Geography, History, and Art oh my

 We received for review a complete Geography I program from Memoria Press for review in our homeschool. Since Geography wasn't something we had focused on other than location of the continents and oceans I thought this would be a good thing to add in. We are currently studying the ancients and Geography I covers the Middle East , North Africa, and Europe which is a perfect fit of the Ancients.
We started our with just reading the Student Text and talking about the worksheet. I would ask the boys to point out certain areas on the map in the text instead of writing it to begin with, then I had Cameron start writing in the Workbook. Cameron isn't a fan of workbooks, so I decided to add some extra fun to studying about ancient Israel, Ancient Iraq, and Ancient Syria.
I incorporated our history studies, a couple of Bible stories, some sidewalk chalk, and a small group of Playmobil characters and horses (might have had a cow as well) for outside school.

This collection of elements worked together with 2 little boys for a fun school day. We traveled with Abram and Sarai from Ur to Canaan after we drew and colored the map on the back patio. 

Something as simple as the maps included in Geography I inspired a cross curricular activity that was fun and kept my boys engaged for 45 minutes. What a simple thing. 

The complete set costs $48.00 and includes the text, the workbook, the teacher's guide, and the United States Review set (student book and teacher's book) for grades 4-8. Due to copyright rules for this book, if you have more than 1 student using the program,  you will need to purchase an additional student workbook which retails for $11.95 for each student. 

The program is easy to follow and integrates well with a variety of programs and learning styles. I was able to easy incorporate the program into our current Classic approach to history but can also see how it would work into a unit study as well as hands on learning with the workbook as reinforcement. 

We will continue to work the program into our current Classical History Model over the summer and into the fall as we work through the Middle East and North Africa and arriving in Europe sometime around January. It may seem like a long journey but my boys seem to be embracing the classical history with activities to help them remember the geography and events that help form the modern world we live in. 

The schoolhouse review crew reviewed this product as well as Prima Latina a program I am looking forward to reading reviews on as I am wanting to add Latin in the fall for the boys. 

 

I love Memoria Press' motto, "Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time", in our case it is two students but still , it really is that easy to save history by teaching the true history to our children. I gratefully support companies that are willing to go that extra mile in the education of our children. 

Growing up wild, homeschooling with the Wild boys

Are 4 boys growing up in Papua Indonesia really that different than home-schooled boys everywhere else? That was the question I asked my boys before we started watching growing up wild .
We received 2 volumes (1 and 4) to show the boys. Our DVD player quit working shortly after the DVDs arrived but thankfully the computer with a great sound system has a working DVD drive, so we set to watching Volume 1 right off. I think the boys watched the first episode half a dozen times before they moved on to the other 2 episodes. They enjoyed the first DVD and activities so much that we ended up taking Volume 4 to Auntie's house one evening so the boys could continue the adventures instead of watching cable (Auntie has cable so it is something special).
I'm not sure what exactly caught my boys' attention the most, but I do know that all of the sudden they started thinking outside the box a little bit as far as creating more hands on outside activities  I'd like to think their eagerness to help outside was fueled by this series, even if it is simple things like yard work.
I also think these stories helped them see that makes trips into town everyday is silly , sometimes we can wait  and combine trips and even wait a little longer to get something (even when longer is just 3 days.)
A simple little thing I love is how Mom gives the lesson  and activity ideas so that this Mom doesn't have to , the boys are eager to go along with doing the activities since the come from someone else.
The Wild family are missionaries, something I haven't studied with my boys a lot yet. We have talked about various countries and heard some stories, it just hasn't been a huge focus for us until now. Thankfully, the timing couldn't have been better. Heading into the Holiday season where I tend to hear too much "I want" from my two guys, I pray this has shed a little light on the idea that "I want" doesn't have to be material possessions.
 Aside from the amazing stories and activities, the Wilds also have a blog , which added just that much more depth to our study. My boys were able to see that everyone of God's children no matter where they are, are all a reflection of God's Love.
The details, each DVD comes with a CD copy of the activities and retails for $18.99 plus shipping, there are 5 DVDs in the series, you can also purchase the whole series for $80.99 for a 15% savings.  If you are looking for a fun way to introduce cultures, missionary work, and a connection to all God's children , I can't say enough about this series other than the fact that I am working into our budget to purchase volumes 2,3, and 5 for my boys'.
This is the perfect time of year to introduce the Wild family to your family. The even have a Facebook page
where fans as well as the family share.
The boys and I love this series, but you really don't have to take my word for it, check out the SchoolHouse Review Crew's thoughts.

disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew I received the above mentioned product in exchange for my review and honest opinion. 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com a Website with so much more than you can imagine #hsreviews #homeschool

I love finding resources online. I love it even more when I can hang out on one webpage and find everything I need and then some. That is exactly what I got when I started using Schoolhouseteachers.com I love that I can stop by the website each week and find something new and wonderful to add to our lessons.

Schoolhouseteachers.com has monthly , weekly , and daily lessons in a variety of subjects and ages. I love that we can download units and save them for later or work through a new unit as it comes up.  Last month for example the Literature unit was focused on the Velveteen Rabbit, one of my favorite stories so I decided to pause what we had been doing and do a unit on the Velveteen Rabbit. We read the book as a family taking turns reading aloud and then talked about various aspects of the story. I also printed a fun coloring sheet I found online to add to it. The boys loved the break from our other unit studies and the quiet reading time together even brought Daddy into read with us.

We have also thoroughly  enjoyed the monthly lapbook project from Hands of a Child co-owner Kimm Bellato. In April we went on a virtual field trip of London (actually we did it in July getting ready for the Olympics, but that is the beauty of this program I was able to download and save it for later.) I will be saving this month's lesson on Grey and Red Squirrels for Nathan to work on next month as part of this science unit

Another favorite has been the Figures in History taught by Figures in Motion creator and author Cathy Diez-Luckie. We can print and color or just print and build a variety of people and even animals for history. This month is Betty Ross and although we aren't studying American History Currently we will be touching on it a little during our break away Election unit come October so I am printing and saving some patriotic figures  for that unit.
There are also Daily printables for math, grammar, and writing practice.
It is almost overwhelming but the value is huge! For $5.95 a month you received access to a ton of amazing lessons, the digital archive of the TOS magazine, and one of the best parts of the program, The Schoolhouse Planners! There is a planner for the whole family. Primary grade kids have their own planner which my boys LOVE, Mom gets her own planner, Intermediate and High School planners, as well as a Special Needs planner for families with Special Needs members.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my planner. I have the calendar saved on the desktop of my husband's computer so I can finish putting all the dates and tentative plans in before I print it for each of our notebooks.

Now for those that aren't sure about the program, you can check out some of the amazing things on the website with these samples
There really is something for every homeschool family on Schoolhouseteachers.com
See what the rest of the crew thinks of the site by clicking the button below


Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew I received a subscription to this program to review.

Knowledge Quest in search of the knowledge of Maps

Geography isn't a huge part of our homeschool, but knowing how to read a map and where in the world we are studying is important as I teach the boys their history lessons as well as other social studies.  I have used Knowledge Quest maps samples in the past and was overjoyed when we were given the opportunity to review the Map Trek series. 
Before I dive head long into talking about this amazing company, I have to admit a little bias. If you have read my reviews here or on my personal blog, you know I love local companies. There is always something special about working with and supporting local companies. Knowledge Quest is an Oregon company which is always a bonus for me.
So on to the good stuff, the Map Trek series is a set of 6 e-books filled with outline maps as well as labeled maps.
























I love that I can use Map Trek as a stand alone World Geography series but also integrate the program into the History curricula I am already using with their free Integration Guides that outline which maps to use at various points along the way. We are using a combination of TruthQuest History and Story of the World blended with a bit of Ambleside Online, so having the integration guide makes my life just a little easier.  You can purchase each e-book individually for $14.95 e-book and $19.95 CD Rom however the best value really is the complete set of 6 for $47.00 ( a huge savings over $30)  or $55.00 for the printed book and CD pack (also a huge savings)
So, how have we used the program so far; the boys have colored and labeled a full world map with oceans and continents and are working on Ancient Egypt Maps currently. We will be adding more of the Ancient world maps to their notebooks as we continue their journey from Creation to the rise of the Roman Empire. We previously used maps of the United States Civil War to show various battles while we studies the Civil War.  I love having every map I need to help show the boys where in the world it all fits together.

Check out what the rest of the Crew thought of this awesome program!

disclaimer: We received the e-book collection free as members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for our honest opinion of the program.