Expedition Canada ~ A Northern Learning Experience

Ever wonder what a pingo is or what in the world is curling? Well, Expedition Canada, the latest downloadable unit study in the Download N’Go series by Amanda Bennett can tell you and your children this and so much more. Designed with young students (K-4th) in mind, each DNG unit is interactive, exciting, and engaging for children yet easy and manageable for parents to implement and use.

Lasting a week in length, Expedition Canada begins with a brief overview introduction to lapbooking which is such a fun way for kids to learn and for the information to stick as they can not only have something to show for all their work, but actually look back at the lapbook and remember what was studied. Notebook pages are also included and are a great way for your child to document all the information they will be learning about the great land to the North. Your child will spend 5 days creating, exploring and investigating.

The 5 day study is broken down into each individual day’s agenda which makes the planning  and implementation so easy for the busy home school mom.

Day 1: Where on Earth is Canada?

Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Canada

Day 3: A Bit of History

Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Canada

Day 5: Fun and Games in Canada

And finishing off the week is some “Fun Family Ideas”

Your children will be amazed with wonder as they learn about the Arctic Tundra, the bright Nothern Lights, Niagra Falls and the Rockies…

They will be engaged as they study the incredible animals of the territory such as caribou, moose, and polar bears. And feel the excitement of the sport of hockey.

Expedition Canada also contains great video clips, website links, and supplemental activities which create endless learning opportunities for your child. The recommended reading lists are included for each day with the books being easily obtained  from a local library which causes no extra expense for the home school family in a tight economy.

Geography, vocabulary, history, and science ~ it’s all in there and so much more… All the information in one central location.  No more struggling with research and time management to come up with a plan. Everything is done for you, and all at one incredible price.

Making frugality easy!!!

 Recently I was given the opportunity to review Molly’s Money - Saving Digest for October and being the frugalista that I am, I jumped at the chance, and I can say I was thoroughly pleased with what I saw and learned from this digest.

Molly is a long-time money saver and frugal mommy. She has great ideas and offers them up to share.

I always had thought I did pretty well at frugal living, but Molly has definitely helped me in more ways. She offers simple, completely doable ideas with links to other creative ways and frugal sites. Her suggestions and helpful tips on cooking, finances, home décor, and so much more are gonna keep me using these monthly installments for a long time.

In the October issue, Molly begins the issue with a brief discussion on Fall and things that it reminds us of in “Molly’s Minute” and then heads into some great fall recipes that are sure to save you and your family money and keep you full and satisfied. She shares her favorites along with some warm ways to use up that left over Thanksgiving food. And I can’t wait to try her slow-cooker “Texas-style Chili”.

Next she offers up advice on what is on sale this month and how to get the most bang out of your buck when shopping. And October is the time to stockup on candy for some Christmas stocking stuffers!!

The monthly holiday list is great for me as a home-schooling mom, since my kidlets love waking up to some unusual holiday that we may never have celebrated before, like October 10^th being National Angel Food Cake Day… I can count on some great fun that day with Angel Food cake as our snack.

Her tips and tools for organization are a plus this month because it is the “laundry room helper” and what mom doesn’t need help in that area? Well, Molly has it covered with some great ideas for stain removal and a fantastic checklist. And for those of us who don’t already make laundry detergent, she has included some great recipes to try that will really save money in the laundry room. “The Kid’s Corner” features some great laundry inspired activities that can be used not only to save you time, but also instill laundry knowledge in your kids. I mean, what mom doesn’t want or need help with the laundry?

I am always looking for crafty ideas to use when decorating or have gift giving coming up, and I love doing it economically. Molly has a great idea this month for wall art that I am going to be using not only for my home, but as Christmas gifts this year for several on my list using inexpensive canvas’ from Big Lots and road maps.

“In the Kitchen with Molly” has some great menu ideas and comfort food for the cooler fall weather, as well as, more money saving ways to use up those great left-overs.

But my favorite sections has to be the “Something Old - Something New” section. In the October edition, Molly shares how to make a dress out of two shirts and a spare belt. I can’t wait to try this for my daughter who is the budding fashionista.

Molly’s Money - Saving digest has something something for everyone and for those who are finding it difficult in the economy well worth checking into. Her frugal tips and great ideas are definitely helpful in saving my family and others time and money. In reviewing this for The Old Schoolhouse, I have found that I not only need to subscribe to Molly, but I can definitely find more ways to save just by doing so and the savings are definitely worth the small subscription price. Making saving simple - what more could I want?

Lewis and Clark...

I was given the opportunity to review a Download N’ Go unit by Amanda Bennett recently by The Old Schoolhouse. I have used these units before and have always been impressed with them and the contents and this one was much the same.

 “Lewis and Clark” is a fun fact filled unit that a home school family can complete in a week for K-4th grades, but I find that these can easily be modified to be used with kids even older.

 “Lewis and Clark” has a 5 day topic schedule:

 Day 1: What Brought About the Adventures of Lewis and Clark?

 Day 2: Who Were Lewis and Clark?

Day 3: Science Secrets of the Expedition

 Day 4: Lessons to Learn From Lewis and Clark

 Day 5: Remembering Lewis and Clark

And rounding out the week are “FUN FAMILY IDEAS” …

 In using these units in the past, I have found that the Download N’ Go units can easily be expanded to longer periods of time with all the great books, activities, and information opportunities included in each unit. Children are allowed to immerse themselves in the excitement and adventure of the west and the American Wilderness.

 Using literature available from the local library and lapbook/ notebook components, a child investigates the route and excitement that went with Lewis and Clark's famous journey. Using these units is a fun, inexpensive way to encourage learning and expand knowledge in your child.

Your child will learn about the food, weapons, people met on the trail, and character traits that made Lewis and Clark’s journey the stuff of legends in American history. A daily book list is included and most can be found at the local library, however, I have found that all the information needed is included in the unit in written and link form. The video links have been researched for you and the lapbook components can be easily printed off to go with each days assignment.

Math, science, geography, history and even vocabulary is included with each component being used to increase the knowledge base of the subject of Lewis and Clark.

 A wonderful, all-around, easy to use, education resource for the home school family.

Expedition : Africa

I was really excited to have the opportunity to review Expedition : Africa  for TOS.  I’ve been a fan of unit studies since we started our homeschool journey 6 yrs.  ago because it is a great way to cover the same topic and information but with kids of all ages and adults too (I always learn something new with every study)…

 

 Africa is such a magnificent continent and so much to learn that it can be somewhat overwhelming to a homeschool mom when trying to plan out a unit study  and lesson plan as you wonder about what and how much to cover. That is one of the great “teacher aspects” of Amanda Bennett’s “Download N’ GO” products. We have had the opportunity in the past to use a couple of these units and I have been thoroughly pleased with each one.  So I was really happy to be able to help kickstart our new year with one of these great units.

Each Download N’GO unit is a week long study and incorporates all the various aspects of traditional unit studies including vocabulary, science, history, geography and much more.  With “Expedition: Africa”, the daily objectives were:

Day  1: Where on Earth is Africa?

Day 2: Some of the special places in Africa?

Day 3: A bit of history

Day 4: Cool things to know about Africa

Day 5: Fun and games in Africa

These units are by no means quickie or skimpy even though they are made to be completed within a week.  They are written in a relaxed style and easily adapted to your families’ personal learning styles.

The book suggestion lists are great with 8-10 books listed for use for each day. Of course it is up to you how many books you use and what to cover from each one.  And in no way do you have to use all of these books as they are just suggested reading. I had no trouble locating most of these books through my library search engine.  The books are of various reading levels so that they can be used easily from grades K – 4^th… and beyond as this unit is used with a second grader and a 5^th grader.   If you can not find the books mentioned, book substitutions are easily used and plugged  in. Honestly you could actually do this unit without any books at all and your students will come away having learned tons about Africa, but the books really enrich and add the “living” aspect to the unit.

Links and videos are also included in the unit and this is an aspect that I really like since both of my kids are audio-visual learners. But there are so many ways that these units could be used by families with learners of all types. 
And if your a lapbooker or notebooker , the minibooks and printables are perfect for you. The only drawback to this for me is the cost involved in printing. And I found that what works best for us, is using the unit as it is on our computer and only printing the components that will actually work for us and I print most of them in black and white and the kids color them (which is fun for them as well as saving me some money). 

The activities really help the learning stick through fun and creative play. The arts are covered as the music  of Africa is brought in. Spelling/vocabulary needs (one area where I have a hard time covering when trying to create my own lesson plans) are met as Mrs. Amanda gives you the words and fun lapbook minibooks to use to incorporate them in your kids work… 

I personally like that missionaries are covered as it helps span even more of the curriculum bridges by including bible. Learning about the weather, animals, and terrain of Africa alone will be enough to have your kids asking for more.

And my FAVORITE section of the DNG Expedition : Africa unit, and that would be the “FUN FAMILY IDEAS”. These are great fieldtrips, things to do at home, great recipes and just all-around wonderful ideas for making the learning come alive and help make my goal of creating life-long learners a reality… Using these units can really make your homeschool fun!! 

 And at only $7.95 each and easily available for download from TOS they are a bargain in helping the homeschool family to find “fun” and “education” in the same study.