A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Review: Bizarre Space – a Kid’s Guide to our Strange, Unusual Universe

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Bizarre Space is a great book for children who are interested in our strange and usual universe.   Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton have done a marvellous job in creating a child friendly book to intrigue and educate children about space. Bizarre Space A kids guide ot our strange unusual universe

My son is not what you would call a fast reader, over the course of two weeks I was surprised that he finished it So quickly and came back to me with a glowing report.   Those happy reports are always a good thing you know?

What do you get?

Six sections: The Innies, The Outies, Comets & Asteroids and such, super-duper stars, Life’s better in the Milky Way, and Your Universe and You. Each of these sections has five subsections. Within those sections you will find humour, trivia questions, information, real life images, people who work in the field, diagrams and all sorts of fascinating facts.   If you have questions about space…this book will at least answer some of them, and if you are like my son… will inspire more.

The Lad’s Thoughts:

“I like the book, the language is easy to understand, I liked the images.  I like learning about space.  This was a good book to read.  If you like learning about space you should read this book.”

My Thoughts:

I really like the set up for this book, how it move out into space in a spiral pattern.  The trivia questions get a person thinking, and then searching for the answer to see if you got it right. They weren’t easy guess them questions, but one’s to help you think about the topic being presented.  My son thoroughly enjoyed reading it and has set him on a course of wanting to read more non-fiction books like this one. 

Bizarre Space: A kid's Guide to our 
    strange, unusual universe. 
Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton
Prufrock Press Inc.
300 pages, middle school, non-fiction
Softcover
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.
Where to find: Amazon Link.

 

Art Book: Doodle Theory Anywhere!

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Guess what I have for you today?   It’s a neat little book filled with colourful shapes to jump-start your doodling.  It’s a creative adventure just waiting for you!    The book?   Doodle Theory Anywhere!

I made up a small video so that you could see this book better than I can describe it in words.

Isn’t it a cool little book?   So many shapes, colours, and figures to set your imagination loose on.  Can’t you just see yourself plucking it down in your purse or a car bag for your youngsters and heading out the door.  Wouldn’t it be great to have something easy at hand to take the place of the electronics?  It’s just the right size to fit in a purse, oversized coat pocket or toss into a car bag for the youngsters. 

My Thoughts:

I think it’s a neat little book, it’s apparently a smaller version of the Doodle Theory drawing pad.  This version is a petite version meant to travel with you, making it a very handy little resource.   Doodling helps to spur on creative thinking. It also is great at letting your imagination soar and your brain rest, helping to connect pieces that normally you might not.  I know that when I doodle I will often have a “eureka” moment as suddenly I get the answer I sought.  It also gives you something to do to keep you busy for car rides, plane rides, waits in offices and such like. Since it’s NOT an electronic device, it is more welcoming of conversation, as people wonder about this amazing book that you are so busy with.  🙂  Human connection is SO important you know?

 

Doodle Theory Anywhere, a doodle note pad with many creative shapes 
Doodle Theory Anywhere!
        Create Amazing doodles with starter shapes and squiggles    
Nate Padavick
Chronicle Books
Doodle pad, art book, Doodling
200 pages

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. 

Where to find it: Amazon Link.

Other doodling/creative books that I have reviewed:

CatDoodles.
Kawaii Doodle Class. 
Dangles.
Zentangles.  
Pocket Doodles for Christmas.

Review: Drive Thru History Adventures

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I have long wished over my years with the Homeschool Review Crew that I could review Drive Thru History but never had the opportunity to do so.  FINALLY our moment arrived (YAY)! We could study Ancient History with Drive Thru History Adventures.  Dave Stott’s well done program has my son so enthused that he will even watch an episode on Saturdays if we’ve missed a day throughout the week.  It’s a winner in our household, so I invite you to read on, perhaps it will be a winner in yours as well!

Field trips, videos, discussion questions and more. My review of Drive thru History Adventures.

What is Drive Thru History Adventures?

A series of three online courses.  During these courses Dave Stott takes field trips around the world talking history, geography, archaeology, classic art, and Christian worldview.  Right now three courses are available.. Biblical history (18 weeks), American History (12 weeks) and Ancient History  (12 weeks).   Into this conversation he interjects humour and stories. Each video is accompanied by discussion questions (also provided on PDF’s) and readings to extend the lesson.

How did we use it?

We watched two videos per week, normally at lunchtime, on Monday and Wednesday.   We watched as a family and found the video’s very entertaining and educational.  The Mr. Stott’s voice was pleasant to listen to, the images used helpful.  My son enjoyed reading the quotes. 

As my son will often say he doesn’t remember things, on the days between videos we did the worksheets.   Testing his recall and then for things he didn’t remember, we’d look them up in a different format, which would help him recall information from the video.   This gave us an opportunity to extend our knowledge of particular details via youtube videos or various websites.   Always good when one had their curiousity peaked to explore more isn’t it?  

Check out part of the history we learned on Rome.  This was a few lessons back and my son still remembers it. 🙂

 

We looked at the readings provided, and I admittedly found them interesting, but at this point for my grade seven lad, they were a bit beyond his understanding.  The neat thing about PDF’s is they can be stored for use at a later time!  I can see them being of excellent value if he were a highschool student.

OH.. before I forget.  My son was delighted one day to get some mail from Drive Thru History!  He grinned and stashed them in his “I’m keeping this box”.  🙂   It was great to see his surprise. 

How does it work?

It’s easy to work with.  When you login you pick where you want to go.  Curriculum leads you to the lessons.  Resources are the PDF’s and extended information.  Community links to their social media.  Adventures TV (a cool resource I’ll talk on later)

Three programs are available at the moment. I have no clue if any more are planned.  The ones currently on the plan are history courses for bible, American and ancient. 

It’s just a matter of clicking on the one you want to view.  If you were so inclined you could watch one episode per week of a different course.  We are following along the Ancient History one, biblical history is on our radar.  Each lesson starts with a video that I would chrome cast to the TV.  This made it easy for us to watch the episodes as a family. 

Numerous art work was portrayed as you worked your way down the page after viewing the video.  Each lesson also came with a quote that my son delighted in reading to me.  Sometimes we would talk about what that quote meant.  The lad didn’t always know, but it made for good conversation. 🙂

I have to admit, sometimes we did the lessons backwards.  🙂  Working our way through what the discussion questions might be, reading the summary, looking at the images and everything else in the lesson.  Sometimes my son knew the answers to discussion questions and other times we knew watching the video was the smart thing to do.  🙂   Answers are also provided.

The discussion were listed in the lesson, and were also available on PDF’s.  As I mentioned earlier we would normally watch the video and go through the art work one day and the next my lad would fill out the discussion questions.  Most of the time his recall was great but sometimes we would have to look up the answers. These discussion questions would often disappear the void that is his room so I was lucky to snap pics when I did!  🙂

We also received access to adventures TV.  This requires a separate login.  It is available as a free app on android and apple devices and it is available as tab through your dashboard on the computer.  You do need a subscription to be able to access all the content, but the app itself is free to download. Once you install the app you can sign in with your email and than you receive an email that updates the app so you can use it.  Pretty neat eh?

Adventures TV is a series of videos that vary in length, that are either just fun to watch (like the learning about cheese), interesting to watch/learn from or videos of the lessons (without the PDF’s).  Subject areas include: History (Bible, American, Ancient), Dave’s adventures (various updates), Sideroads (history of groundhog day, coins, cheese etc), Behind the scenes (museum of the bible opening etc) and Dig Deeper (bible reading plans etc).  They are well worth going through and picking what you’d like to know more about.   We haven’t watched a lot of them as my son’s focus is on ancient history.  As he says “we can watch those another time right?  I want to do my history!”  I’m just not going to argue with that logic eh?  🙂

My Concerns:

Sometimes the videos would go through a stretch of being highly pixelated.  It never lasted beyond four minutes running time, but was a distraction when listening.  This bothered the boys more than it did me.  As far as we could tell this was simply a downloading issue.

My Appreciation:

Dave Stott is a highly engaging speaker who has put together a program that not only educates the listener, but entertains.  He’s a funny man who is at sometimes just a goofy geek (so he’d fit well into our family).  You can see his love for history in the way he speaks about it, communicating well the truths of history.   He speaks well of how biblical characters fit into the history of the moment.   I fully expect once we are done watching the ancient history episodes that we will continue going through the other history as well.  My son mentioned that bible history was next on his “I want to do that” list. 

Drive Thru History Adventures.
Dave Stott
On-line subscription (received full year)
Reviewed for Homeschool Review Crew
Pricing: see here.  They are currently offering
    a discount special so don't delay.
In the winter edition of TOS magazine 
 "Drive Thru History Adventures is offering 
20% off for readers of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine."
see page 19 for that discount.  
I don't know if they can be combined.

Do you want to know more?

100 people from the Homeschool Review Crew looked at Drive through History.  You can find our reviews here. 

These are the programs that we used:

+ Bible History (18 weeks on the Gospels)
+ American History (12 weeks on early American history)
+ Ancient History (12 weeks on early Greece, Rome and Asia Minor)

Facebook: http://facebook.com/drivethruhistory
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drivethruhistory/,
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drivethruhistory/ Tag: @drivethruhistory

Review: Ascent

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If there is a mountain to climb, Peak and Alessia want to climb.  They are not out for fame or glory, they just want to climb mountains. In Ascent, a Peak Marcello Adventure, written by Roland Smith, we find Peak heading toward Hkakabo Razi in Myanmar.  What adventures will await them?  

A Peak Marcello Adventure. Ascent!

Peak and Alessia, along with bodyguard Ethan enter into the world of Asia.  Walking through the jungle and encountering dangers along the way.   I am loathe to tell you too much of the story because that would ruin the surprise of it eh?   

Myanmar, a country filled with tropical rainforest, isolated mountains, venomous reptiles, corrupt police, isolated villages, rope bridges, and rogue elephants.   Baggage handlers and guides are a must. 

How will this trio navigate the dangers that face them?  Will they survive the bug infested rainforest?  Will they figure out who is sabotaging their expedition?   Will they even manage to reach the summit?   To know the answers you need to read the book!

My thoughts.

Middle school students with a love for adventure should enjoy reading this book.  There are some interesting twists in the plotline that keep the story interesting.  Peak ended up learning some important lessons about himself. Leadership and asking for help and dependence on others.   All good things for a young adult to learn.  Many things were alluded to from other books in the series, without full explanations given.  This of course, creates the desire to read those books so you get the full story.   This book does stand on it’s own, it just leaves me wanting to know more.   

I found this video interesting to help me picture some of the battles Peak would have had to struggle with.

 

 

Ascent
Roland Smith
A Peak Marcello Adventure
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12+
Softcover, middle school
Adventure, mystery
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where to find: Amazon Link.

Review: Becoming Madeleine

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I fell in love with Madeleine L’engle YEARS ago, I read A Wrinkle in Time and was just hooked.  I promptly read all the books of hers that I could.   Just excellent books and I’ve been happily sharing my old copies with my lad.  Becoming Madeleine was written by her granddaughters, and is a tribute to the woman that she was and the hard work she put in. 

My review of the book Becoming Madeleine. A look into the early years of Madeleine L'Engle

This biography of Madeleine L’engle uses never before seen archival materials.  We are introduced to her early poetry, journal entries and pictures of her life.  We get a glimpse of a woman (and the girl) that otherwise we might not have known.  I was fascinated and read the book through in one sitting (much to the chagrin of my hubby).  🙂  Numerous images filled the pages, giving us a good glimpse into her life.

14 chapters round out this book, taking us from Madeleine’s birth through to publishing her first book  “Mrs. Whatsit”.   She lived an interesting life, all centred around her love of the written word.   Managing boarding school, college, parents who weren’t around much and the normal tribulations of an young writer. 

I found it very interesting to see the progression in her poetry and early work, and reading through her journal entries.   An introspective lass.   Just intrigued me to no end. 🙂

My Thoughts:

If you have a love of Madeleine L’Engle and/or want to be inspired to stick to your dreams and hopes. Read this book.  It’s a great look into her life, and her determination to stick it out.  Written so that ages 9-12 can read it easily, no themes to alarm, just a brave-hearted girl working her way through life doing what she loved to do.

This would be a great book to give to a young author, to show them persistence matters, to show them some of the thinking that goes through your mind as you receive rejection letters, or try to figure out what courses to take to improve your skills and so forth. 

Becoming Madeleine
   A biography of the author of A Wrinkle in Time
      by her granddaughters
Charlotte Jone Voiklis & Lena Roy
Farrar Straus Giroux
softcover, biography, 176 pages, Middle school
 
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.
Where to find: Amazon Link.

Review: UltraKey Online

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Last year my son used a typing program, he worked with it on the desktop we have upstairs and overall it went well, but he still struggled with his keyboarding skills.  When the option came to try out Ultrakey, by Bytes of Learning, my son was rather excited!   “MOM!  Will it help me type better?”   I said “we can always try it out and see lad.”  I invite you to come with me and see how the UltraKey Online Family Subscription can be as successful for your students.

UltraKey Online keyboarding class by Bytes of Learning is a success in our household

I’m trying to think where to start, I honestly haven’t needed to use this program at all.  I got my lad set up and have talked with him as he problem solves or tries to figure out how quickly he should do lessons and practices, but overall my lad has taken ownership of Ultrakey.   They set it up so each user can arrange the program the way they like it.  You can change the background, voice, speed, accuracy and so forth. My lad didn’t care what the voice sounded like, but perferred the building as a background. 

How we used it:

I initially walked my son through the set up, helping him see how the program worked, setting up his preferences and just letting him run with it.   The interface is easy to use.  You will find this screen on every page, helping you quickly move from one section to another.

The skill check is separate from the lessons, allowing one to redo a lesson, or redo a skill check without having to do both if you don’t wish to.   The typing forum allows you to take practice tests that are timed as well as more official tests.  My son hasn’t quite reached the skill level needed to do these yet.   He’s been repeating the skill checks until he feels confident in moving forward.

The lessons are in an easy to read font as well have having a voice over. The keyboard clearly shows where each letter is during the lessons.

Occasionally I would ask my son to show me how he was doing, we’d get screens like the one below.  you could check to see what you missed, and then the program would tell you if you had improved or not.

 

I can’t say my lad is delighted at how slowly he is going through the course…but I’ve told him if he wants to improve he needs to spend longer than 10 minutes per day practicing, that I used to take typing classes for a whole hour!   Oh my.. he was so startled when I told him that.   He’s happy practicing for 10-20 minutes max per day and progressing slower.  🙂   I am seeing improvement now that he is not racing through the course.  He’s taking his time practicing and learning where the keys are.  I know in time he will be a proficient typist.

What we liked:

The lessons are straight-forward, and they give you lots of time to practice over and over again.  Along with games to help you practice the skills you are learning.  The skill tests have options so you can change what you are practicing or can pick the one that you are most interested in. They have tests you can take when you are ready to do so. You aren’t forced to do anything in a particular order. It has everything in it that my son wants to help him to improve his keyboarding skills.  Their media-rich instruction make this an enjoyable program to use.

My son’s thoughts:

"Yay!  I just beat mom's score.  Look mom!   I'm faster and better than you!"
"I like that I can practice as much as I want to!"  
"I can do the skill checks over and over again".

Things that came up.

1. The spacebar randomly stopped working during a skill test.    This is where I discovered how wonderful their customer service was.  I mentioned it to them and they immediately connected with me.   Putting me in on a conference call so we could work through what the problem was.   GREAT Customer Service.  We figured out it was just a random glitch and it hasn’t happened again.

2. Skill test: They used capital letters leaving my son feeling flummoxed.  How does one type a capital letter properly?  “Mom, they didn’t teach me how to do that yet!”  It was a great time for me to teach him how to do that.  🙂  It’s just something to be aware of.  It was just a step missed.

3. Games and The Test Forum are not done according to the progress of the student.  This means if they play games or do the formal tests they will run into letters they haven’t been taught yet (if they haven’t finished the program). 

My Thoughts:

Bytes of Learning has done a wonderful job of putting UltraKey together.  They have worked hard to make their success-based learning program as accessible as possible.  The finer details of their efforts is what sets it apart.  Their excellent customer service is just icing on the cake. The fact that It focuses on teaching typing skills and isn’t child focused appeals to him.  

UltraKey Online Family Subscription
Bytes of Learning
Pricing: Depends on package Click Here. 
Typing, Keyboarding, online learning,
success-based learning, media-rich instruction

Visit the other members of the crew who reviewed Bytes of Learning by CLICKING HERE.

Bytes of Learning can be found on Facebook.

Review: How Animals Build

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I don’t know about you, but I have a lad who is fascinated by a variety of animals and insects.  He enjoys focusing on different how they are the same but different.  How sometimes what they do relates to what people can do, and how they can often do it better than we can.  A book like “How Animals Build” is a book that appeals to him.  Burrows, tunnels, nests, towns and much more.  Come learn with us won’t you? 

My review of a fantastic children's book on animals. How Animals build

Lonely Planet Kids brings us another fascinating book to read, How Animals Build. Within the pages of this delightful read you will see termites town, penguin rock nests. bee hives, birds weaving nests and bowers, seeing fish living in rocks, bears hiding in ice packs, and beavers living in a lodge.   So many different animals, and so many different ways to build. 

 

I loved the illustrations contained within the pages, bright and colourful, reflecting well the variety of colour found within the animal kingdom. 

sample page from book How Animals buildI loved the fold out pages and the lift the flap elements.  It’s just a lovely way to cram more information into a book in an interactive manner that helps the reader retain the information.   This is a book you can go through several times, being amazed at the variety in the animals around us. 

Did you know that a spider went into space and learned to adapt to lack of gravity?!   We were both surprised. You can find a video showing the web creation here. 

Spiders in space from How Animals Build

What I thought:

I thought the book was well done, but felt that they missed a crucial couple of groups: the sheer variety of insect and spider nests, and reptiles were scarcely covered.  My son had hoped to see crocodile mounds, and bees that nest in hollow tubes, and spider webs of a variety of sorts.  He was impressed with the variety of animals nests that were included and we even looked up the inside a termite town.

 

The rest of the book, with it’s fold out pages and lift the flap elements was fantastic. Brightly coloured pages that were loaded with facts.  We both learned much!  Which is an excellent thing to do eh?  Leaf rollers “I’ve seen those before mom!” The bunny tunnels “They do a lot of damage in towns don’t they mom?” The beehives brought back memories of going to Clovermead and seeing the bees in action. Just a thoroughly interesting book with lots of talking points.  Well done. 

book cover of book How animals build 
How Animals Build
Moira Butterfield & Tim Hutchinson
Lonely Planet Kids
Hardcover, non-fiction, pull-out, lift the flap
Animals, activity book, elementary, animal homes.
12 pages (plus fold outs), 8-12 years.
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.
Where to find: Amazon Link. 

Some other animal books you might be interested in:
Animals at Night.
Animal Camouflage. 
Building animals from Lego. 
Magnificent book of Dinosaurs. 
The Animal Book.