Scholaric Review.

When I find something that I love, helps me and is easy to use...I want to tell the whole world!! I'm a chronic planner, organization junkie and all around nerd when it comes to homeschooling. I'm constantly looking for ways to make my life easier and more streamlined. With 6 kids, keeping our homeschool organized is a top priority.

Before the beginning of our homeschool year in August, I decided that I needed an easier way to organize lessons for my 3 grammar stage kids. Fitting everyone's schedule in my planner just wasn't working and adding any more kids to it was just not realistic. So I decided to give the electronic planner a try.

I started with a popular, downloadable "Tracker" program. It took me a whole weekend to type everything in, understand how to use it and get the ball rolling with it. I was on the brink of throwing in the towel with it's learning curve, but decided to stick it out because of all the time I had already invested in it. But then something wonderful happened. I got rid of my dinosaur PC and upgraded to an iMac.

Upgrading to an iMac is awesome...but not so awesome for Tracker users. I found out that not only could I not transfer my Tracker files, but that I couldn't even start over with Tracker because it is not compatible with Macs!! All that precious time wasted! I nearly cried with frustration!

Thus began my search for a homeschool planner that was Mac compatible. Luckily, it didn't take long before someone recommended Scholaric. Could it be that I had found something I could download to my Mac that would save me from a planning crisis? Read on.

It turns out that Scholaric doesn't need to be downloaded into any computer because it's web-based. That means all your planning stays online and not your computer. I wasn't sure I liked this. My lesson plans floating around in virtual space? I didn't buy into the hype until a light bulb lit up over my head. My lesson plans....accessible from any computer!

Once I realized that I could plan my school week not only from my desktop, but from our MacBook from anywhere in the house, I got so excited! Not only that, but you could use it on your iPad too! How much more convenient and terrific could this Scholaric program be? I signed up for the trial version immediately. After all, not just because you can have easy access to something does it mean that it's easy to set up or use, right?

Well...Scholaric is extremely easy to set up and use. If you like to spend hours typing information into a planner before you actually get to use it...this program is probably not for you. But if you like to get started right away, Scholaric is perfect! Setting up our homeschool account on Scholaric was a breeze. It's like opening a notebook planner and just filling in the days with what you are doing. You can schedule repeating lessons, record time spent on a subject (necessary in some states), reschedule lessons easily and even share lessons if you have more than one student.

Scholaric makes it easy to record grades too and even generates a report card if needed. What I really like about Scholaric, beside all these great features? I can print out a daily or weekly assignment for my kids that they can check off. Here is a quick screenshot (sorry it's blurry).

Is Scholaric perfect? Probably not. There is no perfect planner, although for me it's as close to perfection as I've ever had. Sign up for a free 15 day trial to find out how easy it is to use this amazing online planner. It's only $1 per month, per child after that!

Check them out and become a fan! They post tips and updates on their FaceBook page.

New Pup?

We are finally settling into the routine of being back to school. Co-op started this past Monday and it was great. The kids were so excited to be back! It was a great first day and I was happy to see all the kids and my friends!

Of course, things are never dull around here with school, co-op, a new baby and just our daily routines. But I decided to throw in a little curve ball this past week. We are fostering a dog!! I know it's crazy of me to even think of adding a dog to a family of 8, but I couldn't justify not allowing my kids to get a pet. After all, I have very fond memories of growing up with pets myself.

So enters Sierra. This little pup is a year old and the sweetest thing. We actually weren't planning on adopting a dog just yet. We were waiting to see if we could swing buying a nice poodle mix so that I wouldn't have to add vacuuming dog hair to my list of chores. But as I took Anthony on a mother-son lunch date, we decided to stop by the humane society just to look at the puppies. And there was Sierra. More timid that my own little Anthony (he's a shy one!), but just so sweet. We fell in love with her! Now we are fostering her for a week or so to see how she adjusts to living with our family and how our family adjusts to having her around. So far, things are going great!

Yea...she sheds. She's not a designer dog. But the kids love her! I'll have to let you know if we decide to go through with an adoption and having her become one of the family!

She was so shy at the shelter. She was almost afraid to be pet.

As soon as we got home, she opened up. She loves the kids and is excellent with them! She is not one bit shy anymore!!

With 6 kids, she gets plenty of attention. Here she is taking a nap after a long walk.

FaceBook. Bringing Out The Worst.

I remember a couple of years ago I kept getting invitations to join Facebook from family and friends. "What a time suck!!" was my initial response. How could anyone waste their time reading all the mindless posts from friends they hadn't seen since high school? And not only that, who cared? If someone really wanted to be your "friend" why didn't they give you a call or send you a letter?

Well, here we are 2 years later and I'm constantly checking my Facebook home page. Did my sister update her status? Is my aunt in Chicago doing well? How about my cousins? Don't forget all my old friends who live far away. What are they up to? Oh! I better update my status and let everyone know that I just gave little Jimmy the third bath of the day because he decided to pour maple syrup on his head...again.

Yes. This is what part of my days look like. Granted, I check in for only about a minute and then I'm off. But add those minutes up and who knows how many hours I spend a week on Facebook. How did I get sucked into this? And why is it so difficult to stop?

Today I finally made a realization. Facebook brings out the worst in me. As I sat checking everyones updates on my phone today, I caught myself doing something. I wasn't surprised or suddenly appalled...I was just AWARE of what I was doing. I was judging. Criticizing. Forming bad opinions. Snickering.

And as I read a friend's post, I realized just how addictive Facebook is. And addictive is not good. Sure, I get to keep in touch with friends and family. My dad looks forward to all the pictures I post of the kids. It's the way I message our babysitter. But is being on Facebook really bringing out the best in me? Probably not.

This past Lent, I remember talking with a friend about our sacrifices. Giving up Facebook was one of them. I remember her saying how difficult it was going to not check in and asking if it counted to just read and not post. Wow. Talk about the incredible grip that Facebook has on our daily lives! Even more recently, another friend gave up Facebook as a prayerful cause. But of course, it's impossible to really "give it up" and you can still see where she checks in daily and Sundays don't count.

Is it that hard to stop? I say yes. After choosing to go without it for Lent, I realized just how tempting it was to "drop in." The first week was the hardest. My husband kept saying, "If you even visit the FB page, you are breaking your fast." So I didn't. Not even on Sunday. I went the whole season without even opening the FB page. It was a little liberating.

But now here I am again. Should I "give it up" as my friends say? I'm not sure. On the one hand, I love keeping in touch with my family. On the other hand, I'm sometimes creating negative thoughts and bringing out the worst in me. Which way to go?

Back to School 2011!

Is it August already??!!! Of course it's August. I've known that for the past 17 days!!! But really...here I go again. Life gets in the way of blogging...blah, blah, blah. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

We actually started school on August 1st! Yes we had our first day of school celebrations and all. It was a fantastic day and the kids had the best time, like always. I won't say that it was easy, as I wasn't ready to start school at all! But I sucked it up, planned as much as I could, gathered whatever materials I had and got to it. The first two weeks were a MESS!! I couldn't find all my materials, our old books were still on the shelves while our new books sat in piles all over our school room. Not only that but our daily schedules weren't set up, my lesson plans weren't organized, the kids' planners were nowhere to be found, and our school room was a disaster.

Sounds like a nice start to the school year, huh? Well, I finally got my act together. Every night last week I stayed up late organizing and planning. It was painful, but now I can say that I'm mostly done! The only thing left for me to do is get our daily schedules done. I have a tentative schedule, but I'm still experimenting on how our days are going to flow best with 4 kids doing school, a toddler, and a baby.

This week we are well into our 3rd week of school and it's going GREAT! Our lessons are getting done, the kids are happy (for the most part), and I can finally find all our books. I'm sure that this year's beginning isn't going to scar the kids. They have been having a wonderful time since our new school year started. Our first day of school traditions helped, of course.

As you may know, every year we celebrate the first day of school with schultutes or school cones that I usually spend a couple of weeks working on. It's like Christmas around here! The cones are full of school supplies, candy, and toys. The kids get to spend half of the morning playing with their treats before officially starting their school work. Check out the celebration!

Language Arts Decisions and Reviews.

It seems that if you are a homeschooler, this time of year is mainly focused on curriculum decisions, planning, organizing, and hunting for reviews for new products. It's my favorite time of the school year!!Of course, we are using mainly Angelicum Academy for our homeschool. But after having tried out their language arts curriculum for the past 3 years...I just don't like it!!

(Photo from Habits of a Happy Home blog)

Shurley English was not only torture for me to teach, but Marco totally hated it. So we ditched it and switched to Rod and Staff English. It's rigorous and boring, but I actually like that it's straightforward to teach. Marco doesn't like it, but he doesn't hate it either. I like that there's tons of review, which is important for him. Isabella used it this past year and she flew through their 2nd grade book. She loved it! But she's just that kind of student. I plan on using First Language Lessons for Anthony's 1st grade and then jumping into Rod and Staff for him too.

Well, that's grammar. But how did our year go with using Angelicum's recommendation of Hooked on Phonics for phonics instruction? I totally dislike the program, but the kids loved it. In the end, we're ditching this too. The program might get your kids reading, but it completely lacks phonics instructions. There is no explanation of phonics rules and I felt it was more like teaching word families. So in the future, when your child comes across a more difficult word, he won't be able to apply any phonics rules to learn to read it because none were ever taught!! Come on!! Even I remember learning things like "When 2 vowels go a walkin', the first one does the talkin'." HOP consists of watching a video, repeating the words they say, and then reading the same words in the workbook. Not my idea of a solid phonics foundation.

Anyways...we're switching to Saxon Phonics this year (click for a Cathy Duffy review). After reading review after review, I made up my mind and have received Saxon Phonics 1 for Anthony. It looks fabulous!!! It's completely scripted like their Saxon math program, and I love that! It has lots of review, explains all the rules, teaches coding, and comes with manipulatives. We are starting this next week!! I'm even tempted to do Saxon Phonics 2 with Isabella. She completed HOP 2, but I feel that she needs a better grasp of phonics rules.

And although Saxon Phonics covers spelling, we are still continuing with All About Spelling. It really is a great program and Anthony is doing well with it. Marco and Isabella are also moving along and enjoy the program. By the time the kids are done with Saxon and AAS, they are going to have such a great grasp of phonics and spelling!

Did I cover writing?? Well, after much consideration and back-and-forth, I took the plunge and bought the Institute for Excellence in Writing program. The IEW program always looked pretty awesome, but the price always seemed a little steep. But after hearing Andrew Pudewa speak at the homeschool conference, I was completely convinced! I bought the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style set, as well as two of their themed-based writing books: All Things Fun and Fascinating and Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales. To top it off, I'm also starting poetry memorization using IEW's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization.

Is that all for language arts? I think so. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is finding what works for you and your children. I am completely thankful, however, that there are programs out there that lay out a plan. Most of the thinking is done for you and you know that you won't be missing on any core subjects.

Get Ready For Some Books! Angelicum Sale.

If you are planning on enrolling with Angelicum Academy or just purchasing their lesson plans books...now is the time to do it! They have their summer sale going on until July 5th.

We decided not to enroll this year and will just be purchasing all the lesson plans that we need for the kids. Perhaps when Marco is older and we feel it more necessary to have grading services and support, we'll enroll him again.

For now, I'm getting all our lesson plans in order, our books ordered, and new school materials organized. It's something that I'm sure will take a while to accomplish.

On Vacation.

It's been a great time bonding with the new baby lately! She is 4 weeks old now and it seems like she's been with us forever! Recently, I've been on vacation (as is obvious by my lack of posts). I first spent some time by myself (but with Evangeline) travelling with friends to the annual IHM Conference in Virginia. It was a great time, although I wasn't too thrilled with the vendor accommodations. It was hard getting around to see all the wonderful Catholic curricula. But I did come away with some gems and have been busy ordering and organizing our books every chance I get, since I've been back.

Soon after I arrived home after a long conference weekend, our best friends came to town for a week. We had a blast! Day trips to museums, parks, and playgrounds were all the kids needed to get away from our usual day to day routines. We also spent some of the week at the Great Wolfe Lodge (highly recommended!!) and camping in our backyard by the fire. We were sad to see our friends go, but are looking forward to our next vacation with them!!

All the kids together for a picture!

Hanging at the Great Wolfe Lodge.

The wave pool was awesome!

Our backyard campsite.