Happy Pi Day

Don't worry, you still have time!!

The Nomadic Professor: US History 1 & 2

I have another homeschool product to share with you today from Timberdoodle, The Nomadic Professor: US History 1 & 2.  This digital course is geared for high schoolers (grades 9th and above) or students aged 14+.  This course qualifies for high school credit and /or can also be used to prepare for the AP and CLEP tests.

US1 or American History 1 is broken into 10 units starting before Columbus looking at the pre-Columbian Americas through The Constitution and its ratification.  US2 or American History 2 is similarly broken into 10 units beginning with Washington's presidency through the end of the Reconstruction era.

I really like the "nomadic approach" outlined above - guided, flexible, transparent and content-rich.  I also really like the organization of this course as well.  Each unit has materials needed or specific to that portion available for each session.  I appreciate that the course material is easily accessible and available in print-friendly versions for the students to use!  These courses use a combination of engaging videos and text to help history come alive.

Every unit includes a unit preview, pre-quiz, the unit material, summary and structure terms, post quiz and a document lesson.

Above you can see what will be covered in Unit 8: European Rivalries

I have really enjoyed that there are both pre-quizzes and post-quizzes to test the students knowledge of the material so they can see what they are learning and check that they are understanding the information.  The document lessons are great as well.  This is where students will look at historical literature and focus on different skills for historical literacy.  They are taught to look at the source, contextualize about that source, read and infer about the claims/evidence/implications, and corroborate if other sources agree or disagree.

I really love the building your structures concept.  It’s where you take the historical concepts and piece or connect them together, you need to be able to explain the definition of each of the terms and how they connect.

So for this first unit, students will need to be able to define or explain Mesoamericans, the Neollithic Revolution, Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Maya, glyphs, and Tenochtitlan.  This can be done a number of different ways but it’s such a great way to solidify what you have learned and understanding how it fits together, so neat!

If you are looking for a US History curriculum for your high schooler or a course to help prepare your student for the AP and CLEP tests The Nomadic Professor would be an excellent choice!

 

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received The Nomadic Professor in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Happy National Tile Day

It seems random but today is National Tile Day! Do you have a favorite type: ceramic, porcelain, glass, marble, granite, natural stone, or something else?  I’ve always enjoyed mosaic tile.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Hope you are having a great one!

Happy Groundhog Day

 

Laser Chess Review {Timberdoodle's Customized Curriculum Kit}

I want to share with you today one of the fun thinking skills components included in D's customized Timberdoodle kit, Laser Chess.  Laser Chess is manufactured by ThinkFun Games and is recommended for kids 8 and older or 3rd grade and up.  Similar to standard Chess it is a 2 player game.

What's included in our game?  Our game includes one game board, 26 playing pieces, and instructions.  The 26 pieces consist of 2 lasers, 2 kings, 4 switches, 14 deflectors, and 4 defenders.  Instead of the standard black and white colors in normal chess, the two teams consist of gray/red pieces and blue/white pieces.

I love how easily the pieces fit inside our box.

Above you can see what the pieces look like.  I appreciate that they are durable.

How do you play?

Determine which player will be gray/red and which player will be blue/white.  Select one of the 5 board set ups to begin the game (choices include in increasing difficulty Ace, Curiosity, Grail, Mercury and Sophie).  

 

Above you can see the board set up options as well as the board set up in Ace format.

The blue/white team goes first.  Player 1 chooses one of the following actions:  move one of their own pieces in any direction, rotate one of their pieces 90 degrees without moving spaces, or rotate their own laser.  Afterwards, the player must then fire their laser by pressing the button on the top.  If the laser lands on pieces (opponents or even their own), they are removed from the board (essentially killed).  Then Player 2 takes their turn in the same way.  The first player to strike their opponents king with a laser wins!  I say a laser because it is totally possible to strike your own king and sabbotage yourself inadvertently.

 

C and F playing, you can see F's laser is hitting C's wrist

 

Above C has won by taking out his opponents king.

Laser Chess is quick and you learn a lot every time you play it!  Like many strategy games, I feel like there is so much learned from trial and error and after playing a few times you really start developing your strategies and get the feel for how to use your laser and pieces.  Laser Chess is great for logic and problem solving, visual perception and helps develop reasoning skills.

Check out the video below to see more about Laser Chess.

I also want to note that while there are 5 starting board set ups presented in the instructions you can also make up your own so the possibilities are really endless.  Laser Chess is a really fun take on Chess and the kids enjoy having it.  I think my boys appreciate it the most and it is a great resource to have within our homeschool!

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I will be refunded the purchase price of our curriculum kit in exchange for my honest reviews of our kit.  All opinions are my own.

F's 9th Birthday {Lego Party}

We finally celebrated F turning 9 with family and friends over the weekend!  He had a fun LEGO themed party and David made him a green LEGO cake at his request.  Unfortunately I did not get many pictures but a great time was had by all.

One side of F's cake had his name.

 

Another had his age

And here's a good view of the top of the cake!