Schoolhouse Crew Review: Progeny Press

When I was making plans for the school year, one of the things I had on my list was to use a few Progeny Press Study Guides for Alex throughout the year.  We have used Progeny Press several times over the last few years.  Progeny Press carries a wide variety of literature study guides for elementary all the way through high school. I was recently given an opportunity to use and review Stone Fox Study Guide from Progeny Press.
Progeny Press study guides shows children how to think through the themes and ideas presented in the stories and how to better understand and enjoy literature.  To use the study guides, students will need a copy of the book, the guide, a dictionary, thesaurus, a Bible, and possibly at times internet access.  At this time, study guides are available as a CD, printed workbook, or as a download.  Many of the downloadable guides are interactive. The guides are divided into categories by grade.  Lower Elementary is for grades K-3, Upper Elementary for grades 3-5, Middle School for grades 5-8, and High School for grades 8-12.  You can purchase the corresponding books from Progeny Press, purchase them from somewhere else, or even choose to borrow from the library.  Answer keys are included with the guides.  
Stone Fox is listed as an Upper Elementary study guide.  I received the interactive download for my review.  The guide is 60 pages long.  As it is interactive you can choose to have your child type the answers in on the computer.  I have even put other Progeny Press guides on the iPad and had the children use them in the Notability app.  This time, I decided I would print it out for Alex as he does a better job getting his work done with paper and a pen.  
The guide contains brief notes to the teacher, book synopsis, about the author, background information, and suggestions for pre-reading activities.  The assignments are split up into sections: Chapters 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10.  Some of the activities include: vocabulary questions, comprehension questions, digging deeper, thinking about the story, similes and metaphors, sayings and proverbs, word search, cause and effect, story structure, theme, and review puzzle race.
Alex completed the book before beginning to work on the study guide.  He worked on completing one section per day.  Then we went over the answers on each section together.
I think the Progeny Press study guides are a great way for students to dig deeper into the books they are reading and learn about vocabulary and literary terms as they relate to the books they are studying.  The questions and activities are age appropriate. They is a good variety of different activities and topics being covered.  Progeny Press has a wide selection of study guides for a wide range of ages so you will be sure to be able to find some books that your children will enjoy reading.  You can pick and choose whether or not to use technology via the interactive features, or print it out the old fashioned way. 
We will definitely be using more guides from Progeny Press in the future!
Members of The Crew reviewed several different guides from Progeny Press.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 6

Week 6 In Our Homeschool

P.E.: This week we did lessons 25-28 in Family Time Fitness.  You will be happy to know that the squat jumps were a little easier this week :)


Bible: We switched our Bible lesson this week and started on a review of Grapevine Studies Old Testament Creation to Jacob.  The first lesson is to make a timeline using stick figures.  I broke this up into 3 days and then reviewed the whole thing on the fourth day.  The children enjoyed making the figures, although they did tell me that my tree with the serpent in it looked more like an ostrich then a tree!

History: This week in The Mystery of History we completed lessons 10, 11, and 12 on The American Revolution Part 2, Mozart, and the French Revolution.  The boys completed their notebooking worksheets, timeline figures, memory cards, and a map of France.  There are so many awesome timeline figures included in the pack from Home School in the Woods, that I should've bought a bigger board.  I may need to carry it over to another one before we finish out the year.

Science: We finished reading Chapter 2 of Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology and also the What Do You Remember? questions.

My Father's World Adventures: We completed Week 3 of the science and history portion of Adventures.  We were supposed to start reading Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims on Monday, but wouldn't you know it I could NOT find our copy!  I looked everywhere!I finally just ordered a copy from Amazon (thank you Prime shipping!) and we doubled up on Wednesday and Thursday and got caught up to where we are supposed to be.  We learned about the settlement at Jamestown and John Smith and Pocahontas this week.  In science we read 2 pages of Science With Air and did one simple experiment.  Still hoping the science will get a little better as we go on.

Art: We did not have an official art lesson, but we did use the clay we got from Grandview to make some clay pots.

Math: We completed lesson 5 out of Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Algebra 1 this week.

Grammar/Literature: We completed Lesson 10 of Fix it! Grammar 1 and 2.  Nick is still reading Puddn'head Wilson and Alex is still working through his Progeny Press study guide on Stone Fox.

Writing: Lily, Christian, and Anthony did a lesson on Pocahontas from Brookdale House.

Reading/Spelling: Alex completed lesson 4 of Phonetic Zoo.  Christian and Anthony completed lessons 44 and 45 in AAR Level 2.  Lily completed lessons 7,8, and 9 in AAR Level One.

Language: Alex completed lesson one of Visual Latin.

Horizon's Preschool: Emmie had completed through lesson 28 of Horizon's Preschool.  She has learned though the letter "i", number 6, shapes and colors (those she really already knew) plus she is memorizing Bible verses (3 so far in 6 weeks.)  Her science topic this week was rocks.

Lily has been having a hard time telling apart "b" and "d." So we made some posters with the letter and some pictures that start with the letter to help her remember which is which.

This picture I took of our  afternoon work one day.  I was supposed to be working on reading with Anthony, but first got Emmie started on her worksheet and was also helping Alex with Latin all at the same time.  Life of the homeschool mama!

Other Activities This Week: It was a busy week!  Soccer is almost over.  Only one more regular season game and then the tournament and things should slow down a bit then.

Monday: Gymnastics for the girls and soccer for Christian.

Tuesday: Soccer for Nick and Alex.

Wednesday: Kid's Club.

Thursday: Soccer for Nick, Alex, and Christian.

Friday: Co-op at Grandview.  The children love the bows we made.  Christian had an idea that he would like to decorate his bow with some cammo duct tape, so I grabbed some when I ran into Walmart.  The bows look really cool!

Saturday: Catfish derby.  We ended up with 16 catfish.  Everyone caught at least one.  Christian caught both the smallest and the biggest catfish, so he won a fishing pole for the smallest catfish.  The other children all got a door prize.  This was the last derby until next spring.

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

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October Grandview Co-op

Last month we started a series on the Caddo Indians at Grandview.  We learned about the types of toys they had and made corn husk dolls.  This month we learned about some of the tools that the Caddo Indians used and got to try a few of them out.

Rocks were a tool that was used for a variety of purposes.  We had an opportunity to use some rocks to grind corn so it could be used for food.

We also used a board to weave some strips of cloth.

And made a bow out of PVC pipe and string and some arrows with a pool noodle tip.  These were so cool and can shoot pretty well!

We also were able to take some clay home to make some pottery like the Caddo Indians would have used.  We will be making ours one day this week.

Another great co-op at Grandview!

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Review: History Revealed: What in the World? Set Volume 1-3

My latest review from MasterBooks was for History Revealed: What in the World? Set Volume 1-3 ($48.82.)  This set can be purchased alone or as part of the 5th Grade Curriculum Set.   Each volume contains 4 audio CD's.  The length of each topic varies between 3 and 15 minutes.

Vol 1 covers Ancient Civilizations and the Bible.  It begins with an introduction to World History and moves on through: Creation, Early Man, The Flood, The Descendants of Noah, Sources and Evidence, Oldest Cities, Historical Chronology, Problems With Chronology, Egyptian History, Abraham Through Moses, Joshua Through David, Solomon Through Jeroboam, Jonah Goes to Nivenah, Assyria, Babylon, Cyrus the Great, The Persian Empire, Xerxes, Daniel's Vision, Athens&Sparta, Alexander the Great, The Hellenistic Empire, Early Rome, The Punic Wars, Julius Caesar, Octavion and Marc Antony, In the Perfect Moment of Time, The Promised One, and the Life of Jesus.

Vol 2 covers Rome, Reformers, and Revolutionaries.  It begins with a welcome to Medieval History and moves on through: First Century Church and Emperors, Life in the Second Century, The Plague and Restructuring, Constantine and the End of the Empire, Barbarians in Rome, Christianity among the Goths, The Huns and Franks, Barbarians and Christian England, The Byzantine World, Life as an eastern Emperor, Justinian the First, Mohammed the Reformer, The Hegira and Jihad, Charlemagne, The Vikings, Feudalism, Religion and The Holy Roman Empire, Northern Europe and Britain, Divisions in the West, The Pope's Call to Action, The Crusades, The Mongols and Marco Polo, Disintegration of Monarchy, The Hundred Years' War, European Conflict, Heresy and Humanism, The Renaissance, Exploration and Politics, The Reformation and It's Consequences, England Defeats the Spanish Armada, The Thirty Years War, Religion and the Divine Right of Kings, The Enlightenment, The Church's Response, The Seven Years' War, and Revolutions.

Vol 3 covers World Empires, World Missions, and World Wars.  It starts with a welcome to modern history and moves on through: Young Napoleon, Napoleon's Rise to Power, Emperor Napoleon, Napoleon's Downfall, Reactionaries, Liberals, The Industrial Revolution, Response and the Age of Revolution, The Victorian Era, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, David Livingstone and Africa, The Rise of Prussia, The Franco-Prussian War, China and Hudson Taylor, Japan, Salvation Army and Spanish-American War, Turn of the Century and Russia, The Balkan Wars, Russia's Repressive Autocracy, Revival and Balkan Conflict, Prologue to War, The Spark, Trenches and Blockades, Fall of Central Powers, Economic Chaos and the Great Depression, Fascist Italy and Militant Japan, Hitler's Germany and Revivals, Jewish Palestine and German Conquest, Miracle at Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbor, Midway, and El Alamein, D-Day and the Atomic Bomb, Cold War and the Iron Curtain, Brother Andrew and the Berlin Airlift, Communist China and the Korean War, and Decolonization and Israel.


That's a lot of history!


These audio CD's would be a great addition to every homeschool.  They are creation based and begin the study of history with creation.  Diana Waring tells HIStory in a story like manner that feels as if she was sitting in the room with you.  She is VERY enthusiastic about her work and brings history to life for the listener.  What in the World? audio CD's can be used in a variety of ways.  They are fun and interesting to listen to and would be great for long car trips or homeschooling on the road or for those times in your life when getting any school done seems to be impossible.  You could use them to give your children a general overview of history.  They could also be used alongside any history curriculum that you are using and some of the lessons would even go along with some Bible lessons.


Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Review: All Is Bright A Hope Beach Christmas Novella by Colleen Coble

Book Description "A romantic Christmas wedding at Tidewater Inn gives Delilah's unique gifts a chance to shine. But will her light be snuffed out before the bride and groom say 'I do'? A romantic, Christmas wedding at her seaside hotel gives Delilah a chance to shine with her unique gifts. But will her light be snuffed out before the bride and groom say “I do”? As manager of the Tidewater Inn, Delilah Carter has been planning a spectacular Christmas wedding for her friends at the grand hotel overlooking the ocean. While picking up still more twinkly lights and some last-minute groceries for the reception dinner, a huge truck runs her off the freezing, wet roads into the dark night. Her car stops just short of an enormous tree and the truck speeds off into the night. Delilah escapes with her life and has almost convinced herself the whole thing was an accident, but then she begins to receive threatening phone calls. With the wedding just hours away, she’s distracted and anxious. Then Sheriff Tom Bourne stops by the inn and volunteers to help. Tom has always had a soft spot for Delilah, and he’s determined to protect her. But he is pulled away by a bizarre Christmas stunt that has the neighborhood reeling, and Delilah is attacked again. Will Delilah have to cancel the Christmas wedding at Tidewater Inn? And will Tom’s protection be enough to save Delilah from the shadowy figure looming in the background?"

I loved the Hope Beach series and was glad to get a chance to review this Christmas novella.  In All Is Bright we have a chance to go back to Hope Beach and get a peek into the lives of our favorite characters.  We didn't have a chance to learn very much about Delilah and Tom in the other books so it was nice to get some of their back story in this novella.  This was a very quick read at only 90 pages in length.  Because of the length it moves very quickly.  It was a heart warming story, full of suspense and romance.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  All opinions are my and and I did not receive any other compensation.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 5

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I did a terrible job of taking pictures this week, so I do not have many to share.  But, we did get a lot accomplished this week!

Week 5 in Our Homeschool

P.E.- We started using Family Time Fitness this week.  We had reviewed it a few years ago and really liked it, but as things got busy it slipped from the priority list.  I really didn't feel bad about not doing P.E. because the children play outside several times a day and get plenty of exercise and they participate in several physical activities outside of our homeschool.  But one of the children specifically needs to do ankle strengthening activities and I did not want to single him out, so adding P.E. back in to our homeschool day was a good way to accomplish that.  The children have really enjoyed it.  For some reason I am missing lessons 1-20 so we completed lessons 21-24 this week and I must confess those squat jumps were a little rough on this mama!  I guess I need some P.E. in my day too!

Bible: We completed lessons 6 and 7 in the Book of Moses Part 1.  Next week we will be starting a review of Grapevine Studies Old Testament Creation to Jacob.

Read Aloud: We finished our biography of George Muller.  If you have never read his story, you need to.  What a man of faith!! We started reading another book in the YWAM Christian Heroes series, John Wesley: The World His Perish.  We finished chapters 1 and 2.

History: We completed lessons 7,8, and 9 in The Mystery of History Vol IV on The French and Indian War, Catherine the Great, and The American Revolution Part 1.  They completed a worksheet for each lesson, added the timeline figures to the timeline, made memory cards, and did the mapping assignment.  Since my Companion Guide CD was missing some lessons, Bright Ideas Press sent me a digital download :)

Science: We completed the What Do You Remember questions from Chapter One of Exploring Creation With Anatomy and Physiology and started reading Chapter 2.

My Father's World Adventures: This week we completed Week 2 of Adventures.  We are only using the history and science.  This week's lessons in history were on Christopher Columbus.  We also started reading Pioneers and Patriots.  Science this week was on science with air.  The children were not very impressed with it.  The reading was only two pages and the experiments were things we have done before.

Art:  We did not have an official art lesson, but to go along with our lesson on Columbus, Christian, Lily, and Anthony did a drawing of the type of boat they would have sailed on.

Math: We completed lesson 4 of Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Algebra1.

Grammar/Literature: We completed Lesson 9 on Fix it! Grammar 1 and 2. Nick is still reading Puddin'head Wilson and Alex is working through his Progeny Press literature guide on Stone Fox.

Writing: Lily, Christian, and Anthony worked on Briar Rose Part II from Brookdale House and completed the copywork.

Reading/Spelling: Alex completed lesson 3 of Phonetic Zoo.  Christian and Anthony completed lessons 42 and 43 in AAR Level 2.  Lily completed 4,5 and 6 of AAR Level One.

Language: Anthony completed one lesson of Middlebury Interactive.  We did not get to Latin again.  But we will next week!

Horizon's Preschool: Preschool has been a bit sporadic the last couple of weeks.  We did get a couple of lessons completed :)

Other Activities This Week

Monday: The girls had gymnastics.  Nick and Alex had a soccer game at 6.  Christian had a game at 7.  Christian's game ended early because of lightning.  It never did rain which we really could use.

Tuesday: Christian had a soccer game.

Wednesday: Kid's Club.

Thursday: Nick and Alex had a soccer game.

Friday: Homeschool Park Day.  We all brought a sack lunch to eat at the park.  There were some fun activities planned as well: pumpkin sweep, pumpkin smash, toothpick/pumpkin building challenge, and a craft.  We had a great time!  Friday was the first time in probably a month or more that I have really felt like myself!  We also went to Walmart and Dollar Tree.

Saturday: Stay Home Day!!  After we made the kitten and puppy on the knitting loom, Lily wanted me to make a minion.  I found a YouTube video.  Saturday I worked on a minion with the girls helping.  He turned out pretty cute!  Now I need to make another one for Emmie.

Lily also lost her first tooth on Saturday!

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: Middlebury Interactive Languages

Middlebury Interactive Languages offers online elementary, middle, and high school courses in Spanish, French, Chinese, and German.  Their courses use authentic materials and task based learning to immerse students in both language and culture. We recently had an opportunity to use and review Elementary Spanish 1, Grades 3-5. Elementary Spanish 1 Grades 3-5 is split up into 2 semesters.  You can choose to purchase one semester at a time ($119) or buy both at once ($238.)  There is also an option to purchase the course with a teacher. Middlebury Interactive Languages are online courses.  You do not need to download anything to your computer to take the course.  They do recommend high speed internet with a minimum of 3 Mbps, but it can be used with slower speeds (more on that below.)  The courses are self paced allowing you to move at your child's pace.  Courses expire one year after your purchase date. Elementary Spanish 1 Grades 3-5 contains the following 16 units:
Unit One: The Family Unit Two: Numbers Unit Three: Greetings Unit Four: Adjectives/feelings Unit Five: Food Unit Six: Community/professions Unit Seven: Body Unit Eight: Review (Units 1-7) Unit Nine: Animals Unit Ten: Colors Unit Eleven: Clothes Unit Twelve: Weather and Seasons Unit Thirteen: School Unit Fourteen: Calendar Unit Fifteen: Months Unit Sixteen: Review (Units 9-15)
Each of the units have 6 lessons except for the two review units which are split into 3 lessons, making a total of 90 lessons.  Each lesson has several interactive activities that include listening, reading, matching, and speaking.  On the left side of the screen several slides appear in a column.  The child starts at the top slide and completes the activity.  When they finish that activity, the slide turns gray and they click on the next slide until they have completed all of the slides for that day.  A calendar view shows which lesson should be done on each day and checks off the lesson when it is completed. There are quizzes and tests for each unit. The grade book shows parents how their child has done on each quiz and unit test.  

I have been using Elementary Spanish 1 with my 10 year old 4th grader.  I mentioned above that the minimum recommended internet speed is 3 Mbps. I live in the middle of nowhere and my "high speed" internet that I pay for is 1.5 Mbps but I have never achieved that speed.  I am lucky if I hit .8 Mbps on a good day.  I decided to go ahead and give Middlebury Interactive a try knowing that it probably would not work as well for me as it would for someone with the recommended speed.  The only issue we have had with the program is the videos at the beginning of the lesson.  We have to pause the video for a minute or two to allow the whole thing to load.  A minor inconvenience.  We have had no other issues at all with the program.
One of the things that I liked right from the beginning was that Anthony could use the program on his own.  All he has to do is follow the instructions and go through each section of the lesson.  The instructions do not have to be read, you can click on them and have them read to you.  I really like the teaching approach.  Rather than have the children learn lists of vocabulary words and complete endless worksheets, it has them jump right in to the language by telling them a story in Spanish and then moving on to the lessons.  In the lessons students have practice seeing, hearing, reading, and saying the words.  There is plenty of built in review opportunities.   
Anthony has really enjoyed the program.  He does not enjoy the speaking part, but it has given him good practice.
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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