Review of Biology 101 from The 101 Series | #101series #homeschoolscience

I am a huge advocate of homeschooling through the high school years but I am also willing to admit that some courses are out of my league. The beauty is there are so many options available for homeschooling families today that tackling these courses head on is not a problem. Science, for instance, has never been a favorite course of study for me so teaching Homeschool science doesn't exactly excite me. Thankfully, I don't have to do it alone so I was thrilled to review Biology 101 from The 101 Series. 

 

One of the characteristics I look for in a Biology course especially is that is creation based and Biology 101 is exactly that! We were also looking for simple labs and again we have found success with this course. I really cannot praise this course enough and have finally found a high school Biology fit for our homeschool.

So what is Biology 101?

It is DVD course that teaches students Biology through the days of creation as found in the book of Genesis. Now, you can simply watch the DVDs which include over 4 1/2 hours of instruction but if you would like to dive in more, resources are available for that too. The course includes a thorough 118 page Guidebook and a 12 page Accreditation Booklet. If you do this course as suggested, it is broken down into 11 segments which create 27 weeks of course work, at approximately 5 hours per week.

The segments are broken down like this:

• Introduction: Defining Life and Life Classification
• The 3rd Day - Plants
• The 5th Day - Aquatic (water) Creatures and Avian (flying) Creatures
• The 6th Day - Land Animals Part 1 and 2
• The 6th Day - Mankind Part 1 and Part 2
• Conclusion: Cells, Genetics, and a Brief History of Biology

A typical week includes watching the DVD segment, reading assigned pages in the guidebook, and sometimes a field trip or simple lab option is given.  The reading material reiterates what was taught in the video and adds in additional information and fun facts too.  The course includes 20 hours of lab work none of which are dissections.  You may add those in additionally if you wish.  Labs are also easy to complete and don't require complicated materials.  Sample lab work includes identifying plants in your yard, identifying parts of fish by catching one or using a goldfish, making a simple drawing of anatomy using a household pet, and many more.   Additional activities include other video recommendations, reading juvenile science books, and writing simple reports with a 200 word minimum.  

Quizzes are available at the end of each segment in the guidebook. They are multiple choice quizzes and the answers are included as well.

Here is a sample of how the credit hours can be given per segment and a glimpse as some of the weeks' activities.

Our original plan was to use this course to supplement our current Biology course but after seeing what was included we have decided to use it as our main course of study. My son has been able to comprehend this so much better! The course really takes complicated terms and breaks them down simply. For instance, he was taught a very simple way to remember the female and male parts of a plant that we had never seen before but made so much sense! Stamen can be remembered as the male part because it has the word men in it. Stigma can be remembered as the female part because it has the word ma in it. We both love learning by connecting simple truths like that!

The visual, auditory, and kinesthetic processes of the video, guidebook, and activities have helped him learn more about Biology than any other course he has taken so far.

The 101 Series offers two additional high school science courses as well, Physics 101 and Chemistry 101. You can purchase the entire set of 3 for $168.95 or each one individually for $69.95. Click the banner below to see reviews on those too.

Find out more about The 101 Series by visiting them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

5 Days of Homeschool 101 | Day 1 | Curriculum

**This post contains affiliate links

Welcome to a fun week of homeschool sharing!  I love peeking inside other homeschools and finding new curriculum.  I must confess that I am totally a curriculum junkie!!  It is so weird planning for our upcoming school year as I am only planning for 2 instead of 3 this year!  You can read about about our first homeschool graduate and maybe pick up a few graduation tips of your own.

Curriculum - that word can bring up lots of feelings.  If you're just starting out, you may be completely overwhelmed and my advice to those of you who are is to start with what you already know.  Do you know your child's learning style? Do you know they excel in a certain subject?  Do they struggle in a certain subject?  My advice would be to spend more time researching curriculum for the areas of struggle.  Honestly, if a student doesn't struggle with a subject then most curriculum should be okay to use with them unless it totally goes against their learning style.  My favorite place to start when researching any curriculum is with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  I know I'm on the crew but even when we took a break, I would check out their reviews before ordering anything.  

Since we're heading into our 9th year of homeschooling, I do feel like we've finally found our groove so picking and choosing does seem a little easier.  However, as mentioned before I am a curriculum junkie so it's still not completely easy!

This year in our homeschool we will have a 10th grader and a 8th grader.  Here are some of our curriculum choices for the upcoming school year.

10th Grade Curriculum


Bible - included in Notgrass and A.C.E.
Government & Economics - Notgrass Exploring Government,  Notgrass Exploring Economics and Everyday Economics
Finance - Dave Ramsey Foundations and Money Matters
Geometry - Teaching Textbooks
Spanish II - Rosetta Stone
English II - A.C.E. Paces & Heroes of History
Biology - Apologia

8th Grade Curriculum


Bible, History, & Geography - My Father's World ECC
Pre-Algebra - Teaching Textbooks
General Science - Apologia
Reading - Finish Little House Series and Begin Anne of Green Gables Series
Grammar, Spelling, and English - Logic of English 

Here is a little sneak peak inside some of our choices.

Those are our curriculum picks for the upcoming school year which I am trying really hard to have ready to begin next Monday!

Be sure to check out my fellow crewmates and what they have to say about homeschool curriculum. 

Review of Economics For Everybody

Economics - admittedly a word that scares me. Especially as we approach an election year, I want my children to understand the flow of how our country works and that is definitely not an area of expertise for me! I know I need to learn more about Economics as well and I am so grateful for those who share their wealth of knowledge. Today's review, Economics for Everybody from Timberdoodle is one I am greatly thankful for.

Economics for Everybody takes a somewhat complicated subject and breaks it down so students can understand how the world was formed and how God ordered us to be productive in it. The set includes a 2 DVD set and 200+ page study guide. The DVDs include the topics lasting for over 4 hours of teachings with a fun unconditional twist from teacher, Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. There are 12 lessons in total with Lessons 1-5 introducing key economic principles; Lessons 6-10 explaining the relationship between theology, philosophy, and economics; and Lessons 9-12 examine the application of economics in real-life system.

1. And God Created Economics - Stewardship in God's Image 
2. The Economic Problem of Sin - Law, Liberty, and Government 
3. The Path from Work to Wealth - Production, Property, and Tools 
4. The Route From Scarcity to Plenty - Money, Markets, and Trade 
5. The Role of the Entrepreneur - Capital, Calculation, and Profit 
6. A Tale of Two Theologies Part 1 - From God to Politics 
7. A Tale of Two Theologies Part 2 - Economic Philosophies and Education 
8. Government Intervention - Basic Principles and Education 
9. The Two Mysteries of Monetary Policy - Inflation and Depressions 
10. The Welfare and Corporate States of America - Cost of Redistribution 
11. Economics Has Consequences - The Real Effects of Sin 
12. Kingdom Economics

All lessons begin with what Scripture says and then applies those principles to how our country is to be run and shows examples of when those principles are not followed the destruction and downfall that occurs. There are so many principles taught in this series that I had never even thought of and I was glad that I was going through the lesson with my son. You are never too old to learn. For instance, I had never even had the thought that ultimately studying economics helps us to fulfill the Great Commission.  I also appreciated the fact that there is a warning that some lessons could bother younger children. 

I also really loved the combination of the book and the DVD together. The DVD teaching brought the lessons to life with fun animations and comparisons with cartoon clips and even Charlie Chaplin. (see photo above for a few clips)

The book included several great bonuses not available on the the DVD. Each lesson began with the message introduction, Scripture reading passages (another favorite), and learning objectives. It also included the lecture given on the DVD in an outline format which is perfect to show students great note taking techniques. That is an area that we are currently working on with my high school son. It also included multiple choice questions, short answer questions, discussion questions, and additional resources to further enhance your Economics study. The multiple choice questions did include the answers but the other questions did not. I know these are open ended questions but would love to have seen some examples of answers to those questions as well.

The suggested schedule for middle and high school students was to complete one lesson per week which is how we are tackling the lessons.  However, I did watch all the videos beforehand hoping to gain a little insight as we went through the study together. I would highly recommend this resource to high school students and adults.
This set currently sells for $42.25 and can be purchased here.

This set is also a part of Timberdoodle's 12th Grade 2016 Curriculum Kit.

**I received a free copy of this product through Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Review of Notgrass' Exploring Government

We are huge fans of all Notgrass curriculum so when the opportunity came up to review Exploring Government, we jumped at the chance. Timberdoodle sent us both the Exploring Government book and the accompanying book We Hold These Truths. We also added in the student quiz and exam book (not shown). All of the books are paperback books.

The Exploring Government course is intended for high school and your student will earn a half year credit in government upon completion. The lessons are found in the Exploring Government student book. There are 15 units that are clearly broken down into 75 daily lessons. The book is written to the student and each unit contains contains activity ideas which are often essay prompts to complete. At the end of each lesson students are given what pages they are to read from We Hold These Truths.

We Hold These Truths contains a collection of historical documents, essays, and speeches in American government. Both books contain black and white images sprinkled throughout the text. Only the outside covers are currently in color. A new edition with hardcover binding and color images is set to be released in August, 2016.

If you add in the student quiz and exam book, students answer questions after each lesson and complete a quiz at the end of the unit. Units include 5 lessons each.  There are also 3 exams. An answer key is also provided. 

As with all their courses, this one is written with a Biblical worldview so not only will students learn about the operations of the Federal, state, and local governments but they will also explore the Biblical pattern for government.  

History is my 10th grade son's favorite subject and he has already completed Notgrass' Exploring America curriculum. It is also written by a veteran homeschool dad. So far, Stephen has loved anything we have used from Notgrass.  It's simplistic, organized, faith-based, and makes learning history and government not so intimidating by breaking it down for students.  By the way, he can often be found reading just like this!  

The Exploring Government curriculum package currently sells for $49.95 and the optional student quiz and exam pack sells for $7.95.  You can find out more about those here.  

See sample pages below:

• Introduction
• Exploring Government Table of Contents
• Unit 4: Article I-Congress (Part 1)
• Unit 12: Taxing and Spending
• We Hold These Truths Table of Contents

This course is also a part of Timberdoodle's 2016 Eleventh-Grade Curriculum Kit.

**I received a free copy of this product through Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Review of TeenCoder Game Programming with C#

My oldest son has always been great with anything electronic - games, videos, editing software, smartphones, computers, etc. So, we thought learning to program and code would be the logical next step for him. We decided to try out TeenCoder: Windows and Game Programming from Timberdoodle. It is an online self paced course written by exerperienced programmers who are also homeschool parents! Your online subscription is valid for 1 year after it is activated. If you need more time, you can add it for an additional fee. The 1 year subscription is currently selling for $140. There are also print copies available if you would prefer that format. 

TeenCoder: Windows and Game Programming is not for the faint of heart! It is broken down as simply as coding can be by providing video teaching for each lesson along with text and quizzes. Students will also complete hands on projects with the Microsoft Visual C# 2010 software provided with the course. You can see the system requirements for that software at the bottom of this page.

This course is recommended for high school students in grades 9-12. I also looked over the course for myself and learned so much. I took a computer programming course in high school but technology has totally changed since my high school days. There are wonderful video tutorials available to walk you through getting started with the course.

The first semester of the course focuses on Windows programming and C# fundamentals. There are 17 chapters broken down into daily lessons - anywhere from 3-5 lessons so we completed a chapter per week. There is also a mid semester project where the student will complete a graphical chess game for two players. We are still working on the first semester currently but each chapter also ends with an activity to complete such as downloading software and creating basic program tasks.

 

Each lesson contains a video, text, and multiple choice quiz as shown on the screen below. There are also chapter exams after each of the chapters. 

The second semester focuses on game programming using the C# programming language and the Microsoft XNA Game Studio. It is broken down into 16 chapters again with daily lessons ranging from 3-5 lessons with the same quizzes and exams as the first semester. 

Students have their own log in information and will use their own email address for communication. As a student completes a task, he will receive an email letting him know. They also receive emails when a parent has graded any activities completed. The end of lesson quizzes are multiple choice questions and automaticallly graded. Students can also check their grades anytime under their own "My Grades" tab.

There is also a parent log in where the parent can find the course activities, teacher guides, and answer keys which I appreciated greatly as most of what I was looking at seemed foreign to me. With all the information provided, parents do not need to have any previous programming knowledge to teach these courses. Students will start from the beginning as well so they do not have to have any previous experience either. The teacher portal looks like the students except it includes a teacher guide and answer key.

Students will have earned 1 credit in computer or technical elective upon completion of this course.   Our thoughts are that this course is professionally done and your student will learn a lot about the programming world.  It is well worth the money for the knowledge you receive right from the comfort of your home.  I love when companies provide simple solutions for subject areas that I have no idea how to teach! 

Here is a video explaining a quick overview of how the online courses offered by Homeschool Programming work.

**I received a free copy of this product through Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Review of The Critical Thinking Co

Today's review product involves the brain and teaching critical thinking skills for grades 9-12. We were given Practical Critical Thinking and Teacher Manual by The Critical Thinking Co. to work through for my high schoolers.

The Practical Critical Thinking student book comes in a paperback workbook style and the copyright gives you permission to make copies for each of your children. It has 378 pages and sells for $39.99.

The Teacher Manual also comes in paperback, has 68 pages of answers, 230 pages of reproducible activity pages found in the student book, and sells for $14.99. There is also an ebook version available for $9.99.

Practical Critical Thinking is broken down into 4 units. The units are broken down as follows:

1. Becoming a Critical Thinker - This unit goes through what critical thinking is, why we should care, and how we might use it in our day to day thinking. 
2. Adding to My Critical Thinking Toolbox - In this unit, students are taught how to tell fact versus opinion, logic skills, and some of the terms used in critical thinking such as emotional words, doublespeak, vagueness, etc.
3. Critical Thinking and Arguments - This unit analyzes arguments (what they are and how to evaluate them) and fallacies (again defining what a fallacy is and how to detect them)
4. Applying My Critical Thinking - This unit teaches students how to apply what they have learned.  They will apply their skills to advertising and breaking down evidence whether it be direct, circumstantial, or eyewitness testimony.

Within the units are 8 chapters. Each chapter is then broken down into lessons with an average of 8 lessons per chapter. We completed 3 lessons per week in our homeschool. I added the boys' sheets to their folders for the week and then we discussed their answers after they completed them.

Each chapter is full of mind benders, puzzles, and games to help students apply what they have learned about each critical thinking skill. Some of those were very difficult for my boys but they still enjoyed trying to work through them and if they could not, we would look through the answers together.

The Teacher Manual includes the answers to the lessons but on some of the harder questions, we still could not figure out how they got the answer they did. We found that the process of how to get the answers was not always clear and we often needed more details. Many answers will vary by student as they apply their own logic to the answers so discussion time is a must for this curriculum. The students can complete it independently but will need someone to bounce their answers around with.
We have only made it through Unit 2 so far but we would recommend this curriculum to homeschool families looking to teach logic skills to their children. There are also several ideas for individual and group activity ideas to complete at the end of each chapter which would make it fun to use in a coop setting too.

To find out more on The Critical Thinking Co. visit them on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The Critical Thinking Co. offers many different choices in curriculum from PreK-12+. Click the banner below to see what my fellow crewmates thought about this and some of the other options available.

Review of Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide

Does teaching literature class scare you?  Are you looking for a literature curriculum to use with your high school student?  Are you looking for a course you could use as a book club, with a co-op, or just alone at home?  If so, keep reading about today's review!

Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide is a new literature program for Christian High Schools and Homeschools by Writing with Sharon Watson. We had the true blessing of reviewing this course plus the first 2 novels with my very reluctant high school reader.  I explain the blessing part later in the review during how we used the course.

About the Course

The course includes 3 physical books - The Teacher's Guide, The Student Book, and An Optional Quiz and Answer Manual:

Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide (Student Book)

The student book can easily be completed by the student with very little input from the teacher.  You can set up a weekly, monthly, or every other week meeting for yourself and your student to discuss the lessons.  We chose to go over each lesson at the end of the day.  

Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide: Teacher's Guide 

The Teacher's guide will be your best friend while teaching this course.  It has so much information including discussion ideas of what your student is learning in their student book.  It has your suggested schedules, reading plan, discussion questions, vocabulary quizzes, answers, grading grids and lots more.  I loved the fact she includes Facebook questions and links that she asked her own Facebook group of students.  This section makes it so simple to start your own group.  Just know that there is so much information included in this guide that I'm barely touching the surface!

Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide: Quiz and Answer Manual

The quizzes found in the Quiz and Answer Manual can also be found online and completed online by the student.  This is an optional feature if you would rather your student take the quizzes and opinion surveys on paper instead of online.  Online quizzes are automatically graded for you and you will find the answer key to the paper version in the back of the book.  

Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide:Novel Notebook (Free PDF Download)

The course also includes a free PDF download of the Novel Notebook which your student can use to answer questions from the lessons and make notations in while reading their novel.  They may also just use a composition notebook instead but the Novel Notebook makes the pages more visually pleasing and creates a nice keepsake book as well. 

The suggested schedule has your high school student complete the course in 2 semesters and earn 1 credit in either literature, language arts, or English.  The entire course consists of 70 lessons.  Some lessons occur before you read the novels and some after.  The course will take you through these 8 novels (which need to be purchased separately from the curriculum):

• Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
• The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
• The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West
• Peter Pan by Sir James Barrie
• Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

The novels were selected for their colliding worlds - physical, political, extraterrestrial, racial, spiritual, and philosophical.  Students will tackle these concepts as they analyze these works of literature.  It is also highly recommended that you use the novel versions listed in the teacher's guide to make following along with the page numbers easier.  The ISBN numbers are given in the teacher's guide and the novels are available for purchase on the website. Please note that this curriculum is written from a Christian perspective but the books chosen are not necessarily written by Christians. The books will contain words, characters, and events that many may find to be offensive.  The beauty of this course though is your student is taught how to analyze these works of art and evaluate these findings with the truths found in the Bible.

Some of the literary terms you will cover include text and context, pseudonym (nom de plume), foreshadowing, conflict, protagonist, antagonist, satire, irony, and so many more.  Scroll to the bottom of this page for a complete listing.

Our background story and use in our Homeschool

My Senior is and always has been an extremely reluctant reader.  One of the first questions of the course is why might passages or whole books written over 100 years ago seem boring to today's readers.  His answer was, "because I often cannot understand a word they are saying!"  Admittedly, I agree with him.  When you can't follow the dialogue, you really have no idea what the characters are feeling or trying to say.  As we began the course, he was again immediately reluctant but the course guides you through the lessons before you even begin reading the book itself.  It introduces you to the book, gives you words to look for that might be slang or unfamiliar to you, introduces to a little about the author, gives you literary terms, and more.  Still reluctant, he began to read the book, and he actually started to enjoy it. Honestly, I was so shocked.  We slowed the time frame down for him and that really helped him as well.  He just could not comprehend more than 2 chapters at a time so he did that 4 days a week taking him almost 3 weeks to complete his reading of the first book.  The suggested schedule said to complete the reading of the book in 2 weeks.  The layout of the schedule is completely flexible which lately seems like a must for our homeschool.  I don't think we follow any suggested schedules around here!  That's the beauty of homeschooling!

               

My son and I both would highly recommend this course for high school students of all backgrounds.   The literary terms and analyzing questions will certainly prepare your students for college literature.  The practical tips and writing style of Ms. Watson are so relatable to students.  Ms. Watson draws you into the book before you even pick it up by giving you background information of the author, time period, and intriguing facts that you may not be aware of - at least I wasn't!  The real beauty of this program is I don't have to read all the books to be able to have a wonderful discussion of them with my son - what a time saver!  However, after our discussions I must say that I was highly intrigued and do plan to add them to my own reading list.  A few of them I have read, but there are several that I have not.

The goal here is to grow a love tackling and analyzing the classics and seeing that they are not so scary after all.  Let's face it, the majority of us are just as scared to teach the classics as the students are to read them.  So, not only did the course give my son confidence in his abilities but it gave me confidence as well! 

You can check out some samples and information from the course and see for yourself why we will be continuing this course in our homeschool.  

Right now there is also an awesome giveaway and Facebook party going on to celebrate the release of this curriculum. The giveaway ends 8/26/15 so hurry!   Join the Facebook party on Thursday, August 27, 2015 for even more prizes and information on this wonderful literature curriculum.

Review of UnLock Math

**Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links

UnLock Math currently offers online Math courses in Pre-Algebra and they are releasing Algebra 1 soon (release date is set for August 3, 2015). They are also adding in Algebra 2 coming in 2016. We had the opportunity to review UnLock Pre-Algebra. 

UnLock Pre-Algebra Details

This is a complete online math course that takes the stress out of Math. Since this is an online program, be sure to check out the computer and internet recommendations here. (scroll to the bottom)

The course includes 16 units along with a final review and exam for a total of 159 days worth of Math lessons. It includes a pacing guide in PDF format for you and your student with suggested schedules to choose.  It suggests from 4 days a week to 5 days a week. Since it's summer time for us we went with a 3 day per week schedule but the way the course is laid out that was no problem whatsoever. Your student's progress is also tracked and graded in the online program immediately which this mama LOVES!

Each lesson contains 6 parts with different weights for grading:

• Warm-up (0%) - This is simply a review of problems for the student to get them started with the lesson for the day.
• Video Lesson - This is a video lesson taught by co-founder, teacher, and former homeschooler, Alesia, who goes through the concepts of the lesson for the day. She has a fun and energetic teaching style and it feels likes she is right there in the room with you.
• Practice Problems (30%) - This is where your student will put into practice the lesson that was taught for the day.
• Stay Sharp (10%) - These problems cover concepts learned previously so the student is receiving constant reinforcement with each lesson.
• Reference Notes - This is a printable PDF document that contains the concepts and vocabulary of the lesson.
• Challenge Yourself (5% bonus)- This is a bonus question that challenges the student and stretches them to think. If they do not get it correct, it does not count against them but they do receive a bonus for answering it correctly.

When a unit is complete the student will take a quiz (15%) and test (30%).  There is also a midterm exam (5%) and final exam (10%).

The student dashboard is extremely easy to navigate and you launch each lesson by clicking on the rocket to open it.  Each step of the way is recorded so it is so easy to pick back up where you left off. The gradebook gives you how many attempts the student had, how they did, and how long it took them to do it.  There is also a pie chart giving you a fun visual to see what has been completed as well.

The course can be purchased here.  The annual subscription is $299 or you can pay monthly for $49.  There is a 50% sibling discount when subscriptions are purchased at the same time.  You can also save $74.75 off an annual subscription purchase by using my refer-a-friend link (expires August 18th).

How We Used UnLock Math

The first 5 lessons are suppose to be review for a student and as I suspected my son struggled to complete those. I'm not sure where his gaps are coming from in Math but I am sure that he has them! I do think that sometimes he just rushes through an assignment to say it's complete but the beauty of this program is he could go back and do it over and over until he received a satisfactory grade. So, we went at a much slower pace with this program than anticipated but I loved the fact that I could immediately see his progress and ask him to go back over the lesson again because I knew if he didn't get the beginning lessons there was no way he would do well on the latter.

As you reach the units after 5, the program has such a wonderfully unique feature as it guides a student to answer step by step allowing the questions to continue to teach the student. For example, if a student gets the question wrong, the course will guide them back through it step by step starting with giving them the first step and then allowing them to attempt to complete the next step. If they can't, the next step is given and so on. They are then graded according to what they could complete allowing for partial credit for some problems.

This is a very thorough math curriculum and is great for struggling students as well as struggling parents who are at a loss for teaching math.  This program does it for you.  You can clearly see that a lot of time and effort has been put into the lessons and videos.  

You can find out more about by visiting Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, or Instagram.