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Christian HomeSchool Hub Review

September 9, 2016 by Emilee Evans

What if you could find a variety of Christian homeschool resources all in one place? There are so many resources out there it’s easy to lose track! CHSH-Teach.com offers a variety of homeschool resources including freebies, devotionals, helpful homeschool information and even a forum to connect with other homeschool families. We have recently been using a variety of resources from the CHSH Download Club.

CHSH-Teach.com offers over 50,000 downloadable educational and Christian homeschool resources. The Download Club is a subscription based resource within CHSH-Teach.com. There are two subscription options available – the Annual Subscription (which we received for our review) and the Lifetime Subscription. With the Annual Subscription members receive unlimited access to the subscriber only downloads for a full year whereas Lifetime Subscription members will always have access as long as its available.

Resources to Print or Save

The Download Club can be accessed directly through your CHSH-Teach.com account online. Simply sign in, and you can access all of the downloads! From there you can download them to your computer, save them on your tablet, etc. There are so many ways you can use the downloadable resources. A variety of worksheets can be printed out to be used and solved as well as helpful posters for the wall. There are also resources that are just handy to have on hand like book lists, reading charts and logs, etc. If you lack wall space, saving those resources for easy access for viewing when needed!
There are also books for reading as well as books for reference which may not be ideal for printing out given the number of pages. For those type of books, I save them to our iPad to easily access them when we need to look at or read them. Files can also be downloaded and used later when needed!

The CHSH-Teach.com Download Club covers all grades (Pre-K – 12th) and subjects. There are Christian homeschool resources including Bible verse memorization, Bible Flashcards, Bible Notebooking and Games, Sermon Notes, Copywork and more. These, alone, I found to be such a valuable resources as we incorporate Bible into every homeschool day. Of course, all kinds of subjects are covered like Language Arts, Foreign Language, Arts & Crafts, Music, Math, Science, Social Studies, Electives, and Health.
Phew! That’s a lot, right?
I was definitely impressed. I admit, at first, I was also overwhelmed. Where to start? I was glad to discover the downloads are sorted to be able to access just what you need. They are sorted based on a subject or by grade level. It even has resources sorted by seasons and organization as well as a “Miscellaneous” category, which I haven’t yet explored.
My personal preference was to search by grade level. Although we don’t necessarily focus on grade levels in our homeschool, I knew it would give me a good starting point to look at the resources to see if they would be a good fit. You can search for resources by typing a key word into one of the search boxes, which is great when you know exactly what you are looking for.
I thought I would focus mostly on the Kindergarten resources for our youngest, but I’ve been using a little bit of everything for all three kids. I found resources that filled holes I wasn’t aware we had. The resource books are wonderful. Plus, I printed out a few coloring pages and games. We have been sprinkling these resources into each homeschool week.

Christian Homeschool Resources

I think Christian HomeSchool Hub is great Christian homeschool resources. The Download Club offers so much plus there is a community. It’s more than just the worksheets, books, and posters. It’s an opportunity to connect with other homeschoolers. If you have resources to share with the community, you can add them to the Download Club for others to access as well!
Plus, I love that within the Download Club there are resources particularly for the parents as well. I am not only able to print out and save things to supplement our homeschool, but I have found the parent resources helpful as well. They offer “How To” resources, forms for planning and record keeping and calendars. It covers a little bit of everything! They even have helpful groups on social media to further connect with others!

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Exploring Creation with Astronomy {Apologia Review}

September 8, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy for more information.
We have really enjoyed the Young Explorer Series for Elementary Science from Apologia Educational Ministries. Recently we’ve been working through Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition. We have really been enjoying this elementary Astronomy curriculum.
For our review we received the Student Text, Notebooking Journal, Jr. Notebooking Journal and an Audio CD.

Exploring Creation with Astronomy has been walking us through a variety of topics. We have been learning more about the stars, astronomers, space, the sun, planets, and so much more. What I love (and appreciate) is that it includes God and The Bible all throughout the curriculum. Through learning about the wonders of space, we are learning the wonders of God. He created it!
When using this elementary astronomy curriculum, all the parts of the curriculum work together.

Student Text

The Student Text is a hardback book noted to be “written directly to the student in a highly readable conversational tone.” The way we, personally, use the Student Text is that I read the recommended text for the daily assignment while stopping to ask them questions. It would definitely be possible for solid readers to read the text on their own. The other option would be to use the Audio CD. I have found it’s also nice to take it on the road for listening in the car!
The Student Text is broken up into elementary astronomy lessons covering a wide variety of topics (sometimes all in one lesson)! It offers an Introduction, additional resources, activities and more. Each lesson has stopping points. In fact, the Notebooking Journals have a “Suggestive Daily Schedule,” which breaks the lesson into multiple, smaller parts. With our kids’ special needs, it is definitely ideal to follow this schedule, and it works out nicely! When there is an activity, though, sometimes we do the activity by itself on another depending on the length and requirements of the activity.
Throughout the Student Text there are also questions periodically so they can sum up what they’ve been learning. Additionally, there is a Wrap-Up called “What Do You Remember?” asking multiple questions to help reinforce what they’ve been learning. Plus, it encourages them to point out what their favorite part was. I think it’s so important because kids will often be able to recall more when they are enjoying it. Our kids that are working on this do sometimes have challenges summing things up or answering open-ended questions, but they can always talk about their favorite part!

Notebooking Journals

In the past, we have only used Junior Notebooking Journals, which is designed for younger learners. As our oldest son is still a delayed reader and writer, the Junior Notebooking Journal was still a great fit for him. Our daughter (age 8), though, needed more of a challenge, so I love that we had the opportunity to review both Notebooking Journals.
In addition to the Suggested Daily Schedule, the Notebooking Journals are spiral bound books that offer a variety of great activities. They offer plenty of writing spaces and opportunities for the kids to share what they are learning. Our daughter often just writes in her journal as we go when she feels it is something she needs to write down. For our son, I ask him if there is anything he’d like to include in his journal, and I then write it on the white board for him to copy down.
Even the lined notebooking pages aren’t limited to just basic pages. Each lesson does start with blank pages with lines as well as areas to draw. I love that the area to draw is included because our daughter, in particular, learns and remembers things through her drawings. The notebooking, though, is broken down into even smaller parts within a lesson. They will be presented in the form as a Matchbook, bookmark, minibook, etc. It really helps to break things down further and offers a neat touch to the Notebooking Journals!

There are a variety of hands-on activities which helps to further reinforce what they’re learning in the text. I have found the activities so far do require some time, but not terribly long. Plus, they are fun, so that always helps! Some activities are basic activities that are included within the Notebooking Journals while others require some material that we already had or could easily run to the store to pick up. There is also an optional Science Kit that can be purchased for more hands-on learning.
In both the Student Text and the Notebooking Journals there is a page for “Instructional Support.” It mentions and provides details about the Textbook, Notebooking Journals, Audio Book, Science Kit and even the Field Trip Journal we reviewed last year.
So What is the Difference?
The Junior Notebooking Journal and Notebooking Journal have a lot of similarities. They are similar enough that we could still do the lessons together. Yet, they do have differences as well. Some of the most prominent differences include:

The lines. The Junior Notebooking Journal includes wider writing for both journaling as well as the Copywork. Though both manuscript and cursive are offered for Copywork choices.
Activity differences. Certain activities are made a little easier for the Junior Notebooking Journal. The crossword for example has no letters already filled in for the Notebooking Journal but does have a few in the Junior Notebooking Journal.
Coloring Pages. The Junior Notebooking Journal also includes coloring pages. Since Aurora loves to color, she just borrowed Brayden’s Junior Notebooking Journal for some of the coloring!

Elementary Astronomy

Overall, I think the Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy is a great elementary astronomy curriculum. It covers a variety of topics, includes Biblical references throughout, offers a variety of great hands-on activities, and is presented in a way that is easy to follow. It has been a great fit for our family!

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Encouraging Others to #UnPlugNPlay

August 31, 2016 by Emilee Evans

This past spring I shared ways our family unplugs. As summer was winding down we knew many of our neighbors would be heading back to school, so we wanted to encourage them to #UnPlugNPlay as well! It was time to make the most of summer and enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors, right?

Disclosure: We received complimentary products to facilitate our review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
To encourage outdoor play we took our portable (and fun) MyT Lee mini ping pong table outside. Instead of setting it up in our backyard we set it right out front. We wanted everyone to see it so they could come play! Then they went and got more friends. Our plan worked! We’ve been so excited to offer a fun way for kids to play outdoors!
We not only got to enjoy time outdoors and encourage others to play outdoors as well, but we actually got to meet more of our neighbors as well! I’m so glad the MyT Lee is so portable so we could set it up outside and fold it up to bring it back inside when we’re done. We can do it again the next day!

Of course, the only challenge is making sure everyone can take a turn! While they’re waiting it’s a great time to enjoy some food from the grill, talk and play other outdoor games. Plus we get to soak up the beautiful weather before fall creeps up on us!

#UnPlugNPlay

I am so glad we’ve not only taken advantage of #UnPlugNPlay but that we’ve encouraged others to do so as well! Killerspin offers a variety of great table tennis tables and accessories to help your family, friends and neighbors #UnPlugNPlay as well! check out UnPlugNPlay to learn more!

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Summer Fun at Soak City

August 30, 2016 by Emilee Evans

It’s hard to believe summer is almost over! Now that our daughter’s cast is off, we were ready to wrap up summer in a fun way at the Cedar Point Water Park- Soak City!
Disclosure: I received tickets complimentary to facilitate my review and post. Regardless, all opinions are mine and those of my family.

Although we don’t necessarily take a summer break from our homeschool, we surely like to take advantage of the beautiful weather! Plus, it’s a little less crowded nearing the end of summer which is always nice. We decided to head over to Soak City on Friday and soak up the fun!
Soak City is a fun water park next to Cedar Point. In fact, you can even enter Soak City and through Cedar Point by Magnum. Generally, admission to Soak City is separate from the admission to Cedar Point though you can purchase dual admission tickets. Do you know what’s really amazing, though? Through the next weekend you can receive admission to both for one price!
Soak City has a variety of great rides and activities for all ages! Many of the large rides have a height minimum as well as life jacket requirements for those under a certain height. Something I really appreciate is the areas for young kids also has a maximum height (for those not with a child. This means lots of fun for little ones without worry of getting run over by the big kids! Our younger two children had a blast in these zones, though they particularly liked “the beach” (Choo Choo Lagoon).

Our daughter, though, is now also tall enough to ride some of the rides, and our oldest son is now tall enough to ride all of the rides. Wow! Needless to say, we tried a little bit of everything from the kids’ areas, the lazy river and the not so lazy river, to the big tube slides!
There are so many great rides from the tube slides with single rider inner tubes to the big slide with the multi-rider tube. So much fun! There are even racers with a mat, and you’ll be surprised where you come out!
I took a turn on some of the great rides, too. I had to laugh as I was preparing our son for the possibility of a wile out when you come off the slide as it was his first time in that style of ride. I’m happy to say he had multiple smooth rides. I, on the other hand, had an epic wipe out coming out of the yellow slide. It was the kind of wipe out you wish someone had gotten on video! Ha!

We had such a blast at Soak City. The only thing(s) we would have done differently would be reapplying sunscreen and wearing flip flops in between zones. That pavement gets HOT! Phew! Overall, though, the temperature was amazing, and it definitely wasn’t too crowded. So, for us, this was a great time to go!

Coming in 2017! A Transformed Cedar Point Water Park!

There are some amazing changes coming in 2017 – including a complete transformation from Soak City to the new Cedar Point Shores Water Park! It will include 18 acres of pure water fun! There will be three completely new water attractions, upgrades to food and merchandise locations, new cabanas and more!
There will be new attractions for both big and little thrills. How does a six-story-tall aqua-drop body slide that sends four riders on a nearly vertical free fall when the floor drops out from under them sound? A little too much thrill? Lakside Landing might be ideal! It will be an amazing family splashground with kid size water slides and plenty of ways to relax under shade structures! There is really going to be something for everyone, and you won’t want to miss it!

Want to get in on the fun now? You can get your 2017 Platinum Pass now! I know I can’t wait to check it out! What will you be looking forward to most?

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