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All entries responded to what they liked most about Zone Cleaning for Kids.

Digital Camera: Julie T.

I love any new cleaning system. Keeps things interesting. I also love the non-toxic cleaning solutions. We have started using a few, and it is great to allow the kids to take some ownership in cleaning with non-hazardous cleaning supplies.

Zone Cleaning for Kids: Sherry Cochran

Loved the Times Tales. Haven’t tried the Zone Cleaning but it would be a plus at my house.

Chaos to Order MP3: Sheryl L.

Our chlidren have really liked the Times Tales. I am looking forward to trying out the Zone Cleaning for Kids. I like the DVD, the flip charts and that the cleaning is broken down into small visual steps. Looking forward to participating in the Baby shower.

St. Patrick’s Day Lapbook: Laurie Hamilton

Like how it is directed to kids and their own stuff. Looks great. Like the flip part!

St. Patrick’s Day Lapbook: Kristin

I love the DVD and what a visual teaching tool that will be for my kids (as well as for me!). I also like the labels for the bins, all ready made! Looks great ladies! Congratulations on your baby!

St. Patrick’s Day Lapbook: Cathy

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, our Times Tales.

Your new baby looks great! So often it’s easier to just pick up myself and get it done, no wonder I’m always worn out! I love the steps in this system and can’t wait to try it! Thank you for all you do to make our lives a little more organized.

Toddler Bites: Maria

I’m looking forward to checking out your book. I have teenage boys. One will do anything in the house or yard. The other one barely cleans and says everything looks fine. I do have to give this one credit for his tidying skills. He just doesn’t want to dust or even worse (to him) vacuum!

Baby Shower Giveaway Posts

Times Tales  Winner :  IVONNE NERIA

What is your least favorite chore?

I would say the bathroom!!! scary..

(2) Blank Books: Sheryl

What would you use the blank books for?

Making a recipe book for a wedding.

Grocery Cart Math Winner: Carrie

What is your favorite subject to teach:

I love math because it is so easy to find fun things to do with it, just like science! We cook, go to the grocery, etc.

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In order to meet requirements for an accredited, graded transcript for my daughter we must log hours and learning activities. Since grades have not been particularly important to me in the past (I much prefer that they master and enjoy learning), it’s been a bit of a challenge for me to give more grades. In our geography/history class we’re spending  a few weeks learning about Hitler, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. I provided Paige with several books to read in a relatively short period of time. Rather than writing book report after book report, I’ve come up with a few alternatives for providing a grade to document learning. I’m stuffing a good bit of learning into a relatively short time period, and would rather have her read and digest as much as possible in this 2-3 week period, rather than spending hours writing reports.

• After reading Tell Them We Remember: The Story of the Holocaust I had Paige give an oral presentation, sharing what she learned with her brothers. I graded her on her oral presentation.
• Paige  has listened to The Hiding Place and read The Diary of Anne Frank and Lily’s Crossing. I will have her write a few paragraphs detailing the similarities and differences in the three stories. If your child needs more specific instruction, you can create a response sheet asking specific questions and leaving space for response. How are Anne Frank, Corrie Ten Boom and Lily similar? What experiences did all three have in common? Name at least two ways each character or that character’s experience differs from the other. I usually try and add a question to make them think about applying the learning to their own life. In this instance you could ask, Which character did you most identify with and why? Often I will ask them if they agree with a person’s response, attitude or conclusions. NOTE: Do not grade this type of question on whether or not your student answers they way you like, but on how well they articulate their opinion.
• I often create a  simple response sheet in a Word document for movies that we watch. These will vary, depending on the subject matter. I might have her summarize the movie in 4-5 sentences, discuss the conflict of a particular character or ask a specific question like, Do you think the Great Depression played a role in Hitler’s ability to gain such popularity? Why or why not? In English, Paige read A Christmas Carol and watched several different movie versions. She filled out the same response sheet for each movie, noting the similarities and differences from the original text.
• Paige listened to the audio CD of The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. Rather than pulling from our daily school time (it was ten hours of listening), Paige listened to the CD’s at night before she fell asleep. She will document her learning on the simple “response sheet” I’ve made available for download below.  I simply found a meaningful quote by Corrie Ten Boom (I found this one on Pinterest) and asked Paige to write a paragraph, responding to a couple of specific questions that I typed above the quote. Response sheets are easy to create and customize to your learning, yet easily demonstrate whether the student understood the material or not. You can download the file if you like, but it’s mostly intended as an example. TIP! I email these sheets to her rather than printing them out so that she can type her responses right into the Word document. She then prints them out and turns them in to me for grading.

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Hi,

Dear Dena, if you would like to share it, I would be interested in knowing if  you have used Sonlight before and are not using it now, what is it you do now, and why you changed, etc.  (I am trying to decide whether to go with Sonlight.)

Love,

Ana

Boy! This will be a tough one to answer. I started homeschooling my oldest over 20 years ago, so I’ve been at it quite some time and used a lot of different curriculum over the years. Plus, I worked for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for over five years, even managing The Schoolhouse Store at one point, so I have probably seen more curriculum options than most.

When I homeschooled my oldest boys there wasn’t near the number of options there are now. At that time, we used Konos and loved it.

With my younger set (Paige 14, Skylar 12, Brayden 10), I began using Konos with my daughter. We used the first several Cores, but I always included the boys in the read-alouds. I absolutely love the Sonlight Cores & Bible. I did try using their science and language and didn’t care for either. NOTE: Just because something is not a great fit for me or my family doesn’t mean it won’t be for yours. I’d planned to combine my two boys in a Core, but even though they were close in age, they weren’t close enough in ability for that to work well and I wasn’t up to taking on three separate Cores. (They are a good bit of work.) I used the equivalent of Cores A-D (they were labeled differently back then) before changing to another approach.

Three years ago we began using Mystery of History and absolutely loved it! I love that it incorporated biblical history right into secular history so that you can see how they correlate. I also like that each chapter offered activities for younger, middle and older children. Though the curriculum does offer read-aloud suggestions, I felt they were lacking and would add a good many read-alouds to go along with the study. I used Illuminations in it’s Beta year and it was great for providing and scheduling read-alouds and the rest of your subjects. It is an excellent resource, but was out of our budget the following year. That year I simply searched for “Mystery of History Vol. 2 book lists” and found several like this. (NOTE: I HIGHLY recommend the book Masada, on this list. I couldn’t believe I’d never heard that fascinating story in history before.) I also looked at the read-alouds for corresponding time periods in Sonlight.

Volume 3 of Mystery of History is a bit different from the prior volumes. After ordering it, I realized it was a bit too advanced for my then eight year old and decided to save it for later. I plan to use it with my two boys next year.

At this point, my daughter was in 8th grade and wanting to go to high school for 9th. We hadn’t decided how we felt about that, but I decided that she should probably try using a more text-based program so she could get a feel for it. We enrolled in Columbia Virtual Academy (a charter school in our state) and she used the Calvert Curriculum. Much to my surprise, she fully enjoyed it. She was largely independent in her studies, while the boys and I worked together using Time Traveler’s History Studies. Again, I added lots of good read-alouds to the program. We also supplemented with The History of US.

This year, we decided that our daughter was not ready for high school. However, since we’re not yet ready to rule it out entirely we wanted her to have a graded transcript that would easily transfer to our local district, should she be allowed to enter at a later date. At first, we could only find high school programs that were completely computer based, which we didn’t want. After some talking with our charter school it was determined that I could create my own courses for each subject. I have to track hours, daily work, assignments and grades in each subject. At year-end, I’ll need to send in a portfolio of her work with samples for each of the learning goals in her learning plan. It’s been a LOT of work. Unless you have a child that might need a graded transcript to enter public high school, I wouldn’t go this route. We could have done less work for a pass/fail transcript, but we wanted the grades for possible scholarships down the road. She is using a variety of different curriculum for each subject.

Skylar decided to try Calvert this year. He’s enjoying it but says he’d prefer to go back to our joint learning. Therefore, the boys and I will start back up with Mystery of History 3 this next year.

Brayden and I are reading from A History of US and a variety of corresponding read-alouds.

I use Teaching Textbooks math with all three. We’ve used Saxon in the past and both are good. Actually, Paige did Teaching Textbooks Algebra last year (as an 8th grader) and is doing it in Saxon this year. Algebra is a freshman math requirement and math is not her strong point, so I felt that taking the same class from a different publisher would do her good. I do find that Teaching Textbooks seems to be a year behind grade-level wise. For example, I would have my 4th grader do the Teaching Textbooks grade 5.

We’ve used a variety of science products. My favorites are Apologia, both their elementary science and jr. high/ high school. The new notebooks for the elementary science are especially nice. We also like Exploration Education (very hands-on) and REAL Science 4 Kids.

We’ve used  several different writing/language curriculums as well. I really like Write Source products as they are kid-friendly and easy to use. I absolutely LOVE First Language Lessons for grammar. Skylar is using it along with his Calvert simply because it explains things so much better. I couldn’t even understand diagramming instructions in the Calvert text. First Language Lessons makes it simple. We also really like the programs from Write Shop.

I think that pretty much covers the basics. As you can see our choices ebb and flow over time for a variety of reasons. I’m sure yours will, too. And just because something is a good fit one year, doesn’t mean it will be another.

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask! I’d love to hear your favorite resources in the comments or link up to a similar post of your own.

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We know it might be a bit odd to liken our new Zone Cleaning for Kids, Clean ‘n’ Flip system to a baby, but after the months of labor we’ve put into re-vamping our program, we feel almost like we’ve given birth. Therefore, we decided to go ahead and have some fun with the idea. Any excuse for a party, right?!

We’re giving away great prizes for entries here on the blog (a camera and printer, chore system, curriculum and more!) AND we’ll be giving away even more during the party. Not only that, but we’re looking forward to answering your questions and getting to know you better! This is your chance to ask us about anything you like: Times Tales,  Zone Cleaning for Kids, homeschooling, how Jennie got rid of all her puppies, or whatever!

Where: Trigger Memory Systems Facebook Page

Date: Thursday, Feb. 9

Time: 5:00 p.m. Pacific (6:00 Mountain, 7:00 Central, 8:00 Eastern)

If you want to make sure you don’t forget, sign up for our Education Through Imagination newsletter in the sidebar at the upper right and we’ll send you a reminder.

We are the proud parents who will be visiting with you at the party: Jennie, Marillee and Dena.

And now to introduce our new arrival!

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The Zone Cleaning for Kids Clean ‘n’ Flip system is a fun and unique way to help your children help you! Let’s break it down and see what makes it so special.

The basis of the system is the Clean ‘n’ Flip, itself. This fully-laminated flip chart uses step-by-step illustrations to make chores simple. Rather than responding to a vague instruction to “clean the kitchen”, children work through the chart step-by-step, marking their progress along the way. Kids love knowing exactly what to do and Mom will love knowing that the room is actually clean when they hear the words, “I’m done!”  Even non-readers can use the bright and colorful graphics to easily follow along. Click the thumbnails below to see larger samples of a few of the pages.

The system allows plenty of opportunity for you to customize the chart to your specific family needs. It’s easy to add additional jobs, assign jobs and zones, or even specify when you’d like specific jobs completed.

Before you start working through the Clean ‘n’ Flip, however, you’ll want to check out our new instructional DVD. The DVD introduces you to the system and provides children with instructions and examples for cleaning each zone. Your children will enjoy watching as their peers demonstrate how to properly clean each area of the home. Click the graphic below to see an introduction to the DVD.

While your kids are busily (and happily) cleaning the house, Mom can be saving money by making the non-toxic cleansers found in our Kid-friendly Cleaning Solutions E-Book. With a few basics pantry ingredients you can learn to make a wide variety of frugal and effective cleansers to fit almost any need.

Once you’ve finished reading, be sure and visit our buyers-only web page filled with fun and helpful home organization and management tips and resources. You’ll find the url and password on the last page of the Kid-friendly Cleaning Solutions E-Book. Here you’ll find all kinds of helpful printables, calendars and tips. We even provide links to printable labels for your homemade cleaning supplies.

Our new Zone Cleaning for Kids system provides everything you need to succeed, right down to removable basket labels and a dry-erase marker.

So . . . what do you think? Let us know what you like most about the system and you’ll automatically be entered to win one of the prizes listed below. Better yet, attend our Facebook party and win even more prizes!

PRIZES:

To enter, leave a comment below sharing what you like most about our new Zone Cleaning for Kids Clean ‘n’ Flip system. Prize winners will be announced here on the blog following our Facebook baby shower on Feb. 9. You need not be present to win (be sure and leave contact info in your comment), however, we will be giving away lots of extra prizes during the party such as Times Tales, Blank Books, and Grocery Cart Math! In fact, everyone who attends the party will receive a link to download our Kid-Friendly Cleaning Solutions E-Book absolutely free!

What new parent would be caught without a camera? Here’s your chance to win this Polaroid 12MP digital camera with instant mobile Zink printer!

One lucky winner will become the proud parent of our new “baby”, the Zone Cleaning for Kids, Clean ‘n’ Flip Chore system. This fun and unique chore system is designed to help children visually and systematically work through cleaning the kitchen, living room/entry, bathroom and bedrooms independently and with ease.

From Malia Russell at Homemaking 911: Win From Chaos to Order: 25 Tools for Bringing Organization to Your Home, MP3 download.  This encouraging audio CD, recorded based on our conference presentation is solidly based on the fundamental truth of God’s word, Malia’s personal experiences, and insight gained from working with hundreds of women every year. This workshop session helps turn modern homemakers from overwhelmed to overjoyed! ($5 value)

A Journey Through Learning is providing THREE winners with a download of their St. Patrick’s Day Lapbook. Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this fun hands-on St. Patrick’s Day Lapbook with Study Guide! Learn all about Ireland and also some about St. Patrick and St. Patrick’s Day! Topics include Ireland Geography, Who was St. Patrick, The Celts, The Potato Famine, Irish Music and Dance, Castles, How Ireland Got Its Name, Kissing the Blarney Stone, Leprechauns, Gaelic Football, Hurling The Wearing of Green and much more. Each booklet comes with a study page to make filling out the booklets so easy! Plus, we have included a color-coded assembly guide and an easy to follow lay-out so that putting your lapbook together will be a breeze! We also have used actual photos when possible. A beautiful lapbook when finished! ($13 value)

Toddler Bites is providing one winner with a download of their A-Z Toddler & Preschool Curriculum. This complete Toddler and Preschool Curriculum was designed especially for preschool parents. It is set up to cover one letter per week. In addition to a letter a week, it includes a weekly theme that starts with the letter of the week. The same color, shape, and number are worked on all month long. This curriculum begins in August and ends in May. ($10 value)

Linking to Tackle it Tuesday

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My children and I enjoy little more than traveling the globe; discovering new sights and sounds and learning about new cultures. Together, we’ve visited Egypt, Africa, the Orient, Mexico, England and more. No, we’re not rich. Nor do we ever have to deal with busy airports, luggage restrictions, or dirty hotel rooms. “How?” you may ask. We do our traveling through books and I hope to encourage you to do the same with your children.

While many of us read aloud to our children when they are young, we often let the habit drop as they grow older and begin reading on their own. I urge you not to do this. By continuing to read aloud to and with your children you create a shared culture and experience that becomes unique to your family. It enriches you as a whole rather than just as individuals.

As you learn life lessons and admire the character qualities of those you read about, they become a part of your unique family tapestry. For example, Nat Bowditch, in the excellent read, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, overcomes obstacle after obstacle to eventually achieve more than he ever dreamed. In this sailing story, when a ship was becalmed for an extended period of time, the crew was forced to physically row the massive vessel, also known as “sailing by ash breeze” (the oars were made of ash). In our home we’ve adopted the phrase to encourage one another. When confronted with an an endeavor that is uncharacteristically difficult you’re likely to hear one of us say, “Is it time to row by ash breeze?” It may not solve the problem, but it brings a smile and reminds us of what can be accomplished with a bit of hard work and perseverance.

I frequently have homeschooling moms ask for book recommendations for their middle and high school children. And, while I’m happy to offer them, I’m saddened that they will miss out on the experience of reading them with their kids. While children most certainly need to read on their own, I highly recommend reserving some excellent books as family read-alouds. A truly good book can be enjoyed by nearly all ages.

By enjoying such a book together you can travel to new destinations, experience exciting adventures, and meet fascinating individuals, as a family and all from the comfort of your living room. If you’re like us, you’ll also end up with a list of amazing places you can’t wait to see “for real”. For example, my daughter and I have dreamed of visiting the Blue Grotto in person ever since reading Red Sails to Capri.

Another plus to enjoying quality literature together is that your children learn what good writing sounds like. I experienced two examples of this just yesterday. As I began reading from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, my 10 year old commented, “I really like that sentence, can you read it again?”

“Spring. It seeped unseen into the waiting red earth in early March, softening the hard ground for the coming plow and awakening life that had lain gently sleeping through the cold winter.”

Now, that’s a sentence! (Well, two sentences.) But the fact that my ten-year-old BOY can notice and take pleasure in such writing is a gift, indeed. Later in the day, after a trip to the library, my 12 year old came into the room holding a book he’d chosen. “I like the story, but the writing is just not very good. I don’t think I can read this. It’s too annoying.” At relatively young ages, both boys are developing discriminating literary tastes, simply by being exposed to quality literature.

If you’re not sure where to start check out the 1000 Good Book List. Here you’ll find quality books categorized by age. I become convinced of the value of read-alouds when we were using Sonlight curriculum. Even if you don’t use their curriculum, you can choose most any of their read-alouds and know you won’t go wrong. You can check out Sonlight’s list by grade or peruse this nicely categorized list.

In fact, both the books I mentioned above were read as part of Sonlight. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is part of their grade 4 curriculum, as is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the book we’re currently reading.  As I mentioned before, don’t be put off by a book being labeled as “grade 4″. A truly good book will be enjoyed by the entire family. In fact, I recently loaned Carry On, Mr. Bowditch to a gentleman in our church who loves sailing and he couldn’t put it down!

Don’t forget to enter for some great prized in our online “baby” shower!

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I was invited to a Demarle party the other night. While I was fascinated with their products it was all well out of my budget. Nonetheless, I did walk away with something of value. Everyone in my home loves mashed potatoes. We probably only have them a couple of times a month, though, because I seldom get dinner started in time to peel, bring water to a boil, and cook the potatoes.

Well…at this party, the hostess mentioned that she could throw covered potatoes in one of her fancy pans, cover with a Silpat and cook for 15-20 minutes and have potatoes ready to be mashed. This totally eliminated the “waiting for the water to boil” scenario and also shortens cooking time.

When I got home, I decided to do a bit of research. I figured it may be possible to use some other kind of dish as well. Guess what? Sure enough, I found several recipes for microwave mashed potatoes. Looks to me like you basically use a glass bowl, cover it, and make the potatoes as usual. I know I’ll be giving it a try!

Microwave mashed potatoes work for me. To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family. Linking to Crystal & Co.

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Each week, I mark my current weight on the appropriate coordinate. My chart looks very similar to the one above, with my graphing points just below the red line. So, what’s the big deal? Quite a bit actually!

Normally, I would have been frustrated at my slow progress and given up. However, because I know (and can SEE) exactly where I need to be to meet my goal by year-end, I know that my progress is perfect. A bit better than necessary, actually. Even though the difference isn’t the least bit noticeable to me, the chart makes me realize that if I just continue at this slow and steady rate, I’ll be a whole new person by year end. THAT keeps me from throwing in the towel, altogether and from expecting unrealistic results. I’m surprised how much this simple chart helps my attitude.

This got me thinking . . . if such a chart can help my attitude and keep me motivated, is there a way to incorporate something similar into our homeschool?

This year my daughter is enrolled in a charter school. In order to receive a graded transcript we are, for the very first time, required to log and track hours in each subject. 75 credits equals 1/2 credit and 150 equals a full credit. With Friday marking the end of our semester, I’ve been watching our logs closely to make sure we’re on track. We did pretty well, but there was one subject that we are a few hours short in (unless Paige wants to do 7 hours of Spanish this week!).  I bet a chart like the one above would be a great way to visually track where we are in relation to where we need to be in each subject over the next semester.

I can also see using a chart like this to track practice time, minutes of reading or something similar. If you’d like your child to read 10 hours each month, mark a line on the chart and track his or her weekly progress. If you don’t have graph paper, don’t worry. Head on over to DonnaYoung.org and print some out!

What do you think? Would such a graph be a help to you or your kids? Do you have a similar system or visual that keeps you on track with larger goals?

Slow & steady is working for me. To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family. Linking to Crystal & Co.

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Have you ever noticed that  minor behavioral infractions such as children interrupting you while on the phone, not shutting the front door or saying an unkind word often go without consequence? Conversely, how many times do minor, positive behaviors go unrewarded? Incorporating a Bean Bank is a great way to prevent those small positives and negatives from going unnoticed.

The Bean Bank works much like the popular board game Chutes and Ladders but instead of climbing ladders or plummeting down chutes, deposits and
withdrawals are made to the “bank”.  For our “bank” we use a glass mason jar so that the contents can be easily seen. Our “beans,” or currency, are small, glass beads that we purchased at the dollar store. Each time my son (I only use this with one of my children) does something I want to encourage more of, like getting his teeth brushed and to bed in a timely manner, I tell him to go add a bean to his bank. This, of course, works in the opposite way, with the child having to take a bean out for doing something negative.

One motivator is to have a reward when they reach a designated number of beans in the bank.  If there aren’t any beans in the bank to make a withdrawal, then they go into “debt”. This debt can be paid off by doing some extra chores or even grounding from a privilege. This system may not work for everyone but it can be a great motivator for children who respond well to instant feedback.

Note from Dena:

I just saw a great modification of this as a visual weight loss tracker for Mom in Pinterest. Of course, I can’t find it now for the life of me! Visualize this with me, please. One empty jar labeled “Pounds Lost” and one jar, containing the number of marbles that correspond to the number of pounds you’d like to lose, labeled “Pounds to Lose”. Place them side by side and watch as the “Pounds to Lose” jar empties out and the “Pounds Lost” jar fills up.  I think this makes for a great motivational visual. (I’ll keep looking for the image.)

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I have to say, this is the most comfortable set of couches I have ever had that pleasure of owning.

The furniture barely fit in our family room but we love it!!

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