Taking Literature Further with LitWits Kits {Product Review}

I love teaching literature and I especially love teaching it in a unit study style. The challenge is finding a program that does all the "hard work" for providing hands-on projects as well as literature comprehension work. This is especially true for me when I took on the new role of teaching a literature class at my co-op to ages 12-16. It was a small group and I wanted to offer them more than the typical read and discuss literature experience. I had eyeballed several programs in the past, including a lesser-known resource called LitWits. Imagine my joy when I had to chance to review the LitWit Kits! I finally decided on My Side of the Mountain, The Phantom Tollbooth, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, and Around the World in Eighty Days. I really hoped it would be just what I was looking for to take our literature studies further and make them more meaningful and enjoyable for all!

About the Product

LitWits Kits are a product from LitWits. These are online literature kits that help you bring beloved classics and modern books to life. These kits help teach literature into kids "in hands-on, fun, and meaningful ways." A LitWits Kit is a web paged devoted to bringing a book to life with unique ideas and downloadable activities, as well

Exploring Classic Children's Literature with Memoria Press {Curriculum Review}

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!
We have been blessed to be able to review products from Memoria Press twice this year, and today I'm thrilled to be sharing our third review from this award-winning company. For the last several weeks, we've been using the Third Grade Literature Guide Set which includes the Farmer Boy Literature Guide that we worked through. Today I'd like to share our thoughts on this product and whether or not it worked with my youngest son. While we aren't usually fans of a classical method of curriculum, I'm going to tell you why we still love Memoria Press products.

About the Product

Memoria Press is an award-winning company featuring products for every grade and subject. One of the areas that they excel in is offering literature packages for all grade levels. These literature

Exploring 8th Grade Lightning Lit & Comp from Hewitt Homeschooling {Curriculum Review}

As I look ahead to our 8th-grade year for my oldest son, I really wanted a strong literature curriculum for him. I needed it to be fairly independent as we start preparing him for High School work. I also wanted to incorporate some literature analysis but in such a way as to not make it a chore to do. Additionally, I wanted to find something which had composition incorporated in it—but a style where my son (a reluctant writer) wasn’t going to balk at every lesson. I have looked all around and about gotten dizzy exploring the different curriculum available. But one stood out above the others that I wanted to explore more—the Grade 8 Lightning Lit Set from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I was given the chance to review the very course I was looking at. Join me to today as I share our review of this course and find out if we will be continuing it for our 2019-2020 year or not…

About the Product

Hewitt Homeschooling is an award-winning homeschool curriculum for language arts. Based in Washougal, WA (my old hometown!), they provide a wide range of literature and composition

Pathway to Liberty's US History Curriculum {Curriculum Review}

I am always on the lookout for good history curriculums and I've been blessed to have been introduced to several through the Homeschool Review Crew. For the last several weeks, we have been reviewing a new (to me) history company, Pathway to Liberty Homeschool Curriculum, and have been working through the Pathway to Liberty's US History course from the Pathway to Liberty's History Curriculum collection. My hope for this curriculum was to discover another great American History curriculum which I could use for both boys at the same time, even with their different grade levels and learning styles. Join me today as I share our review on this curriculum and you can learn if this material fulfilled my requirements!

About the Company

The Pathway to Liberty's Homeschool Curriculum was created by founder Jayme MacCullough after she couldn't find what she was looking for in the homeschool material world. She wanted a strong

Exploring Paddington with Branch Out World {Product Review}

Do you love the stories of Paddington as much as I do? There is just something about that darling bear which warms my heart. We were recently asked to review a unit study of Paddington Bear from Branch Out World, a British company.

About Branch Out World

Branch Out World is a British company producing educational resources like the Picture Book Explorers series. These are a collection of literature based unit studies created around beautifully illustrated picture books with links to the British Isles. These are all downloadable units that incorporate reading aloud with a variety of coordinating fun and educational activities.

Exploring a Storybook Life with Laura Ingalls Wilder and YWAM Publishing {Curriculum Review}

We have settled into the fact that our family is a literature based learning school style. We love to read read read! History is one of the areas where literature based products are the most useful to get away from boring textbooks. YWAM Publishing has a GREAT line of historical biographies on men and women throughout history who have contributed to the Christian cause, or were key parts of world history in general. We previously have worked through Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and Orville Wright (you can read the previous reviews of YWAM Publishing on my blog), but this time, we picked the Heroes of History- Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life to review! My son was curious to see whether or not all those Little House on the Prairie stories were really true or not...

About YWAM Publishing

YWAM Publishing is a company determined to produce quality biographies and unit studies on men and women who are considered heroes—either to the Christian Faith, or to history itself. With that in mind, they have created two series Christian Heroes: Then and Now and Heroes of History offering an extensive collection of biographies of men and women throughout the ages, who need to be recognized for their accomplishments.

Here is a sampling of the titles included in each series:

Educational and FUN Children's Books by Carole P. Roman {Product Review}

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!

We are a literature loving family--especially when it comes to picture books. I love it when I can use picture books to help expand our homeschool studies. I recently reviewed several books by Carole P. Roman including If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages, If You Were Me and Lived on... Mars, Rocket-Bye, and One to Ten: Squirrel's Bad Day. Each of these is not only very colorful and kid friendly, but they are very informative and teach a lesson about something.

About Carole P. Roman books

The If You Were Me and Lived In...Historical and Cultural Series books are designed to take your family on a travel through time to visit the cultures and civilizations around the world and throughout history. The newest books in her series are designed to introduce students to

Unit Study on Orville Wright, the Flyer from YWAM Publishing {Curriculum Review}

We are a family that loves books, especially ones with historical settings. We also love to use books as a stepping stone into many adventures with unit studies. Two years ago, we fell in love with a unit study on Daniel Boone and were excited to have another chance with David Crockett. Needless to say, when we were given yet another opportunity to review a unit study from the Heroes of History series of books from YWAM Publishing this year, my son eagerly picked Heroes of History- Orville Wright from the list. 

About YWAM Publishing and the Heroes of History

YWAM Publishing is a company determined to produce quality biographies and unit studies on men and women who are considered heroes—either to the Christian Faith, or to history itself. With that in mind, they have created two series Christian Heroes: Then and Now and Heroes of History and offer an extensive collection of biographies of men and women throughout the ages, who need to be recognized for their accomplishments.
Here is a sampling of the titles included in each series:

If You Were Me and Lived In...: An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time books by Carole P. Roman {Product Review}

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!
Our family always loves books set in history. I especially love ones that are geared to particular time in history, because they let your kids have an inside look at the time period in a behind the scenes style. When I had the chance to review If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7) and If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4) brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com, I was very excited to see if they would be welcome additions to our bookshelf.

About the If You Were Me and Lived In... Books

The If You Were Me and Lived In...books are designed to take your family on a travel through time to visit the cultures and civilizations around the world and throughout history. The newest books in her series are designed to introduce students to civilizations throughout time, and include the following titles:

*If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1)
*If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)
*If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)
*If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4) 
*If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient China: The Han Dynasty
*If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)
*If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7)
*If You Were Me and Lived in...Viking Europe

In these books, you will learn about what kind of food you might eat in Colonial America, the clothes you wore in Elizabethan England, what your name could be in Viking Europe, and what kind of work a child in the Middle Ages might have done. The full color illustrations really give a peak at the culture and customs, occupations, food, clothing, and recreation of each civilization through time.

We were generously given four of the books in this series: If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages, If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West, If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England, and If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America.

Our Thoughts on the If You Were Me and Lived In...Series

I was tickled to see the four books that I was sent from this series. I really wanted them all, and we specifically requested the Colonial America and American West volumes. I admit I was very excited to see that they had included the Middle Ages and Elizabethan England volumes as well--two of my favorite eras. 
When I showed the boys the books, my oldest grabbed the American West volume as his first choice. At first he wasn't excited about the books ("more reading?!"), but once he started reading it, he was tickled to see that it had one of his best friends' names in it as a character and kept reading. 
He ended up loving the book and enjoyed sharing things from it--especially about the buffalo chips. Once he was done with it, I orally gave him the review worksheets that I discovered listed on Carole P. Roman's blog. He easily went through it and answered the questions lickedty split. 

A page from American West

He dove into the Colonial America book next. This is one of his most favorite time periods with his love of the anything related to the early days of America and the beginning colonies. Once he read it, I pulled out the corresponding worksheets from the blog again which he completed for me no problem. 
As of right now, because he's working through these books on his own, he hasn't jumped into the next two that we have, but he says that he will be going with the Middle Ages one first. He doesn't know much about this era, but he does like stories about knights and castles, so I think he will enjoy learning more about this time period. 
Of the four books, the Elizabethan England one is the shortest, but it still contains an excellent glimpse of the time period. 
I really like the fact that there is a section in each book that showcases "Important People to Know in the _________ Era". This portion provides short biographies on famous people from the era who were the movers and shakers. This makes the era relevant by putting names with it. I also like the detailed glossaries at the back of the books.

A page from the section in Colonial America

Having the worksheets which correspond with each book available, is a definite bonus to these books. It allows me to check comprehension on what was read with just an oral question/answer session. One could use the worksheets as a "quiz" if you really wanted to, but I just like checking to see what my son remembers. 

easy to find links to the corresponding worksheets on her blog

Cons? No. I haven't found any with the books. They are very well done, and a great introduction to the civiliations in history.
Will we continue using this product? Absolutely! They will be the perfect supplement to our World History encyclopedias we have on our shelves. I definitely see us pulling these out many times in the future.

Want to Know More?

We have been reviewing the books If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7) and If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4) brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com You have seen how much we have enjoyed them, but make sure you see what some of the other books were like!

You can follow Carole P. Roman on these social media networks:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks

Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.com/caroleproman/

Good Reads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5854108.Carole_P_Roman

Twitter

https://twitter.com/caroleproman 

***

I just love these books and definition would like to add some more of her volumes from this series--AND her cultures series to our classroom! I at least will encourage our local library to snag them!

NotebookingPages.com: The Homeschool Product I Didn't Know I Needed {Product Review}

Every year that I have been on the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I have been blessed to discover a product that I didn't know I needed. You know, the "where have you been all my life?" kind of things. The first year, it was a math curriculum. Last year, it was a spelling program. Well, I think that I have discovered THIS year's product in the fabulousness known as NotebookingPages.com and their LIFETIME Membership, which we have been reviewing for the last several weeks.

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!

Product Information

What is NotebookingPages.com? This is a website devoted to providing the homeschool family pages and pages of templates for notebooking. What is notebooking? Notebooking is a process of recording what you have learned onto a page using illustrations, photos, drawings, paragraphs, sentences, and more. These can then be kept in binders for easy storage, and easy review. Designed to work for all ages of students, they are a way to enhance what you are already doing, and FREE yourself from endless boring assignments. In a binder and at a glance, you can SEE what your child knows from what you are learning! Think of it as a school scrapbook!

The Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Membership grants you access to the entire NotebookingPages.com website--the tutorials, the ENTIRE 11,000+ pages for EVERY subject INCLUDING hundreds of BLANK templates that can be customized to fit YOUR needs. Whether you need regular lines or primary lines, there is a template for you. Whether you are studying astronomy, zoology, medieval history, Daniel & the Lions Den, Literature, or music...there is a notebooking page for you. This membership also includes, not only the current material, but any FUTURE material that is created, tutorials, tips, and videos! 

A Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Membership is just $97 which can be paid in full, or as a four month payment plan--with your first month at just $10. 

We have been using the Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Membership for the last several weeks in our homeschool.

How Did We Use It?

It was so easy to get started. Once you set up your log-in...you just GO! You will also get some GREAT tutorials right in your email about how to get started incorporating the notebooking. I knew that above all, I needed to get familiar with the program, so I just started poking around on the different tabs. My mind was BLOWN by all the incredible things I saw. Shortly after we received a membership, we were doing our astronomy review...and I thought--I wonder if there is a notebooking page that would go with any of these constellations we are studying...

*BAM*

Cygnus Notebooking Page

Then we needed to write letters to the grandparents--are there any blank letter writing friendly templates? I searched the catalog of "blank templates" and discovered that there were well over 100 blank templates perfect for writing letters. I discovered I could also print out a catalog of all of them for easy reference--so I did and then let the boys scan it and pick what they wanted--oh and there were PLENTY with primary lines for Baby Britches.

*VIOLA*

As the week went on, we began a literature unit on Mr. Popper's Penguins. So i nosed around and yep, you guessed it.

*POOF*

Keeping tabs of the characters

Illustrating a favorite scene from the book

Baby Britches log of characters

Writing out his character definitions 

It was when we were doing history that I found a nice surprise. Little Britches was studying the mound building Native Americans in our area, so I thought I'd just see if there was a nice Native American themed template. Yep, there was...there was also a mound builder Native American template! And then--we visited Serpents Mound in Peebles, OH...and low and behold, there were notebooking pages specifically FOR the Serpents Mound! 

Are you kidding me?

Just LOOK at how much writing he did! He HATES writing!

I decided to explore their science a bit more, as we were interested in getting back into nature study. Guess what? There was a nature study template section! And it is VERY VERY large. We have bird feeders, so I looked and there was an entire zip folder containing North American Birds notebooking pages--coloring pages, writing pages, and my jackpot find--species research pages! IN primary AND regular lines so BOTH boys can use them. We have been using these pages every single week at least 2 per week since then and have documented at least 12 different species of birds!

Common name, scientific name, details, and blank lines

We have been using at least two sets of notebooking pages every week since we began this review and have dabbled in science, history, social studies, literature, copywork, and bible pages.

What Are Our Thoughts?

Little Britches: 

I really like these. They are easy to fill out and I like that I can draw and color them. My favorite are the science pages because we get to spend a lot of time learning about different animals to fill them out.

We spent 45 minutes of this research...it was FABULOUS!

Baby Britches: 

I like the bird pages, because I like coloring the birds.

Me:

Where do I start? Have you picked up on the fact that I think this is the best thing since sliced bread? You see what this year has revealed to me is that we do best with unit study style stuff. And these pages do just that! They are a perfect match to the unit study style! It's no wonder everything works so well for us.

What do I like the most?

1. You can find a notebooking page that will go with ANYTHING--and if you can't, there are hundreds of blank ones for you to use!

Seriously. I have YET to find something that there wasn't at least a generic template for. I wanted one for Nero and the Roman Gladiators and poof--both there! I didn't find one for something else I was doing...can't remember what now--but there were great blank templates to pick from that worked just fine.

2. The table of contents for every zip file can be printed, AND you can print a catalog of the entire zip file. 

This is soooo fabulous. I printed off these for each zip file I downloaded so I can have them in a binder for quick reference instead of having to open the zip file or go online to see. I plan on having these printed for every zip file available because I know it will save me so much time later.

A fabulous topics list so I don't have to guess

3. Everything is available in primary lines AND regular lines.

This is so awesome for those of us teaching multiple grades at once. Now each boy can use the version that works best for them. In fact, in the bird files for example--if I want the American Robin, BOTH sets of lines will be in the same download! No hunting around! Everything that is available in regular lines is pretty much available in primary lines. AND when I open the files on Adobe Reader, the Adobe table of contents has them sectioned out for easy clicking!

Sample from the blank template catalog file

4. A wide range of options for notebooking.

I love that the pages come in a variety of template styles. There are cutesy, graphic, plain, colored. There are some for lots of writing, some for lots of illustrations, some for a bit of both. There are even some for making little 3D minibooks that can be glued on! Whether you need one for research paper styles or a simple sentence. There is one that will work.

3D Matchbooks for the characters in our story

5. Search option!

What's not to love about a search option on a website? NotebookingPages.com has one that will take you to just the notebooking pages you need. Forget searching through all the files! Click the search tab, and it opens up a search bar. Type in your topic and it pulls up all the files that match!

6. LIFETIME membership

Seriously. Can we just not take a moment to talk about how awesome a LIFETIME membership is? No renewal. No frantic downloading. No being bummed about missing out on new stuff. I will have access to EVERYTHING....FOREVER! Take a moment to let that sink in. Doesn't that make the cost of $97 seem piddly in the grand scheme of things?

7. FREEBIES!

Okay. So maybe you need to "try before you buy". Well, Notebooking Pages doesn't short you there. If you want to try before you buy, you can have a FREE 600+ page sampler. YES-- 600+ pages...for FREE! Seriously...do it. This will give you an incredible chance to see how this concept of notebooking will work for you!

After all of that...is there anything I don't like?

1. You have to download all the pdfs before opening them.

Yeah. This annoys me. Every file on the website is set to an automatic download, NOT one that opens in a separate tab that you can print from. This annoys me...because if it's not something I want to keep for use later, I have to go back through and delete them from my hard drive. I had a computer savvy person double check and she says that it's the way the files are set up. I can't even do an "open in a new window" option. It bypasses all my settings and goes straight to my hard drive.

2. Primary lines don't always print properly.

For some reason, when I open the file to print, the dotted lines in the primary lines won't print. FORTUNATELY, I discovered thanks to another crew member that if I open the files in Adobe Reader this won't happen...and it's true. NO more problems when I use Adobe to read and print. 

And...that's it! Just two things, one of which I already fixed. 

Will we continue to use this product?

LOL. Um. YES!!! In fact, I plan on using it for nearly every subject next year. I am shaking things up and getting back to what works for us (Unit Studies) and these are going to be the icing on my cake of making things so much easier! 

Would I Recommend This Product?

Let me share a little something. I have seen this product for a long time. I have a friend who kept talking about how awesome it was. I even saw the 600+ page free sampler. I love freebies, but I didn't do anything about it. I mean--I didn't think I wasn't a notebooker (WRONG!) so it had no place in my homeschool. But then I kept wanting to take our stuff further to document what we were learning and I was having to search all over to find what I wanted--I didn't realize that it was already done for me! But that $97 pricetag kept blinking at me. $97 seemed like so much to spend on something like this.

But let me tell you--I WAS WRONG! 
This could have been the best $97 I had ever spent on homeschool stuff if I had just given it a chance. 

Are you looking for a way to record what your child is learning in a way that will allow their individual creativity to shine? Are you looking for a way to record all the information you find on your rabbit trails? What about keeping a record of your nature study? Or book reports? Or biographies? What about narration and dictation with your children? Literature units? Are you looking for a way to provide ONE thing that is grade appropriate for all your students? Please consider this awesome product! 

Who won't like it? Um. Traditional schoolers? I really can't think of anyone else who might not like it. I think that it would work for ANY style of teaching because of the vastness of what is included on the website.

So let me put it simply--if you homeschool...you really need to check NotebookingPages.com out. It might help you simplify what you are already doing--and take it to the next level at the same time!

Want to Know More?

We had the pleasure of reviewing the Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Membership from NotebookingPages.com. We CLEARLY enjoyed it, but only scratched the surface of the vastness of what this website offers. I encourage you to check out what some of the other crew members did with THEIR membership!

Stay up to date with the latest sales and newest products by following NotebookingPages.com on these social media sites! Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/debrareed.notebookingpages/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NotebookingPgs   @NotebookingPgs

***

Now that my eyes have been opened to NotebookingPages.com, I can't imagine ever not having it at my disposal! I am going to be using it like crazy and planning future lessons around pages in it. This truly is our product I didn't know I needed for 2016!

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.