Prepping For Back To School with Popular Book Company Canada (Review)

For some of you, this school year has already started and for some, school will be starting this week or like my kiddos, who are all participating in Virtual Learning this year, school will be starting full time next week. And like all of you parents out there, I'm nervous. This school year will be different than previous years. Those that are attending in person will have to take extra safety precautions due to Covid-19 and that alone for teachers, staff members, parents and kids is stress enough. While those of us keeping our kids home worry about what our kids will be missing out on not being with classmates and not having access to their teachers in person to answer questions or explain in detail subjects they don't understand. Whatever decision you made for your kids, just know that you're doing the right thing for you and your family. 


The last six months has changed all of us so much and in preparing for the school year to start up again, my kids were sent a huge package from our friends over at Popular Book Company (Canada), a company that offers quality workbooks and other learning materials for preschool, elementary and high school children up to grade twelve. Their workbooks include just about every subject, including the Canadian Curriculum that includes; Math, English, Social Studies and Science in both English and French. 



My kids are starting grade ten, grade eight and grade one this year, so we were sent the Complete MathSmart Grade Ten, FrenchSmart Tutor Grade Eight, Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade Eight, Complete EnglishSmart Grade Eight, Complete MathSmart Grade Eight, Complete ScienceSmart Grade Eight, Complete EnglishSmart Grade One, Complete ScienceSmart Grade One & Two and Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade One in both English and French. Our package came in perfect timing as we get ready to prepare for the upcoming school year. 



The Complete MathSmart Grade Ten covers quadratic equations, analytic geometry, primary trigonometric ratios, trigonometry of right triangles and more. Complete MathSmart is a comprehensive, curriculum-based workbook series which helps students develop a thorough understanding of mathematical concepts and master the essential skills. Concise explanations with examples are provided at the beginning of each chapter, followed by abundant exercises so that students will build a solid math foundation in preparation for their higher education. My oldest absolutely loves math, so when we got the package, he dived right into the book and started working on some of the math problems and was excited because it also refreshed his memory from math in grade nine. 



My middle child is starting grade eight. He was sent five different workbooks to help him get prepared for the school year. The first, Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade Eight, this workbook has been revised and updated to cover the five key subject areas: Math, English, History, Geography, and Science. The curriculum-based units are designed to ensure that your child understands the concepts and masters the necessary skills. With the vivid illustrations and interesting activities, your child would find working through Complete Canadian Curriculum both fun and rewarding. 


Next is the Complete EnglishSmart Grade Eight is a curriculum-based workbook series that provides lots of practice for developing and improving English skills. This workbook is a new edition and includes online audio clips (Go to Download Centre for the audio clips.) to help children learn phonics. Concise explanations with examples are provided before practice to guide children along. This workbook covers listening comprehension, grammar, reading and writing. 


Complete MathSmart Grade Eight workbook provides plenty of interesting and systematic practice for developing and improving your child’s math skills. Throughout this workbook, your child not only understands the concepts better and master the necessary skills, but they will also be able to apply them in solving math problems in real-life situations. This newly updated edition includes QR codes that bring students to educational videos online to help support their learning process. Complete MathSmart covers all five strands of the Math curriculum: Number Sense and Numeration, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterning and Algebra, and Data Management and Probability. It also includes math tips and hints to help your child better understand math skills that are required for grade eight. 


Complete ScienceSmart Grade Eight  is a workbook series covering the essentials of elementary science. It provides students with succinct information and engaging activities to help them master the basic concepts of science and technology, relate science and technology to society and the environment, and develop the skills needed for scientific inquiry. The fun and manageable exercises and activities not only reinforce what children have learned at school but they also help stimulate children’s interest in learning science. The workbook includes fun experiments you can do with your kids, cool science facts and trivia questions as well. Science is my middle kiddo's favorite subject, so that was the first book he opened and started working on when our package arrived.


The last book for my grade eight child was FrenchSmart Tutor Grade Eight. I absolutely love that my kids are learning French and that it's taught in schools out here in Canada. I've even picked up a few sentences here and there and I hope to continue learning as my kids learn. FrenchSmart Tutor is a user-friendly curriculum-based workbook series for children who want to learn or improve their French skills. It covers all three strands of the French curriculum: Oral Communication, Reading, and Writing. Children are guided along by the Smart Tutor in the workbook, who provides explanations, definitions, and examples throughout the activities. Each unit begins with a brief tutor session followed by four pages of exercise. The workbook includes a comprehensive review section as well as accompanying audio clips that help children develop their oral and listening skills.



For my youngest attending grade one, this year will not only be different for her staying home, but also because she's no longer in kindergarten and so that's more learning and less playtime. We were sent four books, the first one being Complete Canadian Curriculum in both the English and French version. The Complete Canadian Curriculum covers the four key subject areas: Math, English, Social Studies, and Science. The curriculum-based units are designed to ensure that your child understands the concepts and masters the necessary skills. With tons of vivid illustrations and interesting activities, your child will find working through Complete Canadian Curriculum both fun and rewarding. 


Next is the Complete EnglishSmart Grade One workbook. This new edition workbook is a curriculum-based series that provides ample practice for developing and improving English skills. Accompanying online audio clips (Go to Download Centre for the audio clips.) are included to help children learn phonics. The workbook includes consice explanations with examples before practice to guide children along. The systematically-designed activities cover the key areas of learning – phonics, grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing. 


Lastly we have the Complete ScienceSmart Grades 1-2, a workbook series that covers the essentials of elementary science. It provides students with succinct information and engaging activities to help them master the basic concepts of science and technology, relate science and technology to society and the environment, and develop the skills needed for the scientific inquiry. The fun and manageable exercises and activities not only reinforce what children have learned at school but they also help stimulate children’s interest in learning science.


I'm very impressed with all of the workbooks we were sent. Not only will this come in handy for my kids that are all participating in virtual learning, but my three nieces who are the same age as all three of my kids, will love these workbooks too. They'll be doing virtual learning this school year too and we plan on getting the kids together a couple times a week so that they can have a classmate their age to do classwork and projects with. 


What I love most about all of the workbooks is that each one has an answer key at the back of each book. Not only will this help my kiddos out when checking their work, but it will also help me as well. All of the books from Popular Book Company (Canada) are affordable and just in time for back to school, you can save 15% on their books and if your order is over $50, the shipping is free. Fore more information about Popular Book Company (Canada), check them out on their website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.


Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received  the above mentioned workbooks from Popular Book Company (Canada) at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

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