It’s a Beautiful thing- Professor in A Box!

Really it is a “Professor” in a box!

This is such a simple but beautiful concept that I am still in awe of  this product. This is a course in Accounting taught by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D who is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy in the Villanova School of Business  at Villanova University.

 Professor Licata has taught the financial accounting course dozens of times and has specialized in teaching distance learning courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. And did I mention that he and his wife Homeschool their two children?

All of this expertise combined to make this product one of the most useful ones that I have reviewed for the TOS Crew yet!

Professor Licata is familiar with the needs, strengths and weaknesses of Homeschooling through High School and this type of program is just what we need!

Here is what you get in the box (Besides the Professor):

Here is how simple it is to use:

Students should:

• Watch the narrated lecture (there is no textbook to purchase or read!)
and read a brief Key Concepts and Terms file.

• Work the assigned homework problems.

• Review the homework solutions

• Take the exam (after each 4 chapters) – there are also quizzes provided
for each chapter.

When you are finished:

“Students completing this course will earn 1 high school credit (Math
Elective) and can earn 3 college credits. “

To earn the 3 college credits just do the following:

• Go to the CLEP Website

• Register for the CLEP Financial Accounting Exam

• Pass the CLEP exam and earn 3 college credits accepted at 1,100 Colleges
& Universities

Students and Parents have options when it comes to scheduling this Accounting Course:

Students can work through the course in the following flexible formats:

• A traditional college semester format (September through December or January through May) working two lessons per week for 14 weeks.
• An entire academic year format (September through May) working one lesson per week for 28 weeks.
• A summer school format (June through July) working three lessons per week for 9 weeks.

Note: The average time per lesson is 75 minutes to view the Flash lecture plus 1.5 to 2.5 hours to work the homework problems.

The website has lots of good information and samples of what you can expect from the CDs and lectures.

http://www.professorinabox.com/SampleChapter/SampleChapter.htm

You can purchase ”Professor In A Box.” Here : http://www.professorinabox.com/purchase.html

I judged this product to be well worth the $134.99, it is thorough and the material is well organized. It is very user friendly!  

“Professor in a Box” provides a Full Money Back Guarantee – Work through the first three chapters and if you’re not satisfied with the course, send it back for a full refund including shipping!

Yes, Homeschooling Parents everywhere breathe a sigh of relief. There are brilliant educators out there creating products to help you in your Homeschooling Journey through High School. We don’t have to do it all ourselves!

Mission Possible!

This product was sent to me in exchange for my impartial opinion about how it would work for me as a Home Educator in my personal Homeschool Program. No other compensation was received. I am not affiliated with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine or Professor in a Box.

DISCOVER- A Career Planner for Your High School Student

DISCOVER Career Program Online from ACT Advantage

“DISCOVER” is a comprehensive education and career planning tool that is available online from ACT Advantage.

ACT has provided a wonderful service to Homeschool Families by putting Interest, Ability and Values Inventories online, and all in one place. Not only is it convenient, but once your student has lined up careers in which they are interested, this program provides even more. The service gives further guidance and information to you and your student.

If your child has chosen an occupation (it lets you choose more than one and makes a notation of your favorites) that involves college or technical training, information is provided on schools in your area. You can access information on pre-requisites you will need to have in High School, what type of testing they require and even tuition and boarding costs for each school. But the service is still not done! You can then search for specific information on scholarships, financial aid and assistance. There are links provided right there at the DISCOVER website.

You can also find information on other education methods such as Internships, Apprenticeships and tips (for the entrepreneurial among us) on how to start a small business.

DISCOVER even gives your student tips on writing a resume and cover letter and helps them to prepare for a job interview.

 You can then print out (or save) a portfolio of favorite occupations, job and educational requirements, favorite schools,  Apprenticeship information and Resume information. This enables your student to transfer all this data to an action plan for their High School Years and beyond.

 My ninth grade daughter took the inventories first and then I looked at the further information that was provided on the site. She felt that her interests were rather broad at this point in her young life, but the inventories narrowed her choice of fields down within the range of both her interests/values and abilities.

 The occupations the program suggested to her were right in line with what I would have suggested to her based on how well I know my girl!

I would say that the assessments were accurate and DISCOVER assisted her in getting further information on not only what careers were available to her, but what was required to obtain licensing or degrees in those areas.

The full listing of careers was also interesting to her, since as a 14 year old, she has had a rather limited exposure to the working world at this point and there is so much to choose from today.

 

The information and links on the site were up to date and easy to use. The DISCOVER program has been researched and developed over many years and in 2002 they released this internet version which can be used for students or for adults wishing to get further information about a career change. More information about the program is available at their website: www.actadvantage.org and the online “Home version” of the program is available as a 3 month plan for just $19.95 or the 6 month term for $24.95.

We had a very good experience with the 30 day free trial provided to us to try the program and review it for this company. I liked that it was very easy to use and that you can print out or save the portfolio materials to keep and refer back to when needed. My daughter enjoyed learning more about herself and thinking about and planning her future. I loved the information that was accessible for the colleges and schools – they even included the school code for your SAT tests. Everything they provide on this site makes our life as parents/guidance counselors easier!

We plan to use it again in her Junior Year.

Please note: I am not affiliated with DISCOVER or Act Advantage. I received a free 30 day trial of this program so that I could use and give my opinion of it and no compensation was received.   

A Homeschool Support Group

 

We are getting ready to get back into a full school schedule!

We homeschool all year round, but in Summer we focus more on “hands-on” activities such as Science experiments, gardening, crafting, sewing projects and educational DVDs as well as spending time every day on Reading and Math( Alecks, Math U See and Teaching Textbooks).

In the Fall, we begin to add in our other core subjects such as working on our History Timeline and American History (All AMerican History from Bright Ideas Press) Science (Apologia and the God’s Design Series) and Grammar/Creative writing (One Year Adventure Novel; Easy Grammar and Vantage Learning).

This year we also plan to have “fencing lessons”, write and produce a play, participate in our Homeschool Book Club and 4H Club. Help with our new support group’s newsletter and web site and have ton’s of field trips!

We also love to be involved in all kinds of Community service throughout the year. It is a pleasure to be flexible enough in our schedule to allow our teen to work with “Big Brothers and Big Sisters” and for us to be able to serve in other areas in our community as a family.

Some Supplemental courses we love this year are; Rosetta Stone Spanish, Latin (from Mars Hill) Art and Music appreciation and Poetry(Ambleside Online Schedule).

This year promises to be a full and exciting one as I embark on helping to establish a new support group (T.E.A.C.H.) for our area. Our goal is to focus on Parent support and education as well as providing enrichment activities and fellowship for our children.

I have lots of reviews planned as well;

College Genius Prep for the SAT

All American History

Nature Friend Magazine

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks

Roots and Fruits

Growing Healthy Homes

Books from Guardian Angel Press and Sarah Books

 Plus, here you will find out what a ”Study Pod” is !

Rather than just reading through the books and giving you my opinions, we will actually be using these materials in our Homeschool and giving you the details on what worked for us and what did not.

I am looking forward to our school year and all that there is in store for us on this new “Mission” !

 

Merit K

Who is ALEKS?

Homeschoolers Get 1 Month Free!

Who is ALEKS? Or – What is ALEKS? (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces )

It is an online Math Program for PC or Mac. ALECKS is actually considered a complete curriculum for Math and with your fee, you have access to their full course Library which enables your student to move on when they are ready, not just at the end of a year. There are no additional textbooks to purchase and you have unlimited online access.

This Math program is recommended for Grades 3-12 and uses “artificial intelligence” to identify and target learning gaps your student may have.

(read more about this here: http://www.aleks.com/homeschool/research_behind_aleks )

It provides individualized learning and assesses your student and automatically updates you as to their progress and their quiz scores. This makes record keeping simple as you just print out their grades when you receive their reports. Or you can go online to your Master Account and check their progress.

 Also available complimentary with your ALECKS fee is a program called quick tables which focuses on helping your child master their Math “facts” for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This program makes it fun to practice just the facts! Your child will be rewarded as he/she makes progress by being able to play a new game.

 

I found the parent/teacher area to be very flexible and “user friendly”. I needed to change my son’s level after he took the assessment test, and it was very easy to do. The records for that level are not kept once you change it, so you would need to print out scores for your student before you change the level, but this was made very clear to me in their instructions. The Student report was easy to read and see at a glance what topics the student is working in and how long they worked at the site. Quiz results are included in the report as well, if they have done any.

The student area is very user friendly as well. Instructions are given in a tutorial, assessment is “low to no pressure” and visually oriented with a “pie” tracking system that lets them see right away what areas they will be working in. As they improve in an area, their “piece of pie” increases. My daughter felt a surge of confidence as she quickly saw that she could do it and I could almost feel her anxiety melt away as she looked at her results. She is back to enjoying Math again because the work/solution is shown right on the screen and she had immediate feedback. In the past, it was difficult at times for her to understand my verbal instructions when she needed help with a formula, but this way she can literally see how it is done. My son enjoyed the instruction as well as seeing the percentages and the list of topics that he had mastered as well. They both are enjoying working independently and I am enjoying it as well  I must admit!

 I have to highly recommend that you get the FREE TRIAL they are offering and use it. It is really working for us! Over the last two school years, it has been a challenge to find a single Math curriculum that my DD really enjoys because she doesn’t care for a “lecture” type program and she is distracted by Math computer games. The ALECKS online computer Math curriculum would be great for anyone who has a “visual-spatial” learning style like my daughter. After just about an hour on ALECKS she told me “This is it”!  She loves doing her work independently and is back to loving Math again!

 The Free trial for Homeschoolers is 30 days vs. the free trial they normally offer from their website which is only 48 hours, so click through here to get the longer trial:   

 

 

  Individual Costs for the program are:

• $19.95 per month
• only $99.95 for 6 months!   Six months for the cost of five
• only $179.95 for 12 months!   Best Deal: You save $59.45 

 There is also a family discount price if you enroll more than one student.

 

Of importance for High school students like my daughter,  is the fact that you can enroll for college credit with certain courses offered by ALECKS. Once ALEKS and ACE have confirmed the student’s completed work in ALEKS, an ACE transcript is provided. The ACE transcript can then be used to request up to three semester hours of college credit per course at educational institutions that grant credit for ACE credit-recommended courses.  

You can check out more details here: http://www.aleks.com/homeschool/ace_credit

 As you can see, this is a well rounded program that would be helpful to those students who need remedial work in Math as well as to those students who want to work ahead of their grade level and maybe even receive college credit for their work during High school. Ultimately, it is a program which encourages independent learning and isn’t that what Homeschooling is all about?

 

 

Math Curriculum Supplements You Will Love!

Hold Your Horses!

Wanna find out how fast you can do The Quarter Mile ???

 

We recently reviewed the Deluxe version – Levels 1, 2, & 3 Bundle.  We previously had the standard version (levels 1 & 2) and I really like this deluxe version better.

This versatile software program is a tool in your teacher’s toolbox to help your students gain mental math proficiency, as well as gain valuable speed in those addition/subtraction and Multiplication drills. This is more effective than flashcards and more fun too.

You can check out their website (http://quartermilemath.com/) for information on the program, videos and a demo of the way “The Quarter Mile Math” works. For just $2.95 a month, you can use it online, or you can try it for a month before you invest in the whole software package to be sure that your family likes it!

 

Let's Go Racin'!

Their website includes a new section on the Website for Homeschoolers: http://quartermilemath.com/homeschoolers/index.shtml .

 As a former teacher and a Home Educator, I completely agree with the video “Ten Factors that can Maximize A Student’s Rate of Learning” and it is obvious that they have taken care to implement these ideas into their software. The Homeschooler’s section offers tips for using this program in your Homeschool. We used it as they suggested, for about 15 minutes each day as a supplement to our regular Math instruction and the kids have seen a steady improvement in their speeds with this regular use.

 I call this program versatile because it addresses the needs of so many types of learners. For example, kids who are not competitive are able to “race” against their own best score and will be satisfied to see immediately, how much they have improved in their speeds. This is low pressure, enjoyable and suits your easy going learner to a “T”. The deluxe version includes racing options for the child who is competitive, and wants to race with family members who have downloaded the program onto their computers. You simply save your races and then use the “race everyone” option when you log onto the program on your computer. The computer will show everyone’s best race –this is challenging for your little “Type A” personalities and provides them with built in motivation to improve their scores all the time!

The graphics are pleasant, but basic and therefore are not distracting and you can race with sounds “off” or “on”. It is extremely user friendly and your kids can start using it right away. We did have to use it in compatibility mode on one of our computers that was running XP, but it was an easy fix (quickly found in the user manual) and stopped our computer from “freezing up” after the races.

Another example of the versatility of The Quarter Mile Math is that you can change the “racers” from cars to wild horses. This option appeals to a wide range of children with different interests. Still another way that the bundled deluxe version of this program proves to be a great value is the benefit of being able to practice such a large range of Math topics http://quartermilemath.com/product/topics_covered.pdf    (levels 1, 2 & 3 are included in the deluxe product). My kids can “drill” their facts, or work on mental math in the areas of percentages and integers! It is a computer program the whole family will benefit from since Moms have to get in on the racing fun to check it out, and Dad can put it on his computer as well J.

Speaking of parents, tracking your students’ progress is simple with this deluxe version as well and their “scores” can be easily printed out in a report. You can see a comparison chart showing features of both the standard and the deluxe versions: http://quartermilemath.com/product/compare.shtml

As I mentioned before, we did use this software program previously, although it is an older version, so we were familiar with the quality and the features of the basic program, but in doing the review for this product, I learned a lot about the company’s dedication to making “learning software” that I didn’t know and I really love the deluxe version for the tracking features.  

From now until September 30th, The Quarter Mile Math is offering a special discount to readers. Simply use the code  7P7Z7 when you order online and you will receive $5.00 off  either the Standard or Deluxe products they offer! This makes an already good value even better!

So “race” on over there and check it out !

Merit K

Homeschool Freebie of the Week

 

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

 

Above is a link to a terrific resource for free and inexpensive tools for teaching. Sometimes they have free audios to supplement a study and sometimes they offer free ebooks. This week they had a link to a Word Press member’s blog and I missed it, but when I went to her blog, I saw that she is offering a free ebook on copywork just for signing up for her newsletter. Her newsetter  looks like it would be very helpful for those of us who want to learn more about using the methods of Charlotte Mason in our classrooms or Homeschools!

She also offers copywork for Ancient History as well as modern history. I signed up for her free book sample and I can’t wait to see this resource :0)

Here is the link to her copywork ebooks:

http://www.writefromhistory.com/

Her ebooks are also available at Currclick! ( I love Currclick)

Homeschooling High School Just Got Easier!

http://www.apologiaacademy.com/

Check this out – Apologia, the favorite Science curriculum of  Home Educators is going online with classes available in Science as well as, Bible and Worldviews (Apologetics).

A really great contest is going on there as well. The Science question of the week for students aged 13-18. If you answer the question, you have a chance to win a cool prize.  You can find the question of the week and how to enter here:

http://www.apologiaonline.com/sqotw/

It is exciting to see all the wonderful resources the new ownership of Apologia Educational Ministries is opening up to us as consumers.  There are some really great options available to us, even when teaching High School subjects.

Kudos to Dr. Jay Wile and The Carmen Family!

Tips for Homeschooling High School

Here is some great information for those planning to teach their High School students at home! I am planning my daughter’s ninth grade curriculum now and I found this article very enlightenting.  It gives us a goal to work on as Home Educators.  The author of the article offers some ways to help prepare our students for the Sciences in college as well as offering a critique of Homeschoolers – he provides summer camps that focus on Science and also does online classes for those of us who do not feel prepared to teach the labs etc. on our own. ( This has not previously been my problem – I love Science, but we can all use a “professional” once our children get beyond the scope of our learning in any given area! )

 

   College Professor Critiques Homeschoolers
   copyright 2009 by Greg Landry, M.S.

I teach sophomore through senior level college
students – most of them are “pre-professional”
students. They are preparing to go to medical
school, dental school, physical therapy school,
etc.

As a generalization, I’ve noticed certain
characteristics common in my students who were
homeschooled. Some of these are desirable,
some not.

Desirable characteristics:

1. They are independent learners and do a great
job of taking initiative and being responsible
for learning. They don’t have to be “spoon fed”
as many students do. This gives them an advantage
at two specific points in their education;
early in college and in graduate education.

2. They handle classroom social situations
(interactions with their piers and professors)
very well. In general, my homeschooled students
are a pleasure to have in class. They greet me
when the enter the class, initiate conversations
when appropriate, and they don’t hesitate to
ask good questions. Most of my students do
none of these.

3. They are serious about their education and
that’s very obvious in their attitude,
preparedness, and grades.

Areas where homeschooled students can improve:

1. They come to college less prepared in the
sciences than their schooled counterparts -
sometimes far less prepared. This can be
especially troublesome for pre-professional
students who need to maintain a high grade
point average from the very beginning.

2. They come to college without sufficient
test-taking experience, particularly with
timed tests. Many homeschooled students have a
high level of anxiety when it comes to taking
timed tests.

My advice to homeschooling parents:

1. If your child is even possibly college
bound and interested in the sciences, make
sure that they have a solid foundation of
science in the high school years.

2. Begin giving timed tests by 7th or 8th grade.
I think it is a disservice to not give students
timed tests. They tend to focus better and score
higher on timed tests, and, they are far better
prepared for college and graduate education if
they’ve taken timed tests throughout the high
school years.

In the earlier years the timed tests should allow
ample time to complete the test as long as the
student is working steadily. The objective is for
them to know it’s timed yet not to feel a time
pressure. This helps students to be comfortable
taking timed tests and develops confidence in
their test-taking abilities.

Greg Landry is a 14 year veteran homeschool dad
and college professor. He also teaches one and
two semester online science classes, and offers
free 45 minute online seminars..
http://www.HomeschoolScienceAcademy.com

_____________________________________

Greg Landry, M.S.
Director, Human Anatomy and Physiology Lab
office: 828-265-4101
Greg@homeschoolscienceacademy.com
http://www.HomeschoolScienceAcademy.com

This article may be published on web sites and in publications as long as it’s reproduced in its entirety.

Ain’t No Party like a Homeschool Party …

Support Leaders, Vendors, and Bloggers–join the Homeschool Party!

What would you buy with a $250 gift certificate from the schoolhouse Store? Find out because you could be the big winner! Plus, each of you can receive a free one-year subscription to TOS Magazine, and all 19 of our Summer Bouquet Gifts – See them here; http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/TOSSummer19Gifts/index.html

The Party’s here so get on over:

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/homeschool_leaders.php

AND if you haven’t already Joined the Old Schoolhouse magazine’s “Special Offers” email list, make sure you do it right away.

You can get free “We e-books” each month, which are actual articles from excellent authors on helpful educational topics!

Try SpellQuizzer for FREE!

 

SpellQuizzer developed by TedCo software, is a very simple, but effective spelling software program. It does exactly what the name implies – it helps you make a personalized quiz for your student’s spelling words on your computer.

 It doesn’t have a ton of bells, whistles, or moving objects to shoot down, but all three kids loved it anyway! It does allow you to set up some sound effects so I chose “cheering” for words spelled correctly and “car crash” for incorrect words. When the sounds get annoying to my daughter, she can change the settings, but my boys will never tire of it J

 The program doesn’t require the use of a microphone because you can type in a “reminder phrase” for each word, but I would have to make those up, and sometimes I am just not feeling all that creative. For me, a mic is the easiest way to use this software. Our microphone is an inexpensive “logitech” that I picked up at Walmart.

 The initial set up required us to locate and use “microphone boost” in our windows files because my computer was not defaulted to use that, but once we followed their directions and got over that little hurdle, we quickly had the program up and running. The software is very user friendly. It was easy to type in the kid’s spelling words and to record the spelling lists/sentences to create a quiz.  I can see how this software would be useful with any Spelling curriculum, or even if you do not use a formal Spelling program at all. You can completely customize their Spelling Quizzes and even use it for daily practice.

 The “tips” section is helpful and gave us lots of great ideas on how to use the program. My children enjoyed setting up the quizzes for each other using silly voices and making up funny sentences. I let them make quizzes for each other from my lists because there is a spell checker which warns if it looks like a word entered in the spelling quiz list is spelled incorrectly, so ‘no worries’ about them learning how to spell a word in the wrong way! After we had some fun, we got down to the serious business of trying out the quizzes.

 Once the lists were created, (I used “Dr Fry’s Spelling Book”) the kids could simply start the program and access the appropriate quiz since I named them by lesson number. We also regularly use personal spelling words from their own reading and it was easy to customize the quizzes by using their names for a quiz title. 

 The children stated that they enjoyed the challenge very much and even requested to take each other’s quizzes to see if they could score better than their siblings. Not all kids will be as competitive as mine, but I think they all will enjoy this program. It is a great change of pace from copying spelling words!

 One of the most appealing things about the SpellQuizzer spelling software is that it “teaches” to all the learning styles; visual, kinesthetic and auditory learners will each benefit from review with this program.  

SpellQuizzer also encourages independent work, freeing up time for me to work with the other children. SpellQuizzer is naturally challenging. My kids were interested to see if they could improve their scores each time and so they were reviewing the words and increasing their proficiency! (I wonder if they know ?? J ) It is well worth the $29.95 price for this type of customizable program.

 I am keeping track of their quiz scores manually right now, but one option that I hope TedCo software will consider in the future is to include an option to print out the quiz scores or make some sort of a database to make it simpler to track a student’s progress. In the meantime, I will keep on using this program because it is simple, effective and enjoyable!

 If this review has made you curious, you can download it and try it free for 30 days to see if it works for your crew:

 http://www.spellquizzer.com/download.htm

 We didn’t try this yet, but the import/export feature of the software allows you to download additional spelling lists from their website which you can then import into your program for “ready made” spelling quizzes too! You can see those choices here:

 http://www.spellquizzer.com/Spelling-Lists.htm