RSS

Category Archives: Schoolhouse Crew Reviews

Review of Joyce Herzog’s Choosing and Using Curriculum

For any parent needing more information about how to choose appropriate materials for their child out all of the MANY curriculum choices now available to homeschoolers, the Choosing and Using Curriculum Set by Joyce Herzog is a solid resource.

From a general list of questions to ask about the curriculum you are considering, to specific recommendations for language arts, history, and math, this 108-page paperback provides some thoughtful considerations for both newbie and seasoned homeschoolers. Joyce Herzog has divided the learning and teaching process down into manageable pieces, and her dependable guidance is based on her own extensive education and 30 years of teaching and homeschooling experience.

The book contains 28 chapters covering such topics as:

Curriculum Types
Education Styles
Grade Levels
Independent Learning
Starting the school year ‘right’
Early Childhood Training
How to choose a math curriculum
Choosing a reading method
How to Interest a Child in Reading
Comparing handwriting styles
Adapting Materials for Special Situations

The resource ebook is a hyperlinked 39-page .pdf that contains:

General Resources
FREE Resources
Links to help with special needs such as Deaf, Blind, Autistic, Speech and Language Development, and Dyslexia

You will also find some links for legal advice, special needs support groups, and homeschool magazines.

choosing and using curriculum joyce herzog

What I find most helpful is the general recommendations that assist with choosing and customizing any education resource. Homeschoolers are now a significant consumer demographic, and it seems every day there are new websites, programs, and textbooks geared for home education. To have a list of questions and guidelines to apply to anything new and shiny that we see in those catalogs and magazines is a valuable tool.

For instance, Chapter Fifteen compares seven popular learn-to-read methods, and explains their strengths and weaknesses. Then Chapter Sixteen provides a comparison of several reading programs and which method they use. These are the kinds of examples that homeschoolers find helpful to make important, money-saving decisions about what to use in their homeschool.

Each chapter of Choosing and Using Curriculum is a snapshot- a few pages, easy to read in one sitting, outlined for easy reference. Specific curriculum recommendations are obviously limited to a few per subject, as an exhaustive resource would be hundreds of pages. My only concern about the physical book was the many spacing and typographical errors that undermine the professional appearance of the book.

Choosing and Using Curriculum Set is a one physical book and one ebook set for $15. Joyce Herzog offers many more resources on her site- the Scaredy Cat Reading System, Learning in Spite of Labels, and Timeless Teaching Tips are just a few.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew evaluated many of these products. To read these reviews, click on the banner below.

Leave a comment

Posted by Susan Raber on May 23, 2013 in Homeschool Elementary, Homeschool High School, Homeschool styles & methods, Organizing home & school, Scheduling home & school, Schoolhouse Crew Reviews

Tags: adapting homeschool resources, choosing homeschool curriculum, comparing curriculum, homeschool basics, learning styles

Review of High School Prep Genius from College Prep Genius

18 May

For parents and students who want information, explanations, and guidance about how to prepare for college, High School Prep Genius has packed that and more into a 440-page high quality glossy trade paperback published by College Prep Genius.

Beginning with a short section about how to use the book, High School Prep Genius continues with instructions for creating a college and career notebook, and how to plan and use month-by-month timelines from 9th to 12th grades. These are excellent tools for breaking the intimidating task of college planning into understandable and manageable chunks. What’s more, you don’t have to know your college and career track down to the last detail in order to use a book like this.

Noah and Emma have a variety of interests and skills that they are exploring and developing. It would be foolish to wait to begin the process of prepping for college until they had settled on a specific vocation, but High School Prep Genius contains charts, checklists, and forms as well as examples of how to use them so that students keep moving forward with their education as they begin to specialize and focus their efforts in a particular career direction.

Our college/career notebook is divided by year, month, and category so that all the information we need is readily available to us, and we can stay on top of any important tasks that need to be completed at specific points in their academic calendar.

Preparing for college is not just about academics. Foundations For Personal Success is a section dedicated to important considerations for personal development, such as what it means to become an adult and being responsible for one’s own decisions. Meaningful questions encourage students to think about who they are and who they want to become, and parents are given guidance with example questions to promote discussion of their children’s futures with them. Young people also need to understand the importance of being physically healthy, being financially independent, and building a support system of parents, teachers, and mentors, as well as making and maintaining healthy relationships.

The section titled Foundation For Academic Success gives a basic 10-step Reading to Learn outline and help for keeping notes, homework, and projects organized. There are examples of how to use day planners for time management in order to prioritize and balance obligations. Further strategies are given for taking tests, and ideas for going beyond the basics with community centers that offer workshops, dual credit classes at local colleges, private lessons, volunteering for charitable organizations, and apprenticeships with local businesses.

The primary motivation for taking advantage of all these opportunities is to develop a well-rounded and compassionate individual, but the fact that many of these activities are essential to qualify for scholarships should not be overlooked, and High School Prep Genius includes information about these as well.

Chapters under Foundation For Future Success cover future development on many fronts- goal setting, how to research in order to choose a school that offers the best career preparation, and even whether or not to delay college. Standardized tests such as the PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, and ACT are often the boogeymen of the education process, but High School Prep Genius takes away some of the scary by explaining each test, its purpose, and how to prepare for them.

Completing college applications is much easier with detailed instructions and an application checklist. Parents can glean ideas and learn about options for paying for school, and how to encourage their child through the experience of moving toward independent living. This is followed by a chapter about college essentials, such as choosing classes and picking a major, leaving home and working through separation anxiety and homesickness, and living on campus with a roommate. There are many misconceptions about college, thanks to tv shows and movies that depict college life as unbridled freedom and partying. But college is just another part of life, where in order to be successful the student must be responsible, thoughtful, friendly, confident, and sensible.

Supplemental information includes building a homeschool transcript, and there are examples of transcript formats and course descriptions in the appendix. An option that I had never considered was to be involved in talent searches to open up more opportunities for interesting experiences and to qualify for scholarships. Appendix C is a well-rounded list of books for recommended high school reading. Suggestions for how to relax and reduce test anxiety, and then a glossary of common terms used in college admissions complete the picture of college readiness that High School Prep Genius draws for us.

For homeschoolers who want the inside scoop on how to navigate from high school to college and beyond, High School Prep Genius is a valuable resource, available for $29.95. Make sure to check out the other resources by College Prep Genius, and read more reviews by the Schoolhouse Review Crew by clicking the banner below.

Leave a comment

Posted by Susan Raber on May 18, 2013 in Homeschool College, Schoolhouse Crew Reviews

Tags: choosing a career, education, personal development, planning for college, scholarships, volunteer opportunities

Review of Sharon Watson’s Writing Fiction in High School

30 Apr

We have two writers in our house – Emma is working on a screenplay, and I like writing fiction – so the chance to review a course from Writing with Sharon Watson was appealing to both myself and my daughter.

As the title states, Writing Fiction in High School with Sharon Watson is a fiction writing course for 9th-12th graders interested in acquiring a high school credit in English/Composition by studying how to compose fiction from conception to publication.

Have you ever thought about taking a course with your kids instead of just assigning it? Maybe in high school we were so busy trying to get out of doing schoolwork that we didn’t appreciate the opportunities we were given? As homeschoolers, we get to relive those years to some extent, and correct the mistake of not learning when we had the chance.

Writing Fiction gave my daughter and I the opportunity to sit down together and do some fun and interesting writing assignments. It took us days to write a 26 sentence story, each sentence beginning with a letter of the alphabet. That’s what happens when you give a couple of perfectionists that kind of assignment! However, it was the sort of exercise in creativity and discipline that is particularly helpful to students who are serious about writing, but just plain fun for those who aren’t.

This program is very flexible, and can be used with a group, such as a co-op or writing club, or by a self-motivated student.

To give you an idea of how thorough this course is, the chapters in the Student Workbook cover these and other topics:

Facts About Fiction- the power of fiction, being a good reader, where ideas come from, being truthful in your fiction, and hooking your reader
Point of View- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, being consistent with POV, proofreading marks
Fairy Tales- motifs, creating rhythm,
Characters and Characterization- voice, emotion, appearance, reactions, naming, creating an empathetic lead, motivation, the death of a character, the antagonist
Conflict- internal and external conflicts, goals, death, tension, character arc
Dialogue- subtext, exposition, dialogue formats, dialogue tags, indirect dialogue
Description- descriptive tools such as sensory details, figurative language, organic imagery, vivid verbs, direction, weather, time, reaction, and the #1 rule of writing “Show, don’t tell”.
Words, Words, Words- audience and word choice, connotation, impact, passive/active, parallelism, style
Theme- how to fix 3 major problems with theme
Plot- two plot structures; the hero’s journey, the circle
Scenes- deconstructing scenes
Beginnings and Endings- hooking the reader, genre, rules of story, setting, tone, the protagonist’s voice, foreshadowing future conflict, endings, reader expectations
Getting Published- revisions, how to get published, manuscript format, pen names, rejection letters

Each topic has activities to help students internalize the writing principles and story structure explained and illustrated, such as rewriting a passage in a different voice, or brainstorming plot points related to the story’s value. Many of the exercises in the workbook use The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick as a model or illustration of the lessons in the chapter. There are also a huge variety of examples from best-selling books and popular movies, chosen for their quality and age-appropriateness. Every family has their own ideas of what is best for their kids, but there are so many from which to choose that picking examples that would work best for your student is not a problem.

The Teacher’s Guide contains helpful notes about assignments as well as answers for the discussion questions, and a list of books, short stories, and media needed for each chapter. Parents need not worry that they won’t know what to say when discussing the story examples and the principles of writing. The Teacher’s Guide is very thorough.

We may want to view every story our child writes as a masterpiece, but if they really want to learn to write well, a course like Writing Fiction in High School with Sharon Watson will give them an incredible foundation in just a few months. It will help the avoid the most common mistakes young writers make- weak plotting, head hopping POVs, overuse of dialogue tags, excessive adverbs, too much exposition, etc. They will also learn how to view what they are reading with the right kind of critical eye for theme, characterization, and motif. If they have aspirations to be a published author, they will learn professional writing tips and how to submit a manuscript to an agent or publisher.

If only I’d've had this course when I was in high school. . . and if wishes were dishes, I’d be Neiman Marcus.

But you can give your student the glossy non-consumable trade paperback Student Workbook (300 pages) for $25.05, and the Teacher’s Guide (84 pages) is available for $9.95.

Want to know what the rest of the Schoolhouse Review Crew
thought about resources from Writing with Sharon Watson?

Leave a comment

Posted by Susan Raber on April 30, 2013 in Language Arts, Schoolhouse Crew Reviews

Tags: character arc, composition, English credit, external conflicts, literature, writing, writing fiction

Review of Math Rider

24 Apr

If you need a resource to help build your child’s accuracy, speed, and confidence in calculating math facts, Math Rider may be what you are looking for. math rider logo

We downloaded the program for this review to our PC desktop quickly and easily. Kenny took to it like a duck to water. He has used it every day as speed drill practice to increase his recall of math facts- addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of numbers 0-12. Seeing his progress on the map, riding over obstacles, watching his score and a graph of his increasing improvement has given him a much needed proficiency boost. As the youngest child, he has to deal with discouragement at times that his older siblings have mastered so many skills that he is still trying to conquer. Math Rider has helped him increase his speed and accuracy of recall and mental calculations, and I can see his confidence rise every time he plays.

Math Rider, which can be used with up to 8 students on a single license, has a broad appeal as well. Both boys and girls will enjoy riding their horse Shadow through the varied terrain of Mathland and completing tasks such as finding a flower that cures a virus, returning a diamond to the elves, and, of course, rescuing a princess. It is recommended for ages 6-12, but would be a great resource for an older child struggling with math mastery.

$math rider screen shot$

The background music is calm and pleasant. There are no weapons, nobody dies, and nothing blows up. Even so, Kenny enjoyed the fantasy background and the noble adventures, as well as the instant feedback of rewards for answering correctly and completing the quests. The scenes of the Land of Ray are beautiful and provide an interesting backdrop for the journey.

math rider product picture

The controls are simple- type the correct answer and press ‘enter’ to jump their horse Shadow over various obstacles. This means the student can focus on calculations and recall instead of handling complicated controls. At the desk that Kenny uses, we have a computer with a wireless keyboard that doesn’t have a number pad, so we are either going to get a new keyboard that includes a number pad, or just add a wireless number pad to our set up to make entering numbers a bit smoother and easier.

For the parent, Math Rider makes it easy to track progress and spot trouble areas. Graphs are provided that show not only correct/incorrect answers, but how quickly the child is calculating and recalling math facts. The game uses intelligent software that senses what the student has mastered, and focuses on the areas where they need more practice. The four operations are separated into their own quests so that students can work on a particular area and master that first before moving on.

math rider screen shot

We used Math Rider on our Windows Vista desktop, and it also works with a Mac. It uses Adobe® AIR™ runtime, and requires a screen resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. You can read about the specific system requirements on the Math Rider website.

Math Rider is a one-time download with free updates for life for $47. It is backed by a 30-day Satisfaction Guarantee. Or you can go to the Math Rider Home page, enter your email address, and receive a 7 day trial registration key and instructions to download Math Rider so you can try-before-you-buy.

Others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew used Math Rider- click on the banner below to check out what they had to say

Leave a comment

Posted by Susan Raber on April 24, 2013 in Math, Online courses and programs, Schoolhouse Crew Reviews

Tags: download math software, increase math proficiency, intelligent software, math games, math mastery, multiplication and division

Review of Progeny Press Study Guide for Beowulf

21 Apr

Literature study guides help students connect purposefully and intelligently with the books they are reading, and Progeny Press provides a tremendous variety of quality guides for students of all age and grade levels with an analysis from a Christian perspective.

We reviewed the study guide for Beowulf (for grades 9-12), a story considered to be the first great adventure novel. Progeny Press guides are available as printed booklets ($21.99+shipping), a CD ($18.99+shipping) or an instant download ($18.99). We used the download, which is an interactive .pdf that allows the student to fill out and save all typed data, but pages can also be printed and filled in workbook-style for those who prefer their children write out answers instead of using a computer.

Parents have “limited permission” to use these guides. In other words, when you purchase a Progeny Press study guide, you have permission to copy it for use in your home with your own children.

Literature study guides are a valuable resource for homeschoolers, and guides from Progeny Press give parents and students the guidance they need to make the most out of their reading program. Parents who are readers are often comfortable discussing literature with their children, while parents who were not encouraged to read feel inadequate to the task. Both can gain valuable insights into literature using these guides, and students who like to work independently can complete the book and guide at their own pace.

It is recommended that the student read the entire poem before beginning the guide, and then working on a page or two of the guide every day. It takes the average student about 10 weeks to complete the Beowulf guide.

The guide begins with instructions, a brief synopsis of the story (which is actually an epic poem), and a short bio of the author. More context is provided with historical information about the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons. There is also a section about what it means to read from a translation, since the text we have is technically not the original story. There is more than one English translation, and they all differ in some way. This guide is based on the Seamus Heaney translation. It is helpful if the student has access to more than one translation so that they can compare these differences.

photo a64736b1384e26ea12427c_m_zpsd85a8791.jpg

There is also a list of pre-reading activities to help students gain important perspective on the time, place, and cultural impact of one of the most famous ‘hero’ adventures ever written.

The study guide proceeds to help students understand and internalize story elements by defining the unique vocabulary found in this epic poem. and explaining the literary techniques used, such as alliteration, foreshadowing, characterization, and irony.

Questions are formatted as fill-in-the-blank, short essay, multiple choice, word finds, and even crosswords to give students a variety of ways to interact with the material.

Analysis from a Christian worldview is what makes Progeny Press guides unique. Students are encouraged to take their critical thinking to a deeper level, and compare character types, plot points, and settings with similar elements in Scripture, in essence using the Bible as the measure of truth and values and applying that to literature.

Optional assignments, such as investigating sword manufacturing and design, or researching literary allusions mentioned in the poem are given at the end of each section.

The guide concludes with overview questions, and optional essays and projects that could serve as a test or final on Beowulf. This is followed by a list of additional resources, as well as works consulted and cited in the guide. The answer key is also included at the end of the guide.

We followed the instructions given in the guide- reading the book, then working a couple of pages a day in the guide. I’ve always loved to read, and enjoy revisiting this story with my daughter. I found the guide very thorough, thought-provoking, and written in a tone that was pleasant and interesting. I also appreciated the convenience of allowing Emma to investigate this story herself with a trusted literature guide. Emma felt that the explanations were clear and interesting, and variety of questions and activities kept the material engaging. She saved the file to her desktop for quick access, typed her answers into the document and saved them in her Language Arts folder on her laptop. The completion of the Beowulf study guide will count as 1/4 of a high school credit in Literature in her records for her high school transcript.

See what others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about Progeny Press guides.