Review of A+ Interactive Math

A+ Interactive Math is a company with which we are very familiar. In fact, I think we have probably used just about every program they offer! From their Online Family Packages to their CD Software, my twins (11) love A+ Interactive. I was very intrigued, then, when I saw that the company had a new product to offer: Math Mini-Courses! There are so many Mini-Courses from which to choose that any family is sure to find something to fit their needs. My twins have been using Advanced Fractions and Elementary and Middle School Division, and like all things A+ Interactive, they love those courses!

If you have previously used a product from A+ Interactive, the format of these Mini-Courses will be very familiar. In fact, as far as I can discern, the material is essentially a compilation of existing A+ Interactive Courses - which from my perspective is great! It makes it easy for me to focus my kids' time on a topic they need review and drill on. Let me show you what I mean.

See how the designation at the top center of the screen says Chapter 5.7? There is no real reason for there to be that designation in this course. If you look at the Table of Contents along the side, you can see that it is all designated 1.1-1.15, so the only place the Chapter 5.7 could have come from is the original course. The only reason I mention this is because if you own some A+ Interactive courses already, you may be duplicating by purchasing the Mini-Courses (you would, of course, want to verify this with the company - don't take my word for it. I'm just going on what I have learned by using the company's materials for several years). 

The above screenshot does give you a good idea of what the course looks like. After a short lesson, the student is presented with a Q&A in the above format. The student gets immediate feedback so they know if they got the answer right as soon as they answer the question. That lets them know right away whether or not they understood the lesson presentation. They can go back and re-watch the lesson at any time, and they can go back and do the Q&A at any time if they want to improve their score. 

At any time, students can look at their dashboards and see their progress:

Speaking of the dashboard, the student version looks like this (note that you can create online and printable worksheets and tests):

The parent dashboard looks like this:

That Parent controls section looks like this:

So, essentially parents and children have access to most of the same things, which I love because I like for my kids to be able to handle as much of their own schoolwork as they can, but parents can decide how much information their kids can access.

The Mini-Courses I Received

The Division course I received is incredibly comprehensive. It begins at the very beginning with division in relation to subtraction. The last lesson is four digits divided by two digits. In essence, then, you really cover every aspect of division, meaning that this course is great for a range of ages. Because my twins are not division novices, at the beginning of the course, I had them skip the instruction part of the lesson and go straight to the Interactive Q&A. In this way, they didn't "waste" time relearning what they already knew, BUT they did have the check of finding out if they actually knew the material before moving on. The courses work really well that way. If you (or your child) think you know the material, that's great - go ahead and skip the lesson, but don't skip the Q&A. You'll find out quite quickly if you do, in fact, know the material!

The Fractions course I received (Advanced Fractions) begins with identifying fractions and moves quickly into equivalent fractions and GCF, LCM, and LCD. It covers adding, subtracting, converting, reducing, and everything you would expect in a fractions course. The format is exactly the same as the Division course. Here's a screenshot:

I should point out, since the screenshots are not, sadly, audible, that the lessons *are* audible. That makes these courses perfect for so many different types of learners. Everything is reinforced in multiple ways.

A+ Interactive continues to develop its product line to meet the needs of many different kinds of families. To see how 79 other Crew families have been using their awesome new Mini-Courses, click the banner below.

Review of Homeschool Copywork

Copywork. Homeschooling moms typically love that word. Some homeschooling kids love it, but others...well, not so much. Personally, I don't care if you like it or loathe it (talking to my kids here!) - there is something so satisfying about copywork! It probably helps that I am a pen junkie - copywork is one of the best ways to play with beautiful pens (because who says copywork is just for kids?). How happy was I, then, to receive a Lifetime Membership to Homeschool Copywork? Here's a hint: I was pretty dang excited! The best news is, though, that my kids were excited, too!
Homeschool Copywork has so many great things on their website that it is hard to overemphasize just what a great site it is for both boys *and* girls. Quotes from Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte? Yes. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"? Check. Quotes from Mozart? That, too. If you're looking for more "curriculum content," though, that's there, too! How about Human Body notebooking pages? A hymn study of "All Creatures of Our God and King"? They are all included in the Lifetime Membership, along with anything that creator Amy Blevins adds in the future. And these aren't just *any* notebooking/copywork pages. They are top-quality. Not all of the pages are done in the exact same way - there are choices for every age and every need. From coloring pages that coordinate with the copywork/notebooking pages, to pages that include both cursive and print, to pages that include different kinds of lines for writers at different stages, there are different pages for all different kinds of notebookers and copyworkers.





In our family, I knew right away what each of my children would want to work on. Michael (11) is drawn to the work of Mozart, so I gave him Mozart's quotes. This book of copywork features dotted lines, full black lines, D'Nealian script, and cursive. Michael is working hard to perfect his cursive, so that was the copywork he worked on. This is one of his pages in progress:

Mary-Catherine (11) loves Jane Austen, so she wanted to start with her book of copywork, but then she decided that she wanted to save Jane Austen and start with Charlotte Bronte instead. So that's exactly what she's done. She has plowed through the Charlotte Bronte copywork and is ready to move onto Jane Austen!

For Nicky (12) it had to be Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" - a great poem and great writing for him to hopefully emulate! He has very much enjoyed copying the poem.

With Homeschool Copywork there really is something for everyone. Each of my kids has made it either all the way through or almost all the way through a copybook, but we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the offerings on the site. The variety is tremendous, the site is easy to navigate, and the copywork pages are attractive and fun to work on. What more could you ask? My kids are really enjoying using these pages. To see how other Crew members' kids have been using them, be sure to click the banner below!

Team Policy Debate Judging Philosophies I Can't Ever Say

One of the only things you as a judge are allowed to say to the teams debating in front of you in NCFCA is your judging philosophy (or relevant background, experience, and what the teams can do to make the round more enjoyable for you), that only if the Affirmative team remembers to ask you for it. I have actually begun writing mine down to make sure that it is succinct and will stand up to potential scrutiny from the powers that be. That powers that be really don't like you to deviate from "I'm a stock issues judge" and "I like impacts." I found that out to my sorrow at my second tournament ever when my judging philosophy landed me in hot water (to be fair, the debate team that took me to task over my judging philosophy, um, misrepresented it QUITE A BIT to the fraud squad, but whatever).

So, a few of the judging philosophies I would love to share:

1. I really don't care for all of that evidence y'all read. I am much more interested in your thoughts and ideas, so let's keep those canned speeches to a minimum, especially that first one, okay?

2. I don't buy fiat power. If neg runs a fiat kritik, I'm likely to buy it.

3. I'm old school. Speed and spread go a long way toward winning my heart, so show me what you got, people! 

I'll continue to brainstorm. Whenever I'm giving a "judging philosophy," I always think of things I want to say (and mentally urge myself to shut up), so I know there are many more marinating in my brain...

Review of Stopmotion Explosion

Every so often a product comes up for review on the Crew that is just all kinds of awesome fun! Can it be considered school? Sure. Do the kids see it that way? Absolutely not! Stopmotion Explosion has one such product with their Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit. This kit is terrific. It includes the following:

• 720p HD video camera with internal microphone and manual focus
• 290 page Stopmotion Explosion book
• Animation software
• Requirements - Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, or OS X 5.1+

In other words, everything your child needs to make great stopmotion animation movies! 

My kids discovered the making of stopmotion animation films using my cell phone a few years ago, so when I described this product to them, they were super pumped to get it. They immediately had all kinds of ideas for how they would use it. See, they love making stopmotion animation films, but they get tired of setting things up and dealing with the cell phone camera. It gets onerous. With *this* camera, though, all you have to do is set your frames per second. Once you've done that, you click the button on the camera and it takes the frame for you, making sure it is the correct duration. It basically does all of the work for you! Using the software, you have a live feed on the computer. You feel like a true filmmaker. It's really amazing and my kids love it! It makes the whole creation of stopmotion animation so incredibly easy.
Just in case you don't know anything about stopmotion animation, the included book tells you everything you need to know! Not only does it tell you how to make the films, it tells you the history of them, everything you need to make one, all about avatars, settings, lights, special kinds of tables you can buy that are magnetized for true professional results, script writing, camera positioning, and more! My boys are really getting into the whole idea of film creation in a big way!
Because they had to start somewhere, though, here's a video they made of Doctor Who and a Weeping Angel!

The whole process couldn't have been easier! They installed the software on their laptop themselves. They created the story line. They shot the video. (I guess it would help to mention that they are 11 and 12).

My boys and I have one frustration regarding the program, and it is more than likely our own ignorance. Everything about this software is basically plug and play - as easy as it gets. It is easy to create the stopmotion images, and then a one-touch button to compile the video. What we found frustrating was trying to find the video once it was created! I couldn't find an option to specify the location I wanted the video saved, so I had a heck of a time finding the video once the boys had created it. I would love to see an option as simple as a "save as" so that I could know exactly where to find the video when the boys created had created it. I think, though, having gone through the process the first time, one would know the default save location on one's own computer.

Overall, this camera/software combination is a huge thumbs-up! It's so intuitive and so easy that, well, children can do everything! Everyone in my house recommends it wholeheartedly. To see some other super fun videos, be sure to click on the banner below to read all of the reviews! Also be sure to find Stopmotion Explosion on social media:

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Wordless Wednesday - Mother Angelica

Review of The Trigger Memory Co.

The Trigger Memory Co. has a really nifty product that many homeschoolers have heard of called Times Tales. If you're like me, though, while you may have heard of Times Tales, you may not have yet experienced it for yourself. If you have a child attempting to learn his upper multiplication tables, this is one product you may be very interested in! In the past, Times Tales was available on DVD, but you can now purchase it as a download, which is great news for people like me who don't have a DVD player on their computers. The downloaded version is exactly like the DVD version in content, so you don't have to worry that you're losing something in the translation. Your download will come as five files - two video and three PDF (containing tests, crosswords, flashcards, and cube games).



So what makes Times Tales different from the myriad of other multiplication memory programs out there? How about everything? If you learn best using mnemonic devices, or you have a child who does, if you have a child who understands multiplication, but just can't seem to master the facts, if you are just getting to the point of beginning to learn multiplication, if you want to teach facts without the dreaded "drill and kill" approach - if any of these statements apply to you, then Times Tales is something that you will definitely want to check out!
Times Tales is comprised of two 30 minute videos that teach the upper times tales, excluding 10 (because, really, what's easier to learn than 10, right?). The facts are not taught as such. Instead, stories are told using numbers, who are all represented as characters. Students learn the stories, and if they are young enough, they don't even realize that they are learning multiplication facts along the way!

The video lessons are reinforced with worksheets and games along the way.

What we Thought

Times Tales was just as adorable as I knew it would be. The stories were cute and the characters were  cuter. From the perspective of someone who knows her multiplication tables, it was fun to see how they were used in the stories to create facts. However, it turns out that my kids are slightly too old for this product. At 11, and with a decent knowledge of facts under their belts (better than I knew, actually), they saw the stories developing into facts immediately, so they didn't get lulled into the mnemonic effect of the program. In fact, at the stage of the program where they were supposed to be remembering the stories, they were getting kind of tripped up trying to remember the stories, which was counterproductive since they already knew the *facts*.

Having said that, for younger kids, or kids who don't know their facts as well as my kids apparently do (although they had me fooled), this product would be awesome. I think Times Tales would allow even really young kids to memorize their facts with ease, assuming they already understood the basic idea behind multiplication. The stories make it so fun!

Fortunately, families with kids at all stages were able to use this program, so be sure to click the banner below to see how Times Tales worked in their families!

Review of Memoria Press's 7th Grade Literature

One of the things I love most about certain curriculum companies is their continued commitment to diversifying their offerings. You find them because they do something really well (i.e., Latin), but then they keep expanding and expanding until you really can make a whole year's curriculum just with them. Now, I don't do that for a variety of reasons (curriculum ADD is the main one), but if I were going to commit to a company, I would feel very comfortable committing to Memoria Press. I have used all of their Latin over the last eight years, and I was thrilled to discover that they have literature programs! For review, we received the Seventh Grade Literature Guide Set, which I used with three of my children, Nicholas (12), Mary-Catherine (11), and Michael (11). 

Because Michael and Nicky would both be reading The Hobbit, I purchased an extra student book for Michael from Memoria Press before we got started. Further, because I knew Nicholas (who, at 7th grade, is the target level for this package) would not ever be enthusiastic about reading Anne of Green Gables, I gave that student book to Mary-Catherine to work on while the boys did The Hobbit. Before we get into that, though, let's look at what you get in the Seventh Grade Literature Guide Set. For each of the books pictured above, you receive a Student Guide and a Teacher Guide. If you would like to see a sample of the Teacher Guide for The Hobbit, click here. 
The basic format for each chapter/section of The Hobbit Student Study Guide is the same:

• Reading notes - definitions or identifications that are provided for the student
• Vocabulary - 6-8 words to define by looking up in the dictionary
• Comprehension Questions - 5-7 short answer/recall questions 
• Quotations - 4-5 quotations to identify the speaker of
• Discussion Questions - a widely varying number (2-6 or so) of longer answer questions that can be either written or discussed orally. Unlike the other things in the book, there is no place to write these answers, but you can have your student do them on a separate piece of paper if you choose to have them write out the answers. 
• Enrichment - an extended activity related to the chapter/section. It can be a drawing activity, a compare/contrast, writing a song, or something else. It really varies dramatically!

At the end of the Study Guide, there is a section for notes, broken up into different topics so that notes will be organized. There are other extras like the Runic Alphabet as well.

The Anne of Green Gables Study Guide is laid out in almost the exact same way. Instead of quotations to identify, there are Expressions for Discussion, though. Each Study Guide is adapted specifically to the book it represents, so while they follow a formula, they also work really well with the individual book. The Bronze Bow, likely our next choice (again, I'll buy the Student Books for my other two children who need them) follows the Anne of Green Gables model, employing the Expressions for Discussion section. The predictability of the guides is one of their best features, as far as my 7th grader goes. Once accustomed to a program, he doesn't really like to change it. Thus, he'll be reading different books, but the way in which he analyzes the literature will remain the same. I love that about this program.

My Kids and Their Study Guides

One reason I was so excited to see this program is because it teaches literature exactly the same way I learned it when I was the same age as my kids. Not only did I learn a lot by looking up vocabulary words in the dictionary and answering comprehension questions, but I had an absolute blast doing it. If nothing else, I knew that Mary-Catherine would love this program (and she does!). Michael, too, has really enjoyed learning literature this way (although he has to use an online dictionary to look words up because all of our dictionaries' print is too small for his poor eyes - he wears progressive lenses at the tender age of 11!). He has read The Hobbit before, so in a way, doing the study guide has been a fun kind of review for him and a great way to refresh his memory and make him think more deeply about some of the key points.


Getting Nicky to work on The Hobbit has been a bit more of a challenge, but it has been worth it. He didn't want to read the book at first, but has enjoyed it as he's gotten into it. Having the assignments broken up by chapter (and even section) has helped to keep him from becoming overwhelmed. What I have really appreciated about the study guide is that it has forced him to really focus, read, and follow directions. A couple of times he hasn't read directions carefully and has had to redo something (which he *hates*, but which I like because it teaches him something very necessary - if you're not careful, you'll have to do it again. It's worth the struggle with him if I can make that lesson stick, and the program is not so onerous that it's terribly painful to redo something.). I wouldn't say he's sold on this program, but I am, and that's what counts.

Will we use these study guides in the future? Absolutely yes. I think the Teacher Guides are valuable, especially if you haven't read the books and don't plan to, but as I read everything my kids read for school (praise God for fast reading skills), I won't buy them in the future. The Student Guides are terrific, though, and are great time savers. They are top-notch quality, and I definitely appreciate that about all of Memoria Press's products. I won't be buying the full literature packages because we have read so many books in each one, but I already know several a-la-carte guides that I am interested in, and I love having that option.


Memoria Press sent Literature Guide Sets to many Crew families, so be sure to click the banner below to read about their experiences!