5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation: A Child's Geography

  

Here we are at day 5 of our 5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation. I hope you all had fun reading how some of our curriculum have worked for us, and also enjoyed some of the other topics over on the crew blog.

Today, I will talk about our latest addition to our curriculum line up this year, for which I am very grateful.

For a couple of years now I had heard about A Child's Geography,written by the author of the wonderful blog A Holy Experience, but was not able to get it until earlier this year.

I was very excited when my husband brought it home from his trip to the US, back in January. I started with the boys almost right away. It has been a blessing!

A Child's Geography, Explore His Earth is more than a geography curriculum. As a matter of fact it is more of a physical science book but from a geographer 's perspective.

In A Child's Geography you learn about our planet Earth as geographer taking a tour around the planet, in the atmosphere, inside the earth, in the ocean and more.

On top of learning about what exactly our home planet Earth is made of, the author includes connections relating to reaching out to other people living on earth. In each chapter she brings the student to think outside his own side of the world to other places on the earth that are not so fortunate. She also relates the way our earth functions to how the creator had a design and a purpose to everything that exists.

What I am most grateful for about this curriculum is how it has opened my kids' eyes to the need around the world. Through the few chapters that we have done so far, the boys have be made aware of:

• the work of Habitat for Humanity
• the fact that they (we) need to be more careful with our environment; the ozone problem
• the work of Trans-World Radio thanks to the wonder of the ionosphere
• the work of Operation World
• the work of Mercy Ships

Thanks to this textbook I have been active to have the kids pray for all the needy people in the world. If just for that I would evaluate this curriculum in our home as a 10 +. The academic content is high (I would say at least grade 3 and up; it contains a lot of technical words when it describes how how the planet works), which makes it very instructive. The topics include (to name a few):

• The layers of the atmosphere
• The plate tectonics
• The oceans and their currents
• Longitudes and Latitudes
• Solstice and Equinox
• Crust, mantle and core

 The boys have learned about new ways of looking at our earth, and to look at it as God's ideal place to put man on, as it fits the purpose for which he created it, and as every elements of it fulfills a God given function. In that sense it awakes an awe for God as the perfect designer and creator.

There is much more about this curriculum that could be beneficial to the boys which we have not done, lack of time, so I am thinking to go over this book again in a few years. What I am talking about are:

• Copywork of verses
• Activities such as creating postcards on which they would summarize what they have learned in each chapter
• Extra readings, especially fiction but not exclusively (which we did some of)
• Hands-on activities such as tugging tides, making models, explosive volcanoes, edible earth, water quakes, observing nature and much more

So, yes this is a keeper, somewhat above the head of my 1st grader, but that is why the plan is to redo this book again in a few years. I want him to get the wonderful benefits of it, and have my 3rd grader get more out of it the next time.

5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation: Tapestry of Grace

Here we are at day 3 of the 5 days of  ... blog hop. I have been having a blast reading my other crew mates' blog posts on topics such as Traveling with Kids, Artistic Expression, Social Media, Classical education and lots more.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my different curriculum evaluation. Today we will be tackling Tapestry of Grace.

I heard about tapestry of Grace a couple of years ago. Considering myself more of a classical homeschooler, I was very attracted to Tapestry. Why? because Tapestry's philosophy of learning is classical. It follows the trivium's stages of grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. On top of that it also follows the classical 4 year cycle through History. We are now in our second year and will definitely continue on with this program up to grade 12.

Tapestry of Grace is more of a unit study kind of curriculum but it is literature, living books and Great Books based. The core of the program rests on the reading of good literature and history books  (3/4 of which are readily available at our local public library). When one looks at the program it can seems daunting at first (that's why manygo through a stage called the Tapestry fog) But once one understands what they are trying to accomplish that fog starts to dissipate.

How has Tapestry of Grace worked for my boys. Well, my eldest absolutely loves History, that is is favorite subject. He loves to learn about the events that happened in History and how related they are to each other. He loves learning about the people and civilizations of the past, and even about dates, yes dates!

Both my boys are at the grammar level, so we do not do a lot of what tapestry offers. That said, I can't wait to get to those parts (dialectic and rhetoric discussions and readings) as the boys get older. For now, we:

• Read lots of History books
• Read lots of literature books related to the time period in History, or biographies of people in that particular time frame of History. Just yesterday we read about Haydn in The Farewell Symphony and about John Harrison in The man who Made Time Travel
• Do lots of discussions of events in History. 
• Map and geography studies

Tapestry contains lots of hands as well which come from books such as Colonial Kids for example while studying the colonization of North America. I am not a very hands-on mom so this year we did not do as many, but last year we did quite a few, which the boys enjoyed a lot.

Thanks to Tapestry Zach has a good understanding of how History is a chain of events, and how God superintends everything that happens to bring about His overarching plan.

Tapestry is often referred to as a buffet, and as such, the key about using this curriculum is to do what you want and can do, and not worry about the rest. The way I look at it, as I use this curriculum, is that we will go over the same time period 2 more times before the child is in grade 12, so whatever did not get done this time around,will be done at some point.

As I evaluate how Tapestry is working in our homeschool, I would be amiss to not mention how it has blessed me personnaly. I have learned so much from this curriculum when it comes to how History has developed over the years, and how God's hand has been at work in all of these events of the past. Often time when we study History, we tend to study events in a vacuum, or as a bunch of dates, and miss the whole picture of what God is doing through the actions of human beings (bad or good). In the end it is God's plan that is being fulfilled. As a true Christian curriculum, TOG (as often referred to), while appreciating each events of History in its own right, drama and excitement (which is the appealing part to kids; at least my boys - the more battles the better), also helps me show the boys how the advances in History are but God's way of bringing about His plan, and most importanly emphasizes the greatest need of humanity: its need of a Saviour.

Here for another praise to a Christian, in-depth, flexible and very adaptable curriculum.

5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation: Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts

Today, on day 3 of our 5 days of ...,  we will look at an innovative, interesting approach to Language Arts.

Last year I discovered Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum via the Well Trained Mind forum. Right away I took a liking to the approach and the material. And, of course, as a true curriculum junkie, fully happy with FLL as described in yesterday's post,  I gave this new find a try right away. I went ahead and ordered the grammar, vocabulary and poetry textbook.

I have to say, I will most likely buy the next volume for next year.

If you have never heard about Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts curriculum, here is a synopsis.

It is a 4 strands approach to Language Arts:

• Grammar: Island, Town and Voyage
• Vocabulary: Building Language and Cesar's English I and II
• Poetry: Music Hemisphere, Building Poems and a World of Poetry
• Writing: Sentence Island, Paragraph Town and Essay Voyage

It also contains a literature strand, which I have not explored yet.

The way the program works is that you cover each of these topics in a year, let's say 6 weeks for Grammar (followed by a practice book made up of 100 sentence for analysis at a one a day pace), 14 weeks/days for Poetry, 25 weeks/days for writing and 18weeks/days to vocabulary, as an example. These books are meant to be read to the students, and invite interaction. I love the fact that they incorporate classic authors, familiarizing my son with their names and what they were about such as Aristotle, Dickinson, Shakespeare and more.

 Grammar itself is taught from a 4 level approach as well:

• Parts of Speech,
• Parts of the sentence
• Phrases
• Clauses

The program is divided into elementary levels and Middle and Secondary Levels, both of which divided into 3 levels. Each level in the series builds on the previous one, and goes into more depth and details. There is also great connection between the different strands of the curriculum, demonstrating the unity of the English language. That said, you could still start off at any level depending on where your child is at when you start. The first level starts at grade 3 or is appropriate for ages 8, 9, 10. It is meant for gifted kids as it takes a whole picture approach to language, and then goes into the details. However, many have found that it works too with non-gifted kids.

My oldest is very much a whole picture kind of boy and although He has enjoyed First Language Lessons, I figured it would be good for him to see Grammar from a whole picture view point.  How it all fits together; that is what the Grammar series is all about.

Both boys have enjoyed me reading through the grammar book with them, and as we are still working on the accompanying practice books, they love analyzing the sentences.

I went through the vocabulary textbook, and currently am going through the poetry book with my eldest only. The vocabulary is strongly based on Latin roots, he learned about prefixed such as, ex-, sub-, re-, de-, post-, port-. Since he enjoyed learning about Ancient Rome last year and the book makes a lot of references to Ancient Rome, it made it attractive to him.

When it comes to poetry I am very enthralled with what this curriculum it did for Zach. I have always wanted to teach him about poetry but was always falling short (besides the poems he memorized through FLL). Through Music Hemisphere, my son has come to love and get an appreciation and understanding of what poetry is about. Zach is an artist at heart, but it needs to be nurtured in him, and I found one way of doing this. He has really enjoyed learning what poetry is made: play of sounds, rhymes, alliterations, rhythms and imagery such as simile and metaphor.

So, as a whole I have appreciated using MCT (as it is often referred to in the homeschool community) in our Language Arts studies. It has helped Zach practice the concepts learned in FLL in the practice sentences of Island Practice and helped him see how all the different aspects of grammar work together. He has also helped my youngest recognize the different part of speech in sentences. Thanks to the vocabulary part of the curriculum, when we meet words in books or in everyday life I can help him figure out meaning by pointing out stems and that it has been a blessing to see the light bulb come on on many occasions. Now, also when we read picture books (good ones of course), I am able to point out the different aspects of poetry that are sometime present and again, his face will light up.

I think MCT is a great compliment to any Language Arts studies, and for some it might even be everything you need, as as you go up the level the depth and rigor intensify.

Tomorrow, we will be looking at History with Tapestry of Grace.

5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation - First Language Lessons

For day 2 and 3 of my curriculum evaluation week I will be looking at Language Arts curricula.

First up is First Language Lessons. I was first introduced to FLL back in 2008 when my oldest was 5, I loved the gentle and progressive approach, and thought it would work well for him. I was right. We started that same year and did the whole book.

First Language Lessons is written by Jessie Wise, co-author of the well renown book The Well-Trained Mind.

The Wises believe that language is best taught progressively and gently. First Language Lessons contains lots of memorization and copywork, which the author believes is the best foundation for good writing.

Over the course of volume 1 and 2 of First Language Lessons the student:

• Memorizes the definitions of the different parts of speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, article, verbs, adverbs, conjunction, preposition and interjections
• Learns about the 4 different kinds of sentences
• Memorizes about 11 poems
• Does lots of story narrations and picture narrations
• Learns about oral usage, contractions, abbreviations, title of respect
• Learns basic capitalization and punctuation rules
• learns about days of the week, months, addresses, writing dates
• Do lots of copywork and some dictation (which I did not always do with Zach)

Here is a lapbook we created when we did volume 1 and 2:

In the subsequent volumes Jessie Wise builds on those definitions, and keeps reviewing them and studying them deeper. She also introduces diagramming.

The only drawback of this curriculum is that the pace is rather slow and somewhat repetitive.  The idea is to slowly introduce grammar concepts for better retention and understanding.

How is Zach doing? Well, this year, in grade 3, we did volume 4 (which is the last in the series), and he did very well. We are ten lessons shy of finishing, and he has very good understanding of:

• Parts of speech and how they relate to each other
• Has all the definitions of the different parts of speech memorized as well as the list of most common prepositions and list of state of being verbs and helping verbs.
• Types of sentences
• The concepts of compound subjects, direct objects, and sentences
• Prepositional phrases and their function in sentences
• How helping verbs help with tenses
• Predicates, adjective and nominative
• Has a basic understanding of editing (this is his least liked topic)

All of these concepts and the memory work involved are great building blocks for more complex grammar understanding and proficiency; which in turn are the building block for good writing and good comprehension skills.

I have to say, though, that FLL is a scripted program, and as such it does not always appeal to everyone, teacher and student alike. It requires for the parent to sit with the child and guide the learning. This does not work very well with my youngest child. However, for my oldest who prefers for me to sit with him, this curriculum was a great fit and was most beneficial to his learning. Grammar is actually one of his favorite subjects and he does very well in it.

5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation: Math on the Level

 
Welcome to the 5 Days of . . . week of cool blogging, sponsored by the TOS Homeschool Crew. Want to know more about it, see my introductory post here.

Math, oh Math! Math is one of those subjects that either raises joy, fear, or mixed feelings in a lot of people. As homeschoolers, it has been a dreaded school subjects for many, moms and students alike.

I will have to place myself in the mixed feeling category when it comes to math. I do not mind Math, but sometimes it can be hard to teach it to my kids, mainly because one of them absolutely hates doing exercises. And, of course Math is best learned by practice, right?

So how does a mom evaluates how she is doing in teaching Math to her kids, especially when Math is one of those subjects that is foundational to any scientific career or pursuit? My oldest wants to be an engineer, yet he is the one who does not like practicing his skills (he hates any practice of any kind!).

I have found that Math is really a set of skills and concepts that one needs to know. Regular textbooks decide the how and the sequence of how these concepts need to be taught, and you have to follow along, whether or not the child can get it or not. As homeschoolers we certainly have the luxury of going at our children's pace, but if we follow a particular textbook, you often end up staling while the child gets his head wrapped up around a certain concept hurdle. This is definitely better than if he were in school, as there, he would be left behind, as "not getting it" is not much of an option; there is no time to wait in the classroom.

Despite this, between my son hating doing pages of exercises and the feeling of being constrained to a particular sequence, I was thrilled to find out about Math on the Level. Why, you might ask?

Math on the Level addressed both these issues: I chose my sequence, and I am only required to give the boys 5 exercises a day.

The philosophy behind this is that in order to understand something a child needs to be mentally ready. If he is not, he will have a hard time. However, if you can't teach him something, teach him something else. Certainly addition, subtraction, multiplications are the basics, so no going around that, but besides that, the concepts to be learned in Math are very flexible when it comes to sequence.

Math on The Level divides these concepts between 4 books which covers all math concepts needed up to grade 8:
Operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, order of operation, exponents etc...
Fractions
Geometry and measurement which includes telling time, graphs.
Decimal and Money which of course includes place value.

On top of these 4 books, which tell you how to teach the math concepts in questions, you also are provided with 2 other books containing ideas on how to make Math more fun and real, as well as general tips and helps on teaching math: Math Adventure and Math Resources.

I have to say I am more comfortable with a workbook to follow, as there is not as much work for me to do, but this approach was frustrating my oldest and making him hate Math. Since we started with MOTL (1 year ago), Math has not been as much of a struggle, even though I usually give them more to do than only 5 practice problems.

This is an example of a set of exercise for one day (back and front):

 

No, are they learning?  That's the goals after all, right? I have to say they are! The boys have progressed in their Math understanding and mastery. My boys are 1st and 3rd grade and they both can:

•  Do their additions and subtractions with regrouping and renaming without any problems. 
•  Do 3 digits multiplications 
• Adding, subtracting and multiply fractions same and different denominators
• Have a good understanding of word problems
• Tell time on a regular clock to the minute
• Have a basic understanding of measurement
• Calculate area and perimeter (still needing mastery)
• Have an understanding of family bonds and relationship between addition and subtraction, multiplication and division

Just this past week my oldest was able to create and solve some problems such as:

a+a = 4

b+b+b = 12

c+c+c+c = b

d+d+c+c = 8

a+b+c+d = ? 

 

So, yes Math on the Level fits the bill. The only drawback of this curriculum is that if you want your child to practice more (some kids do need more practice, or just love doing worksheets) you have to supplement. You would need also to supplement with word problem practices, as these are not provided. However, these problems are easily remedied with the internet with sites such as:

For worksheets:

• 1800-teachers great for word problems (singapore material). It is a free membership site
• The math Worksheets Site.com
• Worksheet.com
• Homeschool Math
• Helping With math
• Mr Printables

For online games:

• Cool Math Games
• Adapted Minds
• Sheppard Software
• Math Playground
• Cool Math 4 Kids
• Hooda-Math
• Math-Games

Other sites where you can find great Math resources are:

• Making Math Fun: free sign up and you get printable math games sent to your e-mail every month or so.
• Adrian Bruce
• Dr. Mike Math games
• Learn with Math games

MOTL also has a great, active yahoo group were you will find lots of support and encouragement, and ideas on how to use this curriculum.

The blessing of MOTL is the freedom and flexibility it gives the teacher. We get to talk Math, play games and spend minimal time on worksheets.

5 Days of Cool Blog Hopping

In the past week, I have been having a hard time keeping up with blogging, let's blame it on life as a homeschooler. So, in an attempt to remedy this state I am joining in a week of wonderful blogging.

The TOS Homeschool Crew is preparing to have a fun week of blogging and blog reading starting first thing on Monday.

Click on this graphic in the posts and you will be able to go hopping through the different participating blogs.


67 bloggers pulled together to come up with 5 days of cool topics to share with you. That's 67 different topics, 335 posts, there is bound to be something for you to read, learn and enjoy.

At Homeschooling for His Glory we will be looking at 5 Days of Curriculum Evaluation. I will be talking about 5 curricula that I really love, and how it has worked for my kids.

Day 1:    Math on The Level
Day 2:   First Language Lessons
Day 3:   Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts
Day 4:   Tapestry of Grace
Day 5:   A Child's Geography

 

 You do not want to miss it, next week promises to be very informative and fun!

Homeschool Library Builder - TOS Review

A homeschooler? You must love books! . . . You must need books! ... At our house we do. We live in an apartment and the space is lacking to put up all the books we have between myself, the boys and Dad, as a pastor. I know books can be costly though, and that's why I actually do not buy many books for our homeshool, we just can't afford it. I am blessed to be able to borrow books from 2 public libraries, and that helps a lot.

That says,  I recently was asked to review an other kind of library. If you have never heard about it, it deserves for you to go and check it out. It is called The Homeschool Library Builder, and this is exactly what it is: a homeschool library, except it is online. It was created to help homeschoolers build their libraries at a low cost.

Put together by homeschool moms who have a love for good literature, the site is packed-full  with good books, going from classic fictions to well-loved and recommended non fictions.

You can search the site by fiction or non-fiction, age, activity books, science, seasonal, storybooks and more.

An added bonus to this library is that it tries to provide books you may encounter in curricula such as Tapestry of Grace, Sonlight, Beautiful Feet, Ambleside, Heart of Dakota, and Sonlight.

Every month the Homeschool Library Builder offers a very special deal. For the month of May everything is 15% off.

On top of their monthly deals, if you are  a member (totally free membership), every purchase gets you book points that can count towards free books. Who does not like free books? You also get book points for promoting the library on your blog, or for referrals.

So go on over and check this Homeschool Library out!

See what other homeschoolers have to say about the Homeschool Library Builder on the crew blog.



  
Disclaimer: I was asked to give a promotional review of the Homeschool Library Builder. All opinions are my own, and my only compensation was an extra discount.