Our Homeschool Reviews: April 2015

Friday, April 24, 2015

The Book of the Middle Ages Review

I'm happy to be able to tell you about another wonderful Memoria Press Classical Studies set. If you are not familiar with Memoria Press, they are a family-run publishing company that produces Classical Christian materials. Cheryl Lowe founded the company in 1994, and is the author of several of their books, including the very popular Latin program, Latina Christiana.

The Book of the Middle Ages is a collection of history books written by Dorothy Mills in the 1920's for middle school students. Memoria Press recently brought these back into publication along with beautiful black and white illustrations.

The Book of the Middle Ages is divided into three parts: The Early Middle Ages, The Unity of the Middle Ages, and The Later Middle Ages with over 70 stories in all. Stories range from the Germanic Invaders to Charlemagne, and the Medieval Church to the Hundred Years War.

"It concludes with The Middle Ages, where students are privileged to see how Christianity spread out, building a new civilization on the remnants of the Roman Empire".

The Book of the Middle Ages is a year-long workbook course best suited for grades 6-9. The set I received includes a Text, Student Guide, and Teacher Guide.

The Student Guide includes 22 lessons with 3 review lessons at the end of each unit. Each lesson in the Student Guide includes Facts to Know {along with famous quotes}, Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, and Activities.

The Teacher Guide is essential because it contains all of the answers. It is laid out identical to the Student Guide so answers are easy to locate. It also includes tests and answer keys.

Find Out More: You can find out more online at Memoria Press. The Book of the Middle Ages is recommended for grades 6-9. The Text, Student Guide, and Teacher's Manual are sold as a set for $39.95.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Character Building

I mentioned last week that I recently started a Bible Study/Devotion with some of Funny Bunny's friend's at dance. Here are some of my notes from week one.

Week One: Character Building

The 1828 Webster Dictionary defines character as - the peculiar qualities, impressed by nature or habit on a person, which distinguish him from others.

Our character is built from the many influences we receive from infancy throughout childhood. As we get older our character-building responsibility increases. The choices young girls make now in life build the character that will be theirs forever.

Is it right? Does it meet my parent's approval? Is it glorifying God?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ~ Matthew 5:6

Doing the right thing is not always the easy road, but it is worth the effort. Christ is our Perfect Pattern and only those who form their lives after Him are building the best character.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. ~ Romans 5:3-5

Think of a character trait that comes easy to you, like kindness or honesty, and one that is not as easy, like patience or obedience. Pray about the one that is not as easy throughout the week and work on it.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Summer Fit Activity Books Review

I was on the hunt for something that Funny Bunny could work on over the summer between 6th and 7th grade. We don't stop school completely because I like for her to keep her mind sharp but I don't want to overwhelm her with work.

That's when I stumbled across Summer Fit. Summer Fit Workbooks were written by teachers to help prepare students academically, physically, and socially for the next grade level.

Summer Fit Activities engage children in the following areas:

Academics: reading, writing, math, language arts, science, geography, & tech
Fitness: exercise, active play, healthy eating, and nutrition
Core Values: honesty, self-discipline, and friendship

The Summer Fit is a series of nine workbooks: P-K, 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd, 3rd-4th, 4th-5th, 5th-6th, 6th-7th, and 7th-8th

Each book contains:

* A parent introduction
* 10 weekly units that start with an overview and cover the subjects above
* 10 pages for each unit so only 2 pages per day need to be completed
* A weekly role model, like Jackie Robinson, and core values in each unit
* Extension activities

I received two workbooks to review - Summer Fit 2-3 and 6-7.

My Thoughts: As I mentioned above, both are laid out in the exact same format, the only difference is the material. The material is different each day, which is nice and will hopefully keep the child from getting bored. In flipping through the 6-7 grade book, there are things that will be review for Funny Bunny but there are definitely new concepts.

Below you can see a few samples from both books.

2nd-3rd

6th-7th

Find Out More: You can find out more online at Summer Fit Learning and on their Facebook Page. Workbooks can be purchased on Amazon for between just $9 and $12.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Girls Preteen/Teen Bible Study

I recently started a Bible Study/Devotion with some of Funny Bunny's friends at dance. For months prior, I really felt the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart to start something, but I just wasn't sure what at the time. I continued to put it off but that feeling kept coming back.

I finally built up the courage and asked if these girls would be interested in going on this journey with me. This was truly a hard step to take. Although I enjoy teaching, I do have some anxiety over it, and let's face it, I certainly am no expert in the subject and don't have all the answers.

But I asked. And they accepted. :)

So in following God's instructions as laid out in Matthew 28:18-20, I am using Beautiful Girlhood as my guide. This book was originally published in 1922, and although it has been revised and republished more recently, the wording is still pretty old fashioned. The content is timeless though.

Here is a peek into what we have discussed so far:

Character-Building
The Strength of Obedience
Inner Beauty {today's lesson}

My intent is to write in detail about each one in hopes that it may help someone else. Will try to get the first up sometime next week.

Chewy.com: Nutro Ultra Biscuits Review

Our dog Maisy was sent another amazing product from Chewy.com. Nutro Ultra Wild Blueberry & Pomegranate Biscuits.

Chewy.com really has a large selection of products and I love how many of them are made with superior ingredients. These biscuits are made with no wheat, no ground yellow corn, no corn gluten meal, no soy, no artificial colors or flavors, no fillers, and naturally preserved.

Other key benefits include:

Helps maintain and boost your dog’s immune system
Supports healthy heart function
Farm-raised chicken, pasture-fed lamb/salmon for good amino acid levels
Antioxidants to help a strong immune system, healthy heart & sharp mind
Made in the USA

The biscuits came in a large 16oz bag and Maisy has been enjoying them!

Find Out More: You can find out more online at Chewy.com. The Nutro Ultra Wild Blueberry & Pomegranate Biscuits are just $4.95 for a 16oz bag.

Chewy.com has a 100% Unconditional Satisfaction Guarantee. If you're not 100% completely satisfied for any reason whatsoever, return it! They will accept packages within 365 days of the sale date for a complete refund and pay for the return shipping, as long as the product is not used or expired.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

IEW $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway...and MORE!

Last week I had the opportunity to review Fix It! Grammar by IEW. We have continued to use it since my review and are really enjoying it.

This week I'm excited to share that my readers have an opportunity to win a $50 Gift Certificate from IEW that can be used to purchase whatever IEW product you would like!! We've used many that I would recommend.

In addition to entering the giveaway, IEW is also offering 4 FREE downloads to my readers:

• Reaching the Reluctant Writer
• Nurturing Competent Communicators
• Four Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing
• IEW Recommended Reading List

So if you would like to enter to win a $50 Gift Certificate from IEW and get the 4 FREE downloads, go HERE to enter.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Fix-It! Grammar Review

My daughter, Funny Bunny, is a self-professed editor. She has a knack for finding grammatical errors in books and she enjoys correcting other people's writings. So when I heard about Fix-It! Grammar from the Institute For Excellence in Writing, I was interested in what she would think about it.

I received Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Teacher's Manual Book 1 and Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Student Book 1.

There are six books in the Fix It! Grammar series and each builds off the previous.

* The Nose Tree
* Robin Hood
* Frog Prince, or Just Deserts
* Little Mermaid
* Chanticleer
* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In each book, students hunt for and correct errors in daily passages that tell a story. The books are for elementary through high school, and although it's recommended that all students begin with The Nose Tree: Book 1, there is a placement test on their website.

The Nose Tree is broken into 33 weekly lessons with 4 days of work each week. Each week a new topic is introduced, like Pronouns or Quotations, and discussed. Each day has just one sentence or one part of a sentence that needs to be labeled, corrected, and re-written. For students who are new to grammar, this is a great and simple introduction. For those who may need more of a challenge, multiple days could be combined. Funny Bunny was able to combine four days into one.

Students define bolded vocabulary words, identify parts of speech, make grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections, and copy the sentences once they are correct. When they are finished they will have a cumulative story that they have written.

Included in the Student Book are also Grammar Cards and a very helpful Grammar Glossary.

My Thoughts: We have been working quickly through The Nose Tree as most of it is a review for Funny Bunny. We are currently on week 14. I decided to start with book 1 because, even though most of it is a review for her, there are some new concepts introduced toward the end of the book that I wanted her to learn. I've been really pleased with this book and would highly recommend it to others who are looking for a solid and cumulative grammar series.

Thoughts of an 11-Year Old: Fix-It! Grammar is a grammar book that is full of short sentences. You correct the punctuation and label words in each sentence of the story. The story I'm working on now is about how three brothers were granted magical items. It's really quite interesting, and you learn something new every week, or rather, add something to a list of things you label and/or fix. It covers things like pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and who-which clauses. I like Fix-It! Grammar!

Find Out More: You can find out more online at IEW. Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Teacher's Manual Book 1 is $19 and Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Student Book 1 is $15. Both are spiral bound and come with an unconditional 100% refund guarantee.