TOS Review: Moving Beyond The Page

I was asked to review the Language Arts Package - American Heroes and the Science Package - Sound from Moving Beyond the Page. What I discovered is that the curriculum truly does move you beyond the boring page of endless reading and memorizing. Instead, it puts the child's hands and thinking skills to good use while exploring learning.

The company also offers several Individual Units that include several Language Arts Titles, Science Titles, and Social Studies Titles.

Language Arts Package - American Heroes - [$31.94 ($16.99 for the study and $14.95 for the 50 American Heroes book) or all for $27.88 with online study, for ages 7-9]

Science Package - Sound - [$37.99 ($16.99 for the study and $21 for human ear manipulative) or $33.93 with online study, for ages 7-9] 

The Language Arts Package - American Heroes came with an online guide that included some printable student pages that asked questions about the hero of the specific lesson which they are studying, and it also has a pack of printable student activity sheets, such as a hero timeline, adjectives and adverbs related to the hero, types of sentences activities, contractions, hero cards your child can cut out and fill in for each hero, venn diagram comparing heroes, and other projects and activities leading up to the pre-writing organizer and final project of the child's own personal story.

The lessons covered in the included:
Lesson 1: Heroes
Lesson 2: Early American Heroes
Lesson 3: Heroes of Freedom
Lesson 4: Hard Times
Lesson 5: Recent and Current Heroes
Lesson 6: African-American Heroes
Lesson 7: Female Heroes
Lesson 8: Heroes of Science and Invention
Lesson 9: Book of Heroes
Final Project: My Life Story

Also included in the package was a physical, glossy paperback book, entitled 50 American Heroes by Dennis Denenberg and Lorraine Roscoe. This book includes biographical shorts, which are each about two pages or so in length to read, about America's forefathers. It covers information about what made these people heroes and how they attempted to better the world around us.

You can use the unit by itself, like I did, but the Moving Beyond the Page site recommends that it be used along side the science and social studies unit - People Change the World.

For the Science Package - Sound, I received a physical study guide from among the Science Titles that my child could write in, and the physical component of a 4D Human Anatomy Ear Model kit.

The Sound unit explores how the sense of sound helps us to better understand the environment around us. Students examine parts of the ear and note how each part works together to help create the ability to hear. Children also create sounds using instruments, some of which they make.

The unit can be used individually, but the site recommends it be paired with Who Was Helen Keller?

Each of the Language Arts and Science units I received was intended to take three weeks to complete.

HOW I USED IT:

My 7-year-old was thrilled to get to help me review this curriculum.  I was also ecstatic!

She listened with enthusiasm as I read from the book about 50 famous people. She especially was curious to learn more about Hershey and Walt Disney. As I began to read, she said, "Chocolate? I'm interested!" The little biographies out of the book were short enough to hold her interest, and included references to books to check out to learn more. I even learned some things - Imagine that!

She was especially really thrilled about putting together the 4D ear model. She started with gusto, and then discovered it was a bit tricky. So, I ended up stepping in to help with the intricate fine motor skills needed to line up the tabs and figure out where each piece went as we heard terms she'd never heard before. She was fascinated to learn that there are bones inside the ear, and she realized that there are more parts inside the ear than she ever thought possible. We concluded that we are happy to leave the building of the ears to our Creator, as it's quite intricate. Nevertheless, we succeeded in completing our human ear model.

Moving Beyond the Page also offers units in Social Studies Titles as well as additional Language Arts and Science units for a variety of ages, suitable for students age 6-15, though the website offers additional selections to include children from Age 4-12.

Find Moving Beyond the Page on Facebook.

See what other Schoolhouse Review Crew members had to say about the specific unit package they got to review:

TOS Review: ARTistic Pursuits

I was asked to review Sculpture Technique: Construct from ARTistic Pursuits. The paperback, plastic spiral-bound book is intended for students ages 11-18.



Sculpture Technique: Construct sells for $47.95. It is 83 pages thick and filled with beautiful colorful pictures and step-by-step instructions as well as information about specific sculpture art designs at the beginning of each new lesson. The book is bound with a black plastic spiral style binder with a clear plastic cover overlay.

The Sculpture Technique: Construct book includes 4 units:

Unit 1 - Creating Form in Papermaking
Unit 2 - Creating Planes in Cardboard
Unit 3 - Creating Motion with Papier-mâché
Unit 4 - Creating Volume with Wire

The units include lessons that explain a variety of art or architectural concepts relating to sculpture and papermaking along with hands-on projects. At the end of each lesson, there is an Evaluation which sums up what was taught before moving on to the next section.

The back of the book includes templates, answers to the unit evaluations, a course description with suggested credit hours, and a classroom schedule.

HOW IT WAS USED IN OUR HOMESCHOOL:

I read through the lessons first so I knew what was going to be covered before I introduced it to my 12 year old daughter and my 13 year old son. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I had all of the required materials.

At the start of each new project, the book listed everything that was needed for that lesson's project. Whatever is not commonly found around the house or in an art supply store, the book specifically listed where they could be purchased. The only items I didn't already have were a papermaking form and wire.

These sculpture lessons started with a unit on papermaking and creating forms out of the homemade paper. The first lessons explained 2D and 3D art. It continued with instructions for making our own paper. The following lessons in the first unit involved sculpture making using the homemade paper.

I used our kitchen household blender since the ingredients required to be blended together to make paper were just forms of paper or fabric and water  - Nothing that seemed harmful or that couldn't be washed afterwards.

 
The process of homemade papermaking was so easy. The book explained it well, too.

 I tore up a coupon booklet and cut a few strips of orange fabric that we had on hand.  I really like the coloring this combination created, and the long orange strips are fabric that will help to hold the paper together as it dries. As one strip of paper was sitting to dry, it was fun to create various textures.

Next step was to add some color by using strips of colored construction paper.

This was also a great time to experiment with thickness and textures.

 

Forming the petals for a poinsettia, even though this one is green, was very hands-on and led into the next step of creating a cactus sculpture.

The next unit continued in the art of sculpture constructing by introducing textures of cardboard and creating planes using cardboard. The remaining two units in the book cover Papier-mâché and finishes off with a big project of constructing a sculpture using wire to form the base of the structure. The wire-based sculpture is actually introduced in the first unit when the book shows steps to cover a wire figure with homemade paper, but the final unit moves it into a larger scale use with wire while also suggesting other bases for sculpture constructing along the way, such as recycled soda bottles or milk jugs. 

DID WE LIKE IT?

In a word - Yes!  These projects were very fun and well explained, making them easy to follow. But, the book didn't just present project after project filled with instruction after step-by-step instruction. It also gave a great background and overview of each new concept while allowing for creative artistic expression from each individual student.

Find ARTistic Pursuits on Facebook.

ARTistic Pursuits also offers several other art curriculum books for K-12 homeschool art. Some of the other books include:

Sculpture Technique: Model

The Way They SEE It (Preschool)

Introduction to the Visual Arts (Early Elementary K-3, Book 1)

Stories of Artists and Their Art (Early Elementary K-3, Book 2)

Modern Painting and Sculpture (Early Elementary K-3, Book 3)

The Elements of Art and Composition (Elementary 4-5, Book 1)

Color and Composition (Elementary 4-5, Book 2)

See what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed by clicking on the picture below:

TOS Review: Supercharged Science Online

I was asked to review the e-Science Premium Membership from Supercharged Science. I received a six-month subscription to the full site in exchange for an honest review using this as my homeschool science curriculum with my children, who range from Grade 1 through Grade 8.

The cost of the e-Science Premium Membership is $37 a month (for K-8) or $57 a month (for K-12) the advanced Grade 5 and up and High School level program. This review covers the K-12 level.

We had so much fun with the experiments. These included lessons on tension, using a pencil, and what happens when you microwave soap

Because all three of my kiddos fit into the intended age and grade range to use the site, I sat them all down and chose a science topic that we could all learn from together. We started with lessons on Solids, which is under the Topic of Matter in Unit 3.

Though the site includes so much more than just science experiment videos, my children and I enjoyed this part of the site the best.

The instructor on the videos is Aurora Lipper. She has a history of working for NASA, teaching at a college level, and many more impressive credentials that more than qualify her to instruct science for homeschoolers K-12.

While the Supercharged Science homeschool science curriculum program is appropriate for Grades K-12, the site stated that their purpose was not to provide specific grade level teaching. However, there is a tab that makes it easy to go to specific grade-level appropriate material, broken down into sections from Pre-K/K through 8th Grade, and then on into High School Level with the "Advanced Projects".

My own synopsis of what the site is all about:

The concept behind the site seems to approach science in a fascinating manner. Instead of just handing a child a boring textbook and then heading to a lab to conduct an experiment they really don't understand the reason for, this site's approach is to create excitement about science, asking why first - Which is really how a real-life professional scientist approaches everything anyway - Setting forth to prove a hypothesis and asking why?

My own summary understanding of how to use the site for homeschool science, includes six steps:

1. Choose a Topic
2. Find a Practical Application (Discover how it applies to everyday life, or something the children can relate to)
3. Experience the Application (Field trips, or hands-on, get involved)
4. Get the kids Excited - Ask your children what they want to learn
5. Provide them the tools they need to experiment
6. Introduce the academic material

I used it with all three of my children, knowing that the older children would hopefully pick up on more higher level learning detail than my youngest. Though, the material was presented in a way that didn't leave my First Grader confused, but rather, engaged.

There is certainly enough material on the site to dive into years worth of science learning at a variety of levels.

One of our favorite experiments was microwaving soap:

The experiment on tension was also fun!

The e-Science Premium Membership from Supercharged Science has so much learning at your fingertips in written, instructional print outs, full science e-book textbook material, hands-on experiments, and video instructional format.

The experiments each come with an experiment lesson sheet that lists all of the materials needed for the experiment along with step-by-step instructions. When there is a chemical or other material that is needed which is not easily found around the house or at the corner drugstore, the site provides links to where to buy the item.  Though, I found that we had most necessary items lying around the house already. And, if all else fails, you always have the option of watching the experiment be conducted on the video and not do it hands-on.

It is designed so that it is very easy to select a specific unit topic, and go step-by-step. Or, you are also free to jump around. As the homeschooling instructor, you are free to use every learning/teaching tool on the site or to pick and choose what works best with your individual students. There is even a section that walks you through how to easily keep a scientific journal, which is most important for higher grade levels and for homeschool log book documentation.




Don't worry, the traditional textbooks are still included:

The online Science Text Reading is absolutely endless and amazing! I found it to cover a vast array of reading levels and scientific information, from Pre-K to High School levels. This makes it so easy to keep the entire family learning about the same topic, yet at each child's individual reading and learning level, or to provide a challenge or to slow down when necessary.

I enjoyed that these large chunks of texts were made available on the site which saves large amounts of bookshelf space, collecting science curriculum books for each child, and each grade. The Supercharged Science website has a vast array of science reading available.

These online texts are set up in a pdf style format, so they can easily be printed if you prefer.

      

Try out Supercharged Science for yourself to see how much you love it:

Check out your own Free Copy of the Science Activity Video Series and Guidebook.

Enjoy a complete mini program from Supercharged Science for free

Or, experience the full access to e-science for just $1.00. This special offer is good for one-month's access with automatic billing/payment after the first month has ended.

Find Supercharged Science on Facebook, On Twitter @aurora_lipper, on Pinterest as Superchargedsci, on Google+, subscribe to the Supercharged Science Youtube channel at auroram42, and stay up to date on the latest news and updates at the Supercharged Science blog.

Please read what other TOS Review Crew members thought of Supercharged Science e-Science Premium Membership: