homeschool curriculum

Homeschool Movie Club: Dolphin Tale 2 Curriculum {Review}

September 13, 2014 by Dana

A Dolphin Tale 2 came out today and we could not be more excited. In preparation for this movie’s release, we were given the chance to take a look at the Dolphin Tale 2 Homeschool Curriculum that goes along with the movie from the Homeschool Movie Club. This curriculum far surpassed our expectations!

Homeschool Movie Club’s Dolphin Tale 2 curriculum begins with a introduction video to the movie and curriculum. Following this introduction are 5 lessons jam-packed full of learning material to go along with the movie. Each lesson includes a video and a PDF of information which can be printed and easily followed along. There’s also an answer key and a bonus curriculum for the movie from Classical Conversations as well.

Each lesson of the curriculum covers a different aspect of learning about Dolphins. Beginning with anatomy, differences in their living in the wild and in captivity, and more. Each of the PDF’s provides coloring pages, games, information and so much more about Dolphins and their care.

Homeschool Movie Club has made learning about Dolphins easy by providing a thorough curriculum plan all in one place. This is a curriculum that the whole family can enjoy together, young and old. It’s a great bonus to go along with viewing the movie.

The Homeschool Movie Club also has curriculum for other great movies available for free through their website. You can find curriculum for the following movies: How To Train Your Dragon, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, The Blind Side, Ramona and Beezus, War Horse and Little Angels. Each of these available curriculums are just as wonderful as the Dolphin Tale 2 curriculum. Homeschool Movie Club is a wonderful asset for learning through movies at home.

As a bonus for this review, we have a great Dolphin Tale 2 set to give away to one lucky reader. This set includes a great Dolphin Tale 2 T-shirt in blue and one pair of Dolphin Tale 2 sunglasses. What a great way to spread the word of this wonderful movie with others! If you’d like to win this prize package, then please leave me a comment telling me who the Dolphin lover in your family is and why’d they’d love to win this prize!

This giveaway will end on Friday, September 19th at 8pm. The winner will be notified as soon as possible.

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Roman Roads Media: Dave Raymond’s American History Part 1 {Crew Review}

August 7, 2014 by Dana

For this review we used Dave Raymond’s American History 1 DVD set which are lessons for home. This program is for grades 6 and up. This curriculum sells for $75 through Roman Roads Media.

Until this review, I had never heard of Roman Roads Media or Dave Raymond. Both the company and Mr. Raymond were completely new to me so I didn’t really know what to expect. I have been pleasantly surprised by Dave Raymond’s American History 1.

Dave Raymond’s American History 1 is an 8 DVD disc set containing 26 lessons with 4 projects to be completed while using this program. Also included in this multimedia disc are Teacher’s Guides and Student Readers which help to complete the program’s lessons. These are found in files stored on Discs 1 and 5 and are accessible by computer.

I chose to review this DVD using the computer. I found that it was a little tricky to get the program to work at first. I had trouble accessing the menu through the DVD player I was using. Once I figured that out, we were good to go.

The program begins with an Orientation in which Dave Raymond tells viewers what is expected by using the curriculum, how to take notes, and other specifics to using this program. I must admit, though this part was extremely important, it was also extremely boring to view. I was happy just to get through it.

Lesson 2 jumps right into to the beginnings of History. The program is Biblical based and does discuss parts of the Bible throughout. I found this nice since I am always looking to relate the Bible into our daily curriculum.

Dave Raymond teaches every lesson on these DVD’s. Viewing them reminded me of sitting in my US History class in High School. He was quite animated and thorough in the information provided per lesson being taught. He never strays from the subject and uses speech to help create visuals for students using the program.

Each video also shows photos related to the era of time being covered and the topic being discussed throughout the video. This was a so-so aspect to me as I like videos that really bring places to life for my children. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it worked well for the program.

Overall, this program is like an online course with an instructor talking you through the lessons. You check in for each lesson and complete the tasks he directs you through. You are expected to take notes and also keep a portfolio as you work through the program.

Dave Raymond’s American History 1 would be amazing for students who like that classroom feel. It’s also great for students learning to note-take in lessons and complete school lessons in preparation for a college classroom. I can see structured students in grades 6 and up using this. I found it challenging and fun to use, a definite review and reminder of American History for me.

My children were honestly bored with this program but I think in time it will be a great asset for our family to use. I like they get to see a structured lesson that allows note-taking as this is not at all what we do normally in our homeschooling classroom. The videos are packed with wonderful information about American History though and this was extremely beneficial to our learning at home. Also, important words and phrases are written directly onto the video section where they are being discussed and I loved that because it allowed the kids to really see those words, helping to promote reading and recognition of these important words and phrases from History. Really great stuff in my opinion.

I will be continuing to use this program for myself at this time. I really enjoyed the videos and lessons personally though my children aren’t quite ready for this program. I can see us definitely using it in the future for schoolwork. I personally found the review of American History refreshing and it has helped me remember important details to cover with my children as I teach them American History in the future.

This curriculum retails for $75 for the full set of Dave Raymond’s American History 1 DVD program. It can be purchased through Roman Roads Media and would be a great addition to any homeschool wanting to learn more about American History and looking for a more structured curriculum to use. It is all on DVD but a Teacher’s Guide and Student Reader are included and can be accessed from the disc through the computer.

You can also find Roman Roads Media online in the following places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RomanRoadsMedia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RomanRoadsMedia

Pinterst: https://www.pinterest.com/romanroadsmedia/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/115410002124541916147/posts

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/romanroadsmedia/videos

To read more reviews of Roman Roads Media products, please click on the banner below!

Moving Beyond The Page {Crew Review}

July 10, 2014 by Dana

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.

You can also find Moving Beyond the Page on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/movingbeyondthepage

To read more reviews of Moving Beyond the Page and see other curriculum packages available, please click on the banner below!