A Net in Time

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Highschool Math with Teaching Textbooks

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

Teaching Textbooks graciously filled up my son’s math requirements for the year with Geometry and Algebra 2.   He has been steadily using this self-pace math curriculum for most of the school year.  🙂    He started the year using Geometry 3.0, and is about 3/4’s of the way through Algebra2 4.0.  I have found this a wonderful use of my son’s time to be doing highschool math with Teaching Textbooks. 

highschool math with teaching Textbooks

What I am Reviewing: Teaching Textbooks

Teaching Textbooks is a comprehensive online math program that was written specifically for homeschoolers.  This program offers courses from grade three up through highschool, finishing at Pre-Calculus.  You’ll discover that the courses have interactive lessons, step-by-step presentation of materials, solutions are given for assigned problems, immediate feedback and automated grading.  For those students who don’t want to use the animated lessons there is a course workbook.   There are incentives off with animated buddies and fun wallpapers. 

The products that we used are Geometry and Algebra 2.  Teaching Textbooks offers a free trial which is a complete version of their program up through Lesson 15. Isn’t that a generous trial period?  Both of these courses cost $67 for 12 months, and you are allowed to suspend your course if you need to.  I don’t know how long you can do that for, that would be a detail to discuss with the very helpful Teaching Textbook staff.   

How did this Online Math Curriculum Work?

The best way for me to show you the difference between 3.0 and 4.0 is thru comparison in images.  Teaching highschool math with Teaching Textbooks just got more engaging. 

The lesson area on the screen is larger in the 4.0 than in the 3.0 with larger font as well. 

You’ll find encouragement and colour with their incorrect answer feedback screen. 

The full-screen version of 4.0 fills more of the screen and has simpler navigational controls. 

One of the neat changes to the 4.0 was the addition on the interactive elements.  

I thought I had captured a “before” image of how they did the correct answers in the 3.0, but failed to do so.  Always the interaction was immediate.   The new correct answer screen is more colourful. 

One of the things I like is that the apps are readily available to use and only require the use of a password to access.  

How did we use Teaching Textbooks?

My son is a fairly independent lad so once he had the password and later on, the app installed, he simply used it.  It is a completely self-paced course and he chose to use the ebook rather than the spoken and interactive lessons.   He only used the online portion of the program to take the tests. 

The lad’s use of the ebook rather than the program.  There are several reasons why he preferred the ebook to the regular way of doing the lessons.  When it comes right down to it….. he found it faster to use the ebook.  My boy loves to do his work as efficiently as possible, anything he deems a waste of time gets his dander up.  🙂   

Ergo, being able to monitor his progress using the program simply didn’t work for me.  I would occasionally check in with him to see his progress and to talk over any concerns, but left him to it. 

Admittedly this picture is posed and I need to reassure my lad that nothing identifiable would be shown, but this is basically how he’d work.  He’d pull up his lesson, read it through, do the practice questions, and then go back to do the tests.  

I have to admit, it was a bit disconcerting at first to realize I couldn’t monitor his progress with the clicking of a button, but needed to physically check in on him.  That’s worth it’s weight in gold actually in my world!  When you have a very independent lad… it’s so good to have a reason to talk with each other.  This… I like!  🙂   I am so pleased that Teaching Textbooks offers the ebook option as it works splendidly for how my boy likes to work. 

Oh look! Marking results! 🙂

My son informed that he’s filled in some of his test scores so I can see how it all looks.  He’s doing well which I’m delighted to see.  BUT if you go to the gradebook you can see how they are doing which is lovely is it not?  

This is particularity that my lad has.  He does all his chapter work but doesn’t do the test immediately after.  My son’s goal is just to learn and in a lot of ways doesn’t want to be bothered by tests.  He’ll then review his knowledge and go back and do the tests (mostly because I expect him to).  He says he learns better doing it this way as well.  He does this with virtually everything course he has unless he has no choice. 

I really like the teaching highschool math with teaching textbooks is so easy.  They engage all types of learners. 

My Son’s Opinion

It was an okay program although I didn’t like the normal lessons. I liked that I had the option to use ebook instead of the normal lessons.  It did a pretty decent job of explaining things.  Most of the time I could use the program as it was designed, but sometimes I wanted to know a bit more, or needed extra confirmation that I understood it properly.  I would just go to youtube when I wanted that help.   

I didn’t like the normal lessons because I didn’t care for the narrators voice and I could read faster than he spoke. If I could have found a way to turn him off I would have.  Using the ebook as I could do the lessons faster and I liked that. One thing I would like to see is in app volume control.  I liked doing both geometry 3.0 and algebra 2 4.0.  There was less wasted space with the 4.0 than with the 3.0 which I much preferred, though I wonder why the lesson space couldn’t fill the whole screen rather than just a small portion.  By increasing the viewable lesson area the font size could increase and/or you could put more material on the page. 

My Closing Thoughts

I will initially hesitant about doing this review as my last foray with Teaching Textbooks (grade seven) was a total bust.  It was!  BUT this year, my son has not complained about doing his math.  He simply does it and is happy to do so.  He’s a boy who likes math and is picky in his course materials.  So it works for him!  WOOT WOOT.  I am so delighted I added this review to our curriculum choices this year. 

If you have a child who doesn’t like interactive math programs and likes mixing workbooks with online materials I would say that doing highschool math with Teaching Textbooks is an excellent alternative for you.  Give it shoot eh?  Try the trial period and so it going completely at their own pace works for your student.  You will find yourself pleasantly surprised. 

Social Media Links

You can find Teaching Textbooks on the following platforms.  

Hashtags: #hsreviews #TeachingTextbooks

SEO Keywords: Homeschool Math, Homeschool Math Curriculum

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Read the Reviews

Did you know that 31 members of the Homeschool Review Crew worked with Teaching Textbooks so we could explain how their math curriculum works?   If you’d like to know more than just my thoughts, click through the image below. 

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Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide

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Free Product Received from Raincoast Books. Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide. Affiliate links will be used in this review, with no cost to you, just aiding me in providing this blog for you. 

Do you or your children have a love for dinosaurs?   If so, you’ll want to take a good book at today’s review book.  Mango Publishing has brought us a wonderful field guide for dinosaurs in  Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide.  You’ll discover a well-designed hardcover book filled with facts about dinosaurs. 

 Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide

Dino Field Guide, the details

Raincoast Books, in conjunction with Mango Publishing, sent me a review copy of Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide.  230 pages of dinosaur information to delight students in grades 2-7.  I received a hardcover field guide that has been written by J.J. Johnson, Colleen Russo Johnson and Christin Simms.  This is the first Dino Dana series and covers more than 30 dinosaurs.   

The Facts

Readers are introduced to this field guide with a very personal tone as they  are introduced to the layout.  Each dinosaur is covered over three two-page-spread.  The first page is an artistic rendering of the dinosaur, followed by a page of facts, and then by an experiment. 

Dino Dana dino field guide

This second section explains what type of dinosaur it is and a variety of other facts.  These facts could include the reason it was named, size, location, type of food-eater, etc. 

Each experiment asks a question such as “who left the dino poop outside Grandma’s barn”, or “how does the Compsognathus run so fast?”, and “How do you stop a Gigantoraptor from stealing celery?”

The answers will delight, educate and entertain readers aged 8-12.   Along the way they’ll learn about dinosaurs using their tails to scare off predators, or how working together catches more prey. 

dino Dana dino field guide

Should You Get It?

J.J. Johnson, Colleen Russo Johnson and Christin Simms have done a good job with Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide. I loved the somewhat unconventional approach to the dino experiments.  They gave a good glimpse of some of the questions scientists must ask when they are considering the lives of animals that have gone on before. We can’t go back in time to ask the questions, so suppositions must be made. It’s good to learn how to test those out, I thought some were a bit unique.  

I think it’s well-worth looking into. A great step into looking at dinosaurs and realizing it’s not all set in stone.  There are too many things we don’t know, and then as we learn more, what we know changes. It’s great for young learners to realize this.   Along with the books below, this would be a great addition to your library, and a great addition to a study on dinosaurs. 

Other Dinosaur Books

I have reviewed a number of Dinosaur books over the years.  The link is my review.  Quick Link to amazon for your convenience. 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a number of dinosaur related courses.  This is one such course.

schoolhouseteachers dinosaurs

Where the World Ends: A Zip, Trik, and Flip Adventure

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Free Product Received from Raincoast Books in exchange for my fair and honest review.   The product I received is entitled Where the World Ends: A Zip, Trik, and Flip Adventure.  Affiliate Links will be used in this post which costs you nothing but helps to support my blog. 

When I read the title for this encouraging picture book I thought, I am sure I’ve reviewed another book with this name.  I did some searching and indeed I have! This other book is completely different and meant for an older age group.   This Zip, Trik, and Flip Adventure is fun to read.  Where the World Ends: A Zip, Trik, and Flip Adventure takes three enterprising youngsters on a trip around the world, you have GOT to come along on their adventures.  

where the world ends

Published by Princeton Architectural Press, this 40 page hardcover picture book will delight children 4-8 year olds.  Brightly coloured illustrations by Maria Dek fill the pages, while allowing for plenty of white space.  Davide Cali writes a story of three youngsters who want to know the answer to a simple question “Do clouds end up where the world ends?”  In the quest for an answer, they let nothing stand in their way.

What You’ll Find in Where the World Ends

You won’t find characters that are fully developed, the story isn’t about that.  It’s about a determination by three, sometimes naughty, youngsters who want to know where the clouds go!  One of them wondered if they end up where the world ends so off they went searching. 

Some pages, naturally had more colour than others, but I found the illustrations fit the style of this book perfectly.  Children will be drawn in by them.  So many talking points.  Would you like to lay on the grass and look at the clouds?  What shapes do you think they saw?  What kind of things do you think these youngsters like to do?

Even when the characters are poorly behaved, it’s a great time to talk to with your children about determination, having respect, obedience, and choices that could be made.  

So many adventures with so much colour.  One thing I noted was as the youngsters travelled they could be seen being helpful.  Playing with a dog, mowing a lawn, feeding fish and more.  As determined as they were to get to their goal, they took the time they needed to be kind.  It would be fun to read the story and then go back and see how often they could be caught being kind. 

I found the font small.  Its okay for sitting to read with a single child, but if you have to hold the book farther away it wouldn’t work (at least with my old eyes!).   Occasionally illustrated font would appear, I wish the font had been between the size presented and the illustrated size.  Would make it nicer to read with a group of children and share the wonder of seeking out answers to questions. 

Should you Get it?

Honestly, Where the World Ends: A Zip, Trik, and Flip Adventure is not one that I would want to buy, but to borrow from a library?  Most certainly.  It’s worth taking the time to read through a variety books.  To talk through the good ideas… actively seeking answers to your questions… wonderful thing to promote.  It’s also good to note acts of kindness, and to talk about how we treat others even if we have our own agendas.   

Art is Life

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Free Product received from Raincoast books for my review.  Affiliate links will be used in this review.  No added cost to you, but it does help pay the bills.  🙂 

Art is Life tells the story of the life of artist Keith Haring.  A vibrant active man with a huge love for art and the expression of it.  This is a picture book that helps to tell part of his story.   Come see!

art is life

48 pages round-out this art biography of Keith Haring.   Keith believed that art is life, and life is art, and he wanted everyone to experience the joy of it.  Author Tami Lewis Brown helped us see his vibrancy and drive to do art.   Illustrator Keith Negley brought that vibrancy and drive to life!   We got to see Keith’s work brought to the forefront while Mr. Negley helped us see him live his life. Thoughtfully produced for 4-7 year olds by Farrar Straus Giroux.

My Review of Art is Life is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Every artist portrays the world that he sees differently.  Keith started from the time he was young, showing his view of the world in bright colours and bold lines. 

art is life

You’ll find the font an excellent size for reading with a child at your side, or to a group of children gathered in close.  Wouldn’t it be fun to read it and then have children practice doing art like Keith?   

Throughout the pages of Art is Life you’ll find references to Keith’s desire to share art with the world.   In some ways, it makes the rest of the book seem less bright.  In reality though, the artwork throughout compliments nicely.   One can see the darkness of the subway, the lightness of chalk on dark panels.  Children also learn that sometimes… doing art without permission has consequences. 

Should you get Art is Life?

I always like, when I’m reviewing a biographical picture book, when the author includes a fuller biography of the individual.  In doing so, a fuller presentation of the individual is given.  This book left me with the complete picture.  

The author and illustrator did an excellent job of conveying the enthusiasm that Keith Haring had for life.  Everything he did showed how much he wanted others to enjoy art as well.  If you want to inspire the love of sharing art with others, Keith Haring’s story will do that!  

This book would be great as part of a series on artists, what drives their passions, and how they inspired others. The harder details about Keith Haring’s life are explained in the author’s note. 

Would you like a quick intro to Keith Haring?   I found this youtube video on him. 

From Here to There

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raincoast FTC

Inventions are often the workings of a society, helping people do things better for themselves or for others.  From Here to There gives us nine stories.  These stories are all about inventions that changed the way the world moves.   From bicycles to wheelchairs all the way up to rockets. 

Affiliate links will be found in this review.  No cost to you, but helps to support my blog. 

from here to there

Throughout history people have needed to get from point a to point b.   In From Here to There, we learn about inventors who have helped us to get more mobile.     

Nine inventors are profiled.

  • Manned balloon flight – Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier
  • Bicycle – Kari Drais 
  • Steam Locomotive – George Stephenson
  • Automobile – Bertha and Karl Benz
  • Bus – Eric Wickman
  • Rocket – Robert Goddard
  • Wheelchair – Herbert Everest/Harry Jennings
  • Robot – George Devol
  • Ship Design – Raye Montague

I received an advanced reader’s copy from Raincoast books.   One of the negative side effects of getting an ARC is that they often arrive in greyscale which makes it hard to share the delight of the images. Almost all of its 96 pages are filled with images created by Gilbert Ford. 

So What Do I Think?

I LOVE the positivity found in almost every story.  The… this is the problem I see, this is how I think we can solve it and this is how we help each other out!  I love it.  I love the “I think I can, so now I’m going to figure out how I can” attitudes shown by each inventor. 

My appreciation for the variety of inventors.  Not all men, nor all women, along with variations in country of origin, skin tone, and backgrounds.  Inventors come from all over the place and it’s fantastic to see!  I loved reading the stories about what inspired each of them, and how they caught a break. 

Can you imagine the usefulness of having a computer help design a ship? It would take so much work to input the data, but then letting a computer figure out the fine details.  HUGE time saver.   Or the ease of having a wheelchair that folds in half?

If you are studying inventors, researching vehicles and/or transportation, important people in history, or just want to read a book that inspires… this is it!  From Here to There is an inspiring read for youth 8-12 years of age.  Author Vivian Kirkfield takes an inventor, shares their childhood dreams.  She then shows pitfalls along the way to success.  Engaging stories within a friendly biographical style. 

The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book

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Kate Milford has gathered up a collection of 15 folk tale storytellers.  All individuals with secrets of their own, and a young lady determined to find them. The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book is a middle school read with a decidedly scary side to it. 

Affiliate links will be used in this review. 

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book

The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book, the basic details

The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book is book five in the Greenglass House Story.   400 pages of spine-tingling folk tales that seem to be unconnected, but in the end are.  Put together by Kate Milford I learned in the footnotes that this work was originally by Phineas Amalgram who was a Nagspeake folklorist. But given the interesting way this book was put together… I dunno if the author is just messing with my mind.   The intended audience is youth 8-12 years old. 

What do you get?

15 distinctly different people telling 15 different, yet occasionally similar, folk tales.  These aren’t light fluffy folk tales, these are the old folk tales.  Dark, captivating, drawing you in, and with a lesson to learn. 

I can’t say that I read every word as I don’t do alarming well, but for the most part as I wrote on Facebook “I felt like I should be alarmed but like I was watching these stories unfold in a dream”.   That distance made the stories dark and a curiosity as opposed to “let’s get scared”. 

Each story told it’s own tale, and admittedly, some of them were quite interesting and got a full read.  They seemed to stand on their own, but mid-way through it was obvious that they were somehow connected. 

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book

In this review copy from Raincoast Books, all the images were in greyscale and not all images were included. 

I found the youngest member of this troupe to be a fascinating little girl.  A very observant young lass with peculiar talents. The story took an unexpected twist at the end that caught me off guard.  I can well imagine that a child might have a similar reaction, and would advise a parent being a sounding board should that be necessary. 

Should you get it?

Honestly, I don’t know.  I don’t see The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book as a middle school read, I don’t.  But that’s because I don’t do scary or generally even mildly alarming.  As such, I don’t care to see middle school students do so either. 

Now… would I use selected stories?  For sure.  Some of them were fascinating, and if you’ve ever read through some of Grimm’s fairytales (the originals) … some of these tales would fit in with them.   So if you were going to a study on folk tales and how they have meaning under the surface… grab it up.  See folktales from different traditions and analyze them.   Pick carefully, and discover important lessons. 

Colors of Character, Review and Giveaway

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Many thanks to Collide Distribution for providing this product/product information for review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.  What I am reviewing is Colors of Character. 

I received a digital copy of Colors of Character, a documentary, for this review which tells the story of Steve Skipper.

Colors of Character

Fig Tree Media Group put together this biography on the life and times of Steve Skipper.  Mr. Skipper played an active role in the creation of this video.  As we go through his life we also learn a lot about the civil rights movement. Play time is 1 hr and 16 minutes.   This video was sent through vimeo.  Mr. Skipper’s faith in God was evident throughout.  I love hearing stories of faith… oh how God draws a person out of a life ill-conceived and shows them a different path.  It’s so good you know?  What I enjoyed the most about this documentary is the story of faith lived. 

Steve Skipper is not only an artist, but he also wrote a book called Dream On: A Journey to Deliverance.  He lived a rough life, became part of a gang, faced a lot of discouragement, and then he found the Lord.   I don’t want to give away too much of the story as it was brand new to me.  It might be brand new to you as well.  You can see his art work at the Steve Skipper Gallery. 

You’ll learn his story from life as part of a gang, through to successful artist.  He credits it all to God.  Such a solid story with a variety of people adding in bits.  Frequently we learned more of the civil rights movement.

To get a glimpse on what this movie is like I invite you to view the trailer

Should you get Colors of Character?

Colors of Character I found to be very interesting. I ran into some problems though.  I first tried to play it on my tablet but the sound would keep playing but the video part would simply stop.  Only by stopping, refreshing etc, could I get the video to play.  Now that said, it played perfectly on my laptop.   My tablet plays everything else faultlessly so I’m not sure why there was an issue with Colors of Character. 

Anyways, I’m glad it worked well on my laptop.  I’m not sure that it’s a story children would like, but I could easily see adults and teens enjoying it.  Might provide for some interesting discussions. Dove.org approved for ages 12 & up!

Purchase Colors of Character. 

Giveaway!

This giveaway is open to all those in North America.   You will receive a digital code so you can watch it at home. 

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