Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Artistic Pursuits! TOS Review!

Are you looking for an art curriculum that combines artist appreciation, and art instruction? Then Artistic Pursuits might be perfect for your family! I personally have been interested in checking out Artistic Pursuits for some time now, and was very excited to get a chance to review one of their books. Artistic Pursuits carries a full line of art instruction books from Preschool-Highschool!

We were sent one of their K-3rd books! Book 2 called "Stories of Artists and Their Art"! In each chapter you are introduced to a new artist, and instructed to complete projects based on their style. There are 32 lessons featuring artists from the Gothic period up to the 18th century. Each lesson has 1-2 pages about the artist written in a narrative style, which are then followed by an age appropriate project.

Below you will see samples of lesson 3 from book 2:

This is the first page about the artist Giotto. At the top of the page you will see the artist name, pronunciation(which is very helpful), and the dates in which they lived. The book is set up chronologically, which would make a great addition to you history studies.

Here is the continuing story of Giotto. Throughout the book you will find beautiful color pictures depicting the artists and their work. There are no inappropriate images, and you will find that if the original image contained nudity they have very subtly removed it. In the boxes you will find art terms defined, such as Fresco.

Here is the art project for Giotto! Since he carved on rock your student will do scratch art using cardboard, oil pastels, and a scratch tool. On the project page you will find straight forward instructions, and examples of other children's work.

Here are some pictures of my kids completing the Giotto lesson:

The book is intended for K-3, but all three of my oldest were able to enjoy and participate. I feel like you could make this book work for slightly older students as well. Buttercup is 3 and she really gets into art. She even enjoyed listening to the readings first. Of course her finished products weren't always right, but she had a great time trying.

Sweetpea also enjoyed doing the projects. Here she is scratching her design!

Buster is not super artistic, but he enjoys art. This book really got him trying new things!

I can say that we all really enjoyed this book, and will continue using it! One other thing to note is that at the beginning of each book you will find a complete supply list. I was able to find most of the supplies, a few I could not find locally, but did find them online to order. Artistic Pursuits does sell supply kits for all their books on their site. If you want to purchase one of the K-3 books it will cost you $42.95 + shipping. The art supply pack that they sell for book 2 will cost you $92.00 + shipping, and should be enough for 2 students. You could always just buy the supplies as needed. You will find that at the beginning of each lesson it will tell you the supplies needed for that project. One nice thing about the books is they are non consumable, and can be used again and again!

Pros:

Colorful

Fun

Multi-age

Non consumable

Covers Art History, and Art instruction.

Cons:

Spiral bound.

Might be out of some peoples price range.

"ARTistic Pursuits, Grades K-3 Book Two, Stories of Artists and Their Art" was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

For more review of this and other Artistic Pursuits books visit the Homeschool Crew blog!

Monday, March 21, 2011

BrillKids , Aesop's Fables! TOS Review.

We once again had the opportunity to review a product from BrillKids! This time we we sent their set of Storybooks called Aesop's Fables Vol. 1! This is a set of 5 storybooks specifically designed for early readers.

The titles are:

The Lion and the Mouse
The Fox and the Grapes
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Turtle and the Rabbit
The Fox and the Crow

The stories are fun and colorful adaptations of the original Aesop's fables. I found them just the right length for young kids without loosing the Aesop moral lessons. What makes this collection specifically unique is the way they allow the child, or you to read to them without using the pictures to guess. I know Sweetpea loves trying to look at the pictures and simply guess what the words should say. The Aesop's BrillKids books stop kids from forming that bad habit. Each book has the text on the left and the picture on the right. The also have a special flap that you use to cover each picture.

Your child reads the text, and then is able to reveal the picture. For younger kids you are encouraged to read the text to them while running your finger under the words, and then uncover the picture for them to see.

I can tell you the instant Sweetpea saw these books she was in love with them. She automatically placed them on the shelf by her school books. I never even had to ask or tell her to read them, because she would get them out herself and ask to read them with me. Many of the words she could sound out, but some were too hard for her. I simple provided help when she needed it. Her most favorite part was waiting to see what the pictures would reveal. Buttercup also enjoys listening to these, and looking at the colorful pictures.

On their website it says the books are designed for kids age 3 months and up! The set retails for $50 dollars, but is currently discounted to $37.50. With the purchase of the set you also get a digital version. Volume 2 will be available soon.

Pros:

Colorful

Fun

Good Stories

My kid's loved them!

Cons:

The only one I could think of was the price is a bit steep.

Storybooks: Aesop's Fables vol. 1 was given to me free of charge from BrillKids in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

To read more about this and other great products visit the Homeschool Crew Blog!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Weekly Wrap Up! HOD

Week 31, and 32:

Wow I can't believe we only have 4 weeks left of Beyond Little Hearts For his Glory! Buster finished the Heart of Dakota Emergent readers, and will be starting Drawn Into the Heart of Reading level 2/3! I'm excited to say that at the beginning of the year he was a reluctant reader, and now he tells me reading is his favorite part of school. We have been so blessed by Heart of Dakota's reading selections, and Buster has enjoyed every one of them. It is amazing to actually have him checking out the books he gets to read next and he is excited about them. Other than that he is just plugging away at all of his work. When we finish Beyond we will continue with DITHOR, Spelling, Latin, and Math. We also plan to do one or two of the Little House books along with The Prairie Primer. Sweetpea is in unit 24 of Little Hearts, and will just keep going with that until she is done.

Here is some of Sweetpea's Little Hearts fun!

Learning about how things absorb.

Spear fishing like a Native American!

The attack on New Amsterdam!

How many Liters does it take to fill a bucket?

Apparently 11!

Cousin T turned 8, and had a fun Science party!

My sister mixing up the punch!

Trick candles!

Science experiments!

All ready for our Oregon Trail co-op!

We had a fun time on Thursday trying out some things from pioneer life. The kids got to core apples, churn butter, grind wheat, make sour dough cakes, wash laundry in a bucket, and eat some homemade ice cream, and cobbler.

Sweetpea looked so cute in my old dress, and bonnet. I bought this bonnet at the Laura Ingalls museum in Minnesota when I was 4!

Sweetpea enjoying her Aesop's fables readers!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my review of these books!

Monday, March 7, 2011

The Reading Kingdom! TOS Review

The Reading Kingdom is a complete online reading program that says it will take your child to a 3rd grade reading level when complete. It is for children ages 4-10! After signing your child up they are taken through an online assessment that places them appropriately into the program. Parents are encouraged to not aid or help their children during the assessment, so the results will be accurate. If your child is young and not familiar with the keyboard they have an intro practice area as well. Sweetpea took the placement and was placed into Seeing Sequence, and Letter Land. In Seeing Sequence screens like this were displayed, and she was asked to recall the letter in the right order.

In Letter Land she practiced clicking letters in the right order on the screen, and then typing them in the same order. Children are timed and if they do not answer in the time limit the answer is demonstrated, and they are given another chance to respond.

The whole program is directed to the student, and can be done fairly independently depending on the child's skill. This program really focuses on sequencing, so it can take many weeks to move out of Seeing Sequence, and Letter Land. Sweetpea is still practicing those skills. The Reading Kingdom automatically moves children up a level when they meet a certain level of mastery.

Once they move into the actual reading segment of the program words are taught by sight, sound, and spelling. From what I have seen or read, there is no explicit phonics instruction. If you go to The Reading Kingdom's page and search under why it works you will find that the creator is anti Phonics. Here is a direct quote "The dominant method of reading instruction - phonics, or sounding out - does not work!"
I personally do not agree with this at all, and have a hard time feeling like this program will really work for our family. One other thing I found frustrating with The Reading Kingdom was that I went ahead and had Buster take the placement hoping that I could see more of the reading aspect. Strangely it placed him into Letter Land. I found that very odd considering he can read at a 3rd-4th grade level, and has had typing experience. For young children fine motor skills often do not develop at the same rate as reading ability, and I do not like them to be tied together for reading instruction.

In this picture you can see how parents can keep track and monitor progress. A chart like this is displayed for each student, and shows whether a skill is mastered or still in progress.

The Reading Kingdom offers a free 30 day trial, and then after that you pay $19.99 a month or $199.99 per year. It is $9.99 a month for each additional child. They also say that they have a scholarship program, but I'm not sure how that works. Both Sweetpea, and Buster enjoyed the program, and I found the letter sequencing to be helpful for Sweetpea, because she does tend to see things backwards at times. I also want to say that their customer service is top rate, and they responded to all my questions very promptly. If you want to learn more visit The Reading Kingdom for yourself. There you can watch videos, read testimonials, and sign up for a free trial.

Pros:
Great customer service
Fun.
Colorful.
Fairly independent.
Teaches typing, and mouse skills.

Cons:
Very Pricey.
Sight word oriented.
Requires a lot of fine motor skills.

The Reading Kingdom was given to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Be sure and visit the Homeschool Crew blog to see what everyone else has to say!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Weekly Wrap Up!

Week 29, and 30!

This week was so much better than the last couple of weeks. I'm feeling a whole lot better, and we got bunch of school in this week. Buster finished The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, and started The Courage of Sarah Noble. He is also learning about Fractions, Daniel Boone, and the Wilderness Trail. Sweetpea has been learning about early explorers, Marin Luther, and John Calvin. She is doing great with her phonics lessons, and not fighting me as much. It is fun to see her really getting into her work and blossoming. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Buttercup loves to help out!