Ladybug Daydreams
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    • 2014 Reviews
      • A Life in Balance (book review)
      • Clued In Kids (product review)
      • CTC Math (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Curiosity Quest DVDs (product review)
      • Egglo Entertainment (product review)
      • Fix It! Grammar (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Happy Kids Songs (product review)
      • Hewitt Homeschooling: My First Report (homeschool curriculum review)
      • If He Had Not Come (book review)
      • iWitness (book review)
      • Learning Wrapups (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Mango Languages (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Middlebury Interactive Languages (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Moving Beyond the Page (homeschool curriculum review)
      • My Student Logbook (product review)
      • Preschoolers and Peace (book review)
      • Progeny Press 2014 (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Rhythm of Handwriting by The Logic of English (homeschool curriculum review)
      • SchoolhouseTeachers.com (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Science4Us.com (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Snake Oil game (product review)
      • Spelling You See (homeschool curriculum review)
      • The Brinkman Adventures (product review)
      • UberSmart Math Facts (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Warriors of Honor (product review)
      • We Choose Virtues (product review)
      • What on Earth Can I Do? (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Wizzy Gizmo (book review)
      • Zaycon Milk (product review)
    • 2015 Reviews
      • A New Hand Soap from Dial (product review)
      • A New Interactive Book for Upper Elementary Students (product review)
      • A+ Tutorsoft Math (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Digital Elementary Math (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Drawing Around the World: Europe (Brookdale House Review)
      • Firmly Planted Bible Study (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Funtastic Unit Studies Science (Homeschool Curriculum Review)
      • Home School in the Woods (curriculum review)
      • IEW: Student Writing Intensive (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Koru Naturals (product review)
      • Lord Heritage Digital Homeschool Planner (product review)
      • Love at Mistletoe Inn (book review)
      • Memoria Press: Famous Men of Rome (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Reading Kingdom Review
      • Reading with a Purpose (Progeny Press Review 2015)
      • S is For Smiling Sunrise (book review)
      • Science Unit Studies for the Homeschool (curriculum review)
      • Simply Fun (Expanders Game product review)
      • Spelling You See, Year 2 (homeschool curriculum review)
      • Still Life by Christa Parrish (book review)
      • Successful Homeschooling Made Easy (homeschool moms review)
      • Super Teacher Worksheets (Homeschool Curriculum Review)
      • Supermarket Healthy by Melissa d’Arabian (book review)
      • Texas K9 Series (book review)
      • The Bracelet by Dorothy Love (book review)
      • The Critical Thinking Co Pattern Explorer (homeschool curriculum review)
      • The Phonetic Zoo (IEW Review)
      • The World’s Best Pencil Sharpener – Really! (Product Review)
      • USAopoly Review
      • Visual Learning Systems Science (homeschool curriculum review)
    • 2016 Reviews
      • A Bible for the Entire Family (ESV Family Devotional Bible review)
      • A Vegan Alternative to Emu Oil (GREEMU review)
      • Building Strong Faith – One Brick at a Time (Zonderkidz Review)
      • Closing Math Gaps with A+ Interactive Math Mini-Courses (Review)
      • Creation Based Elementary Science (Science Shepherd Review)
      • Essentially English (Logic of English Review)
      • Hey, Mama! TOS Planner (print edition) ~ Review
      • Learning About C.S. Lewis (YWAM review)
      • Learning Multiplication through Stories (Times Tales Review)
      • Mess Free Painting (Kwik Stix review)
      • None Like Him (Book Review)
      • Studying Literature the Classical Way (Memoria Press Review)
      • The Pursuit of Drawing (ARTistic Pursuits review)
      • Using Dice for Arrows (SimplyFun Review)
      • Writing a Book with Here to Help Learning (Review)

reading

Our Reading List – December

Posted by Wendy on December 4, 2014 Leave a Comment

December 2014 Reading List - Ladybug Daydreams

Here are in a new month. Can you believe that it’s December already?! A new month means time for a new reading list. Here’s what we’re reading in December.

Read-Aloud – everyone

I found a book called A Newberry Christmas at the library. It’s a collection of 14 short stories by beloved authors including Beverly Cleary and Madeline L’Engle. We’re really excited to dive into this one! [Read more…]

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Posted in: homeschooling, what we're reading | Tagged: 3rd grade reading, 5th grade reading, beverly cleary, christmas books, holes, homeschool, inkheart, john grisham, louis sachar, reading

Homeschool Curriculum Review: Logic of English Rhythm of Handwriting

Posted by Wendy on May 9, 2014 2 Comments

Rhythm of Handwriting 2

 

Cursive handwriting is something I learned in the third grade. As a parent who didn’t really know anything about homeschooling or what it should look like, I assumed that that was when kids were mentally and physically able to handle the task of writing in cursive. So color me surprised when I was assigned the Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive – Complete Set by Logic of English to review. The folks over there recommend teaching kids cursive before teaching them manuscript. There are several reasons for this, most of which are based around the idea that “it’s just easier.” (For example, all the lowercase letters begin at the same place and spacing within and between words is more easily controlled.) The one that stuck with me the most, though – and the one that made me wish we’d had this program for Seahawk two years ago – was that when writing in cursive, it’s hard to mix up the B and the D. Think about it: what does a cursive lowercase B look like? Nothing like a lowercase D, unlike their manuscript counterparts.

But Seahawk did learn cursive as a third-grader, and he (rarely) mixes up his Bs and Ds anymore. So we used this program with Munchkin, who has been desperately begging me to teach him cursive for about a year. He was positively thrilled when the package arrived, and even now that it’s been several weeks, still loves his cursive handwriting lessons.

The complete set includes everything you need to get started teaching your child (recommended age for Rhythm of Handwriting is 4 to adult) cursive handwriting. You get a softcover workbook ($15), a white board for practicing ($12), cursive tactile cards which are like flash cards, but the letters on the front are a sandpaper-like texture for the child to feel how the letter goes ($28), and a cursive handwriting chart which details each letter along with the steps for forming that letter ($10). You can purchase the items separately at the prices listed above or as a complete set for $65. The only things you need to provide are a dry erase marker, a pencil, and a student.

rhythm of handwriting items

Inside the workbook are several suggested schedules for teaching the letters. It all depends on the age and enthusiasm of your student. Because Munchkin is a solid reader and writer, we moved pretty quickly through the workbook; he learned 4 new letters a day on the “learning” days and moved even faster through on the “review/word” days.

We started the program using it exactly as prescribed. This involved going over the letter names and sounds on the flash cards, having him trace the texture of the letter on the card with his finger, having me describe exactly how to form the letters to him, and then finally having him write the letters in the workbook.

He quickly grew tired of this.

He’s the strongest reader of the two boys, so he already knew the letter sounds; that made that portion of the lesson unnecessary. The workbook includes large versions of the letters that he traced with his finger when he felt it was necessary to “figure it out,” so we didn’t end up using the cards all that often – the book alone was enough. The same was true for the white board. He was competent enough to just dive right into the workbook, using a pencil. I’m not saying this to diminish the necessity/quality of those products – they’re fabulous. They just weren’t necessary in our situation. For a younger child, or one who isn’t a super strong reader/writer, they would be invaluable assets.

I think this program was great. It was easy to teach, and I felt like it was easy for Munchkin to learn the letters. And he’s so excited to be able to read and write in cursive now.

His thoughts?

I really like it. My favorite part was learning the capital letters because they’re more complicated. I liked the challenge. Learning to combine letters into words was exciting too. It’s awesome because you can clearly read cursive when you learn to write it.

Logic of English has loads of other products, too – not just the handwriting program we used. Make sure to click the banner at the end of this post to read reviews of all the different products Crew members were blessed with! Additionally, you can find them on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter.

Blessings,

Wendy

more reviews click through copyreview crew disclaimer copy

 

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Posted in: homeschooling, reviews | Tagged: alphabet, first grade reading program, handwriting, homeschool reading, kindergarten reading program, language arts, literacy, phonemic awareness, phonograms, reading, spelling, systematic phonics

K5 Learning

Posted by Wendy on October 9, 2013 Leave a Comment

K5 Logo 400 px

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I’ve been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.

I haven’t tried this with my kids yet, but I plan to start it tomorrow. I’ll let you know in six weeks what I think!

–Wendy

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Posted in: homeschooling | Tagged: homeschool, K5 Learning, kids, math, reading

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