Memoria Press

For my final review for the TOS Homeschool Crew, we are reviewing several products from Memoria Press.  The people at Memoria Press were awesome in helping us figure out what would be a good fit for our families!

We chose to review, Famous Men of Rome, Christian Studies Book 1 and Latina Christiana Book 1.

I wish that we could have 6 months with this product before needing to write our review, because there is so much, and I pray that I am able to give the product an accurate portrayal.

I'll begin with Christian Studies Book 1. This book takes you from Genesis through Deuteronomy. This book is designed to go with the Golden Children's Bible.  We do not own the Golden Children's Bible, so we used these books alongside our bible. So, I cannot coment how they work together, however, I can tell you that we were able to utilize these books using our bible. Each lesson has 3 sections; "Facts to know", "Memory Verse" and "Comprehension Questions" The children and I have thoroughly enjoyed going through the first several lessons in this book!!

Next on the line up is Famous Men of Rome .  Which is a year long course on Roman History. The book is beautifully illustrated, and I really enjoy the writing, as do my children.  There are 3 books in this set, the "text" which where you read from, and then you also recieve a student and teacher's guide. The student's guide is set up very similar to the Christian Studies book, with the "Facts to Know", "Comprehension  questions", "Vocabulary" and "Activities".  Overall, we have enjoyed going through this book, the only thing that bother's me, has nothing to do with Memoria Press, or the books, it is actually the Roman history. I do not really  enjoy reading about their worship and belief of many gods.  Though it is factual.

And to wrap up this review, we have Latina Christiana, this is a beginning Latin course. It comes with the teacher book, student book, DVD's and  pronunciation guide CD.  We have really enjoyed this one. We are several lessons in and the Lowe family, Cheryl wrote the books and Leigh teaches on the DVD, makes this a series that my entire family, myself included can enjoy.  I have never taken  Latin myself, so this would be a daunting task, however with the DVD's it makes learning Latin a breeze. I would highly recommend this program to anyone interested in learning Latin. If you have never been interested in learning Latin, I would still take a look at Memoria Press, they have made learning Latin accessible for any family.

 

Friendly Chemistry

I have been looking forward to reviewing this product, since we were first told about it months ago!! I was so excited when I was notified that our family would be able to review Friendly Chemistry.  Friendly Chemistry's goal is to introduce basic chemistry in a fun and non threatening way, they have indeed succeeded!

After spending time with this program, I can honestly tell you that I love this product. If you have been reading my reviews for any amount of time, you will know that I have several children that have various degrees of special needs, as well as , children with no special needs at all. However, all my children are all very hands on learners. I have often commented that my children need to see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, even  become what they are learning about in order to really understand it. Friendly Chemistry provides just that.

They have come up with some awesome activities for the children to do. Not just worksheets, these are physical activities, exactly what my children need!

Another plus is this, I never took chemistry. You know, that was for smart kids, and that surely was not me. I was the kid in school that just got by. However, with this program, not only was I able to teach my children, I was able to learn about Chemistry myself!

This is  a curriculum, that we will continue to use in the future! There is only one drawback that I see. And that is the price. It is $75 for the student edition, and $60 for teachers edition. However, if you are using this for more than one child in your immediate family they do allow you to make copies of the student book. That helps with the overall cost. ( Students outside your immediate family must purchase their own student book!) If you are using it for only one child, you will have to decide if that price would work for your family. I will tell you that if you were able to invest the money into this program, you would not be dissapointed!

Spend some time at their website and see if this would be a fit for your family.

Molly's May Money-Saving Digest

Have you had a chance to meet Molly Green yet? If not, please take a moment to go visit her at www.econobusters.com .

Now that you have met Molly, let's get on to Molly's May Money-Saving Digest.

This month's Molly's Money-Saving Digest lives up to it's predecessors. It is "jam" packed with money saving ideas for your home, as well as, for your homeschool. 

I say jam packed, because Molly's shares an awesome jam recipe that you will surely enjoy! In fact, there are several recipes in this edition that will help you celebrate the special days of May. These recipes would actually be great all summer long!

You will also find a step by step tutorial on how even the small changes in your daily life can add up to big savings in your pocket! I don't know about you, but that is the kind of help that I need! We already live a frugal life, these changes could help you shave even a little bit more off, even a tight budget. And every little bit, really does add up!

I must tell you with all of the awesome things, that I have already listed, my favorite feature by far, was the feature on college alternatives. Actually, you will find incredible information for your "preschooler" all the way through making plans for college. I will be saving this issue to help guide me in the next few years, as we make college decisions for my children. Who knew there were some really great alternatives to the typical college education we all think of.

 This is just a mere sampling of what is found in Molly's May Money-Saving Digest. Why don't stop by The Old Schoolhouse Store and pick up your copy today! Your family will thank you!

Tapestry of Grace

I have been homeschooling a long time. While I have heard of Tapestry of GraceTapestry of Grace, I have never looked at it thouroughly. So, when the opportunity  to review a unit of Tapestry of Grace came up, I was thrilled. As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we were given the choice of 1 unit from any of the years available from TOG.

Now let's talk a little bit about what exactly is Tapestry of Grace. "Tapestry of Grace, home of the award-winning multi-level, integrated, 4-year, classics-based Christian curriculum for the whole family." The way that TOG does this, is by offering 4-years of curriculum, that you will then use with your children for their entire school career. How, you ask? I am so glad that you asked!

They use a literature based; classical approach, you will teach all of your children, using a single curriculum, however activities and instruction will be tailored to each child at their own level. The levels follow the "Trivium"; Lower Grammar , K-3, Upper Grammar 3-5, Dialectic, 6-9 and Rhetoric, 10-12.

We are not a classical ed family, so all of that lingo is new to me. However, we are familiar with working together as a family on subject matter, and then tailoring the output to fit the development of the individual child, and that is what this is.

What do you get when you purchase TOG? Well, you have a couple of options, you have the Digital Edition (DE) or you have the Printed Edition. When you purchase the digital edition, you will recieve everything electronically. Basically VERY LARGE E-books. It is the same curriculum as the printed, except that it is on your computer.

Whether you choose the DE or the Printed Edition, what you recieve, is a very detailed, outline, and guide for teaching. It has, discussion questions, activities, information about the time period that is being studied, however, none of the books are included.  To me this is a real turn off. While I understand, that it would be almost impossible to supply all the books for all the different levels, however, with our busy homeschool life, it was much too much work to find the specific books that were required.  However, if you have a great library system, and you are a pro and inter-library loans, then this would not be an issue for you.

I will tell you, that everything in the program is laid out beautifully. And if this is the method of homeschooling that you use, or have been interested in, then you may very well love this program.

A real plus to this curriculum, is it's biblical world view. And for that I am very grateful and pleased to see. I believe they tie in bible principles with history very well.

This curriculum clearly is not for our family, however, I believe that it is of high quality, and if you are educating your children using the classical approach you would be very pleased with this program.

Apologia

    I am not a text book momma! I have to say the thought of using "textbooks" frighten me!  Over the years I have heard wonderful things about Apologia. However, they looked like big scary textbooks, I wasn't sure that it would be a good fit for me or our family.

   So when I heard that we were going to be able to review Apologia with the Homeschool Crew, I was thrilled!!!  I was going to finally see for myself, will Apologia fit with our families needs... stay tuned and find out.....

  We were sent;

Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. This is elementary science, $35. Here is what they have to say about Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day; "In this book,  your children will begin exploring the dynamics of flight and animal classification, understanding why the design we see in these incredible creatures points us to our Creator God. When your children complete this study of zoology, they will never view in nature in the same way again. Their eyes will open to the different species that live in their midst, enjoying and understanding nature to the fullest."

Here is what I have to say...  I love that the books are written directly to the children. Not the typical dry boring textbooks. A book that your child can pick up and read on their own. Plus, when it comes to the science experiments, they use common household items. My son was able to read the directions, gather the materials and do the experiment, all on his own. Granted, I was "around", however, this was great for independent learning. He then turned around and explained to the rest of us what he had learned.

While all the items needed are common, I was pleased to see right in front of the book, the supply list divided by lesson. That way, if there was something you needed to get, you would know ahead of time. I also, loved how they use notebooking in their studies. Again, all the instructions were written to the child.  I have really enjoyed the independence it has fostered in my son.

Exploring Creation with General Science. Recommended for 7th grade. $85 for a set, which includes textbook and solutions and tests packet.  Here is what they have to say about it .. "This course is designed to be a student's first systematic introduction to the sciences. The course covers topics like the history of science, scientific method, designing experiments, simple machines, archaeology, geology, palentology, biology, and human anatomy and physiology.  Therefore, it's scope is quite wide. There are mant hands-on experiments to do and they all use household items."

Exploring Creation with Biology. Recommended for 9th grade. $85 for a set, which includes textbook and solutions and tests packet.  Here is what they have to say... "This course is designed to be the student's first high school science course. Typically, we recommend that the student take this course during the same year that he or she is taking Alegebra 1. Exploring Creation with Biology is a college-prep biology course that provides a detailed introduction to the methods and concepts of general biology, it provides the student with a strong background in the scientific method, the five-kingdom classification scheme, microscopy, biochemistry, cellular, biology, molecular and Mendelian genetics, evolution, dissection, and ecosystems. It also provides a complete survey of the five kingdoms in creation."

We did not get as far in these two texts as I would have liked to, prior to writing this review, however, I really do like what I see. They use the same format they used in the elementary science books, they write directly to the child. It seems more like a story, someone talking to you about a subject, rather than just plain cold hard facts.

I also made sure to go through the module on Evolution. Being that this is a Christian Science book, I was interested in how they were going to handle this topic.  I must tell you, I was very pleased with how they handled it.

I learned quite a bit about Darwin himself, which helps in the understanding of how his theory was developed. I would highly recommend this book, actually, all 3 of these books to any homeschooling family.

I recently received a catalog from Apologia, on the front page it says "Learn, Live & Defend the Faith". I can really get behind that statement!

Apologia carries not only textbooks, they carry supplies for experiments, CD's to go along with some of their books, and many items (books and CD's) that are of general support for the homeschooling family.

Please visit Apologia today!!

Schleich

I have older children. So i wasn't sure if they were gong to look at these figurines, and say, great mom.... see ya..... or if they would be interested. I am happy to report that they were indeed interested by these little gems.

Schleich's tagline on their website is "handpainted modelled from nature" is a true description of what I have in my hands.  I was thrilled to have recieved the lioness for my big cat lover and the Lipizzaner Stallion for my horse lover among the other figurines we recieved.

What is really unique about these creatures, is that the tiniest of details from each breed are handpainted on, right down to the paws. We really enjoyed holding these creatures in our hands and checking them out.

Even my teenagers could be "caught" playing with these wonderful little creatures! If you have an animal lover in your house, then this would be a wonderful investment.

Please visit Schleich and check out their entire line of products, including their Farming, Wild Life and The World of Knights.

Generations of Virtue

 

In the world that we live in today, a world that is becoming harder and harder to raise godly young men and young women, I am thankful for a ministry such as, Generations of Virtue.

Here is what the website says about their mission:

  Generations of Virtue is a volunteer-driven ministry committed to providing parents and teenagers with resources to fight the good fight for purity. We work with parents, teens, churches, and homeschooling groups to equip today's generation for one of the most critical battles our culture faces--the battle for purity of heart, mind and body.

 

This is a company that I can align myself with. I feel comfortable with their intentions with their products, to place them in the hands of my children.

As part of the crew, I was sent books for my boys and for my girls. I was sent Teknon and the Champion Warriors, this book is geared for 10-14 year olds. I gave the book to my 13 year old to read. I'll get back to what he thought in a moment.  Let me tell you what they say about the book.

 "As CHAMPION Warriors, we win or lose by the way we choose!" Teknon's been training to be a CHAMPION warrior for a long time now, but a strenuous mission to retrieve God's Word from the clutches of the enemy is the only thing that will test his faith in his beliefs. Does he have what it takes to live a life devoted to the CHAMPION warrior's creed”a life completely in submission to the Lord? Join Teknon, his father, and his fathers friends as they fight to defeat an evil cyborg enemy and claim back their society's morals. This epic science fiction adventure captivates boys s ages 11-16 as they learn how to make good choices about purity, friends, relating with young women, their thought lives, and much more. With a brilliant plot, Brent Sapp packs this exciting novel full of spiritual truth.

Now, my son was not able to get as far as I had hoped in the book. While he is enjoying the book, for some reason this book is taking him longer to read. After further discussion, we believe it is because the book is so action packed, that he has to take his time to read and absorb what he is reading. His impressions are, that this book is "really neat" and he "likes how they work together to get through things".  He is continuing to read the book, I will let you know as he finishes, what he thinks, perhaps I will even let him post about it here.

Now the other items we received were from the "Beautifully Made!" series. This a 3 book series for mothers and daughters, just entering womanhood.  The first book, Approaching Womanhood, is for the girl who is nearing the starting of her menses. The book discusses in a delicate yet honest fashion what will be happening to her body. The way they handled each topic was with integrity and respect for the the young lady who is reading the book. My daughter and I are gong through this book together, to ensure open lines of communication if questions arise. The second book, Celebrating Womanhood, is for the young lady who has already begun her menses. Again, these books handle this challenging topic with respect and honesty. I will tell you it was the third book that I was thankful for, it is the book that goes along with the other two, written for mom, Wisdom from a Woman. As I read the book there were things that I learned that no one ever took the time to share with me.

I love the way they have encouraged me and my husband to interact with my daughter regarding her growing up. And treating this time with celebration. A celebration for how the Lord has created us.

If you have daughters that are approaching this time of their life, I would highly recommend this series.

Generations of Virtue have an entire line of products for both boys and girls. From the time they are toddlers all the way through this important time of change.

Please visit them and look at these resources and their entire line of purity rings.