Apologia Educational Ministries Review

I have been busily searching for a great Bible curriculum to use with Hailey next year.  I never found anything I was super happy with this year, so I have kind of just pieced things together as went along.  Next year I’ll have a newborn, so I want to make sure I find something that is nicely laid out for me without much prep work involved.  I was given the chance to review What on Earth Can I Do? from Apologia Educational Ministries and I was really excited to check it out.  I knew that Apologia has a great science curriculum, but I didn’t realize they had a Bible curriculum as well.

We used What on Earth Can I Do? ($39.00), the What on Earth Can I Do? Junior Notebooking Journal ($24.00) and the What on Earth Can I Do? Coloring Book ($8.00).  We also received the What on Earth Can I Do Notebooking Journal ($24.00).

What On Earth Can I Do? is the 4th book in the christian worldview series- What We Believe by Apologia.  The book is a hardcover textbook that has 8 lessons and 294 pages that helps children understand that God gave each of us special gifts to be used for His glory.  It is designed to be used with children in grades 1-6.  The lessons can be spread out as long as you see fit for your family.  There is a suggested schedule at the beginning of the book which would make each lesson last for 3 weeks.  You could stretch them out longer or do them quicker, whatever works best for you.

The 8 lessons cover:

1. Your story or God’s story?
2. Who put you in charge?
3. Will you be found faithful?
4. Where is your treasure?
5. Where does your time go?
6. Whose life is it anyway?
7. Why isn’t it easy being green?
8. What will happen when the master returns?

Then, within those lessons there are several components that you will see covered each time.  For example, each lesson has a section called The Big Idea which introduces the main topic in that lesson.  There will also be a Short Story which tells a story about other children and gives a little glimpse into their lives.  There is also a section called Hide It in Your Heart– where there are memory verses for your child to memorize.  You will also find a section called Parables of Jesus which is a parable from the Bible that has been adapted to help students have a better understanding of the story.  There are several other important components to each lesson, but that is just a brief description of a some of them.

We also used the Junior Notebooking Journal, for the younger elementary aged children, to go along with our studies. It is a spiral bound book that is 184 pages.  In the front of the journal there is a lesson plan guide to help you plan when to read what and which notebooking pages to do.  Again, it is a suggested schedule and you should use the pace that works best for your family.  The Notebooking Journal, meant for the older elementary aged children is also spiral bound and is 236 pages.  It is geared for kids who are ready to do more writing than what is included in the Junior Notebooking Journal.

The Coloring Book has pages to color that will go along with what you are reading to your child.

So, how did we use What on Earth Can I Do?

I planned to have our lessons be a little shorter than the recommended schedule in the book.  Hailey usually gets a little restless if I read too long, so I didn’t want her to get tired of listening to me read.  Plus, with a busy toddler, sometimes it’s hard to have uninterrupted reading time.  But, when I was reading the short stories or the parables for Jesus, Hailey begged me to read a little bit more.  And, Hunter actually sat and listened too.

While I read to Hailey from the textbook, she colored in the coloring book.

After we read the section for the day in the textbook there were notebooking pages to be completed.

 This particular page is called “I Spy.”  Hailey had to write or draw about where she had seen God’s works recently.  She decided to draw a rainy day where the sun came out and then a rainbow formed.

We also learned about what a tapestry is and how God uses the different events in our lives to develop us into who we are today.  Hailey had to design a tapestry that showed important scenes from her life.  She included things like when she was born, when Hunter was born, her first day of school, doing gymnastics and more.

She made this mini book about the fabric of her life.

There are also pages to help reinforce vocabulary being learned, such as word searches and cross word puzzles.

What On Earth Can I Do involves very little prep on the part of the parent- just get your textbook and notebooking journal out and you’ll be ready to go.  I found it to be easy to use and Hailey enjoyed listening to the readings.

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey really enjoyed the stories, and I did too.  They really kept our attention and we did not want to stop reading.
The notebooking journal reinforced what we were reading and had fun and educational activities.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.
You can make the lessons as long or as short as you need them to be for the attention span of your children.

Cons:
Ummmmm… I can’t think of any 🙂  It is so easy to adapt it to fit your needs that I don’t think there are any cons.

Want to see some more of Apologia?  Check them out here:

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ARTistic Pursuits Review

A favorite things to do at our house has always been art.  I have always struggled with what to do for art though.  I can put together a cute craft or project, but usually it’s just for fun- which is great- but sometimes I want a bit more educational value to go along with the activity we are doing.  Fortunately, Hailey takes an art class at our homeschool co-op, so I know she is getting some good art instruction.  But, I wanted to do something for her at home too- an art curriculum that I could easily implement- so I was really excited at the opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3, Book 2: Stories of Artists and Their Art from ARTistic Pursuits.

Stories of Artists and Their Art is a part of a homeschool art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits.  There are books in the curriculum that come before this one, but you can start with this book if you want to.  This book focuses on the lives of artists from within the 13th century to the 18th century. Some of the artists included in Stories of Artists and Their Art are Giotto, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Turner.  In Stories of Artists and Their Art, there are stories written about the artists, written perfectly for children to enjoy and understand, and then there are art activities that relate to the artist your child is learning about.  Stories of Artists and Their Art is paperback and has a comb binding, includes 36 lessons (85 pages) and is $47.95. This particular book is for kindergarten through 3rd grade, but there are other art curriculum products for other ages available at ARTistic Pursuits.   In addition to purchasing the book, you will also need to purchase art supplies to complete the projects in the book.   You can order supplies directly from ARTistic Pursuits or you can purchase them on your own.

So, what did we think of Stories of Artists and Their Art?

Here is a sampling of some of the lessons we did:

Lesson 1 was about Cimabue.  First we read about Cimabue, what it was like when he was born and how he became an artist.  Then Hailey completed the project that went along with the story.  She was encouraged to paint a picture of a building in our neighborhood.

She set up her painting area like the book recommended doing.  There are also tips offered in the book- for example it suggested using your paint brush to drop a couple drops of water into the water colors to soften up the paint before starting.  This was a super helpful tip and made painting with water colors even easier.

Hailey decided to paint a picture of our neighbor’s house- this is her completed picture.

The next lesson we did was also about Cimabue and how some craftsmen stamped patterns into a gold surface by making indentations into the gold.

We used gold colored paper to represent the real gold for this activity.  Hailey had to cut the paper into the shape she wanted and then glue it on the paper.

Hailey’s completed artwork.

In lesson 3 we learned about Giotto and how he used rocks to scratch pictures onto large flat stones when he was a child.  He later worked as an apprentice for Cimabue and became a master painter as well.

For the next activity, Hailey used oil pastels to carefully color a piece of cardstock.  She used lots of colors and made it look very pretty.  When she finished coloring it, she colored over the entire picture with a black oil pastel.  This whole process took several days, but she had a great time.

When she finished, she used a paperclip to scratch the black off and create a picture.  This part was a bit messy- but it is art after all 😉  She loved the project and is very proud of her artwork hanging in our classroom.

One other lesson we completed was also about Giotto and how he used to do fresco painting- which is when the paint is applied to wet plaster.

Hailey spread plaster onto a piece of cardboard.

Hailey drew a picture using pencil onto the plaster of what she wanted to paint.

Then she used water colors to paint her picture.

I made a plaster surface for Hunter too, because he likes to be included in what we do- so here he is painting his plaster.

ARTistic pursuits is very clearly laid out- a short and simple story about an artist, followed by a fun project for the child to complete.  It is very easy to use and the activities are simple while educational.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  She listened to the stories- they kept her attention and she loved the projects.
It’s not just a project for the sake of doing art- there is real educational value behind the lessons.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.

Cons:
Some of the art supplies that are recommend are a bit pricey.  But, that is easily fixed by purchasing generic supplies rather than the suggested name brand materials.

Overall, I would recommend ARTistic Pursuits.  We really enjoyed this homeschool art curriculum, we both learned a lot, and I plan to continue using it.

Want to see more of ARTistic Pursuits?  You can also check them out on Facebook.

CTC Math Review

I have always loved math. It always came very easy to me and I found it to be fun. I loved having math homework to do every night.  It’s always been hard for me to understand why anyone would not like math.  So, of course- Hailey has never been very fond of math. She was in public school for 2 years and math was definitely not her favorite subject.  This year, her first year being homeschooled, math has definitely not been her favorite subject. So, I wondered- does she just hate math? Or, is it the curriculum we are using?  Surely she can’t really hate math.  I have been researching math curriculum for the last few months, talking to other homeschool moms about the math curriculum they use, and just trying to decide what to do about math.  Just stick with what we’re using or change things up??  So, when we had the chance to review CTC Math, I was really hopeful that it would help Hailey with her math struggles.  We were given the 12 Month Family Plan to review.

CTC Math is an entirely online math program, so I would recommend having a reliable internet connection to use this program.  You can purchase a membership monthly, every 6 months, or yearly- whatever would work best for you.  Right now, you can get a huge savings of 60% off the regular price!  For a family plan, including 2 or more children, you can purchase a yearly membership for $118.80 (normally $297).  Yearly membership for only one student is $78.80 (normally $197).  

When you sign up for a membership you are given access to all grade levels (Kindergarten- 12th grade) and all lessons for each grade level.  For each grade level (or course) there are several “streams.”  For example, in Kindergarten through sixth grade the streams include:

• Numbers, Patterns and Algebra
• Measurement
• Space and Geometry
• Statistics and Probabilty

From those streams you can pick one and click on it.  Then you will find the topics within those streams.  Once you have picked a topic for your child to work on, your child will listen to the lesson about the topic.  After the lesson is over your child will work on some practice questions.  There are also practice speed drills, that vary in difficulty level to help your child practice his or her math facts.

Each week the parent receives a weekly activity log (by email) that looks like the picture above.  It will tell you when your child logged in and what he or she did.  The overall performance section will tell you how many lessons were completed and what the overall score was of the questions your child answered.

So, what did we think of CTC Math?

Before we started reviewing CTC Math, Hailey had been working on 3 digit addition and subtraction.  When we would work on her math problems together she did great.  But, as soon as I had her do it on her own, she couldn’t do it.  So, I had her start with the addition and subtraction lessons.  I loved that I could use any grade level because she needed practice with 4th grade addition and 3rd grade subtraction.  I had her watch the lessons- they are each only a few minutes long and are very easy to understand.  If she didn’t understand something we could easily go back and watch it again.   Then she did the practice math questions.

I really liked how she could cross numbers out to borrow from when subtracting, and to carry numbers when necessary while adding.  She didn’t need to do it on paper, she was able to do everything right on the computer.  She really loved that!

I had her answer the questions for addition for several days because she really needed the practice, then she did the same for subtraction.  She did great using CTC Math and usually got all of the problems correct, only missing a problem once in a while.

Since I see Hailey still counting on her fingers from time to time, I also had her use the speed skills practice.  In just a weeks times I could see a huge improvement in how fast she completed her math facts.  I even used the speed skills to see if I was getting rusty on my math facts.  In the level 4 group of speed skills there is an “Order of Operations” option, which I definitely needed some practice with 🙂

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  If there was a day we didn’t use CTC Math, she was asking for it.  This is the biggest plus for me- she actually enjoyed using this online math program.
The lessons were short and kept Hailey’s attention.
I saw a big improvement in Hailey’s speed skills as well as her understanding of the topics we covered.
I loved that I could use any grade level.

Cons:
When Hailey would get a problem wrong, I wish the program would have explained to her right then what she did wrong and how to do it correctly.

Overall- I would recommend this math program and we definitely intend to continue using it!  Using CTC Math has confirmed for me that we need to make a change in the curriculum we have been using this school year.

Want to see more of CTC Math?  You can also check them out on Facebook.

Review of Supercharged Science

I have been very surprised this school year to find that one of Hailey’s favorite subjects is science. When we started our school year we were only doing science a couple of times per week. The days we did not do science, Hailey was asking me when we could do science again. I found that I needed to plan extra science activities so that we had some science to do every day of the week.  Science has never been my strong point, so I had to do a lot of work and research to find or create unit studies and experiments to use.  My search for the right science curriculum has continued through the year, so when we were recently given the chance to review Supercharged Science I was really excited to check it out.  We were able to use the e-Science Premium Membership so that we could find out what it is all about.

Supercharged Science is an online homeschool science program.  There are lessons, readings, experiments, quizzes and so much more.  Most of the teaching is done by Aurora, the creator of the curriculum, who is real live scientist.  She has worked for NASA and has even designed rockets.  All that to say that she knows her science.

At Supercharged Science there are over 800 science activities, experiments, and projects.  If you sign up for the e-Science program you will instantly be able to access over 100 activities and experiments.  Each month you will gain access to more lessons which will include more activities and experiments.  This will cost $37 per month if you want the K-8th grade section and $57 per month if you want to expand to the 9th-12th grade section.  If you would like, you can currently sign up for a trial run of e-Science Program for only $1.

So, what did we think of Supercharged Science?

The first thing I did was check out what is available by grade level.  There is a screen like the one above where everything is organized by grade.

If you prefer to look at things organized by topic, you can do that as well, and you will see a screen that looks like this one.

I looked at the grade level and picked 2nd grade.  Then we could pick from Chemistry, Life Science or Earth Science as the topic to learn about.  Hailey picked chemistry, which scared me a bit 😉  Here is a sample of some of the experiments we did:

We tried the Laundry Soap Crystals experiment.  First we watched a video about it and then we did our own.

Here is our experiment all set and ready to grow some crystals.

We did grow some crystals…. but our pipe cleaner was too close to the bottom of the jar and became permanently stuck to it.  There was no way we were going to get our crystal out!  It was still fun to watch it grow though.

We also tried the microwaving soap experiment.

I found a bar of Ivory soap, that had been around for a few years and we microwaved it.

Our soap did not expand like the one in the video that Aurora showed.  We have done this before and it has worked, so I left a comment on the experiment post and asked if it could be because we had used old soap.  Less than 2 hours after I posted my question she answered and explained that it was probably because we used an old bar of soap which has less water vapor in the air pockets, which means it doesn’t expand in the microwave.

One of the other experiments we tried was the Rubber Eggs.

We put a hard boiled egg in vinegar and left it for a few days.

When we took it out of the vinegar- it bounced.

Hailey tried to cut through the egg, which felt very rubbery, and even though the shell was soft it was hard to cut through.

She finally got the shell off and it was soft and rubbery for a little while, but was it dried it got hard and cracked.

After the experiments there are also downloads available for worksheets.  Hailey is not a big fan of worksheets, so we just had some discussion questions rather than filling out a paper.  But, for those who like to have some written work- that is available as well.

There is so much you can do with the Supercharged Science curriculum!  This post is just a small little snippet of what is available.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved the experiments.
The experiment videos were short, they did not have long drawn out explanations, and they kept Hailey’s attention.
We had the materials to do most of the experiments that we wanted to try.  (There are some where you will have to purchase items.)

Cons:
The website was a little confusing at first for me.   It took me a while to figure out where everything is.
I received a lot of extra emails from the company (but you can easily opt out of those).
The program is a bit pricey.

Want to see more of Supercharged Science?

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