Archive for category Curriculum Reviews

Professor In A Box – Financial Accounting

Posted by jlsgrant in Curriculum Reviews on November 3, 2010

 

What is it? 

Professor in A Box is literally just like having a professor in a box!  The convenience of studying from home, with the expertise of a real college professor make his product worthy of consideration. 

This High School accounting course is composed of 28 video/slide style lessons and all the worksheets and tests you need to complete the course.  According to their website, once successfully completed, the student should have all the necessary tools to pass a college CLEP test for first year accounting! 

Here’s what Professor in a Box has to say:

“Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a first accounting course for home educated high school students. Many high schools offer an accounting course as an elective for students interested in pursuing a career in business. Now home educated high school students have such an elective available to them. Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a challenging college level course similar in content to the first accounting course taken by all students in university and college schools of business across the country. Any high school level student with basic math skills can handle this course.”

About the Professor:

“Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy in the Villanova School of Business[1] at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Professor Licata has taught the financial accounting course dozens of times in his 24 plus years as a Professor at Villanova University. The past eight years Professor Licata has specialized in teaching 100% distance learning courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Throughout his career students have consistently rated Professor Licata among the best teachers in his department and in his college at Villanova University according to the Course and Teacher Surveys (CATS) at Villanova University. He lives with his wife Jeannie and their two home schooled children in South Jersey.”

My observations:

This course is very thorough with enough information to get students who are interested in a Business or Accounting degree an excellent foundation for understanding the accounting process.  From a terminology standpoint, it may be more difficult for younger high-school students.  But any high school student proficient in Basic Math skills could accomplish this course.  While there are only 28 lessons, due to the length of each lesson, this course could easily be stretched over a typical school year; but a more determined student could complete the entire course in one semester, similar to a college level pace.   (Sample schedules are included on the Instructor’s CD.)   Here’s what a narrated lesson looks like:

After the student watches/listens to the lecture slides, they can then print the Lesson Problems to complete.  The chapter problems are in pdf format, making them simple to download and print.    Solutions to each problem are also included in a pdf file.  

While it was not a great fit for our family due to the maturity level of the concepts, it would be an excellent course for any Junior or Senior High  student preparing for a career in business or accounting.  Additionally, it would be beneficial for any adult who owns or operates a business.  

Here are some of the topics included in the course:

Introduction to Accounting

Financial Statements

Accounting Cycles

Inventory/Depreciation

Financial Assets (Long & Short Term) & Liabilities

Cash Flow Statements

Analysis of Financial Statements

In addition to the students lectures and worksheets, the Instructors Disc includes sample lesson plans, a course syllabus, quizzes, exams, and templates for use in the course.   Every thing you need to complete the course is there….in the box!   Looking forward to using this in more depth with my students when they are a little older. 

For more information or to purchase on this product, visit their website at ProfessorInABox.com 

Price:  $99.95

Age/Grade Level:  11th Grade – Adult

Other Products Available:  Principles of Marketing

Entrepreneurship (Coming Spring 2011)

Money Back Guarantee 

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Disclaimer:   Members of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew were given a free copy of this product in exchange for their honest review.  No other compensation has been received. 

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Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power

Posted by jlsgrant in Curriculum Reviews on September 17, 2010

The Vocabulary Cartoons series uses mnemonic memory techniques to learn vocabulary.  Simply put, by associating a word with something familiar, the words are locked in place quicker.  The books use pictures and rhyming words to facilitate this process.   There is an old Chinese proverb which says, “What you see once is worth what you hear a hundred times.”   Translated into English, that proverb became, “A picture paints a thousand words.”  If you combine that with silly rhymes and crazy pictures, you get Vocabulary Cartoons!

 Here are some quotes from the book and website:

“In recent years neuroscientists have uncovered astonishing facts about how the brain learns, stores, and retrieves information!  The use of mnemonic applications is high on the list of the way the brain learns most naturally and efficiently.”

“Vocabulary Cartoons works on the principle of mnemonics. A mnemonic is a device that helps you remember something by associating what you are trying to remember with something you already know. A mnemonic device could be in many different forms like; rhymes, songs, pictures to name a few.  For example, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety-two” is a classic mnemonic rhyme which helps you remember when Columbus discovered America.”

“Following the mnemonic principle of association, Vocabulary Cartoons link together an auditory (rhyming) word association and a visual association in the form of a humorous cartoon. These powerful mnemonics help students retain the meanings of words longer and with less effort than trying to memorize definitions straight out of a dictionary.”    Here are some examples from the books:

Students learn hundreds of SAT level words faster and easier with powerful rhyming and visual mnemonics. In independent school tests, students with Vocabulary Cartoons learned 72% more words than students with traditional rote memory study materials and had 90% retention. Contains 290 SAT words with 29 review quizzes consisting of matching and fill-in-the-blank problems.

I have been a huge fan of Vocabulary Cartoons for a couple of years now, so when TOS announced we would be reviewing the SAT Word Power edition, I couldn’t be more excited.  I had already purchased a copy to use with my 10th Grader this year, along with the next book in the series, Vocabulary Cartoons II, SAT Word Power.  I tend to be a very visual learner, so this is right up my alley!  I still remember Guerilla Gorillas from a couple of years ago!  The thought of gorillas with guns running through the woods is just hard to forget!  That’s the idea of Vocabulary Cartoons.  The kids have gotten more than a couple good laughs from the cartoon format, and I never have to remind them to work on their vocabulary.

Each of the 29 sections contain 10 vocabulary words followed by a one page review/quiz.   The review contains 10 matching questions and 10 fill-in-the-blank questions.   In addition to reviewing the words/cartoons daily, my daughter writes sentences for each word in the section.  The last day of the week, she completes the review.

Here’s a link to the word list for this book:  Vocabulary Cartoons:  SAT Word Power

 

 Without any doubts, I would give this book all five rocks!  These books are fun and entertaining and can be used by the whole family.  If you’re looking for a new approach to learning vocabulary, I would highly recommend Vocabulary Cartoons:  SAT Word Power

Other products available include, but not limited to:

For more reviews on this product head over to The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Blog at:

 Disclaimer:  Members of the TOS Crew were given this product for free to use with their family.  In return, they were asked to post an honest, informational review on this product. No monetary compensation was received.  

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