Redhanded Homeschool High Fives ~ Our 2017 Crew Favorites

It's time once again, as the Homeschool Review Crew year comes to a close, to choose our Redhanded Homeschool's High Fives for 2017.  I can't believe another year is behind us.  There were about 75 vendor "runs" this year.  My family reviewed 47 products to share with you.  Plus two single reviews for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

For the 2017 Homeschool Review Crew Blue Ribbon Awards, voting is very difficult in some categories.  We must choose *just one* vendor or product in each of the Crew's categories.  I've relaxed that rule for my blog.  'Cuz it's my blog, natch!  So where the punks or I loved more than one thing, I'm giving them all High Fives.

As usual, there are old favorites, new treasures, and things I've "had my eye on" for someday.  These favorites are all products that I would, actually have, or might again really pay money for it.  I think it's important that you can trust that when I tell you we absolutely loved something, I really mean it was *that good*.

Malachi's High Five
Carole P. Roman.  We really like her If You Were Me and Lived In... series, but Mal especially enjoyed our first fiction book from Carole, Oh, Susannah: It's in the Bag.  Actually, they all did and we have since read the second book and they're hoping for more.  The reading level is a bit below the older punks, but they love the stories, just for fun.

Xavier's High Five
First, Xav tried to choose Stopmotion Explosion again.  I told him he had to stick to products we reviewed in 2017, so he voted for The Brinkman Adventures - season 4 (see Merrick's High Five below).

Merrick's High Five
The Brinkman Adventures - season 4.  The Crew reviewed season 2 in 2014.  Since then, I've purchased seasons 1 and 3.  These fictionalized versions of real life missionary stories are always a hit.  They have a curriculum out for season 1 that I want to check out at some point, too.

My High Five for Moms
Homeschool Rescue from Only Passionate Curiosity.  I only managed to get through part of the program during the review period.  Now, I'll have a bit more time and I intend to finish it through once.  Then I want to work through it once each year to update our homeschool plan.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is way more than just classes for the kids, though it certainly is that.  We've used this off and on since, I think 2011, when it started.  Back in those "olden days" if you had a subscription to the print Old Schoolhouse Magazine, you were given SchoolhouseTeachers.com access until your subscription ran out.  I had over a year of it.  About a year after it expired, I won another year in 2013.  In 2014, 2016, and 2017 I received access as a reviewer for the Homeschool Review Crew.  Hey, we're all family.  :)  I have decided to not return to the Crew in 2018 for various reasons, so I purchased two years during the BOGO sale last week.

These curriculum favorites are products we are still using, have completed this year, or will continue to use in 2018 and beyond.

Language Arts High Fives
Crafty Classroom's Learn to R.E.A.D. program - Merrick loves having his own school stuff that no one else does and the notebooking pages are so much fun for a Kinder.
Channie's Handwriting and Math Workbooks - I only reviewed the one handwriting workbook for littles, but I liked it so much, I ordered handwriting journals for the bigger littles and several math workbooks.
Reading Eggs - We've had Reading Eggs before.  I liked it so much, I was willing to pay for it when the bigger punks were littler.  Now Mal and Merrick are happily using it.  Merrick also likes to dabble in MathSeeds, though it placed him lower than I thought he should be.  I consider MathSeeds "just for fun" school.

Math High Fives
CTCMath.  Always.  And it's now a complete math curriculum for grades K-12. Another curriculum I have happily paid for and will again.

Science High Fives
Think Like an Engineer from Innovators Tribe is so much fun with all the hands on challenges.  I love that we are encouraged to include the whole family in this subscription.

Social Studies High Fives
Drive Thru History - The Gospels.  The Drive Thru History series is fantastic.  We're also using the American History videos for part of Xav and Mal's history this year.
Heirloom Audio ~ In the Reign of Terror and Captain Bayley's Heir.  While I have reviewed other Heirloom Audio titles for the Crew, I have also purchased copies of other titles in the series.  These audio dramas are crazy good.

Extra-Curricular High Fives
Creating a Masterpiece.  I wish we had been able to fit more of Sharon's lessons in before our subscription expired, but we really enjoyed learning how to make real art while we had it.
Doctor Aviation with Daryl Smith.  This one expires pretty soon and we enjoyed it a lot, though we didn't get through as much as we would have liked.

My Bonus High Fives
Lamplighter's The Secret Bridge.  While this wasn't the best book I ever read, I enjoyed it and it opened up a whole new world of literature for us.  Since this review, we toured the Lamplighter Ministries Book Bindery and purchased five or six more books and three audio dramas.  I especially recommend Sir Malcom and the Missing Prince and Teddy's Button.
Northern Speech Services' Color My Conversation was one of those "didn't know I needed" kind of curriculum.  We did set this aside, but will be picking it back up and starting over after the holidays.


Check out the *Official* Homeschool Review Crew Blue Ribbon Award winners and look in the Linky to read about my Crew Mates' family favorites.

Spanish with Whistlefritz ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

Hola.  How would you like to teach your littlest littles Spanish with a program that is designed *just for them*?  Whistlefritz has a program for 1-7 year old children.  Their award winning Educator's Spanish Collection is specially designed for young minds and abilities.  Foreign language learning has been determined to be easiest at an early age, just like children learning their native language.

Whistlefritz uses immersion learning to introduce children to Spanish without using English translations, which actually slow down foreign language learning.  My brain likes to slowly process everything, so when I was learning Spanish (or, more accurately, failing to learn) in college, I was so slow.  I would listen, think "He said..." and translate to English in my head, attempt to translate back to Spanish in my head and then speak (poorly, because I knew the *words* but not the grammar - or flow of a sentence).  This earned me a grade that I quickly had expunged from my record and replaced with another elective.  I would love for my punks to have a much easier time with foreign languages that feel natural to hear and speak.

What you receive in the Educator's Spanish Collection?

• Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids, 2nd edition
• 5 DVDs
• 3 audio CDs
• Matching Card Game
  

You can use this course with multiple children (in a family/classroom) and we sort of did that.  Even though the target age is 1-7 years old and Merrick is the only one I have in that age range, I did catch each of the bigger punks watching the videos with Merrick.  I even heard Mal translating the words into English, which is discouraged.  I don't think he was doing it for Merrick's benefit, though, but for himself.  He was just trying to have it make sense to *him*.  Xavier sometimes plays the card matching game with Merrick also.

The Lesson Plans -  The 40 lesson, softcover book is a thick 277 pages.  Each lesson has several sections; a lesson description, goal, objective, vocabulary, a materials list, the approximate time each lesson will take.  This is followed by related activities.  The manual is written with both the English and the Spanish for all scripted conversations.  Song lyrics (Spanish only - English translations are available online) are listed under the lessons that utilize them.  As you move through the manual, you will be making your own set of Spanish flash cards.

I love all of the fun, reproducible sheets that are included in the lesson plan book.  There is an option to download some of the pages in color from the website.  I would like to be able to download the black line pages also, since it is difficult to print the pages bound into such a thick manual.  I think the easiest thing for me would be to cut off the binding, hole punch the pages, and place them in a three ring notebook. 

 

Merrick thought the lesson plan was a workbook.  He kept asking for his big, Spanish mouse book.  It took me a while to realize he wanted to do worksheets with Fritzi.  There are a lot of pages of fun activities that we copy and use, but he seemed to miss having pages to write on in the book.  (Finally, a kiddo after my own heart!)

The DVDs - Colorful Spanish videos for kids combine lively animation with live action native Spanish speakers of all ages.  The songs, visual aspects, and dialog are enchanting.  Who could resist a whole house search for an adorable, whistling mouse, while Maria calls out to him in each room?

1. Los Animales - Animals
2. Vamos a Jugar - Let's Play
3. Adentro y Afuera - Inside and Out 
4. Las Estaciones - The Seasons
5. La Fiesta de Fritzi - Fritzi's Party
   

The DVDs did not have chapter selections, so you can't really watch the video segments as recommended in the lesson plans.  Mainly, we just watched the full episode, rather than a scene, of whichever DVD was listed in the lesson plan.

The CDs -These three disks are full of fun, lively tunes that make you want to dance.  My visual learners like them, but prefer the DVDs to see the context of what they are hearing.

1. Sabor!
2. Cha, Cha, Cha
3. A Bailar!  - Let's Dance
   

The Matching Game - These cards are sturdy, glossy stock.  The instruction card has more than just matching game instructions, but also prompts in Spanish to encourage little ones to think (and speak) about the card they see.  There are optional ways to play with the very young.  Each card shows Rito the fox in the act of "doing" something.  The word is located at the bottom of the card in Spanish only.  They are divided into four colors, soft shades of blue, green, purple, and yellow.  There are 10-16 cards in each color.  I started Merrick using just one color of card at a time.  He has trouble remembering to turn the cards back face down when he turns two over that don't match and knows where the mate to one card is located.  He's worked up to two colors of cards, but I think all the cards would be overwhelming right now.  
 

The games and activities aren't *just* fun, though they are fun.  They're also science and math and art.  Merrick picked up a bag of Goldfish crackers a couple of days before the fish sorting lesson.  He had no idea he was going to need them for school, but as soon as I realized they were on the materials list, I realized I had to hide them so he couldn't eat them before we needed them for the activity!

As an example, in Lesson Two, Los Colores, Merrick learned about primary and secondary colors, which we had actually just talked about in an art class.  Fritzi was having a birthday party.  I did not have transparencies, but I have such a stash of "stuff" I was able to find clear page protectors.  I traced the balloon onto three sheets with a permanent marker and then we colored each one, red, yellow, and blue.  I asked Merrick what new color each combination of primary colors would make.  He did well except for purple.  Then we would lay the two colors down together to see if he was right.  Then we watched a scene from La Fiesta de Fritzi, where Rito the Fox gathers colored balloons.
 

Whistlefritz offers a free 28 page downloadable lesson plan book that is completely different from the physical book available in the Educator's Spanish Collection and a fun "Do you like...?" Fritzi booklet.  You do need the videos to make full use of that lesson plan.  But if you are looking for a simplified version of the program to use with the DVD/CD set or a supplement full of extra activities, do look into it.

If you would prefer to have your child learn French, Fritzi has that also!  The Homeschool Review Crew was able to review both Spanish and French.  Click the banner below to see what others are thinking of Whistlefritz.

Find Whistlefritz on social media.

• Facebook      
• Twitter    
• YouTube 
  

Memoria Press First Form Latin ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

I am so pleased to tell you about First Form Latin Complete Set for grades 4-9.  First Form Latin: Latin Grammar, Year One is written by Cheryl Lowe, founder of Memoria Press.  The video features former Highlands Latin School teacher Glen Moore.  (Highlands Latin School is a private classical Christian school in Kentucky, which was started by Memoria Press and uses their Classical Core Curriculum.)  Latin can be taught by an individual with zero Latin experience.  Why learn Latin?  Well, Latin is the basis of more than half of all English words.  Learning Latin just might also help you to learn the romance languages of French, Italain, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish which are all based on vulgar Latin (the Latin of the people).  Memoria Press offers Latin Curriculum from Early Elementary through High School beginning with Prima Latina for grades 1-4.

~ ~ ~

I took this from the website, because it's a little too "grammarian" for me.  I'm not sure I could put it into simple language and convey the actual meaning to you.

"After finishing First Form, the student will have mastered:

• The six indicative active tenses of the first two verb conjugations
• Five noun declensions
• First and second declension adjectives
• 185 vocabulary words"

~ ~ ~

First Form is made up of five units and a total of 34 lessons.  After looking the program over and working on the first couple of units, I think the grade range of 4th-9th finishing at ninth is really more about having the years in high school to complete the full Latin curriculum, than it is about ability or interest level.  There is no reason a 10-12th grader or continuing adult student cannot complete this course.


The complete set includes

• Student Workbook
• Student Text
• Teacher Manual
• Quizzes & Tests booklet
• Teacher Key
• Pronunciation CD
• Flash Cards
• 3 DVDs

You can use the course with multiple children, but each student will need their own student books.

The Student Workbook is softcover, spiral bound, and 190 pages.  Lessons are broken into manageable sections which are spread out over the course of a week.

The Student Text is a smaller book, also softcover, but perfect bound.  The text is 121 pages.  This book basically follows along with the information covered in the video lessons.

In the Teacher Manual (also 121 page softcover book), are -obviously- the teacher preparation pages.  There's an overview of the whole program and how to teach it, including if you intend to add the optional Lingua Angelica to your Latin program.  Prep work for each lesson is listed.  A miniaturized page (still highly readable) from the Student Text, is shown with the coinciding lesson plan.  Prayers with their translations, conversations, and "basic" grammar are included in the appendices.  Oral Drills and Vocabulary sections follow that.

The binding in the Quizzes & Tests booklet is stapled.  Quizzes and tests are between 1-5 pages each.  The final exam at the end of this booklet is seven pages long, covering all of the lessons for the entire year.  Pages are perforated for easy removal of the tests.

A spiral bound Teacher Key holds all of the answers for the Student Workbook and Quizzes & Tests booklet.  Each page show two pages side by side.  A blue tab at the bottom of the page indicates what lesson or quiz it is associated with.

Included, is a handy pronunciation guide on CD.  Each lesson is on a separate track.  This is the ecclesiastical pronunciation.  A classical pronunciation CD is available separately if you prefer that.

Flash cards.  Flash cards up the wazoo!  Hee hee.  Once again, I had an excuse to purchase more bins for organizing!

Excellent advice.

The video lessons are on three DVDs which total 9 hours of instruction, approximately 15-20 minutes per lesson.

This course is currently being attempted only by myself.  Even though my middles are 4th/5th-ish grade, I'm quite certain they aren't ready for it.  Classical Christian education is sort of a pipe dream for me.  I'm not sure that it's for us, but the more I learn about it, the more I love it.  Something tells me I would have done pretty well with it, but I was the goofy teacher's pet who helped her clean out her classroom at the end of the year and was gifted with huge stacks of worksheets left over from our lessons.  And I actually *did* them over the summer.  For fun.  Imagine children the exact opposite of that.  Those are my punks.

So far, in the few weeks I've had the course, I've watched the Introduction and the first three lessons.  I take notes as "Mr. Moore" (it seems odd to call someone younger than I am, Mister, but he *is* the instructor, so...) speaks.  I've found the Student Text as good a place as any to write the notes so they are all right there with the related lesson.  It actually took me that long to be able to attempt the recitation at the beginning of each lesson.  The videos go so fast, there is barely a pause for my old brain to think, let alone form a response.  I've worked on the workbook pages for the first two lessons as well.

Everything that happens is spelled out for me in the Teacher Manual.  It's a little odd being the teacher and the student.  "No peeking!"  I think for some of the oral sections, I can have one of the boys read the English aloud while I translate to Latin.  It's fun to see how many Latin words I sort of "know" just because the English is based on it.

I was talking to another Homeschool Review Crew mama who assures me Prima Latina is equally as excellent as First Form.  I'm thinking I need to start my punks on it or Latina Christiana.  While I'm musing and debating about that, I wanted to also share Memoria Press' Special Needs curriculum.  It's called Simply Classical.  I'm mentioning it because, in all the times I've looked over their website, it has never really stuck out in my mind, but I think it's a fantastic looking resource.

A friend of mine has an aspiring veterinarian who needs some Latin in high school.  I am definitely recommending this course to her!

Memoria Press has a forum that has fairly heavy traffic compared to many other curriculum provider's forums.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is really a whole community.

The rest of the Homeschool Review Crew has been using First Form Latin and the other Latin curricula Memoria Press offers, as well as The Book of Trees and Nature's Beautiful Order.  Click the Crew banner below to read about these other courses.


Find Memoria Press on social media.

• Facebook     
• Twitter    
• Pinterest               
• Instagram               
• Google+    
• YouTube    
• LinkedIn