You will find the math home study kits for elementary, middle school and high school grades, as well as the solution manuals for the higher level courses.  These well developed curriculum and manipulative kits are perfect for students who need repetition for learning, as they review past lessons on a continual basis to keep your students skills sharp.  Solution manuals show how the problems are solved, and give the student and teacher additional information on the problem sets in the lessons. 

Saxon Phonics is a highly recommended course for students of all learning styles.  Highly organized, this curriculum is a good choice for those instructors getting a start homeschooling.  For students that require more practice, or need a return to the basics, we recommend the Saxon Phonics Intervention.  Intervention would also be an option for the adult student learning to read, or looking to improve their limited skills. 

Saxon Physics Home Study Kit, along with the optional companion solution manual, is equally appropriate for average and gifted students. The entire program is based on introducing a topic to a student and then allowing them to build upon that concept as they learn new ones. Topics are gradually increased in complexity and practiced every day, providing the time required for concepts to become totally familiar.  Your Junior and Senior high school students will have a good grasp of Physics after completing this course.   

At this time we are only stocking the home study kits, but are open to carrying the individual components if demand is high enough.  We are always open to special order of the components - all you have to do is ask!

Homeschool co-ops are encouraged to ask for bulk pricing on 10 or more kits or components.

We will also be adding RSS feeds to our website so that customers can get instant feedback on hot new products, limited time specials, and clearance merchandise immediately.  These new capabilities will give our customers the opportunity to stretch their education budgets even further, as they will be able to act quickly on hot items, or hard-to-get titles. 

 America’s Future is excited to be able to add these two new features to our business, and will continue to upgrade our customer experience.  We want to make America’s Future your first choice in homeschool curriculum and educational products!

America’s Future will have to eventually raise our shipping costs as well, due to the fact that all three of the shippers we work with have raised their prices.  As much as we try to absorb increases, it would be impossible for us to keep the business afloat if we ignored the continued increases. 

Unfortunately, even education will see inflation affecting prices for millions of families across the world.  America’s Future will continue to keep shipping as low as possible, and in many cases, work with customers individually on large or heavy orders to provide the best service for the most economical price.  It never hurts to ask us in advance what options there may be, and it could even help you stretch your budget even further.

Have fun visiting the Ant Lion’s Den!

http://www.antlionfarms.com/

America’s Future is now carrying the Butterfly Garden and Ladybug Land from Insect Lore in our catalog.  In addition to these award winning science kits, you will find the refill butterfly larvae certificates, butterfly curriculum, butterfly feeders, bug jar and habitats. 

There is no better way to welcome spring than to watch the miraculous changes that occur in an insects life cycle.  Help your child learn to love nature by giving them an experience they will never forget!

We are continuing to add product to the catalog, encompassing product from a wide variety of publishers and manufacturers.  America’s Future has established accounts with three new distributors in the last few months, which will expand our resources to include hundreds of new publishers from those three alone. 

New server and more publishers mean that you will find what you need faster than ever!

This week is the only time this troupe will be in the United States, and the only venue is at the Midland Center for the Arts, which is hosting the fabulous exhibit “Timeless Warriors and Relics:  1500 Years of Ancient China“.  This exhibit’s centerpiece is two of the terracotta warriors from the tomb of first Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang (246 – 210 BC), along with some stunning examples of Chinese culture.  The exhibit and performance are part of the four month program, A Celebration of China.

We viewed the terracotta warrior exhibit several weeks ago, and the kids were eager to see more of the Chinese culture,  so we signed with our homeschool group to be a part of the thousands of children who would get to see the troupe perform.  The troupe performed traditional dances, played music, sang folk songs, and performed acrobatics for each group of school children.

The program was fantastic, and all of the kids enjoyed the performances immensely.  The dancers were beautiful, with the grace of the women contrasting with the strength and energy of the men, as they swirled and twirled around the stage.  The bright colors, flashing fans and spinning parasols delighted the smaller children, who couldn’t help but stare at the stage and clap wildly at the end of the dances.  The acrobatic ballet that was performed as a tribute to the terracotta warriors was exquisite.  My children were especially taken with the strength of the ‘warrior’ and couldn’t figure out how he could hold up two women with one hand - while they were balancing a plate of wine glasses on a long stick!  It was a memory I am positive will not fade for many years to come.

The musicians were very talented, brought to life the sounds of nature, and sparked the imaginations of the students as they tried to picture the tiger stalking through the jungle, and ducks playing (and arguing!) on the pond.  The kids were very taken with the unique instruments, and the musicians who could make such interesting sounds.  I’m sure my children will never again look at a pond full of water fowl without thinking about that performance.

The folk singers were an act that we had not anticipated, and will likely remember for years to come.  Their voices hit notes an American child rarely hears, and I could hear little girls all around me trying to make those same sounds come from their own throats - will little success.  It is obviously a talent encouraged from a young age, as we found it  impossible to replicate later.  You really need to experience the music in person to fully appreciate the vocal talents of these singers.

 While we did not get to experience the troupe’s entire performance, as this experience was tailored for the children’s enjoyment, we were pleased we had attended the event.  I was disappointed that the full show for later this week was already sold out, as I would have loved to have taken the whole family again.  I am sure there are more beautiful dances, exciting acrobatic feats, and lively musical performances that we would have enjoyed even more.

I strongly encourage anyone that has the opportunity to attend a performance of the Yulin Folk Art Troupe of the Chinese Province of Shaanxi to make the effort to experience the troupe firsthand.  While the troupe will only be performing this week in the United States, we have discovered they have also performed in Europe and Australia.  If encouraged, maybe they will even return to honor us with their talents someday in the future.  I sincerely hope so!

 This is a great curriculum outline for use as a student workbook or instructor reference.  It has all of the elements necessary to compile your research and see it through to a completed paper.  Step-by-step, you will find yourself writing the most organized and complete research paper of your life! 

I highly recommend this book not only for homeschooling families, but parents who would like to help their high school children learn to organize their required research papers.  As a public school student (many moons ago!), I would have been ecstatic to find this manual, as the instructions given to me at the time were limited at best.  What I learned through trial and error is clearly spelled out in this manual - you just have to follow the steps!

The manual is laid out into the following chapters, each reflecting as aspect of in-depth research and how to organize the writing once the research is complete:

• Choosing a topic
• Presentation of research
• Determining your audience
• Using index cards to organize
• Creating the bibliography
• How to ’skim’ through books and magazines
• Sources of information
• Conducting interviews
• Pictures in research as visuals
• Should you add scripture?
• Creating the outline
• Finding the ’hook’ to keep people’s interest
• Introductions
• Summary
• End notes
• Writing the paper
• Finishing touches 

Starting with preschool aged children, we should be encouraging creativity in writing stories, poems, letters, invitations, etc.  Divided by age groups, this book shows the kinds of compositions each grade level should be attempting, along with tips on how to help your students improve their writing skills.

The topics covered are:

• How to organize the composition to tackle the project step-by-step
• Construction of paragraphs, topic sentences and concluding sentences
• The Essay
• Choosing topics
• Taking notes
• Writing outlines
• Using references to improve writing, like the dictionary and thesaurus
• Improving sentences
• Emphasizing organization
• Proper grammar and punctuation

Types of writing covered:

• Descriptive
• Persuasive
• Narrative
• Business Letters
• Short Story
• Expository
• Biography
• Friendly Letters
• News Story
• Research
• Reports

Included are instructions for the educator on evaluating essays, sample lessons, checklists for project completion, and skill attainment.  In all a very comprehensive manual on developing and writing all types of compositions. 

Homeschool families will find this a valuable reference.  I would recommend it to instructors that have a good background in language arts, as it provides an excellent source of information to ‘refresh’ your skills. 

Tried and true from 1974, Type it utilizes the basics and teaches touch typing - originally with typewriters.  Useful in teaching students of varying skill levels at the same time, it is also economical for homeschool families with multiple students of different ages, because you only need to purchase the manual once.

Organized phonetically to reinforce reading and spelling patterns, this can be a tools for challenged readers as well as a useful tool to improve your students keyboarding skills.  The lessons start with home row keys and quickly progress to short words.  The progress chart will help keep track of your students progression as well as provide documentation for records.

Sometimes the old ways are best, and I think this curriculum still fits the bill.  It’s simple and easy to understand, and after a few lessons, the student can work independently.  If you need a keyboarding course for your middle or high school student and prefer old-school solutions - this is the perfect book for you!