A Net in Time

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MaxScholar, a crew review

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FTC disclaimer review

MaxScholar, using the MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software, is a complete reading program, helping YOUR students read and write better. A reading intervention, that also includes phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling words.  This multi-media, online program provides encouragement to your student in the way of games and other interactive elements.   Come see what I am talking about won’t you?

MaxScholar Review

What I am Reviewing

MaxScholar is a reading and phonics program that will help students learn how words are put together, letter sounds, and how to read a story or essay.  They use a systemic approach starting with Kindergarten level and working their way up.

When you start the program you need to take a test to help place you at the appropriate level.  I had my son take the test to see where a typical ninth-grade student would place, and that was level seven.  My review will be based upon what he would see. 

MaxScholar Logo

Teacher Dashboard

Parent/Teacher and Student each have their own login and password.  The teacher dashboard looks like this.  From it you can look at your class/students, see their reports, check out the scope and sequence and much more.  

In the teacher dashboard everything is readily at your fingertips. 

You can monitor student progress.   Also you can pull up class reports, reading reports or phonics reports. You can also look specifically at a particular student. 

It takes a bit of time to set multiple students, but it’s not onerous.  If you change something and don’t like it, you can go back and change it again.   

Read through the scope and sequence for each section. This way you can see what is coming next and be able to help your student where needed.  

Make backend changes to the student’s workload, like removing the need to highlight text, getting rid of all kindergarten material (like practicing letters), and remove access to games if needful.  This is where you fine-tune the program to meet the individual needs of your students.

Student Dashboard

Students have a dashboard of their own.   They can choose where they want to start.  If they start with three main areas, they will find it helps with the games they can play. 

With MaxWords: helping you build words from roots, prefixes, suffixes, and spelling rules. Delve into the Latin and Greek roots. 

Then MaxPhonics: four sections helping you understand the sounds of the English language.  PreK, Alphabet, Blends and Digraphs.

Along with MaxReading: Choose from four chapters, that open into different books.  Practice your reading comprehension. 

There are three main areas to focus on.  MaxPhonics, MaxReading and MaxWords.  Each area allows to you choose what you want to do.  You might want to in MaxPhonics work on blends, in MaxReading take up inventions or reading about places, and MaxWords lets you learn a list of new words, choosing the category you want to learn from.  The sheer variety of options means that a child isn’t forced to read something that they aren’t at all interested in. 

From there you can branch off to MaxMusic, MaxBios, MaxPlaces and MaxVocab.  Each of these areas assesses different parts of learning to read.  For instance you will be understanding verbs in MaxMusic,  comprehension with MaxBios and MaxPlaces, and focusing in on words with MaxVocab.  

Each new section you enter presents you with a tutorial explaining what you need to do.  Read a passage, highlight words, drag definitions etc. 

Take your time, responsive grading

One of the things I love is that you can take your time.  I found no timers or countdown clocks for any marked work.  The only timer I found was for the challenges where you are encouraged to read through a list of words.  I never found meeting the timeline difficult, but for students who might read slowly, or who lack confidence, this might prove to be more of a challenge then they want.  Those students can also choose to have the word list read for them. 

You will find that each area covers somewhat different things.  For instance MaxMusic let’s you read the lyrics of various songs, and then focuses on finding the verbs hidden within.  Later on, it will see what nouns, adjectives and adverbs you remember. 

Everything that is graded gives you immediate feedback. 

Refinement through Change

I noticed a change to the system with one game.  Hangman changed!  They reinvented it maintaining the name but better focusing on enabling students to learn new vocabulary.  The change made playing hangman a great deal less frustrating to play while maintaining it’s intent – testing new vocabulary!  I rather like seeing how programs refine themselves. 

Recommendation

A MaxGuru Pack subscription gives one child twelve months of access and includes all the different Max programs for $279/year.  They even have a free trial program for 15 days.  Try it out!

MaxScholar has been specifically created to help students with a variety of learning disabilities. MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software addresses various issues by teaching the grapheme/phoneme connection through visual, audio and kinesthetic step-by-step instruction.  The creators very much want your students to succeed with their early intervention program.   Their programs are systematic, explicit and multi-sensory.  They have the best of various research-based methods to help your students learn. 

Fully accessible on any computer or tablet.  If you use it on your phone you’ll find yourself scrolling around the screen a bit, but it is still fully usable. 

As I played around with the various programs I found that overall they worked well.  I occasionally ran into glitches (the drag and drop word definitions) but overall everything worked well.  The responsive feedback and the ability to see where you went wrong was fantastic. 

If you are looking for an online program, that will support your student through kindergarten up through highschool, you’ll find MaxScholar a helpful, highly researched and well-executed program 

Links and Invitation

Social Media Links for MaxScholar are:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaxScholarLLC/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaxScholarLLC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxscholarsoftware/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MaxScholarLLC/pins/

60 People from the Homeschool Review Crew took the time to check out MaxScholar on your behalf.  I invite you to check out their reviews. 

MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software {MaxScholar Reviews}

Things To Do This Summer

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So the theme for this week is Summer Bucket List, or as I would like to put it… things to do this summer.  It’s summer, with COVID still looming over us, meaning most will stick closer to home.  I know I have things I want to do.  Perhaps my goals will inspire you.  🙂  

Stay tuned for the link-up below!

Things to do this summer

Watch FireFlies

Sit in your backyard or go to your local park, starting when it’s just getting dark.  Watch, and before you know it fireflies will appear.  Enjoy their lights coming and going, and then take a moment and look at the stars.  Perhaps you’ll have a fun moon and you can then practice your photography skills.   Take your time and listen to the noises of critters skittering through the bush, or flying through the sky.  Just stop and breathe in the night air, it’s different than day air. A late night won’t hurt your littles, and they’ll gain so much more. 

Sit Around A Fire

It might not be the same as camping, but a fire is a fire and will generate conversation.  Have a pokey stick because you can!  And roast hotdogs, marshmallows, and chocolate in cones.  Make melted sandwiches and roast apples as you make S’mores. Laugh and talk and smell like smoke.  Just make sure you are aware of any fire bans and keep a bucket of water close by.  It’s a good thing that.

sitting around backyard fire

Hit up the zoo

I read today that the Toronto Zoo is opening up again.  They’ll have a reservation system and a path marked out for how to walk through the zoo.  But it’s open again.  It always makes for a great trip.   And perhaps Ripley’s, the Science Center, and more will open up soon too.

Markets

Hitting up the various farmers market’s tends to be lovely way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday morning.  We’ve spent many good afternoons at the St. Jacob’s market and Trail’s End. 

Camping/Vacation

As we sat around the fire last night, hubby mentioned he hoped to go camping at the end of August this summer. We normally hit Grundy Lake or Six Mile Lake campgrounds.  The lads do a lot of fishing and kayaking, I like to swim, read, bake campfire bread, and go hiking.   I occasionally join them.  We aren’t sure if we’ll make camping this year or not due to covid-19 and some people not helping things stay open. But it’s a goal!  🙂   Trying to figure out how the lad’s highschool class will work out into it as well.  He’ll be taking comm-tech and if its online, it’s just a matter of driving into a wifi area a couple times a week for him to do his school.  So we’d be able to go anytime.   Still trying to sort that all out.

Tents Set up Camping

Local hikes/bike rides/swimming

We are fortunate where we live there is a beach about 1/2 hour away, there is easy access to bike and hiking trails, and local green spaces to hang out in.   I hope to every other week take the lad out for supper and do a meal in the park and a walk together.   Gets him out of the park and gives us a chance to chat together.  Barring that… more backyard fires as long as we get a bit more rain.  (no fire bans yet, but maybe coming!)

July

So what things do you want to do this summer?  What is on your summer bucket list?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

People Matter

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I don’t know how this post on People Matter will go today.  I feel like I’m running late with writing even though it is still Friday when I’m writing.  This is part of the Five Minute Friday word prompt group. 🙂   Check out Miss Kate’s post to read other posts on the prompt People. 

Thoughts run through my head, making me question myself and others and some level of frustration creeps in.  Making sense of it all is a struggle.

people matter

People Matter

I heard the other day
a gramma died,
and to be with extended family important.
But those they would leave at home.
Needed care.
The question to answer was
Which people matter?

Both matter but
sometimes choices need to be made.

We are told
BLACK lives matter.
That we MUST hear their stories.
We must understand.
We must choose to listen to
the Hard stories in order to understand.

But the question is this
Why?

I don’t need to listen to the full
story of my tenant.
She’s had a hard life,
with multiple bad things happening.
Yet, I don’t need to know her whole
past to love the person in front of me.

Do only the past lives
of People matter?

We can’t fix the past,
Even if we learn about it,
and better, learn from it.

People complain that
all of our history is white-washed.
No show of colour.
Or any colour shown is in
really poor light
or needing care.

I wonder if there is a reason for that.
That conquering nations always
show themselves in better light
than those they have conquered.

Does it mean white-washed,
or simply,
Pride in accomplishment,
or the need,
to make oneself look better?
Sometimes it’s just
one claims “conquering hero”
as a title.

Though part of me wonders
if perchance
it’s just a continued need
to protect the youngest
among us.
Sheltering young eyes from
the harsh realities of life?

Do young children really have to
know the horrors of residential schools
or the Trail of Tears?
Having to see,
REALLY see, what slavery means
to those enslaved, matter so?

Patterns begun in the past
are so easy to continue into the future.
It’s comfortable.
The brave and bold,
Will see a new path.
And hopefully with wisdom,
balance their conviction,
to the needs of the younger
Generations.

Protecting young minds,
because it’s true
People matter.

Let’s Ride a Wave

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raincoast FTC

One of the things I’ve been doing for the past few years is marking a papers for a biology course.  It’s been a good field to venture into and I enjoy doing it the longer I do it.  I’m learning to connect with my students and offer them better, more specific feedback. Part of marking this biology course is seeing if my students understand waves…not just ocean waves though they play a role, but also wavelength, sound, light etc.  Let’s ride a wave! would be an excellent book to help some of my struggling 9th graders.   Let me tell you all about this latest review. 

Let's Ride a wave review

Introducing Let’s Ride a Wave!

Let’s ride a wave! is part of a series called Everyday Science Academy.   Chris Ferrie has put together this series to help answer questions children have about the world around them. 

Red Kangeroo asks the question while sitting at the beach “I wonder if the waves ever stop?”  Dr. Chris steps in to help Red Kangeroo understand. 

Let's ride a wave

Starting with watching the ocean waves, Dr. Chris helps the reader understand that some waves you see, like the ocean waves, and moved along to other waves you see the results of but can’t actually see. 

Sourcebooks has put together a brightly coloured 40-page picture book to help 5-9-year-olds understand the physics of waves.  Chris Ferrie helps children dive into the science of light and sound waves.   I have the pleasure of reviewing this book for Raincoast Books. 

You’ll find the text easy to read using accurate terminology.  Learning about ultraviolet, electromagnetic, wavelength, tides, x-rays and more.  At the close you’ll find a glossary in language easy enough for children to understand but detailed enough to be accurate. 

I LOVE that experiments are included to test out ideas! From listening to different pitchs and tones, to making your your wavelengths. 

let's ride a wave sample page

Should you get it?

Yes, if you have any interest in any questions, or learning more about how waves work as light and sound.  Let’s Make a Wave! is a fantastic primer into how waves work.   It’s great for elementary students as is, giving steps into learning physics, and the excitement of having questions answered.

If you are struggling to make sense of your grade nine/ten biology, reading picture books like this one make complex ideas simple enough to understand.  This gives the building blocks you need to further advance your studies.

Others in the series are  (affiliate links)

schoolhouseteachers july 2020 sale

If looking for additional physics resources, check out SchoolhouseTeachers.com.  They have a variety of physics courses from Red Wagon and other sources from grade five and up. 

red wagon physics schoolhouseteachers

Seven Things that Make Me Smile

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seven things that make me smile

OOH… this challenge is an EASY one.   Things that make me smile. 

  1. God.  His grace to me is unmeasured.   Blows me away all the time.  His total unmeasured grace, which I mostly receive graciously.  There are times I don’t, when I fight and rail and want to go my own way. But his grace calls me back time and time and time again.  It is good and it makes my heart smile. 
  2. My man!  Seriously.. there are times he drives me completely insane (not in a good way) but if I took that out he wouldn’t be the man that I love and cherish would he?

3.  My son.  He’s become a smart-alecky teenager.  He has a huge heart, and a willingness to serve.  A growing weed with an innate kindness to him.  By no means perfect, but a solidly good kid. 

4. Bunnies!   Anyone who knows me know how much bunnies make me smile.  My most recent litter is pictured below.  They have me a bit concerned due to some size issues with new mom problems.  But so far so good!  But watching babies grow…and then later seeing smiles of delight from new bunny owners.  

Tonight I chatted with a gal who is new to breeding bunnies who is well-versed in genetics and a zookeeper to boot!  We had a good talk about how to work the modifiers to get what she wants to get out of her buns.  It’s good to talk bunnies you know?

newborn baby bunnies in nest

Tea, books and weight loss

5. My cold tea diffuser. I use it all the time.  Love it.  Toss in dry tea leaves, or even tea bags and a couple hours later I have tea!  The simplicity of making tea makes me smile. Good taste, lots of variety, and it’s pretty to look at as I drink it! 🙂  I thought I’d written a post about my cold tea diffuser, but apparently I only have one for my hot tea diffuser!  (It makes me smile too!)

6. Books!  What can I say, books are fun, interesting, and fill my mind with thoughts and images.  Most recently I am listening to The Rose and the Thorn. I just picked up The German Heiress which intrigues as a different take on post-WW2 Germany. 

7. This last one is a bit harder to share but hey!  Sunday I went through my “clothes are too small to wear bin” and guess what!!!!   2/3’s of them fit me again!  WOOT WOOT!  I came down smiling “Guess what hun!  I don’t have to go shopping!  Clothes fit again!!!!”   It’s been too long since they have fit so it’s good.  Smiles, smiles, smiles.  🙂   It makes it so much easier to do everything when you carry less weight you know?   The joints don’t hurt as much, it’s easier to bike and walk.  Did you know I was able to bike up a hill tonight and NOT HAVE TO WALK UP!  How wonderful is that?!?!?!! Makes me smile through and through. 

How about you?

So tell me…. what makes YOU smile?  Have you written anything?  If so, drop a link below.  If not… just share in the comments, it’s good to know the heart joys of other people. 

June TOS

10 Ways to Engage in Summer Nature Study

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Did you know that summer is upon us?   I KNOW!  How did that happen so fast, seems I was just getting my garden in and now it’s almost July.  Means that soon I’ll have a 15 year old living in my house!  Thinking of my boy brings me back to his childhood and all the walks we did in our local bush.   I thought it might be fun to recall some of our explorations (if I can find the pictures) and talk about 10 ways to engage in summer nature study.

The Fun of having a pond

What exactly is nature study?   It’s viewing the world around you and taking time to make note of it.  It’s seeing ants and watching them work, watching a bumblebee bumble in the backyard, or finding clover in your front lawn. Nature study is simply the art of paying attention to the living things that surround you.  It can happen indoors or out, at home or in the community and often when you go on vacation.  It might even be something that you make!

We have a pond in our backyard that has gone through a couple of changes.  The first year we had it, we were inundated with tadpoles.  It was so cool listening to the calls of the toads, and one night the lad and I went out late and discovered mating toads.   This of course, resulted in lots of tadpoles.  For a fun quip from my lad see my original post. 

Tadpoles, boys hands,

As my son’s love affair with insects continued, we learned to build an insect trapping kit.    This lovely device is called a Pooter.  We used it for a long time and it was actually quite easy to make. You can make different sized one depending on the size of the insects you want to catch. 

bug catcher

How Nature Study Happens

Nature Study mostly looked like taking advantage of where we were.  If we went camping up north we took our time examining the wildlife around the numerous small ponds.  If we went for a walk in the bush we’d examine the mosses, fungi, ferns, birds, spiders and insects that we came across.  Our weekly trips to the local park let us watch the baby Canada geese mature.  Regardless of where you live, nature study is possible.

It might look different to you.  Where you live you might have pigeons and ospreys surrounding you, or you might have lizards and roadrunner in your backyard.  For all I know, you might have manatees swimming in the local waterways.  Take advantage of the world around you and take your time to learn about what you see.  You never know what might inspire you… You might design your own toad area!

Bend down and touch the moss and fungi.  Imagine if you will, the wonder in your child’s eyes when he discovers that some fungi puff up and release their spores if they are lightly brushed. Take your phone and grab a picture so you can remember and look up more information when you get home. 

toad

10 Ways To Engage in Summer Nature Study

  1. Go into your backyard/park/local green space.  Put a hula hoop around yourself and now take the time to examine everything inside that hoola hoop, count the spiders, types of plants, ants and other insects, see if you can find any arthropods, tiny invertebrates, feathers etc.  
  2. Weekly take walks in a bush, park, any green space, go to the beach, and just look… wildlife is everywhere.  At the beach check the dunes for insects and spiders, watch the water birds, scour the shore for interesting rocks or shells.  In the park, you’ll find birds, tracks of nocturnal critters, small rodents and maybe some reptiles too! 
  3. Make an art project from collected items.  For inspiration, you might find Crafty Ideas from Nature handy. 
  4. Drawings while out in nature.  One of the most enjoyable art pieces we’ve ever done has been going out into nature and drawing what we see.  Moss on a log, a tiny spider in a web, a pine cone hanging from a tree, just sitting there and drawing while listening to the birds around us.   Hugely successful and generated so much conversation. 
  5. Scavenger hunts.  Looking for words about nature such as Wild Words, or objects to find, or specific plants.   Have fun with it, it is great for all ages!

Five More ways

  1. Follow Inspiration from nature books, cards, or any study you are doing.  Such as if studying owls, going on an owl prowl held by your local park/nature authority.
  2. Go out at night, to an area you are familiar with, and just sit quietly.  Do you see anything different than you would during the day?
  3. Set up a bird feeder and note the birds that come through.  Are there any that are just passing by and are thankful for a quick meal, or do you have any permanent residents?
  4. Get a pocket microscope so you can do close up examinations right on the spot, allowing you to release small critters right where you find them, or lets you examine a leaf or flower without damaging the plant.  So quick and easy!
  5. Keep a nature journal.  Just a way to document what you see and watch changes occur throughout the seasons.   Write in it, draw in it, and attach a bag to keep items in.
June TOS

Establishing Trust

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You know what really makes independent learning work?  Trust.  A trust from the student that their teaching parent will do their part to make them a success.  Then trust from the teaching parent that their student will do their work to the best of their ability.  Without that two-fold trust, independent learning simply won’t work.  So how do you go about establishing trust?

Establishing trust

What is Trust?

Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone.

Trusting someone means that you think they are reliable and that you have confidence in them. When you trust someone you feel safe with them.

How do you establish trust?

Trust is something that comes with time and experience.  Sometimes your intuition will have you trusting someone immediately, but overall, trust takes time to develop. 

Since we live in a fallen world, where people do things they aught not to, trust isn’t the easiest topic to converse on.  People who are in positions of authority who should be able to be trusted, sometimes they can’t be.  Families aren’t always what they should be, parents do things they aught not, kids do bonehead things, and I cannot address every situation in this post.  I will work based on my experience only!  🙂 

Teaching Parent

It starts when you first meet.  Kids in my classroom, children of friends, and son of my own.  Trust starts to build from your first meeting. 

  1. Do you do what you say you will?  Can your words be trusted?
  2. Do you act like you say you will?  Do your actions show truth?

Once you have that baseline established, trust is furthered by your

  • Competence
  • Reliability
  • Integrity
  • Communication

Questions to ask yourself

In your home, do your children trust that you will do all you can to help them?  Whether that is pointing them in the right direction to get the answers and help they need, or by providing them with the answer yourself. Have you established yourself as reliable source of aid?

Do you take the time to learn how to communicate with each other?  This is something that is continuing to change in my household as my son matures. He LOVES precision in words..they matter a lot to him.  Having to deal with a mom who is not so precise in her language sometimes creates barriers (both from his end and my own). 

Integrity comes by saying and doing what you say you will. It shows in how you do your work. I made a promise to my lad that I will never deliberately lie to him.  What I say is so.  This doesn’t take into account the occasional misunderstanding, but since he knows I don’t ever intend to lie to him, it’s good.  He knows me well enough there and it becomes a matter of clarification not wrong-doing.  Can your children say the same of you?

Competency comes through in the accuracy of your help. Can you render the assistance needed?  Can you organize their stuff, order their supplies, keep them on task, and do the myriad of supportive tasks to get them through their schooling?  My son has learned that when it comes to estimating the time it takes to do something… I am horrible!  🙂 So he always doubles the time of what I think something will take (I learned this two weeks ago).  🙂   But he’s also learned that I do have my areas where I shine and takes full advantage of it.  

establishing trust

Independent Learner

Your student has the same expectations placed upon him/her.   They need to show competency in doing their work, reliability in completing it, integrity in holding to what he/she says/does, and have the ability to communicate with you clearly when there is a problem.

Some of these skills needed to be encouraged and/or strengthened, or perhaps outright taught.  Youth don’t just pick up these skills, they learn them through being taught what’s a correct response.  

Teaching them when they are little to have a system of organization (even if it doesn’t match yours), allowing them to make decisions about when to do what in their school day, and finding a way to finish what you started.  Accept them for who they are, but encourage them to do it well.   

Trust Takes Time

So for my son who has a thing for insects, he raises ants and has learned to create habitats for them, with the end goal being to sell them (the ants as a colony) at some point.  I have used my love of mice (and his love for his snake) to teach him how to sell mice as a precursor to him selling his ants when they are ready.

Over this past year, we’ve discussed changing the price we charge and have worked out things like commission if I sell his mice for him, and which mice we keep back.  This year he’ll be responsible for taking pictures of the mice and posting decent ads for them.  Now.. mice don’t move as fast as ants do, but it takes patience to get a good picture of a mouse. All these incremental steps give him the confidence he needs for when he assumes control of this business.  Running your own business means balancing a lot of skills. 

Just as I’m slowly allocating more responsibility to my lad for his mice, is how you increase their abilities to be trustworthy with their school work. 

Establishing trust takes time. Give them time to cement the skills you’ve taught them, add new expectations, and before you know it, they’ll be running the show.  🙂 

blog hop giveaway

Summer is almost here and let’s just celebrate now with the homeschool year wrapping up.

I’ve gotten together with 7 other bloggers to bring you this wonderful giveaway so that you can enjoy planning for your next homeschool year.

We are giving away 3 $100 giftcards from the place of your choice. You can choose from:

  • Amazon
  • Rainbow Resource
  • Hobby Lobby
  • Christian Books

The winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond to claim their prize or else another winner will be chosen. By entering this giveaway you will be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers. Read the terms and conditions for more details.