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Homeschool Curriculum Review

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

February 10, 2024 | 3 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

You’ll love these hands-on history activities for ancient empires. Also, there are more Ancient Civilization hands-on ideas on my page.

Over the years I have shared my passion for hands-on history activities.

They breathe life into lifeless events of the past.

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

So when planning our year end history co-op, I decided to use the Great Empires Activity Study.

It is an activity study by Home School in the Woods.

Why? Because of the scope of empires that the Great Empires Activity Study covers.

Your kids will love these hands-on history activities for 14 Ancient Empires.Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods covers fourteen empires:

I was given this product for free. ALL opinions are my own and I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Hands-on History Activities Ancient Empires

  • Ancient China
  • Ancient Egypt
  • Ancient Greece
  • Ancient Rome
  • Arab-Muslims,
  • English Empire
  • French Empire
  • German Empire
  • Japanese Empire
  • Mongols
  • Russian Empire
  • Spanish Empire
  • United States and
  • Viking.

I decided to cover a little about each of these empires through hands-on projects.

Organizing and assigning hands-on projects for our Great Empires co-op was easy.

The information is laid out simply. After reviewing the download, you’ll see the files organized by master, texts and projects.

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

The projects page for each empire, I found extremely useful in wading through all of the excellent material.

The project page is like your weekly lesson plan at a glance page.

And the master is your lesson plan for the day. The master pages include a helpful teacher’s key reference. It is a map marked with key areas, boundaries and other helpful features for each region covered by that empire.

Ancient Empires Study for Kids

Glancing at the project page, we could select all the hands-on activities that we wanted to do.

Then find them among the 107 master pages.

Too, background information on each empire is vital in covering the topics like we did because we wanted to savor a morsel of each empire. The text pages for each empire are 2-3 pages. However, one gem about the text pages is that they cover the empire at its height.

Non-history loving folks are turned off by many details. A quagmire of details drains the life out of learning history.

Unsure of which invention, event or key point to highlight, a budding history buff may come away more confused.

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

However, the text pages by Home School in the Woods shaves off non-essential details for the elementary age child but builds appreciation by covering key events that are significant for each civilization.

If you are a give-me-the-facts-only type of person, you will enjoy reading about each empire in the condensed text because you won’t come away feeling overwhelmed.

Ancient Empires Study for Kids

Beyond covering key events for each empire or covering significant inventions, the text unifies the past to the present.

Your child comes away with a better understanding of the impact previous civilizations made in today’s world. Keeping it simple without being boring makes the text a nifty feature.

However, if you already have a basic framework of history knowledge and want to explore beyond that foundation, you will enjoy the additional reading suggestions in each projects page and the extensive links found in the text which directs you to a website page at Home School in the Woods.

Easily, you could spend a week on each empire.

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

Because the Great Empires Activity Study is about exploring, discovering and hands-on learning, you will find plenty of activities for each empire from making scones when learning about the English empire to making an Egyptian cartouche.

Activities vary with each empire from learning about history through cooking, painting pottery like the Greeks and printing minibooks about famous people to Japanese kiragami.

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)

You will not find cheesy analogies of history clip art in this product.

All of the clip art, projects and pictures have amazing detail. If you are a non-artsy person you will enjoy assembling the easy to do projects because a lot of them are printable.

You decide if you want to color or not.Here is what I find most appealing about this product:

Hands-on History Projects

  • The scope of empires covered. If you have been lagging behind in covering history topics or are trying to follow the 4 year cycle used by a lot of homeschoolers and it is going slower than you would like to, using Great Empires Activity Study would be a useful tool if you want a bird’s-eye view.
  • It can be a stand-alone history curriculum. You have the option with additional reading material listed in the projects pages and links provided by Home School in the Woods to extend each empire. With the abundance of reading recommendations and because we love history, I personally would take two weeks to cover each empire if I were using this as a stand-alone curriculum. Doing one hands-on activity per week would not be overly time consuming and you could easily end up with a year’s worth of history.  What a bargain for the price and you are using it for all of your children.
  • Adding in an activity to enrich your reading. Then Great Empires Activity Study would be a nice fit.
  • Great Empires Activity Study allowed a lot of room for flexibility in our co-op setting because it allowed each family to focus on the topic that interested them.
  • History clip art matters to me because pictures are important in history. The fine detail and high quality pictures can be used for a timeline, history notebook or to add to a lapbook.
  • Many of the creative activities can be printed. They do not involve a lot of teacher supervision or tons of crafty artsy items on hand to do them.
  • The constant in all the empires is the beautiful teacher’s key map. Providing a key map for each empire is like having a mini geography curriculum as a bonus.
If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!

I feel that persons can vary tremendously on what each one thinks is a disadvantage in a product. I prefer using the word considerations because it gives you pause for thought to see if your circumstances fit that product.

Ancient Empire History Projects

Considerations for this product would be:

Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)
  • There is not a lesson planning guide or checklist for each day’s activities. For some homeschoolers that may feel like freedom to explore and breathe but for others having a to-do checklist each day may feel a bit more secure.
  • Some of these activities are ones that history lovers may have already done. However, the product is aimed at elementary age..

How to Get the Free History Notebook cover

Now, how to grab the free printable. It’s a subscriber freebie.

When you sign up to follow me, you get access to this freebie.

1) Sign up on my email list.
2) Grab the printable.
3) Last, look for my emails in your inbox as a follower. Glad to have you.

You know I have to organize most products I get and this one was no different. I have created a printable for you to use as cover page for your binder when covering these empires.Home School in the Woods is an excellent example of showing how history does not have to involve a textbook or always acquiring random uninteresting facts.

With background information on each past civilization and several creative activities you won’t be disappointed with Great Empires Activity Study.

Whether you are studying about the legends of Crete or are exploring the adventures of Captain John Smith, adding in hands-on history along with a huge dose of field trips and a history co-op or two is a sure way to making learning about the past meaningful.

If you’re wanting to breathe life into homeschool history, your kids will love these hands-on learning history activities for studying 14 Great Empires! CLICK HERE to look at these fun and engaging hands-on ideas!

You’ll also love these other helpful posts with activities:

  • Hands-on History Activities for Learning about Ancient Civilizations
  • 20 Ancient Civilization History Coloring Pages
  • 100 Easy & Fun Ancient Civilization Hands-on Projects

3 CommentsFiled Under: Ancient Civilizations, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: ancient civilizations, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhistory

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

March 7, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I’m having a guest review a botany homeschool curriculum. I have more tips on my how to homeschool middle school page.

When looking for a science curriculum, particularly a botany homeschool curriculum for middle school I wanted something that would put most of the responsibility into the students hands.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

But I didn’t it so challenging that it was frustrating.

Like you, I am always searching for a just right curriculum.

Although I favor the unschooling approach, I love unschooling or relaxed schooling with some structure to our schooling days.

We do a combo of fully child led learning and some structured that is still child interest led.

To do this I asked my son what science topic he wanted to learn about, and he chose botany.

Next, I went through and picked out 4 or 5 various curriculums that I thought would be a good fit.

And let him choose from reading the sample pages and directions on those and this was the botany homeschool curriculum that he chose Botany in 8 Lessons.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum

We had both the hard copy of the student text as well as the pdf for the teacher and student sections.

I highly recommend getting the pdf and downloading just the pages you need if you are opting to just do level 1.

I have to say we have both really enjoyed the curriculum. My son is 14 and would be considered a freshman in public school.

He struggles with dyspraxia/dysgraphia, ADHD, Aspergers, Tourette’s, OCD, and anxiety. That’s a lot for a kid to deal with.

I really liked that this was an open and go science curriculum which didn’t require a lot from me other than encouragement and some accountability.

The fact that he could do most of it independently really helped his confidence also.

I think this would still be a fun and still educational botany curriculum even for highschoolers.

In addition, there are a few ways your student can cover Botany in 8 Lessons.

If you assign lessons twice a week you finish in about 8 weeks,

Or you can stretch it out and do Lesson 1, level one on the first week, and level two the next week, and so on. If you include extra activities like videos, work in the garden and field trips, you can get 16 weeks out of it.

About Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

We chose to do science twice a week, making each lesson cover two weeks. 

So on week 1 he read a few pages from that lesson and chose 1-2 activities at the end of the level 1 to complete.

The next week he would read level 2 and complete 1-2 of the suggested activities. 

I loved that there were choices for the activities at the end of each lesson.

Instead of just assigning one activity and telling your child to do it, there is flexibility.

It made it less of a battle if I told him to pick an activity for one of the days he worked on science.

And I chose one for the other ( to make sure he wasn’t always opting for the easy way out) , or you could assign all of them over the course of the week.

You can see here in the first lesson there were 6 to choose from at the end of the lesson from completing a crossword  to computer research.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

I did sit with him through most of the first couple lessons.

I could encourage him and make sure that he understood and was able to do the work independently.

Botany Topics

He chose to use his computer to look up Plant Cell Micrographs for the first activity.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

You can see all the topics covered over the 8 lessons here in the table of contents:

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

And each lesson has 2 levels; the 8 topics covered are:

  1. Plant Cells and Photosynthesis
  2. Plant Classifications
  3. Non-vascular Plants
  4. The Vascular System
  5. Leaves and Trees
  6. Plant Reproduction
  7. Plant Adaptation
  8. Plant Diseases

There are consumable pages in the back that make up the additional activities like lapbook.

And a board game to put together and play.

The hard copy has simple and colorful illustrations for each topic and gorgeous vintage botanical prints to look at for reference.

Botany Course

Additionally, there are pictures of botanists like Carl Linnaeus.

He was the first define the system that created the basic biological taxonomy, identifying, classifying, and naming organisms which we still use today.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

The variety of activities makes it a multisensory curriculum and I love that for pretty much any of the learning styles.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

The author recommends that younger students or those with a limited interest in science just complete the level 1 activities.

Moreover, older children or those who wish to dive deeper into botany should complete both levels.

The activities in both sections are great additions to your learning time though.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

Finally,  the bibliography gives you some books including the ISBN to check out from the library or add to your own shelves.

Here are two of my personal favorites that we used to add to the unit.

First, add Botanicum.

This is an oversized book with gorgeous vintage looking prints of everything from wildflowers, to mushrooms to trees and more.

The series is geared towards younger than middle school, but I think this series is a fantastic picture reference book for older kids as well.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

Next, there is Nature Anatomy.

This is a favorite reference of ours that we use for any kind of nature science study.

There are a lot of illustrations and snippets of information on trees, leaves, flowers, mushrooms and ferns.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

The only other thing I added to the study was a digital microscope to look at specimens we gather as well as some prepared plant slides.

We also used the app inaturalist which was fantastic for photographing and helping to identify plants in our yard via flowers, bark, and leaves.

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

More Botany Resources

Lewis and Clark Free Botany 1 and 2 Minibooks

Botany Homeschool Curriculum Review of Botany in 8 Lessons Grades 4-8

How to Purchase Botany in 8 Lesson

►Product Name: Botany in 8 Lessons
► Two Ways to purchase 1) Amazon in paperback 2) in Digital Downlaod
►Website: Ellen Mchenry Basement Workshop
►Grade Level: 4 to 8
Note: This could be used for a high school if you add in more activities
►Type of product: These is a physical product or digital product.

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review Tagged With: botany, homeschoolscience, life science, middle school, middleschool, science, sciencecurriculum

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

November 19, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have an awesome online homeschool high school poetry movie or class to tell you about. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School for more great tips and resources!

When my boys entered the high school years I admit feeling intimidated to teach poetry.

An online homeschool high school poetry class with no teaching involved sounded pretty good.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Besides fighting my sons’ perception that poetry is too emotional and for girls only, I struggled with the humdrum way I was taught poetry in high school.

I was given this product for free. All opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun!

High School Poetry

When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn’t wait to get started on it with my third teen.

Movies, an online self-paced course, and a hands-off approach to teaching the Poetry & a Movie literature course piqued my interest. My son not so much.

However, by using this course I’m so tickled that I’ve been able to ignite my son’s interest in poetry.

This course has easily become one of my favorites and must-haves for teaching high school teens poetry.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!

Overview of Poetry & a Movie

Let me back up first and give you a bird’s-eye view of this super course:

  • it’s self-paced and online
  • there is no physical product and my high school teen loved to pick up and go at his leisure
  • the literature course has 10 units
  • it is a study of the master poets and their poetry
  • it is a study of the poetic devices or literary elements
  • videos are scattered throughout
  • it has a grammar component
  • it’s designed to give your teen the broad strokes of literary elements so there is no overwhelm
  • you can purchase the books used in the course or borrow them from your local library
  • a movie suggestion is included for a unit end celebration
  • there is flexibility to use this course as a full high school credit, one-half of a language arts course, or enrichment

Although studying literary elements is the foundation of poetry over prose, I couldn’t take that usual approach with my son. 

Another roadblock of high school programs is that most use a textbook method.

My son is an auditory learner.

Online Literature Course for Homeschooled Teens

You know my struggle through the years with him because taking notes doesn’t work well with him.

I need to blend different styles of teaching to fit his need to learn in a way that appeals to him and make this course a challenge. 

Taking information in through audio works extremely well.

The Poetry and a Movie course uses an eclectic method of teaching by combining video, text, and real books. Win!

Besides searching for courses that match his learning style, I had to overcome his perception that poetry is not manly.

If you have boys you know what I mean. Challenge on.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Instead of picking up another boring textbook about literary devices and beginning there, the course begins with a series of videos about what is poetry.

I won’t ruin the videos for your kids, but I heard a chuckle or two from my son.

Poetry and Living Books for Teens

Using the living book in the course that is suggested as a spine or frame for this course is what my son loved.

Remember, a spine is normally a living book that is the foundation on which a course is built.

That is another win for the course because real books should still be used in high school.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Now that I had my son hooked on the course, the next step was to choose a master poet that would help my son let go of his negative perception of poetry.

Before I tell you what I did, it’s important for your teen to cover the master poets in order.

If this is your middle or high school teen’s first introduction to the beauty of poetry, don’t skip ahead like I had to do.

I was tickled to see Edgar Allan Poe listed as one of the master poets.

We moved right to his poems first because my son needed to understand that poetry is not just about love; poetry is about real things in the world like cruelty, war, nature, despair, and friendship.

Because the powerful words of Poe were the first ones that inspired me, I was almost sure his words would not make my teen yawn. It worked.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!
 #homeschool #homeschoolhighschool #poetry #onlinehomeschool #highschoolteens

Next the unit moves on to helping your teen define literary devices by using video to teach them and giving examples.

At this point, your teen will set up his poetry notebook.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Poetry, Literary Elements, and Trivia are the tabbed sections in the notebook.

Teaching Teens about Literary Elements

Guide your teen to help him set up the tabbed sections because they give your learner a way to break down learning into meaningful and fun parts.

After all, learning poetry should have an organized approach so as to not miss one tiny detail.

The teacher in me needs to be sure my son comes away from high school with a foundation in literature and appreciation for figurative language and not just analytical writing.

The trivia section in the notebook helped my teen to see that poetry is lively, upbeat, and challenging.

I mentioned before that this course uses many different teaching styles, but it equally incorporates different homeschool approaches.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

The study of poetry is both a classical and Charlotte Mason feature.

Charlotte Mason touts studying one artist or composer for a while.

Studying one master poet thoroughly is the same approach in this course.

Instead of quickly shifting focus, poetry requires lingering on words and digging deep for the intentions of wordplay by master poets.

After my initial fast forwarding to a point in the course to hook my kid on poetry, we benefited from staying focused on one poet for a considerable length of time.

Mastery is also a unit study feature and that was one huge benefit for us in this course.

Living Books and Online Poetry Study

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Having a culminating activity like watching a movie together or having teatime with your teen keeps it fun. 

Of course I didn’t dare mention teatime to my boy, but popping some popcorn and lighting the fireplace before a movie made it memorable.

Although the course is designed so that your teen can learn independently, don’t miss out by not reading the poems together. Poetry is supposed to be read out loud.

Mentoring your teen doesn’t stop in high school.

If you want him to appreciate figurative language and rhyme, then he needs to hear your voice.

I enjoyed reading the poems out loud with my teen, but you don’t have to.

Another benefit of the program is that he can read it along side the narrator on each video.

I have to admit, my voice was no substitute for the narrator reading “The Tyger” by William Blake. Your teen will love listening closely as the poem is read to him.

Although you can use the course for writing lessons, my goal was to use the time to kindle my son’s appreciation for poetry.

 5 More Things You Should Know About Poetry & a Movie

One/  The specifics of the course are the introduction, the master poets which are Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Langston Hughes, William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats, Dylan Thomas, and Robert Frost.

The last section is a Final Project writing essays.

Two/  You will need to determine beforehand how much credit you will assign to your teen.

Of course this depends on how extensive you want to use this online language arts course.

Third/ Each poet has been planned for a month-long study. Because I wanted to get the flavor of the course, we initially skipped around as I explained earlier.

Now, my son prefers to cover one master poet in-depth.

Four/ There is unlimited access to the course and I see this as a huge savings. 

If you don’t know by now, curriculum for older kids is more expensive.

We’re preparing teens for adulthood and curriculum shouldn’t just impart knowledge or rote facts; it should stir a teen’s mind to be included in the bigger picture of life after high school.

Teaching a teen how to think using poetry as an analysis cements beautiful thoughts in our kid’s mind and reciting poetry is a memory aid to use into adulthood.

You don’t want to miss covering poetry and it’s especially fun when there is no stress planning.

In addition, this course can be used in a few different ways to get your money’s worth.

The master poets and literary elements can be introduced in middle school.

In high school, use the course again, but fold in the grammar and essay components for high school credit. It’s a two-fer.

The best part is that you can use this with all of your younger kids. What a deal for a course that is prepped and ready to go.

Five/ Literary Adventures for Kids is owned by a homeschooling family. Y

ou know how much I prefer curriculum prepared by a homeschooling family because they get it when we need curriculum easy to teach and that appeals to a variety of learners. Another win for me.

Poetry Study for Homeschool High School

Poetry & a Movie may be a good fit for your family:

  • if your child needs multiple approaches to learning
  • if your child prefers using real books instead of a textbook
  • if you want to foster independence with your middle or high school teen, but want your child to have a framework to follow
  • if you fear teaching poetry and want to learn alongside your teen
  • if you prefer an online self-paced course over a physical product
  • if you need a course prepped and ready to go with minimal teacher planning

Bottom Line: I’m extremely delighted with Poetry & a Movie and any apprehensions I had that my teen son may find poetry only a girl’s subjects has been put to rest. Hearing him repeat part of the poems he learned as he goes through his day is a proud mama moment.

I am so pleased with this course and I just can’t think of anything that needs to be changed.

I would highly recommend it if you have a teen that needs to learn outside the box, but don’t have time to prepare a unit study.

Poetry & a Movie is a keeper in my home and I plan on going over it again both as a standalone course and to use as a review tool. 

I look forward to seeing my son build on the foundational skills he learned in this poetry course. This has been a rewarding experience and has helped my son enjoy learning to write and read poetry!

Thanks to Literary Adventures for Kids for this excellent product to serve the homeschool community!

Go on over and give it a look see. I’ll know you love it as much as I do!

How to Purchase It.

Product Name: Literary Adventures for Kids – Poetry and a Movie

Website: Literary Adventure for Kids/Hide the Chocolate
Grade Level: 7th grade and up Note: There are products for your younger kids too.
Type of product: These is an online course. No physical product will be shipped to you.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!

Also, you’ll love these other helps for high school:

  • 54+ Fun Books Turned Movies to Spark a Love For Reading
  • Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens
  • How to Choose the Best Middle School Literature And Favorite Resources
  • How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts Curriculum & Options
  • Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature
  • 3 Beginner’s Tips: Homeschool High School Literature
  • Homeschool High School Literature Guides
  • The Ultimate Guide to Poetry for Multiple Ages (For the Intimidated)
  • How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects

Hugs and love ya,

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Product Review, Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: high school, high school literature, homeschoolanguagearts, language arts, languagearts, livingbooks, middleschool, poetry, product review, review, teens

Faith-Neutral Homeschool Grammar and Writing Program

June 27, 2018 | 60 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have a faith-neutral homeschool grammar and writing program.

Although I had an engaging English teacher in eighth grade, my loathing for grammar and writing was already ingrained.

It wasn’t because I didn’t like language arts, but grammar and writing seemed like a mist. Nothing was clear to me, or taught to me in a logical order.

I seemed to take a self-guided writing tour in my elementary years.

I was looking for a homeschool grammar and writing program which taught the process in steps, and took the struggle out of learning grammar and writing.

So I was tickled to find Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing by JacKris Publishing.

Before you read on, I want to be sure you get a heads up for the awesome giveaway below!

I was given these products for free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. ALL opinions are my own and I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Writers – Born or Made?

This was not my first introduction to Growing with Grammar; however, it was my first look at Winning with Writing.

We used Level 8 in both the grammar and the writing program. At this time, Level 8 is the highest level available and levels equate to grade levels.

Whether your kids are middle school or high school level, mastery of language arts is the foundation for all other subjects. 

Teaching the rules of grammar, and teaching an inexperienced writer how to articulate ideas through written words requires repetitive work.

Small and simple changes are best, but again it takes time. Kids and even some adult authors get impatient with the process. Short and straight forward explanations with examples have always worked best for us.

You’ll love this faith-neutral homeschool language arts, Levels 1-8, if you’re looking for a grammar and writing program which teaches the process in steps and takes the struggle out of learning grammar and writing. Click here!

As I mentioned, I returned to Growing with Grammar. There are several reasons:

An Overview of Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing

  • lessons are only 3 times a week,
  • it includes diagramming and I like that because I have kids that are visual learners,
  • it’s based on a 36-week school year which is a standard school year,
  • it reminds us that grammar is achievable because there are not really a lot of rules,
  • it is a worktext (more on this in a minute), and
  • examples and explanations are used as models when applying grammar to the writing process.

Grammar is the rules of a language and I feel it’s best learned while writing; however, a separate short study of the rules of grammar helps any struggling writer to cement the rules in his mind.

Teaching grammar only 3 times a week aligns with my experience in how grammar is best learned.

Learning rules separately from writing or oral speaking has limited value. Application of rules makes the most sense while learning to write or while speaking in public. Grammar is valued then as a practical life skill.

Although writing is a progressive skill, it doesn’t have be tedious. Look here at how the writing process is laid out in Winning with Writing:

  • lessons are daily meaning it follows a 5 day week,
  • lessons are short,
  • it’s based on a 36-week school year,
  • it’s a worktext which means it teaches by example, models, and illustrations,
  • it takes a two part approach which are the outlining process and the drafting process,
  • it has incremental review which writers need, and
  • once you learn the the straightforward process it works for a single paragraph or book.
Faith-Neutral Homeschool Grammar and Writing Program

Too, I know you want to know what the writing program contains because that is the hardest part for me in judging whether this level or another level will work for your struggling writer.

I hope you find this look at the table of contents helpful.

Level 8 Winning with Writing First Semester Topics

Lesson 1 Main Topic, Details, and Staying on Topic
Lesson 2 The Writing Process
Lesson 3 Sequence of Events and Time Order Words
Lesson 4 Personal Narrative
Lesson 5 Personal Narrative
Lesson 6 Review of Lessons 1-5
Lesson 7 Spatial Organization, Comparing Objects, and Comparing Characters
Lesson 8 Similes, Metaphors, Analogies, Personification, and Sarcasm
Lesson 9 Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Hyperbole, Oxymoron, and Pun
Lesson 10 Descriptive Writing
Lesson 11 Descriptive Writing
Lesson 12 Review of Lessons 7-11
Lesson 13 Parts of a Creative Story
Lesson 14 Quotations, Dialogue, Point of View and Voice
Lesson 15 Creative Writing
Lesson 16 Creative Writing
Lesson 17 Creative Writing
Lesson 18 Review of Lessons 13-17

Level 8 Winning with Writing Second Semester Topics

Lesson 19 Facts and Opinions, Emotional Appeals, and Advertising
Lesson 20 Thesis Statement and Transitional Sentences
Lesson 21 Compare and Contrast Essay
Lesson 22 Persuasive Writing
Lesson 23 Persuasive Writing
Lesson 24 Review of Lessons 19-23
Lesson 25 Documenting Sources
Lesson 26 Biographical Essay (Part 1)
Lesson 27 Biographical Essay (Part 2)
Lesson 28 Explanatory Essay Cause and Effect (Part 1)
Lesson 29 Explanatory Essay Cause and Effect (Part 2)
Lesson 30 Review of Lessons 25-29
Lesson 31 Bias, Reliable Sources, and Taking Notes
Lesson 32 Informative Essay Problem and Solution (Part 1)
Lesson 33 Informative Essay Problem and Solution (Part 2)
Lesson 34 Informative Essay Research Report (Part 1)
Lesson 35 Informative Essay Research Report (Part 2)
Lesson 36 Review of Lessons 31-35

Do you see any writing topics that your middle school kid struggles with?

Faith-Neutral Homeschool Grammar and Writing Program

Writing at the higher grades tend to focus solely on the essay.

While that is a normal progression, all writers benefit at looking at the basic process from sentence writing to paragraph to essay. This takes time to teach without making it monotonous.

Again, Winning with Writing aligns with my experience in that it takes 5 days of short lessons.

My Reasons for Returning to Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing

Earlier I mentioned about the worktext.

You may or may not know the differences between workbooks and worktext, but I appreciate the subtle differences the longer I’ve homeschooled.

A worktext not only has a place for your student to record his work, but gives explanations, samples, and even background information right in the book. It’s like writing in a textbook. I have one kid that really likes that concept.

Promoting independence at the middle and high school levels is smoother when a student has everything to learn a new concept within one book.

You will notice that Answer Keys are provided, so a comprehensive teacher’s manual is not needed. All of the explanations, plus a space to record your student’s answers are kept together.

Although this was a far-fetched idea to me, I learned that Tiny is not as motivated to learn a new concept while using a teacher’s manual as he is when it’s in the student text.

It’s a learning practice he set up for himself; he is motivated when material is laid out. For me, it was a huge revelation and significant as I wanted to foster independence in my writer.

Besides material being presented in a way beneficial to my flourishing, but novice writer, mastery of concepts was equally important.

Remembering I felt alone while learning the elements of writing in my elementary years, I’m delighted that Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing break concepts down into cycles — 3 day cycles and 5 day cycles respectively.

You noticed on the table of contents that review was added incrementally.

This makes a full circle back to what is fundamentally important for any level of writer — repetition and review.

Additionally, JacKris Publishers is faith-neutral whether you want to add your Bible content or keep it secular. That is an important feature when you want more control over when and how to teach your worldview.

Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing may be a good fit for your family:

  • If you want a straightforward no-thrills and frills approach
  • If you want short lessons
  • If you want planned short days
  • If your writer craves independence
  • If your writer needs review and repetition
  • If your writer needs clear and concise directions
  • If your writer prefers to keep all of his work in one place
  • If your writer needs to learn the outline and draft processes
  • If your writer is not organized

While my son is certainly at the level where he can write independently, the worktexts are easy enough for you to use to guide a struggling writer.

The whole array of language arts products by JacKris Publishing are thorough, easy to use, and student friendly.

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing
►Website: JacKris Publishing
►What they want you to know: Although they love all of their products, their Starting Line Stories are new and they’re excited for you to use it. From the site: Each Starting Line Stories book contains 70 story starters and 30 writing prompts.  Unlike a formal writing program, these activities are designed simply for students to express themselves through creative writing. 
►Grade Levels: Levels 1 – 8; Levels equate to grade level.
►Type of product: These is a physical product and you can click on the product to see a SAMPLE lesson.
►Prices: Vary by product.

Also, you’ll love these other tips:

  • Homeschool Writing Program For Middle and High School Students
  • 24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom 
  • Why It Is Hard to Teach Homeschooled Kids Writing But Not Impossible 
  • Homeschool Tips for Teaching a Young Writer to Take his Ideas from a Trickle to a Waterfall

YIPPEE! HAPPY DANCE! !

GIVEAWAY

Terms: Over 18. U.S. residents only

Please don’t think you’ll not win! I have to give this sweet giveaway to somebody! Go ahead and enter below.

May the Force Be With You! ha 
3 Winners to Choose ONE product (any level) from JacKris Publishing

You’ll love this faith-neutral homeschool language arts, Levels 1-8, if you’re looking for a grammar and writing program which teaches the process in steps and takes the struggle out of learning grammar and writing. Click here!

60 CommentsFiled Under: Giveaways, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review, Sponsored Posts Tagged With: composition, grammar, homeschool curriculum, homeschool grammar, language arts, languagearts, middleschool, teachingwriting, writing, writing prompts

Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature

May 2, 2018 | 48 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Let’s face it! Whether you’ve homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. Until I started using Beautiful Feet Books a few years back, I made the high school years unnecessarily stressful. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track.

So using modern U.S. and world history literature by Beautiful Feet Books not only filled a general literature credit Tiny needs, but also allowed us to meet a modern world history credit.

I stalked the mailman waiting for these books. I was given this product for free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. I don’t roll that way. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

How to Narrow Down Your High School Literature Scope

Understanding that you have to have goals or reasons other than needing literature in high school makes it easier to narrow down your choices for literature and curriculum providers.

That may be an obvious statement, but there are many factors that you want to consider when choosing a program for your junior or senior teen.

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

I have several reasons for using and believing in Beautiful Feet Books:

  • foremost is our love for literature-based history to avoid a boring and blah approach to history,
  • thought-provoking books which may conflict with our world view or tug at my teen’s emotions are part of my job in preparing him for adulthood,
  • the role of the teacher is valued, respected, and encouraged with this curriculum to shape the teen’s understanding,
  • as the supervising teacher, I need to be the one to decide when and how we will deal with sensitive adult themes,
  • all of my sons need to be exposed to literature which may be covered in higher education,
  • a passion for history of any time period is awakened and appreciated through the use of living books, and
  • although non-fiction is important for a framework of facts, advanced literary criticism happens when a teen selects from excellent fiction literature to analyze.

My reasons may or may not include classic books, but they always include good books or living literature.

Too, having the opportunity to cover modern world history was not something I even thought about covering with my first high school graduate.

Sticking to the commonly held belief that high school teens need to have an emphasis on American history or U.S. government, I over emphasized those time periods with my first graduate.

Of course, hindsight gives you perfect vision. So I knew with my second and now third high school teen that I could tailor and tweak to suit their needs because Beautiful Feet Books  is flexible when it comes to covering history.

Most of the middle school and high school curriculum includes two history eras. I never appreciated this fact until I switched from a strictly classical approach to a more eclectic approach with an emphasis on unit studies.

At first notion, this dual history period approach may seem hodgepodge. However it’s quite the opposite for a true historian. And there are two main reasons.

1.  Past history and today’s current events always have multiple world powers and key players in action at the same time. 
While it’s true that an in-depth study of any civilization would make a fascinating study, my goal for high school is for my sons to have a framework of key events in a time period.

2. Being able to pull back and look at events happening in the world at the same time helped my teens to make a meaningful connection to what they’re learning.

Juniors and seniors especially have the maturity now to see that one area of history is part of a much larger piece of the history puzzle. Being able to pull back and see the broad strokes of history like the events in the U.S. and world history simultaneously works well for both a history lover and history hater.

For my history lovers, it gives them additional topics for rabbit trails. For my one history hater, (yes I can’t believe I had a child that came from me that wasn’t wild about history) he got an overview of key events without overwhelming him about details which didn’t interest him.

That is exactly why I love the way Beautiful Feet Books designs their courses. All of the benefits of teaching it to adjust to each of my teens likes and dislikes along with my need for minimal teacher prep makes it a superior high school literature program.

The Nitty-Gritty of Modern U.S. and World History Literature

I know you want the nitty-gritty like I do. Look at what this level includes and the details:

  • it’s designed for Junior and Senior levels of high school,
  • it covers American and modern world history from the 1850s into the 2000s,
  • you can award one American history or modern world history credit and one general literature credit,
  • it’s a one year study, but we go a bit longer because we school into the summer and we like to spread it out,
  • it is Christian-based, but as with all of their literature and questions, it’s easier than some other providers to tweak to what I want my sons to know,
  • these beautiful books: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Rifles for Watie, The Red Badge of Courage, Virginia’s General, Up From Slavery, Around the World in Eighty Days, A History of the Twentieth Century, The Jungle, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Yanks are Coming, Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel, No Promises in the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hitler, Churchill, The Hiding Place, Night, Unbroken, Victory in the Pacific, Hiroshima, Lost Names, America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger, Red Scarf Girl and The Kite Runner, 
  • and it has a general literary analysis study. My goal was to be sure that Tiny had a general grasp on literary concepts. We used another language arts resource to enhance this one. Although literary analysis is very important to me at this age, it can be fun. For us that means learning it from books we love.

My emphasis on literary analysis leads me into another valued part of this curriculum which deserves the spotlight and it’s the Study Guide or teacher’s guide.

Modern U.S. and World History Literature Study Guide

I hesitate to call it just the teacher’s guide because at this age your teen needs to be independently delving into the Study Guide. Of course, it’s a teacher guide too.

Because the Study Guide is jam-packed full of teaching tidbits, supplements, and background information, you’ll want to take your time understanding how it’s set up.

The Study Guide is divided into five history periods:

  • Part I. Antebellum and the Civil War
  • Part II. Reconstruction, the Industrial Revolution, and the Turn of the Century
  • Part III. The First World War, the Depression, and Segregation
  • Part IV. Building Towards War, the Second World War, and the Atomic Age
  • Part V. The Struggle for Freedom in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

To help your student hone his ideology and principles there are themes in each section.  Some of them are:

  • A Study in Freedom and Responsibility,
  • A Study in Conviction and Triumph,
  • A Study in Fortitude and Forgiveness,
  • A Study in Ambition and Courage,
  • and a Study in Conscience and Fairness.

In addition to the extensive notes in the Study Guide with background information, points in each lesson guided us on each discussion.

After reading the books like Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel or Virginia’s General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War it made for some great discussions about topics like freedom and prejudice. I loved having the themes to guide my teen to comprehend the theme in each book which is a part he has struggled with in the past.

Because my high school kid worked on his own on part of this, I have to rely heavily on the Study Guide for the answers, questions, and some of the background information. Although it’s not easy to flip back and forth between time periods and books, you can easily with the way this is laid out.

Also, some of the books my son read right away and wanted to delve deeper into those topics. World War II is one topic that my son knows well and never gets tired of talking about. Besides reading the books in the curriculum by Albert Marrin, one of our favorite history authors, the Study Guide has more recommended books and videos in the back to feed my son’s love for the Second World War.

Yet another reason I loved using this is that we needed more help in literary analysis. I’ve never been keen on assigning book reports although I know they have a practical purpose which is to train a child to write critically in the older grades.

Because I’ve never forced Tiny to do a formal book report, but have worked on reading a lot of good books I needed to be sure he has a good grasp on literary concepts.

There are six books highlighted to use for literary analysis:

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
  • The Red Badge of Courage,
  • To Kill a Mockingbird,
  • Night,
  • Hiroshima,
  • and Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood.

Learning literary analysis should be repeated like grammar and it’s best taught in context or while using examples from literature. As an example, earlier I mentioned ideologies listed in each section. The reason this was important is because even at this grade level students can still get confused between the plot of the story and its theme.

Exposing my sons to the basic elements of fiction like plot, setting, character, point of view, mood, and theme are the foundation of literary analysis, but I wanted to be sure we touched advanced concepts as well.

In addition, there are some literary concepts that can’t be recognized until your child is older.  Some figures of speech and poetry devices confuses my teen. So the books used gave him a good overall grasp of basic and advanced concepts.

It’s not necessary to break down every novel, but it’s important to choose a few to do. I try to be balanced when teaching literature analysis because I don’t want to suck the joy out of reading, but it’s important for our teens to become critical thinkers too.

Simply requiring my son to write down the term, define it, and explain it to me is a simple method, but it’s the same one I’ve used since I first taught him to read. Too, we wrote a few on index cards for review because just writing it down once didn’t mean he remembered it. Making a notebook like we have as we’ve used Beautiful Feet Books work best for us.

In addition to the literary concepts we focused on, we also chose a few of the essay topics. Essay writing was not my exact focus for him because we’ve done a lot of writing. When we wanted to, however, the Study Guide made it easy for us to choose writing topics.

The Study Guide is much more than an question and answer guide. It is the backbone at this level and it’s all-inclusive.

Our Experience with Modern U.S. and World History Literature by Beautiful Feet Books

Even at the high school level, there is no one-size-fits-all curriculum. As the parents, we still have to be involved when choosing the right curriculum for our teen.

This is my third high school teen to use Beautiful Feet Books because I love their literature and easy approach to teaching. I’ve never been disappointed with the high quality literature, guides, and help for the teacher. This level is no exception.

As the teacher, I don’t think you ever stop worrying if you’ve prepared you teen enough for whatever track you ultimately decide.  However, I do know that my first two sons are doing well in college after using Beautiful Feet Book. I know my third teen is equally well-prepared.

You’ll love reading these other posts for how I used

  • Read about Medieval History for Middle School
  • Read about How to Teach Science Through A Story – Middle & High School
  • Read about When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Modern U.S. and World History pack
►Website: Beautiful Feet Books – BFBooks

 

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

 

48 CommentsFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Do Unit Studies, Giveaways, Graduate a Homeschooler, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review Tagged With: high school, high school literature, homeschool highschool, literary analyis, literature, livingbooks

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