A Stable Beginning: June 2019

Friday, June 28, 2019

Matific Galaxy~ a TOS review

Happy Friday friends! We are in full swing of our summer learning and today I am excited to share with you an online math resource that my youngest daughter, McKenzie, has been enjoying. It’s called Matific Galaxy and it is an online math resource that provides fun activities for learning and practicing math skills such as counting, ordering, addition, and subtraction. Let me tell you more about it!

At the elementary level I love to have several fun game options to help my kids learn concepts. We received a one-year subscription to the online program that features math games for students in K-6th grade for use with just one child.

I picked McKenzie, my rising 4th grader, because the program is something she can use on her tablet or phone while waiting at the gym in between her trainings.

Matific Galaxy is an award-winning site that features hundreds of math games in a fun environment without the stress that naturally comes along for some children (and parents too) with math. Through game based activities your child will learn a variety of topics in the 4th grade level including:

Getting started learning is as simple as setting up the account and jumping in. You can also access the program through the app, which is what we did. Everyone begins at level one for the grade level they choose to begin with. Each level has its own specific characters for that level. As the child progresses through the ten different worlds they earn trophies and medals for answering correctly. A parent dashboard is provided as well so that you can easily track progress and see what skills your child may be struggling with.

Using this online math resource with McKenzie three days a week has been a great addition to her summer learning. I really like that the program is portable because she is spending more time at the gym this year. With this program she can easily learn on her downtime. The fact that it is fun and engaging and she keeps playing after her 20 minute required time is a testament to the program as a whole.

Grow Your Math Skills with Matific Galaxy {Matific Galaxy Reviews}

I look forward to continuing to use this program the rest of the summer and as we head into our new school year and fall semester. But don’t just take my word for it! Check out what 49 of my CrewMates think of this fun online math resource with educational math games for elementary school students. It gets two thumbs up from us.

Company ~ Matific Galaxy

Product ~ Matific Galaxy 

Format ~ online or on the app

Price ~ Single grade $19.99 or Full range K-6th for $39.99

Ages ~ K-6th graders

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Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Wordless Wednesday

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Friday, June 21, 2019

Jump In, 2nd edition ~ a TOS review

Writing is a top priority here at A Stable Beginning. We have tried many writing programs over our 10+ years of homeschooling. Some that have worked and some that did not quite fit the bill. We feel that writing is a skill that grows with you through daily use so I was delighted to try out another great program, Jump In, 2nd edition, when it was offered for review. Writing with Sharon Watson makes teaching homeschool composition easy with Jump In, 2nd Edition.

Sharon Watson is a former homeschool mom who only quit homeschooling because she ran out of children of her own to teach. She began her company Writing With Sharon Watson after sitting in a friend’s kitchen chatting it up with Dr. Jay Wile {Yes, the Dr. Wile, how cool is that!} about how many mothers were outsourcing, i.e.driving their children here and there and everywhere, for writing and composition lessons. At the suggestion of Dr. Wile she wrote up her first middle school course, Jump In, and the rest is history.

With the Jump In program your student will learn:

~ the nine types of essays

~ a research report

~ story writing

~ poetry

In the 98 daily instructional lessons your student will practice everything from writing topic sentences, a thesis statement, citations, and other essential building blocks of composing a well crafted paper. The tone of the student guide is written to the student in a friendly way too.

Jump In, 2nd Edition {Writing with Sharon Watson Reviews}

I used this program primarily with Montana my rising 7th grader over the course of the review period. Since we received a digital copy I only printed the the pages Montana needed each week and kept the Teacher Guide open on my computer for easy reference.

The lessons were easy enough for Montana to work independently after I had given instruction. She typically worked with the lesson for 25-30 minutes, 3 days a week. To follow up the lesson, we would discuss any hiccups or concerns she had during our daily meeting time and then make corrections before moving on in the lesson.

I personally think Jump In, 2nd edition is a keeper! It is a thorough program and you can be sure that your child will be able to write and convey what they mean on written paper. The price is nice too for all that you receive with this program. Economically priced at just $40.00 for the Student book and $10.00 for the teacher’s guide, this combo is sure to fit into everyone's budget. I highly recommend that you check this out if you are looking for a strong writing curriculum for your high schoolers. It's easy on the pocketbook and it gets the job done! I think this book could easily be used by any student, whether a homeschoolers or not.

Be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of this curriculum by clicking the banner below.

Company ~ Writing with Sharon Watson

Product ~ Jump In, 2nd edition

Format ~ We received a Digital copy

Price ~ $40 student guide, $10 teacher guide

Ages ~ middle school

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Friday, June 14, 2019

Grade 7 Lightning Literature Set from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources ~ a TOS review

It's that time of the year again when homeschooling Moms and Dads are thinking and planning new curriculum purchases for the upcoming school year. You may have just ended your last school year, but I am knee deep into the planning stages as we start back up in early August.

I have loved using the Lightning Literature curriculum with my older daughters in the past for our summer studies, so I was super excited to have the opportunity to have Montana, my rising 7th grader, work with the Gr 7 Lightning Lit Set from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources.

If you have been reading this blog for long you know that we are a book loving family. During our time off for summer break I like the girls to complete some type of summer reading project to keep their knowledge going. Hewitt Homeschooling fits the bill for what I was looking for; a literature curriculum that uses classic books and poems to teach writing skills and literacy analysis. I was thrilled to be offered the Lightning Literature and Composition: Grade 7 Student's Guide, Grade 7 Student's Workbook, and Grade 7 Teacher's Guide to use with Montana.

Hewitt Homeschooling has been around for many years in the homeschooling circle. The company firmly believes that reading great literature and then writing about it goes hand in hand in preparing students for college-level reading and writing. There goal is to serve parents with students from kindergarten through high school with an emphasis on combining excellent academics with character development, by instilling a strong work ethic, and to develop a spirit of community service within the next generation.

We have had the opportunity to use the Seventh grade set for the last six weeks. This set includes a student guide, a teacher guide, and a consumable student workbook. Lightning Lit exposes your child to several different genres of short stories and books and helps your child dig a little deeper into the context. Your child will also practice several writing techniques that are presented in a variety of methods and exercises.

This set covers the following stories and books in this order:

“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling from Stories & Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Various poems from Stories & Poems . . .

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” a short story by Stephen Crane from Stories & Poems . . .

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Various poems from Stories & Poems . . .

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

These books are available in a package with Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children and in a pack without Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children. For this review we were to supply our own books to complete the work. We are blessed to have many overflowing bookshelves and a library that fills in most of the time when we don’t have a specific book. That was the case with the story of Rikki~Tikki~Tavi. Our library had a copy of the story for Montana to read to complete the beginning exercises in the curriculum.

The Teacher’s Guide contains complete answers to everything in the student workbook as well as discussion questions to check for comprehension. It also includes a helpful planning schedule for 36 weeks of learning. The schedule is split into two semesters so you don’t have to. The Teacher’s Guide retails for $25.00.

The student guide breaks each literature piece or short story down into manageable sections including: an introduction to what is being read while you read a vocabulary list comprehension questions literary lesson a variety of mini-lessons writing exercises The vocabulary list could take the place of your separate spelling list as it contains words needed to know. I had Montana complete her comprehension questions in her literature notebook. The Student Guide also retails for $25.00.

The Student Workbook is a consumable workbook and retails for $25.00. Your child will complete grammar exercises, analyze parts of the book or short story, complete crossword puzzles and complete short writing exercises. To keep from being so repetitive, Lightening Lit varies the activities for each book/short story.

I should note that even though this course is listed for seventh graders, a sixth grader who is a strong reader and likes writing may also be able to do well with this course as well as a eight grader who needs a little more instruction on the foundations of composition.

Since I was using this as a summer enrichment for Montana, I scheduled her work through the exercises three times a week. I will say that even though Montana is a strong reader she was challenged by this program quite a bit. She breezed through Rikki~Tikki~Tavi reading and exercises, but really had to think and take her time with some of the questions to complete the exercises for Tom Sawyer. I like that the program challenged her because that is exactly what she needs right now.

Overall, I am completely pleased with this set! Even though it challenges Montana she is excited to get through the next six weeks of lessons on Tom Sawyer and move into reading Alice Adventure’s in Wonderland. I wholeheartedly recommend the Grade 7 Lightning Lit set to anyone looking for a thorough all encompassing Literature program. Check them out for sure!

Lightning Literature, My First Reports, State History Notebook & Joy of Discovery {Hewitt Homeschooling Resources Reviews}

And be sure to check out what my fellow CrewMates thought of this program and the other products offered from Hewitt Homeschooling by clicking on the banner below.

Elementary:

Grade 1 Lightning Lit Set

Grade 2 Lightning Lit Set

Grade 3 Lightning Lit Set

Grade 4 Lightning Lit Set

My First Report: Solar System, Grades 1-4

Chronicles of __ State History Notebook, Grades 3-8

Joy of Discovery w Learning Objectives

Junior High:

Gr 7 Lightning Lit Set

Gr 8 Lightning Lit Set

High School:

American Early-Mid 19th Century Gr 9-10

American Mid-Late 19th Century Gr 9-12

Speech Gr 9-12

British Early-Mid 19th Century Gr 10-12

British Mid-Late 19th Century Gr 10-12

British Medieval Gr 10-12

Shakespeare Comedies Gr 11-12

Shakespeare Tragedies Gr 11-12

British Christian Gr 11-12

American Christian Gr 11-12

Company ~ Hewitt Homeschooling Resources

Product ~ Grade 7 Lightning Lit Set (includes the Teacher’s Guide, Student Guide, and Student Workbook)

Format ~ perfect bound

Price ~ $ 130.56, sale price $117.50

Ages ~ Junior High

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Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Wordless Wednesday

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Tuesday, June 11, 2019

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic set with 200 Questions About American History set from Memoria Press ~ a TOS review

History is an important component to our homeschool studies. After all, you learn to not repeat past mistakes when you learn the history of the past. In March we hit a snag in our history studies. It happened during a time when I was really sick and I was struggling daily just to make it to bedtime. Being the stubborn girl that I am, I tried to modify, regroup, and finish out the school year but God was tugging at me to let go. It was evident that we had to make a change quickly, but to what!?

I literally cried out for guidance and very soon afterwards we were offered The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Set and 200 Questions About American History set from Memoria Press. Montana has been using this set as a part of her Christian history studies to finish our the remainder of this school year.

As Classical homeschoolers we are no stranger to the high quality curriculum that Memoria Press produces. In fact, we use quite a bit of Memoria Press curriculum in our yearly studies already. If you are new to the homeschool, Memoria Press (MP) is a family-run publishing company founded by Cheryl Lowe in 1994. The company creates simple, easy-to-use classical Christian education curriculum for home and private schools all over the world. Memoria Press's produces many popular Latin, logic, literature, and classical studies courses for children in PreK-12th grade. Their products are written and field-tested with the students who attend the highly acclaimed Highlands Latin School. We were blessed to receive both of these sets from Memoria Press for review.

The Story of The Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic set is a perfect one-year survey of American history and the set comes with a reader, a student guide, and a teacher guide. With 32 weekly lessons you will find a comprehensive study on American history from Native Americans through The Spanish-American War. Each lesson in the student guide is set up with the same four part format that includes:

I. Facts to know

II. Vocabulary

III. Comprehension questions

IV. Enrichment

The reader is a historical reader that can serve as an elementary textbook or supplemental book added to any history program. The chapters are short and sweet but don't leave out what is truly important in the events. All of the chapters include a picture or two about the chapter topic also.

The Student Guide contains reading compression questions that test the students knowledge of the reading material. It also includes a hefty Appendix where you will find the following information:

~ Maps

~ 13 Colonies Chart

~ Mayflower Compact

~ Paul Revere's Ride Poem

~ Letter From George to Martha Washington

~ Declaration of Independence

~ Exerts From Thomas Paine's Common Sense

~ United States Constitution

~ Emancipation Proclamation

~ Gettysburg Address

~ Daniel Webster's Senate Speech, 1830

The 200 Questions About American History Set includes a set of flash cards, a Student Book and a Teacher Guide. The Teacher’s Guide includes a recommended weekly schedule as well as a helpful teaching guideline. The complete course is scheduled out over 34 weeks and also includes tests, quizzes, and drills.

The flashcard set works great with the The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic set I talked about above. In fact, the comprehension questions are pulled directly from the newly edited Guerber book and from Story of the World Volume IV. The student book also includes memorization practice in the form of famous poems and speeches.

The flashcard set is a thick deck of heavyweight cards and includes four different categories of questioning including:

~ 150 drill questions

~ timeline dates

~ 44 U.S. Presidents

~ notable quotes

Since we were beginning mid-year, I checked the books and schedule to see where we were leaving off in our old history curriculum. Turns out that Chapter 12 in the reader was a great place to start our review, that corresponded to week 2 in the planned schedule. I had Montana go back and fill in the previous drill questions as well just for review as well. The reading and drilling was a good fit for Montana my sixth grader, not too hard or too easy.

To help Montana learn and remember the American history questions, we played many games and incorporated their use. A favorite game all of my kids like to play is Jeopardy so we set up cards and played at least once a week. We loved the fast pace of the game and trying to gain points. Most importantly is that she is learning and retaining the information, a big plus in my book!