Homeschool Geography Curriculum: Around the World Stories

The following post is a collaboration between Around the World Stories and MommyMaestra. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Homeschool parents! If you're raising a world citizen and are searching for a geography curriculum that supports your efforts, then Around the World Stories may be just what you're looking for!

As a mom, one of the most important things I want to pass on to my children is an appreciation for world cultures and travel. I’ve been traveling ever since I was a kid, and my husband and I have tried hard to continue traveling with our kids while they are growing up. So when I was given the opportunity to review Around the World Stories, a program created to make learning about countries around the world, I enthusiastically agreed. Here's what I think about it...

Geography & Social Studies Curriculum

I love it when I can knock out more than one subject at a time. And I especially love it when a company recognizes that geography is more than just memorizing maps and names. It’s about the people and the traditions and the culture. And this curriculum - Around the World Stories - does exactly that. It combines both geography and social studies to help make countries around the world come alive for kids using audiobook stories, printable activities, and cultural information. My 8 year old is the perfect age for this program, and I will be able to use it for several more years, so this is a winner, winner, chicken dinner in my book. Overall, the program is best suited for kids ages 4 or 5 to 11-years-old.

If I wasn't a homeschooler, I would still be intrigued by this program. Especially since many schools no longer teach geography. If that was the case, I think I would use this program over the summer with my kids, or as a weekend activity once a month.

Printable Learning Activities

Around the World Studies is like a digital library. Parents (or students) can login to the website and select a country that they want to learn about. The country’s home page pops up with 5 tabs to choose from:

• Stories (more about that in a minute)

• Exploring [Country]

• Arts & Culture

• Food

• Printables

The Exploring tab gives you a broad overview of the country with little sections that highlight important aspects of the country. For example, when I select the country Spain and click on the Exploring Spain tab, I learn a lot of fun facts about the country, such as their New Year’s tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, or that Spain has more than 3,000 miles of coastline, or what Spanish tapas are. The topics selected for this page typically relate back to the stories that are shared for each country. 

In Art & Culture, they talk about Flamenco, Cubism, and the master painter, Picasso. I like that it included an art project with video tutorials for creating your own Cubist painting. And in the Food tab, they highlight iconic foods and even include printable recipes!

It seemed to me that most of the tabs included at least one printable activity, but you can easily find them all in one place under the Printables tab. This just makes it easier to find them once you’ve finished listening to the stories and going through the tabs.

The Stories

The real highlight of this curriculum, though, are the stories. Around the World Stories has written original stories that they have then uploaded as audiobooks. Each country has several to choose from. They typically run about 30 minutes.

My 8yo finds the stories engaging for two reasons: 

1. Different characters are often portrayed by different voice actors, including kids.

2. The stories themselves are unique and fun to listen to.

I like that I can play the stories anytime and anywhere. We can listen in long car rides, during our school lessons, or even at bed time. The first night we listened to one before bed, we thought it was a fun change from our traditional bedtime reading routine. In fact, my son asked if we could listen to another the next night. For now, I have agreed to listen to one once a week instead of reading a bedtime story.

And since I know that audiobooks play such a valuable role in my son’s reading development, I can take extra joy in listening.

Great for Individuals or Groups

This semester, I have the pleasure of helping out our local homeschool co-op by teaching Global Cultures & Travel Studies to middle schoolers. I have found this program to be such a great way to supplement my lessons. Each week, I choose a different country to teach about. While designing my lesson, I use Around the World Stories as a reference for topics and printable resources. Time doesn’t really allow for me to use the stories, and my students may be a little old for them anyway, but the printable activities were a great addition.

Right now, Around the World Stories offers content for 21 countries:

• Austria 

• China

• Czech Republic

• England

• France

• Germany

• Greece

• India

• Ireland

• Italy

• Japan

• Nepal

• Netherland

• Poland

• Portugal

• Russia

• South Korea

• Spain

• Thailand

• Turkey

• Vietnam

Want to see them add a particular country? Follow them on Facebook or Instagram and let them know!

How it Works

Around the World Stories is a subscription-based program. For $29.95 a month, you get a ticket each month to use in the digital library. Just login to the website and click on Stories to see the list of countries. Click on the one you want to learn about that month and get immediate access. Or you can choose the yearly option and get 12 tickets all at once. And if you use up all 12 before the year is out? No worries, you can buy extra tickets at any time. 

If your kids are still too young (or are grown up), but it would be perfect for nieces, nephews, or grandchildren, then you'll be happy to know that they also offer Gift Certificates!

The hardest part of it all is figuring out which country to start with!

If this program sounds like a good fit for your child, visit their website today to learn more.

Want to find this post again? Pin it!

Other Posts for Elementary Resources that You May Enjoy:

• 40 Ways to Create a Multicultural Homeschool
  
  
• Igniting Wonder for World Cultures with Picture Books
  
  
• App Review: World Music for Kids with Daria Music

Personal Finance Curriculum for Tweens

The following post is a collaboration between Beyond Personal Finance and MommyMaestra. All thoughts and opinions are the personal ones of guest writer, Stacie Farias. 

Parents! Are you looking for a fun and engaging curriculum to teach kids 8 - 12 about managing money? Check out this review of Beyond Personal Finance's NEW program for tweens, BEFORE Personal Finance.

Personal Finance Lessons Then and Now

Allegedly, my 7th grade end-of-the-year math project was supposed to be a “fun” exercise on money. We were partnered up and tasked with spending $1,000,000. Sounds fun, right? The stipulations were that we could not buy more than 1 of each item and we had to provide “proof” of purchase. Y’all, this was before the internet. My family didn’t even own a computer yet. So there we were clipping newspaper For Sale ads, trying to find items we hadn’t purchased yet but a million bucks was not as easy to spend as we thought. If my memory is correct, my partner and I scored 68%. That was my only public school experience with finance education until Economics in 12th grade. 

Finding Before Personal Finance

Forty years later, I’m homeschooling my own children and I am, quite frankly, relieved that author Charla McKinley and her son Jack have written curricula that addressed the topic of personal finance. My obvious trauma (joking but not joking) leftover from that one 7th grade experience with budgeting has absolutely stilted any confidence in teaching personal finance to my own children. And I have a minor in Economics!! I jumped at the chance to review Before Personal Finance because I really needed a subject-matter expert to help me teach my children. 

Breakdown of Before Personal Finance

Before Personal Finance is a curriculum best suited for ages 10-12, maybe a little younger if their subtraction skills are advanced, which addresses key topics in personal finance in ten lessons. There is only 1 worktext that both the parent and student use together with a QR code to online teacher resources that are essential to the lessons.

There is also a How-To video for the parent, which I strongly recommend you watch before starting this curriculum. Each lesson addresses one specific topic in personal finance, for example, Lesson 1 is  “Introduction to Money” and Lesson 2 follows with “Earning Money.” Each lesson builds on the previous lesson and must be done in sequence. Lesson 3 is “Budgeting” and flows logically into Lesson 4 “Smart Spending.” The Lesson Overview estimates each lesson taking around 2 hours, however, I found that each lesson takes roughly 1-1.5 hours. 

Individual Lesson Breakdown

Each lesson follows the same format: 

• Teacher’s Corner page addressed to the parent/teacher

• Future You page addressed to the student

• Two pages of new information for the lesson

• Lesson Activity

• Store page for the student to “purchase” items

• Budget page

• Fun Activity page

• People Who Have Made a Difference page (Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, etc)

• Quiz

• Reflection page

The lessons address the student as their future-selves with money gifted to them by their grandparents, ($300 to be exact). Then the lessons present scenarios where the “future you” spends or earns money.

What I Love About the Curriculum

There is always a “plot twist” to each lesson where the student is confronted with a scenario that impacts their budget. A spinning wheel of scenarios is available through the “teacher resources” QR code. Some of the “plot twists” my son got were “Broke your retainer. You have to spend $200 for replacement,” and “Lost my friend’s headphones. You have to buy new ones for them. They cost $80.” Doesn’t stuff like that happen ALL THE TIME?

These plot twists, in my opinion, are the cherry-on-top of Before Personal Finance because life isn’t static. Life rarely ever allows for perfect budget planning. So how would a personal finance curriculum adequately prepare the children for real-life personal finance without factoring in the unexpected? The 

"plot twists” are the chef’s kiss of this curriculum. 

Bottom Line

Before Personal Finance is perfect for the homeschool family with tweens interested in money. What tween isn’t interested in money?! We used this program as a fun summer subject but I could definitely see Before Personal Finance for use throughout a semester, as a morning basket read aloud, or as a fun activity during Advent so that the children are money-conscious before witnessing the expense of the holiday season.

In fact, I enjoyed this one so much that we are definitely buying the teen version. And I wish they had one for teens opening businesses. Not just personal finance. (Hint, hint. Anyone reading this?)

Where to Get It

So if you have a tween - don't wait! This topic is a must add to your school curriculum. Get your copy of Before Personal Finance- A Beginners Guide to the Future here on the Beyond Personal Finance website.

Want to find this review again? Pin it!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of level two for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ~Stacie

----------------

Bio:

Stacie Servantes Farias is an Army wife and mom of 6 with a “very healthy” obsession for Snoopy, Disney movies, Audrey Hepburn, Dr. Pepper, Whataburger, books, and homeschooling. Originally from Mission, Texas, Stacie and her high-school sweetheart hubby live with their kids and dog in a different home every few years, because that is the military life. She has big plans to write a book exploring her theory that La Llorona drowned her children because they would take their socks off all over the house and then would complain that they never had clean socks!

LLamitas Spanish II Review

The following post is a collaboration between Llamitas Spanish and MommyMaestra. All thoughts and opinions are the personal ones of guest writer, Stacie Farias. This post contains affiliate links.

Parents raising bilingual children: Need an easy-to-use Spanish curriculum that blends culture with language learning? Check out Llamitas Spanish!

It is a great fit for parents who are bilingual and trying to raise bilingual kids, or those who don't speak the language but are still trying to give the gift of bilingualism to their children. Read on to learn more about this program.

What is Llamitas Spanish?

Llamitas Spanish is a relatively new Spanish curriculum provider for homeschoolers, co-ops, charter programs, and traditional schools. It is secular-based and teaches Spanish with an open-and-go format that even a non-speaker can use with ease. Llamitas’ mission to “provide an academically robust, culturally authentic, and beautifully illustrated Spanish curricula” is definitely something this Latina, homeschool mama can support.

Easy to Use Spanish Curriculum

Having almost finished Llamitas Level I with a couple of my six children, I was excited to have the opportunity to review the newly available Llamitas Level II. What was previously Level II is now Llamitas Level III and I was relieved. Taking my 9 and 11-year-olds’ Spanish proficiency into consideration, the former Level II was too advanced for them. It was just too big of a jump from Level I. My personal criteria for picking homeschool curricula is that it must be “Easy + 1” for my children, a criteria I have found again and again to be a good fit for our family since I first heard these words from Andrew Pudewa of IEW. This new Level II is exactly that: Easy + 1.

It is formatted exactly like Level I with a few more advanced activities. There are 6 thematic units encompassed in an all-in-one Activity Book. There are 18 Level 2 Readers which are small books for the children to practice reading. There are helpful links to songs and YouTube videos for each individual lesson and THE clearest audio tracks to help with pronunciation (which I particularly appreciate because other programs have terrible audio). However, my favorite bit about Level II is that it comes with a beautiful picture book of Short Stories.

The Spanish Text of Short Stories

The collection of Level II Short Stories are to help the student “practice the vocabulary, grammar, and phonics from the units” and to ”learn about the Hispanic culture, traditions, and the natural world in Latin America!”

It is written by Llamitas founder Corrie Wiik and María Adelaida Soto Sánchez. I found the short stories (in English and Spanish) to be culturally relevant, appropriate for young Spanish learners, and pleasant. Color me impressed!

What blew me away was the illustrations by Ekaterina Ilina. This is where the color has been hiding! Saturated in the brilliant and vibrant hues of Latin America are stories about the pink dolphins of the Amazon, pineapples, and a quinceañera, among other things. My personal favorite, which will surprise no one, is the story of the monarch butterfly.

Incorporating Different Subjects

You can see from the Scope and Sequence that Llamitas incorporates other subjects into their levels beyond Phonics, Literacy Comprehension, and Grammar. The math concepts include addition, subtraction, odd and even numbers, telling time, among others. Don’t be discouraged if your kiddo is proficient in these concepts because it’s not about teaching how to add and subtract, it’s about listening to math concepts in Spanish and learning the vocabulary that goes with it.

But perhaps the cross-curricular nature of Llamitas is best displayed in their choice of topics for social studies and science. My favorite science lesson is about the monarch migration into Mexico but I love, love, love the lessons on Pura Belpré and Julio Tello. These additional subjects do not replace a social studies and science curriculum, but very nicely supplement one. Level II (like Level I) includes a few picture studies and songs in Spanish to incorporate music and support the themes.

Supplemental Digital Resources

Can I just take a moment to say that the digital resources of Llamitas curates for each unit are remarkable. On days when we don’t have enough time to complete a full lesson, I can pull up any of the Spotify playlists to listen to on-the-go. The SoundCloud audio tracks are crystal clear, which is my biggest gripe about most Spanish curricula.

You can tell when the audio is not from a native or heritage speaker or when the sound quality is poor. This is not the case with Llamitas. The YouTube videos are thoughtfully chosen and I appreciate being able to have something that all my littles can watch to feel like they are participating too.

Overall, Llamitas Level II is a beautiful and delightful program that I think any parent can easily use to bring Spanish and Hispanic culture into their homeschool. If it sounds like a good fit for your family, you can learn more or purchase the level of your choice on the Llamitas Spanish website!

You may also be interested in...

• Book Review- Raising Bilingual Children: A Practical Guide
• 28 Bilingual English-Spanish Fairy Tales & Fables
• 5 Things To Consider When Choosing Bilingual Homeschooling
• Barton Reading and Spelling: Expensive, Boring, and Effective

Want to find this review again? Pin it!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of level two for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ~Stacie

----------------

Bio:

Stacie Servantes Farias is an Army wife and mom of 6 with a “very healthy” obsession for Snoopy, Disney movies, Audrey Hepburn, Dr. Pepper, Whataburger, books, and homeschooling. Originally from Mission, Texas, Stacie and her high-school sweetheart hubby live with their kids and dog in a different home every few years, because that is the military life. She has big plans to write a book exploring her theory that La Llorona drowned her children because they would take their socks off all over the house and then would complain that they never had clean socks!

K-2 Math AND Science Curriculum

The following post is in collaboration with SPORK. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Homeschool parents! If you've been looking for a curriculum that covers BOTH math and science, read on to learn more about SPORK. This K-2 program may be just what you're looking for!

As a homeschool mom, I'm always on the lookout for quality programs and resources that either save me time, or money, or both. So when I was given the opportunity to review SPORK Butterfly Math & Science K-2, a program that combines TWO subjects, I was quick to agree. Here's what I think about it...

Two Subjects in One

I am a HUGE fan of cross-curricular learning. In fact, I would bet that many homeschoolers are. It's one of the things that makes unit studies so popular. For me, it's because I love teaching my children how interconnected the world (and universe!) is. Seeing the relationship between objects and/or concepts is a powerful skill that I want my kids to develop and use as they grow up. Plus, I think it makes learning more fun!

What SPORK is Like

I wasn't sure what to expect from this program. But it turns out, I really do love it. Why? Because of several reasons:

First, the layout/dashboard is simple. There are 18 units with 8 to 12 lessons in each. Each lesson covers a new concept for math and one new concept for science. For example, lesson 15 covers tallying (math) and states of matter (science). I can go into the dashboard, pull up the lesson we're on and click on instructions. From there, it is a simple list layout with links to printables or digital resources for everything we cover.

The layout can be short or long. But each activity is clearly defined in its own highlighted box:

Second, the directions are minimal. This is an activity-based program and my son learns by doing. I don't have to lecture, but we have discussions and I might click a link to pull up a visual to explain a concept, such as states of matter:

The program recommends a schedule of five times a week for 85 minutes. This works out to be about 17 minutes a day. Given that some lessons are a little longer and others a little shorter, this is fair. I don't really pay any attention to the time frame because we just go at a stead pace and try to get one or two lessons done each day. But we probably do about 15 - 20 minutes a day. Days with "experiments" or hands-on activities can take a little longer, but we don't mind if it is something that really engages my son. 

A Variety of Learning Activities

Third (and the thing that I love the most), the lessons are consistent - but diverse! This sounds like an oxymoron, but we start off with a review of the previous lesson and/or previously learned concepts, then move on to learning something new, and then we always end with the Learning Path. 

So let me explain this a bit. We usually do one worksheet that just reviews the skills he has learned. The worksheets are not tedious. Seriously, there is like one question for each concept:

I cannot emphasize enough why I like these worksheets. They don't require my son to do the same type of problem or answer the same questions over and over again like a sheet of multiplication questions. As you can see from the picture above, the problems/directions are brief and require him to do something once (or at most three times as in the last question). These bite-sized problems prevent my son from hating the work because he answers one thing, then - BOOM! - he's answering/doing something different. 

You might think this just wouldn't work, but repetition is built into this program so that he does this everyday. That daily repetition carries over with some older concepts replaced as new ones are learned. This repetition builds my son's confidence and his enjoyment of both science and math. It really is brilliantly done. 

And the new concepts may require us to do a hands-on activity, study and discuss some visual aids, or something completely different, such as one fun activity for learning about tally marks that required my son to watch an animation of cows jumping over a moon and use tally marks to keep track of how many had jumped (I had the option to click on the image and make it full-screen)...

So my son isn't doing only lectures and then worksheets in every lesson. He knows that he will do at least one worksheet, but it's quick and "easy." 

The Learning Path

And at the end of each lesson, my son does his Learning Path. This is an online, game-like series of tasks that my son does. The Learning Path looks like this:

And it can be done with a touchscreen or a mouse/touchpad. Each number takes him to an activity that covers the concepts he has been learning. I know that he's developing those math and science skills, and he thinks he's getting "tech time" and playing games.

If you'd like to try before you buy, you can definitely request a demo from the company. I ALWAYS tell parents who are shopping around for a curriculum to download the samples or request a demo before they buy to see if it is a good fit for their family. Doesn't matter what the subject is, it only makes sense to try it first.

What's Included in the Curriculum

When you purchase this program (only $39!!), you'll get access to the online learning portal. You will have a dashboard, and your child will have a separate one so that they can access the Learning Path. 

I also received the manipulatives kit that provides all the items we need to do the activities. It has a LOT packed into the kit for the price ($45). I think ours had around 20 items and it included everything from a geoboard and rubber bands to base ten blocks to tangrams and a lot more. But if you have all the basic math manipulatives, you might not need to purchase this. It's definitely way cheaper than purchasing each of these manipulatives independently, though.

And lastly, I received three books: 

• The Teacher Resources Book ($35) that contains the non-worksheet printed resources that you may need while teaching, as well as the tests for the end of each unit (don't worry - they're simple!).
  


• The Butterfly Math & Science B ($45) - Student Workbook: Part 1 which contains all of the printable worksheets and activity sheets for units 1 - 9. 
  
  
• The Butterfly Math & Science B ($45) - Student Workbook: Part 2 which contains all of the printable worksheets and activity sheets for for units 10 - 18. 

These books are great if you don't have a printer or want to save on ink. But all of these materials are available for download through the learning portal, so I haven't even used them. For visual aids, I just show my son the screen and we discuss the topic. And if I need a worksheet or resource printed out, I just click the link, open the PDF, and print it. I feel like I save a lot of paper (and trees!) this way. But I also have an Epson EcoTank, so printing doesn't cost me a fortune in ink. If you have just a regular inkjet printer (or don't have a printer), then purchasing these books may be way more cost effective.

You can find all of these and the resources for grades K - 2 here in the SPORK shop.

If this program sounds like a good fit for your child, I encourage you to request your demo and purchase the program for your child's grade!

Want to find this post again? Pin it!

Other Posts for Elementary Resources that You May Enjoy:

• Calico Spanish for Elementary Students
  
  
• Igniting Wonder for World Cultures with Picture Books
  
  
• Martín y Pepe: Beginning Readers in Spanish