These are our frequently asked questions. If you don’t know anything about us, yet, start over HERE instead!
1. ARE THERE TEACHER MANUALS?
Nope! Each person in the family gets to have their own journal and learn together. Everything is built in to each guidebook (exception to this is pre-reader/Early Learner). We didn’t write these for children; we wrote them for the whole family. All black font gets read out loud among everyone. All different-colored font is for that particular age group only. If you’d like to see how that works in action, go here.
2. CORE CONNECTIONS: WHAT ARE THEY?
See HERE
3. HOW DOES MY STUDENT WORK, IF NO WORKSHEETS?
There are prompts notated throughout for the student to do, speak, write in a notebook, converse, share their opinion, answer questions, write notes and paragraphs, etc. See HERE for more details!
4. ARE THERE ANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE UNITS?
- A couple of our earlier units do not yet have Core Connections. This is notated on the product page. Any updates we ever make will be automatically included in everyone’s account and will not need to be re-purchased, either! You get all revisions free of charge!
- Earlier units do not have a QR code in them for easy access to links. You can still go to the following url for the same benefit: www.CampfireCurriculums.com/links
- Some of our earlier units were shorter in lesson length and simpler. Then customers wanted even more, so we obliged. Then, requests started conflicting, so we try to keep more of a balance. Our Natural Medicine unit is longer than most, per specific and overwhelming customer request.
- Some units are heavy in living book format, where others are light or not in living book format. It depends on the unit.
- Mini units are only 5 or 6 lessons. Full units are 12 lessons.
- We used to have a different download for each of the following groups:
- pre-reader, elementary, middle school, high school, adult
- We have since learned how to streamline it and group things into only three groups for simplicity:
- EARLY LEARNER (pre-reader/K/1st)
- GROWING LEARNER (elementary/middle)
- ADVANCED LEARNER (high school/adult)
- Color coding is included in all units.
- We have also learned how to streamline our Core Connections. Rather than including them in the Appendix or after each lesson as we used to, we have now strategically combined them and uploaded them into their own file. You will see this difference in newer units.
- We used to call the different download files “journals,” but now we call them “guidebooks.” Customers often refer to them differently (guidebooks, journals, workbooks, units, downloads, lesson plans, etc). Whatever word or phrase you want to use is just fine with us!
5. IS THIS A CORE CURRICULUM?
See HERE to understand how others use this
Also, for Core Connections, see HERE
And, for how to use these for school credits, see HERE
6. CAN CAMPFIRE CURRICULUMS BE USED AS A HISTORY OR SCIENCE CURRICULUM?
Yes. Just the same as job shadowing a volcanologist or marine biologist would be considered getting a crash course in that field of science. The reality is, “life learning” and “skills learning” and even “job shadowing” are inherently going to provide an immense amount of learning with science, history, geography, social studies, and so much more. If you are interested in how to keep track of school credits with our units, go HERE
7. DO I HAVE TO PRINT OFF EVERY LEVELED GUIDEBOOK FOR MY FAMILY?
No. Our suggestions are here.
8. WHERE ARE MY PRINT OPTIONS?
See here!
9. WHAT IF I HAVE PRINTING ISSUES?
See here!
10. DOES A DAD HAVE TO BE INVOLVED?
No. We created these units with the intention of helping “Dad” to get involved. This is one reason why we have such a heavy focus on open-and-go, little time, little prep, and activities-based lessons. We wanted “Dad” to be able to come home from work and just join right in. When a father doesn’t know how to bridge the gap with his son or daughter in the skills that they are passionate about (perhaps because he doesn’t have the know-how or desire), he’s still able to open up one of our journals and join right in with his children and family as they learn together. It creates an immediate bonding experience where even a busy, working father can have consistent interaction–in homeschooling or in their child’s passions. SO… while this was our passion behind the creation, it’s still not a requirement. Moms can use it just the same because they love all of the same elements. We have families who use it many different ways!
11. CAN I USE THIS IN A CO-OP SETTING?
If you are a teacher, co-op leader or part of a homeschooling group, please contact us as you will have different laws and licensing to abide by. We will actively monitor downloads and number of prints from a particular source, so please don’t skip this step.
12. WHAT IS YOUR RETURN POLICY?
No digital product can be returned for a refund, since customers automatically receive files to download and we are unable to remove them from your device(s). All digital products are therefore final sale.
13. WHAT ARE “CAMPFIRE CREDIT CURRENCIES”?
Campfire Credit Currencies are only available for purchase 1x/year in the spring or summer. The sale allows you to bulk purchase credits for a discounted rate to use throughout the year.
14. WHY DID YOU NAME IT “CURRICULUMS” INSTEAD OF “CURRICULA”?
We have actually had people want to argue over this and email in about it, so here is the official explanation for those who care about correct grammar, as we do!
There are a few different ways to turn Latin-derived (or Greek-derived) words into their plural form when translating into a modern English language. Some words in Latin are made plural in the English language by changing to the traditional ending “-i,” “-ae,” or “-a,” etc. Still, others are also changed to “-s,” or “-es,” etc.
It is a misunderstanding that Latin-derived nouns only change to “i” or “a” (etc) when made plural in the English language. A common example can be seen in the ongoing argument over the plural form of the word “octopus.”
For instance, the Latin “bacterium” always changes to “bacteria,” but “stadium” can be “stadiums” or “stadia.”
Other Latin words whose plural form is changed to “ums” from the singular “um” can be seen below.
- Aquarium (can be aquariums or aquaria)
- Minimum (can be minimums or minima)
- Spectrum (can be spectra or spectrums)
Other words with different endings are also translated with a more modern English “s” at the end, as opposed to the traditional Latin influence. These can include examples such as “formula” changed to “formulas” or “virus” to “viruses.”
While “curricula” is more popular, “curriculums” is also a correct way to translate the plural form of curriculum in the English language, as you will see in the Merriam-Webster definition, as well.
Finally, we wanted to let you know that we personally prefer the word “curricula,” but the domain name was already taken; therefore, we were left with the less-common (but still correct) “curriculums” when picking our domain and company name. True story.
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