2011

The Reading Game {Crew Review}

November 28, 2011 by Dana

The Reading Game is a fast action memory card game created by Kenneth Hodgkinson, the author of Wordly Wise. A series of 6 books and 6 sets of cards work together to make reading fun and exciting. Upon completing the entire series of books, the reader should have a reading vocabulary of 180 words.

Each book in The Reading Game tells a new story using only 30 new words. Each of the 30 words is broken down into six sets of five words. Each set of five words is taught by simply matching the words in a game. Learning is proven by giving simple tests such as “The Cat is not sad”. A student may only move on once proving they have mastered the provided list of words at that time.

I played this game with my son, who is my struggling reader and found he did quite well with it. He found matching the words and repeating them in the game a lot of fun. He actually enjoyed the simple but fun readers provided along with the game. It didn’t take a long time to play the game during each session; no more than around 30 minutes a day. His reading skills were strongly strengthen from playing The Reading Game.

The Reading Game is available through their website for $24.95. For more reviews of The Reading Game, please visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew blog.

*Disclaimer: This review product was provided to me by The Reading Game and the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for free in exchange for my honest review of the product.

FFH’s One Silent Night and Giveaway! {Propeller Review}

November 24, 2011 by Dana

FFH’s One Silent Night is an absolutely beautiful cd filled with wonderful Christmas songs sure to get you in the Holiday Spirit. Old favorites like Baby It’s Cold Outside, Winter Wonderland, and Jingle Bell Rock await you on this cd along with a few new songs, or songs that I at least have never heard before!

I personally love this FFH’s One Silent Night Christmas Album. It is quickly becoming one of my own personal holiday favorites. And as always, the kids love it too!!

This album is available in FFH’s webstore at https://ffh.net/store/one-silent-night/ for $12.99. It will be one of your favorite purchases for this holiday season.

One lucky reader will win their own download of this wonderful Christmas album from Luv’N Lambert Life though! Just enter below through Rafflecopter. Be sure to click each entry for directions on how to enter properly! And good luck to everyone.

Have a very merry Christmas!!

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Revolution Worship Live Giveaway {Propeller Review}

November 24, 2011 by Dana

“Revolution Worship…Live At Joy Church International” is really a wonderful worship cd. A great contiplation of rock and soulful Christian songs that almost anyone would love. And best of all it is LIVE worship to listen to right in your home.

Included among the songs are prayers and thoughts that reach into the listeners soul to bring them closer to God. “Revolution Worship…Live At Joy Church International” is a blessing to listen to. My children and I have both enjoyed this cd greatly. I love to watch them praise the Lord along with this beautifully made album. This cd will definitely bring your family closer together in a very enjoyable way.

Guess what?! You guys have a chance to win your very own copy of this wonderful cd, “Revolution Worship…Live At Joy Church International”! Just enter through the Rafflecopter application below! And Happy Thanksgiving to all of my beautiful and wonderful readers and friends! God bless everyone of you!!!

“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Time Timer {Crew Review}

November 23, 2011 by Dana

Time Timer was one of my favorite products to review. Time Timer’s main product was created over 20 years ago by Jan Rogers in an effort to meet the needs of her then 4 year old daughter. Her daughter needed to “see” time’s passage in order to understand it. From this need, Time Timer was born.

This timer isn’t like your normal everyday kitchen timer. Time Timer shows the user how much time is left in red as it ticks down the time. This allows the user to physically SEE how much time they have to continue working on their project or simply just to wait, whatever use you choose to use it for.

For this review, I was given the new Time Timer App free of charge for use with my iPad and I must say I really love it! I have looked for a similar app in the past for my own personal use at home that will allow me to countdown several timers at once in an effort to keep each of my children on different tasks. Time Timer allows me the ability to do that.

Each timer is completely customizable. You can select from four colors for each timer: red, blue, green and yellow. You can customize the hours, minutes and seconds for each timer. You can turn on or off the time display and signal. You can select and change the number of times each timer plays. You can also change the sound for each timer to fun tones like Robot, Game Over, Explosion and even a Truck Horn. You can set up to 19 different timers at once!

Simply put, this timer is a whole lot of FUN!! I completely enjoy setting timers and my children love them too. I set up different timers with a different sound each time for them to do chores, schoolwork and various other things. They love hearing the sound go off at the end and it often gets some kind of laugh! Time Timer actually helps make kids chores fun! And honestly, Mom’s housework is more fun because of them too. I set my own timers throughout the day the same as the kids to keep myself on track.

I completely recommend the Time Timer app to everyone, homeschooling or not. It’s absolutely wonderful! You can read more reviews for Time Timer at the TOS Homeschool Review Crew Blog. But trust me on this one, this is one app you will LOVE!

*Disclaimer – Time Timer and TOS Homeschool Review Crew gave me this app for free in exchange for my honest-to-goodness opinion to be shared in a blog post on my personal blog. No money was exchanged for this product.

Read Naturally: One Minute Reader {Crew Review}

November 20, 2011 by Dana

The One Minute Reader from Read Naturally is an at home reading program developed to help build reading skills for children who may be struggling with reading and concepts in school. One Minute Reader offers the extra practice that is often needed to build strength and fluency in reading. Simple, yet efficient, the One Minute Reader program is a blessing to any child.

The One Minute Reader provides materials based upon the average reading levels of E- Early First Grade through 5 Mid-Fifth Grade level. Each reader provides a series of short minute long stories, an audio CD, a red and blue double end pencil, and a one minute timer specially made for the Read Naturally program.

While using the One Minute Reader the student marks off words they do not recognize the first time through with the blue pencil giving them a cold score. They then listen to the story and read along with the provided CD. Next they read the story again on their own. They take a quiz to see what they have learned from the story, testing comprehension. After that they read the story to an adult of their choice. And finally they go through and mark the reader with the red pencil to gather their hot score showing how much improvement has been made while reading.

We really love the concept of the One Minute Reader in our family, though my children didn’t care a lot for the stories that were included. However, this concept could be easily adapted to our own story books and probably will be in the future. My children did enjoy having the questions to answer at the end of the stories, as well as the fun activities and stickers that were included for use with the program. I also think had I been able to review a full set of the One Minute Reader instead of just a sample of this program we may have enjoyed it a lot more. Still this particular program would make a great addition to those homeschoolers using a more formal type of curriculum, aiding in fluency and strengthening reading instruction.

You can purchase One Minute Reader through Read Naturally for $99.95 for the full bundle per grade level. It is also available in a starter pack for $24.95 and per book for $12.95 each per grade level. Extra timers, pencils and other accessories are also available through the website.

You can read more reviews of Read Naturally’s One Minute Reader and their other program, Read Live, on the TOS Homeschool Review Crew blog!

Math Mammoth {Crew Review}

November 18, 2011 by Dana

Math Mammoth was created by Maria Miller in an effort to provide a better, more efficient way to teach math to students in an affordable way. Math Mammoth covers all the basics of math for grades K-8 in four series levels: Blue, Light Blue, Golden and Green. Each series is styled differently to work with your personal math needs either as a full or supplemental curriculum.

We reviewed the Light Blue Series for 2nd grade. This series included a full curriculum for my daughter. The basic math topics of addition and subtraction in single and double digit form, place value and much more. My daughter LOVED this curriculum though we have only begun to touch the surface of this massive downloaded file. The concepts are thoroughly, yet simply covered, giving plenty of practice in each topic covered. This math program has been a wonderful addition to our homeschooling days.

Math Mammoth is extremely affordable for homeschooling families too. The full curriculum for Grade 2 on a CD is $39 or $34 for the download. The supportive package costs a low $8.95. Other curriculums are priced similarly and well worth every penny. Mrs. Miller also offers the Making It Real curriculum which concentrates on relating math to every day life and a bonus download of over 300 free sample worksheets are available FREE on her website for all to use!

To read more reviews of this wonderful Math curriculum please stop by the TOS Review Crew Blog!

*Disclaimer – this review product was provided for free by Math Mammoth and the TOS Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion and blog review of this particular item.