Schoolhouse Crew Review: Homeschool Copywork

Are you familiar with the term copywork?  Some people think copywork is just handwriting practice but it really is much more than that.  Copywork teaches children grammar, spelling, punctuation, handwriting, and reading comprehension, while exposing them to different writing techniques by using carefully selected passages for them to copy. Recently we were given an opportunity to review the Lifetime Membership to Homeschool Copywork.

Homeschool Copywork has three different levels of membership.  You can sign up for a free membership that gives you access to a limited selection of free copywork. The one year membership ($29.95) gives you access to everything on the site for one full year.  The Lifetime Membership ($45) gives you full access to everything on the site for as long as Homeschool Copywork exists.
There are currently 54 different ebooks  on the Homeschool Copywork site plus bonus notebooking pages and coloring pages with more being added.  Once you sign up and create your login you can search the copywork that is listed in three categories: Early Elementary Copywork, Upper Elementary Copywork, and Junior High/High School Copywork.  Some of the copywork can be found in multiple categories. There is also a Bonus Products section.  After you choose the selections you are interested in, you simply download them and print them out.
Some of the copywork you will find includes:
Artist Studies Hymn Studies Quotes of Composers Poetry Presidential Quotes Bible Verses Holiday and Special Occasion Quotes of Scientists and Inventors 18th Century Authors Short Stories Transportation and Alphabet
Plus bonus notebooking or coloring pages on:
Human Life Dogs Sharks Leaves Birds Transportation Valentine's Day Ninjas
The copybooks have a variety of handwriting styles including: Lined Print, D'Nealian Lined Print, Lined Cursive, Print without the middle dashed line, and Cursive without the middle dashed line.   Each copybook contains information on what is being featured, several different selections to copy, and drawings or artwork.
I went though the site and chose several different selections to download and print out.  The first thing we started working on was the Animal Alphabet Copywork Pages.  I printed this book out for my 5 year old.  Each of the 26 pages in this book has a picture of an animal that starts with that letter of the alphabet and a short sentence such as : "B is for Bird."    

We also have been using the Leonardo da Vinci Artist Study and Copywork. It is 45 pages long.  The first page gives information on Leonardo da Vinci and some suggested hands on activities you could do to go along with the study.  It has 6 different quotes in lined print, , D'Nealian Lined Print, Lined Cursive, print, and cursive.  At the bottom of each page is a colored illustration of a piece of Leonardo da Vinci's artwork.  

I also have downloaded and looked through the John James Audubon Copywork and Bird Coloring Pages, All Creatures Hymn Study and Copywork, Dragons of the Bible, Human Body Notebooking Pages, and The Story of the Rainbow Copywork.  We studied John James Audubon last year and this copywork would have gone along great with that study.  I do wish some of his illustrations would've been included rather than the black and white bird drawings. I think that my children would love the Dragons of the Bible copywork so I am adding that to our to do list soon!  We have never done a hymn study before and I think that would be a great addition to our homeschool.
There is a wonderful selection of copywork on the Homeschool Copywork website.  You can easily find what you are looking for if there is a specific topic you need, or you can scroll easily through all of the available options.  I like the variety of handwriting types and lines provided.  You could some of the same copywork for older and younger children and print the pages with either the print or cursive for each individual child. All of the selections I looked through had either artwork on each page, or drawings that the children can color.  I think that adds a really nice touch and allows each child to make their copybooks beautiful and more personalized.  
I only have a black and white printer.  Although the copywork itself only needs a black and white printer, for the artist study books and others with colored illustrations it would be beneficial to print those out in color.  The artwork that is included is just beautiful and it is not the same in black and white!
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 28

We did not get as much school done this week as we usually do.  One day this week we missed morning school work (that was planned.) Another day I knew we were going to be gone in the afternoon but I had thought we would still get our morning work done.  Then reality set in when I realized we had a ton of things that needed to be done around the house before we could leave so we just skipped it.  Next week we will have to do a little catch up.  I did not take many pictures this week.

Week 28 in our Homeschool

P.E.: One day yoga and one day of Family Time Fitness.

Bible: We started lesson 7 of Grapevine Studies, The Resurrection.

Read Aloud: We read one chapter of YWAM Heroes of History: Thomas Edison.

History: We finished the reading of lessons 76-78 in The Mystery of History Vol IV on The Assassination of Anwar Sadat, The Fall of the Berlin Wall, and Saddam Hussein and the Persian Gulf War.  They will have to complete the rest of the activities next week.

Science: Didn't happen

My Father's World Adventures: In Pioneers and Patriots we read about the Sante Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, and California Trail.  In our state study we completed California and Minnesota.  Our science topic was solids, liquids, and gases.  We continued reading On the Banks of Plum Creek.

Art: Didn't get to it.

Music: We completed the Week 2 Handel activities for Music Appreciation Book One for the Elementary Grades from Zeezok.  We read aloud a chapter from the biography on Handel, listened to three different tracks on the CD, completed the workbook activities and a lapbook activity.

Math: Nick, Alex, and Lily completed Lesson 26.  Anthony and Christian worked on extra worksheets I made using the worksheet generator.

Grammar/Writing/Literature: We completed lesson 30 of Fix It! Grammar.  Alex completed 4 lessons in Writer's In Residence.  Nick is still reading though Treasure Island.  Anthony and Christian did a key word outline and paragraph on Sheepdogs.

Reading/Spelling: This week Anthony and Christian completed lessons 34,35, and 36 of AAR Level 3.  Lillian completed lessons 14,15, and 16 of AAR Level 2.  Spelling didn't happen.

Preschool: Emmie is still working on her ABC book from Homeschool Copywork and some worksheets from Horizon's Preschool.

Anthony made this Minecraft guy out of paper. He used the Math U See blocks to measure.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday: The girls had their last gymnastics class for this year.  I had a homeschool meeting I needed to attend after gymnastics so the girls went with me.  Christian had a soccer game so Art picked the boys up from gymnastics and took all the boys to soccer.

Tuesday: Alex had soccer practice.

Wednesday: The girls had their hair cut and their nails painted at a salon.  It was Emmie's first hair cut.  Lily has had hers trimmed a few times before. (we just trimmed some off the back to even it up and trimmed their bangs)They loved it!

We also had Kid's Club.

Thursday: We had an opportunity to see the play How the Camel Got His Hump.  The theater is about an hour drive from the house and the show was about an hour.  It was a really good play.  All of the children enjoyed it except my oldest son.  After the play we had ice cream and had to run several errands.  We used our last Book It coupons and grabbed some pizza and headed to the park to play while we waited for soccer to start.  Christian and Alex both had games at the same time so we sat between the fields to watch them both.

Friday: The 4 H Awards Banquet.  I had to use my phone to take pictures because my camera was dead!! Lillian and Christian received a Cloverbud Award for completing their journals.  They also served as greeters.  Alex gave a speech about his experience last summer at CSI Camp.  Nick, Alex, and Anthony all won District Record Book Awards.  They each got a t-shirt and a pin.  At the District O' Rama they will also get trophies.  Anthony and Nick also won County Champion.  Points are awarded for everything 4 H that you participate in.  Every year they choose the top 4 and give them a County Champion Award.  You can only win it once every three years.  Nick has won once before so he got a hoody.  This was Anthony's first time to win so he won a duffle bag with his name on it.  I was very proud of all the children!  Now that Emmie is old enough to be a Cloverbud she can do a journal next year.

We are trying to get some things ready to plant in the garden.  We already planted our beans and squash that grew in our garden in a glove experiment.  We also planted our Pizza Garden from our Ecosystem in a bottle.  Lily, Emmie, and I planted several different types of seeds today, and I have been working on getting the garden ready.

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: Stopmotion Explosion

My boys have been having so much fun with our latest review product: Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit from Stopmotion Explosion.



The Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit includes:

• 290 page Stopmotion Explosion: Animate ANYTHING and Make Movies paperback book
• Animation software compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7,8,10, OS X 5.1+
• 720p HD video camera with internal microphone, manual focus, and clip 

Stopmotion Explosion Animate ANYTHING and Make Movies book is divided into 17 chapters:
How Movies Work Animation Actors Creating Stories Building Sets Cameras Lighting Composition Animating Flight The Art of War Sound Video Editing Files and Formats Frame Conversions Sharing Your Animations Animating with DSLRs What Next?
The book is illustrated and and full of black and white photos showing what is being explained. Within the chapters of the book there are several links to video tutorials on the Stopmotion Explosion website and links to other websites for different things to use in your films.
I was so excited to have an opportunity to use this with my boys. When the package arrived we had no trouble loading the software into our Windows 10 laptop and hooking up the camera.  They were very eager to get started so we read through the quick start guide and tested it out with a short film. Then the book disappeared for a few days while they read through it.  They had some amazing ideas f and wanted to  read through the book to figure out how to do some of the different effects and build some sets. 
The Stopmotion Explosion books talks about how you can animate anything.  My boys are big LEGO fans so that was their main choice of objects to animate.  Anthony wanted to work on a dinosaur movie so I picked up a $3 pack of plastic dinosaurs for him to use.  He wasn't impressed with those and instead made his dinosaurs out of construction paper.

I thought they would do some short and sweet animations but my boys think bigger than I do. They spent hours one rainy Saturday afternoon filming a video that had over 150 frames.

After grabbing all of your frames, the book explains how to export the files and to use Windows Movie Maker to finish off the film.  Audacity, a way to add sound effects, is included on the software and the chapter on sound teaches you how to add those in. There are also tips for editing and sharing your videos.  
I did not even know I had a YouTube account until one of the boys showed me I did.  We uploaded a couple of the movies they made with Stopmotion Explosion.  They were so excited to see their movies on YouTube!
Captain America Movie

LEGO Pizza Making

The Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit can be used with a variety of ages.  It has been a great project for my boys to work on together. The book contains A LOT of information.  They read through it and continue refer back to it when they are working on specific things.  They have also viewed several of the tutorials on the Stopmotion Explosion website.  The software was very easy to install on the computer and to use.  Using the camera that comes with the kit makes it very easy to grab the photos to make the movie because you can set the camera wherever you need it to get a goos shot.   
The boys have learned so much and after watching their videos have talked about what kind of things they need to do to improve their skills.  The Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit is a resource they will be using for a long time to come.  I can't wait to see what they come up with next!
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: The Trigger Memory Co.

My 9 and 10 year old boys have had a terrible time memorizing their multiplication tables. We have been over and over them and nothing we have tried has done any good.  I was very excited to have a chance to review Times Tales from The Trigger Memory Co. to see if it would do the trick. Times Tales teaches the upper multiplication tables by turning the numbers into characters and teaching a story about them.  There are two components to the program: PDF worksheets and a video. The video is split into 2 parts lasting about 30 minutes each. Part 1 teaches the upper 3's and 4's and Part 2 teaches the upper 6,7,8, and 9's. Hannah, the host of the video, guides the children through 6 different steps to learn their multiplication tables.  In the first step students learn the characters and the number they represent.  In Step 2 they learn the stories.  Step 3 is a story quiz.  In Step 4 the student tells the story. Step 5 are practice flash cards and Step 6 does the flashcards again without showing the characters as the numbers. After the 6 steps there is a division challenge. When the student completes all of the steps in the video, there is a written test that they can take to show their mastery of the times tables.  If they have trouble with any of the steps on the video, they are reminded to go back and review the stories again. 
It is recommended that after completing Part 1 you wait a week before viewing the second part.  In that time period the student can review Part 1 or complete some of the PDF worksheets that are included.  Since the students have already learned the characters and the number they represent in Part 1, The Part 2 video starts with the stories, followed by a story quiz, having the students tell the story, the practice flashcards, and the flashcards without the characters.  There is also a division challenge in Part 2 and a written test. 
Times Tales can be purchased as a digital download or as a DVD.
We received the Digital Download.  Once I received the download link I could either download the entire file at once or download each part at a time.  I downloaded the entire file.  It was a zipped file with both parts of the Times Tales videos, the Part 1 and 2 printables and an answer key.  The video files are very large so it took several hours to download.  Once it was finished the files needed to be extracted.  Once inside the new folder I had no trouble viewing the videos but I could not get the printables to print.  I kept getting an error message.  I was able to go back to my download link and download the separate printables files.  From there I was able to print them out with no problem.
I spread each part of Times Tales over our school week.  On day one we watched the entire thing. On Day 2 we watched just the stories and completed one of the worksheet pages.  On day 3 we watched step 5 of the video (the flashcards) and did another worksheet.  On the fourth day we watched the last step (the flashcards without the symbols) and completed the written test.
I could not believe how quickly Anthony (10 years old) picked up on these Times Tales! When we watched the video the first time, he very quickly figured out the purpose of the characters and the stories and could answer the questions when we paused the video.  He could even answer the division questions.   Christian (9) did not pick it up so quickly.  He struggled to remember the stories and got frustrated that Anthony got it so quickly!  By the end of the week though he too had learned his facts.

I think it is a great concept and it definitely helped the boys learn their multiplication tables quickly. The animation is well done and the stories are cute and easy to remember.  Some children may pick it up more quickly then others but you can watch it over again as many times as they need.  I do wish there was a way that you could easily find each of the stories in the video in case your child needs a quick review of just one or two of the facts.  The printables are a great way to reinforce what your child has learned.  I would like to see a cheat sheet of the stories included for us mamas to quickly glance at if we need a little refresher of the stories.
To see what my Crew Mates had to say stop by the Crew Blog!

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April Freebies Just For You!

Are you familiar with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine?  TOS started out in 2001 as a quarterly print magazine.  A few years ago it made the switch to digital quarterly magazines available to read for free along with a once a year big print book that can be purchased.  The Old Schoolhouse also has a website called Schoolhouse Teachers what offers over 200 classes from Pre-k-12th grade available for a monthly subscription price.  Molly Green, a homemaking, homesteading, magazine is also part of TOS.  They also offer homeschool encouragement through the Homeschool Minute  newsletter. The Schoolhouse Review Crew (which I have been part of since 2010) is also a part of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

As a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I was given an opportunity to go shopping in the Schoolhouse Store and pick 3 digital items to offer my readers completely free for the month of April!  To get your free items,click on the links, add them to your shopping cart, create a free account if you do not have one already and use the coupon code LTCREW16.  This code will work for any or all of these items and will not expire until April 30th.  But claim these freebies today before you forget!

God Made Them All Wonder Bundle - God made the most amazing creatures and animals from the alpaca to insects to the beautiful hummingbird.  Learn about some amazing creatures with this series that contains 5 ebooks: Alpacas and Homeschool, For the Love of Bugs, Slither, Scamper, Crawl and Climb, Science on the Wings of a Butterfly, and the Real Hummers.

Keeping the Garden - Over 100 pages of tips on organizing your garden, saving seeds, keeping pests at bay, growing herbs, recipes, and more!

Canning, Pantry, and Food Preservation Planner - This planner is filled with checklist,plans , and instructions for doing your own canning.


Don't forget to use coupon code LTCREW16 to get these items free!

You can connect with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine on Facebook.
Stop by and like the Schoolhouse Review Crew page too!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 27

Last week we took off for Spring Break.  It was only one week.  4 short school days.  I never thought we would have such a hard time getting going again this week, but Monday morning rolled around with one giant  meltdown from the 5 year old, tears from the 8 year old for two different subjects, and a bad attitude from the seven year old.  This homeschool mama was very happy to see the end of that school day!  It did get better (thankfully!) as the week went on.

Week 27 in our Homeschool

P.E.: Two days of yoga and one day of Family Time Fitness.  I skipped one day of P.E. because apparently taking a week off was bad for my muscles!

Bible: We completed lesson 6 of our Grapevine Studies, The Resurrection.

Read Aloud: We read 4 chapters of YWAM Heroes of History: Thomas Edison.

History: In The Mystery of History Vol IV we completed lessons 73-75 on Roe vs. Wade, Watergate and the Resignation of Richard Nixon, and Ayatollah Khomeini forms the Islamic Republic of Iran.  They completed their timeline figures, memory cards, and worksheets.

Science: We read chapters 6 and 7 of the Archaeology Book.

My Father's World Adventures: In our state study we completed Iowa and Wisconsin.  They also learned about the California Gold Rush.  There were a couple of science in the kitchen experiments that we did not do.  I don't mean to sound as if I don't like the MFW science, I think for families that have just young elementary children it would be great.  But my younger children have already covered a lot of the things with their older siblings.  We do a lot of science oriented activities.  We continued our reading of On the Banks of Plum Creek.

Math: Nick, Alex, and Lily went on to lesson 25 in their Math U See books.  Christian and Anthony have been having a hard time the last couple of weeks so instead of moving them forward I used the worksheet generator on the MUS website and made some worksheets for them to practice with.  We will continue to review next week as well.

Art: We are working on a review of ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique Construct.  We are learning about planes and did the first project making 2 D planes.

Music: We are also working on a review from Zeezok of Music Appreciation: Book one for the Elementary Grades.  This week we started learning about Handel.  There are several different components to the program.  We read aloud a chapter of the biography,listened to one of the tracks on the CD, completed pages out of the activity book, and also worked on a lapbook.

Grammar/Writing/Literature: We completed lesson 29 of Fix It! Grammar.  Alex completed 4 lessons of Writer's In Residence.  Nick is still reading though Treasure Island.  Anthony and Christian did a key word outline and wrote a paragraph on Pet Pigs.

Reading/Spelling: With our review of LOE Essentials completed, we have gone back to All About Reading and Spelling.  This week Anthony and Christian completed lessons 31,32,33,and 34of AAR Level 3 and step 13 of AAS Level 2.  Lillian completed lessons 11,12,and 13 of All About Reading Level 2.  She also is working on Talking Fingers an online reading, writing, and typing program.

Preschool: Emmie is working on an ABC book from Homeschool Copywork and some worksheets from her Horizon's Preschool .

Other Activities This Week:

Monday: The girls had gymnastics and Christian had a soccer game.  His game ended just as the girls and I got to the field to see if we could catch the end.

Tuesday: Alex had a soccer game.

Wednesday: We had Kid's Club.  It started raining while we were there, really hard.  On our way home only about a mile from our house, the road was flooded and we could not get home.  So we had to turn all the way back and go a different way.  That way too had a lot of water on the roads but thankfully were passable!

Thursday: Games were cancelled because of all the rain Wednesday.

Friday: My baby boy turned 9!

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

Happy Homeschooling!

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