• About Me
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Disclosure
  • Frugal Living
    • Giveaways
    • Living a Frugal Life
    • Freebies
    • Homeschool Printables
    • Recycling
  • Inspiration
    • Inspiration & Quotes
    • Charity

Castle View Academy

Curiosity + Creativity = Learning

  • Home
  • Learning
    • Home Education
    • Homeschool Art
    • Field Trips
    • Homeschool Geography
    • Health
    • Homeschool History
    • Homeschool Language Arts
      • Books
        • Book Activities
    • Life Skills
    • Homeschool Math
    • Music
    • Homeschool Science
    • Sports
  • Creativity
    • Book Activities
    • Craft
    • Culture
      • Africa
      • Asian Cultures
      • Europe
      • North America
      • South America
      • Oceania
    • Nature
    • Outdoors
    • Playtime
  • Holidays & Seasons
    • Holidays
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Canada Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
      • New Year
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Autumn
      • Winter
  • Recipes
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Snacks
    • Fun Food
    • Fun Recipes for Play
  • Family
    • Family Life
    • Parenting
  • Reviews
Home » Education » Homeschool Language Arts » A Review of The Magic Stories

A Review of The Magic Stories

October 31, 2017 by Crystal McClean

Magic Stories reviewed by Castle View Academy

From Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series, comes The Magic Stories, which is what we’re reviewing today.

Magic Stories reviewed by Castle View Academy homeschool

What Was Included

This product comes as a PDF zip down load of the 6 Magic stories, the Naughty 40 flashcards, and the exercise books.  You can purchase the whole 6 stories as a set, or individually.

How We Used The Magic Stories

MagicStories-Graphic

This is a supplemental curriculum and I would suggest perhaps one story a week, depending on the student. You could even do one worksheet a week and read the story weekly if your child needs more help.  Because it’s a download and self-paced, you’re free to work it into you schedule in a way that best suits you.

The stories are optimised for an iPad or PC, but I printed them off so that Kallista didn’t have to sit in front of the screen to do her work, and with 4 of us sharing a desk, this worked better for us.  I printed the stories in booklet form and each set in a different colour to make things more interesting for her.

First, I gave Kallista the pre-test to see how well she knew the ‘Naughty 40’ vocabulary, which are mostly sight words that are a little tricky, such as though, thought, through, etc.  It would be brilliant if there were ways included to practice the vocabulary flashcard other than just the standard drills. If you are new to home education or not so creative, you may not have ideas on how to improve learning the words needed.

If practice and review are needed with these words, you can print and cut out the vocabulary cards.  These cards are one-sided and have the word used in context, but without an official ‘definition.’

READ MORE:   Smart Kidz Radio Rocks For Education

Castle View Academy reads The Magic Stories

Kallista read the story aloud and Tristan and I listened in if we weren’t working on other projects.

Then it was time for some comprehension work.  With each story is a maze where you get from one side to the other by answering yes/no questions.  Should you answer something wrong along the way, you will be sent back again to the last correct answer.  You track the number of times you move back, and if you reach 5, then you must read the story again.

Next there are some comprehension questions about the story to be answered.

Then there are some more imaginative questions to be answered, imagine if you were the boy in the story and this happened to you.  What would you do?  This helps children think about things in a different light and answer according to their own personalities.

The next part gives you two opening paragraphs to choose from (or create your own) and continue writing a story of your own based on one of those paragraphs for a little creative writing work.

Finally, there is a post-test for the vocabulary to see if the words have been learned by sight.

What we think about The Magic Stories

This is good for those who have a good imagination and enjoy creative writing.  It’s something a little different from the usual curriculum, which makes a nice diversion.  Because it’s small, it is also easy to take with you on the go.  It’s optimised for reading on an iPad so you can read it from there and then just print the question sheets, thus also saving on printing costs.

Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Castle View Academy works on The Magic Stories

I was a bit frustrated with this as a busy working parent because I don’t always have time to thoroughly read each story, and I thought an answer key would be useful.  I am happy to say that our suggestion was heard and there is now an answer key available to download from their website.  Thank you!  I know some of the questions are self-correcting and creative writing, but for the other questions this will be very helpful.

READ MORE:   Books About War For Children

Kallista enjoys The Magic Stories and looks forward to the stories and because she’s always liked doing worksheets, this works pretty well for her.  In fact, she is the one who often asks to work on this, which is why we’ll continue to work on them.

Magic Stories Logo

To read more reviews about Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, by the Homeschool Review Crew, click on the graphic below and follow the instructions.  You will find 55 honest reviews by the Crew.  If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Allsaid & Dunn, LLC,, you can connect with them through their website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

click-here-to-read-more-crew-reviews-2016

Crew Disclaimer 2017

Filed Under: Homeschool Language Arts, Homeschool Reviews Tagged With: Primary, Review Crew

About Crystal McClean

I am a Mom, Wife, Home Educator, and Virtual Assistant. We love to have fun together while learning and exploring our environment.

« 6 Things Homeschoolers Look For In A New Vehicle
Nature Study Books For Kids »

Comments

  1. Erika Bird says

    November 10, 2017 at 3:11 pm

    Thanks for the suggestion for an answer key! It is being uploaded today under the ‘Free Resources” section of http://www.themagicstories.com

    • Crystal McClean says

      December 2, 2017 at 12:57 am

      Excellent news! Kallista is really enjoying the stories and works on them a little every morning; now I’ll be able to keep up with her 🙂
      Thank you for considering our suggestion.

 
LoveCrafts
Free Language Arts Lessons
Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Popular Posts

Evan-Moor flashcards and worbooks
TOTS100 - UK Parent Blogs
TOTS100
”Top

Terms of Use

Please use our ideas in your home or school. If you wish to share a post, you may share one photo with a link to the original post; however, please do not share any photos of children, adults, or animals without prior written permission which may be obtained via an email to info@CastleViewAcademy.com

Please do not copy or duplicate a post’s instructions or recipe without written permission.

All content on this site is copyrighted and belongs to Castle View Academy/Crystal McClean 2011-2020.

· Copyright © 2015 · Castle View Academy · Site Design by: Fantastique Designs ·