Homeschool Programming, Inc. - A Mosaic Review

As a part of Mosaic Reviews, I was asked to try and review a computer programming course meant to teach kids and teens how to write programs, Android applications, and games.  Homeschool Programming, Inc. is geared toward kids and teens between 4th and 12th grade (although I found it very interesting and helpful myself).   You can read more about the founders of this company here.

There are a number of different courses available for purchase, but the one we actually tried was KidCoder: Beginning Web Design.  We loved that there was no previous programming experience required as the program teaches everything they need to know - of course, basic computer usage knowledge (using a keyboard & mouse, select & run programs) is needed to begin.  Each course has a first semester & second semester included. 

The layout of the program & chapters is wonderful - I love that it is easily navigated.  The only issue I had with usage was the manual - which I had to option to print out, but opted against it simply because I would rather "save the trees".  It was really just a matter of getting used to opening up the .pdf files as my kiddos needed them.  However, keep in mind, when you purchase the printed version - a textbook and course CD are included. 

My screenshot of the course, chapters, and activities - very user friendly!

Something else that my children and I both found quite useful about the program was how it walks you through everything.  There are little tips, screenshots of what something should look like, and more throughout the activities.

Example of a tip you may find throughout the course

An example of what the course is trying to define at a certain point - we love the walk through help!

As I said earlier, there are other Homeschool Programming, Inc. courses available for purchase.  When purchasing each one there is an option to purchase the entire series, just the 1st semester, or just the 2nd semester.  Additionally - there is an option to purchase the courses only, courses and videos, or videos only.  Below - I am including the price for the entire series including the courses only.  By navigating the links below, you can see the other costs.  The KidCoder Courses are recommended for 4th-12th grade and the TeenCoder Courses are recommended for 9th-12th grade. 

• KidCoder: Virtual Basic Series - $120.00

Windows Programming (1st Semester)  -  Build programming skills

Game Programming (2nd Semester)  -  Learn to write computer games        

• KidCoder: Web Series - $120.00

Beginning Web Design (1st Semester)  -  Create websites with simple HTML

Advanced Web Design (2nd Semester)  -  Learn HTML5, CSS3, & JavaScript

• TeenCoder - C# Series - $120.00

Windows Programming (1st Semester)  -  Learn C# programming skills

Game Programming (2nd Semester)  -  Write graphical computer games in C#

• TeenCoder: Java Series - $130.00

Java Programming (1st Semester)  -  Learn Java programming skills

Android Programming (2nd Semester)  -  Write programs for Android devices

Something that may help you in deciding if these courses are something your child may be interested in are the sample pages and the demonstration videos.   These pages may also help you in deciding which course to being with. 

We have truly enjoyed using this programming course in our homeschool and, if you are looking for any kind of computer science option for your homeschool (or just in general), this is a great option! 

You can also read other Mosaic Reviews for Homeschool Programming, Inc.


Contact Information for:
Homeschool Programming, Inc.

 980 Birmingham Rd.
Suite 501-128
Alpharetta, GA 30004

1-888-606-7263

The Classical Historian - Ancient History Go Fish Game

As part of The Mosaic Reviews Team, I was asked to try The Classical Historian - Ancient History Go Fish Game, by John and Zdenka De Gree.  I'm always excited when I can combine learning with game play in our home school and this was just the thing we needed to pair with our History curriculum.

While you can play Go Fish with these cards - there are three other games you can also play:  Collect the Cards, Chronology, and Continents.  There are instructions for each game inside the box.

The Four Games

1. Go Fish - The goal is to collect all four-of-a-kind cards from twelve different categories.  The player with the most sets - at the end of the game - wins.
2. Collect the Cards - Players use historical facts (read aloud by another player) to try and guess the image on a card.  By guessing correctly - the player collects the card and the player with the most cards ... wins!
3. Chronology - Using only given cards (per the instructions) - the cards are shuffled.  A player then must assemble all the cards in chronological order - the fastest player / time wins!
4. Continents - With the Continent cards on the playing field - the other cards are shuffled.  The player then assembles all the cards under the correct Continent.  Fastest time wins!

The Ancient History Go Fish Game is fun and my children enjoyed it.  I liked how durable the cards were as well as the factual information listed on each card. 

John and Zdenka De Gree - the creators of The Classical Historian have many other options for your home school as well.  Some of the other things offered are: 

• Complete Socratic History Curriculum
• Games & Flash Cards
• Socratic Discussion Bundles
• California History
• Online Classes
• FREE Summer Lesson

The Ancient History Go Fish Game costs $11.95 - a great price for a fun and effective learning game.  The other Go Fish Games (also $11.95 each or $29.95 for all three sold in a bundle) that The Classical Historian offers are Medieval Go Fish and American History Go Fish.  We didn't get to try out the Memory Games, but we plan to order one soon since we loved the Go Fish Game.  The Memory Games offered are Ancient History, Medieval History, and American History and they are $14.95 each or $39.95 for all three ordered as a bundle.

If you're looking for a fun way for your children to learn History - give The Classical Historian a try.  With curriculum, games and flash cards, and many more things - you're sure to find something your home school needs.  I know we have!

My Home School Grades - A Mosaic Review

As a part of Mosaic Reviews, I was asked to review My Home School Grades - an online program that gives you a way to track student grades and activities throughout the years & even prepares official, college ready transcripts.

My Home School Grades allows you to manage your student's grades easily & effectively.  You can choose if you want to use letter grades (A, A+), number grades (93), or even fractions (13/15).  You can see below that we use letter grades.

Letter Grading Option

My Home School Grades lets you use your own curriculum and lesson plans when adding a class.  It's easy to set up and they're adding new curriculum all the time.  We are, in part, using Alpha Omega - Switched on Schoolhouse this year & so we were able to add the lessons, quizzes, and tests we wanted and update grades that way.  A few of the other curriculum options listed on My Home School Grades are Teaching Textbooks, Math U See, Apologia and much more.  You, also have the option to add other or custom curriculum.  It's very versatile & useful for any home schooling family!

Some Curriculum options when adding a class

My Home School Grades even lets you track extra curricular activities!  I love this feature!  I aspire to be SUPER organized (granted, it doesn't always work out that way), but this is a great option especially if you have a lot of extras going on.

Add an activity option

Now - are you ready for something that is going to save you a TON of time, stress, and yelling at inanimate objects?  Well, here it is - My Home School Grades will help you prepare official, college ready transcripts!  Yes it will!  How great is that?

See that handy transcript button?  Just click it & voila!  ALL of your needed & required information is turned into an official and college ready transcript!

My Home School Grades was founded in 2012 by a Home School Dad named John Echols and a Home School Graduate named Jordan Shute.  Seeing the need to gather a family's home school experience and information all in one place, they worked together to create My Home School Grades.

The cost for  My Home School Grades is incredibly reasonable!  Just $49.99 for a LIFETIME membership - yes, lifetime!  What's even better than that?  I'm actually not sure - but, the two week FREE trial is a great way to see just how useful the program is & how well it will work with your home school.  The free trial does not require a credit card to sign up as you'll have a chance to purchase the program after your trial time is up.

The support system for My Home School Grades is phenomenal!  You can use the page to find information such as:

• How to contact someone for help
• Watch how to videos
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• And EVEN to request curriculum be added to the system

You can find My Home School Grades in some other places as well:

• My Home School Grades Blog
• My Home School Grades on Facebook
• My Home School Grades on Twitter

I think you'll love My Home School Grades for your home school as much as we love the program!  I encourage you to try the two week FREE trial and see how much it can help you!

Spanish For You! Curriculum - Review

As a member of Mosaic Reviews I was asked to use & review the Spanish for You! curriculum by Debbie Annett.  I was really excited to try this out as I've been looking for a way to start teaching Spanish in our home school.  Spanish for You! is intended for grades 3 - 8.  The price is very affordable and the lessons are easily followed and very flexible!

We received the Estaciones (Seasons) pack to try. 

ALL Spanish for You! packages come complete with:

• Soft cover book or e-book (currently only on trial packages.)

• 24-30 week lesson guide for the grades you need (24 weeks for G5-6 & 7-8, 30 weeks for G3-4) (PDF download)

• Self-checking worksheets (PDF download)

• Audio files of entire book (includes bonus audio of native speaker of entire book) (MP3 download)

• Flashcard/activity pictures (PDF download)  

We started out by preparing some flash cards. Both my children, actually, enjoyed helping with this & even learned some things along the way. It was kind of it's own little lesson. We used the flash cards all along the way through the program.

 Seasonal 
Phrases

 Months of the year

 Days of the week

My son is still working on his handwriting and didn't want me to show those last two pictures - but, I think he did a great job, especially since he didn't know much Spanish at all before this.  (Maybe there's a good program we can review out there to better practice his handwriting!)

I had to do a bit of preparing for each lesson - but, it worked out really well since this is a "move at your own pace" curriculum.  It's very forgiving should you need to lapse a day or two (or three, or four .....  ).  

I must also say that the author, Debbie Annett, is very helpful.  She knows the curriculum & keeps you up to date (mainly through emails) on anything informative or that you may need to know.  I LOVE that!

I liked that the worksheets focused on the lessons and that they weren't confusing.  I was able to just give the kiddos their worksheets & they were able to do everything they were supposed to do.  Of course, sometimes they needed some extra direction or just couldn't remember how to word something (or write something) - but, we could always go back to the audio files (oh - Thank GOODNESS for these audio files!  You don't want to hear me try to pronounce some of these words) & listen again.  It was very user friendly in my opinion.

Above is one of the first worksheets the kids did together.  My daughter is 13 and my son is 10 and they both were able to follow the lessons & answer the questions fairly well.  I love that we can use this with both children at the same time.

I'm not going to do my "normal" pros & cons for Spanish for You!  Why?  I really don't have any cons to list - really!  I do, however, have plenty of pros .... so, I'll list those:

• The curriculum is highly affordable (read below for pricing)
• There are worksheets & lesson guides for different grade levels (all can be used with the same book helping to add to the programs affordability).
• Many opportunities to read & write the Spanish language.  I LOVE this!  It really enables my daughter (age 13) to work independently while I help my son (10 years old). 
• The flashcards are a huge hit!  The focus on vocabulary, verbs, and grammar show that it's a well rounded curriculum - but, without being overwhelming.  You can work at your own pace and take time where you need to most.  This really gives you an advantage over other programs that don't give you the same flexibility.
• Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied - but, we were very satisfied!

We have not finished our lessons, yet.  We still have some to go.  We had to slow down a bit near the end of the third lesson to use our new grammar.  I think we'll be moving ahead next week and we'll definitely finish the book!   You know what's even better?  I'm even learning some Spanish that I didn't know before we started this program.  How great is that?

The details:

• Can be used for yourself, your family, in a home school setting, or even in a classroom!
• Intended for grades 3 - 8.
• Parent / teacher does not need to know Spanish, but some guidance from a parent or teacher is certainly necessary throughout the lessons.  Some lessons / activities may be okay for older students to work on independently. 
• Make sure you use the lesson guide for the grade(s) you are working with.  The lesson guides are essential to getting the MOST out of this program.

The Author:

• Debbie Annett  - Click on the link to learn more about the author!

The Cost:

• Viajes (Travels) - 4 Week Trial for Grades 5-8 - $9.99

• Viajes (Travels) - 6 Week Trial for Grades 3-4 - $12.99

• Fiestas (Celebrations) - Grades 3-8 package - $64.95

                                  Grades 3-4 package - $39.95
                                  Grades 5-6 package - $39.95
                                  Grades 7-8 package - $39.95
                                  Extra Books - $12.95 / each

• Estaciones (Seasons) - Grades 3-8 package - $64.95

                                 Grades 3-4 package - $39.95
                                 Grades 5-6 package - $39.95
                                 Grades 7-8 package - $39.95
                                 Extra Books - $12.95 / each


I hope, if you try Spanish for You!, that you find it as enjoyable as we did and - if you do - why not thank Debbie Annett, for creating this fabulous program!

Review - A Blog Planner

As our first review for the Mosaics Review Team we were given a choice of FREE printable blog planners to try out and review.  I'll admit - it took me forever to choose which planner to use, but I finally decided on this Yearly Blog Plan"her" by Homeschool Creations.  I am SO glad that I decided on this one!

I'll preface this review by saying that I have never really planned my blogging.  In fact, my blogging hasn't been timely in any sense.  I've been more of a sporadic blogger with exceptions to that rule when I feel I have something to say or something that needs to be heard.  Now, I'll continue by saying that I plan to blog much, much more.  The long term goal of using a blog planner is, in every sense, to help you organize your thoughts and ultimately end up being able to schedule your posts.  Now, I am headed down the right track and much of it is because of this planner.

The first thing I did was go through all of the printable options.  That helped me decide exactly what I would print.  From there I simply used my "handy dandy" three-hole puncher and prepared my pages to fit into my folder.  You could, also, take your pages to a place like Office Depot and have them spiral bound.  I wasn't 100% sure that I'd be using this for long so I didn't take that route.  However - NOW?  Well, now I will be doing that.  I use this planner more than I ever thought I would!

I LOVE the fact that when Jolanthe of Homeschool Creations created this planner she included everything I would need or want.  The 60 page planner includes a pretty cover page (this is what first caught my eye), 12 month at-a-glance pages with a focus list, pages to track reviews & giveaways, space to jot down some ideas, weekly post tracking pages, and tons more.  I printed tons of the additional planning help pages!

 

I won't take a photo of my websites & blogs page (complete with a place to put your passwords - hence why I'm not posting the photo), but I use it for everything!  It's really helped me organize myself & all my pages.  Other optional pages include twitter hashtags, blog statistics, income & expense sheet, and EVEN a mileage tracker.  I don't, personally, have the need for the mileage tracker just yet - but, I did include it in my planner for future happenings.

The last thing I'll mention about this planner is the color scheme - it's a pretty pastel green & pink.  I was looking for something "easy on the eye" as well as something that wouldn't take up too much printer ink - after all, I knew I'd be printing a lot of pages!  You could certainly print it out in black & white to save on the ink usage.

You can't go wrong with this planner.  Give it a try - even if you think a blog planner isn't for you.  It sure made my blogging much easier and I know I'll be using it for a very long time!