Math Shed/Spelling Shed Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of trying a one-year subscription to both Math Shed and Spelling Shed by EdShed for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Math Shed and Spelling Shed is an online subscription from EdShed a.k.a. Education Shed Inc.. Besides Math Shed and Spelling Shed they also have Literacy Shed and Literacy Shed Plus. These are programs for first through fifth graders. They teach in a interactive online game format so your little one stays engaged. The subscription gives you a whole year access to the Teacher Hub and Web Game for up to 5 students. The Teachers Hub allows simple management of student records, student groups called leagues, assignments and student achievement data, teachers and classes. The Web Game works on all current desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices. Each user/student gets to create their own individual login.

You can switch easily between Spelling Shed & Math Shed by clicking the three lines at the top.

Spelling Shed includes a whole-school spelling curriculum. This covers 100% of the Common Core and state ELA spelling standards. You can create your own unlimited spelling lists and also search for others' lists within the program. With subscription you have the ability to set and monitor homework assignments for example; weekly spelling lists. Besides the online game there is an iOS app for students to use to practise spelling at an additional cost. Whole-class Hive Games that allow all students to play alongside each other instead of doing a weekly spelling test. This can be used as a whole-school curriculum or as a supplement with other spelling programs.

Math Shed works in conjunction with Spelling Shed to help develop learners retention and recall of number facts. This includes mastery teaching slides that follow a whole-school approach and White Rose math without worksheets. Math Shed covers a broad set of math skills including number-bonds and times-tables. With subscription you have the ability to set and monitor homework assignments for example; weekly multiplication tables practice. Besides the online game there is an iOS app for students to use to practise math at an additional cost. Includes a Year 4 multiplication tables check simulator to help students practise for the assessment. Math Shed can be used with a small group to improve a specific skill or across an entire school with different number skills that are targeted across many year groups.


Who This Would Be a Good Fit For and Our Thoughts:

Spelling Shed and Math Shed are great online programs for 1st to fifth grader or kids that need to brush up on their spelling and/or math. My daughter Zari who is in 3rd grade and I tried these platforms out. She was right in the age bracket for these.

After I created an account for my daughter in the Teachers Hub and created my avatar, I logged out and she logged in. She had her own account with user name and password that I set up for her. The first thing my daughter Zari did was create her personalized avatar. We noticed that some of the things that they had to pick from were locked because she didn't have any points yet, so we went with the basic free stuff. We learned that to upgrade the avatar with some of the more costly accessories you would need to earn Honeypots by answering questions correctly within the game.

 My and Zari's Personalized Avatars.

If I log back in it will automatically go to the Account Home. From there you can find additional resources. The Quick Start Guide is very helpful and is a great starting point. You can also watch a Training video, but this is very long and is geared towards classrooms with larger numbers of students. The Teacher Hub and Web Game can be accessed from here. The Resources at the bottom are very helpful as well. For Spelling Shed there is Spelling Curriculum and Spelling Lists. We downloaded the Stage 3 spelling curriculum because Zari is in grade 3 and this pertained to her. These can be downloaded in PDF or PowerPoint format. Each curriculum has 36 weekly spelling lists based on state standards and is downloadable. For each spelling list, they include a 20-30 minute lesson plan, resources to aid in giving the lesson, one spelling practice sheet, and one homework sheet. Under Spelling Lists you can view the lists that pertain to your student's stage. I wish you could download and print these out within the program. For Math Shed there is teaching resources from reception (pre-k) to year 6 (grade 5). Each year has an Autumn term, a Spring term, and a Summer term. These terms further break up into different blocks (usually 4-5 of them) of narrowed math topics, like place value or addition & subtraction. When you pick a block it will give you a list of around 4-13 teaching slides for the subject to be narrowed down further. These slides are in PowerPoint for each concept in math that is taught for that term. Since Zari is in 3rd grade this would be the equivalent of year 4. There are also additional resources for Literacy Shed, but since that platform is something we didn't get I am not going to go into those.

Account Home page with Guides at the top and Resources at the bottom.

Spelling Shed Spelling Curriculum and Spelling Lists for Stage 3.

Math Shed Teaching Resources, Year 4 Autumn Term Block 3 (clockwise).

In the Teachers Hub you can make assignments for your student. You can pick what day the assignment is available from and when the assignment (game) expires. You can choose from Spelling or Math. Both spelling and math had where you can pick lists from the curriculum or make your own. For Spelling if you picked curriculum you could pick Spelling Shed, Dolch, Fry, UIL Grades 3-4, UIL Grades 5-6, and UIL Grades 7-8. From there you can select drop down menus to pick a stage or list to have them play in the game. For math you can pick from Number Bonds, Times Tables, Powers of 10, Add & Subtract, and More. From there you can select drop down menus to pick the game to have the student play.

Assignment creator for Spelling Shed (top) and Math Shed (bottom).

The Spelling Shed game has several different stages and difficulty levels that you can pick from within the game. Make sure your sound is on and working before your student plays. First you choose from Stages 1 and 2, Stage 3, and Stages 4 and 5. After you pick play it will ask you what difficulty you would like to play in. You can also choose from easy, medium, hard, or extreme levels within those stages. The easy level says a word out loud with an audio file and shows it to you with the part of speech and definition. When you click go you have to unscramble the letters to spell the word correctly. In the medium level you have to unscramble letters without word shown, but it does have the audio file. The hard level has a audio file of the word with extra letters that you don't use when you are unscrambling the word. The extreme version has all the letters and some punctuation in order of a keyboard to choose from with an audio file of the word. There are also Bonus Games: Bee Keeper (hangman with bees) and Missing Word (spell the missing word in the sentence).

In the Spelling Shed game pick your Stage, hit play, and pick your level.

Spelling Shed game Easy level (clockwise).

Spelling Shed game Medium level.

Spelling Shed game Hard level.

Spelling Shed game Extreme level.

The Math Shed game has several different sections and math practice that you can pick from within the game.  Make sure your sound is on and working before your student plays. First you choose from Number Bonds, Times Tables, Powers of 10, Add & Subtract, and More. After choosing one of these there will be different math topics to choose from within each of these. Most of the Math Shed games have the problem to solve at the top and multiple choice answers to pick from.You have 60 seconds to complete as many problems correctly as you can. The Math Shed games have a fun outer space theme.

Math Shed Game.

For using Spelling Shed with homeschooling I would suggest parents give their students weekly spelling lists and do the lesson in the curriculum that is provided for that week. After that students can play the games that relate to the lessons for that week.

For using Math Shed with homeschooling I would suggest parents have the student watch the PowerPoint lesson of the week and do the activities to practice the new skills. At the end of each lesson there is an assessment to see if the skills were learned. After this students can play the games that relate to the lessons for that week.

We liked both Spelling Shed and Math Shed. I like that there is a curriculum for roughly a whole school year for both spelling and math. This program is not only great for teachers in a public classroom setting, but also great for homeschooling or after schooling as well. I really liked the flexibility and how I can monitor the student's progress. Since we are going into our summer vacation I can see it helping Zari make sure she does not forget the spelling words, vocabulary, literacy, and math facts / problems that we have worked on all year.

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BUY IT
You can try Spelling Shed or Math Shed free for 30 days - no credit card required! If you do want a subscription, it's only $24.95 for an entire year for each program. If you buy them both you get a 15% discount!

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Math Shed/Spelling Shed...

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Ancients Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of trying the Art of the Ancients from Artistic Pursuits Inc. for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. creates art curriculum for children. This full-color curriculum helps children to grow their skills of observation and critical thinking. It teaches all components of fine art, including creativity, art history, art appreciation, and art techniques. This unique homeschool art program permits the student to be expressive and make up their own decision about what and how they will draw, paint, or sculpt.

ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray by Brenda Ellis are brand new hardcover books for kindergarten and elementary students. These have art history and art instruction lessons in text with pictures to study and video lessons on how to use the art materials. There are a total of 8 volumes currently:

• K-3 Vol. 1 ART FOR CHILDREN, Building a Visual Vocabulary
• K-3 Vol. 2 ART OF THE ANCIENTS
• K-3 Vol. 3 ART OF THE MIDDLE AGES
• K-3 Vol. 4 ARTISTS THAT SHAPED THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
• K-3 Vol. 5 ART OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES, RENAISSANCE TO REALISM
• K-3 Vol. 6 ART OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS
• K-3 Vol. 7 ART OF THE MODERN AGE
• K-3 Vol. 8 ART IN AMERICA

Each book covers one whole semester of art if you have your student do one lesson a week. You can do these lessons chronologically starting with volume 1 and follow the history volumes in order or do volume 1 and then skip to the volume of choice after that. It is all up to you.

Art of the Ancients is the second volume of the series. It is a hardcover book with both Blu-ray and DVD. It has 64 pages, 18 lessons (12 text lessons featuring artworks by ancient artists and 6 video lessons featuring art instruction on materials), and 106 illustrations. This art curriculum book and videos takes a look at art found in caves to the classical art of the Roman Empire. The book covers Near Eastern figures and relief carvings, Minoan fresco painting, Etruscan and Egyptian wall painting, Greek pillars and pottery, as well as the many methods of making art in Rome. Young learners will create and respond to art of the ancient cultures as they express themselves and see the world in new ways. They also learn about the period and how the people then made art. Children will work with pastels and clay.

K-3 Vol.2 Art Supply Pack | ARTistic Pursuits

K-3 Vol. 2 Art Supply Pack (can be purchased separately or with the book for additional cost) Includes:

• Wire clay cutter
• Amaco Air-dry clay
• NuPastel hard pastel color sticks, set of 12
• 15 x 15" cotton fabric Blue Cotton Tote Bag

You will also need these materials from K-3 Vol. 1 Starter Pack Materials list:

• Watercolor crayons
• Oil pastels
• Ebony pencil
• Vinyl eraser
• Watercolor brush, #8 round
• Watercolor paper pad
• Drawing paper pad
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Elmer's Glue-All
• Glue stick

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I did this art instruction for kids with my daughters Teela and Zari who are in 3rd and 6th grade this school year. We tried to do one lesson a week, but our clay did not come to us in the mail because of back-orders and delays with COVID-19. We did what we could with what we had at home. My kids love art so they enjoyed these activities and learning about the art and history very much.

The lessons without videos have prep notes with tips and information about the type of art. It also has notes on how to instruct a larger group. Then there is the art history lesson on the next page with pictures of an art piece and questions at the end in bold. After the history lesson the book has a page of how to do the art. Each art lesson has a box of text that will list the materials needed for that art project, an example picture of the art made by a student, pictures of the art being assembled and instructions with more insight into the history. The lessons that have videos are truncated in the book and have a minimal amount of information to show you what art will be created and what materials are needed to make the art. These are used with the DVD or Blu-ray.

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2: Lesson 1 (something with wheels with pastels).

The first lesson we had an introduction of art in the ancient world and learned how to use soft pastels to make a picture of something with wheels. This lesson was accompanied by a video (video #1) on the DVD or Blu-ray. This gave us very visual step-by-step instruction of the process. We liked the videos and thought they were very thorough, educational, and nicely done. The video had the art history and art instruction to show how to use the pastels. Zari did the Fire Truck.

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2: Lesson 2 (cave art).

The second lesson in the book we learned about European cave drawings. We read in the art book of 4 boys in France that discovered some cave art. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson about the bull and horse cave painting in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. Then we are told with words and shown with color pictures in the book how to do cave art on brown paper with earth colored pastels. I did the zebra and Teela did the panda bear.

The third lesson we learned about clay slab building. This lesson was accompanied by a video (video #2) on the DVD or Blu-ray. This gave us very visual step-by-step instruction of the process. In this lesson you build a clay figure out of slabs. The video had the art and art instruction to show how to use and care for the clay and other items to make the figure. Since we didn't have the clay we just watched the video for the instructions for future reference.

The forth lesson we learned about the city of Jericho and the Human Statue found there. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. Then we are told with words and shown with color pictures in the book how to do a human figure in clay. Since we didn't have the clay we just read the book and looked at the pictures for future reference.

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2: Lesson 5 (animal art with pastels).

In the fifth lesson we learned about art in Minoan palaces. In this lesson we learned about a painting called Bull Jumping that was found in the Island of Crete. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson about the painting in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. We were instructed to make an animal painting with pastels. I did the hedgehog and Zari did the Toucan.

There was only one thing that I would change if I was the author. My daughters and I wished that all the lessons had videos because we are very visual and the videos made the instruction so much easier, but we would also have liked those that did have videos to have the whole instruction and art history lesson in the book as well. This would make it easier to use with those children that are too young to read and those that learn better by reading than by visual and audio as well would benefit if both were used for all lessons. This would help our learners of all types.

So far ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages has been very educational and fun. We have learned so much about the art of the time. I highly recommend this art for children. ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Ancients would be a great art curriculum for use with art history lessons and unit studies of the Early Europeans, Minoans, Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Etruscans, and Ancient Romans.

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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtisticPursuitsInc
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• Hashtags: #hsreviews #myartisticpursuits #homeschoolart #artinstruction #ART #Homeschool #ARTEDUCATION #artisticpursuits #creativity

BUY IT
You can purchase ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray. They are each $39.99. If you would like to purchase the art kits with these it is more and depends on the kit.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for ARTistic Pursuits Inc....