The Curriculum Choice

Brenda

Brenda is a homeschooling mother of 5, who has a wonderful husband encouraging her to be the best woman that God has created her to be. Together they are very intentional about spending time together as a family. She considers her daily life with her children as her ministry and has found many avenues to encourage others to live a lifestyle of learning. She is the founder of an online homeschool community, Our Lifestyle of Learning and a curriculum review site authored by a group of well-known homeschool bloggers, Curriculum Choice. She blogs about their homeschool journey and family traditions at Tie That Binds Us.

Memorable Faith, Courage and Virtue Stories

Uncategorized No Responses »

Aug 112010

I like to begin our homeschool day with a faith reading, it sets a good tone for the day.

A few years ago I came across a little gem of a book titled Rare Catholic Stories and Poems with Reading Comprehension, second edition, published by Catholic Heritage Curricula. This book is now newly revised to include over thirty stories and two hundred and eighteen pages. My review here is based on the second edition, which is the copy we own and used.

Rare Catholic Stories and Poems are selected from out of print readers from before 1892, but don’t let that make you think these stories are antiquated, they are not. The character building stories model polite Godly behavior, inspire, encourage and make a memorable impression on all ages.

Read about how a soldier helps a little boy see the Corpus Christi Procession and how the boy, now a grown man, returns the favor. In another story a teenage girl shares her lunch with two poor children. Or read about how a boy called stupid became well liked by his classmates for being a peacemaker.

In all, Rare Catholic Stories and Poems (Second Edition) has twenty-two stories and eight poems. Each of the twenty-two stories has:

Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension Questions
Simple Projects

The new expanded edition has the above features, and available free is the study guide for the new expanded edition of Rare Catholic Stories which includes reading comprehension, vocabulary and simple projects to extend the reading. View the free pdf of the study guide for the new edition of Rare Catholic Stories.

Some of the Simple Projects include:

Write a letter of thanks for a kindness done to you.
Give to those in need.
Make a flower card to give your mom a spiritual bouquet.
Research vocations God may call you to do.
Make a list of things you are tempted to do to please yourself.
Draw a picture of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Make a list or using sacrifice beads to count the things you do for God each day.
Make a Jesus approved list of attributes to include in a letter of recommendation.

Catholic Heritage Curricula is now offering a new expanded version of Rare Catholic Stories, which now includes thirty stories. Click on the link below to purchase your copy of Rare Catholic Stories and Poems. View a sample of the book for free.

-Susan, who lives in the heart of Dixie with her husband and three preteen children, has been homeschooling all along, doesn’t have a particular style of homeschool and says, I just do what works best for each child, we all like a good story and a messy art project. You can read about her homeschool and quilting at Stitching Life.

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Blackbird Exploring Poetry Unit

Aug 042010

Blackbird & Company has a poetry unit study that I taught to my 12 year old son, his friend of the same age, and my 10 year old daughter. I thoroughly enjoyed the unit, and at the end, the kids didn’t want to be done. It was perfectly age-appropriate for these kids (who, for what it’s worth, are all reading well above grade level).

From the site description of the unit:

“Reading and writing poetry expands the boundaries of the imagination and intellect. Students who engage in writing poetry will develop confidence in their voice, strengthen their ability to communicate new ideas, and convey observations of their world.

Incorporating both analytic and creative exercises to spark the poet inside of your student, the Exploring Poetry guides:

Introduce students to the poet’s kit of tools
Provide creative opportunities to practice poetic expression
Reveal connections between poetry and prose
Develop the poet’s unique voice
Explore the diverse potential of language”

I love the book selections. They are both eye-catching and enjoyable to read, both for students and for me as the teacher. In addition, they offer a wide variety of poetry examples combined with words of advice from the poets themselves, without morally objectionable material (important to me as a Christian parent).

I wish there were more hands on multi-sensory type activities. While the writing exercises are both valuable and applicable, I wish there were experiential activities that incorporated more than fill-in-the-blank style response. That said, I did appreciate the opportunity and exhortation to write, write, write. That the advice came from the poets themselves was even better; this approach is not textbook-ish, but draws the student into the heart of the poet who’s just captured their interest through their writing.

The cost is $48 for the set and includes the textbook, three poetry books, a set of art cards to use for stimulating creativity, and a student journal. While this is very reasonable for what you get, the curriculum is only written for seven weeks. This would be quite pricey to repeat several times during the school year. That said, the poetry books themselves are books we would keep on our library shelves for repeat pleasure reading. We did not get The Aspiring Poet’s Journal, but upon reading the description online, I would purchase it for the next go-round. It’s a guided journal designed to help students actively write and practice the ideas and principles addressed in this thorough and enjoyable curriculum.

You can find this and other solid literature studies at http://www.blackbirdandcompany.com.

-You can find Angela blogging at Dancing with my Father.

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Discover Your Child’s Learning Style

Philosophies No Responses »

Jul 302010

“We don’t expect infants and toddlers to develop at the same rate or to do things in exactly the same way, so we do we transport all of our vital, lively distinctly different children to uniform environments, teach them all in one way, expect them to progress at the same pace, and call them below average if they don’t?” ~ Taken from Chapter One, Discover Your Child’s Learning Style.

One of the great aspects of homeschooling is the ability to fit the schooling to the child. Understanding your child’s learning style can be a lot of help in determining just exactly how to do that. Although not written specifically to homeschoolers, Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson is my favorite book to use during this process. The authors not only cover the learning styles, but also the externals such as lighting, time of day, and noise factors that affect your child’s ability to learn. They do this with the motivation of helping you help your child learn. There is no right or wrong, no best way of learning, but it is individualized to the child. Chapter Two’s title sums it up- Success for Every Child.

The Learning Style Model of Education is presented, utilizing each child’s Learning Style Profile, with the hope of teaching “…the child how to use learning-style information to learn more efficiently in all situations.” The profile reveals five aspects of the learning styles:

Disposition- Perform, Produce, Invent, Relate/Inspire, Think/Create

Talents- Music, Math-Logic, Mechanical Reasoning, Word-Language Reasoning, Spatial, Body Coordination, Interactive, Humor, Life Enhancement

Interests- Sports, Music, etc.

Modality- Auditory, Visual, Tactile-Kinesthetic

Environment- Sound, Lighting, Temperature, etc.

Included in the book are the Learning Style Profile assessments themselves, which are fairly painless. Your child will rate the areas where they feel strong and their own answers determine their results. This can be an eye-opening experience, as many times we will assume that our children learn the same way we do. It is suggested that you take the test along with your child, which I have done twice now. With my older children, I discovered that only one of them has the same learning style as me! As we tend to teach to our own learning style, this was important for me to grasp and understand. Many of my older children are hands on learners, I am visual. Knowing this prompted me to prioritize projects and hands-on activities, along with my natural leaning towards reading, writing, and computer work. We have recently taken the tests with my younger children and I have discovered that the youngest walks to the beat of his own drum- which in this family means he is logical and math oriented. As I am completely opposite, this book is vital to my understanding of how his brain works.

Many homeschoolers are hard at work planning the upcoming year, perhaps Discover Your Child’s Learning Style can play a part in making it a successful one. I know it’s been a blessing in our home.

- Lori is a highly caffeinated mom of seven. She can be found at Hearthside Homeschool Reviews and More , as well as Reflections and Ramblings of a Not-So-Superwoman .

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Growing With Grammar

Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts 2 Responses »

Jul 262010

I have been using Growing With Grammar with my daughter and youngest son for the past three years. This review will focus on the Growing With Grammar curriculum generally, as we have used several levels of the program.

Growing With Grammar provides a thorough education in grammar, including sentence diagramming. Sentence diagramming is included starting in level 3 of the curriculum. The complete Scope and Sequence for the series is included on their website. Growing With Grammar is a secular program published by JacRis Publishing. While I tend to use curriculum from Christian publishers in our homeschool, over the past three years and three levels of the curriculum, I have never found anything even remotely offensive to our family values in the grammar program.

Growing With Grammar curriculum is sold as a package with the Student Manual, Student Workbook, and Teacher’s Grading Key for $29.99. All of my orders have shipped quite promptly and I have enjoyed nothing but excellent customer service from JacRis Publishing. All of the elements of the grammar program are also sold separately, which is a benefit if other siblings will be using the program at a later date. So, when using the grammar program for a second time, only the Student Workbook would need to be purchased.

The presentation of the Student Workbooks offers two unique benefits. First is that the spiral binding is at the top. This is an advantage for those who have left-handed children. Second is that the “Grade 7″ label on the front of the Student Workbook has been changed to read “Level 7.” All of the levels in the program are presented in the same way. As somebody who has always had one of her children a year below his grade level in grammar, I appreciate when Student Workbooks are not marked with grade levels. Currently, there are 8 levels in the program.

In my daughter’s experience, she has been able to complete the vast majority of the lessons independently. One of my sons often needed some help completing his lessons, but grammar has always been a struggle for him. So, depending on your child, the program can be almost entirely student-led.

To complete a lesson, the student first reads the lesson in the Student Manual. The lessons are very clearly presented with many, many examples. The lesson for levels 1 and 2 are included right on the work/text page, so those two levels do not have a separate Student Manual. All other levels have a separate Student Manual.

Looking specifically at the pages within the Student Manual, they are quite plain with no color and infrequent small, black and white graphics. I find that the lack of visual stimulation helps my children to focus on the lesson. After reading the pages in the Student Manual (usually between 2 and 4 double-spaced pages), the child completes the front and back of the Student Workbook page to reinforce the current lesson.

Each lesson in the Student Workbook also has a review portion included. I particularly like that the review portion includes the lesson number that is being reviewed. This makes it easy for the student to go back in his or her Student Manual and look up the previous lesson if needed.

The curriculum is designed so that it can be completed over a 36 week school year by doing 3 lessons per week.

My single criticism of the Growing With Grammar program is that there are no tests available for purchase. To compensate for this, I have used the end-of-chapter reviews as tests but my preference would be to have both a review and a test for each chapter. Other than that, I have been completely satisfied with the Growing With Grammar program. We have been using this curriculum for three years now and will continue to use it in the fall.

If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. As well, the Growing With Grammar website has much more information about all levels of this curriculum and their new spelling and vocabulary program.

-Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.

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Choosing Literature

Biblical Principle Approach, Literature 3 Responses »

Jul 092010

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all. ~Henry David Thoreau.

As busy home educating mothers, we all know the truth of this statement only too well. But how do we know which are the best books for our children to read?

photo credit: komunews

As a young mother, I was blessed to be mentored by a Principle Approach® mom who introduced me to the 4R method of study. Using Webster’s 1828 Dictionary and the Bible, I was amazed to discover that I could research any subject to discern its origin and the basic principles governing it. One of my earliest studies on the subject of Literature has guided my reading choices ever since. Realizing that literature is friendship with books, I keep these principles in mind when selecting reading material for my children:

What we read permeates our minds and hearts, and manifests itself in our words and actions (Proverbs 16:23, James 3:13). Do the books’ characters exhibit qualities worthy of emulating? Do character vices result in undesirable consequences that would prevent us from imitating them?
Words affect our emotions and alter our worldview (2 Corinthians 7:8-11). Will this book edify my children, building their hope, faith and virtue, or cause them to despair and embrace man-centered philosophies?
Good literature will help us learn how to reason and communicate (Psalm 19:14). Does the book convey godly or worldly wisdom? Will the author’s choice of words and style help to improve my children’s vocabulary, comprehension, grammar and writing?
Literature must be maturity-level appropriate and chosen in an orderly progression (Hebrews 5:14). Does my child possess the necessary discernment to relate to the book’s theme? Will it help him to grow mentally and spiritually, or cause him to wrestle with issues that would be better suited for another season of life?
Since books fill our thoughts, Philippians 4:8 presents a list of qualities to look for in a book: Truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, virtue, excellence, praiseworthiness.

These principles help me to decide the kind of book “friends” my children need; the next step is finding them. Amidst the sea of available books, it can be difficult to know where to begin. To help refine my choices, I often refer to the booklists of some of my favorite homeschool publishers:

While simply being on one of these booklists does not automatically mean a book is right for our family, the lists are a valuable tool in the selection process. By reading the book’s description, I can deduce its reading level and theme. These two elements help me to decide:

Which of my children it would be appropriate for
Which of our other subject studies it would coincide with
If it is one of the “best” choices for our limited reading time

Our time is precious; the time with our children is invaluable. Help make that time as rich as possible by introducing your children to some of the best friends they’ll ever have.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot

September West is the happy wife of Jeff and the blessed mother of seven. She loves teaching her children at home, learning and growing along with them each day. Mentoring other homeschool mothers, developing literature studies, and creating notebooking pages are some of her passions. Her Bible studies on Literature and Education are available for free download on her 4R Press publisher page through CurrClick.

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Learn Elementary Money Skills the Fun Way with Buy It Right

Elementary, Hands On, Mathematics 3 Responses »

Jun 282010

If you are looking for a painless and fun way to practice many elementary-level math skills with your children, Buy It Right may be an excellent curriculum enhancement for your family. In this fast-paced and interesting game, children learn and practice:

adding and subtracting decimals
counting money
giving back correct change
calculating the highest price and the lowest price from three numbers
calculator skills
practice in paying for purchases
practice in determining if one has enough money to purchase an item.

Two, three, or four players can play Buy It Right at a time. While the game is targeted for children between the ages of 5 and 9, the game can be played by younger children with modifications that are explained in the game instructions. When playing with preschoolers, one could choose to play with bills only or with coins only to make the game less difficult. As well, when playing with older children, one could choose to play without the calculator to make the game more challenging.

Playing the game takes about 30-45 minutes but a shorter game can be played instead. The game instructions include directions for a shorter game.

The primary goal of the game is to collect two items of each color to fill up one’s game card. These items are purchased as the game proceeds. The first person to successfully fill up their game card wins the game.

Unlike many games, players take turns being the cashier so everybody gets to practice counting back the correct change. The coins and bills are fairly realistic as well – they seem less like play money than the money included in many games.

I purchased Buy It Right several years ago and it has been a popular educational game for all three of my children. Due to the element of chance inherent in the game, it is a good game for adults to play with a child. Assuming that the adult is willing to help the child with any math difficulties they encounter, the element of chance levels the playing field so that it is a fun game for both the adult and the child. Unlike some educational games, the adult does not have a huge advantage in this game.

Practicing math skills with Buy It Right is a fun and painless way to learn, reinforce, and review important math concepts. I haven’t met a child yet who prefers filling in math worksheets to playing a game with a sibling, parent, or grandparent!

Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.

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Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History

Bible, Charlotte Mason, Classical, Elementary, History, Literature, Uncategorized, Writing 4 Responses »

Jun 252010

Years ago, when we first started homeschooling, another veteran homeschooler recommended that I take a look at “the Greenleaf history guides” from Greenleaf Press, and I am so glad that she did, and I did! I ended up buying a few of them and have had no regrets whatsoever! They have turned out to be a perfect fit for us in many regards, at different seasons in our homeschool journey, but today I’d like share with you specifically regarding The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History by Rob and Cyndy Shearer, “History for the thoughtful child.”.

When our older kiddoes were younger we had a few favorite Bible and devotional-type story books that we read aloud from to them regularly for the majority of our “Bible time”. However, once we started reading aloud straight from the Scriptures, this guide offered us a helpful tool for making that transition easier and more thoughtful.

Therefore, let the minds of young children be well stored with the beautiful narratives of the Old Testament and of the gospels; but, in order that these stories may be always fresh and delightful to them, care must be taken lest Bible teaching stale upon their minds.
(Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1, Home Education, Part V– Lessons As Instruments Of Education, p. 251)

The Shearers have basically taken the Scriptures, from Genesis through Nehemiah (though they left out Leviticus- which we cover with different resources anyways, and may be a bit laborious for younger students), and broken them down into 196 readings, each from a chapter to two chapters long.

To see a complete listing of how the Bible chapters are broken down, as well as a few examples of what each reading/lesson looks like, click here on this link to see it over at cbd.com and you’ll see some links there to view pdf samples.

One of our favorite aspects of this guide has been the open-ended discussion questions included with each reading. A few years ago, as we used it along-side of our family’s Bible read-aloud time, we used these questions as oral narration prompts. However, as our children are now cycling back through these Old Testament readings again, our son has been using these discussion questions as writing prompts for his own private Bible journal time.

There is some brief commentary and helpful “background information” included where necessary, a graphical timeline of Ancient History, along with references to Bible maps, as well as some brief teaching suggestions mentioned here and there. Overall, this guide provides a wonderfully simple to use, comprehensive study of Ancient Israel’s history, using the best historical document we have, the Bible itself.

There are a few recommended books to go along with this study of Ancient Israel, which though they are not necessary, we have found helpful. This book is just what it claims to be, a simple guide to take you and your children through the Old Testament at a nice, comfortable pace. However, we’ve often broken a lesson into two separate readings. The Shearers recommend that you use their Guide to Ancient Egypt (which we’ve also used and appreciate) alongside of this guide for a more involved, complete ancient Bible history program.

Note: The two primary aspects of this guide that I most appreciated, those being its simplicity to use (as in no projects nor preparation necessary) and open-ended (as in no “answers” provided) discussion questions, are the very aspects that caused a friend of mine to not like it, nor use it.

I am reminded of the wise words of Charlotte Mason in this regard, with which I do concur:

We are probably quite incapable of measuring the religious receptivity of children. Nevertheless, their fitness to apprehend the deep things of God is a fact with which we are called to ‘deal prudently,’ and to deal reverently.
(Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1, Home Education, Part V– Lessons As Instruments Of Education, p. 248)

I have found that our children do a good job of thinking through the Scriptures’ ramifications and implications as they read them for themselves, and have personally appreciated their not being told what to think as they read the Word for themselves, especially during their private devotional reading times in the mornings. When they do have questions beyond me (and as they’re getting older, they DO!) we now find ourselves turning to meatier commentaries and texts together anyways, so this guide has been perfectly adequate for our usage!

The price is nice too, especially for all of the use we’ve gotten out of it over the years!

Written by Beth Brewer, a Charlotte Mason inspired, Spirit-led, relaxed-eclectic homeschooling Mama of 3. She’s also an author at The Homeschool Post and blogs her photos, musings, hopes, fears, faith and falterings as she lives, loves and learns with her family at the brew*crew adventure.

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Poetry for Young People

Charlotte Mason 4 Responses »

Jun 212010

Since I began homeschooling, I’ve loved almost every subject. Really…I have! Science and all the experiments, history and the wonderful literature that goes along with it, even the quieter subjects like grammar and spelling are great to me because there’s not a lot of prep work for Mama! After being turned on to the Charlotte Mason way of teaching over a year ago, I’ve tried to incorporate other subjects that she recommends, like nature study, and I love most of those too. Notice I said most….one subject not included in that most category is poetry. Not meaning to offend anyone out there at happens to love poetry, it’s just never been my thing. I’m an avid reader, but that’s just never been something really I’ve enjoyed reading. But over and over I read how important Ms. Charlotte thought it was to read poetry to children, so I decided I should set aside my feelings and include it in our school anyway.

Part of my problem with reading poetry to my kids was that it seemed like all the books I found were 4 inches thick and completely void of illustrations. So when I came across Poetry for Young People at Barnes & Noble one day, I was so excited! Seriously, these books are done so well, they make even a person like me enjoy poetry.

Here’s some info about this series and why I love these books:

Large Variety of Poets-Each book is a collection of a different poet or collection of like poems and there are many to choose from:
-William Blake
-Edgar Allan Poe
-Shakespeare
-Edward Lear
-Longfellow
-Emily Dickinson
-American Poems
-Animal Poems
-And More!
Great Illustrations- Poetry for Young People series are full of excellent illustrations. I love that on each page, a beautiful picture is painted in our minds as we read the poems, giving us a visual that helps with memorization later or just helps to better understand the poems.
Large Collections of Poems-Each book includes many poems. For example, the Robert Frostbook has a collection of around 30 poems and they are catergorized according to season.
Explainations of the Poems-After each poem, there is about a paragraph explaining what the writer was saying in the poem. This is especially helpful when you are reading more difficult poems that your children (or yourself) don’t understand. It’s good to help clarify and give you a better grasp of what the poet is saying.
Background about the Poets- At the beginning of each book, there is a short chapter on the background of the writer. I loved this bit because it made us more connected to the poems. It helped to know where he or she grew up and what kind of childhood they had.

So, if you love poetry or you don’t love it and you want to give it another shot, I highly recommend Poetry for Young People. These books have become great additions for our home library and have given me a better appreciation for poetry. They are available from a number of stores for really decent prices. I am planning on buying more and using them in our home school next year and I hope you’ll give them a whirl too.

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Masterpiece of the Month

Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jun 112010

Masterpiece of the Month is an art curriculum for grades K through 5. Each lesson features a famous masterpiece that students will reproduce while learning a new skill or technique. Some of the masterpieces include “Sunflowers” by Van Gogh, “Mona Lisa” by daVinci, and “Artist’s Mother” by James Whistler. This book is very user-friendly, even to someone a bit intimidated by teaching art. I’ve used this curriculum for two years, choosing artists to study based on these lessons.

Pros:

Masterpiece if the Month is easy for a non-artist to teach and use. There are clear objectives and directions for each art lesson.
In general, the lessons don’t require too many complicated art supplies. Paint, crayons, markers, and paper, along with some common household items are pretty all you’ll need. A few lessons do call for more specialized items such as oil pastels and printing ink.
A scope and sequence chart in the front of the book clearly shows what concepts and skills are being taught.
Since each lesson is based on a well-known artist’s work of art, it is a natural step to extend the lesson into an artist study, looking at other works by the same artist.
This book is comprehensive. It could be the only art curriculum you need to teach art in the elementary years, since it begins with kindergarten and goes through 5th grade.

Cons:

There are no pictures of the original art in the book. There are examples of what each reproduction might look like, but often there are creative liberties taken (as well there should be) making it difficult to identify the original masterpiece. It’s not difficult to find the image online, but it would be much more convenient to see the masterpiece in the book.
There is some repetition of artists, so if you used these lessons as a basis for an artist study, you would find yourself studying some artists repeatedly. Although looking at Van Gogh’s work repeatedly can’t really be a bad thing, can it?
Vocabulary is given for each lesson, but as someone without an art background I find it difficult to explain mood or value to a first grader. A glossary would be a helpful resource in this book.

Using Masterpiece of the Month is a great way to include both art appreciation and hands-on art experiences in your day.

Written by Beth Belinder. You can find her blogging at Apples and Jammies.

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