Review: IXL

I grew up with math phobia. Math didn't come terribly easily for me, and as I got older, I became more and more intimidated by it. I believed, and many people do, that mathematical ability is something you're either born with, or you're not, (like green eyes, or left handedness.)

The truth is that while some people are naturally inclined toward math, even the rest of us can improve our skills through practice. (Sometimes lots of practice.)

One of my goals as a homeschooling parent is to make sure that the kids grow up with with a thorough understanding of basic math, and also the confidence to feel like they're able to learn.

I'm happy with the math curriculum we've chosen, but I've been feeling like maybe we could use a little more practice.

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we received a membership to IXL, which is a math practice website for students in pre-k through high school. The program offers several subscription options, including a monthly rate of $9.95, and a yearly rate of $79. (There is an additional upcharge for additional students, but it's nominal.) To say the kids love it would be an understatement. (They've actually been arguing a little over whose turn it was to practice.)

The program is not a teaching program per se, but more of a review program. Students can practice specific skills, and receive immediate feedback. (A wrong answer results in an immediate correction, and an explanation.) There is a timer and a score displayed while the student practices, and although you can opt out of them, my kids really enjoyed the competitive aspect of beating the clock, and improving their score. Succesful completion of review lessons results in the student winning "medals," and "awards," which my kids also found highly motivating. 

I found a lot to love about this program too. Under the parent's profile, you'll find all sorts of useful reports to help assess how your student is doing, and what they've been working on. (I just checked L's reports, and found that he's practiced for a total of 8 hours and 4 minutes, and has mastered 41 skills so far.)

To find out what other homeschooling families thought of this program, check out the linky on the Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure: We were provided with a free subscription to this program in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are my own.

Review: Dive Into Your Imagination

I mentioned in a previous post that the kids and I are working on a unit study about the ocean. As part of the TOS Review Crew, we were recently provided with some pretty fantastic curriculum to review called Who Lives in the Sea? by Dive Into Your Imagination.

Dive Into Your Imagination was created by Annie Crawley, (aka, "Ocean Annie," ) an underwater photographer, motivational speaker, and and dive instructor.

We were sent 2 products, the Who Lives in the Sea?  DVD, ($19.95, for ages 3-8, 45 minutes in length) and the accompanying curriculum guides ($69.95, for each individual PDF. ) On the website, you'll find several other DVDs, books, and other related merchandise, as well as to an option to buy the full set of printed curriculum guides for each DVD for $299. You'll also find coloring pages, and links to other resources and articles. It's a wealth of information.

The DVD was broken up into several topical sections, ("Let's Swim with Dolphins," " Turtles: Dinosaurs of the Sea," etc.) The sections are short, but full of beautiful, colorful footage, and cram packed with information. I doled out the sections one by one with my kiddos, so we could focus a little deeper on each topic, and take full advantage of the curriculum guides. The kids were begging to watch more. That says a lot.

The curriculum guides were unbelievable. (There were two, one for pre-k through k aged children, and another for grades 1-3.) Each was well over 300 pages long, and included DVD transcripts, lesson plans, worksheets, and many, many cross curricular activities for a fun, all inclusive unit study. I liked that there were a variety of learning styles represented in the activities. (You'll find there are plenty of hands on activities for wiggly kids like mine.) The PDF format is easy to read, and easy to print. The educator guides add immeasurably to the already fun, informative DVD.


I expect that when we finish our unit, the kids will have a deep, lasting knowledge base, and probably a lifelong interest in the ocean.


My only reservation about these products is that they're costly. Most homeschool families I know of are on a pretty tight budget, and these curriculum guides would represent a sizable chunk of our curriculum budget.
Annie is offering a fantastic promo to readers of TOS, and blog readers of the TOS Crew Members, though. If you order the Who Lives in the Sea? , What Makes a Fish a Fish? or Dive into Diversity DVDs, and mention that you are a homeschooler in the comment section of the order form, she will gift you the fantastic corresponding educator guides for free. That may be the best 20 bucks you'll spend this summer!

To find out what other homeschooling families thought of these products, check out the linky on the TOS Review Crew Blog.


Disclosure: I was provided with a free DVD and curriculum guides to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own. All prices are accurate at the time of this posting. 

We're Studying the Ocean

We're tying up some loose ends here in our homeschool. L is on track to finish up his first grade work in the next week or so, which is amazing, really, when I consider how much time I've spent sick this year. We'll take maybe a week off, and then dive into second grade, with V doing some preschool work as well.

In the meantime, we've started a unit on the ocean, which may take up the better part of the summer. We're landlocked, here in north Texas, but we've planned some field trips to the aquarium, the fish store, and maybe a fish market.

Our kitchen renovation is at that horrible stage where we have stuff all over the house, so I've moved us to the back porch for school, until the kitchen is done, or it gets too hot to tolerate, whichever comes first. (We have finally gotten the cabinets ordered, and we're hoping to finish up in the next month or so.)

I put up some ocean themed fabric over the windows for fun, and set up a little activity center with shells and shell identification books, among other things.

Ocean activity center.

Since we don't have a real beach, we fabricated a pretend one, shown here, with seashells and sand toys.

Sand box "beach."

We're relying heavily on the awesome DK Eyewitness books and movies, as well as another great DVD series which I'll be reviewing shortly.

As usual, Pinterest is bursting with cool ocean themed ideas. (You can check out my ocean themed Pinterest board here.)

Review: Heritage History Ancient Greece

Unit studies are fun, and a great way to learn and retain information. One of the things I try to avoid though, is the temptation to build shallow units mainly around fun art projects and themed snacks. (Although I do like to include those things when I can.) Ultimately, I believe the backbone of a good unit study is a good book, or more commonly a lot of good books.

If you really want to know about a particular culture or time period, there's really no better way to learn about them than reading books from and about the subject at hand. Using those books for context, the art projects, and snacks, and all the other components of a typical unit study come together for a deeper, more meaningful experience.

It can be time consuming and at times difficult to obtain old, sometimes out of print books via inter library loan. Some old books, whose copyrights have expired are available for free on the internet, but you have to find them, and sometimes contend with awkward formatting and typographical errors.

We were recently sent the Ancient Greece Classical Curriculum CD from Heritage History to review. As you'll see, it greatly reduced the effort in finding good, appropriate, thematic books.

Heritage History provides History curriculum to homeschoolers, with an emphasis on real literature. Their Heritage Classical Curriculum CDs are essentially a digital library of so called "living books," which include fictional, biographical, and historical accounts, suited for a variety of ages. In addition, each CD includes a large number of "extras," which include maps, study guides, recommended reading lists, etc. There are currently 5 Classical Curriculum CDs available. (Four of them cover particular clutural histories. The last is a historical overview for younger students.) Each CD costs $24.99. (In addition to these CDs, you'll also find on the site that you can purchase teaching guides and e-books individually, as well as read the ebooks in their entirety for free, albeit in a less convenient format.)

The books on the CD are formatted in several different ways, as printable PDFs, and in two different e-reader formats to enable reading on the go. (I'm a noted technophobe, but the instructions walked me through the process of downloading the books onto my phone without too much pain and suffering.)

I've obviously not had time to read through the 40+ books included in their entirety, but I've surveyed a number of them, and was very impressed. The formatting is clear and easy to read, and many of the books include some illustrations, (a major plus for most young kids like mine.) 

The books are color coded on the CD, to help you choose the appropriate reading level for your student. (They're divided into three groups, "beginner," "intermediate," and "advanced.") There is no specific age guideline for the product, and I had a hard time trying to come up with one. My soon to be second grader could read and enjoy some of them, others would be way over his head. (He probably reads a year or two ahead of his grade level, though.) Obviously a child would need to be reading well to be able to enjoy the stories, unless you're planning on reading them aloud, so for me the main consideration wouldn't be age, but reading ability.

The books themselves cover a range of topics, some of which should appeal to almost anyone. There are stories about military conquests, mythology, (of course,) and several pieces of classic literature, retold for a younger audience.

My husband and I were both fascinated by the old maps of the known world at various times included on the CD. Those are the the things that make history really come alive!

The Classical Curriculum Cds aren't meant to be a full, stand alone history curriculum. As I've said, I believe they lend themselves nicely to unit studies, with the addition of other activities and resources, but ultimately, they could go alongside nearly any other history curriculum.

I'd highly recommend this product to families looking to build their educational experience around a foundation of good books. I'm actually interested in buying several other editions for future use. They're currently having a really good sale now, by the way. (Buy two, get the third CD free.)

To find out what other families thought of this product, check out the linky on the TOS review crew blog.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of this curriculum in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are my own.

Review: Library & Educational Services Go Science

As part of the TOS Review Crew, we were recently given the opportunity to review two more Science DVDs, this time from the Go Science series, available through Library and Educational Services. (Library and Educational Services is a wholesale distributor, which specializes in Christian educational materials, and sells to churches, daycares, schools, and homeschools. Sign up for their mailing list, and you'll frequently be tempted by their fantastic sales.)

There are 6 volumes in the Go Science series, with each volume focusing on two to four scientific principles. Each DVD sells for $8.97, or they are available as a set of six for $47.95. The DVDs are recommended for students ages 6-14.

We were sent Volume 2, Simple Machines, Sound, and Weather, and Volume 3 Magnetism, Electricity, Engineering, and Design. Both of these videos clocked in at just under an hour. (I browsed the website, and discovered that some DVDs in this series were a little shorter, in the 40+ minute range.)

The format of the shows is as follows: Ben Roy, (a university instructor, and formerly the director of a science themed television program,) acts as host and instructor. He is assisted by a group of children, and an occasional adult.  The kids help Ben with a variety of scientific demonstrations. (Each of the videos I received included 14 demonstrations.) Ben is lively and cheerful. The demonstrations are done using pretty straight foward materials. There are no high tech computer generated simulations or animations.

Volume 2 included the following demonstrations:

1st Class Lever                                                                         2nd Class Lever

3rd Class Lever                                                                        Incline Plane

Pulleys                                                                                      Trebuchet

Singing Glasses                                                                         Singing Rods

Sound Waves                                                                           Singing Pipes

Making a Cloud                                                                       Weather Balloon

Tornado Tube                                                                          Air Pressure

Volume 3 included the following demonstrations:

Monster Magnets                                                            A/C Electromagnet

D/C Electromagnet                                                          Making a Compass

Static Electricity                                                               Light Bulb

Jacobs Ladders                                                               Conductivity

Solar Energy                                                                    Tesla Coil

Color                                                                               Cut Paper Halves

Heat Engine                                                                      Plastic Pre Forms

Our impressions: I thought these DVDs were fun. They somehow reminded me of my childhood, watching Mr. Peppermint, and Lambchop's Play Along, when we learned without so many technological bells and whistles. (Yes, I'm getting old.) These DVDs aren't meant to be a stand alone science curriculum, so in and of themselves, they probably wouldn't be "enough" to teach a full science course. They would be a great supplement or enrichment to whatever else you're using, though. Ben's excitement is contagious, and most teachers I know, homeschool or otherwise, are always looking for ways to get kids excited about math and science.

After each segment, Ben makes a link to God, the Bible, or Christian living, reminding us that learning about science is learning about God's creation. That's not something I'd run across before, but I thought it was a neat aspect of the show. (One of my personal peeves is the idea that God and science are somehow mutually exclusive.)

My one complaint about the show was that the volume was fairly uneven, with some segments much louder than others. My easily overstimulated son, (with sensory processing issues,) periodically had to cover  his ears and run shrieking around the room due to volume changes. (In fairness, most people would probably notice the volume changes, but not be so disturbed by them.)

To see what other families thought of these DVDs, check out the linky on the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclosure: I received 2 free DVDs in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.

Review: Amazing Science! Volume 1

I haven't met anyone who wished their homeschool was less fun, less hands on. I've met a number of people who wished theirs was more fun, more hands on though. (I'm one of them.)

When we make the initial decision to homeschool, we often have visions of ourselves doing elaborate art projects and science experiments with the kids for days on end. Real life intervenes, with crying babies, and housework, and those plans get shuffled to the back burner.

I've got something to share about today that's helping us put the fun back in our homeschool days.

As part of the TOS review crew, we were recently sent a copy of Amazing Science, Volume 1, by ScienceAndMath.com. It's a two DVD set, which sells for $19.95 on the site. A digital download is also available for $17.99. (You can find sample clips here.)


The DVDs are broken down into 23 sections, (which are conveniently accessed from the menu screen.) Each section includes a materials list, a demonstration of an experiment, and an explanation of the science behind the experiment. The subject matter covers a variety of areas, including heat, electricity, magnetism,and chemistry.

The kiddos and I initially dove into the DVDs on a day when I wasn't feeling well, and watched about half the experiments in one sitting. They were both totally enthralled, and started picking out specific experiments they wanted to try. (We're working our way through them.) 

I liked the presentation of the experiments. The host, (a former NASA scientist,) and the setting were pleasant, but calm and businesslike. (L, whose ADHD I've written about previously,  is easily distracted by lots of scene changes and loud music.)

We found that we already had the materials for several of the experiments lying around the house, but the rest are easily obtainable from the grocery and hardware store.

There is no specific age recommendation for this set, but I'd say it would be appropriate for elementary and middle school aged kiddos, with varying degrees of adult help and supervision.

I'd consider these DVDs to be a fun, informative supplement to nearly any science curriculum.

ScienceAndMath.com sells a full line of (what else?) science and math DVDs in a variety of grade levels and subject areas.

To find out what other homeschooling families thought of these DVDs, check out the TOS Review Crew blog.
Disclosure: I was provided with a free DVD set in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own. 

WFMW: Fancy Tea Party Manners

My husband and I were recently doing some end of year homeschool evaluation, discussing where we were now, where we wanted to head from here. I had a few things in mind I wanted to address, and as it turned out, he had some of the exact same ones.

Top of the list: Manners.

Most kids I know need a little correcting from time to time on their table manners. Ours have been no exception.

I'd been brainstorming how we might address the issue of manners other than just me harping on the kids forever. Before I could tell my husband the idea I'd had, he blurted out the same idea: tea parties.

We decided to regularly, (like once a week,) hold a little tea party with "fancy manners." To start with, we're just focusing on pretty basic stuff, things like using a napkin instead of one's clothes, and not deliberately burping at the table. Later, we'll branch out into things like how to set the table properly, etc.

We ordered a food safe, nonbreakable tea set from Amazon, and got started right away.

It's been a huge success. The kids think it's treat, so they look forward to it, and they've actually been more pleasant to eat with lately. When they get off track, we remind them about using their "fancy manners."

Tea parties are working for us. For more WFMW posts, check out the linky at www.wearethatfamily.com.

Review: AIMS What on Earth?

I was recently given the opportunity to review another AIMS (Activities Integrating Math and Science) curriculum product as a part of the TOS Review Crew.

The title we selected was What on Earth? which is, as you might imagine, focused on various elements of Earth Science. The 127 page, softcover, black and white book, and accompanying cd of reproducibles retails for $21.95. It is also available in PDF form, in case you need it yesterday. It's aimed at (Ha, ha, see what I did there?) kindergarten and first grade students. This curriculum does require the addition of some supplies, most of which you'll already have, or at any rate can obtain from the grocery store. (There's a materials list for each project, as well as a helpful master list that includes everything you'll need to complete every project in the book.)

The book is broken down into several subject areas, as follows:

Resources

Rocks and Soil

Water

Changes

Day/Night

Seasons

Each subject area includes several activities, for a total of 30.

 (You'll find a sample of this book here.)

Our experiences: This is the second AIMS book I've reviewed this year, and I have to say, I love them. They're concise, the projects and activities are doable and they're a good value for the money. 

I love that they include a cd with any needed reproducibles, which means that you won't have to tear pages out of the book, and can use it for however many children you have, either at the same time, or some time in the future. I wish all publishers would follow suite.

Each activity is laid out in minute detail, from comprehension questions, to specific learning goals. The book assumes you're teaching in a traditional classroom setting, and if you're a homeschooler, you'll likely not be concerned with references to benchmarks, etc. You'll probably also have to tweak some projects and discussions to reflect a much smaller class, (possibly a class of one.) The prep time for each lesson is minimal, which is always a plus, as far as I'm concerned.

My preschooler and first grader both enjoyed this lesson.

I was pleased to find that 4 year old V was able to join her 6 year old brother on many of the discussions and activities. It seems to me that you'd likely be able to tweak the intended ages at least a year in either direction. The lessons are short enough to hold the attention of early elementary aged kiddos.

This curriculum is secular in nature, but I didn't see anything problematic as a Christian homeschooler.

I'd recommend this book to homeschool and classroom teachers alike.

AIMS publishes a huge variety of Science and Math related curriculum, and you'll also find a wealth of related supplies and manipulatives on their site.

To read what other homeschooling families thought about this, and other AIMS products, check out the linky on the TOS Review Crew blog.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of this book/cd in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.

Thumbs Up for Seeds Family Worship

I mentioned yesterday that we'd be using Seeds Family Worship cds as part of our Bible curriculum for the coming year. Today, I thought I'd elaborate a bit. 

My hand looks weird, but whatever. You get the idea.

Seeds Family Worship essentially takes Bible verses and turns them into songs. The end.

It's the simplest idea ever, but it's awesome. First of all, it's artfully done. The vocalists have nice voices, and the mostly acoustic-y music is catchy. 

Secondly, if you listen to it, you will memorize scripture. (Even if you have a lousy memory, like I do.)

Each cd is based on a theme, (Courage, praise, faith etc.) and there are currently 6 albums available. Each album you buy will include a second identical cd to share with a friend.

I'm not being compensated for this post, and in fact I've happily forked over my own cash for these. I just wanted to gush about something I really love.

We presently own the first three cds, with plans to buy the others.

Volume 1 is our favorite so far. Four year old V has memorized most of the songs (!) and walks around reciting verses all day. It's fantastic. 

There are several printables on the Seeds Family Worship website, (a chart to record memorized verses, and cards with the individual scriptures.) You'll also find a wealth of related printables at Bible Story Printables. 

Second Grade Curriculum Choices

First grade is nearly over at our house. We have a vacation coming up at the end of this month, and we'll tie up the rest of our loose ends in May. It's been a year full of hills and valleys here. We didn't get as much done as I'd wanted, (will we ever?) but we did enough. 

It's time to plan for next year. We typically homeschool through out the summer, so second grade is just around the corner for us. 

Second grade homeschool curriculum.

We're going to be starting a new schedule for next year. Instead of taking several large chunks of time off though out the year, we're going to try taking a two week break every 5-6 weeks. I read about schools overseas using a similar schedule on someone's blog a while back, and it stuck with me. I love the idea of having built in breaks to keep us all from burning out, and I feel like I'll have more time to plan during the breaks.

We've purchased most of the necessary  curriculum, and I've tentatively come up with a weekly schedule for us.(More on that later.) I thought I'd share some of the curriculum we'll be using next year, in case anyone else is brainstorming for ideas. The list isn't all inclusive, and is subject to change. (Obviously we'll tweak anything that doesn't work. I'm also still on the TOS crew until at least late next fall, so we'll be throwing those review products into the mix as well. ) A few of these products will be used daily, most once or twice a week.

(Also I'm linking to Christianbook.com because they're frequently the cheapest source for new curriculum, but for the record I'm not an affiliate, and don't stand to gain anything from your clicks.)

Math: Singapore 2A/2B

Science/History/Social Studies: We're going to be doing some unit studies that will cover these areas, but additionally, we'll be reading Story of the World, and L will be continuing the Christian Liberty Nature Reader  series. (He really likes these.)

Bible: Aside from the actual Bible, we'll be using Studying God's word Book B (also by Christian Liberty Press, and also a continuation of a series that L has thus far enjoyed.) Additionally, we'll be using the wonderful Seeds Family Worship cds, and a Bible study on Revelation, at L's request.

Reading/Language Arts: We read a lot here. I still believe the best way to learn to read and write is to read and be read lots of books. We'll be continuing with the Little House books, and whatever else strikes our fancy. I've also purchased a Spectrum Language Arts workbook to cover things like parts of speech.

Handwriting: We started using the Draw. Write Now. books some time ago, and just sort of lost steam. We're going to pick those up again, because they're fun, and L can most definitely use the practice. 

Art: Artistic Pursuits

Spanish: I recently found out that our public library offers Mango language lessons for free to card holders. We're going to test drive it, and see what we think. (I've heard good things about Mango, and the price is right.)

Extras: The kiddos are going to be enrolled in Awana again. We're also looking into scouting for L next year.

All told, we're probably looking at about a half day of school work for L. 

Review: Reading Eggs

As part of the TOS Review Crew, I was recently asked to review the Reading Eggs program. 

The program is intended for preschool aged children through approximately age 13. It's available on a month by month basis for $9.95, as a 6 month subscription for $49.95, or as a 12 month subscription for $75.00. (You can also sign up for a free trial.)

This program is broken down into two main sections, Reading Eggs for younger children, (approximately 3-7,) and Reading Eggspress for older children, (approximately ages 7-13.)

The Reading Eggs programs includes all the typical aspects of reading curriculum (letter and sound recognition, sight words, comprehension, etc,) and ties it into a neat little virtual world, where your child earns "golden eggs," and unlocks new characters and mini games.

I was initially somewhat skeptical about this program. L is nearly 7, finishing first grade, but reading several years above his "grade level." I wasn't sure if he'd be sufficiently challenged or interested in the program.

I was wrong. 

It's become his favorite part of the school day, and we've actually been using it as sort of a reward for a good effort on his other lessons. He doesn't regard it as "work," but he is being challenged.  L gets very excited about finishing each level, and unlocking a new character. He's currently on level 94 out of 120 in the Reading Eggs section of the site. (There are many more lessons in the Reading Eggspress section.) He's been motivated to take the tests by the fact that after having passed one, he gets to play a fun racing game for 60 seconds.

We tried the program with nearly 4 year V, and although she did enjoy it, she wasn't immediately sucked into it the way L was. She's also not terribly proficient with the mouse yet, which was also a factor.

Based on our experience, we're thinking about continuing our subscription for L, because I feel like he's really getting a lot out of it. 

We won't be continuing V's subscription when our trial runs out, because we generally prefer a more organic sort of reading instruction at the pre-k level, mostly just reading aloud, and discussing letters and sounds throughout the day. If, however, you're looking for something a little more "school-y" at the pre-k level, I'd certainly recommend this program.

To find out what other Homeschooling families thought about the Reading Eggs program, check out the TOS Review Crew blog.

Disclosure: I was provided with free access to this program in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are my own.

Review: Apologia Who Am I?

As part of the TOS homeschool Review Crew, I was blessed to receive a set of Apologia Worldview Curriculum, called Who Am I? And What Am I doing here? 

The focus of this curriculum is a Biblical Worldview of Self Image. It is second in a series of three topics. (Other topics are Who is God? And Can I Really Know Him? and Who is My Brother? And Why Do We Need Each Other?) It is recommended for ages 6-14.

There are four different components to this curriculum. I'll start by giving a little info about each of them.

Who Am I? Textbook: This is the backbone of the curriculum, which sells for $39. It is a hardcover textbook with many interesting illustrations throughout. It's 262 pages long, and includes 8 lessons. There is a certain amount of flexibility built into the scheduling of this program, but it is suggested that each lesson might take three weeks. The book relies chiefly on the NIV version of the Bible. (Nonconsumable.)

Who Am I? Audio CD: This is well, what it sounds like, an audio version of the textbook. It sells for $19, and is narrated by a pleasant female voice. Although not an absolute necessity, the audio CD is a neat option to have for auditory learners, and car schooling. (Nonconsumable.)

Who Am I? Coloring Book: This is a 64 page coloring book, to be by used younger students, or kids who need something to do while listening to the text. The drawings are nice, and include a caption relating the picture to the text on each page. ($8, consumable.)

Who Am I Notebooking Journal: This is a 248 page, softcover, spiral bound, (love that,) workbook of sorts. It includes things like crossword puzzles, word searches, typical question and answer sections, spaces to draw, and neat little mini books to make. ($24, consumable.)

Our experience: I spent some time reading through the text and other materials myself before we got started on it, and I thought it was fantastic, very well thought out, and complete. Aside from the stories and lessons, you'll find that it has tons of background information, definitions, and discussion points. 

The messages in the book, about looking to the Bible for our ideas about what we are and who we ought to be are relevant to everyone, but I think they'd be invaluable for a tween/young teen. This curriculum goes much deeper than a devotional or Sunday School type lesson. It's meant to make you think.

L and ran into a few snags when we started using the products. First, and foremost, while he did enjoy the stories, at 6 years old, (and he's admittedly not the most mature 6 year old,) he was only able to relate to the material in a fairly superficial way. The gorgeous notebooking journal requires much more writing than he's capable of right now. 

I love this curriculum, and will be shelving it to revisit in a couple of years, when I feel he's a little more ready for it. I would also be interested in purchasing the other volumes when the time comes, which I believe says a lot.

Disclosure:I was provided with free curriculum in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.

Encouragement for My Reluctant Writer

L is what I keep seeing referred to as a "reluctant writer." He's a great reader, and a pretty good speller,but he has no desire to write anything. He can, with some prompting be convinced to write one or two word labels for his Pokemon pictures, or something along those lines, but that's about it.

I think the root issue is that although he's come a long way in the fine motor skills department, writing is still really a lot of work for him.

I decided to capitalize on his love of mail, and try a new method of encouragement. I picked up a notebook for each kid, (because V refuses to be left out of anything,) and I'm going to try to write him a little note several times a week, if not every day, for him to respond to.

I'm not trying to create a ton of extra work for me or him, so we'll be keeping it short. The above entry reads "I hope you are having a good Monday morning. It's a new school week. Can you think of anything you'd like to learn about this week?"

My hope is to maybe help convince him that writing is practical, and useful, and not just "work." We'll see how it goes. 

(Nearly four year old V will be the recipient of a little drawing to color or riddles like "I'm an animal with 4 legs, and a long tail. I say meow. Can you draw me?" )

First Grade Nature Walks

Can you spot the bee?

I don't spend as much time outside with the kids as I'd like to. I could list all of my (pretty typical) excuses, but I won't. Like a lot of families, we've sort of just gotten out of the habit of goofing around outside.

I've been trying to do better, spending a few minutes here and there. One of the things I've discovered is that L really likes the idea of going on a nature walk, and sketching out the plants and animals we see along the way. (Psst, he's also labeling the drawings, so bonus points for getting him to spell and write without grumbling.) While we're out, we're also looking for interesting things to take home and examine, like pine cones, feathers, and rocks.

Although he'd been drawing in whatever notebook we had handy, he was pretty excited to get a special Nature Journal as a little Christmas gift. (It was a freebie from Vistaprint, an unlined spiral notebook. If you think outside the box, many of their free promo items make pretty great little gifts for kids. No affiliation, by the way.)

Personalized nature journal.

He's sort of a reluctant outdoorsman, preferring to stay inside and read, but we're working on it...

Review: Kinderbach

Our family loves music. My husband is actually somewhat musically inclined, he can play guitar and the drums. Other than the occasional game of Rockband on the Wii, I'm purely a musical spectator. I've always wanted to give my kids some kind of musical education, but I lack the know how to teach them myself, and the money to pay for piano lessons for two kiddos.

We were recently given the opportunity to review the Kinderbach program as part of the TOS Review Crew. Kinderbach aims to introduce 3-7 year old children to music in general, with an emphasis on piano/keyboard. (The program covers things like finger placement on the keyboard, reading music, singing, and rhythm.) Kinderbach is available as an online subscription program, for $19.99 a month, or at a great savings of $95.88 for a prepaid 12 month subscription. (You may sign up for a free trial here. You'll also find several free samples of sheet music and student lessons here.) $100 a year isn't couch cushion change, but one subscription will cover however many children are in your family.

Kinderbach has a number of other products available, including DVD bundles, several themed songbooks, downloadable crafts and games, and coloring books.

We were given access to the digital subscription service. In order fully participate in the program, you'll also need a printer and some sort of keyboard. (You can buy a cheap keyboard nearly anywhere that will suffice. I actually picked one up from Goodwill for four bucks.)

The program currently consists of 6 levels, (with a seventh in the works.) Each 10 week level includes a video component and pdf activity book. There are 4 lessons each week. The lessons are fairly short, and they're fun and age appropriate.

I knew V (nearly 4,) would be interested in the program, she loves to sing and dance. I didn't expect much enthusiasm from L, (6,) who usually declines to participate in anything musical.

I was blown away when after watching the first lesson, both kids begged to do another one. And another one. I was even more amazed when (from the other room where I was doing laundry,) I heard them starting to actually play along with the songs several weeks into the program. (You know, real songs, instead of just banging on the keyboard.) The kids enjoyed clapping, dancing, and singing along with the lessons. They're also really soaking up the material. I can't wait to see what they learn next.

I was honestly surprised how much we loved this program. I tried, but couldn't really think of anything that I'd change or improve on. For our family, it's a great fit.

Update: I received the following message from Karri at Kinderbach today:
This coupon code gives 30% off any order - homeschool, classroom, online
or DVDs. AND it is good for one year!
Coupon Code: TOScrew2012 








Disclosure: I was provided with a digital subscription to this program in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own. 

Laura's Corn Cob Doll:Yikes!

V with her corn cob doll.

In Little House in the Big Woods, Mary has a rag doll, but until her fifth birthday, Laura has only a corn cob doll.  I did a little browsing around the web, and apparently a corn cob doll was as primitive as it sounds, a dried corn cob with a face drawn on. (I did find pictures of some that were a little "fancier," having a little calico dress, but Laura states that hers was just wrapped in a hankie.)


I made this one for V. (Made is probably an overstatement in this case.)

Corn cob doll.

We discussed what it would have been like to trade in all the toys in the playroom for one of these. The kids were, understandably, sort of appalled. On the other hand, we discussed all the things the girls would have had that we don't, like farm animals to play with, lots of open space outside to explore, and frankly, a lot more chores to keep them busy.

It's humbling to think of all the things we take for granted. My kids can't imagine a life without toys, radios, and televisions. I've "roughed it" before, living in a house without a dishwasher, washer/dryer, and central heat and a/c. It was brutal, but I can't fathom what it must have been like, (and still is like in some parts of the world,) to live without running water, a refrigerator, and access to random things like Tylenol and toilet paper.

Little House Peg Dolls

Laura Ingalls and family, at the Little House in the Big Woods.

V has been enjoying the Little House play set we've been putting together. Now that we're really into the book though, she's been complaining that our plastic settlers aren't quite right for the Ingalls family. (We didn't have any plastic children, for one thing. That would never do.)

I did some browsing on Pinterest and elsewhere, and found several sets of Little House peg dolls, which inspired me to make my own. (Go check out the peg dolls at Along the Way, and Craft Phesine, and be inspired by their steady hand and artistic ability.)

Laura Ingalls and family.

So here's my (super simple) version, which only took me oh, 700 hours, give or take. (I have shaky hands, and had to make several corrections.) The peg doll blanks came from Hobby Lobby, and were painted with acrylic paint.

If you need a set, and don't want to DIY, I found a very nicely done set on Etsy.

V is very happy to have the whole Ingalls family at her disposal now. The plastic pioneers have been relegated to occasional visitors.

Fimo Food for the Pioneer Family

Apparently the settlers are getting hungry. V and I sat down to make them some Fimo clay food today. (She helped with the pumpkins, and made suggestions. L made sushi for his Pokemon. Not exactly Little House related, but whatever, right?)

Fimo pumpkins, eggs, cheese, carrots, lettuce, squash, a watermelon, and blueberries.

I already had some bits of clay, so this was a free project, but at any rate, even if I'd had to purchase the clay, you could make a ton of food for the cost of a couple of pieces of dollhouse food. This would be a fun project just to make for fun, for Barbie Dolls, or Littlest Pet Shop, or whatever.

Rationing out food to the settlers.

Revisiting an Old Favorite: Homemade Butter

Butter, before rinsing and salting.

We've made homemade butter before, but we revisited it this week, after reading about how Laura's mama churned their butter. We talked about what a lot of work it would have been to make your own butter, (and virtually everything else,) instead of just jumping in the car, and driving to the grocery store.

As expected, each kiddo shook the jar approximately 5 seconds, leaving me to shake it for the other 20 minutes or so.

V, in her new favorite outfit, (read: dance costume,)  shaking the jar.

I persuaded L to try the buttermilk, which Laura and Mary apparently regarded as such a treat. He declared it "yuck." He was more impressed by the butter, on wheat toast.

The final product.

My mother, born in 1949, says she can remember her grandmother making butter, sometimes with a churn, sometimes with a jar when she was a kid.