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HomeSchoolPiano {Schoolhouse Review}

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Have you always wanted to learn piano at home?  How about your children?  Look no further than HomeSchoolPiano!
HomeSchoolPiano allows you to learn piano in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace.  This program is a complete piano training program for all ages, young and old.  And it’s easy to use.
HomeSchoolPiano requires you to join their program online where you will be given instant access to the Homeschool Piano: Complete Set of Books which includes the CorePiano program and also three other lesson books:
Book 1: Perfect for Beginners
Book 2: Building A Foundation
Book 3: Unlocking the Pianist Within
CorePiano teaches the student the basics of piano before they start using the HomeSchoolPiano lesson books.  This program contains 33 lessons that can be reviewed at any time by the students.  Each lesson teaches something unique to piano playing.  The goal in this program is to ensure the student has the best experience possible while using the HomeSchoolPiano curriculum.
This book is perfect for the beginning pianist.  It teaches the student about the basics of piano playing.  You learn keys, notes and rests in this book.  You are also provided an activity book which is printable to use along with this book and a download of Jam Tracks for book 1.
Book 1 contains 6 units.  Each unit lesson contains the necessary tools for completion.  You can download videos and audio for the lesson and you can watch videos online to complete the lessons.  There are also quizzes throughout the ensure the student is learning the materials taught in the program.
Book 2 further expands on piano learning beginning with Baseline and left hand finger independence.  This helps to establish blue’s based music.  Rhythms and melodies are also covered within this book.
Book 2 is also broken down into 6 units.  These units are broken into smaller lessons in each which cover important skills for piano playing.  There are downloads and videos for each part of the lessons in each unit.
Book 3 introduces triplets and chord symbols used in Piano.  Further expansion of the Bassline is covered and Arpeggios are introduced.  In the last unit, Voice Leading is also covered.
Like the other two books in this program, this book also contains 6 units broken into lessons.  It also contains downloads and videos to watch as you learn.  This is the last book in the lesson series.
Each of the videos provided in the lessons in the books above provide the student with a thorough lesson on Piano covering the topic being taught.  The student is expected to listen to the instructor talk about the lesson and to complete the exercises and activities within the lesson.  At the end of each unit the student should be able to perform a song specific to the lesson itself.
The videos vary in length so time for the lesson will also vary in length.  Plus these lessons are self-paced and can be replayed as needed to build performance skills and to help practice the skills learned within the lesson.  Typical to any online video, lessons can be skipped forward and backward easily to repeat any section that may have been difficult for the student to understand or that the student may simply need to repeat a few times to visually see the technique used in the lesson.
HomeSchoolPiano is an extracurricular curriculum program designed to be used several times a week or however often you see fit.  It can be used with multiple students making it easy to use with everyone in your family.  The lessons can be viewed anywhere at any time.  The lessons can be viewed on any phone, tablet or computer as needed by your students.  The only thing required for this program is the device to play the lessons and a piano of some kind to implement the activities being taught during the lessons.
HomeSchoolPiano follows a 6 step cycle to teach it’s lessons.  The steps are Technique, Rhythm, Ear Training, Reading Music, Song and Improvisation.  This works together to provide a thorough unit lesson and learning.
We used HomeSchoolPiano several days a week for the review period.  We had a few weeks that we did not use it as much as I’d like due to summer activities we’ve had going on but the kids were able to easily use and learn a lot from this program in that time period.  Winston (13) and Emmalee (11) were able to easily follow along.  Laycie (6) needed a bit of help from Mommy for lessons she completed but she enjoyed the things she did work on.
HomeSchoolPiano has two packaging prices for purchasing:
The Success Package is a one time payment of $299.  This gives you life-time access to HomeSchoolPiano’s website lessons, as well as all the downloads that go along with it for up to 5 students.  That includes the downloads, jam tracks and sheet music for every lesson!
The Payment Plan package allows you the same access as the Success Package but it allows you to pay for the program in three easy installations of $99.97 for 3 months.
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Diana Waring’s Experience History Through Music {Crew Review}

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Experience History Through Music from Diana Waring Presents

If you are in search of a great program to bring life to your American History program, look no further than Diana Waring’s Experience History Through Music collection.  These three amazing books are jam-packed with great songs, stories, and more to be used as an accessory product to any American History curriculum.  Experience History Through Music is like taking a trip back in time.

Diana Waring is the author of the History Revealed world history curriculum.  Her educational philosophy is that “the key to education is relationship”.  Diana began homeschooling her children in the early 80’s and continued to do so all the way through high school.  While searching for a great history curriculum, she was unable to find a program that suited her family, so she decided to create her own.  Over time she shared this curriculum with others and that eventually led her to publish it so homeschoolers every where could use the programs.

Diana has an extensive background in music which she has shared with her family.  Her grandfathers on both sides had unique musical talents and passed their love of music on to Diana.  This lead to her learning to play several instruments early on in life: clarinet, oboe, and even guitar.  Her musical talents led to her learning the beautiful folk songs that she shares with her in her Experience History Through Music series.  Her first book was actually an early version of America from this very series.
Experience History Through Music is not an actual curriculum.  It is instead a supplementary program which can be used as an addition to any curriculum or can stand alone on it’s own.  There is no set schedule for using this program and while using it, you won’t even realize you are learning!  It’s simply a fun way to introduce History to students through music.
Each of the books in the Experience History Through Music program focuses on a different aspect and time period of American History.  The program contains three print books with CD’s.  Each book is unique to it’s time period.  Inside each book you will find dozens of gorgeous images, stories to connect each of the songs to the piece of history it’s linked to, sheet music and more.  The CD’s are professional recordings of the songs shared within each book.

America 1750-1890: The Heart of a New Nation
This book in the series begins by sharing Folk music that dates back to the Revolution and onto through colonial days of early American History.  Beginning with Yankee Doodle, this book shares the background of the song along with an image appropriate to the song’s time period.  The book is formatted to share the stories of the songs, then later share the song’s sheet music and lyrics in the second section of the book.

America is my favorite of the series set.  This book is filled with some of my favorites from American History and I could listen to it again and again.  I sing a reworded version of Yankee Doodle to Jackson as his song, changing the lyrics to fit to my Jackson-Doodle.  Erie Canal is another favorite that we have found is hard to locate to listen to so we were thrilled to see it included with this curriculum.  She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain is a song I used to sing while waiting for the schoolbus every morning when I attended public school in the late 80’s- early 90’s.  Listening to this CD brings back so many childhood memories!

Westward Ho!  The Heart of the Old West
This book covers history from the earliest days of the Old West.  It is formatted in the same form as America and filled with stories and pictures to learn from.  Many of these songs were new to us but we greatly enjoyed them.  Westward Ho! and Home On The Range were childhood favorites of mine which I loved sharing with the kids.  We learned a lot about America’s past from this book!

Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder
This book focuses on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and music from her lifetime.  This book is written by William Anderson who is a biographer for Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Photographs shared within this book come from Leslie A. Kelly, the internationally known Little House photographer.  Many of these songs were also new to me, though some I had heard on the tv series about Mrs. Wilder’s books.  Some of my childhood favorites are Buffalo Gals, Pop! Goes the Weasel and Sweet By and By.  These songs also evoked great memories that I was happy to share with my family.

Since this book in the series concentrates solely on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, this book would make a great accessory to anyone reading her books and learning about this time period of life through history related to Laura.  The book is filled with images and stories about Laura’s life.  It was wonderful to see this beautifully designed book share so much about such an inspiring person!

We have loved listening and learning from the Experience History Through Music series.  This is something we have played over and over both at home and in the car while traveling.  It’s been enjoyed by every member of our family.  The kids love to look over the great images in the books and we have had many discussions of the stories on the pages within.

Diana Waring’s Experience History Through Music series can be purchased for $18.99 per book in the set.  If you purchase the set during July (at the time of this posting),  you can bundle the set and purchase it for $50.  This amazing series is worth every penny and can be used again and again in your home!  I am sure your family will enjoy these books just as much as we have in our homes!

You can find Diana Waring Presents online in the following places:

Twitter: @DianaWaring

WriteShop {Crew Review}

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WriteShop is another of our curriculum favorites.  WriteShop is a top of the line writing curriculum for kids.  This program beats any other I have used.  For this review, we received a copy of WriteShop Primary: Book C e-Book Set to use.
WriteShop is easy for kids to understand and also easy for parents to put to use.  The program features packages for Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade with different levels to fit your student’s needs.  WriteShop covers writing for everyone!
WriteShop Primary: Book C Set is for students in 2nd-3rd grade and remedial 4th graders.  If you’re unsure if this level is right for your child, there is a placement test available to help you choose!  This simple and quick test will help you place your child into the correct level of WriteShop for them.
WriteShop Primary: Book C Set comes with both a teacher’s manual and one set of the student activity sheets pack.  These can be ordered in print or as an e-Book set.  I chose the e-Book set because I am able to reprint it for home use as many times as needed.  This allows us to redo any worksheets that my children may not understand and to print the lesson for multiple students.  This is great for us since my older children work on the same level for school lessons.
Both the teacher and student activity sheet pack for Book C are adorable.  They are filled with cute animals throughout to help make the lessons fun.  This also helps keep students and teachers from getting bored with the program.  Imagery is used throughout for this purpose.
The teacher’s guide discusses how the program works.  It helps you set up lessons that work for you and your students.  It suggests ideas to help in the process of teaching the lessons.  It provides ideas for extra work and games as well.  The guide is thorough and easy to understand for even the most inexperienced of teachers.
WriteShop also helps you to set up a plan for your lessons covering more than one student on differing levels so that you, the teacher, are not overwhelmed with teaching multiple students.  This is a great help for Mom’s like me who has multiple students on one level and another student on a lower level of the program.  Because of the suggestions in the program, I was able to create a plan that worked great for us to use at home.
WriteShop also helps you to set up a Writing Center for use in lessons as well.  The Writing Center helps to promote better writing skills in students.  This can be a permanent or portable station for you to use.
In the Writing Center, students can find a manuscript writing chart, cursive chart, and upper and lower case letters.  There should also be paper of various types, mostly lined.  A children’s thesaurus and dictionary is also suggested for this center.  And don’t forget writing tools such as crayons, pens and pencils! Putting all these things into one place makes learning easier for your students.  There are a great many additional suggestions for a Writing Center shared within the teacher’s guide for Book C.
Every WriteShop lesson has a focus and a theme.  The focus provides an important skill to be taught.  The theme helps make the focus interesting and fun.  These work together to provide a great lesson that keep students interested.
In the teacher’s guide, you will find objectives listed at the beginning of each lesson.  You will also find a list of needed supplies and before-hand prep to be done to make the lessons flow smoothly.  Utilize this as it’s there to help keep you organized and ready to go.
The 254 page teacher’s guide covers everything you need to complete your WriteShop lessons.  The plans are extensive and are easily implemented in your home studies.  It can be printed for use by the purchaser only to be used for lessons at home.
The student activity sheet pack is 25 pages in length and can be printed for use as home for multiple students as needed.  This activity pack provides all the worksheets to be used for the lessons taught in the teacher’s guide.  They are complementary in design and fun for students to use.  An evaluation chart is provided in the back of the student activity pack to help you evaluate how much your student has learned and see where additional practice is needed.  
WriteShop Primary: Level C Set is available for purchase for $35.95 in print or $29.50 as an e-book which is what I used for this review.  Additionally, the Student Activity Sheet Pack for Book C can be purchased in print for $5.95 or as an e-Book for $4.50.
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Moving Beyond The Page {Crew Review}

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Moving Beyond the Page Review

Have you ever found a curriculum that simply blows you away and makes you reconsider everything you’ve ever used for homeschooling?  For me that curriculum company is Moving Beyond the Page.  Their unit studies are so thorough, so simple to use and yet so much fun!

For this review, we were given access to our choice of products.  Trust me, this was NOT an easy decision to make.  Since we have been studying the Revolutionary War in relation to our Hometown of Georgetown, SC, I choose two units that I thought we best fit to our current lessons.  For our Language Arts Package, I chose Abigail Adams and for our History Package, I chose Revolution.

{Language Arts – Abigail Adams,   History – Revolution}

 

As soon as I saw Moving Beyond the Page listed as one of our vendors, I knew I didn’t want to miss out.  I reviewed another set of packaged programs for this company with the Schoolhouse Team last year and we absolutely LOVED it.  I wanted to see if we’d feel the same way this year and I’m happy to say we still LOVE them.

Our Language Arts Package provided us with an online guidebook to use and a physical book to read to learn all about the life of Abigail Adams.  The book we received is Abigail Adams Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober.  It is filled with information on Mrs. Adams life and the things she saw during this important time in the early beginning of America. 


The online guide for Abigail Adams provides a wonderful lesson plan which is simple to follow.  You simply log into the website and follow the links.  There are activity pages that can be printed out to use with the lessons being learned.  There are also bonus suggestions from others to help you extend your lessons  even farther.  I really enjoy the formatting of the online guide and the extra content that helps to bring the lessons to life.

I must admit though, my children found the book on Mrs. Adams lengthy and slightly boring and so did I since I was reading it to them.  I think this book and lesson package would be better suited for a more structured homeschool setting than ours.  I was able to find readings from various websites and books from the library to help us make our lessons more interesting.  There were some areas where reading the information provided in the book Abigail Adams Witness to a Revolution could not be avoided and we read through and did learn a lot from the reading.

For our History Package, we were sent a physical copy of the Revolution Guidebook, along with the hands-on book Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa and We Were There, Too!  Young People in US History by Phillip Hoose.  I will admit this package was immediately a favorite of both myself and the kiddos.  Both these books are amazing and they add so much to the lesson itself.

Great Colonial America Projects contains so many interesting facts and super-fun projects to complete!  It includes words to know which can be used for Vocabulary exercises and also for copywork.  It features different persons from the time period throughout the book, providing a better look at those important historical figures and their influence on American History.  This book also gives timeline tidbits would could easily be used to create a physical timeline in your lessons.  There are so many things we learned from this one little book!

We Were There, Too! is a beautiful book itself.  It’s a glossy covered, hardback book that is sturdily made.  It reads like a textbook but the stories are so interesting.  They really draw the reader in and the students as well.  Beginning with the discovery of America, this book takes you on a long walk through History.  One that you won’t soon forget.

We Were There, Too! also contains new words that can be used for Vocabulary, Spelling, Copywork and more.  Lessons on the specific people who made History happen can be easily expanded upon though the book is pretty thorough in examining these people and is historically accurate in it’s information.  This book is a wonderful addition to our lessons and our homeschooling.

The Revolution Guidebook is approximately 168 pages long.  It begins with covering history from the settling of America which did surprise me, as I was expecting it to only cover the actual Revolutionary period and the War itself.  I was thrilled to discover it began with America’s settlement and covered some information that we had already been discussing in our homeschooling over the weeks before we began this study.

The guidebooks for both of these packages are written so that the teacher can jump right in and begin right away.  The packages come with the books and some packages come with extra activities that may otherwise be hard to locate so that you can easily begin the study.  These packages are set up as unit studies and as most unit studies do, they cover the information being learned thoroughly both by providing excellent reading selections with the chosen books and by providing a thorough and completely planned guidebook to direct the teacher through the lesson. 


  We used these unit studies together in conjuction as much as possible.  They fit well together, since Abigail Adams was a witness to the Revolution which we were discussing in the Revolution study.  We used these lessons almost daily over the review period and we learned a lot from them.  We also learned a lot about the history of our hometown, and nearby Charleston in the process.  We enjoyed how the lessons brought so much of our home’s past to life for us.

The guidebooks provide lessons activities, extensions, suggestions for extra books to read and so much more.  Best yet, they are so so so easy to follow.  We have learned so much with these lesson packages in such a short time because of the simple and easy layout which makes it easy to jump right in and learn.  I’m really considering switching other parts of our learning program to Moving Beyond the Page because of the ease of using the program and it’s completeness.

The packaging prices aren’t bad either.  The Language Arts Package for Abigail Adams with the Online Guidebook is priced as $26.88 at time of this review.  This includes access to the guidebook online and the physical book Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution.  This package is designed for use with students ages 12-14 or who have a reading level of 8-9th grade.

The History Package for Revolution with a printed copy of the guidebook is $65.93.  It comes with the guidebook in print copy, a copy of Great Colonial American Projects You Can Build Yourself and We Were There, Too!: Young People in US History.  This package is designed for use with students age 12-14 or who have a reading level of 8-9th grade.

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Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt {Crew Review}

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Veritas Press is an amazing company with amazing curriculum that we truly love.  For this review, we used their Self-Paced History program.  I chose the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt for Emmalee to work through.
Emmalee is 11 and is an exceptional student.  She bores easily when she learns because she absorbs knowledge in lessons so quickly and most programs do not teach enough factual information for her, so I knew this program would be perfect for her to use.  She’s great using a computer and had no issues learning to maneuver through the program.  The fact that it is self-paced was perfect for her since it allowed her to work without having to wait on me to teach her or wait for my other children to reach her next lesson.
Veritas Press courses begin with thorough lessons in how to use their programming.  This section of the lesson really teaches the student how to use every single aspect of the program so they get the best results in learning.  They cover everything from how to move forward and back with the browser buttons, to how to complete online tests and everything in between.  I liked the thoroughness because it alleviated the need for me to be right beside Emmalee as she learned with the Self-Paced History course.
I chose the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt course for Emmalee because she has a recent interest in learning about the old world and way of life.  Her current interest is actually Dinosaurs and Pre-Historic creatures but I knew that this section of history would be of interest to her as well.  She loves learning about the long-ago past and what better way than through a study of the Old Testament and of Ancient Egypt’s life and culture.
Since the course is self-paced, Emmalee was able to work on as many lessons as she wished in a day and take as long as needed to complete them.  In our home, we do not focus on “grades” but we do focus on learning.  The information provided in this program was wonderful for her and she learned so much.
The program does give a grade, as it does test the student in the lessons being covered as the student works through the program.  These tests are done directly on the computer and the student often has multiple choice answers to choose from.  Emma did well with her test but not quite as well as I would have liked because she didn’t have all the needed components for the review until the review period was almost past.  She was missing the very important History Cards that are covered within each part of the lesson.  Once these cards arrived in the mail, her learning increased.  Like me, Emma is a person who needs everything together and ready to go in order to work and missing even one thing will throw her lessons completely off kilter.
The Veritas Press History Cards are beautiful designed flashcards created to go along with the lessons in the program.  They are an important part of the program as they contain lots of information about the lesson being learned.  They are also great for lesson reviewing and reminders between the lessons being learned.  Each section of the program focuses on a different card but some cards are reviewed as the lessons are worked through.  
Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt covers 32 important historical events from this time period.  The course has 160 class periods to learn in, giving a student a full year of History to learn.  It is expected that lessons range from 30 – 50 minutes each and will depend on the pace of your child.  It is recommended that 5 lessons per week be completed to be able to finish the program in a year’s time.
The program is interactive and includes videos, games, and more.  Some memorization is expected and your child should be independant enough to follow along with the programs instructions before using this program.  Also material testing is a part of the lessons for this program.
Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt is for students in 2nd – 6th grades.  The website recommends the program for children older than age 7.  Additional literature packages can be purchased to go along with this program as well.  
The cost for Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt is $199 for a year.  There is a sibling discount available if you have more than one child working through the program.  The Veritas Press History Cards for the Old Testament and Ancient Egypt are available for $19.95.
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Library and Educational Services: Go Science DVD Series 2 {Crew Review}

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Welcome to Learning Time with Ben Roy!  Ben Roy is the “teacher” on Library and Educational Services excellent Go Science DVD’s.  He’s so much more than a teacher though as he loves to bring Science to life for children.
Go Science DVD’s have been created to be used with children who are ages 6-10.  For this review, we used the second series of the DVD’s.  Last year, we reviewed their original series.  Because we LOVED those so much, we chose two new videos for review this year.
and
These videos were just as great this year as they were last!  Over the past year, we’ve watched our original Go Science DVD’s multiple times.  I didn’t notice a lot of differences between series one and two.  There are some new transitional effects but the main content is just as great as the originals.
Each video is a little over an hour long with segments in each covering the topics that the DVD is about.  Each segment lasts just a few minutes but packs a lot of information into that time frame.  You can choose to view the DVD by individual segments or to play all.  We like to play all because once we start learning, it’s hard to stop.  Plus Ben Roy really makes Science interesting with his comical ways and his witty humor.  I really learn a lot just listening along!  So do the kids!
Go Science videos are a huge hit around our house and this series is one we go to over and over.  The kids and I both enjoy watching the experiments and we have tried a few on our own after watching.  We’ve also used what we’ve learned through the videos to try out other experiments of our own.  Just viewing these videos has definitely changed our learning process and our own experiments in Science.
Through Go Science DVD Volume 1, we learned about the sounds that instruments make and were able to see an piano that had been taken a part.  Ben Roy showed us how the piano works which was completely new information for me.  Another fun experiment was the screaming soda pop can.  This one can be done at home with supervision.
On the main menu of Go Science DVD Volume 1: Sound, Gravity, Space you can choose between these three topics.  Clicking on each will provide a second menu of experiments that are related to each of these topics.  Between the three topics, there are 15 different segments with experiments to watch and learn about.
Go Science DVD Volume 2: Life Science and Weather starts the same way.  Clicking on each topic leads to a second menu.  Between the two menus, there are 12 episodes with experiments to watch.  Things like a Fire Tornado and Ping Pong Cannon, or How Much Do Your Lungs Hold are covered on this DVD.
Two of our favorites from Go Science DVD Volume 2 are the Naked Egg and Cloud In A Bottle.
The Naked Egg is the experiment where you soak the egg in vinegar until the shells dissolves leaving only the egg membrane and yolk in tact.  The egg feels rubbery and is see through.  This is a great experiment to really show what’s inside an Egg.
Cloud in a Bottle is an experiment where you place a bit of alcohol into a 2 liter soda bottle then pump air inside.  Clouds really form from this experiment.  Watching and learning how clouds are created lead us to find other cloud experiments to complete at home.

We love that Go Science DVD’s leave us thinking and wanting to learn more.  You can purchase these wonderful DVD’s through Library and Educational Services for $8.97 individually or you can purchase the 7 DVD series set for $59.82.
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