Learning Latin Vocabulary with Picta Dicta Natural World {A TOS Review}

We are going to be focusing on Ancient Rome for history quite a bit this year in our homeschool. Therefore, when we were given the opportunity to learn Latin using Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media, I was quite excited. 

Thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew, I have again been introduced to a wonderful, new-to-me company. Roman Roads Media provides classical curriculum in several different subjects. In addition to Latin, they provide courses in Old Western Culture, Logic, Rhetoric, Poetry, and History for both home and classroom use. They also provide live classes.

Picta Dicta is an online vocabulary course where the student learns the English, Latin, and even Greek for things in nature (with Picta Dicta Natural World) or concepts in the ancient world (with Picta Dicta Ancient World). These two courses are suitable for elementary or junior high students (for the Ancient World course). Additionally, there is a Picta Dicta course for older students (junior high, high school, and college) called Vocabulary Builder, where students learn general reading vocabulary to help them become proficient in reading Latin.

As my children are all in elementary grades,  I chose to review Picta Dicta Natural World.

This course is completely online, so all that is required is a computer with internet access. We were given 5 licenses, which was perfect for our family, as all four children plus mommy could learn Latin. It was quite simple to set up our account, seeing as a step-by-step video is provided. We were actually sent a link via email which I clicked on to go to the page with all the instructions. First I had to set up an account with Picta Dicta, then I added each student and enrolled them in our course, which is Natural World. After that I set each of us up in the appropriate "campaign" or difficulty level. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't pick the correct level; however, I learned that it is quite easy to change levels if necessary. There are six different levels to choose from: Basic, English, Reader I, Reader II, Express, and Teacher. 

Here is what my dashboard looks like after it was all set up.

It shows that we are subscribed to the Natural World course with five seats, all of which are being used. If I want to change a child's level at any time, all I have to do is click on the edit pencil icon to the right of their name. 

I put Harold and Hannah in Basic which means they will be learning both the English and the Latin words, helping to build their English vocabulary along with learning the Latin. With this level they are also able to have the information read to them. 

I put Amelia in Reader I, as I figured she didn't need to learn the English, but she could use help reading the information passages, especially if they were long. Imagine my surprise when I realized she was still going to be learning the English vocabulary, and didn't have long informative passages to read. For now, I have decided to keep her in this level, as it is giving her a chance to improve her vocabulary and work on spelling, though I do wish this level included the informative articles.

I put Tabitha is Reader II, as she is more advanced in her reading. She does have informative articles about each word, not just a sentence or two describing the word. She has been learning the Latin plus will have to spell both English and Latin. She just gets to skip the actual learning of the English word.

I put myself in the Express level as I do not need to learn the English, I just wanted to focus on learning the Latin. 

Here is how we actually use the program.

From my account I can go to my lessons, the children; however, need to log in to their own account. Then we will see a version of the following screen.

Each of the different levels have a slightly different screen as they have a different number of lessons. My screen above shows that I have three different lessons for each chapter. Hannah and Harold have five lessons, Amelia has eight, and Tabitha has five. All of the children also have review activities scheduled in between chapters. The way I would review older lessons with an Express level, is to go to "Train" at the upper right corner, or I could go to the actual lessons, but that isn't necessary.

In each of these levels, the student will learn new vocabulary by viewing one picture at a time along with descriptive information (just one or two sentences for the easier levels, full paragraph articles for the more difficult levels). Once several words have been learned, the student will practice picking that object out of a group of six. Then more words are taught, and the student goes through the same process. If mistakes are made, the student will be shown the answer, and will get another chance to answer later in the session. There are about 15-20 words taught per chapter. 

Here, let's take a look at one of my lessons.

First I am shown a picture of the object along with the word in Latin. Sometimes the program automatically says the word, other times I have to click on it. If you need to hear it again, all you have to do is click. It is important that you repeat the word, so you learn how to pronounce it. On the bottom of the page there is an article related to the object in regards to ancient Roman culture.

Real quick, remember I stated that younger children don't have to read an article? They just get a couple of sentences describing the word, which can be read to them if needed.

Once I am done, I click the "thumbs up" icon in the bottom right corner (not shown in these screenshots). Each click takes me to a new word, until it is time to see how much I remember. 

First the word is shown. Again, the computer may say the word automatically, other times it needs to be clicked. I love the opportunity to hear the word and see its spelling as many times as I need to.

Then I have to choose the correct picture. You can do this by clicking on the picture, or typing in the letter at in the gray circle to the lower right of the picture.

Notice they don't use the English word under the picture. The idea of this program is to know what the picture represents, not just rely on the English word. Because it is the same object/animal/whatever no matter which language it is in. 

If the correct image is chosen you get a green check, otherwise you get a red "x" and it shows you the correct picture so you can practice it. Later in the lesson another chance is given. In fact, you continue being corrected and given chances until you get it correct.

Once you finish that section you receive a score which is shown with 1-5 stars depending on how many questions were correct.

They are also recorded on the main screen. I did notice that when I only got one star on my "Latin- Picture II" activity they changed the replay icon back to a play icon on the previous activity, indicating that I should practice again. I do love that a student could continue to go back into the lessons to improve their score.

Another way that the program has you practice the vocabulary is to show you the picture with the caption. . .

. . .and have you find the correct word.

You are given a check mark if you are correct, or a "x" if you are wrong.

You continue working until you have gotten each word in the chapter correct.

For all levels these steps are about the same. As I mentioned younger children will also do these steps with the English words. Additionally, older children will have the chance to work on spelling. Reader I and Reader II get to practice both English and Latin spelling, while students using the Express level only practice Latin spelling.

Again, the student is shown the image with the descriptive caption.

Then a screen with a box at the top appears. The student needs to type the word and press enter.

If you are correct, you get a check mark again.

If you get it wrong, either because you didn't know the correct word, or you spelled it incorrectly, it will show you the picture again, with the correct spelling of the word underneath it.

Once a chapter is finished, a student is free to move along to the next chapter, or they can play the practice games. Again, these vary according to level. 

To get to the games, a student would click the "train" icon which looks like a set of barbells in the top right corner of the screen.

First you select the chapter(s) you want to practice.

Then you select the specific game.

These games are all similar to the activities a student would do in the lesson, such as clicking on the picture when shown the word, or choosing the word when shown the picture. You could also practice spelling English or Latin after seeing the word or the picture. With my level, I could even test my knowledge on the information in the article. Younger children would test their information on the descriptive information.

There are so many opportunities to practice these words so that we can memorize them. I love that we can hear the correct pronunciation and see the spelling, along with a picture of the object. All in all, we are going to be learning over 400 nouns in 26 different chapters to help give us a wonderful foundation in several subjects: future Latin study, English literature, foreign language, history and the sciences. I can already see this, with the history lessons we have been learning through the articles, the science info connecting Latin words to English in Anatomy, and how Latin words relate to other English words. We will be learning about different kinds of animals, different categories of anatomy, and different things from nature, including landforms, water, and different kinds of plants. 

This is a program that all of the children have been enjoying. They have computer time at least 4 times a week, and they spend a little bit of time on Latin each day. They may do one or two activities in a sitting, maybe more. There is no set amount of time that needs to be spent on Picta Dicta as it is self-paced. The only real concern we have come across is Amelia swearing up and down that she typed a word in correctly, yet being marked wrong. The problem is, she could think she was correct, but may have had a typo or started typing early and the first letter didn't register (I've had that happen). It is imperative for students to check their spelling before clicking enter in the spelling sections. 

Other than that, we are absolutely loving Picta Dicta Natural World. I was thrilled the one day when I was sitting in the living room and heard Hannah exclaim from the computer in the dining room, "I LOVE Picta Dicta!!"

That about sums it up. 

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Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about the products they reviewed from Roman Roads Media. In addition to Picta Dicta Natural World, you will find reviews of Picta Dicta Vocabulary Builder, and Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (complete program).

Enjoying a Well-Rounded Homeschool Language Arts Program with Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 {A TOS Review}

Grammar never has been one of my strong suits. Of course, as a homeschool mom, it is my responsibility to teach my children grammar. So, I really appreciate when I find a product that can help me do just that. Thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew, I have been working with Hannah using the brand-new Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 from Hake Publishing. 

Prior to the release of their Grammar and Writing 3, they did have materials for older students, from 4th through 8th grade. I was thrilled that they were releasing books that I could use with Hannah, who just finished 2nd grade. Not only is grammar and writing included in this curriculum, but there is spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary development. These topics are taught with Hake/Saxon's approach of incremental development and continual review. All in all, this seemed to be a well-rounded language arts curriculum from a respected publishing company, and I was thrilled to have Hannah get started in it. 

We received the three-book set shown above. There is a Teacher Guide, Consumable Textbook, and Writing Workbook, each of which is a soft cover book. 

Teacher Guide

This 391-page book begins with an introductory section which includes a note "To the Teacher," the Teacher Schedule, plus a script for the Grammar Meetings. The next 111 pages are the scripts for the 111 lessons in the program. 

Each lesson is broken into several sections. The optional Speaking and Listening section, and the required Vocabulary, Lesson, and Review Set sections. Scripted lines that are to be read to the students are in bold font, and instructions for the teacher to follow are in italics. The sections that are in the boxes are also found at the top of the student's textbook, and they are to follow along. The lesson itself is written out in the student textbook, but not in the Teacher Guide. 

After the section with the lesson scripts you will find the Answer Key for both the Textbook and the Writing Workbook. Each lesson's answer key is displayed on a single page so it can be shown without revealing the answers to the upcoming lessons. The answers for the Writing Lessons however show 3-4 per page. The next section contains the answer keys for the tests. Tests are given after lesson 10, and then after every fifth lesson, for a total of 22 in all. Then there are answer keys for the "More Practice" pages. Not every lesson has a sheet for more practice. Out of the 111 lessons, only 28 provide an extra sheet for more practice. Also included in the "More Practice" section are three Tricky Teasers which help children practice with the different concepts they have learned thus far. These are stories with blanks for the children to fill in like a game, where they need to fill in certain parts of grammar, similar to books I used to use growing up, and which I have seen on the backs of cereal boxes and other places. 

The Teacher Guide concludes with the reproducible Masters, for the Tests and the More Practice, including the Tricky Teasers.

Consumable Textbook

This 488-page book begins with a Table of Contents, showing the student each lesson number, along with the topic for the lesson and the page where it can be found. There is then a one-page introduction for the student, after which the lessons begin. Each lesson is between three and five pages in length, and follows the same pattern. 

At the top of the page the student will find a box containing the Grammar Meeting question and Vocabulary. 

The questions give the children a chance to practice speaking in full sentences. As this curriculum is actually created with a classroom in mind, the question is usually asked to the entire group and then they take turns answering and listening to their fellow student's answers, after which they are to spend some time discussing other's answers. While we don't have a classroom, we do have a family with four children, so I have been asking this question to all the children.

I love that the vocabulary words are derived from either Latin or Greek roots. As you can see, the root is shown along with its meaning prior to sentences which explain the new words. After these sentences are read, the children are to come up with their own sentences. I occasionally include the other children in this exercise as well, especially if Hannah is having trouble coming up with a sentence.

Next we come to the actual lesson. We just read this straight from the book while snuggling on the couch.

As a part of the lesson there are a couple of examples to help demonstrate what is being taught. Directly under the example you will find the solution. I do try to hide the solution so Hannah can try to figure the examples out on her own.

Then we come to the actual practice section. Children may need direction here, especially making sure they understand what they are being asked to do for each problem. This section will include the concepts related to the lesson and ask the child to use their new vocabulary. 

The lesson concludes with a Review Set. I usually have Hannah complete this section independently to see if she is understanding the concepts she has been taught. 

This section will have concepts from the current lesson as well as previous lessons. The numbers in parentheses under the question number indicate which lesson the concept was introduced in.

I really do appreciate that the Review Set allows the child to review previously learned topics. I have noticed there are definitely concepts Hannah is struggling with. Having the reproducible "More Practice" sheets has also been very helpful, though I do wish more lessons had them. I am curious how the authors decided which lessons would have and wouldn't have these extra practice sheets. 

As we've been working through the lessons, Hannah has been introduced to sentences, subjects and predicates, action verbs, different tenses of verbs such as present tense and past tense, nouns such as proper nouns and concrete, abstract, and collective nouns. We've also looked at words with short and long vowels. As we continue through the books she will learn other spelling rules along with many other grammar rules, and we will even get into diagramming sentences. 

The student's Consumable Textbook concludes with an index.

According to the Teacher Schedule, as I mentioned above, after lesson ten and then after every five lessons thereafter the child is to take a test. It is also at that time that they are scheduled to use the Writing Workbook.

Writing Workbook

This 92-page book contains 21 lessons. The student will focus on the sentence for four lessons, the paragraph for six lessons, and then will move on to different forms of writing, such as persuasive, expository, narrative, and descriptive. At the end of the book they will be asked to write a chapter summary. Not only do they work on writing, but they are required to evaluate their writing. They will be able to use concepts they have been working on in their textbook.

After lesson 10 there is a writing lesson on The Sentence, focusing on subjects and predicates.

How are we using Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3?

Hannah has what we call "mommy time" two times during the week, so we used that time to work on grammar after she reads to me for a while. As it is recommended to use this program at least three times a week we also added time on Wednesday for sitting down to use the book. We didn't get as far into the book as I would have liked as I did have a sick little girl one week, plus last week was VBS/no-regular-school week. Additionally, we did end up needing to spend more time on review than I thought we were going to. So, some days, instead of doing a new lesson, I photocopied the "More Practice" sheet or went over the previous lesson. 

We would sit on the couch or loveseat and discuss the Grammar Meeting question, sometimes asking her siblings if they weren't in the middle of their school work. Then we would work on vocabulary.

Then I would read the lesson information to her, making sure she understood the concept being taught. Though, there were times I thought she understood, but then realized she wasn't quite "getting it" while she worked on the practice questions.

Then we went over the practice questions.

I then have her work on the Review Set as independently as possible. Sometimes she remains on the couch, other times she sits at the table. 

As you can see, she does still require some guidance with certain concepts:

I absolutely appreciate that there is review of past concepts in every lesson. Things that Hannah was struggling with toward the beginning of the review period are now better understood. At first I didn't understand the approach that this curriculum takes. This approach is actually the same approach that was developed for the Saxon Math program by John Saxon. After using Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing for the past six weeks, and glancing through the books to see what is coming in the future, I can definitely see the benefits of this approach which is explained on Hake Publishing's website on the page titled Grammar and Writing Pedagogy. 

I really love how the topics are spaced over time and there is continual review. Hannah has also mentioned how she likes the way she gets to review every day. She is really enjoying getting to learn grammar concepts she didn't know before. Though I think she is a bit frustrated, as am I, that the lines given at times are not quite long enough for her to write in. 

I admit, Hannah does struggle with her handwriting and it is a bit sloppy . I actually am not sure what a 3rd grader's handwriting should look like. However, I did notice that some of the spaces would just barely fit their typed words, such as "multiplication" in the picture below. And young children are not going to print as small as typed words. Honestly, if this didn't state it was a consumable textbook, I probably would have been having Hannah write her answers in a notebook. In fact, I am debating having her doing any writing in a notebook from now on, as we do love the program and don't want to let such a small issue interfere with her enjoyment of the work.

All in all Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 is a wonderful language arts program. I am amazed at what Hannah has begun to remember, and I am pleased that she is actually enjoying her lessons. For me as the parent, the lesson is easy to teach as it is laid out nicely. It is nice knowing that each lesson is going to follow the same format. All I have to do is read the lesson information, which actually helps me re-learn concepts as well. With only 10 to 15 Review Set questions so far, in addition to the practice that we work on together, the lesson is short enough to keep her attention and not bore her. I did notice that there will be more questions per lesson as we get further into the book. We'll have to see how she deals with this when we get to these lessons, perhaps I will allow her to spread the lessons out a bit more, or we will do grammar every day of the week. Either way, we will continue with this program, as I feel it is very well thought out and, as I thought when I first looked at it, quite well-rounded. 

Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3.

Working on Language Arts with Home School Navigator {A TOS Review}

For the past several weeks, we have had the opportunity to try out the Home School Navigator Reading and Language Arts Curriculum from Home School Navigator. This language arts curriculum is mainly an online program developed by two ex-public school English teachers named Ashley and Beth. As homeschool moms they found English/Language Arts curricula to be lacking, so they  designed their own, a wonderfully comprehensive program that covers multiple areas of language arts for reading success. We were able to get a one-year subscription for up to four children, so I asked to be able to use it for each of my children.

This program is appropriate for elementary aged children ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade reading level. Each level is represented by a color of the rainbow. What's really neat about this program is that you get to try out different levels for the first four weeks to see which one will work best for your child. Once you hit week four you do need to select a level to lock in to though. 

Throughout this 9-month (36-week) program you and your child(ren) will look at different genres of literature while focusing on literature comprehension or elements of reading, reading skills, writing skills, grammar (except for kindergarten), phonics, word study, vocabulary, handwriting, and for older children (levels blue and indigo) computer skills. The three older levels even have Interactive Notebooks to go with book studies. 

The scope and sequence for each level gives an overview of what you will be working on during the school year. Here is a look at Level Blue, which Tabitha and Amelia are working in. 

I'm sorry that it's a bit blurry. You can see the scope and sequence for all the levels by going to the Home School Navigator FAQ page if you like.

For the first month all levels except for Red focus on fairy tales/folk tales. And in the second month all levels do an author study, though each level focuses on a different one.

There are online aspects to this program plus handouts that need to be printed out. So, you will need a computer with an internet connection plus a printer with ink, along with paper and notebooks and the other typical school supplies. 

Let's look at how to use this program:

Once your children are added to the family account, you simply log into the site and you will see your family dashboard.

Only one child can be logged in on a computer at a time, though we have had the main account open on two computers and have two children working on their separate accounts.  You or your child just type the password into the "PASSWORD" box under the child's picture and click on the double blue arrows to the right. When you first start the program the "Current Level" section will be blank as will the Progress bar. In order to get the progress bar to show progress each week's work needs to be marked as done. And the "Current Level" will be shown after you lock in a level around week 4.

When we first began the program, and had access to all levels, a menu screen would appear so the parent or child could select a level. Now when a child logs in they are only shown their level to click on. They are then taken to their page which lists all the weekly links for all nine months. 

The first link for each month leads you to the page where you can download that month's handouts. You will see the scope and sequence page, plus a monthly overview, daily schedules, and the worksheets the children need to complete, plus any other reference materials, such as charts. They are organized in the order in which they will be used. 

Monthly Overview

This monthly overview gives you a quick glance at the month.

Daily Schedule

And the daily schedule gives you specific instructions for each day. 

Personally, as I love to save ink and have been working with four children using three different levels, I have not been printing out these schedules. I will take a sheet of paper, go into each day's lesson and write down, in columns, what each child needs to do each day. While I could use the daily schedule sheet as shown above, I have found it easier to have all the children's work on one paper.

Let's continue looking at the way this site is organized.

From the Level menu screen, you click on the week you are up to. For example, Level Blue [1.1] is Level Blue, month one, week one. After clicking on the desired week, you will see a similar menu where you click the day you need.Level Blue [1.1.1] is Level Blue, month one, week one, day one. This will bring you to the screen with that day's assignments.

Clicking anywhere along each bar will drop down the specific assignment. Each level begins with a Parent Introduction Video and a Student Introduction Video that you don't want to miss. 

You will also find a Master Book Title list, which shows every book for every level, plus monthly book lists, which makes it easy to plan ahead when having to put books on hold at the library.

Their will be a link to a video read aloud of the book (which has been a lifesaver for me working with three different levels), plus there may be an embedded video lesson to watch. You will also be told which worksheet the child needs to use, if any, plus there will be a link to click so you can download it, if you haven't already with the Monthly Handout pack. I prefer to go a day at a time so I focus on just that day's handouts, printing them out and getting them organized by child. I'm sure there are others who would prefer to have the a week or a month printed out and organized in advance. With Home School Navigator you are free to use it how it works best for you.

We just work our way down the day's assignments. If a worksheet needs to be completed, all I have to do is hand it to them as I printed them out prior to starting the lesson. There are also assignments that require the use of a separate notebook. The children have been doing any assignment that doesn't have a handout in their language arts notebook. This may be grammar, vocabulary, reading response, orwriter's journal activities. 

Once the day's work has been completed I try to keep each child's organized in it's own folder (I admit, this doesn't always happen). Plus I take pictures of the the completed work so I can upload it to the site using the "Upload Assignment" section at the bottom of the day's page.

You could choose to click "Check & submit to complete this lesson" which will also show that your child has completed the day's assignment. However, once you do it that way, there is no way to go back in and add work. You may be wondering why you would want to add work if you are already done with the assignment. Well, one reason I found was that when we first started, I had just received a new camera, and we couldn't get the pictures to import to my computer. So, I figured I might just be able to click that we were done with the lesson, so we could show we were progressing through the program, and then come back later to add the work. Sadly, you can't do this. However, if you add even one piece of finished work, it will show that you completed that day's lesson, and it will leave the upload button available to come back and add more completed assignments later.

I love that this program will allow you to keep a record of the child(ren)'s work for end-of-year portfolio purposes. I would suggest making sure to upload any assignments the day they are done. Because of my camera issues, I know how daunting of a task it can be to try to get this done at a later date. 

When we first started the program I had Harold and Hannah in Level Orange and Tabitha and Amelia in Level Green. However, Hannah felt that Orange was way too easy for her. So, I then tried her out with Tabitha and Amelia's level. That was actually too hard. And Tabitha and Amelia found that Level Green was too easy for them, though I admit there were some things I liked, such as learning how to write a paragraph as I never have really taught them that. I knew I didn't want to try to fanagle using four different levels, so I put them both in Level Blue. In the end, Harold stuck with Orange, Hannah moved to Yellow, and both Amelia and Tabitha ended up in Blue. 

The thing is, if there is a handout in one level that I think could benefit a one or more of the children in another level, I just print out extra. This works well because the children end up listening to each other's stories. 

The majority of the time they listen to the video read aloud, which helps me a great deal. I love that it gives them someone else to listen to, instead of mommy who tends to fall asleep while reading. It is also beneficial when the library doesn't have the scheduled book.

However, there are also times when they read to each other or read side by side.

Sometimes I have them work on their Home School Navigator assignments at different times, so I can give one-on-one time. Other times they gather around the table to work.

Working on story summaries:

Harold was working on syllables:

And Hannah was working on a comic strip outline to retell the story of The Princess and the Frog. This was actually a popular one that all of them wanted to complete.

The younger two have enjoyed the chance to get hands-on and create puppets and use tangrams to retell certain stories.

The younger two have Word Wall Words which I put on the easel during the week, as we don't have wall space for a chart. They get to practice their handwriting while copying them and writing sentences. And the older girls have been working on vocabulary with prefixes. Plus they all get to work on writing composition, though we don't do as much as scheduled. Some days there seems to be an abundance of work and other days there isn't as much, which is wonderful for being able to play catch-up.

There is just so much covered by this curriculum. I appreciate that Beth and Ashley make sure the parent knows that you do NOT have to cover everything that is contained in the curriculum. It's sort of like a buffet, where you take what you need in your homeschool, and leave what you don't, but you can always go back and use it if you change your mind. 

I also have got to say, there customer service is wonderful. I don't know if there is contact info on the site, but we were told we could email them with any questions and concerns, which is what I did. Every time I contacted them, I received a prompt reply. Usually I was contacting them because of a missing link or a typo on a worksheet. Which they always fixed in a timely manner. I admit, I do with I hadn't had to contact them as much as I did, as it was a bit frustrating to come to a part of the lesson where we couldn't get to or do the activity. I do wish they had done more editing before releasing the program, as it seems these are simple things they could have spotted.

All in all we are enjoying the program, though I think I may slow down a bit, as it was a bit more stressful than I realized it would be trying to juggle four kiddos in three different levels. We may take two weeks to do one week's worth of work, or something like that, because I really think it is a great program. 

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