When we first started our homeschool journey with our daughter in kindergarten, we chose a popular program that was  said to be a classical, traditional approach. There was a sale going on at the homeschool conference we attended, so we got the first three years and the early elementary manipulative kit and dove in. And for my daughter, it worked great - so great that we bought the next level and the next, right up through Algebra 2, which she will tackle next year. 

When our son was ready to begin homeschool, we were excited to use the same approach, and the same books - not having to make a new purchase and learn a new approach was a huge advantage. And for the first few years, it worked pretty well, as the early levels have lots of hands-on learning, which worked well for my active young boy.

And then we hit third grade. We knew that as far as his mathematical ability went, he was ready for the level he was using, but it was a disaster. While he was able to handle the daily lessons, he was having a terrible time keeping up with the practice problems in each lesson. It is a spiral curriculum, meaning that it introduces a topic once and then practices it over and over again in subsequent lessons. We like that approach, but it makes those practice exercises super important for making sure a student masters those concepts.

A couple of other big things were going on with our son that contributed to a lot of frustration with math. First, although we didn't realize it at the time, he was having issues with tracking visually, making it hard to stay focused on a full page of print. Second, he had been dealing for a while with a condition called "palmar hyperhidrosis", or excessively sweaty palms, which made writing physically uncomfortable and sometimes caused his books and papers to get wet from the sweat. Those two factors contributed to math lessons taking way too long, causing way too much frustration, and leading to way to many tears, for both of us. We were doing all of his math together, and I was always his scribe. I was finding that we were spending so much time on math, that it was wearing both of us out for any other instruction. We tried some different apps to try to reduce the amount of writing he had to do, and we tried to do fewer problems, but we found ourselves falling further and further behind.

I started looking into other math curricula, both in print and online. That is when I found Teaching Textbooks. I knew others who had used it and that it was a computer-based curriculum, but that was it. What I discovered was a fully revamped curriculum that works via an app on a variety of devices, AND lets you try the first fifteen lessons for free. That was a win-win situation.

Now, several months into fourth grade, we are happily continuing to use Teaching Textbooks for our son's math curriculum. Here is why.

NOTE: I was given a free enrollment to Teaching Textbooks in exchange for an honest review, but the opinions below are mine completely.

This is super helpful in our son's tracking situation, and probably for other students who get overwhelmed with too much information on the screen at one time. The layout on the screen is visually appealing and clean, allowing my son to focus on the problem at hand without distractions.

Every problem has a "scratchpad" area where the student can use the mouse, or a finger on a touch screen, to write out a problem to show his or her work. This is one of the winning points for my son. It enables him to work independently without his hyperhidrosis getting in the way. The only thing I with they would add to this is a way to use the keyboard to input data. However, this is the next best thing and it is working great for us!

Teaching Textbooks allows you do download their app for free, and to access the first 15 lessons of any of their levels of math, from Math 3 up to Pre-Calculus. There is no credit card information given, and if you do decide to purchase access to a full math level, all of your child's grades will transfer over. 

This really helped us decide between two different math levels for our son and it made him excited about what we were switching to!

Getting set up with Teaching Textbooks is easy.

1. Download the app for your device(s).
2. Choose a level for your child - either by trying a certain level via their free trials, or by using their placement tests (there is one for each level).
3. Purchase access to your child's level. Prices range from $43.08 for earlier elementary courses to $67.08 for upper level high school courses. You will have access to that course for a full calendar year from the start date that you choose (which can be different from your purchase date), plus three months of "pause" time so you can turn the course "off" when you take time for the holidays or any other "time off" of school. AND they give you a 30-day money back satisfaction guarantee!

I am THRILLED with how Teaching Textbooks has worked for us this year. If you are looking for something different for your child, I encourage you to check out theirtrial enrollment - and to enter this giveaway! One winner will be chosen on Friday, December 3, to get a full year enrollment in your chosen level of Teaching Textbooks!

Twenty years ago, where were you?

That was the question of a poignant song by Alan Jackson.

Where were you?

​What do you remember?

​I remember being in my car that morning, listening to the radio as I drove between schools for my itinerant ESOL teaching job. I had several meetings that morning in different locations, and I remember the news being worse every time I left a meeting and got in my car and turned on the radio again.

I remember crying when I heard that a tower had collapsed.

I remember walking into a school and seeing it on the TV in the office. I remember we had a hard time accessing the internet for our meeting because everyone was on it trying to find out what had happened.

I remember being at one school that had a lot of military kids, and parents arriving to get their children. South Carolina was far from where the attacks had taken place, but they just wanted their kids safe with them.

I remember hearing that the Mall in Washington, DC, was on fire. (It wasn't; there were so many rumors flying that day.)

I remember going with a school resource officer to take two of my students home that day because their mom had been traveling and now would not be able to come home because all flights in the country had been cancelled. They were new students from Korea and we wanted to make sure the neighbors they had been staying with knew what was happening. 

I remember sitting and praying with a coworker whose dad worked in the Pentagon. (He ended up being okay.)

I remember hearing about the firefighters lost in the collapse of the towers, and about the courageous passengers on Flight 93.

I remember hearing that the President was heading to the White House, and then hearing that he was being taken to an undisclosed location, and then hearing him address the nation that night.

I remember going to the CIU campus as soon as I could get away from work. My then-boyfriend (now husband) was there, as were many friends. I wanted to be with others.

I remember seeing politicians from both political parties coming together that night, united as Americans. I remember wondering how long that would last.

I remember hearing that my brother was called to his Coast Guard ship and deciding to visit my sister-in-law.

I remember taking pictures on my way there of all the signs of support that shop keepers and gas stations had put up.

I remember shopping for red, white, and blue ribbon with my sister-in-law and not being able to find some of the colors because we weren't the only people with that idea.

I remember my mom going to donate blood for the first time.

I remember being glued to CNN and other news stations for days.

I remember the quiet of the skies for a week or more.

I remember flinching the first time I heard a plane after that.

I remember the first time I flew after 9/11, and holding my breath when we took off, and especially when we landed safely.

I remember the anniversaries five and ten years later, talking to students who remembered where they were, and to some who had no memories of it, and thinking that was so surreal.

I remember more recent anniversaries, and wondering what I could show my children that would help them grasp the enormity of what happened in a way their young hearts could bear, and finding the video "Boatlift" for the first time.

​And now, it has been twenty years. I still remember. I will never forget.

What do you remember?

​Where were you?

As I’ve shared in a couple of posts, our family shifted last spring to using mostly Memoria Press. I was first drawn to them because of their Latin curriculum, which my daughter used in an online class with True North Homeschool Academy. Then I decided to look into their literature guides, and then writing, and then science, and before long I realized that other than math (Saxon was working for us) I didn’t want my kids to miss out on any of the rich education that Memoria had to offer.

Placing my first order with MP last spring was a little daunting, but I quickly learned how to navigate their website and, especially, how to save money the MP way, and that is what I want to share with you!

There are usually one or two times a year when Memoria Press offers free shipping for several weeks or even all month long, so watch for those! In fact, from May 3 to May 16, with the coupon code 21Ship4Free250, you can get free shipping for all orders over $250!

You can also get free shipping during various homeschool conventions, including their own Sodalitas conference coming up July 12 and 13, where they will ship to you for free if you place an order with them while you are there.

When you buy a bundle (for example, their First Form Latin set, which includes flash cards, the teacher guide, test boon, CD, etc.), you usually save money over ordering them individually.

When you order a grade level package containing lesson plans and all of the subjects for a grade, you will save the most money, even up to 40% in some cases. That is what we do now. Don’t forget to add in items that would have been included in the packages for earlier grades - for example, I need to add the Geography flashcards for my daughter, since she will study Geography 3 next year but did not take Geography 1 and 2. Here are a few other things to keep in mind about this option:

• You can customize a core. You can remove books and swap one level of a book (like Latin) out for another and still get the core discount as long as it is a subject that is normally part of a core package. For example, my son going into fourth grade does not need math or spelling because we use a different curriculum for those. He also needs a different level of cursive, and I want to add Greek alphabet, which is normally part of the seventh grade package, not fourth grade. MP will let me do all of that, no problem, and will give me the core discount on them. I also need some individual books in the recommended read-aloud collection for his grade. Those are NOT normally in a core package, so I will not get a discount on those.
• Simple changes can be done online, but others will need a phone call or email to MP Customer Service. The only subject you can remove online is math, and there is also no way for me to add Greek Alphabet that will trigger the discount, so I will call MP to get their help - and they are really the best!

You can get Memoria Press curriculum from Christian Book Distributors, and from Rainbow Resources, and others, but there are some very big advantages to ordering from MP directly:

• ​You will know you are getting the most recent edition. Sometimes other websites have older ones.
• MP will load your customer account with tests and quizzes from teacher manuals you order, so you can print them instead of copying them. They will also give you digital lesson plans for things you buy that are not part of your core curriculum package. If you buy your curriculum someplace else, you can still get lessons plans, but you will pay about $5 for them (well worth it for me, but it’s nice to get them for free).
• If you order from them and a new edition comes out down the road, MP will give you an updated teacher edition.

If you get the printed Memoria Press catalog (it’s free and has wonderful articles in i!), you will find a $5 off coupon code in the most recent one. If you don’t subscribe, you can request it for free! Also, in December, they sent small gift cards to everyone who placed an order last year - so if you become a customer this year, you will be able to save next year!

Right now, they also have a coupon code to save 10% on all read-aloud sets! Just use the coupon Read10Aloud21.

I do not buy everything from Memoria. Many of the books in their elementary school read-aloud and American history collections are either in our home already or are in our local library. If there are a few that I can’t find anywhere, sometimes I will look for them on ThriftBooks or Exodus Books or local used book sales.

Please feel free to contact me with questions! If you decide to give Memoria Press a try, would you please use my affiliate link in this post? It helps our family at no extra cost to yourself! And please let me know how you like it - maybe we can connect in the MP forums or the MP Homeschool Families Facebook Group!