Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Homeschool Curriculum Review

Music Appreciation – Beethoven Chiming Bells

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Learning through our music appreciation activities using Zeezok has been plain fun. Also, look at Fun Facts About the Phantom of the Opera & Styles of Music Unit Study.

Today, I decided to give you a peek at the minibook on Beethoven.

You know I told you that for a few months now I have been reviewing Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades: Book 1 by Zeezok Publishing.  

It has been such an over the top wonderful comprehensive music study that we have been spending as much time as we can on it.

MiniBook Chiming Bells Beethoven by ZeeZok

I have a full review coming next month on it, but can’t contain myself and have to give you another sneak peek at the fun we are having with it.

music-appreciation-collection

In the bundle there are seven different composers, dating from 1685 to 1828 to study about.

They are:

  • Bach,
  • Handel,
  • Haydn,
  • Mozart,
  • Beethoven,
  • Paganini and
  • Schubert.

We have read a bit on most of the composers but we have honed in on a study of Beethoven. 

I like the fact also that our study of Beethoven coincides with our unit study on the French Revolution.

More Music Appreciation Curriculum

Today though I wanted to show you the picture of the cutest chiming bells minibook about events in Ludwig’s life.

foldout view of minibook on chiming bells for Beethoven by Zeezok

It folds up accordion style and we used some orange twine to weave ours together and tie it up. 

Reading the biography on Beethoven that came in this series and learning about Beethoven’s love for chiming bells, Tiny made the mini book that gives a quick reference in each chapter where Beethoven shows how the music of the bells comforted him or brought back memories.

Tiny was so tickled with it and I had to show it to you.

Activity Book for Music Appreciation by Zeezok

Also, after reading the biography we work on some activities in the activity book. 

Tiny likes to divide out his writing and I don’t mind.  So we do the same with each chapter in the biography book. 

The picture above is the activity book which has plenty of hands-on activities to choose from and we like that part the best so far. 

Well there are some others parts to this curriculum we are loving too and I’ll show you those next time because I can’t wait to the end of next month to give you a heads up on what we are doing.

Music Appreciation - Beethoven Chiming Bells
Music Appreciation - Beethoven Chiming Bells
Music Appreciation - Beethoven Chiming Bells

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I loved doing a review of what every child needs to know about Western Civilization.

My obsession with wanting to teach history creatively stems from a quote I read by H.G. Wells.

“Narrow history teaching of our school days was mainly an uninspiring and partially forgotten list of national kings or presidents.“

Avoiding uninspiring lists and meeting the challenge of dodging inside-the-box history curriculum has not always been easy.

So I was happy to review What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

I will just tell you now that I won’t hide my obvious preference for this curriculum.

It fills a much needed niche in the homeschooling community, but it is so much more than a history curriculum. More on that in a minute.

What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press

I glanced through all the fascinating and detailed pictures.

The BrimWood press bundle I received included:

  • 1 Guide: What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization.
  • 1 Calendar Quest which is a historical narrative.
  • 1 Color the Western World.

I am especially giddy about this curriculum.

It is the first one that I have used that covers history in broad strokes.

How broad? Well, in just 12 – 14 lessons you cover 5,000 years of history.

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press

I had to read that twice. I might add there are 2 more lessons, but one is an introduction and one is a review.

Details can be fascinating, but they can get in the way too.

Not all details are necessary to understanding and grasping the full picture. Sometimes it just does not matter. I think kids know that too.

Middle School Homeschool History

I have covered history through unit studies, through a four year cycle and through the eyes of individuals that lived in each time period, I couldn’t wait to get started using it.

This teaches a story of how the calendar came to us which is how What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization teaches. Clever.

As the fictional characters, Lindsie and Evan travel through time in a refrigerator box, Tiny eagerly tuned in,

Strangely enough Father Time always seems to be around to explain about how a seven day week came to us or how the constellations were located in the sky.

It didn’t hurt either that Mr. Awesome joined us for this review and read aloud to us. I highly recommend using your highschooler for a read aloud if you have one.

I am happy that my high school teen joined us for this review .

It allowed me to evaluate how extensive it was for him a high school teen.

Homeschool History

With the additional activities listed in the manual that include research, questions concerning worldview, introduction to the traits of each civilization and the contributions made by each civilization, I certainly think that a novice or highschooler could use the manual to discover them.

Too, if you have highschooler who is burned out on history, then using the manual can breathe life back into your day.

The wide scope that it covers keeps it so not intimidating.

As for the reader or Calendar Quest, it is written to an elementary age child. 

However, there were some characters along Lindsie and Evan’s trek that Mr. Awesome and I had obscurely heard of. Discovering those vague history characters was an unexpected benefit of Mr. Awesome reading to Tiny. 

Mr. Awesome claimed the reader was too young for him and it was, but then again, it is right on grade level like the publisher claims for using with a younger child. Tiny enjoyed the humor in the reader and I found a way for my older child to join us.

What I love about What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization.

Like I mentioned before, it is so much more than a history program. Listing both the history features that I loved and the other things, I don’t want to miss giving you any nifty detail.

  • I find the lesson plan layout very useful. You know my obsession with expecting a lot from a teacher’s manual and how some manuals are nothing more than an answer sheet. This is an excellent and well organized manual or guide with practical tips. You see exactly how to cover each lesson.
  • One more significant point about this manual is that it is BOTH teacher and student guide. You use it with ALL of your children. Thank you BrimWood Press for understanding that we are teaching multiple ages of children and that we try to avoid insanity by not using 3 or 4 different teacher’s manuals.
  • Use this one manual for multiple ages of children. By the way when I find a curriculum like this that I can use with multiple ages of children, I try to divide the price by the number of children using it so I can see what I am actually paying for each child per year. Then divide it again into half because it is both teacher manual and student manual to get a true cost. That is how I arrive at the value of a curriculum that I use with multiple children.

Teacher Manual Features

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press
  • I’m not done yet with the manual because it is so comprehensive and I have to tell you about the layout. The first page of the lesson has a box called Teacher Preview and another one called Objectives. Oh YES – I am in organization bliss! Give me a purpose for the lesson and I have a direction for the day.
  • Here is another sweet bite on this program because you know I said it was so much more than a history program.  It has geography and a snip of language arts too. This especially feeds my desire to teach out of the box because I can include any subject I want to and apply those subjects when I teach about a topic. It’s more meaningful to include details when they are wanted.

Teaching Helps

  • The next part of the lesson is called History in a Nutshell. It includes information on the significant contributions of that time period along with instructions on coloring the stickers for the younger kids that are included in this curriculum. Information on filling out the 14 Hats of History which are the 14 periods you are striving to memorize is included in this section. Several lessons include helpful background information of that time period. You do not have to research extra information if you do not want to because it is included. This part appeals to me so that I can determine if those foundational pegs or key events are covered when teaching that time period. This part is the reason I see this manual being practical too for the first time history teacher or student who finds history boring and wants just the general sweeping ideas.
  • Between the stickers and Color the Western World coloring book there is plenty to choose from for both your younger and older children.

History in Broad Strokes

  • Key events that you add on the back of the cards and details that you fill in on the front of each card as you go along help to solidify the timeline of history. We followed along in each lesson plan as you are encouraged by the curriculum to try to put your hats in chronological order. By using both the front and back of the card, your kids come away with a fresh, unique and overall picture of history. Certainly, a doable goal to memorize all 14 time periods. This is a refreshing change from all the details that you may be teaching when using a four year history cycle curriculum.

I won’t be giving up my copy of What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization any time soon as I plan on using this for years to come.

It is a keeper in my home, and I plan on going over it again both as a standalone history curriculum and to use as a review tool.

My boys still need to see the flow of history and a way to tie it all together.

I tend to be organized overboard when it comes to details because we love history, but I restrained myself from delving into them like the curriculum suggested because it defeats the purpose of what I am trying to do.

Don’t pitch your slow moving curriculum, just use What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization when you want to take it up a notch.

Thank you BrimWood Press as I confess my absolute love and bias for a one of kind history program.

Where to Buy What Every Child Needs to Know about Western Civilization and Product Facts at a Glance.

Product Name: What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization, Calendar Quest and Color the Western World.

Ages: 5th – 8th grade, but I see a practical use for highschoolers who struggle with history.

Type of Product:  Physical product.

What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization is an awesome homeschool history program covering history in broad strokes. You’ll love how quickly you can cover 5000 years of history in a few weeks. Check it out at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

You’ll love these other history helps:

Review of Go Fish For Ancient Egypt by Birdcage Press

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Games lubricate the mind and body.” I agree and so that is why I am so excited to tell you about the fun we have been having with Go Fish For Ancient Egypt  by Birdcage Press.

I am especially excited to use it because it tied in nicely with our Ancient Civilizations and Ancient Empires study.

I was delighted from the moment I opened the box not just because playing games makes learning come alive, but also because of the beautiful and appealing playing cards.

I was impressed too with the quality and durability of the cards because we plan on using these again.

The boxed set contains 36 color playing cards and a 34 page fact book. I wanted to let you know that the cards do cover the Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Egyptians. Everybody feels differently about how to explain pagan Gods and Goddesses of any ancient culture in their school.

I prefer to introduce them so that my sons are aware of how their beliefs affected the every day lives of the Ancient Egyptians.

However, introducing and actually studying and learning their beliefs are two different concepts.

Playing Go Fish For Ancient Egypt, I feel, is a way to quickly introduce topics that you don’t want to cover deeply in your everyday study of history or that you are not going to spend time learning about.

There are basically 6 cards in a set to cover 6 topics which are Gods, Goddesses, Symbols, Pharaohs, Mummies and Afterlife.

What I liked too about the cards besides the eye catching artwork and pictures is the tidbit of information at the bottom of each card.

You will find one or two sentences about the picture on the card and beneath those sentences are the answers for the other objects or persons found in that set.

For example, if you had the Ramses II card in your hand which is set 4 Pharaohs, then reading at the bottom it is easy to see that Akhenaten, Amenhotep II, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Tutankhamun are the other pharaohs listed in the set.

That is a clever way to teach repetition and aid in memory. Having fun or learning is hard to tell the difference in this game as it should be.

Another true gem about playing games and especially Go Fish is that it can be played by any age. Any age from K to adult knows the object of the game which is to find sets. For younger children who cannot read, the picture about Ancient Egypt is key to remembering which card his partner has.

For the older kids, they will not only recognize one of the topics but read the few sentences about it. It can’t get any easier to learn about history than that. Whether you are a history lover or abhor history, it is easy to be won over by this card game.

The 34 page fact book was a nice added feature to the card game. It is a small book jam packed with interesting tidbits about Ancient Egypt.

One part in the book we plan on doing next week is how to write like an Egyptian or should I say draw like an Egyptian.

It is just an added bonus to the game that is already fun, but gives a little more background on each theme. Mr. Awesome read it aloud to all of us and as he and Tiny were playing together.

I want to admit another prejudice of mine and that is many times I prefer physical games over digital games. I love all my techie devices and the boys do too. But physical games bring a spirit of camaraderie in our school day that you can’t really get when you connect to digital games. 

Most of us homeschool so that we engender sibling togetherness and games like Go Fish For Ancient Egypt make it easy to foster family time.

I always encourage any homeschooler, new or seasoned to not get out of balance by collecting only curriculums or workbooks and not adding in quality educational games.

We need to let go of the thinking that learning should not be fun or is not meaningful unless we are sitting at the desks pounding out a writing lesson. Break the cycle and add in quality games.

I can’t help but share a few other games from Birdcage Press because I am so over the top about all of their products.

They have games on art, wildlife & nature, air & space and history. I think my only complaint, appeal, plead would be add to more history games.

Of course as history lovers, the boys and I could never get enough of games like that, but I could imagine ones on the great empires like Ancient Greece and even modern U.S. history.

I have been swooning over what might be my next purchase: The Renaissance Art Game.

I encourage you before you make your final curriculum selections for next year to add in card games. They not only stir the heart and soul, but can be done by all ages as you learn valuable skills together.

Thank You Wenda O’Reilly and staff for a delightful educational product!

Product Name: Go Fish for Ancient Egypt. Card Game & Book Set

Website: Birdcage Press

Price: $10.95

Ages: 7+.

Type of Product: Physical Card Game – Museum Quality Cards

Customer Service: My cards arrived promptly as promised. Customer service was prompt and excellent.

Hugs and love ya,

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

 


 

Review of Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods + Year End Co-op + Free Printable

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Warning: Picture overload!

  We just had our year end co-op. How do you choose a few pictures from all of the hard work of each child? As each family shared what delighted them, I have tried to scatter as many pictures as I could throughout this review.

Great Empires by Home School In the Woods

Review of Great Empires

Over the years I have shared my passion for history that is both hands-on and interactive because it breathes life into lifeless events of the past. So when planning our year end history co-op, I decided to use the Great Empires Activity Study, which is an activity study by Home School in the Woods. I have to say a fair amount of swooning was involved because of the scope of empires that the Great Empires Activity Study covers.

Curriculum Review Home School in the Woods

Great Empires Activity Study by Home School in the Woods covers fourteen 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. Not wanting to make a choice using the eeeny, meeny, miny and moe method between any of these swoon worthy civilizations for our history loving co-op, I decided to cover a little about each of these empires through hands-on projects.

Viking Coins

Organizing and assigning hands-on projects for our Great Empires co-op was easy and enjoyable because of how the information is laid out. After reviewing the download of the material I received, I noticed the files are organized by master, texts and projects. 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, which is a map marked with key areas, boundaries and other helpful features for each region covered by that empire. Glancing at the project page, we could select all the hands-on activities that we wanted to do and find them among the 107 master pages.

Russian Dolls

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 don’t like history because they can get caught up in a quagmire of details that can drain the life out of a history lesson. Unsure of which invention, event or key point to highlight, a budding history buff may come away more confused. 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. 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.

Ancient Rome

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.

Egyptian Cartouche craft

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.

Japanese Paper

You will not find cheesy analogies of history clip art in this product. All of the clipart, 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.

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Here is what I find most appealing about this product:

  • 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 used as a stand-alone history curriculum because 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.
  • If you are using a history text and would like the flexibility of 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 and 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.

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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.

Mongol Beef

Considerations for this product would be:

  • 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 if they have been homeschooling for a while or find them easy but again the product is aimed at the elementary aged child.

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Download Free Notebook Cover here.

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.

Ancient Greece Pottery

{Tiny had a wonderful time at the co-op. I’ll share with you soon how we made his easy, easy Roman costume,helmet and shield.}

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

{A huge dose of thanks and love to Cynthia and Kelley. Cynthia did the beautiful Egyptian pillars. Would you like to know how she made them? I’ll share that in an upcoming post too. Thank you to Kelley for the beautiful Great Empires Co-op banner with those smokin’ hot wooden letters.}

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 to choose from on each empire, you will not 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.

Thank You Amy Pak and crew for keeping history fun through the Great Empires Activity Study. My kids loved it!

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Product Name: Great Empires Activity Study

Website: Home School in the Woods

List Price: Download Version $18.95; CD Version $19.95

Grades/Ages to use it for:  Elementary grades. I see though that with the links and additional reading, that you could use this with multiple ages.

Type of Product:  CD or Download.

Customer Service: My download was emailed to me in a timely manner as promised.

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

{There are so many games to go along with these empires. A variety of games from each empire would be: Knucklebones, Roman Ball, Disc, Rota, Ephedrismo, Abarisa, Balonmano, Cinco Marias, Blind Man, Catch the Dragon and Chinese Ball to name a few.

Above: The kids are playing Catch the Dragon.You have to love homeschooling when even the older kids don’t mind teaching the younger ones how to play the game.}

Review Great Empire in the Woods | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

{Mummy Wrap game. Okay, not so ancient, but fun!}

Hugs and love ya,

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

 

 

 

 

Review of The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Finding pleasure and delight in penning thoughts is my premier goal for my sons in a writing curriculum. So during the last few weeks, I have been absolutely thrilled that The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School by Writing with Sharon Watson has been our writing mentor because it has surpassed my expectations.

I was apprehensive at first when I chose to review The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School because Mr. Awesome would rather tell a lively story with a few of his close friends gathered around than to write about it.

Because I do not want to extinguish his love for a well told story, it has been almost impossible to find a writing curriculum that fosters in him a desire to balance his story telling skills with the skills vital for nonfiction writing.

Exploring options in writing curriculum that do not use a matter-of-fact approach to teaching nonfiction writing is a second goal.

If you are looking for a writing curriculum that abandons the lack luster approach to teaching nonfiction writing then The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School by Sharon Watson is a great tool.

From my homeschool teacher’s view, I am inspired by all the evaluation forms, samples and step-by-step instructions. However, more endearing to me was hearing the constant chuckles from Mr. Awesome when he used the curriculum.

One of the most appealing features of this writing program is the witty remarks found throughout the student workbook. For example, in the first page or two of the book there are self-checking boxes to aid your teen in identifying his writing self.

A couple of the descriptions are: I would rather walk across a burning desert at high noon with buzzards circling overhead while I drag a bone-dry water bottle than write anything whatsoever and You gotta be kidding. Checking this box is enough writing for me for one day.

Mixing in the right amount of humor but not turning writing into a comical event makes The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School stand apart from the many homeschool writing curricula I have used from Kindergarten till now.

Showing how humor can be an effective teacher, it sets the bar for other homeschool writing programs.

{crazy kid}

Did I mention too that you do not have to have a DVD to inspire laughter and create a fondness for writing? 

The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School has a teacher’s guide and student workbook, but it is not DVD based.  Simple and clear to understand, the student workbook is a refreshing change to learn about how to write. 

An unexpected remark from Mr. Awesome was that when using the DVD based program that we presently have, he has to constantly refresh his memory on where he is at in the program. The pick up and go style used in The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School is another unique feature.

I have learned through this experience with Mr. Awesome that some changes in the homeschool world to create DVD based writing programs are not always good. DVD based learning can be an aid but too it can turn into a crutch for both parent and child.

When I started homeschooling, teaching writing was much more hands-on. I desire to continue that but with the format used by The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School because  it appeals to my son’s strengths.

Because I don’t want to miss one important detail, here is what is included with the format The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School curriculum.

Student Workbook

  • Font and type style are easy to read and beautiful
  • The student is easily able to see the difference between a practice session and instructions because contrasting colors of soft black and soft gray are used
  • Step-by-step instructions
  • Over 100 daily lessons
  • Complete instructions for 22 essays and reports with a checklist for each assignment. Examples of some essays and types of assignments are a biography, newspaper writing, devotional, literary analysis and SAT essay. Instructions for assignments are included for all nonfiction writing modes: persuasion, exposition, description, and narration
  • It uses an incremental approach that includes a beginner writer all the way to preparing him for college readiness
  • Plenty of room on the side margins allowed Mr. Awesome to not fret about always having to retrieve an extra sheet of paper for the practice that day
  • A reference section or toolbox that encourages your student to be his own editor, nonfiction evaluation form, a how-to/process writing evaluation form, do and do not list for persuasion and many more
  • It is designed to be used as a college readiness program but it is a solid and rigorous writing program to use in the high school years too
  • There is no guessing as to the meaning of skilled and advanced writing because examples of professional writing are placed throughout
  • Appealing to the visual learner in each of us, icons are used in the student workbook so that the student is clear as to whether he is digging deeper into a topic or if it is time to use the toolbox
  • The book is designed with a tight binding and is 422 pages. Like my other curriculum, I use coil binding on our copies because we prefer for them to lay flat

Teacher’s Guide

  • Major writing assignments are listed in the beginning to help you plan and to guide your teen if they need assistance
  • Objectives are clearly stated. If you have to record keep in your state, I find this section a handy reference. If you are new to teaching writing, study this section and learn right alongside your teen
  • How to give grades is one area parents of high school teens struggle with. Explaining how to earn an A, B,C, D or F are sections that are extremely practical and useful
  • Included are writing prompts called 14 minute power surges. It is like having another whole curriculum built into this program because it can be used aside from the program. Writing prompts are listed from September to May with four weeks for each month
  • A lot of teacher guides are practically useless, but with the details and extras found in this teacher’s guides you don’t want to miss it

One more feature dear to my heart is the fact this writing program is written by a homeschool mom. The longer I homeschool, the more I value my homeschool roots.

When I review programs where an author has produced a curriculum to gain a market in the homeschool world then he quickly moves to becoming a homeschooler, it is quite obvious. That is not the case with this program.

Sharon Watson has homeschooled all of her children for 18 years and has taught high school composition, fiction writing, and literature to local homeschool students. Though, not all features of a program where the author has recently turned homeschooler is a deal breaker for me, politically correct writing prompts and essays designed to evoke independent thinking from the Creator are.

Again, you will not find that in this curriculum. Ms. Watson’s curriculum reflects a Christian worldview but her Christian-based content is sprinkled ever so lightly that I feel a secular homeschooler would not be offended. It certainly has a lot of flexibility in topic choices if you choose to substitute another one.

I declare my obvious prejudice for curriculum written by homeschoolers for homeschoolers.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School, but more so because Mr. Awesome has decided to switch from his present DVD based workshops to using it as his writing coach.

Writing is an art and The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School  has given him the impetus to challenge himself further.

When you have tasted excellence such as  The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School it is hard to not become queasy at other mediocre writing curriculum. Thank you Sharon Watson!

I am so pleased with this product that I am using the younger level writing book, Jump In: A Workbook for Reluctant and Eager Writers (student workbook only) with Tiny.

Product Name: The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School

Price: Student Workbook $39.98 Teacher’s Guide $14.98

Grades/Ages to use it for:  Highschool. The Teacher’s Guide states: Students in classrooms and co-ops will most likely finish this course in one year. Students in homeschools can use this course for two years if they pause the lesson for the week it takes to research and write their essays.

You’ll love these other posts;

Hugs and love ya,