TOS Review: Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura

As a child, I grew up reading Little House on the Prairie books and watching the TV shows. I loved it! I remember waiting for the show to come on TV everyday.

When I heard about an upcoming review about Almanzo and Laura from Legacy Documentaries, you can imagine how I felt. My bugs have all become fans of these books and shows, so when we had the opportunity to review one of two DVDs , we were ecstatic!!! We chose Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura.

Dean Butler is actually the executive producer, the actor who played Almanzo Wilder on the TV show. It tells the story of Farm Boy, one of the books in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.

This documentary takes you back in time to Almanzo's childhood about his life in New York.

Almanzo Wilder was born in 1857 when America was in the Great Depression. He was raised to be a hard worker and was taught to do everything himself, not to depend or rely on anyone else. I really like how it focused on hard work and discipline. It also showed how much respect he had for his parents. These are traits that I think every parent wants to instill in their child/children. My husband and I work very hard everyday to instill these traits into our children.

This documentary touched on so many different topics. From how food was prepared back then, from whole foods not processed like today to Morgan horses.

We thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. We, as a family, watch many episodes of Little House on the Prairie that we have purchased on DVD. We also have the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder book series and in the near future, plan to do a Unit Study on the series. This DVD will just add more information and enjoyment to our DVD library and school studies.

Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura DVD sells for $21.95. It is 53 minutes long and is appropriate for all ages.

Go see what other crew members had to say about these awesome DVDs.

Circle Time Review!!!

As a Schoolhouse Review Crew member, I had the opportunity to review Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Homeschool Day, from Preschoolers and Peace.

This ebook I received is 33 pages and has so much insight, tips and ideas from other moms that have used it. Kendra, the author, discusses strageties for accomplishing things you want to get done during this time.

Introduction

Planning a Circle Time That Works for You

How to Get Your Kids on Board

Questions From Moms Like You

Words of Wisdom from other Moms who do Circle Time

Resources, Activities and Ideas

Printable Planner Sheets

This is a great book! Once I finished reading it, I was truly excited. It helped me with more ideas and how I could really improve our upcoming school year in a couple of weeks. We are almost ready to start our new year, so I was happy to have time to try this out. Well, I think it is something we will really enjoy and I am really excited to see how this will work for us. So far so good. I have to say I think since we started with this, it has become everyone's favorite part of the day.

One of the topics was having the older children teach and help out with certain topics. That gave me an idea. Since I will be giving birth to our sixth bug in about four weeks, I thought this would be perfect for the older two bugs. I am still trying to decide what I want them to be in charge of . I am sure with the help of this book, we can come up with something.

I really enjoyed this sweet, short read. This is a great resource for anyone with littles or just needs a little help.

This ebook sells for $4.99.

If you would like to see what other families are saying about Circle Time, head on over to the TOS Crew.

Couponing Made Simple.....Molly Crew Review

Are you one that wants to use coupons but really don't know how? I have the solution, Couponing Made Simple by Christi the Coupon Coach. The Molly Crew had the opportunity to review this product. Her books sells for $18.00 or $4.99 for the ebook.

Christi is a homeschooling mom of 4 and has been couponing for years. Her book teaches you how to use BOGO coupons (Buy One Get One Free), and how to "stack". This is what she calls successful couponing.

In her book, she shares a step-by-step process:

1. Buy Newspapers

2. Sort Newspapers

3. Find the Deals

4. Make Coupon Matches

5. Organize for Coupon Run

6. Shop and Save

7. Wrap Up at Home

8. Celebrate & Share

Here are the contents in her book:

1. Success Stories

2. A New Way to Shop

3. The Language of Couponing

4. Organization System

5. Step-by-Step Process

6. Tips & Tools

7. Couponing Ethics

8. Networking & Communicating

9. Bonus Section

10. Beyond Couponing

When the book arrived, I thought I would be overwhelmed by it but when I started reading it, I really enjoyed learning about the process which made it very simple to understand. She has so many ways of using coupons.

How it worked for me:

We live in a small town and the one newspaper that is available to buy has no coupons in it, not even on Sunday! So, I went online and found various websites where I could print coupons. After that, I went around town collecting all of the sales papers. When we put our minds and energy into this, we save anywhere from around $8 - $10 each shopping trip. That's not much compared to Christi but I am hoping to learn more and more each time and one day walk out saving 68%  or more like Christi.

My final thoughts:

If you want to learn how to coupon and don't have the time to figure it all out on your own, you may want to look into purchasing Chrisit's book. She has done all of the work for you! I am looking forward to learning more and more from her. I just scratched the surface!

I really like the best and last deal she says we will ever find. The deal of the universe----- SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST!!!

Check out what other crew members had to say about Christi the Coupon Coach.

Moving Beyond the Page - Tornado and Amazing Weather - Schoolhouse Review

We received a Language Arts Study and a Science Study from Moving Beyond the Page. It is a literature-based curriculum. This curriculum works well for children that are hands-on learners. They sell complete curriculum and also individual units so you can pick and choose what studies you want to do.

We chose the Language Arts Unit Tornado and the Science Unit Amazing Weather. They can be used separately but are designed to be used together. These units are designed for ages 7-9 and include everything you need for a full study.

We received the physical book for Tornado. The set included the book, Tornado, How the Turtle Got It's Shell and the teachers guide.

The teachers guide is a spiral bound book with lesson plans and student worksheets for you children to work through as they read through the story. There are daily activities listed that you will do for that days lesson.

We received the online access for Amazing Weather. This unit includes the teacher guide (online), On The Same Day in March  
book and Weather and Climate - Geography Facts and Experiments book and a boiling point thermometer. For the student worksheets with the study, I would go online and print the pdf pages for each lesson. With the online access, you can print as much or as little of the pages as needed.

The printable online units seem like the more cost-effective way to go if you are wanting to use this curriculum with multiple students.

The physical unit for Tornado is $24.97 and there is also an online unit available.

The online unit for Amazing Weather is $29.91 and there is also a physical unit available.

Our Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed both of these units. They are really exciting. The teacher's guides are well laid out and easy to follow. All of the  bugs participated in these studies as much as they could. The were always excited to hear what would happen next in the Tornado book. I can see us using Moving Beyond the Page more often. I will be using the online version for our family for everything, that way, everyone can enjoy doing the worksheets. I highly recommendced this curriulum, especially for those who want full inclusive science, language arts or social studies.

Go see what other crew members has to say about Moving Beyond the Page.

Baker Publishing Group~~~Lily Lapp Books (Schoolhouse Review Crew)

If you and your family are looking for some wholesome, fun reading, then look no further! Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily, published through the Baker Publishing Group are just what you are looking for.

Members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew were asked to review these two wonderful books, the first two books in a series,  about a little girl growing up Old Order Amish.

We really enjoy reading Amish fiction books. Every two weeks we go to a Mennonite farm to buy raw cow's milk and raw cream. Although the Amish and Mennonite are different in ways, they also have some similarities. We have really enjoyed making friends with this Mennonite family. They are very genuine and plain people.

The first book, Life with Lily, she lives in upstate New York on an Amish farm and has many adventures along the way, including a new baby brother and starting school. There is always an adventure waiting to happen for Lily, plenty to do and people to love.

In the second book, A New Home for Lily, she moves to Pennsylvania, which means having to adjust to a new school, new friends and a new Amish community. She also meets the most annoying boy in the world, Aaron Yoder! Along this journey some things are good like exploring an attic full of adventure!

One of the authors of these books, Mary Ann Kinsinger was raised Old Order Amish. She started a blog, http://www.ajoyfulchaos.blogspot.com/, after she and her husband decided to leave the Amish church. Here she shares her journey from a happy little Amish girl to where she is today.

My oldest bug read these two books for this review and really enjoyed them. She would talk to me each and every night about what she had read that day. When I asked her how much she liked or disliked these books, she said, "Mom, I only have one word to describe them, AMAZING!"

The books are available, paperback or ebook form for only $12.99 each. They are very high quality books.

The ages are 8-12, according to the publisher but in our opinion, these would be great for all ages. These books would make a great family read-aloud. We highly recommend these two books.

There are two more books in The Adventures of Lily Lapp series coming. A Big Year for Lily and A Surprise for Lily.

Go see what other crew members had to say about these awesome books.

TOS Crew Review - Spanish for You!

We are reviewing the Fiestas curriculum from Spanish for You!

This is a really fun curriculum. We have never studied any type of foreign language so this is all new to us.

Spanish for You! is a year long, multi-level curriculum. It is recommended for children in grades 3-8 and is designed for family, self-study and classroom use. The package includes:

     ***a soft-cover guide book or ebook
     ***24-30 weeks of lesson guides (pdf)
     ***self-checking worksheets (pdf)
     ***audio files of the entire book, includes bonus audio of
           native speaker (mp3)
     ***flashcard/activity pictures (pdf)

The cost for all grade levels in a set is $64.95. If you want just certain grades, you can purchase a package just for grades 3-4 or 5-6 or 7-8 for $39.95. Teacher lesson plans are NOT included and can be purchased for $12.95.

We found that, Fiestas, the curriculum we are using, is really easy to use. I appreciated the different level of lessons. This is perfect for our many children. We enjoyed making the flashcards, we love flashcards! This is very helpful for the little ones. I feel, if they can see a picture of something that we are learning about, it make s it easier for them to comprehend and learn.

The audios are also very helpful. Hearing everything spoken in Spanish is an essential element in learning a new language. We are able to listen and say each word correctly.

If you are looking for a language program that is easy to use, fun, and offers a variety in terms of activities, then go and research this wonderful curriculum Spanish For You!

Check out what other crew members had to say about this curriculum.

Home School in the Woods - 20th Century America Schoolhouse Review

My bugs are pretty big hands-on learners. We do a lot of unit studies and have done quite a few lap books. We really enjoy this kind of learning. As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we had the opportunity to review a Lap Pak from Home School in the Woods. We decided to choose The 20th Century in America.

This is an awesome product. It is a hands-on History Lap Pak. The children are learning about some of the most important moments in the 20th century. We are reviewing the download version that comes in PDF format. It has a reading text, printable projects and step-by-step directions on how to print and assemble your lap book for each project. This makes it very easy to use.

I printed the reading text, the text assignments & project directions and assembling the Lap Book and put all of these into a 3-ring binder. It made it easier on us to be able to look at these at our convenience. I am printing the projects as we go. There are 22 different activities:

1. Global Conflicts: World Wars

2. Other Conflicts: In The Americas & Global

3. Political Events: Presidents of the 20th Century

4. Social Movements: Movements that made a Mark in History

5. Modern Missionaries

6. Disasters

7. The Stock Market Crash of 1929

8. Science and Technology: Science & Invention of the 20th Century

9. Medical Advancements

10. The Space Race

11. Art: Art Movements of the Modern Era

12. Architecture: Accomplishments in Architecture

13. Literature: 20th Century Authors and Their Literature

14. Music: Music of the Century

15. Transportation: Transportation in America

16. Media: News & Media of the 20th Century

17. Sports: Sports Figures Who Made Their Mark in History

18. People of Interest Across the 20th Century: People of Interest

19. Wrapping up the Century: Diner Menu "Dining Through the Decades"

20. Fashion Through the Decades

21. Slang Terminology

22. Timeline of the 20th Century

As of right now, we have completed 8 of the 22 activities. They are Other Conflicts, Presidents of the 20th Century, Disasters, Medical Advancements, The Space Race, Sports Figures (I think this has been the favorite so far) and "Dining through the Decades." I didn't want to rush through everything just to get it completed in a short time so we are thoroughly enjoying this study and taking our time.

Today we finished up with the Diner Menu activity. It contains 8 recipe cards in this project. So........ we decided to pick one for supper tonight.Everyone chose the Philly Steak Sandwich. Sounds yummy to me!

My three oldest bugs are using this product. Here are a couple of pictures of each bugs lap book so far.



I highly recommend this product. If this is something you might be interested in go here and check it out.

The download version is $21.95 and the CD version is $22.95.

The crew also reviewed the Great Empire Activity Study and Composers Activity Pak. Head over and see what they had to say.

Review of Progeny Press, Beowulf Study Guide

We reviewed the Interactive Study guide for Beowulf. We received the download for this study. We have used Progeny Press before but this was our first experience with the interactive one. It can be printed for the student to use or they can enter their answers directly into the study guide computer file.
The study guide for Beowulf is recommended for grades 9-12. This study guide is available for $18.99 as a download, $21.99 for the printed booklet and $18.99 for a CD. Included with the guide is an answer key for the teacher.

It is recommended that the student read the entire poem before beginning the guide. We followed the instructions given which were reading first, then working a couple of pages a day in the guide. It was nice using the interactive guide. My 9th grader used this guide and I was glad to see lots of vocabulary and comprehension. At times, it was a little difficult to understand but she made it through it.

Go see what other crew members had to say.

Artistic Pursuits Review

We were so excited when we were told we could review ARTISTIC PURSUITS.

My 11 year old bug is my little artist. We have heard such great things about this company. This curriculum has taught her so many things and she is still enjoying her lessons. This art program not only teaches children how to draw, it also includes art history and appreciation.

We were chosen to review the Elementary 4-5: Book Two, Color and Composition book. It is for ages 9 and up and is just the right fit for my fifth grader.

This thick, comb-bound book is so beautiful. Each unit in this book includes:

    Lesson 1: Vocab and Creative Exercise
    Lesson 2: Art Appreciation and History
    Lesson 3: Techniques
    Lesson 4: Application


The focus of this book is to teach color and composition. It also provides an in-depth look at the color wheel. Units will guide your child through a study of color while covering topics such as primary and secondary color, neutral color and analogous colors. Each unit focuses on one color theory principle at a time.

There is a small list of supplies required. It was fairly easy to find all of them. One was a set of watercolor pencils, something we have never purchased before, so she was quite excited about that.

She used this art program a few times a week. We decided it would be best for her to finish all of her other studies before she started art class so she could take her time and not rush through her lesson for that day. It usually takes her about 30 - 45 minutes to complete a lesson. She is learning so much from Artistic Pursuits. We have not been disappointed by this program.

Here are a few of her art pieces:

I am so proud of her and I just know each time she sits down with this program, she is learning and only getting better!

Artistic Pursuits is available for preschool through high school.

Go here to find out more about Artistic Pursuits. There are 10 books in all and each level, including Elementary 4-5, Book Two: Color and Composition, sells for $47.95.

Go check out more reviews on Artistic Pursuits here.

TOS Review: Lone Star Learning

I was really excited to be able to review the Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 cards from Lone Star Learning. I had kinda got away from vocabulary and spelling in our homeschool for a while now. I have been wanting  to re-incorporate it back into our school routine. When this came up for review, I jumped at the chance.

When I received these cards, I could not believe how nice they were. Each set contains 40 cards and are available in 5.5" X 8.5". full, color-coated cards. They show the word and its meaning in picture form.

We use these cards once a week, sometimes two, if the words are more of the easier ones. I give the bugs, 15, 11 and 10 year olds, two words a week to learn to spell correctly and to learn the meaning. I bought each one of them small notebooks to use with these cards. They are required to write all of their information in their notebooks so they can study them and learn them. When I flash the words to them, I expect them to know how to say the word, spell it and give the correct meaning.

There are so many ways to use these cards. We are using them for spelling, vocabulary and as flashcards. We are really enjoying these cards. Each set comes with a definition sheet. We are using it instead of a dictionary.

Here is a list from the Science Vocabulary Pictures, set 1:

blizzard, carnivore, Celsius, condensation, conductor, conglomerate, conifer, deciduous, evaporation, fall, fern, fibrous root, flood, friction, gear, gravity, herbivore, igneous, inclined plane, inherited, lever, fulcrum, load, magnetic, mammal, metamorphic, moss, permeable, precipitation, pulley, reptile, sedimentary, spring, stretch, summer, symmetry, taproot, turn, wedge, wheel, winter

I also received, by accident, the Target Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1. We haven't started this set yet, but are looking forward to them once we finish the science set. Lone Star Learning was gracious enough to let us keep both sets to review. How nice is that!!!

The Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 is $29.99.

The Target Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 is $29.99.

I highly recommend these vocabulary cards. They are really nice, high-quality cards that can be used in so many ways. The colors are amazing!

To see what other crew members had to say, click here!