The Geography Drawing Series: Initial Thoughts

Hi! I have the pleasure of trying a brand new product from Brookdale House! It's the geography drawing series which has a USA and Europe edition. I will be continuing to use the USA edition with my kids in the coming weeks.

How this program works

Each week there's one state to study. The activities are broken down into four days worth of practice.

Day 1: Study the New State.
Complete the State Fact Table.
Locate and label each new state onto the dashed, black and white map.
Draw all states studied thus far.

Day 2: Locate and label each new state onto the dashed, black and white map.
Draw all states studied thus far.

Day 3: Locate and label each new state onto the dashed, black and white map.
Draw all states studied thus far.

Day 4: List, from memory, the states studied thus far.
Using the blank text box, draw, also from memory, all of the states you
have learned.

What I think So Far

I love that it's scheduled for you and broken down in a way that is quick and easy to follow. You're not just given a packet of worksheets to figure out how to use. The schedule slowly introduces kids to each state, lets them practice drawing it alone and then moves on to placing it on the map.
ve that it's already

The states are introduced in a way that makes sense. They aren't just sporadically introduced. They start in the north east with Maine and work across the map toward the west.

Drawing Around the World can be used with a wide age range. Younger kids can learn how to trace the states and all the information while older kids can have more of a challenge with timed drills.

I really like that you're not just teaching geography with this program. While that's the focus, it's also teaching information about each state such as the capital, big industries, state bird and other interesting facts.

Be on the lookout in July for how my kids liked using this program! 

Choosing Curriculum: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself when Considering a Change

It's the time of year when many of us homeschoolers start planning and buying for the next school year. What do you do when you stumble upon something new, but you're unsure of whether or not to make the switch? This is an issue I've wrestled with this winter. We have loved our current program but at the same time I've found something else that I really like. I have five questions to ask yourself when considering a change in curriculum. If you are doing the back and forth in your head these may help you work through your decision making process and come to a conclusion one way or another.

1. Do I enjoy teaching and do my children enjoy learning from our current program? 
Now, children aren't always going to "enjoy" school but there shouldn't be tears daily over lessons or even daily battles. When we were using workbook based curriculum with Chelsea school was a daily struggle. When we switched to a more hands on approach the atmosphere of our school changed drastically!

2. Is our current curriculum meeting the goals I have for my children?
Each year we have a general idea of the things we'd like our children to accomplish. Some may write them down or you may be like me and just have them in your head. When considering our possible change this year I spent a lot of time contemplating this question.

3. What are the pros and cons of each curriculum choice? 
If you are really feeling undecided this is a good activity to help you along. Write down good things about changing and possible draw backs. Do the pros outweigh the cons?

4. Have you prayed about it?
This really should be number one! Pray about your options. God will tell you which way you should turn. Maybe you really enjoy your current curriculum and are afraid of a change? Pray about it and go where God leads you!

5. What do others have to say?
I often find myself asking homeschool friends about curriculum choices. They don't have the exact same child I do but they can definitely point out some things that I may not know just by looking at a book or a website. you can also checkout reviews on the Homeschool Reviews website.


Have you started planning for the next school year? What changes are you considering/

Why We Went Back to All About Spelling

A few years ago I found out about All About Spelling from the All About Learning Press. Since Chelsea, my oldest, does better with multisensory learning, I thought All About Spelling would be great for her. We ordered level one and started going through it.

Before we started with the program Chelsea was very discouraged with spelling. Due to her speech delay she had a very hard time with traditional spelling list style programs. She couldn't figure out how to sound out and spell the words and that caused nothing but frustration and tears. .

All About Spelling was great because in level one they teach the sounds of every letter including the extras that you don't usually teach so instead of A being taught like apple and angle, they also added the other sound a makes like in water. Once we made it through all of the letter sounds she was taught how to segment words into individual sounds and then spell the word from there.

What happened with all of this amazed me! Chelsea regained her confidence with spelling and was willing to try instead of instantly thinking she couldn't do it. We finished level one that spring but because of money issues we decided to try something a little less expensive.

What we used at first was a program I really enjoyed but to her it was frustrating. So we tried a traditional spelling program which was a complete disaster. Although she could sound things out better, a traditional workbook style spelling lesson just didn't cut it. This kiddo thrives on hands on, multisensory learning!

This year I made a few changes with our language arts and math. One of them included going back to All About Spelling. We started with level two since it includes a review of level one. We are working our way through using the tiles and then writing the words and phrases while practicing the different rules of spelling.

We use a cookie sheet at the moment to store our letter tiles but we'll soon need to get something bigger. It helps to keep them organized and saves a lot of time when we go to do our spelling lesson each day.

How a lesson works: 

The books are organized into levels and then steps. We are using level two and are on step three. So tomorrow we'll grab the board of letters, my book and the box of cards. 

1.We will go over the cards that need reviewed and practice some of the ones she already knows.

2.After those are finished we'll start working on new skills. Today we worked on two syllable words and tomorrow we'll continue that with more practice. 

3. To finish the lesson she will get out her notebook and I will give her a few phrases and sentences to write down from dictation. 

4. Put the cards, board and book away and there we go! 

How much time we spend depends on her and how things are going. If she's not in a good mood about it and struggling we'll stop early and pick back up the next day. This program is mastery based which means we move on when she understands and is ready to move on. Until then we can review and practice the new skills and move on when she feels confident with them. 

Have you used All About Spelling? What did you think? 

Note: This post includes affiliate links, This does not effect the cost to you in any way, only blesses my family with a small portion.