Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Before They Come for Me and Mine (Or You and Yours), Spreading Word About Justina Pelletier

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist. 
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew. 
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

I can not help but to think of these famous words when I read about Justina Pelletier.  The reported story of what has happened to her and her family is horrific.  A frightening abuse of rights that makes moves me to do something I rearely do here on Training Happy Hearts, which is post twice in one day.  And to do that for something I don't think I have never done here:  Border on getting political with a "hot button" topic.

As background, let me share that my children learned about Rosa Parks last week while doing a community play.  As they rounded the audience with handmade picket signs encouraging, "Boycot the bus!  Boycott the bus!" we all laughed and smiled at their re-enactment of yesteryear, yet, I for one, was touched by how one woman(and her colleagues, of course!), made such a dramatic difference in fighting for rights.  Obviously, during the real Rosa Parks story, a serious abuse of rights was being righted and it was no laughing matter.  Today, as I reflect on the reported abuse of power that Justina Pelletier and her family face, I draw a parellel.  It may not be an entire race of people being abused today, but the abuse is intolerable nonetheless. I cannot help but to "stand" here on my blog today, then, shouting, "JUSTICE!"

For those who do not know what I am talking about, go ahead and read these stories:


For those that do, please join me in raising awareness, spreading word and advocating for reported abuses to end if they are true, with Children's Hospital Boston and the State of MA not only "coming clean", but making whatever amends they can and adjusting future policies so no other family has to go through such a horrific experience.

Truly, I am struck almost speechless by the horror of Justina and her family's plight as reported in the articles I have written.  Almost, but not quite.  For, before "they come for me", I want to do my part to speak out.  To spread word.  To push for right and light to shine.  I am doing so here today, and in person with many people I meet in my daily interactions, and on Facebook, and through email.

We have more than newspapers and picket signs today.  How can we best use them to advocate for rights?  How can we speak out before "they" come for us?

Until Justina's case is resolved, my family and I will not be using Children's services again.  How about you?  How can you stand firm, speaking out and acting before they come for you and yours?

 

My Science to Balancing Home and School – A Science4Us.com Review

So, what does a homeschooling mom do when she needs to take care of this?
 
Mr. Laundry awaits my attention...

If you're me and you're blessed enough to have three children reviewing a Science4Us.com Online Subscription, you let your children log into Science4Us.com on your laptop, set a timer and go forth to attack Mt. Laundry, confident that your children will remain safe, engaged and enjoying themselves in a productive manner as you check another task off your daily list.



An electricity activity at Science4Us.com captures my children's attention.


Indeed, I am not sure if I am ashamed or pleased to admit that, since mid-January, Science4Us.com has been a go-to "babysitter" when I need to attack short household chores or make a quick phone call.  I can, however, declare with confidence that I am pleased as punch that we have been blessed with a 6-month Science4Us.com Online Subscription in return for an honest review.  For not only has this comprehensive online science curriculum proved an effective child minder in our home, it has also become an excellent addition to our ecclectic approach to home learning.



Science4Us Review


What is Science4Us.com?

Science4Us.com is a complete inquiry-based, digitally-delivered science curriculum, targeted for K-2 students to use at home, in homeschool co-ops, in virtual schools or at brick-and-mortar schools.  

Designed by a team that includes science specialists, the curriculum takes into consideration the learning needs of students and the potential needs of their teachers.  In fact, Science4Us.com subscriptions come with built-in, embedded, on-demand content training for teachers as well as online lesson planning and tracking helps.  So, in effect, Science4Us.com engages children in developmentally appropriate online learning, while also ensuring that their teachers –  regardless of prior training, budget restrictions or other obstacles –  become more competent to teach science offline.

Science4Us Review
This screenshot shows an easy-access "teacher's page".  On it, you can see module information and links on the left and lesson-specific information and links on the right.  This relatively intuitive set up makes conversing about and extending online lessons easy, especially with the handy printables that are linked on the page.

What Does a Typical Unit Look Like

You can see from the screenshot above what a typical unit looks like from a teacher's perspective when you open to a specific lesson.  What you cannot see is the embedded videos and pdf's that further explain concepts, offer teacher tips, provide off-screen activities for children and make administering child-friendly paper evaluations, or standardized-test-like evaluations for those that wish to use them, easy.



Science4Us Review
"Katie's" screenshot here is just what my children's lesson landing pages look like.  However, it is a larger screenshot than I could capture with my novice computer skills, so I am using it here to demonstrate how child-friendly the interface is with icons and organization my kids quickly got used to.  In fact, they even realized before me that when they completed activities little stars (not shown) on the activity icons.

Student lesson landing pages look like the screenshot above.  As you can see from it, lessons are grouped into four main modules:

  • Physical is broken into matter (states, changes and observation, as well as matters and mixtures), energy (sources, light, heat, sound, electric and transformations) and force and motion (magnets, simple machines and more).
  • Inquiry teaches students how to think like scientists and to make observations.  Children learn about measurement, weight and balance, as well as about quantitative and qualitative observations.
  •  Life deals with living things (as vs. non-living things and in  categories of plants and animals) and balance in nature (food webs, habitats and eco-awareness).  Children learn to classify plants and animals and what different living things need to survive. 
  • Earth/Space focuses, of course, on earth (history, features, materials and weather) and space (the earth in space and exploring the universe)

These modules can be used in any order, as can be the mini-modules within them, which makes them simple to tie into student interests and community happenings.

We chose our first unit of Science4Us.com study based  on a one-shot magnet program that was offered in our community.  That program and Science4Us.com inspired and solidified hours of magnet fun and learning in our home.

Each module is presented through videos and activities that follow the 5E Inquiry-Based Instructional Model, which guides children to: 

  • engage
  • explore
  • explain
  • elaborate 
  • and evaluate


In doing so, modules evoke interest, capitalize on curiosity and encourage mastery.
 

How We Approach Science4Us.com

Since Science4Us.com is written by specialists as a complete early education science program it could act as a stand-alone or core science curriculum.  Since we are ecclectic homeschoolers that love weaving personal interests together with community happenings and a wide array of resources, we did not use it that way.  Instead, we used it as a welcome addition to science as we already explore it.

Basically, I assigned units to my children based on their requests and also what matched up with local, hands-on community offerings.  This means that, so far, my children have explored the following topics online with Science4Us.com:

  • Magnets
  • Electrical Energy
  • Simple Machines
  • Inquiry
  • Energy Sources

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the children often dove into their lessons together while I checked off tasks.  However, sometimes, we sat down together to do lessons, too, which I was happy to see included cross-curricular connections.

My daughter absolutely beamed when she began succeeding with syllables.  She struggles with reading at grade-level and was, at first, quite put off with the Silly Bulls activities included in each module.  However, once we sat down together and she realized that the computer would help her read while her own skills would help her master syllables, she was thrilled.
 
A Balanced View of Science4Us.com

My children like Science4Us.com so much that they watch each other do activities, even if they have already completed the same activities themselves.  While doing so, they also help and teach each other, which is a wonderful unexpected bonus of our family using the curriculum – the children exercising another opportunity to demonstrate the virtues of kindness and helpfulness.

 Without doubt, Science4Us.com has been a worthwhile addition to our weekly rhythm of play, work and (for mom) task-checking.  Some things I love about it are:

  • Science teachers compiled all the lessons, so I know they are sound and feel comfortable leaving my children for brief periods of time to independently explore Science4Us.com lessons while I attack my to-do list.
  • Everything the children access is explained in developmentally appropriate ways so the kids can easily understand and master concepts.
  • Likewise, "teacher materials" are presented clearly and supplementary materials are broken into grade levels so I can easily extend lessons at just-right levels of challenge for my children of multiple ages.
  • Modules are broken into smaller chunks which are, in turn, broken into mini-sessions.  This helps the children remain engaged while also providing easy "cut off" points for when I think screen-time should end.
  • Materials are presented in a way that are engaging and effective enough that when my children ask for extra Science4Us.com time (which they do often), I can happily say "sure", knowing that their "online play" is actually learning.  (I do bracket such play, however, with strong physical activity since I am not one to believe in huge amounts of screentime at all, much less screentime not balanced by on-your-feet time!)
  • My oldest says, "I really like Investigate".  I, in turn, like the balance of the aforementioned 5E instructional approach.
  • It is easy to track which lessons children attempt and complete and to see how many minutes, in total, students have spent logged into Science4Us.com. 
  • There are grade-level written evaluations provided for printing.  As ecclectic homeschoolers that sometimes lean towards unschooling and often learn through hands-on experiences, our family does not do much traditional "book work" and my children have little experience with worksheets and standardized testing.  However, my oldest son willingly (even happily) completed one of the Science4Us.com standardized tests, which I gave him one day just out of curiosity to see how he'd do.  This gave me a bit more confidence in how all my children might approach traditional learning and testing should we ever need to go that route during some season of life.

Both a boon and a drawback of Science4Us.com is how engaging it is for my children.  I find it difficult to maintain our usual screentime limits when they love the program so much and are learning from it, too.

We have, however, found a few things about Science4Us.com we'd like to see improved:

  • The kids do not like the alphabetize activities because they always seem to freeze up. 
  • My oldest does not like the Silly Bulls activities because "they keep speaking instead of just letting you do the word".  I, too, wish that sometimes activities such as Silly Bulls would let children proceed a bit more quickly.  (Conversely, my second child likes the fact that there is speaking since it helps her with her reading.)  
  • I love all the supplementary materials and pdf's and think it is convenient that they are embedded into lessons for easy reference.  However, for ease in lesson preparations and more effective mama-time-use, I wish that all the materials for a single module were also available as a single document.  For the time it takes to click through each lesson page online in order to access, download and print supplementary materials for modules, I feel, is unnecessarily cumbersome.  Being able to download everything as a single document would be so much more time-efficient. 
  • At the current price of $7.95 per month per child, Science4Us.com seems reasonably priced.  However, for families with multiple children, paying $7.95 times as many children as one has may be cost-prohibitive.  So, I'd like to see large-family pricing options.  (Of course, when you look at it as curriculum and sometimes child minder all-in-one, it becomes more do-able!)

My Bottom Line

Science4Us.com has been a blessing to our family in more ways than one over the past month and a half and will continue to be throughout the six-month subscription we received in exchange for this honest review  – and, perhaps, beyond that.

My children are learning new things and solidifying things they already have been explored to one degree or another before while also enjoying themselves.  I am feeling great about rounding out their Science studies a little more and, obviously, thrilled to get some uninterrupted housework done on a more regular basis.

An afterschool simple machines workshop and a homeschool tapetricity gathering both tied in well with our Science4Us.com studies.


Without hesitation, I would recommend Science4Us.com to parents, schools and community programs that seek a full computer-based Science curriculum that offers cross-curricula connections and offline activities, too, not to mention teacher-training and student-tracking features.  As a stand-alone curriculum, or a supplement to other Science explorations, Science4Us.com provides quality learning for young children and unexpectedly generous pedagogical and content training for teachers who wish to access it.

Honestly, you can use Science4Us.com strictly online as we have done for the most part to date, but to take full advantage of all of the helpful activity and information pdf's that are embedded into the site, it is helpful to have a printer, paper, scissors, glue and other such office supplies on the ready, too.  Especially if using Science4Us.com as a main curriculum, families, community programs and schools will need such supplies to expand upon the online portion of the program with the worksheets and hands-on offline materials that are offered.

Learn More About Science4Us.com

If you'd like to learn more about Science4Us.com, please check out their website, which includes an introductory video, or find Science4Us.com on:


To see what others think about the program, click on over to check out many reviews at:

Click to read Crew Reviews

If you've used Science4Us.com, feel free to share in a comment how you feel about the program.  if you haven't and have specific questions I did not answer, just ask!


Crew Disclaimer

Monday, February 24, 2014

Enjoy Piano Lessons at Home – A KinderBach Review

Do you have a young child interested in learning how to play the piano?  Are private lessons outside your home (or expensive ones at your home) not an option for your family?  Do you want to subtly integrate a variety of developmental skills into music lessons at home?  Would you like to discover if your children enjoy learning piano before investing in a “real piano” or an expensive weighted keyboard?  Then, let me tell you about an awesome online piano program that my children and I have been enjoying since January as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew:  KinderBach!


KinderBach is an online music program for children ages 3 to 7 (although that didn’t stop our 8 year old nor me – a 40-something-year-old – from enjoying the program, too!)  In fact, all three children and I tend to use The KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner as together-time during our daytime play-and-learning periods and our post-dinner intentional family times.  

Regardless of whether we use it during our focused learning times or our family fun times, KinderBach is a hit here!

What is the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner?

Kinderbach Review

It is six levels of engaging music education for young children, ages 3-7 years old, but can be used with children slightly younger or older depending on the child and the family circumstance.


That education is presented through about 22 hours of video and accompanying interactive fun pages that are broken down into short segments so you can do one mini-lesson at a time, in about 5-10 minutes, or a marathon on days your children are up for that!  (The sessions are broken down into weekly units of four sessions each, but since it is an online program, you can go at your own pace!)

My oldest eagerly awaits to see if Miss Karri will tell him to use a rhythm instrument again.  I have been surprised with how engaged our 8-year-old has been with KinderBach lessons.

Within each of the approximately 240 sessions, Miss Karri, the energetic and clear video teacher, introduces young children to a wide variety of music skills with the help of the the keyboard characters (cute cartoon characters that help children remember things about the piano keyboard).  Together, Miss Karri and the keyboard characters gently teach preschoolers (and early elementary-age children) how to:

  • play simple songs
  • identify music direction
  • master new rhythm notes and their beat value
  • maintain proper hand and finger position for the music scale
  • read staff notes by pattern for voice and keyboard.

Kinderbach Review

With membership, you get:

  • access to all web lessons by computer, Android Tablet, Kindle Fire, Nook or iPad.  (We used only our computer) 

  • accompanying pdf activity pages for students

  • $400 worth of instant-access Teacher Corner materials that can help you supplement video lessons or teach the same materials on your own without the videos if you wish (which is handy for teaching group lessons or just for taking a break from screen time)

  • Audio MP3s for all six levels of KinderBach lessons

  • downloads of storybooks, coloring pages and song books

Kinderbach Review


Besides computer access for the videos, of course, to take full advantage of KinderBach, it is helpful to have a printer, colored pencils or crayons, scissors, printer paper, cardstock, something that can be used as a rhythm instrument, and, of course, a keyboard of some sort.  In all honesty, a "real piano" or expensive weighted keyboard are not needed.  Children really can learn and enjoy with KinderBach with an inexpensive "play" keyboard.

Our Experience with KinderBach

From the first evening we used KinderBach, my children were drawn in not only by the music, but by Dodi, one of the keyboard characters.  In fact, they were enjoying themselves so much during our post-dinner family time with KinderBach that they asked me if they could do "one more session".  Who was I to say "no"? 

You do not need a keyboard for the first few sessions of KinderBach, but my children wanted to take out the small play one we had.  Also in this picture, you can see an orange New Year's clacker that the kids used to dance and play rhythm along with the lessons and a high-low coloring page that the children did along with an on-your-feet hi-low activity.

And, who was I not to learn that my children would always ask for "one more session"?  By our second day experiencing KinderBach lessons, I realized that since each session is short and engaging my children will inevitably ask for "more" each time. Henceforth, when planning our KinderBach times, I learned to say we will do x-amount of sessions, but to plan to actually do x+ 3 or 4.  That way, the kids and I experience a win-win-win:  I manage our time; the kids hear me say "yes" to their requests; and we all get a bit more music education in.

My two younger children are enthusiastically practicing rhythm here with a KinderBach online video.  (Forgive the bathing suit on my little girl.  She had been playing "Wonder Woman" just prior to our lesson.  (But isn't it great that when you do online lessons, you can do them in jammies and costumes as our snapshots evidence!?)


Some days I plan for only one session, and we do two, thereby completing a half a week's worth of lessons.  Other days, when we have the time and the children wish to, we do stretches of several weeks of lessons at one time.  And, that, I think is a boon of KinderBach: It is flexible!  

We can easily fit KinderBach lessons into our weekly rhythm without hopping into the car, worrying about scheduling or, as sometimes is the case with young children, dealing with the behaviors that spring from wanting more time or less time with an activity at any given moment.   In a home with a sensory kid and a handful of strong, busy adult and child personalities, this flexibility is key.

It may be difficult to see in this snapshot, but the activity page the children are doing  is on "loud" and "quiet" sounds.  I love that lessons gently highlight such developmental skills such as auditory discrimination and early learning topics such as opposites.


Another boon of KinderBach as we experienced it is the breadth of learning inherent in it.  Not only do KinderBach lessons teach the piano and music lessons one might expect, but they incorporate a variety of early development skills and objectives while doing so.  Some of the things the "teacher side" and "special needs parent" side of me has noticed in the well-planned KinderBach lessons are:

  • encouragement of fine motor skills through coloring, cutting, pasting, finger plays and more

  • auditory discrimination exercises

  • work with opposites

  • storytelling

  • physical exercises and movement breaks that encourage proprioceptive input and total body response

  • short, focused lessons

  • opportunities to plan and execute (in each week's lesson introduction, Miss Karri says what will be needed for the lesson.  Children can gather these materials before beginning, which provides a simple, but effective opportunity to practice planning and preparation.)

Here, my youngest is practicing his fine motor and coordination skills by cutting out "stations" to place above sets of three black keys while Big Brother checks if Little Brother has put the stations in the "right" places.  (Again, pardon the realness of our snapshots.  As is obvious from my son's face and shirt, we'd had defrosted berries at our meal before this lesson.  And, once more, can I say I love the convenience and ease of at-home lessons.  Our youngest washed his hands, but wanted to change his top and wash his face after KinderBach lessons.  Since our piano lessons are at home, this was no problem!)
Plus, of course, every KinderBach lesson includes sound music theory and piano lessons presented at a pace and with a nature that make them effective for young children!

A Balanced View

The kids and I have been loving KinderBach for the past six weeks and fully intend to learn and play more throughout the remainder of our six-month membership, and maybe longer.  The top three things I like about KinderBach, if they are not obvious already are that:

  • Lessons can be done at home, at your own pace with flexibility.

  • Activities included in the lessons are engaging and well-balanced and incorporate more than just music skills.

  • I can learn right along with my children.  (I have always wanted to learn to play the piano, and, although if I were to take online lessons for just me I'd probably pick something a bit more "grown up", KinderBach lessons are still teaching me a few things alongside my kids!)

My daughter, randomly dressed a a princess, happily practices "Chug, Chug, Chug", an original KinderBach song.

On the flip side, I can see a few potential drawbacks for some families in using KinderBach:

  • Children who already have some experience with piano may find the lessons too "slow" at first and those on the upper end of the targeted age range may find them "babyish" (although my 8-year-old has not).

  • The current introductory price of KinderBach membership, which is $95.88 a year, or $7.99 a month, may be hard for some families to budget for.  (However, considering there is no gas to put in your car and more than one child can use the membership, it really is a bargain!)

  • Some children may wish to play familiar songs right away.  (KinderBach eases children into song playing and begins with songs specific to the keyboard characters that familiarize children with the piano keyboard as opposed to beginning with teaching typical familiar children's ditties.)

My Bottom Line

If you want a gentle, engaging introduction to piano for your youngsters and the convenience of lessons at home (or even on the go if you have an iPad, Kindle or Android Tablet), KinderBach is well worth looking into!

KinderBach can be effective for homeschoolers, afterschoolers, co-ops and teachers of small group lessons.  My children and I have been thoroughly enjoying our membership and encourage others to give membership a try for free with the try-before-you-buy option at the KinderBach website or to jump right into reasonably-priced paid membership starting as low as $7.99 per month.

http://www.kinderbach.com/shopping/shop_lc.html

Want to Learn More?

To learn more about KinderBach, you can find them at:

  • Twitter: @KinderBach

Kinderbach Review

And, if you’d like to hear what others think about Kindebach, please click on over to read any of 90 or so honest reviews at the Schoolhouse Review Crew page.

Click to read Crew Reviews


Do you have specific questions you'd like me to answer about our KinderBach experience?  Just ask.  Or, have you used KinderBach, too?  Feel free to share them in the comments.
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Sunday, February 23, 2014

Host a St. Joseph Tea and Play Date

{We thank you for using affiliate links in this post and to make any purchases you plan to make at Amazon and Holy Heroes.  Doing so costs you nothing extra, but blesses our family with a small percentage of your sale.}



This year, we will be quite busy on St. Joseph’s Day itself, but I am still hoping to celebrate a St. Joseph Tea and Play Date at some point during the month of March, which is dedicated to St. Joseph.

As such, I sat down to collect ideas over the weekend and thought I would share them here for anyone else who might want to celebrate St. Joseph this coming month.




At our party I hope to bring to life the plan that follows.  Additional ideas can be found on our St. Joseph Day Pinterest Board.

Decoration

  • Use boxes covered in white cloth to make some semblance of a St. Joseph Altar Table.

  • Light a white candle with a picture of St. Joseph taped to it, since white is the color of the vestments worn on St. Joseph’s Day.  (I have also heard red, purple, green or brown are associated with St. Joseph, but can find not real basis for this.  If anyone knows of color associations for St. Joseph and the reasons behind them, please share in a comment!)
  • Decorate table with pictures, toys or models that represent any of St. Joseph’s symbols: a carpenter's square,  carpenter's tools, a flowering staff, hand tools, hands holding the infant Jesus, a ladder, a lamb, one of three white flowers, a white lily, a pair of turtle doves, a plane, a rod or a star of David
  • Put hand tools on the table as they are the most common symbol of St. Joseph.
GFCF Tea Time Fare
  • Calla Lily Sandwiches like the ones at Catholic Cuisine or the ones at TastyKitchen, but with GFCF bread, homemade pancakes or tortilla wraps as the outside and almond butter, sesame butter or peanut butter inside.
  • Grapes in a bowl and in a cross image, as we did last year.
Prayer

Our friend Karen from A Servants Memories made these cool novena prayer cards for our St. Joseph the Worker's Day celebration in May.  I think making similar cards with the attached movable beads would be very cool for March.

  • Ask children to make up their own prayers based on what they know about St. Joseph.










  • Play with construction toys.
More of last year's fun...


What will you be doing with the young children in your life to celebrate St. Joseph this year?  If you share a link here or on our Facebook Page, I will add it to our Training Happy Hearts:  A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children Pinterest board.


http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/search/label/Training%20Happy%20Hearts%20in%20Young%20Children

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