New stuff coming in the mail!

[craft_media_hero]

We are finally getting New Child Montessori, and I'm really looking forward to it! We'll use it as more of a springboard for inspiration than as a true curriculum guide. We're also getting the guidebook that comes with it, so that will be a nice very basic Montessori album as I don't have anything like that, just stuff from online with no pics---the math demos will be great!

Also in the mail are the Real Science for Kids set. I just went ahead and ordered all of them as they are super cool and go up through elementary.

I can't wait for these materials, I've been eye-ing them forever!

We also received the "Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek" set, and honestly, I think it's a little pricey for what you're getting . . . although I think that if you were a parent with no background in Greek and who wasn't comfortable making your own handout sheets or needing help with pronunciation then they are good. They have a very Christian overtone throughout. I do expect some New Testament translations in any Ancient Greek resource (even "secular" materials) but it is obviously geared toward a Bible study type learning.

Guess I should put that in the homeschool reviews, huh? I've never done one of those yet . . .

I'm going to get some more fun stuff for the Greek; I wouldn't want to use the Hey Andrew by itself as it is a little dry feeling for my tastes. But still pretty cool---the only Ancient Greek resource I've seen for young kids.

Yay! I love getting new homeschool materials!!

[LuxPerpetua]

Would you mind elaborating on the Real Science for Kids set? I haven't heard of this and am curious to know about what it is, and where you got it. Thanks!

[craft_media_hero]

Lux, these are the ones we ordered:

RS4K

Although I do think that early Science should be based on observation and experience, I think that these books are a pretty sweet resource. The have experiments throughout and address "real science" without getting hung up on math, so that younger kids who aren't yet ready for the math can still understand the concepts.

Plus, you can't really get cuter illustrations of chemical bonds, right? I think it would be cool to get a molecular model set to go along with, and just go real nice and easy through the books. They go from like K up to 5th grade or smth, so I think that we'll make use of them for quite a while.

DD loves science, but I need a guide, I've tried winging it and I just don't feel like I get it all together by trying to make unit studies, yk? But the RS4K should be cool, and the New Child Montessori has a lot of nature/science emphasis as well, which is a big part of why we decided to order it, too.

[jenfl]

If you're doing Montessori at home, have you seen the Montessori homeschooling thread in the Montessori area? We'd love to have some more people to bounce ideas off of!

[theretohere]

Isn't waiting on the mail fun?
From what I understand, the Hey, Andrew! stuff also is pretty evengelical.

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by theretohere

Isn't waiting on the mail fun?
From what I understand, the Hey, Andrew! stuff also is pretty evengelical.

Yes, I would say that it definitely is.

We are secular (actually we lean toward pagan but don't center our learning around it) homeschoolers, so I will sub out or skip over sections that I feel are inappropriate for us. It does mildly irritate me . . . but I'm grateful that I have a little bit of background in Greek so that I feel pretty comfortable making up substitutions. Like they have "God" as the "gamma" sound (which is silly because "God" isn't even a Greek word) and we'll probably do "ge" or "gaea" (earth, the earth mother goddess) Luckily there's plenty of original pagan/heathen Greek material! I do need a good Greek/English dictionary, though. My text from college is good but not really enough. Plus we'll get a kids picture dictionary, etc. Look how cool this is! I love the magnetic Greek letters; I've never seen anything like that.

It doesn't bother me too much to alter religious materials. Like I said, it's pretty amazing that they even have Greek workbooks that are age appropriate for kids; since the Hey Andrew is pretty much the only one out there, I'm willing to screen it for content that I don't "approve" of.

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by jenfl

If you're doing Montessori at home, have you seen the Montessori homeschooling thread in the Montessori area? We'd love to have some more people to bounce ideas off of!

Thanks for the invite! We're not really "Montessori" (we're eclectic) but I'd like to move more in that direction; I like how self-led and holistic it is. I'm looking forward to the NCM resource to kind of give us a taste and get us started.