crew review

Baker Publishing Group: The Adventures of Lily Lapp Series {Crew Review}

June 24, 2013 by Dana

From Baker Publishing Group, written by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher comes the story of a kind and mischevious Amish girl you won’t soon forget. Every day with Lily Lapp is a new adventure. Life with this little girl is never boring.

Come see what life with Lily and her family is like in The Adventures of Lily Lapp Book One: Life with Lily. Five year old Lily lives on an Amish farm in upstate New York with her parents and her little brothers. Lily has a new little brother that she isn’t all that sure about.

Seems life has a lot of change in store for little Miss Lily. New baby, a new teacher and her eyes are opening to a whole new world around her. Lily Lapp is growing up Amish. Come see what Life with Lily is all about!

Book two of The Adventures of Lily Lapp series is A New Home for Lily. Sweet little Lily is seven now and moving to an entirely new community. It’s hard being the new girl in town.

See what life is like for Lily now, in a new town where she has to learn to make new friends all while still finding adventures to keep her busy. Lily meets Aaron Yoder, a boy who drives her crazy and later Lily finds heart to help rescue. Lily also receives a new gift: another baby brother to love and grow with in her many adventures, though Lily has yet to understand why God doesn’t give her a baby sister.

The Adventures of Lily Lapp is a wonderful series with more books to come. Each adventure with Lily is better than the last, as readers watch Lily grow up and follow along with her life and her mischief through her story. Lily’s books will be a wonderful addition to homes every where.

These books are written with children ages 8-12 in mind. At 272 pages, they are rather good sized chapter books. Each chapter has a title, allowing young readers to break the stories down into manageable portions. This also allows educators/parents to assign chapters to read a little easier.

My 10 year old could not wait to read about the life of Lily Lapp and immediately jumped into reading these books. I allowed her to read them for leisure. We will definitely be adding more books from the Lily Lapp series into our home in the future as they are released.

You can purchase The Adventures of Lily Lapp books through Baker Publishing Group for $12.99 in either paperback or ebook format. For this review, we had beautifully printed paperback copies that I suspect will be read again and again in the future.

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Memoria Press: Geography I {Crew Review}

June 17, 2013 by Dana

Memoria Press has been creating Classical Christian Educational materials for Western Civilization since 1994. Their products focus upon simplicity, affordability and quality and are designed with flexibility in mind for homeschooling families who know little about the subjects they are learning about. Memoria Press products provide high academic standards for learning.

For this review, The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew was offered a choice between Memoria Press’ Prima Latina and Geography I. I chose Geography I for us because it was more fitting to the ages of my children. It is also a current interest in our home education.

Geography I arrived boxed nicely together in a few weeks. Our box contained a teacher’s guide, student text and student workbook for Geography I and a Teacher’s Key and Student Workbook for the United States. The set is soft-covered with crisp white pages inside. Most of the print is black line master.

Geography I’s teacher guide contains the answers to all of the questions through the Geography I Student Workbook. In the back of this book are quiz and tests for review of the lessons learned. There is no other lesson information in this guide aside from the answers to the questions and the quiz and tests provided in the back.

Geography I’s student text covers The Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The student text breaks each of these continents down into countries. As you work through the text, the student learns a little about each continent. They learn first the Story of the Land which tells the history of the land. Then they learn the Land of the Story which tells specifically about the land itself. Each section also includes Fast Facts to tell you quick facts about the area.

Each of the continents is broken into countries. Each countries page tells the student about the history of that country and then tells what the country is like today. There are also Fast Facts included for each of these countries, as well as a picture of the area, a flag to color in and a map on the opposite page showing the country and area covered. This repeats for every country and continent shared in this text.

At the end of the Student Text is a colorized section of country flags for review and also to help the student know what color to color the flag for the country they are currently learning about. Lessons are approximately two pages long, though they are thorough on information provided about each continent and country.

The Student Workbook is where the work is at. In the workbook, students must identify and label the countries on the continent maps. They must break each country down, sharing capitals and facts. This is repeated for each continent and country covered through Geography I.

The United States set is a review for students learning in Geography I. Just like the Geography I teacher’s guide, the United States teacher’s guide provides the answers to the student workbook and also quiz and tests through the back of the book. There is no lesson guide provided in either of these teacher guides. Lessons are provided through the accompanying workbooks and student texts.

The United States Student Workbook is a States and Capitals Review text. In this workbook, students will review the states and capitals of all of the United States. These are broken down into regions to make the review easier for the student. There is a United States map as a whole included in the front of the workbook.

These books work together to provide a full curriculum for Geography I. Depending upon the teacher and student, this curriculum could be covered in a matter of weeks to a year. The lessons are not long and can be completed quickly and easily. Review expectations were for us to use this curriculum 3-4 times a week through the review, which allowed us to cover much of the curriculum before the review period ended.

Geography I is for students in grades 4-8. My students that used this curriculum were ages 10 and 12. I also did work with my 5 year old, allowing her to listen while we read through the country and continent information and providing her maps to color as we learned about each country.

We enjoyed using Memoria Press’ Geography I in our lessons because the lessons themselves were not long and the information we learned was just the right amount as to not be overwhelming each day we worked on them. Our lesson week began with discussion of the continent and completing the workbook pages to go with it. Then we worked through countries, taking our time to learn more by looking them up online and checking the news to see if they were mentioned recently. After doing this research, the kids were left to complete their worksheets for lesson. I placed the worksheet into dry erase covers so they could both complete the necessary worksheets for this curriculum.

Memoria Press offers Geography I as a part of their 4th Grade Curriculum. It can be purchased as the 4th Grade Geography set for $48.00 plus shipping. This set includes the Geography I teachers guide, student text, and student workbook, along with the United States States and Capitals Review teacher’s guide and student workbook. Geography I covers The Middle East, North Africa and Europe in the text. To view more curriculum from Memoria Press, please visit their website!

Birdcage Press – Art Up Close: Museum of Modern Art {Crew Review}

June 14, 2013 by Dana

Birdcage Press specializes in unique books and games for children. Brilliant museum-quality images are presented on every product, allowing children to learn about some of the greatest creatures and works of art in the world. The award winning products at Birdcage Press are unforgettable.

The Schoolhouse Review crew was given their choice of products from Birdcage Press to use for this review. Games containing photos of great works of art, animals and Ancient Egypt were available for choice. Each game allowing a different form of play and lessons unique to itself.

I personally chose Art Up Close: The Museum of Modern Art for our review product. I thought my oldest daughter would greatly enjoy this particular game. Since she wants to be an artist, I thought this game would be a great way to introduce her to different artists and artworks that we may miss normally. Needless to say, she really loved viewing each of the cards during this review period.

Art Up Close is thus named because the game presents the cards as the “normal” art piece complete with the Artist’s name, the pieces name, and the year created. The accompanying card match shows an up close piece of the artwork which allows the player to see more detail in the artwork. It also makes the player think about the details to figure out which piece of art the up close piece belongs to.

Art Up Close can be played as a game in 5 different ways. You can play memory with them, where the players match the cards to create pairs in order to finish the game. You can play Old Master which is Old Maid without the maid. You simply chose a card to be the Master and go from there. You can play Painting Pairs which is a lot like Go Fish. You can also play Treasure Hunt, where the players are dealt works of art and must try to find the matching pieces.

My youngest child’s favorite game was Memory, while my oldest two enjoyed playing Painting Pairs and Old Master. My artist took the cards and thoroughly went over them detail by detail. She laid them out and worked on creating her own works of art by examining the details on the cards she had chosen. Each time she chose a new piece, we researched the piece online to learn more about it. She enjoyed having the artwork to get her started in learning more about the artist, artworks and year.

This card game was able to be used in so many enjoyable ways by all of our family. My children are ages 5-12 and each one benefited from it in some way. Even I enjoyed learning more about the art pieces portrayed throughout the game.

Art Up Close: Museum of Modern Art is available through Birdcage Press for $10.95. This art deck includes 48 cards featuring artists like Picasso, Monet, Klee and more. The recommended age is 5+.

Christianity Cove {Crew Review}

June 12, 2013 by Dana

Christianity Cove brings Jesus to life for children all over the world. Their unique Sunday School curriculum can be found in many Sunday and Christian School classrooms. They strive to make Jesus real, not just a person children read about in books, but someone they can personally know in their lives.

Christianity Cove offers many products that can be used with children in many age groups. The Schoolhouse Review Crew was offered our choice of two of these products to review in our homes. I personally chose to use their Bible Science Experiments and their Make and Take Bible Craft curriculum with my children ages 5, 10 and 12.

Bible Science Experiments provides lesson plans for 25 different and unique science experiments that show the glory of nature through God’s vision. Experiments ranging from optical illusions, shadows, using a color wheel, harnessing the power of air, and much more are provided in this Bible Science Experiments downloadable PDF.

This curriculum begins by telling the reader that every child is a natural scientist. Children are provided fun, hands-on experiments to complete that show the world through God’s creation. Lessons are backed up with scripture related to the experiment being completed. Every lesson has a different verse to accompany it.

Lessons also begin with a list of necessary materials. The steps to complete the experiment are listed next, followed by an answer to the experiment questions. An explanation of the experiment from the scientific viewpoint is also provided. The last section for every experiment is the Understanding God section which provides reasons for God’s plan in nature. This is repeated for each of the 25 Bible Science Experiments.

We randomly did experiments throughout this PDF throughout our review period. My children enjoyed the process of following the provided steps, listening to the answers and explanations for each. Most of all they enjoyed having these experiments related to bible verse and God’s intentions for these instances in nature.

For extra work, I printed the verses as copywork for the kids to remember. We looked up videos of other experiments like these to see if our results were the same or different. We also did research online about different aspects of many of these experiments.

The experiments use many things that can be found already in the home so there isn’t a lot of extra cost to complete them. They are easily implemented and don’t take a lot of time to complete. They can be used with school-age children from Kindergarten through High School. Children in younger grades should be accompanied by an adult before attempting any experiment.

We also worked through the Make and Take Bible Crafts curriculum from Christianity Cove. I pulled several of these crafts to work on throughout the weeks of our review. There are 47 crafts provided in the Make and Take Bible Crafts PDF. They each take approximately 20 minutes to complete and are appropriate for young children. All three of my school age children enjoyed the projects though.

Make and Take Bible Crafts provide fun and simple crafts to complete for the basic stories of the bible like Noah’s Ark, Moses at the Burning Bush, Jonah and the Whale and much more. There are 20 specific crafts that go with the story of the life of Jesus. There are also 7 crafts that reinforce the basic christian values. A table of contents share the craft’s for each important biblical story and what page to find it on.

Lessons begin much the same as the Bible Science Experiments PDF does, with a list of materials needed provided. These are common items that can be found around the home or can be easily obtained at low cost. They are needed to complete the project for each lesson and differ per lesson.

The next section provides scripture related to the lesson. The full text is provided so that the teacher and student don’t have to locate the story within the bible. This makes the lesson easy to complete and keeps the information in one place. A short explanation for preparation of the project is provided next, followed by the instructions to complete the project to be completed.

These lessons were quick and easy to complete. The kids really enjoyed them and the lessons learned. My older children new many of the bible stories but had not done some of the projects provided in the Make and Take Bible Crafts PDF. My 5 year old greatly enjoyed hearing the stories and completing the projects. Noah’s Ark and the Fruits of the Spirit Charm bracelet were two of her favorites.

My favorite was the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed Are” Wreath. We used the handprints of all the kids to create this project so that we could use it to view the Beatitudes together. We have this hanging in our classroom area to keep them where we can view them often.

We greatly enjoyed reviewing both of these products from Christianity Cove. I recommend them for using in a Sunday School classroom or a Christian Homeschool or even just for extra bible lessons at home. They provide a fun way to learn more about the Bible.

Bible Science Experiments is available as a PDF download for $25. Make and Take Bible Crafts is also available as a PDF download for $29. There are lots and lots of other products to choose from at Christianity Cove so be sure to take a look around while there!

Motherboard Books: Let’s Make A Webpage {Crew Review}

June 10, 2013 by Dana

Do you know how to make a webpage? Could you teach your children how? Is this something you need assistance in learning or teaching your children how to do? Then look no further than Let’s Make A Webpage from Motherboard Books!

Let’s Make A Webpage teaches your child, or you, everything you need to know about building your own webpage from scratch. Using CoffeeCup HTML Editor you will learn the basics of webpage building and so much more. Let’s Make A Webpage makes webpage making easy!

The first step in using this e-book is to create an interview to use in preparation for your webpage. The student needs to choose several questions of their own creation to ask someone they wish to know more about. This could be Mom, Dad, the neighbor, their sister, cousin, aunt, the librarian, etc. Whoever the student wishes to interview.

My son chose to interview Dad. These were his questions:

1. What is your job?

2. How long have you been doing it?

3. What exactly do you do?

4. Did you learn anything during school that helped to prepare you for your job?

5. Is this the career you expected to have?

My daughter chose to interview her Grandma. These were the questions she asked:

1. What year were you born?

2. What was life like when you were a child?

3. What were you like at my age?

4. What was schooling like for you at my age?

5. How are things different from your childhood until now?

6. How are you and I different at this same age?

After they both conducted their interviews, we then wrote out a short report explaining all of the things they learned from their interviews. This gathered information was used in the process of creating their webpages. We also saved a photo of each person interviewed to use within our webpage.

The next step was downloading CoffeeCup HTML Editor to use for creating our webpages. After downloading, we input our information, page title, etc. Then we clicked save so that we could work with this file throughout the process.

Then came the fun stuff: learning how to use text boxes, HTML codes, color and all the other fine details that work together to make a webpage a webpage. These details are the simple, yet complicated things that everyone should know when building a webpage. Let’s Make A Webpage made them easy to learn and easy to use!

Through these 10 easy but thorough lessons in the Let’s Make A Webpage e-book, the student learns all the important details in creating their own personal webpage. Once a student completes this program, they should have enough knowledge to be able to build any basic webpage they would like.

In the later chapters of Let’s Make A Webpage, students also learn to use animations, add in photos, how to safely use the internet and much more. These details combine to create a webpage that is catchy and attractive to the eye. And best of all it’s all easier than many people may realize.

Let’s Make A Webpage from Motherboard Books was written to be used with children ages 8 and up. It’s available as an e-book download for $19.95. It is designed to be used with the free download version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor. This program also encourages experimenting and creativity in working with computers. Don’t forget to check out Motherboard Books other programs too!

Math Mammoth {Crew Review}

June 7, 2013 by Dana

Math Mammoth was created by Maria Miller to help homeschooling Momma’s who were completely lost at teaching math be able to provide a better learning experience for their students. Being an ex-math teacher, Maria was able to create an exceptional math program that is easy to use and understand by both teacher and student. Math Mammoth provides a complete math education that makes math easy.

Last year, we used Math Mammoth’s Light Blue series for second grade. You can read our review for that curriculum here: https://www.luvnlambertlife.com/2011/11/tos-review-math-mammoth.html. This year, I chose to review Math Mammoth’s Light Blue series for first grade.

I chose this curriculum for two reasons: to review math fact basics with my daughter who struggles with them and to begin my youngest daughter’s education in addition and subtraction. The first grade level of the Light Blue series worked great for both of their needs. And since it’s easy to use, my older daughter needed little help from me to work through it. She is able to read on her own and follow through with her work. She was also able to help my younger daughter out along the way, when I was unable to.

I chose the Light Blue series because it’s a complete curriculum. This allowed my daughter to completely relearn the concepts she struggles with instead of just working on reviewing facts that she didn’t completely understand the first time. We basically started all over with Math, only this time the lessons were much easier for her to comprehend. And though we’ve only been using the program a short time, she is definitely catching on fast.

Math Mammoth’s Light Blue Series for Grade 1 covers addition and subtraction concepts and strategies, whole number and place value relationships to 100, measurement of length, geometric basics, time and money. Even though we are using this curriculum for a math review purpose, we have started from the beginning and worked through. The program is not boring or overwhelming to my students, and as I’ve mentioned more than once, it’s extremely easy to use and comprehend.

Math Mammoth Light Blue series is available online for $34 for the full set of Grade 1 as a download or on CD for $39 plus shipping. It is also purchasable as individual sectional downloads through the website.