Review: Story of the World History

 



Purchase & see samples here.


So far we have only used Volume 1 of this series, but I am so pleased with it, I already plan to go on with the next book. I heard so many good things about this series from so many people. I also loved all that I read in the same author's book The Well-Trained Mind-- so I had to try this history series. I have already learned more about history this year than I remember learning when I was in school. The stories are simple to understand and present the material in a chronological order that make it "fit" into the larger history timeline of events. While I do believe the author is a Christian, the material incorporates both secular and Christian historical events, in a practical way such that anyone could use it and talk about their own beliefs as you go along.

The number one complaint I have heard, which I do agree with somewhat, is that the text intermingles actual historical events with myths, fables, and other stories that are not actually true. The majority of the time, the author makes it clear whether the story is real or otherwise, and I do think it is important that the kids learn both, and learn how to discern between both. I think to some extent it is up to the parent (or teacher) to help them understand which is real and which is just fiction.

The Activity Book has really helped make the whole history experience fun (and my daughter's favorite subject)! We almost always check out some additional books about the week's chapter from the library. (There are also a lot of resources online that provide additional reading opportunities & hands-on activities. I have published on this blog the schedule of activities & books we used.) We try to do a hands-on activity every other week or so, depending on how much time I feel like dedicating to the topic. And these are the things that stick with the kids. Hopefully, when we're in 6th grade and going through Ancient History again, my kids will remember building a pyramid from Legos or making an African mask, and it will trigger their memory about what they learned from that particular time period. The great thing about the series, is you can really just read or listen to the stories from the text without doing any of the activities and still get plenty out of it.

Review: Adventures in America

See samples & order this curriculum at their website elementalscience.com


I loved this simple American history for my 1st grader. For the most part I adhere to the four-year cycles discussed in The Well-Trained Mind for history & science (Ancient History, Medieval History, Early Modern Times, then Modern Times, repeated 3 times throughout the child's schooling). However, I really didn't want to wait until 4th grade before we covered any American History, and I really wasn't ready to jump into an in-depth history study in first grade. And somehow I came across this. It was the perfect solution-- a very gentle introduction to American history and the study of history in general.

The Teacher's Book provides an easy-to-follow schedule to study history 3 days a week. There are 2 short (5-to-10 minute) stories in the Teacher's Guide that can be read directly to the student, and a coloring page to go along with them. There are other suggested Read-Alouds, picture books, and readers suggested to add throughout the week, as well as easy crafts and activities. The Student Book has blank pages for copywork and narration. The 3rd day each week is spent on studying one or two of the 50 states. We read about each state in the suggested book that goes along-- Smart About the Fifty States, located it on our wall map, colored the picture in the Student Notebook, glued on the state flag and wrote a few facts we learned. (I have heard some people say they got by without the Student Notebook, but we personally loved the coloring pages that went along with each section, as well as the States Notebooking pages. If you have a non-coloring type kid, you probably could do with just the Teacher's Guide.)

Many of the most important biographies and stories from American history were included in a simple format that was easy for my first grader to understand. It made our year fun and still provided the "meat" I wanted for our history study that year.

Review: Classical Conversations

This year is our family's third year in a Classical Conversations Foundations community. We have truly loved our experience. Really, it can be as much or as little as you make of it. You can use it as the entire foundation for your homeschool and spend your whole week just reviewing & building upon what you did during your CC day, or you can just use it as a chance for your kids to interact with other kids their age. We fall somewhere in between. We don't spend a lot of time during the week on review, but sometimes the only science, art & music we do is at CC. Lunch & recess are my kids' favorite part of their CC day, and for that, it's worth going. I also value the time with and advice from other homeschooling moms.

There is a fee involved-- I believe I paid about $450 for each kid, but that almost all goes to their tutor and minimal art supplies, etc. So here's what a typical day is like:

Kids can start as young as age 4 and it goes up to 6th grade (there is also a Challenge program for 7th-12th grades but we don't interact much with them). Basically, we are a group of homeschooling families that meet at a church (although its not specifically a program just for Christian homeschoolers) once a week. The kids are split into classes based on their age, typically 6-8 kids per class with one tutor. There are 5 components of our day:

1. New Memory Work- This is the main component of the Classical method. Young children memorize a simple statement or list or definition from each subject. They may often not understand what it is they are memorizing and CC does not spend a lot of time actually teaching the meaning of what they are memorizing, but later when they approach that subject, they will be able to recall it, making it a lot easier. The subject areas are:
       History
       Latin
       Science
       English Grammar
       Geography
       Math (usually skip counting)
       Timeline (161 pivotal events from history-- they are all put into one long song the kids can
           usually sing easily after only a few months in the program!)

It seems like a lot, but it is such a short amount for each subject and usually it's put to music or taught in a fun way that the kids can easily remember. Throughout the week usually all we (my family) do is listen to a couple of the songs to review or go on the CC website, which has a tutorial that goes through the material (there is a $6/ month membership fee if you are part of a CC community).

2. Presentations- Basically like a show-and-tell, where the students get a chance to practice speaking about different topics in front of a group of people and develop public speaking techniques.

3. Science- We do experiments together so we don't have to do them at home. Some people use this as their only science-- perhaps adding in just a few books through the week. I usually do a little more, but it tends to build on what they are learning.

4. Fine Arts- This is split into 4 six-week sessions: drawing, artists (learn about an artist and then do a craft or painting in their style), tin whistle, and composers/ orchestra. This is the component I really take advantage of, because we don't really do any of this at home!

5. Review- covers the past 6 weeks of memory work.


All ages are working on the same material at the same time. (Clearly, the 4-year-olds aren't expected to remember as much as the 11-year-olds and the older kids may not do as many catchy songs or games, but its all the same!) There are 3 "cycles" of material, one year each. So, ideally, if your child starts when she is 5, she can go through all 3 cycles twice, building a great base for learning more about the material once they get to middle and high school.

I have heard from many moms who have older children that the materials they learned in Foundations have really helped them understand some of the harder concepts in the upper grades-- especially English grammar, Latin, and math (learning skip counting makes multiplication much easier!). And I love the Timeline because it triggers my memory for many historical events I don't even remember learning in school. I wish I had been taught classically the way that my children are now learning!

I highly recommend the program if you can afford it for your children. It has really given us the motivation to continue our classical studies and my kids have a lot of fun!




Find out more at classicalconversations.com.

Review: First Language Lessons

   


See Level 1 Samples here

See Level 2 Samples here


There is not a single book published by Peace Hill Press that I have not enjoyed & loved. First Language Lessons is among the most simple, easy approaches to grammar that I have found. Just like with Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, these books are so simple, I felt like they were not enough. I felt like I needed to add more. But then I found out anything I was adding was actually included later in the book or in the series. At just 15 minutes or less a day, I feel like my 2nd grader is already ahead of many of her peers in the area of grammar and is ready to begin more advanced grammar and writing exercises.

It took me awhile to realize the value of copywork, narration, and dictation, which is the process and philosophy used throughout these books. The beauty of these books is that you don't have to do the copywork if your child is not ready. My daughter has always hated handwriting, so we skipped much of the copywork. I wish I would have pushed her to do a little more, now that we're more than halfway through Level 2, but I still think she's gotten a lot out of these books as is. They even include things I wouldn't think of including in a grammar book, like writing a thank-you note, addressing an envelope, memorizing the months of the year, picture narration, and much more. There are also several poems throughout each book for the child to memorize. We have also skipped many of those, because we do a lot of memory work through our Classical Conversations program. But I love that the opportunity is included!

I, for one, am looking forward to moving to Level 3 and continuing this excellent introductory grammar series.

Review: All About Spelling, Levels 1 & 2

See Samples Here


I have to confess up front that I never bought the Student Materials for this book. I only have the Teachers Manual and a set of letter magnets. The program recommends you buy the Spelling Interactive Kit, which is a one-time purchase that includes the letter tiles, magnets, phonogram sounds app (which somehow I actually got for free anyway), and a Review Box with divider cards. The Student Packet, which has one per level, includes Phonogram Cards, Sound Cards, Key Cards, Word Cards, and a Progress Chart. I'll be honest, at this level, I didn't really miss much without the Student Packet. There have been times in Level 2 that I did wish I had the Student Materials (there are a few things mentioned in the Teacher's Guide I'm not really able to reproduce myself), but as just a simple spelling program, the Teacher's Manual has been enough. I actually printed my own Key Cards based on the information in the Teacher's Manual, and I didn't find any of the other cards absolutely necessary.

I think this book is a great approach to teaching spelling. I am a very rules-oriented person, so understanding the "why" behind how certain words are spelled has helped me greatly. I'm not so sure my daughter cares as much as I do about the rules, but nevertheless, it has been working and I am seeing her spelling really improve. I like how the Steps are laid out in such a way that you can spend as much or as little time on each step as necessary before moving on. 15 minutes a day is all you need.

My daughter tired quickly of all the little magnets and we rarely use them, except maybe to introduce a new rule. She's really not a great writer, either, but she still prefers to use our magnetic dry erase board to just write out the new words in each Step. And it works fine that way. I think the magnets are great if you have a child who likes to manipulate things or really hates to write.

This being said, after 2 levels of the program we are probably going to move on to something else. At this point, I need something a little less teacher intensive. The format is not working as well for us anymore. My daughter loves to do puzzles and other activities so I am going to move to something that includes a little more of that for her spelling. I will probably still continue to use Level 1 with my soon-to-be 1st grader, but I may use it in my own style, just using the word lists and creating my own activities to go along.

Review: Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

See samples here


At just around $20, this all-encompassing teach-me-to-read book was a steal! I used it with my first daughter, who turned out to be a natural reader. It was so easy just to pick up the book, turn to the lesson we were working on and watch her learn. And it's all you need for phonics for several years. It actually helped me, as the teacher, to understand phonics and their order, and taught me some of the basic phonograms I don't remember ever learning. It seemed like so simple of a book that I felt I had to add something to it. So I searched for workbook after workbook but never found anything I quite liked that would go along with it. So I ended up just varying it by ocasionally writing out words, sentences, or stories on a dry erase board or on a Power Point that could be read on my tablet, and by adding games from the Internet.

By the time my second son got to the reading age, I thought I would try something else. He was more of a hands-on type learner and I wanted him to have more "workbook"-y type activities since I would now have 2 to teach. So I ordered Abeka's K5 Letters & Sounds book. I found myself tweaking and twisting the lesson plans for that so much that it wasn't as easy & simple as I had hoped for. And I didn't like the speed and repetition. So I went back to my trusty old Ordinary Parent's Guide. And it's working again. That's what I love about it. They're reading real sentences and books after just a few short months. And you can go as quickly or slowly as each individual child needs. I highly recommend this as a simple approach to teaching a kid to read!