Circuit Maze~ Electric Current Logic Game from ThinkFun {Timberdoodle Product Review}

My boys have very engineering minded personalities. They love to build and design and are constantly working out new LEGO creations. They recently reviewed a product that gave us a great introduction to electrical circuits, which both of my boys LOVED. When I was offered the chance to review the Circuit Maze by ThinkFun through Timberdoodle Co., I accepted hoping that it would further my boys' interest in how circuits worked.

About Circuit Maze

Circuit Maze is a single player game created by the award winning educational game company ThinkFun. In the game your child can safely explore the world of electrical circuits, through series of circuit building logic puzzles. Your child will get to experience series circuits, parallel circuits, series and parallel circuits in combination, and parallel circuits in bypass--all concepts of simple and advanced circuitry! By mixing how electricity and electrical circuits work with reasoning and logic skills, Circuit Maze really is a delightful first look into electrical engineering. Designed as a single player game for ages 8+, the Circuit Maze game includes:

Simbrix Expert Kit {A Timberdoodle Product Review}

If you have children or grandchildren, you are probably aware of the latest thing in crafts: fusible beads. These beads are super popular because of the creativity they encourage--BUT many a parent has had to deal with a child's emotional meltdown, when transferring the beads to the ironing board causes the beads to fall out of place, or {horrors} the pegboard holding them in place gets dropped on the floor causing UTTER destruction. Enter Simbrix! These new-to-the-market fusible beads created in Nottingham, Great Britain help eliminate that worry--they INTERLOCK! No pegboard is necessary and the designs can be moved around easily without fear of messing them up. Although I didn't have first hand experience with fusible beads, I have heard and seen all the stories about their cons from my friends, thus I was very interested when I had the chance to review the Simbrix Expert Kit for Timberdoodle with my boys!

About Simbrix Expert Kit

The Simbrix Expert Kit contains 4,000 interlocking fusible squares which can be put together to create pixelated art. Once in place, the creation can then be ironed, thus fusing the beads together to create a "permanent" version of the design that was created. Because the pieces are interlocking, your child can design, and then take apart their design and try something else. The Simbrix help your child to create 2D images for anything their imagination can design.  The Simbrix Expert Kit contains 4,000 pieces in 17 different colors, and includes a basic instruction pamphlet that even gives several design ideas to get your child's imagination started! The set is geared for ages 5+, retails for $56.95, and is a component in the Timberdoodle 2016 4th Grade Curriculum Kit.

Our Experience with Simbrix Expert Kit

This was one set that I was very eager to get my hands on. I had a feeling that the design element of it would greatly appeal to my engineering minded boys who have a passion for buildling things. I had never had a chance to explore fusible beads in the past, and honestly stayed clear of them thanks to the horror stories from friends about how careful you had to be with them. I was curious to see how these would work for us. I was impressed right away with the fabulous drawstring bag that the set came in. How handy for storage! Once I explained how the Simbrix worked to my boys, they eagerly cleared off a table, grabbed two bowls to hold the beads, and helped me dump them out. The beads came in three plastic bags: one for primary color tones, one for more pastel color tones, and a small package with glow-in-the-dark beads. I poured each of the larger bags into a bowl, and kept the glow beads separate. The boys went RIGHT to work seeing how they fit together. 

He loves that he can stand up what he's making without it falling apart

Little Britches made a creature

Yep, even i got involved. I wanted to make a ladybug from the pamphlet

So I did.

Concentrating hard on his creation

I think we must have worked on these Simbrix for at LEAST 45 minutes. Everyone working on their own thing and allowing their imagination take over. My boys really liked that they didn't HAVE to fuse their creation together. They wanted to use the pieces again later, so we just put their creations in a little baggy and poured the rest of the beads into ziplock bags and put them all back into the drawstring bag. It was interesting that later that evening, when my husband came home, I caught a glimpse of him trying them out himself. He thinks they are pretty cool and easy to work with. The next time we got the Simbrix out, my oldest decided he wanted to make the minion that was in the ideas pamphlet. Now there aren't any directions, you simply have to count the number of squares for each color and go from there. No problem!

They both decided they DID want me to fuse this one together, so following the included directions I did just that. It works well and I LOVE that the pieces stay locked together for easy transport to my ironing board. No worries that they would all come apart.  Because these make pixelated designs, just about any pixelated image can be replicated. This is something that really appealed to one of the boys' friend who is really into Minecraft. He could see how easy it would be to replicate things from that game with these pieces. I think these are GREAT for a child's imagination. I also love that if you wanted to, you could purchase some of the other Simbrix sets besides what Timberdoodle carries (you can find them on Amazon) and they would all still fit together! I think a set like this would be an excellent gift for a family with children and a definite alternative for the much complained about yet still loved popular fusible bead pegboard sets. I definitely see us continuing to pull these out to play with, and I plan on trying to work them into our homeschool studies this year as well. 

Famous Figures of Ancient Times: Paper Dolls to Help Teach History! {Product Review}

We have been been history buffs for a long time. One of the ways we have been learning and exploring ancient history is through the delightful Heirloom Audio Productions audiodramas. We've sailed the seas with Captain Drake, fought for freedom with William Wallace, rode alongside General Lee during the Civil War, fought off the Danes with King Alfred, and watched with Beric the Briton as Rome burned. We have learned new things and become familiar with figures from ancient history, but I am always looking for something more to help them remember what we learned. I have discovered that Famous Figures of Ancient Times from Timberdoodle is an excellent addition to our homeschool to do just that and I was tickled to have a chance to share my review with you. 

About Famous Figures of Ancient Times

Famous Figures are a collection of paper doll like figures from history that can be colored, cut, and assembled and used to visually help your children make connections in their learning. There are several books in the Famous Figures collection, including Famous Figures of Ancient Times. This book contains twenty people who shaped history including Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Narmer, Hannibal (and his elephant!), Moses, Jesus, and more! Every character is available in color and black and white, allowing your child to personalize their character if desired. Once colored, they can cut the character apart and then attach the pieces together with small brads (not included), creating a moveable paper figure!

This book is available at Timberdoodle Co for $18.95 and is included in their 2016 First-Grade Curriculum Kit.

Our Thoughts on Famous Figures of Ancient Times

I have been curious about this product since the first time I saw a friend blogging about it as part of her history curriculum. I love the concept of having the characters to tie into what we are learning! For our review, we chose to do Julius Caesar. We had just finished listening to Heirloom Audio Productions' Beric the Briton which takes place mostly in Rome. We had been chatting about the Roman culture and their leaders, so it was a perfect connection to learn about Julius Caesar and cut

Marie's Words~ A Visual Vocabulary for All Ages {Product Review}

I am a sucker for using big words. My husband always laughs at me when I use them, but I can't help it! I love big words. When I was in school, I ALWAYS reached for my thesaurus so I could jazz up my papers. Who doesn't like words like superfluous, incandescent, pithy, and extraneous? They just feel good in my mouth. The challenge is remembering what they mean. You can read definitions all day long, but that doesn't mean you will retain it. This is especially true for those who are trying to broaden their vocabulary for tests. We all know about all those snazzy words they like to throw on ACT and SAT tests! Is there a way to memorize them easier than just repeating the definition to yourself over and over? Enter my review for Timberdoodle of Marie's Words: a VISUAL vocabulary flashcard set.

I first saw the Marie's Words cards at the 2016 GHC in Cincinnati, OH. I thought it looked cool as I was passing, but I didn't have a chance to really stop and check it out. Needless to say, when Timberdoodle contacted me about reviewing it, I jumped on the chance. I really wanted to check them out further and thought they would be a great addition to our home.

About Marie's Words

So what are Marie's Words? Marie's Words are the brain child of a high school junior who was preparing for the SAT. In order to assist in the memorization of the words, the student drew illustrations that represented what each word meant. And just like that, Marie's Words was born! The original illustrations communicate the meaning of 550 words used in literature and standardized testing. Not only do you learn the meaning, but also the correct pronunciations, definitions, synonyms and antonyms for each word. Each card also features a sentence in which the word is used properly. All of this is structured to SAT standards. The addition of the visual representation delivers a more complete way to learn and retain word meanings!

Marie's Words contain 550 cards that are in numerical (and alphabetical) order. Each card is also hole punched in the corner to make it easy to store them on key rings. Included with the cards is an instructional card which gives ideas on how to use the cards as flashcards or games. There are even more ideas on the Marie's Words website! The set of cards retails on Timberdoodle for $36.95 and is geared for ages 5+. They are also a component of the Timberdoodle 2016 4th Grade Curriculum Kit.

How Did We Use Marie's Words

When I saw these cards, I knew that they were going to be so easy to incorporate into our daily routine! I decided that we would try to learn two new words a week, so I began by picking a card at random. Over breakfast, I showed the boys the card. I read the word aloud and had them look at the picture and make a prediction of what the word meant. Next, I read the actual definition of the word, and used it in the sentence provided on the back on the card. I encouraged Little Britches to think of synonyms that would work for the word, and then read him the list on the back of the card. Before I put the card up, I had each boy repeat the word and its definition one more time.

I keep the cards pinned to the refrigerator's bulletin board. This allows it to be visible all day long and I can randomly call to each boy and ask for the word's definition. I ask Little Britches to take it one step farther each time, by having him use it in a sentence. After several days of this routine, I also ask Little Britches to come up with some antonyms for the word. After just 2 or 3 days, each boy can hear the word and usually tell me the definition...although sometimes Baby Britches asks to see the card. With the visual cue he always can remember the definition.

From this point on, we took turns picking cards from the deck and continued the routine. We always review the cards that have been selected thus far so that we don't forget them.

After we get a few more of these words under our belt, I think we will definitely start playing some of the games that are included on the little information card in the box. It has some great ideas for making the words more familiar.

Our Thoughts on Marie's Words

We all really like these cards. The boys even fight on who's turn it is to pull a new vocabulary card. I am very impressed with how quickly they are each learning the new words and I have seen Little Britches remember several of them when we are working on writing assignments. This gives him some very strong verbs and adjectives to add to his collection. I think I am most impressed with how well Baby Britches is retaining the information. He's only 6 and yet he is learning them as quickly as Little Britches, even though he doesn't have the broader knowledge of how to use them.

I also like how quickly Little Britches has picked up using the terms with proper verb tense all on his own! For example, when asked to use the word ABATE in a sentence, he changed the tense and said: "I looked out the window and noticed that the flood waters had abated drastically."

I am enjoying reviewing the words myself and there have been a couple that have been new(ish) to me, in that while I had heard them before, I didn't use them frequently, nor could I give a complete definition. Now I can too!

These have been so awesome for us, that I plan on incorporating them into our schooling next year. They will be one of the components in our morning baskets this year and I will encourage Little Britches to use them frequently in his writing assignments. I love the idea of keeping them on a key ring for easy access as we learn them.

***

I absolutely recommend Marie's Words to any family of students, whether homeschooling or not. These simple and fun vocabulary cards will help flavor your family's speech with fun new words and help your children with word meaning retention which will assist them when it comes time for standardized testing. Besides, they are just fun! I would totally buy them as a gift for any writer or word buff!

DIY Electro-Dough Kit {Timberdoodle Product Review}

I am sure that my boys are just like your children when it comes to playdough. They just LOVE it and will spend over an hour making all their creations with it if I let them. My boys also have a great love of science. When we received the DIY Electro-Dough Kit from Timberdoodle to review, I quickly saw that this could a blending of two of their favorite things, and I looked forward to trying it out.

About the DIT Electro Dough Kit

The DIY Electro-Dough Kit is part of the 2016 First Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle. The kit includes: a Battery Holder, Buzzer, 6 Crocodile Clips, 3 Dough Cutters, 10 Jumper Wires, 10 Green LEDs, 10 Red LEDs, and 2 Tilt switches. Four AA batteries will be needed, and the homemade dough will need to be made. The kit is geared for ages 4+ and retails at $27.  
What makes this dough special? Well, if you follow the recipe included with the kit, your playdough will become conductive to electricity! This will bring hours of fun as your child explores the different circuits they can make with the supplies provided in the kit. There is also an instruction/guide book included with the kit to give you ideas on how to put your dough to the test. Timberdoodle will also provide a FREE 10 week guide to using your electro dough kit to learn about circuits, which includes a different recipe than what comes with the kit--one that Timberdoodle has had more success with.

How Did We Use the DIY Electro-Dough Kit?

As soon as this came, I knew my boys were going to love, AND that I wanted to save it for a special project they could do with my dad (Papa). He loves doing science with them and this was the perfect activity for them to explore. I used the Timberdoodle recipe for our playdough, and colored it green per request. Once it was ready, I handed the dough and the kit to my dad and he began his exploration with the boys.

My Baby Britches stayed right by him and handed him things to try and just loved the time with Papa as they tried different things.

They started with just seeing if they can make some of the bulbs light up--they tried different tricks and then it worked!
Here is a video of using the buzzer:

Learning about when to use a tilt switch:

We tried several of the experiments and it kept them busy for at least an hour! When it was done, we just boxed back up all the components to use again next time.

What Are Our Thoughts on the DIY Electro-Dough Kit?

All in all, I think it is a great asset to any classroom or homeschool. It is very cool to use the playdough to conduct the electricity and I can see us changing up the ingredients to make it different levels of conduction. The boys also learned that size matters when it came to how big a piece needed to be to work. 

My dad gives this set two thumbs up, although he did get frustrated at our LED bulbs burning out several times. Fortunately, those are fairly easy to replace. He also talked about how it would be easy to add other components as desired to take it further. 

I appreciated the the recipe for the playdough didn't include anything I didn't already have and it's non-toxic. It definitely adds another element to them playing with playdough. 

Would We Recommend This Kit?

Yes! I think as a family we give this kit two thumbs up and I know that we will be pulling it out off and on throughout the year to explore more deeply. I'd love to give my mechanic husband a chance to explore it with the boys. I know he would have even more ideas than my dad did.

If you are looking for a simple, yet very interesting science component to add to your early elementary science, check out the DIY Electro-Dough Kit! It's a great combination of the best of the fun of playdough and the excitement of circuits!

Watercolours Made Easy with Aquarelle {Product Review}

Art. We love it at our house. We even have three drawers full of all sorts of mediums. One of our favorite mediums to work with is watercolor paints. When I was given the Aquarelle Monet set by Timberdoodle to review, I looked forward to exploring watercolors with Claude Monet as the inspiration.

Product Information

Aquarelle is a company trying to take the guess work out of watercolor painting for beginners. They have designed pictures to color with a water-resistant technique--the paint flows off the wax barriers and adheres only on the coloring spaces. This in turn allows for the painter to create a masterpiece and explore their colors with guaranteed success.
Aquarelle Monet set ($28.50) explores three paintings by Claude Monet--one of the greatest artists of all time. With this set, the painter gets to paint three images from the series of water lilies images that Monet did. 
Included in this set: *three pictures to paint *high-quality, washable, liquid-watercolor paints  *a standard pipette plus a sturdy dropper  *palette *a quality double-ended paintbrush  *plus a color mixing guide
The Aquarelle Monet Set is part of the Timberdoodle 4th Grade Curriculum Package and geared for ages 8+.

How Did We Use the Aquarelle Set?

When I got this set I explored it on my own and decided that I wanted to do the review myself! I knew that if I gave it a go, it would inspire Little Britches to try it himself later because he was overwhelmed when he first looked at it. LOL. 

The supplies

I kicked it off by reading through the included color mixing guide which gave a great introduction to using watercolors, including tips and tricks for getting the colors and designs you desire onto the paper. I especially like the page that gives by drop by drop color matching for creating your own mixtures.

I admit I was a bit intimidated by the big blank paper, even with the raised wax borders as my "lines" color color inside. But I just took a breath and picked a couple colors off the chart to create. I kept looking at the box for reference of the types of dark and light colors and came up with two blues and a green to get started with.

The colors are very rich indeed.

I did notice that there was going to be a LOT of painting of water, and the brush that was included was a very fine tip brush. I wanted something bigger so I grabbed one of our own paintbrushes and used that. It covered WAYYYY more ground. And so with mixing different colors and just taking a deep breath and giving it a go, I completed one of the pictures.

my palette and testing piece

Not bad. I like it more now that it has dried. I wasn't sure about the waters since I had to keep lifting and reloading my brush, but I think it looks pretty good. The shapes of the lily pads and flowers were what were protected with the wax edges. So that gives you "lines" of sorts.
But since I don't always like to color in the lines, I was inspired to create my own mini painting using the back of my scratch piece...

Would I Recommend Aquarelle?

Yes I would! I enjoyed using it and I think creating the colors were the best part. I appreciated that the company includes not just the primary shades (red, yellow, blue), but also throws in magenta and black to make the color mixing even easier. The color mixing is so much fun as you get to test and see what different combinations of the primary colors made. It was very interesting to color the painting and have to think in my head how the waters and such would be. And with this be the Aquarelle Monet set, it is an ideal art set to have on hand if you are studying Claude Monet!
I also really appreciated the quality of the paper. Some watercolor paper is good, but still seems to be too thin if you are trying out new techniques like laying down multiple colors. This paper was top of the line quality--some of the thickest I have ever used.
Anything I would change? I think I would like to have them include the bigger brush. These pieces they have given to be colored are 11.8" x 9.5". With so much open space, the fine tip paint brush included, wasn't going to cut it. It was very useful for the detail work, but I just couldn't use it for anything else. Another idea is to include MINI versions of the paintings to paint. I was intimidated at first--and I'm an adult. I would guess that most 8 year olds would be too. A mini set would be very cool.
And as for the age thing--I know this is for grades 8+, but I don't know if this is really something for that young of child to do. Like I said, even I was intimidated by it. CAN an 8 year old do it? Absolutely. But I would definitely gear this at more of a teenage level unless you have a very art loving younger child. 
Lastly, I would not recommend this set, if you are wanting it as a long term investment. The paints are only going to last for about these three paintings and there are only 3 painting canvases included. So don't get it if you think it's going to be something you would use over and over. It would make an awesome gift though for the painter in your family.

***

I definitely enjoyed this product and look forward to letting my oldest (age 10) give it a go. I don't know how he will like it...he might be too intimidated by it...but that will just mean more painting for me to enjoy myself! Remember that the Aquarelle Monet set is available through Timberdoodle, and is an element in their Timberdoodle 4th Grade Curriculum Package. You might also want to check out the other line of Aquarelle sets that they carry, as some aren't as "fancy" as these and might resonate more with the younger age.

Evan-Moor Daily Geography and Critical Thinking Activity Books {Product Review}

My first experience with Evan-Moor educational books was back when we were working in first grade with Little Britches. We were told about how awesome their Beginning Geography book was by more than one friend, so we gave it a try and loved it. I then used one of their Daily Word Problems for math books with great success. When Timberdoodle offered me the chance to review the Daily Geography Grade 4 and Critical & Creative 4 books from Evan-Moor, I jumped at the chance to try two other branches of their activity books with our family.

The links on this blog and in the posts may be affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy for full details and thank you for your support!

About the Product

The Daily Geography series picks up where the Beginning Geography ends. Because the Beginning Geography is for grades K/1, the Daily Geography starts with grade 1 and continues through grade 6. Each book is based on the eighteen National Geography Standards and is designed to support any geography and social studies curriculum that you might be using.

There are 36 weekly sections which contain a teacher page, map page, and question pages. 

The teacher page provides everything you need to know to work on the lesson for the week from the background information to introduce the skill, to vocabulary words, to the answer key. The map page illustrates the geography skills that have been introduced for the week and goes with the question pages. There are two geography questions for each day of the week and they increase in difficulty from Monday to Friday. There is also a challenge question at the end of the map which has them put to practice what they learned to the map page. Sometimes outside references are needed to complete it. 

The book also contains glossary pages for your students to use as an easy reference throughout the year. 

Timberdoodle carries Daily Geography grade 2-6 and they retail for $26.99 each. The books are consumable, but they are designed and approved to be reproducible, making them GREAT for using with multiple students at one time. Daily Geography 4 is also part of the Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit for 4th grade. 

The Critical & Creative books are perfect for helping your students engage in a broad range of thinking skills. There are 46 themes, each with a three page unit. Pages one and two of the unit encourage students to use a variety of thinking skills over the topic. Page three contains different formats like logic puzzles, riddles, and secret codes in which they can use their knew thinking skills. 

There are Critical & Creative books for grades 1-6+ that are grade appropriate in their difficulty and activities. 

Timberdoodle carries Critical & Creative 1 through 6+ and they retail for $19.99 each. As with the Daily Geography, these books are also reproducible. A bonus for using with more than one student.

We were given the 4th grade level in each series to work through with Little Britches.

Our Thoughts

Little Britches definitely enjoyed the Daily Geography book more than the Critical & Creative book, simply because he didn't have to "think" as hard. LOL. He's always loved geography, so he eagerly pulled out his book for his daily lesson which he always quickly completed in 10 minutes or less. He was very independent on it once we had done the initial lesson for the week and needed little assistance. Critical & Creative however, required me to sit near him to help him work through the different activities. Some of them he was able to get right away, and some things he needed me to help him get started. I would say he successfully completed 80% of it independently.

Working out a logic puzzle

Finishing the week's challenge geography question.

I definitely love both of these books. We have morning work every day school day which is just a collection of workbook like materials to get our brain started. These two books fit perfectly into that slot. I am always seeking out critical thinking materials, and really appreciated how the Critical & Creative was put together. I think there was a good balance of low and high brain power activities to be completed. It was definitely grade appropriate and I didn't think it was every too hard. 

Would I Recommend This Product?

I happily recommend both of these products to any one for home or classroom use. They are the perfect supplement to what you are already doing. I think one of my favorite aspects is the ability to reproduce this so that I can use it for multiple students at one time. That makes the price of each book even more reasonable. 

***

I am so glad that Timberdoodle gave me the opportunity to review both of these books! It reminded me again how much I enjoy their books and I plan on continuing to add them into our morning work. I probably will continue to look into especially the Critical & Creative books to help with building critical thinking skills in a quick manner. 

America the Beautiful: A One Year History Curriculum from Notgrass History {Curriculum Review}

I have seen the name Notgrass History pop up continually on my Facebook newsfeed. I assumed it was just another in a string of curriculum companies, and I didn't pay it much attention. When I went to the GHC in Cincinnati, OH earlier this year, a friend asked me if I could swing by the Notgrass History booth to check out the curriculum for her. I did and this led to nearly 40 minutes of my time as I examined the product AND chatted with Charleen Notgrass--the owner and writer for the company! Once I left the booth, I was convinced that I needed to get my hands on this product to try, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Timberdoodle Company to the rescue! I was so excited when they asked if I would like to do a review on America the Beautiful Curriculum Package, an American History curriculum from Notgrass History for ages 5-8, one of the components of Timberdoodle's 2016 5th Grade Curriculum. I hoped that it would be just what I imagined it would be from my time exploring it at the convention.

Product Summary

America The Beautiful Curriculum Package is a one year history, geography, and literature course designed for grades 5-8 (Ages 10-14) from Notgrass History. With a heavy leaning towards a unit study, the textbooks included in the curriculum, aren't your normal textbooks. Opening them, you will discover page after page of historical photographs, full color photographs, maps, illustrations, large font and white space. This curriculum follows American History, not only from 1000 AD to the present, but also natural, Godmade attractions, and natural wonders, biographies, and glimpses into what life was like throughout the birth and growth of America. There is no teacher manual included, because this program was designed to provide independent learning for your student through teaching it in narrative form.

The America The Beautiful Curriculum Package ($99.95) contains the following six items: *America the Beautiful, Part 1 and Part 2 These are the hardcover texts which provide the spine for the course. Each contains 75 lessons, providing a semester of work per book.  *We the People A collection of 150 original journal entries, newspaper articles, advertisements, poems, songs, letters, short stories, speeches, and other historic documents from American history. Hardcover. *Maps of America the Beautiful A collection of 30 maps drawn to coordinate with this curriculum. softcover. *Timeline of America the Beautiful This is an illustrated timeline of American history from AD 1000 to the present designed specifically to include facts learned in the lessons. Some facts are already printed on the timeline. softcover. *America the Beautiful Answer Key Includes answers for the Timeline, Student Workbook, Lesson Review, and the vocabulary assignments included in the main text. softcover. There are two additional products that while optional, go with the curriculum and can be used if your child needs more work, or if you would prefer having lesson reviews and exams as part of the curriuclum. You can add on the America the Beautiful Lesson Review and the America the Beautiful Student Workbook. We were given the America the Beautiful Curriculum Package to review with Little Britches, ages 10.

How Did We Use the Product?

I was sooooo excited to get this product. I cannot convey to you enough how thrilled I was to finally have a chance to use this curriculum after all the time I spent at the convention learning about the company and the programs. When the box arrived, I ripped into it and oohed and ahhhed over the vibrant textbook covers and eagerly flipped through the pages to peek at the contents. I couldn't wait to get started with Little Britches on this program.  Because I was familiar with how it worked, I knew we could literally, just open and go! No teachers manual needed. I did however take a moment to read the Introduction and How to Use This Product portions to familiarize myself more clearly with the product.  From the first paragraph, I knew that this was most likely going to be a hit--when a book starts with "When God created the land we call America...", you know the writers of the book have placed their own priorities in the correct spot. The introduction continued though to explain how it was first a book of history, but also geography, as geography played such a vital role in the shaping of America's history. The introduction continues with explaining how the history will be taught...thirty units in chronological order, and with five types of lessons: 1. Our American Story: lessons about major events in the time period of the unit 2. God's Wonders: lessons describing an amazing creation God placed in America 3. An American Landmark: lessons about important sites in American history 4. An American Biography: lessons focusing on a person who lived at the time being studied 5. Daily Life: lessons telling how certain people lived and worked during the period The introduction concludes talking about how while a lot of America's story is beautiful, some of it is not and how the authors will be honest about some of the America's biggest shortcomings throughout history. In the How to Use the Product, the authors share how all the parts of the curriculum package work together. They also share ideas on how they designed the program to work. The suggested schedule is as follows: Two volumes of lessons divided into fifteen units for a total of thirty units. Thus your child can study part 1 during one half of the year, and part 2 during the other half. Each unit has 5 lessons. If a student reads one lesson a day, they can cover 5 lessons in 1 week--thus completing a unit per week providing 30 weeks of lessons. 
Included in each lesson is a series of four to six activities--of which students are not obligated to complete all of. You can choose which you want your student to complete. Subjects of the activities vary from day to day, but they include: *Thinking Biblically assignments *Creative writing assignments *Vocabulary assignments *Family activities (1 per week) *Literature assignments from We the People and the 10 books in the literature packages (more on that later) *Assignments in Timeline of America the Beautiful *Assignments in Maps of America the Beautiful *Assignments in America the Beautiful Student Workbook or the America the Beautiful Lesson Review (both of these optional books)
Additional supplies needed for the curriculum include: three-ring binder, colored pencils, notebook paper, and writing utensils. At this point, it was time to begin.  I am going to state right off the bat that we did not use this as it was suggested. We have kicked into summer school, so we aren't even doing school 5 days a week. Thus, after evaluating the program and material, I decided that for this review, we would use it 2-3 days a week--working on just one lesson per week to spread out the reading and activities. NOW--let me also mention that I have EVERY intention of using it closer to the suggested way once we get back into our full school routine this fall--but for the review period, we took it slower to go with our summer routine. 
It was very easy to split each lesson in to 2-3 days a week. Day #1 was all about reading. Little Britches read the lesson from the text--usually 4-5 pages. Now because this text is ripe with photographs and illustrations, this was not a difficult chore to do. LOL. Once he was done with the reading, we usually did the Thinking Biblically assignment and/or the Vocabulary assignment if there was one included. Day #2, we worked on the rest of the activities from the lesson which usually included reading from We the People, creative writing, as well as the map/timeline work. We spent Day #3 finishing up that work, or reviewing the lesson for the week.  Here are some photos from our time using the product:

A gorgeous first lesson full of visually stunning photographs!

The activities for Lesson 1--each clearly marked

Love all the historical photographs!

Working on the reading from We the People

Some map work

We maintained this schedule throughout the first 5 lessons which took us to the family activity which was very fun to complete as it was to make a Algonquian Longhouse out of gumdrops and toothpicks. It took us two weeks to work on the gumdrops activity since we weren't doing it daily, but BOTH of my boys thoroughly enjoyed it. 

As of right now, we have completed the first unit and family activity over the course of 6 weeks on a summer schedule. We will be picking up with Unit 2 when we get back into our school routine this fall, at which point we will shift to a 4-5 day a week schedule for the lessons.

What Are Our Thoughts on the Product?

Little Britches:  "I really really like this. I think the pictures in the book are really cool. And it helps to have pictures to go with the words and information. The activities aren't hard. I'm really glad there isn't a lot of writing. But the writing that is there isn't hard. It's actually kind of fun to do. I liked having to write about how I get a hotdog on my plate from the cow it came from. My favorite thing was the gumdrop building! It was harder than I thought it would be to put it all together. And it was yummy!"
Me: Yes yes yes! My thoughts are that this program is everything I hoped it would be and more. Not only is the textbook written in a narrative form making it easy to read, it is so full of photographs and visual things to go with the words. Little Britches pours over the photos in each lesson, he enjoys them so much. I am so glad that this is written from a Christian Worldview, because the authors constantly give praise and glory to God, and there is scripture woven throughout the lessons that tie in perfectly. In regards to the reading level, I would say it is easily geared towards 5th grade+, but an advanced 3rd or 4th grader would probably be able to read it too. The activities are a nice balance, and none of them was complicated or hard to do. Even the writing assignments were short and sweet--with the option to be expanded depending on the child. I loved having the We the People book for the extended reading from real sources. Little Britches enjoyed learning about Indian life from the diary entries assigned during the first lessons. Having the scripture/copywork as part of the lessons themselves is a great bonus, as well as examining history through the Christian lens. So many scriptures to bring to mind for the students as they work through each lesson. I appreciated the vocabulary assignments that were part of each lesson and how it encouraged the student to see if they could determine the words based on the context they were used in. This helps them dive deeper into their reading. 

You can see the novels are added right in to the activities

This course is definitely focused on history and geography, but it would be possible to make it a literature course--or have a language arts focus. Even though it wasn't included in my review package, there IS a literature package with novels that work with the lessons. There are ten books in this that are actually scheduled into the activities. The first book begins with unit 4, and then they continue throughout the rest of the course. If you added this to the course, I DEFINITELY would consider this a history/geography/literature course. It would be easy to throw in spelling and grammar using the vocabulary words or copywork from each lesson as well. I think that there is enough here that you could truly only need to add on math and science. Remember, the idea of this IS to be like a unit study anyway. Now this curriculum is geared towards 5th-8th grade. In my opinion, I would want to add on a bit MORE for the 7th-8th grade students to what is already here--and that is where having those optional Lesson Review and Student Workbooks would come into play. Or simply have them take the activities farther. Instead of an assigned paragraphy, maybe have them write an essay. Or throw in a research paper or notebooking. This course easily can be adapted based on the level of your students. 

suggested activities based on grade level

giving some ideas for using it at a multi-age level

Now some may want to know if they would do this with YOUNGER students. I think you could adapt it--IF you had someone reading ALOUD the text. Perhaps an older sibling or the parent. The assignments are easily adapted--and you would just need to get a few extra of the consumable books. I would limit the material to 3rd grade. I really don't know that I would use this with a grade lower than 3rd.  And don't forget--this curriculum comes with answer keys to everything, so you don't have to worry about the grading. 

Now are there cons? 

Well, I really don't know that these are truly cons, but here you go: 1. it's a rigorous course at 5 days a week-one unit per week to finish it in one year.  BUT--it is so adaptable, I truly think you could stretch it and make it work however you desire. Year round homeschoolers would probably LOVE this program because they can just go through it at their own desired pace. I have considered turning it into a two year course--focusing on one text per year...but I think that really will depend on how quickly we can work through all of the lessons once we get started again.  2. Reading. Lots of reading. This course is definitely literature centered with the text reading, the extra sources book, and the optional literature package. If you have a reluctant reader, this might not be the best go for you--unless you are okay with reading aloud. Fortunately, I have a reader and he LOVES all the reading. I think the greatest PROS are these: It's a laid back narrative approach to history presenting many many sources and activities ripe with historical photographs, color photographs, and more. It is taught chronologically making it easy to keep track of what is going on. It is from a Christian worldview, which means there is much focus on God's hand in the course of history. It is HIGHLY adaptable to fit YOUR needs. And honestly the biggest draw? The PRICE! For $99.95 I can get a CORE curriculum and build everything else around it!  Will we continue to use this program? Absolutely! I have put it on hold right now until we start back up this fall, but we will be doing this as a core curriculum I think, since I'm changing things up this year. 

Would I Recommend This Product?

Yes yes yes! It was exactly what I thought it would be and we have fallen in love with the style and presentation. As I said in my pros above, the whole program just FITS the style of those who like Unit Study and heavy literature--which is the way our family is leaning towards. I also recommend it for those desiring a Christian worldview to American History. It is DEFINITELY able to be done nearly independently because of the style.  Who wouldn't like it? Those who don't want Christianity to be a part of the curriculum. Also, if you are desiring a more "traditional" history approach with memorization and worksheets and exams.  If you want to know more, I encourage you to check out the America the Beautiful Curriculum Package that is part of the Timberdoodle 2016 5th Grade Curriculum kit to see if it will be right for you! You will be able to download all kinds of samples to give you a peek at what the first lesson is like! I am definitely going to be checking out more products from Notgrass History thanks to the experience we're having with this review.