I received the following product free, for use in my home and review as part of the TOS Crew.

I received Levels 1 and 2 of All About Spelling to review.  Grace and I have been working through Level 1, this review will focus on it.  Please check out the All About Spelling website to view their other great products. 

All About Spelling is an excellent program if you are just beginning to teach your child spelling, or if your child needs remedial help. Here’s why it works:

• All About Spelling is multisensory. The lessons involve sight, sound, and touch. Children learn best when they are physically involved in the learning process, so we take advantage of that fact with this hands-on approach to learning and teaching spelling.
• All About Spelling is logical. Spelling concepts are taught in a logical, understandable order. Each lesson builds upon the previous lesson. The sequence has been carefully tested to produce long-term results. And this is as much a benefit to you as it is to your student—especially if you’ve been struggling with how to teach spelling.
• No gaps. This is something that you can trust with the All About Spelling program: your child won’t be left with gaps or holes in his or her understanding of spelling. If there is a reliable rule that will help your child out, we teach it. If there is a tip that will help your child master a certain spelling pattern, it’s in there. And it’s all presented in a very logical order.
• The program is mastery-based, not grade-level based, so when students master a specific concept, they move on. If a child needs more practice in a certain area, we allow for that so the child can really master each concept. There’s no sense building on a shaky foundation, because that will cause spelling difficulties down the road when the spelling words get harder. At All About Spelling, we’ve identified the concepts that are most important for your child to master, and we’ve weeded out any busy work.
• All About Spelling has continual review. As the child learns new material, he or she also constantly reviews previously-taught concepts. We don’t just “teach it and forget it”…we make sure that it really sticks.
• Finally, the program is clear. This means that children are taught what they need to know in a direct manner. They don’t have to guess or come to their own conclusions about the English language.

 What is included in Level 1?  Product description:

Level One in the All About Spelling series brings together the three pathways to learning—auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (touching). This multisensory approach, combined with a built-in review system and reinforcement activities, ensures that students retain what they learn and understand how to apply it in practical situations.

In a practical, hands-on way, your student will learn:

• How to say and write the first 32 phonograms
• How to segment words into their individual sounds
• Short and long vowel sounds
• How to identify and count syllables in a word
  
  
• How to choose between c and k at the beginning of a word
• When to double f, l, and s
  
  
• How to spell /k/ at the end of a word
• How to form plural words by adding s or es
  
  
• Compound words
• Open and closed syllable types
  
  
• and more!

The multisensory learning tools and activities included in the program help your student master important spelling concepts.

• The Flashcards provide a visual and hands-on way to help your student learn and review phonograms, words, and spelling rules.

• The Spelling Review Box helps you organize the flashcards so you can quickly see which words, phonograms, and spelling rules your student still needs to learn and review. (Flashcards and dividers are included; you supply the 3x5" index card box.)

• The Segmenting Words activity helps your student identify the individual sounds in a word so that he can spell more easily and accurately.

• Concept-oriented spelling lists that are grouped by similar phonograms and spelling rules accelerate learning by organizing ideas in the student’s mind and allowing the student to concentrate on and master one or two main concepts before moving on.

• Key Cards clearly present key ideas, concepts, and spelling rules that help your student thoroughly understand why a word is spelled the way it is and how to apply that knowledge to many other words.

• The More Words and Dictate Phrases sections reinforce current and previously learned concepts, increase the student’s repertoire of words, and allow the student to apply his knowledge in practical situations.

• Tips for the teacher anticipate and provide answers to your questions and give you on-the-spot strategies for helping your student overcome stumbling blocks. Worked seamlessly into the lessons, tips are placed right where you need them, when you need them, so you can continue your teaching uninterrupted.

• The Progress Chart gives your student a visual reminder of how far he has come and motivates him to master the next step.

Features are arranged in three easy-to-follow sections:

• Review: The Review section provides continual review of phonograms, spelling words, and important concepts so your student can advance confidently from one lesson to the next without the frustration of having to re-learn previous material. All About Spelling doesn’t “teach it and forget it.”

• New Teaching: The step-by-step lesson plans lay out new material clearly and concisely and save you valuable time. You don’t need a degree in education or hours of planning every night to teach All About Spelling—all the work has been done for you.

• Reinforcement: The important Reinforcement section gives your student the opportunity to apply what he has learned and to use that knowledge in practical situations.

By the end of Level One, your student will be able to write phrases such as:

The 24 steps of Level One progress in a logical, sequential order. Through direct instruction, students learn exactly what they need to know in order to spell well.

Click here to view a sample lesson plan for Level 1, All About Spelling.

 Cost:

Starter Kit(Letter tiles, magnets, Phonogram CD-ROM)

These are necessary for teaching Levels 1 to 6.  $31.85 if purchased separately.  

$26.95

 Products included are pictured below:

 Cost for Level 1 supplies which includes:

 Teacher's Manual and One Student Material Packet

  $29.95

 To order please click here.

My Thoughts:

Receiving this product has been a huge blessing!  I strongly believe in a solid foundation of phonics in early readers, with a gentle blend of whole language through living literature.  All About Spelling teaches phonics in a systematic and progressive fashion.  The audio CD is helpful for children to understand exactly what the sound should be.  The hands on material are friendly and engaging.

Here Grace is using the alphabet tiles to spell words that I read to her. 

  I appreciate the detail lesson plans within the Teacher's Guide book.  It also has great tips included.  There is built in review and each lesson builds on the previous. 

We really enjoy this product and look forward to using it for many more years to come.  It makes spelling easy on the teacher, fun for the student and a happy principle because his students are learning to be great spellers.

To view other TOS Crew members review, please click the logo below.

I wanted to share what and how we celebrate Advent in our home.   Growing up, every church we attended celebrated Advent in some way or another.  The church we currently attend does not have any ceremonial celebration of Advent during church services.  So I've began each December doing an Advent study with the girls.  My main purpose was to keep our daughters heart's centered around Christ's birth at Christmas time.  That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, God's gift sent to us! 

For the past three years I have attempted to center the study around the Jesse Tree and an Advent wreath.  I really like the ornaments that are found on this website.  And we enjoyed doing the readings within this book.

Grace holding her Jesse Tree. 

As you can see in this picture there are only a few ornaments done.  The problem for me has been that I start out great and then it slowly trickles until we don't do them anymore.  We get busy and I push it to the back burner.  For some reason I loose interest and it doesn't get completed. 

We really enjoyed reading through these books as well.  Each book describes a young boy in Israel right before the birth of Jesus.  Each boy is separated from his family by a tragic event, and are lead by a man to a home for orphans that is run by Priests.  Both boy's are longing for their families and instead find Jesus.  The daily readings are engaging for children and have biblical application lessons within them.  I highly recommend them.  We have kept up with this reading and loved following the story up until the exciting end.

Click HERE to view a video of this great product and order directly from Family Life today.

Christmas Nativity Scene
Felt Board Fun @ DLTK:

I print these out on cardstock for the girls to color, decorate and play with during Christmas time.

 Here are a few more of our favorite Christmas books.

 click on the above picture to join other women @ The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY~ November 30, 2009

Outside my window...The sun is shining, the trees are barren and the ground is brown.

Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is a first accounting course for homeschool high school students. Many high schools offer an accounting course as an elective for students interested in pursuing a career in business. Now homeschool high school students have such an elective available to them.

Michael P. Licata, PhD. is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova College in Villanova, Pennsylvania.  Profesor Licata has taught the financial accounting course dozens of times in his 24 plus years as a Professor at Villanova University.  The past eight years Professor Licata has specialized in teaching the distance learning courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.   

Students taking Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. will learn to prepare and interpret the four basic financial statements which all publicly traded companies must prepare and make available to the public.

Any homeschool high school student interested in a career in business or in someday owning their own business will benefit from this course. The only pre-requiste is a basic math class.

All course content is incorporated into the lecture slides for each chapter. There is no textbook and no 40 page chapters to read. The course is comprised of 12 chapters which are covered in 28 lessons (including exams) and can be taken in either a semester format or over an entire academic year. Each chapter’s lectures include a discussion of important concepts and demonstration problems featuring step by step illustrations of how to work through the various types of accounting problems covered.

Course Objectives
The objective of Financial Accounting by Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is to introduce students to the study of accounting which is known as the language of business. The main purpose of financial accounting is to measure and report the performance of a business to interested parties both outside and inside of the business. These interested parties use accounting information to make a variety of decisions such as:

• Investors - Deciding whether to purchase or sell a company’s stock.
• Bankers - Deciding whether to lend money to a business.
• Managers – Making day-to-day business decisions such as whether to increase inventory levels, or to spend more on advertising.
• Students will learn to prepare and interpret the four basic financial statements - income statement, balance sheet, statement of owners’ equity and statement of cash flows.

Course Materials:

The course is taught in 12 Chapters each divided into 2 or 3 parts, for a total of 28 lessons.  The chapters have Flash lectures with 15 to 40 slides.  The lecture slides may also be printed off for the student to use.  After the lecture slides are view the student then works the chapter problems, which usually number 4-15 problems.  At the end of every 4 chapters there is an exam to be taken. 

The material could be divided up into a fourteen week semester, working 2 lessons a week.  Or be taken over the course of an entire academic year doing one lesson for 28 weeks. 

Included within the course materials from Professor in a Box is the answer keys to all problems and exams.  I also received a pencil and calculator. 

Cost:

$134.99  
Free USPS Priority Mail shipping.

To purchase click here.

My Thoughts:

With the majority of the high school products I receive for TOS Crew review, I enlist Jennifer's help to test them out.  But at this time I am trying not to overwhelm Jennifer, she has a lot on her plate.  So I decided that I would be the one to trial this accounting course, I know very little about accounting principles and thought it would be good knowledge for my to acquire.  I also did a little homework, asking my CPA friend, what do you think needs to be included in a high school level accounting class.  I am thankful she wrote a list of musts for a high school accounting class. 

As I worked through a few of the lessons, I enjoyed listening to the lectures.  I've taken a long-distance graduate level Statistic class and the lecture slides are very similar.  I like the ability to go back over a slide and listen again to the point being taught.  The problems directly cover the course work taught and are comprehensive.  The exams are doable but not to easy.  It is a good baseline education into business accounting. Professor in a Box did included all, but one, of the musts my CPA friend listed. 

The one thing missing was an educational component on how to use Microsoft Excel or any computerized accounting program.  Within the Professor in a Box website there is a link to online tutorials for Excel, but that isn't the same as providing education within the course. 

To view other TOS Crew members review of this product, please click the logo below.

Today I am grateful for...

~^~An enjoyable Thanksgiving day filled with a loving family, yummy food and sunshine!

~^~Financial provision, God has greatly blessed our family and we want for nothing.

~^~The blessings of a relaxing weekend, alone with my beloved.  The girls are enjoying a fun weekend with their Grandparents.

~^~Looking forward to Black Friday shopping.

I am blessed beyond measure!

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Thanksgiving.

Today I am grateful for....

~the blessing of remembering past Thanksgivings, so many great memories at my Grandmother's home in Traer, Iowa.

~my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ dying on the cross for my sins.  There is no greater love.

~the hope of eternity spent in a far better place then this, no more sorrows or tears.

~health, I am so thankful God's healing power and the health that He gives! 

~humiity, sometimes I have to have a swift kick in the seat, but He humbles me.

~a relaxing day and a doctor's office visit that wasn't painful.

I am blessed beyond measure!

Today I am grateful for....

~^~^My early AM quiet time, my morning bread that sustains me throughout the day.

~^~^A husband who isn't afraid to run the vacuum or help out with anything.

~^~^A daughter who has turned into a good writer, yeah!

~^~^Sisters who not only enjoy playing together, but know when to give each other a break.

~^~^The safety that  the Lord provides each day.

~^~^The joy of entertaining friends and family this week.

I am blessed...

Starting on Friday, I will begin 30 days of Celebrating the gift of Christmas!
Sprinkled throughout my posts will be gifts that I give away to my readers.

Wishing you and your family a marvelous Thanksgiving.