Teaching history has always been a conundrum for me.  I struggled because I didn’t have a solid foundation in history nor did I know where my ancestors fit in the history.  Outside of learning about some components of slavery and a few well-known Black Americans, my knowledge was really limited.  I also struggled with choosing a curriculum for history because some of the history curricula I encountered had a view against non-Whites that I did not like and had no desire to teach my daughters

My daughters are fans of recording themselves.  They often film the strangest things and enjoy watching the playback over and over again.  Recently, we were provided the opportunity to review Stopmotion Explosion Animation Kit. Due to the girls’ love of videography, I though this review would be a nice fit for them and would add a dose of fun to our home school.

The Fifth Grade Literature Set from Memoria Press includes three student study guides and the corresponding teacher guides for each book.  The three novels are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Heidi, and Lassie Come-Home.  My daughters have little experience reading books which are classified as classic literature by most lists although we have listened to the first three books of The Chronicles of Narnia.  Since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a recent read neither of my daughters selected it to be read with the study.  My oldest daughter chose Heidi while my youngest daughter chose Lassie Come-Home.

Spelling isn’t something which comes naturally for our youngest daughter.  Her mind moves too fast which makes choosing the correct phonograms a struggle at times.  When Essentials Second Edition by Logic of English was available to be reviewed, I asked her if she wanted to give it a try.  We have used other spelling programs and some left her feeling annoyed versus successful.  Honestly, I was afraid that she wouldn’t be a fan, but gratefully my doubts were wrong.  Essentials has been a great hit in our home school.  This is one subject which she has taken control and makes sure is completed daily.

Math is a touchy subject in our home even though one daughter would say it’s her favorite subject, and the other daughter is really good at even though she wouldn’t say it’s her favorite.  For our oldest daughter, we figured we would give Math-U-See by Demme Learning a try when it was offered to be reviewed.  She is our daughter who enjoys math even though not all components of it come easy to her. 

It wasn’t until I was an adult did I fully understand the meaning of Easter.  As a child, I felt so lost when it came to religious holidays.  I remember the traditions, but the meaning was lost on me.  As the girls continued to get older, my desire to know more about the faith in which I followed grew more and more and it continues to grow.  When we studied John in 2011, it was like my eyes were opened and everything had new meaning.