Deanna

Author Archives: Deanna

IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization (Crew Review)

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Deanna

Can you still quote lines from your favorite childhood movies? Have you ever found yourself adapting quotes from books or movies in the course of regular conversation? I know I have. When we memorize something, we make it our own and can draw upon it to help us communicate effectively. When I started learning about the Institute for Excellence in Writing‘s poetry memorization program, it made so much sense to me. Children memorize naturally, so why not use that skill to help them develop their language skills? We received the Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization program materials and the additional Student Book to review, and I can already see that its benefits are going to be long-reaching.

About Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

Before diving into the Teacher’s Manual, IEW suggests watching (or listening to) Andrew Pudewa’s conference talk on “Nurturing Competent Communicators” (included in both video and audio form). In this teaching, Mr. Pudewa shares about his own foreign language learning experience and how he discovered the benefit of memorizing to help him grow in his ability to speak fluently and well. His main point is that no matter how effective we are at teaching writing, “you can’t get something out of a child’s brain that isn’t in there to begin with.” Memorizing poetry and speeches helps build a mental “database” of “reliably correct and sophisticated language patterns.” Once those patterns are in your brain, you can access them as you write or speak, adapting them to fit the needs of what you are trying to communicate. Vocabulary, idioms, and various grammatical patterns can be drawn upon at will.

The Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization program consists of 5 levels of material for memorization. The first four levels each have 19 poems, plus suggestions for a 20th selection, which the student gets to pick. The fifth level has famous speeches and includes historical information about each one to help give context. At the end of the book, the appendices contain short biographies of each poet, as well as optional “lesson enhancements” if you want to do more with each poem than just memorize it.

The Introduction in the Teacher’s Manual further explains the motivation behind Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization as well as describing the process of “mastery learning” following the method developed by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki used by violin teachers around the world. The concepts he drew upon for music education can be just as effectively applied to memorizing poetry. As the student adds to his repertoire, he continues practicing the pieces previously learned, so that by the end of Level 1, he is able to perfectly recite all twenty poems.

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization IEW Review

The Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization set includes:

Teacher’s Manual (200 pages, spiral-bound softcover)
5-CD set of the poems read by Andrew Pudewa
DVD of Andrew Pudewa’s conference talk on “Nurturing Competent Communicators”

The Teacher’s Manual also has instructions for downloading the 170-page Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization Student e-book and 7 Audio MP3s:

Nurturing Competent Communicators
Mastery Learning, Ability Development, and Individualized Education
Ten Thousand Times and Then Begins Understanding
On Listening
On Speaking
On Reading
On Writing

A physical copy of the Student Book is also available for separate purchase. However, IEW’s generous copyright allows you to print multiple copies of the included e-book for use within your immediate family or classroom, so it’s not necessary to purchase the student book unless you’d rather have it printed for you.

Our Experience

I really wasn’t sure about this program when we were asked to review it, but I have the highest respect for Andrew Pudewa and the Institute for Excellence in Writing, so I was willing to give it a try. I’m SO glad I did. From within the first few minutes of watching the “Nurturing Competent Communicators” DVD, I started getting excited about diving into poetry memorization with my children, particularly with Ian (8) and Elijah (6).

Student Page I started by explaining what we were going to do and showing them the booklets I had printed for them of the Level 1 poems in the Student e-Book. (IEW generously sent us a spiral-bound softcover physical copy of the Student Book for our review, but since I was planning to use the program with two children, I wanted them to have identical materials.) I thought they would enjoy coloring the illustrations, but I found we really didn’t use the Student Book at all in any form after the first day because we did most of our memorization either around the kitchen table during meals (with me reading from the Teacher’s Manual) or in the car. I LOVED having the audio CDs to take along with us so the kids could review their poems (and start working on new ones) as we drove around town. The volume level was a little low, so we had to crank it up (and be careful when we switched to a different audio source or we got blasted), but overall they were a great way to practice.

My boys love almost all the poems they have memorized so far. (They’re about a third of the way through Level 1). There’s a great variety of short and long, humorous and contemplative, and we haven’t found any we don’t like. The boys both really enjoy reciting them (especially for Daddy in the evenings), and they often argue about who gets to go first on each one. It’s been very rewarding for them, and I’m amazed at how quickly they’ve both mastered the poems. I love that this program is a long-term project for our family. There’s plenty of material here to keep us memorizing for the next few years, and I’m sure we’ll find other poems the boys will want to add to their repertoire.

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization is a great complement to IEW’s core product, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, which I’ve been going through this year as the boys have participated in a writing class using lessons based on this method. I’m thankful for the chance to add poetry memorization to our linguistic toolbox, and IEW will continue to be our family’s go-to source for quality products to help us as we seek to raise up skilled communicators.

Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

Snatching Time With God

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Deanna

This weekend my husband and I got to meet with a group of other leaders from our church for some time of worship, focus, and training. I was stuck once again by what a unique season of life I am in. The demands of having young children can feel all-consuming, and my relationship with God has certainly looked different in the last few years than it has at any other time in my Christian walk. I have noticed that most of the books I read or advice I have heard about spiritual formation may be really helpful during other seasons, but don’t necessarily work quite so well for me as a mother of young children.

For example, I spent my first few years as a mom trying my “old” way of scheduling time with God–early in the morning, during nap time, after the children when to bed . . . the result was always the same. While it can be helpful to have a regular quiet time, I have found that more often than not, that time I try to set aside gets interrupted by a teething baby, a toddler who wakes up earlier than usual, a child who’s melting down and just needs a bit more mama time than usual, or complete exhaustion on my part.

Rather than developing a discipline of devotional time, I found it more helpful to train myself to “snatch” moments with God. When everyone is playing quietly for a minute and I have time to run to to the bathroom alone, I take a moment to read in the Bible I keep there just for such chances. I keep a perpetual prayer calendar above my sink so that as I’m doing dishes I can meditate on the verse for that day and pray for my children accordingly. Sometimes I’ll keep a prayer list on the dashboard of my car so on the chance I get a moment as we drive when I’m not answering questions from the back seat I can use that time to pray about the things on my heart.

I need these times. When I find myself feeling short-tempered and irritable, snapping at my kids or feeling overwhelmed, it’s usually because I’m “running on empty.” Taking an extra minute in the bathroom each morning to greet the Lord, thank Him for the day, surrender myself to Him, and ask for His Spirit to lead me, fills me up so that my kids catch the overflow of His love spilling out of me, rather than the impatience of a desperately thirsty soul.

Susanna Wesley, mother of 19 children including John and Charles Wesley, used to pull her apron up over her head to give herself a private place to pray. That’s woman who knows her desperate need! Whether you find your chance to pray under an apron, in a bathroom, in your car, or someplace else, I want to encourage you to have grace for yourself in this season of child-rearing. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t find consistency in your quiet times. Instead, try to snatch up those moments to draw close to God whenever you can catch them.

How do you find time with God in the midst of busy days with little ones? I’d love to know what’s working for you!

Posted in Personal

Elementary Music Appreciation Course (Crew Review)

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Deanna

When we first started homeschooling one of the things that drew me to the Charlotte Mason method of education was the attention paid to composer study. Classical music has been a part of my life since childhood, and I want my children to be familiar with and appreciate it as well. I’ve had my eye on the Great Composers books from Zeezok Publishing LLC for quite a while and was SO excited to get a chance to review the entire Music Appreciation: Book 1 for the Elementary Grades collection, starting with one of my children’s favorite composers: Beethoven.

About the Music Appreciation Book 1 Collection

This collection is an incredibly rich resource, providing materials for seven 4-week unit studies based on the lives of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, and Schubert:

7 biographical novels by Opal Wheeler, one for each composer, all softcover except the one Schubert (not sure why we received a hardcover since I know they do publish it in softcover)
1 Student Activity Book (softcover with perforated pages)
Set of 5 Audio CDs
CD-ROM with files for making a lapbook for each composer
(Coordinating coloring book available for separate purchase)

Each of these items is available for individual purchase, but unless you already own something, the you’ll want everything that comes in the collection to complete the lessons.

The heart of this curriculum is the Wheeler books, which focus on the composers’ lives and childhood musical background. Although the book occasionally references topics covered when studying other composers, for the most part each unit study is self-contained, so they don’t necessarily need to be done in the order they are presented.

I chose Beethoven for our first study. Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells starts with Beethoven as a very young boy and tells about his musical career all the way through his moving 9th Symphony, composed when he could no longer hear. While the book does talk about Ludwig being forced to practice in the middle of the night as a child and his father’s desire to see him become a musician like Mozart, it is very appropriate for children and doesn’t mention his father’s abusive nature. Instead the focus is on Ludwig’s relationships with other members of his family, his various teachers and his many musical experiences growing up.

The book also includes music for several of Beethoven’s compositions, which are simple enough for intermediate piano players to be able to play and enjoy as they go through the book. (These selections are also on the audio CDs.) Some are interspersed with the text to experience as you go through the book, and there are also several at the end for further enjoyment.

After you have read the chapter for the week, the Student Activity Book is full of questions, activities, and ideas for further study. Each unit starts with a Weekly Lesson Outline that lists all the reading assignments and activities that will be covered, making note of those required to meet national music appreciation standards.

Each week’s assignments include:

reading a chapter in the Wheeler book
a page of comprehension questions
study of character qualities demonstrated in the chapter
listening assignments from the Music Appreciation CDs
“Tidbits of Interest” expounding upon specific information in the chapter
Lapbook activities
Extras like geography, history, or music theory

The Student Activity Book functions as both a workbook and a textbook, with some pages having activities to complete and others containing additional reading material.

The CD-ROM contains the pieces needed for each composer’s lapbooks as well as pictures of completed lapbooks. These pages include instructions about how to assemble each piece, but to find out where to place it, you have to look up the examples or read the directions in the Student Activity Book.

Our Experience

I chose the Beethoven unit because most of my children are already somewhat familiar with his life story and his music, but there was still a lot for everyone to learn. This curriculum is designed for K-6th grade, so I planned to include Ian (2nd grade) and Elijah (Kindergarten) as well as seeing how much Arianna (preschool) could participate.

We started each week’s work reading a few pages from Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells while the kids colored. The boys probably would have been able to read the Wheeler book themselves, but it would have been laborious, so I used it as a read aloud instead. (An audio version is also available both on CD and as an mp3 download.)

I bought two copies of the coordinating coloring book for the younger two to use since Ian would be using the Student Activity Book. I was thankful that there were multiple coloring pages for each chapter, because I found Ian had an easier time listening when he was coloring (and my 2-year old wanted to do what everyone else was doing as well). The pictures directly related to the chapters in the book, so they were a great way to include everyone. I was a little surprised when the coloring books arrived and they were just stapled together rather than being actual bound books, but that ended up making it easy to take them apart and share the quality coloring pages from 2 books among 4 children. I don’t know that we would have enjoyed the study nearly as much if I hadn’t gone ahead and gotten the coloring pages.

DSCN1249x There was so much material in the Student Activity Book, I ended up taking almost twice as long as the suggested four weeks to get through it. Even though the curriculum is intended for all elementary grades, I felt like much of it was too difficult for my Kindergartner and 2nd grader, though it would be perfect for upper elementary students. We adapted things and often just went through the material conversationally.

The boys enjoyed working on the lapbook together after we had finished reading and dismissed the little ones. I struggled a little bit with figuring out exactly what went where, confused that some of the instructions were in the Student Activity Book while others were on the pages with the lapbook materials themselves. I think when we go through the next unit I’ll be able to figure it out better, but since this was the first lapbook we’d ever created, I would have felt a little more confident if all the information I needed were in one place.

My Thoughts on Zeezok Publishing’s Music Appreciation

20160317_094524x I am in awe of how much work went into putting together this curriculum. There is SO much to do and learn about in each study! Even though we found it to be a bit overwhelming at this point, I think we’ll get a lot more out of it as my children get older. I’ll probably get the audio books for future studies so we can get through the books as we drive and save our time at home for all the other activities.

Music Appreication Book 1_zpsu33n9px8 The only change I would like to see would be separating the Student Activity Book into a textbook and separate workbook. It is designed to be consumable, with one needed for each student, but so much of it is extra reading material or instructions for lapbook activities that could easily be reused, so it felt a bit wasteful to me. Since I have multiple children, it would be nice to only be purchasing extra copies of the pages that actually get written in rather than the entire book.

There’s definitely more in the weekly lesson outline than I can get done in the time I usually allot to composer study each week. In the future I will probably stretch out each unit more intentionally. Or if I do want to keep to the schedule, I might even use it as a traditional unit study, where it’s the main focus of the school day with other subjects coming out of it (since history, geography, reading, writing, and of course fine arts are all included. However we end up using it, I am thankful for such a well-designed, detailed curriculum for studying the lives and music of so many great composers.

Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades {Zeezok Publishing LLC Review}

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Composer Study, Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Deanna

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a mom. After I had grown up, it was one of the strongest desires of my heart. I remember the tears of my last Mother’s Day with empty arms, and I am overflowing with thankfulness at the Lord’s blessings in the the years since then. One in heaven, five on earth . . . beautiful abundance! My hands are full, and my heart even more so.

Happy Mother’s Day!

untitled shoot-5235-30

Posted in Uncategorized

The Princess Twins and the Tea Party (Book Review)

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Deanna

In a house full of brothers, I try to find little ways to help my only daughter celebrate being a girl. And what could be more girly than princesses and a tea party? We were recently given a chance to review The Princess Twins and the Tea Party by Mona Hodgson. It’s beginning reading book (I Can Read! Level 1) that hopefully Arianna will be able to read to herself soon. For now, she was content to have me read it to her over and over.

Twin princesses Emma and Abby are having friends over for a tea party, and Emma is concerned about having everything “perfect.” She checks up on the cook baking their treats, fixes the napkins that she doesn’t think were folded correctly, escorts the puppy out of the room, and worries about the name cards her sister is bringing. Abby reminds her, “Only God is perfect,” and encourages her to just enjoy the party. Fortunately, Emma takes her sister’s words to heart, and when things don’t go quite as planned, she’s able to laugh about it and have a good time anyway.

It’s a simple message, but such a great lesson to learn at a young age. Having been a bit of a perfectionist myself, growing up, I still remember one of my teachers taking me aside to encourage me that sometimes I would have to let go of that need to be perfect or I would make myself miserable. Her words have always stuck with me, and I think this charming little book will help teach young girls this important lesson in a fun way.

BookLook disclaimer

Posted in Book reviews

Summer “Unschooling”

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Deanna

We are most definitely NOT “unschoolers.” I think it’s an intriguing idea and it seems to work really well for some families, but I enjoy planning too much to be able to be comfortable with such an approach. However, once we’ve finished up everything I wanted to accomplish for the year, I find that we fall into a pattern that feels a lot like unschooling.

Ian has been systematically going through the books on our science shelves this week, devouring books on the solar system, animals, and the human body. He’s spent more time reading to himself voluntarily in the last five days than he had in the whole month before that. Both boys have been building amazing contraptions with K’NEX, disappearing into their playroom for hours at a time.

I have worked hard to provide an environment that fosters learning, even when I’m not intentionally doing anything. Our school holidays are a time for me to get caught up on things, reorganize, and let my kids enjoy some freedom. I’m thankful that they use some of that time to continue learning and diving deeper into subjects that interest them. I’m not ready to follow this pattern year-round, but I think it’s a delightful way to spend the summer.

Posted in Personal

Heroes of History: Captain John Smith (Crew Book Review)

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Deanna

Renowned for bravery as a soldier, thrown overboard for religious differences, enslaved by the Turks, captured by pirates… the story of Captain John Smith was full of almost unbelievable adventure long before he ever met the Native American princess with whom his name is usually tied. We’ve just finished reading Captain John Smith: A Foothold in the New World by Janet and Geoff Benge, part of the “Heroes of History” series from YWAM Publishing, and there is so much more to this man’s life that I ever imagined. Along with the corresponding Digital Unit Study, this book has given us a great introduction to early American history.

About Captain John Smith

John Smith grew up in England hearing about the adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail around the world. Although his family expected him to live a quiet life in Lincolnshire, John was hungry to see the world. After what was supposed to be a short visit to France at the age of sixteen, he set out on his own to make his own adventures. He found work as a mercenary in various countries, ended up being captured and taken as a slave in the Ottoman Empire, escaped into Russia, rescued a damsel in distress, and made friends with men who sparked his interest in the New World–quite an adventure story!

England had not yet joined in the colonization of the Americas, and John Smith eagerly joined in the quest to establish a settlement. He played an important role in the founding of Jamestown in 1607, where at one point he faced death at the hands of the local Native Americans and was famously saved by the chief’s daughter, Pocahontas. After a serious injury, he left the New World, though he later went back to help create a map of the New England coast. He published several books about his experiences and helped feed the imaginations of those in England who wanted to learn more about the New World. He also helped Squanto, a Native American who had been kidnapped and ended up in England, get home to America, where he proved to be a great blessing to the Pilgrims who arrived in 1620 to form their own settlement.

John Smith’s relationship with the other leaders at Jamestown was often contentious, and while he may not be a model of faith like those featured in YWAM Publishing’s “Christian Heroes Then and Now” series, he is nevertheless a fascinating man to study. His bravery and sense of adventure were especially appealing to my boys, and we learned a lot about leadership in this book, both through positive and negative examples.

About the Unit Study

As with the other books in the Heroes of History series, there is a downloadable Digital Unit Study that goes along with the 192-page softcover book. The unit study includes the following:

brief biography of John Smith
curriculum unit study
meet the authors (with video interviews)

Before diving into the curriculum unit study, there are guides available with ideas for using the entire Heroes of History series in classroom, homeschool, and group settings. The 17-page homeschool overview was obviously created by someone familiar with the differences between classrooms and home education. I appreciated the organizational chart provided to help families read through several books in the series on either a 1-year or 2-year track in studying American history. (They suggest choosing one book from each time period, but it would be easy to read through more than that, especially on the 2-year track.) I also really liked that they broke down suggestions into “Parent-Directed Study” and “Student-Directed Study,” allowing the study guide to be helpful for a wide range of homeschooling styles.

The 81-page unit study itself is an incredibly rich resource, full of ideas for using the book as a launching pad for lessons in multiple subjects, such as history, geography, writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art. There are far more ideas than you could ever use, so you and your children can pick which ones will work best with their interests and learning styles. Here’s glimpse at some of what’s included:

Key quotes (great for copywork)
Questions to go along with each chapter
Suggestions for projects, essay and creative writing prompts, etc.
Ideas for further study (related themes to explore, lists of books, videos, specific National Geographic articles, websites)
Reproducibles (fact sheet, maps, timeline with events for students to fill in)

Final Thoughts

We’re just heading into the Age of Exploration and looking forward to American history, so Captain John Smith complemented our studies wonderfully. I especially appreciated the map activities in the Unit Study, which helped everyone make sense of how Smith’s life fits into the greater historical context.

My children were fascinated by Smith’s story (though it has quite a bit of violence, especially during the telling of his days as a mercenary, so I wouldn’t recommend it for really sensitive children), and I was learning right along with them as I read the book aloud. The only time I had ever heard of John Smith was in relation to Pocahontas, so I was just as enthralled as they were at his amazing life story. Whether you’re specifically looking for a biography or just a taste of adventure, Captain John Smith: A Foothold in the New World is a book I’d highly recommend for fourth grade and up (or younger as a read aloud).

Members of the Crew reviewed several of the wonderful biographies from YWAM Publishing, so be sure to click on the banner below to see what they thought!

Christian Heroes {YWAM Publishing Review}

Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

A Chance to Breathe… Our School Year’s Done!

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Deanna

No more weekly wrap-ups for a while–we are officially done! Well, kind of. We just finished up Week 34, which means only 170 days of school behind us (“only”), but since the boys’ writing class is continuing for a few more weeks, plus we have a couple other educational days planned, I’m celebrating a little early. Ian got through his final his history and math lessons this past week, and the kids Friday music classes are over for the semester. That means all of our scheduled curriculum for the 2015-2016 school year has been completed.

So what now? Do the kids just roam wild and go crazy in front of screens for the next few months? Nothing like it. I wouldn’t consider us “Year Round Homeschoolers,” but we don’t ever completely stop. Summers for us are a chance to breathe, to explore more non-traditional studies (like our astronomy course), and to spend lots of time in constructive play. We’ll continue reviewing various products, drilling facts on xtramath.org, and I’m sure several trips to the Natural History Museum are on the horizon (where we have a pass this year). Apart from that, I expect to see lots of creative building projects and many trips to the library.

Posted in Uncategorized

Wonderfully Made (Book Review)

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Deanna

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV)

This familiar passage is only one of the many from Scripture woven through Danika Cooley’s new book Wonderfully Made: God’s Story of Life from Conception to Birth. I’ve never seen a book quite like it, and I wish I’d had it to read with my children through my past few pregnancies.

Wonderfully Made is told from the perspective of a mother teaching a child “how you grew inside of me,” starting with a brief, discreet mention of conception (see pictures below), and continuing with descriptions of a baby’s development.

The focus of the book really is how the baby is being knit together over the course of the forty weeks of pregnancy. At the end, the actual birth isn’t really covered beyond saying, “Though it was difficult and painful for both of us, it was such a joy to see your face.”

However, Cooley doesn’t just stop once the baby comes into the world. “Now you know how your body was born, let me tell you how your spirit can be reborn.” On the last page, the mother shares with her child how to be reborn by repenting from sin and trusting in Christ. She also talks about how we are adopted by God, so even though this book might not be a perfect fit for families whose children have come to them through adoption, I think it could be a good discussion starter, and this final concept would help tie it back in to their own family’s history.

The beautiful color illustrations by Jeff Anderson dominate each page, so my children all wanted to snuggle close to look at the pictures as I read. It was little long for us to read all in one sitting (I had my three children from ages 4-8 with me), but there’s so much information I found it helpful to spread it out anyway.

I have been a fan of Danika Cooley’s work ever since I discovered Bible Road Trip, her 3-year Bible survey curriculum for preschool through high school, and this latest offering has only reinforced my respect for her thoughtful, studious approach to teaching her children (and helping me teach mine). I was impressed and blessed by this God-honoring peek into a mother’s womb. Each page features a Scripture verse related to life before birth, and the book is a valuable tool for teaching children about how God values every life, no matter how small. On her website, Cooley has even made posters, Scripture memory cards, and a lapbook available for free to subscribers to her blog. Wonderfully Made is more than just a book of information about how babies develop in utero; it is a declaration of praise to the exquisite artistry of our Creator.

Posted in Book reviews

“Mini-Courses” from A+ Interactive Math (Crew Review)

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Deanna

No matter what math curriculum you use, sometimes kids get tripped up on certain topics and could use a little extra help. A+ Interactive Math has come up with a way to help fill in some of those math learning gaps: Math Mini-Courses. Each of these courses takes the student through a series of lessons focused solely on a specific math topic.

About A+ Interactive Math Mini-Courses

There are twenty online mini-courses available, most targeted at elementary age students with a few stretching up into middle school. Each course consists of video lessons, worksheets, and tests and can usually be completed in 1-3 months (though you get a full year’s access with your purchase, so they can take more time if needed).

Once students get signed in, they are taken to their dashboard. The video lessons with interactive review present the material, and then students can either continue to the next lesson or come back to the dashboard to generate worksheets or tests to go along with that lesson. (There are also PDF options if the student works better with pencil and paper than on the computer.) When lessons are completed, the student (or parent) must manually go in and mark that lesson as complete.

Our Experience

I decided the most helpful courses for us would be Time and Money, assigning one each to Ian and Elijah.

Time

The mini-course on Time is designed for 1st-4th graders and consists of 20 lessons covering calendar concepts (days, weeks, months, and years), clock concepts, and counting elapsed time. Students don’t necessarily have to complete the lessons in order, or complete earlier ones before moving on, which is helpful for just targeting weak areas. (However, once a lesson has been clicked on, even accidentally, the program will consider it “In Progress” and continually ask if it needs to be marked completed.)

Ian found it easiest just to start the beginning and work his way through, even though the first few lessons consist of things he already knows well. I only had him go back to the dashboard and generate worksheets for extra practice if it seemed like he was struggling.

Money

Elijah has been going through the mini-course on Money, which is geared toward 1st-5th graders and consists of 18 lessons, covering basic concepts like coin values, converting coins, counting, and making change as well as more advanced concepts like calculating commissions and sales tax, budgeting, and interest rates. He hasn’t really spent much time learning about money previously, but he enjoyed the challenge of these lessons (at least the early ones).

My Opinion

I found that these mini-courses required more from me as a teacher than most of the online learning programs we have used. Both my boys have a lot of experience working on the computer, but they needed quite a bit of guidance from me to get familiar with how these courses worked. For example, when going through the video lessons and review, they wanted to just hit “Enter” after typing in an answer, but that didn’t work. (They had to use the mouse or touch screen to click on the frog in the picture.) Also, when going through the online worksheets, there were eleven different buttons to chose from after they had typed an answer, which we all found a bit confusing at first.

I really like the concept of these mini-courses, and I think the material itself was really helpful for my boys. However, the presentation was a bit distracting because each page had so many options to click on, and I wish it were easier for them to work through the courses on their own without needing my help quite so much along the way.

I appreciated being able to view reports on what the boys had done, but I would have liked a way to view everything in one place, rather than having to click on separate reports for video lessons/interactive reviews, worksheets, tests, and completed lessons.

Overall, I think I’ll have Ian finish the course on Time, but I don’t think Elijah needs to try to get through the later lessons in the Money course. I think I might wait until the boys are older and can remember all little things they need to click on and check to get through the lessons independently before I sign up for any more of the mini-courses.