Homeschool Crew Review: K5 Learning

K5 Learning is an online, supplemental reading, spelling, and math program for children in grades K-5th grade.  The program is customized to the child and the child works through the program at their own pace. Over the last several weeks we have had an opportunity to review their online program.

 It is recommended that your child start with an assessment so the program can place each child in their own skill level rather then their grade level.  The assessment takes about 30 minutes for the math and 30 minutes for the reading.  The parent does not need to make assignments for the student (although that is an option if you choose to do so), the program moves the child through the assignments.  Each interactive segment is only 5-10 minutes long.  Immediate feedback is given to the child.  When they answer the question they are told if it is right or wrong. 

Once the student logs in they click on the Reading/Math section or Spelling section.

When they choose Reading/Math they go to the next screen where they choose reading or math.

Once they click on that, their lesson begins. 

At the end of each segment, they are shown a street light where they can choose go to move on to another segment, or stop which ends the lesson.

The reading section covers 5 skill areas:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Sight Words

Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension

The math section also covers 5 skill areas:

Numbers and Operations

Measurement

Geometry

Algebra

Data Analysis

The spelling section has a database of built in words, or the parent can choose to put in words from their own spelling lists.  You also have the option to choose the number of words that you want your child to be quizzed on.  They can hear the word, read a sentence about the word, and read a dictionary definition of the word.  In the sentence and definition the word is blanked out.  If the student gets the words wrong they have an option to try again after being given a letter clue.  If they do not get the word correct they are shown the word and given an option to practice the word.  There is also a vocabulary tutor in the spelling section.  The student is given a sentence and dictionary definition and they are supposed to guess the word.  If they cannot they can ask for a clue which shows the first letter. A second clue shows the last letter, then they have the option to hear the word.


In addition to the online component, there are printable worksheets that go along with the lessons.  After your child completes a section online, you have the option to print out worksheets for additional practice.  K5 Learning also has a section of free worksheets you can print out. 

I have had my 6,8, 10, and 11 year olds using K5 Learning.  I had each of them go through the assessment.  The assessments are placement assessments, not full blown diagnostic assessments, so after your child completes them they will not place them more then one grade level above their results.  If you find that the assignments are too easy for your child you can request that they be moved to a different level.  I was not surprised by any of the assessments.  I have been using K5 Reading for my 6 and 11 year olds and K5 math for my 8 and 10 year olds.  They all have access to all the parts of the program but these are the areas they need to work on the most, and I have to rotate the computer through all of them.  I have also spent time looking at the spelling portion just for review purposes.

The assessments were a bit boring and the children did not enjoy doing them, but they do break it up so there is a short game between the sections, and I like that the program doesn't automatically put children in their grade number but instead looks to see their skill level.  It is not going to be completely accurate if you have a child that guesses well or stops paying attention and just picks random answers, but it does provide a starting point.  I like that the program is easy to use and once I log her in, even my 6 year old can do it independently.  The activities are interesting and use real life examples.  Some of the math lessons we have done have used cooking, banking, gardening, and counting objects and sorting for their examples.  Anthony's reading comprehension has had him reading about famous people like Abraham Lincoln and Leonardo d Vinci and answering questions about them. Emmie (6) really likes the games that come after a section is mastered.  I have not seen games for the older children, although the program will say they are going to play a fun game and it just goes on to another lesson.  The next lesson is supposed to be the fun game. I like that the lessons are short.  I do have them complete several lessons each day.

After the children complete an entire section. their progress is visible in a parent report.  The parent can log in and see how the child has been doing.

We do not do use a lot of computer programs, but sometimes they can help reinforce what the child is learning or help them in areas they are struggling in.  Lily was having a hard time with place value notation, but after completing the lessons in K5 she now understands it.  Christian was struggling in geometry, and has a much better understanding after completing those sections.  I did not assign anything to them, that was where the program had them begin in.

When we were testing out the spelling section, we did notice that the voice that says the word can be really hard to understand.  I did also want to mention that in some of the reading comprehension exercises there were references evolution and millions of years in a section about dinosaurs. 

K5 offers a 14 day free trial.  Subscriptions can be purchased monthly, or yearly, with discounts given for multiple children. 

We have enjoyed using K5 Learning and I will continue to have the children work on this over the summer.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Latin Christiana Complete Set

Memoria Press  produces easy to use, classical, Christian materials for home and private schools. Memoria Press products require no previous knowledge of the subjects being taught but are designed with high academic standards.  I have always been very pleased with the products we have received from Memoria Press and was excited to have an opportunity to use and review the new edition of  Latin Christiana Complete Set.

Latin Christiana is a beginning Latin course with a suggested age range of grades 3-6.  The teacher does not need to have any prior experience in Latin to teach this course.  When the student completes the course they will have learned: 25 Latin sayings, 2 prayers, 3 songs, and how to pronounce, spell, and translate 200 Latin words.  They will also understand  how to conjugate first and second conjugation verbs in the present, imperfect and future tenses, understand tense, number, gender, 1st, 2nd, 3rd person, decline first and second declension nouns and adjectives, make adjectives and nouns agree in number and gender, and recite and spell five cases of Latin nouns.

There are 5 main components to the Latin Christiana Complete Set:

Latin Christiana Teacher Manual: This is a spiral bound 187 page book.  It contains the pronunciation rules, grammar overview, student goals, teaching guidelines, entire student guide with answers, teaching information on the Latin Sayings, grammar lesson, word study and important things to remember.  There is also a history guide (more on that in a minute), vocabulary index, derivatives and definitions list, advanced grammar overview, quizzes and tests, and answer keys.

Latin Christiana Student Book: This is a 105 page paperback consumable workbook for the student to complete their weekly exercises.  It also has a section of history questions, vocabulary index, English to Latin reference, and derivatives and definitions.

Instructional DVDs: 3 discs with 5.5 hours of teaching.  On these DVDs, Jessica Watson goes through each of the lessons with your student.

Pronunciation CD: This CD contains the prayers and songs and pronunciation for each lessons.

Flashcards: The flashcard set contains the vocabulary words with derivatives, Latin sayings, conjugations and declensions.

Famous Men of Rome from Memoria Press is listed as an optional history component.  There are drill questions included in Latin Christiana for the first 13 lessons in the history guide section along with a history test.  The reading selections are not included you will have to purchase the Famous Men of Rome text separately if you choose to add in the history portion.  If not you can  skip over that section. I already had Famous Men of Rome because we reviewed it a few years ago, so we did add in the history portion.

Latin Christiana is set up to complete one lesson per week.  Their suggested schedule is as follows:

Day 1  teach saying, vocabulary and derivatives and have your student do derivative exercises and written drill with CD. 
Day 2 teach grammar and remaining exercises and written drill with CD. 
Day 3 optional history and questions. 
Day 4 written drill with CD and review. 
Day 5 quiz.

We have a 4 day school week so I modified the suggested schedule a bit.  On Mondays we watched the DVD and completed the exercises in the book.  Tuesday we reviewed the vocabulary with the CD.  Wednesday we read Famous Men of Rome and answered the questions, and Thursdays Quiz.

One of the things that I like the most about Memoria Press products is that you do not have to have any experience with the subject to teach it to your children. The Latin Christiana Complete Set provides you with all of the materials you need to teach your child Latin successfully.  I love that the Teacher's Manual has the entire student manual inside of it.  It is so helpful to be able to see the questions and the answers and not just the answers.  I love that the Teacher Manual is spiral bound and able to be placed flat on the table.

We liked learning the weekly saying and learning the derivatives for the words along with the vocabulary words.  We enjoyed the added history component but I liked the flexibility to be able to leave it out as well.

I love that it includes a DVD that goes over everything in the lesson.  This is great for independent learning and an added bonus for homeschool parents that do not feel confident in teaching their students Latin.  The biggest thing that we found challenging with this course is that it feels as though the teacher is rushing through the lessons on the DVD.  There is supposed to be several pauses to allow the student to repeat back what is being said or to answer a question that was being asked.  The pause is so brief it does not allow the child to actually repeat back or answer.  My son found this very frustrating. 


To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog where the Crew have written reviews on different Latin, Nature, and Trees products!

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4 H Day of Archeology at Historic Washington State Park

We have been to Historic Washington State Park many, many times.  But every time we have gone we have learned something new.  When 4 H put in their newsletter that they were having a 4 H Day of Archeology at Historic Washington State Park, I thought it sounded like something fun that the children would enjoy doing.  It was not exactly what I expected.  We all thought we would have an opportunity to actually dig for artifacts (we did not), but we did some fun activities and had a good time.

I was very thankful for the nice large trees that were over us providing shade because it was close to 90 degrees the day we went.  They started out by splitting the children up into groups and talked about what an archeologist does.  The children did an exercise that simulated an archeologist trying to figure things out with certain clues.  The groups each chose a room in their house and drew 4 different pictures of things that could be found in those rooms.  Those cards got passed to the other groups and they had to guess which room it was.  The first time they got all 4 cards, the second time three, and the last time just one card.  It was very hard to tell what room it was with just one clue.

Then the groups got bags with a variety of items in them that they had to sort into different categories.  All of the groups had the same items, but they all sorted things differently.

After that the archeologist showed the children some artifacts most of them were Native American and talked about what they were used for.  There was a variety of things from clothing, to needles and fish hooks made out of bone, to bows and arrows.  They also showed the tools that are used at an archeological dig.

Next the park interpreters came by with some sifting boxes.  The children were allowed to sift dirt from some gopher holes and see if they found anything interesting (we have done this before out there and found some really pretty pieces of pottery.)  They did find some small things like nails, glass, and bricks, and those were put into a find bag to be cataloged by the park.

For the next activity the children were given some pieces of pottery from a broken pot and they had to try to tape the pot back together.

Then we had lunch outside under some shade trees.

After lunch they did one more activity.  There was a map of a pretend salve quarters that was marked by letters and numbers.  The groups were given cards with the letters and numbers that had pictures of artifacts on them and they had to lay them in the appropriate squares on the grid.  Then they made conclusions based on what was found in which location.

Then we had an opportunity to tour the open buildings.  We have done the tour several times and were already very tired from being outdoors all day, so we did not go to all of the locations.  We went to our favorites: the log cabin, the Block House, blacksmith shop, candle shop, and weapon's museum.

My children think this looks very comfortable.

 They saw this on the desk and said look its the original VR (virtual reality)  You usually cannot touch many things in the houses but they were given permission to look through this.

 Candle dipping is always fun

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May Nature Seekers Meeting

For this month's Nature Seekers meeting we worked on a community service project.  We made cards for kids who are in the hospital.  I got the information from this website http://www.cardsforhospitalizedkids.com/.  We used cardstock, stickers, markers, crayons, and Thin Stix paint sticks to make our cards.  I had 8 children attend the meeting and they each made 2-3 cards.

Anthony led the Pledge of Allegiance

Emmie led the 4 h PLedge

After we finished making cards, we made ice cream sundaes to celebrate the end of the school year!

We will not have a meeting in June because of VBS and 4 H camp.  Our next meeting will be in July.

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