Top Ten Homeschool Crew Picks 2009 - 2010

This past year I was again blessed to be a part of the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. During the year I reviewed a large variety of products and found some products that we really enjoyed.

You may have read some {or all} of these product reviews, but here are my top ten picks from the variety of products we received. If you would like to read the actual review, click on the title and it will pull up each review post for you.

In no particular order...

All About Spelling ~ this year brought more GREAT products from All About Spelling: the Cobweb the Cat and What am I? readers. These books have been well loved by our kids.

Studypod ~ a little product that has been used so much this year during our schooltime. It has been wonderful {and put a stop to quite a few arguments between the kids}.

Olde World Style Maps ~ some amazingly wonderful maps from Homeschool in the Woods. We’ll be using quite a bit of their curriculum next fall too!

Rocket Phonics ~ We’re still using this with Zachary and have loved it this last year. There are some great hands-on activities that work well for little boys who are super active. :)

Virginia Soaps and Scents ~ I am HOOKED on their Lemon Verbena soap and lotion now. I love the way it smells {and so do my kids}.

Language Smarts ~ another great book from Critical Thinking. We’ve been using this since we received it and I’m planning on getting the next level for our upcoming school year.

Life on the Farm ~ This game has been played over and over again at our house and I love the durability of it!

Nature Friend Magazine ~ beautiful pictures and a great nature magazine from a Christian {no evolution} perspective.

Christian Keyboarding ~ Our girls have loved this and starting it got them really interested in typing and writing on their own.

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling ~ a great tool to recommend to families that are considering homeschooling, new to homeschooling, or even looking at the ‘next step’ for their younger children. It is chocked full of useful and helpful information.

The past two years working with the Homeschool Crew have been a great experience for me. I’ve learned so much about my children and their learning styles and found some amazingly wonderful curriculum and products that I likely never would have considered.

My last review for the Crew posted earlier this week, but there will still be reviewers circulating around the blog world this fall. Thanks so much for hanging in with me this year!

The Trouble With Treasure ~ Kregel Publications {Review}

The name Susan Marlow is apparently well-known in homeschool circles for her Circle C Adventure series.

Is it wrong to say that up until this point I was not familiar with her writing? When the newest book in the Circle C Adventures showed up in our mailbox, it was officially the first time that I took notice of her books.

I have a feeling that we’ll be looking into more of these books, especially since she is working on some early readers that I know will be right up McKenna’s alley.

From the Publisher

When innocent horseplay temporarily lands Andi and her friends in jail, they decide that a trip into the mountains will leave their troubles far behind. Accompanied by big brother Mitch and armed with a map showing old gold diggings, they can;t wait to strike it rich. What could be better than two weeks of camping and horseback riding?

But instead of gold they find heaps of trouble -- trouble that leaves Mitch gravely wounded. Andi needs help fast. But who can she trust? And what good is a bag of gold when her beloved brother lies near death in the middle of nowhere?

About the Publisher & Author

Kregel Publications is a Christian company that is dedicated to providing books, videos and other resources for the spiritual growth of readers worldwide. Currently, they have over 900 titles available in print, for children up to adult age.

Susan Marlow started writing stories when she was about ten years old. With the publication of the first book in my Circle C Adventures, Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home, she discovered that is really is more fun to share her stories with others then to keep them to herself! She currently has five books in the Circle C Adventure series and also has early readers in the works. You can visit her at her website ~ Circle C Adventures.

My Thoughts

Trouble with Treasure {recommended ages are 8-12} was on the higher end of where Laurianna felt comfortable reading on her own, so it is one that we are reading together. The story involves girls and horses…so really, that should be enough said when you are thinking about what young girls like to pretend and learn about. :) Even though we received the fifth book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone, without needing to read the first four to understand the plot/characters.

I love that there is a complimentary unit study guide to go along with the book too! These books would be great to use as unit studies and A Journey through Learning also has lapbooks that go along with each of the books in the series.

Find Out More

Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure is available from Kregel Publications for $7.99. You can read an excerpt of the book here. A complimentary unit study guide is also available .

If you would like to learn more about Kregel Publications and see some of the other books that the company offers, visit their site and browse through their many books.

 

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Ideal Curriculum {Review}

If you aren’t one who enjoys searching around for different preschool ideas and activities ~ or putting together your own lesson plans, you might want look into Ideal Curriculum. Whether you are a homeschool mom, daycare provider or school teacher, the curriculum is adaptable to various classroom settings.

The products that Ideal offers are focused on music and games with plenty of hands-on activities for {active} little children. The units are already planned out for you, leaving you with little prep time {other than printing}. Units include: transportation, color, weather, all about me, healthy living, animals, community helpers, the world around us, and traditions in our country.

Each of the monthly kits from Ideal Curriculum includes:

• Daily lessons and activities for literacy, math, calendar, oral language, and science/social studies
• Teaching guides
• Workbook
• Music CD or mp3s
• Science, sight words, and concepts about print books
• Supplemental activities

We’ve listened to the music from the transportation unit that we downloaded and also printed off some of the activities to use with our boys. There were a few that we looked at on the computer rather than printing because of the amount of ink that it would have taken {a science book}. The graphics were great and appealing to the boys and they love trucks! :)

Find Out More

Ideal Curriculum offers their monthly units in a print version {$55/mo} and also as a download {$30/mo}. If you are interested in downloading a month of  Ideal Curriculum, the company is offering a 10% discount during the month of May. Use the coupon code welovekids during checkout. You can also sign up for a free week of curriculum and try it out for yourself!

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Lobster Network {Review}

Have you ever wanted or purchased something and then found out just a short time later that a friend had it and you could have either traded or borrowed it from them? Or have you had something that you want to offer to others as a resource, but didn’t want to bombard them with emails or make twenty different phone calls to make it known?

Homeschool Crew members were introduced to a new site called Lobster Network. If you have an allergy to shellfish, don’t worry ~ it has nothing to do with seafood {grins}. LobsterNetwork is a way to keep an online inventory of the gazillion resources that you have and ‘network’ with others to share, borrow, trade, buy and sell those things ~ letting the website track everything for you all without any cost to you or fees for buying/trading/selling. Are you following me?

Lobster Network stands for:

How it Works

You can sign up for a free account quickly and easily and start searching for items that you may be looking to find. The search feature is super-simple too. Items can be searched for by name, category, purpose {lending, trading, free, for sale, or wanted-to-buy}. You can also search to find items that are close in proximity to you.

 

I love the concept of the site and have entered a few things in as ‘testing’ for me to get a feel for the system and think that it would/could be a great resource. My biggest hold-back at this point is actually sitting down to {ahem} do it. That, in no way, is any reflection of the company {grins}. This would be a lovely summer project for me to do when I’m organizing all of our school stuff this summer ~ and then network with a bunch of you ladies!

Find Out More

Did you catch the fact that Lobster Network is FREE? Definitely worth signing up for a free account. If you happen to have a lot of free time on your hands and want a much more detailed explanation of the program, rather than my ‘sum-up’ version, you can download a 27-page pdf file from the Lobster Network site. They also have some video tutorials for some more behind-the-scenes information to help you out.

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

 

BeeYoutiful {Review}

Generally my reviews for the Homeschool Crew include things for our kids to use during their schooltime ~ not things that are meant just for me!  BeeYouTiFul is a company that provides all natural products for your entire family, from vitamins to beauty items. The products that they offer are ones that their own family uses.

I requested two different products to review:

Laveshmint Hydrating Toner {$14}is the ultimate culmination of clean refreshment. Made with certified organic Aloe Vera, Laveshmint’s astringent properties naturally close the pores after cleansing.

Laveshmint Daily Moisturizing Lotion {$12} is gently scented with peppermint and lavender essential oils to bring cool relaxation while aloe and coconut oils smooth and nourish skin. Perfect for all skin types. Watch your complexion shine! Paraben and Formaldehyde free.

My Thoughts

I’m super sensitive to scents and although the toner was a little odd at first, the scent doesn’t last long, so it wasn’t a big issue for me at all. The lotion is very interesting though! When I first put it on, it ‘tingled’ for a bit, but it eventually faded. I was worried I was having a reaction to it, but realized that it is intended to have that tingly feature and is supposed to be great for sunburned skin. While I hope not to use it for sunburns, I think it would be a great help. Overall, the products worked great for me.

Customer service with the company was a great experience for me. The lid on my lotion jar wasn’t sealed and had leaked during shipping. When I contacted them just to let them know, they immediately sent me a replacement lotion because of the problem.

Find Out More

If you would like to order or see more products from BeeYouTiFul, be sure to visit their website. Shipping and handling is $6 on any size order, so take advantage of the flat rate shipping when you order!

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Lesson Planet {Review}

Lesson Planet was designed to help teachers find material that is relevant to what the are teaching quickly and easily ~ providing over 150,000 lesson plans and 75,000 worksheets. It was created by educators as a search engine that is member supported and available to any teacher {public, private or homeschool} to use in lesson planning.

Teachers can find resources in the following ways:

• Searching by keyword, grade level and overall rating
  
• Clicking the Narrow, Related or My Recent Searches keyword options
  
• Browsing for reviewed resources by Subject, Calendar or Theme
  
• Exploring relevant State Standards, matched to each member’s state
  
• Utilizing Advanced Search to narrow by duration, method, technology, and more

My Thoughts

You all are probably well aware of the fact that I like to put my own lesson plans together {for the most part}. And make printables ~ lots of them. We use a few worksheets during our day for handwriting and math, but otherwise I put together notebooking sheets based on the topic we are studying.

If I need ideas for a topic we are studying, I might do some searching and digging around on the internet to get my creative juices flowing and go from there. When we were asked to review the Lesson Planet site I was in the middle of planning for our Australia and New Zealand studies, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use the site and find some great stuff.

Unfortunately for me, it really wasn’t. While I did get results, it definitely wasn’t what I had in mind and I found four dead links for the first search I did {I reported them}…but that didn’t start me off well with things. I know that part of my problem is that when I have a specific idea in mind for something it is generally easier to put it together myself. If I’m going to spend time on it, I want it done the way I want it done {because I’m odd like that ~ it is in no way the fault of anyone else}.  However, I am well aware that others love not having to go through the hassle of putting lessons together, being able to find applicable worksheets at the touch of a button ~ and if that is you, it might be a site you want to check out.

I would recommend their free 10-day trial before you purchase a $39.95 yearly membership. Try it out before you jump in to see if it’s something that you would use.

Click on the Homeschool Crew banner to read other reviews about this product.
 

This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Super Star Speech {Review}

When we were first asked to review for Super Star Speech, I wasn’t quite sure how I would be able to write a review. There aren’t any major issues with any of our children’s speech ~ and trust me, after working with children who have had speech problems I know how difficult that can be for teachers and parents.

The primary focus of the Super Star Speech site is focused on giving parents the tools needed to help improve their child’s speech at home. They offer a book called Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple, a 90 page resource that includes the following:

· Articulation test assesses speech sounds in all word positions.
· Specific instructions and tips for teaching every sound
· 240  picture cards printed on colored card stock (ring bound edition)
· Games and activities for enjoyable practice and drill
· Reproducible lesson plan forms

In addition to speech products, they do offer additional homeschool games and resources. Super Star Games are inexpensive pdf downloads {$3.50 each} that help reinforce subjects that you are teaching at home: grammar, history, geography, science, and more.

We were given four pdf games to try together: Covering the Continents, Silly Snail, Colony Quest, and the Inventors Game.

Covering the Continents ~ players decide which continent a fact describes. If they are correct, they can place a marker on that continent. Once they earn three markers for a continent, it is considered ‘settled’.

Silly Snail  ~ a parts of speech game where players tell what part of speech is bolded in a sentence. If answered correctly the player moves along the game board to that part of speech.

Colony Quest ~ similar to the Covering the Continents game, but players learn facts about the 13 colonies and race to ‘settle’ them

The Inventors Game ~ players learn about major inventions from the 1400’s up to the 1900’s and who was responsible for the invention. The game can be played as a matching game or as a timeline game.

Our two favorites were Covering the Continents and Silly Snail, mainly because they both cover topics we are doing a lot with right now: geography and grammar. :)

Find Out More

If you’d like to find out more about the Super Star Speech program or the games that they also offer, you can visit their website. Deb Lott, the author, also has a blog that provides helpful information about speech development. Several of my Crew members reviewed different products, including the speech program, so be sure to click on the banner below to read more.

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

All About Reading ~ What Am I? Review

The folks at All About Reading and All About Spelling never cease to amaze me.

Seriously.

I was thrilled when they introduced their first All About Reading book and now that I have the book What Am I? in my hands…I’m just plain giddy. Especially since I know that there are even more coming!

What Am I? A Collection of Short Stories coordinates with the first 14 lessons of the Level 2 spelling program, but you do not need to use the All About Spelling program to use the books. It is a hardcover collection of ten short stories for beginning readers, each with beautiful illustrations, similar to the first reader that All About Reading released last fall.

Stories in What Am I?

1. The Bench
2. An Elf in the Alps
3. Broken Robot
4. The Bake Sale
5. Matt the Musk Ox
6. Skunk Hotel
7. Champ
8. Pine Tree Pet Shop
9. Just for You: Poems for Fun
10. What Am I?

Features of What Am I?

• Engaging graphics ~ ink sketches that tell enough about the story without giving away the wording to the reader.
• 160 page hardcover book ~ it’s sturdy and will stand up to little hands
• Story difficulty progresses through the book.
• Stories will appeal to both boys and girls ~ the themes range from animals to robots {and our kids enjoy them}.
• It ties in with the Level 2 All About Spelling program ~ a huge plus if you are using it!
• There are more coming!! Four more readers are scheduled to release by the end of 2010 along with a teacher’s manual ~ the books are being illustrated right now!

These books are still a little above Zachary’s reading level {he is working on the Level 1 spelling program and reader}, but McKenna can confidently read them to Zachary and Kaleb, and I’m happy to let her! Because they are hardcover, I know that they will easily survive the bumps and drops of daily life. We love these books so much and plan to own all of them.

Find Out More

What Am I? A Collection of Short Stories by Marie Rippel and Renee LaTulippe is available at the All About Reading website for $19.95. In addition, there are also two more readers available: "Cobweb the Cat" (All About Reading Level 1 Vol. 3) $19.95 and "Queen Bee: A Short Story Collection" (All About Reading Level 1 Vol. 2) $19.95.

Shipping has always been extremely fast and I would also highly recommend their homeschool spelling program that we are using with all of our children.

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Time 4 Learning {Review}

Last year our girls had a chance to play on the Time 4 Learning site, but this year it was Zachary’s chance to have a little fun! He was most willing to oblige too and was rather persistent in requesting to play.

What is Time 4 Learning?

Time 4 Learning is an online PreK - 8th grade curriculum that can be used a supplement to your current curriculum or even as your entire curriculum for language arts, math, science and social studies. The curriculum is tailored to each of your children's educational needs and levels and includes animated lessons, interactive activities, unit assessments, and printable worksheets for reinforcement (and it is ad-free!). Lessons are also correlated to standards in all 50 states.

The preschool curriculum offers two different levels of difficulty and covers 40 different topics including: shapes, numbers, feelings, human body, insects, color mixing, weather and much more. Our boys started on color mixing because we had just finished a unit on rainbows ~ and even Kaleb {age 3} was helping out.

Parents have the ability to log in and print automated progress reports for record keeping or portfolios. You can also see how your children are doing in all the areas that they are using, and see what areas they need to focus more attention/time on. There are lesson plans and a scope and sequence also available for parents to access at any time.

My Thoughts

The program is very interactive so kids don't realize that they are "learning". The activities were much fun, the graphics were fabulous, and Zachary was able to work through the program with little help from me. When his time was up, I could log on and print off reports to see exactly what he did while on the site ~ and make any adjustments for the next time he was online.

While Zachary did enjoy the program, $19.99 a month would be a bit steep for us to pay every month  ~ unless we were using it as our core curriculum, which we wouldn’t. I don’t think I could envision having him on the computer that much {nor would I want him on it that much}.

Find Out More

Time 4 Learning offers a free 14 day trial of the site, lesson demos, a scope and sequence of their lesson plans, and also a parents forum for those that are using the site. If you'd like a quick video demo of the site you can click here.
The cost for Time 4 Learning:

• $19.95 a month for the first child
• $14.95 for each additional child
• a 14 day money back guarantee

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Terrestria Chronicles {Review}

King Emmanuel rules over the kingdom of Terrestria ~ a land that was peaceful until Argamor, the King’s chief musician tried to take over the kindgom. Although he was defeated, Argamor contines to stir up trouble over the years, enslaving many of the King’s subjects ~ still hoping to overthrow the King.

The Terrestria Chronicles allegory series was written with a three-fold purpose: to honor Jesus Christ as King, to challenge young readers to love and serve Him, and to teach them to guard their hearts for Him. The focus of the series is always on the King.

Terrestria Chronicles is a seven book series, but each of the books are able to be read independently from the others. The Sword, the Ring, and the Parchment {Book 1} tells the story of young Josiah, a slave to Argamor who is rescued by King Emmanuel and adopted into the Royal Family. Prince Josiah is on journey in The Quest for Seven Castles {Book 2}, but is unprepared for many of the temptations he faces and realizes the importance of following the Book he was given and listening to the voice of the Dove.

My Thoughts

We received the first two books in the series to read and our kids. I haven’t read them out loud to the kids yet because I wanted to screen them first, but they will be ones that I know our children will enjoy. For now they will be read-alouds so that I can monitor a little better some of the content I present to them ~ because the books do not gloss over the darkness and depravity that sin causes.

The recommended age for reading is ages 10 and up and I would definitely agree. At the conclusion of each book there is a glossary section for some of the different terms as well as the ABC’s {Admit, Believe and Confess} of salvation. 

Find Out More

You can purchase the entire Terrestria Chronicles series for $39.99.  Books may also be purchased individually for $7.99. A study guide is also available for $5.99. There are free coloring pages for kids to work while families are reading the stories aloud.

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This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.