Here at The Curriculum Choice we are grateful to you, our readers. Today we are sending a special thank you to our top ten referrers for January. We appreciate your support!

Pinterest  – Thank you for pinning our reviews! Did you know you can follow The Curriculum Choice on Pinterest?

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Jimmie’s Collage

Institute for Excellence in Writing

1+1+1=1

Harmony Art Mom

Our Journey Westward

Five Js

Raising Arrows

The Homeschool Classroom

We hope you will spend some time visiting these great sites!

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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

What’s one of the biggest homeschooling questions you are asked or find yourself asking? I’m not talking about the, “Is this enough?” question, rather the, “What should my child know?” It’s so easy to wonder if you’re teaching your children the right information at the right time, especially if you’re not using standard textbooks.

There are solutions to this problem but my favorite comes in one small book. Home Learning Year By Year by Rebecca Rupp. This book has saved my sanity many times. Really, it has. Home Learning Year By Year breaks down exactly what children will be tested for or are learning in most US based public institutions for kindergarten through 12th Grade. One book. So much information!

How I use it:

I’m sure there are many ways you could use this. The book has an overwhelming amount of information. About once a year, during summer break or before the start of our new school term, I make a list of items I want my child to learn for his grade.

I also go back over the information my child should have learned from the previous grade , just to be sure I covered everything I wanted. You’ll find that much of the standards carry over. For instance, in Grade 2 a child is meant to learn how to use a comma when writing a date, address, or when making a list within in a sentence. By Grade 3 your child will expand their knowledge of commas, so don’t panic if you didn’t teach it in Grade 2. Just teach commas in Grade 3 and expand on it more.

The list making process isn’t complex. I read through the chapter for each of my children’s grade levels. I jot down, in a notebook, the things I know they don’t know or that I’m not sure if they’ll be covered formally in any of our curriculum. From there I type that list out and group things together. All math information, for instance, is tucked under a Math heading. I make sure to make a little check mark box next to each item I put on my list. It’s very simple. I also make sure to put the school year, grade level and child’s name on the top of each paper. I also leave some space for putting notes on my pages. I then print the pages out, and tuck the note into my Teacher/Mom notebook for school. As we go along I can tick off boxes when things are taught or learned.

Not everything has to be taught in a formal way. For instance, I’m really great for making the lists and leaving it laying around so I can bring certain topics up, “Do you guys know what an animal home is called?” If they get the right answer, I tick it off my list. Wrong answer? I plug in a Magic School Bus video and pull out a matching book, then I tick it off my list. Explaining terms like biography and autobiography can happen right at the dinner table. Where as teaching children how to alphabetize is better suited on the living room floor with an alphabet puzzle spread before you.

What I love:

I love that this one small book can guide me through my children’s entire school careers. There’s no need to purchase a new book all the time.

I love the price! Seriously, one book that will last me all 13 years of my children’s schooling and it only costs between $10 – $16 depending on where you purchase it. {Amazon.com has it for $10 + shipping & Book Depository has it for $15.97 with free shipping}

I love that Rebecca Rupp has taken the time to type out resources you can use to teach a variety of the things on her list. From main stream math programmes to lesser known picture books. It’s all right there at your finger tips!

I love that the book is small. I know that sounds silly, but really that’s big! I can toss this in my bag and take it with me nearly anywhere during the summer when I’m making my lists. It’s not much bigger than a typical paperback book!

What I don’t like:

I honestly can’t think of much about this book I don’t like. I think, if you live outside of America, you may not find the book as helpful because it is made to pass the US tests at the end of each grade. I can’t consider this a dislike because I knew that going in. I also don’t teach my kids to pass tests, so that’s not a problem for me.

There’s also the factor that while this explains what US children will be learning for history at different years, there’s going to be huge amounts of US history. Again, not something I dislike about this book for a couple of reasons. First off, I knew that going in. Secondly, my children are both American & Australian so it’s important that they know US history. For those of you not interested in learning US history you could simply substitute your country’s history in it’s place.

Bottom Line:

I love Home Learning Year by Year. I love the treasures inside of it. I love the peace of mind it helps me achieve! When asked what book to recommend to new homeschoolers this is one that’s on the top of my list!

Extra:

Rebecca Rupp has also written a book entitled The Homelearning Source Book. This book is a coffee table type book that is just bursting full of resources for teaching your children anything and everything. It’s very simple to use. And on top of the awesome resources, there’s also notes about which resources The Rupp Family used and how they enjoyed them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if it’s still in print as neither Amazon or Book Depository seem to be selling copies of it, all though CBD seems to have copies {they do ship overseas as well.} If you can get your hands on a copy it’s well worth it!

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From the Publishers:
For Instruction in Righteousness is a valuable tool that will help you, in specific ways, to fulfill each of these duties God has given us. Most chapters include each of the following sections:

• What the Bible says will, or should, happen to a person who sins in this way, with ideas for discipline that parallel these Biblical consequences.
• Instructions the Bible gives for repenting of this sin (newly added in this edition!)
• What the Bible likens a person to when he indulges in this sin, and ideas for practical object lessons using these examples.
• How God blesses the person who resists temptations to this sort of sin, with parallel ideas for “rewards” and encouragement when children show progress in overcoming this sin.
• Stories and people in the Bible that illustrate obedience and disobedience in this area.
• Fully quoted memory verses.

How we use it in our home/what we like about this curriculum:

It was in obedience to my mentor, and not confidence in the results, that first day I opened the shiny spiral bound inch-thick Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child Training. My boys were ages two and five. So far, I had focused on disciplining their outward behavior, demanding obedience, “Because Mom Said”.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I was raising children to look good to others in public. However, I spent little time training them to think of what God wanted them to be like. They were tiny, they didn’t know, boys would be boys, they were young, they were. . . well, I was filled with a zillion excuses.

The day I opened For Instruction in Righteousness, our parenting was changed forever. I can’t remember that first topic we looked into but I can imagine it might have been Complaining/Ingratitude. What I do remember was the response.

• As we read Hosea 13:6 and wondered if we were forgetting about God when we complain, or 2 Timothy 3:2 when we talked of being lovers of ourselves which leads to not being thankful.
• When we read the instruction of Philippians 2:14 and learned that we should do all without murmuring or disputing.
• I could physically see the eyes shift from rebellion, to receiving instruction, to a change in awareness. The surprising thing, was that the transformation was almost instant – in my two-year-old son.
• We talked through the “What happens or should happen to the complainer” and came up with a few consequences that would be established in the home to help them remember. We also read through “What Should the Complainer Do?” to give the children ways to overcome. Simple examples, like singing and giving thanks.
• Throughout the week we read stories of those in the Bible that had dealt with complaining and ingratitude, and we emphasized the “Blessings of Gratefulness”.

I was astounded. I didn’t point fingers, raise my voice, threaten discipline, belittle, or heap on guilt and shame. It was just a wonderfully quiet time in the Word. The two-year-old got it – and I was hooked.

For Instructions in Righteousness is available at Doorposts – Bible-based parenting and character training material.

• A Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child-Training
• Author: Pam Forster
• Age: All ages
• Spiral bound, 3rd edition
• ISBN: 9781891206290
• Pages: 376
• Price: $36.00

You may

• View a PDF Sample Chapter: Arguing / Contention and
• View a  PDF Sample: Table Of Contents and Introduction

In summary: We have used this product for eight years, and continue to find it helpful on a regular basis. Join me, Angie Wright, at Petra School as we discuss how we looked at Laziness in the home using this resource.

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The iPad has become a teaching tool. Educational apps abound, with an amazing variety of subjects available. In the geography category, we have Stack the States by Dan Russell-Pinson.

Stack the States is both fun and educational; a game that uses some of the best mobile features – interaction and manipulation. While learning about the 50 states by answering questions about them, this app requires critical thinking skills as well. Your brainpower is tested in your ability to stack your states successfully.

The object of the game is to create a stack of states. You are asked various questions about the 50 states including:

• capitals
• state shapes
• abbreviations
• bordering states
• location on the map
• and even nicknames.

If you choose the correct state, you get to actually pick it up, move it, rotate it and place it wherever you want. Your goal is to carefully create a stack of states that reaches the checkered line.

The laws of gravity and physics apply to the stack of states. You could get three large states that are easily stackable and reach the checkered line right off the bat. Or, perhaps you will get a slew of smaller states that don’t stack easily and fall down, collapsing the tower. They might even bounce off the platform completely!

Because all the states are scaled to size, students begin to recognize the various shapes and sizes of each state as they build configurations by moving, rotating, and placing each state in a stack.

Successfully completing a stack level earns you a random state. While trying to collect all 50 states, you can check your progress on a personalized map of the US. As you earn states, you can unlock the three included bonus games: Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop.

• Pile Up becomes unlocked and playable after earning 10 states. In Pile Up you try to remove all of the states before they pile up to the top of the screen. To remove a state, tap the state shape whose name is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
• Puzzler is the second bonus game in Stack the States and is unlocked after earning 25 states. A selection of state shapes is displayed. You move the state shapes around and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Puzzler teaches the locations of the states relative to each other.
• Capital Drop is the third and last bonus game. In this game you match the states with their capitals. The states and their capitals move along a conveyer toward a drop off. When you see a match, simply tap the capital box and the state shape in any order and they fly away. The game ends when a state falls off the bottom of the screen. Match as many states with their capitals as you can.

You can purchase Stack the States app in the iTunes store for .99 and the app is available in the following platforms:

• iPad
• iPhone
• iPod Touch
• Mac
• Windows
• Windows Phone

Stack the States is a well thought out game that our children have trouble putting down.  I never thought I’d hear myself say, “Put away your geography work and go to bed.”

~Steve keeps busy with five children and a job in information security. He has a second job as principal of the Hodgepodge homeschool and also writes for Habits for a Happy Home and Passionate Purposeful Parenting.

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A Necklace for Jiggsy
Author: Kit Grady
Softback; 18 pages
Suggested Age: 4 – 12
ISBN: 978161630910
Retail: $10.95

I really like this book as it teaches children about honesty and a little about life. It is a quick story with really neat, bright pictures. The story is about a junk yard dog named Jiggsy and a beautiful necklace he finds. He hears that the owner would like it back but he has gained the respect of many others because of his beautiful necklace – therefore he doesn’t want to return it to her. That is, until he looses his very special pillow. He then realizes how much the original owner of the necklace must feel. He promptly returns it to her – and she returns the favor to him. But you’ll have to read the story to find out how.

This book is very well written and beautifully illustrated!

About Kit Grady:

Kit Grady is a full time children’s illustrator and author living in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina with her husband, son and border collie, Panda. Her love for drawing animals, nature and children began very early. She continued her passion studying art at Virginia Commonwealth University and later studied under Caldecott winners Uri Shulevitz and Gale Haley. Kit has produced greeting cards and created a weekly children’s page for the local newspaper. Her clients include The United Methodist Publishing House/Cokesbury, Kaeden Books, Guardian Angel Publishing and Meegenius. She is a member of theSociety of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. When not writing and illustrating, she visits schools and libraries to celebrate the joy of reading. Kit, best known for her bright colors and expressive animals, has several new projects due out this year.

For more information, or to purchase your own copy:
Guardian Angel Publishing
St Louis, Missouri 63128

Click HERE to learn more about Guardian Angel Publishing.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Come visit Dawn over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter…friends are ALWAYS welcome!

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“When I see the monarch butterfly I’m reminded that there is a God…There’s no way a monarch butterfly could happen by random chance.” ~ Jules H. Poirier, Creation Scientist

The Crowe family did yet another spectacular job in giving glory to our Creator with their newest DVD, Your Backyard: Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly. The Crowe children star in and lead us on a learning adventure. Our hosts:

• Taylor, First Born Son, Backyard Scientist
• Samuel, Second Born Son, Monarch Netter
• Grace, Third Born Child, Monarch Spotter

Our impressions of the Monarch DVD include:

Pointing to the Creator: I was struck with the incredible detail of the monarch butterfly, the exquisite design. The beauty of the Creator’s plan. Just one example of His plan is the beautiful image, above, of the milkweed plant. Crowe’s Nest explains that the journey of the monarch coincides with spring and the emergence of milkweed.

“Are you ever simply amazed at God’s goodness? Down to the very last detail. Everything. So beautiful. So purposeful and so orderly.” ~Samuel Crowe

Seeking to learn from experts: What better way to learn than from those who have devoted their life’s work to learning all they can about the monarch butterfly?  Taylor, Samuel and Grace visit with Destiny Phillips who teaches the Crowe children how to find monarch eggs in a field of milkweed and other nectar sources. Ms. Phillips also:

• takes the Crowe children on a field trip to the nature center where she raises hundreds of butterflies.
• shows viewers how to tag monarchs and participate in monarch watch via University of Kansas.
• points out the differences in male and female monarchs.

The Crowe children also include the viewers on a visit with Mr. Poirier – a Creation Scientist, author and musician. From the Crowe’s Nest Media site: “87-year-young Mr. Poirier is such a delight!  With a career that includes designing the radal pulse altimeter used in the Apollo 11 moon missions, Mr. Poirier’s fascination of the monarch’s incredible navigational ability led him to do extensive research, writing several books about the amazing monarch!”

Teaching with beautiful video: the quality of the filming is impressive. We stopped the time lapse of the life cycle several times because we were simply amazed at what we saw! “Would you like to see a magnified view of the butterfly emerging?” ~Samuel Crowe

Music that praises the Father: This is My Father’s World, other hymns and classical music play gently in the background.

Fun Facts: Animated Professor Solomon, the Owl, pops in for a visit throughout the DVD, sharing the wisdom of God’s design plus simply amazing facts about the monarch butterfly. He often uses his ‘Owlvision’ TV screen to teach.

Humor! We enjoyed the clever choice of sound effects throughout. Samuel’s description of his ‘famed’ monarch netting is fun – complete with slow motion.

A homeschool unit study! You can build an entire unit study around the Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly DVD – right in your own backyard! Watch the DVD several times to learn not only the life cycle of the butterfly but migration, all about the milkweed plant, raising butterflies, netting and more.

“God designed the monarch to have four distinct stages of life.” ~ Taylor Crowe

Inspiration: You might even be inspired to raise monarchs. You can learn how in the bonus features of the DVD. You may even wish to create an environment in your own backyard to welcome butterflies. A backyard butterfly haven!

See what all we learned and enjoyed? Just a sampling of what is included:

• Time elapse of caterpillar hatching from egg
• Experts showing how to find monarch eggs and caterpillars – which plants to search and how to look on the underneath of leaves
• How to net and gently hold butterflies. Plus a fun instant replay of Samuel netting a monarch!
• Differences and comparison between butterflies who mimic monarch butterflies
• The complete life cycle of a butterfly
• Tips for tagging with 1, 2, 3 steps

After watching the DVD, my children and I were excited. They asked if we could do a study of the life cycle of the butterfly again. My daughter found paper and pencil and sketched a butterfly right then!

Here are just a few reactions from my children while we enjoyed Your Backyard: DVD

• “Oh my! That’s awesome!” ~ 14-year-old
• “The butterfly’s heart reforms, Mama!” ~ nine-year-old
• “Mama! It turned into a butterfly!” ~ four-year-old
• We decided we’d like Crowe’s Nest Media shirts like the Crowe children wear in the DVD!

We then enjoyed the nearly 45 minutes of bonus features, including:

• How to raise monarchs
• Ordering tags
• Mr. Jules Poirier’s testimony
• Behind the scenes
• About the bottom shelf
• Professor Solomon’s quiz
• Your Backyard Trailer
• This is My Father’s World
• Bloopers

In summary, I am grateful to Crowe’s Nest Media for finding, researching and pointing out how much there is to learn about the monarch butterfly. This God-honoring production left us excited to learn more, smiling at a family enjoying working together and teaching, and thankful to a God who designs the heavens and the earth.

Crowe’s Nest Media is a family venture. The Crowe family created, edited, animated, starred in and produced this DVD. They are offering more exciting details for you!

• Crowe’s Nest Media is offering The Curriculum Choice readers, not only a giveaway of a DVD but a discount code when you order.

• A companion, downloadable, study guide will be released. If you purchase the DVD now, you will receive a discount code for the study guide. (So you can easily enjoy that unit study!) The study guide will include the following: content review, discussion questions, fill- in-the-blank questions, true & false questions, diagrams to label, opportunities to draw, essay questions, copy work selections, copy work pages for various ages, coloring pages, and opportunities for further study. In addition, the study guide will provide note-booking pages for various levels so that children will be able to create a “monarch” keepsake notebook.
• Please visit Crowe’s Nest Media for more details on the monarch DVD and just to simply enjoy their beautiful site!
• Crowe’s Nest Media’s Monarch DVD was selected as a semi-finalist of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.
• This monarch DVD is the second project by Crowe’s Nest media. Their first, Your Backyard: A Young Beginner’s Guide to Identifying 18 Common Feeder Birds by Sight and Sound is also reviewed here on our site.

Special Offer!! You can purchase Your Backyard: The Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch DVD from Crowe’s Nest Media now for $19.95. Crowe’s Nest Media is offering Curriculum Choice readers a coupon code that will entitle you to the FREE DOWNLOAD of the study guide just as soon as it is complete. This coupon code will also give you $1 off your DVD purchase. The below coupon code is good until Friday, February 3rd:

Just use Coupon Code CurriculumChoice at check out.

Please note: I received this DVD and the giveaway copy in exchange for a review. I always give my honest opinion and love to share our family’s experiences when reviewing a product. I also will receive a small affiliate commission if you purchase the DVD using the coupon code listed above.

Won’t you join Taylor, Samuel and Grace on another learning adventure? We did! “Be encouraged by the amazing displays of our Creator…It’s an incredible journey of discovery, all right. And we’re especially glad you are coming along with us.”

Now for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Curriculum Choice is joining in with these great blogs, listed below, in offering a giveaway of Your Backyard DVD. You will want to visit each site and enter for a chance to win a Crowe’s Nest Media Monarch DVD!

• Spell Outloud
• Finding Joy
• Handbook of Nature Study
• Mama’s Learning Corner
• The Traveling Praters
• Get Along Home

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting, frugal living and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.

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My five-year-old son received My 1St Science Kit – The Science of Color from his grandma and grandpa for Christmas.  We were both excited but I had no idea it would be “the” source of motivation for school every single day for a week!

What was so motivating?  The goodies my son found in the box.  Hands down. Giant, plastic test tubes, pipettes, little plastic cups, a mixing tray, a (tiny) magnifying glass, color tints and growing crystals made him feel like a real scientist!

The kit includes enough materials for 10 experiments relating to color.  Most experiments allow your child to observe the effects of mixing primary colors, while a few involve water-absorbing crystals.  All the experiments are very elementary, but we’re talking about using them with children who are under 2nd grade, so they should be elementary.  After so many engaging experiments about color mixing, my son has a very good grasp on primary and secondary colors.

Could I ditch the fun test tubes and do most of the experiments with materials found at home?  Yes.  But, I’m telling you, something about the kit turned my son from a mildly-interested-science-experiment-kid into Eli, Super Scientist Extraordinaire!  Plus, the supplies can be used over and over again as long as you have some extra food coloring on hand.

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Hello, fellow homeschoolers! This is the first review I’ve written for the Curriculum Choice. I’m very excited to share my thoughts about and experience with various curricula and resources with the hope that someone finds them helpful. I thought I’d dive right in with everybody’s favorite subject: spelling!

Like math, spelling as a subject offers a variety of methods — and madness. Also like math, some children are naturally stronger in spelling than others. For some families’ mix of learning styles and levels of compliance (in both children and teacher!), spelling workbooks are the ticket. For others, copywork and dictation fill the bill. And let’s not forget the myriad spelling software programs and other books. Alas, none of those worked in my family. That’s why I’m so thankful a friend introduced us to Spelling Power.

Here’s the daily procedure in a nutshell:

• You and your child sit down together. You administer the quiz on that day’s group of words.
• Each group of words follows a certain phonetic rule (or exceptions to a rule), such as: “/ar/ is usually spelled ar as in jar.”
• You use a specific worksheet (printable at home) and follow a certain protocol in giving the quiz: You say the word, use it in a sentence of your own creation (I enjoy that part!), and say the word again.
• Your child then says the word aloud, writes it the best way she can, and then says the word again, to cue you for the next word on the list.
• At the end of the quiz, you grade it together, with you saying and spelling each word correctly, and your child marking her incorrect words.
• She lists the correct spelling of each word she missed on a list called Words to Learn. She then studies only the words she missed on the 10-Step Study Sheet.
• The next day, you quiz her on the words she missed yesterday before beginning that day’s quiz. Easy peasy.

Of course, there’s much more to it than that, overall:

• Beverly L. Adams-Gordon, the creator of Spelling Power and a home educator, has put much thought and research into this multi-award-winning program.
• When you first begin, you test each child to find out in which level he or she should be placed.
• Each level includes several review tests (given after several daily tests).
• There are delayed recall tests about halfway through the level. Tests again at the end of the level and end of level tests.
• If your child continues to miss words he’s studied previously, Spelling Power provides extra learning activities to strengthen his recall.

Don’t let the “Big Orange Book” scare you, though! Once you delve into the curriculum, Spelling Power is very easy to use:

• Adams-Gordon provides a Quick-Start Guide to get you up and running.
• Although the program is pricier than other spelling curricula, it’s designed to be used from ages eight through adult.
• All the materials you’ll need are included via a CD-ROM and a link to a website with downloadable forms.
• Moreover, Adams- Gordon designed Spelling Power to teach not only spelling, but dictionary skills and proofreading. It really is a complete program.

Spelling Power has been great for my family. My “natural speller” child loves that she has to study only those words she misses on the quizzes, and my less able speller enjoys Spelling Power’s focus on mastery of spelling rules. She’s able to translate that knowledge to her everyday writing. A boon for me and an accomplishment for her.

For more information on Spelling Power, visit the website at www.spellingpower.com.

Ellen stays busy home educating two middle-grade daughters, chasing two corgis, managing the family’s busy household, reading as much as she can, and writing about life at The Bluestocking Belle.

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Until the 2011 school year started both of my boys had been doing five days worth of living math lessons. I loved our time with it. This year, however, I decided to put them into Teaching Textbooks.

One of the things I used during our lovely Living Math Lessons was a programme called Times Alive! I found it rather by mistake while doing my daily blog hopping. Before I knew it I’d stumbled upon the City Creek Press website and was in total awe of their multiplication programme.

I confess, that despite my child being officially in third grade at the time and having an amazing grasp on a variety of math subjects from simple to complex I hadn’t branched out with multiplication yet. No, rather I’d been teaching him “groups of” with a fun game we’d been playing. After a quick chat with my husband about what funds were left in our homeschool budget I purchased Times Alive! and never looked back.

Times Alive! is not entirely unique as I know there’s another song and story programme out there for children to learn their multiplication facts.

How I use it:

• We chose the download instead of the cd version of this progamme {remember we live overseas so downloads often win out for us!}. Each day I’d load up the programme. My son would happily listen to the story and song and then do a quick and simple application test proving he understood and fully grasped what he’d learned.

• The programme starts with 2’s and skips 1’s and 0’s. Not a huge deal for us because I’d all ready taught him his 0’s, 1’s, 2’s, 10’s, 11’s, and we were working on our 5’s.
• There aren’t stories for the 2 family. Rather there’s a teddy bear who comes on and shows that by counting by 2’s you can easily find the answer to any problem you need. Simple.
• There are stories for all your 3 facts, 4 facts, 6 facts, and 8 facts. For the 9 facts there are clues on how to get the answer quickly. These clues are as great as the stories. I can always hear my kids working out 9 facts if they’d forgotten the answer! Again, none for the 5’s, 10’s, or 11’s. Wasn’t an issue for us, and I really believe that it shouldn’t be an issue for anyone.
• We loved some of the stories and were constantly amazed at the ability of the author to come up with some great little rhymes that permitted the children to remember exactly what the stories were. If my son now says, “Mom, I forgot what 8×8 is..” I’ll shout out, “STICKS FOR free!”

The story for this particular math problem is that two snowman {shaped like 8’s} go walking on a cold winter night. They get really cold when they stumble upon a sign that tells them they can have all the sticks in the pile for free. Super simple.

After my son learned all the fact families I discovered City Creek Press also sells a learning pack to compliment Times Alive! Included are flash cards with picture clues, posters to color in and a few other simple goodies. It was offered inexpensively as a download. We all worked together coloring in the posters for my son’s math notebook. I laminated all the flash cards and we go through them {little brother too} each morning before we get going with any of our other school stuff.

What I love:

• My son asked to do this programme! If a day passed and he didn’t get a turn with it he’d complain! Yep, and if his little brother was set up with another task at the time and missed out on the video or song there were tears and I’d have to replay it!
• The stories were, for the most part, catchy.
• For my visual learner, the color programme and the add-ons {mentioned below} allowed him to add more color and hands on learning.
• I could play it on my Mac!

• There are posters and flashcards with the picture clues on them that can be downloaded from the website!  This allows us to practice what we learned in an easy to remember way! Not only that, there were some heated discussions over who was going to color which posters. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit I was part of those chats with my boys.

What I don’t like:

• I confess there were a couple of stories that left me scratching my head. My son disagrees with me on this and since the programme was for him that’s what matters most, right?
• You have a limited time to download your programme. That always scares me when companies do that but I think if you go in knowing that you’ll have no issues!

Bottom Line:

My kids love this programme and have learned their multiplication facts with ease. I feel eternally grateful to the people over at City Creek Press for that! I wish their addition programme was also in video/song format.

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To be honest, when I was approached about writing a review for K5 Learning, I was going to pass. We just haven’t liked any online sites that we have tried. I decided it was only fair to give it a quick look before saying no, and my five-year-old was immediately drawn into the site. I responded to the request with a yes.

We started with the recommended learning assessment, to see where my son scored on grade level, so the program could correctly place him to start the program. The assessment has a variety of levels given within it. Some answers will be too easy, others too hard. This is the only way the program can know where your child is in his learning.  However, I wish there was a button for parents to choose “does not apply”, as my son correctly answered some questions he had no clue about, just by chance.  Once the assessment is over, the parent can log in to see where your child was placed. Evan scored 1st grade, and he is in Kindergarten. (I thought he was reading above K!) After the program knows where your child’s skill level is, you are ready to learn.

The layout is attractive and inviting. Evan has really enjoyed learning his lessons with this program. I wanted to share with you a few examples of the curriculum in action, to give a better idea of what a lesson looks like.

The pros:

These lessons aren’t full of games and a little education, your child will really learn:

• phonetic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
• numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis.
• basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. (with monitored progress for mastery)
• spelling-you can even assign your own word lists.

Other positives:

• works for special needs learners.
• parents have access to learning reports to track progress.
• the lessons adjust to your child’s individual learning automatically.

{my favorite part of the lesson}

• Each lesson also has a preview of sorts that explains what you are about to learn and how to answer. I really like that about the program.

{this math lesson was challenging, but enjoyable}

{we apparently needed this, as Evan asked if dragons were real!}

The con:

This online curriculum has some great positives and I am glad we were invited to try it. I do have one negative to give, however:

When we went to work on the math facts for mastery, we found they are timed drills. Drills makes sense for older children – but Evan is five, with little keyboard skills. He never could get fast enough to pass, even though he answered all of the questions correctly.

As you can see, 0 were answered quickly enough, but all were correct. It had nothing to do with knowing the facts. I do wish the curriculum had thought of smaller children with little hands and no knowledge of why the numbers don’t go in order on mommy’s computer pad. Evan couldn’t understand why he didn’t pass when he knew all of the answers.

The rest of this site is great, so we will likely just be skipping this section unless that aspect is changed. Overall, it is a great program with true learning as the star. It is just fun enough to keep Evan from feeling overwhelmed, but this isn’t busy work. I would definitely recommend this if you have any interest in computer learning.

Purchase info:

• After the trial ends, the monthly subscription for one child is $25 or you can purchase one year for one child for $199.  K5 Learning has a free 14 day trial that doesn’t require your credit card to begin. (I love that.)
• I would recommend giving the free 14 day trial a try. Evan has really enjoyed this in the few weeks he has been using it. If we had the extra $25 in our budget, I would continue on when our subscription expires. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy K5 Learning this much. It has been a great addition to our day.

Sam's Noggin

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As we find ourselves cooped up more often during the winter, we (unfortunately) tend to watch a bit more TV.  I’ve tried to make sure at least some of what we watch is super-productive and the Just the Facts: Understanding Government DVD set fits the bill.

Each of  the three DVDs takes a detailed look at one of the three branches of the United States government system – The Executive Branch, The Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch.  Running approximately 50 minutes each, I can best describe the format to be much like you might find on the History Channel.  A narrator talks as some photos or footage is shown, while expert interviews pop in to explain more or offer commentary.

The content of the programs is easily understandable for children 5th grade and older, but is quite suitable for adults, too.  Undoubtedly, some children will find the DVDs to be boring simply because they are documentary-like rather than cartoon-like.  However, the information presented is extremely valuable and worthwhile.

Each DVD sets out to give a bit of history about why the Founding Fathers chose to create such a government as ours and how each entity is supposed to uphold the Constitution and protect our rights.  The duties, obligations and limitations of each branch are covered in-depth, as well as such things as where they meet, who helps them in their duties and how individuals are chosen for various positions.  After watching the entire set, my children have a very solid understanding of each branch of government!

As the teacher, I like the extras as much as the programs.  Each DVD offers a Teacher’s Guide and Bonus Material which turn the TV time into way more than just vegging out.

The Teacher’s Guides – which can be viewed from the menu on your TV or inserted into your computer and printed out as a PDF file – offer:

• Learning Objectives – the things your child should know and be able to discuss by the end of the program, and can also be used as test questions if you desire.
• Vocabulary Lists – important terms and definitions.
• Web Resources -  just a few pertinent websites for further study.
• Expert Bios – a bit more about the experts who have been interviewed during the programs.

The Bonus Material includes:

• Another brief, but informative video tied to each DVDs theme.  For instance, the bonus track on the Executive Branch DVD is on the topic of the Presidents of the United States.  A brief biography, some trivia and pictures or photos of each president are covered.
• An on-screen multiple-choice quiz based on the material from the program.  One question at a time is placed on the screen along with multiple choice answers.  A narrator reads each question and possible answer to your child, then a check mark comes on the screen to show the correct answer.  I wish the check mark allowed for a little more thinking time, but you can easily pause the DVD if you like.

Besides some of the text being a little jiggly on my o-l-d TV, I thought the quality of the DVDs was very professional.  They have been a wonderful help as my children have been part of government classes at co-op this year.

*Through 2/29/12, The Cerebellum Corporation is offering you 30% off any of their Social Studies or Standard Deviant DVDs using the coupon code HOME30 upon checkout!  (The DVDs are already 20% off and your coupon code will take an additional amount off to give you a total of 30% off the regular price.)

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Saturday morning. Big stack of hot pancakes on your plate. You pour maple syrup and pick up your fork. Ever wonder how that maple syrup is made? We did! And we learned the process from the Moore family on their newest DVD.

This charming DVD, More Than Making Maple Syrup, is produced by the Moore family. The Moores are a Christian, homeschooling family of twelve from the hills of Virginia. All family members play a role in the DVD – either in production or starring in the film. More than Making Maple Syrup is a delight. Beautiful Virginia mountain scenery, a family enjoying working together and one star of a two-year-old making pancakes – all on his own!
The DVD features how to make maple syrup in 7 simple steps:

1. Selecting your trees
2. Choosing and cleaning your equipment
3. Tapping the trees
4. Collecting the sap
5. Making the syrup
6. Removing the taps from your trees
7. Enjoying your syrup

Plus we learned:

• The types of maple trees.
• How many taps you can place on a certain size of maple tree.
• What time of year maple syrup can be harvested, the best temperatures for sap collection.
• The boiling and canning process

and enjoyed:

• Cuteness. “My favorite was when the two-year-old made pancakes!” ~ my nine-year-old
• Original music by Nathan Clark George
• Children honoring their parents with “yes, sir” and “yes, ma’am”

All shared giving God the glory. Quoted at the end of the video: Psalm 128 says, God blesses everyone who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Bonus material includes:

• Making maple syrup “news” episode
• behind the scenes and bloopers
• a printable pancake recipe

Enjoy this trailer from Moore Family Films…

More Than Making Maple Syrup from Moore Family Films on Vimeo.

“Whether you want to learn how to make maple syrup, or you just want to enjoy some wholesome laughter as a family of 12 unites to accomplish a job together, we invite you to join the Moore Family in one of their favorite harvests of the year… tapping Maple trees and making Maple syrup!”

More than Making Maple Syrup is available now for $15.95 on DVD from the Moore family, just in time for tapping season in February. Visit their site, Moore Family Films.

Making maple syrup is… “pretty simple! Whether you go out and tap your own trees and make your own or just have a new appreciation for the syrup… Until next time we hope you and your family get out there and enjoy God’s wonderful creation in your neck of the woods!”

Special thanks to Crowe’s Nest Media for introducing us to the Moore family. Kellie Crowe says, “Not only will your family learn how to make maple syrup, they’ll learn how to better love one another, simply by watching the precious interaction of this encouraging family.  We’re always encouraged by every production of Moore Family Films!”

We sure enjoyed this seasonal study of maple trees, tapping, making maple syrup and more! Truly this DVD is more than Making Maple Syrup. It’s a unit study by itself or a jumping off place for further study.

Now for the giveaway! The Moore family is offering one DVD copy of More Than Making Maple Syrup, available HERE, to The Curriculum Choice readers. The rules are as follows:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting, frugal living and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.

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A Wise Woman Builds
Author: Meredith Curtis
Format: ebook
Pages: 365
Cost: $30.00

A Wise Woman Builds by Meredith Curtis is a massive Bible Study tool weighing in at 365 pages. Yes, you read that correctly…3.6.5. pages. WOW! This puppy covers IT ALL – at least when it comes to growing the house of God. Unlike most studies with this title, this study is about growing to enable building the church, not so much the home.

Here is a quote directly from Meredith’s site that describes this study better than I ever could:

Proverbs 14:1 tells us that wise women build and foolish women tear down. The passion of my heart is to build my family, my home, my local church and the Kingdom of God! I long to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Great Commission, making disciples and teaching them EVERYTHING Jesus commanded! All 25 lessons talk about the process of building others up for the glory of God. We look at Jesus model of making disciples, wisdom, spiritual gifts, motherhood, hospitality, leading a Bible study, counseling, and passing the baton! This workbook takes you to the Scripture passages that set the direction of my life, mothering, worship leading and homeschooling. I live my live by these principles and stand firmly behind them with all of my heart! Prepare to be challenged by this Bible study to go deeper and live passionately for the purposes of God!

This study is not for the faint of heart and will not be “a quick read”. If you try to sit down and “flip through it” you will totally miss the point. (Ask me how I know. LOL) This study is meant to cover all aspects of the life of a Christian woman as she relates to the building of the Church – and that is a lot (hence the whopping 365 pages!).

Personally, I cannot read nor do a Bible study while looking at the computer – so I had my copy printed. Check it out!

To show you the actual size, I placed a normal roll of tape next to the binder:

YOWZA! Threatening? Probably. Worth it? Yep!

This study walks you through topics like:

• The Great Commission
• A Servant’s Building Tools
• Speaking Truth in Love with Wisdom
• Evangelistic Lifestyle

The entire study uses a lot of scripture as the base, which I love. After the scripture study portion of each lesson, the author gives her particular thoughts on what was just studied. There are several pages of both scripture study and opinion for each lesson.

So far, in my study of A Wise Woman Builds, these are some of the things that stuck out to me:

The unique thing about the Body of Christ is that those being repaired are also repairing. It is as if Mrs. Hammer drives Miss Nail into Mr. Wall who then later cleans Mrs. Hammer with paint remover spilled on her by Mr. and Mrs. Paint while they were redecorating the Bedroom family. (pg. 23)

A Titus 2 woman exudes reverence for God that permeates every aspect of her life: marriage, ministry, mothering, job, physical appearance, and conversation. Everyone in her life knows that she loves and obeys God. She is modest in her dress, respectful of her husband, diligent in her job, and faithful in her ministry. (pg. 57)

God’s Kingdom is an upside-down kingdom with those who rule and lead, bending low and serving more than anyone else. Serving is never something that you do to get to a higher place. A higher place in Jesus is marked always by greater servitude. It’s the only Kingdom where you will hear: “The Pastor is taking out the trash!” “The worship leader is cleaning the toilet!” (pg. 69) 

As you can see, there is plenty of humor mixed in too.

You can view the Table of Contents along with a sample chapter: The Great Commission.

If you would like more information on where to purchase a copy of your own, click HERE.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Come visit Dawn over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter…friends are ALWAYS welcome!

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Draw Write Now handwriting and art program helped my daughter develop her printing skills and have fun while doing it! The series consists of eight books, each with a different theme and all written at the same level. You can start with any of the eight books. I took my daughter to the nearby children’s book store and she chose Book 1 – On the Farm, Kids, Critters. It was full of her favorite animals to draw!

When we opened the book together, we saw that each lesson included a shape or animal to draw and a short story to copy. Each story included facts about the animal or shape, such as “Rabbits eat plants” or “Ducks have webbed feet.” My second grader enjoyed copying down these new facts, and of course, drawing her new animal!

My daughter’s favorites were the sheep and penguin.

Benefits:

• This program is built on success! Each animal or shape is explained in step-by-step drawings.
• Explanations are very easy to follow.
• While drawing, my daughter was developing her fine motor skills! We placed special drawings into frames and, of course, posted on the frig!
• Draw,Write Now was a good fit for my daughter because she knew how to form each letter but needed a lot of practice in her printing.
• Drawing also helped my daughter practice following a sequence – which improved her reading skills!

Skill building: As we worked through three of these books, my daughter developed better control of her pencil. Then while copying the sentences, she began to think up her own stories! Soon she was writing down these stories and illustrating them. The following year, she wrote a story about a toucan and illustrated it for a story contest.

• Draw Write Now is aimed at the first or second grade level.
• Although we chose from the animal books, Draw Write Now also offers a number of science and social studies topics.
• Each of the eight books has 64 pages and is non-consumable.
• Draw, Write, Now also offers lined paper, books to draw in, pencil grips and grasp positioning guides and more on their site.

Below are the eight Draw, Write Now titles:

• Book 1  On Farm, Kids, Critters
• Book 2 Columbus, Autumn Harvest, Weather
• Book 3 North America, Native Americans, Pilgrims
• Book 4 Polar Regions, Arctic, Antarctic
• Book 5 U.S, From Sea to Sea
• Book 6 Animal Habitats, Land, Ponds, Ocean
• Book 7 Animals of the World, Part 1, Tropical
• Book 8 Animals, part 2, Savannas, Grasslands

In summary, I would recommend Draw, Write, Now to families with young children who know how to form letters – and want to improve printing skills in a fun and creative way!

For more information, please visit the Draw Write Now site. You might also like Shannon’s review of Draw, Write, Now.

~Written by Betsy, a veteran homeschooler who likes unit studies and offers Homeschool Consulting, as a volunteer, to new and experienced families. She can be reached on her Facebook, at Jane Sproger. 

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You know how, in secret societies, people recognize each other by a sign, a gesture, or a word?  Well, that’s how I used to feel about Geography Songs.

You’d just have to start, “North A-MER-i-ca,” and any homeschooler nearby would join in, “South A-MER-i-ca!”  That’s how we could tell who homeschooled.

I haven’t heard much about this CD lately, and that’s a pity because it’s one of the catchiest ways to learn basic geography facts. In over thirty songs with accompanying outline maps, Kathy Troxel teaches names and locations of countries of the world, as well as oceans, planets, and states of the US. Some songs are just listings of names. Others also tell about the culture of an area.

The music is light, cheerful and catchy, occasionally even tying in with the culture of the countries in the song.  It remains pleasant even after hearing it hundreds of times…and that is important.

My children begged to listen to it. If children color the map while they are listening (mine don’t like coloring), they will learn the locations even more quickly.  In any case, this is a great basis for any geography study.

Our version is old but the CD has been newly updated and includes a large world map as well.

Listen to samples and buy at Audio Memory or download individual songs from Amazon.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

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This wonderful family devotional guide by Clay Clarkson teaches character in five lessons a week for 24 weeks.

The layout is simple – each day your family follows the “ARTS” system to learn that particular trait:

Ask A Question

Read The Bible

Talk About It and

Speak To God

Each weekly character quality also has a commentary, definition and a modern day application. Your family will also memorize a Scripture weekly with three different translations given right in the book for you to choose from: NIV, NASB and NKJV.

Something we have just discovered in our homeschool is that our children listen better and retain more, when they are coloring or drawing while listening to me read to them. This updated devotional also has coloring pages in the back, which you may copy for your family’s use.

This was written for family devotional time, led by the father but would also be perfect for homeschool Bible time. We do a morning and evening Bible time, one during school first thing in the morning and then one in the evening with dad.

Mr. Clarkson encourages you and your family to make any changes needed to make the devotional fit you and your needs: switch a Scripture, choose a different question, make the lesson work for you. The most important thing is to be in the Bible. Teach your children to love the Bible – and that you love it too.

I can’t believe I have gone so long without finding this fabulous devotional! It is really what we had been looking for. A curriculum that is not full of someone else’s opinion but one that keeps you searching in God’s word while  giving you the tools to succeed in the most important area we can teach our children.

The only other resource you will need is a Bible for each family member. Plus a desire to grow closer to God yourself and as a family.

You can purchase your own copy of Our 24 Family Ways, at the Whole Heart Ministries website for $15.95 By following this link, you can also see each of the 24 Family Ways that you will be learning.

This is a must-have tool for any Christian home. I don’t have any cons for you. I am so happy to have found it!

I was given a copy of this devotional for review purposes. All opinions are my own. 

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Some are already dressed for the day. Two at the kitchen table lean over cereal bowls. I carefully place the laptop on the counter, away from anything that could spill and out of reach of little hands.

I click over to Daily Audio Bible for Kids. This resource we first learned about from Ann Voskamp’s Everyday Learning Links: How to Feed a Brain Every Day. I find the online recording for today and announce I’m about to click it. I turn the laptop towards the table and turn the volume up as far as it goes.

China or Max read to us a passage from the Bible. Children themselves, reading to my children. I turn and quietly begin to unload the dishwasher, trying not to clang dishes so everyone can hear.

That’s the picture of the Daily Audio Bible listening from our house. On a regular sort of morning. The movie at top, DAB in 2 minutes, explains the how and the why of this resource. Even how easy it is to listen to podcasts wherever you are. You don’t have to be unloading the dishwasher. We’ve even clicked over to listen during lunch or right before bedtime.

But this year it is even easier. Not only is the Daily Audio Bible is a free podcast available online, it is also available for:

• iPhone or iPad in the iTunes store for .99
• Android in the Android Marketplace for .99

You can get the new app by searching for DAILY AUDIO BIBLE at iTunes or in the Android Marketplace. Or click over for more details on the Daily Audio Bible site.

We can listen to it in the car. We click it on my phone while we wait for sister during her piano lesson. We can turn it on while we do an art project.

Generally, we listen together to the Daily Audio Bible for Kids. But there are many versions available to fit every need. And now it’s even easier to read or listen to the Bible in a year.

Wherever we are. Whenever.

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting, frugal living and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.

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Grammar Made Easy

Grammar Made Easy: Writing a Step Above
Author: Connie Schenkelberg
Format: Print and ebook
Pages: 117
Cost: $25 (ebook) or $29 (print)

We are on our third year homeschooling and my son is in 9th grade. Prior to homeschooling, he was public schooled and always got A’s and B’s on his report cards. Imagine my surprise to find that somehow his basic understanding of grammar was missing! Another shocking thing, which honestly made me feel a bit better, was I came across a lot of high school basic grammar items. We tried several different things and finally found this…Grammar Made Easy…what a blessing from the Lord (really)!

The book is recommended for middle school but can be used from elementary to high school. It does not require a lot of teacher preparation nor is there a lot of student work. It is not intended to drill the student but to get the student thinking, learning and liking grammar. What a concept! Grammar Made Easy does include diagramming, which I know some people like and others do not. The good thing is – if you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it! You still benefit from the rest of the teaching.

Each of the 15 chapters is set up to be one week of assignments, but you can work through it at your own pace. For us, we did a chapter a day for the beginning chapters and then slowed down to focus on things that were more challenging. Additionally, Grammar Made Easy truly starts at the beginning with the “S V Sentence” (The Subject-Verb Sentence) and works up slowly from there.

The part I really liked? Grammar Made Easy puts a word in more than one place and makes you think about what part of speech it is. The lessons do not just tell you “this is a noun” or “this is a subject”. That is what we were struggling with and this has helped us overcome it. Praise the Lord!

If you are interested in finding out more, you can see a sample lesson by clicking HERE. Or you can order your own copy by clicking HERE.

Contact information:
Everyday Education, LLC
P.O. Box 549
Ashland, VA 23005
jceved @ comcast . net (take out the spaces, of course)

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Come visit Dawn over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter…friends are ALWAYS welcome!

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One of our investments for the 2011 school year was Scholastic’s Interactive 3D Maps: American History. It was actually recommended by the core programme we are using, but the book itself was bound to be a hit with two map loving young boys. Not to mention they really enjoy doing hands-on projects, so mixing the two together sounded like it would be right up their alley!

We were not in the slightest bit disappointed with this book! We are just under halfway through the book and have mapped the adventures of Various Explorers, The Mayflower, Paul Revere, The Slave Trade, Lewis & Clark and a few more.  Which is nothing compared to what’s left waiting for us in the book!

The Breakdown:

Each map has a total of four pages. Two pages are written more to the teacher and provide information about the map, time period, and/or event that took place. It also provides instructions of how to put the maps together and a few ideas to use the maps as well.

The next two pages are the actual map and pieces that go with it. So for instance, with Lewis & Clark you’ll have two pieces of map, various forts, Indian villages and boats. The children colour the maps and pieces and then assemble everything together.

How We Use It:
I find that my children love to color when I’m reading aloud to them. So these maps are often colored while I’m reading about the people or times involved in these maps! Once colored we cut the maps out.

The instructions state you are to glue the maps on construction paper, but we like to do things just a wee bit different. Instead, we tape both pieces of the map together, then we take two pieces of colored card stock and glue the map to both pieces leaving about an eighth of an inch gap between the two pieces. Why?

This allows us to fold the map neatly, paperclip all the accessories to the map & tuck it into a nifty page protector {I love those things!} before we put the whole thing right into the kids timeline notebook. Easy Peasy!

What I Love:

This book is fantastic and my kids love the maps! I love that they love the maps and can visualize all the things we’re reading about. I love that the little pieces can be moved around the map and places on specific locations like the starting and stopping point of journeys.

The price: This book is extremely inexpensive when you consider that it is reproducible. The book ranges in price from $10.99 {amazon.com} $11.99 {Book Depository with free shipping}, or $15.99 {directly from Scholastic as an ebook}. Either way you go, it’s a great deal.

What I don’t Love:
There is one thing I don’t love about this book, and really only one thing. The pages aren’t perforated and the book isn’t spiral bound. It makes copying the pages a bit more difficult, but not impossible! However, the lack of either of these does not stop me from loving this book! It really isn’t that big of a deal to copy it like it is. Of course if you purchase this book directly from Scholastic as an ebook that’s not an issue you’d have to worry about!

Bottom Line:
We love the book and I’m extremely happy with the purchase! My kids are very hands-on and love being involved in their projects. These maps are simple enough that even my eight-year-old can do most of it without assistance.

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I don’t know about your family but anytime our family can include game playing in our school lessons – we do – and love it! In my opinion, playing games is an awesome way to learn anything. The Reading Game is a fast action memory card game designed to help supplement young children on their path to learning to read. The Reading Game was created by the same author of the “Wordly Wise” series.

Included in The Reading Game is a series of six beautifully illustrated storybooks. The memory game cards are common site words that meet the criteria of the Common Core State Standards for Language Arts, Foundational skills, and Reading skills needed for both kindergarten and first graders. To see a full listing of reading standards and how the game correlates with them, click HERE. Enjoy this game with any struggling readers older than first grade.

Each game is played in six stages, each teaching five words. The idea behind the game is that once your child has completed his or her first round with the memory matching game they will have those words embedded into their brains. The different sets of memory cards are color and picture coordinated to connect with the storybooks included with the game. So after finishing the first set of memory cards your child has been introduced to the sight words used in the first storybook. In fact, the storybook uses only those thirty words. This sets your child up for success in reading. It is the frequent exposure through play that hard-wires these words into long-term memory. To play The Reading Game, two players are required, the student and the teacher.

So many first readers are just plain boring and in my opinion do not engage children in a way that they should. The Reading Game is different. These books are interesting and involve animals in their storyline which my own children have really enjoyed. A skunk, snake, bear, penguins, unicorn, and zebra appear in the books.

After completing the entire series, your child should have a reading vocabulary of 180 words. You can learn more details about how the game works and watch a video of it by clicking, HERE.

The author offers sight word assessment worksheets, as well as test sentence assessment worksheets, HERE, to help monitor the progress of your child as you play The Reading Game.

The cost of The Reading Game is 24.95$ and that includes six beautifully illustrated story books, six decks of matching playing cards, and a Teacher and Parent’s Guide. You can find The Reading Game on Facebook. To purchase click, HERE.

Disclaimer: I was sent this game for FREE in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received.

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The thought of teaching Latin made me want to hide under a table. I did not think there would be any way for me to teach Latin. I never took Latin in school. I have no experience in this subject and quite frankly it is an intimidating subject if you are unfamiliar. Knowing that I decided to homeschool to provide a better education I knew I would have to find away to teach my children Latin. Latin will help build a strong foundation for English. A person who knows Latin will have a firmer grasp on vocabulary and spelling. I had to find a way to teach this subject without fear. Enter Visual Latin. The “visual” was enough for my interest to be peaked.

My daughter on lesson 3: Gender Words. She would draw a girl when it was a “girl word”.

Visual Latin DVDs add breathes life back into this dead language. Foreign languages can be intimidating to teach but the “visual” aspect of this program takes the pressure off of you. In fact, you can learn along with the children. I think the most fun about being a homeschool mom is revisiting lessons and learning new ones.I enjoyed learning some Latin and we all enjoyed the ease of this program. In just minutes a day using a multi-sensory approach you can begin to understand the foundations of Latin. The lessons are solid and fun. A far cry from stuffy and intimidating lesson you may have come to expect.

Here is the scope for the first ten lessons:

LESSONS 1 to 10:

1. Being Verbs Basics | To Be and Not to Be

2. Being Verbs Basics | Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives

3. Gender | Boy Words and Girl Words

4. Singular and Plural | E Pluribus Unum

5. Declensions | Meet the Cases

6. Adjectives Learn to Agree with Nouns

7. The Case Files | Nominative and Genitive

8. Counting to 10 in Latin

9. Active Verb Basics | Indicative Mood

10. The Case Files | Accusative

I will disclose to you that this is not my first Latin program. I had one that made me rethink teaching Latin to begin with and a few I truly enjoyed. Visual Latin is in the “truly enjoyed” category. I will be purchasing the other two sets. Visual Latin came highly recommended by a few homeschool friends so when I had the chance to review it I was thrilled. I am also happy to report my friends were right, Latin can be taught in an interesting and fun way.

You may purchase Visual Latin at The Compass Store.

Richele is an eclectic homeschooling mom to four reflections of God’s love whose greatest accomplishment thus far was teaching physics, folding laundry, and playing Candyland simultaneously.  Find her blogging at Under the Golden Apple Tree.

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Konos is a hands-on learning, Christian worldview curriculum consisting of three volumes. Each volume encompasses two years of study and is about 400 pages full of every subject you could possibly imagine! There are HUNDREDS of activities to go along with each unit.

The subjects included are:

• social studies
• practical living
• math
• language arts
• creative expression
• Bible, science
• arts & crafts
• field trip ideas
• music
• history
• geography and the list goes on!

The goal behind Konos is to teach and instill character within our children. Instilling character is accomplished by reinforcing the character traits within the subjects listed above. Volume II consists of the following character traits: Inquisitiveness, Responsibility, Love/Generosity, Courage, Wisdom and Loyalty. You do not need to follow these traits in any particular order and may choose to skip around as much as possible. However, Volume I is geared more towards the younger learner.

A complete math and language arts curriculum are both still needed, since Konos does not offer an in-depth study of these subjects. However, your child will still receive a very large amount of writing, story telling, and reading from this curriculum.

Everything your child will need from grades kindergarten through eighth is included in the above three volumes. This is an all inclusive unit study. Every child, from kindergarten through eighth grade can learn at the same time. Konos is divided into younger, middle and older sections. For example, if you are learning about pets in the Responsibility unit, the younger dictates ways to compare and contrast cats and dogs, the middle may write a list and a short research paper and the older may make an extensive list, research and prepare a paper and presentation on what they had learned about the different breeds.

A week-by-week schedule is another plus to Konos. If you need a little bit of guidance, the authors have included a weekly break down. If you are feeling a bit daring, just pick and choose the activities that you feel your child(ren) would benefit the most from.

A book list at the start of each unit is provided. I have reached the point where I look at the week’s sub-unit and will reserve anything and everything at the library that I feel would benefit and enrich our study. We use the library for everything! At any given time our home is brimming with over 100 checked out books all reinforcing our trait for that month and the sub-units within that trait.
How it works in our home: My children and I have been working with volume II this year and have loved every minute of it! At this time, we are studying Courage. For the past three weeks we have been traveling through the Bible, reading the history of the men and women who exemplified courage while facing danger, death or betrayal as well as other historical figures. We read about Daniel in the lion’s den and researched different interesting facts on lions. My seven-year-old wrote brief paragraphs on lions while my five and three-year-old children drew a picture. Also, we listened to a lion’s roar and talked about seeing the lions at the zoo.

An example of the many hands on activities is our fleur de lys flag we created to remember the courage of Joan of Arc. We marched around our neighborhood as soldiers and priests like in the battle of Jericho from the Bible. We made a sling sho. We also completed heat experiments with fire as we learned of the courage of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. This upcoming week, we will be reading “Call It Courage” while eating coconut, mangoes, bananas. We’ll learn about sea life, and where Polynesia is located on the globe.

I highly recommend Konos for any parent who wants a fun, challenging, interactive and multi-level curriculum. You will be required to dedicate more time into the lesson plans, gathering supplies and preparing than your usual workbook curriculum; however it is WORTH IT! Jessica Hulcy and Carole Thaxton created Konos for their children and I am so thankful that they made this available to other homeschooling parents.

Each volume costs $110. Yet consider that this is a two-year all-inclusive study! For more information visit www.konos.com.

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My husband and I have been thrilled to introduce the Learn Our History DVD’s to our children.  We both have a passion for teaching fundamental truths about the history of the United States in our homeschool.  Believe it or not, much of what we read/hear/watch is either extremely watered-down or downright misleading.  Not so with this series of DVD’s from Learn Our History!

In each of the videos, you will travel back in time with the TimeCycle Academy – a small group of children who get to the heart of history by actually visiting various historical periods.  Through meeting important historical figures, hearing primary source speeches or conversations, and mingling with the people of the time period, a wonderful (and easily understandable) picture is painted for your own children.

From the Revolutionary War to 9/11 and the War on Terror, many of the United States’ important stories are told through animated, 30 minute (approximately) DVD’s.  All my children – from 5-14 – have enjoyed watching.  While the animation may be a bit immature for the 14 year old, the information gleaned has not been immature at all!  In fact, even I now have a clearer picture of some of the historical events!

Learn Our History currently has 7 videos in the series.  Seven more are in the works for 2012, with a vision for more than 70 in the future.  Co-founder, Mike Huckabee, believes the series teaches historical facts without bias and promotes a strong sense of patriotism in our children.  I agree.

Navigation of the website is a tad difficult and purchasing prices are not clearly marked.  Your first video – in which you receive a physical DVD and online streaming – is only $9.95 + $3.95 shipping.  Once you purchase the first video, you will be offered a new video monthly, via email, for $11.95 + $3.95 shipping.  You will be automatically billed and the video shipped if you don’t respond with a “no thank you” phone call.  While I think the prices are very fair and worth the money, the monthly mailing subscription is not my cup of tea.

(In their FAQ’s, it states that you can call their customer service line to talk about other options for purchasing.  When I decide to purchase more, I’ll be making this phone call.)

Even though I received 3 of these videos for free in exchange for my (honest) review, I DO plan to purchase more!  They have truly been a great addition to our history lessons.

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I like handwriting books.  They make life simple:  Get out the book, turn to the page, write, put the book away.  Repeat until the book is finished.

This year, though, I decided that the shipping and handling on my favorite handwriting book was outrageous.  I refused to do it. What’s a homeschool mama to do?  Download handwriting books instead!

So, I tripped along to Currclick and found an alternative that has made me happy.

For handwriting we are using two books from LightHome Publications.  My first grade son is using A-Z I Like Animals and my third grade daughter is using A to Z Crawly Critters Cursive.

I was initially drawn to the animal theme that is part of both books.  The handwriting lessons and the pictures follow the respective animal themes.  My kids have especially enjoyed the coloring pages that accompany each letter.  They are accurate pencil drawings of the animals discussed in the handwriting lesson.

Both books begin with several pages asking students to trace similarly formed letters.  The manuscript book also contains a series of simple mazes at the beginning.  From that point, the letters are ordered alphabetically.  The manuscript book, A-Z I Like Animals, is a tracing curriculum, so students are given letters and sentences to trace.

The cursive curriculum, A-Z Crawly Critters Cursive, on the other hand, provides both a sentence to trace and, below it, space to write the same sentence.   Tracing the letters first has given my children the chance to learn letter formation without pressure.

Because these products were downloaded, I can print as many copies of each page as I need.  If a particular letter gives us trouble, I simply print another page for additional practice.  If everyone wants to color the picture of the yucca moth, I can easily make that happen by pushing a few buttons.  I did print both e-books in their entirety, so that I would have the pages on hand.

I may be done with paper handwriting books forever.  LightHome Publications and Currclick have not only made it easy to practice penmanship, they have alleviated those costly shipping and handling fees!

Susan is homeschooling mama to three:  a third-grader, a first-grader, and a nearly kindergartner.  Their educational philosophy is classical-ish, Charlotte Mason-y, and little bit traditional.  She likes for things to be quality and for them to be simple.

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Explode the Code is a phonics based program I consider invaluable in helping my daughter learn to read!

The series starts with three Primers, all introducing the child to the consonants sounds and written letters. Then the series moves on to the vowels and basic phonics patterns in Book 1 and Book 2.  The best thing was that my daughter loved doing it! First thing in the morning, she would ask for her Explode the Code book.

This program did not require any prep on my part.  All I needed to do was read any new letter sounds out loud, or read her “listening sentences” for her to write down. And of course, celebrate the learning!

We started with the Primers in kindergarten. Some families choose to do these in the preschool years. The primer workbooks are entitled Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code.  These books, full of child drawn illustrations, really caught my daughter’s eyes. Meanwhile, she was learning all the lower case letters and sounds.

The primers prepared her for the first official book in the series, Explode the Code, Book 1. Each lesson followed the same format with the fun child illustrations. My daughter quickly became independent in her work. Through reading, spelling, writing and copying, she prepared herself for early readers. She was so proud of herself.

Explode the Code then goes on to Book 2.  (There are also additional workbooks labeled 1/2, such as Book 1 & ½ for extra practice).  Following the same consistent pattern, the series progressed to more advanced phonics, such as consonant blends and phonetic patterns, preparing the child for intermediate reading.  The consistent format and layout of the lessons helped make the learning easy.

As we continued in the series, with Book 3, Book 4, etc, my daughter strengthened her phonics skills and her reading.  These more advanced books included breaking words into syllables, diagraphs, three letter blends, diphthongs, etc.  These concepts were all laid out in an easily understandable manner and could still be done independently.

The Explode the Code offers a series through Book 8. We chose to work through Book 5, which, in my opinion, gave my daughter a solid foundation in phonics. She also became a good speller. I would highly recommend Explode the Code for any family looking for a well thought out and FUN phonics program.

Where to find Explode the Code: For more information, please visit Explode the Code online or view the entire line of workbooks here.

~Written by Betsy, an experienced homeschooler who likes waldorf-inspired approaches and uses unit studies in her homeschool.

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