Saturday, June 17, 2017

Internship for High School Credit–A Homeschool Review Crew Review!

Apologia Educational Ministries

I remember when we first were thinking about homeschooling our kids. We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of other homeschool families. One of the things that intrigued me about one particular family was the way that they allowed their children to seek out and work in internship programs. These programs helped them develop their talents and decide if it was really a career path that they wanted to follow. I toyed around with this idea with my oldest. We pursued some things that interested him, but I really didn’t know how to search out a real internship program for him. Now that our other two biological children are getting older and we also have three other awesome foster children the topic of internships has come up again. This time, however, we have a wonderful book by Apologia Educational Ministries titled Internship for High School Credit.

Let me tell you that, since I have this book, I am not going to have any problem with searching out, applying for, or even using this experience for high school credit. This book has all of the answers and takes you through the process step by step. It even has a workbook section for the student to better utilize and learn from this exposure to his chosen field.


Internship for High School Credit

After a short introduction and “How to use this Workbook” section, there are five parts to this book. Part one is titled “Getting Started” however, despite what the title says, it is much, much more than that. It is a step by step guide to everything that you need to do to apply for an internship. I am very impressed by how thorough this section is! At first it talks about how to determine what type of internship you are interested in. It even has a section that helps you think about a field if you don’t even know what you want to do with your life yet. It then goes on to talk about choosing a company, preparing to contact that company, and the extra things that you might need to do and take into consideration if you want to receive high school credit. There are a lot of things involved in claiming high school credits for an internship that I didn’t realize. I am glad that they included this section. Next after choosing a company Internship for High School Credit teaches your student how to write a résumé and write a letter of introduction to the company. Really these are skills that any student needs to know even if they aren’t applying for an internship! Finally, there are tips on how to act during an interview and how to get ready for the first day. Whew! I told you that the first section was thorough!

However, if you thought that the first section was thorough, wait until you read about the next section! Part two talks about what a parent needs to know. This section provides information on so many things that I didn’t even think of. Things like Child Labor laws and how a parent needs to be proactive in helping their child choose a good internship location. I like how, since this book is written from a Christian perspective, how this section talks about choosing a company that is going to line up with your worldview. Finally, this section gives a lot of great information on how a parent can use this internship to give their child high school credits.

Parts Three and Four are in workbook form and helps the student keep track of his goals and how the internship is going. The questions that are asked each week are tremendous. They really help the student think about what is going on so that this isn’t just a “job” but a real internship that is helping them get the most from this experience and evaluate if this is something that they really want to pursue in life. Part Three is for the first semester of an internship and contains charts, questions and hints for the student to fill out, answer and read. It also includes an end of the semester work performance and an evaluation of what skills were learned during the semester. Part Four is for the second semester of a year long internship. It is very similar to Part Three, but instead of questions it contains in-depth activities for the student to complete that helps them dig deeper into the field that they are working in order to get the most from their experience.

Part Five is a course Wrap-up section that includes a final writing assignment, writing a thank-you letter to the company, updating your résumé and asking your supervisor for a letter of recommendation.

I told you that Internship for High School Credit was thorough! I am very impressed with this book, and am definitely going to use it for my kids. To find out more about Internship for High School Credit or about Apologia Educational Ministries just click on any one of the highlighted links above. You can also search them out on one of their social media links listed below. Finally, many of the other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed this book and another book from Apologia Educational Ministries and you can find what they had to say by clicking on the banner below. Happy Homeschooling!

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Homeschool with Confidence & Internship for High School {Apologia Educational Ministries Reviews}


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Friday, June 9, 2017

MarshMedia Health and Puberty Videos–An Excellent Resource for any Family–A Homeschool Review Crew Review


Health Education Products for K-8 {MarshMedia }


Being in a house full of adolescent boys can be very interesting. You never know what discussions we might have. What makes it even more interesting is the crazy mixed up group that we have. Two of our biological sons are on the autism spectrum so are very innocent when it comes to some things, while our three foster sons are very street wise and have seen a lot more than our biological kids. Still, four out of the seven boys are teens while one is a preteen, so there are topics that periodically have to be addressed. With a bunch of hormonal boys health and sexual talks are inevitable. That’s why I was excited to be chosen to review .MarshMedia and their awesome health education videos. MarshMedia has produced videos for schools for over 45 years, however, they are wanting to introduce their videos to homeschool families with a Homeschool Special.

When I was researching this company at first, I was skeptical. After all, this company is not really a Christian company. If I am going to talk to my kids about such things as health and puberty, I want it to come from a Christian perspective. I don’t want it to come from a world view that is contrary to my faith. However, after watching a few of these videos, I realized I had nothing to worry about. These videos are very well done and I found nothing at all offensive about them.

As I mentioned, MarshMedia concentrates on Health and Puberty Education. In fact, as you can see by their banner below, that is their tagline. I was very curious because they said that they also had videos that were geared toward autistic children. I was pleasantly surprised! As I mentioned above, they are very tastefully done. They explain things in ways that an autistic child would understand. It is very basic but thorough. Although they do show diagrams, there is no physical nudity involved. There are videos that discuss puberty as well as safety, and hygiene. Hygiene is a really big thing with my autistic teen so I was very glad that they addressed that topic. How they do it in a serious but somehow entertaining way I will never know. I wish I had that ability.


Health Education Products for K-8 {MarshMedia }

The videos made for non-autistic kids are equally well done. Now, these videos are made for children in grades k-8 so, after watching a few of them, I realized they were a bit below the level of my high-school aged boys. Still, there are quite a few that were suitable for my pre-teen and, even though they were not specifically made for autistic children, they fit well with my teen that is on the spectrum.

Now, I realize I have talked about the puberty and hygiene videos a lot, but they have a plethora of videos that deal with such topics as immune system disorders, safety, nutrition, and even head lice. All are just as tastefully done as the puberty and hygiene videos.

I think you can see that we are very pleased with .MarshMedia and it’s videos. Although we as members of the Homeschool Review Crew, were able to choose and select which videos we wanted to watch, it looks like that option is available for regular costumers as well. Or, you can take advantage of the Homeschool Special. Whichever you decide to do, please do it because this has become a wonderful resource to our family and I know it could be to yours as well. Just click on an one of the highlighted links above or check out their social media links below. You can also check out what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say by clicking on the banner below. Happy Homeschooling!

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MarshMedia Reviews


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Thursday, June 1, 2017

Fruit of the Spirit–Podcast 2!

Howdy folks! Here is my second podcast on the Fruit of the Spirit. As I said before, I don’t know how many I will do a week, but I’m doing them as the Spirit leads. These are geared toward the Teens that Sarah and I work with, but anyone is welcome to watch. Enjoy and leave me a comment below!


Heroes of History–Davy Crockett–A Homeschool Review Crew Review

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One of my favorite genres of books when I was younger was biographies. I know, I was a weird child! Anyway, that love carried over to my adult life as well. I still love biographies and autobiographies. I’m pretty sure that anyone that reads my blog also knows that I love history. I am very glad to say that my children love history and biographies as well. Yep! I’m turning them into little geeks! So, we were super excited to find out that we were going to get to review one of the books from the YWAM Publishing Heroes of History series titled Heroes of History- Davy Crockett.

It also doesn’t hurt that we live in the great state of Tennessee and Davy Crockett was a hero that was born in our great state. You know the song – Davy, Davy Crockett – king of the wild frontier! But, did you know that “Davy” would have been insulted if you would have called him that? That is a modern day name that was given him – I suppose for the movie and TV show or something like that. Nevertheless, he would have preferred being called David back in his day. We learned that from the book. Not only did we learn that but we learned a lot of other fascinating things from this biography written by Janet and Geoff Benge. We have reviewed and bought a lot of books from YWAM Publishing and they have all been fantastic. This one is no different. We always learn so much and they are all good reads!

They all begin with a snippet of the hero’s older life and then flash back to the to his or her childhood on goes on through their life. Of course we all know that David was born in Tennessee and died in the famous Alamo battle. However, what I didn’t know was all of the interesting stuff that happened in between. This great book chronicles him leaving home and setting out on his own at a very young age, exploring the western wilderness, befriending Indians, and becoming a congressman. He did all of that in his short 50 years that he was alive! His life truly is fascinating!

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As I said, YWAM books really are fantastic. However, it’s not just the books that are fantastic but also the study guides. Now, let me just say that the study guides for each of the titles in the Heroes of History series are sold separately as digital downloads, but I would recommend buying them even if you aren’t reading the books for homeschool or other educational purposes. They are packed with a lot of really cool extras!

For homeschoolers (and anyone else that likes this sort of thing) it has the usual chapter questions that are very well thought out and interesting. I usually read these books to my two homeschooled sons and alternately ask them a chapter question after we have read a chapter. There are also ways that you can use this book and the topic of Davy Crockett in all sorts of homeschool subjects including science, math and geography as well as history. We really like the Books and Resources section where you can find more great information on this great hero. And, along with this, there is a link to a special page where you can find bonus materials for this title and other titles in the Heroes of History series.

As you can see we really love this series and the study guides. To find out more about YWAM Publishing, the Heroes of History or specifically Heroes of History- Davy Crockett, just click on any one of the highlighted links above. Or you can check them out on their social media links provided below. As usual many of the other Homeschool Review Crew members reviewed this book and other books from YWAM Publishing and you can find what they had to say by clicking on the banner below. Happy Reading!

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