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About the products:  As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew I received four different e-products from Educational Diagnostic Prescription Services or EDUDPS.  These books are written by Jill J. Dixon, who, shall we say, is a tad smarter than I am.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in English Education (magna cum laude) and a Master’s Degree in Special Education (summa cum laude). Yep, smart gal.

Jill has written lots of books to help the homeschooler.  You can see the complete list here. The products I received are:

• Roots & Fruits
• Write with the Best (Volume 1)
• Write with the Best (Volume 2)
• The Complete Career, College, and High School Guide for Homeschoolers
  

She also offers several FREE downloads that you can check out here.

Due to time constraints, I was only able to really use Roots and Fruits, a Greek and Latin vocabulary program for grades K-12, with my children.  Roots and Fruits utilizes the English forms of 673 roots and prefixes with their meanings plus 1716 vocabulary words, including 205 of the most commonly tested words on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in highlighted format for easy identification. It contains words found in other Standardized Tests, too. The program also increases spelling, writing, dictionary and decoding skills.

I did look over the other products and found them to be well done, but for the purposes of this review I will only be giving the pros, cons, and "The Crazy Mom Take" on Roots and Fruits.  Before I do that, however, let me tell you just a little about the other products.

Write with the Best (Volume 1) teaches the mastery of descriptive writing skills, proofreading, literary analysis, and some grammar skills.

Write with the Best (Volume 2) teaches the mastery of informative writing skills, proofreading, and literary analysis. 

Both of these volumes use short lessons (15-30 minutes per day) and can be used with reluctant writers and students who learn differently.  The curriculum actually originated from a writing class Jill taught that included several learning disabled students. The lessons are short and utilize various learning styles.  While Volume 2 builds on the skills learned in Volume 1, they are separate and can be used independently. 

The Complete Career, College, and High School Guide for  Homeschoolers is just a really cool product.  You know, one thing I always thought was a downside of homeschooling vs. public schooling, was that the counselors at the high school seem to be "plugged in" to all the information a high school student needs in order to take the right classes, perform well on tests, and get into the right school or career.  Well, now that I have found this product, I can cross one more item of my very short list of public school pros. 

Now you can be your kid's high school counselor.  Even your middle school child can benefit from this product, or maybe even you or your spouse!  In this 224 page book, you get four self-administered tests that will show you your work and service preference and gifts, your personality type, your primary learning style, and your work environment preference.  Once you do this, you will find out which college majors and careers are most likely right for you. 

The book also contains information about different occupations, high school graduation requirements, volunteer and service opportunities, tests, transcripts, G.P.A.s, scholarships and more.  I just graduated my first son and I had to go through a lot to gather all of this information.  It sure would have been nice to have it all in one place!  Yes, I survived, but I probably could have save myself a lot of time and trouble had I had this book.  Live and learn!  The really cool thing is that your child can actually earn half a high school credit by going through this book!

What are the pros of this product? As the folks at EDUDPS states right on their website, their products contain no "fluff."  I tend to hate fluff.  Once again, I remind you that I am very simple-minded.  I like things straight forward, just the facts ma'am.  I am not one to seek out programs with lots of bells and whistles.  Sometimes it's a good thing, but for a busy and crazy mom like me, the less fluff the better.  When you buy Roots and Fruits you have everything you need.  No need to scramble to gather extra materials.  Easy peasey.  Well, I did get a notebook for each of the kids, and of course, a pencil, but that's it. 

Roots and Fruits is laid out very simply.  The prefix, suffix, or root is given, then it's meaning, and then a few examples of words that have that prefix, suffix, or root.  It's all in alphabetical order too.  It's a simple as that.  I'm just having my kids copy the words, definitions, and examples right now, although the book gives many different ideas for games and activities to make learning them easy and fun.  (I'm just a dud, I guess!  LOL) 

What's not to like?  As far as the content of the product, I didn't find anything not to like about Roots and Fruits.  I'd be hard pressed to find anything negative about a product that was all about words!

There is one thing that I have to say, however.  I am not exactly thrilled with when it comes to the e-versions of this company's products.  The files are set up so that you can only print them twice.  Now, mind you, you can copy what you print out as many times as you like (well, for your own family) from your hard copies, but once you print it from your computer twice, that's it.

I do realize why this must be done.  And while you COULD make multiple copies with your scanner and printer, you probably would not be willing to do so for a friend.  It would just be too much trouble.  But so many people, yes, even Christian homeschoolers, have no problem sending copyrighted electronic documents to their friends.  So, in order to keep this from happening, they have made this policy. 

That being said, my homeschool career, if all goes as planned, will last about 25 years.  Even now, I have still 11 years to go.  I have printed out my copies and now I have to keep from destroying them for 11 years!  This is Crazy Mom here, not some organized, efficient woman who has all her printouts laminated and stored in hanging folders in a well-labeled file cabinet.  No, that's not me.  I have them strewn about the house, here and there.  For every other situation it is a non-issue as I have the originals stored on my computer and I can just reprint as necessary.  I'll always have my e-books from EDUDPS too, I just won't be able to print them.

So, for you organized types, this will be a non-issue. Besides, you do have two copies.  I accidentally messed up the first time around so I sort of "wasted" my first copy.  If I were buying, I'd personally go with the print version.

The Crazy Mom take:

I really like Roots and Fruits because I am a "Word Girl."  I love learning about the origins of words.  I love looking at long and complicated medical jargon and trying to decipher what it means by breaking down the parts of the word.  Yeah, call me weird, but I love etymology.  I really hope to pass this love of words on to my kids.

I guess I got ahead of myself on this one, and I've already told you how I'm using Roots and Fruits.  As busy as I am, and as many things as I have to review this year, I really want to try to squeeze in this book, even if it takes us forever (okay, over a year) to finish it. Knowing how do decode unfamiliar words is a skill I'm sure everyone can use. Besides that, it's fun!  LOL

Also, I love the whole career planning thing.  I have been meaning to have First Born, my 18 year old go through it.  He wants to go to med school, but he has to pick a major for his bachelor's degree.  He really doesn't have a clue what to pick, and if I can find a few spare moments between his classes, job, and social life, I am going to have him take the assessments.  I think those types of tests can really be eye-opening. 

Well, I told you I was not going to review the other products, so I am going to let you check them out yourself.  Me, I have to go to bed as I am taking two of my kids in tomorrow for braces.  Wow!  What an expensive proposition that is!  Forget the career planning.  I think I'll just convince them all to become orthodontists!  LOL

What's the bottom line?  Roots and Fruits e-book $14.98 Currently on Sale for $11.25 (25% off) /Print $17.48 (not bound)/$19.48 comb binding

I am going to give out of 3 out of 5 smileys!!!

Check it out! http://edudps.com/index.html

See what my fellow TOS Crew members have to say @

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/718587/

*The Smiley System: 

I can't really recommend this product.

 I doubt this product would be helpful to many people.

 This is a good product, but isn't right for everyone.

 Most homeschool moms will find this useful.

 This is great, and I would recommend it to anyone!!!

Disclaimer!!!  I reviewed this product because I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew.  I was given the product by the vendor to use and evaluate in my home so that I might share my insights with others.  Other than receiving the product, which I kinda have to to be able to assess the product, I am not compensated for my reviews in any way.  I am in no way obligated to give a positive review.  I do try to point out negatives when I see them, though I am admittedly a pretty easy going gal!  What you read are my honest assessments of the products I receive. 

As with all products, you must do the research before buying.  Please visit the the other crew members' blogs, the vendor websites, and any other review sites you might find before buying.  I can't guarantee that a product will work for you.  You must decide what will fit with your teaching style, and your child(ren)'s learning style(s).  I do not judge anything other than the educational value of the products I review.  I am not qualified to make judgements as to the safely of any product, and I make no guarantee that the products I review are safe for you, your family, or anyone else.  I am simply giving my opinion, only you know what is best for you and your family.

Don't use your blow dryer while you sleep or take a bath.  Don't read my reviews in the tub either, and please do not read them when you are asleep, though I do not guarantee that you won't fall asleep reading them!