Ocean's World by Carlos and Alexa Penavega Pictures by Kiersten Eagan

An Island Tale of Discovery and Adventure Ocean’s World by Carlos and Alexa Penavega pictures by Kiersten Eagan is a gorgeous book. This sweet story follows Kingston and Ocean as they look for a sunrise shell on the beach in Maui, Hawaii.

This is a great story that is an adventure while it gently teaches us about the ocean animals, the ocean and the landscape of Hawaii. I was as enchanted as my son when we read it together. Each page has gorgeous illustrations and “Fun Facts” about what the boys are seeing. We loved learning and the story kept us engaged.

It is wonderful to read a children’s story about the ocean that had both a good story and shared information. I am excited to reread this with my son and give a copy to my niece! I highly recommend it. I would recommend as a read-aloud for ages 6-9. Good readers ages 8-11 would be able to read and comprehend on their own. .

I was given a copy by the publisher and not required to write a positive review.  

'

Alexa "Vega" PenaVega is best known for her role as Carmen Cortez in the hit film series Spy Kids, and then reappeared as a grown-up Carmen in the fourth film, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World. She has performed on Broadway in Hairspray, played Ruby Gallagher on the ABC Family television sitcom Ruby & the Rockits, and has held roles in several other films. Most recently, she starred in a series of Hallmark made-for-television films. When she and Carlos Pena married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the couple combined their last names to form PenaVega and are now the proud parents of two sons, Ocean and Kingston, and one baby girl, Rio.

Drawing Outside the Lines by Susan J. Austin

Drawing Outside the Lines by Susan J. Austin is a fictional account of Julia Morgan’s early life. She was one of the first women architects to obtain an architecture license in California. The author does a wonderful job using information from historical letters, interviews with Julia’s friends, and expanding on history to write this delightful story. Little is known of Julia’s early years making this a treasure.

I was so drawn into this fascinating story. The author did a great job drawing on the known parts of Julia’s early life and using her imagination to create the story of Julia’s education through college. I very much appreciated those who paved the way for women in science, math, and engineering programs in the late 1800’s. It was hard to hear of the discimination faced by women in the sciences during this time. I found this account of Julia’s life very interesting and I kept reading to find out what had happened.

Drawing Outside the Lines is a great book that looks at the early years of Julia Morgan’s life, and is appropriate for ages 10 and up. As an adult I found it captivating and would highly recommend it.


I was given a copy by the publisher and not required to write a positive review.

I live in Northern California with my biggest fan, my hubby whom I have known since the age of fifteen. We reside in a cozy 1924 bungalow with a garden populated by lemon, lime and orange trees, fussy but elegant rose bushes, and birds of every variety. While I spend considerable time in my writing studio, if you happen to walk by our house on a nice day, you may see me writing from the comfort of my front porch, a mug of coffee by my side.

Did I mention how much I love libraries and bookstores? Collecting books? Talking about books? Being inspired by books?

 

Repost: Work Samples for Your Student's Portfolio.

This is a great time of year to set aside your students' work samples.  I often get questions on how to organize student work samples.  Any work you do now pays great dividends later.  

The simplest thing to do is to either make a copy or put the original of a writing sample,  math sample, or other student work sample in a file folder and put it somewhere safe where you can find it later.  (I added the safe place as a reminder to myself. )  I would also grab a piece of paper to begin to write down books your student has read for a booklist.   You continue to do this a couple more times and your portfolio is ready to share with me in 2023. Many families mail the finished portfolio to me, they scan their documents to me, or they upload to the Ohio Homeschool online system.  

There is also the digital option.  You can take a picture of your student's work using your phone, or scan it with your computer scanner.  Make sure they are relatively high resolution so I can read them. Another key piece  is how you store the files.  You probably want to store them off your phone or computer.   A phone or computer crash would destroy all of your work samples.  You could upload to Google Drive, Google Photos; some type of cloud storage; iCloud; an external drive or thumb drive.  Later you can upload those files to my online portfolio system or email them to me.  

You can also put an app on your phone to scan items to PDF.  Here is an example for Android.  Here is another list that shares some Android apps.   Here are some tips from Apple support, and an app to scan.  

You also may want to take  pictures throughout the year of projects or field trips.  You can store those in some type of cloud storage as well.   The other option is to open up a separate Instagram account.  You can add your pictures all year.  You are able to keep the account private and just share with me if you would like.  Here is more information on setting up a second Instagram account just for your  student's portfolio.

Hopefully this is helpful to get you started.  If you have any other ideas please put them in the comments.  We are all in this together.  

Homer's Odyssey adapted by B. B. Gallagher illustrated by Charles Arbat

My son added the appropriate Lego figures for the book. 

I was thrilled to get a copy of Homer's Odyssey adapted by BB. Gallagher and illustrated by Charles Arbat.  It  is a wonderful adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey! This is a beautiful book with stunning illustrations. It includes a glossary that is informative, the author explains the cast of characters wonderfully, and the themes listed are helpful for understanding the st

I was so impressed with this version and have enjoyed reading it myself and to my children! I highly recommend this book.

I was given a copy by the publisher and not required to write a positive review.

Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS) Review

I have a student who has trouble with spelling and handwriting. I have tried so many programs to try to help him spell. I saw Touch-type Read and Spell at the Homeschool Buyers Co-op and decided to give it a chance. I figured the worst thing that could happen is that he would learn to type. We bought it and have been using it this school year.

SAVE UP TO 73% on Touch-Type Read and Spell

Some facts about the program.  It teaches kids to type by drilling with patterned words.  Instead of nonsense words it uses words like (red-fed-led).  The students complete lessons each day and there are charts that demonstrate their progress.   The cost through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for a single subscription is 79.95.  For a family it is 157.50.  The links take you to the family subscription.  Look below for a single subscription.   Save 39% on Touch-Type Read and Spell

   The video below is a nice summary.




Review:  I feel like this is a worthwhile program.  Our student has made more progress in spelling than I have seen him make in a long time.  The lessons are clear and easy to follow, and he is completely independent using this program.  There are lovely charts that demonstrate progress in the program.

  Once my student stopped doing TTRS for a few weeks in November. ( I know this is shocking, but sometimes this happens in our home)     The TTRS organization sent me an email and encouraged my student to log in again and the importance of consistency with this program.  If they had not sent me an  email . . .  let's not think about what might have been.  WOW!  What a helpful resource.

My advice if you choose to do this is to set an amount of time your student should be working on this every day and monitor that.  I felt like my student was not doing enough work, but it is kind of hard to judge how much to do.  That would be my only complaint with the program.. But, it could be I have not spent enough time exploring the program to figure this out.

I would highly recommend this program if you have a student with spelling problems, one who needs to learn to type in a systematic way, or has some trouble reading.  I feel like it was well worth the money.  If you go to the Homeschool Buyers Co-op you can learn more.

Narrative Portfolio Review or Standardized Test?

A question I receive often is “Should I give my home educated student a standardized test at the end of the year, or complete a narrative portfolio assessment to fulfill the end of the year requirement for homeschooling in Ohio?” I usually reply it depends on what kind of information you hope to gain. One way to look at this question is to think “Do you want one picture of one moment in time, or a running movie with many pictures taken over time? “

A standardized test is a “snapshot “of a student at one moment in time.  A standardized test is scored in a consistent manner so you are able to compare your student to a group of students in the same grade who have taken the same test.  You usually receive a percentile ranking which tells you what percentage of the students taking the test your student scored better than.  For instance, if your student was in the 33rd percentile in math then your child scored better than 33 percent of students in the sample group from the publisher who took this test in math.

  

A standardized test is limited in that it is more likely to tell you what your student does not know versus what they do know or have learned this year.  A standardized test also dictates what the publisher feels is important for your student to know.  It does not take into account what your student has learned this past year.

A narrative portfolio assessment is a group of work samples that reflect your student’s growth and progress over the last year.   It consists of many “snapshots” that come together to reflect what your student has accomplished this year.  You, as parent educator, get to showcase what your student has accomplished.

Besides celebrating what your student has accomplished, a portfolio also helps you to plan instruction for the next year.   For instance, you realize you concentrated on learning your math facts, but did not spend as much time learning how to solve word problems.   Next year, you commit to working on more problem solving.  You look at your book list and notice that your student has mainly read adventure stories this past year.  You commit to introducing him/her to biographies, non-fiction, and /or some poetry next year to vary his/her reading diet.   I believe this is time well spent.  You are assessing your student’s needs and planning instruction based on those needs.

A narrative portfolio assessment also gives you a chance to present what your child has accomplished to a certified Ohio teacher.  My hope is that when I review your student’s work I bring a different “set of eyes” to your student’s portfolio.   As an assessor, I try to provide encouragement to parents, insight into your student’s growth, and provide feedback to help you plan future instruction for your child.   My goal is to partner with you to celebrate your student’s accomplishments and encourage you on your home education journey.

Please click here to get started.  

Portfolio Give-Away for 2022!

 

Contest runs through Monday January 17 at 11:59.  Please enter!  

I  am giving away two FREE portfolio assessments (valued at $42.00 each). These are the Assessments that I complete for Ohio Homeschoolers to fulfill requirement 3301-34-04 Academic Assessment Report Option #2. You may redeem your prize anytime between February 7, 2022 and July 1, 2022. The prize is non-transferable.  

Use the Rafflecopter entry form below to enter.  Please hurry the contest ends January 17th at 11:59pm 

Please know I verify all winning entries. If you need help, email me: ohiohomeschool@gmail.com  

How to become a Public Follower.

To become a follower, look under: "I would love it if you would follow my blog publicly, Please click on "Follow" below."  After clicking on that button follow the steps. You may use a Google Account, Twitter Account or Yahoo Account to follow. Click on one and follow the steps. In order for your entry to count you must follow publicly.

If you are on a mobile phone... go to the end of this post and click on the words "View web version" (It is under a HOME button) It will take you to a page where if you look in the top right corner you will see the FOLLOW button. Click on that and Follow Publicly.

Please know that I verify the winning entry. If you need help with a step please email me. ohiohomeschool@gmail.com 

a Rafflecopter giveaway