Fifth Grade Literature Set (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Some time back, I had the opportunity to review one of the literature sets from  Memoria Press. However, at that time, the format of the curriculum did not fit well with my children.  That was roughly three years ago and through those years, the kids have changed.  When we were given the opportunity this time around to once again review a literature set,  I was curious to see how Ashleigh would now do with the classical style literature curriculum. 

For this review we were given our choice of a full grade literature set (minus the books).  After much debate, I opted for the Fifth Grade Literature Guide Set  because I felt that Ashleigh would really enjoy the book selection for this set.


About Memoria Press

Memoria Press is a well know provider of classical education curriculum.  A family ran company founding in 1994 by Cheryl Lowe, Memoria Press has developed K-12 classical curriculum at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky.   Our family uses Memoria Press curriculum for Ashleigh's Latin studies and we recently purchased the Greek Elementary curriculum for Garrett to begin this fall.

About the Fifth Grade Literature Guide Set

For this review, we received a 6 book set of literature study guides for three books on the 5th grade reading level: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Heidi and Lassie Come Home.  The set includes one student guide and one teachers guide to be used while reading the corresponding novels (Memoria Press offers a set that includes the three required novels if necessary).

Each book set includes a student guide as well as a teachers guide.  The Student Study Guides each follow the same format, starting with reading notes that help to introduce readers to words they might not have been familiar with in the reading, followed by vocabulary exercises, comprehension questions, quotations, discussion questions and enrichment exercises.

The Teacher's Guide has all the questions that the student guide contains, only with the answers provided.

This guide also contains appendices which contains map activities, biographical sketches, and/or other activities that offer enrichment for the book, as well as answers for the discussion questions and printable quizzes and tests as well as the answer key for those.

The quizzes, which cover a few chapters each, build upon the vocabulary and comprehension activities provided in the student guide.  A comprehensive final exam that covers the entirety of the book as well as the exercises in the student guide.  The quizzes are two pages each while the comprehensive final exam is four pages in length and are made up of matching, multiple choice and short answer questions.

Each of the books has saddle stitch binding with wire staples.

How We Used It

For this review period, we began with the guide for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  This was a book that I knew that both my kids would enjoy and I could ease Ashleigh into the writing work involved in these studies.

 These studies are designed to take the student on a deep journey through the story, delving into the characters and their decisions and really end up with an understanding of what the author wanted to convey in their writing.  Because of this, for grades 2nd - 12th Grade, each literature study should take roughly 6-7 weeks.  For our purposes, Ashleigh and I have been working with the literature study three days a week.

Following each chapter in the novel, there are two corresponding pages in the Student Guide.  Each page offers a vocabulary exercise where Ashleigh must look up words in her dictionary and write the definition out and then there are several comprehension questions about what was read in the chapter.

Comprehension Quesetions following a biography about C.S. Lewis

In addition to the written work, we also have included the enrichment activities in our lessons.  In one lesson, we given instructions as to how to make Turkish Delights, a confectionery treat mentioned in the book that is flavored with rose water. 

This was a fun activity and gave Ashleigh something else to do besides just write out answers.  However, our household was not a big fan of Turkish Delights - they were way too sweet for our taste.  

Overall, our reintroduction to the literature study set by Memoria Press has been a positive one and I'm looking forward to completing the study we are currently working on and using the remaining studies through the year. 

For more information about the literature studies for various grades offered by Memoria Press,  please visit their website.  You can also find Memoria Press on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memoriapress/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MemoriaPress

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/memoriapress/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/memoriapress

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/memoriapress/

Memoria Press was very generous by giving members of the Crew their choice of Literature studies to share with their students.  Be sure to click the banner below to read their reviews and see which ones would be right for your school today.  

Library and Educational Services LLC (A Homeschool Crew Review)

When I was younger, I loved the animated movie Beauty and the Beast.  I've always been drawn the Belle as my favorite Disney Princess, not because she fell in love with a prince (I already did that) but because of the huge library that she acquired when she moved into the castle.  Being a major bookworm myself, I always dreamed of having a library like that of my own. Granted, now I'm much older and realize I will never have a castle with an entire room with vaulted ceilings dedicated solely to books, but I still enjoy building my own personal home library, especially with books that the kids can use for their homeschool learning.

The Crew was recently given the opportunity to splurge on the offerings from Library and Educational Services LLC, a wholesale distributor that has been in business for 40 years and specializing in books, CDs, DVDs and more for libraries, schools (INCLUDING HOMESCHOOLS!!!), bookstores, churches, missionaries, daycare centers and ministry leaders.  All books are selected to conform to Biblical standards and values.   For the purpose of this review, Crew members were offered to review one book from the Who Was .. ?  series, one title of choice from the Lifehouse Theater CDs audio series, and their choice of selections of Reinforced Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction books. 

For our Who Was ...?  book selection, we opted for Who Was Walt Disney? by Whitney Stewart.  We selected this particular title because I have a unit study that uses this book that I want to use with the kids.  We did read this selection together without the unit study but will reread the title when we start the study later this year. 
The Who Was...? titles are short paperback biographies written for children ages 8-12 years of age.  For this title, we learned about the life of Walt Disney, from his childhood, his failures, his triumphs and ultimately his success.  

The 106 page book is filled with black and white illustrations as well as some really interesting tidbits of information.  

I really like that there are additional points of information that may not necessarily directly relate to Walt Disney, it does bring the readers attention to other important information, such as Pearl Harbor, the Great Depression, and who Charlie Chaplin was.

The second item we picked out was the audio CD of the Lifehouse Theater on the Air production of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.  This was a 33 minute audio CD . 

This audio recording is of a 33 minute production of the story of the cobra killing mongoose.  This was a fun listen with good voice acting, sound effects and music.  The kids really enjoyed this recording and have asked to listen to it a few times.   It was really well done and had great build ups in excitements that really held their attention. 

In addition to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Library and Educational Services LLC offer seven other Lifehouse Theater On-the-Air productions:  Trapped in Aesop's Fables, The Misadventures of Tom Sawyer, The Princess and the Pigs, Pride and Prejudice,  Job - A Modern Man,  Hiding in Plain Site, and The Emperor's New Clothes. 
And finally......
Without any doubt, the start of this review is the hardback library binding nonfiction books.  For my selection, I chose the 11 volume Exploring American History: From Colonial Times to 1877.  These volumes are absolutely beautiful, with a nice hard back, reinforced spines (no worries of pages falling out) and full color photographs and illustrations with text written for a targeted audience of grades 5 through 8. This set examines the formative stages of America's past from European settlement of the Western Hemisphere and the displacement of indigenous peoples to the birth of the United States and its growth, in both population and territory, from a modest confederation of thirteen independent states.

These books are arranged like encyclopedias - each volume covers subjects/topics arranged in alphabetical order.  While each book contains roughly 150 pages each, when combined together they comprise of 1231 pages of information.  Each volume is numbered on the spine as well as lists the alphabetical span covered in that volume.  (Note:  Encyclopedia sets are not previewed by Library and Educational Services LLC to fit Biblical teachings and beliefs.)

Inside, topics are clearly marked with clear to understand text, historical photographs and colored illustrations.   The font used is large enough and clear enough to read, even for my old eyes. 

The 11th volume of this set is a dedicated index and a wealth of information.   This book contains timelines that show not only important dates but important political and cultural occurrences, people and places that should be noted at a particular time.  

The index volume also contains selections of resources recommended to delve deeper into topics.  These resources include recommended websites (all appear to be government and organization websites that would be free of questionable content), books and movies and are listed by topic in alphabetical order. 

Finally, the index also lists topics/subjects in alphabetical order and which page/volume information on those topics can be found. 

I am absolutely in love with this beautiful set of books and I am grateful to be able to add them to our library. I know this set in particular will come in extremely handy as the kids begin American History next month.  And once my kids are too old for them, I will happily gift them to my library for their nonfiction section, as I have no doubt that with their sturdy covers and binding, they will last far longer than my kids will need them for and will be of use to another child down the road. 

For more information about Library and Educational Services LLC, be sure to visit their website.  You can also find more information on the following social media platforms: Facebook: facebook.com/libraryanded
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/libraryanded/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf-f2T2eIghJkxinFu4xVgQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libraryanded/

Members of the Crew were given their choices of one Who Was? What Was? book, one audio recording, and and their choices of a vast selection of reinforced hardcover library binding nonfiction books.  Be sure to click the banner below and read reviews on the wide selections available for purchase today. 

Weekend Meal Planning

Sunday  -  Ramen soup with egg roll

Monday - Slow Cooker Mojo Pork Bowl with rice, chopped spinach and salsa

Tuesday - Fideo soup

Wednesday - Leftover Mojo Pork Cubano Sandwich with cumin-spiced green beans

Thursday - Ground Beef Bulgogi with steamed broccoli

Friday - Cheesy Garlic Burgers with Lemon Butter Zucchini Noodles

Saturday - BLT sandwiches with chips and pickle spears

A Collection of Historical Timeline Figures (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Today I get to share with you a review for another product that I have REALLY wanted to get my hands on for some time, but never have the opportunity to purchase it in the past - the Timeline Collection: A Collection of Historical Timeline Figures from Home School in the Woods.

About the Product:

The Timeline Collection features over 1260 black and white line drawing figures spanning from the creation of the world through the World Trade Center terrorist attack and Operation Iraqi Freedom.  These figures are great for using in historical timelines.  If your new to using timelines with your lessons, here's a great blog post discussing timelines.

 For this review, we were given the downloadable file of the product to use.  This file was

downloaded as two ZIP files, one for the files that would be divided to two CDs if the physical product had been purchased.

Other than the downloading of the files, the product is installed on the users computer and does not require internet access.   The files are saves in folders and the user simply clicks on the Start file which opens in an offline web browser.   This opens the initial table of contents which gives quick access to the CD contents.

The two CDs each contain the same content but in a slightly different format.

CD1 contains the files that would be used for projects such as timelines, book of centuries, printing several figures on one sheet that can be trimmed and used.  To get started, the user selects the START file in their downloaded folder which brings them to the Table of Contents.

From the table of contents page, the user has access to more than 1,260 timeline figures.   They are organized by time period.  When a time period is selected, the user is taken to a break down of pages that offer two options  - wall sized timeline figures and notebook sized figures.  These can be selected to either be printed with text or without, depending on the users preference. The text option includes a short summary description of the event or person, while the option without text only lists the event/name and date.

These pages are in order of how they occurred in that time frame, however, there is also an index available for each time period that lists the figures that are included that shows what page that figure can be found on.

Selecting a page will bring the printable sheet that includes the figures.  Each page includes between 10-12 black line drawing figures.

CD2 contains the same material as CD1, but in a GIF format.  Where as CD1, the user prints pages with 10-12 figures on it, with CD2 users can select specific individual figures that can be enlarged or reduced and can be used for activities such as coloring pages, flashcard images, bingo games or any number of activities.     Again, the user has the option of selecting with or without text.

How We Used It:

We have found a few different uses for the figures over the course of the last few weeks.  The first thing we decided to use them for was to start keeping our timeline with our history curriculum.  We are currently working though Mystery of History and these figures coincide perfectly with the curriculum.   I simply print out the pages with the figures that coincide with the dates we are working on, we complete our lesson and the kids add the figures to their timeline.

Figures coincide perfectly with our lessons

For our purposes, we were using the notebook sized figures (we do not keep a wall/poster size timeline due to space but I am grateful for the option in the future). 

I really like that most of the line drawings used are the exact same drawing used in our lesson's text.  This helps the kids associate the drawing on their timeline more easily with their lesson.

While we haven't used the wall sized figures, I wanted to show the difference in the size between the two.  These figures are perfect for those who keep a timeline either on poster board or on their wall.

I've been really happy with the way our timelines are looking using these timeline figures and I can see us using these for many educational applications, from now until both kids are graduated (and maybe even past that). 

For more information about Home School in the Woods and the many product options they offer, be sure to visit their website.  You can also find them on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homeschoolinthewoods
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HSintheWoods
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hsinthewoods/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeschoolinthewoods/

Home School in the Woods was very generous and offered members of the Crew their choice of 13 different products.   In addition to the Timeline Collection, Crew was also offered their choice of seven Time Travelers U.S. History Studies  options and five Project Passport World History Studies options.  Be sure to click the banner below to read their reviews.