The Curriculum Choice

The Great Editing Adventure

Sep 282009

My son says, "I like the inventions and guessing what they are. I can't wait for the next one. Also, they don't take very long."

Reminiscant of the one room school house, where the teacher would write a sentence to be corrected on the blackboard, The Great Editing Adventure series provides adventures that reviews grammar daily in this similar fashion.

There are 3 adventure stories in vol. 1 that review grammar, writing mechanics, spelling, vocabulary, finding synonyms and dictionary use. Each day you read a new sentence as you write it on a board, or use the student workbook (which I prefer) that already has the sentence written for you. Then my child takes a few minutes to correct the errors. I like to give the number of errors to look for. And, if it’s a hard one, I will give them a hint.

The Great Editing Adventure is great for daily drills because they are a quick way to develop editing skills in a fun manner. They also provide the opportunity to talk about grammar, spelling and writing in a contextual way. My children start caring about the story and are eager to find the mistakes!

The added bonus of synonyms and vocabulary words is easy to use and all-in-all this takes about 10 minutes a day. I recommend this for children beginning in grade 4 or above, with a prior grammar background. You can also alternate years doing a grammar text one year and Great Editing Adventure as review the following year.

Someone pointed out to me a long time ago that there is only so much grammar to learn. Many grammar texts simply repeat the same thing over and over which makes for “busy work”. Learning grammar is simply preparing a child to speak and write correctly. I like to alternate our focus each year between grammar and writing, and Great Editing Adventure is a great tool to help me achieve this goal.

Click here for a sample teacher page.

Click here for a sample student workbook page.

Written by Brenda, a classically eclectic mother of five. You can find her blogging at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschooling journey and family traditions.

Science in a Nutshell

Charlotte Mason, Classical, Science, Unit study resources 1 Response »

Sep 132009

Pulley Power

Science in a Nutshell kits by Delta Education are geared towards 2-6th grades. They come in a huge array of life, earth and physical science topics. There are enough materials for 3 children to use together including 3 student journals, and all the materials you will need to do the experiments, except household items. You also get a teacher’s guide. The teacher’s guide gives you background information on the topic before each experiment. The student journals have a place for data, charts and questions to answer as each experiment is done. The kits generally have 8-12 experiments. You work at your own pace, and the kits can line up with any science curriculum that has the same topics.

Here’s what I like about these kits:

Even things like straws, Dixie cups, string, and rubber bands are included. So, you really do get practically everything you will need to do the experiments. Also, I want to point out that there is enough materials to do the experiments 6 times. So, these kits are good for homeschool families with multiple students and co-ops. I’ve used several of my kits twice with multiple students, because you can buy extra journals.

What I would suggest to add with the kits:

Although the experiments are great, I think you still need to use a science text or living book that goes with the topic. This requires a little extra planning, but makes it a more well-rounded science program.

Microworlds

Here’s some ways I have used the kits:

1.) One year I purchased 4 chemistry themed kits (physical and chemical changes, gases, solids, and liquids) and used them in a co-op setting with another family. We did 2 experiments a week.

2.) Another year I had my oldest child lead his younger brother through the One and Only You kit. They worked through it together and told me about what they learned. I highly recommend this kit about DNA, it was interesting.

3.) Another year for physics I bought 3 physics topics (flight, electromagnetism and sound vibrations) and matched the experiments to a science text. Since the topics lasted 8-19 weeks, we thoroughly investigated these topics and we touched on others more briefly with smaller science kits and experiment books. It was an eventful year!

Visit Delta Education for ordering information and more information on Science in a Nutshell kits. These kits would work for unit studies in-depth studies of one science topic.

Brenda is a classically eclectic mother of 5. She blogs at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschool journey and family traditions.

Primary Language Lessons

Charlotte Mason, Classical, Language Arts, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Aug 162009

I’d like to start off with a little background before I give this review because I think that understanding the circumstances can be helpful to another mom with a similar situation. So, here I was homeschooling my two oldest boys and getting ready to begin some sort of formal studies with my third son. I was using Shurley Grammar for my older two and knew that I could not teach three levels of Shurley. So, I wanted something as a light introduction and was beginning to succumb to the thought that grammar should be taught within other subjects. For first grade we just focused on reading, memorizing poetry, with an occasional dictation. Then, a dear friend and I had a meeting over dinner and gelato and she mentioned that some of her favorite times homeschooling with her, then, older girls was when they were using Primary Language Lessons. So, I ran home and ordered a copy.

When it arrived, I didn’t know what to do with it! It was different then anything that I had seen. It has beautiful illustrations, simple-yet-elegant language from days gone by, and….wait! I did recognize something – poetry! Yeah! O.K. I could try this. My third son did not know what to think of this book at first, but it has been a door for conversation. It has lead us through gentle exercises learning grammar through dictation and narration exercises and it adds to our “snuggle time” factor. You can see from the above picture that we actually have fun during our grammar time.

I’m looking forward to using this book again this year and progressing to the next book. He is more comfortable with the time we spend using this book and I have added some note-booking pages (instead of a workbook) to have something to show for his knowledge. I’ve lost my up-tightness that I had before 5 kids about teaching them everything “this year”. I understand now that it is a process and that language should be enjoyed and not forced on a child. I’ve found this is a good balance for my classical eclectic homeschool. I would say PLL is good for grades 1-4. There is another book that follows after PLL, which is Secondary Language Lessons and it is probably good for 3-6th grade. And, I still believe Shurley is a must for later on down the line. But, that’s another review.

Brenda is a classical eclectic mother of 5. You can find her blogging at Tie That Binds Us regularly about her homeschooling journey.

Have you heard about Eeboo?

Art, Charlotte Mason, Preschool, Science, Writing 5 Responses »

Aug 092009

Brenda and I had the privilege to review products from a new-to-us company with a funny but memorable name, eeBoo. We decided to combine our reviews into one entry so you can see a variety of their items and get two different perspectives about a line of products that is sure to become one of your favorites too.

Here is Brenda’s review to start us off.

I’m always on the hunt for new companies to add to my list of favorites to buy high quality games and toys from. It makes it easier to go into a toy store or shop online when I have a pre-approved list of companies, and it helps me narrow down my searches. Eeboo has been added to my list.

wall_birds1 Eeboo has an amazing assortment of products for young minds. I was fortunate to be able to review some wall cards and a story game, provided by this excellent company. The wall cards are perfect for my budding bird-lovers. They are beautifully illustrated number cards that have birds from 1-10. These cards are durable and look lovely displayed on a wall.

Now, if your tot doesn’t have an interest in birds, how about trains? Eeboo has counting trains too. Their wall cards don’t end with counting numbers, they also have a wide assortment of alphabet cards like animals, tools and flowers. There are several ways that I have thought about using these cards since I can’t display them all and I also happened to buy the tool alphabet set at a toy store while on vacation this summer. I thought about sliding the cards into page protectors in a binder to make a book, and displaying just a few at a time while we are learning that letter or number on an IKEA curtain wire including clips for 4.95, in the school room.

I’m definitely going to use these cards with the my little girl when we begin bird watching for our nature studies. I have collected a hand full of field guides to help us discover which birds we are watching and these particular cards will give us a head start because they have the names of the birds on them. The illustrations are also perfect for having young ones draw a bird in their nature study book, cause we all know birds don’t usually stick around and pose for a picture for too long.

tms_forest

Eeboo also has the perfect tool for budding writers. Tell Me a Story cards have brought hours of fun and laughter for my 5 year old daughter and I. The first time I opened this game, she devoured the box. We had to go through every card! The directions come with several games to play but her favorite is when we both take turns choosing a random card from the pile and add on to our silly story…and add…and add…and giggle.

We have the Mystery in the Forest edition, and I’m so happy to discover that there are 3 more editions. I’ve secretly bought her another one for her next birthday.

My “school” plan for using this pre-writing tool is choosing a few cards for her to dictate (or tell me a story about), while I write it down for her. Then I would read it back to her and have her draw a picture to go with her story. This would also work well with my seven year old son. I have also found that if I leave these cards in the dining room that my other children find them and start coming up with their own games to play with them. I can see why Tell Me a Story cards have won the Best Toy Award, because they are very versatile.

Written by Brenda, a classical eclectic mother of 5. You can find her writing at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschooling journey.

Now it is my turn! Our family decided to test these products out together…including our teen boys and my daughter Amanda! Thumbs up from everyone!

Screech Owl at Dusk. Robin Cheer Up. September Serenade.

eeboo-pencils_nature Don’t those color names make you want to go grab your nature journal and start sketching? Even before we opened the pencil box, we all noticed the beautifully illustrated tin they were packaged in. The watercolor style painting of birds on this eeBoo pencil set is attractive and so inspiring that you will want to open them up and get started. The sturdy tin box will be a great way to transport the pencils in a backpack on our hiking adventures. We all appreciated among the twenty-four pencils in the set that there are three shades of yellow, three shades of green, and four shades of brown. When you work in your nature journal it is wonderful to have a variety of natural shades to choose from when you need just the right color for a wildflower you find or to sketch a tree seen in a meadow. We will be adding these colored pencils to our list of items to take on our nature rambles, using them when we are inspired out of doors.

Speaking of nature journals, our family was also asked to review their Nature and Observations Notebook. We loved the size and feel of this journal. It is spiral bound and has a variety of features that give this special journal a little something extra.

eboo-ntbk_nature
12 glassine envelopes for field specimens and pocket to store them.
128 Pages including: Sketch Pages and Note Pages
10 fold-up sheets for stationery
2 sheets of stickers for specimens envelopes and stationery
The envelopes are perfect for holding pressed flowers and you can store them in the pocket on the inside of the front cover. The journal also includes beautiful specimen labels to attach to each envelope. Very handy! The journal has pages that are both lined and pages with sketch boxes to encourage you to illustrate this memory book. At the back of the journal there are 10 removable pages to be used as stationery and they come complete with stickers to seal the stationery closed. This is one complete nature journal! eeBoo also offers a travel journal and a summer journal .

Summing it all up, our family decided that the beauty of the eeBoo products is what attracted us at first but after using the pencils and their nature notebook we love the quality and versatility of the products as well. We look forward to filling our nature journal with colorful sketches. Thanks eeBoo!

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

Trivium Mastery – The Intersection of Three Roads book review

Classical, Philosophies 5 Responses »

Jul 202009

triviummastery_frontcover You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Or, so they say. I’m not an old dog but after homeschooling for a number of years I felt like I’d heard and seen it all. This is especially the case with a classical education, because I’ve been around since the beginning of the resurgence of the ever-so-popular The Well Trained Mind by Susan and Jesse Wise Bauer. This book was the inspiration for me to research further and find the right balance for our classical Christian homeschool.

A Missing Inheritance

The book, Trivium Mastery by Diane Lockman, is the first classical education book to challenge my way of thinking in 9 years. I mean really challenge it. Diane has some historic proof of a real classical education and she challenges this new movement that we all have been drawn to.

What I like about this book is that she makes a classical education more palatable. It’s not as hard as us “die-hards” can make it seem sometimes. A true classical education can be reduced to concurrently teaching three primary skills to substantial mastery: language, thought, and speech.

I do not believe this book would be easy for new classical home-educators. It is assumed that you know certain things about the classical resurgence. It is almost as if this book is written as an intervention. The fact is, that is why she wrote it. She discovered a classical education and followed the trail back in time. She traced back the history of a classical education, past the popular names such as Susan Wise Bauer, past the Bluedorns andWilsons, past Dorothy Sayers and on to the original Greeks and their methods. You should almost read the Sayers text or The Well Trained Mind first to better understand her points.

12 Classical Makeovers

The second half of the book is several test families, that she has done a classical make-over on. She gives lots of examples and innovative ideas. I had to keep a running list of these ideas for each of my school-aged children. You really should read each family’s make-over to gain all the helpful information that is in this book.

I’ll be honest, I have struggled with the suggestions in this book because it almost seems too easy. I appreciate the research behind Trivium Mastery and I am really anticipating her sequel that will be geared toward the rhetoric years.

This old dog has learned a few new tricks and I encourage you to read this book if you have been wondering how you could simplify your homeschool by creating an authentic classical home school.

One further note: the assessment tools that are included in the back of this book are worth their weight in gold. They have helped me clearly understand some of our needs that need to be met this coming year. And, I see myself using this handy reference throughout the year as we assess our goals.

Please visit Trivium Mastery for more information about Diane and her book.

Written by Brenda, a classical eclectic mother of 5. You can find her blogging regularly about family traditions and their homeschool journey at Tie That Binds Us, after their summer vacation has come to an end.

Managers of Their Homes – Scheduling for Homeschooling Families

New to Homeschooling, Organization 10 Responses »

Jun 212009

moth Being a mother of five, I am often asked how I manage our homeschooling day. Some are just curious and others are hoping to see if there is anything that we do differently that might help them manage their day. Each family functions differently, and each mother desires a smooth-running home. But the consistant theme that I have seen with unhappy homeschool mothers is that they cant keep up with their work load.

Managers of Their Homes is a time-proven method that helps homeschooling families schedule their God-given priorities so that they can accomplish all that they set out to. It is particularly useful for larger families, but works with families of all sizes.

The first chapter tells you why you should have a schedule and it dispels the myth that you cannot gain a victory over your circumstances and time usage. The next chapter is about how to have a successful schedule by planning a daily devotion and depending on the the Lord, while trying to accomplish the Lord’s agenda, instead of on our own strength. This chapter is followed by insructions on how to schedule:

children’s days
school
babies
chores
kitchen
priorities

After reading through these chapters you will begin to see the light and probably will be ready to get to work setting up a schedule with all the helpful ideas that are provided.

“My initial investment of time making my schedule has paid off with interest.” Lorrie

“When we are on our schedule, there is much more peace; we get more done and I don’t feel stressed by making decisions all day.” Pauline

The next chapter, Planning for the School Year, is especially helpful as it instructs you in prayerfully assessing each child’s strengths, weaknesses, and goals before you put the pieces of the schedule together.

There are a few chapters next on scheduling the summer, challenges you may face in your schedule and what do you do when you have the inevitable interruption. The chapter on implementing the schedule helps you get it all together and encourages you to tweak it as necessary until it is comfortable. Then there is a Question and Answer section where the families that tested this method asked questions and the answers for every question imaginable is provided.

My favorite part of this book is the section of actual schedules that moms have used. I personally used this section immensely when planning our schedule. Also, another helpful component to this book is the worksheets that you fill out in order to visually see the hours in your day and how you are choosing to spend your time. You quickly realize that there ARE enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that God has laid on your heart to implement in your family.

“It’s so pleasant and easy I find myself thinking, ‘What am I doing wrong; this is too easy!” Robyn

“Making and using a schedule has helped me, and there were people who thought I was hopeless!” Sherri

The final step is completing and displaying your family’s schedule and there is paper provided for you to make a chart with 30 – 60 min. time slots to proudly display on your wall in a central location so each child can see what they are expected to do next.

I look forward to creating my new schedule each year, as we add the next child and need major adjustments, or tweak it a little to add different responsibilities. It always helps me begin school with a good attitude instead of beginning with the feeling of defeat before we even start.

Please visit the Titus 2 site to purchase Managers of Their Homes, and see the other products that Steve and Terri Maxwell have written.

Written by Brenda, Classically Eclectic mother of 5. You can find her writing about her homeschooling journey at Tie That Binds Us.

Lively Latin

Classical, Foreign Language 2 Responses »

Jun 082009

Lively Latin or, The Big Book as it is called, covers all the elements of a first year elementary Latin program in a fun and engaging way. These elements include: 1^st and 2^nd declension Latin nouns in their cases, and genders, the use of the nominative and ablative cases; 1^st conjugation verbs in the present, imperfect, and future tenses; the irregular to be verb in 3 tenses; 1^st and 2^nd declension adjectives; sentence diagramming; 175 Latin words with the many English derivatives which come from them.

It also covers Roman history from Romulus’ founding of the city in 753 BC to the end of the 3^rd Punic War in 146 BC, complete with maps, paintings, review puzzles and activities.

It is a big book, if you get the printed 4oo high-quality page version. This is my all-time favorite Latin program! We have completed a year with my 5th grade son, but we have not finished the 400 pg. book. We worked on Latin 3 x a week, at our own pace.

Reasons we love the “Big Book”:

I love the idea of learning grammar and Latin together. Saves me time! Being the history buffs that we are, we love the snippets of Roman history. It has plenty of vocabulary, the organization of the order that you learn things makes sense. The explanations of what and why you learn certain things are excellent (what other Latin programs are missing). The Big Book is a parts to whole program, meaning it starts with the fundamentals and builds up from there to a full understanding of the language. We learn better with this approach as it teaches the patterns of the language. The whole to parts approach forces students to memorize individual words and their meanings without the benefit of the pattern. We have failed to excel in Latin using this approach in the past.

A few unexpected extras that are included:

1. The history of our language
2. Full color studies of paintings depicting Roman history and other artists.
3. Character studies of famous Romans.
4. Lessons on Greek and Roman gods.
5. Plenty of repetition.
6. Choice of Classical or Ecclesiastical pronunciation

Go here to see the suggested timeline for Lively Latin.

Visit the Lively Latin website for more information and for ordering the Big Book 1 or Big Book 2.

Written by Brenda, Classical eclectic mother of 5. She is sold on the benefits of teaching Latin to all her children. She blogs at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschool journey.

Free Audio Books Review

History, Literature, Living books No Responses »

Jun 022009

myaudioschool My Audio School is an online collection of audio books that are in the public domain. We have been using My Audio School to supplement our TOG yr 2 readings. The simple navigation makes it easy to find the book or subject that you are looking for.

You are really not going to believe the selection unless you check it out for yourself! You definitely want to check this site against the books that you have on your school list. These are FREE! Click here to visit My Audio School.

Written by Brenda, Classically eclectic mother of 5

Lyrical Learning – Science Supplement

Science, Unit study resources No Responses »

May 282009

Lyrical Learning is good music, good science,and good-time learning!

I’m a lover of science and have been hodge-podging our science curriculum together for 8 years. I like to use a little bit ‘o this and a little bit ‘o that. Someday I’ll write and reveal my brilliant science curriculum, but not today. ; )

I want to talk about learning science by singing it. No, I’m not crazy. I’m a firm believer in using all the senses to help remember those science facts that we can’t seem to do. So, when I discovered Lyrical Learning I flipped my lid and bought them all. To read about why singing these camp songs work, read what Doug Eldon wrote about the brain and repetition here.

We started with Lyrical Life Science, because that’s where our 4 year rotation of science was, studying life science, biology. LLS starts with the scientific method, which, in my absolutely right humble opinion, is the key to understanding the scientific thought behind any field of science and it should be taught and revisited at the beginning of each school year.

Lyrical Learning books are packed full of scientific words and information. They do not say this is a full curriculum, it is meant as a supplemental learning tool. We have used vol. 1-vol 3 of the life science books and are planning to use Lyrical Earth Science this year.

I’ve used these supplements in different ways:
1. The first way is if you create your own science unit studies, then you can use these as your spine. They are thorough and provide a nice outline for a unit study.
2. You can pair up the concepts with whatever you are using for science – a text or off the shelf curriculum or your own. You may have to buy all the volumes in order to do this.

Helpful other tips:
1. Play the songs often.
2. Definitely have the children fill in the fill-in-the-blank worksheets in the work books to help them remember the science terms and to see them spelled correctly. If you don’t want to buy the workbooks, then make your own.
3. Don’t read the text to younger children. It is over their heads and they will tune you out. YOU read it and teach it to them as you explore your scientific studies. Older ones can read it – it is packed full of information and is a true wealth of knowledge.
4. You have to do hands-on things so that they will remember the information. Here are some of the things we have done or plan to do this year that go along with these books:

1. dissections – basic 7 kit at Tobin’s lab
2. zoo trips
3. My Body Book
4. Rock and mineral kits
5. Microscope unit study
6. Protozoa kit
7. Owl pellet dissection
8. Worm composting
9. Plant a garden, you don’t need much space, just a few square feet
10. Color detailed pictures of what you are studying
11. Read living books, picture books and do nature studies

To hear some samples of the songs visit Lyrical Learning.

Written by Brenda, classically eclectic mother of 5

Institute for Excellence in Writing Review

Classical, Language Arts, Writing 6 Responses »

May 272009

iew IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing has a top of the line writing course called Teaching Writing, Structure and Style. It is a DVD based writing program by Andrew Pudewa that teaches you how to teach writing to a child of every age. I’ve used IEW since 2004 and I’ve taught co-op classes and small groups in my home, giving me a lot of experience with this writing program. (I’m an official Pudewa nut fan.)

The first thing I will tell you about IEW is it is like NO other writing curriculum out there. It teaches you how to teach writing. It’s the equivalent to a DVD college course in the correct way to teach writing. So many other curricula miss the mark by far and do not prepare the child to be able to write about any topic, in any way, whenever asked.

With the right supplements, you can have a 12 year writing program for all your children. The investment is more then purchasing writing workbooks each year, but the payoff is a competent writer.

Here are the nuts and bolts:

After watching 9 DVD’s you’ll be able to teach writing in your sleep.
It’s a step-by-step system that’s fairly easy with a little practice.
You can use your existing history, science, art, current events etc. as resources to teach the different units once you get the hang of it.
The IEW supplements are wonderful if you are pressed for time and unable to create your own lesson plans.
You will ask yourself why no one has taught you this stuff before.

If you are not sure you can put the time into learning the techniques, then learn along with your child and get Teaching Writing and Student Writing Combo Set.

Resources I’ve used for all 9 units and would recommend :

ancienthist Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons, L. Verstegen
Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons, L. Verstegen
U.S. Hist- Based Vol. 1, L. Verstegen
Character Based Writing Lessons, Daniel Weber

Watch these 2 videos below to see Mr. Pudewa explain in more detail how this program works.

Written by Brenda, classically eclectic mother of 5

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