homeschool

Beyond the Stick Figure Art School – Review

May 12, 2020 by Amy 2 Comments

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

We love taking our art supplies out to the deck on a sunny day, gathering around the table, and creating something fun together. That’s why we were excited for the opportunity to review Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School. Being under quarantine gave us the perfect time to explore new art ideas.

These classes are completely online. They were created and are taught by a trained art teacher from England, who has developed these courses to be complete classes that students can do independently. They are billed as classes that are targeted for ages 5 to 95 and will help you to create frame-worthy art.

It’s more than a generic ‘art’ class, though – the lessons are separated into a Complete Drawing Course, Complete Pen & Ink and Watercolor Course, Introduction to Acrylic Course, and Introduction to 3-D Design Course.

Intended to take an entire year, there are more than 60 drawing lessons alone! We thought that the variety in these classes sounded really interesting.

Unfortunately, these lessons from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School didn’t live up to the hype for us. I think part of this disparity is in the way the courses are marketed. While people from ages 5 to 95 certainly could do these, I think most wouldn’t choose to – at least the beginning lessons. Many of the lessons are very short – only two or three minutes – making them very doable on an average day; but the skill level is also very low. Many, many of the initial lessons are all about identifying a basic shape, finding it somewhere around the house, and then drawing it. As shape identification is typically a primary skill, happening later in preschool and then in kindergarten, I don’t consider this appropriate for high school students. When I taught first grade, this was a project I gave them every year – not for standard circles and squares but spheres and rectangular prisms! My Big Helper and My Little Man, while very patient people, were bored after the first lesson. As secondary students, this was far beneath their skill level.

If these initial lessons had artistic vocabulary and terminology worked in, they would have been a bit more appropriate. However, I have heard very few artistic terms in the narrative of the lessons, and I am disappointed by that. While we are not choosing to make art one of our electives this year, I do want my kids to know basic art terms, artists, etc., and I thought this would be a great way to introduce new ones to them. Instead, the creator kept calling them “Little Artists” in the same way that many teachers call their students ‘boys and girls,’ and while I’m sure she meant nothing by it, to my secondary kids sitting at the table, it felt as if she was talking down to them.

For the initial drawing lessons you’re supposed to buy Prismacolor markers – a professional set of markers with amazing colors that blend really well. I was happy to hit a sale for these, so it cost much less than it normally would have. Given the types of basic chart blending and color labeling that occurred during the lessons, if my kids were very young, I would stick with Crayola. The colors aren’t quite as vibrant but they certainly work for learning those lessons. As mine are older, they appreciate the fancier markers and will take good care of them. To the author’s credit, she reminds students frequently throughout the lesson to make sure that the cap to the marker snaps closed.

Eventually we moved on to the pen and ink course. These classes were slightly longer, and it felt as if the content was expected to be more difficult – yay! It was clear from the beginning that you were going to be drawing something in particular, but she didn’t tell you what that was until the end. That frustrated my kids, as they wanted more information. The dimensions for what they were supposed to be doing weren’t clear, either, so while we were supposed to be drawing on watercolor paper and cut it into squares as directed, the sizes of our pieces were all off, resulting in a lot of wasted paper. I don’t like wasting things, and so more specific directions up front would have been helpful.

Again, there was a lot of drawing of shapes, but they were more complicated and so somewhat more interesting. I didn’t see the need to print off the squiggles to practice those exact squiggles, though, and learning to turn specific squiggles into specific shapes felt very formulaic. That may be one way to encourage people to draw something a specific way, but as we personally prefer to apply our own creativity to recreate an object in our way, it was too structured (for a squiggle-shape) for us.

My kids liked the next drawing section much more, although the prior issues still applied. They tried to work out the spacing and to figure out what they were supposed to be drawing when they realized that we were supposed to print things for them to TRACE. Tracing, again, is a very primary skill, and its inclusion in these lessons make it very clear that this is not appropriate for secondary students. To me, that sends the message that the teacher’s way is correct and that the student couldn’t possibly do it as well. We paused the video so that the kids could freehand the tree they were supposed to be making, and they did great!

The pen and ink sessions turned out to have a watercolor element, and my kids really enjoyed that.

My Big Helper is looking forward to continuing her work on her tree and checking out the watercolor lessons – but we didn’t enjoy these lessons nearly as much as we expected to. They were too basic, and while everyone does have to start somewhere, I feel the biggest issue here is in the marketing. Had we known that these were made for primary students, we would have had very different expectations going into them than we did.

We didn’t get as far into the curriculum as we wanted to for several reasons. The first is that although we were able to get into the website when it first opened to it, we were locked out the next time we tried. Although I requested a new password and checked back nearly every day for a week, nothing happened. I never did get new log-in information, but one afternoon we were magically able to get in. Unfortunately, I missed a button that needed to be clicked on that first visit in – my fault! – and so for another week we couldn’t get past those first few lessons.

Which is the second reason we didn’t get very far. My kids have completed basic drawing lessons in the past, so we were all very excited to try out the watercolor lessons the best. As My Big Helper recently received new watercolors, the timing was perfect. Unfortunately, these lessons don’t work that way; you can’t hop around and take the ones you want. Instead, you have to watch each one in order, starting from the very first material-gathering lesson – and that includes the classes. You can’t watch the watercolor course until you watch all of the drawing courses.

I have seen online courses that required you to check the lessons off in order, and that’s logical; however, I would have been much happier with these courses if you could choose to start with whichever course you wanted. They seemed basic enough – at least for my bigger kids – that they had no problems following along. There didn’t appear to be a cumulative effect, although maybe that was the intention, so I think most kids could definitely start with any course.

Other picky techy things? The videos change shape – sometimes landscape, sometimes portrait, where we couldn’t see the whole thing on the screen – and never is there an option to make them full screen. For an art class, where we’d expect to see detail, the option to maximize the video size for best visibility – and for keeping the computer far away from messy art supplies – would be great.

The best part of these lessons from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School for our family was that the kids could work completely independently. They didn’t need me to explain things or reteach concepts. Except in a few cases, most of the materials were things that we already had at home, and so once we collected our materials we were good to go for a whole series of lessons.

Overall, the lessons we tried from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School were much too basic for my secondary kids to enjoy fully. I think the first drawing series is perfect for primary kiddos. The courses we received came bundled together, but the website shows options for individual courses and other options. These individual options have a more affordable price tag, and I would have been much more likely to purchase one of those when my kids were small – especially before making a large investment like this particular bundle. Personally, I really enjoy doing art with my kids, and it’s something I have taken classes to teach, so I’m happy to spend time with them in this area. If art isn’t your thing, however, something this basic and ready-to-go might be right up your alley.

Don’t take my word for it, though – definitely get more opinions. You’ll find lots of those at the Homeschool Review Crew’s blog hop. Head over there to read more reviews about Beyond the Stick Figure Art School.

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course {Beyond the Stick Figure Art School}

“The Hidden Message of the Great Seal” – Review

April 29, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

My kids both love obscure historical facts. They love digging into history and finding out what things mean and how they really work, and so when they heard about The Hidden Message of the Great Seal by The Hidden Seal, LLC., they were crazy excited. A whole book about a single item dating back to our nation’s founding? Perfect!

My Little Man couldn’t wait to read it. He confiscated the book as soon as it arrived, and it wasn’t seen again for quite a while. He loved the inset boxes full of information and neat facts. That’s totally his thing.

My Big Helper loved that those boxes contained so much information! The author uses these to showcase his evidence and to support his claims. There are also charts, graphs, and lots of pictures of documents and artifacts. My Big Helper loved studying these. As we’re a history-competition family, I appreciated the way that the author makes his case. It’s hard to argue with visually-documented evidence, and it also shows how important good research skills are. My kids love to go back to the original source when studying history, and The Hidden Message does this fantastically.

My Big Helper also really liked the quotes that are included in the beginning of each chapter – and the great quotes throughout. She was actually so excited to find a quote from her favorite Founding Father that she called to me from another room! Excerpts of Patrick Henry’s famous speech are included in the book, among others by him, and this incredible to see. Although Henry played a crucial role in the founding of the United States and the creation of our government, too few people know anything about him. That cemented our confidence in the author and his vast stores of knowledge.

My Big Helper’s very favorite element of The Hidden Message was the way that it explains the connections between the symbols and their scriptural meanings. She loved seeing a direct explanation of the faith of our Founding Fathers and the way that they incorporated that into our country’s infancy.

Physically, the book reminds me of a coffee table book. It’s large in size and full of color – it has many pictures, charts, graphs drawings, and more. That’s where the resemblance ends, though. The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is so much more than a coffee table book: it’s a message from the Founding Fathers brought straight to the modern age. Through extensive research and linear structure, the author makes a compelling case for his belief that we live in important times.

In fact, The Hidden Message of the Great Seal is so meaty that I think it’s definitely for older kids, those who would be most likely to have the background knowledge of our country’s founding and the people who created it, as well as the roles they played. That alone is a mighty task, but when you through in the abstract thinking skills and connection to scripture, this isn’t a book for elementary students.

It would a great supplement to a class about the Revolution or Civics, or to walk through as a family, when you can discuss the elements and be sure that everyone is understanding what’s happening between the pages.

The Hidden Message of the Great Seal contains important lessons about the creation of the United States and the Founding Fathers. This information is critical to understanding how our country was designed and is supposed to work, and it’s something all Americans should know – but don’t take my word for it. Click on the image below to read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.

The Hidden Message of the Great Seal {The Hidden Message, LLC Reviews}

Michael Kanis, the author of The Hidden Message of the Great Seal, wants to help you get your own copy of his book. Although it retails on Amazon for $29.95, you can purchase it for 50% off until May 30, 2020, with the code HOMESCHOOL if you order directly from his website.

“30 Prophecies: One Story” – Review

April 23, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

As a parent, I want to be sure that my children are reading and studying the Bible. I want to make sure I’m modeling that and helping them to set good habits that can grow with them into adulthood. It can be hard to find the right tools and to know how to answer all the questions to do this, though. With both of my kids are interested in Biblical prophecy, I feel way out of my depth on that particular topic – and that’s why we’re so excited to read 30 Prophecies: One Story from Christian Focus.

I was excited to receive this book and to start reading through it, but My Big Helper walked by as I pulled it out of the envelope. After asking if she could look at it, she grabbed it, started flipping through it, and walked away. It was difficult to retrieve – a sure sign of a winner in this house.

Later, when I finally got the book back and sat down to read it, My Little Man sat down beside me. He promptly tugged it out of my hands, put it on his lap, and started reading. Lost it again.

Since we are in history competition season and workloads are high around here right now, we’re spending less time on our read-alouds than we normally might. My kids are both teenagers, though, and they’re very capable of reading on their own – and read it they did (it’s geared for kids ages 5 – 12). With our time constraints, I never was able to read it with them, but when I tried to talk to them about it, they bubbled over with all of the things they liked about the layout of the book.

My Big Helper really liked the features of each chapter. Most chapters are a double-page spread, although some are a little longer. Each section is marked by the symbols above, and each element is clearly spelled out. The language is simple and direct and easy to understand. We all enjoyed this. I like not having to worry about figuring it out or misunderstanding something, but I also like the section that explains what the scripture would have meant to people of the era. Knowing that culture, traditions, language, and customs are all different, it’s hard to know how meaning might change over time – and having this spelled out is important.

I also really like the application section. I think this is something that many people miss when they hear sermons or read the Bible. If we’re not looking for those ways that it all applies to us, it’s easy to miss those important items – especially when they’re wrapped in terminology that isn’t so common anymore. We have to look deeper, and this book helps kids do that.

As a kid, teen, and young adult, I tried many times to read the Bible. I really wanted to – but I never made it even halfway through Genesis. I had no idea how to do that, and I always got lost because I didn’t know how to fit the pieces together. Reading the Bible chronologically helped me to put the pieces together, and that’s why I appreciate the timeline that’s included in 30 Prophecies: One Story. It will help kids see which prophecies were happening when, and that helps you to put the whole story together.

There are several other cool features like this in the back of the book. My favorite was a list of character profiles. For each person, it lists what that person did, what that person wrote, and where you can find his story. As a student, I was taught how to study – and when I started looking at the Bible as a text I wanted to study, it made it much more approachable. This list will do the same thing for even very young kids.

You can see that the pages are simple but clear. The icons show what each piece of text is, and the illustrations bring home the point without being distracting.

30 Prophecies: One Story is a great book for kids in elementary grades and older. It would make a great read aloud, but if your kids are like mine, bringing it in the house is all it would take for the book to disappear and to be read. The author does a great job of showing that the Bible contains different kinds of text, and that one of them is prophecy. These scriptures are made clear and applicable, with a great deal of context and information that is suitable for the whole family.

Most important of all, everything in the book relates back to the Gospel message. Whether your children have chosen faith for themselves yet or not, there’s something for everyone in this book – but don’t take my word for it. Read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew to find out what other people are saying.

Psalms for my Day, 30 Prophecies: One Story & Not If, But When {Christian Focus Reviews}

“History on Horseback: The Early Years” – Review

April 8, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

My family loves history. We love history of all kinds, but we get really excited when we discover a little-known fact or detail that helps to open up understanding in a new way. That’s why we’re so excited to share History on Horseback: The Early Years from Sonrise Stable Books with you.

This book is really unique. It begins with the arrival of horses in the Americas in 1493 and continues that story all the way until 1866, and it’s the perspective of this time period that makes this unlike any other history I’ve ever seen.

Each chapter is super short – usually around two pages – and each chapter has two special features. There’s always at least one picture or piece of art, and sometimes a lot more than one. Sometimes the chapters include logos or other artifacts, too.

The other element that each chapter contains is a sidebar full of fun facts. These are little-known nuggets of information that aren’t crucial to understanding the history told in the chapter but definitely up the interest factor. My Little Man loves these!

The story isn’t told from perspective of horses – that’s been done; and it’s not a history of horses, exactly, as it doesn’t focus solely on a single breed or the animal alone. Instead, it’s a joint story of people and horses and how their stories influence each other. There are many more details about horses and animals than in a typical history book, then, but there are still facts and figures and anecdotes about the legacy of the human action. It’s a really neat way of looking at it!

My Big Helper was excited to see Ezra Meeker featured in one chapter. He’s the guy credited with preserving the Oregon Trail, and she did her very first National History Day project about him several years ago. She read several of his books, visited the websites of memorials all along the Trail, and studied everything she could get her hands on connected with his story. As I read it out loud while the kids cracked nuts, I kept seeing her shake her head as if saying, “yes, that’s right! That’s how it happened!” We enjoyed the detail and depth put into this chapter, and My Big Helper liked seeing how much she remembered – and how much her research matched the author’s.

The chapters are organized chronologically and often relate to each other. Readers will really be able to see the cause and effect patterns in history.

I mentioned that I read some of these to my kids – this is something that we often do. They find a project that allows them to work with their hands while listening, and I read something to them. This book worked very well for us with this structure; they were able to listen and then we could discuss it together, immediately, without having to pass the book around or wait for anyone. It could be paired easily with other activities to expand learning like journaling projects or research into the people or primary sources mentioned. It would even be fun to build or create versions of things in the story, like the manchila from the Pony Express chapter.

Right now, you would have to create those things yourself (and it wouldn’t be hard, because the chapters are definitely high-interest and meaty); but there’s help coming for those who don’t want that added step! There’s a study guide on the way, so while you can read this however you choose and leave the learning there, soon there will be more to help you dig deeper into the history.

Because of this, the book works well as a partial history credit if that’s what you’re looking for, or you can pair it with another program or other books to create a full-credit program. When the study guide is ready, it will be able to stand alone as a full credit.

I think History on Horseback: The Early Years is the perfect way to look at history over time in a way that keeps the learning moving but digs deep into the real story – but don’t take my word for it! Go here to read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.

History on Horseback: The Early Years {Sonrise Stable Books Reviews}

Heroes of History: Meriwether Lewis – Review

March 24, 2020 by Amy 1 Comment

Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map

One of my favorite benefits of homeschooling is being able to customize our educational activities to my kids’ specific interests and skills. One way that we do this is with unit studies. We love being able to choose a theme or a book and to dive deep into it – and YWAM Publishing makes this easy to do with their their digital unit studies that accompany their Heroes of History books. Our most recent pick? The leader of the Corps of Discovery – the Lewis and Clark expedition – Meriwether Lewis himself in Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map.

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My Little Man has loved explorers for a long time. He’s fascinated with the outdoors and adventure and animals, and so he’s been working hard on a big project centered around Meriwether Lewis. I knew that the YWAM biography of this man would be an excellent way to learn more about him.

The stories in the Heroes of History series really focus on what makes each figure stand out. I liked the way that Lewis’ leadership qualities were portrayed, from the time he was a young boy until the expedition’s end. The authors showed the cause-and-effect of his early experiences and how they played a large role in shaping who he became. This wasn’t said in so many words but in the events and anecdotes that they chose to include, and it was very well done.

My Little Man has been working hard to learn everything he can about Lewis, and his research has been quite extensive. I love having him run to me, excited to share a new fact he’s just learned. With all of this new knowledge, I appreciate even more the way that the authors explain certain events – especially Lewis’ death. With the mystery surrounding exactly what happened, the authors are careful to share the story truthfully but tactfully, keeping it family friendly but real. Knowing that you can trust an author with your kids is important, and that’s definitely true here.

The unit study that accompanies this book is chock-full of great ideas for learning. I love the creative writing projects that are included. I want do to them all! They’re so fun!

My Little Man enjoyed the related resources section. He watched several of the recommended documentaries and read other books about Lewis, too. I like that this provided an easy way for the whole family to take part in My Little Man’s interest and learning. We watched documentaries at night as a family, and everyone could learn together.

Creating a thematic quote poster for Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map — Creating a thematic quote poster for ” Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map”

My Little Man really liked the quote section. As suggested in the unit study, he made a sign with one of the thematic quotes and decorated it. We love art activities that we can do during our read aloud time, and this was great for that.

Another neat aspect of the unit study is the suggestion of a culminating activity. This is flexible, of course, but could easily be a party or event where your student(s) can share what’s been learned. Think of it as show and tell on a larger scale! The current virus craziness has pushed ours back a little bit, but we’re looking forward to a simple, super small event outside in a few days. My Little Man will bring the items he’s created during this study and will have the chance to share his knowledge with a (very) few others (from a safe distance away). He’s going to dress up a bit and show his stuff, and that kind of wrap-up to a unit provides an authentic audience that’s super important. We’re all looking forward to it!

I love the unit studies and books in YWAM Publishing‘s Heroes of History series. They’re flexible enough to use with your whole family but rigorous – and creative – enough to customize to each person’s needs. There are waaayyyy more ideas than you need, so you can easily pick what works best for you. Best of all, you can trust the authors to have your kids’ best interests at heart: they are truthful and inspirational but kind and mindful of the children who read them.

We love YWAM Publishing, but don’t take our word for it – hop over here to read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.

32 Heroes of History {YWAM Publishing Reviews}

Check out my review of YWAM’s Christopher Columbus book and unit study, too!

The Action Bible Anytime Devotions – Review

March 19, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

I love being able to share devotions and scripture with my kids in a variety of ways. There’s nothing more important! That’s why I was excited to review the Action Bible Anytime Devotions by David C Cook.

This book contains 90 devotions – that’s a lot! If you use one per day, you’re set for several months – and I like being able to establish a routine and settle in. The length of this book works well for that.

You don’t have to work your way straight through this book, though. It’s organized a bit differently than many devotionals: instead of random lessons, these are titled and organized. The titles are listed in the table of contents in the front of the book, and many of them are situational, so that you could choose a devotion based on what’s going on in your child’s life.

Each devotion is structured similarly. It starts out with a scripture verse, upon which the whole thing is based. Then comes the devotion itself. It’s short – just a few paragraphs – and is succinct and to the point.

Then comes the connection point. The next few points are made in bulleted paragraphs, and the first one connects the scripture and devotion to a child’s life. This is super important! It spells out clearly what all of the above means in a personal way. Kids need to know how the Bible is relevant to them, and this paragraph does this for all 90 devotions.

The next paragraph contains a sample prayer. For kids who might not have a history of praying, this is crucial. It’s an example of what one might want to say to God based on the lesson in the devotion. This part might not be necessary for kids who have strong mentors demonstrating prayer for them, but other kids might need this. It also restates the lesson and helps to put it into action, so if the reader didn’t understand the lesson before this, it provides another opportunity.

The next part is my favorite! It’s an action step. Now that you’ve learned the lesson, connected it to you, and prayed about it, how can you apply it? Some of these ask students to think or talk about something, but others are more concrete. Some ask students to memorize scripture, draw pictures, make cards, or help others. This part is really great – it’s all about faith in action!

There’s one last section. It’s not really a part of the devotion itself, but more like a bonus cut or extra helping. This part asks the reader to take the lesson further by looking up another related scripture passage and reading it. This is a great way for kids who have a solid background with scripture to go deeper.

The devotions are great for kids. I love the structure and how real and applicable each part is. The pictures, though? The pictures add an element of fun to the whole thing.

The Action Bible has illustrations that are very comic book-like, and this devotional has been created in a matching style. The illustrations have bold black lines and bright colors. They stand out and are very appealing to kids who love comic books, especially. I enjoy this element – I think it gives them a wider audience appeal, and it’s definitely different from the norm.

The Action Bible Anytime Devotions is a great devotional for middle grade kids – but don’t take my word for it. Check out other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew here.

The Action Bible Anytime Devotions {David C Cook Reviews}

Carole P. Roman’s Assorted Series – Review

March 11, 2020 by Amy 2 Comments

If you’ve been reading here for any length of time, then you might have noticed that we love history. We love to dig into the culture of the times and find out what made it unique and the people tick. That means learning about the everyday bits of life like what people ate and wore. Face it, those are big-deal things to everyone, at least to some extent, and knowing that kind of information helps us to understand people.

That’s why I was super excited for the opportunity to review some books in Carole P. Roman’s assorted series, because not only do we love history, but we love books, too, and these books do a fantastic job of combining the two.

If You Were Me and Lived In … SCOTLAND is part of the Child’s Introduction to Cultures Around the World series. These books are written for elementary kids who might just be starting to learn about other places. What makes them great is that instead of sharing from a formal standpoint, the book tells what your life might be like if you were a kid living in Scotland today – and then Roman goes on to compare the things that might be important to kids. She talks about naming customs, food, family, entertainment, landmarks, and more in really fun, approachable ways. Potentially new words are spelled out phonetically, and those words are all listed again in the back of the book with short definitions.

I really like the illustrations in this book. With backgrounds that seem almost like photographs but simple, brightly-colored drawings layered on top, the pictures are approachable but informative. There’s a lot to look at, and I like that.

This is a great way to kick off a unit about Scotland with your kids or students. You can touch on a lot of information in a short amount of time and then easily go deeper or broader afterwards. I chose this particular book (even though my kids are much older) because it looked like a great introduction to Scotland, where my sister was traveling, and we used this to learn a great deal about what she was experiencing on her trip. We enjoyed laying the foundation of our study with this book and doing more research about what we encountered here.

(PS – Currently this book is FREE with Kindle Unlimited!)

Jumping backward in time, If You Were Me and Lived In … Elizabethan England is for much older kids. There are many more words on a page, and while the same kind of information is discussed, this book contains more information and more details than the Scotland book. That makes sense, as it’s clearly aimed at older kids, and I love the way that this one is done.

You can see that the words are smaller and the text more involved on this page. I really like these illustrations, as well, as they’re very detailed, again with a lot to study. This book includes short biographies of important people in the Elizabethan era in the back, in addition to the more extensive glossary. This book is a perfect addition to a study of Shakespeare!

We recently studied the Vikings, so I was excited for the opportunity to read If You Were Me and Lived in … Viking Europe with my kids. Like the other books above, this story is written as if you were there, moving into Viking times, and it contains lots of great but basic information about everyday life. It, too, would make a great foundation for a Viking unit, and unlike much of what we encountered during our initial study, everything in the book is very family-friendly.

In this series, the book starts out by showing you what your own life might look like before moving back in time to the Viking era. The illustrations for this series a completely different style from the two above – they’re done in a sort of wash, with lots of white spaces. I must admit, I don’t like this style; if a book is going to have pictures, I want to see lots of details that I can study and learn from, but this feels like a watercolor impressionistic painting (if there is such a thing). It’s just not my thing, and the white spaces bother me. There aren’t as many white spaces on some pages, and that’s just my opinion. What kind of illustrations do you like to see in books?

Like the Elizabethan England book, the information is much more in-depth here. It’s intended for older kids and would make a great addition to any Viking unit.

If You Were Me and Lived in … the Middle Ages could totally vie for my favorite Carole P. Roman book. I love this time period and studied it extensively in college. It was fun to see names like Hildegard of Bingen in the book and to know that kids can be learning about such important historical figures in such a fun way!

Unfortunately to me, the illustrations are the same style as in the Viking book described again – there’s too much white space and washed out color for me! I do love how much information is on each page, though – look at that text! This book is definitely for older kids but would be a great addition for any unit about the time period. In addition, there are several pages of important people from the time and a nice glossary in the back.

Want to see more Carole P. Roman books reviewed? Check out this post!

These are the kinds of books that I’m never able to keep to use formally for school with my kids. When they spot them, they read them! They love the combination of fun, historical information organized in picture book format that makes it super accessible to kids, and they wont’ wait for whatever organized lesson I have planned – their nose is between the pages as soon as they can get their hands on them.

We love Carole P. Roman books and the way that they encourage comfortable learning. With several series out, lots of awards won, and a wide variety of both historical time periods and geographic locations covered, there’s really something for anything you’re studying – but don’t take my word for it. Go here to find out what other people on the Homeschool Review Crew are saying.

Carole P. Roman's Histroy, Geography, Bedtime & Captain No Beard series {Carole P. Roman Reviews}

Hexagonal Thinking: Using Manipulatives to Aid in Analysis

February 12, 2020 by Amy 4 Comments

A few months ago I started hearing about hexagonal thinking. I couldn’t figure out what that was; what do hexagons have to do with thinking? Even as I saw the words cross my social media feeds more and more, I chalked it up to a new learning fad that would soon wear itself out.

Do you want to give hexagonal thinking a try? Pin this post so you can come back to it later!

Until one day (when I was supposed to be working but was really procrasting), and I did a search for a definition. Soon I found myself reading article after article, becoming more intrigued by what I read. The descriptions were vague so as not to put unnecessary restrictions on their use but specific enough that possibilities started running through my mind. I knew I had to try them.

Not one to do anything halfway, I made my own set of hexagons that included literary elements, character names, thematic elements, and quotes from the story. Then we used them at our next two book club meetings.

What is hexagonal thinking? Basically, for a simple lit assignment, you put terms relating to the book/story/article/assignment on hexagons – each on a separate one. Then you ask students to connect hexagons that have a relationship in the story/article/assignment. Every touching hexagon side must represent a concrete or abstract relationship in the literary work.

Hexagonal thinking was a raging success for my students.

I work with small groups and a range of backgrounds. They’re all used to doing things in a variety of ways, so it’s hard to do a specific, hardcore analysis activity because it’s likely that much of the information will be new to at least one of them.

With hexagonal thinking, it didn’t matter.

The hexagons were like math manipulatives: they provided a concrete visual that the students could move around, testing and exploring possibilities until they could find the best fit.

As we did these in small groups, the students talked out their choices. They explained to each other why they wanted to connect certain hexagons and listened to other ideas. They made choices, evaluated, and then made new decisions based on their analysis. They worked together and shared ideas but also contributed individually.

Some of the students who rarely have anything to say were totally engaged in this activity! Best of all, it’s not a one-and-done thing. One group flew through it. They tried to connect their hexagons based purely on concrete relationships and finished quickly.

I asked them if they could connect their hexagons in new ways. They looked at me, stumped, for a moment, and then they swept hands across the table, stirring up the hexagons, and started talking about which one they should put in the middle now. As I listened, I heard them taking their analysis to a depth they hadn’t the first time. The relationships they discussed were both deeper and more abstract, and they looked harder to find connections between hexagonal elements.

My other group had a student who wanted to stay at the concrete level. He first shared concrete elements every time, and though he discussed abstract ones when they were shared by someone else, he didn’t choose to go there – for a while. After a few minutes, with a friend enthusiastically pointing out abstract relationships and a few gentle questions from me, he started going more abstract, too. I think with more exposure to this type of activity – and with more ‘manipulatives’ in his hands to help visualize the elements and a bit more practice – he would naturally move to explore abstract elements sooner.

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So why should you use hexagonal thinking with your students?

It helps guide reluctant students to a deeper understanding of analysis.
It helps students work together by giving them something concrete to discuss.
It adds visuals to potentially difficult and abstract concepts.
It can be done myriads of ways – with no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer.
It encourages students to provide textual evidence in a realistic way.

With variations in structure or organization, hexagonal thinking can be to help formulate pre-reading ideas or as cooperative work, homework, assessments, reading checks, and more. The possibilities are endless!

I’m having lots of fun creating hexagonal thinking resources to go with our favorite literature. (You don’t have to use hexagonal thinking only with literature, but that’s my favorite way thus far.) If you don’t want to recreate the wheel, you can find mine here.

Have you tried hexagonal thinking with your students? What do you think?

Book Club: Hexagonal Thinking with “Peak”

February 1, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

Roland Smith’s Peak amazed me.

At first glance, it’s an easy read – a suspenseful survival story great for older middle-grade readers who can handle stories that include death and danger.

If you look deeper, though, it’s much more than that.

I challenged my students in advance to find the twist in the story – to read carefully and look beyond the obvious meaning of the words to see what the author was carefully implying underneath. One questioned a related issue, but nobody found it! I didn’t expect them to, as this is very well written – but we were able to have a great discussion about the ways that an author can use foreshadowing and clues to add layers of meaning to a story.

After that, it seemed fitting to look more closely at the connections between the elements that Smith included. We used a set of hexagons I had created in advance for this project, and we worked with them a few different ways. First, I challenged the students to connect as many of the hexagons as they could. They did this in an interesting way, as they seemed to think that all of the hexagons needed to be completely surrounded by other hexagons. This makes the process much more challenging than it needs to be!

(New to hexagonal thinking? The idea is that students connect the hexagons by laying them out and touching the sides to other hexagons with words that relate in the story. For example, they might put two hexagons next to each other with character names, and then explain that those characters were best friends and helped each other solve a problem in the story. Any touching sides represent a connection in the story, so students must look beyond surface, physical connections to find similarities and complexities.)

Hexagonal Thinking Activities for Roland Smith’s “Peak”

After that, I asked them to explain several of the connections they had made with their hexagons. They did so, and then to challenge them further, I asked them to connect their hexagons in new ways. This made them pause and think about it before beginning and taking a new strategy. One really great aspect of this lesson was that they were talking through a variety of connections and what different characters, settings, and themes meant to them personally and to the story as they worked to connect hexagons.

Hexagonal thinking: a second strategy at work.

After they connected many of the hexagons this time, I asked them to find a quote or line from the story that supported a connection that they had made. I love how they immediately dug into the story to find evidence of the correlations they were seeing!

Supporting their conclusions with textual evidence

We spent nearly a whole day working with Peak as a book club, and as a family, we’ve been studying Mount Everest, Nepal, and mountain climbing for a month! There are many rich threads to pull to extract meaning from this story, and our whole family joined in the fun. This has been a really fun unit. If you’re looking for more book club-based or unit-based activities for Peak, stay tuned! They’re coming!

I have really enjoyed the hexagonal activities we’ve used with this book study, and I know that we’ll be using these often in the future. Because they’re such a great way of helping students dig into a story, I wanted to share them with you! You’ll find printable hexagons in two different sizes, as well as two pre-reading activities and five analysis activities, along with printable tracking sheets, in this product. If you’re studying Peak, give it a try!

Click on the picture above for the full product description – or Pin it to save for later!

Looking for other creative and fun educational resources? Check out my TpT store here!

What are your students reading this month?

Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership by SchoolhouseTeachers.com – Review

January 8, 2020 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’re big fans of SchoolhouseTeachers.com around here – there are just so many great things that this website offers! We’re excited to continue with them for another year and to see the new things that they’re continually offering. Our favorite way to learn along with SchoolhouseTeachers.com is with a Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership.

My very favorite thing about SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the flexibility. With over 460 courses for students in pre-K through high school, there’s a huge amount of variety available. You can use the content available in a myriad of ways, too: there are full grade-level courses available, but you can also pick and choose which classes or resources work best for you. I love that my kids can hop in and use specific lessons within classes to learn pieces of information or skills that they want to learn. When we were studying Solomon’s Temple at church last year, my daughter popped into an architecture class and learned all sorts of great information about that structure. She learned a ton and ended up sharing it with all the other kids in her group – it was fantastic!

My Big Helper is now in high school and is interested in ASL, and SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a class for that! It’s a really rigorous class with printable lesson plans and videos to watch, which is perfect for ASL, which requires a visual element so that you can properly learn the signs. The instructor goes into depth about the culture of ASL, too, and it’s very well done.

I took several classes with ASL in college, and so I can help My Big Helper if she needs it – but the class is set up so that she can work very independently. We can easily print the lesson plans and printed work, and then she can get busy, with me only needed should extra help be necessary. Everything is included so that she can complete the class on her own, and while I love teaching my kids, it’s nice to watch them learn to manage on their own!

The lesson plans can help your students be independent. These plans take different forms for different classes, but many of them break down the work for the entire course by week and day, basically making a giant checklist for you or your student to employ. Whether you choose to stick with that kind of schedule or not is up to you, but it is handy to see everything all listed clearly.

The video library is another great feature. On this page, all videos referenced and/or available for viewing are linked up so that you can easily browse through them. Many of these videos are held by RightNow Media, and you can access everything in the library with your SchoolhouseTeachers.com account. There are really fantastic videos there, and you’re sure to find something for everyone in the family. There’s a variety of cartoons, Bible studies, and other kinds of Christian documentaries. There’s one called Alaskan Adventure that my Little Man and my dad are sure to love, and My Big Helper will love J. Warner Wallace’s studies. There are also programs by Tim Tebow, Francis Chan, Ann Voskamp, and many others. A few of the cartoons that I looked at had only the first few episodes available, instead of the whole series, but the studies seem to be complete. The video library also includes several Drive Thru History programs. It doesn’t get any better than that!

I often hear people debating and questioning the best way to teach kids to read. It’s not as easy as one might think – how do you actually go about it? If this is something that you’ve struggled with, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is there to help! The Literacy Center has books you can download and strategies to use based on your child’s reading developmental stage. If you’re trying to teach your student to read, this is definitely the place to go!

I love being able to use SchoolhouseTeachers.com as a resource. My Little Man loves to read the books and watch the online videos, and My Big Helper uses elective classes and foreign language options to learn on her own. I also find it helpful to consider these courses when doing my own planning to help me determine scope, sequence, and to find additional resources – which are often these classes themselves. We do things this way because it works for us and because I love planning – but if that’s not your thing, SchoolhouseTeachers.com makes it easy to use their full curriculum elements – or to find and use just the pieces that you want planned for you. I love that aspect of this resource!

With one price to pay and then full access to the hundreds of resources on this website, you couldn’t get a better deal. You don’t have to worry which child has access or if there are enough materials for everyone, because SchoolhouseTeachers.com has something for everyone – parents included! If you’re new to this site, check it out here – but don’t take my word for it; visit this post to read other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.