Mathletics

It's pretty important to review your math skills, lest you forget how to multiply! So it was fun (for me... and I suppose for the children!) to receive free access for a little while to Mathletics.

Mathletics is a "curriculum- based resource for students at school and home." Its website states the benefits as

*students love it, becoming highly motivated to improve

*phenomenal improvement rates

*weekly report emailed to parents

*used and trusted by millions of students and schools worldwide

*kindergarten to grade 8 available now

*less than $2 a week

Mathletics contains over 750 learning activities for children!

I could continue to quote from the website, but instead I'll tell you that our family loves Mathletics! The main user in our family has been our eight year old, but Mommy and Middleman (4) have used it as well.

Each time we visited Mathletics, we signed in with a user name and password. (The first time there, you'll create your own persona with a Face Maker.) You'll choose either Live Mathletics (Mommy thought it was great to be able to compete against children in other countries!), or an activity from a variety of math topics. After you've worked through all the activities, you can choose to take a test on what you've learned.

I cannot tell you if your child will love Mathletics, or if his math skills will certainly improve, but Butterbean's basic facts knowledge has improved. I enjoyed visiting the Parent center where I could check in on the boys' progress and print out practice workbooks if I chose.

Overall, we really enjoyed our free trial of Mathletics. Unfortunately, the cost of $59 per child per year is not in our budget right now! Don't take my word for it. Visit Mathletics yourself!

Read what my reviewer buddies have to say.

Tektoma Review

Tektoma is a company that provides "engaging video tutorials that teach children game programming." Their website states

Tektoma offers you this:
Engaging video tutorials for ages 7-17
Tutorials of varying skill levels and topics
Learn at your own pace in the comfort of your home
Natural progression helps develop technical skills
Customize your learning experience
Low monthly membership fee gives access to all our resources
New curriculums available monthly

I received a free three month subscription to review.

The first thing I had to do in order to access all the materials needed was download Gamemaker software and a Gamemaker Resource folder. As we continually have some kind of computer difficulty, my first thought was a deep sigh and "oh, no, I don't want to download something else!" Luckily, Hero said it should be all right, and to go ahead, so on I went!

After downloading Gamemaker and the resources, I went right away to the first tutorial "How to make a racing game." I was intrigued with this one, as it is described as "appropriate for beginners and has no guns or shooting."

The gentleman talking in my tutorial does a really nice job explaining the how-tos. I love how the tutorial shows you onscreen exactly what you should see, and click on! I got pretty confused when so many windows kept popping up over the tutorial. I had to keep clicking in and out of windows; going back and forth between the tutorial and my game-making process! I had to keep stopping and starting, rewinding and fast-forwarding to make sure I had done everything correctly. During this whole process, my computer froze up on several occasions and I finally gave up!

Butterbean (8) tried out the first tutorial once. He sat through about five minutes worth, said "I'm bored," and went off to play energetically! My boys love computer games, but right now, game making doesn't hold their attention.

I think this website is very well organized, as were the tutorials. If I were a techie, or had a techie-kid (which one day in the future, the boys may well be!), I think Tektoma would be well worth the subscription!

To judge for yourself, or to subscribe to Tektoma for $14.95 per month please go here. To read what other reviewers have to say, go here.

Homemade Play dough

There's something special about homemade play dough. Maybe my feeling stems from my childhood when Grandma would throw together some flour and water and we'd have an afternoon of fun.
When my four year old asked if he could play with play dough, I invited him to his kitchen step stool so we could make some. He loved stirring the mixture as I added the necessary ingredients to the big pot. To make it even more fun, I added aroma... pumpkin pie spice and a dash of nutmeg... mmmmm!
Together we watched and stirred, our arms getting tired, as the clumpy "mess" turned into a soft smooth dough. We turned it out of the pot onto the counter to knead it while it was still warm. I don't know which part was more fun, creating the dough with my "big boy," or helping him roll out and cut the dough with cookie cutters.
Yes, there's a bit of educational value (I look for it in everything!) to him using his small motor skills to measure, stir, roll and cut. But I think the bigger picture here was the time I spent with my little man making memories that will last a lifetime!
And for the practical side... here's my recipe!

Homemade Play dough
2 Cups flour
2 Cups water
1 Cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
Food coloring (optional)
Spices (optional... I usually add this to my flour first)
Mix in a pot on the stove over low heat until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides. Knead. Have fun!

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.

Happy Birthday Firstborn!

Sometimes I cannot believe I am a mommy! Let alone a mommy to an eight year old! We celebrated our first born's birth a few weeks ago with lots of excitement. We went roller skating (whew- blast from the past!), played laser tag (a first for me, but I must admit it was lots of fun!), and had ice cream cone cupcakes, at Butterbean's request. I thought I'd share some photos with you. Enjoy!

GyMathtics

Exploramania sent me a free DVD to review. GyMathtics has won several awards, including Dr. Toy's 10 Best Active Products. We were pretty excited to check it out! Not only is GyMathtics a fitness video, but it has a mathematical twist as well! When we first popped in the DVD, it took the boys and me a few minutes to get into the groove. It was pretty difficult to read the menu on our t.v., but when we finally got going, I started "working out" with Ms. Carrie (hey, great name!) and her on-screen helpers.

The program includes

Shape Stretches Warm Up

Counting Calisthenics

Pattern Power

Well-Being Wind Down

Babyman really enjoyed watching and dancing with GyMathtics. It took Butterbean (8) and Middleman (4) a while to get up and take part! Normally they love active videos, but they both thought this one was a bit silly. Since the program is geared for 2nd-5th graders, I thought it would have been nice to have more of that age group appearing in the video (it looked to me like just one was of that age). I found the screen to be a bit busy at times, with the exercise portion shrunk down, and math-related graphics appearing. In my opinion, the exercise and math weren't as cohesive as they could have been. I felt at times they were disconnected with each other. I also felt the Wind Down voice-overs had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the DVD!

Exploramania has a really cute website, so be sure to check it out! You can view a snippet of the GyMathtics video there. I think the overall idea was great, but our family, as a whole, didn't enjoy it as much as some families might. You can order your GyMathtics DVD for $24.99.

Don't just take my word, see what other reviewers have to say!

AVKO

"AVKO is a non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive), and keyboarding. AVKO is dedicated to teaching everyone how to read and spell, regardless of their mild to moderate learning disabilities, dyslexia, poverty, or opportunity."

I had the opportunity to review this company as they have given me a free one year membership to their website. I find the website to be a bit overwhelming. It seems like it would be helpful to own AVKO's Sequential Spelling in order to really get into the site. However, I did enjoy perusing the oodles of free Ebooks! With your $25 a year membership, you will receive these Ebooks for free:

The Patterns of English Spelling (All 10 Volumes) with Word Families in Sentence Context
To Teach a Dyslexic
Starting at Square One
The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College.
The Reading Teacher's List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words

You will also get access to the member's section, discounts on AVKO materials, Don McCabe's (AVKO's Research Director) workshop recordings, pretests and placement tests and supplemental materials (which is why it might be helpful to own Sequential Spelling).

I recommend you check out AVKO yourself and see if the membership works for your family!

To read what other reviewers have to say, click below!

American Heritage

American Heritage Education Foundation sent me a free CD to review titled America's Heritage an adventure in liberty. My CD included lesson plans for Elementary, Elementary in Spanish, Middle School and High School. As my oldest is technically a third grader, I will focus on the Elementary level for this review.

The Elementary curriculum contains fourteen units including (but not limited to!) Colonial America, Thanksgiving, The Star Spangled Banner and The Pledge of Allegiance and Creed. The units contain exerpts from speeches of famous Americans, poetry, and activity suggestions for teachers and students focusing on the four themes of American Heritage; freedom, unity, progress and responsibily.

The worksheets & memorization tools, games & puzzles, read-alouds and even creative dramatics practically ensure fun learning of our important past. Our children also had the opportunity to brush up on our patriotic voices, as lyrics to many beloved songs are included. (hmm, maybe we'll remember the words when Mommy sings our National Anthem at the Pinewood Derby next year!)

There are some fantastic printables in this neat packet. I particularly enjoyed the President cards (hey, we need a current one, though), and The Star Spangled Banner unit. We plan to use the Thanksgiving lesson as a miniature unit study in the coming couple of weeks.

I think both teacher and students are bound to learn something through this all-American curriculum. It would be a great companion to any study of America.

Now for the best part. The CD version of this outstanding K-12 Teacher Lesson Plan Resource is FREE! If you'd like a printed bound edition, you'll need to pay just $19.50. We cannot wait to delve into it further!

To read what others think, check out our Crew Blog!

Bright Ideas Press - A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers

As part of being a reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I received a free digital copy of A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers from Bright Ideas Press. "This course provides a close-up look at famous composers, their music, and their times, with special attention to character traits and Christian testimony..."

I have been looking forward to receiving this study so that I might incorporate more classical music study in our homeschool days (and because I LOVE to listen to it!). For years, I have used classical music in my preschool classrooms and in my home to promote calmness and healthy brain activity. A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers has been a great addition to our growing knowledge of music past and present.

Throughout our test run of A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers, we learned about composers from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary Periods. We read about Vivaldi, Haydn and Mendelssohn, to name a few. We read about the lives of these great people, and were provided with lots of resources to reinforce what we learned.

Bright Ideas Press includes tons of hands on activities in their appendix. So although I thought the reading sections were a bit above my boys' heads, we enjoyed the time lines, coloring pages, composer cards and suggested listening links. As we grow, we will definitely take advantage of the note taking pages, Student Review Questions, maps and quizzes.

My primary goal has been to introduce a variety of classical music and the names of the great composers. Over time, as we study more about these musical masterpieces, this composer study will prove to be a great asset.

To find out more, please check out the Bright Ideas Press website. To purchase your A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers (recommended for grades 4-8) for just $29.95 for the CD-ROM version or $34.95 for paperback, you can do so here.

Want to know what other reviewers thought? Click on the banner below!

Babybug

Yeah, I finally got Babybug's (my 10 month old niece) dress done! Here she is in all her ladybuggie cuteness!