I saw someone on a message board wondering what people would like to see in a homeschooling blog. The answer was honest, detailed reviews of curriculum. With so many blogs being monetized nowadays, the vast majority of reviews are from people who were provided a curriculum free in exchange for a review, and they may have only used it for a couple of lessons (if that) before posting about it, which makes for a lot of very enthusiastic, but shallow, reviews out there. I've also found this frustrating when I'm looking for more information, so I'll try to post a few more in-depth reviews, like my last post on Beast Academy.
I write this blog as a way to organize my thoughts and contribute to a homeschooling community that has been so supportive of us. What else would people like to hear about? What would be helpful or interesting to you as you read? More about curricula? Day-to-day details? (I warn you, they're pretty boring!) Organization? Giftedness and asynchrony? Something else?
Monday, February 11, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Beast Academy Review
We've been all done with Beast Academy for several months now, and I don't think I've ever written any type of review about it. So, here I go.
Beast Academy is designed for kids who think of math in concepts instead of in algorithms. This is often phrased as "advanced math kids" but I'm not so sure that's the correct description. It is true that a lot of kids who think of math in concepts may be advanced, but they may also have struggled so much with traditional algorithm-focused programs that they are behind.
If you're not sure what it means for a math program to be focused on concepts, here's an example. When it comes to multiplication, an algorithm-based program will focus on multiplication tables and practice/memorization of them. A concept-based program will focus on what multiplication is (basically, an array) and how to move that array about so that the numbers can be easily manipulated. So the x4 tables aren't necessarily memorized, but they will be understood easily as the same as doubling and doubling again, or x5 and minus one of the numbers.
There are two books for each level: the guide book and the practice book. The guide book is a colorful comic in which a group of math beasts work together to learn new concepts and, eventually, compete in a math competition. We see the beasts struggle, we see them get problems wrong, and we see them figure things out by using each of their different strengths. This is excellent modeling for partnering with your child on the more difficult problems, and for kids to see how to struggle productively. All of the teaching is done in the guide books, and The Kid found these so fun that she took them to bed with her as reading material and still hangs on to them even though she's finished with the program.
The practice book is black and white. It often has a beast at the beginning of each section, and word problems will refer back to things in the beasts' world, but there is no comic format to the practice. A section of practice will usually start with a few straightforward questions and then move on to more challenging or puzzle-type problems. A common complaint I've seen about the program is that it does not have enough practice. We did not find this to be true; it had plenty of practice problems for The Kid. (The exception being in practicing multi-digit multiplication and division, for which I did supply extra practice.) There are excellent solution guides in the back of each book that not only give the answers but walk you through how to do each problem in a step-by-step manner. These guides make it possible for both mathy and non-mathy parents to use the program.
The books are challenging. We chose to use Beast Academy only about three days per week on average. The other days, we took a break and did less challenging math such as (easier) math puzzles, math games, competition math practice, reading mathy books like Sir Cumference, and other such things. At this pace, level 3 took The Kid about one calendar year to complete. It looked like level 4 was going to take about the same amount of time when The Kid suddenly accelerated her pace greatly and flew through the content of the rest of level 4 and all of level 5.
We love Beast Academy. It's a very strong program and gets more advanced with each year. Level 3 is mostly 3rd grade material with some more advanced topics. Level 4 is 4th grade, but adds in quite a bit of 5th/6th grade material. Level 5 gets advanced enough that The Kid was able to skip pre-Algebra and move directly into Algebra upon completion.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Brave Writer Materials
I feel as though I answer this question fairly often in other homeschooling spaces, so I'm going to put it here as well. I love Brave Writer. It's methods, structure, and lifestyle approach all fit The Kid and I pretty well. But their website leaves something to be desired, as evidenced by the number of questions about what all the pieces even are. So, here's my summary:
The Lifestyle: This is an all-encompassing term for the approach that Brave Writer takes. The program emphasizes that language is something that we live and breathe, not simply a school subject. The Brave Writer Lifestyle includes word play, art galleries, poetry teas, movie nights, and deep conversations alongside books and writing. These things can all be incorporated into a homeschool with no need for products, and are a great way to explore whether Brave Writer's approach is for you with no cash outlay. The best summary can be found by looking through the pieces on the left side of this Brave Writer page.
The Writer's Jungle: This is the original product from the company. It is a parent manual, and lays out the philosophy and road map for everything from pre-writing through high school. It is very much a "big picture" book, with fairly little implementation guidance, meant to guide people in creating their own custom language arts program in their home. If you want some guidance and to otherwise do your own thing, this is the product for you. Otherwise, I suggest you start with one of the writing pieces in the next paragraph and come back to this after you settle in a bit with Brave Writer.
The Writing Project Books: These are Jot it Down, Partnership Writing, and Faltering Ownership. Each of these contain ten writing project ideas, with ideas on how to implement them. Jot it Down is a bit different from the other two, as it assumes that the child is not yet writing, or is an emergent writer, and therefore focuses on the child learning skills such as ordering information, retelling stories, and beginning to express themselves in a logical manner with words, all while the parent is doing the bulk of the physical writing. In Partnership Writing and Faltering Ownership, the assumption is that the child is doing all of their own writing, with the parent providing encouragement and guidance. For PW and FO, most projects are meant to take four weeks, including time to select topics, do research, write, and revise. The program emphasizes that fewer well thought out pieces are superior to many rushed pieces of writing. I believe that the writing project books are the star of the Brave Writer program, and if you want to try just one product, most people should start with one of these. Each one spends the first half the book summarizing the parts of The Writer's Jungle philosophy that is applicable to that stage of writing, so they make an excellent place to jump in.
The Literature and Grammar Program: These are Quiver of Arrows, The Arrow, Pouch of Boomerangs, and The Boomerang. Each guide covers one book, has copywork/dictation each week for four weeks, and a literary topic/device to discuss. The newer ones (which you can recognize by their higher prices) are better formatted and include topics for Big Juicy Conversations (discussion questions). Grammar is taught through the copywork and dictation. These can be done in any order, and therefore I would encourage people to choose ones that correspond to books they are excited to share with their children.
The Online Classes: We have not done any of these, so I include them here only because I know they are fairly popular. Reviews on them consistently say that they are very encouraging, and the teachers are friendly, but that the feedback on writing is so encouraging that it doesn't have the constructive criticism that is often needed for writers to further develop. Therefore, I am under the impression that these are best for reluctant and struggling writers.
Note that I did not include The Wand in the listings above. We did not use it and I've been told it is very different from all other Brave Writer products, so I do not feel able to speak about it.
The Lifestyle: This is an all-encompassing term for the approach that Brave Writer takes. The program emphasizes that language is something that we live and breathe, not simply a school subject. The Brave Writer Lifestyle includes word play, art galleries, poetry teas, movie nights, and deep conversations alongside books and writing. These things can all be incorporated into a homeschool with no need for products, and are a great way to explore whether Brave Writer's approach is for you with no cash outlay. The best summary can be found by looking through the pieces on the left side of this Brave Writer page.
 |
| Setting up for a poetry tea |
The Writer's Jungle: This is the original product from the company. It is a parent manual, and lays out the philosophy and road map for everything from pre-writing through high school. It is very much a "big picture" book, with fairly little implementation guidance, meant to guide people in creating their own custom language arts program in their home. If you want some guidance and to otherwise do your own thing, this is the product for you. Otherwise, I suggest you start with one of the writing pieces in the next paragraph and come back to this after you settle in a bit with Brave Writer.
The Writing Project Books: These are Jot it Down, Partnership Writing, and Faltering Ownership. Each of these contain ten writing project ideas, with ideas on how to implement them. Jot it Down is a bit different from the other two, as it assumes that the child is not yet writing, or is an emergent writer, and therefore focuses on the child learning skills such as ordering information, retelling stories, and beginning to express themselves in a logical manner with words, all while the parent is doing the bulk of the physical writing. In Partnership Writing and Faltering Ownership, the assumption is that the child is doing all of their own writing, with the parent providing encouragement and guidance. For PW and FO, most projects are meant to take four weeks, including time to select topics, do research, write, and revise. The program emphasizes that fewer well thought out pieces are superior to many rushed pieces of writing. I believe that the writing project books are the star of the Brave Writer program, and if you want to try just one product, most people should start with one of these. Each one spends the first half the book summarizing the parts of The Writer's Jungle philosophy that is applicable to that stage of writing, so they make an excellent place to jump in.
The Literature and Grammar Program: These are Quiver of Arrows, The Arrow, Pouch of Boomerangs, and The Boomerang. Each guide covers one book, has copywork/dictation each week for four weeks, and a literary topic/device to discuss. The newer ones (which you can recognize by their higher prices) are better formatted and include topics for Big Juicy Conversations (discussion questions). Grammar is taught through the copywork and dictation. These can be done in any order, and therefore I would encourage people to choose ones that correspond to books they are excited to share with their children.
The Online Classes: We have not done any of these, so I include them here only because I know they are fairly popular. Reviews on them consistently say that they are very encouraging, and the teachers are friendly, but that the feedback on writing is so encouraging that it doesn't have the constructive criticism that is often needed for writers to further develop. Therefore, I am under the impression that these are best for reluctant and struggling writers.
Note that I did not include The Wand in the listings above. We did not use it and I've been told it is very different from all other Brave Writer products, so I do not feel able to speak about it.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Leaving Curriculum Behind... Well, sort of.
I swing between two ideals. On the one side of the pendulum is my desire to be completely child-led, unschooly, and free-flowing. On the other side of the pendulum is my desire to provide a rigorous and deep education.
This pendulum has swung since I started homeschooling, back and forth.
We're currently on the unschooly, free-flowing side of things. The Kid has chosen four goals for herself, and I'm working to facilitate those goals. Two of the four could easily be termed "academic" - applying to Epsilon Camp (which requires quite a lot of math, including a formal Algebra 1 class) and learning to write poetry. Two of those goals are not, at least not in any classic sense of the word "academic" - learning to use a sewing machine and working on her Destination Imagination projects.
She has dropped French, though decided to continue with Homeschool Spanish Academy. She decided not to add another language, which had long been her plan. We're doing no formal English, no formal science, no formal history.
With her newly freed up time, she has been doing more art, gone back to playing on Burning Cargo, and occasionally sat at the piano again.
I know the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way. Every time we loosen up, she and I both eventually miss the academics. But for now, a lull.
This pendulum has swung since I started homeschooling, back and forth.
We're currently on the unschooly, free-flowing side of things. The Kid has chosen four goals for herself, and I'm working to facilitate those goals. Two of the four could easily be termed "academic" - applying to Epsilon Camp (which requires quite a lot of math, including a formal Algebra 1 class) and learning to write poetry. Two of those goals are not, at least not in any classic sense of the word "academic" - learning to use a sewing machine and working on her Destination Imagination projects.
She has dropped French, though decided to continue with Homeschool Spanish Academy. She decided not to add another language, which had long been her plan. We're doing no formal English, no formal science, no formal history.
With her newly freed up time, she has been doing more art, gone back to playing on Burning Cargo, and occasionally sat at the piano again.
I know the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way. Every time we loosen up, she and I both eventually miss the academics. But for now, a lull.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Asychrony
In the past couple of weeks, I've been hit over the head multiple times by The Kid's asynchrony.
For a year or two now, I've said her academic level is "um, I don't know, upper elementary? Maybe middle school-ish?" Super-specific, right? Part of the problem is that input and output are vastly different levels. Her ability to understand written or verbal information is awesome, and she has fun with college-level materials. However, her writing is somewhere in the elementary levels. What level does that make her, anyway? What level do you call a kid when listening to college lectures is fun, discussing them is not particularly challenging, but a written response would be miserable?
For a year or two now, I've said her academic level is "um, I don't know, upper elementary? Maybe middle school-ish?" Super-specific, right? Part of the problem is that input and output are vastly different levels. Her ability to understand written or verbal information is awesome, and she has fun with college-level materials. However, her writing is somewhere in the elementary levels. What level does that make her, anyway? What level do you call a kid when listening to college lectures is fun, discussing them is not particularly challenging, but a written response would be miserable?
Monday, August 13, 2018
8-Year-Old Resources (August edition)
I'm still a planner, but I've been handing over more and more of the school choices directly to The Kid. This is resulting in fewer long-term plans, but some interesting school choices. Here are her current plans for fall:
English
English
- Literature class at Athena's Academy
- How to Read Literature Like a Professor (for Kids) - this book is an introduction to literary methods, tropes, and symbols, and should pair well with her literature class
- Barron's 1100 Words You Need To Know - we're taking a break from the Michael Clay Thompson series, but she really wanted to keep doing vocabulary and spelling, so this is filling in
- Vocabulary Cartoons - also feeding her love of words
- Poetry Teas, Brave Writer style
- Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem From the Inside Out - The Kid has long been writing snippets of poetry, and has requested some assistance in learning how to further develop this skill
- NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program - as usual, this will consume all of November and most of October as well
- Live Writing: Breathing Life Into Your Words - we'll use this as The Kid preps for NaNoWriMo this year
- Magazines: Highlights, Spider
- Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra - she's working through this at home
- Becoming a Problem Solving Genius - one of the Ed Zaccaro books, this one breaks down lots of ways to tackle hard problems. I suspect this would have been a better fit last year, but if she still enjoys it...
- Hard Math for Elementary School - another one that would have been a better fit if I'd bought it earlier, but it still has just a couple sections that will interest The Kid, like working in base 8 and tiling problems
- 25 Real Life Math Investigations That Will Astound Teachers and Students - another Ed Zaccaro book, this one looks to be more on target for where she is now. Each chapter focuses on a real-life way that math gets used (and somethings misused).
- Amazing Math Projects - we've already done most the projects in this book, and she loved them. We'll finish up and then I need to see if I can find another math projects book!
- The Magic of Math - The Kid has seen Art Benjamin speak twice in person, plus watched some of his Great Courses lectures, so using his Algebra-related book during her Algebra year seems like a no-brainer
- The Cartoon Guide to Algebra - I won't assign any of the problems in this book, it's just for fun
- Math With Bad Drawings - not even released yet, but this looks like a fun book!
- Zometool - there is an entire curriculum that came with our Zometool, and we've barely touched it yet! We definitely need to get this out more.
- Science/math unit study class once a week at an enrichment center
- Structural Engineering: Buildings and Skyscrapers - The Kid has done the first couple of projects in this kit, and we'll get back around to the rest at some point.
- Horrible Science books - she's so excited to finally get this set!
- MEL Chemistry kits - a friend gets these and has generously offered to share
- Magazines: Ranger Rick, Ask, National Geographic Kids, Muse
- Subscription to Great Courses Plus - currently watching a lecture series on Polar Explorations
- Monthly astronomy night at local science center
- Monthly lecture series put on by local science center
- Social Studies/Art unit study class once a week at an enrichment center
- Subscription to Great Courses Plus - currently watching lecture series on How The World Learns and another on a History of Food
- History Unboxed - we bought just two boxes to try out, and we'll see how it goes
- Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn French, book 2
- Homeschool Spanish Academy - she's continuing on once a week to maintain basic fluency
- Hoffman Piano Academy - as desired, not assigned by me
- Music class once per week at enrichment center
- Lego class once per week at enrichment center
- Robotics club at enrichment center
- Learning how to sew
- Her second year with her Destination Imagination team
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Geodesic Dome Out of Newsprint
Building this is not for the impatient. I would suggest at least four pairs of hands and 2-4 hours of time. But I can confirm that it does work! Instructions can be found here. If you don't want to deal with all the ink on newspaper, we used 24" by 36" packing paper.
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