Lobster Network

Lobster Network is a one of a kind application that allows users to share, trade, sell and organize products of their choice. By setting up communities in Lobster Network with their friends and neighbors, users can expand their accessibility to almost any type of item. After joining the network users can search for any number of items to trade, borrow or buy. Users also have the ability to place items for sale to any other users (member or non-member).

What I have understood so far, is that you sign up for the free site, enter some of your personal belongings that you want to share, trade or sell. Then wait for someone to bite. While waiting, you can check out what others have to loan.

Although I think the idea of Lobster Network is a good one, so far, my access to the site for review purposes really hasn't done me much good.
I have heard that some users are sharing Lobster Network with their homeschool support groups, but I am not a part of a group. I do not have a huge network of connections. So for me, I'll be happy to pass the word along should I encounter someone, but Lobster Network just isn't for me at this time.

You'll find Lobster Network if you click right here. I suggest you read what the owner has to say too. She explains it quite well! If you'd like to read what other reviewers thought, just click the Crew graphic below.

I reviewed this product with no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.

Ideal Curriculum

"Preschool Curriculum" is a niche market. Having a preschool/daycare in my home, I receive little pamphlets and brochures almost every other week with the newest resources available. As my review year is coming to a close with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I reviewed month one of Ideal Curriculum's Transportation theme kit.

Ideal Curriculum says on their website that each of their monthly curriculum kits include
"•Daily lessons and activities for literacy, math, calendar, oral language, and science/social studies

•Teaching guides
•Workbook
•Music CD
•Science, sight words, and concepts about print books
•Supplemental activities"

And the Skills Taught are

"•Letters and Sounds -Letter Names
•Phonological Awareness -Listening Skills
•Concepts About Print -Print is all Around
•Sight Words -Name Recognition
•Math -Rote Counting"

Ideal Curriculum would be great for a facility preschool teacher just starting out, that wants to provide the children a little something more than just daycare. She could pick and choose so that the children wouldn't have too much deskwork at their fragile age. A homeschooler might use this curriculum to supplement what she already uses, or just as a change for the little guy who wants to "do schoolwork" with his older brother.

The songs provided with the transportation kit were cute and Babyman (2) loved them. There are some printable pages for those who teach using worksheets. I really liked the real-photo books provided. However, I have so much stuff on my shelf like this already from my preschool teaching days, that I would not have purchased Ideal Curriculum.

You can order your Ideal Curriculum Kit here. My readers can get a 10% discount by using the code welovekids before May 31st. To read what other reviewers thought, go here.

I wrote this review in exchange for the product above. I did not receive compensation and the opinions are expressly my own.

Math Mammoth

Math Mammoth, written by Maria Miller has been my latest math review quest. This is the first math curriculum review that I've been able to print out, so I'm pretty excited about it!

Math Mammoth offers four different color-coded series of books. The Light Blue series is a grade-leveled complete math curriculum. The Blue series contains shorter worktexts for various topics. The Golden and Green series are worksheet collections for third to eighth graders.

As recommended by Ms. Miller, Butterbean (8, boy) took a couple of placement tests and together we decided upon the Grade 3 complete worktext from the Light Blue series. Both parts contain all the lesson materials and exercises, and include the explanations of the concepts. Each chapter has an introduction to assist the teacher, that includes a list of online links.

Part A covers Addition and Subtraction Strategies, Multiplication Concept, Multiplication Tables, Clock and Money. Part B teaches Place Value with Thousands, Geometry, Measuring, Division, More on Multiplication and Fractions. The e-version that I downloaded also came with lots of support materials; geometry cut-outs, cumulative reviews with answer keys for each chapter, tests, extra chapters on Canadian and European money, and an awesome worksheet generator.

As we take several days to complete each lesson, we are not very far along in the worktext. Butterbean has been working at a third grade level this year, but we have found Math Mammoth to be challenging. He has learned many new math concepts, and has also had plenty of review! Math Mammoth has, happily, taken over as our math curriculum. We plan to complete all of Grade 3.

I had some concerns with Middleman (5, boy) as I've never done written math work with him. But he insisted "Mommy, I want to review something too!!!" Ms. Miller was kind enough to send me Addition 1 to try out with him. He has loved playing the suggested games with Butterbean. We have looked through the Addition 1 worktext, and have used manipulatives while looking at the written problems (with pictures). We have not done any written math work with Middle, though. I am excited to use this worktext over the next couple years with him. I know he'll enjoy it!

Overall, Math Mammoth has been a great fit for my family. Ms. Miller has been a wonderful advisor, and the program itself is terrific! You can download Grade 3 parts A and B for $29.70. If you want to order printed copies, you can do that too. The supportive materials are sold separately for $14.

Please read what other reviewers had to say by clicking the banner below.

I received the above materials free of charge, and reviewed them with no compensation.

All About Spelling

Yay, yay, yay! I received All About Spelling from Take Away Press to review. I was very excited to receive actual printed curriculum, as it's been a while! I received Levels 1 and 2. Upon looking through the books, it looked like Level 1 would work for Middleman (4) and Level 2 for Butterbean (7).

All About Spelling is "the multisensory program for spelling success." Through the step by step scripted lessons, and the use of magnetic letter tiles, the oft dreaded spelling can be learned or relearned with relative ease. The built in daily review and constant repetition found in this curriculum are very helpful to both teacher and student.

Using the Phonogram Cards, Sound Cards, Key Cards and Word Cards, spelling can be taught visually, verbally, aurally and kinesthetically. Children will watch spelling concepts being demonstrated and written down. They will review spelling rules and segment words out loud, and say phonograms as they are written. They will write down dictated sounds, words and sentences. They will practice spelling using letter tiles.

I do think that before choosing All About Spelling, it would be helpful to read some of the sample lessons found on the website. It would be important to make sure your reading program works well with this spelling choice. As Middleman (4) is just learning how to read, I found the phonograms in All About Spelling to be introduced differently than he is learning them, causing some confusion. I'm not sure if this program would be appropriate for beginning readers. Although it does use phonics, it's a bit advanced for my early reader!

As I suspected, Butterbean flew right through level 1. We probably could have gone straight to level 2 as the first lesson is a quick review of level 1. In fact, looking at the examples on the website, he could probably spell all the words in all the lessons! [His Mommy is well known as a fantastic speller! Whenever spelling comes up in a conversation with friends or complete strangers (more often than you would think!), Daddy often says "Go ahead, Babe, spell antidisestablishmentarianism."] My children read widely and are read to A LOT. Combine copywork with reading above grade level, and they rarely see words spelled incorrectly. I have also never really allowed "invented spelling." Misspellings are generally not accepted when Mama is the teacher! Needless to say, even though Butterbean is already a good speller, it never hurts to learn those spelling rules!

Overall, we have really enjoyed using All About Spelling. We probably will not continue through all of the lessons with Butterbean, but we will more than likely use the Key (spelling rules) Cards for review as needed. After Middleman is fully reading, we probably will try out All About Spelling with him!

To purchase All About Spelling, check out their website here! You can get the Starter Kit for $26.95, Level 1 for $29.95 and Level 2 for $39.95. You can view a video recommending purchases to get started as well. If you'd like to read what other reviewers had to say, you can do so here.