A Review of Simply Charlotte Mason’s Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well
I have reviewed several of the Simply Charlotte Mason products because, truth is, I really love their resources. We are a pretty Charlotte Mason focused homeschool so I’ve made use of a ton of their plans, subject-based items, and podcasts, guides, and videos. I love how SCM keeps things very accessible but also challenging and pretty true to Mason. We have been using Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well for several years now and have quite enjoyed these two resources all around. (Our kids using these are 15, 13, 11 and they all enjoy them.) What is Dictation? Spelling Wisdom uses the idea of Prepared Written Dictation to accomplish…
Homeschooling Plans for 2017-2018
Hello, friends! So, it’s an exciting time of year for many homeschoolers as the Spring planning season is upon us. Catalogs and Vendor Halls and Conferences, OH MY! This year, I spent most of January and February praying, researching, and planning. This was mostly done while feeding a precious baby in the middle of the night. *wink* We had a beautiful baby boy join our family in December through adoption and it has been a wonderful whirlwind! I haven’t done babies for 8 years… but we are back in the swing. And loving it! I realized quite quickly, however, that I couldn’t possibly put together all my own plans…
A Review of Simply Charlotte Mason’s Visits To… Geography Series (Curriculum)
I’m happy to give my full review of the “Visits To…” Geography Series. So… Geography has always been a bit of a mish-mash for our family. When the kids were younger we covered most of our geography through Five in a Row. Now we read books that are specific to certain geographic areas and have basic discussions about them and find them on a map. Geography is also naturally covered in History read-alouds and discussions. We’ve also done Map-Drill, which I highly recommend for memorizing maps. The “Visits To…” series has 5 book or region options to choose from: Europe (what we have), North America, South/Central America and Australia,…
A Review of Simply Charlotte Mason’s Stories of the Nations and Stories of America
Our family uses many of the resources found over at Simply Charlotte Mason. I honestly love the friendly, easy to use materials and their affordability. Last year we worked through the Family Guide for Early Modern History and Epistles . This took us on a living books learning journey from 1550-1850 that centred around family learning and reading. I’m always adding to and changing the formal plan laid out in the guides but they are so affordable, it’s completely fine in my opinion even if you only use them as a springboard for era study. You can, mind you, use them as a well laid-out curriculum. This year…
Review of Simply Charlotte Mason’s Family Study Handbooks
I’m super happy to review Modern Times, Epistles, and Revelation from Simply Charlotte Mason for you. *smile* I love SimplyCharlotteMason.com and have blogged extensively about how we implement Charlotte Mason inspired plans with the help of much of the SCM resources If you ever use Simply Charlotte Mason’s free curriculum guide you will be directed to choose a history time period to study together as a family. These guides, arranged by time period, by Sonya Shafer, act as the backbone of the Simply Charlotte Mason ‘curriculum’. They are central to carrying out the SCM program in your family.There are six guides for six different time periods flowing…
Join us for a Lesson! {WriteShop Junior}
Over the past couple months, my daughter and I have really enjoyed using WriteShop . Have you seen my two other posts? Check them out here: Full Review of Write Shop Junior (Book D) Using Games and Manipulative to Make Writing Fun WriteShop a nutshell: This is an incredibly detailed, comprehensive writing program. As I mentioned in my previous post, it most reminds me of my experience with All About Reading. I say this because everything is here. The program is completely laid out in the high quality Teacher’s Guide and comes with everything you could possibly need to successfully teach/experience the curriculum. (Don’t you love that...?) In the…
A Detailed Review of WriteShop {Junior, Book D}
A few weeks ago, I posted about how using games and activities enhances learning in our home school. My 9-year-old daughter, Audrey and I have been having fun with WriteShop Junior . This is an incredibly detailed, comprehensive writing program. As I mentioned in my previous post, it most reminds me of my experience with All About Reading. I say this because everything is here. The program is completely laid out in the high quality Teacher’s Guide and comes with everything you could possibly need to successfully teach/experience the curriculum. (Don’t you love that...?) So, let’s take a look at this program… First Impressions Upon opening up a box…
Using Games and Manipulatives to make Writing Fun…
Something I absolutely love about working on writing within our homeschool is the quality time in gives me with my children. There’s just something special about digging into your child’s mind and pulling out the amazing ideas that are already there. I’ve got two boys, age 11 and 8, and one girl, age 9. My daughter (Audrey) is working through WriteShop Junior Book D with me right now and she’s really enjoying the journey. There are quite a few elements that really work for her with regard to WriteShop , and I’d like to chat about them in a couple upcoming posts. (I’ve had lots of requests for reviews…
Our Choices for Individual Studies / Morning Rotation
So, last week I posted about our Morning Time and Family Loop plans for this year, Term 1. If you haven’t read that post and are genuinely interested in how our year ( or a creatively put-together, Charlotte Mason-inspired year ) looks like, I’d definitely start there. A huge part of our learning is covered in our Morning Time and Family Loop . Once we finish up Morning Time, the kids move into their Morning Rotations (Individual Work). This is where they are covering their Language Arts, Math, Notebooking, and Reading. This year Simon is our 6th grader (oh, my goodness!), Audrey is in 4th grade, and Alex…
Classical Academic Press’s Writing & Rhetoric – A Review
Recently, I was given the opportunity to use and review Writing and Rhetoric by Classical Academic Press for HipHomeschoolMoms.com. Below is part of that review – to read the full review, access a coupon code, and enter a give-away, CLICK HERE. Writing has been one of the most challenging subjects for me to implement into our homeschool. I find this a bit funny, considering I love to write and have been an avid writer since I was very young. For this reason (and because it just looked so great!), I was thrilled to review Writing & Rhetoric Book 1 and Book 2 from Classical Academic Press. Using Writing & Rhetoric with a…