Experience Astronomy

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

The past month or so, Silas and Titus have been using Experience Astronomy: Elementary from Journey Homeschool Academy. This has been a great addition to our summer learning and I'll tell you why! First of all, I had planned for them both to study astronomy this coming school year. I figured this would be a great introduction to and supplement for our astronomy studies! Second, they have really enjoyed this course! It is fun, interesting, and super easy to implement!

WHAT IS JOURNEY HOMESCHOOL ACADEMY?

I had never heard of Journey Homeschool Academy before receiving this course to review. Journey Homeschool Academy was created by Luke and Trisha Gilkerson, who have written several parenting and homeschooling books and write a blog together. They offer several courses including Experience Biology: Upper Level for high school and Experience Biology: Elementary.


WHAT IS EXPERIENCE ASTRONOMY: ELEMENTARY?

Experience Astronomy: Elementary is a 1-year course for elementary students ages 6-11 years old. The course has several components. First there is a video. This is the core of the program. The video is around 15 minutes long and it's incredibly interesting and fact-filled! We have all learned so much from the videos. In fact, one morning when the boys were watching it, my 12-year old daughter was sitting with them. She looked at me and said, "This is actually super interesting!" and then proceeded to tell me what she was learning from the video. I know they're effective, too, because both of my sons can answer almost all of the review questions correctly.

Next there is a short memory video. This video goes over the memory work involved in this course - the facts that your children really should memorize. There are also memory cards you print and cut apart that you can use as a drill, review, or even games.

Each lesson has a downloadable activity guide. This includes addition reading suggestions, scripture copy-work, review questions in a quiz format, the memory cards, and a hands-on activity. The hands-on activities are fun and very doable with easy to find supplies and easy to follow instructions. We use the review questions as an oral review and my boys do the copy-work. The copy-work is available in print and cursive. My 8 year old uses the print and my 10 year old uses the cursive.

These are the lessons:

1. Why God Loves Astronomy
2. Who Moved the Sun?
3. Blazing Summers, Freezing Winters
4. Spring Forward, Fall Back
5. Hello, Moon!
6. There are Giants in the Sky
7. From North Star to Southern Cross
8. Stories in the Sky
9. More Stories in the Sky
10. Watch out For Wandering Stars!
11. Around the World
12. Blackout!
13. Bye Bye Moon
14. Falling Rocks and Shooting Stars
15. Galileo's Head Was On The Block
16. Earth- Baby Bear's Porridge
17. Man on the Moon
18. Mr. Golden Sun
19. Mercury - The Swift Messenger
20. Venus - Earth's Fiery Sister
21. Mars - The Red Planet
22. Space Rock and Roll
23. Jupiter - By Jove! It's a Giant!
24. Saturn - Put a Ring on It
25. Uranus - A Topsy Turvy World
26. Neptune - The Blue Giant
27. Ice, Ice, Baby (Too Cold)
28. Planets Galore!
29. The Immeasurable Heavens
30. The Heavens are the Lord's Heavens

You can purchase the student pages and student cards separately or you they are available to download with the purchase of the course for $129. This is a great price for the year-long course!

HOW WE USED IT:

We used this each week. The boys would watch the video, and then I would ask them the review questions and work on the memory cards. They would do their copy-work and the hands-on activity a different day. The first hands-on activity we did was to make Shoebox Planetarium. The instructions were easy to follow and we had a blast with it! We took it into my closet and shined a flashlight through it onto the ceiling. 

We used a waffle box because we didn't have a shoebox. 

We also had to draw the sun, make a blueprint of our house to see which windows got the most sun in the morning and evening, find north without a compass, and more.

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

I really love Experience Astronomy: Elementary! The videos are engaging and interesting. They are a great length - they're not too short where you feel like you didn't learn anything or too long where you child starts to lose interest. The extra materials are also a great addition! The copy-work is nice and the hands-on activities are fun. I like the supplemental reading lists and memory cards. Being able to have the review questions from previous lessons is also a great way to make sure your children are retaining what they've learned. It only takes a few minutes to review the lessons! I love that it is presented from a Christian perspective and the author has such a passion for astronomy. He gets so excited in the video lessons and he really loves what he is teaching. That's always a plus! 

Experience Astronomy: Elementary would be a great science curriculum for any homeschooler! See what other reviewers thought about Journey Homeschool Academy by clicking the banner below.

CTC Math

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My 15 year old son, Eli, was enrolled in public school this year. He hasn't been to school since mid-March, when our Spring Break got extended two weeks...and then a month...and then our school year was cancelled. Our school district didn't send any work home or use virtual learning of any kind. When I was offered the chance to review CTCMath, I knew I wanted Eli to use it! We received a 12-month family subscription to CTCMath.

CTCMath is an online math program for grades K-12. It's unlike any online math program we have tried! There are several features that make CTCMath unique, and I'll explain each one below.

VIDEO TUTORIALS

Most online math programs have video tutorials, but CTCMath's videos are short and to the point. They explain the math concepts really well and make it easy to understand. The videos aren't lengthy or boring, and the narrator's voice is pleasant. The screen displays diagrams and text so you can see and hear the math problems being explained. This is great for visual or auditory learners. You can stop or rewind the video if you missed something or if it went too fast.

INTERACTIVE QUESTIONS

There are 10 interactive questions that follow each video. These questions test your knowledge and comprehension of the new math concepts. It tells you immediately if your answer is right or wrong and the correct answer (if it was wrong). The difficulty increases as you answer correctly. Your progress is displayed at the top of the screen with your percentage of correct answers. The questions are not timed, which I really like as some students work slower than others. You can use scratch paper or a marker board to work out problems.

WORKSHEETS

You can also print off worksheets for your child to complete. This is nice for students who don't like to do their math on the computer, but do need the benefit of the video tutorials. It's also great to use as a pop quiz or test where you can see how your child is doing. And you don't have to work the problems out yourself to check the answers - you or your child can input their answers and it grades it for you. That saves the homeschool parent so much time!

The PDF of the worksheet

Where you input the answers

REPORTS

The reports give you a daily or weekly update of how your child is doing. You can see the lessons they've completed as well their scores and number of attempts to pass. This is great to glance at and see where your child may need more practice or if they're sailing through without any trouble!

On the Parent's page, you can also see the weekly reports and assign tasks. Assigning tasks is just assigning your students lessons, diagnostic tests, or question banks. I didn't assign any tasks because Eli would just log in and do the next several lessons. You can also edit information, like changing the passing percentage. We kept our passing percentage as 80% but Eli usually score 100%.

We really like CTCMath. Eli used it a few times a week to work on his math skills over the summer. I wanted him to do four lessons a week, but sometimes he would do them all in one day! He would rather only have to get on there once and be done for the week. I also used CTCMath to work on my math skills. It's really easy to use and navigate, and I like the immediate feedback. This would be a great program to use for your child's homeschool math curriculum or even as a supplement to public school math.

I'm going to have Eli continue using CTCMath until school starts up - if it starts up and if he goes. We've been talking about homeschooling him again this year. If we do, I will have him use CTCMath for Geometry. I've also been using it to work on my math skills when I have a few minutes here and there. Click the banner below to see what other reviewers thought about CTCMath!

Homeschool Highlights 7/20/20 - 7/24/20

I have a new Homeschool Highlights button. Please use it on the posts you link up! Just copy and paste if you wish. You can also link it back to this post.

This week we started preparing to go home to Louisiana! Rod should be finished here today or tomorrow and we will head back home. Here are a few highlights from our week.

Starting last Thursday I started eating healthy. I stay below 1000 calories a day by eating healthy, whole foods. I've lost weight but I'm not sure how much because I didn't bring any scales with me! When we get home in a few days, I'll weigh myself and know. I feel great, I'm drinking tons of water, and exercising with some light aerobics videos. I can tell in my stomach area, my legs, and my face that I'm smaller. My shorts are fitting better and even my kids have mentioned that I look smaller!

Sweet potatoes and turkey sausage - my new favorite quick and easy meal

Titus completed week 3 in Adventures in U.S. History by My Father's World. We read about Jamestown and Pocahontas and pilgrims in Holland getting ready to come to America. 

In science he did a few experiments with air, including one where he filled up a cup with water, put a piece of cardboard over the top, and flipped it upside down. He was amazed that the cardboard stayed on the cup and kept the water from spilling out! He also likes filling out his experiment sheet.

He is about halfway through with Singapore 1B and just started multiplication. I was very surprised by how quickly he caught on to the concept and how well he did!

He learned about possessive nouns and apostrophes in language arts and worked on his cursive. He did four lessons in his art book and read several books on his own. 

Zeke's theme this week was bugs! We based our week on the book Mrs. Peanuckle's Bug Alphabet. Monday he had a bug transfer tray. He couldn't use the tongs, so he used his fingers to transfer the bugs from the tray into the lids. 

Tuesday he had a bug rescue tray. He had to peel the masking tape off of the bugs to "rescue" them. He loved this tray!

Wednesday he had a bug color smack tray. I gave him a fly-swat and he had to smack the bugs when I called out a color. He lost interest in following directions, but he loved using the fly-swat on anything and anyone!

Thursday he had a sensory tray. I filled the tray with oatmeal, bugs, a magnifying glass, and a bug net. This was a super simple sensory tray but he had the best time with it!

He also had this tot tray last Saturday. I gave him four pool diving rings and plastic keys in matching colors. He had to match the keys to the rings. He did a very good job on this!

The bug theme is an Explore With Books unit in my Etsy Shop, link in sidebar. If you're not following my toddler account on Instagram, you should! I have flash sales each Friday, I share a daily Tot Tray for Zeke with easy and fun tot school activities, and helpful hints to teaching and raising toddlers - @toddler_school.

Here are a few random shots from the week!

Honey, oats, and peanut butter - oh and some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips - a healthy alternative to oatmeal cookies for myself and my kids - at 115 calories each I can only eat one but it does satisfy my sweet tooth

How was your week?

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Homeschool Highlights 7/13/20 - 7/17/20

Our time in Texas has almost come to an end. Rod thinks we will be heading home by the end of next week! We are all ready to get back to our house and our normal routines. Living in the camper is not easy with five kids and two adults! (Mikaela stayed home this time because she has a job.) Zeke has decided he HATES showers and there's not a bathtub in this camper. So that's turned into a fun time of day! Not.

Titus completed his second week of My Father's World Adventures in U.S. History. We are really loving this curriculum. I'll break down what he did in each subject briefly.

History - We read about Christopher Columbus and some Spanish settlers who traveled by ship. He made a notebooking page about Columbus and narrated back to me what I read aloud to him each day.

Science - We learned about science experiments and did a quick demonstration on air. He and Silas each had a piece of paper and they had to fan it with cardboard to get it to move. The paper "raced" to see who could reach the finish line first.

Bible - We learned about Jesus and started making our "Names of Jesus" poster. He read from the NIRV Bible, which is a great translation for young kids. It's written at an end-of-second grade level.

Math - He is flying through Singapore 1B, which is mostly review right now. He's been working on place value and adding and subtracting two digit numbers. He does anywhere from 4-10 pages a day. We're trying to get to the multiplication section so we can work on that before beginning 2A.

Language Arts - He learned how to put words in alphabetical order (simple sets like, dog, apple, cat). He also had an introduction to contractions. We do Language Arts three times a week.

Cursive - He is learning the beginning strokes of cursive and will start learning letters next week.

Art - The art book provided by MFW is excellent. Titus loves it! He is learning how to draw simple but cute people with "hot dog" feet right now.

Zeke used the book unit "Birds" from the Explore With Books series I'm writing. The book we read is called "Birds" by Kevin Henkes. Here is a quick breakdown of what we did each day.

Monday - Bird Feather Matching: I put colored bird feathers in a colander and Zeke had to pull the feathers out and match them to the bird cards.

Tuesday - Bird Size Sorting - I had big and small bird cards he had to sort by size. He did a great job! We learned the words "big" and "small."

Wednesday - Egg Counting - Zeke had to put the eggs (glass beads) onto each nest counting card. We used the cards 1-3 and he did a really good job. Then he had to transfer one egg (white pom poms) into each section of the tray to work on counting and one-to-one correspondence. He did this and then he used the beads for this!

Thursday - Sensory Tray - I used brown shredded paper for the nest and cut up pipe-cleaners for the worms. Zeke used his magnetic wand to find the worms in the nest. We also sorted them by color.

Friday - Playdough Tinker Tray - I made Zeke a tray with playdough, brown shredded paper, pipe-cleaner worms, glass beads, twigs, and feathers. He made a "nest." He loves the playdough tinker trays I set up for him!

The "Birds" Explore With Books unit is available in my Etsy shop - link in sidebar. You can buy the PDF for $5.00 or the complete physical kit with every needed supply for $20.00.

Here are a few random shots from the week:

How was your week?

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