Patriots of the Republic Academy

The Easy, Fun way to Teach Handwriting

2011-11-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Handwriting is important to me. I know, a lot of public schools are skipping it completely, and many homeschoolers have traded early typing skills for handwriting practice. But for me, it is just…. needed. There are actually several reasons that handwriting is a useful drill. Handwriting helps develop reading skills. Handwriting is very helpful for developing small motor skills and .

But do we really need worksheets and practice pages to learn to write? I mean, we all know how to write the letters, so it can’t be that hard to teach them to someone else, right? Right! At least, that’s what I decided.

There are two basic tools that I use to help my kids practice writing and enjoy it at the same time. First, we learn the letters very well using an amazing set of DVDs. You can read all about them here and here. I am somewhat passionate about these DVDs, and so are my kids. We love them! It is fun to practice the letter shapes with the movie, and it really helps develop writing skills because we are laying a strong foundation (individual letters) before we go on to work on works and sentences. One new thing at a time, right?

So after we learn all of our letters really well (we used the Print DVD for about six months before I felt like the kids were really strong enough in their individual letters to move on.) we need to move on to the next step- letters and words. I feel that if this happens too soon the letters will get pretty sloppy because there is so much more to think about. They really need to be automatic before you move on.

When Bop was ready to move on to writing more complex words, I found out really quickly that handwriting is BORING. Of course, I knew this from my own elementary years, but that was just a vague memory now. This was the real deal for Bop. We were using a cheap 1st grade writing notebook that I found at Wal-Mart and she was copying words that I wrote on every other line. I had to ask myself why handwriting pages are all so blah. Why do they all have these lined pages with maybe a bit of clipart if you are lucky? Why do we expect our children to want to do their best work on our ugliest pages?

I decided that if I was going to expect her prettiest writing, the least I could do would be give her a pretty page to write it on. So I went to NotebookingPages, where I have a complete membership (I have never regretted buying that, by the way!) and started digging around. I found out that there are hundreds of beautiful pages with primary-lined pages just waiting to be turned into handwriting sheets!

Some of these have lovely coloring pages of birds, historical figures, animals, Bible stories, transportation themes, and so much more. Some of them feature lovely borders or small pictures with a large blank space for drawings. Either way, they are gorgeous and Bop loves them. She actually ASKS to do handwriting now! She gets to color pictures or draw when she is done, and she really takes pride in making them lovely.

Lately our handwriting has just been our dictation words from All About Spelling, but any simple words or phrases will do. Start by writing the words on every other line so they can see them and remember how to make the letters. We also want them spelled correctly, because lovely work requires nice spelling. After that is coming easily we can move on to writing the words lightly above the lines so that they can erase them later and the page will only have their work on it. Finally, when they are really doing well we can have them move on to true copywork- looking at a source in a book or something that you have typed up, and carefully copying it into their page.

We start with simple words- maybe something from their phonics or spelling, or something from what they are learning that day. But remember, we want them starting small so that the sheer complexity of the word doesn’t overwhelm their memories of how to form the letters. We start with CVC words and sight words. They start out doing maybe 3-5 words a day. Later they will move on to more, but don’t overwhelm them and they will be able to really do their best.

Free Notebooking Pages:

I really love NotebookingPages, and highly recommend them. However, you can find some notebook pages free online. I have never really found much that compares to the quality of NotebookingPages, but if you want to try this out here are a few sources:

NotebookingPages free printables

Homeschool Helper Notebooking Pages (most of these seem to have single-lined pages instead of primary-lines pages.)

Homeschool Share Notebooking Pages

Homeschool Notebooking

The Notebooking Fairy blog

Geography-based notebooking pages

Freebies at Currclick:

ABC Notebooking Pages

Ancient Egyptians Pages

Autumn Notebooking Pages

Down on the Farm Pages (These are excellent!)

Bird Notebooking Pages (I don’t know if these have any primary-lines pages.)

Thanksgiving Pages

Our Favorite NotebookingPages:

These are our favorite handwriting pages on NotebookingPages.com. Most of these can be purchased as individual packages, or you can do what I did and buy the whole membership.

A-Z Animals

A-Z Sports

A-Z Transportation

Nature Study- Wildflowers, Weeds and Garden Flowers

Basic Lined Pages

Nature Study Birds

Weekly Wrap-up

2011-11-12T09:42:00.001-07:00

OK. I have to start doing these again. I was reading back through last year’s blog posts and these are my absolute favorite things to read. What a treasure to have a record of each week! There was so much that I had forgotten and it has only been a year.

My sweeties. Ages three, five and six.

Bop was on Ambleside Online week 11 this week, and we finished up The House at Pooh Corner. This has to be my kids’ all time favorite book to listen to, along with Winnie the Pooh. They all pretended to cry when it was over. It is also my favorite book to read aloud, so we will be doing it again soon!

For science we worked on a lapbook from In the Hands of a Child on the water cycle. I have a lot of resources for learning about weather, and I thought this would be a good one to kick us off. It was a little slow going at first but we all enjoyed it. We watched The Magic School Bus Water Cycle on Wednesday and that was fun, of course.

Watching the Magic School Bus and eating clouds. (Or marshmallows for the uninformed. )

Math Time…

It takes a lot of concentration.

Mountains of Food

The kids also helped me organize the cupboards. After they made a castle with the food, they climbed to the top of the cupboards, and later onto the fridge. They were disappointed when I started putting the food back in.

We also had to celebrate the first true snowstorm of the season a couple of weeks ago.

Baby Girl

It was really wet but they had fun…

We had a Merlin visit us.

Of course, we had to take pictures, look him up in a field guide, and read all about him.

Read Aloud Challenge- Pioneers and sailboats

2011-09-02T07:10:00.002-06:00

We have done quite a bit of read aloud this week. I am so proud! We have family visiting this weekend, so we ended up doing more then I thought we would.

Bop is doing Ambleside Online this year (I know, I need to update my curriculum plans for you all, and I will! I promise!) so that means that we do several read alouds a day for her school. This covers history, geography, literature and natural science. I am not going to list all of the books that we use for this, since we only read one chapter a week from each one. I will mention one of our favorites, though. :)

Paddle to the Sea
Bop loves this book already! However she is disappointed that we are only reading one chapter at a time. It is great, though, because she is really remembering each chapter well. For those of you who don't know, Paddle to the Sea is a book about a little wooden boat who sails from a snowbank high in the Canadian mountains, all the way to the Atlantic ocean. This is our first geography book for the year, and it shows through literature how water runs downhill; from small trickling streams, to lakes and great rushing rivers, and finally to the ocean.

Little House in the Big Woods
This is another one of our Ambleside Online books, only this one is a free read book, so it is a TRUE read aloud. We read as much as we want whenever we want. This series of books holds the most memories for me. I can remember my mom reading these books to us over and over again, and I still remember when we first got the set as a gift. I am absolutely loving reading them again, and so far Bop and CJ are enjoying them just as much as we did.

Time of Wonder
This is CJ's unit study for now. We are taking this one casually. No time limits, no schedules, some days we do it and some we don't. It is a charming book by the well-known author of Blueberries for Sal and Make Way for Ducklings. So far we have read it a few times, but not really done much more. If we don't ever get around to it, oh well. This is kindergarten take two, and this time we are just enjoying it. :)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This one needs no introduction. :) We got this for Baby Girl's birthday because we (Shock!) didn't have this classic in our home library! She loves this book, so I thought I would share a little video clip of her reading it to her baby doll. She likes all of the book except the very end....

Using Computers with Early Learners

2011-09-01T13:42:00.001-06:00

Like most families, homeschoolers are not immune from the media problem. What is good, what is bad? How much is too much? What about 'educational' programs? While the American Academy of Pediatrics has decided on an amount that they think is appropriate for specific ages, I find their recommendations to be a little annoying. What is 'screen time'? Is all screen time equal? And what about online school programs, isn't that screen time too?

With young children it is easier to keep control over the screen time. Since most preschoolers and early elementary aged children are not likely to be turning on and using computers on their own, it is really up to mom to GIVE them screen time. Of course, some technologically minded kids can find their way around a computer pretty well at 4 and 5, but since this is really not safe for the child (or the computer!) most of the time it is up to the parents.

In our family I only have a few simple rules about computer use, and none of them involve a mandatory 2 hour limit. The first rule is NO screen time before school. I firmly believe that too much time looking at a backlit screen can, as I tell my kids, fry your brain. It is bad on your eyes and your brain is constantly working with a myriad of conflicting images of ads in sidebars, bouncing characters, and animated backgrounds. Of course some sites and games are worse then others, but I just don't see the point in limiting creativity and productivity when the day has just began.

Our second rule is about attitude. I have seen over and over how quickly computer and movie time lead to discontent, fighting, and bad attitudes in the kids. I don't know why this happens, and maybe it is just my kids, but if they show a sign of the grumpies, it is no computer time at all the next day.

So now that we have our ground rules set, how do we use the computer to add to our education? I find that for the very little ones, there is just not much they can do on the computer. But once they have mastered basic mouse and keyboard use a whole world of educational skills can be enhanced with a computer.

TYPING: While I am a firm believer in the value of learning handwriting, I am also not stupid. I can see how this skill is becoming less and less valuable as a tool (though it is still vital for motor skills) and how typing is taking its place. This is actually good news for a lot of kids! Pushing buttons is a lot easier then learning to carefully form letters, so children with motor skill issues can still progress in school. A lot of children simply prefer typing over writing; it is faster, neat (No eraser marks or sloppy letters!) and easy to use. So here are my favorite programs for teaching beginners to type. These programs can be used as soon as the child has patience to figure it out and hands big enough to reach the keys.

A membership-based typing and phonics program

A free typing program that Bop loves

MATH: The computer is a logical choice for some math subjects. Drills can be made fun, or at least tolerable, using the computer. Parents are spared the task of holding flashcards and the child has some independence. Complicated subjects can also be explained visually for older students, and there are even websites with virtual manipulatives! I am not sure this would help a tactile learner, since the whole point is to be manipulating the manipulatives, but they are fun to play with!

A lot of different games for all ages

Our favorite timed or untimed drill site

READING: There are a lot of programs that are supposed to promote literacy skills, but it seems to me that a lot of them are a waste of time. However There are a few that my kids enjoy, and even a few that have actually taught them something. Here are our favorites:

Starfall, everyone's favorite prek website, free!

A free, sequential reading skill site from PBS Kids

BEGINNING CONCEPTS: For the preschooler still learning logical reasoning, patterning, order, and a ton of other basic concepts, there are a lot of entertaining games out there on the world wide web. I limit this kind of game, because these things are easily taught by real life if the child has a lot of activities and hands-on 'fun stuff' to do. But the kids like them, and I tell myself that at least they are learning something.

Peep and the Big Wide World- A fun website with games and videos

Go Go Kabongo- Free and membership options for reading readiness

Salsa- Free videos and resources for learning Spanish

While we do enjoy using these websites sometimes, I still try to limit the amount of time the kids spend on the computer. I don't have a set number of minutes, but it is typically less then an hour a day. Some days they never get on, some days it is used more. I can usually tell when they have had enough, just by talking to them or watching them. I try to use the computer as a reward for willing helpers and happy attitudes during bookwork and chore time, but I don't have a set system. I just remind them that grumpies don't get to play on the computer.

What are your favorite ways to use the computer in education?

My Break is over….

2011-08-21T13:11:00.000-06:00

Morning sickness, summer break, and a new house. We have been busy this summer! Early in the season I decided to take the kid’s school break as a blogging break, too, and just focus on being with them and having fun all summer. Well, it ended up being a good thing! We have been so busy that not much blogging would have happened anyway, and this way I didn’t even feel guilty about it.

So what did we do all summer? Well, to start the season off right, we found out that we will be having a new little blessing this winter, just in time for Valentines day. Unfortunately, this wonderful event also came with a lot more sickness and fatigue then my other pregnancies. I spent a lot of time during those first few weeks just sleeping on the couch while the kids watched movies.

Then we got another wonderful surprise. We found a house to move into, which actually had bedrooms with windows that would not let in the snow, central heat and are (what a luxury!) and room for another new baby and a school room! Because it was the middle of the month and we didn’t really want to pay extra rent, we started packing right away. This made for a very busy few weeks, with a very tired mamma and a very messy house. We are finally settled in somewhat, and even though the house still has lots of boxes unpacked and unorganized cupboards, we feel so, so very blessed!

Now that those two events are (mostly) over, we have started school again. This is our first week, and even though my brain (i.e. planner) with all of our school plans for the 2011-2012 school year year is still missing, we have forged ahead undeterred. We are loving the curriculum that we have for this year, but that should be saved for another post. I just want to say that after this long, I am really glad to be back and really glad to still have you reading this. Thanks!!

Amazing Deals for Download N Go studies!

2011-06-24T17:43:00.003-06:00

I got this great sale notice in my e-mail today, and even though I am on 'summer blogging break', I thought that I still needed to share it with you.

First of all, TODAY ONLY, you can buy Birthday Bonanza as a single study! Some of you may not know, but Birthday Bonanza is normally only offered as part of a package deal, never individually. This is the only time I have ever seen it available alone, it may never happen again!

Get Birthday Bonanza for only $5!

Next, Amanda and Team are offering some really neat Fun Packs, at really awesome prices, for two days. There are ten of these sets altogether, with fun themes like Expedition, Animals, Historical, Seasons, Food, and more. You will want to definitely take advantage of this! If you aren't sure, just do it for me since I won't be able to get them and this is probably the best sale I have ever seen. :)

Learn about the individual

Download N Go unit studies on this page.

Click here for the sale link!

Discovering Nemo’s World Unit Study and Printables

2011-06-05T04:50:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Discovering Nemo’s World! I have had a ton of fun creating these printables and looking up links. Now we are having even more fun using them! The kids are all three loving it, and I am pleased as punch! Feel free to use any of these pages for yourself and your family, but please don’t copy them for others. Instead, direct them to my site where they can get their own copy!

The introductory pages contain information to help you, and the actual unit study pages are mainly pages of links. These are the resources I am using. If you prefer to use your library instead of your internet, go right ahead! I have been starting with the links for video clips, and just clicking through them. The kids watch a few of the videos to get their interest really going, and then I start using the informational links, such as National Geographic. I simply read these to the kids, but if you have readers they could do this themselves. Then we visit the printable links to see if there is anything we want to do, and we head to the table. We do all of the lapbook and notebook pages, along with any website printables, to finish up.

Planning and introduction

Week One

Study and Links

Printables- Learning about Fiction

Printables- Ecosystems and Coral Reefs

Printables- Australia, Ocean zones, and the five oceans

Printables- Animal Study: Clownfish and Anemones

Learning about Nemo’s World

2011-06-04T09:48:00.000-06:00

We have been having a great time this week, using my new “Nemo’s World” unit study. This is a four-week internet based study that I wrote for little ocean- obsessed CJ. It covers a lot of topics, but not surprisingly it is science-heavy. We are using it as a fun study for summertime, but there should be enough here to keep most kids ‘scienced’ for a month. (CJ uses ‘science’ as a verb, so I thought I might as well, too.) I have planned it with four lessons a week since we are not schooling on Fridays right now, but I have ideas for a fifth day if you need that. I will be offering this free on my blog, one week at a time, and the first week will go up tomorrow!

For now, I wanted to offer you a sneak preview of the fun we’ve been having!

Download N Go Sunny Seashells Review

2011-06-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

Wow! can I just say that for the last Download N Go review of the school year, Sunny Seashells is amazing? We were absolutely enthralled with the beautiful seashells and the lovely animals that make them. There was so much of this that I didn’t even know, it was simply fascinating!

Sunny Seashells is full of neat features, like a country of the day, seashell of the day, and more. Here is a list of the chapters:

Day 1: Seashells--What Are They?

Day 2: Seashells and History

Day 3: Types of Seashells

Day 4: The Science of Seashells

Day 5: Seashell Party!

Each day has a variety of activities, including lovely drawing sheets, interesting worksheets about the animals and countries, lots of lapbook pieces, and beautiful videos embedded on Download N Go’s own website pages. We just love the videos and the kids remember them exceptionally well. This study was especially enhanced by the videos, since we are all used to seeing empty seashells. It is so neat to be able to watch the live animals in action!

I highly recommend having some real seashells of your own for this study. We had a dishful from mommy’s childhood trips to Florida, and they enhanced the study in many ways! We sketched them, sorted them, compared them, and tried to figure out how a real live critter would live in them. You can frequently get real seashells at Walmart or craft stores, and they are not expensive. What a neat way to enhance this study for those of us who are landlocked!

One of the neat features of these studies is the poetry pages. After each day’s readings, there is a gorgeous page with poetry or Bible verses on a photograph. These are just beautiful, and I think they are perfect to go along with the study as copywork. There are normally copywork pages included with the study with themed borders or photographs, so you can pick one of two of those, and use them with the lovely verse pages. An older child might want to do one verse a day, while a younger child might need to work on the same page all week.

Since this is my last review of the year, I wanted to add another things about Download N Go unit studies, that you might not notice fi you only did one or two. A lot of these studies are somewhat interconnected, so not only are you learning through connections each week, but every so often your children will notice something that refers them back to an earlier study that they did. For example, In Sunny Seashells, three of the five places visited are Australia, Africa and Ireland, and each will be re-visited in it’s own Download N Go- Expedition Australia, Expedition Africa, and Expedition Ireland! In fact, when we got to Ireland, my kids said, “Oh, we remember that place, mom!”

Another neat connection that I noticed was learning about using shells for money. Bop was excited when she remembered learning about people using cocoa beans for money in Chocolate Challenge. You will find more and more of these connection between the studies as you go along, I have just mentioned two that I noticed in the last few studies that we used. It really cements the learning, because you are calling back into their memories those other places and things.

Be sure to visit Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies to take a look at the free sample pages for Sunny Seashells, and visit the Download N Go blog for more reviews.

I received this product free of charge for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit the Download-N-Go blog to read more reviews on this product.

1. Renita @ Mom of Many

2. Life at Rossmont

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Read for the Heart Review

2011-05-27T06:23:00.000-06:00

Like most homeschool moms, I am a book fanatic. At garage sales, the first place I always go is to the table with the books. I love library sales, and normally come out with several boxes. My new favorite store is the used bookstore. (We have a very small town, and this is the first time we have had a used bookstore.) I ask for bookshelves for Christmas. Ok, maybe not that last one. Yet.

But there is one thing I have had trouble with. How do you know which books are the best? When you pick up a book at a garage sale, how do you know if it is worth buying? most of us eventual get a ‘feel’ for good books, just by looking at the cover and flipping through it. But while I am good at not picking ‘twaddly’ books, I always feel like I may still be missing out on some real treasures because I wasn’t sure of the best ones.

So I was delighted to get the chance to review Read for the Heart. This beautiful thick paperback “book-about-books” was wrote by a homeschool graduate, Sarah Clarkson. Sarah is the oldest daughter of one of my favorite authors of homeschool encouragement books, Sally Clarkson. This book is published by Apologia, the well-known publisher of the science curriculum by the same name, and a variety of books, including Good Morning, God, which I reviewed earlier.

I was pretty sure that I would enjoy reading about good books, but I was surprised by all of the other information here. Sarah has several chapters in the front of the books that do not contain book suggestions. These chapters are about reading in general. First, teh author includes a lot of her experiences with good books, which is very inspiring and motivating. She also has a chapter on the loss of literacy in the United States, and ideas for how to begin incorporating more reading time in your family life, especially reading aloud together.

The book suggestions are organized by type, and include chapters on picture books, classics, fairy tales, history, spiritual reading, and more. I loved reading every chapter of this book, they were very helpful to me. I heard of several books and series that I had not read before, including the Landmark series and several in the Fantasy and Fairy Tale chapter. I also enjoyed reading the Picture Book chapter, because I quite simply love a good picture book. I am one of those moms who not only enjoys reading to her children, but also can occasionally be found sitting on the floor beside the picture book shelves, reading. To myself.

Even if you think that you are such a bibliophile that there’s nothing new to learn, you should take a look through Read for the Heart. Sure, there are old classics such as Madeline and Charlotte’s web, but there is a lot of hidden treasure, too. For example, the discussion of the beginnings of Children's literature and the those first great classics, testimony of the power of learning history through good literature, and a very interesting discussion on why fantasy is important for Christian children.

I highly recommend this book to all parents, homeschooling or not, who care about a quality education and magical childhood. You can read more reviews for this book at The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew blog, and visit Apologia to learn more about all of there products.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Considering God's Creation Review

2011-05-25T16:49:00.001-06:00

Considering God’s Creation is a one-year science program designed especially for homeschoolers. This is not a public or private-school textbook, modified for home use. Why is that important? Well, there are several problems with these books. First, they have to conform to state and federal standards, which may or may not be very unbiblical in either their teaching or their worldview. Also, even Christian private school texts are designed for one grade to use at a time, complicating life for mothers of many children. Finally, a lot of text books-type programs are simply very boring. Since science is one of the most interesting and vibrant subjects we can learn about, this is truly a shame! If we want our children to love God’s creation, we need to give them a delight for science.

How is Considering God’s Creation special? To start with, this program is very inexpensive. It can be used by all your children in grades 2-7, and costs only $29.95 and includes the Teacher’s Manual, the Student Book, and a CD. The Student book is reproducible, but you can also buy addition workbooks for only $13.95. I think that is cheaper then copying, and that way the materials can stay in a nice book. My children love to keep their books nice and not have the pages cut out, so that is what we chose to do. They are sharing the book and when we use this program again later I will just purchase more. Most of the workbook pages can be used in the book, except for the pages which have cut-outs on them.

Considering God’s Creation covers a lot of science. It begins with learning about the days of creation, and then moves through the subjects pretty closely to the order of creation. The sequence begins with space, then basic earth science, rocks, weather, plants, animals, animal A&P, and the human body. This is a lot to cover in a teachers manual that only contains 130 pages! How do they do this? Well, Considering God’ Creation has a broad scope, but much less depth then some programs. There is still enough in here to be a very complete curriculum, however. There is not a lot of fluff here, it is pretty bare-bones. This is good news for busy homeschooling moms who don’t want to sift through the babble just to get to the good stuff! A lot of the learning is done in the notebook, too, which is good for retention.

Experiments. These are very easy for mom to set up and use basic materials. Some of us prefer to stick to reading about science instead of doing it, so the easier and quicker the better! Easy elementary experiments such as watching celery draw up colored water, filling a bottle with air to show how a fish’s swim bladder works, and using a flashlight to demonstrate why we can’t see starts in the daytime.

Activities: One of the simple but helpful activities we did was using people holding hands to explain the pull of gravity. This was simple and fun, but made the abstract ideas concrete for my young kids. One of the other activities that stuck out was the idea of using cookie dough to show how fossil imprints form. There are lots of these activates to really imprint eh basics of science in an easy to understand way.

Reading: Each lesson includes a section to be read to the child. These are always short, typically less then a page, but explain everything so perfectly for the little children. Examples such as comparing the layers of the earth to the parts of eggs help children comprehend difficult ideas. Each lesson also has a Bible reading, which encourages deep thinking. The child is supposed to look up and read the passages for themselves if they are able.

The notebook/workbook is a delight of it’s own, especially for lapbooking and notebooking families! It is about twice as think as the Teacher’s book, and is chock full of stuff to do! There are pop ups, mini books, notebook pages, charts, and more. There are also games included, and these cut-out pieces should probably be glued onto cardstock to work well. My favorite part of the program is the “detective” pages. These are work-sheet type pages that are designed for nature study. For example, the “Flower Detective” pages have illustrations for different leaf placement, veins, shape, and edges, and flower placement, color, shapes and number of petals. This could really encourage attention to detail and thoroughness, and is an excellent introduction to the various skills needed for identification. There are varying numbers of these detective pages included for each subject. There are 5 “plant detective” pages, and each one has a notebook page with a decorative border for sketching on the facing side. If you need more you can always copy them.

The CD is probably my least favorite part of the program, but auditory learners like Bop love it. The songs include The Water Cycle, The Planets, Bear Fruit, The Nervous System, and Try, Try again. Some of the melodies are frankly irritating to me but the children seem to really listen to them and enjoy them. Of course, this curriculum is very complete without the CD if you don’t have a little listener like I do!

There are many ways to use Considering God’s Creation. You can use it as a one-year curriculum, going through one lesson a week. You could use the parts as you need them, going into more depth with other books or curriculum. You could even use the Student book for the foundation of a nature study journal, copying the sheets as you need them. But my favorite idea for this is to use the program as a spine for a longer study. The notebook is perfect for extended use, as each child could have their own and go through it as needed. With the addition of lots of books for each topic, this one science program could last a family many years, maybe even through all of the elementary grades. That makes the initial investment very cost –effective, when coupled with library books! This is what I am seriously thinking about doing ourselves.

So what do I like about Considering God’s Creation? I really appreciate how the ‘cut-out’ pages (flaps, cards for games, minibook pieces, etc) are on their own pages, so there are not cut-up sheets left in the book. I am still surprised by the amount of info contained in here, everytime I look I see something new. I just love the detective pages and how much nature study is encouraged. Nature study is very important to me, but I know a lot of people struggle with how to implement it, and this program could be very helpful to them. The explanations in the text are perfect for the suggested ages, and they aren’t too long or to short.

Visit Eagle’s Wings to see sample pages from Considering God’s Creation, and go to The Old Schoolhouse Crew Blog to read more reviews.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Pearson Review

2011-05-23T11:44:00.000-06:00

Pearson is a popular supplier of materials to public schools, and have recently been branching out into other educational markets as well. Members of the review crew were given one of three products: Social Studies, Math, or Reading, in first and second grade levels. We received the second grade level of Scott Foresman’s Reading Street, in two large hardback books. These books are available from Pearson School for $43.47 each.

My first impression of these books? They are beautiful hardback books that look like they were made to withstand a classroom and would certainly stand up to a typical homeschooling family! Each book is divided up into units, 6 in all. The units are each made up of five selections, in both fiction and nonfiction, and accompanying ideas and activities.

The stories are a good mix of genres, including fairy tales, folk tales, realistic fiction, and fantasy. There are a few biographies and plays also. Each story also includes a ‘paired selection’ and this is a short piece that enhances the story, such a poetry, a nonfiction article, or a demonstration of online research techniques. The story Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night is accompanied by an expository nonfiction article, Star Pictures in the Sky. The folk tale Turtle’s Race with Beaver is paired with a diagram, The Secret Life of Ponds.

Before the child begins reading there are some introductory materials to help him out, including a new word/ vocabulary section and then a short paragraph with the new words in it to practice. The stories in the first book are followed by a few different sections. They include comprehension questions, information about the author along with other books they wrote, the ‘paired selection’, and a section with writing ideas and helps. There is also a slightly confusing ‘oral vocabulary’ spread, which contains some bright illustrations and photographs but no text.

Book two, containing units 4, 5 and 6, employs a slightly different approach. Each story now begins with a section on comprehension skills, preparing the child with specific techniques, the vocabulary/new word section now includes a vocabulary strategy for each story, emphasizing how to figure out difficult words. The ‘paired selections’ in this book are varied, with interesting mediums such as newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, and e-mails.

We have really enjoyed these books. I like the varied subject matter, and the fact that these are real books, not contrived “readers” made up of pre-selected word lists. I also appreciate the inclusion of so much non-fiction, because a lot of children's early readers are just silly stories and that is all they get used to reading.

Bop has just finished up first grade, and is reading at a first grade or second grade level, depending on what test you use. She loves looking through these books, because frankly, they are beautiful. She has struggled a little with the readings, not because they are too hard, but because they are pretty long. After hearing a little more about how these types of reading books are used in school, I think I understand why. (Remember, I never set foot in a public school classroom so I don’t know this stuff. ) One of our fellow crew members explained to us that most of the time the children take turns reading the selections, so one child is not responsible for reading the entire story straight through. I was trading reading with Bop, and I felt a little guilty about it, but now I know that this is how the book was designed. I am sure that her tolerance for long readings will build up as she gains fluency. When we read them together without me forcing more on her then she can do in one sitting, she does beautifully. And she really enjoys reading out of these books, because there is so much variety and interest.

You can read more about the Scott Foresman reading program on the Pearson School website, and don’t forget to read the other reviews at The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

I received this product free of charge
as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,
for review purposes. I promise to be honest
and fair in my reviews, and I received no
other compensation in exchange for my review.
You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog
to read more reviews on this product.

Wordy Qwerty

2011-05-20T23:38:00.000-06:00

Last fall our family reviewed a wonderful little program called Read, Write and Type. This program teaches children to read and type, and now the company behind Read, Write and Type has also created another program, Wordy Qwerty. Designed for children who have finished Read Write and type, or children ages 7-9, this program attempts to teach spelling through a series of games and songs.

It is really unlike Read, Write and Type in almost every way, except for the format of the stories. While Read, Write and Type has the children working to rescue all of the letter sounds, in Wordy Qwerty they are working towards the building of a “music machine”. They go through a series of games for each spelling rule, and earn ‘spheres’ for the robots to use on the machine. After learning a rule the children get to watch part of the music machine being built. Each spelling rule, or pattern, includes the following games:

1. The introduction to the pattern, where the children type the word and then sort them. There is no grading here as far as spelling, so if the child misspells one of these words they are just corrected and then they move on. The idea is for the child to start recognizing the patterns.

2. The music. The child hears a jingle about the pattern being learned, and then they get the chance to sing a karaoke version themselves.

3. The Recycler: This is a machine that recycles words… there is two different spellings for word families, such as '”-ail” and “-ale”, and the machine adds different letters in the beginning to make words. The child then decided which is the correct spelling, or if they both are, as in “sale” and “sail”. There are no ‘rules’ to be learned in this section, so the idea is to learn to recognize the correct spelling through repetition.

4. Pop a word game. This game is full of balloons! A short 4-word sentence is typed across the bottom of the screen and read to the child, and then it disappears. The words from the sentence then begin appearing in balloons and the child has to pop the words in the correct order. the correct words are mixed up with similarly spelled words, to challenge the child to really learn the hard words fluently.

5. Writing Stories. This is where the resemblance to Read, Write and Type comes out. A short story will appear and the child will hear it being read. Then, the bottom of the two lines will disappear and the child is to type it out. When a wrong letter is typed, the word becomes black and the child has to try again. After the line is typed correctly a picture will pop up, and then you can continue on to the next page of the story.

6. Read Stories. This is the last activity for each spelling rule. There is a story several pages long, with missing words. The child clicks on a drop-down menu beside each blank in the story to select the correct word. This requires fluent reading, comprehension, and spelling skills.

These same games are repeated for each now spelling rule, or pattern. There are 20 spelling rules all together, from the simple silent ‘e’ to more difficult plural rules and the different spellings for the ‘er’ sound. As your child progresses through these lessons, they collect more and more spheres and build more of the music machine.

So how did it work for us? Well, to be honest, we didn’t get very far through the program. Bop just turned 6, but she has successfully completed Read Write and Type twice (she wanted to go through it again because she enjoyed it so much) and she is reading at a 1st or 2nd grade level, depending on who you ask. I thought that she was ready to go ahead with Wordy Qwerty, but we have had some trouble with it. I think that if we give her a few months she would be flying through it, but right now it’s not that easy. The spelling rules are easily within her comprehension, but the games themselves are harder. This is definitely designed for older children then Read Write and Type, as stated. She enjoys some of the activities, but some of them are tougher. We have worked together on them, and she is moving steadily on.

As for me, I like this program almost as much as Read, Write and Type. I think the games are very well-designed and thought out, and they are effective. There are some parts that are a little frustrating for the children, but for the most part this is a fun and thoughtful way to learn basic spelling rules. Several of us reviewers did find that the online version that we are reviewing tends to freeze sometimes, but this is a very new program, and for us it did not effect the usability overall.

I think this program could be useful for independent children, who like to work alone, children who are struggling with spelling being ‘boring’, and anyone who wants a fun, easy way to teach spelling without teaching at all! Wordy Qwerty is available as either a installable program or a online subscription. A home license can be purchased for $35.00, or you can go with the online subscription which starts at $25.00 for one user, for 5 years. You can archive your user and then add another one when they are finished, so this is a great option for homeschooling families who will have several users throughout the 5 years.

Visit Talking Fingers to find out how you can get a free trial of Wordy Qwerty before you buy, and check out all of the other reviews at The Old Schoolhouse review crew’s blog.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Mad Dog Math review

2011-05-18T07:05:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about reviewing another math drill program. We have had several this year, and I was afraid that Bop was simply burnt out on computerized drills, period. I determined to give Mad Dog Math a fair try, however, and I urged her to do the same. Mad Dog Math is a completely original math drill program (I know, I didn’t know you could be original about math drills, either, until I saw this.) that started as a classroom program using worksheets and a timer.

We received a download of the Mad Dog Math computer version, modeled after the original pencil-and-paper version. You can get several different licenses for this program, but most home school families will probably want the “perpetual” license for $39.99. There are also one year ($19.99) and two year ($29.99) licenses available. This program covers all four operations- addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Addition/subtraction and multiplication/division are drilled together. This is appropriate for children just learning their addition facts, up through high school age students who jest need to up their speed. We used this program in Level One, addition and subtraction, so that is what my review will cover.

First, a little background. We have struggled with Bop learning her facts, and there are so many things that we have tried without success. She KNOWS all of her addition facts, but she is sometimes painfully slow remembering them. Since Math U See stresses mastery, I have struggled with this. They are supposed to know the facts as quickly as they know their own name, so I have been conflicted about whether to go on, or drill endlessly until her speed is up.

I assumed that this program would be exactly like any other computer drill program, but I was so surprised by it. The first thing that I noticed is the way the facts are drilled. Instead of covering a ‘fact family’ at a time, this program just works on a very tiny bite at a time. For example, the first section to be learned in Level One is the “0-3” section. I assumed that this would include all of the facts in these families, all the way up to 10+2 and 10+3. I was wrong! This “0-3” fact family includes only those problems whose addends AND sums fall between 0-3. They will start out drilling problems such as 1+1, 3+0, 2+1, etc. Nothing higher. Talk about baby steps!

After that first fact family, the progression is similarly easy. The next fact families are 1-4, 2-5, 3-6, and then it jumps to 0-6. Nothing new in this family, just more variety. This is paced so that the child will pass their drills almost every time. What a confidence booster! By introducing only those problems that have sums and addends in that ‘fact family’, the child progresses baby-step by baby-step, but steadily, into mastery. At the same time, they are also working on the subtraction facts in eh same fact family.

You can see here how the 0-6 fact family only includes those numbers with sums up to 6, and this is level two, which includes inverse operations.

But that’s not all! The student’s first goal is to master the two-minute club. There are 20 question in each fact family to be answered in under two minutes. After going through all the families up to 12-18, (which includes problems such as 11+6 and 7+7) the child will officially be in the two minute club for all of those fact families. But they are not done yet… they will start back over at the beginning trying for the one-minute club! And when they have mastered that, they will start back over going for the 30 second club. As a mother who never learned the math facts well, this is an amazing thought… to be able to answer 20 problems in 30 seconds. Wow. I want to give that gift of speed to my children.

Really quickly I want to give an overview of the different levels. I already told you about level one. Level two is still addition and subtraction, but it progresses quickly for those older children who know the facts but need speed. The fact families are introduced more quickly- 0-6, 7-9, etc. Level 3 is multiplication and division, and the challenge level covers all of the operations in different ways… along with some puzzle-type problems. Of course, we didn’t do much with this part, so you will have to read some of the other reviews to find out more about the upper levels.

To be completely honest (and I always am) I love this program. And Bop loves it. So is there anything I don’t like? Well we had an incident with the timer… you can see the numbers counting, and we were fine until Bop noticed them. She completely froze up like she does whenever she is being timed. She knew that it was timing her so that she could be in the ‘club’, but it was seeing it that did her in. I just stuck a little sticker on the screen so she can’t see it and she does fine. Silly girl. It would be great if Mad Dog Math would add a “hide timer” option for those with equally timer-phobic children. However, since that will probably require a lot of revisions, until then I will just use the sticker. ;) I would also recommend not starting this with children who don’t know their facts, at least the lower ones, already. If they do know at least some of them they will move through them pretty quickly, only spending a day or two on most of the families. That is incredibly encouraging for children!

There are several other ways to buy this program, including the paper version. It covers addition/subtraction and multiplication/division in two separate levels, so you have to buy them both to get everything that is available in the computer version. Visit The Old Schoolhouse blog for more reviews of Mad Dog Math and go to the Mad Dog Math website for a free demo version.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Chocolate Challenge Download N Go Review

2011-05-17T19:32:00.000-06:00

Creamy. Rich. Dark, light or white. Exotic, tasty and a favorite everywhere. Ice cream, milk, cookies, cake… who can resist the taste of chocolate?

I knew that we would love this Download N Go, simply because it is yummy if nothing else! But I was delighted to find all that it had to offer, once we started digging deeper. This one download contains everything you need for a week or two of tasty learning, including history, science, geography, and even some math and language arts.

All of the Download N Go studies contain everything that you will need, including links, worksheets, drawing pages, and the day-to-day guides that you follow. When you do a Download N Go there are no lesson plans or ‘curriculum guides’, just the unit study itself, which you read through and then click on the links that are right there in the text, to go to the websites and videos to learn more. You will find that using these unit studies is simple for mom, with no prep time needed, and easy to follow for the children, who can just read through each day’s assignment. The units are each designed for one week, and they are written day-by-day. You can easily extend them to 2 weeks, however, and there is easily enough material if you want to do that. Each Download N Go includes lapbook pieces, extensive book lists, links, activities, video clips, and more.

Chocolate Challenge was such a fun study for the kids, and me too! We got to learn about the history of chocolate, including a great “Chocolatier of the day”, the science of growing and making chocolate, the Brazilian rainforest, and so much more. We especially enjoyed learning about how chocolate is made, and we got to watch several video clips of the process. We had taste tests, and I found out that dark-chocolate lovers, like me, are in the minority. We learned about graphing by taking a poll from our family and friends of their favorite chocolate as well.

Our favorite parts of Chocolate Challenge was learning about the Amazon rainforest. We studies the layers of the forest, the importance of the fragile ecosystem, and why diversity is important. Did you know that only one insect can fertilize cacao trees? Did you know that one tree only produces enough cacao beans to make 2 lbs of chocolate? Do you know who were the first peoples to eat chocolate, and that it was far different from our chocolate today? You will be amazed at everything there is to learn about this yummy treat!

The pages in Chocolate Challenge are beautiful. There are drawing pages, with great backgrounds and borders, colorful worksheets, and copywork pages. And the videos are a treat of their own… creamy melted chocolate running out of giant mixing tubs…. mmmm mmmmm! We really had a great time with this whole unit, and it didn’t even seem like school. The kids were asking every morning if we could do Chocolate Challenge- I had to make them wait ‘til after breakfast!

I do have one complaint about this unit, and it is something you will definitely want to take into consideration. You absolutely cannot do Chocolate Challenge without having chocolate on hand! Preferable a little dark, milk, and white, and you will need some for each day because, let’s face it, after all of that learning, we all need a pick-me-up. Especially when the learning smells this good!

You can read more reviews for Chocolate Challenge at Amanda Bennett’s Download N Go blog, and don’t forget about the free samples!

I received this product free of charge for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit the Download-N-Go blog to read more reviews on this product.

GoTrybe Review

2011-05-11T13:07:00.000-06:00

GoTrybe is an online subscription based site bringing better fitness to children. There are several components to this site including the exercise portion. There are also nutrition and motivational videos and an avatar based reward system. This site also has a social aspect which we chose not to participate in due to the ages of our children. They are not really able to understand and use social sites, so you can read more about this in the other reviews. We signed up under the ZooDoos level, for little ones up to grade 5.

My favorite part of GoTrybe was the exercise videos. You can use ready-made routines or design your own. To design your own workout, you simply click and drag the selected clips into the playlist. There is space for 1 warm up, 3 cardio, 1 strength training, and 1 flexibility clip, to create a complete workout about 30 minutes long. You can save your workouts for future sessions. Our favorite workout was comprised entirely of animal moves. The kids loved pretending to be various animals as the hopped, galloped, stretched, and crawled around the room.

Lets all be elephants!

The exercise videos included with GoTrybe are varied and creative, with suggested ages included. We stuck to the videos for the preschool to 2nd grade ages, and found them challenging and fun, but never too difficult. Some of the videos for the older elementary ages included a lot of dance type moves which looked like a lot of fun to me but were too difficult for the kids to follow. After you complete your a workout each day, point are awarded to your account.

The Nutrition, Motivation, and Wellness portions of GoTrybe are simply short movie clips and quizzes that your child can do each day. There is only one of each available per day, and your child receives points for each completed daily portion. These points are used to purchase clothes, accessories and other items like pets, to dress up the child’s avatar.

The Nutrition tab encourages making good choices, but it is mainly focused on knowledge. Each day your child learns one thing about good nutrition. The quizzes are very short and have one question, such as multiple choice or true-or-false. Since nutrition information can be very controversial and people have different opinions on the healthiest way to live, this could be a problem for some families; however, I didn’t find anything that was opinionated enough to be very controversial. For example, today’s lesson was a short paragraph about hydration, and the quiz asked whether or not water should be drunk only when exercising.

The Motivation section is a little video clip of one of the GoTrybe instructors, and it is just a short segment. They are typically talking about what they do to stay motivated, or something similar. Today’s clip was an instructor talking about her passions and goals for fitness. These clips are of varying value in my opinion. I find it hard to believe that a child who is not already motivated would find any more motivation from a short clip like this. Encouragement from parents and good examples seem to be more important as far as motivation goes.

The Wellness videos contain information about a wide variety of topics that affect overall health, often involving safety. Today’s clip featured the difference between tornado watches and warnings, but did not cover what to do in the case of an impending tornado. Again, it seemed to me that this section was of questionable value given the briefness of the information.

So, what did our family ultimately think of GoTrybe? We really enjoyed the workouts. It was great to have the ability to pick-and-choose which exercises we would like to do, and the versatility is great. The kids got a kick out of exercising like animals and vehicles, and the more typical routines were fun too. The ladies leading the workouts are always accompanied by children which is inspiring to the kids. They got tired and discouraged at a few points, but I told them that is how they know it is working. :) I think this is a great option if you want a video-led exercise program for your children that is customizable. I wouldn’t really count on getting a lot of good info out of the nutrition, motivation and wellness portions, unless your kids want to do them to get more points for dressing up their avatar. Of course, there may be a lot of different information for the older grades, so if you are interested in using this with an older child you should definitely read the reviews from those age groups.

You can get a free trial of GoTrybe, and you will be able to see for yourself all of the features. There are three levels of GoTrybe, for children from pre-school on up to 12th grade, and a one-year subscription is $19.95.

If you would like to find out more before signing up,

be sure to visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog for lots of reviews.

I received this product free of charge as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog to read more reviews on this product.

MonkiSee Review

2011-05-09T11:19:00.001-06:00

MonkiSee is a program for children ages 3 months to 3 years, created to teach the youngest children how to read. There are several components to the program, including DVDs, flash cards, books, and video flash cards on DVD. We received the “Baby’s First Words” DVD and a book, “Know Your Monkey”.

This DVD introduces 40 new words. The words to be learned are shown on the screen a few times, while the concepts, such as baby, neck, and hands, are explored through puppets, songs, rhymes and more. The video also includes a parent guide and a slideshow, which features each word on the screen, followed by a picture. The book has a very short and simple story, with the words on one spread without illustrations, and then the main words with pictures repeated on the next spread. The pictures are photographs of the cute little monkeys Skip and Howie on a paper collage background.

We have watched this video many times since we received it. I don’t think we quite made the recommended every-day goal, but we did use it a lot. We have had mixed reactions from Baby girl, but overall she really enjoyed it. There were some days when she just wasn’t interested, but most of the time she was happy to sit and watch it. The next question I am sure you want to ask, is if Baby Girl can read the words. No, she can’t. We did not have time to watch to movie every day for four weeks, as was suggested, before this review was due. However, I would like to go out on a limb here and say that without the accompanying flash cards and other reinforcement, I doubt that she would learn to recognize the words with this DVD alone. The words are shown relatively infrequently compared to the puppets, pictures, and songs, so I am not sure that the DVD would have enough repetition to soak into the wiggly little brain of my own monkey.

However, she did enjoy the DVD, and if she was younger or more attentive my story may be different. My final comments would just have to be that she enjoyed the DVD a lot but it is not for us, as a reading program. If you want to teach your child to read with this method, I would suggest investing in all of the available materials. They have a kit with 3 Monki See DVDs, a parent’s guide DVD, 2 video flash cards, 5 sets of physical flash cards, and 2 books, for $139.95 on sale. You can buy the individual DVDs for $19.95, and they have three titles: First Words, All About Colors, and All About Shapes. The paperback books are $9.95 each, and they have two titles: Know Your Monkey, and Monkeys Like the Color…

Be sure to stop by The Old Schoolhouse blog to read more reviews for Monki See!

I received this product free of charge as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog to read more reviews on this product.

Curriculum Clean Out Winner!

2011-05-08T20:21:00.000-06:00

Ok, because I added this on the last day of the giveaway, I went ahead and gave it an extra week so more people would get a chance to sign up. I have a winner!

Congratulations, Sarah!

I have already sent you an e-mail, so be sure to get back with me and give me your address!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max:

Result:

16Powered by RANDOM.ORG

sbswtp said...

This would be perfect for us! What a great giveaway :-)

sarahsherman at hotmail dot com

April 30, 2011 7:23 PM

Picture Book Challenge- Week One

2011-05-04T09:52:00.000-06:00

I feel like I am a bit behind in this, since I am starting in April, not January. However, I think that I will still be able to reach my goal of 200 books this year, and have fun doing it! Today I picked two of our favorite picture books to tell you about, and then I will let you know what we read this week.

One of our favorite books from last week was The Usborne Big Book of Things to Spot.

This book is a compilation of four books: 1001 Animals to Spot, 1001 Things to Spot on the Farm, 1001 Things to Spot in Town, And 1001 Things to Spot Long Ago. All three of the kids like this book. Baby Girl just spends time looking at the pictures, and she will point out the different animals and things when i ask her. Bop and CJ enjoy hunting for the different things hiding in the pictures. This book has double spread lay-outs, with a large picture in the middle. Around the edges are things to ‘spot’, with numbers and simple words for beginning readers. There may be 7 cows, 10 calves, and 3 dogs to spot on the farm animal pages, along with others.

While this book isn’t one that you will sit down and read to your child, there is still a lot of educational value here. First, the pages show different animals in their habitats, different community places and what is going on there, what things looked like in the past, and so on. Second, this is great for developing visual memory skills and visual discernment, both of which are very important precursors to fluent reading. Lastly, but most important, this book is simply a lot of fun to sit down with your child and peruse together! And what is better then sitting on the couch and laughing over a book with your little ones?

Another one of the books that we enjoyed was an old book called The Biggest Bear.

This book was the Caldecott Medal winner for 1952. This is a charming story about a boy and a bear. The little boy was always ashamed because his barn never had a great bear hide hanging on it, like all the other barns in the valley. One day he decided that he was going to set off and find the biggest bear, so he could have a hide too. He did find a bear, but it wasn’t the biggest. he brought the baby bear home and they because great friends. However, the neighbors didn't really like having a bear in their valley, and they decide that the bear has to go. What happens to the little boy’s friend? Well, read the book and find out! It has a great ending. The kids all loved this book.

Here are the other picture books that we read this week:

Freight Train

The Snowy Day

How do I feel? /Como me siento?

Mouse Count

Taking a Walk/ Caminando – A Book in Two Languages

A House Is a House for Me

The Giving Tree

“I Can’t” Said the Ant

The Rain Came Down

Penguins

Then and Now

Cats

Volcanoes

I am sure there were a few more… but I can’t remember them all. I will try to do better next week. :)

Countdown: 15 down, 185 left to do!

Meet Me on Monday

2011-05-02T17:18:00.001-06:00

Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of muffin?

mmm I love muffins! Some people say that they are just cupcakes for breakfast, but I know better since I have actually read the recipes. But as far as a favorite? i don't know! I love them all... blueberry or orange are probably the tops contenders, though. I like the fruity ones best.

2. What was the first car you ever owned?

um, well... I haven't really owned any of my own. I got married and our first vehicle was a little Toyota pickup. Something happened to the door (I don't remember what) so we drove around all winter with the heater on high and blankets on us. It had several stages of colors through the years. It started out silver, and then my husband painted it camouflage. Yes, he's a redneck. Then we had some friends who professionally painted it white.

3. Which TV Show were you sad to see end?

We don't have TV... I never had it as a child either. We had local channels for a year or so when Bop was a baby, but the shows we watched on it are all still airing. Not that we watch them...

4. What is your lucky number?

Don't have one. I have Jesus. ;)

5. Pretzels or Potato Chips?

Pretzels. I love pretzels but I really don't like potato chips at all. Too salty and greasy. Eww.

Curriculum Clean Out: Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons

2011-04-30T13:37:00.001-06:00

I have a copy of this book in very nice condition. We never used it, because for some reason, I had two. Read more here.

This is not for sale, this is a giveaway. The winner will be picked form the comments using Random.org. Make sure that your e-mail is in the comment. Leave me a comment to let me know you want it. You can do the following for extra entries:

Follow me with GFC.

Share on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog. (One extra entry for each method.) Good luck!

Greek N Stuff Review

2011-04-29T18:03:00.001-06:00

“Why is your 5-year-old learning Greek?”

I heard this several times during out time with this review. I was delighted to explain all of the great reasons behind this program, and I was usually met with interested people.

Greek N Stuff offers many different products, but we reviewed “Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek!” worktext level one. This program is intended for the earliest Greek learners, up to the middle elementary grades, when they recommend starting with level 2. It teaches the Greek alphabet and a few words.

I used this program with Bop, since it is consumable. The worktest is made up of handwriting exercises and fun activities, with a set of flashcards in the back. The activities are all designed to teach the Biblical Greek alphabet, and they are well-thought out. The child has to work on learning the sounds of the letters, their order, the names of the letters, and recognizing the letters in actual Greek words. The child is introduced to each letter by writing it several times and learning the names. The next page contains more writing practice, and teaches the sound of the letter as well. After that there are several practice pages, where the activates are, and these are for both the letter being leraned and the previous letters. This is great since you will be working toward mastery. The flashcards in the back are supposed to eb used everyday, so we copied them onto cardstock so they would be tougher.

We also received a CD with pronunciation of the letters and new words, a reading of the Reader, and the Greek alphabet song. I found this marginally helpful, since I had no trouble understanding the pronunciation of each letter from the worktext. If you were getting level two and the Reader it would be more helpful, I am sure. I appreciate receiving, however, because it is always so much easier to review programs when you can see it all! Pronunciation of the words is more difficult then the single letters, so it is a very nice tool to have for that. There is a separate CD for the higher levels.

Bop loved “Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek!”. She really did, and even though we were doing language two days a week, she asked for it every day. Seh would get a little discouraged at teh lines and lines of handwriting, but I didn’t have her do them all in one day, so that worked out fine. She would do a couple of lines a day and the others would be used for review later on. She had no trouble catching on to the sounds of the letters, and I was just amazed at how easily she picked it up. I had to check the backs of the flashcards when we drilled, and she always remembered them better then me.

I loved it, too. I loved how the few words taught in the back of the book were a Bible verse. How neat! Biblical Greek is something that could be so useful later, so I think havign a fun way to intorduce it is really nice. I was a fraid that we would have trouble with confusion, since a few of the letters look very simular to English letters, but often have different sounds. I found that by alerting her to the shape of the letter, comparing it to the English letter with the same sounds, and then showing her where she could get confused, we had no trouble. And of course, most of the letters are not confusing. I also appreciated the addition of the flashcards, which were very helpfyul to Bop.

I would recommend this program to anyone who desires to teach their children Biblical Greek. It is fun, simple yet very effective. I do wish that a little more emphasis was placed on the letter sounds, but since the names sound so much like the sounds, that is not a big problem. I love that this program is centered around Biblical Greek, and I love that the words learned are straight from the Bible. A goal of reading the Greek Bible might seem too lofty for your children, but with this program it looks much easier and fun, too. I would think that this might not be the best program for a Dyslexic child, or one that is having trouble with learning the English letters. In that case it may be best to focus on reading skills, and then after the child is reading well they can start learning the Greek letters.

You can read more about “Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek!” at the Greek N Stuff website. They also offer a Reader for the first level which is very tempting. Check out all of the other TOS reviews for Greek N Stuff (not just this book!) at The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog.

I received this product free of charge
as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,
for review purposes. I promise to be honest
and fair in my reviews, and I received no
other compensation in exchange for my review.
You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog
to read more reviews on this product.

Read aloud update

2011-04-28T21:20:00.001-06:00

Okay, I have to be honest. I didn’t have a single read-aloud this week. Nothing! We read some picture books, of course. And Bop read from her latest reader. But as far as actual READ-ALOUDS? Nothing, nope, nada.

I am so ashamed.

So, next week, I have some goals. I want to read 5 picture books in the afternoons, and then we will read part of our chapter book if the kids are wanting more. (and they will be.) I think I will read Miss Hickory to them. Ten I want to read about 5 more chapter books to them before bed. Can I do it?

Don’t forget to head on over to Footprints in the Butter to read more read-aloud challenges for this week, and add your own!

What are your reading goals for next week?

I am joining the Read To Me Picture Book Challenge

2011-04-23T14:34:00.000-06:00

I saw this challenge on another homeschool mom’s blog, and I decided it would be a lot of fun. We read a ton of picture books in this house, and I will love having a way to share about them! There are several levels to pick from, and I decided to go with Harvesting, even though we are starting part way through the year. For some reason, I never hear about these things when they start, so I am always behind. Oh, well, considering we normally read 5-10 picture books in one sitting, it shouldn’t be hard. I will be reviewing some of the books that we have read, and I will keep track of how close we are to reaching our 200 books.

I will be posting our updates on Tuesday, so keep your eyes peeled! If you want to join in the fun, you can find all the info over at There’s a Book. These are the Challenge levels:

“Planting” – Read 12 picture books with a child during the year.
“Watering” – Read 36 picture books with a child during the year.
“Feeding” – Read 72 picture books with a child during the year.
“Growing” – Read 120 picture books with a child during the year.
“Harvesting” – Read 200 picture books with a child during the year.

See the Light Art Class Review

2011-04-22T07:03:00.002-06:00

See The Light is an art program for children in grades 1-6th, emphasizing drawing skills. I have always enjoyed drawing, so I was very interested to see what this DVD series had to offer. We received the first DVD in the Art Class series, which is a 9 DVD set, perfect for one year’s worth of lessons. The whole set can be purchased for $99..99, or there is an online option which is $10 a month. You can get a free sample DVD for yourself on the See The Light website. These drawing lessons are taught by master artist Pat Knepley.

Bop was very excited to start the lessons, so I settled her in with a pencil and some paper. Pat started the first lesson with some introductory information about materials, and then they moved right in to practicing basic pencil holds and strokes. Bop listened intently, and today she told me that “a #2 pencil is just your regular, everyday pencil”. She practiced drawing lines and stroked with Pat, and she wanted to go right on to the next lesson. She really enjoyed the lessons and I think that she would get a lot out of using the whole series. CJ and Baby Girl listened in while they played, and while they didn’t really follow along, they seemed interested. Bop has done all of the lessons twice, and she wants more.

So what did the resident artist think? I enjoyed listening to these DVDs. Pat has a wonderful voice, and she is an excellent teacher. She explains things very simply, but she never talks down to the children. As an artist I initially thought that the first lesson was painfully elementary, and that the concepts were easily understood and didn’t need explanation. However, as we moved on past the basics and then watched more lessons I could see how well she was building on the foundation of the first lesson. I also came to appreciate the way Pat introduced the basic concepts (how to hold your pencil, etc.) in such a matter-of-fact way, and then moved on.

I was afraid that I would not find anything in this set that I couldn’t do myself, but I was wrong. This is a well-thought out curriculum that teaches drawing in a very complete way. I only wish that I could have previewed the whole set to get the whole picture of this program. However, from what I have seem I would not hesitate to buy this series for my children, even though I thought that I could do it all myself. There are just so many things taught that I would not have thought of, and they build upon each other very well.

Throughout the lessons Pat gives meaning to the work of artists and depth to the practice the children are doing, by adding in Bible stories and Christian concepts. This is not done in a contrived manner, but as a beautiful expression of her own faith. It really feels like she is sitting in the room with you, sharing about her life. She obviously loves what she does, loves her Lord, and shares that love with the children she is teaching. I absolutely consider her natural talent for teaching and sharing her love for God and art to be the shining points of this curriculum. You can get art instruction from a number of places, but this is the only one I have seen that also feels like you have a sister and friend in your living room.

See the Light also produces a Christmas video called The Gift of Love, and an Easter video, The Cross Maker. These videos combine stories from the Bible with art lessons and beautiful chalk drawings.

Visit The Old Schoolhouse Blog for more reviews of this product.

I received this product free of charge
as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,
for review purposes. I promise to be honest
and fair in my reviews, and I received no
other compensation in exchange for my review.
You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog
to read more reviews on this product.

Read-Aloud Challenge: Seven Sisters and Two Brothers

2011-04-21T10:54:00.002-06:00

We have been doing a lot of reading aloud lately, so I have been wanting to join in the fun happening over at Footprints in the Butter. She has been having a weekly Read-Aloud Challenge, and I can always use a good challenge.
Our school year is almost over, so I have decided that we will just be doing the basics and our final Crew reviews for these last few weeks. We have been using our regular math, science programs from the Crew, and our history, geography, and everything else has been coming from reading aloud. I am hoping to start using a lot more of a Charlotte Mason-type learning method, and this is a great transition. So what have we been reading this week?

The Seven Little Sisters who live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air

We have been reading this on our Sony for geography. The children love it! We have been reading one chapter a day, and they are always asking for more. We will definitely be coming back to this one later, to read more slowly and savor it. It is the stories of seven little girls, found all over the world. It tells about their culture and their families, and what they do for fun and work. I cannot recommend this book highly enough as an early elementary read aloud.
I have just found out that Jane Andrews also wrote a history book, “Ten Boys who lived on the Road from Long Ago to Now”.

The Wright Brothers (Landmark Books)

We have enjoyed this book, and it has convinced me that I need to try and collect all of the Landmark Books. Do you think that will ever happen? We started this book after reading about the Wright brothers’ interest in kites in one of are last Download N Go units, Kite Capers. Caiden was especially interested in learning how the brothers used kites to develop the first real airplane, so I dug out this book. I was very pleasantly surprised to see how much he enjoys it. He has sometimes has trouble following longer read alouds, even though he always sits still and listens. I frequently get the feeling that he isn’t really getting much of it. But he loves this book, understands it, and always asks for more. We have been reading one chapter a day.

Here are a few more of the books that we have been enjoying:

The kids have been listening to this on CD from Librivox.

We have been reading a few of these each day.

The little ones enjoy reading through this book and learning new Spanish words.

We all love this rhyming, silly story about houses.

They have listened to this during quiet time several days this week.

Visit Footprints in the Butter to add your own read-aloud challenges this week!

What is a "Living Book"?

2011-04-21T07:55:00.001-06:00

I spent yesterday's breakfast and lunch time reading through the newest Charlotte Mason blog carnival, learning all I can about living books. As I get more interested in a learning lifestyle that is patterned after Charlotte Masons ideas, I keep wanting more information. The more I learn, the more I realize that I haven't learned. The more answers I find, the more questions I have.

So I have really been searching for more information on this method of learning. I have been silently stalking the information available at Ambleside Online and the AO yahoo groups. I have been reading everything I can from the different websites and forums that I come across. But nothing tells the story like parents who have been there, so my favorite source of info and ideas is still all those great homeschool blogs.

So pour yourself a nice cup of tea, get a brownie or a little bit of chocolate, and settle in to get a little "mommy time" while you learn more about this idea of living books.

THE

Charlotte Mason

BLOG CARNIVAL

Growing Healthy Homes Review

2011-04-20T22:11:00.000-06:00

It seems strange, when you stop to consider it, that health and anatomy are typically taught as separate subjects. Why is this? Our health consciousness is directly influenced by our knowledge of anatomy and the human body. It would make sense to learn about human anatomy and the nutrition that supports it at the same time, but until now there was not a program developed for this.

Enter Nutrition 101: Choose Life! A versatile science curriculum developed by four women and it is designed to bring together the how and the why of good nutrition. Nutrition 101:Choose Life! can be purchased either as a hardcover book, for $99.95, or a CD copy for $79.95. I received a digital copy, and after seeing the attractive book, I decided that I wanted it printed. Several Crew members put this on their eReaders.

Nutrition 101 is a huge book organized around units. There are 6 units, and each unit has four chapters. This program is designed to be used for 6 months, one chapter a week, but it is open to the homeschool tweaking that is so typical. You could really use this material in any way that you wanted, but after looking through it I thought that the chapter-a-week method looked the easiest.

Each chapter has a text, to be read to or by the student, a lot of activities and experiments suggested, additional resources, and a ‘power food’ recipe. The text is pretty deep, with a lot of information and a lot to think about. However, the chapters are not that pretty short, and the basic concepts are simple. I re-worded a few of the more complicated thoughts, and the kids did fine. I was a little worried that the text would be much to difficult for my kindergartener and first grader to understand, but there were only a few small parts that were just over their heads. The chapters are wrote in a conversational tone, without any talking down to the children. You can certainly feel the authors’ passion for the subjects.

The various activities are really creative and interesting, and we found that we had to pick and choose or we would have spent way too much time on them. The discussion questions were nice, but the activities really brought the ideas home. The activities are divided into sections for elementary and secondary children, and they are what you would consider an idea buffet- there is too much there for anyone to try all of it; rather you can pick and choose. I thought that the ideas to try and the experiments suggested were very nice. There is a variety for everyone- from people who love to get their hands dirty to those who normally get all of their science from a book.

Each chapter has a recipe specifically focused on the body part being studied. We got to make guacamole in the first chapter, and I was upset to discover, after we were finished, that we had forgotten to take any pictures of the process. We had been enjoying ourselves so much it never crossed my mind, so you will just have to imagine our fun! The guacamole was delicious, and we were all happy to know that it was a ‘brain power’ food. After you make your recipe, there are even more accompanying activities to do in your kitchen, such as reading food labels, learning how to cook safely, and experimenting with fruits and veggies. We are even trying our hand at growing an avocado, one of the suggested activities in the first chapter.

At the end of the book there are extensive appendixes, and this part of the book alone would make it a great resource. They have nutrition charts, health statistics, shopping guides, vitamin and mineral charts, and information about whole grains, healthy fats, household toxins, cancer, spices, and so much more. Because I don’t want this blog post to turn into a book itself, I am not going to go into that anymore.

I love this curriculum. It has more information contained in it then any household reference guide I have seen, even though that is not what it is designed to be. It is thorough, interesting, and accurate. I love the versatility of the lessons, and it could easily take one year or several, be done one day a week or every day, used in your home or in your co-op. The children were a little swamped with information the first day I read it to them, but after that I took it slower and they liked it. They loved shopping with me and cooking together, and they were engaged and interested in the anatomy lessons. What more could you ask for from a nutrition program?

You can visit Growing Healthy Homes to learn more about the program and the founders. You can also go to The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog to read other reviews.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

“Time with God for Mothers” Review

2011-04-13T08:43:00.002-06:00

Are you in need of a little encouragement? Do the dishes and laundry tend to have priority over the Word of God? Maybe you need this litter book! “Time with God for Mothers” is a little devotional book that won’t take you all day to read. The devotions are short and to the point, and there is a verse or two at the top of each page, so you don’t have to look up the references. After you read the verses, you will read a short devotional about them. There are not day markings or anything like that, so you can pick it up whenever you want, read whatever passage fits your needs, and be refreshed and encouraged!

I was surprised at how little this book it, but it has a nice hardback cover. There are sections for reference in the back, including mother’s prayers in the Bible, and a short topical scripture index on responsibilities, challenges and promises in a mother’s life. There is also a section for your own notes, which is a nice touch. The pages are decorated with beads and flowers, and are charming. I was a little frustrated with the devotions, as they are very ‘short and sweet’. I have come to expect most of devotional books to be a little on the shallow side, but these are very short also. However, sometimes I realize that ‘short and sweet’ is just what we need in our daily life, when we may only have a quick moment between rising and our children crying for breakfast, or a second between laundry and snack time, to get a little refreshment and encouragement from the Word.

I received this book free in exchange for my honest review. I will receive no other compensation.

Meet me on Monday

2011-04-11T04:53:00.002-06:00

1. Who would be your dream celebrity date?
I cannot answer this. I can’t imagine having a date with a celebrity, and there are so few that I even recognize when I see them. Okay, maybe Matthew McConaughey, I like most of his movies. I am sure that he isn’t nice though, I can’t imagine that any actors are actually nice. What about Ken Ham, he would be great to chat with for an evening, does he count?

2. Do you have any food restrictions?
Nope. Someone may catch on and start keeping me away from chocolate one of these days, but until then I am good!

3. How much time do you take to get ready in the morning?
Depends on what morning it is… Sunday is a bigger deal but most days are 5 minutes, if I actually ‘get ready’ at all. :) Not much to get ready for when you are always home with ankle biters.

4. Sausage or bacon?
Sausage, almost every morning.

5. Do you Google, Bing or Yahoo?
Swagbucks. :)

Science Weekly Review

2011-04-08T18:10:00.001-06:00

We love science. We go on nature walks and collect treasures (normally rocks and leaves) and we love to pour over science books with lots of pictures. We like to learn about all of God’s great creation, through books, movies, and as often as possible, our hands and eyes and ears. So we were all excited to review the Science Weekly papers. We received one copy of each of the six levels of the paper, along with a teacher’s guide. Science Weekly is a newspaper-type supplement that comes in your mailbox 15 times a year. They have versions for grades K-6th, and the price is currently $19.95 per student. There is also a classroom option that is $4.95 per student, with a minimum of 20 subscriptions.

So what is Science Weekly all about? You get a colorful paper with four pages, specifically designed for your grade. It can cover any of a large variety of topics, ours was fractions. Some other recent topics include composting and the flu. My copy has an introduction on the front cover, and then the inside spread has a “weekly lab” and more in-depth information on the topic. The back page has a challenge and a “bring it home” section with another activity. The older grades are much deeper and the labs are more extensive. They also tended to have different sections, and I didn’t see the “bring it home” activity on the upper grades. Because we only used the lower levels, I will mainly be reviewing them.

Some of the suggested activities in the lower grades include making a fraction with your class (counting who does and doesn’t like apples), making a symmetrical print with paint, and mixing colors. There are writing and tracing activities in the lower grade levels, and vocabulary activities. There is also some cutting and gluing, making fractioned parts into a whole. The older grades have more puzzles, writing, and a lot of reading. While the older grades seemed to have a lot of information, the lower levels are focused on presenting the concept simply and in an understandable way. Fractions can be a difficult abstract idea for little ones to grasp, but Science Weekly explained it with a lot of pictures and made it very concrete for them.

The included teacher’s notes are very helpful. They include a background summary of the concept and then they have teaching tips for each separate level. I think, from looking over all the papers, that the Teaching Notes could really determine the newspaper’s usefulness, as there are several extra activities and ideas included for the different grades.

There are free samples of Science Weekly on the website, and I highly suggest looking at them if you are considering subscribing. You can really get a feel for the magazine. You will want to remember that there are a lot more pages in the interactive version, but the content is probably the same, since the physical copy is larger. We enjoyed our copies so much that we just have to go try out some of the other topics. Some of the different subjects aren’t what you would expect from a science paper, but they are excellent at pulling the scientific properties out of the most mundane subject! When you think about it, fractions and pyramids are both very scientific topics!

I think this paper is a great way to add diversity to your current science program, and they are fun! You can mix and match grade levels and still take advantage of the reduced rates, so this is another option for homeschool groups. I think it would be really fun to use these papers as the foundation for a co-op science day. Everyone could work together, in his or her own level, and there would still be plenty of children to participate in the classroom activities.

Visit the Old Schoolhouse Crew blog to read more reviews,

or visit the website to learn more about Science Weekly.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Treasures for the Heart

2011-04-07T08:09:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time, a little girl loved to read. Books would transport her miles away, into fanciful times and places. She would feel the dreams and sorrows of countless other children as she sat, curled up on the couch or her bed. Hours would pass and chores would go un-done. This little girl had several favorite stories, but at Christmas time there was in particular that she read over and over again. It was the story of a little girl and her family at Christmas. Little sugar ducks and beautiful crèches. Weaving and knitting secret gifts. Baking and carling. The little girl was captured by the charm and simplicity of an old-fashioned country Christmas.

As the little girl got older, she still loved to read the story, but now she did it in the private of her room. It was a little, you know, childish. She still loved to poor over the beautiful pictures and she knew the story by heart. One day, the little girl decided that enough was enough. The little girl was grown up now, and she was going through her things. Many of the books were kept, but the old Christmas story had to go. It was old, and ratty. The pages were loose and folded, and there was no reason to keep a picture book. She was probably the only one who really loved it that much, anyway. So it went on the yard sale table with a $1.00 sticker on it. She secretly hoped that no one would want to buy an old, ugly book for a whole dollar.

Years passed, and the little girl had a little girl of her own. Then a little boy. She started looking through yard sale boxes and digging through the shelves at the library sales. She was looking for books for her own little ones. The collection grew. Every time she had a chance, she was hunting for the best books. She started remembering her favorite books from her own childhood. The Little House on the Prairie. Madeline. The Borrowers. Many of them she still had, so she dug out her old boxes.

But the Christmas book was gone. Did she sell it? Yes, it was really gone. She looked everywhere, but finally she accepted that it was gone. Oh, how she wished she could share it’s joy with her own little one’s at Christmas time! She didn’t even know what it was called. The story was about a little girl named Becky, and she thought it was called Becky’s Surprise Christmas. She searched Amazon and E-bay, but there was nothing. She supposed that no one else had loved the book as much as she had, and she would never find it.

Then one day, she heard some mothers talking about a book called Becky’s Christmas by Tasha Tudor. Of course, by now the little girl had learned enough about children’s books to know who Tasha Tudor was and she was delighted. At last she would have her book back! She quickly went to Amazon and searched for the book- There it was! Just like she remembered! Then, to the little girl’s great dismay she quickly saw that the book was out of print and very expensive. The grown-up little girl was so sad! Oh, if only she had listened to her heart! She would still have her precious book, and she would be able to share it with her little ones.

Her heart knew that the story was a wonderful treasure, even when her growing-up mind told her it was worthless. Now the little girl knows that the true value of a book is not in shiny pages or fancy pictures, it is in the heart. And someday, she will buy another copy of Becky’s Christmas, no matter the cost. You can’t put a price on the treasures of the heart.

Kinderbach Review

2011-04-06T18:04:00.002-06:00

For several years I have been looking for a program that will help my little children learn to play the piano. Most programs are geared toward older children, but I knew that I wanted them to at least get a feel for making and reading music at a young age. So I was very excited to see that we were going to be reviewing an online program designed to do just that. Kinderbach is geared for ages 2-7, so I thought it would be perfect for us. It is essentially a series of video clips, with accompanying activities and printable. The subscription price is $19.99 monthly, or the much cheaper yearly version which is $95.88. There are four lessons for each week, and most lessons have a worksheet or coloring page of some kind to go along with it. There is also a DVD option available, and levels 1-3 start at $112.75.

Kinderbach starts out teaching the basics. Rhythm, with spoons, clapping, or whatever you feel like using is taught during the first 12 weeks and beyond. A few simple music terms are introduced and practiced, and everything moves at a very slow pace. The very beginnings of key identification is covered, using fun stories. Instead of using stickers or similar devices to identify the keys, the child learns the name of each key for himself, using it’s location in connection with the black keys. For example, the two black keys are the home of the little donkey named Dodo. Dodo’s house is very small, so he can’t play in it. Instead, he comes out of his house to play on the white key in front of it, and that key is called “d”. It is an ingenious and child-friendly way to introduce the piano keys and music theory.

The children all enjoyed using Kinderbach, but they liked the stories the best. They all had differing levels of comprehension, but I think the age range is pretty appropriate. Baby Girl is two, and I really don’t think that she is getting that much out of it, but she does enjoy the rhythm instruments! Bop is at the upper end of the age range, and she thinks the lessons are a little boring, but she enjoys the music. CJ likes the rhythm and music, but doesn’t enjoy the coloring so much. They have all struggled some with the lack of piano playing and the very slow pace. It seems to cover everything but actual keyboard instruction during the first weeks, as it builds a foundation. (We are working around week 12.) We have learned a little about the quarter and half notes, the piano and forte symbols, ‘stepping up’ notes, a tiny bit of key identification, and quite a bit of rhythm.

I am a little puzzled about the structure of the program, as the lessons seem pretty randomly designed to me. I am sure that it is an organized spiral method, but my brain is just not set up for that approach. It seems like it could be better organized to fit into the child’s natural desire to actually start playing music, since weeks pass with only a few notes ever being played. I was also a little surprised by how short each lesson was. We easily fit a whole week’s worth of lessons into one session, thought we didn’t do music each day. The lessons themselves are about 5 minutes long, and if you did one a day it could take months before your child was actually learning the keys of the piano in preparation to play music. This could be either a good feature, or a frustrating one, depending on your child’s age and ability.

Overall, we enjoyed Kinderbach, and the kids learned some music theory and rhythm in the last few weeks. There is a lot of neat things about this method, not the least of which is the child-friendly approach to learning difficult abstract ideas. We had to tailor it a bit to make it fit for our family, but every homeschool mom I know is already an expert at that!

Visit The Old Schoolhouse blog to read more reviews on Kinderbach.

Go to the Kinderbach website for a free trial and a lot more information.

I received this product free of charge
as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,
for review purposes. I promise to be honest
and fair in my reviews, and I received no
other compensation in exchange for my review.
You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog
to read more reviews on this product.

Go Go Kabongo Review

2011-04-04T18:34:00.001-06:00

When I first saw this program, the only thing I could think was, “ what a funny name!” And now that we have played Go Go Kabongo for the last several weeks, I still think it is a funny name, and a pretty funny program, but it has a very serious mission. Preparing kids for reading. I, however, was frankly skeptical. There were silly creatures everywhere, with funny faces and voices. The games seemed a little juvenile, at first. And I knew my kids didn’t get a lot of the jokes.

As we used the games more and I covertly observed the ‘fun’ from another room, I gained a new appreciation for them. There really is a lot of learning hiding under the goofy aliens and animals. Here is a link to what Go Go Kabongo is teaching through these games. Some of the thinking skills that I noticed right away include patterning, visual memory skills (essential for learning to read fluently), and comprehension during a progressively more difficult story. The website could be a bit confusing at first, so let me tell you a bit more about it.

There are three “habitats”, or worlds, in Go GO Kabongo- Laughter lake, Galaxy Gardens, and Twister Top. These three worlds show up on your child’s map when they sign into the site. Each world has three games in it, and each game has several

levels. The child doesn't notice the levels, the game just gets progressively harder. The program automatically sends periodic e-mails to the parent to let them know what games the child is and is not playing, what level they are on, and what skills they are developing. There are no ads or anything else in the child’s section of

the site, just the games. There are also no social-type activities, so it is completely safe. You can learn more about the individual games here.

So how did this work for us? CJ loves this program. I don’t think that there are any of the games that he dislikes, though some are easier then others for him. Bop is not so impressed, she says the games are too easy. I keep encouraging her to persevere, however, because I am pretty sure there will come a point where some of these games challenge her. There is really nothing she dislikes about it, I think she just finds it unchallenging at this point. I like the program for the most part, but there are several irritating parts. I don’t like the silly jokes. There isn’t anything wrong with them, I just find them annoyingly stupid. Some of the creatures look a little creepy to me, but the kids haven’t noticed.

All in all, Go Go Kabongo seems like a very useful program to develop skills that will be useful, not just for reading, but also for math and every part of life that requires critical thinking. The first habitat is free, so the best way to find out if it is right for your children is to have them try it! Let them spend some time playing Laughter Lake and see if you don’t agree with me- they are learning more then it seems! Right now you can also get the second habitat free, Galaxy Gardens. This seems to be a limited time offer, but there is no definite date for it. The last habitat, Twister Top, is only $4.95! This is not a subscription service, they compare it more to the price of an app. You pay them once, and you will have unlimited access to the games! These games are geared for children ages 4-7, and judging by my 4 and 6 year olds, I would say that seems right. There are also free activates and printable in the parents section.

Old Schoolhouse Crew Blog.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Happy Birthday, Amanda Bennett!

2011-04-02T01:42:00.000-06:00

In celebration of her birthday, Amanda is giving a gift to you! For this weekend only, you can get any of the following titles for $5.

And if your order totals $30 or more, she has a completely free gift for you! This study is usually only part of the larger packages and is never available singly.

Expedition Israel

2011-04-01T18:20:00.003-06:00

A lot of Christians wish that they could visit the places that Jesus walked. It would be powerful to see the red sea, walk down the dusty streets in the ruins of the ancient cities, and feel the dry wind brush your face. Now you can give your children a taste of that experience without leaving your home! We have spent the last two weeks exploring Israel with what is possibly our favorite Download N Go.

Expedition Israel is, in many ways, very similar to the other Download N Go unit studies we have done. It has lots of learning incorporated into the theme, covering all of the content subjects well. There are multiple learning avenues to appeal to the different characters in your bunch, such as video clips, reading, coloring, drawing, and experiments. You can even have your crafty kids use the included lapbooking pieces to make their very own work of art. There is copywork, science, geography, and history.

So what is different about Expedition Israel? There is just something special about sitting down with your children and watching a video of the very same olive grove that Jesus walked in. And then you find out that not only is it the very same grove, they are the same trees. Now go on to learn about olives, how they are harvested, and how olive oil is made. That gives you a taste for just one small section of the journey. The study has a geographical place of the day, with an accompanying Bible story. There is a Biblical hero for each day, and and animal and food for each day. And of course, each day also has a special theme of it’s own.

Day 1: Where on Earth Is Israel?

Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Israel

Day 3: A Bit of History

Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Israel

Day 5: Fun and Games in Israel

What a line-up! We spent two weeks on this unit study, and I am so glad. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in our school day to cover everything in these comprehensive studies, and I didn’t want to miss anything in Expedition Israel. We learned so much, but this unit study was about so much more the learning. It was an experience. We really felt like we were able to envision what the land is like, and what it was like in the times of the Bible heroes that we learned about.

The kids getting ready to try the Dead Sea experiment. They were very excited!

I can think of several ways to use this study, beyond the typical unit-study approach. It would be a wonderful 5-week Sunday School program, using the suggested books to supplement the learning instead of internet sites. You could use each day for one week of home devotions with Daddy, doing just a bit with breakfast in the morning. The animal of the day on Wednesday, and the Hero of the day on Thursday or some such arrangement.

Anyway you look at it, Expedition Israel is well worth $7.95, and it would be a wonderful companion to the the newly-released Easter Promise Download n Go, for your children in grades K-4th. Older siblings could easily tag along, and probably learn something too!

Be sure to stop by the Download N Go blog to read more reviews for Expedition Israel, and go to Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies for your free samples.

I received this product free of charge for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit the Download-N-Go blog to read more reviews on this product.

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Thinking about Charlotte Mason?

2011-03-31T14:30:00.001-06:00

I am. Gentle reading. Real books. Nature studies. Walks outside. Good habits. Chronological history. I am finding that there is much that I appreciate about her methods, and little that I don’t. So much of this just fits who we are. I LOVE our unit studies, but I love books more. And when our unit studies take away from our reading time, they aren’t worth it.

So when I imagine Charlotte Mason learning, what do I see? Hours spent outside. Observing nature, collecting bugs and rocks, learnign everything there is to know about HERE. Listening, smelling, watching.

I see us snuggled up on the couch reading Charlotte’s Web and Anne of Green Gables. I see us talking. Not me talking, us talking. Discussing, learning together and from each other. Discoveries. Passions ignited, and more questions then answers found. Leading deeper into the heart of learning.

I see us making nature notebooks, full of leaf rubbing. Watching bugs grow and change, and butterflies emerge. I see us knowing the birds by their calls and the trees by their leave. I see nests and rocks and eggshells scattered on our shelves.

I see us learning about history, not through facts and dates, but through stores of the people who lived there. Through imagination and delight.

So, where did I get this vision of Charlotte Mason’s gentle methods? A wonderful blog, which has a series all about Charlotte’s ideas, and she puts them in such a plan and simple method that I can’t help but be tempted by them. If you would like to read more about Charlotte Mason’s method, or the information that you have read before has been confusing, you need to check out these blog posts.

Thursday’s Thoughts at The Cheap Chick

The Newest Download N Go

2011-03-29T01:03:00.001-06:00

Just in case you haven’t heard… Amanda Bennett and her team just released their newest Download N Go, this time all about one of our most important Holy days. Easter Promise is a week-long study, which, like all the Download N Go units, incorporates lapbooking with worksheets, online videos, lots of links, and more. I have been anxious for this study, and I can’t wait to try it out!

Day 1: Who is Jesus?

Day 2: Miracles and Ministry of Jesus

Day 3: Learn About the Last Supper

Day 4: What is Good Friday

Day 5: Jesus’ Resurrection

You can learn more about Easter Promise, and download your own free sample pages, at Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies.

Use the code EASTER2011 for 20% off your whole order!

Meet Me on Monday

2011-03-28T14:54:00.000-06:00

I have seen a few of these around, and I thought they looked fun (and easy). The idea is to answer five questions about yourself, to help your blog readers learn more about you. I think this is a fun idea, because it is easy to feel like we ‘know’ each other in the virtual world, but we really don’t. This is a neat way to get more connected with each other, beyond the ideas and information that we always share.

1. Crunchy or soft tacos? Soft, mmmm yummy. The crunchy ones are too crunchy. ;)

2. Do you scrapbook? Yes. Well, I rarely actually scrapbook, but I have scrapbook stuff, and pictures, and once in a while they come together into something meaningful. That’s why I wanted to start a blog- virtual, pain-free scrapbooking without the hassle and mess. Will it replace my real scrapbooking? Never, but I hope that more of the memories will be preserved this way.

3. Do you take any daily medications? No. Well, vitamins. And chocolate.

4. What is your favorite sound? Newborn babies crying. Top of the list. Other favorites? Thunder, paper rattling, accapella hymns, the wind rustling big cottonwood leaves, mourning doves and meadowlarks.

5. Where were you born? Kansas. You call tell I am a prairie girl by reading my list of favorite sounds.

Where I have been…

2011-03-27T18:02:00.001-06:00

Okay, I just had to play along. :) I saw this fun idea over at Debra’s blog, and she blamed it on Heidi... I also saw that Our Homeschool Reviews had done this too. I didn’t think that I had ‘been around’ much, but I was pretty surprised when I saw the map. I think we need to plan a trip to the New England states though! The sad part is, this all happened before I got married. We haven’t hardly left the state in the last 8 years!

I forgot one state. I have been in Illinois a few times, too. :)

Big IQ Kids Review

2011-03-25T06:10:00.001-06:00

What is Big IQ kids? An online program for math drills, spelling, vocabulary, and state geography. It is basically a drill program, for those things that need memorized and practiced every day. There are both free and member versions of the website, but I will leave researching the free section up to you. You can see a chart with comparisons of the paid and unpaid versions on the Big IQ Kids website.

First I want to quickly talk about the four subjects in the paid membership to Big IQ Kids- spelling, math, State study, and vocabulary. The spelling program is designed with one lesson each day, and then a test on Friday. Your child simply clicks on the next button to do the lesson for that day. The beginning lessons are quite simple. Bop is on lesson seven, and the words on this list are mainly CVC words such as fun, stun, bun, sun, shun, etc. There are no phonetic explanations of any of these words, just drills. There are several activities to do so they are not the same every day. You can pick from games like robot spelling, spelling bee, and word scramble, along with your expected say-the-word-and-type-it exercises.

The math program is drills only. The program automatically starts the child with a certain number of problems to do, I think it was 50. that was way too many for a 1st grader, so I changed it to 20. It is very customizable, and I have her doing 15 addition problems and 5 math problems each day. You can pick from fact families (+2 problems, -7 problems, etc.) but once you get it set up it will advance itself. When the child meets the program’s standards for that fact family it will move them up. From +2 to +3, etc.

The State study program is a little confusing to me, as there is no grade levels in this section. It was must too hard for a 1st grader, so I did the review for this section myself. You start by picking a state and then the program tells you a little about it, such as nicknames, cities, industries, etc. Then you will have a little quiz. Then you will go on to spelling. This part has the robotized avatar asking you to spell state names, and you try to type them. These are not necessarily states that you have learned about it the first part of the program. Next you will do a selection of randomized state capitols. The avatar reads the state capital and the state, and then you drag it to the highlighted state on the map. The last section has you typing the abbreviations for each state.

The vocabulary program uses simple words for the first level, but the way the words are introduced makes it, again, not suitable for first grade. First, you hear the word read. Then you read the definition, antonym and synonym. The computer does not read this part to you, so a higher reading level and a certain level of grammatical understanding are required. After typing all the words, you are then asked to match the word to it’s correct definition and drag and drop the words into sentences.

The Big IQ Kids program has animated people with computer voices teaching the child. They call them avatars, and they sound very much like robots. When your child successfully completes a lesson he is rewarded with a game coin, which can be used to play games in the game menu. There are a lot of different kinds of games, but the overall impression that we got is that they are not designed for younger elementary age kids. Bop could only play a few of them.

So what did we think? This does not seem right for our family, at this point. Personally, the robot voice was extremely irritating and I thought that it was hard to understand. I was also confused at the vocabulary and state programs which did not seem customizable. The vocabulary program uses very simple words to begin with, such as ‘center’ and ‘deep’, which most 1st or 2nd graders will already know, and it teaches them using complicated definitions, antonyms and synonyms. Bop has always had a great vocabulary, but she just could not understand any of it using these methods.

The state program quickly goes through a lot of information, and then expects the child to remember something like the biggest city, or the industry, and answer a multiple choice question. It is not easy to understand the robots, and Bop really had a hard time listening to the ‘robot’ voice and then answering a question about it. The next steps in the program have the child spelling names, abbreviations, and learning capitals. All very good things to learn, but difficult to learn in this way, for an early elementary age child.

We liked the spelling program a lot more. It had different ‘games’ to try each day, with the spelling list for that week. I really appreciated how the lessons are based on word patterns, not a random list. They are very simple words to start with, but if it’s too easy you can pick different levels. Bop enjoyed the lessons well enough. She wasn’t thrilled by them, but if something works and they need it, I don’t really care if they are having the time of their life or not. And I think (if you want the drill-and-test type of spelling) that this is a great way to do it.

The math program was very simple. They do math drills in whatever level they are in, and then (eventually) they move on to the next fact family. Bop knows her addition facts up to 10, but she still has not moved past adding and subtracting 2 in Big IQ Kids. Why? She isn’t fast enough. She will sit there and think about each problem, then think about typing it in, then look at it on the screen and decide if it’s right, and then finally push the enter key. I have used other drill programs with her, and the same thing happens. I cannot rush her, because she has to make sure they are all perfect before she hits enter. I like the math aspect of this program, and I really like how you can hide the clock. She would have panicked and never typed anything if the clock was staring at her. The timed drills don’t help her, because she just won’t hurry, but I think that for most kids this part of the program would be great.

I think that this could be a great product for unmotivated children, or parents who have trouble drilling consistently. Because the computer is in charge, the parent doesn’t have to set limits. If the kids don’t like it, they can blame the program. :) The prices range from $19.99 to $99.99, plus an individual program option stating at $7.99. You can see a list of pricing options at Big IQ Kids, and I would recommend thinking about getting individual programs instead of the package, if you have younger elementary age kiddos. Big IQ kids is for 1st grade and up, but some of the programs are aimed at the upper elementary grades.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog for more reviews

(hopefully some of them are shorter… God Bless you if you read this whole thing!)

and you can try out all of the free games and lessons at Big IQ Kids.

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Brill Kids Aesop's Fables Review

2011-03-21T19:16:00.002-06:00

Last fall we received a wonderful computer program for the littlest scholars. You can go back to read my review of Little Reader, which Baby Girl still enjoys and asks for. This spring we also got a chance to try out one of Brill Kids’ newest products, a collection of books for the littlest listeners.
These books are designed to help babies and toddlers learn to read. There are five little books in the set, and they are all easy to understand versions of Aesop's Fables. You can get the whole set for $37.50 from the Brill Kids website.

What is special about these books? They each have the words on one page, with pictures on the facing side. the text is in a different font and color in each book, a feature that is also stressed in the Little Reader program. But the neatest part? The back of the book has a large flap that is used to cover the page. This hides the picture completely, so the little one can follow the words as you read, and learn to recognize and hopefully, read, the words.

Baby Girl loves the books! She is happy because they are her ‘own’, but she likes the stories and pictures, too. She brings them to me all the time, so I can read to her. I thought that the flap might frustrate her, but that's her favorite part! She loves to point her finger at the words while I move it along and read. I was very surprised to see how much she likes to focus on the words!

The only thing I don’t like about these books? They aren’t the highest quality. The paper wrinkles easily and the cover seems to be flimsy. the pages are thin, almost like magazine pages. But I like the books, I like the idea, and they passed all of the tests that Baby girl gave them. I enjoy reading them, I just wish that they were going to stand up to toddler-hood a little better.

You can read move reviews for this at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. You will also want to visit the Brill Kids website and check out all their neat stuff.

I received this product free of charge
as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,
for review purposes. I promise to be honest
and fair in my reviews, and I received no
other compensation in exchange for my review.
You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog
to read more reviews on this product.

Picnics and Tadpoles

2011-03-21T10:55:00.001-06:00

Sunday.

Church. Singing, praying, listening. Wigglers. Spilled water and missionaries.

Lunch. Tacos in the park. Family. Laughter. “Swing me!”

Time to go home.

Let’s stop and take a walk… Arkansas river, just a trickle of it’s eventual glory. Catfish. Cow pies. Throwing rocks.

And then, tadpoles! Great fat wriggling things in the edge of the water. The kids were so excited to see them, and they wanted to catch them. Now, we will have to buy a net and see if we can raise a bullfrog. I had no idea tadpoles got so big!

Kite Capers Download N Go

2011-03-18T18:11:00.009-06:00

Let’s go fly a kite, up to the highest heights…Let’s go fly a kite and send it souring,

Up through the atmosphere, up where the sky is clear…

Oh, let’s go fly a kite!

Oh, sorry. That song has been in the back of my mind all week because we have been working on our latest Download N Go, Kite Capers! Who doesn’t love to fly kites? Or at least, watch their cheery colors while someone else flies them. Of course, we had to buy some kites before we started this unit, and Bop and Cj were so excited to try them. It was windy here all week, perfect for their first kite flying adventures!
Before we flew our kites the first time, we got to learn all sorts of things about them. We learned about kite safety, and the very first people to fly kites. We learned about wind and clouds, inventors and explorers. And, of course, we learned a lot about kites! There are a lot of hands-on activates in Kite Capers, not the least of which is simply flying a kite. But we also got to learn about how kites fly and make our own kites. We also got to draw a different kind of kite each day. Who knew that there were so many different kinds of kites? Caiden was especially enthralled with the huge octopus kites, and he drew one on each of his pages after he was done drawing the “kite of the day”.

We loved the embedded video clips, and we felt like we got to visit all sorts of different kite festivals and see the amazing kites. Divers gently swimming, giant sea rays, dogs and cats… the list goes on. We even watched the biggest kite in the world lift off the ground! The video clips are embedded in a special Download N Go page, so they are always safe for little eyes.

This unit has a copywork page for each day, and I think that is great. Bop is getting to the age where she needs to be practicing her handwriting, and copying Bible verses about wind is a great way to do that! She is not used to using single-lined pages, so I added a middle dashes line in between them. Since the verses are not on the copywork pages, I would copy it down for her on the lines above hers, and we erased my writing after she was done. it worked great and was a lot easier for her! They get really bored with regular handwriting, so I appreciate these pages.
You can read all of the other reviews for Kite Capers at the Download N Go blog, or go right to Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies to pick up your own copy. Don’t forget to visit the Kite Capers page to download your free samples!

We love kites!

I received this product free of charge for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit the Download-N-Go blog to read more reviews on this product.

$5 Friday at Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies!

2011-03-18T08:30:00.003-06:00

Another great sale you won’t want to pass up. These four great unit studies are all on sale for $5, today only! Take your pick or get all three.

Gardens

It’s a favorite spring hobby- everyone wants to get their hands in the warm soil and dream of the bounty of summer. Now your kids can learn all about gardens, and a lot more, too, with this month-long unit study. For grades K-12.
Regularly $10.95

Oceans

Another four-week unit study. I just know CJ would go crazy for this. It’s such a good deal for a whole month of learning! I just might pick this one up myself, since we can use it for grades K-12.

Regularly $10.95, so this is a good price!

Spring Surprises

Everyone loves Download N Go unit studies! I haven’t had a chance to try Spring Surprises yet, but we just had a great time with the other studies in the seasons series. This is a great change to get a week-long study and lapbook for only $5. Plus, I just adore the picture on the cover. :)
Regularly $7.95

Tremendous Trees

What a neat idea for a unit study! I bought this one awhile back, and even though we haven’t had a chance to use it yet, I can tell you that it is looking very fun. These unit study –lapbook combos are created for kids in grades K-4th.

Regularly $7.95.

What is a Moment Worth?

2011-03-17T09:37:00.001-06:00

A moment. A glance. A fleeting thought…. what is a moment? You cannot catch it and keep it in a jar, like a bug. Holding it is like trying to hold onto the wind. You cannot push pause to look at it better. It is here and gone, most of them pass without us even knowing they came by. But what is the value of a moment?

A moment. A second. A breath… the first gaze into a newborn’s eye’s and time seems to stop. A first kiss. Wedding vows. That moment when the ring slips on your finger. Some moments are engraved on our hearts, and the camera of our mind remembers them better then a Canon ever could. But they are still just moments.

Why do some moments seem seared into our souls, while millions of others slip by each day, without a thought? Most of the time, moments come and go, each on the tail of the last one, in a seemingly invisible strand of time. But once in a while, the extraordinary moment stops us. We pause. We look. We notice. And we hold onto that moment, even if it is just for a second, and it becomes ours. Sometimes they are the expected ones. The first cry of the first child. But other times, they are just seemingly inconsequential and totally ordinary moments. But somehow, we are able to grasp them, hold them in our hands, and cherish them, for just a moment.

The ordinary flow of time stops and we are completely surrounded by this moment. Our senses feel, hear and see everything with amazing clarity and nothing else matters. This moment is everything. This moment is eternity. And then it is gone, like a breath. But we were there, for an instant. We held time in our hands and captured it. We held onto a moment. Not with a camera, not by journaling, but by living it. Right there, in that second of ordinary-ness.

What is the va lue of a moment? Sometimes, a moment is eternity. Have you ever lost a child, or talked to a grieving parent? The last kiss, the last glance, the last goodbye. Moments that were not noticed at the time, but become more treasured then a thousand jewels. The moment he looked back and smiled. The hug before she walked out the door. The moments that never mattered before suddenly become everything. What is the value of a moment?

So, really, what is the value of a moment? A second? A glance that stops time? It’s like asking the value of a cell. The value of DNA. The value of a soul. A moment is everything. Eternity. Life.

A moment is life. So today, when your little ones are crying and supper is late, when your laundry is piled up and you want to run away… stop. Just stop everything and hold onto the moment. You can hold time in your hand. A breath. A touch. A look. Hold onto it. Feel it, see it, hear it. A moment. Just a moment, nothing great. But it is everything.

Linked to Thought-Provoking Thursdays

Free Pyramath Giveaway!

2011-03-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Quote:

We are giving out free decks of Pyramath to teachers.
Really! Read why. We will send you a free deck of Pyramath or Fractazmic or Prime Bomb

What we are asking (hopefully not too much to ask)
We BELIEVE all students can succeed in math. We have heard from schools where teachers tell us the students look forward to math, where students skip recess to do math. We will send you a free deck of your selected game. What we want you to do is tell us what you think. We don't care how, we've had over 100 people blog about how much they love the games, some post to our Facebook Page , some just email us. Others have made up games and sent us new games for our cards.

But the real reason is we understand the importance of math and we KNOW PYRAMATH WORKS! You can try it now free, no obligation. If you like it - tell us, if you don't like it tell then tell us!

To get your cards send some information to linda.eaglin@gmail.com (she's doing all the mailings) - We want to know your mailing address (we do need to actually mail them to you), what grade you teach and where.

Yes - you can forward this mail to your friends, too!

www.pyramath.com - this is the link to our web site, that is where you can
learn more about Pyramath and our other games.

Copyright © 2011 I See Cards, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this mail because we met you at one of the many conferences like NCTM and you requested more information on Pyrmath, I See Cards, and Fractazmic.

Our mailing address is:

I See Cards
1155 Elm St.Oviedo, FL 32765
Add us to your address book

P.S. Read my Pyramath review here.

Hoppin' Popcorn Winner

2011-03-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my Hoppin' Popcorn winner, Susan!

Anonymous said...

I would like to be entered. Thanks.

SusanH

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result: 9Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Reading Kingdom Review

2011-03-07T06:02:00.003-07:00

Reading Kingdom is an unusual reading program that utilizes the sight word method. Now, before you brand me as one of 'those' whole language, anti-phonics homeschoolers you need to know that I believe in phonics, but I still actually like this program.

What is Reading Kingdom? Reading Kingdom is an online subscription program that costs $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year. (Extra children are $9.99 a month) They also offer a scholarship program for those who truly cannot afford the price. There are several levels in the Reading Kingdom, and you can read more about that on this overview page. I HIGHLY recommend that anyone considering this program read this page, because it also has a lot of informative screen shots that help you see how the program works.

Before we received the review information, I went to the website to learn as much as I could about the program. I was a little frustrated by the lack of information, so I am going to try to fill you in. Bear with me, this may be a long review. You can visit the Reading Kingdom website to learn more about the principles behind their approach, and get your own 30-day free trial.

How does it work?

Once your child is past the very important first steps (Sequencing Skills and Letter Land) you will move on to the lessons. Each lesson is organized similarly to this: Your child will see a picture and be asked to type a word, such as "girl" or "eat". If your child successfully types that word, they will move on, and either be given another noun to try typing, or start learning another word, such as "more" or "the". (The words that are typically thought of as sight words are not optional and cannot be tested out of.)

"If you can type "fly", type it here."

Clicking on the word "kid"

If you child cannot type the word (we will use "eat"), they will go to a screen that has two or three similar- looking words, and has them click on "eat" and "eats". Once they can do that, they move on to a screen with three pictures, and they will hear a questions such as "click on the one that eats". After they do that, they will have to type "eats" from memory. When they type a wrong letter, the word appears and then they are asked to type it again.

After doing that several times, there are a few more games they may go through, all of which center around picking the word out of several and typing it. They may also type other words that they already know, or even a whole sentence or more, as they progress. There is also a game that has several words with letters missing and they pick which one can become "eat", like "_a_". Then they will fill in the missing letters and make the word.

Fill-in the letters

One last feature I want to mention is the left-to-right tracking screen. This screen brings up several short sentences that contain the target word, "eat" 3 or 4 times. The child must click on each word "eat", in order. After learning several new words, there is a story for the child to read, complete with animated pictures.

So what do I think?

Seeing Sequences

My initial feelings about Reading Kingdom were not favorable. It does not use phonics, and the oral instructions are too simple and can be hard for the child to understand. Seeing Sequences and Letter Land are monotonous and seem to go on forever.

But after using the program for almost 2 months, and after both children moved out of Seeing Sequences and Letter Land, and on through the assessment to the first level, I have very different feelings! I like Reading Kingdom. It starts out teaching the children the foundation or left-to-right sequencing, which is so important, and it moves on to teach exactly where each letter is found, and how to make capital letters using the 'shift' key.

Letter Land

There are a few things I wish were different about these sections. I wish that there was more variety in the games so the kids would not get so bored with it, and I wish that there was a capital-and-lowercase matching activity. The program never teaches the child specifically which is a capital, so they have to guess at them unless they already know them. Bop knows them all, so it was easy for her but Cj was getting pretty frustrated. This does not detract from the program, it is just something to know about ahead of time and prepare for.

My favorite part of the program? It teaches sight words, but they are not just learning to LOOK at them. They learn to type, read and recognize the words, even in the middle of a story. And once they have learned a word, it is not just put on a shelf, they use it in later lessons, over and over again. They do not learn to write the words physically but that is out of the scope of the program. They do learn to spell each word perfectly, which was completely unexpected to me. I love that!

How did the kids do?

Bop loves Reading Kingdom. She is at a reading level that is somewhere around grade 1 1/2, but we have really had trouble with the sight words like "they" and "or". So this program is just what she needed. She has gotten through all of the basic levels of phonics instruction and can sound out almost anything, if she puts her mind to it. This program really gave her confidence by giving her the ability to read fluently- to look at a word and know it. She was able to quickly understand what to do in each section of the program with minimal confusion, and I am happy to report that after only two months she has moved on to level 2!

CJ has had a much harder time. He cannot use the program alone, because he has trouble comprehending the nuances of what to do where. He is also highly distractable right now, and every thing in the program is timed. One distraction and the program assumes that he does not know whatever word it is. He also has had more trouble memorizing the words and the spellings, so he is moving through the levels much slower then Bop. That is not really surprising, he is only 4. The program says to expect 10-15 weeks for each level, so at that rate he is moving along quicker then average.

My final word

I really like Reading Kingdom. It has its flaws, but overall I think it is an excellent program. I would recommend it for children who have already had some phonics training (beyond just knowing the letter sounds, which Reading Kingdom DOES NOT teach) and who are ready to start reading fluently. I would also recommend it for older children who need some remedial reading help. They won't feel like they are using a program for 'little kids' and the program is excellent at tailoring itself to each child's abilities.

Typing the word after
selecting the correct picture.

I do NOT recommend it as the only method of reading instruction for younger children. It is just pretty hard for them to find all the keys quickly enough and remember the words to type. Wait a few years, and then it will be so much easier for them!

I also recommend signing up a parent account when you set up your free trial. Your child will likely be in Letter Land and Seeing Sequences for the whole period of the trial, so you won't be able to get to the heart of the program to see for your self how it works. Set up an account for yourself, test out of the first foundational sections, and do some of the lessons in level one or two. Then you will be able to have a much better idea of how it works.

Be sure to read through the other reviews, which include a lot of diverse situations, including older remedial children, younger beginners, and some learning disorders such as dyslexia. And don't forget to sign up for your free 30-day trial of Reading Kingdom!

I received this product free of charge

as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew,

for review purposes. I promise to be honest

and fair in my reviews, and I received no

other compensation in exchange for my review.

You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog

to read more reviews on this product.

Rising Early

2011-03-06T01:23:00.001-07:00

She riseth also while it is yet night,

and giveth meat to her household

Proverbs 31:15a

I used to get up around 5:00 every morning. I would fix hubby a warm breakfast and pack his lunch, clean the kitchen, make sure school was ready for the day, and start a load of laundry. And spend some time with my Lord.

Well, lately it has been closer to 7:00 every morning when I rise, and that is when the kids get up too. This started because my husband got a new job and doesn't leave as early. But it has continued because... well, to be honest, like most mothers with little ones, I like to sleep. Even though my youngest is 2 1/2, I still regularly get interruptions in the night, whether for a glass of water, take someone to the potty, or bad dreams. But lately sleeping in has become, in stead of a luxury, more of a bad habit.

Yesterday, for some reason, (maybe it's the lengthening days) I woke up at 5:00 and got out of bed at 6:00. My, what a difference! I felt energetic from the start. I did several things around the house before the kids got up, then while they had breakfast I sat down and wrote a review for tomorrow. I was all done with that early and it is a LONG one.

Put simply, I was amazed at how easily I had gotten used to sleeping later, and what a difference it made to get up even a little earlier. Many people say that there are only 24 hours in a day, but rising earlier can give you and extra hour or two all to yourself! What a treat for a busy homeschooling mama with several "ankle-biters", as Kevin Leman would say.

And the best part? Nothing can replace time spent alone with God, to pray, meditate and prepare for the day. This is the best way I have found to live each day on purpose. If you start each day with eternity on your mind, how can you help but raise your children with the big picture in front of you?

Patriots of the Republic Academy

The Easy, Fun way to Teach Handwriting

Weekly Wrap-up

Read Aloud Challenge- Pioneers and sailboats

Using Computers with Early Learners

My Break is over….

Amazing Deals for Download N Go studies!

Discovering Nemo’s World Unit Study and Printables

Week One

Printables- Learning about Fiction

Printables- Ecosystems and Coral Reefs

Printables- Australia, Ocean zones, and the five oceans

Printables- Animal Study: Clownfish and Anemones

Learning about Nemo’s World

For now, I wanted to offer you a sneak preview of the fun we’ve been having!

Download N Go Sunny Seashells Review

Day 1: Seashells--What Are They?

Day 2: Seashells and History

Day 3: Types of Seashells

Day 4: The Science of Seashells

Day 5: Seashell Party!

Read for the Heart Review

Considering God's Creation Review

Visit Eagle’s Wings to see sample pages from Considering God’s Creation, and go to The Old Schoolhouse Crew Blog to read more reviews.

Pearson Review

You can read more about the Scott Foresman reading program on the Pearson School website, and don’t forget to read the other reviews at The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

Wordy Qwerty

Mad Dog Math review

Chocolate Challenge Download N Go Review

GoTrybe Review

Lets all be elephants!

If you would like to find out more before signing up,

be sure to visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog for lots of reviews.

MonkiSee Review

Be sure to stop by The Old Schoolhouse blog to read more reviews for Monki See!

Curriculum Clean Out Winner!

Picture Book Challenge- Week One

One of our favorite books from last week was The Usborne Big Book of Things to Spot.

Another one of the books that we enjoyed was an old book called The Biggest Bear.

Here are the other picture books that we read this week:

Countdown: 15 down, 185 left to do!

Meet Me on Monday

Curriculum Clean Out: Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons

I have a copy of this book in very nice condition. We never used it, because for some reason, I had two. Read more here.

This is not for sale, this is a giveaway. The winner will be picked form the comments using Random.org. Make sure that your e-mail is in the comment. Leave me a comment to let me know you want it. You can do the following for extra entries:

Greek N Stuff Review

Read aloud update

I am so ashamed.

What are your reading goals for next week?

I am joining the Read To Me Picture Book Challenge

See the Light Art Class Review

Read-Aloud Challenge: Seven Sisters and Two Brothers

The Seven Little Sisters who live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air

The Wright Brothers (Landmark Books)

Here are a few more of the books that we have been enjoying:

The kids have been listening to this on CD from Librivox.

We have been reading a few of these each day.

The little ones enjoy reading through this book and learning new Spanish words.

We all love this rhyming, silly story about houses.

They have listened to this during quiet time several days this week.

What is a "Living Book"?

Growing Healthy Homes Review

“Time with God for Mothers” Review

Meet me on Monday

Science Weekly Review

Treasures for the Heart

Kinderbach Review

Go Go Kabongo Review

Read more reviews for GO GO Kabongo at the

Old Schoolhouse Crew Blog.

Happy Birthday, Amanda Bennett!

In celebration of her birthday, Amanda is giving a gift to you! For this weekend only, you can get any of the following titles for $5.

And if your order totals $30 or more, she has a completely free gift for you! This study is usually only part of the larger packages and is never available singly.

Expedition Israel

Day 1: Where on Earth Is Israel?

Day 2: Some of the Special Places in Israel

Day 3: A Bit of History

Day 4: Cool Things to Know About Israel

Day 5: Fun and Games in Israel

The kids getting ready to try the Dead Sea experiment. They were very excited!