NatureGlo's eScience MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle (Review)

When the opportunity to review NatureGlo's eScience offering of their MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle arose (shortly after my college Art Ed major Eldest was sending us YouTube videos on Fibonacci from her math class), I thought the timing was rather fortuitous. And since my Youngest enjoys watching a variety of videos, and Art, and Science, and Math... we looked forward the opportunity to explore the Math Connections with the Real World class from the Bundle.

I will say right off the top that these classes are geared towards Middle and High School aged students, so Youngest is a little over his head with these, but I decided it was worthwhile to let him go through the classes (to some degree at his own pace), and glean what information he could at his own level.

The timing of this review was also interesting to me because our local Science Museum currently has a Fibonacci and Golden Ratio exhibit that we were blessed to go visit with some friends. It was a fantastic reinforcement as my youngest was familiar with the concepts, from the first few lessons in the class we were using, and the hands-on activities there helped to cement some of the concepts of how connected Math and Art (and Science) truly are.

Museum of Science Mirror Maze

Some basic information:
The classes in this bundle are

• Math Connections with the Real World 
• Introduction and history of the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers
• The Golden Number and Fibonacci in Art, Architecture and Nature
• Fibonacci Numbers - Flower Petals, Seed Heads and More! 
• History and Golden Ratio of the Great Pyramid of Egypt
• Quasicrystals and the Golden Ratio
• The Mathematics of Music
• MathArt in Ancient Cultures
• Ancient Babylonians and Plimpton 322
• Ancient Greek Math and the Platonic Solids
• Pythagoras and the Music of the Spheres
• Ancient India's MathARt: Rangoli, Mandalas and The Story of 1-9 and 0
• Zellige Moroccan Tiles and Other Tesselations
• Maya MathArt
• Mathematics in the Arts and Sciences (I) 
• Renaissance Artist Piero della Francesco
• Aboriginal Art
• Celtic Math Art
• Patterns in Nature I
• Branching/Fractal Patterns in Nature and Technology
• Fractals in Nature and Technology II
• MathArt Patterns in Nature (Not yet uploaded) 
• Patterns in Nature: Animal Coat Patterns
• The Geometrics of the Universe
• Patterns in Nature: The Hexagon
• Logarithmic Beauty of the Chambered Nautilus Part I
• Logarithmic Beauty of the Chambered Nautilus Part II

Gloria Brooks is the Owner/Instructor of NatureGlo eScience, and has been teaching since 1997. The online classes are her newest way to reach out to homeschoolers, and are offered as both live and self-paced classes (with some of them utilizing recordings of the live classes). 

As I mentioned above, we mainly walked through the Math Connections with the Real World class, but I took a look at Mathematics in Art and Science as well. Here is a quick run-down of how it looks to work through a class.

After logging in you are taken to a student dashboard. You click on the course that you want to take, and it opens to a page that looks something like this...

Off to the side each lesson can be opened and each section in the lesson shows up. The section are check-marked and lined out as they have been completed. Simply click on the
lesson you want to go to and a page will open up for that particular section of the lesson.

When the student has completed the activity, be sure to click the button that says "Mark Complete" (We forgot to do that for the first few activities... oops!), and then move on to the next part of the lesson.

When your student has completed all of the activities in an entire lesson they will receive an "achievement" graphic.

If you want to get a good feel for NatureGlo's eScience classes, you can visit the website and take advantage of the Free Fibonacci Numbers in Nature lapbook (part of the MathARt curriculum)

If you click on the  "Free Sample Class" Beluga Whale that shows up when you hover over the Class Catalog Tab you will find another sample of what a lesson might entail. Gloria Brooks talks about the Beluga Whale lesson, as well as shows some of how it is set up, with videos, and study guides. If you scroll further down the page you can access a three-lesson class which includes a sample from the MathArt Classesas well as some of the other classes offered :

• MathArt – Fractals: Infinite Patterns of the Universe
• Herpetology – Glass Frogs: Transparent Living Jewels (again)
• Marine Biology – Deep Sea Fish: Gulper eel, Slender Snipe Eel, Barreleye, Oarfish

A note about the class we focused on. I was a little disappointed in the narrated slideshow videos, as they were strictly narrations of the slides. There was no extra information given, as I might have expected from a power point presentation. I was happy to notice when I checked out one of the other classes that the power point presentation was the spine, but that there was additional information that added interest to the slides beyond just reading what was on the page.

I will also say that most of the graphics (the majority of which are lovely and well done) and activities are available on the internet, however, what makes these classes useful is that Gloria Brooks has compiled all of the information for you in one place, and set it up them up in a logical and cohesive manner. The amount of time it would take a typical homeschooling parent to do something similar would be rather onerous.

If you're looking for a less traditional approach to middle/high-school science,  with an artsy or mathy (is that a word? it is now... ;) ) you may wish to visit NatureGlo's eScience web page, and also read some other Homeschool Review Crew opinions. I can say that this class has given my 10 year old a familiarity with the Fibonacci numbers, and the Golden Ratio, which is more than many kids who've graduated high school have, so I take that as a win.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: NatureGlo's eScience
• Product: MathArt Online 4-Class Bundle
• Ages: Middle-High School are the target audience
• Price: Bundle is currently $536.40 (which is 10% off of a one year subscription. The classes are also available individually for $149.00 each

You can visit NatureGlo's eScience social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube.

Please do click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

#hsreviews  #escience #natureglo #math

Reading Eggs (Reading Eggspress Review)

I reviewed Reading Eggs with my Youngest as a beginning reader a couple of years ago (Whoops! Make that review 5+ years ago~ man time flies!), and it was one of the programs that he really enjoyed, even asking as recently as this year if he could use it, even though he had surpassed the age range/reading ability of the main program. ;) YOu can imagine he was very pleased to be on the review again, so that we could try out the program for older elementary students, Reading Eggspress. If you aren't familiar with Reading Eggs at all, here is a quick rundown of the basic programs they offer:

• Reading Eggs Junior for 2-4 year olds (pre-readers)
• Reading Eggs for 4-7 years old (beginning readers) 
• Reading Eggspress for for 7-13 years old (fluent readers) 
• and their non-reading program, Mathseeds for children aged 3-9

I received a 6 month subscription to Reading Eggs, which allowed me to access every part of the program. Reading Eggs is offering Homeschool Review Crew readers a four week Free Trial if you click through this link, so that you can check them all out as well, if you have children in the 2-13 year old range.

Program Set up
Your child will take an placement test when first accessing the lessons (which is probably the only difficulty we've had~ my son took the test on the ipad, and wished that there was a "submit" button for each problem, as a couple of times his finger slipped and hit an answer that was wrong, but it submits automatically, so he ended up in a level that may be a bit below his actual abilities. However, that being said, I appreciate the level he ended up in, as he is learning to be more careful with his answers. ;) If I was truly dissatisfied with his level, Reading Eggs offers the ability for the parent to adjust the level manually or have the student take the placement test again. This is true for the reading and math programs both.

Sample placement test question. Test continues until 2 questions are missed

Once the placement test is taken, your student can continue directly to their Reading Eggs dashboard where they can access the various areas of the program.

The central location contains the meat of the program, the Lessons. Each Lesson contains 9 or 10 activities that must be passed in order to continue to the next lesson on their map. Parents can keep track of progress on the parent dashboard as well as through progress reports sent directly to their email.

• English Skills contains the Reading Eggs Spelling program
• The Stadium offers the opportunity to pit their knowledge in Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, or Usage against other Reading Eggs users across the world. 

• The Library contains a variety of books to read, and each book comes with built in comprehension quizzes. I would recommend keeping an eye on the books your child is reading, as there may be those that you wouldn't care for your child to read (one of the "books of the day" highlighted in the library the day I chose to take screenshots for this review was "The Trouble With Boyfriends" ~ not exactly what the target age for this program should be reading in my opinion, but to each his own... The other book of the day was on Railroads, so would be much more appealing to my 10 year old son. :) ) 

The library allows kids to browse a variety of reading genres and search for topics, but again, be aware of what they are choosing. ;) As with any library there are good books and twaddle..

• 
  
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Extras at the back of a book on the Civil War

• Targets offers challenges to help students make use of the various aspects of the program

• The Mall, the Apartments, The Trophy Room, and the Arcade are the "fun" parts of the program that let your child utilize his accumulated points (reading eggs earned by reading and answering questions)  This is one of my son's favorite things, and his incentive to do more than I ask each day. :) 

In addition to the electronic program, Reading Eggs offers printable bonus materials. 

• Activity sheets that correspond to each lesson for Reading Eggs and Mathseeds  (Homeschool Worksheets with an overview for the parent instructor and printable worksheets to reinforce each lesson, and Color ) and Reading Eggspress (English comprehension and Spelling Worksheets that correspond to each lesson).

• Parent User Guide which shows how to use the program and contains Lesson Overviews (scope and sequence) for Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress.

• Homeschool Program that offers a schedule for the whole year for grades K-2 covering Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies, utilizing books in the Reading Eggs library of over 2500 titles.

While there are a few books/topics I would prefer to weed out, by and large, I appreciate the approach to phonics (which thankfully main stream education is coming back to), comprehension, and basic reading skills. 

If this is something you are interested in, you have nothing to lose by signing up for that Four Week Free Trial mentioned at the beginning of my review. 

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Reading Eggs
• Product: Six Month Subscription Reading Eggs Products
• Ages: 2 years old - 13 years old
• Price: 
• 6 month subscription: $49.95
• 1 year subscription: $59.95
• Discounts for 2nd and 3rd children using the program (50% off)

You can visit Reading Eggs on their Social Media Pages:
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say about Reading Eggspress, as well as Reading Eggs, Reading Eggs Junior, and Mathseeds. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

#hsreviews #readingeggs #learntoread

CTCMath (Single Membership review~ Focus on 5th grade, but available for K-12)

My Youngest was very pleased that we were selected to receive a One Year Single Membership to CTCMath for review (other Crew members received a Family Membership, so be sure to check out their reviews if you are interested in having more than one kiddo using this program). Also be sure to check out the specials that are current at the time of posting (offers expire November 15, 2017) for a Free Trial, and another for 60% off + 6 bonus months!

OK, now that I have those details out of the way... you may remember that I reviewed CTC a couple of years ago with both my Youngest and my Middlest using the program.
Youngest was happy to be on this review, as he has decided that generally speaking he prefers an electronic version of math over a textbook math (at the moment, anyway).

Here's a quick little intro to give you a feel for CTC math:

While the program can be accessed via computer, once again my son preferred to do his lessons on the ipad. I appreciate that this is an option, as it frees up the computer for other uses while he does his math. ;)

For a quick overview~ We are using the 5th grade level, but CTC Math is available for grades K- Grade 12. The lessons are accessed online, as I mentioned above, either on computer or most tablets and phones, which can be handy.

The lessons are grouped by topic and then subtopic.

For example, 5th Grade Math has 4 main categories, 19 sub-categories, and approximately 115 lessons. The main categories are:

• Numbers, Patterns, and Algebra
• Measurement
• Space and Geometry
• Statistics and Probability

The subtopics are seen to the right, and each one of those is broken down into the individual lessons. 

A full listing of all the topics can be downloaded from CTC's FAQ's page ("Freedom to review other grades" section).

The Lessons are taught by Pat Murray, a Math teacher from Down Under in Sydney, Australia. His philosophy is to teach short a short lesson (4-9 minutes) via a whiteboard, and then have the students work through a number of those particular problems. On average completing a lesson should take around 15 minutes. If you have a perfectionist (Did I say that? ;), it may take longer, as they strive to reach a 100% rating.

I like the ability to check and see how he's doing by clicking on the reports button, and he likes the ability to keep track of his rating. :) If you wish, you can also have weekly reports sent to your email, or even to a grandparent's email, if you like.

Here is a longer video (about 10 minutes) that will give you a very good overview of CTC Math~ It focuses a little more on the higher level maths, so if you have a high school student, you may want to invest a few minutes to see how CTC works for high school.


Back to our experiences... ;)

There are 3 diagnostic test options for each subtopic: Short (20 questions), Standard (30 questions), and Comprehensive (40 questions)

You can use the short one as a pretest, and have your student take the Comprehensive test when they complete all the lessons in a given subtopic, or use them however you like. ;)

If your student needs some reinforcement, there are also lesson summaries that cover the same material as the video, but in more "Text" format on the screen. This is handy for a quick glance over, or, in my son's case, to review a topic that he was familiar with, but for which he didn't watch the video lesson.

Overall, we really like CTCMath, especially for the elementary math years. I like the immediate feedback, and the fact that *I* don't have to grade the papers (which means I can be making dinner instead!). If you think CTCMath is something you'd like to look at, be sure to check out those specials I mentioned at the beginning of the review for the Free Trial, and the homeschool discount 60% off + 6 bonus months available through November 15, 2017.


Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: CTCMath 
• Product: One Year Subscription 
• Ages: K-12th Grade
• Price: 
• Single Membership
• $29.97 Monthly
• $197.00 Annual
• Family Membership
• $39.97 Annual
• $297.00Monthly

You can visit CTC on any of their social media channels:
Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Pinterest, or YouTube 

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

#hsreviews #homeschoolmath #mathtutorials #videobasedmath #onlinemath

Unlock Math : Online Full Geometry Course

My Middlest will be looking at the PSAT in the fall, and in order to do that he needs to get a bit of geometry under his belt (the path we took with my daughter was the natural progression of Algebra I and then Algebra II, however, that meant that we were not as prepared for the test as we might have liked). In light of that, the timing for our review of UnLock Geometry  for UnLock Math couldn't have come at a much better time. 

Here is a screenshot of the first few units of UnLock Geometry~ there are 15 Units altogether. You can see the rest of this screen at the UnLock Geometry link above. :) 

*Disclaimer~ To be fair, I will say we did have a couple of timing issues, totally unrelated to UnLock Math~ cyberspace has been eating emails that belong in my inbox (So it took me awhile to figure out that I hadn't received my log-in email~ not their issue~ I've had multiple emails not show up in the past month or so), and our internet has been frustratingly slow for almost e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g (we're talking *almost* pre-1990's get up and get a cup of coffee while waiting for one page to load slow...). Due to other commitments he could only look at "loading" wheels/bars for so long before we needed to move on to other things. I think we need a new router, but haven't had time to address that issue just yet because... life. 

Now~ if this were a textbook review, I wouldn't need that disclaimer~ no techie issues to cause trouble there~ However, I also wouldn't have the benefits this program provides. I personally don't feel like geometry is a subject where I could inspire someone to love math. I can puzzle through to help figure out where answers went wrong, but I'm not a higher math teacher. Thankfully, with UnLock Math that doesn't really matter, because THEY provide the teacher, the computer interface (which is neat and clean, and easy to understand when your internet is working properly), and the assessment and grading ~ I really don't have to do anything beyond making sure that assignments are actually being completed.              

UnLock Math provides a way to check and see what day each assignment was finished, how long it took, and how well the student did. There aren't many parental options beyond looking at (downloading and printing if you like) the grade-book that is linked to your student's account. I was actually taken aback at how little there was for *me* to do... 

The one time we did run into a glitch (which again, took far longer than anticipated to get around to dealing with because of the timing of life, combined with agonizing internet speed), Matthew ( the founder of UnLock Math) happened to be  accessible via the online chat button at the same late hour that we were trying to troubleshoot. Amazing customer service, in my book! I understand that he is very quick to reply to messages sent as well, if he doesn't happen to be online at the same time. At any rate, he was able to quickly and easily solve the issue we had, and my son was able to unlock the next section in order to proceed. *Geometry is the newest course available, and as with any new program, I expect a bug or two to show up  for the first bunch or two of users. 

In the screen above you see the basic set-up of the program~ 

• Warm Up consists of... warm up problems ~ 5 quick, fairly simple problems to get your brain warmed up~ they take about 1 minute to complete. 
• The big "UnLock" screen is where the video lesson is watched~ about 5 minutes (We decided on the earlier lessons that he could skip the video and continue to the practice problems (Opening them in another window), only returning to watch the video if he ran into something he didn't already know.
• Practice Problems ~ 10 problems on the current topic ~ with explanations after most of them~ Here's an example where... oops~ made qt plural... (even though the math was right). The good news is that if there are silly mistakes made like this, your student will (hopefully) learn from them, and then have the opportunity to do another set of practice problems if they want to increase their score. 
  

• Stay Sharp ~ another 10 questions on the topic ~
  
  
• Challenge Question ~ This is the only section where there are no second chances- 1 question! 

There are quizzes after every two lessons, and a Test at the end of the Unit.

So far my son is doing well and appreciates the way the lessons are set up. I like that he isn't given too much at once. Occasionally the explanations are a little longer and complicated (for the way *my* brain works), but then they are distilled to the simplicity that I understand. (See the bolded sentence at the bottom of this screenshot...)

I think that if he is diligent with this course through some of the summer and early fall he should be well prepped for most geometry questions on the PSAT this year. Time will tell... ;)

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: UnLock Math
• Product: UnLock Geometry   
• Ages: High School 
• Price: $49 monthly or $299 annually (50% sibling discount)
• Use my referral link to receive $50 off a one year subscription to any of the Algebra programs. Special link expires September 14, 2017

You can visit UnLock Math on the following Social Media Pages:
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say about Unlock Geometry as well as UnLock Pre-Algebra, UnLock Algebra I, and UnLock Algebra II.  As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

#hsreviews  #math #homeschoolmath #highschoolmath #onlinemath

K5 Learning (online math, reading, and spelling supplement) (A review)

My Youngest has been using another product we received for review, the online program by K5 Learning. The K5 Learning program is a supplementary math, reading, and spelling program for Kindergarten through 5th Grade.

The K5 Learning Crew that accompanies your child through the program

Starting off the student takes an assessment (about 30 minutes in length for each) of their reading and math skills and is placed in the level the program deems appropriate (I am pleased to note that if it turns out the work is either too hard or too easy parents can request the level be changed).  From there the program selects lessons and the child works through them, the computer keeps track of their progress, which you can easily see on the parent side of the program through a number of report screens. This is the general overview of my son's progress.

My son was placed in the early 5th grade level for both math and reading (there is no assessment for spelling), which I thought was pretty appropriate, although going strictly by the "mastery" shown above in math, I could consider changing his level there if I end up feeling it's necessary.

Let me tell you a little bit about each program.

MATH
The Math program (for all levels K-5) contain lessons that cover
Numbers and Operations, Measurement, Geometry, Algebra, and Data Analysis. Here is a list of all the concepts covered in the 5th grade material found in the lesson library on the parent side of K5 Learning, in the assign lessons tab (the only place I could find a sort of scope, but no sequence, as the concepts are listed alphabetically for ease of location).

You can see that they include the expected total amount of time spent on each concept as well as the number of lessons for each one. The lessons are split into tutorials, practices, and assessments.

My son was working through the assignments. Some he had no problem with, others... well here's his progress report:

You can see that there are some Red flagged lessons there where he was having some troubles. Now, I will mention that as an almost 10 year old I don't usually feel the need to hover over his shoulder when he is doing his schoolwork on the computer, but I did hear the sounds of frustration. When I investigated there were a couple of things at play here.

The program relies heavily on Common Core math which was not helpful to my son. He knew the answers but was required to fill in many "extra step" blanks before he was able to input the correct answer. This was confusing to him and caused him to take longer than the timer allowed to figure out what he was supposed to be doing beyond getting the answer in, which meant that he "missed" the problem, giving him a lower score than necessary (I would appreciate the ability to turn off the timer). He is also used to the protocol of most online math courses that use the keyboard "enter/return" key to submit their final answer rather than the keyboard "done" button that has to be clicked in this program, which also caused him some frustration.

At any rate, I wasn't happy with his lower than 60% scores, so I am now going back and assigning the lessons that he did poorly on (now that he is more familiar with the idiosyncrasies if the program). If you look in the screen shot above you will see the top lesson shows 100%~ it previously was one of the red flagged lessons, but I assigned it to him and got the result I expected in the first place. I do appreciate the ability to re-assign lessons until they reach a point of mastery.

Youngest isn't quite as polished with his multiplication skills as I would like (but timers only cause him frustration, not an increase in speed, sadly),  so I do appreciate the fact that the program required him to show his carried numbers (which he still sometimes forgets to add without a reminder) before being able to complete the problem. In the real world he often does this sort of problem in his head, but gets caught up when doing the work on paper because he forgets to include those little steps that he kind of skips when doing mental math.

READING
My son had a much more successful time in the reading program. The Lessons cover Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension at the 5th grade level (lower levels also cover Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Lessons.

Although I am aware that K5 Learning does not subscribe to a conservative worldview, I have to say that I was disappointed in what I felt was Common Core propaganda in some of the reading selections (Greenhouse Effect I can handle, pushing Global Warming less so). However, if you have more conservative leanings you can preview each lesson in the lesson library and skip the ones that include conversations you may not want to discuss at this point in time. If Common Core isn't issue for you, you have nothing to worry about.

A little more about assigning lessons (and previewing or reviewing lessons ~ this holds true for both the Math and the Reading):
When in the Lesson Library you click on the title of the concept (green background) you are looking to assign or view~ a window pops up with the list of lessons included in that concept. When you click on the specific lesson another window pops up with all the components of that lesson.

You can click on the play button on the left and the window loads and plays the lesson you want to view (I moved the window over a bit in this screen shot, but it opened in the same window as the Lesson Description seen above). 

The entire lesson will play, and if there are questions that need to be answered on the student side, you need to answer them here as well to continue to the next slide.
One thing I will note that struck me as a little odd for a reading program (vs a strictly comprehension program) is the fact that the text is read to the student unless they specifically choose to read it themselves without the audio. I can understand that feature for beginning readers, but for older, independent readers that just seemed counterproductive from a learning/assessment point of view.

We looked over the spelling program, which offers pre-made lists or the ability to input your own lists. It is pretty basic ~ says the words (in a sometimes less than clear voice), includes a dictionary definition (by which we figured out what the word was that we weren't understanding audibly), and an example sentence. Because my son is a fairly natural speller we didn't continue to make use of this part of the program, but it could be a benefit to those who require extra practice.

There are also printable worksheets for every grade level, and I think every lesson.
You can check out more on their website, see samples, and sign up for their free trial (no credit card required), to see if this program is right for you.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 
All things considered, if you are using a particular math or English program and would like to use K5 to reinforce the specific concepts your child is learning I think this could be a very helpful tool. Just keep your eyes on the screen occasionally and ears on the audio to clear up any issues that Common Core might present to your child, if they don't learn that way (for math), or if there are any concepts in the reading comprehension selections that don't jive with your worldview.

• Company: K5 Learning
• Product: online program
• Ages: Kindergarten to 5th grade
• Price: 
• 14 day Free Trial
• Monthly Subscription
• 1st child $14.95
• additional children $9.95
• Yearly Subscription
• 1st child $119
• additional children $79

You can visit K5 Learning on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

#hsreviews  #k5learning