Christy – Page 12

CTCMath–An Online Math Program Review from an Old School Non-Techie English Major

Note: We were given a free one-year CTCMath Homeschool Membership from CTCMath in exchange for this fair and honest review.

CTCMath is a top-ranked math curriculum that is available completely online. While there are individual memberships, the family membership that we have is for use with up to 10 children. (Whoa. That’s a lotta kids. I know because we have to feed almost that many.) I think it’s 10 because that’s how many the instructor Patrick Murray has.

The program is completely online and covers almost any level of math you could want. I’m not sure if they have Einsteinian genius level, but it does cover kindergarten through calculus. Is there anything beyond that?

There are more topics in each grade than I knew existed! This is great, because you can hone in on where your student needs help and use CTCMath as a tutor to increase comprehension and grades. This is a popular reason why non-homeschooling families use CTCMath.

Think about it. In class, it isn’t possible for the teacher to act as personal tutor to each student. It takes a brave student to repeatedly ask questions and essentially demand that the teacher halt all forward progress until that child’s personal math needs are met. That means if a child is struggling, he will continue to do so without help. CTCMath is that help.

Advanced students can move ahead of the class–nothing holds them back when they have access to CTCMath. No more bored math geniuses.

CTCMath is also popular among homeschoolers because a child can move at his own pace, reviewing as often as necessary to attain mastery. Plus there’s that 60% price discount. Cha-ching! Even my faulty math knows that’s a good thing!

How does CTCMath work?

A child can take the diagnostic assessments to determine where his struggles are, so he only needs to work on those areas and not topics that are already easy for him. I’m big on not boring children by teaching them what they already know.

He can then watch the video lesson, which uses a multi-sensory approach to learning:

Visual. They watch the graphics on the screen as the math is being taught.
Aural. They listen as Mr. Murray explains the approach.
Kinesthetic. (Hands on.) They put their new skills to use immediately with online practice or on printed worksheets.

Obviously, the next step is number 3 above. The student does the online practice problems or printed pages if you go that route. He can also use the online drills to improve quick mind math skills. Who doesn’t forget those when having to give a customer change or when someone finds out your kids are homeschooled and volunteers to test their knowledge? ARGH! I knew this two seconds ago!

What parental features are included?

CTCMath records all the child’s results and sends you a weekly update so you can see where your child needs more practice or whether they’re ready to move on.

The program also allows you to assign tasks and deadlines for each student, and it alerts you to the child’s progress. The child will see the tasks when he logs on.

Did you catch what I just said here? The computer does both the nagging and the record-keeping for you. Sweet!

Can I say something about the budget?

I don’t like online memberships, because you can’t “hand them down” to the next student. Know why that’s a good thing? Not every child learns the same way. In my household, you use the math book your older sibling used because that’s what we have and we want to eat. That’s not the best approach to math curriculum selection.

Want to know why that’s a bad thing? You have to repurchase memberships every year.

That said, if you had 10 kids (or 8 like me), you can really stretch that membership and those homeschool dollars! Not bad. Still, no hand-me-downs.

Our Experience

I used this program with my seven-year-old, which was really a mistake of children to choose for the review period. My ten-year-old was begging to be able to use it, but I said I had access for 1 student. When I came here to write my review, I realized I had access for 10 students. That “0” at the end of the “1” has meaning. This is why I don’t teach math without a curriculum like I do English. Yup. Ten. Not one. Ten.

So, as of this week, my 10-year-old son will be jumping on board. He is doing great in math, so CTCMath will serve as a reinforcement and to spackle some putty in the cracks of his learning. I’m also making it available to my 17-year-old college sophomore who is considering studying calculus “just for fun.”

See that attitude–just for fun? I don’t think calculus is fun. Calculus has cooties. I know, because I had to study it for a year in college to get my English degree and become a writer. I did well in logic, and the philosophy behind that last sentence contains absolutely no logic. Therefore, I throw up in my mouth a little when I think about calculus. But with CTCMath at our disposal, my oh-Mommy-calculus-is-so-fun daughter can take it all by herself without my having to get anywhere near the cooties. That’s like Christmas…except not quite, because it has the word calculus in it…and the cooties.

Back to my original point…

The reason it was a mistake for me to jump in with my seven-year-old is that, with our unexpectedly barely-there internet access over the past couple months and our consequently severely limited online time, I needed to have someone on board who could speed over the technological learning curve that throws me almost every single time I have to do something different online. She wasn’t it. For math, I need a book…with pages…I can turn.

On my tombstone will be written “Here lies Christy. She was old school.”

That in no way detracts from the lessons themselves or the program as a whole. It just points out that I’m a techno-idiot, even on a program that the rest of the homeschool world uses with ease. Yes, I feel dumb. Thanks for noticing.

My kids–they could figure this out faster than I did…and would have, had I know that 1 does not equal 10. All this to say that my learning curve issues will not be your learning curve issues, and you will get to the good stuff a lot faster than I did.

I don’t think I will ever prefer computer math over paper math, because I’m 43.5 and 2 days old, and that’s how I roll. I like the kids to work things out with pencil and paper. It feels right to me. Still, the approach to these lessons is great:

They are short.
They are interesting.
The teacher doesn’t sound like Lina LaMont from Singing in the Rain, which is especially good since he’s a fella.
They don’t cover too much in a single lesson.
They engage you visually and aurally while giving your hands interactive practice.
If you want, you can print out lessons and your kids can work out the problems on paper using a pencil while you sit close enough to sniff the paper and listen to the sounds of graphite gliding across the lightly dimpled surface.
They show how the solution is done, in case your kiddo says, “But why, Mom?”

As my other children move deeper into this program, I will let you know right here what the kids think. Meanwhile my little girl is having a great time with her subtraction facts, and getting quite good at them, although she sheds tears over the diagnostic assessments. Is that just my kids? Really, I want to know.

Additional Notes for my Fellow Roadschoolers:

You know what I’m going to say here. I’m going to gripe about internet connection…and you’re right. We struggled with our ability to use this program due to internet connection. We had terrible connections and limited data during the majority of the review period and couldn’t use the program to its full extent. Sad face. This is a pretty big deal if you paid for a year’s membership and can’t use it for a couple weeks here and there. Sorry kids–no math this week. (If it’s computer math, that makes my kids sad.)

Now bear in mind these aspects of our unique situation that do not apply to the majority of roadschoolers:

We are in a new place every few days. Not every month or even every week–every few days! Sometimes every day.
We are often out in the boonies. (You can look that up on a map. It will say “Boonies.” That’s where we often are.)
We have (actually had until a few days ago, but that’s a review for another day…and another blog) very limited data for roadschoolers with online businesses and a music mission. We had to count our gigs like most people (should) count their pennies.

There is an option. You can print out worksheets and review summaries for your students if you know you will be somewhere that requires old school schooling. Just pop the papers in a flexi-binder and take up a fraction of the space of traditional math programs.

I know roadschoolers who use this program without that issue, so consider your own situation and don’t let ours scare you away by any means!

You know my other major consideration when evaluating roadschool curricula is how much space something takes up. This takes up none. SCORE! There is the option of printable worksheets, which do take up space, unless you’re like me and you throw them away when they’re completed instead of saving them or plastering them on the refrigerator. You also know I don’t like printing in the trailer, because it’s a pain the backside, so you know I didn’t print those pages anyway, which saves even more space. If I’m going to have math papers, they’re going to be in a book. But you…you might not be as math-paper-averse as I am.

So, summarizing:

Internet-dependent, space-liberated.

Want to know what normal homeschoolers think? Click here or on the banner below:

Social Presence:

CTCMath has an active online presence. Go peek at them or get totally connected here:

~CTCMath (US and Canda)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ctcmath?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctcmathofficial
Periscope: https://www.periscope.tv/ctcmathofficial
Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/ctcmath/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWn5e6974bpIEAe46VnovZw

~Maths Online (Australia Only)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsonline.com.au
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MathsOnlineAU

Save

Christy’s Simple Tips: Simple Storage Solution

Use a shoe holder to contain the little things that clutter up cupboards and shelves.

The one pictured above is hanging inside a laundry closet and is being used to store cleaning supplies.

We have one in our tiny bathroom in our travel trailer. We use it to store personal hygiene and first aid supplies—hairbrushes, shampoo, My Little Pony bandages—all the goodies!

We’ve used them for outdoor items, such as jump ropes, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk. We’ve used them, for dusters and rags. We’ve used them for random homeschool helps and putzy little game items, such as decks of cards, wrap-ups, card holders for little hands, and the all-important place to store lonely game pieces. Poor little lonely game pieces. And, get this, we’ve even used them for shoes—I know, crazy!

The pocket holders are simple and cheap, can be cut down to size, and hide easily on the back of a laundry room door, in a bathroom, or on any wall.

Best of all, they pocket all your stuff–most of which you should just get rid of anyway. Ahem.

To submit your simple tip and receive a link to the page of your choice (blog, Pinterest, Instagram, website), please use the contact page or send an email (pictures are optional) to TheSimpleHomemaker at gmail dot com with SIMPLE TIP in the subject.

3 Things to Do Before You Lose Your Wallet

Three simple steps to take today in case you lose your wallet tomorrow.

Because sometimes I’m a loser, I have left my purse in random places. Most recently I was grocery shopping with my alpha and omega girls–my 18-year-old and my 3-year-old. We were in the pickle aisle, because I was pregnant, when we decided to split up. Hannah set off to snag what she needed, and, after drooling over pickles a while longer, little Ellie and I headed off to look at watermelons. Pickles and watermelon–yummy!

It wasn’t until Hannah showed up that I freaked out, because she no longer had the cart–you know, the cart with my purse in it–my purse which was open. (Don’t tell my husband.) I said, “Where’s the cart?!” and she said, “I left it with you!” which was, unfortunately, true, because when you do something totally and inexcusably lame, you always hope it’s someone else’s fault. We went running through the aisles to try to remember where we–we as in I–left the cart…and the purse…which was open. We found it by the pickles where I left it. No harm done…but still, don’t tell my husband.

So that brings us to the topic of this post–what you should do before you lose your wallet, in case you’re as totally and inexcusably lame as I am.

What to Do Before You Lose Your Wallet

This is a simple three-step process:

1–Purge your wallet. (I know, I know, I always say to purge, declutter, cut back. That’s because it’s good advice.) Keep only what you need on hand. For me, that means the following:

What I Need:

Driver’s license/ID
Debit card for household purchases like food
Debit card for gifts and homeschool material
Cash ( A ridiculously small amount)
Insurance card
Sam’s Club membership card (or they won’t let me in for their good deals on cheese)
The Simple Homemaker business cards (because people ask for them)
Library card (this can also stay in the glove compartment)

What I Don’t Need:

Credit cards
Gift cards (I keep them elsewhere and only bring them along if I will use them…and it’s Christmas)
Shopping cards (I can enter my phone number or use a phone app instead of scanning my loyalty cards)
Social security card (you’re not supposed to carry this around anyway)
Receipts, papers, phone numbers, old lists, etc. (I’m fairly paperless, thanks to my phone; if you need some of these items, sort through them weekly so you don’t have too many)
Chocolate (that’s a lie)

2–Document the information on all your cards, front and back. Replacement information is almost invariably on the back of the cards that you will lose if your wallet is missing. Don’t you love irony? Update your information as needed. There are four ways to record this info:

Copy all the information by hand.
Photocopy all the cards together, first the fronts, then the backs. Number the fronts and backs so you know which fronts go with which backs. It’s always embarrassing to call the library and tell them your debit card was stolen–they really don’t care.
Record it digitally by typing it into a document and saving it somewhere, although you may not want to include your credit/debit card numbers if you’re launching it up to the cloud.
Take photos of the fronts and backs of all your cards with your cellphone and save the information someplace safe, deleting the photos after they have been saved, in case you lose your phone…because you keep it in the purse you left in the pickle aisle.

3–Store this information someplace safe. I think we’ve already established that the wallet is not a safe place to store the information you will need if you lose your wallet, right? Of course right. Here are some storage options:

Safe
Filing cabinet with other important documents
Digital storage facility, like Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, or a secondary hard drive; info on a universal storage locale like Google Docs can be accessed if you lose your wallet on vacation, where you likely won’t have your info along. (If you have other ideas or advice for digital storage, please share in the comments.)
Someone reliable, like your mom–I laughed out loud, since this mom is the one who left her purse wide open and unattended in the pickle aisle. Your mom is probably more reliable than my kids’ mom.
Post office box

Nobody plans to leave her purse in the pickle aisle, but it can happen to anybody, right? Right? Right? Right? Do you ever get the feeling that nobody really “gets” you?

Anyway, it’s better to be prepared. This will take you 10 minutes or so if you just buckle down and do it. Now would be a good time.

This is where you share your inexcusably lame moments…and your wallet advice.

_{Photo credit (without words)}

Faith and Courage in the Crux of History

We were super hyped when Heirloom Audio Productions sent us a free copy of Beric The Briton to review. Hyped, I tell you! And for good reason.

Briefly, Beric the Briton is an audio production of the amazing adventure of a 1st century Briton in a Roman world, based on the book by G.A. Henty.

Heirloom Audio Productions does amazing work. As music missionaries with Christian music CDs for sale, we are ear-deep in the Nashville production world. We see the difference between the good stuff that accomplished artists create and the work of the fly-by-nights, and boy-oh-boy-oh-boy, Heirloom produces the good stuff.

Of course, authors like G.A. Henty deserve the good stuff. When you take an adventure like Beric the Briton and you throw in the voices of some of the great, such as Brian Blessed (Star Wars, Tarzan, Robin Hood) and John Ryhs-Davies (The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) among others, you’re destined to have a great product. And the soundtrack–brilliant!

You’ve heard me rave about Heirloom Audio Productions before, so I won’t get redundant. Suffice it to say that Heirloom is excellent, Beric the Briton is magnificently produced, and any of the Heirloom Audio Productions would make an outstanding addition to your history, literature, and character studies. There’s more I want to say, though.

There are two things I want to emphasize:

The value of this study (all the Heirloom Audio productions).
The extensive ways you can use this product (specifically Beric the Briton).

The Value

Have you noticed the similarities between our government and ancient Greece? Between our nation and ancient Rome? Between our leaders and early 20th century Germany?

What we do not see and do not comprehend we are destined to repeat.

From the executive producer of Heirloom Audio, Bill Heid:

The Bible … admonishes us to constantly “remember” and to teach our children to do the same. That’s why it’s so important to know where we’ve come from and who we are as Christians. If we forget our history and allow ourselves to become culturally conditioned by the world, we will lose our greatest possession.

So while we do everything we can to make our stories fun and exciting…there’s a lot at stake here…nothing less than the heart and soul of civilization itself.

Heirloom Audio Productions adventures are an exciting way to “ignite a passion for history and Christian character in the next generation,” and, quite frankly, this old generation, too! They’re that good…and that important.

Using It

So you see the value of this study. How can you make it more than simply an exciting two-hour listen?

Great question.

While the crux of the study is the audio production, there are numerous digital downloadable extras to enhance your experience. Extras include the sound track by John Campbell (hooray!), a digital version of the audio (or you can buy the digital instead), access to the adventure newsletter, the Henty ebook, two posters, a behind-the-scenes production video (love those!), and most importantly, the big boy in the bunch, a study guide.

All About the Study Guide

The study guide is fantastic. It offers historical context, an introduction, three Bible studies, and a recommended reading list, but those are just the bonuses. The study guide itself breaks the story into listening segments of 4-10 minutes. Each section includes “Listening Well” questions to help the child recall and understand what he has learned, which is great for the younger crowd that might not “get it” right away.

It then has questions that require more thought than recall, appropriately named the “Thinking Further” section. These would be great as writing assignments or open discussion with the older set. Then there are vocabulary words–always fun…seriously…because we like words and dictionaries and yes we are geeks thanks for noticing.

Now, to be honest with you, my kids, who were so enthralled with our previous Heirloom Audio adventure The Dragon and the Raven, tore into this and started listening with no pause for the study guide. Yup. But the fun didn’t stop there.

Other Ways to Enhance the Study

Because I am working through this at a slower pace for “official school,” there are many activities that we are doing or have planned. Most of them fit right into the study and may give you an idea of how you can use this program for your own homeschool or some fun summer learning together:

Timeline work–Henty is already in our timelines, but Boadicea and Nero are not in the younger children’s timeline books.
Have a Roman bread breakfast.
Eat as the upper class Romans would have–lounging, not using forks, and having slaves cut your meat and clean up (take turns being slaves).
Study leviathans and dragons.
Launch into readings about Christian heroes (Hero Tales, Christian Heroes series, Ten Boys/Girls Who…series).
Map work–we like to post a map while we’re going through something. Tracing the travels and mapping the battles would be helpful also.
Character “mapping.” We sometimes draw family trees or “relationship trees” or write information about each character on a piece of paper and post it on the wall (a real wall, not like Facebook or something) to help keep everybody straight.
Study the biblical nature of oaths, words too quickly spoken, and keeping your word, and have the children consider establishing a personal principle regarding oaths and promises.
Make and eat Roman apple cake…and did I mention eat it?
Discuss shipwrecks in the Bible and also near my home, which was along a treacherous shipping route known as Death’s Door. Sounds like a field trip when our travels have us back in that area!
Recreate the Roman machines used to capture Beric…if that can be done out of toothpicks, plastic spoons, and whatever else we have in our home-sweet-travel-trailer.
Study Nero.
Study gladiators and the Roman Circus and parallel the fascination with today’s culture.
Compare our God with the many gods of the Britons–somehow I want to make this a visual, but I haven’t figured out how yet. That’s okay; I have until page 24 to “figger” it out.
Discuss the importance of Creation in view of the Gospel.
Make Roman Noodle Bake.
Build a diorama of Rome…and burn it.
Discuss the good that comes from bad, such as the spreading of the Gospel that resulted from Christian persecution. Apply this to life.
Write a story in Henty style, and turn it into an audio drama or reader’s theater.
Eat Swiss chocolate. Why? Because the Papal Swiss Guard is one of the oldest military units in the world, and represent how important rulers often hired foreign soldiers. Any excuse to eat chocolate!
Talk about Christ allegories…and watch Narnia…with popcorn.
Read more about 1st century Rome from the book list at the end of the study guide. (Elijah just finished two books from this time period.)
Watch a movie set at this time period…or at least Charlton Heston’s BenHur, which is close enough time-wise. It gives the imagination a little help for costumes and settings.

I barely tapped into the number of discussions that the study guide encourages. Many of them would make excellent writing assignments as well, never mind the fantastic dinner conversation fodder!

A Couple Thoughts

This, perhaps more so than some of Henty’s other works, has a strong Christian emphasis. It would make an excellent outreach tool as well as a character study and adventurous listen.

The study guide has a Creationist perspective. So does the Bible. Isn’t it great when people stick to the Bible!

The study guide also seems to teach that baptism symbolizes the forgiveness of sins. We understand baptism as a means of grace, not just a symbol. That’s a pretty big deal to us.

Additional Thoughts for my Fellow Roadschoolers

This takes up practically no space and almost no internet connection apart from a few downloads if you want ’em. Seriously good travel listening for the whole family…not like that one annoying song your kids sing over and over and over or those certain audio kids books where the narrator uses a squeaky voice that burns your ears. Nothing like those!

This is one of those “just do it” purchases. Listening to it over and over doesn’t get old either…not ever. I want the whole collection and so do my minions…and my kids.

Here are some thoughts from other Schoolhouse Review Crew members:

Connect!

Beric The Briton FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/BericTheBriton
The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty series FB page: https://www.facebook.com/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfGAHenty
Heirloom Audio Productions (HAP) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeirloomAudio
HAP Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeirloomStories
HAP Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/114534826166314080647 /114534826166314080647
HAP Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/heirloomaudioofficial @HeirloomAudioOfficial

Save

Enjoying the Extras in Life Without Letting Them Take Over

When my husband “gave” me this blog and told me to start writing, his original intent was that I share how to clear your queue. You Netflix lovers know what a queue is, and you know how easy it is to fill your queue with hundreds of shows you want to watch but will probably never get around to.

Isn’t that life? Don’t we have drawers and cupboards full of supplies for potential projects, shelves full of unread books, heads full of unfulfilled dreams for “when we have time.”

Here’s the problem with a full life queue:

It weighs us down mentally, even subconsciously.
We never get to it because there is so much to do that we don’t know where to start.
We dabble if we get to it at all, and never really finish.
It detracts from life, because it requires repetitive thought, tidying, organizing, planning.
It ends up costing money and taking up space. Boo.

I cleared my life queue ages ago, and keep clearing it over and over and over again. Still, there so many things that I would like to do, that I can’t just lie down and meditate until I die. That’s not living!

So here’s what I do to keep on living without filling my queue.

1. List it.

I love lists. They’re my favorite. I have an ongoing list of things I want to do or learn. We also have a family bucket list of things we want to do, like eat pizza in Italy. Mine is a bit more realistic, but my kids dream big–go kids!

2. Choose it.

I pick one thing from the list–just one. Tempting as it is to think I could learn to quilt and tap dance and make a family cookbook and learn to grill without burning the hair off my arm and memorize all the burn sounds of the North Woods feathery friends all at the same time, I know I can’t.

(I do sometimes choose one fun thing and one professional thing. For example, right now I am editing my book and learning the Charleston–one’s for work, one’s for the amusement of my baffled husband. Plus we always have a character trait that we’re working on, but that’s different, like breathing and eating.)

3. Do it.

Whatever it takes to do it, do it, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize peace, family, or faith. Don’t by any means make the “thing” more important than what really matters in life. Since it’s only one thing, it really shouldn’t take over your life, but rather add a little icing to your cake, chocolate chips to your cookie, salt to your giant pretzel. If it involves your family, even better.

I don’t spend time or money on anything else in my queue. If I come across something I would really love to learn or do, I add it to the list, but I don’t dabble in it yet, because I know I can’t handle a dozen dreams going at once…nor do I want to.

Will I die with undone dreams in my queue? Most likely. Will I have lived for the moment? Most definitely.

List it, choose it, and do it. It’s simple.

So, what one thing do you want to learn or do right now?

Me? Right now (July 2016) I’m learning the Charleston with my teens while Hannah learns to play it on the piano. We’re using this fun video and a few others for kicks…no pun intended. What are you doing?

I’ll update this, just for fun, as we choose new items from our queue.

Save

Writing With Sharon Watson: High School Nonfiction Writing Course Review

Disclaimer: We received The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School, 2nd Edition, from Writing with Sharon Watson in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.

I know, I know, I KNOW! I’m the lady that raised and educated a freelance writer without using writing curricula and even had a magazine article published on that exact topic, and here I am reviewing yet another curriculum to teach your students how to write. It’s ironic, isn’t it?

Not really. First of all, I’m a professional writer with a BA in English, so I know what I like to see in quality writing. Second, I’ve raised writers, so I know what works (with them, anyway). Third, I’m tired, so why not rely on curriculum now and then, eh? (We just left the North Woods of Wisconsin on our travels, so I’m throwing “eh” in at the end of my sentences. It’ll fade.)

The program that my fifteen-year-old daughter, Elisabeth, and I are reviewing is called The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School. Because high school homeschool purchases seem to carry more weight with parents than the grade school decisions, I’m going to leave my cheesy sense of humor behind and give you a straightforward look at what this program entails.

You’re welcome.

Features of The Power in Your Hands:

1. What does Mom or Dad need to do?

The lessons are student-directed. It is written to the student, so Elisabeth can do the lesson with minimal involvement from me. I do have the job of “grading” her or at least checking over her work. Relax. There is a teacher’s guide that explains the entire grading process so you know what you’re looking for and how to help your student improve.

Ms. Watson also includes grading grids or rubrics at the end of each chapter in the teacher’s guide so you know very specifically what to look for in each assignment. This is particularly helpful in the case where your child is working independently. For example, you don’t want to be tearing a paper apart based on something they haven’t learned yet.

2. Who is this for?

While it is advertised for high schoolers, it could potentially be used with a very advanced 7th-8th grader. It’s the other end I’m interested in. I see many, many adult writers (hello blogging world) that really aren’t and truly can’t. This would be a great resource for them, whether to polish up their skills (I’m doing a little polishing myself) or prep for college level essays.

It would also be ideal for the high schooler or college prep student who needs to write essays for scholarships or who doesn’t feel adequately prepared for the required writing in college.

The sections offer dual-level instruction to meet the needs of the beginner to the advanced.

3. What does the program teach?

Part 1

The student begins at the very beginning with the thinking and planning process, which writers know often takes more time than the writing itself. Ms. Watson then works through the structure of an essay and helps students get over common writing hurdles.

Part 2

The student then moves on to persuasive writing in many, many, many forms.

Part 3

The next section discusses proofreading. If I were a poet, I would expound in epic verse on the value of a solid proofreader and woefully lament the hours I spent in my college years editing papers that had obviously not been proofread before they reached me in the writing center. My eyes are still burning. Don’t skip this section! I’m begging.

Part 4

Part 4 teaches a variety of expository writing styles for all the common genres, such as newspaper, as well as the less common writing assignments which most curricula don’t touch, such as devotional writing and emails.

Part 5

Part 5 is the descriptive section, which is small. I’m glad it’s small, because so many other programs we’ve looked at beat that section to death, and that’s annoying. How many ways can you describe your dog before you want to take it out to the back 40 and shoot it–the writing book, not the dog. (You thought I meant the dog didn’t you. You also thought I was serious when I said I was going to leave my cheesy sense of humor behind.)

Part 6

This section address narration. A pet peeve of mine is what Ms. Watson calls Christianese, and here she cautions against it. That means when we get to this section, I get to drag out the red pen and go to town on all the Christianese…except Elisabeth doesn’t write that way, so my red pen will remain untouched.

That brings up another aspect of this program that I really like. Sharon Watson encourages parents to find something positive about each piece of writing, no matter how lame it may be. I’m completely opposed to empty flattery and rewards for merely showing up, but I’m a firm believer in praising the effort (if it was real effort) and applauding the improvement.

Part 7

Here the author gives the students an entire reference section of the many writer’s tools she has helped them build through this program. Similarly, she gives parents their own toolbox in the parent’s guide. This is definitely helpful and saves Elisabeth and me from flipping back and hunting things down.

4. Is this a Christian program?

Yes. You won’t be held under the baptismal water until you confess, though. It does use examples of Christian writing and also includes pieces on tough issues, such as embryonic stem cell research. She asks you to focus on the writing, and not on whether or not you agree with the essay.

Additional Thoughts for my Fellow Roadschoolers:

If you need a writing curriculum for your high schoolers, particularly if they need to hone their essay skills, this is it. While the teacher’s guide isn’t all that enormous, the student book is pretty thick–sorry. You could go digital on this and get the ebook version. I’m not big on ebooks–you can’t smell them. Maybe you like that, though.

There’s no need to worry about internet connections or data usage for this baby, so we’re all good there.

Personally, I think this program is worth the space it takes up. I really do. And from me, that says a lot.

There are several other aspects of this program that I really enjoy as a writer. I won’t go into them all here, but feel free to drop me a question in the comment section below or read what other Schoolhouse Reviewers have to say by clicking right here or on the banner below:

You could also follow Writing with Sharon Watson on social media. Jump aboard:

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WritingWithSharonWatson
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/writingwithshar

Save

An Online Art Course with a History Connection

Note: We received free access to ArtAchieve’s Entire Level II in exchange for this fair and honest review.

Homeschool parents often freak out about subjects they are unfamiliar with. Science and math are biggies, and for the non-linguistical, it’s English. Okay, I get that. But one of the biggest freak-outs is art. Art! I hear, “I’m not crafty. I can’t do art.” I hear it all the time, people!

Never fear, ArtAchieve is here!

ArtAchieve is an online video course for homeschoolers or anyone else wanting to add some real art lessons to their lives.

Learning how to do art versus learning how to draw a picture:

I’m going to ramble a little about piano lessons, but there is a relevant point, so bear with me a moment. (I almost wrote bare with me, but all that bareness would be socially awkward. Narrow escape.)

I took piano lessons as a kid, which was great. Wanting to advance, I took piano lessons in college as well. All the teacher did was find out my current ability level and teach me how to play a stinkin’ song at that level! She just wanted me to sound good for the recital. No theory, no skills training, no ear training. Major boo teacher!

That’s what I was afraid ArtAchieve was going to be like. I thought the kids would learn how to draw one thing in each lesson–a cat, a horse, a bird–but not learn how to “do art.” I thought they would want the kids to look good on the fridge.

I was wrong. Oh, they learned how to draw a cat, a horse, a bird, but they learned art techniques in the process. Major hooray!

Back to piano lessons. One thing nobody likes about piano lessons is when you get one of those teachers who spends so much time on drills and skills that you don’t get to make music. Those are the kids that burn out. Major boo teachers.

Art teachers can have the same issue. Somehow (not sure how), the ArtAchieve program blends technique with creation–the kids learn art techniques as they are creating their masterpieces.

My second daughter, Marissa, is a self-taught artist with an art business, The Art of Marissa Renee. Recently she whipped out a picture of Lucille Ball and used some of the same techniques I witnessed her younger siblings learn from their ArtAchieve lessons. Imagine my delight to see they were learning real, workable techniques.

Yup, some of the techniques 10-year-old Elijah used to make the dala horse below were the same techniques 17-year-old Marissa used to draw Lucille Ball above. Cool, eh? Totally.

You said something about history:

Yes, the students also learn a bit of history and culture connected to their project.

For example, my favorite project was the dala horse. Three of my youngsters (10, 7, and 4) drew the dala horse as a gift to send to their sister. They learned a little about the Scandinavian culture and the history of the dala.

When our travels took us to the home of a Swedish couple living in the northwoods of Wisconsin, we saw dala horses and other evidence of Swedish culture everywhere! And the kids were not ignorant of it. It was a joy to see them make that connection with that couple and their heritage.

A personal note:

Something about the instructor really clicked with this boy above. He’s often rushed and focuses on just getting finished, but he really took his time on this project and made it his own. It doesn’t look like the instructor’s horse (which was not the goal). It is his own creation, and it’s charming, unique, and neat…as in tidy, but also neat as in grooooovy.

I was very happy with his efforts.

A note about age:

While we did this with my four-year-old, level II was a little tough for her. She definitely participated and did great, but she got it into her head that her pieces needed to look exactly like the instructor’s, which they didn’t–shocker. Still, she was happy with the end results.

A note about the freebies:

Please try out the free lessons! You will learn some important skills necessary for all art, such as line, shading, and perspective. We already studied these in depth, being an artistic family, and the lessons here are spot on with other things we studied–the benefit is that these are on video, so if you are not artistic, which I am not, you can rely on the teacher to demonstrate instead of trying to demonstrate it yourself with your own ineptness…speaking from personal experience. Go through the beginning lessons, including the Cheshire cat–you will know if this is for you.

Please try the freebies, and then share the freebie links with others as a thank you to ArtAchieve for offering the free lessons.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

Internet

Blast it all, this course requires a decent internet connection to watch the videos. When we were touring Michigan, our internet connection rocked! Here in Wisconsin, our connection feels like we’re tapping into a rock. We’ve gotten almost all baddies here so far, which is why I can’t pull other project pictures down from the illusive Cloud to show y’all. Boo. Not boo like my college piano teacher, but boo like annoying.

This isn’t something I feel comfortable doing at, say, the libraries with their smokin’ connections, in case one of my kids decides to sign her name on the carpet in permanent marker. It happens. Test the freebies and see how your connection does.

Space

You will need art supplies to take these art classes. Duh. You can do a large number of them with supplies you probably already have on hand. If you advance to level III (that’s 3, not i-i-i), you will need more supplies. Check out the supply lists before you make a decision.

You don’t need a big fat teacher’s manual, so that’s a good thing, right? Of course right.

The end results look great plastered to your RV wall, but look even greater mailed from some random place throughout the country to grandparents and aunts and uncles. Am I right? You know it.

Hey, connect with these people:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artachieve
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artchieve @artachieve
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/artachieve/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+artachieve
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnahofland/

See what other members of the Review Crew think:

Save