Reviews & Giveaways

Poetry Study and Spiritual Growth with George Herbert

Take note, loyal readers! We were given a copy of Working it Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert. from Everyday Education, LLC in exchange for this review.

Other reviewers were given the same, or they reviewed Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting for elementary or remedial learners (or me–my handwriting needs help, so I realized in the grocery store when I couldn’t tell if I needed colostrum or a caboose…so I bought chocolate) and Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers, for high school into college. If you want to see what they have to say, click on the banner below. If you want to hear what I have to say, well, good people, you’re in the right place!

Now, I know I said that this is a fair and unbiased review, but I have been a Janice Campbell stalker for a long time. Her sight, Everyday Education, shares her experience as a homeschooler of four boys who have already graduated…so you’re not getting a preschool mom’s views on teaching teens–pet peeve! Her approach is a Charlotte Mason approach, combined with some Jeffersonian education and classical. What that boils down to, for those of you who think I just spoke a foreign 0language, is no busy work and no dumbed-down reading.

I love her perspective and her articles. I think that might taint my perspective just a bit…don’t you? I don’t care! If you care, stuff a cookie in your mouth–that will make you feel better.

This is what she gave us:

The idea behind Working it Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert is that it is both a spiritual exercise and a lesson in poetry analysis.

Who is this Herbert guy?

Herbert is a British poet and rector from the 17th century. You may have heard him quoted by the likes of C.S. Lewis and Jan Karon, two personal faves of mine. Any friend of Lewis and Karon is a friend of mine! His poetry was published posthumously by a friend. Herbert asked his buddy to read his poems and do something with them if he thought them worthy, but no if they weren’t. What a lesson in humility!

Herbert’s poetry delves deeply into the relationship between God and man, which is where the spiritual growth aspect of this piece comes in. Each poem serves as a launching pad for Biblical discussion and spiritual growth. (When I say “spiritual,” I don’t mean how people mean it today–I mean a relationship and understanding of the true Triune God as presented in Scripture, both Old and New Testament. I’m not getting all New Agey on you.)

What can I do with this book?

The book’s intention is also to help readers understand poetry…and Herbert’s isn’t exactly the easiest to understand, so it’s definitely a study! The methodology you’ll learn to understand it can be applied to any poetry you read…and write, I might add!

The author created a study by breaking each poem down like this:

The Big Picture–what the poem is about
The Parts of the Picture–breaking it down to look at the stanzas, poetry techniques, and other details
The Parts of the Picture Come Together–the flow of the poem, basically. That’s not a good explanation. Basically the overall flow of thought
Reflections–questions to get you thinking
Scriptures for Further Reflection–self-explanatory

If you study it weekly, it will take you a year to work through the 51 works. I recommend taking a year and a half or two, so poetry is enjoyed and not forced down your children’s throats. MY kids love poetry, but not all are the same.

I also recommend using a few of these pieces as memory and copy work. They would look beautiful printed neatly and framed. I do encourage you, from time to time, to have the children imitate Herbert’s style and write poems of their own on similar topics. You may well be amazed and ignite a spark in your children.

I don’t recommend this as your child’s first exposure to poetry. If, however, your children have enjoyed simpler poetry, this is a most excellent method of taking it to the next level. With a poet in the family (our Hannah), I love how this shows ways you can use poetry to God’s glory, which she strives to do also, by the way.

Roadschoolers, this is a digital download, so you can pop it on to your devices when you have the opportunity. No space, no constant internet access…hooray…unless you’re old school like me and prefer a book in hand, which, sadly, takes up space. I know, my life is full of inner turmoil. Wink wink.

Get to know Janice Campbell a bit better through social media, if that’s how you roll. The links are below:

Remember, you can read what other reviewers have to say about this and her other products through this banner right here:

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Little History Lessons for Your Young Readers

In exchange for this review, my family was blessed with four history books brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com.

We were given the following four books:

If You Were Me and Lived in…Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)

If You Were Me and Lived in… Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)

If You Were Me and Lived in…Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4)

If You Were Me and Lived in…the American West (Volume 7)

Also available are the following:

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1)

If You Were Me and Lived in…Viking Europe

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient China: The Han Dynasty

If You Were Me and Lived in…the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)

(Some of those are affiliate links, so if you click on them and buy anything through Amazon, my family will earn a percentage of the purchase price at no additional cost to you. It will probably go to replacing tires or repairing leaf springs, so thank you!)

A bit about the series:

Each of these books puts you in a certain place in history and talks about what various aspects of life would have been like for you. It’s that simple.

Also included are illustrations on each page, some with rather lifelike background details, that help the child visualize what it would really have been like. (I really enjoyed the illustrations in the American West book, because we’ve been traveling those states, and it’s an interesting comparative to what we see and do.)

Each book also contains a glossary of terms, which is rather extensive and an enjoyable read in and of itself. (Geek alert–the glossary is so interesting and informative that it’s my favorite part.) Each also contains a mini biography of different people of that time period.

The stories themselves talk not only about life, but tie in interesting topics in history. One that comes to mind is the invention of the violin which is worked into the story in Renaissance Italy.

A bit about how we use these books:

Because almost everything I learned in dry ol’ history books in my schooling years I have forgotten, but almost everything I learned from living books and historical fiction I remember, we tend toward the latter for our history lessons. Therefore, I let my kids dive right into these books, explore them, and share what they found to be interesting. Of course, we chat about them also, but what they discover on their own is what sticks the most.

We also do the following:

Tie it in to our current history or related studies (my wannabe-chef is taking a real foods cooking course and taking a one-month pizza course, so the Renaissance Italy book fit perfectly.)
Leave them in what we call “Book Basket” for an assigned “free reading” period of whatever interests them.
Fill a reading basket with one of these book and others from the same time period for a more extensive history study.
Share this after a read aloud–for example, the Colonial America book would tie in perfectly with the historical fiction books entitled A Little Maid of….
Record what they learn in their timeline books.
Read aloud–either I read to them, someone reads to me, or they read to each other.
Make related food! I totally want to have an Elizabethan England banquet and eat off of trenchers!
Tie this in with field trips–this was ideal for us using the American West book, because the locations are where we are traveling right now. In fact, the book opens with a picture comparing the same view of Williamette Valley in Oregon today versus in the 1800s. Also, the Colonial America book ties in with our previous travels, so it ties into my kids’ memories, although the latter book doesn’t contain the same level of realistic location images as in the American West book. Still, when you tour New England and Plymouth, your children will hear these same lessons, so it’s great if they’re reinforced either before or after the visit…or, hey, even during!

For my fellow roadschoolers:

My kids get the most out of an area when they are a little prepped. We love to have books around that they can read on their own and pass around, or read together and study. The American West book is great for that right now, since that’s where we are.

Also, the size of these books is manageable–they’re pretty much the size of a Berenstain Bear book, the paperbacks, that is, not the complete series.

The critic in me says:

I would have liked a little more consistency across the books. My younger kids didn’t really care about the switch in illustrators, but I like a series to be pretty consistent. It in no way compromises the value of the book, but I’m picky. There, I said it. I’m picky. It did give us numerous artistic discussions and comparisons, which was particularly helpful with artists in the family.

Since other reviewers checked out different books, check them out by clicking on the banner below:

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Audio Adventurers — G. A. Henty in Egypt

Note: Heirloom Audio Productions sent us a free copy of the audio adventure The Cat of Bubastes based on the book of the same name by G.A. Henty in exchange for this review.

I wish you could have seen my kids’ faces when they opened the package from Heirloom Audio Productions and saw The Cat of Bubastes. You would have thought it was Christmas! Actually, I don’t wish you could have seen them, because that would have meant you were in our trailer, and there’s just no more room for any more people in our trailer. Okay, maybe a couple, but that’s it!

Here’s why this is so exciting:

The Cat of Bubastes is the first Henty book we read when we were studying ancient Egypt a decade ago. Actually, we listened to it on Librivox. There are some really excellent readers on Librivox, and there are some…faithful volunteers. Our reader was one of those faithful volunteers that really grew on us. The story line is excellent and exciting, and it was a delightful experience, but, again, our reader was a faithful volunteer. And the whole listening process took us over a month. (I don’t have a problem with that at all, by the way.)

With an Heirloom audio adventure, you get the same story line dramatically recreated by professionals which you can listen to in under three hours. It’s time-saving and voice-saving, and your kids will not be bored.

Am I saying the audio productions should replace the books? Not at all! But I know that in my house, there is so much to read, that sometimes it’s nice just to listen…and sometimes it’s nice to listen for three hours instead of 30 hours.

I also know that it was an Heirloom audio production that turned my 10-year-old son on to historical fiction, and it was The Cat of Bubastes which made my first four girls into Henty fans. Put them together and you’ve got a mini masterpiece.

(Doesn’t that cat look evil? I’m not telling you the story-line, but it isn’t about a sweet, loveable kitty like our Tuppence…when she’s not in her black-eyed attack mode.)

As a homeschooler and a parent, I look at almost everything from an educational perspective. (Let’s assess how to make those spitballs more aerodynamic, kids!) There are three areas of education as I see it in the Henty books:

Character
History
Literature

With an audio production, number three is missing. However, in the case of an Heirloom production, it is replaced by:

Music
Drama

One thing that is a burr in my first world saddle as a Christian in the western world is the poor quality of so many Christian productions. They don’t generally measure up to what the secular world produces, but people praise them anyway because of the message. This is not the case with Heirloom!

The music composed by John Campbell is brilliantly written and beautifully performed. The dramatic production is of the same caliber as Narnia, Hobbit, Star Wars. In fact, some of the actors who lend their voices to The Cat of Bubastes can be seen in the credits of those and other major flicks. I’m not going to drop names (which you can see here), but suffice it to say this is very well done and you will not be disappointed or embarrassed to share it with others.

The audio CD comes with digital bonuses that can enhance the enjoyment and educational experience. It includes the following:

Study guide
Sound track of the music
Digital copy of the dramatic production (Heads up, roadschoolers!)
The Cat of Bubastes E-book (Be still my literary heart!)
Poster with an inspirational verse
Poster with the cast–like a promotional movie poster (Are you getting some fun ideas here? Popcorn, tickets, friends or cousins…?)
Unlimited access to the Live the Adventure newsletter (well done and down to earth)
A behind-the-scenes how-we-did-it video (great for the aspiring filmographer…or audiographer)

I want to focus on the study guide…and since I want to, I’m going to. I love not having an editor! Wink wink.

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The study guide is intended to help younger children comprehend the story better or older students to do some deeper digging. It includes the following sections:

Listening Well (comprehension questions which let you know if you need to do a re-listen)
Thinking Further (questions that require thinking deeper, drawing conclusions, or doing a little research)
Defining Word (vocabulary)
Further Reading (uh, further reading)
Bible study (three brief studies)

While the production is wonderful without the study, the guide enhances it all the more. We use it sometimes, but not always.

Again, I’m not going to share the plot with you. You can explore that yourself, or read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on the banner below:

What you do need to know is that this is set in the time of ancient Egypt during the time when the Israelites were living in Goshen. It offers an excellent picture of what life was like during the time of Moses in Egypt.

Why is this important? It helps children understand that the Bible is not a separate little aspect of life. It is a true and accurate depiction of real life–real people in real times. By incorporating children into the story, Henty helps children picture themselves in that time period and truly relate.

Enough from me. Let’s listen to the executive producer, Bill Heid, on the importance of sharing Christian history with our children:

At Heirloom Audio Productions, we are passionate about bringing Christian history to life. We are truly thankful for all God has done for us and refuse to take our precious history for granted.

The Bible also 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.

It also means we feel God requires us to go the extra mile, taking our Audio Adventures to a new level of excellence. Our mission, simply stated, is to engage our listeners’ imagination by taking them back in time and immersing them in a great Christian story.

We sincerely hope that you will join us in this mission by helping us spread the word about our efforts and in so doing, ignite a passion for history and Christian character in the next generation.

Bill Heid, Executive Producer, Heirloom Audio

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With a mission like that, I’m completely sold on this company.

This is not just for us homeschoolers. It would make an excellent gift for any family. It’s a great “movie night” alternative (although there are some exciting sections that will not let your kids get to sleep), an excellent option for roadtrips, and a fantastic part of your morning time or lunch break.

The Pray-ers {A Book Review}

I was given a free e-copy CTM Publishing Atlanta’s book by author Mark S. Mirza entitled The Pray-ers / Book 1 Troubles in exchange for this fair and honest review.

The challenge in a book review is not to give away the plot, especially the ending, of a book, so I won’t. I won’t tell you any of the plot at all. I will tell you this:

Pray-ers is a story of demons, angels, humans, and the power of prayer, partially in ancient times, partially in modern times. That’s all I’m telling you about the story. If you want more plot, read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on the banner below:

Instead of a plot summary, I’m giving you some thoughts.

I first dove into this book ready for a fast weekend’s read, but I soon gave that idea up. This book is not something you read lightly on vacation. I had to go back to the beginning and re-read with my Bible (app) at hand. The book is loaded with Biblical references and teachings on prayer. It is definitely a novel, but it could also be used as a Bible study about prayer. In fact, that is what it has become for me, as I research each verse as it is notated in the footnotes and read the context to make sure the lesson in the book is Scripturally sound.

I really appreciate the explanation of prayer as a relationship. While it was hard to hear, it was also interesting to learn about how to pray and when God closes his ears. I’m still studying up on that a bit, since it doesn’t entirely jive with my understanding of child-like faith.

The examples of the men of prayer in the book can be taken to heart and applied to our own lives. The historical context is educational and intriguing.

Here’s where it gets touchy: the demons and angels.

Reading about the demons made me feel…creepy. Seriously creeped out people. Like sleep with a light on creeped out. It was almost worse when the demons were kind than when they were outright ugly.

The angels had the exact opposite effect. I felt protected. Well done, author! (Here’s a picture of the author, so you know whom I’m talking about.)

A couple writing issues:

I would have liked to see a little more editing. While the author is indeed an excellent writer, some tightening would improve the readability. It is a deep read and weighty stuff, and it would be more accessible to a wider audience if it were just a bit, well, “tighter” as my editor calls it. Otherwise, there were a few errors that jumped out at me as a writer, but probably wouldn’t bother people who didn’t have errors scream at them.

The demon names are not capitalized. I completely agree with the author’s decision to do this, but it makes it difficult to read until you get used to it. It took me a long time to get used to it, especially since the demons names are not “normal” and I thereby thought they were words I didn’t know…since there are so many. You get used to it in time…probably more time for me than for you.

Also, the author begins the book with a lengthy explanation of what he wants you to get out of the book. I don’t like that. Let the book do the talking. The writing is good enough to convey that meaning. In fact, the writing itself is very well done, moving the heart to want a closer relationship with God and a stronger prayer life. The author moves you to want to take up arms against the demons by getting on your knees, or, in my Lutheran circles, bowing your head and being very quiet and still.

I recommend this book for very mature high schoolers and adults. My older daughters did not want to read this book because of the demon factor. While I respect this, the demons themselves often mention the power their Enemy (Jesus) has over them. Battle fought, battle won, victor—Jesus.

It’s a great read, but more important, it’s a great prayer life builder. I’m still studying up on some of the doctrine to compare it to Scripture, and tossing some things around with my husband—I’m not a Scriptural know-it-all, but if I see anything that I believe is amiss, I will mention it here.

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A Workable Solution to Kids Email

We were offered a free Annual Subscription from KidsEmail.org in exchange for this fair and honest review.

As you know, we travel the USA full-time. There are 10 of us. My kids make friends along the way, and some of those kids want to stay in touch with our kids. It’s like having a traveling penpal, which has the potential to be really cool! For some reason, most everyone who chooses to write my kids wants to use email instead of good ol’ snail mail—none of them seems to believe that we can receive real letters, even though we can! Oh well.

Before Kids email, this was a little trickier, since penpals had to email Steve or me and we would (hopefully remember to) tell the kids they had email. If you have ever heard about how the teeth fairy works around here (we finally told them the dog ate her) or about last month when we debated for days about our wedding anniversary date and finally decided it was the 29th instead of the 28th, and celebrated it on the 29th, only to look up our marriage license after 20 years and discover we were married on the 30th, you understand that we don’t remember very well. So, sorry, penpals, if the ball is still in our court, like, forever. You might want to re-serve.

Once the kids hit 13, they can have a gmail account, and they are no longer under the torment that it their parents’ memories. But even then we are more than a bit leary. Google does a great job of keeping out the bad stuff, but it still goes into their spam folders if they should choose to look there. Also, kids t that age are not necessarily as discerning as they think they might be, and they could fall prey to creepy creeps. (I know, Jesus died for creeps, too, but I don’t want them getting hold of my kids.) So…

Along comes KidsEmail.org. Can I just say I love it? I can? Okay, I love it.

Here are the great perks:

It offers two levels of email: kidsemail.org or kmail.org, the first for the younger set (Rebecca, 8, uses that) and the second for the older set (Elijah, 10, and Emily, 13, are using that). The images and user interface are different, easier and cuter for the younger set, more complex and non-cutesie for the older set. Apparently, you outgrow cutesie.

Parents can control who is allowed to email the kids, but parents may also choose to turn that control over to the kids. Parents can also control whom the kids can email.

That reminds me of a joke:
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
To.
To who?
It’s to whom.
That warms my grammar nerd heart.

Back to my review—more good things:

Parents can see a copy of each email that comes in or goes out. I have access to entire conversations, mostly crazy made up song lyrics and other things my kids did to waste time while they were getting over the flu that hit my family three stinkin’ times in one month!

Parents can determine if potty words should be banned. (We banned potty words, so be careful what you say to my kids if you want them to get your mail. I don’t think stinkin’ is a potty word, do you?)

Parents can set time limits. Ah, bliss. What? It’s not my fault! The computer kicked you off. It’s tired.

Parents can ground their kids from email. (I keep telling Elijah to skip out on his chores so I can ground him, because it’s really cool. A message comes up that says essentially, “I’m sorry. You cannot send this email message. You’ve been grounded.” So far he hasn’t bitten and is still in good standing, the stinker.)

The parent/guardian interface is simple to use, including adding children. Seriously, there is no learning curve here, even for Old School Mama (that’s me).

The full account allows you to add up to six children. My version allows three, which we maxed out on.

Essentially what kidsemail.org does is allow your child the use of the internet under a highly controlled situation. It’s like freedom within boundaries, and it’s an excellent way to introduce your kids to the wonders of email. It’s also an opportune environment to teach children email social skills, like to not send 150 poopy emoticons to their cousins. Ick. Who designed that thing anyway? I give it two thumbs up.

Will we pay for it after our test period has expired? I think we just might do that. It’s that good.

Learn what other homeschool families have to say about Kidsemail.org by clicking on the banner below:

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KidsEmail.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KidsEmail
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kidsemail1/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+KidsemailOrg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidsemail/

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Apologia Astronomy — Homeschool Science Review

Apologia Educational Ministries gave us Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition in exchange for this review. All opinions are mine, my kids’, and the cat’s…because she had to be the sun when we were demonstrating orbits.

They sent us the following pieces:

Student Text
Notebooking Journal
Jr. Notebooking Journal
Audio CD

Apologia in General

Apologia (pronounced ap-ol-og-ee’-ah and spelled ἀπολογία in Greek) means a speech in defense or a well-reasoned reply. Apologia’s series of science books works to prepare children to defend the Creationist viewpoint both Biblically and scientifically. The goal is for them to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks.” (I Peter 3:15) The astronomy book is one of many which carries the children far toward this goal.

Our children have met much resistance in the world to their Creationist views, but they have either been able to respond intelligently, or thoughtfully questioned, contemplated, discussed, and researched, so they would be more prepared the next time around. It is not solely through Apologia texts that they have come to this point, but they are a strong piece in the puzzle.

The Textbook

This is the second time I’ve taught this course to my children. Of all the science classes I’ve taught, this has been my favorite…with the sole exception of following ants and chasing butterflies. Nothing beats butterflies.

This is an immersion course. Your kids will be studying astronomy for a year. They will know far more about astronomy than I did when I was their age–that’s awesome.

We are Charlotte Mason style schoolers. While Astronomy is a textbook, it is not written in a dry manner. It doesn’t read like a Henty novel or Beatrix Potter, but it’s definitely interesting.

I particularly appreciate that each lesson is broken down into short segments, so I “feel” like I’m “doing it right.” (I know that as a homeschooler I can do whatever works best for my family, but it’s nice to be “normal” once in a while instead of always reinventing the wheel, you know? I mean, we roadschool 8 kids in a travel trailer as we tour the country singing and playing guitar–normal doesn’t describe us too often.)

After each short segment there is a narration cue, basically telling the students to explain what they’ve learned. Sometimes my kids will write the narrations, but most often, they just throw it out there and I just listen.

At the end of each lesson you will find bigger activities and some scientific documentation. These are fun, but you don’t have to do them if they become overwhelming. We usually pick one and sometimes all, but sometimes we skip everything and make cookies…shaped like planets or chewed into the phases of the moon, so it’s educational.

The lessons take about two weeks–no need to rush either. It’s broken up into a comfortable pace.

Your children will gain a thorough knowledge of astronomy through this course–I learned a lot! It is not, however, a “memorize the stars and constellations” course. If that interests your family, it’s easy to add in. This course will teach you, not just give you memory work.

When I taught the older set of four girls, we used Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 1st Edition. That was all we used, apart from some supplies we dug up at home. You can successfully teach this course with only the textbook. That’s something I really like about Apologia Educational Ministries; you don’t need all the additional components. The text is enough, which makes it more budget-friendly.

Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition is updated, so you won’t find nine planets in the solar system. (Are you weeping with me? I know, my whole childhood was a delusion!) It’s a little different than I remember the 1st edition, but my brain is still stuck on that Pluto thing, and my 1st edition book is stuck in a storage unit in Nevada with all my other books (outright sobbing now), so I can’t tell you exactly how. I can tell you that the information has been updated (the 1st edition is from 2004). Also, the photographs seem to be better in this version. Overall, it seems more sleek and user-friendly. But…poor Pluto.

Notebook

I have taught some Apologia courses using the notebooks and some without. The first time I taught astronomy, the notebooks didn’t exist. Currently, my 10-year-old son Elijah is using the regular notebook. For him it is excellent. He works very independently and does as much as he possibly can for each lesson before we even study the topic.

The notebook contains copywork, writing space, activities, and some crafts, all at or above around a 4th grade level. It is still definitely useful for 6th or 7th graders, or maybe even an 8th grader who’s studying astronomy with you. My 8th grader is tagging along on the class until she’s ready to jump into her independent Apologia studies, but she opted not to do the notebook–at her level, some of it is busy work. Not so for the younger set. It’s ideal for my son, and helps him focus better than if he were staring at a blank notebook.

The assignments, activities, and suggestions are included in the notebook. There is also a schedule so you can open and go.

Unfortunately, there are a few things mentioned in the notebook that the kids can’t do without purchasing another related set from Apologia which contains supplies for the experiments and activities plus bonus activities. The fact that those bonus activities are listed in the notebook is unnecessary, in my judgmental opinion. Basically my son got to that point and said, “I can’t find this section,” and I said, “That’s for the rich kids.” Okay, that’s not really how it went down, but that is how I feel when there are teasers like that and my 5th out of 8 kids really wants to do the extras and I opt to feed him. Other than that it’s all good.

The astronomy notebook is consumable. While I usually try and figure out a way not to consume a consumable (no, we don’t photocopy), Apologia science notebooks are an exception. The work should be done right in the notebook. It will make an excellent review and keepsake, and is really a nice product. My kids have all kept theirs over the years…somewhere in a storage unit in Nevada.

Junior Notebook

I was pretty excited when Apologia came out with their junior notebooks. They are targeted to kindergarteners through 3rd graders, but I find my kids are ready around 2nd grade. These are very similar to the regular notebooks, but they are less writing intensive, and some of the activities are bumped down to their levels (not dumbed down). There are, for example, coloring pages with Bible verses, as opposed to lined pages asking them to record their thoughts. The activities are either the same or related, so you can teach the course to the entire family, and the kdis can do different pieces of work at their levels.

Again, the activity suggestions in the text are spelled out in the text book and the student is guided along in the notebook, which again is easier than if the child were doing the work in a blank notebook.

We are using this with Rebecca, our 2nd grader. When it’s finished, it will be a nice keepsake of her year in astronomy. She’s keeping up quite well. This, too, is consumable, and I feel it’s even more important at Rebecca’s age to use it as it was intended.

Apologia also sent us the CD of the book. This is excellent if your voice can’t take all the reading that a lifestyle of literature-based homeschooling requires. And it’s read by the author, Jeannie Fulbright. There’s something about a piece when it’s read by it’s author. It has more…life to it, don’t you think?

Here are my thoughts on using the CD. As much as I love it, I don’t use the CD. Why? Because we have about as many discussions as there are stars in the solar system (slight exaggeration) during a single lesson. This is in part due to my pausing to ask or take questions. Often they’ll be discussing something and my reading it would only be redundant. So, since the lessons are nice and short and do not take a toll on my voice, I stick with reading.

Still, I really truly appreciate this option, especially for when I’m not available.

Again, you only need the book to teach this entire course. The rest are just extra perks. Please don’t feel badly if you can’t afford everything. If you can add the notebooks, great! If not, your kids will still benefit tremendously from this program. My first four didn’t have the notebooks or the CD and we loved our year of Apologia astronomy!

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

Space space space. You hear me harping about that all the time! Yes, these books will take up space, and if you do the experiments, that will take up more space. I don’t know if you want planets hanging from your 7-foot ceiling for nine months. If you don’t, pop them after a week. Blame the cat.

The text itself is quite thin–not thin on information, but just, you know, thin. It’s hard cover, so it’s durable. The notebooks are thicker and not as durable. They can take a slight beating, but they’re certainly not made of steel. Also, did I mention they are thick? They are.

As far as CDs go, we toss our cases and keep everything in a joint case, so it’s no biggie here…except we’re out of space. Of course, if you’re roadschooling and your CD player in your vehicle works (unlike ours), this would be perfect!

You know your kids and their put-away talents. You also know your space limitations. Personally, I feel Apologia texts are worth the space and, for this age group at least, the notebooks are worth their weight as well. Before we were offered this review opportunity, we were going to dig up our 1st edition astronomy text when we swung through Nevada this fall–it’s that good.

Social Media Links:

Apologia is very encouraging on social media. I particularly enjoy following Jeannie Fulbright on Instagram.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/apologiaworld
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/apologiaworld @apologiaworld
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/apologia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apologiaworld/

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Health Curriculum Review for Kids

We recently received a WAY Comes Home Kit from HomeSchool Scholastics, an i4 Learning Company in exchange for this review. WAY stands for Wellness, Academics, and You. It is a health and wellness curriculum designed to increase your child’s awareness about healthy choices and to help him achieve short- and long-term goals.

Check out this picture below. This is what arrived in the great big box that HomeSchool Scholastics sent us…plus plastic eggs and bubble wrap:

The kids were super excited even after the bubble wrap dance party had ended. Bubble wrap, people–best gift ever! Why is there no bubble wrap in that picture?

Let’s break down what you see above.

The main component of the program is a DVD (or digital version.) It contains lessons for each of the three levels, K-1, 2-3, and 4-5. So for week 1, there are three separate videos to watch, one for each of the levels, if you have a child in each level. If you don’t, do what you want, but you’ll probably end up watching them just for fun.

There are three consumable health journals, one for each of the levels, but as you homeschool parents know, grades are flexible. There are also vocabulary cards for each level.

Finally, there is a parent/teacher guide.

Pretty much all of the rest of the components are items you need to perform the activities encouraged (but not required) by the curriculum. There’s no marauding of craft stores and obscure outlet malls for this curriculum. Most everything is provided, or super simple to find. The goods include a balance scale, plastic eggs, measuring tape, bins, glitter, fingerprint pad (too much fun!) a stethoscope which is the coolest thing ever and belongs in everyone’s Christmas stocking, counting chips (Tiddlywinks, anyone?), a ChooseMyPlate booklet, glitter, foam balls…what am I forgetting..oh, bubble wrap!

Here’s how we worked the program:

We watched the videos–all three levels, because that’s how we roll, and because we have someone in each level.

Then the kids dove into their journals. Elijah (10) and Rebecca (8) could do most everything without assistance, but little Eliana is only 4 and still a preschooler, so she needed some guidance.

The journals are great for recording their thoughts, personal goals, and the like, but they don’t quite offer as much guidance as my kids would like in order for them to work entirely independently. There are some pages that are basically lined pages, and the kids would ask, “What do we do here?” Because they feel more like workbooks than journals, the kids didn’t quite know if they were supposed to do certain things on those pages, or just go nuts. Other than that bit of confusion, they really enjoyed their journals.

We did the extra activities as it fit our lifestyle–some we went all out on (we know what everybody’s heart sounds like), and some we skipped…for now. We will be going back to them soon, but they were anxious to jump to the next video lessons, so we did.

I think the kids’ favorite aspect so far has been the exercise segment of the videos. Instead of doing their own and only doing one, they’ve been doing all of everybody’s every time. That keeps them busy and the trailer bouncing for a while! We switch over to the exercise videos after watching the lessons or just randomly.

A couple thoughts from Mom:

I loved that the program really got them thinking about their health goals and how to achieve them in a manageable way. Who doesn’t love it when her four-year-old commits to walking 21 minutes every day with her mama? Give that girl a cookie! I mean broccoli…and a cookie.

One aspect I don’t entirely agree with is their approach to nutrition. If you follow the governments health standards, you will find it spot on. We don’t vilify animal fats, so we did change up the recommendations a bit. No biggy.

Overall, I like this program–the videos are entertaining and well-done. The kids/actors really grow on a person. The information is good, although some of it definitely requires parental involvement to aid in comprehension.

I appreciate that the children are all learning similar topics, but at their own levels and in three distinctly different ways, with no extra prep from me.

There are a lot of optional components to the program. This makes it more fun and exciting for the kids and helps the lessons stick. I am more of a less is more type person, but the kids are enjoying all the extras…and it’s really about them, not me, isn’t it?

Essentially, if you are required to add health into your homeschool, or you want your children to be a bit more aware of how their personal decisions affect them on many different levels, this program could benefit you.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

Space–you see all those components, don’t you? They take up space! However, they are optional, so if you stick with the journals and the videos, and maybe the stethoscope because it’s totally awesome, you’re good. The balance scale, however–that baby’s big. Cool, but big.

The course can be shortened or lengthened to fit your needs, so you can use it and then drop it off in storage or pass it on after a few weeks–not like those big fat heavy math books that do in your leaf springs. We are leeeeeeengthening the program because we can, by adding in all the additional components and taking the lessons more slowly. I love homeschool freedom!

Need more information? Go right to the source!

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WAYComesHome
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WAYComesHome @WAYComesHome
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/i4learning/

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