One of the gifts home schooling has blessed our family with is the joy or read alouds and audio drama's. I love reading to myself and out loud to my family so it came as an enormous surprise how much I enjoy listening to audio drama's. A couple of years ago a friend introduced us to Heirloom Audio Productions when she blessed our family with a copy of In Freedom's Cause. It was this very gift which has transformed our family into passionate audio drama listeners. I have stalked their website in excited anticipation of any new release to add to our ever growing collection. Recently the Schoolhouse Review Crew were blessed to receive Beric The Briton.
We Received
MP3 Official Sound Track
Beric The Briton inspirational poster with a quote from Julius.
Beric The Briton Audio Drama
389 page PDF copy of Beric The Briton written by G.A. Henty
48 page study guide.
About the Production Beric The Briton audio drama is based on the book Beric the Briton by G.A. Henty and is a part of the Heirloom Audio Series - The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty. George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) is affectionately known as the Boys Historian. He is renowned for his story telling/writing ability and people. The characters in his books illustrate a deep faith and upright strong character. He wrote 122 books for children. Heirloom Audio Productions have adapted his book Beric in Briton with an incredible cast line up and original musical score.
About the Story
Follow Beric and his best friend Bodouc as they lives through epic adventures from growing up under the Roman hand in Britain, taking his place as the leader of the clan, training the men to be well trained and orderly. Travel with him as he is captured by Rome and taken to be trained as a gladiator in the service of Nero! Here he is introduced to the one who will save his soul and where they are forced to confront their pagan upbringing and their feelings of anger and the desire of revenge.
The Study Guide is a beautiful full colour 50 page gem containing:
A complete listing of the cast and crew involved in the production of the audio theatre presentation of Beric The Briton.
A brief historical overview of: G.A. Henty, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and Queen Boadicea
Each track of the story has a corresponding page in the study guide. This can be used in a number of ways. Two options are: helping younger listeners be engaged and help the parents coach them in their understanding or it could be used as a comprehension exercise for older students.
There are thee exercises on each section:
The Listening Well - here you will find comprehension questions.
Thinking Further - These are follow up questions to help you the listener to think deeper as well as some research questions. There are a number of exercises through out from geographical exercises, occasional online links, pictures illustrating the story and more.
The Defining Words - here you will find important vocabulary to learn which in turn will open up your understanding of the story.
Sprinkled throughout are interesting tidbits of historical information such as the history of breakfast, recipes to try and virtual tours of places referred to in the story.
When appropriate there are listed resources for further reading or investigation. Whenever a link is provided the children are encouraged to seek parental permission before pursuing the link.
Recommended books for further reading about Britain and Roman in the 1st Century.
A historical background for the story
Three full bible studies starting on page 40 with questions and biblical passages to look up.
A discussion on the significance of the Colosseum.
The Official Soundtrack contains original music composed by John Campbell for the production of Beric The Briton. I'm so pleased that Heirloom Productions has made this available with the audio drama. There are 33 tracks of musical journey to listen to. Each piece speaks to the heart and is beautifully performed and presented.
The first time we listened to Beric The Briton we were all enthralled to silence and anticipation. The fast pace and beautiful rich dramatization of this excellent story captured our imaginations from the opening scene all the way to it's very end.
Beric the Briton is a wonderful addition to your family listening library. It will inspire your sons and your daughters to do greater things, to follow in the footsteps of a great hero who loved the Lord.
We are looking forward to listening again and again over the months and years ahead!
This Week
We are continuing our immersion in Edward Degas. This week we made this super easy ballerina inspired craft. You can download the template and instructions for these ballerina's over at Crafts & Parties.
I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits
put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see
the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.
Blessings
Chareen
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Over the last few years I've been pursuing a new direction in our home school, one that is built upon Charlotte Mason's ideals and sprinkled with delight directed opportunities. In today's digital filled era I have found it difficult finding information that is enriching, twaddle free and reliable.
Monash University have set out to meet this need and created an app to meet the criteria and today it is my pleasure to introduce you to MWorld.
Last week I had the privilege of a teleconference with Justin who shared with me his passion to grow and create an app that would use curiosity to unleash learning in our children. Justin and his team have been working alongside the leading academics at Monash University to produce each unit on MWorld so you can trust the information you are accessing is up to date and correct. (You can watch a one minute overview on YouTube here.)
Did you know...
Curiosity increases your brain function and leads to more engaged learning and better memory retention?
Pre-school children ask an average of 26 questions an hour.
MWorld is constantly growing and being developed. They are currently developing mini missions which will be available later this year. These missions are there to equip parents to support their children's learning and encourage enquiring minds to learn more.
How Does MWorld Work?
There are a few different options available to use MWorld. (PC, Android app and Apple app).
We have been given MWorld to use for a full year and have access to the complete platform.
IF you sign up via the Home Education option the team at MWorld set up your account and send you an access code (MCode) and password. You use this to log in and set up your account.
Once you log in, you have the option of either customizing your avatar or exploring the world we live in. As you explore the world through one of the apps you will collect points which allow you to purchase clothing for your Avatar.
You also collect experience points. These points show you where you are on the leader board.
The leader board is private unless you add your friends to it. Experience points also build your badge level. You can see how many points are needed in order to graduate to the next level.
Points are awarded for: each screen you read, each game played (these reinforce learning) and each quiz which is answered.
By clicking on Explore the World you are taken to the app home screen. Here you will find the main ten learning areas. Each of these areas are divided into five apps each. After selecting the subject you are then taken to the app area.
For example in the Natural World you will find: Deep Blue Sea, Volcanoes, Deserts, Extreme Weather and Protected Areas. Next you select your area of interest. The app then downloads to the device and loads. Each app is fairly large due to the beautiful rich graphics, text to speech, videos and interactive pages.
Each module has an introductory video (See all available module introductory clips on YouTube).
The center of the page is a list of questions to whet your appetite on the topic. On the left and right margins you will find graphics which are links to learning areas.
Along the bottom of the page there are five buttons: back, home (takes you to the first screen), map, points page and text to speech. The text to speech function is a handy tool for younger students or students who are auditory learners.
The map shows you where you are in the module and the total number of learning areas for the module. As you can see each module is fairly extensive.
MWorld can be used off line. To access offline studies each of the 50+ apps can be found on the app store. You use your MCode to unlock the app which is then downloaded independently onto your device.
On the home screen you will find a credits button beneath the sign out button. In this area you will find a complete list of the titles on MWorld linked to an information card. Here you can meet the scientist who contributed to the production of the topic, a full list of the production team, a list of reference materials used in the unit and the names of the production team responsible for the unit app production.
Titles Available on MWorld
At present there are over 50 areas of learning on MWorld and it will be growing so be sure to check back to see what is new. MWorld have supplied a summary, YouTube introduction and a free downloadable teacher guide for each title on the MWorld Title finder page.
iPad (iPad 3 and later, All iPad Air and Mini models)
Android (Android 4.4 and later)
PC (Windows 7 and later)
Due to the size of each of the individual topics covered, (the beautiful photographs and interactive content of MWorld) you will need access to quality internet connectivity in order to download and use your chosen area of learning. The main MWorld app needs connectivity to run.
MWorld can be used off line on your chosen device. You will need to download your chosen topic as an independent app via the app store.
The Cost*
Single topic apps for MWorld are available to purchase at $5.99 each.
Home Education bundleis currently available for $59 for 54 apps (That is a saving of $317.47!). To access this special please email your request to team@discovermworld.com and they will do the rest.
FREE trial is available. You will receive two credits to unlock two titles of your choice along with three units: Jammin, Planets and Volcanoes.
*Prices quoted are current as of July 2016 and subject to change at any time. Please check the MWorld website for up to date pricing information. Connect with MWorld on Social Media
I am very impressed with this app. The graphics are beautiful, the information is twaddle free and presented using excellent multimedia platforms. The variety of topics covered is both broad and deep, we have over a year of learning at our finger tips.
We are looking forward to learning more about the world around us using MWorld. Nathaniel enjoys following whatever path of curiosity he chooses, personally I like being able to use a professionally presented supplement to reinforce our current learning areas.
