Great Latin Adventure

Classical Legacy Press, founded by Norman and Katherine Birkett, is ready to offer homeschool families a Great Latin Adventure. If you think the words Latin and Adventure should never be used side by side in a sentence keep reading. Fans of foreign language education will appreciate and understand Katherine Birkett's enthusiasm in writing The Great Latin Adventure curriculum designed for students as young as 3rd grade, but specifically written for grades 4-6.

"I have been a language lover since I was a girl", says Birkett. "Words, grammar, etymology, writing--I love them all. It's been my privilege to study Latin, French, and Russian under various teachers, and a bit of Greek on my own. A desire to share that love of language with children has shaped my Latin program", she said.

Birkett developed The Great Latin Adventure while teaching a homeschool co-op class. She searched for an appropriate curriculum that could meet the needs of teacher and student, found nothing and decided to write her own. GLA has been homeschool tested and approved.

The Great Latin Adventure is grammar focused, not conversational. It is also teacher intensive, but extremely easy to use regardless of Latin education background. The program is not computerized or self-teaching like other homeschool foreign language programs. It is Christian focused and does not include Roman history, culture or teachings on mythology.

The 232 page student manuals can be purchased three hole punched and ready for a binder for $15.00 or three hole punched in a binder for $22.00. Teacher's manuals are $30.00 or $40.00 dependent on presentation and come with a pronunciation CD. Classical Legacy Press accepts PayPal and credit card payments on their website.

The Great Latin Adventure is divided into two levels each containing 12 lessons. A table of contents of Level One can be viewed here. To view the Table of Contents for Level II simply click here. Each level of the Great Latin Adventure includes:

• Detailed lesson plans
• Built in exercises to drill grammar, translation and vocabulary
• Vocabulary/ full chapter quizzes
• LOTS of teacher's notes and tips for each chapter to build confidence
• Answer keys that model the student sheets with answers
  

The Great Latin Adventure is divided into 12 chapters organized to take one school year to complete. It is encouraged to schedule lessons three times a week with independent study, like reviewing vocabulary with flashcards, expected. Students are expected to dedicate three, 30-45 min. study sessions per week to Latin to complete the program in a school year.

We received Level I of The Great Latin Adventure for free in exchange for this review. My 7th grade daughter Micah, a student of Latin for the past two years, helped me test market this curriculum. We found that although the 12 lesson curriculum is designed to cover 36 weeks of school we could easily blow through it in less than 6 weeks. Although the lessons are well designed, and very thorough in presentation, the material was not challenging enough to demand the amount of time allotted by the curriculum guidelines. Micah easily completed 4 days worth of work in a short one day session.

"I learned a lot from the program because there was a lot of information regarding grammar, and how many Latin conjugations there are. It seemed to be a little too easy for me, however. Too much time was spent on one particular subject which slowed me down a little too much. I think I would really like to take a course like this designed for an older student", said Micah.

Micah's summation is spot on. I loved this course for its ease of use, and detailed teaching instructions. The more notes and teaching aids I can get from a curriculum the happier I am. The Great Latin Adventure makes teaching Latin as easy as reading and following directions. Unfortunately, because it is written for the younger student it was not challenging enough for my soon to be eighth grader with two years of Latin study behind her.

Classical Legacy Press provides a 60-Day unconditional money-back guarantee for all of their products. Classical educators will want to take note of the company's Logic curriculum on their website too.

Pandia Press: History Odyssey

I am a huge fan of unit studies having used them exclusively our first 7 or so years of homeschooling. The age of my oldest children drew us away from unit studies as curriculum available on the market at the time was designed for elementary use. I tried finding time to research, plan and write unit studies for my teens, but the time required to do so was all consuming. Our once strictly unit study based homeschool slowly evolved with textbooks in an effort to keep pace with the educational needs of Jr. High and High school.

Kathleen Desmaris, homeschool Mom to four children ages toddler to teen, author and owner of Pandia Press has created excellent unit studies for the Jr. High and High School level student. I received History Odyssey: Modern Times, a literature-based study guide combining history, geography, and writing from Pandia Press in exchange for this review. Modern Times is created with an unit study model based in the classical style, is written for grades 7-10, and covers world history from the 1800's-21st century. It is a unit study loving homeschool Mom's dream come true.

Modern Times Level Two is one of 10 offerings in Pandia Press's History Odyssey series. Modern Times Level Two serves as a complete study guide offering a unique mix of literature discussion, history study with mapping and timeline work, research and hands-on independent projects for upper level students. The Modern Times study guide includes:

• 99 detailed lessons written for independent use
• Reading assignments
• Writing assignments
• Map work assignments (they provide the maps in the unit--yeah!)
• Timeline instructions (timelines are also included--double yeah!)
• Research instructions for further study and assigned essays and reports
• 23 Custom World Geography Maps
• Worksheets
• Primary Source writings

The text of the study guide is laid out in a day to day format with clear expectations. For example, Part I: Introduction to Modern Times covers a review of world geography based around the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Lesson 3 assignments from Part I, which are recommended to be completed in one to two sittings, are simply:

• Read Chapters 15 to 20 in Around the World in Eighty Days
• Label places visited by Fogg on Map 1
• Add destinations to travel log

Students are provided with small check off boxes as they work through assignments. There is no ambiguity in these lesson plans, nor any reason to offer an excuse for the inevitable question of "Why is this assignment not completed?" Students can work independently with home teachers acting as mentors or guides throughout the study. In our homeschool, independent study for 7th grade and up is a preferred commodity.

In addition to mapping and timeline work to plot the where and when of history; writing assignments sprinkled throughout the lessons provide opportunity to develop outlining and research skills. Writing assignments vary in complexity and focus, but correspond with the work of literature chosen to support the history topic. Students compose one major research paper in MLA format throughout the year long course.

Pandia Press guides are written to a secular market with this explanation. "Our courses are secular, they are not written from any particular religious point of view. We hope that customers of all faiths will be comfortable using our materials. History Odyssey courses begin at 6000 B.C., therefore evolution is not applicable...."

Most homeschool families struggle with finding the perfect curriculum and occasionally purchase items that after a few weeks are destined to be dust collectors for bookshelves. Pandia Press, offers a unique "try before you buy" program to help customers avoid purchasing a curriculum that doesn't work for their family. The first few weeks of each History Odyssey guide and the company's R.E.A.L. Science guides for elementary grades are available in PDF formats on the Pandia website. The company encourages customers to freely use the curricula from the website, then purchase and download the e-book formats of the desired curriculum once they are sure it meets the "kid tested, homeschool Mom approved" standard.

To take advantage of the "try before you buy" opportunity click here http://www.pandiapress.com/History%20Odyssey%20Modern%20Times%20%28level%20two%29%20Preview.pdf

History Odyssey: Modern Times is available on Pandia's website for $33.99 in e-book format. For those not thrilled with an e-book option, paper copies can be purchased from select vendors. A list of vendors with direct links to their sites can be viewed at www.pandiapress.com

Our short review time with History Odyssey: Modern Times provided us only a glimpse of this one year curriculum. I believe it will be a very good fit for future study for my older students. My 7th grade daughter, Micah shared her perspective with me of the first unit.

"I think it's a good curriculum because it helps you to understand more about the story (literature) by having you look at the maps and find where the person was. I think by writing down all the details in the Travel Log it helps you understand the story more and really know the plot", she said.

As I suspected she did appreciate the independent study nature of History Odyssey. She shared her enthusiasm with the following comments:

"It's easier to do things by myself and on my own time with this curriculum. All you have to do is read the instructions then complete the assignments. It explains everything for you. I really like this because I don't have to wait on my teacher to help me."

Pandia Press fans can join the History Odyssey yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/history odyssey/members to share ideas, information and teaching secrets with other users. To read more reviews of Pandia Press science or history curriculum for elementary, Jr. High or High School level students visit the Crew Blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/thehomeschoolcrew

Maestro Classics

My childhood was filled with music. Memories of choirs, bands, and private music lessons are ones I treasure as music remains a beautiful source of enjoyment and entertainment for me. Although I didn't homeschool, I credit my grandmother and parents for my early music education and fostering my love of music.

Maestro Classics, www.maestroclassics.com, like my parents and grandmother, are committed to helping young children discover the joy and beauty of music. Their "Stories in Music" series of CDs blend storytelling, great music, knowledge of history and composers, and an entertaining introduction to the orchestra and its components. According to the company mission statement, "Maestro Classics guides audiences as they expand their listening horizons and discover the magic that can only be called music".

There are currently 7 stories in the series with two in production. I received Maestro Classics latest release, "The Tortoise and the Hare", for free in exchange for this review. It arrived in high quality packaging covered with delightful illustrations of the story, a pocket to hold the mini story book accompaniment, and a section to hold the CD securely when not in use. The story booklet for "The Tortoise and the Hare" included a diagram of the orchestra with color photographs of the instruments organized in sections like a real orchestra, 2 pages of basic music theory, 2 pages of facts of turtles, tortoises, rabbits and hares, music and lyrics of an original song sung by one of the characters in the production, 4 puzzle pages and biography information of the conductor/composer, producer and narrator. Many good things came in this small package.

The "Tortoise and the Hare" CD retells the classic Aesop fable with a French twist. The Hare understanding he is well ahead in his race against the Tortoise takes time off from racing to visit a French Bistro. The twenty minute narrated story/music performance on the CD is followed by a 3 min. explanation of the story, a second performance of the "Pretzel Vendor of Paris" song, followed by a second opportunity to listen to the musical story performance designed to encourage application of newly acquired musical awareness. The total running time of the CD is approximately 54 minutes.

The "Tortoise and the Hare" was adapted for Maestro Classics by Bonnie Ward Simon, former executive director of the Washington Chamber Symphony and co-creator of the Symphony's successful "Concerts for Young People" series. "The Tortoise and the Hare" is one of the original works premiered by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. for their children's concerts. Simon created "Stories in Music" believing they, "introduce great music and classic stories, and provide the opportunity to develop important listening skills". (Maestro literature)

Every great story in the series has great music to accompany it. Stephen Simon conducted and composed all the music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the CDs. Simon served as music director of the Washington Chamber Symphony and resident chamber orchestra at the Kennedy Center for 25 years, and has guest conducted for symphonies all over the world. He was known as the "Magic Maestro" at the Kennedy Center, and according to his bio "loves music more than anything else in the world.....and believes that every concert should be wonderful entertainment".

The story of "The Tortoise and the Hare" is narrated by Yadu (aka Dr. Konrad Czynski, professor of Humanities at Minnesota State University-Moorhead). Yadu was the original narrator of the series at the Kennedy Center his voice rich and engaging on the CD. The music is performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The "Stories in Music" CDs are available for purchase on Maestro Classics website. They include:

*Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

*Juanita the Spanish Lobster

*Casey at the Bat

*The Sorceror's Apprentice

*Peter and the Wolf

*The Story of Swan Lake

*The Tortoise and the Hare

* A Soldier's Tale and My Name is Handel are currently in production.

All CDs with accompanying mini program book retail for $16.98 on the website. Customers can find local specialty children's stores offering the series through a search engine at www.maestroclassics.com. Gift sets of storybook and CD are available for $24.99. Those wishing to purchase three or more CDs in the collection can take advantage of a special offer provided by the company of three CDs for $45.00. Look for coupon code MAESTRO45 on the website.

Write With the Best, Volume 2

A few years ago I determined I would not rest until I had taught my then 6th grade son something about writing. He had such a fear of the subject that I had let it slide for many years, but enough was enough. I read in a catalog a description of a unique curriculum designed to teach writing fundamentals by having students’ model writing of famous authors and great works of literature. So unique was this approach compared to any other curriculum I had encountered that I knew we had to give it a try. I had read art students usually spend hours copying the works of the great master artists, so it made sense to me that children should learn the art of writing by modeling the works of great authors.

The curriculum was Write With the Best, Volume 1 written by Jill J. Dixon, B.S. Ed., M.Ed. and published by Diagnostic Prescriptive Services. It was so successful in our home, allowing my son to conquer his fear and my then 4th grade daughter discover a new passion for the written word, that I couldn’t wait to use Write With the Best, Volume 2 the following year. For some reason I lost focus on this goal and we never did pick up a copy of Write With The Best, Volume 2 until it arrived in my inbox as an e-book this fall for me to review.

My now 7th grade daughter, Micah remembered instantly the joy she had experienced from our previous year. As we opened the curriculum and began to use it I remembered the beauty of its set up and ease of use. The curriculum is divided into 8 different units designed to be used over 16 weeks of time. Each unit is supplied with lesson plans and instruction for 10 days. Topics studied in Write with the Best, Volume 2 include:

How to write a poem in Free Verse

How to write a business letter

How to take notes

How to write an outline

How to write a summary

How to write a persuasive essay

How to write an expository essay

How to write a literary critique and book review

How to write a newspaper article

How to write a speech

How to write a dramatic monologue

A separate “How to Write Guide” with step by step instruction is included which gently guides the student through the creative or fundamental process of writing their original work after studying the famous work for one week. Answer keys for grammar questions asked within the text are included for the teacher for quick grading. Write With The Best easily contains all the necessary elements for a complete language arts course including grammar and writing instruction. If the student is so inspired to read the complete work of the author rather than just the excerpt studied you could check off a literature component as well.

A typical day with Write with the Best, Volume 2 begins with brief instruction/ discussion time between the teacher and student. We usually spent anywhere from 15-30 minutes. All of the instruction and discussion topics are scripted for the teacher along with a list of objectives to be accomplished during this time. A small assignment is listed for homework or independent study allowing the student to reinforce the learned objectives of the day.

I especially like that Dixon has listed the number of objectives to be accomplished each day. As a teacher this helped me break down the important elements of the lesson and not get overwhelmed or bogged down in details too quickly.

Write with the Best, Volume 2 is appropriate for use for grades 6-12. It is a non-consumable product, although I recommend making copies of the included “great works” selections for each student to use and study. Diagnostic Prescriptive Services offers Write With the Best, Volume 2 on their website in e-book format for $24.95 (for a limited time $18.65, 25% off), soft cover format without binding for $27.45 plus shipping, or soft-cover in three ringed binder for $29.95 plus shipping. Payments can be made on the website through PayPal.

If you have a student living in fear of the monstrous task of learning to write encourage greatness with Write with the Best. They will have Emily Dickinson, Thomas Paine, Helen Keller, Francis Bacon, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemmingway, Cicero and Shakespeare guiding them through the process. You can’t ask for better language arts teachers than that!

Memoria Press: Traditional Logic Book 1

My oldest son decided a few years ago he wanted to become an attorney when he grew up. As he approached high school I knew I needed new insight in preparing this young logical thinker for college. My husband and I attended our local homeschool convention and asked all sorts of experts their opinion regarding curriculum choices for future law school attendees. All agreed that study of debate, logic and development of strong writing skills would be essential in preparing our son for pre-law collegiate work. Typical of homeschooling this third child of ours was causing us to enter into uncharted waters of a classical education.

Those of you familiar with the Classical education model will instantly recognize Memoria Press as a highly respected name offering curriculum that supports the study of Latin, history, copywork, penmanship, Christian studies, logic and rhetoric. In addition, Memoria Press just released a new modern foreign language program, First Start French. All courses are designed to fit easily in with the classical model of education.

After a helpful discussion with customer service at Memoria Press it was decided my 9th grade son and I should receive Traditional Logic: Introduction to Formal Logic, Book 1 to review. This introductory course is the first in Memoria Press’s logic series and focuses on traditional logic which was used in the classical trivium. The course consists of 14 chapters with a recommendation to spend a week of study per chapter. My curriculum package contained a 144 page soft bound manual for students, a slim 32 page soft bound answer key and a DVD video course filled with lectures for each chapter starring author Martin Cothran. Memoria Press sells this curriculum package at their website for $68.95 or without the DVD course for $31.90. The course is designed for students in grades 7-12.

Cothran states in the “Note to the Teacher” section of the curriculum, “Traditional Logic is the study of the classical syllogism”. It is not the study of informal logic which covers the content of argument. According to Cothran, traditional logic must be mastered first before attempting the study of fallacies and argument building so often thought of as the study of logic. Formal or traditional logic, he says, “trains the mind to respect truth”.

If you had a similar education to mine you most likely didn’t study logic in high school or college. Taking on a new subject as the teacher can seem a bit daunting, but Memoria Press has designed their course to hold the teachers hand and encourage independent study of the student. The text is written to the student in a conversational tone and if reading through a lesson is too burdensome the video course contains full lectures for each chapter.

According to Cothran the video course was put together with homeschoolers in mind. It was developed by a cottage school where students met once a week then did homework on their own. Traditional Logic is written to be a semester course or can be used as a year long course for those wishing to take their time. Helpful hints for customizing the schedule to fit your homeschooling needs are given in the text.

I found the video content of the course a bit bland with Cothran dressed in a beige suit standing in front of a white board. The lecture was consistently made up of the written material in the student and teacher manuals with helpful power point slides high lighting key points. I thought the appearance of the power point slides during the video broke up the visual monotony of the neutral set and could easily be used to assist students with refining note taking skills during lectures.

I did like the intelligent language and well-organized structure of each of the lessons within the text. I found it took my son and I about a half an hour to read through a lesson together, although I could have easily allowed him to read it silently alone which would have taken less time. After reading he was required to answer 6-13 brief questions relating to the lecture portion of the course. The questions required true/ false, matching and essay style answers. Questions and answers are provided for four days of study per week. My answer key held all answers including suggested essay answers to guarantee his comprehension of the material was accurate. Even though I had never formally studied logic I found this course very easy to facilitate and not intimidating in the least.

When I asked Jonah for his opinion he shared the following,” “I found the course interesting and easy to understand. I like the format of the lessons because questions were easily answered from the reading section of what I read in each lesson. It only took me about 10 minutes a day to complete the reading and questions which I liked. I thought the video portion of the course was a bit boring. When I continue this course I probably will not use the video, but just read through the material and answer the questions. I am planning to finish this Logic course because I am hoping it will help me become a better writer.”

For sample lessons, to view an on-line catalog or just read helpful articles regarding the classical model of education, visit the Memoria Press website at http://www.memoriapress.com/ The quality of their classical curricula provide homeschoolers with wonderful options to help meet the educational needs of future attorneys, scientists, homemakers, teachers and everyone else in between.

Tapestry of Grace

I remember when I first heard of Tapestry of Grace I thought it was amazing, yet complicated. It certainly seemed to be the type of education people dream of for their kids, but could I use it? My best friend of the time had just purchased Year 1 and was showing the volumes of paper which made up the manual. She spent nearly an hour explaining to me how she planned to use the curriculum the next year with her daughter, the great literature they would read, the philosophical discussions that would result from reading said literature, the variety of activities they could do. I was extremely impressed, but a tad overwhelmed at the sheer volume of it all.

I have since come to understand that the “overwhelmed” feeling is common to those of us new to the “Tapestry” way. The authors of the curriculum in fact warn users to allow two to three weeks of use to become comfortable with the curriculum. Once comfort has arrived, however, it is my understanding the delight ensues.

Tapestry of Grace is one of the most comprehensive unit study curriculums I have ever seen. Created by homeschool parents and home education leaders, Marcia and Scott Sommerville, this history based curriculum is designed to aid families in teaching their children in grades K-12. According to “An Introduction to Tapestry” published by the curriculum authors, “Tapestry of Grace is a homeschool curriculum: a plan of study that helps parents provide a Christian, classical education using a guided unit study approach with the history of the world as the core organizational theme.”

Comprehensive is such an inadequate adjective to describe Tapestry of Grace. Colossally comprehensive, delightfully detailed, everything you could possibly dream of and more written out for your convenience in a very large manual might be a better description. Ironically, it is the comprehensive, detailed nature of the curriculum that has driven up printing costs for the company creating financial woes recently. In an effort to continue to provide the quality products they offer at an affordable cost to home educators, Tapestry of Grace is now available in digital format.

I received Year 2, Unit 1, Tapestry of Grace Digital Edition for review. The file was immediately accessible to me for down load but, before I could open it I first had to download Lock Lizard a special program which allows users to view protected PDF files. Tapestry of Grace makes use of Lock Lizard in an effort to supervise copyright issues as each Digital Edition is meant to be used by one household. If for some reason a problem arises with your computer or download, Tapestry of Grace offers the opportunity to download a purchase more than once from their website free of charge. Unit 1 of Year 2 was a 107 Megabyte file and took my computer operating on a DSL internet connection 20 mins. to download.

Tapestry provides a “Simple Start” guide for all newbies like me. The helpful 17 page guide answered questions like, “What is Tapestry?” and “What is the philosophy of education?” Detailed descriptions complete with small screen shots of the pages discussed were also provided explaining various aspects of the curriculum including writing assignments, student activity pages, Pageant of Philosophy, Teachers notes, and Setting up Tapestry. Once a homeschool teacher has worked through the “Simple Start” guide the typical overwhelmed feeling should begin to dissipate.

Being more of a paper in hand type of girl than a digital one I printed all the pages which coordinated with week 1 of Unit 1 for Year 2. This was no small task as it contained 66 pages! It was easier for me to understand the depth of information and begin to see its flow as I flipped through the various paper pages, however. Included were extremely detailed teacher’s notes complete with history, geography and church history background information, discussion questions and answers to be used with students, mini world book articles with detailed basic information regarding the topics at hand, the first installment of the Pageant of Philosophy, accountability and thinking questions for rhetoric level students, and worksheets. Papers are color coded on the edges for easy reference with blue representing rhetoric level students, green for dialectic, yellow for upper grammar and red for lower grammar. I thought this a nice touch for busy Moms trying to keep organized.

Tapestry of Grace is comprehensive in nature, but users will need to have access to a well stocked library as the curriculum makes use of many living books for literature, church history and biography study. For those with inadequate library access, Tapestry does offer an on-line shopping tool called “Bookshelf Central” accessible from the Tapestry of Grace website. Simply plug in the unit being studied, age of child and subjects of books needed and a handy excel spread sheet appears with direct links for purchasing the books listed. Bookshelf Central can save moms and dads with multiple children planning several levels of study for a school year hours of time and energy. Nice touch Tapestry!

Tapestry of Grace has been written to follow the classical four year cycle of history model of education. I know many families whom have chosen to spread each year of Tapestry of Grace over two years or only commit to one or two units of study in a school year. Tapestry of Grace offers such depth of information and study opportunities that however it is used students will benefit.

The cost for one full year of Tapestry of Grace is $225.00 for the full year program in print version or $170.00 for the Digital Edition download version of the full year. Currently, only the Digital Edition is available for Year 2, but pre-orders are being accepted for the print version. For those unsure about committing to a full year of Tapestry, individual units which comprise of about 9 weeks of study are available for $60.00 each for printed versions and $45.00 for digital editions. Currently, only units 2, 3, and 4 are available in the printed format on the Tapestry website, but all four units of the digital edition are available.

If you still feel a bit overwhelmed as I did after reading about all Tapestry of Grace offers the company has made a free download sample available on the Tapestry website of the first three weeks lesson plans of Year 1 along with other helpful “getting started” information. In addition a Tapestry of Grace forum created and monitored by the company allows opportunity for homeschooling parents to enjoy the benefits of a homeschool support group just for Tapestry of Grace users. With all of this help, support and test marketing available you might just find your homeschool learning the Tapestry way.