Review of Getting Started With French

I have been exploring a new foreign language curriculum, Getting Started with French from Armfield Academic Press. I took two years of Spanish in High School but only remember a little of the vocabulary so I love trying to learn languages all over again beside my children. We've tackled Latin and Spanish so I was curious to see how French flowed and if their were any similarities since it is one of the romance languages.  I discovered some similarities but French also has its own unique qualities.  


The book itself comes in a paperback workbook style with 172 lessons. Each lesson gently introduces students to French vocabulary including articles, direct objects, gender, infinitives, singular and plural nouns and so much more. Lessons are simple and quick to complete and designed to build upon each other so skipping ahead is not a good idea. 

 
In the beginning of the book are instructions guiding students and parents through the layout of the lessons. When a lesson contains a new word, students will always find the word in bold print along with pronunciation hints and meaning. There are also exercises for students to complete that contain past and current vocabulary. You see more pages in this preview of the book.

There are no tests included in the book but there is a suggestion to test students at the end of a lesson by having them translate the exercises without looking at the answers. The beauty of this curriculum is that you go at your own pace. If you don't grasp something, simply repeat until you do. 

 
I loved that the lessons could easily be completed in less than 30 minutes per day with some earlier lessons taking much less time than that. I also loved that you were not just left alone to try to figure out pronunciations. There is a pronunciation guide located in the back of the book along with the answers to the lessons and a glossary.

But what I loved most were the accessories available at the website. You can download mp3 commentaries on each lesson as well as the pronunciations from a native French speaker for free. The commentaries are very informative and even give students tricks on how to form their mouth and tongue to produce the correct pronunciation. I found myself laughing out loud as I tried to replicate my new French vocabulary words with my southern accent. I spared y'all the recording of that! I do recommend that you have your students record themselves saying the words though because when you listen to yourself say it back, it's easier to catch mispronunciations or at least it was for me. 

 
I would highly recommend this book to homeschoolers looking for a gentle and quick introduction to French for their students. I think it would be great to add it to a morning basket or read aloud to learn as a family and then you could practice together through out the day and week too. 

 
Another recommendation the book gave is for a high school or college student who is trying to grasp the basics before taking a French class. It's also great for parents like me who still love learning too! It's so quick and easy to complete a lesson that fitting it into your daily schedule isn't difficult at all.

Mr. Linney also has books available for other languages too - Getting Started with Latin, Getting Started with Spanish, and coming soon is Getting Started with Russian.

Find out more by visiting Armfield Academic Press on Facebook.

Review of Spiritual Circle Journal #spiritualcirclejournal #prayerjournal

My daughter has started to include the Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids & Teens as part of her Bible time. This journal, from Spiritual Circle Journal, has been a wonderful new addition to our weekly homeschool Bible time.

The journal is simple to use and comes in a sturdy spiral bound notebook. It is a consumable notebook to be used by one student. It is recommended for ages 8 and up and contains 66 journal sheet outlines meant to be used on a weekly basis with a few extra sheets included.

The journal comes with a fun illustrated cover but it also includes a sheet of blank white card stock allowing students to design their own cover if they wish. 

In the front section are 3 pages of guided instructions to help parents, homeschoolers, and ministry leaders use this tool with their children and students. They give you step by step instructions as well as ideas to help your get your student's own creative juices flowing. The whole point of the journal is for students to make it their own by spending their time with the Lord creating, learning, and remembering what He has done for them throughout the week.

There is also a personal page included at the beginning where students can list facts about themselves for the school year as well as some of their favorite things.

In the back of the journal are 16 summary sheets that students can use in any way they choose. The sheets have 9 circles on them. Some suggestions given were to write in their favorite verses, ways that they have seen God move, or to use them as summary pages for Bible characters.

In Our Homeschool

Sarah, who is 12, is using this journal for her quiet time once a week. Each week she uses her daily devotional and picks out her favorite verse for the week to journal and illustrate. She usually does this on Friday. She uses the guided key and fills in her own personal thoughts for the week. The key has great illustrations that relate to the topic written in them such as the "God Moving" section is an outline of a car and the "Actions" section is the outline of a tennis shoe. All together there are 9 journal entry sections on each page titled Journal Entry, Lyric/Verse, Message, Confession, God Moving, Lesson Learned/Light Bulb Moment (guess what that picture is), Prayer, Thank You/Adoration, and Actions. 

The illustrations make it fun and simple to add her own journal entries. As stated earlier, Sarah uses her daily devotional that she is pulling her Bible verses from but another suggested idea is for students to use their weekly sermon notes, Sunday school lessons, etc.

Then at the end of the month, she writes those verses in the back of the journal in the summary pages for a quick reference to all of her favorite Bible verses. Sometimes she just writes the verses out and sometimes she adds little illustrations to them depending upon the time and her mood.

We think this is a wonderful resource for any household to aid students in their own quiet time! Not only does it add to their retention of God's Word but what a valuable treasure to have at the end of each school year - written evidence of God moving in their life - priceless!

I am so happy that my daughter is learning these truths at a young age and what a blessing when products are designed for just that purpose. May they carry her through all her years!

We were also sent these beautiful servant prayer cards that have a whole page of supporting scripture verses on the back. 

You can connect with Spiritual Circle Journal on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Review of Enlivenze LLC | FlipStir Puzzles | Statue of Liberty

Oh, we have a fabulous and fun review product to share with you today! We recently had the opportunity to play with one of the award winning FlipStir Puzzles of the Statue of Liberty made by Enlivenze LLC. I have never seen these types of puzzles before so we were excited to try these out! This one is definitely fun for the whole family to get involved in.

What is a FlipStir Puzzle?

Well, they are currently available in 2 levels. The puzzles available in Level 1 are Rainbow Pencils and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Level 2 puzzles include Solar System, Statue of Liberty, and Periodic Table of Elements (Limited Edition). All FlipStir Puzzles can be purchased online for $24.95. They are recommended for ages 7 and up.

Their genius design allows for a no mess puzzle. The pieces come contained in their own durable plastic container and that is where they stay. Inside you have a metal rod with a little claw on the end to help you grab, flip, and turn pieces around to fit in the right place. You simply shake, stir, and solve the puzzle. Your very own no mess, no batteries, completely portable, hours of fun puzzle. The pieces themselves and the container seem pretty durable so far and we have had plenty of instances where we scraped the sides with the puzzle pieces and claw trying to get the pieces in place.

We had a blast taking turns trying to see who could solve our puzzle the fastest. Since we finished up our US History studies last year, this was the perfect end to our learning. We were able to review a few facts about the history of the Statue of Liberty and challenge each other to puzzle races. At first glance, my thoughts were no way I'm going to be able to solve this but I quickly found my groove. It was a lot simpler to solve once I used the box it came in or picture underneath to reference because in the beginning I tried without those resources and it took me a while! You will want to do this again and again once you get it or at least we all did. Who knew success and victory over completed puzzles could be so rewarding?

It was so funny to see everyone's faces as they tried to solve this puzzle!  Frustration, concentration, hilarious fun, light bulb moments - you could see them all in each person's facial expression.  There are really no rules so just let your puzzle skills take over.

Here is a quick time lapse video showing myself completing the puzzle.  It is so much fun!

To find out more on FlipStir Puzzles visit them on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out Enlivenze LLC on Facebook and Twitter too. 

You can also see what my crew mates thought about this and some of the other puzzles available by clicking the banner below.

Review of CTCMath

So far this summer, we have focused on bringing you what I would call fun learning reviews. Today, you may look at me strange if I place this one in the fun learning category but hang on and I'll explain why! My daughter has been trying out the math lessons from CTCMath and I love that she has access to all grade levels with the Homeschool Membership. You see, math has never been her strong suit so we knew she would need some additional practice during the summer months. We had several specifications that we were searching for in a curriculum to meet our needs and CTCMath has been the answer to them all.  

Here is what we were looking for:

1) Something online that could be done from anywhere. This was definitely the case with CTCMath. She was able to carry the lessons with her when we traveled and had no problems logging in and completing them.

2) Lessons that could be completed in 15 minute increments. Because this is not a favorite subject, I wanted her to be able to complete her lessons first thing so she would not feel overwhelmed since we are technically on summer break. CTCMath again met this requirement. We focused on the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra lessons for my daughter. The video lessons and questions that followed could easily be completed within 15-20 minutes per day. 

3) We wanted a program that would allow her to go down a grade level if needed to close any gaps. With your CTCMath Homeschool Membership, you could easily go down or up in grade level because you had access to them all.   Also, since lessons are broken into individual topics, a student could easily retake a portion that they may have needed extra work on.  

4) Finally, I wanted something that would grade itself allowing me to simply check to make sure the work was being complete.  Not only is CTCMath self grading but I get a weekly PDF report sent straight to my email letting me know how Sarah did for the week.  The report shows how much time she spent, her efficiency rating, and which lessons were completed.  

How the CTCMath Homeschool Membership works

Students have their own log in credentials and so do parents. When the student logs in, they have lessons available to them from Kindergarten through Trigonometry. There are also diagnostic tests available to help you place your student.  Sarah stayed inside the Basic Math and Pre-Algebra lessons which were broken down into 4 parts. 

 
Part 1 - lessons on basic and whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages
Part 2 - lessons on problem solving, pre-algebra I, pre-algebra II, and Pythagoras' Theorem
Part 4 - lessons on powers, exponents, roots, scientific notation, measurements, area, the circle, and graphs and charts
Part 4 - probability, statistics, variables, expressions, and equations, equations extension, ratios, rates, number applications, and volume

As a student completes a lesson, a check mark is automatically placed beside it making it easy to pick up where they left off.  Students can also see their grades and go back over any lessons that are not satisfactory.  I required any scores lower than 80% to be retaken.  You can set the percentage level to suit your homeschool.

When you click on a lesson, you will be taken to a video explaining the topic and showing you how to do it.  We loved the Australian accent!  Concepts were broken down into simple and easy tasks making them seem easier to grasp.  The video lessons Sarah completed usually lasted no more than 5 minutes but could range from 4-9 minutes. 

The next step was to complete the questions on the concepts just taught in the video.  These were always 10 questions and graded as soon as the student completed each question.

Next was an optional worksheet.  Worksheets contained additional questions on the concept taught giving students extra practice if necessary.  The answers to these could be submitted and graded online as well or you had the option of printing out the worksheets and grading them yourself.  

In the parent view, there was the option of assigning tasks to your students.  We didn't use that feature since I just had Sarah go in the order she had finished.  I did play around with it to see how it worked though.  You could assign your students tasks for the week or day.  You had the option to change the dates, lessons, and completely customize what you would like your student to complete.  I could see this being a great tool to help students gain independence by assigning them their weekly lessons and requiring them to be due by the end of the week.  Then the student could decide how they wanted to tackle them as long as they were complete by the due date. 

With all the topics covered, I felt that this was a full math curriculum. Some of the higher levels are suggested by the author to best be used as a supplement. They have several options for memberships including monthly, 6 months, and 12 months for single students and for families of 2 or more. You can also try a free trial to see if this program fits your family.

Since lessons were able to be completed so quickly, it almost felt as if we were cheating the system some how.  I mean, aren't math lessons suppose to be an hour long? Not with CTCMath and that's why it has gained a spot in our fun summer learning category!

Find out more by visiting them on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Pinterest, and Youtube.

Review of Orphs of the Woodlands at Tangletree - #readingapp

Today's review will be added to our fun summer of learning. We had the opportunity to play with a new app by Star Toaster called Orphs of the Woodlands at Tangletree. This app requires iOS 8.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.  It is an interactive book about critters who are orphaned and some that think they may have become orphans (orphs) as their parents have disappeared following a dam breakage. You will follow along with Abba, the flying squirrel, as he tries to investigate exactly what has happened. Just some of the critters you will encounter on your journey are hedgehogs, toads, crows, chipmunks, beavers, and mice.

As you are reading along with the 122 page story, you will notice links along the way that take you to other tasks to complete.  As you complete those tasks, you earn supplies to help take care of the orphs whom Abba is taking care of in his treehouse.  Each of the links is clearly marked with a different color and include activities in the subject areas of grammar, math, vocabulary, science, thinking skills, life skills, and art.  There are 75 lessons with over 130 tasks to complete.

The links work in several different ways. You may just see a pop up explaining the definition of the word, or be taken to a video with more information, or simply be taken to another page with more details. For instance the link above, "flying squirrels", brought up a page giving you details about flying squirrels. As you will notice in the yellow title, it says "job training". In order to earn the supplies needed for the orphs, students will complete various job training exercises and then answer questions about their training to earn stars. 

Each job training category has an icon that matches with the help wanted icon. So first, students need to be sure they have completed the training section (#1) before answering the questions in the help wanted section (#2). When a task is complete, they will see a green check mark to let them know it has been completed. If they miss an answer, it is identified with a red x. There is not an opportunity to correct any missed answers.

Here is an example of a vocabulary pop up link. 

In Stumptown is where students will find the tasks they need to complete. Each treehouse that needs a task completed will have a number on it with the tasks that are available. When all tasks are complete and enough stars have been earned, supplies are rewarded for the orphs such as food, clothing, and other necessities.  

I snapped a few screenshots of some of the different learning categories for you to see. This one was on tally marks. 

This lesson was on Impressionism and it was fun to see mention of Monet as we have been studying a little about him over the summer and painting a few of his water lily designs.

This science lesson was on rainbows and how to remember the colors. 

There is a progress screen available so students and parents can keep track of progress too.  More than one student can use the app as well.  

 

This app is recommended for ages 9-11 and I used it with my daughter who is 12. The tasks involved were fairly easy for her but also a fun way to get in some review. I read along as well and found it neat how they incorporated the subject areas right into the story line. For example, Abba was speaking once of how he had worked for Pinecone Publishers and needed to know the difference between common and proper nouns which lead to a lesson on that subject area. 

Sarah completed all of the current lessons and finished the book. There is more scheduled to be added to the app at a later date. At the end, you can put in your email to be notified when it is updated.

This app currently sells for $1.99 in the iTunes store. Overall, we would recommend this app to families who want to add a great education app to their children's screen time or supplement their current curriculum.

Find our more on Star Toaster by following them on Facebook and Twitter.