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TOS Crew

A Cry From Egypt from Raising Real Men {Crew Review}

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Great Waters Press, publishers of Raising Real Men from my dear friend and her husband, Melanie and Hal Young, has recently published a wonderful new book: A Cry From Egypt by Hope Auer.  Prior to this book I had never personally heard of Hope Auer but now I am not likely to forget her as an author.  A Cry From Egypt is a great addition to any home library.
Hope Auer began writing at a young age.  She developed a passion for HIStory and storytelling throughout her school years which eventually led to her development of “The Promised Land Series”.  Hope places the Lord first in her life followed closely by church and her family.  Her joy for writing definitely shows throughout her books and her love for educating children shows through too.
A Cry For Egypt is about the family of a young girl named Jarah who is a slave in Egypt in early biblical times.  Jarah and her family are torn between God himself and the Egyptian Gods and Kings of their time.  Living through the trials and tribulations of the day, Jarah’s story shows children what life was like at this crucial time period in HIStory.
This story fit in well to our daily lessons and was easily implemented into our daily story time.  As a chapter book, we read it over a period of a few weeks, having a brief break for the birth of our youngest but was easily picked back up as we adjusted to his homecoming.  My children enjoyed the stories inside, learning about Jarah and her family and in turn more about Egypt.  Books like this one become classic favorites around our house.
Hope Auer wrote this wonderful historical fiction to capture the interest of the child reading it, as well as adults.  Through it she shares life, biblical ideals and the story of the Lord in a way children can understand.  This is one story you don’t want to miss.
A Cry From Egypt by Hope Auer is available as an Advanced Reader Copy for $12.50 through https://acryfromegypt.com/store/.  To learn more about Raising Real Men from Hal and Melanie Young visit https://www.raisingrealmen.com/.  More reviews of A Cry From Egypt and also Children In Church: Nurturing Hearts of Worship can be found on the Schoolhouse Review Blog!
*Disclaimer – A Cry From Egypt was provided to me by Great Waters Press, Raising Real Men and the Schoolhouse Review Crew for free in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog post.


Speekee {Crew Review}

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Speekee is an awesome way for kids to learn Spanish.  Designed for toddlers through elementary aged students, Speekee teaches children Spanish by providing lessons from children who actually speak the language naturally.  Each lesson and video is jam packed with Spanish leading to a thorough education that can’t be beat.

Speekee FastTrack provides a 40 week lesson plan complete with corresponding videos, worksheets, and other extras laid out to make lessons easy for a teacher/parent to implement with any student.  Speekee FastTrack comes as a bonus for signing up to use the Speekee TV program.  Speekee is available as an online program, a school program or a DVD curriculum.

This program with it’s adorable children and cute characters connects children to others like them making it easier for them to pick up on a language that could otherwise be hard and confusing to learn.  The programs structure makes it easy for toddlers and 10 year olds alike to pick up on the new language immediately.  My children themselves are ages 4, 9 and 11 and all three equally enjoyed using and learning with this program while we were reviewing it.  My youngest enjoyed the fun colors, the children, and most especially the characters in each video lesson we did.

Speekee TV with it’s FastTrack program is available as a two week trial at https://www.speekee.co.uk/.  A subscription is available for $7.50 a month using PayPal or $60 for a year’s subscription.  For more reviews, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!
*Disclaimer- A subscription to Speekee TV was provided to me free for my honest opinion in a review post by Speekee and the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Vocabulary SpellingCity.com {Crew Review}

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     Here lately I have been doing a lot of reviews for companies and websites we have been using in our homeschooling since we began.  Things we absolutely love using in our schooling.  Vocabulary SpellingCity.com is one of those websites.

     We personally have used the free version of this site for years now and it’s been a blessing for myself and my children educationally.  The website is extremely easy to use and full of lots of learning.  For this particular review, I was given access to the premium membership portion of the website for a year for up to 5 children.  As a parent this is a blessing, as a teacher this is an exceptional blessing for us.

 

     Through Vocabulary SpellingCity.com, I am able to upload our weekly or monthly (or however I wish to create them) vocabulary and spelling lists to use with my children/students.  I can also use pre-made lists created by others and by local public schools to help educate my children which are readily available on Vocabulary SpellingCity.com.  Vocabulary SpellingCity.com then takes my lists and creates spelling and vocabulary games, programs, quizzes, etc for my children to practice with for the week or period we are working on the words.

     I can create lists for any subject too!  So lists of Math words, Science vocabulary, Social Studies, etc can be used right along with the other things we are learning about with Vocabulary SpellingCity.com.  And of course, there are TONS of extras to use and work through when the weekly work is finished, just for fun!

 

     This website is a bonus for any parent or teacher to have to help educate their children.  There is a free version for you to use and try out the program, as well as additional memberships which provide even more! A premium family membership is available for $29.99 a year for up to five students.  A classroom membership for up to 25 students is available for $49.99.  School memberships are also available through the website.

     For more reviews of Vocabulary SpellingCity.com, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!!

*Disclaimer – A year subscription to Vocabulary SpellingCity.com was provided to me free in exchange for my honest opinion shared in a blog post review by Vocabulary SpellingCity.com and TOS’ Schoolhouse Review Crew team.


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.


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.


Professor B Math {Crew Review}

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Any homeschooling Mom knows that Math can be one tough subject to teach but Professor B Math does it’s best to make Math easy to teach and easy to learn.  Professor B Math is an interactive Math program, created to help educators create a strong foundation for students.  It’s structured to provide a math education that teaches math as a flowing and connected story as a process.
Professor B Math provides truth in Math too, showing students a less complicated system of learning math facts and problem solving.  This allows for a more thorough understanding of math and it’s concepts.  It also helps to expand the students mental capacity while learning math.
Professor B Math is for students in grades Pre-K through 8th.  It helps provide a thorough math education through simplifying mathematical methods and facts.  You can purchase Professor B Math products online through the website by individual book, from addition all the way to Algebra.
You can also purchase a membership to their e-Learning program on the website in three levels: Level I – Pre-k through 2nd and remediation of older learners, Level II – 3rd through 5th and remediation of older learners, and Level III – 6th through 8th and remediation of older learners.  Professor B provides a placement test so that you don’t waste money where it isn’t need and can place your child at the correct mathematical level in the e-Learning program.  You can purchase one level of Math for $20 a month, add an additional level for another $15 a month and a third level for another additional $10 a month.  Or you can purchase 3 years of use for this program for $100 by calling Professor B Math at 678-765-6655.  There is also a free trial available by calling for those who would like to try out the program before purchasing.
Each level of e-Learning provides you with an Instant Master Teacher workbook and answer key, video’s to help teach the lessons with you as the narrator, as well as a completion certificate.  Because you are the teacher, Professor B does not provide sound with the lesson videos.  The workbook contains the student lessons and printable worksheets for student usage as they learn the lessons.  The exercises are simple, yet fun.  Student concepts are slowed down in comparison to other math curriculums, yet they do throw in a few exercises that challenge the student at the same time.
I found this program to be fairly good.  It seemed a bit remedial and in workbook style educationally but was honestly a great edition to our homeschooling curriculum.  I will most likely continue to use this program as a beginning math for my pre-k’er and also as extra practice for my older students as I found it helpful for all in some way or another.
You can read more reviews of this program on the SchoolHouse Review Crew blog!



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*Disclaimer: A subscription for this product was provided to me free by Professor B Math and the TOS SchoolHouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion in a review.


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