(In Search of) Super-Stay-At-Home-(Schooling)-Mom

New music makes me sad

2011-05-29T17:32:00.002-04:00

We've been listening to several homeschool convention speakers whenever we travel in the car lately, and yesterday Megan (5) asked if we could listen to some SONGS instead. So today I flipped over to some Beethoven, and was surprised that the whole crew listened without comment. The last time I tried classical music in the car, the situation was mutinous.

Later this afternoon, I began humming a line from the piece we'd been listening to, and to my surprise, Aaron (11) said "is it just my imagination, or was I just thinking about that a few minutes ago?" Onto the computer I went, clicking open my music program and starting the song in question.
"This song?" I asked him.
"Yes, that one." So I let the piece play, and once again, classical music filled the air without any complaints from my children.

There is a danger, however, in playing any piece of classical music around me for very long. Inevitably, it leads to me thinking about my long, lost music collection...and I grieve.

In late 2001, we moved from Louisiana to Indiana. I lovingly packed up my 250+ tapes, that I'd hauled from New Mexico to college, back to New Mexico when I got married, through two moves in New Mexico, to Louisiana, and through two more moves in Louisiana. Somewhere along the way, I'd begun to collect CDs, the "new" music medium, but the tapes were listened to as much as, or more, than the CDs. I moved them to Indiana, where they waited for over a month while we looked for a house. They were one of the first things I unpacked.
Somewhere around 2003, the last tape player in the house died. The tapes sat unplayed for months until the day I did a massive cleaning in anticipation of the birth of our third child. Once again, I lovingly boxed them up, and I stored them on top of the laundry room cabinets. Not out of sight, not out of mind, but out of use, at least for the time being.
We moved to our current home in 2006. It took us two weekends to move out of our previous house, but that was partially because a good portion of our belongings were being stored in my sister-in-law's garage, so we essentially had to move out of two separate places. We packed, moved and unpacked what we needed that first weekend, and went back the second weekend for the rest.
I very vividly remember crawling on top of the washer and dryer to empty the laundry room cabinets and to fish the boxes of tapes off the top. I know I put the boxes...in a box. Which one, I don't recall so vividly. That was the last time I saw them.
At least once every six months or so, I go a little crazy in missing them, and tear through every still-packed box left in the house. All the boxes in the basement, all the boxes in my room, all the boxes in the garage. I untape and open every single one. Even the ones that I know don't have my box of tapes. It's been nearly four years, and I've almost resigned myself to the fact that the tapes are gone. Whether they never got packed, or were mistakenly thrown out, or left at the curb or put in a pile destined for Goodwill, I'll never know. All I know is that they're gone, and I'll never get them back.

Among the missing...

The recording of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, given to my by John Reno. John was a surrogate father to me throughout high school, and this particular version was directed by his brother Phil. This tape opened up the world of Broadway musicals to me. I've tracked down four different recordings since then, but none of them are as good as that first one.
The complete symphonic recording of Les Miserables, including the libretto (the little music book with notes and lyrics). Three tapes in all, and I listened to this one so many times I'm surprised the tapes would still play. I'd never seen a live musical yet, and when I finally did see this one, it was just like I'd imagined it.
Following the theme of musicals, I'm also missing my tapes of Grease (both the musical and the movie soundtrack), Miss Saigon (complete London recording, with Lea Salonga), Aspects of Love (which has beautiful music and a terrible story) and many more.
And in the theme of movie soundtracks, I had nearly every Disney movie soundtrack, even the live action movies like Newsies. Soundtracks from the Disney animated movies filled a large section of my collection: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The ORIGINAL Fantasia, and The Lion King.
My classical collection - what started this post - is what I miss the most. Let's say I had unlimited funds and could replace all these taps. Well, with my classical collection, I wouldn't even know where to start in reconstructing it, because I don't know classical music by name, or composer. I only know it by tune.

Let me explain.

I grew up as a Suzuki violin student. For those of you who don't know about Suzuki, here's a quick summary: You learn to play by listening, just as you learn to speak your native language by hearing it. I didn't learn to read music until I was in late elementary school, after I'd already played the violin for 6-7 years. I wasn't proficient at reading music until late in high school. But starting in sixth grade, I played in one of the highest-rated youth orchestras in the United States: the Albuquerque Youth Symphony (AYS). Since I wasn't all that great at reading music, and we had to learn three full programs every year, I ended up with a LOT of classical music. Every time we received our new program music, I'd beg my parents to go out and purchase me tapes of the music we were playing, so I could learn my part. 4-5 pieces of music per program, times 3 programs a year, times 7 years equals nearly 100 tapes. Add to that 4 years of All-State Music Festival in high school, during which we learned another 4-5 pieces, and a year that the AYS was invited to play with the New Mexico Symphony; I probably owned 120 tapes that had been purchased so that I could learn one of the pieces on each tape. I learned the majority of that music knowing what it sounded like. 19 times out of 20, I couldn't tell you the Title of the piece or the name of the composer who wrote it.

Another set of tapes that is forever lost to me are the live recordings of the high-school AYS and All-State orchestra performances. Those probably aren't all that great, and I rarely listened to them. But they were a sign of accomplishment - something I could point to and say "I played that" (something I often tell my husband when I hear a piece of music on TV or in a movie). There's a piece of my history in there, and now it only lives in my memory.

That is, unless I happen to unearth a box that has previously eluded me, and rip off the packing tape that seals it shut, and discover the treasure trove that I've mourned the loss of many times over.

TOS Review: Read For The Heart

2011-05-27T10:30:00.002-04:00

I wanted to start off this post with a couple of clips from the movie You've Got Mail that have some interesting insights into books and how they influence us.

I agree wholeheartedly! I believe the books we read and have read to us when we're children shape our identity and our worldview in a more compelling and significant way than any other books we read throughout the rest of our lives. In fact, I'm one of the (very) few people who doesn't buy into the "at least they're reading something" idea - the excuse that is usually given when a parent admits that all their child will read is Captain Underpants or Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger (I kid you not, that is a real book!).

One of the 20th Century's most profound truths: YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ

I love books. If you were to set foot in my home you could probably tell pretty quickly. I mean, sure - there are only two bookcases downstairs and one upstairs, so you might have to be a bit of a sleuth to figure it out. So look around. Notice the piles of books on nearly every flat surface? The entire right side of my desk covered with books? If that isn't enough to convince you, ask me why both the "school room" (currently under construction) and my bedroom currently look as though we just moved in even though we've lived here for nearly 5 years. At last count we had over 40 boxes - all of them full to the brim of books.

I love books so much that while other students left for college with their CD collection, their pictures or their entire wardrobe, I used up most of my packing space for the books I wanted to take. I even broke down crying the night before I left when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to take all of my books (and back then, I actually did only have two bookcases full of them).

The right books are friends. They teach me, and help me grow. They open up new worlds and make my current world better. Reading these books changes me, helping me become the person I want to be.

In the same way, reading the wrong books is like hanging out with the "wrong crowd." On the surface, the wrong books can seem innocent, neutral, sometimes even helpful, but once you really hold these books to the correct standards, it becomes clear how damaging they can be.

That was an incredibly long intro, I know, but it's the best way to explain why I liked Sarah Clarkson's Read For the Heart from Apologia Press so much. Read For the Heart is in some ways similar to other books about books. On the surface, it seems to be a book that lists suggested reading materials for a variety of ages. But Read For the Heart has heart. Sarah Clarkson begins the book by leading you through her own experience growing up with great literature being read aloud in her home. In many ways, her experiences and feelings about books and reading mirror my own.

I guess the most succinct way to compare the books is to say that other books about books are books about what to read, but Read For the Heart is a book about what to read aloud and what to give your children to read, and how, and most importantly, why. Actually, the entire title, as you can see above, is: Read For the Heart: Whole Books for Wholehearted Families. It explains how your ideas and loves and worldview and very being can be influenced for Truth and Right through the books you are exposed to as a child. Check out what Sarah has to say about why she wrote the book (italics mine):

"Experts have written many excellent books on the merits of great literature and useful guides to selecting worthy books. I am not an expert or a critic. My perspective comes from the other side - from a young heart, mind and soul shaped by storybooks. Although this book is a handbook, with lists and tips galore to guide you into the world of children's literature, I also consider it to be a story and an invitation not just to a reading list, but to a reading life.

As I have considered the many wonderful reasons to read, a steady progression of scenes from my childhood has come to my mind, each one a poignant portrait of a reading life. One by one, these scenes remind me of the reasons I read: for a wakened heart, a strong mind, and a steadfast soul."

This book quickly became a cherished friend. I identified with Sarah's childhood experiences with books on a very personal level. As a parent, one of my greatest desires is to pass along to my own children this reading life. Sometimes I get lost in the logistics of it all, and lose sight of the real reasons that I read aloud or give certain books to my kids. It's not about the hours logged, or getting through a certain number of books per week, or checking one more off the list. It's about passing along a heritage, gifting my children with the true joy of discovering another "friend" in a story, and the certain knowledge that growth and change is taking place in our lives because of something we've read.

I feel as though I could probably write my own book about how much I like this book, and why! This book is one that I may very well end up owning multiple copies of, just so I can lend it out to friends without fear that I won't have access to a copy when I need it. Sarah's reading recommendations come from her very own childhood reading experiences. She's very clear that her lists are not all-inclusive, that there's much more good literature out there than she had room in the book to list. But the best part of this book may not lie in the lists at all (though they're GREAT!), but in the story that Sarah weaves about growing up in a family that cherished reading, that understood that the books you read and have read to you become a part of you in a very tangible way. I dare you to read it without feeling a twang of envy for the reading life Sarah experienced in her formative years.

Don't take my word for it though. You can check out a sample chapter of Read For the Heart as well as the Table of Contents. You can also check out what my other crew members had to say about the book. The best way to check it out, though, is to just get the book. It's available from Apologia Press for $17.00 and absolutely worth every penny. Read For the Heart is one of many homeschooling resources offered by Apologia and so far I've found that everything I've tried from Apologia has been a keeper!

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of Read For the Heart in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Considering God's Creation

2011-05-25T10:30:00.004-04:00

I have two non-negotiable requirements to even consider using a science curriculum. First, the curriculum cannot perpetuate the myth of evolution (To be honest, my first instinct was to use the word "lie" instead of "myth". That's how strongly I believe in the truth of Creation.) I don't mind a text or program that presents the argument of evolution as an unproven, unbiblical theory but I absolutely refuse to give my kids a book that presents evolution as fact or "one of many possible truths". Second, I don't want to spend even 1/2 the amount of time preparing for the lesson as it takes to teach the lesson. It's science for crying out loud. You're supposed to be able to walk out the door (or even stay inside) and study the world around you. It shouldn't take four specialized shopping trips and two hours of prep time to teach your kids about the solar system, the human body, or the plant world.

I was pleasantly surprised when we received the Considering God's Creation set from Eagle's Wings. They specifically describe Considering God's Creation as "A creative, in-depth encounter with natural science from a Biblical perspective." and "...science the way we wish we'd been taught!" The program can be adapted for grades 2-7, and can be a quick overview or an in-depth study. Best of all, it doesn't require anything for projects that you wouldn't find in your home - mostly crayons, tape, glue, and the occasional shoebox. Best of all, each lesson requires the use of a Bible, as the program is intended to teach children not just about the science of God's creation, but how to defend Creation to those who believe evolution.

The program itself consists of a student workbook, a teacher's manual, and an audio CD. The audio CD contains 23 songs and poems that go along with the lessons and can be memorized. The student workbook is essentially the "projects" that go with each lesson - pages to color, booklets to put together, diagrams to cut out and put together, cards to cut out, etc. Below are just a few samples of the activities from the student workbook.

Check out more samples here. Also, on the right side of this page, underneath the order information, you can check out a few of the sound clips from the audio CD.
The teacher's manual has a short introduction that explains the many versatile ways this program can be used, and how to adapt it to different grade levels, or even use as a supplement to other programs. Then it provides the preparation info, the vocabulary, the reading portion, instructions for the activity and notebook, the Bible reading portion, a section called Evolution Stumpers (more on that in a minute) and the review for each lesson. Also included is a section called Digging Deeper that provides multiple resources for that particular lesson topic to use with the lesson or assign to older students for a more in-depth study.

Teacher's Manual Sample Page
Click to view larger version

The Evolution Stumpers section is particularly geared toward teaching students to defend Creation to those who believe in evolution. Mostly they're just a series of questions. Though some of the answers are in the lesson they've just covered, there is no answer guide for this section, and no "right" answer for every one of the questions. It's just a jumping-off place to get students started thinking about what they believe, which is critical to defending it. As one of my favorite teachers has said: It's not enough to give students the information they need to know about their faith. They need to know how to think through what they believe and why, so they can answer people when they ask the hard questions.

The subjects covered in this course are:

Universe
Stars
Solar System
Earth
Light
Sound
Wind
Weather
Clouds
Rocks
Plants

Insects
Mammals
Reptiles
Birds
Fish
Amphibians
Food Chains
Reproduction and Genetics
Human
Animal Anatomy
Physiology

The best part about this course - that you get SO MUCH for SO LITTLE. The entire set (teacher's manual, student workbook, audio CD) only costs $29.95. A limited copywrite on the student workbook allows you to copy the workbook pages for your own family to use, but you can also purchase additional student workbooks for $13.95 each.

I love the intent of this course, and I super-love the adaptability of this course. We usually use Apologia's science courses, and we were able to get through the Universe/Stars/Solar System/Earth portions of the Considering God's Creation program. It dovetails perfectly with Apologia's Astronomy course.

I planned to have a "light" summer this year. We're not taking the summer off, but we're not going to be doing much school work. After using this course for several weeks, I decided that we'll be using the program for our summer science study, doing about two sections a week and concentrating more on the activities and defense of creation aspects than going real in-depth. We'll be getting to the human anatomy and physiology section just in time to start our Apologia Anatomy course and I'll dovetail those together.

Bottom line, this is easy and enjoyable to use. It's a fantastic product at a fantastic price, and would be an excellent addition to any homeschool.

Check out what my other crew members have to say about this product here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary set of Considering God's Creation in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Word Qwerty

2011-05-20T10:30:00.001-04:00

Last fall we tried out and reviewed Talking Fingers' Read Write and Type, a program that teaches reading, spelling and keyboarding skills. Our experience was mixed. I honestly did not like the program and found the animation and story line annoying. At first my girls weren't too thrilled with it either. In fact, in the amount of time we had to use the program before I had to write the review, I was having to make my 7-year-old use the program, just to have enough information to do the review. I was pretty negative about the program in that review, and some of my main complaints have not changed.

But a funny thing happened: as they used it more, they really were learning some skills that other programs (computer or not) were not teaching them, and once they figured out how to use the program, they started to like it. The day that Kaitlyn (my 7-year-old) finished the program, she was actually excited that she got all the way through, and suddenly Megan (my 5-year-old) was begging me to "play too". Since our license was still active, and I was allowed to have one child using the program at a time, I simply shut off Kaitlyn's access to RWT, and started Megan's. Megan also had some of the same problems, but once Kaitlyn showed her how to use the program, she flew through it and was super-excited to finish as well. Despite what I still consider a cheesy story-line and awful music, they did learn skills by using it.

So when offered the chance to review Word Qwerty, Talking Finger's sequel to RWT, I asked the girls if they were interested in doing the next level. They were enthusiastic, and I went ahead and signed up.

Word Qwerty takes kids through the next steps of reading and writing fluency, and picks up where the RWT system leaves off. It's geared toward 7-9 year-olds, but my 5 year old, who is reading at about a "late 1st grade" level, was able to use it just fine. Children do not have to use or complete RWT before using Word Qwerty.

RWT teaches how to read, write and type, but at that stage children may have difficulty spelling some words because of the different rules of "construction" in the English language. Word Qwerty teaches how words are put together in English and uses reading and writing tools - aka, fun games - to help the child gain fluency and comprehension.

Wordy Qwerty has a total of 20 lessons, each comprised of six parts to guide a child to reading and writing fluency through the program:

1 - PATTERNS

2 - KARAOKE

Patterns – for instance, sorting words by the beginning letter.

Karaoke – rhymes and songs teach the 20 rules of word construction.

3 - RECYCLER

4 - POP-A-WORD

Recycler – watching the recycler make new words by changing the first letter.

Pop-a-Word – helps recognize outlaw words by memorizing them.

WRITE STORIES

READ STORIES

Write Stories – using the spelling rules to types stories that are dictated a line at a time.

Read Stories – reading a good story and filling in the missing words.

Interested? Check out this video that explains how the program works:

You can also check out a free demo AND get a 20%-off coupon to use if you decide to order the program. You have a few choices in purchasing. You can choose to use the program online (license is good for 5 years) starting at $25 for one student. You can also order the program on CD with several hands-on items included (program guide in a 3-ring binder and Jingle Spells on audio CD) starting at $35 for the Home Edition. While the Home Edition is perfect for homeschoolers, it does not work with Windows 7 or Mac 10.6. The programs are also available for schools to purchase. For information on School License, Talking Fingers, or the K-4 bundle click here.

Our Opinion:
So - that's a lot of information about the program and how it works. The question you're probably most interested in, is "How did WE like it?"

The jury is still out. Like Talking Fingers' Read, Write and Type, I find myself having to coax the girls to use the program. When we sat down a few days ago to have a frank discussion about what they like and what they don't, they both complained about the songs being "annoying" and "dumb". Given that memorizing the songs that teach the spelling rules is critical to learning what the program is geared to teach, it seems like a BIG minus. However, just because they don't like the songs, doesn't mean they haven't learned them. Several times I've caught both of them singing the various songs as they go about their day (NOT during their time using the program). On the same topic, both my boys have complained about the music, to the point that we had to institute a "head-phones required" rule for when the girls did Word Qwerty.

I have noticed a huge gain in both girls' spelling AND reading skills since they started using it. The strange thing is that if I try to ask them specific spelling questions verbally that incorporate the rules they're learning, they seem to have a poor understanding of how the rule actually works. For instance, one rule teaches that the "ch" sound can be spelled "ch" as in much or "tch" as in match. I used those specific words to test their understanding of the spelling rule in this conversation:
Me: "How would you spell much?"
Kaitlyn: "M...u...c...h"
Me: "How would you spell match?"
Kaitlyn: "M...a...c...h"
Me: "What other letters, instead of "c...h", could you use to make the "ch" sound?"
Kaitlyn: "Um....."
Me: (wait)
Kaitlyn: "Um...t...c...h?"
Me: "Yes! So...how else could you spell match?"
Kaitlyn: "M...a...t...h?"

However, if I SHOW Kaitlyn the words much and match she can read them just fine. Same thing with Megan.

Overall, I think the program could use some better music, and some revamping in terms of teaching the kids to incorporate the rules verbally, as well as visually. But it does have some benefits and may work very well for helping kids learn how the English spelling rules work, which may lead to better spelling very quickly.

Want to know more? Check out what my other crew members had to say about Word Qwerty here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary 2-person license to the online version of Word Qwerty in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Circle C Beginnings

2011-05-06T10:00:00.002-04:00

I'll be honest: I'm not a fan of most "beginning reader" or "early reader" type books. Maybe it's because every time I look at them hoping to find some good reading material, I'm met with rack after rack of books about the latest Disney movie or pop culture TV show character. No thank you. I'd prefer my kids work on their reading skills AND ingest worthwhile, character-building stories at the same time. Which can be a tough order when you're talking about finding both things in a book geared toward new readers.

Enter the Circle C Beginnings series from Kregel Publications. Now THIS, I can get happily on board with. The stories are geared toward the early reader, yet they are wholesome, moral stories with both an element of history and the truth of Jesus Christ as God and Savior.

We received the second book in the series, Andi's Indian Summer. The story follows Andi, a 6 year old girl living on the Circle C Ranch in California, in the late 1800's. Andi's friend Riley, an 8 year old boy, reads her a "dime book" story about Indians and Andi finds herself both curious and terrified. When Andi and Riley encounter real Indians (from the historically accurate Yokut tribe), they both discover that these Indians are nothing like those in the fictional story. The story teaches good lessons about fear, anger, making good choices and forgiveness.

The story is just the beginning. At the beginning of the book, there is a list of new words to help the reader understand some of the historical context that would otherwise be confusing. After the story ends, there's a note from the author about some of the history that may not make sense to a young child living in today's world. For instance, when Andi and Riley ride off and end up meeting the real Indians, they are very far from home. Most children can't imagine having the freedom at age 6 or 8 to not only ride away from home on a horse, but to go so far away from home that they'd lose their way or have to wait until the following morning to return. The book explains that children in the time period where the book is set would have much more freedom and responsibility at much younger ages than now.

Besides the rich content of the book, there's also the website. The entire Circle C Beginnings set is linked to the Andi and Taffy website. The website offers free coloring pages, puzzles (that can be played on the computer or printed out to cut out and put together) and an entire set of free activities to accompany each book. The activity set is full of word puzzles, geography studies, dot-to-dots, history studies, a "write your own story" section and much more! You can also purchase the other books on the site, as well as the resources to Lap Book through each book.

The books are available directly from the publisher for $4.99 each, or as a 4-pack for $15.96 (plus shipping). You can purchase them from the Andi and Taffy website, Amazon.com* or through Christianbook.com (offered in sets for $14.99 and up). There are currently four titles: Andi's Pony Trouble, Andi's Indian Summer, Andi's Fair Suprise and Andi's Scary School Days. There are two more titles due to be released at the beginning of August 2011 - Andi's Lonely Little Foal and Andi's Circle C Christmas. Check out the series' You Tube video:

This was a terrific story for my two new readers. Kaitlyn is 7 and Megan is 5, and they're both reading at about a 1st grade level right now. We used this book as a read-aloud with the girls and myself taking turns reading a paragraph. We stopped after each chapter to discuss what we'd read and check that they were adequately comprehending what they'd read. We also used several of the activities from the AndiandTaffy website. They loved the book, and are looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I also noticed my older son (11) both listening eagerly during our read-aloud times, AND picking up the book and reading it himself (something he rarely does with any books). I loved the history, adventure and Biblical lessons that these books bring to "easy" reading, and I'll be adding the rest of the series to our library.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of Circle C Beginnings: Andi's Indian Summer in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

*The Amazon link is an affiliate link. If you purchase the books through this link, I receive a small percentage of the sale.

TOS Review: Nutrition 101

2011-04-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

ONE DAY ONLY: Tomorrow, April 21, The Old Schoolhouse is hosting a webinar with Sera Johnson, one of the authors of Nutrition 101. This webinar will take place at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

Okay, I'll admit it: When I learned that I was chosen to be one of the reviewers for Growing Healthy Homes' Nutrition 101, I was 60% excited and 40% curious. Or maybe it was the other way around. I'd heard good things from several people about this health and nutrition curriculum, and I was excited to see it for myself. But I'm also a HUGE supporter of the Real Food/Weston A. Price movement, and after over a decade of studying nutrition, I have some very firm beliefs about it. I was super-curious to see whether Nutrition 101 would fit those beliefs.

Growing Healthy Homes was started in 2007 "to educate and train families regarding God's plan to optimum health as outlined in the Bible." The product I received, Nutrition 101: Choose Life!, is a three-in-one family nutrition and health program for all ages that presents the major body systems, how they function, their common health issues, the benefits of good food and the consequences of bad food.

The book is divided into 6 units:

The Brain and Nervous System

Digestion and Elimination

Respiration and Olfactory

Muscular and Skeletal Systems

Cardiovascular and Immune Systems

Endocrine System and Emotions.

This book is well-researched, very in-depth and a fantastic study of the way the human body works and how the food we eat can help or hurt us. Each unit is divided into small, easy-to-digest (pun totally intended) sections with Bible references, excellent illustrations, discussion questions and activities. There are also art projects, science projects, and yummy, "hands-on" recipes. As a whole, it's a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to give their children a Biblical, healthy understanding of nutrition. Not only that, but the book is flexible enough that you could use it with pre-schoolers, or assign it for high school credit. Truly a great resource for any homeschool!

*I* (and I stress this, because I have to say that I'm probably the pickiest person I know when it comes to what really is nutritious and what isn't) did not agree with some of the authors' beliefs. Specifically, I disagree with their take on nutritious fats, and how much fat is necessary. They say a little, mostly the "good" oils like coconut and olive oil. I say we - and especially our children - need a LOT of fat (upwards of 50% of our daily calories) and that much, if not most, of it should come from saturated fats, especially animal fats (though I agree on the coconut oil, depending on the type and source). I was also sad to see no mention at all of soaking or sprouting grains, the health benefits of raw dairy (and conversely the health hazards of pasteurized dairy), and a heavy emphasis on the veggies. And, I was actually annoyed at their choice to push "raw, blue agave nectar" as their sweetener of choice. That's probably an argument better suited for a whole other post, but suffice it to say that even the "raw blue" agave is still highly processed, and the liver has to process this sweetener the same way it has to process high fructose corn syrup - it is NOT a healthy alternative to refined white sugar. Yet the book had at least 25 recipes using it!

However, even with those reservations, the Nutrition 101 course is so full of good info, and so-well organized and laid out, that I will continue to teach it to my children, adding in the things I listed above as we get to them. And that's just another great thing about this course - you can add/remove/change things that you may personally feel need to be added/removed/changed without having to go out and try to find something completely different. The overall information presented is very sound, both Biblically and nutritionally.

You can check out more about the course by watching this video:

You can also check out a free excerpt of the book yourself.

The course is available on CD (e-book format) for $79.95, as a gorgeous, full-color book for $99.95, or a combo pack for $129.95. My preference would be the combo pack. It's nice to have the book in hands to read aloud from, flip through and have as a handy reference, but also great to have the e-book format so you can print single pages when needed.

Want to see what the other crew members thought about Nutrition 101? Check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary e-book copy of Nutrition 101: Choose Life! in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Go Go Kabongo

2011-04-04T10:30:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, even though I have two kids who are not yet completely fluent in reading, my first reaction to Go Go Kabongo was "Another reading game?" (Don't worry, I kept that one to myself!). The girls were both super-excited to get yet another online game they "have" to play, as computer time is usually very limited in our house. I can't tell you how often I heard "Can I play my Go Go Kabongo?", but it was many times, daily. The other thing I heard, from my older boys, was "I don't think they're doing what they're supposed to do on there; every time I see them using Go Go Kabongo, they're playing a game."

Well, surprise, boys! That's the way Go Go Kabongo works. It looks like a game, but it's actually teaching essential reading skills.

From the website: What does GO GO KABONGO! teach? Kabongo games do not teach with “right” and “wrong” answers. Instead, they guide children toward better thinking by using an exciting, engaging game design. Children use a wide variety of critical-thinking and problem-solving strategies to play and progress, including these skills that are essential for reading:

Attention and focus: Children must be able to focus on important clues and rule out other distracting factors in order to become efficient readers.

Working Memory: Children must be able to keep information in their short-term memories long enough to make sense of a word, sentence, or paragraph. For example, repeating ideas back to themselves can help kids remember and make sense of key messages.

Processing: Children use different “processing” techniques to derive meaning from what they see and hear.

Successive processing: In order to decode words effectively, children have to remember the letter sounds in order and assemble them into a whole. The same is true with words and sentences.

Simultaneous processing: As readers advance, they move more quickly through words and passages, “reducing” and organizing the information to make sense of it faster. For example, they begin to recognize certain words, taking each one in as a whole instead of letter by letter. Or, they repeat back the essence of a paragraph, culling out the less important ideas and focusing on the most important concepts.

Visualization: When children are presented with more information than they can easily remember, creating a mental picture often helps them process what is being described.

Planning: Fluent readers take many factors into account each time they read. They use what they know about individual letters and words, their context in the passage, and their relationship to outside experiences. As children learn to read, they evaluate and apply various strategies, developing planning skills for future learning.

Comprehension: All of the skills and strategies above support a child’s ability to derive meaning from what he or she reads. Good comprehension is essential to all kinds of learning, from language arts to science, social studies and more.

This chart explains best how each game focuses on specific skills:

Go Go Kabongo is separated into 3 different "habitats": Twister Top, Galaxy Garden and Laughter Lake. You can see that each habitat has three different activities and each activity focuses on different skills. I can tell you from experience with a 5 year old and a 7 year old, that neither of them ever thought they were learning anything, but I knew. Not just from the way that their honed skills came across in other learning that we're doing, but also from the progress reports Go Go Kabongo was sending me. I even knew when they weren't using the program, because I'd get a "we haven't seen Kaitlyn in a while" e-mail.

I really appreciated the updates. I also appreciated that it was more than just a quick "this is what Kaitlyn is doing." Each e-mail explained what each child had done, and what skills that activity was helping them with. It also suggested activities that I could do, outside of the computer games, to help enhance and reinforce those skills. I could also go online and view a more detailed progress report, using my parent account.

Go Go Kabongo is FREE for the first habitat (Laughter Lake), and right now when you sign up you can also get the second habitat (Galaxy Garden) FREE. The final habitat (Twister Top) is a one-time fee of $4.95. A fantastic deal for lots of skills practice. Go Go Kabongo is geared toward kids ages 4-7.

I liked this addition to our homeschool. It could be used for a short span each day, but give the girls a little skills boost to help with their reading. The games seemed to be well-rounded (if a little childish, but hey, they're geared toward kids!) and simple enough for my youngest to understand. They don't place arbitrary time limits on the kids, so even a child who is still getting used to the computer can play the games. And the price is unbeatable!

Want to see what other TOS Crew members thought about Go Go Kabongo? Check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received two complimentary memberships to all 3 habitats of Go Go Kabongo in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Zeezok's ZGuide To The Movies - Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

2011-04-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

Although I consider myself 2nd generation homeschooler, I did briefly attend public schools during my formative years. There was a short spurt during 1st and 2nd grade, another for part of 5th and 6th grade and a final attempt for my freshman year of high school. It was during that last foray that I was forced to sit through the movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. I say forced, not because it was a bad movie, or because I didn't want to watch it, but rather because that's how I remember the experience as described by my friends who were in that same government class. We were given adequate warning of the days on which we'd be watching the movie, and assignments to prepare for it. And in the intervening days between when we'd been made aware of the upcoming viewing and actually watching it, I listened to all sorts of complaints and gripes about how we were being "forced" to watch a "stupid black and white, pointless movie". As much as I pretended to have my own opinions back in those days, I can safely say that I jumped right in with the complaining, even though I found myself actually enjoying the movie when we did watch it.

But this isn't a commentary on how easily persuaded I was to follow the crowd when I was 14 years old. It's a review, and an admission of how much I've learned since then.

I have to admit, I was actually excited to watch Mr. Smith Goes To Washington again, this time with my 14 year old, and with the added benefit of Zeezok's ZGuide To The Movies to enrich both our experiences.

Here's a little bit about the ZGuides in general, from Zeezok:

Each ZGuide contains a topic overview, movie synopsis, and ten learning activities for an in-depth study of the film. The topic overview puts the film in historical context, giving a student with no prior knowledge of the topic important background information. The one-page movie synopsis provides a more detailed explanation of the movie’s storyline than typically found on the back cover of the video case or on movie review websites. While watching the film the first time through, students answer the movie review questions. This assignment forces the viewer to become an active learner rather than a passive observer. Nine additional activities provide interdisciplinary educational opportunities built around the movie’s themes. Certain activities require the student to use outside resources (library, internet, etc.) to learn more about the topic. Several of the guides contain related memorization selections, combined with a public performance option, to develop the student’s mental powers and public speaking abilities. Creative and critical writing assignments nurture the student’s confidence in putting their thoughts on paper. Every guide contains a “hands-on” activity for the kinesthetic learner, designed to develop the student’s artistic talents. The “Worldview Activity” goes to the heart of critical thinking by asking the student to evaluate the actors’ attitudes and actions. “The Filmmaker’s Art” activity focuses on movie-making techniques and their effect on the viewer. Parents and siblings can contribute their thoughts with the “For Family Discussion” section at the end of each guide. Many of these discussion questions relate to moral or philosophical dilemmas present in the movie.

The goal of the is not just supplemental educational activities for specific historical topics, but to also teach the viewer to think critically.

I'm a very strong believer in watching movies as an active learner, rather than a passive viewer! As a Communications major in college, I learned how important it is to not just allow yourself to be mindlessly entertained (as I admit, I did when I watched Mr Smith Goes To Washington when I was in high school), but to understand the ideas and worldview that the filmmaker is trying to persuade the viewer to agree with. We've always taught our children that TV and movies are not ever "just entertainment" - that everything they view, from a sitcom to a commercial to a full-length movie, is trying to change their worldview. As a family, we try to watch things together so that we can discuss them afterwards, and help our children ferret out those truths.

I loved the ZGuide's approach to this. As I said, I used it with my 14 year old son, though my younger children (ages 11, 7 and 5) all watched the movie with us and participated in some of the discussion and activities. Even though the level of this particular movie is above the ages of most of my children, it addresses a topic that we're currently studying (US government). I was very excited to see that the ZGuide offered several activities that were directly in line with what we were learning about (Activity 2 was all about filibusters; Activity 4 was a quiz about the steps for a bill to become a law). In short, the movie and the ZGuide were a fantastic supplement to our current study of government.

Overall, I found the ZGuide to be an excellent addition to our homeschool. I plan to purchase about 1 ZGuide a month to use with various movies so we can continue these great discussions, and hopefully teach our children an even greater understanding of how to step outside a movie and see it for what it's trying to persuade you to. My biggest hope would be that after using the ZGuides for a while, they learn to start asking the questions themselves. I believe that the ZGuides would also be an excellent place to start for adults as well, especially if you aren't used to asking questions of the media you view.

Currently Zeezok offers 28 ZGuides, for movies like One Night With The King, The Ten Commandments, Driving Miss Daisy, and Flyboys. Many, if not all, of the movies the ZGuides are available for, can be watched using the Netflix streaming program, which many people have access to. If you do not have Netflix, many movies can be found at your local library as well. As a last resort, Zeezok also offers the movies themselves, which can be purchased along with the ZGuide.

ZGuides are available on either e-books or on CDs, for $12.99 each. If you're interested in what other reviewers have to say about the ZGuides they used, check out their reviews here.

As a funny (strange, not "ha, ha") aside, I'll admit that as I was walking through the exhibitor hall at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention yesterday (Saturday, April 2nd), I came across the Zeezok booth and noticed their ZGuides. And I thought to myself, "I wonder when that review is due?" only to come home that evening and discover that I'd somehow forgotten to put it on my calendar, and it was indeed due April 1st. Hence, the slightly late review. My apologies to TOS and Zeezok!

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received two complimentary ZGuide (e-book) for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Big IQ Kids

2011-03-25T15:30:00.000-04:00

This turned out to be a much harder review to write than I anticipated. For one thing, Big IQ Kids has a LOT to talk about and for the last several weeks I've been in a decidedly non-talkative mood. But then I realized that if you really are interested in Big IQ Kids, you don't really want me re-hashing all the same details you can easily find on their website. So I'm going to give you the short and sweet version of what Big IQ Kids is, and then tell you how our family used it, and whether we liked it.

Big IQ Kids offers online practice in spelling, math, vocabulary and geography. It is geared toward kids from Kindergarten to 8th grade, and when used daily can improve proficiency in all those areas. Each subject can be tailored to your child's current levels - for instance, the spelling portion can be set up to use your child's current spelling words. It is supposed to be used independently, so parents don't have to hover over their child while the program is being used.

You can click on the picture above or right here to get a full run-down all on the programs that are offered. Or, you could just check out this video:

Big IQ Kids offers quite a few options through their 100% free program. However, you do get some upgrades if you choose to subscribe to their premium program. The premium program offers a free 7-day trial, and after that there are a variety of options. If you chose to subscribe to the premium program for all the subjects, for instance, you'd pay $19.99/month or $99.99/year. It's cheaper if you only want to upgrade one program - for instance, if you chose to upgrade the math to the premium program, you'd pay $9.99/month of $49.99/year. You can check out an example of what's included with the free and premium versions here.

Here's another video that also discusses the differences:

They offer a "classroom" option for the "per year" subscription, which might be a valuable option if you wanted to use it for multiple homeschooled kids in one family. They also offer a $9.98/year upgrade for the free program, which just gives the child access to all the games, and the "buddy". Okay, so what's the "buddy?" would probably be your next question. The buddy is a customizable avatar (but bigger) that occasionally give the child instructions.

We had two premium memberships, so I signed up Kaitlyn (7) and Aaron (11). I did not give them any instructions on how to use the program, but rather "let them loose" to play, explore, learn, and give me their feedback. Occasionally they'd come to me with a problem, but otherwise they used it on their own.

Here are the things I liked:

One more thing to help hone their basic skills that *I* don't have to plan for, prepare for, or research ahead of time.
The daily updates I receive via e-mail help me keep track of what they are learning
There were no complaints, even though I told them that I wanted them to spend AT LEAST 15 minutes every day using the program.
Program can be customized to each child's learning level for each subject

Here are a few things I didn't like:

Lots of tests, very little learning. It seemed like they were constantly taking tests, after only a few minutes spent "learning" a subject.
Somewhat TOO EASILY customizable. In order to customize each program, you log in as the child and just click "modify lesson" to change spelling words, decide how many math problems, etc. The program does not distinguish between adult and child, so a child who watches you require 50 math problems can go back later and change it to 5 problems.
Out of date information. Several of the states had information that was incorrect or out of date. I have since read that if you e-mail them, they will very quickly rectify the information, so put one in the bonus column for fast customer service.
The ads. This was my biggest beef. If I'm going to pay money for an online learning program, I expect it to be ad-free. Not "minimal" ads, or "occasional" ads. I pay money, I don't see any ads. Period. If I'd been checking this program out before deciding whether to use it, the ads for the paid program would have been a deal-breaker for me. There is absolutely no reason for a learning site, that you pay money for, to have ads to distract your kids.
Naked and semi-naked cartoon characters. This just bothered me as a parent, as a Christian, and as a person. One game has the kid dress a character that starts in a bra and panties. My 14 year old was really offended by this (which is how I came to find out about it). This would be deal-breaker number 2. I mean, have some creativity! There is no reason to expose young kids to naked or semi-naked cartoon characters. It doesn't matter that they aren't real. It's pointless and stupid, and I wouldn't pay money or even use a site that chose to do so.
The computer voice. This was especially frustrating for the spelling. My 7 year old is just starting to be able to read fluently and has barely begun spelling. When she gets "dinged" on a word because she can't hear the subtle difference between the words FAT and THAT, yet can actually spell both well, it becomes very frustrating for her. The computerized voice made it nearly impossible for her to do well on her spelling tests, and I had to tell her to stop doing spelling to avoid the tears.

I hope that some of this helps you decide whether Big IQ Kids might be a good fit for your family. You can also check out what the other crew members thought here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received two complimentary 1-year Premium Memberships to Big IQ Kids in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Reading Kingdom

2011-03-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of teaching children to read using phonics. As a 2nd generation homeschooler, I've been both the teacher and the student, and I've never been convinced that the whole-word (or "sight word") method really teaches children to decode words on their own. So color me super-surprised that Reading Kingdom was able to change my mind, if only just a little.

The Reading Kingdom program has been developed by Dr. Marion Blank, director of the Light on Learning program at Columbia University and author of The Reading Remedy. The interactive lessons teach the six skills (sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar and comprehension) that Dr. Blank theorizes are necessary for reading mastery. You can read all about her theories for reading and how the program works here. In short, here's what she proposes:

Dr. Blank says that these six skills are necessary for a child to be able to master reading. As you can see, she suggests that the pure phonics approach only teaches one of these six skills.

I must admit, this approach had me question my firmly held beliefs. After all, a child doesn't really learn to read the word THE by using a phonics approach. In fact, my favorite reading program, Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, calls THE a "funny word" and teaches it by having the child learn that it does not work to sound it out, then teaches the correct pronunciation and reviews it for many lessons in a row. There are quite a few other "funny words" in Teach...; understanding this, I also realized that my approach to reading has never been 100% phonics, and that whole-word does have it's place.

However, even with my new "enlightened" approach to reading, I wasn't completely convinced that Reading Kingdom is the best approach for a new reader, for two reasons. First, because I found that the lessons concentrated much more on sequencing than phonics, meaning or comprehension. In my book those would be the top 3 things that are necessary for a beginning reader. Second, because most beginning readers are young (age 4-6 usually) and Reading Kingdom required fairly fast keyboard skills, which can be frustrating for these little kids. Even my older (7) child using the program ended up in tears more than once because it was "too fast".

On the plus side, the program is structured to allow the child to work independently, which can be a great benefit for those kids who want to learn how to read and are insistent on doing "BY MYSELF!" Both my girls (age 5 and 7) were able to do their Reading Kingdom lesson on their own each day. I was able to keep track of their progress with the online progress reports.

Progress Report Showing Status of Different Skills

Progress Report Details
The yellow section shows the session details for a selected skill
The section at the bottom is the key for the progress report

Reading Kingdom offers a "kid customized" program. It starts with a skills survey that assesses the child's abilities in pre-reading, reading and writing. This is an activity that a child completes before starting the actual teaching. It assesses his or her skills in pre-reading, reading and writing. Based on the results, the program places each child at the point that is just right for his or her skill level. This prevents children from wasting time learning something they already know (which leads to boredom) or being faced with tasks that are too difficult for them (which leads to frustration). The child then embarks on their program that takes advantages of the child's strengths and helps him overcome any weaknesses. You can read more about how the program works here.

One of the nice things is that you don't have to commit to Reading Kingdom right away. They offer a free 30-day trial to get you started. If you decide that Reading Kingdom is for you, then it is very reasonably priced at $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year (pricing is per child). You can cancel any time. Additionally, if you are unable to afford purchasing Reading Kingdom, they offer a scholarship program. They are that sure that their program works!

Though Reading Kingdom wasn't a good fit for us, I can see how it could work very well for some families. Beyond using it to teach reading, it would be helpful for children who have trouble with spelling or reading comprehension. It seems to be a very well-thought-out program, with science and experience to back it up. Their free trial and scholarship program shows their dedication to making sure that children get a good start with reading.

Find out what other crew members thought about Reading Kingdom here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received two complimentary 1-year subscriptions to Reading Kingdom in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: I See Sam

2011-02-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

Having now taught four kids to read, I think I can safely say that I've "been around the block a few times" when it comes to reading programs. As with most things, my first was very easy when it came to reading. I think he pretty much taught himself. But with the other three, I've had to employ a variety of different programs and techniques to get them from hesitantly sounding out short-vowel three-letter words onto easily reading anything they pick up.

One of my biggest frustration is finding good practice books that they can use to hone their newly-emerging skills. The typical "I can read" books you find (generally sporting the latest pop-culture cartoon character) don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to the word content, and a level 1 book can be as difficult for the new reader as a level 4 book sometimes.

That's why I found myself pleasantly surprised by I See Sam, the reading program from Academic Success for all Learners. Now, I must admit up front that we did not use I See Sam by following the instructions that came with it. I went through the kit and studied the suggested uses, and decided to use the materials a little differently. For one thing, when we first got the kit, my youngest - who turned 5 in October - was already beginning to read using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and she was doing very well with that particular book. As much as I want to use and do a good job reviewing the curriculum we receive, I don't feel I can move my child off something that's working so well, just to try something out. So I decided to supplement 100 Easy Lessons with the materials we got.

These were the perfect practice books for her. They were simple enough that she was able to easily sound out the words she didn't already know, but not so simple that they seemed like "fake" books to her (which is how she describes the Bob Books). She was eager to try out each one, and I had to limit her to two per day. Every day when dad got home, she would rush to meet him and drag him over to sit down and "listen to me read this book!" She felt a great sense of accomplishment as the books she could read "all by myself" piled up. At the same time she was gaining valuable reading experience, she was actually honing her skills.

I also gave her the word cards to use for copy practice. I'd have her tell me the words, and after she did, she would take 2-3 at a time and make her "spelling list" for the day while the other kids were doing their spelling. This was a huge relief for me, as I'd been trying to include her when we do spelling (at her request) but you can only give a kid "at, cat, hat, bat" so many times before she catches on. ;)

We received the first four levels of Little Books ($30/level), The Instructors Guide, Motivational Materials, Placement and Assessment Manual ($10), and flashcards sets for all four levels ($15 or download free from the website). The items can also be purchased as a set (with some extra items) for $160.

Now, the way we used this program worked well for us. However, I would caution those considering using this as a stand-alone program. The I See Sam program is very whole-word heavy. That is, the phonics training is pretty slow, and the child is expected to read the words on sight, rather than sounding them out. If you follow the program as laid out, the child will go through over three levels of books, and over 1000 pages of "reading", before they are even taught all the letter sounds. From my experience, children who learn to read using a whole-word method tend to struggle with both spelling and reading down the road. So while the books worked very well as a supplement to our current reading program, and the cards were a great "spelling" activity for my daughter, I would not choose to use the I See Sam program to teach reading.

Want to know what other crew members thought about I See Sam? Find out here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary set of the I See Sam program in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Math Rider

2011-02-25T10:30:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned a few times now, my 11-year-old son struggles with memorizing his math facts. Despite using a variety of programs, he's still having trouble with anything beyond addition. Luckily, we've had the chance to try out quite a few different programs, thanks to The Crew. This one - Math Rider - seems to be the best one for him.

The video gives you a pretty good overview of how the program works, but here's my quick rundown. Math Rider is set up to resemble a magical quest. The child is given a story line (both written and spoken, so the child does not have to be proficient at reading to play) and sent on an adventure.

Each part of the quest requires the child to complete a series of math operations to achieve the goal. Whether it's to find the magic flower, or returning a gem, they're practicing and perfecting their math facts along the way. Each operation is separate, and you can choose which operation your child needs to work on. I simply started all three of my kids who are using the program on addition, because they all need to work on ALL their math facts.

Math Rider is purchased as a one-time instant download for $37. You can have up to 10 different users for that one low price! Even the largest homeschool family (okay, 99% of the largest families) can have ALL their kids use the program and only have to pay once. $37 is less than you'd pay for one session with a private math tutor.

The program offers fairly basic information for the parent/teacher to keep track of each child's progress. The demo screen above shows the statistics for "Kim". All the green areas are division facts that she has mastered. Yellow are "needs a little work", orange is "needs some work" and red is "needs lots of work". The gray areas show facts that haven't been introduced or worked on yet.

Overall, I REALLY like Math Rider. So do my kids. I don't have to coax them to do it; in fact, they've taken the initiative to each do their Math Rider first thing in the morning, before I'm even downstairs ready to start our day. I like the constant practice. My kids' only complaint was that the "hard" level of the quest is really fast, which challenges their typing skills. A small investment in a numeric keypad for the kids' laptop computer might help that. Oh, and my 14-year-old (who isn't using the program) said that the stories were kind of "cheesy", which my 7- and 5-year-old both vehemently denied. But honestly, it's a math program - I wouldn't expect it to rival Lord of the Rings with its story telling.

My only wish is that the information provided for the parent be more detailed. I can see what the child is working on and how they're doing, but I'd love to see a daily snapshot. How long the child was on each day, or how many math facts they did total, how many they got correct and how many they missed. Just a little more detail than what is currently provided would be nice.

The important thing is that my oldest is finally getting a handle on his math facts, and I don't have to force him to do something he hates to get it done. For that alone, I LOVE Math Rider.

Want to see what other crew members think about Math Rider? Check out what they have to say here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary download of Math Rider in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: VocabAhead SAT Vocabulary

2011-02-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

My husband set a challenge before me shortly before this book arrived. Just because our 11-year-old son was struggling with spelling at his grade level, he said, that was no reason not to have a higher expectation of him when it came to vocabulary.

So when VocabAhead sent us SAT Vocabulary: Cartoons, Videos & MP3s, I decided to take up that gauntlet, and instead of going with the obvious choice and using this product with my 14-year-old, I decided to use it with the 11-year-old.

VocabAhead's SAT Vocabulary, available for $12.95 from Amazon.com,contains 300 words. Each word is illustrated with a cartoon - most of which are perfect examples and great visuals for the word - to help increase retention. For every 10 words, there is a "match the word to the definition" quiz (30 quizzes in all) to help check that the student is really learning the words.

But that's just the beginning. VocabAhead offers a free download of the same material for your computer, where each word is presented with the cartoon and the definitions are presented using audio. In my opinion, this is a definite plus over just the book. I was a little concerned that the book did not contain the pronunciations for the words. The mp3s fix this problem.

So far, we love it. There are a couple of cartoons or examples that some parents might find slightly questionable. For instance, the word ogle says "Bob ogled Mary as he stood next to her. Yes, yes, he did. That's what men do."
WHAT??? (okay, keep your pants on! not finished yet) Yes, if that were all it said, I'd be pretty upset that this is what my child is learning. But it continues!
"Well, some men do. Well, Bob does." (continues after that)

I can see where some parents would have an issue with this, but as with any other teaching material, I think it's important that we pay attention to what our kids are using and, sometimes, instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, take the opportunity to discuss the things we find questionable or objectionable with them. In this case, particularly because this book is meant for high school age children, I think discussion is the way to go. Especially since the word ogle is on the SAT vocabulary list. But that's a whole other post!

In general, though, the book and download approach seems to be working very well for us. I've challenged my 11-year-old to not only learn the words, but to do his best to use a few of them in his everyday conversation. Not only has he done this, but he's used them appropriately, showing that he's learning them well.

VocabAhead offers lots of other products, and tons of support via their website. Their Study Room offers videos, quizzes, flash cards and more. Definitely a resource worth every penny!

Check out what my other crew members thought about VocabAhead here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of VocabAhead's SAT Vocabulary book, videos and MP3s in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Times Alive

2011-01-31T10:30:00.001-05:00

"Math Facts, Math Facts, MATH FACTS!" [stomp, stomp, stomp] "I HATE MATH FACTS!!!"

Welcome to life in my house, where I was spoiled rotten by my first child, and now I'm paying for it with the other three. Child number 1, now 14, has always "gotten" it. Whether it is spelling, math, grammar or history...he just gets it. Easily. The first time. Every time. In fact, until child number 2 started school, I prided myself on choosing curriculum so well, because I had obviously picked the perfect curriculum for him.

You know what they say: Pride goes before the fall. Enter child number 2...and child number 3...and child number 4. With every single one of them, I've dug through the curriculum bins, combed through the catalogs, pulled all-nighters reading reviews, purchased books and CDs and subscriptions and online memberships - essentially tried everything to find a program or book or service that would help them learn the things they will have to know. Not "should" know. NEED to know. Those basic things that are critical to function in the real world.

Things like Math Facts. I now have a 5th grader (child number 2) who barely knows his addition/subtraction facts and is fighting me tooth and nail when I insist that knowing his multiplication and division facts is essential and non-negotiable.

That's why I was beyond thrilled when I found out that we'd have the chance to use City Creek Press's Times Alive software.

Times Alive is a completely unique approach to memorizing the multiplication facts. Instead of endless drilling and frustrating repetition, times alive presents the facts using unique stories and fun music. Each lesson is interactive, giving the student a short lesson followed by immediate practice.

Here's a quick preview:

Times Alive offers your choice of either a CD-ROM (for PC or Mac) for $48.95 or an instant download (also for PC or Mac) for $44.95. You can use the program with multiple users, no extra fees.

City Creek Press says that Times Alive will:

Increase retention to 95% with our interactive method
Eliminate boring repetitive drills once and for all
Bring success to students with learning disabilities

Times Alive doesn't teach the function of multiplication, it's simply a tool to help children memorize the multiplication facts.

Unfortunately, Times Alive didn't work for child number 2 any better than the CDs, the worksheets, the online programs... For us, it's simply a "push came to shove" issue where we're going to have to go with something that he will have to do whether he wants to or not. I think the Times Alive is a little...childish...for an almost-12-year-old, so I probably won't use it when I push him to memorize his multiplication facts. However, I plan to continue using it with child number 3, my 7 year old, because it's the perfect tool for her to learn with, and she's a good age to appreciate it, even though she doesn't really understand the mechanics of multiplication yet.

Find out what other crew members think about Times Alive here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary download of Times Alive in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Ten marks

2011-01-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

I had a love/hate relationship with math through my middle school and high school years. On the one hand, when I understood a concept, I loved the challenge of being able to find the correct answer. On the other hand, the repetition and drudgery of doing the same thing, so many times, all the time, frustrated me. I can remember vividly sitting before a page of 30 problems, fighting tears. It wasn't hard math, or anything that I struggled with understanding. But I knew that those 30 problems would take me at least an hour to do, and I wanted to be doing other things.

I think that's why my kids both found Ten Marks to be so appealing. Each child doing the Ten Marks program is assigned a total of 4 worksheets every week. Each worksheet only has 10 problems. The child works the problems and selects the answer.

Every problem displayed offers the child the option of help in the form of 3 hints, and a video lesson.

The video lessons show the type of problem the child is working on (not the actual problem) being solved using a whiteboard-like demonstration.

Once the child has completed their ten problems, they are shown how they did, and what problems need to be re-worked and corrected. The work is then submitted for evaluation, and recorded to a report card that the parent can access. When I look at my parent screen, the first thing I see is a little "mini-report" for the child selected.

This gives me a snapshot of what's going on with his progress and allows me to go in immediately to change his curriculum. Or, I can look at the bigger picture by going to his report card.

This provides more detail, and shows where he's strongest and where he's weakest. The report card keeps track of how much "help" he is using, and what he's scoring on each worksheet.

From there, I get the best picture of what he has firmly grasped, and what areas he needs to continue working. I can then customize his worksheets based on that information, or choose to let the program continue as planned. TenMarks personalizes the students´ learning experience so they can work at their own pace while following a curriculum based on their grade, proficiency level and learning preferences.

Ten Marks also offers the parent the option of providing rewards to motivate the child. The parent chooses the reward (and can provide a picture of said reward), the start date, and how many worksheets the child has to complete to earn the reward. We didn't choose to utilize the reward program, but for children reluctant to do even 10 math problems a day, this might be a great incentive.

Actually, I should say, I didn't choose to utilize that reward program. There is actually a built-in reward program where "games" are unlocked when a certain number of worksheets are completed. Both boys looked forward to unlocking new games (which - shhh, don't tell - are actually more math practice).

Ten Marks is priced very reasonably. For each child, the program is $10 per month, $49 for six months, or $89 for the year. Ten Marks is mapped to state standards. Here's a great video that explains the entire Ten Marks program.

Overall, we really liked Ten Marks. Several times the kids mentioned to me that the worksheets seemed to "get hard really fast". Part of that, I think, was that I wasn't keeping up enough with customizing the curriculum, and the other part is that they're used to doing Saxon math, where they review the same concepts for weeks on end. With Ten Marks they were just jumping from one concept to the next, with very little overlap or review. In that respect, I wished that there were more built-in review. I believe, especially with math, that it is critical to have mastery of each subject and Ten Marks doesn't ensure this to my satisfaction. In the end, I wouldn't choose to use Ten Marks as a stand-alone curriculum because I don't see enough repetition to reinforce concepts. But I could see using it as an every-other-day supplement to keep the "drudgery" of math to a minimum.

The Ten Marks customer service was excellent. One day we had problems loading some of the videos. I sent off an e-mail and within an hour we had a complete explanation of the problem and when it would be repaired (it was actually done much sooner).

You can see for yourself how Ten Marks works - check out their free trial.

Find out what the rest of the crew thought about Ten Marks here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary subscription to Ten Marks in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Lifeway Christian Stores - Holman Illustrated Bible

2011-01-26T10:30:00.002-05:00

One of our homeschool goals for this year is to read (out loud) through the entire Bible. I read several chapters aloud to the kids every day. But when your audience is little kids, sometimes you need a little help explaining what they're listening to. That's where the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids comes in. What a great resource!

If you're anything like me, this book will not only be a valuable tool for your kids, but a fascinating book for you! I enjoyed this book as much as the kids did. It is chock-full of simple, easy-to-understand definitions and explanations. But it's also full of beautiful pictures, amazing facts and captivating facts. For instance, we recently read through Joshua, where it describes the different tribes of Israel taking over different parts of the Promised Land. Even my very thorough study Bible has a small map that shows where the different tribes settled in the land, but the Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids has a really cool map that clearly outlines the way the land was divided.

Division of Promised Land between tribes of Israel
Click to see full-sized image

You can take a peek at all the goodies by checking out this free sample. This is a resource that is well-worth the inch of shelf space that it takes up (well, actually, it's worth a lot more than that!). The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids is available from Lifeway Christian Stores for only $14.99 (a fantastic bargain, in my book!). It's an excellent tool to have with you as you help your kids explore the wonders of the Bible. You might learn something new, too!

Want to see what others have to say about this? Check out the rest of the TOS crew reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Speekee

2011-01-21T20:33:00.001-05:00

I took four years of high school Spanish, and I honestly don't remember any of it. But when I was seven years old, I spent a week in Chihuahua, Mexico, living with a host family during a music tour. They didn't speak any English, and I didn't speak any Spanish. By the end of that week, I had a pretty solid grasp of some basic words and phrases - enough to get by - and I remember all of them. Research has shown over and over that learning a 2nd language requires total immersion. You best learn to speak a new language when your environment is saturated with it and you aren't given the translations in your first language.

Speekee tries to accomplish this immersion teaching with it's new online videos. Directed at ages 2-10, the Speekee program is comprised of 10 videos, each teaching the basics of everyday life through songs, puppets and simple props. Speekee has optional captions for each video (English/Spanish concurrently). Additionally, Speekee offers worksheets and activities to go with each video, to reinforce the words and phrases the child is learning. According to their website, Speekee is the number one Spanish course for young children.

Speekee is available online for a monthly fee of $7.50. Alternatively, you could purchase the DVD set (you must have a PAL-compatible DVD player) for the US equivalent of £95 (95 British Pounds). I believe several crew members were able to get the online ("tv version") to play through their Wii, as well. You can try out Speekee with a free two-week trial subscription!

I wanted to like Speekee, and I hoped that this might be a good solution for some 2nd-language introduction. We have introduced all the kids to English Sign Language using the Signing Time DVD program, and they all have a fairly good grasp of basic signs. I had hoped that Speekee might give them a similar introduction to Spanish.

My kids are 5, 7, 11 and 13, and none of them would watch Speekee voluntarily. The two older kids, both boys, complained after about 5 minutes into the first video. My oldest likened watching Speekee to watching Barney. (He also noted that Speekee, the puppet, was "creepy-looking"). The younger kids, both girls, were frustrated because neither of them can read well enough to follow the captions, but without them felt they didn't have any idea what they were trying to learn. My youngest watched through most of the videos, and I realized belatedly that she thought the "uno, dos, tres" were colors, not numbers (the characters in the video were counting different colored blocks and balls). I could sit next to her and translate as they went along, but that seemed to defeat the purpose of the "true immersion" approach. It was also annoying to constantly have to start/stop the videos.

I think that some of this might be an issue with US culture vs. European culture. I think that the "puppet" teaching is much more widespread in Europe than it is here. In the US we seem to stop doing puppet-teaching (if ever) by the time most kids are in kindergarten. I think it's much more widely used in Europe (I'm thinking of Muzzy, and other videos coming from Europe that use puppets for teaching).

Overall, I think Speekee is a good approach to teaching Spanish. And from some of my other crew member's reviews, it seems like it works well for many people. It just wasn't a good fit for us.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary subscription to the online version of Speekee in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Maestro Classics - Peter and the Wolf

2011-01-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to describe the wonderful memories this simple phrase brings to mind. I grew up in a household where music was an integral part of our daily lives, and I listened to our well-worn record of this story more times than I can count. Yes, record. You know: LPs? Vinyl? Or, as another homeschooling parent overheard their child say "a big, old-fashioned CD". When I was growing up, the record player was our "TV" (we didn't own a television set until I was 15 years old), the records in the cabinet below the speaker were our "favorite programs". When other people my age reminisce about Smurfs and The Love Boat, I'm thinking about the Fiddler on the Roof and Mother Goose. And, yes, Peter and the Wolf.

Maestro Classics has done a wonderful job with this offering, which comes on a single CD with a 24 page companion guide. In addition to the classic narrated Peter and the Wolf story (a wonderful recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra), the CD has stories about Prokofiev, the music of the story, the instrumental-only (no narration) version of the music, and much more. There's over an hour of goodies on this one CD. The companion guide offers several fun activities for kids, and a bunch of fascinating information about the composer, instruments, the story, and more.

That's just the beginning. Maestro Classics offers many other musical stories on CD. Some seemed quite like obvious selections (Swan Lake, the Sorcerer's Apprentice), and some were quite surprising. I love the poem Casey at the Bat, and I'm quite curious about how they've set that one to music! If your curious too, guess what? You don't have to wait to purchase the CD - you can check out samples of every CD on their website!

We LOVED this one. There's only one CD, and all four kids have been actually fighting over who gets to listen to it every night. I finally had to set up a schedule. The older kids have been fascinated by the information in the companion guide, especially the sections on the musical instruments, which are much different than the ones they're aware of. My oldest was happy to find the sheet music for Peter's Tune, so he can learn to play it on the piano ("only one hand, though, so I'll have to make up the left hand myself" he told me). This has made an excellent addition, not just to our "school" or our education efforts, but just to our household in general. It makes me wish I'd made the effort much sooner to acquaint my kids with the music I grew up with.

The CDs retail for $16.98 each, but right now Maestro Classics is offering a special - 3 CDs for $45, with free shipping, using the coupon code WINTER2010. Check out their full offerings and poke around the website to listen to samples and learn more about the creators of these awesome CDs.

You can also check out what my other crew members have to say about this CD here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary CD of Maestro Classics' Peter and the Wolf in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Easy Classical

2011-01-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

What's the hardest part of homeschooling four kids? Most days it's not that hard to get everything in, or work individually with each child. For me, the hardest part is finding the time to prepare everything. Last fall, when our school start day was looming just around the corner, I actually had a bit of a breakdown and begged my husband to please take the kids away for an afternoon so I could have 10 minutes to think without interruption in order to get the school schedules put together. Thankfully, he took that request seriously, and instead of an afternoon, he took the kids for a whole weekend and went to the Creation Museum and Newport Aquarium, giving me a full 72 hours of uninterrupted planning time.

During that time, I contemplated - but ultimately decided against - putting together a classical study schedule for history. I had picked up Susan Wise Bauer's and Jessie Wise's The Well-Trained Mind several years ago and I was excited by what I learned. The classical education model that she was presenting sounded wonderful, but the idea of implementing it sounded...well, impossible. Even with 72 hours to work on it. Classical education? GREAT! Time, energy, resources needed to plan classical education? More than I can handle!

Enter Easy Classical - all the concepts of a classical education without the hours of prep work. Easy Classical provides all the schedules, writing guides, copybooks, and geography curriculum and integrates them for ease of use and increased retention. Easy Classical is the perfect solution for families that want to follow the Well-Trained Mind's classical education model, but don't have the time/energy/comfort level to figure out how to implement it for themselves.

I received the Early Modern History schedule to review. EVERYTHING has been done for you. All that's left is to follow the instructions. Here are a just a few of the many questions that Easy Classical answers for you:

What curriculum do I use?

Not only does Easy Classical outline the entire list of books and other supplementary materials needed, but they tell you where to find each and every item

What do I do each day?

Easy Classical provides a detailed daily schedule to follow

How do I keep track of what we're doing?

The daily schedule has space to check items off as they're completed

How do I know which parts of the curriculum are most important?

The schedule reminders indicate the important parts of each week's curriculum

How do I make sure I'm prepared for each week's lesson?

The schedule shows everything you need, including the next week's shopping list, giving you plenty of time to prepare

And that's just a sample. Speaking of sample, Easy Classical offers lots of samples on their website to give you a good idea of what each product offers. Here are just a few of the samples offered for the Early Modern History schedule:

Sample Introduction Pages
Sample History Schedule Pages
Sample Lesson Pages
Early Modern History Curriculum and Books

The Early Modern History Schedule is offered in two formats: The Notebook Version, for $35.95 and the Digital Version for $29.95.

Additionally, Easy Classical offers complete grade-level schedules, Writing with History, Geography with History, and Science schedules.

I think Easy Classical is the perfect answer for families that want to follow the classical education model, but are unable to put together their own curriculum (for whatever reason). The schedules are the perfect answer for busy homeschooling moms!

Want to see what other crew members have to say about Easy Classical? Check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary digital version of Easy Classical's Early Modern History schedule in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Math Facts NOW!

2011-01-05T11:30:00.002-05:00

I've probably mentioned this before, but I've been seriously spoiled by my firstborn. Read early, learns easily, interested and dedicated... I figured all kids were like this, but then along came the other three.

If Ryan learned his math facts easily, then Aaron is the polar opposite. He fights me every step of the way, and nothing I've tried so far has really been "his thing". I've lamented over and over that someone needs to write a computer (because Aaron learns best using the aural/visual/kinetic environment of computer learning) program that teaches and drills the math facts. But not just that. It needs to keep track of what the child is and isn't learning. It needs to be a lot more than that, but those things are the basics.

And Math Facts NOW! does a pretty good job of covering the basics.

Math Facts NOW! is not a game, it isn't full of sound effects and cheesy music. It's a straight up math fact drill program that you get to control. The program can be purchased via online download ($15.95) or on a CD ($15.95 plus $3.95 shipping). You install it on the computer in less than 5 minutes and then go through a very simple setup. You can input as many children's names as you'd like, and then you can set up the lessons you want each child to work on. You can choose from addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. After that, you choose the numbers you want the child to work on. Then you get to choose how many seconds they get to input each answer, how many times they have to re-do a problem they get wrong, and how many problems they have to get correct to finish that lesson. The best part is that you then get to decide whether they earn a reward for doing that lesson, and what the reward is (something you give them).

I like the idea of rewards and it definitely appeals to Aaron as a "learning tool". We decided that I would assign 25-problems at a time, and each lesson he completes earns him 5 pieces of a LEGO set. He can try to earn a 50-piece set, or he can work towards a gigantic 1000+-piece set, if he wants. When he passed the 50-piece set in one day and kept going, I was pretty sure that he was willing to do the thing he hates (work on math facts) to earn the thing he really wants (big LEGO sets). This is unprecentented! I couldn't PAY him (yes, embarrassingly, I tried) to listen to the math facts CDs I purchased, and no amount of bribing (embarrassed again) with Nintendo DS or Wii time would induce him to play the math facts games I'd bought.

Anyway, after you set all this up, the child can open the program, select their name, and then select their lesson and get going. Once they've finished, the program records the lesson results, including the time and date they completed the lesson, how long it took them, how many they answered correctly, how many they answered correctly, how many they answered too slowly and the average time it took them to do each problem. You can print these results, if you want. You also have the option of viewing a progress report on each child, which details this same information for ALL the lessons in one place.

Overall, this is a very good, inexpensive tool for children to work on their math facts. I had just a couple minor issues. One, when the child gets a wrong answer, they have to input the correct answer a minimum of 2 times before they can continue. But they don't just re-answer the question, they actually have to type out the entire equation. If they miss 11+3=, for example, they don't just re-type 14. They have to type out 11+3=14. My 11-year-old is not familiar enough with the computer keyboard that typing the symbols is easy for him. It would be nice if they only had to input the numbers and the symbols were already in place. The other thing I would like is if each child, once they select themselves as the user, would only see their assigned lessons. Right now the child selects his name, then selects a lesson, but the lesson list shows ALL lessons that have been created on that computer. I've "fixed" this issue by naming each lesson with the child's name and a number (Aaron1, Aaron2, etc). So it would be nice but it isn't by any means necessary.

Interested in finding out more about Math Facts NOW!? Click over to their website and check out their free trial or click over here to find out what the rest of the crew thought about it.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary download of Math Facts NOW! 2.0 in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: The Phonetic Zoo

2010-12-29T10:30:00.001-05:00

I first discovered Andrew Pudewa and the Institute for Excellence in Writing nearly four years ago. At the Midwest Homeschool Convention, on a whim, I skipped out on a lecture by Jessie Wise (of the Well-Trained Mind fame) and instead went to hear a talk by Mr. Pudewa on "Freedomship Education". I was blown away!!! Mr. Pudewa has some very keen insight into how to teach, what to teach, and why you should teach them. Although this isn't really a review on Pudewa or IEW in general, I'd like to start out by highly recommending the audio download on Mastery Learning. It's only $3, and worth $300 in the incredible amount of information and ideas you'll get for it. I tell everyone I meet that it's a must-hear for every parent, teacher and definitely every homeschooler. Mr. Pudewa is very entertaining to listen to, so let your kids listen too! Even my 5 year old asks, when we go on trips in the car, "Are we going to listen to Andwew Pood-wah?"

Since hearing Mr. Pudewa speak for the first time, I've eagerly looked forward to the day when I could start using some of the IEW products in our homeschool. I actually have been saving up for the Teaching Writing Structure and Style/Student Writing Intensive, without realizing that there was a real GEM of a product, for a fairly low price, right under my nose the whole time! The Phonetic Zoo (set A - $99.99)!

My oldest child is an excellent speller. Like his mom, he tends to pick up spelling intuitively. The rest of my children are forever turning in papers with "creative" spelling, or asking me "How do you spell...?" for every single word on the page. We've tried several different spelling programs, with very little to show for it. Maybe they retain the words long enough to take the test, but that's it. Two or three weeks later, they're right back to the creative spelling, or asking me to do it for them.

The Phonetic Zoo has been a lifeline in this household. I only wish I could hurry my younger three children through it at a faster pace. (Patience, mom, patience!)

The Phonetic Zoo program teaches spelling using a multi-sensory approach. The child sees the word, hears the word and then hears the spelling. As Andrew explains in the included "Spelling and the Brain" DVD, just seeing a word can allow letters to be transposed in a child's brain. That's why we so often see a child spell BIRD "brid" or TWO "tow". The sequence of the letters doesn't get fixed in the brain when the child just sees the word and hears the word. In order to have the sequence fixed in their brain, the child must repeatedly hear the correct spelling of the word. That's the first part.

The Phonetic Zoo also teaches the child the spelling rules. This can help a child beyond the limit of a set of words they learn for a test. When a child understands, for example that the long-a sound they hear at the end of a word is most likely spelled ay, they have a basis for spelling words they don't know.

The program is short and simple. Each set of words is on a card, with the rule on one side and the rule "reminder" on the other. You teach the rule to the child several times, until they can say it with you. Then you give them the card to study their words (the words for program A, B and C are all on the card; they only work on one program at a time). When they think they're ready, you give them a cd-player and a set of headphones. They listen with headphones because that puts the sound right at their ears, without any distractions coming between them and the spelling words. They then spend about 10 minutes listening and writing. First, they listen to the word and spell it on their paper. Second, they listen again, and re-spell the word next to the first one based on the CD track, which says the word, then spells it. This allows the child to self-correct, by marking out any words they spelled incorrectly the first time around. The child must spell every word in a set correctly two time in a row before they receive their "zoo card" (a collector-type card with the rule on it that can be kept and displayed) and move on to the next set.

You can find out more information about the Phonetic Zoo and how it works by checking out the first two pages (after the Table of Contents) of this document.

This program definitely works better for my creative spellers than any other program I've tried. It works on the same principle as working on a spelling lesson with mom (20 years ago for me!) - say the word, spell the word, correct the spelling, re-spell the word - you just do it over and over until it is solidified in the child's mind. It's short enough that even my child who bounces off the walls after sitting for 10 minutes can do it and be done, without the dragging "do I have to?" every single time you start working on it. It makes sense to study the words that have the same spelling rules together. We will continue using this program for my three younger children, and will most likely continue on with set B and set C when the time comes. I think the investment is well worth the results!

The Phonetic Zoo complete program comes with:

Spelling and the Brain video seminar
Introduction to The Phonetic Zoo DVD (showing how to use the program)
Phonetic Zoo teacher's notes PDF
Phonetic Zoo CDs (5 CDs for level A and B; 6 CDs for level C)
Lesson cards with the rules (or "jingles") and spelling words
Zoo cards collector-style cards for reminders or rewards
Personal Spelling Cards to keep track of misspellings

Each program set is $99. You can also choose to use the audio program only, for $79, or to get the budget package (no audio CDs) for $29.

Any of them would be an excellent investment for a child that struggles with spelling!

Want to see what other people have to say about this program, or Andrew Pudewa's "Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day" (also an excellent listen!)? Check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary set of The Phonetic Zoo Spelling Starter Set A in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: ALEKS Math

2010-12-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

"I HATE MATH!"

I can't tell you how often I hear this in my house, but it's at least once a day, and always from my younger son - Aaron, age 11. He's struggled with math ever since finishing up the workbooks with those pages where you count the owls in this box, then count the owls in that box, and then you add all the owls together. I think the problem is that he has never mastered his math facts, but knowing that and fixing that are two totally separate things. We've struggled with this for years, because the older he gets, the more resistant he is to doing what he calls "baby math"; that is, doing the basic math facts review, repetition and memorization that most kids learn in the early elementary grades. Flash cards, Calculadders, workbooks, computer games - we've tried them all and every single try results in melt-downs, tears, screaming and my son sometimes even hitting himself in the forehead going "I'm stupid!"

That's why I was SO surprised to find that he not only would do ALEKS without a fight, but that he actually was asking if he could do it. We received the ALEKS program shortly before we had a couple of planned week-long school breaks, then had one unplanned break for some family problems, and then had computer problems. But through all of that my son continued to do his ALEKS math without complaint, and it was him reminding me that he needed to do it. When I sat down to finish this review, I asked to tell me honestly, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is "I love it" and 1 is "I hate it"), where he ranked the different math programs we've tried over the years. He gave ALEKS a solid 8, and it was the highest (by 2 points) that he ranked anything. When I asked him if he'd like to continue using ALEKS instead of something else, he quickly answered "Absolutely! YES!" Then mumbled "if I have to do math..."

So, with that kind of endorsement, you might be asking yourself "What is ALEKS?"

ALEKS stands for Assesment and LEarning in Knowlege Spaces. It is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS offers truly individualized instruction that meets the student at her learning level and instructs her on the exact topics that she is most ready to learn. As a result, no two students will experience the same learning path while working in ALEKS. You can check out a 2-minute video that explains the ALEKS system.

ALEKS offers highly-targeted, individualized instruction from virtually any computer with Internet access, making it a comprehensive and mobile education solution for your children. A subscription to ALEKS offers access to all courses and your child may take as many courses as needed during their subscription period.

Here is what ALEKS has to offer:

Complete Curriculum Solution for Math with Access to Full Course Library
No Textbook Required
Artificial Intelligence Targets Gaps in Student Knowledge
Assessment and Individualized Learning for Grades 3-12
Master Account Includes Quizzing and Automated Reports to Monitor Learning Progress
Unlimited Online Access - PC and Mac Compatible
QuickTables- Complimentary Math Fact Mastery Program for Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction

Let me walk you through the ALEKS program - there's a lot to see, but it's definitely worth the time!

1. Student Assessment - Each student using the program starts ALEKS by doing the online assessment program. This helps ALEKS determine what your child has mastered, and what they need to work on. ALEKS then generates the...

2. MyPie page, to show both student and teacher the results.

As you can see, each part of the pie shows a dark area (near the center) and a lighter area (toward the edge). The dark area is what your child has mastered. The light area is what they need to work on. From this pie, the student can select any item that shows up in the rectangle when you hover over that section of the pie. The student starts working.

3. Aleks uses a free response environment and special Input Tools that require an actual answer, instead of multiple choice. This helps the students demonstrate mastery of the skills they are learning.

4. Learning Mode:The Learning Mode provides students with practice problems, and offers explanations of topics and procedures as needed. Once a student has demonstrated mastery in the Learning Mode, the topic is added to the ALEKS Pie, and new material that the student is now ready to learn becomes available.

5.Explanations: When a student is working on a particular problem, she can access an explanation of that problem by clicking on the "Explain" button. The explanation typically provides a step-by-step solution, with commentary. In some cases, an alternative or more detailed explanation is also available.

6. Feedback: Students receive immediate feedback, and depending on what they are working on, sometimes they also receive instructions or suggestions for fixing the mistakes.

7. Worksheets can be printed out, if desired, to give the student further practice or review. Each worksheet is uniquely generated based on the student's current knowledge.

There are a couple of other items the program offers, both of which I feel are great tools. The first tool is ALEKS QuickTables. QuickTables is a research-based, math fact mastery program for multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. QuickTables is EXACTLY what my son needs to help him master his math facts, but since it's part of the program, it doesn't make him feel like I'm the one pushing him to do so.

The other tool is the Interactive Games. The games are unlocked as the child masters subjects, and while they are technically still reviewing and learning, they see it as playing. Win-Win!

That's just the student's area. As the parent, you have access to a whole set of tools to help you follow your student's progress through the program.

Above is the Master Account homepage. This links you to each student account, where you can view their attendance records, their progress reports and MyPie charts, create quizzes for them and view the quiz results.

Attendance Report will show you how often they are using ALEKS and for how long. It also allows you to view what they worked on each time.

Progress Report tracks student progress made throughout the course. The blue bar represents the percent of course material that the student has mastered during an ALEKS assessment; the green bar represents the percent of new topics the student has mastered in Learning Mode since the last assessment; and the yellow bar represents the percent of topics the student has yet to learn in order to complete the course.

Quiz Results: Quizzes are automatically graded and the results are available to both the parent and student immediately. You can view a detailed quiz results sample report (PDF).

So where do you get started? Well, let me first suggest that you take advantage of ALEKS' free 1-month trial offer. This is a $19.95 value, and it will give you plenty of time to explore the program and see if it works as well for you as it has for us.

After that, a subscription to ALEKS is

$19.95 per student, per month, or
only $99.95 every 6 months, or
only $179.95 every 12 months.

ALEKS also offers a Family Discount Program, if you have more than one student you'd like to use ALEKS for. Yes, the program is pricey, but if you're dealing with the same problems I've been dealing with in my 11-year-old, it might just be worth it! The best part about ALEKS is that the program will "patiently" continue to work on a math subject until it is mastered, no matter how long it takes the child. That is definitely an area where mom is not so advanced herself!

Find out what other TOS Crew members have to say about ALEKS here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary 1-month subscription to ALEKS in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

TOS Review: Apologia Press - Good Morning, God

2010-12-10T10:00:00.013-05:00

In my opinion, a good children's book has the following: Lots of repetition, a simple story line and detailed, engaging illustrations. Good Morning, God, written by Davis Carman, contains all three of these, and so much more!

Good Morning, God - $14.00 from Apologia - is a very simple, sweet story told from the point of view of the little boy in the book. It goes through a whole week in his life using the same pattern for each day.

"Good morning, God. Today is (Sunday, Monday, etc.). I wake up with lots of energy. I worship God with my family and with all of my (being, heart, etc.). Mom and Dad teach me when I'm sitting, when I'm standing, and especially when I'm (at church, running, etc.)."

The pictures of the activity where mom and dad teach the little boy are definitely worth 1,000 words! For instance, "Mom and Dad teach me when I'm...climbing." shows the little boy climbing on the counter, reaching up for the cookie jar. Obviously the lesson he learns from that incident are more than just about climbing.

The story goes on to describe an activity in his day. Our favorite was:

"In the school room, I color a picture."

The school room in this story is just the family's living room, which both I and my children loved. It's not often you find a book in which the family is obviously homeschooling, without the story specifically mentioning it. All the illustrations - by Alice Ratterree - are phenomenal. Beautiful, detailed, calm and engaging. We often spent each reading with more time looking and and talking about the pictures than in reading through the story.

Each day then ends with,

"At bedtime, I pray to God. I say, "(variety of prayers each day)" Good night, (Sunday, Monday, etc.). Good night, God.

The repetition of the story is great for little ones. My five year old, who is just learning to read, feels like she can follow along with the story and "read" some of the parts out loud herself.

The book doesn't end with the story though. At the end are a week's worth of discussion questions and activities. They could be used to turn this simple, lovely book into a week-long Bible curriculum.

What we did was read through the book once each day, then use the discussion questions and activities at the back of the book to extend our reading into some though-provoking discussion and family time. We had to skip one activity (Take a bike ride) because it's been freezing and either raining or snowing almost constantly since we received the book! But the kids really enjoyed the discussion times and activities (especially the family game night, which we need to do more often). The ideas we discussed carried through to the following weeks and came up again and again. I've been asked by my two youngest (5 and 7 years old) to read the book again, many times. You can take a peek inside for yourself, with the sample chapter offered on Apologia's website.

Overall, this was a fantastic addition to both our home library and to our homeschool curriculum. I also discovered that Apologia offers a companion Coloring Book ($4.00) for this book, which would be a great addition to using the book.

Apologia offers lots of other products as well. We use their science curriculum (creation-based) and we love it! I'm really impressed with everything I've seen from them, and this new book is no exception. Want to see what other crew members thought about the book? Check out their reviews.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of Good Morning, God from Apologia Press in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

Great Giveaway

2010-12-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

I love free things! Happily Domestic is giving away a free Nutrimill grain mill on their blog.

We have this grain mill at our local "co-op" for member use. You have to pay a one-time fee for use, and get trained to use it. It's a great mill, very simple to use. But my biggest problem is REMEMBERING to take my grain to grind it on co-op days!!! Having one of these at home, so I could freshly grind my grain every time I wanted to make something would be so awesome. I hope I win!

But in case I don't, you should enter too, for a chance to win. Click on the picture above or click this link to enter. There are LOTS of entries to gain in various ways, so get going!

TOS Review: Master Ruler

2010-12-01T08:30:00.016-05:00

Which lines on the ruler indicates 1/4 inches? What about 1/8 inches or 1/16 inches? It can be frustrating and overwhelming for kids to try and figure these out. And what if you get interrupted while you're trying to count your way over in 1/16ths? The Master Ruler to the rescue!

The Master Ruler from Master Innovations is a unique concept. Hold it up, and you see the different measurements in different colors. But that's just the beginning. Each fraction of measurement is actually on a different layer of clear plastic. The larger the measurement, the longer the line. A spiral binding holds all the different layers together, making it easy to flip to the one you need. On the back is a quick run-down of the different measurements and their equivalents (1 ft = 12 inches, etc). This video explains the concept of the Master Ruler and how it works.

We received the Standard Ruler ($9.95), the Metric Ruler ($9.95), the Master Ruler Workbook ($15.95), (these three items can be purchased together as part of the Master Ruler Starter Set at $41.25), as well as a Marvels of Measurement Poster ($10.00).

Marvels of Measurement Poster

The Master Ruler Workbook was very helpful, as I found that I had trouble getting started with how to use the product with my kids. It had plenty of lesson ideas, and the consumable pages of the workbook are allowed to be copied for family use - very helpful for those of us with larger familes!

The Master Ruler has been, and will continue to be, well used in our house. Not only does it help children learn basic measuring skills, but it teaches fractions at the same time. My older son, who has been struggling with fractions suddenly gained a very real understanding of how to simplify fractions just using this ruler! We haven't done this yet, but the Metric Ruler can also be used to teach decimals.

The Marvels of Measurement Poster has been a fantastic addition to our wall. I'm pretty picky about what posters end up hanging on the wall, but this one was definitely worth the space. Though we haven't done much to actually study it, the children seem to be absorbing the facts on the poster - well enough even to know some answers to trivia questions at Thanksgiving (when we play lots of family games together).

Master Innovations offers other math tools, including Master Clock, Master Angles and Master Fractions. You can check out what the other members of the Homeschool Crew have to say about all the Master Innovations products here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary Master Ruler, a Metric Ruler, the Master Ruler Workbook in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.