Monday, June 29, 2020

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- June 30, 2020


Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

Featured Giveaways

Razor Electric Scooter US & Canada Ends 7/9



$50 Amazon GC open to countries listed on image Ends 719


Featured Reviews





If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily ReviewsShelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife .


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Friday, June 26, 2020

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style (On Flashback Friday) #312: June 26, 2020

Welcome back to... 


Here we are, Throwback Thursday on Flashback Friday again. I'm sorry, I'm having an awful time keeping up with things lately. 

I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around June 26th, from any previous year)  I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time. And if you haven't been blogging for a full year, feel free to share any earlier post.)


Please make sure to share from the past as instructed above.  The spirit of Throwback Thursday Blog-Style is to share posts from the past. Please follow the guidelines. I would hate to have to delete your link.
Thank you

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post. 

Here is my Throwback Thursday post

Here is this week's randomly selected
Featured Throwback Thursday post:

Gale from Waco Mom shared


To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Throwback Thursday Blog-Style permalink please.



Happy Throwback Thursday!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Monday, June 22, 2020

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- June 23, 2020


Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

Featured Giveaways

Razor Electric Scooter US & Canada Ends 7/9



$50 Amazon GC open to countries listed on image Ends 719


Featured Reviews





If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily ReviewsShelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife .


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Friday, June 19, 2020

Delving into the Story of The Mayflower at Cape Cod with an Ebook from Rebecca Locklear { A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

The children and I haven't been very consistent with our history lessons these last few months. So, when an opportunity arose to review The Mayflower at Cape Cod - Stories, activities, and research that connect 1620 with life today from Rebecca Locklear, I thought it would be fun to look at a well-known historical event from a different perspective. Though we had been learning about colonial times earlier this year, I figured a little review wouldn't hurt. What made it even more exciting was realizing 2020 is the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's voyage and the events we were going to delve into.


We received the ebook version of The Mayflower at Cape Cod. Though it was written for middle school and high school in mind (grades 6-12), I decided I would try to use it with all my children. After all, we have been used to doing the majority of our schooling together for years.


The Mayflower at Cape Cod is 74 pages long. It consists of seven lessons plus an introduction, several appendices, a list of the sources, an index, and acknowledgements. The introduction explains the specific time frame from history that the study focuses on, along with the purpose and goal of the study, plus an explanation of terminology, explanation for using the material, and an activity chart showing the different kinds of activities included for each lesson.


As you can see there are so many different activities to choose from, and in each lesson there is at least a page-worth of ideas listed for activities and research topics. If you wanted to use all the activity ideas, you could spend a lot of time on one lesson, or you could choose just a few depending on your children's interests.

Here's a list of the lessons:

  • Lesson 1: The First Encounter between Pilgrims and Native Indians
  • Lesson 2: Exploration Overview 
  • Lesson 3: The Mayflower Landing at Cape Cod
  • Lesson 4: Search Expeditions
  • Lesson 5: Native Indians
  • Lesson 6: After the First Encounter
  • Lesson 7: Present Awareness, Cross-Cultural Communication and Travel Tips, Native Indian Issues Today
Each lesson consists of objectives, background information, and the story broken into different headings. The first lesson also included a small section of people terms. There is then a list of activities which include the types in the chart above. And then there is a list of research topics. 

After the lessons you will find the four appendices:


  • Appendix A: Chronology of Events on Cape Cod 
  • Appendix B: Mayflower Statistics 
  • Appendix C: Answers
  • Appendix D: Seafood and Fowl Game Cards


O appreciate that the lesson stories aren't too lengthy, being about 2-4 pages long. However, there are some great details shared that are beyond what I had been taught. For example, I loved learning about the events of the first encounter between the Native Indians and Pilgrims. We had fun examining the First Encounter painting that is in the Plymouth Museum in Provincetown, MA. One of the activities was to find the errors by comparing the painting to the details we learned in the story. 



I think what struck me most about this, is how, if something as simple as the fact that there should have been six inches of snow on the ground can be shown incorrectly, what else about history has been changed without us realizing.

The children chose to try their hand at painting/drawing a more accurate depiction of the encounter.





There were several other activities we could have chosen from, but we chose the activity that was the easiest for the younger children.

And then of course there are the research topics. I chose to have only the two older girls worry about the research projects for now. For just the first lesson, there were eight different topics the student could choose from.

  • Combat (tactics of Native Indians attacking with bows and arrows)
  • Leiden (studying the time of the Separatists in Leiden)
  • Shallop (learning about this common small boat from the 1600')
  • Ships and Flowers (naming ships after flowers)
  • Space on the Mayflower
  • Wampanoag
  • Weapons (examining English and Native weapons)
  • Word "Pilgrim"
Tabitha chose to do some research on the shallop.



I appreciated that Lesson 2 did a bit of backtracking to help us understand the what influenced the events in the 1600's. I then had the children complete the "A Moment in Time" Art project.


When we start our summer school session after our short break, we will be continuing this study. I look forward to having the children learn more about the pilgrims' scouting expeditions and what they found, and discussing their thought process when it came to such things as stealing the Native Indians' food. And we will also be learning more about the Wampanoag, which really intrigues me. And then we will learn more about what happened after that "first" encounter.

I love that we can pick and choose what activities we will complete. It has made it that much easier to include the younger children. The older girls can read the story on their own, or listen in when I read to Harold and Hannah.

I really appreciate the way Rebecca Locklear delves into both sides of the story. I don't know about you, but when I was growing up I wasn't taught the Native Indians' side of the story. With everything going on in our world right now, I think it is very important to understand the whole story, to know the truth of our history. I really wish there was a way to know exactly what happened without the events being colored by each sides' prejudices and perspectives. But being able to see both sides does help to realize what we have been taught isn't the complete truth.

 You can sign up for Rebecca Locklear's email list and you will receive monthly updates with teaching tips and the latest news about her books, blog and student resources.

You can also find Rebecca Locklear on Facebook.



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Thursday, June 18, 2020

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #311: June 18, 2020

Welcome back to... 


I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around June 18th, from any previous year)  I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time. And if you haven't been blogging for a full year, feel free to share any earlier post.)


Please make sure to share from the past as instructed above.  The spirit of Throwback Thursday Blog-Style is to share posts from the past. Please follow the guidelines. I would hate to have to delete your link.
Thank you

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post. 

Here is my Throwback Thursday post

Here is this week's randomly selected
Featured Throwback Thursday post:

Katie from The Delight Directed Homeschooler shared


To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Throwback Thursday Blog-Style permalink please.



Happy Throwback Thursday!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Homeschool Help with Online Lessons and Worksheets from Help Teaching {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.



Thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew, I had the chance to use HelpTeaching.com with Harold and Hannah. We were given  the HelpTeaching Pro Subscription, which allows us to use the site for a full year. HelpTeaching.com does offer free membership with access to custom tests and worksheets, but with the Pro Subscription we have access to so much more.



What is really neat about this site is you can choose to print out PDF's of the worksheets/tests, or you can assign them to your children to be done online, which is a huge deal for me because it helps to save on ink. Plus the site will grade the worksheets/tests for you. Of course, certain questions such as fill in the blank will need the parent/teacher to go in to grade those portions. So, in order to use this site, you will need to have internet access, and may need to have a printer plus ink to print tests and worksheets out. 

Join me for a tour of the site. 

When you first login to the site you will notice that there is a menu tab across the top of the page.


This first page shows the offerings under the Tests & Worksheets tab.


These worksheets, quizzes, and activities can be used online or printed out. There are many subject areas that you can choose from:
  • English Language Arts
  • Math
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • K-6 Seasonal & Holiday
  • Vocational Education
  • Early Childhood
  • Art and Music
  • Study Skills Strategies
  • Graphic Organizer Worksheets
  • Physical Education (including fitness, nutrition, and sports)
  • Life Skills
As you can see from the screenshot above, each subject is highlighted in green and can be clicked on to go to that subjects main screen. Or you can click on the blue highlighted links to go to the different topics under the main subject. You could also choose to peruse all the worksheets available in a particular grade level.

For example, clicking on the "English Language Arts Worksheets" link will bring you to a page with links to different worksheets. The orange lock icon next to the link means that worksheet is only available if you have the Pro Subscription. For us, they are all unlocked.


There are similar links for all of the different subjects and topics. 

The next tab is the Lessons tab. This is where I spent a lot of my time during this review period.


There are online lessons in four different subject areas:
  • English Language Arts
  • Math
  • Science 
  • Social Studies. 
You can choose a topic directly from the main Lessons page, or you can browse the entire selection of lessons in the topic. This is what I usually do, searching for lessons under each of the children's grade levels.

The English Language Arts lessons have a slew of different lessons in different topic areas. 


There are eight different topics under the English Language Arts subject.
  • Grammar
  • Literature
  • Phonics
  • Pronunciation Skills
  • Reading Strategies
  • Spelling
  • Vocabulary
  • Writing
As you scroll down the page, each topic begins with lessons in the younger grades and works its way to the higher grade levels. On the right of the screen you will see what grade the lesson is designed for and how long the lesson should take. Plus there is a button that can be clicked to assign the lesson. I have actually learned it is better to click on the lesson and assign it from there because you will then be able to see related worksheets and lessons listed at the bottom of the page. However, a warning. I didn't realize this at first. These links are not shown to students. You, as the parent, have to go to these links and also assign them to your student(s). 

Here's a look at one of the lessons I assigned to Harold.


There is a short lesson at the top of the page plus practice questions, then there is a video for the student to watch.


The child does need to be able to read the sentences that are on the screen as most of the videos are set to music. At least the videos my children have watched so far.

At the bottom of the page you, as the parent, will find the links to the related worksheets and lessons.


Now, in order to assign the lessons or worksheets to your child, you will follow the link at the top of the page.


You can click "Share Link" to get the link to share; however, if you click the "Assign" tab, you have more options.


You could choose to give instructions to your child, though I usually leave it blank because they know to just read the lesson, do the practice questions, and watch the video. You can invite you students via email or share the link. And you can choose multiple students to assign the lesson to if you so choose. Thankfully the children have their own personal email accounts so they will receive the link and can just click on it to do their lesson and complete the worksheets (also called tests).

There are slightly different choices for assigning the worksheets.


Worksheets can be printed (as I mentioned at the beginning of the review), they can be taken immediately, or can be scheduled. You can also copy the test, but I haven't actually been able to figure out what that would benefit. I appreciate that they also provide an answer key. Though, like I mentioned, if a student takes the online version, the system will grade it for you.

If you would prefer to make your own tests, that option if available under the Test Maker tab.


You can create a test in all the different subjects, selecting questions from the site's huge library of questions or create your own. I actually haven't really used this section of the site, because it would be too time consuming for me. I appreciate that there are tons of worksheets and tests already available so I can assign them to my children quickly when I am busy.

The next tab is the Worksheet Generator tab. From here you can generate worksheets in math (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division), or make different games and puzzles (Bingo Cards, Word Bingo Cards, or Word Searches).


The problems on the math worksheets are randomly generated, but you can choose the number of problems per worksheet and specify the number of digits. You can download the worksheet or choose to print it out. You can also use the same designations to print out multiple worksheets with different problems just by clicking the blue "New Problems" button.


And here's a look at the Word Search generator:


It defaults to 3 & 4 Letter words and contains a list of words. However, you can change the title and add your own words. These would be great to use with spelling words or vocabulary words that your children may be working on in different subjects.

The Online Testing tab is where you will find a list of the worksheets and tests you have scheduled, plus be able to manage your students and check there results. It actually took me a while to figure out this was where I needed to come to check my children's work. I was searching around in the Tests & Worksheets page and the Lessons page, really confused as to where I was supposed to find my children's progress. When I did find the section after randomly clicking buttons, I couldn't find my way back, because I couldn't remember what exactly I had clicked to get there. I do wish the title of this tab, "Online Testing" had a different name to make it clear this was where you needed to come to see the children's progress. 


HelpTeaching.com is a wonderful resource for homeschool parents. I appreciate that there are lessons in addition to all the worksheets. And, even though I don't use the Test Maker section, I think it is wonderful for parents who can't find what they need in specific subjects. 

We have been using it mainly for Harold and Hannah to work on their grammar. However, I decided we would also start using it for math and social studies as well. Plus I think using the word search generator for spelling words or science vocabulary is going to be perfect. And of course, having a random math worksheet generator will give all the children lots of opportunities to improve their math skills.

Here's a look at the graded worksheet that Harold recently worked on for math review in 2nd grade. I wanted to see, here at the end of the school year, how he lined up with 2nd grade work.





You can find HelpTeaching.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Plus they have a blog that is linked to in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about HelpTeaching.com.

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