TOS Crew Review - Pitsco Medieval Machines

 

Pitsco is a company that specializes in educational, hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) products and curriculum, including products specifically designed for homeschoolers.  For this review, I received the Medieval Machines Pack, which included a Trebuchet Kit, a Catapult Kit, a Siege Machines book, and counterweights for the Trebuchet. 

The entire kit, as packaged.

Catapult

Trebuchet

This pack is specified for Middle School ages and up, so Isaac (5th grade) was just on the younger side for this pack, but he and I had no trouble putting the kit together.  It would have been more of a stretch for my younger kids, however, so the age designation is very appropriate (unless you have a younger child who is very into and experienced with models and kits).  The instructions were detailed and thorough, but not difficult to follow.  The hardest part was waiting for the glue to dry on each step!

Unfortunately, because we were out of town for over a week during Thanksgiving, we did not complete the Trebuchet at the time of this review, but we did complete and use the Catapult.  It is a huge hit!  The pack comes with clay to make little launching balls out of, and the kids enjoyed seeing how big or small the balls had to be in order to fly the most effectively.  The Catapult is quite sturdy and has held up to use in this household of boys!  I full expect the Trebuchet to be the same, and we are looking forward to trying it out soon.

Here are two videos of our first tries with the Catapult.  We did it outside just in case, but we have since used it inside very safely!  The first one hit something and didn't go far, which is why we did a second video - hopefully between the two of them you can get a good feel for the Catapult!





The Siege Machines book includes a history of each machine, and then various experiments to try with each one, as well as space to record observations and results. Science concepts that are taught include Mass, Tension and Torsion, Force and Motion, Gravity and Levers, (plus more) and Mathematical concepts such as averages, metric conversion, and prediction.  I, personally, love how so many topics can be covered by playing with a fun toy that my boys love!

The Pitsco Medieval Machines Pack is available for $21.95. To build the kit and utilize some of the activities, you will need basic household items such as glue, scissors, and a ruler.

Also available are Teacher's Guides for both the Trebuchet Kit and the Catapult Kit that include multiple hours worth of STEM activities and lessons.  For added savings, you can get everything included with the Medieval Machines Pack, plus the two two Teacher's Guides and extra clay in the Trebuchet & Catapult Pack for $64.95.  Be sure to check out many of the other Science, Technology and Mathematical products Pitsco has available for Homeschoolers! 

Also see what my other Crew Mates thought over at the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.

Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop - 2011-2012 Curriculum Plans!

I'm joining in with Heart of the Matter Online's "Not-Back to School Blog Hop"!  Week 1 is Curriculum Week, so here's a look at what our plans are for the 2011-2012 school year!

We've officially completed our 180 days of school, as required by our state.  Since we prefer to school year-round, we're jumping right into another "year", starting next week.  We still have odds and ends of our 2010-2011 curriculum to finish up, here are our plans for the upcoming year for each of the boys!

I've mentioned this a ton of times, but our main source for Bible, History, and Read-Alouds will be Sonlight's Core E.  We also do Science as a family, and once we've finished up Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, we'll be switching gears and studying electricity, inventions, magnetism and magnification with Sonlight's Science E.  This will be our first year away from Apologia and trying something new, so I'm excited to see how it goes! 

Isaac is 10, and technically be starting 5th grade!  (That's so weird to me, because I have very vivid memories of my 5th grade year, how is it possible that I have a child there now?  Is this how old people feel all the time?)

Here are the subjects he'll be studying in addition to the above:

• Math - Math-U-See's Epsilon, as well as ALEKS for supplementation, and drills using MathRider or Math Facts Now (his choice)
• English - Rod & Staff's English 4 - I have found Rod & Staff's English to be rigorous enough that even though it's technically "behind" his grade, it's quite sufficient.
• Writing - Writing Tales (finishing up Level 1, moving on to Level 2)
• Spelling - All About Spelling, Level 2 and beyond - so far, he's been able to breeze through a couple lessons a week, but I'm sure as we progress, it will slow down some, so I'm just following his lead for now!
• Bible - Core E includes an independent Bible Study, which he'll be using. If need be, we will supplement or switch out with studies from Quiet Times for Kids.
• Spanish - Rosetta Stone, Level 1
• Computer Programming - I purchased KidCoder from the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for a great price, and Isaac is so excited to get started!

I won't be having him do any more formal handwriting, as his subjects include enough written work now that he gets plenty of practice through that.

Ezra will soon be 9 and is considered a 4th grader now!

He's actually doing almost all of the same things as Isaac, except the levels are different, of course!  Here are the adjustments... everything else is exactly the same:

• Math - Math-U-See Delta, along with ALEKS and drills with Math Facts Now
• English - Rod & Staff English 3
• Reading - along with Core E Readers, he'll also be doing Rod & Staff Reading 3.  This is the last year of formal reading instruction with Rod & Staff for him
• Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears Cursive - this is doing wonders for him! He would previously struggle through handwriting in tears... this curriculum definitely lives up to it's name!  He loves it and his handwriting is much improved!

Joel is 6.5 and is now officially on our Attendance Form!

I consider him going into 1st grade, so he's got a little bit more "real" schoolwork, but not much.  As I've mentioned before, I prefer to keep things light in the younger years, so they have plenty of time for imaginative play and exploration.  Here's what's on his plate this year:

• Reading and Phonics - he's going to start Rod & Staff's Grade 1 Reading!  He's also chugging along with Reading Kingdom online.  He doesn't particularly care for it anymore, mostly because it is a challenge for him... which I consider a good thing!  Our subscription for that is up in February, and I'm not sure if we'll do anymore online programs after that.
• Math - Math-U-See Alpha
• Handwriting - A Reason for Writing, Book A
• We might venture into All About Spelling, Level 1... depending on time and need
• He'll also be joining in with Nathan's Kindergarten plans (listed below!)

Nathan is 4.5 and sort of Pre-K-ish, I guess?

He spent last year sitting in on Joel's K activities, which has put him a little ahead of the game.  While I don't push a lot of academic stuff at this age, I do love getting into their world through lots of reading aloud and fun activities.  I have to admit, Preschool and Kindergarten are my favorite years to "teach"! Here's what my (very flexible) plans are for Nathan:

• Sonlight P 3/4 - we did this at the beginning of last year with Joel and Nathan, but it's so good it's worth repeating!  We all enjoyed it very much!
• My Father's World Kindergarten - I won't be using the phonics portion, but the Bible and Science activities are lots of fun, and nice, light learning.  Both Joel and Nathan will be joining together for this!
• He'll be starting Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!  He's almost finished with the Get Ready, Get Set, Go! for the Code books, so he'll be ready very soon.   He's also been doing Click N' Read Phonics (another great buy from the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op) online, and I am very pleased with this program for beginning readers.  He's having a lot of success with it!

The great thing about homeschooling several children is that I didn't have to buy anything except the Code workbooks for Nathan, and his subscription to Click N' Read (which is a lifetime subscription, so it will be used for all following children!).  If I were trying to afford everything I just listed above in one purchase, it would easily be close to my entire year's homeschool budget!  But I've picked all of them up as we've gone along over the years, and he, being child number 4, is reaping the benefits (as is our bank account!)

Judah is 2,

and will be working on potty training!  Honestly, I think potty training is my least favorite parental duty. But, once it's done, it's always good.  So I have to bite the bullet and get it done!  He's definitely ready now!  He's also at the age where he's into everything (did I say everything?  I mean everything!!),  so we'll be spending our days keeping his little hands and mind busy.  Lots of stories, drawing, music, blocks, outside time and attention!

Rachel will just be doing her thing - growing, learning, eating, sleeping, and getting lots and lots of love!

We're so excited about the upcoming year!

If you are curious to see how this all falls into place during a typical day, be sure to check out my post, "Fitting It All In" - where I explain!  If you're interested in seeing how I organize everyone's assignments, I've got a post on my homemade homeschool assignment sheets, too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great 2011-2012 homeschool year!

Our 2nd Annual Sonlight Box Day!

Even though we still have about 14 weeks left of our current Sonlight Core (Core D), I went ahead and purchased our next Core (Core E)! I did this to give me time to pre-read all of the books, as well as make sure things are nice and organized... and also to take advantage of Sonlight's Time Payments option (a great option for those, like myself, on a tighter homeschool budget!).

Thursday was the "due date" for our boxes to arrive, and we all waited with excited anticipation for a sight of the FedEx truck! However, we woke up to different trucks outside! They were making repairs on the fire hydrant outside our house.

After a while, I said to Michael, "I wonder if the FedEx man won't stop because there's so much construction going on?"... literally, within 3 minutes, a FedEx truck came up the road, and parked in the neighbor's driveway. We peeked out the window, and sure enough he saw him hauling two large, very distinct white boxes with blue lettering out of his truck! Michael was kind enough to meet him in the yard to relieve him of his burden - boxes of books are pretty heavy! Here they are, hiding all sorts of wonderful treasures inside!

First, we had to move them to a nice open spot where we'd have room to lay everything out to look at. Joel volunteered to do the heavy work!

And then the opening began! The first box held a surprise that I hadn't told the boys we were getting - a microscope! A real, live, high-quality microscope! They were so excited!

Since the older boys have been showing a lot of interest in inventions and electrical things lately, I decided that we'd go ahead with Sonlight's Core E science for next year, as the main topics covered include inventions and electrcity! We love Apologia and plan to return to it, but I thought it would be nice to teach something they're really wanting to learn, so it should be a fun science year! Here are all of the Science books and kit supplies:

Then came the Core books - book, after book, after book! Here they are, all laid out:

And here they are, sorted into their subject piles:

For a closer look, here are the main history books (there are several that we will use that I already own, so they're not pictured):

Here are the books I'll be reading aloud to the boys (I love them best, because I enjoy the whole experience with them!):

And here are the books they'll be reading by themselves:

Isaac's comment was "Aww, man! Do I really have to wait until next year to be able to read these?!" I explained that "next year" actually meant this fall, so it wasn't going to be too long of a wait ;-)

Here's the rug, covered with all of our Box Day goodies!

After labeling and organizing them, we had the fun of putting them away! Isaac takes a look back over each one:

Oh, and even Nate got something special in this year's box! Time to start some fun pre-reading!

And of course Judah can't be left out of a photo shoot:

We are all very excited and looking forward to another year with Sonlight!

(Oh, and just as a side note, if you're interested in trying Sonlight and happen to use one of my links to make your first purchase over $50, you'll save $5 and I'll get some points, too. It's a win-win situation! ;-) )

TOS Crew Review - Christian Kids Explore Chemistry

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is a full year science course for grades 4-8, from Bright Ideas Press. It contains 30 Lessons broken down in 5 units, along with hands-on activities and experiments for each lesson.


The book is very easy to use and schedule. Each lesson is brief (about 2 pages of reading each), and there are accompanying worksheets (called Review It) the students can do to help reinforce what the lesson taught. These worksheets were generally fill-in-the-blank type questions, so they could easily be done orally for a child that does not enjoy writing or worksheets much. Following the worksheet, there is a Hands-on Activity, which range from simple experiments using basic materials that are easily found or already on hand, to simpler things such a classifying chemicals, making element cards, or word searches. Many of the Hands-on Activities are also followed by a "Think About It" section, where questions are asked about the activity and the results of the activity. After every 6 Lessons, there is a Unit Wrap-up, which is a quiz/test of all of the material covered in that Unit.

The book also contains a substantial Appendix section, which includes Answer Keys to the worksheets and quizzes, coloring pages to go along with each lesson (which is great for kids who need to be doing something with their hands while listening!), as well as a thorough resource list to delve further into topics discussed and encourage delight-directed learning.

Bright Ideas Press gave us the pleasure of choosing from several different products to review, and I purposely chose this book because I thought would challenge the children a little bit. Isaac (9) is in 4th grade, so we were on the lower age spectrum of recommended grade levels, but I thought it would be good to see how easily adaptable it would be. I also chose Chemistry because it was something new compared to the other sciences we've studied so far.

We found it very easy to complete one lesson each week, while only doing science twice a week. We did the reading and worksheets on the first day, and then the hands-on activity and any follow-up the next. The schedule was not overwhelming at all, and it was nice to be able to only have to schedule Science twice a week so that it did not become a big burden, as well as allow us room for other science explorations through the week, such as nature walks and whatnot.

As far as adapting to younger ages, I think Bright Ideas Press is correct in stating it is for Grades 4-8. (They even suggest going over the material a second year if need be). While the lessons and schedule were easy to keep pace with, the material presented is definitely complex! Chemistry is a pretty deep subject at any age (at least it was for me, lol!) and my younger ones who sat in on the lessons had a hard time grasping the concepts. Isaac was able to understand a lot of it, but it was still a challenge for him - not that challenges are bad things! I thought it was good to stretch his brain a little and try to help him understand concepts that are a little advanced.

The one complaint I heard (and had myself) was that not all of the Hands-on Acitivites were very... interesting. With a Chemistry course, I sort of expected there to be really exciting experiments - basic chemical reactions doing cool things, like making wild colors, safe explosions, etc. So the kids and I were both a little bummed when some of them were just "busywork" like word searches or classifying things, or making lists of things. Granted, there were definitely some more interesting projects, but perhaps not quite enough to hold everyone's interest.

Other than that, I think the curriculum is a great one for middle schoolers and provides an excellent foundation for a high-school level Chemistry course!

Be sure to check out the Table of Contents for the book, as well as Sample Pages to get a more in-depth look at the book and how a typical lesson looks. Also, to save families from the potential hassle of photocopying review pages, coloring pages, and quizzes to hand out to their children, they offer a Student Activity Book as well, which is a downloadable PDF with all necessary pages available to print off as many copies as needed. Definitely a time-saver, but not absolutely necessary. (For me, I love anything that makes life a little more convenient!) The main lesson book is $34.95, and the Student Activity book (optional) is $12.95.

To see what other Crew Members thought about Christian Kids Explore Chemistry as well as other Bright Ideas Press products, click on over to the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of TOS Homeschool Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.

Sometimes its OK to Admit Defeat

I find there are two extremes in the homeschooling world: Parents who are constantly changing curriculum, looking for the "next best thing" and lured from one thing to the next, and then parents who pick something their first year into homeschooling and stick with it devotedly... even if it isn't really doing the job it needs to within their homeschool - they picked it, and they're keeping it.

While I like to peek at the latest and greatest, and am often tempted, I tend to be more one of those "devoted" types. This past year, after using My Father's World from K-3rd grade, I had to admit to myself that it wasn't exactly all that I was hoping it to be for our family. It was a very hard revelation for me. I know something was out of whack, but I couldn't figure out what to do about it. MFW is what I liked from the onset of our homeschooling, and it was... safe. I know what to expect from it, I know what I like and don't like, etc. But I didn't feel like we were "thriving" and I was scared to take a leap into something different. But, after much prayer and discussion with Michael, I went ahead and made the switch to Sonlight.

Another "revelation" has occurred to me regarding a homeschool product I've been using since the beginning. We love Apologia Science, however, I am not so good at the notebooking aspect. Thinking that lapbooking would be a lot more interesting and hands-on than notebooking, I've used Live N' Learn Press' "Learn N' Folders" for both Astronomy and Botany. *I* love them! I think they're fun and a great way to help the boys recall what we've discussed in each lesson. However... the boys, not so much.

I'm not the kind of mom that at the first complaint from my child I instantly adjust things to make life easier and more fun for them. Nosiree! Life isn't all about fun, and sticking things out even when they're not "fun" is an important character trait, in my opinion. However, we have tried lapbooking for 3 years now... and it just isn't working. Much to my disappointment. But homeschooling isn't all about ME, now is it?

So, in another moment of revelation and reevaluation, I've realized... you know, we really don't need to do the lapbooks. There won't be a huge gap in their education without them, and as long as I work on their narration skills, I'll know that they're learning and retaining things I'm teaching them. We've done Science all week without them and its much more relaxed and enjoyable, even for me!

I wrote all of this out not to bash the lapbooks or MFW, (I think both are WONDERFUL companies and products, just not the right fit for us) but just to point out that it is OK to change your mind about something you thought or hoped would work perfectly in your homeschool but just isn't. While you wouldn't want to swing to the other extreme of changing curricula every semester, it is important every so often to really evaluate where your sticky points may be, and what could be done to improve them. Sometimes its just an attitude change, but sometimes true, genuine change is what's needed. And that's OK. That's the beauty and freedom of homeschooling - we're not stuck in a curriculum box. We are blessed to have choices, and to be able to modify things so that they do work for our family.

A Little Science

As I've mentioned before, we love Apologia's Exploring Creation series for Elementary-aged children. Last year we worked our way through Astronomy, and this year we've slowly but surely been learning about the world of plants through their Exploring Creation with Botany book. Its been a lot of fun, and we're learning tons. Isn't that half the fun of homeschooling as a parent - learning things you never learned yourself, or at least had forgotten?!

We recently conducted an experiment. Each of the three boys (we do Science while Nathan and Judah are napping, so its just Isaac, Ezra, and Joel) placed bean seeds (which are actually just dried beans, you know!) into separate plastic baggies, along with a wet paper towel. One baggie we placed in a dark closet, another was hung in a window, and the third was placed in the refigerator. Each boy made a hypothesis about their particular seed and whether or not it would grow, how much, and why or why not.

One of the funniest thing about this is the boys kept calling their hypotheses "I hope these..." as in "My I hope these is that I hope these will grow". LOL!

Anyway, we were supposed to chart the progress daily, but since it was Thanksgiving week, we didn't. But it was an even more interesting discovery to see what had happened in the week that the seeds hadn't been monitored.

Here are Ezra's seeds - his were in the refrigerator (see the little white beans at the bottom?):

His hypothesis was that they would not grow because it was cold and dark, and he was correct. He was a little disappointed that he was correct, though.

Here are Isaac's - his were in the window:

His hypothesis was also correct - he guessed they would grow well because they were in a sunny window.

Joel's are the ones that surprised everyone. His were in a dark closet, where no light ever gets to (in the basement next to the furnace and water heater). Joel's hypothesis was that they probably wouldn't grow, of if they did, it would be very little. The other boys agreed with him. Surprise!

However, we did notice that while they grew the biggest of all of them, they weren't a nice healthy green color like the ones that got sunlight. We also had to determine why they grew so big, despite the lack of light. We finally came to the conclusion that they grew so big beacuse they were searching for light!

This experiment really helped reinforce the fact that the only things seeds need to germinate is warmth, water, and air - light isn't actually needed! However, once they start growing, light becomes a necessary resource to help them be green and healthy. It was interesting to see how the beans kept in the closet were trying to burst out of their baggie in their hunt for light, but the ones in the window just grew at a normal rate as happy little beans.

Just another day in the life of homeschooling :-)

A Few Notes about Apologia

One thing we will be continuing during our summer break is working our way through Apologia's Exploring Creation with Botany, by Jeannie Fulbright. Its just too much fun to give up, and the summer season is a good one for studying a variety of plants. One thing that the boys are loving about it are the hands-on experiments. Something that I love is the Botany Lab Kit that I got to accompany the book. It has made science so much LESS stressful and burdensome to me!

Almost everything we need for every project and experiment in the book is included, and what isn't included are simple things found in most households (measuring cups, water, etc.). The kit even includes tin foil and paper towels! So now we just open up the book and go with whatever is assigned for the day, with literally NO preparation on my part.

The kit comes with each lesson's materials sorted into labeled bags, so I just pull out the "Lesson 1" bag (or whatever lesson we're on) and get what I need out of it. I cannot even begin to describe how much I am loving this kit!

It is produced by Nature's Workshop Plus, which has a ton of other fun science and nature resources, but I was even more excited to find out that Christianbook.com carries it, too - since I am an affiliate, and all! ;-)

There are kits for each Apologia Exploring Creation book - Astronomy, Botany, and the Zoology series, as well. I really can't say enough about what a blessing the kit has been to me, so if you are using any of the Apologia Exploring Creation books, I highly recommend the investment!

Also, another fun Apologia development are the new Notebooking Journals for both Astronomy and Botany. My boys have always found blank notebooking pages a bit intimidating, so we've been using Live & Learn Press's Learn N' Folders. They make a great interactive notebook, but require a bit of planning and preparing effort on my part to print, cut, assemble, and glue them. After looking at the sample pages of the Notebooking Journals, I think we're going to have to give them a try when we begin Zoology (hoping that one for Zoology will be ready by then!) They look like just what we need to graduate into more "mature" notebooking, while still enjoying the process, and saving myself some time!

We Did It!

I've been wanting to have a raised-bed garden for a number of years. This year, we finally got one made! I'm very excited. The boys planted sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli and tomatoes (the tomatoes are going to be planted in separate containers). We started them off indoors in peat pellets. In just 2 weeks, they were ready for replanting, so that's what we spent our morning doing! The boys had more fun hunting for worms than planting, but that's ok, because I enjoy planting more than hunting for worms! We made a great team! Here's a slide show of the whole process, from the time we planted the seeds in the peat pellets, through today, when we transplanted them. Hopefully I'll have pictures of some yummy homegrown veggies soon!!

Wordless Wednesday - A View of Homeschooling

Olympus Mons erupts!

Homeschool Ramblings

I thought I'd go ahead and update how our new year is going along! Ezra is using My Father's World 1st Grade, and we are really loving it. Isaac is weeks away from finishing Adventures, and then, for him, we're not going to jump straight into the next program (which would be Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC), a year long focus on World Geography and Missions). Instead, I'm going to go back to a more eclectic style, until Ezra is done with 1st. Once Ezra is done with 1st (probably around January, or so) we are excited to start ECC!

For Isaac, some things we'll be using are 3rd grade Rod & Staff Reading (I really love how Bible centered Rod and Staff curriculum is!), Apologia Elementary Science (finishing the Astronomy we started last year), continue math with Math-U-See Beta and Spanish with Rosetta Stone, and also introduce some logic and typing skills! We'll also be getting some United States geography games to help hone everyone's skills in remembering states and capitals. While I'm looking forward to moving into ECC, I'm also excited to have a little time to do our "own" thing outside of the curriculum "box".

This was something I wrestled with for a while. I really enjoy My Father's World curriculum - I like how its entirely focused on learning about and serving the Lord, helping children and families become mission-minded. The lessons are wonderfully age-appropriate, short for young attention spans, the activities are fun but not overwhelming to prepare for, and overall, very enriching.

However, being the perfectionist I am, I really struggled with "marking off the boxes" - feeling pressured to get it "all" done, and if I somehow got thrown off schedule, trying to fit everything back in - while the daily schedule is a wonderful guide, my perfectionism has struggled with it and feeling like I have to do it all "just so". I also struggled with juggling two programs (first, Kindergarten and Adventures, now 1st and Adventures) for the same reasons - I didn't want to leave ANY of the wonderful learning opportunities out, which leads to a very full (and sometimes overwhelming) day!

I definitely feel this is an aspect of my personality that I need to tone down some in order to be a better homeschooling mom! So I freely admit its *me* and not the curriculum itself. That being said, I am both excited for some time "out of the box" and also looking forward to returning to that structure when both children can be in the same program together!

And So it Begins....

Our full-time homeschooling, that is! We now have the basics of what we need for Reading, English, Math, Science and History. We'll be adding on a few more things, but overall we're set to go!

For Science we are starting with Apologia's Elementary Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy. The book came today, and the boys were SO excited! I love it because its Biblically based, easy to read/teach from, and has fun notebook pages and projects every week. After just leafing through looking at the pictures, Isaac said "Oh, I'm definitely going to be an Astronaut. Definitely! I can find moonrocks to bring home, and if I find any aliens I'm going to tell them all about my family and God and Jesus!"

We are waiting on the corresponding project kit from Creation Sensation, and we'll be off and running. Science is one of my favorite subjects, I'm really excited to be able to teach it!

The only thing left on our must-have list is the Kindergarten cirriculum from My Father's World for Ezra, Rosetta Stone Spanish for all of us, and maybe a few other things like a music program and handwriting helps.

For History, Michael will be spending time reading out of Bill Bennett's "America: The Last Best Hope" to the children.

I am so blessed to be able to learn with my children as we go through our day together. It keeps us always busy, but it is so much fun!