The New Adventures of Violin Girl

Anybody else remember when we first chosen to work with MacPhail Center for Music six years ago?  I was amazed at the idea of being able to take music lessons remotely and be able to do it well.

Since then, she's continued to take lessons with her instructor, Jeremy.  With his help, Celia worked her way into the Rowan Youth Orchestras.  She spent two years as a violinist with the Youth String Orchestra, and last year worked her way up to playing in the full symphony Orchestra.

She also has worked through Level 6 of MacPhail's Crescendo Program.  Her repertoire piece for her last jury was Selections from The Boy Paganini, which then became her audition piece for this year's summer camp.

Celia has also taken piano lessons with MacPhail.  Heading into this fall, she wasn't sure she wanted to continue.  She didn't hate lessons and practicing, but her heart just wasn't in it.  While she was deciding what to do, she headed off to String Camp this past July. There she made a few new friends who played cello.  After they let her try their cellos, Celia made her decision. If she was going to play another instrument, she wanted to stick to strings. After a flurry of emails with Jeremy, she had decided she wanted to add viola to her repertoire.  It was still a smallish instrument (so easily portable), but most importantly, Jeremy also teaches and plays the viola, so she knew she'd like her teacher.  Violin Girl has a new alter ego: Viola Lass!

When she bought her viola, she also picked up secondhand copies of the Level 1 and 2 books that coordinated with what she and Jeremy had used for violin.  She figured that if she had guessed correctly, she had saved a few dollars.  If she was wrong, she had only spent a few bucks on books she could use for extra practice.  Likely because she already knew so much of the basics (bow hold, fingering, etc.), they zipped through to halfway through level 2.  After her second lesson, she came out of the study saying "Mom, can you order me..."

This is Bach's Musette for viola, after only two weeks of lessons.

She has played this piece before, back when she first was learning violin. However, it was not just practicing something old on a new instrument. Violin and viola are played with two different composition clefs; the violin is a treble clef instrument while the viola is an alto clef instrument.  This means learning a new note "language".  I think she's right to stick with strings - she definitely has talent there!  Her goal is to play viola with the RYSO next spring, but continue violin with the RYO. I think that's a definite possibility.

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- 2018 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

Zeezok Publishing ~ Music Appreciation: Book 2 for the Middle Grades (Homeschool Review Crew)

A few years ago, we had the opportunity to review the first installment of the Great Musicians Series from Zeezok Publishing. The newly released Music Appreciation: Book 2 for the Middle Grades program picks up where the first level series leaves off. The composers are included in this music curriculum are from the Romantic era: Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Stephen Foster, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr (Peter) Tchaikovsky, and Edward MacDowell. Units are divided by composer, with four or five weeks allotted to each; and each composer is a self-contained unit, so you can begin anywhere in the program, not just at the start. It makes the most sense, from a timeline perspective, to follow the sequence presented in the book. However, because they are self-contained, a family could study composers from a geographic/world history perspective. Chopin is from modern Poland, while Schumann, Wagner, and Brahms are German;  Foster and MacDowell are American composers. I think this flexibility is helpful as a homeschool parent.

Not pictured: Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet, provided via eBook 

The program set includes (and requires) the collection of nine biographies and a consumable student book. The student book may be purchased individually if you wish to use the program with multiple students. A lapbook program and coloring pages are also available. (We did not receive them for review, and I opted not to purchase them because our family does not really enjoy lapbooking.)

Most music appreciation courses focus on music styles, and students listening to pieces from to hear the differences between each era: Renaissance vs. Classical, Baroque vs. Modern.  I don't think this is a bad thing to learn, because each style is a reflection on its position in history. Last year, Matthew completed a (different) music history course that taught these nuances, and even just after eavesdropping, I can now easily tell the difference between epochs when I hear a "classical" composition.  However, I think what can happen then is pieces within a genre start to sound homogenous. Celia will play a violin piece, and I couldn't tell you the difference between Handel and Bach. I've learned to listen for what makes a piece inherently Baroque vs. from the Romantic era, not what makes each composer different. I also know little about what motivated each man. Zeezok provides music study from a different perspective.

These biographical studies focus not only on the composers and their music but also on their family lives and character.  For example, Schumann's courtship and marriage to Clara Wieck are discussed.  Wieck, a lauded pianist in her own right, was a fundamental inspiration to her husband, and, like her husband, a champion of other composers.

Often, it is the salacious or scandalous stories of composers that endures, so I appreciate the perpetuation of the good character traits. I also appreciate that the program does not shy away from them, either; while highlighting Tchaikovsky's closeness to family and generous nature, it does include a note about his troubled relationships with Désiree Artôit and Antonina Milyukova. However, it presents them in a concise, factual manner, with no little color commentary (and no discussion, outright or inferred, to modern biographists conclusions about Tchaikovsky's struggles with his sexuality).

The student book includes comprehension questions that correlate to the biographies, as well as information about other facets of the composers' lives and related music theory information.  Journaling opportunities (prompts are provided; students will need a journal notebook or could use a word processing program) are also liberally offered, allowing students to work on writing skills (short answer, self-reflection, creative writing, etc.). Each unit ends with an overview quiz.

For some families, grades are unimportant. However, since Celia requires a graded transcript to apply to college, I appreciate having the checkpoints and quizzes to help me generate grades for her.  They were short but well-detailed, and easy to adapt to requiring extra effort from a high school student.

A significant difference between Level 1 and Level 2 series is the use of QR Codes.  In the first series, we received a case with several CDs containing music selections. As the student reads each composer's biography, musical selections are woven in. This meant every time we reach a composition, we'd have to hunt down the CDs, find the player, etc. It also made it difficult to take with us if we were doing schoolwork at a doctor's office or the karate dojo.  Having QR codes that linked to an online (YouTube) music library was far more convenient; all kiddo needed was to borrow a phone or iPad with an internet connection.

Additional QR Codes are peppered throughout the book for if the student wishes to learn further about a person or topic. Additionally, related topics and (optional) suggested activities are included with each composer study. While each student requires his own consumable workbook, this makes the program suitable for multiple grade levels.  The publisher notes that while Book 1 is written for grades K-6 and Book 2 is for grades 5-8, they are easily adaptable across a range of educational abilities. A younger student could complete the program solely based on what is contained within the biographical texts and added information, with assistance as necessary, while an older student can work independently and has resources immediately at his fingertips for further research.

One of Celia's favorite "added information" bits was about the conductor.  She has played in a local youth orchestra for several years now and has become used to following a conductor.  Using context clues from the tenor of the music, she has learned what the conductor is trying to convey, but she had an "aha!" moment when she read about how conducting isn't just arm movement but body language as well. Now, the mantra, "Always look back to the conductor!" makes so much more sense; just watching his arms from the corner of her eye as she reads the music in front of her only gives a fraction of the information she needs.

Here, Celia is playing with her summer camp's String Orchestra (she is seated in First Chair, Violin). Dr. Erwin is leaning toward the violins, to pull vibrancy and strength from that instrument section.  Her movements are purposeful, not over articulated or dramatic "feeling the music." 

  Zeezok includes a planning outline for each composer, allotting four to five weeks for each unit as written.  I think it makes the program a more-than-adequate full-year program for an upper elementary or middle school student. However, with the addition of further research and/or a more accelerated pace, this program could be combined with Music Appreciation 1 to create a full high school credit.  Due to time constraints and for review purposes, Celia worked on the program as written, with little additional study. She completed two units in a little over six weeks.  However, she plans to go back to the beginning and spend another six or eight weeks exploring things in more detail and adding in writing assignments.  While we are using this program to round out an "independent study" program for a multiple-instrument musician, it is certainly adequate for even for a non-music student. Since the focus is more on the composers and less about being able to identify musical pieces, I think it also plays to the strengths of a student who is less musically inclined but has an interest in people or history. As we get close to history buff Jude's high school planning, it is a top contender for a music credit for him.  We are really excited to work with this new program from Zeezok. 

For more about our experience with Level 1 of this series, click here: 

For more information about the Music Appreciation: Book 2 for the Middle Grades program, click the banner below to read other Crew 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- 2018 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

Memoria Press Literature (A Homeschool Review Crew Review)

Memoria Press has become a go-to company for our family.  Several years ago, I found that our family did well with their classical education model, and we have consistently returned to Memoria Press' curricula, especially for literature. After trying several literature programs, I have determined that Memoria Press programs are the most consistent performers for us; returning to a Memoria Press study feels like a homecoming.  Our family had the opportunity to work with the Seventh Grade Literature Set.  While this is available as part of Memoria Press' seventh-grade program package, the guides are available as a set and rated for students in grades six through eight.  The collection includes student and teacher guides for

• Anne of Green Gables
• The Bronze Bow
• The Hobbit
• The Trojan War (also part of the Classical Studies Year 4 program)  

The 4-volume set we received contained a Student Guide and a Teacher Guide for each book. (While the literature books are available with the individual sets, the four-title set does not include the novels.) We used this program in a unique way, assigning two books to students now (rising 7th grader Jude and rising 10th grader Celia) and saving the other two for later.

The Trojan War

Allow me a moment for a bit of background information, please. As some readers may recall, when Jude worked on the Second Grade Memoria Press literature program, he really struggled. Although the program was marketed for second graders, his skills at the time were not quite on par with Memoria Press' expectations.  I have long felt that the program's expectations are higher than average. Combined with Jude's early struggles with reading, I have intentionally used levels that are below his chronological grade level. In fact, for his sixth-grade year, we began with literature guide for A Cricket in Times Square, part of Memoria Press' fourth-grade program. To my surprise, he easily completed this study, as well as the one for Homer Price, so we skipped ahead to fifth grade's The Chronicles of Narnia. I felt that if he could manage this book, we'd move on to sixth grade; if not, we'd complete the rest of the "fifth-grade" literature. Jude proved to me that he really was beginning to mature in his thinking process, so this summer, we moved up to sixth-grade literature. There was an added benefit: while these books were still a year behind Jude's chronological grade level, they were high-interest for him. I felt this interest would be the ridge between "want to read" and "hard to read."

When offered the opportunity to try the 7th-grade package, I was a little hesitant to try anything intended for an even higher level student. However, hope springs eternal and I figured maybe the challenge would be good for him.  If worse came to worst, we could set it aside after the review period and try again later.  When the books arrived, I gave him the choice of reading any of the three options besides Anne... because I knew that set was going to Celia. As he is an avid reader of all things Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, I was not surprised when he opted for The Trojan War. 

I think this was a wise decision. Jude usually does better with literature studies when the story is familiar to him. If he already has a grasp of the plotline, he can follow details better, because he's not trying to figure out too many things simultaneously.  And again, high interest became the bridge between desire and ability. While each chapter follows the elementary school-level framework that his previous literature studies have been patterned in, The Trojan War has a lot of information to absorb.  Jude is simultaneously reading Adam of the Road and completing the 6th-grade workbook, and generally manages a chapter every other day. However, we are finding it is taking us a full week to do each chapter for The Trojan War.

However, I don't think the reason is the material is too hard. I think most of it is a battle of wills. In the past, I've never fussed if Jude's answers weren't precise when compared to the Teacher's guides. As long as I could tell that he had the main idea, I let half-sentences slide. I think part of what is slowing us down is, since he's now officially in "middle school," I am no longer letting three-word ideas pass for answers. Much to his chagrin, I'm marking his book where he only has half-answers, or poorly written thoughts, and making him go back and rework them. This then adds another day to the lesson.  He also wasn't particularly happy when I told him I expected (gasp!) actual paragraphs for answers to the Enrichment questions instead of a few sentence fragments. 

Clearly, his brain is capable, even if his willpower isn't quite as strong.

 If you are familiar with the Memoria Press Classical Studies program, then you know that students begin by studying Greek Myths in the first year of the program, and then continue on to learn about Ancient Rome and Greece. While The Trojan War is included in the literature program, it is also part of the Classics Year 4 Program.  While you might be tempted to skip it, especially if you intend to continue through and have your child study The Iliad and The Odyssey in Year 5, this retelling by Olivia Coolidge is an excellent introduction to the epic.  It provides enough details to draw the reader in, but not so much that he gets lost in the minutiae of them. I think Jude will be well prepared for studying these two epics in depth next year.

At our current rate of a chapter a week, it will take Jude a full semester to complete this guide. I'm comfortable with this pace for two reasons. First, this work sets the foundation for something he will study again, so I'd rather him understand what is going on well so that when he studies The Iliad, he will again be "adding on" rather than "starting new." Secondly, I want him to begin to have better study habits. Jude only likes change when it is his idea, so I have a feeling it is going to take some time before he realizes that he wants to make the changes.

My only complaint about the set is that the tests and quizzes are only in the Teacher's Guide. I know that some parents do not administer tests, but I find them helpful to assess what Jude is retaining as he transitions to working independently. However, doing so is not a smoothly integrated process. First, the parent/teacher needs to plan out where the tests need to be taken; it's easy for a student to "forget" that there is one coming at the end of each part of the book.  (We found writing reminders at the bottom of the last page before a test to be helpful.  Not only did it remind Jude to ask for the test, but it also helped me factor in study/review days when writing his daily assignment sheets.)  Secondly, the copyright notes in the guide state that no part may be reproduced.  This means that I either break the rules (and with a very literal rule follower child, that's not a good plan!) so he has his own copy, or Jude is writing in a book that I would otherwise have no need to replace (plus, he has temptation in the form of the Answer Key at his fingertips!). We've compromised by him answering the questions in his literature notebook, with the Answer Key paperclipped closed.

I wish the Student Guide had the Student's tests, either interspersed or in an Appendix at the back of the workbook, or that there was a separate (reproducible or consumable) Test Booklet, and that there was a reminder/test placeholder for to help the newly independent student not to race ahead.

Anne of Green Gables

Ah, Anne-with-an-E...I think Miss Shirley is one of my favorite literary ladies. I was probably in middle school when I found my first kindred spirit (Anne), my first Book Hero (Matthew Cuthbert), and my first Book Boyfriend (Gilbert Blythe).  Anne has been on Celia's reading list for quite some time, so this was a perfect opportunity for her.  While Celia was finishing 9th grade during the review, so technically "older" than the program's intended age, she has had a literature-heavy year. I decided to substitute Anne for Henry V for the last of her 9th-grade reading.  Do I think this made it too "easy" for her? Not at all.

L. M. Montgomery may have only written books on paper, but her character's words bring them to life. I think anyone who has read any of the Anne books knows Anne's grandiose imagination supports her flair for the dramatic while providing a foil for the prosaic Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert.  In addition to Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Enrichment exercises,  each chapter explores Expressions for Discussion. These could easily be done as an oral discussion, but I asked Celia to write her interpretations of what the expressions meant.  

While some might think that the answers are obvious, making it "too easy" for a high schooler, I think L.M. Montgomery was brilliant. How many times has a parent/teacher tried to help their student learn to write "less bland, more exciting" essays? Writing exercises always talk about using more specific words, more detailed words, more descriptive words...in other words, stop saying "very"! Perhaps Anne has a tendency to be a bit over-the-top, but she's a shining example of careful word choices. Which pulls your heartstrings more, "I'm used to being disappointed," or "My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes"?  I think Anne of Green Gables is a book that all students should read so that they can become better writers!  I love how Memoria Press chooses to really dig into the expressions in the book - rather than selecting a quote or two, there are as many as seven or eight to explore. The program does full justice to the book by really allowing Anne (and the Avonlea residents) to have their say.

Classics become classics because they are enduring, but it would be easy for a book published in 1908 and set in the late 1800s, to contain archaic vocabulary.  I can remember doing vocabulary studies myself and wondering, "When am I ever going to use these words?" However, Memoria Press has focused on words that remain pertinent today. 

Comprehension questions include both literal "what happened here" and critical("What did Anne mean...") queries.  In addition to studying the book itself, the program provides writing opportunities for literary interpretation, opinion/persuasive writing, and exploring Anne's interests (Shakespeare) and tribulations (geometry as compared to Waterloo).  

While Memoria Press offers the literature books for sale, the literature sets do not include them. While some of their studies do require specific editions of books, we found this was not the case with this program.  Last Christmas, Celia received a box set of the Anne series and used the edition that was included.  In this case, page numbers did not need to match, as the program is sectioned by book chapter.

Celia has been working at a rate of a chapter every other day.  On Day 1, she does vocabulary, reading, and the expressions for discussion; on Day 2, she finishes the comprehension questions and completes the enrichment. It could easily be done at a slower pace (one workbook section a day over the course of a week), but I'm hesitant to recommend doing a full chapter a day.  It is possible if your child is a fast reader, but it would take close to 90 minutes a day just for literature.  I have done this with Memoria Press literature when we are in a time crunch (trying to get to a logical stopping point before an extended vacation, or when Luke or Matthew was trying to finish a study guide in the countdown to graduation), but it's not necessarily sustainable long term.  At a rate of 5 chapters per week plus review sections and two exams (also only available in the Teacher's Guide), it will take about 8 weeks, or one academic quarter, to finish the book.  I think that's reasonable for a high school student. 

The Hobbit and The Bronze Bow

When my students were younger, I was more focused on the "grade level" of the program.  Now that we have entered into the middle and high school years, I've learned to focus less on the grade a program is assigned to and more on its content, because middle school books begin to be less about a numbered grade level and more about the individual's literacy level and abilities. Knowing that Jude likes to binge on book series, I will likely keep The Hobbit set aside for another year or two until he is ready for the entire The Lord of the Rings series. Like Anne, I think this is a book that transcends grade level.   I think 7th grade is about the youngest age that a student can truly wring all the finer points out of it, but there is no point where a student "ages out" for exploring the book.  The Bronze Bow is set in 1st Century Israel, so it could be studied as part of the "pre-set" 7th-grade program, or it could be moved to 9th grade and part of an Ancient/World History program. While the lower grade programs involve exposure to literary concepts, the study guides at this level of the program use that familiar framework to explore and apply those ideas to the corresponding novels. I think the studies at the middle school level have the flexibility to help prepare a middle schooler for high school expectations as well as provide a relaxed but not too simple study for secondary level students. Once again, Memoria Press has proven why it has become my favorite literature program.

Crew families with students from first through tenth grades have been reading with Memoria Press. Click the banner below to read their reviews of the books they've been studying!   You can also learn about other Memoria Press programs we have worked with by clicking the links to those reviews.

Memoria Press:

• Second Grade Literature
• The Iliad and The Odyssey
• First Start Reading
• Traditional Logic
• Prima Latina

 

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- 2018 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

Guitar 360 Method (Homeschool Review Crew)

Most of my readers know that Celia is my instrument player. She has seven years' worth of violin lessons and three years of piano, plus she sang in her grade school choir, but I should consider changing her name to Ariel...as in she can play on her violin "But who cares? No big deal! I want MOOOOORE!!" Several years ago, Matthew took guitar lessons but discovered he is not an instrumentalist, so his guitar has sat in the closet, practically mocking Celia. She's tried a few YouTube lessons but really hadn't gotten very far.  The Crew offered us the opportunity to try more formal, cohesive lessons from Guitar 360 Method...folks, I apologize for the fangirl screaming.

Guitar 360 Method is a new guitar learning program from Krisz Simonfalvi. Mr. Simonfalvi is a musician and teacher who had a circuitous path to his career; he began to play guitar, gave it up because it just did not resonate with him, and then circled back as an adult. He notes that there are two ways to learn to play: one is just by picking at the guitar and learning the technical aspects, and the other is through a theory-based trajectory. The problem is that most theory is based on the piano -- which, while a strong music foundation, doesn't necessarily apply practically to other instruments.  Celia will completely agree with this -- while she can play both violin and piano, it's not like you can interchange music. As she says, "I can play piano music on my violin if I play just the treble clef line, but it may not sound the same or as good as on a piano because I can't play bass clef and treble at the same time on the violin. The melody might sound the same going from violin to piano because you can play just the treble clef." While Guitar 360 Method is actually teaching her a third style of instrument-specific theory, but one that has a practical application to playing guitar.

Have you ever listened to a Billy Joel song? An incredibly strong understanding of how music works is how he could turn what is basically scales into a hit song ("The Longest Time") and morph Mozart's "Pathétique Sonata" into "This Night." Why is theory-based instruction important to me, as a parent? Because theory is what really allows a student to understand what she is doing, why she is doing it, and how to properly play with music. An understanding of theory is critical even just to transpose piano to violin or guitar; without it, you cannot manipulate the music and have it sound right.

Practically speaking, I don't expect her to rise to Mr. Joel's level of renown (if she did, that would be fantastic, but let's face it -- there can only be one Billy Joel), but it's clear to me that the foundation of any musical success is a proper understanding of theory.  Here,  Mr. Simonfalvi shines, because his course is geared toward both the casual student who just wants to learn to play the music in front of him or the student who intends to learn to re-arrange or compose their own music.  He says:

I've taught this content from age 9 and up, however, it is designed for students who want to be creative on the guitar - understanding how music works, rather than JUST learning songs.

This makes it perfect for Celia, because it will teach her both the basics of "how to play" - how to hold the guitar, how to strum, where to put her fingers on the guitar's neck - but also WHY she's holding it where she is and when to use a pick vs. her fingers.  She had an "AHA!" moment right at the start.  Mr. Simonfalvi explains why you press the strings near the frets (better control of the strings and clarity of sound and she looked at me with a dropped jaw. THAT was something she never learned from playing around with other videos; she just thought you stuck your fingers on the strings.  Obviously, in six weeks she's learned more than just where to hold the guitar, but, to me, it's the little things like that - that you don't really know unless you're told - that help make this course worth the tuition.

Guitar 360 Method currently offers two courses. The first is a free introductory level course that will take you from "how to hold a guitar properly" to "I can actually play something, and it sounds like a song" in about three weeks. Obviously, there needs to be a consistent effort on the student's part, but after trying that part out, I can say, "Yes, you will."  While Celia has played around the guitar before, she really was trying to apply what she knew from playing pizzicato on the violin to picking at a guitar. You really don't have the same technique - pizzicato uses a plucking motion, and, of course, there are no frets on a violin neck. Starting at the very beginning helped her realize that playing guitar strings isn't the same at all.

The second, tuition-based course is a 13-week "Semester One." It contains the three-week basics course and then expands beyond "My First Chord" into the major, minor, and pentatonic scales, and then into playing Chords in multiple Keys.  Each week has a clearly defined focus, so the student understands what the goal of the lesson is.

The videos for the lessons total about half an hour, so definitely a reasonable length lesson for beginners - long enough to be worth making an appointment with yourself, but short enough to not be a barrage of information. Celia particularly liked that it's not one long half-hour video, but rather each topic is presented in an individual section.

This meant she could quickly go back over a topic without having to fuss with finding the correct minute mark, or she could break it down into smaller ten or fifteen-minute chunks so that she could learn a concept, ruminate on it a bit, play with it, and then add on the next idea.  Mom liked that there are defined practice exercises assigned for each week. This meant she could go back to the prior week's to work on solidifying those concepts but also had specific activities to reinforce new lessons. There are also quizzes on the ideas, making it ideal for students who need grades for transcripts. While hearing Celia advance in playing skill shows me she is absorbing practical knowledge, the quizzes help me see that she understands the theory behind the playing.



Mr. Simonfalvi promises that students will have enough theory and technique to jump into a band and be able to hold their own by the end of the 13 weeks. Keep in mind, he's not promising to turn your student into Mike DelGiudice and have her be playing in Billy Joel's band in those 13 weeks, but you'll have a competent guitar player that's not only ready to play but also able to understand what she is playing.

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- 2018 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

Math Essentials: Math Refresher for Adults (Homeschool Review Crew)

Math Refresher for Adults is a product that fell into my students' laps.  When Math Essentials offered this product for review, my first thought was "LUKE!" He graduated high school two years ago, had good enough grades and placement scores that he was able to skip several pre-requisites and jump into middle and upper-level math courses for this coming fall.  That said, it's obviously been quite some time since he had any formal math.  Because the advertises itself as "The Perfect Solution" for adults who need to brush up on their math skills, I thought this would be perfect for him to work with so that he had a re-solidified foundation.

Once we got the book in our hands and I was able to flip through it, I realized that while it wouldn't hurt him to work with the book, it was probably a little bit basic for his needs.  It focuses on skills such as:

• General Math
• Geometry
• Problem Solving
• Pre-Algebra
• Algebra

While all of these are foundational for his courses, this book got re-assigned to Celia. She started Algebra I, but when she took the readiness test for her usual program, she felt she was shaky on some of the basics.  She knew them, but not as well as she would like. She also is transitioning from private school to homeschool, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to assess her skills. Since that was the more pressing need, she found herself the proud short-term owner of the book.

Not Just For Adults 

Since Celia was just beginning Algebra, we started with General Math.  This book puts you in the "way back" machine, starting with fairly basic computation - two- and three-column adding, with regrouping.  (If you're an adult working on this, you'll probably be calling it "carrying.")

Each lesson starts with four "review" problems.  At the very start, it doesn't seem like "review" - just more of the same.  As you get further into the book though, they pull from prior lessons.  I like how this keeps presenting opportunities to practice skills.  Let's face it, if you're doing a refresher course, it's because you know "one-and-done" re-exposure isn't going to be sufficient.

Celia felt she was ok with basic math; fractions, decimals, and percents were where she felt weak.  Each page has only about fifteen problems (four review, ten on-topic, and one word problem), so while thirty problems a day sounds like a lot, it only took her about thirty minutes each day to work through them.  She began by doing a page each of Fractions and Decimals, followed by Percents and Integers, alternating groupings each day.  She decided that this would give her the opportunity to review several topics quickly, but also allow her to keep looping back, so it was constant repetition rather than a "topic blitz."

While this is a softcover workbook, it functions better as a textbook.  While you could work some of the problems in the white space, you'd need exceptionally small and neat handwriting for some of them.  Author Richard W. Fisher suggests copying problems onto a separate piece of paper -- which actually helps with understanding, because you're working from start to finish -- and then completing the problem.  Rather than a bunch of scrap paper that could easily get lost, we opted for a copybook.  I laughed when I saw the front of Celia's book, indentifying which Celia the book belonged to -- the "classroom experience" is still active in her mind. Last I checked, we only had one Celia in our school!

As I said, this was an excellent way for me to assess her skills.  This problem showed a couple of weaknesses.

Math isn't just about getting the "right answer." You have to get the process right because otherwise, the correct answer is luck, not skill.  Here, her first try didn't align her numbers correctly.  I followed her thought process, but there were two issues -- either she missed squaring off the problem with a decimal place (and therefore a step in her work), or she wasn't lined up correctly. Her second try fixed the place issue -- but then her computation was off because she "brought down" her decimal point, as if she was adding, rather than "counting over," which definitely affected her answer.  She realized what she did wrong, and got both the correct process and answer on the third go.  While it seems like not a big deal when you're "just" multiplying in a single-step problem, this can become an issue as you move into multi-step problems.  Forget algebra, let's just consider finding a discount and then adding sales tax to determine if you can afford a purchase: when you calculate that 7% add-on, you definitely want to make sure you're figuring based on the correct price!

Heading into Algebra, the extra practice with Integers was helpful.  Again, we found that "setting up" was a weak spot.  Celia wanted to jump right to calculation and answers.  Many times, I had to say "COPY first, THEN work."  Or, show how you get from one calculation to the next.  While I can appreciate when I'm adding multiple numbers I tend to just go across the line in my head, when you're learning to add and subtract integers, it is crucial to do one step at a time until the skills have solidified.

We also learned that she tends to rush, leading to "stupid mistakes."  When you get to upper levels of math, you have to take your time and do problems one step at a time. When I asked her how to solve this problem, her answer was to rush across the line, "Order of Operations, negative seven plus three is negative five, plus eight is three...Oh. Wait a minute."  I pointed out that by trying to do it all at once, one mistake meant the entire thing was wrong. By doing it in steps, she had a chance to see where her mistake was and then an opportunity to fix it. Unfortunately, this is a habit that she didn't learn in school, so it's one we need to set up.

Again, it's not that she doesn't know her times tables -- when I said to her, "um...what is six times three?" she answered, "Eighteen!"  Apparently, she just had a total brain fart here.  Or she was rushing.  (Very likely.) Learning this was as important as actually knowing her times table.  As a parent/teacher, it tells me she needs reminders to slow down. 

Celia will likely continue working through the book to the end.  While she is continuing forward with Algebra 1, it won't hurt her skills to keep practicing basics and making sure she is rock-solid in them. 


Quirks of the Book and Program

One thing I did not like was how the program alternated how it indicated multiplication during algebraic sections.  Here, the answer key in the back was a definite help.  We determined that the x in this problem meant "times," not "the variable x."  That makes a big difference in solving. (Even if you do have to go back and slow down on the times table part.

There were several problems written like this, so when she came to one, I made her stop and ask me which way to do it, but just looking up the answer then primes the student to work backward from the answer, rather than seeking the path to get to the answer.

I also wish the answer key had more detail than "just" the final answers.  For example, there are problems labeled as "muti-step," yet the Answer Key only gives the final answer.  The page's Helpful Hints lists "Decide which operations to use and in what order" but there is no way to check if the student has chosen the right plan of attack.  Yes, this book is supposed to be a refresher course, but I think it's really just providing practice, not actual "how to" refreshing.

It would really be helpful for both the teacher and the independent student to be able to see&nbspnot only that it IS wrong, but WHY the answer is wrong. This might make a single book exceptionally voluminous, but perhaps the program could be converted to a two-volume set that includes a student workbook + answer key.

While I agree with Math Essentials that it is helpful for parents who want to help their children but need a refresher, there were sections where I just looked at the problem and said, "Hmmm...how about YOU show me, and then I'll check it."  Yes, I was hoping that seeing how Celia did something might jog my memory.  (Yes, I could sit and watch the videos, but, like many parents trying to juggle multiple kids, I was looking for the most expeditious route possible.)

Also included with the program book is access to Math Essentials web-based video instruction.  An access code is included in the book for advanced Algebra tutorials.  However, there is no direct correlation for this book -- you'll have to sort through topics from the prior volumes.  The book cover advertises itself as "Excellent for English Language Learners" and for returning students, but I think these are is particular populations that may need extra hand-holding. It's not impossible to find the videos, but locating them definitely less "user-friendly" for this book than for other books.  At first, we didn't even realize that the videos correlated, because we were looking for lessons for this book. It is sensible to use the previously produced videos, but it would have been nice to have a landing page for this volume that leads specifically to the correct videos, or even just a statement saying "Math Refresher students: choose the links that refer to the corresponding Refresher book section."  Yes, we were able to figure it out, but no mention of the book at all makes Math Refresher feel like an afterthought.

Not Just for Crash Review!

Now that we've completed our official review period, I am going to also assign Jude to work in the book, too. He's just finishing elementary math and moving into Pre-Algebra, but looking ahead at his regular math program,  I can see some areas where he would benefit from a few extra "basic math" problems each day. His usual program does build upon what the student has already learned in the Elementary program, but it will be a while before he returns to multiplying fractions. Knowing his strengths and weaknesses, I think it would be better for him to do a few problems of that here and there to keep practicing rather than hoping he can pull it from the depths of his brain a few months from now.  Math Refresher will give him opportunities for extra practice without feeling like he's doing a "baby" workbook or a second curriculum.  While I don't think ten or fifteen review problems a day is excessive for high schooler Celia, I probably will opt to have Jude do half a page each day -- odds on Day 1, evens on Day 2, which will both lessen the burden and extend the exposure. As for poor Luke, who had the book literally ripped from his hands...he's been taking short-session business law, economic theory, and English composition summer courses, so math review has been pushed to the side for now.  He plans to start his math courses in the fall without a review, but keep this book handy if he finds there are things he's just not entirely clear on.

75 Crew Families have been brushing up on their math skills. Click the banner below to read their reviews.

Click here to read our review of Math Essentials: No-Nonsense Algebra.

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- 2018 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

The Master and His Apprentices (Homeschool Crew Review)

Public school students in our state have relatively strict curriculum requirements, including one year of a "visual or performing arts" curriculum.  On the one hand, homeschoolers do not have to follow the same "mandated curricula" rules - thank heavens for that flexibility! However, I feel that, to have a transcript that is competitive with their peers and not feel like we have to reinvent wheels, it makes sense to use the state's list as a "things we ought to cover" guide. We hoped that one option for fulfilling this "requirement" could be  The Master and His Apprentices: Art History from a Christian Perspective,  a one-year high school art history curriculum published by The Master and His Apprentices.

Initial Thoughts

The Master and His Apprentices is a Christian-viewpoint program.  It is arranged in a manner that helps coordinate Biblical and historical timelines.  This is not unlike a few other of our courses, and I like this perspective.  My school experience was learning things in "parallel universes." Cognitively, I knew that there is overlap in multiple civilizations, but I never tied it all together. When Jude started working on a particular history program, I discovered the idea of teaching "within a timeline" and discovered how much easier it is to understand how civilizations segue from one to the other.  I liked the idea of starting at the beginning (Creation) and then studying art's progression through time.

For our review, we received a Digital Edition of the curriculum, which included the Textbook ($34.99 retail) and Teacher Guide ($19.99).  This is a downloadable PDF file that can be viewed on (ideally) a computer screen or a large-format tablet. The file is also formatted for printing; the appropriate margin has been left for a 3 hole punch binder or comb binding.  While it took a considerable amount of time and ink, Matthew preferred a printed copy of the text, which would allow him to mark it for studying.

  The guide includes a single-student license; there is $2 "recopy" fee for use with each subsequent student. (Reviewers received unlimited household recopy rights.)  I can understand the company's view - this program is an investment in their intellectual material - but I don't like the idea of having to go back to the company every time I want to re-use a digital program.  As a parent, I'd rather pay a few dollars more at the beginning for an unlimited single-household license, rather than feel "nickel-and-dimed" over time.

There is also a pre-printed materials option. This includes a 380-page hardcover Textbook ($149.99) and softcover, perforated-page, 120-page Teacher Guide ($24.99).  The teacher's guide is intended to be a consumable material, but digital student reprint rights are available as well ($2 per student).  Again, this feels clunky. I can understand the workbook being consumable. However, if I'm purchasing something pre-printed, it's because it's more cost-effective (either financially or time-wise) than printing it myself.  If the paper guide were less expensive, I'd be more inclined to just purchase multiples of those and be done.

I can understand a per-student charge for non-family group settings (one suggested use of this is with co-op programs), but perhaps that should be a different "call us for pricing" category since the photocopy rights only apply to the workbook; each student still needs to purchase a textbook. I'm also not sure about the textbook and re-printing capability for later students.


Working with the program

I think this should be retitled Western Art History from a Christian Perspective, or even "Western History Through Art".  I had expected this to cover art from around the world, not just the Middle East and Latinized areas.  There is a single 8-page chapter devoted to "the rest of the world," with an explanation that "In a collegiate setting, the study of Western art and non-Western art are quite often divided into separate classes." (p. 314)  That makes sense to me because there is no way that the entirety of art history, when presented in this timeline-based manner, could be done adequately within a single semester.  However, neither the company's website nor samples indicate that there is little attention given to non-Western art.  A mere eight pages are included and meant to point out other cultures; it feels like an "oh yeah, there's this other stuff" afterthought.  I think it would be better to omit it entirely and advertise this program as a history of western art.

The book also mentions "Through Modern Times" in the title.  However, it ends with the Baroque era and covers from Rococo (the 1700s) to current times in 8 pages.  Impressionism - with the greats such as Renoir, Monet, Rodin, and Sargeant - gets a full page, while post-impressionist Van Gogh earns a small example picture and half a sentence.  Again,  if it had advertised itself as "Through the Baroque Era," I would be fine with that.  But if it says "Through Modern Times," then I expect to find at least a mention of artists such as John Singer Copley and Charles Wilson Peale, and discussion of the establishment of the Pennsylvania Acadamy of Fine Arts, the oldest art institution in the United States and one of the first to allow women to receive an arts education equal to their male peers.

This curriculum is meant to be worked over the course of a 36-week school year.  If time is an issue, some lessons may be combined or omitted (the Teacher Manual gives directions for this.)  Matthew worked each week's assignment or two over the course of a few days - reading the chapter one day, and completing the (as many as 30+) questions over a second or third day.

The program also includes four written research papers and four exams.  I appreciated the clear "What to do each week" layout.  I'm not certain what semester the dates included were from -- my guess is this was used with a co-op in a particular year, and these are the corresponding dates.  Practically speaking, it was not a big deal to cross out the printed dates and re-mark the ones that aligned with our work.  There is a note in the corner that this is a sample and there is an editable document available, but that just was an extra step that really seemed more than needed.  (Plus, it involved printing another page.) However, it made the guide seem less "professional" and more "I'll just sell copies of my notes."

The teacher's guide heavily weights "discussion" - I think this works better in a group setting than a single student.  The manual discusses how to use the program in both a one-hour class setting or a longer meeting period. However, for the single-student, it's awkward.  The only person Matthew had to discuss things with was me, and he would look at me and say "I answered the questions, I don't have anything to really add." I think having a group of people with different perspectives would make a difference in how engaging the material could be.

"No Nudity" 

One of my primary concerns with the program is it explicitly advertises "No nudity!"  I felt that Ancient Greece, often filled with nude statuary, could focus on draping, and how artists and sculptors skillfully used light and shadow to create movement in folds of robes.  But how does one effectively teach Renaissance art without using any nudes?  There are nudes on the ceiling of the church where the Pope is elected!  How does any Art History course worth its salt gets around Michelangelo's David?

By picturing only his left foot.

This was just ridiculous. This is a high-school level program.  I'm not an advocate of gratuitous nudity, but nudity in art serves a purpose.  In the Renaissance, it showed not only the skill of the artist in creating work but also reflected the emerging understandings in math and science of both the body itself and how to arrange it on canvas or in stone proportionally and realistically.  (Later in the Baroque era, it reflects the changing attitude of the times.)  David is probably one of the premier specimens of this Renaissance knowledge, as well as an incredible example of general line, movement, and the dynamic Renaissance contrapposto. At the very least, showing David's face and upper body would demonstrate these principles.  Without any of these tenets discussed, my thinking that this is more a "history with art" rather than "art history" course were solidified.

The curriculum also mentions Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel paintings and presents a close-up of God and Adam's hand.

Ok, I could allow this one as a "Christian view," but it is the only illustration of this magnificent work.  Why bother? The program has lost an opportunity to discuss Michelangelo's skills as both a sculptor and painter.

There is a single page discussing Flemish master Peter Paul Reubens.  One of the paintings chosen, The Raising of the Cross is an excellent example of his skill with line, color, light, and movement.  However, never is the term Rubenesque - a name for his iconic, allegorical paintings of voluptuous figures - even mentioned.  How does one study Reubens and never say what he is famous for?

I knew that this program advertised "no nudity," but I had hoped it would be handled differently - perhaps with a lighter touch and more deft cropping.  Yes, I can tell Matthew, "Go Google the David statue," or "Find out what does Rubenesque refer to," but if I'm purchasing a complete curriculum, I shouldn't feel like I need to add to it to provide a complete education.

Other content

The Textbook

I have mixed feelings on this as well.  For example, Chapter 9's Early Christian and Byzantine section features an introduction and four work foci from this period.  However, most some of the topics only encompass two pages! The Hagia Sophia, first a Christian basilica, then a Muslim mosque, and now a state-owned museum, has about a page and a half of text, and a few photographs. Other sections are equally skimpy.  Leonardo da Vinci, arguably the greatest man of the Renaissance era, greater than even Michelangelo, has a mere three pages (including photographs) dedicated to him.

For much of the early medieval period, the Church was the patron of the arts, and it shows in the Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals.  Reading this book,  you get the sense that a cathedral is just a big church in a big town. (p. 174) However, any big town could have a big church; what makes a cathedral special is it is the center of an (arch)diocese and the seat of the Bishop.  The introduction to "Gothic" comes closer, mentioning that Bishops were, often, political appointees.  But it never identifies the cathedrals as the centers of their domains.  But while it discusses the basic architecture, it never really goes into detail, even about the stained glass and statuary that depicted stories of the Old Testament, Gospels, and saints.  The church building was a way for the illiterate to "read" the Bible - one would expect this to be mentioned in a book with a Christian teaching base.

Kölner Dom/Cologne Cathedral

Additionally, one page is dedicated to the Cologne Cathedral.




 Nowhere does the text mention that the Cologne Cathedral, included part of the unit on Gothic style, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The text is copyrighted 2017, and UNESCO added the Cathedral to its roster in 1996. This is a crucial thing to understand about the Cathedral. The book mentions how it was completed in the 1800s with "modern" iron roof girders, but not that all repairs now - including current restorations -  must be made using the original materials.  Few of the current restorations are because of WWII damage; it is wear and tear from age and pollution that cause the need for repairs. Residents of Köln say, "We know the world goes on, because the Döm is being refurbished. If it no longer has scaffolding, life is over." 

The text mentions "ornated" flying buttresses, but none of the photographs show them.  It talks about how the cathedral is very "dark." I can attest from a personal visit that while the vestibules are dim, the central nave glows from the sunlight streaming in during Sunday services.

Student Activities

Even adding in the four assigned papers (five pages each), I don't feel the program will give a particularly good breadth of knowledge.  These explicitly assign the student to choose one artist, piece, or style to research.

To make this course more generally in-depth, I think I would assign more frequent (monthly vs. quarterly) but shorter papers (2 pages each) so a student would have a better opportunity to study a more extensive range of topics. Here, I think quantity is preferable to "quality" because it would broaden his knowledge of art and its place in history.

Closing Thoughts

I really wanted to like this program, because I feel, even transcripts aside, a well-rounded education should include the arts.  I have another option for Matthew waiting in the wings, but it is a program I will have to build myself in order to reach content and time requirements to count it as a full credit.  I admit that it would have been ideal to have something I could just hand him and say, "Do this, please," especially this year as I have a new student transitioning into our homeschool.  Perhaps in a group setting, this might be an appropriate course -- each student in the group could take work/period and bring a short presentation to contribute to a discussion.  A single-focus five-page paper does allow a student to get in deep with a single idea, but it means risking learning something out of context with the rest of an era of history.   Ultimately, I think that this program is more history than art, omits quintessential works under the guise of modesty, and is inadequate for a single student art history course.

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