Simply Put: A Study of Economics by Catherine Jaime #review

I was recently offered a spot on a review team for a junior high/high school course called Simply Put: A Study of Economics by Catherine Jaime to teach students about economics.  My kids aren't that old yet but I have  a good friend who had just been talking with me about needing a course for her son who is a sophomore in high school.  I thought it would be a good fit and asked her if she was interested in using it and writing a review for me to share on here.  She said she was and so a review was born.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit dramatic, but she did review the curriculum and her review is below.  I hope you enjoy it!

Simply Put: A Study in Economics
By Catherine Jaime


Economics is one of those topics that really should be preached at our children, especially in this day and age. It is yet another example of how our government in particular has gone off the track it was placed on with the Constitution. Author Catherine Jaime won my interest in lesson 1 by pointing out the simple common sense of looking at all the future consequences of economic decisions. This is a thought process that seems lost in our society at present.

I originally thought this semester course might be too simple for my homeschooled sophomore. However, the concepts and writing easily fit both junior high and high school minds. Although I am currently using this as a semester course, with some extra prep time this could easily be expanded into a year curriculum as suggested within the introduction. I would like to see the author take her suggestions a bit farther with a written year-long lesson plan to supplement her book for those who might need a little help and encouragement in that area of planning.

This study promotes an understanding of the U.S. constitution and believes strongly in the free market system and minimal government involvement in the economy. I happen to agree with this thought process and am thrilled to see the theme throughout the study.

In general this is a good overview of economics. It is filled with quotes and notable events in history that help explain topics. The review questions cover the important aspects of the lesson helping retention. I do think it encourages thought and continued interest and desire for understanding. I’m looking forward to continuing this study and.its ability to stimulate discussions between my child and me.

You can purchase the physical book from Amazon for $17.37(at the time of posting) or the digital book from Currclick for $2.10 at the time of posting(normally $6.99).  With this you get the student book as well as the tests and keys.  

If this sounds like something you'd like to see or use make sure to go over and enter in the Big Giveaway to celebrate the launch of this new book.

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French Essentials Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

 

Do you speak a foreign language?  Do you want to learn?  Or wish you had taken the time to learn when you were young?

Foreign language is a staple in schools these days. Not just public schools but homeschools too.  French Essentials is one such language program. They help students learn French from native speakers.  The program is designed for homeschoolers.  Crew members have received a full year or full package of the French Essentials to review.

There are 10 modules in the program which equate out to 2 years of High School French classes. You don't have to be in high school to take these courses though.  They recommend their courses for grades 2-12. The younger grades of course are not going to get as much done, but they do have until the 12th grade to finish all the modules.  From their website if you start the modules in grade 3 and do one module per year you will complete the courses your Senior year or during grade 12.

The program can be purchased either as a full set where you have access to all the modules and downloads for a full year or as individual modules.  Each individual module is accessible for 90 days.  Each module can be purchased for $69.95 while the full year(full package) of all modules can be purchased for $149.95.  Right now only modules 1-5 are available with the rest to come.

The program includes downloadable, printable worksheets/assignments as well as audio and visual learning.  You actually hear and see the language in use to help you learn it.  It is taught by native French speakers.  It is designed specifically for home learners in a clear easy to use format.  Learning a new language is always easier if the teachers really know it and are fluent.  This normally only happens if they are native speakers or have been totally immersed in the country of the language.

As with all foreign language programs both in schools and at home, it is designed to be a daily course.  It should be used 4-5 times per week to help the child remember and improve.

With that, you might wonder how often we used it.  We used it 5 days a week, every week.  In fact, we're still using it!  We love learning foreign languages and have never had a chance to learn French before so this fun not just for the kids, but me as well. I never had the chance to take French in high school or college either so now I am learning with my kids.  Since my oldest is only 8 and in 2nd grade we did not do the actual tests and such, but more just listening and learning.

Next year when they are in 3rd grade they can do the writing and tests so that they are learning more.  I love how it is set up so that they can start earlier than they could if they were not allowed to start until they could do the written work.

Beginning in lesson 5 of module 1 they start having other things to do besides just the listen and say type work.   The first four lessons focus on learning the alphabet and pronunciations.  Those four lessons could be made into an entire year with younger children.  We made it past those, but went at a very slow pace becaue my learners were so young.  We did not do the tests but did play some of the games that go along with the lessons.

The program focuses on teaching and learning in four ways:

-Listening Comprehension(which we used and worked with well)

-Speaking(again one we could master)

-Reading

-Writing

The reading and writing parts were the ones that my young learners had problems with.  I would like to see more listening comprehension for pre-readers, but that is not really what the program is geared towards.  My kiddos did learn some of the writing.  They can write the alphabet and some basic words.  They also can read some small words.  It would equate to reading at a kindergarten level in our school probably.

With the course comes:

downloadable lessons

printable workbook(plus all necessary parent/teacher pages)

online exercises and activities

online lesson tests

topics on french culture

If your student has already had some French instruction, they can take a placement test to see which module they should start with.  It will direct you to where they would best fit into the program.  We of course had no French at all.  I have never had French and neither has my husband or any of the kids.  I do have cousins who live in England who are fluent in French and we said a few words to them when they were over visiting recently.  My grandmother also spoke French but unfortunately she passed away before we learned anything to tell her.

Read more Crew Reviews for French Essentials on the Main Crew Blog!  We all received the same to review but with different kids we all have different experiences.

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IXL.com Math and Language Arts Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Does you little one like math and language arts?  Or is it like pulling teeth to get them to do their schoolwork?  Would they do their work if they thought it was play?  Well, let me introduce you to IXL.com an online site with math and language arts practice for kids.  You can get an online math membership or an online language arts membership or a membership that includes both. We were given a year membership to both Math and Language Arts for up to three children as part of the Crew Review Team.

Membership is $9.95 per month per subject with options of adding the other subject or additional students for more.  If you want both subjects for a month it is $15.95.  A yearly membership is $79 for one subject.  If you wish to do both subjects for a yearly membership it is $129.  Each additional child is $20 per year if you do the yearly membership or $2 a month for the monthly plan.  Obviously, the yearly both subject is the best deal; however, if you child is not in grades 2-4 you will not be able to use the language arts section until they expand.

Their online math section has something for grades preK all the way up to 12th grade.  This includes pre algebra and algebra.  They are also working on a section of calculus coming soon.  I like that the math sections are listed out by grade and then by topic.  For instance, the second grade math contains 218 skills that should be mastered.  You can then click on whatever skill you wish for your child to work on and they can work until mastery.

There are more than 2500 math and language art skills combined at this time.  In a years time your child will not be able to learn and complete them all, but they can at least get their one grade done!  With your membership, whether monthly or yearly, you do have access to all levels!  So if your child does master one level you do not have to purchase a new year subscription to get the next level, you simply move them on up.  I love that!  I have some kids that excel and move through things quickly while I have others that are slower and take more time to learn.  I love the flexibility of the program.

Here is my take on this program:  It is perfect for homeschooling because your child can move at their own pace.  I think it is better for older children or children who are motivated to do things on their own so that you are not constantly asking them if they have done their lesson for the day.  We are not a large computer family.  Until recently my kids did not do a lot of computer school so they are still learning.  That means they are slow to answer some questions just because they don't know where all the keys are.  But, they are good with this program because it does not penalize them or immediately mark them as wrong just because they took their time on  a question.  The end results are what matter.  I am near to help them if they need it or they are free to do it on their own.  I have found at the end of lesson time that they have done an extra lesson or two somedays during their time just because they got done and wanted to go on.  It was fun.  It was not thought of as "doing school" so much as it was having fun and playing games.  That is the ultimate homeschool experience.  We're having fun, we're not just learning!

Language arts is a much smaller section right now with only materials for grades 2-4.  They are working on more for this section and are set to expand it soon.  We didn't do as much with the language arts as we did the math because it only has grades 2-4 currently and I only have two kids in these grades.  My two are in second grade so they are just at the beginning of the coursework available.  There are 82 second grade language art skills.  We did not use them in order. . . . . in fact we jumped into homophones first because it was what we were talking about and I wanted to re-enforce what we were learning and then move on from there.  Some of the lessons we had already covered this year so they were very easy for my kids and they just blasted through them.  Others were concepts we had not talked about and they took a bit more doing to get those down.  I think the way these are taught is great because even weeks after mastering a subject my child still could remember what they had learned.  It's more than just memorizing to get on to the next skill, it's learning.  It's learning so they will still remember it for years and years to come.

We like what we have seen so far of this program.  I have not gone past the second grade though.  Soon we might get to pass into third grade math and I can talk about that, but I didn't really go looking as my kids aren't ready for that yet.

I would like to mention they do have an app for iPad users for grades K-6 in math.  We don't have an iPad, iPod or anything that technologically advanced.  We're still learning how to use the computer around here!  But if you do I think it's a great resource to help take school with you where ever you go.  You can do school while waiting at the doctor's office even!  Big mommy grins at that!  It's so much easier to keep your child occupied in new places if you have something familiar to do, so why not school!  For me the why not is more in the I don't want to have to lug around that many books and pencils, but then again if it's all on the iPad you don't have much to carry.  No excuse for being late on that days math work!

Like what you're seeing and want to find out more?  Jump on over to the Main Crew Blog and see what other reviewers had to say!

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VocabularySpellingCity Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

What do you do for spelling at your house?  Here we never had a set spelling list or spelling book.  I would just randomly choose words each week and we'd use them. Sometimes I'd theme them but most of the time it was just words that I knew my kids needed to learn.  Now enter my joy with a Crew Review we got to participate in!  VocabularySpellingCity is a neat little website that we got to try out for our kids that I can highly recommend!  This game based program focuses on vocabulary, spelling, writing, and language arts.  We received a year of the Premium Membership for free in exchange for our review.

This website offers a standard membership which is free or a premium membership which costs $29.99 per year with up to 5 students.  It is geared for ages K-12 so really any of your homeschool kiddos can use this.  We used it for grades K, 1, and 2.  With it you have the ability to use their word lists or input your own.  Because of the input your own feature I think you could use it with preschool as well(just my thoughts not the websites) as long as your preschool child was capable of using the computer.  I know with my kids my preschoolers can do a lot more than I think just from watching their older siblings.

VocabularySpellingCity offers learning through fun.  One of my boys dubbed it as "they tricked me into learning"!  Yeap that is the truth!  It "tricks" them into thinking they are having fun and just playing games when in reality they are learning as well.  These fun games teach them how to spell words, what words mean, how to use them in sentences, and so much more!

The free account offers you the basics while the premium membership(what we received) offers so much more!   Check out the photo below from the Premium Membership page to see all the extras you can receive.

I have to say that we loved the fact that there weren't ads on the pages.  My kids get distracted easily and far too often would click on ads and such that might be moving on sidebars just because they want to see what they are and what is going on.  They're kids, they're curious and I wouldn't have them any other way, but those ads are distractions.  I am a huge fan of flashcards as well so those are an added bonus as you can print those off.  We also are fans of laminating said flashcards for reasons I'm sure you can relate to.  My littles often get their hands on them and laminated in the mouth stays together longer than just paper in the mouth!  Yes it has happened.  Yes I have learned the extra money is worth it!  Now for the totally selfish part. . . . I love that I don't have to write down their grades!  Yes it keeps track of that for me so I don't have to grade them or record them.  I can simply print their records for our log books and tada I'm all done!  Easy is good when you are homeschooling this many little kids!  I have 8 in school from prek on up to 2nd grade and that extra time can be used for other things.

I do want to note that the free option is still a good deal if you can't afford the premium.  I know several people that might not have that extra money right now, so sign up for the free and purchase the premium when you can.  I do have a question in about what happens when you have more than 5 kids for premium so will let you know that answer when I get it.  With the free you still get the handwriting helpers, the printables, and spelling testing/spelling help.

Free apps can be downloaded to your phones or Kindle even as well.  We don't have that technology here in our house, but for those that do this is a great thing!  Makes learning on the go much easier without having to take a laptop with you.  As homeschoolers that flexibility is something we normally tout and this makes us continue to be able to school on the go.  For my family it would be taking the laptop and working on it when we stopped for breaks or at night since we don't have smartphones, Ipads, or Kindles, but for those that do you might want to check into their free apps.

This is a great daily use website.  I highly recommend doing even a few minutes on a daily basis.  The more they do it the more they learn. We do one list a week.  Each day we do a different game to help us learn more about the word and practice spelling the word.  I print off pages where they actually are writing the word as well because I'm a stickler for penmanship and am determined my kids will learn how to not only spell but write legibly too!  And then we test on Fridays.  If you only do a 4 day week instead of 5 testing on Thursday would be your ideal.  That gives them the rest of the week to learn their words and learn how to not only spell but use them.  We also do double testing.  They are required to do the tests online, but then we also do some oral testing where they have to write down the word.  I either give them sentences and have them put the correct word in or I tell them the word and they must spell it just like the tests we used to do.

My kids love this program.  I'm giving it five stars because I love it too. Makes homeschooling simpler which in this busy time of life for me is a good thing.

Please hop on over to the Main Crew Blog post and read all the other reviews.  There were many of us who reviewed this website and we all have different thoughts and feelings so you won't read the same review twice.  It is a great program and I think we will continue to use it with my kids for the years to come.  Really the money it costs for the website versus what the spelling books would cost is a great deal to me.

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God's World News Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

With the Crew Review team we recently were able to review God's World News.  We received the Early Edition which is for grades 1-2.  It fit the best with our little school here considering I have 4 kiddos in that age range.  My kids love getting things in the mail just for them.  Which is great for this review as we got a year subscription free!

God's World News has a variety of different levels.  They have 6 total spanning from God's Big World for preschool and kindergarten to Trak for high school.  Each level is available for a years subscription for $28. You can get a full year subscription which includes 10 editions or a school year edition which only includes 7 editions.

With our subscription we received an online edition.  Through this you can get online and read the editions, back editions, and much more.  You can read biographies, print off activities, and so much more.  The kids can also access a kids website or kids zone to find fun things and games for them to do.  I've loved that there is a parents weekly email that gives me extra ideas for current events.  Up until getting the magazine, I've not done a current events curriculum with my kids.  We really haven't talked of much in the way of current events at all.  I had thought they were too young.  Well I was wrong!  They love learning about the current events and I love the Godly Christian take on them that we get with God's World News.

We also received a full sized map of the world to help us locate the locations of the articles.  This was so much fun!  We love finding out where in the big picture the events are taking place.

You may be asking yourself, so what's the big deal with this?  So what, it's a Christian magazine for kids?  But it's so much more than just that!  Yes it is a Christian magazine designed for kids at each level.  But it helps them develop critical thinking skills.  I had never thought of working on critical thinking in my kids this little, but it makes sense to start it now so that they grow in their thinking as they learn.  It makes a lot of sense actually and I for one am very glad for this.  I had never heard of them before this review opportunity came up and it has been such a blessing for us.

My kids can now tell you some of what is going on in the world.  They may honestly know more about this stuff than I do.  I must admit I don't follow the news.  I really don't.  We have no television.  We do have internet, but I don't do a lot of news reading.  I look at the weather, check my emails, do some facebook, and blog.  That's the extent of my internet.  I'm not sure I really have time for all I do on here and have no clue how I'd fit news into my tight schedule.  So now I get my news too!  Current events as told to me by my kids who are reading it in their God's World News!

Within each magazine are full color pictures related to each article.  The articles are short and in big enough print my kids aren't intimidated by them.  It also connects a Bible verse to the stories.  One of the editions had pirate stories including their ships and how they are recovering one such ship.  The verse was Psalm 143:5 about remembering the days of old.  Yes!  That is what we are doing.  We are remembering and relearning from them.  Great stuff here!

So what we're doing.  Read the magazine.  Do the activities in the magazine.  Go online.  Print off extra activities as well as answer keys so the kids can grade their own(they love this) and also read more.  If there is a person in our stories we look for his biography.  If there is an event in our story we look for related articles.  The online resources really are wonderful and so much more than just taking a peek at recent magazines.

And now I close with the highlight of my kids reading.  In the first issue we received, the first story was about the 150th Anniversary Reenactment of Gettysburg!  This was so neat because the kids could say that their Daddy was there!  No he wasn't in the pictures or in the article specifically, but he was there!  And they love to reenact the Civil War with us so this was great.  This one little one page article with 3 pictures started a whole study for us.  We studied the battle.  We watched films from the reenactment.  What a great way to start off our subscription to this magazine!  They are forever in love now and keep waiting for another "blast from the past" that might feature their Daddy someday!

For more Crew Reviews go to the Main Crew Blog Page and see what other Crew reviewers had to say about this great magazine.  You'll find reviews for all the different editions/levels so make sure you choose one that relates to your child's age to check out.

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YWAM Publishing -TOS Crew Review #hsreviews

 

Our latest Crew Review item was threefold.  We received a book on George Washington: True Patriot as well as a two part study guide.  These are available from YWAM Publishing.  They have a series called Heroes of History with several different figures they focus on.  We received George Washington while others received Jim Elliot

   

The George Washington book is recommended for children ages 10 and up.  We used it as a read aloud for all of our children but found that the study guide was a bit much for some of them.  My 8 year old who is in 2nd grade did not have a problem completing the study guide but my 1st graders did.  It's just a bit too much.  They all had better luck answering the questions if I asked them out loud though.

 

Both the book and unit study are written by Janet and Geoff Benge.  You may purchase the book in paperback, kindle, nook, or audiobook versions for $6.99.  I think the audiobook versions would be wonderful for car rides though I have not listened to them so don't know how well the voices are done.  The study guide can be purchased in paperback or pdf for $7.49.

We received pdf files of the unit study and a kindle edition of the book to review.  I loved the voice that the book is written in. It is full of information but not dry or in a way that kids won't want to listen or be compelled to hear more.  We are big readers in our family and I read a lot of books outloud to the kids so this was not a big deal to them, just another day in the Slocum house learning about history!

This study fit right in with what we're studying in school which was great!  My kids already knew somethings and I would have to regularly stop reading to answer their questions or read around exclamations of names before I read them.  It really was super fun and funny for me to hear them repeating things they'd learned and the excitement of them remembering things.  For our Revolutionary war and Colonial history semester we've been watching a video series that my kids adore and it has included lots of information from this book that they loved being able to regurgitate to me and to daddy when he got home at the end of the day.  I think they were surprised to discover that daddy already knew some of this stuff too!  Their faces were priceless when he could tell them who the people they wanted to tell him about were.

At a length of 224 pages this is definitely not a fast reading book.  You wouldn't want to read it fast either as you might miss important information.  My kids were shocked to find out that George Washington was involved in more than just the war but went on to be President as well. They also were very outraged that he was in the British army at one point.  It was definitely a good learning experience for them.

I have say if this book is any indication of what the rest of the Heroes of History series is like we will be wanting to use more of these in our history lessons.  Not only do they cover history but also geography, government, and science.  They are a joy to read and the study guide is thorough and well thought out.

Other Crew members reviewed a biography of Jim Elliot as well as some who reviewed Washington as we did.  Please hop over to the Main Crew Blog Post and read their reviews to see what they thought of their books.  I'm sure most enjoyed them as much as we did!

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Fundanoodle Orange Level Review -TOS Crew #hsreview

As you've seen we get lots of homeschool review through the TOS Crew review team, but most of them are geared towards older kids who are already in school.  This time we got to review a fun activity through Fundanoodle.  We received I Can Bead, Lace, Rip, Trace which is for ages 3 and up or preschool.  Well.. . . . I have to change that a bit because my 2 year old was a bit better suited for it than my 3 year old, but more about that later.

This orange level or level 1 kit is designed for preschoolers to help develop their fine motor skills by using beads, lace cards, ripping sheets, and tracing.  It also helps them get ready for writing and school activities.  For me the main thing was it gave my preschoolers something that they could call "school" besides the special coloring books I had purchased for them specifically to use during school time.  My kiddos favorite activity was lacing up the cards.  There is a warning for choking hazard, but most of the pieces were big enough none of mine tried to put them in their mouths.

If they have some hidden artistic talents, this kit is great for bringing those out.  We also worked on practicing our color names with it as well as counting.  It's a great little kit with lots of potential to use it in different ways.  The hand eye coordination is also worked on to help develop that.  Really this little box contains everything you need to help your little one get ready for school and none of it seems like work.  It's all play for the little ones while they work on these things!

This particular learning tool won the 2011 and 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval!  It can be purchased for $29.99.  It comes in a cardboard box case that has a carrying handle so you can take it with you to work on the go or simply use it at home.  We liked to take the lacing cards with us but not the rest as I was afraid we'd lose the pieces.

I have to put a personal note in here.  My older brothers have Cerebral Palsy and I remember as a child having their occupational therapist out to work with them.  A lot of what she did was to help them develop the muscles and skills that this box works on.  Yes they were older when they worked on these, but I want to go out on a limb and say that no matter the age, if you have a child who is challenged in some of these areas please give this kit a try.  I know my brothers hated doing lace up cards(a bit girly for them) but it really did help their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.

Now back to my first paragraph.  I have a 3 year old who is developmentally delayed and I have a 2 year old who is advanced.  My 2 year old grasped a lot more of the concepts than the 3 year old.  They were both able to string the beds onto the pipe cleaners, yarn, and shoe strings.  They also were both able to punch the centers out of the cards.  My 3 year old though was not able to do the lace cards at all, had difficulty tracing and could not figure out ripping. . . . at the beginning of using the box!  By the end of using the box, she could at least do all of these things.  Yes they were not perfect, but they were much better than when she started.  My 2 year old also made great progress using the learning tools inside the box.

We give this a thumbs up and 5 stars.  My girls loved it and couldn't wait for play time during school the next day.  I loved that they were still learning even while I was working with their older siblings instead of directly with them.

Make sure to hop over to the Main Crew Blog Post to see what other fun items everyone got to review from Fundanoodle!  They have so many great items it was really hard to choose just one to review!

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Logic of English Foundations -TOS Crew Review #hsreviews

Do you want to make learning fun for your little ones?  Logic of English has many great programs for your kids.  We reviewed their Foundations A level which is geared towards budding learners ages 4-7.

Foundations A is a complete learning experience for reading, phonics, spelling, and handwriting.  You can choose whether you'd like manuscript or cursive handwriting as well.  We're doing manuscript because I think cursive is too advanced for my crew at present.  Not even my 2nd graders have started cursive yet!  We did receive a cursive handwriting chart for reference though.

Logic of English employs the see the phonogram, hear the sound, touch the card principle to help appeal to multiple senses at once.  I think this works really well with children who have some learning disabilities.  It is easier for them to grasp a concept if they can have it tactile.  If they can put immediately a sight and a touch to the sound that they are hearing.  Add to that lots of fun learning games and you've got children begging to do their reading as soon as they wake up. . . . it's too bad for mommy if that time is 5am and mommy hasn't had her coffee yet.  It's been a few weeks where I've been thankful for that programmable coffee pot!

So for this review we received the Foundations Level A Manuscript Teacher's Manual($38.00), Foundations Level A Manuscript Student's Workbook($18.00), Cursive handwriting chart($10.00), Red Manuscript Phonogram Game Cards($10.00), Blue Bookface Phonogram Game Cards($10.00), Basic Phonogram Flash Cards($18.00), a whiteboard($12.00), and the Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Tactile Cards($28.00).  This ends up being a $144.00 value.  You can buy these items individually or all together in a Level A and B set.  You can also build your own sets with other components as well.

I mentioned above that this program is designed for children ages 4-7.  I want to throw in that if you have a struggling child a bit older this is good for them too.  We have an 8 year old that has some developmental delays and there were areas that she hadn't totally grasped with phonics.  I went ahead and let her advance to 1st grade this year, but she still struggles.  I decided to let her sit in and play the games as well as listen and touch with the other children.  We only received one student workbook so that was given to my beginning schooler starting his first year of kindergarten(age 5) and another workbook was purchased for my other 5 year old just starting kindergarten.

I did not have any 4 year olds to try this out with, but I do have a 2 year old(almost 3) who really loved to play the games with us and picked up quite a bit from just listening.  I would have to say if you have a gifted or fast learning 3 year old this might even work for them.  They don't say this on their site and of course there are studies that show formal schooling shouldn't start until the child is older, but I find my little girl learning so much just by listening in to "school" in our house that if she asks to learn along I can't say no!  I could very easily see myself purchasing a workbook for her in the next year or so.

I had no problems getting my kiddos to want to do this program.  They fell in love the first day of learning and were always begging to do more!  I love it when kids love to learn and this program really seems to make them want to learn and to continue to want to learn.

I, as the mommy and the teacher, like that there are some online resources and videos that I can watch if I'm having any troubles teaching.  Let's face it, it's been a long time since I learned these letter sounds/phonics and I want to make sure that I'm pronouncing them correctly before I teach my children and have them saying them wrong for life!  There is a great resource on the Logic of English website entitled Free.  From there you can find a drop down menu of videos, downloads, etc.  It's a storehouse of information that I loved having access to.  Definitely helpful.  You can find spelling lists, spelling rules, phonogram help, and so much more!  I loved having access to spelling lists by phonograms to use for our school.

Now other Crew members also received the Foundations Level A to review as well as other programs from Logic of English.  Make sure you pop on over to the Main Crew Blog to see what they have to say about their experiences with the program.

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Time4Learning Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Recently as a member of the TOS Crew Review Team we received a 6 month subscription for free to Time4Learning to review.  We have been using it with our oldest who is in 2nd grade.  She is 8.  They offer learning programs for preschool through high school as well so really any student could learn from this site and use it.

Time4Learning covers the five main subjects so really it is an entire curriculum in and of itself.  You can use it without having to use another curriculum.  We, however, do still like to include Bible as a subject and you don't find that on here.  You do have access to math, science, social studies, language arts, and LA extensions.

This online program is student focused so it moves at the pace that the student sets.  There are no deadlines or strict standards for how fast a child has to complete the course or how many lessons must be done per week.  It's a really simple program that requires very little adult supervision.  All I had to do was be available if she didn't understand something or needed help with a word she didn't know.  During the very beginning there were some issues with the fact that she isn't extremely comfortable with the computer yet as we haven't done a lot online.  That just gets better the more she uses it and she now is pretty much a pro with clicking and doing her lessons.

The cost  really isn't too bad.  For the preschool through 8th grade courses it is $19.95 for the first student each month and $14.95 for each additional student per month.   High school coursework is a bit more at $30.00 for the month which includes four courses.  My children are far from being close to starting high school so I really didn't dig too deep into that one.  We used the 2nd grade course as we have two children in that grade.  All my others are younger than that.

Our favorite subject was math.  I say was because I think the course we used last year for math must have been an advanced first grade course as we knew most of the second grade lessons already and she was able to breeze right through them.  That most likely is why it's her favorite subject!  It's done!

Next was science.  Oh my but she loved the Earth and Space section.  We hadn't covered that at all in our school yet and she just loved learning about the planets and moon.  This was one of those where she'd get done a lesson for the day and need to move on to her other subjects and try to tell me she hadn't done her science yet so she could do another lesson.  I would be giggling in my head because I LOVE that my kids love to learn so much.  It's a great feeling to know that your child is engaged and interested enough in a subject to want to keep learning even after they're supposed to be done for the day.

Our least favorite subject was reading.  She tends  to struggle with reading still.  This program is very good for struggling readers as it does let them move at their own pace.  The "reading" or language arts  is divided into two sections.  You have language arts and language arts extensions.  In the extensions you have 22 chapters that help children work on their vocabulary and building their vocabulary as well as work on learning to write short sentences using proper grammar and punctuation.

Social studies was a good one too as it really seemed to work into what we're doing in school as well.  It took her on "virtual tours" really and let her see more of what our monuments and such are like.  It went perfectly with the section we were doing on states as well.  She liked this and we often brought things out of what she learned on the computer into our school discussions with the rest of the kids.

You can learn more about the entire second grade coursework by visiting this page on Time4Learning which gives you an overview.  I've tried to highlight some of the specifics that we liked about the program.  The only thing to dislike is that it is all on the computer and there are no hands on books.  It also requires a computer of course which some families may not have.  Our problem would be if we used it with more than one student that we only have one computer and it would not work very well with that set up.

All in all we loved this and recommend to others.  Main things, you need a computer and your child needs to have special time set aside to use it.  Make sure you're available to help with questions especially for the younger grades.

As members of the Crew Review Team we all reviewed Time4Learning but different grades and levels.  Crew reviewers can tell you about preschool through 8th grade as we did not review the High School levels though they are available now.  Make sure to hop on over to the Main Crew Blog and read all the Crew Reviews!

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Greene Bark Press Children's Book Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

 

Recently we were given the opportunity to review a children's book published by Greene Bark Press.  This book happens to be a super cute little board book for younger children entitled Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again and teaches children about safety.  The book retails for $8.50.

Obviously, being a board book this is geared towards younger children.  When I read the book to my kids I had all of my children sit down to hear it.  This spans from 3 months(I don't think she got anything out of it at all) all the way up to 8 years.  I think all of my children minus the infant actually could get something from this book.  Even though I always stress street safety with my kids, it never hurts to reiterate it just that one last time.  It might just save their lives one day.

 

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again is written by Ginger Pate and illustrated by Rhett Pennell.  It contains cute little pictures to help grab children's attention.  It is geared for ages 3-8 which worked well with my school crew as the youngest preschooler will turn 3 in November and the oldest 2nd grader is 8.  This book focuses on Wally Waddlewater who wants to mail a birthday card to his Grandmother.  Now our mailbox is at the end of our driveway, and we live in the country, so my kids had questions about the large mailbox that many people put mail in as well as why he had to cross a street to get there.  My kids are of a curious nature and I have to satisfy them by answering their questions before they could settle down and listen to what the book was actually saying.

Once we'd answered such questions as why he had to cross the street all the way up to what day was his grandmother's birthday(not sure where these questions come from) it was time to read the story so we could understand why we need to stay safe and what staying safe entails.

I loved the simple way they told of street safety and why we must look both ways before and during crossing a street.  I do think that we'll have to read this book over and over again before it all sinks in to all of the kids, but for now at least I know that the older ones are going to at least have the knowledge at their fingertips that they should be looking both ways before crossing the street.

Want to see what other people thought of the Wally board book?  Simply hop on over to the Main Crew blog page and click on the links provided where you will see a list of all participating blogs!

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Homeschool Spanich Academy Early Language Program Review -TOS Crew Review #hsreviews

Recently we were selected to review the Early Language Program through Homeschool Spanish Academy with other TOS Crew members.  We received a half semester which consisted of 7 lessons.  My kids thought this was pretty neat as we don't tend to do a lot on the computer.  They were very excited to get to meet a new "teacher" and also to learn some Spanish.  The only exposure they had really had to Spanish prior to this course(for these two students) was Dora and Diego!

The Early Language Program is designed for children ages 5-8.  We used it with our two second graders.  They are Bridgett age 8 and Patrick age 6.  The program happens over Skype where their instructor would call us via Skype and talk to the kids while teaching them Spanish.  My kids were shown pictures and taught the words to go with the pictures as well as the alphabet and numbers.

I was impressed with how good the teacher we used was with the kids.  My 6 year old boy tends to be a bit shy and really didn't want to participate the first few lessons.  We used the same teacher for all of our lessons to make this easier on him.  She would ask him specific questions knowing that the subject interested him.  While sister would say all the words he would only want to say the ones he liked such as spider, dog, etc.  By the end of our lessons he was just as loud and answering as many questions as his older sister.

The style of learning is great!  It's more see and say at this stage.  You see the picture, the teacher asks you what it is, you say the English, she says the Spanish, and you say the Spanish.  Each session lasts roughly 25 minutes and then you're done for the day.  A copy of the lesson was then emailed to us as homework for the kids to study and practice the words that they had learned.  

A half semester(which is what we reviewed) for a pair(again what we used) doing one class per week for a total of 7 lessons is $89.99 or $12.86 per class.  If you opted to do one on one learning for the half semester of one class per week for a total of 7 lessons it would only be $59.99 or $8.57 per class.

The Early Language is not the only level they offer.  You can also choose to take middle school, high school, or adult classes as well.  You can opt for a full semester instead of a half semester or to do two lessons per week instead of one.  It's really very adaptable as you are the one who sets up when your lessons will be and you are the one who chooses your teacher.  We loved the flexibility of being able to choose our teacher and to continue to use her throughout the entire half semester.  

I do want to say that we really did love our teacher!  My kids looked forward to learning with her and she made their learning fun.  We did not try out any other teachers so we can't compare her to the others, but she definitely earns high marks from us and knows how to work with young children.  It was a bit difficult at times to find times that were available to meet with her that were open on our schedule due to the number o people attending classes.  To combat this Homeschool Spanish was training new teachers!  They saw the need and worked quickly to fill it which is exceptional!

One of the hardest things for us was keeping the rest of the children away from the computer so the two taking the course could hear and respond.  Our internet connection is not the best, but we were able to see and hear everything.  It probably would have been a bit faster if we had a better connection, but we were highly pleased with our experience and definitely recommend to others.

You don't have to take our word for it though.  Feel free to check out the other Crew Reviews to see what our fellow members thought of the level they reviewed.

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Dolphins, Porpoises, and Whales Study by In The Hands of a Child -TOS Review #hsreviews

I recently received a PDF of a unit study/lapbook entitled Dolphins, Porpoises, and Whales for ages K-4th grade.  This was provided by In The Hands of a Child.

The regular price of our study is $12.00 but as of right now it is on special sale for $5.00!  That is quite a sale at over 50% off!!  Now to clarify a little bit.  If you go online you will find that the recommended grades for this lapbook are grades 3 and 4 but it does say that it works for grades K-4.  I used it with my 1st and 2nd graders.  There were quite a few words and such in the reading that they didn't know so I read it aloud to them.  They were able to grasp the concepts and do the activities though.  I do feel that it is geared more towards the top grades and not the lower ones though.  I don't think my kindergarteners would be able to get much out of this.

The Lapbook study came to us in a downloadable PDF form.  It was easy to print and fairly self explanatory on how to put it together correctly.  Everything you will need is there.  Well except for the glue and paper, etc you need for the activities and putting your book together!

Included in your unit study is a 7 day planning guide.  Due to the number of children I have we made this into a 14 day unit study.  It worked out really well for us!  My kids of course wanted to do more each day, but this helped keep it at a manageable level for us since I do have so many young kids to work with!  I did read everything aloud to them and we had to substitutes smaller words in for some of the larger ones that we didn't know.

Also included are 20 activities!  My kiddos loved doing the activities.  I'm not sure that we always did them like they were supposed to be done as they did not have clear cut step by step instructions to follow. If my kids had just been turned loose with the activity, I don't believe they would have been able to get it done correctly.

The sheer amount of information about the animals was amazing!!  I learned so much reading through this with my kids.  I'm sure in a few years we'll do it again and we'll all learn new things that we didn't get this time.  That is the wonderful thing with homeschooling, you never stop learning!  Someone went to a lot of effort to discover all the interesting facts that were put together here.

This is only the 2nd lapbook that we've ever done, but my kids loved it!  I do have to say that I definitely am going to have to buy stock in glue and majorly stockpile it!  My kids really love to make sure everything is super sticky.

So our thoughts:  We loved it!  We recommend it!  We would definitely try other lapbooks/unit studies from them.  My kids gave it all thumbs up(well sticky thumbs so maybe thumbs and fingers glued together).  Which of course means they enjoyed themselves!

Make sure to pop over to the Main Crew Blog Post to check out the other reviews from crew members.  There was quite a variety of studies that we were allowed to choose from  so lots of fun reading!

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Reading Kingdom Online Reading Course Review -TOS #hsreviews

Reading Kingdom is an online reading course available for use in schools or at home to help teach children to read and help them learn to read better.  It is designed for children ages 4-10 or grades preschool through third grade as well as struggling readers who would read at one of these levels.  In our home it has been used primarily by our oldest who is 8 years old and in 2nd grade this fall.  As part of the review we received a full year subscription for up to three children in our house.  The other two who I've decided get to use Reading Kingdom are in 1st grade this fall ages 8 and 7.

This program teaches reading and writing including working on sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension.  The thing that sets this program apart from other online programs is that it is customized for each child, individually.  The customization and how it allows the child to work on something until they master it are my favorite things of the program.  Oh and that the computer has more patience than me! Somedays I'd just say okay we're done for the day even though they hadn't grasped the concept because I didn't want to lose  my patience with my children.  The computer never does that!

Created by Dr. Marion Blank, this program is affordable.  You can sign up for a 30 day free trial, and after that it is only $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year for the first child with each child after costing an additional $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.  Though not required, you can purchase other materials to use with the program on their site as well.  These include Early Reader story books, Story Smarts for Reading Comprehension, handwriting help, phonics help, the Reading Remedy book by Dr. Blank, and Steps to Stories for children on the Autism spectrum.

There are also several free online resources that you can take advantage of.  You will find extra worksheets and sample pages as well as activities, apps, books, games, and learning tips.  This is an intensive program which requires your child to work at their own pace but to do so on a regular basis.  It is recommended that they work on this daily for 4-5 days a week so that they can continue to progress.  Reading Kingdom also helps parents as well as students by providing progress reports including strengths and weaknesses.  This shows their improvement through the course.  Your child, through the individualization, will receive extra help in areas that they were weaker in while not having to repeat and work on areas that they are strong in.  They give an example of skipping over words that your child can already read and spell so as not to bore the child.

 

The "struggling" reader in our house is an 8 year old girl who is slowly working her way along her academic route.  She has a few things limiting her growth and has trouble comprehending and learning at times.  This made me think that the program would be wonderful for her and really help her to grasp and hopefully progress faster.  We have not used a lot of online resources for her but had been going the paper and pencil route. So, this was her first computer program.  She was very excited to get started and get to use the computer.  Right now we are a one computer family so we had to be a bit creative in what times of the day she could work on her reading.

I have tried several phonics programs with her and she can sound out things wonderfully, except for those dreaded words that don't follow the rules.  She has troubles with them.  This program has really helped her with the rule breakers.

Now I have to admit I wasn't too sold on this at the beginning.  It seemed like I had to help her a lot and I thought everyone always raved about computer classes like this being so great for independence.  To this I have to say, stick with it because at the beginning it is definitely not independent work, or at least it wasn't in our house.  But now, after using it for several weeks she is blossoming and emerging onto new areas that she hasn't been able to do before and really starting to show progress!

Stop back next week if you wonder what taking a week off of the reading program will do to their progress.  I'm not sure I want to know but with the death of my grandmother(the children's great grandmother) we are taking the week off so I can help with funeral arrangements and to attend the funeral.  I'm not sure that I can handle teaching them this week, nor am I sure they could handle the stress of school this week.

We did get 3 spots for a full year with this review, but so far have only used one.  With how intense and how long it took our oldest in the beginning I didn't want to start any of the others yet.  I am prepared to start two other girls who struggle with reading next week when we start back after our little hiatus.  One really struggles more than the other.  She can sound out the word but can't put the sounds together into a word.  I'm interested to see how she does with the program.

If you would like to hear and see how others responded to the program and what they thought make sure to check out the Main Crew Blog Post and look around!

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Bible Study for All Ages Primary Level Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

Recently we were asked if we wanted to review a new curriculum to us called Bible Study for All Ages.  Of course, I love doing Bible studies with my kids and not just during school hours.  They are at a stage in their lives that they absorb this stuff like a sponge!  We received the Primary Level to review.

It was like Christmas opening our packet!  In it we found:

A 2 cd set of Children's Songs.  This contains 90 songs for children to learn and sing.  I have to say this cd did not stay for school only very long.  It now travels with us in our van as we love to listen to music or books on tape while driving.  The CD set can be purchased for $19.95.

A brochure/pamphlet showing us what else they offer to help teach and supplement their curriculum.  They really have a lot of neat stuff!

Teacher's Primary Level Study Guide.  We received the unit 1 section which is a quarter of the entire curriculum.  They currently have units 1 and 2 available for the primary level.  Unit 3 will be available spring 2014 while unit 4 won't be available until spring 2015.  When they are all done the entire curriculum will include 416 lessons.  The Teacher's guide for quarter one can be purchased for $9.95.

Three books of the student pages unit 1 which contains lessons 1-26.  Again this is the first quarter of the entire unit.  Each unit contains four quarters.  The entire of unit one contains lessons 1-104.  You can purchase the first quarter for $5.95.

Lastly we pulled out the Bible Book Summary Cards.  This is a big thick package that reminds me of a large size pack of construction paper!  These are study cards that ask questions while providing the answers to help your children learn and understand as well as remember what they are learning.  You can purchase these for $24.95.

You can purchase all materials together in either the basic primary starter pack ($99.82) or the premium primary starter pack ($145.68).  The difference is that the premium pack includes wall maps/time lines with the labels for them to do on their own.  This primary kit is perfect for your 1st-2nd graders though I think some kindergarteners might also do well in it.  As well as some third graders might still benefit from this level.  A lot depends on where they are.  My two first graders struggle with things and are behind a bit developmentally, they had a bit of trouble grasping some concepts while my 2nd graders really grasped and excelled in this.

We really enjoyed this curriculum.  It was easy to use, self explanatory, and I loved that I didn't have to spend hours preparing to teach it to my kids!  I just don't have those hours to start with these days!  It is not Genesis straight through the Bible to Revelations which I find refreshing!  Since we only received the first quarter to try, we wouldn't have hardly made it out of Genesis if they did it all chronologically!  Keep in mind to finish the entire Bible you'd have to use all four units and two of those aren't even available yet.  I am very glad we did not have to wait to meet Jesus until 2015.

Another thing I liked about the curriculum is that though they do use the NIV version in their program it was very easy for us to use our KJV editions or NKJV editions with our work.  It didn't confuse the children which is great.  Also, the curriculum did not seem to have a standpoint on some issues that might have proven controversial or made some churches not want to use it.  I think they have done a wonderful job of this.  I would definitely recommend this curriculum to other homeschoolers as well as churches for Sunday School programs.

I can definitely see myself buying the next few quarters and doing the complete Units 1 and 2 with my children as well as the other units as they become available.  Of course, the ones that used this quarter will be too old to use the last units and will have to explore different levels by then!

Interested in one of the other levels provided by Bible Study for All Ages?  Make sure to check out the Main Crew Blog Post to see what other Crew members thought of them!

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