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crew review

SchoolhouseTeachers {Crew Review}

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SchoolhouseTeachers.com comes from our very own The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  This wonderful upgrade from their old Teacher’s Toolbox is a wonderful bonus for any homeschooling family.  Packed FULL of great information on both homeschooling, specific subjects and much more, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is something no homeschooling family should choose to miss out on.
Before I began working for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine as a reviewer, I was a fan of both TOS, the magazine and of their wonderful additional materials available through Teacher’s Toolbox.  I was excited to become a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com as soon as it became available to use and let me tell you, I have not been disappointed at all.  There is always something new and interesting to learn, do and use on the site.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides everything from homeschooling advice from some of the greatest names in homeschooling education to reading lessons for struggling readers to daily lessons on various subjects that even us Mom’s struggle with teaching.  And these are not simple lessons at all.  Each lesson and topic provided by SchoolhouseTeachers.com is thorough in explanation, fully planned and includes bonuses like worksheets, etc that may be needed to help teach the topic at hand.  Honestly, a homeschooling Mom like me could get lost in this website in a totally good way!
The website covers subjects daily and monthly.  It provides lessons from pre-k to 12th grade.  Other bonuses are menu planning helps, curriculum planning ideas, back issues of TOS magazine, monthly e-books and much more.  
My absolute favorite thing though is with a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com you receive full access to every TOS Homeschool Planner available for the school year.  These fully interactive and printable planners are all yours just for joining!!  As soon as you join SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you can download all of them and save them for later use, even if you choose not to stick with the website subscription.  But seriously, who would even choose to give up a subscription to this website when there is so much available to use each month!!
In the SchoolhouseTeachers.com library you will find copybooks, monthly themes, monthly reading lists, lesson archives, art, nature, crafts and so much more.  You could honestly plan full lessons just around the suggested lessons made with this website if you chose too.  The website is definitely a wonderful bonus for fly-by-the-pants homeschoolers and unschoolers who want lessons but don’t want to overkill on planning.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is available on the website for $1 for the first month’s trial and $5.95 for every month after.  Visit SchoolhouseTeachers.com to tour the website for a closer look at what’s available.  Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more reviews on this site.
*Disclaimer – As a member of the TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew and a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, I happily accepted this review to share my love of SchoolhouseTeachers.com in a blog post.  No money was exchanged in the process of writing this review and this is my honest opinion of the website.


Zane Education {Crew Review}

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A couple of years ago, I was hanging out on Facebook when I received a friend request from a new program called Zane Education and it’s managing director Nicholas Tee.  At first, I was a bit iffy about adding Nicholas and Zane Education but I quickly realized what an amazing resource this program is and what an amazing person Nicholas is too.  I followed my instincts and found two great things in one place.
Zane Education is more than just your average online study program.  This program was created with heart to help excel learning to it’s limits.  And each year the program increases making it bigger and more useful for students all over.
Zane Education provides approximately 2000 educational videos in various subjects for students and teachers to use in learning.  They provide a quiz database of 23,000 multiple choice questions in 11 different subjects.  More than 260 curriculum topics are available in grades K-12 with this program, every day.
The program caters to the child, allowing both advanced students and remedial students to learn at their own pace and with their own learning style.  Closed captioning is included for the videos so those who learn better through reading than listening don’t miss out.  Sound is included so that audio students learn well too.  This is extremely helpful for special needs students who may be using the program.
For this review, I was provided with a Gold Membership for Zane Education.  When I log in the first thing I see is my Members Area showing my program information, as well as videos available to me in this program.  A quick walk-through of the program is also available on this page to help get me started.  A download guide is also provided for future use of the program.
The Zane Education website itself is filled with useful information on the program, as well as tons of bonus things to use educationally.   Every page brings you to something completely different from the Classroom to Homeschooling to Special Needs.  There is something there for everyone and every need.
The video section allows the program to be used as a whole or broken down by subject.  You can also search by grade level for videos that fit your child’s grade.  A glossary, encyclopedia, dictionary and thesaurus are also provided for teachers and students use.  Quizzes are also provided and broken down the same way.
In the Study Center, you can find the full glossary, encyclopedia, dictionary, and thesaurus, along with downloads and more.  This extensive program works together to provide a fun and thorough learning experience for all students.  The arrangement of the program helps to make planning easy for teachers as well.
Zane Education is a program that my family has enjoyed for a while now.  Educationally, it is one of the best programs I have found for my own children to use.  We do use it as a supplement to our regular studies but when we do we learn a lot.  It is well worth the program pricing and the time put into using the program.  My children enjoy the videos and the quizzes and I enjoy the ease of access as well.
Zane Education is available at www.zaneeducation.com.  There are four membership options available.
Basic is free and the version I have used for a while now.
The Gold Membership is the best for the value at $17.99 a month or $197.89 a year.
The Silver Membership is great for those with a child in one grade level, providing only that level for the month or year at $12.99 a month or $142.89 a year.
The Bronze Membership provides all videos in a specific subject for a year at $8.99 a month or $98.89 a year.
There is also a Topic Master Membership available allowing access to one topic only for $5 a month ($5 for 30 day access to the topic).
For more reviews of Zane Education, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog!
*Disclaimer – Membership to Zane Education was provided to me free in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog review by Zane Education and the TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew.


Super Duper Publications: Hear Builder Auditory Memory {Crew Review}

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Super Duper Publications was founded in 1986 by Sharon and Thomas Webber.  When the Webber’s began they only had two products and two types of stickers.  Both began developing therapy materials that were easy to use.  Today they provide hundreds of creative educational materials for use with special  needs children.

One of the many programs developed by the Webber’s is the Hearbuilder Educational Software series.  The series of four programs help to improve auditory listening and memory skills.  The multiple levels in the programs provide specific learning objectives, while remaining fun and engaging to children.

Hearbuilder Auditory Memory Software Program is one of the four programs in the series.  This program teaches key strategies for remembering numbers, words, sentences, stories and more.  It also provides 5 listening activities like memory for words, numbers, details, WH information and auditory closure.  Each of the multi-level tasks takes the student on the mission with Recall Agents Kim and Joey to save MemoryTown and defeat Dr. Forgetsit.

This program is created to be used with 1-4 children in grades K-8.  A parent/teacher is able to monitor a students progress and create printable progress reports for the student to record progress or share where necessary.  The interactive program allows a parent/teacher to set the program to different levels depending upon the child’s needs.  Background noise is also able to be turned on and off depending on the students needs and to help the student develop skills as practice for distracting situations.

Hearbuilder Auditory Memory Software is also compatible with SMART board.  The PC version of this software, which I have reviewed is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7.  An Intel Pentium IV or an equal processor is required to run this program.

I used this program with each of my children specializing each to their personal needs.  All three enjoyed working through the game levels of this program, advancing at their own paces as they worked through it.  This was exceptionally good for my youngest who has auditory processing issues with her speech processing.  Even at age 4, she was able to participate, follow along and learn at her own pace without feeling rushed or like the program was too much for her.

Hearbuilder Auditory Memory Software is available on the Super Duper Publications website for $69.95 for the Home Edition or for $149.95 for the Professional Edition.  For more reviews of this software program, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

*Disclaimer – This program was provided to me from Super Duper Publications and the TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew for free in exchange for my personal opinion of the program in a blog post.


Knowledge Quest Time Maps {Crew Review}

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Time Maps is an interactive geography program created by Knowledge Quest.  For years, people have asked Knowledge Quest to create a digital product that would allow children to view maps as they change over time.  With Time Maps, Knowledge Quest takes this request much further. 
This digital product allows the student or teacher to view a map in progression by changing the time period, selecting specifics such as population, changes in civilization, climate, land formation and more.  This allows the student to see how the world has changed over time making the learning experience more engaging.  Changes are made in your timing so that students get the full idea of how things change in relation to their studies at the time.
Time Maps also touches upon important events in history, providing information on expeditions, important people, important events and important items that relate to that time period such as ships, and much more.  Questions are provided to help build upon the information being learned or can be turned off so as not to interfere with the lessons taught.  Maps can be created in color to help aid the student in learning allowing them to view specific areas in comparison without confusion.
We used this product with our regular homeschooling curriculum.  We had been using an older version of Time Maps, along with Knowledge Quest’s previous print version of it’s maps in our history curriculum for the past several years.  This new updated digital version of Time Maps was impressive in it’s advancements and changes.  It was simple and fun to use for both me and my children and it was able to be integrated into our curriculum fairly easily.  
Time Maps can be purchased as a boxed set or by regions.  Each set includes a full set of interactive maps for the region purchased.  The boxed set includes all available map collections in one product.  Time Maps are available online through the Knowledge Quest website for $9.95 per unit or for $44.95 for the entire collection.  In my honest opinion, at $44.95 it’s fairly hard to beat in price and well worth the money spent.
For more reviews on this product please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!
*Disclaimer – This product was provided to me free in exchange for review by Knowledge Quest and The Schoolhouse Review Crew for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.



Christian Keyboarding {Crew Review}

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For this review, I received a copy of Keyboarding for the Christian School, the Elementary Version in Large Font as an eBook.  Though an eBook, I was immediately attracted to the adorable cover of this book and so were my children.  We loaded it onto our iPad and began using it as soon as we found time to schedule it in.

The book is written for students in grades K-5 but even my 4 year old was willing to test it out.  The lessons aren’t too hard, yet they are challenging enough at the same time.  The Large Print of this book allows students to easily follow the lessons as they learn to use a keyboard while using the computer.

I remember keyboarding class in school as one of my favorite subjects.  My kids enjoyed keyboarding as much as I did when I was in school.  I have searched for a while for a simple, yet thorough program to use with them in order to ensure they are using the correct techniques on the computer.  This program is it!!

When students finish lessons in the Elementary book, they are able to advance to the older student’s version created for grades 6 and up.  There is also a course available to teach creating Tables and another for creating Columns in Word.  All books are affordably priced.

The best thing about this curriculum is that it is biblically based, building a sound foundation on scripture as students work through the courses.  Lessons are printable or as I mentioned above, can be easily downloaded onto an iPad or similar device to use without printing since the eBooks are created to be used with a Word program on a computer.  Even parents can benefit from the lessons, practicing themselves and learning the word of God along the way.  If you would prefer a bound book over an eBook for this curriculum, they are also available for purchase through the website.

Keyboarding for the Christian School, Elementary Version in Large Print or Regular Print eBook is available online for $12.95.  It can be used with multiple students in grades K-5.  It is the Christian Small Publisher’s Exclusive E-Book winner for 2012!  If you order now, you can use the code SUMMER2012 to receive 20% off the purchase price.  This code is good until August 29, 2012.

For more reviews of this product, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

*Disclaimer – This product was provided to me for free in exchange for my opinion in a blog post by Christian Keyboarding and the Schoolhouse Review Crew.


Apologia’s Who Is My Neighbor? {Crew Review}

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I think everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely LOVE Apologia’s curriculum.  When I began learning about homeschooling in 2004 when my son was only 4 years old, I attended a class on How to Homeschool.  One of the top recommended curriculums at the time was Apologia.  At the time, it was a relatively new curriculum but it quickly rose to the top of the list thanks to it’s Christian approach to learning.
Today, Apologia still meets the same standards for curriculum that it began with many years ago.  Apologia strives for excellence in learning with a Christian approach provided throughout all of it’s curriculum choices.  If you are looking for a secular curriculum, Apologia is definitely not it, but if you’re looking for a biblical based curriculum that provides a structured and fun approach to learning then Apologia is the curriculum for you!
The What We Believe series continues this style of learning, providing a structured base for Biblical Worldview study for ages 6 – 14.  Biblical Worldview allows children to take a look at the world around them, presenting daily truths against God’s word so that children learn to discern the truth of the Word instead of the deception the world tends to present.  Each of the What We Believe books represents a different aspect of the world and our children’s view of it.
Currently there are three available volumes of the What We Believe Series with the fourth and final volume expected to be released sometime this year.  The volumes are as follows:
Volume 1: Who is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?)
Biblical Worldview of God and Truth
Volume 2: Who Am I? (And What Am I doing Here?)
Biblical Worldview of Self-Image
Volume 4: What On Earth Can I Do?
Biblical Worldview of Stewardship 
(Not yet released as of July 18, 2012 – the time of this review)
Each volume is created so that it can stand alone with a complete course of study, much like the science curriculum provided by Apologia but the courses are most effective if taught in order since each volume builds upon the last with a minimum of repeated material.  The explanation provided by Apologia is this:
You must first know God to know yourself.  You must understand who you are and how to be more like Jesus before you can serve others.  You must understand a servants role and how this relates to you in order to learn how to work together to care for others and the Earth in order to bring the message of Salvation to the world and use the gifts God has given you to bring God Glory.
Each book will take anywhere from 4 – 9 months to work through depending on the schedule you choose to use and the age of your children.  Lessons are created to follow a students pace so that it can be customized to your child.  Some lessons will go quickly while others take more time for a child to work through and digest.  
Lesson preparation is fairly simple.  Older children can complete the series on their own, while younger children will need to follow along with an adults help.  Some of the book’s activities do require the parent’s help but many can be completed with minimal input from the teacher/parent.  As always, Apologia provides additional activities on their book extra’s site.  In order to access these you will need to follow the instructions and enter the password provided in the textbooks introduction.
Book extra’s include Teacher Helps for the lessons, blank notebooking pages, and the printable House of Truth graphics for use with the course.  Teacher Helps include lesson overviews, lesson objectives, lesson vocabulary, memory verses, activities for the lessons, child-directed discussion questions and a reading list for deeper study of the course themes, people and places discussed within the text.
Additional products that can be purchased for use with the series are a notebooking journal and a coloring book for younger kids to keep them involved while using the courses.  An audio soundtrack is provided for volumes 1 and 2 of the series but is not yet available for volumes 3 and 4.  These additional products are not necessary for completion of this course though and are simply fun extras provided for teaching the course.
I know I have spent a lot of time discussing the complete course for this series above but for this particular review, I was provide materials for Volume 3: Who Is My Neighbor?  Needless to say, I was extremely excited to receive this product as my children and I have been using this series for a while now.  We really love all of our Apologia curriculum and books.  So we were all very excited when the Apologia box finally arrived!
Inside we found the Who Is My Neighbor? textbook, the Who Is My Neighbor? Notebooking Journal and the Who Is My Neighbor? coloring book.  I am honestly thrilled that Apologia created the additional coloring book for this series since it allows me to include my 4 year old into our studies by providing her with a simple coloring sheet with the lessons biblical verse included right on the page to do while the older kids work on the coursework.  The older kids enjoy the coloring pages too!
The textbook begins with the Table of Contents, followed by a textbook introduction of How to Use This Book describing notebooking, lesson structure, lesson plans and why you should teach Biblical Worldview in your studies.  This section is thorough but short allowing you to jump right into the study with Lesson 1.  Each lesson builds upon the last, providing The Big Idea (lesson summary), a biblical verse relating to the lesson, plenty of colorful stories and photos, questions to keep your children thinking, vocabulary for the lesson, and much more.  A prayer is also provided at the end of each lesson to help encourage a stronger relationship of faith and with God.
The Notebooking Journal provides activities related to the book.  An additional and more thorough lesson plan is presented to be used with the textbook and journal together.  Colorful pages for questions, words to know, the Hide It In My Heart bible verses, stories, fun games and more are provided in the journal.
This series and it’s accessories are available on Apologia’s website. The Who is My Neighbor? textbook is available for $39.  The Who is My Neighbor? Notebooking Journal is available for $24.  The Who Is My Neighbor? Coloring book is available for $8.  Audio cd’s for the first two volumes of the series is available for $19 but audio is NOT available for The Who Is My Neighbor book at this time.
For more reviews of this product from Apologia, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog!
*Disclaimer – This product and it’s addition accessories was provided to me by Apologia Educational Ministries and by the Schoolhouse Review Crew for free in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog post on my website.


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