TOS Review ~ Read for the Heart

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My final TOS review for the 2010 – 2011 school year is a real special treat by Sarah Clarkson called Read for the Heart. This is such an awesome book, and I am so glad that I had an opportunity to add it to our home library. 

"When we limit our ability to articulate truth about God, we limit our awareness of His presence and power in our lives." ~ Sarah Clarkson, Read For the Heart

Have you ever tried to come up with an age appropriate reading list for your children and come up blank?  Well, this book should be the very first spot you  look to.  It is loaded with a wealth of knowledge about the wholesome, quality literature you long for.

Here is the publisher’s description:
"Keeping this volume close at hand is like having a child’s librarian for a best friend! A great book spurs the imagination in childhood, inspires our dreams in adulthood, and nourishes the soul with depictions of life fully and courageously lived. Among the greatest gifts you can bequeath to a child are a love for reading and a passion for books. But how do you sort through the many thousands of books available to your children to find those that are worthwhile? Let Sarah Clarkson be your guide to the best in literature for your family. From timeless classics to modern favorites, from picture books to adventure novels to read-aloud favorites, more than 1,000 wonderful stories for young people are recommended within these pages. Now you can make great literature a lasting part of your child’s life and education."

I can’t say enough good things about this book and will sing it’s praises to anyone who will listen.  Go out and get your hands on a copy ASAP.  My favorite thing about this book is how the books are broken down into categories.  If you are looking  for a specific genre of book, say on History, you can go to that section and see her recommendations.

Read for the Heart is available from Apologia for just $17.00. Like I said before this book needs to be added to your home library!!!

Want to read what my crewmates thought of this book, click here.

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I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and as such received a copy of  Read for the Heart from Apologia, in exchange for a thorough and honest review.  Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews.  The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but are not influenced by the company or the free product provided .

Wordless Wednesday

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TOS Review ~ Eagle’s Wings: Considering God’s Creation

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If your a long time homeschooler then maybe you have heard of Eagle’s Wings Educational Materials.  Our family is just completing our 2nd year of homeschooling and this is my first exposure to this awesome company and there products.  Eagle’s Wings Educational Materials  has been providing resources to the homeschooling community since 1987.  They currently have products for math, phonics, history and science.

We received Considering God's Creation to review.  It  is a hands on, multi-grade life science curriculum with a Christian worldview geared toward children in the grades of 2nd to 7th.  We received the Student manual (268 pages) and the Teachers manual (128 pages) for this review as well as an audio CD.

The teachers manual includes scripted lessons that can be read or used for discussions. The answer key to the student's book is also included in the teachers manual.  Some of the 36 topics covered include the solar system, weather, reptiles, insects, and the food chain.

Each lesson includes:

• Preparation
• Vocabulary
• Introduction
• Song/Poem
• Hands on Activity
• Bible Reading
• Notebook
• Evolution Stumpers
• Review
• Digging Deeper

Here are a few samples of the pages included in the book.

Considering God’s Creation (including Teacher’s Manual, Student Notebook, and CD) is available from Eagle’s Wings for $29.95.  Additional Student workbooks are available for $13.95 each.

With this one book you can cover all areas of your science study. One of my favorite parts of this curriculum is the low amount of prep time needed to get a lesson ready.  I was able to let the girls pick a topic and then we dove right in and started learning.  I also loved that the materials needed to complete experiments were items that we already have in the house.  We plan on continuing to use this during our summer studies and throughout next school year as a supplement to our biology curriculum. 

  Check out what my crewmates had to say by clicking, HERE.

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I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and as such received a copy of  Considering God’s Creation from Eagle’s Wing Educational Materials, in exchange for a thorough and honest review.  Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews.  The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but are not influenced by the company or the free product provided .

TOS Review ~ Reading Street

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Pearson Education gave our family a copy of their Second Grade Language Arts, student texts, Reading Street 2.1 and 2.2 by Scott Foresman as apart of the  of the TOS Homeschool Crew.  If you have spent any of your childhood in a public elementary school you would be familiar with the format and layout.  The two student volumes we received consist of living books that have been republished and broken up into units that each have a theme.  The story is first introduced by giving high frequency words and an introduction to the genre of the literature.  Reading comprehension questions are also included at the end with the stories.

 

Mikayla and I really enjoyed these books.  I was pleasantly taken back to my elementary school days with the format and layout.  The stories were engaging  and kept Mikayla reading.  Some of my favorite things include the wide range of literary choices in the volumes (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, & folk tales), grammar reinforcement, and organized units with colorful pages.

While the pricing for the textbooks are comparable the teacher’s manuals are quite expensive.  However, one does not really need the teacher’s manual to get the job done in the home school classroom.  Weekly tests are also available  but I think that would be more for a school classroom.

Each Textbook costs $43.47, or a two book set is $86.97

DVD-ROM Version of the texts $86.97

Weekly Tests Student edition $ 7.97

Weekly Test Teacher Manual $41.47

Unit Teacher Manual $38.47 each (12 volumes in set)

Check out what my crew mates had to say by clicking HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and as such received a two Reading Street textbooks from Pearson Education, in exchange for a thorough and honest review.  Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews.  The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but are not influenced by the company or the free product provided .

sick…again

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This is the 2nd time within the last few months that I have been sick.  This time I got really sick.  Like loosing 5 pounds in one day, laying on the floor and can’t move because I am seeing bright blue stars, sick!  The last three plus weeks we have been on the move constantly and my body is telling me to slow down. Um, I got it, things are going to change for the better and quickly!!! Thankfully the Lt. was home to take care of me and to preoccupy the girls.  I found some great deals yesterday at the thrift store, can’t wait to show them to you.  But for now, I am off to climb back into bed and rest I will catch up with you next week…

Chat later!

TOS Review ~ Wordy Qwerty

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Remember when I did my review for Talking Fingers company? Well now the company has a new program out called Wordy Qwerty.  This new program is marketed towards children aged 7 to 10 and teaches spelling skills along with typing skills at the same time.    

Throughout the program two keyboards named Qwerty and Midi act as your guide.  In 20 consecutive lessons  your child’s  goal is to help Midi build a music machine.  These two guide your child through  each of the 6 steps inside each lesson.  Wordy Qwerty focuses on six steps inside each lesson to guide your child to reading and writing fluency through the program:

1. Patterns – such as sorting words by the beginning letter.
2. Karaoke – rhyme and song combine to make spelling memorable.
3. Recycler – word families are as simple as changing the first letter.
4. Pop-a-Word – helps work on recognizing outlaw words.
5. Write Stories – using recently acquired spelling rules the child types stories dictated a line at a time.
6. Read Stories – reading a good story make learning fun, but these stories are missing some words. Students get to fix them.

Wordy Qwerty is available from the Talking Fingers website and is available in two formats. You can purchase an online edition with a 5 year license that includes an audio cd, JingleSpells of the 20 songs in the program. Below are the prices:

• $25.00 for one user
• $40.00 for two users
• $52.50 for three users
• $60.00 for four users
• $71.25 for five users

The Home Edition is $35.00 and includes the program CD, program guide, and cd of all 20 songs contained in Wordy Qwerty.

System Requirements

Mac: OS9 with CarbonLib or OSX

Windows: 98, SE, 2000, XP

Also requires QuickTime 6 (included) or greater

Mikayla was my primary reviewer for Wordy Qwerty.  She thoroughly enjoyed logging on and using the program.  I do plan for her to continue using the program over the summer to complete all the lessons. Want to test it out for yourself? Try before you buy?  Check out the free demo online, here to use lesson one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and as such received a subscription for Wordy Qwerty, in exchange for a thorough and honest review.  Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews.  The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but are not influenced by the company or the free product provided .