Wrapping Up Week 5 (2016-17)

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weekly wrap-up
In my original schedule, this was going to be a week off, but several fun opportunities came up last week that made me give the boys a few days off and allow them to finish up their work as they were able.  So we took advantage of homeschooling flexibility and spread a week’s worth of work over two weeks.

Preschool

Royal Dance CampArianna spent every morning last week at “Royal Dance Camp,” so I didn’t do any planned preschool activities at home.  And this week all the little ones have been having a fantastic time just playing, so I didn’t feel it was necessary to pull them away from that to do anything else.  Some of their favorite activities this week were:

Playtime collage
For a more extensive list of preschool activities, check out “Entertaining Elijah (tips for toddlers).”

Elementary

I felt a little guilty as I planned this week because I had lots of videos scheduled to go along what we were studying.  However, Ian ended up getting sick, and I was thankful to have something quality to watch that also helped us get through my lesson plans on those days when he wasn’t up to much besides lying on the couch.

History

Light and the GloryWe read four chapters in The Light and the Glory for Children, finishing the settlement at Jamestown, moving onto the Separatists who started Plymouth Plantation (a.k.a. the Pilgrims), and then beginning learning about the Puritan settlers who followed a few years later.

We’ve studied the Pilgrims quite a bit during Thanksgiving time over the last few years, but Ian was more than happy to revisit his favorite books and movies.  We pulled out all of Kate Waters’ books about children in Pilgrim times (all with beautiful color photographs of people in period clothing):

P1020211
As I said, Ian watched several videos related to our history lessons:

Biography

Since we stretched this “week” of school over two weeks, we actually focused on two different people, both Olympic athletes.

Gabby Douglas

Raising the BarAs we looked forward to the Olympics starting, we focused on Gabby Douglas, who won the gold medal in the individual all-around for women’s gymnastics (as well as a team gold medal) at the 2012 London Olympics.  Her book, Raising the Bar has lots of information about her childhood, training, faith, and inspiration.  After reading it, we watched The Gabby Douglas Story, as well as several video clips from various competitions.  Then we had so much fun watching Gabby and the other members of the “Final Five” win the gold medal in the team final in Rio!

Eric Liddell

Then this week we went back in time to meet an athlete from the 1924 Olympics in Paris.  Eric Liddell is most famous for choosing to honor God by not running the race he had trained for because it was going to be held on a Sunday.  There is much more to his story, however, and we enjoyed learning about his work as a missionary in China as well.  We read two books, Eric Liddell: Running For a Higher Prize (Heroes for Young Readers) and Eric Liddell: Are You Ready? (Little Lights), and watched the Torchlighters: The Eric Liddell Story DVD (both the animated feature, and the documentary featuring his daughter and the author of Eric Liddell: Pure Gold, which I read a few years ago and pulled out for the boys so they could look at the photographs).  I didn’t think even Ian would want to sit through Chariots of Fire, so I enjoyed that one by myself.

Eric Liddell resources

Writing

Read Write and TypeIan finished up all the lessons in Read Write & Type this week, and I’ve been impressed with how well his typing skills have been developing.  He’s also benefited from the emphasis on spelling rules, so I decided to get him a subscription for the “sequel” from Talking Fingers, Wordy Qwerty.  That way he has something “fun” to go along with the spelling activities he’s doing in Essential Skills Advantage.

I have the boys spend time on each program twice a week.  Both of these were programs we were given to review that have proven to be really helpful for our family.  I’ll have to see what Ian thinks of Wordy Qwerty before I decide whether or not to get Elijah a subscription as well.  He doesn’t need the spelling practice quite so much, but he still has several lessons to go on Read Write & Type so I’ve got time to make that decision.

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks (may contain affiliate links):

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Swimming With Faith: The Missy Franklin Story (Book Review)

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With the Olympics in full swing, it seemed like a good time to review Swimming With Faith: The Missy Franklin Story by Natalie Davis Miller.  I appreciate finding books that help me introduce my children to public figures who use their celebrity as a platform for sharing about what God has done in their lives, so I was eager to dive into this book on a current Olympian.

Swimming With Faith is a detailed look at Missy Franklin’s life as a swimmer, starting back when she was just a small child who loved the water.  Although she played multiple sports growing up, swimming was her favorite, and the hard work required to becoming a world class athlete was driven by her love of the sport.  In junior high, on a retreat with her Jesuit school, Missy began a relationship with God, and ever since has made Him a part of every aspect of her life, including swimming.  After winning multiple medals at the 2012 London Olympics, Missy became well-known, and she publicly gave God the glory and resisted the temptation to accept offers of wealth to turn professional, knowing that at age 17, it was wiser to keep her eligibility to swim in college.  She continued swimming with her high school team after the Olympics and then went on to swim for UC Berkeley.

Through seventeen chapters, Swimming With Faith tells Missy’s story with black-and-white photographs interspersed throughout the book.  At the end there is a glossary of swim terms as well as an extensive bibliography.  With its detailed account of her career, the book will appeal most to 8-12 year old readers with an interest in swimming.  It’s not a sport I follow outside of the Olympics, so I was reading more to find out about her faith.  There was plenty of discussion about that mixed in, but I didn’t even bother trying to read the book to my kids because I felt like the book was primarily a pieced-together conglomeration of facts about her career.

For those who are more into the sport, however, I’m sure the book would be much more interesting.  Missy Franklin is a great role model with a heart for serving others and beautiful love for God.

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Posted in Book reviews

The Olympics are Here!

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The summer I turned 7, the Olympics came to town, and my family attended several different events, just because we could.  I remember my father trying to impress upon me what an awesome opportunity it was, though I was not particularly impressed at the time.  By the time the next Olympics rolled around, however, I had caught on to what a big deal it had been, and ever since I have looked forward to following the exciting stories of these gifted athletes who have made so many sacrifices and worked so hard to come to this point.

This will be the first Olympics my children are old enough to really understand and want to watch with me.  We’ve been watching clips on the NBC Sports Roku channel and learning about various athletes, particularly those who have been outspoken about their faith.  Ian has been fascinated by the wide variety of sports and has enjoyed learning about new ones.

We’re not doing any formal schoolwork around the Olympics (though there are plenty of ideas out there), but we’re using it as a jumping off point for exploring lots of subjects.  We’re already looking up countries on the globe, discussing the various flags and national anthems, learning about different sports, and appreciating the dedication and hard work of the athletes.  And we’re counting down the minutes till the Opening Ceremony and looking forward to the next couple weeks!

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Talking Shapes Online (Crew Review)

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Talking Shapes Review
All my children have shown a proclivity for learning through computer programs, so I’m always on the lookout for new things they can try out.  We were recently given a chance to review a new online version of the Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy app from Talking Fingers Inc., and Arianna (4) has enjoyed having a program just for her.

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

About Talking Shapes

Talking Shapes is an online program that you can access through any computer or device with Internet access.  It teaches phonics using pictures that children can associate with letters and their sounds.  They practice writing the letters, reading the sounds, and creating words by putting letters together.

There are seven “books” users work their way through.  As they complete the lessons in each book, they can see their progress on the main menu.  Arianna completed three of the books during our review period, and each one used consonant-vowel-consonant words focusing on a particular short vowel sound.

Main Menu
There are a variety of different activities within each “book.”  In some, pictures are shown, and the student is supposed to choose from a selection of letters in order to spell the word.

Talking Shape 1
After the student has practiced several words, they are given a chance to read and then fill in missing words in a rhyme.

Talking Shapes 3

Our Experience

I had high hopes for Talking Shapes.  It seems like a fun concept to help children learn phonics.  In actuality, however, it seems like the online version still needs a bit of fine tuning.  (I haven’t used the app, but I’m guessing our frustrations were due to technical issues related to the new format.) I tried to let Arianna work independently while I was doing lessons with the boys, but she constantly was running into problems with things not working for her and I would have to tell her to just quit for the day, or else stop what I was doing and come over to click around or test things to get everything going again.  (She uses several other online programs with no trouble, so I know it wasn’t just that she didn’t know how to use the computer.)

For example, she is okay with a mouse, but I thought using our touch screen computer would be a good way for her to practice writing letters.  Unfortunately, we ran into all sorts of problems trying to use the touch screen (she couldn’t drag her finger without it adjusting the zoom, so she had to tap it just right, which proved frustrating).  I finally gave up and just had her do the best she could with the mouse.  It didn’t really matter, because she didn’t have to form the letter correctly; just scribbling over it made the letter appear.

letter formation scribbles
Overall, I liked the phonics practice it gave Arianna, but while the idea of “talking shapes” makes sense, at times it seemed like a hindrance to actually making progress with learning to read.  Arianna already knows most of the letters and their sounds, but in some of the activities she was supposed to choose a picture, rather than a letter, so she had to learn which pictures meant which letter, which seemed like an extra, unnecessary step.  (Then she used the mouse to scribble over the picture and reveal the letter.)  For example, in the activity shown below, she was supposed to spell the word in the picture between the two girls, in this case, CAT.  The “talking shape” of the cat represented C, but then she was supposed to choose the A and T.  She had a hard time remembering that the girl with her arms down represented “A.”  If she had been shown the actual letter she would have been able to complete this word quickly.

Talking Shapes 2
These activities would probably be more helpful for students who have no previous phonics knowledge, but Arianna found them a bit frustrating because she thought she knew how to spell the words but then she got tripped up by the “talking shape” pictures.

Overall, I think Talking Shapes has a lot of potential.  It really helped boost Arianna’s confidence in her reading skills, and I was glad to have a place for her to practice outside of her regular lessons.

Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}
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Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

Another Look at CTCMath (Crew Review)

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CTCMath Review
One of our favorite math resources for the past few years has been CTCMath.  Their online math curriculum has helped both my older boys, and since the site has recently been updated, we were thankful to be given a one-year CTCMath Homeschool Membership to see what’s new with one of our old favorites.

About CTCMath

CTCMath is an online math program with over a thousand lessons for Kindergarten through high school.  At the elementary levels, it can be used as a complete math curriculum, though the higher levels are intended to be used for tutoring purposes alongside a full curriculum.  Students have access to every lesson of every grade level, so they can target specific concepts they are struggling to understand.

CTC Menu

At each grade level, lessons are grouped by subject and broken down into a series of menus.  Diagnostic tests (available with 20, 30, or 40 questions) are available to show how much the students know about that subject before they begin those particular lessons.  The tests can also be used after completing all the lessons in that subject to show how much they have understood.

CTC lesson list

Each lesson consists of a short video teaching followed by a set of questions (usually about ten.) While the students can work completely independently and click on whatever lesson they want, parents can also assign specific lessons for the student to complete.  They can also pull up various reports to check their students progress.  (Reports can be downloaded or printed as well.)

The summary report shows which lessons have been completed, the student’s average score for each subject, and scores on any diagnostic tests completed at a particular grade level.

Summary Report

A detailed report is also available, which shows how many times the student attempted the lesson, how they did on various attempts, and how many attempts it took to pass that subject.  (The default “pass” level is 80%, but parents can change this if desired.)

Detailed Report

To practice math facts, there are also “speed skills,” which allow them to see how many facts (all four operations) they can complete in a minutes, and “Times Tables Shoot ‘Em Up,” a game that gets in extra multiplication practice.

Speed skills
Times Tables game

Our Experience

CTCMathWe have used CTCMath in various ways over the years, sometimes as a supplement, other times as our sole curriculum, and there are so many things great things about it.  The video lessons are easy for the boys to understand and I love that they can work independently.  It’s also really helpful to have access to all the grade levels, because at times I’ve had both of them working either ahead of their current grade level or going back to an earlier grade to review.  Their homeschool family subscriptions also make it a great value for families like ours with lots of children who need a math program.

One thing I would love to see added would be a way for parents to go in and change a score.  There have been several times my boys have known the right answer but then their fingers slipped and they accidentally typed something wrong.  It throws off their whole average and they get really upset.  (They were especially frustrated this time around because they’ve gotten used to our current curriculum where I can go in and alter the grade book in such instances.)

This summer I chose to make it a supplement to our main math program.  In the past I have felt like CTCMath gives my boys a bit too much freedom because there’s not a set sequence for the lessons.  They can choose whatever lesson they want (unless I want to set assignments for each of them). That’s great for keeping their skills up in the summer, and it makes it really easy to find the extra help they need on specific concepts.  However it also means that they can get through all the addition lessons and then not touch on addition for weeks or even months as they go through other concepts for the year.  I have found that they really need more frequent review, so for us CTCMath works best as a supplement while we use a core curriculum with a”spiral” approach, where the boys are continually practicing concepts they have already learned.  However, CTCMath is perfect for giving the boys extra practice on concepts that they haven’t quite mastered, and having the videos to explain things in slightly different words sometimes makes a real difference.  It’s definitely going to be an important tool for us this year in making sure the boys have a solid math foundation before trying to build any further.

CTCMath Review
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Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

Wrapping Up Week 4 (2016-17)

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weekly wrap-up
Coming back to school this week was a little challenging.  We’d just come back into town on Sunday, and between unpacking, laundry, and all the other chaos that follows a vacation, I ended up staying up far too late getting ready for this week.  I know I could have just taken a day or two off, but I felt like we could handle it.  And we would have, if we hadn’t taken time off for a family birthday and a play day with cousins from out of town.  So we pressed through.  And actually, we got a lot done, considering.

Preschool

As a follow up to last week’s camping adventure, I printed out several pages from the Camping Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations and put them in plastic sheet protectors for Arianna and Nico to work on with dry erase markers.  They both loved having “schoolwork” to do, and I’m glad my printer issues before vacation prevented me from taking these pages along with us, because they were the perfect easy activity to give my little ones this week.  There were pages that were simple enough for Nico to do, as well as some that challenged Arianna a bit, so it was a great fit.

Preschool Camping Pack 1  Preschool Camping Pack 2

That pack also went well with We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, which I pulled out of our Before Five in a Row collection and enjoyed reading it with them several times throughout the week.  They loved the repetition of this story, as well as doing hand motions with me through each stage.  I also had several activities printed, laminated, and all ready to go in a file folder from when I rowed Bear Hunt with the older boys.

bear color patterns   Preschool Camping Pack 3

Elementary

History

We didn’t officially do a biography this week because my plan this year is to use the read biographies for three weeks each month and then write a paper about one of them in the fourth week.  However, I decided to read Pocahontas by Ingrid and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire since it went along with the topic of Jamestown, which was what we read about in Chapter 4 of The Light and the Glory for Children. While I read, the kids did a Pocahontas coloring page and a maze from the Jamestown Rediscovery website.  We also watch a couple movies on Pocahontas (though not the Disney version this time):

A Lion to Guard UsMy main goal for history this week was for the boys to remember Jamestown as the first (somewhat) successful English colony in the New World.  To help get that in their heads, we also read A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla, about three English children who go to Jamestown to find their father after their mother dies.  The boys could probably have read this on their own, but I enjoyed reading it aloud to to them.

Writing

As I said, my plan this year is to have the boys create outlines throughout the month and then choose one from which to write during the last week.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get off to a great start with that in July, and they each only had one outline so they both had to write about Columbus.  Still, I’m glad they had at least one, and it was good to get back to following the structure they had learned in their IEW class last year.

This year I want them to stretch a little bit more, so I made them do more of the actual writing.  (Last year I just let them dictate to me and I typed it up for them).  The boys wrote out their rough drafts (though I helped Elijah with the end of his since it was a lot of writing for a 6-year old), then I wrote in changes as we went through their checklists, and then they both typed up their final drafts, which was a great learning experience in and of itself as they had to learn how to double space a document, center text for the title, and use spell-check.

Science

I wasn’t planning to do any formal science this year, but we were asked to review the new addition of Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia, so we dived into that this week.  We had already covered the first five lessons when we did this curriculum before, so we spent most of this week reviewing by listening to the audiobook in the car, though we couldn’t resist jumping into Lesson 6 as well because the boys were really excited about starting their beautiful new notebooking journals.

Apologia Astronomy 2nd ed.
In addition to all this, the boys kept up their independent work in Bible, math, spelling, and grammar, but there wasn’t much worth noting there except to say that I like Fix It! Grammar more and more each week.  It introduces concepts so gently (this week they learned about quotations) and gives the students a chance to practice them in context.   It’s just enough for me to feel like they’re getting some systematic instruction without overwhelming them with worksheets.  I’m really glad we gave it a try!

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks (may contain affiliate links):

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Wrapping Up Week 3 (California Field Trip)

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We’ve barely started back to school, but we had a family wedding to attend this weekend in Northern California, so we decided to make the whole week a “field trip” to supplement our study of state history.  We read a few books beforehand to introduce topics I thought we’d have a chance to learn more about, but the whole trip ended up being more educational than I ever imagined.

Lake Tahoe

For the first part of our trip, we spent five days camping at Lake Tahoe.  Unfortunately I had some computer/printer problems right before we left, so I wasn’t able to print out the Camping Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations I planned to take to use with my little ones.  (Thankfully that’s all resolved, so they’ll probably get it next week since camping is fresh on the brain!)  I was also really disappointed that I couldn’t print out a scavenger hunt for the kids.  (There are lots of scavenger hunt lists online, but I liked this one because it was only nature items and I thought we’d be able to find most of them.)

Okay, so that’s what we DIDN’T do.  What we did do in Tahoe was having an amazing time hiking, swimming, kayaking, chopping wood, building campfires, observing insects, climbing rocks, and getting fantastically dirty.

Tahoe
One day we headed over to Virginia City, Nevada, where we had an awesome day of history lessons.  We started off taking a ride on the Virginia-Truckee Railroad, learning about the mining history of the Comstock Lode as we rode in train cars that were over 100 years old!

VTRR
Then we walked through the town and learned about the mining process and life in an old mining town.  We even got to go on a tour in an old mine.

old wagonVirginia City mine

Sacramento

In preparation for the second part of our trip, I chose to focus on three topics I knew we’d get a chance to learn more about in Sacramento: the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Railroad.  These three parts of history (and much more) were made more tangible for the kids as we walked the streets of Old Sacramento.

old schoolhousetelegraph

Gold Rush

So much of California’s history can be tied back to the pivotal period of the gold rush.  Sacramento grew into a town because of the masses of treasure seekers flooding into the area.  The kids learned how to pan for gold at the Sacramento History Museum, saw how gold was measured and transported at the Wells Fargo Museum, and walked along the river front where the miners stepped off the boats to seek out their fortunes.

panning for gold weighing gold
Here are other resources we used to learn about the Gold Rush:

  • By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman (The whole family listened to the recording of the book from Full Cast Audio as we drove, and it was a story even my husband and I enjoyed.)
  • Real Kids, Real Places The “Gosh Awful” Gold Rush Mystery by Carole Marsh
  • Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea by Tony Johnston (I really didn’t care for the repeated use of the word “Dang!” throughout the story, and it definitely is a “fairly fabricated story,” but it was still interesting to hear about how Levi Strauss started creating jeans.)
  • DVD Dig into History with California Jones: Gold Rush (from our local library), which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be available for purchase anywhere even though it was only made in 2009.  My kids really enjoyed this DVD and were hoping it was a whole series they could watch.  (Evidently there are two others, but our library doesn’t have them.)
  • John Sutter: California Pioneer by Chris Hayhurst
Pony Express

The Pony Express only ran for 19 months, but its importance for tying the remote state of California with the rest of the United States has given it a lasting legacy.  We saw part of the trail taken by Pony Express riders when we were on our way to Virginia City, and then we got to see where they ended their journey in Sacramento.

Pony Express exhibit Pony Express monument

Transcontinental Railroad

We saw where the western end of the Transcontinental Railroad began and learned much more about it at the California State Railroad Museum.  The museum was such a hit, we stayed for about five hours and only left because they were closing.  (I think the kids would have played at the toy train tables for at least another hour!)

Sacramento railroad California State Railroad MuseumTranscontinental Railroad
We watched two videos to learn about the Transcontinental Railroad before we went.

Finally, we visited two places that ended up adding even more to our study of California history.

Sutter’s Fort

Started back when California was a part of Mexico, Sutter’s Fort played an integral role in the development of the state.  Once the gold rush started, the city of Sacramento sprung up around the fort and it was no longer used until it was restored as a historical site.

Sutter's Fort 1 Sutter's Fort 2
We haven’t talked about the Donner Party yet, but after seeing Patty Reed’s doll (willed to Sutter’s Fort when she died out of gratitude for the part the people from the fort played in the rescue of the survivors), I’ve added the book Patty Reed’s Doll to my lesson plans for our continued study of California.

Patty Reed's doll

State Capitol

Okay, so the kids were sadly unimpressed with our visit to the beautiful State Capitol building, but I hope they learned a little bit nevertheless.  We got to peek into the chamber where the lawmakers meet together, see historically recreated rooms, talk about the different governors whose portraits line the gallery, learn a little about Ronald Reagan (who was the 33rd governor of California before becoming the 40th President), and see displays from each of the 58 counties in the state.

California State Capitol inside Capitol
Overall, we had a fantastic time on our week-long “field trip.”  The kids learned so much more than they would have by sitting in a classroom reading from a textbook!

 

Posted in Weekly Wrap Up

Beric the Briton (Crew Review)

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Beric the Briton Review
We have loved everything we’ve listened to from Heirloom Audio Productions, so we were excited to get a chance to review their newest offering, Beric The Briton.  Like the previous adventures, this exciting audio drama is based on a historical novel by G.A. Henty and takes you back in time so you can “Live the Adventure,” this time in the days when the Romans were ruling in Britain.

About Heirloom Audio Productions

HeirloomAudio-Logo_zpsnjxedqzzHeirloom Audio Productions is introducing a new generation to the classic stories of G.A. Henty, a 19th century author whose historical novels are full of adventure, strong character values, and faith.  These are not audio books, but full dramatizations.  Each production features a talented cast, beautifully orchestrated soundtracks, and exciting drama that is entertaining for both children and adults.  Our family has enjoyed all of the “audio adventures” created by Heirloom Audio Productions so far:

Heirloom Audio Productions

About Beric the Briton

Beric the Briton not only meets the high standard that has been set by its predecessors, I think it’s actually my new favorite.  Beric is a wise, strong, principled young chief in Britain during Roman times.  He does not just dismiss the Romans as the enemy but learns from them and even befriends some of them.  When an oppressive Roman leader comes against the Britons, Beric trains a group of his men to fight more like the Romans, understanding the value of discipline and order rather than just relying on bravery.

Unfortunately, other British leaders tend to dismiss Beric’s wise advice, and eventually he and his men are captured and taken to Rome.  On the way, he saves the life of his enemy, which leads to him being told about “Christus.”  When he gets to Rome, where he and his men are trained as gladiators, he learns more about the one true God finds gains his freedom both spiritually and physically.

From the battles in Britain and the bold leadership of Queen Boadicea to the excitement of the Roman colosseum and Beric’s encounters with Emperor Nero, Beric the Briton is a dramatic story that kept our whole family (well, everyone 6 and up) entertained on long car rides (the entire thing is about two and half hours long).

DSCN1623
In addition to the 2-CD set, members of the Crew received several downloadable bonus (included with the purchase with a “Family Four-Pack” Package:

  • Beric the Briton audio adventure (MP3)
  • eStudy Guide and Discussion Starter (pdf)
  • ebook of G.A. Henty’s original story with colorful graphics (pdf)
  • A beautiful printable pdf poster with inspirational quote
  • cast poster (pdf)
  • soundtrack (mp3)
  • “Behind the Scenes of Beric the Briton“ (mp4 video download)

We just listened to Beric The Briton for entertainment, but the eStudy Guide and Discussion Starter is a great resource for homeschool families who want to incorporate the audio drama into their studies.  It includes a basic biography of G.A. Henty, as well as historical background information about the Roman Emperor Nero and Queen Boadicea.  Then it provides a listening guide that breaks the recording into small chunks and gives questions to help younger listeners understand what’s happening in the story or provide older children with prompts for written assignments.  Each section contains the following types of questions:

  • Listening Well (questions about what happened in the story)
  • Thinking Further (questions for further research or to think more deeply about things that happened in the story, as well as mapping activities, book suggestions, links to Google Earth tours, even a few recipes)
  • Defining Words (vocabulary used in the story)

Finally, there are suggestions for further reading about the Britons and Romans in the 1st Century, additional historical information, and three short Bible studies to help students explore biblical themes from the narrative (“The Importance of Studying History,” “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” and “One Way”).

My favorite bonus, however, was the “Behind the Scenes” video, featuring interviews with the actors and producer, as well as footage of the cast at work in the recording studio.  The characters in this story are so rich, and hearing the actors speak about them helps give them even more depth than just listening to the audio drama.  This is a powerful story, and watching the video made me want to go back and listen all over again.

Beric the Briton video

Beric The Briton is definitely a hit around here.  Heirloom Audio Productions is going to have a hard time topping this one (but we can’t wait to see them try)!

Beric The Briton Heirloom Audio Productions Review
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Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

Wrapping Up Week 2 (2016-17)

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weekly wrap-up
During this second week of school things seemed to take a lot less time.  Now that they know what to expect, the boys are zipping through their work fairly quickly.  Elijah has even been diving into his independent work first thing in the morning, so sometimes he’s already gotten a good chunk done before breakfast!  His Veritas Press Self-Paced Course on Genesis – Joshua only has 4 lessons each week, but I’d like him to finish the course by Christmas break so he can do Judge – Kings in the second half of the school year.  Luckily, he’s highly motivated (he even did lessons on Saturday and Sunday), so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.  He’s usually done with Bible before I even get up.

Preschool

Talking ShapesAs I shared in a separate post, Arianna and Nico’s preschool activities this week were all tied to the story of “The Three Bears.” On the computer Arianna got a little deeper into Talking Shapes, with which we’d gotten off to a rocky start last week.  It’s been really good for reinforcing some of what she’s already learned on  Reading Eggs, only at a slower pace and focusing on consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.  I have had a hard time getting her to try any sort of reading apart from Reading Eggs, so this had been a great confidence booster for her.

Elementary

I like the balance we have this year of subjects I cover with the boys and some that they can do independently.  I’m there to help them as they go through their Bible, math and grammar, but aside from introducing new grammar concepts on Mondays, I really just check in with them occasionally on those subjects.  Then I get to spend the bulk of my teaching time covering the things I love, like history, biographies, and literature.

History

Light and the GloryIn The Light and the Glory for Children we read chapter 3, which talked about the Spanish missionaries who came to the New World to bring the light of the gospel to the Native Americans.

We also studied some California history this week, both because it fit here chronologically and because we’ll be spending some time around the state next week.  Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was an explorer who doesn’t often get mentioned outside of California, but he is an important figure here, being the first European to explore the California coast.  I read a little about him from various sources and then summarized for my kids as they colored a page about him.

Cabrillo coloring page

Biography

Junipero SerraOur biography tied in directly with our history lesson.  We read about Junipero Serra, using both an older book I inherited from a teacher years ago, Father Junipero Serra the Traveling Missionary, to cover his early years, and then Junipero Serra: Founder of the California Missions.  I actually really liked the first book, but it didn’t have as many illustrations, and those it did have weren’t in color, so I opted for the second as our main reading.  It had vibrant color illustrations and still focused on Serra’s missionary mindset, which was why I wanted the boys to learn about him.  We followed up by watching the first part of Inside the California Missions, a DVD Grandma had bought for us one time when she was touring a mission.

Father Serra has become a controversial figure in recent years.  The Pope canonized him as a saint in 2015, which upset many people who view him through a modern lens and object to the Spanish treatment of the Native Californians.  However, I think we need to be cautious about judging historical figures against current standards, so while we discussed those aspects of his life, our focus was on his primary motivation, which was to serve the Lord and spread the gospel to the local people.

Father Serra copywork

Literature

Island of the Blue DolphinsLast week with the older boys I started reading Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, to go along with our focus on early California history.  They both loved the time each afternoon when I would read to them as they played or finished up work from the morning, often begging me to keep going.  This week I read several chapters a day so that we could finish it by Friday.  I just found out there’s an old movie of the story, so we’re still hoping to watch that.

Throughout the week I had the boys work on labeling a blank map of California, marking major cities, places we’ve been or will be visiting, and San Nicolas (the “Island of the Blue Dolphins”).

 labeled map of California

Spanish

So far we really like Foreign Language For Kids By Kids, but since it repeats the same video for several lessons, I wanted supplement it a little while I made sure my kids were absorbing the vocabulary.  We supplemented this week with the first Salsa episode, which also covers the words “grande,” “Pequena,” and “me gusta.”  Like FL4K, it is an immersion program, so the only thing the were hearing was Spanish.  They loved how much they could understand.  (Ian and I have used the Salsa program and the lessons that go along with it before, and the other kids have seen some of the videos, but it’s been a long time, so it was the perfect thing to pull out this week.)

The boys had fun this week using the FL4K stickers, especially “me gusta” and “no me gusta.”  I kept opening the fridge and finding labels on things Ian doesn’t like.

FL4K

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks (may contain affiliate links):

Posted in Weekly Wrap Up

Preschool Fun with the Three Bears

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The Three Bears PreschoolThis week I planned Arianna and Nico’s preschool activities around the story of “The Three Bears.”  The kids have been going crazy with the library’s summer reading program, and among the huge stack of books Arianna picked out last week I found Paul Galdone’s version of this story. I remembered how much fun Ian had with this story a few years ago, so it seemed like an easy way to keep the little ones entertained.  We did a lot of different activities this time, so if you’re looking for ideas, be sure to check out that post as well.

In addition to reading The Three Bears, Arianna and Nico did several activities throughout the week.  One day we did a number 3 art idea I got from A Spoonful of Learning.  (First the used three colors to trace the 3.  Then they used triangles to fill in the other 3.)

3 Bears 3 worksheet
Another day they colored, sorted, cut and glued pictures from smallest to largest (using one page from some coloring and sorting activity sheets I found free on Teachers Pay Teachers).  For Nico it was enough just to work on coloring and gluing (I cut his out and let him glue them any way he wanted), but Arianna did the whole thing by herself the way it was intended.

3 Bears sort 1 3 Bears sort 2
 

Arianna also used another page from that set, coloring the picture and cutting out the words to make a sentence, which she was very proud to read herself.

3 Bears sentence
They both enjoyed playing with the Melissa & Doug Wooden Bear Family Dress-Up Puzzle.  This is one of those toys I keep out of reach most of the time to keep it special.  We pull it out to go with books (it’s great with Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?), or other special occasions, which makes it extra fun.

3 Bears puzzle
 

At the end of the week, I let the watch the James Marshall version of the story on a Storybook Treasures DVD.  We also watched the first Salsa Spanish video from Georgia Public Broadcasting, which has puppets acting out the story in Spanish. (I used this series with Ian through Kindergarten and into first grade, but it was new for my little ones.)  The vocabulary in this video went along great with what all the kids have been learning in a different curriculum, so I thought we’d kill two birds with one stone by reinforcing the Spanish lesson and going along with our preschool theme.

I’m really glad I’ve started doing this preschool time with Arianna and Nico.  It has helped them to have something productive to do in the mornings, and they are both so proud to be doing their own “school work.”

proud Nico

Posted in Literature Units, Preschool
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