Moving Beyond the Page is one of those great finds in the homeschooling world. I have to admit that before this review, I hadn’t heard of the company or its great products. We were offered two of their individual units:
With the Huck Finn package, we had online access to the student activity book and they shipped us the physical novel. Before our novel arrived I went ahead and picked a copy up from our local library- an unabridged copy. Oscar (my fifteen year old) was much relieved to find the copy that arrived in the mail was not only abridged but annotated as well. With the book being 24 chapters long, the task of reading the entire thing seemed a bit daunting to him. He has always been my reluctant reader. In fact, up to this point, he had read little else that would be considered high school level reading. There were two problems: 1. he didn’t have the self-confidence to believe he could read a book that size and 2. He simply wasn’t interested. Normally, I think he would have just put the book down and not looked back, but this time was different… I was counting on him for his opinion so I could do my review. I’m super thankful that I had the foresight to pick up the book on cd as well. That was a super life saver that I’ll explain a bit further down.
The online version of Huck Finn is available for $22.88 and is recommended for ages 12-14. My son is a bit older than the targeted age but enjoyed the product none the less. With the online access came downloadable PDF versions of the Student Activity Pages (39 total), Reading and Question Pages (13 total) and a Handy Guide to Writing and Grammar. There were 12 lessons (some of them being 2-day lessons) and a Cultural Biography final project. Each of the 12 lessons guides the child through daily reading assignments, activity pages, additional research and questions about their reading.
It was during this review that I was able to pinpoint Oscar’s problem with distraction. He would sit down to read the book but it never lasted long. He would play with the babies, the dogs, go get a snack… whatever he could to NOT SIT STILL. This is where the audio book came into play. Once I got him to try listening with headphones while reading his book, he was hooked. The combination of the activities, questions, guided reading and listening was enough to actually get my son excited about reading.
HE FINSHED THE 24 CHAPTER BOOK!!!
Not only did he finish it, he understood it and once it was over he actually came to me and asked, “So which book do I get to read next?” I couldn’t believe it!! I have struggled for years to get his kid to read a book and now he was looking forward to the next book! I have Moving Beyond the Page to thank for that.
With the Solar System Package we received the physical student guide and they sent us 13 Planets- The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar (a National Geographic Kids book). The physical version of this package is available for $33.94 and is recommended for children ages 11-13. Again, Oscar is a bit outside the targeted age but still did fine with the program. 13 Planets teaches about each of the planets and how to distinguish between or categorize them. There are many beautiful pictures of space and lots of good information. The student guide is composed of 9 lessons, some of them being 2-day lessons and a Solar System Model final project. There’s a list of materials at the beginning of the guide that helps you be prepared for all the activities- most of them are regular household items. The vocabulary section is nice to refer back to when new terms are introduced, like solar prominence or terrestrial plant.
He worked 3-4 days a week ( at a leisurely pace) to finish the student guide. While he did enjoy learning about space, he enjoyed the literature guide much more.
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