The Curriculum Choice

Stepping Stones Together

Elementary, Preschool, Reading, Uncategorized No Responses »

Mar 212012

I am so happy to introduce you to a wonderful curriculum to teach your child how to read, Stepping Stones Together. This is a beginning, online, reading program which claims to teach your child to read in 90 days.

Stepping Stones Together can be used by any child who knows the alphabet, (out of order, both upper and lower case) most of the sounds, and who also shows general interest in reading.

This reading program utilizes themed stories, using 220 high-frequency words and text illustrations – to teach your child how to read. There are three levels of reading and while your child can pick which book they prefer to read, (which is fabulous for a finicky child!) they may only choose from the level they are currently in or lower. Higher levels become available as your child finishes the previous one. There are three levels in all.

While each lesson only takes 15-20 minutes each day, the lessons are designed to make all of those minutes count. Each story is read twice before completion is awarded, to ensure mastery.

The videos and information for the parent are quite impressive. I have never seen so much support offered to make you feel comfortable with how to present a curriculum before.

This program is so different from others that I have tried, even though we have not completed all of the lessons, our almost 4 year old has enjoyed using the program and I am sure you and your child will enjoy it as well. If you would like to see just how Stepping Stones Together looks in use please see this extremely helpful page. You will find a very detailed breakdown of how the program works there.

Cost: There are two options available, 90 Day Membership for $19.99, or Super Saver One Year Membership for $39.99. You can also take advantage of the free trial, which will give you a great taste of the program works.

Erika, the founder of Stepping Stones Together, would like to offer all of our readers 50% all full year memberships, just use code- “I want the deal” (omitting quotations), giving you a full year of instruction for the 90 day price! Thanks Erika!

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Thank You to Our Top February Referrers

Uncategorized No Responses »

Mar 032012

Here at The Curriculum Choice we are grateful to you, our readers. Today we are sending a special thank you to our top ten referrers for February. We appreciate your support!

Pinterest – Thank you for pinning our reviews! Did you know you can follow The Curriculum Choice on Pinterest? It is a visual of all our our review categories, plus more inspirational, educational pins from our readers.

Facebook – Have you joined the Curriculum Choice on Facebook yet?

Jimmie’s Collage

Hodgepodge

Harmony Art Mom

Institute for Excellence in Writing

Aussie Pumpkin Patch

Raising Arrows

The Homeschool Classroom

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See the Light Art DVDs

Art, Electives, Fine Arts, Uncategorized No Responses »

Feb 102012

I love art, but have no real training in it. I believe my children need to learn art techniques, but I can’t afford $60/hour lessons at the local art studio. What’s a homeschooling mom to do? Well…I had the blessing of reviewing lessons 1-12 of See the Light Art Class DVD’s and found them to be full of solid instruction at a reasonable price.

Before I even begin telling you about the lessons, you ought to know the film quality is very good. That means a lot to me considering so many DVD programs I review leave a lot to be desired in quality. No need to worry with these!

The complete first year program consists of 36 lessons, meant to be taught once per week. The teacher has an engaging personality, gives clear directions, and models lessons at an appropriate pace – all important aspects allowing my children to stay focused. And, she teaches lessons incrementally, meaning each new lesson expands on a previously learned skill.

Technique and art vocabulary are key components in the lessons, as well as learning how to effectively use various art media. Even though the lessons are simple to implement, they are in-depth, making art class a serious (and fun) venture. Additionally, each lesson is wholeheartedly Christian, tying in Bible verses or mini-devotionals to the art topic at hand.

Students are encouraged to have their own “toolbox” of basic art supplies including #2 pencils, paper, a drawing pencil, charcoal pencils, a black Sharpie marker, colored pencils, a sharpener, a medium to large box of crayons, a large white eraser and a kneaded eraser. Some lessons will include easily found household supplies, too, like two apples in lesson 3, for example.

Each lesson lasts approximately 15 minutes and it’s assumed your child will put to practice some of the newly learned skills afterward. I have used the lessons with my 6th and 9th graders, but even my five year old enjoyed taking part most of the time.

You can purchase all 36 DVD lessons in a bundle for $99. (Yes, that seems high, but it’s an entire year of art instruction.) You can also purchase DVDs of four lessons each for $14.99 or get an online subscription which “unlocks” four lessons at a time for only $10 per month.

My children aren’t the most artistically gifted kids you’ll ever meet, but the lessons have really improved their skills. If you’re skeptical, try the first three lessons for free!

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Thank you to our top January referrers

Uncategorized No Responses »

Feb 042012

Here at The Curriculum Choice we are grateful to you, our readers. Today we are sending a special thank you to our top ten referrers for January. We appreciate your support!

Pinterest – Thank you for pinning our reviews! Did you know you can follow The Curriculum Choice on Pinterest?

Facebook – Have you joined us there yet?

Jimmie’s Collage

Institute for Excellence in Writing

The Homeschool Classroom

We hope you will spend some time visiting these great sites!

K5 Learning

Elementary, Language Arts, Logic, Mathematics, Online, Phonics, Reading, Spelling, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jan 182012

To be honest, when I was approached about writing a review for K5 Learning, I was going to pass. We just haven’t liked any online sites that we have tried. I decided it was only fair to give it a quick look before saying no, and my five-year-old was immediately drawn into the site. I responded to the request with a yes.

We started with the recommended learning assessment, to see where my son scored on grade level, so the program could correctly place him to start the program. The assessment has a variety of levels given within it. Some answers will be too easy, others too hard. This is the only way the program can know where your child is in his learning. However, I wish there was a button for parents to choose “does not apply”, as my son correctly answered some questions he had no clue about, just by chance. Once the assessment is over, the parent can log in to see where your child was placed. Evan scored 1st grade, and he is in Kindergarten. (I thought he was reading above K!) After the program knows where your child’s skill level is, you are ready to learn.

The layout is attractive and inviting. Evan has really enjoyed learning his lessons with this program. I wanted to share with you a few examples of the curriculum in action, to give a better idea of what a lesson looks like.

The pros:

These lessons aren’t full of games and a little education, your child will really learn:

phonetic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis.
basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. (with monitored progress for mastery)
spelling-you can even assign your own word lists.

Other positives:

works for special needs learners.
parents have access to learning reports to track progress.
the lessons adjust to your child’s individual learning automatically.

{my favorite part of the lesson}

Each lesson also has a preview of sorts that explains what you are about to learn and how to answer. I really like that about the program.

{this math lesson was challenging, but enjoyable}

{we apparently needed this, as Evan asked if dragons were real!}

The con:

This online curriculum has some great positives and I am glad we were invited to try it. I do have one negative to give, however:

When we went to work on the math facts for mastery, we found they are timed drills. Drills makes sense for older children – but Evan is five, with little keyboard skills. He never could get fast enough to pass, even though he answered all of the questions correctly.

As you can see, 0 were answered quickly enough, but all were correct. It had nothing to do with knowing the facts. I do wish the curriculum had thought of smaller children with little hands and no knowledge of why the numbers don’t go in order on mommy’s computer pad. Evan couldn’t understand why he didn’t pass when he knew all of the answers.

The rest of this site is great, so we will likely just be skipping this section unless that aspect is changed. Overall, it is a great program with true learning as the star. It is just fun enough to keep Evan from feeling overwhelmed, but this isn’t busy work. I would definitely recommend this if you have any interest in computer learning.

Purchase info:

After the trial ends, the monthly subscription for one child is $25 or you can purchase one year for one child for $199. K5 Learning has a free 14 day trial that doesn’t require your credit card to begin. (I love that.)
I would recommend giving the free 14 day trial a try. Evan has really enjoyed this in the few weeks he has been using it. If we had the extra $25 in our budget, I would continue on when our subscription expires. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy K5 Learning this much. It has been a great addition to our day.

Sam's Noggin

**I was given a 3 month subscription in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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Interactive 3D Maps

Hands On, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Dec 282011

One of our investments for the 2011 school year was Scholastic’s Interactive 3D Maps: American History. It was actually recommended by the core programme we are using, but the book itself was bound to be a hit with two map loving young boys. Not to mention they really enjoy doing hands-on projects, so mixing the two together sounded like it would be right up their alley!

We were not in the slightest bit disappointed with this book! We are just under halfway through the book and have mapped the adventures of Various Explorers, The Mayflower, Paul Revere, The Slave Trade, Lewis & Clark and a few more. Which is nothing compared to what’s left waiting for us in the book!

The Breakdown:

Each map has a total of four pages. Two pages are written more to the teacher and provide information about the map, time period, and/or event that took place. It also provides instructions of how to put the maps together and a few ideas to use the maps as well.

The next two pages are the actual map and pieces that go with it. So for instance, with Lewis & Clark you’ll have two pieces of map, various forts, Indian villages and boats. The children colour the maps and pieces and then assemble everything together.

How We Use It:
I find that my children love to color when I’m reading aloud to them. So these maps are often colored while I’m reading about the people or times involved in these maps! Once colored we cut the maps out.

The instructions state you are to glue the maps on construction paper, but we like to do things just a wee bit different. Instead, we tape both pieces of the map together, then we take two pieces of colored card stock and glue the map to both pieces leaving about an eighth of an inch gap between the two pieces. Why?

This allows us to fold the map neatly, paperclip all the accessories to the map & tuck it into a nifty page protector {I love those things!} before we put the whole thing right into the kids timeline notebook. Easy Peasy!

What I Love:

This book is fantastic and my kids love the maps! I love that they love the maps and can visualize all the things we’re reading about. I love that the little pieces can be moved around the map and places on specific locations like the starting and stopping point of journeys.

The price: This book is extremely inexpensive when you consider that it is reproducible. The book ranges in price from $10.99 {amazon.com} $11.99 {Book Depository with free shipping}, or $15.99 {directly from Scholastic as an ebook}. Either way you go, it’s a great deal.

What I don’t Love:
There is one thing I don’t love about this book, and really only one thing. The pages aren’t perforated and the book isn’t spiral bound. It makes copying the pages a bit more difficult, but not impossible! However, the lack of either of these does not stop me from loving this book! It really isn’t that big of a deal to copy it like it is. Of course if you purchase this book directly from Scholastic as an ebook that’s not an issue you’d have to worry about!

Bottom Line:
We love the book and I’m extremely happy with the purchase! My kids are very hands-on and love being involved in their projects. These maps are simple enough that even my eight-year-old can do most of it without assistance.

Living Memory: A Classical Memory Work Companion

Charlotte Mason, Classical, Elementary, High School, Middle School, Mom Helps, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Oct 262011

If you have read many of my other reviews you already know that I like for things to be easy. If they aren’t easy, I at least don’t want them to be a ton of work for me. After all, my inner educator proclaims, this is their education, not mine! This of course is true to a point. We all know, I reply to my inner educator, learning never stops; least of all, perhaps, for a home educating mama.

In addition to easy, I want things to make sense, for them to be logical. Timely, too, in that when they are presented with new ideas, those new ideas make sense to my little learners. I want to be developmentally appropriate, and I want to cover material that will be useful and necessary.

We ascribe to a sort of Classical, sort of Charlotte Mason, very literary-based education for our children. The idea of a lot of rote memory work does not fit into my idea of practical or useful. The idea of memorization for the purpose of reviewing and cementing ideas, though, is another story. If memory work is one of the tools–like reading and writing and listening and drawing–that we use to gather and corral ideas, that is something I like and want to use.

I have found a great resource by Andrew A. Campbell called Living Memory: A Classical Memory Work Companion that has removed some of the burden of memory work from my shoulders.

It is simply a book of lists. The lists, derived from academic subjects, contain organized information for the purpose of memorization. Dr. Campbell includes an essay detailing the how and why of using memory work as one of the tools of learning. The remainder of the book is comprised of lists of information in the following broad subjects: Latin and Greek, arithmetic and mathematics, grammar and composition, literature, religion, geography, world history, United States history and civics, and natural sciences. Each section is broken down into more specific categories and into lists. There are speeches and portions of documents. There are formulas. There are charts. All of this is intended to be used over the academic lifetime of a student–from Kindergarten to graduation.

The book has been helpful to me in two ways. First, it has given me ideas. Sometimes the question of what to memorize has been overwhelming to me–so overwhelming that I have thrown up my hands and provided nothing for my kids to concentrate on retaining. Now, I can open Living Memory, find a science list that fits with our studies, and put my little learners to work.

Second, Dr. Campbell has assured me that memorizing something is better than memorizing nothing, that I can start small and build, and that memory work can and should be in the context of our studies. I like that. It makes sense to me, because it is orderly and timely. It is developmentally appropriate. Also, it is simple and easy. And you know that I like easy.

Living Memory: A Classical Memory Work Companion by Andrew A. Campbell provides comprehensive lists in a variety of pertinent subjects to be used for memory work. It can be found on Lulu.com in both digital ($14.95) and paperback ($22.46) versions.

Susan S. is a home educating mama of three in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Her days are wild and lovely, full of chattering, learning children. In all of the mess, she learns the most, taught by the Master Teacher Himself.

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers

Music, Uncategorized No Responses »

Sep 162011

This past year our family was introduced to a study from Bright Ideas Press called A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers. You might already be familiar with Bright Ideas Press if you use their history curriculum, The Mystery of History.

A Young Scholars Guide to Composers is a One-Year Curriculum for Grades 4-8. It is Christian based and Chronological. It is broken down into 32 weekly lessons that cover 26 famous composers and 6 eras of music.

The study begins with an introduction into Ancient Music and Music in the Middle Ages. You then cover music in the Renaissance and then move into the Baroque Period. At that point you begin covering individual composers and their lives. The rest of the book is broken down into periods of history covering The Baroque period, The Classical Period, The Romantic Period, and The Contemporary Period. You learn about famous composers within each of the above periods of history.

The study offers a suggested schedule for your studies which they have broken down into three days a week, but the study is very flexible and can be used easily in any manner that you desire to use it. In fact, we have on a couple of occasions done the study two days in one week and then picked it back up the following week.

If you follow the suggested study in the book it is recommended that on Day 1 you listen to the recommended selections, read the lesson from the book (each lesson runs approximately 1200 words and takes about 15 minutes to read aloud), and fill in the note- taking pages or answer the Student Review Questions. On Day 2 it suggests that you listen to the selections again, fill in the Composer Info Cards (which are included in the back of the book as reproducibles), and color in the timeline. Day 3 suggests that you listen to the selection(s) again and match the composer to his place of birth on a world map. Again, reproducibles are available in the back of the book.

Above is a sample of the reproducible Composer Info Cards that the book offers.

This is the back of the Info Card which your student/child fills out.

This is a sample of the composers faces that you cut out and glue to the front of the Info Cards. These faces are also used on the included timeline in the book. We have used the faces on our own timeline that we already had set up for our schooling.

Our family has very much enjoyed using this study. One of the things that I love about it is that it can easily be geared towards various ages. While it is written for grades 4-8th, even my younger children have been able to get a lot out of just listening to the various composers. The back of the book includes coloring pages and my younger children have really enjoyed coloring them as they listen to various pieces of music by each composer. One of our very first composers to study was George Frideric Handel.

This is the coloring page that my daughter Ally (7), and Camden (5) worked on while we listened to his works of music and my older kids filled out their composer cards.

As far as the music itself is concerned, towards the back of the book are suggested web addresses where you can listen to selections from the various artists that you will be studying. Most of the addresses are You Tube videos. While some of the website addresses may change over time and some may therefore not be in use anymore, it has been our experience that most have still been active. When I have come across an address that is no longer active it has been easy to simply type in the name of the piece that is suggested in the book and find selections on You Tube to listen too. I have appreciated having recommended selections to pull up and listen to as we have gone through our studies rather than having to do my own search on what to listen too.

Also included in this book are note-taking pages, quizzes, and answer keys.

Just to give you a sample of how our study began, we started out reading about Ancient Music and Music during the Middle Ages on our first week. Our listening suggestions during this week was, the Gregorian Chant, The Salve Regina, and Dies Irae. As we listened to the suggestions we replayed them several times discussing things such as whether we heard harmony or only melody in the music? Is the tune catchy? What type of feelings does it convey? We tried turning the music off and singing the melody back to see if we could. We also tried tapping our feet to the music. On our second week we learned about music during the Renaissance time period. Our suggestions of music for this week were Piffaro and “Summer Is Icumen In”. We discussed the same questions regarding this music that we did on week one. On week three we read about the Baroque Period and began our study of composers with Antonio Vivaldi. From that point on, each week contained a new composer to study.

This Composer Study is 298 pages long and is available in paperback book form for $34.95 or as a CD-Rom book for $29.95. You can download sample pages of the study from the Bright Ideas Website. To do so or to purchase the book visit, HERE.

Jennifer is mom to 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls, ages 14 down to 5. The Unsell family is in their 10th year of homeschooling and are a bit eclectic in their approach to schooling. You can find their family blog at Adventures in Unsell Land.

Nature in Your Pocket

Hands On, Nature Study, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 292011

Waterford Press has a tagline that says, “Putting the World in Your Pocket.” With Waterford Press it is amazing just how much of the world you can fit into your pocket. You can store information about animal tracks, the cosmos, plants, wildlife and more right in your back pocket. These naturalist pocket guides are durable, easy to read, colorful, and fun for children or anyone who appreciates nature. In addition to nature guides, you can have a hands on guide to first aid, wilderness survival, knots, and state flags and facts. I cannot even begin to give you the entire list of amazing pocket guides, please visit the site. I am certain you will find a guide that suits you!

I had the opportunity to review three naturalist guides from Waterford Press; Animal Tracks, The Night Sky and Bugs and Slugs. I was pleased when I opened my package of pocket naturalist guides. Moreover, my children were pleased.

What we liked:

The guide is laminated which makes is durable. Durable enough for a two year old to grab it out of her sister’s hands and run around the house before dragging it alone before getting caught.

The size! The guide is 8.25″ H x 3.5″ W. It is small enough to bring it with you on nature walks or where ever you go yet big enough to find. The ability to find an object in a house with four kids, including one stealth mode toddler thief, is essential.

The amount of information provided in the guides. The guide is not simply pictures with a few words on each animal, bug or object. It provides a nice balance of enough information to understand and appreciate the topic yet not so much that my five year old or my 11 year old got that glazed look in their eye. It also had enough information to peak an interest yet not leave you with too many questions.

The Night Sky guide has a star chart that glows in the dark!

What we didn’t like:

Animal tracks had a picture of an opossum. I dislike opossums. So, that is a bit unfair, right?

My toddler and my Kindergartner fight over the Animal Tracks guide. Not sure how I can blame that on Waterford Press though.

Honestly, we couldn’t find anything wrong with the guides. In fact, I am looking forward to more of their products coming out in the spring. They will soon offer My First Nature Activity Books and Children Nature Activity Books which really appeal to me and my kids.

Pictured below is an activity I used the Animal Track guide for with my Kindergartener. I happened to have animal track molds from a previous activity. So, I rolled out Play Doh and imprinted the tracks. I then had my daughter use the guide to identify the tracks. She had a great time doing this activity. She even made her own tracks using the guide and a few Play Doh tools.

Richele is an eclectic homeschooling mom to four reflections of God’s love whose greatest accomplishment thus far was teaching physics, folding laundry, and playing Candyland simultaneously. Find her blogging at Under the Golden Apple Tree.

My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts

Bible, Biblical Principle Approach, Elementary, Mom Helps, Uncategorized 4 Responses »

Jun 162011

I’m always looking for new and different resources to use for our morning Bible time around the breakfast table. I first heard about My ABC Bible Verses on a Christian radio broadcast and placed it on my wishlist. I recently purchased it and am so glad that I did. We are almost to the end of it now and have been incredibly blessed by it. Not only does this book provide morning devotional material for us, but it is also a valuable tool for memorizing Scripture.

The author, Susan Hunt, has chosen one Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. Accompanying each verse is a short story that demonstrates how the Scripture is applicable in daily, real life situations that are common to children. Each of these twenty-six stories follows the everyday childhood joys and trials of Missy and Bill, a brother and sister whose parents continually show them how God wants to use His Word to make them more like Jesus.

Here is the layout of each day’s reading:

the verse for the day
a short (two or three sentence) explanation of the verse
the story
a “Let’s Talk” section with two or three questions you can discuss with your child, which help to cement the truth and application of that day’s Scripture
a prompt to say the day’s verse three times in order to memorize it
a built-in review of a few of the verses that have already been memorized (This has helped us to retain so much Scripture!)
a “Let’s Pray” section that serves as a reminder to ask God for help in applying the day’s verse to your life

Although this book is said to be written for children ages three to seven, my nine-year old looks forward to and thoroughly enjoys each day’s story, as do his five and seven-year old sisters. When we finish this book, we will have twenty-six Bible verses hidden in our hearts, and we will have learned how to apply these Scriptures in our daily lives.

If you try out My ABC Bible Verses, I pray that you will be as blessed by it as our family has been!

Written by Shannon, who can be found blogging about her family’s homeschool adventures at Song of My Heart.

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