Mood:  happy

Yes, this is our dear Marcelo! Our friend Kees was finally able to upload the video that he took of Marcelo. In fact, there were actually two videos! We were so excited. We have listened to them over and over again, and, although, they are in Spanish, still cherish them. We did, just today, find someone to translate them for us and they were precious. I won't divulge what he told us, but it is safe to say we were touched.

I have tried and tried for two days to find a way to pluck the videos off of facebook in order to put them here on my blog, but to no avail. They aren't like YouTube videos where you just copy and paste a code. For now, I will have to be happy with just giving you the direct link - http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=425989058229

I hope that the link works. This is the second part. The first part is shorter and he repeats what he said in the first part again in he second part, so you won't miss anything.

It has been such blessing to sponsor Marcelo through Compassion International for the past year and a half. If you have never thought about sponsoring a child though Compassion, please pray about it. It will change you life. Just click here to get to their website. You won't regret it.

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Mood:  happy

An Introduction to Walk to Emmaus, The Upper Room from Beth Richardson on Vimeo.

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Question: How can God be everywhere in the universe?

Answer: God isn't in the universe. The universe is in God.

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Mood:  energetic

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Mood:  happy

Last year the TOS Homeschool Crew got to review a video math tutoring program that John Allen really liked. Unfortunately it wasn't exactly what he was studying at the time. When I found out that we were reviewing another video math program, I was excited, but a little leary that once again it would be something that wasn't part of this year's curriculum. How wrong I was!

America's Math Teacher is a new website just launched by Math Essentials and is much more than math tutoring. It is actually a complete program that can be used to compliment your existing curriculum or as a totally seperate math program. Right now they have four courses to choose from:

Course 1 - Basic Math Skills - is a course designed for 4th and 5th graders.

Course 2 - Advanced Math Skills - is designed for middle school students or older students who may be weak in some areas.

Course 3 - Pre-Algebra Concepts - is for a student who is about to begin their first Algebra class.

Course 4 - Algebra - covers what you would learn in any basic Algebra class.

All four courses are written according to the standards set forth by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

But wait! These courses are so much more than a video that explains how to work a problem. They are complete courses along with print outs that go along with each lesson and extras on the website to reinforce what you have learned. They even have tests that you can printout. Everything is also online, so no wondering where you put the math DVD, and everthing is broken down into lessons. Just print out your work, click on the lesson that you are working on, and away you go!

The teacher is Rick Fisher. Mr. Fisher is a math instructor in San Jose, California. Since 1971 he has devoted himself to teaching 5th and 6th graders. He devoloped this program for students to get ready for Algebra or for students who have had a difficult time with Algebra courses. His students often skip 7th grade math and enter an accelerated 8th grade Algebra class after going through his program. The courses are actually designed so that you could work through two or more of the courses in one year.

John Allen has actually advanced in just the month that we have been working with the America's Math Teacher Pre-Algebra course. Each video explains step by step how to do each type of math progrem and is very sequential. Each worksheet has a few review problems at the top and then about 10 new problems to work on after watching the short (less than a half an hour at the most) video. So, you can see where this could also be used along side an existing math program.

And, I'm not done yet! You can try all of this for free! Just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to get to the America's Math Teacher website. If you wanted to skip the free trial and sign up for their online courses, their cost is $195 for a year's membership to their site. Still not convinced, you can find out what the other folks on the homeschool crew have to say about America's Math Teacher by clicking here. Happy Home Educating!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free 60 day trial to the America's Math Teacher website in order to try out and review on my blog. 

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