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.

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Review of Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers | #excellenceinlit

I was excited and a little nervous to review the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers by Everyday Education, LLC. This might sound a little funny coming from a written blog, but we struggle with the subject of writing in our homeschool! It is a close second behind spelling for every single one of my children. I think the biggest part of the problem is that I struggle with how to teach it. I know how to write in conversational style but essay style is not my strong suit.

 

I received the digital version of the Handbook for Writers, and oh my, it is a massive resource. It contains 420 pages of handwriting knowledge, helps, and exercises to help any student become a better writer. It is downloaded as a PDF file and targeted for high school and college students but parents like me will find it a treasured resource as well.

I found the best way to tackle what was inside was by scouring the table of contents (scroll to the bottom) which were 22 pages long by themselves!

Part 1 of this reference book includes teaching helps on the structure of essays including outlines, paragraph functions and structures, defining thesis statements, topic sentences, and conclusion paragraphs just to name a few. Students are given examples of many of the writing topics including sample essays from book reviews, live drama productions, Shakespeare, modern poetry and so many more. Exercises are included for students to put their knowledge into practice. There was even a unique visual guide given so that students could organize their writing papers.

Part 2 focuses more on grammar skills and style including basic punctuation, parallel structure, phrases, clauses, sentences, parts of speech, subject/verb agreement, comma placement and so much more. There is also an extensive section on references and bibliographies. A valuable resource that we found handy in our homeschool were the 52 pages on frequently misused words. Just a few examples of those included were - who's/whose, sit/set, may be/maybe. This is where I chose to begin with my 10th grader. We simply added in two sets of misused words a day to review.

I also loved the rubric that was included for writing evaluation. I need step by step instruction when it comes to checking my student's writing papers so this was a wonderful resource for me. This can be used with any writings by your student. As I am grading my student's writing paper and I notice an area that needs some refreshment, I can direct him to the handbook for help.  He just needs to look in the handbook under the table of contents to the page number and section.  For example, here was a sentence fragment which could be read about further in section 1.8, page 238. We also discuss it together during our weekly meeting time.

I know that we will be looking through Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers for many years to come. This handbook contains almost everything you will need to help your writers have success. I would love to purchase the print edition as well because my brain just works better with physical books of this magnitude. Then my son could use the pdf file to quickly find the sections he needs to refer to.

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Review of NotebookingPages.com

To aid in our summer studies of focusing on God's Word, we have been taking advantage of the Lifetime Membership from NotebookingPages.com.

If you are unfamiliar with what notebooking actually is, think scrapbooking for school subjects. It's a fun way for students to make subjects come to life. Students journal and draw about what they have learned and every page shows each student's own unique personality. There is no right or wrong way to notebook which is the beauty of this system. They offer pages that cater to students who may prefer to draw and students who prefer to write. There are also options available for a mix of the two.

NotebookingPages.com offers 1000's of pages to download and print in Bible/Character, Alphabet, Famous People, Fine Arts, Geography, History, Holidays, Language Arts, and Science/Nature. They also offer basic lined notebooking pages that can be used with any subject.

So far we have have just touched the surface on the pages available with this membership. The most fantastic part is your membership never expires so you can take all the time you need to complete your projects! You also gain free access to any future updates that may occur with your lifetime membership.

For our homeschool, we focused on the Bible notebooking pages. This set takes you through the Old Testament and New Testament from Creation to John's Vision on the island of Patmos. It comes in a zip file and once unzipped it contains 54 files of PDF printables. This set alone has over 500 different pages to choose from!

I used this set with my daughter, Sarah, who is 12. We used the Bible notebooking categories as our devotion point each day. We began by researching the Bible verse or verses then added our own drawings or timeline and journaling information. Some days, we added a paraphrase with our thoughts and some days we simple copied the verse from the Bible but it has been a great time to spend with each other and growing in God's Word.

One of the files included an overview of every page in the set which made it so much simpler to pick and choose which pages we wanted to work with. Below is just a small sample of what is available.

We hole punched the pages and inserted them inside this small 3 ring flexible binder.  You could also add them to the binder with a clear front and decorate with your own binder cover. 

The Table of Contents page included was great to keep us on track.  You could also number your pages to correspond with the Table of Contents if you wish to make pages easier to look back on.

Here are just a few of the Bible notebooking pages that we completed.

Sarah enjoyed this way of working through the Bible. She is very creative and loves to draw so this was a perfect fit for her. There are also pages available with illustrations for those who would rather just narrate what they have learned as well as a combination of both.

I love to do special activities on holidays so I know the holiday section will come in handy for us too. There are pages for most of the traditional holidays. Here is a sample of just one of the pages offered for the fourth of July.

Next school year, we will be focusing a lot of other countries and geography so I have already begun to explore and print some of the pages in that section for next year too. The geography notebooking pages include maps, country pages, and more.

NotebookingPages.com offers lots of free pages too. You can sign up for a free sampler to see if this unique system will work for your family. I love that there are so many options in so many subjects so I don't have to take the time to search the internet for each individual page. When you are finished with your pages, you will have a real treasure on your hands written and designed by your student.

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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 HomeschoolDiploma.com #HSReview #HSGraduation #Diplomas

Wow, I cannot even believe that is possible for me to be writing this review.  You see, in order to tell you all about the Exclusive High School Diploma from HomeschoolDiploma.com my son must be graduating!! Class of 2016 seemed like so many years away and yet here it is. In less than a month, our little homeschool will be graduating it's first Senior! I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that!

It was like Christmas time when we received your box in the mail from HomeschoolDiploma.com.  As soon as we received our package, we dove in to see the beautiful goodies that we have both worked so hard for!  A homeschool Senior has done their part but so have you, Mom and Dad! Congratulations to us all!  It felt as though I was graduating all over again myself.

We were given the chance to review their Exclusive High School Diploma which has several options available to personalize.  It sells for $48.99 and choices for personalizing include:

• four engraved seals to choose from
• four wording choices (each with their own variations) For example we choose the wording "Thanks to God" to be added to ours
• three Bible verses to choose from - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), Proverbs 3: 5- 6 (KJV), or Proverbs 9:10 (KJV) You can also choose to add your own verse or motto for additional $3.99
• option of adding Title names under signature lines such as "Signature of Instructor", "Signature of Administrator". They have suggestions for choosing the title names or you can just leave it blank.
• choice of ivory parchment paper or cream-colored card stock
• Lettering style for the student's name comes in printed gothic font or you can add the hand calligraphy option for an additional $10.50
• optional Honors seals can be added for an additional $2.95
• 4 padded diploma covers in various colors and styles that come with the diploma - also additional options of adding school name and students name to the outside of the cover (these options cost extra)

Also offered for additional fees are archived copies of the diploma as well as wallet size options.  I ordered an extra copy of ours to keep with our school records at home too.

They have 4 styles of diplomas available for purchase - standard, personalized, exclusive, and gilded. To see which style would fit your needs best, you can use this chart that explains the differences. The basic differences include the wording and seal options. You can also see more on the different seal types and paper types here.


Since our homeschool group has 5 graduates this year, we had already decided to order our cap/gowns and tassels so they would match from HomeschoolDiploma.com. I chose to go with the Exclusive Diploma Package which included the Exclusive High School Diploma with the 8.5 x 11 Deluxe Cover, Any Matte Cap & Gown, Any Tassel for $76.48 without any add-ons. Since this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I went all out in ordering our diploma and added Jonathan's favorite Bible verse to the diploma and his name to his diploma cover for an additional fee. The black line on the diploma is where your city and state would go.

Our order shipped really quickly and we received it in less than a week from when we ordered even with the additional choices.  Everything was nicely wrapped for packaging and we are very happy with what we received.  The padded diploma cover with the engraving is so beautiful and Jonathan will be able to treasure his diploma for years to come.  The diploma itself was also nicely finished and very professionally created.  The company they work with to engrave has won world wide acclaim for their work.  The engraving die is engraved by hand under magnification. It's such a wonderful way to celebrate and commemorate many years of hard work and perseverance. Seriously, have tissues in hand the first time you see it!

Also included in the Exclusive Diploma Package was a choice of any matte cap/gown and tassel.  We chose the Navy cap/gown and navy and white tassel with silver clamp. There are several color choices to choose from for the gowns as well as the tassels and clamps.  You also have 4 options of tassel charms to pick from (2 choices are free, 2 cost an additional fee).  We choose the 4 digit "2016" in silver to match the tassel clamp which is one of the free choices.  Again, we found the quality to be of excellent standard.  And again, my school gown was in Navy - so many memories!  We used the directions given in the sizing chart to determine the size which fit perfectly for Jonathan.  We still need to steam it but we gave it a quick try on out of the box so you could see.  

Our graduation ceremony will be held at our homeschool group's annual promotion ceremony so I also purchased the Simply Stated White Panel Card to share with a few family members and friends. I did crop out the address in the picture so the card when folded measures about 4 1/2 inches wide by 6 inches long. It's also hard to tell in the picture but the printed portion is on a raised panel.  You can choose from several different foil colors for the lettering as well. We chose navy.

HomeschoolDiploma.com also sent us some sample invitations.  The samples they sent were on thick card stock paper and the beautiful foil lettering really makes these trifold announcements pop.  The black is really prettier than I thought it would be.

If you're looking for a more classic style, then be sure to check out these 2016 White Semi-Personalized Cards which include a space to add in name cards, envelope seals, and personalized insert cards. Name cards, envelope seals, and ceremony details on the personalized insert cards are all sold separately.  I really wish I had chosen the envelope seals now. They add such a nice flair to the white envelopes.

HomeschoolDiploma.com has everything to meet your graduate needs including class rings, invitations, diplomas, t-shirts, thank you notes, senior portfolios and so much more! You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.  

I'm so thankful for companies who help make graduating from homeschool high school easier especially for us first timers!