Monday 1 May 2017

ArtAchieve {Review}

We are having a fabulous time exploring different parts of the world and expressing our exploration via art tutorials from ArtAchieve



What we received
The Crew have each been blessed with a year long access to different levels of ArtAchieve to work through.
As a Crew leader I was blessed with access to all four levels for this review and as such today I will be sharing a few samples from different levels.  To read more about a specific level please read reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew which can be found here:  Art Lessons Inspired From Around the World {ArtAchieve Reviews}

How we used it
After logging in you will be taken to the lesson page which is arranged in levels.  In each level you will see the lesson number followed by the lesson name.  Each lesson name contains the country and name of the picture you will be making followed by a plus sign on the right. When you have selected your project, clicking on the plus will open a drop down menu.  In the menu you will find everything you need to do a project (PowerPoint Version, Printouts, Video Lessons)


For this lesson we used the PowerPoint version. Once you have loaded the lesson John shares a photo demonstrating the lesson in real life applications.  For example for this lesson he shows a picture of an owl and explains what the word Tessellation means. He encouraged students to find tessellations in real life around them and gave examples.  He then gave them a simplified lesson followed by an explanation of a Pentomino. One of the best parts of the program is how each lesson is fully expanded upon for Cross-Curriculuar Connections.  You can see an example here: Level II-Lesson 8: Tessellations: Repeating a Pattern to Create Original Art

Tessellations: Pentomino
 Here is another sample of some work we did with ArtAchieve. We decided to try our hand at a level III art lesson.  We did The Woodcarving from Kenya.  This one involved doing a silhouette and a background pattern. Here is the Cross-Curriculuar expanded lesson: Level III-Art Lesson 7: The Woodcarving from Kenya

It's okay not to like everything you draw.  Even famous artists do not like everything they create.
Remember to draw for yourself, not for your teacher or your classmates.
- John (ArtAchieve)
Here is a sample of the step by step instructions:




Here is Nathaniel's completed project:

Level III Woodcarving from Kenya

 Within the Cross-Curricular Connections John shares a number of things.  For example in this lesson he supplies links and ideas to cover:
  • Social Studies
  • Cooking
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Literature
  • Dance


Level 1 Dragonfly from Ecuador.
 Here are a couple more of the projects we did:

For the Parent
The Czech Cat (Level 1-2)
Be sure to try a FREE lesson with ArtAchieve: FREE Level I-Art Lesson I-2: The Czech Cat

Cost of ArtAchieve
There are numerous options available for purchasing art lessons from ArtAchieve..
  • Entire Curriculum
  • Entire level (Currently Level 1 to 5)
  • Separate Bundles (3 lessons in each bundle)

Connect with ArtAchieve.

Facebook @Artachieve
Google+ +Artachieve
Pinterest @artachieve
Twitter@ArtAchieve
Instagram @johnahofland

Over All I thought ...
I love the variety of lessons and the fact that I do not need a lot of resources to accomplish beautiful art with ArtAchieve. I also appreciate the detailed step by step instructions for each and every lesson.


Blessings
Chareen

There is no right or wrong way to draw. One drawing is not better than another.  It's just different - because the people who are drawing are different - John (ArtAchieve)

German Nutcracker Drawings Level II



Nathaniel and I drew these

Laura, Belinda and Ethan drew these




Friday 28 April 2017

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science Book 7 {Review}

"How will you teach Science?" is one of the most common questions I get asked when people find out I am home educating.  One of my greatest delights after being on this journey for 19 years is finding products which have been designed by professionals in the field of study and home educators for home educators.  Combine the two things and you have a marvelous product! Real Science 4 Kids recently blessed Nathaniel and I with Book 7 in the Exploring The Building Blocks of Science. I had been hearing some fabulous reports about this product and was super excited when they asked us to look over their book.



About the Author

I set up the program from a reversed viewpoint. I asked, “What would a high school student need to know to master college science? What would a middle school student need to know to master high school science? What would an elementary school student need to know to master middle school science?”
The basic concepts of science are broken down to a fundamental level so that a first grader can master a few key aspects of science. I don’t overload students with material at this stage. It isn’t necessary or beneficial. The program offers just enough to get them interested without making it complicated. Those initial concepts will be built upon in second grade, and so on. As learning capacity increases, so does the material. Dr. Keller
Rebecca W. Keller is a homeschool Mom with a difference.  She has a PhD and her professional specialty is science. When Rebecca began home educating her children she came to realise that there was a lack of real science for home educated children.  She realised that most scientific texts had been dumbed down to the point where there was no real content and therefore no connection with real scientific terms and concepts.  She couldn't find any texts containing chemistry or physics which are the foundations of all science.  Born out of many years this labor of love to give children real chemistry, physics, biology etc to inspire children to learn and love science which in turn has grown into Real Science 4 Kids. You can read a more in depth interview on why Real Science 4 Kids Works with Rebecca W.Keller PhD in her interview: Real Science Chat.

Her original series Focus On was set up to meet the unit study approach and focus on single subjects.  Dr. Keller realised that many families prefer to cover multiple areas of science each year so she repackaged the Focus On course materials into grade level books and created the new Building Blocks series.  Each year, students study all five areas of science as they would eventually do if they worked through the Focus On courses. Both text and illustrations in the student books have been borrowed from the Focus On series with minor changes and additions.



We received the following to review and share with you today: Real Science 4 Kids sent us their Building Blocks Book 7 Bundle consisting of: 

About the Books

Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Student Textbook this is a beautifully illustrated full color text divided into 22 chapters subdivided into:
  • Introduction using Science
  • Chemistry - Pure Substances, Organic Chemistry (Carbon), Polymers and Biological Polymers.
  • Biology - Plants, Photosynthesis, Plant Structure and Growth as well as Plant Reproduction
  • Physics - Chemical Energy, Electrostatics, Electrodynamics and Electromagnetics.
  • Geology - The Hyrdosphere,The Biosphere, The Magnetosphere, and Earth as a System
  • Astronomy - Galaxies, Our Galaxy The Milky Way, Other Galaxies, Exploding Stars and Other Stuff
  • Conclusion Putting It All Together.
  • Appendix (Chemistry)
  • Glossary/Index

The whole text book is beautifully written and every page contains beautiful crisp full colour photographs or drawings illustrating the point being taught.  It's a visual feast for the eyes and a banquet of knowledge for you and your student.  This books will introduce your student to foundation scientific concepts and terminology giving them a solid foundation on which to build their study of science.


There is no need to go looking for a suitable laboratory notebook for your students.  Real Science 4 Kids has a beautifully presented ready to use Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Laboratory Workbook which corrolotates beautifully with the student text. This 258 pages is printed in black and white and contains:
  • Introduction
  • Chemistry - Four Experiments
  • Biology - Four Experiments
  • Physics - Four Experiments
  • Geology - Four Experiments
  • Astronomy - Four Experiments
  • Conclusion
  • Appendix
Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers
 Each section follows the same outline:
  1. Introduction and Think About It with questions to answer before you commence the experiment.  This helps the students clarify what they are looking for.
  2. Experiment - Here you will find a space to clarify the objective, your hypotheses, Materials you will need and then the Experiment with directions and Results recording page 
  3. Conclusions
  4. Why? This contains a discussion on what and why with deeper insights on the practical implications of what you are doing.
  5. Just for Fun.  Sometimes students are encouraged to dream big and jot down ideas for the future and other times they are challenged to answer an extension question with an experiment.
Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers Results


This book contains everything you will need to fulfill the hands on section of the course. Every question is clearly asked followed by double spaced lines for the student to write in their answers/thoughts. All the directions are clear and easy to follow and reinforce the subject matter being studied.


Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Teacher's Manual contains 103 black and white pages containing:
  • A full list of the Materials at a Glance listed by experiment.
  • A list of the Materials quantities needed for all the experiments.
  • Introduction
  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Geology
  • Astronomy
  • Conclussion
 The purpose of the teachers guide is to assist you to guide your students through the experiments in order to help them solidify their scientific understanding in the five scientific disciplines through the 44 experiments presented. It also provides you with an answer key of what should happen in each experiment and the possible answers your children (and you) could come up with.

You can download and view Samples of each of the books here.

Connect with
Facebook Real Science 4 Kids @realscience4kids
Blog Real Science 4 Kids Blog
Pinterest Real Science 4 Kids @rs4k
Twitter Real Science 4 Kids @RS4K_gravitas
YouTube RealScience4Kids
Instagram @realscience4kids


Over All I thought ...
These books are beautifully presented and well put together.  They are twaddle free, logical  and provide you with challenging science instruction.  This curriculum will make it easy for any parent who has no scientific background or understanding to give their children and themselves a quality scientific education, preparing them for a life long love and understanding.  The books are available to purchase individually or as bundle sets.

Blessings
Chareen

Tuesday 25 April 2017

Daily Bible Jigsaw {Planet 316 Review}

I have a new daily source of inspiration thanks to Planet 316. They have a fabulous FREE app called Daily Bible Jigsaw which Nathaniel and I have been using on my Android smart phone.  Today's review will be slightly different to my normal review.  This one will be more of a show and tell with pictures.



How does it work?

The app is available to download through:
When you open the app you will have the option of signing up with your email or using Facebook.  Each time you open the app you will click Log in and it will generate a new puzzle. I loved the name for each day (Motivational Monday, Renewing Saturday, etc)  During the first few times you play the app it will prompt you with a hint on how to use the app.

 Once the puzzle is loaded the timer will begin in the top right hand corner and it will continue counting until you place the final piece.



Once the final piece of the puzzle is placed the puzzle fades into a beautiful photograph and a scripture verse appears.  There are also streamers and confetti to celebrate the completion of the puzzle. IF your account is linked to Facebook you will be asked if you would like to share it to Facebook.



 After you have finished the puzzle morphs into a puzzle piece which is added into a month long puzzle.  The puzzle pieces fill in every day you do the new puzzle.  If you miss a day you will have a missing piece in your monthly puzzle.  The missing puzzle piece/puzzles can be purchased using in game puzzle coin currency. During each puzzle there is a boost piece which lights up.  If you are able to connect this piece to it's mate you earn a puzzle coin!


 You can earn FREE coins through sharing on Facebook or purchasing. Planet 316 gifted members of the Homeschool Review Crew with 500 coins (worth $39.99) to expand our experience and enable us to complete a month of puzzles. 


It was very rewarding watching the puzzle pieces fill in each day and watching the picture appear.

 Each day as we built the beautiful puzzles I began to really anticipate a new scripture to meditate upon.



 There is an Awards center in the App in which you can earn awards and special tokens as well as a leader board if you sign up via Facebook.  A few of our Crew joined up together and there has been some fabulous challenges to see who could get to the top of the leader board!

 I was quite thrilled to see the puzzle completed by the end of the month!

In the Future
Planet 316 has some fabulous ideas in the pipeline for the future.  Here are couple of the ideas they are working on:
  • They are very excited about connecting the Bible verses to the Fusion Bible. The Fusion Bible is an all new digital bible app they are releasing later this year. For example after completing a puzzle players would have the opportunity to read the passage of scripture by simply clicking on the a button that opens directly to the that passage in the Fusion Bible. 
  • Considering adding a Scripture of the month to the monthly puzzle upon completion
  • Being able to share the inspirational scripture / picture to Instagram.
Daily Bible Jigsaw has been loads of fun and has lived up to it's aim of providing inspirational bible verses to meditate upon along with beautiful photographs. I hope that you and your family will be as blessed as we have been with this app.

Blessings
Chareen



Daily Bible Jigsaw {Planet 316 Reviews}