Review of Home School in the Woods: Great Empires for Co-op Use

For our 2015 Spring Semester of our co-op we have had the pleasure of reviewing Home School in the Woods: Great Empires Activity Study (for elementary ages).  This "unit study" type approach covered 14 different great empires with over 35 different links, games, crafts, recipes, maps, and more. It is available as a download for $18.95 or as a CD for $19.95. They also offer pricing for schools or homeschool co-ops. This curriculum came as a download of a zipped file. When unzipped, there were files for:

• Masters: the maps, recipe cards, and masters of the craft projects, about 4-6 pages per empire.
• Projects: this was one pdf sheet for each of the different empires, which had the overview of the unit study.
• Text: this was the text to be read for each empire, averaging 1-3 pages per empire.
• Timeline and figures: to show each empire in relation to each-other in the scope of history.

 

 There are 14 empires covered by the Activity Study:

1. Ancient Egypt 
2. Spanish Empire 
3. Ancient Greece 
4. French Empire 
5. Ancient Rome 
6. English Empire 
7. Ancient China 
8. German Empire 
9. Arab-Muslim Empire 
10. Japanese Empire 
11. Mongolian Empire 
12. Russian Empire 
13. Viking Empire 
14. The United States of America    

 For my 30 minute Co-op class, I had 10 students. We met every other week for 7 weeks. I had students ranging in age from 6 years to 2nd grade. While there is much more in each lesson than can be covered in 30 minutes, I adapted it to fit our class. First I chose 7 countries to focus on, one for each week:

• Ancient Egypt 
• Ancient Rome 
• Ancient China 
• Japanese Empire 
• Russian Empire 
• Viking Empire 
• The United States of America 

Before class I reviewed the suggested reading list in the lesson plan, and got lots of books from my local library about the empire we would study. I also prepared a snack using the recipes in the lesson, or something similar. If I was not using one of the recipes, then I would bring a food special to that region, for example: for the week we did the Japanese empire, I had a daikon radish for the kids to taste.

I also prepped the craft for the week, so it would be easy for my kids to get going right away. My prep time was usually less than 30 minutes, and I had most all of the craft supplies on hand. When class opened I immediately handed out the craft sheets so the kids could begin coloring and creating with the help of my 2 room monitors, and while they worked, I read the lesson text that was included. I usually went through the lesson before hand and marked it up (highlighting), so I could skip ahead and summarize as needed for time. This gave us opportunity to stop and discuss and answer questions as we went along. Some highlights of what crafts we did:

• Egyptian cartouche from salt dough
• A pop-up book of Chinese history
• Viking coins for the kids to plunder
• Creating our own Matryoshka dolls
• Tracing the voyages of Vikings on a map
• painting a Roman frieze

What we liked:

 The project sheets made it quick and easy for me to pick the best projects for my class. Most projects were easily accomplished within 30 minutes. Having the kids' hands busy made the history lesson easy to read while they worked. I like that the suggested reading list in each lesson was where I got my jumping off ideas for my library list. This gave the kids lots of pictures and info beyond the lesson itself. The kids were able to see, touch, and taste each culture!

What we didn't like:

 Some of the projects printed on excessive paper. The history lessons varied greatly in length and detail, which required more preparation.

Bottom Line:

This co-op class was VERY popular and some of the kids mentioned it was their favorite class of the day. Even though this was my second time using the program, I found new and exciting things about it. We would likely using it again, and I really enjoyed the detail and variety of this unit study. Two thumbs up!

Disclaimer: Our homeschool group was given a free download of this curriculum in exchange for our honest review. We were thankful for the opportunity to provide this experience for our co-op students, but this did not in any way effect the opinions expressed here. 

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Roman History: Punic Wars, a summary.

I recently stumbled across this on Facebook (thanks for sharing Natalie!) and we sat down and watched all four videos. If you are studying world history and having a hard time getting your kids interested, this might appeal to you. I will warn you up front that it was created by a video game vlogger on YouTube, so they use the words suck and screwed, and other such teen type talk. But their lighthearted approach was what appealed to us, and it was a FUN overview of the Punic Wars period of Roman History.








I can't take any credit for this creative content, but I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share!

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Review: The Presidential Game

This was a fun benefit to being on the Review Crew: getting to play a new game for the benefit of my readers! It was a blast to get to review The Presidential Game: "a fun and exciting game of strategy where two teams, republicans and democrats, battle for control of each state to ultimately gain 270 electoral votes or more."

This game comes with:

• 1 20" x 30" Game Board, 
• 1 Score Pad, 
• 3 Blue Dice, 
• 3 Red Dice, 
• 80 Politics Cards, 
• 40 "Write-Your-Own" Politics Cards, 150 Republican Votes (red chips), 
• 150 Democrat Votes (blue chips), 
• 1 Electoral WebMap Calculator Access Code

The kids couldn't wait to get it out of the box to play it. So, as soon as the chores were out of the way and the table cleared and ready, we got it out. After one reading through the rules, we were playing. I am usually anxious about new games being complicated and hard to learn, but this one really wasn't hard at all.

We divided into teams of republicans and democrats and rolled the dice to see who had the first turn. For each turn we had to choose between going campaigning or fundraising. The fundraising turn gives them the opportunity to place votes on more states than the campaigning option, so they often chose that one. The fundraising turns also end with picking up a Politics Card, which has a random chance type script and gives them extra votes, or helps their opponent. The cards are more positive than negative, so the kids always want to draw them. I loved the funny scenarios on the cards, with lines like "Your VP candidate just blurted that they can see Russia from their back door. Your opponent gets 2 extra votes on New York" (my paraphrase). There are also blank Politics Cards, so you can write your own. When campaigning, the kids had to choose 3 states to put their votes on, but they could roll three dice instead of two, earning more votes. You can download the entire rule book (updated) here.

We quickly discovered that there are certain "battleground states" where the control can swing the entire election. The kids battled hard over New York, Texas, and California. The roll of the dice and the lines on the cards brought giggles from all, and it became the new favorite game. They played many times over the past few weeks, almost daily for the first week. They are telling their friends about it too!

I played for a while with them, but they preferred me to keep score. We used the paper score pad only to keep tally of the vote totals at the end of each "week", but it is intended for score keeping if you don't have a computer, tablet or smartphone nearby to use the WebMap Calculator. We did most of the scoring or my smartphone, or on my sister's laptop. It was easy to use on both, and quickly calculated the electoral votes. We would then write the number of votes at the end of each round on the weekly totals, so we knew how many weeks had been played. You can also track your "weeks" on the WebMap Calculator, but we wanted to track how the scores went up and down, usually as California changed hands.

Each week is a round, one turn for each side. We only played 15 week elections, and it took about an hour. I would think a 30 week election game would take well over two hours. We found that is was less interesting after an hour, but less than that and you couldn't really play on all the states. The kids really got to understanding why a long drawn out election season could be so complicated. They really learned a lot about the election process.

All in all, we really liked The Presidential Game. At $35 it is a bit pricey for our board game budget, but it all was quality material, It's very educational and really helped the kids understand the electoral process. I think this game is perfect for kids ages 11 and up, especially kids who are studying civics, American history, and U.S. States in geography.

The video below shows the game contents more closely:


 Be sure you read all the reviews of this game, by visiting the Crew Blog, or follow the link below:



©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change

Review: Notgrass America the Beautiful

You would not believe how excited I was to be chosen to review the Notgrass Company: America the Beautiful history course curriculum package for grades 5-8, as well as a Student Workbook (grades 5-6) and Lesson Review (grades 7-8). This is how excited:

I was willing to do school work (like book-work!) in the summer! 


My friends who know me are surely all *shocked*. I'm pretty dedicated to our goal of no traditional school from May Day to Labor Day. We usually focus on the reading program at the library, sports, and outdoor learning all summer long. But since this review came up, I was willing to bend the rule.

Here's why... they sent us:

*America the Beautiful Part 1
This book has 75 lessons beginning with life in America before Europeans came and continuing through the first years after the Civil War. Hardcover. Color and black and white illustrations. 452 pages.
*America the Beautiful Part 2
This book has 75 lessons beginning with America's expansion into the lands west of the Mississippi River and continuing to modern times. It also includes an index to the curriculum. Hardcover. Color and black and white illustrations. 572 pages.
*We the People
A collection of 150 original journal entries, newspaper articles, advertisements, poems, songs, letters, short stories, speeches, and other historic documents from American history. Hardcover. Black and white illustrations. 220 pages.
*Maps of America the Beautiful
A collection of 30 maps drawn especially to accompany this curriculum. Your child will often refer to a map while reading a lesson in America the Beautiful and do activities on the map at the end of the lesson. Saddle-stitched. 61 pages.
*Timeline of America the Beautiful
This is an illustrated timeline of American history from AD 1000 to the present designed specifically to include facts learned in the lessons. Some facts are already printed on the timeline. After most lessons, your child will add an event mentioned in the lesson to the timeline. Saddle-stitched. 57 pages.
*America the Beautiful Answer Key
Includes answers for the Timeline, Student Workbook, Lesson Review, and the vocabulary assignments included in the main text. Saddle-stitched. 55 pages. 

Which sell for $99.95.

They also sent:

*America the Beautiful Student Workbook A book of crosswords, find-a-words, matching, codes, drawing assignments, and other handwork activities which review and reinforce information learned in the daily lessons. This book is designed for students in 5th and 6th grades, but it is suitable for older children who enjoy these types of activities. Plastic coil. 150 pages. Consumable. $11.95
*America the Beautiful Lesson Review A book of daily lesson review questions, literature review questions, and weekly quizzes. This book is designed to help parents measure their child's comprehension of the material. This book is designed for students in 7th and 8th grades, but it is suitable for younger children who prefer this type of review. Plastic coil. 110 pages. Consumable.  $9.95

It was like Christmas in July when the box came! It was beautifully packaged and the books are nice and durable. After several weeks of use in our home they are still new looking and shiny.

How we used this:
We began right away doing one lesson per day. We only have a 4 day school week so with 5 lessons per unit, we didn't always do lessons 1-5 on Monday through Friday, but we did, at times, do two lessons to stay caught up.

Each day we would open up America the Beautiful (volume 1), and read the lesson (an average of 4-5 pages, including pictures).  Originally, I had asked my two children who were using this to read it themselves, but true to their learning styles, that didn't work. I then chose to read the lesson aloud to all four kids, while they worked in the accompanying books. Mayda (grade 2) would fill in the Timeline blanks, as well as color the nice black and white line drawing illustrations. Emma (grade  5) would fill in the blanks in the Student Workbook, often doing a game or puzzle using facts from the lesson. Tyler (grade 6) would do the Map coloring and assignments. This helped them all to listen more closely, and they sat near me so they could see the illustrations as well. Ultimately, I think it would work best if you ordered a student workbook for each student. We just split it up this way due to their varied interests and abilities.

The Lesson Review book is for upper grades, and so has less illustration, and more fill in the blanks questions, approximately 4-5 questions per daily lesson. We just answered those orally together. After the lesson was read, we would read the selection from We the People that corresponded. So, for example while studying the Native American people, we read Indian Child Life by Eastman (1913 AD).  Or when we were studying the Pilgrims, we read excerpts from Of Plymouth Plantation, by Bradford (1620 AD). We love this aspect a LOT because my kids know how much more reliable an original source is when researching facts.

Aside from each of these activities, which there were usually 6 or so at the end of each lesson, we enjoyed the "Thinking Biblically" Scripture passage that went with each lesson. There were also vocabulary assignments in every lesson as well.

In one lesson of each unit there would be a weekly Family Activity, such as imitating a colonial printing press or building an Indian lodge model out of gumdrops and toothpicks, in an earlier lesson. We tried that one out and had a really fun time with it.

Also, there are Literature selections for books to read along with the text, and in the assignments at the end of each daily lesson, there are a few chapters of reading assigned. The books assigned were all readily available at my public library, but can also be purchased from Notgrass. They come to less than $6 a title, so very affordable. The book assigned for the units we covered was The Sign of the Beaver. 

Content:
I loved this history book because it focused on History from a uniquely Christian standpoint, that God ordains the course of human events for His glory. From the Biblical worldview to the Scripture in each and every lesson, this curriculum kept the focus on Christ. Doing that, it also focused well on facts, names, and dates... and through the lesson assignments re-enforced them in many ways. From the tactile leaner to the auditory learner, this set was a "pick up and go" kind of thing, and I LOVED that.

The introduction of the textbook also included all the information on how to use everything, including a chart for how to adapt it for every grade from 5th to 8th. I also included tips on how to use it without becoming overwhelmed and offered the publisher's contact information for "When you need encouragement." This just knocked my socks off!

The book not only covers History, but also Geography and Biography. I loved how each unit was laid out. Within the unit, the lessons were of varying types to highlight each of these facets of history:

• Our American Story - Major evens for the time period being studied
• God's Wonders - Natural wonders that were created by God, here in America
• An American Landmark - Important places in American history
• An American Biography - Focusing on a specific person in American history.
• and Daily Life - telling how life was lived in America during specific periods of American history. 

What I liked:

• The variety of the material covered (see above bullet points). 
• That the beautiful texts are re-usable, only needing to buy new workbooks. 
• The photos on every page are stunning and are well labeled and described within the text. 
• These books were written by homeschoolers, and it shows that they "get" how family school works. 
• The quality of the material covered. 
• The flexibility of this program for a unit study type approach or a more traditional approach. This would work for nearly anyone.
• The amount of original source material solidly grounds this history text in absolute fact, not opinion.
• That the literature assignments were readily available at my public library.

What I didn't like:

• Only that I had never heard of the Notgrass Company, and I had no idea how much I would LOVE these books. I am talking about them to every one I know: they are that good. How had I never heard of them!?
• Now I need to save up so we can keep using this program through the years. I am SOLD on this one.

Bottom Line:
This is a treasure. I would recommend it to ALL of my friends. It is enjoyable, beautiful, and well done. The Biblical worldview is an important component, and doesn't feel added or contrived. The family activities were easy and memorable. I really would recommend these books to anyone, and recommend that they use them together as a family as much as possible.

Be sure to read other's reviews of this series, as well as the Notgrass Draw to Learn books, head over to the Crew Blog:


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change.

Review: Global Art

A great book we enjoyed reviewing this summer came from Gryphon House: Global Art. This book for kids of all ages appeals best to kids Pre-K to 5th grade. My 4th (going into 5th) grade daughter used it the most. It retails for $16.95 and has 190 pages.

We were so excited when this book came in for review, and used it almost daily. Even when we didn't have time for a project, the kids loved to read through the book for the interesting facts about the different cultures represented.

Each page is a different project, and the 7 chapters sort the project pages by the 7 Continents. Each art project either expresses the character of that continent, or is styled after the cultural art of that continent. There are 141 art projects in all:

• 22 for Africa
• 8 for Antarctica
• 22 for Asia
• 35 for Europe
• 26 for North America
• 10 for Australia/Oceania
• 18 for South America

At the top of each page are icons for quick reference. 

1. The art technique icon quickly tells you what you will be doing, such as painting, sculpture, construction, drawing, collage, or printing. 
2. The planning and preparation icon tells you how much prep is involved. This tells you how likely you are to have all the needed materials on hand, rating from 1 (common materials) to 3 (uncommon). 
3. The difficulty icon is one to three stars, rating the difficulty of each project. 

Each project has a title with a descriptive subtitle, a materials list, and the process steps. Each one also has a globe showing where the project is from, and a "Did you know?" little fact about that place. There are also black and white illustrations on each page.

How we used it:

We used the instructions to complete several of the projects and found the instructions clear and easy to follow. We also found this was a great resource for any unit studies we did of other cultures. My kids were so excited about it that they involved their cousins in the craft time when they were over visiting. Everyone went home with a crystal watercolor painting (page 39)!

The girls had a great time making crowns from Korea and turning my oatmeal containers into decorated drums from the Ivory Coast. They pulled the book out regularly, and were able to do several projects without any help from me. One of my favorites was Tyler's carving he made from a bar of soap!

Bottom Line:
I love this crafty book. For the age range this is a fantastic reference for any school project, or for hammering home a culture in a unit study or a history/geography chapter. The price is very affordable for this book, considering it meets both social studies and art criteria, and can be used again and again. I would classify it more as arts and crafts than fine art, but overall a really fun book.

For more reviews of Global Art, as well as Homegrown Preschooler, visit the Crew Blog:


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change.

School Year in Review: 1st Grade

*Affiliate links may be included in some posts, see my Disclosure tab above. *

Mayda was our 1st grader during the 2012-2013 school year. This year she really got into the enjoyment of reading, and even took on her first short chapter books. We used some books we already owned, and then during the second semester we used several provided by the TOS Review Crew. Mayda finished all of her work well before the 1st of May (started on Labor Day). She has been having a ball with the summer reading program, softball, and also getting ready for the 4H exhibits at the fair.

Click any image to view it on Amazon!

Here's my review of the 

books we used this year:

Phonics:
Mayda used Spectrum Phonics this year, which was a change for us. My older two had always used Christian Liberty Press Phonics, but I needed something quick and inexpensive. This was my first time using it, and I was very pleased. It has simple 2 page a day pace and she quickly worked through the basic phonics rules. The pages were well laid out and the pictures were colorful. It wasn't too easy, but she didn't struggle or cry about it. I would gladly use it again, and likely will with Wyatt.

From the website:

The lessons, perfect for students in grade 1, strengthen phonics skills by focusing on consonant blends, short and long vowel sounds, matching words, pairs, rhyming sounds, and more! Each book features full-color illustrations and provides essential tools for achieving reading fluency. They are also aligned to national and state standards and include a complete answer key. 

History

We used the American People and Nation from Christian Liberty Press for Mayda this year, as we had with Tyler and Emma when they were in 1st grade. All three kids found it a bit dry reading, but Mayda worked through it better than the other two. By next year I plan to find something different for Wyatt.  

Spelling/Reading

Mayda had the opportunity to review ABeCeDarian Co.'s Student Workbook B1  This book is 24 lessons broken into 12 units. My biggest worry with her was that she is a sight reader. She glances at a word and knows what it is without reading it. She completely skipped the sounding-out-to-blending stage. She had memorized by sight SO many words that she seemed a great reader. But I know a time will come she will hit words she hadn't seen before, and be at a loss to know how to break them down. 

We loved this workbook because it makes her work with the sounds individually. The exercises where she sorts words into lists are really important. She is learning that several letter combinations can make the same sound, and is really slowing down to focus on them. 

Some other exercises had her focus on word lists where only one sound changes from one word to the next. This was actually really hard for her to identify, because of the way she had been reading. It is really breaking through the "code" that reading really is, helping her slow down and really put some muscle on her reading skills.  

Mayda read all of the storybooks, and loved them. Her excitement was really encouraging to Wyatt who is beginning to read the same books. She is also doing the workbook at the same pace of two lessons per week, breaking each lesson over two days. Although 6 pages in one sitting was not too much for her, the only thing she didn't like was that this was "work" compared to how she had been reading. I'm happy about this; she needed a challenge! Even though she tells me she doesn't like it, she chooses this subject to start with every day.  

Each day she pushed farther in the book than I asked her to do, and by the end of the review period we had picked up our pace to a lesson or more per day. I think initially we had moved more slowly through both books because I was struggling to absorb all the teaching materials. But as we used it more, the lessons became routines, and the kids became excited with the progress they were seeing.

Math
At one of the local school closings, I had been really thankful to snag a copy of Addison Wesley Mathematics (Gr 1) for Mayda. We really liked the consumable workbook style and it put her well into the next level in Math skills. I'd use it again if I could find an affordable copy.


Mayda also had the chance to try out a copy of Math Rider (a computer math game) during a TOS review. It was a huge help to her basic math computation skills. She increased in her addition proficiency by 49% and her subtraction proficiency by 28%. 
Math Rider is a fun game that can easily help kids memorize their math facts quickly. It is easy to use, adapts to their needs, and rewards kids for mastering a function. There are magical elements to the story-line I don't appreciate, but the kids and I talked about those things and moved on, since the were only just part of the story, and not part of the game-play. I think all of my kids benefited from trying out Math Rider. Even I benefited from trying it out, having facts I knew, now on "rapid recall."

Science
Mayda and Wyatt worked through this Science book together. My Father's World from Christian Liberty Press uses the days of creation as a chapter framework as they study creation as a whole. The activities are simple and there are questions to review at the end of each chapter. This one goes well with taking regular nature walks.

Geography:
For Geography we used Continents and Oceans from Evan-Moor. It is the perfect introduction to basic Earth geography. This is an important subject for my kids and I love this book as a way to lead in.

From the description:

Volume 3 of Beginning Geography contains materials and projects to help children become familiar with the continents and major bodies of water on Earth. They are introduced to some facts about each continent, such as major mountain ranges, rivers, and indigenous animal species. Other exercises include naming the oceans and continents, and directions on a compass rose. There are reproducible animal, continent, and question cards for use in learning games such as Continent Concentration, Match Up, and Bean Bag Toss. Also features two-sided, full-color pull-out poster that has a map of the world on one side and a "Where in the world do they live?" animal quiz on the other side.
You get reproducible activity sheets, teacher resource pages, and cards. Complete step-by-step instructions for each project. All 16 pages perforated for easy removal. 

 Art:
Mayda really enjoyed playing Go Fish with the Impressionist Artist cards from Birdcage Press. She very quickly memorized the names of 36 art pieces and picked out her favorites too. It was a fun way to get her interested in Art.

We also had a wonderful visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. We are currently reviewing a new book, Global Art, for the crew (review out soon!), and she has been enjoying doing a number of projects with it. 

Bible:
Sometimes the disciples are the teachers, and this year I had a day like that with Mayda as we studied through our Bible curriculum, Studying God's Word "B" from Christian Liberty Press.

Here's an excerpt from my recent post about that. (please click through to read the whole story)

Two weeks ago. There was so much to do. It was a busy week, and it was my turn to cook for the Awana crowd. Tuesday's school lessons were a blur, but Mayda was motivated by something or other to get caught up. She was behind in Bible. Yes, the Bible curriculum that I had said I wasn't going to use; she really likes it. After failing to click with her two older siblings, this one clicks with her. The lesson that day was about sin. Not sin you commit, but the sin of omission. Knowing to do something and not doing it. I wanted to hurry through it, but she had figured out how to listen to the Bible readings on the smart phone... so she looked them up, and we read Matthew 25:31-46. We talked about what it means to serve Christ through serving others, and how a heart obedient to Him will follow His leading. Mayda pondered that for a bit and she said, "I want to bake some bread."

. . . Mayda and I went on through to the kitchen where the woman was sitting, and she was completely taken by surprise. I told her how Mayda had wanted to bake her bread. She turned to her grandson and then back to me, and gesturing to the crust of bread on the counter, said:

"I just told him this morning that I was going to need to order more bread!"

We exclaimed together that God had heard, and placed an order with Mayda, who was beaming now (but hiding behind me out of shyness). She wanted to pay her, but Mayda told her it was a gift. I couldn't have been more proud of my girl.

And in my heart I was humbled. How many times have I had the thought to minister to someone: to drop someone a note, or to give a quick call? Did I do it?

I have been given a mission field, and it is here. And I have so far to go, in teaching them... and I will begin with the lesson of listening. Listening to that still small voice that prompts us to love, and to be the love of Christ. In our home. In our community. In our world.

Even if that lesson came from a child, a good humbling, and a a few loaves of bread.

~~~~~

AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, taken from 2 Timothy 2:15:

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

The best part of the Awana format is that it teaches Biblical truths with Scripture memorization to back it up. I want my kids to know what they believe, and the Biblical basis for "WHY?" as well.

I am really proud of Mayda as she finished her 2nd Sparks book with enough time to go through it completely again for a review. Of all the Sparks, only a handful did this. It was awesome.

Here is an entire post about Awana, and more about why we love it. 

Overall Mayda had a great year and is looking forward to the 2nd grade this fall. 

Blessings, 
Laura

Linked:

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

School Year in Review: 4th grade

*Affiliate links may be included in some posts, see my Disclosure tab above. *

Emma was a 4th grader during the 2012-2013 school year. She had a wonderful year as her love of learning, and especially reading really blossomed. We used some books we already owned, and then during the second semester we used several provided by the TOS Review Crew. Emma finished all of her work right around the 1st of May (started on Labor Day)  and a bit before on some subjects. This summer she has been doing a few review products, along with Tyler, for the Crew. She has REALLY been enjoying the local library reading program, having just completed their 100 book reward. :)

Click any image to view it on Amazon!

Here's my review of the 

books we used this year:

Grammar

Like Tyler, Emma used Spectrum Language Arts Gr. 4. I really like how it covers the basics in an organized fashion, and the lessons are numbered out so that it is easy to finish within a school year. This is a very traditional approach to grammar and it really worked for Emma. I will likely stick with this one.

From the description: "The four-part lessons encourage creativity and strengthen writers by focusing on combining sentences, punctuation, and similes and metaphors. The book features easy-to-understand directions and includes an answer key, a writer's handbook, and helpful writing tips. "

Spelling
Emma used the A'Beka Spelling, Vocab., Poetry book for 4th grade. It has an easy break down of daily work, so it's easy to assign. A'Beka is tried and true, but it just wasn't a perfect fit for her, so we will likely be looking for something new this fall. Very likely a Spectrum book, although I'm still shopping. Suggestions welcome!

Math
I had originally planned to have Emma use Saxon 54, like Tyler did in 4th grade. Last year (in 3rd) Emma had used Modern Curriculum Press Mathematics, Level D (Grade 4) , and the style really clicked for her. The MCP Level D book came in two thick volumes, and when I compared the second volume to the coursework in Saxon 54, I decided to use the second volume of the MCP instead. By the end of the book, Emma was doing the same level math as Saxon 54, so this fall she will start right in with Saxon 65.



 Science

For the first part of the year Tyler and Emma shared A'Beka Books Investigating God's World. I've always like the A'Beka Sciences. The chapters are easily read and there are regular question boxes to answer together. The illustrations are colorful and interesting as well. Early in the Crew year we were offered Apologia's Zoology 2 to review and I jumped at the chance. We received it in January and really enjoyed it. Here's my summary of that review:

• It knocks it out of the ballpark when it comes to retaining the information, especially if you invest in using the notebooking journal.
• It was fun and easy to do the experiments with everyday household supplies.
• My kids were excited to do it every day. 
• It covers the subject material completely and deeply.
• The lesson schedule in the front of the notebooking journal, the planning was done for me.
• With all that depth, I did not feel it explored the broad range of the sciences in a very clear way, or in a way that identified the different scientific arenas. This is important to me for the upper grades as they prepare for high school. 

Geography:
Emma used the Spectrum Geography book 4, and really loved it. It was well done with lots of time spent looking at economics as part of the social geography. It didn't look as much at topography, but then, we had done plenty of that before. She spent a good deal of time analyzing how different regions used their natural resources, and how their proximity to other major cities plays a part in the economics. For example she now knows what the BosWash Megalopolis is. You have my permission to google that. ;) As you can see below, you can't beat that price.

We had the pleasure of reviewing Memoria Press' Geography I late in the year. We finished up the Middle East and will cover the rest of the book this fall.

Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Student Text (103 pages), is a student text for daily reading. It begins with a page of teaching guidelines, which recommend covering 2-3 countries per week. This book goes well with the Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Student Workbook (90 pages). As they read the one page in the text on each country, they can test their knowledge by filling in the blanks in the workbook.  If you have more than one student, you can share the text and purchase extras of the consumable workbook. I think they are very reasonably priced for this!

 History:

 This year both Emma and Tyler shared A'Beka Old World History and Geography. It was a great overview of world history, and while the book we has was a bit dated, it covered the different regions thoroughly and had plenty of review by way of question boxes. It has plenty of maps and even encouraged the kids to memorize many historical works. You can hear them reciting our National Creed here. 

We supplemented it with the History curriculum we were reviewing with the Crew, including Homeschool in the Woods: Great Empires, a unit study. There are 14 empires covered by the Activity Study, and we chose to work on these seven for the review period:

Russian Empire

Chinese Empire

English Empire

Egyptian Empire

Viking Empire

Roman Empire

and the Greek Empire

For each empire we studied, we had a map with important cities and boundaries marked, a blank map to fill in, a project sheet giving instructions and links, several craft template masters, and a recipe sheet with two recipes unique to that region. We also had a text portion to read aloud while working on the projects.

 Art:
For the first part of the year, we focused on reading through the Usborne Children's Book of Art, in preparation for our trip to the Denver Art Museum's "Becoming Van Gogh" Exhibit. As a world exclusive exhibit, it was an awesome thing to have an opportunity to see. Given the long lines and the crowds we encountered, I'm amazed we got in at all. I'm so thankful for my friend arranging it! Emma was enthralled with the classical period art there, as well as the modern art. 

The second semester we used the book from the Crew, ARTistic Pursuits. Elementary 4-5th grade, Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition by Brenda Ellis. We went though the first four units: Space, Line, Texture, and Value. With each one the kids enjoyed reading the lesson together with me, and working on the specific assignments. This week we took our various sketches and visited my grandma, and the kids told her all about what they had been studying. She, being an avid painter, looked over their work with a careful eye. then she turned to me and asked if I'm going to keep using this curriculum after the review. "I hope you do," she said. I was so excited that she liked what we had done so far. We do plan to keep going with it this fall.

We followed up our Art-ful year with a trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. We spent the whole day there, and Emma was in heaven. I can really see how art is a special subject for her. We are currently reviewing a new book, Global Art, for the crew (review out soon!), and she has been enjoying doing a number of projects with it. 

Bible:
Emma has taken a lot more initiative this year in reading her Bible alone. I'm super proud of the young woman of God she is becoming. She has taken a special interest in issues of modesty, and I'm really thankful for that.

AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, taken from 2 Timothy 2:15:

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

The best part of the Awana format is that it teaches Biblical truths with Scripture memorization to back it up. I want my kids to know what they believe, and the Biblical basis for "WHY?" as well.

This was Emma's second year in Truth and Training, and she finished her book again this year, earning a class trip. The kids who finished their books all got to go to an amusement park with their leaders. It was a wonderful incentive!

Here is an entire post about Awana, and more about why we love it. 

Overall Emma really enjoyed her school year. I was excited to watch her grow and develop as the year went on. She is more of a young lady than a little girl! 

Blessings, 
Laura

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