Review: Cerebellum DVD's : US Gov and Politics

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the very last review I am doing for TOS Crew for 2009/10 and it has proved to be a rather intriguing and perplexing one too. I received a DVD and CD ROM package giving you a crash course on the U.S. Gov & Politics for the AP Exam. Now I have done tests on the US Government and it's structure before so that I could become a citizen of the USA , but this is intense. I am glad that I did not have to learn all this information for my US Immigration test.

The DVD covers the Headline information that you need to know for the Test as well as how to work through the actual test on the day you take it. The information for the US Gov and Politics test is presented on the DVD is a very efficient and entertaining manner. The students that present this information are dressed well and definitely not sloppy and are representatives of all nationalities I noticed. They are reading off of a teletype I presume but they seem to know what they are talking about. This does help the non-student enjoy this DVD a little more I would say.

The 30 major questions that you will be asked in the US Gov and Politics exam are covered in basically 30 answers in about 30-45 minutes. The detail is presented on the screen as the presenter is reading it, and it can also be found on the CD Rom which may be in your computer at the same time as you view the DVD. The origins of our government, constitution, civil liberties, courts, Congress (including House of Representatives and Senate), Special groups, and much much more is all covered in this presentation and its notes.

I did enjoy watching this. My husband did watch with me and we both realized how far this country and it's government have moved from how the government is supposed to be run - no matter who is in power. We did observe that more than one of these procedures that is supposed to be how the government is formed and supported does not really happen. How sad for the USA.

After having reviewed this product I am certain it would be of some help to a high schooler who needs to take this exam whether they are homeschooled, private or public schooled. I only have an elementary child and a pre-schooling toddler who were both not very eager to watch this show! The easy going manner of the presenters does make it an enjoyable watch even for perhaps a middle schooler who is just learning about the Government and politics. This DVD/CD ROM set from http://www.cerebellum.com/ (Cerebellum Corporation) is an effective tool and can be purchased for $14.98. The prices are running about 20% less expensive than normal at this current time. The other titles in this series are Chemistry, History and English Language and Writing, AP Exam Prep. They are all priced the same.

The link to the reviews for the remainder of the TOS Crew who did receive a variety of the above DVD's is as follows:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/782672/

I have reviewed this product as a member of the TOS Homeschool crew for 2009/10 school year. This is my own opinion of this product and I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Lobster Network

LobsterNetwork makes it easy to share your stuff.
Do you have extra school stuff to sell or possibly loan out for a while over the summer? Do you have too many books weighing down your shelves. perhaps your friends are waiting to read something that is on your shelf but they are living in another state and don't know what you have! You can change that with Lobster Network and their fairly interesting site or unique if you think so. The statement below is from their website (http://www.lobsternetwork.com/ ):


Share your videos, books, video games, audio, tools or anything else.
Let your friends see what you have to share. Find out what they have to share.

Lend it. Borrow it. Trade it. Sell it. Give it away.
All with the click of a button and only with whom you choose.

How LobsterNetwork works:
It's simple. Create a personal library of your stuff.

It's easy. Create friendships with the people you know.

It's fast. Browse your friend’s stuff and request to borrow something.

It's flexible. Approve or reject any request for your stuff.

It's controlled. Decide who sees your stuff. Even create "communities" of friends that only share stuff with each other.

It's helpful. It tracks your stuff on loan and automatically reminds your friends when to return your stuff.

It's secure. Keep a private inventory of your stuff online for insurance purposes. Include pictures too.

It's free. Best of all it's free.


This is a fun site and also practical from what I have seen. The Crew were able to try out their services, which are also free to the public, for a few months. I am still signed up and perhaps am going to put an inventory of our homeschool books in there over the summer. This is one way of checking that you never buy two of the same book again unless it's on purpose.

I would also think that if you know far enough in advance that you are moving house or having to move to a smaller home that you can use this website as well. The TOS Crew have signed up and are now looking at what each other has posted in their items for lending or selling, and then possibly looking over what each other may/may not for the coming school year.

I did research some children's books on here too and have not found anything yet except curriculum. You may start your own community with your Homeschool group, your family or even your neighbors perhaps. You can then enter all the items you wish to trade, borrow, sell or just give away. once you have done that you can send a note out to your friend's email addresses and invite them to join, as well as at the same time, once they have joined they can see what you have to sell.

I know the owners of the site have had fun setting this up, and their son has earned some Wii games with some of the things he has sold or traded through their site. I will end with just a little ad from their site too which is attractive and great to add to your blog. OK the ad saved at the top of the blog post and not down here. Oh well, do you see how fun this all looks. During the summer instead of garage saling then why don't you sell some of your used stuff in good condition through Lobster Network's system. This way you know that trusted friends in your network are going to be grateful for your things. Of course if you sell or loan them junk then they may never visit or talk to you again!

I have reviewed this internet product for my opinion as expressed above in this blog post. I am part of the 2009/10 TOS Homeschool Crew. Please link to Lobster Network's site or to the Crew blog where my fellow crewmates have expressed their opinions too:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/779750/

There are even a few video links on the Crew site and on Lobster Network. Just one more post and I am done with the Crew!

Review: Ideal Curriculum

For a few weeks I have been looking over Month 1 of the "Ideal Curriculum" package I was sent to review as part of the crew. This is a curriculum geared towards the new homeschooler and one that is perhaps a little fearful of what to teach their Pre-K students. I have seen some things that would work for our family and some that would not. As this curriculum is definitely cheaper if you purchase the download version that is what I would advise. With the download of a product you do not need to print every file or folder or book.

Month 1 of this Curriculum consisted of some Reading, Music, Teacher Guidance and Printing files. The curriculum is sold in a one month at a time package or a full year package. Month one files included the early teaching of the sounds and shapes of words using both the printed out letters, sounds in the 2 different ABC songs heard from MP3's and various fun games that the children play to familiarize themselves with the way words and letters look. It focuses on how the letters are shaped with horizontal, vertical, and curved lines with practice pages in the student manual for those lines.

I found that my Preschooler who only just turned 3 was really only interested in the reading books. He is already recognizing letters and doing sounds/phonics all on his own by listening to his older brother. For a new homeschooler though this method may help you teach your child a methodical way of learning the sounds.

The Teacher Manuals are very thorough about why you are teaching the child the concept of letters and sounds in different ways in order to capture the child's many different learning ways and keeping them active at the same time. Jumping forward one jump at a time when sounding out the letters in the alphabet, or taking a giant step for each letter perhaps.

For Math they use Picture cards and actions to learn the concept of time (fast and slow), about following directions, comparing between two different objects at how fast or slow they move etc.

For Science the Month 1 Curriculum also involved looking at different modes of transportation and comparing them again. the student is encouraged to act out and/or retell the stories that you are reading to them either from the fiction or non fiction books that connect with the subject they are learning. They practice making cars go faster or slower by building ramps. They make collages and other art projects too. There is a book list at the end of the Science Manual on other books that can be borrowed from the library to help reinforce the concept of transportation. The students would definitely have a fun time with all the experimentation on this one I think.

As I mentioned earlier this curriculum can be purchased individually by months or as a whole. the themes of the units are as follows : Transportation, Color, Weather, About Me, A Healthy Life, Animals, People in my community, Traditions in our Country and The World Around Us. That is a broad spectrum of subjects in the Science/Social Studies section. The most positive aspect of this curriculum is that you do not have to print out or do every activity. You may leave out a few if they are too much for your student/s.

There is a one week trial of the Week 1 Month 1 Curriculum available on the site if you sign up for it and you can decide whether this will help you teach your preschooler or not.

A One Year complete Preschool Curriculum costs $526.00. The various curriculum's for Literacy is $270.00 or a Math Program for $60.00. The monthly kits are for Printable $55 per month and $30 for downloadable. The Printable ones will be shipped to you at the correct time of the year depending on when you begin the program. The downloadable product for 9 months is priced at $240.00 if purchased per month (I think that is what it says). More details of all the different packages can be found at http://www.idealcurriculum.com/.

I was given this product to review and my colleagues at the TOS Homeschool blog have posted their reviews too. Click on over there to see who wrote what and compare it with mine I guess too:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/782452/

I have reviewed this product after receiving a one month curriculum for Ideal Curriculum so that I could blog about it here. I have received no payment for this review.

Review: Kregel Publications

I read this wonderful, exciting, fantastic and thrilling book published by Kregel Publications last week. Of course when it got to Sunday afternoon I usually take a nap, but last weekend I had my eyes glued to this book. The title of the book I read is “Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure.”

This book has a cute couple of teenagers on the front looking at a treasure map. I also had read the back of the book for a description of the story. I was curious even though I have not read a book like this for years. “Trouble with Treasure” is part of a series of 4 books about a young lady called Andrea Carter and her adventures. She gets herself into some sticky situations. The author of these novels is Susan Marlow.

Andi and her friend Jenny decide to ride along with Andi’s older brother and a friend for a few days whilst he goes to visit a logging camp in the mountains. Their first day begins with a freak accident with a snake involved and it caused different problems through out the rest of the trip. One exciting adventure after another happens on the riding trip, during their panning for gold in the rivers along the way, eating fresh fish out of the river, and of course just enjoying the scenery. They bump into some really mean people along the journey and you have to read the book to find out exactly what those mean guys did and did not do! The book is also set in the late 1880’s so sheriffs and villains abound!

I was literally glued to my book and loved it. If you have a pre-teen or teenager who likes these adventure kind of stories then I would say this series of 6 books is for him/her. The “Circle C” Adventures have a website in which you can visit to see Andi’s blog and hear about what she and her friends are up to next. Here is the link: http://www.circlecadventures.com/ .With each book a literature unit study is available and there is a link in the back of each book for this.

This series of books are being sold at http://www.circlecadventures.com/ and click on over to Andi’s adventures when you get there and click the Order books button. A brief description of each book is on the site, as well as some information on some Early Reader books coming out in the series during 2010. This will make it easier for your younger readers to join in on the adventure. I just noticed that there are Lapbooks available for some of these titles too. (see above Picture of the Lapbook for this particular adventure!)

The cost of one Circle C Adventure book is $8.00 but the set of Books 1-5 in the series will cost only $30.00 plus shipping and handling. I think this is a decent price for 5 paperback books that will also provide a learning experience for your children. The age level recommended for Circle C Adventure books is 9-14 years. This could even be a book that can go on a Christmas wish list now so you can save money to purchase it later in the year.

The other TOS Crew members have their reviews at this link:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/782677/

I am a member of the Homeschool Crew for The Old Schoolhouse magazine for 2009/10 and have reviewed this product in exchange for my opinion. I have received no payment for this review.

Review: BeeYoutiful

Yeah - Yeah Yeah, I shouted when I was selected to be one of the members of the TOS Crew to try out the BeeYoutiful products. The reason I was excited was because I know what an awesome company this is. Their ethics and work standards are great and their products, in my opinion are excellent.

The product that I was sent in the mail is called Tummy Tuneup. This is a supplement that I have not yet tried but of course after using a few times on both myself and my son I am content to promote it. Tummy Tuneup is full of Lactobacillus acidophilus (and 2 other types), as well as Bifid bacterium (3 types). If you are questioning those big words well don’t. these are healthy bacteria that re-boost your stomach and the your intestinal system. They are probiotic and anti yeast V-caps that can be taken, or the powder from the capsule mixed up with applesauce or liquid for children. The bottle does indicate to take before eating. This definitely does help in the case of if you are about to indulge in rich fatty foods of any kind like Pizza, Spaghetti, and probably cheesecake to avoid the effects that may happen after this kind of meal. One thing I do need to point out is that you can take this product with you anywhere, but do not leave in a hot vehicle or anywhere that it may get overheated at any time.

I have used this for my oldest son particularly as he is partial to getting virus bugs from other children and it has been phenomenal in preventing them. If the digestive system is in good working order then the body can fight back against virus’ of this kind easier. Tummy Tuneup restores the environment to the intestines where it is needed before it is upset. In this country and overseas in 1st world nations it is easy to get a disrupted stomach from rich food when eating out, or even when traveling from a different water supply. I know this from experience. When I was younger I used to get cramps from the hotel tap water whenever we traveled. I do not experience that any longer.

From testimonies on the BeeYoutiful website and from other crew members they have used this when their children have had the diarrhea and vomiting bug during this past winter. It has worked like a charm. I would recommend this product to be something you do not travel without this summer if you are taking a vacation. It would also be handy to have on hand in your home during a long snowy winter where viruses abound.

I love BeeYoutiful products and currently our family is using SuperMom and SuperDad tablets/capsules, Cod Liver Oil capsules, different essential oils like Peppermint and Lavender (for headaches and peaceful sleeping), Ultra Immune and Berry Well. Ultra Immune is an amazing product and is taken between meals to help support the Immune system and keep it functioning. Some key ingredients in it are Elderberry, Oregano Oil and Allisure (Garlic). These 3 are important in preventing your body in catching those colds and chest infections. I take this due to the stress level in my life being extremely high. It certainly helps to keep the stress loads down to a minimum. BerryWell is a Herbal Dietary Supplement for people 1 and over (contains raw honey) to help build up a strong immune system. It has been very effective in keeping colds to a minimum this winter in our home - recovery time from a fever or cold is now down to 2-3 days instead of a week. My toddler has no qualms about taking a teaspoon of this every day if I want him too. I call that a successful product.

I could talk for a long time about how wonderful BeeYoutiful products are. They are all tested in a safe environment, and do not come from a manufacturer that is bent on destroying your body, or world in the process. I do feel that during this current minor depression of mine I would not be feeling as well as I do if it were not for BeeYoutiful supplements and oils.

The cost for a bottle of Tummy Tuneup is $18.00 and has 60 capsules. If you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome or a sensitivity to spicy or rich food I would suggest trying it out. If your children are susceptible to infections or getting colds when exposed to other children think about adding this to your medical aid kit and tossing out some store bought stuff! It is definitely healthier.

Some of my fellow crew mates enjoyed other beauty and/or health products from BeeYoutiful and their review links can be found here:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/781123/

If you want to skip the crew stuff then click on over to BeeYoutiful directly and enjoy their site with articles and heaps of information. They have a catalog that comes out quarterly too. Here is the link:

http://www.beeyoutiful.com/

I have received this product in exchange for my review, as I am part of the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2009/10.

Review: Lesson Planet

During the month of March 2010 our family received a subscription for 6 weeks to an online Teacher’s lesson Planning and worksheet website called Lesson Planet. (http://www.lessonplanet.com/ . ) This website gives the teacher access to over 225,000 lesson plans and/or worksheets as well as information on the standards of education for grade levels in each state within the USA. I did not see anything on the site about International States for countries outside of the United States.

A teacher has the ability to pick a theme/subject or math concept and choose the grade and rating level as well as whether you need an advanced lesson or not. Once this is selected the search mode clicks on and finds lessons from websites and/or individual educators from across the United States. These can be detailed Lesson Plans for anything from 1 lesson to 3-4 weeks worth of lessons for the subject.

The home page features some of the major lesson plans by subject as follows: Art/Music; Health and Nutrition; Math; Geography; Science and Technology; Language Arts and a few more. For example, in Geography there are over 11 000 different lessons available for browsing but when you choose the grade level and difficulty rating then the amount narrows down fast. I did find that a lot of these Lesson Plans that I searched were definitely geared towards a regular school setting. I of course did not like that so found them difficult to adapt to a child that does not sit still for long. To find applications that would work for my child who is not a sit down, be quiet kind of child was more challenging.

Many of the books used in the lessons were ‘school’ type books that are usually available only through companies like Scholastic books. I do not have access to this type of book at the current time. There is also a Curriculum calendar with important dates listed on virtually every day - you can click on a date and do a lesson about the important item listed on that day.

There is an extremely wide variety of topics and themes covered. I found it hard to narrow down exactly what I needed from so many choices and was also disappointed that many of these sites are government school programs. I do not like using programs like this but once in a while. I have saved some word searchs and poems to use at a later time.

The cost per year for using Lesson Planet is $39.95. This is a reasonable cost for access to the many thousands of lesson plans and worksheets. I personally will not be using this but am thankful to have had a chance to see what the website is all about. There is a 10 day Full Access Trial of the website available if you would like to see what they have to offer. If you cancel before the 10 days is up then your credit card will not be billed.

Here are 2 links for you to visit from Lesson Planet:

lesson plans

worksheets

My other Crew members this year have experienced using Lesson Planet with their families and you can visit the Homeschool Crew Blog at this link:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/779692/


I have been able to access the above website as a member of the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew for 2009/2010.

Review: Sue Gregg Cookbooks

The last 6 months that I have been on the crew I have been using a really neat cookbook which is also a nutritional diary of sorts. Of course this is right up my alley as it were. I love, love, love dealing with books and products that teach or help you learn how to eat, live and exercise correctly to get the best nutrition and life possible.

I have known about Sue Gregg and her cookbook series for many years and have applied many of her methods over time. The recipes that I did get to try from the “Breakfasts….with Blender Batter Baking & Allergy Alternatives” book were different and new to me. On the website there are a few trial recipes for you to try out. As part of the Crew we went to the site and picked a recipe, made it and did a review and then requested which book we would like to try. I picked the above one. Breakfast is my favorite meal.

I have always loved, and am known to serve a good and healthy breakfast. Eggs, Grains, fruits and vegetables can be used in this meal. It can be balanced and it can be healthy. Yes it takes more work to make a good meal than just pulling out a box of cereal. Last night I placed a cup of oatmeal, and a cup of warm water and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and some whey from the yogurt in a saucepan, 12 hours later I added more water and a little milk and cooked the oatmeal. It was so yummy with added raisins, and chopped up apple. Train your children to like cooked cereals for breakfasts and not to always want the store bought stuff.

The first 40 pages of this book are detailed information for ‘Planning for Breakfast’ on different kinds of milk to make or buy, eggs, dairy alternatives, fats and oils uses of nuts, different sweeteners, and methods of making breakfast foods. Sue also does provide some sources for the ingredients that you may not be used to but, the Internet has a vast array of stores selling these items. There are menu planning helps, recipes galore with alternative for grain and milk allergies included in many of them, as well as biblical truths and folk remedies scattered throughout the book.

I have been a promoter and user of the “soaking grains” method for making breads, muffins and pancakes for some time now and Sue outlines this method clearly in this “Breakfasts” book. Sue does have at least 5-6 other recipe books available on her website and even a Children’s Cooking Curriculum for the “Lunches and Snacks” book with a CD ( book not included )full of photos demonstrating the processes she uses. I do think that teaching your children to cook and care for themselves at a young age is a bonus as they will take care of you when they are older. They could even cook 2-3 dinners per week whilst you take care of the younger children.

The “Breakfasts” cookbook sells for a price of $23.00. I also do own the “Soups and Muffins” book, which has been an incredible help over the years and that sells for $8.00. I found sometimes that starting with a less complicated recipe of making muffins and then move on to making bread integrates you into changing your diet for the better. Making small changes really does make a difference in your health and eventually you will find yourself much healthier and happier than the previous year, perhaps there will be even less of you too!

Some of the recipes we tried were Build-an-Omelet, Oatmeal Surprise, Hot Oatmeal, Mango Smoothie, Blueberry Shake, Wake up Carrot Shake, Blender Molasses Muffins (wonderful), Good Morning Muffins, Sunshine Muffins, Blender Banana Muffins, and homemade English Muffins (so soft and yummy.) I have been using her waffle and pancake blender recipe for 6 plus years and it always succeeds unless I mess with the ingredients too much. Pineapple Coffee Cake, Cowboy Coffee Cake and Almond Coffee Cake have become some of my favorites to serve for Sunday morning breakfast as they can be made the night before and reheated in the morning and served with fruit. We all go out the door full to the brim and last all through church without snacking!

I can not say enough about Sue Gregg and her way of using grains. I have yet to discover her “Meals in Minutes” cookbook or the “Lunches and Snacks”, but will do so in the near future. For those who read this and know me personally I can recommend these cookbooks as becoming a part of your weekly menu planning if you are willing to give these a try. We have even used some alternative grains with surprising results that they do not taste much different from regular grain. Please do go over to the TOS Homeschool Crew site to find out what other Crew members tried out and read their reviews too - don’t just take my word for it.

*I also just noticed on the website there is a link to download a PDF of some of this “Breakfasts” book in the new version. It will give you some idea of what you will find.* I also spied there a try out recipe for “Taco Chip Ole.” It is a great nutrition filled recipe made with tortilla chips and other yummy things like sour cream, avocado and of course some salsa and lettuce. Check it out please!!!!

Please link through this way directly to Sue Gregg’s site for some sample recipes to try out at http://www.suegregg.com/.

The Crew link is here : http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/718575/

This is my opinion that I have done for the above product and have not been paid for this review.

Review: Super Star Speech

Do you see these two pictures? On the left is the front cover of the

fun and wonderful Speech therapy book that I was sent to review. On the right side of the page is one of the games download that I was asked to review as well.

Our youngest child Andy is almost three and I thought he was having some serious problems learning how to talk correctly. Well it seems that after receiving this book that he seems to be doing better.

Andy was barely putting words in sentences at age two and I was questioning my ability as a Mom in teaching him to talk. My first two children did not have any problems in this area. When the opportunity to choose which curriculum for review out of the Speech Therapy products offered, I chose "Super Star Speech - Speech Therapy Made Simple". This book gave me finally some insight into the development of a child's speech patterns.

I read the introduction a few times and glanced through the rest of the manual before checking exactly what words Andy knew, and what he did not. It is not really about words, but more about sounds and what their tongue is doing when they make those sounds. I wanted Andrew to be able to be understood by someone other than his parents and his brother.

To begin with the parent does an Articulation Test on the child. During this test you mark off on a response sheet whether the 'target' sound has been made correctly or not. The sounds are either at the beginning of word, in the middle of the word, or at the word ending. Once you have completed this analysis you would circle your check marks with whether it was a totally correct sound, an omitted sound, substituted sound or just distorted. I was in the middle of this test and it was beginning to make sense in my head. Andy could handle the p and b sound, but not the n sound which was normal for a 3 year old. When I started testing him he was still only about 2 3/4 years old. Many beginning sounds for t, d, k, g, ch, sh and s were clear but many of these same sounds in the middle and end of words was fuzzy.

I started working with him on individual letters. This was accomplished by making the words with magnets on a board (my idea now) and then working through them one letter at a time giving him the correct sound. He caught on quickly. Now he wants to practice his words every night looking at the pictures in the manual. It is fun for him too to look at the pictures whilst he is learning and the more we repeat the actions the better he will get at saying the individual sounds. Then he will progress to the whole words and perhaps other folk outside the family circle will understand him more.

As he is unable to read yet, only some letters he knows by heart, we will make this a fun exercise. He is putting 5-6 words together in sentences since we started with the Therapy exercises. I notice he listens more for the sounds of words that we say to him. He has picked up on the therapy and correction in his speech quickly. We still have a long way to go I'm sure but I am glad that we are not lost in the fog of not knowing what to do, and figuring out if we should/should not get him professional speech therapy classes. I am sure that now due to this book we will not have to resort to that method. I have begun to read to Andy more and more and he loves it when he gets the sound of the word correct. There are games in the manual to encourage some fun during all of this learning process, and Deborah gives you further instruction on how to work on the child's tongue position to improve their speech.

The "Silly Snail" game is one of the language games I was giving to use and critique too. This game has cards with sentences written on them. One word on the card is in bold print. The first player draws a card and names the part of speech that is the bold word. If correct, they move their game piece along to the first part of the snail's shell stopping at relevant noun, adverb, pronoun or verb section of the snail. It has been fun to see what my older child knows about these words - noun, adverb, verbs, pronouns etc as we have not focused on these too much in our English Language schooling. The first player to get to the snail's tail wins. My son is competitive and loves games even if he has to think more than he wants to. We shall keep using this and adding more of our own homemade cards with our sentences on.

Deborah Lott has other products available on her site or through Currclick. There is a Super Science Bundle which consists of various science games that can be downloaded and printed out. These can also be be purchased individually. Super Star Speech costs $18.95 for a spiral bound Manual. One can also obtain a download of this product for 40% off that price for $12.95 at the Currclick site. (http://www.currclick.com/ ) Deborah's website is http://www.superstarspeech.com/. Deborah Lott also has a blog which can be linked to from her website and there are a variety of questions and lots of information available on both her website and blog. I would check out this manual first before reverting to the regular form of speech therapy for a child which may cost a lot more out-of-pocket for you.

I have found this review both challenging and exciting as well as fun to do. I had a need and the Lord fulfilled it in a supernatural and practical way. Thank you to Deborah Lott for sharing this product with the crew to review and I hope that many people benefit in the future from all of your hard work. My apologies to you that the review is late due to family commitments that had to be completed first.

If you think this is a product that you may be needing for your little ones or older children who are having speech issues then browse on over to Deborah's site and take a look, to see other reviews written by my fellow crew members at the TOS Homeschool crew blog. Here is the link for that page: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/768114/

Deborah Lott's is also offering our blog readers a 20% discount code on any readers off her site http://www.superstarspeech.com/ until June 30th. The discount code is TOS. Please contact me if you are having problems with ordering and I will try to help out if possible.

I have reviewed these products for the TOS Homeschool Crew 2009/10 and have not been paid for this review.

Review: Time 4 Learning

Time 4 Learning is an online curriculum using a combination of multimedia lessons, interactive activities and reinforcing worksheets. We were given access to their website for 6 weeks to test out what they have to offer.

The curriculum covers children from Pre K through to 8th grade. The subjects covered are Language Arts, Math Science and Social Studies. There are Math and Algebra tutorials and printable worksheets available for every subject. The online activities are very varied and on their website is a Lesson Planning grid. On this grid you are able to see a breakdown of each chapter and what it entails.

I also noticed a list of Frequently Asked Questions which will be able to help out any curious future customer of Time 4 Learning. I do understand from the information on the website that you can use this program for one subject, or all the subjects needed, but the price is still $19.95 per month for the first child and $14.95 per month for each additional child. Email help is there for 24/7 and phone support is available 8.30 am to 5.30 pm EST Monday through Friday.
When your child does exercises it puts a time and a date on when he accomplished that task and as a parent when you log in you can see where your child is at.

I do limit the time that my children are on the computer to a minimum of 1-2 hours per week so I would say that I could not fully utilize this program as a full curriculum personally. My toddler who is almost 3 did like the exercises that I asked him to participate in and he was very involved with selecting the answers whilst I moved the mouse. He was intrigued to do something that the Big children get to do too.

My oldest is 8 and as we only had access to the Pre-K area of the site that is what we had to sign him up for. He did enjoy the time earned to play games in the Playground area of the website. There is a facility to set the time allowed for the children to do lessons and then the time for them to ‘visit’ the playground to practice what they have learned.

I personally would not purchase this product as it is not financially viable for me to do so. We also limit computer time and I find it can be better utilized with other activities we already have on our home computer. Perhaps your children or child like this kind of product and benefit from lots of visual and auditory activities, and you allow them more time to work on the computer. This would be a good fit for you. Time 4 Learning has many different options on their site for you to decide if this product is right for you. Here is their website link : http://www.time4learning.com/index.htm

I do know that some of my Crew mates did enjoy this program and will continue to use it. Please flip over to our TOS Homeschool Crew blog to find out who they are by reading their reviews - there are at least 70 of them there! Here is the link:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/776070/

I had access to this online curriculum as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2009/10. I have written this review as a result of receiving the product and received no payment for it.

Reviews: All About Reading- "What Am I"

Earlier in the year I reviewed a book called the Beehive Reader 1 for a preschooler. The company All About Reading (http://www.all-about-reading.com/ ) has come out with a second book for sale with effect from April 1st 2010 called "What Am I." This is a Level 2 reader in the All About Spelling program, but can be used in any homeschool or as a reader for a young child learning how to read.

I received this book in the mail about 6 weeks ago and both my son and I read it through in about 30 minutes. It was awesome. My son's favorite story in this reader or collection of short stories is called "The Bake Sale." Some children are making cupcakes to raise money for buying a red bike. They set up a bake sale stand outside their home. Whilst they are selling cupcakes they decide to send the money to one of the children's pen pals from China who has just lost her mother. The children change their goal and decide to bless someone far away instead of pleasing themselves. The children decide to run a bike fix-it shop and raise more money to send to China too. This story definitely has a principle to it that is so obvious. The children learn to care for others more than themselves.

Other titles in this book are:

The Bench

An Elf in the Alps

Broken Robot

Matt the Musk Ox

Skunk Hotel

Champ

Pine Tree Pet Shop

Just for You: Poems for Fun

What Am I

Yes, these are interesting stories throughout the whole book. My son enjoyed the book and has read it at least 3 more times since we received it. It does use words that he has learned in his 'All About Spelling' series. The illustrations are enjoyable once again. The artists have produced such character and perfection in every picture. I do think we will be reading this again and again. I have included a copy of one of the pages in the "Skunk Hotel" story.

I like the 'Poems' at the end of the book which are very descriptive and original. I will be using this book for our homeschool in the future as my little guy grows up and then probably will give it away once we are done with it.

The cost of this hardback reader is $19.95 and well worth it in my opinion. I have just checked the link to their website and hope the reader will be up on their site soon. At the moment it does not seem to be there. Please keep checking if you are interested.

The TOS Homeschool blog has the other crew members reviews of this same book. You can view other's opinions that probably will differ from mine and from other moms that have lots of children or even just one. Here is the link to that:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/772308/

I have reviewed this product as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2009/10 and have not been paid for this review.

Review: FamilyMint

"Helping Kids Appreciate Money” are the words on the website under the main title of the site. The principle for this website is that your children give their physically earned money to you as a parent, which you keep, and then once they have withdrawn from their bank account online you can physically give them the cash. I do think this is a good idea especially as this gives the child the will and way of what to do with their own earnings.

As a parent you can set up your children’s account and then allow them to control their money. However you can put goals into your child’s account that they need to abide by in order to save or work towards week by week. The child can set up goals for themselves too in the form of items they may want to purchase over time.

When a child opens up their account for the first time, there is a really easy video available to view to explain how their goals buttons work and how to save/withdraw money, and/or transfer money between goals and the standard account. For a child who is motivated by pictures this website is very helpful. My son has to be motivated by the actual feel of the money in his hand so he takes a little work. When the child hit’s the ‘Transactions’ tab on his account he can see a complete history of all the transfers that he has made over time. It almost looks like a bank statement in a way or a Paypal account information. These are between his goals or a general withdraw/deposit in his account.

The Parent controls can set are on interest rates , allowance amount, and whether they want to match deposits to encourage the child to set certain savings goals. The graphics are simple and easy to understand probably for a child as young as 6 or 7 who is able to read too. The website recommends some children as young as 5 years old can use it.

Parents can put all of the children’s accounts in the same bank and they can monitor these all in one place instead of having to sign in to multiple accounts to keep track of the money. I did note that the parent can set a rate of interest up in their child’s accounts and increase or reduce it to encourage your child to save more, in order to earn more perhaps.

Our son does not earn an allowance at this time as he has not been willing to do the things required of him to get that allowance. He only earns money currently for extra jobs he does around the home, and through gifts at birthdays and holidays. He likes to have control of his own money and has purchased his own ATM for his room. This met with much negativity from us his parents and so we are trying to change his view of earning, spending and saving. He tends to be very frivolous with his money. He almost spends it as soon as it hits his hands. I can see from some of the testimonials on the website that this has been accomplished by other families.
I have not seriously tried this http://www.familymint.com/ seriously so perhaps in the near future during the summer I will set up the account with a view to changing the way he manages his money.

FamilyMint is a company set up by a parent who was trying to help his wife control their 5 children’s various expenses and manage their own money. He was frustrated that he could not find anything on the market that would meet this need. FamilyMint’s founders and advisors want children to be educated in how to manage money before they hit the world after high school years. There are very few skills taught in public and private schools to enable children and teenagers to handle money in a responsible way.

The link to their website is http://www.familymint.com/ and the TOS Crew members opinions are to be found at
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/768112/
　
　
The above opinion is completed after receiving access to the website in exchange for this review. I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Galaxy of Education/ Math Galaxy

Well at first this product did not catch my eye very well, due to its flashy pictures and bright colors. I guess I am not a child so did not look at the intensity or power behind those colors, My son did not like the step by step learning pages with the explanations. He does not like getting things wrong and does not like having things explained over and over when he is corrected. I tend to think this program does do that.

More recently when we were looking the products over that we had been sent we discovered some more video games that looked more challenging than just regular math equations, addition and subtraction, identifying information from a graph etc.

My 8 year old son liked the “Math Galaxy Whole Numbers riddle e-book” as well as some of the samples available online at the website that he tried out. These use both additions, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve a phrase. The child has to work out the math equation and the answer is related to a letter that can then be inserted into the phrase. Once all the math problems are solved so is the phrase! It is a challenging way to get them to think and not too boring because the child is intrigued to find out the phrase.

I did notice the more answers you get correct the harder the next problem becomes. This did annoy my son too. He wanted to stay at the same level before moving to the next higher level. I guess he needs to step it up a notch in being challenged in that area.

The main product we reviewed was the “Math Galaxy Whole Numbers Fun” CD. This obviously has a difficulty level from about Grade 1 to Grade 4 most likely. I certainly could not do some of the higher levels of multiplication and division myself. Mind you I am definitely not a whiz mathematician. I do like the tutorial as a parent because there are some concepts in math I just do not know how to explain and the formula is set out in a thorough manner. The variety of problems in each CD that you can purchase from Galaxy of Education is tremendous. On this one CD alone you can do the following types of exercises and problems:

Addition, Subtraction, Multiplying, Division, Place Value, Rounding and Estimating, Patterns and Sequences, Word Problems, Time, Money, Length, Area, Volume, Pictographs, Bar Graphs, Probability, Math riddles, Word Jumbles, and some games called Bridge the Swamp and Labyrinth.

Galaxy of Education or Math Galaxy sells each CD for $29.95 each. Other CDs incorporate fractions and decimals practice. This would entail an enormous amount of practice for your child if he/she likes the program. I personally think it is a more applicable program for an older child perhaps Grade 4 and up. I am saying this as I am reducing the amount of time my student does spend on the computer each day due to health issues. I would not like my kindergartner being in front of the computer for hours on end 'practicing' their math. My son would use that excuse in a heartbeat. The "Math Galaxy Whole Numbers e-book" we looked over does cost $14.95. There are printable worksheets on each CD disk too.

This product is nice for those that like it or need to use this kind of reinforcement for their student. I am not totally decided on that yet even after using it for 40 days or so. The website for Galaxy of Education is here: http://www.mathgalaxy.com/

There are of course my fellow crew members opinions on this too and that is available at the following link on the Old Schoolhouse's Crew website:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/773387/

I have been sent this product to use in our homeschool and review for the above company, as part of the TOS 2009/10 Homeschool crew. I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Children's Bible Hour

During the month of February I was sent a neat box of goodies from the ministry of Children’s Bible Hour. Inside were four books titled as follows:

Seventy Times Seven
You Can’t Come In
Braving the Storm
Race with Midnight

These books are from the Season of Life series. Two of the books were quite timely in their arrival in our home. I’m sure some of the crew would agree with me. “Braving the Storm” and “Race with Midnight” are the two I am talking about.

These four books all have a great lesson wrapped in each one. I like reading them as well as listening to the CD that is enclosed in the back flap of each book. In “Brave with Midnight” two children are out riding on their horses when suddenly one of the horses takes off on its own, and the girls chase it, get lost, and have to rely on the horse to getting home. The moral in this story is that Becky, who normally lives in the city teaches her cousin to trust in the Lord instead of in animals and her own self confidence.

The “Braving the Storm” book focuses on a family who are going through extremely difficult times. The father of the family has lost his job, the family have to move to stay with their grandparents and live in a much smaller home. They are far away from their friends and what they are used to. To add complications to the story one of the children in the family is ill and unable to be like a normal child. This touched my heart as our dear sweet son who was so sick for a long time took a lot of care and time. Our son was able to relate to the lonely feelings that the older brother and sister had when their Mum did not have much time to spend with them as she was caring for the youngest child who was ill. As the story develops an ice storm comes on their farm and the trailer they live in is not very safe. The family run to the main house where the grandparents live and eat and spend time with them until the storm is over. The story does relate to the storms of our lives coming and going and how we learn to live with them and how God is in control of them always, even though sometimes we question why.

Can you see why I liked this one? Our family seems to be going through storm after storm after storm since Brendon our 5 year old was sick, died, and still it continues. Things happen and break but we still have to get back up and carry on with life. This is so hard. The books really did help my son a little more to understand.

The books I believe can help children understand through reading about others misfortunes or naughty antics on how to deal with a problem. When children move with their parents to a different town and leave everything behind it can be overwhelming for them to make new friends and start afresh, and perhaps if you have a child in this dilemma the book “You Can’t Come In” can help.

The illustrations in the books are interesting and do hold the eye of the reader or listener. The pace at which the CD’s are read aloud is pleasant and seems just right. I like the voice of Uncle Charlie as he reads as it is soft and comforting too. He uses great expression when he is reading.
All of the books do finish with a form of the sinners prayer and scripture in the back to explain to the child how to pray and accept Christ as their Savior. This leaves the challenge up to the child to read or listen to, and act on.

The above 4 books are currently priced at $10 each. The CBH Ministries is having a special for anyone who reads this blog for these books and offering them free standard shipping. You need to use the following code: FREESHIPAPR15. The free standard shipping offer is valid until April 15th. Please see their website offers here: http://www.cbhministries.org/home.php

There are other reviews on the Old Schoolhouse TOS Crew Blog at the following link:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/771757/

　
　
I was sent the above products to review and write my opinion of them on this blog, for the TOS Crew for the 2009/10 school year. I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Artistic Pursuits

It has been a few days since I have been on here and now it is time for me to update once again on another interesting product our family was privileged to review.

On the left hand side of this page is the cover for the Art Book that I chose to review as it was simple and looked easy to accomplish for this non-artistic Mum and student. I guess I was right.

Inside these pages is a very detailed look at paintings done through the years, sketches, crafts, and a bunch of questions for each chapter. I would say this Art curriculum was for a student was really interested in using art deeply in their homeschool education or as a side interest outside of a regular school. I know that art is not focused on too much any longer in public school in the United States.

I only managed to get through 3-4 chapters of this book with my son as his face droops as soon as he sees a painting or a sketch book in my hands to share with him.

This Book One is an Introduction to the Visual Arts for Grades K-3. It is an introduction to all kinds of art including painting, sketches using different pencils, markers and watercolor crayons. The second kind of art I noticed in this book was learning how to use the paint brushes on top of the crayons you have already colored with. The third angle I was interested in was the basic pottery or art of how to use clay and paint it. This is a wonderful resource for the child who loves to mold and shape things with their hands in that respect, or to blend a bunch of colors together with watercolor crayons and then blend them even more with the water paints.

The basic materials required for this first book are Ebony pencils, watercolor crayons, pastel sticks, clay and construction paper. We elected not to purchase any extra supplies and just use what we had at the time.

Whilst we were doing our sketches with pencils and then crayons I would ask my son questions about the paintings that we had just viewed in the book, as well as about interests of his own. It gave us a chance to get to know each other just a little more whilst doing the exercises and learning a little art history in the process. I did notice that my son was challenged to 'think outside of his box' as it were, when he had to draw himself, or other members of his family as he is not used to doing that.

There are 3 books in this series for Grades K-3rd grade. They are as follows:

Book 1, An Introduction to the Visual Arts (Ancient - 1300's)

Book 2, Stories of Artists and Their Art (1200's - 1800's)

Book 3, Modern Painting and Sculpture (1850's - today )

The cost for each of these books is $42.95. The books are written basically to the student and involves no teacher preparation at all, other than providing the materials needed for each project or craft. The website http://http://www.artisticpursuits.com/ does have supply lists to recommend what materials are needed for each book, and they are available for sale there too. We could not afford at this current time to purchase everything required so we did the lessons that we had supplies on hand for.

There are Grade 4-12 Books as follows:

Book 1 at each grade level covers Drawing Basics

Book 2 at each grade level covers Color Theory.

I did break the lessons up into one per week as they are different from what we are used to. If you had an artist on your hands then they would be able to do more than that as the book is easy to follow with it's self guiding instructions as mentioned earlier.

At this current time I will not be ordering any of this curriculum due to us already being in the middle of one we begun last year and are working slowly through. For some other opinions on the different levels of Artistic Pursuits curriculum please click this link to read them:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/771766/

You may of course go straight to http://artisticpursuits.com/ and read the many articles, reviews, and parents comments right there.

I have been sent this product from Artistic Pursuits to review and write my opinion for the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2009/10. I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Homeschool Library Builder

I have been looking over the above website for the past couple weeks every few days and have recently found some books that we are needing to purchase for our school year. We began a new curriculum in February, published by Heart of Dakota, and so have been searching for some books to buy at an inexpensive price to keep in our home library. Well what do you know as part of the TOS Crew we were asked to look at Homeschool Library Builder and review their site and what is available for members.

I have read through some information on the site first to see who/what/where/when and why this library site is even around, and is offering a better service than perhaps buying through Craigs List or e-Bay for instance.

The site is owned by 2 homeschool moms who between them have 8 children. They love 'living books' which is right up my alley, and they wanted to share their finds with others in the homeschool world and whoever was interested too. I began to notice immediately they have things that I have been on the lookout for recently. They provide a service to the customers who are interested in purchasing books that are either new, used or rare and out of print finds.

They stock titles from literature based curricula like Sonlight; Tapestry of Grace; Ambleside (online free Charlotte Mason based curriculum); Five in a Row; Beautiful Feet and Heart of Dakota for example. There are many other interesting books on the site right now that can be used for unit studies or lapbook information at all grade levels too.

When you purchase books on Homeschool Library Builder (http://www.hslibrarybuilder.com/index.php ) though you can earn points. These points add up and turn into dollars once you have enough of them. One book point is earned for every dollar spent on books, and every 15 points is worth $1.00 in your account. These points can then be used for purchasing more books, or on shipping for other products too. By referring friends to Homeschool Library Builder and linking them to their website you can earn points too.

During the month of February they also raised money for Haiti by doing promotions and being a "Helping Hand" for that country. They have different "Helping Hand" projects they have done in the past and continue to sell books to support that. Currently the books listed under "Helping Hand" are being sold and the money will go towards sponsorship for a Compassion International Child.

I do believe if you are looking for a certain book you can email the owners Julie or Gayla, and ask them to help you out. As a Crew we are reviewing the site and hoping to help them out with advertising as this is pretty costly these days too. This is a homegrown company like a lot of the ones I have reviewed products for this year, but they are not so big that they have lost their personal touch which is neat to see. The website is easy to move around, and book titles can be found in several different categories. Books are listed in alphabetical order in each category.

I have enjoyed cruising this site, before I dive in and become a member. I needed to get a good feel of what they had to offer. If you are looking for books at an inexpensive and not ridiculous price then pop on over to their site at : http://www.hslibrarybuilder.com/index.php and check them out.

The link to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog with other reviews for Homeschool Library Builder is right here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/763769/

I have reviewed this product for TOS Crew for 2009/10 school year and the above information is my opinion. I have not been paid for this review.

Review: Graphics Toolbox

You see before you on your left side of this screen a fascinating and interesting box that looks like an artist's haven for drawing and painting and what not. I do believe it is the beginning of new way of painting, drawing, writing, designing and whatever else 'arty' you can think of on the Internet and your website perhaps.

During the month of February I was given access to a very complex, full and detailed website and software called Graphics Toolbox (http://www.graphics-toolbox.com/.) As it says on the box to your left 'Graphic Software for Daily Life' that is exactly what is available. With the boom of the Internet business' and websites and children using computer software in the classroom, this is definitely a site to be interested in or take a first and second look at.

I personally am technologically challenged in this area and barely know how to keep this blog loading correctly, never mind setting up a website and putting all kinds of fancy things on it. I did have access to this software but was unable to download it as my computer is over 5 years old and just could not handle the file as they are huge.

Graphics Tool box is this in just a few points: (and oh so much more.)


Graphics-Toolbox is the new fun and easy graphics software that is perfect for all computer users. Click on the applications below to see how you can use Graphics-Toolbox to color your life.
Embellish Photos with Ribbons & Text
Fast & Easy Scrapbook Pages
Custom Invitations
Fashion Illustrations
Logos for Printing and Embroidery
Professional Posters
Cropping & Manipulating Photos
Students’ School Projects
Personalized Announcements
Embroidery Patterns
Stunning Photo Collages
Whimsical Photo-Graphics

The links to the applications have copied too so perhaps you can go there and see what each one is about when you are finished reading the blog note. On Graphics Toolbox website there are Video clips, slide shows , tutorials to help you understand the software, and personalized training for a fee to assist you in using the software too. I was only able to watch a few of these but found them intriguing and definitely useful for the amateur that I am in the blogging and website orientated world. Children are able to pick up very quickly the concepts that Graphics Toolbox teaches and there are examples of children's project reports, field trip reports, flyers, business cards, photography touch-ups etc on the website.

I did read one comment on the side about a photographer who touches up the background of old photos more efficiently with Graphic Toolbox than any other software that he has used. For the homeschooler and other school age children the ability to make their work more presentable to their teachers and/or parents is a good tool for them. Here is another set of phrases describing what this software will help children be able to achieve.

Foster Academic Excellence:
Kids love technology
Adding customized graphics is fast and easy
Stress the importance of color, balance and design in student presentations
Convey symbolism, mood and image with great graphics
Help hands-on and visual learners succeed
Great grades come from well executed homework assignments
Enjoy exclusive libraries of colors, fancy lines and ribbons
Descriptive icons allow hearing impaired and ESL students to excel too
Expand differentiation learning opportunities
Perfect for yearbooks, newsletters, websites and posters
Powerful, Flexible, Fun

The cost for this software may seem a huge outlay but it can be used for so many different areas of your life. Business and school can both benefit from the investment. The price for 1 user licence is $149.00 and discounts may be obtained if you have more than one user. You do need at least 200MB of free hard disk space to be able to use this program at full potential. That is one reason why I was not able to do this - lack of hard disk space and a very old operating system too.

I do wish I had been able to let my son use this program and perhaps when we invest in a new computer we may be able to. He would have loved all the fancy facilities it has to make his photos look more professional.

If you would like to see some actual examples of what some of my fellow members and their children were able to do with the software in their homeschool projects please link to the following page:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/769911/


I was given the software for Graphics Toolbox in order to do this review for the TOS Crew for 2009/10. I was not paid in any way for this review and it is my opinion of the product.

Reviews: "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling"

I was sent the above book authored by Debra Bell and it is Big and Ultimate in it’s description. I have taken a long time, at least 6 weeks to complete this review due to all the members of my family being ill since Christmas. My apologies to the author for being so late in this review and my fellow Crew mates too.

This book is over 500 pages long but includes a tremendous amount of information for the Homeschooling Parents who are willing to knuckle down and read it, or even just parts of it. I wanted to read the whole thing through thoroughly as I would really like to absorb the information as much as possible to review this item well.

For a new Homeschooler this book may be overwhelming but for someone who has been in the game one or two years it is a good find, and one to keep for reference on the bookshelf. I have 3-4 other books on Homeschooling on my bookshelf that I have hardly looked at since I begun this journey and so will possibly sell those and stick with this one. I do know there are some parts of “The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling” that I will not really use until my son is at least 14 or 15 years old which will be here before I know it. For example like the Chapters on ‘Navigating College Admissions channels’ and ‘College-at-Home.’ I will check on updates of this book before plunging into that arena.

This ‘Ultimate Guide’ is just that, a well rounded book on all aspects of Homeschooling from using the Library resources; the Internet; Homeschooling on a Shoestring; how to navigate the Curriculum Fair; how to avoid Burnout; learning your child’s different learning traits; to being a single Homeschooling parent; and Subject by Subject guidelines. The book is published by Apologia who are an incredible Homeschooling resource company already.

On reading through the chapter on determining your child’s learning styles I was challenged to look deeper into my 8 year olds needs right now. He is an auditory and visual and hands on learner more than anything else. Debra Bell outlined resources on the Internet and in catalogs that I could find that would benefit my son’s learning more than what I am doing right now. I am particularly interested in the resources for Living Books as we move over to a more ’Charlotte Mason’ orientated curriculum. These are there for me to research with the contact websites and/or phone numbers all given in the book.

I realized also that Debra says that Homeschooling is definitely a lifestyle to be taken seriously and if you can not do it all the way then it is hard to do at all. I know there will be sick days and days when you have appointments you can not avoid but these all have to be taken into account in your schedule that you set up. She pointed out that some children need a specific schedule for those days even when you are not schooling but just home and doing chores and errands. I grasped that idea and am working with it. I like the idea she presented of taking time off to plan the school year. I have never had the opportunity to do that. I pray this summer I will take the much needed time to get away and plan the 2010/11 school year so that it is more successful than past years.

The Subject-by-Subject guidelines helped me to see the age appropriate life lessons I need to be focusing on instead of what the government schools teach. There are a couple of chapters in the book with Resource companies included as well as all the contact addresses, phone numbers and websites of the State Homeschooling Organizations. The International Organizations in the United States and Canada are mentioned too. Special Interest, Missionary organizations, special Needs and Worldview Resources are all incorporated into this chapter.

I have enjoyed this read and so delighted to have been blessed with this book to keep in my library. Of course there are at least 90 other reviews on Debra Bell’s book “The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling” found at the Homeschool Crew Blog. Here is the link to that : http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/752857/ .
I will also include the link to Apologia’s website where you can purchase “The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling” for a mere $20.00 plus shipping and handling. ( https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=142 .) Apologia is an amazing site to browse too, and they do send out a catalog of products with minimal reviews in if you would like to not be online to read about the products.

I have reviewed this product on my blog for TOS Crew 2009/10, and received the product for free in exchange for my opinion.

Review: Math Mammoth

Math Mammoth is compiled and written by Maria Miller. Maria is a math teacher who turned housewife, mom and homeschooler and developed a curriculum for her own children as well as other homeschooled students and their moms. she has over 20 years of experience with both public and private schools and tutoring services.

It is mostly an elementary school series which is written in 2 different ways. The Light Blue Series is a complete curriculum for each level and so I received the Light Blue Second Grade Level Books. The second is called Math Mammoth Blue Series Books. These books focus on a few topics per book. There is the ability with the purchase of these book series to utilize math worksheets on the site for more practice with each topic. There are worksheet collections on the site (http://www.mathmammoth.com/ ) called the Green Series or Gold Series which are a collection of one page worksheets with varying problems. There is as you can tell a wide variety of both full curriculum ideas and supplementary curriculum to view on her site.

I have been using the Light Blue Series Second Grade Curriculum for about 4 weeks now and I am finding it a lot easier to help my 2nd grader stay focused on his math. Ms Miller has the right amount of explanation for each topic before giving examples, and then the actual worksheets for the student to complete. Daniel is doing well and almost scores 100% every time. He does get most upset when he checks his answers and finds he has incorrect answers. This is challenging to him, although he is improving. I chose to review a full curriculum due to all the gaps in our math learning over the past few years, with our crazy adjusting to our new way of life.

Daniel has achieved better results in math than I thought he would. He does do his worksheets and more if needed with enthusiasm. He likes the word problems, the pictures and the examples which teach him the right way to go about doing his next problem on his own. Our previous math curriculum was very demanding of my time and preparation and he needed to concentrate heavily. He did not like that. He is finding out things on his own and learning to read the question twice so that he does not get it wrong! On topics that he is consistent in getting wrong I can link to the site and produce worksheets for him to practice with until he has the concept in his head. Practice does make perfect you know!

There are reviews to complete by the student which are optional after every two chapters. This helps once again to reinforce what they have learned previously. There are links in the books to websites on the Internet that are helpful with particular topics that have been Internet. These range from games, experiments or interactive exercises to practice the math principles once again.

Each full curriculum is split up into 2 parts for e.g Grade 2 A and Grade 2B. You can choose half of one grade and half of another if you need to. The Light Blue Series curriculum is available for download through linking through their website and for Grade Level 2 A and 2B combined it is $29.50. This includes the work text, answer key cumulative reviews, a worksheet maker and SoftPak software to run the program. For Grades 1-5 a Light Blue Series package for download costs $99.00 at a 33 % savings over individual courses. The CD can be sent to you for $104. If you have a number of children this would definitely be a great savings for you over the years, but also even with just two or 3 children. There is a "Frequently Asked Questions" page on the website for you to read and compare which would be the most beneficial topics or curriculum or series to use from Math Mammoth (http://www.mathmammoth.com/faq-lightblue.php#3a ).

I will continue to enjoy using Ms Miller's curriculum this year and will seriously look at possibly continuing with this if the results are good, which so far they seem to be. It is a really easy way to prepare each week for our math lessons, read, printout and review with child.

Please do link to the TOS Crew pages ( for more opinions of this product and read up on what everyone reviewed and what worked for their families and may work for yours. Thanks for reading this.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/767136/

I am a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew for 2009/10 and received this product free for our family to use in our homeschool and right up this review. The above information is my own opinion.

TOS Review: Presidential Penmanship: BJ Style Complete Program

At the beginning of January I received a CD disk in the mail for a handwriting product. Whoa - I thought! My son does not like lots of writing at the best of times so what is going to say when he sees this to do every day for quite a few months.

I presented the idea to him one day and showed him that it is just a little bit a day and then on the 5th day you can do your best handwriting of the week. The "BJ Style Complete Program" CD of Handwriting is a supplemental handwriting skills program for 1st grade through senior high based on writings and quotes from America's founding fathers and presidents. "BJ" is similiar to BJU Press. Through the 4-5 weeks of exposure to these quotes of great men my son has realized that his handwriting can improve and it can be interesting and not boring copy work either. The producer of this product is called Zeezok Publishing or The Book Peddler.

I have included some samples of his handwriting when tracing and copying phrases from George Washington and John Adams. (picture on right side above.) After 4 weeks (we are now in the 4th quote week) his handwriting has improved somewhat and I am sure with continued perseverance on both of our parts, he will have neater and more presentable handwriting by the end of the year.

The student uses this program on a daily basis, tracing over the quote initially and then on Day 5 they are expected to write the quote on their own. The quotes can be printed out weekly or monthly whenever the parent has time to organize their students work. The Week 4 quote I would like to share with you.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people."
- John Adams

I think as he is writing these quotes he is thinking more about what is being said, especially if it is repeated. The student may learn these quotes like they learn Bible verses and then can give them at a recital for example.

This CD covers Grade 1 through senior level of school. The quotes will obviously differ in difficulty as the student is more advanced. Grade 1-2 have quotes that are reasonably short. Grade 3-4 students will learn cursive quotes from some of our nation's Chief Executives, as well as passages from speeches by Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln and more. In 3rd -4th grade there are 108 skill-building lessons for practice three times per week for 36 weeks. Fifth graders will be writing longer passages with more content that are giving them a historical and interesting view of our past leaders. The CD's come at a cost of $39.95 for the complete program on CD (1st grade through Senior High), or individual grade level can be purchased on CD for $9.99 each.

The TOS Homeschool Crew has been sent different CD's to what I have reviewed and the reviews are on the TOS Crew Review Blog. You will see them here at this link:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/759249/

The website for Zeezok Publishing/The Book Peddler is here :

http://www.zeezok.com/default.cfm

They have many other historical books and CD's available on their site too. It makes for an interesting hour of browsing around actually. I like this way of learning. Yes it seems like I like all the products that I have reviewed but that is not true. I like products that really work for my family. This supplemental handwriting course is able to be used with many children over and over again and can be printed out on an 'as need' basis. As I said before on the website there are samples to look out and print out to try out on your students whatever age they may be.

I have written the above review as I was sent this product to use in my family homeschool and to give a written opinion on how it worked/did not work for me. I have not received any financial remuneration for this review.