His Treasure Seekers

Are you already thinking about the next school year?  (Are you ready to duct tape my mouth fingers for even daring to suggest such a thing?)  I have a confession to make.  I LOVE planning.  Of course things come up and plans change as time passes, but I have found, without a doubt, that my school year causes so much less stress when I have taken the time to plan ahead.  That’s why I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 from The Old Schoolhouse.  I was desperate to find a place to start jotting down notes about the year ahead of us!

About the Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner

The Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner is a softcover, spiral bound book designed to provide a place for organizing your plans for the entire upcoming school year:

• Yearly calendars for 2016, 2017, and 2018
• Monthly Calendars from July 2016-June 2017, each with an encouraging Hey Mama! letter from Gena Suarez, publisher of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and a place for notes
• 36 weekly planning pages (undated, with Hey Mama! notes and interesting tidbits about various inventions scattered throughout)
• Forms for listing monthly, semester, and yearly goals (5 of each)
• Attendance Charts for up to 5 children (180 days that can be checked off as you go through the year)
• Form to record books read throughout the year (5 copies)
• Curriculum Planning Sheet
• Homeschooling Contact List to record names, phone numbers, and email addresses
• 36 General Writing Prompts
• Story Starters
• List of the 13 Colonies by date
• Timeline of inventions
• List of U.S. Presidents and their wives
• Branches of Federal, State, and Local Governments
• United States and Capitals
• Information about Creating an Academic Transcript for high school
• Academic Transcript form
• Checklist and Skills Learned form
• form to record other courses

Note: The Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner is also available to purchase in digital form.  And members of SchoolhouseTeachers.com (see my review) can download it for FREE under “Planners and Resources”! 

Our Experience

For the past several years we have started school in July, so I already had plenty I wanted to start jotting down.  I got the 2016-17 schedule for our co-op classes and the fall schedule for our music classes and marked all of those on both the “year at a glance” and the full monthly spreads.  Then I used those dates to plan the breaks for our year.  (I generally try to take a “Sabbath” after every 5-7 weeks, depending on where holidays and class schedules fall.)  That allowed me to sketch out 36 weeks for a complete school year.  Because I put in several weeks off, as well as sometimes using two actual weeks to cover 1 “week” of school, I have some wiggle room to adjust things as we go through the year.

I’m not ready to make weekly lesson plans yet, but when I do I won’t be writing them in this planner.  There are just too many things that are the same every week, so I prefer to use a digital document that I can just tweak each week and print out rather than having to copy things by hand over and over.  Since I knew I wouldn’t be using the 36 weekly planning pages for actual lesson plans, I used them to help me start to sketch out what I want our weeks to look like, making a rough schedule both for weeks when we have outside classes (like in July before everything starts up) and for weeks when we leave the house a couple days a week for other opportunities.

My favorite thing about the Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner, of course, is the encouragement.  It’s what makes this planner stand out among the myriad options out there.  I had a Hey Mama! planner two years ago, which is why I was so eager to get my hands on one for this year.  I try to save each month’s note and not read it until that day actually arrives.  Then I find a quiet moment where I can just sit and soak in Gena’s message, considering which parts speak to me the most.  Because there are also notes spread throughout the weekly planning pages, I’ll save those for other times when I just need a little extra encouragement.

What I love about the Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner

• The encouragement
• Room to list specific goals for each of my children (though I’m not sure why there are only 5 “Monthly Goals” pages.  Thankfully The Old Schoolhouse told the Crew it was okay to copy pages if we needed
• The writing prompts and story starters (Getting my boys to start writing is like pulling teeth, so specific ideas to help them get going are a must!)

What would make it even better

• A “year at a glance” spread with room to write major events rather than just the dates. (I love to be able to visualize my entire year, seeing where our breaks and really important things happen.)
• The cardstock cover will probably get me through the year since I won’t be referencing the book daily for lessons plans, but if I were handling it more often, I would prefer a sturdier plastic cover.
• While I’m dreaming of the perfect cover, a pocket in which to stash important papers would be a great addition as well.

Even though I won’t use Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner for my weekly lesson plans, it’s almost perfect for my big picture, month-by-month planning.  For me, that’s the key to a less stressful homeschool experience, and I love knowing that I’ll have Gena’s encouraging words there to help get me through the 2016-17 school year.

Ready to get your own? Use coupon code CREWCODE for $10 off!  Happy planning!

We have found that online education programs work really well for our family.  My kids all love working on the computer, and when they’re having fun they learn better than if they were trudging through worksheets.  So I was excited when Essential Skills Advantage gave us a chance to review their Complete Home Learning Suite.  Since we finished our official school year a few weeks ago, this has been a great way for me to keep the boys learning over our summer break.

About Essential Skills Advantage

A subscription to the Complete Home Learning Suite includes access to all the online programs offered by ESA:

• ESA K-6 Reading Collection
• Premium Spelling, Language, Grammar, and Creative Writing Suite
• Complete Math K-6
• Science (grades K-3)
• Geography (grades 4-6)
• ESA Marks Manager

There are over 14,000 lessons altogether!  Students can access material in any grade level (K-6), making it especially helpful for those who could use a little extra challenge, or who might need to go back and practice in areas where they struggle.  Here’s a peek at what’s offered:

ESA is meant to be used as a supplement, not a full curriculum.  It does not include instruction, just practice of skills students are learning in their regular lessons.  Parents can check their progress in the Marks Manager and print completion certificates if they choose.

Lessons are easily completed on a computer or tablet.  (We used it on both our Chromebook and our touchscreen computer.)  ESA is not optimized for smart phones, but it is possible to use them in your phone’s browser if you can work with the small screen size.

Our Experience with Essential Skills Advantage

As I said, I used ESA to keep the boys’ minds engaged while we’re taking a break from school.  To motivate them, I traded them free time on the computer for the time they spent working on skills with ESA.

During our review period, Ian (8) primarily used ESA for spelling practice.  This is not his strongest subject, so I had him work in 2nd grade, which he has just completed.  There are 45 units, each consisting of 15 activities.  All the activities in a unit focus on the same group of words that share a single spelling pattern.  The students practice reading, typing, and spelling the words through several games.

 The repetition was really helpful for Ian.  He definitely got more confident about spelling, and the patterns he has struggled to remember (like the silent “e” at the end of the words with long vowel sounds) finally started to click and transfer over into his regular writing.

Elijah (6) worked on both spelling and grammar (which starts in 3rd grade).  ESA is ideal for children like Eli who are working far above grade level in some subjects.  Because ESA is only for practice and doesn’t include instruction, there isn’t a placement test, so I spent quite a bit of time trying out different grade levels to figure out where he should be working on spelling.  I hesitated to put him any higher than 3rd (he just finished Kindergarten) because I worried he would miss something important, but judging by the way he flew through those lessons, I probably could have gone higher.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to just practice whatever was included in the third grade skills

In the grammar section Elijah ran into a little trouble because of the lack of instruction.  He had never heard of subject and predicate, so he had no idea what to do at first.

I caught him guessing randomly and had to stop him for a moment to explain what he was supposed to be doing.  I realize ESA is only meant to be a supplemental program, but I wish there had at least been a simple explanation.  Even kids who have learned this would probably benefit from a quick review.  Elijah understood the concept of subject and predicate with only about 30 seconds of instruction from me, so with just a little online help he could have worked completely independently.

The boys haven’t spent much time out of the spelling and grammar sections, but I love the wide range of subjects offered in ESA.  We’ll definitely be using this program at least through the summer and possibly into the next school year so I’m glad there’s a lot of variety for them.

As a final note, I appreciate the multiple billing options available if you decided to purchase a subscription to Essential Skills Advantage.  You can pay for 1 month, 6 months, or 12 months at a time.  The base price for each of those options is based on 1 student, with additional students included for just 99-cents each per month.  I think it’s a great value for anyone, but especially for families like ours who would have multiple children using the program.

We’re always looking for ways to practice math facts, so we gladly took the chance to review Sunya – The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting, a new game being produced by Sunya Publishing.

About Sunya

Sunya offers games both in Adding & Subtracting and Multiplying & Dividing, but since my boys are only partway into memorizing their multiplication facts, I thought it would be best to practice with addition fact families.  The guidebook states that it is for ages 7+, but younger children who have already started memorizing addition facts can easily play as well.

Sunya – The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting comes with the following:

• 60 game cards (including numbers 0-9, wild cards, and operations cards)
• 30 science and math facts and riddles cards
• Sunya number line covering -3 through 21
• Teacher/Parent Guidebook (comb-bound) with detailed instructions for playing three variations of Sunya, as well as other math activities for young children and copies of all the math and science facts and riddles cards.

Sunya is played using only the 60 game cards (and possibly the number line for assistance).  After deciding whether to use addition or subtraction, the dealer makes a math sentence and then deals four cards to each player.

On their turns, the players create a new number sentences on top of the one previously laid down, either with all new numbers from the cards in their hands or with a combination of new cards and those already played.  If they are unable to make a new number sentence, they must draw cards from the deck until they are able.  The first player to use all their cards wins.

That’s the basic gist of the game, though there are lots of minor rules that govern what can and cannot be played at certain times.  There are also two more advanced variations for players who have mastered the basic game and want to expand the possibilities.

The Teacher/Parent Guidebook contains 16 pages of game instructions, 3 pages of further activities to do with young children using the Sunya number cards, and 6 pages of math facts and riddles designed to challenge students to look beyond what they already know and practice creative thinking.  The book we received was printed in gray scale with a few pages in full color, as the publisher was asking the Review Crew for our opinion on the various styles.  While I do think the color pages are more attractive, for the most part the gray scale pages are very clear and easy to read.  The only changes I would make on the gray scale pages would be keeping the font all one color in a single paragraph and obviously removing references to colors (i.e. on page 7, where the instructions say that “Cards played from hand are in bold purple”).

Our Experience

As with many games, I found the best way to learn how to play Sunya was just to jump in and start playing.  The main idea of the game was simple and easy for Ian (8) and Elijah (6) to play.  However, when it came to some of the special rules, we got confused.  I had trouble figuring out the purpose behind the “0 & 1 Rule,” which made it hard to remember.  And it was frustrating to have a wild card and not be able to go out because you can’t win on a wild card but have to draw another card even though you made a number sentence and successfully used all your cards.

We never got beyond the basic game just because I felt overwhelmed by all the instructions and little rules.  I think it’s probably not as complicated as it seemed, so simplified directions would be really helpful.

The “math and science facts and riddles” cards were a big hit with the boys.  They’re not really related to the game, just another way to have fun thinking about numbers.  Some of the riddles were a play on words (“If you take 3 oranges from 5 oranges, how many do you have?  You have 3 oranges.”), so I wasn’t sure if the boys would really understand them, but with my explanations they found the humor and enjoyed sharing them with their friends.  There was only one I couldn’t figure out: “What three numbers give the same answer whether added or multiplied together? 1,2, and 3.”  (If you get it, please comment and let me know how this is true, because it’s driving me crazy!)

What I liked about Sunya

• The cards are high quality and designed to stand up under normal use.
• The game itself provides good practice of addition/subtraction facts.
• The number cards allow for lots of creative uses.
• The Facts and Riddles cards are lots of fun.

What I felt could use improvement

• It would be helpful to have some difference in the back of the game cards and riddle cards (different color or pattern) so they are easier to tell apart.
• The instructions for the game seem more complicated than they need to be.  Some editing for simplification would be helpful.  Video on the website of a game being played would be even better, especially with explanations of what to do with 0s and 1s, what the end of the game looks like, and how to play the different variations.
• A box for storage would be helpful.  I just put rubberbands around the the two decks and stashed them in a baggie.

The creator of Sunya obviously loves numbers and wants students to experience the same delight.  The game is still in the development stages, and in my opinion could use a bit more refining.  Overall, however, it is a good concept and helpful for giving students a fun way to practice math facts.

Science is one of those topics that kids by which seem to be fascinated, but I really have little interest in teaching.  I look for ways my children can explore the subject on their own, and the Introductory Science course from Science Shepherd has been a fun way for them to learn fairly independently.

About Introductory Science

Science Shepherd was started by Scott Hardin, MD who is also a homeschool dad.  He began creating materials to fill a need he saw for higher level science designed specifically for homeschool students.  After a Life Science course for middle school, and a Biology course for high school, he created the Introductory Science course to give younger students a basic foundation in earth science, life science, and physical science (see Scope and Sequence).

Introductory Science is a complete 1-year science course providing 35 weeks of instruction 5 days a week.  Each day’s lesson consists of a video streamed from the Science Shepherd website (12-month access is provided with purchase of the course, with extensions available if needed), followed by a page in the workbook.  We received the Level A workbook for ages 6-8, but there is also a Level B workbook for ages 9-11 that includes everything in the Level A book plus additional material.

The daily videos are fairly short, just 2-5 minutes long.  Starting in Week 2, there is also a video of an activity performed by two girls, Anna and Emma.  These experiments or activities are very simple and can easily be replicated at home if you choose.

The material is distinctly Christian, with the first two weeks spent establishing a foundational understanding of creation, dominion, and the truth of the Bible as the Word of God.

Theology is mixed in easily, with specific Bible verses given to back it up.  For example, as Dr. Hardin goes through the days of Creation, he addresses questions like, “How was there light before the sun?” by referring to Revelation 21:23 and 22:5, which talk about how God himself is a source of light.  In the discussion on the Ice Age that followed the Flood, he highlights verses in Job that discuss the freezing conditions.

After the introductory weeks, one week is spent on science skills and tools (including the scientific method) before moving on to various scientific disciplines.  Topics covered in the rest of the course include the following:

• meteorology
• geology
• oceanography
• plants
• astronomy
• underwater creatures
• flying creatures
• land creatures
• human beings
• health
• ecology and natural resources
• matter
• energy
• motion
• magnets

The softcover, spiral bound Level A workbook contains 321 pages and requires quite a bit of reading, so some students in the 6-8 year old range might need assistance completing the written work.  For those who are already reading well, however, the pages are very reader-friendly.  They are printed in a large font, and each page is very simply designed, with no more than 4 questions on a page.  Most lessons have a single page for that day, though occasionally there may be two pages.  Some questions are multiple choice, others are open-ended.  (An Answer Key booklet is available.) Some of the pages contain matching puzzles, word searches, or instructions for creating a list or drawing pictures of certain things.  There are also instructions for each of the activities presented in the videos.

Our Experience

I decided to get the Level A workbook for Elijah, since Ian is right on the border between Level A and Level B.  They both watched the videos together, but I think Elijah definitely got more out of the course by spending time in the workbook after each video lesson.  Because Elijah is a strong reader, he was able to complete most of the workbook pages independently.  Occasionally he had trouble, but it was usually just because he wasn’t reading the questions carefully enough.  When I made him read them out loud, he could almost always figure them out, and if he had trouble, I’d send him back to the computer to watch the video again.  After a second viewing the answers were always very clear.  I wish I had gone ahead and purchased the Level B book for Ian as well, because I think he could have handled the extra material and would have gotten more out of the lessons by completing workbook pages than by just watching the videos.

Ian was most drawn to the activities and experiments.  I have to confess, this is the part of science curricula I usually ignore, so I liked having the videos to watch and would have been happy to leave it at that.  However, because most of the activities were fairly simple, I did let Ian try a few of them at home.

My thoughts on Introductory Science

What I liked

• Biblically based, with specific Scriptures tied in to many lessons. (Elijah commented on how he knew some of the answers in his workbook because of his Bible lessons on Creation)
• Simple to use (kids could work mostly independently)
• Workbooks are good value and well-designed to reinforce the lessons
• Wide scope of material provides a great introduction to various parts of science
• Daily lessons can be completed in about 15-20 minutes (video and workbook).  (My boys often did multiple lessons in a day because they were interested in learning more.)
• Activities are easy to re-create at home, or you can just watch the videos.

Things that could use improvement

• While I appreciate the biblical worldview, I was a little uncomfortable with the way all other views were lumped together and dismissed under the term “evolution.”  For example, Dr. Hardin explains that some scientists “believe that everything–all the planets, the sun, the stars, all plants and animals–came from nothing.  The idea that all living things came from nothing and took a really long time to look like they do now is called evolution.”  I know he’s trying to put things in simple terms for young children, but I felt this was an inaccurate definition of evolution, and I want to be more specific with my children so they know they can trust what I (or Christian scientists) tell them.
• The videos weren’t very exciting, just Dr. Hardin sitting behind a desk with his hands folded talking in a calm, fairly monotone voice, plus occasional still images and words. Live action video examples were few and far between, and more would have greatly enhanced this part of the course.  (However, this is just my opinion; neither of my boys seemed to have any problem with the videos.)
• 12-month access to the videos is great if you only have one student or if multiple students are using the course the same year.  However, as a mom of many, I prefer to save my curriculum budget for things that can reused later with my younger children.  An option for lifetime access, downloadable videos, or a DVD would make me more willing to purchase a course like this.

The boys seemed to enjoy Introductory Science, and they learned new things each week, even when going through topics we’ve already covered as a family.  Elijah really enjoyed the structure of the course and prided himself on filling in his workbook pages.  I’m not going to require him to finish all 35 weeks, but I plan to remind him of it occasionally and hope he’ll choose to go through more of the material on his own, either this summer or over the course of the next school year.

See what other Crew members thought of this course and others offered by Science Shepherd by clicking on the banner below.

Renowned for bravery as a soldier, thrown overboard for religious differences, enslaved by the Turks, captured by pirates… the story of Captain John Smith was full of almost unbelievable adventure long before he ever met the Native American princess with whom his name is usually tied.  We’ve just finished reading Captain John Smith: A Foothold in the New World by Janet and Geoff Benge, part of the “Heroes of History” series from YWAM Publishing, and there is so much more to this man’s life that I ever imagined.  Along with the corresponding Digital Unit Study, this book has given us a great introduction to early American history.

About Captain John Smith

John Smith grew up in England hearing about the adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail around the world.  Although his family expected him to live a quiet life in Lincolnshire, John was hungry to see the world.  After what was supposed to be a short visit to France at the age of sixteen, he set out on his own to make his own adventures.  He found work as a mercenary in various countries, ended up being captured and taken as a slave in the Ottoman Empire, escaped into Russia, rescued a damsel in distress, and made friends with men who sparked his interest in the New World–quite an adventure story!

England had not yet joined in the colonization of the Americas, and John Smith eagerly joined in the quest to establish a settlement.  He played an important role in the founding of Jamestown in 1607, where at one point he faced death at the hands of the local Native Americans and was famously saved by the chief’s daughter, Pocahontas.  After a serious injury, he left the New World, though he later went back to help create a map of the New England coast.  He published several books about his experiences and helped feed the imaginations of those in England who wanted to learn more about the New World.  He also helped Squanto, a Native American who had been kidnapped and ended up in England, get home to America, where he proved to be a great blessing to the Pilgrims who arrived in 1620 to form their own settlement.

John Smith’s relationship with the other leaders at Jamestown was often contentious, and while he may not be a model of faith like those featured in YWAM Publishing’s “Christian Heroes Then and Now” series, he is nevertheless a fascinating man to study.  His bravery and sense of adventure were especially appealing to my boys, and we learned a lot about leadership in this book, both through positive and negative examples.

About the Unit Study

As with the other books in the Heroes of History series, there is a downloadable Digital Unit Study that goes along with the 192-page softcover book.  The unit study includes the following:

• brief biography of John Smith
• curriculum unit study
• meet the authors (with video interviews)

Before diving into the curriculum unit study, there are guides available with ideas for using the entire Heroes of History series in classroom, homeschool, and group settings.  The 17-page homeschool overview was obviously created by someone familiar with the differences between classrooms and home education.  I appreciated the organizational chart provided to help families read through several books in the series on either a 1-year or 2-year track in studying American history.  (They suggest choosing one book from each time period, but it would be easy to read through more than that, especially on the 2-year track.)  I also really liked that they broke down suggestions into “Parent-Directed Study” and “Student-Directed Study,” allowing the study guide to be helpful for a wide range of homeschooling styles.

The 81-page unit study itself is an incredibly rich resource, full of ideas for using the book as a launching pad for lessons in multiple subjects, such as history, geography, writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art.  There are far more ideas than you could ever use, so you and your children can pick which ones will work best with their interests and learning styles.  Here’s glimpse at some of what’s included:

• Key quotes (great for copywork)
• Questions to go along with each chapter
• Suggestions for projects, essay and creative writing prompts, etc.
• Ideas for further study (related themes to explore, lists of books, videos,  specific National Geographic articles, websites)
• Reproducibles (fact sheet, maps, timeline with events for students to fill in)

Final Thoughts

We’re just heading into the Age of Exploration and looking forward to American history, so Captain John Smith complemented our studies wonderfully.  I especially appreciated the map activities in the Unit Study, which helped everyone make sense of how Smith’s life fits into the greater historical context.

My children were fascinated by Smith’s story (though it has quite a bit of violence, especially during the telling of his days as a mercenary, so I wouldn’t recommend it for really sensitive children), and I was learning right along with them as I read the book aloud.  The only time I had ever heard of John Smith was in relation to Pocahontas, so I was just as enthralled as they were at his amazing life story.  Whether you’re specifically looking for a biography or just a taste of adventure, Captain John Smith: A Foothold in the New World is a book I’d highly recommend for fourth grade and up (or younger as a read aloud).

Members of the Crew reviewed several of the wonderful biographies from YWAM Publishing, so be sure to click on the banner below to see what they thought!

No matter what math curriculum you use, sometimes kids get tripped up on certain topics and could use a little extra help.  A+ Interactive Math has come up with a way to help fill in some of those math learning gaps: Math Mini-Courses.  Each of these courses takes the student through a series of lessons focused solely on a specific math topic.

About A+ Interactive Math Mini-Courses

There are twenty online mini-courses available, most targeted at elementary age students with a few stretching up into middle school.  Each course consists of video lessons, worksheets, and tests and can usually be completed in 1-3 months (though you get a full year’s access with your purchase, so they can take more time if needed).

Once students get signed in, they are taken to their dashboard.  The video lessons with interactive review present the material, and then students can either continue to the next lesson or come back to the dashboard to generate worksheets or tests to go along with that lesson.  (There are also PDF options if the student works better with pencil and paper than on the computer.)  When lessons are completed, the student (or parent) must manually go in and mark that lesson as complete.

 

Our Experience

I decided the most helpful courses for us would be Time and Money, assigning one each to Ian and Elijah.

Time

The mini-course on Time is designed for 1st-4th graders and consists of 20 lessons covering calendar concepts (days, weeks, months, and years), clock concepts, and counting elapsed time.  Students don’t necessarily have to complete the lessons in order, or complete earlier ones before moving on, which is helpful for just targeting weak areas.  (However, once a lesson has been clicked on, even accidentally, the program will consider it “In Progress” and continually ask if it needs to be marked completed.)

Ian found it easiest just to start the beginning and work his way through, even though the first few lessons consist of things he already knows well.  I only had him go back to the dashboard and generate worksheets for extra practice if it seemed like he was struggling.

Money

Elijah has been going through the mini-course on Money, which is geared toward 1st-5th graders and consists of 18 lessons, covering basic concepts like coin values, converting coins, counting, and making change as well as more advanced concepts like calculating commissions and sales tax, budgeting, and interest rates.  He hasn’t really spent much time learning about money previously, but he enjoyed the challenge of these lessons (at least the early ones).

My Opinion

I found that these mini-courses required more from me as a teacher than most of the online learning programs we have used.  Both my boys have a lot of experience working on the computer, but they needed quite a bit of guidance from me to get familiar with how these courses worked.  For example, when going through the video lessons and review, they wanted to just hit “Enter” after typing in an answer, but that didn’t work.  (They had to use the mouse or touch screen to click on the frog in the picture.)  Also, when going through the online worksheets, there were eleven different buttons to chose from after they had typed an answer, which we all found a bit confusing at first.

I really like the concept of these mini-courses, and I think the material itself was really helpful for my boys.  However, the presentation was a bit distracting because each page had so many options to click on, and I wish it were easier for them to work through the courses on their own without needing my help quite so much along the way.

I appreciated being able to view reports on what the boys had done, but I would have liked a way to view everything in one place, rather than having to click on separate reports for video lessons/interactive reviews, worksheets, tests, and completed lessons.

Overall, I think I’ll have Ian finish the course on Time, but I don’t think Elijah needs to try to get through the later lessons in the Money course.  I think I might wait until the boys are older and can remember all little things they need to click on and check to get through the lessons independently before I sign up for any more of the mini-courses.