First Time Skiing - at Paoli Peaks

This past Monday we were able to be a part of a fantastic field trip. One I never thought that we could ever do. But that was before we moved to SW Indiana. We were a part of a skiing field trip. We did have to drive about 1.5 hours to the location, but that's not much farther then some trips we've done back in SC to go to a beach - or the length of time we'd have to stay in a car because of traffic to get just a few miles.

Another great thing was that my husband was able to come with us this time. He and my son decided they would try out snowboarding. The girls stuck with me to get skis.

The only problem was that there apparently had been a LOT of cancellations of previous planned trips so when we got to the meeting place at Paoli Peaks we found out there were 5 other homeschool groups and 2 school trips!! The lines were SO LONG! That was the least fun part of the entire trip.

Then the boys got done first so they were heading to the slopes while we still stayed in line to get our skiis. Finally a more experienced staff member came out and his line was going SO FAST we jumped lines. After an hour and a piece of waiting we finally got outside, only to find out that my son somehow went down a mcuh harder hill then he should have and my husband couldn't catch up to him. We ended up having to ask someone to go after him. I was so nervous and even though I've been skiing it hadn't been in at least 2 decades!! Thankfully, this nice younger guy found him and brought him back to us ... and in one piece!

 Seanan decided to switch soon after that when he and my husband got tangled up in each other and my husband flipped over him (I think my son decided haphazardly to switch where he was going and that caught my husband off guard.)

After our lunch me and all 3 kids decided to hit the slopes again. This time, I had to teach my son and then we went to the 'flatter' practice (bunny) hill. After a few times down that side the girls said they wanted to go back to the first hill we were on. So we did that a bunch of times. They were really getting the hang of it.

On the ski lift. Not a favorite part for me.

Then we decided to give the family trail a try. They did pretty well, but we went ALL THE WAY to the bottom and the line to get back on the lift was so long. The chairs could take 3 but since we had 4 in our party I didn't want my son to go alone. There were no seat protectors or bars to hold you in. By the time we got back up we had to leave (so dad could get back in town to go to work for his night class that he teaches.)

The girls had it, my son was still learning after switching.

All in all they had a wonderful experience. We learned patience (long lines) and practice will be our friends in the future if we are able to make it to the slopes again. I was impressed with myself of how everything I remember from a teenager about skiing came back to me. I would love to go again ... maybe before the end of the season.

Have you ever been skiing? Any pointers for those of us less experienced? I'd love to hear from you!

Practice Monkeys - LIVE Online Violin Classes! ~~ A New TOS Review!!

My husband and I both come from a musical background. He was in band from middle school through high school and into college. I was in music for most of my younger life with piano lessons and singing and in college I was also a part of a musical program. Then in church we were both a part of our worship teams. So music is a big thing for us. I have always wanted to send my children to get lessons, but it was just not ever feasible (time or money). My older girls have had some lessons on piano where a family member taught them for a while, but alas he moved away and lessons stopped. So when we were given the opportunity to receive live violin classes, I talked to all three of my children to see who would be interested. My eldest JUMPED at the chance. And since we had a violin already in hand (an integral part to taking lessons) we were good to go! We have been reviewing the Family Subscription to Live Violin Classes by Practice Monkeys and have loved every minute!!

When we initially started my daughter was very nervous to start off in the LIVE classes. She thought since she didn't know anything about the violin that she would be 'behind'. She is a little bit of a perfectionist, so I had to tell her it would be ok and just to do her best and she'd get better over time.

The LIVE classes meet in the afternoons 4 days a week for 15 minutes. The time of your class is determined by your level. Currently, there are 9 levels of violin classes. Miss Sarah, the teacher and founder of Practice Monkeys, also suggests the student practice extra every day and then an additional 2 days a week which should include some "fun" practice. If you are not a beginner, Miss Van Kleeck will give your student a pre-assessment to place them in the correct level. Arianna, who's had some musical knowledge, was placed in level 3. This could also be due to her age (15) so she'd be able to understand the material at a faster rate.

When you first join your subcription you are connected to your level Treehouse. Inside the Treehouse area is full of all sorts of help and instruction. First there is a welcome video and right afterward is a list of your required and optional materials. Information about violin sizing, should rests, and how to care for your violin are also there with short videos of explanation and links to all the optional resources and listening music. Then as you scroll down there are instuctions on how to prepare for your first class including links to documents that need to be downloaded and printed - like the practice sheet, skills and habits checklist, as well as a parent guidebook.

When we first started the lessons we did not have access to a printer that worked with our computers (silly technology upgrades) so we just opened them up to look at them and kept track of where Arianna was and what she still needed to work on. And lastly before your first lesson there's a section on tuning your violin with links to apps to help get you tuned in case you aren't gifted in that area. But if you need help you could just go to a Help Session with Miss Sarah and she can walk you through tuning. She is exrtremely gifted since she helped get us tuned through listening through the computer ... A.MA.ZING!

If you miss a LIVE lesson there are always 4 recorded lessons from the week before that your student can go in and listen to and play along with. They are great for extra practice as well or if something comes up like another lesson or dentist/doctor appointment that can't be moved, etc.

At the bottom of the Treehouse are the skills and habits your student (or you) will need to accomplish to move on to the next Level. They are described in detail, some with links for documents or videos for the student to be able to hear and play with whenever they want or need. At the very bottom is a checklist that can be downloaded for the Assessment. This is a separate fee (not included in the Family Subscription to Live Violin Classes) per student when they are ready to be 'tested' to go into the next level. The assessment is a one-on-one testing time that lasts about 20-30 minutes and goes over all the items in the checklist.

Arianna was SO NERVOUS for her first assessment. One of the requirements is a "Fun Song" which is the student's choice. Since we were working before the Christmas break and Miss Sarah had introduced some simple Christmas songs into the lessons Arianna picked her favorite Christmas song to be her "Fun Song". It was basically the only thing she was struggling with on her assessment checklist and more because it was the HARDEST song for a beginner to try and accomplish on her own - Carol of the Bells.

What made it hard was she was supposed to figure out the notes by EAR! After some serious listening and struggling and then talking it out she figured out what she thought sounded like the opening to it. She wasn't to know the WHOLE song, but she wanted more then 8 notes. It was the last thing on the Assessment to be done and I had to remind my daighter to take a breath.

She remembers exactly what Miss Sarah told her. "I was the first person in that level to have ever attempted that song. And she said I did well!! Really good. Keep going and you will get it."

She was so happy when she passed up to the new level. Now that we are back from break (there are times when the LIVE classes are not in session and they are listed on the Class Link page.) she is enjoying being back in class and learning how to read music from the theory portion of the classes. This Level's fun song will be a folk song ... can't wait to hear what my daughter picks for this.

Since it is a Family Subscription to Live Violin Classes and now that we have 2 full size violins (Arianna received one for Christmas!) I have decided to learn how to play as well. I've been waiting for years to learn. The violin Arianna started with was mine. I have been placed in Level 3. I will begin my lessons this week (forgot the time the first 2 days of this week.) And the full subscription (so that Arianna would not miss any classes) was a Christmas gift as well - so now the whole FAMILY can take lessons if they want. My son will be joining us as well as soon as I can upgrade is 1/4 size violin to a 1/2 or 3/4 - we aren't sure which size will work best for him. We will be getting that done in the next week or so.

And Practice Monkeys has just launched their LIVE Piano lessons! My other daughter was so excited about this and she was gifted a subscription to these classes for Christmas as well.

Seems as if we will ALL be taking lessons for our indefinite future. If you would like to try out Practice Monkeys for yourself you can subscribe here for just $1 for one month and then $49 per month thereafter. BUT for my readers, she has an even better deal if you purchase a subscription with this link. It's a great deal!

I can not say more about how great the lessons have been and the joy it has brought my children to finally be learning an instrument. My son can't wait for her to add on drums (not sure that Miss Sarah has that in the works or not, but can't hurt to put it out there.) And my middle child wants to learn the flute (hint, hint 😊) so maybe someday. But for now we will enjoy the violin and piano lessons that we will be taking through Practice Monkeys. I hope to share more videos of my kids as they progress in their learning. You can find them also on Facebook and YouTube. And please be sure to read the other reviews of my fellow Crew members by clicking the link below.

I Know It ~~ A New TOS Review!

We have been using I Know It to have some additional math lessons for our day to keep some semblence of routine with this new move. Somehow not all of the schoolbooks made it to IN in this first installment of our move so I'm glad we were on this review.  I think y'all are going to really enjoy this program and you can check it out for yourself because there is a free 60 day trial for homeschoolers and teachers.

So let's get into the nitty gritty and tell you WHY you are going to want to get a subscription! I Know It is designed for kindergarten through 5th grade aged students.

I received a family membership which allowed me to sign up and up to 4 children. I only have one in the age range, but my younger daughter always needs repition on multiplication facts and some stuff we had forgotten over the summer so I thought it would be a great way for me to assign them some stuff and get their skills back to snuff. Each student gets an "avatar" but it's all under the one main account, which is great if you are like me and have a TON of websites and logins.

The program is SO EASY to use and is self-paced so once you set your student up they can go at their own pace through the skills. OR you can use it like I have and set up assignments for them to complete. I have set them up with no "due date" but you could certainly assign them with due dates so that you can keep track of what you do each week.

What I have assigned recently.

How you assign to your students - can be to all or individual.

What they see when they log in to their page.

Because my children aren't all completely on "level" with the grade they are on they can focus on the weak spots, but keep on chugging where they are stronger. And with our move over the last month or so and going back and forth between SC and IN some of the skills have gotten a bit ... rusty. I Know It has helped me be able to pinpoint where they need to focus to get back up to speed.

When you set up assignments you can choose they work for a certain period of time or a certain number of problems. I've done the number of problems and set it to 10 (default is set to 15). You also can personalize each student's account and have the questions read to them or not, have sounds on or off, and then have a particular type of animation. I also can allow for hints or not. In the parent controls I can also receive weekly email reports that tell me what they've worked on over the week and how long they were on the program.

Emailed report

Once you get into the practice section each question is answered instantenously. My children have loved that. They have these cute animations that 'reward' them when they've gotten the answer correct. If the answer is incorrect they give an explanation of why and show the correct answer.

Instant grading and feedback

Even if you answered incorrectly (and tells you why/how).

Explanation of why you got the problem wrong.

Both Seanan and Audrie have enjoyed adding in the extra math practice into their school day. They have used it about 3 to 4 days of the week and generally have doen about 2 assignments each time. That seems to be about 15 or so minutes, so not very long, but I think it has helped them get back to having consistency in their math skills. For both of them I've assigned multiplication facts, division facts, geometry, and then for Audrie we've done some fraction work to brush up on before we delve fully in.

The colorful and fun problems and animations were a real hoot for my kiddos. They really have enjoyed using I Know It and I expect that we'll be using it throughout the year. I also like that they can work above their specified 'grade level' if they want by just clicking the next button up. I also have enjoyed the ease of the website as a whole - from set up to weekly reports it has been spot on.

In full report you see exactly what your student did or did not understand and how they answered each question.

Certificate at the end of the lesson.

This is not a full curriculum, but a great one for supplemental or extra practice in certain areas and to help reinforce concepts from your students main curriculum. And with the free 60 day trial you have nothing to lose. If you love it, which I'm sure you will, you can get a membership for the family for just $90 for the entire year (up to 4 children). It is alligned with common core (which I particulary don't care for), but it doesn't seem that much different then most other curriculums we use. But be sure to check out how others on the Crew used I Know It in their homeschool by clicking the link below!