Improving Language Arts Skills with MaxScholar {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew, we had a chance to review MaxScholar Orton-Gillingham Software from MaxScholar. I thought it would be a great way for the younger children to work on improving their language arts skills.

We were given a six-month subscription which includes one teacher account and up to five student accounts. As Tabitha and Amelia used it in the past, they were not interested, so I chose to use it with just Hannah and Harold at this time. I figured it would be a great way for Harold to work on improving his reading comprehension and work on vocabulary and syllables. Hannah has been using it mainly for vocabulary.

So, what exactly is MaxScholar?

MaxScholar has multiple programs to help students work on different language arts skills. They are multi-sensory and use various research based methods. For example, the phonics is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach and the reading uses the Lindamood-Bell Reading Program. 

It consists of three main programs: MaxPhonics, MaxReading, and MaxWords. We also had access to MaxMusic, MaxVocab, MaxPlaces, and MaxBios.

MaxPhonics wasn't a program I was worried about using, as both children have been reading for years. From what I could see while exploring the MaxPhonics program, it appears that it focuses on teaching the sounds of letters, blends, and digraphs. They use visual, tactile, and auditory lessons to help the child learn the letter and blend sounds.  

MaxReading teaches reading comprehension strategies that help with focus, visualization, and retention. There are 13 levels, each of which have multi-chapter books. After reading the passage, or having the program read it, the student is to highlight the topic, main idea, and important details. Then they answer several multiple choice questions. The score is a combination of the highlighting and comprehension questions results. 

MaxWords has the student work on syllabication, spelling rules, prefixes & suffixes, plus Latin and Greek roots. 

MaxMusic allows the student to work on reading skills by reading lyrics to songs by popular artists or from movie soundtracks. They are to read the lyrics and complete challenges, such as clicking on all the verbs or filling in the gaps. 

MaxVocab helps a child improve their vocabulary through using the dictionary which contains all the words found in the MaxScholar books. The student can select a book and read through the words, their definitions, antonyms, synonyms, and sentences, and then try to come up with their own sentences. They can also play Hangman. They are to complete the word on the screen, using the hint given. They may get 5 wrong before they lose the game.

MaxPlaces allows a child to work on reading comprehension while learning about different locations around the world. They choose from 51 cities on a world map. After reading the story they can use their highlighters as they do in MaxReading to note details, then they answer reading comprehension questions. 

MaxBios also allows the student to work on reading comprehension by reading a selection, highlighting and answering questions. The child can choose to read about famous people from the following categories. 

• Entertainment
• Fascinating Men
• Old School Musicians
• Hip-Hop Artists
• Amazing Women
• Business
• Star Athletes

Both children had to complete an assessment prior to starting the program, though Hannah did not have to take the phonics portion due to her age. Harold was actually not a fan of the assessment process as he struggled to hear and it wasn't responding so he was clicking multiple times and getting answers incorrect. With both the reading and the phonics he was placed quite low. I was glad I, as a parent, was able to go in to my Teacher Dashboard to adjust his level. However, it did bother me, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be putting him in the level that would be appropriate for him.

The Teacher Dashboard allows the parent/teacher to adjust the child(ren)'s levels if needed, which is a great feature, plus I was able to decide which additional programs the children had access to. 

As I mentioned, Harold has been utilizing the MaxReading and MaxWords programs. With MaxReading I kept him in a lower level just to see how he would do and to get him used to the program. I was concerned that he was scoring low, so figured I should leave him in the lower level. What I discovered was that he was struggling with the highlighting section, so it was bringing his grade down. I remembered that Amelia had not been a fan of the highlighting section as it appeared they wanted her to highlight so much information. I do not know if they changed the program, or if this is different in the lower level, but I discovered that Harold was highlighting too much. Honestly, I prefer that he is only supposed to highlight what we are calling keywords. I feel this will help him be able to focus on details better.

This is a look at how he was highlighting with the correct highlighting given by the program:

As you can see, the improper highlighting affected his score.

I talked to him about searching for important words in the sentence, instead of trying to figure out which complete sentences were important.

As you can see, he was a lot closer to what they were looking for.

I have to say, I wish the children were given some instruction on what the program is looking for when it comes to highlighting details. 

I appreciate that the child can have the story read to them or they can choose to read it themselves. And this is the same with the questions. So, whether they are visual or auditory learners, they can work on comprehension. 

Here's a look at what a child can work on in the MaxWords program. The other program Harold focused on. 

A student works on syllabication with CLOVER, Spelling Rules, Prefixes & Suffixes, Latin Roots and Greek Roots. Harold has been working in CLOVER.

Each of the letters in CLOVER stands for a different type of syllable.

• C- Closed Syllables
• L- Consonant -Le
• O- Open Syllables
• V- Vowel Teams
• E- Vowel-Consonant-E
• R- R-Controlled Syllables

The program will explain the definition of each kind of syllable and then list examples of words which the children are to read. They can click on the words to hear them read to them. Then they will learn the rules for each type of syllable, along with more examples. 

They then complete activities, such as choosing the correct syllable division for a list of words.

Then the child is to see how many words using the type of syllabication from the lesson they can read in one minute. The problem is, they can't click "DONE" unless they click on the Read Aloud button, and he just wants to read it himself. 

Hannah has also been working in MaxWords; however, she has been working in the prefixes section. It will give a list of prefixes, the origin, the meaning, plus an example they can click on to hear.

Then she needs to match the prefix with the definition.

Finally, she is to put the correct prefix on the word in the sentence.

 Here she is working on prefixes.

As you can see, she struggled with some of them, so I am glad they have the opportunity to go back in and redo the lessons.

She's also been spending time working in MaxVocab. She loves being able to play the Hangman game. 

All in all, I have to say, I am definitely impressed with this program and how comprehensive it is. There are so many language arts skills the children can work on. I am thrilled Harold didn't have to highlight most of the story as "important details" as Amelia had to do. MaxScholar is a wonderful program, not just for those who need reading intervention, but for parents who would like their students to improve their vocabulary and reading skills. Though I can't personally attest to the MaxPhonics portion of the program; it does appear to be a great program.

You can find MaxScholar on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about this program. 

Working on Grammar with Easy Grammar Systems {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Grammar. The subject I would prefer to avoid. The subject my daughter doesn't see the use of. And the problem is, mom doesn't know how to explain the necessity either, seeing as I get along just fine without understanding all the ins and outs of grammar. However, now that I am the teacher and not just the mom, I need to be able to teach grammar to my children. So, when we are offered the chance to review a grammar curriculum, I jump at the opportunity. I figure we can learn together. Even though Tabitha was less than thrilled with me, I welcomed the opportunity to review Easy Grammar Plus from Easy Grammar Systems. 

We received an email with the link to the Easy Grammar Plus eBook PDF. It was quite simple to click on the link and download the file to my computer. And from there, we were ready to go.

This 720-page  book is actually the Teacher Edition, which includes teaching instructions, reviews and tests (both unit and cumulative), plus answer keys. As we had the downloadable files, I was able to easily print out the exercise pages and give them to the children to work on, without having to worry that they would have access to the answers. I say "worry," because the answer pages are on the left side and the exercises are on the facing page in the physical book. If we had received the book, which I had originally thought I wanted, I would have had to use  photocopied the pages for multiple reasons. One, I ended up using the book with both Tabitha and Amelia. Two, I probably would have photocopied them anyway so I could use it in future years with the younger children. And three, I would have wanted to make sure the children didn't see the answers. So, even though it wasn't my original choice, I have to say I am glad we received the book as a downloadable eBook. 

I will add, if you don't want to photocopy or print, and also don't want your child to write in the teacher edition, there is a physical Easy Grammar Plus Student Workbook available. There is also an Easy Grammar Plus Student Test Booklet, seeing as tests are not included in the Student Workbook.

Let's look at what is contained in Easy Grammar Plus: 

The book begins with the Table of Contents. There is then an eight-page pre/post assessment test and an introduction before getting into the lesson pages. The book concludes with the answers to the pre/post assessment test. 

Here is a list of the topics covered in Easy Grammar Plus:

• Prepositions
• Verbs
• Nouns
• Interjections
• Conjunctions 
• Adjectives
• Types of Sentences
• Sentences, Fragments, and Run-ons
• Phrases and Clauses
• Adverbs
• Pronouns 
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Letters

The Introduction explains the purpose of Easy Grammar Plus, which is to provide grammar TOOLS to the student. The author also explains the two most important guidelines for using the book. The parent/teacher is to insist on MASTERY learning (making sure the student fully understands the concept) and ensure that the student first memorizes and learns the list of fifty prepositions.

Unfortunately, this first directive completely turned Tabitha off of this book. In the past she had been told that it wasn't important to memorize lists such as this. Additionally, she is not good at memorizing lists. When it comes to passages, such as Bible verses for church or Bible Quizzing, she can memorize with no problem. Of course, because of the overwhelming amount of memorizing she is currently doing because of Quizzing, she didn't want to have to memorize more. So, yes, she balked. She said she couldn't do it. Amelia, who I wasn't originally going to include in this review because she is in sixth grade, actually tried harder than Tabitha did. I honestly didn't like that this had become such a point of contention in our day. I mean, as I mentioned above, Tabitha already complained that she didn't see the need of learning grammar. I even tried telling her, just read through the list a few times a day, don't worry about sitting down and memorizing it, just familiarize yourself with the prepositions. 

I finally decided we couldn't spend so much time focusing on the memorization of a list of words, so we moved forward in the book. I figured they could have the list of prepositions in front of them while working, if needed. My sneaky desire was that they would still learn them as they used the list, viewing it several times a week. 

I think the girls did have fun playing the Bingo game that was designed to help them familiarize themselves with the prepositions.

Though they weren't as fond of having to unscramble them.

Now, let me just say, I do understand the idea behind memorizing the prepositions. However, I believe children can learn them, get them in their heads, by diving right into the lessons and having the list in front of them to reference. I understand that this book uses a "prepositional approach," where the student works in a sequential manner, starting with the basics of the sentence, identifying the subject and verb by crossing out the prepositional phrase, and then working on more challenging topics. I understand this. I just question the need to memorize the list and make it a mandatory first task.

I like how the girls began by looking at simpler sentences, just needing to identify the subject and the verb, but then the sentences became more complex as they were to also identify such things as compound subjects, helping verbs, and infinitives. Of course, then they were taught that a word listed as a preposition wasn't always used as a preposition. It might be used as say, an adverb. Which got an "I told you so" from Tabitha, because that was one of her arguments when she fought memorizing the list. I did explain that that doesn't negate the fact that the words are still used as prepositions.

Here's a look at how the lesson is laid out. First there is a short instructional page with examples:

Then comes the answer page: 

And finally, the actual exercise page where the child is to follow the instructions on what to cross out and single or double underline:

So, you can see where having the prepositions memorized would help with this curriculum. In order to quickly identify the prepositional phrases, a student is going to have to know their prepositions. Of course, I assume you can see, as I did, how a child can still work through the exercises by having the list in front of them. So yes, our little modification for this book. As I looked ahead in the book, I did notice that prepositions don't always come into play in the exercises for the other topics. However, there are times when students are still asked to work through the sentences as they are taught in this first section, before working on such things as labeling types of verbs or adverbs.

How did we use this book?

After our time of trying to memorize the prepositions and playing the Bingo game, the girls have been working their way through the book at the rate of a few lessons a week. I will read the short lesson information, and then I have them give me the answers orally to the examples. Then I hand them their page and have them work through the exercises. This takes them, at most, 15 minutes a day.

The Preposition section concludes with a review and test. The Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, and Pronouns sections also end the same way. The Punctuation and Capitalization sections go straight into a test. And when a child finishes the entire book, they are supposed to retake the assessment test to see how they have improved. 

All in all, I think Easy Grammar Plus from Easy Grammar Systems is a great grammar curriculum that helps a child really look at a sentence and understand the different parts. 

You can find Easy Grammar Systems on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Don't forget to click the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates thought of this, plus other products, from Easy Grammar Systems.

Digging Into Great Stories with Literature Guides from Memoria Press {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew, we had the opportunity to review another product from Memoria Press this year. Memoria Press is a wonderful company that provides materials that follow the philosophy of a Classical Education. Though I don't consider us classical homeschoolers, I really do appreciate their materials and found they have added to our homeschool. We have used a variety of their materials from multiple subjects over the past four years. (Wow, has it really been that long since we were introduced to Memoria Press?!?) This time around, we received the Third Grade Literature Guide Set. This set includes the A Bear Called Paddington Literature Guide, the Mr. Popper's Penguins Literature Guide, the Charlotte's Web Literature Guide, and the Farmer Boy Literature Guide. Surprisingly, we actually used all of these guides during this review period. 

We were actually required to use just one of these guides, and I had every intention of using Mr. Popper's Penguins with Hannah as she had received that book for Christmas and was looking forward to reading it. And. . . she was my third grader, so when I requested this level, I was thinking of her. However, when I received the box with all of the guides, I had a sudden inspiration. Why not allow all the children to get involved and give them something specific to do for Language Arts during our Summer Session. Though all of these guides are from the third grade level, I noticed that the books were of various lengths. I figured I could modify as needed for the other children.

I realized the A Bear Called Paddington book would be perfect for Harold and I to work through as it is a bit shorter. I then asked Amelia to work on Charlotte's Web, and Tabitha to work on Farmer Boy independently.

As you can see, we received both a Student Study Guide and a Teacher Guide for all four books. We did have to provide our own copies of the novels. If you were to purchase this full set, the novels would be included. 

So, what exactly will you find in these guides?

The format of each of the guides is the same for all four novels, though the length does vary. 

The Student Guides begin with Teaching Guidelines. There are sections for "Preparing to Read," "Reading," and "After Reading." 

"Preparing to Read"

The teacher (parent) is directed to review and preview before reading the chapter. There are reading notes that introduce the student to key terms. You are also supposed to preview the vocabulary you will be coming across in the chapter. The words are given in context. And you are also supposed to read through the comprehension questions to help you focus as you read. 

"Reading"

Instructions are given on how to read the chapter. You are supposed to mark when you come across each vocabulary word and notice answers to the comprehension questions. 

"After Reading"

This section explains how to work through the sections of the study guide. There are:

• Vocabulary
• Comprehension Questions
• Quotations and Discussion Questions
• Enrichment
• Quizzes and Test (These are not actually in the student guide. They can be found in the teacher guide.)

Each chapter then has two pages worth of work.

The Reading Notes section lists several terms/people/places in bold and then gives a definition.

The Vocabulary section prints out a section of the text where the vocabulary word is found, bolding the vocabulary word. Then there are a couple of blank lines for the child to write the definition/synonym. 

The Comprehension Questions section asks questions that can easily be answered from reading the chapter. Three to four blank lines are provided for writing down the answers.

The Quotations section contains a quote from the chapter which can be used while discussing the chapter. Sometimes the student will be asked to answer a question about the quote, such as "Whom is this describing?" or "Who said this?"

There are then Discussion Questions to help you dig a bit deeper. These questions require more thought and may not have one right answer, you have to be able to infer at times. A key to these questions is in the back of the Teacher's Guide. 

And finally there is an Enrichment section. Here your child will complete different activities that may include more discussion, research, writing, or even drawing. 

Spaced throughout the guides are occasional sections to help the student review what has been learned so far. Additionally, all of the student guides except Mr. Popper's Penguins end with an Appendix.

The Teacher Guides begin with those same Teaching Guidelines. Then you will find the section that contains the chapter pages. These are identical to the student pages, except they include the answer keys for the Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, and the Quotations (if applicable). Toward the back of the Teacher Guide you will find the Teacher Key which includes the Discussion Questions Key, Blank Quizzes, Exam Quizzes, and the Quiz and Exam Keys. The quizzes cover several chapters worth of information, and the Exam covers the entire book. 

So, how did we use these guides?

Harold and I worked on two chapters of A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond each week. 

First I read the Reading Notes, Vocabulary, and Comprehension questions to him. 

Then I read the chapter. 

As I was reading, I would jot down the page number where vocabulary words or answers to comprehension questions were found, so we could find them easier when we were ready to fill out the answers. We then spent some time figuring out what the vocabulary words meant (sometimes resorting to using the teacher key for the answer) and what the answers to the questions were. I wrote the answers down for him. Then I read the quotation and we discussed the discussion questions. 

Then we moved on to the Enrichment section. There were usually a few activities suggested. We usually picked one or two to complete. 

Here he is checking out sights in London after using the map found in the appendix.

Later on in the story, Paddington and the Brown family head to the seaside. One of the enrichment activities is to write about an experience at the beach. As the children have never been to the beach, I had Harold narrate a fictional story to me about what he thought it would be like if he went to the beach. I typed it out, enlarged the font, divided it into pages, and printed it out for him to illustrate. Here are the first two pages.

I have to confess, I had forgotten all about the quizzes that are supposed to be done after certain chapters. We actually finished the book and all the student guide activities, and then I flipped back in my Teacher Guide, and saw the quizzes. Oops. So, I sat down with Harold and we worked through the first quiz, which focuses on chapters 1-4. We probably would have had an easier time of it if we had taken it before reading chapters 5-8. I did notice that the guides for Charlotte's Web and Farmer Boy have review pages at the point where they would be taking the test. I sort of wish A Bear Called Paddington and Mr. Popper's Penguins did too. It would definitely be easier to note when the quiz had to be given. At least I am aware this for when Hannah gets to her first quiz.

I didn't want to write in the Teacher Guide, and I am trying to conserve ink right now, so I just took a blank piece of paper and wrote down the answers Harold told me.

Now, onto the guide that I had planned on being the only one I was going to use.

Hannah and I have been working on Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

Hannah actually read the book in its entirety prior to starting with the guides. She started as soon as we learned that we were chosen for this review. When she was finished, we started working in the guide, working at about a pace of one chapter (sometimes two) a week. We also had a week of no work when she was at summer camp. So, we haven't gotten quite as far as I was planning to.

We have been doing the "Preparing to Read" activities for each chapter, the same as I did with Harold. Then I read the chapter out loud to her, jotting down the page numbers where answers are found. One of the reasons it is taking her longer to work through the guide is that I am making her work on the vocabulary section independently (or as independently as she can, she does need help sometimes). I do still write down the answers to the comprehension questions for her. I had decided I was going to do this before I decided for sure we wanted to review these guides, because she had balked at the idea of having to all that writing. At first she was thrilled with the idea of the one-on-one time of reading the book. So, I didn't want to discourage her, so I told her I would write down her answers. This has been working out well. 

As I am doing with Harold, I allowed Hannah to choose one or two of the enrichment activities for each chapter. She enjoyed doing some illustrations, such as the Popper family, and this picture of Captain Cook in his new home:

We also spent some time looking up videos of people training penguins. 

Another one of the reasons we are working a bit slower is because we were waiting for the library to get in some books on Captain Cook and penguins for us to read. 

Amelia has been reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

She's finished seven chapters and has made it to her first review section. After she finishes her review she will be taking her first quiz.

She has been working completely independently.

I have noticed that the enrichment activities in this guide tend to be a bit more advanced than they were in the guides for A Bear Called Paddington and Mr. Popper's Penguins. That actually confused me a bit, as they are supposed to be for the same grade. I do know Hannah would be struggling a lot more with these activities than the ones she has been working on.

She probably could have figured out this quotation review; however, I know she would not have been happy having to write out full passages like the one pictured above.

I like that the review pages have the student focus on elements of literature, such as character, setting, and plot. And while working on these elements, the student reviews different types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory). Amelia had to illustrate this storyboard after sequencing the events in the correct order.

The appendix is even more extensive than the one for A Bear Called Paddington. There is a biographical sketch of the author of Charlotte's Web, information about spiders, and there are poems to read, plus a labeled drawing of a spider.

Tabitha is also working through her book independently. Out of all of these books, Farmer Boy is definitely the longest. I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to capture Tabitha's attention as other books have, because she's been reading it a bit slower than her normal pace. As it is summer, I have been a bit lenient, and haven't been requiring her to work at a faster pace. Especially because she didn't ask to do this review. 

She has been getting through about a chapter a week, so she hasn't gotten to her review yet.

As you can see, the enrichment activities in this guide are about the same as they are for the Charlotte's Web guide. Lots of writing. 

She will also get to work on elements of literature, though she has drawing pages to illustrate her favorite chapter previously read, as opposed to doing the storyboards. She will also have vocabulary crosswords to work on as a part of her review.

The Appendix in this guide is quite informative. You will find a biographical sketch of Laura Ingalls Wilder, information of two 19th century primers (The New England Primer and McGuffey Readers), information, including pictures, of farm machinery of the 1800s, illustrations of some clothing from the 1800s, a recipe for Bird's Nest Pudding, plus a couple of poems related to farming. I thought it was really neat that Tabitha already knows these poems, seeing as they were included in the Poetry for the Grammar Stage Set available from Memoria Press that we reviewed back in March.

So, what do we think of these Literature Guides?

I think they are a great way for a student to dig into great stories. Not only are we improving our vocabulary, but we need to pay attention to what we are reading to be able to answer the questions. I appreciate that there are more literal questions, plus questions where we need to dig a bit deeper and learn to infer and think things through. The enrichment activities in the guides for A Bear Called Paddington and Mr. Popper's Penguins were a wonderful way to bring the stories to life. I love the chance to work on geography and delve into certain aspects of the story, such as researching London or Captain Cook. I definitely feel the guides for Charlotte's Web and Farmer Boy work better for my older girls than they would have worked for Hannah as the enrichment focuses more on copywork and literary elements. You don't really get to dig into things like we did with the other two guides.

I would definitely suggest working through these books from easiest to more difficult. This will allow the child to get used to the guides before being asked to do all the copywork. I do realize that the "easier" guides also have writing assignments, but I have allowed the children to dictate to me, which they couldn't do with copywork. 

Harold says he likes that he could answer questions and read the book again. His favorite part was doing the quiz together at the end.

Hannah says she likes that we get to read and draw different things, like Captain Cook's home in the refrigerator.

Amelia liked the literature guide because, "I got to think of things I never would have thought of without the study guide, like how to explain different words that you think you probably knew but when it asks you to explain it I couldn't' do it and had to look it up to see what it meant. I liked the chance to read the book.

Tabitha isn't a huge fan of working through comprehension questions, so she hasn't really enjoyed working through the guide. As a fellow bookworm, I completely understand her preference of just reading to read, as her mother and teacher, I know I have to make her use such things at times. 

All in all, I was very grateful for the opportunity to use these different study guides to enrich our homeschool. 

If you would like to see the other products we have used from Memoria Press, I invite you to check out my Memoria Press reviews. Over the past several years we have reviewed First Start Reading, D'Aulaires' Greek Myths, Latina Christiana Complete Set, Traditional Spelling II, New American Cursive 2, Poetry for the Grammar Stage Set (which I mentioned above), and Simply Classical Writing.

You can find Memoria Press on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.

Don't forget to click the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates thought of the Literature Guides they got to review. You will find reviews for guides for first grade through tenth grade.