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Review: Spanish for You!- affordable curriculum for grades 3-8

28 April, 2013 7 Comments

As a member of the Mosaic Reviews Team, I was sent Spanish for You! homeschool curriculum to review.

Spanish for You

About:

Developed by an experienced Spanish instructor, Spanish for You! curriculum is designed for elementary and middle school. Each Spanish for You! package comes with a soft cover book (trial packages have e-book instead), lesson guide (PDF download), worksheets (PDF download), flashcards and activities (PDF download), and audio files (MP3 download).

Teacher lesson plans are not included (and not needed) with the standard package. Parents can use the lesson guides. If purchasing this curriculum for class use (not homeschool), lessons plans may be bought separately. Currently, there are two different books sold: Fiestas (celebrations) and Estaciones (seasons). Until June, Viajes (travels) is only available as an e-book, included with the trial packages. The same Spanish for You! book can be used for multiple children (grades 3-8) in a single school year, but the worksheets vary. Each book has five lessons, and the lessons are always organized the same way.

With this program, the Spanish language is learned in components: vocabulary, pronunciation, verbs, and grammar. The vocabulary is useful and daily; that is, the English translation of the words will be ones students are familiar with already and use in their lives. Pronunciation is extremely important, of course, so the audio files have two different speakers to listen to: a non-native speaker and a native speaker from Mexico. Next, students study verb conjugation, and, finally, grammar. These components blended together develop speaking and writing skills as well as grammar.

My Experiences:

I took a Spanish course at a local community college “just because” a few years ago. When I finished, I understood verb conjugation and pronunciation to an extent, but I definitely had rudimentary verbal language skills. Learning to speak Spanish is something I need to really focus on this year, since next year I will be living in Spain!

Now that I’ve established I’m not an expert Spanish speaker: what I wanted to deduce from this curriculum is how well it is organized and how effective the activities appear to be. Can I learn from it? Does it truly seem geared towards multiple ages and ability levels at the same time? Obviously, I can’t ultimately know that unless I had both a 3rd grader and an 8th grader, which I don’t. But having taught all ages at one point or another, I believe I can get an idea. Tomorrow, once all the reviewers have posted at Mosaic Reviews, I’ll link there, so you can check out other reviews, if interested. Some of the other reviewers have children of multiple ages.

You can see the Fiestas book above. It’s very detailed. I can see that older children will need little guidance on how to use this book and can work independently. The directions for each component are very clear. On the bottom of page 3, it says “Choose an activity from the Practicing Flashcards page… .” There are 12 flashcards activities listed, and they vary from looking at the Spanish word and guessing the English to playing “Spanictionary,” which is similar to Pictionary. As you can see, the difficulty level varies greatly.

The book also includes directions for 13 different games/activities. Many of them are for two or more players, so you can use them with all your children.

In these photos below, you can see the difference in the lesson guides between grades 3-4 and 7-8. The grades 7-8 guide has more difficult activities.

Spanish Grades 3 to 4 Guide

Spanish Grades 7 to 8 Guide

Below are snapshots of the worksheets (again, 3-4 and then 7-8), so you can see the difference.

Spanish Worksheet grades 3-4 Spanish Worksheet grades 7-8

Although the same soft cover book is used for all grades, the worksheets and lesson guides clearly differ, so you really can use this program with multiple children of varying abilities.

I want to note that the book included “Spain only” words as well as the Latin American words. Since we’ll be living in Spain, Baby J will learn that style of Spanish, and I’m thrilled this program caters to both. The illustrations are cute but juvenile, since the author’s daughter drew them. I actually really like them! I think they’ll appeal to children, since it’s relatable artwork.

If you’re curious about learning more, you can visit Spanish for You! on their website. Their 4-week trial (grades 5-8) is $9.99 and the 6 week trial (grades 3-4) is $12.99. Full packages (24-30 weeks) are $39.95 if purchasing for just 3-4 or 5-6 or 7-8. If purchasing the entire course (3-8), the package is $64.95. Extra books are available for sale.

Read more reviews about Spanish for You! with different perspectives from other bloggers:

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Review

Review: Apologia homeschool student and teacher planners

11 April, 2013 14 Comments

Welcome to my third review as a member of the Homeschool Mosaic review team! As I’ve mentioned before, I was homeschooled for most of my formative years, and I plan on homeschooling my children- at least while they’re very young. My mother taught me to read, and I intend to do the same for my kids.

About:

A family-owned corporation, Apologia curriculum grew from the desires of a small group of Indiana parents. They wanted their children to have not only a good education but one that would develop their Christian faith. Growing from just one textbook, Apologia now has dozens of textbooks and resources for homeschooling kids and their parents.

Apologia also has an online academy for students grades 7-adult in science; and Bible, apologetics, and world-view. Homeschooling moms can attend Apologia retreats to encourage and inspire one another in their journeys. Upcoming retreats include Baltimore and Atlanta.

To review, I received Apologia’s “The Ultimate Homeschool Planner” (RV $28) and “The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students” (RV $19).

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner

The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students

Made for homeschooling moms (or dads), The Ultimate Homeschool Planner is available in two colors, so choose one that better fits your personal style. Since The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students is intended for 4th to 8th grade, Apologia also sells a weekly planner for teens (7th to 12th grade).

Created by author, educator, and veteran homeschooling mom Debra Bell, the ultimate planners are designed to work together, but can be used alone if need be. The idea is that as children grow, they will take more planning responsibility on themselves.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner

The parent planner spends 12 pages in the beginning giving information and detailed directions, explaining how to use the planner effectively. This User Guide section includes illustrations to really break it down. There’s a monthly planner section, allowing you to plan out your entire school year, but the bulk of the planner comprises weekly planner pages. The planner contains pages for reading lists, and a place to list field trips and outside activities. At the very back of the planner, you can find tips about learning styles and how to motivate reluctant students. There’s even a handy guide to help you look toward and map out your child’s high school years, as well as a place to write a summary of the year. To grow as a teacher, it’s important to self-evaluate and set new goals.

The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students

This planner begins with a section for students to fill out personal information and set goals for themselves. Next comes six pages called the “Study-Smart Student Toolkit” that help students stay organized, manage their time better, and work independently. There’s a monthly planner section, but like the teacher planner, the bulk of this book is the daily planner, followed by a grade records, reading list, and activity log. The back of this book contains references like a history timeline, maps, and conversion charts.

My Experiences:

I’ve heard great things about Apologia curriculum from homeschooling moms, and I’m looking forward to using their textbooks myself. As a professional educator, I enjoyed this planner. The planners we’re given as public school teachers are usually very “bare bones.” The teaching tips included in The Ultimate Homeschool Planner really make it appropriate and helpful for homeschooling parents who may not have a background in education like myself.

As far as The Ultimate Daily Planner for students, I do have a suggestion. This edition has a guide to punctuation, italics, and capitalization. It also has guidelines for good writing in middle school and a list of Greek and Latin roots (great for vocabulary lessons). I think the planner would be even better if they added a section listing the parts of speech and a section that has a list of commonly misused words like accept/except and affect/effect. Can you tell I’m an English teacher? 🙂

Finally, I didn’t cover all the sections included in the planners (I’d be typing for hours), but the planners really do have a lot to offer. Once all the reviews from the Mosaic Reviews team members have been published, I’ll update this post with a link, so you can see what other reviewers had to say.

To learn more about Apologia, visit their website and check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Mosaic Reviews Disclosure

Review

Review and Coupon Code: We Choose Virtues Curriculum

2 April, 2013 4 Comments

“Simply Inspire Character that Lasts”

As a member of the Mosaic Reviews team, I’ve been blessed to receive opportunities to review curriculum and educational resources perfect for families. Created by Heather McMillan -wife, teacher, and mother of four- We Choose Virtues grew from Heather’s desire to see children truly develop lasting good character. The key, Heather believes, is to be consistent with positive instruction. We Choose Virtues is a program designed for families, schools, and churches to teach character through fun games, catchy phrases, memory work, interactive assignments, and appealing visual aids.

WCV Deluxe Classroom Set — Deluxe Classroom Set

To review, I was sent a pack of Virtue Flash Cards and the following PDFs: Butterfly Awards, Family Character Assessment, Kids of Virtueville Coloring Book, Teacher’s Handbook, and a list of supporting Bible memory verses.

Note: We Choose Virtues curriculum is available with King James Version or New International Version Bible verses, as well as a secular version appropriate for public schools, etc.

Our Experiences:

First, I don’t think this curriculum is only meant for a traditional classroom or homeschool setting. I think that if your children attend public or private school, you can still purchase these materials to instruct your children at home.

Baby J is still too young for this curriculum, but my friend was gracious enough to let me use her toddler as a guinea pig. I read through the flashcards individually, talked about what they meant, and had M repeat after me. There are other ways to use the cards according to the instructions, but I went with what I thought was best for kids M’s age (2 1/2 yrs). The flashcards include directions for some games to play, but I decided M was still too young for them. M’s mom and I both agreed that We Choose Virtues is a great idea for when we start homeschooling our children. The cards are cute, bright, and colorful. The phrases are catchy, and there’s an explanation on each card for that phrase, as well as a corresponding Bible verse (remember, secular versions are available though).

I think the Family Character Assessment PDF that I received is a great idea for families to do together- adults too! It’s designed to let you score yourself on such things like attentiveness, kindness, obedience, etc. You can establish a goal as a family and work together toward it. Also, the Teacher’s Handbook was very informative. It breaks down the lessons, making it easy for anyone to understand and then teach from.

As a professional educator and mommy who plans to homeschool, I’m very pleased with the products I received. I do plan on purchasing from We Choose Virtues in the near future and incorporating their curriculum into my son’s education.

If you’d like to read other WCV reviews by homeschooling moms, visit Mosaic Reviews.

Visit We Choose Virtues to see what they have to offer. Also, they have a permanent coupon code for you to receive 15% off your purchase! Just type in VIRTUE15 when checking out.

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