Founder's Academy: Vote 2012

Usually I talk about my little ones, but today my 13yr. old and 11yr. old are in the spotlight! With this being an election year, I was feeling a little guilty about not doing a unit study or something on the subject (we did one 4 years ago, does that count?) Well I remembered how much fun my 9yr. old had in her Meatballs & Marinara class and my then 4yr. old had in her online Smoothie Cooking Class over at Currclick. I thought I'd go look around again and see what they had to offer. I was thrilled to see that Founder's Academy was offering a Live!2012 class. So I signed my oldest two up.

13yr. old dd in class :)

This class was a speciality class and only lasted 2 sessions. This class covered:

• How are candidates for president selected
• What is a primary / What is a caucus
• How does the party system work
• What is the electoral college
• Is voting a right, or a privilege

CurrClick has an online classroom. When you sign up for the class you will receive information on how to access the classroom. Once I figured out how to set up student profiles, it was pretty easy to access the class. It really is a nice set-up. You can configure student profiles for each of your children under your account settings tab. Then once that is completed, each child can have their own "homepage". Whatever classes they are signed up for will show up under their courses. They can also receive homework assignments and messages from their teacher here.

Mrs. Schott, a 14-year homeschool veteran, was their teacher. She was the only one who appeared on video and was heard. The students typed questions and answers in the chat box, which is on the bottom left of the screen in the picture above. My kids liked that part. They enjoyed interacting online with other homeschoolers from around the world.

This is the "mom-do-you-have-to-take-a-picture?" pose.

One of their assignments in this class was to create their own campaign poster for CurrClick class president. They were told to use what they learned in class about campaigning for their poster. The students emailed their designs to Mrs. Schott, and the next class period they had to give a short slogan or campaign speech, and then show their poster. They held their own class election and voted for a class president.

I was very surprised at how much my kids enjoyed this class. I think they were too. Mrs. Schott did a great job presenting the information. She had visuals, websites, and kept the kids engaged during class. I felt the material covered was age-appropriate and challenged the kids to think about what was going on in the elections around them. After the live sessions were over, recordings of the sessions were available to view again. Both kids asked me to sign them up for another one of her classes. That says a lot right there! Since my daughter will be in high-school next year, I have my eye on several of Founder Academy's High School level classes. I'm thinking her Live! Economics might be next. :)

Right now Lynn Schott has several fun summer classes lined up. She even has a repeat of the class we took coming up in July. If you haven't thought about online classes, these shorter summer classes are a great way to test the waters.

Disclosure: This class was on my wishlist and someone gave it to me for free. I was not required to do a review. I thought the class was a great opportunity for homeschoolers and wanted to share. I did add affiliate links though. Thank you for supporting this site! :)

Educational Games: Ancient Egypt and Military Jets Card Games

We have been studying ancient history this year and have just finished learning about Ancient Egypt via living books, Mystery of History, and crafts. I'm always on the look-out for good supplemental materials for our studies--especially fun, hands-on type things. When I saw the Ancient Egypt Card Game from BirdCage Press, I was very interested in checking it out.

The deck of Ancient Egypt cards can be used both as a review tool and a game. The set of cards comes with a little booklet that goes over all the information on the cards. The information is divided into 6 groups: gods, goddesses, symbols, pharaohs, mummies, and afterlife.

I appreciated that the images on the cards were photographic images of real Ancient Egyptian artifacts and artwork. On each card there was a short description of the photograph. I learned quite a bit just by reading the cards.

Of course we had to play the game. The rules were the same as Go Fish. Thankfully each card had a category number on it so we could easily tell what card our opponent was asking for. I will admit that saying, "Do you have an afterlife card?" did sound weird--lol. My kids enjoyed playing this game and it was a great way to review many of the pharohs and artifacts we had learned in our history lessons.

I also picked up Battle cards: Military Jets. I knew this would be perfect for my son and husband.

The cards are wonderful! They contain a photograph of the airplane, the name, and information about the airplane.

There are several ways to play this game (listed in the information booklet.) We choose to play the Old Maid version. You can see from the picture that my son was enjoying this! Across the table sat his sisters who loved the game just as much as he did. I was glad I played because I started  learning the names of some of the planes my son and husband talk about. Now I feel like I have a reference point when the conversation turns to planes.

So what do I think?
I think Birdcage Press has produced quality, educational games that can easily be added to various unit studies and curriculum. Birdcage Press has card games available in the following categories: Art, Wildlife and Nature, Air and Space, and History. The cards are durable and very informative. I'm impressed with the quality of the booklet and the cards. It's a great way to sneak a little learning while having fun.

If you can't wait and want to order now, Birdcage Press has a free shipping code good through 3/31/12

Use IN12

I'm giving away one set of cards from Birdcage Press. The winner will get to choose either the Ancient Egypt set of cards or Battle Cards: Military Jets (be sure to check below for giveaways for other card sets from my blogging friends.) I am using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway. You can enter either with Facebook or by using your email address. This is just in order to have a way to contact the winner.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Check out these blogs for more giveaway options!
Spell Outloud -- Choice of Egyptian Art Cards or Battle Cards-Military Jets
Finding Joy -- Choice of Wild Cards – North American Birds or Art Ditto Game.
Jimmie's Collage --Choice of Impressionist or Renaissance Art Game
Mama's Learning Corner -- Renaissance Art Game
Handbook of Nature Study -- Wild Cards-Backyard Birds
Harmony Art Mom -- Choice of Go Fish for Art or Art Close-Up Cards
The Curriculum Choice -- Art Ditto Memory Game
Hodgepodge -- Go Fish for Wildlife – Sea Creatures
The Traveling Praters -- Choice of Go Fish for Van Gogh and Friends or 52 Amazing Places-National Parks
Get Along Home -- Choice of Wild Cards, Backyard Birds or Renaissance Art Game

Disclosure: I received the games for review purposes only. I was not compensated for my time. The opinions stated are mine.

WonderMaps

Many times while reading a book I’ve wished I had access to maps to illustrate exactly where things were occurring in the story. Other times I needed a map to help my children learn where certain cities, states, rivers etc. were located but did not have one that could be printed and labeled. Bright Ideas Press came out with a perfect solution to both of my problems---WonderMaps!

What is it?

WonderMaps is a computer program that contains over 350 maps that can be easily customized by turning off or on various features.

There are:

• historical or modern-day maps
• outline, reference, political, or topographical maps
• black-and-white or color maps

WonderMaps includes:

• 60+ maps of the world
• 60+ maps of the USA
• 125 historical maps, including 25 biblical maps
• The complete map sets from The Mystery of History vols. I–III and All American History vols. I & II

What We Thought:

This made me happy. Knowing that I could easily print multiple copies of  a map with just a click of a button.

This is the screen that greets you when you first open WonderMaps. Everything is neatly organized and laid-out. I found it easy to navigate and find what I needed.

Once you click to the map you want, you are brought to the individual map screen. On the left-hand side are boxes that you can either check or uncheck. For this map I only needed a black and white map of the world, so I clicked off all the other layers.

I did a little review with my middle daughter. We rolled a continent cube and whatever continent was face-up, she had to find on the map and color.

My son is reading about Lewis and Clark, so I pulled up some maps that would help him understand what he was reading. He was able to follow along on the map and see where Lewis and Clark went.

I love that I was able to use one program to do this. Being able to have so many maps at my fingertips will mean that I can save time searching for them on the internet. This is one resources that crosses into multiple subject-areas and I now consider WonderMaps one of my homeschool curriculum staples.

You can purchase WonderMaps at Timberdoodle and earn Doodle Dollars at the same time. Timberdoodle also has hands-on geography resources and geography puzzles to help students learn about the world.

Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this program in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Draw and Learn History at the Same Time

When I was in school, one thing I did in order to help me pay attention in class was to doodle all over my notebook. I got in trouble for that at times, but it really did help me pay attention.  I recently got to look over a book that combined history and drawing: A Kid’s Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the United States by Roderic Schmidt.

There are 42 books in this series—from Washington to George W. Bush. We got to look through a book on Zachary Taylor.

 
I was so pleased to see that this was a hard-back book and very sturdy. The book is a perfect resource for children doing a study or report on presidents. It would also be a nice supplement to an American History unit.

In the book on Zachary Taylor there were 10 “How to Draw” pages included. They were pretty detailed drawings. This did not discourage my children because they love to doodle and draw. It would have been helpful to have bigger drawing steps and some additional steps for some of the drawings though.

 
The book has a ton of information. There are photos, drawings, a timeline of key events plus other presidential details. The book uses a large font which makes it easy to read.  There is even a glossary included. My 12 yr. old daughter and my 9yr. old daughter read the first pages together and then worked on their drawings.

Timberdoodle was able to get this series for a special price, and is passing on the savings to their customers. So if you are studying American History this year, you just might want to check  out A Kids Guide to Drawing the Presidents. Timberdoodle also has other  history curriculum resources available as well. You can always request a free homeschool catalog to easily see everything in the store.

We enjoyed this book and I found that it was another way to get my kids interested in history.

Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

A Child’s Geography

I purchased A Child’s Geography by Ann Voskamp last summer with the intent of using it during the school year. I knew we were going to be covering geography with our local co-op and thought this would fit right in. As often happens, plans change and I just didn’t have  time to do both. Now that our local co-op has ended for the year, I recently pulled Ann’s book from our shelf and started reading it with all my children (ages 2-12). 

 

How can one book fit such a large age-span?

Ann Voskamp has a special way with words. A Child's Geography is written as a story. This is not a textbook filled with dry facts. Instead it begs to be read aloud. As children listen, they are encouraged to use their imagination as they view the world God made. This book is written in a Charlotte Mason-style with narration prompts plus notebooking activities included. In addition there are fun hands-on activities and a special “Reaching Out to His World” portion that shares practical ideas to be the hands of Christ to a hurting world.

First I read aloud the chapter to all the kids (or my 12yr. old reads if I have to take care of a fussy baby). Then the older kids (12yr. 11yr. and 9yr. old) are in charge of doing the project. Even the 2yr. old and 4yr. old join in when they can. One of the first crafts in the book had the kids making paper mache globes. Ours took 3 days to dry.

When we finally got around to painting them, only 2 out of 5 globes survived. The others were MIA or used as balls around the house. Do these kind of things only happen in my family? LOL! My 12yr. old did the globe in the picture. It turned out great.

Another activity they did was to create a visual example of the layers of the atmosphere. We had to improvise as we did not have the exact materials that were needed (aka Mom did not plan ahead).

Once again, my older kids were able to do this activity without my help. That is one of the nice things about the projects in this book---they are very doable.

I think our jar was a little too wide, but it still worked and got the point across.

Our visual example of the layers of the earth!

A Child’s Geography has been a refreshing change in our school routine. I planned it for earlier in the year, but God knew we’d need it now. If you are looking for a living- book style geography curriculum written from a Christian perspective, then add this book to your “must check-out” list.

Linking up to:

Easy Classical

If your homeschool follows a more classical approach, you might be interested in Easy Classical. (Not sure what classical is? You can read a short introduction about the classical philosophy here .)



I was given a copy of the Early Modern History schedule to look over:

“Your child will take a fascinating journey alongside explorers who discovered the Americas, and rebels who fought in the Revolutionary war. We have taken the time to carefully interconnect the study of history with geography, art, writing, and read-alouds”

The schedule is a 36 week schedule.  Each week includes:

History Reading
Writing
Geography
Hands-On Projects/Activities
Read-Aloud
Quiz
Review Questions
Shopping List of items needed for the next week

See for yourself what the schedule looks like: Early Modern History Sample

The curriculum is all planned out for you.  At first glance the schedule looks easy to follow. It is set up similar to another curriculum I used, so the layout made sense to me. Since I did not have all the books, materials or products to actually implement the program, I’m just going on looking at the schedule itself. We all know that reading a schedule and implementing it are two different things. I do like the review questions right on the page and the list of things needed for the next week. Those are very helpful  items to have in plain view. In order to implement this schedule you will need to get the books and materials. You can find the complete listing of all the books required to complete this history schedule here.

Price for the History Schedules:
notebook version- $35.95
digital version- $29.95
There are also complete content area schedules available as well as science. 




To see what other TOS Members had to say: Disclosure: I am a member of TOS and I was given this product free for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Hands on Geography

Recently, Bright Ideas Press allowed me to pick a product from their store to review. Since we have been doing geography at home and co-op this year, I was curious to see if we could use any ideas from Hands on Geography.

What is Hands on Geography?

Hands on Geography is an idea book written from a Christian viewpoint can be used in conjunction with another curriculum. There are instructions and ideas for many types of hands-on geography projects and games. The material is suitable for grades K- 5th. Here's what you'll find:

• The National Geography Bee
• Homemade Games
• Homemade Books
• The Country Notebook
• Passport Fair
• Joseph's Journey
• Missionary Geography
• Genealogy Geography
• Nature and Geography
• Language Arts and Geography
• History and Geography
• Maps Galore
• Teaching through the 5 Themes of Geography
• Outline Maps
• Geography in a Flash

What I Thought:

This book is a fabulous resource that would be perfect for families who like to do hands-on learning, crafts, notebooking, unit studies or lapbooking. There are some printables included in the book such as notebooking pages, continent maps, and state flashcards. Most projects require you to find the necessary materials--though most are easy to obtain. In the photo above, my son is coloring a map from a coloring book we picked up from the Dollar Store. Each of my older kids made their maps into puzzles---an idea we got from the book.

Besides the project ideas, I liked that there were Biblical geography ideas (mapping Joseph's journey) and missionary geography ideas. I'm glad to have this resource at my fingertips as I continue to plan our geography journey this year.

Check out Bright Ideas Press for fun history, geography, and science resources.
Bright Ideas Press Home Page
Hands on Geography: $14.95

TOS:
For More Bright Idea Press Reviews See:

Disclosure: I am a member of TOS and I was given this product free for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Expedition Earth Giveaway

We've got our passports ready to embark on our world tour via Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God's World. This downloadable curriculum was compiled and created by Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler. (Erica is also the creator of The Letter of the Week curriculum that we are also using this year). I knew I wanted to teach geography this year, but needed some direction. Expedition Earth is just what I needed to help me plan my year.

Expedition Earth covers 31 different countries and has lesson plans for each day of the week (M-F).  I appreciate that everything is laid out for me. Erica includes a craft supply list and book list for each country, which makes gathering supplies easy. If you only school 4 days a week, or only want to hit geography a couple times a week, you can easily use her plans as a general outline for the year.

(click the photo above to see a free sample of Brazil week)

Erica has included printables for each country, a passport and stickers to document the journey, greetings in other countries flashcards, prayer cards plus report forms. She also has a printable binder cover plus tabs for each country. I love that she makes organizing so easy!

In order to complete the curriculum you will have to either purchase or check out from your library the books listed in the curriculum. I was surprised at how many I already had at home.

Target grade levels: K-3, but we are tweaking it to also include 4th-5th grade by adding some research/fact-finding and map work.

Price: $15.00 downloadable product -- no waiting! :)

What I also love about this curriculum is that Erica is offering Expedition Earth: Discovering God's Animals for free. It fits in so nicely with the curriculum and I am really looking forward to using this component with my younger kids.

I also have a continent game to go along with this unit:

So Erica said I can give one of you her curriculum for free because she's nice like that! She has so many great ideas that you will want to make sure you are following her blog and/or following her on Twitter. You might want to give her a little comment love thanking her for all her printables. She has been such a blessing to me and other homeschoolers!

Giveaway Rules: Now Closed

The winner will receive a link to the download of the curriculum Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God's World, valued at $15.00. No actual product will be received.  This giveaway ends on Sept. 1st, 2010, 9:00pm EST. Please make sure there is some way for me to contact you.

Mandatory: Leave a comment and tell me what country you would like to learn more about. That's it! I like to keep things easy. :)

Challenge:  If we reach 100 entries, I (Spell Outloud) will also give away a copy of the curriculum, so spread the word! Whohoo! We did it, so now there will be two people who will win the Expedition Earth curriculum!

If you'd like additional chances to win this curriculum, check out Mama Jenn's blog. She's also giving away a copy of this curriculum. Deadline for hers is 8/27.
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Disclosure:
The Expedition Earth geography curriculum was provided to me free of charge for review and giveaway purposes.  I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Printable Geography Resources and More

First of all, I wanted to mention that The Homeschool Village is coordinating a pen-pal match-up for homeschoolers. This could be a neat way for your child to get to know someone from another area or even country! You must email your information to The Homeschool Village by this Friday, July 23rd.

I like to browse the internet in search of things I might use with my kids during the year. I thought I'd compile a list of printable geography resources just in case others are in the planning mode like I am right now.

1. Homeschool Creations:  Jolanthe has created a whole bunch of printables based on a unit she has been doing with her children over the past couple of years.  There are planner pages, flags, country fact sheets and more

2. Homeschoo Share: There are a ton of resources here both printables and units based on books. Check out the Geography Resources and the Master Geography Index to get started.

3. Homeschool Helper Online: Has several resources--- State Study units for Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Missouri (scroll down to the bottom of the page; country lapbooks,  famous landmarks notebooking pages (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

4. Notebooking Pages: Geography notebooking pages --- for purchase. We've used several of these and have been pleased. If you sign up for the newsletter you can get a 25%  coupon. She also has some geography freebies such as outline maps and general notebook pages.

5. About.com: General geography printables such as wordsearches etc.;  U.S. state printables; South America printables

6. Sunflower Schoolhouse: If you are studying Canada, check out Honey's Canadian resources!

7.  Crayola: World Map ; coloring pages for U.S. states, Canadian Prime Ministers and Provinces, landmarks, nations, and places.

8. Education.com: From what I can tell, everything is free here. I downloaded several of the paper dolls from various countries. Lots of resources.

9. Guest Hollow: Country & Cultures Lapbook Pack (free); country report form(free)

10. Activity Village.uk: Outline maps and printables

World Geography Mini-Unit from TOS

This week on Spell Outloud I thought that I would focus on sharing some geography resources. The first up for the week is The Old School House's Travel the World June Planner Module. These monthly modules are supplements to the School House Planner. You don't need to have the School House Planner to use these additional modules.

What is Travel the World Planner Module?

It is an e-book unit with information for the student to read, hyperlinks, mini-books for lapbooks and other printables. The Travel the World unit focuses on what is geography, some of the basic terminology (longitude, latitude, compass rose etc)  the continents, and the oceans.

How We Used the Travel Unit:

When The Old Schoolhouse first gave me the e-book to review, I had originally planned on using this with my 8yr. old dd and 10 yr. old ds. Instead, I was able to use it with all my kids at various levels and it was my 12 yr. old dd that really love the unit.

The unit starts out with 8 informational pages that are hyperlinked. My 8yr. old and I read the material together over a couple of days and followed the links which enhanced the topics that were being covered. My 10 yr. old and 12yr. old read and did the material on their own. 

Next my 3 oldest requested that I print out the word searches for them. There are also some other supplemental printables such as crossword puzzle,  fill-in-the-blanks, rebus activity, and acrostic poem. I usually consider these types of pages "fillers" but my kids enjoyed doing them.

I had originally planned for my 8yr. old and 10 yr. old to start their world lapbook. There are mini-books for each of the continents and a special travel book for the student to write about a country they are interested in learning more about. Though we didn't get to this part, I plan on having them start this project this school year. The booklets included in the Travel the World download will be the beginning of the lapbook  and we will add additional mini-books for each of the countries we study this year.

What I Thought:

I was surprised that I was able to use this unit with 5 of my kids. I appreciated the fact that there were materials included to cover various age-ranges. For instance, there are coloring pages of each of the continents. While working with the older kids, I gave my younger girls (and my 8yr old because she loves to color) the pages and they were so happy to be doing "geography" just like their older siblings. There is also a section on the e-book that is geared toward high-schoolers. So the information in the e-book can easily be customized for various age-ranges. I would say though, that the material fit best with my 10-12yr. old, but with help, my 8yr. old enjoyed doing it too.

Specs at a Glance:

E-Book: Travel the World!—June 2010 Issue
Publisher: The Old Schoolhouse
Price: $7.95
Format: downloadable product

Not sure if this is for you? Well you can check out a sample to see more of this geography resource.

There are 12 supplemental e-book modules, each for each month of the year.

* Every module is filled with interesting information and facts, studying a topic in-depth.
* We look far and wide to find the best additional resources to expand your studies.
* You'll find activity pages, quizzes, and puzzles your kids will beg to work on!
* Your children will enjoy coloring pages designed just for our modules.
* We include copywork to help develop penmanship skills.
* Yummy recipes in every module!



Disclosure: I was given this product for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

WannaBe™-When I Grow Up I Want to be a Firefighter |Review

The Old Schoolhouse recently sent me WannaBe™-When I Grow Up I Want to be a Firefighter  unit to review. I thought this would be perfect for my 10yr. old son.

Cost: $8.95
Format: PDF file
Ages: K-4th - though I think that it would work best for ages 8 on up.

Here is some information about the unit from the site:

• Discover the history of firefighters and the evolution of firefighting equipment.
   
• Learn what other emergencies firefighters respond to.
   
• Explore the ins and outs of a fire truck.
   
• Pretend you are a building inspector and learn about building codes.
   
• Meet a real-life fireman and hear him describe his job in his own words.
   
• Fall in love with Wilshire, the firehouse dog, who teaches children about fire safety.
   
• Examine the pay scale for firefighters across the country.
   
• Learn about the relationship between firefighters and robots, and build your own robotic arm!

My 10yr. old son was able to work through this unit independently. I was impressed with the narrative. It was easy to read yet contained factual information in an interesting way. Since my son was doing this independently, I did create notebooking pages so that he could summarize each section in his own words. I was surprised that several times he came to me on his own and started chatting about certain firefighter facts. This is not normal for him. :)

While we did enjoy the main e-book, I found that we didn't use most of the activities. I would have appreciated some notebooking pages in lieu of crossword puzzles. We didn't use the copywork pages because he already has other copywork. Both my son and I were a little confused with the robotics section. While we understand the connection, it seemed like it was a bunny-trail in the middle of the unit (though bunny trails aren't necessarily bad). My son did think the information was cool and wanted to know if a robotics unit was available.

My thoughts: I think this unit would be a good fit for 3rd-5th graders who already have an interest in learning more about firefighting. The narrative portion is well-done and would be a nice side-study in careers. This series does not include a weekly lesson plan, so one would need to be created. While the unit is full of ideas, you would have to pull everything together. You could read most of the unit on the computer, but I've found that we work better with a hard-copy.


If firefighting is not your cup of tea, check out the other e-book units in the WannaBe -When I Grow Up Series:

• Veterinarian,
• Chef,
• Military,
• Doctor,
• Police Officer,
• Missionary,
• Artist,
• Pilot, and
• Farmer

*Tristan, from Our Busy Homeschool left a comment regarding a supplemental booklist that works well with the fire fighter unit. I didn't want it to get overlooked in the comment section.
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This unit was given to me for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.