SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Disclaimer:  I received this complimentary product through the 

Homeschool Review Crew.

Our family uses SchoolhouseTeachers.com a division of The Old Schoolhouse® for a few of our subjects. SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers Christian, self-paced, online homeschooling courses and curriculum for PreK-High School. The beauty of the curriculum is that it is not live so your child can start courses at any point during the year. The Ultimate Membership gives you access to every course, over 400+ courses, in PreK-12th grade. Several payment options available. You pay just ONE PRICE for your entire family. 

Not only does SchoolhouseTeachers.com offer individual courses, but they also offer virtual Homeschool Curriculum Boxes in PreK - Grade 12 that provide all of the content you will need for all subjects in a Full Curriculum Set. 

 

Here is an example of what you will find in the 9th grade Full Curriculum Set. 

Parent boxes are coming soon!

The below symbol chart is very helpful if you are looking for a course or curriculum that has specific components. For example, Pre-Algebra has a red dot which means that the course consists of a downloadable textbook. 

Pre-Algebra

My daughter is currently working her way through Pre-Algebra. I have been printing sections

of the textbook as we go. If you are on a very tight budget or do not have 

access to a printer you could have your child write the answers and copy the problems 

down for each lesson as they go. I know that for myself I work best having a physical copy

of whatever I am working on and my kiddos tend to do best when it is printed out as well. 

Overview 

• 40 weeks, 5 days a week
• Includes text-based lessons, worksheets, and answer keys
• Grades 6-8

Course Outline for Pre-Algebra

Unit 1: Back to Basics

Unit 2: Fractions

Unit 3: Decimals

Unit 4: Percents

Unit 5: English and Metric Measures

Unit 6: Number Sets and Graphing

Unit 7: Algebraic Expressions

Unit 8: Solving Algebraic Equations

Unit 9: Geometry 

Unit10: Statistics and Probability

The total page count for Pre-Algebra is 290 pages. 

The Answer Key is pretty self explanatory. Student problems are shown and then the

answers are printed in blue. 

Geometry

My daughter that is working through Geometry in Real Life started out using a 

different curriculum and it did not click for her. She started this course and she is working

her way through the lessons without any issues. 

Overview

• 36 weeks, 5 days a week
• Includes original lessons, printable assignments, semester exams, and answer keys
• Grades 9-12

Course Outline for Geometry

Quarter 1

Unit 1: Pi Are Square

• Week 1: Circles
• Week 2: Spheres

Unit 2: Base Camp

• Week 3: Quadrilaterals 
• Week 4: Area = base x height
• Week 5: Mixed Review

Unit 3: A la Carte(sian)

• Week 6: Transformations
• Week 7: Similarity and Equality Properties

Unit 4: Making Snow Angles

• Week 8: Types of Angles
• Week 9: The parallel Postulate

Quarter 2

Unit 5: The High Pot In Use

• Week 10: The Pythagorean Theorem
• Week 11: Special Right Triangles

Unit 6: Solid Foundation

• Week 12: Prisms & Cylinders
• Week 13: Pyramids & Cones
• Week 14: Solid Geometry Review

Unit 7: Triangulating a Position

• Week 15: Triangle Properties
• Congruence Theorems
• Review

Semester Review & Semester Final 

• Week 18: Review

Quarter 3

Unit 8: Going Around in Circles

• Week 19: Circles and Related Lines
• Week 20: Arcs and Sectors 
• Week 21: Review

Unit 9: Ratios of Epic Proportions

• Week 22: Percents and the Golden Ratio
• Week 23: The Geometric Mean
• Week 24: Trigonometric Ratios

Unit 10: Polar Bears

• Week 25: Radians 
• Week 26: Polar Coordinates
• Week 27: Review 

To make your job easier, SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers suggested lesson plans that

are broken down into weeks and days. There is even a space for notes on the left hand 

side of the page.  

ASL

This year my 10th grader needed to decide on what foreign language she was going to learn

for high school credits. At the beginning of the school year she told me that she wanted to 

learn ASL. I began to search the internet for courses and programs. I decided to get on 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com to see if by change they had ASL and they did! She is working though

ASL Adventures along with several other online resources that we found. 

Here is one snapshot from Lesson 10's video lesson. 

After each lesson there are a handful of pdf downloads for the student to print. Below is 

one of the printable's for Lesson 10. 

ArtAchieve

We have had the opportunity to review ArtAchieve in the past and absolutely LOVED IT! Not 

only did my children enjoy the art lessons but I did too. My mother who is in her 70's has really enjoyed the ArtAchieve lessons as well. I absolutely love that SchoolhouseTeachers.com has this as part of their curriculum. 

Resources

SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers a huge amount of resources for parents such as: calendars, 

monthly menu planning, helpful charts, high school help, special needs, achievement certificate 

library and so much more. Below is a page from the Master Course List. You are able to see

all of the courses offered by SchoolhouseTeachers.com and what grade level they correspond to. 

Science Fair

Do you children love science? SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers students the 

opportunity to enter a virtual Science Fair! Participants can submit science research

projects or exhibits. Award certificates are presented for first, second, and third place

winners in each category. Entries are accepted until March 11th, and the fair is on

March 25th. 

Coming Soon

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is coming out with several new courses in 2022!

Korean

Calculus 

Psychology

and an updated Microsoft course

10 Year Anniversary

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is celebrating its 10th Anniversary! The site launched March 2, 2012, with 11 courses. Over the past ten years they have grown to a full curriculum option for preschool through high school. Families can choose from over 400 courses as well as hundreds of additional resources which include curriculum guides that take the work out of planning your homeschool year. SchoolhouseTeachers.com has something for everyone in the family. 

Social Media 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com: https://schoolhouseteachers.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SchoolhouseTeachers/
Facebook Private Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SchoolhouseTeachers/

The Old Schoolhouse®: https://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/
Homeschooling with Heart Blog: https://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/blog/
Magazine Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theoldschoolhouse/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOSMag/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tosmag/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOldSchoolhouseMagazine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosmagazine/

Be sure to read what my Fellow Crew Members had to say about SchoolhouseTeachers.com. I would highly recommend SchoolhouseTeachers.com to other homeschool families. Whether you are looking for curriculum for just one subject or a full curriculum set look no further. 

ColorKu ~ A Timberdoodle Review

ColorKu ~ The Color Sudoku Puzzle is a fun spin off of Sudoku. Think Sudoku but in color. Like Sudoku, ColorKu has nine 3x3 squares and only one solution. ColorKu uses nine colors whereas Sudoku uses the numbers 1-9. The object of the game is to fill the 9x9 wooden grid with a color ball so that every row and column have all of the 9 different colored balls with no repeats. Also, each 3x3 grid cannot have a repeated color.  Puzzles start out partially completed and players have to fill in the missing spaces. ColorKu has 104 puzzle cards ranging in difficulty from easy to extreme. The game can be played alone or with others helping to solve the puzzle. If you love competition, you can play head to head with another player (this would require purchasing two games). A solution book is included. ColurKu is intended for ages 8+. 

The rainbow bar at the top of the card gives the player the level of difficulty for that particular puzzle. The range of difficulty goes from:

Easy

Moderate

Challenging

Tough

Extreme

The ColorKu solutions is a four page folded, glossy paper guide. It is color coded based on level of difficulty. Also, the balls that are shown on the cards for initial placement are depicted with an extra circle in the solutions.  

If you like to solve Sudoku puzzles found in books and newspapers you can use the below "Color Conversion Card" to convert the numbers to colors. 

My 22-year-old daughter has been wanting to get this game for awhile now. She is a part-time nanny and first played ColorKu with one of the kiddos she watches. When Timberdoodle offered its Review Team discounts in exchange for our reviews I jumped at the opportunity to ask for ColorKu. When the game arrived my daughter could not wait to play it with her younger siblings. 

My daughters, ages 22, 18, and 15 are all working together to solve a puzzle. Three brains are better than one. 

I had to laugh when I saw my daughter had separated the balls by color. ColorKu helps sharpen players logic and deductive reasoning. 

My 18-year-old has really enjoyed playing. ColorKu is easy to move. You definitely are not stuck in one place until you have finished a puzzle. Get stuck or frustrated, simply set it aside and give yourself a brain break. 

Our family has definitely enjoyed ColorKu. My father-in-law is a huge Sudoko fan and I cannot wait for him to try out ColorKu. 

Be sure to check out ColorKu, you will not be disappointed. 

2022 Book Challenge

This year I am challenging myself to read 52 books. Through a friend I was introduced to Reshelving Alexandria. Reshelving Alexandria is a Facebook group for lovers of good, true, and beautiful books. All of the 52 books have a specific requirement. For example, A book that shows both sides of a conflict, or A book published in the Year of the Tiger. A fun challenge! For A Book That Includes a Bookstore or Library I read, "The Last Bookshop in London." 

I loved this quote and had to share.

"Reading is..." His brows knit together and then his forehead smoothed as the right words appeared to dawn on him. "It's going somewhere without ever taking a train or ship, an unveiling of new, incredible worlds. It's living a life you weren't born into and a chance to see everything colored by someone else's perspective. It's learning without having to face consequences of failures, and how best to succeed." He hesitated. "I think within all of us, there is a void, a gap waiting to be filled by something. for me, that something is books and all their proffered experiences."

I am so enjoying each and every book I have read. I am going to have to learn how to pace myself and restrain myself because all I want to do it READ! So far I have read,

Life in a Jar

by Jack Mayer

Wonder Struck

by Brian Selznick

The Last Bookshop in London

by Madeline Martin

Watership Down

by Richard Adams

The Red Badge of Courage

(reading this aloud to my daughter)

by Stephen Crane

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

and I am currently reading

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

by Atul Gawande

A Mother's Prayer

I am unsure of the Painter. 

 "Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul ...to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." 

J.R. Miller, Homemaking

Arbordoun's Calendula Cream and Silky Day Lotion

Silky Day Lotion and Calendula Cream by Arbordoun is a line of handmade all natural skin care products. The Silky Day Lotion comes in an 8 oz plastic bottle. The foundational ingredient in the lotion is shea butter. The other ingredients in the lotion are distilled water, apricot kernel oil, extracts of calendula, burdock root, witch hazel, wild carrot seed; saint john’s wort infused in apricot kernel oil, xanthan gum, rose hip seed oil, vitamin e, lecithin, and lavender oil. The lotion is designed to be used daily over the entire body including the face. The Calendula Cream comes in 1 oz, 4 oz, 9 oz, and 16 oz glass jars. The ingredients are in the cream are olive oil, purified water, herbal extracts of calendula, Oregon grape, comfrey, aloe, vegetable glycerin, beeswax, vitamin e, lecithin, lavender oil. The price for the 8 oz lotion is $29.95. The prices for the creams are 1 oz for $10.74, 4 oz for $20.34, 9 oz for 39.54, 16 oz for $53.40. 
 
Both products can used for skin of all ages. The products, being that they are all natural, are non-toxic and even edible. Arbordoun does not promote eating it! The water-based ingredients are readily absorbed into the skin. I suffer from migraines and strong smells can easily give me a migraine. These products have very subtle scents. The scents are also very pleasing. The Calendula Cream is not thick and doesn’t leave a greasy feel. A small amount of the cream goes a long way. The herbs in the cream have historically been used to promote skin healing and they also have antibacterial properties. I no longer have little ones, but it is said that the cream is great for diaper rash. Those that have used it have said that after only two applications diaper rash has completely disappeared. I sure could have used this with mine years ago. My daughter suffers from eczema, and she has been using it on some of her stubborn spots. The cream has helped soothe and keep her eczema from getting worse. I tend to have very dry skin and this cream has greatly helped to lock in the moisture after showers and keep my skin not as dry and itchy. It works great to apply after washing your hands. With Covid still around I am washing my hands all the time. A pea size amount rubbed into your hands and your hands remain soft. Using this cream after shaving your legs makes them baby soft and smooth. The cream is a bit like a mini spa treatment for your skin. The Silky Day Lotion supports and balances your skin. You need to shake the lotion very well or the oil tends to not mix with the shea butter completely. The lotion is oilier than the cream. Both leave the skin very soft and smooth. I am drawn to both products due to the use of all natural ingredients.
 
I prefer the cream over the lotion. For me the drawback to the lotion is the need to really shake the lotion to get the oil to incorporate. Even after shaking vigorously when squeezing out the lotion the oil and the shea butter was still separated. Being a busy mom, it is nice to just open the jar of cream and swipe the amount out that I need and close the jar back up. No need to shake a bottle or worry if I squirt out too much. I also did not like the oily feel and look that the lotion gave. This is just my personal preference.
 
I would recommend both products to my friends and family. These products would be great gifts. 

 

-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2021

Be Thou My Vision

I will have to be honest that I clicked on this book for review via downloadable pdf format before I read the full title. I was drawn to the book by the beautiful cover and the title, be thou my vision. I knew I might disagree with the use of liturgy as well as denominational views held by Jonathan Gibson. Liturgy according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary means - a eucharistic rite, a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship, a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances. Many denominations such as Catholics, Lutherans and many others set their services around the use liturgy. I am by no means here to judge denominations. There are many parts of this book that I think are great. I attend a Calvinistic Bible based church. My children from a very young age started learning the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We do start our service with Doxology. Okay, back to the book. 

 To Start, I think that it would be helpful

for you the reader to read through the 

structural formant of the Daily Worship.

This will give you great insight into how this

31 day daily worship devotional works. 

We know that throughout the Bible we are taught how to pray. "Pray continually." I Thessalonians 5:17, "Do not use vain repetition." Matthew 6:7. Now of course there is useful repetition such as when young children are learning their catechism, or when praying we thank God for His grace, mercy, patience, sending His Son so that I many have forgiveness of sin. So to an extent some repetition grows our faith, helps us learn, brings us closer to the Lord. What one needs to be careful about is mindless repetition that can easily happen with liturgy. When one has grown up in the church and has memorized the denominational liturgy and weekly find themselves merely saying the words as if reciting a poem back in your literature class in high school. This is a red flag a warning! In my opinion, a daily devotional would consist of reading a short scripture passage, a very short written devotional that would tie into the scripture, maybe a thought provoking question, possibly a Bible verse to meditate on for the day, followed by personal quiet time in prayer. The set-up laid out in this book is rigid, formal, filled with too much liturgy, and way too long. Of course, these are just my thoughts and opinions. 

I would like to add that Jonathan Gibson wrote this devotional during the Covid-19 Lockdowns. He said, "It inspired me to think about how I might structure my own personal or family devotions more like a mini church service, with elements of a call to wor- ship, adoration, confession, assurance, creed and catechism, Gloria Patri, prayer of illumination, Bible reading, intercessory prayer, and the Lord’s Prayer." I applaud Jonathan for seeing a need within his walk with the Lord, his desire to ensure that his family remain in God's Word, and ultimately reach the world with something tangible in writing and publishing, be thou my vision. Even though this book was not the right fit for me, I am sure that many will be blessed beyond measure by the words found between the pages of this beautiful book.