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Review: LearnBop for Families, by LearnBop

6/22/2016

I THINK... We have discovered our new Math Program, created by LearnBop, says mom quietly to herself, as she listens to her boy asking questions and figuring out what he knows and doesn't know in a new math program. As much as he struggles, he ACTIVELY learning... and I think FINALLY a program has been made that is testing my son's mettle and he's learning.. and I couldn't be more pleased.

The math program? LearnBop for Families. My family received a years single subscription..which means my son can use it under his name, and I can use it under my name.

Now I have to admit, my son has a love-hate relationship with LearnBop. He really does. He loves to do it, but he hates that it teaches him differently than he has learned in the past, but ... that VERY DIFFERENCE is what makes it work for him.

"MOM! Why does it teach me this way? Don't they know that I learned it this way?" (and then he proceeds to teach me how he learned it) and in the process proves to me and to LearnBop that he does indeed know his stuff. And then he smiles.. oh my boy he smiles... and it is GOOD. :)

What is LearnBop?
LearnBop for Families is an adaptive online math program offering an annual subscription for up to four students. It gives parents the ability to select the level for each student and monitor their individual progress. You can get a single student version or the family version.

It is a self-paced program that works for Grades 3-8 along with high school Algebra 1, Algebra II, and Geometry.

LearnBop offers warm-ups, in-lesson videos, and practice questions which are called “bops.” Each student has a roadmap that they follow.

This multi-student subscription is available for $199.95 annually or $19.95 monthly. There is also an option for a single student plan for $149.95 annually or $14.95 monthly.

So how does this challenging program push my boy?
Let me walk you through a lesson.
My son sets himself up on my laptop and his tablet. Sometimes MilkyWay (his pet mouse) joins him for a lesson.

My techie kid much prefers using the tablet to do his math figuring rather than "wasting paper". He doesn't understand why I work better using paper and pencil. I figure if he's happy, it's all good though my scrap paper pile definitely isn't shrinking that quickly....

LearnBop works on a system of roadmaps. My son is using grade five. He's completed 2 of 13 roadmaps. For this lesson he's working through Add/Subtract Fractions with Unlike Denominators. When working through a unit, you are first given some warm up questions which introduce questions and concepts that will be covered in the unit. My son is NOT thrilled with his marks in the warm up section but has learned they are only there to get his brain working about the next math area.

Each unit follows the same format. Watch three videos, watch a fourth if you want to, and solve some Bops. Bops are questions about the topic at hand. They are very specific to topic.

The amount of Bops needed varies we have found. At first my lad was distressed by this, thinking the program was lying, until we realized that the end goal of LearnBop for Families was for the students to reach a 90% grade.

This means if you choose not to watch the videos (which counts as part of your grade) then you get to do more questions (more Bops) as a result, so it was a bit of a toss up and meant my son had decisions to make. Most often he chose to watch less videos and do more questions. You can get a higher grade if you watch the optional video as well.

The bops are presented in different ways. The ones I saw always came as word problems, but the solution was answered in different ways. Sometimes as a multiple choice, sometimes as a click and drag, and other times as a write it in.

One thing my lad struggled with in this lesson was the need to not only have the smallest fraction, but the larger fraction that the small fraction would come from. My lad didn't understand as every time he's worked on fractions before the smallest fraction was always correct and anything else was wrong. We eventually decided it was a training tool, another way for students to see that large or small it was the same number (which made sense to us). It's just another way to appreciate how a program makes you think the answer through.

Another training tool is how they handle missed questions. On the occasion that my son either misunderstood the question or filled in an answer in the incorrect order, he would be bumped to the option of restarting the question OR to work through the question one step at a time. This ensures that the student understands all the incremental parts to the question and working through the answer.

Seeing this screen always elicited a YAY!!! from my lad. "Yay, mom! I did it!" along with a smile and then he was off to do his daily reading. :) Tis a good thing to see a lad happy about math.

LearnBop has a few other aspects to it that I wanted to talk to you about.

Learning accomplishments and recent progress. As a mom, I found this helpful, my son was somewhat less than enthused. :) He's just glad to work through and learn different math items (and to show me that he knows them). And this online math tutor did an excellent job of showing him this.

This is something my son and I discovered today and that he really likes. :)   It tells him what is next on the agenda... decimal place. "MOM!!!   I know that!   That will be an easy lesson to do.   Do you think they will show me a different way to do it this time?   Or will they show me the way I already know?"

"I guess we will wait and see eh?"   That's the only response I could make.

When I signed up for this review I did so thinking that I would be working with LearnBop as well.   I wasn't sure how my lad would take to it and was prepared to pick up the slack and do a higher grade math myself, but my lad eagerly dug into this wonderful on-line math program 4 days a week with the exception of a week that he was at day camp and even then he fit in two days!

Needless to say, I haven't spent a lot of time using LearnBop for Families. I could have used my dashboard to work on lessons, but chose not to as it very much became my son's math program as we'll be using it through the rest of the summer.   (or until the 13 units are done). Then if he chooses to, we'll move up to grade six.

So we liked LearnBop for Families, if you want to see what others of the crew thought, click on the link below.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearnBop
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LearnBop @LearnBop

Review: Hey Mama Planner from The Old Schoolhouse

6/2/2016

There's a new planner in town, it's the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 published by The Old Schoolhouse. Can I let you in on a secret? I am SO not a user of a planner... I actually HATE using planners... but you know what I have?

I have a son who IS a planner, who LIKES having things written out... and the thought of having blocks to cross off actually DELIGHTS him.

Guess what I am learning to do?

YUP... use a planner (even though I'm kicking and screaming all the way). :)

Okay... so perhaps I'm not screaming. :) Seriously I'm not.
What I have before me is a coil bound book that opens flat, can be folded back upon itself without damage and with large blocks to write in, and lists. All kinds of ways of doing your planning.. my son is delighted.

The Old Schoolhouse delivers with this Hey Mama Print planner. It has SO much in it that you will find a boon to your planning life. With room for up to five children to plan for it should fit most homeschooling families AND if you need to copy pages to stick them .. do it for those larger families. (I'd just be plopping a manilla folder in as the planner is big enough for that).

So what all do you get.

Three years of calendars.
Monthly calendars starting with July 2016 running through June 2017.
Hey Mama! Letters of encouragement.
Weekly planners
Monthly Goals
Semester Goals
Yearly Goals
Attendance Records (180 check mark boxes where required)
Books read
Curriculum planning sheet
Homeschooling Contact List
Then you get lists for: writing prompts and story starters, list of the presidents, inventions, USA government, USA States and Capitals.
Helps with creating a transcript.
The planner closes with a list for other courses taken.

What Do I Like?

Throughout the book are writings, called "Hey Mama". Longer ones that start each month, shorter ones scattered throughout. Learning opportunities await, such as this one pictured below. I love these learning times, just adds a homey touch.

I find the paper easy to write on, it's a good solid paper. I will be writing in planner in pencil as things are apt to change, and my lad likes pencil and since this planner will predominately be for him it's all good.

What would I like to see done differently?
As a Canadian I would like to see a broader focus to the information pages. I would LOVE to see the stateside specific information be left out and more generic information be put in like.. weights and measurements, notable people in history, maps to world, different types of government and such like. It would provide a broader feel to the planner and would be good information for all people, regardless of where they live, to have on hand.

If you would like to get your own copy of the planner, you can find out more here. Until July 15th, use coupon code CREWCODE which will get you $10 off the print copy! The Digital version is available through Schoolhouse.com with your membership.

With that said, the TOS crew has been busy working through the planner and they have lots of say about it.. Check them out below.

Social Media Links:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosmagazine/
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Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Theoldschoolhouse1

Review: Essential Skills Advantage, Complete Home Learning Suite

5/31/2016

It has been our delight to again review for Essential Skills Advantage. We have had the pleasure of reviewing The Complete Home Learning Suite is an online program designed for students in Grades K-6 to focus on reading, spelling, language arts, geography and science.

My son and I have reviewed Essential Skills Advantage (ESA) before, and always find it a useful program for doing some learning and testing of subjects we often don't really concern ourselves about.

Imagine my delight when I learned that ESA now has geography classes as well AND they have a whole section on Canada!!! My son was much intrigued and spent his entire time with the complete home learning suite in this area.

So just what is Essential Skills Advantage (ESA)?

ESA is a supplementary program for grades K-6 with over 14,000 lessons. It is an online learning opportunity that reinforces skills taught, and helps student discover skills they have yet to possess. In other words.. it's asks questions LOTS of questions, and through those questions children learn what they do and do not know. It's not a bad system, I like it as points out areas that may need more attention paid to them, or in the case of my lad... helps him learn some pivotal facts about Canada. Facts that until now have seemed unimportant to learn.

Science is K-3, Geography grades 4-6, Reading, Language/Grammar and Math are for grades K-6. I have to admit, that my son chose what he wanted to do with this program. He was very focused on "MOM! They have information on Canada!!!" And what does a homeschool parent do when their child is excited about something? They let them run with it. :)

Under Canadian Geography you will find these categories
1. Provinces and Territories
2. Provincial and Territorial Capitals
3. Other Major Cities
4. Bodies of Water
5. Physical Regions
6. Biomes
7. Time Zones
8. Natural Landmarks
9. Human Landmarks

If you want to know what the unit is about, you can press on unit description.

The units move forward as you complete each lesson. I find that you can't really move forward well unless you have answered the question correctly. Two different noises indicate whether you are correct or not. All you need to do is answer the question, and the next in the series will pop up if you are correct. If you answer incorrectly you get one more chance to get it correct and then it moves on to the next question. I appreciate this aspect as it means your student need to think before they blithely check an answer.

My son always liked seeing this screen. It would mean the end of the unit he was currently studying... what student doesn't like to see the end to learning and questions eh? :) He was occasionally disappointed if he got a poorer grade, but I was surprised! Not doing well on one segment proven to be an incentive to do better next time. See? Check out the great improvement!

So.. what do we think of ESA?

Well, I love how easy it is to use.
Login and student identification are easy to manage,
My son could run it without help.
If you need to use a pen/paper it will tell you.
It advances on it own.
One section naturally leads to the next.

What Does my Son think?
"I like that I am learning more about Canada mom".
"It's easy to do and it makes me learn things if I want to do well on it."
"I still don't remember how to spell some of the names though..."

As you know, I have reviewed this program through the TOS crew board, others have also reviewed it, and if you click the image below you can read what others have to say.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skillsadvantage/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkillsAdvantage @SkillsAdvantage
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SkillsAdvantage
Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BuyESA/posts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skillsadvantage
Blog: https://learnwithesa.com/blog/

Math Games with Sunya Publishing, A Review

5/24/2016

"What would you rather do son...play Sunya or do your multiplication pages?" asks an inquiring mom. "Sunya, can we play Sunya mom?"

Sunya Publishing sent me and my son their math game called Sunya - The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Multiplying & Dividing, ages 9+, which my son and I have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks. It's a game he takes along when he visits with Gramma who says "this is a fun game to play".

Sunya Publishing is a company with a desire to help children learn their math facts in a fun, family oriented way. Can you make math sentences using the cards in your hand? Can you help your mom or your sister or brother if they are struggling to make a sentence? Can you tell if someone has made a mistake? Get rid of the cards in your hands first but don't forget to say Sunya!

Sunya® (the "u" pronounced as the "oo" in the word "book") is a word from Sanskrit, the ancient and classical language of India. Our modern number system was invented in India 1,500 years ago. This word means “empty or void of any quantity.”

Family fun and cooperation, with a friendly spirit of competition, while you practice your math facts, this sums up Sunya.

Isn't it a lovely purple colour? The book that I received was filled with instructions about how to play Sunya. I found it best to just kinda dive in. Give each person four cards, make a starter sentence with either multiplication or division, and then see if you can make a new math sentence, taking away the lower cards as you go to add to your take from pile. Help each other out. Once you get used to playing, then reading through the rules to refine your playing methodology works really well. :)

The book I received was mostly done in black and white, but it had a couple of colour pages (just so we could see which we preferred). I have to admit, I thought that the black and white worked just fine, but it was a nice break to have to odd full-colour spread. I can totally see them using the full-colour spread to introduce a new chapter in the book OR as the start to a new method of playing. Just to make certain sections stand out a bit.

We received the Sunya book which teaches you all the rules and methods to play, a number line, a set of number cards, and some riddle/quiz cards for fun. I have to admit, when my lad first met the riddle cards he was unimpressed, thinking the cards were out to get him until he caught on! Then, like many 10-11 year olds that I know that like to pull a good trick, he worked his best to catch me out... every time he won a round "MY TURN MOM!" :)

One of the riddle/information cards talked about a diamond star. My lad wasn't sure if the information was correct so we did a bit of research on it and found out that yes it was! The lad was suitably impressed.

I wanted to show you the difference between the coloured pages and the black and white. I admit the coloured looks good, but the black and white keeps it simple and plain and is MUCH preferred by my lad.

I have to tell you how much Gramma and My son LOVE playing this game together. My son visits gramma every week and normally they play chess, go for a walk, finish schooling and just enjoy spending time together. Chess has currently been replaced with Sunya. Gramma WILL NOT let me take a picture of the two of them playing, so here's one from when the lad and I were playing.

Once we got started playing I found it a very intuitive game to play, you can make it easier or harder depending on which cards you put into play. You can make the zeros so you can only put them in the product but not as a multiplier, and other changes. These changes are mentioned in the book rules, but honestly.. just play the game. As my son likes to say "this is way more fun than doing problems to do my math facts"!

Sunya is game, published by Sunya Publishing, that we will continue to enjoy in this household. It's such a good way to practice math facts and to have fun with each other. One of the things I thought as we played this game was how very easy it would be turn this into a additon/subtraction game as well.. I would just need to mock up the cards for it. My lad thought that a marvellous idea, because then you could play it with anybody and that would be great!

It was VERY helpful to have the dots on the cards, this made it very easy to tell the 6 and 9's apart, and is just another way to engage the brain in learning.

Potentially daunting rules or not, it's a math game and I'm glad we just jumped in with both feet and got wet. We've had so much fun playing Sunya in our household, I think that you will too. Jump in, fine tune it as you go and just have fun. Check out what other reviewers had to say too.

Review: A+ Interactive Math

4/17/2016

Imagine with me if you would, a math program that targets the particular needs in a given students math journey. Enter in A+ Interactive Math with their new Math Mini-Courses, of which we reviewed Elementary Geometry and Elementary and Middle School Division. These math lessons worked well.

Having reviewed A+ Interactive Math a couple of times in the past, i was pretty sure what I could expect with these courses, and expected initial enthusiasm from my son which would quickly wane as he found things about the course that he didn't like.

To my surprise, I didn't run into this at all with the 19 lessons he took in Elementary Geometry. I even received comments of "Mom, this is easy", "Mom, is it time to do my math yet?" Or "Mom, all I have left to do is math right?".

You have to understand something.. math is NOT high on my son's list of priorities AT ALL, so to have positive comments from him or even eagerness to finish his math lessons is simply a delight.

How doesA+ Interactive Math work?

After inputting your students password they are greeted with this page. It took my boy only two reminders to use the Launch button. This would open the mini course in a new window.

The window opens landing on this page with interactive buttons directing the students to their next stop. My son always clicked on the video lessons.

Video lessons brings you to this page, where it is important to click on the file folder which opens up each lesson. It won't open up the next lesson until you close out the previous lesson. At the end of each lesson you need to mark off the box at the top of each lesson saying completed.

The lessons are interactive. Teaching you one basic concept and then having a quiz afterwards. My son was required to do 80% or higher on the lesson. If he did so I considered the material understood, no additional work required. This gave him the incentive to pay attention. Verbal testing later worked well (narrating lesson to me). :)

One of their neat features is the ability to view the lessons as PDF's. I had my lad do this for one lesson. He liked that he could read it himself but found the interactive lessons much quicker to go through and he remembered the information better for the quiz that follows each lesson. (as evidenced by the 75% in lesson three).

If you choose to let your child do the on-line worksheets, they are easy to generate and are listed by topic title as per the lesson page. These same quizzes and tests are also available as PDF's. I was glad to see that option. The answer guides are included. They have done such a great job in making sure that each student can learn in the way best suited for them.

When a lesson is completed this page will be shown, giving the results of the quiz. If you want to you can print off a certificate. My son never chose this option saying "Mom, it's wasting paper, I know I did it". Isn't it nice though to have that option?

These mini courses are great. They close learning gaps in math for students in an interactive way that grabs their attention. My son is much more confident in his geometry skills than he was previously. He did work briefly with the division program as I asked him to do so, but preferred to focus his attention on geometry. He found the division courses as step by step as the geometry one.

We are considering adding these mini courses as he finishes these two.

Advanced Geometry (4th-7th) - 35 lessons
Advanced Fractions (4th-8th) - 26 lessons
Decimal Numbers (3rd-7th) - 20 lessons
Percentages (5th-8th) - 13 lessons

My thoughts are this: if you want to cover the gaps, or just have a short lesson of key concepts, these mini courses are just the ticket. Short enough daily lessons covering the main concepts of any given math subject area with a quiz to reinforce learning.

It certainly worked well with my math-unfriendly lad and i couldn't be more pleased.

Product Details:
Vendor: A+ Interactive Math.
Received: Math MIni-Courses in Elementary Geometry and Elementary/Middle School Division.
Length: Access for one year.
Price: $9.99-$19.99
Grades: 1st-8th
Type: Digital Product

Visit A+Interactive Math on Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APlusTutorSoft
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aplustutorsoft @aplustutorsoft
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aplustutorsoft

Review: Homeschool Copywork

4/12/2016

You know how sometimes you pick up a product for schooling your children and it surprises you at how your children react to it? I recently experienced this lovely phenomenon with my son as we dove full-heartedly into our lifetime membership with Homeschool Copywork.

So just what is the lifetime membership into Homeschool Copywork all about?

It's all about learning to spell, use good punctuation and great vocabulary.    It engages the mind with interesting ideas, captures imaginations and helps children increase their reading and comprehension skills. As children engage in copywork it helps to organize their thoughts as well.

What I see in my lad?    "Mom, Can you print me off another Dragons Verse?"   Asking, not me telling, a boy asking.   I hear "Mom!   Look at this one?   Isn't he interesting?"

This is me is what copywork is.   It's my boy finding something he is interested in, and then finding sentences he can write down about it.   That joy in his eyes as he sees interesting pictures to go along with those writings. I LIKE IT. :)

How does the Program work?

Go toHomeschool Copywork. Find the unit you want to use. You can use it as a stand alone copywork program OR use it to supplement another unit of study.

Download, save to your computer.

Print off the pages that you want.

We focused on the Dragons study. This comes with print and cursive font.

Illustrations can be coloured.

The copywork is generally found at the top of the page, with plenty of lines for writing. My son REALLY liked that. He's done some copywork that had insufficient lines or space, and had to use backs of sheets and he just finds that aggravating because it's too hard to keep it all neat. My lad takes pride in doing the job neatly and despairs of the cursive both his parents employ. :) (neat we are definitely not)

One of the things I like about this program, even though it is not immediately obvious, is how easy it is to find what you are looking for. If you go to the Member Login page, it brings up these good divisions, makes finding what you want so easy. :)

How did we use this?
My son has been learning to write cursive for the past bit.   He's been enjoying learning it but said "Mom, I don't get to practice my capitals enough AND I want real sentences."   Therefore when this review came up I asked him what he thought and he was quite open to it.. Dragons, Armour of God etc.. interesting things for boys. AND it could take the place of learning his cursive. Writing in sentences about things he was interested in.

When I showed him all the different options they had (they have LOTS of options) he immediately asked to do the dragons one.

Everyday he would write out a passage (I would print off five handwriting worksheets the Friday before).   He would pick the one he desired and write it out. When he started out he would pick the shortest piece, then he started picking out the ones where he liked the dragon the best, then he started reading the passages, and picked out the passages that interested him. "Mom, is it true?    Does this passage really say there were dragons in palaces?"     It gave time for discussion. He is learning about different bible translations, and why word choices were made. It was so interesting to me to watch that change in him.

I have to admit, I've become a convert. I've been so skeptical to benefits of copywork, seeing it as busy work only, but here's my lad... DELIGHTING in his handwriting practice. Learning, asking questions, engaging in conversation over dragons and bible translations, being excited about doing this work (when normally he's a boy child who would rather do anything other than school work)... but with his copywork, doing it with no complaints.. Ah now THAT is a goodly thing. :)

Now I have to tell you something about using Homeschool Copywork. If something happens where you have to set it aside for a while, it is so easy to pick it up again..

Homeschool Copywork is so very, very, very easy to work with. I am SO glad that I had a chance to review it and will continue to use it.

When we are finished with Dragons my son wants to do the following.

Product Details:
Received:L ifetime membership
Vendor: Homeschool Copywork
Membership details: I received lifetime membership which differs from the free membership (limited selection), Full membership (one year subscription) $29.95, and Lifetime Membership (which is of course.. for a lifetime). $45.00 :)

Homeschool Copywork Membership Banner - Vertical

Visit Homeschool Copywork on Social Media.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/HomeschoolCopywork
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AmyBlevins @AmyBlevins
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hscopywork
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Review: Logic of English, Essentials 2nd Ed. and Reader Set

3/29/2016

Even though I don't use the Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set by Logic of English the way it is officially meant to be used (at least according to the teacher's manual) it is one of my favourite language arts programs. Sight words, phonics, phonemes, spelling rules, morphemes, games, and fun ways to help struggling readers.. it's great! Let me tell you why.

First off, let me tell you what I received from Logic of English for this review. Introducing the Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set.

All the above and MORE! I also received the Essential Readers. It's a four part PDF download.. teacher's manual, student workbook and two different layouts of the reader that accompanies the lessons. I did add the teachers to the one file so I could more easily distinguish the teacher's manual from the other files.

How did we use it?
We did a little bit of work in the workbook. Not a whole lot of work as my lad IMMEDIATELY started to stress out about it, so I did what I do and I backed off, I know he'll learn the material, we'll just do it differently. :)

The point of Logic of English is to teach children to learn the sounds, and with the sounds, use them as ways to learn how to spell better. THIS is the hook for my lad. At age 10, he is strongly desiring this year to learn how to spell better. So we are learning to spell better and using this is a medium to learn spelling rules and breaking words into parts, which means learning the sounds and so forth.

So what we do is take four cards... spellings rules, phonograms, grammar and morphemes. Each week four cards that we read over and discuss. We'll talk about other words that sound the same, we do a spelling list based on the words written on the cards, we talk about how many words come from Latin and if you understand the BASE of a word, it helps you know how to spell it better If you sound out a word into it's parts and figure out what part you know how to spell.. before you know it you can spell the rest of the word if you understand the basic rules of how the parts fit together.

i cannot say HOW MUCH I love their cards. Love them. They work well for us. Focusing four cards is a lower key approach to helping a lad learn. I can read the book and rework how to do the lessons via question form throughout the week.

I do have to tell you about a part of the program that was a hit. AND I didn't expect it to be. The Essential reader. Drawing pictures, reading poems, making up silly quips, reading lists of words and listening to the sounds, breaking words into parts. This reader worked and I was amazed! Doing the cursive led my son to ask "mom, can you get me more capital letter cursive to do? I don't really understand those ones yet."

I have to tell you this.. it was FUN to see my lad so thoroughly enjoying himself with a language arts program that deals with sounds. He doesn't fight it, he's just simply queries "what am I doing today mom"?

I would now like to point out a couple of helpful products that are included.
This double sided quick reference chart spelling analysis card. A good way for my lad to remember how to work his way through an unknown word. (good for his mom too)

Tile cards for playing games, and quick reference chart. By the by... ziploc bags work wonderfully for storing the different flash cards and game pieces.

double sided, three page unit, with all the rules in one quick reference area.

Imagine playing your way through spelling words. That idea work for you? Works for my lad as well. :) He knows he's practicing sounds (which is hard) but he's learning to spell words... Which ... is good. :) So it works.

Even though I don't really use the Student workbook with my lad, I wanted to take a moment to show you a bit about the teacher's manual. You need one to do the other, and teacher's manual walks you through how to use the student manual AND for those who do things a tad differently, it teaches you how to do that too (if you read around it a little). :) What to say, what to expect, and how things should look after you are done teaching. It's great to have it all broken down for those times when I am unsure myself.

Is it harder perhaps to do things in a way varies from the teacher's manual? In some ways yes, but not really. The set up, the examples, the walk-throughs... even doing it differently, this is one of the finest spelling curricula that I have ever met. I like it!

Product Details:
Received: Homeschool Spelling/Reading Program
Title: Essentials 2nd Edition with the Essential Reader Set.
Vendor: Logic of English
Grade Range: varies, can teach three levels at once
Price: $198 for complete set.

This set contains vol. 1 materials, vol. 2 coming 2017.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLogicOfEnglish/ @LogicOfEnglish
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LogicofEnglish
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/logicofenglish/

Review: Zonderkidz, the Faith Builders Bible

3/26/2016

Imagine a bible the using the popularity of brick building to help cement bible learning? I am going to be talking to you today about the Faith Builders Bible put out by Zonderkidz. This bible is done in the NIVr version.

This NIVr Translation of the Bible is put out by Zonderkidz. When my son received this bible he grinned. He had to just set himself down and just look at it from cover to cover. he allowed me to take a picture and then booted me out of his room so he could look it over without me getting in the way of anything, half hour he came out and said "It's a pretty normal bible mom. They just make it so boys will like it. I like the lego pictures and I like how they used bricks to show the books of the bible."

When I asked him if he wanted to build anything he saw in it, he said "Nah".
"Why not"? I queried.
"They don't tell you how to do it and I don't feel like figuring it out. I can see what it looks like already."
Ah well.. at least I asked him. :)

This bible has become his go to bible for finding verses where he needs to keep his spot open for a while. He still loves the ease of using the bible on my tablet, but this bible he doesn't have to ask to borrow, he can hold the page open if he needs to copy out a verse, and it's all his to use.

I like that he's learning how to use a table of contents to find the bible book he wants. He's figuring out it's good to have hardcover bible as well, rather than just using the bible apps, how useful it is to put in small pieces of paper in as holding spots as you refer back and forth.

Interesting fact: when I asked him of all the bible he uses, which one is his favourite, he said "The Lego Bible". Why? "because it like it mom, it's a nice bible for boys".

Some items of note:
Several full colour pages are scattered through the bible.
Each one has a "Buidling Block Verse" on the bottom.
Bible stories are recreated with lego.
Great bible stories directory in the index.
Small bible dictionary in the index as well.
It's a sturdy bible that should stand up to the wear and tear a child can bestow.
Pages are regular bible quality, good for underlining with pen or pencil, not sure good for highlighting.. but like me, my son uses our tablet bible for such things.

Product Details:
Received: Hardcover Bible
Title: Faith Builders Bible
Vendor: Zonderkidz
Type: Bible, Version NIVr
Price: $24.99

Social Media LInks:
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Review and Giveaway for FishFlix.com

3/23/2016

I recently was given a chance by FishFlix.com to review the movie The Gospel of John:The visual bible. I was so glad I had this opportunity.

About the Movie:
The Gospel of John: the visual bible is the movie I chose to view. This movie is done using the words of the Good News Bible Translation. It runs for approx 180 minutes. The Gospel of John DVD works it's way through Jesus' early ministry through his death on the cross and more. To learn more about the creation of this Christian movie visit Gospel of John at FishFlix.com. This DVD is rated PG-13 and is directed by Philip Saville. It stars Henry Ian Cusick and is narrated by Christopher Plummer.

Who is FishFlix.com?
FishFlix.com was started by a man from Turkey named Dr. Enis Sakirgil. Dr. Sakirgil got involved in the making of Christian movie called Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches. His heart was for helping the western world learn about Christianity in Turkey. Upon immigrating into the USA he started selling this movie, and as one thing tends to lead to another he started selling more and more movies and Voila! FishFlix.com was born. This company sells all sorts of Christian movies to suit a variety of audiences and age ranges. Prices run as low as $5 for solid entertainment.

My Thoughts:
I sat down to watch this with my lad, who is 10 years old. As we were watching it he said "Mom, I've read everything they are saying!" He was so surprised by this. Shows how closely they do indeed follow the gospel story.

So what did I like about it?

The acting was realistic.
It really brought out to me how much the Jewish leadership was against Jesus right from the very start of his ministry.
Given my son's reaction, it made it clear how good this would be to show to people who haven't been exposed to the Gospel of John before.
The narration by Christopher Plummer was clear and easily understood.
Gave my son a chance to see what life would have looked like for Jesus, the dirty feet, the long walks, the noise of the animals etc.

Product Details:
Received: DVD movie
Title: The Gospel of John: Visual Bible DVD
Vendor: FishFlix.com
Price: $6.95
Running Length: 181 minutes
Type: Bible based, book of John

Visit FishFlix.com at the following Social Media outlets

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fishflix
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FishFlix @FishFlix
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ChristianDVD @ChristianDVD
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fishflix/

FishFlix.com is hosting a giveaway. Entry is easy, just join their email list. You can find the subscription form HERE. So what can you win? Check it out.. over $80 worth in movies, you get a 5-Movie prize pack – including War Room, The Ultimate Gift, Superbook: A Great Adventure, My Son, My Savior and Owlegories 2. Would it not be great if you could win? What are you waiting for? :)

Review: EdTechLens - Rainforest Journey

3/15/2016

Delight-filled cries of "WOW...Mom, come see this"! We've been using Rainforest Journey , a fun online science program from EdTechLens as part of our school day. Our focus has been on grade five materials.

EdTechLens is a life science program targeted at the Kindergarten through grade five levels. This is an on-line science program for elementary aged children. Their delight is in creating supplemental programs that are creative and engaging for their students. They want to help students learn as much as they want to help teachers track what their students are doing. When you sign up you will have a teacher page, and each of your students will have their own page.

On the teacher page you will find a host of materials to help you with your students.

On your page you will find such help as managing your class, hands-on activities, course outline, how to teach and the pedogogy of the course.

For my student his start up page looked like the picture below. As you can see five units of study. The primary sources section has a large number of videos (as does the blog) as well as interviews with the various team members. Each unit of study is further broken into chapters and assessments.

You can set up the class so the student can do the course in whatever order they want OR that they have to complete one set before they can move on to the next. As you can see my son mostly does the lessons in order, but occasionally skips ahead. He can easily see which lessons he's completed, and which ones he has yet to do.

Done green check

not done blue line

One of the interesting things about the program is how multi-faceted they have made it. They have audio options. As well as the option of printing off the entire lesson as a PDF. Each lesson has a quick question answer review.

It has so many little options to make it a really handy program.
One of the quirky things my lad commented on...the audio program spoke too slowly and wasn't the same as the written version.

How did my son use it?
I set him up. Had the computer remember his name and password. So all he had to remember was "B" and it filled in the blanks. YEAH for auto remembering. :)

He did one lesson a day, usually right after breakfast, sometimes before depending if it took me longer than usual to come in from doing chores. He would tell me what he learned about and we called it a day. I actually didn't even KNOW there were unit reviews until I did up the pictures for the review because well.. he never told me and I trust him to do his lessons. Has he done them? Haven't the foggiest, but does he know the material? Yes, so to me.. it's all good.

What did my son think?
"I like it."
"It's easy."
"The lessons are short."
"I like the pictures".

What did I think?:
The photography is stellar. It was really neat to see the clear, concise images. My lad particularly enjoyed the animals, and on the odd occasion we'd look up more information up about them.

They had so many photos as part of this science program. It was really good to see them as pictures are so worth a 1000 words. It was an excellent opportunity to good photography of the Rainforest biome. I loved how my boy would say, when I came in, things like "Mom, come see this... isn't this caterpillar funny"?

I particularly like that it's a safe program that has a logical run to it. Each lesson follows a similar format. Each lesson builds on the one before it.

I like that it gives alerts, so a student can see how they did on a quiz

In a nutshell what do I like about Rainforest Journey? My son seemed to enjoy it. He learned a few things (which is the point right?). He has no hesitations about loading it up and doing it, it worked equally well in all browsers and computers. I like the dual formats for doing lessons.. so if you can't do it at home and want to take a lesson on the road.. just print and go. They make it so easy. Great photography along with audio if you don't feel like reading. For how we used it, it is a great program and I'd happily recommend anyone else use it. :) I plan to have my son finish out the journey.

Product Details:
Vendor: EdTechLens
Product: Rainforest Journey
Received: One Year Subscription
For grade levels K, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5
Price: $50 per grade level for one year
Type: Supplemental Digital Science Program.