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Monday, November 4, 2013

See The Light - Tiffany Window - A Mosaic Review

Have you wanting to incorporate Art into your homeschool?  Maybe you already do Art and you are looking for something new, easier to understand, better, or Biblical?  See The Light may be just what you need!  As part of the Mosaic Reviews team, I was asked to try and review See The Light - an Art class & project option that is just what our homeschool needed.  I chose to try Tiffany Window in the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  The project is on one DVD and is broken up into 4 lessons with  Pat Holt teaching the class.


I loved that we could play each lesson and pause it along the way as needed.  I would say each lesson took us about 30 minutes or so to watch.  After watching the lesson - we would do as instructed.  It took is a bit longer to do the artwork and that was OK with me!  We really did take our time.  With each lesson,  Pat Holt would tie in a Bible scripture and not only read aloud the passage, but also explain what it had to do with what we were learning (I say we, because I followed right along with my children and loved it).

So we started with Lesson 1 (of course):  Planning your composition,  Drawing & sketching our flowers

Ready with our supplies!
Beginning to sketch
First part of final sketch

We started with a rose and ended up drawing another bunch of flowers because, I'll admit, we had a very hard time with the rose.  I do NOT suggest learning to draw a rose as your first attempt at drawing. 

Previously, it has been very hard to get my youngest son interested in anything having to do with art, while my daughter loves ALL things art.  See The Light did a great job at bringing my son's interest level up and letting him see that he could do this.

We followed through with Lesson 2 which was learning all about the Rule of Thirds (new concept to us all).  Not many pictures from Lesson 2 because we felt like we did a good job with our sketches and didn't make many changes.

Lesson 3:  Color Theory with marker techniques on flower, stem and background shapes (the really fun part!)

Just beginning to color and learn color techniques

A work in progress

See how much our flowers changed?  But, that was OK!

My daughter working intently!


Lesson 3 took us the longest to complete.  We spent quite a bit of time getting our colors as we wanted them and making sure everything was done correctly.  My children added their own touches which was great to see.  We had fun with this lesson!

Lesson 4:  Completed Masterpiece - The stained glass window effect

All colored in

Finishing coloring

Beginning of Lesson 4

Adding our stained glass window style

Almost complete!

The dog wanted to help

Completed Masterpieces and their Artists!


What fun!  Not only did we create this art together - we learned so much in the process!  My mother was an artist and taught me a lot about art, but I still learned quite a bit from this See The Light Art Project.  My son learned that he CAN draw and enjoy it.  My daughter learned a number of things she didn't know and loved the completed project SO much that she posted it on her Instagram and sent it to all of her friends.  I would say this was a complete success.

If you are looking for an Art Class or Art Projects for you or your children - I certainly recommend See The Light

There are many purchasing options for the Art Projects -
You can also buy the Art Projects separately for $14.99 each -
  • Tiffany Window
  • Repeated Sweets
  • Paper Jungle
  • Pointillism Fruit
  • Poppy Collage
  • Dreams of Joseph
  • Horsing Around
  • Peaceful Seas
  • Sunflowers
  • Cartooning
Another option is to buy the Art Class (many different options) or Bible Stories.  Head on over to the pages to see all of your choices!

If you would like to contact the company you can do so on their  Contact page.  You can also email them at:  See the Light Information.

Would you like to read other Mosaic Reviews?


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Math Mammoth - A Mosaic Review

Math is our favorite subject around here and I was so excited when we were asked to review Math Mammoth!  I am pretty particular about what Math curriculum and programs we use and I had wanted to try Math Mammoth for quite some time.


We were given the Light Blue Series - Grade 4.  Math Mammoth offers so many different options and I just love being given options!  They offer the Light Blue Series which is a Complete Curriculum that is available by grade (Grades 1 - 6).  There is also a Blue Series which offers worktexts or units on specific topics for grades 1 - 6 (and some 7th grade), a Golden Series which includes worksheets for grades 3 - Algebra I consisting of two parts (A & B) for each grade, Review Workbooks for grades 1 - 5, and Real-Life Math
for grades 3 - 12 .  As I said - SO many options here - there is something that for every student!

One of our favorite things about Math Mammoth is how the workbook pages look.  They are organized and colorful!  My son enjoys math - but, sometimes it's just a bunch of problems bunched up on a single page and this drives him crazy.  He enjoyed the organization that these pages offered.
This video tells you about the Light Blue Series from Math Mammoth.  Also - don't forget to check out the page with Free Stuff - everyone loves something free!



As a homeschooling Mom - I love that Math Mammoth focuses for a fairly long time on any given topic.  It does NOT rush through topics in an effort to finish at a fast pace.  My next favorite thing about the program is that it is very visual and, at the same time, it promotes the use of mental math.  Another good point is that there is very little preparation time needed by the teacher - everything is walked through in the worktext pages.














We have truly enjoyed using Math Mammoth and will continue to use it as we complete the full 4th Grade curriculum.  If you are looking for something VERY teacher and student friendly - give Math Mammoth a try.

In order to purchase Math Mammoth (since nothing is sold on the actual site) - you can visit the following pages.  Please keep in mind that the prices vary depending on what you purchase:

Download Versions:
CD Versions:
Printed Versions:
 *BONUS*: If you buy the Light Blue series products on a CD, or in Kagi store as downloads, you will also get Soft-Pak elementary math & language arts programs completely free.

The creator of Math Mammoth, Maria Miller, wanted to help students understand math in a way she would teach it and, thus, the idea of Math Mammoth was created.  You can read more about Maria Miller if you would like - her story is interesting. You may still have some questions which you may find answers to on the FAQ page.  You can contact Math Mammoth by clicking HERE.

If you would like to see other Mosaic Reviews about Math Mammoth you can visit the Mosaic Reviews website.


Sunday, September 8, 2013

EEME / Electronic Projects for Kids - A Mosaic Review

Looking for some fun science projects?  As a part of Mosaic Reviews, I was asked to try out one of the projects from EEME.  Jack Pien, the founder of EEME, was dissatisfied with all the educational toys out there and wanted something that not only could children build themselves, but also learn about what they were building.  We got to try the Genius Light project (scroll down almost to the middle of the page).

The contents of our Genius Light Project kit

EEME offers hands-on project kits with video references for kids ages 7 - 12 years old.  I do think older kids (and even younger kids - with parental guidance) would also enjoy and be able to use these kits.  They have two choices when it comes to the monthly subscriptions:

We enjoyed working on this together and my husband was even able to join in on the fun.  I loved how the videos walked us (especially me - one with little knowledge and understanding of putting these things together) through the entire project.  It was a GREAT step by step learning experience.  All of my children enjoyed putting this together - even the "not so interested in much of anything educational" 16 year old.

Our version after watching the video
Video reference









The kids all got to do something - the videos had us changing things up a few times to see how different ways of arranging the wires & resistors had different outcomes on our finished project.


An screenshot of one of the videos included in this project
Showing different ways to build
The light is working!


Redoing the wires
Changing things up again

















Our finished project was pretty neat!  The kids were excited to see it work and they enjoyed, even more, knowing how it worked.  They had the basic concept of the circuits and electricity down before this project, but they really did learn some new things.  I enjoyed the video portions of the lessons.  EEME does have the option to sign up to watch FREE online lessons to teach your kids electronics.

Finishing Up!

Finished Project!

EEME is offering my readers their first month FREE towards a subscription (meaning you would get the Genius Light project - that I received) by clicking here to sign up.  This offer ends on September 16, 2013 - so, act quickly!  If you have any questions - you can reach the founder, Jack, by email :  info@eeme.co

You can view other reviews of EEME  by visiting Mosaic Reviews.