Let Me Introduce You to Dew Learning, a Brand New Online Christian Curriculum

Introducing Dew Learning | RaisingArrows.netI did receive compensation for introducing you to this new company.  However, I choose who I work with very carefully and base my decision on my own personal convictions and whether or not I feel it would be helpful to my readers.  I hope you do find this helpful!

I know how difficult it can be to step into the world of homeschooling. I know there are seasons in life when homeschooling seems beyond overwhelming. I know how difficult it can be to keep up and keep going.  Sometimes you just need a little help.  OK, truth be told, sometimes you need A LOT of help!

That is why I am pleased to introduce you to Dew Learning, a brand new K12 online curriculum rooted in sound Bible teaching.

While I prefer a parent-led discussion-based kind of learning, I also realize there are circumstances in our lives that do not always allow for this ideal.  It is important that even if we cannot teach every subject to our children ourselves, we do not simply allow just anyone with just any worldview to be an authority in our children’s lives.  It is also important to realize no curriculum is neutral and whatever we choose MUST be rooted and grounded in the Word of God.  Dew Learning is striving to be a curriculum that meets a need without compromising the vision.

iPad based curriculum from Dew Learning | RaisingArrows.net

Dew Learning was built specifically for iPad (you know how I love my iPad), but it is also easily accessible from your home computer, so no worries if you do not own an iPad.

This curriculum spans all ages and can be purchased a subject at a time or in a complete package.  This allows you the ability to utilize their program in whatever areas you need help in or have your entire curriculum all in one place.

Dew Learning will have their Kindergarten through 4th grade curriculum available for the upcoming school year, with 5th through 12th following the next year.  You can find out more on their site and even register to win an iPad or a year’s worth of curriculum!

Learn More About Dew Learning!

Check out See the Light and Enter to Win a Cartooning DVD!

It’s time to start thinking about next year’s curriculum, so let me suggest one of our favorites…

See the Light | RaisingArrows.net

See the Light has an amazing lineup of art projects and curriculum that having meaning and message behind them.  We have used their Art Class DVDs as our homeschool art for the last 2 years.  I had all but given up on doing art as part of our homeschool until I found See the Light.  So many of the art programs we had tried were not practical for our family.  See the Light was different and very much what I was looking for.  A few of the reasons I am so impressed with See the Light are:

  • Practical art lessons
  • Great for a wide range of ages
  • Doable projects
  • Scripture tied into lessons
  • Evangelism tools tied into lessons

See the Light has also released stand-alone Art Projects.  We ended up trying the Bonus DVD Cartooning because my children are forever doodling on their schoolwork!

Cartooning from See the Light | RaisingArrows.netAfter chores on Friday, I sat all the children around the table while I started lunch, and they worked through some of the lessons on the DVD.  It kept everyone busy and happy, and best of all, they were having fun!

cartooningcollage

Want to know more?  Watch my video review of Cartooning:

And guess what?!  Tonight (7pm ET), you can catch Pat Knepley at the Schoolhouse Expo, giving a lesson from the Cartooning DVDClick here for more information.
Pat Knepley

 Ready for a Giveaway?

One reader will win the

Cartooning Art Projects DVD

Click on the giveaway options below to get started!

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EXCLUSIVE Easter Special from See the Light!

Easter Special SeeTheLightAttention:  This offer is EXCLUSIVE and is not advertised on the site!

Celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection with your children in a meaningful and artistic way this year!  Everything you need is included in this kit and you can get it for only $25!  This includes FREE SHIPPING!

This is an AMAZING deal!

All you have to do is CLICK HERE and use the code:

cross

when you check out!

(NOTE: I’m hearing this code only works in lowercase, so I changed it here!  Hope that solves any issues you were having!)

Getting Ready for the Advent Season {with giveaway!}

affiliate linkFor several years, we have done a Jesse Tree devotional during the Advent season.  While I loved the tradition of telling the story of Christ from the beginning of Creation to the time of His birth, I felt like the message was not quite reaching my children, especially the younger crowd.

This year, I decided to switch things up and purchase Truth in the Tinsel as our Christmas devotional.

Each day leading up to Christmas is filled with Bible reading, discussion geared toward the younger child, and a simple, but meaningful craft.  We will be making 2 of each ornament for our tree so the children can work in groups with the olders helping the youngers.

I had a blast gathering up all the supplies and separating them out into “Advent Bags” like I had seen on Confessions of a Homeschooler (I also snagged some of her Advent Ornaments to use as tags for the outside of the bags).

However, I realize not everyone enjoys, nor has time for, the craftiness of ornament making.  Just this year, Truth in the Tinsel came out with premade printable ornaments for those of you who want to do the devotional without the craft!

You can also find Truth in the Tinsel in Spanish, and your entire Sunday School class can do the devotional with a 4 week Truth in the Tinsel Church Curriculum!

Amanda White, author of Truth in the Tinsel, has been gracious enough to give my readers a 20% off coupon code:

and I’ll be giving away 1 copy of Truth of Tinsel this week!
(scroll down to find the giveaway widget – email readers click here)

I also wanted to tell you about a new find from this past week that has me excited to share with my family and with all of you – Nature Study Through the Holidays.

This ebook is separated into weekly activities that include Scripture references, hymns to sing, and nature study ideas.  One idea is to take a Red & Green Walk.  The children go out and look for red and green things in God’s creation and record them.  There are also suggestions for gifts your children can make from things they find in nature and ideas for keeping Christ and the peace He offers at the forefront of the season.  This Advent Nature Study is well done and I am sure our family will be making many memories surrounding the activities found in it.

You can purchase Nature Study Through the Holidays here for only $5.00!

If you have any questions about how our family intends to use either of the products, don’t hesitate to ask.  This is my first year using both, so I won’t have all the kinks worked out, but I do have a general plan as to when and how we’ll be fitting these in to our December days.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaching Your Child to Read with Phonics Museum {a review}

I’ve been promising this review for quite some time, but I wanted to give our family plenty of time to use it before I told all of you about it.  Well, after a year and a half of using it, I think I’m ready!

The product is Phonics Museum from Veritas Press.  I chose it because I like a lot of what Veritas Press offers and I wanted a more structured phonics program as I was struggling to teach my 3rd child to read.  (Note: My first child learned how to read with very little effort my 2nd child taught herself to read.)

I went ahead and purchased the Kindergarten/1st Grade Combo at my husband’s urging considering I had another child who would be entering Kindergarten at the heels of #3.

We jumped in full force and we loved all the hands on activities!  There were art lessons and projects, art cards to hang in the museum and coloring pages that matched each art card, an alphabet bag to hold all the treasures we found that began with each letter we were learning, puzzle pieces to spell our words, and games to play.  There was even a CD with lively songs to teach reading concepts.

But, my daughter continued to struggle, so we took a 2 month break and picked it back up after that.  And she began to soar!  At 7, she is fluently reading on a 2nd to 3rd grade level!  My 6 year old has also started the program and he is starting to sound out words as well (a huge accomplishment considering his speech delays!).

So, let me share with you some of the pros and cons we have encountered, so you can make an informed decision about the product, but suffice it to say, for us, the cons were easily overcome and were not enough to cancel out the pros of the program.

Pros:

  • Lesson plans are easy to follow and give you everything you need to know to teach with confidence.
  • The Readers are incredibly engaging and interesting.  Not your typical early reader fare.
  • The use of art in the program adds a sense of beauty and wonderment to what can often be a dry subject.
  • The coloring pages include a description of the art and the artist and often his or her religious views.
  • The workbooks are useful and not full of “busy work.”

Cons:

  • The Lesson Plans also include plans for private Christian schools, so you have to wade through some of that.
  • Some of the songs on the CD are too difficult to follow for young children and a wee bit boring.
  • Some of the games would be better played with the entire family.  We had to drag a sibling or two in on some of them.
  • The iron-on for the alphabet bag fell apart quickly.  Surely it wasn’t my ironing skills.
  • We skipped 2 readers due to the fact that we do not teach mythology to children this age.
  • The photos while of nostalgic/vintage quality do depict a few things our family does not care for…a shell-clad mermaid and a hideous-looking witch.

All in all, Phonics Museum has proven to be worth the money I spent on it.  I know I probably could have used a much cheaper method, but the most important things Phonics Museum provided me was accountability, structure, and consistency – something I had been lacking with everything else I had tried.  Perhaps it was the fact that the program was interesting even to a 35 year old homeschooling mama and sometimes, THAT is priceless!