Middlebury Interactive Languages Review

We received Elementary Spanish 1: Grades K-2 Spanish Courses from Middlebury Interactive Languages to review. Middlebury Interactive Languages has four languages available: Spanish, French, Chinese and German. The courses are designed in age groups: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 (with a secondary course in fluency). If you're unsure of what level your child would be in, they have demos available. The first level is available for each grade group and that should always be your starting point if you're just beginning to learn the language you choose. Just a note, the German course is the only course that doesn't offer a K-2 level.


Since I have a preschooler and Kindergartner, we started with the K-2 course. We have worked through the first few lessons with great success! We focus on one lesson per week, and repeat each section daily. We also printed off homemade flash cards of each word and phrase and each lesson is on a color-coded ring. Both kids have worked on each lesson together (my preschooler is basically at a Kindergarten level in every subject) and it helps that they can work on their language studies by practicing together.

We live in an area where Spanish is commonly spoken. Actually, we more accurately live in a melting pot of cultures and languages, which is amazing. On our street alone we have over eight bi-lingual families that speak English and a native language from their home country. On the flip-side, our neighbors, my kids' best friends, have a Puerto Rican father whose mother only speaks Spanish, and his daughters do not understand her because he never taught them his native language. We suggested trying out Middlebury Interactive Languages, but in the meantime I shared our flash cards with them and printed off some worksheets and my kids and I have helped them practice. It has been wonderful working with a bigger group of kids.


Proper pronunciation is harder for Bean, who has struggled with speech in the past. We have created phonogram rocks to help with this. We use rocks instead of flash cards for things like this because Munchkin does so much better with objects. The rocks have the letters painted on and there are multiple rocks depending on the accent marks. Once a week we go through the rocks and work on each sound and pair them together to form words she recognizes. During the rest of the week, they are able to play with them however they want. Playing with the rocks is a wonderful way for them to familiarize themselves with the letters and create words to sound out, even if they aren't real words.

Spanish 1 started with the very basics of Spanish language - Hello, Goodbye, My name is... From there it branched out to incorporate several different areas. We have incorporated our Spanish studies into most of our daily lessons. For math, we use half English and half Spanish word problems (the numbers are Spanish), Bean's spelling words are written in both English and Spanish. She practices to write and read each word. We don't take tests though. We move on when she's ready for a new batch of words. We also have several English/Spanish reading books (top half of page is in English, Spanish translation is at the bottom). We also use workbooks we found at our local bookstore and worksheets we printed out from online. Those we work on together, but my kids primarily use Middlebury Interactive Languages independently on their tablets.

There are 12 units in the K-2 course. Each course has 6 lessons. Each lesson covers different areas, like an introduction to the unit, reviews, exploration, practice, speaking labs, coloring pages, warm-ups, stories, and more. The stories are spoken in Spanish and you listen along and pick up key words from the text that are found in the unit. The units are:

Unit 1: Greetings

Unit 2: Numbers

Unit 3: Family

Unit 4: Colors

Unit 5: School

Unit 6: Review

Unit 7: Body

Unit 8: Animals

Unit 9: Calendar

Unit 10: Food

Unit 11: Descriptions

Unit 12: Review

Each of Middlebury Interactive Languages courses are designed to be completed in one semester (18 weeks/90 days). The joy of online curriculum is that your child can work at their own pace, though the purchase plan limits you to one semester (6 months), with the option to buy an additional semester if needed. There are two purchase plans available, basically with or without a teacher aid. Independent Study costs $119 per semester and with a Teacher costs an additional $175 for a total of $294. If you have multiple students, the price goes up. 

We are enjoying using Middlebury Interactive Languages and as far as online learning goes, the app is really great to use. The kids are able to navigate the site mostly on their own and as the teacher I'm able to keep track of their lessons and grades. The lessons progress at an easy pace for young kids to follow, and each lesson builds on the last. 

Middlebury Interactive Languages is a perfect online program for homeschooling families, especially those trying to teach a foreign language for the first time. Foreign languages can be challenging to teach if you are completely unfamiliar with the language. Workbooks may not be enough to immerse yourself in the language, which is why an online or digital curriculum can compliment your language study. 

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La La Logic Review

We received a lifetime membership to La La Logic to review. La La Logic is an online homeschooling resource, which covers 100 weeks worth of lessons for preschoolers. La La Logic is prefect for children ages 3-6. When you purchase an account, it can be used by the whole household or up to five children. While the curriculum does last 100 weeks, it does not expire. Your subscription lasts a lifetime, which means you can use it for future children, too. The lessons are grouped by weeks, but you can use the curriculum at your own pace. So if it takes you two weeks to complete one lesson, that's fine, while another week you may complete two weeks worth of lessons in a couple days. Work at the pace that's best for your child. Online lessons can be completed in 5-10 minutes or longer. Offline activities can take 10-30 minutes. Usually we spend 30 minutes a day using La La Logic's curriculum, including online and offline activities. Both children have a tablet, so they don't have to take turns and can work on the lessons at the same time. 

There are so many different types of activities! Preschoolers will not be bored with this curriculum! There are 20 sets divided into 5 lessons each, for a total of 500 Brain Challenges. Each lesson also comes with worksheets and enrichment activities, which may require child-safe scissors, glue and crayons (or other writing/drawing utensils). Other enrichment lessons may need items that you have around the house. My kids usually use our felt storyboard while I read the story. Otherwise we might create a small world or sensory bin based on the story. I typically read the story while they listen and play (I find that they concentrate better when their hands are busy). I'll ask them questions about the reading afterwards. The next day I'll ask them about the story and write down what they remember. Bean enjoys retelling the stories. However, Munchkin usually completely changes the story. Inspired by these activities, we have begun playing telephone, which is a good way to work on listening skills. 

Examples of printable worksheets.

The kids definitely preferred using La La Logic on their iPad's. It's easier to drag images using their fingers. Neither of them like using the computer because they are hindered by the mouse. Munchkin sometimes uses the laptop with me, and he just points at the screen and I drag the images using the touch pad. I love that we can use La La Logic on all of our devices, but I would really love to see them come out with an app as well. Even if it was just for the Extra Practice activities.

There are many different types of early learning lessons available. Some focus on literacy.


Others focus on math and reasoning skills.


Problem solving and critical thinking activities are especially fun to solve when they feature adorable robots! Munchkin could spend hours on this one activity!

Munchkin wanted to work on his pencil grip, so instead of cutting the pictures out and grouping them (which Bean did), he drew circles around the matching pictures and connected them by lines. I watched him and spoke to him about the connections. The three groups were: food, instruments, and pets. We worked on correct pencil grip, which doesn't always happen, but I still encourage it. 

For this activity, Munchkin made the matches using different colored crayons. 

Observations and tips: - I overlooked the check box that marks your child's progress. So for several weeks I was wondering why the progress still showed 0/100.  - Print off the lessons at the beginning of the week, or even print off the whole month in advance. I created a folder for each of my children. There isn't a printable for every day (Monday-Friday), but there is a check list that helps you stay organized.  - The extra practice section has many activities that help students who may be struggling. I prefer to use the extra practice games while we are out and about. It let's them continue working on the skills they are learning while we're running errands.  - Older children may prefer to work independently, while younger children will probably do best with their parents helping. Munchkin typically worked on my lap. Bean worked on her own and asked for help when she needed it.  - The best part of La La Logic is how affordable it is! Only $29 for the whole household, or for up to five children. And it's a lifetime subscription! There's a 30 day money-back guarantee and you can even try it out for free! Needless to say, we really loved La La Logic! We use it mainly for quiet time activities. Munchkin prefers it more than Bean. She quickly masters all of her lessons so she can move on, but Munchkin enjoys taking his time. He will work through problems several times before moving on to the next lesson. I highly suggest this curriculum for any parents with preschoolers, even non-homeschoolers! 

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ARTistic Pursuits Review

We were so excited to receive The Way They SEE It from ARTistic Pursuits to review because while arts and crafts are a huge part of our life, we have never used a curriculum to teach it. Some of our curriculum have arts and crafts activities or suggestions to incorporate into history, literacy or science lessons. But thanks to ARTistic Pursuits, we now have a curriculum that is separate from the rest of our lessons and gives us 30 minutes a day that is dedicated to art.

The Way They SEE It is a curriculum for preschool aged children (3-5) that will help them explore art, textures and materials (both natural and store bought). As a parent and homeschool teacher, it was wonderful to read through this book. I learned so much about teaching art to younger children, like how to approach lessons and how to talk about art. This book is also non-consumable, which means I was able to use it with both of my children! Munchkin is 3 and Bean is 5. Both were able to actively participate in all of the art lessons we created.

Check out the Book List for more titles from ARTistic Pursuits (grades - preschool, K-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12, plus books on sculptures).


Before beginning to use The Way They SEE It, I would suggest checking the materials list and seeing what you have on hand before making a trip to the store. Most of the art materials are things you typically buy for preschool aged children, like Crayola crayons, construction paper, blunt scissors, Elmer's glue, etc. So chances are you already have some on hand! Things like drawing paper don't have to be exact, but there is a reason why they suggest using products by Crayola, Elmer's, Fiskars, and Mr. Sketch. And that's quality. Other times they will suggest a product, like Play-Doh, and provide a recipe to make your own, if that's what you prefer.

The Way They SEE it covers 26 lessons and 10 bonus projects. There are over 150 illustrations, some from well known artists and others by children. This book goes over many of our go-to materials, like markers, crayons, paint and play dough, and teaches us how to create interesting works of art with them. We also really loved the "Picture Talk" pages, which features a famous work of art and prompts children to answer questions and really think about the art. But on top of that, it also has a project that goes along with it!

Usually, I'd read the "Grown-up Talk" page before sitting down with my kids. This part is for parents and teachers and talks about art, motivators, understanding children's art, and ideas to use for lessons, among other useful topics. Then the kids would come over and look at the art on the "Picture Talk" page. After that, I'd gather up materials and see what they create. Sometimes it goes along with what we talked about, other times they do their own thing. Some of Bean's favorite lessons were "Inventing a Language of Symbols," "Telling a Story Project," "Impressions project," and "Art to Retell an Event." Munchkin stuck to drawing cars, monster trucks, boats and planes. There really was no helping it.

Below you will find some examples of Munchkin and Bean's art that came from lessons throughout The Way They SEE It.

Drawing Animals.

Sometimes art is painting all over your body or clothes. (Don't worry, it's washable Crayola paint, it all came out! And yes, that is Bean with a painted-on beard.)

Painting with toys became a fun activity. I highly suggest using washable paint when you're using toys, so it washes off more easily. Boulder, from Rescue Bots, loves art and painting in the show and his toy figure happens to be able to hold a paint brush!

Texture painting with cars and trucks.

Using liquid glue for the first time led to Munchkin discovering he could glue his Lincoln Logs together so he can play with them (usually we kept them together with elastic bands). This is his train.

Studying art also led to Bean discovering that letters can turn into pictures. Her A morphed into an alien UFO. A for alien!

We worked on "Cutting Shapes" (page 81), which meant Bean had to create exactly the pictures in the book.

Other times we used stickers to work on fine motor skills and to learn about figures and placement.

Here is Bean's drawing of her brother. Notice his mass of curly hair?

And here is Bean's "family portrait."

Munchkin usually draws lots of scribbles and vehicles. Can you see the car in the red river? There are two people inside. (The river is red because he happened to see one that was red in a book at the library.)

Below you can find a collage of some of their paintings. They really liked painting objects they were looking at (first four - tractor, turtle, sea urchin, tooth with a smiley face). The last four are from the "mark-making project" which can be found on page 15.

And here is a lovely collage of their many drawings and doodles that came from the amazing lessons from The Way They SEE It. Bean's people figures evolved!

As part of the "Identifying Colors Project" (page 21) we learned about colors by creating a large color wheel. We went around the house collecting art materials (and sometimes toys) to match the colors. Or opening a book of famous art paintings and comparing and matching the colors to our palette before recreating the painting. We also stopped by a paint store and collected new paint chips to learn about different shades of colors (similar to our matching paint chips activity) and used them to mix paint colors together. This time we put all shades of one color on one ring, and all the rings on a much bigger ring, so if they want to work with just shades of red, they can just remove the red ring.

Something that became very common around our house was that we now talk about art all the time. Talk about nature. Talk about creativity and inspiration. Talk about imagination. When you sit down to look at art, ask what they are thinking about, ask what it makes them feel, ask if it inspires them to create something of their own. And then let them create it using whatever materials they want. When you sit down to create art, give them space and only step in when they request it. Hovering and pestering distracts and frustrates most artists, but especially children who already have a short attention span.

Also, don't make art a chore, just encourage it. Art should be fun and inspired. For younger children, art should be about exploring textures and materials, techniques, and discovering their style. Don't worry about scribbles. Scribbles are part of the process.

Pros and Cons of using this book:
- The Way They SEE It is 90 pages long, but they are one sided pages, which I view as kind of wasteful. However, due to the way the book is set up, I can understand why they printed it this way.
- Teaches parents how to understand the art their children create.
- Engages both parents and children.
- Is non-consumable, which means the book can be used by the whole family.
- Plastic comb bound, which makes reading it so much easier.
- Teaches art appreciation, about artists, skills, and techniques that young children can understand.
- It's affordable, only $47.95 for the book, which all your children can use.
- It grows with your child. If they work through it, go ahead and work through it again the next year. Compare what they learned and see how far their art has come. If they are ready, move on to the Early Elementary books (Book 1 - Introduction to the Visual Arts, Book 2 - Stories of Artists and Their Art, Book 3 - Modern Painting and Sculpture).
- No structured lessons. Children can learn and express their art at their own pace.

I really didn't have many issues with this art curriculum. We love it and look forward to using ARTistic Pursuits in future years for our art education! I highly recommend this curriculum for first-time and experienced homeschoolers. The lessons are detailed and informative, and educated both myself and my children.

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Be sure to check out the other reviews of ARTistic Pursuits amazing art curriculums from the TOS Crew!

First Start Reading Review

First Start Reading from Memoria Press is one of our favorite homeschool curriculums that we've had the pleasure of reviewing. Memoria Press provides homeschoolers with a classical Christian education. One thing I like about First Start Reading is that secular homeschoolers (like us) can use it too! This reading and writing curriculum focuses solely on phonics lessons, with built in writing, drawing and coloring activities. Teachers will put an emphasis on correct pencil grip and letter sounds during instructions.

My daughter has been doing so well with First Start Reading! She loves that she can easily access the books and use them independently, even without a teacher (me). She is still on Book A, but she's already finished several lessons from it. Each lesson is only one page in the student book, not including the coloring page that faces it. She loves that the writing lessons are paired with a coloring page. The coloring pages and drawing prompts are themed to match the letter or word for the lesson. I would suggest keeping a couple pencils and either crayons or colored pencils available to use with the student workbooks.

Typically she traces the letters, and then uses a white board to practice writing them on her own.

For this lesson, it asked to answer her name and to draw a self-portrait. I provided a mirror for her to look into while working on this page. She wrote her name on her own and proceeded to draw a jellyfish, since at the time, she had been pretending to be a jellyfish.

Here's how I taught lessons using First Start Reading: I started by reading the lesson plan in the teacher's book, then modified it to our teaching methods. I used a white board and sat next to my daughter (who used the student workbook), so she could see how I wrote letters and words (since she's a visual learner). My son sat on my other side and practiced writing letters in his salt tray (since he's a kinesthetic learner). Even though he did not follow this curriculum with us using a workbook, he still enjoyed participating in some of the lessons.

Because First Start Reading focused on phonics, the step-by-step instructions were great for teaching how to understand and recognize letter sounds. This product also blends phonics reading lessons with writing lessons, and we find that dual lessons like this work best for our family. We work on phonics by reading the letters and words out loud, sounding them out, and quizzing each other on sounds.

First Start Reading is different from other phonics curriculums because it uses the more traditional vowel-consonant approach and combines it with word families. We typically learn word families by using homemade sight word cards (which we also use for phonics). I find coloring and drawing exercises to be really relaxing when combined with worksheets, so I was happy to see some offered in these books. There are also games and activity suggestions in the teacher guide to help with lessons.

First Start Reading teaches:
- consonant, short vowels, and long vowels
- 45 common words (we created flash cards for them)
- manuscript printing
- coloring and drawing activities

If you have the complete set, your child or student will work through four student workbooks, which covers thirty-one phonetic stories. We've been reading a lot of phonics books lately, so my daughter immediately recognized what the stories were teaching her. I find that rhymes, phonetic books and word building flash cards help with our lessons. I will always suggest reading Dr. Seuss books before or after literacy lessons (or at least at some point during the day), because they are not only fun to read, but you'll learn a lot from listening to them.



The First Start Reading set is available from Memoria Press for $42.95 or you can purchase the student set for $28.00. The student workbooks and the teacher's guide can also be purchased individually. I personally really like the whole set and would see it as a good investment.

You may be interested in these articles: Why First Start Reading and What is the Classical Approach to Phonics? by Cheryl Lowe. Both of these articles are informative and helped me to learn more about this curriculum choice!

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Growing Apple Seeds

Back in December, we picked up a package of organic apples. On a whim, we saved some of the seeds. We wanted to experiment and see if we could get them to germinate over the winter. We cleaned the seeds and let them dry overnight, then we took a couple napkins and let them soak in water. We put the seeds in between two layers of napkins and them put them inside a ziploc and sealed it. Then we put it in the fridge and forgot about it. Three days ago we pulled them out and the kids were amazed to see that the seeds had sprouted! 

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I carefully peeled the napkins away from the seeds. Usually you would take them out of the fridge as soon as they started to sprout, but it's fine that they were in there an extra month.. or two. I read somewhere that only 30% of seeds germinate. I think we got lucky, because all but three of the seeds germinated! (You can see them on the left near the bottom.)

Originally I was going to use a longer container, but then I realized it might be too shallow for some of the roots. So instead I used this deeper container and regular organic potting soil (no fertilizer needed). Once they begin to outgrow this container we will put them in individual pots. It's just to hold them over for a couple months until they are strong enough to survive outside. At which point, we will probably plant them in our kiddie pool garden, which survived the winter, but needs some new life!

Bean loved planting the sprouts and was so careful with them! She also compared them to her Safari Ltd Life Cycle of a Green Bean Plant figures, which look similar enough. I think it would be really cool if Safari Ltd expanded their Life Cycle series and made a tree and flower set. Tomorrow we will be drawing the sprouts in our nature journal and begin working on our Forest for the Trees workbook (look out for our TOS Crew review in a few weeks). We are very excited to learn about how trees grow!

Our sprouts are so cute and we really hope we are able to watch them all grow up! We will be bringing them outside with us on really sunny days, but otherwise they will sit in our sunniest window, where they can be easily observed.

We still have a lot to learn about raising apple trees, but we are excited about this living project and can't wait to share our experiences with you!