Review: Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3

Probably anyone that has homeschooled for any length of time has heard of Saxon Math. Stephen Hake is the lead author for Saxon Math textbooks, grades 3-8.  He long believed that students could greatly benefit from a language arts program that used the model that Saxon Math has long used.  Thus Hake Publishing was founded.  We've been able to spend some time recently with their newest addition,  Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3.  Our youngest has always struggled in the the Language Arts area, so even though he's finishing up 5th grade I felt the 3rd grade program was more at his level.  Our box arrived and as with any Saxon Math product the quality was wonderful.  We received the following:






Grammar and Writing 3 with Daily Review-Consumable Textbook
Grammar and Writing 3 with Daily Review-Teacher Guide
Grammar and Writing 3-Writing Workbook

The Writing Workbook and Teacher's Guide have previously been 3-hole punched for easy insertion into a notebook if you prefer. All the answers to the lessons, writing activities and tests are included in this book. There are also a few additional practice lessons in the back for extra reinforcement. The consumable workbook was not and I actually think that would have been nice. For our youngest sometimes everything needs to be in one large notebook or they get lost. As I quickly glanced through the homeschool grammar program I liked what I was seeing. The program is set up to have daily lessons, review sets as well as tests.  There are lessons on parts of speech, sentence structure, spelling rules, word usage, dictionary skills to help with writing, capitalization and punctuation.  We've touch a little on diagramming sentences and this program continued that to offer a greater understanding.
As well as the daily lessons there is a series of writing lessons. These are there to help the student complete a composed essay.  One things that seemed very helpful was the grammar meeting at the beginning of every grammar lesson. This helps practice correct word usage, new vocabulary and to develop good speaking habits.  One thing that differentiates this program is the continued review and incremental development. Another is that in each lesson Core Knowledge®  content is included in the lessons. Such as age-appropriate references to art, geography, literature, history, poetry and science.

I like to work on grammar 4 or 5 days a week because our youngest seems to do much better when we don't take long breaks. I aim to do that, but if we get 3 times a week then I'm still happy. Since  Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 already includes daily review I felt better about not getting to work in the program every day.Often we have to go back and redo lessons because Issac has forgotten, but I felt the built in review would be helpful for him.  The program jumped right into the two parts of a sentence. Issac knows what a noun and a verb are, but when the program used the words subject and predicate it was confusing for him. Even though he seemed a little confused he was able to complete the Review Set 1 on his own and get them all right. As we moved on through the lessons he seemed to struggle more with the subject and predicate and often switched them. We haven't touched much on the verb tenses yet, but he seemed to catch on to that fairly well.  When he did make mistakes it was to always use the past tense which I thought was interesting. There are some additional practice lesson in the back for when the student has some struggles. I do wish that maybe the information was spread over a few lessons. Even though there is the daily review and additional practice sheets Issac still needed more review. He often just doesn't catch on in one lesson. There is so much covered in this book.  There are 111 lessons and it seems like pretty much everything is covered from capitalization, verb tenses, spelling rules, indirect objects, clauses and much more!

I feel this is a good program for Issac, but we might have to still work the same lessons more than once. During this review period we redid several lessons to help with his understanding. Even doing the additional practice sheets he'll need more review on some topics. That said I do like the setup and appreciate the extra build in review!

Hake Publishing has provided us with a wonderful schedule to follow. I know not everyone likes a schedule, but I've always felt it gives me a good jumping off point.  It's a nice reminder as well to know when the student has a test and or a writing lesson to be done since they aren't all in the same book.  

Hake Publishing currently has this program in grades 3-8.   Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 is their newest addition. If you'd like more information about this program check out this video as well as what other crew members thought. 

Week Ending 6/22/2018

This week has been INSANE and I don't see next week getting better. We are trying to get enough stuff done at our new house to move into it. We'll still be living in a construction zone, but at least we can be there :) I've been trying to learn how to patch holes in the walls, but I am not feel successful at all about it. I do not think I'm the handy lady type :) School this week has been very basic. We have been continuing to work in the  Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 and I'll have a full review on that next week. I've really enjoyed working on the Bible Study Guide For All Ages with Issac and he seems to enjoy it as well.  I also got a new book to read this week, No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope. Just the few pages I've read have really been close to my heart. Today we got the email for the latest review we'll be working through. Issac is super excited to start Taking the Mystery Out of Geology & Dinosaurs and the Bible. He already started the Geology portion today. I have to admit with all the packing, hole patching, etc. I haven't had any time to read anything fun for myself lately :( Hopefully once we are moved I can get back to some good books.

One of the biggest things going on this week is that today my husband and I celebrate 22 years of marriage. It's been a ROCKY road, but I can't imagine it with anyone other than him :)

Review: MaxScholar

Reading has been a bit of a struggle for our youngest child, so I'm always on the look for books and programs to help strengthen his skills. I was please to see the free 12 month subscription of the  Reading Intervention Programs from MaxScholar up for review recently.  This program was created to help children that have learning disabilities, processing issues or just those that are struggling to read.  It is a multi-sensory approach based on a mix of  Orton-Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell as well as other comprehension and phonics strategies. This program is adaptable to a child's age and learning ability.   It was a simple process to open an account after the email we received from the company. The program is set up for the parent to have an account as well as the student. There are many sections available for your student to try. 

The first thing that Issac needed to do was the assessment. I've said it before and I'll shout it from the rooftops that I LOVE an assessment! Often times I go back and forth wondering what I need to work on with Issac or what level he is currently.  The assessment takes all the guess work out of it. We started with the phonics assessment and Issac did great. 

He then moved to the reading assessment.  At the end of each session you can view the report in the parent account to see how they did and what they need to work through. The one thing I wasn't quite sure on was if the assigned level was related to grade levels. My son is going into the 6th grade and I viewed this as he was on grade 5 reading level.  Here is a look at one part of the reading assessment.  

Issac spent most of his time in the reading section.  As I watched him move through the lessons they seemed very easy when I thought he was on level 5. After further inspection the lessons he was working through were kindergarten level. I didn't quite understand that if he was on level 5, but was able to go into my account and change the levels that I wanted him to work through. I bumped it up to 3-5 because I felt that would still offer him challenges as well as successes.  I want Issac to become a better reader and be more on level, but I also want there to be a balance and him not get too frustrated.  As the lessons moved on and the passages got longer he did get stressed.  All he could see was a long page of writing and couldn't seem to focus on just working in one section at a time. I liked that he was doing lots of work with finding the main idea, the topic and details in the text. This is not really something we have work on at all because I have been more focused on just getting him to read.  He liked that he was able to play the games to help strengthen his skills. It did frustrate him if he couldn't play the game due to a low score because he thought the games were there to help him. I explained that it was a reward for doing a job well done.  He also worked some in MAXWORDS. When questioned on the syllable rules he didn't have any idea what they were saying.  As we started moving through the lessons he quickly understood. The terminology was a little confusing for him at first, but after discussion then he caught on better.  

I think the part that he enjoyed and did best at was looking at the pictures and understanding what was going on there. I think that is due to many hours spent with his speech therapist doing this type of review.  He's always done better with the multi-sensory approach and I could see that continue with this program.  

I think one of my favorite parts is that I can go into my dashboard and try out things Issac is doing to see how the program works.  Here are a few of the sections that I tried out as well as two of Issac's favorites.   Issac was super excited to read about one of his favorites-LeBron James! In MAXVOCAB you can learn the definitions of words, how to use them in sentences as well as synonyms and antonyms.  There are also tons of materials for the teacher/parent to check out in order to understand the process and better help the student.  

All in all this program seems like a good fit for Issac. Like I mentioned previously the sections seemed a little long and that was stressful for him, but he tried focusing on one paragraph at a time. I do wish that based on the assessment it would have started him out at the exact place he needed, but I'm just not sure if I missed how to make that happen. All-in-all for my youngest the multi-sensory approach has always been best and I see that here with the Reading Intervention Programs that MaxScholar has produced. For more information check out their social media sites and as always I highly recommend reading what other crew members experienced in their time with the program.  

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Review: The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep

The Captured Bride is book 3 of The Daughters of the Mayflower series.  In this book we meet Mercy who has lived her life torn between two cultures? Mercy Lytton  was born with a unique skill to see what others don't see. She has spent a large part of her life using that skill as a scout. She has worked with a dear friend, Captain Matthew Prinn, for many years and is about to accompany him on his last scouting mission. When this mission is over Matthew plans to retire and farm. Their mission is to pretend to be a family with a "traitor" acting as Mercy's husband. The wagon load of goal that they are to make sure arrives safely to a nearby fort is actually gold that was taken from Elias Dubois-the traitor.  Mercy doesn't feel good about this mission, but she would do anything to help her longtime friend, Matthew. As the mission is underway Elias quickly begins to win the friendship of Matthew as well as Mercy.  Will this last scouting mission be an easy one for Captain Prinn? Will Elias tell them why he is considered a traitor? This book is full of questions, romance, intrigue and action.  Who knows what adventures Mercy will end up taking!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review." 

Wordless Wednesday 6/13/2018

Review: ARTistic Pursuits Inc.

Art has become one of Issac's favorite subjects. His older sister has dabbled in some drawing in her time, but last year he took a shining to watching her draw and decided he loved art too! Most of the time he just draws items without really having a knowledge of how to use any specific supplies to create different looks. He's been happy with that up until this point. I knew when I saw ARTistic Pursuits Inc. up for review that we had to do it. It seemed like a fun way to do art as we are ending our school year.  We had the choice of several of their books, but ultimately I decided to chose the first book in the series ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray . Art for Children , Building a Visual Vocabulary is the first book in the series and I just felt that would be a good starting place for Issac. It would help him build confidence with his use of the materials and his drawing as well as have him learn to follow the instructions from the videos. 

Our aim with this product was to do one lesson a week. I honestly thought we'd do more because usually once the kids get back into art they want to do it several times over the week. ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray is recommended for grades K-3, but with any curriculum you can adjust things to fit your family. When we received our book in the mail I was very pleased with the quality from the start.  It's a hardcover book with protective sleeves on the inside for the dvd & Blu-ray disks.  There are 18 lessons in this edition.  Of those lessons 6 are video lessons. The video lesson introduces the new concept and then there are a few lessons to work with that concept.
Lesson 1: Video #1 Watercolor Crayons Lesson 2: Artists Compose-The Courtyard of a House in Delft by DeHooch Lesson 3: Artists Imagine-The Birthday by Chagall Lesson 4: Video #2 Identify and Mix Colors Lesson 5: Artists Observe-In Flander's Field by Vonnoh Lesson 6: Artists Communicate-The Christening Feast by Steen Lesson 7: Video #3 Construction Paper: Cut Lesson 8: Artists See Shapes-Flower Day by Rivera Lesson 9: Video #4 Construction Paper: Fold Lesson 10: Artists See Form-Boy with Bagpipes and Young Bear (artist unknown) Lesson 11: Video #5 Oil Pastels Lesson 12: Artists See Texture-The Sunflower by Klimt Lesson 13: Artists See Landscapes-Monte Sainte-Victoire by Cezanne Lesson 14: Artists See Still Lifes-Still Life with coffeepot by Van Gogh Lesson 15: Video #6 Draw Shapes Lesson 16: Artists See Animals-Sentinel of the Plains by Dunton Lesson 17: Artists See Figures-Blue Dancers by Degas Lesson 18: Artists See Portraits-Henry VIII by Holbein the Younger
There is also a great material list at the front of the book that lets you know exactly what materials to have for use with the book.  We had to purchase a watercolor crayon set and an oil pastel set. The concept of this program is to get your child thinking and being creative.  The video shows the student how to use the art supplies. We have never used watercolor crayons and while it seems pretty easy to figure out how to use it's nice to have the video for instruction!  The book lessons are used more to have your child get involved in discussion and processing their thoughts.  Ultimately ARTistic Pursuits Inc. is wanting our children to take the art supplies provided to them and create original works of art. It's not so much about recreating what someone else has done, but seeing what they have done and making our own works of art. 

Here is a shot of the video where they are explaining how to cut your items from construction paper to make your picture. 

One of the beginning pages explaining how to use your materials. 

Issac and I found that we are both in love with the watercolor crayons. He has used them at least a dozen times since we did the first lesson. He's just fascinated with how he colors and the art work looks one way and with a little water it's transformed into something even more amazing.  I personally liked the range of the lessons and that some student drawings were in the book. I think it let Issac know that all art done by children looks different. Some are more gifted than others, but all children should love to create art and be proud of what they have created. In lesson 5 Issac had to observe nature. He did this lesson with his sister.  When sent outside to find his objects he grabbed the first 3 things he saw. His sister sent him back out because she felt he just grabbed 3 things without really looking around and seeing what he was surrounded with at the time. After more time observing he came back with some great items and was able to complete that project. One of this favorites was lesson 7 where he had to construct his art with objects he cut from construction paper.  

The above were some of our other works of art.  

There are currently 6 volumes: Art for Children, Art of the Ancients, Art of the Middle Ages, Artists that Shaped the Italian Renaiisance, Art of the Northern Countries and Art of the Impressionists.   Two additional ones are on the way in the summer of 2018: Art of the Middle Ages and Art of America.  Each book covers one semester and they can be used in chronological order or you are free to jump around based on your school studies. We've had lots of fun with this first book and plan to continue our art journey.  For more information about the books and to keep up with the new ones coming out check out ARTistic Pursuits Inc. on their social media sites: Facebook and Twitter