Highschool » The Curriculum Choice

Sisters in the Wilderness, an Introduction to Canadian History and Literature

Elementary, Geography, High School, Highschool, History, Literature, Living books, Middle School No Responses »

Feb 222012

Here’s a wonderful introduction to Canadian history and literature for the whole family: Sisters in the Wilderness. This DVD portrays the mid-19^th century pioneer life of two sisters who sailed from England expecting an easy existence in the Canadian bush. Incorporating both contemporary artwork and dramatization, this quality film full of beauty, pathos, humanity, and history tells the story of Susannah Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill, both writers. Their two families settled in the bush close to each other and, after years of hardship, moved to town. Throughout their lives both Catharine and Susannah continued to write about their experiences. The movie Sisters in the Wilderness is based on their books.

Although not designed as a curriculum, Sisters in the Wilderness can be used as the basis for a thorough study of Upper Canada pioneer life. It shows

the English background of many immigrants,
the ocean journey,
the arrival in Canada,
survival and adaptation in winter and summer,
hardship and ingenuity,
the Rebellion of 1837
and so much more.

Each element of this beautifully produced movie highlights a fascinating aspect of the history of Upper Canada in the middle of the 19^th century and beyond.

After watching Sisters in the Wilderness and seeing how real pioneer families lived, younger students understand A Pioneer Story much better.

Sisters in the Wilderness gives older students an appealing introduction to the two women’s books as well.

Catharine Parr Traill, the optimistic sister, wrote The Backwoods of Canada, focusing on hints for new colonists and on nature. There is a wealth of practical and everyday history in Catharine’s writing. This book is part of our Canadian geography curriculum.
Susannah Moodie, more gloomy and literary, wrote the famous book Roughing it in the Bush. This sombre personal history of an upper class British gentlewoman trying to survive in the woods was written as a warning to those ‘back home’ who were considering such a move. Roughing it in the Bush has become one of the foundational works in Canadian literature, greatly influencing it in modern times.

In summary, Sisters in the Wilderness, available from Northwoods Press, introduces the whole family to Canadian pioneer life in a delightful way and sets teens on the path to studying Canadian literature.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Sisters in the Wilderness from Northwoods Press.

Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

How to Raise Your High School Grades by Half a Point in One Semester

High School, Highschool 1 Response »

Dec 022011

Teens need to think about thinking, studying, time management, and the future. There are all sorts of serious, sober, and expensive approaches to these topics. However, if your family has a sense of humor and likes outside-the-box ideas, Gary North’s free study course might work for you. How to Raise Your High School Grades by Half a Point in One Semester is full of quirky opinions mixed with excellent advice. The excellent outweighs the quirky, but it’s the quirkiness that made this course such a success in our homeschool.

Our children delighted in their weekly sessions with Gary North. There seems to be something in Dr. North’s writing style that brings out humor and independent thinking in my teens, because their summaries were almost always insightful and often downright funny.

In this guide, Dr. North discusses:

study skills
attitudes
time management and tricks
study partners
vacations
textbooks
note-taking
test-taking
writing
keeping up with the news

The lessons are short, full of short sentences and definite opinions that sometimes had me sputtering. Aim for a B in your book reports! Indeed! But they generated great discussion. What’s more, many of the suggestions are truly wise.

Although Dr. North set this course up so that students would get one lesson a day—and presumably raise their marks quickly—our approach was more long-term. Once a week our teens would go to the website, read the lesson, summarize it, and write down the take-home message. This kept them interacting with the material for a much longer time, which is better for real learning and thinking.

I have not read much other material by Gary North and cannot vouch for the rest of the things he says. In fact, I don’t even agree with all he says in this course. However, How to Raise Your High School Grades by Half a Point in One Semester has been a highlight in our homeschool for the past 27 weeks, and my teens are sad that they have finished it.

Your teens might also enjoy it. They will certainly learn from it.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

Digital Photography Unit Study by Amanda Bennett

Grammar, High School, Highschool, Middle School, Unit study resources No Responses »

Nov 092011

Before the start of this school year I asked my older children what they’d like to learn more about. My eldest, then a rising eighth grader, said photography. Specifically digital photography. Hadn’t I just seen Amanda Bennett tweet about that same unit study being on sale?

“I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it.” ~Author Unknown

Not only did my daughter learn about digital photography but her enthusiasm encouraged her siblings. It’s also been a learning opportunity for mom. Isn’t that a wonderful benefit of homeschooling – continuing education for the teacher too?

The unit study is an approach for the whole family. Each week is presented:

For Two Levels – Lower (elementary) and Upper (middle/high grades) – so everyone can learn together if you’d like!
With a List of favorite books

From the unit study site: “Topics covered in this study include:

The science of light and lenses.
The history of photography.
Camera basics.
Composing a photo.
Famous photographers and their work.
Applications of photography.
Working with a digital photograph. “

“Every artist was first an amateur.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Four Weeks of Study. Each week includes:

Learning Plans for Days 1-4
Weekly Windup
Additional Internet Sites
Today’s Quote
Words of Wisdom (vocabulary)
Interesting people and places
Read and discover

The Digital Photography unit is in pdf format. A download with all the internet links readily available.

The digital photography unit is fun!

What we liked: This unit is easily adaptable to any schedule. We chose to spread the four weeks out over eight. The study is rich with information so you can dig as deeply as you’d like for your student(s) to – on any level. We really enjoyed the family project ideas (e.g., a family calendar for grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins across the country), plus the daily quotes, a few of which are scattered throughout this post. My daughter liked the photography assignments – she used her iPod on photo scavenger hunts and challenges and photography journal assignments. This study was even the inspiration for her science fair project: Comparing the Camera to the Human Eye.

“Photography was once described as painting with light.” ~ Anonymous

Where to find Digital Photography Unit Study and more information:

Amanda Bennett’s Digital Photography is available from Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett here
You can view a sample and peek inside the unit here
You might also be interested in Amanda’s explanation of What is a Unit Study? here

In summary: Digital Photography was everything we needed in one, neat pdf format. A jumping off place for learning. Inspiration for more exploration. Amanda Bennett’s unit study built confidence and opened wider the doors of delight with photography.

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting, frugal living and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.

Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum

Economics, High School, Highschool 2 Responses »

Oct 172011

During school time Mr. 16 was sitting at the computer, chuckling. Having that much fun doing ‘schoolwork’ suggests to me that it’s not really schoolwork on the computer….

So I sternly asked, “What are you doing?”

Sweetly he answered, “Dave Ramsey,” and continued chortling.

After listening to a few more minutes of this laughter, I pulled up a chair beside him to watch “Bargain Shopping,” Chapter 8 of the Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum, Homeschool Edition, a wonderful curriculum by Dave Ramsey. Soon the Little Misses joined us and we finished the chapter…and then started again at the beginning, laughing and learning all the way.

Sure, not all of the lessons are this funny, but we love this curriculum. It’s fun and relevant and practical. Dave’s mission is “empowering students to make sound financial decisions for life,” and he does it in such an appealing way!

He covers a lot of topics too, and, besides being excellent training for life, this course also meets state standards. In his 4 teaching DVD’s, Dave covers the following topics in great detail:

Unit 1: Saving and Investing
Unit 2: Credit and Debt
Unit 3: Financial Responsibility and Money Management
Unit 4: Insurance/Risk Management and Income/Careers

There’s also a Teacher’s Guide CD-ROM with lesson plans, tests, answer keys, activities, case studies, and more, as well as a Student Workbook containing worksheets, reviews, and many interesting tidbits of information. (For more information, please see the very detailed review on my blog.)

We are extremely pleased with the Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum. While studying other subjects is very important, learning Personal Finance may well have the most practical impact on your teen’s future life. This curriculum is not inexpensive, but I believe it is an investment that will pay back many times over, both in your teen’s life and your own.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

Disclosure I received a complimentary copy of Foundations in Personal Finance, Homeschool Edition, in order to give you my honest opinion of it.

Consumer Math Success Kit

Economics, High School, Highschool, Mathematics 2 Responses »

Sep 302011

Consumer Math Success Kit by David Newton is a gem for high school students! This one semester course (53 lessons – some of which can be used more than one day or extended into real-life practice) includes practical math your child will need in the future.

Bank accounts, loans, credit cards, taxes, home costs, budgeting, insurance and planning for the future are some of the 27 topics covered. What I like best is that every single lesson is very real. There isn’t a lot of wordiness to the teaching, but very concise explanations are given with practical problems following. Some people may feel like there isn’t enough teaching and may find the book to be more appropriate as a “workbook” to go along with a consumer math textbook.

The lessons assume your child has a fair background in mathematics. He needs to understand and be able to complete such things as multiplication, division, ratios, percents, fractions, decimals and conversions. The average high school student should already have a well-rounded math background to successfully use this curriculum.

The book also assumes that the teacher has a fair background in mathematics and consumer experiences since there is no teacher’s guide for you. For each section, there are teacher’s notes that supply you with pertinent vocabulary, related math topics, mathematical skills required and a few teaching suggestions, but no “how to teach notes”. And, although there is an answer key, there are no step-by-step solutions provided. For me, neither of these factors have proven to be a problem.

There aren’t an abundance of practice problems (only 5-12 per lesson), but they are sufficient for understanding the concept in most instances. I’ve found it easy to assign a real problem related to our own family to extend the lesson and “bring it home” when necessary.

In conclusion, I have really enjoyed this book as 1/2 credit for high school math. Both my husband and I feel comfortable with consumer math, so we haven’t felt slighted with the lack of teacher’s helps. We also haven’t felt it necessary for our daughter to read additional information on the subject. When needed, we’ve simply talked through some of the topics on a personal level.

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three from Kentucky. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies at Shining Dawn Books.

{Cindy received Consumer Math Success Kit free for review. As always, her review reflects her honest opinions about the product.}

Logic and Reasoning with the Bluedorn’s

Highschool, Logic 2 Responses »

Sep 102010

We love logic in our homeschool! I’ve used logic puzzlers with my children as early as 1st grade with such materials as Mind Benders, Prufrock Press books, and Logic Links. Now that my oldest is moving into upper middle and high school level courses, we’ve begun some more formal logic/reasoning instruction.

Brothers, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn, have written two very easy-to-understand and fun books for students in middle and high school – The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox. Both books are excellent and offer 35-38 lessons including:

simple, solid teaching about reasoning/logic skills.
short lessons that only take 10-15 minutes to complete.
tons of pertinent vocabulary.
fun illustrations and cartoons to help you visualize the concept.
an attractive layout.
lots of conversational examples to explain the concepts being taught in each lesson.*
exercises with answer keys to practice the reasoning skills from each lesson.*

To help you see the simple and sensible explanations within the lessons, here’s a conversational example from The Fallacy Detective, Lesson 12: Straw Man. In teaching the student about a straw man in an argument, this simple conversation is given.

“POLITICAL CANDIDATE A: Due to this year’s budget problems, I think our state should decrease the amount of money going to the schools. This would solve the problem. We could bring the amount of money back to normal next year.

POLITICAL CANDIDATE B: My fellow citizens, is this what you want in a candidate? Someone who is against our schools, against our children’s education, and against our future?”

The authors use plenty of examples such as these as part of their explanations of reasoning and logic that help students begin to question and think through all the rhetoric and influential arguments in our world.

At the end of each lesson, your student is given exercises to practice distinguishing arguments. From The Thinking Toolbox, Lesson 11: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Evidence, this is one of the exercises.

“In the examples below, choose which piece of evidence seems especially strong or especially weak when compared to the other evidence.

1. Bonnie thinks that Robey’s excitableness stems from something in his diet.

a. Robey loves to eat.

b. Robey eats a special dog food made with organic meatballs.

c. Every morning, before Bonnie takes him for a walk, Pringle’s instructed her to give Robey his special treat called a “Zip and Zaz Cookie” made for older dogs that need more energy.”

Your student is expected to determine which statement logically makes the most sense.

We have loved these books so much and they are really preparing my children to think logically! They are confronted daily with advertisements, worldview arguments, political arguments, peer pressure and so much more. These books are training their minds to look past the glitz and glamour to get to the real truth of the matter.

As Christians, we especially need these truth seeking logical skills to help us keep our eyes on the Lord and not be swayed by the devil’s wily tactics!

-Written by Cindy, eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

Sew Teach Me Sewing Curriculum Review

Hands On, Highschool, Home Economics, Middle School 4 Responses »

Sep 062010

Since my daughter is in 8th grade this year, I was eager to start some formal home economics classes with her as part of her school day. Not only do I feel that home economics classes teach valuable life skills, I think they are a wonderful, hands-on break from the more academic subjects which compose her school days. My daughter had shown interest in learning to sew, so I wanted to add a sewing course to her schedule this year. Given that my seamstress skills are limited at best, I was nervous about putting together my own sewing course.

Thankfully, I ventured into the Sew Teach Me booth at the Midwest Homeschool Convention. After talking with the helpful folks at the Sew Teach Me booth, I decided that the sewing curriculum was exactly what I had been looking for in a beginning sewing course.

I purchased the entire course on CD for $89.95 which includes patterns for a few of the projects and pattern design software from which all of the other patterns can be printed. If you prefer to purchase the curriculum printed and bound which also includes the pattern design software, the price is $159.95. The curriculum is recommended for ages 8 and up but I think you would really need to consider the maturity level of your child. My daughter definitely would not have been ready for this course at 8, but at 13, the course is a perfect fit for her.

Sew Teach Me includes 8 chapters covering a wide variety of basic sewing skills. My favorite part of the curriculum is that chapters 2 through 8 all include a great sewing project to complete at the end of the chapter. My daughter’s enthusiasm for the sewing course increased dramatically when she had successfully completed her first project. All of the projects are items that could be given for gifts or kept for oneself.

Most chapters offer a choice of projects so that your child could choose his or her favorite project to complete or complete all three projects if desired. For example, your child can choose between a ski hat, pet planket, or tic-tac-toe board at the end of the chapter on straight sewing. My daughter chose the ski hat.

More specifically, each chapter in the Sew Teach Me sewing curriculum covers basic sewing skills with a project or projects at the end of the chapter designed to practice the newly learned skills. Here is a brief overview of the contents of each chapter and the sewing projects from which your child can choose.

Chapter 1 – Learning the parts of the sewing machine.
Chapter 2 – Straight stitching. Projects include a ski hat, pet blanket, or tic-tac-toe board.
Chapter 3 – Stitching curves. Projects include a candy swirl pillow, oven mitt, or hand puppet.
Chapter 4 – Fasteners (sewing in a zipper, sewing a snap, sewing hook and loop tape). Projects include a book bag, hanging organizer, or wrist wallet.
Chapter 5 – Survival sewing (replacing buttons, repairing hems, mending tears and rips, re-sewing seams, replacing zippers, pressing, laundry). The project for this chapter is a laundry sorting bag.
Chapter 6 – Decorative stitching. Projects include a lap quilt, computer mouse pad, or a visor.
Chapter 7 – Field trip to a local fabric store, learning about patterns.
Chapter 8 – Putting it all together. Projects include a picnic tablecloth, iCare bib, or apron.

Sew Teach Me is written directly to the student in simple, clear language. While the class is clearly designed to be primarily an independent study, I am working through the class with my daughter. If at all possible, I think it is quite helpful to have somebody available to help work through the sewing projects. Expert sewing skills are NOT NEEDED to help your child with this course. I have some experience with sewing but I am no expert. With my limited knowledge and the excellent instruction in this course, I am learning right alongside my daughter. In the very first chapter, I learned that I’ve been removing the thread from my sewing machine the wrong way for the past 17 years!

My only complaint about the Sew Teach Me curriculum is that I find piecing together the patterns after we’ve printed them out to be difficult. Using the included pattern design software, patterns are printed right from your computer. Then, all of the pieces of paper need to be matched up, taped, and then the pattern pieces need to be cut out. Therefore, I will be purchasing a simple apron pattern for my daughter to use in the last chapter rather than trying to piece together the pattern pieces for a large project like an apron.

You can learn more about the Sew Teach Me curriculum at their website. As well, you can see pictures of each of the chapter projects. Fabric kits for each project can also be purchased on their website but I find it much more fun to pick out the fabric of my daughter’s choice at our local fabric store. If you are not close to a fabric store, though, this may be a convenient option.

Samantha has been homeschooling her three children for the past 8 years. Currently, she is homeschooling a 4th grader, 6th grader, and an 8th grader. Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

Charlotte Mason, Classical, High School, Highschool, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Preschool 10 Responses »

Jan 072010

poetry memorization book and cds

Yes, that is really the title of this review: Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. It is not a very catchy title but this compact spiral bound book is a powerful tool in helping our children develop better language skills. The basic idea behind this Andrew Pudewa creation is that children need a foundation for correct and sophisticated speech patterns. Our children are constantly surrounded by slang, sloppy speech, and improper grammar. This program strives to provide food for the ears of our young ones and help them build up their natural ability to memorize.

If you want to view an introductory video on YouTube about this product here is the LINK.

My boys just think this is a fun way to start out our day. We listen to the accompanying CD to hear Mr. Pudewa recite the poems under study. We listen to each poem and then work on memorizing it. Some of the selections are short and some are longer. A few are familiar but many are new to our family. There are serious poems and silly poems. This program emphasizes “mastery learning” or memorizing every word “in its correct place, being able to recite the poems with fluency, speed, pronunciation, and inflection.”

There are charts to copy off and use to keep track of your memory work. There are four levels included in this one volume and depending on your child’s age and aptitude, this book will carry over from year to year. My boys just started working through this program this school year as high school students and they have almost completed the first level memorized perfectly.

Spiral bound book, 3 CDs, and charts to copy for your own use

The first few poems are short and will give your child confidence as you begin this program. As you work through the poems, memorizing starts to get a little easier. The plan suggests the “Every Poem Every Day” plan where you recite every poem you know every day until you master all twenty poems. This isn’t as time consuming as it sounds. We allow ten minutes per day and we can easily get them all in if we focus.

Some poems that are included in this book:

My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson

Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rossetti

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

I have found that our work in this book has carried over into our Bible scripture memorization as well. We seem to be quickly working through this year’s list of verses. Besides the benefits already mentioned, I see my children really enjoying the ability to recite for fun in front of their siblings, their father, and friends. It is a pleasurable experience to be able to entertain others with funny or lovely poetry. I also see a difference in their writing and vocabulary after using this program even for a short period of time. The patterns and words they are putting into their minds through the poetry memorization process are coming out in their other schoolwork.

I highly recommend purchasing the book and the CD to make your life easier. We have found that listening to a “professional” recite the poems before we learn them to be beneficial. We can imitate his inflection and pronunciation in our reciting of the poems.

I wish we would have known to start earlier with this valuable product since it has become an important piece of our language course. All ages and abilities can successfully use this program!

Edit to add on 1/8/10

Jimmie commented after I posted this review that at $65 for the program it was a little expensive. Here is what I commented in reply:

Here is how I think:
Two boys and probably three years to get through the entire book. $65 divided by 6 is about $10 per year per child…not so bad when you consider it that way.

Also I really, really enjoy having the CDs so we can listen first and then have them memorize. It is a very Suzuki way to learn. You hear the words in your ear, you say them with your mouth and then as time goes by they are used in their writing. I see it as a way to program great speech and grammar into their minds.

This is so much more than memorization.

I purchased my set from Rainbow Resource and waited until I had a $150 order so I didn’t pay shipping. (Plus for those of us in the states, resale is very HIGH for IEW materials.)

I think all of the IEW materials are pricey but looking back over the last four years of using their stuff……priceless.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com and her business is found at http://www.harmonyfinearts.com. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.

Latin in the Christian Trivium

Classical, Foreign Language, Highschool 1 Response »

Nov 072009

latin volume 1

Our oldest son is in his 6th year of Latin this year. He began with Prima Latina in 3rd grade, followed by Latina Christiana 1 and 2. These programs were great for a young Latin student, but it was hard to find a good option that would take him to the next level.

Enter Latin in the Christian Trivium. I can’t remember how we found this program, but I am so thankful that we did. It is systematic and thorough, rigorous but not overwhelming.

Strengths of this course:

The first three volumes are accredited by the University of California as three years’ High School Latin credit.

Volume IV is currently under review by the University of California.

Beginning in Volume 2, the student reads Bible passages in Latin. By Volume 3, the student is translating Bible passages. Volume IV contains a significant amount of Bible, including the entire book of James and the Ten Commandments. Most upper level Latin curriculum focuses on secular texts and vocabulary. It has been wonderful for our son to learn Christian vocabulary and he really enjoys the Bible translations in this course.

This series incorporates an interesting story line based on the centurion in the Bible who met Jesus. This story line continues throughout all 4 books.

Students are required to answer questions using Latin, generating grammatically correct answers using previously learned vocabulary. This is no mere fill-in-the-blank course. As the child progresses through the course he is required to think more and more in the language.

Over 1,000 vocabulary words are taught in the first three volumes, which is the standard for three years of high school Latin. The student will also learn a good deal of Latin grammar.

Latin history, culture and Italian geography are included in the course.
Latin 1 incorporates the use of a grammar notebook and index cards. Students are asked to classify vocabulary according to part of speech on color-coded notebook pages or index cards.

The third course, in particular, will help prepare students for the National Latin Exam. Our son did well on the exam even after completing just one year of the course.

To learn more about the distinctives of this course, go to the Latin in the Christian Trivium website and click the top link in the left sidebar, Our Latin Books. A list of all concepts taught in each book will appear. It is too extensive to list here!

I have read on the course website that a parent who does not know Latin could teach this course. They even provide a free 7 week preparatory class for teachers, which you can sign up for at any time during the year. I did not feel comfortable teaching my son at this level, however. So I was thrilled to find out that LITCT offers online courses for each volume! I have found the fee to be very reasonable for what you get:

Students in the online course only need to purchase a student manual. The teacher manual and test booklet are not necessary, so that is a savings on the curriculum.
Students receive weekly “classroom” instruction online (from 1 to 1 1/2 hours per week, depending on the level). Classes meet in a chat room such as Windows Live Messenger, and students and teacher communicate using text chat and microphones.
The teacher assigns and corrects all homework, quizzes and tests. Our son is getting an excellent, accredited, college preparatory course, taught by a skilled Latin teacher, from the comfort of our own home.

One caveat:

Although this course is for middle and high school students, some parents might find the course to be very challenging for their younger students. This is particularly true if you are doing the online classes and the child cannot work at his own pace. It is important to keep in mind that this course is accredited for high school language credit, and the workload is commensurate with that. We budget an hour per day for Latin homework, and some weeks even more.

My son was in 6th grade when he did Volume 1. He was able to handle this workload, but it was much more time consuming than his other classes. We had to plan his schedule to accommodate the time this course required. Now that he is in 8th grade, several of his other classes are almost as rigorous and we feel this course helped to prepare him for that.

Parents will need to consider whether their child is academically ready to handle the pace and rigor of a high school course. We have found over the past 3 years that a wide age range exists among the students, with some being the same age as our son and others are already in high school.

There is more information about the online classes on the LITCT website. This course has been a wonderful fit for our son. He is thriving in the online classroom environment, and I am thrilled with his progress over the past three years.

You can find Molly Evert blogging at Countercultural School and at her educational audio book site My Audio School.

Complete-A-Sketch

Art, Hands On, High School, Highschool 1 Response »

Oct 012009

My boys unanimously agree that they like the Complete-A-Sketch workbooks from Insight Technical Education.

These have been a great tool for both my sons as part of their drawing skills curriculum. The workbook is set up so there is a small completed sketch in one corner and then there are several guides marks on the larger portion of the page where the child will duplicate the sketch from the top. The back of the book describes it as “complex dot-to-dot”, but I have found them to be challenging for my very technically apt middle and high school age boys.

They have learned to use a straight edge and circle template with these workbooks. I have expected neat and careful work. Even so, these assignments are considered “fun” by my boys.

We have completed:
Orthographic Volume 1
Perspective Volume 3

We will be ordering and completing the Advanced Complete-A-Sketch program later this year. One aspect of this program that I especially like is that now you can purchase the books as an ebook. The ebook version allows me to print a page for my son on demand which will be very handy.

Here are some samples.

Here is a “before” sample.

Here is an “after” sample.

I would recommend these workbooks for middle school age students and above. I purchased my Complete-A-Sketch curriculum from Rainbow Resource. If you purchase the print edition, I would recommend getting one workbook for each child since this is something you can not share.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com and her business is found at http://www.harmonyfinearts.com.