Back 2 School Special from GeoMatters - Ends 8/21/13

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Trail Guide to Learning fans, GeoMatters is having an AWESOME special this week, it runs through August 21st. 

Here's the deal, if you Purchase ANY of the Trail Guide to Learning Complete Packages, you can choose between one Pre-Printed Student Page Pack OR the Lapbook CD for FREE!  Each of these have a $60 value. 

 

Also, if you use the Coupon Code LSG15 to purchase Any of the Trail Guide to Learning Complete Packages you will receive $15 off! 

Taking Another Look at Reading Kingdom {Review}

                 

You may remember that a few years ago we had the opportunity to review Reading Kingdom, an online program that teaches children ages 4-10 to read and write to a 3rd grade level. 

Well, to be honest, at the time Reading Kingdom was not one of our favorites.  I used it primarily for Computer Girl and Alpha Boy, who were 7 and 4 at the time.  They did not really enjoy Reading Kingdom which I attributed that to the lengthy Reading Skills Survey, but I noted in my review that I believed this was a good program and could be a good fit for other children. 

It turns out that Little Bits is one of those "other" children.  He LOVES Reading Kingdom and is doing really well with it. 

Little Bits likes to build words and sound them out with Reading Kingdom. 

Little Bits just turned 5 in July and started kindergarten about 6 weeks ago.  Up until now, we had not done much in the way of formal phonics with him.  At this point he is learning phonics, but we are moving at a gentle pace.  He has been doing Reading Kingdom several times a week, as a supplement to his phonics program. 

Let me tell you a little about how Reading Kingdom works.  Reading Kingdom is based off of the research and experience of Dr. Marion Blank, "a world renowned expert on literacy and the Director of the Light on Learning Institute at Columbia University," who developed this 6 skill model approach to reading...

The Reading Kingdom approach goes beyond the phonics and whole language approaches, and includes several other necessary skills for reading and writing success.  By focusing on all six of these skills, children can master both reading and writing more easily.  Reading Kingdom is currently the only program that includes all six of these skills in their approach to learning to read and write. 

The Reading Kingdom believes that every child is different.  Instead of fitting each child into a "one size fits all" box, children are given a thorough Reading Skills Survey test to properly place them in the program. 

Once children are tested on their reading and writing skills, they can then beginning learning from their personal reading level.  Children do not have to continue going over something that they already know, which can lead to boredom and lack of interest.  Nor are they pushed a head to a level they are not ready for, only causing frustration.  I believe that with the help of the very thorough Reading Skills Survey, Reading Kingdom can almost perfectly place a child in the right reading level.

Children also learn their way around a keyboard while they are learning to read.

My little guy is just learning his letters, so after taking the Reading Skills Survey test he was placed at the beginning of the program.  He started out doing visual sequencing and keyboard skills.  He is great with a mouse but is still getting used to when the letters on the keyboard are, which is a big part of Reading Kingdom. 

Little Bits has been having a good ol' time with Reading Kingdom.  He is currently "making words," as he calls it.  He gets pretty excited and likes to call me over when he learns a new word. 

My little guy has been processing well with Reading Kingdom.   I plan to continue out the 12 month subscription with him, along side his regular phonics program. 

A Reading Kingdom subscription is available for $19.99 per month, or $199.99 per year per child.  The yearly subscription gives you a 20% discount.  Additional children are given a 50% discount at a rates of $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. 

Reading Kingdom offers a 30 Day Free Trial that you might want to check out prior to subscribing. 

Visit the TOS Crew Blog to see what others are saying about Reading Kingdom!

Notgrass American History {Review}

 

 

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned the Notgrass Company's History Curriculum, America the Beautiful and how her kids really loved it.  After hearing her rave review, I knew that once my kids were old enough I wanted to check it out.

The America the Beautiful History Curriculum from the Notgrass Company was given to us to review for the TOS Crew.  Let me tell you what we were given to review and what we thought of them.  

 

America the Beautiful Parts 1 & 2

These two hardcover textbooks are the meat and potatoes of the curriculum.  They are beautifully bound hardcover books with pictures on most every page, some black & white and some color.

Part 1 takes you from 1000 to 1877, and Part 2 continues from the Late 1800's the Present.  Together they tell American history from a Biblical Worldview.  

I have to say, I am not usually a fan of textbooks, but these are pretty impressive.  

The books are set in chronological order and consist of 15 units each, making a total of 30 units.  There are several different types of lessons in the America the Beautiful books:

• Our American Story - These lessons are about the major events in the time period the unit is based on.
• God's Wonders - These lessons teach students about God's creation, like the Chesapeake Bay, Yellowstone and the great Mississippi River.  
• American Landmark - Here you learn about important sites in American history, like Plymouth, the Erie Canal and the Alamo.
• American Biography - This focuses on a particular person that lived during the time period being studied.  In these lessons you get to learn more about people like John Jay, President of the American Bible Society, George Washington and Robert E. Lee.
• Daily Life - These lessons give a glimpse into the day to day lives of the people of the time period.  In the unit on the Civil War, the daily Life lesson is called Two First Ladies.  Here we learn about Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis.

I liked the layout of the books.  I found them to be very informative and enjoyable.  I do however wish they were a little more on the conversational style that we are used to.  

If you have read some of my other reviews, you probably know that I love to learn from living books.  I think using only a textbook can quench a child's love for learning.  In saying that, I do feel that there is a time and a place for a textbook.  Currently, the kids and I are starting to read about the American Revolution.  We are learning a ton from biographies, chapter and picture books, but there were several things in the America the Beautiful that did not read about in our other books. 

   

After reading each lesson, there is a list of several activities, usually about 4-6, that include writing, vocabulary, timeline, map, and workbook assignments.  There are also Thinking Biblically assignments that have the students looking up scriputre to answer questions.  There are literature assignments from We the People and recommended living books, like Amos Fortune, Across Five Aprils and Little Town on the Prairie.  You or the student can pick one or several of the assignments to be completed for the day. 

They encourage family discussions about the days lesson.  The book also has family activities, like making an Iroquoian Longhouse, have a peaceful Boston Tea Party, and make a Liberty Bell Mosaic.  

The way that we have been using this, is that my 8th grader has been reading the lessons independently and doing some of the actitivies on her own.  

I have also found myself picking it up and reading it for fun.  Yes really, for fun.  I have also used it to better educate myself on the topics we are studying, so that I can casually pass the information along to my younger kids. 

We the People

This hardcover black & white book is a wonderful collection of writings from America's history, that include historical documents, poems, letters, songs, newspaper clippings and songs. 

One of the assignment suggestions is to read selections from the book that relate to the lessons topic. We like this book and find it to be a wonderful addition to the curriculum.

Maps of America the Beautiful

This workbook has maps that correlate with the lessons.  Students are given assignments to color and label the various maps. 

Timeline of America the Beautiful

Also in workbook form, this black & white timeline allows students to color and label the timeline as they work through history.  

 

America the Beautiful Student Workbook

This workbook includes fun word searches, matching, multiple choice questions and drawing assignment.  Probably best suited for children in 4th-6th grade.  

 

America the Beautiful Lesson Review 

Full of daily lesson and literature review questions to help parents measure children's comprehension of the material being studied.

My 8th grader and I have done several of these together orally.  

 

America the Beautiful Answer Key

You guessed it, this is where all the answers are {smile}.  This includes answers to the timeline, vocabulary, Student Workbook and Lesson Review questions.  

  

Over all, I really love this curriculum.  I know it will remain on my shelf for the duration of our homeschooling years.  It is excellent as a source of reference for American history. It also makes a well rounded American History curriculum for 5th-8th graders, that could be used independently for older students.  I also believe this would work wonderfully for multilevel teaching.

America the Beautiful is designed to be completed in one school year, working on it 5 days per week.  It would, however, be very simple to adjust the schedule to complete it in two years.  

I appreciate the flexibility America the Beautiful offers with the variety of student assignments,  and literature suggestions. They offer all the bells and whistles of a traditional textbook, but also have a unit study type feel to them.  This my friends is a keeper! 

You can purchase the America the Beautiful curriculum, for $99.95.

The Student Workbook and Lesson Review can be purchased separately.

Please see what other TOS Crew members have to say about Notgrass products including America the Beautiful and the Draw the Learn Bible Series. 

Bible Study For All Ages {Review}

I love all things multi-level teaching, meaning subjects that I can teach everyone the same thing, at the same time.  Bible is one of those subjects where I try to keep everyone on the topic or study.  

I had not heard of Bible Study For All Ages, until the opportunity to review for them came about from the TOS Crew.  

The Bible Study For All Ages is a curriculum that has families {or Sunday school classes} studying the same part of the Bible at the same time, but on their own levels.  This curriculum takes you and your family through several parts of the Old and New Testaments each year. 

There are 416 Bible Lessons that take you through an in depth study of the Bible. 

We were given the following materials for this review:

 

Beginner Level Student Pages 

Beginner Time Line

 

Children's Songs CD Set

 

 Advanced Level Student Pages

Bible Book Summary Cards 

Let me give you an example of how the lessons are laid out.  Let's take a look at lesson 14, we are studying Genesis 49-50, which is the account of Joseph.  We have been studying Joseph since lesson 1, which started at Genesis 37.  

Here is a sample of one of the Beginner Student Pages.

Here is the layout for the Beginner Student Pages and how it works for us.

Learn the Basics 

• We review our timeline cards, which we have hanging on a large kitchen doorway.  

These have been really helpful to us.  The kids love to take turns reviewing the cards.

Sing & Remember 

• In this portion we told to review books of the Bible we are memorizing (Matthew - Galatians)
• We sing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, which is on our Children's Songs CD
• We also do about 4 or 5 review questions.  

The kids love to do the review questions, they especially LOVE THE SONGS!  They now know all of the names of the sons of Jacob thanks to a song we've been singing!  

Get Active 

• This section give ideas to get up and do something. This one has you blindfolding one child and talk about who takes care of us.  

Discover the Bible

• Here is where are read over the scripture for the day.  Most days it is a one chapter in the Bible, today there are two.  
• There are several pictures that show what happens in the scriptures we just read.  Each picture has an explanation and something to do.  For instance, one of the pictures talks about Jacob wanting to be buried in a cave, so the child is asked to color the cave brown.

This is the main part of our study.  We read through the scriptures, discuss and follow along with the activities they has us do.  I fell like this part is really helpful.  

Apply It!

• This part has a picture to color and application questions.

At the end of our study we talk about the picture and go over the review questions together.

Now for the Advanced Student Pages, these pages are set up a little differently.  Here is how we use them...

Remember It?

• This is the portion with review questions.  They are a little more difficult than the Beginner Student Pages.  Today the review is in the form of a matching/fill in the blank activity.

My girls do these on their own.  I do the review questions for the Beginner Pages aloud with everyone.

Memory Workout

• Here the kids are asked to review the New Testament Books and the Genesis Bible Book Summary.

We do the Bible Summary Card reviews together.  These are 8x11 flash cards that summarize the books of the Bible with one or more pictures.  On the opposite side of the picture there is a description that summarizes the book of the Bible that the card represents.
 

Guess What...

• These are mostly Bible facts like what a cup bearer and baker were to the Pharaoh. 

My girls usually read these on their own and share their new fond information with the rest of us.

Discover the Bible

• Just like with the younger pages, this is where we read the scripture and go through the pictures and questions.

We do this part together as a family. The Advanced Questions are more challenging than the ones on the Beginner Pages.  My girls have been fine following along with us for the scripture reading and then doing the questions on their own, asking me for help when needed.

Timeline or Map

• The timeline has several questions that the kids get to answer from reading a biblical timeline on their student page.
• The timeline portion alternates with mapping skills.  Which include labeling areas that were discussed in our Bible readings.
  

My girls do this on their own as well, of course I am available if they have a question. 

Get Active

• This is basically the same activity as the one on the Beginner Page, except this one goes more in depth with the application on blind faith.

We generally don't get to these.  

Apply It!

• This is the application part of the study.  Today's lesson includes re-reading a scripture, answering several questions related to our scripture and a prayer suggestion.

You guessed it, they answer these on their own as well{smile}

Conclusion

I like the over all idea of this program, a lot!  But I found it was hard to get into a "groove" with the different student pages.  It was a little frustrating at first, to be honest.  I felt like everyone was all over the place and Bible was taking a really looong time. 

The way that I tweaked this to work for us was that I stopped reading the scriptures twice.  At first I read the scripture while the boys colored the application picture. THEN, I would re-read the scriptures as we did the Discover the Bible portion of the study.  

I decided to pick and choose what was most important to me and focus on those things.  So we do the songs, timeline and review questions from the Beginner Student Pages.  Then we do the Discover the Bible portion, this is the scripture reading and discussion part.  Then we finish with the application.

At first I was trying to go over all the parts of both levels together, this did not work for us.  I am really glad that I found a way to make this work, because I love many things about this study.  

All of the different components in this Bible Study really set it apart from the rest.  The constant review through questions, songs, timeline and summary cards help the children to remember what they learned even two weeks prior.   I am amazed at what the kids have learned and retained about Joseph by using this study.  I believe my 5 year old could tell you Joseph's whole life story!

Another thing I want to mention, I liked that they did not include scripture on the student pages.  I know that may sound strange, but I think it makes it much easier to use your own Bible version

The student page booklets each have 26 lessons, priced at $5.95 per booklet.  To complete the whole program you would need 16 booklets per student.  First, you need to choose the products that would best suit your family, depending on grade and reading levels. 

I would love to continue with this program, but I am not sure it would not be affordable for us. I am figuring that it would cost a total of $380.00 for all four children to complete the whole study.  

If this was more affordable for me, like say if I could purchase the all the lessons together as a pdf download at a discounted rate, this would be what we used for Bible. 

You can see what other TOS Crew Members have to say about Bible Study for All Ages by clicking HERE!

The Schoolhouse Expo GIVEAWAY! Speakers & Topics You Don't Want to Miss!

The Schoolhouse Expo is coming up! 

August 19-23, 2013

1:00pm-8:00pm (Eastern) /10:00am-5:00pm (Pacific)

While all of the speakers and topics look great, there are several on my "be sure not to miss these" list.  Here they are...

Monday

• Marie Rippel -  Effective Teaching Methods for Struggling Learners
• Evonne Mandella - Organic Multi-Media for Homeschooling Families
• Barbara Beers - Spelling, Grammar, and Latin, Oh, MY!
• Antony Kolenc - Five Common Mistakes Homeschoolers Make

Tuesday

• Kim Kautzer - The Lazy Child
• Tami Fox - Homeschool Encouragement
• Molly Green - Frugal Living
• David Stelzl - Starting a Business in High School
• Ray Comfort - Living Water
• Joaquin Fernandez - Calling All Christian Homeschoolers to Love Their Neighbor's Children

Wednesday

• Andrew Pudewa - Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day
• Jessica Hulcy - Multi-Level Teaching
• Todd Wilson  - Taming the Techno Beast – Parenting in the Internet Age

Thursday

• Terri Johnson - Facing the Giant... Homeschooling Through High School
• Deborah Wuehler - Power, Prayer, and Perseverance!
• Hal and Melanie Young - Shining Armor

Friday

• Davis Carman - Give me one Good Reason to Homeschool
• Malia Russell - Homeschooling Through Times of Transition
• Dr. Jay Wile and Diana Waring - Textbook Myths and How to Deal with Them

Even though I really want to hear ALL of the above listed topics, life is busy and I know that is probably not possible.  I am so happy that the Schoolhouse Expo recordings are included in the price of your Expo ticket.   The links are available after the expo week is complete.  YAY!! 

Schoolhouse Expo Tickets are available for $24.

You can also enter to Win a Schoolhouse Expo Ticket!