Skip to main content

Review: Have I Got A Story For You!

We got an opportunity to check out Have I Got A Story For You! I had never heard of this company before but the videos are by HiGasfy. We are reviewing their renaissance curriculum. I went with this one because in history this year that the time period we are going over. This curriculum has 12 videos you download, a lesson plan, flashcards and a PowerPoint. Downloading the files was a bit annoying because every zip file was missing one of the files so I had to go back to the download link and download them individually. The lesson plans have different ideas of what you can do after you watch the episodes. There are a lot of different ideas so that you can incorporate the videos into other subjects that you teach. The other activities that you can do include art, writing, science and geography. There is a list vocabulary words and even critical thinking questions. I love that critical thinking is in there so that kids have to really think about the questions versus just giving a blanket answer. There are 3 different main artist for the renaissance set; Da Vince, Michelangelo and Raphael. 


We started by watching the video for episode one. Afterwards I asked my daughter what she thought. She is 6, doing 2nd grade and in history right now as I said we are learning about the middle ages. While our daughter loves history class she said the videos are really boring. The green paint guy, Gasfy, was entertaining to her and looking at the pictures was cool the rest of the video did not appeal to her. I found the content to be very informative albeit quite religious. We do not go as in-depth with religion as the videos do. Something else I did not like about these videos is that they censored the artwork. I get that some people might not want their younger kids to see the differences between men and women but if I take my children to an art museum the pieces are not censored. I also found that the information is something that anyone would be able to easily look up and discuss with their student if they wanted to learn about these artist or the time of the renaissance. Same thing with the lesson plans. You could just google some ideas of art projects, make up your own writing prompts or look at a map. 



So, I would not consider this a must have at all. While all the information is nice to have in one spot ready to go you could research the artist of the renaissance yourself. I did appreciate that the videos are not terribly long. And I liked that our daughter was able to answer the questions on her own without help but I think a large part of that was because she already learned quite a bit of it from our history class. If the videos were more engaging then maybe this curriculum would be worth it but for us it was not and I just did not think it was worth it. I would love to hear if anyone was able to make the video more fun for their child. Let us know in the comment section below.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: All About Reading Level 4

 We have finished All About Reading Level 4 ! I am so glad that we started using this program from All About Learning Press. It is hands-down the best if you want to teach anyone to read. This last level goes over the rare teams, unexpected phonic sounds, and words that are borrowed from other languages. The break down of each lesson is amazing not only for the teacher but the student as well. The games incorporated make it really intriguing for the student. I absolutely love the little readers that come with each level. The lessons are perfectly spaced out so that it isn't too much at one time. I love the way the teacher's manual is done. As a dyslexic teaching another dyslexic I couldn't be happier with the teaching method. A lot of the things taught in all 4 levels of All About Reading I learned for the first time. I had never learned them in public school but am so glad I am able to teach them to my own kids. While most American adults read at a 7-8 grade level my seven...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Sensory Tissue Box

We have been trying out a lot of new baby items this year and here is another one we did not have for our first daughter. It is called  Sensory Tissue Box . What makes this toy so much fun? Let's be honest babies love to get into things. We have tried before to let her play with a regular box of tissues. Big mess. The tissues were everywhere and they have like 250 tissues in a box, she torn them up to so an even bigger mess. Our daughter even went as far as to rip the box itself up. This sensory tissue box though is made of very soft fabric so she can not tear it up, it has 15 tissues so less to keep track of and the tissue can not be easily torn up either. This is the biggest positive of this sensory box in my opinion. Another positive to having this sensory tissue box instead of a regular one is that the tissues are different colors and sizes as well as having different textures to them. There are 6 see-through ones, 6 see-through ones that have dots on them and 3 crinkly ones. T...
2 comments
Read more

Review: Djeco Pompom Pictures - All Aboard

Djeco Pompom  is a super cute and easy art craft for toddlers. They just put the pompoms on the corresponding dots. I like that it comes with all the pompoms you need. However, the glue stick they give you doesn’t make the pompoms sticks to the board. I tried regular glue and that didn’t work either so I ended up having to use a hot glue gun. So, I suggest having hot glue if you get this. There are small circles on the boards to let you know what color pompom goes where so it’s pretty self-explanatory. The kit does come with a small manual that it done with pictures so even your little one can look at the manual and understand which pompoms go on which board. 
Post a Comment
Read more