Robert Pierre "I'm All In" CD Review and GIVEAWAY

I was recently given the opportunity to review Robert Pierre's new CD "I'm All In".  This is a contemporary gospel CD and will be released on July 26th.  Robert Pierre is a contemporary gospel singer and "I'm All In" is his 3rd studio album.  He is an extremely talented young singer.  Contemporary gospel is not typically our "style" of music but we did enjoy listening to many of these songs.  My kids really enjoyed  a couple of them and have been walking around the house singing them all week.  I love to hear my kids singing about loving their Savior.  Robert's love for the Lord comes through in his singing.

Robert says of the new album,

"All of the songs have something to do with things I was going through my senior year [in high school], preparing to say goodbye to friends and not really knowing what would come next, but finding comfort and peace in the Lord's plan for my life.  The Bible talks about how the eyes of the Lord are searching to and from throughout the eary, searching for someone whose heart is wholly His, someone He can strongly support. This CD is me saying 'I'm All In'."

You can learn more about Robert and his albums at his website, through facebook or purchase the album through Amazon

Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this product for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I will give my HONEST review of the product.  There has been no other compensation given for the review.

A GIVEAWAY!!!

The marketing team for Robert's new album has been very generous and is also giving away a CD to one of my lucky readers!  There are a couple of ways to enter the giveaway:

1.  If you are not already a follower follow my blog via GFC and let me know in a comment.  If you are already a follower just let me know in a comment.

2.  Visit Robert's website and enter the guitar giveaway (ends July 25th) come back here and comment letting me know you entered that giveaway.

3. Blog about this contest and link it to this post then come let me know you did so in the comment section.  

4. Link this post to your Facebook and come let me know you did so in the comment section.

So, you can get up to four entries in to the contest.  The album is going to be released July 26th so I will close the contest at midnight Tuesday, July 26th.  This is a short contest so let your friends know!  

"...From the Mouth of Babes" - Book Review

Kimberly Williams is a homeschool Mom to three children, a pastor's wife and an author. Being "just" a homeschool Mom and a wife I know my plate is full so I imagine hers is too. But, somehow, she manages to squeeze the title of author into her life. She has written a series of Bible studies for ladies and now her latest book is a compilation of short stories all about this crazy world we live in. "...From the Mouth of Babes" is a wonderful addition to any Mother's reading list.


Kimberly's purpose in writing is to point others toward Christ and to encourage women in their walk with the Lord. In this book she is definitely an encouragement to me as a homeschooling Mom and wife to my husband. Through short stories she makes you laugh and cry as well as encourages you to be the lady God meant you to be. She encourages us to love and train our children for Christ and more importantly be a helpmeet to our husbands as God commanded us to do. This book is a very enjoyable read that gives you a glimpse into the daily life of this amazing lady who truly walks with the Lord. It is a great addition to my nightstand for nightly reading. I often find I will pick it up to read an antecdote or two and before I know it I have been reading for 45 minutes. It is encouraging, fun, and practical all rolled into one.

The book is divided in to:

-Stories about Marriage and Children
-Stories about Life and Spiritual Growth
-Stories about the Church and our Culture
-Stories about Holidays and Special Occasions

You can learn more about Kimberly on her blog

If you are looking for a great book to encourage you as you start the new school year you can purchase it for only $14.95 here. Or you can order it on Amazon. While you are ordering one for yourself order an extra for a friend that might need some encouragement.

You might also be interested in her Bible studies. I plan to order her study on the book of James soon.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the book. No other compensating was given for this review, and the above is my honest opinion.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

enVision Math - Review

Pearson Education has been around for many years in the public schools. They publish Scott Foresman, Addison Wesley, and more. Now, with the increase in families who educate at home, they are also marketing their products to homeschoolers. We were asked to review their 1st grade enVision Math book.

The book itself can be purchased for $34.47 and includes access to "digital learning". There are other products you can purchase here.

The book is very large (11x17) and very bright. It is designed for you to pull out the days lesson and fold the page in half to make a regular size (8 1/2 x 11) pamphlet to work through. Pearson's website say that enVision Math is the "new" Math. Their goal is to offer a Math curriculum so that every student understands Math. Through the use of manipulatives and interactive technology they hope to make Math more fun for all students.

The book is broken down in to 20 topics with 5-10 lessons and a game for each topic. Also included is a test at the end of each topic. The book we reviewed was 1st grade, but they also offer K - 6th grade books. Zach just finished Kindergarten and though we are not "officially" starting 1st grade for a month or two he was ready to jump right in to this book. Math is his strong subject and he loves to show off what he knows. He loved the bright, colorful pages. It also picked up right where Kindergarten math left off so it was great for him to get a little jump-start on first grade. Unfortunately, we did not have access to the digital component nor did we have the teacher's manual for this book so parts of the lessons we were not able to do because there was no explanation as to what to do. In order to fully use this program you definitely need to have a teacher's book. Also, the lessons are very short. We liked the short lessons but, in my opinion, they did not give quite enough practice of the concept being learned. I did like that the concepts were broken down in to very small pieces that a young child can understand easily, just not enough practice. It appears there is more practice that would be offered in the digital portion of the program, but I cannot say that positively.

Overall, I like the layout of the book. Zach enjoyed it, but because of the lack of practice of the concept being taught he did not retain much of the new material we learned. I think Pearson has a great product here, and a great way to teach Math -- using a digital, interactive format, in addition to the textbook. However, since we did not have full access to the program it is very difficult to say if the program would be successful for our family. If you would like to see a video of how enVision Math works in a regular classroom go here and click on "Next Generation of Math programs". There are manipulatives to go with many of the lessons as well as interactive lessons for the overhead projector and on the computer.

Since Pearson is new to providing products for homeschoolers I am hoping they can work out some of the differences between homeschoolers and the traditional school setting and offer some products that will work better in a home education setting. Their site is also not very homeschooler friendly. To register (in order to view samples) you have to put in your zip code and school district. They do have an option to say "I am a homeschooler" but when I chose that I was very limited to what samples I could see.

If you would like to see what other Crew members thought of this product as well as other Pearson Education products go here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the program. No other compensating was given for this review, and the above is my honest opinion.

Word Qwerty - review

A couple of months ago Steve and I were discussing how hard it is to teach someone to read and then to spell. There are so many rules and exceptions to rules to learn. Fortunately, Paul seem to learn how to read effortlessly. I do think some of that is just natural ability and some of it comes from him being exposed to a plethora of books since birth. By the time he was old enough to hold a book he loved them and early on he had a favorite..."Barnyard Dance" by Sandra Boynton was his absolute favorite book from about 4 months until 16-18 months. I can still quote the entire book. You would think that because of this natural love of reading he would also naturally be a good speller. Well, for him, that is definitely not the case. We have tried various different methods of teaching Paul the rules for spelling, but nothing has really stuck with him, until now.

At the beginning of our school year we reviewed a product called Talking Fingers (go here to see my review of that program). Word Qwerty is a follow up to that program. The program is geared for 2nd and 3rd grade students but could be used for slightly older or even younger kiddos if needed. It is also reasonably priced For one student it is $35. You can go here to see other pricing options for multiple students. There is also a free demo so you can try it before you buy.



Word Qwerty is an online, interactive program that teaches the rules of spelling as well as patterns in words and takes some of the mystery out of spelling. There are 20 different spelling rules taught, you can see which ones are taught here.

Just as Talking Fingers was a hit a few months ago Word Qwerty has also been a success in our home. Paul enjoys playing it and, more importantly he is learning from it. We officially finished our school year a few weeks ago but Word Qwerty is on our list of things to continue through the summer.

Make sure and check out what other crew members had to say here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the program. No other compensating was given for this review, and the above is my honest opinion.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mad Dog Math - Review

I vividly remember standing in Mrs. Moser's 3rd grade class and reciting my multiplication facts. For each set of facts we earned we could choose a "ticket" that had various prizes on it. The most coveted prize was, of course, a free homework pass. We practiced multiple times each day in class and were very competitive. Math was my strongest subject so it was easy for me. Well, Paul is not that great with remembering math facts. We have tried so many different methods over the last three years with Paul. First it was addition and subtraction and now that he FINALLY has those down (most of the time) we have moved on to multiplication and division. He gets the more complicated Math without a problem, but the math facts are just tough for him to memorize. It has come a little easier for Zach, but it is still something we have to work on. He, at age 5, is only working on his addition facts.

When the opportunity for us to review Mad Dog Math, a math facts program, came along, I couldn't help but be drawn to it. Anything to help get those facts in their heads, and help them to stay there. It seems like if we take a week or two off from drilling math facts then Paul forgets all of them. It takes constant review and I guess we will continue that for a while until they are cemented in to his brain.



Mad Dog Math is a simple program that is geared for Kindergarten - 5th grade students. It could definitely be used with older students for remediation/review of all the math facts. There are 4 levels. Level 1 and 2 are addition and subtraction, level 3 is multiplication and division. The 4th level is the "Challenge" level and includes all 4 of the basic math operations. You can used the timed or untimed option for the program, depending on what works best for your students. As your student reaches mastery of each set of facts they are given a "sticker" and they are automatically moved on to the next set of facts or the next level. When they earn all their "stickers" they are a "Mad Dog Top Dog".

Our thoughts
Everyone knows that mastery of math facts is essential for success in higher math. So, any new idea to get math facts mastered is truly welcomed by me. Both boys worked really hard and have really tried to master the facts they need to know. I was very pleased with the simplicity of the program, and how easy it was for me to install and set up. I also like that it is easy for the boys to get started on their own. If I tell them to go do "Mad Dog Math" even Zach can open it and select the correct level and get started without my help. I also really like the "no frills" approach to learning the math facts. I don't want a video game when I am looking for my kids to drill math facts. Below is the main page of the program--very clean and simple, I really like that.



For Zach, he truly loves Math, and anything related to numbers (it's reading we have to work on more with him). He gets upset if I don't have his Math drill sheets in his workboxes daily. Since he struggles a little in several other areas I think he really likes to show me how well he can do with his addition. So, for him, this program has been great. Also, since he is only 5, the "stickers" and the "Mad Dog Top Dog" award is very motivating to him. He likes the simplicity of the layout so that he is not distracted by "bright and shiny objects" along the way. It has worked really well for him and I have been really impressed with how well he is doing on his addition facts.

Paul, on the other hand, isn't as thrilled about doing math drills everyday, not even if it is on the computer. It is difficult to find anything to motivate him to work on this skill. So, he didn't love this program. At almost 10 the "stickers" that you earn aren't super interesting to him. He wants more of a game to play. His personality and learning style is so different than Zach's and the "bright and shiny objects" are not so distracting to him, but they keep him motivated. He doesn't play a ton of video games so he is not looking for a video game style, just something a little more interactive. So, the simplicity of the program didn't draw him in. However, it did help him with his multiplication and division facts, which, in my mind, means it is a great program. After all, I am not the type of Mom who only has their kids do what they want to do. I make them do what I know is best for them.

You can purchase the program at their website. It is available as a one year subscription for $19.95, two years for $29.95, or the best option, if you have multiple children at various ages, a perpetual license for $39.95. If you would like you can watch an informational video about the program here

They also offer several other products for Math fact mastery. You can take a look at them here

Don't forget to see what other crew members have to say about the program here

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the program. No other compensating was given for this review, and the above is my honest opinion.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Institute for Excellence in Writing - Review

Growing up I never liked English class. Mainly, I didn't like grammar. I could write very well and loved to write stories as well as poetry. I always did well on research papers and any creative writing assignments we had. I did not understand the need of learning grammar.

I finally learned not to hate English when I became a senior in high school I had a wonderful teacher for AP English that taught me to love great literature. I had always been an avid reader, but great, classic literature had not been introduced to me. I loved the classics like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Catch 22, and 15 other classic books we read that year. At least, at that point I didn't totally despise everything related to English class!

My second year of teaching I was "thrown" in to teaching Middle School english/grammar at the Christian School I was teaching at. I did not want to teach English--really I wanted to teach anything BUT english, but I was qualified to teach all subjects and they needed an English teacher. And, anyone that has ever taught in a small Christian school knows that you teach what ever needs to be taught. I hated it! The curriculum they used taught the kids all about direct and indirect objects, participles, diagramming sentences and a million other things that even I don't remember. But, these kids did not know how to write a coherent paragraph with any style whatsoever. I ended the year very disheartened and determined that I would find a better way to teach English and to instill a love of writing and literature in to my students.

The next year came and we adopted our oldest son so I did not continue teaching. But, all those experiences stuck with me as my son grew, and we decided to homeschool. I knew that, when the time came, I was going to find a different way to teach him grammar and english. I wanted him to enjoy the English language, and be able to use it properly and with "style". I went to homeschool conventions and looked at all the different English programs out there and I didn't see anything that taught writing and grammar the way I thought he should learn it. So, for first and second grade I went with a grammar curriculum that was simple and I added my own creative writing assignments as well as classic literature read-alouds. At the convention at the end of second grade I walked by the Institute for Excellence in Writing booth and fell in love. However, there was no way I could afford the steep price tag. I planned on waiting a year and saving the money to buy what looked like a great program.

To my great surprise I was given the opportunity to review this exact program this year with the TOS Crew! God truly is amazing and his blessings are so wonderful and always in perfect time! I was beyond excited when I found out I was going to have the opportunity to review the "Teaching Writing: Structure and Style" (TWSS) as well as the "Student Writing Intensive-Level A" (SWI-A) I won't wait until the end of this review to tell you, this product is worth every penny of the $239 price tag.


First, let me say that when the box arrived, last November, I was so impressed with the quality of the product, but a bit overwhelmed. There was so much material, and it all seemed so confusing. I sat it aside for a week or so until I had the time to really look at it--without constant interruption from the kids. When I did get a chance to really look at it I realized it was actually not near as confusing as it first appeared, and everything was laid out for me.

There are really two separate parts to this review. I will start with the TWSS. The TWSS is designed for you, the parent/teacher. It is 10 DVD's as well as a "Seminar and Practicum" Workbook. The first 6 DVD's are ANdrew Pudewa teaching you how to teach writing to your children/students. He covers all 9 of the units that are in all of SWI's (there are 3 levels for the student--A, B, and C). The parent/teacher is encouraged to watch the DVD's and work through the same activities your student will be doing in the SWI. You can do this one of two ways. You can watch it all before your kiddos start, or you can watch it as you go along-staying just a step ahead of them as you go. For me, I decided I wanted Paul to get started fairly quickly so I would just watch the DVD of the unit we were starting on a day or two before he watched his (which comes with the SWI). I will say that watching my videos and knowing what is coming for him really helped me be a better teacher. You can also watch the TWSS and use your own material from your child's history/science/literature studies and teach this all on your own, without the SWI-A. You can purchase just the TWSS and the workbook separately from the SWI for $169.

Now, the second part of the product is the SWI-A. This is the student's part of the program. With this you will receive a student binder with dividers for current work, finished work, structural models, stylistic techniques, and (my personal favorite) banned words. You will also receive a manilla envelope with all the lessons broken down for you and all the handouts you will need for your student. The SWI-A can be purchased separately from the TWSS for $99.

The SWI-A is geared for 3rd-5th graders. Paul is an advanced 3rd grader and it was a challenge for him. He works well in a more challenging situation so it was a good fit for him. Paul also already had a grasp of basic grammar as well as a love of writing. This program has helped him bring those two things together to start developing some writing with some style and "pizazz". The banned words have been one of our favorite parts of the program and Paul doesn't even use them in his speech much anymore. It is not unusual to here him say "I observed/discovered/examined..." instead of saying "I saw...". He will then look at me and say "strong verb" with a big grin on his face. To me, this just shows that he is really enjoying what he is learning in "school" and applying it to other areas of life--it doesn't get much better than that

The main part of the program is the 4 DVD's you will receive of Andrew teaching your student. In SWI A you will work on the following units:
Unit 1 and 2--Note-taking and Summarizing
Unit 3--Summarizing Narrative Stories
Unit 4--Summarizing References
Unit 7--Creative Writing

Notice in the chart below that different things are worked on in different levels of the SWI



Also, note that if you have the TWSS then you can teach all these Units on your own--if you are brave enough to do so. The TWSS does a great job of teaching you how to teach writing. However, Paul really enjoyed being taught by someone different. Andrew Pudewa is a wonderful teacher. He adds humor into his teaching and simply portrays a love of writing that I can't get across to Paul. Paul also liked the fact that he was a man. I do think that you could effectively use the SWI-A without the TWSS, but it would be quite overwhelming. Having the TWSS helped me to get a better feel for the program, and when Paul had a question I knew how to help him.

The SWI's are typically 15-30 weeks. We will take the full 30 weeks to get through SWI-A (continuing it in to next school year). We have taken it slow on purpose, since Paul is at the young end of the target age. I want him to really benefit from this program, not just make it through it. After that we plan on using the "All Things Fun and Fascinating" theme based writing workbook to continue working on the skills worked on in SWI-A. We are also going to add in IEW's "Fix-It: Grammar and Editing Made easy with the Classics". There are several other ways you could continue using IEW after the SWI. They offer several theme-based writing workbooks, as well as continuation courses and advanced writing courses. You can go to their website to see all they have to offer. I would definitely suggest starting with the TWSS and SWI combo. I know $239 seems like a high price, but it is a great investment in your child's education. But, if you are low on cash you can choose either of the single products to start with.

In a nutshell, we truly love IEW. As I stated way back in the beginning of this review, I hated grammar, and never understood why it was needed or how it helped you be a better writer. This program helps the student learn to write while also teaching some of the basics of grammar, without overwhelming the student with too much grammar. It is not a grammar curriculum, and you will need to supplement with some type of grammar curriculum if your child does not already have a firm grasp on the parts of speech. For us, Paul has as much grammar as he needs at this time, and we can focus on using the grammar to write. Besides using "Fix-It" I will simply fill in any grammar "holes" as we run across them. In my opinion, being able to write a coherent paragraph is much more important than being able to diagram a sentence.

We also received the "portable wall", which you can purchase for only $7. It has been a great resource for Paul. He can quickly and easily find a synonym for "said", or an "'ly' adverb". He can also quickly see what his "dress-ups" need to be and when he progresses further in to the program there are helps for sentence openers, decorations, prepositions and more--all on a tri-fold 9x12 poster.



There is so much to this program I am sure I did not do it justice. If you would like to find out more please visit their website. There are various videos you can watch to learn more about all the great products they offer.

Also, be sure to check out the other reviews from the TOS Crew here.

And, if you have any more question for me, please leave a comment and I will answer it to the best of my ability.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the program. No other compensating was given for this review, and the above is my honest opinion.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Go Trybe - Review

It always saddens me a little when I see an overweight child sitting somewhere playing the latest version of a handheld video game. In this world of parents who are so busy and kids who are used to all the latest technology it is no surprise that 1 in 3 kids is considered overweight. When I was growing up we spent our time outside, running, jumping, simply playing. Most of my childhood memories are of doing something outside. Overweight kids were few and far between. In an effort to get kids moving and active and to combine the world of technology with the need for kids to be active and maintain a healthy weight GoTryBe has introduced an online exercise program designed just for kids.



GoTryBe is designed for kids in K-12th grades. It can be used either in a classroom or in a homeschool setting, alone, or with a group of kids. There are three levels of GoTryBe. We reviewed the level designed for K-5th graders. There are also levels designed for 6th-8th grade, and 9th-12th grade. All the levels are designed the same way but the workouts are increasingly difficult.

Each child is given their own log-in and can create their own avatar. As the student completes a workout or completes a nutrition, motivation or wellness portion they are awarded points so they can personalize their avatar.


There is also a chat/social networking portion of the program. My kids are too young (in my opinion) for social networking so we did not use this portion of the program. However, from looking at it myself it appears to be very safe.

The workouts are designed by the student and include warm-up, cardio, strength, flexibility and more. Each component has several choices to choose from so they can change their workout daily. It is very user-friendly and even young children could easily create their own work-out by dragging and dropping each component in to the correct spot. If your child really likes a program they designed they can easily save that workout to be used at a later time.



Our Thoughts:
I do agree that children need to exercise, and that exercise is severely lacking in the lives of many children today. For us, this program was not something that we would use a lot. We live in a climate that allows for my kiddos to get outside and play almost year round. My kids are most often found jumping on the trampoline, riding their bikes and scooters, or climbing trees in the woods. I have a hard time pulling them inside to take care of regular school, and many days we take school outside. The boys are actively involved in sports and Molly will be also as she gets older. I limit the amount of time the kids are in front of a screen and we usually only play video games and computer when it is rainy out or on the few days each year it is too cold to go outside. It does get quite hot in the summer, but we head to a pool or turn the sprinklers on when that happens. So, as you can see, exercise is not lacking in this household.

I can definitely see how this would be an excellent program to motivate kids to exercise who don't normally exercise or who live in a climate that does not allow for outside play as often as our area does. The program is super user-friendly, and kids love creating their own avatar. Currently you can sign up for a free trial using the code GETFIT and then an annual membership is only $19.95.

To see what other crew members thought of GoTryBe go here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monki See - Review

We were recently asked to review a product by a company called MonkiSee


Monki See is a DVD collection designed for ages 0-3. According to their website "Your baby will be exposed to upbeat music, original poetry, lovable puppets and real life images that will keep your baby excited while teaching your baby to read early in life."

We received the "Baby's First Words" DVD and the "Know Your Monkey" book that goes along with the DVD. This particular DVD is designed to teach babies their body parts while also teaching them to read. The way the DVD does this is by showing a word on the screen and then saying the word and showing that object in several different ways. For instance, the word "head" is introduced and then different animals are shown and short sentences are told about that animal's head. There are silly puppets and silly stories to go along with it. Each time the word is used it is shown on the screen. There is also a slide show option on the DVD that shows each word individually and then a picture of that body part. A parent guide is also included on the DVD that tells you about the company and the ideas behind the DVD and books. The parent guide suggests you have your child watch the DVD daily for at least 4 weeks.


The book "Know Your Monkey" accompanies the DVD and reinforces the words shown on the DVD. The monkey puppets that are in the DVD are also in the book.


There are 3 different DVDs teaching body parts, shapes and colors. You can purchase any one of these DVDs here for $19.95 each. There are also many other options for purchasing the DVD's as a set and with the books and flashcards. You can take a look at their store here and see all the products they have to offer.

Our thoughts

Molly is at the high end of the suggested age range for this product so for her, the DVD itself did not hold her attention. I can definitely see her (and Zach) having enjoyed it at younger ages. It is simple, which I really like for DVD viewing for young children. The music is very upbeat and engaging and the puppets are fun, bright, and colorful. It would be a very useful tool to teach young children their body parts, especially if it is watched with a parent or older sibling pointing out the young child's body parts that the DVD is talking about.

Both Zach and Molly really enjoyed the book. They love to be read to, and anything with animals in it is right up Zach's alley, so they ask for the book often. Like I said earlier, if they were a little younger, and didn't know their body parts yet this book would definitely have helped with that in a very fun way.

With regards to the teaching reading part of the program: I can see how watching the DVD daily, viewing the slide show daily, and reading the book daily would definitely teach a young child to recognize the words introduced. Babies and young toddlers can learn so much more than most people realize. And I can see how teaching them a few words would give them quite a boost of confidence. However, I do not think it is teaching a child to read when they can pick out a few words. My kids never watched much tv when they were infants and we still really limit their "screen" time. I do like the idea of any screen time at a young age being educational.

So, overall, the DVD and book would be entertaining and educational for a young toddler, and the book will grow with them even up to about age 5 or 6. Will it teach them to read, not in my opinion.

For more reviews from fellow crew members go here

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yesterday's Classics Review

I think all homeschoolers will agree that one of the biggest problems with homeschooling is the over abundance of books you end up with. After just a couple of years of homeschooling we have books everywhere. Even before homeschooling I was always buying the kids books. So, we have books in every corner of the house. So, the idea of ebooks is wonderful to me. I have downloaded many books to my laptop over the years and either read them straight from the laptop or print them out and read them to the kids. The searching for good books online is sometimes long and arduous. With Yesterday's Classics the search for books is over!



Yesterday's Classics is fairly well known for their paperback reprints of older classic books. Now, they offer 225 classic books in either epub or Kindle format to download to your ereader or personal pc/laptop. The 225 books are offered for a very reasonable price of only $99 for a limited time. Check it out here After May 31 the price will go back to $149, still a wonderful price for all these books.

You can enjoy books from 22 different genres. A few of the genres we have enjoyed the most are juvenile fiction, historical fiction, poetry and theater. Many of these books are used in popular curriculums, such as Heart of Dakota, Ambleside Online and more. I have also already added several of the biography selections to Paul's reading schedule from Sonlight next year, as well as a few of the history books to our read-aloud schedule for Paul and Zach for next year.

The Technical Side
Until I had the opportunity to review this marvelous product I never thought about needing an e-reader. Since we didn't have an e-reader we reviewed the epub version of the books. The books worked beautifully using Adobe Reader from my laptop and we used them frequently. There are beautiful pictures, a table of contents and everything is already categorized for you. The books were very easy to download. But, it made me want some type of e-reader. After much research we decided on an iPad 2. No, it's not just an e-reader, it's so much more (and we LOVE it--but that's not what this review is about!) So, we figured out it was so simple to move the books from my laptop to the iPad. Another great feature of this collection is that you have full rights to it, so you can put it on as many devices as you have, and you can print them out as often as you desire! After moving the 225 books to the iPad 2 we have enjoyed these books even more. The kids have really enjoyed reading "Rollo at Work" and "Rollo at Play" as our night time reading. I love the fact that we can turn all the lights out and lay in the bed and read just with the light of the iPad--WOW, it truly is a "techy" world now-a-days when we are reading by the light of a wireless reading device!

Our Thoughts
As you can probably already tell we totally adore this product. I am so excited about the possibilities this product offers us. I am sure we will be using these books for years to come. Paul is excited to read the ones I have placed on his reading list and is even more excited about being able to read them on the iPad (anything that gets the kids excited about reading is ok with me). If one wanted to you could easily take these books and use them for an entire history curriculum. And, since they were originally written and published in the late 1800's and early 1900's they are REAL history, not the watered down, historically inaccurate, but politically correct books you find today. The books are also great works of literature. I have always read to the kids, and often read to them above their level so that they have stretch their minds. All three kids have wonderful vocabularies and even strangers comment on the big words that come out of our kids mouths (in a good way!) I contribute their wide vocabulary to the literature that they have heard since they first came home. It is so difficult to find good books today. We go to the bookstore and have to wade through all the toys and games to just see the books, and then they are books that don't offer any real information. I can not say how excited I am to have all these books at the tip of my fingers. I can't imagine how much it would have cost to purchase all these books, not to mention the space on our already overflowing bookshelves.

A couple of highlights of the titles in this bundle:



To see a complete list of titles in this bundle go here

If you would like to see how other Crew members enjoyed this product go here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free. There was no other compensation given and all opinions are my own.

Greek N Stuff - Bible Material Review

Paul has always loved reading his Bible. I distinctly remember him being barely 3 years old and he would sit and turn the pages of his Bible for 30-40 minutes at a time. It was just words, but he somehow knew they were special words. He slept with his Bible on many occasions. So, it was no surprise when he first learned how to read all he wanted to read was his Bible. He would sound out the words so slowly at first but before I knew it he was reading verse after verse without slowing down. About 2 years ago he took it upon himself to start reading his Bible every morning before we start school. His goal for this year is to read the New Testament through in a year--pretty big goal for a 9 year old to set for himself.

So, when we were asked to review a new Bible Study written by a former homeschooling Mom, Karen Mohs, I was excited for Paul to learn to study his Bible a little more in depth. The Bible study we were asked to review is called "I Can Study 1 Samuel Alone With God". This study takes the book of 1 Samuel and breaks it down into 13 weekly units. Each day of the week (except Sunday) there is a check box to remind the student to Pray and then to recite the weekly memory verse that is given. Then there are 3-4 questions about the passage to be read for that day. Each daily lesson is short and focuses on about 3-4 verses. This study is designed for middle and upper elementary students. Developer, Karen Mohs is also the writer of the Greek-N-Stuff material that many homeschoolers know and love. Who knew they offered Bible materials as well. Currently you can order studies for 1 Samuel, Jonah and Ruth, Esther, and Acts. Each study is $21.95.

Our Thoughts

Many people do not know how to study the Bible. So, I love the idea of teaching kids early how to break apart verses and learn what the Bible is saying to them. This study does a great job of this on a level that is perfect for the middle elementary student (3rd-4th grade). I think a child in the upper elementary age group might get a little bored with the very simple study, but it probably depends on how much Bible they have studied in the past. The memory verses were very nice to have to go along with the study. This is a very solid Bible Study! Also, you can choose if you would like King James Version or New International Version, which we were really appreciative of. It is hard to find good homeschool curriculum that uses the King James Version of the Bible.

There was only one small problem I found with the program, and it might not be a problem for every student, depending on how you use it. Each week takes about 21 verses of 1 Samuel, that group of verses is what all the questions will be pertaining to that week. The questions will come in order. So, as I already, mentioned, there are about 3-4 verses to focus on each day. What I found was that if Paul read all 21 verses everyday he was bored to tears by the time Saturday came along. So, I just had to go through and write down what 3-4 verses I wanted him to read and study that day. It was not a big deal to have to do that, but it would have been really nice for that to have been included in each day's breakdown. Each question does offer a reference as to where it could be found in the Bible. So, the student could just read the verse referenced for each question, but I wanted Paul to read several verses to fully understand the passage.

As always, if you would like to see what other TOS Crew Members have to say, please go here

Be sure and check out Greek-N-Stuff's website for all the amazing material they have to offer!

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.

See the Light Art Class - Review

Paul loves art. He loves to draw and paint and always has. Last spring he took a couple of art classes at our local Cultural Arts Center, he loved them and did so well. Unfortunately the cost of art classes was just not in the budget for this school year. Paul was disappointed but I picked up some art supplies and he has continued to "play" with them on his own and done quite well. So, imagine how excited we were to review See the Light Art Class

We were asked to review Volume One of the Art Class DVD's. Volume 1 covers the first 4 lessons. There are 9 volumes total with 4 lessons on each DVD. In Volume 1 each lesson is about 10 minutes long and covers the basics of art, what tools are needed, contour and composition etc. There is also a brief Bible "lesson" in each lesson. There is no set age for this curriculum but I would think about age 6 would be the youngest I would use this. It would work for younger children with strong fine motor skills. It could be used for kids up to the middle school age if they have not had any or very little art experience in the past.

There are various options for purchasing this program and you can see the options here. There are also many other art lessons you can purchase.

If you would like to view the first three lessons of "Art Class" for free head on over here.

Our Thoughts

Since Paul has had art in the past this was a bit simple for him. Each lesson is very brief and doesn't cover quite enough for his taste. With that said, I think it will be great for Zachary when his fine motor skills are a little stronger. He has not had any art classes and doesn't have the love of art that Paul has so I think this will be a great introductory course for him possibly next year.

To see what other crew members think go here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.

Growing Healthy Homes - Review

Growing up my Dad drove a truck for a food distributor. He delivered to fast food restaurants such as Wendy's and Dairy Queen. When a box of food was damaged and the restaurant wouldn't take it Dad often brought it home to us, since what was inside was still good. This meant we ate lots of chicken nuggets, french fries, hamburgers and all the other stuff that fast food restaurants sale. My parents owned a deep fryer and most of what we ate was fried. My parents really didn't know that all the foods we ate were horrible for us. We didn't know about trans fat, artificial flavors, colors and the like. We ate frozen french fries fried in vegetable oil almost every meal. We even had fries with spaghetti and lasagna.

Fast forward 25 years and my Dad has passed away of heart problems at only 62 years old. My Mom deals is only 58 and suffers with short-term memory loss and lots of other minor health problems. And I am desperately trying to raise my children so they know how to eat the right foods and the right portion sizes. It is all new to me. It was only about two years ago that I started learning about all the problems associated with foods. There is so much information out there I didn't know where to start. I knew my middle son was having some learning difficulties and felt certain something needed to be done, and we did not want to medicate as the doctors suggested. We already watched his sugar intake as well as dyes in foods, but I knew there was more to it than that. A little over a year ago we finally figured out he has a gluten intolerance. Since we have cut out all gluten as well as many other foods laden with dyes and sugars of all types we have seen a huge difference. But I knew there was still more information out there and I was slowly but surely wading through the vast amount of websites and books on the subject of eating healthy. And then I was given the opportunity to review a wonderful resource published by Growing Healthy Homes.

The book is called Nutrition 101: Choose Life

This is a 429 page book chock full of information about how our bodies work and what foods and other products we use daily can do to our bodies. It is a complete science curriculum and so much more! We received a pdf version of the book to review. After reading through much of it on my computer I knew I had to print it out to have it more easily accessible. So, I printed out 429 beautiful, fact-filled pages.

There a 6 different units in the book covering all your major body systems and organs. Each unit is broken down into 4 different chapters. It is enough information that it is going to take us atleast a full year, if not two to read through it all. With each chapter you are given a huge amount of information as well as discussion questions for elementary kids as well as secondary students. You are also given various activities and a recipe to go with each chapter. My kids have loved making and trying the new foods. We made guacamole as a good brain food. You can go here and see my post on guacamole! We also made "Potato Salad with Flaxseed Oil - Hold the Mayo" to show us a good nervous system food. Here you see them cutting up all the different ingredients and then their reactions to the final product. Molly LOVED it and ate two helpings, Paul thought it was "ok", and Zach didn't really care for it. Regardless of their reaction we learned that there are certain foods that are good for certain body systems.

There is so much information in this book. In addition to the units there are appendices full of useful information. Each unit also gives foods that are good and bad for that particular body system. We have taken those lists and created lists for our refrigerator to remind us to eat healthy. At most meals we will look at our lists and compare them to what we are eating. Sometimes the kids will even ask to add a certain food to our meal because we are missing a food that fits into a particular category.

At first the kids complained about Mommy's latest antics to get them to eat healthier. They didn't quite understand why we weren't eating fast food and ordering pizza quite as often. Although we haven't cut it out totally it has been limited. But as we have studied more about the body and what it needs to be healthy and what being healthy means they have started asking more questions and making wiser decisions on what they eat. Now, they still ask for candy and cookies when we go to the grocery store and they still get snacks occasionally from the concession stand at their baseball games, after all they are kids. But they also know they need fruits and veggies at every meal and they know what organic means and how that is better for you. They know what foods we need to eat to keep our brain healthy so we can learn, and they understand why I don't let them eat pancakes with syrup before we start school each day. We made a trip to a new local farmers market last week (I wish I had thought to take the camera) and they were able to talk to several local farmers and gain even more insight in to healthy living. I can not say enough wonderful things about this book/curriculum. It is great for the entire family, no matter what the age. I have skipped parts of the information about the various body systems because it is just too far over their heads. But the information has helped me make more informed decision about what I am feeding my family, and helping me to Grow a Healthy Home! The book can be ordered either on CD or a print version. The CD version is $79.95, hardcover book is $99.95 or you can get both for $129.95. I know it is pricey but I am telling you, it is worth it. Go here to get your copy! Just look at Zachary's grin as he happily eats strawberries and celery for a snack!

If you would like to read about what other crew members thought about this product go here.

Also, you can see a sample of the book here.

To sum things up this book has been such a blessing to me and my family. It has saved me so much time searching on the internet to learn about what foods as well as household cleaning products and personal care products are good and bad for our bodies. I have learned so much and I am so excited to continue using this book for myself and my kiddos to make us all healthier and happier! God sure knows what we need and when we need it.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.

All About Reading -- Review

I have always heard that when you homeschool the younger children will easily pick up on what the older child/children are doing. This has never been the case for Zach, probably due to the 4 year age difference between he and Paul. However, this is very much the case with Molly. She loves to sit with Zach and I while we "do school" and she learns so much just by being there with us. This year she has really, really wanted to have just as much schoolwork as the boys do, and she is no longer happy with paper to just draw on or small puzzles to put together, she wants REAL school. So, when the opportunity came along to review the very first level of the new All About Reading.

Level Pre-1 is designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

The program focuses on the "Big Five Skills"

Letter Knowledge/Recognition

Phonological Awareness

Print Awareness

Listening Comprehension

Motivation

This program is designed and published by the same publishers as "All About Spelling". We have never personally used All About Spelling but I have heard nothing but wonderful things about it and if it is anything like "All About Reading" I may need to take a look at it at the upcoming convention. We were really impressed with All About Reading and Molly was so excited to have her very own books and papers designed just for her.

The complete deluxe package includes everything you see in the picture above and is listed below:

208 page Teachers Manual

The ZigZag Zebra: A Rhyming Alphabet (Hardcover book and on CD)

Lizard Lou: Rhymes Old and New (Hardcover book and on CD)

192 Page Student Alphabet Book (Consumable)

Picture Cards (divided into several activities)

Letter Sound Cards

Divider Cards to keep the picture cards and letter sound cards organized

A box to put the cards in and keep them organized

"Letter Sounds A to Z" CD-Rom

Zig Zag the Zebra Puppet

A tote bag

2 posters, 1 with uppercase letters, 1 with lowercase letters

All of this can be purchased together for $119.95. There is a basic package available also, but that one doesn't include the Zebra and Zig-Zag made reading so much more fun for Molly! You can also purchase the individual items.

The Zebra puppet is so soft and adorable all my kids want to play with it. Molly made sure everyone knew it was HERS! I made sure everyone knew it had to stay with the school stuff. It would have been lost somewhere in their piles of stuffed animals if I had not made that rule. So, it lives on the top of Molly's workboxes and she loves all the rhyming games Zig-Zag plays with her

All About Reading Pre-1 Level is a very gentle approach to teaching your young students pre-reading skills. It starts by teaching the capital letters. There are games and activities to go with each lesson as well as more suggested activities in the back of the book. The student book has one page for each letter. You typically have your child color part of it and then add something else to it, such as paint, constuction paper, etc. Molly really enjoyed doing her papers. Here is her "G" paper. She colored the "G" Gold and then we added "seaweed" to the fish bowl

After learning all of the upper case letters you start working on the lower case letters. The lower case activities are similar to the upper case. There are also worksheets that the child picks out the current letter from several letters all over a page and circles it. (Sorry I totally forgot to take a picture of this type of paper)

Each lesson is a new letter so you can choose to do a new letter each day, which is what we did. Or you can stretch out the letter and do a new letter every couple of days or one each week. It really depends on what your child is ready for. Molly knows most of her letters already but really needed to review them all and make sure she could recognize them. So, this was perfect for her to go through the letters quickly. On the days that I knew she knew the letter we would do two or three letters if she wanted to. The program is very flexible. There are also lots of rhyming activities and other games to increase phonological awareness in the daily lesson plans. Molly loved the rhyming games we played with Zig Zag the Zebra. Zach joined us for most of the game playing and really benefited from it as well.

After your child goes through all the upper and lower case letters you begin to work on the sounds of each letter. Each letter has a "cut and paste" activity as shown below. The student has to pick out the pictures that start with that letter sound. Any time cutting and gluing is involved Molly is very happy!

Our thoughts:

I really enjoyed this program and enjoyed having something for Molly to do to help her get used to "school work". She enjoyed her own special time with Mommy. The curriculum reminds you of how important it is to read to your young children everyday. It is a very gentle approach and honestly wasn't quite enough for Molly. I think it would probably be enough for most children at her age but for her she wants more. I added handwriting sheets and another letter/sound activity each day for her. So, if your child wants/needs more then you will have to add to this program. If you are just looking for a gentle, easy approach for your kiddos then this is the perfect pre-reading curriculum for you. Even if your child needs more it was very easy to add an activity or two or go through the curriculum at a quicker pace. It is so flexible!! It is a very easy, open and go, type of curriculum. The activities are fun, engaging, and they actually teach them the letters and their sounds! It does not require a lot of time in preparation and also takes very little time to teach. I can't wait until Level 1 becomes available. The scheduled release date is the beginning of June.

You can get a couple of ebooks to take a look at for free here.

If you would like to see what other Crew Members thought go here

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review.

Kinderbach - Review

Kinderbach is an online program designed to teach young children the basics of piano. It is a very gentle approach to teaching music. It is created to teach kids aged 2-7. I have a 3 and 5 year old using it and it is perfect for them.

You can purchase online lessons or the DVD's to teach your kids music at home. Prices begin at $7.99/month and go up from there depending on what you want to purchase. You can see all the purchasing options here

Kinderbach is 60 weeks of lessons with 4 lessons per week. Each lesson is pretty short and most have other activities to do off of the computer. There are coloring pages, activities on the piano/keyboard and games to help young learners get ready to learn any instrument. According to their website each child will know the following at the end of all the lessons:

Know all the notes on the piano by location and letter name

Be familiar with the grand staff,

Read some individual notes on staff and all notes by pattern on staff,

Understand and read rhythms from eighth to whole notes,

Have improved listening skills so that he/she can interpret rhythms, intervals and patterns heard.

Play familiar melodies,

Play hands together or separately,

Have a working music vocabulary,

Understand basic composition methods

Kinderbach uses fun characters and great stories to teach all the things listed above. In the first week my 3 and 5 year old knew where the "D" was on any piano/keyboard. "Dodie the Donkey" lives between the two black keys, so the "D" is between the two black keys. The other great characters are teaching them the rest of the notes on the piano. The characters are as follows:

Frisco--the little boy who helps your kids learn about all the characters.

Alan the Alligator

Bob the Bear

Carla the Caterpillar

Edward the Eagle

Felicity the Frog

Gracie the Gorilla.

My animal loving kids have really attached to the characters we have learned so far. They can't get enough of them and are learning the notes of the keyboard while having a blast.

They are also learning what each note looks like and how many beats it has. Frisco is teaching them how to stay in rhythm and count beats. I am very impressed with the program and how well the kids are learning music theory. I feel like it is a great base for them to start with. Paul started piano lessons in the first grade and has done well with them. We were debating if Zach was ready for them or not next year. He is a "young" first grader and not quite ready for formal piano lessons and the practice time that sometimes entails. Now we know we can just continue through Kinderbach and give him a firm foundation in music before we start the formal lessons when he is more ready for them.

Molly has a slight disadvantage when it comes to piano playing (although you could never convince her of that). She has only a partial thumb on her left hand and on her right hand she has three fingers and a thumb and none of them bend and move as they "should". So, when the lessons started numbering fingers I watched her closely to see how she did. She just works with her left hand and doesn't even think about it. She has made a couple of comments about not having 5 fingers on the right hand (something she never noticed before). But she has still learned her notes and their names and is working on a wonderful foundation for whatever instrument she does decide to play. We are thinking the violin may be more suitable to her needs.

Kinderbach has really increased both of the kids desire to learn music and they often want to pick out a "song" on the piano instead of just banging on the keys. Early on in the lessons we made rhythm instruments out of butter containers with beans inside. We have used them as "maracas" as well as "drums" with pencils as drumsticks. The kids love this!

Notice Molly's "I am really trying" face!

Zachary thought it would be so funny to use his "twistable" crayons instead of pencils. Kids crack me up when simple things make them so happy!

To see what other Crew Members have to say about Kinderbach go here.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review

Kabongo Review

Kabongo is a new "online world of brain boosting games for reading". It is designed for 4 to 7 year olds to help them build the skills needed to learn to read.

The games are created to work on the skills kids need to develop good reading skills. These skills include but are not limited to:

Attention and Focus

Working Memory

Successive Processing

Comprehension

Phonics

Spatial Awareness

There are three "habitats" that your child can play in, "Laughter Lake", "Twister Tops" and "Galaxy Gardens". Laughter Lake is free to learn and enjoy and each of the other habitats is only $4.95. In each habitat there are several games with different skill levels. Your child progresses through the skill levels at their own speed and in their own time. A break down of the skills acquired in each game is below:

There are lots of fun characters that help the student along the way with their learning activities.

My kids LOVED this program, they simply could not get enough, and I loved the fact that they were learning without realizing it. It was simple enough that they could do the games on their own, but challenging enough that they did not get bored. They are 3 and 5 and I would say they are the perfect ages for this product. They asked for this daily, sometimes multiple times/day. If I needed a reward for them to motivate them to get something else done Kabongo always did the trick! The game starts in the "treehouse" and then the kids can click on the map to move to the habitats with all the games.

One warning, my kids loved the comic book portion and they wanted to print their creations all the time. So, you may go through a good deal of ink if you allow them to print often. Mine were limited to only one page each per day. That kept them happy without using all our ink!

Each week parents are sent an email for their child and what games they have played that week as well as the skill level they are working on. Or, you can log on to the parent account at any time and view how your child is doing. The site also offers lots of great activity ideas as well as printables for the kids to color.

My two youngest helped me review this product and they could not get enough! They would like to say THANKS to Kabongo for creating an awesome, easy to use, computer game for their age group.

You can see what other crew members had to say about Kabongo here

Disclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. There was no other compensation given for the review