TOS Review Crew

God’s Special Surprise from See the Light: Review

May 30, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

One of our favorite traveling ministries to visit our church for several years was Parables in Pastels. The artist was a personal friend of my husband’s from childhood and we thoroughly enjoyed his presentations. Through chalk art and black lighting we were blessed with encouragement and always a presentation of the gospel. Rose was especially riveted the last time we saw his presentation. The beauty of art combined with the truth of the Word of God captured her heart. She already loves all things artistic and has expressed how she wants to honor God with her artwork and crafts

When I found out I was going to get to participate in this review I knew Rose (7) would be thrilled. We were privileged to use God’s Special Surprise from See the Light. This Each DVD in the Bible Stories Series costs $14.99 or you can purchase the entire 5 DVD set for $74.95 and contain three projects aligned to the same Bible story. The high-quality video engaged even my girls who weren’t participating in the art! This particular DVD in the series is designed for students six and up.

Before completing the art projects Rose, Beth, and Grace watched the beautifully illustrated story of Moses. They loved this and have asked to watch it again several times! You would think in our high-tech, flashy world that a picture only story-telling venue might not hold a child’s attention. I don’t know about anyone else, but I really think this refreshing style was why it captured their attention. It was sort of like having a book read to you with such beautiful illustrations you didn’t want to turn the page.

Project #1: Surprise!

(A lesson in creative lettering)

The first lesson we worked on was creative lettering. The letters were intended to look like letters chiseled into rock. Beth (5 years old) joined us for this one! The DVD instructor clearly explained in kid-friendly language how to create this unique ancient looking lettering. After writing the letter the girls traced them with extreme colored pencils to create a really cool effect under the black light. The girls also each chose a word to write with their newly practiced chiseled lettering. Rose chose FAITH and Beth chose LEAH (we’ve been enjoying another DVD with a character named Leah!)

Project #2: Hope for a Nation

(A lesson in chalk pastels)

This lesson was the hardest of the three for Rose, but even at that she did great! The biggest problem Rose has right now is with size perception. This is something I could work on her well with the DVD. The instructor would explain and draw. She typically wanted to start drawing before the explanation was over and would sometimes have extreme proportion issues. I was pleased to see that when I talked to her about it and walked her through looking at the example compared to her own she was very calm. In the past she would become frustrated from her art not being exactly like the original. This problem with perfectionism was one reason we started homeschooling in the first place. It still rears its ugly head sometimes, but this was a great test of her patience and giving herself grace in the face of mistakes.

This is the picture with and without the black-light. I again think that this looks much better in person, but I couldn’t find a setting to capture the enhanced picture to my satisfaction. Grace liked this artwork a lot and did her own version on the chalkboard opposite Rose!

Project #3: Moses in the Nile

(A lesson in water colors)

This lesson was by far our favorite! Both the simplicity and beautiful end artwork made it very fun. The beautiful blending techniques with the watercolors were amazing to watch come together. A large part of this piece included using permanent marker. I was pleased at the effort Rose made with this portion. I was wondering if she would get bored, but she did great job. I also learned the right way to use water color paint and how to keep the colors from mixing or becoming too watery.

These pictures turned out to be the most stunning although the black-light version is still not nearly as beautiful as in person.

There are many aspects to this series I loved. I appreciated the historical references and information included in each lesson. The artists also thoroughly explained each step, suggesting to pause the DVD at different points and explaining not only how to complete the steps, but why it needed to be done that way. Am I the only one with a seven-year-old who wants to know the reason behind everything before she does it? It was nice to have everything so clearly explained.

I especially loved the tie-ins with Scripture. Art is beautiful and enjoyable. Art for the purpose of glorifying God takes it to an entirely different level.

This DVD gets a fabulous review from Rose who completed all of the projects. She asked me just this morning, “Would it be okay to go back and make those same pictures again sometime?” I also know it is spectacular because as my other girls watched Rose complete her projects they were inspired to create their own work.

Art that inspires more art…what better compliment is there?

Want to see more? Check out other reviews from my Crewmates by clicking below!

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Paperless Home Organization from Simplified Pantry: Review and a coupon!!!!!

May 23, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

(Make sure you remember to snag the coupon at the bottom of the post!)

Something I really enjoy doing is organizing. I know that isn’t everyone’s idea of a fun day, but there is something about a freshly organized drawer, closet, or room which makes me feel warm-fuzzies all over. Yet although I love to organize, keeping things organized is a totally different animal. I’ve tried numerous systems, printables, and variations. I’ve used pre-made and made my own. My problem has always been simplification for implementation…in other words I need a simple enough system that I can actually follow through with it!

When I found out I was going to have the chance to review Paperless Home Organization by Misty Winckler from Simplified Pantry I was very interested, but was afraid it was going to be seeing just one more system that would end up on my been-there, done-that list. I am pleased to say this couldn’t be further from the truth! Although I am still learning how to fully implement her ideas I think I may have landed on a home-organization home which fits my style much better than others I have tried and at $3.99 this is an excellent buy!

Like the author I have made several home-binders in the 11 years I have been married. Some were incredibly simple. Others were unbelievably complex. Several problems arose with these systems which seem to be taken care of with a paperless system.

1. Attractiveness

With my old notebook and paper type systems I found myself focusing a lot of my time on finding something that looked attractive. Who wants to mess with something that is sloppy and messy?

2. SOOOOO much paper!

The more I organized our lives into one notebook, the more paper started accumulating. I don’t mind paper, but it was getting to the point where I was going to need a separate binder to organize the many facets of my life!

3. Unity and Cohesiveness

I frequently found myself flipping back and forth between all those pages trying to figure out when I could schedule in something different.

4. Portability and Size

I tried taking my household notebook with me out of the house a grand-total of…once. Yeah, all it took was one outing of lugging a large notebook with me to show me I was not cut out to be a notebook toting mama. I see many moms with home organization notebooks I envy, but I just can’t manage keeping it all with me. Not to mention that since it had my grocery list inside I was asked no less than five times by complete strangers where various items were in the store. I didn’t realize why until the last lady asked me about something I didn’t know. She said, “Oh, I’m sorry! I thought you worked here because of your notebook.” It was a lot like learning the lesson to never ever wear a solid red shirt to a Target store!

So my journey has brought me to the digital age and here is what going paperless has already done for me in such a short time…

~ I love my Kindle Fire for this which I already have in an attractive case.

~ I am able to have much more unity in all areas of life-organization.

~ Using apps allows me to store things digitally and saves so much space.

~ No one has yet asked me employee type questions. (That is just so embarrassing!)

This e-book lays out the basics, giving everyone who has the ability to be mobile the tips and tricks to get them stared. The only problem I had with this was figuring out some new programs! I gave them a shot, and some I’m continuing with (I love Evernote’s note stacks!) but for other suggested apps I’m going to use ones I’m already familiar with.

The apps which are suggested include Google mail and calendar, Evernote, and Remember the Milk. Because I am not familiar with these I am trying them out, but deciding which of these I want to keep and which ones I may trade for something more familiar. I do like the Evernote note stacks which allow you to create groups of information such as recipes, medical information, addresses, etc.

The benefit to using these same tools is that the author walks your through each, step-by-step and gives tips and tricks to make them work for you to their ultimate potential. One things I really like about the apps chosen is they can be updated on a computer and the information syncs to the apps on your mobile devices. I still prefer traditional typing because I can do it more quickly so this is a nice feature.

There are a handful of downsides to going paperless. The first is, it’s paperless! That may seem strange, but if you can’t get your mobile device to work and don’t have a back-up plan in place you may have a problem. We are fast moving to being a paperless society with online banking, digital medical records, digital books, etc. While I am not opposed to these new technologies I am aware that complete dependence upon them can wreak havoc when malfunctions occur. Paperless is convenient, but it can sometimes come with a price. Because of this I do have a hard-copy back-up system of a single page so I can get what I absolutely need to done. We also keep all of our vital documents in a safe and easily accessible place for emergencies.

The second downside is the time it takes to set-up and learn the various programs. While I do think it is worth it, I have spent much more time pursuing this option as opposed to the 30 minutes or so it takes me to put together a notebook. However I the time-investment in the beginning does balance out because of the ease of use and lack of paper!

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Simplified pantry also has two excellent e-books (Simplified Dinners and Simplified Simplified Dinners Gluten/Dairy Free) for making meal-times and your pantry more stream-lined. We do not have any issues with gluten or allergies in our family and we simply eat by rules of moderation. There are a few things which are excluded from our diet (artificial sweeteners, alcohol, gourmet items, etc.) but in all things we strive for moderation. Because I am blessed to not have to worry about allergens as I cook I focused on taking a look at the Simplified Dinners.

I was pleased to find that the list given in the beginning of what should be in your pantry was almost exactly what my staples already are. This made looking at the recipes within the book even more exciting! Nothing is quite as discouraging as wanting to try something new for dinner only to realize you don’t have all the ingredients. I look forward to trying some of these in the coming summer months now that our lives have calmed down a bit.

As an wonderful gift Mystie Winckler, the author of these fabulous e-books, is offering a coupon code exclusively for readers of the Schoolhouse Review Crew for 30% any of her e-books books! To take advantage of this offer use the code TOS2013 at checkout.

Don’t forget to check out more reviews from my Crewmates!

Papa’s Pearls from Homefires: Review

May 6, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

One of the few things in my life I regret is not having my grandparents around. I don’t even know if I can qualify it as a regret since it isn’t anything I had control over. I am blessed to know I will see them again one day, but since they died when I was young I missed out on all the wisdom I know they had to give me. I become so frustrated when I hear of families treating their grandparents as a burden or unimportant. Our society does not value their elders anymore and there will come a time when our society will truly regret it.

Papa’s Pearls is a collection of sayings, stories, and wisdom passed on to his children and grandchildren by way of his daughter. Dianne Flynn Keith artfully tells the stories of her childhood in such a way you feel as if you knew Papa (Carol Joseph Flynn). Each chapter is titled with one or two of Papa’s signature sayings and includes stories from his life which build off of them. As I read through these various quotes and stories I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own grandparents and the things they used to say.

One of my favorite stories was of Papa working in the sewer. He would have to wade through sewage in order to do his job as a plumber. I’m sure it was a thankless job, but he did what he had to do in order to provide for his family. The same value was passed down to our family by our own grandfathers and fathers.

My own grandfather worked for years in a coal mine, scrimping and saving each penny in order to be able to purchase land for a farm when he was able. This was certainly not a job he loved, but he worked hard. My great-grandfather sold pies made by my great-grandmother in order to provide for his family when he was laid off during the Depression. My husband worked a variety of jobs in high school and college including mowing lawns, fast-food, pizza making, working at a grocery store, and more in order to save and pay his way through college to end up without debt on the other side. A good work ethic is not taught as it once was and I hope to instill the same ideas in our girls.

I also liked the multiple times that the author referenced her father’s positive outlook on life, no matter the circumstances. It is so easy to fall into a woe-is-me type of attitude when things get difficult, but our children are watching us. Do you say you are joyful in Christ, but neglect to show it to your children? I can become guilty of this at times and I was challenged to make sure I am living out those important parts of my faith which I want to pass on to my children.

I did choose not to read this aloud to my children. This is much more suited for older students and their parents. Since my girls are younger (ages 7, 5, and 3), they would probably not have gotten very much out of the stories. We are not catholic, but Papa was and some mention of this and some catholic practices in the book. This would not have been something I would want to explain to my girls at such a young age, but it would probably not have been as big of a deal for older children. Although I still highly recommend this book I think this is important to be aware of this fact. It can be purchased directly from the website for $21.97 (this includes shipping) or Amazon.

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews from my Crewmates!

Homeschool in the Woods’ Composer Activity Pak: Review

April 29, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

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As a music teacher one of the things I lament about my 30 minute lesson slots is that I don’t have time to teach my students very much about the composers whose music they are playing. I might give some background, but there simply isn’t enough time. In addition, most of my students are in traditional schools which do not have time to cover things like music history alongside their standard curriculum. I was very excited to have the opportunity to complete the Hands-on History Activity Pak: Composer from Homeschool in the Woods. This is the first lapbook I have ever completed with any of my children and I was very pleased with how beautiful all of the graphics were. Many lapbooks I have seen do not appear to be as concerned about attention to detail as the lapbooks from Homeschool in the Woods.

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The lapbook may be purchased as either a download ($18.95) or CD (19.95) and is geared for 3rd through 8th grades. While this is a bit more costly than other lapbooks I have looked at (not completed) I feel this has more artistic and detail focused graphics than cheaper versions. Included are instructions to guide you through the process. I had a difficult time understanding exactly how to put everything together at first. This may have been due to the fact that I’ve never completed a lapbook, but it took several readings for me to feel I understood everything exactly. The printed pages are labeled at the bottom which makes assembly little bit easier.

Rose is finished up 2nd grade so I helped her quite a bit with the assembly since she is on the younger end of the age range. I had some assembly trouble and accidenitally attached the composers all upside down! I probably shouldn’t have helped her as much because she is a perfectionist at heart and would have noticed this rigth away. Older students should be able to do the assembly on their own.

Rose really enjoyed coloring the various pieces of the lapbook and cutting out the pictures of the composers. This ignited her interest to start learning right away! She has also spent quite a bit of time studying the composer cards on her own which has been fun to watch. We would listen to some of the included music while she did this which also inspired her desire to learn.

I like how neatly the materials were arranged. I could easily figure out what I needed to print from the files and match it up with other correct items. Rose did get a little tired of cutting, but she is a little younger than the targeted age, so I’m sure this is why. I had to remind her that it was okay not to be perfectly cut straight edges.

I loved that Rose was inspired to learn about many different composers, music styles, and music periods. She frequently ran to tell me exciting facts as she read them in the large stack of books we checked out from the library.

I did make a discovery about myself…Lapbooking is not my preferred method of instruction. I have heard the wonders of lapbooking exclaimed all across the homeschool blog world, downloaded numerous freebies to try sometime, and have thought they looked like so much fun. I’m a scrapbooker at heart, so I’m surprised that I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. I think the reason ultimately boiled down to the preparation time. I’m spoiled by our regular curriculum which is very open-and-go. I don’t have to go to the library to check out books, or print a large amount of papers, or spend a lot of time preparing for our lessons.

Rose did enjoy this study. She likes to learn on her own so lapbooks are a good fit for her personality. Lapbooking is something much more suited for our family for the summer for my girls to pursue their own interests.

Even though lapbooking in general is not something I enjoy I highly recommend this company if you like lapbooks. They are beautifully done with clear instructions which create a lovely keepsake for future reference. I am keeping our finished lapbook to use with my piano students to give them more information about various composers and perhaps ignite their interest in music history as well!

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews by my Crewmates!

Dr. Craft’s Active Play Book: Review

April 19, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Spring is in the air and along with it the cure for cabin fever! My girls were so anxious to get out in the yard and play once the warm air finally decided to visit the South. I’m happy to let my kids go out and play in the backyard and I join them most of the time, but I typically let them play while I relax and watch on the porch. I’m not very good at structured play to encourage specific skills.

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Dr. Craft’s Active Play Books equip adults caring for young children with 52 different active play activities. For $39.00 you receive Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children, a spiral bound book and DVD with incredibly clear instructions. There are pictures of children playing the activities throughout the book and video of real kids (not little paid actors) participating in all the fun. I do think it would have been nice for the pictures in the book to be in color. Sometimes it was difficult to clearly see what was going on in the black and white pictures.

We used several of these activities for outdoor fun with my girls. While the intended target age is toddlers and preschoolers, my 5-year-old kindergartner and 7-year-old 2nd grader genuinely enjoyed participating with their little 3-year-old sister. I wasn’t sure how much they would want to participate, but they surprised me by wholeheartedly getting on board! Some of our favorites were Egg Farmer, Sock Tails, Outdoor Obstacle Course, and Sock the Cans.

Egg farmer was a lot of fun because we had so many eggs left over from our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! The girls rolled eggs down our backyard slide into a white tub. Because the list of items are basically everyday household things they are easily substituted if you don’t have something. It took some time to find just the right egg catcher for the bottom. Another fun variation was to have one of the other girls be the egg catcher. They had fun trying to catch the eggs as they slid down!

Grace in particular really liked this activity. She became quite good at this activity. It was a great team-building time for my girls. They would cheer one another on, encourage one another if they missed, and took turns collecting the eggs and toting them back up to the top of the slide. I know thy all liked it because after we were “done” with our official playtime the girls kept on playing this one.

Sock Tails turned into Towel Tails because I found this first. We actually named this game Catch the Bunny Tail for our spring-theme. The girls have been searching for bunnies under our shed because they know they lived there last spring. The only uh-oh portion of the activity was when Grace (3-year-old preschooler) dropped her pants right in the middle of the yard because she couldn’t find the tail! Oops! You can tell our neighbors are close so I’m glad no one was outside. (At least not that I know of!) They had a great time with this one though and it was a fun variation on tag, which I’ve never really enjoyed that much. I joined in the fun too and Grace really liked catching the tail when I was wearing it.

Soon after this the pollen hit full-force, so I asked my husband to take over the Active Play portion of our days. I love spring, but boy does the pollen get to me. The neat part about this was I got to let another adult try out the book and sure enough he enjoyed it as well. (Thanks to my mother-in-law who was in town to take some shots of the fun too!)

My husband first set up Sock the Cans. I didn’t want to use the girls’ new socks outside and we didn’t have cans…so once again we got creative! He pulled out some containers from the recycling bin and Grace used a softer bouncy ball. She loved this! I think it may have felt like a carnival game to her.

My husband had a good time setting up the obstacle course using what we had just laying around the yard and in the shed.

Here is the layout…

Down the slide…

Under the lattice…

Around the table…

Over the bridge…

And onto the swing! (All my pics of the swings turned out blurry!)

One of the things I really liked about the book was the list of materials presented before the activity explanation was given. This made it easy to make sure I had everything I needed before beginning. I also liked that the goals for the activity were listed at the top of each activity. This way if I wanted to focus on a particular skill, like galloping or jumping, I could quickly scan through the games to find what I was looking for. The demo DVD was fun because of the real kids doing the activities. Although I felt like the instructions were very clear, having the DVD in case something wasn’t clear to me was helpful. Seeing real kids having fun was great!

Don’t forget to read other reviews from my Crewmates!

Math Rider: Review

April 17, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

When I was in school math wasn’t my best subject. I always just felt like I just wasn’t very good at it even though I didn’t know exactly why. Looking back on it, I wonder if perhaps it was a lack of math fact mastery. I recently found out our state is attempting to pass a law that requires students to master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division math facts. Now, I have no idea why this isn’t already required, but if this was the case when I was in grade school it would make sense that math would be more difficult if I never mastered the facts initially.

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Math Rider is far and away the best program I have seen for math fact retention. It is fun, it is quick, and it works! I honestly feel the $47 is well worth the price. I have been recommending this to everyone who tells me their children are struggling with math facts. This single program covers multiple levels which can be adjusted to individual users as well as all four math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Math Rider is intended for ages 6-12 (2nd-6th grade) but it is a good program for any age who has good basic understanding of addition concepts.

The game is set up so students can practice their facts in practice runs. When practicing the facts they may speed up or slow down as they need to according to their ability. I love that the game automatically adjusts to their speed. It also is not one bit discouraging when they miss a fact. Students have a certain amount of time to find the correct answer before the entire fact is simply read aloud. The same fact is then quickly introduced again so they can have an opportunity to answer correctly thus quickly building mastery. Students can also complete quests. These quests give them a goal to get medicine, find things, help the princess, and return objects to their lost land. The graphics and music are engaging and keep kids interested.

One of the best features allows me to see what facts my girls have mastered, almost have mastered, and don’t know at all. The chart is easy to read and the students’ biggest challenges are listed to the side. A sliding bar shows mastery level at a quick glance and another chart shows how much improvement has been made. This is available for each operation studied. I couldn’t think of anything else I would add to this and ti has proved extremely helpful for me as their teacher.

I used this with Rose (7) and Beth (5). Rose felt like she struggled with math. In reality, she understands the concepts, but recalling math facts quickly has been a frustration for her. When she did speed drills as part of her study she would get the answers correct, but not be able to finish them all in the amount of time allotted. I see the value of speed drills, but encouraged her that even if it took her longer to recall a fact the important thing was that she knew it. Even so she still felt frustration at not being able to finish her speed drills.

After just a few week of using Math Rider Rose consistently finishes her math fact drills early. That’s right! She moved from consistently having 4-5 out of 20 not done in the 60 second time limit to getting them all done correctly with 5-10 seconds left. I can’t tell you what this has done for her confidence.

Beth is only in Kindergarten, but she excels in math and has moved on to the 1st grade curriculum including starting working math facts. I didn’t have to actually teach the concept of addition. She just knew it (I assume from listening in on her older sister’s lessons).

Moving forward into adding three numbers was a breeze due in no small part to Math Rider. I never taught her this concept either (gasp!). She started working on her lessons while I was finishing up the morning chores. The next thing I knew she was adding three numbers without any explanation needed.

Math rider has blessed both my girl immensely. The game was created by a family who was looking for help with their own kids. They did a great job! I intended for them to use it a few times a week, but this has turned into a daily activity, because they beg to play it! They frequently ask to play this game when it isn’t even school time. Are you kidding? Math for fun? Now you know why I can’t say enough good things!

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews from my Crewmates!

Knowledge Quest Sacagawea E-book: Review

April 12, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

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Rose loves history. I love providing her with resources which capture her interest and cause her to want to know even more, I”m sold! We studied Sacagawea about 2 months ago through our core history curriculum. She couldn’t wait to delve into the biography, Sacagawea: Brave Explorers Every Child Should Know, from Knowledge Quest. Knowledge Quest was founded by a veteran homeschooling family dedicated to providing solid resources for history and geography for home education. Click here to read more about their story!

The e-book was originally published in four installments which can each be purchased separately for $1.49. It is also available in its entirety for $3.99. I feel it is an excellent value for a uniquely written and produced piece of accurate biographical literature. It is intended for ages 8-14, but younger students can certainly enjoy this as a read aloud. My daughter is 7 (5th grade reading level) and read this independently.

We study literature by genre once we move past the emerging reader stage. Rose is reading several grades above her grade-level, so I felt this would be perfect for our biography unit…I was right! The Sacagawea e-book is an interactive biography told in the first-person narrative. The two aspects I liked most about this book was that it had links to a variety of topic right in the text for further study and it was written from Sacagawea’s perspective telling the story to her son, nicknamed Pompy. Our core curriculum advocates living books and this fits that description beautifully.

To go along with our literature study Rose completed several activities. She kept a log of words she wasn’t familiar with so we could look them up together, a char which indicated how she was the same and different from Sacagawea, a timeline, and two post-reading projects I’ll talk about later. While we added these items in for our literature study I feel this book stands alone nicely. The integrated links to websites which give further information about the topics adds a unique dimension to reading. This would also be excellent for read-loud as a family and then exploring the links together.

Rose usually does her literature studies during the girls’ quiet time and would typically curl up on the couch or in her bedroom. Every once in a while she would choose the school room, but not usually. It took her about two weeks to finish the book reading 1-2 chapters a day (or three if she missed a day!)

At the end of the book she filled out a literature page which helps her identify aspects of literature such as main characters, genre, setting, conflict, etc. She did this completely on her own for this unit and I was pleased with her retention from the story and attention to detail. This shows me how captivating the story was to her.

I asked her what her favorite part of the book was and she told me it was being able to click on the links. She particularly enjoyed learning more about Native American culture as well as the variety of animals mentioned in the story. Once again I was shown how nice modern technology is for research. Kids love using the computer to study. The vibrant illustrations and valuable information at a moments notice provides extended learning far beyond what many ever imagined would happen. I also know I can trust Knowledge Quest to include links I don’t have to worry about. I learned alongside her as she navigated the various links, but I was never once concerned about the content she would be accessing.

One of the post-reading projects Rose completed was an acrostic of Sacagawea’s name. I was pleased with how many facts she retained! She wrote the poem with me and I copied her ideas on the whiteboard to make the writing process a little bit more fluid. I also helped her figure out how to turn some of her sentences around and assured her that because it was poetry it was okay to be creative!

She was kidnapped
A new medicine she made
Charbonneau was her husband
A member of the Shoshone tribe
Guided Lewis and Clark
Able to speak Shoshone
Went to get horses for the journey
Even ate roots and berries
A son she had named Pompy

Another activity we did was make trading cards of some of the historical figures Rose learned about. She really liked learning more about Sacagawea’s family so that is what her trading cards focused on. We found the pictures for her trading cards through some of the links which were found within the pages of the pdf file. This is another fun way for her to remember who she read about. Also included within the story were a handful of illustrations including portraits and maps. While Rose is well beyond the picture-book stage, she always enjoys seeing illustrations.

I highly recommend this living history book be added to your library. Sacagawea is a fascinating character from American history who is often only taught about in the context of her help to Lewis and Clark. While this was a very important event in her life, there was much more to her as a person and this e-book portrays the many other events of her life beautifully.

Don’t forget to read other reviews from my Crewmates about this e-book and another product from Knowledge Quest, the Timeline Builder App for the iPad! This app really makes me wish I had an iPad!

A Journey Through Learning Astronomy and Space

March 30, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

I really love our regular curriculum and so do my girls, but every once in a while we need a change of pace! I especially like unit studies because it gives my girls a chance to explore their own interests. It also is nice to deviate from the normal every once in a while to keep things exciting. A Journey Through Learning provides a creative way for the learning process. Through their lapbooks and unit studies students of all ages can explore subjects that interest them and create a scrap-book style resource for use of review at a later date. The Review Crew had an opportunity to review the following products in a variety of age ranges:
LapbooksLetters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5)
The Earth (grades 1-4)
Knights and Castles (grades 2-7)Unit Study
Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7)
Unlike most studies I’ve seen online there are several ways these can be purchased. Purchasing the downloadable versions ($13.00) is the easiest for me, but this is not the most convenient for everyone. The lapbooks are also available in a CD ($14.00), a printed version ($20.00) and an assembled version ($29.00). The unit studies also come in a a CD ($14.00) and a printed version ($21.00). I showed the different options we were given for review to Rose who immediately jumped at the chance to study more about Astronomy! My lover of science couldn’t wait to start learning as much as she could. This study is laid out very simply. The instruction pages are clear and enable both parent and student to begin immediately with little preparation.

Included is a list of books and other resources to enhance the study are included. Rose opted to focus on one book for further study called The Astronomy Book. It has a biblical focus which fits in with our family’s beliefs. The nice thing about unit studies is you can choose which resources best reflects your individual family’s values and beliefs as well as choosing appropriate reading levels if you are teaching different ages. Another beauty of unit studies is that multiple ages can study together.

Each topic within the unit has a light page of reading which give interesting facts and information. Following this is a page for students to write down what they learned from what they just read. Rose particularly liked learning about the various planets. I have the order of the planets hanging in our schoolroom and she enjoyed finding out more about them.

Another section she thoroughly enjoyed was the study of the moon. She liked coloring in the phases of the moon although at first she flipped them all around. We fixed that easily enough and I really feel that she may know them better now. Isn’t there a saying that we learn more from our mistakes?

By far Rose’s favorite part was making a diorama of space. She started by painting the inside of a shoebox black. She decided to leave the lid attached to make a title for it. Rose loves being creative with her studies. This was a perfect project for my budding artist!

Included in the study is a page of decorations for the diorama which represent various objects in space which we studied. Rose was so sweet to let her little sister, Beth, help her decorate! I let them use some glitter glue to color the items before cutting them out. I asked if she wanted to color them before adding the glitter, but glitter was enough!

Here is her finished project!

We finished our unit off with a trip to our local children’s museum. It has a very nice display of space travel. Many artifacts, including the craft which Enos, one of the chimps who flew to space before man traveled, orbited the earth. This was such a fun way to close off our study!

If you are in the market for a unit study or lapbook this is a great company to explore. Take a look at the history of who they are. I love that it was two moms, just like me, who had a vision for something and worked hard through trials and adversity.

Don’t forget to check out the reviews from the rest of the Crew!

Adventus MusIQ Homeschool: Piano Software Review

March 20, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My parents tell me I asked to take lessons of all the typical girl interests: dance, gymnastics, horseback riding, and piano. They wisely asked me to choose one and I chose, much to their pleasure, piano. They of course told me they wanted me to do lessons for a year before deciding if I wanted to continue. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with music and making music with the piano. I loved it so much, my parents would typically have to force me away to work on my homework. Believe me, this is not typical for music students. I should know this since I now teach piano.

Grace “practicing” before she could even walk!

Thanks to my parents providing me with lessons from the time I was 8, I now have 24 students in my home each week, two of whom are my own sweet girls! I love teaching, but I understand all too well the financial aspect of music lessons. There are often families who inquire after music lessons only to discover they are not financially able to move forward. Adventus has created and excellent, affordable alternative for students to begin piano lessons for families who cannot afford traditional instruction. MusicIQ Homeschool is perfect for use by anyone, even if you don’t have any musical background.

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There are seven level options which include software, lesson plans, activity, and theory sheets. Parents can choose a monthly subscription for $10.95 which allows access to all levels of the entire curriculum. For families who would prefer to pay one-time the younger beginning three levels (ages 4-10) are priced at $89.95. The level used for ages 10 and up is priced at $109.95. Two separate level of ear training are only $59.95 each. To give you an idea of how this compares to traditional lessons, one month of private piano instruction provided by me, in my own home costs $60. You can easily see the price comparison!

Families do need to own a midi piano (which can be purchased directly from Adventus along with the curriculum in a package) since you must connect the piano to your computer in order to use the software. This would be an investment made for piano instruction anyway if the family did not already own a piano. I can assure you that anyone who learns to play on a keyboard can easily make the transition to a traditional piano. Over half of my students play on midi keyboards and have no difficulty playing on the grand piano at our church for their recital. There is a difference in key weight, but it will not cause any problems moving from one to the other.

For some, 4 years old may seem quite young to start learning music formally. I have successfully taught several 4-year-olds. Both Beth and Rose began lessons when they were 4. I hadn’t planned to start teaching Grace yet…she is only three after all! I have been “teaching” her a lesson every Friday along with her sisters, but it has been mostly to appease her pleas and hadn’t amounted to much…until I opened Year 1 on my computer and took a look. Much to my surprise the beginning lessons were similar to what I had been teaching her on my own (low and high notes).

Grace was quickly drawn into the program. I love the immediate immersion for students into classical music and composers. One of the things which is difficult to include in traditional 30 minute music lessons is information about composers and their music. Various composers introduce each lesson and music by the composer is played at the beginning and end. The music is also used during the practice sessions. Another fun aspect is that music composition is encouraged from the very first lesson!

The reason Grace was so quickly able to succeed with these lessons is that the concepts area taught without using traditional musical scores. High notes are called bird notes and low notes are called whale notes. When she was asked to play bird notes, she learned to play notes above middle C. When asked to play a whale note she knows to play below middle C. The program encourages students for correct answers and correct for wrong ones, giving them an opportunity to fix it during the practice sessions. Placing a sticker on middle C is a trick I’ve used with all my beginning students, especially the youngest ones. I used this technique with Grace as well because it is difficult for young students to recognize the pattern of the black and white keys.

Even though my older daughters have been taking lessons for a while (Beth – 2 years and Rose – 4 years) there was still opportunity for learning through this program. Beth completed several lessons from Volume 2. She very much enjoyed Ms. Melody in the practice room!

Rose has surpassed the lessons offered in all three levels of the Children’s Music Journey in what I have taught her already, but the music games were an excellent review for her. She frequently asked to play the games which were an excellent reward for after her daily practice. Everything from interval identification to ear training to note recognition is covered in the games.

I also used this with a few of my students to review. I found the music note review to be very helpful both for assessment and practice. When I tell my students they need to review their note names I often feel they don’t really understand the necessity of this skill. After playing through the cookie factory game my students recognized exactly where they stood. The only thing I didn’t like was that the correct note was not identified when they answered incorrectly. I feel this would have been beneficial so they would have had a better chance to answer correctly the next time.

This is an excellent program for families who are looking to begin music instruction but may not know how long their child will keep interest or have financial constraints. I also think this is a good resource for a traditional music teacher to have in their toolbox. My students who had the opportunity to use this program genuinely had fun and learned at the same time!

To see this program in action watch the video below of my sweet Grace. Keep in mind she is only 3 1/2 years old! I’ll admit this is younger than the program is intended for, but considering she is daily surrounded by music instruction it isn’t surprising she is doing so well!

Don’t forget to read more reviews from my Crewmates!

Touch Math: Preschool Review

March 11, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Grace is my youngest. She has only ever known home-learning. Even though my oldest had a year at kindergarten, her other sister was learning to read that year. There was no transition for Grace because it was simply normal. Maybe it’s because she’s the third or maybe it’s just personality, but I cannot seem to give this little girl enough learning to satisfy her! She has her own curriculum and daily work, just like her sisters, but it is never enough.

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I was beyond ecstatic to review Touch Math’s Pre-K program with Grace. For $59.95 even the youngest learners are able to learn basic math. The printable pdf files are engaging, but not distracting with unnecessary graphics or colors which I often feel take away from the concepts. However, the manipulatives used with this program are brightly colored and engaging in a way that causes the child to want to use them!

Grace could not wait to get her hands on them! We received our package on a Friday afternoon. One glimpse of the beautiful numbers and number cards cause a period of jumping and cheering from my three-y-ear-old. The Texture Cards and 3D Numerals (Sold separately) kept her entertained by themselves for almost an hour with her Grandma the next day. She touched each number, practiced tracing them, counted whatever object or character was on the card, and overall simply enjoyed these thoroughly. The 3D Numerals were a great way to introduce each number. I was surprised to find out she already recognizes her numbers consistently and we had fun using these to identify numbers of objects on the worksheets as well as around the room. Included in the numeral box are pdf files on CD with activities and ideas for teaching. These manipulatives are intended to be used for more than one level.

Touch Math also sent us a set of Touch Shapes. These transparent, colorful shapes are so much fun! The multiple colors, shapes, and sizes provide varied levels of learning opportunities including sorting, size arrangement, and shape & color recognition.

Grace jumped right into these without hesitation! After I printed the worksheets I opted to slip them into protective covers which could be written on with dry-erase markers. This way I could reuse the lessons with her and save paper. Not to mention that she will jump at any opportunity to use markers!

In just a couple of days Grace understood the concept of equal. I hadn’t considered teaching her this since I had only seen the concept in Kindergarten level materials. Touch Math gives scripted lessons which really helps me out. Sometimes I have a hard time finding the words to say to teach a new concept to my young girls. When a curriculum gives me step-by-step directions, the guess work is gone. I may have to re-explain something, but it is much easier to have a starting point.

I really liked how the worksheets incorporated both written work and manipulatives. I like math programs which give both a hands-on and traditional writing approach. We used the 3D numerals and Touch Shapes the most. Grace loved everything about this and asks daily to do her math. We typically use 3-4 worksheets a day so we’re going to get through the program quickly. I have already reviewed some of the earlier pages and she loves doing them a second just as much!

I highly recommend this program for preschool math. It is not the cheapest one available, but it isn’t outrageously priced and it is far and above the best I have seen for math at this age. The manipulatives are colorful, but not distracting. The pages are simple and not overwhelming with the amount of work. The concepts are challenging for this level and preparing the children for more complex math ideas. You won’t be disappointed with this engaging preschool curriculum!

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews from my Crewmates!

Disclaimer

I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.