Go for the Gold with Olympic Games!

 Age, Bible, Elementary, Geography, Handwriting, History, History & Geography, Language Arts, Middle School, Reading, Vocabulary, Writing  No Responses »
May 072012
 

Is your family looking forward to the Olympic Games this summer? My children are already talking about which events they hope to catch on TV. (My secret hope is that the stations show more sports coverage and less chit-chat, but that’s just me.) Even if Olympics fever hasn’t yet hit your house, now is a great time for Olympic Games: A Study of the Olympic Games from Ancient Times to the Present, by Charlene Notgrass and Mary Evelyn McCurdy.

Available from home education publisher the Notgrass Company, this study provides 40 lessons on Olympic history, sports education, and notable athletes. Each lesson contains some sort of written or artistic response, including creative writing, sports vocabulary, mapwork, and puzzles. The puzzles are particularly intriguing and comprise missing letter, crossword, word search, acrostic, and word scramble varieties.

Moreover, the lessons encompass a wide variety of subjects, such as Bible study, world history, geography, and language arts. I was especially impressed with the scriptural tie-ins. For example, in the section on archery, the directions read: “The Bible often speaks of bows and arrows. One passage is Psalm 127:4. Copy it on these lines. . . . Read about King David, his friend Jonathan, and what they did with arrows in 1 Samuel 20.”

The artwork is another highlight. More than mere afterthoughts, the photographs are fascinating and pertinent to the text. Vivid color photographs of events and places of interest, as well as historical black and white photos of people and places, such as Wilma Rudolph crossing the finish line in first place, are integral to the study.

Olympic Games is officially for ages 7-14, and the activities are designed for this age group. But the subject matter, related in a well-written style, is engrossing enough for older students and even adults. I myself enjoyed reading the lessons, especially those covering an Olympic timeline.

This fun and engaging study is available as both an Ebook and a spiral-bound consumable workbook; I reviewed the latter. The high quality and reasonable price makes Olympic Games an excellent value. What’s more, it would be a fantastic accompaniment to your 2012 London Games viewing!

Written by Ellen of The Blue Stocking Belle

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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Konos Unit Study by Jessica Hulcy and Carole Thaxton

 Unit study resources  No Responses »
Dec 142011
 

Konos is a hands-on learning, Christian worldview curriculum consisting of three volumes. Each volume encompasses two years of study and is about 400 pages full of every subject you could possibly imagine! There are HUNDREDS of activities to go along with each unit.

The subjects included are:

  • social studies
  • practical living
  • math
  • language arts
  • creative expression
  • Bible, science
  • arts & crafts
  • field trip ideas
  • music
  • history
  • geography and the list goes on!

The goal behind Konos is to teach and instill character within our children. Instilling character is accomplished by reinforcing the character traits within the subjects listed above. Volume II consists of the following character traits: Inquisitiveness, Responsibility, Love/Generosity, Courage, Wisdom and Loyalty. You do not need to follow these traits in any particular order and may choose to skip around as much as possible. However, Volume I is geared more towards the younger learner.

A complete math and language arts curriculum are both still needed, since Konos does not offer an in-depth study of these subjects. However, your child will still receive a very large amount of writing, story telling, and reading from this curriculum.

Everything your child will need from grades kindergarten through eighth is included in the above three volumes. This is an all inclusive unit study. Every child, from kindergarten through eighth grade can learn at the same time. Konos is divided into younger, middle and older sections. For example, if you are learning about pets in the Responsibility unit, the younger dictates ways to compare and contrast cats and dogs, the middle may write a list and a short research paper and the older may make an extensive list, research and prepare a paper and presentation on what they had learned about the different breeds.

A week-by-week schedule is another plus to Konos. If you need a little bit of guidance, the authors have included a weekly break down. If you are feeling a bit daring, just pick and choose the activities that you feel your child(ren) would benefit the most from.

A book list at the start of each unit is provided. I have reached the point where I look at the week’s sub-unit and will reserve anything and everything at the library that I feel would benefit and enrich our study. We use the library for everything! At any given time our home is brimming with over 100 checked out books all reinforcing our trait for that month and the sub-units within that trait.
How it works in our home: My children and I have been working with volume II this year and have loved every minute of it! At this time, we are studying Courage. For the past three weeks we have been traveling through the Bible, reading the history of the men and women who exemplified courage while facing danger, death or betrayal as well as other historical figures. We read about Daniel in the lion’s den and researched different interesting facts on lions. My seven-year-old wrote brief paragraphs on lions while my five and three-year-old children drew a picture. Also, we listened to a lion’s roar and talked about seeing the lions at the zoo.

An example of the many hands on activities is our fleur de lys flag we created to remember the courage of Joan of Arc. We marched around our neighborhood as soldiers and priests like in the battle of Jericho from the Bible. We made a sling sho. We also completed heat experiments with fire as we learned of the courage of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. This upcoming week, we will be reading “Call It Courage” while eating coconut, mangoes, bananas. We’ll learn about sea life, and where Polynesia is located on the globe.

I highly recommend Konos for any parent who wants a fun, challenging, interactive and multi-level curriculum. You will be required to dedicate more time into the lesson plans, gathering supplies and preparing than your usual workbook curriculum; however it is WORTH IT! Jessica Hulcy and Carole Thaxton created Konos for their children and I am so thankful that they made this available to other homeschooling parents.

Each volume costs $110. Yet consider that this is a two-year all-inclusive study! For more information visit www.konos.com.

Digital Photography Unit Study by Amanda Bennett

 Grammar, High School, Highschool, Middle School, Unit study resources  No Responses »
Nov 092011
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four Weeks of Study. Each week includes:

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

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

The digital photography unit is fun!

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

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

Where to find Digital Photography Unit Study and more information:

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

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

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

Considering God’s Creation

 Hands On, Lapbooks, Science  1 Response »
Jul 012011
 
At a Glance
Product: Considering God’s Creation published by Eagle’s Wings Educational Products
Age Level:  2nd thru 7th (adaptable curriculum)
Use:  Stand alone science curriculum (36 lessons) or a nice supplement for the notebooking side of science.
Teacher Prep: Minimum to Moderate/Cut and Paste
Format:  Workbook, Teacher’s Manual and CD (Workbook is filled with cut and paste notebook pages.)
Teaching Method: Notebooking approach
Cost:  $29.95 for the Teacher’s Manual, Student Workbook and audio CD
Quick Rating:  3 out of 4 Golden Apples

What is Considering God’s Creation?

Considering God’s Creation is a hands-on creation science curriculum adaptable for 2nd to 7th grade.  The method used is notebooking.
The curriculum covers:
  • Universe
  • Stars
  • Solar System
  • Earth
  • Light
  • Sound
  • Wind
  • Weather
  • Clouds
  • Rocks
  • Plants
  • Insects
  • Mammals
  • Reptiles
  • Birds
  • Fish
  • Amphibians
  • Food Chains
  • Reproduction and Genetics
  • Human
  • Animal Anatomy
  • Physiology

Each lesson covers:

  • Preparation
  • Vocabulary
  • Introduction
  • Song/Poem
  • Hands on Activity
  • Bible Reading
  • Notebook
  • Evolution Stumpers
  • Review
  • Digging Deeper
What did we think?
I love hands-on curriculum.  I am not in love with lapbooking or notebooking in practice but the concept gets me giddy.  Hence, I was hesitant about this curriculum for fear I would start strong and never finish.  Yet, I was pleased by the engaging lessons which were just the right length even for a short attention span notebooker as myself.  Since my 6 year old daughter loves notebooking and my 2 year old loves pasting it was a wonderful way to keep my younger children engaged while teaching my 5th and 7th grader.  The activities were fun, informative and well laid out.  It is rare to find a curriculum that truly fits on a multiple age level so this is a treasure indeed.  Since I must admit I get a bit tired of cutting, I delegated that responsibility to my oldest.  She enjoys the “teacher’s aide” type of work and prepping lessons.  Finding this method to be beneficial to everyone one involved, I use it quite a bit.  So, I especially loved that this curriculum served the whole family.  My 7th grader benefited more from “teaching” than being the student.  However, keep in mind that is not because the material is too young for her as much as we have studied the subject matter before.  Yet, I think it is a great idea to have the older teach the younger.  In conclusion, this curriculum and the format served our family well.  I would recommend it to any family with multiple ages or a child who enjoys notebooking.  Another plus is the low cost!

To view sample pages click HERE.

Richele is a happy wife and and grateful, Charlotte Mason addicted, history loving, eclectic homeschooling mom to four beautiful children. She believes education should foster creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity. She enjoys tailoring education to suit the needs of her children. She loves adding in touches of classical, traditional, and hands on methods to mix things up a bit. Her educational background is in philosophy and educational psychology. Find her blogging at Under the Golden Apple Tree.


Tapestry of Grace

 Classical, Elementary, Geography, Hands On, High School, History, Lapbooks, Literature, Middle School, Reading, Unit study resources, Writing  20 Responses »
Jun 132011
 

Have you found a curriculum you and your children absolutely love? One that is a perfect fit for everyone’s learning style? A nice match for the age range of your household? That, my friends, is how I feel about Tapestry of Grace.

I am fresh from representing Tapestry in a booth at my local homeschool convention. The three of us booth hostesses were not selling Tapestry that weekend. We were simply there to help, to answer questions and to share how we use the curriculum in our homes. Three days worth of talking Tapestry with fellow homeschoolers! So, what I am sharing here is not only my family’s years of experience with Tapestry but also what I learned were the biggest questions for newcomers to this curriculum.

Those that walked up to the booth, brand new to Tapestry or those who had never heard of it before asked this most often: What is it? Will you explain it?

Tapestry of Grace is a classical approach, Biblically-based, unit study curriculum for the whole family. Tapestry covers eight subjects. Everyone learning together – each child on their own learning and skill level. Here are the subjects Tapestry covers:

  • History
  • Writing
  • Literature
  • Geography
  • Fine Arts
  • Church History
  • Philosophy
  • Government

So you need to add: Math, Grammar and Science

Tapestry of Grace is a unit study approach. Four eras or year plans of history. Four units each year. Everyone studying the same topics. The history cycle (from the Tapestry site):

  • Year 1 covers the Ancient World.
  • Year 2 covers the Medieval World through the American Revolution.
  • Year 3 covers the 1800′s
  • Year 4 begins in 1900 and ends with current events.

Weekly plans: Kristen does a wonderful job of describing how the weekly plans are presented in her Review of Tapestry of Grace. She describes each section: the threads, reading assignments, weekly overview, writing assignments, student activity pages, teacher notes and glance into next week.

Here’s a peek at how Tapestry works in our home: When we first started with Tapestry of Grace I had a 5th, 4th and 1st grader. Plus a three-year-old and an infant. We spread one year of learning over two years. I love this pace. Especially with little ones under foot and older ones needing to concentrate on independent work. Tapestry gave us “a map for the journey.” The following words are from Marcia’s Somerville’s blog, Love the Journey, several years ago.

  • This was us before Tapestry: “…using traditional homeschooling curricula, instead of preserving family unity, each child is put into his own little car and travels each day his individual roads. Mom becomes more of a traffic cop trying to keep all the bumper cars on their tracks than the driver of the family van.
  • After: Using Tapestry, everyone travels together and explores the landscape of Classical Education from a Christian perspective in one family van that mom and dad really do drive.“

Everyone learning together. Really? Yes. This year, I had a 7th, 6th and 3rd grader. Plus, of course the preschoolers learning as well. One week the older two had a shared writing assignment. They were to write a radio show. Set in the early 1900s, they worked together on a story of the Wright brothers. They recruited their two younger sisters as additional characters and sound effects technicians. Sixth grader used the radio equipment that was his great-grandfather’s. (Do you see?)

Tapestry addresses all our different learning styles:

  • Hands on projects: I have one child that particularly flourishes when she gets to do a book report on a display board. Woven throughout Tapestry assignments are art and activity projects for individual students as well as for the whole family. The lapbook supplements are wonderful for those that enjoy hands on learning as well.

  • Auditory learners – can listen to audio books for literature and history studies. Many of these we borrow from the library.
  • Independent learning – My eldest likes to load up her books and tuck herself off in a corner. There are plenty of opportunities for those that work best on their own – which is the aim for the transition from dialectic (roughly middle school) to rhetoric (high school).

Even learning for mom and dad! Marcia Somerville explains Tapestry this way: Picture your family getting in the family van and heading out on a cross-country trek. There is something on the journey for everyone. For mom, extensive, weekly teacher notes give you all you would ever need for grades K-12 all the years of your homeschooling journey. For dad, a Pop Quiz. This CD is easy to listen to on a work commute, giving an overview and highlights of the learning going on at home.

If you are new to Tapestry, their website is a wonderful place to start:

  • Download a free, three-week trial of Tapestry. Explore Egypt with your family and explore Tapestry of Grace at the same time. This is what we did when considering Tapestry. It helped me, as the teacher, see how the curriculum works. And it got the children all excited!
  • Marcia Somerville’s video explanation of the map of humanities. Hear directly from Tapestry creator and author about the journey of Tapestry of Grace. She regularly posts on her blog specific Tapestry information as well as general homeschool encouragement.
  • Also on the Tapestry of Grace site, under the Explore Tapestry tab, you can view explanations of the cyclical plans, weekly plans. learning levels, the three big ideas. Pull up a chair and spend some time here.

Learn from fellow Tapestry users:

But I feel overwhelmed by Tapestry of Grace. How do I make it work? Never have we ever done all of the subjects each week. Tapestry is truly a smorgasbord. When I open that week plan, I zone in on the learning levels for my children and ignore the rest. Even then, depending on the week, we may choose to only tackle the core history assignment. Other weeks, as we are wrapping up a unit, we may concentrate more on the arts and activities, doing assignments and larger projects together as a family.

We never finish up each and every assignment for the week. This curriculum serves you and your needs, matching the season of your life. There is so much to choose from! You don’t have to check it all off. Yet, that is also one of the beautiful benefits of Tapestry. You can tailor it by topic for your family, changing it to your children’s needs, matching the books you already have on your shelf. Dig deep or skim the surface. Rich learning either way.

Cost: One time investment. When you buy a year or even a unit of Tapestry of Grace you have it to use over and over again. Cycling through with each child. Your youngest ones have the chance to learn at the different levels up to four times.

How do you like your curriculum? Tapestry is available in print or digital form. Or, you can purchase both for each unit. I made the transition from print to digital last year. I found it easy to have everything on my computer to click on and reach – all in one spot. However, my two new Tapestry hostess friends both preferred having the digital version on their computers AND the print version to hold and flip through.

What about all those books? Oh the books we read! Each unit is rich with living books. Buying all the books for each unit is an option. However, I can purchase the ‘spine’ resource we will be using that year or that unit and reserve the rest at the library. Most of the books are available there. If not the first resource listed, then I usually already have the books listed on the alternate resource page in each week’s reading. Or can find them at the library. For years 3 and 4, Story of the World was listed as an alternate resource. Already had that on my shelf!

Bookshelf Central is the spot to load your cart up on books. You can select the books you need for all learning levels the entire year. Or you can fill your cart with just the books you will need for your grammar students for unit one. The online cartoon character, Grace, leads you through the Buying Guide step by step.

Optional Supplements:

  • Lapbooks: available for each unit, either on disc for you to print. Or pre-printed on colored paper for you and your child to assemble. Some families purchase a lapbook for each child. In our family, we use the lapbook as a review at the end of the unit. Each child picks several topics to work on and research. Click here.

  • Pop Quiz: Dad can listen on his commute to work. Supper time discussion can be about all the learning going on at home. The children and I have also used Pop Quiz CDs ourselves as an overview – in the car – going from place to place during the week. Click here for more information.
  • Map Aids: all the maps you need to print for one year in one place. Available in disc form or as an add on to Tapestry DE. Click here.

  • Writing Aids: A resource for all ages. One time purchase to be used as a supplement to Tapestry writing assignments or as an independent writing handbook. We turn to this guide to see what is expected in an assignment. What is a book report? How do you organize a display board? All types of writing graphs, wheels, diagrams and more to print to aid in the writing process. Click here.
  • Evaluations: Tests and quizzes to see how much your children are absorbing. The Tapestry site says, “Evaluations are unique because they test in keeping with the Tapestry style–integrated and multi-sensory!” Click here.
  • Government Elective: Available for rhetoric students. Key documents for further study. Click here.
  • Online Classes: for dialectic and rhetoric students. Click here.

Unit Celebrations: a celebration brings closure to a unit of study. These can be extensive or simple. Children can dress as a character from the time period they’ve studied and put on a play. Invite grandparents, friends and neighbors to view display boards, reports and school work. Celebrate all you’ve learned. Here’s an example of a unit study from our Year 4 studies and our Year 2 studies.

Continuing Education: I feel that continuing education and encouragement for mom is important. I look forward to the sessions at homeschool convention each year. As well as just seeing the sheer number of homeschoolers that fill that convention hall! With Tapestry of Grace, I’m learning right along with my children. All the resources I need to teach them at my fingertips. Extensive teacher notes from K all the way through high school.

As one heading into our fourth year of Tapestry, let me suggest: Take a summer or holiday break to get to know Tapestry. Take your time navigating their website. Download the free, three-week trial and have fun trying it out with your children. Trying it on is how we all find out if it fits.

In summary: Tapestry brings us all together for learning. As a family we are learning history – HIS Story – beginning with creation and leading to present times. And, when we are all learning together that means less work for mom. I’m not teaching those eight subjects times my five children. I’m teaching them once. Tapestry reaches the needs of all my children and gradually builds independent learners. All it takes is a few steps into the buffet of options available each unit, and the children are off and running on their own.

This year, as I officially start one more of my children on the Tapestry road and transition another into high school, I have the confidence and tools I need. I’m looking forward to teaching my kindergartener, 4th, 7th and 8th graders all together. And I’m sure the three-year-old will be joining in often. So, yes, I’d agree with the Tapestry of Grace slogan, Love the Journey.

And, once more I strongly suggest you download a free, three-week trial of Tapestry. See how it works for your family by actually using it. Print it out and hold it in your hand. We did it that one summer and then knew it was for us.

How about you? Have you already attended or do you plan to attend a homeschool convention? What questions do you have about Tapestry of Grace?

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She regularly shares about Tapestry of Grace at Hodgepodge. She also contributes a blend of writing at parenting, homeschool, frugal living and allergy sites.

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Art Murals for Kids

 Art, Elementary, Middle School, Unit study resources  4 Responses »
May 232011
 

Last February my family spent several days creating murals to hang in their bedrooms.  Coordinating several children to produce something beautiful to hang on the wall can be challenging.  We used inexpensive downloads from Art Murals for Kids as our guide for several reasons:

  • They’re easy – even my 2 year old can color.
  • They’re printable – which meant if a piece got messed up and bothered the children they could just print again and redo it.
  • They make beautiful final products.

My sons chose to use Oil Pastels to color their version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  They decided to try following the original for their colors.  This came from the Mini Impressionist Mural Set, which is only $5.00.  In this set the murals are small – our Starry Night printout was 6 pages, measuring 23″x 19″.  It was just right for a family to do together instead of a classroom.  There is a larger version of Starry Night available for download that is 24 pages and measures 48″x 36″.  I really like how the colors of the oil pastels are bold.  The only drawback to oil pastels is they are a bit smudgy – mostly on children’s hands!

My daughters used crayons with this mural for their bedroom.  They chose this one for the animals.  Their file was also $5.00and included two sizes to use: a 36-page version measuring 45″x 45″ and a 9-page mini version measuring 22.5″ x 22.5″.  I think the crayons looks all right, it just does not stand out as much as the oil pastels.  We may try painting a mural sometime for a change.

There are quite a few other mural possibilities to choose from at Art Murals for Kids.  She even offers coloring books of famous paintings that would be a fun addition to an artist study.  Be sure to check out her companion site, Art Projects for Kids for tons of art project ideas to use with your children.  I’ve found some real gems as I’ve explored the archives!

Tristan is a happily homeschooling LDS mother to 6 blessings age 9, 6, 5, 3, 2, and 5 months old.  You can drop in and visit anytime over at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.  Read her other Curriculum Choice posts here.

{Disclaimer: I purchased these products on my own.  This is not a sponsored post in any way.  And yes, we hope to purchase more murals in the future!}

A Pioneer Story by Barbara Greenwood

 Elementary, History, Living books, Unit study resources  2 Responses »
Apr 142011
 

Here’s one book no homeschooling family should miss:  A Pioneer Story: The Daily Life of a Canadian Family in 1840.  It combines heartwarming stories of a busy pioneer family with the background information and hands-on activities of a unit study.  Truly, it is a winning combination.

Beautifully illustrated, this story of the Robertsons fills our hearts and minds with the life of a pioneer family in the backwoods of eastern Canada.  We follow Sarah (10), Willy(9), George(13), and Meg (15), as well as Granny, Pa, Ma, little sister Lizzy, and baby Tommy, through a whole year of maple sugaring, baby animals, milking, sheep shearing, fishing and more.

With the Robertson children we face the terror of meeting a lynx, the thrills of building a new home, the hard work of bringing in the harvest before the storm, and the joys of surviving a night lost in the wintery woods.  We trade with a jolly peddler, meet a new English boy at the school, and visit Uncle Jacob’s home for a thrillingly different Christmas.

Reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilders’ stories, these tales are not only the delightful story of a busy family, but also a wonderful introduction to the book’s detailed explanations and activities.

For example, in the chapter “Finding a Honey Tree,” Uncle Jacob took Sarah and Willy out to mark a bee tree in anticipation of the fall, when the honey could be harvested.   After enjoying the story, we learn about bees, harvesting wild honey, and pioneer remedies.

“Signs of Spring” shows us the family’s house, winter diet, cooking, and farmyard in such wonderfully illustrated detail that we can almost imagine their lives for ourselves.  When Sarah found the year’s first egg, the entire breadth of pioneer experience is revealed in Ma’s response:

Ma stroked the egg dreamily.  “Pudding,” she said.  “I’ll make a nice egg pudding for tonight’s supper.  There’ll be a good mouthful for each of us.”

When the peddler arrived, he brought joy and excitement to everyone in the family.  Itinerant preachers, shoe makers, peddlers, tailors, and tinkers all were welcome visitors at the farm.  Crafts in “The Peddler’s Visit” include making a punched tin picture, a pioneer water carrier, and a sand clock.

Willy spent a lot of time with his friend Neekeek, and occasionally Neekeek’s uncle would teach the boys a new skill.  Once he taught them how to catch trout with their bare hands.  When Willy came home triumphantly with the fish he had just caught, George scoffed at his story.  Granny, on the other hand, laughed, “Och, aye!  Tickling trout. Your granda was a dab hand at that. Many’s the poached fish we had from the laird’s stream.  Scooped up just that way.  Good for you, young Will!”  Of course this chapter discusses fishing, hunting, guns, and snares.

Throughout the book we learn to read the weather, make a balance scale, prepare for winter, make candles, use a bake oven, build a road, and thresh the grain while we live, laugh, and bicker with the family.  While the bickering does bother me, this book is, on the whole, happy and inspiring. The illustrations are a joy, and the stories are a treat.  My children enjoyed A Pioneer Story even more than I did both times I read it aloud, and they’ve enjoyed it on their own as well.

A free Teaching Guide is available.

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


Constant Conifers – NaturExplorers Review

 Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Mom Helps, Nature Study, Preschool, Science, Unit study resources  1 Response »
Nov 012010
 

Nature study is something my family has only been doing for a few months now.  When I began looking for something to hold my hand as we jumped into the nature study waters I came across the NaturExplorers series by Shining Dawn Books.  These downloadable unit studies were just what I needed.  I received Constant Conifers ($12.00) for my family to review.

Packed into each unit I found:

  • Inspiration to get me enthusiastic about the topic, and literature suggestions I used at my library.
  • Basic information for the topic in one place so I could just read and go if I wanted to skip the library.
  • Lots of out in nature ideas – the gold mine I was looking for!  I had pages upon pages of ways we could explore our topic in the outdoors.  Each day we went out I knew I was ready to help guide my children to learn a little bit more than they had the last time we were outside.
  • Writing and research ideas to bring our learning back inside.
  • References for Bible study, artist study, composer study and poetry tie-ins, with internet links.
  • Notebooking pages to print and use with many of the activity ideas.

During our study of conifers we learned so much about these ‘cone-bearers’. We chose one special conifer by our backyard fence to explore in detail and compare with a maple tree in our yard.  It really helped to be able to touch and see the trees close up when we were learning about cones, sap, bark, needles/leaves, and more.  We spent one day watching for creatures in and around our conifer, another looking at cones in wet weather versus dry, measuring, drawing, and even smelling our tree.  You can see a sample of Constant Conifers on this page.  The units are written for elementary ages, with ideas for using it with both younger and older students.  All my children were able to learn together with Constant Conifers!

I have plans to pull Constant Conifers back out in mid-winter and see what new observations we can make about our special tree in a new season. There were so many great nature study ideas that we could not get to them all the first time around.  I also have my eye on several more of the NaturExplorer units, including Snow and Ice.  I know my kids would have a blast with that one during the winter blahs around February or March!

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool, or read her other Curriculum Choice posts here.

{Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Constant Conifers when I approached Shining Dawn Books about doing a review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

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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