Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A Journey Through Learning: Inventors (Homeschool Review Crew)

We've used a lot of lapbooks in our homeschool, from a wide variety of sources.  However, one company I always come back to is A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks.  Their directions for use and assembly are clear, the designs are simple for less-steady hands to cut out (or for Mom to cut out in bulk), and they leave lots of space for filling in what kiddo has learned.  Ever a history buff, Jude was excited to work on AJTL's The Greatest Inventors Lapbook with Study Guide.


I love how simple it is to get started with this lapbook.  We've done some lapbooks where just getting started took an entire afternoon!  One we did required six colors, four weights of paper, printing on two sides...what a chore! All I needed to do was shove plain cheapie copy paper in the printer, hit "print," and we were ready to go in about six minutes.  Sweet!

Despite having made several lapbooks, I always have to stop and re-figure how to put them together.  It's not difficult...but I guess my brain is too full of other useless information to retain it.  Every lapbook comes with printed instructions and photos.  YAY!!  I appreciate the step-by-step directions because often I don't really "get" written directions.  I can't always "see" things in my mind,  so I appreciate when directions don't assume you know to line things in the center.  However, AJTL has gone even further....they've produced a how-to video!  On behalf of all the over-filled brain Mamas, thank you!




Once you have your folders created, the lapbook packet includes a "where to put things" diagram.  They don't always go "top left to bottom right" -- it depends on the shape of the activity. Having this to refer to always helps in our house.  I have a bunch of rule-followers, and if the directions say "put it <here>," then there it must go!


However, if you don't want to create a file-folder lapbook, you don't have to! While it does make sense that you could just glue the projects to cardstock and store in a binder, sometimes when you get so focused on "It's a lapbook!" you lose sight of any adaptability.  (I can't be the only person who gets stuck on an idea and needs the obvious pointed out to me, right?) This option works well if your kiddo really wants to DIY the layout. You can just add an extra page if you need more space, rather than trying to jigsaw-puzzle into a finite space.  Since this leads to less stress for Jude, we opted for this method.


AJTL lapbooks are meant to be started at the beginning and worked to the end. There's no skipping around, no hunting for pages.  The start-up instructions are at the front of the packet, and then the directions you need as you go are in where you need them.  Once you start, the only "backtracking" you ever need to do is looking to see where your current project goes -- but you can avoid that by just bringing the page forward with every completed project and leaving it on top of the next one.

The Greatest Inventors is probably one of the most versatile lapbooks I have ever seen.  It's intended for students in grades 2 through 8, and my experience with the wide-age-ranging curriculum is that when it tries to be for all ages, it's really for none.  This lapbook is the rare gem that actually delivers across the entire elementary spectrum.

First, it is a combination lapbook and study guide, so it's entirely self-contained, if you choose for it to be.  Start with the first pages, "What is an Invention?" and keep on going.  You could do one inventor a day, and complete the activities in about a month.  The information in the study guide gives a glimpse into the life of the inventor, providing a highlight of their "claims to fame." There's  wide variety of people studied, from the original Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci to the 20th Century hero Jonas Salk.  It creates an excellent self-contained history/science study for students at the early end of the age range.


However, it's almost effortless to turn this into the spine of a semester (or longer) program for older students.  Jude and I have been working on this, adding in books and YouTube videos to delve deeper into the background of many of these inventors.  The Magic Tree House and Who Was (Is)? series are some of his favorites, and they make a great add-on for kids in the mid-elementary range.  We worked on the lapbook part for a particular inventor, and then switched to books and videos for the rest of a week's time, to create a larger study-within-a-study.


I actually think this could even extend beyond 8th grade into high school with adding age-appropriate biographies.  Some of our favorite books that I'd recommend to expand the program are The Bishop's Boys (Tom Crouch) and/or The Wright Brothers (David McCullough) for the Wright Brothers, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson: Man on a Mountain (Natalie S. Bober) for our Founding Fathers that were also renowned inventors.  While the almost twenty inventors in the program do not create an exhaustive list, there is still enough variety of era and contribution to create a great semester-long program that explores some of the world's greatest inventors.

On the one hand, the list doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason.  It's not grouped by type of invention, nor by the epoch each man lived in.  At first, it seemed to be, with a fair number of inventors overlapping in time, but then Leonardo DaVinci is tossed in the middle.


However, this seeming lack of cohesiveness actually can be an advantage! It's simple to rearrange the order of study if you wish to, making it a project you can do not just as an independent assignment but as an addition to any other history curriculum.  As he read the list, Jude realized that his hero Ben Franklin was at the beginning, but then wanted to jump over to a name he recognized -- Guglielmo Marconi.

We recently visited Cape Cod National Seashore and learned about this Nobel-Prize winning inventor who erected towers on the Massachusetts coastline. Strike while the iron is hot, right? Jude was excited to recount about how work here and in England allowed the first trans-Atlantic wireless telegram.  (He even remembered a little bit of the transmission between President Roosevelt and King Edward!) It was easy for us to skip over to Marconi because each subject was contained within his pages.

Once again, A Journey Through Learning has reminded us why it is one of our favorite homeschool resources.  The variety of programs, both stand-alone and supplemental to other curricula (i.e., Apologia, Classical Conversations, etc.) makes this a company I'm happy to use and recommend!

The Crew has been working on many lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning. Click the banner below to read their reviews.



Lapbooks for Classical Conversations, Apologia, Inventors & 20th Century {A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks Reviews}


Want to keep up with all of our adventures?
Subscribe below to get Adventures with Jude delivered to your inbox.

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner


©2012- 2017 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Friday, August 25, 2017

Happy 101st birthday NPS

The National Parks are celebrating their 101st birthday, inviting people to share their memories of the parks in Haiku form. We decided to add to the story: 



Exploring the parks
Junior Rangers discover
Our nation's history.  


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Veritas Press: Phonics Museum (Homeschool Review Crew)


We discovered Veritas Press several years ago, and love their self-paced history and Bible courses. I've heard about their Phonics Museum course when the little boys were learning to read but hadn't really explored it because there is so much other stuff out there.  I'm always looking for ways to reinforce educational ideas through app-based programs, so I was excited when we had the opportunity to test-out their new, virtual version of it, the Phonics Museum App.  I downloaded it from iTunes onto my phone, and we set off on our adventure with William, Percival, and Miss Biddle.

William is a child whose parents are "forcing" him to spend a day at an art museum.  He is pretty sure there is nothing in the building that will interest him, and it's going to be a wasted day.  Percival,  a suit of medieval armor come to life, engages with him and shows him lots of great things he can learn about art.  We meet his friend, Miss Biddle, a little further into the program.  She's quirky museum curator who becomes our teacher.  Together they lead William through the museum as he learns to read and write through the museum's collection.


If you're a family who has used Veritas Press' self-paced programs, this premise might sound familiar.  It echoes the presentation by a teacher, learner, and animated sidekick.  (Miss Biddle toggles between live person and animated character, depending on the activity.)  Each lesson is ten to fifteen vignettes that encompass one day's lesson.   Finally, although it's not called a "memory song" here, there is an interactive "learn your phonics sounds set to music" song that repeats with each day's lesson. (Memory songs work...I can still sing the Old Testament Bible song from Jude's lessons two years ago!)

Phonics Museum is suggested for students as young as three (up to age seven), which makes it a great option for little brothers and sisters who want to do "schoolwork" like the big sibs but aren't really ready for a formal "sit down and do" program. It can be used as "learn through play" reinforcement for a student using a traditional pen-and-paper phonics/writing program, but it's one I would generally only use with the youngest of students or ones who really weren't grasping the fundamentals and needed a wholly different approach.  It starts with the absolute basics, with "choosing a hand to write with" and other prewriting skills.  I can see these activities making the program seem "too babyish"  for kids who already have a grasp of basics.




That said, I think it might be ok for ESL learners because it is so basic. The short lessons wouldn't feel overwhelming, and many ESL students don't know the "Latin" alphabet so it would give them experience in working with a new shape.  (I recently tried to learn Greek, and an app to work on tracing letters would have been really helpful!)  Instead of clip art graphics, art used for demonstration the program ranges from Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi to Warhol, giving it a "not preschoolers only" feel.




 Even though he wasn't sure of the name of the painting (Jude named it from another children's show they watch that highlights art and music), Damien recognized Van Gogh's Starry Night lurking in the background.


Specific and well-known works of art are on display and highlighted.  For example, a and apple are depicted by Cezanne's Four Apples, while an archetypal Degas ballerina illustrates d and dancer.





As an app, the program works beautifully.  It's pretty seamless, with little lag between activities - necessary when you're dealing with short attention spans. The curriculum teaches the student to form letters via tracing on the screen. While the tracking is very smooth, it does require the user to keep a steady hand and follow the lines being traced.  This on-screen drawing allows a student who may not yet have the fine motor skills for pencil-and-paper writing to still succeed and learn to read and form letters.


 I liked that each scene/activity starts with the user tapping on it, rather than automatically segueing.  An entire lesson takes about fifteen minutes, but if your child has a shorter attention span, you can do two or three activities and take a break.  You can also go back and re-do activities, either in the lesson or in a special game zone.

It's also very intuitive.  There are minimal directions in the beginning: tap the elevator to go to a museum floor,  tap the number to go to the floor you'd like, tap left or right to go in that direction. When you "exit" the elevator, there is a sign that shows you what letters are on that level. You may need to tap different numbers if you don't recall what  "floor" something is on (they're not in ABC order, but rather grouped by usability/frequency/difficulty of writing), but you don't have to slog through screen after screen to work on writing a specific letter.  It's also difficult to get "lost" -- prior lessons are framed with one color, the current lesson with another, and future lessons are locked off until you're ready for them.


The one major shortcoming I think this program may have is purchaser perception.  When I first explored the program on iTunes' App Store, I saw it was a free download, but requires an in-app purchase to fully use.  This didn't really bother me, as it's a pretty standard business model for lots of apps.  However, pricing is $9.99/mo (billed to your iTunes account) for up to three children, with a "pre-pay for a year" option of $99. I remember thinking "WHOA!  That's a lot of money for an app!"

Now that I've had a chance to use it, I realize it's not your generic "something productive to play with on Mom's phone." It's really just an app-based presentation of a full curriculum, with pricing on par with their other self-paced programs. If you're approaching this app as a curriculum choice from Veritas Press' catalog pages, you'll easily see the value.  If you're coming from the iTunes App Store, this isn't clear and any mention of it being based on the traditional curriculum is buried at the bottom of the description after a lot of scrolling and after the sticker shock. I would encourage Veritas Press to try to revise the information in the "details" section of the App store page to highlight this is an e-version of a tried-and-true curriculum.

Overall, this app is a quality program, and exactly what I'd expect from Veritas Press.  It's  developmentally appropriate for a young child, without becoming insipid. While its focus is on learning phonics and writing, the exposure to so many artists and their works helps broaden a child's perspective on what art can be.  I'd definitely recommend this to mom and dads of young children who want something that will entertain their child yet still provide a good educational foundation.


Phonics Museum App {Veritas Press Reviews}

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Pop Final!


For the last few weeks, Celia has come out of the karate dojo saying, "I'm almost ready for my belt test. We're just waiting on (one of the other orange belt kids) to be ready so we will do it together." This week, Celia was the only orange belt in class, and there were only five other kids present; everyone else was on vacation. The Shihan (master instructor) decided not to wait any longer.  Usually students have a week's notice to prepare for a belt test, but he asked her if she'd mind taking the test that evening.   Since she's been anxiously waiting to take the test, she agreed.  After class, I asked how she felt about the short notice - about two and a half minutes! She said at least she didn't have time to worry and be nervous.  When I said she looked pretty calm, her response was, "Yeah, but in my head I was freaking out!"

Shihan started calling out stances and katas, and Celia dove in. I was proud watching her slide into each one without stopping to think -- lots of practice gave her lots of muscle memory.  If she was nervous, it didn't show.  (I also think it's amazing she can follow respond automatically to commands given in Japanese, but when I say "Clean your room!" in her native English, I get a blank stare.) 


When she was done, she smiled, tossed me her orange belt, and went to stand at the edge of the floor to be re-belted.



At the end of class, she rejoined the line.  (If you recognize the back of another head, it's because Matthew is the third student to her right.  He's two levels ahead of Celia.)


Praise is not given lightly in their dojo.  Everything - good or bad - is earned, so for Shihan to compliment her performance as "outstanding," that's pretty awesome.  She now gets until the next class to "bask in the glory," as he says.  Students are expected to practice daily at home, so she has a week to enjoy the time off between passing the test and beginning work on the next level.


Way to go, kid! 

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Cape Cod Beach "Photo Shoot"

My in-laws have a vacation home at the beach, and like to put up pictures of the grandkids.  My mother-in-law has asked me if I'd give her more recent ones, and I always plan to take some but never quite get that far.  This year I realized that the most recent ones are from when Damien was not quite a year old...and he just turned seven.  I figured maybe I better actually get some pictures this summer.

Last week we went to Massachusetts for a few days to visit National Parks.  One of our destinations was Cape Cod National Seashore.   I brought the "good" camera to the beach with us, and we got some pretty good pictures.  I took a few action shots at Race Point Beach, but didn't get any good portraits -- it was just past noon and the sun was far too bright.  We headed back to the Visitor Center for a Ranger Talk, and then moved on to Herring Cove Beach.  Again the light wasn't ideal -- it was late afternoon but just that little bit too early, and most of the portrait-style pictures had squinting kids and harsh shadows.  Most of the "good" pictures were of the kids playing.




We were all amazed how different the sand was here.  It's very pebbly, compared to the soft and fine-grained sand we are used to here in New Jersey.  We did like that it brushes off much more easily!


I did get a couple of good "for-Mimie Pictures," mostly by chance. One is of Damien playing in the sand.


He though this was a great "Winter Summer" beach -- he could use the rocks to make a Sand Man, just like a snow man in winter.


The other was a random "aim and fire off the camera" shot at Luke that worked.


Holy cow, how did he get to look like a real grown up?

After climbing Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown, we headed down to Nauset Light Beach.  It was perfect timing -- in that "golden hour" around sunset.  I took about 300 photos (thank goodness for digital cameras!),  and actually had about 70 turn out well enough to consider editing in Lightroom.  Not too shabby.  We even managed a couple of crazy out-takes, including this one.


 I'll let the grandmothers pick their favorites, but these are some of mine.






Keep an eye out for some of the others...I'll be using them to update our "About Us" and Facebook pages!


Want to keep up with all of our adventures?
Subscribe below to get Adventures with Jude delivered to your inbox.

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner


©2012- 2017 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Math Essentials: No-Nonsense Algebra (Homeschool Review Crew)

Last winter, Celia found herself struggling in math, and was moved from the advanced placement Algebra I class to the "regular track" Pre-algebra program at her school.  At the time, there was a concern that she didn't have a good grasp of fundamentals, which would have been a definite problem going forward because so much builds upon these. While going from grades in the 60s and 70s to high 90s was great for her self-esteem, I was concerned that now she wasn't being challenged enough.  In going over her work, I began to think that it wasn't her aptitude but rather her processing speed that was holding her back -- the AP class was moving very quickly, and I think she was just always a step or two behind.  She had a school assigned math review packet to work on for the summer, but even only working an hour or two a day, she had it completed in about a week.  When we had the opportunity to review No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials, the timing was perfect - now she had more math to both keep her skills sharp and to challenge them.


No-Nonsense Algebra is a complete algebra course that is just that -- no fluff, no filler.  It's straight up lesson and practice. As Celia flipped through the book, she realized that she already knew much of the beginning.  We decided that if she knew how to do the problems, she would do either odds or evens (her choice) and move on; if she didn't know how to do things right away, we'd slow down, using the included access to the video tutorials presented by author Richard W. Fisher.

While this program is part of the Math Essentials series, it is easy to pick up with Algebra despite never having used the program before.  Celia has decided she prefers the learning style of short lessons and then practice, where concepts are broken down into single-idea sections, rather than teaching and practicing them as a group. For example, rather than being "Arithmetic and Integers" all at once, there is a page for addition, multiplication, and division, so that she can make sure she understands each concept.  She recalls her school program lumping some ideas together in one lesson. (I wonder if this was part of her inability to grasp things quickly -- she was trying to master too many ideas simultaneously.)  Celia liked the way this program presented lessons because she knew that she was practicing one "new" operation until she had a solid grasp of a concept, while the daily reviews allowed her to practice what she had learned before.


The videos are no-frills as well.  There is a voice over in tandem with writing on the screen as problems are shown and solved step-by-step.


Celia has been working on this program three days a week for just about five weeks, and has completed all of the first unit and is partway into the second chapter.  I'm not surprised that she's finished close to thirty lessons in this time because much of Unit 1 is a review of Pre-Algebra concepts.  Only once did she have to stop and watch the video, and once she did, she had an "Oh, duh, I knew that!" moment.


However, I'm glad we didn't just say "You've done pre-algebra basically twice now, so we'll just skip the beginning and jump into new stuff," because of the areas she found she did need a refresher.  (Much to her chagrin, she had assistance from fifth-grader Jude on a basic fraction problem.)  Regardless of what elementary math program your child is coming from, I would highly recommend starting at the beginning.  Given that almost all higher maths and math-based sciences use Algebra as their foundation, it's much better to spend a few weeks reviewing than several years with frustration and backtracking.  Since it's summer break for her, she hasn't had a full course load, making doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon not that onerous.

While a softcover book, No-Nonsense Algebra is a textbook, not a work book.  You'll want a notebook or looseleaf and a binder to go along with it. (I expect we'll also want some graph paper when we get into graphing chapters.) One of the things the book wants you to do is copy the example problems - don't just read through them, but copy and do them so you can get a feel for what you need to do.  Again, we skipped that part for Unit 1, because it was review for Celia, but expect her to copy at least one sample problem as she gets into new things.  (You also can copy from the videos, to work along with them.) When you first open the book, it seems like you can just work right in the book, because you're only adding and subtracting integers. However, as you go farther into the program, problems will become multiple steps, and you just won't have the room.  Go right to the notebook!


After the Unit 1 basics, the program then moves into meatier algebraic concepts: equations, graphing, and polynomials.  In comparing this to two other programs (one that is the Algebra level of the math curriculum that the younger boys use, and the program that Luke and Matthew used for Algebra), I'm confident that it covers a complete Algebra I curriculum.   In fact, Celia and I have made a deal.  She's entering 8th grade and considering homeschooling for high school,  I told her that if she worked through the book and carried an 85+ average, I'd start her right into Geometry next summer.  She's definitely interested in this route because it would put her back on the same timetable she had been with the Advanced Math program. While it would be extra evening work for her, the time involved (about 20-30 minutes per lesson, perhaps), I think is not so overwhelming that she couldn't work on it "part-time, evenings and weekends."

I'm the first one to tell anyone that I'm not a math person.  I passed high school Algebra thanks in substantial part to a dear friend who patiently re-explained things to me until I finally got it (why he holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and is a successful college math professor and department chair and I was an arts major).  While Celia and the boys are much stronger mathematicians than I am (they totally inherited that from their daddy!), if I go slowly, even I can understand the concepts shown.  This is isn't a program that is only for advanced students. With the single-concept lessons and videos to explain things carefully, this program makes Algebra accessible to all students.

This mama is pleased that the answer key is included, for both exercises and the review. Even clear graphs for graph-related units are included. This makes it very easy for me to check that she understands what she's doing.


The key doesn't explain how to get to the answer, but I'm not so worried about that.  I'm hopeful that by my fourth time through Algebra I have enough of an understanding to be able to help her figure out where she may have gone wrong, but if not...that's when we either refer back to the book and videos.  I have really come to appreciate video-based learning because you can rewind the video and try over and over without feeling stupid or as if you're imposing on a teacher.  If worse comes to worse and we just need a new way of looking at things, we can always call in the big gun reinforcements named Luke and Matthew!

In the book are also a few pages of encouragement, like this one.


First, I like that it gives a listing of frequent error sources. If I had a nickel for every time I said, "You didn't reduce the fraction!" or even "Did you read the directions?" when checking math answers over the last 14 years, I could probably be wealthier than Bill Gates! I've noticed that often Celia's mistakes are made because she's rushing and either skipped a step or subtracted instead of adding, etc. but of course, if Mom suggests slowing down and paying attention, well...what could she possibly know? This is a page that I think we are going to book mark with a sticky note to refer back to for when things just aren't working.

I like this program.  I believe that it's suitable for the advanced student who wants to work faster - short lessons means two or three at a time don't take up an entire day.  It's also appropriate for the average, who needs to go at a more moderate, or even the slow-but-steady Team Turtle mathematicians who need to rewatch the lesson videos and retry problems to really grasp things.  No-Nonsense Algebra is a book that I definitely see becoming well-used in our home.

For other reviews of No-Nonsense Algebra, click the banner below!

No-Nonsense Algebra {Math Essentials Reviews}




©2012- 2017 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Teach Me Greek (Homeschool Review Crew)

"Learning a language that doesn't use the Latin alphabet" has been on my bucket list for years.  When I was in college, I had a friend who spoke fluent Ukranian, and she taught me how to transliterate my name using the Cyrillic alphabet.  However, that's all I ever was able to learn, so "learn a non-Latin language" remained on the list.  Recently, members of the Crew were given the opportunity to try out programs from Greek 'n' Stuff, including a program that taught elementary Greek.  Since my working knowledge of the Greek alphabet comes from letters I've seen in math or science, I requested the Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! - Level 2 set, which included a Worktext, a corresponding Answer Key, and a pronunciation CD.  Forget the kids -- this one was for me!


While this is listed as a "Level 2" set, don't be fooled. The company produces a Level 1 set, but if you wanted to compare the progression to an elementary English learn-to-read program, the Level 1 is akin to a Pre-K/K level, where learning your letters is the goal.  Level 2 is closer to K/1/2 level, beginning with a review of the Greek letters (but still enough for me to learn the letters I didn't already know) and then starting to work on basic Greek words. The first seven lessons (36 pages) are dedicated to the Greek alphabet.  If you had a very young child that wanted to be "just like big brother," then I'd start with Level 1, but for the average new student, I think Level 2 is worth starting at.


I'm going to be honest -- this was hard! I think if I were a child, it probably wouldn't be nearly as difficult.  I think having seventeen billion other things in my head while I was trying to take the time to learn Greek didn't help. That's not to say it's impossible for a more...erm...mature student to learn Greek, just that it takes far more effort than I expected it would. I have a new appreciation for preschoolers learning to form their letters! I eventually decided to work in pencil in my workbook, because while some of the letters came very naturally, others didn't flow so smoothly (I'm looking at you, Gamma!).


Greek and Latin accounts for about 60% of the English language, so once I could sound out words, the program got a little easier for me.  I skimmed ahead in the hopes that something would be less "Greek to me."  Remembering what all the letters were and sounding out the word αδελφός was tough (transliterated: adelphos) but I knew the word meant "brother."  Ok, that one should have been easy...I grew up in Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love."  απόστολος wasn't too hard, either; it's easy to figure out apostolos means "apostle."  However, ανθρωπός sounds out as "anthropos," which doesn't look or sound like the word "man."  Score one for the grown-up -- I knew anthropology is the study of humans, so it made sense to me.  After tripping over my tongue and fingers for three weeks, I felt like I had the potential to actually do something besides haltingly recite the Greek alphabet!

Lesson 8 is where "learning words" begins.  This unit is about six pages long and focuses on the single word - its spelling, its meanings, being able to write it, and to pick it out of a list of words written in Greek.  Don't be tempted to rush through and do more than a few pages at one time - lessons are meant to be paced at approximately one per week.


After that first "word week," lessons begin to lengthen (Lesson 15 is ten pages long) because they include a constant review of previously taught words.  Trying to read in Greek was overwhelming for me at first, but the constant repetition helped me really cement what those words looked like.


By the end of this Level, I should be able to read about eleven words and make four sentences.  That doesn't sound like a lot for 30 lessons, but keeping in mind the general age that this program is geared to, I think it's not too shabby.  It's not a "cram for a vacation" program, but a progressive exposure to Greek for young students. That said, as an adult, I think if I could get the alphabet down fluently, I could probably be able to read enough Greek to navigate street signs and restaurant menus.  Yes, I'd have to consistently translate words back and forth in my head, and probably would get laughed at for speaking "academic ancient" Greek, but we wouldn't starve.

The Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! program teaches Koiné Greek, the dialect used in the Old Testament.  It has eight levels in all, and because it starts out with the absolute basics, I might consider it for a high school student. While this level was the absolute basics and a few words, Level 3 begins by adding simple grammar, and subsequent levels continue to add more advanced topics; by Level 8 the program has a student working on translations.


The student would need to work at an accelerated pace to cover the entire program in a shortened timeframe, but it's a program that I would consider for an academic-minded student that would benefit from learning a Classical language.

Greek 'n' Stuff has several curriculum offerings.  Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek is the "Greek" part of the company, but the "'n' Stuff" side has several programs.  Among them are their "I Can Study ... Alone" Bible studies.  Click the banner below to find out about all of the Greek 'n' Stuff programs the Crew has been working with.

Teach Me Some Greek {Greek 'n' Stuff Reviews}



©2012- 2017 Adventures with Jude. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://adventureswithjude.com
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Pin It button on image hover