Memoria Press Geography I

 

Geography has always been something I wanted all my kids to touch on.  I struggled when looking for what I wanted. 

I decided to give Geography I a try from Memoria Press when it came up for review with The Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Geography I teaches The Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

The main goal of this curriculum (text, teacher guide, and workbook) is to master identification of each country on a map, as well as capital cities.  You also learn/research facts about each country.

The way you get to mastery is by learning and review.  Every section has a review and then a quiz.

It is suggested that you study at the rate of 2 or 3 countries a week. 

You read the text book, fill out the worksheet in the workbook, label the country and capital, discuss the country.

Emily used this just like it was suggested and it easily fit into her days.  She has future dreams to travel to Europe, so I let her study Europe first.  She has had such fun learning about the different countries over there. 

I had to supplement with her in order to actually have memorization down.  There are a lot of countries to memorize.  This was easy to do with free games found online, and once she had learned the countries, she actually enjoyed challenging herself.

Check out a sample for yourself.  

 

Memoria Press Geography I did have many things I was looking for in a geography curriculum. 

• The lessons are short
• It can be done independently
• It teaches more than just location
• It is easy and interesting
• It is broken down into chunks making it so it is not overwhelming

Emily did mention to me that she wishes the workbook and text were one book.  I happen to like the fact that they were two separate books, that way it was a little harder for her to go back and check the countries when she was struggling to remember them.

The use of Geography I is suggested to come after learning The United States and it’s capitals (using Memoria Press States and Capitals)  There for while using Geography I, you can use Memoria Press States and Capitals Review.  However this is not necessary to have done.  We did our states and capitals a few years ago and many of them are much harder to recall than they once were.  This review book was great to be able to freshen up on those. 

Memoria Press Geography I sales for $48 which includes

• Geography I Text
• Geography I Workbook
• Geography I Teacher Guide
• United States Review Student Book
• United States Review Key, Quizzes and Tests

It is suggested for grades 4 and up.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew was invited to review both this, Geography I as well as Prima Latina from Memoria Press. 

Check  this post out to see reviews of both products.

To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

Let’s Make A Webpage {A review}

Motherboard Books offers a quick project book, Let’s Make A Web Page.  Written by Phyllis Wheeler.

In this 60 page ebook are 9 lessons.  We did one lesson every 3 days or so.

The lessons are:

• An Interview  -  This lesson helps you decide and think through what your webpage is going to be about.
• Download and set up the program – You download and set up a free program, Coffee Cup.  (not for Macs unless you have Parallels installed.)
• Add text
• Add photos- where to find them and how to add them
• Add animations – This lessons shows you how and where to find and upload free animations to add to your webpage.  - I appreciated how in this lesson before she has you search the internet, she has you make sure you have safe search on and explains how to do that.
• Browser checking, backgrounds and photos – In this lesson you find free backgrounds.  She takes you to a website that is completely full of ads.  This becomes an opportunity to learn about being internet wise.  Which is also all discussed throughout this book.
• Sound – Here you get to learn about different types of files (such as .Wav, etc.)
• Links – How to add hyperlinks
• Posting your work

 

This book is suggested for ages 8 and up. 

My 8 year old was able to do this with quite a bit of help.  (The reading for this was way above her level.) I read the book to her from my iPad and worked on the webpage with her.  She didn’t understand many of the terms used.  I had to take the time to explain them to her.  Most things I ended up doing first with her watching and choosing, and then I let her try it on her own. 

My 8 year old is not advanced, if anything she is behind the average child her age.  I am glad she got to give this a try and get a feel for web design.  I do plan on pulling this back out again in a few years when she is at a higher level of understanding and reading. 

Overall, I feel like computers are our future and kids now days need to be able to navigate the internet well and have ample computer knowledge.  This is a great short term starter project.  I love that it is not a huge time commitment to learn from this book.  I even learned things I didn’t know.  I also like how it shows how easy it is to create a webpage and all the safety advice it gives throughout the lessons.

The price for Let’s Make A Webpage is $19.95. 

The short time frame of this project makes summer a perfect time to take it on.

To see what others think of this and another product they offer, Logo Adventures a bigger project, check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

Simplifying your life

I have been lucky enough to review a few items from Simplified Pantry.

Simplified Dinners and Simplified Dinners Gluten Free/ Dairy Free have been much more than just a cook book in my house. They have completely changed my meal planning. 

It starts of simple enough.  You use a master shopping list that she provides.  It has basics and you can download a sample here.

You buy whatever meat and veggies that are on sale that week and prepare a meal from them.  The idea is that if you keep the items from the master shopping list on hand, you can always make a meal from the cookbook. 

This cook book is very different than any other I have ever seen.  The sections are based on the type of main dish and meat you have.  Don’t think there are just a few recipes in here either.  There are tons.  In fact, I don’t think we have even had the same meal twice yet. There are 16 categories all with multiple variations. 

This left meal planning flexible enough for me.  I was able to think ahead of what I wanted to make for dinner.  If I had planned on something that took a while to cook and I forgot to start it in time, I was able to just choose something else using the ingredients I had on hand. 

These meals are all easy enough to prepare and the ingredients were all real whole foods.  I love that!!

The most interesting thing for me was that after the initial stock up of pantry items I am actually spending less each week on groceries than I used to.  We are also eating much healthier. 

There are 2 separate books the regular version and the new GFDF version. Each PDF book is $12.99.

Another neat thing I was able to review is Paperless Home Organization.

 

This has been such a motivator for me.  Paper is my struggle.  I have multiple filing cabinets and paper stacks are still everywhere.  Using the system put together in this book can eliminate most all paper.  While I am not fully ready to give up on the paper version of everything.  This system has sure made it easier to locate something when I need to find it. 

This book takes you step by step through setting up the system.  I already had the email set up and a calendar somewhat in place.  I had never heard of Evernote, which is essential to this system.  All have free apps on most any app store. 

Don’t think you’re going to have to load up on a bunch of apps,  this system only uses a few.  I already had a to do list app in place that I love.  So I did not use the one suggested.  It was very easy for me to tweak this system for me.  Even though I am still not totally ready to give up on all my paper, I see how parts of this system have improved.  

Everyone in my family has some type of device so we have been able to set up the calendar like the book says and the kids are able to enter their own things and have it show up on my calendar under there name.  This has been great for when I need to know where they are going to be at or if they need a ride somewhere, they can check if I can do that before they even ask me. 

This PDF book sales for $3.99

Until June 3, 2013, you can use code TOS2013 to get 30% off any of her ebooks.  What a deal!!!

To see what others think of all 3 of these items check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

Scaredy Cat Reading Level 3 {a review}

 

Joyce Herzog has created a reading system that makes sense to kids.   It is called Scaredy Cat Reading.

After using the placement test, I knew my daughter was on track for Scaredy Cat Reading System Level 3, $100, so that is the one I requested.

Scaredy Cat Reading System is set up to make reading fun!

After about 30 pages of teacher training, you are ready to teach the Scaredy Cat way where mastery is the key! 

There is also some teacher prep work as far as cutting out some of the game cards.  I decided to break that up into chunks.  Each week I cut out what I think we will use for the following week.  That way I haven’t been getting overwhelmed with all the cutting. 

Games, games and more games is the Scaredy Cat way. 

They use a “Menu Plan” to classify what type of day you will be having.  By doing this you keep things new.  Joyce Herzog says, “Variety is the spice of life!”  Don’t worry, she also says, “DO not plan to do every activity.”

The “Appetizer Day” is for wetting their appetite and having fun, showing the student more fun is to come. You just do one activity on these days.  Some examples are Cartoon Days, or a Letter Master Day. (more on the Letter Master below.)

The “Salad Day” is for getting into in a little bit more.  On these days, Katey didn’t even realize she was learning yet.  You just do one activity on these days. Some examples are a Story Day, a Bingo Day, or even a Review Day.

The “Main Course Days” are the bigger lesson days, you do two activities on these days.  Some examples are, a Lesson Day (doing a lesson from the book), a Work Day, or a Test Day.

The “Dessert Days” are fun days, you celebrate the progress your child has made, or play a game with them. 

The Letter Master – Ah, yes, let’s meet him.  He is great!  With all the levels of Scaredy Cat Reading you get a mini comic book which tells the story of how the letters got their sounds.  It is fun.  This is something you read/listen to repeatedly to get the letter sounds down.  Joyce suggests listening to it while playing with Legos or something similar.

This system is based on mastery.  How does Mastery usually happen?  By doing something over and over. That could be boring.  That is what is so great about this.  You change it up every day, even though your child is learning/reviewing the same thing until they have mastered it.  Mastery is considered reading words from the rule they are working on at 30 words per minute.  By then they will have become sight words.

I have been glad that we could just jump right in and begin at the level we needed.  This can be used for any age and I think my older children can benefit from the spelling rules taught.  

This product is so great for me because there is just enough structure to keep us going, yet it is flexible enough for us not to get bored with it, and easy enough for us not to get burned out on it.  Each day has taken us about 30 minutes to get through a lesson.

This isn’t really age specific, so if you have a child learning to read, have them take the placement test and see which level would be a good fit for them.  There are 4 levels of the system.

Many of Joyce Herzog products were reviewed by the crew, including all levels of Scaredy Cat Reading System. Check out this post. While your there subscribe to our crew blog.

  

Science Naturally

 

Can you spare a minute in your day for science fun?

 

Of course you can!

That is just what Science Naturally has come up with in their new book One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

 

We were lucky enough to be able to review this 166 + page book which includes 60 mysteries to be solved using basic science knowledge. There are also 5 bonus science mysteries and 5 mysteries you solve with math.  Each mystery is on it’s own page you turn the page for the answer which includes a picture.  This is the second book with science mysteries.  They also have 2 books with mysteries you solve with math.  These books were written by a father daughter team. Check out their author bio at the bottom of this page.

We read a few every day at lunch time.  They literally took about one minute to read each mystery.  The kids took turns guessing and most of the time it turned into a discussion, which was nice to get them thinking and talking about the same thing as a group.  Remember my kids are 14, 12 and 8.  They were all discussing their opinions. 

Once they were ready I read the answer.  Which gives an explanation with it.

Go ahead try a few mysteries out with your family!  RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

That was fun, wasn’t it?

Don’t forget this book is for ages 8-12 and is only $9.95.

You can get it here. 

 

Don’t just take my word for it, check out this post to see what others thought.  To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

  

Can we say “stressed”? {Week in Review}

First of all, I would like to say:

Please forgive me for the way this post is jumbled.  I am trying out using Evernote for blogging and just entering things through the week on that.  Then transferring them over to a post for our week in review.

After a stressful weekend, I was not ready for Monday!

My husband took my keys to another state for the week.  Ahhhh.  I had a ton of errands to run.  By the time I realized this, all the dealerships were closed for the weekend and the soonest they could make a key would be Monday and even then it would cost me $200.  I ended up finding a ride 2 towns over to go pick up his truck and drive that around until he had found someone coming back this way to bring me back my key.  I know some of you are one car families and make it work.  The problem with this for me, was that it was not planned.  So I had a ton of errands to do.  A TON!

 

  I created the kids end of year plans.  We finalized them Monday morning and discussed some expectations.  They can be done with school as soon as they complete everything and then they can take a break until June 10th which is when we will start our summer schedule.  Stay tuned for our end of year schedule and summer plans later this week.

After all this I had one kid ready to finish up that day!  The other two wanted to take that day off and I decided to let them. 

We did get in some unscheduled learning. 

Our bug collection made a lot of progress this week. 

We also got out our Discovery Scope and looked at dandelions (a composite flower).  Here is a picture I took using my phone through the Discovery Scope.

We also spent some time at the park while waiting for Emily’s softball game to start. So far they had been undefeated.  The had their first loss this week. 

 

 

 

Last week we were learning about details in paragraphs.  The kids wrote paragraphs describing how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We put their paragraphs to the test .  They had to read them while I did exactly what they read.  This made for some fun family laughs as some steps were skipped. 

Katey has been learning all about space so far.  We have been learning how to use binoculars to look at the night sky. 

Tommy did the self test in grammar (english grammar 101) for module 1.  He scored great!

He has also started his own lawn mowing business with his friend. So far he has been quite successful and this is proving an opportunity for him to learn applied math with expenses and cash flow as well as partnership and communication.

The spring weather has been gorgeous so we have spent much of our reading time outside.

We have also been able to play outside quite a bit!

 

Tyler has been learning how to do puzzles. He still needs a lot of help, but he just loves putting them together.

I have been feeling so disrespected lately.  I did end up losing my cool.  I have also been feeling stressed about many things outside of my control in my life right now.

Then Tyler got an ear infection and we are currently without insurance.  My husband recently went through a job change.  We couldn't afford COBRA until the new insurance starts so after taking him to the doctor and getting his prescription we had to pay $170 in medical bills and prescriptions.

We headed to Cheer Nationals for Katey.

  Her team ended up winning second place which is great.  I am so proud of how hard she practiced and how brave she and her team was for getting up there in front of all those people and judges.

It was at an amusement park and we had intended on taking our kids on rides and spending the day there.  The problem was it poured rain.  I mean poured for half the day.  We decided to bag it and just have a fun day with the kids.  The day seemed ruined because we were all so excited to go to this whole thing and we had planed out the whole day.  I guess this is God showing us how to roll with the punches….

Here is to hoping this is our last week of full school and we can take a break until our summer schedule starts.   

College Prep Genius

College Prep Genius has came out with a book for kids going into high school and their parents, High School Prep Genius, An Academic Guide to Excellence. $29.95

High School Prep Genius is a 4 part book

Introduction which includes

• How to Use the book
• College and Career Notebook
• Student timelines, both before and after high school begins.  (perfect for 7th and 8th graders.

Foundation For Personal Success which includes

• Personal development
• Your interests and beliefs
• Being healthy and having financial independence

Foundation For Academic Success which includes

• Academic development, studying, tests, organization
• Going beyond the basics

Foundation For Future Success which includes

• College; testing, paying for it, choosing one, applying for one, and college essentials

There are also 5 appendixes with things such as How to Build A Homeschool Transcript, Talent Searches, Great Books, Reducing Test Anxiety, Admissions Terminology.

We read through the 55 page introduction at the same pace.  Then I assigned out weekly reading for me and daily reading for Tommy. 
The introduction has sample charts.


I appreciated how at the end of each chapter has a guide for parents.
Sometimes they have homework for the parents. The homework is often simple things that can really benefit your child.
Here is a picture of the beginnings of Tommy’s College and Career Notebook.  By beginning this in 8th grade and staying on top of it each year, high school transcripts and college applications, as well as job applications or résumés will be easy to pull together.

This notebook and the how to of it all has been my favorite part of this book so far.  I know as he hits older grades we will both benefit from this book immensely.  I plan to have both of us finish the book (yes, all of it) over this Summer and then each year I will have both of us re-read the grade he is in as well as the future grade.


High School Prep in my 14 year olds words. 
The books gives lots of good tips on scholarships and testing for college.  It has a lot of life and school advice, from study skills to financial advice.  It helps you understand just how important high school is, no matter what type of high school you do. [public school, private school, homeschool, etc.]  I really like the book.  I like how it helps me plan for my future. It shows me things to think about that I wasn’t even thinking of.  I think every kid and their parent should have to read it in their 8th grade year. 

While this book is intended for 9th graders there is a chapter for 7th and 8th graders, as well as there is much to do the summer before 9th grade.  My 8th grade son has been so excited to read this book and foresee what he wants for his future.  

 

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.