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.

Creating A Masterpiece ~ Review

We are currently receiving excellent fine art lessons via the monthly plan from Creating A Masterpiece. Our family has been access to this online program in return for our honest review.

What Is Creating A Masterpiece.

C.A.M is an online subscription based fine arts program, that is suitable for students of all ages. We were provided access to the Monthly Plan option.

The video lessons are presented by the artist herself, in an easy to follow step by step manner.

All the lessons are broken into appropriate levels so that you can easily assess the difficulty of which level would best suit the child.

In all there are six levels, plus an art history section, to choose from. Within each level are several art projects all using a wide variety of mediums.

This is not an arts and crafts or simplistic art projects program. This is a fine arts program designed for school age students. 

How We Have Used The Program.

When we were first given our family access to C.A.M we immediately set out to explore the site. There is a large number of projects for the children to choose from. After a good look around in each level, watching a few video snippets and downloading the printable supply sheets for a couple of the projects, we settled on choosing an introductory level lesson.

 Lessons In Watercolour: Floral Medley

This particular lesson was broken into three step by step videos and it required drying time before moving on to the next step in the video lessons. 

Sharon, the artist, walks the students through every step of the process. At first we tried to keep up with her, only pausing the video when we needed. We quickly realised for us it was better to watch the video all the way through and to then go back and begin the lesson ourselves, referring back to the video when required.

From there we moved on to a lesson using oil pastels.

 Lesson In Oil Pastel: Winter Cabin

This was a longer lesson with four videos in all, which the kids chose to complete over a couple of days.  Each lesson also includes a section with hints and tips to assist you in getting the best out of the video lessons.

My teen decided to tackle one of the lessons with something a little more challenging for him. He does enjoy his art and seems to me to have a natural flair and this program is a good fit for him to be able to work quietly and independently.

 Lesson In Soft Pastel: Country Rooster

As I type he is sitting across from me on the other computer browsing the lessons for his next choice.

What We Didn't Like

There's actually not a lot we didn't like about this program. If I had to pick something it would be that my youngest does not thrive in this type of video based art instruction. This is the third program of a similar nature that we have tried and I have come to realise that for now at least this type of art instruction is not for him. 

He finds it all quite overwhelming, the watching, the doing, the remembering it all and then add in the fact that his piece never looks like the piece in the video and he simply doesn't enjoy it. My eldest two though are fine working with a video based instruction program, so you just need to really know your kids.

What We Did Like

The variety of what was on offer and the depth at which the student can go if they wish. Some of those upper level pieces are really quite involved, so even some of the most accomplished artists will not be bored here.

The fact that this is true art. It is not craft. It is not cookie cutter art either, that you often see in other programs.  

Now that we have settled in to the program I love simply adding 'art' to the list of topics to be completed this week and my eldest two can get themselves online and choose their own project and complete it entirely on their own.

I also really like the variety of mediums on offer in the various lessons:

    Acrylic
    Batik
    Block Printing
    Carving
    Conte' Crayon
    Copper Tooling
    Glass Mosaic
    Gouache
    Ink
    Mixed Media
    Oil Painting
    Oil Pastel
    Pencil/Charcoal
    Sculpture
    Silk Painting
    Soft Pastel
    Watercolor
    Wood Burning

Looking Ahead

We were given access to Creating A Masterpiece for six months, in return for our honest review. It has absolutely found a staple place in our week and it will continue to be used here in our homeschool.

Further Details

I always love a true, 'try before you buy' and you can do this with Creating a Masterpiece, with their free sample project.

To view the various ways to subscribe to the Creating A Masterpiece website visit their subscription page.

Want to know more? Visit their website or follow Creating A Masterpiece on facebook.  

I hope you have found this review helpful. If you would like to see more reviews about this vendor from other crew members simply visit this link. 

 

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

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Schoolhouse Teachers Review

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of using the comprehensive Schoolhouse Teachers.com website with my children for the purpose of reviewing what's on offer within the site. We have been provided with a Yearly Membership. This is my first review as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew.

First Impressions

If you are looking for a one stop shop for your home school then Schoolhouse Teachers surely has to come to very close to that. This site offers Yearly Memberships where you can access all manner of subject materials covering all grade levels. The site offers online classes, printable units, worksheets, lessons and video components. It even offers homeschool parent support and homeschool planners!

My first impressions of the site were that of WOW! How did I not know that this existed up until now. I knew very early on in my exploration of the site that I would find plenty of variety for all 3 of my children.

Exploring The Site

The first tab I chose to explore was none other than the Courses area. This is broken into courses by subject and courses by year level so no matter how you prefer to search for things it is all laid out in an easy to use fashion.

Once you find yourself inside a grade level area, which are broken into kindergarten, elementary, middle school and high school. You can then filter down into each subject area. There are several options in the subject areas also.

Just to give you a quick glimpse the image below shows the Language Arts courses on offer in the Elementary area of the site. 

How We Have Used The Site

I have on  my list of must find items for the kids - Quick Daily Practice Work - and there you have it right within the Schoolhouse Teachers site. There are literally hundreds of options across the subject areas and this is one section of the site that we have been using this past few weeks.

Each morning as part of our Morning Basket routine the kids have one daily math sheet and one daily language arts sheet to complete. We do these for extra practice, to build speed and automaticity. All I need to do is work my way through the lists and print the next sheet available in the grade area required. No searching the internet or having to come up with my own they are all provided for me.

A little peek at just a few of the Daily Math sheets we've worked on.

I love how much Language Arts we've covered, journal prompts, grammar and fun puzzler activities.

Looking Ahead

My eldest and I have sat down together on a few occasions now to look over the course offerings in the High School Homeschool Courses area. He is already looking at undertaking the Drawing With Realism course and the Entrepreneurship For Teens course. I love that we have access to this for him to be able to choose his own electives.

For my younger two we really enjoy working through Literature Units with great books and so we were pleasantly surprised to see an extensive list of literature units available to us.

Parent Resources

Whilst Schoolhouse Teachers contains an extensive offering of curriculum products it also offers parent members an array of items, such as various educational components, encouraging articles, back issues of the fabulous Old Schoolhouse Magazine, monthly bonus e-books, record keeping options, meal planning and homemaking assistance.

Although the most exciting part of the Parent Resources Area would have to be the full access to all six digital Schoolhouse Planners. This alone is a value of $125 and they are great planners too.

Details & Pricing

Visit the Schoolhouse Teachers website for more details.

You can choose between a monthly subscription of $12.95 or $139 for the full year, for your entire family.

There is extensive information about the site on the Welcome area which you can find here.


I hope you have found this review helpful. If you would like to see further reviews of Schoolhouse Teachers by members from the Crew, please click on the this link.

Discount Code

Schoolhouse Teachers is currently offering 50% off an annual subscription.

Please use the code - CREWFOLLOWER

Discount Code is valid to 31/01/2016



Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie  

Come on over and join me at

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Visit Our Worldwide Classroom's profile on Pinterest.

Schoolhouse Crew ~ Some Exciting News!

I have some exciting news for my little blog this new year.

I have been accepted to participate as part of the School House Review Crew. Very exciting!



This has been something that I have considered applying for over recent years but it really wasn't until my blogging friend Chareen over at Every Bed Of Roses encouraged me to take the leap this year.

As you can imagine I was pretty chuffed to receive my welcome email YAY!!

So what does that mean exactly?

Nothing will change all that much on my blog as I have always enjoyed reviewing products but moving forward I will have more fabulous home education products on the blog for you to see how they worked for us in our home.

There's nothing better than hearing about how something has worked for another family and this why I love these more personal product reviews so much.

You can find out more about all of the wonderful homeschooling blogs that are joining me during 2016 on the Schoolhouse Review Crew here >>>>

Be sure to keep an eye out for my very first review coming in just a couple of days.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Come on over and join me at

Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram ~ Google + 


Have you looked at my Pinterest Boards lately?


Visit Our Worldwide Classroom's profile on Pinterest.