Middlebury Interactive Languages - a Review

 We have finally found an online Spanish curriculum that my daughter loves!  The Spanish 1 Course from Middlebury Interactive Languages is a perfect fit for our family.  Due to some family issues, we have had to move to using more online or computer delivered courses in our homeschool.  We have used other language programs in the past, but none of the programs offered the right combination of conversation and mechanics.  Some of the programs were solely focused on conversation, while others focused solely on mechanics.  Being in 9th grade, my daughter needed to work on her Spanish 1 credit for high school.  I wanted her to be able to speak the language as well as understand it.  Middlebury Interactive Languages has ‘fit the bill’ so far for us!
     Offering courses in Spanish for grades K-12; and, French, German, and Chinese for grades 3-12, Middlebury offers immersion classes that saturate students with language skills.  There are even some advanced placement options for high schoolers.  We have been working through the semester long Spanish 1 course.  From what I have observed with my daughter, this course introduces students to the basics of Spanish.  Caitlyn has been working with vocabulary skills – learning tons of new words – grammar skills, including sentence structure, listening and speaking skills, and has been learning some cultural concepts.  The course is designed to take a semester to complete at the rate of one lesson per day over a typical eighteen week semester.  This equates to 90 lessons.  If a student needs to move faster or slower than one lesson per day, that’s fine because the course is totally self-paced. 
     My daughter uses a headset and listens / speaks / interacts with the lessons.  She has been able to complete one lesson each day.  It typically takes her thirty minutes to an hour, depending on how focused she is on the lesson and how difficult the skills are that are being covered.  She has really enjoyed the multimedia approach to learning language.  Throughout the lessons, she takes short assessments and we are able to see her progress.  If she wants to continue her studies, Middlebury offers enough courses for her to complete her high school requirement and more. The online format of the course is very user-friendly.  Caitlyn simply logs in to the program each day and her lesson is ready to go.  We have had no issues with glitches, etc… at all.  Since this is an internet-based program, it can be used anywhere we have internet access.  This has been wonderful for us!  She is able to complete her lessons wherever we happen to be – like the dentist office – without having to install a program on a different device.  The lessons Caitlyn completes are a nice balance of speaking and listening and objective questions that are answered on the computer.  The Spanish 1 course she has been taking is designed for students in grades 9-12.  It is rigorous, yet fun.  She really is enjoying it and I can definitely see her language skills developing.
     The pricing for the Spanish 1 course is as follows:

Without Teacher - $119 (per semester)

With Teacher -  add $175 (per semester) for a total of $294 / semester

     The “with teacher” option offers a certified Spanish instructor who is available to interact with students and to offer support to them. 
       To connect with Middlebury Interactive Languages on social media, click on the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Middlebury-Interactive-Languages/141015515949753
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiddInteractive
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/middinteractive/
Google +: https://plus.google.com/b/110371351490550861545/110371351490550861545/posts
 
My friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using many other course offerings from Middlebury Interactive Languages.  To read their reviews, click on the banner below.

Join God!

Are you going through life, or are you living? Every person exists, but not all truly live. My purpose for you is that you will live and thrive. You have been made to enjoy a successful life, not a life of defeat. There is a real enemy who exists for the purpose of killing, stealing, and destroying the life of abundance I have planned for you. Do not give in to him and do not miss the real reason you are here. You are not on this planet for the purpose of making more money so you can pay more taxes and buy bigger toys to satisfy your desires. You are here to live in relationship with me, preparing for eternity together in heaven. Live! Start now! Stop playing religion and live. Stop going at it in a half-hearted fashion and dive into My presence with all you are and have. Here I am, come join me. John 10:10; Proverb 19:21; Revelation 21:3-4

Standard Deviants Accelerate - a Review

 

I have two children who are still homeschooling.  Over the past few months, they have wanted to do more of their schoolwork on the computer. They enjoy the predictability of computer lessons and the instant feedback they receive when doing computer lessons.  We were given a year subscription to courses developed by Standard Deviants Accelerate.  The company has online courses available for students in grades 3+.  The Standard Deviants Accelerate Homeschool Courses are user-friendly, internet-based courses designed for either supplementing your existing curriculum or being used as a stand-alone curriculum. 

We have been using some of the science and English courses as our stand-alone curriculum for the past several weeks.  Each course is priced as indicated in the graphic below (from the Standard Deviants Accelerate website: 

The format of the classes we have used is simple to follow.  Each lesson has a video to view, followed by questions to answer / quizzes or tests to complete.  Once I had access to the subscription, I had to manually enroll my students into the courses they were taking.  This was a fairly straightforward procedure once I got into it.  After the kids were set up, I just gave them a little tour of the program and they took off.  They simply had to watch a video lesson and complete the accompanying activities each day. They are able to access a transcript of the video lesson, too, if needed.  Easy to set up, easy to schedule. We have mainly focused on Biology, English Comp, Nutrition, and U.S. History.  The Biology and Nutrition courses are designed for middle school students.  The English Comp. and U.S. History are supposed to be for high school students.  Unfortunately, my kids really have not been happy with this program.  While they like the idea of online courses, they were expecting a higher degree of rigor to the courses.  We went into higher level subjects to explore and found the same type of video instruction across the board. My kids described the videos as “cheesy” and “babyish.”  Honestly, from the name of the company, I was expecting more rigorous coursework, too.  I was disappointed. 
     I think that for a student below seventh grade, the videos would be enjoyable and informative.  For high schoolers, the juvenile level of the instruction is a little insulting and not as informative as it should be. 

I think the concept of the courses is great and the format of the program in general is great; however, the videos need to be revamped.  If the videos were redesigned in a way that presented challenging material to students and required deeper thought, The videos are designed to be humorous, while teaching concepts; however, the depth of content falls a little short. I think these courses would be wonderful for high schoolers.  Using online courses like this could definitely prepare students for the world of higher education where many courses are either totally online or at least have assignment submission, interaction, and testing online.  This program was not a good fit for our family, but I think it could be a great fit for a family with younger children.  For a family that needs a portable curriculum due to illness, moving, etc…, Standard Deviants Accelerate definitely fits the bill.  
     Standard Deviants Accelerate is active on social media.  To keep up with them, click on the links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDAccelerate
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SDAccelerate
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/SDAccelerate/
Google+: google.com/+Sdaccelerate
     My friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using courses from Standard Deviants Accelerate as well.  To read their reviews, click on the banner below.

   

He is always available!

You live at a time when there are many types of communication available and most of these are instant in nature. Years ago people had very few options for communicating with someone who was not with them physically. The limited options that existed were anything but instant in nature. One thing that has never changed; however, is the opportunity for you to communicate with Me at any time and any place. I am always available for you because I am living in you. Communication with Me is instantaneous for those who choose to participate through listening, talking, meditating, journaling, or writing letters to Me. I love spending time with you. My desire is for you to have a similar passion for spending time with Me. You never have to worry about waking Me because I never sleep. You never have to worry about bothering Me because My children are never a bother to Me. I am here and I eagerly await you calling upon Me. Jeremiah 33:3; Romans 8:11; Psalm 121:4

Essay Rock Star–The Textual Analysis–a Review

Teaching writing to children can be a daunting task, especially during the middle school and high school years.  Lily Latridis, founder of Fortuigence, has created a thorough series of courses, collectively called “Essay Rock Star,” which take writing instruction from drudgery to delight.  Essay Rock Star consists of four separate courses:  The Personal Statement, The Persuasive Essay, The Expository Essay, and The Textual Analysis.  Each online writing course, designed for students ages 12-18, is able to be used as a stand-alone course equating to 1/8 of a high school credit.  The four courses combined constitute a complete semester writing credit (.5 credits).  We have been using The Textual Analysis course for the past several weeks.

     Latridis is a licensed educator who left traditional classroom teaching to offer her skills as a writing teacher to students nationwide through her internet-based writing courses.  Each course is available for $57 and the set of four courses is available for $197.  There is no software to download.  We have used the course successfully from a computer, a tablet, and a smart phone.  The Textual Analysis course, as well as the other three courses, follow the same basic format. Within the format, students work their way through several lessons under the umbrella of five simple steps to master writing. The five steps students work through are:  Brainstorming, Organizing Ideas, Free Writing, Revision, and Editing.

      Once course registration, username, password, etc. is setup, students complete the Course Introduction, Pre-Assessment, and Rubrics lesson.  Students view a brief introductory video and compose and submit a writing sample to their instructor. Students are also able to open and view the rubrics used to assess their writing.  If your child is not familiar with a rubric, you may need to take a little time and explain the concept.  I did that with my kids and it was very helpful.

     When the introductory lesson is complete, students are able to pursue Steps 1-5.  Students may work at their own pace, and new lessons remain locked until the previous lesson is completed. Using the program for thirty to forty-five minutes, several days per week, my son finished the course in a little over three weeks.  He is in the twelfth grade.  My daughter is about to work through the course.  She is quite a bit younger.  I anticipate her needing around six weeks to complete the course.

      As a person with a degree in English, I appreciate the inclusion of all five of the steps in the writing process.  Many students leave out steps when trying to write and, as a result, their writing lacks substance and polish.  Following the steps as laid out in The Textual Analysis, my son was able to produce quality essays with little trouble.  Textual analysis is a more difficult form of writing than the other forms addressed in Essay Rock Star.  With this type of essay, students not only have to apply their writing skills but also have to determine the purpose an author had behind a piece of writing and whether or not that author achieved his purpose.  This is the more critical thinking type of writing.  It is a crucial style of writing for students to master if they are going to go to college.

     The only issue my son has had with the program was that he really did not enjoy the videos.  He preferred to read the accompanying transcript and then do the assignments.  He felt that the videos were a little bit simplistic and elementary.  The actual skills presented are quite advanced, however. 

     I appreciated the way this course is laid out for students.  It is easy to follow and easy to complete the lessons and submit them to the instructor.  Students receive grades and feedback within twenty-four hours of lesson submission.  It really takes the guesswork out of grading, since I don’t have to do it!  I don’t know about you, but critically grading my children’s writing is one of the most difficult tasks ever.  I have always had trouble with that chore because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.  By having a third party evaluating their writing and providing positive feedback as well as critique, I can be an encourager rather than an evaluator.

Fortuigence is active on social media.  To find it click on the links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fortuigence
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lilyiatridis
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+LilyIatridis and
https://plus.google.com/+Fortuigence1/posts
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lilyiatridis
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/fortuigence

Many other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using courses from Fortuigence.  To read their reviews, click on the banner below.

 

   

Love God

I love you more than you could ever imagine. You are very special to Me. It blesses Me when we spend time together. I already know you completely, but the more time you spend with Me the better you get to know Me. I want you to have a passion for Me. I want you to desire to know Me better today than you did yesterday. I want you to love me and seek Me with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You could add up all your achievements and all your credentials and they would amount to absolutely nothing compared to knowing and loving Me. Today My assignment for you is simple: love Me. As we spend time together today loving each other you will find the fulfillment and joy for which you have been longing. Philippians 3:7-9 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Dear God, I now understand that for me to truly experience a revival I must be in and remain in a passionate love relationship with You. I have focused more on “doing” things for You than I have focused on “being” in love with You. I realize that I am nothing without You. I pray that I will

God is Always Available

You live at a time when there are many types of communication available and most of these are instant in nature. Years ago people had very few options for communicating with someone who was not with them physically. The limited options that existed were anything but instant in nature. One thing that has never changed; however, is the opportunity for you to communicate with Me at any time and any place. I am always available for you because I am living in you. Communication with Me is instantaneous for those who choose to participate through listening, talking, meditating, journaling, or writing letters to Me. I love spending time with you. My desire is for you to have a similar passion for spending time with Me. You never have to worry about waking Me because I never sleep. You never have to worry about bothering Me because My children are never a bother to Me. I am here and I eagerly await you calling upon Me. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Psalm 121:4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Dear God, Thank You for always being available. Thank You for living in me. It brings me such joy to know that whenever I call on You, You are available. It humbles and amazes me when I consider that You, the only true God, desire for me to communicate with You. I commit to being faithful to You and to strive to remain in constant communication with you. Please show me how You want to use me as Your instrument to help bring revival. In Jesus’ Name,