In Freedom’s Cause Review

It’s that time of year, for us anyway, when it’s nice to take a little break from our regular curriculum and change things up a bit.  We have been using an online history program this year and Hailey was starting to get a little bit tired of it.  So, when I was given the chance to review In Freedom’s Cause Single Package  from Heirloom Audio Productions I thought it would be a nice break from our regular curriculum.

Sometimes history can get a little bit dry and boring, but the goal of Heirloom Audio Productions is to bring real history to life.  As they researched and prepared to make this production, they actually traveled to Scotland and walked where the main characters of this story had once walked.  So you know they are serious about making the story exciting!

We received In Freedom’s Cause on CD- there were two CDs, with over 2 hours of entertainment to cover the entire story.  The story is about William Wallace and Robert Bruce and how they fought to try to gain Scotland’s freedom.  Scotland was suffering due to cruelty of their English leader.  Even though it seemed impossible, William Wallace took a stand and struggled to gain freedom and inspired many others.  Even though he would not live to see Scotland gain freedom he was the inspiration for Robert the Bruce, who later defeated the English.

This audio CD is more than just a reading of the story- it is like you are listening to a movie.  There are all sorts of sound effects and great music.  There are some pretty big name stars among the cast including Joanne Froggatt (from Downtown Abbey), Billy Boyd (from Lord of the Rings), Skandar Keynes (from Chronicles of Narnia), James Cosmo (from Braveheart), plus more.

We also received the In Freedom’s Cause Study Guide (Digital Download) to go along with the CD.  There is a set of questions to go along with each track on the CD.  In each set of questions there are three parts- a Listening Well section, Thinking Further questions, and a Defining Words section.  The Listening Well section is basically questions that you will find the answers to by listening to the story.  The Thinking Further section is just what it sounds like- it makes you think about what you heard by asking deeper questions.  Lastly the Defining Words section goes over new words that your child heard in the story.

In addition we received In Freedom’s Cause Soundtrack (MP3 download) which has all of the original music, and the Printable copy of the Prayer of William Wallace. (digital download)

So, how did we use this?  We took a break from our regular history curriculum and listened to part of the CD each day for history.  After we listened to part of the CD we would stop and go over the questions in the study guide.  Hailey enjoyed listening to the story and there were even parts that made her laugh.  She decided it would be fun to talk like the characters and she developed an accent after listening each day :-).  She did enjoy the story but also said that sometimes she was a little confused about who was talking.  We used the study guide for the beginning tracks but found that most of it was too difficult for Hailey (age 8, in 3rd grade). Although it is recommended for ages 6 and up, I think the study guide would be more for a middle school aged child.  I think it would have been nice to have included an answer key with the study guide because there were a couple of questions where I was unsure of the answer.

Overall, it was a good story.  I would recommend listening to it all at once, rather than a little at a time as we did.  When we listen to it again we will do it in the car on a trip.  I think it would be easier to follow along listening to it all at one time. I would recommend it for older children- probably middle school and up. It would be a fun addition to your history curriculum and Heirloom Audio Productions definitely knows how to bring history to life.

Veritas Press Self-Paced History Review

History has been a bit of a struggle for us this past school year. We started out really enjoying it, but then as time went on it seemed like we were spending way too much time on one topic.  Hailey started asking if we could please study something else.  So, for most of the year I came up with our own history curriculum.  It was time consuming and not something I want to do again in the fall, especially since I’ll be busy with a new baby.  So, I have been busily searching for a new history curriculum.

We were given the opportunity to review a history curriculum from Veritas Press.  I checked out what they had to offer and decided that we would just start at the very beginning and review the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt, which one of the Veritas Press Self-Paced History choices.

The self-paced history courses each have 160 lessons, which if you do 5 lessons each week, will take you 32 weeks to complete.  Since the classes are self paced you are able to complete them in the way that works best for your family.  Tuition for each course is $199 which will give you access for one year.  If you have more than one child using the program there is a $100 sibling discount.   The self-paced courses are meant for children in grades 2-6, with the recommendation that your child be at least 7 when starting the class.

There are 5 different courses available:
Old Testament and Ancient Egypt
New Testament, Greece and Rome
Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation
Explorers to 1815
1815 to Present

The courses also have flashcards that are very helpful in learning all of the major events during the time period your child is studying.  We were able to use the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards, which cost $19.95.

The courses are completed online, so you will need internet access.  Be sure to check the FAQ to make sure you computer and internet connection will meet the minimum requirements.

The first thing your child has to before starting any of the lessons will be the tutorial.  This is a great way to become familiar with the way the course works.

When your child first logs on each day, she will be able to go to look at her assignments.  This page shows the lessons that have been completed as well as the upcoming lessons.  Your child’s current grade is also displayed at the top.

 The lessons have different actors teaching the information.  It is all very interactive and the students have to answer questions very frequently, which helps to keep them focused where they should be.

 There are also talking characters, which will certainly keep your child interested in the information!

 In addition, there are interactive games, which are educational as well as fun.

Every 5th lesson has a test, which is usually pretty short, but very complete.

 So, how did we use Veritas Press?

Hailey started out using the tutorial.  With these courses you have to complete the tutorial in order to move on to lesson 1.  Then lesson 1 must be completed in order to move to lesson 2, etc.  I had planned to just have her do the tutorial on her first day, but she begged to go on and check out lesson 1.

Each day she completed 1 lesson.  Some of the lessons were longer than others, but I think they average around 20 minutes each.  Of course, that is going to depend on how long it takes your child to complete the questions and interactive games, so it could be more or less.

There is a fun song to help your child remember the 32 major events in the time period being studied.  The first day Hailey heard the song she said, “I’ll never be able to remember all of that.”  But, it’s a catchy little song and before she knew it, she had most of it memorized.  I often heard her singing it when she was taking her tests.

We also used the flashcards- this is the front of the first flashcard.  Each flashcard has a picture on the front…

and some information, as well as resources available on the back.

On the back of the first flashcard the 7 days of creation are listed- so I had Hailey make her own art work to go along with it.

This is her completed version of the 7 days of creation flashcard.

Veritas Press Self-Paced History is an amazing program!  Hailey absolutely loved it and would ask to do it.  Some of the lessons were a little bit shorter than others and on those days she would beg to do just one more lesson.  She learned so much from the time that we used the program- and I did too!  In addition to the online lessons and the flashcards, there are several historical fiction books that are recommended to use along with the program.  I was not able to find them at our local library, but they are available for purchase through Veritas Press.  Hailey asked if we could please keep using this program when we start school back up in the fall.  So, we are definitely planning to continue to learn all about the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Very easy to implement
Fun characters that children enjoy listening to
Very little teacher prep time- most days we just watched the lesson and didn’t have to do anything else.  There are hands on activities that can be done as well, which would involve a little bit of prep time, but not much.  This will be perfect for us since we’ll have a newborn in the fall.
Hailey loved it, learned a lot, and asked to do it every day

Cons:
It is only available online, so you have to meet the minimum requirements in your internet connection
Cost- I think $199 is expensive for one subject

Want to see some more of Veritas Press:

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We Choose Virtues Review

I have seen We Choose Virtues mentioned on several blogs in the past and everyone always seemed to really like the program.  So, I was really excited when we were given the chance to review the Parenting Cards from We Choose Virtues.

We Choose Virtues is a fun curriculum used to help teach your children about virtues.  There are cute characters that the children will remember, and this will help them to remember the virtues they have been learning about and practicing.

The Parenting Cards are teacher cards to be used at home, basically the homeschool version of this curriculum.  There are 13 cards, which are on printed on a card stock and are 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches big.  These cards are an important part of the program and will be used every day.  They are meant for kids ages 3-11 and cost $38.49.  Each card includes a Bible verse and you can decide if you want it to be the NIrV or KJV.

We also received the WCV Download Bundle, which is for kids ages 3-11, is priced at $7.99 and includes the following items:

• Teacher’s Handbook
• Family Character Assessment
• Coloring Pages
• Butterfly Award
• Sing-along-Song sheets

This a closer look at what the cards look like- each card has a virtue and then a simple sentence or two about what that means in terms that kids understand.  Under that is a Bible verse that goes along with the virtue being taught.

The back of each card has some teachable moments that give several suggestions for how to teach the virtue you are studying.  There is also a little story to go along with each virtue in “The Kids of VirtueVille” section where you get to meet one of the characters from VirtueVille.  The story always ends with a question to make kids think about why the character made the choice he or she made.

So, how did we use We Choose Virtues?

I started off by introducing what we were going to be doing.  Hailey and I then both took the Family Character Assessment (PDF download).  This was great to look at to find the areas that we both need to work on (and to see what our strengths are too).  It is definitely easier to see the flaws in someone else than it is to see them in yourself…

Each week I chose a virtue card and added it to our calendar board.  On the first day I read the story on the back of the card and we talked about what the virtue meant.  The Teacher’s Handbook (PDF download) had some cute ideas to use to introduce and teach the virtues- so I used some ideas from there.  Each day I did something different that was listed on the back of the card- none of the ideas take very long, they are very simple to do, but they really get the point across.  They are a great parenting tool!

Hailey and Hunter both love to color, so each week they colored a page from the Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Pages (PDF download).  The picture they colored was a picture of the kid they met on the virtue card.  As soon as they finished coloring, Hunter wanted me to hang up the pictures right away- they are all hung up in a row and he really enjoys looking at them.

The week that we learned about being a helper was one of my favorite weeks- we learned about finding things that need to be done and just doing them without being asked.  Hailey was amazing!  She was constantly looking for things that needed to be done- like in the picture above, she decided to help by wiping Hunter’s desk clean after we had done a messy activity.

We Choose Virtues is a great way to help your kids learn and remember virtues.  It really only takes a short amount of time each day to cover the virtue and to do an activity from the back of the card, but they teach some great lessons.

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Easy to implement
Only takes a short time to use each day
Cute and memorable characters to help children remember the virtue
Hailey (age 7) and Hunter (age 2 1/2) both really enjoyed the activities we did and it is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.

Cons:
I wish that the Teacher’s Handbook was available as an actual book, rather than just a PDF.  It is not necessary to print it, I just used it on my computer, but I really prefer to be able to hold a teacher’s guide in my hands when I look at it.  This is definitely not necessary, just something I like and I am usually willing to spend a little bit more to be able to have an actual hard copy.

Right now there are a couple of discount codes that I am excited to share with you!
For the rest of June, use Promo Code BIG50 for 50% off a set of 12 11×17 Kids of VirtueVille Posters
For June-August, use Promo Code BTS20 for 20% off anything in the We Choose Virtues Store.
(You can only use one promo code per order.)

Want to see some more?  Check out We Choose Virtues here:

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LearningPalette.com Review

We were given the chance to review LearningPalette.com which is made by Learning Wrap-ups.  I was given full access to LearningPalette.com which can be used for math or reading.  The cost of a yearly membership to LearningPalette.com is $25 for one user or $60 for 5 users.  There are pricing options for more users, up to 1000, so this is a product that homeschoolers or schools can consider.  This product is geared for kindergarten through 5th grade.

LearningPalette.com is an online product, so you will need reliable access to the internet in order to use it.  They also have hands on products you can purchase at Learning Wrap-Ups.

It’s hard to describe how LearningPalette.com works in words, so I took some screen shots while we used the product to better show it works.

This is the first screen in the math portion of the program.  There is a basic level up through level 5.  Once you pick your level you can pick the topic you want your child to study or review.

After you choose a topic- in this example I picked level 3, Numeration Step 3 -you are then given 12 cards to pick from for your child to work on.  You can see that some of the cards have a little green circle next to them- those are the cards that Hailey completed  in this particular topic.

After you pick a card, this is what you will see.  This particular example is in math, level 3 and covers multiplication and division.  (It is a bit hard to see, but if you click on the picture you can see a much bigger version.)  So, once you click on the card your child will need to solve the math problem.  After she has an answer she will need to look for the answer around the edge of the circle.  Then she has to find the colored circle on the left hand side that corresponds with the question, and click and drag that to the correct answer.

The reading portion is similar to the math portion.  There are 4 different levels- basic through level 3.  Within those levels are different topics, and then the topics have 12 cards with different questions.

This is an example of a vocabulary card in level 3.  This is the same set up as the math- your child will read the question, find the answer around the circle, then find the colored circle on the left that corresponds to the question and put next to the correct answer.

So, how did we use LearningPalette.com?

Hailey used levels 2 and 3 in both math and reading.  We used it as a review or practice for things we had already covered.  I didn’t find there to be any actual teaching, just questions that would go over things that had already been covered.

This is a screen shot of one of Hailey’s completed cards- it tells how long it took her to complete it and tells how many she got correct.

Usually Hailey really enjoys using activities on the computer, but when I asked her how she felt about LearningPalette.com she said it made her feel frustrated.  I also used it and it was very confusing for me.  I could easily answer the questions that were being asked, but to actually match up the correct circle- figure out which color to use and whether or not is was supposed to have a hole in it, then find the correct answer on the outside of the circle, made me confused.  Another problem we had was that sometimes Haiely would “lose” a disc.  If the colored circles got too close the edge of the screen they disappeared and there was no way to get them back.  The system also did not keep track of all of the cards she completed.  There were some cards she finished that were never counted as done.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
We had access to all grade levels.
Hailey was able to work at her own pace- if she didn’t finish a card, she could come back later to finish it.
The card was immediately corrected so that Hailey could see what she had right or wrong.

Cons:
There are just too many steps to complete to answer each question- even though I quickly knew the answers, it took me a while to figure out which disc to put where.
It frustrated Hailey and confused me.
The cards are timed, which bothered Hailey because she felt like she was rushing to get it done rather than just figuring out the problems.

Overall, this was not a great fit for us.  I definitely encourage you to read the reviews that others have posted because this is simply my opinion.