You probably know by now that my home educating method is a mix between Classical Studies and Charlotte Mason. Latin is one thing that my husband and I desire our children to learn. Because of this desire, I was very eager to try out Memoria Press’ products. I received Prima Latina, a Christian Latin curriculum for grades K-3 (includes Teacher’s Manual and Student Book); the Prima Latina Pronunciation CDs; the Prima Latina Instructional DVDs; and their Primary Copybook Set.

I really was pleased with this Latin Curriculum. Designed as a precursor for Latina Christiana, Prima Latina is divided into 25 lessons that are meant to be completed weekly. Each lesson is set up the same each time which allows the comfort of continuity for those who may be a little intimidated to be learning (or teaching!) Latin in the first place. Nouns, verbs, numbers, and more are covered in the lessons.

I found the Teacher’s Manual exceptionally helpful. A sample weekly lesson plan was given which gave me a good idea of how to structure our Latin class times. A Pronunciation Rules guide and Grammar Overview gave me the basics I needed to teach this. The Pronunciation CD allowed me and my child to pronounce with gusto this Classic Language. This is definitely a must to get if you choose this program.

The instructional DVDs. Wow. These are excellent. Miss Lowe teaches in a precise and thorough, yet easy, manner. Watching these together with my daughter gave both of us a better sense of what we were to be learning. And for those of you who have older children who can work on their own, these DVDs allow for self-instruction. Also, the illustrations really helped drive home the points of each lesson.

I will use this for each of my children and I definitely look forward to Latina Christiana.

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These copy books are awesome! Using poetry and verses from the KJV Bible, my daughter is rapidly and easily learning how to hand write in a very neat fashion. Really, these copy books are essential now to our home education. Beginning with tracing and copying, the student gets a firm grasp on how to correctly form their letters. They then proceed into copying and their is also an area in each section for them to draw their own pictures. I never did care for copybooks that provided illustrations as this kind of directed the students handwriting rather than the actual writing itself.

Another benefit to Copy Book is the fact that your children are memorizing. We all know that this is a time when they memorize so easily. And the short Bible verses and poems will stay in their heads a very, very long time.

These Copy Books have also made themselves a permanent home in our home education. I suspect that each of my children will use these. I highly encourage you to visit Memoria Press to learn about Prima Latina as well as the Copy Book set and the other items available.

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This is my last review for the TOS Crew until next school year. I hope you have enjoyed my reviews as much as I have enjoyed writing them and using the various homeschooling curricula and products.

Do you remember this review about WriteShop’s Story Builders? I really loved that product! WriteShop also was gracious enough to send me a print copy of their WriteShop Primary Teacher’s Guide and their Activity Set Worksheet Pack.

As someone who loves to write, regardless of my literary faults, I am so eager to pass on this love to my children. I wondered how I could do this in spite of the fact that my kiddos are so young. I decided to see if WriteShop Primary Book A, which promises to be geared towards readers and pre-writers, would work with my crew.

WriteShop Primary is “an incremental writing program.” It works in small, easy-to-grasp steps. It is purposed that the parents will work with their children towards learning to write, rather than an independent approach. Given the fact that my children love working with Mama in almost activity, this was a large success almost instant with my crowd.

A very flexible writing curriculum, WriteShop Primary teaches using eight Activity Sets within each individual lesson. These sets help build up the creativity your child will need in order to write successfully. I found that this also reinforced the routine that children need and like.

Each lesson contains Guided Writing Practices as well as Pre-writing Activities. Since I have pre-writers for the most part, we focused mainly on those. I found that these activities really captured the attention of my children and brought them into thinking how a story could be told. I also used the guiding writing practices, even for the pre-writers. In that instance, I wrote and they dictated.

Also a part of each lessons are projects. The Story Kite was especially fun and helped reinforce what we had been learning previously. The teacher is also given a list of the supplies needed, as well as suggestions for picture books that can go along with each lesson.

The price is just write for this curriculum. I do want to make note that the worksheet pages and evaluation charts may be reproduced for single-family use. This is huge and is very economical. For the print version, you will spend $26.95. The e-Book version is $24.25, though when you factor in shipping, you will save about $7 as opposed to the print. The Activity Set Worksheet Pack is $4.95.

I encourage you to visit WriteShop! See you next time for another review.

Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day is a book that my husband and I had longingly looked at at last year’s homeschool conference. We chose not to purchase it at that time for some reason and I always regretted it. We needed a good science curriculum and yet we needed one that was very hands-on for my busy brood.

I was given this to review and I must say, that this is probably one of the best science curricula out there. We love it. And as far as being hands-on, it definitely is that.

Jeannie Fulbright has made every desire I had about teaching my children science available in one book. Sitting down on the couch together, my children and I are able to enjoy learning of those amazing creatures called birds. And in a true Charlotte Mason-like way, the learning is gentle and gradual and fun.

Each lesson – there are 14 – are designed to take about two weeks. Of course, you can adjust this to take longer or less time, depending on your home education approach. You will find in each lesson an experiment or two, projects, and notebook activities. Dads will especially love how they can be a part of their children’s learning when they find projects like “Build a Birdhouse.”

The notebook activities ensure your children are grasping the material as they are encouraged to record their findings and use drawings and picture cut-outs to fill the pages. How fun will this be to look back on these notebooks in years to come? And these notebooks just make learning more fun than boring, cut-and-dry textbooks.

God’s creation comes alive in this book. Focused specifically on birds, the children and I learn about air pressure, identifying birds, bird behaviour, and feathers. It is absolutely amazing how God’s perfect wisdom is shown through these little animals.

I highly recommend this book for any home education. I encourage you to visit Apologia’s website to find a level-appropriate science curricula for you to use for your children. I know you will be blessed by it as I am.