Early Modern History Schedule

The following review is for an Early Modern History Schedule. For those of you who have thought of history as boring, I highly encourage you to take a look at this history schedule.
 It is structured around The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer.  This schedule lays out the day to day lesson plans for 36 weeks and includes a list of suggested curriculum choices, book lists and materials shopping list.  Each of the week's lesson includes review questions and an answer key. There are helpful icons included on each week's page spreadsheet of assignments that help the teacher to quickly see when  activites are scheduled. Some of those activities include a mapping exercise, history summary, history songs and reading narration. 
The Content for this schedule includes:
7 week unit on the Explorers
5 week unit on the 13 Colonies
8 week unit on Colonial Americ
5 week unit "Road to Independence"
11 week unit on the American Revolution. 

Each week's lessons also include assignments from other Easy Classical Resources that need to be purchased separately. 

I enjoyed implementing the schedule alongside the history program I was using.  It was very organized and easy to read and easy to use.  I would recommend it to those using the classical and non classical approach.  One certainly does not have to be using the classical method to implement this history schedule. 
The digital copy price is 29.95.
The Notebook version is 35.95
This history schedule is 106 pages an is intended for grades K-6.



I received a  digital copy for free for review purposes only.  The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Give Away-- A Beautiful Fresh Wreath

A Wise Woman Builds  is giving away a beautiful fresh wreath to one lucky winner.  To enter click here.

Our Land Publications Review

I recently had the opportunity to review My Texas by Our Land Publications. I wasn't sure what to expect at first.  History is such an interesting subject and yet it can come across so dry and dull through many curriculums.  However, this certainly was not the case with My Texas.

What I immediately noticed was its chronological order and how well organized it was put together.  As I read through the introductory, it gave a great overview for steps to success with it.  The teacher's manual came in a white binder put together and ready to use and provided an overview of all the lessons. 

The lessons are in the form of a news article.  Each issue's size is equivalent to two sheets of 8.5 X11 paper with information on the front and back.  Within that space, one textbook chapter is actually covered, but because it is kept informal and succinct it is interesting and does not come across dry or boring.   The issues are numbered  so it allows for easy planning.  I simply made a lesson file by taking number dividers through 25 and adding each issue to its appropriate divider.  The great thing was it tied in perfectly with our American history study as well. It touched upon the same explorers we were studying about in American history. 

Some of the great things about this program are:
Structure:  It presents everything chronologically
Organization: Everything came put together.
User Friendly:
Hands on (the student will write in it and assemble it in their own folder, binder or envelope (which promotes ownership) The author's goal is to make them feel it is truly "My Texas" or whichever state they are studying.
Encourages discussion (through the use of the questions)
Issues are divided into bite sized teachings
Topics are presented informaly and interestingly
Provides copies of maps, charts and drawings

The age level recommendation is upper elementary or middle school class (in which the  study of Texas state history is focused on.)  My 8 and 10 yr old are using it  and they are enjoying it very much.

I can not think of how to improve this program so far.  We have obviously not finished it but I am extremely impressed with what I have seen of it so far.  I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a state history program. 

Other states are offered as well such as My California, My Illinois, My Indiana and a Land of Liberty in various set accomodations.
The price for the set of the  teacher's manual and all  25 Issues of My Texas was $179.00.   Individual pieces can also be purchased separately here.


 I was given a set of My Texas for review purposes only.  The opinons expressed here are solely my own.

Talking Fingers Review

I received the opportunity to review Talking Fingers for The OldSchool House.  Initially I was concerned that my children would be unable to use it because of their age.  However, I found out it is designed for children K-3rd grade. 

Talking Fingers is based on the idea that text is speech made visible.  When children begin to link speech sounds to letters they can use the alphabet to write the sounds.  "Their fingers are talking"

The Read, Write, Type Learning System costs $79.00 for the Home Edition on CD.  If you have multiple children that will be using this program then it may be the best way to go.
Otherwise the individual pricing is as follows.
                                 $35.00 1 user
                                 $55.00 2 users
                                 $70.00 3 users
                                 $85.00 4 users
                               $100.00 5 users
The one year subscription includes over 90 games, typing lessons, animated stories, and writing samples.   It includes, phonics, spelling, keyboarding and word processing to help the child/student make the connection.  I received the online version and had my middle child try it out.  She really liked it.  It has a storyline of two hands (Lefty and Rightway) trying to defeat a villain named Vexor.  It enables the student to learn proper hand positions and the program grows in complexity as the children learn more letters and sounds to create words. 

LanSchool Technology Review

Lanschool is a computer program that allows you to interact with your student(s) using a computer for classroom work.

*Reduces Distractions for Student: It helps eliminate many distractions that can interfere with a student completing his work by limiting web browsing on student computers and blanking screens. It also can help eliminate distractions such as games and messaging.
*Monitors Students: It helps monitor student activity within a classroom setting. Teachers have the ability to send messages to the students and allows all screens to be viewed with the current application running.
* Assess Student Understanding: Students can be polled during a lecture with true/false or multiple choice questions.
*Individual help:  Students can silently request help from the teacher by submitting a question that appears on their computer screen along with a question mark to alert the teacher there is a question or help is needed.
*Monitor Internet History :  Monitor all history
* Screen snapshot: Provides a snapshot of student's current computer screen. Parent/teacher are able to easily see if they are on task.
*Limit Printing:  Print options can be disabled on any of the computers set up with it.
*Web Limiting:  Limit website accessiblity

The goal of LanSchool is to help educators teach more effectively with innovative software solutions.

It is priced at 99.00 for the home version.  I phone or I pad apps are available for free at the I tunes store.

I think this is an excellent product for a homeschool that has students doing a good amount of work from their computer or for an older student.  Currently my children do not do schoolwork from a computer so it did not fit our needs at this time.  However, I can certainly see it coming in very handy in the future with multiple children as they begin to use the computer on a more regular basis.




*****I was offered this product at no charge for review purposes only. 

New Monic: Vocabulary Cartoons Review

Schleich Animal Figurines: Review

Our family recently had the opportunity to review a collection of Schleich animal figurines for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. If you think you have never heard of the name Schleich you may be surprised to learn that you have probably seen the toy figurine collection.

Even before I had the privilege of reviewing them, my children had spotted them in the toy aisle at Target and clamored for some. The word "toys" doesn't adequately describe them. They are high quality, very detailed, hand painted play figurines. They are not your typical lightweight cheap plastic (which if your children are like mine) can be destroyed quickly. Instead, these are very sturdy and weighted.

We received 8 figurines. Two horses and a pony, which my girls loved and quickly wanted to use with their Polly Pockets. A donkey, a Swabian-Hall piglet, an adult and calf Gnu, and an Asian elephant calf. My little one picked them up and decided he would build a barn for them with his Lincoln Logs. They entertained him for a long time which is hard to do.

As we browsed through their catalog we saw the large assortment they had to offer. It wasn't just animals, although there was a large assortment of those that would be very beneficial for a geography study especially considering the catalog describes which continent each animal is from. However, they also offer knights, smurfs, dinosaurs, dragons, fairies, dogs, cats and much much more. My children enjoyed looking through the catalog just as much as playing with the figurines. Each of my childrent  took turns choosing  which one they would like to get next.

Photos will be posted soon so that you may see some of the details for yourself. The Schleich website does not sell directly so prices will vary by store. Target and Toys R Us carries a good selection of them.

I have been very pleased with them and my children love them. I will definitely be purchasing more as birthday and Christmas gifts.