Addition the Fun Way!

 Age, Elementary, Mathematics  4 Responses »
Apr 202012
 

I am so excited to share with you a curriculum that has allowed my children to move past the traditional black and white numbers and into a world where numbers create characters and characters stories. Allow me to introduce you to Addition the Fun Way! by Judy Liautaud with City Creek Press. 

The curriculum is a fun, picture method of learning and the addition facts, per the author. I whole heartedly agree. Let me explain how the method of learning the addition facts work. First, the author goes into great detail to explain how to use and teach this book. I found this area very helpful simply because this was an entirely new way for me to think about numbers and for my children as well. Any question that you may encounter will more than likely be answered in this section and if not, Judy Liautuad is incredibly prompt at answering any email request AND phone calls that you may have have! This is based on personal experience!

The book then goes on to explain who each of the number characters are. Each number becomes a constant character throughout the entire book. For example, there is ” 3 bee” and ” sick 6″. The stories are constructed around these characters and a new addition fact is learned after each story.

The curriculum covers EVERYTHING from adding zero through ten. Learning the one’s and two’s addition facts are covered in the beginning and not used as character in stories. Rather the numbers are given the staircase picture of going up one step if you add one and two steps up the stairs if you add two to a number.

Silly and memorable number characters are a great way to describe how the author draws the children into learning in a very visual and interesting manner. For example, one of our favorite stories is 3+3=6. The story, in summary, talks about how sick 6 was picking flowers on a beautiful spring day but there were 2 bees in the flower who stung him. The author then recaps each story with,

” Remember: When its 3+3, the 3-bees sting the 6 and make him sick.”

Now, for the best part, our experience with the curriculum! I received this curriculum in February and was not sure how long it would take for me to accurately write this review, based on my children’s results. However, the method and results with the picture methodology presented in Addition the Fun Way! is incredible!

We began with two stories a day. That is all. Then after my boys became familiar with each character they would go through the book and pick out stories that appeared interesting to them. We did not go through any specific order. Rather we simply enjoyed reading the stories and learning the characters.

After a couple of weeks, I began pulling out some manipulatives that I had in our home. I did this for the purpose of observing if they were understanding the concepts behind the stories ( they were!!). I began to incorporate the flashcards that can be purchased along with the curriculum. The fun part about these flashcards is that they show the characters on them thus further helping to press the pictures as well as the addition facts into a child’s long-term memory.

I cannot, honestly, say enough great things about this incredibly fun and EASY way to learn the addition facts. After a few short weeks my boys were rattling off EVERY single addition fact while smiling about them. We all know those “flash card” moments where we sit with a black and white fact and continually repeat, ” you know this, what is this, what is this??”. Now, I hold up a flashcard and it is still black and white (the book is all in color) yet the difference is with the picture association built into the addition fact there is an immediate recognition and recall from the stories. I find this so encouraging and incredibly helpful in building the math foundation!

  • The author has addition and subtraction as well as multiplication and division programs for you to choose from on her website: City Creek Press.
  • The addition book that we have will cost $19.95 and the flash cards at $8.95.
  • There are also great options to buy for one student on her site that include basic and deluxe kits.

I encourage anyone who is looking for an addition program that is engaging and fun to try out Addition the Fun Way! We have not been disappointed!

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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Playful Learning-Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder

 Art, Elementary, Hands On, Mathematics, Science, Writing  No Responses »
Mar 052012
 

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!

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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Online Learning with Clever Dragons

 Geography, Mathematics, Middle School, Online  No Responses »
Feb 082012
 

Clever Dragons is a really neat online learning tool geared toward BOYS ages 7 – 12 (but my son is 15 and there were still several places he found that were helpful and fun)! Boys. Dragons. Need I say more? *grin* This online program covers all the main areas of teaching: Language Arts, Math, Geography, History and Science. If your boys are anything like mine, sitting and “doing school” is super boring for them, this program allows them to learn while having fun! Please note: online learning is definitely not my favorite but I do enjoy finding things they like to do that also offers them the opportunity to learn – this program meets that need.

Taken directly from their site:

Clever Dragons is an educational and entertaining website exclusively for boys between the ages of 7 and 12. On Clever Dragons boys can access interactive learning materials, play age-appropriate games, view specifically selected videos and communicate with their friends. By completing the learning materials and videos users can earn Gold Coins – the virtual currency on Clever Dragons. This currency can then be used to play games or access other fun content. Together with www.always-icecream.com, its “sister site” for girls, Clever Dragons is the first website that combines all these aspects of online usage in an educational and safe format.

Here is a general breakdown of what is taught at each level:

  • Beginner (7-8): Basic mulitple choice questions, Basic spelling quizzes, Typing 1 (letters), Instrument Quiz, MiniMe Customization
  • Intermediate (9-10): Advanced Quizzes & Basic Drills, Language Quizzes (Synonyms), Typing II (words), Classical Music, Anatomy & Health Quizzes
  • Advanced (11-12): Advanced Drills & Equation Solver, Lanuages Arts Quizzes, Typing III (passages; coming 2012), Clothing Design (coming 2012) and Science Quiz
  • Applied (7-12): CastleWorld Shop & Money Budgeting, Messaging & Commenting, CastleWorld Desing Studio
Here is a sample of one of the quizzes (this particular one was very easy, obviously):

They also offer parent reports which look like this:

We have watched some of the videos since I took the above snapshot and let me tell you, there are some amazing videos! The site has learning videos along with just fun videos. I think our favorite right now is the Amazing Insects video. It was really cool!

One part of the program we did not participate in was anything to do with friends or online chatting and messaging. We just don’t allow that in our home for our boys at this time.

Overall, we LOVE this program! Clever Dragons has so many learning games for the boys to play. There are around 75 games!

So, if you love what you are reading, but have a girl? Don’t fret! As mentioned above, they have something similar for girls called Always Ice Cream!

Now…the cost:

Monthly: $5.95
Two Months at one time: $11.90
Annual: $47.40
Lifetime: $119.00 but ON SALE for $69.00 if purchased before February 15th!!! 

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

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

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Home Learning Year By Year

 Encouragement, Mom Helps, New to Homeschooling, Organization  No Responses »
Feb 032012
 

What’s one of the biggest homeschooling questions you are asked or find yourself asking? I’m not talking about the, “Is this enough?” question, rather the, “What should my child know?” It’s so easy to wonder if you’re teaching your children the right information at the right time, especially if you’re not using standard textbooks.

There are solutions to this problem but my favorite comes in one small book. Home Learning Year By Year by Rebecca Rupp. This book has saved my sanity many times. Really, it has. Home Learning Year By Year breaks down exactly what children will be tested for or are learning in most US based public institutions for kindergarten through 12th Grade. One book. So much information!

How I use it:

I’m sure there are many ways you could use this. The book has an overwhelming amount of information. About once a year, during summer break or before the start of our new school term, I make a list of items I want my child to learn for his grade.

I also go back over the information my child should have learned from the previous grade , just to be sure I covered everything I wanted. You’ll find that much of the standards carry over. For instance, in Grade 2 a child is meant to learn how to use a comma when writing a date, address, or when making a list within in a sentence. By Grade 3 your child will expand their knowledge of commas, so don’t panic if you didn’t teach it in Grade 2. Just teach commas in Grade 3 and expand on it more.

The list making process isn’t complex. I read through the chapter for each of my children’s grade levels. I jot down, in a notebook, the things I know they don’t know or that I’m not sure if they’ll be covered formally in any of our curriculum. From there I type that list out and group things together. All math information, for instance, is tucked under a Math heading. I make sure to make a little check mark box next to each item I put on my list. It’s very simple. I also make sure to put the school year, grade level and child’s name on the top of each paper. I also leave some space for putting notes on my pages. I then print the pages out, and tuck the note into my Teacher/Mom notebook for school. As we go along I can tick off boxes when things are taught or learned.

Not everything has to be taught in a formal way. For instance, I’m really great for making the lists and leaving it laying around so I can bring certain topics up, “Do you guys know what an animal home is called?” If they get the right answer, I tick it off my list. Wrong answer? I plug in a Magic School Bus video and pull out a matching book, then I tick it off my list. Explaining terms like biography and autobiography can happen right at the dinner table. Where as teaching children how to alphabetize is better suited on the living room floor with an alphabet puzzle spread before you.

What I love:

I love that this one small book can guide me through my children’s entire school careers. There’s no need to purchase a new book all the time.

I love the price! Seriously, one book that will last me all 13 years of my children’s schooling and it only costs between $10 – $16 depending on where you purchase it. {Amazon.com has it for $10 + shipping & Book Depository has it for $15.97 with free shipping}

I love that Rebecca Rupp has taken the time to type out resources you can use to teach a variety of the things on her list. From main stream math programmes to lesser known picture books. It’s all right there at your finger tips!

I love that the book is small. I know that sounds silly, but really that’s big! I can toss this in my bag and take it with me nearly anywhere during the summer when I’m making my lists. It’s not much bigger than a typical paperback book!

What I don’t like:

I honestly can’t think of much about this book I don’t like. I think, if you live outside of America, you may not find the book as helpful because it is made to pass the US tests at the end of each grade. I can’t consider this a dislike because I knew that going in. I also don’t teach my kids to pass tests, so that’s not a problem for me.

There’s also the factor that while this explains what US children will be learning for history at different years, there’s going to be huge amounts of US history. Again, not something I dislike about this book for a couple of reasons. First off, I knew that going in. Secondly, my children are both American & Australian so it’s important that they know US history. For those of you not interested in learning US history you could simply substitute your country’s history in it’s place.

Bottom Line:

I love Home Learning Year by Year. I love the treasures inside of it. I love the peace of mind it helps me achieve! When asked what book to recommend to new homeschoolers this is one that’s on the top of my list!

Extra:

Rebecca Rupp has also written a book entitled The Homelearning Source Book. This book is a coffee table type book that is just bursting full of resources for teaching your children anything and everything. It’s very simple to use. And on top of the awesome resources, there’s also notes about which resources The Rupp Family used and how they enjoyed them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if it’s still in print as neither Amazon or Book Depository seem to be selling copies of it, all though CBD seems to have copies {they do ship overseas as well.} If you can get your hands on a copy it’s well worth it!

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Times Alive!

 Elementary, Mathematics  3 Responses »
Jan 202012
 

Until the 2011 school year started both of my boys had been doing five days worth of living math lessons. I loved our time with it. This year, however, I decided to put them into Teaching Textbooks.

One of the things I used during our lovely Living Math Lessons was a programme called Times Alive! I found it rather by mistake while doing my daily blog hopping. Before I knew it I’d stumbled upon the City Creek Press website and was in total awe of their multiplication programme.

I confess, that despite my child being officially in third grade at the time and having an amazing grasp on a variety of math subjects from simple to complex I hadn’t branched out with multiplication yet. No, rather I’d been teaching him “groups of” with a fun game we’d been playing. After a quick chat with my husband about what funds were left in our homeschool budget I purchased Times Alive! and never looked back.

Times Alive! is not entirely unique as I know there’s another song and story programme out there for children to learn their multiplication facts.

How I use it:

  • We chose the download instead of the cd version of this progamme {remember we live overseas so downloads often win out for us!}. Each day I’d load up the programme. My son would happily listen to the story and song and then do a quick and simple application test proving he understood and fully grasped what he’d learned.

  • The programme starts with 2’s and skips 1’s and 0’s. Not a huge deal for us because I’d all ready taught him his 0’s, 1’s, 2’s, 10’s, 11’s, and we were working on our 5’s.
  • There aren’t stories for the 2 family. Rather there’s a teddy bear who comes on and shows that by counting by 2’s you can easily find the answer to any problem you need. Simple.
  • There are stories for all your 3 facts, 4 facts, 6 facts, and 8 facts. For the 9 facts there are clues on how to get the answer quickly. These clues are as great as the stories. I can always hear my kids working out 9 facts if they’d forgotten the answer! Again, none for the 5’s, 10’s, or 11’s. Wasn’t an issue for us, and I really believe that it shouldn’t be an issue for anyone.
  • We loved some of the stories and were constantly amazed at the ability of the author to come up with some great little rhymes that permitted the children to remember exactly what the stories were. If my son now says, “Mom, I forgot what 8×8 is..” I’ll shout out, “STICKS are FOR the fire!”

The story for this particular math problem is that two snowman {shaped like 8’s} go walking on a cold winter night. They get really cold when they stumble upon a sign that tells them they can have the sticks for the fire. Super simple.

After my son learned all the fact families I discovered City Creek Press also sells a learning pack to compliment Times Alive! Included are flash cards with picture clues, posters to color in and a few other simple goodies. It was offered inexpensively as a download. We all worked together coloring in the posters for my son’s math notebook. I laminated all the flash cards and we go through them {little brother too} each morning before we get going with any of our other school stuff.

What I love:

  • My son asked to do this programme! If a day passed and he didn’t get a turn with it he’d complain! Yep, and if his little brother was set up with another task at the time and missed out on the video or song there were tears and I’d have to replay it!
  • The stories were, for the most part, catchy.
  • For my visual learner, the color programme and the add-ons {mentioned below} allowed him to add more color and hands on learning.
  • I could play it on my Mac!

  • There are posters and flashcards with the picture clues on them that can be downloaded from the website!  This allows us to practice what we learned in an easy to remember way! Not only that, there were some heated discussions over who was going to color which posters. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit I was part of those chats with my boys.

What I don’t like:

  • I confess there were a couple of stories that left me scratching my head. My son disagrees with me on this and since the programme was for him that’s what matters most, right?

Bottom Line:

My kids love this programme and have learned their multiplication facts with ease. I feel eternally grateful to the people over at City Creek Press for that! I wish their addition programme was also in video/song format.

Extra: 
 You can check out more of the songs, picture to color in, and test over at City Creek Press if you’re interested in knowing/seeing a little more.
Save $24.48 off the regular price on Times Alive

You can use the coupon code SOTxhalf to take $24.48 off the regular price of $48.95.  Just add Times Alive to your cart and enter the coupon code and press apply.  Bingo-you save $24.48.  Be sure to enter the code, it doesn’t happen automatically. Order your product today because this offer expires on January 31, 2012. You can order from 1-100 for half price!   To order now:  CLICK HERE
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Teaching Textbooks

 Mathematics  7 Responses »
Nov 212011
 

For the past few years we haven’t used a math curriculum of any sort. Yes, you read that right. For several years we’d been “free flying” as I call it, learning math through games, hands on applications, & stories.

We had a grand time of it, and both of my children had a firm foundation in basic mathematics. However, we made a few changes to our little homeschool & one of the changes I decided to make was to use a math curriculum again.

It wasn’t that what we were doing wasn’t working, but rather that I wanted to be sure all the gaps I might have were filled. I opted to go with Teaching Textbooks after trying out the free samples online & administering their placement tests.

My 2nd grader easily fit into the Third Grade math with Teaching Textbooks & my Fourth Grader knew too much to use the Grade Four cds thus bumping him up to the Fifth Grade choice.

How We Use it:

This is an extremely easy programme to use, and after chatting with fellow TT users I decided not to purchase the books that came with it, but rather just the cds.

On any given Teaching Textbook day my child will load his cd into the computer and work studiously. If they need help and Mum is busy they merely skip the problem until I can come to their aid.

Because I chose to only purchase the cds I also went online to the Teaching Textbooks website and printed out the Table Of Contents for each grade level we’re working on. I file that in my teacher notebook and highlight bonus rounds with what facts the children will cover; see below for more information on Bonus Rounds. I also highlight lessons I don’t want a child to miss, but might mark lessons we won’t need because we all ready know the information.

The Break Down:

Each of the various grades that we own comes with four cds, and there are roughly 30 lessons on each disc. Every 7th lesson or so is something dubbed as a Bonus Round.

My kids live for Bonus Rounds! Okay, so a Bonus Round is just a three minute chance to show how many math facts you know by heart. It’s set up similar to a game show complete with a robot host & robot crowd.

In each Bonus Round you have the opportunity to gain up to 4 additional points towards your grade for the day. If you can answer a quarter of the problems correctly you get 1 point, half the questions you get 2 points, three quarters earns you 3 points, & obviously answering them all correctly gets you 4.

This can be a challenging time for children who don’t work well under pressure. In our home, the kids don’t mind the ticking time and the encouraging little robots, but they do get flustered making sure they are hitting the right keys on the number pad in a quick fashion. So, in our house when we hit a Bonus Round I go ahead and type for them while they spout off answers.

Note that each bonus round concentrates on a specific operation each time. These are noted in the table of contents so you can remind your student to brush up on their addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts.

Each lesson starts with a lecture that the child listens to. In it a male voice explains how to do the days lessons or new topic. This is generally well done, all though I wasn’t as impressed with the way they taught facts. By this, I mean when it came to multiplication facts the fellow would tell them the answer to each of their 12 times table facts, then he’d tell them they needed to memorize them. The flashed on the screen for a mere matter of seconds disappeared and the child was to set about the lesson for the day. We chose to supplement for learning our times tables due to this.

After your lecture for the day you are given 5 practice problems, not alway based on your lecture. Then you have an additional 23 problems to answer for the day. Sometimes we chose to do them all, sometimes I permit the kids to skip problems.

For instance, if my child knows how to do the problem, I see no point in having him do 6 of the same problems so long as he got the answer correct the first two or three times. There are some downsides to this, but we’ll discuss those later.

Every 13 lessons or so there is also a quiz. There is no lecture for Quiz days, you merely load up your lesson and answer 23 different math problems.

The programme automatically keeps track of the grades & scores for quizzes, bonuses, & lessons. As my children finish with a cd I print out the final scores for each of those lessons and I file it so I have proof of the math they’ve done for the year and the scores they achieved.

What I don’t like:

As mentioned before I’m not keen on the way some lectures are given. I respect that teaching a student math facts can be a challenging process & I know that by adding in the Bonus Rounds they are encouraging memorization, however I was still unimpressed with the way some facts were taught.

I don’t like trick problems. My student was dutifully working away one day when I heard a problem come up that I felt was a bit too tricky and sneaky and would merely frustrate my student. The problem was down the lines of, “If it’s 2:00 and it’s dark outside is that am or pm.” For an 8 year old I’m pretty sure he’d associate dark with pm, thus I felt the problem was a tad too sneaky/tricky.

I dislike the fact that there are 23 problems for each lesson & if I have my student skip those problems it’s reflected in his grade. For instance if my child only does 19 our of 23 problems his grade will be an 85% or there abouts.

I don’t love what they wanted to charge me for international shipping when I know it can be done for half the price. I really struggle with this, but also understand that people who don’t ship internationally regularly might not know that.

What I love:

I love that this little programme can do the grades for me. Until this programme my children have never really had a grade before and they actually enjoy seeing what their score is.

I love that if my children make a typo and get a problem wrong I can log in to their grade book and reflect the change OR I can even delete answers and have them rework problems. This is a huge deal if your child has the habit of being a tad heavy on the keyboard.

I love that I can also delete out a Bonus Round and have my child redo that too. This is funtastic if you want your child to have a creative way to practice their math facts. Or, if your keyboard gets unplugged during the middle of a round and your Mum doesn’t know it until there’s 10 seconds left.

I love that these cds are both Windows & Mac compatible! This excites me in ways I just can’t explain. As a Mac family it was a huge deal for us to be able to use these on our Macs!

I love that if you have a US or Canadian postal address you can get free shipping from this company!

I’m also really impressed with the resale value that this programme has. The programme is $110 brand new from the published/creator, but it has an average resale value of $70.

I love that there are not 180 days worth of lessons! This means my children can use this programme only 2-3x a week and we use those extra days for our Living Math lessons. They can still accomplish more then enough, if not all of, the programme.

Bottom Line:

We really enjoy using this programme. It’s a really fun way for kids to get both computer skills and math skills in. Not to mention, if you’re not a math fan and feel you lack the skills to teach your children this programme would be a wonderful fit for you!

Kendra lives in Tasmania Australia with her husband, the Man From Down Under, two curious boys, a dog, & a bird that constantly talks back. Creator, and avid user, of the Homeschool Book Of Days & The Nature Game she can be found retelling tales from The Land Down Under over at the Aussie Pumpkin Patch.

Arithmetic Village: And The Winner Is…

 Living books, Mathematics, Uncategorized  1 Response »
Jun 152011
 

Congratulations to commenter #12, Dawn!

Our winner was chosen using the online Random Number Generator. :)

Dawn, please email me at songofmyheartblog at yahoo dot com within three days for info. on how to claim your set of Arithmetic Village books. I know that and your children are going to enjoy them!

Thank you to all who participated in our giveaway!

written by Shannon from Song of My Heart

Arithmetic Village Review and Giveaway

 Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Hands On, Literature, Living books, Mathematics, Preschool, Uncategorized, Unschooling  24 Responses »
Jun 022011
 

I am always on the lookout for living math books, and when I stumbled upon Arithmetic Village, I knew I had to read this new series of books with my children. The five books arrived, and after one reading we were hooked. Ever since then my children, ages 5, 7, and 9, have chosen to read these delightful stories again and again. (Yes, even the nine-year old boy enjoys them!)

The Arithmetic Village series, written by Kimberly Moore, is set in a lovely, magical village nestled in a fairytale countryside where glittering jewels fall from the sky. The reader is gently introduced to place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as the children in the village collect, lose, and share the jewels with others.

The series includes:

Arithmetic Village – This first book of the series introduces the five main characters: Polly Plus, Linus Minus, Tina Times, and King David Divide. The concept of place value is introduced through the use of jewels, velvet sacks (ten jewels go in a sack), and treasure chests (ten sacks go in a chest). You can read the story in its entirety here.

Polly Plus – This story demonstrates the concept of addition as Polly goes about the village collecting jewels and adding them in her neat and precise manner.

Linus Minus – Described as “an adorable mess”, Linus shows us how to subtract by losing and scattering jewels everywhere he goes.

Tina Times – Speedy Tina demonstrates multiplication by quickly and efficiently counting groups of jewels as she gathers them.

King David Divide – The wise and fair king of Arithmetic Village, David Divide shares jewels with everyone. He distributes them equally, but if some are left over they go to his pet dog, Rover. (I love the idea of Rover receiving the remainder.)

My favorite things about this series:

  • Rhyming text
  • Engaging and whimsical story line
  • The characters’ demonstrations of sharing, kindness, and other noble qualities
  • The use of fun props – jewels, sacks, and treasure chests – that bring the math concepts to life
  • The Arithmetic Village website. The author offers free hands-on activity ideas and downloads to accompany the books. She has posted several videos showing how to easily make (or buy) your own set of jewels, sacks, and treasure chest and how to use them with your children to reinforce through play the concepts taught in the stories. This website is a valuable resource and is not to be missed.

To purchase any or all of the books in the series, visit Arithmetic Village’s shop page where you can receive an online discount.

I am excited to announce that Kimberly is graciously giving away a set of Arithmetic Village books to one Curriculum Choice reader.

Two Ways to enter the giveaway – you can do both:

  1. Browse the activities at the Arithmetic Village website. Leave a comment here at CC telling us your favorite activity!
  2. Follow Arithmetic Village on Twitter, and leave a comment here at CC to let us know that you did.

Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each of your entries, as well as an email address or blog url where you can be contacted should you win. Entrants must live in the continental U.S.

**Deadline for entries is Monday, June 14th, 10:00 pm (EST).

Good luck, and enjoy your time in the Village!

(Disclosure: The Arithmetic Village series was provided to me for free for review purposes. The views and opinions expressed in this review are purely my own.)

Written by Shannon, who blogs about living books and other homeschool-ish things at Song of My Heart.

Schoolhouse Rock Helps Learning Stick

 Elementary, Hands On, History, Mathematics, Music, Science, Unit study resources  4 Responses »
Apr 092010
 

Not everything has to become a formal lesson at our house, but I love being able to sneak in some learning with a helping of fun.  I have seen in my own life that songs I have learned as a child I can still remember to this day.  While this has many applications to homeschooling I only want to talk about one today, called Schoolhouse Rock.

Schoolhouse Rock is series of short musical cartoons that aired originally before I was born during the Saturday morning cartoons beginning in 1973.  Topics covered in the original series include songs for multiplication, grammar, science, American history and lawmaking, and computers.  Later offerings from the makers of Schoolhouse Rock include songs about money and taking care of our earth.

In August of 2002 Disney released a 30th Anniversary DVD set of over 40 Schoolhouse Rock songs.  A few years later we bought the set for our family.  I said it was for homeschool and my husband said it was just for fun.  We were both right! Our children enjoy watching different sections of the DVD.  Each has a favorite song or two.  My 8 year old daughter’s current favorites are:

  1. No More Kings – A song about the beginnings of our country and the Revolutionary War.
  2. I’m Just a Bill – A song that boils the legislative process down so that even a child can understand how our countries laws are made.  Here it is on You Tube to watch.  (Like everything else on YouTube, the comments below the video may not be appropriate.  We like to click the handy arrow beside the comment section to close it, or watch the video in full screen.)

I love that my children are easily learning many educational topics without a formal lesson.  The DVDs spark my childrens’ interest in topics like conjunctions, multiplcation facts, money and debt, and the branches of the US Government.  We may watch a few songs while waiting for dinner to finish cooking, or have a sing-along as a family for fun.  There are many ways to use the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs.  I am sure we will just happen to pull it out when a child has trouble learning those pesky times tables for another way to reinforce math facts.

The internet abounds with free resources.  Here are a few related to Schoolhouse Rock:

  • The lyrics to many of the songs.
  • Ideas from educators of lessons that use Schoolhouse Rock songs.
  • Many of the songs are available on YouTube with a simple search.  (Remember to close the comments section or watch the videos on full screen to avoid inappropriate material.)

I would love to hear if you have a favorite Schoolhouse Rock song, or any fun ways you can see incorporating Schoolhouse Rock into homeschooling, so please leave a comment!  If you want to learn about some other things we have used in our homeschool read my other Curriculum Choice reviews HERE or visit my blog.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

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