We have been homeschooling now a little over four years. During that time, writing has been a part of it since River was as young as the first grade. Most of the writing they did was short paragraphs. I wanted to get them use to opening their minds and letting their thoughts flow onto the paper; no limitations, but there was not much structure. They learned a lot, but I saw the need for more structure, direction, and for them to have a reason and an understanding for the steps in the writing process.

WriteShop was created by homeschooling moms, Kim Kautzer and Debbie Oldar, who began teaching their WriteShop class to a group of homeschoolers. At the time, they planned to use established writing curriculum for the core of their class, but were unable to find one that suited their needs. They wanted curriculum that:

• Emphasized clarity, conciseness, colorful vocabulary and interesting sentence types;
• Focused on developing a strong paragraph;
• Offered wide variety of writing activities;
• Helped students know exactly what to look for when refining their own work
• And helped parents know how to methodically evaluate their children’s writing.

As resourceful as many homeschoolers are, they decided to create their own curriculum. It combined all of the above listed needs and became what we now know as WriteShop, which has been helping students write for almost 15 years.

WriteShop is an incremental writing program. The lessons build upon each other and continually include previously taught material to reinforce what the student is being taught.

We had the opportunity to review WriteShop Primary Book C, which is a writing program for students in the second through the third or fourth grades depending upon prior writing experience. Parents of a fourth grade student may find the curriculum useful if their student has limited or no writing experience, or is a reluctant writer.

The book is part of a three book series that covers grades kindergarten through fourth grade; so they believe in teaching the skill (and art) of writing early. If you are not sure where to start your child, then they have a chart that can help you determine where your student would begin when using the series. If you need more assistance, then Ms. Kautzer goes into more detail here.

FOR THE TEACHER
There is no student book, only a teacher’s guide, which provides schedule suggestions (three-week, two-week, or one-week lesson plans) and suggestions on teaching multiple children at different levels. There are ten lessons in the book, so you can decide which schedule to follow depending upon how quickly you want to move through the book.

Everything for instruction is provided in the teacher’s guide from guided instruction to sample dialogue to lesson prep. If you are a planner, then you will love the detail provided to help you prepare for each lesson (see some sample lessons).

There are reproducible activity worksheets that complete the program and introduce and support what the student is taught in each lesson.

Before starting, you will create a writing center with supplies/tools that will inspire your student and enhance his writing experience.

FOR THE STUDENT
The student is introduced to beginning writing skills and provided the tools he needs to be successful at writing. They will go through the brainstorming process of collecting their ideas. They learn about the ingredient of a story, which includes: Who? – characters; What? – problem; When? – setting (time); Where? setting (place); and Why? or How? – solution. Then, the student will put everything together and have a well developed story with all of the details from the beginning to the end.

The student is given a variety of activities that are fun and engaging to motivate his interest in writing. Hopefully, what he learns will encourage him while he develops his writing skills.

OUR EXPERIENCE
We followed the three-week lesson plan because I wanted to give myself time to make sure I knew what I was doing (overly cautious) and to give River and Lily a chance to adjust to the new program. Using that schedule gave them a more relaxed learning experience.

Lily likes writing more than River and can come up with just about anything without prompts, but I think they both benefited from having instruction on what specifically to write about. It also helped that they had steps to follow. They knew their story was not complete unless it had all of the necessary ingredients. One of the stories Lily wrote was about a frog.

Needless to say, there was more story telling going on because there was more motivation to write.

MY THOUGHTS
I really like WriteShop. I like that they have curriculum for teaching writing as early as kindergarten and that the lessons are not intimidating for the student (nor is the instruction for the teacher). The incremental approach gives the student an opportunity to gradually walk through the process of putting his thoughts on paper and making it presentable and understandable for others to read and enjoy.

The guided teacher’s manual is helpful for the instructor whether or not he or she has experience writing. You don’t have to love writing or be published to be able to teach your student how to write. Everything is in the teacher’s guide.

For the experienced writer/teacher, some of the lessons were a good reminder of writing basics, the necessary ingredients, and the thought process to go through when doing any type of writing. Some steps may get overlooked to arrive at my final product. Part of the ingredients, “Who?, Where?, When?, What?, Why and How?,” are so simple, but one or more of those ingredients can sometimes be forgotten in the final writing product.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
You may purchase WriteShop Primary in print for $32.95 or as a download for $28.95. The activity worksheets are also available in print for $4.95 and as a download for $4.50.

WriteShop also offers more advanced writing programs with WriteShop Junior and their signature writing program. See other writing and grammar programs.

WriteShop is offering a special discount to my readers! You can receive 15% off any WriteShop Primary and Junior products in the WriteShop store (including e-books) using coupon code CREW15 at checkout. This offer is valid through June 15, 2012.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

I try to limit computer usage when it comes to doing school, but I will admit that I usually loosen the reigns when it comes to math-based programs. When we do use them, usage is as a supplement as opposed to it being core. We had an opportunity to review CapJaxMathFax™, which is a downloadable, math program created to give students practice on the math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Starboard Training Systems, the producer of CapJaxMathFax™, has been headed by Jack Fretwell for the past ten years. Mr. Fretwell has a Masters degree in Education Technology and more than 30 years in education and computers. The desire of the company is to ensure that all children have basic math skills and they hope to accomplish this through students using CapJaxMathFax™.

CapJaxMathFax™ is quite straight forward. Session parameters are set-up by the teacher for the student work session and the student is able to complete the work independently. Some of the general parameters that can be selected are the following:

Math Facts
The teacher can choose for the student to practice one or up to all four of the math facts in a session. Two symbols for multiplication (x and the “dot”) are used so the student becomes familiar with both.

Level
There are up to nine levels of practice for the addition and subtraction math facts and up to 10 levels of practice for multiplication and division math facts.

Facts in Set
Any amount of math facts can be chosen for the student to complete in one session.

Super Seconds
The number set here is the amount of maximum seconds it should take the student to complete each math fact. The suggested amount of seconds per math fact is three, but this can be set up to 10 seconds. The student will see “Super” appear on the screen if he correctly answers the math fact under this selected time. The student is able to still complete the equation if it takes longer than the set Super Seconds. A “Right” will appear instead if he answers the equation correctly.

Session Description
There are three options for the type of work session the student will complete. He can do one of the following:

Play for Rating
• Time and scores are kept so the student can see his progress along the course of using CapJaxMathFax™.
Play for Practice
• Students can use the program without being rated. This may be helpful for students new to the program who want practice before completing a timed work session.
Keyboard Practice
• This gives the student a chance to practice using the number keyboard so they will be able to improve their response time when going through a session where they are being rated for comprehension and speed of typing in the response.

FOR THE STUDENT
The program is designed so that a student can immediately see results whether or not he is familiar with the program or all of the math facts.

The program suggests that a student only needs to spend a few minutes a day to develop mastery of the math facts. Doing a little bit of practice over time rather than spending hours everyday is how learning best occurs.

Using CapJaxMathFax™ along with any comprehensive math curriculum gives the student a break from textbook and group work and adds more fun by providing a different way to practice and learn the math facts.

A progress report is available for the student so he can see the learning that is occurring. He is able to keep up with his personal scores and set goals for improvement while using the program.

Students are able to earn merit badges commending them for the work they have accomplished.

There is a level called “word thinkers,” which gives the equation using words (ex: 6 combined with 9 = 15 OR 8 and 1 = 9 OR 0 larger by 9 = 9). This does provide an opportunity for the student to think more about what the fact means. This is shown more when using word thinkers for multiplication and division.

FOR THE TEACHER
CapJaxMathFax™ allows the teacher to assign math practice time to the student and let him work independently. There is no preparation required other than setting up the session parameters (stated above) for the practice session, which takes only 3.00 seconds to set-up (just kidding).

The student’s progress is charted, which allows the teacher (and the student) to see his progress. The teacher can use that as a guide for knowing in what areas more instruction and teacher-student time needs to be spent to ensure full comprehension of the fact(s).

One nice feature is that the teacher has the flexibility of choosing a single math fact for the student to work on (ex: multiplication only) or multiple math facts at one time (ex: addition, subtraction, and multiplication – or any combination). This also makes it more fun for the student and challenges him to not just tune his brain on to doing addition only or subtraction only, etc., but instead be able to handle and know any fact presented.

OUR EXPERIENCE
At first, I was a little taken aback by having the seconds it took to answer a question appear on the screen after each math fact is completed. I think it is nice to know that one is quick with an answer. Then, I thought about the student who may be quick with the answer, but slow on the keyboard. I stumbled a few times, which added .30392104, etc. seconds (using a keyboard with no number pad) to my time on various equations. I like that this feature can be turned off if preferred and that keyboard practice is offered to help students who may not be quick on the keyboard.

My children (second and fourth grades) enjoyed using the program, but it wasn’t a best seller in our home. The drills were not challenging enough for them because they have a good handle on their math facts.

MY THOUGHTS
Since students are trying to improve their mastery score of the math facts as well as their response with the answer, this works better on a keyboard with a number pad.

A few things to note that would be helpful is if new screens would open the full size of the visual area of your computer. There seemed to be so much information crammed onto the page. I did adjust the page, but had to do that every time I clicked something that opened a new window.

I will say that CapJaxMathFax™ is a good tool for students early in their math learning. It is helpful to the teacher who has multiple students because it frees up time for her to work with other students or complete other school related responsibilities, while being assured her student is still learning. It also gives the student something educational and fun to do while learning basic math. Try the free evaluation and see if it is right for your family.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
CapJaxMathFax™ is available for $29.95 as a download or on CD (check the website for the CD price).

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

Homeschool Library Builder was started more than one decade ago by homeschool mom Diane McKee who has a great love of literature written for children and young adults. Her desire was to help others nurture and develop that same love she had for great literature by offering books at affordable prices.

She started her store library with a few titles and over the years watched the inventory grow as well as the business.

In 2007. homeschool moms Julie Huffman and Gayla Weatherford took ownership of the company and have continued to grow the library with “living” books that are made available to their customers everyday.

Although homeschool is in the title of the company, the selection of books are not just for homechoolers but for anyone who has a great love of literature.

The available books include new and used as well as hard and soft cover titles. Some of the book categories are classic literature, helping hand (100% of the proceeds go to Compassion International), fiction and non-fiction as well as new arrivals where you can check current arrivals and also books added within the past two weeks when you visit the site.

There is also a category where you can search for books by curriculum If you are a homeschooler, then this category may be quite beneficial to you. Some of the products available through the curriculum search are recommended and required books for Sonlight (P3/4 –Sonlight 530) and other curriculum. Beautiful Feet is another curriculum for which you can find and purchase books that are no longer in print or are just really hard o find.

My children “eat” books and sadly, my pocket book has been unable to keep up with their appetites. Homeschool Library Builder is a great resource that allows parents (anyone) to buy a variety of books (especially classics and some of the hard to find historical books for school). A good example of this is we started a Beautiful Feet study and had to put it aside because many of the books were not available. My local library had a few, but there were not enough to complete the curriculum thoroughly. Purchasing the books new was not an option because our school budget didn’t allow for new book prices. Homeschool Library rates and prices its books according to their condition which allows your dollars to go a long way.

Does Homeschool Library Builder sound like something for you? Well, guess what? Membership is free and they are also offering 25% on your purchase through the month of May. Members have an opportunity to earn book points ($$$) toward purchases.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: I was asked to write about the product featured in this review at the request of the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

I don’t think you will find any child who doesn’t like to watch things pop, bubble, or explode. These are all neat things that can happen when you are studying science. Science is fun even though it can at times be full of mystery, messy, and dangerous; but isn’t that what makes it so much fun?

I really enjoy science. I like watching experiments being done. I like mysteries being solved and I, like my children, really do enjoy watching things go “boom!”

Amazing Science gives you all of those experiences minus the really big boom, but the experiments are still cool, a lot of fun, and I would say amazing.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
James Gibson is a rocket scientist; really! He has advanced degrees in engineering and physics and enjoys teaching science and math, which he has done through his award winning videos since 2004. His desire is to teach people how to really appreciate the value of math and science and to enjoy learning about both.

Science is not just about facts and experiments you read about in a textbook, but rather about how things work in the world. Through experiments that use everyday items we find in our home, he opens up a new world as to the why and how things happen.

He reminds viewers that math isn’t about memorizing math facts and completing timed practice drills, but is a useful tool beyond those experiences.

Math can help you determine:

“How far can a rocket go with a certain sized engine? You can calculate that with math. How much weight can a bridge or ship take before it fails? Again, you can use math to calculate that.”

Mr. Gibson believes that if you give a person an objective when doing science and math, then it makes so many things interesting.

THE PRODUCT
Amazing Science! – Volume 1 is a compilation of 23 video experiments that provide step-by-step instructions.

The experiments cover topics like heat, electricity, surface tension, and more and are easy, safe, and fun to complete.

Two disks come in volume one and here is a list of the experiments taught:

FOR THE STUDENT
The experiments are fun to watch and what is even better for the student is that they are easy to complete. The video is high-quality and gives the student multiple camera views so they can see every step that is being completed. Throughout the experiment, Mr. Gibson explains what is happening and why.

With his observations and explanations, there is a lot of learning packed into the short video segments, which will keep the student interested and not overwhelmed.

FOR THE TEACHER
Mr. Gibson takes on the teaching role, so you can pretty much sit back, watch with your students, and enjoy. Depending upon how science-savvy you are, you may learn a few things yourself.

As I mentioned before, science can be dangerous, but Mr. Gibson encourages safety from the beginning with the use of protective glasses and also states when an adult should be involved with the experiment.

There is not a lot of preparation needed other than gathering the materials for the projects. I know (personally) at times that collecting all of the items for an experiment is one of the reasons science usually gets pushed to the bottom of the list. There are not a lot of supplies that are needed to complete the experiments and many of them items are ones you already have at home.

See why these videos are so much fun:

OUR EXPERIENCE
I let the children watch three videos before I decided that we needed to actually do an experiment ourselves. There was something about just watching and not doing that took all of the fun and real learning out of the experience.

What I mean by real learning is that since Mr. Gibson walks the viewer through the entire experiment presenting observations and explanations, there is no need for the viewer to figure the “whys?” and “hows?” themselves because he presents the reasons along the way.

What I did, using the DVD, was to create a worksheet for the experiment that River, Lily, and Canyon were going to do. They were able to fill it out (I completed Canyon’s w/his answers) after they observed the steps of the experiment. They had to determine, on their own, what would happen and why.

After they completed the experiment and worksheet with their own observations and explanations, we watched the DVD together and they were able to see the experiment in action again and check their results against what was shown on the DVD.

MY THOUGHTS
I like the experiments because they are simple to do and easy to understand. It was also nice being able to easily find a lot of the supplies in my home and not have to set aside a big budget to purchase items that would probably get destroyed while doing an experiment.

Something that would be nice is to have a printable supply list for the experiments. I had to watch the DVD to find out what we needed. It wasn’t too bad because I did have to make the worksheets for the children, but there were two really cool (actually, they are all cool – or should I say amazing?) experiments I wanted to try and found out after watching the DVD, that there were a few supplies we didn’t have on hand.

Science Saturdays are going to be more fun as we continue to work through the experiments on the DVD. We will share some of the experiments we do here on the blog in the upcoming months.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Amazing Science – Volume 1 is can be purchased on DVD for $19.95 and as a download for $17.99.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

I have read several articles that state college students lack critical thinking skills. They don’t have the ability to know how to objectively review various details of a situation or determine if something is fact or just an opinion. Try having them put that into words on paper. Huh?

The Critical Thinking Co.™ is on a mission to develop the critical thinking skills in children. The hope is that their grades will improve; test scores will become higher, which will in turn lead to more success in life. Can one critical thinking math book do all of that? Probably not, but it will be a great start.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The Critical Thinking Co.™ is a family-owned business that has been “empowering the mind” for more than 50 years. They have products that cover reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history in which critical thinking has been woven throughout the lessons. Instead of drills and memorization, students are encouraged through fun and easy to use lessons, to “carefully analyze what they are learning.”

THE PRODUCT
We had the opportunity to review Mathematical Reasoning – Level F, which is a new book for fifth grade students. The study is a spiral one where the material builds upon what is previously learned. Because of this, the author suggests that the student work through the book page by page rather than skipping around.

There are 12 books in the series that not only teach math concepts and skills students should know in their particular grade level, but also introduce concepts that are taught in the next grade level.

The series is challenging to students whether they are familiar with the series or new to the series as we were. So, if the student begins in one level and completes it, the next book in the series will continue to challenge the student as he progresses through the work. The Critical Thinking Co.™ “guarantees better grades and higher test scores – or your money back.”

FOR THE STUDENT
Before you grumble at another worksheet, let me tell you that these are fun. Not only are they fun, but they require the student to think. There are a few pages that required me to put my thinking cap on (pgs. 75 and 87).

As I mentioned before, the material is spiral. The activities build slowly allowing the student to grasp what is being taught and have a sense of comfort before moving to the next concept. All the while, the student is continually being challenged by the worksheets.

FOR THE TEACHER
Step-by-step instructions are given on each worksheet that basically allows the teacher to step back and let the student work on his own. The workbook can be used independently for math studies or used as a supplement to what is already being taught in class. We chose to use it to supplement our math studies.

There are 413 pages of worksheets, which is more than enough to take you through a school year. if you school year-around as we do, then there are definitely plenty of pages.

The worksheets in the book satisfy the standards of the National Council of Teachers Mathematics (NCTM) and there is a handy section at the beginning of the book that lets you know which page exercises satisfy which NCTM Standard. The series also prepares students for achieving high scores on some of the more popular assessment tests (i.e. OLSAT®, WISC®, ITBS®, and many more).

OUR EXPERIENCE
My children do critical thinking exercises everyday. Our schedule is as follows: Monday – calendar; Tuesday – grid (Sudoku puzzle, etc.), Wednesday – mapping; Thursday – time; and Friday – money/math. Using this book was a nice addition to our Friday math. Because River enjoyed the lessons, I started giving him one to do everyday as a “treat” after finishing his regular critical thinking exercises. There were some pages that were quite tricky and challenging, but then there were others that were a “piece of cake” for River. The mixture has been a nice supplement to our math studies. I think I really like this company. Hmm…I know I like this company.

I will admit that the price is a bit hefty, but since the book is reproducible I can justify the price by knowing I will have three children working through the book.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Mathematical Reasoning – Level F is priced at $42.99.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

Christian Kids Explore Science is an award winning series from Bright Ideas Press. There are four books in the series that include biology, chemistry, earth & science, and physics. The books are Christian-based and that is evident throughout each book as scripture is woven into each lesson. The books are multi-grade and geared toward the homeschool student.

We had the opportunity to review the chemistry curriculum as a .pdf download, which has everything you need to get started on the chemistry study. It is suggested for use by students fourth through eighth grades.

Two messages from the authors that is written at the beginning of the study are, “don’t be afraid” and “don’t be intimidated!”

Although I took chemistry in high school, I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to begin the lessons because I did not know what to expect or what would be expected of me – preparation, knowledge (or lack of knowledge – I forgot a lot of what I learned in highschool) and figuring out how to fit science into our school week.

There are 30 lessons and five units {see toc} in the book that are well laid out making it very easy for the teacher to plan for each lesson, which is presented to be completed in one week.

At the beginning of each lesson, an overview is provided to give the student an idea of what will be covered in the study. The objectives are also given as well as vocabulary words and the materials and supplies {see list} needed to complete the lesson.

There are hands-on activities (including labs), questions to consider (think about it), and a review of the material covered in the lesson. There are also coloring pages. Supplemental books are suggested throughout the units but they are not required to complete the work.

I found chapter two, chemistry tools, quite helpful. It discusses the various tools used to study chemistry and ways to handle yourself and the supplies used in the laboratory to keep the experience safe. That was an important review for my children and me. They were still able to “do chemistry,” even though the chapter talked about safety.

The study also does not require the teacher (or student) to have former knowledge with chemistry. Both the student and teacher can learn as they go through together.

Overall, Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is a well organized and complete introduction to studying science and learning about chemistry. This would be a great curriculum to use for students who have done very little science study in school.

Availability
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is available for $39.95. View some sample pages to see if this curriculum is for your family.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

The authors include award winning professors, and recognized journalists and writers, and the resources of WORLD Magazine and God’s World News. Through this collaboration, they present Write with World.

From the website:

A few things that make Write with World different:
• Students belong to a community of writers and have an audience
• Students see the curriculum as a living, up-to-date conversation
• Students have access to multiple assignments to choose from in many lessons
• Students who learn to read with critical eyes are more likely to become strong writers
• Students will examine models-both strong and weak-to improve their writing
• Students learn style in the context of their own writing
• Students learn to write with a worldview
• Writing teachers need ideas and support

Each chapter lists the supplies the student needs (highlighter, thesaurus, etc.) before beginning the lesson. There are four units/sections, with four chapters/lessons, and five lessons/capsules in each chapter. The capsules are easy reading keeping the student busy working through the assignments.

We received a teacher and student manuals. The teacher’s manual contains the same text that is printed in the student book. To help the teacher, there are instruction notes alongside each section that easily guide and give the teacher tips and instruction for presenting the lessons.

OUR EXPERIENCE
Although River is still in elementary school (fourth grade), I thought he would be able to work through the curriculum even if it had to be at a slower pace. I found that he was able to work through the lessons without any problem.

One thing that did make it difficult at first for planning our course of study was that there is no table of contents. The table of contents is the first place I always go to when looking through a school book. This happened because I received a pilot version of the first book. Not having that reference easily accessible in the book did slow me down a bit as I tried to determine where to start in the book. A table of contents will be included in the final product.

Write with World seems more like a guide book to me presenting examples of the correct (grammar, vocabulary, structure) and incorrect way to write. There were not as many actual writing lessons as I would have liked throughout the book. I wanted to jump ahead and just start writing.

The curriculum is geared towards middle school students, but some of the earlier lessons may be able to be used by a fifth or fourth grader. I believe that students should be taught the structure or how to compose a paragraph but they should also know how to compose the sentences that bring that paragraph and eventually the story/composition together. Write with World seems to accomplish that fact.

I liked that vocabulary was worked into the lesson, but often we ended up just discussing the word rather than stopping and having him look it up. River gets enough practice with that when doing his vocabulary lessons.

A good point that was made is using low-stake evaluations rather than high-stake evaluations; being less critical of the work and being more helpful with suggestions on how to make something better. I can personally say that the easiest way to shut a confident writer down is to be critical of his work without offering any positive feedback. With that said, I can only imagine how more detrimental that can be for a person (especially a child) who lacks confidence in writing. Red pencil gets such a bad rap.

Availability
Write with World will be available this summer for $95 plus shipping and handling.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

TruthQuest History is a literature-based history curriculum. Its desire is to show God’s works and triumphs throughout history rather than focusing on uplifting the accomplishments of man. A quote from her website:

“…mankind is not the prime force in the universe…God is. He initiates; we respond. History, therefore, is not first about what people do. It is first about what God does and says, and secondly about what people believe and do in response.”

If that turns you off, then don’t let it. Actually, that is one of the reasons I was attracted to the curriculum; because it is Christ-centered. You are not preached to as you read through the sections, but instead encouraged to think about how God works in all things.

I wanted to study American History this year with my children, but had to put that study off for another year because I had not found the right curriculum. I have some knowledge about how our country came together, but not enough to start from the beginning and not miss a few important points along the way.

We reviewed the American History for Young Students I, which covers the time period of exploration through the 1800’s. The book is the first one of three books in TruthQuest’s level one series that covers American History from exploration through 2000. Level one has been written to include first through fifth graders in study, but refers to resources that can be used by students through the twelfth grade.

TruthQuest History uses living books to walk the student through history. The book list she offers is copyrighted just to give you an idea of how extensive it is. There are a lot of books listed to choose from as you walk through the first period of American History. The curriculum works more as a guide presenting many book options to read through while covering a particular event in history.

The TruthQuest curriculum is a progressive one that is created to start in the elementary grades and continue through highschool. Since many people may not discover TruthQuest until their children are older, there are several reading plans {see plans}to begin at different grade levels so that all of the material, or at least the most important events can be covered..

There is commentary that you read to your child at the beginning of each section and further discuss. After that, you read the books that are listed for the area of study in history you want to cover. Occasionally, there are film, audio, and activity suggestions in sections like when learning about Native Americans or about pirates.

Ms. Miller does suggest a few spine books like the From Sea to Shining Sea series, Light and the Glory for Children, and some others, but they are not necessary for you to have to go through the study.

Since we are still going through our state study, I chose a few books from the list to read out loud and some others for my older two to read independently. Each book has a suggested reading grade which was helpful in determining which books to offer them. The only thing is that although she suggests the books to read, there is no way to know about the slant of the content of every suggested book because there are so many. Despite that, I have found that doing a little online research for reviews on books has been a good way to determine which books to add to our personal reading lists.

There are definitely more books to choose from than we will ever need to read on the subjects presented in the study, but I like having the variety of books to choose from. Many of the titles are ones I have never heard of and also having the large amount of choices gives me, like a lottery, more of a chance to find a few in our libraries.

I will say that this curriculum is not exactly what I thought it would be meaning, I was really hoping I could use it independently. I love having additional hands-on activities (art projects, etc.) to do while studying through history. TruthQuest does have supplemental resources that include notebooking pages {see sample pages}, lapbooking, and timeline activities which are a nice additions for helping record and reinforce what your child is covering in his lessons.

I do think the beauty of TruthQuest History is giving you and your child an opportunity to learn about history while reading through it using quality books and the discussions you will have together. This worked well for our family because we have access to many of the books from the two libraries we use for school. Having the list of books enabled me to enhance the states history study we are already doing.

What I intend to do next school year is walk through this curriculum again covering American History and we will use some of the other books that we were not able to read to cover that study.
See if TruthQuest History is right for your family.

Availability
TruthQuest HistoryAmerican History for Young Students I can be purchased for $24.95 as a physical copy or for $19.95 as a digital download.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

After reading this book, the amazing wonders of God will be reinforced at how He brings everything together with thought and purpose. Fellow crew member Debra Haagen has written this beautifully illustrated book titled Amazing Animals by Design that helps parents introduce intelligent design to children. God has a reason and a plan for everything He does even as it applies to us.

We meet the John and Sarah as they visit one of their most favorite places to go; the zoo. While on a tour with their parents, they are introduced to the many animals that live at the zoo as well their design (the way they were made).

Have you ever wondered why elephants have long trunks or why zebras have stripes?

Elephants have long trunks so they won’t starve to death. They can’t bend to the ground to reach food and they are too short to reach trees for food. Their trunks help them reach low and high. That is something God worked out.

The explanation as to how Zebras “hide” is also quite interesting. Although they are obviously striped and stand out, when a group of zebras are standing together, it is confusing to a lion on the prowl for something to eat as to the number of zebras present or the size of one zebra. That question will usually make the lion steer clear of the group for its own safety.

My children also enjoy going to the zoo which we will be doing again this summer. Amazing Animals by Design is a nice way to prepare your children before a trip to the zoo. As the animals will always be exciting to see and interesting, the information your children learn in the book will answer a lot of their curiosity and make them look at the animals they see with a more appreciative eye.

Availability
Amazing Animals by Design can be purchased for $8.99 and is available as a digital download for $7.99.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the manufacturer or representing PR agency as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The opinions expressed are my own.

One of the last things I ever expected to say to my children is, “let’s argue,” but that is what I encouraged them to do as we reviewed The Art of Argument, An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies. Well, the difference between the typical arguments my children have that drive me crazy and the arguments encouraged by the lessons in the book is logic.

Logic is usually the first thing that “goes out of the window” when people argue and on its foot tails comes emotion running back inside. The Art of Argument seeks to bring clarity, relevance and purpose back in, creating more of a conversation or discussion while sharpening the student’s critical thinking skills. The student uses reasoning, instead of emotion, in favor or against an issue to “argue.”

The Art of Argument is part of the logic series published by Classical Academic Press. There are two other books in the series that include The Argument Builder and Discovery of Deduction.

We received the student book, the teacher’s manual, and a DVD that has an intro and covers the first six fallacies covered in the book. The student book pretty much walks you through the lessons and can be used without the teacher’s manual, but I will say that I liked having the additional resources offered in the teacher’s manual. The teacher’s manual not only includes the answers to the exercises and worksheets, but also has additional quizzes and tests for more practice of the covered material. You can take a look at the teacher’s manual.

There are 28 fallacies that are covered in the lessons. If you’re anything like me, then you may have had to pause to think about the word fallacy – “misleading notion or erroneous belief.”

When arguing, there are three ways people tend to reason poorly and make a mistake in the defense of their argument which include:

Relevance – The point they are making does not relate to the issue.

Presumption – They make unjustified or unnecessary assumptions.

Clarity – The language or the words they use to defend their argument don’t make sense.

The 28 fallacies are broken up to fit into one of those three categories. You can see a sample of the student book and also see how the fallacies are broken up.

I was probably more excited than the children about using this curriculum but after we watched the introduction on the DVD, they knew this was something for them. After all, they like to argue. I may be the cause of that characteristic. This curriculum reminds me a little bit of Forensics.

The lessons cover each fallacy. Students are encouraged to review the fallacies often and even put them to memory with the hope they will recognize them when confronted by them in everyday life.

Although this curriculum is geared towards students in the seventh through ninth grades, I thought River and Lily would do fine working through the material. We have already been including logic in our studies. River and Lily both have already learned a little bit about questioning statements they hear (including mine) and read in advertisement for commercial products, regarding social issues, and recently political issues, especially with the upcoming election.

Logic is an area where many children don’t perform well on standardized tests. The curriculum is classical-based, but you do not have to have that background to learn from the material. It gives a great jump-start for children who are new to studying logic.

The lessons are not only engaging, but the examples they use to explain the use of the fallacies are ones that are relevant to the student in their daily lives. There is a definite effort to include the student in the discussion; to get him thinking and discussing. The student is being taught with instead of taught at. You can watch a portion of some discussion that is included in the DVD set:

Watch this fun video. I love watching the interaction with the kids, once they finally get into the conversation.

Take heed to the warning…”Parents and teachers beware – students may use these skills against you.”

Availability
Each item of the curriculum can be purchased separately. The Art of Argument, An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies is available for $21.95, the teacher’s edition is $24.95, then you can purchase that for $24.9, and the DVD set is available for $54.95. You may also purchase all three as a bundle for only $88.95.

You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members on The Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was provided to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for a complete and honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.