"Be The One"

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Review: Latina Christiana

We have always had an interest in learning Latin in our home school, because of the help it is not only in understanding and decoding English words, but the foundation given when learning several different foreign languages.

I have tried several Latin programs but found them all to be too complicated, especially for someone like me who doesn't know a lot of the proper pronunciation. Because I understand the value of learning it, though, I was eager to try the Latina Christiana I Complete Set from Memoria Press when it became available for review.

Who Should Use Latina Christiana? This is a course designed especially for homeschoolers who are just starting on their Latin journey. It teaches "Church" Latin, in the sense that several different prayers, songs, and Christian words are taught right from the start, and some words may vary slightly from the classical pronunciation. Latina Christiana can be taught by a parent or teacher who has no previous Latin experience. Since mine is very slim, I was pretty excited about the course layout. This program is designed for at least a 3rd grade level, but can be used for a beginning Latin course for any age.

What Do The Lessons Cover? There are 25 lessons and 5 review lessons. (Every 5 lessons, there is a review). Each lesson has enough activities and review to last an entire week, making this a course that can be done over an entire school year. Students will learn 10 vocabulary words per lesson, as well as Latin word study, which teaches how the words are used in the language. Also included are grammar forms of the words, conjugations, and derivatives such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Each week, students will get a small Roman history lesson, and also learn at least one new Latin saying. (So many Latin sayings in their original form are still used in our culture today - the girls' favorite: Semper Fidelis - the motto of the US Marines!)

How It Worked For Us: I decided to use Latina Christiana I with Melissa, who was finishing up eighth grade as we began this review. While this program could definitely be used with younger students, I felt it would be a good fit for Melissa because she is also learning French, and much of the Latin would be helpful for that. Even though Melissa is much older than the recommended early age of third grade, we felt this program was a very good fit for her age and level of understanding. The Latin words are enough to challenge her without making her feel overwhelmed. We decided to stretch a lesson out over one week as the teacher's guide suggested, even though Melissa probably could have moved through the program a little quicker. From the start, I decided that since I am a Latin 'novice' that I would follow the teacher guide exactly, as there are many helpful tips there to make this course a success even when taught by an inexperienced instructor. The workbook pages were probably too simple for her, but it made for a good experience because she was able to grasp everything without a struggle, which made this a fun program for her to use.

What Is In The Complete Set? Not only did we receive the spiral-bound 157 page teacher guide, as well as the 88 page student workbook, but we also received many helpful aids to our study.

We received a set of DVD's that contain video lessons with teacher Leigh Lowe. Video lessons last about 30-40 minutes and cover everything that is in the lesson for the week.A typical video lesson screen looks like this:

A very helpful tool in the Complete Set is the pronunciation CD. We would hear words or phrases on the DVD lesson, but not want to rewind/fast forward through the entire lesson to try to find it just to hear it again. The pronunciation CD made it easy to navigate through the words and phrases, and hear only the ones we needed repeatedly.

There also is a complete set of sturdy, simple flash cards with all the vocabulary words and phrases to review. The flash cards are numbered, which is such a helpful detail to keep them in order. They can be used for traditional review, or in one of the games that is mentioned in the teacher guide.

What Else? One thing that really rounds this program out is the study of Roman History that is included. There are maps and various tidbits of information included in each lesson. Memoria Press recommends using this program alongside Famous Men of Rome, which was also reviewed by the Crew.

A Bright Spot: I love the lists in these books! There are lists in the back with vocabulary words, word derivatives, English to Latin translations, and charts of verb and word forms. It is so convenient to be able to just flip to the back of the book to look up words and details.

A Word About The Video Lessons: Personally, I love video lessons because they seem to suit my children's learning styles very well. These video lessons move through all the material for each lesson, but they also are not very flashy. The 'lecture style' of the DVD lessons actually works well for us. Melissa had no problem with them, as she is very used to video learning, and enjoys it, but children who are not used to learning this way may have some adjustments to make to sit and watch the videos. We thought the videos were very well made, and it was nice to be able to clearly hear the proper pronunciation as we learned.

Jump Right In: Because of the way the complete set is arranged, we were able to start the program the day after receiving it in the mail. Especially if you are utilizing the video lessons, there is little to no prep work for the teacher. The lesson plans in the teacher guide are nearly foolproof. Everything is laid out in an orderly fashion. Even the review and workbook activities are numbered, so the teacher will know what to do for each of the five days it takes to complete a lesson.

My Final Thoughts: I think this program is very effective and well done. Melissa was reluctant at first when she heard we had a Latin program to review, because she was worried it would be dry and difficult. It was neither. We watch the Latin DVD together, so I can learn alongside her and be able to help her with the workbook or review if she needs it. She fills out the 2 pages of workbook for each lesson, then we take the rest of our time to review, following the instructions in the teacher guide. We found that we could complete an entire lesson in 3-4 days. The amazing thing is that Melissa is retaining almost all the vocabulary words she is learning! She really enjoys picking out words and knowing their meaning, because she recognizes Latin roots in those words. I love that Melissa is learning Latin and loving it!

Latin In Action: Recently we were at an activity that had a vocabulary game, where participants received a page of ten obscure words. They had to write a meaning for any they knew. Melissa started to break the words down and was actually able to figure out what several of them meant, thanks to her training in Latin roots. I'll admit it - I was stunned...and happy!

Check out Memoria Press on social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Read the other reviews:

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Homeschooling High School Blog Hop

When people find out that we are homeschoolers, most of the questions they ask surround my older children and high schooling. High school can feel intimidating to nearly everyone, but especially to those who want to tackle homeschooling their way through it!

Every home school parent desires the best preparation and learning environment possible for their child, which is typically their primary motivation for choosing to home school through the last four years of mandatory education.

What frequently makes this a formidable task though, is the questions that loom, as well as the lack of good information and resources available to support home school high school students and their parents.

A group of veteran home school moms who have real "in the trenches" experience with moving their children through the high school years has joined forces to provide a rich source of support and information about "Homeschooling High School". I am privileged to be a part of this group! While I often don't think of myself as a homeschooling veteran, the truth is that I have about sixteen years of experience now, and have just graduated my second daughter from our humble little home school.

My goal, with this series, is to share some of the resources and experience we have picked up along the way, and to give those readers who are entering or planning for their high school home school years some encouragement and support. Homeschooling high school is not as daunting a task as it may first seem! It is very doable, and affords the parent a special opportunity to build a unique relationship with their child that might otherwise not be possible.

Is homeschooling through high school and graduation for everyone? No, but if you are committed to seeing it through and want to learn more, I highly recommend checking back and reading through the posts on this blog hop. This is a great bunch of ladies, with entertaining blogs. You will be blessed, as I have been, from reading their material.

Starting this month of June and continuing on through the end of the year, each month will focus on a different homeschooling high school topic. Here is a list of the topics and ideas that will be covered:

Planning for High School, including meeting state requirements and record keeping
Electives - how to choose and where to find them? How many?
The Hard Subjects - Math and Science and how to teach them successfully if you don't have a math or science background.
Language Arts - Why is writing preparation so important and how to make sure your child is well rounded in the arts of language expression.
How Do I Get Through This? What to do when the teacher is intimidated and anxious, or the student is unmotivated.
How Do I Fit It All In? How to foster independence and be thorough while still focusing on the other homeschoolers in the home. Time management for the high school student.
Graduation - When are they done? What is the next step?

As you can see, by the time this series is done, this will be a wealth of information! Stay tuned and follow along as we blog through the high school years!

Here are the other participating blogs:

Chareenfrom Every Bed of Roses - Introducing the 2015 Homeschool High School Blog Hop
Jennifer from A Glimpse of Our Life - Meet The Bloggers of The Homeschooling High School Blog Hop
Meg from Adventures with Jude - Hints for Homeschooling High School
Cristi from Through the Calm and Through the Storm - Some Homeschooling High School Friends
Debra from Footprints in the Butter - My Three (Homeschooled High School) Sons
Leah from As We Walk Along the Road - Are You Really Homeschooling Through High School?! The Homeschool High School Blog Hop
Michele from Family, Faith and Fridays - Homeschooling High School Blog Hop
Lisa from Golden Grasses - You Can Do It! Homeschooling through High School Blog Hop
Wendy from Life at Rossmont - Introducing High School Homeschooling ... {A Monthly Blog Hop}
Gena from I Choose Joy! - Homeschooling High School monthly blog hop- Introduction
Kym from Homeschool Coffee Break - Meet the Homeschooling High School Bloggers!
Debbie from Debbie's Homeschool Corner - Homeschooling High School
Carol from Home Sweet Life - Homeschooling High School ~ What is it REALLY like?
April from ElCloud Homeschool - Introducing Homeshooling High School
Laura from Day by Day in Our World - Homeschooling High School ~ A New Monthly Series of Posts
Tess from Circling Through This Life - Introducing the Homeschool High School Blog Hop!
Dawn from Double O Farms - Tapping into Great Resources for Homeschooling High School

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Review: Piano Studio at Home

Last summer we had the privilege to try out HomeSchoolPiano in our home school. The girls really enjoyed this program. When it became available to try out the new, revised program called PianoWithWillie, made by JazzEdge, I decided to indulge myself in this program. I have taken piano on and off at several different times in my life, and even with all that training and practice, have never managed to get to the level I desired. After reaching a certain point, I would "hit a wall" and not be able to progress further. I was hoping that PianoWithWillie would give me the tools I need to be able to feel some piano success.

What is PianoWithWillie? This program is an online piano studio, complete with an entire library of video and written lessons, as well as sheet music and additional resources that can be purchased and downloaded. There are hours and hours of video lessons, some as short as 5 minutes long, on just about every piano related technique you can imagine.

Where Do I Start? A very legitimate question, since there is so much available in this program that it can seem very overwhelming when first starting out. Personally, after signing up, I took the 22 point assessment questionnaire, which asked questions about my piano experience, prior training, knowledge, and interests.

After completing the survey, the program custom designed a tailored "Piano Plan" for me, based on the skills I already possess, and where my interest lies. All genres of music are offered, so if the student has a specific desire to learn to play a certain piece or genre, the piano plan will take that into consideration.

My Piano Plan: Personally, my interest in learning to play the piano has always been to play hymns and gospel music, and accompany my children as they sing. I would also like to learn how to play a piece by ear after hearing it sung, using chords and improvisation. Amazingly, the piano plan was finely tuned to these goals, laying out for me a short review, recognizing that I was entering the program at an intermediate level, and picking out video lessons that would teach me the finer points of chord building and improvisation.

Getting Started: The PianoWithWillie Site is very flexible depending on what type of instruction the student is most comfortable with. I personally enjoy having things written that I can look at, so I downloaded many of the resources and printed them for a hard copy.

Review or a 30 Day Guarantee: I found, as I was checking out different video lessons, that I seemed to have some gaps in my piano knowledge, (or I have just plain forgotten some of those finer points from long ago!). This inspired me to start with Willie's "30 Day Success Playbook" which I downloaded and worked through. There are also accompanying video lessons to watch. I enjoyed refreshing my mind (and fingers) and took my time getting comfortable with piano again. Willie guarantees that if this "30 Day Playbook" is followed, the student will be able to play simple piano pieces within a month of starting, and I think that is true. Personally, I found that many of my skills came back to me pretty quickly, and several things 'clicked' that I had previously struggled with. Willie explains things in a way that just makes sense and connected those piano-playing dots in my mind.

How the video lessons work: One thing I really love about this program is the multiple ways you can view the instruction. A video lesson is set up so that you can see the instructor's face and a birds-eye view of the piano keyboard. Orange markings show which keys are being played, as you are watching over the instructor's fingers moving across the keys.

Fine tuning the video lessons: Lessons can be paused, played at the student's choice of speed (slow, normal, or 2x), and the best part....repeated as often as necessary! Willie's voice and instructions are enjoyable to listen to. His enthusiasm for piano and for the learner is very evident in all the lessons. He takes the time to point out little things such as the way to hold your hands, or posture, that make for a better experience.

While I did find a piano plan to work through, I was not limited at all to just the lessons that my assessment said I needed. I have access to all the lessons, and can definitely step outside my own plan to experiment with any of the other genres or skills that are available.

Suggested Age: PianoWithWillie is best used for older children who have a basic understanding of piano up through teens and adults.

Final Thoughts: This program is an amazing answer for a busy person who would like to broaden their piano skills, or a student who possesses some beginning piano knowledge and would like to continue their learning in the comfort of their own home. Help and support is available through live chat and forums. There are multiple questions listed that others have asked, as well as the answers that were given. I had several questions of my own that were answered just by reading through those. For someone like me who does not have the time to go for weekly lessons, but would like to broaden my piano skills, this program is perfect. The explanations in the lessons are simple enough to understand, yet complex enough to advance the student at a comfortable pace. The more the student invests in this program, the greater their yield will be. There almost seems no limit to the possibilities of musical advancement, because there are so many different lessons and topics covered. There is no limit to how many lessons can be accessed - a studio membership gives unlimited access to the entire program and lesson collection of over 3,500 videos! Lessons are streamed, so they can be accessed on any device that streams web material. I prefer to stream lessons on the iPad so it can be propped next to the piano.

While I have not yet mastered the goals I started with at the beginning of these lessons, I definitely feel more comfortable playing along with Willie, and I have this entire year to fine tune my piano playing skills. One thing I noticed while working on my lessons was that my children were fascinated that I was playing the piano, and it seemed to really inspire them to practice more as well!

PianoWithWillie brings a complete and personalized piano studio right into your living room!

Connect with JazzEdge on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube
Vimeo

JazzEdge has two other programs available, that were reviewed by The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew: Easy Piano Basics for beginners, and DrumsWithWillie. Click the banner below to read the other reviews.