Mark Kistler's Draw Squad

We have used Mark Kistler's Draw Squad very sporadically over the past year to year and a half.  (Sorry, Mr. Kistler!  I know you emphasize daily practice.)  The results in my children's drawing skills have improved dramatically despite the fact that we've only completed 6 of the 30 lessons.  Yes, we've only done six lessons in over a year; it's pathetic; I know!  But, we also do color art projects with another program and have a full schedule in other ways.  Some is better than none.  Right?

Anyway, I thought I'd share more about this wonderful resource.  I love the book and the improvements in my children's ability to draw.  The Homeschool Buyer's Co-op is featuring Mark Kistler's online art curriculum right now.  You'll get a 3 year subscription for as low as $39.60, depending on how much interest there is in the program.  I have never been tempted by anything offered by the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op...until now.  The offer is good through June 30th. Unfortunately, their website is down or I'd provide a link.  Whether you go with the book or the online lessons, I think you can't miss with this one.

Here are some examples of my children's progress over time, starting with Samuel's drawings:

The book starts by asking readers to draw a house and an airplane.  These photos serve as examples of readers' drawing skill before instruction.  The above two photos are Samuel's house and airplane.

Sam's drawing of a gift box allowed him to practice quite a few drawing skills.  First, you start with what is called a foreshortened square; that is a distorted/squashed square that makes one part of the square appear closer than the rest of it.  Then you add in a thing called surface.  That's where you draw part of the object lower on the page to make it appear closer to you (see bottom front corner of the box).  Finally, you add in some shading and shadow to show the direction of the light source.

Foreshortening, surface, shading, and shadow were all used on Sam's drawing of a cylinder.  It's a bit different on a round object than on a square object, but not much.

Here is Sam's drawing of a pencil that used all of the above mentioned skills but also included contour and hovering shadow below the tip of the pencil.

This is Mikaela's house drawing from before our Draw Squad lessons started.  You can see that she tried to add some perspective on the side.

Compare her first house to this house drawn more recently.  She used foreshortening, surface, shading, cast shadow, overhang shadow, and cast shadow in this drawing.

Even her drawings in other areas are improving.  This crab and lobster were draw and labeled for science.  She used photos in her science text book as a guide, but she didn't trace them or have step-by-step directions to follow.

She also recently completed a timeline of the American Revolution and decorated it with a couple of appropriate drawings.  One of them was this Declaration of Independence.  In the picture, I recognize foreshortening in the folds of the document (we used a similar technique to draw banners in the book).  There is also evidence of overhang shadow and density (items closer have more detail than those further away).  The drawing looks better in person; my camera blurred the photo because I had to zoom in too much due to it being a small illustration.

I think you'll agree that Draw Squad teaches real art and real drawing techniques.  The improvement in my children's drawing abilities have undoubtedly improved; I have no doubt they'll continue to improve as we continue to move through the book (even if it takes another two years).  And finally, what they have learned as been applied beyond simply following step-by-step directions in a book.  I've very pleased with the book.

** I am in no way affiliated with Mark Kistler, nor was I asked to review his book.  It's a great program that I'm happy with.  The link to Amazon is to my affiliate account; if you buy the book through the link, I'll get a few pennies from Amazon.  I derive no other benefit from this review, from you buying the book through another source, or from the purchase of the online curriculum from the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op.

Here is Sam's most recent writing assignment from US History-Based Writing Lessons Volume 1.  There are a few things that could have been improved.  For example, the title makes it sound like the story is about a message sent by King George when actually it is about a message sent from the colonists to King George.  That's ok.  We discussed that, but he got full credit because it met the requirements for a title: to reflect key words in the last sentence.

King George’s Message

In the chilly evening, on December 16, 1773, in the frosty air, the streets of Boston were crowded with hostile people like hundreds of pigeons on a roof, transfixed on the ships.  Within them was Paul, who was a ten year old child.  He was nervous. He was here because his older brother was a part of the Sons of Liberty. Excitedly, he told Paul something was going to happen.  Paul knew, by the sweet aroma of tea, it had to do with the crates of tea on the huge, rocking ships.

Naturally, it all started when the colonists bravely refused to buy the tea, which had been taxed by England.  They thought that England had no right to tax them.  By taxing the tea, King George provoked the colonists to anger.  They told England to send the tea back.  But the Royal Governor of Boston was annoyed and persevered to not let the ships sail back.  Bravely, he firmly said that the king would be obeyed and they would unload the ships by December 16, which was tonight.  Something would happen.

Suddenly, almost 100 superb, cunning, and strong “Indians” cut through the crowd.  These “Indians”, which were actually the Sons of Liberty, boarded the ship and then, hostilely, started chopping.  Chop! Chop!  Chop!  This was scary.  The tea was thrown overboard into the ocean. After the chopping, the crowd started cheering loudly.  “Rally Indians!  Bring you axes, and tell King George we’ll pay no taxes!”  Because of this, Paul knew that King  George would understand this message.

I started out with watching IEW's Teaching Writing: Structure and Style.  While it helped me understand how the program works, I didn't feel ready to teach writing off that alone.  It did, however, help me get passed the early stages where the output was horrible.  We also tried the Student Writing Intensives, but I didn't care for that either.  It didn't give me enough to go on grading-wise.  It wasn't until I found the US History-Based writing that I became truly enamored with the program.  The teacher book tells me exactly what I need to do without being cumbersome.  The student book walks them through each lesson and each assignment.  Together, it makes it so easy to teach writing and grade writing. 

Curriculum Review: Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts

After getting the results of Mika's standardized test results last spring, I finally clued in to why she hated school and cried about it nearly every day. It was very boring to her because I was forcing her to learn things she already knew well. So I set out on a quest to find new curriculum, especially in language arts, her strong subject.

Now that we've been doing school for two months, I've had a chance to evaluate the curriculum I chose. I can say that I am confident that I chose well. Mika no longer hates school, never cries about it anymore, and is even enthusiastic about school at times. It's been a wonderful change!

For language arts, I chose Michael Clay Thompson's curriculum which is designed for gifted students. They have curriculum for grades three through twelve. They offer five areas: grammar, writing, poetry, vocabulary, and practice. I want to write about grammar, writing, and practice in this post because we've completed a majority of it and it's been my favorite part. I'll cover the other two in another post.

Because we were new to the curriculum, I chose to start at the beginning and cover two years worth this year. We've completed Grammar Island, are part way through Sentence Island, and have begun Practice Island. They really should be completed in the order I've written them but we've been doing ok with starting Practice Island ahead of schedule.

Grammar Island was an enjoyable text. It is written in a conversational style with clean, uncluttered pages. Each page has the bare minimum number of words written in a large font. Some words are written in color to emphasize them (ie. all pronouns in blue). Sometimes there is a simple diagram on the page. It really is very uncluttered, minimalist really. The book covers the eight parts of speech (ie. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, and pronouns), parts of sentences (ie. subjects, predicates, direct objects, indirect objects, and subject complements), phrases (prepositional phrases only this level), and clauses (difference between simple and compound sentences). Each section explains the topic briefly with examples and has a cute little story that illustrates the idea. There is absolutely no repetition.

Sentence Island picks up where Grammar Island leaves off. Written in story form, it tells the tale of a fish named Mud that wants to learn about sentences. He starts off learning about the subject and predicate, followed by the parts of speech, parts of sentences, and subject verb agreement. It's a fun little story.

After reading Grammar Island and Sentence Island, you begin Practice Island. Practice Island is a workbook for putting what has been learned into practice. Each page contains a sentence and four blank lines below it. The student completes a four level analysis on each of the 104 sentences provided. On the top line, they identify which part of speech each word is. On the second line, they go back through the sentence and identify the parts of sentences. The third line is for identifying phrases, if any. Finally, the four line is used for identifying clauses and what kind of sentence it is. I like this kind of analysis, especially since I don't think my daughter would tolerate diagramming well.

One of the nice things I like about this program is that at the elementary level, you do not need to be buy both the student and teacher books. The teacher's manual contains the entire student text full size. On most of the pages, there are little bubbles containing extra information or tips, but it doesn't detract from the page. The bulk of the teacher's guide is in the back.

My only complaint about the curriculum is that each book is a soft-bound book printed in landscape form. While it works well with the format of the pages, I've found that the books aren't as durable as I would like. The pages and cover get bent up far too easily.

I'll be buying the Town series (the next level) soon. Once we've gone through it, I'll add my review for that as well. My understanding is that it is quite a step up from the Island series.

Timez Attack

We recently discovered this math video game which teaches multiplication facts. It doesn't just teach the facts, it ensures mastery. Unlike other free math games online, this one has excellent 3D video game graphics, making it much more fun to play. My son, who isn't even learning multiplication until next year, loves it. My daughter, who hates math (especially mastering the basic facts), tolerates it. She certainly chooses it over timed tests, flash cards, and other manipulatives.

The basics of the game is that you are the little green guy you see on the left of the picture above. You wander around a dungeon looking for keys that unlock doors. When you find the key, a multiplication fact appears on the wall along with a picture representation of the problem. Little snail-like creatures shoot out from the wall which you collect and throw back at the wall to skip count the answer. Then you type in the answer which opens the wall. When the wall opens, out comes an ogre whom you must "fight" not with swords or magic spells but with answers to multiplication facts that appear on his belly. You better be fast because there's a timer at the top of the screen. Get the answer wrong or take too long and you take a hit. Once you beat the ogre, you get another key and continue on your journey.

The game play proceeds in such a way that your student is both challenges and allowed to succeed at the same time. You start out with just one fact to learn (4x2) and build on that one fact at a time. As you proceed, you are expected to know all of the facts leading up to your current place. When you've beaten all of the ogres on the level, you challenge a giant ogre to demonstrate you know all of the facts in that family. Beat him and you move up to the next fact family. The game starts with 2's and moves up until you reach 12's. My children are on 4's right now. So far, each level has focused only on problems in that fact family rather than a mix from all of the previous fact families. I'm not sure if or when they'll reach a level that mixes the fact families.

Another thing that the game does is keep track of your student's progress and adapt accordingly. I believe that the timer speeds up or slows down based on your student's needs but I'm not 100% sure on that. I do know that when your student reaches the big ogre and does not win the battle, they are told which facts they had difficulty with and given the chance to practice those by fighting those specific little ogres again.

The best thing about the game? It's totally free. Fill in the form to receive the download link via email. The free version even tracks multiple students (I don't know how many) and saves their progress. If you wish to buy the upgrade, it only costs $39.99 to download and $5 extra if you want a copy on CD. The upgrade provides additional worlds to explore.

The only thing that could improve the game is to include addition, subtraction, and division versions of the game.

***Note: The Timez Attack makers offer an affiliate program. The links above are not affiliate links. I do not make any money for you following the link or purchasing the program. I did not receive anything in exchange for this review. I just like the program and wanted to let you know about it...especially since you can get all you really need for free.

Writing Strands

Up until now I've used Spectrum workbooks to teach language arts topics. I've been very please with the results so far. However, I noticed that towards the end of her recently finished writing workbook (grade 2) , that my daughter was able to technically complete the assignments correctly without applying herself or bettering her writing. I decided it was time for a change.

After some research and thought, I ended up chosing Writing Strands Level 3. We just started it last week and I'm please already. I can see that it is going to develop her writing significantly.

The book is set up in fourteen exercises, each covered over several days. It is written to the student in corny conversational style. It guess that makes it more enjoyable for them. My daughter certainly thinks the authors were weird (that's a good thing). As the student reads through the lesson, they are instructed on what to do and how to do it. Examples are given to show them what to do. Every so often, the student is instructed to show their parent their completed work. I've been sitting with her and helping her out more than the book requires.

I'd like to give you an example of an early exercise. My daughter was given the sentence, "The boy found the dog." and instructed to improve the sentence by adding bits of information to it step by step. She was given questions to help her come up with ideas of what to add. After all the steps were completed she ended up with this sentence:

The nine year old boy used his rope to tie up the white boxer he found in the park.

As you can see, that sentence definitely has more information and is more complicated than the beginning sentence. I thinks it is a pretty good sentence for an 8 year old. It's not the way I would write out that information; I'd write a whole paragraph detailing the setting and other details but they only wanted a sentence at this point. Paragraphs come later.

Now I have found a flaw in the book. In exercise 1, the student was instructed to write a two-word sentence and then to add just one word to it, making a three word sentence. Then the student was to add one more word to make a four word sentence. Then again and again. The problem we ran into was that her starting sentence could not be added to just one word at a time and still make sense. I ended up changing the directions to have her add one piece of information (like she was required to do in exercise 2) rather than just one word. That worked out fine. However, the goal was for the student to make a more complicated sentence while following directions exactly. Those two goals could not be completed simultaneously with her chosen starting sentence.

So what is my initial impression? I think this curriculum is going to improve my daughter's writing. However, I think she's going to need to me sit by her side and help her out until she is used to following the book's directions and has a little more experience. Older children with more writing experience will probably do fine with the self-directed nature of the assignments unless there are more like exercise 1. I also think that exercise 1 needs to be rewritten and will be writing the publishers shortly.

Learning WrapUps

Math. You either hate it or you love it. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is one subject that you must learn (the basics at least) just to get by in life. Fortunately, we can make the process of learning math more interesting by using manipulatives. I have used tons of manipulatives in my attempts to get my math-hating daughter to at least tolerate math. Most have failed. One has succeeded.

Learning WrapUps are a cool way to help kids learn their basic math facts. Learning WrapUps are key-shaped manipulatives that you use to match up a value on the left with the answer on the right. I'll use addition for an example. The addition set comes with 10 keys held together with a rivet. In the middle of each key is a + sign and the number you will be adding (ie. +1, +2, +3...). On the left of each key are the numbers 1-12 written out of order down the length of the key. On the right side of each key are the answers again written out of order. The goal is to wrap a connected string around from the left side over to the correct answer on the right side, around the back to the second number on the left, then to the correct answer, around the back to the third number on the left and so on. There is an animated clip showing this on their website if you are having trouble visualizing this. When you've done all the problems on the key, you hook the string at the bottom of the key and turn it over. There are lines on the back...if your string lines match the lines on the back of the key, you got all the answers correct. It's an easy, self-correcting way to practice your math facts.

The basic math set comes in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. They also come in other subjects like pre-algebra, states and capitals, vocabulary, spanish, and science. We bought the basic math facts set that comes with a rap CD that raps/chants you through each key giving you enough time to follow along.



Here is our set. You can see two of the sets have one key completed and ready to have the answers checked. The CD are shown in the photo too.

Here is a photo of my daughter working with the division set. She's not quite ready for this set but likes doing the 1s and 2s. As you can see that aren't too big which makes them very portable.

I'd like to tell you that my kids think these are as neat as I do but they don't. My son thinks they are pretty cool and will work with them without being told. He's my math loving child. My daughter doesn't like them but then again she doesn't like anything that has to do with math. However, she will tolerate them which is a huge step up to getting her to practice/learn her basic math facts with other methods.

I think they are great for several reasons:

• There's no paper waste.
• They are portable.
• They are easy to use.
• They teach the facts out of order so they are learned better.
• They don't make my daughter cry.
• They are durable.
• They come with ideas of how to make them into a game (races).
• You can use them for several children over many years.

Did I mention that they are portable? I'm going to keep ours in the car so the kids can use car time to practice or take them into the doctor's office to work on while we wait.

And, you should know that I'm not getting paid in any way for this post. My goal of this website it to share about our homeschooling, including things that we like and things we don't like. This just happens to be one that I like.

Oh, and they also sell another cool thing called a Learning Palette that I haven't tried yet but can't wait to get for my youngest as soon as he's old enough for it. I'll be using them for preschool skills but they go up to 5th grade, I think.