tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14640493658471340862024-03-13T18:38:48.840-04:00Learning as I go...MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-22015282359434821312009-03-08T14:50:00.004-04:002009-03-10T23:21:19.704-04:00Heads Up!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigIXq-gZoXJJ_0H-sycnEpBDV7xEAFWyXfCojjXRwor0AvgXAGo1Q-3C0GJNBKxKyO8-plDhT-XB15Pv3PVt8hTIeLakJIviQI4H0nUU-WIKR6dIq3z8_k_KHBU3Hz5f7S_b0DsTR0VdM/s1600-h/HeadsupBlog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310895245795392818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigIXq-gZoXJJ_0H-sycnEpBDV7xEAFWyXfCojjXRwor0AvgXAGo1Q-3C0GJNBKxKyO8-plDhT-XB15Pv3PVt8hTIeLakJIviQI4H0nUU-WIKR6dIq3z8_k_KHBU3Hz5f7S_b0DsTR0VdM/s400/HeadsupBlog.jpg" border="0" /></a>Some children need to use tools to help them focus on a task, either due to a special need or just a tendency to become distracted easily. <a href="http://www.headsupnow.com/index.php">Heads Up!</a> offers a variety of tools to help a child successfully focus on assigned work. Quoted from the Heads Up! website:<br /><br />Heads Up! is a company designed to provide expert information and products for special needs children. Our items have been selected to accommodate various learning styles and strengths, regardless of curriculum used. These special needs products have been found to be especially helpful for children who are distractible or hyperactive.<br /><br />Our goal is to provide materials and information for homeschooling families, occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, and specialists who work with children who have developmental delays, learning disabilities, or other special needs. Professionals, as well as parents and families interacting with special needs children, need materials and teaching tips that will be effective in promoting successful learning experiences while reducing frustration for children, teachers, and parents.<br /><br />I was able to try out a variety of frames: tinted, transparent plastic frames that can be placed over a page to highlight and box-in specific parts of the printed material on the page. These are listed under the heading of "Reducing Distractions" on the Heads Up! site. They are also listed under the "Reading/Visual" product category along with a handful of other reading aids that I was able to take a look at. Single and double line tinted strips of plastic, again placed on top of printed material, help to keep the reader focused just on the highlighted line(s). You have the options of choosing strips that have opaque gray areas above and below the highlight or just below.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> My child, who does not have special needs, found the highlighting frames and strips to be novel, but not of much use. In fact I think they did more to distract her as she wanted only to play with them. BUT, funny enough I found a use for the strips that I really appreciated: using them to focus on one line of information in a spreadsheet. I am guessing though that these products would be immensely useful to children who do have trouble focusing when confronted with an entire page of information: math problems, lists of items, reading sentences on a book page. Heads Up! has <strong>lots</strong> of helpful products in addition to the ones I got to review. Among other things they offer <a href="http://www.headsupnow.com/modules.php?name=Catalog&op=viewcategory&catid=10">handwriting aids</a> (I'm thinking I may purchase some of the unique pencil grips), <a href="http://www.headsupnow.com/modules.php?name=Catalog&op=viewcategory&catid=14">time management helps</a> (timers of all kinds), and <a href="http://www.headsupnow.com/modules.php?name=Catalog&op=viewcategory&catid=6">fun learning materials</a> (games!). If you have a special needs child, Heads Up! provides products helpful for children with ADD/ADHD, Aspergers and Autism, and Sensory Issues. The website also has useful articles, resources, and links to the following topics: ADHD, Education, Homeschooling, Special Needs, and Speech and Language. Take a closer look at <a href="http://www.headsupnow.com/index.php">Heads Up!</a>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-12671348619484663292009-03-07T15:04:00.002-05:002009-03-08T14:34:27.984-04:00Before Five In A Row<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwONalYMgYNph-cLOFt8VSsyc_YpuK0_4N0-bpPicrojqu7M0t6YW_3YIL_GNWBRKdwWgBiPAidPtHk-nA6PsUnOsQkFbw5EltrYYgsB5A7wnlWBDNjsZPA20xE18wSYPK5PKUIdfaPCs/s1600-h/FIARblog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310883413315899106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 74px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwONalYMgYNph-cLOFt8VSsyc_YpuK0_4N0-bpPicrojqu7M0t6YW_3YIL_GNWBRKdwWgBiPAidPtHk-nA6PsUnOsQkFbw5EltrYYgsB5A7wnlWBDNjsZPA20xE18wSYPK5PKUIdfaPCs/s400/FIARblog.jpg" border="0" /></a>My daughters are 6 years old and 22 months old. I received <a href="http://www.fiveinarow.com/B4FIVEINAROW.html">Before Five In A Row</a> to review. After taking a look at it I decided that the story selections were a bit too young for my oldest and too old for my youngest. I enlisted the help of a fellow homeschooling mom who is a big fan of <a href="http://www.fiveinarow.com/">Five In A Row</a> but had not had the opportunity to use the preschool edition. This is Susanne's review:<br /><p>I really love Before Five in a Row. It’s a curriculum meant for preschoolers. My daughter is kind of in between pre-k and kindy (she JUST turned 5), and I think it was a little too simplistic for her. BUT I will be purchasing this book and using it for my youngest son when he turns about 3 or shows more readiness for this book.</p><p>Reasons I LOVE this book:</p><p>1) It involves the “rowing” process I’ve come to love with Five in a Row (you use one book, read it daily for a week and pull your various lessons from those books). We used Corduroy to try this book out. I picked it since its one of the ones we already had (although I have to mention you can almost ALWAYS get all of the books at your library) and I love this book. We would start out each day on the couch, my 1st grader, my pre-k/kindy gal, and the toddler all on my lap/around my lap listening to the story. And we really loved talking about how we would use our manners and be polite like the little girl in the book. And we discussed saving our money like she did too. We counted the buttons in the story, the stuffed animals beside Corduroy (while holding the Corduroy we have-told you I love it. <br />2) It comes with a Bible verse that Five in a Row does NOT have, so that was something very neat to see (I don’t do those as often as I should). You don’t HAVE to use it, and I know several secular homeschoolers that would appreciate that flexibility. Some of the books on the list ARE religious but can be skipped if you want.<br />3) It's flexible. Anyone with children knows how important that is. You cannot be tied to one schedule. It just doesn’t work. When you try, one kid gets sick, another decides to fight you, and a friend needs help with something on the phone while you are trying to clean. So the flexibility of it all is invaluable to me.<br />4) It has an entirely separate section that helps you figure out what kind of games to play with your preschooler to get them to learning readiness. It’s filled with a bunch of great advice, some of it you will know, some you will appreciate as support for the way you’ve been thinking, some that will seem difficult to deal with (especially the suggestions for what constitutes a good toy) but all of it wise and good to hear even if you don’t follow it. <br />5) It’s CHEAP. I am NOT dropping 300 dollars on curriculum for my 3 year old to learn how to cut, paste, and color his ABC’s. The teacher manual is $24.95. You can use the library to get the books you need. And after that you will only need to purchase some paper, glue, scissors, and crayons for your preschooler to use. That’s fantastic! This is perfect to use to see if you want to do this whole homeschooling thing.</p><p>I am definitely going to use <a href="http://www.fiveinarow.com/B4FIVEINAROW.html">Before Five In A Row</a> when my toddler gets old enough and recommend it for anyone else looking to home school their preschooler with a complete and inexpensive curriculum. </p>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-31435324792436220942009-03-07T12:15:00.005-05:002009-03-08T14:15:27.519-04:00Math Tutor<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dpHqd2lS4ysLNIL1WHR15jwbZ0q61G6Ztpmu72XkIauRg5NSlIEZPOk298vLP3WE3b9rN-Q3KujyyNmskfulXf1Bxp1jgO8MjHhww68ELJHLVIo_nvgnJmHzwCqIRkgXdownt9xyxZw/s1600-h/MathTutorBlog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310882121631652610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 73px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dpHqd2lS4ysLNIL1WHR15jwbZ0q61G6Ztpmu72XkIauRg5NSlIEZPOk298vLP3WE3b9rN-Q3KujyyNmskfulXf1Bxp1jgO8MjHhww68ELJHLVIo_nvgnJmHzwCqIRkgXdownt9xyxZw/s400/MathTutorBlog.jpg" border="0" /></a>If you've struggled with math in your own past, the thought of trying to teach it to your children may send you running from the room in a panic. Thankfully there are numerous resources available to help explain math concepts to your kids...and help keep you in the same room.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mathtutordvd.com/">Math Tutor</a> provides a set of DVD courses that range from the very basic (addition and subtraction of whole numbers) all the way through to the very advanced (calculus 1,2, and 3). I was able to take a look at two, 2-DVD sets: <a href="http://www.mathtutordvd.com/products/item18.cfm">The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor</a> (8 hours of instruction) and <a href="http://www.mathtutordvd.com/products/department5.cfm">The Algebra 2 Tutor</a> (6 hours of instruction).<br /><br />The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor starts off with simple addition and subtraction word problems, then ones that involve multiplication and division, and finally word problems using decimals with those same four math processes. It is straightforward and no-frills. It's just the instructor working out word problems from start to finish giving explanations as he goes. The second DVD goes through word problems using fractions, percents, ratios, and proportions.<br />The Algebra 2 Tutor goes over graphing equations, slope, writing equations of lines, graphing inequalities, and then solving systems of equations by graphing, substitution, or addition. The second DVD explains solving systems of equations in three variables, working with radical expressions, fractional exponents, solving polynomial equations, and the quadratic formula.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I am not struggling to explain basic math and related word problems to my daughter (doing simple addition and subtraction right now), so I haven't gotten to really "test out" these tutors on a student. The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor seems pretty much what I do for my daughter, just with someone else explaining it and working it on a dry erase board. There is a small audio glitch in my first DVD where the sound disappears for about 2 seconds, but other than that I have no issues with the recording quality.<br />Admittedly the Algebra 2 set does not cover all topics that would be included in an Algebra 2 course. The instructor covers the ones he feels are most important to understand. If your student is having problems in a particular area, be sure to see the website to get a complete list of areas covered by the DVD tutor.<br />I actually enjoy and understand (for the most part) math concepts taught through the high school level. I'm not sure I will use the Math Tutor <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">DVD's</span> very much, but I am just starting out in homeschooling. I may discover that my daughter struggles to understand my explanations of math later on, especially as the explanations get more lengthy and complex. I think the Math Tutor instructor gives a simple, though a bit dry, walk-through of concepts. I like that he works through example after example so that the student can see the concepts illustrated clearly and repeatedly (and it's on DVD, so of course we can replay at will). I can see Math Tutor being a valuable asset for someone who is uncomfortable at explaining math concepts to their children or who maybe is at a loss to know where to start because math is not their own strong point. The price seems a bit steep to me (about $27 per DVD), but I suppose if you figure in what a private tutor would cost then the price is immediately reasonable as long as your student will benefit. <a href="http://www.mathtutordvd.com/">Math Tutor</a> has a limited time bonus available: every new Math Tutor DVD customer will receive 60 minutes of FREE online tutoring available 24/7 through Tutor.com (valued at $35.00).MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-86953725049306204402009-02-15T14:36:00.009-05:002009-02-16T21:08:46.079-05:00Homeschooling ABCs from Knowledge Quest<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-rELKQ0XStHcgj0ngLSZmN-K4FnNmG9E-KAg72WvaqVSQNGy6nG085fxeJZuu73Nq421qQQxDM3XQxU0cRVcm2n_M0C5Kx9s3HwAWn19pFTLyMI1FEd3XFCYYBCeHIN4hVUynICRSChE/s1600-h/HSABCsBLOGlogo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303127930132194290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 91px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-rELKQ0XStHcgj0ngLSZmN-K4FnNmG9E-KAg72WvaqVSQNGy6nG085fxeJZuu73Nq421qQQxDM3XQxU0cRVcm2n_M0C5Kx9s3HwAWn19pFTLyMI1FEd3XFCYYBCeHIN4hVUynICRSChE/s400/HSABCsBLOGlogo.jpg" border="0" /></a>Homeschooling can be a lot of things...exciting, adventurous, and a whole lot of fun. It can also be frustrating, confusing, and downright intimidating. Without a plan, some wise advice, and a little bit of hand holding starting out in homeschooling can seem overwhelming. I am blessed to live in a location that has an extensive community of homeschooling families. I am able to ask questions and receive answers and help whenever I am in need. But even so, this very first year of homeschooling has had its moments of doubts and tears. Where can I get help at answering questions about getting started in homeschooling when sometimes I don't know enough to know what questions to ask? Terri Johnson at <a href="http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/">Knowledge Quest</a> has put together a 26-week resource called <a href="http://www.homeschoolingabcs.com/">Homeschooling ABCs</a> to fill this very need.<br /><br />Homeschooling ABCs is a weekly PDF lesson sent by email on various topics useful to both the just-getting-started and the already-done-this-for-a-few-years homeschooling families. Each of the 26 lessons, labeled A through Z, are about 10-12 pages in length. The first six lessons give a good explanation of how to get your homeschool started: basic supplies, setting up a space in your home for learning, understanding your children's learning styles, determining your education philosophy, and finding curriculum. From there Terri takes you through steps to make homeschooling a successful experience: getting in touch with other homeschoolers for support (either local or online), incorporating hands-on learning in each subject, developing research skills online and at the library, how to establish and guard homeschooling time, teaching Kindergartners and Preschoolers, and juggling house maintenance, daily living, and learning all in the same space. Terri goes on to get more specific in certain subjects: making math fun, how to plan science over the 12 years of schooling, teaching reading and spelling and phonics, planning field trips, why music is important for children to study, and helpful information on teaching special needs children.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I have only received lessons A-R, but they have all been wonderfully helpful and packed full of great extras. I am confident that lessons S-Z will prove just as useful. I like how the lessons begin at the beginning helping answer the very basic questions like: How do I start homeschooling? I had never seen a homeschool day in someone else's home, so starting was almost the hardest part. It's great to have some handholding right in the beginning! It was also very, very helpful to read about the different teaching and learning styles. Before starting in homeschooling, I would read brief mentions about Charlotte Mason, unschooling, classical education, kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, visual learners...what did it all mean? Terri lays out the basics to quickly end the confusion. The other lessons that I've appreciated the most: choosing curriculum and living and learning at home. I am excited to see what the final 8 Homeschooling ABCs lessons will hold!<br />Terri Johnson has done a fantastic job making brand new homeschoolers feel more at ease about the decision to homeschool and making it happen successfully. Homeschooling families with a few years under their belts will appreciate the ideas that may help to refine certain parts of their homeschool. And everyone will love all the freebies that are included in each lesson when you sign up for Homeschooling ABCs. The cost is $10 a month for 6 months...that figures out to only $2.30 per lesson! I would highly recommend you check out <a href="http://www.homeschoolingabcs.com/">Homeschooling ABCs</a> from <a href="http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/">Knowledge Quest</a>!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-14851896676543676002009-02-04T14:14:00.003-05:002009-02-04T15:24:15.554-05:00StoryBuilders from WriteShop<a href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/tn_world_of_animals.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 193px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px" alt="" src="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/tn_world_of_animals.jpg" border="0" /></a>When it comes to using imagination to think up a creative story, my daughter usually needs no assistance, BUT it can get even more fun (and funny!) using StoryBuilders from <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/">WriteShop</a>.<br /><br />My daughter and I used <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0023-animals">World of Animals StoryBuilders</a>. It's a 63-page E-book that comes with instructions for using the card decks and provides enough inspiration to keep minds creating stories for a long time to come. You have the option of printing out black type onto colored cardstock or the color-coded type printed onto white cardstock for the four categories: character cards, character trait cards, setting cards, and plot cards. There are even blank cards provided to add your own ideas to the mix.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> These cards are pretty versatile! Not only can they spark some fun story ideas for writing assignments, they can be used as a travel game just as easily. My Kindergartner came up with a cute story about a bashful shark (named Bernice) who always wanted to invent something. As the story developed-in my daughter's imagination-Bernice ended up inventing a dryer...because, well, everything is so very wet in the ocean! This is a great and affordable resource to help fight writer's block. StoryBuilders are available in four different E-books: <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0023-animals">World of Animals</a>, <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0022-people">World of People</a>, and <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0027-sports">World of Sports</a>- each only $7.95, and a <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=0026-christmas">Christmas Mini-Builder</a>- $3.95. Take a close look at StoryBuilders and all the other writing resources available at <a href="http://www.writeshop.com/">WriteShop</a>.MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-85261780644758891312009-01-28T18:18:00.002-05:002009-01-28T19:05:55.634-05:00All About Homophones<a href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/AAHcover.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 238px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/AAHcover.gif" border="0" /></a>Brought to you by the creator of All About Spelling (<a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/all-about-spelling.html">see review of AAS here</a>), Marie Rippel has now published <a href="http://www.all-about-homophones.com/">All About Homophones</a>. This 240-page workbook takes children (suggested grades 1st-8th) through fun activities while they learn and test their knowledge of common homophones--words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. For the teacher the book provides worksheets of different kinds of graphic organizers, a list of suggested children's books that are helpful in learning homophones (great idea!), answer keys, and a master list of homophones used in the book as well as a long list of others. For the student there are fun fill-in-the-blank worksheets, ready-to-print-on-cardstock card games, crossword puzzles, riddles, puns, and tongue twisters. Also provided is a simple worksheet where the student can record the homophones they have learned in one list.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> It is a fun workbook that can get kids excited about a pretty neat phenomenon in the English language! My daughter (grade K) enjoyed going through the activities for the homophones for grade 1 and some of grade 2. She even explained to her dad what homophones are and then quizzed him to see if he knows the difference between "be" and "bee" and "see" and "sea." What a blast to see her learn it, review it, and then teach it to someone else! The book is available in hardcopy as a softback workbook for $29.95 or as an E-book for $27.95. ALERT: Special offer that is good only until February 2, 2009: get $10 off any order of <a href="http://www.all-about-homophones.com/order.html">All About Homophones</a> with coupon code <span style="color:#000000;">FUN</span>. <a href="http://www.all-about-homophones.com/VCAB/">See some sample pages from the workbook.<br /></a><div></div>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-79330457314387061872009-01-24T07:38:00.005-05:002009-01-24T10:23:44.578-05:00Nana Star and the Moonman from ee Publishing and Productions<a href="https://www.nanastar.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image//m/o/moonman-book-cd_3.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://www.nanastar.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image//m/o/moonman-book-cd_3.jpg" border="0" /></a>"It was a wonderful day for Nana Star to begin her journey to return the lost baby star to his home in the heavens." So begins the 26-page story of, <a href="https://www.nanastar.com/shop/index.php/nana-star-and-the-moonman-book-with-bonus-cd.html">Nana Star and the Moonman</a>, by sisters Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> <span style="color:#000000;">What I like:</span> As children read the book they are asked to keep an eye out for a misspelled word. The explanation from the author in the introduction is that, "...we all make mistakes...only God can make all things perfect." I like how that immediately gives the child a reason to pay close attention to what they're reading, and I agree with the explanation.<br /><span style="color:#000000;">What I did not like:</span> This is the second book in a, so far, two book series. It is not a satisfying story on its own and reads more like a chapter rather than a book in its own right. A bigger issue than the quality of the story, for me, is its message. Once God is mentioned in the introduction, He is nowhere to be found in the actual story. Animal's are referred to as, "Nature's creatures, " and the moon is given the lofty responsibility of being Nana Star's guardian. "Do not be afraid, little Nana Star. Remember, I am the Moonman and I will be with you always. Even when you can't see me, I am with you, watching over you." This is walking a fine line between someone's idea of symbolism for God and elementary notions of New Ageism. The authors could have easily made sure that God was given the due credit as Creator of all creatures or as the One who can comfort Nana Star in times when she feels afraid. These are the truths that I am teaching my children in our home.<br /><br />Though <a href="https://www.nanastar.com/">Nana Star, the Moonman, and ee Publishing and Productions</a> have won quite a few awards, I am not a fan. I know that some may say that I'm reading things that aren't there. When it comes to my young children, I will not hesitate to err on the side of caution. The story sends a confusing mix of messages to young readers. When there are lots of God honoring choices in early children's literature available, I do not feel like I have to compromise by choosing a story like Nana Star and the Moonman.MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-73675793033075203352009-01-22T15:37:00.002-05:002009-01-22T17:06:20.270-05:00The Critical Thinking Co.<div><a href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/logo-1.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 221px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 50px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/Heidistrawser/Homeschool%20Crew/logo-1.gif" border="0" /></a>Are you a Critical Thinker? See if you can figure out the following:</div><ol><li>You have only an 8-liter jug and a 3-liter jug. Both containers are unmarked. You need exactly 4 liters of water. How can you get it, if a water faucet is handy?</li><li>While relaxing on the deck outside her cabin one summer evening, Vivian fell into a deep trance-like sleep. When she awoke, she felt as if she had slept only an hour or two, but it was now the middle of winter. How could this be?</li></ol><p><a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp">The Critical Thinking Co.</a> offers products that will help children develop and strengthen critical thinking skills. I had the opportunity to use one of their titles: <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05231">Building Thinking Skills- Primary</a>.<img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 120px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 153px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.criticalthinking.com/html/products/052/05231.gif" border="0" /></p><p>The Primary book is for Grades K-1. This large volume, 265 pages broken down into eleven chapters, begins with describing shapes and ends with making analogies. The first four chapters on shapes does require the use of <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05215">attribute blocks</a> and <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05216">interlocking cubes</a> available for separate purchase on the website. Children learn to describe a shape by color, size, location (middle, first, last, left, right, top, bottom, above, and below), and to be able to write the descriptions as well. They match, compare, and sequence shapes. Finally, children learn to group, sort, and classify shapes. Starting in Chapter 5 and going all the way to the end of the book, using the skills already learned about describing, sequencing, and classifying, children begin to organize information about family members, food, animals, occupations, vehicles, and buildings.</p><p><strong>My final verdict:</strong> This book is a fantastic resource to get my daughter thinking critically! I like how it gets her to look at attributes to organize and classify. It is a fun way to begin to learn to look at information and make sense of it. Some downers: This workbook is expensive ($29.99) and the necessary <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05215">blocks</a> and <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/getProductDetails.do?code=p&id=05216">cubes</a> make it an even larger investment ($20.99 and $11.99). The workbook is non-reproducible, so one per child is necessary. The pages are not perforated. It soon becomes difficult to write, trace, and color when the child's hand is resting on the large lump of book spine due to the workbook's many pages. My solution? This is a workbook that I will probably end up chopping off the binding, three-hole-punching, and putting in a ringed binder so that my daughter can work on the pages individually without burden. Is this book worth the cost? I believe so. Yes it's pricey, but I believe it's money well spent to get a child off to a good start learning basic skills for thinking critically...and the workbook makes it FUN! <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp">The Critical Thinking Co.</a> has LOTS of books and software to exercise the brain. Check them out, and find out the answers to the two questions above and more to <a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/company/critical_thinker_quiz.jsp?code=p">see if you ARE a Critical Thinker</a>!</p>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-73977688409207015852009-01-19T15:34:00.004-05:002009-03-07T09:19:42.385-05:00Bible Story Songs<a href="http://www.biblestorysongs.com/images/MosesV1cdSmall.gif"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://www.biblestorysongs.com/images/MosesV1cdSmall.gif" border="0" /></a> Raise your hand if you've ever been subjected to a single children's music CD for so long that you have memorized each song in its playlist order, the lead and accompanying parts and can even imitate the instruments at times tempting you to seriously consider pitching said CD from the open window of your vehicle while driving at highway speeds. Anyone?! Ok, I think I'm not alone in this.<br />So I get this new CD in the mail from <a href="http://biblestorysongs.com/index.htm">Bible Story Songs</a> to listen to and to review...Moses, Volume 1- The First 80 Years. My oldest daughter is THRILLED! First question out of her mouth, "Can we listen to it in the car??" Put on your seat belts...here we go.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> Ok, ok...I admit it, I love this CD. I mean it! It is really, REALLY good! The songs take you through the first 80 years of Moses' life, from his birth to his leading the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. The music and lyrics are great and are, for the most part, sung and narrated by (older) children. I like that these songs are new--I've never heard them before, AND they follow the <strong>Biblical</strong> story of Moses--with some scripture memory! Yes, we've listened to this CD more than I'd like to admit, and I have had to swap it out with other music from time to time, but I don't have the urge to chuck it out the window of my moving vehicle...very happy about that!<br />Check out <a href="http://biblestorysongs.com/index.htm">Bible Story Songs</a>. Their other albums include Volume 2 for Moses, two on the book of Matthew, one about the Bible, and one on David. They also have song books and sheet music that accompany the CD's available for purchase. Think about picking up a handful of CD's for yourself, for friends, and as kid's party gifts as they do give volume discounts!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-53651273949797803832009-01-17T12:52:00.006-05:002009-01-17T16:48:02.779-05:00Math Mammoth<a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/images/mathmammoth-darker-s.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 295px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 127px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.mathmammoth.com/images/mathmammoth-darker-s.gif" border="0" /></a>This is my first year homeschooling, and my first student is a Kindergartner. I have looked at a few different math curricula for her--Math-U-See, Saxon, Singapore, workbooks from Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store. I had never heard of <a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/">Math Mammoth</a> until I was given the opportunity to review one of their products. If you have children in grades K-8, keep reading.<br /><br />I reviewed Math Mammoth's Lightblue Series Grade 1 with my daughter. It is a complete one-year curriculum provided in PDF format for instant download and printing at my leisure. The first half of the year is broken down into three chapters (<a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/preview/Math_Mammoth_Grade1A_Samples.pdf">see a sample here</a>):<br /><div><ol><li>Chapter 1: Addition Within 0-10</li><li>Chapter 2: Subtraction Within 0-10</li><li>Chapter 3: Addition and Subtraction Facts</li></ol><p>Addition starts off with showing the student how to separate a total of something into two groups (ex.: 4 balls can be grouped as 0 and 4, 1 and 3, 2 and 2, 3 and 1, and 4 and 0). My daughter circled the groups. Sometimes she was asked to write the dots on a die face or to count simple pictures in each group. She learned the symbols in an addition equation (+ and =) as well as being able to tell which is more using greater than or less than. She has now gone over and understands adding with zero, filling in a missing addend, using a number line, solving simple word problems, doubling a number, filling out an addition table, and using equal to or not equal to. We have finished Chapter 1 and will be moving on to Chapter 2. Though we will not finish the second half of the year until my daughter is officially in first grade, it is broken down into the following five chapters (<a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/preview/Math_Mammoth_Grade1B_Samples.pdf">see a sample here</a>):</p><ol><li>Chapter 4: Place Value Within 0-100</li><li>Chapter 5: Clock</li><li>Chapter 6: Shapes and Measuring</li><li>Chapter 7: Adding and Subtracting Within 0-100</li><li>Chapter 8: Coins</li></ol><p><strong>My final verdict:</strong> Math Mammoth is challenging, in a good way, for my daughter! I really like it! I found that it moves at a good pace. Within each lesson there is a bit of a review on previous concepts and/or concepts are introduced in a few different ways. Every couple of lessons there is a lesson set aside to practice the learned skills. There is plenty of room for my daughter to write her answers and just enough color on a page to add interest without draining my color printer cartridge. I will say that there is not much explanation for the teacher on how to teach a concept. For this level, Grade 1, I do not find it a problem (and actually I enjoy figuring out ways to teach to my daughter in ways I know she will understand best...using object, pictures, explaining things in practical terms). I really like that even at this early stage word problems are introduced. Word problems seem to forever haunt people in all areas of their lives. I've explained to my daughter that there's not much use for "knowing" all these math facts if you can't use them in everyday life. The word problems are great for getting her used to using what she's learned in her lessons and applying it to situations she sees inside and outside of home: toys on a shelf, books in a bag, two friends sharing crayons, slices of bread needed for sandwiches, etc.</p><p>We will be continuing on with Math Mammoth. I like the different ways it introduces and illustrates math concepts, and I am impressed with my daughter's progress and performance since we've been using the program. Go see all that <a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/">Math Mammoth</a> has to offer on the website. The cost is very, very reasonable and package deals are available. Sign up for the newsletter and get access to free worksheets!</p></div>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-46767754076519781832009-01-04T22:45:00.006-05:002009-01-05T21:40:24.767-05:00KinderBach<a href="http://www.kinderbach.com/images/logo.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 283px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 75px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.kinderbach.com/images/logo.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><p>What do a donkey, a caterpillar, an eagle, a frog, and a gorilla have in common? They're all characters that your child will meet as he learns to play the piano online with <a href="http://www.kinderbach.com/index.html">KinderBach</a>...no reading necessary!</p><p>Karri Gregor has created KinderBach for ages 2-7 as an introduction to playing the piano. The online course is broken down into two years: Levels 1-3 for year one (30 weeks total) and Levels 4-6 for year two (also 30 weeks). Each Level is divided into 10 weeks, and each week has an Introduction video and four different lessons. The introduction lets you know what skills will be learned that week and the supplies needed (scissors, paste, rhythm instrument, etc). The individual lessons vary in length, but they seem to be around 5 minutes long give or take a minute or so. Print outs for each lesson are provided in PDF format. While having a real piano would be nice, a small and inexpensive keyboard works just fine with this program.</p><p><strong>My final verdict:</strong> My five-year-old daughter went through the entire first year, Levels 1-3. She was able to comfortably complete an entire week's worth of lessons in one sitting, taking about 30 minutes from start to finish. She enjoyed the variety of activities that she got to do: coloring, cutting, pasting, listening exercises, counting, matching, using rhythm instruments and playing the keyboard. KinderBach teaches children to find keys on the keyboard by associating different characters (whose names begin with the same letter as the key) with them. This made it fun and easy for my daughter to memorize the location of the white keys. In Levels 1-3 she learned the following, as taken right from KinderBach's website:</p><p>Level 1</p><ul><li>- Familiarity with the black and white keyboard landscape.</li><li>- Aural discrimination of high and low sounds as well as loud and quiet.</li><li>- Music term “Piano” means quiet or soft.</li><li>- Quarter note, half note and the beat value of these symbols in common time.</li><li>- Keeping the beat with rhythm instruments and on the piano.</li><li>- Distinguishing left and right hands.</li><li>- Finger numbers for playing keyboard.</li><li>- Introduction to songs that will be used for Kodaly Solfege.</li><li>- Introduction to pre-Staff note reading by patterns.</li></ul><p>Level 2</p><ul><li>- Review all concepts from Level 1</li><li>- Characters for C, D, & E and their location on the keyboard.</li><li>- Emphasize relationship of the character to their letter name.</li><li>- Play simple songs with these notes.</li><li>- Aural discrimination of high, middle, and low sounds.</li><li>- Music terms “Piano” and “Forte”.</li><li>- Identify simple rhythms.</li><li>- Introduction of two Solfege terms.</li><li>- Play pre-Staff note patterns on the keyboard.</li></ul><p>Level 3</p><ul><li>- Review all previous concepts.</li><li>- Add characters for F & G and their location on the keyboard.</li><li>- Emphasize relationship of the character to their letter name.</li><li>- Play simple songs with these notes.</li><li>- Aural discrimination for music direction.</li><li>- Eighth notes and their beat value in common time.</li><li>- Addition to Solfege terms.</li><li>- Proper hand and finger position at the piano.</li><li>- Addition to pre-Staff note patterns and playing them on the keyboard.</li><li>- Identify pre-Staff note patterns by ear.</li><li>- Clap back simple rhythms. </li></ul><p>I sat in on all of her lessons, and she really did learn all that is listed in the syllabus. My daughter's favorite part, and the most rewarding for all piano students everywhere, is when she learned new songs and could play them all on her own. Whenever we come across a piano or keyboard in a store or friend's home now she immediately plays what she knows. How cool! It was convenient not to have to leave the house to go to a lesson. I could replay any part of the lesson we wanted, either to go back over a concept or to practice a piece of music with Karri. I was able to pause the instruction while my daughter colored as part of the lesson so that she didn't miss anything. My only concern, because I have taken traditional piano lessons in my past, is the concept of timing not being a focus. The references to beat are just a bit confusing (strong, medium, and weak beats?) . It was emphasized to me that music is all about timing. I guess I am just wondering whether it will be a rude awakening for my daughter once she takes more advanced lessons. Overall, though, I think KinderBach is a great program! It's economical, convenient, fun for the kids, and the learning comes easy in the format in which it's presented. Karri has a great on-screen personality that my daughter really enjoyed. You can try out the <a href="http://www.kinderbach.com/Learn/signin.html">first two weeks absolutely FREE</a>! See <a href="http://www.kinderbach.com/index.html">KinderBach's website</a> for a lot more information on the program and <a href="http://www.kinderbach.com/shopping/learningcenter/memberships.html">pricing options</a>.</p>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-76717601029884116062009-01-04T12:13:00.005-05:002009-01-04T19:56:47.795-05:00Contest winner!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJa4wd9vnPc-XR8CwzhPyGWL2IlUeoAuWfuhhvsaIwhIS_WhOJFZFY7M-qw-Mzo2c5rChv2h5ESfSDyP4DGmiKc-U1_jltv6VK0ChWTwxW26HsKKye66v5Ou6QOJsg9yGAy09O8sjGAc/s1600-h/dailyfocus.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287607176417888066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJa4wd9vnPc-XR8CwzhPyGWL2IlUeoAuWfuhhvsaIwhIS_WhOJFZFY7M-qw-Mzo2c5rChv2h5ESfSDyP4DGmiKc-U1_jltv6VK0ChWTwxW26HsKKye66v5Ou6QOJsg9yGAy09O8sjGAc/s400/dailyfocus.jpg" border="0" /></a>A very big <strong>Thank You</strong> to Stacy for writing an email in response to my contest. She has won an autographed-by-the-author copy of <strong>Daily Focus: A Devotional for Homeschoolers by Homeschoolers</strong>. I am excited to have her as an accountability partner throughout this year. Stacy, I hope you enjoy the Daily Focus devotional, and thanks for being an encouraging Sister in Christ!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-9744013400395290882008-12-22T18:46:00.004-05:002008-12-22T21:23:02.029-05:00Let's Make a Web Page! from Motherboard Books<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6eMdJG9AxncTDHICH3J0pbPZ1p2cjGO3kCjV9h6Rx9oSDhL_5jVyHWfyA8gpzXgMbU6q-u9VTPExHcuRkZMvkr0odUxajKOFu43FQYZnHAnfrpswGjmg9F1OUNsSWBOtI7LaV_ciEk4/s1600-h/letsmake_coverBLOG.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282773418975307474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 201px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 306px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6eMdJG9AxncTDHICH3J0pbPZ1p2cjGO3kCjV9h6Rx9oSDhL_5jVyHWfyA8gpzXgMbU6q-u9VTPExHcuRkZMvkr0odUxajKOFu43FQYZnHAnfrpswGjmg9F1OUNsSWBOtI7LaV_ciEk4/s400/letsmake_coverBLOG.jpg" border="0" /></a>Links, text, graphics, sounds, colors, and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Websites are designed using these components. Do you know how to put them together to build your own? Could you teach your children how to create a website? Phyllis Wheeler from <a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/">Motherboard Books</a> has created a step-by-step E-book to walk kids through the process of building a web page.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/letsmake.htm">Let's Make a Web Page!</a> is a 60-page E-book that, together with a free trial of CoffeeCup HTML Editor, enables you to make a web page that contains an original write-up (an interview), a photo, animation, a background design, sound, active links, and finally instructions for how to upload the final product to the Internet.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> Kudos to Phyllis Wheeler! Let's Make a Web Page! is a great introduction to HTML and web page design. Each step is illustrated using a screenshot, a picture demonstrating the written instructions, so it is extremely easy to follow. My husband sat down with our Kindergartner one afternoon, and the two of them had a great time putting the web page together. My daughter chose to do a Christmas theme for her page. She picked the background, some animated graphics, included a favorite Bible verse, and created links to her favorite websites (my blog made the cut!). My husband is computer savvy, but he agrees that the tutorial is well done and very user friendly so that a novice can successfully and easily follow the steps. This E-book is recommended for ages 8-12 to do mostly on their own. Parental supervision is suggested when the tutorial takes the student onto the Internet to search for animated pictures.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/letsmake.htm">Let's Make a Web Page!</a> is a fun and easy way to unlock the secrets of web page design for both children and parents. It is available at <a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/">Motherboard Books</a> for the great introductory price of $19.99 (regular price will be $29.99). It also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Check out <a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/">Motherboard Books</a>, and sign up for the email newsletter to receive a <a href="http://www.motherboardbooks.com/#b1">free download of The Internet Scavenger Hunt</a>--a fun way for kids to practice using the Internet for research!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-78400641186825516892008-12-22T08:57:00.005-05:002008-12-22T10:25:50.759-05:00Puppetools<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfDRqCFqgK2cufIxtRA6g2UH-qkPw5La-b63ZL4-06e3OyAdkS5v_MgpEHvcLENnMpxRSYTMpSjg1QiXiPY-qa55hMgOdKGUpUF85HN08D4ZyvDNCg6Qbjkh1LDPiyLXsrleh9S4pUso/s1600-h/symbolBlog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282633036460912946" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 122px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 119px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfDRqCFqgK2cufIxtRA6g2UH-qkPw5La-b63ZL4-06e3OyAdkS5v_MgpEHvcLENnMpxRSYTMpSjg1QiXiPY-qa55hMgOdKGUpUF85HN08D4ZyvDNCg6Qbjkh1LDPiyLXsrleh9S4pUso/s400/symbolBlog.jpg" border="0" /></a> Homeschooling families know that each of their children learns differently. Some enjoy workbooks, some need a demonstration, while others work best with a hands-on activity to retain a lesson. Parents learn to be creative in teaching their children, and one 'handy' resource to use (forgive the pun) is a puppet. <a href="http://www.puppetools.com/">Puppetools</a> is a website where teachers can discuss ideas for using puppets in the learning process. Creator Jeffrey Peyton provides a pattern for a special hinge fold--the framework for a successful paper hand puppet. There are also 37 downloadable patterns for a variety of insect, animal, and object parts and pieces that you can print and attach to the base to create a finished puppet. For individual access to the website for 60 days, the cost is $20. For an annual subscription for up to 30 different users, the prices is $99.<br /><br /><div><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I like puppets. My children like puppets. I think puppets can be a very effective tool to aid in teaching a whole range of subjects. But, I would not pay $99 to join a forum to discuss puppets and their uses. After checking out the Puppetools website, listening to and watching the provided videos, and looking for opportunities to use puppets during our homeschooling day, I have determined I can get the same kind of information and patterns using the local library, bookstores, my own ingenuity, and my child's own imagination. For some families, though, $20 for 60 days may be a worthwhile investment. Take a look at <a href="http://www.puppetools.com/">Puppetools</a> for yourself.</div>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-52055142010034597092008-12-18T13:25:00.005-05:002008-12-18T18:25:12.413-05:00Crayola Art Studio by Core Learning<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiZy31cJ4Yq0O9RpmE6uRu_6-KCR-KpmjLiZYGPDEuNuS9MyWmrJoht894CWo3grih6cf4bW5EVytht5IZIvB3tMn0wiiI9CrC2Tfe0BwWbqwV1bB-OfNbIv_H7GwbeS0cMVwFBV4kp4/s1600-h/artstudio_infoForBlog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281200727647040754" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 146px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 195px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiZy31cJ4Yq0O9RpmE6uRu_6-KCR-KpmjLiZYGPDEuNuS9MyWmrJoht894CWo3grih6cf4bW5EVytht5IZIvB3tMn0wiiI9CrC2Tfe0BwWbqwV1bB-OfNbIv_H7GwbeS0cMVwFBV4kp4/s400/artstudio_infoForBlog.jpg" border="0" /></a> Fun with crayons, markers, and paint is no longer confined to a physical piece of paper or canvas. Crayola has developed <a href="http://www.core-learning.com/pt_artstudio_info.asp#">Art Studio</a>, a powerful piece of software that enables kids of all ages (and even adults!) to experiment and create all sorts of digital artwork with all sorts of tools.<br /><br />An animated Quick Start Tour will get you going in less than ten minutes with a nice overview of Art Studio's key features. You'll start off learning how to customize your work area, and then it's on to a thorough explanation of the toolbar. There are 12 different Crayola digital art supplies you can choose from including marker, paint, colored pencil, spray paint, crayon, charcoal, and oil pastel. A really cool feature of the art tools is that they respond on the digital canvas like they would in real life. So, for example, you'll see that paint bleeds a bit and blends with other colors as they 'mix' on the work area. You can choose to draw freehand or use shape tools to create lines, circles, or polygons. You are able to change color, mix color on a palette to make your own, or use a color chooser for even more color options. You can even change the hue, shade, or transparency of color. Crayola has included a large stamp library with a collection of hundreds of images to add to your artwork. Images can be resized and altered in appearance. There is a nifty cut picture feature where you can cut out a silhouette of an object and a fill tool to color in closed space with either solid color or patterned motifs. Fortunately there is an undo tool and a redo tool to fix mistakes and a clear picture option to clear the canvas totally and start all over again. Digital creations have the option of being saved in numerous formats, including JPeg, GIF, and Windows Bitmap among others. A 47-page User Manual and a 31-page Activity Guide are also provided in PDF format. The User Manual reveals even more features than the Quick Start Tour, and the Activity Guide gives a great introduction to using the software to practice art techniques such as proportion, using color, perspective, and drawing the human figure and face.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> It is amazing just how powerful a piece of software this is! Drawing with digital crayons may seem like child's play, and believe me my 5-year-old loves it, but with the tools that are provided it is possible to create complex and sophisticated pieces of art! I like to tweak around with Illustrator and Photoshop, but those would be extremely intimidating, too complicated, and ultimately frustrating for my young daughter to try to handle. Art Studio is wonderful because it has the ability to work for both the younger and older child, the art beginner and the more advanced. My husband and I both enjoyed using the software to make some interesting creations. I would highly, highly recommend <a href="http://www.core-learning.com/pt_artstudio_info.asp">Crayola Art Studio</a>! The price is right--just $24.95--available at Core Learning as a Windows download or a physical product shipped to you. Check out <a href="http://www.core-learning.com/artStudio/tour/index.html">the entire Quick Start Tour</a> and then <a href="http://www.core-learning.com/pt_downloadrequest.asp?demo=artstudio&Title=Crayola%20Art%20Studio">download a Demo</a>!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-91501898826843361042008-12-15T15:30:00.008-05:002009-01-12T07:51:30.435-05:00All About Spelling<a href="https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/Download?Id=34"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 247px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 91px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/Download?Id=34" border="0" /></a>Marie Rippel has put together a comprehensive spelling program called <a href="http://www.all-about-spelling.com/">All About Spelling</a> that utilizes three methods of learning: auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (touching). There are four levels available. Each level is sold in a set that includes a teacher's manual and a student material packet. Letter tiles and magnets need to be purchased separately.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> Absolutely wonderful! This program is thorough, well laid out, easy to teach, and fun with no distracting fluff. I have gone through Level One with my kindergartner, and it's been a delight! Each session includes teaching reinforced by flashcards (provided in the student material packet), spelling by the student with magnetized letter tiles on a magnetic board (2'x3' board easily obtained at WalMart or office supply store), and a small spelling test and dictation written out by students on paper. My daughter has so much fun using the tiles to spell out words on the magnetic board, and we are both excited that she can write down three and four word phrases of dictation correctly! We tracked her progress through each of the 24 sessions using an included progress sheet (with a cute beehive theme) which we laminated and used stickers on. As long as you don't have more than one student going through the same level at the same time, you need only one student material packet per level. AND, the entire All About Spelling course is non-consumable so you can use it with siblings year after year.<br /><br />I highly recommend <a href="http://www.all-about-spelling.com/">All About Spelling</a>! It is a no-nonsense, effective program for children to learn phonograms (letter sounds...phonics), to understand the rules for spelling in the English language, and to gain confidence in pronouncing and spelling unfamiliar words. <a href="http://www.all-about-spelling.com/spelling-products.html">Check out the products</a>. Currently there are four levels available. Levels five and six are in the works. All About Spelling is just what I'm looking for to help my children become strong spellers and confident readers!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-79670753995162163472008-12-14T18:12:00.006-05:002008-12-14T21:02:39.873-05:00Alphabet Alley<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimU2EvTb20dn0KOAvZH-IaA2dXt07mRKeYu1CqgtSsqqM74RGsDDlu_pnMFOPMAp91LlcMxt3NkDcNfQNaItU38xf8nVDaoeezLXrg0ToYK_df4h_EKGzyCMRH363Tt1pxP2uIZcJcBiI/s1600-h/BlogHeaderFinal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279790220174176066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 104px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimU2EvTb20dn0KOAvZH-IaA2dXt07mRKeYu1CqgtSsqqM74RGsDDlu_pnMFOPMAp91LlcMxt3NkDcNfQNaItU38xf8nVDaoeezLXrg0ToYK_df4h_EKGzyCMRH363Tt1pxP2uIZcJcBiI/s400/BlogHeaderFinal.jpg" border="0" /></a> Don't you love when someone comes up with new improvements on old ideas that turn good products into great products?! <a href="http://www.alphabetalley.com/default.asp">Alphabet Alley</a> does just that with their versions of some familiar kids' toys and games. <img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.alphabetalley.com/images/products/NoahsArk_cover_346.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div><p><a href="http://www.alphabetalley.com/shopDetails.asp?ID=44">Noah's Ark Go Fish Card Game</a>: You'll find Noah, the ark, and oh-so-cute (and I do mean CUTE!) animals on these laminated (so they wipe clean and have some durability!) cards. Rules are the same as the game you know and love, though you could play to match sets of numbers, colors, or animals to switch things up a bit. These cards are nice and big...much larger than regular playing cards.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279793955405611058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 375px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 367px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAt0WlWGKLlMbw6E9TNhwqkcwjJXVI46z7KbBdx_wf4eYolrewAf5PMg17XBxiUaNVfmxKMqr4e1sunHipccKkt8QSX7eyw2_hSaKc7EcIKadNivK3HwfuvbPgdQ3jPdWsMdwmuKUhY0E/s400/GoFishCardForBlog.jpg" border="0" />This would be excellent for preschool kids (no reading is required to play) through early readers as a party favor, stocking stuffer, gift topper, or travel game! Pick up a set for only $5.99.</p></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 173px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.alphabetalley.com/images/products/Two%20by%20Two%20150.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p><a href="http://www.alphabetalley.com/shopDetails.asp?ID=25">Two By Two Matching Game</a>: Watch out...Noah, the ark, and his crew of cute animals are back. Matching games are great for testing and improving memory, and this game is perfect with its 2" x 2", nicely laminated, VERY thick tiles...much heftier than the sets you'll normally find.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279797560528299874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 375px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksekNlO0Eai_BSI4-GRixDonBWXYZHVrmFjR-dXu1gC4MTWblgwQ7bWVb0ukhsMXSktBSTkhw9sQUkjtX7mugqbRgqskeJanacsfl3ZAG9KYwDKCLFu9TjNEZTDARDLNmQsyxxSSjONE/s400/MemoryCardForBlog.jpg" border="0" />This set of 24 tiles (12 matching pairs) would be great for 3 and up and no reading is required to play. Purchase a set for a special wee one for $10.99.</p><p><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I recommend both of these products. They are very well done for what they are--durable, fun, classic toys for kids. You need to see what other great looking products <a href="http://www.alphabetalley.com/default.asp">Alphabet Alley</a> offers. They've got different versions of both Go Fish and the Matching Game as well as magnetic play sets, stacking blocks, wooden toys, puzzles, and stickers!</p>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-59357097423313139742008-12-14T06:20:00.004-05:002008-12-14T15:36:13.590-05:00Time4Learning<a href="http://www.time4learning.com/images/edmouse_headanim.gif"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 90px" alt="" src="http://www.time4learning.com/images/edmouse_headanim.gif" border="0" /></a>Homeschool families have more curriculum options today than ever before. Some families use textbooks, some use literature, and some even use videos or DVDs for instruction. An additional option now available is to use the Internet for teaching and learning.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.time4learning.com/">Time4Learning</a> is an online education program that touts itself as a fully automated, fun, and complete curriculum for PreK-8th grades with lessons that are self-paced and correlate to all 50 State Standards. It covers four major school subjects: Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Over the last couple of months our family has been given the opportunity to try Time4Learning for ourselves.<br /><br /><strong>Our final verdict:</strong> <span style="color:#000000;">What she liked:</span> Let me say right away that my daughter (a Kindergartner) loved Time4Learning. And why wouldn't she? It is a large collection of learning games filled with bright colors, animation, sound effects, and music. She thought they were fun and they built her confidence in a lot of the skills we are working on with other curricula. <span style="color:#000000;">What she did not like:</span> She had a bit of difficulty with clicking and dragging to play some games as she is still learning how to use a computer mouse. A few games were too intense for her--ones that had a beat-the-clock element. It was stressful for her, and she would ask to skip those. Sometimes she needed the directions reexplained and demonstrated a few times which would frustrate her. Overall, though, she enjoyed the games and would frequently ask to be allowed to log-on to Time4Learning.<br /><br />And me? <span style="color:#000000;">What I liked:</span> Time4Learning has a ton--a TON--of stuff for the parents: lists of scope and sequence, lesson plans, answer keys, and extra printable materials to reinforce the online learning. I have the ability to log in to my daughter's account and see what activities she did, the date and time she did them, how she scored, and even how much total time she spent on the section. I can print all that information for record keeping purposes. I can customize the grade level she works at to match her abilities in each subject. I can set the minimum time she needs to spend on lessons and the maximum time she can spend playing games in the 'playground' area. <span style="color:#000000;">What I did not like:</span> I like technology as much as the next person (maybe even more), but I did not like the idea of my Kindergartner spending so much time on the computer. Some of the games were a bit loud for my taste and some seemed to be 'fluff'--more for the fun than for the learning.<br /><br />As a primary source for teaching and learning, I would pass on Time4Learning, especially for someone so young, like my daughter. I prefer interaction, discussion, and conversation with her rather than having her stare at a computer screen clicking in answers for everything. I also cringe at the thought of delivering core subjects wrapped up in loud, flashy entertainment. As an occasional treat for fun, yes, Time4Learning has a lot of neat games that my daughter really enjoyed playing. As is the case with any curriculum, every family and every child has their unique needs. Time4Learning does help parents to keep a good record of what the child is doing within its online program and provides extra printable material for continuing learning offline. Children find it fun. And while it's not a great fit for our family, it may be for yours. Check out <a href="https://www.time4learning.com/">Time4Learning</a> for yourself. The monthly fee is $19.95 for the first child and $14.95 for each additional child. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee so you can <a href="https://www.time4learning.com/Alpha/Signup_Parent_Information.aspx">try it out risk free</a>!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-24014200486840590672008-12-13T20:02:00.003-05:002008-12-22T23:05:15.000-05:00Let's Be Scientists<a href="http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/images/large/products/DecModuleCover250_LRG.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 322px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/images/large/products/DecModuleCover250_LRG.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>The December module of the Old Schoolhouse Planner features <a href="http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8014">Let's Be Scientists</a>. This 54-page e-book is just right for your budding chemist, astronomer, meteorologist, human anatomist, or just good-old-fashioned curious kid.</div><div></div><div>--Interested in the weather? Follow one of the included links to learn how to make your own weather station that includes a barometer, hygrometer, rain gauge, weather vane, and compass!</div><div>--Want to know more about the solar system? Follow another link to a really cool site where you can watch the planets orbit the sun and see the path of a comet!</div><div>--Into recycling household objects to make something new? There's a link to the classic recycled object bird feeder...much appreciated by the neighborhood, feathered friends especially in the wintertime!</div><div>--Is chemistry your passion? You'll have a blast making slime (yikes!), crystal snowflakes (cool!), invisible ink (ooooh!), homemade ice cream (yum!), jello that glows (whoa!), and a substance that will change from a solid to a liquid with a squeeze of your hand (no way!).</div><div>--Fascinated by the human body? Follow one of the many links to find out interesting facts about your body like: the average adult human has at least 25 feet of intestines!</div><div></div><div>Also included is a section on 'grossology' (I must admit I don't like that someone has decided to fix this name to this topic), which is apparently the study of 'gross', yet natural things that occur in the human body or with animals, and a section on the five amazing senses God has blessed us with. There are also recipes, quizzes, coloring pages, and word searches. The module wraps up with 25 pages of Biblical copy work from the book of Genesis. How wonderful it is to see God acknowledged as the creator of all the things scientists study: the earth, light, air, the oceans, plants, animals, and human beings! This module is brimming with science fun for only $7.95! Head over to The Old Schoolhouse Store to purchase <a href="http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8014">Let's Be Scientists</a> or to <a href="http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/sample/SPDecModule-LetsbeScientistsSample.pdf">check out a sample</a>!</div>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-9159438657105600632008-12-13T19:27:00.003-05:002008-12-13T19:40:46.275-05:00Trigger Memory Systems<a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/boylogowithtext.JPG"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 159px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 144px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/boylogowithtext.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I've been able to view and try out two products from <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/index.html">Trigger Memory Systems</a>. Both are worth checking out! See my blog entries on:<br /><br /><div>1. <a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/trigger-memory-systems-times-tales.html">Times Tales</a>: A fun and easy, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">mnemonic</span>-based program that really works! My 5-year-old learned the 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 upper times tables with ease! Really!</div><br /><div>2. <a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/trigger-memory-systems-clean-n-flip.html">Clean 'N' Flip charts</a>: Effective, easy-to-follow charts that walk kids through cleaning house. Simple steps with illustrations makes easy work of a messy room!</div></div>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-90638538364225030802008-12-13T18:14:00.007-05:002008-12-13T22:06:46.083-05:00Trigger Memory Systems: Clean 'N' Flip<a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/index.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279426103427666274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 135px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtaItETI2ndXEmpSkrdc6SwgUiudt6EIMO4Fm2IXJ6d-eQyabSQSZmXod-eP2rrlz37mCaGds8Vi0JSdnnheQddDgk46YMX1WmSzeM5zHtuf6GKkY0YxaBep2OY35U5XY24RpBF1mVFrI/s200/Flip_Pair2+for+blog.jpg" border="0" />Trigger Memory Systems</a> wants to help you help your kids learn how to help clean house! They have put together three Clean 'N' Flip charts:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Zone.html">Zone Cleaning For Kids</a>: Concentrates on the common areas: living room, kitchen, and bathroom. A nicely laminated, easy-to-use system that allows the parent to assign zones (rooms) and tasks. It even allows for specifying different times during a day that the tasks should be completed.<br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/CleanNFlip.html">Bedroom Cleaning For Kids</a>: Teaches kids how to tackle messes in their own rooms. The kids will begin at the door and work their way around the room sorting, organizing, and putting away items in a highly systematic fashion that is easy to follow...voila, clean bedroom!<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Laundry.html">Laundry For Kids</a>: This is the newest Clean 'N' Flip chart. It takes kids through a parent-customized checklist of simple steps to learn the basics of handling dirty laundry all by themselves.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I really like Zone Cleaning and Bedroom Cleaning. Zone Cleaning is simple and well thought out. I like the lamination which allows for quick assignment and reassignment of rooms and tasks to different members of the family. Bedroom Cleaning is not laminated but does not need to be as the chart is intended to be used by a single person in one room. It could be easily modified if necessary (for example one child does the first three steps and another child can take care of the remaining five). I like both because they, again, have simple steps with simple illustrations and follow an effective, well planned system.<br /><br />I am not a big fan of the Laundry For Kids chart. It is written with the same easy-to-follow steps and illustrations, but the steps are so general that I don't find it particularly useful. It's almost not the fault of the product though. Every household is going to have a different kind of washer and dryer. A lot of them function radically different. It would be impossible to write a simple chart to correctly use them all. In these days of top load or side load, high efficiency machines, special detergents, liquid fabric softeners, fashion fabrics, etc. each home has to have its own formula for properly sorting, washing, and drying the laundry.<br /><br />Each Clean 'N' Flip cart is available separately or can be purchased in money-saving sets. Check out <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/index.html">Trigger Memory Systems</a> to see page samples and prices.MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-25269085356460043722008-12-13T15:50:00.013-05:002008-12-13T18:10:44.059-05:00Trigger Memory Systems: Times Tales<a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/index.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279410280044140994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 165px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 216px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPjhe6yd18WN_V1g4dzPGWJekTcMNtP8_tqPhLzwYQAaJmgHc8A-OfHZW3lcEL_tYKvdONLd-_b-5vUWRhHgiLBCqMByKg1JqQSu6C-gtQh0j1ijoC5OZGW4Xw_y6dzCcHn1ALnra4ck/s400/TimesTales+for+blog.jpg" border="0" />Trigger Memory Systems</a> has a product called <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Deluxe.html">Times Tales</a>. This is what their website says about it:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Times Tales is a creative, innovative mnemonic-based program that makes it fun and easy to memorize the upper multiplication facts. Times Tales uses cute, simple stories to provide students with a "memory peg", allowing them to quickly recall otherwise abstract facts.</em><br /></span><br />And this is what it does: <em><span style="font-size:85%;">Covers the most difficult to memorize times tables: 3x6, 3x7, 3x8, 3x9, 4x6, 4x7, 4x8, 4x9, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, 7x7, 7x8, 7x9, 8x8, 8x9, 9x9</span></em><br /><br />My oldest is in Kindergarten. She has a fabulous memory and a wild imagination. She is currently doing addition and subtraction with sums and differences less than 20. Would this work with her? Could she actually learn her times tables? The product's developers think so. And so the experiment begins...<br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Day 1:</span> My 5-year-old daughter and I sit down across from each other at the kitchen table. I have looked over the instruction manual about 15 minutes prior to get a feeling for how I'm supposed to conduct this learning session for Part 1 (the 3 and 4 upper times tables). I begin the first step: introducing the number symbols (the little pictures and characters), and we quickly move on to Step 2: reading and discussing the eight stories. Step 3 is where my daughter tells each story back to me, and then we're on to Step 4...the Trigger Memory flashcards. And finally Step 5 is regular flashcards. My daughter is giving me the correct answers to the 3 and 4 upper times tables, and it's been about 25 minutes since we started the session. I am not kidding!! It's been less than 30 minutes after we first sat down, and she can tell me that 4x9=36! She impresses Dad when he comes home from work this evening by going through the flashcards correctly with him.<br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">The next week:</span> I have not talked much about Times Tales since Day 1. I hand her a crossword puzzle. To solve it she has to remember details from the stories. She does well. I give her the practice test...perfect score!<br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">The very next day:</span> I complete Part 1 by finishing Step 6. She completes the final test with another perfect score! It has been just over one week since we first began Times Tales, and she knows her 3 and 4 upper times tables.<br /><br />We repeated the same process with Part 2--the stories for 6, 7, 8, and 9. We got the same results in the same kind of time...correct answers to flashcards and perfect test scores!<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I'm a believer! Times Tales works! No, my Kindergartner does not understand <em>how</em> to do multiplication, but I do believe that since she now knows the correct answers to the more difficult-to-memorize times table facts that multiplication will make more sense to her in less time when we do get around to learning about it. For children that are actually doing multiplication (2nd or 3rd grade?) this would be an excellent help! The stories are fun and easy to remember (just like they said they'd be!), and the program is non-consumable so I can use it with my other children (yay!). <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Deluxe.html">Times Tales</a> is available from <a href="http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/index.html">Trigger Memory Systems</a> for $29.95 and comes with:<br /><ul><li><em>2 Part Story Flipchart</em></li><li><em>Trigger Memory & Regular Flashcards (multiplication & division)</em></li><li><em>Roll 'Em Cube Game</em></li><li><em>Easy Instruction Manual</em></li><li><em>Memory Story Discussion Guide</em></li><li><em>Various Tests & Challenges</em></li></ul>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-41346148706776529102008-12-10T09:27:00.008-05:002008-12-14T21:05:45.911-05:00The Little Man in the Map<img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 175px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px" alt="" src="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/images/products/MIM_FrontCover_thb.jpg" border="0" />Could you and your children find Nebraska quickly and with confidence on an unlabeled map of the United States? How about Ohio? New Hampshire? Alabama? No? Would you like to be able? <a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=279">The Little Man in the Map</a> by Andrew Martonyi is a book created to help you correctly locate all 50 of the United States from memory. The book is written entirely in rhyme and introduces the reader to MIM (the little <strong>M</strong>an <strong>I</strong>n the <strong>M</strong>ap). MIM is made up of five states head to toe: Minnesota is his hat, Iowa is his face, Missouri is his shirt, Arkansas is his pants, and Louisiana is his boot. The book breaks down the United States into five different regions and MIM acts as a guide, taking the reader through each as well as the District of Columbia.<br /><br /><strong>My final verdict:</strong> I can definitely see MIM when I look at a U.S. map--there he stands with a funny hat and one boot. But once the book introduces the individual regions, the picture clues are not always so obvious. The five regions are: Midwestern, South Central, Southeastern, Northeastern, and Western. Midwestern was good--I will always picture Illinois as honking on Iowa's nose, South Central was ok. Southeastern was a bit of a reach with the picture clues for Maryland and Delaware, but it was very helpful with the MAGS acronym to stand for the order of states from Mississippi to South Carolina. Where I had a real problem was the New England states listed in the Northeastern region. The picture clues for Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were not very helpful...even a bit confusing as I could not really visualize the clues as the 'boots' they were supposed to resemble. On the positive side, I thought the clues for New York and Lake Ontario were excellent. Finally the Western region had both hits and misses. The acronym for the states that make up Four Corners was good as well as the color coding clues for California and Nevada. On the other hand, Washington and Oregon are introduced at the same time and no real differentiation is made between the two with the picture clue.<br /><br />As a stand alone product, I would say 'no' to The Little Man in the Map. The rhymes are, at many times, too forced and have too much detail to be easily remembered. The picture clues are, also at times, too much of a stretch of the imagination to be helpful. BUT, I would definitely say 'yes' to MIM if he is used as a supplement. Some of the acronyms and picture clues are very helpful and fun and would be excellent at reinforcing rote memory or other forms of learning U.S. geography.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=279">The Little Man in the Map</a> is a nicely hardbound book published by <a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/">Schoolside Press</a>. Priced at $19.95, copies can be autographed by the author for no additional charge. A large, laminated <a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=280">The Little Man in the Map</a> wall map is also available for purchase as well as <a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/downloads/MIM_coloringPage.pdf">FREE coloring pages from the book</a>. If you find you like this book, keep checking the <a href="http://www.schoolsidepress.com/">Schoolside Press website</a>. They will be releasing another MIM book to help learn the state capitals. Want to keep up with the book's author? <a href="http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/FrogsJumpUSA/">Check out Andrew Martonyi's blog</a>.MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-36585687441576624032008-12-07T17:37:00.003-05:002008-12-07T17:44:00.130-05:00Contest winner!Congratulations, once again, to Jill! She won the latest drawing for a very nice brown and pink homeschool tote from The Old Schoolhouse (with some goodies tucked inside!). Thank you to her and to one of my other faithful visitors, Susanne! I really appreciate your visits, encouraging words, and support!MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1464049365847134086.post-28616420159294560032008-12-06T13:29:00.003-05:002008-12-06T14:04:30.881-05:00Salem Ridge Press<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3mDFu_VTZS4vvDm_ayjgETz5ovEHiHWngGA0MfxvOsZyiuogqq1urFsrjGbMuo9MKeMBXQBajdjBbt0hBziyXUrAyyBXeht0YkFHguB2sH4I8v4B1X69OMY-z6QgIGlD8w_aIfnqBoE/s1600-h/SRPblog.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276754358863914802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 360px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 81px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3mDFu_VTZS4vvDm_ayjgETz5ovEHiHWngGA0MfxvOsZyiuogqq1urFsrjGbMuo9MKeMBXQBajdjBbt0hBziyXUrAyyBXeht0YkFHguB2sH4I8v4B1X69OMY-z6QgIGlD8w_aIfnqBoE/s400/SRPblog.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Since November 2005 <a href="http://www.salemridgepress.com/">Salem Ridge Press </a>has had the mission of publishing quality children's books of the 1800's and early 1900's. Their book categories include:</div><ul><li>Historical Fiction (broken down into three subcategories: Church, World, and American History)</li><li>Adventure</li><li>Allegory</li><li>and books for Young Readers</li></ul><p>I have now read three books republished by <a href="http://www.salemridgepress.com/">Salem Ridge Press </a>and have absolutely loved each one! Please see my book reviews by clicking on the following individual links:</p><ul><li><a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-mary-jane-her-book.html">Mary Jane - Her Book </a>: recommended for ages 6-10, but it was perfect for my 5-year-old daughter.</li><li><a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/book-review-american-twins-of.html">The American Twins of the Revolution </a>: recommended for ages 8-adult. My 5-year old enjoyed it but obviously did not fully understand the historical context yet. It is based on a TRUE story! I loved it and was sad when I came to the story's end.</li><li><a href="http://michelleislearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/book-review-glaucia-greek-slave.html">Glaucia the Greek Slave </a>: recommended for ages 10-adult. A more challenging fictional read but an excellent book to see the early Christian church at work in ancient Rome and Greece.</li></ul><p><a href="http://www.salemridgepress.com/">Salem Ridge Press </a>offers most of their books in both hard and softcover. These are the types of books that will be favorites to be handed down in the family or to be happily purchased and given as gifts! Take a look, and while you're there <a href="http://www.salemridgepress.com/contactus.html">sign up for their quarterly e-mail newsletter </a>for a chance to win a free, newly-released book!</p>MichelleLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347554336212641071noreply@blogger.com0