Blossom & Root Curriculum Review || Nature-based, Secular Homeschooling Curriculum
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Today, I'm doing a review and flipthrough of the Blossom and Root Grade 1 curriculum. There are many reasons to like this program: it's an inspired secular, nature-based, literature-based and uses a very hands-on approach to teaching.
Blossom & Root: blossomandroot...
Books:
1) John Muir: America's First Environmentalist
Book Depository (free shipping worldwide): tidd.ly/3899F09
Amazon: amzn.to/3r3oZ79
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/3qWfjeV
2) The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Picture Book Edition
Book Depository (free shipping worldwide): tidd.ly/2KpkIu6
Amazon: amzn.to/34i7Mxo
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/3gQv428
3) Charles Darwin's Around-the-World Adventure
Book Depository (free shipping worldwide): tidd.ly/2KtvyiG
Amazon: amzn.to/2WicBST
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/2KvNzgt
4) Stone Girl Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning
Book Depository: tidd.ly/3nok0Mp
Amazon: amzn.to/3gQn7Kq
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/34dqqX5
5) One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
Amazon: amzn.to/2Whwfyg
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/3aesuBN
6) Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor
Book Depository: tidd.ly/2FJ9U8g
Amazon: amzn.to/3m3a6id
Amazon (Australia): amzn.to/3j2eUSY
7) Eyes and no eyes (Volume I)
Book Depository: tidd.ly/3r2zWpC
Amazon: amzn.to/34ip7pO
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/3mki71H
8) Clara Dillingham Pierson's Complete Among the People Series
Book Depository: tidd.ly/37mVaXG
Amazon: amzn.to/3gQhVq5
Amazon (Australia):amzn.to/3gTFK06
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Who are we?
We are a bilingual family living in Australia, following secular homeschooling curricula. I'm an archaeologist and I'm currently homeschooling full-time. My husband Paul is a moral philosopher (PhD). We have two kiddos - a little boy and a little girl. Mindfulness and minimalism are central themes in our home and in our personal lives.
Our philosophy:
In their first and second 1000 days, children have the unique opportunity to learn exponentially faster than they will for the rest of their lives. We were inspired when we first learned this. We can't waste this enhanced ability to learn skills and, importantly, to build on them in the initial phase of life and beyond. So we've invested in our children's early education and in giving them the affection and time that they need and want for their thriving. Join us as we review the books we've acquired, the unit studies we've created, and in discussing the developmental toys and resources we use and our views on what we find to be some of the trickier topics in parenting. We'd love to have your company, and we'd love to hear what you think or any questions you may have as we move forward in our CuddlePot Bootcamp. #secularhomeschooling #homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolcurriculumchoices #bestcurriculum
Soundtrack:
Track: We Were Young - Vendredi [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: • We Were Young - Vendre... Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/we-w...
Track: Paradise by JayJen & Roa Free Download / Stream: fanlink.to/Par...
Track: Tropical Love - Vendredi [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: • Tropical Love - Vendre... Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/trop...
Track: Maarif - Soyb & Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: • Maarif - Soyb & Amine ... Free Download / Stream: alplus.io/maarif
Just wanted to give you an update, after seeing your review I purchased this curriculum and we enjoyed going through it! Thanks for doing this review!
Aww I'm so happy to hear that 😊 Really appreciate the update!!!
This is very helpful indeed! I have been looking for something like this for a while now. This looks like a very interesting curriculum, and I'm really happy that it has a relaxed schedule because I don't want to be rushing to get everything completed within a particular timeframe. Thanks for this review!
Hi, thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful! It really does have a very relaxed approach and its also one of the reasons why we like it!
First of all, it's so awesome that you did all the binding yourself! Then I love the idea of using picture books to teach a variety of subjects and it's pretty amazing that this curriculum also offers a heap of STEM activities! I really am grateful for this review!
Aww, I'm so glad to hear that! It truly is a wonderful program and we thoroughly enjoyed it! We really love their book seeds as well.
WOW another secular curriculum with lots of books! I have honestly never heard of Blossom and Root but from what I just saw I love it! We love books and this looks amazing.
Hi, yes it's a great curriculum - secular, nature-based! The booklists are fantastic! The suggested books are really great and I ended up buying quite a few of them! My son loves the hands-on projects too and he enjoys it a lot. So we are very happy with this curriculum.
We started this year, about four months ago and my kids are loving Blossom and Root.
Hi I'm so glad to hear that 😊
Thank you so much for watching!
Hello, this review is very helpful. I like how the math concepts are investigated through artwork. My children would be thrilled by it...we do a lot of art projects and this would fit in nicely. Very excited by this curriculum. Thank you for sharing.
Hi thanks for watching 😊 My son absolutely loves the art projects in the math part of this curriculum. And what an interesting way to teach a bit about different mathematical concepts, various artists and different pieces of art work!
My son loves it so much and my little daughter gets in there as well so that's great to see 😊
This was very helpful! Thank you for sharing. We are starting the the Early Years with my youngest two soon. I'm excited to try it out.
Your very welcome and thanks for watching 😊 I actually haven't used that level but I have heard a lot of good things about it! My son really loved grade 1 and we still enjoy the book seeds! It's definitely a great program 😊
Thorough flip through without be boring lol. Sorry had to put that. Some reviewers seem to like the sound of their own voices and go on and on. Your review was to the point but hitting key points.
Hi that's very kind of you to say, thank you so much and I really appreciate it 😊
I'm glad you liked the video!
This was very helpful. Thank you for the flip-through!
Hi thanks a bunch for watching 😊 and I'm really glad to hear that you found the video helpful!
I hope you have a lovely day!
Hi I really am glad you did this video because I was not sure whether to go with this curriculum or not. I was leaning towards Torchlight but now I am not sure!
Hi I use Torchlight for the booklists, only. But I prefer Blossom and Root. It fits in nicely with our schedule and unit studies. I also love the book seeds which are inspired by picture books!
Hi, your video help a lot. Can you help me how can I get those books? Soft copy
Hi thanks so much for watching and I'm so glad to hear that you found the video helpful 😊 The links for the books are in the description box above. The Amazon links give you different buying options, so if you are after soft copies you could simply choose the Kindle format. But not all of them are available in the Kindle format.
I hope that helps 😊
Was astronomy covered in this? Or you covered astronomy with something else?
Hi, so lovely to hear from you again 😊 hope all is well at your end!
Grade 1 of Blossom and Root didn't cover astronomy. In terms of science, it focuses on geology, weather, and seasons. They recently released a new edition and I'm pretty sure that still focuses on those topics. But I do know that their level 5 (Wonders of World's Beyond) does include astronomy. Level 5 is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on oceanography while part 2 delve into astronomy (you can see a sample of that here: secureservercdn.net/45.40.152.13/f18.95a.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Level-5-Astronomy-SAMPLE.pdf)
REAL Science Odyssey also have Astronomy programs (Levels 1 and 2). You can download a decent preview of their astronomy curriculum here:
www.pandiapress.com/product/real-science-odyssey-astronomy-1/ref/98/
I hope that helps! And please let me know if you have any more questions about 😊 hope you have a lovely weekend!
@@cuddlepotbootcamp thanks yes that kinda helps.. Except I'm still not sure what to go with next year haha we are about to start Pandia Press's Life science - I was thinking we will do earthscience and astronomy next year... But I do like that blossom and Root are book based and you get so many choices.
I keep getting unsubscribed from your channel for some reason.
Blossom and Root is really multi age adaptable for all its curriculums isn't it?
We've been pretty good up here until last week when my son broke his arm, and then got food poisoning - it's his right arm so I'm hoping it doesn't badly affect his artwork, his been selling his paintings at our viking market stall, and just won 3 art awards at our local show.
Are yous freezing down there yet?
@@tuathadesidhe1530 Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about your son's arm and the food poisoning, that's awful. Oh I do hope it heals nice and quick! Sounds like art is his passion and yeah, it's a good thing it wasn't his dominant hand!
Yes, blossom and root is definitely adaptable, and can be used with kids of different ages. We actually started Real Science Odyssey earth and environment level 1 and it's actually pretty awesome. Lots of fun experiments and there's a huge collection of books to choose from too for every topic... So I think you would definitely be able to go through it with different aged kiddos 😊 I haven't tried their astronomy program yet so I can't say much about that! This year, for science we are focusing solely on chemistry! I have heard great things about their life science curriculum so I bet that's going to be fun! Does that include lots of picture books?
I'm not sure why you are getting unsubscribed from my channel... I did recently join the world of Instagram (@cuddlepotbootcamp) I share a lot of stuff there, curriculum updates and everyday life things... So if you are interested you can find me there 😊
Anyway, how's the viking unit coming along?
@@cuddlepotbootcamp yes he loves art, science, math and facts haha - his lucky, he landed on his wrist because he was guarding his face... Yeah no, thats too much to think about, it was traumatic enough how it went. It's his dominant arm but yes lucky it wasn't the hand - he has his regular occupational therapy session tomorrow, I'm going to ask her how much he can be doing with it once the full cast gets on there on Wednesday to try and prevent the inevitable muscle wastage - it's just too swollen now because both the bones broke right through and we have a genetic bleeding disorder, so its extra swollen. I hope it doesn't affect his artwork longterm.
Yes they do have quite a lot of books in LIFE .. And I done my usual book addict thing and grabbed heaps of extras. They also have a couple of pages of internet links, multiple suggestions for each lesson - I suppose I will just see how we go with science Odyssey before we decide about next year. Raku is wanting to "go back to the beginning of EVERYTHING" so we are going to do science every day til we get to the human body (I changed around the order they present everything in) - then we will start on History Quest Early Times towards the end of human anatomy. They use the Usborne Encyclopedia of the natural world, but I think we will just use the beginning of Usborne Encyclopedia of world History along with everything else we have.
Yes Vikings has been great, it's resulted in us having a Viking stall at our local markets that we will keep doing, and add to as we travel through History. When the Ambo's turned up at the park when he broke his arm they said oh this isn't a great start to your school holidays mate, what school do you go too? He said I don't go to school, I'm homeschooled. They said you must still be having school holidays though, he said what are school holidays? And I said we don't follow school holidays - and the 2 Ambo's looked at eachother like I'm mean, and one said well that doesn't seem fair (we do year round and just try to live an educational life - we have holidays when we feel like it) - they had to give him that green whistle to get his arm into the brace and get him into the ambulance, and then I had to follow in the car because we were in a town 20 minutes away from the hospital. When I got there the driver got out and had a strange look on his face, then he said... So he didn't talk till he was 5 !? I said 5.5 yes why? As he opened the back doors he said - cause his sure making up for it now! Then the other one said wow, we have just been told all about your year being Vikings ! Archery, pig feet, and you handstitched his clothes AND leather shoes!! We want to be homeschooled too! So apparently I'm not as mean as first thought haha - I've had to make him another viking shirt to accommodate his cast - and I'm gonna be making myself a pair of turnshoes next, they are really comfortable (which is saying something because we don't like shoes.) we actually weren't too happy with all the books I bought, most of them had a christian influence - we are working on our own book which we eventually plan to publish through Amazon printing, it will be from an Animists perspective explaining the science/reasoning behind the stories, and he will be illustrating it.
@@tuathadesidhe1530 That sure does sound pretty traumatic and I'm sorry that you also had to deal with unwanted judgments about the whole homeschooling thing. I truly hope your son's hand heals completely without any problems!
Seems like you are having a great time with the vikings unit and it sounds so amazing!
Thanks for letting me know about the books for their life science curriculum - that's super helpful! and I can totally relate... about going ahead and getting extra books 🤦♀️😊
Also, I'm glad your son was able to change those guys minds about homeschooling 😊