A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Review

If you come to Earth

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Oh my what fun!   Learn about the world and everything in it with “If you Come to Earth” by Sophie Blackall.  If you were an alien coming to earth…. you’ll get a whirl-wind tour of what to expect in this wonderful hardcover picture book.   Let me tell you all about it in this review (affiliate links used) 

If you Come to Earth, the details

Chronicle Books, along with Sophie Blackall, take visitors on a fast-paced tour of the world.  Teaching the world’s guests through our cities, people groups, events, and much much more.  Children in Kindergarten through grade three will delight in the colourful illustrations, and learning about the world we live in. 

The reader will discover 80 pages of discovery and exploration about planet earth. Learning about the environment and events that help shape us. 

My review is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

What you’ll get

You’ll learn about our solar system, people groups, buildings, transportation, wildlife, jobs, clothing, family styles, and much more.  Children will be delighted with the colourful illustrations that bring the social studies of earth to life. 

Just check out all those families you can talk with your Kindergarten to grade 3 children with.  Children, parents, grandparents, activities, blankets  and so much more.  The depth you could get into if you wanted to.  Ms. Blackall did an excellent job of using more than words. 

The illustrations more than make up for the smaller text size.   I rejoiced in the friendly portrayal of how people can help each other, and how we need each other at different stages of our lives.  This is very much a sit together and read book.  The excellent illustrations make it also a great book for children to simply sit and look through on their own.  They can still learn a great deal about the world even if they can’t read on their own yet. 

We get to not only see the good things of the people and animals of this work but very lightly we were shown how sometimes people hurt people.  Sensitive youngsters might need to avoid those two pages. 

Should you get it?

Is Sophia Blackall’s book If you come to Earth worth getting?   For sure!

I love the sheer number of talking points found within the pages.  my appreciation is great for how not everything is spelled out but shown in pictorial form.  So we can point out the different modes of transportation and learn what they are.  We can see the houses, apartments and castles.  People showing the different jobs they do.  Making this picture book very interactive.  

If you come to earth is simply a fantastic book that you can use in your social studies, geography, or people studies.  Help your children learn to ask good questions about what happens on our earth.  Well done. 

Review: Julie Naturally

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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.

Romans and Philippians are excellent books to study don’t you think?   At Julie Naturally, you will find bible studies suited to individual as well as small group endeavors. Julie Naturally focuses on homeschooling & unschooling, holy living and wholistic health.  Come along as we learn more about her faith journey bible studies. 

Julie Naturally Review

What I am Reviewing

Julie Naturally, produced by Julie Polanco, comprises the two studies that we are reviewing today.  They are Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Romans bundle which continues video and PDF studies and Faith Journeys Bible Study Series: Philippians which just has PDF lessons. Romans is an 8-week study, Philippians is four weeks.  

Both studies are promoted as  appropriate for more mature believing moms.  Hard-working mom can, over the course of a week, complete each lesson. Each daily exercise contains 3-5 questions each day.  

What do you get?

The Romans study comes with video along with the bible study that comes as a PDF file.  The Philippians study, though it mentions video, at this time only comes as a PDF bible study. 

Program highlights include

Bible verses that are dated per week, and set up to be cut for easy placement in a wallet or elsewhere for putting God’s word deeper into your heart.  The verses are short and easy enough to memorize. 

At the end of each week in both studies, a colouring page is provided.  Romans used words, Philippians hearts. 

Each week is broken into six days.  Each day has scriptures that must be read. Often there is a brief explanation that highlights key details.  Following the explanation are questions that require you to not only think about the verses but to apply them in our lives.   You can do the studies as expected (six days per week) or complete them all in one sitting. Each day’s work does not take long to complete. 

The Romans study also provides videos to go with each weekly lesson.  The videos are about 10 minutes each.  The video for week four was missing for me.  Occasionally it seemed like something was missing from the video.  

You can purchase the Philippians for $8.49 as a digital download. The study is 45 pages long. Romans costs $24.99, and is 97 pages long. 

How did I use Julie Naturally?

I predominately used the Romans Study, listening to the video as I was sat on my stationary bike. 

Then over the course of the week I would work on the bible study. I loved that I didn’t have to print it off and could write my answers directly on the computer.  It made it so easy to take 5 or 10 minutes to learn something more about God’s word. 

My Thoughts

I LOVE that the PDF’s are fully editable.  This means I don’t have to print out the study in order to use it.  I would need to do so if using for a group bible study but on my own, just being able to type in my thoughts, gold!

The Faith Journeys bible study in Romans or Philippians would be ideal for women looking for an introductory study. The mix of textual and personal questions will be edifying. The videos may be hit or miss, Julie had good information to share, but didn’t always organize her thoughts well. 

For middle or high school students, these studies would work quite well.  Helping these young women to dig deeper into their faith, learning to question their attitudes and actions, in the light of scripture. 

One thing that Ms. Polanco brings is a fresh perspective.  Every bible study a person engages in always brings something new to the table.  These studies are an affordable option for seeing something new in God’s Word. 

Julie Naturally Review

Where to Find Julie Naturally

Website: https://www.julienaturally.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julienaturally
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/julienaturally
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/successful.unschooler
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/julienaturally
Podcast: https://crunchychristianpodcast.com

40 members of the review crew took in the Romans-Philippians bundle from Julie Naturally.  Click on the image below to read them. 

My Teaching Library – 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.

DO NOTE that affiliate links are used throughout this post. 

For the past few weeks I’ve been granted access to a program called Download Club.  This is a club put together by My Teaching Library where you can download product to help you in your homeschooling journey.   But get this… they not only help in your homeschooling journey but in your personal life as well!  How cool is that!?!?!?!

My Teaching Library

What I am Reviewing

My Teaching Library is an online resource is chockful of downloadable PDF’s.  You’ll find worksheets, lapbooks, notebooking pages and more homeschooling resources. You’ll find resources for students in PreK-12.

You have two options.  Purchase a subscription to the Download Club or buy individual courses.   An individual course will run a gambit of prices, or for a year do one fee and download anything you want.  There is also a lifetime subscription as well that, if you were planning on homeschooling for a few years, would be an excellent cost-saving option. 

As part of the Download Club you’ll find mazes, puzzles, wordsearches, unit studies, textbooks, and more.  You’ll find some random videos as well. 

How Does My Teaching Library Work?

Once you login into My Teaching Library you’ll be able to choose from a variety of educational resources.  If you click on the tab you can choose by grade, subject, or any of the miscellaneous topics. 

That will lead to a subject area where you can click on a product to learn more about it. 

All products that you purchase end up in your downloads cart.  You click on the purple button to download the product.  Everything I looked at came as a PDF.  I could then save it to where I wanted it on my computer.  You can then print it off if you’d like.   

How we used the Download Club

Most files I didn’t print off. 

I shared the Holocaust one with my son to make the reading of the stories easier.  Fascinating case stories for us to discuss and learn from. 

I struggled with French Cookery.  The highlighted links in the text didn’t seem to work so I needed to manually search for what I wanted to try out.  Most the recipes didn’t have oven temperatures so it was a bit of guesswork to choose a recipe to try. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Marine Science study. I really only used the student edition.  Reading and then answering questions. 

The History of Music surprised me.  I thought it was something different than it was.  Going through a textbook via PDF simply didn’t work well for me.  700 pages with footnotes.  I tell you I learned a lot!  And much of it was fascinating reading, it’s just hard to read as a PDF and then needing to find my place everytime. I’m just not as organized as I need to be.  🙂 

My goal was to read some poetry with my lad.  UNFORTUNATELY a 15 year old lad isn’t always into poetry.  🙂  I quickly learned to avoid the longer poems.  This shorter one he didn’t complain about listening too.  🙂 

Perhaps my dutiful lad found something of himself in it?   I don’t know, but he was quiet after listening to me read.  Quiet is good no?

Should You Get It?

This is a bit of a mixed bag for me right?  I had really looked forward to the History of Music and the French Cookery.  Finding incomplete instructions in the cookery PDF was frustrating. The more text-booky feel to the music history left me feeling meh, EVEN THOUGH I learned a ton! 

But I enjoyed the poetry (even though my son was less than enthused). The marine science book was excellent! (I look forward to finishing it) And the scenarios in the Holocaust PDF were sources of excellent conversation with my lad.

Given my varied reaction to the materials I used, overall I’d say it’s worth your time.  For $45 a year annual membership, or $225 for a lifetime membership, it’s not a bad deal.

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Seventy members of the Homeschool Review Crew gave the Download Club from My Teaching Library a good solid look.  Click the banner below to check out those reviews. 

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Florence and Her Fantastic Family Tree

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raincoast FTC

When I opened the cover to Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree, I was immediately brought back to a conversation with a cousin.  One of her children was being asked to do a family tree yet her child had a rather divergent family tree and was very frustrated by this.  The child didn’t want to look strange to peers, but wanted to complete the assignment.  The words “antiquated lessons” came up. 

Florence has a VERY divergent family tree and she handles this assignment with all these worries, and yet, she looks beyond her worries to her ability to show off her family.   A timely book I think hmm?  

Florence and her fantastic family tree

What I am Reviewing

On behalf of Raincoast books and Familius books I am reviewing Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree.  It will come as a jacketed hardcover of 32 pages.  Written by Judy Gilliam with the soft illustrations by Laura Addari.

From the cover

Florence and Her Fantastic Family Tree explores the idea of what it means to have a big, messy, complicated, and remarkable family as a young girl tries to complete her family tree assignment for school. With adorable drawings and the succinct words of a child, you can’t help but love your own family tree, no matter how large or small, simple or chaotic.

Florence and her fantastic family tree information

The problem is real so… does a child run away from it or grab up the opportunity?   Florence, using her own words, tells us how she handled this challenged.  How can she make a family tree when “my family tree doesn’t just have a trunk, roots, leaves and extra limbs.  My family tree is prickly, scaly, and partially overgrown.“

Using soft tones, the illustrator helps us watch Florence’s worry turn into a sense of accomplishment.  And I have to tell you as adult… it was wonderful to see.  I love watching children take what could be a painful assignment and turn it into something that is great.  THIS happens.

The story is told in Florence’s own words.  Sharing her words, her working out what her family is like.  It’s like sitting next to her as she does her homework listening in. 

You’ll find the font easy enough to read. It’s not in bold and appears handwritten. It would be easy enough to hold up with a group of children to share it. I could see a teacher using this with her class before she gives them a family tree assignment. What a great way to let children know it doesn’t matter what their family looks like, just follow how the branches go even if they intertwine or go off ways.

Should you Get it?

I thought Florence and her Fantastic Family Tree was a good read.  Enjoyable, easy to read, the character develops, and good results.  Regardless of what YOUR family looks like, it would be good to share with your children. Help them develop empathy for what other people’s families might look like.  Instead of calling it an antiquated idea, let us celebrate with children what their families look like. 

World’s Coolest Jobs

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raincoast FTC

I’m going to be doing a careers course with my son too, I think I will have him read World’s Coolest Jobs before we begin.  It will be a great way to get his brain working about the 40 careers found within the pages of this excellent read by Anna Brett.  It is my pleasure to review this Lonely Planet Kids book for Raincoast Books. 

world's coolest Jobs

What’s inside World’s Coolest Jobs

Lonely Planet Kits introduces us to 40 interesting and different jobs, ones that many people wouldn’t even think exist.  You’ll find jobs such as a ravenmaster, professional sleeper, and a sand sculptor.  More familiar jobs would be volcanologist, airline pilot, or an acrobat. 

You’ll be able to follow along in the lives of six different positions.  A Legoland model maker, a children’s book illustrator, a volcanologist, an astornaut, a ravenmaster and an acrobat.  

world's coolest jobs

Most of the job descriptions take place over a two-page spread.  Each of the Day in the Life has a four-page spread.  They detail where the job takes place, the type of things you do in each position over the first two pages.  The second spread details the events over the course of the day. 

The copious use of full-colour images and bright colours fill this 96 page soft-cover book. I just love the images, you get a great feel for what some of these different positions entail.  

Should you get it?

Even though it’s geared for children 6-9 years old, the World’s Coolest Jobs would do a great job of helping students struggling with future careers.  It won’t give the answers but it will open their eyes to the wide range of possibilities.  It might even lead them to see that one career path might lead to a different path not even previously considered.   For instance… who thinks about being a ravenmaster, train pusher or a professional sleeper?  They are jobs I have never heard of before… and somedays… being a professional sleeper seems like a WONDERFUL idea, don’t you agree?

My Goal

I’m planning on using World’s Coolest Jobs with my lad to get him thinking about different career options before I take the Career Explorations class on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.   You could also take this course!  It’s part of the ultimate membership package which is currently on Sale (pretty cool eh?). 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com career exploration
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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. 

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}