Yea. Am I the only one that thought someone was saying “real mower” and not “reel mower”? My cheeks were on FIRE when the hubby and I were googling these things. And it is so obvious that is it reel and not real once it’s pointed out that it is in fact reel. But I always thought people were saying “Hey, we have a real mower.” You know, they have a real mower not a gas powered one. ::sigh:: Anyway!

We went with the Fiskars 6201 18-Inch 5-Blade Momentum Push Reel Lawn Mower. That’s a mouthful, eh? We looked seriously at two other brands until we came across this one. Scott and Brill are the other two manufacturers we were looking at. The Brill looked like it would be a good one, but the reviews weren’t very promising. The Scott didn’t look like a crazy cool one but the reviews weren’t too shabby. Then we found the Fiskars mower. It looks insanely cool for a reel mower and, while there aren’t a ton of reviews, they were mostly really positive.

I’ll post a review after we have tried it out for a bit. Here is a quickie breakdown from Amazon:

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Hands of a Child! We are Super Members we love it so much.

We are moving more toward notebooking versus lapbooking lately, so this is a great freebie for us. It was announced on their Yahoo! group. If you are not signed up for the newsletter or group, DO SO! It is a great resource. They tell about all of the upcoming sales, answer questions, etc. One of the great things about HOAC is their thoroughness and customer service.  ;)

The free note pack is for their Single-Celled Organisms unit. This is geared for grades 5-8, but it is really easy to tone down (or beef up) an HOAC unit. Another thing we love about them! If you have never tried notebooking, or don’t even know what it is, grab this while it is free! There is a whole section at the beginning that explains what notebooking is, what a note pack is and how to use it. It’s very step-by-step and easy to understand.

To sign up for Hands of a Child’s newsletter, head over to their site. There is a tab at the top for “Newsletter”. While you’re there check out their $5 EBook of the Week. These are full units they discount and change out every week! This week it is the Renaissance.

This came through a homeschool group I belong to and I found it interesting, but take it with a grain of salt as the Landry Academy started with mostly science courses. This may have been in response to his findings as a professor. I’m just saying to use your own judgement. These are all things I have heard before, so I’m posting it. The bolded text is my doing to make it easier to read.

College Professor Critiques Homeschoolers
copyright by Greg Landry – written in 2009

This article may be published on web sites, blogs, and in print publications as long as it’s reproduced in its entirety, including the resource box at the end of the article.

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. Homeschooled students 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 peers and professors) very well. In general, my homeschooled students are a pleasure to have in class. They greet me when they enter the class, initiate conversations
when appropriate, and they don’t hesitate to ask good questions in class. 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.

3. Many homeschooled students have problems meeting deadlines and have to adjust to that in college. That adjustment time in their freshman year can be costly in terms of the way it affects their grades.

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’m referring to all tests that students take, not just national, standardized tests.

I think it is a disservice to not give students timed tests. Students 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.

3. Give your students real deadlines to meet in the high school years. If it’s difficult for students to meet these deadlines because they’re coming from mom or dad, have them take “outside” classes; online, co-op, or community college.

Build on the strengths that homeschooling offers and send your students to college fully prepared and a step ahead of most other students.

Greg Landry is a 15 year veteran homeschool dad and former college professor. He is founder and director of www.LandryAcademy.com.

http://www.landryacademy.com/rec.htm

 

I just saw that Live and Learn Press is having a sale on their Apologia notebooks and thought I would pass it along since it rarely happens. It is a 15% discount. Not too shabby! The coupon code is on the front page of their site.

This is only good on the single family e-book versions but they say you can email and request to pay the extra license fee for a small coop or classroom. Head over and check it out!

Ok. Really cool new site alert!

Homeschool Giveaways

I am copying and pasting their “About Us” page so you can know what the deal is:

 

Homeschool Giveaways is another homeschool website owned by the family who runs Hearts at Home Curriculum and CurriculumShare.com.

After launching two homeschool related websites, it was determined that what homeschoolers like best is freebies and giveaways! The purpose of Homeschool Giveaways is to introduce homeschoolers to various curricula they may not be familiar with or have been unable to purchase, through giveaways.

Membership on Homeschool Giveaways is FREE to homeschoolers! We are not paid to endorse any particuliar curriculum or offer opinions that are not our own.  We will offer giveaways to all members who are newsletter subscribers only.

What makes our website attractive to publishers and curricula writers is the fact that we have a growing member list of homeschoolers that will learn about their curriculum/products through a giveaway that is announced via a “Giveaway Blast”. They offer curriculum, educational products, and other items we find are fitting for homeschool families, and in turn their giveaway is announced to the homeschoolers on our newsletter list. Without the newsletter list, we wouldn’t have giveaways!

If you would like to participate by providing a giveaway, please contact us today.

How cool is that?! I am all about freebies. If you sign up over there, do me a favor and use my email (danica @ veganhomeschool . com) as the referral!