Archives for March 6, 2010

Zeezok Publishing sent us a Presidential Penmanship Italic Style Complete Program CD to review. This program has something for all ages, grades K-12. Students practice handwriting by copying quotes, speeches, and famous documents from American history. It is a great fit for our family of Charlotte Mason wannabes.

There are six styles available:

You can see samples of the Italic Program HERE.

Things I like:

• It works for all of my kids.
• Easy to print the pages I want to use.
• It is meaningful work, not just busywork.
• The quotes lead to some good conversations.

We are learning italic handwriting, so we have just dabbled a bit with this copywork. It will definitely be a part of next year’s curriculum plan. The quotes  will mesh perfectly with our Early American History plans!

The Nitty Gritty:

• $39.99 for the complete program on CD or e-book
• $9.99 for individual grades

Value: This program is a great value. It covers every grade and is non-consumable.

See what the TOS Crew has to say about Presidential Penmanship. Some members received the Great Musicians series, so be sure to check that out!

Do you wish your homeschool could resemble a one-room schoolhouse from Days Gone By? Dollar Homeschool wants to help you achieve that with their Eclectic Education Series.

The Eclectic Education Series, or EES, is a huge e-book collection of textbooks from around 1865 to 1915. You have probably heard of a few of them, like Ray’s Arithmetic and McGuffey’s Readers. The collection covers Math, History, Science, Reading, Grammar and also some Teacher’s Manuals. You can view the complete book list HERE.

Since many of these books can be found for free scattered about the internet, you might be wondering why you would pay for them. Here are a few reasons:

• Time – it would take days to hunt down all of these titles on your own, and some of them aren’t even available.
  
• Convenience – all of the e-books are categorized and easy to find.
• Worksheets – create your own by just printing off a page of review questions, or part of a story for grammar practice.
• Sanity – I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve searched for an old e-book only to discover that it is incomplete or incompatible with my computer.

There are a couple of downsides to this collection:

• The pictures are not always clear (they are old scans). This can sometimes cause a problem if  the lesson refers the child to the picture.
• I’m uncertain about using this as a complete curriculum since it stops at 1915. What about all of the scientific discoveries, history, and math from the last century?

This is not something our family will really use – we are thoroughly modern and like it that way. Many families on the Crew love it however, so be sure to read all of the reviews if EES interests you. There are some very creative ideas being shared on their blogs.

The Nitty Gritty:

• Complete Collection CD  $159
• Individual subjects  $39

Value: $159 is not much for a K-12 curriculum if EES is a good fit for your family.

See what the TOS Crew has to say about Eclectic Education Series!

I received this series free for the purpose of writing an honest review. No other compensation was given.