Speekee #SpanishforKids Giveaway & Review

The idea of teaching your kids to speak Spanish, when your entire knowledge of the language comes from Dora and Diego, is daunting.

Our eldest child (8.5 years) was fortunate enough to take Spanish through a Homeschool Co-op but since we moved from Texas, I have to admit it has been a struggle continuing without Ms. G.

I was thrilled to be offered the chance to review the online version of Speekee Spanish. We have checked out some of their DVDs from our local library so we are familiar with the fun videos and the cute characters: Speekee, Dino and Lupi.

Speekee Spanish for kids is an an online program design for children between the ages of 2 and 11 years. The program is has a total immersion approach meaning that the videos your kids will be watching are all in Spanish. The activities in the videos make it clear what the kids are saying however. There is also the option to turn on the english captioning so you can watch to see that your child is saying the correct words. 

The videos teach everyday words like parts of the body, food, colors and things that you might see at the park. For younger children Speekee has a Fast Track Program which gives you 40 weeks of Lesson plans and links to download free worksheets and flash cards.

For children over 7 years there is the Speekee Spanish Challenge. In this program Spanish is taught through over 40 videos and and game play. There is also the option to interact safely with other Speekee Members. As an added bonus Speekee tracks your child's progress and sends you reports by email.

When we first logged on, I have to admit I was a bit confused as to which track to take.  I settled on the Fast Track program so we could all do it together. It took a few videos for our 4.5 year old to get that the songs and dialogue were in Spanish. Once she understood this she got into the swing of it and began interacting more.  Try as I might our 8.5 year old just didn't want to engage with the program until she realized that little sister was picking up words she didn't know yet. I didn't push the issue and after a few days she was joining us in the lessons. She began to explore the Speekee Map too. 

Speekee Spanish makes learning Spanish simple and fun. A basic account is free so give it a try! Login and click on the gold bell and you will be given your first activity.

If you go to the bottom of the Speekee Homepage you can print some of the flash cards to try and view the Fast track lesson plans. I would recommend this program to all parents looking to teach their children spanish as a second (or third) language. 

A paid membership gives your children access to all of the videos, games and locations to explore and unlock.  Try out the free trial today and I'm sure you'll agree it is worth the affordable membership fee.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Entry-Form

George Washington unit & Sculpting Mt Rushmore

Just in time for Presidents day, George Washington was the focus of this week's literature link in Miss K's Language arts curriculum.
The readings in the work book included a simple biography and the legend of Washington and the cherry tree. Miss K really enjoyed several days of timeline comprehension activities that tested her comprehension.

To extend our lessons the Piwi's explored some of art that Washington inspired.
The first piece was Mt Rushmore. We visited the Mt Rushmore National memorial website and took a virtual tour. We also downloaded the student guide. Miss K wasnt too sure it could be considered a piece of art so we checked out the definition.

Macmillian dictionary defines a 'Work of art' (noun) as:

1. something such as a painting or sculpture that is of very high quality
2. something that is made or done in a skilful or attractive way

Although the sculpting techniques were on a very large (and explosive) scale we all agreed that it met the definition of a Work of Art.

The Piwi's made their own Mt Rushmore Paper Sculptures from paper bags. This is Miss K's art work.  I will post Mini Piwi's separately as she did a few different activities.

 Miss K colored in pictures of the Presidents carved into Mt Rushmore. She glued them in the correct order on to a large paper bag.

She scrunched and folded, and held parts in place with staples. Here is the finished product!

Along with the readings in the Student workbook, here are the books we used for this unit...

 

 

Plans for Lent: Helping, Giving & Kitties

Over the weekend we took the Piwi’s to visit their Kitty friends at Friends for life.  Miss K would love to volunteer at a shelter but is too young (even if I was there, there are legal/safety issues preventing it). For now the Piwis and I just go to adoption events once or twice a month and hang out and play with the cats. Just before Christmas the kids had asked to buy some toys & treats for the shelter. They were so proud to make their ‘donation’ and wanted to do it again.

Perry gets a kiss from Mini Piwi

Their chance came when Mr Perry had decided not to eat the wet food Piwi Daddy had purchased for him -it was case of 24. I was going to take it down to the local Petco and donate it. Miss K had a better idea  and ultimately made a ‘Valentines day gift basket’. 

Here she is ready to take it in to the cats….

They know many of the long term Cat residents by name and their toy preferences. The volunteers there were so kind and made a big fuss about how nice the gift basket looked and how much the cats would like it. Miss K was beaming! We always ask after any of the kitties that aren’t there and this week we found out that two of them were recently adopted into their fur- ever homes.  It was a very good visit!

Most of the cats were out playing but some decided to nap in their 'condos'

It was also a great start to our Lenten focus: Giving and helping others. Usually during Lent, I have given something up, but this year we wanted to try something more positive as a Family. Our inspiration was some amazing work being done on Missions by equally amazing relatives.

I was wondering where to start with incorporating the theme into our lessons when I came across The Giving Book: Open the Door to a Lifetime of Giving by Erin Sapin. The book itself is great with parts to fill in and lots of ideas. Even better though is that there is a Christian teachers guide at  www.watercanpress.com which includes lesson plans to use with the book from a Christian perspective . We plan to do these lessons along with our easter catechism lessons. 

Another great book (by Mark Kimball Moulton, Josh Chalmers, and Karen Good) is one I reviewed recently.  Change the World before Bedtime uses cute illustrations and rhyming prose to explain how a little boy can become a ‘super hero’ and change the world by bedtime. It offers simple ways and ideas for service projects that even the littlest volunteers can help out with. Mini Piwi especially liked this book with it's busy pictures full of little details for her to point out.

We are really looking forward to this project and are positive it will be something we can take beyond Lent 2013 as a family.

I was sent Change the world before bedtime in exchange for an honest review. to be submitted to Schiffer Publishing Ltd, via Netgalley. I will not receive any monetary compensation from the publisher or Netgalley. The links to Amazon do contain affiliate links where I do receive a small commission for any purchases made through these link.

Science our way

 

This post is part of the 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair at Homeschooling heart and mind. The theme this week is Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science

We were fortunate to be able to explore a lot  of our Science curriculum at Museums and parks this school year. An unplanned 6 week stay in Houston’s Museum district meant that some amazing lessons were right on our doorstep.  

It sounds like a dream situation . Unfortunately, to begin with, I didn’t view it like that. We were travelling with the portable curriculum and missing our workboxes. We certainly planned to visit some of the museums and the zoo but it seemed too costly to visit all of them. The original plan was to stick to our my lesson schedule.   DH (the voice of reason) encouraged us to go everywhere while we were here & the kids were really excited . 

Note booking in Considering God's creation

I was scared we would fall behind. Crazy? Yep!

We homeschool so we have flexibility and I was trying to stick to some imaginary timeline!  Long story short, God gave me a jab in the ribs (long story) and reminded me that our stay was temporary. Humbled, I went through the science and history we had planned for the year and found that a lot of it related to the exhibits we could see. A local family, we met, also forwarded us an email listing regular free days for the Museums -even the zoo! Most museums' websites also had educational resources we could do while we were before, during and after our visits. This became our new lesson plan along with daily Math and Language.

Most of the visits were on free or discount days so the cost to see and learn so much was minimal. We knew we could go back the following week so we weren’t worried about seeing everything in one visit.

Some highlights

Houston Zoo:
During one visit we studied Elephant habitats and Miss K wrote a report. Mini Piwi was excited to see the baby elephants after a week of E is for Elephant Pre K activities

We also watched a chick hatch: Wow!

 

During another visit we met a long horn up close

Houston Museum of Science and Nature

The Piwis loved seeing all the crystals and Minerals ...

 

 

 Making clouds

 and waves...

 Presenting the weather

and entertaining the security team in the Dino hall...pretending to be Sloth-zilla

 

During our second visit we were identifying Carnivores and Herbivores in the Dino Hall. Mini Piwi was doing her D is for Dinos week and Miss K was studying predator/prey relationships and food chains.

 

Cockrell Butterfly house

Miss K worked on her Insect note booking pages from Considering Gods creation and Mini Piwi was all about C for Caterpillar the week we visiting the amazing Butterfly house in the HMNS.

 

Houston Space center.

I made up Space lapbooks in anticipation of this visit! Piwi Daddy was able to come with us and it was definitely a learning experience for everyone. One of the highlight was touching an moon rock and another was seeing Space shuttle Discovery.

 

 

Childrens' Museum

One warm afternoon the Piwi's learnt about the properties of water

 

We came back again to spend time in the lab

 

Health Museum:

A diagram is one thing but to be able to walk around a giant model of a brain, heart or eyeball is definitely an awesome way to learn!

 

 

Downtown Aquarium

Even Thanksgiving dinner was a Field trip....The Piwis liked the little aquarium on site but the huge tanks in the restaurant itself were amazing. The waiters were full of information about the species of Fish swimming around us. I admit this visit did not fall under the minimal cost category. We tend to do something to find different ways to make holidays special for the kids since we are away from extended family.

 looking at their new Moray eel buddy.

There is certainly no doubt that that Piwi's learnt plenty during our stay in the Museum district. I even learnt to relax and use the resources we are given. It also made DH & I more pro active in finding places to take the Piwi's. We no longer have the Zoo or Museums so close so we are more creative. If I can't find a field trip with local homeschool groups I try to organize one. We have found many Ice cream stores, yogurt shops & Pet shops are open to tours and talks. All you need to do is ask. There are also several websites to find field trips.

touristinformationdirectory.com

fieldtripfactory.com

teachtopia.com

 Check out what other families have to say about this week's theme

Cell Unit Study - Mitochondria and Energy by Julie @ Highhill Education

Our Blended Social Studies by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road

Exploring Canada by Annette @ A Net In Time

Project Passport: The Middle Ages by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings

Virtual Curriculum Fair- Exploring Our World by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me

Our Absolutely Positively Favorite History Curriculum Ever by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings

 

 

What works for us...Math

2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair @Homeschooling Hearts and Minds.

Week 2 topic: Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science

Shortly after Miss K began soaring ahead in Reading , she became aware that Math did not come to her so easily. The novelty of the new curriculum in first grade wore off very quickly. We knew she needed something else but we were locked into the schedule of the virtual curriculum. In the end we supplemented with Saxon and vowed to find something better this year.

After some research we settled on Math in Focus (MIF) by Singapore math.  Each lesson has a guided practice section we do together and a lesson in the workbook. Our only issue was that it does introduce Multiplication and division fairly early on. Sensing we would need to revise a bit on skip counting and addition facts. I decided to bypass it and come back to it later in the year.

To be honest, I am a bit sneaky with Math. I discovered that as long as it doesn't 'look' like math, Miss K does not consider it an additional math lesson. Today was a good example. We use workboxes. The picture is from the first week of school in June (two apartments ago...did I mention we move a lot?)


Box 1: LA book
Box 2: Math lesson from the MIF text. 
Box 3:Spelling.
Box 4:MIF workbook pages for today's lesson
Box 5:Test prep practice (3 questions LA, 3 questions Math)
Box 6: Science Unit study (Currently Ocean)
Box 7: Time/clock activity
Box 8: Call to faith
Box 9: Color by number +/- facts pages (From enchanted homeschooling -awesome!)
Box 10: Reading
Box 11 IXL.com math
Box 12: Boggle

Miss K had 5 'Math' workboxes, but the only groans about Math were when she was about to start with MIF. The groans on the Miss K scale were also only about a 2 (compared to 9 or 10s we were getting last year with the virtual curriculum). If we did 5 lessons of math from the textbook I could only imagine the response.

I have also tried to incorporate a Hands on Math activity each day that Miss K and Mini Piwi (3) can both work on.

Math happens all around us and I wanted Miss K to understand the importance of knowing how it works. She also needed to be able to see that it could be fun. If there isn't a project we can do to explain something then I usually end up doing an impromptu 'puppet show' using what ever toys I reach first. Yesterday, I had a (plastic) crab and a lobster explaining to Miss K about a mental math technique. If she's laughing, she's not getting frustrated and wanting to give up. It also kept Mini Piwi entertained.

I might sound relaxed about math. However, it is something that has had me praying for help and guidance. It is hard for any Mama to watch their child struggle with something. The 'I hate Math' comment still happens but we hear it less. When it does, I consider it a sign that we need to slow down and get ready to bring out the talking lobsters.

 

 

Check out all the other VCF posts on this week's topic: Math & Science

HTML:
Delight Directed Middle School Science? by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
The Hardest Part of Math by Kristi @ The Potter's Hand Academy
A Tour Through Our Math and Science Life by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool What Works for Us…Math by Piwi Mum @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way Math Art – Geometry by Julie @ Highhill Education It's Math-magical by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings Virtual Curriculum Fair: Fun and Games with Math by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch Discovering Patterns by Lisa @ The Golden Grasses Math for the Natural by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness Virtual Curriculum Fair~ Discovering Patterns by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me Too Many Math Programs or Not by Linda B @ Homeschooling6 Virtual Curriculum Fair:  Math and More!  by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs, and Curriculum The post where I admit I was wrong by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset High School Math - Beyond the Textbook by TechWife @ A Playground of Words Discovering a World of Logic and Order by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair- Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road
The Plans of Mice and Math (My Math in Focus review) by Chelli @ The Planted Trees
Rightstart Math is right for us! by Leann  @ Montessori Tidbits
Our Favorite Homeschool Math Curriculums by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings

Shared with the new linky party....

Monday kid corner

Language Arts: Piwi style

After 2.5 years of homeschooling, I still consider myself a rookie. Two of these years were with a virtual school. This school year, Second grade, is the first time we have made our own curriculum choices. For a longer version of our how we came to Homeschool see our Piwi classroom page.

By chance, I came across the Virtual Homeschool curriculum fair this weekend. A first I didn't even think I had a lot to offer in advice about curriculum. I began blogging so that our spread-out family could see what the kids were doing. Later it became more about our Homeschooling. However, I feel compelled to give back by trying to follow in the footsteps of some of the great bloggers out there who have unknowingly helped us in our Homeschool journey.



Our workbox planner

This week we are posting about Language arts. I was just outlining what we are doing this year for second grade. That was the plan until I realized (while folding laundry) that that wasn't really helpful unless I also included how we got to this point. I will try to keep it short. I come from a family who are notorious for making a short story long.

How we got to 2nd grade.

The curriculum for Miss K's Kindergarten and First grade year was sent to us our virtual school. Initially this was what we needed. I was freaking out about whether I could teach her. My DH  reminded me that in our current school district the Kindergarten teacher to student ratio was 28:1. Yes, I agreed, I could do better than that. The virtual school had a totally scripted program, what could go wrong?

Math went great, Social studies, Science, Language arts... and then we got to Phonics. After the first week, I called our support teacher, Ms. L, for help. It was not pretty, Miss K was upset she couldn't read yet.  All the lessons were about phonetic sounds and she was over it. Just bringing out the magnets caused a melt down. I was worried that maybe she wasn't ready. After a visit with Miss K,  Ms. L assured me that if we could just get through this first short unit, we would get to the sight words next and then Miss K would be fine. I was skeptical, but sure enough, once Miss K started memorizing sight words, she quickly started reading. Phonics have remained something she really disliked through first grade. Online programs like Time 4 learning helped. More recently Phonics have made a sneaky appearance back into her LA curriculum. The curriculum we use includes it in a very natural way. We are also working in Test prep guides which are making her think more phonetically. Whether we need to go back and revise phonics will become apparent soon.

Language arts in Second grade

Prior to this year, I had not heard of  Learning Language Arts Through Literature.  It is actually an entire LA curriculum. It sounded too good to be true but it definitely works for us. We supplement it with creative writing (Miss K writes has an ongoing series about the secret identity of our cat) and additional book studies. It would be fine to use alone but there is always something Miss K wants to explore further. This is one of the blessings of Homeschooling on your own (as opposed to virtual schooling). You are free to follow interests. There is a sense of peace in knowing things aren't set in stone. Of course the peace comes after a near panic attack about choosing the right curriculum (instead of having it arrive pre-packaged in a 5 big boxes).

Saints Note booking pages

We use unit studies, lap books and note booking to study Science, History and Geography. Along with everything she learns about the subject, the process has really helped her Grammar & Spelling.  Handwriting had been something I had relaxed about after being reminded how bad mine was as a kid. Our more Classical friends suggested Copy work. Recently we found the Catechism copy work at St. Annes Helper.  Catechism review and handwriting practice in one! Miss K is taking a lot of pride in her work.

 

 

We don't use an actual curriculum for spelling. We have a list of words to know by the end of second and third grade. Each week we have a list of 15 words to learn. She uses the See/say/spell/write method to learn new words. These words come from the list and from words that Miss K wrote incorrectly during creative writing or any other writing she did during the week from  unit studies, lap books or even math word problem answers. This was how we did it growing up in New Zealand and it works for Miss K.

The one thing that has remained the same throughout our journey, is our love of books. Most weeks we  return one mountain of books to the Library and check out another.

So that's a summary of our LA journey with Miss K, now 7. We are now beginning the amazing journey again with Mini Piwi, 3. Thankfully, this time around I have a head start. I know that kids learn in their own way, and in their own time. It also helps if they are enjoying the experience.

visit the other bloggers participating in this week’s edition of the Virtual Curriculum Fair:

 

Building Blocks of Education--Learning to Read  by Kristi Kerr @ The Potter's Hand Academy Finding Our Way Through Language Arts by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

How Does a Unit Study Teach Language Arts? by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun 

Our Language Arts Adventure by Linda @ Homeschooling6 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words:  The Language Arts by Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Language Arts by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool Writing Help in a Critical Thinking book? by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings

Virtual Curriculum Fair: Foreign Language Immersion in the Homeschool by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch

Formula for Reading by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness

Words and Learning by Annette @ A Net In Time

A Custom Designed High School English Credit by Tech Wife @ A Playground of Words

Virtual Curriculum Fair 2013: Still Loving Language Arts by Pam @ Everyday Snapshots

Word Play by Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Loving Language Arts by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset

Learning Language Arts ~ 2012-2013 School Year by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World

Virtual Curriculum Fair - The Language Arts Department by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Playing with Words:  The Language Arts by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy: The Story of Our Life

Playing with Words:  Language Arts by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs and Curriculum

What Language Arts looks like in our house - Are we doing it right? by Hillary M @ Our Homeschool Studio