Wordless Wednesday Lovely Lily in my Garden

 

Lovely lily in my garden.

Home School in the Woods Time Travelers: Colonial Life 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 Time Travelers U.S. History Studies Colonial Life from Home School in the Woods 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.

Home School in the Woods is a family run business that creates Christian based history curriculum for homeschooling. This curriculum immerses your student in the topic. It is very hands-on with lapbooks, timelines, recipes, art, creative writing, notebook projects, dramatized audio theater, maps, crafts, projects, re-enactments, file-folder games, vocabulary to learn, etc.

The Time Traveler American History Studies are a seven part series that starts with the New World Explorers and concludes at the end of World War II. These are recommended for grades 3-8. There are two different versions you can purchase, a CD version or a digital download version. With the CD version everything that you access and print is on the CD. With the digital download version you download a zipped file, place all of the contents into a folder on your computer, and access it by the start.htm file that is in that folder. We received the digital download version.

Left: Main Menu, Right: Lessons

We found that there was a lot of preparation that needed to happen before getting started. There is a lot of things needing printed, items needing prepared for crafts and other projects, and general preparation of materials before one can begin the travel. The Beginning of the main menu includes: Acknowledgements / Copyrights and Usage / Bibliography, Introduction, Tips to Consider Before Starting..., and Teacher Helps which gives you a great foundation. Teacher Helps guides you with preparation and organization, gives you a Lesson Planner schedule to help you see an overview of the things being taught and Additional Resources to pull from. It also includes the printables for the 3-Ring Binder Covers and the Teacher Keys for the timeline.

Each study has twenty-five lessons and is supposed to last roughly 5-10 weeks depending upon how quickly everything is completed. These lessons have reading Text Pages and an activity that go with them. Project Pages accompany these to give directions, list of supplies needed, printing instructions, and illustrations for each project and activity. Masters are provided for all printables.

In the Other Resources section at the end of the main menu there are some visuals and directions to help you with the projects, activities, and lapbook. These include: All Master Pages in numerical order, A Gallery of Project Photos (final photos of what projects should look like at the end), and Lap Book Instructions. You can also have your student catch up with the five Project Days that are included in the schedule. The student will compile a lapbook in the 24th lesson. This lapbook is pieced together throughout the studies. The final lesson is a party with a theme that goes along with the series to celebrate the end of the study. These are very flexible and you can pick and choose what projects work best for your family.

You will need a few items to get you through the lessons:

• Working Printer
• Color and Black Ink for the printer to cover all the printing that will be happening
• White and Colored Printer Paper
• White and Colored Cardstock (this is best, but admittedly we didn't have any of this and used only white printer paper and it worked OK)
• One 3-Ring Binder for the Teacher's Binder (reading text, project direction pages, the "Guide-at-a-Glance," teacher keys, and any of the other teacher helps)
• One 3-Ring Binder for the Scrapbook of Sights (student binder for all notebook projects including)
• Colored File Folders or Colored Pocket Folders with Fasteners
• Scissors and/or an X-acto Knife (when using an X-acto Knife you will need a thick piece of cardboard or self healing mat to use as a cutting surface)
• Crayons, Markers, or Colored Pencils to color the pictures, if desired
• Glue
• Other Craft supplies specified for each of the different projects that your student wants to do

Lessons for Time Travelers American History Study: Colonial Life:

1. America's Colonies Begin
2. The Colonial Home Pt. 1
3. The Colonial Home Pt. 2
4. The Colonial Home Pt. 3
5. PROJECT DAY - 1
6. Colonial Clothing
7. Colonial Food
8. Family Life
9. The Colonial School
10. PROJECT DAY - 2
11. Faith in the Colonies Pt. 1
12. Faith in the Colonies Pt. 2
13. Colonial Pleasures & Pastimes
14. Villages & Cities
15. PROJECT DAY - 3
16. Health & Medicine
17. Colonial Artisans Pt. 1
18. Colonial Artisans Pt. 2
19. Holidays in the Colonies
20. PROJECT DAY - 4
21. Crime & Punishment
22. Plantations & Slavery
23. PROJECT DAY - 5
24. Pulling the Lap Book™ Together
25. Colonial Spree!

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I enlisted my daughter Zari, who was in 3rd grade this past school year, to learn about Colonial Life. She has loved doing Home School in the Woods in the past. This is supposed to be for 3rd through 8th graders so most of the projects she did very well on. She did need my help with some of the more advanced projects and writing assignments and it took her a lot longer to get through some of the written assignments than it might have taken for my older kids. I learned quite a bit too while helping her with this study.

Zari coloring the Colonial Farm pages.

This study was jam packed with information. This is all about early U.S. History. It is about the growth of this nation and the people that left their mark on it. In the weeks we had before this review we learned about The Lost Colony & Jamestown, The First Thirteen Colonies, Indentured Servants and Slaves, etc. There are creative writing, recipes of the era,  notebook timeline, factfile cards, file folder games,  penmanship pages, notebooking activities, three-dimensional projects, arts and crafts, lapbooking, and a Colonial Spree to bring the whole unit to a close. We still have not gotten through all the lessons, but we have enjoyed everything that we have done thus far.

This was differently laid out than the Project Passports I was used to. There were no stops or pretending to be on a trip and these did not have any audio files to listen to. Like Project Passport though, the instructions are not hard, but there is a lot of things to set up and print out initially and throughout the program....so be aware of that and set some time aside to begin with to get things done so you are not overwhelmed.

Old-Peas Soup

Zari really liked our project time together the most. She loves art and making things. She especially loved making the yummy Old-Peas Soup from one of the A Book of Goode Cookery Colonial cookbook recipes. This was like split pea soup in my opinion. She also loved learning and playing the games. We can't wait to make the Rope Bed, Colonial attire to dress up, a loom to weave on, an apple head doll, an embroidery sampler, silhouette art, quilling, a punch tin candle holder, and the other recipes etc. We are learning a lot and are enjoying every moment. These are so much fun!

I highly recommend the Time Travelers American History Study: Colonial Life from Home School in the Woods. This is great for anyone homeschooling who might need some help with teaching Colonial Life in a highly educational, fun, and very hands-on way. This is a great stand-alone unit study or can be used to supplement something already being taught. This would also be perfect for those wanting something fun to do with their kids in the summer time. I am looking forward to reviewing more from Home School in the Woods in the future and learning more about United States history with this study! There is also a U.S. Elections Lap-Pak that is relevant now because of the presidential election coming up this year.

BUY IT
You can purchase the download version of the Time Travelers U.S. History Studies Colonial Life from Home School in the Woods for $27.95 and CD version for $28.95.

Download the scope and sequence, look at a sample lesson, see photo examples of projects, and watch a video of "What is a Time Traveler" when you click the link above, to get more of an idea about the program.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homeschoolinthewoods 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HSintheWoods 
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hsinthewoods/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeschoolinthewoods/ 
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #HomeSchoolintheWoods #HSitW #TimeTravelers #ColonialLife #history #unitstudies #lapbooking #HistoryUnitStudies #HomeschoolHistory #handson #ushistory #americanhistory

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Home School in the Woods...

Progeny Press Little Women Study Guide & My Side of the Mountain Study Guide 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 Little Women Study Guide & My Side of the Mountain Study Guide from Progeny Press 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.

Progeny Press is a Christian based company that produces products that help with comprehension, critical analysis, and vocabulary study in literature and reading. They have a number of very nice literature based study guides and interactive e-guides that go with a number of classical, historical, and award winning books. They are always adding new titles to their list. All of their guides - whether book-bound, on CD, or downloaded - have exactly the same content. Four of their literature guides are considered a full literature credit for the year for students in high school.

The Little Woman Study Guide by Carol Clark is great for using in conjunction with the book by Louisa May Alcott. This is geared towards high school grades eight through twelve. This guide is 94 pages total when printed. The My Side of the Mountain Study Guide by Carol Clark is great for using in conjunction with the book by Jean Craighead George. This is geared towards middle school grades five to eight. This guide is 63 pages total when printed. The ones we received is the interactive e-guide which means that it is able to have the answers entered and typed directly into the PDF and saved. You can additionally print the pages and have your student work on them off of the computer. The e-guides save you money because you do not have to pay shipping and handling. You can also grade the student's work directly on the PDF and make comments in the same file. Mobile Devices/Tablets may require alternative app that supports and saves fillable form fields. All the guides, once purchased, can be reproduced for the teacher's/homeschooling parent's use in their own classroom or home. Once downloaded to your computer they are permanently available on your computer, and are yours and yours only.

These Study Guides cover a lot of ground. They have vocabulary that goes with the book with activities that help retention and growth. The Little Woman Study Guide talks about literary techniques like: Slang, similes, metaphors, foreshadowing, proverbs, allusions, motif, parallelism, allegory, maxims, idioms, juxtaposition, asides, anthropomorphism, antithesis, irony, mood, comic relief, alliteration, in context, foil, aphorism, jargon, sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek humor, extended metaphor, euphemisms, cause and effect, epiphany, poetic justice, flat and round characters, dynamic and static characters, dramatic structure, theme, point of view, and coming-of-age. The My Side of the Mountain Study Guide talks about literary techniques like: Point of view, verbs, anthropomorphism, irony, flashback, in context, adjectives, similes, recap, paraphrase, fact vs. opinion, onomatopoeia, comic relief, mood, metaphors, allusion, alphabetical order, idioms, oxymoron, alliteration, assonance, consonance, extended metaphors, willing suspension of disbelief, conflict, quest, dramatic structure, full-circle ending, coming of age, bildungsroman, and compare & contrast. There are moral lessons and character values taken from the books in each study guide. Activities and writing assignments are also included. Each set of chapters or section has: activities to use the vocabulary, questions in shorty answer, "think about the story" comprehension questions, "dig deeper" questions with bible verses to look up and biblical perspective or philosophical questions to go with the book, and optional activities, like: art, cooking, creative writing, dramatization, etc. There is a lot of other things too that these go into. Take a look at the layout and contents below of each study guide...

Here is Little Woman's Study Guide Layout:

• Study Guide Author
• Note to Instructor (How to use the study guide)
• Synopsis (What book is about)
• About the Novel's Author
• Background Information
• Ideas for Prereading Activities (Things to do or study before and during reading the book): Read Pilgrim's Progress, class discussion, research the U.S. Civil War, journaling activities.
• Chapters 1-4
• Chapters 5-9
• Chapters 10-12
• Chapters 13-16
• Chapters 17-20
• Chapters 21-23
• Part 1 Crossword Puzzle
• Chapters 24-27
• Chapters 28-31
• Chapters 32-35
• Chapters 36-39
• Chapters 40-43
• Chapters 44-47
• Overview
• Optional Essays and Projects
• Additional Resources (Other books by the author, similar titles, plays, and movies)
• Answer Key (located in a separate PDF)

Here is My Side of the Mountain's Study Guide Layout:

• Study Guide Author
• Note to Instructor (How to use the study guide)
• Synopsis (What book is about)
• About the Novel's Author
• Prereading Activities (Things to do or study before reading the book): Field trip, research local plants, read the author's preface to the book.
• Section 1: I Hole Up...; I Get Started...; I Find Gribley's Farm
• Section 2: I Find Many...; The Old, Old Tree; I Meet One of my Own Kind...
• Section 3: The Kings Provider; What I Did About...; I Learn to Season My Food
• Section 4: How a Door...; Frightful Learns...; I Find a Real Live Man
• Section 5: The Autumn Provides...; We All Learn About Halloween; I Find Out What to Do
• Story Review Fun!
•  Section 6: Trouble Begins; I Pile up Wood...; I Learn About Birds...
•  Section 7: I Have a Good Look at Winter...; The Spring in the Winter...
• Section 8: I Cooperate with the Ending; The City Comes to Me
• Overview
• Optional After-You-Read Projects and Activities
• Additional Resources (Other books by the author, other titles of interest, related books, related movies)
• Answer Key (located in a separate PDF)

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

My daughter, Teela, who is 12 years old is an advanced reader. She loves reading and devours books. Her favorites are chapter books that have some substance to them. I told her about Little Woman and My Side of the Mountain and she was excited to start reading. We had the book Little Woman on our Kindle so we started with that one. She loved this book and read it chapter by chapter working through the study guide.

She got to use the guide as she read the book and since the review period for this was slightly longer than most (roughly 7 weeks) we got through a good portion of My Side of the Mountain as well. She did the worksheets online to work on her computer and typing skills as well.

Our Rose Garden

Teela loved doing some of the optional activities in the study guides. One of the optional activities she picked in chapters 17-20 in the Little Woman Study Guide was plant a rose bush and tend it. We planted a whole rose garden, not just one plant, this year and she helped me with it. I showed her how to dead head spent blossoms and water them. Another of the optional activities she picked to do for chapters 36-39 in the Little Woman Study Guide had her make and serve Tea Sandwiches. For these we had cream cheese, cucumber and triangle cut bread. On a hot day these were particularly good with iced herbal tea. In the My Side of the Mountain Study Guide she did a lot of the optional activities too. She picked to learn more about skunks in Section 5 because it so happens that we have a family of them with a mama and 5 babies living in our barn. You can go here on my husband's YouTube to see them.

Teela with the Tea Sandwiches she made.

This was the forth time we had experienced Progeny Press and their literature study guides. This time though we got to pick two different study guides instead of just one. The study guides we received were jam packed full of reading comprehension and information to study. I love that they are also faith-based and has biblical applications that relate to the books fairly well. Since Teela just finished 6th grade this year, I had her type her answers as best she could and I believe she did great for her age. These guides are very well thought out and put together and I feel that my daughter learned and comprehended a great deal more because of it.

I highly recommend the Progeny Press study guides. They are easy to download and simple to print from PDF and easy to do online. These guides got my daughter thinking a lot more about the story and characters than she would have just reading the book on its own. Progeny Press has a great selection of other guides that go with some other great books as well. Check them out below.
 
Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/progenypress
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/progenypress
• Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/progenypress
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/progenypress
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #ProgenyPress #Literature #reading #learnathome #StudyGuides #ReadingComprehension

BUY IT
You can get the Little Women Study Guide in e-guide format for $21.99 and the My Side of the Mountain Study Guide for 18.99 from Progeny Press and also download a sample of the guide to see what it looks like.

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Progeny Press...

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.

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdShed-US-113476190342149/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdShedUS
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spellingshed/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJKXC4Rd29eQQWPbSdITLhw
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #Spelling, #Phonics, #Math, #MathFacts, #MathFluency #Homeschooling, #webgames, #iPadgames, #literacy, #vocabulary, #homeschool, #EdShed, #SpellingShed, #MathShed

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...