscription to ALEKS is

* $19.95 per student, per month, or

* only $99.95 every 6 months, or

* only $179.95 every 12 months.
Learn about our family discount program.

When you subscribe, we will create two ALEKS accounts:

* A Student Account: This is the account your child will use to access the ALEKS Student Module which includes assessment and learning features.

* A Master Account: With this account, you can monitor your child's progress through automated reports, assign quizzes, manage student accounts, and much more.

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

Virtual Nerd Review

One of the most frequently asked questions in homeschooling is: "What will you do when they are in high school and need to learn the more difficult subjects?". Virtual Nerd offers an online version of tutoring to help parents answer these questions confidently. Students get the essential benefits of private tutoring and access to over a thousand interactive step-by-step video tutorials presented in their patent-pending Dynamic Whiteboard™. Offering students teaching tools from Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, Intro to Physics as well as Chemistry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus in time for the 2011-2012 school year. I have to admit just reading that list helps me exhale and relax at the idea of high school education with assistance from a site like Virtual Nerd!


My son is currently working through Pre-Algebra so this is the area we investigated on the site the most. He enjoyed that he could pull up a lesson that he had not mastered and skip to the point where he was lost. Right now the site is primarily used to teach and review the rules, showing you how the problems break down. I enjoyed watching the Dynamic Whiteboard™ videos and found them engaging.

There is a wonderful review throughout the lesson explaining what they are doing instead of rushing through it and confusing you as you watch them do the problem. They explain it step by step and show you where the numbers and formula comes from. These are the minimum requirements for your computer in order to use Virtual Nerd:

*High speed Internet access
*Minimum of: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 2, Apple Safari 2, Google Chrome 2, or Flash Player 9
*Screen/display resolution of 1024x768 pixels
There are many options for signing up. From $5/day to $129/3 months and options in between you will find the perfect fit for your situation. I would highly recommend Virtual Nerd for parents, even as a resource to utilize during tough times in studies at school. You can read more about them and see pricing here: http://www.virtualnerd.com/#

You can also find them on facebook here.
You can view a video here:
http://www.virtualnerd.com/for-parents.php

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

Master Innovations – Master Clock Review

Our latest review is for a product called The Master Clock. We were so excited to open this package! First of all the clock is better than any clock I have seen at various teacher stores. Finally a clock that moves the hour when the minutes go by! I also liked having the seconds hand and the color coding made it easy for me to explain and teach. The Master Clock is also able to pare down to the hour hand and then work in the seconds hand to get the hang of it. I especially liked the fact that it included digital because my son is familiar with both so helping him put the two together in his mind as being the same is efficient teaching!

Our package came with the Master Clock workbook which has a great deal of information and fun activities to do. Helping my son think of things that take an hour, 1/2 hour and then using the clock to show how long it would take and what time it would be was enjoyable. The workbook includes a lot of information about the beginning methods of telling time, how to make clocks and so much more.

I am thrilled with the quality and the in-depth lessons offered through The Master Clock! My son is telling time more than ever and we greatly enjoyed sitting down and doing it together. I think that speaks volumes on its own!

Master Innovations is a company that has been inventing new manipulative for mathematics for over 10 years. They have created The Master Clock, The Master Angle, The Master Fractions, and their award winning Marvels of Measurement poster.

We also received in our review package a copy of Marvels of Measurement poster and I have to agree that it was the best measurement poster I have seen, as it contains numerous measurements on it so you don’t need rooms of wall space to put up various measurements. I will definitely be adding Master Fractions and Master Angle to our wish list for the future!

The Master Clock sells for $14.95 and the Master Clock Workbook sells for $15.95. You can read more about this and their other great products here: http://www.themasterruler.com/

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

Professor in a Box Financial Accounting

We were recently asked to review Professor in a Box Financial Accounting course. I am about to say something that most people would never utter…We were SO excited to learn about Financial Accounting with Professor in a Box. I actually mean it! Professor in a Box gets an A+ from me on this curriculum. My son is in 7th grade and he couldn’t wait to learn about the details of financial accounting.

This course is laid out very nicely for you to learn! I enjoyed listening to it as my son went through the slide show and learned the basics of business terms. I enjoyed that they gave great examples so that the student could understand the terminology. It is never assumed that the students know the terms so it is a great course for the student to follow and not feel like a lecture is going over their head and hard to absorb. His voice is not boring, in fact it was easy to listen to and my son liked it while I find to be a strong positive recommendation!

What do you do?


Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a first accounting course for homeschool high school students. Many high schools offer an accounting course as an elective for students interested in pursuing a career in business. Now homeschool high school students have such an elective available to them. Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a challenging college level course similar in content to the first accounting course taken by all students in university and college schools of business across the country. Any high school level student with basic math skills can handle this course.

Students taking Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. will learn to prepare and interpret the four basic financial statements which all publicly traded companies must prepare and make available to the public. Complete financial accounting course featuring narrated lectures taught by a college professor and homeschool dad – Dr. Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. Featuring content coverage for the new CLEP Financial Accounting Exam.

This course is available for a limited time at the rate of $99.95 at their website:

http://www.professorinabox.com/

They also offer a full money back guarantee! Work through the first three chapters and if you’re not satisfied with the course, send it back for a full refund including shipping!

I found this course easy to work through, efficient, nicely done and I am excited to look into their other offerings Principles of Marketing and Entrepreneurship (coming Spring 2011). I highly recommend this course and I will be sharing the details of it with all of my homeschool friends!

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

PG Key SafeKey

One of the biggest concerns of parents these days is protecting their time online. We have homeschool and public school children in our family and google is often on our public school sons homework list. So how do you protect your children without having to stand over them the entire time?

Enter PG Key…

PG Key Program Features & Functions:

• Simple, easy to use solution that any parent can use- Just plug it into the family or childs PC and immediately create a safer, supervised, kid friendly environment.
• A total solution that gives parents everything they need to follow the advice from experts.
• No annual fees required.
• Website blocking, filtering, access and time control, notifications – 10 essential parental controls are activated.
• Designed and endorsed by experts from law enforcement, education and children’s and family psychology.
• Works with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7

Access Control
Control computer use by inserting or unplugging PG Key.

Time Allowance
Decide the amount of time the computer can be used daily.

Content Filtering
Eliminate unwanted results from innocent searches.

Site Blocking
Block sites you decide are inappropriate.

Activity Tracking
Review all activity on the PC with a DVD-like interface.

Activity Notifications
Be informed via text message or e-mail of any flagged activity.

Chat and E-mail Logging
See both sides of chat and e-mail conversations.

Computer Configuration
Properly configure all users of the protected PC.

User Name and Password Logging
Keep track of user names and passwords.

Inappropriate Activity Evidence
Use video recording to show obvious or suspected inappropriate activity.

Sounds too good to be true right? We tried PG Key recently and found that it does offer a great amount of support, settings and options. Although the install was quick and easy, I found it difficult to go to some of my normal websites, I had not added any filters but yet it seemed to only block my shopping sites and forums. Playing with the settings has fixed the issues for me for now.

I liked the fact that it uses the USB port although I have noticed my computer was running slower because I don’t have a huge amount of memory on my computer. I do think that the PG Key has a lot of potential and with more time I hope to get more accustomed to how it works and fine tune the searches. I like the options available for recording and playing back. Especially as someone else mentioned when you forget a website where you found some information while researching online, you can scroll back through and find it.

Solution – PG Key’s SafeKey allows parents to record up to 60 hours of computer activity that a parent can then watch as easy as watching a movie.. and notify parents when their rules are not being followed. Since SafeKey is visible, the child or teen knows that their parent is “over their shoulder” so they don’t engage is the behaviors in the first place. No monthly fee’s and a more complete solution also make PG Key a better option for parents.



PG Key is $49.99 + shipping. I would say this is a comparable price to other filters and software out there. You can also request a free trial at this link: http://www.pgkey.com/StoreLocator.aspx

I will say with my experience of PG Key I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. There is a learning curve to it and I didn’t find it as easy to use as I had hoped, but their customer service and one time fee are a good enough value that I would say it is worth trying. My advice: request a free trial and see for yourself.

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.