This unplanned spontaneity is homeschool preschooling at its finest! Balance, color recognition, American Sign Language all wrapped into one fun activity! This is a fun reminder that kids of all ages learn through play! Class is in, play with your kids, learn and have fun together!!

I'd like to introduce you to a great history supplemental book called The Hidden Message of the Great Seal How Foundational Truth From The Dawn Of Liberty May Rescue A Republic In Peril from The Hidden Message, LLC.

I didn't enjoy history much as a kid, I think it had a lot to do with the way it was taught.  I don't know if it's with age or the fact that I'm relearning as I teach my kids and it has sparked something inside me but I really have found an interest in reading up on individuals and how things were done historically.  This book is a great read for that because it includes many historical leaders and the founders of our country.  

​The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is 9x12" in size, and has a paperback cover made of heavy glossy cardstock with the image of the seal being unwrapped.  Inside is 256 pages of research and photos that really help unwrap the hidden messages involved in the Great Seal.  

​The Author Michael Kanis has poured a good bit of his life into the research of this book.  He guides you through his reasearch, the trips he took, the experiences he encountered, his mentors and researchers that helped him along the way.  The messages can and have been interpreted in many different ways, I really appreciate that Michael shares the different interpretations and leaves it up to the reader to decide how they feel about it.  Michael is a Christian, yet he takes on the challenge of writing this book to include interpretations from many different beliefs and even goes as far as to help tie them together in some areas.  You can see through his research that when your eyes and mind are open to many viewpoints it can make the bigger picture a little more clear!

​This book was a little over the heads of my kids right now but with 295 pictures, timelines, and graphics throughout the book they did enjoy looking through it, especially the photos of the money!  Krissy got to open the package when it came and one of the first things he noticed was "someone wrote in it with marker!" We got a first edition autographed book direct from the author.  Since this is a self published book if you buy this from you might get a signed version too!  

This book retails at $29.95 but if you use coupon code HOMESCHOOL now through May 30th you will get 50% off and free shipping.

We have enjoyed this book by The Hidden Message, LLC, but don't just take our word for it other families from the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed it as well so be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner.

Psalms is the largest book in the bible, there are 150 psalms that were written 3,500 years ago. The Psalms guide us in how to praise and worship God, how to give and receive grace, and thanksgiving. The table of contents of "Psalms for my Day" lists the Psalms and the main concept. This is great for when you feel a certain theme may be needed for a day.

This book is approximately 8x8" in size with a colorful hardback cover, there is 87 pages which are thick, glossy and loaded with colorful art. The illustrations are done by Catherine Pope.  There were days when my kids looked so confused, not understanding the words I was reading, but were deep in thought with the illustrations.  Catherine did a fantastic job customizing art for each Psalm and I have faith that even if my kids don't understand the Psalms yet, they will always feel comfort and peace by the words and continue thinking just as deeply about the words as they do the art.

Psalms for my day has a suggested 'read to me' level of ages 4-6, and 'read myself' of 7-11.  We enjoyed this book as a family, we took turns reading it aloud and even as an adult I learned so much.  The Author Carine has a true passion for the Psalms and did a great job writing this book but you can also see her deep connection and respect for Alec Motyer, she included many quotes of his throughout her book.  "Psalms by the Day" was quoted most frequently, I plan to check that one out soon as well.

We have enjoyed this Christian Focus book, but don't just take our word for it other families from the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed this book and other great titles published by them, be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner.

Kandy is my youngest and my only girl, lately she has been begging for "shool" everyday, even on the weekends, even when the boys aren't doing school.  She loves getting to do letters, color, crafts and most of all the one-on-one time with mommy.  Growing up in a homeschool family sometimes the little ones want their own school just like their older siblings and BJU Press Homeschool makes it easy with BJU Press Focus on Fives kit.

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This curriculum is huge, I was shocked when 2 big boxes showed up on my porch.  The boxes were slam packed with content, a good mix of consumables, reproducables, reusables!

The teacher books are spiral bound, and have 25-30 lessons in each book.  With a total of 180 lessons. The lessons are easy to follow, gives you the subject you're on, the objectives, resources and materials, and any preparation work needed.  Below is a glipse of a lesson layout in the teacher workbook - Lesson 129 out of teacher book 6.

Each lesson usually consists of a review, a daily topic which alternates between a science, heritage, or reading segment, followed up by language arts. There is also extended activities which include arts and crafts, learning centers, writing, motor skills, bible connections, and more.

I definitely recommend prepping for your lessons ahead of time.  It took me a little while to figure out where each part of the lessons were, since there's 3 different workbooks, the different visual resources and there's reproducables in the back of the teacher books.  Once you get the hang of where to find everything it's not so bad to prep for but trying to find all of that with an eager child is difficult!!

The student books have a unique spine on them that allow for you to pull the pages out easily on them.  This works out well for us because I like keeping a portfolio for each kid. So with this style I can pull them out, we use them for the day, then punch holes and add them to her portofolio!  

Some big takeaways for Kandy have been working on her colors, mixing colors, shapes, identifying the letters of her name, pencil grip, writing and tracking from left to write, up and down, listening skills, and following directions!  She has picked up the routine of the program and mostly knows what to expect during our lesson.  Her favorite part is using the "Hopper" cutout on the stick.

With Kandy only being 2 years old, we haven't been using this curriculum at the pace it is laid out for, which is meant for a 5 year old kindergartener. That is the glory of homeschooling though, we don't have to work for it, we make it work for us!  This BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum has been a great first curriculum for Kandy and we look forward to slowly continuing to work our way through it.  Also looking forward it looks like BJU Press Homeschool will be launching some videos that go along with this curriculum this summer which will be a neat add on.

We have enjoyed this BJU Press Homeschool curriculum, but don't just take our word for it other families from the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed it as well so be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner.

Having three kids on three completely different levels of reading has it's challenges, so I have reluctantly been opening up to different online programs.  Most recently we've been given the opportunity to try out a  Reading Unlocked subscription from Reading Unlocked.  I can say this is by far is one of the best structured online reading subscriptions I've come across.

The interface is so simple and clean that even young hands who are still learning to use a mouse or trackpad can do this program without any problems.

Reading Unlocked uses a variation of see it, hear it, say it, find it, write it, read it, all without being to redundant. This program is absolutely worderful for visual learners, I especially love how they color code long vowels with their silent partner and the vowel blends are paired as a unit.  This all worked seemlessly for Krissy who is my 6 year old, however my older child who has auditory issues and while he is a visual learner the auditory aspect of this program would not have been clear enough for him. So if your child is deaf, hard of hearing or has problems with auditory processing I would make sure to stay near by so you can repeat the words for them.

Our favorite part of our day was reading the last passage together.  It's a neat reading drill where the student reads the red words and the parent reads the black words.  This drill is great for keep attention, practicing tracking, and helping create a rhythm for poems.  The stories were usually funny, sometimes we got mixed up and read the wrong color which just made us laugh even more.  It was always the most fun and most looked forward to!  Here's a clip of us reading together:

After our together reading passage was the "ta da" your done page, and you can see your progress, once you hit finish it logs you out.  The lessons take about 15 minutes each to complete. The student cannot skip things, it goes in a specific order and the "next" buttons do not pop up until the activity is done.  For the section of writing I had Krissy use a dry erase board, he'd write the word and then erase for the next one. 

Like I said in the beginning this program is very simple and clean, there are very little things to click on, even as a parent the photo below is the only tracking/progress you see.  For some reason it didn't track everything very well though, I think by my calculations we had finished our 20th lesson in this screen shot but it says only 15 days.  In the beginning we might have done a partial day here or there which might have thrown off the count.

We truly have enjoyed this Reading Unlocked Subscription, but don't just take our word for it other families from the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed it as well so be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner.

Everyone internalizes the messages they are told, especially the messages they are told repetitively.  Someone may hear messages like "you're fat and ugly" and over time they internalize it and start to believe it. This can have a huge negative impact on that person.  The same can happen in a postive way though, positive affirmations like "you are perfect and wonderfully made in God's image." When heard repetitively this positive affirmation will reach the very core and make a positive imact on that person!  Preborn Prodigy has created just the products for this with albums like "Prayers and Blessings for the Unborn Child," "Prayers and Blessings Newborn to 99" and "Math Prodigy."

These albums would make for great gifts for expectant parents or young children. In all honesty though even adults will find peace hearing these prayers, blessings and affirmations, especially during the current pandemic, with so much fear circulating around this type of positivity and faith is what we really need to be focued on! Faith over fear!!

We have enjoyed these Preborn Prodigy CD's, but don't just take our word for it other families from the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed them as well so be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner.