R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish

Shortly before Christmas my family and I were given the opportunity to review a Spanish curriculum created specifically for homeschoolers;

R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish.

R.E.A.L is an acronym for   
Relax
Enjoy
Aspire
Learn Spanish

Dr. Karyn Williamson-Coria is the mastermind behind R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish. As a homeschool mother of three children she was unable to find adequate time in her daily schedule to plan and prepare a way to teach her boys French, even though she was a French professor.  “Dr. Williamson-Cora invested in various computer-based programs hoping to ease her heavy prep time. After completion of various steps in these programs, she saw that her children were not able to communicate what they had just learned, nor were they sufficiently able to self direct their own learning.  She found that she would have to do these programs herself as part of her “prep” time in order to be able to guide them in their language learning. She was back to the predicament of not having the time. 
At the same time, she was giving Spanish classes to homeschoolers and was inspired when she observed how quickly they learned the material and how conducive the home environment was to be able to really practice the language. However, most material she could find for her classes were geared to classroom learning with large groups of students. Dr. Williamson-Cora decided to develop a program that enables the parents to learn along with their child, a program that was easy to use and would enable the home educator to help his/her children us the language as well as guide them in their language learning.
Dr. Williamson-Cora wanted a product with ideas to help her incorporate language learning into her daily routine (as opposed to a “classroom”) without taking up all her weekly or daily prep time.  She also wanted a product that could develop speaking ability. Most programs work on reading, writing, listening and punctuation, but not on using the language in a conversational and creative manner.  This program is built upon a conversational Spanish foundation. New material is always presented through speaking the language and soliciting responses from the children. As language is used through human contact in the real world, this program stresses the importance of interaction with others."

 

 The program is designed for the entire family to learn TOGETHER. It is currently geared toward elementary school grades K-8, but according to the website a high school supplement will be available soon.

The Homeschool Spanish program includes an instructional book, activity book, answer book, a curriculum guide, and audio files for corresponding instructional and activity book.

There are 10 units divided into smaller lessons. We are currently working on unit one.  We are taking our time and enjoy the program.

Unit 1
Greetings
How are you?
Unit 2
Colors
Numbers
More numbers
Telling time
Unit 3
Fruits and Vegetables
Meats and proteins
Carbs and deserts
Beverages, condiments, dairy and more
Grammar Tidbit: definite and indefinite articles, plurals
Unit 4
Family
Adjectives, possessive adjective singulars, de + el
Unit 5
Face
The body
Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns
Possessive adjective – plurals
Unit 6
Clothes
Weather and seasons
Months of the year
Unit 7
Places
Days of Week
The verb “to go” / ir
Transportation/Places
“ser” and “estar” (to be)
Unit 8
Animals
Nature
Unit 9
Sports
Comparison and Superlative
Unit 10
Verbs Part 1, 2, and 3
The house
Things in the house

The activity book is full of different worksheets that correspond with a specific unit; fill-in-the-blank dialogues, word searches, crossword puzzles, scrambled tiles, and more.  The activity book was a hit with my daughters, as they enjoy worksheets.

I think the curriculum guide is awesome, because it has all the lessons divided into 48 weeks, each week provides six days of preparation.  Everything is laid out and organized for me, which helps me to stay on task.  There are also tips and activities provided to help reinforce the learning; design a board game, create photo albums, hangman, puppet show, etc.

For those of us who have a hard time pronouncing some of the words, the audio files are great, because it allows you to hear the words and phrases pronounced correctly by a native speaker.

Here are a few samples you can download of the Table of Contents, Instructional Book, Activity Book, Audio Files, Ideas Section, Curriculum Guide, and free culture links.  

We are really enjoying this program and will continue with it till completion.

R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish offers two ordering options. You can choose the download version for $49.95 or a hardcopy for $89.95. The Daily Curriculum Planning Guide is available for an additional $9.95. The Planning Guide is optional, but I highly recommend it.

Be sure to stop by the TOS Hub and read what my crewmates had to say about R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish.

  I received the downloadable book bundle with the daily curriculum guide from R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish free of cost in exchange for my honest review.

I Am Second

Have you ever heard of the website, Iamsecond.com?  My small group leader, who is now a really close friend, introduced me to it a couple years ago. Awesome site! Check it out!

My favorite today is Bailee Madison’s testimony!

I was having difficulties linking the video directly from the “I Am Second” site onto my blog, so I decided to link the video from youtube.  There is an abundance of amazing, heartwarming videos!  Take some time soon to sit back, relax, and listen to others share their wonderful testimonies.

This is another one of my favorites <3 Amazing transformation!

Vintage Remedies ~ TOS Review

Although I have the two daughters, I had the great opportunity of reviewing Vintage Remedies for Guys.  Among the many products offered by Vintage Remedies, Vintage Remedies for Guys and Vintage Remedies for Girls cover the same material, with a few exceptions. So I knew for sure what the differences were, I sent an email to the company. I was impressed at how quickly Caroline (Director of Operations) replied.

“The one chapter that is different in the Guys and Girls books is Chapter 8, on hygiene. At the end of the chapter, where in the Guys book it discusses "Tips for a Great Appearance," the Girls book discusses, "Tips for Beautiful Skin and Hair." While there is some similar content, the Girls book focuses more on natural beauty tips. Also, the featured product in the Guys book is homemade deodorant, whereas the featured product for the Girls book is homemade lip gloss. The other fun projects in the girls book are also a little more girly, as well, including vanilla brown sugar body scrub, white chocolate bath meltaways, and a minty foot lotion.” 

Vintage Remedies for Guys workbook teaches healthy and natural living to boys ages 7-13.  Packed within the 200 pages are 18 chapters divided into 3 sections.

Section One: Food Nutrition and Culinary Skills
Chapter One: Real Food
Chapter Two: Kitchen Basics
Chapter Three: Healthy Drinks
Chapter Four: Snacktime
Chapter Five: Sweet Desserts
Chapter Six: Local Foods
Chapter Seven: Growing Your Foods
Section Two: Health and Body
Chapter Eight: Healthy and Clean Bodies
Chapter Nine: Immunity and Prevention
Chapter Ten: Coughs and Colds
Chapter Eleven: Summertime Funs
Chapter Twelve: Backyard Medicines
Chapter Thirteen: Aromatic Oils
Section Three: Natural Living
Chapter Fourteen: Hospitality
Chapter Fifteen: Cleaner Cleaning
Chapter Sixteen: Green Gifting
Chapter Seventeen: Reducing and Reusing
Chapter Eighteen: A Natural Home

Although it’s called a workbook, it’s not what you would typically think of as a workbook.  You won’t find colorful graphics; or any graphic for that matter. Nor will you find question/answer problems; except for short chapter quizzes (5-7 questions each) located in the back of the book.  The workbooks were not designed to be a sit and read type of book, but rather an assortment of tips and instructions to get you and your family active and exploring natural living with many hands on activities.

This workbook is filled with a vast amount of beneficial information and incredible recipes; such as pizza, granola bars, jam, yogurt, sport aide drinks, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, deodorant, face wash, room deodorizer, herbal candies, sore throat tea, sore foot oil, laundry soap, foaming carpet cleaner, and SO much more.

Each chapter includes a brief lesson, hands on projects (aka recipes), and a Parent/Leader Guide.  All the chapters are fairly short, which I think is great, as it doesn’t bog you down with a lot of information at once.  The Parent/Leader Guides are located at the end of each chapter.  The guide provides the parent/teacher with an overview of the chapter and a supply list for each project.  I would have liked this guide to be in the beginning of the chapter rather than the end, but I found it useful nonetheless.

The book is designed to be completed in one year, completing one chapter every two weeks; however, you can stretch it out over two years if you wish.

When I opened my package I was very pleased with the way the product was presented.
 

I felt like I was unwrapping a Christmas gift!

Along with the Vintage Remedies for Guys workbook I received for review purposes, Vintage Remedies blessed my family and I with The Herbal Kitchen book.

I found Vintage Remedies to be an excellent wealth of beneficial information!!

Check out the FREE coloring pages available for download from the site.   

Vintage Remedies is available for $45.00.

Be sure to click over to the TOS hub and read what my fellow crewmates had to say about Vintage Remedies for Guys, Vintage Remedies for Girls, and Vintage Remedies for Kids.

I'm a crew member with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew and I received Vintage Remedies for Guys free of cost in exchange for my honest review.

 

Fractazmic ~ Review

I, nor my girls, ever thought the words fractions, game, love, and please, would be uttered in the same sentence.  Ha, until now! Fractazmic has become a game they love to play.  Well, more so my 6^th grader, but my 8^th grader enjoys playing, too. I also think the game is pretty awesome.

Fractazmic is a card game created by the makers of I See Cards.  It was designed to help reinforce the relationship between fractions, measurements, and numbers, simply by converting and adding fractions.

The deck consists of 60 brightly colored cards.

Sixteenth suit (red) shows a ruler: 1/16, 3/16, 5, 16, 7/16, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2

Twelfths suit (blue) shows an egg carton: 1/12, 5/12, 1/6, 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2

Tenths suit (green) shows a water bottle:
1/10, 3/10, 1/5, 2/5 and 1/2

You’ll need 2-4 players and is recommended for 1^st – 8^th graders.

There are a few different ways to play with the Fractazmic cards. The videos below will show you how to play Fractazmic Trap and Fractazmic Rummy. Rummy is the only way we've played so far.  

Click here to download a free e-book from Dr Ron's How to Succeed in Mathematics. The e-book will give you directions on how to play Fractazmic Trap and a few other games.

Fractazmic is a great game for any child learning their fractions, especially for our visual learners.  My 6^th grader has had some difficulties grasping fractions and their relationship with measurements – seeing and understanding their use in the world around her.  Thanks to Fractazmic, the light bulb flashed on and a loud and cheerful, “Oh, WOW, now I get it!” could be heard throughout the house!  Now, she eagerly asks to add up every other player’s hands!

Fractazmic is available for $6.95 + shipping and handling.  With Christmas right around the corner, this would make a great stocking stuffer!

I See Cards offers a few other card games.

Be sure to stop by the TOS hub and read what my fellow crewmates had to say about Fractazmic.

I'm a crew member with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew and I received Fractazmic free of cost in exchange for my honest review.