Curriculum Review: British Literature by James P. Stobaugh {New Leaf Publishing}

British Literature Pack, Student Text and Teacher Text, by James Stobaugh
ISBN: 9780890516737
Available individually in paperback (464 pages) or digital (mobi or epub)
Publisher: Master Books/New Leaf Publishing Group, Inc.
Retail: $38.99 for the set (see website for current pricing)

1 year Curriculum
10^th - 12^th Grade
1 Credit

About this curriculum (from New Leaf Publishing):

From reformers and rogues to poets and playwrights, a study of British literature will take you through some of the most popular works ever written. Using easy to find public domain works (we tell you where to look) and helpful selections included, this is one of three literature courses easy to enjoy and easy on your budget!

“A well-crafted presentation of whole-book or whole-work selections from the major genres of classic literature (prose, poetry, and drama), each course has 34 chapters representing 34 weeks of study, with an overview of narrative background material on the writers, their historical settings, and worldview.

The rich curriculum’s content is infused with critical thinking skills, and an easy-to-use teacher’s guide outlines student objectives with each chapter, providing the answers to the assignments and weekly exercises. The final lesson of the week includes both the exam, covering insights on the week’s chapter, as well as essays developed through the course of that week’s study, chosen by the educator and student to personalize the coursework for the individual learner. (from product description at NLPG)”

About the author- James P. Stobaugh:

Dr. James Stobaugh was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard and holds degrees from Vanderbilt and Rutgers universities, and Princeton and Gordon-Conwell seminaries. An experienced teacher, he is a recognized leader in homeschooling and has published numerous books for students and teachers. He and his wife Karen have homeschooled their four children since 1985.

See a sample of the British Literature.

What’s included in the Student Text:

• Each chapter has five lessons with daily concept-building exercises, warm-up questions, and guided readings
• Suggested reading schedules and daily calendar
• Directs students to think critically about philosophy and trends in culture, and articulate their views through writing

The beginning of the book has a portion directing students how to use the textbook. It covers “How this course has been developed”, “Throughout this book you will find the following” (–which is pretty much the same as I listed above under What’s included…), “Earn a bonus credit!” (–this tells that by covering information and assignments in a corresponding History Connections textbook, also written by Stobaugh published by Master Books, extra credit can be earned), “What the student will need each day” (-here it lists the basics of pencil/pen and paper or computer and a prayer journal but the last one I didn’t see at all where this was necessary during the book), “Increasing your vocabulary”, and “About the Author”.

Included at the end of the table of contents is a list of readings that will need to be acquired to complete the book. Many of the books from the earlier years can be found free online (Project Gutenberg, The Online Books Page, Bartleby, and sometimes Google Books). This is helpful so that the student is aware of what’s coming and doesn’t have to rely solely on the teacher for this information.

The book is broken down into seven time-frames, each with 2-8 chapters dealing with that time period. 3

1. The Anglo-Saxon Age (Parts 1-2)
2. The Middle Ages (Parts 1-2)
3. Elizabethan Age (Parts 1-4)
4. The Seventeenth Century (Parts 1-5)
5. The Eighteenth Century (Parts 1-7)
6. The Nineteenth Century (Parts 1-8)
7. and The Twentieth Century (Parts 1-6)

Within those time periods the book does indeed include a variety of literary works.

What’s included in the Teacher’s Text

First, the teacher text is a copy of the student text except it also has answers where the student text only has questions. It also has in the “Using Your Teacher Guide” section “Grading Record Options” with a chart for three options, which it explains briefly. At the end of the book it also has Chapter Tests which are all essays.

In both books are corresponding chapters in the History Connections books by Stobaugh at the bottom of the chapter’s first page. They also have a little blurb about “Reading Ahead” that includes the work they should read before going on to the first lesson in the chapter. Each lesson has assignments such as reading, “warm-up”, “Concept Builder”, and essays –writing, rewriting and final draft.

The book suggests that each lesson should take 45-60 minutes. Well, for the writing portion I can see it taking that long but some of the assignments, such as the “Concept Builders” only take a few minutes at most. The reading and writing is what takes the most time in this course. It is reading and writing intensive.

What we thought of the course

We used only a portion of this course because it was near the end of our school year. I had high hopes it would be a good addition to help us with our literature study. But I’m not overly convinced it was really what we needed. We did not do the essay writings but did do some of the warm-up and concept builder exercises, as well as the readings for the portions we used.

The main reason I felt this wasn’t that great of an addition for us personally is because we simply don’t have the base knowledge of literature to tackle this type of course. And without that knowledge there are parts that will not make sense because it doesn’t explain it, even in the Teacher’s Text. For instance, we jumped in at the Nineteen Century, with Pride and Prejudice. One of the Concept Builders talks about ‘themes’ of the story. We did not understand the themes of the book. I used the Teacher’s Text but it did not explain well it’s answers.  It just confused and frustrated us. We did not find a greater appreciation for the literature after completing the portions of the textbook.

Now that doesn’t mean that this won’t be a great fit for someone else. There may be others who understand the fine points and details, the underlying meanings and themes, of literature and this would most likely work well for them. If you don’t, it will require more effort than it states in the book(s). The Student Text says that this is an independent course, for the most part, with discussion and grading to be handled by the teacher. But in our case that wasn’t how it turned out.

***Disclaimer: I received the above set from NLPG for free to review. All opinions are my own. No monetary compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***

Review: The Crossmaker, Easter Story & Art Lessons {SEE THE LIGHT}

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

I was approached by Pat Holt of See the Light to do a review because my kids are interested in art. We had a look at the Bible Stories projects and we chose The Crossmaker Bible Story. The DVD includes the following (from the website):

THE CROSSMAKER (story)– Dominic, the son of a carpenter, finds himself drawn into the unforgettable trial of the man called Jesus. Share in this amazing adventure that takes Dominic from Christ’s crucifixion to a place of redemption, and a face-to-face meeting with the risen Christ. (16 minutes)
SEE THE LIGHT chalk artist Gloria Kohlmann draws her stunning interpretation of the Easter story.

Art Lessons:
GLORY! See The Light artist Heidi Shorts teaches on the art of Creative Lettering. (28 minutes)
HIS IS NOT HERE! HE IS RISEN! See The Light Art Club Master Teacher Pat Knepley leads budding young artists in a step-by-step drawing lesson using chalk pastels. Plus, create your own black light reveal!
(32 minutes)
THREE CROSSES ON A HILL. See The Light’s Jim Pence gives a tutorial in water colors as young artists discover The Joy of Art. (25 minutes)

Bonus Features*:
REVEL in the original contemporary music performed by “Breathing Room” recording artists Jan Roper and Kevin Dukes while watching Gloria Kohlmann draw her remarkable art expression of the Easter Story.
WATCH AND HEAR the plan of salvation, clearly and creatively presented as you have never seen it.
HEAR See The Light chalk artist Gloria Kohlmann’s commentary as you watch the Easter scene being created.
MEET the See The Light team.

*We only watched HEAR. I watched MEET by myself. 

I had reviewed a few of the DVD art lessons from See the Light in 2011 and really enjoyed them so I was very pleased to be able to review this as well. Here is what we did and what we thought about it.

First, we watched the story of the Crossmaker and the art lesson on Creative Lettering. I had intended to use this as an art lesson during school but it didn’t work out that way! The kids (and I) loved the art lessons so much that we wanted to do them whenever the whim hit us. We started with the Creative Lettering –after the school day was over –because we didn’t have the extreme colored pencils and we thought that it was important –which it adds to the art but isn’t imperative- but we wanted to do something. Even my ‘art-o-phobic’ son (he enjoys art but lacks confidence)! You can see a portion of what we did for our Creative Lettering in my post here. (Feel free to just skip down to the bottom of that post, that’s where the image is.)

CREATIVE LETTERING LESSON
Materials Needed

• A #2 pencil
• Good white or gray kneaded eraser
• A pencil sharpener
• White or light colored 8-1/2” x 11” or 9” x 12” paper
• A 12” ruler
• A box of colored pencils
• Crayola EXTREME colored pencils*
• A black light*

Next, we watched artist Gloria Kohlmann’s Easter scene being created (a bonus feature). That inspired us to search out chalk pastels in more earnest. We watched it twice- it’s wonderful. We would absolutely love to be able to create a scene as she does. Finally we watched the last art lesson: “Three Crosses on a Hill” with Jim Pence.

After finally finding some chalk pastels we decided to try “He is Not Here! He is Risen!” with Pat Knepley. Possibly Fox’s most favorite part of this: breaking the chalk! We didn’t draw an angel on our picture because we don’t have fluorescent chalks and did not want to mess up our picture. I really loved how as we watched the video together and applied what we learned, our pictures all came out different. I will note that we used construction paper because that’s really all we had. I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that as a wonderful option; the chalk doesn’t ‘stick’ well and the paper is too …fragile. Here are our final projects:

CHALK PASTEL LESSON
Materials Needed

• A #2 pencil
• Good white or gray kneaded eraser
• Medium tone 9” x 12” paper
• 12 chalk pastels
• Fluorescent pastels*
• A black light*
• Baby wipes
• A box of tissues
• Paper towels
• An old shirt"

We plan on doing the last art lesson, “Three Crosses on a Hill”, tomorrow. But we do not have black permanent markers. We plan on using either crayons or colored pencils. Both are water repellent –at least we hope –and should work okay with the project. I hope to come back and update with images of that art lesson soon. We even purchased the extreme colored pencils for this! (I certainly hope we get more use out of them than just this- that goes for the chalk pastels as well!)

MIXED MEDIA LESSON
Materials Needed

• A #2 pencil
• 2 jugs of water (1 for clean water, 1 for dirty water)
• Paper towels
• Watercolor paper
• A round brush
• A craft foam brush

• Permanent markers
  (1 fine point, 1 broad point)
• A pair of scissors
• A set of 16 watercolors
• Crayola EXTREME fluorescent crayon (lemon glacier)*
• A black light*

*These items available at www.seethelightshine.com/store/materials. Also, they aren’t necessary to complete the lessons, they add to them though!

We really, really enjoyed this DVD. I will mention that we do not listen to contemporary Christian music and since we know the plan of salvation, we didn’t watch that portion of the DVD. This is for any age group, young or …old *wink*. We did like the story of the Crossmaker but my kids are teenagers and they had questions such as, “Would there really have been a ‘crossmaker’, a carpenter, to make Jesus’s cross?” And when Pat Knepley read the story of “He is Risen” in Matthew, they were quick to get their Bibles out to compare. I enjoyed that it made them question, not the Bible, but the interpretation of it. We enjoyed discussing the art we were making as well as the story behind it.

Having this DVD to review did a few things for us; for me. First, it reminded me of See the Light. My ds, who I mentioned earlier is self-conscious of his art, yet wants to do more art- not just looking at it. We’ve been slowly working through another program that is helping him with the pencil drawing and realism aspect. I like See the Light because it has such a range of techniques that it shares and teaches.

Another thing See the Light did was to remind me that all art originates with God. This particular DVD is about one of the Bible stories (Jesus’s Resurrection), but in the Creative Lettering, Heidi Shorts talks about how wonderful God is (I’m not recalling her exact words but I know that it made me think of all the beauty that God has created –art is just one!).

The final thing it did was to get them excited to do art. Not that art is a dreaded thing in our family but it’s just so-so. I’m a drawing artist, with pencil. I have somewhat ventured into colored pencils within the past year but I’m still primarily drawing. And realistic drawing. These lessons have stretched me to let go of the ‘perfection’ mentality; creating art is something that glorifies God, no matter what it looks like. It’s the attitude and heart that counts.

Anyway, long story short (or not so short?)- we really liked this and I’m seriously considering purchasing some of the Art Projects from See the Light, as well as other Bible Stories (the kids want to see what other words are done with Creative Lettering). Both my kids really enjoyed this.

You can purchase a Bible Stories DVD from See the Light for $14.99 individually or as a 5-DVD set for $74.99 that includes:

1. The Crossmaker- Easter Story
2. Shipwrecked- Apostle Paul Story
3. God’s Runaway- Jonah Story
4. The Gift of Love- Christmas Story
5. God’s Special Surprise- Moses Story

See the Light also offers Art Class (Year 1, The Fundamentals, 36 lessons) and Art Projects (Year 2, The Next Level, 9 DVDs). See their website for current prices and specials.

You can read more about See the Light (who they are and why the do what they do), see who’s who at See the Light, follow along with their blog, facebook and twitter.

Be watching also because I have a giveaway for this coming very, very soon!

***Disclaimer: I received the above reviewed DVD from See the Light in exchange for this review. No monetary compensation was given. All opinions are my own or those of my family. See Disclosure/Policies.***

My Dilemma as a Homeschooling Mom

I spent a couple days planning our 2nd half of the year science- Astronomy. I’ve found some books that probably will help, as well as some websites. Here’s the thing- we are off of school this week so the plan doesn’t start until Monday.

I got the books and they are in plain view, easy to get to and look at. I don’t want to lock books up, saying, “No, these are for this and that when we do it at this specific time.” Books are encouraged. So of course one of my kiddos {the other’s to busy with other reading} reads through them- all of them.

While I love that they love to read and explore and all that- they don’t like to do it for school. I’m really hoping {actually praying} that the attitude will still be one of excitement and wonder when we start on Monday. Otherwise, it will all have been ‘learned’ in a day and quickly forgotten, to never appear again.

Now, the books I’m referring to are primarily picture books and they are below either of my kids’ reading level. The other books I have are much more ‘boring’ and primarily text {and I hope not too above their reading level!}.

I’ve never really thought that unschooling would work with us- we wouldn’t truly focus as we would need to to learn what we need to. Legos is not all there is to an education; and no, adding in Minecraft doesn’t balance it out.

So my dilemma is …how am I going to keep them {or at least the one} ‘into’ the Astronomy when we get started since he will have ‘learned’ about it already? I don’t have an answer but I’m trying to stretch myself- and them in the meantime- by including notebooking that will include writing and drawing. Using Charlotte Mason for our school sometimes feels like there is ‘nothing to show’ for what we do and learn. Since I’m not personally an out-of-the-box thinker, I’m relying on others- such as SchoolhouseTeachers.com Everyday Astronomy, Homeschool Launch premade notebooking pages, and a few blogs (here’s one) that have some references to what we’re studying.

I want that initial excitement to carry on…for at least a little while- preferably the entire time! And I’m going to be doing all of the same exact work that they are going to be doing. There is no “I know more; I’m the teacher” deal here. I’ve found the resources and we’re all going to use them.

Anyway, my dilemma is how to get out of their heads what they are reading/learning when it’s not school time, and that they don’t share or seem to think is important other than when it’s not school.

Vocal Coach Singer {Schoolhouse Review Crew}

Singing is a wonderful ability that we have. Many feel that they cannot hold a tune but still enjoy singing. I’d figure into that category! Both of my kids can hold a tune though and I thought this program would be good to fine ‘tune’ (haha) their talents –and hopefully help me get a tune! Through the Schoolhouse Review Crew I’ve been privileged to receive Vocal Coach for review.

Chris and Carole have been teaching singing for over 40 years.  In addition to their wonderful products, they offer private vocal coaching and vocal seminars.  They are passionate about teaching people to sing. (from Schoolhouse Review Crew post)

What we received:

10 zipped files for download (MP3s) (retail $99.99) that include the same program that is included when you purchase the physical product (retail $119.99):

Vocal Coach Singer Includes:

7 Training CDs:

Getting Started
Complete Breathing
Complete Warm-Up
Complete Tone
Complete Expanding Your Range
Complete Diction
Complete Performance

4 Workout CDs:

Daily Workout High Voice 1 & 2
Daily Workout Medium/Low Voice 1 & 2

Plus these great educational tools:

Guidebook – Full-size Instructional Guidebook to Ensure Success
Printable Lead Sheets – each exercise in our course, plus track lists
Personal Singer's Journal (Getting Started Journal & Workout Journal) to Track Your Progress
Vocal Coach Song Evaluation – Evaluation form to enable you to make more intelligent song selections

Technical support for MP3s:  LIMITED SUPPORT

It can be downloaded and transferred to a portable device like an IPod to be used on the go. I did not get this to download onto any of my own personal devices but not due to any fault of the downloads I was sent –chalk it up to faulty software and technologically challenged user.  ‘Vocal Coach Singer’ is intended to be used with older students and adults.

The order that is recommended to go through this program is:

• Posture
• Breathing
• Tone
• Warm Ups
• Rhythm
• Diction
• Dynamics
• Vocal Health

Here are a couple snapshots of the pdfs included in this.

Song Evaluation:

Work-out Journal:

My thoughts of the program:

It’s difficult for me to say that I would recommend this or not but this is in no way due to the program itself –I did not get to use it as fully as I’d hoped in the review period. Because I could not get it to download to a player, or mobile device, I found it difficult troublesome to go through the cds after each ‘lesson’. It just wasn’t as easy or convenient for me to get them running. I just mention this because you could be in the same boat!

As for the content of this program –it would appear to be a very well done and laid out program. I’ve never had any instruction in singing besides high school choir. My kids both were in a class at a homeschool co-op where they did get some instruction on singing. But this is more in-depth. It covers much more than simply going through the notes (do-re-me-etc. –my apologies if I wrote that wrong). It goes through why they suggest doing what they suggest (such as the posture and exercise lessons).

When I listened through the lessons, I did find the voice of Chris and Carole to be nice and not grating on my nerves. Sometimes the dialogue does seem rehearsed but it wasn’t too bad. I like the journal for each time going through a lesson with the program –it helps to give immediate feedback as to how we feel and think about what we are doing.

I do plan to get this into our week more because from the little that it was used, it is a good program. I like that it is Christian focused as well as homeschool friendly. They also have free resources on their websites.

If you have more questions that I’m sure I didn’t answer, you can check out the FAQs. Vocal Coach also offers programs for younger ages –some of the Schoolhouse Review Crew were given Teaching Kids to Sing. Chris and Carole also offer personal singing lessons. 

You can read more reviews of this and the other program by checking the post at the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Click on the image below to get to the post.

********************************************************

Contact Vocal Coach:

Website: http://www.vocalcoach.com

Email: contact@vocalcoach.com (general questions, schedule lessons)

customerservice@rede-commerce.com (questions, comments regarding an order or product)

Contact on the website: http://vocalcoach.com/contact/

Phone:  615-280-0554 (9am-4pm CST)

Blog: http://blog.vocalcoach.com/

****************************************************

***Disclaimer: I received the above reviewed item free from Vocal Coach via the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. All opinions are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***

Crash Course for New Homeschoolers- A Review

So…you want to homeschool. That’s great! You’ve heard it can be done and you’re willing to do it. But where to start? What are the options? What are the laws?

Beginning to homeschool can be a daunting task- especially if you are all alone in the task (you don’t have family or friends who have or do homeschool). Angie McFarren has created a resource to help new homeschoolers get going. It’s not just for new homeschoolers though; there’s plenty for ‘veterans’ as well!

Who is Angie McFarren, you ask? She and her husband began their homeschooling journey in 2002. Starting out, she encountered issues and confusion that she tried to solve by looking through the myriads of online resources. It was just so much! Have you felt this way? She’s been there; she’s done that. Since then, she’s created a consulting service (H.O.P.E Home School Consulting) as well as this resource: Educate the Home Educator Crash Course.

Have you heard about the Educate the Home Educator Crash Course before now?  You will find it is your “go to resource” when you have homeschool questions.

This course is packed with great tips and resources. We are going into our fourth year of homeschooling and I found some great things in this that I’d not heard of or thought of; it is super helpful!

This ebook has over 300 pages and is a 6-part course that covers:

The Foundation of Homeschooling- How to Get Started

How-To for Teaching Subject Areas

Achieving Success Academically

Mom Directed Advice

Having Fun with School at Home

Wrapping Up the Year

I’ll share with you a few of my favorite parts of this Crash Course, but know there is a lot more that you would most likely find to be beneficial:

First let me just say: The order of this is relevant. It is methodical not haphazard. If you are just starting out and you pick up this course, you start at the beginning. As you go along, it flows with where you are. I thought that was quite ingenious. There’ve been plenty of books for homeschooling that I’d picked up at the start of my journey but couldn’t find my needed information until the middle or end of the book. The information is pertinent to where you are.

Also at the end of the lessons there are notes of what attachments are needed (or would be very helpful) with implementing the information.

I really appreciated that there was a list of reasons to homeschool…and not to homeschool (pg 10- Lesson 1). Many will tell families who are contemplating homeschooling to just do it! Jump in, the water’s fine! But homeschooling is not for everyone. The list that Angie has included is a good one to make you think about whether you have the right ‘motives’ for homeschooling.

Methods of homeschooling are as diverse and varied as the people who homeschool. If you have an idea of how you want your day to look, take a look at the descriptions of each method to see where you might ‘fit’. She also includes a ‘test’ to help determine your style. (pp 11-14 –Lesson 2)

Tips on how to save money on curriculum. (pp 25-28 –Lesson 5), although somewhat basic to me now, would have been wonderful advice when I was just starting out. The lesson ends where the next one picks up: curriculum providers. She gives a great list starting on page 31. These are separated by homeschool methods as well.

In Lesson 11, the advice on grading, I found to be quite helpful. It’s a point of contention for me personally.

If you are at all concerned about socialization –that ever present question on everyone’s mind –pay close attention to Lesson 12! Also a not to miss and definitely a lesson to take note of is Lesson 13 –support systems while homeschooling, for you as the teacher/educator as well as for the kids. I cannot stress this enough.

Throughout Section 2, teaching through the subjects, lessons 25-28 were of particular interest to me: Life Skills, and How to Homeschool High School Parts One and Two.

This course also comes with a 51 page pdf download containing forms and templates for use throughout the homeschooling experience- and beyond.

That is only a small bit of what is great about this course/resource. I highly recommend this for those who are just getting started- even for those who have been at it for a while, I’m sure there will be something you hadn’t thought of before.

You can purchase this eBook for $21 using the coupon code EHCCNOV12.  The retail of this course is $57 –a savings over 30%! This offer ends on November 30, 2012.

You can find other useful features with H.O.P.E: Consulting, Free Resources, the Gold H.O.P.E Club, and much more.

Click on either of the graphics in this post to be taken to the website where you can purchase this homeschool resource.

***Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for H.O.P.E. but was offered this crash course for free and this review is based on my own experience and opinions. All links are affiliate links; I will receive a fee if a purchase is made through them. Being an affiliate means that I find this product/company to be worthwhile and helpful and I promote the products/company. It does not mean that I will only say positive things if I do not truly believe it to be so.

Duo Window Reading Rulers: Crossbow Education {Schoolhouse Review Crew}

The Eye Level Reading Ruler is a colored overlay text highlighter…Discreet and portable, the reading ruler is made of a combination of opaque and transparent plastic that both underlines the text and highlights it in a coloured tint. Simply read the text through either of the tinted plastic strips of your selected color, and track down the page: broad strip for paragraphs; narrow strip for single lines.

Crossbow Education are specialists in teaching aids for children with Dyslexia and Visual Stress.
~Educational Supplier of the Year 2012 award winner~

Product: Eye Level Reading Rulers: Pack of 10 (also available in packs of 5 for $9.45 {add shipping})
“These have two windows, one is 1/2” (11 mm) wide and one is 1 1/4” (30 mm) wide: the narrow window will take one line of big text and two of small text, and can be trimmed if helpful.”
Retail: $16.95 (add Library Mail postage- that’s cheap!) –check website for most current pricing
Age: Any
Colors Available:

I’m reading a book, doesn’t matter if it is a good book or just a so-so book, but I’m reading and my eyes keep skipping around. The words dance from place to place! Squeeze my eyes shut, rub them a few times, pull the page closer; nothing helps. Sigh, start over. I do not have a learning disability (that I’m aware of) but I have had a difficult time with focus and retention while reading in the past few years. Perhaps it’s my age, ahem, or just poor eyesight (time to get new glasses!), but whatever the reason, I’m struggling.

Has that happened to you? Do you or your child have a difficult time with focusing on the words on the page or struggle with reading in general? Crossbow might just be able to help!

Perhaps if you or your child have been diagnosed or live with dyslexia, visual stress (Meares-Irlen syndrome), ADHD, autism, or other special needs or reading struggles, you might have heard of the technique of color ‘coding’ pages and/or passages to help read them easier –thus retaining information better. I first became aware of this in college when I took a class with my mother-in-law, who had a terrible time with our math assignments. She is a very smart lady but for whatever reason this math class was very difficult for her. One of the strategies she employed was color coded paper for her assignments. I cannot say that she aced the class (I don’t recall her final grade but she did pass –oh, I did too, by the way) but it may have helped her to focus more and be able to work out her math problems. Perhaps I should have used the technique –I barely passed! But, I digress.

Crossbow Education has been focusing on providing tools for children and adults who struggle with dyslexia and special needs. Their reading rulers have been used in UK schools and they feel if more people knew about these, they could benefit more children and adults. I’m thinking that I agree.

I used the rulers for anything and everything I was reading. Here’s a {nifty} collage I made of them when reading magazines.

As soon as we received the rulers, the kids and I chose our color. Of course we used all of them at one point or another to see which we preferred. It’s amazing the difference these overlays have on the page! Yellow is for me. Definitely. And that isn’t just because yellow happens to be my favorite color. Purely coincidental {probably}; yellow works the best while I am reading.

Helpful aspects:

• Reduces glare
• Improves focus
• Assists tracking
• Isolates single line of text OR paragraphs

I can also use these for reading medias other than paper: computer, Kindle and Kindle Fire. But I admit that it doesn’t work that well on the Kindle Fire; it causes the screen to be less clear, which somewhat defeats the purpose of the ruler. You’ll notice that yellow is the dominant color on the following photos.

In my opinion, these worked the best with books and paper (not the magazine type paper)–the third image down is printer paper with a reading schedule printed on it:

Everyone is different, of course, and a color that worked for myself or my kids may not work with you or your child. Crossbow suggests purchasing the 10 pack, trying each color to see which is best suited and then purchasing however many are needed of the color that works best. In the paper that came with the rulers it says:

“If you have a mixed pack of colors, test read with all the colors, choose the one you feel most comfortable with, and use it to read…[C]hoose the one that is clearest. Don’t worry that you seem to like on color one day and change the next day. Varying lighting conditions make a difference.”

Remember how I mentioned I used these with my computer and other reading devices? Crossbow has a free 30 day trial of their downloadable Virtual Color Overlay*. Other products* offered by Crossbow include:

• Visual Stress
  • Covered Overlays (large, covers the entire page)
  • Single Window Reading Rulers (available in packs of 5, 10 and 30)
  • Assessment Pack
  • Virtual Reading Rulers and Colored Overlays (to limit glare from computer)
• Sand Timers
• Spelling
• Math
• Phonics
• Language Arts

Bottom line:

I found that using the rulers helped tremendously when I was reading. Especially it helped reading challenging works; it kept me more focused line by line. Before I used to have to reread the paragraph a few times and put a piece of paper over both the preceding text and the following text, fairly boxing in my specific text. With these rulers it’s almost like the text before and after are not even there!

Yes! I recommend these to other people who are struggling, for whatever reason, with reading. At least give them a try. You could purchase a pack of 5 to test them out. They are less than $2 a ruler (about $2.66 with shipping). The company has a satisfaction guarantee on their products.

It was a pleasant surprise that I could use them with my computer and other reading devices. It worked very well on both the computer and Kindle. It is a little awkward to use on the computer because I had to hold it up to the screen; tired arms if there was a lot of reading! But I do quite a bit of computer reading and thought it worth the little arm strain to alleviate a little eye/reading strain.

My kids used these as well but there wasn’t really a noticeable change in how they read or perceived their reading. Both are strong readers in the first place. I thought it might help my daughter because she also has some of the same issue of ‘wandering’ eyes or ‘bouncing’ letters. They said they didn’t really feel a difference but they thought they were neat anyway. They make a good bookmark also.

They are made out of a durable plastic that held up well under my 13 year old boy’s use, so you can draw your own conclusions on that. I will mention that they scratch, I won’t say ‘easily’ but it can happen. Say you want to, for some reason, put it between the rings of your three-ring binder (why? well, why do boys do half of what they do? Hmmm?). It will scratch it. Take note.

*I have not used any other products by Crossbow Education; I reviewed the Duo Window Reading Rulers only.

*************************************************

Read other reviews by Schoolhouse Review Crew members- click the image below.

Learn more about who makes up Crossbow Education.
Contact: (at the website)
 http://www.crossboweducation.us/contacts?phpMyAdmin=W0BZ2zPXwVfRQQOtu-mIVvETeP0
Mailing Address:
Crossbow Education Corp.
P.O. Box 1977, Davidson, NC 28036
Phone: 704-987-1501
Website: http://www.crossboweducation.us

************************************************

***Disclaimer: I received the above reviewed items free from Crossbow Education via the Schoolhouse Review Crew. No other compensation was given. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. I only recommend products that I feel would truly be of benefit to others based on my own experiences. See Disclosure/Policies.***

Added to Links by Subject Page–Finally

So it seems like it’s been forever since I’ve added anything to my links page but I have found a few sites. And I noticed that I am in serious need of going through the links for broken links. A job for another day…

Not many, very short post but here they are.

Sites of Interest
+Safe Internet Information Resources-  find various links grouped by subject on this page. I've not looked at all the links so cannot vouch that all work but the ones I checked were good links (thanks to Nancy Cashian and 'kids' for this link).
=SchoolhouseTeachers.com this site has way more than I could list in a short post! The cost is $5.95 a month, with your first month just $1.
+Highland Heritage Home School site with a lot "many items that hopefully will prove helpful to your own classroom - be it either in a school or at home." Forms and unit studies by subject.

Science
+Science Class free chemistry and physics lessons (thanks to Emilie).
+Marcia's Science Teaching Ideas great site with lots of ideas on how to teach different aspects of science, also has a few links to other places.
+The Science Queen I've not checked the entire site but like it so far, is good for middle school science tips and ideas.
+The Science Spot lots of links to go through on this...I haven't done it yet.

Language Arts
+Daily Grammar- 440 total lessons starting very basic; has quizzes also. Printed books can be purchased.

Bible
+E-Sword   Bible study software downloads
+Bible Master   Bible study site
+Bible History   Biblical history site
+Online Parallel Bible   compare Bibles 'side by side', also has concordance, dictionary, commentary, etc,
+Links for apologetics/defending faith This is from a website called Recon; not all links have been checked and I don't agree with all that are linked but many are useful; includes some that I have here also.

Highlighting Links by Subject for Schooling: Art #2

Each week or so there will be a post {or two} highlighting some links that have been collected and compiled on the Links by Subject for Schooling page on my blog. At this point, I plan to go alphabetically through the subjects because that’s how I am but the websites most likely won’t be alphabetized…sorry for any confusion!

Art

This round will feature online art galleries.

CGFA Art Gallery- A virtual art museum.

Olga’s Gallery- A collection of over 300 painters with over 12,000 works.

ArtCyclopedia- Although not a real ‘gallery’ it does feature many works and the artists. Get to know more about artists and their work.

Garden of Praise Art Gallery- You can visit the second gallery here. Also there are “art lessons” that feature quite a few works also.

Avalon Arts- This goes to a gallery of children’s art! I included this to let kids see that they can be an artist, too.

Google Art Project- Search for artwork, or by artist, and search users collections.

Those are all of the links for Art Galleries that have been collected. Stay tuned for more link ‘highlights’ every so often.

If We Don’t Pay Attention to the Past…

…we are bound to repeat the mistakes!

Ah…history. Lovely history.

What?!  You don’t feel that history is wonderful? Well, you’re not alone! History for me personally was always a boring subject in school. Memorize names and dates, take tests on said memorized information and then move on. And promptly forget it. That’s how it was done.

But I don’t feel that way now. I love history. I love it some much I tried to major in it in college {turns out I only got to minor in it but most of my studies were history centered}. I was fortunate to find an instructor that made history more interesting {mostly by his own personality, I might add} and the rest is, well, history. *wink*

Now I get to choose what we use for history, and that means I can find what is interesting. This week’s theme for the TOS Blog Cruise is “What is your favorite history resource?”

We use all mostly living books for our history study. The reason is they are just more interesting and we can recall the person and event better with these. We still don’t always get the date

There is a plethora of free resources online that are history oriented but there are also some great for cost products that I think are great investments. Here are just a few of my favorites –I cannot be expected to choose just one!{free and cost}:

• Of course my favorite resource of my favorites is most likely Ambleside Online because that’s where I go to first to find what books would be good to use for living books history.
• Heritage History- this site offers books that can be read for free online or you can purchase ebooks (quite inexpensively). These are all books that were written prior to 1923. They also have full history curriculum- book lists, maps, summary; it’s all included!
• Truth Quest History- although I’ve just recently been exposed to this curriculum, I’m liking it for it’s Biblical view of history. It also has given me more books to include in our studies- many of them ‘living’ books.
• Book lists- there are a few here that I’ve found that I go back to when looking for good living books.
• Paula’s Archive has living books listed by different time periods as well as some video supplements.
• Penny Gardner is always a great resource for living books.
• Bringing Up Learners has a resources list that I’ve used to find some good history books. They also offer a free curriculum utilizing the books on the list.
• Websites:
• History Matters- this is a very good resource for US History. It includes many personal accounts and primary documents throughout US history.
• Primary Access- another site for primary documents. I’ve not used this very often {seem to forget it’s there!}.

And some closing thoughts (that I would like to think I would have had eventually *wink*):

"By dismissing the past or by giving it only cursory textbook treatment, modern education produces students whom T.S. Eliot called "provincials of time." These students regard the past with ignorant condescension, assuming that all its scant benefits, through some mysterious process of progressive evolution, have been retained, while its evils have for the most part been shed away. They are infected with the fever of progress, supposing that the mere passage of time acts like a great threshing machine, discarding the chaff and preserving the wheat. Whatever kernels of truth this world ever possessed are somewhere in the loaf now being proffered by science. Nor, in this condition, can the young stomach the medicine of the past, with its stern warnings and meticulous instructions for human improvement printed on the label. In a school predicated only upon science, the student can be nothing more than what he is. That, to be sure, can be developed- and human development results from yielding to certain inner patterns of truth (to which only the psychiatrist is privy), not from imposing the crushing obligations of a historical dogma or of an Ideal Type. The student is not asked to bear any responsibility for a past from which he is intellectually and existentially cut off."
David Hicks
Norms and Nobility (cited at Higher Up and Further In)

"The object of children's literary studies is not to give them precise information as to who wrote what in the reign of whom? -- but to give them a sense of the spaciousness of the days, not only of great Elizabeth, but of all those times of which poets, historians and the makers of tales, have left us living pictures. In such ways the children secure, not the sort of information which is of little cultural value, but wide spaces wherein imagination may take those holiday excursions deprived of which life is dreary; judgment, too, will turn over these folios of the mind and arrive at fairly just decisions about a given strike, the question of Poland, Indian Unrest. Every man is called upon to be a statesman seeing that every man and woman, too, has a share in the government of the country; but statesmanship requires imaginative conceptions, formed upon pretty wide reading 'and some familiarity with historical precedents. " --Charlotte Mason (cited at Charlotte Mason Helps)

Have a look at others favorite History resources by traveling along with the TOS Blog Cruise 4/3/12.

What are some of YOUR favorites?

Science- Need a Rescue!

The theme, or question, this go-around for the TOS Blog Cruise is: “What’s your favorite Science resource?”

I don’t have one. I’m a wee bit of a sciencephobic. But that doesn’t mean I don’t look at things often and wonder if that is the one that could change it all or check out another and wish I could/would buy it (sometimes I can but that fear of science keeps me from actually doing it).

First and foremost, I would recommend Khan Academy- for upper middle school and high school. It is free and Sal explains things so well- you may not understand it but you feel like you do (A bit like those Holiday Inn commercials: “Is there a doctor here?!” “I can help.” “Are you a doctor?” “No- but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.” *smile*- yea a bit like that)

At Khan Academy you can find videos for

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• Physics
• Astronomy
• and one or two others that I’ve never used/viewed.

And recently, I stumbled across Ellen McHenry’s Basement Workshop for some science books as well as some activities. I purchased the Cells book to use with my daughter for the remainder of the year- funny and informative- much better than what we’d been using.

Finally, I want to use more living books in all of our subjects (and more than just one book each) so really like the site Macbeth’s Opinions for their lists of living books. Click here for high school science. You can also find elementary science lists.

"Books dealing with science...should be of a literary character, and we should probably be more scientific as a people if we scrapped all the text books which swell publishers' lists and nearly all the chalk expended so freely on our chalkboards." (Charlotte Mason in Philosophy of Ed., pg. 218)-quoted at the aforementioned site

So there you have some of the science ‘resources’ that I have been perusing lately. I cannot say that I have a favorite and this post could very well look very different if I write it again in a few months  

I encourage you to check out the other science resources found and used by other TOS Crew-ers (eh, spelling, schmelling) along the TOS Blog Cruise (on 3/13/12).

Pinterest- I *Heart* You

Pinterest is taking the web by storm. Causing some swells along the way {you’ve heard of the possibility of infringing on copyrights, haven’t you?} but in general people are flocking to it with zeal! I’m actually just getting into it although I’ve been a member since almost the beginning.

I, for one, was not terribly impressed with it when it first was introduced to me. Not to say that I didn’t see the potential. Okay, okay, at first I truly did not see how awesome it could be.

But now… I pin something just about everyday. Why? Because the bookmarks I’ve created over the years from my browsers toolbar are next to useless to me. I cannot recall where I filed it under and I cannot recall what the website was titled {or what I chose to title it}. I’m pretty sure that I have quite a few duplicate bookmarks in that list. Sure of it.

With Pinterest I can *see* the bookmark. So even if I pinned it under, say, gardening {which I don’t appear to even have a board with that title- yet}, and it is truly clothing {and not related to gardening- who knows why I’d put it there- but it could happen }, I am able to *see* it.

And I love that it is a way to share bookmarks, share great sites {or just very interesting ideas}. There are *gulp* 175 ‘pinners’ that I follow which means to me that there are an exponential number of sites that I now have access to that I may not have even thought to look for before.

Oh, and if you are concerned that this is just another time leech- it can definitely be. Oh yes. But if we that worry about such things are careful, it can be an extremely useful resource. Perhaps use it for searching like you would your usual search engine. Or set a time limit…and stick to it

There is a search feature at the top of the site- type in what you are looking for and you are almost guaranteed with a nice return of results. {if you put in ‘Shamoo’, however, your results will be quite slim lol} The screenshot below is only a small part of the results for “classical education”…

Or for ‘blue’…

The pins go to websites that are commercial, personal, blogs, organizations, and just about anything else that you can think of. If it’s online, you can almost assuredly find a pin of it.

The *only* qualm I have with Pinterest is that the website must have an image to pin. I think it would be swell if there is *no image* that Pinterest could take a screenshot and pin that. That’d be just nifty.

Have you checked out Pinterest? Why or why not? If you do, how do *you* feel about it?

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.***