Rhythm & Writing (A Review)

My four year old had been wanting to learn to write more than just B (the first letter in his name) and this review of Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew came at just the right time. Rhythm & Writing has created a cute program of videos, stories, and practice to help young children learn to write. I was excited to find out that it was created by an occupational therapist who knew and understood the importance of fine motor skills in handwriting.

When we first got the package in my son had an opportunity to take a ‘pre-test’ where he copied words to get an idea of what he already knew. This would be especially beneficial for a child that had learned some of his letters and just needed to work on trouble spots. I was excited to be able to have it to compare his progress. If your child already had mastery of some of the letters you could skip through those and only focus on the ones that needed work. Since my son only really knew the letter B, we decided to start at the beginning and work our way through the book. The book covers both the upper and lower case of each letter, but not at the same time.

There is a song/rap for each set of letters to help you remember how to form them. If I’m being honest, I was not a huge fan of the raps but my son LOVED them. He wanted to watch the videos over and over again and I think they helped him learn to write. Their effectiveness made up for the fact that I didn’t enjoy listening to them. The videos feature the same characters as the story in the book: “Big Country” Guitar, “Hip Hop” Lyricist, “Mo Rock” Drums, and “Jazzy Faith” Keyboard and Vocals. You can even listen to a sample on the website.

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The rhymes that help them remember how to write the letter are simple but effective. For example, letter V was down stop, up stop. Capital H is long line down jump out, long line down and across. Those combined with the songs and the practice made it easy to master the letters.

20190318_113848 — Sometimes you just need to ‘do school’ outside.

One of my favorite parts of this program is that they sent a transparency with the workbook so that a child could practice as many times as needed to gain mastery. As a four year old my son is still working on those fine motor skills needed for writing letters and requires quite a bit of practice. If he had done the workbook page without the transparency he would have been unable to keep working on it until he had it mastered. Once you feel they have mastery, you can remove the transparency and allow them to write on the actual page.

20190401_101843 — After practicing with the marker and transparency for a couple of days, he did the worksheet in pencil.

My son also enjoyed that there was a picture he could color on each page. The pictures add visual interest for the student but also give them a little extra fine motor skills practice.

We moved slowly through the program, averaging a letter or two a week because of my son’s age and developing motor skills. If I tried to do too much, he would get frustrated and not do his best work. I had to remember that it takes a lot of focus and work for young hands to form the letters. If you were working with an older student or one who was just missing some of the letters the program could be done at a faster speed.

20190320_112330 — Same robe, different hair cut, different day.. more letter practice.

Overall, I think Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew is a creative and effective way to teach handwriting skills. The videos and story make it fun, the transparency and catchy rhymes allow for plenty of practice and make proper formation easier. We plan to continue using this with my son until he reaches mastery of all of the letters. Make sure you click below to check out the experiences of the other Crew members.

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Tied 2 Teaching STEM Challenges (Review)

Can I be honest with you for a minute? We love science in this house, but our formal science program had fallen to the wayside this year due to other life events. I really wanted to get some science going again but knew that right now I just couldn’t tackle our regular program. I knew that my personality would not do well with just doing part of a textbook and I didn’t have time to complete an entire textbook between March and May. I didn’t want to be doing school all summer, but I didn’t want to ignore science completely. The STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading from Tied 2 Teaching offered just the solution I had been looking for.

While this is a full year of challenges, each challenge stands on it’s on which means I do not feel like I have to complete all of the challenges or do them in any particular order. Many of them are designed around monthly themes. For example, there is a Leprechaun trap as one of the March activities and a spider web activity for October. They do download with each activity as a separate PDF, so if you want to use them thematically, you need to look at the list on the website. If I was going to be using them thematically I would probably separate them into monthly folders on my computer to make them easier to find.

I love that aside from finding a few fairly readily available supplies, these were very open and go activities. The supplies consisted of things like marshmallows, toothpicks, recycled materials, building blocks (we used Legos), a card deck, and dried cranberries. Aside from the fact that we ran out of toothpicks after a couple of challenges I did not have to buy any materials to complete the challenges that we have tried.

I could print off the sheets, make sure we had the supplies, and hand the papers over to my children to work through the challenge. We utilized the challenges in a several ways. Some of them I had my 12 and 11 year olds work through together, some I had both of them do the challenge individually, and then I was also able to do some of them individually based on interests.

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Each challenge starts with a reading passage. I chose to copy and paste those into a word document and print them out, but they can be accessed through a QR code on the paper or linking on the computer. Once the students have read the passage, they answer some comprehension questions about the passage. Then they are issued a related STEM challenge. There are several different forms included in the package that can be used for planning and commenting their work. There are also follow up questions to help them reflect on what they learned and explore the topic more in depth.The challenges tend to be fairly open ended and allow for a lot of creativity and not necessarily a right/wrong answer.

I found that most of them could be completed from start to finish in about an hour. This varied somewhat depending on how focused my children were and how much time they wanted to spend working on different ideas and variations. For example, they had multiple ideas for the spider web and so it took them a little longer as they tested out several theories. The Lego flags that they made did not take as long because they knew exactly what they wanted to do and just built them.

Finished product

Little brother wanted to try!

The first project that we did was the spider’s web design challenge. For this project they read an article about spiders and their webs. Then the challenge was, “using toothpicks and yummy marshmallows, design and build a super cool and slightly creepy spider web.” They ended up building one that they called a bat mobile after trying out a couple of different ideas.

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Their favorite project so far was a flag building block challenge. Both of my older children love building with their Legos and being allowed to use them during school is a sure way to get their attention. My oldest son is also a flag enthusiast, so I knew this challenge would be a hit. They had to research the flags of five different countries and recreate them using only building blocks. I loved that they were dealing with history/geography while also working on the building/engineering skills. They decided they wanted to do the American flag but thought that it would be hard to get one with 50 stars, so they went with the historic Hopkinson flag which only needed 13 stars.

In addition to those two projects they were able to make bugs from Lego’s, towers from dried cranberries, and more. We have also picked out our next two projects which are a house made from cards and a model of a lighthouse. We are hoping to go on a field trip to see a lighthouse next week and then complete the lighthouse challenge when we return home. While I would not want these challenges to replace my children’s entire science education we felt like there were a great fit for this semester. I think that they are perfect for those times in life when you need open and go science/ STEM activities or as a fun addition to your regular curriculum. It is also a fun way to get in a little bit of reading comprehension practice with the reading passages that go along with each project.

Visit the website to see a full list of the challenges that are included in STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading. You can also click below to see all of the different reviews from the Review Crew to see which challenges each person chose and how they utilized them in their home.

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Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” ( Review)

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Our family does not watch a lot of television or movies. While each week is different, on a given week our television is not normally on more than once or twice and it is not unusual to go an entire week without turning it on at all. Since we watch so little television, I like to make sure that what we do watch is very high quality entertainment or educational material. Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” is one of those programs that fits the bill of both educational and entertaining. Drive Thru History® is a company that we have come to love and trust and this newest production is no different.

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These DVDs could easily be assigned as schoolwork to coordinate with your Bible and/or history studies. However, my children love them and ask to watch them in their free time. Dave Stotts is funny or ‘punny’ as my children like to say but also does a great job providing an amazing amount of Biblical and historical knowledge in each episode.

Last year we were blessed with the opportunity to review Drive Thru History®: The Gospels as a part of Drive Thru History Adventures. When the opportunity came to review Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” , I knew it would be a great chance to continue with our studies. This time instead of getting the online subscription, we received the DVDs and study guide that are ours to keep and revisit as we wish.

Drive Thru History picture

Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” is an 18 episode series on three DVDs. In each episode, the host, Dave Stotts, goes on site to learn and teach. Being able to see the actual locations where Biblical events took place really helps make them real to my children. They know that Athens, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Malta are all real locations but it can be so hard to conceptualize. This allowed them to see what they look like today, see the historic sites, and visualize what it might have been like in the days of Paul.

In this series, we start at Pentecost and follow along as Saul becomes Paul. Then we follow Paul through his missionary journeys. The final disk includes the martyrdom of Paul and Peter as well as John on the Island of Patmos and the book of Revelation.

We have been going through the episodes together as a family and using the included study guide to help facilitate our discussions afterwards. The study guide is a great resource and is conveniently located inside the DVD case. The study guide includes beautiful pictures, a summary and discussion questions (and answers) for each episode, and Bible readings for each episode. Since we watched the episodes together, I generally did not need the answers to the discussion questions, but they would be really helpful if you were having your child go through the series independently.

Drive Thur History 4 — The VW that my son liked so much!

I love how he drives to all the different places that Paul visited and lets us see them. I also like all the different cars he drives. My favorite car was the VW Beetle. Matthew, Age 12

We watched two of the discs during our review period look forward to finishing the last disc over the next few weeks. Each episode is just under 30 minutes, includes a short review of the last episode and then moves forward in the story of the New Testament. My children would have binge watched all of them if I had allowed it, but we felt that this program was best utilized by watching one episode at a time and discussing it together before we moved on to the next episode.

Included in each episode was the relevant scripture, a video or retelling of that part of the story, and the sights and information about the modern day place. For example, in one episode we heard a reading from Acts 27 and saw the story of Paul’s shipwreck on the Island of Malta. We then were able to see what modern day Malta looks like. They also included maps with most episodes to help you understand the geography of the locations that he was visiting in that episode.

I recommend Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” for any family that is looking to learn more about the Bible or wants a fun and entertaining series to watch together. We watched with children ranging from 4-12 and they all enjoyed it, but I would say it is probably best for upper elementary through adult to get the full understanding. This is a great addition to your home school curriculum or your family Bible study time. You can also check our my review of their Drive Thru History ® Adventures program. For more information on how other Homeschool Review Crew families used Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation” click the link below.

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Artistic Pursuits (A Review)

I remember drawing one good picture of a flower in middle school, it was purple and large and my art teacher really liked it. Aside from that one drawing, artistic skills and abilities have never been a strength for me. My son is very interested in drawing and I wanted him to have the help he needed to develop his skills. He has been doing an art program with my daughter and enjoying it, but wanted more instruction how to draw well. I was very excited to give him the opportunity to try one of the books in the K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 series by ARTistic Pursuits Inc.

When looking at the series I knew they were designed for younger students (my son is a 7th grader) but decided after talking to him to go ahead and give it a try. I did get Art in America, K-3 Vol. 8 which is generally recommended for the older end of that range and specifically focuses on drawing with graphite and colored pencils. I was prepared for him to feel like it was to ‘babyish’ for him, but the book is laid out in such a way that it works for a wide range of ages. Though a second or third grader could have done the lessons, it did not feel ‘babyish’ for my middle schooler and did a great job of giving him more basic drawing instruction.

This program is a combination of book lessons with some short video lessons. The book includes both a DVD and a Blu-ray. For this particular volume the only supplies that I needed to purchase were graphite pencils. He also needed plain paper and later in the book colored pencils but we already keep those supplies on hand.

The lessons were short and only took him about 15 or 20 minutes to complete. They are set up to be one lesson a week but since he is older I had him go ahead and do a couple of lessons most weeks. For each lesson you have instruction either in the book or a short video (about 5 minutes) and then a practice activity. This particular volume is twelve text lessons and six video lessons. In addition to basic drawing instruction, the book also includes information and lessons about various famous artists. Each of the twelve text lessons included a different artist. I loved that they were introduced to some great artists, including John Copley and one of my personal favorites, John James Audubon.

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For the lesson featuring John Singleton Copley the student was introduced to the artist with a bit of background information about the artist. Then they showed how he used basic shapes in his drawings using an example of one of his famous pieces. The student is then given instructions on how to translate that skill into their own drawing of an object they can see or a photograph. There is also an example picture done by a nine year old student. I think this feature is nice because it gives both the student and the parent a better idea of a reasonable expectation for the assignment.

The short video lessons demonstrated examples of different skills. One of them showed how to use shading to create light and dark and another taught students how to draw lines and circles with a ruler and compass. After each lesson the student had the opportunity to take what was learned and create their own art work.

As a seventh grader, my son was able to easily work through this course without any assistance from me. He enjoyed the short lessons and I could see improvement in his skills. If I were using this with a younger student, I would go through the lessons with them to make sure they understood the reading and be prepared to assist as necessary. it would still not take much prep work for the teacher and is a very easy to implement course.

Each volume of this series focuses on a different set of skills including watercolor, print making, paper construction, etc. With elementary aged children each volume is designed to be covered in one semester. If you are using it with older students, you could easily cover two or three in a semester. You can find more information about the other volumes at ARTistic Pursuits Inc. and donn’t forget to click the link below to read reviews from other Crew members. You can find reviews for each of the different levels and see how families with different ages used the program.

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Homeschool Complete (Review)

What do you do with a child that is ready to start kindergarten work, when you are already balancing two other older children and a baby? You look for a product that will give him what he needs in a simple easy to use format that doesn’t take all day. I’m researching curriculum for my son who turns five next month and is in that very situation. Homeschool Complete offers full programs that are all inclusive and feature a unit study format. I decided to try out the first semester of Kindergarten Complete with my son and see how it worked with him and with our schedule.

What Does Homeschool Complete Look Like?

The semester is broken up into various units including: All About My Family, Fall, Farm Animals, Zoo Animals, Winter, Sea Life, Martin Luther King Jr. and more. Most of the units are about four lessons long with each lesson being one day’s work. They suggest using the unit for four days and having the fifth day of the week be activities of your own choice.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

My son was excited about ‘doing school’ and eager to try this program most days. I found that it took us between 45 and 60 minutes to do the lessons most days. He really enjoyed the math and reading components (which at this point were mostly read alouds with comprehension questions). He was starting to learn some of the letter sounds but struggled with those as well as the writing components. I felt like the math was moving at a really good pace. He could easily keep up but was not becoming bored.

He struggled to keep up with the writing even though it was mostly copying words that I had written. He enjoyed learning how to write his name but when he had to write other words, he seemed to struggle. This will vary based on the child and it is worth noting that he is on the younger side and another 6 months or a year’s worth of fine motor skills may make the writing much more attainable for him.

Each day they would go through their calendar activities, talking about the date, days of the week, moths of the year, etc. There was a short math lesson, followed by language arts which generally consisted of reading a book or passage aloud and then discussing it. Often the book or passage related to the theme of the unit study and included the science or social studies for the day.

Most days also include some type of enrichment activity. Also days often include a Bible lesson, physical education lesson, art lesson or music lesson. These extras are typically very simple and easy to implement. For example, practice a low crawl for fire escape is one of the physical education ideas. An example of an art lesson was to create colorful fall trees by painting with sponges. One of the enrichment/science activities was carving a pumpkin and having the child feel the inside and then use adjectives to describe it.

What Did We Think About Homeschool Complete?

I thought this program was well thought out and provided good coverage of the basics with some other fun activities. We are a very science and history heavy family and I would include more of that in our studies but those would be easy to supplement. If you are a family that starts those subjects later or puts less emphasis on them at a young age, there is probably plenty included in the curriculum.

In addition to the curriculum you do need to be prepared to purchase or borrow books for each unit. Many of them are fairly common and not difficult to find. We also utilized videos of a couple of them being read aloud on YouTube for books that we did not have. There are materials needed for some of the art and science projects but in general they are common materials or inexpensive. For example, we needed pennies for counting one day and paper and crayons for an activity.

Overall, if you are looking for a simple and easy to implement complete kindergarten curriculum Homeschool Complete may be a good choice for you. They also offer complete curriculum for grades first through fourth and unit studies for grades K-6. I encourage you to check out their website as well as the other crew reviews to see if this might be a good fit for your students.

Discounts and Updates

**Update** Homeschool Complete is offering 5% off to our readers right now!! Just click on that link and use code SWAG through July 31.

Also, since the time that I wrote the review they have added art kits, Grade 5 and just recently Pre-K. They are a faith based program, but also offer a secular version for those that may need that for state funding or personal reasons.

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Victus Study Skills System (Review)

All students’ need good study skills but knowing how to teach those skills can be a challenge. For some reason teaching study skills has always been a difficult abstract topic for me and with my oldest being a 7th grader I knew that it was something we needed to focus on. I enjoyed this opportunity to review the Victus Study Skills System particularly using Level 2: Elementary and Level 3 (Grades 5/6-10/11). This included a workbook for each level, a teachers manual, and a supplemental manual for the elementary level. I used level 2 with my fifth grade daughter and level 3 with my seventh grade son.

The Victus Study Skills System is built on three major parts or cornerstones. First, “Where am I now?” This section focuses on learning strengths and an assessment of current study habits. Second, “Where do I want to be?” This covers creating a mission statement and setting goals. Finally, “How do I get there?” This is where you really get into learning new study habits and skills to help you achieve the goals that you created in the second section. This cornerstone focuses on things like time management, listening, note taking and test taking.

Victus Pinetrest

There are examples for each section or lesson and then opportunities to practice. When comparing the elementary level with level 3 (5/6-10/11) you see a very similar layout of concepts, but the elementary level has shorter assignments and does not always go as in depth. Sometimes, the assignments are are entirely different. For example, in one of the lessons my daughter was doing a word search and my son was working on a calendar. There are other lessons where they both needed to answer questions or fill in the blanks but the elementary lesson has fewer questions.

Lessons in which my daughter had the same but fewer questions were very easy to combine. I would teach the lesson and we would go through the work together. However, for some of them I felt like they really needed my individual attention because of the differences in the layout. In hindsight, when I use this program again, I will give an introduction the program together, but plan to spend time individually with each child.

Level 2 Example

Level 3 Example

Level 2 Example

I liked how, instead of just telling them that note taking was a good study strategy, it went through and taught them how to take good notes. The book explained using short hand, keeping things brief, not needing to use complete sentences, and even how to determine which things are important to note. They then have the opportunity to practice taking notes using several sets of information. Once they have practiced, they can compare their notes to a set of well-taken sample notes on the same information.

Elementary Supplement

Teacher’s Guide

I also really appreciated how it showed them how to get from where they are to where they want to be. By starting with an assessment of their own learning styles, they can progress into self advocates and choose to study and use the strategies that work best for them. Another step that I think was really important was setting goals. If you do not know where you want to go, you will not be able to figure out how to get there. I think that helped them to understand why the study skills that they learned in the the third part of the program were important.

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Overall, we enjoyed this product but I do feel that it is worth noting that while they say you can teach multiple levels at a time, I found it very difficult to teach both Level 2 and Level 3 together. The overall topics were similar but the activities and such were different enough that it became confusing for my students. I recommend considering individual times for different levels. If you had multiple students on the same level, I think it would work fine with group instruction. The other thing that I would note is that while they say it is a five hour course, it took us significantly more than 5 hours to work through the course. That might change somewhat if I was not trying to do two different levels at once. The extra time is not a big deal in a home setting like ours, but an important consideration for planning if you are using it for a larger time bound setting like a co-op.

I think that the Victus Study Skills System is a good system to teach study skills and help students understand the importance of those skills. I love that it helps each child look at themselves as individuals and teaches them a variety of tools and strategies that they can work with to best meet their individual learning styles and goals. There is also a primary level (K-2) and a college level that we did not use at this time. If you would like to find out more about the other levels or see how other families utilized the program, I encourage you to check out the other Review Crew reviews using the link below.

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Pre-Kindergarten Dimensions Math (Review)

I have a pretty laid-back philosophy on preschool and believe that most learning is done through just living life together and play. I also have a four year old that has been telling me that he was ready to ‘do school’ like his older brother and sister. When I was given the opportunity to review Dimensions Math PK-5 by Singapore Math Inc. I was hesitant. I knew that my son wanted more ‘schoolwork’ but I was not sure that a formal math program was going to be the best fit. I decided that it would not hurt anything to give a try and see how it went.

$Dimensions math Pinterest$

I requested and received PKA, which is the first semester of Pre-Kindergarten. When it arrived it reminded me very much of curricula for a tradition classroom in the sense that it had a large teachers manual, a student textbook, and a student workbook. For the Pre-Kindergarten level both the workbook and the textbook are consumable resources designed to be written in by the student. They also have some printable blackline masters and cute videos on their website to accompany the curriculum.

When I started looking through the teacher’s manual, I was pleasantly surprised to find many hands on and play based activities. This curriculum is often used in classrooms and so they have group activities, centers, and individual activities included. There were art activities, snacks, and even book recommendations to extend the lessons.

Most days when we did math I would go through the short lesson with him, pick one or two activities and then do the textbook and workbook pages. This generally only took about 15 minutes per lesson unless he wanted to spend longer on an art activity or something like that. My four year old thought it was great fun and would ask when he could do math.

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Since it was also designed for classroom use I wanted to give it a try with a small group of children. I only have one preschooler but I had friends that were generously willing to loan me a few more for the morning. I tried a lesson with four children to see how the group activities would flow and how the curriculum might work in a co-op or classroom setting.

The children really seemed to enjoy the activities. The lesson that I chose to use was part of a unit where they were learning to compare and contrast various objects. This particular lesson taught the concepts of smooth, rough, and bumpy. Since I only had one workbook we could not do that portion (if you were going to use this regularly with a group you would have each one purchase a textbook and a workbook) but we read through the lesson, looked at the examples in the textbook and then completed some of the group and center activities.

They had chance to feel objects in a bag that they couldn’t see. Then they guessed what they were along with describing them using one of the three descriptive words. They had a chance to feel various objects like smooth satin, rough burlap, bumpy bubble wrap and more. Then they sorted objects into the three categories, sanded rough wood until it was smooth (or they were bored), and used various rough and bumpy objects to do rubbings as an art project. We finished up with a smooth and bumpy snack of apples and pretzels.

I felt that the PKA level was a little easy for my son, but I could have avoided that by having him take the kindergarten placement test before we chose a level. I really like starting at the beginning of a curriculum and since he had never done a formal math curriculum I thought that would be a good place to start. He enjoyed it but it was mostly review of concepts that he already knew. I think this would be better for a child that was a little younger or not as advanced, though again he enjoyed it and it worked well for getting him in the habit of doing a math lesson about three times a week.

While I still do not believe that most children need a formal math curriculum for Pre-Kindergarten, if you wanted the structure of a program at that level or if you had the opportunity to work with a co-op or other small group of children Dimensions Math PK-5 has a lot to offer. I love the hands on nature of many of the activities and the reasonably short lessons to match the attention spans of young children. I am looking forward to reading the reviews of other Review Crew members to see if the other levels were as hands on and interactive as PKA.

$Dimensions Math PK-5 {Singapore Math Inc. Reviews}$

IXL Annual Subscription (Review)

At an event in December, a friend of mine who works in a traditional classroom ask me if I had ever used a subscription to IXL with my children, I told him that I had not heard of the program. It was a busy month and I honestly forgot to even go check it out until January rolled around and I saw IXL Learning show up as a vendor on our list of Crew reviews. If he had not mentioned it in December I’m not sure I would have given it a chance but I am so glad that I did.

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I started out trying the full annual subscription to IXL with both my four year old son and my eleven year old daughter. The four year old tried several different objectives and did well with the ones that he worked on but honestly did not enjoy the program. I think that it was too repetitive and not interactive enough for his age group. He fought me on doing activities after the first few attempts and eventually we decided it was just not working for him and let him stop.

My daughter, however, had a completely different experience. When we first started I made the mistake of trying to have her do the diagnostic component all in one sitting. That test took hours and she still was not done. It narrows down the levels of each component and that takes quite a few questions. It is good information but looking back I would have had her break that up and do a few diagnostic questions each day until we had the data we needed. Once we moved from the diagnostic component to the practice component she absolutely loved the program. She was able to earn virtual prizes (nesting dolls for the fifth grade lessons) that really seemed to motivate her to keep going. She was actually doing more lessons that I required in order to earn more prizes.

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My daughter asked if she could use it for her complete curriculum as she was really enjoying it. However, the program is set up as a practice component and not a complete curriculum. It has review in many different areas and is very comprehensive that way, but it does not include lessons to teach new material. There is some information and explanation for questions that are incorrect but not enough to be a primary curriculum. For fifth grade alone there are questions for over 700 skills spread across the areas of math, language arts, social studies, and science. I do intend to allow her to continue to use this annual subscription to IXL to practice and review her skills throughout the year. She is very motivated to do well and I am pleased with the growth. We primarily focused on grammar because those were areas that I knew she needed more practice and I could see growth in her performance as she went through the practice questions.

Overall, I think that the format of IXL does not lend itself well for Pre-K but that it is a great resource for older students. My fifth grader loved it and I could see it also being beneficial to my seventh grader. While we have not yet reached those levels the math even goes up to Calculus. I know that could come in handy with high schoolers who need more practice or review. I think it would be a great way to review skills before placement test, SATs, etc. To find out how the other Crew members utilized the program and what they thought don’t forget to click below and read more reviews.

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Heirloom Audio: For The Temple (Review)

Often when a new review opportunity is posted I take a look at the product and then talk to whichever children would be working with it during the review period. This gives me a chance to get some input from them before making a decision about whether or not to request that review. However, when a chance to review the newest Heirloom Audio came through I knew there was no need to ask for their opinion, they love audio books, and the GA Henty audio dramas from Heirloom are among their favorites.

We had grand plans of listening to this particular drama, For The Temple, on the ride to and from an aquarium field trip that we had scheduled last week. Unfortunately, instead of the aquarium we ended up at home sick with a stomach virus. However, we made the most of a difficult situation and gathered together in the living room and listened while we rested and recovered. They were even able to work on a little drawing, weaving, and slime creation while they listened.

20190206_162520 — Playing with slime while she listens to For The Temple!

For the Temple is based on the novel by G.A Henty by the same title. This is the story of John, a vinter, who lives near the Shores of the Sea of Galilee. More importantly, it is the tale of the battle over the Temple in Jerusalem and its fall in 70 AD. In classic Henty style the story tells the true history of this momentous event through a fictitious story. While many of the characters are made up, you also hear the names of the very real people, such as Josephus, that played key roles. This story is mostly a tale of battle, determination, political unrest, and adventure. However, for those romantics in the group we do get John’s quiet love story woven throughout the tale.

In addition to the audio drama Heirloom has created an over 50 page study guide that can be used with this story. The study guide has comprehension questions to go along with each chapter as well as addition discussion and thought provoking questions for the chapters. As we listened, I was able to use the study guide to help guide some discussion and make sure they were understanding the story. I think it is a well thought out guide that adds to the study of the story. I will note that it does not include an answer key so whoever is checking or assisting with the study guide will need to have also listened to the story. This worked well for us since we did it as a family, but would be important if you were assigning it as an independent project.

In a very convenient coincidence, this audio drama was based off of a G.A. Henty novel that my son read just a couple months ago as part of his literature course. This added to our discussions by allowing us to discuss the differences in the audio drama and the book.

I do want to note that I think due to the nature of this story there are some scenes that may be difficult for younger listeners. They are handled well and are not overly graphic but there are scenes that involve, mass murders, bodies being thrown off the walls, crucifixion and other persecution of Christians. I do not think you could leave them out and keep the story historically accurate but I do think parents of young children need to be aware before making a decision for your family. Heirloom recommends this story for ages 6 to adult but while I think younger children could listen along I would recommend this more for children 8-10 years old up to adult.

Heirloom Audio dramas are a great supplement to your history program or a fun just to listen to together as a family. Check out their website for more information on For the Temple. You can also check out my reviews of two other Heirloom Audio titles: St. Bartholomew’s Eve and Wulf the Saxon. For more reviews of For the Temple, click below and see what the other Review Crew families thought.

His Mercy Endureth Forever: A Picture Book Review

A few months ago I had the privilege of reviewing T is for Tree and so I was excited when RFPA contacted me to ask if I might also be willing to review a copy of His Mercy Endureth Forever: Psalm 136 which is a beautiful picture book based on the Psalm and illustrated by Kathleen DeJong.

winter artand a lesson onflexibility!-2

I had not told the children that the book was coming so they would be surprised when the package arrived. They love opening mail and finding out it was a new book was very exciting. My four year old couldn’t wait to see the pictures and have me read the book, so we read it aloud that very night.

The first thing I noticed was that the outside of this hardcover book was simple but beautiful. It is a depiction of the night sky. The title is written in a mix of print and cursive. It is beautifully done, but may be a bit difficult to read for a new reader with the change in font and style.

On the inside, the words are quoted from the King James version of Psalms 136. This is a beautiful section of scripture that is great to speak into the hearts and minds of our children. The illustrations are lovely. There is writing on every other page with a full color illustration on the opposite page. The pages with the words also have small monochromatic illustrations.

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Since there are a few words in that chapter that might be difficult for young children they have included a one page glossary in the back of the book. This page helps define words like endureth, mercy, and smote. They recommend the book for ages 6-9 which I think is a good range for independent reading but I think it is also a great book for reading aloud to younger children. The repetition in the Psalm makes it very appealing to preschoolers.

All in all, I thought this was a great way to share scripture with my children. The beautiful pictures helped to engage them with the words and I expect that this is a book we will return to time after time. I really appreciated that the scripture was exact and not paraphrased. If you are looking for a beautiful way to enjoy scriptures with your children, I encourage you to check out His Mercy Endureth Forever.

Disclaimer
I received a FREE copy of this product 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.

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