Luv'N Lambert Life

Reading Kingdom {Crew Review}

August 16, 2013 by Dana

Reading Kingdom is an amazing online reading program designed to help children that are ages 4-10 learn to read and build reading skills they may struggle with. This program is designed to be easy to use for both Parent and child. It can also be used in a classroom setting for schools.

Reading Kingdom is designed to work with the child’s skill level. Any young child can use this program at any skill level. How quickly your child completes this program will depend upon your child’s skill level. The complete Reading Kingdom program takes around 12-15 months to work through. Children with advanced reading skills can complete the program within 3-6 months.

Reading Kingdom is designed to be used at least 4 times a week with your child. Children should be at least 4 years old and able to sit quietly, paying attention for at least 15 minutes at a time. Children should know basic computer skills like using a mouse.

Reading Kingdom uses a balanced approach of reading skills to teach children to read. The program uses the 6 important skills of sequencing, sounds, motor, meaning, Grammar and comprehension combined together to master both reading and writing. This allows a child to fully comprehend reading and these skills last a lifetime.

The greatest thing about Reading Kingdom though is that it customizes to your child. Every child’s experience with this program will be completely different. When your child begins this program, they will complete a reading skills survey that allows the program to adapt to your child. Based on the results of this survey, the program designs itself to fit your child’s learning needs. It also adapts as your child progresses through the program, developing your child skills as they learn.

We have used this program with my struggling reader and he really loves it. Since it goes at his pace and adapts to his skills, he is able to really enjoy himself while using it. Winston is a whole word learner and struggles with phonics type programs. Reading Kingdom’s combined approach has allowed him to grasp concepts of reading that he usually struggles with when learning single reading programs like phonics or whole words.

Winston uses the program a few times a week and works as long as he wishes on his reading. There is no rush for him or pressure in learning. It’s complete fun and games in reading and this has helped him relax tremendously. We will be adding his little sister to the program in the future.

Reading Kingdom has a free trial available to view this curriculum before taking the jump into joining with a membership. Memberships are $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year for the first child. Additional children added into the program are $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. There are also additional materials available for purchase to use with the program as well. Free online resources are also available for use.

To read more reviews of Reading Kingdom, please click the banner below!

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Notgrass Company: America The Beautiful {Crew Review}

August 14, 2013 by Dana

Last year, as I was planning for school, I added American History to our list of subjects I wanted to teach next year. Over the past year, I’ve searched for books and curriculum to create our own study on this subject. I was lucky in my finds but I was even luckier when this review appeared on our vendor list for the Schoolhouse Crew. Notgrass Company’s America the Beautiful curriculum set was just the type of core program I had been looking for.

America the Beautiful is a year long course on American History. It doesn’t only cover history though. It is also a literature curriculum and geography course in one. Designed for children in 5th-8th grade, this program is designed to provide your child with a full year of lessons that cover various important events throughout America’s history.

Parents can choose to complete this course in one year or expand it to two years if they prefer. Lessons are designed to be completed one per day, five per week or they can be spread to two or three lessons a week as preferred. Lessons take approximately 45-90 minutes. Extra time is required for crafts and other activities. The program is also adaptable to fit your child’s or family’s interests and daily activities can be adjusted to accommodate those interests.

America the Beautiful is a beautifully created curriculum. There is no teacher’s guide, as the program’s directions are provided throughout each of the main texts. This is an added bonus for children who are independent learners so they can follow the program with little parental guidance if capable. Parents, too, can follow along easily without having to flip back and forth to a guide to keep up.

America The Beautiful curriculum package consists of the following:

America the Beautiful, Part 1: America from 1000 to 1877
America the Beautiful, Part 2: America From the Late 1800’s to the Present
We the People: Words from the Makers of American History
America the Beautiful: Student Workbook
America the Beautiful: Lesson Review
Maps of America the Beautiful
Timeline of America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful: Answer Key

Each of the books in this curriculum are beautifully crafted. The first three texts are hardback books, with bright glossy covers that draw the users attention to them immediately. The rich text are filled with gorgeous images of the time period. The accessory books are all paperback with the Lesson Review and Student Workbook having spiral binding to allow them to lie flat for lesson completion.

An additional literature package is available to expand this program to it’s full capability. We did not receive this as part of our review and I did not incorporate this part of the lesson plan at the time of completion of this review. We will be adding it into our future lessons to make this a complete program for our home studies in the future.

The thing I absolutely love most about this curriculum is that it relates everything to God, from the creation of the land to the settling of America on through to today’s times. The curriculum helps bring to life, God’s plan and creation within America. This is a beauty that is often missed in secular history programs.

Something I found tremendously easy to incorporate with this program is science. As we learned about various animals and places in America’s history, it was easy to expand upon our lessons, learning more about the animals and areas themselves. Especially in early lessons, where many of the animals discussed are local to our own backyard, such as the American Alligator which we have seen on various boating and hunting excursions – and yes, we actually do have one living way back in the back of our own backyard. Bottle-nosed dolphins can be seen off coast of our shoreline and Green Sea Turtles come up our coast to lay eggs each year.

Black bear make our hunting club their home and recently part of our hunting club was donated to make a wildlife preserve for the bear to live safely for generations to come. A recent field trip provided a great expedition to see Bison up close. I never realized they roamed our Southern Coastal lands at one time! All these beautiful animals right here where our home is!

We learned a great deal about our American Indian heritage through this curriculum as well. The different tribes and the differences in tribes. This was especially interesting to us, since Winston and Emmalee both have an extensive American Indian heritage on both their biological father’s and my own side of the family. The Susquehanna, Cherokee and Lumbee are ancestors to their bloodline. This curriculum is rich in American Indian history and that was something we greatly appreciate.

We look forward to covering more history using American the Beautiful, particularly learning more about America’s 1st settlements, including our own Charleston, South Carolina. The many battles of the Revolutionary War were fought right around our home of Georgetown, South Carolina so it will be interesting to see where our future lessons will take us on our journey to learn more outside the pages of the text book.

We have been excitedly marking our way through our America the Beautiful timeline, and mapping our path with our Maps of America the Beautiful historical atlas. The kids have really enjoyed working together to complete the activities within the Student Workbook. We have also enjoyed the extra stories and read-alouds from our We the People text. Many of these stories we have never heard before.

The Lesson Review book is probably the least used of everything we have received, along with America the Beautiful Part 2 text but that’s because we haven’t reached that book yet! I have used the Lesson Review to ask questions in an effort to ensure the kids are learning as we read. We, however, are not generally strict to structured learning so we do not normally utilize lesson reviews for homeschooling materials. I simply ask questions as we go along and the kids answer appropriately to allow me to gauge their level of learning from the curriculum itself. Still it’s nice to have a Lesson Review to guide me and provide the necessary questions to ensure they are indeed learning.

I can honestly say this curriculum is one that everyone has loved. Laycie has followed along with us as we have read through lessons. At age 5, she does become bored before we get through the bulk of the lesson. Winston and Emmalee have followed along very well and it’s captured their attention at times. They have enjoyed learning more about the animals and about their heritage thanks to America the Beautiful. They look forward to future lessons that lead to hands-on field trips for us soon.

America the Beautiful, the curriculum package is available for purchase from Notgrass Company for $99.95. It is written for children ages 10-14. This package includes student texts, maps, timeline and the answer key. At additional cost, you can purchase the America the Beautiful Student Workbook for grades 5-6 for $11.95 or the America the Beautiful Lesson Review for grades 7-8 for $9.95.

To read more reviews of this and other curriculum from Notgrass Company, click the banner below!

Mixed Emotion {Epilepsy Awareness}

August 12, 2013 by Dana

This is a rough period in our life. Rough doesn’t even really begin to describe it. Hell is a better term.

I can’t even say what I’m feeling now. I am up and down, depressed one day and raring to go the next. My emotions are completely mixed and in true Gemini fashion, I cannot even guess which of my dual personalities is coming out next.

I’m tired, I’m hurt, I’m angry. I’m a whirlwind just blowing through every day right now. I feel like I’m caught in a spin and I cannot stop it.

I know it will end. I know it will calm. I know I will have that false sense of safety again.

Then BOOM – it will all come tumbling down because seizures will breakthrough, medicines will need adjusted and babies will grow.

I want a normal life with normal kids that have no health issues. Isn’t that every woman’s dream? Don’t we all think how perfect our children will be before they come?

I know when I was a little girl, I never thought that my children could be sick with anything like Epilepsy, even when I knew I had it myself. Now I watch Laycie treat her dolls for this disorder and all because she and her sister and brother have it. She shouldn’t even know it exists!

But she does and what can I do but prepare her for a life of living with it. And not only for her life but for those of her children too. Epilepsy will impact her entire life: past, present and future.

People always tells me about these poor children they know, about their families in town and how they suffer this or that. Though I do feel sorry for them, I think what about my children? People look at them and think how lucky we are to have “normal” kids. They never guess anything is wrong with our children.

Epilepsy is a hidden disorder. Until my children drop, they appear perfectly fine. On the outside, they look like everyone else. On the inside, this monster lurks waiting to turn our lives upside down.

I know I should have more faith. My big brother’s words always stick with me, bringing me strength. On the day I told him Emmalee had Epilepsy he told me, “She’ll be ok. We’ll get through this. We did it with you, we will with her too”.

I hope every day for those words to be truth. To just be able to get through it all, without losing one of my babies, without a seizure damaging their brains for life. Most people don’t realize just how serious a life with Epilepsy really is. Truth is, my babies may not make it through their next seizure and that is my biggest fear in our fight with this disorder.

It’s not something I want to talk about and it’s something I have spent much of our life ignoring. But how can I continue to ignore the truth? Today, I’m not talking about it but you can bet, I will be in the future. Stay tuned.

Bible Study Guide for All Ages: Primary Level {Crew Review}

August 12, 2013 by Dana

If you’ve been looking for a great way to teach Bible study to your children, Bible Study Guide for All Ages is a great program to choose. Bible Study Guide for All Ages makes learning about the Bible fun and easy. This program is sure to capture the attention of any age.

For this review, we chose the Primary plan. This plan is created for children in 1st-2nd grades and is a great plan for children who know a little about the Bible but are ready to advance into a deeper level of learning. Our Bible Study Guide for All Ages kit came with the Primary Level Teacher Guide, Color Bible Book Summary Cards, enough Primary Student pages for all the kids, and an accompanying Children’s Songs CD.

Along with the contents of the kit, each student will need a Bible of their own to use. This will be used for finding Biblical text throughout the lessons. Finding the Bible verses with help or on their own, allows students to learn the much needed skill of using their Bible and reading on their own.

Crayons, pencils and other writing utensils are also necessary for this program. We personally love anything we can color, draw and design so we broke out crayons and colored pencils for this program. I love anything that encourages the kids uniqueness in artistic ways.

The one thing we did not receive, that was not 100% necessary but would have been a nice addition to our kit, was the Unlabeled Wall Map and Time Line with Label book. This timeline is used throughout the program and mentioned in our lessons but it wasn’t something we had to have in order to complete any lesson. The bonus of it though, is that it would have allowed us to track Biblical events and figures in a hands-on way. I’m sure I could easily create my own or just a notebook type Timeline and captured the same effect for our family and we may do that in the future.

The Bible Study Guide for All Ages Primary Level Teacher’s Guide is wire-bound which allows the guide to lie flat for lessons. In it, you will find directions to every lesson and task for this level of the program. The book begins with Teacher Instructions, explaining how this program works and how to use it in your classroom. I found it very easy to understand and make work for us at home, though it can also be used in a Sunday School classroom if you’d prefer.

Lessons can be completed once a day or spread to a few days in a week, depending upon the child. Generally, only one lesson a week would be completed though you can complete more if you wish. This program is designed much like a Sunday School Bible Study which would only be used once a week on Sunday’s.

Lessons are fairly short and should take only an hour or so to complete, if that. Each lesson has an objective to teach the child some important lesson of the Bible. In the beginning of each lesson in the guide there is also a list for the lessons needed materials. These are things you will gather to be able to complete the lesson with the child(ren).

Lessons always begin with a review of the previous lesson. This allows the child to show what they know and what they remember from the previous lesson. This also allows the teacher to gauge the child’s learning and reteach areas that may have been missed in the previous lesson.

The second part of the lesson is the Memory Work. This is generally where important Bible facts and songs are introduced. Bible verses are also reviewed during this section. Anything that a student needs to memorize for the lesson is introduced here.

The third section is the Things to Know section. This is the real introduction to the week’s lesson and where the backbone of the lesson is found. Things to Know sets the background for the main lesson to come.

The next step is to Get Active! This is the give and take of the lesson, where the teacher questions the students and challenges their thinking to get them thinking lessons through. This section if scripted well for the teacher and easily followed, though students answers will always differ from the suggested ones in the book. This section also sets the stage for the story of the lesson.

Finally, we reach the Bible Text. This is the story portion that brings the Bible story into relation of all we have learned so far. Stories vary in length and are always followed by review questions to keep students challenged and thinking during lessons. As you read through this section, students can follow along with their comic book images in their student text workbook. This helps bring the story to life for the student learning.

Following the text section, students learn where it happened on the Map. This is included in their student text but you can elaborate by using a wall map or a timeline. This allows the child to see for themselves where this part of the story happened and relate it to today instead of just a story from a book. It helps to bring the lesson and story to life for the child.

The last step of the lesson is to Apply It! Show what you both have learned, parent and student. Talk about the lesson, why it’s important, how you can prevent yourself from doing something you shouldn’t or encourage others to do what they should. Each lesson’s Apply It! is different but every one has an important lesson to be taught.

The Student lesson pages are extra long and come in black and white. This allows the child to be creative in coloring the pages. It also helps cut down printing costs. The pages are full of character, using comic book type imagery to keep children engaged.

The Bible Book Summary Cards are fully colored and work to bring life to this program. The back of each card provides information that goes along with each lesson. It also includes questions for the teacher to ask the student. The great part is that all of this is on the back of the card, so as the teacher holds it up for the student to view, the teacher can be reading this part of the lesson without the student realizing there is anything there.

Children’s Songs CD is also included with this program. This 2 CD set includes 90 songs for your students to use along with the lessons. These also help bring the stories to life and get your child off the couch and into the lesson. These aren’t the usual, every day Bible songs either but they are catchy tunes that your family will be singing again and again.

We used this program as directed, following through the lessons together. It was simple enough to do and the kids enjoyed the time spent with one another on it. Winston especially enjoyed the comic book characters and the easy reading, which helped encourage him with his reading skills. Emmalee read much of the lesson to us, which allowed me a break from doing all the reading myself. The lessons were just the right amount of study and time for Laycie too. They were not overwhelming and were just the right amount of detail for each one of us.

Bible Study Guide for All Ages: Primary Level is available to purchase online for $9.95 for the 1-26 lesson Teacher’s Guide and $5.95 for the 1-26 Student Lesson pages. Lessons are broken down into sections of 26 lessons at a time. There are a total of 208 lessons available for the Primary Level of this program.

The Bible Book Summary Cards are also available for purchase. These come in Full Color 8.5″x11″ cards or Color-It-Yourself 11″x14″ posters. Both come with 66 cards to use with the program and are both priced at $24.95 each.

The Children’s Songs CD set is a 2 disk set containing 90 children’s Bible songs. The cost for it is $19.95.

For more reviews of Bible Study Guide for All Ages, please click on the banner below!

Tyndale Rewards Program {A Propeller Review}

August 8, 2013 by Dana

Tyndale House Publishers has an amazing list of products for the Christian reader. Tyndale is one of the top names in Publishing Christian materials. Now they offer yet another wonderful program with Tyndale Rewards.

Tyndale Rewards is a great way to earn points for FREE {Yes, you read that right: FREE} books and Bibles from Tyndale House Publishers themselves! All you have to do is sign up and you can immediately begin gathering points to earn your first book. It’s really easy.

Tyndale Rewards gives you points for getting your friends to sign up. They give points for completing simple surveys they offer. They also give points for participating in their Focus Group, signing up for their inspiring devotionals, sharing on Twitter and Facebook and much more.

As an added bonus, you can review any Tyndale product online, provide the link to the review and also earn reward points. This is great for those already registered as part of their Tyndale Blog Network, like me! If you are a blogger, it’s a great program to participate in.

It didn’t take me long to gather points to earn my first book. They have a wonderful selection of Bibles to choose from, as well as children’s books, adult fictions and non-fictions and so much more. Many of their recent popular titles are available to earn with Tyndale Rewards and once again it’s all for FREE!

My Tyndale Rewards book choice was Bees In The Butterfly Garden by Maureen Lang. This book took 65 of my Tyndale Reward points. Shipping was free. I ordered my FREE copy last week and my book arrived today. It’s a beautiful, brand new book in perfect condition. Now I can read it, review it and earn even more points.

Since ordering my book, I have completed more rewards tasks. My Tyndale Rewards are now at 50 points and I can either save them, as they never expire, or I can keep adding to them by completing more tasks and reviews for the program. It’s a win win situation for Tyndale Rewards and for me!

To learn more about Tyndale Rewards or to sign up, please visit their website, Tyndale Rewards!

Disclaimer – Tyndale Rewards is a FREE program that anyone can sign up for. I was asked to use and review this program though my FlyBy Promotions account with Propeller Reviews. I was already aware of the program and planning to join in anyway so what better extra incentive than to provide a review for Propeller too! As this program is FREE, I gained nothing from either company by joining in except for the usual reward of FREE stuff from earning points through the program itself. I’m including this disclaimer in accordance with FTC guidelines and regulations.

Affiliate links are included in this review which bring me extra points for the Tyndale Rewards program!

Homeschooling with God’s Blessing {Epilepsy Awareness}

August 7, 2013 by Dana

Nine years ago around this time, it was time to enroll my sweet baby boy, my oldest into public school. I totally wasn’t feeling it. It just seemed wrong to me to send my sweet and curious boy away to someone else all day. So this lead me to research.

I immediately got online and began researching our schooling options. I had come across Homeschooling somewhere on a parenting board. It intrigued me and I wanted to know more.

We {my now ex-husband and I} had just went through a long ordeal of beginning our journey into Epilepsy with Emmalee. She was still just a baby, around a year old and had been doing great on her medicine though she would have the occasional breakthrough as the dose grew weak during her growth spurts. School would be coming up for her before long too, as time has a way of flying. I knew I did not want her to go through the same things I had as a child in public school with Epilepsy. I researched homeschooling even more.

I prayed. I remember I actually got down on hands and knees for this one. I continuously prayed. I’d look at my children and say a prayer, “God just show me what to do”. I’d be in a store and think, “what should I do about school for them?”

It didn’t take long for the answer to come. One day, I was shopping in a thrift store and came across some How to Homeschool books. I grabbed them up. A few days later I was dropping off some unwanted items into the local swap building and discovered a stack of homeschooling curriculum someone had dropped off. Since it was free swap, I grabbed it up too.

I came across our homeschooling association. I put off calling. After finding the items mentioned above, I decided to give them a call. They were absolutely wonderful! So caring and so helpful.

I went to the local library the association had suggested. I spoke in person to the lady in charge of curriculum materials for homeschoolers. She was a blessing to me! God was providing just the people I needed. She showed me so much that day and taught me lessons I still give to others today.

I attended the New to Homeschooling class from our local association. It was an “Ahhh” moment. I left there still nervous and scared but so much more prepared for this journey than I ever realized I could be. God had more than answered my prayer over that few months. Homeschooling was exactly what we were going to do.

We started homeschooling Winston immediately. Emmalee would join in later. I was prepared for only one kid. I had invested in a Bob Jones curriculum from the local Homeschool Used Book Store. I was determined this was going to be done right and that meant Public School at home. No one would say I’m not teaching my kid!

Boy, how little I knew then! It immediately failed. We struggled. Win hated school. And those lessons have stuck with him for life.

Win is my hardest student. He excels at Math. He loves going outside to learn science and is hands-on about history. He hates and is not good at reading. We have used almost every program imaginable and still he struggles.

Emma excels at reading and trust me, I often question how. We have used so many varied programs that she really should be struggling with it herself. With all the time I have spent focused on her brother’s reading, she has really taught herself what she wants to know about the subject. Sure the curriculum was there and it helped but the learning was all her.

{I am honestly proud, not only of her but she has shown me that I’m not a failure as a teacher after all.}

Over the years, we’ve kept plugging along with homeschooling. There was a brief period in the midst that I enrolled the oldest two in Public School at the insistence of others. I immediately regretted that decision when Emma began having migraines and seizure activity after being seizure free for a year.

And it was in that period of time that Win’s esteem suffered because the school made him realize what he never had: he couldn’t read at age 8. Many boys don’t read at that age but they never explained that to him. I’ve spent many a day trying to rebuild that destroyed esteem and let him know it’s ok that he struggles with something and it’s not the end of the world. He will get it and he is getting closer to where he should be each and every day.

I pulled the kids back out of public school. Emma’s health recovered almost immediately when we returned to our normal routine and she was able to rest and not stress. Win and I are still working on the issues he gained while at public school but we are getting there.

Now here we are, 9 years later. Over time, I have questioned our reasons for homeschooling. I wonder if it was the right decision but then there is always something that confirms it was God’s will to me.

Just today, I thought about it. I realized there is no way I could even begin to raise and care for four kids with three that have Epilepsy if I wasn’t homeschooling. The schools in our area are not equipped for them. Then there would be the issue of keeping up with their public school lessons, missing days, taking time off for rest and doctors, etc. The truancy officer would surely be knocking on my door every week!

God knew just what His plans were for me as a Momma of children with Epilepsy. He planned ahead, allowing me to Homeschool. He blessed me with great children who love and listen and help each other along with Momma when she needs it. He prepared us with a way to bond unlike any other and a way to learn that brings us even closer together.

As you consider your own journey into homeschooling, with or without medical reason, remember to pray. Remember to ask God for direction. Sometimes He will point you to Public School because He needs disciples to light candles in the darkness there too. Sometimes He will lead you into Homeschooling because He knows it is what’s best for you, as has been our case. Either way, the results will always be to Glorify God in the lessons and in Life.