For review I received the following product for free as part of the TOS Crew, for the sole purpose of review. 

Exploracise® Gymathics® DVD

As a member of the TOS Crew I received the following product for free to review on my blog.

For review we received a month trial membership to AVKO.  Best known for their Sequential Spelling curriculum, AVKO has a full line of reading and spelling resources.  Geared highly to the dyslexic learner, AVKO's mission is to teach everyone to read.  Started by Don McCabe in 1974.

  AVKO is a non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive), and keyboarding.  AVKO is dedicated to the teaching everyone how to read and spell, regardless of their mild to moderate learning disabilities, dyslexia, poverty, or opportunity.

Membership for AVKO is $25.00, to order clickhere.

The following are the benefits for joining AVKO:

My Thoughts: I have spent some time going over the site and it's many resources.  There are a lot of great helps for children with difficulty with reading.  I also am amazed at the amount of support that the membership supplies for those who are using Sequential Spelling.  The membership is a great resource and tool for homeschooling families who are looking for resources for their children that have learning difficulties.  Don McCabe has an encouraging spirit and wants everyone to be the very best reader they can be.

For review I received of CD of lesson plans for free, from American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc.  As part of the TOS Crew my obligation is to provide a review of this product.  All opinions expressed are mine alone.

AHEF is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens.

AHEF accomplishes this patriotic mission by writing, producing, and distributing FREE K-12 lesson plans to teachers, students, and families in all 50 states and through additional initiatives, programs, and partnerships.

AHEF's History:

Our History

The American Heritage Education Foundation (AHEF) is a non-profit (501.c.3) corporation established in January 1995.  In 1993, current members of the Foundation worked with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to establish American Heritage Month. Today, schools throughout HISD and the nation celebrate our nation's heritage each November through creative activities and projects. AHEF has assisted HISD in the development and subsequent revisions of an American heritage curriculum guide for grades K-12, entitled America's Heritage:  An Adventure in Liberty.  This curriculum continues to be introduced and activated throughout school districts in Texas and the nation.  American Heritage education workshops have also been developed to assist teachers in fully understanding and putting into practice the ideas and concepts included in the curriculum.

America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty is a curriculum project designed and written by teachers with AHEF and HISD and is available in Texas and National Editions with correlating standards and objectives. The initial phase of the project included development of material designed for middle school students, published in 1996. The curriculum was later expanded to include lessons for K-12 and was published as a first complete edition in the spring of 2001.

How do you get your FREE copy?

It is available free of charge as a download, in hard binder format, or in CD format via mail.

Please click here to order.

My Thoughts On This Product:

I have read through the CD that I received from the company and scanned their website.  We currently are not studying American history and I was not lead to use this resource when we did.    The foundation of this course is to teach the students about the four key themes of Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility--to educate students in our founding father's beliefs and perserve our nations founding principles.  These are detailed lesson plans that use historical documents such as The Mayflower Compact, The Declaration of Independence, Federalist 47, the First Amendment, and a government letter on religious expression in public schools.  It is a good supplement to your US History studies and it is FREE. 

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

As part of the TOS Crew, I received the following two books free from Bright Ideas Press, for review.  The opinions presented in the review are solely mine. 

Why take the time to “Crack the Code” of Classical Music?
     • Music is from the Lord. He created it, and He created us with the ability to both make and appreciate music.
     • “Classical” music is uniquely part of our Western civilization.
     • Research suggests that both listening to and playing classical music aids brain development.
     • Even rudimentary exposure increases one’s level of enjoyment and understanding.

This course provides a close-up look at famous composers, their music, and their times, with special attention to character traits and Christian testimony (or lack thereof). Even the musically challenged will enjoy this course! It’s perfect for grades 4–8 but is easily adaptable for younger and older students. Minimal teacher prep will return maximum enjoyment!

Within the book there are a variety of great learning activities to use within your home.  Some of them include

• 32 Weekly Lessons
• 26 Bios of Famous Composers
• 6 Eras of Music Explained
• Easy-to-Use Comparative Timeline
• Easy-to-Use Maps
• Composer Info-Cards & Game Directions

• Note-taking Pages
• Quizzes
• Answer Keys
• Listening Suggestions
• Intricate Coloring Pages
• Resource Books

Authors:  Maggie S. Hogan and Melissa Craig did extensive research and writing to bring this great resource.  They had music expert, Richard B. Pinkerton edit the book as well.

Cost:

CD-Rom Book
Price: $29.95

 To purchase click here.

 In Our Home:

We've been using this great resource for over a month.  At least twice a week I read through the detailed lesson with the girls.  They take notes on their provided note-taking pages.  Then we fill out a composer card.  The composer card is a place to collect all the facts about each composer.  There are also thinking questions to apply the interesting facts gleaned through the lesson.  Then using the supplied map, we map where the composer was born.  Each composer is divided by style of music and a great history of each music style is provided. 

I like the way everything is self-contained for our Classical Music discussions now.  I don't have to search for the perfect book to read, assemble the notebooking pages and make-up a timeline.  The only thing missing for me from this curriculum is actual music to listen to.  I want my daughters to also be able to recognize the composer's main pieces when they hear them.  It is easy to find CD's or the pieces online though to add to the curriculum. 

This is a picture of the folder that Jennifer has been putting together as we study Classical music.

Written from a Christian perspective, Hands-On Geography will get you excited about teaching an oft-forgotten subject. Includes specific instructions for many activities, games, and projects designed to be appealing to kids and easy for parents. An easy, yet thorough, introduction to a very important subject. Grades K – 5.

 Written by Maggie S. Hogan.

This is a large paperback book stuffed with wonderful Geogrpahy resources.  The beginning chapter has information about the National Geography Bee. 

Also present in this book are directions for six homemade geography games for the early elementary years. Fun stuff that uses items you already have in your home to reinforce geography.

 Included in this book is an extensive section of outline maps to copy.  Then Maggie S. Hogan has a large chapter on ways to use these maps called "Maps Galore".  Things like sticker geography, jigsaw maps and booking maps to name a few.  There are sixteen projects in that chapter.

 Jennifer did the chapter on Joseph's Journey, this is a detailed map and geography questionnaire to enhance her learning as we studied Joseph's life.

A chapter on nature geography was filled with tools on how to include nature in your geography study.  A great guide to making your own field guide is on my to-do-list for the spring.  We will be using her helpful pages on studying birds that live in our area this winter. 

This is a valuable resource that is well worth the cost of $14.95

Orderhere.

Maggie S. Hogan has written an extensive amount of great Homeschooling curriculum. 

Please click the logo to read reviews of her other products.

As Jennifer begins her high school years, we are all beginning to ask the question, what next?  Jennifer has some ideas, but has struggled to put those ideas into tangible work opportunities.  Even more important to us is that Jennifer has a job that fits her talents and desires. 

As part of the TOS Crew I received a free month's subscription to ACT Discover to review.

DISCOVER can help you choose a career, find training, or learn how to find a job.

This is an inventories based assessment tool. The inventories help you think about yourself, and which occupations would fit you best your interests, abilities, and values. As you grow older, you become more certain of your interests, abilities, and values.

DISCOVER offers inventories to people based on your grade level.

Inventories available:

To view other TOS Crew members review of this and other great products click the logo.

For review as part of the TOS Crew, I received free access for 30 days to the membership site at abc teach.


I have used abcteach for printables within our home-learning.  Things like field trip report forms, poetry writing paper, first day of school printables and nature study walk report forms.  But for thirty days I had access to their membership site. 

The membership site has the following benefits:

Click on the above logo to view other TOS Crew member's reviews of ABC Teach.

 I received the following products free for the sole purpose of review.  I am in no way paid by this company for my review.

About the company:

Virginia Soaps and Scents is owned by the Spargur's a homeschooling family located in Southeastern Virginia with 9 children.  They began their homeschooling adventure 23 years ago and now have 5 graduates with 4 children still being taught at home and a granddaughter just beginning her first year of homeschooling.

Three years ago Mrs. Richelle Spargur decided to do a unit study with her children on Colonial Life in Virginia, and included within that was a bit on soapmaking.  They entered the endeavor strictly as a one-time school project with a one pound batch of lavender soap, dyed with a melted purple crayon and molded in a piece of 3 inch PVC pipe.  But they made REAL SOAP. 

After that initial test project they continued to experiment,research,learn, design recipes and then 6 months later Virginia Soaps & Scents was born.  They are now more than soapmakers but business owners.  They launched their new business at their state homeschool convention in Richmond, Virgninia in June 2008.  They're an example of a homeschool project that has become an entrepreneurial adventure. 

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Crew, I received a wonderful Soap Sampler for review.

Included in the kit was a bar of the following soaps;

^ Handcrafted Olive Oil Soap in three scents, Fresh Orange, Oatmeal,Milk & Honey, Coconut-Lemongrass

^ Shampoo Bar,

^Laundry Soap kit.

About their products;

Handcrafted Olive Oil Soap-

This is real soap, not a detergent product.  They use all natural ingredients with no added chemicals for hardening or lathering properties.  Their soap is made by both cold process and in-the-mold hot processing.  The bars are extremely hard and long lasting due ot the recipe they have developed.  The big fluffy lather comes from a generous amount of coconut oil used in all of their soaps.  They take a great deal of pride in the testimonials from allergy suffering customers all over the country that are using their soaps without allergic reactions. 

These bars are 4. 75 ounces and come in the following scents:

Fresh Orange, Lavender, Oatmeal,milk & honey, Bay Rum, Sandalwood, Coconut Lemongrass, Violets & Lace, Victorian Rose, Baby Powder, Country Clothesline, Peppermint, Pumpkin, Badlands, Kiddiwink, Cookies & Cream, Walzing Matilda, Outback, Tropical Paradise, Full Moon, Black Tie, Unscented, Wild Bayberry.

Don't those all sound scrumptious! 

Cost:

Single bar $4.50

Buy three bars for $12.00

Or the best deal...

Buy four for $18 and get one free. 

My Thoughts:  I loved using these soaps.  The scents are fresh, but not overwhelming.  They clean your skin without drying them out or leaving any lasting soap residue.  I will be purchasing some for Christmas presents!

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Shampoo Bar-

The Shampoo Bar is also an olive oil based soap but also contains castor oil which acts as an extra "humectant", meaning, it holds moisture.  Simply wet your hair downa nd rub the shampoo bar over your hair a couple of times and you'll have lather clear to your toenails!  Their regualr sized shampoo bar is a whopping 5.5 ounces, which should easily give you the same number of shampoos as  a 32 ounce bottle if not more.  They recommned using the shampoo bar all over if you have very dry skin and feel free to shave with it too!

This comes in three scents-Ginger Lime, Coconut Lemongrass and Cherry Almond.

They also have an oil-clarifying shampoo bar that comes in Tangerine Grapefruit.

Cost for this bar is $5.50.

My Thoughts~ I tried using this soap on my fine, thin hair several times.  After several days of use, it would leave a coating on my hair that made my hair look greasy.  Others on the TOS crew loved it, also some used a vinegar rinse with it, I did not.

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Laundry Soap Kit-

This contains a grated bar of otheir lard cleaning soap and a pre-measured amount of borax and washing soda.  The recipe makes 2 1/2 gallons of a heavy gel.  Using this soap should 64-72 loads at about 7 cents per load.  The laundry soap works great in front laoders and high efficiency machines as well.  There are no cocnut oil in this product as suds don't actually wash the clothes, but they can be difficult to rinse out and the residue fromt he suds left in fabrics can cause many skin issues. 

Cost: $4.95 One order is enough to make two batches of soap.

Please visit their website: Virginia Soap and Scents to see their complete product line.  Their Gourmet Soap page gives an outlet for branching in to many different artistic techniques and is constnatly change as they experiment and broaden their skills.  They also have Shaving Soaps for both men and women as well as Total Body Bars which have become some of the best selling products they've ever created.  Their Bath and Body page contains their lotions, scrubs and powders. They also make a beeswax based Lip Balm in 5 flavors and a heavenly Lavender Linen Spray.

Shipping cost is not clearly listed on the website, but seem to max out at $10 when I had reached $25 worth of products.  To purchase the buy 4 get 1 bars of soap, shipping was $7. 

Please read other TOS Crew members reviews by clicking the image below.