We just finished our trial period using K5 learning. Both my girls (5 & 4-years-old) tried this out and loved it!

K5 Learning is an online reading and math program for kids from kindergarten through grade 5. Our intent is to help kids build reading, math and study skills through independent study. K5 is designed for home use and can be used for after- school, weekend and summertime supplemental study or in conjunction with a homeschooling program.

We started by complete and online assessment with 8 key reading and math skills. From there, the girl work independently at their own pace. They offer over 3,000 online lessons and activities. The lessons have cute animation and are simple enough for my four-year-old to interact with them by herself {after showing her how the first round}. K5 learning automatically chose lessons for the girls (based on their assessment and past lessons), track their progress and provide reports for me about their progress.

In the short time we tested out this program, I did see my girls begin to learn essential reading and math skills, develop good study habits, and reach their academic potential. This supplemented what we were already doing in 'school' and gave my girls one more tool to practice these skills with the added benefit of learning basic computer skills.

It did require me to walk them through some of the basics of the program but after that they could navigate most of it by themselves. With my girls being 4 and 5, I'm not quite ready for them to have this much independence. Eventually, that will be a great benefit of the program but I noticed they were slightly irresponsibly independent, getting off track, being lazy going through the lessons, and guessing just because they wanted to click around like it was a game rather than actually listening, learning, and answering as if it was a lesson.

In general, we enjoyed the program. It did seem a bit like handing my kids a smart phone to play "educational games" but I feel like this was much better at teaching my children actual lessons in a way that I wasn't able to. I liked that it wasn't costing me tons in printer ink to create workbooks.

The girls loved being able to "play on" my computer but I was uncomfortable with that. For this program to be used to its fullest potential, they should be doing the lessons on a regular basis. Since we only have my laptop, if they are using it for K5, I can't work at the same time and it made me nervous the machine would get torn up some how rendering me unable to work. If we had a some sort of tablet or simple computer for them to use for school, I would be much more likely to allow them to use the program more often.

At this time, we won't be purchasing the program at its monthly rate although it would be a comparably inexpensive price for the reading and math curriculum.

• an initial online assessment of each child’s math and reading skills,
• award-winning, curricula based reading and math content,
• over 3,000 online multimedia activities, personalized for each child based on his or her assessment,
• a highly structured environment which allows the student to proceed through the lessons in a logical fashion at his own pace,
• ease of use which allows even 4 or 5 year olds to work independently,
• attention to child safety with no external links, advertisements, chat or similar,
• comprehensive reporting to parents,
• 24/7 availability and no downloads

K5 Learning is available on a subscription basis for $25/month or $199/year with substantial discounts for siblings. Each subscription includes a free math and reading assessment and unlimited use of each of K5’s four programs, K5 Reading , K5 Math, K5 Spelling and K5 Math Facts. A 14 day free trial is available.

I plan to do an experiment with my kids this month to teaching the power of words; especially Love and Hate. I found it fitting to conduct this homeschool science experiment as part of our Valentine's Day unit.

If you want to join us, Please head over to the as Jules is going Facebook page to follow the progress through out the month.

The 13:13 Experiment

...and the greatest of these is LOVE...

1 Corinthians 13:13

Question:

Does what we say and how we treat other really affect them significantly and long-term?

Research:

According to Dr. Masaru Emoto, people are made up of at least 60% water therefore his discovery has far-reaching implications… can anyone really afford to have negative thoughts or intentions?

Click here for more information from other who have tried conducted this experiment.

Hypothesis:

Since God tells us words and affection are so powerful, we believe they will have an effect on any creation and that we can show this in the scientific world.

• "Loving on" the rice will make it flourish.
• "Hating on" the rice will destroy it.
• "Ignoring it" will rot it.

Materials:

• 2-3 jars with lids
• white rice
• water
• little scientist
• loving and hateful words
• one month

Experiment:

1. Share the hypothesis with kids.
2. Get materials. We bought our plastic lidded containers at the dollar tree {2 for $1}. I didn't want to spend a lot so I don't feel bad trashing them at the end of the month.
3. Eliminate all external factors.
   • Label jars.
     Write what you want to be said to the jars and how you want them to be "treated" so you don't mix them up
     • We chose to do all 3 jars and use white sticky labels saying:
       1. I love you
       2. I hate you
       3. ...
     • You can just do "love" and "hate"
   • Chose a space toconduct the experiment.
     • same sunlight
     • same temperature
   • Separate containers a significant amount- we're doing about 2 feet.
     {so they don't "hear" what we say to the other jars 😉 }
   • Fill with white rice: you can either fill with rice and water or cook the rice before filling. We're cooking it first.
   • Seal up the containers to avoid contaminants
4. Interact appropriately with each containers daily. Express love toward the "I love you" container and hatred toward the "I hate you" container. Don't talk to or mess with the "..." container at all.
5. Wait and observe. We are {attempting} ~28 days with no picking up, shaking, or moving the containers any way.

Draw Conclusion and report Results:

Follow this on the as Jules is going Facebook page during the month of February and I plan to update here when the experiment is completed.

NOTE: I never did a follow up post on this...because they turned out kinda nasty. Sadly, our experiment didn't yield the same results as the one we were mimicking. There were several factors that could have influenced this: plastic containers that were possibly not air tight, a loud home with lots of children, a bright room with lots of natural light, or too much moisture trapped in the containers {ie I didn't cook the rice the right way: too much water}.