I recently received the Language Arts Package – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Online, $22.88, and the Science Package – Health and Nutrition, $46.89, from Moving Beyond the Page to review. All of their curriculum is available in either books or online. The units will take approximately 3 weeks to complete if used as the primary curriculum. If you are using the units as a supplement, they can be spread out over a semester.
Moving Beyond the Page Curriculum Review
Language Arts Package – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Online includes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn book and online access for the course. Each unit, in this case The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will take approximately 3 weeks to compete. Once an online unit is activated, you have 3 months to complete it. So you will have plenty of time to complete the unit before it expires. If you buy online courses, and don’t activate them, they don’t expire and will be there waiting for you whenever you want to use them.
Moving Beyond the Page Online is licensed to the family, not just one student. You can use each unit with more than one student, and you will be able to print off as many pages as you need for your students. I love products with a family friendly copyright!
Most of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn lessons had three to five questions. These can be answered on the computer, making it perfect for students that like to type instead of write. The questions and answers can then be printed out to be put in a notebook. Each lesson tells the student what chapters to read, typically 3 chapters for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which are on the short side, and then gives them the questions to answer. Spaced through out the course are projects for the student to complete. Since this is a language arts course, most of the projects have to do with writing. But there are a few other projects, including making newspaper “logs” to build a raft with.
Moving Beyond the Page recommends a few prerequisites for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn unit. They include being able to read and comprehend novels at an 8th or 9th grade reading level, the ability to write multiple paragraphs on a topic and write a five paragraph essay. This course is recommended for ages 12-14 year olds, typically 7th and 8th graders.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn unit teaches different writing styles – Narrative Writing, Expository Writing, Persuasion, etc. The student will learn how to recognize the different writing styles, and how to write them. Also covered are point of view, figures of speech, and vocabulary words.
The Science Package – Health and Nutrition includes the student book, the Boy’s Guide to Becoming a Teen, and the Girl’s Guide to Becoming a Teen. The student book is designed to be used by one student. They are available separately on the website. If you are using the course with more than one student , either two or more now, or one now and one at a later date, you will need to purchase additional student books. You don’t have to purchase the whole package for each student, as long as they share the Guide to Becoming books.
Health and Nutrition contains 6 lessons: Feelings, Being a Smart Consumer, Healthy Body, Healthy Relationships, Alcohol Tobacco & Drugs, Nutrition and Exercise. The final project is developing a Personal Plan for Mental and Physical Health. The Healthy Relationships lesson does include dating and sex. Each lesson begins with telling the student what they will need for that lesson, what they will be learning, a few vocabulary words, and what pages to read in the Becoming a Teen books. It instructs the boys to read from the boy book and vice versa with the girls. All the items needed for the activities in the lessons are things you will already have in your home.
Moving Beyond the Page recommends a few prerequisites for the Health and Nutrition unit. They include being able to read and comprehend novels at an 8th or 9th grade reading level, the ability to write multiple paragraphs on a topic and write a five paragraph essay. This course is recommended for ages 12-14 year olds, typically 7th and 8th graders.
I used both of these units with my 13, almost 14 year old son who just finished 7th grade. My son enjoyed the reading and activities in both these units. I found the questions in both of these units to be interesting and thought provoking. The activities were fun and easy to do. I, myself, prefer the book over the online version, but that is just personal preference. My son did like working on the computer.
Some of the advantages of the online version of Moving Beyond the Page curriculum are the student can type their answers instead of write them and you can use it with all your students and print out as many copies as you need. Moving Beyond the Page Online is compatible with many mobile devices, including iPhones, for schooling on the go.
Some of the advantages of using the student book version are the student can write their answers if they don’t know how to type yet. You can take as long as you need to complete a unit. The book version is easier to use with two or more students at the same time.
If you are looking for unit studies that include writing assignments and hands on activities with your elementary and middle school aged children, Moving Beyond the Page has units available for language arts, science and history.
[…] finished his Moving Beyond the Page Huckleberry Finn Literature Study. He thoroughly enjoyed the last lesson. He had to watch a movie, The Adventures of Huck Finn. He […]