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Hey Clay: A Timberdoodle Review
This is a review post. I was given this item by Timberdoodle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are for sure and for certain my own. The fascination of clay never gets old. (Basically, I’m saying that the magic of Play Dough is ageless.) Like I mentioned in my Plus Plus review, any item – toy, game, educational tool – that can engage all the ages at my house is a big it with me. And although maybe my teens wouldn’t confess to enjoying Play Dough, somehow calling it clay changes its acceptability. Actually, this is called Hey Clay and it’s available at Timberdoodle. This Hey Clay…
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Plus Plus (A Thanksgiving Version): A Timberdoodle Review
This is a review post. I was given this item by Timberdoodle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are for sure and for certain my own. I wish I could remember when I first heard about Plus Plus. But, like all sorts of important facts and needless numbers, that detail has slipped from my mind. All I know is, my kids love them. From big to old, from grandchildren (!) to teens, these little bitty square ish shapes are a big deal. They’re not Legos and they’re not Perler beads. (Thank goodness they are not Perler beads. Oh my word – how I have had a continual love/hate…
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Mand Labs Lit: A Timberdoodle Review
This is a sponsored post. Timberdoodle was kind enough to give our family this product in exchange for a review. And you know me, the opinions are always my own honest thoughts. More and more, school here at Wildwood is less hands on for me and more independent work for the kids. Especially my high school students. Many of their classes are self-directed. Like all sorts of educational matters, this is both a victory and a loss sort of situation. On the one hand, hooray for work that I don’t have to lead you through. Hooray for working out something in your own mind and with your own skills entirely.…
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A Reason for Handwriting: A Timberdoodle Review
This post is an affiliate post. In exchange for my personal and honest review, Timberdoodle sent me a free copy of this workbook. ____________________________________ It’s that time of year when every teacher and every parent is suddenly pulling out the calendar and counting down the days. Let’s just make it through, right? Finish strong and all that. But it’s also that time of year when most of us have to make decisions about our children’s education for next year. Ugh. Who designed this system? This systems that says – just when you’re real tired and over and out with the current school year, just when you have given up trying…
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Latin Everywhere, Everyday: A Timberdoodle Review
First, can we all just agree that it’s a ludicrous system we’ve all created and sustained that we should think about or plan for the NEXT year of homeschool during the months of January or February? Those are the exact months where I want to quite EVERYTHING. At least one day in February my brain literally rebels and I question my sanity and why I ever boarded the homeschooling ship to begin with. (I like to start off my reviews with a real boost of positivity and encouragement. It’s my love language.) Alright, so we know it’s difficult to think about the next year while we’re drowning in the dregs…
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101 Doodle Definitions: A Timberdoodle Review
This is a sponsored post by Timberdoodle. All of the opinions are my own. __________________________________ This year our homeschool has been a bit more streamlined than it ever has before. Less fluid and more structured. Some this has to do with life circumstances. I need the schedule to be more predictable so I can arrange meetings and work hours around what is known and planned. Some of this has to do with the ages and grades of my children. Older students have greater demands on their school days, a larger amount of studying is required for say, Chemistry, versus a nature walk for a second grader. Some of…
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Dr. Bonyfide, Science Books: A Timberdoodle Review
This was the year that I knew our science would take a giant shift in the Wildwood Halls of Ivy. London started high school which means the rules all change and there is a particular order and type of science that she has to cover. She’s taking Biology this year but I didn’t want to have all of the kids take high school biology because, of course, my elementary students couldn’t keep up with that. We’re still doing a weekly Nature Study together because it’s important to me, but this year I decided to have London take biology and Bergen and Mosely (7th and 8th graders) are trying a…
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Beautiful Coloring: A Timberdoodle Review
School is back in session and I haven’t even snapped one single legitimate back-to-school photo for some reason. Maybe because not every kid is always dressed in photo worthy attire at the same moment. Or because our first days have been sort of anti-climatic. (This morning I started the day out by artfully dropping a glass bowl full of hummus – shattering the glass across the entire kitchen floor. Despite our careful clean up both Bergen and I have received glass splinters in our feet already today. It was even hummus that I used real tahini in so it tasted top-notch. I don’t know which made me more sad…
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Uncle Sam and You: A Timberdoodle Review
I’ve always enjoyed our Ambleside and Charlotte Mason inspired history “curriculum”, which is actually not a traditional curriculum at all, but a guided list of non text book readings about history and historical characters. The past two years we have enjoyed the whole family approach of the Simply Charlotte Mason history guides. I admit, I did find myself a little nervous when I found myself staring at the trio of middle schoolers and wondering if we had studied history “enough”. Pretty sure this is a common homeschooling parent’s fear and, although it plagues me from time to time, it is not one that rests too heavily for too long…
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The Fallacy Detective: A Timberdoodle Review
I can’t believe my year working with Timberdoodle is drawing to a close. A year? I mean, we aren’t quite there yet – but almost! Every item I’ve received from Timberdoodle has been a new-to-me choice. Until this review. The Fallacy Detective was a logic book that I purchased and worked through wth Riley back in the day. I held on to that book actually – when I let most of her curriculum go as I quickly morphed into primarily using exclusively Charlotte Mason methods with the younger kids. My copy is an older version and this edition from Timberdoodle has a workbook inside the book itself,…
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Aquarelle: A Timberdoodle Review
Watercolor is one of those artistic endeavors that both intimidates and frustrates me. The intimidation part stems from the fact that I find blending colors and controlling the amount of water vs. the amount of color difficult. That color wheel graphic just doesn’t live icy mind as vividly as it does in an artist’s mind. The frustrating part comes from the mess watercolor can cause. The drippy paintbrushes on the kitchen table. The soggy paper that sticks to the table if I forget to put something else down first. Some place to dry the art for a few days. You know, all those details. But – lest…
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Jump In: A Workbook for Reluctant & Eager Writers – A Timberdoodle Review
My favorite way to teach good writing to junior high students is through good reading. I love to incorporate narration from the novels the kids are reading and to have them grow accustomed to reading well written words, which, in turn, hopefully leads them to writing well written words of their own. But sometimes it’s also really helpful to have a little guide – a handbook, if you will. I was excited to add Jump In: A Workbook for Reluctant and Eager Writers from Timberdoodle into my curriculum this year because sometimes I can forget what expectations are appropriate to have for my junior high writers. This workbook is…
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Kid Coder: A Timberdoodle Review
KidCoder is a complete program sold by Timberdoodle that offers an online web design course. The target age for KidCoder is 4th grade and up and it comes as part of the 8th grade curriculum if you prefer to order your curriculum whole. This summer I had London, my eighth grader, begin the KidCoder course, knowing that this review would come due in the fall and I wanted to be able to have given it a good go before I commented on it. Just like Bloxels, I really handed this one over to London because the point for me was to have a web design program that…
