New! Online Homeschool Elementary Curriculum

The following post is in collaboration with Homeschool+. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Are you looking for an online homeschool elementary curriculum that offers customized learning to support your home education? Homeschool+ may be for you!

Quick Overview

Program: Homeschool+

Religious Perspective: Secular

Format: Online Curriculum presented in a variety of formats

Grades: PreK - 2nd

Price: $49.99/mo until canceled or $479.88/yr until canceled

A Customized Learning Program

My youngest child is 5 this year and it quickly came to my attention that the homeschool curriculum I used with my first two children, wasn’t going to work for me OR my child.

When I first began homeschooling 13 years ago, I had no clue what I was doing. I needed a complete curriculum that not only taught the subject matter that my kids needed to learn, but one that taught ME how to teach THEM. I needed a curriculum that showed me what to do and say. At least until I became comfortable with teaching my children.

Fast forward to now. I consider myself a veteran homeschooler. My needs are completely different today. So are the needs of my youngest child. Like all children, he is advanced in some areas and behind in others. That’s okay. He’s learning at his own pace and skill level.

But what I want this time around is a customized learning program or curriculum that I can easily modify to meet our needs and supplement our lessons. Homeschool+ has been just that.

Online Homeschool Elementary Curriculum

Homeschool+ is a new online elementary program that comes from the creators of ABCmouse and Adventure Academy. I had heard of these programs, of course, but had no experience with them. So when I learned that there was a new program from an established education company that was doing its best to help homeschool families, I was willing to give it a try. I am really, really glad I did.

Homeschool+ doesn’t take the place of our kindergarten curriculum. Instead, it serves as a supplemental activity that I can use to target those skills that my son is still learning or with which he needs help. It covers three main areas: 

• Math, 

• Reading, 

• and Arts, Sciences, and General Studies.

This curriculum is a game-based learning program. So it’s very interactive. From what I’ve observed, it includes the following for students:

• Educational videos

• Games

• eBooks (my child can choose from the online library)

Lesson Planner for Parents

And for parents, it provides a Lesson Planner and Progress Tracker. Both are available through the same app, so I don’t have to add ANOTHER app to my phone or have a separate login. SUCH a relief!

The Lesson Planner is password protected, so I don’t worry that my son will accidentally get into it and disrupt or change the schedule I have in place.

I absolutely love the amount of control I have over:

• the amount of time my son spends online (I can set time limits for each subject)

• which subjects are presented to my son on any given day (I can assign each day’s lessons)

I can only assign lessons Monday through Friday. The app designates the weekends as Freeplay. This is fine, if you have a M-F learning schedule. But if, like many homeschoolers, you take Mondays & Tuesdays (or different weekdays) off because those happen to be the days you and/or your spouse don’t work, then you may have to adjust accordingly. But from what I understand, weekend scheduling is in the works. 

Lastly, I love the ease with which I can quickly adjust the schedule for any given day or week. Adding lessons in a particular subject is as simple as clicking a button. 

And I can also download supplemental lesson plans if I want to be involved in the day’s subject matter or incorporate it offline. Each of the lessons come with a printable offline lesson plan, which I totally appreciate!

Progress Tracker for Parents

From my Parent Dashboard, I can also access the Progress Tracker to see the lesson details, how many lessons my son has completed overall and how many he has completed each week. I can also filter the data by subject matter/course. Here’s a peek at my kid’s progress in My Math Academy to give you an idea:

I absolutely love the amount of control I have over:

• the amount of time my son spends online (I can set time limits for each subject)

• which subjects are presented to my son on any given day (I can assign each day’s lessons)

Establishing a Grade Level

The one thing that I wish I could also control is the grade level for my child. Unless I missed it, I think that it is based on his birthdate. I’ve only been testing out the BETA version, so it’s possible that this will be added soon. But I have kept in mind that the program has fully adaptive math and reading programs, so the lessons should (and do appear to) progress in difficulty, based on my child’s mastery of each skill. 

What My Son Likes About the Program

If you’ve read this far, then you know what I think about the program. But let me tell you about my 5-year-old. He absolutely loves the game-based lessons. The stories keep him entertained, and both the characters and the interactive lessons make him laugh. 

But what he likes best is to show me his work and how each activity works. ❤️❤️

Home Educator Curriculum Support

I love what I’ve seen so far, and am eager to see this program grow. My favorite part is how hard they’ve worked to keep parents in charge of directing their children’s learning, while supporting them with lessons and interactive online activities that nurture children’s learning. 

If you are homeschooling a child in elementary, Homeschool+ is a great tool to add to your arsenal of educational resources! Visit Homeschool+ today to learn more and sign up!

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Holiday Gifting: HandyPod Mobile Mini Tripod

 

One more MommyMaestra gift idea for tweens and teens. I know that a lot of kids are doing virtual school this year. And homeschoolers often have their kids do one or more classes online. Many of these kids are zooming on their phones or on mom's phone. So my recommendation is a phone tripod. 

This post uses affiliate links. 

Phone Tripod

We have zoom installed on our Chromebook, but for some reason, it keeps dropping the connection. So my kids often have to use a phone to do the zoom, and they keep their computers open to do the work. To help, I went out and bought a HandyPod Mobile Mini Tripod (aff).  

It can pretty much hold any type of phone. And the rotating ball head lets you position the phone at different angles including 90 degree tilt for portrait shooting. The short tripod lets you easily set up your phone on any flat surface, and even gives you a nice handhold in case you have to move around. 

Other great uses... 

You can take family photos using your phone's camera timer. Or, if you have a stop-motion lover, like I do, you can easily position the camera once, and then make all the adjustments to your subject (in our case, LEGO) as you need to without having to get back in position to snap photos using your phone.

I really love the freedom that having a phone tripod gives our family. And if you think this is something that will help your family, too, consider it! I bought mine at my local Best Buy, but you can also find it online here...

App Review: eBook Plaza

I'm raising a future writer.

My 12 year old has already written four books. I watch her each day sit down at her laptop and begin furiously typing, trying to get it all down before the ideas escape. And okay, maybe I'm a little jealous that she is so full of creativity that it appears to just flow out of her fingertips and a great wave of words.

So naturally, I'm using her love of writing to help teach her about all the skills she needs to be an effective writer. And I'm always on the lookout for tools that will help me teach her.

A few months ago, you may remember me sharing with you about the new online program - the PreK12 Plaza Summer Victory Challenge. The online program used engaging tech to get kids busy doing hands-on activities that challenged their ingenuity and their creative spirit.

Well now, PreK12 Plaza has expanded their program to include a new app your kids will love.

Name: eBook Plaza
Subject(s): Writing
Brief Description: A bilingual eBook app for students and teachers.
Price: Free
Language: Spanish, English
Ages: 6+ years
Device: iOS, Android, Kindle

eBook Plaza is an app that gives your child access to hundreds of eBooks at various reading levels in both English and Spanish. Your child can search for them by grade level.

In addition, your child/student can also create their own eBook. I love using the app to assign research projects to my kids. My daughter is working on an eBook about manatees and dugongs, which she's been learning about in science. She has to research them in books and take notes, then write her eBook from them. She also finds pictures or draws her own to supplement each page in her eBook.

Overall, she says that it is easier to create eBooks on the app than it was on the online version because:

• It's faster. For example, if she wants to add an image to a page, she can just snap a picture with her tablet and - boom! - it's there. No searching for files all over the computer and uploading.
• It's mobile. Now it's easy to create eBooks anywhere! So if she decides to write an eBook that documents the wildlife in our backyard, she can do it without having to go back and forth between the yard and her computer.

The app even allows your child to upload a voice/sound recording, so if you want to make the eBook available with a read aloud format, it just takes the push of a button.






My girl loves that she can see her eBooks available via the app, including the one she made at the end of the summer on the Olympics. She was especially excited to see that the latter has been viewed over 100 times. And it motivates her to write more and create new eBooks.

The end result looks great, too!

If you have a budding writer in your home, this is a great app for him or her.

And if you have a struggling writer, this is a great way to motivate them to write more. My son struggles with dysgraphia. He hates writing. But using this app is fun for him and he's started using it to write his own eBook. I love that he was enthusiastic about writing for the first time in a long while.

You can download the app here: PreK12Plaza (English) or Plaza Bilingüe (Spanish).

And here's one more cool thing: The creators of new ebooks will be entered on a contest for the opportunity to win an Amazon gift card. The contest starts today on Nov 8 and ends Nov 22. The winner(s) will be announced on Wednesday, November 23.

Please join us on Wednesday night for a Bilingual eBook Plaza App Twitter party!! Just follow the hashtags #ebookplaza #plazabilingue and/or our hosts @estilofamiliar & @prek12plaza.

And don't forget to follow PreK12Plaza on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!

2 Free Online Tools for Teaching Spanish in a Homeschool Co-Op Setting

Thanks to homeschooling mom, Andrea Contreras, for sharing her experience with the MommyMaestra community! If you'd like to share your homeschooling tips, experiences, materials, please contact me.

My name is Andrea and I am a stay-at-home homeschooling mother of nine children. We are a biracial/bicultural family, as my husband is Mexican and I am Caucasian. We live in Texas and have homeschooled our children for the past 14 years. Our oldest son is a homeschool graduate and we should finish our homeschooling journey in approximately 2033.

One of the many “hats” I wear as a mom is that of Spanish teacher in our local homeschool co-op. We meet up with about 50 families once a week for a whole day of cooperative learning. Each week, I teach Spanish to several age groups. I have a “splash of Spanish” with the combined groups of 1st/2nd graders and 3rd/4th graders. This is about 15 minutes of Spanish vocabulary. The kids absolutely love this time each week.

The other part of my co-op day and the biggest chunk of my responsibility is high school Spanish 2. This class is quite a challenge to teach in just one hour of class time per week. In the past, I have struggled with trying to use a textbook and/or class handouts to accomplish this very difficult learning experience for my students. However, this past school year, I found what I consider to be the best learning experience possible for these students. I use two online resources: Conjuguemos and Duolingo. After an entire year of using these two resources, I believe my students left my class with a much better understanding of the language, as well as a much broader vocabulary.

As always as a homeschooler, I will tweak my system a little for this year, but I am so excited to have found these websites. Now I will tell you a little bit about them and how I use them.

First I use Conjuguemos as an activity and quiz creator. It also serves as a storage system for the activities I create. It can also be used to keep track of student activity and grades. Each student has his/her own account and can access the activities I have created for them.

Duolingo is the backbone of my class. It is an interactive, game-like website with a touch of social media. The students and I each have a Duolingo profile and we follow each other’s progress through the course of the program. The Spanish-language course is split into three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced, with many skills in each level. You have to pass a skill to unlock future skills. You can maintain your “streak” by not missing any days of practice. You also earn “lingots” as you advance, which can be used to “purchase” things from the “lingot store.” This program also has a teacher dashboard where student progress can be monitored and activities can be assigned. There are many other features of the program that I have not yet utilized with my students.

I really love that Duolingo has research-based language-learning experiences. I love that the students can communicate and compete with one another in their learning, like they do in a game. I love that Duolingo offers apps so students can access the “game” on their hand-held devices. But most of all, I love that Duolingo offers great, fun language learning for FREE!

Document Your Homeschool Adventures with GoPro

I think I've mentioned before how much I want a GoPro camera. It's been on my wish list for over a year now. I haven't found any other action cameras that meet all the requirements I have in my head. 

The reason I want one is because we like to travel. From local homeschool field trips to family adventures across the country, there are so many memories I wish I could capture with an action camera instead of just my (still awesome) digital.

For example, last month we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon. It was the trip of a lifetime, and while I took a lot of amazing photographs, can you just imagine how amazing the following moments would have been on video? 

I don't know if it is just me, but every homeschooling family that I know spends a lot of time documenting their adventures. So if you are a homeschooling mom like me, or even a mom with children in a traditional school setting, and you are looking to upgrade your current video camera - why not give a real action camera a try?

I'm SO geeked that the full line of new GoPro cameras, plus a broad assortment of accessories, are available at Best Buy. They even have three new cameras that are now out: 

GoPro HERO4 Black: The most advanced GoPro ever, featuring improved image quality and a 2x more powerful processor with 2x faster video frame rates1, HERO4 Black takes award‐winning GoPro performance to a whole new level.

GoPro HERO4 Silver: The first-ever GoPro to feature a built-in touch display. Controlling the camera, playing back footage, and adjusting settings is ultra-convenient—just view, tap, and swipe the screen. With 1080p60 and 720p120 video, and 12MP photos at a staggering 30 frames per second, HERO4 Silver combines powerful, pro-quality capture with the convenience of a touch display.

GoPro HERO: Featuring high‐quality 1080p30 and 720p60 video, and 5MP photos up to 5 fps, HERO captures the same immersive footage that’s made GoPro one of the best-selling cameras in the world.

If you are a parent like me, this would be a great holiday gift for yourself...or your spouse... or even your teen!

Learn more at www.bestbuy.com/GoPro or visit your local Best Buy to check out the latest cameras in person.

Disclosure: I'm a Best Buy Brand Ambassador which allows me to share news about upcoming events with you! I was compensated for this post, however, all thoughts and opinions shared above are strictly my own. 

Homeschool Mom Must-Have: The Sony QX10

This is a sponsored post.

As a homeschooling mami, I have a lot of roles. I'm a teacher, cafeteria worker, coach, bus (van) driver, and even the yearbook photographer. The latter job requires me taking a LOT of pictures to document our school year and their unique learning experiences, which I later layout in a yearbook.

So one of my most valued tools is my camera. I've had a dSLR camera ever since I can remember. But it has always been a difficult beast because it's so big and requires me to use a camera bag to tote around. After I got a smartphone, I started using that one a lot more. The pictures were great, but maybe not quite as great as my dSLR.

And then the Sony QX10 entered my life.

Wow! I love this little camera. Mamas, this little lens-style camera attaches to most iOS and Android phones. I used it with my Samsung Galaxy. It just slides right onto the phone and then works with the PlayMemories Mobile app.

I just turn on the camera and run the app and I can then take the most amazing pictures. You can use the screen to zoom in or out and snap the picture, or you can use the buttons on the camera attachment itself. (See picture at the bottom of this post) Oh, and the zoom! It is unbelievable. I decided to take a picture outside my dirty kitchen window of a beautiful Summer Tanager bathing in the birdbath in my hummingbird garden, and I couldn't believe how sharp the picture came out! This is not only zoomed 20 feet or more, but cropped and enlarged. Isn't that crazy?

And you know what? You don't even have to attach the camera to your phone! If you are trying to take a photo of something in a hard-to-reach place, you can just start the camera and the app by waving the phone over the camera and it turns on. Then you simply place the camera wherever you want and snap the picture using your phone. Maybe you want to take a pic of your kids riding a mechanical bull (I did this weekend) but there is someone standing in front of you. No problem! Just turn on your camera & app, then raise the camera above your head while looking down at your smartphone screen, from which you can control the lens and snap the picture.

The images I love stay stored in my phone's gallery, too And I can also email them to myself, or share them via social media.

I thought the Samsung phone took great pictures, but they don't compare to the ones taken by the QX10. The colors are vivid and sharp, even in low light. I actually prefer to use this camera inside when low-light conditions exist so that I can get the best picture without washing the colors out with a flash. (See my Instagram acct for examples.) The Optical SteadyShot helps reduce blur from unsteady hands and low light situations. In fact, it is because of this camera that I finally opened an Instagram account. I couldn't resist storing and sharing pictures on the spur of the moment.

Everywhere I go, people are asking me about this camera. They've never seen anything like it and knowing it attaches to your smartphone seems to intrigue them.

So if you are considering a new camera to help you document all of your homeschooling adventures - from science experiments to field trips - and you want a step up from a point-and-shoot without the bulk of a dSLR, then THIS is totally worth considering.

If you need a little more motivation, check out this video, and this one featuring their Quick Start Guide.

You can read more about this awesome little camera here on Best Buy's website. It's currently on sale for $199.99 (you save $50), plus you get free shipping!

Disclosure: I'm a Best Buy brand ambassador and received the Sony QX10 for review purposes. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions are my own. If I don't like a product, I won't write a review to promote it. 

JBL Flip Portable Stereo Speaker Review

This post is of my Homeschool Tech series. Updated 12/13/2022

This post contains affiliate links.

Are you looking for the right tools to boost your lessons? Is it time to upgrade your tech devices so that your student can benefit the most from audio-based courses and projects? Then consider this great deal on audio equipment for your homeschool, like the JBL Flip 6 Portable Stereo Speaker.

JBL Flip 6 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

The JBL can be used with most Bluetooth-enabled devices, as well as home computer systems. It streams music wirelessly from your smartphone, tablet or laptop and makes listening to eBooks, music, educational videos, and online courses crystal clear. Or you can purchase an auxiliary cord and connect it to your desktop computer. When I first hooked up the JBL up to our school computer so the kids could listen to Juanita the Spanish Lobster, I was so impressed by the sound quality! We've always loved our classical music downloads from Maestro Classics, but listening to them with such a high-quality speaker takes the whole experience to a new level for my kids. It's like you can hear each note from each instrument and the sound just wraps around you.

There are two ways to use the speaker: resting flat or standing vertically on it's side. The buttons are on one end, so you can easily access them whichever way you choose to set up your speaker. I like that the buttons "click" when pressed so that my children know if they've turned on the speaker.

A Portable and Waterproof Speaker

I love that it is portable, too, because with warmer weather on the way, we sometimes like to take our lessons outside or to the park. A change of setting can really amplify a lesson, and make learning much more fun. You don't have to worry too much, either, about it getting beat up or wet as it is designed to be waterproof!

The best part, in my opinion, is the 12 hours of playtime.

The JBL also has a speaker-phone, built-in microphone, and call-answer button that lets you easily take phone calls. So if your kids value their time on the phone with abuelita and abuelito, but maybe you aren't so keen on them holding a cell phone next to their heads, then this is a great solution.

You should hurry into the store to test and try it out yourself, as well as other great audio products – from home theater solutions (documentaries anyone?), to car audio (homeschooling on the road?), portable speakers (examples above), and headphones (homeschooling more than one child; brain-building music to help your child focus). 

If you're ready to purchase a JBL speaker for yourself or loved one, then take advantage of your Amazon Prime membership and get this great deal.

What's your favorite homeschool tech device?

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Holiday Gifting: HandyPod Mobile Mini Tripod
  
  
• Document Your Homeschool Adventures with GoPro