Dec. 16, 2008

Trigger Memory Systems - Multiplication & Chores - Review

My family had the tremendous gift of reviewing products from Trigger Memory Systems!  I honestly can't say enough good things about these wonderful products, that are fantastic for not only homeschooled children, but any child. Wow, Times Tales really works!  We all snuggled down together on the couch for "Times Tales" time, myself, my 9-year-old son and almost-5-year-old daughter, briefly a few times a week for 2 weeks.  My daughter just loved the "stories" and could easily repeat them.  While my son understood multiplication and could do it, he had to think about each multiplication problem instead of being able to immediately answer - we had tried various things such as drills and Multiplication songs, but nothing had yet worked as far as making Times Tables automatic.  This really worked!  At the end of the two weeks, with just a little bit of time spent, my son could not only automatically give each answer for all the upper Times Tables, but could also easily do the division using the flash cards provided as well.  How does it work?  Each number is a character, for instance on the cover of the Student book you can see a treehouse which is the number "9" - so the problem 9x9 is two treehouses and there's a story that includes the answer.  These are so easy to remember that even Mom can remind the child "two treehouses" if they forget when given the problem, so they can remember the answer.  Also included with the book is a Parent book with step by step instructions (which you do have to read before using, don't skip this step LOL), along with multiplication and division flashcards, games and puzzles.  The best thing is, the entire package is reusable, so I can bring this back out and re-use it when my daughter is actually learning multiplication to brush up on her Times Tables! Times Tales is available for $29.95 US on the website on the Trigger Memory website.  We Canadians can save on shipping by ordering through the Canadian company, Cornerstone Learning for $36.95.  You will have to contact either of these companies for shipping information to your address prior to your order, as they pass on the exact shipping cost to you and do not include general prices on their websites. Trigger Memory System's Clean N' Flip Charts include the titles "Zone Cleaning For Kids", "Bedroom Cleaning For Kids" and "Laundry for Kids".  We enjoyed all three.  I enjoyed the fact that things were getting clean around the house.  My children enjoyed (yes actually enjoyed) cleaning using these products.  Zone Cleaning is something we now use weekly around the house - at the beginning of the week, each of my two children choose a Zone - Kitchen, Bathroom, or Living Room that they are responsible for daily throughout the week.  My almost-5-year-old daughter often clamours to start her duties first thing in the morning LOL.  My 9-year-old son has decided that he likes taking care of the Kitchen best, and that is usually his Zone.  Each day they flip through and check off with the included dry erase marker each task to be completed, including the task of the day.  For me this fits in beautifully with my following Flylady, and I can concentrate on other tasks knowing that they're taking care of two areas of the house for me.  The Laundry and Bedroom Cleaning are lovely flip charts that show easy, step by step instructions that they follow and flip to the next.  It is amazing what kids can do when they have a fun chart to flip.  My daughter isn't quite old enough to reach to do the laundry herself yet, but my son, at 9 years old, can do so easily.  When either of their rooms seriously need a tidying, I can just hand them the Bedroom flip chart and tell them to go to it.  No more will they tell me they don't know where to start :) The cost is $29.95 US for the complete set of 3.  Or they are available separately:  $17.95 US for the write-on-wipe-off, complete with dry-erase marker Zone Cleaning for Kids, and $7.95 US for each of "Bedroom Cleaning" and "Laundry".  Information on Shipping to Canada is not available on their website.  Once you have placed your request for an order, Trigger Memory Systems will inform you as to the exact shipping cost, at which time you can decide whether or not to complete the order..

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