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Preschool Curriculum

Jul. 14, 2009 • 1:37 PM

I am happy to announce I know what curriculum I am using next school year with these two...

We will be enjoying the Itty Bitty Bookworm's Bo curriculum!

The Itty Bitty Bookworm is a literature based program. They have two different curriculums available. Bo curriculum is for your little learners that are 3-5 years old. The Bailey Curriculum are for 18-36 month olds. The Bo curriculum has unit that enhance a particular storybook each week. With the Bailey curriculum, the units change every two weeks so the toddler has a longer period of time on each story.

We are using the Bo curriculum in our homeschool next year with Peanut (41/2 years) and Precious (3 years old).

I will post about some of our book units when we do them. So.. if you are looking at programs because you are planning to start homeschooling little ones, you might want to check back from time to time!

From looking over it, I think this curriculum will be a great fit for us. We love children's literature but also like themes and/or unit that revolve around the stories. This is what this curriculum does. But, what is different from FIAR or some other literature-based programs is that Itty Bitty includes activities and printable worksheets on their CDs. You can read more about them Here at their website. Look for more to come once our schoolyear starts, too!

Review: ARTistic Pursuits

May. 26, 2009 • 3:07 PM

ARTistic Pursuits: THE Curriculum for Creativity

ARTistic Pursuits is the curriculum for well-taught art methods, elements, and techniques. The book is very appealing to look at. The lessons include color and black & white sketches as well as pieces of artwork as examples that go along with what is being taught.  It is also written in a way that is easy-to-read and interesting.

So... here is a very good instructional lesson book that is pleasantly appealing to the eye. Have I gotten your attention yet? Well, here is more about Artistic Pursuits….

Review: Tapestry of Grace

May. 19, 2009 • 9:05 AM

Tapestry of Grace is an award-winning homeschool curriculum put out by Lampstand Press.

Apologia Science!!

May. 15, 2009 • 9:06 PM

Are you looking for a wonderful Christ-centered Science curriculum? If you haven’t already tried Apologia, you may want to give it a try! My review is following but (as you’ll read) I truly think this is one of the BEST Science curriculums on the market right now!

“Apologia provides fun and challenging K-12 creation-based science curriculum specifically designed for the home school.” This Science curriculum is such a breath of fresh air to me as a Christian homeschooling mother that isn’t too “into” Science. I do however LOVE the world that God has created and I am thankful to have found a curriculum that teaches from this same perspective. Apologia products are written by a former university professor and homeschool parent. Each book provides college-preparatory science in a way that is both clear and challenging. The texts are readable, easy to understand. When I started reading, I was really impressed at how it really drew us in and kept our attention. The curriculum also has many engaging experiments that can be performed at home with simple materials. I like too that there are photo, graphs, and drawings included all throughout the books.

Apologia publishes a full-range of science texts for the Christian homeschool. They began with high school science texts which have been very popular with homeschoolers for many years. More recently, Apologia began publishing elementary texts. Currently, the elementary science series includes five titles: Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creatures, Swimming Creatures, and Land Creatures.

In each unit, they have included notebook assignments, experiments and other projects. In the experiments, the scientific method is emphasized including discussions of variables, controls, hypotheses, data collection, and drawing conclusions.

Here is a free sample! It is Module one from Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day! The lesson of called “What is Zoology?” Read it and see how interesting this curriculum is!

Homeschool in the Woods

May. 8, 2009 • 6:55 AM

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received the New Testament Activity-Pak from Homeschool in the Woods. I was thrilled about this because my children were already making their Old Testament Lapbooks with the activity-pak we previously purchased from Homeschool in the Woods.

The creator of Homeschool in the Woods products is Amy Pak, a homeschooling mom of four. She has great artistic and creative talent. These educational unit studies and lapbook kits not only become works of art but also excellent learning and teaching tools.

My family loves making lapbooks, myself included. I wish there would have been such a thing when I was in school. I would have made a lapbook for everything I studied (if allowed!)

Here is a wonderful quote from their website: "It is our heartfelt prayer that children develop a love of learning that will not end when they are finished with "school." We at Home School in the Woods have a passion for supporting the education of our children, specifically in understanding God's providence through history."

My older children were already working on the Old Testament Lapbook from Homeschool in the Woods when I heard we’d be getting the New Testament Activity Pack from Homeschool in the Woods! We are making these with another homeschooling family from our church, adding some Bible Study lessons as we go.

All of the activitiy paks that Amy Pak has created are so full of great detail. She really worked hard on the pieces included in each activitiy pak. The composition of the lapbook is also very creative with flaps, pockets and many great interactive pieces throughout. Here are some of the completed pieces from our OLD Testament activity pack that are ready to go into the lapbook!:

Like I said, I was fortunate to receive The New Testament Activity-Pak. This pack is designed for grades 3-8 to use independently but I think it appeals to all ages. ( I know I love it myself but I won’t reveal my age!  )

Now that we have completed our Old Testament lapbook from Homeschool in The Woods' Old Testament Activity-Pak, we are anxious to begin with the New Testament one.

The New Testament Activity-Pak contains 15 mini-book projects to create and then put together into a finished lapbook. Once completed, the lapbook is so appealing, everyone will enjoy looking at it over and over again. It takes you through the history of the New Testament beginning with the Birth of Christ and ending with Paul’s Missionary journeys.

The following activities are included in the lapbook:

• Books of the New Testament,
• Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus
• Jesus' lineage
• The birth of Jesus
• The Beatitudes
• First 12 Disciples
• Parables of Jesus
• Miracles of Jesus
• The Last Supper
• Crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost
• Christ's resurrection
• Fruit of the Spirit
• Paul's missionary journeys
• Paul's letters

In addition to the lapbook, The New Testament Activity-Pak contains directions to create “The New Testament News” and an “Armor of God” poster.

She includes clear directions on how to assemble the pieces with photos of the completed pieces which are very helpful.

This is an activity Pack created as a “go-along” project with your study of the Bible’s New Testament! The New Testament Activity-Pak New Testament Activity-Pak sells for $18.95 as a download product or $19.95 plus shipping on CD.

Homeschool in the Woods has many other great products as well. We have many of them and have loved each one we have used so far! We have done the Homeschool in the Woods Colonial study that is part of their Time Travelers series. We also plan to do the American Revolution one next school year. I am also really thinking about purchasing the Artists Activity-pak  once we've completed those we already own. (The Civil War study looks great though too!) I can easily give Homeschool in the Woods 2 thumbs up!  

Review : Spell Quizzer

Apr. 23, 2009 • 12:33 PM

Spell Quizzer is a fun learning tool to help your student with their spelling practice.  The program is designed for Windows, and it downloads right to your computer. It is basic and is very easy to use. 

Dan Hite created this software to help children learn their spelling words in a fun and easy way.

It’s a simple program yet good.

It is very easy to create your spelling list(s). Just type in a word and then record the sentence or phrase that you want your child to hear. Click to add that word to the list and continue this process until you have all the desired words for that list entered. If you don't want to make up your own spelling lists, the SpellQuizzer site is in the process of adding downloadable spelling lists that can be imported into the program.

Review: Bonnie Terry Learning

Apr. 9, 2009 • 11:16 AM

Fact: Up to 87% of students do NOT learn from hearing alone. Most of us homeschooling moms know this and that is why we teach our child to their learning styles.

Bonnie Terry also knows this fact and has produced products to help students practice their reading and study skills.

Bonnie Terry is an Educational Therapist who specializes in learning disabilities.  Bonnie has over 30 years of experience working with students. Her products were created to help ALL students improve their reading fluency as well as retain what they read.

I received two of her products through the TOS Homeschool Crew. I got Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills and Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills! Whoo-Hoo! This sounds great to me and five or ten minutes a day is something that won’t even uproot our already busy schedule.

Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills

Review: Math Tutor DVD series

Apr. 6, 2009 • 3:56 PM

Learning by watching a presentation on DVD sounds pretty good to a busy homeschooling mom especially in the area of higher Math (for this HS mom, at least.) So receiving a product from Math Tutor’s line of educational DVDs was something I was glad to be able to review.

Review: Generations of Virtue

Apr. 4, 2009 • 12:33 PM

It is an incredible responsibility (and privilege) to raise our children for the Lord! That is why it is so nice to find good Godly materials to help us parents teach and raise our children to have a testimony/life that brings honor to the Lord.

Review: Schleich figures

Mar. 31, 2009 • 7:20 PM

We received a box of wonderful toys for us to use and review. They are great figures made by Schleich. My children were thrilled with them from the first time they saw them.

Play time started right away and their imaginations were put into action.

Review: Auralog's TELL ME MORE Spanish program

Mar. 30, 2009 • 8:30 PM

Tell Me More Language Curriculum

Review: Mathematical Thinking K

Mar. 26, 2009 • 10:08 PM

We were blessed with receiving another product from The Critical Thinking Co. This time it is in their Bright Minds division of workbooks and in their Mathematical Reasoning series.

Review: Two Christian Companies

Mar. 26, 2009 • 5:09 PM

We have received some wonderful educational curriculum and learning products throughout our course with the TOS Homeschool Crew!

Recently we received two products that were from companies that already sent us a prior product to review and enjoy. Talk about generous. Both of these companies I highly recommend.

They sell products that give honor to the Lord. These toys have a purpose and they are fun.

Alphabet Alley previously sent us two games. They now sent us their New Baby Magnetic Playset.

Both of my youngest children immediately sat at the table to play with it.  The playset contains 17 magnet pieces along with a patterned playboard that is decorated to look like the interior of a baby’s nursery.

The magnets have colorful animal characters, furniture, and baby toys. The child can set up the scene over and over again. It also comes in a nice heavy plastic clear case with handle. Our set stays in our Bible bag and has helped to quickly entertain my youngest children while sitting in the pew during church meetings.

The playset would also be great for independent play during homeschooling times to keep a youngster occupied and happy. It will also be great for car rides as it is easy to pack and take-along.

Another company, One2Believe has also sent us a second product.

First we received this great nativity play set just before Christmas. Now we got the Noah’s play set.

This set is in the same whimsical style as the first play set with a different Biblical story theme. My children again just loved playing with this and acting out the scenario. It is a great way to bring a Bible lesson to life for them. The whole Noah's Ark set sells for $29.99.

These toys help them think more about that time, the story and lesson.

Review: Rocket Phonics

Mar. 24, 2009 • 9:52 AM

With the TOS Crew, I received a curriculum called Rocket Phonics. I was unfamiliar with this product before receiving it.

I recieved: Volumes 1 and 2, Treasure Hunt, Play and Read cards, Bingo chips, and more.

 Their website states that students using Rocket phonics gained nearly four months of skill for every month gained by other methods. In Rocket Phonics children learn to read by using its unique phonics system until they become sight words. Sight words increase reading speed, developing fluency!

By using Rocket phonics, your child will start by playing games to learn symbols and begin blending them into words he reads out loud.

When teaching sight words, this program uses helpers that allow the child to use phonics without guessing. The games, riddles, jokes and stories allow your young scholar to read the most common words in print. “As your child progresses, the helpers are dropped away. By the end most children will recognize over 700 sight words. (A sight word is a word read in less than a second.) Our 700+ sight words cover about 75% of all the words your child will ever read

Each Rocket phonics kit comes with:

“1. Two sets of Play & Read sound-picture cards that introduce the sounds of the English language, along with instructions for games and variations. 

2. Two books and their “Peeker” focusing tool, and bingo chips. The book combines a Teacher’s Guide and Student book of games, jokes and stories. The stories began at first grade reading level and progress to sixth grade level. 

3. A Supplement Folder that includes common word lists suitable for duplication, additional game sheets and additional teaching tips.

4. Two Rocket Phonics Tresaure Hunts: Your children will love reading each rhyming clue to find the next clue (all leading to a hidden treasure), in these exciting activities – prizes included.

5. Free supplements: With your Rocket Phonics, you’ll receive by email 28 free supplements to your kit. These materials will help you more effectively meet the needs of your individual children. You and your children will enjoy these additional stories, riddles, games, beginning reading helps and more.

6. Rocket Phonics Word-Find Treasure Hunt and the Pocket Phinics Phrase Game. Your students will delight in reading one word or phrase at a time, such as desk, window, bookcase, or behind the computer, and running off to find the bingo chip you’ve hidden by that object.”

This is a superior phonics program that makes learning fun for your child and it very effectively and quickly teaches them how to read. I like all the hands-on activities they include like the games and especially the fun scavenger hunts.

This set is available for $159.99.

Check out other reviews of this product from other TOS Homeschool Crew Mates!

If you want more information from the company on this product, check out their website!

Review: The Bridge to The Latin Road

Mar. 21, 2009 • 1:19 AM

"Did you know that you need a vocabulary at least 10 times larger for thinking than you do for talking? The best service you can perform for yourself is to learn how to study and how to absorb the greatest amount of learning in the shortest amount of time. The study of Latin can help you do this. It trains your memory, gives you increased word power, develops your reasoning powers, strengthens your reading skills, and helps you form a finely structured English vocabulary. Just as phonics help you understand what words are, Latin helps you understand what words mean.” Even though Latin is considered a “dead” language, it is certainly alive within the English language. The English language is over 60% Latin based.

 Here is a great program for you to teach (and/or learn) Latin. It is the The Latin Road by Schola Publications. They offer 4 different programs. The Latin Road Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 and then The Bridge to The Latin Road, which is the Introduction to Latin. We received The Bridge to The Lain Road program.

The Bridge to the Latin Road is a one-year program that can be used in as young as 3^rd and 4^th grade students.  This is a wonderful introduction to Latin by teaching Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes, as well as an introduction to sentence structure.

The whole program is taught on DVDs and has a whole binder of all the worksheets they will need. It is very well organized and easy-to-use. There is also a teacher’s Guide that comes in a binder and shows exactly how the student’s pages should appear when completed correctly.

The teacher’s Guide is a 3-ring binder that contains:

6 DVDs: Everything taught to you and your student.
Framing Codes: a daily schedule plus 57 pages introducing all parts of speech and sentence structures with Grammar Tunes and Framing Keys.
Sentences to Analyze: 86 pages of sentences for you to dictate, analyze, mark, then scaffold.
Designing Codes: 55 pages of Latin roots, English prefixes from Latin prepositions, and suffixes that change the function of a word in a sentence.
Also included...
Designing Cards: color-coded cards for building Latin-based English words.
Verb Memory Game: For learning the forms of irregular verbs.

The Student’s Complete set is another 3-ring binder that includes:

Framing Codes: 57 custom pages on which to record details of the parts of speech and expanded sentence structures. Learn helpful Grammar Tunes and look for Framing Keys to easily identify functions of words.
Sentences to Analyze: 86 custom pages on which to record dictated sentences to analyze. Then learn to build your own scaffolding illustrating sentence structure.
Designing Codes: 55 custom pages on which to record Latin prefixes, Latin roots, and suffixes built from your designing cards and color-coded to highlight the components.
It even includes 3 pencils and a scaffolding ruler!

This complete package costs only $139.00. I feel that is a good price for such a complete and thorough set. Plus it is easy-to-teach. The DVDs are great and the student worksheets are ready to go. The Teacher’s Guide is easy-to-understand and makes correcting your students’ papers simple. If you have more students you would like to use the program with, another student package can be purchased for just $39.00.

I think this program looks wonderful and is reasonably priced for all the materials you receive. It also seems well-organized and easy to teach. I can’t wait to put the program to full use next school year with my older children.

To learn even more about The Bride to The Latin Road, click here! You can also download a free sample packet!

Review: Spanish in 10 minutes a day!

Mar. 13, 2009 • 12:05 PM

Ahoy Mates! As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, I have another review to let you all know about another great educational product!

We were sent the Spanish program from Bilingual Books entitled Spanish in 10 minutes a day

Did you know that Spanish is spoken (as the main language) in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela? Many other countries have heavily populated Spanish-speaking areas where you could also speak Spanish. Foreign language is helpful in many career choices and also when traveling. Maybe a mission trip will lie in your future? Here is a great product to help you prepare!

Kristine Kershul is the author of the 10 Minutes in a Day series by Bilingual Books.

She used her experience as a teacher, world traveler and language scholar to create a playful, innovative way to learn a new language. She believes anyone can learn a foreign language. She keeps this program simple and fun. Plus, with working through the program in just 10 minutes a day, it can easily fit into a busy schedule.

The short and fun lessons introduce vocabulary in bite-sized pieces to be learned at your own pace. It is to be taught using just 10 minutes a day. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Most homeschooling moms can squeeze 10 minutes more into a school day.  In 10 minutes, the program gives tidbits of knowledge that your student can obtain and won’t become bored with.

The program was written primarily for the traveler that wants to learn the language before taking their journey. Therefore some of the things taught are geared more towards the adult traveler. It does include how to order alcoholic drinks so this may be a section you wish to steer your student away from.

The program goes back to review before starting each section which is great since a new language needs repeated to become more familiar. 

The 132-page workbook keeps it fun and each page is in full color. This program includes 150 sticky labels (to place around your home), flash cards, a cut out menu, a crossword puzzle and more. I feel that the CDs are a necessary part of this program because they teach you the correct pronunciation for each word.

The Bilingual Books website says it well when speaking of the 10 Minutes a Day language series: “Learn at your own pace while experiencing immediate results, and you'll have fun along the way!”

Bilingual Books offers 16 different language courses to explore. I would recommend Bilingual Books to anyone who would like to learn Spanish (or any other language) for educational purposes or for those who are planning a trip to a country using the language. I feel it is a little bit of a “crash course” but it is a great start and begins the learning process. I hope sometime in the future, they will offer intermediate levels to follow-up with these beginner lessons.

If you would like to purchase this program, the materials are reasonably priced. The book/CD Rom combo costs $24.95, the audio CD kit costs $59.95, the audio CD wallet is $42.95 and the language map (convenient travel companion) is $7.95. We were sent the book-CD combo and the CD wallet. These are the two things I recommend for learning. The CD wallet can be taken into the car with you. The language map would be nice if traveling to a place where you need to use this language! Check out their website!

Review: Practical Accounting Fundamentals

Mar. 11, 2009 • 4:17 PM

Insight Technical Education is a company whose basic intent is to introduce students to the basic principles of accounting and to introduce the student to the possibilities of career options. 

Review: WriteShop's Story Builder ebooks

Mar. 5, 2009 • 10:44 PM

As a crew member of the TOS Homeschool Crew

Bible Story Songs

Mar. 2, 2009 • 9:43 PM

We got a CD in the mail to review. It came from from Bible Story Songs. Right away it went in our car’s CD player. The CD we received is called The Bible “Let’s Sing About the Book We Love.”. 

It was fun to hear Bible songs that are new, that we never heard before anywhere.  This CD has 32 original songs about Gods' Word and is one hour long.  It is a great way to teach children more about the Bible. We own several children’s Bible song CDs so my children often hear the same songs on different CDs. We like those songs, but this Bible CD was fun because all the songs were new to us.

I am glad we got to review this product. My kids enjoy listening to the songs and I also enjoyed the songs. The music is sung by children and is sweet to hear especially when my own children join in and sing along. The only thing I didn’t think was the best was with The Books of the Bible song. It is sung through once (and the song is good) but when they then sing it in a round, it gets harder to understand. One group is singing the Old Testament books and another round is singing the New Testament books. When the song ends The New Testament chorus is through but they leave it hanging with the Old Testament and do not complete singing all the books. I feel that should have been “re-worked” so that both Testaments could be sung in completion and end together.

Other than that, the songs and the new CD were a hit with our family!

Bible Story Songs, has other CDs in the series as well. The CDs cost $9.99 each.

Check out their website! You can also purchase sheet music to go with the CDs.

Review: Heads Up Company

Mar. 1, 2009 • 9:40 PM

Today I am going to be giving you a “heads-up” on a great product that could help you with your students. You may even like them so much, you’ll use them yourself.

Heads Up is a company designed to provide information and tools for struggling learners.

The company was founded by Scott and Melinda Boring.  They are homeschooling parents. Mrs. Boring is also a speech/language pathologist and has much experience with distractible and hyperactive children, both personally and professionally.

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, Heads Up sent me some sets of their frames. These frames are GREAT educational tools!

The Borings created this product to help a child that feels overwhelmed when viewing an entire page of material. They are so simple yet so helpful! By using a frame, the child can have just one section of the page appearing within the frame so it feels more manageable. These frames are made of transparent colored polycarbonate with a printed frame. The small frames are 4” x 4-½” squares.  The large Heads Up! Frames are 4" x 9" rectangles. We also received two reading aides that are basically a gray box with a highlighted section above. The yellow (or blue) highlighted area wlll show the reader one or two lines of text (depending on which size you use). The gray box blocks out the writing below. They also make great bookmarks, keep you on target when reading then keep your spot.

The Heads Up company has selected products to accommodate various learning styles and strengths, regardless of curriculum used.  They are especially great for special needs children but are also very helpful for the student that can use a little help staying focused.

Anyone easily distracted could be helped with these frames. They will help you easily come back to exactly where you were reading. Other frames provide a line that helps the eyes follow and keep reading consistently within the same sentence.

These frames are a very simple and inexpensive way to make reading and focusing a little easier for your child. I think they will be very helpful for beginner readers as well. I feel they will assist in teaching them good reading habits. Check them out at Heads Up along with their other great products. These learning aides might just be the thing that helps your child to do better and along with that, help them to hold their Heads Up high!