Joyful Socks Mom

8/17/15

Easily Keep Track of All That High School Reading

** This post is a review for Reading Portfolio, as part of my affiliation with iHomeshool Network. In order to review this product, I received this product complimentary, and am compensated for my time. All opinions in this post are mine, and I was not required to post a positive review. Thank you for your support. You can read my full disclosure policy here.**

The am thankful and content with home educating each of my children.
I attempt daily to maintain joy in learning alongside my children, and encouraging them to be life-long learners.

Yet amidst the joy the looming outside "academic world" of colleges and universities threaten to distract this home educator. Homeschooling in high school can be a high anxiety endeavor for many homeschooling mothers & fathers.

I have found the best way for me to combat this constant battle for stress overload is:

Trust that the Lord knew what He was doing when He gave my children ME as their mother. As their mom, I am one of their best advocates & I am meant to teach them. Although I know I mess up, God knows what He's doing. Trust Him.
Take every available resource to help our high school efforts stay organized and well equip my children to stand strong.
Talk less, listen more. (not my strongest suit still)

Recently I have been faced with the fact that I now have, yes, not one teenager, but two teenagers entering their Junior year of high school! Two teenagers that could not be MORE DIFFERENT than if they had been assigned to be different. I am attempting not to panic, of course, but the struggle of helping steer the collegiate course of two different teens, with two sets of goals and two sets of interests was beginning to boggle my mind.

Helping them both to meet collegiate reading expectations and requirements was beginning to unsettle even my ultra organized mind. Juggling is not my strong suit, so I was thrilled to find a new service that would help alleviate much of my planning, organizing and implementing the teen reading that I now need to oversee.

I was excited to discover Reading Portfolio, an economical online service that I am now using to un-boggle my mind, and help me organize the juggling of extracurricular teen reading that I have now been charged with.

What exactly is Reading Portfolio anyhow???

Reading Portfolio is a new online service that will help junior high & high school students, as well as educators, track and credit extracurricular reading in order to better construct a reading portfolio to present to potential colleges, universities and centers for higher education. As economy is continually at the forefront of many of my homeschool mom thoughts, Reading Portfolio is an affordable tool and resource for many homeschool families at $15.95 for a one year subscription, and $24.95 for a ten year subscription. Not too shabby for some extra peace-of-mind in preparing teens for college-level education!

What I am enjoying most about the Reading Portfolio service for our Extracurricular Reading:

Easy to organize all of my high school student's extracurricular reading.
Better ensures that my high school student's understanding & comprehend what they have been reading.
Help for planning reading lists for my high school student's that will appeal to possible colleges that they wish to attend ... sooner than I may like to admit.
Point system that encourages my students to reach their collegiate reading goals on their free time.
Easy verifiable accountability with the honor system & web-cam based quiz administration.
The book lists are full of great ideas for extracurricular reading, and I have been excited to see that many books that we have been planning to read in the next two years of high school are on the book list provided by Reading Portfolio's service.

As a Charlotte Mason-styled educator, I was hoping that more living books we have read, or will read, would be on the Reading Portfolio book list. Many were not listed that I thought would be there (Tale of Two Cities, Silas Marner, and Frankenstein to name a few). However; I am hopeful that as this service continues to grow and expand that I will see more living books on the book list.

Teens and Independent Reading

I believe that Reading Portfolio will be an excellent tool in promoting independent reading in my high school students, providing good accountability for them, and peace-of-mind for me as I ready to launch them out in the world. If you have teens, homeschool and need some reassurance that your reading plan is moving in the right direction, Reading Portfolio would be an excellent tool for your homeschool plan.

How about a chance to win a Reading Portfolio Subscription for your family?

Free one year subscriptions to 25 entrants. Widget closes 8/27/2015 11:00
pm EST.
(terms & conditions in the Giveaway widget, see below)

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Joyfully Learning with You,

The Joyful Socks Mom

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6/5/15

Summer FREEdom

***Disclosure: iHomeschool Network is compensating me to share this free, no strings attached offer with you. Read my disclosure policy here.***

Summer is here in all its joy and splendor. If your like me, the promise of a less constrained schedule is promising indeed, yet holds the potential for boredom that can weigh heavy on both child and mother. You guys know how I feel about "summer mushy brain syndrome". I just do not tolerate that well in my children, which is why we have been year-round homeschoolers for the last few years. This year though, my kids have worked especially hard, and endured some pretty big changes in our homeschool. I decided several months ago that our summer needed to hold a greater amount of rest and relaxation than I typically allowed. Finding the perfect combination of summer learning and summer "funning" can hold a certain challenge ... not to mention expense. This is exactly why I am thrilled to share this amazing free offer from Homeschool Buyers Co-op! I am especially excited to try Uzzingo & the Art Lessons from Mark Kistler (one of our family's favorites).

Check out MORE GroupBuys at the Co-op! It's FREE to join and membership is private!

5/13/15

Books That Changed My Life

(Editor's Note: This is not a reccomended reading list for homeschool students. This is a reading list for mature readers ONLY! Please be certain your student is ready for heavy topics & has your guidance if you choose to allow them to read any book on this list. As always, the more involved you are in mentoring, the better off your student's reading experience.)

Let me be clear, this is NOT a list of my favorite books. Many of the books I am about to list would not even make my "top 10" as far as my actual favorite books go. By favorite I mean books that I enjoy reading, whether entertaining or instructing, they are books I enjoy again & again. Books that I totally "geek out" over ... these ARE NOT those kind of books!

What these books ARE???

Game changing. Life altering. Soul wrenching.

These are the books that lifted the rose-colored glasses from my eyes. The books that, once read, changed the way I viewed my world, for better or for worse.

Not all of these books will be grabbed off the shelf every year and poured over with delight. Actually, some of these books I read just the one time. The Bible being the obvious exception ... that Book is on my TBR list everyday!

I began this list whilst considering what books were important for my children to read before graduation. Some of these books I am still prayerfully considering since they changed me as a person so radically. Some due to their content, or form. Some due to my season of life, or perception of my world at that given time. In short, please choose with your child considering where they are, and who they are, before suggesting any of the books listed below. These books changed me ... for good, or worse, jaded, or joyful ... these books will change you. You must decide if you want, or need to be changed.

These books stripped away forever the lack of knowledge that I may have possessed, and that changed how I viewed life. Helped form me as a person. Stories that made me see the truth.