YWAM Publishing - Heroes of History - Benjamin Rush Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

We recently had the opportunity to review the book and study guide for the Benjamin Rush - The Common Good - Heroes of History book from YWAM Publishing.  We also received the PDF Study Guide that went along with this title.  My history fan devoured this book!
I am a huge history fan, and I gradually have turned Caty into a history fan also.  We were very excited to get the opportunity to review the Benjamin Rush book in the Heroes of History series.  This series has been a fun way to learn more about history in the United States and around the world.  

The Heroes of History series from YWAM Publishing is a biography series written for upper elementary through high school students to that bring to life 29 different individuals from history.  These include historical figures like George Washington, Elizabeth Fry, Clara Barton, Milton Hershey, Orville Wright, John Smith, John Adams and so many more!

The series is written in a way that is not just reading facts about the historical figures life, but the child feels like they are reading an actual story.  
From the publisher, we received a paperback copy of the title - Benjamin Rush - The Common Good .  The chapter book is well printed, and sturdy.  Caty is not always the most gentle with her books.  She carries around her current books interests in a bag that gets dragged all over.  She falls asleep with the books while reading them also.  So for this book to still look as though we may have just received it, is saying a lot. 
We also received the PDF Study Guide - Benjamin Rush - The Common Good.  This easy to download file is packed full of extra information and activities to really bring the historical figure you are learning about to life.  Activities include chapter review reading comprehension questions, creative writing prompts, essay writing ideas for older students, ideas on how to bring the historical figure more to life in your classroom area, field trip ideas, vocabulary, art projects, and even printable maps. 

All of this material is easily presented in a way that you can use it with multiple learning styles.  One way we made an adjustment was for Caty and I to review her comprehension questions orally, instead of writing her answers.  She struggles big time with writing, so I knew that even though she knew the answers, she would not be able to put her thoughts on paper and would be frustrated.  We changed these to an oral review.  I would assign her chapters to read (which she didn't follow since she couldn't stop reading it...lol) and then I would review the comprehension questions from the study guide with her.  We worked on the printable maps together and she has been reviewing important events of the American Revolution.
We have had the opportunity to review other books from the Heroes of History series in the past, and I have always found them to be well-written and fun to read.  Several of them are available on audiobook also, so that makes it easier for students who struggle with reading disabilities and comprehension problems.   
The Heroes of History series really are great for students that have high comprehension levels (through both reading or listening), because they are packed full of life  experiences that are beyond just basic facts.

The Study Guides that you can purchase to go along with the stories are excellent for all ages and all learning styles.  They are packed full of ideas and activities that really help your student to experience history and bring it to life for them.  I love the fact that I can print the materials that I choose to print, thus saving paper.  I leave the PDF opened on my laptop and we just read it off the screen as we were working.

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review various titles from YWAM Publishing Heroes of History and the Christian Heroes series.  Click on the link below to read how they used this series in their homes and what they thought of it.

 

Renita

SchoolhouseTeachers.com - Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.



We have been reviewing an indispensable resource in our homeschool.  SchoolhouseTeachers.com, a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, helps you out with full curriculum from preschool through graduation, the Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership.  

Every core subject is covered....even those pesky extras like foreign language, home economics, drama, speech, photography, art history and so much more.    You can get all of this for one fee and cover all the students in your house!!

The whole goal behind the use of SchoolhouseTeachers.com is to make homeschooling easy and not so overwhelming for families.  It is so very easy to use SchoolhouseTeachers.com.  You can navigate it by subject or by grade level.  

Brayden has been using the Home Economics course.  He is now a senior!  I thought this would make a great electives course for him to take.

Each lesson takes him through how to eventually help to do things more independently.  I was able to easily download the lessons and printed what materials I wanted to use for him and keep them in a 3 ring binder.  He is working on meal planning and kitchen skills at the present time.  Each week, I ask him for help in planning our weekly meals.  And with any program you use, some money tips are more useful than others.  I really like many of the tips given, including tips for checking out, using sale ads, and using coupons.

As he uses this program, there are no extra costs for us within the program.  The materials are all included.  You have access to the open source textbooks and videos through directed links and login information.  You do not need to buy extra supplies, unless it is materials for science experiments or the food for home economics projects.  Having everything in one location makes it so much easier to plan out your weeks.

Currently, Caty is working her way (slowly) through the Anatomy & Physiology.  She's in middle school, but wanted to look through this high school level course.  The lesson plans, with video and textbook links, are all written out for me.  I really have no extra planning.  There are even extra resource links included in them.  It has been so incredibly easy to use.  If something has been more difficult for her, then we just adjust the discussion or skip the material for later on.

This is a biggest advantage of using this program in your home.  If you have a student who is at different levels either due to learning disability or being gifted, you can choose 6th grade math and 9th grade history to use.  All for the same cost!!  You will be able to use SchoolhouseTeachers.com for all of the students in your family, for one low price.

That takes me to another advantage of using SchoolhouseTeachers.com.... it is extremely budget friendly.  Right now you can get all of this information, including access to a full video library and World Book Resource Library for a either a low monthly price ($19.99 a month) or an easy one-time a year fee ($179.00 a year).

The one family membership gives you access to over 400 different online, self-paced courses and levels.  

I really like the embedded videos in some of the lessons.  Lydia has been using the American Sign Language to help with her learning of this language or communication.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com has really become an invaluable resource for our homeschooling through the years and we plan to continue using this program as we enter the middle and high school years.  Not only is the curriculum provided for all grade and skill levels, but helpful planning and organization tools are also included in the subscription to help keep your family organized.  

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review SchoolhouseTeachers.com Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership.  Click on the banner below to see what they used in their curriculum and how they feel about the program.

Shopping for Art Curriculum

Some people choose to just let art projects to just happen.  Whatever they want to do on a whim.  Others though, need preparation and planning.  When we started our Art History this year, I definitely at least needed a basic outline plan of what we were going to do.

A friend shared this book online and I ordered it right away!  Vincent's Starry Night and other Stories.

I used this to make our outline for the year.  I had a few projects in mind as I was going through the list, but usually planned out a month in advance.  I really liked this book.  It gave a little story for each.  We also watched a quick biography video on all the artists that we could and looked up their art work.  Another suggestion I got from a friend was to print coloring pages of each artist's work and let the kids color those.  So that is what we did for most of the artists.  We all know that Pinterest is the mecca of art projects!!  So I would surf around if I didn't have any ideas and borrow from here and there to create our projects each week.

Behold the Beauty Art Curriculum - I used this along with the above book.  It was a great addition to our year this year.  This copy is for Grades 4 - 6, but you can also purchase for lower grade levels and beginning artists.

Behold the Beauty - Kindergarten to Grade 1

Great American Artists

Discovering Great Artists

Online resource.... Art Hub for Kids ... the girls love drawing these pictures!  Their Youtube channel is jammed packed with fun art lessons.

Artistic Pursuits is a wonderful program.  Projects are completely laid out for you.  So very little planning needed, other than pre-reading lesson and collecting supplies

You honestly could find thousands of tutorials on Youtube to help with drawing basics.  There are also online schools such as Outschool.com that also offers several levels of drawing classes.  (Remember Youtube is FREE for almost all the videos, so that is always budget friendly!!)

You can read more reviews both at the 

Cathy Duffy Reviews

and also

Homeschool Review Crew

Shopping for History Curriculum

Teaching History is my favorite. It was my favorite subject when I was in school.  I was hoping that one of our kids would love history like I do, but alas....none do.  Here is a list of some favorite history resources we have used.

Elementary Resources

One resource we used in elementary with Lydia was the historical American Girl book series.  These were a fun way to bring history alive with her.  But Caty doesn't love the book series, so we use a lot of videos and started using the resources below.

These are all Middle through High School Resources.

All American History Volumes 1 & 2 (Bright Ideas Press)

This series is for middle school and high school aged students, but I was able to adapt it to use with Caty also.  I just adjusted the amount of her information.  Volumes 1 & 2 is meant to be done over a year, but we did this series over a two year school period.  That gave us more in-depth study potentials.

From Adam to Us (Notgrass History)

The girls and I have been using Volume 1 this year for our studies.  I really love this program.  It is Biblically based.  This program is meant to be done over a 1 year period (both Part 1 & 2), but I decided to stretch it over two years to make it not as overwhelming on the girls.  There is a lot of reading involved with this, if you do the full program.  We opted to only do some of the extra read-alouds.  I included lots of videos.  We'll do Part 2 next school year.  

Uncle Sam and You (Notgrass History)

This is a middle school level civics course that we have not used yet.  But plan on starting in two years or the 2nd half of next year.

America the Beautiful (Notgrass History)

This is a full year middle school (but adaptable for multi-age studies) American History and geography study of the United States.  

I will admit that I really do like Notgrass History.  They are really a great resources.  They offer a full 4 year study for high school students also.  I really like how I can use this product with multi-grade levels.  It's easily adaptable.  They are a Christian based, but their information is very accurate and the details/information included is amazing!!  Plus almost their entire series of history books is available on audiobook also.

Notgrass High School History

Story of the World Series

This series is meant to be done over a 4 year period.  It is available on audio for both those who need help with reading but also great for car-schooling.  It covers from nomads through modern history in these 4 volumes.   We actually used this series in elementary school.  But I'm also having the boys read each volume again in high school.  This series is great for elementary through high school.  I learned so much that I never even learned in high school and early college study of history.  It was amazing.

Some other History picks that I have come across that have gotten great reviews:

Heroes, Heroines, and Tales of Ancient History Digital Version

A Beka History (Grades K - 12)

Bob Jones History (Grades k - 12) - we have used the elementary series and really liked this program!  I have found the used textbooks on eBay and Amazon Marketplace.  We did not use all the workbooks and tests.  

These are just a few of the hundreds of history programs available.  

You can read more reviews both at the 

Cathy Duffy Reviews

and also

Homeschool Review Crew

Super Teacher Worksheets - Individual Membership Review

Are you needing some help with practice sheets or just keeping up with a child who LOVES to learn?  We recently reviewed the Individual Membership ($19.95) from Super Teacher Worksheets.  This has been a great benefit to our homeschool planning!!!

Ok...I admit it.  I was a geek in school.  I didn't mind the work, for the most part.  I loved worksheets and busy work.  I actually have a couple kids that enjoy worksheets, and I'm always looking for materials that are easy to print and search through to save me time and give them busywork.  
Super Teacher Worksheets- Individual Membership provides parents and teachers with worksheet and activity help for a wide variety of subjects including math, science, language arts, phonics, reading comprehension, health, geography, brain teasers, printable games, and even provides a worksheet generator.  It has been created for Grades PK - 8.

This isn't the first time that we have had the opportunity to use Super Teacher Worksheets.  We have been active subscribers to this site for a few years now.  When dealing with multiple grade levels and so many different learning delays, I was struggling with finding help and curriculum in specific areas.  

The boys math has been one area and Super Teacher Worksheets has really helped me out in their lessons.  Instead of buying multiple math books, at a high cost, I have been able to print various worksheets that allow them to practice mastery in specific areas of concern.  As they master each grade level, I just print the next harder worksheets for this area of study.  1-2-3...my planning is done and the boys are happy.

Another area that I love about Super Teacher Worksheets, their seasonal printouts.  They gather all their seasonal items into a file that you can browse by subject and easily see recommended grade level also.

Recently we celebrated the first week of Fall by doing a daily fall math sheet and reading comprehension activity.  I was able to print individual sheets for the kids to use at their own levels, and it gave them a break from the same-old-stuff.

Using Super Teacher Worksheets website is super easy.  When we need practice material, I can either search through the subject area or there is a search bar option also.

You just click View PDF of the file that you want.  

Unlike other websites, the Individual Membership from Super Teacher Worksheets - Individual Membership does not restrict  you to a certain amount of worksheets each month.  You have unlimited downloads for your family to use and print out.

Lydia is using a pretty specific math program this year.  Recently she needed some extra practice on factors and fractions.  She went through all the options on her program and then I checked out Super Teacher Worksheets to find some worksheets that allowed her that practice that she needed.  She gained more confidence and passed her test with no problem.

This year instead of buying a special spelling curriculum for Caty, who is starting spelling a bit late due to her reading delay, I decided to try the weekly spelling program that is offered on Super Teacher Worksheets - Individual Membership.  

I wasn't sure how she would do.  But so far it has been excellent.  I pick and choose what worksheets she will be doing each week.  Some weeks she needs extra writing practice, while others I print the fun word searches.  I like the long/short vowel worksheets that forces her to split the words down and remember the spelling.

All the worksheets and booklets that we have used so far have been easy to search for and print.  They provide the right amount of practice for each student.  I also can choose to print an answer page if I need it for quicker grading or if I just need to verify that I am helping them in the right way for an answer (hey I will admit that I struggle with some language arts areas...like supporting details).


An Individual Membership does not restrict you to specific levels, so it's perfect for Homeschool parents who have several different grade levels to plan out for.

Every time I think that I have possibly used a little bit of every resource they have to offer, I am shocked and find something else that I can use.  Super Teacher Worksheets - Individual Membership is one of my most used resources in our homeschool.  

I will continue to use the Super Teacher Worksheets materials as long as I can and highly recommend their resources to any homeschool families that are looking for some ways to save time and money.  If I added up the cost of the pages I have used just in the past couple months by comparing them to workbooks I would have had to purchase, Super Teacher Worksheets really will save you money.

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to try out Super Teacher Worksheets - Individual Membership in their homes.  Please take some time to see how this program worked for them by visiting the Review page.