Curriculum Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 9

Teaching the Classics review: Literary analysis for your homeschool (that you’ll actually enjoy)

May 21, 2018Tracy

As my children are getting older and my oldest is approaching junior high, I’ve been thinking a lot about literary analysis. I’ve been asking myself what I want to accomplish, and is it really necessary. While my oldest is very language-oriented and thrives on deep conversation about great books, my younger daughter with dyslexia struggles with reading, even the simple task of decoding words she’s never seen before. How on earth do I tackle character analysis and devices and themes with her?

But even with my oldest literature-loving son, I felt discouraged and overwhelmed when it came to teaching literature. Flipping through over 50 pages of teacher notes for history and literature in my former curriculum each week left me feeling completely incapable and, quite frankly, burned out. I knew I needed something different. So I scoured the internet, and I stumbled upon a company that brought everything back into focus and helped me to answer that nagging question of “why should I do literary analysis anyway?” Center for Lit has a number of resources for homeschool parents that makes studying literature not just possible but meaningful and enjoyable. One of those resources that I’ve been using and absolutely loving is Teaching the Classics.

Tips for Homeschooling Foreign Language with Dyslexia

April 17, 2018Tracy

When a child has dyslexia, there are all kinds of questions. Will she ever be able to read and write? Will he go to college? Can she learn the things my other children are learning? Can he learn a foreign language? Obviously, these answers are as individual as the children themselves, but overall, yes! Your dyslexic child CAN learn. It’s not that a dyslexic child can’t learn; it’s that the child will learn so much differently than a non-dyslexic child. Language skills are definitely a challenge, but they aren’t necessarily insurmountable. Homeschooling foreign language with your dyslexic child is a perfect example.

Both my daughter and my husband have dyslexia. My husband just earned his second masters degree. He can also speak Spanish and translate Greek and Hebrew. He works hard, and he’s learned what helps him to learn. So when my daughter wanted to learn Spanish, I said “absolutely!” I know my dyslexic child can learn a foreign language, but I also know that how she learns that language may look vastly different from how my other children learn it.

Tips for homeschooling foreign language with dyslexia

My daughter has wanted to learn Spanish for years, and we’ve tried a few different approaches for her. She’s tried language apps and activity books and games. For awhile, nothing seemed to work—until I started to rethink what I was doing. I knew that my daughter could learn a language; she’d learned to speak English without a problem. What I needed to do was incorporate the same method into our Spanish study. For the first time this year, we are starting to make some real progress. She’s learning Spanish! Here are a few tips we’ve learned on our journey as we homeschool foreign languages.

Keep it visual, not verbal. This may seem like an oxymoron, but it’s true. Dyslexics learn visually. They think in pictures, not words. So when you attempt to help a dyslexic child learn a foreign language (or even English), keep it visual. Use lots of pictures and videos. Use the language daily as you go about your day. Allow your child to associate the picture and the experience with the language he is learning.

Immerse your child. How do kids learn to speak their native language? Immersion! Homeschooling foreign language is the same way. Daily immerse your child in hands-on, repeated interaction with the language. Most often, dyslexic children learn by doing. Your child with learn a foreign language by living in the context of the language day in and day out. Label objects around the house. Role-play conversations. Have real conversations and play games by including the foreign language vocabulary within your normal English conversation.

Engage the senses. Include as many of your child’s senses as you possibly can. An important way to help your dyslexic child learn a foreign language is by allowing your child to encounter and experience that language—hearing it, seeing it, tasting it, smelling it, and touching it. Taste the eggs and say the foreign word for eggs. Smell the flower and use the new vocabulary for flower. Touch the floor or the ceiling or the door. Play hide-and-go-seek in Spanish or French or Russian or whatever language you’re learning.

Be patient. Allow time for your child to learn. We’ve learned this in so many other areas, haven’t we? We are patient with reading and grammar and comprehension. We understand that our child will have challenges and will have his or her own pace. Homeschooling foreign language with dyslexia is not impossible, if we are patient with the process. It doesn’t matter if the curriculum says it can be completed in a year; let him take two or three years. Allow your child to learn at the pace that is appropriate for him.

I received this product for free and was compensated for my time reviewing this product/service and writing this post. All opinions about the product, however, are my own own.

This post contains affiliate links. That means, when you click on the link and make a purchase, I receive a small compensation.

Why I love Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®

This year, we’ve loved using Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®. My daughter enjoys watching the funny, engaging Spanish videos of children doing the things she understands: eating breakfast, reading a book, playing a game, etc. The visually-based quizzes allow her to test what she’s learned with pictures and audio, without relying solely on her reading skills. And the variety of activities allows her to immerse herself without getting bored. Best of all, it’s self-paced, which has eliminated any pressure for her.

Typically, my daughter watches the lessons a couple of times a week with very little involvement from me. She works through activities and watches the videos over and over until she feels ready to move on to the next lesson. She and her brothers role play the videos they’ve watched, repeating the dialogue of the characters in the stories, playing the games the characters have played, and regularly practicing their Spanish vocabulary in a playful way throughout our day. She loves her Spanish lessons, and she’s thriving. (Her brothers love them, too!) Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® has been ideal, because it incorporates all of these basic tips for helping a dyslexic child learn a foreign language.

It’s visual.
It’s based on immersion.
It engages my kids’ senses.
It allows us to patiently keep our own pace.

Though we have used the online membership,Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® also has DVD sets available, including a special set for young learners and a super set with workbooks. Single level sets are also available.

For more information or to see samples of the program, visit Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® And now through April 30, 2018, you can get 20% off any order by using the code 20OFFFORYOU. Plus, enter the giveaway for a free Spanish level on DVD! (Prize shipped only to USA addresses.)

Entry -Form

Homeschooling foreign language with your dyslexic child does not have to be impossible. Our children are smart and capable. They can learn the things they want to learn. Our role is not to tell them that they can’t, but to provide them with the tools so that they can. And perhaps this is my top reason for loving Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®: it has allowed me to teach my daughter that she can learn the things she wants to learn.

Can your dyslexic child learn a foreign language? Yes! Absolutely, yes! We just can’t expect that process to look anything like the Spanish class we took in high school.

Knights in Training review

September 18, 2017Tracy

I love knights. I enjoy the stories of King Arthur as much now as I did as a kid. And I love studying the Middle Ages with my children. So what could possibly be better than tying in character training with knights and chivalry, right? When I stumbled upon Heather Haupt’s Knights in Training at the homeschool convention this year, I really felt like I’d hit the jackpot.

Knight training started out as a way to equip the warrior class in medieval times. It soon became so compelling that all nobles sought to have their sons embark on this training and take up the chivalry challenge. The principles are timeless and ready for a new generation of boys to take up.

Knights in Training is a creative way to teach 10 areas of character using inspiring knights stories to captivate our sons’ imaginations. This is habit-training that encourages boys to be boys—strong, daring risk-takers, protectors and champions. By shaping and nurturing their natural masculinity with biblical principles and character-building stories, we teach our sons to be men, in every sense of the word.

In the first few chapters of the book, the author explains the problems she is addressing with her principles. She discusses how the culture undermines our boys, the struggles they face to become honorable men, and the solution that knight-training provides. Her principles are based in Scripture and creatively presented to young boys. I agree whole-heartedly with the problems she mentions in these chapters, although there were a few areas I would disagree in practice. Nothing major, but for instance, we have no problem with superheroes at our house, while the author avoids them. So while, you may find practical ways to live out these principles that are different than the author has chosen for her family, don’t let that discourage you from reading this book. The meat of this book is phenomenal!

The rest of Knights in Training takes each of the 10 “codes” and develops them for you. Every chapter begins with a knight story to illustrate how the code was lived out and to inspire our young men to do the same. Then, Heather spends some time giving you practical examples of how to encourage and teach the character lesson in your day-to-day life. Finally, each chapter ends with a challenge to “throw down the gauntlet,” with practical goals and action steps for you to take on the journey.

Her website also includes a downloadable poster of the Knight’s Code. My boys have one hanging in their room, and my oldest has the code memorized without any prompting from me! He will remind me throughout our day which code applies to the situation we are facing. “That’s number 4, Mom,” he’ll tell me when he has the opportunity to defend or protect his younger siblings.

I loved this book and the conversations it’s prompted me to have with my boys, and I’m really looking forward to implementing the code with my boys throughout this year, especially as we study knights and castles and medieval life in history. Knights in Training is aimed for your younger crowd, preschool to middle-school, I’d say. If you have older boys that you want to include in this training, they’d probably enjoy training your littler ones and even creating a Knight’s Training Camp with some of the ideas that Heather includes in her book. She also includes a ton of great books and read-aloud options for each principle in “the code.”

For a list of places to purchase the book, an audio sample, downloadable resources (including the poster), and a preview of the Table of Contents, visit Heather’s website.

When your child needs a brain break

September 4, 2017Tracy

My kids have energy. Energy that doesn’t wait for a math lesson to end or a school day to be over. My kids move (and talk) all day long. And even when I’m following my cardinal rule of “short lessons,” I can still see their minds straining to focus at the task when all their body wants to do is move. It’s part of being a kid, but it’s even more a part of being a kid with ADHD. And for my daughter with both ADHD and dyslexia, the effort to focus all of that energy on the task of processing information leaves her wilting beside me on the couch. Until I say those magic words…”Brain Break!”

This summer, we picked up the Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks (aff. link) at a homeschool convention, and already it’s been a huge life-saver in our homeschool. My kids love it, and I love having a variety of creative ideas that I didn’t have to come up with on my own. I used to have my kids do jumping jacks, plank, or do push-ups. Now, they “jump the river,” “tiptoe-heel race,” “climb a mountain,” act out a caterpillar turning into a butterfly or a seed sprouting from the ground.

I’ll see one child slinking in his seat after a challenging assignment and call out “brain break,” and kids come charging in from every corner of the house. (At least, it sounds like it. My three can easily sound like 14 kids stampeding through the house.) The child upstairs, the child in the next room, and the child beside me on the couch all rush to our brain break jar and huddle around to see what fun is up next. My 6th grader, 4th grader, and kindergartener all love these brain break ideas.

It only takes a couple of minutes, but oh what a difference those couple of minutes make! I’ve noticed, too, that these are great mood-changers. When one of my kids is in “a mood” about school, a couple of brain breaks usually helps her turn a corner and happily proceed to the next task. There aren’t many “miracle” products in homeschool, but I consider this to be one for us.

Could you make your own version instead of buying the product? Sure. There are a number of ideas on Pinterest. But I love how easy this product is to use. If I waited until I could find, print, and make my own, we’d still be doing jumping jacks. The ideas and explanations for those ideas are all ready for us. The $15 print-edition of the Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks are on thick glossy card stock, and all I had to do was cut them out and choose a jar. But you could also choose to print and laminate the ebook version for $10.

If you have an active or distracted learner, take a look at the Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks (aff. link). It’s a simple, fun solution to jump start your busy learners.

Teaching Spelling While Homeschooling Dyslexia

June 5, 2017Tracy

Teaching my daughter to read was a challenge. We both fought hard to win that battle. But just as she was finally making strides in reading, her phonics curriculum switched from an emphasis on reading to an emphasis on spelling, and her performance plummeted while her anxieties surged. No matter what technique we tried, no matter how long we spent going over words, she couldn’t spell. Half way through her second grade year, it was clear we were dealing with dyslexia. Teaching my dyslexic daughter to read was tough; teaching spelling to my dyslexic daughter has seemed impossible on many, many days.

My daughter has a beautiful way of seeing the world that is uniquely her own. Unfortunately, this creates challenges for her when it comes to language. The spring of her second grade year, we abandoned teaching spelling with a traditional curriculum and opted for a homeschool dyslexia therapy instead. She completed Dyslexia Games level A that year, and we followed it up with Dyslexia Games level B her third grade year. My technique was constant exposure. Without a spelling curriculum, she practiced spelling on her dyslexia apps, her Dyslexia Games therapy, her keyboarding program, and some various copywork exercises.

This coming fall, we will be tackling our first spelling curriculum in a year and half. She’s still below grade level, but I’m hopeful she’ll continue to make strides with our new spelling curriculum, A Reason for Spelling.

Your new favorite homeschooling guide: Big Book of Homeschool Ideas, vol. 2 (review)

February 13, 2017Tracy

Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary pdf of both volumes of Big Book of Homeschool Ideas in exchange for my time and honest opinions. I have not been compensated for a positive review, and all opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here.

There are a lot of homeschooling resources out there. It’s overwhelming. But if you want a single homeschooling guide to address just about every question you could possibly ask about homeschooling, that would be the Big Book of Homeschool Ideas, volume 2, from iHomeschoolNetwork.com.

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas (v.2) is written by 38 different homeschooling moms from all over the globe, and covers 58 different topics. The printed version is 484 pages! That’s a lot of homeschool info! But with a clear table of contents, I found it very easy to navigate. As a homeschooling guide, you don’t necessarily have to read through it in one sitting (though you will want to). Think of it like a reference manual. If you have a question on how to handle transcripts, socialization, homeschool doubters, or learning styles? Pull that bad boy out and flip right to the answer.

Homeschooling Guide to middle school and beyond

The Big Book starts with topics related to homeschooling middle school through high school. (If your kids are younger, hang on! There’s something for you, too.) I loved this section because its exactly where I’m headed. Sixth grade is looming ahead of me next year, and all the questions about electives vs. extra-curricular, transcripts, dual credit, etc. are all becoming more relevant. I also appreciated the in-depth article about independence and what it looks like. As homeschoolers, the end goal is always to teach our kids to be independent self-learners, but I didn’t realize how abstract that could be until I read Heather Woodie’s article “Teaching Your Teens to be Independent Learners.” She breaks it down into small steps that helped me to evaluate exactly where we are at and what we need to work on: self-starting, identifying and solving problems, coping, and more. Other articles in this section covered topics about the changing socialization needs of our older kids and how to help your child explore career options in fun, creative ways.

Homeschooling Guide to learning styles, methods, and resources

The second section of the book covers general homeschool topics, everything from learning styles and education methods, curriculum recommendations, fun learning ideas (including learning with board games), to “how to stay the course when the school bus looks tempting.” Then, five more sections provide learning resources for different subject areas, special needs, and unique homeschool situations. The authors even covered the hot topics of socialization and how to deal with anti-homeschooling family and friends.

While the Big Book is thorough, it is not overwhelming. The short articles allow you to easily find what you are looking for, read for 5 minutes, and come back again for more later on. The unique situations and perspectives of so many homeschooling moms also makes this a really terrific resource, collective wisdom from collective experience. Rather than a dry, reference manual of facts and lists, reading this book feels like you are sitting down with your homeschool mom buddies over coffee, discussing how to teach subjects from living books or how to do nature study in the city.

For the handful of questions that might not be in volume 2, there is also Big Book of Homeschooling Ideas, volume 1 (55 moms on 103 topics). This volume is your homeschool resource guide for homeschooling preschoolers, homeschooling with babies and toddlers, elementary specific topics, home management, and tons more.

I can’t recommend these books enough. Nothing I’ve picked up has covered the ins-and-outs of homeschooling as thoroughly as the Big Books. You can pick up a copy of your Big Book of Homeschool Ideas (volume 2) on Amazon:

Big Book of Homeschool Ideas, vol. 2—Kindle

Big Book of Homeschool Ideas, vol 2—print copy

Dyslexia Games Review: spelling for right-brained learners

January 26, 2017Tracy

Spelling is my daughter’s nemesis. After we finally made some headway in reading, she came to an absolute impasse with spelling. Her dyslexia just did not allow her to hear sounds and remember them in the right order. She couldn’t memorize a word by sight or by sound. No matter how many times we’d go over a word, she’d jumble it all together when it came time to write it down, if she had any of the right letters in the mix at all. As much as we loved Logic of English for reading, it became impossible for spelling. When I first stumbled upon Dyslexia Games late last school year, I was skeptical but desperate. As I looked at samples and read about the approach, I really felt that if anything could help my creative, right-brained child, this program could.

Dyslexia Games is a writing & spelling program with a very right-brained, creative approach. The program begins with having the child complete intricate patterns, studying the fine details and learning to repeat them. Sometimes the patterns were shapes and numbers; sometimes the patterns resembled the troublesome letters that dyslexic learners often struggle with (d, b, q, p). Another activity requires the child to study a picture and complete the missing parts: a face, a cat, a dog, etc. It’s an unusual tactic for a spelling program, but I watched in disbelief as she progressed.

Dyslexia Games teaches her to notice the subtle differences in letters and words. It teaches her to observe, in the same way she would observe art and drawing. Another activity requires her to hunt for words around the house, creating her own “spelling list” if you will, but still with this same principle of noticing and copying rather than remembering. She filled in blanks of missing letters and copied words beneath pictures she’d color. Each time, connecting language to her natural artistic strengths.

In using this program, it has done a couple of different things for my daughter.

It has allowed her to work through and overcome her anxieties and fears about what she can’t do. It is teaching her weakness through her strength. I love that! She is able to use something that she is good at, something that she is confident in, to tackle a subject she would otherwise struggle in.
It is teaching her to “see” what her brain just doesn’t naturally see. My beautiful girl sees the world so differently. And I love that about her. Nothing is ever as it seems. And yet, that creates so much struggle for her academically, where things must be seen a particular way. Just as Logic of English helped her to hear the sounds and make sense of them, Dyslexia Games has taught her to look for the subtle differences in letters and words.

Is my daughter learning to write and spell with this program? Yes. Though technically she would still be “behind grade level” in this subject, Dyslexia Games is teaching her the skills she will need to be able to spell and is increasing her confidence. We have completed Level A and are about halfway through Level B. Each level comes with a number of workbooks that the student can work through one at a time. However, knowing my daughter’s attention span, I’ve had her work through all the workbooks at once, but have kept the same recommended order. In other words, she completes one page in each workbook each day, progressing from patterns and art to a Word Hunt at the end of the week.

Just this weekend, I received Creative Comic Book Cursive and Spelling Journal from this same company. She was so excited when she looked through the book, that she immediately sat down with a pencil (ON HER DAY OFF!) and began working through this book. I love to see that! I love to see her enjoying learning in an area where she naturally is not as strong (which makes me absolutely love these products). I’m so thankful for the gift they’ve given my daughter, for the blessing they’ve been to my family.

This is not a traditional spelling program in any stretch of the imagination. It’s very out-of-the-norm. But isn’t that how our dyslexics see the world? It’s an out-of-the-norm program for our out-of-the-norm learners. And I love that someone not only understands and but has written a program to encourage this in our kids. Thank you, Dyslexia Games & Thinking Tree!

To see samples of the program and other products available for right-brained learners, visit the Dyslexia Games website.

I purchased this program and have not received any compensation for my opinions. After using this product, I have formed my own opinions and have shared them freely with you. For more, see my disclosure policy here.