3 in 30: November, Week 3

I can tell the holiday season is drawing near.  For me, that means keeping up with normal routine seems harder.  I still had a pretty good week though.

My 3 goals for November.......

1. Get up at 7:00 except Wednesday which is a mandatory sleep in day.  :)  I overslept 1 day.  My son has not fell well this week and I have been a little under a weather too so we've done well to get out of bed at all!
2. Share daily Bible verse with my Maximize Your Mornings (MYM) group.  I decided to sign up to be an accountability captain for the MYM challenge this time and I really wanted to be an encouragement to them.  There is no better encouragement to me than the Word of God!!  done!
3. add Beth Moore Daniel study to personal morning devotions.  Our church is meeting every other week to go through this study and I tend to put my homework off until this last week because it is really designed as a weekly study but I could get it done easier by breaking it up each day for the whole 2 weeks.  I will do this!!  We just had our meeting last night so on Monday I will add this in!

That was fun....now to off to see what other's goals are and how they did!  You can join in the fun too!


Happy Thanksgiving!

Two FREE Latin Readers!

Remember my review of Visual Latin? Well, now there are a couple of free Latin readers available to accompany your Latin studies. 

Here is a little about the readers from the website......

A Facebook friend introduced us to a new Latin reader called Cornelia published in the 1930′s. We tracked it down and found that the author, Mima Maxey, wrote a number of books in Latin, including another called A New Latin Primer. Both books have 40 chapters of stories and simple exercises that begin easy, but add more concepts and vocabulary as they progress. We highly recommend both for giving your children additional material with which to practice. They are available for free download in the store.

One of the most interesting things about the books was the Author’s Forward, which includes a manifesto on learning Latin. It’s well worth repeating here:

• Things exist written in the Latin language that are worth reading today.
• Latin should be so taught as to develop power to read those things in Latin.
• One learns to read by reading.
• Material for reading in the early stages should be easy and repetitious, and should introduce new vocabulary in self-evident situations.

We couldn’t agree more. She then goes on to add this thrust against what is now considered the traditional grammar-memorization method:

“The acquisition of the language itself is a sufficiently large task for the beginner. He should not be called upon to deal with situations outside his own experience or to acquire knowledge through the new medium; neither should his problem be complicated by the necessity of learning a formidable grammatical nomenclature or a science of grammar that the Romans themselves managed to do without until its introduction by Dionysius Thrax, who was born 166 B.C. Omission of formal grammar need not result in inaccurate or incorrect Latin. A tendency to inexactness can be corrected by much oral reading of Latin and by writing in Latin.”

This argument lies behind much of what we do, including our use of Biblical stories that are already familiar to students. We actually have been spurred on to add more writing in Latin to the lessons, and will be updating them over time to include that very thing. You can add it now with these two readers. Enjoy!

TOS Review: VocabCafe

VocabCafe is a series of 4 books from College Prep Genius designed to help students easily learn SAT-level words while reading an original wholesome story.  Each book contains 300 advanced vocabulary words.  Each word is located at the bottom of the page with the definition.  At the end of each chapter is a list of all the words to review.

Author of several of the books in the series, Josh Burk, had this to say about them...

“… I did a lot of reading to improve my vocabulary. I learned a lot of great words through the process of looking up every unfamiliar word, but it was often extremely tedious. Some of the best books had me pulling out the dictionary several times a sentence! This often sucked the fun out of reading and made learning vocabulary a chore. The VocabCafe Book Series tries to remedy this by keeping the power of learning through context while relieving the annoyance of dictionary interruptions!”

The Summer of Saint Nick Story Synopsis:
		For Nick Franklin, high school has been an incredible disappointment. Although an academic success (Nick's desire to become a lawyer drives him to get good grades), he utterly failed in the aspect of making friends. To make matters worse, Nick fell in love with the hottest girl in school -- who doesn't even know he exists.
		When summer arrives, Nick finally has the chance to forget his social worries. Like all vacations past, he plans to spend his time studying law in a clubhouse in the outskirts of town. Unbeknownst to him, this clubhouse holds the secret to making him wealthy, and instantly Nick can make all his wildest dreams come true.
Money can solve all his problems. With a new car, some new clothes, and the freedom to do whatever he wants... Nick knows that his true love will fall head over heels for him. However, he realizes that "getting the girl" may not be the most important thing. The Summer of Saint Nick is a thought-provoking story of fortune, romance, mystery, and sacrifice.
Sample Vocabulary Excerpts in Context: "Celeste was a dream. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, wore a miniskirt, and, to put it plainly, looked like a model. For Nick, Celeste was the perfect example of pulchritude. Ever since middle school, he’d had a secret crush on her."
Pulchritude – (puhl-kri-tood) – N – beauty; comeliness
"It was as if everything was right with the world. The sky was bluer than blue, and in the air Nick could smell the redolent flowers, trees, and homemade apple pies."
Redolent – (red-l-uhnt) – ADJ – having a pleasant odor; fragrant
"He opened the verdant paint, and with his verdant knowledge of painting, began to roll a zigzag pattern on the wall. Paint flew everywhere. It fell on the floor, made spots on the ceiling, and most of all, covered Nick in green."
Verdant – (vur-dnt) – ADJ – of a green color; inexperienced

You can read a synopsis of the other books here.  As you can tell by these vocabulary words, these books are geared toward high school age students.  I had my 8th grader give them a try.  He really thought they were awesome and loved the story lines.  He even asked to read extra chapters than I had assigned.  However, when I would review the vocabulary with him - it was very seldom that he could remember any of them.  This could just be his disability (he is about a grade level behind in reading) but just reading them in context did not help him retain the meaning.  They may be a better fit for him when he is a little older.


Each book sales for $12.95 and right now you can purchase the 4 book series for $38.85 which is like getting one book free.  Regular price is $51.80 for the set.  

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crewmates thought of VocabCafe and other products from College Prep Genius.

**Disclaimer: I received the series of books from VocabCafe in exchange for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation!

TOS Review: Keyboard Town PALS

Keyboard Town PALS is a typing program that presents a new method teaching children of all ages to type on a computer keyboard, using the proper finger technique, in only one hour.  PALS is more than the name of the fun characters in Keyboard Town- it is also an acronym. The Purposeful Associative Learning System is the way in which keyboard skills are taught in this program. 

As you begin the program, you are guided through Keyboard Town by Sunny. She introduces you to each of the Keyboard Town PALS.  

The program uses puppets to teach the keys of the keyboard so no longer is the home row known as A, S, D, or F but comes to life as Alice, Sam, Dora, and Frank.  The puppets may seem juvenile to some children but mine love things like this.  Seriously, even my 13 year old!  There are no timed drills, no tests, no scoring, and no fear of making a mistake.  It is just a laid back and fun way to learn to type where children can proceed at their own pace.

My daughter, who is eight, used this program and she loved it.  She has just began a writing program where she types her final copy of her paper and I was extremely amazed at how quickly she typed her paper.  Her response, "that typing program really works!".  I remember the boys when they first began with the hunt and peck method and how excruciatingly long it took them to type their papers.  


Keyboard Town Pals is available in English, Spanish, and French for $39.95 as a web-based program or in CD-rom.  They also have other fun accessories to complement the program such as a coloring book, concentration card game, and stickers.  You can also buy bundle packages to save even more!  For more information on ordering and the different packages available go here.

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crewmates thought of Keyboard Town PALS and how they incorporated it into their homeschool.

**Disclaimer: I received a free subscription of Keyboard Town PALS in exchange for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation!

HMJ - 11/11/11

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who serve and have served our country!  Thank you so much for giving so much!  We also thank their families for the sacrifices that they make!!  

In my life this week…

Our routine seemed to be back on track!  Now, holidays are coming up.  :)

In our homeschool this week...

We are still plugging along with My Father's World.  My kids love the Geography game each week and they are really learning their countries.  We also added in South America this week too!  Jonathan was glad to have the time to join us - can you tell?

We also finished up Chapter 2 of Apologia Anatomy, finally!  This is another family favorite!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

This week we have an afternoon tea with Cinderella, an anatomy field trip, and WAY overdue hair appointments!

My favorite thing this week was…

Watching my babies dancing for the glory of the Lord!!

Sarah - far left, Stephen - in the middle

Jonathan - back right

We're reading…

Jonathan

Carry on Mr. Bowditch

Stephen
George Washington - Young Leader

Sarah
Squanto


Read Aloud
Johnny Tremain



Links or photos to share..... 

Simple and yummy!

brownie mix ( or your own) made as usual

2 tbsp in aluminum cup

bake 350 – 10 minutes

put in reeses cup

back 5-7 minutes longer

Enjoy!

3 in 30: November, Week 2

I'm joining up with 3 in 30!  I really have already been doing this and have been working on 3 goals this month already so I decided to go ahead and share them instead of waiting for December!  I am an in need of accountability gal so this is definitely for me!

My 3 goals for November.......

1. Get up at 7:00 except Wednesday which is a mandatory sleep in day.  :)  So far I have done wonderful with this this week!  Yay, me!
2. Share daily Bible verse with my Maximize Your Mornings (MYM) group.  I decided to sign up to be an accountability captain for the MYM challenge this time and I really wanted to be an encouragement to them.  There is no better encouragement to me than the Word of God!!  Again, I rocked this! hint....I just share the verse a day that is sent directly to my email!  God's word is always right on time!
3. add Beth Moore Daniel study to personal morning devotions.  Our church is meeting every other week to go through this study and I tend to put my homework off until this last week because it is really designed as a weekly study but I could get it done easier by breaking it up each day for the whole 2 weeks.  Okay, I have not rocked this one!  I haven't even begun yet and the meeting is next Thursday.  I still have time right?  :)

That was fun....now to off to see what other's goals are and how they did!  You can join in the fun too!

TOS Review: Memoria Press - First Form Latin

I have been a fan of Memoria Press for a while now.  We have used several of their products and couldn't wait to try out First Form Latin.  I think we've just about tried them all now.  :)

First Form Latin did not disappoint!  We reviewed First Form Latin Plus which includes....

• Teacher Manual
• Student Text
• Student Workbook
• Quizzes and Tests Pronunciation CD
• Flashcards 
• Instructional DVDs

You can also purchase the set minus the flashcards and DVDs for $55 or each product individually. This plus set can be purchased for $115.   It includes absolutely everything you need to successfully learn Latin.  It is a very easy program to use and I used it with all my children who are in 3rd, 5th, and 8th.  With the 3rd grader I had her sit in on the lessons and study the flashcards daily.  With the older boys, I had them complete the workbook sheets and tests/quizzes.

Based on twenty years of teaching experience, this revolutionary "grammar-first" series was written by Cheryl Lowe.  

The uniqueness of the First Form Series lies in two features:

1. It is committed to the trivium model of teaching grammar systematically in order to facilitate retention and understanding, rather than topically, to facilitate translation.
2. Extensive workbook exercises ensure skills mastery and rapid recognition of inflected forms.

Features include:

• Designed for students and teachers with no Latin background
• 8x8 inch Student Text, small, concise, unintimidating with 34 two-page lessons on facing uncluttered pages
• Limited vocabulary of 185 words
• Full-size Student Workbook with 4-6 pages of exercises per lesson
• Vocabulary derivatives and detailed explanations of Latin sayings
• Grammar catechism for daily rapid-fire review
• Milestone markers for each grammar objective
• Everything-you-could-possibly-need teacher manual
• Organized for easy access
• Student Text inset with answers in color
• Chalk-talk scripted lessons
• Recitation schedule
• Pronunciation reminders
• Workbook with key
• Unit tests and lesson quizzes booklet
• FYI section for extra background

First Form’s grammar-first approach focuses on grammar forms and vocabulary because those are the grammar stage skills suitable for the grammar stage student. However, the First Form Series is for students of all ages because all beginners, regardless of age, are in the grammar stage of learning.  And our whole family, including me, is still in the grammar stage of Latin. 

This is very thorough program.  Actually completing 1 year of this curriculum is equivalent to one year of high school foreign language!  My boys found the DVDs a little boring but they really enjoyed the workbook sheets.  Go figure!  I enjoyed having the DVDs to back up the teaching portion but the teacher manual is very good and you could easily teach with no Latin background just using that.  I just would not want to!  There are 34 lessons included in First Form so we broke up the lessons to 1 lesson per week - 4 days per week and that schedule worked out great for us. 


You can see a sample of the DVD teaching from Lesson 8 below.

Also available are samples from the student textbook, the student workbook, the teacher manual, the table of contents, and the recitation.

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crewmates thought of First Form Latin and how they incorporated it into their homeschool.

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of First Form Latin Plus in exchange for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation!