Olim Once Upon a time Level I {Review}

If you've been around this blog for a while you will know that I have been trying to learn Latin. So whenever the Crew are given the opportunity to use a new Latin program we are in there boots and all.  For the last month Nathaniel and I have been looking over Olim, Once Upon a Time, in Latin level I by Laurelwood Books.

We received two books from Laurelwood books:

• Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Reader I -  This is book one in the series.  It is A5 in size and has a soft cover. 57 pages.
  
  • It contains three fables (The Three Little Pigs{Tres Parvi Porci}, The Tortoise and the Hare {Testudo ET Lepus} and The Crow and the Pitcher{Corvus ET Urceus}). 
  • Introduction and how to use the reader
  • Latin pronunciation guide.
  • Each story is first told in English and then retold in Latin.
• Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Workbook I-   This is the workbook and accompanies reader one in the series.  It is slightly wider than A4 in size and has a soft cover. 80 pages.
  
  • It contains translation exercises for the three fables (The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare and The Crow and the Pitcher) in the reader.
  • Digging deeper notes
  • Digging for treasure notes
  • Notes for the teacher
  • Latin pronunciation guide and Roman numeral guide.

The series was conceived and written by Mary Ellen Tedrow-Wynn.
Edited by: Susan Schearer
Illustrated by Rachel Schanzenbach.

The first step is to read the story in English to become familiar with the story they will be translating. The stories are written in simpler English to facilitate the translation into simple Latin. Each page is beautifully illustrated.

Readers available in this series:
All readers have optional workbooks available for purchase.

• Reader I - The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Crow and the Pitcher
• Reader II - The Good Samaritan, The Ant and the Chrysalis, and The Lost Sheep
• Reader III - The Feeding of the 5000, and the Lion and the Mouse
• Reader IV - The History of Creating the World
• Reader V - We Know a Tree by its Fruit and Daniel part I
• Reader VI - The Prodigal Son

Readers VII to X due out later this year.

• Reader VII - David and Goliath
• Book VIII - Daniel part ii
• Book IX - Daniel part iii and The Miser
• Book X - The Wise Man and the Foolish Man, The Ten Maidens 

The second reading of the story is completely in Latin.  On the side of each page is a full vocabulary list to facilitate the translation and workbook exercises.

About the Workbook
In the workbook the translation exercises work both ways.  You translate Latin into English and English into Latin. This reinforces the new words you are using.  Interestingly this is the same method Nathaniel Bowditch used to teach himself Latin and other languages.

As you work your way through the exercises you will come across Digging Deeper sections.  In these sections you are given a short lesson in the grammar and rules of Latin that apply to whatever you are working with.

Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Workbook I covers the following in Latin:

• Nominative & Accusative Cases
• Etymology
• Verbs
• Singular & Plural  Verbs
• Number, Case & Gender
• -Nominative
• -Accusative
• _Genitive
• _Dative
• -Ablative
• Perfect and Imperfect Past Tense
• Infinitives
• Adjective and Adverb
• Prepositions and Negatives
• Asking Yes or No Questions
• More Infinitives and Derivatives
• Answer Key

 

Littered through out the workbook is a Digging for Treasure icon.  This icon gives the student clues to solve the puzzles in the Treasure Chests.  These are bible verses which are written in Latin.  Each clue is needed in order to perform the translation from Latin into English. The layout is easy to use and spacious which makes writing in the book easy for the student to do.

Over all I thought ...
The pronunciation guide was very heavily used by us as I do not know any Latin and this is new to me.  I would love to have access to an MP3 download of the stories read in Latin as this would certainly make learning to pronounce Latin a lot easier and having the ability to follow along in the reader and practice by repeating what we hear would make process of learning Latin pronunciation easier. 

The Digging Deeper sections were well presented and we had no trouble understanding these.  We worked through them slowly and at a pace that allows us to fully grasp what we are learning.

I am thrilled to have an easy Latin reader and the workbook.  Nathaniel and I are both enjoying our journey learning to read and write in Latin.  I highly recommend these reader/workbook sets to anyone looking for Latin readers. The best part of having the reader is that it demonstrates that Latin is alive and you can read it in a book and read stories you know in Latin.  

Blessings
Chareen

If you want to try them out, Laurelwood Books is offering 

a 20% discount, good until August 15, 2016. 

Discount code: blogger121.

Forbrain {Review}

Memory work.  The sound of it makes my skin crawl.  Echos of struggling to implant into my brain all these facts and missing the mark at school.  Well no more struggle to learn. I recently learned about Forbrain a new technology which uses the sound of your own voice to stimulate your brain.   Forbrain is available from Forbrain – Sound For Life Ltd. Forbrain uses technology to enhance your language and learning utilizing your own voice to stimulate your brain.

What we received

• 1 FORBRAIN® unit (weight 50 grams)
• 1 hard case (190 x 165 x 63 mm)
• 1 charging cable (USB to micro USB cable)
• 3 spare mic covers
• 1 User manual
• 1 quick start guide
• 2 year Warranty

How we used it

The unit arrived well packaged and delivered by courier upon signature.  The product comes in a handy storage case which closes/opens with a zip.  The hard shell is lined with firm foam compartment to store the Forebrain unit and USB cable on one side and on the other is a handy net pocket to hold the spare microphone covers and user manuals. We connected the device to my pc for three hours in order to fully charge the battery. The battery will last for six hours of run time. There is a small light which indicates when the unit is on (blue) during charging it is red until the unit is fully charged.

Using Forbrain is very easy.

• Turn the device on by pressing the on / off button 
• Place the hoop behind your heard above the neck.
• The earphones are placed on the bone in front of the ears.  NOT on the ear.
• The microphone is adjusted to be approximately 3 cm from the mouth and slightly to the left.

IF the Forbrain is in the correct position you will hear your own voice clearly when you speak. It sounds like you are speaking through a high quality sound system. There is no need to do any adjusting to the unit as it comes with a default setting for optimum sound and use.

It is recommended that Forbrain be used daily in order to maximize results. It can be used with students as young as 5 years old for 15 minutes a day , older teens and adults 20 minutes a day will bring about results.

Forbrain is used to

• Help with focus and attention difficulties
• Assist those with Auditory Processing Disorders
• Reading difficulty
• Memory work
• Speech and Fluency improvement
• Singing (to find the correct tone)
• Strengthening auditory reception and processing.
• Clarifying speech and communication 
• Speech and language development
• Improve Attention and memory

Forbrain has a short 2 min video on YouTube explaining how the audio vocal loop is utilized in order to stimulate your brain. If you are wanting a more detailed explanation of how to use Forbrain and the technology/science behind it you can watch a 20 minute workshop on Forbrain on YouTube.

Nathaniel has been using Forbrain daily for the last seven weeks.  He wears it for approximately 20 min a day Monday to Friday.

He is using it to memorize scripture (we are working our way through Philippians in 28 Weeks).  He puts on the Forbrain and reads the scripture memory card.  Interestingly we had unsuccessfully tried to learn this before. This time with Forbrain Nathaniel had memorized 70% of the first six verses in chapter one within 5 days!

He is also using it to learn his multiplication tables, and spelling. 

Connect with Forbrain 


Over All I thought ...
Forbrain has been a fabulous new resource in our homeschool.  The simplicity of use (put it on and speak out loud) has made it a very easy to use part of our daily home educating. The possibilities of use include working on dialogue (reading out loud and giving each character a unique voice), rhythm (poetry) and diction (correct pronunciation and clear speech for speaking in front of an audience).  

Blessings
Chareen

Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing {Sunya Publishing Review}

In the last few weeks I've shifted our focus in our homeschool to memory work.  When I first started home educating in New Zealand my mentor consistently encouraged us all to start our morning off with chanting the times tables lists. So for the last few weeks Nathaniel has been practicing his math facts before settling in to do his written work.  I really wanted to do something different in testing his math fact knowledge.  To help Nathaniel evaluate where he is at in his memory work we have been playing Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing from Sunya Publishing.

What we received

• Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting
  
  • Teacher / Parent hand book (25 pages) - Introduction to the numeral system, Basic game instructions, Game II instructions, Game III instructions, Math activities for young students, Facts and Riddles.
  • Number line tool
  • 30 Math and Science Riddle Cards*
  • 60 Sunya playing cards*
• Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing
  
  • Teacher / Parent hand book (25 pages) - Instructions for playing the basic game, Game number II, Solitaire, Team Sunya, Sunya 400, a brief history of Sunya and math, math quotes.
  • Number line tool
  • 30 Math and Science Riddle Cards*
  • 60 Sunya playing cards*

*The cards are printed on card stock with a plastic coating. The size of each card is 57 mm by 89 mm. The numerical cards have each number printed in the center with the corresponding number of dots representing the numerical value below the number.  The riddle cards have the answer to each riddle printed on the same card.

How we used it
The very first thing I wanted to know is what does Sunya mean and how do I say it ? Sunya® (the "u" pronounced as the "oo" in the word "book") is a word from Sanskrit, the ancient and classical language of India. It means being empty or without quantity.   You win a round when you run out of cards to play in your hand and declare out loud Sunya meaning "I am out of cards."

I chose to focus on the multiplying and dividing game as this is the fact set we are currently working on.  I read the instructions a couple of times to figure out the basic game.

• In the basic game each player receives four cards to begin. 
• Your job is to make a true number sentence. 
• The times and equal sign is placed on the table. 
• There are a number of rules on how to make subsequent plays and when to draw cards and what to do with the cards which are already on the table.

The winner of a round gets to read a riddle card.

 We have not progressed to the more complex variations of the game as Nathaniel is still learning his multiplication facts.

The division game, addition and subtraction basic game works on the same principle.

Recommended Age Range

• Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting is recommended for ages 7 to Adult (1-5 Players) In the game addition goes up to 9+9=18 and subtraction goes up to 18-9=9.
• Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing is recommended for ages 9 to Adult (1-5 Players) In the game multiplication goes up to 9x9=81 and division goes up to 81/9=9.

Over All I thought ...
One of the things I've enjoyed about the game is the recommendation to begin with all the players cards on the table and to help one another.  Success builds success and enjoyment. It's been fun for me to play as it's helping me brush up on my logic and math facts ...


Blessings
Chareen

Please note:

Sunya Publishing is a brand new company and this product is newly on the market. The website is currently under construction and purchasing options will be available within the next week. I will update this post with links to the individual product pages when they become available. 

A Day Home Schooling an Only

Welcome to a day in our home school.  I don't know where or how the tradition started but we always wake up and enjoy a cup of tea together.  It's something we did as a family before the children joined us and once they were about four months old they joined us for a wake up cup of tea.  It's what we do to start off our day.  Very few days go by without a morning cup of tea.  Somehow it does not feel complete unless we have sat together in the lounge before Paul leaves before work.  These day's it's just the three of us as Jane is currently enjoying a year overseas working and exploring the U.K. at the moment and Timothy has a slightly different schedule to us.

As I share our day with you I would leave one word of caution.  Never try to make a carbon copy of another families normal day.  Every home schooling family is unique and therefore so should their day be unique.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew would like to welcome you into their homes this week as they share their unique and individual days with you.

Paul works a slightly unique roster meaning that our daily rhythm is slightly different every week.  On a work day he leaves for work at around 7:30 am.

Once he leaves it's time for breakfast, bed making, getting dressed for the day and morning chores.  These are normally things like unpacking the dishwasher and either starting the clothes washer or hanging the already washed clothing. Once these are complete it's time to begin with our school work.

We start our reading list with bible study and encouraging books.

•  Ten Boys Who Didn't Give In 
• Little Pilgrim's Progress
• Adam and His Kin 
• Hero Tales Volume 1
• Leading Little Ones to God

We then read some more and explore different subjects.  If Nathaniel asks a question while we are reading we will take some time and look for the answer.  We also do word studies while we are reading.  Little Pilgrim's Progress has given us plenty of opportunities to expand our vocabulary recently.

 Our currently read aloud for fun is The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B.White.  This is such a beautifully written story.
This year I am adding in poetry reading.  We are not studying poetry but rather just taking the time to read it as part of our day.  We are using Favorite Poems of Childhood.
My all time favourite composer study series is from Zeezok publishing and we are currently reading their book on the life of Joseph Haydn - The Merry Little Peasant.

 We take a small break and then it is time for music practice followed by morning tea.

 Followed by more time cuddled together on the couch when we tackle our history read alouds. This year we are continuing our journey with the ancients and have added an introduction to Australian History.  Our books are:

• Story of the World 
• Living Long Ago
• Usborne Time Traveller
• History of Australia.   

 Some days we choose to watch documentaries on Netflix or we take one off our DVD shelf.  Yesterday we looked up a few YouTube clips about the ancient Chinese practice of foot binding.

By now it's usually lunch time and time for more chores.

 After lunch we tackle the remaining books in our pile and this day it was the sciences. We are reading:

• Exploring Creation : With Astronomy
• A Child's Geography
• The Kingfisher Factfinder.

Next it's time to get out all the pencils and practice the rest of the Three R's. It's time writing and arithmetic.

Most afternoons we have something happening.  Some days it's art co-op and on others it's fellowship etc.

Paul get's home at around 5 pm and then it's time to play with Pugsley and do evening chores.  Pugsley adores Nathaniel and loves his ball (Yes it's a golf ball.  That's the only ball he does not destroy!)

 Homeschooling an only has stretched me in ways I never thought possible and it's a blessing in the most amazing ways as well.  Asperger's Syndrome frustrates us both some days and on other days it's brought about much laughter.  Every day is different and yet somehow the same. Homeschooling has been one of life surprises and it's biggest blessing.  I'm grateful for each new day I get to be this boys Mom and friend.  I get to be there for every amazing adventure and new discovery.  His passion at the moment is movie making and through this I am learning how God has made this miracle gift to me in His image and not mine.

Thank you for sharing our day with us.  I endevour to share our days / week each week on a Saturday via The Homeschool Mother's Journal and daily on Instagram (@Chareenr).  You can see what our favourite books are and hands on projects we have been up to as well as the places we explore on our Field Trips.

This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog Hop A Day in Our Homeschool.  Be sure to check out what my homeschooling friends days look like.

Blessings
Chareen 

Meet a Homeschool Blogger

Morning Friends

It's been a while since I've posted here. A LOT has been happening behind the scenes and it's summer holidays!

The biggest change for me is that I have joined four other ladies and am now working for The Schoolhouse Review Crew. My main roll is now as the Blog Manager.  It's been a steep learning curve but I'm loving the journey and am looking forward to getting to know the leadership team better and upskilling in the blog world.  

The 2016 Crew Review Team has grown by nearly 100 new bloggers.  I would encourage you to have a look at the blog roll and visit a few of the team.  They all love you leaving a note to say hello.   To get you started I have a few blogs below for you to visit.  Click on any of the graphic buttons below to visit one of the team.

May 2016 be fulled with wonderful memories and happy homeschool days.