Gushing Over Science

This is big for me, you guys!  The gushing part, that is!  Especially over science.  Most of you who know me or have been around Family, Faith and Fridays for a while know I don't LOVE science.  OK, in the past I found a few programs for younger kids I admit were fairly fun to use, but as they aged into higher levels, the fun was done!

Especially when it come to Apologia.  I have "taught" it to three kiddos already.  I have liked the process less every time.  But here's the thing- I still think it is one of the best science programs out there at a solid college prep level.

 

This is the year I hit the point of no more fun, time to buckle down with Apologia.  And I almost cried.  I even had visions of my husband teaching it while teaching college classes at the same time.  Just saying- that was a nope.

And then I am pretty sure God showed great mercy on me.

A sweet friend reminded me of a program online she had used with her daughter and is now using with her son called Science on Demand.  (thanks Michelle) She promised she thought it would help me, and well, I jumped.  'cause I was desperate, ya'll.

It is a buy it and watch it kind of program.  Mrs. Frates, the teacher, taught the separate Apologia courses at a co op and recorded her sessions.  You pay for the course, and then have access to those sessions and her schedule for a year.  Totally self paced!  

And she teaches from a Creation Scientist worldview! 

So some days we watch her lectures. (most are broken down into two, 30ish minute sessions for each module).  Other days there is a list of what the assigned reading and questions are, to include lab prep. 

 

 

LABS!!  Yes, I knew you would ask. Yes, they are in there.  She does all the labs you need in class so you are able to watch along. She tells you how to write up a lab, two parts which you do before you watch, and two that you complete after the experiment.   

 

 

Why is this important to me?

Because some states, Arizona being one of them, not only want you to have three sciences WITH labs, but want you as a homeschooler to PROVE you have had such classes by way of submitting lab write ups during the admission process. (don't even get me started!)  When we first moved here this was a real issue for us with our oldest son, as we had done the classes, but had not kept tons of lab records.

Our experience-

OK, so Colby is an 8th grader, age 13, taking Physical Science.  He was to first read Module 1, take note, and prepare for the first labs and THEN watch the lectures.  He read the first chapter and was panicked!  In his defense, so was I!  Not sure if it was just the sheer volume of info Apologia gives, or the info itself and how it is presented, but already I was pretty sure we were not going to get too far in this course.  

 

And then came the video!

And we were saved!

Oh my word, I cannot say enough about Mrs. Frates.  She is clever, articulate, entertaining, smart, and connects with her students.  Even the ones who are watching a video recorded several years ago.  And we got it!  The info we read came alive and made sense. 

And still does, now 4 modules in.  Does it take thought sometimes? Yes!  But every time we watch the video following the reading I see a light bulb go off in my son's head.  He gets it!

And his three 100's and one 96 on the tests show it!   It is Colby's favorite part of the day now.

Now THAT is a product I can gush over!

Watch out next year, Biology.  I, I mean Colby, is going to master you!

Blessings,

*This is not a paid endorsement in any way!  Just one homeschooling momma sharing a success with others.

Excelerate Spanish- Review

Ok, you all know by now that I love Spanish, right?  I mean, I only mention it a lot.  That has not always been the case.  For the record, I did take three years of Spanish in High School and two semesters in college.  Off the record, I did not pay a lot of attention.  My excuse, there was this really cute blond boy in my high school classes.  (I married him, for the record!)

But since God saw fit to bring this other really cute dark haired boy into our lives 5 years ago, I have been on a mission to learn as much Spanish as possible.  I promise I am paying more attention this time.  CJ came home at 21 months old.  He had heard mostly Spanish and probably knew more than we were actually aware of.  You know, toddlers sound like toddlers in any language.   And he picked up English fast!  Like in days!  But, I was determined to do my best to keep him bi-lingual.  Hence, my obsession with Spanish.

And now, I have found another great Spanish program!  Great!  And it has videos and lots of action, which is a perfect fit for my almost 7 year old, always-moving Guatemalan prince.

Let me tell you about it!

Excelerate Spanish is the brain child of Caryn Powell Hommel.  By using the TPR method (Total Physical Response), which is essentially actions paired with fun stories, Caryn introduces vocabulary in a way that kids will learn and REMEMBER.  Each video lesson is a new mini stand-alone session with a new theme.  When Caryn graciously offered to let us try out this program, we might have done a happy dance.  OK, we DID do a happy dance! ;)

First vocabulary is introduced and the actions for that vocabulary are shown.  Then the student practices by putting different series of those words together.  Several groups of words are introduced that way, and your children will see the kids in Caryn's class acting out the words as well.  Then a short story is told while Caryn acts it out.  Afterwards several of her students take turns acting out the same story.   Next, Caryn leads the students in answering questions and identifying words in the student workbook and encourages them to practice after class.  Each lesson averages about 45 minutes and is action packed.  You can watch it all at once, or break it down into smaller chunks if needed.  Included in the teacher's guide is a suggested schedule for a five days a week program.

In addition to the videos, you can also purchase the lesson book and the student workbook.  While you could get by with just the videos, I would not recommend it.  We did the first few lessons without them, and I was so relieved to have them once they came for a little more guidance.  The program does not require the teacher to be fluent in Spanish - Caryn has you covered!

What we thought -
Well, are there many Spanish programs out there we do not like?  Not many!  But this one, well, this one far exceeded my expectations!  The workbook, vocabulary and organization are good.  It covers a lot of territory and could fill your days and weeks with a lot of information.  But what make Excelerate SPANISH stand out are the videos.  While the quality is pretty basic, the information is not!  There is so much in each lesson, that I admit, a few times my head felt like it was going to spin off.  Caryn goes fast sometimes but what I found was that she also repeats herself often.  And with every time she repeated herself, I found the boys and I understood a little more.

From my personal experience, anyone can learn vocabulary.  Understanding a native speaker - now that takes time and practice.  The more you get used to hearing the language, the faster you pick it up.  It is like you stop trying to translate every word and start understanding phrases and concepts.  I saw that happening more and more with each new lesson we did.  In my opinion, that is just not something you are going to get from just a book.  In five weeks, my boys already know more phrases than they have learned in the past year.

In addition, the actions being taught kept my sons' attention, especially our youngest.  He is an in-motion kid. You know, the one that learns by movement.  Most call it kinesthetic.  I call it exhausting.  But, it is how he learns.  So when Mrs. Caryn had kids come to the front of the room to act out the stories, CJ was right there with them.  My oldest was a little more hesitant, chalk that up to being a 12 year old boy, but both learned and retained much more when they actively participated in the stories.  So while the kids on the videos acted things out, we did so too.

Five weeks into the program and all is well.  We watch a video lesson at the beginning of the week, spend one or two days going over the workbook pages and several days just reviewing the vocabulary.  Lesson learned, writing the vocabulary on a whiteboard to have in view all week will help you and keep you from having to go back and look constantly when you cannot remember a word or phrase. Having those in full view also allows you to try to incorporate them into your daily conversations as well.

I highly recommend Excelerate SPANISH if you have a child elementary age and up learning Spanish.  For the price, $139.00 for the complete package, it is a steal; not only in the hours of instruction it provides, but the level of learning as well.  Four videos with 6 lessons each are included, as well as the workbook, answer key and lesson book.

As for us, we will continue to use this program to completion - one step closer to CJ becoming bi-lingual and a visit trip to Guatemala!

Blessings,