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Every Child is Spatial Curriculum

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Every Child is Spatial Curriculum
Review last updated: February 2011

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Courses available in Every Child is Spatial Curriculum
  • Geography
  • History
  • Humanities
  • Math
  • Science

Every Child is Spatial Curriculum

The Every Child is Spatial (ECIS) curriculum draws on Charlotte Mason, Classical, Montessori, and Unit Study methods while incorporating ideas from Multiple Intelligence to address various learning styles. At this time, the target audience for their curriculum packages is grades K through 8. Packages are available for history, geography, humanities (art and music), math, and science. Each course is available in your choice of three levels: K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. Levels are differentiated by the reading level of books selected and the complexity of unit projects, assessments, reading assignments, and labs. More challenging thinking skills are demanded at each level. Since the courses do not target only a single grade level, you can easily teach children working at more than one grade level with courses, even math. At this time there are not enough courses to cover every year for every subject, but I expect ECIS will be adding courses.

ECIS emphasizes learning how to learn, stressing critical thinking, research, problem-solving, and presentation rather than memorization and completion of worksheets. To that end, each course includes teacher manuals and “lab” books that outline activities, projects, research, and reading assignments from core books. A companion CD-ROM features links to on-line lesson activities and resources.

Books for each course are used somewhat as one would use a reference book; pages are assigned when they are pertinent to the topic being studied. In addition to the reading, many activities directly linked to the subject area are included along with cross-curricular activities. That means that critical thinking, history, science, math, reading skills, humanities, and technology are integrated into all courses to varying degrees.

Parent/teacher involvement is necessary. Students can check the schedule themselves for reading assignments, although younger students will likely need some material read to them. Students will likely need at least occasional help for research, activities, and projects. Part of the beauty of this program is the activities for different learning styles. Many of these activities require more work and/or more interaction. This is often essential for effective learning for some students, so don’t skip them without careful consideration or unless they are inappropriate for your child’s level of abilities.

Assessment books and answer keys are included for review and reinforcement rather than the traditional notion of testing. In fact, the author recommends open book completion of the assessments. Record keeping forms are included.

The ECIS curriculum is secular in outlook. The selected books and assignments reflect this. Consequently, there will be material supporting concepts such as evolution, an “old earth,” and non-judgmental multi-culturalism. Christianity and its influence receive minimal attention. Parents may certainly add religious elements to the curriculum if they so choose.

I received World History:20 th Century/Current Events and World Art (both courses for grades 3-5) for review, so following are more detailed reviews of those courses.

World History: 20 th Century/Current Events

World History is very much a topic-driven course rather than a comprehensive, chronological history. It begins with units on “Turn of the Century Art” and “Communication and Transportation.” It continues with units on topics such as women’s suffrage, the Great Depression and New Deal, and American culture, while also investigating key people and events in the recent history of countries such as Mexico, Ireland, China, India, Africa, Israel, and Yugoslavia. Recent U.S. military ventures such as the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan are also addressed.

Five books are used with the course: The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, The Story of the World - Volume 4: The Modern Age, and Kingfisher Atlas of the Modern World.

There are also six ECIS comb-bound books for the course plus a Resource CD (CD-ROM with PDF files). You have the option of purchasing black-and-white print editions of the books, PDF versions (save $100!), or full-color versions (an extra $125). The Teacher Manual is presented in two books as Part 1 and Part 2. (The two Teacher Manuals are already included as PDFs on the Resource CD.) Part 1 provides concise lesson outlines in large print; it’s easy to identify books to use and page numbers. Part 2 devotes a full page to each lesson with an overview; key words, people, and places; assignments, and a list of additional/supplemental online resources. There are two lab books: Tech/Geo Lab Book and Hands On Lab Book. The last two of the six books are Assessments and Answer Guide.

The course is laid out to cover one unit per week with a lesson per day for four days. The fifth day is for presentation of a project the student will have worked on all week as well as for assessment. You can choose either multiple choice assessment or essay/oral exam assessment, depending upon which works best for each child. Generally, the multiple choice assessments are recommended for younger students.

Each unit generally includes readings from one or more of the five books (Usborne, etc.), assignments from both the Hands on Lab Book and the Tech/Geo Lab Book, and Assessment. A project is assigned from the Tech/Geo Lab Book at the beginning of the week (choosing one of the two options), worked on all week, and presented on the fifth day. Of course, you can adjust the schedule for this and all other assignments if need be.

Hands On Lab activities include graphing, completing charts, art projects, drawing, research, games, cooking (recipes provided), and creative writing. The Tech/Geo Lab Book has two sections. The first section consists of worksheets for geography studies that require students to access Google Earth for research. The Resource CD has the specific links to make it easy for students to begin their work. The second section presents a choice of two unit projects for each lesson. Projects require research. For example, one project is to research the origins of the Olympic Games as well as the makeup of present-day Olympics. Students prepare a report which might be presented in written or oral form at the end of the unit. Some of the projects might not be appropriate for younger students, so use your judgment as to how much to require of each student and how much assistance to provide. Older students should be able to do much of the work on their own once they have learned how to do independent research, but as I mentioned earlier, be careful not to skip interactive activities that might be beneficial because they require extra time and attention.

World Art

The World Art course is laid out in the same fashion as the World History course. The books used along with the ECIS guides are Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces, The Kids Multicultural Art Book: Art & Craft Experiences from Around the World, Global Art, Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, Kohl, and Great American Artists for Kids: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of the Great American Masters. These books offer art history and appreciation as well as art activities.

While there are many arts and crafts type activities, this course expands into geography, math, science, and other areas. Google Earth activities are not just geographical explorations. For example, students use Google Earth to open the “Monticello” file on the Resources CD to explore the architecture of the home. Lab activities sometimes range rather far afield as for the exploration of Civil War battlefields and related research questions in connection with American artist Homer Winslow. Another activity that might seem a “stretch” is trying to the week’s math assignments using Roman numerals, but it is connected to study of the influence of culture from the middle east, specifically, the adoption of the Arabic numeral system. The Hands on Lab book has an appendix with recipes from cultures around the world that you might want to use in conjunction with the appropriate lessons. These activities and the way they are connected is similar to the way many unit studies are constructed.

The books used for this course deserve special attention. Cave Paintings to Picasso is used as a “spine” book. It selectively studies 50 works of art: paintings, sculpture, and other art forms. Selected works represent the development of art over the centuries and around the world.

Discovering Great Artists and Great American Artists for Kids (both by the same two authors) combine biographical sketches with illustrations of art works. An art activity with detailed instructions accompanies each lesson. You will likely want to use some of the activities on your own that are not assigned in the lesson plans!

Global Art and The Kids’ Multicultural Art Book are both loaded with step-by-step instructions for art activities from around the world, although the latter targets a younger audience (ages 3-9) than does Global Art. Again, there are many activities you might want to try even though they are not assigned.

With World Art and World History, some of the same books are used for courses at different levels which will save you money if you use these courses over a few years.

ECIS courses are likely to be much more enjoyable than traditional courses for most students, especially if you select the activities that best suit each child’s learning style. Even though they require more preparation and presentation time from parents, the benefits of this type of learning are well worth the time and effort.

Pricing

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Instant Key

  • Suitable for: group, family or individual learning
    Audience: grades K-8
    Need for parent/teacher instruction: moderate to high depending upon age of students
    Prep time needed: varies
    Teacher's manual: essential
    Educational philosophy: Charlotte Mason, Classical, Unit Study, Montesorri, Multiple Intelligences
    Religious perspective: Secular

Publisher's Info

  • Every Child is Spatial Curriculum

    PO Box 2460
    Middleburg, FL 32050
    Sales@gisoutpost.com

    www.everychildisspatial.com