TOS REVIEW: Progeny Press Literature Study Guides

 

"To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!"

Progeny Press has over 100 study guides for literature, covering kindergarten through high school. Progeny Press study guides concentrate on critical thinking, comprehension, literary analysis, and Christian application. Our goal is to teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it! from the website

We have been allowed to choose up to two study guides to review from Progeny Press. Fortunately this lined right up with what we are studying for school! I love it when it all comes together so easily… We chose The Bronze Bow, taking place in Roman times when Jesus walked the earth for Fox (appropriate for grades 6-8) and The Screwtape Letters, written by C. S. Lewis, presenting letters from the “Enemy’s” point of view, for Lee (appropriate for grades 9-12).

*I did have to purchase The Bronze Bow to do this review (but it was on my list to buy anyway) and we already own The Screwtape Letters. Progeny Press does offer the books needed for each study guide on their site as well.

The study guides are interactive, which means that you can type the answers on the pdf, or print them out. We chose to use the type-in-pdf. The only problem I found with this was that it was a little difficult to be in the ‘same place’ as my student. We use one computer, generally, to do this type of work- so when they are using it, I cannot- and vice versa. Printing it may have worked better- perhaps print out a copy for myself and let them do the type-in-pdf. We are not completely done with this yet so perhaps I may still try that. They suggest taking 8-12 weeks to work through a single guide- I completely agree with this. I mistakenly thought that it was going to be a quicker study (because the book is read within a week- according to the suggestion in the Note to the Instructor) but there is no way to cover all the guide in such a short amount of time. It would take us between 10-12 weeks to complete these two guides, I would guess.

Each study guide “provides easy-to-use, reproducible lessons on literary terms, comprehension and analysis, critical thinking, related scriptural principles, vocabulary, and activities, plus a complete answer key.” When they say ‘critical thinking’, they are not kidding! Some of the questions really made me think and were a challenge for my kids. You can see a sample of the study guides at each of the product pages (here for The Screwtape Letters and here for The Bronze Bow).

I had not read either of these books previously but we did not do them ‘together’- as a read aloud. Fox read The Bronze Bow in one week but Lee is taking longer to go through The Screwtape Letters. Because I have two using these- and different levels and books- I’ve been catching up. As they move to a new section (or group of chapters) in the guide, I make sure to have that much read before time. This is where I am very grateful for the answers that are included with this (independent pdf)! I am much a student as well as my kids are for these.

Each guide has

• Note to the Instructor
• Synopsis
• About the Author
• Prereading Activities
• and Additional Resources at the end of the guide.

The Study Guides can be purchased in the following formats

• Booklet
• CD
• CD & Booklet
• Email Download

The prices vary for each product so be sure to check the website for current pricing. At the time of this posting, The Bronze Bow  is available for $18.99, $16.99, $23.99 and $16.99 –respectively. The Screwtape Letters is available for $21.99, $18.99, $27.99, and $18.99 –respectively. Don’t forget the books! You can purchase The Bronze Bow for $6.95, and The Screwtape Letters for $13.99.

Bottom-line:

I think these are good products. I enjoy the books that are offered as well as the philosophy behind Progeny Press. They are more in-depth than I first realized and that is a good thing. It stretches our minds and makes us think differently perhaps than we had before.

I try to think of pros and cons to products but really can only see pros for these. Even for slower readers or those with comprehension issues, if these are taken at a pace most productive to the learner, they can be a great resource.

I would recommend these to others looking for literature resources in their homeschool (or even for ‘extra’ studies). The formats available for these should please a multitude of buyers.

Have a look at the other books that were reviewed- and read what others think- at the TOS Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the two study guides above free from Progeny Press via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are mine or those of my family. I only recommend products that I truly feel would benefit others, based on my experiences with the product. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Classical Academic Press–Art of Argument

Classical Academic Press (CAP) is well-known to me as a provider of classical education materials (mostly Latin, honestly!). Through the TOS Homeschool Review Crew we’ve been privileged to review their Art of Argument curriculum.

We received:

• The Art of Argument Student Book- $21.95
• The Art of Argument Teacher’s Edition- $24.95
• & Disc #1 of the Art of Argument DVD Set- the entire set $54.95

These can be purchased as a bundle for $88.95

Designed for middle school age students and up (based on the trivium model that Classical Academic Press follows), we used this for my 7th grader (and his mother *wink*). According to CAP, “Logic is a fascinating subject for students in middle school or high school.”

From the website:

"My chief objection to a quarrel," Chesterton wrote, "is that it ends a good argument." Junior high aged students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won't argue well without good training. Young teens are also targeted by advertisers with a vengeance. From billboards to commercials to a walk down the mall, fallacious arguments are everywhere you look. The Art of Argument was designed to teach the argumentative adolescent how to reason with clarity, relevance and purpose at a time when he has a penchant for the "why" and "how". It is designed to equip and sharpen young minds as they live, play, and grow in this highly commercial culture. This course teaches students to recognize and identify twenty-eight informal fallacies, and the eye-catching text includes over sixty slick and clever, “phony advertisements” for items from blue jeans to pick-up trucks, which apply the fallacies to a myriad of real life situations.

Students master 28 fallacies (such as begging the question, the straw man, ad hominen, et al) by studying many pertinent examples. The text features a variety of:

• Dialogues
• Worksheets
• Real-World Applications
• Phony Advertisements
• Dialectic Discussion Questions
• Tests
• Fun extras such as a humorous skit for students to perform, and the famous short story, Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman

• a resource that will refresh and inspire the teacher
• a classroom resource for modeling and provoking discussion of the logical fallacies
• a substitute teacher when the regular teacher is away
• a resource for creating a summer school course
• a library item helpful to a struggling logic student or a curious parent

The Art of Argument DVD Set contains:

• 5 DVDs containing a total of more than 8 hours of video
• 28 videos—one for each fallacy contained in The Art of Argument text
• Fun outtakes, extras, and “logical” humor

You can see samples of the student book here and the teacher’s edition here. Also at the website you can watch a sample of the videos.

Find Classical Academic Press on Facebook. They offer free resources for parents/educators at their site, some printable, some audio.
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I had high hopes for this curriculum for my 7th grader. We’d started logic studies previous to receiving this through the Crew but it hasn’t been as productive as *I’d* hoped. I based my hopes, I believe, on the opinion I’d formed of Classical Academic Press’s Latin curriculum- which I thought was very well done.

This was scheduled 3-5 times a week depending on how our week was going. At first we watched the video segment and then did the reading, followed by answering questions. But we changed it to read first, watch video, answer questions.

Let’s start with what I do like about this:

• It is somewhat ‘fun’. The student book is interesting to my son; he spends a bit of time just browsing the book. That is almost always a good sign.
• The fallacies presented and the ‘logic’ to counter them are solid (as far as my untrained mind can decipher).
• The questions are open-ended and require thought. Included is the opportunity to research and dig further into the study.
• It is flexible- as far as I can tell. There is no set schedule anywhere.
• The DVDs show real people (teens and adults) discussing the fallacies. This helps students see that they can also tackle these fallacies logically.
• And, perhaps not directly related to this product, I appreciate the free resources at the website; especially the article resources.

And here is what I would liked to have seen different:

• First and foremost: the Teacher’s Edition is ONLY an answer book. It does not give any ideas of how to go about teaching this subject. I can read the answer given in the TE and compare it to my sons answers but some of the answers assume that *I*, the teacher, have this knowledge already.
• There is really no background given to this. If your student –and you! –are unfamiliar with logic, you might be lost when you start this. We were. It assumes a basic knowledge of certain people and ideas.
• I am learning right along with my son- not a bad thing- but I have no real direction. I personally need some more direction with this subject because I have no background to it in order to teach it.

Overall, I think this is a good product but for our family it’s requiring a lot of effort to understand and get it to flow. If you do not have a good logic background (I *never* studied this or covered it in public school) then the DVDs will be very helpful but you’re going to be a student right along with your student. I just feel that I am in over my head!

I’m not tossing in the towel with this product because I feel that it will be a benefit to not only my son but myself as well. It will just take us much longer than I thought it would take to get through. It makes us think and stretch our minds.

Price-wise I think it is reasonable. It might require some budgeting to be able to order the entire package. But if it were to be used for more than one year (as it appears we might be doing) and/or for more than one child, I think it could be considered a good investment.

I would recommend this product to those that have a Classical education background (simply because I assume, ahem, that they have the foundation necessary to use this smoothly) or to those who are determined to improve in this area. I would *not* recommend this to those who are weak in this area and/or are not planning on pursuing this further because I feel that it would be quite discouraging. Of course, I definitely suggest doing research on this before taking my recommendation (either way). You can read the reviews of others who have used this product at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned products from Classical Academic Press via TOS Homeschool Crew free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. I only recommend products that I feel would be of benefit to other families based on my experiences. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Creek Edge Press Task Cards {Physics}

Creek Edge Press Task Cards-
Physics and Digital Science

“The Task Card Approach draws from the Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Montessori approaches to education and learning.” from the website

Working with the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I am able to review some pretty neat products geared for homeschoolers (and sometimes not!). This post is going to be a review of the Creek Edge Press Task Card system, specifically their Physics and Digital Science Set.

The program was put together by Amy Hilsman for her own homeschool. You can read more about her experience here. She designed it to be “a simple tool that pulls [these methods] together”.

As many of my readers know, ours is a Charlotte Mason homeschool (as best we can be). We use a lot of good books and assessments are in the form of narrations and ‘showing’ what they’ve learned. I encourage you to read the ‘articles’ page at Creek Edge Press to see how this program can be lined up with the three above mentioned methods of schooling. If you still have questions, search the FAQs at the website.

We received an Introduction book and a set of 30 task cards. The cards, which measure approximately 5.5” by 4.25”,  are non-consumable allowing them to be used over and over. The introduction book is comprised of 5 sections:

1. Introduction and Use
2. Approaching the Tasks
3. Preparing the Environment
4. Book List and Tips
5. Card by Card

The cards are fairly self-explanatory, I feel. They can be used for grades K-8 (younger ages will need assistance and these could possibly be used as a supplement to higher grades). Below is an image of card #12. It gives you an idea of what is on the cards.

One of the best things about these cards {imho} is that the cards are open-ended requiring more thought and attention than a ‘yes/no’ question. It facilitates “investigation and experience of discovery” (Introduction book, page 3). In Approaching the Tasks, she goes through the different tasks on the card and explains what is expected and/or suggestions. For example, Sketch and Label activities can be completed by either drawing the object themselves or if they are not able, tracing an object, and then labeling the features. If they students are younger, she gives the suggestion of working on a coloring page.

The book has a section on suggested books and Amy has a linked list of books on their website (At Creek’s Edge). I did think at first that I would need to purchase some books (or at least hit the library hard) but it turns out that really you can use whatever you have on hand for this. Part of “Preparing the Environment” is to make the books and tools readily available for the students and because of this I did decide to purchase a science encyclopedia. But the library is a great resource if you can’t purchase something. And the internet is full of free resources! *I did purchase a science encyclopedia because I’d been wanting to anyway- it was just the incentive I needed You can see from the photo where our Science books are kept on the shelf –labeled and easy to find.

Specifically, these are the books that we used (the only one I purchased for the purpose this review was the Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia –and you can see that a few are library books). And the internet was used.

At first I was just having Fox (my 12 yo ds) go through the cards, in order. We started with one card a week. And since he is an independent reader, I had him do 2 tasks each day and I would look over his work (or he would narrate what he found). But after two weeks we discovered that the first few cards we’d gone over quite extensively in previous lessons (not using the cards). In an effort to make sure that my ds did not become ‘bored’ with learning about the same things, I went through the cards to find where we had yet to learn about –meaning we skipped ahead.

The cards cover (followed by the card numbers):

• Simple Machines (1-6)
• More on Machines (7-10)
• Energy (11-13)
• Motion (14-17)
• Light Waves (18-19)
• Sound Waves (20-21)
• Electricity (22)
• Magnetism (23)
• Automation (24)
• Digital (25-28)
• Inventions (29)
• Wrap-Up (30) (looking back at all that has been learned)

I decided to integrate technology early on with this and suggested that he make Power Points instead of posters or booklets. Great idea! He took off with the suggestion and has since made 4 Power Points. He gives his presentation generally on Fridays (if he can contain his excitement that long).

The Power Points are also helping him with written narrations (and summarizing information that he has read). Here are quick screenshots of part of some of his presentations –he really enjoys this part of using the cards.

Anyway, I think I’ve gotten a bit carried away with sharing what we use while working with the cards. We have gone through the Machines cards and will be moving onto Energy next week.

This Physics and Digital Science set is available from Creek Edge Press for $18 (plus shipping).They also offer Geography, Culture and History sets, Science sets, Art and Artists sets, Music and Composer sets, and Grammar sets. Also, if for some reason you need replacement task cards, you can get those as well. See the website for current pricing.

Bottom line:
Love these. Absolutely love these. They have the ‘assignment’ already figured out but in a very straight forward way. The cards are portable; small enough to be out of the way but not get lost. They present a good ‘jumping-off’ point for many of the topics covered if a student wants to explore more- this whets their appetite. And at the same time (if the student isn’t quite so interested) it gives a nice basic knowledge. The number of tasks for each card is manageable.

I appreciate these aspects the most:

• not being fill-in-the-blank
• not yes/no questions
• doesn’t limit learning
• requires research and digging to complete the tasks.

I would like to have these laminated at the time of purchase but I understand that Creek Edge Press is a small family business. In order to use these with more than a few kids, I would think laminating them would be a great idea.

The price of the set is reasonable, in my humble opinion. It gives almost a full years worth of work on Science. Whether or not they are supplemented with other materials is probably going to depend on each family. We found them to be adequate for our science work. And my son really is enjoying them. We hope to have a nice collection of work/projects to show at the end of the year using these cards.

I would most definitely recommend these to other homeschoolers, and even families that have children who are in public school for extra learning activity cards. Great product.

Be sure to read other reviews for Creek Edge Press’s Task Cards at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog- there are reviews for almost all subjects that Creek Edge Press carries.

***Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned items/products from Creek Edge Press via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. I only recommend products that I feel will be of use to other families. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Reading Eggs

Through the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free trial from Reading Eggs in order to give an honest review. Since my son is on the tail end of the age range this is designed for, he used Reading Eggspress much more than the base program, Reading Eggs. This review reflects that.

I hope you like images, because this review will have quite a few! If you cannot see them well enough at their current size, click on them to enlarge. Use your browser’s back button to come back here (or open images in a new tab/window). 

Reading Eggspress is a unique learning environment for 7-13 year olds, designed to boost reading, comprehension skills, spelling and grammar. The spinning world gets students involved and motivated to learn. Children love the games, songs, golden eggs and other rewards which, along with feeling proud of their reading, really motivate children to keep exploring and learning. from the website

The website includes a variety of games and lessons that engage the reader. It is set up in a fashion where it all feels like a game yet learning is the goal. From the website on “Why it Works”:

• This powerful educational program is based on the most up-to-date research on how children learn to read.
• The lessons use animation, activities and reward games to keep children motivated.
• The program is completely interactive to keep children on task.
• Children want to come back because they are having fun as they learn.
• When children start the program, they can complete a placement quiz to ensure they are starting at the correct reading level.

Reading Eggs offers a free trial for parents or teachers. If you would like to purchase a subscription, they offer these options:

• Monthly- $9.95
• 6 Months- $49.95
• 12 Months- $75.00

They also offer book packs to go along with the online subscriptions {check the website to see what each includes}:

• Level 1- Matches the first 40 lessons of the program- $65.00
• Level 2- Matches the second 40 lessons of the program- $65.00
• Level 3- Includes all 80 lessons books- $114.95

The set up is fairly pain-free {super easy}. There is an assessment for the Reading Eggs portion {which is for beginning or struggling young readers} but not for Reading Eggspress that I could find. I had Fox take the assessment anyway. It placed him as a 5.5 year old. Below is a shot of one of the assessment screens.

From that point on, Fox was allowed to enjoy himself on the site. And he did. Immensely. So much so that he could spend hours at a time playing on Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress. The shot below shows the Floating Island where the student chooses a place to learn, play or buy stuff with earned golden eggs.

When first starting out, the student can choose who they want to ‘be’ {their avatar}.

From the parent screen I can look to see what Fox has been up to while on Reading Eggs. The shot below shows his achievements.

And actually above that is the students reading age and comprehension age {you can see this on the parent’s homepage, at the bottom of the page, as well}. Here is Fox’s according to Reading Eggs.

 

Okay so if the student wants to go to the library to read a book, they will go here:

I took a screenshot of the books available for my son’s age range in a particular genre in the library. Comedy is what I chose to capture here.

After the student reads their choice of book, they take a quiz. They have to pass the quiz in order to get gold eggs and a trading card.

A student can also go to the Stadium to ‘compete’ {with another person or with the computer- Fox only ever competed against the computer} in different games dealing with reading, spelling, and such.

All of the things that are done on Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress can earn the student gold eggs. These gold eggs are like currency. With them the student can go to the mall and purchase things for their apartment, clothes, and other items. One thing {no, the main thing} that Fox has used his gold eggs for is trading cards.

I hope I have given you a general overview of the program. Now here are the Pros and Cons as I see them for our family.

Pros:

• Colorful- as you can see from the screenshots, there is a lot of color in is this website. It is ‘appealing’ and draws the student in and makes them feel that they are having fun {like playing a game}.
• Fun- a lot of the activities are fun for the student, while still attempting to get them to retain important information.
• Engaging- the students want to use this program.
• My son loves it!

Cons:

• Inaccurate- on a few occasions although the lessons that were presented had accurate information, the answers that the student had to choose from were incorrect {so if Fox chose the right answer- it said it was wrong}. Also the assessment is extremely flawed. Reading Eggs is intended for beginning readers or struggling young readers. Reading Eggspress is for older, more experienced readers {although they may be struggling}. When Fox took the assessment for Reading Eggs it placed him as a 5.5 year old reading level. Even before he missed answers on the lessons, he was placed at an 11 year old reading level with a 9.5 year comprehension level. He is 12 and reads at a high school level {standardized testing has shown this consistently}. So something somewhere is not right with the assessment.
• Twaddle- the books that the students have to read from are not original works; they are edited and abridged {from what I read}. I just felt that they were not high quality works.
• Strange characters- the avatar that my son chose {since he is a boy} looks like a little man- not a boy. Also there are very odd characters throughout the program that sometimes we were just so distracted by. I think there was a centaur lady with a half-shirt-vest-type-thing. The trading cards, although my son’s absolute favorite part of the whole program, also have questionable characters on them- some parents may find them inappropriate.

Bottom line:

When we first started this, I felt it was going to be too young for my son. It never hurts to have fun when learning, though. It was good at first because he really wanted to get on it and do the lessons, play the games, hit his targets, etc. But as time went on, it’s just a game and his reading level and comprehension has gone down. Granted, I understand that this is partially {perhaps even mostly} due to the fact that my son is not applying himself as completely as he could. However, I feel this is just too much of a distraction to be continued with as anything other than a for-fun thing after his other work is done. He still loves this program and wants to play it everyday- but the results have not be as desired.

As for the cost: that is something that each family/teacher would need to decide for themselves but I think this could be considered reasonable for what is offered.

I might recommend this to others if they have a struggling child- one who is uninterested in reading and/or one that needs to have the visual stimulation. I would not recommend this to families that have strong readers.

Make sure to read other reviews by other TOS Crew members to get a better feel how it might work for your family/class.

***Disclaimer: I received a free trial to the above program as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. All opinions stated are my own. I only recommend products that I feel will be of benefit to others. No compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Z-Guide to the Movies {A Man For All Seasons}

Last year with the Crew I was able to review many great products from various businesses. One of those was the Z-Guide to the Movies from Zeezok Publishing. I’ve been blessed to review another Z-Guide to the Movies from Zeezok -and I’m still saying this is a great resource!

Last time I chose Johnny Tremain, this time A Man for All Seasons. I chose each because they fit in nicely with what we were studying at the time. Although A Man for All Seasons is marked for high school, I think it is suited fine for middle school grades as well. Most likely it is geared toward high school because it is more detailed than it may be in middle school for this time period. Both Lee (my high schooler) and Fox (my middle schooler) watched this movie with no problem. The guide could easily be adapted to middle schoolers as well, imho.

High School
$12.99 (available as a download {no delivery fee} or shipped CD {plus shipping})

The guide is designed to be used specifically with the 1966 version (you can purchase the DVD from Zeezok for $14.98 {plus shipping}), which we found easily enough at our library.

The Z-Guides are movie specific, with almost all available thru Netflix, or through your local library. They include topic overview, movie synopsis, and review questions (in hopes of encouraging active learning versus  passive viewing). Also highlights historical time frame of the movie (more about the people or events that happened in the movie). These questions cannot be answered from watching the movie. The student needs to have or develop research skills using libraries and/or the internet to properly answer these questions. The Z-Guides encourage research and writing skills through the activities included. All of the guides include at least one hands-on activity, a worldview activity, and The Filmmaker’s Art activity (with the goal of helping the student to be able to discern not only the agenda of the movie, but also how they are being influenced by it). A worldview activity helps get the student to think critically through what he believes and what is being presented in the movie. Family discussion questions are included that also develop critical thinking from the worldview promoted within your family. And answers are provided for all of the questions. *read “What is a Z-Guide?” at the website*

And, this may sound a bit odd, but I really like the cover of the Z-Guide! It is simple but not boring

The movie itself seemed to be extremely long to us. It actually took us two viewings to get through it. Zeezok has given a good suggestion of how to break up the Z-Guide but we didn’t use it the way suggested. And they do say feel free to omit or change the order to best suit your family/learners/situation. We are obviously a family that takes more than one week (as they suggest) to complete this type of thing…I know we aren’t the only ones…right??

It took us two viewings (or was it three?) to watch the movie and the guide is more than one weeks worth of ‘study’ for our family. We didn’t use the crossword puzzle but that’s a good thing with the pdf file- it is easy to print off what we want and not worry about what we don’t.

A very interesting ‘activity’ was #10, The Filmmaker’s Art. This put a different spin on watching a movie for history’s sake because while we were watching it for learning history, we were learning something else that I didn’t expect. We learned a bit about how the filmmaker used different tactics in the movie to develop the theme, achieve foreshadowing, and it helped us to see how the inclusion and omission of certain aspects (even characters) makes the movie more dramatic. It sometimes affects how you feel about a character by they way they are portrayed- the lighting, the props, by omitting or including them in particular scenes, etc.

The only thing that I can think of that I would like to have seen more of is the Additional Resources for Further Study. There are only three listed. One we had already used in our school, another I could find at the library but I had to search some for the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. I just felt there could have been more resources added. But… this is a movie guide to be used along with study of the time/person, so perhaps this isn’t an oversight. *Z-Guides are meant to supplement your current history curriculum. They are not intended to replace your core curriculum for history.* from the publishers

Look at a sample Z-Guide to the Movies from Zeezok Publishing.

Both of my kids have ‘had enough of More’, they say. That translates to “they learned quite a bit” and I say this is a great resource. I would definitely recommend Zeezok Publishing’s Z-Guide to the Movies to others. They also offer resources for Government and History, Presidential Penmanship, Great Musicians, Reading and Literature, ebooks and audio books. 

At their website, you can browse by category (such as the linked above) but within each category they’ve also made it easier to search for what you want. For example, when clicked on, Z-Guide to the Movies gives you a Timeline to choose from. A Man for All Seasons fits in 16th Century Europe. There are quite a few other Z-Guides to the Movies that I am wanting to get.

Interestingly, I discovered that they are just ‘up the road’ from me also! That has absolutely nothing to do with my review

Bottom line:
GREAT RESOURCE.. I am definitely a fan. I’m watching and waiting for more additions to these.

Read what other Crew Members had to say about this at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received this download from Zeezok Publishing via TOS Homeschool Crew free in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. All opinions stated are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: REAL Homeschool Spanish

Spanish- it’s a language that is fast becoming a first language in many homes in the United States- and around the world, really. It was my first choice of languages in high school {for myself} and the first I wanted my kids to learn. But which curriculum to choose? I actually didn’t…couldn’t find one that was agreeable to me. With no idea how to teach it {although I’d been taught it}, I left it out.

The TOS Homeschool Review Crew chose our family to receive the R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish curriculum in exchange for an honest review. This program is designed with the homeschooling family in mind and it is multi-age adaptable. See more TOS Homeschool Crew reviews here.

I am going to be upfront with my readers- my computer succumbed to a virus not long after we received this product as a download, therefore we were not able to use it as thoroughly as I would have liked (my files were all gone!). Nevertheless, I do feel that I can give decent review mixed with personal experience. Bear with me? Then let’s move along

The curriculum comes with Book, Activity Book, Audio Files, and Answer Book for $49.95 (download) or $89.95 (hardcopy). There is also the option to purchase the bundle (the afore mentioned) with the Daily Curriculum Guide for $59.95 (download) or $99.95 (hardcopy). The Daily Curriculum Guide can be purchased separately for $9.95 (download only). Those prices all include free shipping as well. See the website for all details.

Right after receiving the download, I immediately read as much of the curriculum as I could. A foreign language is sometimes difficult and working with a curriculum that one is not familiar with makes the task doubly difficult! {For the downloaded purchase} I think it would be best to print out much of the beginning of this curriculum if you are anything like me- need to have it in black and white. I do have at least two ‘years’ of Spanish to my credit but I was needing to learn right along side my kids so I had to know how to best use this. I would have loved to have the hardcopy version.

Here is the ‘pattern’ for learning set out as a suggestion in the book:

1. Plan which vocabulary you will study and how you will present it using the Tips to the Home Educator section for each unit. Use the Audio if you need it.
2. Present the new vocabulary and have you and your child become familiar with the new words and sentences in the Vocabulary section.
3. Use the IDEA section to come up with fun and interesting activities to continue using the language throughout the day/week. Have your child listen to the Audio to reinforce his/her listening and pronunciation skills.
4. Practice writing the language with the ACTIVITY BOOK.
5. Set aside some time for CULTURE learning with the FREE CULTURE LINKS section found on our website: www.realhomeschoolspanish.com
6. Above all... Relax, Enjoy, Aspire and Learn Spanish!!! (R.E.A.L. Learning!)

If you would like to see samples of the curriculum, click here.

The idea behind this curriculum is to have fun with it and use it! It isn’t enough to just fill out worksheets and recite vocabulary words. Conversations are a great way to get it embedded in your mind. Another point is that the creator of this curriculum understands that it will be necessary to adapt it to each family- their learning styles, the different ages, etc.- one reason {I’m sure} so many different ideas and activities are suggested.

Included are 10 Units- each between 1 and 4 sections- that cover vocabulary, grammar, and include tips, ideas, audio and activities. There are links at the website for free culture extras to help make it more interesting, fun and applicable {more personable?}.

Some things I would love to see in the download version:

• Clickable audio files- click them and automatically get your audio file {I’m sure this would require more work for the publisher but it’d be so helpful!}
• Clickable links for culture- same as above. Whether it is a video or audio, it would be wonderful to have it all in ‘one place’.
• Less ‘books’. It seems there is a ‘book’ for all parts of the curriculum. It would be nice to have it more in one place. It seemed that it took me a while to get it ‘planned out’ for each lesson. {Was it just me? It could very well have been!}

What did I like about it?

The ‘feel’ of it- and it’s conversational approach. The audio files and activities. I have two very different kids {don’t we all?}; one likes worksheets; one despises them. One catches onto concepts {and languages!} quickly; the other not so quickly {lack of interest plays a large part in that}. Where I’m going with this- both of my kids liked the worksheets and the activity suggestions. At first I thought some would be ‘too young’ for my 12 and 15 y.o.s but we had a good time so I know it was good {the vocabulary has even been used when not doing school}.

And, very quick and friendly customer service! Dr. Williamson-Coria was quick to help and replied to my emails when I needed to contact her. She does say, many times in the book that if there is any questions or if you need help, email her- she’s there! Questions are directed to support@realhomeschoolspanish.com

Bottom Line:
I think this is a decent Spanish program. It has a solid foundation, includes many good features and may be the program you are looking for. It is more fun than other programs that I have investigated. I have no reservations about referring homeschoolers to this curriculum.

Don’t forget to see read other reviews of this curriculum at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the download version of R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions stated are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: I See Cards {Fractazmic}

Do you your kids have trouble with fractions? Do you your kids find it sometimes difficult to quickly convert 5ths (say, 1/5) to 10ths (say, 2/10) or 4ths (like 1/4) to 16ths (like 4/16)? Do you and your kids like card games?

Well I fit well into all those categories up there! My kids fit into at least two When it comes to card games, I’ll play any kind (uh, well, maybe not Old Maid –again) so when I saw this up for review from I See Cards, I was excited. My kids…well, they don’t share my card playing enthusiasm. But I’m persistent, you see…eventually they will be little card playing maniacs like me! Until then, well, we use these to work on our fractions because that is a category we all fit into.

I’ve always been ‘okay’ at math and my kids have also. But those fractions get us every time. It would be an understatement to say that fractions are not a favorite at our house. We have even been known to use a larger, well-known measurement in place of smaller measures (such as making a full batch of something when we only need half a batch so we don’t have to figure out what the ‘half’ of it is- with cookies that’s great! with beans, it’s not so great , or so they tell me).

But we love this game!

When we received it- haha! the kids didn’t know it was a card math game!- they wanted to rip it open and play right then. [when I say ‘rip’ I mean gently and sweetly open the package of course] And so we did. The first hand took us f.o.r.e.v.e.r! The reason simply is because we are all not so great at fractions.

We had to pull out pads of paper, dry erase boards and make cheat sheets for ourselves. By now we’ve played many many hands and we are much better at fractions. We only played it like rummy- we’re still getting our skills honed.

Basically, if you have 3 players you pass out 5 cards to each player. Then the remaining cards are placed in the middle so that it can be a draw pile and a card is turned face up next to it for the discard pile. Each turn players must draw a card and discard a card. In order to lay down a set from your hand, you have to make ‘1’; any combination of like fractions to make 1 whole. The images on the cards are very helpful with this! The player with the most sets equaling 1 when a player runs out of cards, wins.

The cards are color coded into blue, red and green. They also have clues around the edges of each card to help figure out the conversions. By that I mean they say “Twelfths Suit”, “Sixteenths Suit”, and “Tenths Suit”. The blue cards are eggs (1 dozen); red cards are a ruler (1 inch); green cards are a water bottle (1 liter). These are broken down into fractions. For example the egg cards have 1/12, 1/2, 1/6, 1/4, 5/12, and 1/3- all multiples of 12 (for a dozen). The ruler cards have multiples of 16 (for an inch): 7/16, 1/2, 1/8, 5/16, 3/16, 3/8, 1/4, 1/16. The water cards have multiples of 10: 1/2, 1/10, 2/5, 1/5, 3/10.

For me personally the eggs and water were the easiest because of the images on the cards. The ruler was most difficult but not because the images weren’t good (these have grasshoppers and ants AND a magnifying glass to help with visualizing) rather because there are so many different fractions for that one!

There is also a ‘speed’ game online you can play. Beat the highest score for the month and you can win a free deck Score! I See Cards also offers PyraMath (which was reviewed last year by the Crew), I See Cards for language arts/math and Prime Bomb for learning prime numbers.

What the kids think:

Fox (12 yo): it’s fun! It really helps with fractions.
Lee (15 yo): it’s super fun you definitely work your mind. The pictures help a lot. It’s a nice twist on the game Rummy. I like Rummy; Rummy’s fun.

Bottomline:
We like this game. It has helped quite a bit with fractions. And at $6.95 (plus $.35 for Florida residents; plus shipping and handling) a deck, this is a great idea for an educational game to give as a gift or just because.

I am recommending this game to others!

See what others thought of this game at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received a free Fractazmic deck from I See Cards via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine or those in my family. See Disclosure/Policies.