Friday 28 April 2017

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science Book 7 {Review}

"How will you teach Science?" is one of the most common questions I get asked when people find out I am home educating.  One of my greatest delights after being on this journey for 19 years is finding products which have been designed by professionals in the field of study and home educators for home educators.  Combine the two things and you have a marvelous product! Real Science 4 Kids recently blessed Nathaniel and I with Book 7 in the Exploring The Building Blocks of Science. I had been hearing some fabulous reports about this product and was super excited when they asked us to look over their book.



About the Author

I set up the program from a reversed viewpoint. I asked, “What would a high school student need to know to master college science? What would a middle school student need to know to master high school science? What would an elementary school student need to know to master middle school science?”
The basic concepts of science are broken down to a fundamental level so that a first grader can master a few key aspects of science. I don’t overload students with material at this stage. It isn’t necessary or beneficial. The program offers just enough to get them interested without making it complicated. Those initial concepts will be built upon in second grade, and so on. As learning capacity increases, so does the material. Dr. Keller
Rebecca W. Keller is a homeschool Mom with a difference.  She has a PhD and her professional specialty is science. When Rebecca began home educating her children she came to realise that there was a lack of real science for home educated children.  She realised that most scientific texts had been dumbed down to the point where there was no real content and therefore no connection with real scientific terms and concepts.  She couldn't find any texts containing chemistry or physics which are the foundations of all science.  Born out of many years this labor of love to give children real chemistry, physics, biology etc to inspire children to learn and love science which in turn has grown into Real Science 4 Kids. You can read a more in depth interview on why Real Science 4 Kids Works with Rebecca W.Keller PhD in her interview: Real Science Chat.

Her original series Focus On was set up to meet the unit study approach and focus on single subjects.  Dr. Keller realised that many families prefer to cover multiple areas of science each year so she repackaged the Focus On course materials into grade level books and created the new Building Blocks series.  Each year, students study all five areas of science as they would eventually do if they worked through the Focus On courses. Both text and illustrations in the student books have been borrowed from the Focus On series with minor changes and additions.



We received the following to review and share with you today: Real Science 4 Kids sent us their Building Blocks Book 7 Bundle consisting of: 

About the Books

Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Student Textbook this is a beautifully illustrated full color text divided into 22 chapters subdivided into:
  • Introduction using Science
  • Chemistry - Pure Substances, Organic Chemistry (Carbon), Polymers and Biological Polymers.
  • Biology - Plants, Photosynthesis, Plant Structure and Growth as well as Plant Reproduction
  • Physics - Chemical Energy, Electrostatics, Electrodynamics and Electromagnetics.
  • Geology - The Hyrdosphere,The Biosphere, The Magnetosphere, and Earth as a System
  • Astronomy - Galaxies, Our Galaxy The Milky Way, Other Galaxies, Exploding Stars and Other Stuff
  • Conclusion Putting It All Together.
  • Appendix (Chemistry)
  • Glossary/Index

The whole text book is beautifully written and every page contains beautiful crisp full colour photographs or drawings illustrating the point being taught.  It's a visual feast for the eyes and a banquet of knowledge for you and your student.  This books will introduce your student to foundation scientific concepts and terminology giving them a solid foundation on which to build their study of science.


There is no need to go looking for a suitable laboratory notebook for your students.  Real Science 4 Kids has a beautifully presented ready to use Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Laboratory Workbook which corrolotates beautifully with the student text. This 258 pages is printed in black and white and contains:
  • Introduction
  • Chemistry - Four Experiments
  • Biology - Four Experiments
  • Physics - Four Experiments
  • Geology - Four Experiments
  • Astronomy - Four Experiments
  • Conclusion
  • Appendix
Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers
 Each section follows the same outline:
  1. Introduction and Think About It with questions to answer before you commence the experiment.  This helps the students clarify what they are looking for.
  2. Experiment - Here you will find a space to clarify the objective, your hypotheses, Materials you will need and then the Experiment with directions and Results recording page 
  3. Conclusions
  4. Why? This contains a discussion on what and why with deeper insights on the practical implications of what you are doing.
  5. Just for Fun.  Sometimes students are encouraged to dream big and jot down ideas for the future and other times they are challenged to answer an extension question with an experiment.
Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers Results


This book contains everything you will need to fulfill the hands on section of the course. Every question is clearly asked followed by double spaced lines for the student to write in their answers/thoughts. All the directions are clear and easy to follow and reinforce the subject matter being studied.


Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Teacher's Manual contains 103 black and white pages containing:
  • A full list of the Materials at a Glance listed by experiment.
  • A list of the Materials quantities needed for all the experiments.
  • Introduction
  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Geology
  • Astronomy
  • Conclussion
 The purpose of the teachers guide is to assist you to guide your students through the experiments in order to help them solidify their scientific understanding in the five scientific disciplines through the 44 experiments presented. It also provides you with an answer key of what should happen in each experiment and the possible answers your children (and you) could come up with.

You can download and view Samples of each of the books here.

Connect with
Facebook Real Science 4 Kids @realscience4kids
Blog Real Science 4 Kids Blog
Pinterest Real Science 4 Kids @rs4k
Twitter Real Science 4 Kids @RS4K_gravitas
YouTube RealScience4Kids
Instagram @realscience4kids


Over All I thought ...
These books are beautifully presented and well put together.  They are twaddle free, logical  and provide you with challenging science instruction.  This curriculum will make it easy for any parent who has no scientific background or understanding to give their children and themselves a quality scientific education, preparing them for a life long love and understanding.  The books are available to purchase individually or as bundle sets.

Blessings
Chareen

Tuesday 25 April 2017

Daily Bible Jigsaw {Planet 316 Review}

I have a new daily source of inspiration thanks to Planet 316. They have a fabulous FREE app called Daily Bible Jigsaw which Nathaniel and I have been using on my Android smart phone.  Today's review will be slightly different to my normal review.  This one will be more of a show and tell with pictures.



How does it work?

The app is available to download through:
When you open the app you will have the option of signing up with your email or using Facebook.  Each time you open the app you will click Log in and it will generate a new puzzle. I loved the name for each day (Motivational Monday, Renewing Saturday, etc)  During the first few times you play the app it will prompt you with a hint on how to use the app.

 Once the puzzle is loaded the timer will begin in the top right hand corner and it will continue counting until you place the final piece.



Once the final piece of the puzzle is placed the puzzle fades into a beautiful photograph and a scripture verse appears.  There are also streamers and confetti to celebrate the completion of the puzzle. IF your account is linked to Facebook you will be asked if you would like to share it to Facebook.



 After you have finished the puzzle morphs into a puzzle piece which is added into a month long puzzle.  The puzzle pieces fill in every day you do the new puzzle.  If you miss a day you will have a missing piece in your monthly puzzle.  The missing puzzle piece/puzzles can be purchased using in game puzzle coin currency. During each puzzle there is a boost piece which lights up.  If you are able to connect this piece to it's mate you earn a puzzle coin!


 You can earn FREE coins through sharing on Facebook or purchasing. Planet 316 gifted members of the Homeschool Review Crew with 500 coins (worth $39.99) to expand our experience and enable us to complete a month of puzzles. 


It was very rewarding watching the puzzle pieces fill in each day and watching the picture appear.

 Each day as we built the beautiful puzzles I began to really anticipate a new scripture to meditate upon.



 There is an Awards center in the App in which you can earn awards and special tokens as well as a leader board if you sign up via Facebook.  A few of our Crew joined up together and there has been some fabulous challenges to see who could get to the top of the leader board!

 I was quite thrilled to see the puzzle completed by the end of the month!

In the Future
Planet 316 has some fabulous ideas in the pipeline for the future.  Here are couple of the ideas they are working on:
  • They are very excited about connecting the Bible verses to the Fusion Bible. The Fusion Bible is an all new digital bible app they are releasing later this year. For example after completing a puzzle players would have the opportunity to read the passage of scripture by simply clicking on the a button that opens directly to the that passage in the Fusion Bible. 
  • Considering adding a Scripture of the month to the monthly puzzle upon completion
  • Being able to share the inspirational scripture / picture to Instagram.
Daily Bible Jigsaw has been loads of fun and has lived up to it's aim of providing inspirational bible verses to meditate upon along with beautiful photographs. I hope that you and your family will be as blessed as we have been with this app.

Blessings
Chareen



Daily Bible Jigsaw {Planet 316 Reviews}

Friday 21 April 2017

Charlotte Mason and Geography

Welcome to day five of the Homeschool Review Crew annual blog hop. Today I would like to encourage you to teach the subject of geography holistically and not as an isolated subject within your homeschool. One of the things I appreciate about Charlotte Mason approach is making geography an integrated and living aspect of your education process.
"The panoramic method unrolls the landscape of the world, region by region, before the eyes of the scholar with in every region its own conditions of climate, its productions, its people, their industries and their history. This way of teaching the most delightful of all subjects has the effect of giving to a map of a country or region the brilliancy of colour and the wealth of detail which a panorama might afford, together with a sense of proportion and a knowledge of general principles.Charlotte Mason Vol 6 p 228

Geography is often thought of synonymously with mapping but this is only a small part of geography.  Geography is all about places to begin with but ultimately it's about the people and those places. C. C. LONG, Ph.D. had this to say:
Geography may be divided into the geography of the home and the geography of the world at large. A knowledge of the home must be obtained by direct observation; of the rest of the world, through the imagination assisted by information. Ideas acquired by direct observation form a basis for imagining those things which are distant and unknown.
Geography begins with finding the content you are learning about and then it drills down to countries and finally cities.  It has taken me a few years to discover what a living geography text is but the journey has been worthwhile.  The first living geography books I ever read were by Holling Clancy Holling.
The process was so easy.  Read the book, find the place on the map at the end of each reading. Learning to know the names of places takes practice and for each family this needs to take on it's own form.  Some families print maps and fill them in daily, others use tracing paper and trace the maps and fill them in until through route it is learned and others use geography songs.


I am directionally challenged and am eternally grateful that gps navigation is now at my finger tips.  As immigrants we posses an un-quenching desire to see the world around us and as such love to explore new places.  I find there is no better way to learn geography then to go for trips both short and long.  Stop and read memorials where ever you go and you will soon build a repertoire of places and people.  Many signs will explain things of significance and these days the information on geology and ecology abound in public places.

I have found some amazing resources and explanations on teaching Geography from a Charlotte Mason perspective, that I would rather not reinvent the wheel but would encourage you to grab a warm cuppa and read a few of the posts I have found below.

The Parents Review - Geography

A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture
Edited by Charlotte Mason


On the WWW
Thank you for joining me in a look at geography in homeschool.  What are your favourite resources?

Blessings
Chareen

There are some pretty fabulous posts the crew have been sharing and I would encourage you to grab a cuppa and spend some time cruising the blog hop list at the bottom of this post. 
5 Days of Homeschool Annual Blog Hop - 2017


Wednesday 19 April 2017

Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries Time Time Lines Resources

Welcome to day three of this weeks blog hop.  In my first two posts I shared some of my all time favourite resources on begining with Charlotte Mason in your Homeschool.  There were: Understanding a Charlotte Mason Education and Charlotte Mason Method Book Recommendations. One of the central themes spoken about outside of living books in this educational method is more often than not Notebooking, Book of Centuries and Time Lines.


There are a number of things to consider when thinking about books of time, notebooking in a Charlotte Mason education. Firstly you need to decide how much of a purist you are.  The only true way of knowing for yourself how to notebook or use a book of centuries or century chart is to read the words of Charlotte Mason and then decide for yourself how you feel it needs to be and how you can be implement it in your homeschool.

Charlotte Mason addresses history in Volume 6 Chapter 10 The Curriculum, Section II The Knowledge of Man - History page 170.

The heart of the matter is showing our students the flow of time in history in 100 year increments to a page.

Century Chart

Century Chart*

In order to give definiteness to what may soon become a pretty wide knowledge of history - mount a sheet of cartridge-paper and divide it into twenty columns, letting the first century of the Christian era come in the middle, and let each remaining column represent a century BC or AD, as the case may be. Then let the child himself write, or print, as he is able, the names of the people he comes upon in due order, in their proper century.We need not trouble ourselves at present with more exact dates, but this simple table of the centuries will suggest a graphic panorama to the child's mind, and he will see events in their time-order.  Charlotte Mason, Home Education (1886) p292
I first heard about a Century Chart from Jeanne at A Peaceful Day at a local homeschool Charlotte Mason support group. It was from her blog post on the subject and Charlotte Mason day that I first became interested in making a Century Chart.

The purpose behind a century chart is to represent how long 100 years is on one page.  We use 100 years for a few reasons such as this is generally the limit of a man's life span and we generally refer to time in centuries of history.

The idea is basically a square containing 100 squares.  Square one is the year zero (or 1900 or 1800 etc) which ever century you have chosen to study and add to a century chart.  The last square is the year 99 (1999 or 1899). You can view a sample of this at Ambleside Online here. Explain that each square represents one year of time.

For very young students to grow in understanding of the progress of time it would be good to do the current century and add in the year they were born and members of the family and special family events such as other births, deaths, marriages etc.  This will help the child understand that this is the progress of time.

Once the child has grasped this concept it is time to create a century chart which covers the time period you are studying in history.  The use of symbols is recommended to help fill in the chart.  You can view a sample of this at Ambleside Online here. You can view a beautiful sample of a century chart for the year 1500 to 1599 on Ambleside Online here.

A local homeschool friend has used a 12" scrap booking journal and made a whole time line of century charts. Each square is one inch by one inch.  As they learn history they fill in the square for that year with the most important event.

This is not the most important event to you it is the most important / noteworthy event for the student.

*To understand the dynamics, reasons and a detailed step by step how to teach and use century charts please read The Parents Review (a monthly magazine of Home-Training and Culture edited by Charlotte Mason) Published in the year 1891 in Volume 2, page 81-90 - The Teaching of Chronology an article by Dorothea Beale, Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College. 

About Century Charts On the WWW

the teacher 'shall by the help of histories inform himself of the worthiest minds that were in the best ages.' To us in particular who are living in one of the great epochs of history it is necessary to know something of what has gone before in order to think justly of what is occurring to-day. - Charlotte Mason Vol6 page 170

Original Book of Centuries**

 A Book of Centuries is a Charlotte Mason version of a time line.  The purpose of a Book of Centuries is so a person can see a visual of a full century at one glance. On a double page spread the one side has a hundred years and the opposite side is blank. A short title or description is added in the appropriate rectangle, but the main idea is to have the owner of the book make up their own symbols to represent things that they find interesting. The opposite page is for sketches and little notes to elaborate on what the owner of the book finds interesting.

In it's original form it was a Museum Note Book.  The first published Book of Centuries (1915) contained 48 blank leaves (96 pages).  The last 10 pages were kept aside for maps.

In the article you will read a step by step guide in how a Book of Centuries was put together and used.

**You can read more about the original version in The Parents Review (a monthly magazine of Home-Training and Culture edited by Charlotte Mason) Published in the year 1923 in Volume 34, page 720 - 724 - The Book of Centuries an article by G.M. Bernau.
***Shared with permission

Recreation Sample of an ORIGINAL book of Centuries by Janis Scott ***

More about Book of Centuries on WWW

Books to read

"[W]e have learned to feel that the chief work of the educator is not to give facts, but to order them so that they can fit into the "forms of thought." Dorothea Beale
If you like podcasts you can find one on the topic of history at A Delectable Education: Episode 15: History Things 

Do you use either a century chart or a Book of Centuries? Did you make your own or purchase one ? Tell me more I'm keen to know.

Blessings
Chareen

{All links to the Book Depository are Affiliate Links in this post. This does not change the cost of books should you choose to click on my links. The cost to you remains the same. I only recommend/link to books I have actually used or personally own.}

5 Days of Homeschool Annual Blog Hop - 2017
This post is a part of the Homeschool Review Crew Blog Hop. Grab a cup of your favourite beveridge and be encouraged by this group of homeschool Mom's sharing their hearts and homes with you
 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Books to Understand a Charlotte Mason Philosophy

Welcome to day two of the 5 Days of Charlotte Mason Resources.  Yesterday I shared my Charlotte Mason Method Book Recommendations. These books were the very first books I read about home education and they are the books which influenced my home educating journey.  Until recently these were the only books on the market about educating using a Charlotte Mason Philosophy. The topic today has been in response to the following question from my friend in Singapore.

"What books do you suggest that I can pick up and read to understand more?" - Lady T...


For most of my home education journey I have only had access to A Charlotte Mason Companion. This book inspired me and still does. When ever I need some encouragement or reminding I go straight to this book for it.

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of attending a Charlotte Mason Afternoon here in Melbourne that I came face to face with a deeper understanding of her method and how it works in real life.  That wonderful day was hosted by  Jeanne from A Peaceful Day.  Jeanne is passionate about Charlotte Mason, her passion and joy are an inspiration and a deep source of encouragement.  It was at this meeting that I first heard about the two books I am sharing with you today.


Consider This : Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition

  • Format Paperback | 138 pages
  • Dimensions 152 x 226 x 12mm | 220g
  • Publication date 12 Oct 2014
  • Publisher Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Language English
  • Illustrations note black & white illustrations
  • ISBN10 1500808032
  • ISBN13 9781500808037
This book inspired and encouraged me to think deeply about why I choose to do things in my homeschool.  Karen asks some very deep questions that most of us simply gloss over.  Karen helped me see that a Charlotte Mason education is deeply purposeful.  Karen explores the Why behind every aspect of Charlotte's methods.  Having a deeper understanding of the Why definitely enables to better pursue the how. I found the word studies fascinating and insightful.  I came to realise that reading Charlotte's books takes on a whole NEW meaning when you understand what the words meant in her era.  Karen has written a book to empower the Charlotte Mason educator to understand the principles that are behind her teachings. Once you have an understanding of these deeper principles you will be able to structure a full educational experience for your child with full confidence.

I wish to share what I think I know concerning the connection between her understanding of educational philosophy and the traditions of the classical past...
I assume you are reading because, like me, you are interested in Charlotte Mason and classical education. If we had the opportunity to sit down comfortable and chat over a cup of coffee, these chapter are what I would share with you. - Karen Glass
This is exactly what Karen has done in this beautifully written book.  This book will challenge and inspire you regularly.

You can connect with Karen on her blog: Karen Glass: Author of Consider This.

The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason

  • Format Paperback | 210 pages
  • Dimensions 154.94 x 228.6 x 17.78mm | 340.19g
  • Publication date 16 Oct 2013
  • Publisher Underpinnings Press
  • Publication City/Country United States
  • Language English
  • Illustrations note black & white illustrations
  • Author: Laurie Bestvater
  • ISBN10 0615834108
  • ISBN13 9780615834108
I really enjoyed reading The Living Page.  Laurie invites us to take a closer look at what Notebooks are and how they were used by Charlotte Mason and more importantly why.  I was surprised to learn just how much notebooking has changed and the deeply personal nature of a Notebook.  A few of the types of notebooks Laurie looks at are:
  • Nature Notebooks
  • Scrap books
  • Science Notebooks
  • Calendar of Firsts
  • Motto Books
  • Poetry Book
  • Fortitude Journal
  • Commonplace Book
  • Copy Books
  • Other Copybooks
  • Timelines
  • History Charts
  • Book of Centuries
  • Calendar of events 
I love the samples and insights.  This book will change the way you view written work in your Charlotte Mason inspired homeschool.

Mason had shown me that the notebooks can be forms of vitality, literally the shape and outline, the liturgy of the attentive life. They nurture the science of relations and the art of mindfulness. They teach us to see the very brief beauty of now, to know the landscape of here, to be present in all our pleasures and pains.  - Laurie Bestvater

You can connect with Laurie here:

Which books have you read that have helped you have a deeper understanding and appreciation for a Charlotte Mason education?
Blessings
Chareen

{All links to the Book Depository are Affiliate Links in this post. This does not change the cost of books should you choose to click on my links. The cost to you remains the same. I only recommend/link to books I have actually used or personally own.}

5 Days of Homeschool Annual Blog Hop - 2017
This post is a part of the Homeschool Review Crew Blog Hop. Grab a cup of your favourite beveridge and be encouraged by this group of homeschool Mom's sharing their hearts and homes with you

Monday 17 April 2017

Charlotte Mason Method Book Recommendations

Welcome to the annual Homeschool Review Crew Blog Hop.  This is post one in my series for this week: 5 Days of Charlotte Mason Resources.  Before I begin though I would like to let all my readers know that I have been accepted into the Book Depository Affiliate program and will be using affiliate links in this series. 

The topic today is  Charlotte Mason Method Book Recommendations.  A few months ago I had the wonderful privilege of meeting a beautiful home school family from Singapore.  It was so lovely connecting with someone new whom I met via my blog.  The hours flew by and were too short but we have managed to stay in touch via my blog Facebook page.  One of her questions to me was:

"How do you get started with Charlotte Mason?" - Lady T...
My journey with Charlotte Mason started around 19 years ago.  We had just immigrated to New Zealand and heard home education. We were very much sitting on the fence regarding education and the idea of educating my own children was something so stunning my mind was reeling in shock!


Answering my friends question is a little harder than a simple straight forward here read this.  Today there are so many books about Charlotte Mason and her philosophy of education.  Personally it is good to read a few different things and then decide what is best for you and your family.

When I first learned about Charlotte Mason there were very few books available and her personal writings were not in print either.  The interent was a thing on the horizon and most people I knew did not own a computer! (including us)

 I am deeply grateful to all those who have written books on what they have learned about Charlotte and the more of them I read the broader my understanding becomes.  Today I will share with you the first two books I read and that influenced my choice to pursue a Charlotte Mason Philosophy and Methodology.

Books to start with


I was given a copy of For the Children's Sake : Foundations of Education for Home and School to read. Reading this book created a whole paradigm shift for me. I had never heard of the gentle art of learning before.  This was the fist book I read introducing me to a Charlotte Mason Education. In fact reading this book is the catalyst that started me home educating.



A couple of years later Karen Andreola introduced me to the practical side of a Charlotte Mason education and A Charlotte Mason Companion was soon become my favourite home schooling resource and is one that I recommend to any homeschool Mom who asks me which books I would recommend they read. It is still my go to book when I need some homeschool encouragement.

This beautifully illustrated book is full of encouragement and how to chapters. Karen covers practical topics like: The Art of Narration, Mother Culture, Shakespeare and Dickens. Topics of Art and Music appreciation along with Grammar, History, Nature Study and a few more kernels of wisdom.  A beautiful book full of gorgeous line illustrations.



Books Written by Charlotte Mason
None of Charlotte's books were in publication when I first started home educating and come to think of it there was no internet either! When they were first brought back into print they were still very rare.  I managed to procure Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series recently and will be reading through it over the next year.

There are six books in the series:
  1. Home Education
  2. Parents and Children 
  3. School Education
  4. Ourselves this book was written to be read with parents and high school aged students
  5. Formation of Character
  6. Towards a Philosophy of Education
The series has now been published in a single volume of over 2,700 pages! The Original Home Schooling Series by Charlotte Mason.

The Original Home Schooling Series is available on Kindle  
Or for FREE here:  Charlotte Mason in Modern English

Online Resource for homeschooling with Charlotte Mason Methods

Connect with Charlotte Mason Home Educators on Facebook

I am looking forward to sharing more resources with you tomorrow.
Blessings
Chareen

{Affiliate Links to the Book Depository have been used in this post. This does not change the cost of books should you choose to click on my links. The cost to you remains the same. This decision will not impact the way in which I recommend books to you my readers.  I only recommend books I have actually used or personally own.}

5 Days of Homeschool Annual Blog Hop - 2017
This post is a part of the Homeschool Review Crew Blog Hop. Grab a cup of your favourite beveridge and be encouraged by this group of homeschool Mom's sharing their hearts and homes with you