Join us for a Lesson – All About Reading Level 1
This next statement won’t come as a surprise to those of you who have been following my All About Reading posts- WE LOVE ALL ABOUT READING! Our son, Alex is six. He’s working through All About Reading Level 1. Although at first glance, I though he was beyond Level 1, I’m so glad I started him here. I walked through a full lesson in Level 2 of All About Reading right here, and now I’d love to take you through a Level 1 Lesson. So, here’s the motivating question for this post – If I choose to use All About Reading Level 1 to teach my child to read…
Join us for a Lesson – All About Reading Level 2
We are absolutely LOVING All About Reading! Both our children (Audrey is doing Level 2 and Alex is doing Level 1) literally ask to do their All About Reading work. Not only are we loving it – it is proving to be incredibly effective. Already (after about 9-10 lessons) I am seeing a huge improvement in their reading skills, confidence, and abilities. Many homeschoolers have asked me about All About Reading. It is one of the best known reading and phonic programs on the ‘homeschool market’ today. I am really excited to be working through it so I can really speak honestly and openly about our experience with this amazing program.…
A Review of ARTistic Pursuits – Elementary (K-3) Book 2, Stories of Artists and their Art
We have been using ARTistic Pursuits for the past several years in our homeschool. I really love this program and would recommend it to any homeschooler looking for an easy to follow, comprehensive, and fun art curriculum. We started with ARTistic Pursuits Early Elementary K-3 Book 1 and took our time working through it. Our kids truly enjoy it – when I say we’re going to do ARTistic Pursuits, they are thrilled. It is a great starting place for children in this age bracket and even a bit older. Early Elementary K-3, Book 2 is quite similar in the level of difficulty. It really depends on what you put…
Some of the Best Charlotte Mason-friendly Resources from our Year…
I am often asked about my favourite “Charlotte Mason” resources. I’ll start by quickly mentioning that this post doesn’t include the best *reading books* from our year. Living books are such a huge part of a Charlotte Mason education and listing all our favourite living and whole books from this year would be a ‘whole’ other post, or two, or three! This post is more about resources. To me, a resource is something like curriculum or a very specific type of book (like the Burgess books for Nature Study). So, hopefully that helps clarify that yes, we do indeed use hundreds of read-alouds in our home… but…
Our first look at All About Reading Level 1 and 2 – Getting Started!
We were really, really excited to receive All About Reading Level 1 and 2 from All About Learning Press in the mail last week. I thought I would casually share some of my thoughts and experiences on getting started with this amazing program. First, I’ll share why I chose to go with this program and these levels. I already knew All About Reading would be a top notch program. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about it and have already seen, felt, touched the beautiful quality of the materials through friends and curriculum fairs. Alex (age 6) will be doing All About Reading Level 1 over the Summer…
Organizing Heart of Dakota (and a small Review of Heart of Dakota)
I thought I would share how I organized our children doing Heart of Dakota. If you are curious about what Heart of Dakota is or why we chose this program for our homeschool, I encourage you to read this post. I would like the kind of preface this by saying that not all this is necessary to successfully enjoy HOD. I have been known to go a little crazy with organization… also, the way I organize might not be the way everyone else will – and that’s ok! I post this for two reasons. One – I’m a bit crazy about organization and love it dearly, so posting about my…
A Review of Forest for the Trees from Homeschool Legacy
I was happy to review Forest for the Trees, a 4-week unit study from Homeschool Legacy. I’m sharing my review in combination with “Charlotte Mason Monday” because this unit study is such a lovely way to incorporate Nature Study into the home. Layout I found the layout for this study to be quite different from most unit studies I have tried. These are called Once-a-Week Unit Studies. Just as the title says, it is truly only one day of the week which is devoted completely to the unit study. The other four days of the week you carry on with your normal studies and add in a few suggested…
A Review of Heart of Dakota
Heart of Dakota is a Christ-centered, literature based multi-level, multi-age full curriculum for homeschool. It is gentle, engaging, challenging, and planned in a very detailed, easy to follow way. They offer levels from Pre-K to High School. There are no real ‘grades’, but instead, suggested age outlines with their own themes. The years typically progress in 2 year increments so your child could place in more than one ‘guide’ (or year) at any given time. This offers flexibility based on the child’s abilities, your preference of themes, etc. Everything you need (in my opinion) is there except for some additional Language Arts in the higher grades and your Math.…
A Review of ARTistic Pursuits, Elementary 4-5, Book 1 (The Elements of Art and Composition)
We were excited to have the opportunity to review Elementary 4-5, Book 1:The Elements of Art and Compositionfrom ARTistic Pursuits. As a family, we naturally enjoy doing art together and working on different drawing projects in our homeschool. The books are a full art curriculum and come in many levels from Preschool to High School. I chose this particular level because I really wanted a book that would challenge our children’s developing art skills. The Layout What I love about the ARTistic Pursuits books is how in-depth and complete they are for art study. If you have one of these books for your year, you will have a…
A Detailed (and Whole-Hearted!) Review of Draw Write Now
Draw Write Now is not only an engaging copywork and printing program, but also blends joyful art, drawing, mapping, geography and history concepts easily and seamlessly. These books really present a ‘living education’ to children. I call this a ‘whole-hearted’ review because I can, with my whole heart, give a glowing report of our experience with these wonderful books. (I love it when that happens!) I am overjoyed to share with you my review of the Draw Write Now boxed set. The wonderful people at Draw Write Now were very kind to send it to me and I am so grateful! Program Overview Draw Write Now is written by…
