Review: Hey Clay Bugs

We got an opportunity to check out Hey Clay Bugs from Timberdoodle’s 4th grade kit. This is an air clay so when left out it will harden allowing for some imaginative play after building. It comes with 16 containers of clay. All the colors you’ll need to make the bugs. With the bugs we’ve made so far you will need a pencil to make the mouths and eye holes. If you want step-by-step instructions for each bug you’ll need to download their app and then add the code they give you in the box to unlock the bugs.

What I like is the clay is soft and easy to use. Since my daughter is only 3 it was a learning curve to forming the shapes but she started to get a better handle of it and really enjoyed playing with it. The app is wonderful and with it she knew what needed to be done and did great job at making the little bugs.

I did find some downsides. The clay sticks very well so if you want to take a piece off and reform it, it’s a bit difficult to do so best to not push pieces together to much until you’re certain it’s how you want it to look. The second thing I didn’t like is something that I also like about Hey Clay. Tthe clay does harden so you can’t really reuse it. When it does harden though you can have a lot of fun with creative play with your little creatures.

Hey Clay is definitely something I would get again. They have different kits and it makes a great gift for anyone. I’d recommend this to everyone with kids 3 and up. I love the fun and creativity that come with playing with this art kit. I’ll be added Hey Clay kits to my holiday gift list.

Update! After the bugs have dried I am extremely impressed at how sturdy these bugs are. They held up to rough toddler play. It may look like the snail received damage but that’s just how he looked when we made him. Timberdoodle did an amazing job picking this for their kit and Hey Clay made such an outstanding art project!

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Review: Geoboards

A fun way to help kids get great hand-eye coordination isn’t with Geoboards . I love that with these there are 4 boards included so you can use it with multiple students. The rubber bands are different colors and 2 different sizes. The pictures are fun, colorful and you get a bunch of them. My daughter really likes these. For some reason she thinks it’s so funny when the bands pop her. At first I just let her place the bands anywhere to get the idea of how to put them on. Then we started places them just on the white lines in the picture. She always wants to do more than one so I let her do as many pictures as she wants. I do wish there was a blanket picture so she could design her own things.

Tips & Tricks: Grading

When grading first thing you need to do is check your state laws on homeschool. Some states require you to keep record of your curriculum and and grading while some don’t. I do not have to keep any records or grading. Since I use Timberdoodle they have an awesome online scheduler that I use. It has all the curriculum that we use and in the check boxes I put the grades. At the end of each year I keep the scheduler pages so I have records. Below is how I grade things. I also do not show our daughter the grades or tell her them. I don’t want her to worry about getting a bad grade. When she’s in middle school and high school grades that’s when I’ll start letting her know about grade. My grading system: Pre-K - 2 Grade: she will not see the grade E: excellent; no extra work needed; 100-90% S: satisfactory; give a little extra work; 89-80% N: needs improvement; give a lot of extra work; 79-0% 3 - 5 Grade: she will only see letter grade if she wants to know her grade A: 100-90%

Tips & Tricks: Class Schedule

How do you make a class schedule? When do you do which subjects? How long do you do a class? Does each day look the same? It is easy to make a homeschool schedule since you can school however you like. Since we use Timberdoodle we have access to their online schedule which over the years has been updated to be an outstanding way to schedule our subjects. If you do not use Timberdoodle I would suggest using Excel. If you know a website that allows you to create a schedule (for free) then let me know in the comments. The first thing I do make our schedule is make a list of all of our items and mark which ones I think will be challenging and which will be easy. Core subjects would be harder than things like STEM and thinking skills. Then I use that list to make another list on what day we will do each item. Making sure that not one day will be to hard or to easy. I like it to be pretty even as well as each day having about the same number of items. Some subjects we do everyday those are E

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