Free Homeschooling History Curriculum – really!

 

Some of you know that I am a member of the Old Schoolhouse “Crew” (a homeschool product review team). We were recently sent a CD of an American History Curriculum product called “America’s Heritage” that is available to anyone for the asking- FREE.

We were asked to examine and use it and then to post our opinions of it so that you could decide if it was a resource that might work for your family.

 Right now, I am teaching 5^th, 7^th and 9^th grades. Although the CD I received contains all lessons for all the grade levels, I chose to try the High School Level of the American Heritage Foundation’s product since I am using All American History (see my previous review) with my 5^th and 8^th graders.

 “America’s Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty” is targeted for students in grades 9-12 and it provides good information on some of the aspects of our country that other texts may leave behind. This curriculum tackles some tough issues that we are dealing with today, such as the right to freedom of religious expression, particularly in the public schools. It addresses the free enterprise system and some of the heroes of that system, entrepreneurs who had a profound influence on the culture and prosperity of our Nation.

 Here is an excerpt I really liked from the forward of the Curriculum for 9-12^th Grades:

“The Miracle of America: A Revolutionary Idea

In only a little more than 200 years, our ancestors transformed this country from a wilderness into a great nation. This nation demonstrates what can be accomplished by free people who create a government limited to serving the people rather than being their master. The moral and ethical basis of good conduct was derived from the faith that built America. That faith grew from the common belief that each individual is endowed with basic rights and responsibilities by our Creator. That is the foundation of our democratic republic expressed in the Declaration of Independence.”

  

As I mentioned, the America’s Heritage Curriculum is available free (they can accept donations at their site) from the American Heritage Foundation. It has been valued at around $150.00. The program was developed for grades K-12, as a way to promote good citizenship, and good stewardship of our freedoms. The American Heritage Foundation seeks to do this by educating students about our country’s history.

It seems to be geared towards a classroom setting, but it contains some great kernels of information that both public school students and those that learn at home can benefit from. My daughter and I both loved that the curriculum included the wording of some of our original documents, such as the Mayflower Compact and the Bill of Rights. It did a good job of trying to relate the rights and responsibilities we have today and those original writings which have so clearly enumerated those rights for us throughout our History.

 The High School Curriculum focuses on pointing the student towards the foundations of the freedoms that we have to day. It includes specific Lesson Plans, Templates and soundly teaches students about how our past faith relates to our present freedoms.

 In my opinion, the lessons are a bit dry, but they can really be spiced up by using this along with some living books and the internet. Overall this could be used as a good framework around which you and your student can hang some additional discussions and research.

Did I mention that the American Heritage Education Foundation’s High School American History Program is FREE? You can also request a CD to be sent to you, (also free). If you would prefer to have everything already printed out, this excellent resource is available in a printed our binder format for only $19.50.

It is simple to pay that online: http://americanheritage.org/online_pay.html, or you may mail them a check.

If you just want the free stuff (and there is some good stuff in there) you can download the pdf files or request a CD Here: http://www.americanheritage.org/

There is some helpful information here and the price is right !

 

Celebrate American Heritage Month in November!

“American Heritage Month gives us all an opportunity to reflect on our roots as Americans from a fresh perspective. It is a time to remember that we Americans have brought with us many different heritages, but we have joined together in this country as one people.

The Declaration of Independence sets forth our fundamental values, and the Constitution serves to protect those values. Our schools, teachers, students, and other citizens help preserve and strengthen the miracle that is America. As Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.’”

The American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc.

I truly am Thankful at this time of the year, for the many blessings of faith, freedom, friends and turkey!

Merit K

The History text we recently reviewed, has this eye catching phrase as it's subtitle:  

 "Uniting America's Story, Piece by Piece"

That thought provoking phrase caught my attention on the shiny cover of the lovely new book in front of me.

It is true that puzzle of our relatively young country continues to come together, and there is only one who can see the complete result. But surely, one way we can improve our chances of making sure that the future result is a thing of beauty, is to understand our past and to trust in God with our future.

This History curiculum is one great resource for giving your students the ability to do that. The author truly brings to life the people of the time periods that we are learning about. Being able to read about how things began is an exciting way to relate to some of the things that are happening in our culture in the present era!

For the purpose of this review, our family received this History textbook set free from Bright Ideas Press.The History Textbook's title is ” All American History, Volume One- The Explorers to the Jacksonians” by Celeste W. Rakes.

We reviewed the entire set which includes the Student Reader, Activity book and the Teacher’s Guide. It is available for purchase as a set, for $68.00.

This is a complete curriculum, intended for grades 5-8. The 32 weekly lessons in Volume One can easily be modified to meet the needs of your family or classroom. The accompanying Teacher’s Guide offers many ideas for adding value to your student’s learning experience with creative activity suggestions and research ideas for your older students, as well as suggestions for adapting the material for the younger set, so it works very well either for a Home educator or a classroom teacher.

This book is also perfect for use with a timeline! It includes some of the figures you will need in the back of the Teacher’s Guide – your students can add them to the pages in the activity book and then put those into a timeline notebook, if they like. Bright Ideas Press also sells additional timeline characters in a separate package which are very nice (I use them)  

The Teacher’s Guide contains Lesson Plans, including activity ideas, additional resource suggestions, timeline dates and even a checklist for materials that lets you know which materials are optional and which materials you will be required to have on hand to teach each lesson. The Answer Key for the Student Activity Book is also found in the Teacher’s Guide.

The Student text includes a very good amount of information about the people, places and events that began our American History. The material is organized in an easy to follow chronological format with clear maps and Student Activity Pages in the Student book which make it simple to create your own timeline or American History Timeline Notebook. We found that the Student text is written in a way which is not just informative, but creates interest in the historical events and the people who lived at that time period. We are enjoying this curriculum very much. (not just because the cover is shiny :) 

The Teacher’s Guide offers the teacher guidance in how to use the text as a framework for further research and exploration.

I especially love that the activities included in this extensive Teacher’s guide are more than just “busywork”- they involve them in more learning! There are game ideas, geography and map work, quality book suggestions which are conveniently listed by age groups, and writing assignments which allow for integration of writing skills into your history curriculum.

I have always believed that integrating subjects is a great way to increase both retention of information and enjoyment of the subjects! This textbook does that very well. If you are looking for an American History program for next year, I would suggest that you look into this one. It is very creative and yet logical!

Two thumbs up  from Mom (who is not typically a textbook kinda gal) And two thumbs up from the kids  

Here is where you can find more information or even purchase these books (There is also a Volume Two)

http://brightideaspress.com/?page_id=6

Here there is even Yahoo Group Support for using these texts :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AllAmericanHistory/

Timeline Guide and figures can be seen here (I really do like these too):

http://brightideaspress.com/?page_id=132 

 Thanks for Reading :)

Merit K

Our Five in a Row group studied Madeline this month.  To go along with our study, I decided to coordinate a field trip to our local kids' science museum.  They have an exhibit right now called Grossology~The Impolite Science of the Human Body.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was a little boy's dream come true and my girls loved it, too. 

Did you ever want to know the science behind a sneeze?  Well, this exhibit not only explained the process but then the giant nose you stand inside of sneezes on you!!!

This lovely fellow explained all about allergies, sniffles, colds and anything else that can cause you to have a runny nose.  Yes, his nose ran frequently! See what I mean about a little boy's dream....

The kids spent lots of time at the life-size Operation game.  Remember that game? What a concrete way to learn where all the body parts go.  It didn't hurt their eye-hand coordination either.

The girls could have stayed in the digestive system playground all day.  Yes, they crawled through the whole digestive system.  The joke of where they came out of the digestive tract was not lost on them either. Yucky!!

The skin climbing wall was loads of fun too.  While they climbed along, they were supposed to guess if they were climbing over a pimple or mole or hair follicle.

I did not take pictures of all the things to smell.  Really gross things to smell.  Aren't you glad this is not a scratch and sniff blog? LOL!  Somehow I missed pictures of the statue that you crank up and make burp or the tooting machine.  We will have to go back when it is less crowded.  The exhibit just overwhelmed us and lots of the school groups were there, so we finally had to leave.   All in all, it was a really cool and gross exhibit.  Hey, IT"S GROSSOLOGY!

Blessings,

Dawn

We are at the point in construction where it is time for us to start contributing to the process (more than just financially) to keep costs down.  I have three rooms to paint, numerous doors to paint, furniture to move, 5 or so pieces of furniture to refinish, shades/curtains to buy and hang, closets to build, oh and so much more!  Then there is Thanksgivng and, dare I say, CHRISTMAS on the horizon!  This is my favorite season, and I want to savor it somehow in the mist of all of this change.  I want my children to remember Christmas season 2009 as a great year, not the year mom went crazy. LOL! 

So to create balance, this is officially our last day of highly structured and planned school for this season in our lives.  We will still school, but in a lighter, less structured way.  The plan is to do reading, math, and tea time each day and have two goals for the week. Notice ~ I can't help but have to have a plan.  I really lack the unschooling bone, even though I wish I had it ....  The rest of the time, the kids will be learning skills in painting, weeding out toys, cleaning, playing peacefully and independently (still a challenge around here for some), and continuing to practice flexibility. 

On top of the basics mentioned earlier, the two goals for next week are to make an Arctic mural and do another outdoor challenge.  We will be studying the arctic and arctic life for the month of November.

I leave you with this picture of the kiddos!  Our outdoor challenge last week was to find squirrels and study them.  We could not find a single squirrel, but we did have fun climbing trees.

Blessings,

Dawn

This year Rebecca decided to do math club.  She is in high school now and so the math is TRICKY.  She, being the perfectionist that she is, came out of class today in a rather foul mood.  Methinks it has something to do with the review they had of a recent contest the team competed in.  She was not happy on that day either.  I'm just sayin' there may be a connection somewhere...

We have long since outgrown Trick or Treating and Halloween has become somewhat of an awkward holiday.  It was never really a favorite of mine (although the loads of candy was cool) and now that my kids are all teens it's almost an annoying "holiday". 

 

This year was a bit different, however, because the girls got to go to a dance!  Rather than doing the costume thing and having a plethora of "thou shalt not's", the organizers decided to employ black lights and have a "who is the brightest" contest.  It was soooo much fun!

 

 

The kids have recently become card game aficionados and the idea of dressing with a deck of cards theme was enthusiastically embraced.  They spent a couple of hours creating their assigned/chosen card and this was the result. 

 

Josh was supposed to be the jack of clubs, but he decided to hang out with some buddies instead. 

   

http://www.abcteach.com/

 This is an online resource for preschool- 8^th grade levels which includes some nice educational games, puzzles, pre-made worksheets, loads of seasonal worksheets, custom worksheet generators and clip art to help you make “centers” and custom games (such as file folder games). The website membership allows you to customize your papers for Notebooking or Lapbooking activities as well.

According to their website, they are a teacher’s site that, “With high quality content added on a weekly basis, abcteach is considered a world-class educational resource by its many members across the globe, and one that exceeds the offerings of other websites while offering unlimited access at very competitive prices.”

 

Membership to “ABC Teach” gives you access to over 35,000 pages of printable worksheets and activities, to abctools, our exclusive custom document generators- plus  really cool clip art  (my favorite)!

I believe that I may be addicted to their clip art section!

 

Our family's learning style naturally tends to be “non-worksheet” oriented. We lean towards “Hands On” activities, living a Lifestyle of Learning, as well as using lots of "Living books" and natural learning as the framework of our educational plan. Ruth Beechick and Charlotte Mason are my heroines, so you can imagine that I began by thinking that "it just wouldn’t be my “cup of tea”. Although most of what was available, I wasn't able to use, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a lot of nice things on the site (Wow- not just boring old worksheets -lol!).  

I did enjoy exploring a lot of their membership areas and I found that just browsing, seemed to inspire my creativity.

I came away from the website with some really good ideas to ‘tweak’ for my homeschool! The worksheet generators were easy to use and I liked the idea that you could customize them to use with whatever curriculum or books you choose. A lot of what they had was below level for my kids or I would classify as a little too close to "busy work" for my students. But much of it would be great for a classroom teacher and some of the things would be great for Homeschoolers too.

You could save a lot of money using this website to create your own tests and worksheets for your child, from any textbook.  

In addition, they have many ready made worksheets available in all the subject areas:

Oh how I wish I had access to this stuff when I was a substitue teacher!

They have some really great things you can try FREE on their website as well, so I would suggest that you might enjoy a look around and if you find that you use a lot of worksheets or especially would like to create your own worksheets, you might like to obtain a membership at this award winning site!

The yearly membership fee for ABC Teach is $40.00.  

 

Just to let you know, the “Homeschool Buyers Co-op” offers a Group Buy price of $20.00 per year (plus the Co-ops’ processing fee of $2.00- it is free to join the co-op). This is available until November 30, 2009. You can find out more about that special price right here:

https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1203

 

Many thanks to my fellow “TOS Crew” member, Lisa, at the Berry Patch, http://maineberrypatch.blogspot.com/  for the update on the group discount!

In order to test out their product, ABC Teach provided me with one month's access to the membership area of their website, free, so that I could properly evaluate all that they offer. No other compensation was received in exchange for my review of this website. 

(except, to be honest,  I do get to keep the clip art and isn't that better than money anyway?)

Until next time - stay CREATIVE!

 Merit K

We keep moving on in construction.  Since I last posted pictures, insulation and drywall have gone up.  Also, the siding men have started putting new siding around the upper part of the house.  We decided to do the whole upper part ot the house since the old aluminum siding was really, really old and had become a yucky faded color.  I think it was called by one of the men, yellow-limey algae slime. LOL!!

The really big news is that Tom Sawyer gets the new room!!!  He is so excited.  Timothy was given first choice because he is the oldest, but decided it felt too small to him.  It is probably the smallest room (or at least feels like it with the attic like design).  Because we live in a Dutch Colonial and this room is on the second floor, the Dutch Colonial roof was extended and thus the garrett walls. Tim will move to what is currently our room, and we will move back to the master (which has been Tom Sawyer's and Little Red Ridinghood's).  Little Red Ridinghood will move to Timothy's current room and Goldilocks will stay put in her current room.  Are you confused yet?!?!  BOY, do we have a lot of painting to do in the next few weeks.

The sanding part of the drywall starts sometime this week.  Everyone says this is the really bad part of construction because of the dust.  We will have to be very careful with our asthmatic children.

The new color of our siding is called bananas (kinda like us, ya know).  The contractor was a little concerned that it might be too yellow.  We love it, though.  With our 1931 home, we wanted the historic yellow that you find on homes in our area and this one matches up great.  I will have to try to get a picture of it in the sun.

In other news....We are trying to make this rotation of 4 bedrooms less insane by doing a little bit each week.  We are getting far enough along to start moving things around.  Since we (the parents) are going back to the master, we decided to start working on the walk-in closet.  When we started this weekend, it was a clean slate with only a two wooden shelves up high.  The teddy bear border around the ceiling was from when the closet was Little Red Ridinghood's nursery.  (I've kept the border for sentimental reasons.) It was really important to us to redo this closet for less than $100 but have it look nice and be functional.

Along the far wall we put in a pressure pole that was laying around in someone's closet not being used.  The pole will hold clothes that the children have grown out of and are waiting to go to consignment sales.  It also holds long-term storage clothes (like my wedding dress), which is tucked back in the corner out of sight.  The top self holds photo albums and the kids' baby boxes and books.   You can also see that we have loads of winter coats and snow pants.  Yes, I know we live in North Carolina.  But, my Northern roots get in the way sometimes, and I am just sure it could snow for real anytime now.  

Underneath the consignment pole is all of the kids clothes that do not fit them yet and unmarked boxes holding future gifts.

Towards the front of the closet are our clothes and shoes.  Also, we have a box of Christmas books and wrapping paper.

Total cost for the closet redo ~

$6 for the shoe rack with coupon

$40 for the storage boxes

$12 for the rack and hardware

Total~$58

Blessings,

Dawn

Welcome to another Show and Tell with Mary.

Timothy is really enjoying his continuing education classes at our local community college.  This session he took "woodworking" and "knowing your digital camera".  In his woodworking class, he made a wooden shoe all with hand tools. 

This is the front view.  I love all the detail he put into it.  The little lines used as trim were burned into the wood.

Here is the side view.  I love the detail of the tongue in the shoe.

Blessings,

Dawn

 

“My Access” Home Edition - http://www.vantagelearning.com/home/products/mahome/

The best way to learn about writing is by doing it. Writing is one of those skills that your children will use all their life. It is one of the most important ways we communicate. The ability to write well is a valuable asset in life, in college and in the work force.  

The “My Access” writing instruction program is a great way to let your students write about many different topics and life experiences! This program teaches, and then allows them to practice Narrative, Persuasive and Informative writing skills.

Each 12-month subscription of  this web-based computer program includes a “parent” account and your choice of  up to six student accounts. It is perfect for Homeschooling Families, or any parent who wants to help their children improve their writing skills.

Whether you love to have your students write about field trips and research specific subjects they are studying on a regular basis, or you just get tired of trying to think of creative writing topics, never fear – “My Access” home edition includes 90 writing topics for three different distinct age groups (8-10, 11-14, and 15-18).

These interesting "jump starters" can encourage reluctant students to begin writing. If your student is already working on a topic in a current curriculum, or if you have a specific topic in mind for an assignment, you can enter a personalized writing topic assignment for that child. This is great for helping your students integrate their learning by allowing them to write across the curriculum and improve their ability to write an informative essay or an imaginative narrative!

The lessons are self-paced and interactive. The online tutorial guides your students in a fun and creative way through the entire writing process: planning, organizing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The program includes graphic organizers and printables such as a Monthly writing plan to help your student improve their ability to work to a deadline.

Artificial Intelligence technology is used for scoring the student’s writing projects which frees up the time of the Homeschooling parent and can ease the parent child relationship if your child hates to have you correct their writing papers with that EVIL red pen!

The student is given specific feedback regarding their essay right away and then, most importantly, given the opportunity and the tools to improve it.

 

This artificial intelligence program gives your student writing tips and feedback on the key traits of focus, content development, organization, vocabulary and grammar. Editing and writing tools are all right there for the student to reference quickly, including a thesaurus, grammar-checker, spell-checker, and a word bank to help students vary and develop their vocabulary.

Parents can easily make assignments from the parent control panel and can receive and print out  a report on each student on their own timetable. I found that the settings are very flexible for the age groups and for the student accounts. Additionally the program allows you to set a deadline for the assignments which your students can see at their start up page. This is a great tool for learning how to create a schedule and fosters independence in your student’s learning experience.

My Access Home Edition’s 12 Month Subscription price is $99.95 and this price includes up to six students. You can begin it anytime and it not only can be used as a stand alone writing resource, it complements any existing curriculum. I also benefits you by freeing up your time by correcting your students work, as well as providing access to expert writing tips tailored to your student and convenient tools to them.

 

Vantage Learning

 

Right now you can receive a discount on your  http://www.vantagelearning.com/ Enter Coupon Code TOSW9 at checkout and receive 20% off the retail price.

This offer is valid through December 15, 2009.

 

My students have been slow to warm up to the program, but that is because my main “writer” is already working on the “One Year Adventure Novel” and doesn’t want to take time away from that project. I have figured out how the program works and how to assign her more personalized topics that will be of specific interest to her in her Economics class and her Current Events/Worldview studies so she will be working more with the program this Month!

My boys are learning a lot this year about creative writing and I have been very pleased with the program and will enjoy incorporating it into the rest of our school year.

Just to let you all know, the company let me download the program free in order to review it, and that comes with a year long membership. I do not receive compensation for reviews of any of the products I am reviewing on my blog.

Also, although I love the Old Schoolhouse Magazine and the vendors' products that I have reviewed have been wonderful, I have specifically chosen not to "affiliate" (where you receive monetary compensation for referrring readers to products) with TOS or with any of the vendors that I am reviewing this year so that I can give an impartial opinion on all of these products.

 

 

Thanks for Reading,

MeritK