Tag Archives: homeschool product review

March 14, 2013 · 11:50 pm

TouchMath . . . T.O.S. Review

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For a little over a month now, I have been working with a new (to us) math curriculum with three of our kids. It’s called
TouchMath, and after looking over what would be covered, we chose to review the first grade curriculum.

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This is a downloadable curriculum, and as we received the full first grade, it took some time to download it all, but it was quite worth the time! There are four units, and each one includes the following:

Implementation Guide
6 Module Guides with Instructional Strategies
90 Student Activity Sheets
6 Assessments (one per module)
Real World Connections
Answer Keys
Progress Monitoring
Vocabulary

This curriculum can be purchased by the unit, at the cost of $59.95, or you can get the full year at once for $199.95, a savings of $39.85.

In addition to receiving the download of the full first grade curriculum, the company shipped us a very big box that contained a number of manipulatives. In our box were the following:

TouchNumerals with Base 10, which are available for $99.00
Flip Cards, available for $19.00 per set
TouchMath Tutor First Grade Software, available for $99.00
Student Number Cards, available for $24.00

The Student Number Cards come in a pack of ten sets, and it is suggested that they be laminated and then cut apart. I chose to take a set for each of my children (including my step-son, “The Artist”, who is currently working at a different grade level in math) to an office supply store and get them laminated. The person who did the work at the store suggested that in order to keep the laminate from separating, we break the cards apart at the perforations and THEN laminate them, cutting them apart after that. I am happy with the results of that choice, and it cost exactly the same as if we’d done it the other way. Now they each have a set, and they will be nice and sturdy, and last for a long time. When and if they DO wear out, or are lost (again, these are boys, who often-times do not take really good care to be very organised with their belongings), there are six remaining sets in the package, and if it becomes necessary, I can take them to the office supply store and do the same thing again, although I AM hoping for a laminator of my own soon, along with a binding machine, since a good deal of curriculum we are finding ourselves using these days is downloadable and printable . . . (big hint here, to my husband, LOL!)

The following free resources are available here:

Sample Pages
Pre-K
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Upper Grades
Money Educator Materials
Instructional Guides
Scope & Sequence
Correlations
Pre-Post Tests
Fun and Games
Software Demo
TouchCubes
Calendars and Fun Sheets

The scope and sequence of TouchMath is here, and you may view the
detailed standards and correlations here.

My twins (“Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler”) are actually age 11, but when we adopted them a few years ago at age 8, they could not read, even a little, and over the first few years they have been with us, we really had to prioritize working on behavioral issues before they could manage to focus on academics at all, so even though I could tell that the very beginning of the first grade curriculum would be mostly review for them, we are fairly quickly getting into things they do not have a good handle on yet.

My oldest child, “The Batman” has always had problems with math as a result of his fetal alcohol syndrome, so once the twins were past the very beginning portion of the first unit, I added him in with us.

TouchMath was an entirely new and different concept for us, but makes a lot of sense when working with special needs children, as I do in our home school and our life. My children are extremely hands on, and visual, so it seems to be working for them.

Some examples from the “About TouchMath” section of the website:

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“Using pictorial objects and our trademarked TouchPoints, we teach young children to associate numerals with real values (number quantities).
The three is touched at the beginning, middle and end of the numeral while counting: “One, two, three.”

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“The six begins the use of double TouchPoints (dots with circles). These double TouchPoints should be touched and counted twice whenever they appear. Six is touched and counted from top to bottom: “One-two, three-four, five-six.”

We are just finishing up with Unit A, module 2, a lot of which was review for my boys, but since, as I said previously, we are brand new to the TouchMath system, I really wanted to get them grounded with it before moving on.

The worksheets (15 per module, plus a post test worksheet) are fun for them, and they enjoyed coloring the pictures on each of them after finishing with the instructed work. They ended up wanting to also color in the double touch point circles as well, once we reached the numbers that had them.

With some of the worksheets, there was a suggestion at the end to have the child turn the page over and draw a picture having to do with the number they had worked with on that sheet, and tell me about it. My boys enjoyed doing that, each one either drawing and telling about (for example) their three favorite toy cars, sports cards, or games, or making up a little story about seeing five of something while out and about.

The manipulatives, while not necessary to use this curriculum, are a very nice add-on, especially when one has special needs children to work with. I’ve already told you about the Student Number Cards, and now I’m going to talk about the TouchNumerals with Base 10. From the website:

“This set contains brightly-colored 6” foam numerals, operation symbols, TouchPoints and Base 10 trays. Students place the TouchPoints on the numerals in the correct Touching/Counting Patterns, remove them and practice on the other numerals. As students explore basic computation with the numerals 1–9 and higher using the Base 10 trays and TouchPoints, they begin to make the connection between concrete objects and numerical values. A complete teacher’s manual is included.”

What was included in our set:

Three sets of numerals 0–9
205 TouchPoints
Operation signs
Ten Base-10 trays

There are sample views of things you can do with this set here.

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Here are my boys putting together an addition problem with the Touch Numerals and the Touch Points . . .

These hands on manipulatives are wonderful, although I personally wish they were constructed of something much sturdier than foam, if only so that they would last a lot longer when one has four rough and tumble boys, like I have! 🙂 They are quite nice, though, and good size, at six inches. They make it very easy and fun to spread out and use the floor for learning. We can set out the numerals and put the touch point circles on them to practice touch point counting, we can add the operation signs to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The base ten trays are nice for holding the touch point circles, as well as using them as a hands on visual of grouping in tens.

The Flip Cards are pretty impressive. There are twelve different sets for the full curriculum. They are, as I said above, $19.00 per set, but I find them to be worth it, if you have children who like a hands on approach to learning and they can be fit into your budget. When you get all of the sets, they will cover the following:

Counting Cards 1–120, Addition and Subtraction 0–9 with TouchPoints, Comparing Numbers with Multiple Representations, Addition Fact Families 10–18, Subtraction Fact Families 10–18, Place Value Cards 10–20, Adding and Subtracting 10, Adding and Subtracting 2-Digit Numbers No Regrouping, Place Value Cards 10–60, Measuring Objects Using Objects, Defining Geometric Shapes 2-D and 3-D, & Fractions in Geometric Shapes Halves through Sixths.

At $19.00 per set, they may seem pricey, but they are extremely sturdy, they are large, two-sided cards, and the number of cards varies in each set, ranging from 50 – 100 cards. So far, we’ve gotten into just the first set, which can be used in a variety of ways, such as making a memory game on the floor by laying them all out, or even choosing a set number to lay out, removing some and having the children figure out which number must go either before or after the number showing.

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“The Batman” replacing one of the missing cards after drawing from the deck . . .

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“Mr. Loquacious” putting his card into place . . .

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. . . and finally, “The Puzzler”, taking his turn!

Because of the benefit the flip cards, the Touch Numerals and the Student Number Cards are to my special needs children, I can honestly say that if I had not received them to review, and would be able to fit them into my educational budget, I would purchase them.

The TouchMath Tutor Software is not a NECESSITY, but it is a fun reinforcement game for the kids, which also incorporates some geography. If it fit into my budget, and had not been generously given to me by the company, I would probably purchase it. My children love computer games, and my personal preference when it comes to the purchase of them is to try to get educational games as much as possible.

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Here are all three of the boys learning how the game works while “Mr. Loquacious” is playing . . .

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“The Puzzler” is giving it a try . . .

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. . . and now, “The Batman” gets a turn, too!

I really like this curriculum, and my children seem to be enjoying it a great deal.

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Other crew members reviewed this and other grade levels of TouchMath. To read their opinions, please click on the graphic below.

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March 7, 2013 · 12:34 pm

Lone Star Learning . . . My Review of Their Target Vocabulary Pictures

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My children and I have recently had the opportunity to play and learn with a product from Lone Star Learning. We actually are reviewing TWO of their products, because there was a little mix up in shipping, and the company allowed us to keep the set they originally shipped to us, AND the correct set, which they shipped out as soon as they realized the problem. 🙂

Target-Vocabulary-Pictures

The set I was assigned to review was Target Vocabulary Pictures, MATH Set 1. I received the small cards, which measure 5.5″ x 4.25″, and cost $29.99. They also come in a larger size, which I think would be great in a classroom setting, measuring 11″ x 8.5″, and are available for $34.99. There are 50 – 56 cards in each set of Target Vocabulary Pictures, and they are intended for grades 3 – 8. Set 1, which is what I received, contains the following word list:

acute angle
area
circumference
complementary angles
cone
congruent
cube
cylinder
decimal
decreasing
diagonal
diameter
dividend
divisor
edge
equilateral triangle
even
exponent
exterior
face
greater than
hexagon
horizontal
increasing
interior
intersecting lines
isosceles triangle
less than
line segment
mean
median
mode
numerator/denominator
obtuse angle
octagon
odd
ordered pair
parallel
pattern
pentagon
perimeter
perpendicular
polygon
radius
range
ray
reflection
right angle
rotation
similar
sphere
supplementary angles
symmetry
translation
vertical
X axis
Y axis

These cards are very colorful! each one has the vocabulary word incorporated into a clever picture, designed to help the student remember the meaning of the word.

At first, I wasn’t sure how, exactly, we would best make use of these cards, but I realized pretty quickly that they work for several grade levels or age/ability ranges at the same time. The first thing I did with them was give them to “The Artist” . . .

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. . . who spent part of each day looking at them and copying down the definitions to keep in a notebook.

To be honest, the first time I really looked at the cards, I thought they might be too advanced for my children, but “The Artist” already knew several of them, and was able to memorize many of the ones he had not yet learned. He is still working on about half of them, but that’s OK, as I pointed out before, these really do work for multiple ages.

The set I was originally sent by mistake is the Target Vocabulary Pictures, SCIENCE Set 1, which has 40 cards and measure 5.5″ x 8.5″. They are available for $29.99 as well, and contain the following word/pictures:

blizzard
carnivore
Celsius
condensation
conductor
conglomerate
conifer
deciduous
evaporation
fall
fern
fibrous root
flood
friction
load – fulcrum
gear
gravity
herbivore
igneous
inclined plane
inherited
lever
magnetic
mammal
metamorphic
moss
permeable
precipitation
pulley
reptile
sedimentary
spring
stretch
summer
symmetry
taproot
turn
wedge
wheel
winter

Science-Vocabulary-Pictures

In addition to having “The Artist” write out the definitions of the Target Vocabulary Pictures, MATH set 1, I wanted to include my other three children in using them, so we made up a game. After gathering all the boys together in one room, I had “The Artist” show and read each card, one at a time, to “The Batman”, “Mr. Loquacious”, and “The Puzzler”. THIS was when they began really having a good time!

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Whenever one of the other boys could give a reasonably accurate definition of the card, he got the card to put in his pile. If nobody could get it, then “The Artist” kept it in HIS pile.

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All four of the boys ended up having a really great time (as you can see in the picture below), and discovered that one, they already knew a lot more than they had realized, and two, that they were learning even more, just by playing a little game with the card sets.

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What I like: The cards I received are the perfect size for a home school setting. They are very bright and colorful, which my children liked as well. The words are incorporated into very clever pictures, making it easier for the children to often figure out the meaning, even if they don’t already know it. The cards are sturdy, and I think they will last a long time.

What I wish was different about them: I wish they came in a case for storage. We have ours on the bookshelf, each set has a rubber band around it. I also wish that the paper with all of the definitions on it was made like the cards, instead of being just a piece of paper. I plan to take both definition sheets to an office supply store and get them laminated so that they will last as long as the picture cards.

Bottom line? At first I thought these cards were too pricey, but now, realizing that they can be used with multiple ages, grades and ability levels, I think they are at a good price. I was able to use them with all four of my children, who range from age 11 – 20, and have various special needs which include developmental delays, among other things. Because this product is a supplement, as opposed to a curriculum, there are so very many ways that one could come up with to use them in a child’s education. You could make up games with them, as I did, or have a child write the definitions into a notebook. You could hang them on a wall, you could choose out the specific cards that go with whatever topic the child is currently studying, and add them as reinforcement. I think that if you are able to fit them into your educational budget, they are worth the cost.

Lone Star Learning has the math vocabulary picture cards available in primary, set 1, set 2 & set 3, and the science vocabulary word picture cards available in early grades, K – 2, along with sets 1 – 4.

Crew members reviewed these and other products from Lone Star Learning . . . please go and check out what they had to say!

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March 4, 2013 · 9:58 pm

Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream . . . my review

As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a children’s book from Inspiring The American Dream.

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From the Inspiring the American Dream website : “Abraham’s Journey – A Children’s Book That Celebrates The American Dream. The American dream is in jeopardy. Unless we, as parents, grandparents and educators, teach our children about this unique American ideal, the American dream will be lost forever.”

Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream can be purchased from the website at the cost of $14.99, and if you order right away you can receive a personalized copy, signed by the authors, Robert and Kathleen Basmadjian.

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This book is soft-cover, approximately 30 pages, with quite a bit of it taken up by very nice illustrations. It is written for children ages 7 – 12. At the back of the book is a three page section which is a glossary of terms used in the story, along with short bios of all of the historical people Abraham meets on his journey, and of the authors as well.

When we received the book, my four boys (whose ages range from 11 – 20, all with special needs and some developmental delays) gathered around and we used it as a read aloud, while discussing the events happening in the story.

This story takes place during “The Great Recession”, and is about a boy named Abraham who has just learned that both of his parents have lost their jobs. The story begins shortly before Christmas, and his parents have let Abraham and his sister know that they’ll not be able to buy them any gifts, as there is no money to spend.

In the story, Abraham wants to “save Christmas” for his family, and while texting with his friends on his smart phone, an old man, represented by Abraham Lincoln, pops up on the screen and draws modern-day Abraham into a digital world, taking him along on a journey back and forth through time.

Along the way, Abraham meets a variety of well-known people including Martin Luther King, Norman Rockwell, Amelia Earhart, Mark Zuckerberg, along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Each one of them shows Abraham their version of the American Dream, and along the way, he discovers his own special talent, something that he can use to make the money he wants in order to buy gifts for his family.

After Abraham’s magical journey, he is able to “save Christmas” for his family, and his story inspires his family to do something for others.

I personally was disappointed in the story. My very first thought was that if both parents have lost their jobs, why does their child have a smart phone with service? For me, not only would none of my children even HAVE a smart phone, I would think in a story like this that it would certainly be among the first things to be cut from the budget.

My children and I also discussed how Abraham did not learn through his adventure that presents are not what Christmas is all about. He learned from each character (except for one, who I will get to in a bit) that the American Dream is about money and/or fame. I don’t want my children to believe that.

The very first person he meets on his journey, Martin Luther King, does teach him about HIS dream, the dream of equality for all, no matter what color they are. I did like that.

My final thoughts? This is a well written story book, though as a soft-cover it is bit pricey for my budget, and it is one that espouses a world view that is the opposite of the one we choose for our family. For us, we want our children to learn that the American Dream is not about money or fame, or even home ownership, etc . . . rather, we want them to grow up believing that the American Dream is serving the Lord, being a good friend, being a good family member, and that all of that can happen even if one is poor. I would not purchase this book for MY children, but it would probably work very well for a secular homeschooling family.

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February 26, 2013 · 12:42 pm

My Review of A+Tutorsoft Interactive MATH

We recently had the opportunity to test drive the A+ Interactive MATH from A+ Tutorsoft.

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We decided to use our son “The Artist” as our Guinea Pig test subject. In addition to being the highest functioning of our 4 special needs kids, he was recently assessed and found to be lacking in math skills. We wanted to see if we could help him catch up, so we chose to review grade 3. Given the options of a CD or online curriculum, we decided on the CD due to various internet challenges we’ve had recently. The Premium Edition that we are using is available at A+ Interactive MATH, and the price is $124.99.

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The CD was easy to install and setup in Windows. The CD is not Mac-compatible, but the company reports good results using Parallels to let your Mac run in a Windows environment. The company’s FAQ’s does mention this use is not supported. You do need an internet connection to activate the software, and we recommend you set up a Parent Profile . . . while you can use the program without this profile, you’ll lose some neat security and student tracking features we’ll go over later.

The program comes with a recommended lesson plan, which you can fill in on the computer and print a copy. I found it easier for me to do both . . . use a blank copy of the lesson plan for the day to day, then enter it into the computer later.

The Lesson Plan recommends taking 2 weeks to go through most chapters. We started out at the recommended pace, but our son wasn’t really being challenged at this point. We decided to step up the pace a little. Starting with Chapter 2, we upped the pace to one chapter per week. We just started Chapter 4 (Multiplication) this week, and he seems to be showing signs of reaching his level . . . we’ll be slowing things down to the recommended two-weeks-per-chapter pace fairly soon.

Please be assured, you do not have to do this fine tuning for your child/children. There is a free placement test available at the web site, so you can evaluate your kids and determine where to start. A+ Interactive MATH is available in Grades 1-6, Pre-Algebra and Algebra.

Each Chapter is separated into sub units. Each sub unit has a Curriculum, an Interactive Lesson and Q&A (which lets you print a Certificate of Achievement) and a Worksheet, and there is a Chapter Exam once your student completes each Chapter. Coming soon in the 3rd and 4th Grade curriculum (and already available in the 1st and 2nd Grade CD’s) are Cumulative Reviews which not only include the most recently worked chapter, but one or two of the previous chapters.

The process we’ve worked out is starting the day with a quick review of the Curriculum. Depending on your child, you may just let them read it on-screen and see if they have any questions before starting on the Q&A. Once he’s printed the Q&A Certificate, he starts the Worksheet, a 10-question reinforcement of the lesson. We then grade the Worksheet before moving to the next sub unit.

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The Premium Version we’re using also allows you to track these results by entering the Q&A, Worksheet and Exam results in a Student Tracking area (if you’ve set up a Parent Profile). This not only helps you determine what your child needs, but I imagine would be incredibly useful if you home school in a state that has mandatory reporting.

For this type of math, and taking into account the student involved, we set a pass/fail level of 80%. On the one Worksheet he scored 60%, we pumped the brakes to see what happened. We reviewed the worksheet with “The Artist”, and determined the problem was not the lack of understanding of the subject matter. It was back in Chapter 1, and he was basically blowing through the problems and not checking his work because he wasn’t feeling challenged.

We did allow him to re-do the worksheet, just to make sure he understood the subject matter (he got 100% on the 2nd try). But, in order to help him in his future focus challenges, he was told the original 60% is what was entered into the Student Tracking. This might seem harsh to some, but he hasn’t failed a single Worksheet since we instituted this policy! This is also what made us decide to quicken the pace of the Lesson Plan.

More on the Parent Profile . . . when you’re signed in as the parent, you have access to the Solutions Guides for the Worksheets and Chapter Exams. Plus, you have the option of setting up some security so the student does not have access to these Solution Guides and Tracking. We do not allow our son access to the Solutions Guides or Tracking. However, if your child works better with minimal assistance and can be trusted not to peek, you do have the option to give them access so they can self-manage their progress.

A+ TutorSoft Interactive MATH is available in either CD or online curriculum. While A+ TutorSoft does provide ability for parents to very easily check and track student work, the CD version does not automatically track the student assignment grades. However, the online edition DOES track all assignments completed online in addition to providing option for the parents to print the assignments and have them grade/track using the tools we provide.

The CD version is designed that way so that parents can be more involved in their student’s homeschool MATH journey and can check/track their work using the tools, which include the parent’s solutions manuals and electronic grade book among others. Parents are NOT expected to have the mastery of MATH in order to grade student’s work. A+ TutorSoft provides all of the tools that make it really easy for any parent to check the student’s work and enter them into our program to track and view various reports.

Overall, this program gives “The Artist” the structure he needs for learning math, and allows the Parent/Teacher to set the pace of the course. We intend to continue on with A+ Interactive MATH in the future.

A+ Tutorsoft is currently offering an AWESOME special promotion to you, my wonderful readers . . . through the end of March, you will receive 50% off your order with the coupon code SPOFFER50!

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Sail on over and read what other crew members thought of this and other grades, as well as the online version of the curriculum!

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February 22, 2013 · 6:42 pm

Handwriting Without Tears!

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Many, many years ago, we tried using the curriculum Handwriting Without Tears with our oldest son (The Batman!). Can I just say that it was an absolute disaster at that time? In fact, we had Handwriting with FLOODS of tears, from both our son and myself, lol! This was NOT in any way a problem with the curriculum, in my opinion. He was simply not ready yet, he didn’t (and still does not) have the fine motor control needed for printing, plus, one of the problems he has as a result of his special needs is very bad shakiness in his hands when attempting to print.

When given the opportunity to review both the 3rd grade student workbook

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And the 3rd grade Teacher’s Guide,
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I jumped all over it!

The Handwriting Without Tears 3rd Grade Teacher’s Guide can be purchased for $9.25, and the Handwriting Without Tears 3rd Grade Workbook can be purchased for $8.25, and I believe these are very fair prices for what you are getting.

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Let me say right here that it is working so much better for him now. As you can see in the picture above, his printing is still (and very likely always will be) just terrible. “The Batman” loves to write notes and stories based on books he’s reading, or about his Nintendo DS games, and you can see what they look like in the picture above . . .

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However, THIS is what he is doing in the workbook! This is page 16. We are going quite slowly through the curriculum, because he does need to go at a slow pace.

While the student workbook is not overwhelming at all (maybe 15 or 20 minutes per day), I did find the Teacher’s Guide to be a little bit overwhelming at first, until I realized that a lot of it really is geared to a much younger child, and was not necessary for “The Batman”

There are a good 45 pages of material for the teacher to read before you even get to the actual lesson plans for the student workbook, most of which will be very helpful to the parent of a young child, but were upsetting to my 20 year old developmentally delayed child.

For example, there are activities like the one on page 29, “Stomp Your Feet”, in which you show the child how to stomp his/her feet and wave his/her arms, shout “Na, na, naaaah, na, na, naaah” with you while waving and stomping. You would then have them push and pull their hands, and hug themselves. At the end of the exercise, the child raises the shoulders up, pulls the shoulders back, and lets them down. At this point, the child should be sitting in a more upright position, ready to write.

Throughout the Teacher’s Guide, you’ll find a smiley face icon to visit “A Click Away”, which is a password protected site that is a wonderful resource exclusively for teacher’s guide users. On this site, you’ll see plenty of downloads which are great supplements to handwriting instruction and practice.

On page 23 of the teacher’s guide is a chart giving the scope and sequence of cursive which covers 2nd grade through 5th grade. There are a number of pages giving information from Pre-Instuctional Stages to Instructional Stages, to Posture, Paper & Pencil Grip, the afore-mentioned Stomp Your Feet, to my favorite, The importance of Cursive, which talks about why we should teach cursive in the age of technology.

My son is a lefty, which has always been an issue in writing for him. From page 7 of the Teacher’s Guide, “Our workbooks are lefty friendly. Teaching pages provide models on the left and right so that left-handed children can easily see the model they are copying. Lefties never have to lift their hands or place them in an awkward position to see a model. Children always make their best letter directly beside a model. This design encourages excellent letter practice for both left- and right-handed children.”

My son did, however, copy the models on both provided lines, out of habit, and I can see that his copy on the left is usually better because he can see the example given, whereas when he copies it on the blanks at the far right, he cannot see the model.

I do like the way the curriculum builds in letter groups, giving cursive warm ups for each different concept, such as under and over, up and straight down, up and loop down, and descending loop. These are all movements needed for specific letter groups. The workbook pages goes in the following lower case teaching order:
c, a, d, g
h, t, p
e, l, f,
u, y, i, j
k, r, s
o, w, b, v
m, n
x, z, q

Within each of these groups the letters phase easily from one to the next, allowing the child to see how easily they can form each letter by beginning with the previous one. There are little phrases to help them remember the formation of each letter and/or connection, such as “zip the tent” to remember the bottom of the lower case t should be closed, not spread apart. These things are really helpful to my son.

I especially like that the letters are all very similar to printed letters, but adjusted to cursive.

The student workbook is simple, black and white, and uncluttered, another helpful thing when you have (as I do) a highly distractable child. The lessons are fairly short, meaning “The Batman” is willing to do them, and he can see immediately the difference in how his writing can look.

My son and I really like this curriculum, because it is finally something that he can work within. We will continue to go through the 3rd grade book, and he has expressed a willingness to continue on through the subsequent grades as well, which we believe will help him make a major improvement in his handwriting, and if he can remember to go SLOWLY whenever he is writing something, will help him to have legible writing. He is looking forward to writing letters to close friends we haven’t seen since moving here to New Mexico from Michigan this past summer.

I recommend this curriculum for anyone with a child who needs an easier way to learn cursive, whether they be the normal 3rd grade age, or an adult developmentally delayed child like mine.

disclaimer

I reviewed the third grade Teacher’s Guide and the third grade workbook. Check out other crew reviews on K – 3 teacher’s guides and workbooks, along with both Apple apps and Android apps.

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February 18, 2013 · 6:36 pm

Let’s Learn Some Spanish!

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My boys and I are learning some basic Spanish with a nice little curriculum from Classical Academic Press.

This curriculum is called Song School Spanish, and teaches through the use of (you guessed it!) lots of cute songs and chants, which are included on a CD that is bound into the student book.

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The student book can be purchased at the cost of $24.95.

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The Teacher’s Edition has the complete student workbook with the answers, along with forty pages of extra activities, keyed to each chapter, and can be purchased for $24.95.

Also available is a very nice set of cards called Spanish Amigo Match available for $26.95

All three products can also be purchased in one bundle for $66.95, which I think is a pretty good deal!

This curriculum is written for the kindergarten through third grade level, making it perfect for us, as we are getting our first real exposure to hearing people speak Spanish on a regular basis. Having only this past summer moved across the country to New Mexico, we are now hearing Spanish just about everywhere we go, and had really wanted to incorporate it into out homeschooling, so it was definitely a blessing to receive this opportunity from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!

While this is a very basic introduction to Spanish, I am getting plenty from it as an adult, and I can see my children enjoying the songs, and learning the new words and phrases.

The various chapters are themed, some examples being Greeting Words, Making Friends, Family, Manners, Animals, Numbers, Food, and so on. I like the use of themes tying the words together in each individual chapter.

With four special needs children, I often need to find creative ways to help them learn. This curriculum easily lends itself to doing a lot of the lessons orally, and then helping where needed during the worksheet portions. Another plus when I have highly distractable children, is that the student pages are all printed in black and white. I like that they are not cluttered with a lot of colorful images, making it a bit easier for my boys to focus on what they are actually supposed to be reading. The pictures can be colored by the child at the end of a lesson, if they like. So far, mine have not asked to color, but they are coloring the free Song School Spanish coloring pages that are available in the free Resources section of the Classical Academic Press website. There are coloring pages to go with the many vocabulary words and phrases learned in Song School Spanish, 127 pages worth! There is also a game for practice called Headventureland available on the website.

We very much enjoy the songs, and I have had fun making my children laugh by pretending to “chair dance” to the music. I’m finding that it is absolutely true that music and repetition aids in memorizing new things. When we sing the songs that go along with each different vocabulary word or phrase, we are definitely remembering them. When we go back a few days later and review, we all have an easier time remembering what we’ve learned than if we had just read it on the page. This curriculum gives us multiple opportunities for cementing the new words and phrases into our memories . . .listening to the songs, singing the songs, writing the words, and coloring the free pages from http:www.ClassicalAcademicPress.com.

I have been thinking about adding the CD from the student book to our rotation in the minivan. I think it will help us to memorize the songs even better, hearing them that way, without having the book in front of us to refer too.

All in all, my boys and I have found this to be a fun addition to our education, and I would recommend it to anyone with young children, developmentally delayed older children, or even adults who need to begin at the very beginning . . .like ME!

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November 15, 2012 · 6:59 pm

A New Journey… in Hope of Becoming a Member of The Schoolhouse Review Crew!

This week, I have been reading the November issue of The Home School Magazine, which you can read, for free, at http://www.TOSMagazine.com, or with the free App, found at http://www.TOSApps.com.

I have been a longtime subscriber to this magazine, even before it went totally digital, and at first, I was very disappointed at no longer getting to read it as a print magazine. Although I do still prefer to read magazines in print form, I have come to enjoy the digital edition of this magazine, since I’ve learned how to navigate my way through the issues! 🙂

With 156 pages packed with information, the November issue has a lot to offer, whatever your preferred style of home education. As a very eclectic homeschooling family (we use lapbooking, Charlotte Mason style, unit study and unschooling), I always find articles of worth to my family. In this particular issue, one that really spoke to me right off the bat was the Editorial “It’s Time To Wake Up!”, by Deborah Wueler, Senior Editor, on page 14. I have actually had a very stressful several months, and have been feeling pretty much exactly as the author describes in her editorial. She talks about going through a season when we may feel “the enemy has had the upper hand in the boxing ring and we are down for the count”, which is where I’ve been for a while now. However, the reminder is there, in Deborah’s editorial, that the Lord is still right there, and He defeats the enemy, that He saved me, and continues to be there, if I just will let Him. Just reading this editorial has of course, not solved all of my problems, but it has reminded me that I don’t have to go it alone.

Another article that I thought particularly good for my own family was “Crunching Through The Cracker Crumbs” by Mary West, page 126. This article reminds me why I have in the past, used a list every time I need to clean, but also shows me that I don’t have to do exactly as this author, either. I have four boys, age 11 – 19, and they can help me, too. I do think it will be beneficial to all of us though, to write-up a simple chore list similar to the one in this article, showing what each person does, and when. I think it will make a difference in a lot of ways, and I’m glad I read this article.

There is a Special Feature section on the Amish people in this month’s issue. This section would be wonderful for the family who uses unit studies, or even if you don’t, I recommend it as perhaps an interesting unit study to use as a break from your normal educational routine. With articles such as “Just Plain Interesting: Springboards for Research on the Amish” by Karen Robuck, which gives a lot of information as a standalone article, it also provides a list of books about the Amish, websites about the Amish, and a nice list of unit study activities and questions for all students, from young right on up to and including teens and adults. In the same section, you will find “The Amish: Simplicity and Satisfaction Personified”, by Shannon Swanson. She has written a very informative article that gives just a taste of what a to a Lancaster County working farm might find as part of their time there. She will tell you about the schools there, the food, and even has a recipe for Amish Funnel Cakes that you can make yourself! Follow that up with Liz Lane’s article, “A Day in the life of a Young Amish Mom”, a very interesting interview with Rachel, a mother of five children.I found this to be the most interesting interview! In a lot of ways, Rachel’s life is like that of any other mom, she shops at Costco, I shop at Sam’s Club. I was surprised by that! This article also has two recipes, “Rachel’s Breakfast Muffins”, and Rachel’s Country Brunch Casserole”. They sound yummy! Finish up your unit on the Amish by reading the wonderful short story written by Tricia Goyer called “On an Amish Farm”. This story tells us about a day with Ellie, a 13-year-old Amish girl from Kentucky who is visiting with her aunt and uncle in Berlin, Ohio. On this day, a school field trip of non-Amish children is coming to the farm, and Ellie doesn’t want to go spend the time with them, because three years previously she had been badly hurt by ugly comments made by “English” children about how different she was. During her day hiding away from the school children, Ellie meet Madison, one of the school children, who has also been hurt because of her differences…and well, you’ll have to read the story to discover what each girl learns! 🙂

There is a section about poetry, and why it’s an “extra” that should be put at the top of the list when deciding what to include in your home educational journey… and article by one of my favorite authors, Karen Andreola, called “Old Fashioned Courtesy”, and “365 Ways to Simplify Your Life”, an interview with Patrice Lewis who, with her family, changed their lives completely to live the simple life.

There are articles for the Charlotte Mason home-schooler, the struggling home-schooler, the unit study home-schooler, the classical home-schooler, and even for the veteran home-schooler. Interested in music? Andy Harris, The Tech Homeschooler, will tell you about several free tools for creating and enjoying music.

With Christmas fast approaching, you’ll want to read the section on educating with toys, which includes the articles “Toys That Teach-Playing to Learn” by Lindy Abbot, and “Play Your Way Through Learning”, by Jan May. Follow those up with the “Last Minute Gift Directory”, beginning on page 102, for quite a few great ideas!

There are so many good articles, so much good information in this magazine, it would be impossible to give you all of them in a blog post. I will say that one thing I appreciate about the digital format of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is that the advertisements are linked to the internet. No more marking up my magazine or keeping a pad and pen nearby to write down the websites for products I want to check out, I can just click on the ad and away I go, only to come right back to the page in the magazine I was reading before becoming interested in a product. And speaking of pages, there’s also no more of being in the midst of a great article and suddenly seeing (to finish this article, please go to page 86). All the articles are completely together, no flipping back and forth anymore.

I like Haptoon, by Mike Halpin. It’s a nice little cartoon with a good Biblical message. This month the cartoon is a reminder that while we choose our country’s leaders, God has chosen us, as believers, to be His ambassadors to a lost world. I like having this cartoon in the magazine, it’s a fun little reminder that we need.

The only drawback for me is that my family uses only the KJV Bible, if your family is like mine, you will want to have your Bible along side while you read, as not everyone uses the same version. That way, you can look up any scripture used in the Bible version used by your family.

Over all, I really enjoy The Old School House Magazine, and especially enjoyed this issue. If you are a home educator, I believe you will enjoy it as well.

To read about more home education products, please pop on over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog at http://SchoolhouseReviewCrew.com, where you will be able to browse through a plethora of reviews written by other homeschooling parents who have looked at, and used with their children, a wide variety of curricula, games, and just about anything that can be learned from! Enjoy…and do bring your coffee, tea or something else, because there’s so much on the SchoolhouseReviewCrew site, I think you’ll be there for a while!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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