Click here for more information about this product. This is my referral link.
Homeschool moms have a ton of stuff to stay on top of, and this planner will help! Includes help for lesson planning, assignments, activities, personal and spiritual growth, and more. $29 value
US Addresses only. Giveaway is open through May 6, 2018.
Winner is Allison
Click here for more information about this product. (referral link)
Writers in Residence is a language arts curriculum from Apologia that focuses on writing and developing the writer’s voice, for grades 4-8. One lucky winner will receive the Student Text/Workbook and the Answer Key and Teaching Notes. $89 value!
US addresses only.
Giveaway open through May 6, 2018
Winner is Loranna K
Today I am really excited to tell you about a cool opportunity for you! My friend Ana Willis from They Call Me Blessed recently found out that many of her readers were interested in teaching their kids Hebrew, which Ana happens to know quite well! She has lived in Israel, two of her children were born in Jerusalem, she has studied Hebrew and has degrees in theology, Biblical studies, Jewish studies, and more.
Well, we have a golden opportunity, because Ana decided to offer a class series for homeschoolers that want to learn beginning Hebrew! The course will cover things like
This is a wonderful and unique opportunity for homeschool families, and it’ll work for all ages, anytime you want to watch, at one price for the whole family. Live classes via video will be offered, but you can always watch replays if you can’t be there at specific class times.
If you’d like to check it out, you can see the simple registration form and instructions here. As a special bonus to those that register for this class through my referral link, I’m offering a fun Bonus Gift! Register by April 15, 2018 by clicking here, and I’ll be giving you our Books of Moses Fine Art Pages collection for FREE. This whopping 44-piece collection of art coordinates with stories in Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, and offers a valuable and intriguing look into how artists throughout history depicted creation, the flood, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel, the life of Abraham, and much more! This collection normally sells for $14.95, but will be my gift to you. Simply shoot me an email after you register for the Hebrew class, and I’ll hook you up. 🙂 Erica@EnrichmentStudies.com
One of the things I’ve loved about being a part of a homeschool support group is that my kids have had opportunities to take part in regular school experiences like competitive sports teams, proms, groups classes, yearbooks, clubs, and graduations. Last year our third child, Jacob, graduated, and it was our first experience with a homeschool graduation ceremony. I was so impressed at how lovely and meaningful it was! All of the graduating seniors were decked out in cap, gown, and tassels, and received diplomas, and I loved that it was in no way a second-rate experience for them!
With three remaining high schoolers to graduate from our homeschool, I was delighted when Homeschool Diploma wanted to send me some of their products to review! I noticed during our senior year, many parents in our group did not know where or how to find graduation supplies for their homeschooled senior, and I ended up kind of cobbling together items helter-skelter, so I know this is a common need. Being able to see the large assortment of options, and experience the quality of the products available at Homeschool Diploma has been impressive, and I am so excited to share about this with you!
Homeschool Diploma offers all the supplies and products you need for your seniors, from the actual diplomas and diploma covers, to caps and gowns, announcements and Thank You cards, gifts, and even class rings! If you’ll have a graduate within the next four years, you will definitely want to get in on this.
The first item I got to check out was a beautiful customized diploma. Since I don’t have a graduating senior this year, I made one up for a friend of ours, and it really turned out lovely. You can choose from really nice standard, simple diplomas for as little as $29.99, or choose from many different options to create a more personalized keepsake that reflects your homeschool and student.
The one we got has the graduate’s name and school name on the front cover, a beautiful engraved seal, a Bible verse, and a diploma cover tassel.
It’s wonderful quality and I love how it offers parents the opportunity to convey their joy and accomplishment in graduating their child in ways that reflect their own style and personality.
In addition to the diploma, we also opted to get an extra, archive copy of the diploma. This is great so that your graduate can take their actual diploma with them, but mom and dad can keep a spare copy for their records in case it’s ever needed. It’s high-quality and enclosed in a clear, archive envelope to protect it.
We were also able to get a cap, gown, and tassel set, which is a must-have for any graduation ceremony. Homeschool Diploma offers two fabric types (matte or shiny) and a wide variety of colors. Gowns are sized by height, so it’s quick and easy to choose one that’s right for you. Plus sizes are also available. I was really pleased to see that the quality of the gown is quite nice. The fabric has a soft, comfortable feel and a nice weight and drape, and the zipper works smoothly and feels like it is good quality. The cap is also well-made and sturdy.
I especially liked the charm on the tassel, which is a good weight and definitely feels like a quality keepsake, and not some cheaply made trinket. Certainly you could save and reuse these caps and gowns for future graduates in your family.
The final item I was able to check out was the personalized notecards. We opted for a navy blue card with Matthew’s name in gold on the front. The paper used for these notecards is a nice weight and quality. These cards are perfect for post-graduation thank you notes, as well as an ongoing stash of personalized stationery as your student goes on to further education, job interviews, and so on. Since the cards are completely navy blue, you will want to get a white gel roll pen to use with them, and thoughtfully, Homeschool Diploma offers one for a nominal fee.
All-in-all, my impression of everything that I got to experience from Homeschool Diploma was care and quality. Each item is something I would be so pleased to use with my own graduates, knowing that every item is well-made and high-quality and reflective of our excitement at having reached this milestone with our child!
Any Christian homeschoolers that spend time on social media have surely heard of The Good and the Beautiful by now. This relative newcomer to the homeschool curriculum scene has been quickly accepted as a favorite by many, and is known for their integration of fine arts into their materials, which I know is a special interest for Enrichment Studies readers, so I’m always eager to check out their materials and see what might be of interest to my peeps. When The Good and the Beautiful asked me to review their Creative Writing Notebook and their Nature Notebook, it was an easy yes from me! They have generously sponsored this review.
The beautiful Creative Writing notebook does a terrific job of leading children through various aspects of creative writing in a way that is engaging and interesting. Designed for students in grades 4-12, my own high schoolers have been using this on all the days when I didn’t have something else planned for their writing. Even without my involvement, my students can easily move forward onto the next writing activity and they have enjoyed it.
This 89-page spiral notebook includes five sections:
I like how simply and effectively the student is guided on how to develop and improve their writing. The subtlety of it makes it feel less like school work, and more like a guided writing journal, which I think is wonderful for so many kids. I have reluctant writers and dyslexic kids, so this is an area we have struggled in. I’m happy to say that with the Creative Writing Notebook, I’ve seen each of my remaining high schoolers improve in their writing skills AND enjoy it! Pretty awesome!
Enrichment Studies families and others that value the integration of the arts into other subjects will appreciate that writing poetry and the process to get you there is included in this book. There are also several works of art included in this book that are used as jumping off points for observation, description, writing poems, and other aspects of writing development.
This is one of my favorite things that we’ve been using this school year, and I feel you really can’t go wrong with it for any child that is ready and able to do some writing. The fact that it’s presented so simply and in a non-intimidating way is a plus, and it doesn’t run on a lot of Mom Power, which I know we can all appreciate. It’s very affordable, at just $14.99, and will work with all learning styles.
One final note: The Good and the Beautiful is a non-denominational Christian program, but I found that the Creative Writing Notebook does not add in religious or spiritual messages. With the possible exception of the first page, it stays focused on writing skills alone, which makes this a great option for all families, including those that prefer to share spiritual beliefs with their children on their own, rather than with educational materials. As always, The Good and the Beautiful materials are wholesome with no objectionable or inappropriate content. It is well-done and stays on topic in an appropriate and professional way.
Nature Study is a popular buzzword in homeschool communities, and Charlotte Mason circles in particular. Whether you are already spending time in nature study, or if (like me) you kind of don’t understand where to start or what to do, you will love the Nature Notebook from The Good and the Beautiful.
This 117-page spiral bound nature notebook makes it fun and easy to get into nature study! Sections are divided by the four seasons (plus one Any Time section) and there are clear activities suggested for you to do, such as leaf collection or drawing, scavenger hunts done on a nature walk, description prompts (seamlessly pulling writing skills into the process), drawing and observation prompts, tie-ins with poetry and illustration, collection ideas (Seeds, rocks, flowers, leaves, etc.), and much more.
True Confession: I have always loved the idea of getting the kids out in nature, but honestly never understood what purposeful thing we were supposed to “do” aside from just take a walk and see things that we might talk about, etc. Having these suggested activities is a terrific way to get started and get over that hump of not really knowing what to do. The fact that you can jump around from one activity prompt to another is handy for families since it flexes with your needs and wishes. You can easily let the children pick what they’d like to do for your outing, and there is plenty that the kids can do as self-led nature study right in your own back yard! I also appreciate that there are plenty of things in the Nature Notebook that you can do indoors. Whether you have weather or personal needs that keep you inside, you can definitely keep going and let nature study be a part of your everyday school life.
Any age child can use this notebook, and you could use a fresh Nature Notebook year after year, since the observations you make and collections you form, etc. will be fresh and different. I also appreciate that you don’t have to finish this in one year. If you aren’t avid nature walkers, if you’re having a baby and not able to get out much this year, or simply had nature study fall of your radar for awhile, each child can still enjoy and treasure their Nature Notebook over several years and get so much out of it!
One aspect of the Nature Notebook that I found myself questioning was that there are some nature “scrapbooking” type activities suggestions that I am not sure how they would practically work. For example, gluing leaves onto pages seem like they would make it hard for the book to close, the leaves would eventually dry and get crushed and make a mess, etc. The bark rubbing activity seems like it has great potential to get the book pages ripped and would be awkward to accomplish with the page still attached to the book. I love the inclusion of these activities, but I think I would copy those particular pages on my home scanner/printer and provide a fresh stand-alone page for the kids to do those activities on instead. A 9×12 plastic storage box might be a perfect spot to store your Nature Notebook, plus all collections, nature treasures, and three-dimensional projects where they are more protected and can be enjoyed again and again.
Like the Creative Writing Notebook, the Nature Notebook doesn’t directly include any religious elements, so this is an item that will work for all families and all ages. The Nature Notebook sells for just $12.
Each year The Good and the Beautiful publishes a popular reading list, and subscribers to their newsletter can get it for FREE! They also sometimes give away freebies, so this is a great way to make sure you don’t miss a thing. You can subscribe on their home page by clicking here.Â
