I think the favored 19th century educator would agree – this resource is far from ‘twaddle’.
Jimmie over at The Notebooking Fairy has made available an e-book which clearly and concisely explains the art of notebooking. Not at all new to using this method, I was pleasantly surprised to find my definition of notebooking greatly expanded!
It’s so much more than simple lines on a paper and a drawing, graphic or clipart at the top (or the bottom, or across the page…). Notebooking is not another subject to complete, nor does it need to be done everyday.
The author describes it as “a way to integrate subject areas and a way of teaching and learning.” Incredibly versatile, having children keep a notebook of learning experiences is an excellent way to cement the knowledge gained!
Notebooking Success will equip parents with:
Seven solid reasons why notebooking is fitting for any learning style
Step-by-step instructions for creating notebooks
General guidelines for implementing at each grade level from 1st to 12th
Three notebooking pitfalls to avoid
Using notebooks with Charlotte Mason, Classical and Textbook styles
Extra resources :: 50 different things that can be kept in a notebook (organized by grade level), links to notebooking pages and more!
My favorite part of the this e-book resource was the instruction and encouragement on teaching children organizational skills by using notebooking. While this seems obvious to me now, I hadn’t considered the critical thinking skills my children were gaining by putting their notebooks together — this section is worth a read!
Reasonably priced for homeschool budgets, Notebooking Success is a valuable resource, an excellent addition to any parent’s list of homeschooling guides and helps.
Is your family looking forward to the Olympic Games this summer? My children are already talking about which events they hope to catch on TV. (My secret hope is that the stations show more sports coverage and less chit-chat, but that’s just me.) Even if Olympics fever hasn’t yet hit your house, now is a great time for Olympic Games: A Study of the Olympic Games from Ancient Times to the Present, by Charlene Notgrass and Mary Evelyn McCurdy.
Available from home education publisher the Notgrass Company, this study provides 40 lessons on Olympic history, sports education, and notable athletes. Each lesson contains some sort of written or artistic response, including creative writing, sports vocabulary, mapwork, and puzzles. The puzzles are particularly intriguing and comprise missing letter, crossword, word search, acrostic, and word scramble varieties.
Moreover, the lessons encompass a wide variety of subjects, such as Bible study, world history, geography, and language arts. I was especially impressed with the scriptural tie-ins. For example, in the section on archery, the directions read: “The Bible often speaks of bows and arrows. One passage is Psalm 127:4. Copy it on these lines. . . . Read about King David, his friend Jonathan, and what they did with arrows in 1 Samuel 20.”
The artwork is another highlight. More than mere afterthoughts, the photographs are fascinating and pertinent to the text. Vivid color photographs of events and places of interest, as well as historical black and white photos of people and places, such as Wilma Rudolph crossing the finish line in first place, are integral to the study.
Olympic Games is officially for ages 7-14, and the activities are designed for this age group. But the subject matter, related in a well-written style, is engrossing enough for older students and even adults. I myself enjoyed reading the lessons, especially those covering an Olympic timeline.
This fun and engaging study is available as both an Ebook and a spiral-bound consumable workbook; I reviewed the latter. The high quality and reasonable price makes Olympic Games an excellent value. What’s more, it would be a fantastic accompaniment to your 2012 London Games viewing!
These courses are written directly to the student and not the parent, allowing the student to build time management skills and allowing a measure of freedom. The author says that these courses will introduce “literary reading”, where the student learns to read with discernment.
We are just finishing the American Literature course which features nine different authors, offered in chronological order by literature movement. Each book is introduced by giving background to the author and the time period along with suggested follow-up topics to write about. The background links and resources are a rich mix of primary sources, biographies, art, music, and additional context material in written, audio, and video formats. The background research before reading the book is fundamental to this literature/writing course and will give the student a more three-dimensional view of the literary selection.
Points to Consider
Targeted to students in grades 8-11 (My 16-year-old son used this as part of our 12th grade curriculum.)
Units include suggested additional honors texts and links.
Provides models, tips for general study skills, additional writing helps, sample writing pieces, and grading rubrics.
We found it necessary to have a copy of the course book and the literature selections for highlighting and notes.
The guide does not give a daily reading plan for each book. I assigned one week for background work, one week for reading the book, and two weeks for writing, as suggested by the author.
There is usually more than one suggested writing topic.
$29.00 – My son kept notes and thoughts in his book so I would suggest that each student have their own course book.
This IEW product was a success in our family and we will be moving on to British Literature next year.
Notes and Information Can Be Written in the Book
I love that we can take the pattern from this literature guide and apply it to future books.
Complete background information through internet research into the author and time period.
Read the book with a writing topic in mind, keeping notes as you read.
Follow up with a formal writing piece using the topics or ideas from the assignments in the course.
You may be interested in my other Institute for Excellence in Writing product reviews:
Need something to break up the hum drum of learning diagramming? If so, this may be the perfect thing for you! The Big Bad Grammar Slammer: The Diagramming Game is a unique way to incorporate learning with fun. Students start with the tutorials, learning the sentence structure and proper diagramming process, then they get to play the game. The game can be played as an individual, a competitive group or a non-competitive group working together.
This is recommended for grades 5 through 12 and consists of 95 pages. The tutorials covered are: sentence skeleton, nouns, adjectives, verb tenses, adverbs, misc sentences, and compound/complex sentences. The forty lessons can be completed in eight weeks.
We were provided the ebook format, printed it off and laminated the clue cards.
From their website:
A light-hearted grammar curriculum that produces confident writers with correct grammar and punctuation
What It Gives Your Students (and you)
Grasp how the parts of speech work
Confidence constructing complex and compound sentences
Correct punctuation
A low-stress, student-friendly, educational experience
The Big Bad Grammar Slammer is particulary great for students who are burnt out trying to master seemingly non-relevant grammar terms in a workbook.
What It Covers
Module A The Sentence Skeleton
Module B Nouns
Module C Adjectives
Module D Verb Tenses
Module E Adverbs
Module F Miscellaneous Sentences
Questions
Appositives
Quotations
Module G Compound/Complex Sentences
What You Get
Instructor’s Guide – no need to purchase additional materials for the teacher
Tutorial on Grammar and Parts of Speech
6 modules
37 lessons
10 minutes a day for less than two months
Diagramming Game with Instructions
Clue Cards
Three Ring Binder
(You can also purchase the e-book without the binder.)
This is available in hard copy ($23.95) or ebook ($18.95) and can be ordered HERE.
Do you have one of those too? Yes, I have a tween girl who thrives on creative projects. So when we had a chance to review the New Millenium Girls Creative Writing Bundle by Jan May, I knew it was for us.
What’s included in the bundle? (Each of the following. Each also available for purchase separately):
1. Isabel’s Secret – paperback
“Isabel is a spirited eleven- year-old girl who lives on Angel Ridge Horse Ranch in Colorado. Her Christian motto ever since she was three years old has been: “Winners never quit and quitters never win, for I serve the mighty God that lives deep within!” Isabel and her horse, Starlight, go to girl’s camp, head on a hunt to find out a family secret, all the while taking a large journey in faith.
2. Creative Writing Made Easy Curriculum
Here is just one area this writing course stands out: each lesson has three sections which include 1) learning time 2) writing time and 3) craft time.
Writing space is provided right in the workbook. “On the next page, write the beginning of your story. Try to write at least six sentences…introduce your main character and the problem she must solve.”
12 lessons which teach the basics of creative writing. Great for a beginner or advanced writer.
For grades 3-6
12 week course leads up to the student completing a story and an illustrated cover.
Includes fill-in-the-blank type writing prompts to create and develop a character.
Biblical examples for developing story ideas and choosing a theme (complete with a story web for your daughter to fill in)
“The Bible says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7) He also says that He will never leave us, so we know that we can rely on His strength to help us in our time of need. Make a list of things a person might be afraid of.”
Practical suggestions like “Use every other line when writing your story. It will make it easier when you want to add things in later.”
What impressed me as the teacher about the writing curriculum? As I helped and encouraged my daughter along I was impressed that these smaller lessons were building a habit of writing in a fun way. Building on some concepts she already knew. Introducing new concepts – with the promise of craft time to follow! My daughter had fun with writing. She and I looked forward to our times. It was ready-made mother/daughter time! But there were also days that she quietly went off and spent an afternoon writing, creating and crafting.
3. Paper Doll and Craft Book
Includes Isabel paper doll on the cover, two princess paper dolls inside, paper doll stands on back cover, 16 pages of clothes for Isabel, 16 pages of clothes for the princess (casual, evening, party, riding wear as well as hair styles), two horses and riders, How to Build Isabel’s Bedroom instruction pages.
“This curriculum can be used in your homeschool or with a group. It’s also a super summer project. It can be celebrated at the end of the course with a tea party and fashion show with the outfits the girls made for their paper dolls.”
The paper dolls made for hours of cutting, decorating and simple play time.
What did we enjoy about this writing bundle? The craftiness, of course. Paper dolls. The creative writing aspect. Developing characters, building confidence in writing skills.
What I love, as a parent, is the fun my daughter has and the Biblical foundation throughout these products.
What ages? Designed for ages: 8-12 and/or grades 3-6
Isabel’s Secret: $7.95 ~ ebook special $2.99 and also available for Kindle
Creative Writing Made Easy workbook: currently 20% for $ 13.56 ~ available for download for $7.96
Paper Doll and Craft Book: $13.56
From New Millennium Girls:
Get all three New Millennium Girl books in a bundle for $29.95 plus free shipping (through March 21st) in continental U.S. Click here.
Cool Stuff for Boys include a Revolutionary War lapbook. Plus, coming soon, Battle Cry Writing Book for Boys.
Wonderful Homeschool Writing Books and Chapter Books for Girls that Inspire Faith. Writing Books for Boys that keep them coming back for more!
“Encouraging Christian faith in the next generation” plus just good ol’ crafting fun.
“What is a New Millennium Girl? She is an ordinary girl with faith in an extraordinary God, growing up in this New Millennium. Like Joshua and Caleb, she chooses to see that God is bigger than any giants she has to face. She is mighty in spirit, part of the Joshua generation, a New Millennium Girl.
It is both a privilege and challenge to raise daughters of righteousness in this world. My prayer is that the Lord will use this curriculum to inspire daughters for His glory.” ~ author, Jan May
Free Shipping on the full writing bundle! For one week only, when you order the full bundle, you will receive free shipping on your purchase. This offer good through March 21st only.
Now for the giveaway! Jan May, author of the New Milennium Girls series is offering a spring bundle to one of our readers. The bundle includes all three books shown in the pictured and listed above. A $29.95 value!
Tricia has been homeschooling for over a decade now. She faces a daily dose of chaos balancing the needs of five children from preschool to middle school (and playing educational games) at Hodgepodge.
What a treat for the eyes and a delight to the heart! I LOVE this book and any mom who is looking for ways to build on play-based learning, this book is a gem. The book,Playful Learning by Mariah Bruehl, will help you create an atmosphere of learning by building spaces and providing activities that spark creativity and fun. Looking back over my years as a homeschooling mom, I realize the best learning takes place when I could build on my child’s interest in a relaxed and enjoyable way. The trick was to be prepared for those moments.
Sometimes it is as easy as creating a learning environment, introducing your child to the space, and then letting them explore.
Playful Learning is the kind of book that can be referred to again and again and you will always find some new idea to spark a creative activity. It is a visually appealing book that outlines areas of your home where you can set the stage for playing and natural learning. The author stresses the importance of free and unstructured time for children to explore their interests and Playful Learning gives specific ideas for building on your child’s natural inclinations to play and learn by organizing play spaces and materials to nurture the interest alongside your child.
“Playful Learning gives us as parents an opportunity to play again! It is wonderful to teach the way we wish we had been taught. I have rediscovered my own awe and wonder of the world.”
Do you want to nurture your child’s love of writing? Young writers will be encouraged to keep lists and notebooks, write stories and letters, and have a try at bookmaking.
Do you want to build an art area, a child’s science “lab”, or a cozy reading library? Images and resource lists are included in this book.
Has your child shown an interest in learning geography? Create maps together and learn more about the world we live in using suggestions in this section of the book.
Is your child a nature lover? Activities illustrated will help your child better connect the the natural world in your own backyard.
Mariah Bruehl will give ideas in pictures and words, making it easier to provide a richer learning experience at home by showing you activities to plan on and offer as you play through your day.
She explains that the key for parents is to stay “one step ahead”. I appreciate that this book assumes you want to identify an interest and then build on it, preparing yourself to offer up the space and ingredients for playful learning at home. She outlines in each main section the stages of learning, how to stay “one step ahead”, the process of building on interests, and then more ways to explore with your child. She suggests skimming the book with your child and then refer back to it when they become interested in a particular subject.
The book includes lots of printables in the back of the book as well as from the Playful Learning website. What a great way to get started with your Playful Learning experiences! You may also want to follow Playful Learning on Pinterest where there are many, many wonderful additional ideas for you to implement in your home.
Excellent resource for families with children from ages 4-8 (even older if you extend the ideas). This book will be a perfect supplement to any homeschooling curriculum and can be used with any style of learning. Big thumbs up for this sparkling gem of a book!
Have you ever wondered how to help your young teens progress with their writing skills? And how to evaluate how they were doing?
We did, when my daughter was 13 years old or so. We looked through a number of great homeschool writing curricula and then chose one that writes to the student: SPECTRUM WRITING grade 8. We love their writing exercises and how well they describe the steps of the Writing Process, in clear, simple language. Each chapter includes a section which helped me to evaluate my daughter’s work, right along side her.
SPECTRUM WRITING grade 8 – offers a variety of essays and fiction activities to chose from. I followed my daughter’s interests, and had her pick which she would like to do. She decided to try short stories first and later take on essay writing. By the time she was ready to tackle the essay writing, the story writing practice made her writing confidence strong.
As a published writer myself, secondary to being a homeschooler, I recommend starting with whatever writing is the most comfortable and familiar. For example, a child who loves science might like to try Chapter 6, as it is the most like science experiment write-ups. The young cook might like Informational Essays, as they are step-by-step similar to recipes. It’s all a matter of putting pen to the page!
Pick and choose what works for your young writers. In our homeschool, we started with Chapter 4, then went on to Persuasive Writing much later.
SPECTRUM WRITING grade 8 – Chapters:
Writing Basics
Expressive Writing (includes personal narrative)
Descriptive Writing (includes sensory)
To entertain (story writing)
Persuasive Writing (debate kids would love this chapter)
Explanatory Writing (such as science experiment write-ups)
Informational (includes recipes, how to’s)
After each activity or assignment there is a section called “Revise” which includes questions to help the teacher evaluate the student’s work. Each question guided me as to what to expect from the work.
Benefits of SPECTRUM WRITING grade 8:
Written directly to the student.
Each chapter has sequential writing activities, which are straight forward and easy to follow.
Writing terms, such as “voice” are defined clearly.
Reviews writing basics, and includes fiction writing and a variety of essays .
Includes many clearly written forms which help the student to put her thoughts down on paper.
When my daughter finished, her story writing was ready for essays. Next, we chose persuasive writing. First there was a web form, to help generate ideas. Then to build the essay, another form was used to list each of her points, see photo.
Once the first draft was written, she worked on editing and then publishing her writing in its final form. My daughter enjoyed printing it out from her computer.
We always waited to discuss any grammar, spelling or mechanics issues until after the first draft. That helped the words find their place on the page! My suggestion is whatever helps the creativity and work to flow out. Whatever the student writes, follow his or her interests, and the writing skills will follow, too.
Watch for more SPECTRUM WRITING reviews in the future, from K to 12.
~Written by Betsy, a veteran homeschooler who likes unit studies and offers Homeschool Consulting, as a volunteer, to new and experienced families. She can be reached on her Facebook, at Jane Sproger.
One of hardest subjects for me to teach is writing, especially creative writing. As a long time homeschooling mom, I appreciate that I don’t know everything about everything. Two of my children are gifted writers and it has always been a challenge to offer them interesting writing programs, stimulating them to tap into their creative juices. Finding a resource that meets my high expectations is like finding a treasure!
I received Take Five! for Language Arts as an electronic download to review. I knew immediately upon opening the file that I was going to be able to use this with my high school age son AND he was going to enjoy the simple but imaginative assignments.
The assignments are actually written for practice in critical thinking and just happen to include creative thinking and writing as well. These are not your usual hum-drum writing assignments. Some of the prompts have you make a list or chart, sometimes you actually do a quick sketch before writing, or some of the prompts build on each other from day to day.
Each activity is intended to be done in five minutes so they are easily worked into an otherwise busy high school schedule.
The price is a little high at $23.95 but since the target age group for this book is grades 6 – 12. I could have used this as a resource making it a part of a larger language arts program in middle and high school making it a good investment.
This book would complement many styles of homeschooling including classical, Charlotte Mason, eclectic, or even unschooling.
There is just enough variety to make it interesting, leaving the writer wondering what tomorrow’s assignment will be. Yes, anticipation for the next assignment!
Things to note:
Sometimes you need more than pencil and paper to complete an activity but never anything you wouldn’t already have in a well-stocked homeschool.
I found that Take Five! for Language Arts was really something I needed to be involved in, reading the narrative, prompt, and extensions together with my son. This way we could adapt the assignment if needed or go a little farther if we found it was a “bell ringer” of a topic.
I do not assign a score or grade with these assignments. The task is always to complete the prompt, share it, and receive feedback. I think this gives my son a little more freedom to write or create in a way that fits him.
There is an index at the back of the book categorizing the prompts by language arts skills involved and I found that to be very helpful. For example, if I was looking for a prompt that used persuasive writing, I could scroll to that section and read down the list of prompts working on that genre of writing.
You can download the Table of Contents and a Sample Activity from the publishers website: Maupin House.
My teenage creative writer and I give this program a big thumbs up!
This review is Part 2. If you haven’t already read my review of Primary Arts of Language: Reading, please do so before continuing with this post.
Primary Arts of Language: Writing by Jill Pike of Excellence in Writing is the companion program to Primary Arts of Language: Reading. While the reading program focuses on early phonics and reading skills, the writing program focuses on printing, beginning story writing, copy work and spelling. Using the two programs combined gives you a complete and thorough language arts curriculum for the K-2nd grade student.
Primary Arts of Language: Writing is divided into three parts.
Part 1 introduces your child to printing using correct letter formation and story summaries. Handwriting is taught in a variety of ways, most importantly through modeling by the parent. (A DVD-ROM comes with the program which teaches you precisely how to teach your child.) Letter stories are introduced to your child at the same time they are learning to write the letters to reinforce sounds the letters make. After handwriting practice, your child gets to listen to simple stories and learn the fundamentals of comprehension through sequencing, and understanding characters, settings, plots and more.
Part 2 builds on handwriting fundamentals through copy work and begins spelling lessons using the very popular All About Spelling , Level 1. (You can read my previous review of All About Spellinghere or read Lynn’s review here.) During copy work times, you will also discuss such things as punctuation and capitals.
Part 3 assumes that handwriting is now automatic, spelling is going well and story charting (characters, setting, etc.) is no problem. If this is the case, your child will move into beginning composition. These 16 final lessons are meant to ease your child into the basic units of the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s Teaching Writing: Structure and Style methods. Your child will learn to take notes, summarize from the notes, create a story sequence and write creative stories.
You can certainly choose to move more slowly than the material suggests! I am using Primary Arts of Language: Reading with my K4 at a slow pace. My little guy is only ready for some of the handwriting lessons, so that’s all I plan to complete this year. I’ll probably wait to use the remaining parts of the book until first grade, because I know he won’t be ready for copy work and composition until at least then.
Besides the daily lesson plans, the teacher’s guide also includes a scope and sequence of writing skills covered, several printable posters, charts and templates, and additional tips for teaching writing. You also receive a DVD-ROM with video instruction on how to teach the lessons, audio seminars from writing teachers and the all-important printable student pages.
Just as the reading program, Primary Arts of Language: Writing is a fantastic program! The only warning I might give…the reading and writing programs are meant to be used together. My feeling is that the reading program can be started much earlier than the writing program. I would be very weary about starting the writing program with a child younger than 1st grade, while the reading program can easily be started as early as K4.
-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of a high schooler, middle schooler and K4. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies and other creative curricula at Shining Dawn Books.
Every online homeschool forum that I belong to eventually gets around to the question of teaching grammar. Parents are concerned about what to teach, how to teach it, and, the biggie, at what age to begin formal grammar studies.
For our family, the answer to these concerns differs with each child, but one resource that has become a staple for this subject in our homeschool is English for a Thoughtful Child by Mary F. Hyde (revised and edited by Cynthia A. Shearer). No matter the age my student is when we begin using this text, I enjoy the relaxed, yet thorough approach.
What You Will Find In This Book:
In this slim volume, you will find basic grammar lessons along with dictation, oral composition, composition, memorization, and picture lessons. At a glance that might seem like an overwhelming amount of ground to cover. However, with just 62 very gentle lessons, this book can be easily completed in an average school year. For younger children (6-8 years old), I would even suggest completing only one lesson a week and using the textbook over a longer period of time. I refer to this a textbook, but there are also reproducible pages for many of the exercises.
How We Use It:
The age and abilities of my child dictate how we approach this book. My now 25-year-old daughter was in upper elementary grades when she worked her way through English for the Thoughtful Child. Because she was already familiar with most of the material being presented, we took an informal approach by working through the book together- most of it while sitting together on the couch. She did not need to complete every exercise; I just wanted to be sure that she had covered basic grammar concepts. My next daughter, who does not agree with my philosophy of “better late than early”, was ready to get down to work when she was just seven years old. She loved “writing assignments”, so she completed most of the exercises and had a grammar section in her notebook where she wrote down all rules that are introduced in this text. I am on round three, this time with my boys (ages thirteen, ten, and eight), and I am modifying our approach yet again.
Erin's notebook page- age 7
Why I Love This Book:
So many grammar books are drill, drill, and more drill. Where is the love of language? This book revels in it. I also enjoy that other disciplines are included. It is easy to put off picture lessons and memorization when I have to go to a separate source. Having it all in front of me makes it easy to follow through on these valuable disciplines that are often considered “extras”.
-Lori Duquette is mom to 7 children and a grandma of 2. Her family is beginning their 19th year of homeschooling. You can read more about their homeschooling adventures at Keeping It Simple.
I think the favored 19th century educator would agree – this resource is far from ‘twaddle’.
