Excellence in Literature: Reading and Writing Through the Classics (IEW)

 Classical, High School, Language Arts, Literature, Middle School, Writing  No Responses »
May 022012
 

Wondering what your student can do with all those

wonderful writing skills they learn using IEW in the younger years?

 

The IEW system is a complete writing system that homeschooling families can build on from year to year. If your family has worked through the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style course and your older student is now looking for ways to use apply their skills to other subjects, the Excellence in Literature Content Guide for Self-Directed Study series by Janice Campbell is the perfect way to connect great literature and great writing. There are two books to choose from: American or British Literature. You can download a sample of the American Literature guide from the IEW website and also one for the British Literature guide.

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.

Video introduction from the IEW website

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.

  1. Complete background information through internet research into the author and time period.
  2. Read the book with a writing topic in mind, keeping notes as you read.
  3. 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:

 

Written by Barb-Harmony Art Mom. I blog at Harmony Art Mom and am the creator of Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at the Handbook of Nature Study.

Fun, New Way to Learn Diagramming

 Grammar, High School, Language Arts, Middle School, Writing  No Responses »
Apr 272012
 

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.

Here’s praying you have fun learning!

Come visit Dawn over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter…friends are ALWAYS welcome!

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Youth Virtue Journal

 High School, Highschool, Middle School, Mom Helps  2 Responses »
Apr 162012
 

The Youth Virtue Journal is a slim ring-bound workbook with a huge goal:  to help teens choose virtues.  Working with a mentor, teens will learn how to be attentive, content, forgiving, gentle, helpful, honest, obedient, perseverant and respectful.  The booklet contains a form for parental input as well.

Each of the nine chapters contains a moment to dream and a chance to see how virtues could help achieve dreams.  In fact, the booklet states that “ …though you add virtue to your life because it is the right thing to do, it will also tremendously improve your ability to live your dreams.”

Each virtue is defined in a very personal way.  For example, Attentive is defined as

I am attentive: I watch and listen carefully.

I am not …forgetful, distracted or distracting and I don’t ignore or interrupt.

Teens are asked to discuss a list of questions about this virtue in themselves and are given a chance to rate themselves on a scale from 1 to 10.  Then they are asked questions that show how this virtue, in themselves or others, has affected their relationships, either because it was practiced or ignored.   Quotes from various sources highlight the virtue being discussed. Then the teens are given an opportunity to relate the virtue to their dreams, write down thoughts about this virtue in their lives, and sign a resolution to ‘take a stand for what is right’.

This whole process is meant to guided by a caring mentor and supported by parents at home.

How we used it:  I quickly realized that the Youth Virtue Journal would be suitable for all ages, so we began to discuss it after lunch time, question by question.  We covered a lot of ground besides virtues.

The children shared thoughts, criticisms, hopes, and frustrations.  We laughed a lot.  We discovered some things we needed to change.  We talked about what virtues were and discussed whether or not this journal was right in its definitions and why.  These were very valuable discussions, and I plan to continue them using the insightful questions in this book.

Obviously, this is not how the book was meant to be used, but this is how it worked for our family.  It is very versatile, and its lists of questions can be used in many ways.

Our thoughts:

1.With a bit of tweaking, the Youth Virtue Journal can be a valuable tool in a homeschooling family.

2.In this study, written by Christians, I was startled to find no references to sin, salvation, and our inability to become virtuous on our own.  When I contacted the author, Heather McMillan, about this, she wrote (and I added the bold face type):

This particular tool was written at the request of a government truancy court in Nampa, Idaho. In writing this Youth Journal I was fighting against the very philosophy that there is no such a thing as right and wrong, that we do nice things because it benefits ME instead of because it is RIGHT, that obedience to authority is dangerous (I know, seems extreme, but it is the prevailing thought of our day when it comes to raising children), and that correction is to be avoided instead of embraced.  

We Choose Virtues is a tool that is not the complete story. For Christians and non-Christians alike, it sets a standard of truth for people who have no biblical standard operating in their lives or who simply need a way to explain it to their children. It forces children and youth to face their true character.  So many of us walk around believing that we have no sin because we live in a lawless generation. Parents are afraid to set a consistent standard because their own parents rejected authority. Once a true standard is set before us and we compare our lives to it, then we have a place from which to repent.  If anything, perhaps repentance will come when the true condition of a young person’s heart is revealed through this journal. Beyond that, I hope (no, actually I pray) that when this tool is in the hands of Christian parents and youth pastors, the true power behind the transformation of a heart will be explained. As you stated, there is no way we can change ourselves. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that transforms us, and that only by the work of the cross. (quoted with permission)

In this sense, then, this booklet shows people what is in their hearts.  In the hands of a Christian parent or mentor, it could be a tool to show us and our children our sinful nature and our need for redemption.  That is something we can never understand deeply enough.

3. If you want a resource to promote open discussions, the Youth Virtue Journal has excellent lists of questions.

In summary:  Our family benefitted from our time with the Youth Virtue Journal and will continue to use it.  Although it was written for a different audience, it can be a valuable resource for Christian homeschoolers.

The Youth Virtue Journal is available from We Choose Virtues.  Similar products for younger children are also available.

Disclosure:  I received a review copy of the Youth Virtue Journal from We Choose Virtues in order to share my honest opinions.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate.

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Money Help for Teens

 Economics, High School, Highschool  3 Responses »
Apr 132012
 

Taken directly from their website:

The Money Book for Teens is a series of 3 modules teaching teens the necessary financial skills to live and thrive in life.  Using the Bible as its foundation, The Money Book for Teens is taught from the context of a language arts course.

Module 1 focuses on Biblical Stewardship principles while emphasizing things like budgeting, tracking spending, net worth, and understanding a balance sheet.  Students will memorize foundational scriptures, learn financial vocabulary, practice critical thinking and logic skills, as well as reading comprehension.  They will read the book The Richest Man in Babylon, a classic book by George Clason as part of their reading program.

Included: The Student edition (78 pages) & the Teacher edition (44 pages)

Needed: The Richest Man in Babylon

What we like about this:

The first module (Stewardship) is the only module we have used and we really like it because it has a very strong biblical foundation but also because it incorporated reading that “brought the point home” in a very easy-to-understand way. There are six lessons: What is Stewardship?, What am I a Steward Over?, Setting Up a Spending Plan, Tracking Spending, Balance Sheet and Net Worth – Why it’s Important.

Each lesson is about ten pages and consists of a little information presented by the authors followed by reading comprehension exercises (key terms, memory verse, concept problems), then reading from the book with “Connect to Literacy” questions. They close with reading scriptures and giving observations of those scriptures and how they relate to what is being studied.

They are asked to work on spending plans – showing them the connection between incoming and outgoing monies. {YAY!}

They also complete KWL charts:

 

If you are looking for an economics type study that is affordable with a biblical perspective…this study is for you!

Cost: $29.95 (e-book; both teacher and student editions)

As a side note: Originally we checked The Richest Man in Babylon out from our library but we needed it for too long so we went ahead and bought a used copy of our own.

Here’s praying you have fun learning!

Come visit Dawn over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter…friends are ALWAYS welcome!

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Sonlight Ultra Microscope -Investing in High School Science

 High School, Middle School, Nature Study, Science  1 Response »
Apr 042012
 

Microscope work inside

Most homeschoolers are very frugal and must make their homeschool budget stretch as far as possible. My family is no exception and I think long and hard about investing in curriculum and tools for our learning experiences. My two youngest boys are very science oriented and are naturally inquisitive about the world around them so purchasing a quality microscope made sense as we entered the middle school science years.

Our family aims to get the most value for the dollar. So which microscope would we buy?

The decision was not easy but after much research and thought, we decided to purchase the Sonlight Ultra Microscope. With a price tag of $240 this was a decision not made lightly! We wanted to provide the best equipment for our sons even as homeschoolers. Taking into account the useful life (six years in our case), our cost per year would be $40. Our high school science plans would be greatly enhanced with this investment and could provide college-prep level lab work throughout the high school years.

Quartz Study 2

Actual image we took through the eyepiece of river sand.

Now after using this microscope for many years, I can with confidence say that it was an investment that paid off in a growing knowledge of the world right under our noses.  Our eyes were opened to a complete new dimension of study, fascinating and wonderful.

Features Our Family Have Found Valuable:

  • Sturdy, durable construction. This is not a toy microscope and from the moment you pull it out of the box you know it is built to last.
  • The ease of aligning the slides. The mechanics of the slide platform are easy to adjust with the up-down and side-to-side knobs positioned for easy use. Going from coarse to fine adjustment is easy and the object stays in your field of vision. This feature cuts down on frustration. View Sonlight’s YouTube.com video showing Features and Benefits.
  • The light does not get hot and we can use this microscope for a long time without the slides getting hot or drying out too fast. This is especially important when working with wet objects like those you find in a pond.
  • The eyepiece swivels around so we can show each other what we see in the microscope as we gather around the table.
  • The magnification has been plenty high enough that we can see amazing details of our subject (40x, 100x, and 400x lenses).
  • We used this microscope in our biology, marine biology, chemistry, and human anatomy studies during high school.

Check the Sonlight website for their complete description and warranty.

Our family highly recommends this product for your homeschool science courses.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art Mom.  I blog at Harmony Art Mom and am the creator of  Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at the Handbook of Nature Study.

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English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E. Marshall

 Charlotte Mason, Classical, High School, History, Junior High Language Arts, Literature, Living books, Middle School  2 Responses »
Mar 282012
 

Ambleside Online has influenced our family in many ways, not the least by introducing us to great books.  One that we’ve been using for many years is English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E. Marshall, written in 1909.  We are blessed to have a century-old copy for our children, complete with roughly cut pages and sturdy binding.

In 85 delightful chapters, H.E. Marshall traces English literature from the ancient Irish legend “The Cattle Raid of Cooley” to Tennyson. She includes excerpts of stories and poems, summaries of larger works, and many interesting biographical and historical tidbits. She expresses strong opinions about authors and works, and occasionally makes some disparaging remarks about various branches of the Christian faith.

English Literature for Boys and Girls is a solid book, full of information.  Since history and literature are so closely entwined, it includes numerous references to kings and queens, to the changes in the English language, and to cultural innovations such as the rise of newspapers.

As a random sample, in chapters LVII and LVIII Marshall discusses Milton, “a cold and lonely man.”  She begins with his childhood, quotes 14 lines of On his being arrived to the age of twenty-three, and continues, discussing his life and his poetry as well as venturing into the conflict between Puritans and Royalists.  While Milton became more embroiled in politics, his personal life suffered. He lost his sight, his wife died, “his children ran wild,” his second wife died, and he began to write Paradise Lost.  Several pages and excerpts later, Cromwell died, Milton married again, and the blind poet wrote Samson Agonistes, the tragic story of Samson in his blindness.

Don’t let the “Boys and Girls” part of the title fool you; this is not a childish book at all and shows just how far educational standards have slipped in the last 100 years. In fact, Ambleside Online, a rigorous Charlotte Mason curriculum with classical leanings, recommends English Literature for grades 7 to 10.  The subject matter is not too easy for today’s teens, but occasionally Marshall’s intended audience causes her to write in a somewhat patronizing way.  As I’ve come to expect from old authors, the English would be considered advanced today even though it was written for boys and girls, but no well-read modern teen would have difficulty with it.

All of our teens have read significant portions of this book over the course of several years.  Each week they studied a chapter or two and I would ask for either an oral or a written narration.  They have become familiar with early English literature and I am amazed at the history they know.

English Literature for Boys and Girls is a brilliant work, ideal for introducing modern teens to both literature and history.  It is fascinating, lively, thorough, and eminently suitable for young people since no ‘adult’ topics are included as is often done nowadays.  Of course, modern literature is not covered (and Jane Austen was left out, a serious flaw in my opinion). Even so it is an excellent book for homeschooling families, especially those interested in classical education or Charlotte Mason’s methods. 

It is available online at Project Gutenberg  and The Baldwin Project.  You can also buy a book here.

-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:  As usual, I am not paid for my reviews and my opinions are my own.

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Winter Promise All American 1

 Art, Bible, Elementary, Hands On, High School, History & Geography, Living books, Middle School, Unit study resources  2 Responses »
Mar 122012
 

A Bit of Background: For the 2011 school year my family decided to make a change in our curriculum. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know we’re Five In A Row fans, and after 4 years of their curriculum with my eldest it was time to move forward to give him something a bit meatier for his grade level.

After some prayerful research and web surfing I discovered there’s a lot of curriculum out there that a homeschooling mama can choose from. In fact there’s so much that at times I felt truly overloaded with choices. In the end I wrote down my needs on one side of a sheet of paper and my wants on the other side. From there I was able to quickly weed out curriculum that would be of no use to me and finally settle on ones that would work. From that very short list I settled on Winter Promise All American 1.

I chose to use All American 1 because it covers your needs from grades 1-7. This does not mean that you can use this particular core for seven years, rather it means that if you have students ranging from first through seventh grades it’s a good fit for you. If you have students older than that and wish to keep them all together, you can also purchase a high school add on pack.

How We Use It:

This was our very first year using an “out of the box” curriculum. {Out of the box simply means everything you need to use is included and you’re off and running.} We basically used it exactly as it’s laid out. I ordered the core {All American 1; AA-1}, as well as the accompanying Character Supplement, Art Study, and I even picked out a science pack to round everything out.

All but the science is scheduled right in your main core. All I have to do is open to the week and day I’m on and we’re off and running. I will confess, that at times we didn’t use it exactly as it was laid out. Some weeks were incredibly light and we wanted more so we did two weeks in one. This isn’t too hard if you have a couple of back to back light weeks. Winter Promise cores are only mapped out for a four day school week.

Our core also came with Student Planning Pages that I chose not to use. I had high hopes of using them for my 4/5 grader to learn to be a more independent learner. However because his younger brother was also doing the core, it limited how much I could permit him to do on his own.

This core also came with plenty of web links to enhance the study. We did not check most of these out. We did visit a few and they were so-so. Eventually we found we were fully satisfied with the vast amount of crafts and notebooking that we were doing.

I also chose to use some of the read-alouds as audio books because our family adores having a book playing in the car. During one of our long journeys this year I purchased Fever {our current read aloud} as an audio and plugged it in the car and were able to enjoy the story while we traveled.

What I Loved:

I loved, loved, loved, the fact that this particular core decided to use Homeschool In The Woods Time (HSITW) Traveler Packs {worthy of a review all their own!}. My family happens to be HUGE HSITW fans and these packs are nothing short of fantastic. The fact that Winter Promise chose to use them in this particular core was one of the deciding factors in our purchase!

I loved the fast array of historical fiction we read this year. Many of the books I was none the wise for and wouldn’t have chosen had I not used this curriculum. We learned so much from the good quality literature that we read and my children still refer to these characters {some fictional some real} as life-long friends.

I can not stress how amazing it was to have our school year laid out for us, all 36 weeks, 180 days worth. I suffer from chronic migraines and there are times in my life where planning out our school is nothing short of a miracle. We also had to abruptly move in September and helped a family member move.. twice! It was such a relief to know that despite all of that we were not going to be held up because I hadn’t had time to finish planning the final bits of our school week. Instead, we grabbed some of our books and hit the road!

Customer Service! Living overseas I have an overseas mailing address and a US address. When the company accidentally mailed something to the wrong address, they quickly refunded my shipping so that I could then pay to have it forwarded to the right place. Anytime I contacted them they were quick to answer my questions in full. I was grateful for that.

 

The Timeline. Oh. My. I’ve never met a timeline I’m so in love with, and we’ve tried a lot! Over the years I’m pretty sure we’ve used no less than four timelines, but this one is the best! It’s a notebook timeline separated by years. You then glue timeline figures to the separating pages and place all notebooking, lapbooking, maps, etc. behind these pages. My children equally love these huge notebooks. They are a beautiful portfolio of the work they’ve done all year! Even if you use nothing else from this company, I assure you their timeline is worth purchasing all on it’s own!

What I Don’t Love:

I didn’t love the price of shipping for overseas users. Check out my tips at the end of this post for help in reducing the cost of shipping!

I was disappointed to see a few typos in the Core. Only a couple, but they did throw me for a loop for a minute.

I found the Character study to be a bit weak for my family. The prints of the artwork were small and dark compared to the large copies we found online.

To be totally honest and fair with my review I must admit my children loved the art portion and requested it frequently! I would also like to have seen the prints turned into coloring sheets for the children. I never asked my children to try their hands at drawing the pictures we studied. I knew my eight-year-old would have been quickly overwhelmed and frustrated with his attempts. Had the art prints been coloring pictures it would have allowed him to try it and critique his art in a positive way.

Their resale policy. I was unaware when I purchased from them that they had a strict request that you don’t resell their exclusive material.

I was also disappointed to see that if I had not included the Bible Character Supplement there would have been no “Christian” reference to their curriculum. I admit to being disappointed because it’s considered a Christian curriculum and I would have loved to see that better integrated.

Geography. In the AA-1 core there was geography worked into it. We ended up only doing a few weeks before leaving it alone and only doing the geography that applied to our stories {mapping the Lewis & Clark trail, Mapping the Erie canal, finding the places specific battles took place, etc.}

Tips I’d Like To Share:

I want to offer up a few tips for anyone trying to decide about Winter Promise.

  • Try ringing them directly to place your order. While I ordered online, I did ring them later that week to confirm that my order had taken place and to find out exactly when it would be shipped out. If you have your order shipped to an overseas address you must ring them anyway.
  • Only order Winter Promise Exclusives from them. That means the Core Manual, Bible, Art, Timeline, etc. Order all the books you’ll need from other sources. This is exactly what I did. I chose to order all my books {read alouds, readers, and go alongs} from Book Depository. They offer free shipping to most of the world and I knew exactly when they’d show up at my front door! No waiting on a middle man to get them to me. This is huge for overseas purchasers! The biggest complaint for people who purchased an entire core from this company that lived overseas was that books trickled in over months.
  • Use the samples on their websites, & really investigate their website! All American 1 is not listed as a core on their Themed Humanities page, but it is available if you look at the American Story {1 or 2} as a better option if you are working with a wider range of children.
  • If you don’t want to do all the crafts included, don’t! There were many I skipped mainly because we all ready had done lots and I knew my involvement would be heavily needed. For crafts that my children could do on their own I supplied them with what they needed and let them lose. For crafts that needed my involvement we only picked a few to do each week.
  • Purchase your Time Traveler Packs from The Old Schoohouse Magazine.* This will greatly reduce your costs because you won’t pay shipping for them! They are shipped directly from the Pak family and arrive in amazingly quick time. You can’t go wrong there! We also purchased the Homeschool In The Woods Mapping CD to use with the geography written in the core {the same geography we chose to drop because it seemed very watery instead of rich and purposeful.} *If you live overseas you will not be able to get the free shipping mentioned above. Instead email HSITW! When I did that they offered to put them in a priority mail envelope and post them to me, up to six, for the current price of that envelope {at the time of this review I believe the envelopes cost $14 USD}

Bottom Line:

We absolutely loved our year with Winter Promise’s All-American 1! My children learned and created so much this year. They have a timeline notebook bursting with the proof of their labors and will continue to fill that over the rest of their homeschooling “careers”. I am grateful for the freedom it gave me as I dealt with life this year. Despite my initial concerns when making the switch I’m incredibly glad that I did!

Notes: The cores do not come bound as you see in the above pictures. I chose to bind my own copy! Each core comes pre-hole punched and ready to slip into a three ring binder.

*You might also be interested in Jimmie’s review of Winter Promise American Story 1 here.

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Daily Grammar

 Age, Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Grammar, High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Online  1 Response »
Mar 092012
 

Grammar is a subject near and dear to my heart. I know not everyone can (or will) admit to that, but there it is. Throughout my children’s elementary years, we explored several different grammar curricula, and all have had their good points. This year, however, I came across a FREE curriculum that is thorough and easy to use and free. (Did I mention that already? Sorry. I really like the word free.)

Daily Grammar provides 440 lessons, which cover:

  • the eight parts of speech
  • the parts of a sentence
  • grammar mechanics

Lessons are grouped by topic and include one quiz per topic. Nouns, for example, comprise five lessons and a quiz. Each lesson also contains an answer key, which is helpful if, say, predicate nominatives aren’t your thing.

Daily Grammar offers other useful features:

  • an archive page, which makes it easy to find the lessons you need
  • a glossary of grammar terms, in case you need to brush up on your grammar definitions
  • eBooks, FlipBooks, and Workbooks available for purchase, should you prefer to use these
  • the Daily Grammar Blog
  • a Facebook discussion group for questions, comments, and general grammar gab

One of the best features of Daily Grammar is its short lessons. Each lesson takes only a few minutes to complete.

At the beginning of each week, I print out the lessons we’ll cover that week. To keep our focus, I opt to stick with one topic per week. I’ve found that the easiest way to print the lessons is to copy and paste the text into a word processing document. I print the lessons and answer keys for myself and the lessons alone for my children.

Daily Grammar is comprehensive enough to stand alone as a complete curriculum for older elementary and middle grade students. Since each short lesson has only around five practice exercises, some children might need more reinforcement.  Daily Grammar would also serve well as a refresher course or a supplement to other grammar curricula.

And the price is right, too.

Ellen stays busy home educating two middle-grade daughters, chasing two corgis, managing the family’s busy household, reading as much as she can, and writing about life at Bluestocking Belle.

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

 Elementary, Geography, High School, Highschool, History, Literature, Living books, Middle School  1 Response »
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-19th 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 19th 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.

Take Five! for Language Arts

 High School, Language Arts, Middle School, Writing  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

Written by Barb-Harmony Art Mom.  I blog at Harmony Art Mom and am the creator of  Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at the Handbook of Nature Study.

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