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.