A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Experience Biology – Journey Homeschool Academy

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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.

I need to tell you about Journey Homeschool Academy and their Highschool biology course.  Wow… what a tremendously well done course!  Experience Biology: Upper Level is a video based, online biology course, complete with labs, tests, quizzes, papers etc, to make a good highschool biology course.   I can’t wait to tell you all about it in my review. 

Experience Biology

How I used it

I do need to tell that I took this course as an adult, wanting to see how it compared to another biology course that I grade. I didn’t do the labs, I didn’t the course work, but I read the textbook, watched videos and took the quizzes. 

Journey Homeschool Academy’s biology course CAN be done without the textbook but adding the book to the course makes it more complete. You cannot, if you live in Canada, order the book through their program. I ordered mine off Amazon.ca.

logo for Journey Homeschool Academy

What I am reviewing

I am reviewing an online biology course called Experience Biology: Upper Level.  Experience Biology is the brainchild of Luke and Trish Gilkerson.   You’ll find it a rigorous and thorough look at biology, preparing it’s students well for college.  Journey Homeschool Academy currently has five programs: Elementary and Upper-Level Biology, Elementary and Upper-Level Astronomy and an Upper-Level bible survey class.  Seeing the quality of their biology class has me planning to have my lad take their bible survey class as well!  🙂 

As part of this course you will cover 35 lessons which will include quarter exams, hands-on labs with options to do video labs, quizzes, engaging videos and research questions. 

Experience Biology

How Is a Lesson Laid Out?

After printing off your lesson notes, watch the videos, taking care to actually fill in your lesson notes.   ðŸ™‚  If you have the textbook read the assigned lesson, otherwise take the quiz.  The quizzes are all multiple choice and you can see where you went wrong afterwards.   Complete the research questions and submit your lab report.  You can easily complete one lesson per week, and potentially two lessons per week. 

Videos

Each video lasts about half-an-hour.  They are interesting to watch and occasionally pose interesting questions.

Highlights of videos

  • overview
  • notes to write are highlighted/put up in text
  • connections to real-life
  • review

One of the things I really, really liked about these videos is they fit them perfectly to their workbooks.  SOMETIME I was so engaged in the video lesson that I actually forgot to take notes.  BUT going back through the video so that I could fill in the blanks was SUPER easy.   You see, if you need to write it down, you’ll find it highlighted in the video.  How super helpful is that eh?  🙂

This is a faith-based program, and you’ll find scripture and references to God interwoven throughout. 

Luke Gilkerson teaches the classes.  He has a light-hearted yet serious approach to science.  You can tell how much he loves his field and teaching others about it.  He does as all good teachers do.  A brief overview, followed by specific details, followed by a wrap up. 

I mentioned earlier about the workbooks.   You get two with the course. The student Guidebook which you use to take notes.  The Lab book spells out the assignments and what you’ll need to accomplish them. 

Experience Biology

Lots of room is given for taking notes.  Important for a person like me with messy handwriting, and for a student like my son who likes to take extra notes.  Even if you don’t need it, it’s lovely that the space is available don’t you think?

Quizzes, Assignments and Grading

I love the immediacy in grading.   Quizzes require 70% to pass.   All multiple choice.   I haven’t reached the point of needing to take a quarterly exam, but I would assume in an online format that would be a similar system.

Don’t you just love the light-hearted options for some of the answers?   I laughed when I saw them!  🙂  This online high school biology course is a pleasure to work through. 

The Riot and the Dance

the riot and the dance

Although you can complete Experience Biology without this textbook, and complete it well, you will find that having the textbook adds a deeper layer of understanding.   It’s a more complete program with the additional reading.  Could you source out the various chapters?  Yes, for instance in the space that it took for the book to arrive I had already sussed out learning about a bit of starter chemistry and about biomolecules.  Having the textbook just makes it easier.  🙂 

I found the text to be technical but an easily understood conversation.  Written by Gordon Wilson who includes his faith in his understanding of science.   Most of the illustrations within the text are done in grayscale, the photos are included in full colour.  This textbook would be helpful in any high school biology course.

Research Assignments

Don’t you just love it when the research questions help advance your learning?  Not just a “do this” but a “do this and you’ll understand your next lesson better”. 

Should you Get Experience Biology?

Whether you want a faith-based Biology course, or prefer to avoid issues of faith, Experience Biology is a SOLID homeschool biology program.  It’s extremely well done and worthy of a second look.  High-quality videos that are easy to understand and well-laid out along with great research questions, and good labs.  This is a well-rounded biology program that is academically rigorous.  I do advise getting the textbook if you plan to go on in biology/science as it makes for a more in-depth course.  

You can also find Journey Homeschool Academy on Facebook and Instagram.

Luke and Trish Gilkerson

Besides this homeschool biology course, other courses were reviewed by other Homeschool Review Crew families. These include Experience Biology: Elementary and Experience Astronomy: Elementary.

Please visit the Homeschool Review Crew to read some of these other reviews about the courses offered by Journey Homeschool Academy.

homeschool biology,  homeschool science, high school biology online

Winnie’s Picks

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Oh!  I need to tell you about this lovely paint-by-number windmill painting that I am reviewing on behalf of Winnie’s Picks.  What a marvellous piece of work, a wonderful way to entertain myself, while creating a masterpiece!  Let me tell you all about it!

winnie's Picks

What I am Reviewing

I am reviewing “The water-mill of my youth“, which is one of several painting available from Winnie’s Picks.  They sell a number of fabulous paint-by-number canvases that are excellent quality and fun to do.   These are not the dollar store paint-by-number paintings of your youth.   These are a high quality, solid paintings meant to delight adults. 

They sell on average for $25.95 USD without a frame.  You can design custom orders as well as buy with a frame.  Winnie’s Picks sells paintings in seven categories: 

  • Easy Kits
  • Paintings with a Frame
  • Famous Paintings
  • Flowers
  • Animal Kingdom
  • Landscapes
  • Vintage

Winnie’s Picks, details

My kit arrived much quicker than I expected after ordering.   The tube arrived with a bit of shipping damage but this damage didn’t affect the contents.  Nothing was missing, and the canvas, paint brushes and paints were in excellent condition. 

winnie's picks

Everything came tightly rolled.  The canvas was rolled number side in, and the paints and brushes came wrapped in plastic. 

winnie's picks shipping results

The acrylic paints came with big numbers so you can easily tell which is which.  You will note duplicates of paints that are used more often.  Each paint container opens easily and reseals well. 

The brushes have a good variety in tips and you will find them useful in filling larger areas quickly and tight spots easily. 

Areas that are carefully delineated, with fine detail.  It might look intimidating at first, but just take your time and have fun.  

How was the kit to work with?

Before you start you will want to lay out your canvas and let it settle after being in the tube all rolled up.   You might want to tack it down.

winnie's picks

The paints are smooth and have good coverage.  A few needed a couple of drops of water to thin them out a bit.  The brushes work smoothly and are great to work with. 

I am happy with how the painting is coming along. The paints are smooth and have good coverage. There are a few that I have added drops of water to thin them out a bit. The brushes are great.

I am really enjoying it.  It is so much fun watching the waterfall and windmill come to life right before my eyes.  I find that it is so relaxing to do every week. 

winnie's picks

It is really enjoyed applying the paints.  My only concern is that sometimes for the white areas I need to cover up the number by painting it twice.  But the brushes are smooth and the paint goes on easily. 

winnie's picks, the windmill of my youth

I was really hoping to get it completely done before I posted my review but I have a bit too do yet.  Isn’t it looking good? I am so looking forward to getting it all done and then finding just the right frame for it.  It’ll look great hung on a wall won’t it?

Should you Get Winnie’s Picks?

YES!

I am very tempted to order this one.  Isn’t it a cool looking cat?  Makes me think of my Miss Lizzie with that intense stare.

But seriously, with the great paintbrushes, smooth paints, and the variety that you can do, don’t you think you’d have fun doing them?  Large paintings done in detail on a real canvas backing that you can frame afterwards.  Not just done in a couple of hours, but take a few hours to complete each week.  Such a lovely use of time!  🙂 

Winnie’s Picks have just launched their new collection.  Collaborating with American artists to promote their work and give the opportunity to everyone to try them out. 

Displacement

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raincoast FTC

Do you just love it when you get a book in that supplements what a student is studying?  Displacement is one such book. A graphic novel about the Japanese placed into internment camps during WW2.  Kiku from modern San Francisco finds herself transported back into history where she finds herself sharing her grandmother’s time in internment. 

displacement review

What I am Reviewing

First Second always does a great job with their graphic novels, and displacement is no exception.  With good images and succinct text you learn the story well without extraneous language.  Pictures that help tell the story, conveying mood, and introducing stories that some middle-schoolers would otherwise not read.   

Kiku Hughes has written an historical novel taking us back in time.

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.  ….
Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American … , Kiku …witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

I received an advanced reader copy from Raincoast books to review. 

The Details

You’ll find simple chapter headings.  Starting with the west, and ending with home.  Not every chapter has a unique title, about every other one does.  You’ll find a circle on a mostly white page with a chapter number, without or with a title. 

You’ll find the text small, written in with a block-style text.  Despite the size of the text, I found it easy to read. Each letter written clearly and despite a similar font to the old comic books, very clean in presentation.

displacement

You’ll find ample use of white space and colour.  I loved that facial expressions portrayed a good part of the story.  You could see the hurt, fear, confusion, anger, and moments of joy expressed.  Sorrow was often shown … for lives lost, for hopes crushed, and for the feelings of abandonment by their own government. 

You’ll only get the Japanese-American side of the story, not the governments, or the fear of American society at the time. But the reader will catch a real glimpse into a time period that shaped the Japanese-American culture for years post-WW2.  

I loved how Kiku connected with her mom at the close of the book, able to talk together about the things she experienced, and discovered together more about her grandmother. 

sample page displacement

Should you Get it?

Displacement opened my eyes to a lot of the issues concerning the Japanese-American internment camps.  A scary and difficult time with really no good options for any of these American citizens unjustly imprisoned.

It is well worth getting just for the potential discussion questions.  I do recommend that parents read this book WITH their children.  A lot of issues are presented that taking the time to talk about them together would be beneficial. 

I do need that mention that there is a light female-female romance including a kiss.  I don’t understand the need to add this to the storyline, as the story would have been complete without it. It’s not even a time in history where such choices were acceptable so it didn’t really fit.  It does fit though with one of many issues to discuss. 

Let’s Fly a Plane

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raincoast FTC

You may remember that I reviewed Let’s Ride a Wave a couple weeks back.   Today I have another in the series called Let’s Fly a Plane.   Another well done book from the Everyday Science Academy series. It is chockful of good science information for the junior crowd.  Come along… let’s discover what it takes to fly a plane!

Let's Fly a Plane review

What am I reviewing?

Let’s fly a Plane!  Launching into the science of flight with aerospace engineering.   Created by Chris Ferrie who writes science books for children.   Sourcebooks Explore is the publisher, the length is 40.  

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my review for Raincoast Books.  Chris Ferrie’s series Everyday Science Academy seeks to answer the big science questions that children have.  Let’s Fly a Plane is no exception to that goal. 

Let’s Fly a Plane, the details

Just as in Let’s Ride a Wave, Red Kangeroo plays a pivotal role.  She asks the question that begs to be answer “How can something so big stay in the sky when I cannot?”  Dr. Chris comes to answer the question. 

sample page from Let's fly a plane

Using accurate language over colour filled pages, Dr. Chris helps his readers understand terms like thrust, drag, friction,life and airflow.    If you miss any of the definition they are also provided in the glossary. 

You’ll find the text easy to read. An easy to read font the remains consistent throughout it’s 40 pages. 

You will appreciate the details provided as you learn about all the things that help keep an airplane up in the sky. 

No science book would be complete without experiments to help cement the learning.   Let’s Fly a Plane is not exception to that rule. 

Should you get it?

For sure!   It’s a fun, informative book with good experiments for children 4-8 years old. The bright colourful pages will keep their eyes on the page while a parent reads to them.  In fact, go out and get the whole series! 🙂

Create Your Own Secret Language

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raincoast FTC

Don’t you think it would be great to be able to create your own secret language or have the tools to break codes others make?  Imagine you are an archaeologist and you discover hieroglyphs, or other languages on a wall, wouldn’t you like to know if it’s safe to go forward?  Create Your Own Secret Language gives you the steps you need to learn this important skill.

create you own secret language review image

What I am Reviewing

David J. Peterson wrote this beginner’s guide in codes and ciphers for middle schoolers just this year. Create Your Own Secret Language helps the reader to invent codes, ciphers, hidden messages, and more.  Carefully illustrated by Ryan Goldsberry.  You will find 144 purple and white pages broken into 3 sections containing several smaller sections.

One: From Letters and Numbers to Ciphers – 10 subsections
Two: From Ciphers to Codes
Three: From Ciphers and Codes to a Language.

I am delighted to review this MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group book on behalf of Raincoast Books.   

table of contents for create your own secret language

The Details – Create your own secret language

Hidden messages great us as we crack open David J. Peterson’s latest book for middle school readers. Can we figure it out?  How ever will we learn to decode this message?  

First, let’s learn a bit about how language works, some sounds are soft, others hard, and yet others can be sung.  It may be that for all languages, we can use that information to help us decipher other languages.

Using actual made up codes with plenty of space for decoding, the author helps the reader learn to decode these odd codes. 

sample page from Create your own secret language

Actual practical example create the perfect opportunity for the reader to put into use the steps they are given.   The decoded message is always provided so the reader can double-check their efforts. 

 You will learn about substitutions, numeric or picture codes. The fun continues as you discover the fun of sound based codes, scytales, and glyphs.  Learn how to make interesting scripts based off of shapes and positions.  How can a block turn into the symbol of a sound or letter?

Along the way you’ll tighten up your knowledge of the parts of speech and the differences in how the letters of our alphabet sound. It’s rather neat how it fits together… create a new language and learn your own better!

Should you Get it?

I see so much potential in Create Your Own Secret Language by David J. Peterson.  A great addition to a history study on battles and coding, a way to explore your own language and using it to create code, or even using math to create code.   It could simply be a fun summer book for a child to work through, leading to the confounding of their parents!  🙂   It’s a fun, well-made book that should delight many a 10-14 year old. 

MaxScholar, a crew review

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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.

MaxScholar, using the MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software, is a complete reading program, helping YOUR students read and write better. A reading intervention, that also includes phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling words.  This multi-media, online program provides encouragement to your student in the way of games and other interactive elements.   Come see what I am talking about won’t you?

MaxScholar Review

What I am Reviewing

MaxScholar is a reading and phonics program that will help students learn how words are put together, letter sounds, and how to read a story or essay.  They use a systemic approach starting with Kindergarten level and working their way up.

When you start the program you need to take a test to help place you at the appropriate level.  I had my son take the test to see where a typical ninth-grade student would place, and that was level seven.  My review will be based upon what he would see. 

MaxScholar Logo

Teacher Dashboard

Parent/Teacher and Student each have their own login and password.  The teacher dashboard looks like this.  From it you can look at your class/students, see their reports, check out the scope and sequence and much more.  

In the teacher dashboard everything is readily at your fingertips. 

You can monitor student progress.   Also you can pull up class reports, reading reports or phonics reports. You can also look specifically at a particular student. 

It takes a bit of time to set multiple students, but it’s not onerous.  If you change something and don’t like it, you can go back and change it again.   

Read through the scope and sequence for each section. This way you can see what is coming next and be able to help your student where needed.  

Make backend changes to the student’s workload, like removing the need to highlight text, getting rid of all kindergarten material (like practicing letters), and remove access to games if needful.  This is where you fine-tune the program to meet the individual needs of your students.

Student Dashboard

Students have a dashboard of their own.   They can choose where they want to start.  If they start with three main areas, they will find it helps with the games they can play. 

With MaxWords: helping you build words from roots, prefixes, suffixes, and spelling rules. Delve into the Latin and Greek roots. 

Then MaxPhonics: four sections helping you understand the sounds of the English language.  PreK, Alphabet, Blends and Digraphs.

Along with MaxReading: Choose from four chapters, that open into different books.  Practice your reading comprehension. 

There are three main areas to focus on.  MaxPhonics, MaxReading and MaxWords.  Each area allows to you choose what you want to do.  You might want to in MaxPhonics work on blends, in MaxReading take up inventions or reading about places, and MaxWords lets you learn a list of new words, choosing the category you want to learn from.  The sheer variety of options means that a child isn’t forced to read something that they aren’t at all interested in. 

From there you can branch off to MaxMusic, MaxBios, MaxPlaces and MaxVocab.  Each of these areas assesses different parts of learning to read.  For instance you will be understanding verbs in MaxMusic,  comprehension with MaxBios and MaxPlaces, and focusing in on words with MaxVocab.  

Each new section you enter presents you with a tutorial explaining what you need to do.  Read a passage, highlight words, drag definitions etc. 

Take your time, responsive grading

One of the things I love is that you can take your time.  I found no timers or countdown clocks for any marked work.  The only timer I found was for the challenges where you are encouraged to read through a list of words.  I never found meeting the timeline difficult, but for students who might read slowly, or who lack confidence, this might prove to be more of a challenge then they want.  Those students can also choose to have the word list read for them. 

You will find that each area covers somewhat different things.  For instance MaxMusic let’s you read the lyrics of various songs, and then focuses on finding the verbs hidden within.  Later on, it will see what nouns, adjectives and adverbs you remember. 

Everything that is graded gives you immediate feedback. 

Refinement through Change

I noticed a change to the system with one game.  Hangman changed!  They reinvented it maintaining the name but better focusing on enabling students to learn new vocabulary.  The change made playing hangman a great deal less frustrating to play while maintaining it’s intent – testing new vocabulary!  I rather like seeing how programs refine themselves. 

Recommendation

A MaxGuru Pack subscription gives one child twelve months of access and includes all the different Max programs for $279/year.  They even have a free trial program for 15 days.  Try it out!

MaxScholar has been specifically created to help students with a variety of learning disabilities. MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software addresses various issues by teaching the grapheme/phoneme connection through visual, audio and kinesthetic step-by-step instruction.  The creators very much want your students to succeed with their early intervention program.   Their programs are systematic, explicit and multi-sensory.  They have the best of various research-based methods to help your students learn. 

Fully accessible on any computer or tablet.  If you use it on your phone you’ll find yourself scrolling around the screen a bit, but it is still fully usable. 

As I played around with the various programs I found that overall they worked well.  I occasionally ran into glitches (the drag and drop word definitions) but overall everything worked well.  The responsive feedback and the ability to see where you went wrong was fantastic. 

If you are looking for an online program, that will support your student through kindergarten up through highschool, you’ll find MaxScholar a helpful, highly researched and well-executed program 

Links and Invitation

Social Media Links for MaxScholar are:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaxScholarLLC/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaxScholarLLC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxscholarsoftware/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MaxScholarLLC/pins/

60 People from the Homeschool Review Crew took the time to check out MaxScholar on your behalf.  I invite you to check out their reviews. 

MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software {MaxScholar Reviews}

Let’s Ride a Wave

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raincoast FTC

One of the things I’ve been doing for the past few years is marking a papers for a biology course.  It’s been a good field to venture into and I enjoy doing it the longer I do it.  I’m learning to connect with my students and offer them better, more specific feedback. Part of marking this biology course is seeing if my students understand waves…not just ocean waves though they play a role, but also wavelength, sound, light etc.  Let’s ride a wave! would be an excellent book to help some of my struggling 9th graders.   Let me tell you all about this latest review. 

Let's Ride a wave review

Introducing Let’s Ride a Wave!

Let’s ride a wave! is part of a series called Everyday Science Academy.   Chris Ferrie has put together this series to help answer questions children have about the world around them. 

Red Kangeroo asks the question while sitting at the beach “I wonder if the waves ever stop?”  Dr. Chris steps in to help Red Kangeroo understand. 

Let's ride a wave

Starting with watching the ocean waves, Dr. Chris helps the reader understand that some waves you see, like the ocean waves, and moved along to other waves you see the results of but can’t actually see. 

Sourcebooks has put together a brightly coloured 40-page picture book to help 5-9-year-olds understand the physics of waves.  Chris Ferrie helps children dive into the science of light and sound waves.   I have the pleasure of reviewing this book for Raincoast Books. 

You’ll find the text easy to read using accurate terminology.  Learning about ultraviolet, electromagnetic, wavelength, tides, x-rays and more.  At the close you’ll find a glossary in language easy enough for children to understand but detailed enough to be accurate. 

I LOVE that experiments are included to test out ideas! From listening to different pitchs and tones, to making your your wavelengths. 

let's ride a wave sample page

Should you get it?

Yes, if you have any interest in any questions, or learning more about how waves work as light and sound.  Let’s Make a Wave! is a fantastic primer into how waves work.   It’s great for elementary students as is, giving steps into learning physics, and the excitement of having questions answered.

If you are struggling to make sense of your grade nine/ten biology, reading picture books like this one make complex ideas simple enough to understand.  This gives the building blocks you need to further advance your studies.

Others in the series are  (affiliate links)

schoolhouseteachers july 2020 sale

If looking for additional physics resources, check out SchoolhouseTeachers.com.  They have a variety of physics courses from Red Wagon and other sources from grade five and up. 

red wagon physics schoolhouseteachers