Handwriting Without Tears is a handwriting curriculum for grades K through 5. The program can be taught simply by parents and in just 15 minutes a day.
I have certainly heard of Handwriting Without Tears for many years , but it is one product that we had not yet had the opportunity to use in our homeschool. Because of this, I had never heard of their "Wet, Dry, Try" method of teaching children to write letters and numbers. In case you haven't heard of it either, here is a video that demonstrates it:
I love how the student gets repeated practice of each letter in such a fun way! And now Handwriting Without Tears has developed the Wet Dry Try App based upon this method.
The Wet Dry Try app is available for iPad and Android deviced with a 7" or larger screen. It's available to download for only $4.99. It is meant to be used as a supplemental tool along with your handwriting program. Our family is not using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum but we recently got to review the Wet Dry Try app and have been using it for the last few weeks.
One of the features about this app that I appreciated right away was the ability to add multiple users and customize the settings for each user. I decided for the purpose of this review that I would mainly use this app for L4 who is just learning to write her letters. Once your student clicks on his/her name she is able to play with this app in one of two modes.
The first mode of play is called 'Pick and Play' and starts with the screen above. Your student may choose any capital letter (there is another screen for numbers) and practice writing that letters on the screen using the 'Wet Dry Try' method. First, they will hear voiced instructions and see the letter being written on screen. Then they will choose the "wet sponge" to trace over the letter. Afterwards they will choose the "paper towel" to dry the letter. And finally the student will choose "chalk" to write the letter.
Your student will hear words of encouragement and correction as they are writing the letters as well as some background music (both of which can be turned off from the settings page). They will receive a star when they have completed a letter correctly. Once they receive three stars a "flashcard" will appear on the home page to indicate that they have mastered that letter.
The second mode of play is 'HWT's Winning Order'. This mode of play is very similar to the first except that your student must follow the order that HWT has laid out, completing one letter at a time before unlocking a new letter. I wanted L4 to use this mode of play the most so that she could get repeated practice before moving on to learn a new letter. She has really enjoyed using the Wet Dry Try app and asks daily if she can "do school on the iPad". She's completed more than half of her letters in this game and been awarded with stars and flashcards by using this app just a few minutes a day 3 or 4 times a week.
I would definitely recommend the Wet Dry Try app from Handwriting Without Tears. Personally, I would happily pay $4.99 for an app that is educational, works well, and will get repeated use. Since I plan to use this with both my 5 year old and 3 year old as well I think it is a great value. I hope that HWT plans to make more apps in the future...especially one for lowercase letter practice!
Please check out the TOS Review Crew for more reviews of this app as well as reviews of the full Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse
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. All
opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am
disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.
"We've been homeschooling since birth". It was a phrase I heard many years ago when we were first investigating the idea of homeschooling that left me feeling a little baffled. But as we researched more, and more importantly as we dove into homeschool ourselves, I quickly discovered that homeschooling is a way of life. It's hard for me to answer questions like, "How many hours a day does it take for you to do school?" because I know that we begin teaching our children as soon as their eyes are open each morning and until they close at night.
Practically every mom is a homeschooler whether she claims it or not. We moms teach our kids to walk, talk, and tie their shoes. We teach them to be kind to their siblings, to tame their tempers, and to fold the towels correctly. We teach them to use 'inside voices', to ask for forgiveness when they've wronged someone, and to love.
Yet, when it comes time to "do school", we moms falter. We feel unqualified to teach our children, afraid that we are not trained enough to handle teaching a preschool education. Thankfully, there are programs available to offer guidance and encouragement.
Flowering Baby, LLC is a program developed by Martha Saunders (a homeschooling mom) and Carolyn Schulte (an Early Childhood Education expert and Martha's mom). It is a "whole child developmental approach" for ages birth to five. It offers direction in the form of a simple, but purposeful curriculum to guide you in the early education of your children.
The first three year plans cost just $30 each. Years Two to Three and Four to Five are $38 each. You may also opt to purchase all five year's worth of plans for $132. They come as a PDF on a CD-Rom. If you click on the links above, you will find information about each year plan as well as a full-month sample of the curriculum.
I received the full five year program in PDF form to review. I read through the material and found delightful activities for each age level. Suggestions in Birth to One include reading Guess How Much I Love You to your newborn and playing Mozart as well as games and exercises to help large motor skills as they grow. None of these "lessons" will take longer than 15 minutes a day.
In One to Two, once again listening to a song, reciting a nursery rhyme, or reading a book is featured in each day's lesson as well as a short activity. Your one-year old will be introduced to many fine motor skill activities such as stacking cups, coloring, and painting.
In Two to Three, Math Concepts, Color of the Day and Shape of the Day, as well as the alphabet are incorporated into each day's lesson. The lessons are still short and simple but are starting to resemble more of a "curriculum feel".
In both the Three to Four and Four to Five, the plans are divided into two Curriculum Guides: the Monthly Curriculum Guide and the Theme Curriculum Guide. You will work through the Monthly Curriculum Guide according to the calendar month. These daily lessons include ABC and Math skills as well as other preschool activities often revolving around holidays. In addition to these lessons, you will choose two themes from the Theme Curriculum Guide to complete each month. Themes include: Bodies of Water, Bugs & Birds, Farm Animals, Flowers, My Body, and Transportation. There are 25 themes in all. Each theme includes two weeks worth of lessons with book suggestions, field trip suggestions, and activities.
I chose to use Vol. 2 One to Two Years with J1 specifically for a few different reasons. First, he was the only one of our little ones that I wasn't specifically using a preschool curriculum with. Secondly, he has been showing a desire to be included in lessons during our "school time"...mostly in the form of climbing on siblings desks, stealing their pencils, or demanding to be held by me or one of the big kids at all times. I also appreciated that the lessons were so simple at this age, I could easily print them out and assign a big kid the task of "doing school" with J1.
So for the past few weeks, J1 has been "doing school" with an older sibling for about 15-30 minutes directly before lunch time and it looks a little something like this...
Here J1 is learning how to use a glue stick and animal recognition by making a collage of magazine cut-out of animals.
A10 helped him with this project as well as sang a song with him and read books to him that day. Depending on who is caught up with their school work at the moment, our 12, 10, 9, or 7 year old will take on the task of completing these lessons with J1. Other activities J1 has done this month are crayon rubbings, identified body parts, worked on 'left' and 'right' skills, and drawn with markers.
My favorite part of J1's lessons is seeing my older children reading to him, and that my one year old is beginning to discover the wonder of books.
I mean, really...isn't this one of the most precious sights?
Go to the Flowering Baby online store to purchase this curriculum and use the code “Blog10” when ordering to receive a 10% discount. You may also like to check out more reviews of Flowering Baby from the TOS Review Crew.
Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion.
If you have been reading my blog for any significant amount of time, then you are already aware of my love affair with Apologia Educational Ministries. But I am begging you, please don't let my redundancy of praise stop you from reading on. You are going to want to know about this resource...
First, a little background info. From the Apologia website: "Apologia exists because a small group of parents wanted their children
to have an academically strong education that would deepen their
Christian faith."
Apologia now offers:
*a K-12 Creation-based science curriculum
*worldview curriculum for ages
six to fourteen
*practical and inspirational books about homeschooling
*refreshing retreats for moms
*online classes from Apologia Academy
One of the products that we have used year after year with our children is Apologia's science curricula, particularly their Young Explorer Series written by Jeannie Fulbright. This year however, we have teamed up with another homeschool family and are working through the same history and science curricula. We meet once a week to do special projects and experiments having to do with those subjects. At the beginning of the year we chose a different science text to work through. When we came to a stopping point in that curriculum, we decided that we would like to spend the remainder of our school year using one of the Young Explorer Series from Apologia that neither of our families had used yet...and wouldn't you just know it? It was about that time that I received an email from the TOS Homeschool Review Crew saying they were looking for reviewers to review one of the books from this series! Um... yes, please!! Pick me!!
Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day arrived in the mail just in time for us to begin back to school lessons after Christmas break. I would encourage you to check out all the nitty gritty details on the website including the full first chapter that you can read for free, but here are a few highlights of the program:
~14 Lessons, each focusing on different land animals. Lessons can be spread out over a period of 2 weeks, though we have chosen to work at a faster pace, completing one lesson a week. (We are currently on Lesson 5.)
~The text has beautiful, full color pictures! I cannot possibly turn a page without being sure that every last child has seen each picture. They all flock to the book when I announce I am holding it up for them to see during our read-aloud time.
~This curriculum is perfect for elementary ages. I am using it with my pre-K, K, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grader. They are each enjoying it and being challenged by it which is the mark of a truly well-done multi-age curriculum.
~Your students will use both narration and notebooking as well as projects and experiments to complete this program. You may also take advantage of a Course Website to dig a little deeper into each chapter's subjects.
Our family likes to read the lessons together which usually means I am reading aloud. Generally I spread this out over two days as the chapters are so full of information and rather long. However, we honestly don't mind that. Jeannie Fulbright is a talented and delightful author. She writes in a conversational tone which is especially engaging to our children. Then we spend one day working on the Notebook, Map it!, and Track it! experiments as well as any projects or experiments.
In this photo, you can see one of our student's notebook binders as well as some Track it! examples. She will put those animal prints behind the Track it! tab of her binder.
Our students also make a page for each family of animals, drawing or pasting pictures of those animals and including facts they have learned. Obviously, these pages look different for each age level but the notebooking is great for reinforcing the material that we have read about.
I love the visual aid of the Map it! project that this curriculum suggests. You can use any large map, but the lovely homeschool mom that I co-teach science with printed out this awesome, huge wall map. Each week, the kids take turns placing pictures of the animals we learned about in the regions that they live in.
Above is a close-up of the stickers we are using. These stickers do not come with the book, so you will need to print out your own pictures of the animals you are learning about. However, if you purchase the accompanying Junior Notebooking Journal, these wonderful full-color stickers come with it! I'll be talking more about the Notebooking Journal below, so stay tuned!
The projects and experiments are optional, but very fun and often using everyday household items. Above is a picture of our kids enjoying 'The Cougar Eats the Deer' Experiment from Lesson 4. Basically, they each took turns 'being the cougar' and tried to 'catch the deer' by throwing a cardstock photo of a cougar onto a taped off area full of photos of the deer. If the deer were "caught", they died. If the cougar didn't get enough to eat (land on the right amount of deer), he died. As they recorded their findings, they also discovered how population increases or decreases of one species effected the other.
We also received the Junior Zoology 3 Notebooking Journal from Apologia recommended for beginning writers. We had never used these journals which are offered with all of the Apologia Young Explorer Series before and I honestly had my doubts if we would enjoy it. Since I only received one, I decided to assign it to H8, my second grader. Not only did she fall into the recommended age range of the project (grades K-2), but I felt she was most likely to enjoy the extra work. I was right! She loves keeping this guided notebook, and quite frankly I will most definitely be buying these in the future because I prefer them over the traditional notebooking.
Inside the Notebooking Journals you will find beautiful coloring pages that your kids can color while the lessons are being read aloud. Actually, usually several of my children gather around this one journal to help H8 color during the read aloud time!
Each lesson includes lined pages for narration work to be completed and pictures to be drawn to go along with the lessons.
There are also cut and paste vocabulary activities to complete.
I loved these fun drawings that H8 drew to demonstrate what to do (and what NOT to do) if you come in contact with a bear. She actually completed this without any instruction from me and both my husband and I got a good giggle out of her creative comic-like drawings!
In addition to my photos, you'll also find copywork pages (in both cursive and print), project/experiment pages, Explore More pages with additional activity, DVD, and book suggestions, and more! If that doesn't sell you, I'm telling you those full color Map It! Stickers that I mentioned above are worth the price of the book! Speaking of price, the Zoology 3 Junior Notebooking Journal sells for $24.
In conclusion, I am so happy that our family decided to conclude our science studies this year with Exploring Creation with Zoology 3! I have and will continue to recommend this curriculum again and again. You can purchase the Zoology 3 text for $39 at the Apologia website. You may also enjoy reading reviews from the TOS Review Crew of this and other Young Explorer Series curriculum.
Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion.
The creators of Vocal Coach are Chris and Carole Beatty. They have been teaching singing for over 40 years. They offer both Vocal Coach Singer (great for junior high students through adult) and Teaching Kids to Sing (for ages 5 through 5th grade).
Our family was sent Teaching Kids to Sing which includes 2 instructional DVDs and 1 instructional CD.
The first DVD is broken into four sections:
Posture
Breathing
Tone
Warm Ups
The second DVD includes three sections:
Rhythm
Diction
Dynamics
The CD includes a total of 4 songs and 8 Warm Ups (each has a track with vocals and without).
The videos are recorded in what looks to be a typical music classroom. Chris Beatty leads a group of students in vocal exercises and songs as he instructs both the students and us (the DVD audience). Carole Beatty is also in the classroom helping the students as they learn.
My children in grades K, 2, 4, 5, and 6 all participated along with these DVDs. At first they seemed hesitant to sing along with the lessons, but as they saw that everyone was singing (including Mom!), they quickly joined in. I appreciated that kids were in the video (not only singing, but often answering questions) and I think that it made it easier for my kids to feel like they could participate.
E9 said, "I think the Teaching Kids to Sing videos helped me to learn a lot more about singing. I know that I need to stand up tall when I'm singing now."
A10 said, "I like how they turned everything you learned into a song at the end of the lesson."
H6 said, "I liked it because they are teaching me to sing."
Our kids learned songs like "Upright Child of the King" to remember to use good posture while singing and "Breathing Rap" to help remember to use proper breathing. The DVDs are not very long...maybe about 30 minutes each. We chose to watch the lessons 2 at a time and then practice the songs and warm-ups in between.
I think this is a great beginner program for anyone wanting their kids to learn the basics of singing. It's so user-friendly...just pop in a DVD or CD and sing along!
Teaching Kids to Sing 3 Disc DVD/CD Set is sold for $44.99. Both this product and the Vocal Coach Singer were reviewed by the Schoolhouse Review Crew, so be sure to check out the blog for more info!
Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion.
Growing Up Wild is a collection of educational DVDs
that takes you into the remote jungles of Indonesia and shows you the
day to day life of the four Wild brothers. Each episode
will share an aspect of missionary life and offer activity ideas that
will cause your children to explore their world and connect with ours. -From the Growing Up Wild website.
Meet the Wilds! Mom, Dad, and 3 Wild brothers. The Wilds are an amazing family serving as missionaries in the remote tribal jungle of Indonesia.
We received Volume 1 and 4 of the Growing Up Wild dvds. Each included 3 15-minute episodes as well as an activity guide for teachers.
1. Amazing World Around Us - Amazing episode about the wildlife in the jungles of Papua.
2. Adventures in Culture - Learn along with the Wild brothers about the tribal culture...including nose piercing! (My kids loved this episode!)
3. Tribal Calling (See why the Wilds and other missionary families feel called to tribal missions.)
These dvds are a part of a 5 dvd series filmed by the Wild Family. It took them 3 years to film and produce these films that they consider "a tool to influence an army of future missionaries that would take the
Gospel to the remaining unreached people groups of the world."
Our entire family have truly enjoyed each episode of the Growing Up Wild dvds. It has been particularly timely for us as we have been studying missionaries this year as part of our read-aloud studies. It's been wonderful for our kids to get a glimpse into the lives of current day missionaries and to learn how this Christians are sharing the gospel "to the ends of the earth"!
As well as watching the episodes, we also enjoyed doing the follow up activities suggested on the teacher's guide which are a part of the DVD-Rom. Some activities were as simple as watching a creation video that the Wild brothers enjoy.
One activity included making a Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences between the Wild hut and our own house. Our kids liked comparing our house to the Wild's hut, but that experience was quickly topped when they had the opportunity to make their own hut...
It is far more crude then the Wild hut, but such a fun project!
The Growing Up Wild dvd series would make a great addition to your homeschool studies and would also be perfect for a Sunday School Class series. The quality of the filming is excellent and the episodes are educational and inspiring.
Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion.
The Institute For Excellence in Writing (IEW) is one of those curriculum providers that I have admired from afar for many years. I have often passed their booth at homeschool conventions and thought, "When I am really ready to start teaching writing, I will check them out." But if I'm honest, I felt a little intimidated by IEW and just wasn't sure if it would be the right fit for our family.
Nevertheless, when I had the opportunity to review IEW's new Primary Arts of Language (PAL) program, I just couldn't pass it up. The PAL program is
designed to teach primary age students (grades K-2) how to begin with
reading and writing. I was particularly interested in this since I have a kindergartner this year. E5 started the school year using a different program, but I was finding that it just wasn't right for us. We kept trying to make it work, but I could tell that E5 would really flourish with something more hands-on and less like a workbook. The more research I did on PAL, the more it looked like exactly what I was looking for.
I have to say, at first glance the PAL program looks overwhelming.
Partially, that is because it is not just one program, but two complete
programs designed to fit perfectly together. I will briefly break the
components of each program down...
PAL Reading Teachers Manual PAL Phonetic Games book - This spiral bound book includes everything you need to create over 30 file folder games for your student to use with the reading program. The games are printed on cardstock, making them durable for repeated use, and all you have to do is cut them out and assemble them into file folder games. PAL Phonetic Farm Folder with Stickers - As students learn new multi-letter phonograms, they have the opportunity to put stickers onto their Phonetic Farm. As well as a reward tool, the Phonetic Farm is also helpful for reviewing the sounds. PAL Reading DVD Rom - Includes the following:
Instructional Video by Jill Pike
The Four Language Arts MP3 Audio by Andrew Pudewa
Nurturing Competent Communicators MP3 Audio by Andrew Pudewa
Poetry as an Integrator MP3 Audio by Anna Ingham
Intro to the Blended Sound Sight Program MP3 Audio by Anna Ingham
Primary Arts of Language: Reading Student Book (e-book)
If purchased separately, these items would cost $98. But the PAL Reading Complete Package is sold for $69.
PAL Writing Teaching Manual PAL Writing DVD-Rom - Includes the following:
Instructional Video by Jill Pike
Reading Comprehension MP3 Audio by Adam Andrews
Dictation, Narration, and Public Speaking MP3 Audio by Andrew Pudewa
The Four Language Arts MP3 Audio by Andrew Pudewa
Primary Arts of Language: Writing Student Books (e-book)
All About Spelling Basic Interactive Kit All About Spelling Level 1 - Teacher's Manual and One Student Material Packet plus bonus e-audio downloads
I was thrilled that the PAL Writing package included All About Spelling. AAS is a program designed by Marie Rippel that we have reviewed before and were already familiar with. I have enjoyed using AAS with my older kids and knew that the E5 would enjoy this multi-sensory approach as well.
If purchased separately these items would cost $113. The PAL Writing Complete Package is $89.
For a more thorough introduction to the PAL program, watch this video from Andrew Pudewa:
You may also be interested in this webinar recorded to answer many FAQs about the program.
Finally, I wanted to share how a typical day using the PAL program works. First, I will tell you that it did take me about a week to look through the contents of the program and to prepare the items needed. Both the Reading and the Writing program contained an introductory video on the DVD Rom that I watched immediately and found very helpful. I then set about printing out the student materials and assembling them in two separate binders (one for reading and one for writing). I also prepared all of the file folder games at once. You may choose to prepare the games only as needed, but I knew it would be helpful to me to already have them ready and available when I needed them.
Also, I will mention that E5 has only been using this program for a few weeks and we are moving slowly but steadily through it. So there are some components of the program that we haven't got to yet (namely All About Spelling) which will start later in the program.
At the beginning of the day, I will open both of my teacher's manuals (for the reading and writing programs) and set them side by side on my desk. I refer to them both and move back and forth between them as directed.
First, we will read the assigned poem. The poems are repeated for several days and each day the poem will be used to teach new phonograms, spelling, or grammar rules.
Next we will move on to the class journal. Our class journal is a simple notebook that I (the teacher) write in each day with the help of E5. We will head each day's entry with the date which gives us a great opportunity to review calendar skills and capitalization rules. Then E5 will help me to develop 2-3 sentences describing our day, which I will write. Again, we review capitalization rules as well as punctuation rules.
Next we will move on to printing where E5 will review the letters he has already learned to write and sound out, as well as learn new letters using the PAL Letter Stories. The letter stories are an adorable way to help students learn both the sound and construction of a letter. For example, the letter 'c' is the happy letter. He's happy be cause he is a c-c-cookie who someone has taken a bite out of. (The letter 'c' looks like a round cooking that is open on one side because someone has taken a bite.)
Next, we will enjoy story time. A new short story is provided each day in the teacher's manual, which I read out loud and then ask questions pertaining to the characters/setting, problem, climax, and clincher of the story. I love that in kindergarten, E5 is already learning the elements of a short story!
Then E5 will get to play a few file folder games to reinforce the sounds and words he is learning.
E5 is always excited to get to this part of the day. Not surprisingly, he loves playing games and I love a curriculum that includes learning games as part of their program!
After playing games, we will have a work period...generally this is just a color, cut, and paste one-page activity that reinforces the sounds and words that we have learned that day. E5 is a bit of an artist and has always enjoyed coloring and creating things. He happily spends long periods of time working on art and craft projects and he shows no exception during the work period section of PAL. He actually enjoys it.
Finally, we will add stickers to the Phonetic Farm which E5 will tell you is his favorite part of the day. Exploring the Phonetic Farm allows him the opportunity to review the sounds we have been learning. Sometimes we will have a spelling test or other end of day activities that PAL recommends.
Here is E5 with his sister, L4, who has also been following along with the PAL program. They are playing the Color game together. I love it when there is fun and smiles in my classroom!
Final Thoughts: The Primary Arts of Language by IEW is a thorough program. While I initially thought it seemed overwhelming, I found that there was a tremendous amount of help available within the program to make it easier for me to understand. Once we delved into the program, I found it easy to use with each part of the day broken down step by step. Generally, it takes us about 1.5-2 hours to move through the material for the day. However, I think we, personally, are a bit slow. This is new material for E5, he enjoys taking his time with coloring and playing games, and we also allow for a slower pace so that my 4 year old can follow along.
Also, I am happy to report that E5 has begun reading his first words using the PAL program! He is not just memorizing, but beginning to sound out words. Even though he is my fifth child to learn to read under my tutelage, I never ceased to be amazed and humbled at being a part of the process. It is quite a blessing!
Primary Arts of Language was absolutely the right fit for our family. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a beginning reading and writing program. Several families reviewed this program, so feel free to check out other reviews at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.
Disclaimer: I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the last few years. The only compensation that I receive for my review is the free product. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in review groups and I have enjoyed trying out these products and giving you my honest opinion.
