Heroes & Heroines of the Past

My 8-year-old loves history. He's interested in reading about people that actually lived and what they did. His favorite books are biographies: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Daniel Boone, Ulysses S. Grant. He absorbs the information and flies through the books. I love listening to him learn interesting facts and eagerly relaying them to me. I knew he'd be excited when Golden Prairie Press  sent us the Digital Heroes & Heroines of the Past: America History Curriculum to review. And I was right.

Amy Puetz, owner of Golden Prairie Press, publishes books that show history at its best and from a Christian worldview. It is her desire to "bring encouraging, uplifting, family friendly resources to Christan families and individuals." Audio books, cook books, books specifically for boys or girls, costume books for various time periods, curricula, and more--there's something for everyone. Most of the resources are e-books or digital downloads, but there are some options for printed books, as well.

The Digital Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum was created for students in grades 1-6, but can be adapted to be be used for kids both younger and older. I've been using it as the main history curriculum for my 3rd grader, kindergartener, and preschooler together. The curriculum collection has many components: part 1 & part 2 of the actual America history e-book, additional materials download, historical skits e-book, sing Some History CD download, and Listen to Some U.S. History MP3 CD download. 

Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Part 1 & Part 2 E-books
This 30-week curriculum can be easily used with different ages and grades. Most lessons have a section for 1-2 graders that contains a larger font and basic overview of the stories. Immediately following that portion is the material for the 3-6 graders, which contains the same information just more advanced and more detailed. There are many options at the end of every lesson for review: questions, writing topics, geography, recipes, timelines, Scripture memory, examining historical art, period games, and more. Because I was using this for all my young children, I decided to use the 1-2 grade section. I fully believe that they could understand the more advanced reading, but not be able to do the accompanying work. Because of that, we adapted the review section at the end to work for us. Instead of having my little ones attempt to write out the answers on their own, we used it as a question and answer time, answering as much as they could. They love answering the questions about the art and race to see who can find the answer first. They also enjoy the fun activities like projects (creating tee-pees, Viking ships, hornbook, etc.) and recipes (play dough, succotash, rye and Indian bread, etc.). View a sample.

Additional Materials Download
This is full of supplemental materials for the lessons. It includes printable timelines, color artwork,  game boards, coloring pages, instructions, videos, and more. It is written at the end of the lesson if you need to pull a resource off the download. Some lessons require the materials; others do not.

Historical Skits E-book
This book contains 19 skits from the time of Columbus to World War II. Skits are a great way to bring history to life. The only problem is that I am using it with young kids who can't read very well. They certainly cannot read their parts and act it out at the same time. I tried reading each part myself, using a different voice for each character. It made it interesting, to say the least. The kids found it humorous and got a little better understanding of the stories. I'm sure the skits would work much better with older kids who can play the parts. View a sample.

Sing Some History
This download has 20 songs that are mentioned throughout the book along with some sheet music. It has some more well-known songs, such as "Yankee Doodle" and "Pop Goes the Weasel," and some lesser-known ones, such as "Sweet Betsy from Pike" and "Uncle Sam's Rich Enough to Give Us All a Farm." My kids are used to listening to music through the day, while performing various tasks or just for entertainment. They enjoy when I play this, as well. Listen to a sample.     

Listen to Some U.S. History
This is an audio collection of 20 original speeches, poems, sermons, and documents that are mentioned throughout the book. It includes "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," "Bill of Rights," "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," and more. There is a lot of important information included in this collection. It's just not appealing to little ones though. I found that my kids were lost and tuned it out while it was playing. It's definitely better for the older crowd, and even a good way for dad and mom to learn, too. Listen to a sample.

play dough Viking ship

This curriculum package is extremely thorough. It has so many components that enhance the learning and make it enjoyable. The lessons can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes, but I find on some days, it doesn't even take us that long, because parts are a bit advanced for my little ones. (Remember, I'm using this primarily with kids younger than the recommended age.) I do plan to use this again in a few years when they're older and use the more advanced sections. I love that I can adapt this curriculum to fit our needs. It contains so many resources that it's easy to use what works for us now, and then save it again for when the kids are ready for more. I am excited to continue to work through this now, and even more excited to pick it up again in years to come.

The entire Digital Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum costs $98.99. I think it is well-worth the price. There is also a physical version of the curriculum and many additional materials on the site. If you're looking for an American history curriculum for your homeschool, I suggest you check out this one.

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Wordless Wednesday 5/14/14

The Rhythm of Handwriting

We've been reviewing the Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive - Complete Set from Logic of English. 

Handwriting--you either love it or hate it. And I am not in the loving camp. I remember my friends in school writing in bubble or block letters and creating word designs just for the fun of it. Yeah, that was not me. I write only when I have to. I much prefer to type. And given the choice between manuscript or cursive, I'll choose manuscript every time. (Well, ok, it's more like a connecty combination of manuscript and cursive.)  My husband, on the other hand, loves to write, so much so that he used to write just for the fun of it. (The fun of it?!?)  While I do not share the same opinion, I do understand the importance of writing and writing well. Cursive handwriting is not being taught in most of the schools anymore, yet there have been studies that show how important the skill is for your brain development. When we had the opportunity to review the Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive, it wasn't a product that I necessarily wanted to use, but one that I knew I needed to.     

The Logic of English offers a variety of products to aid teachers, parents, and students in the journey to reading proficiently. Their curricula is designed to teach reading, writing, spelling, phonics, and grammar in an easy-to-follow way. We used the Foundations A package in the past and had good results, so I was interested in using the handwriting curriculum, as well.


The Rhythm of Handwriting set ($65.00) is for ages 4-adult and includes everything your student needs to learn to write cursive.

• Student Workbook -- $15.00
• Quick Reference Chart -- $10.00
• Tactile Cards -- $28.00      
• Student Whiteboard -- $12.00

 

Student Workbook - The book begins with a step-by-step guide to teaching handwriting. It also includes many tips to help along the way, explains why it's best to teach cursive writing before manuscript, and describes how you use all 4 learning modes while writing. There are also different schedules to choose which one works best for your student and 10 fun games to help with the process. From there, the book has practice pages for each letter. The letters are categorized by type and starting with lower case: swing letters, curve letters, loop letters, bump letters. Next are the capitals: curve letters, roll letters, loop letters, circle letters, slash letters, and miscellaneous letters. Each individual letter has its own practice page with 2 lines each in 4 different sizes. This leave the opportunity for the student to choose his own line size. There are also practice pages throughout the book that focus on connecting letters and making words.

Quick Reference Chart -- This colorful foldout chart includes systematic directions for forming each letter. It also has instructions for each of the strokes that are combined to make the letters. Just like the book, the chart groups the letters by type, making it easy to follow.

Tactile Cards -- These Montessori-inspired sandpaper letters provide a sensory experience for learning the letters. On the back of each card is the same rhythmic instructions that are seen in the workbook and the reference chart. Each card also includes the sounds made by each of the phonograms and sample words written in cursive.

Student Whiteboard -- This high-quality whiteboard is double-sided. The first side has one large spot for large-motor practice. The other side has multiple smaller lines for small-motor skills and writing words, phrases, and sentences. It is stain resistant and will not peel.

I primarily focused on Jake (8) for this curriculum. He had been asking me for a while when he could learn cursive. When I told him we were starting, he was very exciting. He had tried drawing some letters in rice or using the tactile cards, but he really just wanted to start writing on the whiteboard. He sat at the table and began to write letter after letter. By day 2 (picture above), he was connecting them to make words. He had never written in cursive before, so I was very impressed with how easily it came to him. I do have to encourage him to practice more and work on his technique (because in his mind, once he write it 2 or 3 times he's ready to move on) but he is doing wonderfully. He is even reading cursive in various places and quite proud of himself.

I have started Alyssa (6) on the program as well. She is requiring a slower pace and more practice, and that's just fine. She gets discouraged when she can't keep up with her big brother, but gets excited when she makes a letter better than he does in his haste. It's been a good challenge having the 2 of them practice together. We all enjoy using the tactile cars, and it's helping me improve my skills as well. Who knows, maybe I'll love writing eventually after all! All right, let's not get carried away, haha. This program is very thorough and is working well for our family. We will continue to use this and make it a point to write more.
        

You can find Logic of English on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter. 

If you're interesting in checking out the the other products or in reading more reviews of this one, head to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Things That Make Me Smile 5/9/14

Jake (8), Alyssa (6), Zac (4), Tyler (2)

Happy Friday! We've had a great week, and I hope you have, too. Why not share a memory of something that made you Smile this week. We'd love to Smile with you!

1. Jake: "Ugh, they ran into my leg and now it really hurts. It made a weird sound. They may have puncture one of my blood vessels."

2. Going to the Mother/Daughter luncheon at church with my grandma, mom, and Alyssa.

3. Me, while talking about nicknames: "We call you Jake even though your real name is Jacob. And we call him Zac even though his name is Zachary."

Leighton: "And we call him Ty, but his real name is Tyler."

Zac: "And we call you Dad but your real name is Daddy."

4. Going shopping alone with Alyssa and letting her pick out an outfit. 

5. Alyssa: "I neeed candy!!!"

Jake: "Actually, people don't need candy to live."

Alyssa, sincerely: "They don't?"

6. Me: "I need to put some makeup on so we can leave.
Jake: "No, you don't. You look beautiful like that."

7. Tyler's fortune inside his Chinese cookie: "You have a keen sense of humor and love a good time."

 

8. Getting my first dandelion bouquet of the season.

9. I was washing dishes when Tyler walked up, with a huge smile on his face, and sprayed me from behind with a squirt gun that he had gotten out of the bathtub.

10. Zac: "Mom, e-s-t-u: yogurt."

Me: "That's a funny way of spelling yogurt." 

Zac: "I spelled it in karate."

What made you Smile this week?

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.

Wordless Wednesday 5/7/14

Things That Make Me Smile 5/2/14

Jake (8), Alyssa (6), Zac (4), Tyler (2)

Happy Friday! Some highlights from this week are going to The Henry Ford Museum, trying to keep up with Tyler and his shenanigans, and starting potty training. It's been a busy and productive week. I hope you've had many reasons to Smile.

1. Zac: "When we go nowhere, can we go somewhere?"

2. Zac, while eating dinner: "This tastes amazing."

3. Jake: "It's too late to change the past."

4. My mom let Jake use her point-and-shoot camera at the museum. He had so much fun documenting things that were important to him. This was one of the shots my mom captured.

5. Jake: "What kind of doughnut do you want?"

Zac: "Powdered. 'Cause I wanna turn into a snowman."

6. Jake: "I know how to spell mer."

Me: "Mer? What's mer?"

Jake: "Mer: m-e-r. You know, gold frankinsence, and myrrh."

7. Jake, excitedly: "Hey, I have an idea! We can go wild cow hunting!"

8. Alyssa, running in the house, completely out of breath: "Mom! You have to come outside! Now! Hurry!!!"

Me, thinking something is wrong: "What is it?"

Alyssa: There are purple flowers growing! You have to come see! They're so pretty."

9. Jake and Alyssa made the cake that he invented by himself when he was only 6. They were a little impatient as it baked, so they found a way to pass the time.

 10. Zac, while eating dinner: "Your cooking is g-o-o-d."

11. Alyssa, about 2 cats cuddling: "They must be married!" 

What made you Smile this week?