The High School Schoolhouse Planner

The High School Schoolhouse Planner
Project Manager: Heidi Strawser
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
http://www.theoldschoolhousemagazine.com/
1-888-718 HOME




Boy, was I thrilled when I heard that The Old Schoolhouse had made planners for homeschooled students. As a mom of a high school age student, one of my goals is to teach her how to organize her day. The schoolhouse planner is unique in that a student can pick and chose from the 293 pages included in the e-book. I especially liked that the pages can be photocopied, hole punched and be placed in the students binder along with their school work. No more misplaced planners!

I received a copy of the High School Schoolhouse Planner in exchange for an honest review from the eyes of a tenth grade homeschooler. The planner was delivered in an e-book formation. The e-book opened easily and its graphic design was appealing. As my daughter, Kaela and I, browsed through the almost 300 pages of the planner, we were both pleased with the content and the layout. Kaela decided to compile a list of the elements of the planner she liked most and those she disliked. Below is a list of Kaela's top picks.

1. Sign Language Sheet


2. State Requirements


3. Conversions (math)


4. Timeline of Inventions


5. Countries and Capitals


6. Famous Composers


7. Goals (Weekly, Monthly and yearly)


8. Transcripts


9. High School Plan


10. Books Read This Year


11. Community Service Record


12. Vocabulary Study Sheet


13. Interest and Career Ideas


14. All Purpose Wish List


15. Schedules


16. Music Practice Sheets


17. Prayer Journal


18. Chronological Bible Reading Schedule


19. Bible Reading Highlights


20. Dates to Remember


21. Phone Numbers

In addition, there are also several different calendars to choose, including daily, weekly and yearly calendars. Kaela also found that the ablility to type directly onto the forms was extremely helpful. The end result, a totally unique planner that was, not only fun to put together, but very useful. The one downside to this planner is the additional cost of copying the pages. However, we chose to take it to our local office supply store. This not only saved us money, but they were able to print the planner on a colorful assortment of paper.

Kaela's list of pages she disliked was short in comparison to the top picks list. They include the following forms:

1. Elements- prefers to see them arranged on a periodic table


2. Attendance Chart- not necessary since she works until her curriculum is complete


3. Journal-too personal to keep in planner


4. Lab Sheet - she uses sheets provided in her science program


5. Family Rules-She knows them by heart:)

Overall, the $29.00 price is a small price to pay for leading your high school student towards a more organized lifestyle. Also included with the price of the planner is a 14 page Parent's Pack, which includes four articles relevant to homeschooling a high school age child. The articles include: "High School: Time 2 Prepare", How to Create a High School Transcript", "The 411 on School Dual Enrollment", and "You Are the Best High School Guidance Counselor" The Parent's Pack also contains several links to helpful websites.

Although this planner is geared towards students in 9-12 grades, I think it will really be helpful for parents of High Schoolers as well.

Here is a direct link for the High School Planner

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=191_193

Freebie Friday

It's like having a money tree in your back yard!





November is just around the corner, so this week's freebies are all designed to help you add a little spice to your November curriculum. The first website is a great place to explore all the special days in the month of November.
http://familycrafts.about.com/library/spdays/blnovdayslong.htm
For example, did you know that November is Aviation Month? This site also has project ideas to help you celebrate all month long!


November's most noted holiday is Thanksgiving Day. The next site has free notebook pages with a Thanksgiving Day theme. http://notebookingpages.com/wp-content/uploads/free-content/holidays/npc_thanksgiving-notebooking-pages.pdf (This file may take a while to download)

Last, but not least, click here to get a free e-book: TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING
Stress Free Plans and Easy Recipes for Busy Moms
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=7

Enjoy these last few days in October!
Lauren

Freebie Friday

It's like having a money tree in your backyard!


Wow! We are already three weeks into October. As the weather turns chilly and the days grow short, I find I have a little more time to read my e-mail and catch up just a little before the Christmas rush.

This week's freebies are all e- newsletter that are free to join and they give out freebies regularly.

The first newsletter is called, "Homeschool Free Stuff". In this weekly publication you will find:
Free Homeschool Curriculum
Free Homeschool Lesson Plans
Free Homeschool Resources
Free Interactive Online Studies
Free Worksheets
Free Links to Online Websites, Activities, and More!
http://www.homeschoolfreestuff.com/index.asp

The next newsletter is " Homeschool Freebie of The Day". Just subscribe to their “Homeschool Freebies Alert” mailing list and they will send you an email about the upcoming week’s freebies each and every MONDAY morning, so you can make sure you get the ones you want! Simply… click on the link below.
http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/join-list/


The third link is from "The Old Schoolhouse Magazine" and it includes four possible e-newsletters. You can chose from:
(1) "The Special Offer" newsletter, where the monthly BONUS every month is 2 free weE-books!

(2) THE HOMESCHOOL MINUTET is a free weekly e-Newsletter for anyone homeschooling or considering it. It's brief, yet packed with a powerful dose of encouragement to keep you going strong in your commitment to your family and to the Lord. You'll enjoy favorite authors such as Todd Wilson, Ruth Beechick, Deborah Wuehler, and Nancy Carter, along with curriculum suggestions and help finding some of the best homeschool freebies on the web.

(3) Wondering what other homeschool moms would do in a situation. The Minute to Minute weekly newsletter, which comes out each Saturday, is our way of putting you all in touch with other homeschool moms. It truly is readers helping readers.
If you have questions that you'd like to share or if you would like to share some words of encouragement or practical tips with other homeschoolers, this is the newsletter for you!

(4) The Teacher's Toolbox is a great way to inject something extra into your teaching plans or homeschool on a shoestring. Each issue features hands-on teaching tips, links to free resources online, and a FREE E-Book. It's like a unit study of the month club. Stretch your budget and maximize the fun in your homeschool. Subscribe to any or all of these e-newsletters by clicking the link below.http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Join_Our_Newsletter_Lists.php

Happy reading! If you have been blessed by Freebie Friday, please share it with a friend.
Thanks and have a great week.
Lauren

Freebie Friday

This week we celebrated Columbus Day and studied about his voyage to the New World. So it had me thinking about geography. The three site below will add a fun and an interactive element to your geography curriculum.
This first website is a great place to quiz your students on the countries in Europe http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/Europenew.html

How about playing a game to reinforce the terms longitude and latitude :
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-games/latitude-longitude-map-game.php or try the main website for all kinds of tools to enhance your geography curriculum-
http://www.kidsgeo.com/

Do you want to reinforce the location of the continents and have a ton of fun at the same time? Try Copy Cat http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames/copycat/

Copy Cat is just one of the games on the National Geographic web site
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames

Happy traveling, see you next week!

God's Smuggler

William Tyndale: God's Smuggler
By Kim Kargbo
Soli Deo Gloria Resources
(901) 218-5243
http://www.solideogloriaresources.com/


Take a moment to thank William Tyndale, as you sit down and read your Bible today. William Tyndale is best known for his English translation of the New Testament. Kim Kargbo has written a unit study that is geared towards students grades K-12. This 21 page study is designed to take five days to complete and includes, history, science, language arts, bible, copy work, art and geography. I received a copy of the William Tyndale: God's Smuggler E-book to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.

I used the William Tyndale: God's Smuggler Unit Study, with my seventh and fifth graders. We put aside our usual school work and journeyed back to the sixteenth century. The unit study begins with a resource list of videos, websites, and books that are recommended as an integral part of the study. I was able to find the books at my local library and I was able to find two of the videos on Netflix.



We began our study with one of the recommended videos. This was a great way to introduce Tyndale and his work and set the foundation for the study. During the first day, we created a notebook cover, did vocabulary work and began our timeline. I liked that the historical people and dates were provided for the timeline. Completing the timeline helped to set the stage for the significance of William Tyndale's work. The video that we chose had a free study guide on line which gave us an assortment of worksheets to reinforce the facts from the film. There were also some fun, interactive sites that we enjoyed.

In the days that followed, we studied the plague, Leonardo da Vinci, modern translators, the invention of the printing press and more. My children enjoyed our break from the routine, and learned lots about the history surrounding William Tyndale's life and his important work. I would recommend this study for families with older elementary and middle school age children. My only complaint is that some of the links embedded in the study were not functioning. This E-book is only $8.00 and can be purchased at : http://www.solideogloriaresources.com/

Click the banner below to see what others had to say about this unit study.

Freebie Friday

The rain has finally stopped and the sun is out. So this weeks sites will be fun sites to visit now and bookmark for a rainy day.
http://www.purposegames.com/ is a free site with fun quizzes.

http://quizlet.com/ is a fun website with all kinds of flash cards for studying. You can use their large collection of flash cards or make your own

http://www.ezschool.com/ is a wonderful FREE site that offers worksheets, games, tutorials, study tools and more. Be sure to try their SAT question of the day!

http://www.softschool.com/ is another great site for free worksheets and games. Register for their free newsletter and find out what new games and worksheets have been added.

If this site has blessed you, please share it with a friend. Have a wonderful week!

Lanschool Home Management Software

Lanschool Home Management Software
Landschool Technologies, LLC
http://lanschool.com/
877-370-5546



In today's world of computer technology children are presented with numerous distractions while doing their school work on the computer. Students can be distracted by Facebook, instant messages, emails, games or any of the many sites on the Internet. Lanschool Technologies' Home Management Software is one solution to this ever growing problem. Their software allows the teacher to monitor each students computer screen and redirect them if necessary from a remote computer.

Imagine your student is on the computer doing researching for a paper and a friend sends them an email. You can instantly see the email alert as it appears on their screen and quickly darken their screen. Your student is now aware that they have lost focus and can be redirect to their research. This is just one of the many scenarios that can be seen using this revolutionary software. The key features of Lanschool Home Management Software are as follows:

● Runs on Macs and Windows
● View 3 thumbnails of computers at a time
Web Limiting
● Limit websites across all Windows browsers
● Allow or block specified websites
● Display allowed or blocked websites to family members
● Restrict private browsing in Internet Explorer

Application Limiting
● Allow or block specified applications
Application and Keystroke Monitoring
● Monitor applications and keystrokes on family computers

Blank Screens
● Stop computer access by blanking their screens, showing
a custom message and locking out their keyboards and mice

Remote Control
● Help a family member by taking control of their computer‘s
monitor, keyboard and mouse
● Remote control multiple computers at the same time
Send a Message
● Send a text message to all or selected computers
Question/Chat
● Family members can click on the LanSchool icon and type in a
question for the parent
● To respond, parents can initiate a text-based chat session with
the family member

Muting
● Turn speakers on or off from the parent’s console
Print Limiting
● Allow or block printing for all or selected computers

Drive Limiting
● Allow or block USB/CD/DVD drives for all or selected computers
Send and Collect Files
● Send and collect files to and from family computers

Power features
● Shutdown, logoff or restart family computers
● Power on computers remotely using Wake-on-LAN

Running Applications
● View all running applications on family computers and add
those applications to the allowed or blocked lists

Internet History
● View all Internet Explorer browsing history
● Family members cannot delete browsing history

Screen Snapshot
● Take a snapshot of the family member’s current computer screen
Anti-tampering controls
● LanSchool prevents family members from unloading or disrupting the
software

Show Screen
● Show the parent’s screen on the family members monitors
● Co-browse the Internet, family browsers follow the parent
Show Family Member to the rest of the Family
● Allow a family member to take control and demonstrate their screen to
the other members of the family

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
LanSchool Home v7.5 supports any combination of computers running Windows 98, Windows
2000, Windows XP-32, Windows Vista-32/64, Windows 7-32/64, Mac OS 10.4 and higher.
The only exception is the LanSchool parent console for the Mac, which will only run on Intel-based
Mac hardware running OS 10.5 and higher.
Listed below are the minimum requirements necessary to run LanSchool v7.5 on both the parent
and family computers:
PROCESSOR
166 MHz Intel® Pentium® processor
or faster
RAM
● 48 MB for Windows 98
● 96 MB for Windows 2000
● 128 MB for Windows XP
● 256 MB for Windows Vista
● 512 MB for Mac OS X

PROTOCOL STACK
● All computers must be configured with TCP/IP
● 802.11 wireless is supported

Lanschool Home is available as an online download for $99, this price includes three year usage on up to three computers and technical support. The tech support team at Lanschool Technology is extremely helpful, and if they are unable to resolve a problem over the phone, they will come to your home to resolve the issue. The tech support is free of charge! Now there's a company that stands behind their product.


Click the banner below to see what others had to say about this software.

Homeschooling High School

Below find a list of websites that will help you during your high school years of homeschooling


http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html CLEP Test

http://www.kaptest.com/College/Learn-and-Discuss/index.html Free practice test from Kaplan-under free events top left hand corner

http://www.hshub.org/High_School_Transcripts.html Sample Transcripts

http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/hs-transcript.htm Forms for transcripts and record keeping

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/graduation/standard.shtml Virginia High School Requirements

http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/trans1.html#transcripts Sample transcripts

http://www.thehomescholar.com/ A wealth of information. Free webinars and newsletters

http://www.christendom.edu/images/pdfs/homeschool%20transcript.pdf Free transcript templates

http://www.homeschool-curriculum-savings.com/homeschool-transcript-template.html Transcript templates

http://www.boxfreeconcepts.com/edserv/index.html Diploma templates

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/home-school-high-school-transcript-TC030005663.aspx Transcript templates

http://www.ehow.com/how_4914484_prepare-homeschool-high-school-transcripts.html Great how to site

http://www.pahomeschool.com/transcript.html GPA Calculator on bottom of this page

http://teascript.com/ online transcripts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lcrvgbXis8 you tube video

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/ Lots of great information


http://www.fastweb.com/ Scholarships

http://www.scholarships.com/ Scholarships

The Chronicles of Peleg: Book One: Foundlings

By Matthew Christian Harding
Zoe and Sozo Publishing
http://www.matthewchristianharding.com/
(804) 695-9937



If you are like most homeschoolers, finding good books for your children to read is not always an easy task. Many of the newer fictions written for young people are filled with witches, warlocks and other ungodly creations. Thankfully, Matthew Christian Harding, was inspired to write good Christian books for young people. The Foundlings, is full of adventure and interesting characters and provides a biblical accurate setting. The book is geared for anyone ages ten to adults, but can be read aloud to younger children. The author states that "he wanted to write books of fiction for our youth and adults that would strengthen their beliefs, and give another platform from which to excite and exhort our children to believe the Bible literally" I believe that Mr. Harding was successful in creating a story that will not only draw the reader in to the adventure, but also reinforces Godly character.

Summary
Foundlings, book one of the Peleg Chronicles is a historical fiction that takes place in the time period of Peleg, soon after the Tower of Babel dispersion. During the story, we meet dragons, giants, false priests, the death hunt, an under-city of the Dwarven Brotherhood (note: dwarfs are depicted as human beings, who just happen to be short, and who were driven into slavery), and many other memorable characters.

The story begins with Lord McDougal and his faithful shield-bearer, Fergus Leatherhead, departing their lands with giants at their backs, while before then, lie wait for the citizens of the bog-land and forest.

Every ready to protect and serve others, they gather in tow an assortment of displace adventurers and find themselves embroiled in a mysterious search for the Foundlings: Orphaned Thiery with his companion Horatio the white wolf, and Suzie who has been deceitfully retained by thieves Elvodug and Flemup.

Others also seek the Foundlings, and their purposes are most sinister- Dragon Priests who practice cozen sacrifices, and their leader Count Rosencross who is torn by his God given conscience and his pursuit of personal glory.

Onward toward the city of Hradcanny they travel, meeting with treachery, beast attacks, camaraderie and psalms of praise with an eye toward the gospel. Through their battles are at times fierce and the outcomes uncertain, the author maintains the integrity of these noble characters, who through weakness are made strong by Him in whom they trust.

Foundlings weaves together the Biblical principles of chivalry, truth, courage, duty, faith and love within the framework of Genesis, and a bold adherence to its historicity. It's an exciting page turner that leaves you wanting more, but more importantly it leaves the reader with Godly heroes to think on and emulate, and a young earth creationist view of history that conforms to the Word of God.

The Foundlings, is available at the authors website, http://www.matthewchristianharding.com/
and in many bookstores for $11.95. The second book in the trilogy, Paladins, has also been released for sale.I believe this series is the answer to many parents prayers.I read this book and also passed it along to one of my son's friend. Sean, a thirteen year old boy, enjoyed the book and felt that it was much more exciting then other Christian books he had read in the past. He felt that the way the author integrated the Bible into the story was more natural, and made it fun to read. If you are looking for a good book for your family, I recommend Foundling. There is no magic, no evolution and no humanism. Just a good read with a strong Biblical foundation.


I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review of the Foundling. (The summary was provided by the author.)

Click the banner below to see what others had to say about this book.

Freebie Friday

Wow! I can not beleive it is October already. October is PSAT month, so this week, the free websites will all relate to PSAT and SAT prep. The first site is a wonderful site with interactive games for the whole family. They have two activities that will help build a college level vocabulary. Be sure to check out other games on this site. There is alot to choose from. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/dynamic_multiple_choiceB2.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab_sat.htm


Try this site to do online practice test and receive instant feedback!

http://www.4tests.com/exams/examdetail.asp?eid=6

Finally, why not have your student take an actual SAT test, in real test conditions for FREE!
Kaplan offers PSAT and SAT test at their testing centers for free. Detailed results are emailed to you within a few days. Use this website to find out where and when a test is offered and register on line. http://www.kaptest.com/College/Learn-and-Discuss/index.html Look in the upper left hand corner under "Find a Free Event".