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Math-U-See is a fairly new Math program, designed especially for homeschoolers, which runs from Kindergarten all the way through high school. The author is a former high school Math teacher who has attempted to balance a solid conceptual understanding of math with enough practice to let it "sink in." The program consists of a student text (workbook format), a teacher's manual, and optional practice sheets, special Math-U-See blocks and a teacher training DVD. I am very impressed with this program. The author does a fine job of allowing the students to become well aquainted with using numbers. I found math concepts very easy to explain to my daughter with the use of the very clever manipulatives (which might be thought of as a cross between "Base-ten Blocks" and Cuisinaire Rods). I was particularly impressed with how clearly place value is taught and how thoughtfully the child is prepared for future lessons (e.g. early on in addition, the child starts doing simple "solve for the unknown" problems in preparation for subtraction). Other skills learned include telling time, measurement and a heavy emphasis on skip counting (in preparation for future multiplication and factoring). My only complaint is that some of the material is contained only in the teacher's manual (I can imagine that this might have been done intentionally to force the parent to follow along in the teacher's manual rather than letting the child work entirely on their own. The author demonstrates how each concept works on the DVD so that the parent may more confidently teach the concept to the child.

Over the years we haven't always used Math-U-See as our primary Math text, but we have always found the DVDs and blocks useful no matter what we were using.

Years ago, a friend who teaches university-level art classes, told me that the best way for me to teach my children art was to combine how-to instruction with art appreciation. She suggested learning about the life of a particular artist by reading biographies and then learn how to imitate his or her technique. This made perfect sense to me, but I did not feel knowledgeable enough in the subject matter to put together my own curriculum and I did not know of any such art program that could be used in the home.

Enter Meet the Masters. This program integrates how-to instruction with art appreciation.

To review Meet the Masters, I invited two other families to join me and my children in using the program, forming a co-op of sorts. My desire was to get a feel of the program myself, as well as see how other families responded to the instruction. I am happy to report that our little art co-op was very successful.

In the first lesson the children learned about the life of Vincent Van Gogh, through the CD-ROM that comes with the program and the Internet. All of the children gathered around me and the computer, as I read from the script that comes with the program. It is good that Meet the Masters provides scripted instruction, as my personal knowledge of famous artists is admittedly limited. I learned about the life of Van Gogh alongside my children.

After reviewing Van Gogh's biography, we moved to the dining room table where we learned about his art technique and the children could mimic it. The program provides careful instructions on how to help the children with the lesson. It also provides a supply list and set-up instructions, so I was well prepared before our friends arrived.

I enhanced the program a little by searching out more of Van Gogh's artwork on the Internet and even saved one of his paintings to use as "wallpaper" on the children's computer (just left-click on the picture). That way every time the children booted up the computer, they were treated to a beautiful piece of art. I also picked up a children's biography at the library.

We met with our friends every other week until the program was finished. During that time we learned about Mary Cassatt, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Winslow Homer. My children and the children of my friends (ages seven to twelve) all enjoyed the program and were even heard speaking about things such as texture, complementary colors, contrast, and the such throughout the weeks. On more than one occasion, my children recognized, and were excited to see, prints of the artists that we studied while visiting friends' homes or the doctor's office.

Though I do like this program very much, I am disappointed at the high price tag. It is expensive and parents must weigh the benefits with the cost carefully. However, the publisher does offer a generous discount if customers order more than one grade level at one time. A computer with a CD-ROM and Internet access is necessary to use Meet the Masters.

Note: This review is a bit out-dated. You can look at their current offerings here: http://meetthemasters.com/

This is neither a textbook nor a homeschool book, yet it could very well serve as basis for a religion curriculum for a year! The author, Kevin Vost Psy. D., teaches not only a time-proved, centuries old method of memorization, he also guides readers step by step through memorizing the major tenets of the Faith.

The book has the usual uncluttered, crisp Sophia Press lay-out, and is divided into 5 major parts. Part 1 introduces the method and explains how it works, in a language accessible to an average reader. Parts 2 and 3 include step-by-step guides to memorizing lists from Sacraments and Commandments to Beatitudes, to works of Mercy, Holy Days of Obligation and even the Six Sins against the Holy Spirit. Part 4 goes further into memorization of important basics of our faith, covering all of the books of Bible, the Twenty-One centuries of Church History, virtues, sins, and the list goes on. Truly impressive! Along with these five major parts, there are twenty-nine Memory Master Tips and Facts gray blurbs throughout the book that are informative and interesting as well.

From the publisher:

" (...) over 700 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas perfected an easy method for his students to memorize most any information, but especially the truths taught by Christ and His Church. As the years passed, our need for this ancient art of memorization grew, yet somehow our culture largely forgot it . . . which is why today, when you and I try to remember a list of things, we have to repeat their names over and over. (...) Now, thanks to the delightful pages of Memorize the Faith!, you can easily keep all these in mind — and learn the Faith! — by tapping into the power of the classical memory system that helped St. Thomas become the Church’s preeminent theologian, and made it easier for him to become one of its greatest saints. (...) By the time you finish this book, you will have memorized dozens of key teachings of the Church, along with hundreds of precepts, traditions, theological terms, Scripture verses, and other elements of the Faith that every good Catholic needs to know by heart."

The best as far as homeschoolers are concerned is the fifth part, entitled "Application for all ages". Here the author addresses exactly the business of how to use the book for children and young adults, and more. Under specific homeschool use he suggests using the method for test prep--such as SAT, ACT, etc., and as and aid to good public speaking.

This book would also lend itself well, I think, to an extra-curricular club activity of middle/high school students, perhaps under the name "Aquinas Mnemonics Club". As the the author states, the ages that would be best suited to learn and use this method would be upper elementary and High School. If they would meet once weekly with the energy and camaraderie typical of that age, I bet they'd have the content of all of these chapters under their belts (or in their minds) in one year!

Problems at this level include a review of 4th grade math and practice in the topics usually introduced at the 5th grade level. In the 10 questions for each day, concepts of numbers, computation, application, mixed practice, decimals, fractions and percents are covered. Sample questions chosen at random include the following: What number when multiplied by six and divided by three becomes 12? Write seven and four tenths as a mixed number with a decimal. How much time has elapsed from 4:31 a.m. to 7:01 a.m.? 72 people were on the train. 1/8 of them got off at the first stop. How many people were left on the train? What is the volume of a box that is 2 cm by 2 cm by 2 cm?