• Review: Orphs of the Woodlands Interactive Book App

    Star Toaster, a popular company, has released their latest interactive chapter book app called Orphs of the Woodlands at Tangletree.   My kids love to play on the iPad, and I welcomed the opportunity for them to have a new educational app to try.   This app works on iPhones and iPads, using iOS 8.0 or later and is designed for kids ages 7+. The premise of this story is a sweet one.   A flying squirrel cares for 6 orphaned animals (orphs) in his tree house.   He soon learns that kids are a lot of work!  Who can relate?   🙂 🙂   He has a lot of jobs…

  • Review: Great Online Art Program for Kids!

    I am not an artsy kind of gal – I took art classes in elementary school but never felt like I had any particular skill at it, and didn’t keep at it long enough to develop any skill!    I therefore never felt qualified to teach my kids art – thumbprint art or VERY impressionistic is my bent lol, and I’ve been looking around for an art program for them to try.   When ArtAchieve offered us the opportunity to review their Entire Level 1 program, I said yes!  And I’m so glad I did!! I wanted a program that didn’t require a lot of supplies.   Pen, paper, pencils,…

  • Review: Latin for Kids with Laurelwood!

    If you’re educating classically, Latin is one of those subjects that keeps popping up.  I never studied Latin as a child, aside from a few words in science class, so I’ve been learning right along with the kids.  We’ve memorized some Latin declension noun endings as part of CC, but haven’t dived any deeper into vocabulary.  When Laurelwood offered us the opportunity to review their Latin readers and workbooks, we decided to do a little summer enrichment and go for it!   Laurelwood Books sent us their Olim, Once Upon a Time in Latin, Reader III and their Workbook III.   I did have a hard time deciding which level…

  • Review: Online Veritas Bible Program

    One of my highest priorities is for my kids to know the Bible and to be strong and confident in their relationships with Jesus.   Our world is ever changing, and the Bible can serve as a plumbline for our future generations, to help them walk in God’s ways and not be swayed by deception. I’ve been on the hunt recently for an online program they can use, so they can work on it without my direct input.   I was delighted to have the opportunity to review one of the Bible programs from Veritas Press.  They kindly gave us a one year subscription to VeritasBible.com.   They also have…

  • MaxScholar Review

    Review: MaxScholar Reading Intervention Program

    MaxScholar gave us a one year’s license to their MaxScholar Reading Intervention Programs, MaxGuru.  Their K-2 and MaxGuru programs are designed for students that struggle with dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD, processing problems, or who are struggling to learn to read.  It’s also a great program for students without those added challenges as well. We reviewed the MaxGuru program, so I turned Super D loose on it.  It is a robust program, with lots of material for kids to work through.  The MaxGuru program includes MaxPhonics, MaxReading, MaxWords, MaxMusic, MaxVocab, MaxPlaces, and MaxBio. Super D started in MaxReading.  I was eager to have a systematic way to gauge his reading comprehension.…

  • Hey Mama Schoolhouse Planner Review

    Review: Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner 2016 – 2017

    We haven’t fully wrapped up this homeschool year, and I’m already thinking and planning next year!   I know I’m not alone!   I’ve been busy evaluating what worked for us this year, what didn’t work, and what was just so-so, for each of my kiddos.  I’ve already started browsing online and reading lots of curriculum reviews to try to decide what we want to modify for next year.   Having a written planner is really helpful in keeping all of our homeschool work straight, especially as Super D and Sweetheart add more subjects and complexity to what they’re doing.   The Old Schoolhouse just released their newest planner, Hey Mama!…

  • Review: Essential Skills Advantage

    Review: Essential Skills Advantage

    Essential Skills Advantage offered us the opportunity to review their Complete Home Learning Suite, so Sweetheart and I jumped in.  We were given a year’s subscription that gave us access to a WIDE variety of topics and subjects. ESA offers a supplemental curriculum that is used in more than 20,000 schools.   It is geared for ages K – 6th grade and has over 14,000 lessons!   Their program would keep the kids occupied for a while!    They offer the following programs: Math – Levels K-6 Language and Grammar – Levels K-6 Reading – Levels K-6 Science – Levels K-3 Geography – Levels 4-6 We focused on the Reading…

  • Review-Sunya Addition & Subtraction Game

    Review: Sunya Addition & Subtraction Game

    It can be tricky to turn practicing math facts into something fun.  Sunya takes a great stab at it with an interesting combo of a game involving number sentences and riddles!   Sunya Publishing sent us their new game, Sunya – The Magic and Wonder of Math and Science Adding & Subtracting, ages 7+, to try.   We received an instruction manual and two decks of cards.  Super D and I had fun trying it out, and getting competitive with the riddles! The basic premise of the game involves making number sentences.  The instructions come with three different versions of the game to play – we just tried out the first one.…

  • Science Shepherd Review

    Review: Science Shepherd

    Science was my favorite subject in school, so much so that I majored in bioinformatics in college. I love teaching science to my kids, especially science from a Christian creationist perspective but we haven’t yet settled on a science curriculum. I was excited to review the Introductory Science program from Science Shepherd, especially because it’s video based and Super D can do it without me!  We received the Introductory Science Level B workbook, answer key, and access to the Introductory Science course videos.  Quick summary: we totally love this curriculum.   This is one that we will continue to use until he’s finished the course.   Read on for details!…

  • Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization Review

    Review: Poetry Memorization Made Easy with IEW!

    Andrew Pudewa and the Institute for Excellence in Writing are one of my favorite creators of homeschool curriculum.  I first heard him speak at a homeschool convention last year, and I attended every session I could that he taught!   I love his approach to the process of writing, and developing excellent language skills in kids.   When we were offered the opportunity to review their program, Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization, I hesitated just a moment because, well, it’s poetry, and I didn’t know how my kids would go for memorizing it.   I decided to give it a try because of who created the materials, and I’m so…