The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has a new, FREE E-book! E-Homeschooling: Embracing the E-book Revolution is a free download, coming soon, which covers the why and how of buying and using e-books for homeschooling. If you LOVE actual physical books as much as I do, you may not have actually delved into the world of e-books yet. Well this book is for you. In fact, there's a thing or two for even those who have been using e-books for some time. I started getting into e-books myself with various freebies, and before I knew it was buying them as well. In part to save money, and in part to help minimize our book clutter.
Inside this book you'll find tips on how to organize all those e-books on your computer, or on your shelf or in the filing cabinet. Also included are tips for determining what to print and what not to print. And there are some really great benefits to e-books listed, including the fact that many e-books have free updates available. Then there's one of my favourite benefits - clickable links to internet resources. Are you a budding writer and wanting to dip your toes into the e-book market? Included is a whole chapter by Heidi Strawser on how to get started!
As with many of TOS' e-books, this one is so easy to read on the screen, with the pages being exactly the size of your screen instead of having to scroll down in the middle of sentences. Almost everything you would want to know about e-books is included. I would have liked to see one thing added however, on the topic of printing. Did you know that you can save a lot of ink by changing your advanced printer settings? Not only can you print with the "draft" option, but you can also change your settings to "less dry time" and "light ink volume" for instance so you use even less ink. The terminology used in your printer settings may be a little different, but do experiment and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well it still prints and how much longer your print cartridge lasts. To save even more money, you can also buy kits to refill your printer cartridge yourself - I have done this and it's really not all that difficult.
E-Homeschooling: Embracing the E-book Revolution will be ready for download any day now at The Schoolhouse Store. Keep checking on their website, or back here as I'll post the direct link as soon as I receive it.
Music Music For Young Children
Summer Day Camp for ages 3-10 - July 20th to 24th
Singing, dancing, drama, instruments, & fun!
Half days for ages 3-5 - 9am to noon - $60
Full days for ages 6-10 9am to 3pm - $120
Call 371-7369 or see website for more info.
Drama Class Acts Drama School Registration for all camps will be held on Saturday, June 20 from 10am-4pm at the
Southend Community Centre (28 Hillview Street, Sydney).
All camps run from 10am-4pm at the Southend Community Centre and cost $120 unless otherwise noted. June 29 - July 3: Theatre Skill-Building
North Sydney (St. Matthew-Wesley Church Hall)
9am-noon - grades 3-6; 1pm-4pm - grades 7+
cost: $60 July 6-10: Improv (ages 11-14) July 13-18: Improv (ages 14+) July 20-24: Playbuilding (ages 11+) July 27-31: Musical Theatre 9am-noon - ages 8-12 (cost: $60); 1pm-5pm - ages 13+ (cost: $80) July 27-31: Improv (ages 11-15)
New Waterford (Lions' Club) August 10-14: Audition Skills (ages 11+) August 17-21: Adventures in Drama (ages 5-7) August 24-28: Creative Dramatics (ages 8-10)
Sports
Redwood Stables
1806 Coxheath Road
Horseback riding - for more information contact Mona
redwood@ns.sympatico.ca
539-5529
YMCA Camps
YMCA of Cape Breton offers Day Camps at the Canadian Coast Guard College in Westmount. The Camps will run weekly from the end of June to the end of August for 9 weeks, for children ages 5 to 12 . The cost is $100 per week per child and $20 per day per child. Second child will receive a 10% discount. There will be an additional fee of $1.00 for those using the bus services.
Day Camper (no meals included)
9 a.m. - 8 p.m. daily
$175.00 *Camp ends Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Residence Camper (all meals incl)
Check in Sun. July 12, 4 - 5:30 p.m.
Check out Fri. July 17, 4:30 p.m.
$395.00 *Please note camp gift certificates are not valid for the overnight camp.Specialty Week
Sydney Presbytery Camping Program
Mira Pines United Church
July 12th - 17th - Co-ed Intermediate (9-12 yrs) - $225
July 19th - 24th - Co-ed Intermediate (9-12 yrs) - $225
July 26th - 29th - Junior (6-8 yrs) - $135
July 31st - Aug 6th - Co-ed Senior Mix (13-17 yrs) - $360
Camp MacLeod
2731 Trout Brook Road, Albert Bridge
Kmacrae@ns.sympatico.ca
539-2467 (camp number after July 1st = 562-1085) June 29-July 5 Junior Co-ed (age 9-11) July 6-12 Intermediate Co-ed (age 12-14) July 13-19 Junior Girls (age 9-11) July 20-26 Senior Co-ed (ages 14-16)
July 27-30 Novice Co-ed (age 7-8) August 3-9 Junior Co-ed (age 9-11) August 10-16 Intermediate Co-ed (age 12-14) August 17-23 Junior Girls
Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts
Stay overnight, or choose a day camp instead - everything from the Gaelic language to Highland dance and weaving offered.
Miscellaneous Camps
Town House
July 6 – August 27 For elementary school aged children
Week #1, July 6-10Wonders of Nature
Week #2, July 13-17Mad Scientists
Week #3, July 20-24Jurassic Park
Week #4, July 27-31Carnival Craze
Week #5, Aug 4-7Summer Olympics
Week #6, Aug 10-14Travel in Time
Week #7, Aug 27-21Cool Careers
Week #8, Aug 24-27Musical Fiesta
From 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. each day at Passchendaele House
Encourage your children to join in the fun for all eight weeks or choose which weeks you’d like them to participate in. The cost is $75 per week for one child or if there is more than one child per family, the cost would be $60 per week for each additional child. You provide their lunch and we provide snacks! Please call Town House for more information at 849-2449.
Wednesdays (July 8, 15, 22 & 29) - Làithean Sona/Happy Days Chidren’s Living History Program
Take part in this special living-history program for children and get a sense of what life was like for Gaels in those days past. The program features special hands-on activities including chores, crafts, games, language, and song. Costumes are provided. For ages 8-12 only. 10 am to 4 pm. $30 per child. Prepaid reservations required. No refunds or discounts. 13% HST included.
Thursdays (alternate - July 9 & 23) - Na Deugairean/ The Teenagers Living History Program for Youth
Partake in this special living-history program for teens and get a sense of the responsibilities and the lifestyles of young Gaels in days past. The program features special hands-on activities including chores, crafts, language and song. Costumes are provided. For ages 13-17. 10 am to 4 pm. $30 per child. Prepaid reservations required. No refunds or discounts. 13% HST included.
Fridays (July 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31) - Spòrs/Fun Gaelic Games for Kids
Join us for a morning of interactive games that focus on language, song, dance and other aspects of Scottish heritage. Gaelic games such as Tunnag Tunnag Gèadh, “Duck Duck Goose” center on basic Gaelic vocabulary and phrases which are incorporated into fun and engaging games for children. Spòrs is for children aged 5-10. 10 am to 12 pm. Free admission.
These programs are also available in August - see website for more details.
Island Martial Arts Yoga Camp for Kids
Keltic Drive
Yoga, games, meditation, art activities. All ages welcome.
Introduction to Pottery Spend a week this summer in a clay studio making your own one of a kind pots, vessels or even masks. In this workshop, students will create pots or masks (for masks, students will work with a partner to make a plaster mold of their face). Using this mold as a base, students will complete two masks - one a likeness of themselves and one creative interpretive or fantasy mask. If you like surprises, they you'll love exploring alternative methods pottery decoration. Dipping, pouring, carving, and painting are just some of the many ways of treating the surface of clay. We will explore these and other exciting methods of creating beautiful one of a kind pottery. Beginning July 6th, students are given the opportunity to spend a week in a clay studio making one of a kind pots, vessels, or masks through an Introduction to Pottery class.
Instructor: Elizabeth Burtt
Level: Beginner
Age: 12 to 16 years
Dates: July 6, 8 & 9 from 1 to 4 pm and July 15 from 10am to 4pm
Length: 4 days (15 hours)
Location: Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design
322 Charlotte Street, Sydney
902.539.7491
Workshop Fees: $ 84.75 (includes materials fees and taxes)
Introduction to Jewellery Making Tired of commonplace jewellery that you can buy anywhere? Why not make your own? In this five-day workshop Caitlyn Purcell will encourage students to explore piercing, texturizing, roller printing, cold connections and polishing of metal in order to create unique pieces of jewellery. Students should be able to complete a copper or brass pendent and earrings as well as a copper bracelet.
Instructor: Caitlyn Purcell
Level: Beginner
Age: 13 to 16 years
Dates: July 27 to 31 from 12 noon to 4 pm
Length: 5 days (20 hours)
Location: Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design
322 Charlotte Street, Sydney
902.539.7491
Workshop Fee: $ 96.05 (includes materials fees and taxes)
The 2009 Culture and Heritage Day Camp Program will be offered to children ages 7-13 in three consecutive week-long camps during the month of July. The camps aim to provide participants with an understanding of the diverse cultures around them, while still incorporating fun and games into their summer activities.
Camp 1 - July 6-10th Ages: 7-8
Camp 2 - July 13-17th Ages: 9-10
Camp 3 - July 20-24th Ages: 11-13
Time: Monday-Thursday 9:00-12:30 and Friday 9:00-2:00pm
Cost: $65.00 ($60.00 for each additional sibling) The registration fee includes project materials, refreshments, admission to a local historic site and a t-shirt.
Location: Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, 322 Charlotte St. Sydney
Deadline to Register: June 26th
For more information on the program, please contact Nicole at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design at 539-7491 or email info@capebretoncraft.com.
*Do you know about a summer camp in Cape Breton? Let me know and I'll post it!*
Hershey's Track & Field Games!
June 13, 2009 - 10AM-12PM
Atlantic Field, Cabot Street, Sydney
For volunteer information and to pre-register: Contact Track and Field Cape Breton at 539-0866.
If you are a kid between 9 and 14 who loves to run, jump and throw, these games are for you! Come on
out and join in the fun by competing in basic track and field events and have a chance of a lifetime to
receive an all expense paid trip to compete in the annual North American Final Meet held in Hershey, PA
each year. Beginners and track enthusiasts all welcome. Everyone's a winner because you are making
the choice to get fit!
The Hershey's Track and Field Games is endorsed by the National Recreation and Park Association,
USATrack & Field, and Athletics Canada, and has been solely funded by The Hershey Company since 1978.
With Times Tales, learning the upper times tables is so easy even a 5 year old can learn them! See for yourself just how effective and fun Times Tales is . . . for free! For a limited time only, you can get a free trial download of Times Tales plus a free Memory Trigger E-Book, just for signing up for Trigger Memory System's Education Through Imagination newsletter.
Wow – what a fantastic idea!TOS is releasing a whole new “I Wanna Be” series of e-books.I was lucky enough to get my hands on the very first one – “When I grow up, I want to be…A Firefighter”.76 pages just packed to bursting with information, links, quizzes, creative writing ideas, science and math activities, and ideas for a firefighter party.Contrary to what you may think by the title, this isn’t just for little kids – it will appeal to a wide variety of ages.For older students contemplating what they’re going to do once high school is complete, requirements for becoming a firefighter are included, as well as a map and charts of firefighter salary amounts across America.I loved the personal account from an actual firefighter, and of course no book on firefighters would be complete without a mention of the fire house dog, especially for the younger children.This is truly a unit study for the whole family.
I like to begin a “My Careers Book” with my children when they’re young.I love that my children are learning that there are numerous jobs to choose from in the future.Whenever we meet someone in the workplace, i.e. at the post office or veterinarian, we always talk to the person about their job and what they like about it.We then make up a page about it for their book.This e-book is a fantastic way to supplement our career studies with word puzzles, copywork, quizzes, and more.I can’t wait to see the next “I Wanna Be” e-book!
Each e-book is $8.95 US. In addition to the Firefighter title, Veterinarian and Chef titles are now available. Here's the best part - you can get 10 books for $4.90 US each right now if you buy the 10-pack for $49.00 US! You will immediately receive for download the Firefighter, Veterinarian, and Chef titles. The rest will be available shortly, as they are completed. Also if you click on the link above, you can download samples of each book to see what they're like yourself.
The Chocolatada is a festival of local music, real chocolate, great food and fun. This is an all ages community event to celebrate Spring and welcome back the Summer Sun!
$10 Adults, $5 Kids (Wee ones are free, and family packs available!)
5:30pm - 6:30pm: Wildabeats (Great Musical Entertainment for Kids!)
6:30pm - 8:30pm: Chocolate Circus! Filled with face painting, art expo and crafts, dance performances (belly dance, Irish dance and African!), a drum circle, a hoola hoop jam and workshop,
9:30 - Midnight: Dance till you drop!
Old School Reggae DJ, "General Mills"
Live bands:
MARY GRACE KOILE
KING SEKOU AND THE UPRIGHT CREW
...and a special guest performance
Available for purchase:
Choco-laté, fudge, dark chocolate treats, fresh carrot juice, traditional chocolate drink, and superfood snacks catered by Namasnacks and Rawthentic Chocolate.
That's this Saturday May 30 at the North Street Church (5657 North St).
Good fun for the whole family.
I feel so blessed to have been able to review so many of Molly's Money-Saving Digests. Well, she's back for June! Packed full once again with wonderful tips, tricks, and encouragement, he highlight this month is Frugal Family Vacations! Almost everyone is planning a summer vacation, myself included, so this is great timing. There are a variety of ideas and links for planning your family vacation, while saving money of course, in the pages of this issue. You'll also find suggestions for a Stay-cation or Day-cation in case a vacation is out of your budget this summer. And get in the mood for Father's Day by reading some warm, fuzzy thoughts on fathers by Molly's readers. But my absolute favourite part of this month's digest is the interview with Susanne, The Hillbilly Housewife herself! I love her site, and it has really helped me save money at home.
Molly's Money-Saving Digest for June will be available shortly at The Schoolhouse Store, along with all the previous digests, for $4.95 each. You can also visit the Econobusters website for ongoing ideas from Molly and her readers.
The Young Bohemians creativity group will be holding a spring concert entitled "Welcome to Bohemian TV", this Friday, May 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the North Woodside Community Centre Gym, 230 Pleasant Street, Dartmouth. Admission is $2 per person.
Come enjoy an evening of song, dance and performance by this lively group of young homeschooled students!
As I mentioned in my last review, my time doing reviews for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew has come to an end. Of the 26 products I've reviewed since the Fall of 2008, I have some favourites :) Below, are my favourite 12, in most cases they are now used on a pretty much daily basis in our homeschool. Because I couldn't decide which to put first, they're in alphabetical order...
Bible Story Songs - such a fun way to learn the stories of the bible, we will be getting Moses II in the near future, and more.
Core Learning's Crayola Art CD-Rom - a daily favourite of my 5 year old daughter's, this cuts down considerably on the number of papers full of art floating around the house.
Knowledge Quest's Homeschooling ABC's Class - I would recommend this for anyone starting homeschooling.
Memoria Press - was already my favourite source for Latin books, but now it's also our French program resource, we will be working through the entire Famous Men of Rome program this fall, and we will be buying the rest of the Famous Men series in future.
Motherboard Books' Let's Make a Webpage - my 10 year old son very much enjoyed doing this and we will be buying more computer science curricula here in the future.
Salem Ridge Press Books - we will be reading some of these again next year that fit with the history we will be studying, and we definitely will be buying more.
Schleich Toys - I can't think of a day when my 5 year old doesn't play with these beautiful animal figures since we received them and we will definitely be adding to our collection in future.
What a fun year and what a blessing it has been, experiencing wonderful products I may never have put my hands on otherwise. While I won't be working with the TOS Homeschool Crew for the 2009-10 season, I will be able to bring TOS e-book reviews in the future, as well as offerings from Bethany House and Thomas Nelson, and of course homeschool curricula I come across myself. Stay tuned :)
Now there are two reasons to hang out in the Dartmouth/Halifax area for the May 29/30th weekend - the Homeschool Fair AND the Family Expo!
FAMILY EXPO ANNOUNCES AWESOME LINE-UP FOR 09!
The We Love Our Children Family Expo is getting set to entertain and enrich Maritime families again this spring. Friday, May 29th and Saturday, May 30th Exhibition Park in Halifax will be filled with energy and excitement as the 5th annual family extravaganza opens its doors. This year’s event will feature loads of interactive activities for the whole family, fabulous exhibits, and incredible guest speaker Ron Clark (Disney’s American Teacher of the year, Founder of The Ron Clark Academy).
The We Love Our Children Family Expo provides a fun and safe environment for families to
play, interact, and learn. This year’s theme is social responsibility and growing great citizens.
“Great citizens are not born, they're made.” said Event Co-Producer Andree Gracie. “We can all
play a part in growing Nova Scotia's future great citizens.” Friday night parents will not want to
miss a presentation and discussion on Internet Safety with internet expert and child advocate,
Parry Aftab presented by BETSTOPPER. Families attending the expo will be able to participate
in a mock election and the Know Your Canadian Trivia Contest presented by Elections Nova
Scotia. Once you’ve cast your vote, head to the Main Stage for great entertainment! Friday and
Saturday catch award winning Hip-Hop artist Jordan Croucher, Mister J the Magician, My
Dad is Better than Your Dad presented by Tim Horton’s…and of course, the wildly popular
Hannah Montana Look-a-Like Contest. Girls of all ages will hit the stage to emulate their fave
star for a chance to win a trip to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. On Saturday don’t miss The Great Big Baby Shower; featuring a question and answer session with Pam Streeter of Creative Kids Educational Centre, Thyme Maternity prizing, and advice from the Family Expo Nanny. One lucky mom will even be whisked off for a mini makeover and a well deserved romantic night with her partner at the Delta Halifax.
Other returning Family Expo favorites include: The Princess Pavilion fundraiser presented by
Concepts School of Cosmetology in support of Children’s Wish Foundation, Journey to the Amazon with Safe Haven reptiles, Diaper Dash, Z103.5’s Baby Boogie and Kids CBC featuring Patty, Sid, Mamma Yamma, Canada, Bo on the Go, Lunar Jim, and Huckle Cat from Busy Town Mysteries.
And if that’s not enough, some lucky family will win a Trip for four to Beaches Resort with Sesame Street friends in sunny Jamaica or Turks and Caicos presented by TripCentral.ca.
Families will also enjoy a Marketplace featuring exhibitors where they can sample and purchase
the newest products and services on site. The Family Expo is pleased to offer a Comfort Zone if
you need to stop to nurse or just to rest.
Ticket Information: Tickets on sale now. NEW HOURS! Friday, May 29th, 5pm- 9pm. Saturday,
May 30th, 10am – 7pm. Adults and seniors $10.00, children 12 and under are free. Tickets are
available at the door and Ticket Atlantic locations; www.ticketatlantic.com or 902-451-1221
May 29th & May 30th at the Dartmouth Sportsplex, 110 Wyse Road, Dartmouth
Friday, May 29th
9 am - 4:30 pm;
Jr High/High School Essay Writing day & Student Writing Intensives
Workshops by Excellent Resources http://excellentresources.homestead.com/Workshops-Dartmouth.html
6:30pm - 7:30 pm Jesse Jost at the Bible Chapel, 225 Victoria Road
7:30 pm - 9 pm The Jost Family at the Bible Chapel Josties.com
Saturday, May 30th 8 am - 4:30 pm
Conference Workshops, Vendors, 2nd Hand Sale
Speakers:
Bev Remple - Excellent Resources
Kristen Habermehl - Getting started
TBA - High school
Jesse Jost - Hearts At Home
The Jost Family
Vendors:
Excellent Resources
Math U See
Tree of Life
Rod & Staff
Chrisitan Light
Homeschool & More
A.C.E.
HSLDA info
Cost is $30/household and includes a 1 year membership to NSHEA
The Great Canadian Geography Challenge National Final will be held on May 21, 2009 online at The Geochallenge Website.
A minimum of one student from each province and territory — all accompanied by a teacher-monitor — will be linked up in a special competition environment, live across the country. Teachers, family and friends will be able to track the students’ progress in real-time by logging onto a special section of the Web site.
The top three students will be declared the Canadian National Champions and will receive HSBC Bank Canada scholarships of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. Additional prizes will be awarded to all students who compete at the national level.
Memoria Press publishing is a family business, founded in 1994, that offers simple and easy to use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. For the past couple of years, we have used Memoria Press' wonderful Latin curriculum products in our homeschool. For the past month, we have had the pleasure of working with the Famous Men of Rome set and the brand new First Start French set.
Famous Men of Rome is one of a series of books that also includes Famous Men of Greece, the Middle Ages, and Modern Times. Each set includes the text, Teacher's Guide, and Student Guide. The Famous Men of Rome text is a beautiful book, with rich, colourful illustrations. It is designed for Grades 3-6. My 10 year old son and I have thoroughly enjoyed taking turns reading it aloud. Thirty stories cover the history of Rome from Romulus and Remus, all the way through Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and the last emperor in the West. Interwoven are myths, legends, and tales of Roman gods and goddesses. Maps of Rome, Italy, and the Roman Empire are also included. The Teacher and Student guides turn the text into a complete study of Rome. The Guides include questions, quotes, vocabulary words, and activities. I think the activities are one of the best parts - map work, art projects, and a timeline really bring the Roman world alive. These books work beautifully along with the Latina Christiana series. Learning about the peoples who actually used Latin makes it more relevant, and the Teacher's Guide of Latina Christiana includes a reading schedule of the Famous Men of Rome text to compliment the lessons. I really wish I'd had this when we first began Latina Christiana! The Famous Men of Rome set is available for $39.95 US at the Memoria Press website, which saves 25% off the cost of purchasing separately. It is also available more locally at Tree of Life for $59.95 Canadian.
The First Start French I set is designed for students in Grade 3-8. The set includes a Student Guide, Teacher's Guide, and pronunciation CD. If you are familiar with Memoria Press' Latin books, you will find that the French books teach in a similar manner. The flow of lessons is much like what one would experience in an immersion atmosphere, starting with hello and learning how to address people, and proceeding to learn the names of members of your family, pronouns, verbs, and on from there. Each weekly lesson includes vocabulary, phrases, practice exercises, questions, and translations. The Teacher's Guide is very thorough, bringing you right through each lesson step-by-step. Review Tests are included for every five lessons, complete with answer keys, and tests for each lesson are available as downloads if desired. My favourite part of the program is that it includes French songs. There is nothing more fun than including songs in a curriculum for a child - a fantastic way to keep them interested and engaged. My 5 year old was thrilled to learn some French songs and demands we sing them daily, LOL. We enjoy singing them as a family, along with the CD. The CD was obviously recorded by a native French speaker, so your children can have a great example at what a proper French accent sounds like. The only thing I don't like about the program is that there is no time to repeat after the speaker on the CD as there are no pauses. We are used to being able to repeat after the speaker on the Latin CD's. My son was very keen to learn French so that he can ultimately volunteer/work at The Fortress of Louisbourg, and he continues to enjoy learning French as we work through this program.
The First Start French I set is available at the Memoria website for $39.95 US. Homeschool and More sells the set for $49.95 Canadian.
And with this post I bid au revoir to the TOS Homeschool Crew. I've very much enjoyed reviewing products for the last several months, and now it's time to pass the torch onto the 2009-10 Crew. I will be continuing to review products and posting homeschool information as usual on this blog. Stay tuned, because coming soon is a Top Ten post about my favourite homeschooling products I reviewed with TOS!
It's that time of year again. Registration for various outdoor sports have been ongoing for the last few weeks. Are your children interested in playing a sport this summer? Below are listed the Nova Scotia websites for popular sports - call your local organization and register your child today.
We homeschoolers are always looking for ways to be thrifty. Molly's May Money-Saving Digest focuses on homeschooling! There are fantastic ideas for how to do preschool at home inexpensively, book and resource ideas for homeschooling from preschool all the way to college, and some terrific homeschool encouragement. My favourite part is an inspiring article from a now grown-up homeschooler - I never get tired of homeschool success stories.
Also included are some little changes you can make to daily life to save money and some great Mother's Day ideas. I've been planning to learn how to do some canning this year - strawberry season is approaching and Molly shares how to pick strawberries, some yummy recipes, and how to make your own jam!
If you want to be encouraged and inspired, this month's Digest is really a must-read! Molly's May Digest is coming soon - look for it at The Schoolhouse Store, where you can also find past Digests to download for $4.95 US each.
Tapestry of Grace is an award-winning, multi-level, integrated, 4-year, classics-based, Christian curriculum for the whole family. This curriculum covers the humanities: history, church history, literature, geography, fine arts, government, philosophy, and writing & composition. All you need add is math, science, and perhaps a foreign language. If you are familiar with The Well-Trained Mind, Tapestry of Grace (TOG) fits perfectly into that Classical style of homeschooling, with each period of history covered in a 4-year cycle repeated throughout the 12 years of school in an increasingly detailed manner. Learning levels are divided into Lower Grammar, Upper Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric stages, according to the Classical philosophy.
We chose to review Year 3 Unit 3: Nations Uniting and Dividing. The download of the Digital Edition consisted of 3 easy steps, which has now been streamlined even more into a one-step process. TOG is divided into the following sections: Threads consists of the objectives and goals of study for the week, viewed across all levels of the program. Each Learning Level is colour-coded, to make it easy to see at a glance which level you are viewing on the page. Reading Assignments includes both a primary resource page, and an alternate list in case you can't find the primary resources in the library, or if you want to delve deeper into the subject matter. Weekly Overview Pages is a checklist, which includes all of the assignments for the week, including vocabulary words, things to add to your timeline, and important people to learn about. Writing Assignments include writing assignments from writing paragraphs, to writing plays, for each grade level from Gr. 1 through 12. Student Activity Pages include worksheets, questions, and assignments for the students, and accountability and thinking questions for older students. Pageant of Philosophy is a fantastic part of TOG that I'm looking forward to working through with my children when they are high school age. Major philosophies through history are explored in play format. Teacher's Notes, which are absolutely exhaustive, and include excerpts from The World Book Encyclopedia. Supplements include extra information, maps, and templates for projects. The Loom, which is available either online or as a companion CD. I found this to be one of the most important parts of the curriculum, especially the Supporting Links section, which included links for activities and readings that are mentioned in the Assignments and Overview pages.
We also received the Pop Quiz CD for Year 3 Unit 3. Although designed for the Homeschool Dad to be involved with the kids through summaries and quiz cards, we found it very useful to listen to the CD as a family for an overview of the material we were about to study for the week. The narrator is conversational and easy to listen to for kids and adults alike.
My son being in Grade 4 this year, we focused on the Upper Grammar level of the program, with my 5 year old daughter joining in here and there with some Lower Grammar activities and books. Our Unit started with studying "Westerners in Asia". We had a terrific time learning about China and Japan. Both my children enjoyed learning how to write some Chinese characters, sampling some Chinese food, making origami, and reading absorbing books such as "Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy". Even I learned a whole bunch and thoroughly enjoyed myself. We then continued on to learn about the Crimean War, the Civil War, the Plains Indian Wars, and finished the 9 weeks of the Unit by learning about inventors such as Bell, Pasteur, and Edison. I myself found TOG easy to use - I would spend a bit of time each Sunday looking over the coming week and printing out about half a dozen student pages, etc. Currently we are gearing up for our Unit Celebration. I'm really excited about our first one. Instructions and suggestions are included in the Introduction of each Unit for organizing one. In general, the children's work is displayed and presentations are prepared for an audience of their father and/or other family and friends. If you'd like to take a peek of what a Unit Celebration might look like, check out this site - I just love what this mother has done with her children - what fun.
Although many people claim that TOG is only for those homeschooling MANY children, I have found it works beautifully for the two that I have and I enjoy learning the same basic subject matter with both children at the same time. I have also found that it helps me keep on task in our homeschool, and keeps subjects like History and Geography from falling off our schedule. Some of the books we've read as a result of TOG are real gems that I know I wouldn't have picked up from the library otherwise. The creator of TOG is a homeschool mom of several children and she suggests that the best time to begin using the curriculum is when your eldest child is in Grade 5.
I am so glad I had the opportunity to review Tapestry of Grace. We have found a curriculum that we'll be using for the rest of our homeschooling years. I love TOG so much that I will be holding a Tapestry Tea in the coming weeks to show fellow local homeschoolers what TOG is like and so that I and anyone attending can order TOG at a discount. Being a digital product, TOG is non-resaleable and non-returnable, but you can download a free sample of TOG (does not include The Loom) to see what it's all about. In general, the following choices are available for ordering TOG, but do also check the particular year you are ordering, as specials are available for certain ones:
Individual Unit: $45
Year Plan: $170
Year Plan + Print package: $270 (it might not be a bad idea for brand new users of TOG to order the Year in print in addition to the DE unless you're very computer savvy)
Year Plan + bonuses: $250 - includes Map Aids and two of the following of your choice - Writing Aids, Lapbook Kits, Evaluations (Tests), Pop Quiz
Pop Quiz: $15 per CD set for one Unit OR $50 for the whole Year set of CD's
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