Picta Dicta Review

My kids are intrigued by foreign languages. We've dabbled in Latin learning a few times in the past, but never found a curriculum that my kids truly understood and loved. Honestly, I was not interested in revisiting our study of the language just yet. I was sure any curriculum would be met with frustrations and complaints after a couple weeks. So when I heard that we had the opportunity to review Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media, I had no intentions of actually wanting to try it.

So why am I writing a review of it? Because I watched this video on their YouTube channel and immediately knew this curriculum was different.     

Roman Roads Media publishes classical Christian curriculum. By relying on master-teachers of classical education and incorporating video technology, they are able to produce high-quality products that are "accessible, affordable, and flexible for the Christian homeschooler." Their curriculum is characterized by excellent instruction and enhanced with visual aids and examples. Along with multiple Latin choices, they offer many other courses as well, such as logic, rhetoric, poetry, old western culture, and more.

Picta Dicta Natural World is a self-paced Latin program for elementary-age students. It focuses on teaching vocabulary in order to give learners a good foundation of the Latin language. By drilling 400 nouns from the natural world, the program ensures that the learning is both practical and applicable. The words cover the following topics:

• Basic Animals
• Fruits, Berries, and Nuts
• Anatomy I
• Land Forms and Terrain
• Small Animals
• Parts of Trees and Plants
• Human Anatomy II
• Water
• Birds I
• Growing Things
• Sky and Weather
• Animal Anatomy
• Sea Life
• Trees
• Hand and Foot
• Constellations
• Exotic Animals
• Flowers and Herbs
• Vegetables and Legumes
• Human Anatomy III
• Birds II
• Insects, Arachnids, and Worms
• Sign and Habitat
• Light and Fire
• Metals and Stones
• Ground Cover and Vegetation  

The course is offered at various levels of difficulty and the lessons themselves are self-paced, which means that the curriculum remains both achievable and challenging. In addition to Latin, the curriculum weaves bits of literature, history, and science into the lessons.

The program utilizes a multi-sensory approach with the philosophy of See It, Hear It, Understand It. It combines colorful, hand-drawn images along with audible pronunciations and English definitions and translations to help the student fully grasp the vocabulary.

I have one child working through the course at the Reader I level and two children following the Reader II level. The teaching style is the same for both levels, but the difficulty varies slightly. The Reader I has 8 lessons for each topic followed by 5 lessons of accumulative review, whereas the Reader II generally has 5 lessons followed by another 5 lessons of combined review. I also have plans to work through the Express level myself, which is an accelerated version of the curriculum. There are additional choices for children who cannot yet read and the parent who does not want to complete the drills but wants access to the materials.

The program teaches the words through various means. An example of the Reader II lesson games is as follows:

• Learn Latin -- learn the vocabulary words and read short stories that describe them in their ancient role
• Latin Picture -- use Latin words with English descriptions
• English -- label the picture in English
• Spell Latin -- translate the Latin word and type it in English
• Review Latin -- translate the English word and type it in Latin

There are also two versions of a crossword puzzle for each topic that you can download and print. The easier version lists the Latin word as the clue and the English word as the answer; the more difficult version is the opposite.

My kids have been doing so well with this program! They are loving learning new words and the ease at which they are doing so. Even the 3-year-old is heard walking through the house saying words like "asinus" and "gallina" (and it's super cute, if I do say so myself). I appreciate that they're learning to decode words by recognizing the morphemes in Latin and finding them in English words. In fact, they were impressed when I was able to guess animals by their Latin equivalent in this way. For instance, I guessed horse for equus because of equestrian, dog for canis because of canine, and others. I also knew gallina for chicken because of studying Spanish in high school. Being able to understand English better is one of my favorite reasons for my children learning Latin. 

 

Picta Dicta Natural World is a fantastic program to teach hundreds of words in Latin, no matter your previous experience with the language. With a strong vocabulary foundation, learning grammar and grasping the language as a whole becomes much easier. I am excited to continue with this curriculum and watch my children grow as they learn Latin. 

You can connect with Roman Roads Media on the following social media sites:

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Pinterest

If you'd like to learn more about the products offered by Roman Roads Media, please read the reviews on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

   

The Secret Bridge

I've mentioned countless times how important quality literature is to our family and how much we love reviewing books. There is always some sort of read-aloud that the kids and I are sharing together. And while I absolutely love reading and can easily get lost in a book, I don't read literature silently to myself very often. Oh, I used to; I used to read multiple novels a week. Then life got busier and I allowed my personal reading to be pushed aside. Every now and then though, a book comes along that begs to be enjoyed, to be read, to be made to come to life in the mind of the reader. The Secret Bridge was one such book.

I was excited when I learned that I was receiving a book from Lamplighter Publishing. The company is known for its wholesome books (both printed and audio) that are filled with characters that encourage faith in God. While the particular books they sell can be found elsewhere, their versions are "edited within a Biblical theological framework to ensure that each story reflects the character of God." Key Scripture references, footnotes with definitions, and biblical truths make these titles unique and highly valued over other books with the same titles. 

The Secret Bridge was written in 1899 by Amy Le Feuvre. The foundation of our home school is literature, and we often pull books from the late 1800s and early 1900s for our learning. The majority of the time, the vocabulary is richer, the godly character traits more pronounced, and the plots more beneficial. Amy Le Feuvre was an accomplished author in England. Being a granddaughter of a reverend, she used her religious upbringing to write many stories that are filled with biblical principles.

The Secret Bridge begins as Bridget Channing is sailing to England. Her widower father had recently died, leaving her to be cared for by an uncle oversees. On the journey, she met Godfrey Bullingham, a naval man from a very well-to-do family. There was a instant mutual attraction, so when Bridget discovered that her uncle had passed away weeks before her arrival and she was subsequently on her own, she agreed to marry Godfrey. The day of the wedding, he left for a year-long voyage at sea, leaving Bridget to keep the marriage a secret from everyone except the elderly couple caring for her in a farm house on Bullingham property. During this time, she was introduced to the Fitzroys, the Bullingham's greatest rivals. As she draws closer to both of these influential families, Bridget discovers another secret--one that could either potentially bring to two families together, or tear her husband's family apart. She must use her new-found faith in God to help her make the proper choices and trust in Him to work out the details.

The story is filled with biblical truths and sprinkled with quotes from Scripture. The reader witnesses Bridget's faith unfold and she learns about God and what it means to climb the ladder of faith. Hardships, struggles, dependence on God, grace, delight. Her relationship with Godfrey is a picture of the Christian life. When she met him, he meant nothing to her. Once they became acquainted, she longed to know him better. He came and saved her in her hour of need, and she became his. Even though he wasn't there in person, she had his letters to get to know him better. He cared for her, provided for her, loved her. It's the same way with Christ. We start off not knowing Him. Then we're introduced to Him, and He saves and we become His child. We know Him better through the Bible. He cares for us, provides for us, loves us. We are His.

 
I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret Bridge. It was an easy read that reinforced many godly qualities. The book itself has a beautiful, turquoise hardcover with a soft, velvety finish. It would look impressive on any bookshelf as a collector's item. While my children do read literature from this time period, I don't think they would be too interested in this one quite yet. Ultimately, it is a love story (one that pictures our relationship with God), and though there is nothing inappropriate in it, I think it would be more appealing to the teen and older crowd.

Lamplighter Publishing aims to develop "Christlike character one story at a time," and I think that they accomplished that with this book.

You can connect with Lamplighter Publishing on the following social media sites:

Facebook
Twitter
Google+

  

You can read more reviews of this book on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

Peter and the Wolf Review

We were excited to receive Peter and the Wolf from the Maestro Classics stories in music collection. 

We are a big music-loving family. My husband majored in music in college and lead both the choir and the congregational singing at church for many years. He and I have both been in multiple singing groups and a traveling handbell choir. (Actually, it was that choir and playing our parts next to each other that brought us together!) It is our desire to give our children a love of good music. One great way of doing that is through Stories in Music from Maestro Classics and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This series, meant for children an families, uses music to tell stories. You can listen to the music from a soundtrack without ever having seen the movie itself and get an idea of the emotions taking place. Music moves you. It reminds me of a day while watching something when my 4-year-old asked, "Why is she mad?" After I explained that she wasn't, he questioned, "Then why does the music sound like that?" Music tells a story.

Bonnie and Stephen Simon understand the importance of music. They want families to be not only entertained by their productions, but also educated. They both have many years of professional experience (to name a few of their numerous accomplishments: Bonnie as the former executive director of the Washington Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Stephen as the music director of the same organization for 25 years). Now, they work together to create and compose these symphonic works.    

Peter and the Wolf, written and composed by Sergei Prokofiev, is a well-known story. It's about a boy who has animal friends, doesn't obey his grandfather, and has a run-in with a wolf. Not only is the story beautifully told, but it is described in an easy-to-understand way, as well. The narrator explains that each character is represented by instruments in the symphony orchestra.

Bird = Flute
Duck = Oboe
Cat = Clarinet
Grandfather = Basoon
Wolf = 3 French Horns
Hunters = Woodwinds (marching), Kettle Drums (shooting of guns)
Peter = Strings 

Pointing out the individual instruments helps to recognize them throughout the story and makes it fun to follow along. My kids and I enjoyed listening to just the instrumental portions without the verbal story and discussing which character was being highlighted and what kind of attitude was being portrayed. Music is powerful!

There is a section devoted to the composer. Prokofiev grew up in the Russian countryside, where wolves were a real threat. He was the only child of wealthy parents. His father taught him chess while his mother taught him piano. By 9 years of age, he had composed his own opera. At 13, he was the youngest student to be accepted at St. Petersburg Conservatory. By the time he graduated, he was already a published composer. He traveled while preforming his own music and eventually came to America. The critics here claimed that he was "throwing ink at paper," but people still flocked to his performances. He left the US, got married, had children, and returned to Moscow. It was there he was encouraged to compose a story for children. He wrote the story in just one week and composed it the next. Peter and the Wolf has been loved by people all over the world. Not only is the musical score enchanting, but the story is one to be admired. It's about a boy who has the courage to face danger and the ability to think quickly to find a solution to his problem. He becomes the hero!

The rest of the CD is full of  all sorts of interesting things. There is the entire instrumental story performed in the Russian style, musical terms, descriptions of music as sound effects (rope lowering, wolf's jaw snapping, hunters shooting guns), an explanation from the conductor of the musical theme, more fun Russian music, and other valuable information.

Along with the CD is included a 24-page activity book. It contains biographies, a small portion of sheet music, info about the music, games, and more. This little book is great to teach the kids more about the music, instruments, and people, but I found myself soaking up the information as well. My kids liked the games the best: crack the code, musical question, word search, crossword, matching the instruments, identifying the mouthpieces, and others.

My kids and I listened to this work many times: driving, folding laundry, coloring, or whatever. They enjoyed listening along and learning and reading through the activity book, as well. They've even asked if we could get more. Maestro Classics has other titles such as Swan Lake (reviewed by some of y Crewmates), Casey at the Bat, The Tortoise and the Hare, and more. They have fun things on their website like games and coloring pages as part of their Kids Club and offer in-dept curriculum guides that accompany specific titles. If you'd like to give your family the love of music, I suggest heading over to listen to some samples. We've been impressed with the Stories in Music.   


You can connect with Maetro Classics on the following social media sites:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube


You can read more reviews of this title or reviews of Swan Lake on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Maestro Classics

We were blessed to review two titles from the Maestro Classics collection: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music.

We are a big music-loving family. My husband majored in music in college and leads both the choir and the congregational singing at church. He and I have both been in multiple singing groups and a traveling handbell choir. (Actually, it was that choir and playing our parts next to each other that brought us together!) It is our desire to give our children a love of good music. One great way of doing that is through Stories in Music from Maestro Classics and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This series, meant for children an families, uses music to tell stories. You can listen to the music from a soundtrack without ever having seen the movie itself and get an idea of the emotions taking place. Music moves you. Just the other day while watching something, my 4-year-old asked, "Why is she mad?" After I explained that she wasn't, he questioned, "Then why does the music sound like that?" Music tells a story.

Bonnie and Stephen Simon understand the importance of music. They want families to be not only entertained by their productions, but also educated. They both have many years of professional experience (to name a few of their numerous accomplishments: Bonnie as the former executive director of the Washington Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Stephen as the music director of the same organization for 25 years). Now, they work together to create and compose these symphonic works.    

The story Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton is brought to life through this presentation. As the steam shovels are becoming outdated and replaced with newer engines, Mike stays loyal to his own steam shovel, Mary Anne. They work harder and faster than they ever had before and attempt to prove that they are still profitable. The music, along with the Irish bagpipes is beautiful and catchy. The story leaves you rooting for the underdogs. My kids (8, 6, 4) were immediately sucked into the tale. They had never heard the story of Mike Mulligan before, so it was fun for me to watch them as they became nervous, wondering if he and Mary Anne would succeed. The music perfectly matches the emotions the character feels at the story takes place. But that is just the first track of the CD! The rest of it is filled with so much information, such as the conductor himself (Stephen Simon) explaining why he chose certain instruments and pointing them out in the story. Those sections truly help you understand the music and give you a greater appreciation of it. My little ones asked to listen to this multiple times over the past few weeks.

Along with the CD is included a 24-page activity book. It contains biographies, a small portion of sheet music, info about the music, games, and more. This little book is great to teach the kids more about the music, instruments, and people, but I found myself soaking up the information as well. This package costs $16.98 and is good for ages 4+ and families.

I'll be honest, I chose My Name Is Handel: The Story of Water Music for my husband. I knew he would appreciate the music as he loves classical composers. I knew Handel only because of the "Hallelujah Chorus" and Messiah, so everything about this story was new to me. It explains who Handel was and why he wrote "Water Music." Just like the other title, this story is told on the first track of the CD and contains 5 more tracks of learning. They explain concertos, suites, and oratorios. They talk about how Handel was a showman and what he did one opening night to prove it. And they explain why everyone stands when the "Hallelujah Chorus" is sung. While I found the facts fascinating, I could see that my little ones were tuning it out. They just weren't drawn into this story as they were the other. I suppose it does really surprise me. The other was an adaptation of a children's book and this one was more of a biography. I'm sure they appreciate this one more as they get older.

This CD also come with a 24-page activity book with pages describing the instruments, talking about Handel and the time period, and more. This package costs $16.98 and is meant for ages 5+ and families.


My kids and I listened to these works many times: driving, folding laundry, coloring, or whatever. They enjoyed listening along and learning and reading through the activity books, as well. They've even asked if we could get more. Maestro Classics has other titles such as Peter and the Wolf, Casey at the Bat, The Tortoise and the Hare, and more. They even have fun things on their website like games and coloring pages as part of their Kids Club. If you'd like to give your family the love of music, I suggest heading over to listen to some samples. We've been impressed with the Stories in Music.   

To connect with Maestro Classics, you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

You can read more reviews of these titles or of the others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.