This Week in History? A Thomas Jefferson Education can help answer that question. #hsreviews

Until recently we studied history in what I thought was an unusual way. I would go by major anniversary dates and plan unit studies around that. It was a lot of work searching for events and  such and matching up dates. Not anymore. Since I found A Thomas Jefferson   Education the boys and I can visit a huge variety of historical events with This Week in History.  I love that I get an email with a fun list of events and people to learn about.  Each week's email include links that we can use to explore people and places about the events. Over the last few weeks it has become a conversation starter, something like , "hey Mom, what happened this week?" , "let's look at see.." to the boys it isn't about traditional history it has become something unique to study.

For $9.95 a month you get a variety of interesting topics emailed as well as on their site complete with links to related activities and articles. I see the value in the program and if I had the budget for it, I would add it to our Homeschool curricula. 

Thomas Jefferson Education works on the premise that parents use the 7 keys of Teaching:

1. Classics, Not Textbooks
2. Mentors, Not Professors
3. Inspire, Not Require
4. Structure Time, Not Content
5. Simplicity, Not Complexity
6. Quality, Not Conformity
7. You, Not Them

You can check out a sample of This week in History and see how it can benefit your homeschool.

disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew we received a subscription to the above mentioned program for free in exchange for our review.

Check out what the rest of the crew thought of this program.

Can math be easy? With Math Made Easy it can! #hsreviews

We have reviewed a few Math programs over the past year. While we have our favorites but are always looking for things to help with issues we might run into.
Our current issue is our multiplication facts, so we welcomed Math Made Easy Homeschool Multiplication 
This simple easy to use program retails for $24.95. The program works on mastering facts for children without counting on their fingers. While I am trying to teach the boys to use their tools I also want them to work on mastering the facts they would need in order to do the problems. There is a fine line between mastering the problems through memorization and understanding the why of the math facts.

I really like the way the program is broken down in 6 weeks and while we only worked through the first 4 weeks (this is summer school so we aren't going full time right now). I was able to show the boys that we only had 36 facts to memorize over the 6 week program.
 This is an doable goal that they both feel they can work toward;  not only through the flashcards but through the games and activity pages. The boys enjoyed that the activity pages weren't traditional math pages especially since we are in summer school. They are asking if we can continue the program which is a good sign. I will continue the program through the 6 weeks and will most likely review/ repeat the program more seriously with Nathan to make sure he has a strong grasp on the mastery.

The package comes in a comb bound book and includes the flash cards, activity pages, games, pre and post tests, and lesson plans. Even being a just a 6 week program, the package is complete and doesn't take any extra planning.

Check out what the rest of the crew thought of this program .

disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a copy of the above mentioned program for free in exchange for my honest review of the program.

Why do we speak English? #hsreviews #homeschool #education

A History of the Language We Speak and Why We Should be Glad we Do: King Alfred's English

I majored in English and Business Management in college, but was never able to work a language history class into my schedule. Now that I review books and curricula for my blog I get to take the "classes" I missed through wonderful books and from wonderful authors like Laurie J. White.

This isn't a book for my boys yet, but when they are a little older I will be presenting this material to them.
Mrs. White is a homeschool Mom and like so many homeschool Moms she says homeschooling is a learning experience for her as well. Researching topics the kids are going to study leads to more knowledge for the teacher as well as the kids; that is what lead to her writing this book.



I was humbled and blessed while reading this book on my e-reader. Her writing style is so friendly and welcoming. I feel like she is writing a conversation with students and parents rather than a textbook.

King Alfred’s English: A History of the Language We Speak and Why We Should Be Glad We Do explores the growth of the English language explaining how the language grew and simplified over time. 
Not only are you getting an English lesson but also a History lesson. If you need to count credits you could count this book and the wonderful supplemental materials from the publisher as a semester or English or split the credit between the History and English subjects. 

While I am still reading the book (I'm studying the whole book in between homeschooling and harvesting), I am engrossed in the book. I love learning and although I am only on chapter 11 I have gained so much understanding for this crazy little language of ours. I am loving how the books shows where various consonant blends originated from and mysteries related the spellings over the years.

 Mrs. White's website  The Shorterword.com has Teacher and Student material to go along with the book There is also a Facebook page with links to related articles as well as conversations about the book . I am looking forward to continuing my study with this book over the next month or so (as I find bits of time to study).  If you are interested in the why's of the English language or are looking for something a bit different for your high school student's English credit this is a must read. You can buy the print copy for under $20.00 depending on which site you purchase it from, or under $10 in e-book format making this an excellent value.


Check out what the rest of the crew thought of this amazing book by clicking on the button below
 

disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse review crew I received a copy of this e-book for free in exchange for my review of the book.

Are your kids struggling writers? Create Better Writers can help! #hsreviews

Are you kids struggling with the basics of writing  a paragraph?

 What about a 5 paragraph essay? 

Do you need an action plan?

 We recently reviewed Create Better Writers, a complete program for grades 3 and up.  We received 3 separate e-books for the program. While my boys were no where ready to tackle a 5 paragraph essay, we were able to work with the How to Teach the Paragraph. This is the newest book in their collection of writing books and retails for $7.95 which is very reasonable and a good value.  Since the paragraph is a key building block to the rest of writing this is a great starting point. I like that the program focuses on teaching the students how to organize their thoughts. I remember even in college that was a critical issue for me, organizing my thoughts.

As a writer who studied writing and rhetoric in college I feel I have a pretty firm grasp on writing a paragraph and a 5 paragraph essay, but teaching it that is a little different especially when my oldest has such a different learning style. I was very thankful for The Homeschool Writing Action Plan  to combine with the e-books. I especially liked the road map concept. This little treasure added a huge value to the whole program and is worth $15.95. To add even more value they offer bundles as well to save you money and package the program for you.




We also received How to Teach the 5 Paragraph Essay which we will be using in the coming year as we practice the basic paragraph more and more. I have read through the program and feel it will also be a value. I am also thinking of having both boys and Daddy work through the program together to improve their writing overall.

Check out what the rest of the crew thought of the program by clicking the button below.

disclaimer: we received the above mentioned e-books as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for our honest review.

Back to School: So many choices for Curriculum

There are so many choices out there for curriculum just as there are a variety of methods to us. While we don't use a boxed curriculum I have found help from those style companies in their websites. I have printed scope and sequence from almost every currirulum company I have found. Why? because it gives me ideas.  I love pulling things from various sources to put our curriculum together. 

One of my favorite sources is actually my membership on the Schoolhouse Review Crew because I am able to try out so many different products and find things that work and don't work. I use this as teacher training especially, because with 2 boys with different learning styles I have found what works for 1 very rarely works for the other. 

With that in mind here are a few of things we will be using this year: (I will link back to reviews if we have reviewed a product that we will be using.)

Math: Montessori bead bars, stamp game, place value tiles, and a checkerboard game.  Math-u-See Foundations and possibly moving into Intermediate 

Reading: McGuffey's First and Second readers and any other chapter books we find to add to the library. Our main resource has really become McGuffey's because the boys both seem to thrive in these books.

History: The Bible, a variety of books, Story of the World Volume 1, TruthQuest History Ancients, as well as a variety of Hands of a Child Lapbooks and Notepacks

Science: I'm still working on this one. We are considering Magic School Bus kits, but from right now we are doing Chemistry using a free kit we found online as well as some fun activities to help us learn the periodic table of elements.

Bible: weekly scripture verse from our Weekly Lesson. Mommy and Daddy are working through Apologia's I don't have enough Faith to be an Atheist currently and will continue it through the school year. (review coming later this month)

We will also be using MapTrek from Knowledge Quest, Creek Edge Press command cards, and several other wonderful bits and pieces I will be writing about.

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.

Zane Education: Video support for every subject #hsreviews #education

During our summer school session I was really looking for something that would cover the subjects and material but in a more relaxed setting. Enter Zane Education; a perfect blend on content , casual, yet  engaging videos, and the material we needed.

We found so much information available to us on Zane that it was almost over-whelming. Hundreds of educational videos at our finger tips. We watched videos on Ancient Egypt, the history of Christianity, botany, Math, and even Art History.

So, at first I thought the annual membership price was too high, but as we started watching and using the program more and more I realized that the value was much greater than the price tag. Lesson plans attached to the videos, quizzes for the various lessons that could be done by both boys, grade level videos, subtitles built in to many of the video that encouraged the boys to read along with the commentator, and colorful interesting videos.  

We received a full year Gold Membership:

from their website: Provides access to ALL 1,500+ curriculum videos for K-12 on the website PLUS all other facilities on the Zane Education website.

A Gold Membership provides:

• Access to ALL of Zane's 1,000+ subtitled curriculum videos for K-12*
• Access to the non-subtitled curriculum Math videos for K-12
• Access to Free Lesson Plans for all 260+ curriculum Topics for K-12
• Access to online Video Study Tools
• Access to all 260 online interactive curriculum quizzes for K12
• Free downloadable copy of Zane's Learning Video Catalogue (worth $49.95)
• Free downloadable copy of Zane's Christian Home Learning Guide (worth $49.95)
• Access to all of the K12 educational resources in the Study Center section including the World Factbook, World Leaders Guide, Historical documents and much more.
• 24-Hour Tech Support

Cost:

$17.99 per month or
$197.89 per year

Either recurring payment of $17.99 per month or single payment of $197.89 per year (saves approximately 10% - you pay for 11 months and get the 12th month free).

Proceed >

Comment: A Gold Membership represents the best value for money providing an 84% discount (Saves $1,225) on buying the use of each video topic separately and a 93% discount (Saves $3552) on buying each CD-ROM separately.

 While this may seem like a lot, no matter if you are a Christian homeschooler or a Secular homeschooler or a parent wanting to supplement to your child's education at home you will find a HUGE variety of subject matter and something that will help you child grow in knowledge. 

Videos are viewed online with links to the quizzes and printable lesson plans. Many of the videos also have dictionary features where you can review various terms from the video.  

While the Gold Membership covers the a ton, there is also a free membership that gives you access to a lot of videos including math videos where Zane has partnered with Khan Academy to share math instruction with viewers. 

We found several of the math videos very helpful in explaining math concepts in a visual way that helped Cameron see someone else doing exactly what I had been trying to show him. (Sometimes they will listen to the same thing from another person but not from Mommy)

With several levels of membership available, families can gain access to so much knowledge and supplement and support their educational goals.

Zane is also an amazing community on Facebook where parents and educators share ideas and links to helpful videos

The Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed this program together and you can find out what the rest of the crew thought of the program by clicking on the banner below.

Disclaimer: We received a full year membership to Zane Education's website as a member of the Schoolhouse review crew in exchange for our honest review of the program. Opinions in this post are that of the author.