Mystery Unit Study

Are you looking for something light and fluffy and fun to do this summer with the kids? During the summer we like to keep it light, we like to watch too much TV and eat too much junk and drink too much soda and get sunburned and go see the early cheep movies where the movie is almost irrelevant and it is really the cold theater we’re after.

But in between all the summer silliness, we also like to do something slightly educational. I try to disguise it so it appears fun. Often they don’t know they are learning. Sadly my kiddoes are getting a little old for this educational trickery but I still have to give it a shot.

I love Five in a Row as I believe I have mentioned a time or twenty and I am often on the FIAR boards. There are a few moms over there who have come up with a great Mystery Unit Study! I LOVE it. I have requested several of the books/movies from the library and we’re going to have a bit of a Mystery few weeks, complete with playing a lot of Clue if we can ever find all the pieces! (I LOVE that game, though it seems somehow wrong to call out to your impressionable children “It was Professor Plum with the lead pipe in the conservatory” with glee in your voice, but I digress).

So head on over to Julie’s Blog and Debbie’s blog for some great Mystery Unit study ideas, and have fun tricking your kids into learning!

I plan to try to do a few more fun type entries this summer. Light, easy, fun family learning is what I have on the agenda for this summer. And the pool. I think I see a water unit study on the horizon…

Happy Summerschooling!

Memoria Press

I was sent two different items from Memoria Press. One was Famous Men of Rome, and the other is Latina Christiana. I was very excited to receive these items. I must say here also that Memoria Press is a wonderful company to work with. They were extremely nice and helpful and easy to work with. As far as home school curriculum companies go I give this one an A+.

Here is how it works…You read the story about the famous man, then the student spends the week doing the exercises in the Student Guide. The Student Guide is broken down into four sections per ‘Famous Man’. These sections are Facts to Know, Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, and Activities. You could easily make this last two weeks per ‘Famous Man’.

I love the idea of teaching history through the stories of the men of that time. It is a very engaging way to teach history. My children loved the stories and did not complain to heartily about the ‘workbook’. We are not generally workbook people so this was new for them. I was pleased at their response. I plan to continue this program as our main history text next year. It worked that well for us.

You can go here to find out more about the program and see the prices, and here to see what others had to say about Famous Men of Rome.

Now to Latina Christiana…

Honestly Latin scares me. I don’t speak Latin, in fact, if I’m not mistaken, no one speaks Latin. I have been told by many however, of the great benefits of having your students go through a Latin course. I have always wanted to do it. I would look at a program at the conventions, begin to get twitchy, and put it back and run away.

Initially I felt the same twitchiness when I looked at Latian Christiana, but because I was supposed to review it, I did not put it down and run away. Turns out, after some investigation, teaching Latin with this program is not quite as scary as I initially thought. In fact, here is the first sentence in the book… “Latina Christiana is designed for parents, teachers, and students who have no background in Latin or foreign language.” Hay! That’s ME!

Then I went on to the meaty section of the Teacher’s Manual and I found this quote… “This grammar overview is designed for the teacher who has no background in Latin. It is not necessary to understand it fully. Read carefully and then go on to the teacher guidelines. The content of this section will become clear as you teach the course.” Again, ME!

We did a small portion of this program and so far my favorite part is he pronunciation CD. Very helpful.

This program is designed to be done in one lesson a week doing a little each day.

Again, this program is one that we will continue to use as part of our main curriculum next year. I am very excited to dive fully into this program. Me…doing Latin…who’d a thunk it?

You can go here for more info on this program and for pricing and here to see what others had to say about his program.

Happy Homeschooling!

Tapestry of Grace

I was very excited to see Lampstand Press’s Tapestry of Grace on the line up this year for review. I had heard many people talking about it, usually great things, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and see for myself.

TOG is a Christian, Classical, Literature based Curriculum that teaches based on a Unit Study approach incorporating multiple grade levels. TOG covers history, church history, literature, geography, fine arts, government, philosophy, and writing & composition. TOG does not include a phonics program, science, math, grammar, spelling, or foreign language. Though its publisher Lampstand Press does recommend various programs that cover those subjects.

TOG has a 4 year rotation approach to history. This means that you will cover all of history in a 4 year time span. However, you will cover it at different levels of depth depending on your grade level.

Those are the facts…now for the opinions.

Personally I was disappointed to receive a digital version. I know that many companies are going that route and I understand the reason for it. I have even learned to embrace the digital versions of some items. But TOG In digital format is just too much in my opinion. This is an amazingly thorough program. If you did just half of what is in this program with your students you’d have extremely well educated children. But to wade through ALL that information on a screen is just more than I could take. I am sure this will change as we become accustomed to this format, but for me and my house? Give me paper.

However, I must add, there is one benefit to a digital version that you do not find in the print format. Once you sign up on their site, and there are MANY benefits of doing this, from the loom to the forums, you’ll have everything you have purchased in digital format saved on the site. That way if your computer crashes and you lose it all, your curriculum will still be saved, safely stored on TOG’s website. That’s handy!

As for the curriculum itself, like I said, it is extremely thorough. I really like the idea of one central theme or period of study being applicable to many grade levels. This makes the mom’s life a little easier.

One caution I would give you is that if you are a box checker, a must-do-it-all personality, run, do not walk away from this curriculum. You will kill yourself and your children’s love of learning if you try to do this curriculum in its entirety. It is just TOO MUCH. But if you are of the mind that you take what works and use it and don’t worry about the rest, you’ll love TOG as there is MUCH to choose from.

You can go to TOG’s website to read more about it and you can go here to try a three week sample!

Happy Homeschooling!

WriteShop Primary Book A

When I first started homeschooling there were not a lot of options as far as curriculum. Don’t get me wrong, it was better when I started that it was back in the early 80’s when you had only the big curriculum publishers who sold to private schools and you had to jump through hoops to get it. There were more choices when I started but not to the degree there are today.

Take Writeshop for instance. They have some wonderful stuff! I reviewed their Story Starters earlier in the year and more recently I was given the opportunity to review their Primary materials.

I am an eclectic homeschooler. I love the idea of getting a little of this from here and a little of that from there. I prefer to buy a writing curriculum from a publisher, preferably someone aimed at the homeschool market specifically, who publishes mostly stuff on writing or Language arts. It just makes sense. You don’t buy a washing machine from a car manufacturer.

Back to WriteShop. I really like what they sent me. WriteShop Primary Book A (B & C are in the works) is geared towards the K - 3rd grades. It is very gentle and relational which I LOVE. It is simple and specific. It eases you into writing with your early learner.

When I went through the book I liked how it was incremental and simple. I remember when I first started homeschooling and I would open the box of curriculum and look over the teacher’s manual then cry and then call the local public school and ask when I could bring my child. Okay, not really, but so much of the curriculum was overwhelming at first. WriteShop Primary A is not overwhelming. You can open it up, read the first few pages, grab your student, a piece of paper and a pencil and start. It’s that easy.

There are print versions (which I prefer) or e versions which have their benefits; immediate access and no shipping fees chief among them.

You can go here to see samples and here for pricing.

To those of you just starting out in this homeschooling adventure with your littles…you have it made!

You can click on the icon below to see what other Crew members had to say.

Happy Homeschooling!

Apologia Zoology 1

I was so happy to receive Apologia Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day in the mail. I knew that Apologia was sending me something, but I was unsure what it was until it came in the mail. I am familiar with Apologia’s material since we have done General Science, Physical Science, Biology and Advanced Biology (Anatomy). And I use the term ‘we’ very, very loosely. I helped my kids get the hang of General Science, being that it was the first textbookie thing my kids had come in contact with. Once they had the hang of it, it was pretty much all them. I graded the study questions and gave tests and occasionally helped them study for tests, but as for teaching, Apologia did that for me. Oh Happy Day!

I definitely had nothing to do with the Advanced Biology my Highschooler is doing now. He is studying words I don’t believe I’ve ever heard before. I am so pleased with this particular course of study, because my son is planning to go in the Health Science field (that’s the masculine term for nursing, FYI) and what he is learning in this course will directly benefit him in his chosen field.

Even though I am familiar with most of Apologia’s work, we have never used any of the elementary material. Personally, my theory on science in elementary school is that it should be fun and relational and observational (is that a word?). It should not be from a textbook. Students should watch documentaries about the planets and make models, they should observe the caterpillar and draw it and identify it. They should look up fish on the internet and the birds that come into our yard in their bird books. Science should not come from a textbook in the early grades.

So, imagine my surprise to receive this early elementary textbook and actually like it! This is not your mama’s textbook. There are projects and experiments, suggestion for narration and notebooking exerscizes, and it’s all done from a creationist standpoint. The book itself has wonderful pictures and is written in a very engaging way. It is not the dry stuff of the textbooks of yore. One of my favorite things is the list of items the student needs for each chapter broken down by lesson at the front of the book. This is VERY handy.

I did a few chapters with my daughters (ages 10 & 11) to get a feel for the curriculum to be able to review it for you. However, I have decided to pick it up in the Fall and do the complete course. My girls really enjoyed this book and so did I.

I have done a little research on how I am going to implement it fully next year and have found a wealth of information and various extras that can be added on like book lists, lapbook ideas, schedules, and extra experiments. I was amazed at how many people have loved this curriculum and have done some wonderful things with it.

I can’t wait for next school year to dive fully into it!

Happy Homeschooling

Schleich Action Figures

How cool are these?



I keep getting sent the coolest toys to review for you, which is nice, but also kinda frustrating because they’re about 14 years too late.








My boys would have LOVED these when they were little! I spent at least 12 years toting around some sort of miniature motor vehicle or animal replica in my purse. My boys loved cars and animals.

They didn’t have little animal replicas like this when my boys were little. Not that I can remember anyway. These things are so realistic! They are also just heavy enough to be sturdy, but not so heavy that you couldn’t manage to carry a few around in your purse for your emergency entertainment needs.

Schleich makes some really great stuff! They offer a lot more than just animals. You can go here to see what else they offer. I mean look at the Knights! How adorable!



Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play with my new toys arrange the animal replicas in a nice display.


Happy Homeschooling!

Beautifully Made

I was sent a set of books, entitled Beautifully Made, written by the founders of Generations of Virtue. It is a set of three books about a girls changing body. I so appreciated how this set of books was described on the website that I have copied and pasted it here. I don’t think I can improve upon this description…

Written by the founders of Generations of Virtue (various women and teenagers), this set of books is specifically designed to help guide girls and their mothers through the passage from girlhood to womanhood. These books focus on a girl's first period and what a beautiful and wonderful time that is. The message of this series is that women are blessed with God's gift to be able to give life. Our culture has made a women's period out to be a burden, but our desire was to write something that really celebrated the period and emphasized the positive aspects of womanhood--not the negatives. Both mother and daughter can go through the first two books together. These books are sensitively designed with young girls in mind: they only focus on a girl's body changes and do not go into boys and their changes.

These books are just that. They are not sensationalized or gimmickie, they are simple and yet very deep. I personally found them very helpful. I have two daughters who, despite my best efforts to find a way to freeze time, are growing up quickly. I am so very grateful to have these books sitting on my shelf waiting for the time when they will be needed.

The price for this set is 18.99. I think it’s worth every dime.

I was only sent this set of books from Generations of Virtue, but in doing my research for this review I found many other things on their website that I have my eye on, things specific for boys and girls. What a great resource Generations of Virtue is!

Happy Homeschooling!