Let's Go Geography ~ Review

We've been having loads of cultural geography fun with this all new weekly homeschool geography curriculum from Let's Go Geography!

What Is Let's Go Geography

A full 36 week Cultural Geography immersion program. Each week the program visits a new

destination. In a full year you can expect to visit around 30 different countries.

The exploration happens via, mapping, flags and landmarks. Each week there are links to listen to songs and watch videos related to that country, along with notebooking pages, crafts, colouring pages and more!

Currently Year One is released, when complete the full program will contain three years worth of lessons. The best part is most definitely the inexpensive pricing. To have all of these resources at your fingertips for such a low price is most definitely worth it.

How We Used Let's Go Geography

Each lesson stands alone, so whilst it is laid out in numerical order you can jump about visiting any country you wish. I chose to start at the beginning, with lesson 1, the Northeast area of the USA.

Before beginning the lesson I printed, the required maps, flags, notebook and colouring pages. As the lesson contains links to songs, videos and pictures I knew it would enhance the lesson by viewing on the large screen, so I plugged our laptop into the television and we completed the lessons that way.

My kids really enjoyed the lesson on Haiti and so I will use that to give you a closer look around. 

The first we thing we do is discuss who's heard of the country, if they know anything about it and where it possibly might be. I always have our large world map out with us so we can go looking. Once we've discussed and located the whereabouts, we notice any major land masses and bodies of water nearby.

Then it is time for a brief mapping session. Firstly included in the lesson is a link to print off a map for North America and to colour the country of Haiti. The second map included is one of the Greater Antilles area, here we discuss the bordering countries and colour as we talk about them.

Time to look at the flag, we discuss the details, the kids colour, cut out and stick to the appropriate map, currently we are staying in the North American region so all of our flags are from that area. The program does have a printable passport that you can add on to your studies. We have chosen to simply keep everything in one folder.

Now it is time for music, so far all of the lessons have given us the lyrics and a link to listen (and watch) the National Anthem of that country.

And like any visit to a country one simply must do some exploring, and that's where we are off to

next! This is the part of the lesson that is different each time because you are dealing with a different country, with Haiti for example we had some 'did you know' facts and then we did a spot of virtual sight seeing. We took a tour of Haiti's landscape, the Citadelle and looked at some of the ways the people earn a living, including a virtual visit to a market.

After the brief trip around the country there are a photographic images included of some of the places visited on the virtual tours. 

As the complete lesson is a pdf download these could be printed and added to the child's travel notebook, we have chosen just to view on the large screen.

We are nearing the end of our visit to Haiti, but first there is always some form of craft or colouring page related to the country.

And finally we notebook a few details using the included notebooking page. 

All up this is taking us approximately 1 hour to complete. We are not doing the crafts as my kids simply didn't want to do them. I found that I prefer to start and finish an entire lesson in one setting, but it is definitely structured that you could do 15 minutes or so a day and complete a lesson over the course of a week.

With each lesson being accessed as a pdf, I love that we can view it on the ipad or via the laptop and then on our large screen tv. We simply spread out on the lounge room floor.

What We Didn't Like

For us the only thing was the crafts that my kids weren't too fussed on. I would like to see some more thorough physical geography concepts. This is a cultural geography program with a small amount of map work included.

What We Did Like

This is definitely one of those programs that everyone can gather around and do together, big tick here in  my box, as now that my kids are no  longer little it is so hard to find things we can do together. There is such limited prep required, download the lesson, print the needed pages, organise the craft if you are going to do that and off you go. All of the leg work of finding images, videos, music and snippets of information has been done for you. And of course you can't beat the price. A full years access is only $21.99 USD.

Further Details

Visit the Let's Go Geography website for a closer look around.

Let's Go Geography on Facebook

Let's Go Geography on Pinterest

If you would like to see more reviews on this product simply click on the image below.

Homeschool Copywork ~ Review

Today I am sharing with you my thoughts on a product we've been using in our homeschool over the past weeks.

We received a Lifetime Membership to Homeschool Copywork which gives us access to a variety of e-books for copywork and notebooking pages such as the Vincent Van Gogh Copywork, Transportation Copywork and Town Mouse Country Mouse Copywork, along with many other varieties of copywork and notebooking pages.

What Is Homeschool Copywork

I think I really need to take one step back here just in case some of you aren't aware or have never even heard of copywork. So what is copywork exactly?

At face value copywork appears to simply be handwriting practice and in reality one can use copywork pages specifically for handwriting. It is so much nicer to copy out a lovely passage or a poem than fill in boring handwriting workbooks, after all!

But copywork is and can be so much more if you use it wisely. With copywork one can cover spelling, grammar, punctuation usage, comprehension and reading skills.

Plus as the guiding light in your children's lives you can also choose certain passages that you feel are appropriate for them and may offer them guidance and inspiration.

There is so much more to copywork than simply handwriting and if this concept is a new one to you I encourage you to read a little further on the topic of adding copywork into your homeschool. 

Now that you understand what copywork actually is, you're probably thinking, 'right, now I need to find certain passages to use for our copywork, that's just going to add a bunch more work to my overloaded schedule'. 

Wrong, this is where Homeschool Copywork comes into play. All of the sourcing and preparation has been done for you. Simply log into the membership area of the site and you have access to a myriad of copywork and notebooking pages, covering all manner of themes.

How We Used The Membership

Copywork has been on my list to add back in to our days, as it is something we let slide. Often I found myself reinventing the wheel when it came to providing the kids with copywork passages but with access to Homeschool Copywork I didn't need to do anything other than log in and find an appropriate piece to use with each of the children.

  As you know I have three children of very different ages and abilities so I needed to ensure I could meet those with our copywork. 

I was also quite eager to add in some Artist study that I had been working on. It seemed it was the perfect time to begin with our unit on Vincent Van Gogh. Homeschool Copywork has a total of five full volumes of van Gogh copywork pages, each containing a beautiful full colour image of one of his art works and the passage to copy. 

There are various line options and writing styles, making the book suitable for all ages.

I love that we can discuss the work of van Gogh right there on the copywork page, I don't need to go hunting for the art work images. Plus each of the passages is simply beautiful to read.

For some fun we've also been using the delightful Town Mouse Country Mouse book.

One thing that jumped out to me almost instantly was with my youngest and his need to write so small that it is nearly impossible to read. Of course I jumped straight onto the membership area of Homeschool Copywork and found the transportation pages.

These are very simple pages that work their way through the alphabet, but what I loved about them for my son is they gently forced him to slow down and to increase the size of his writing. He works on a few of these each week.

What We Didn't Like

My main issues with the membership area is there is no search function which I feel would be a very valuable asset in ease of finding what your looking for.

I would also love to see a preview option somehow built into the membership area as I needed to download the entire ebook to actually see what is inside. Granted each time I did a download we used the book anyway, but I still feel that this would be advantageous to have available.

We are secular homeschoolers and did find a large portion of the material to be religious in nature.

What I Do Like

Absolutely hands down the ease when it comes to finding passages is a winner for me and this is the exact reason why we have started and fallen off the copywork band wagon so many times over the years. Now that I have access to a range already prepared for me it will truly make it so simple to ensure we keep up with our copywork.

I mentioned earlier in regards to the membership area housing many religious themed copywork pages, however, there were more than enough secular books for me to choose from.

Some of which include, artists such as Monet, van Gogh, and da Vinci. Composers such as Bach and Mozart. There also topics such as the Wright Brothers, John James Aubudon, The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse, along with others.

Looking Ahead

Homeschool Copywork has most definitely become part of our regular routine now thanks to how easy it is having the download membership.

Pricing & Details

Visit the Homeschool Copywork website where you can find all the details and the different membership options available to you.

To see more from Homeschool Copywork visit them via your favourite social media outlet.

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/HomeschoolCopywork
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AmyBlevins 
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hscopywork
Google+: http://plus.google.com/+AmyBlevins
Instagram: http://instagram.com/homeschoolencouragement

I hope you found this review helpful. If you would like to see further reviews of Homeschool Copywork from members of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, please visit this link.



Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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Word Families with United Teaching

Have an early reader on your hands? Then you will definitely want to take a closer look at these Word Family practice sheets from United Teaching.

Disclosure: We were sent these from United Teaching with the purpose of reviewing to share with you. All opinions expressed are those of myself and my son.

We are heavily focused on learning to read with our youngest right now so when I saw that United Teaching had been busy creating Word Family practice sheets we jumped right in.

The things we love most about these are the super cute images, he really does love to spend time finishing them off with just the right colour choices.

The ease of use, seriously  there are no need for instructions at all, just print a sheet and you are on your way.

My son really appreciates that each sheet is short and to the point. He isn't asked to sit there forever and trudge through it.

Best of all, he loves that he gets to use felt pens on all of his schoolwork and I love the price!

Seriously if you have a child in the early stages of learning to read go check out all of the Word Family packets that United Teaching has available. They will work great as a supplement alongside any reading program you may be using.

Thanks to United Teaching for sharing these packs with myself and my son, so that we could share them with you.

Visit the United Teaching website
Visit the United Teaching store

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Come on over and join me at

Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram ~ Google + 

Looking for more Homeschool related activities?
Have a look at my Homeschooling Pinterest Boards.

Visit Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom's profile on Pinterest.  

Money & Magic Squares

You all know how much I enjoy making printable materials for our home school, but there are definitely many times when I need something quickly.

What a breeze it has been to scan through all of the printable items over at Kids Learning Is Fun, choose what I am after, click print and we are ready to go.

To have ongoing access to resources such as these is a definite blessing.

I thought I'd share some of the highlights each month so that you get a good feel for the items available over at Kids Learning is Fun.

I chose to print off the Australian Coin Posters (A4) and do some coin exploring with Little Surfer Dude. Fairy Princess sat in too, this was good revision for her.

Together we discussed each poster and the details about the coins. We sorted through our pile of coins and found various examples and proceeded to match the real life coin to the poster.

This was a great exercise to actually sit and focus on the coin details. Little Surfer Dude was very careful to note the numbers on each coin.

I used an old divided serving platter and taped one of each coin into a compartment. This is a simple sorting exercise for now, but one we can build on as time progresses.

I have placed this tray and the Coin posters on our shelves for him to choose whenever he wishes.

For Lego Lover I printed the Magic Squares file and laminated them. There is a huge number of magic squares contained within this, which means he always has variety! 

For these magic squares you need to use the numbers 1 - 16, only once and complete the grid.....certainly gets you thinking.

You can purchase these items straight from the Kids Learning Is Fun store or have access to these and hundred's more whenever you need them with a Premium Membership.

Skwirk

I wanted to take a moment to introduce all of you to our new blog sponsor, Skwirk Interactive Schooling.

Skwirk has pioneered Australia’s first online, syllabus-specific, interactive learning portal for primary and secondary school students.

Covering the core subjects for each Australian state syllabus and currently working toward the new ‘Australian Curriculum’, Skwirk's aim is to become the most trusted name and learning destination for teachers, students and parents.

Skwirk covers years K-10, with subjects including Maths, English, Science, Geography, History, Technology and Commerce.

Skwirk caters to as many different learning and teaching styles as possible, with over 20,000 pages of text, 2000 educational animations and ebooks, 1000 interactive activities, 1000 educational videos, along with podcasts, worksheets, pop quizzes and much more.

Redapple Education’s Skwirk has been placed on Education Services Australia (ESA) register of digital resource suppliers that will support the implementation of the new Australian Curriculum.

Our family will be utilising Skwirk in our Home School over the coming months and will share with you our adventures with this type of interactive learning.






Disclosure: We have been given a 12 month family subscription to Skwirk for the purposes of sharing our journey with this online interactive learning program.

Kids Learning Is Fun

I'm excited to introduce our new blog sponsor, Kids Learning Is Fun!

An Australian based website, chock full of educational goodness.

Articles covering a wide base of topics, The Learning Blog which offers hints and tips on all things education, the shop that offers a huge array of printable educational materials and the Member Resource Centre, where you can gain access to the entire range for one low yearly fee.

I've been busy looking around and trying to decide what I should print off first, there's so much to choose from!

I'm really looking forward to using these resources with the children and sharing some of the details with you.

Be watching for future Kids Learning Is Fun posts and we are working on a giveaway too.



Disclosure: We have been given a 12 month family subscription to Skwirk for the purposes of sharing our journey with this online interactive learning program.