With all the many wonderful review products I have been sent over the last 2 years on the Schoolhouse Review crew, I have never been more excited and honored to bring you a product then I am today!!
Many countless times, I have come across this question on homeschooling moms' message boards and Facebook pages:
"Does anyone know a good curriculum to teach about missions and missionaries?"
Everyone does their best to answer the question, but the fact is that we have always come up short due to a lack of a good curriculum to fit that need. But, I am sooooo excited to tell you about a product that not only fills the need, but exceeds it in every possible way.
Let me introduce you to the Wild Family. The Wild Family are missionaries with New Tribes Mission. Mike, Elizabeth, Asher, Kion, Morgan, and Hudson Wild live in the Wano Valley and minister to the Wano people in Papua, Indonesia.
The Wano people were an unreached people group before NTM and the Wild Family went to the Wano Valley. The language of the Wano people was unknown, and so the Wild Family had to learn their language and then write it down. After they translated the Wano peoples' language, they were able to present the message of the Gospel with the Wano people.
The Wild family also homeschool their children, and I suspect at one time or another, they saw the same question I did. But, they were in the unique situation to offer a solution to this question. And answer they have!!!
Growing Up Wild follows the day to day adventures of the four Wild brothers as they live, play, learn, and spread the love of Christ with their family in the Papua Highlands. Their life there is very different from the one that most American children live, and children are drawn in right away to see what happens!
Growing Up Wild is a DVD series that currently has 5 volumes. Each volume has three 15 minute episodes that highlight a different aspect of growing up as a missionary kid in the jungle. The DVD's also come with an activity guide that contain ways to take the episodes further in your learning. It is always nice to have a homeschooling family write the curriculum, because they know how nice it is to have a CD-rom with the printables all ready to go!
The DVD and Activity Guide sets retail for $18.99 plus tax and shipping. You can also save if you buy all 15 volumes at the same time for just $80.99.
The Wild Brothers and Our Country Kids:
We received copies of volumes 1 and 4 for review. The first episode of the first volume is called 'Home Sweet Hut.' This episode takes you on a tour of the Wild Family home in Wano. It certainly sets the stage to let you know that things in Wano are quite different then those here in the States!
The Wild family lives in a ROUND house! Made of local building materials, with local builders-and themselves. Talk about green ;). Their furniture is all made locally with wood from trees in the area, and it locks with a string and stick lock.
But, the similarities to an American house are still there. The boys sleep in bunk beds, mom has a washing machine for their clothes, and there's even a LEGO LOFT that is currently the envy of my son!
One of the activities afterwards is to make your own Wano house. We watched the episode a number of times to help us get a true feeling for how the house is built and what materials we had on hand to build one.
This is our group house made from an oatmeal container, bendi-stix, and soybean stubble.
Then, each child made their own. Charger felt that since the Wild house has a lego loft, that the house should be made out of legos. He didn't seem to care that it wasn't at all round.
Apparently Bob and the gang didn't care either :).
Mustang's house used the other half of the oatmeal box, and she decided that a flat roof was much easier then a gabled one. Excuse the no smile. She specifically wanted to have a photo with no smile.
Another suggested activity was to create a Venn-Diagram to compare and contrast the Wild Brother's house with our house.
We found that the Wild Brother's house:
Is round
has a round roof
has an electrical station
unique lock system
a cat door
homemade furniture
1 bath (that we saw)
BIG spiders
a dog
LEGO LOFT
Our house:
Is a rectangle
has a triangle (gabled) roof
locks with a key
electrical box
bathtub
girls (except mom)
2 baths
small spiders
cabinets
car and driveway
We both have:
A metal roof
wood floors
kitchen
bugs
windows
cat
schoolroom
big trees
rats/mice
ladder to a loft
books
Now, you may be wondering why it matters that we see where the Wild Brothers live to learn about Missionaries? It means everything. "Go Ye into all the world." is a big, vague, kinda scary sounding verse. But, it's very important that we, as Christians, understand this command.
Growing up, I went to a church that was very missions minded. Every fall, they would host a missions conference and invite 10 or more missionaries to come and be part of the conference. The church members would attend little classes designed to help us meet the missionaries and understand what they did. My dad was the pastor there and so we often had these missionaries come and stay in our home during the conference and other times. Many of these families became friends, some of them like family. I also had an aunt and uncle serving in Honduras.
Getting to know these families takes the mystery out of 'going into all the world.' It's no longer something scary. Real people and real families go. It's something that God can equip any willing person to do. By the time I was in high school, I was eager to have an opportunity to go. The summer after graduating from high school, I went to Ghana in West Africa. Three weeks that forever changed my heart.
At one point in life, I thought maybe I was called into foreign missions. It has become clear that isn't the call God has for my life. But, I certainly want to help my children understand this command to go. Maybe one of them will be called. And, even if they are not called to go, we are all called to send. Understanding who we are sending and what they do is vital to developing a heart for the missionaries and their needs.
And, just in case you might think that living in the jungle means a home video quality movie, do not worry! The quality of Growing Up Wild is top notch! The music is catchy, the pictures are clear and beautiful, the narration is great, too. The Wild family has done a perfect job of speaking to the children their product is aimed at, while at the same time including mom and dad.
Bringing the Wild Family into our home has allowed me to teach my children about a real family who lives 1/2 way around the world in the middle of the jungle. They sleep in bunk beds in a round house, they catch sun rays to power their laptops and ride in a helicopter to go to the grocery store. They catch snakes for fun, kill spiders with spears, don't wear shirts, and have their noses pierced! But, most important, they are a real family making known the mystery of the Gospel to the Wano people. I feel beyond blessed to have Growing Up Wild as part of our curriculum and HIGHLY recommend it to you, too!!
If you would like to see what other families thought of Growing Up Wild, you can check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.
God Bless You and thank you for stopping by!
Disclaimer: I received copies of Volume 1 and 4 of Growing Up Wild in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own!
One of the most common questions I get from new homeschooling moms is, "What curriculum do you use to teach reading?" Teaching your child to read can seem like a daunting task. It is one of the very most important things to learn in life, and if you don't teach your child to read, you won't get far in the other subjects. This is why I enjoy any opportunity I receive to review programs designed to teach your children to read. That, and because I also have a child learning to read!
The last month and a half we have been using a program from The Institute for Excellence in Writing designed for students grades K-2 called Primary Arts of Language or PAL for short. PAL is a comprehensive language program based on Anna Ingram's Sight-Sound System. PAL teaches learning to read, hand-writing, literature, creative writing and spelling all wrapped up into one! If you have a Kindergarten student you could use just PAL along with another math program and Bible curriculum and you would have all the curriculum you needed for your core.
PAL was written and created by Jill Pike who is a veteran homeschooling mother. This is important because she takes into account the various needs of a homeschooling family and children. She draws on her own experiences of teaching her children to read. In fact, PAL was created as she used it with her own children.
Jill herself does an amazing job of explaining PAL in a webinar she provided. The link is a recorded webinar that happened previously. At the very beginning it says no data being shared, but hang in there it works after a minute or so. If you have any interest in purchasing PAL for your family, it is a must watch. The webinar explains, in depth, who the PAL program is for, how it works, and how to use it. I will tell you about how we used the program here in my review, but there is no substitute for the information that Mrs. Pike shares.
The PAL program can be broken down into three different packages of reading, writing, and spelling. These three programs are designed to be used together, but can be used separately depending on the needs of your child. We received all the components of the PAL program for review.
PAL Reading DVD-Rom which includes an instructional video by Jill Pike, MP3s from Andrew Pudewa and Anna Ingham, and the PAL Reading Student e-book
It retails for $69.00 as a package, or $98.00 if you were to purchase each item individually. I want to point out that the student book is an e-Book and can be printed as many times as needed. If you have multiple children that you want to use the program with, you do not need to repurchase the consumables!! This is just one of the ways Jill Pike's homeschool experience comes out in the PAL program. She understands most moms are on a budget and tries very hard to make the PAL program affordable!
PAL Writing DVD-Rom which includes an instructional video from Jill Pike, MP3s from Adam Andrews and Andrew Pudewa, and the PAL Writing student e-Books. (Again, the student book can be printed over and over!)
All About Spelling Level 1 teacher's manual
All About Spelling student packet
All About Spelling Basic Interactive Kit
This package retails for $89.00 or $113.00 if each item is purchased separately.
As you can see, this is an extensive package of materials and my review space will not be enough to cover every aspect of it. So, I'm going to walk you through our experience with PAL to give you the best overview I can.
Day one: Primary Arts of Language arrives at our house.
I was excited, of course, to get my package! As with any new curriculum, there is always a feeling of a kid on Christmas morning. Opening the beautiful books and manipulatives is always fun. There are a lot of materials in the box. This makes me giddy, but then a slight overwhelmed feeling sets in.
I notice the card that says 'where to start.' I figure, I got this one and set it to the side. Open the teacher's manual to see what we need to do for lesson one. Wow, okay, overwhelmed feeling back again. I find the 'where to start' card.
Thankfully, author Jill Pike knew I'd feel overwhelmed. She took the time to offer an Instructional Video that will walk you through EVERYTHING you need to know about the PAL program. The video is included on the DVD-Rom. The video is a wonderful, hand-holding explanation that gave me the confidence to know I could use PAL and use it effectively with my children.
Now a word about this overwhelmed feeling. Let me tell you, sometimes (like this one) overwhelmed is a good thing. A lot of times we talk about a child being a hands on learner, or a book learner, or an auditory learner, or a visual learner. And, while each child has one style that helps them more then the next, a program that uses all of our senses for learning is the best. PAL does this. It is a very well-rounded program that covers each aspect of learning. But, that does mean it takes a little bit more effort then some other programs to prepare.
Day Two: After I watched the videos
Now that I felt more comfortable with the PAL program, I was eager to get started. I began reading through the first lesson again with renewed excitement. I didn't yet know who the PAL program would benefit.
Mustang is my 1st grader and is supposed to be in the learning to read stage. But, she loves to read and has recently hit a spurt where she moved up to a 4th grade level overnight. She still can't spell very well, her handwriting could use some practice, and doesn't know her phonograms. Charger, on the other hand, is just beginning to learn to read. He can read CVC words and some sight words. I figured I would start both of them in the program and see what happened.
Because I had 2 in the program at once, it was so nice to pop in the DVD-rom and print TWO copies of all the work papers needed for the lessons. Knowing that I have 2 more children coming up in the program it is even more exciting to know I can print two more copies when they are old enough! You can even use this program with a CO-OP with no extra permissions needed. One copy for each teacher is all you need. Heavenly!
Day Three: Putting together the Phonetic Games
One of the fun aspects of PAL are the Phonetic Games. These are hands-on language games to help reinforce the lessons being taught. They have a very Montessori feel. Each of the games can be cut directly out of the book, or you have permission to COPY the book and make a game. This is very important because, if you lose a piece, you can make another game. Ask me how I know this???
The games are made using file folders, which I found to be lovely now that we are without a schoolroom. If I still had a schoolroom and had the space to keep them out, I might use the same games and design them into a more Montessori style, but the are really wonderful as they are.
Jill Pike recommends putting together the games you will be using all at once, but I didn't have the time to do it all at once. If I had a summer break to prepare for our upcoming school year I could have had them ready. It would be really nice to not have to spend each night preparing them.
My only complaint on these is that they are not in color. I spent a LOT of time coloring the games.
Day Four: Phonetic Farm and Letter Stories
The Phonetic Farm is brilliant. Seriously, if you just want to purchase this one item it is awesome with or without the PAL program. Each sticker addresses a different phonogram to help students to remember that, for instance ee says long e as in bee, green, and tree. The ee sound is on a beehive. On another beehive is the phonogram ea as in meat and treat, another has ie and ei, the forth has ey and i. Students can look and see that all the phonograms on beehives make the long e sound.
As students progress through the PAL program, they are introduced to individual sounds and phonograms from the beginning. With each lesson there is at least one new sound for the Phonetic Farm. Then can then refer to the farm at anytime. This is the one piece of the program that is not reproducible.
Turning to the writing program, each letter has a story. These stories help with remembering how to write the letter and sometimes how to say it as well. The 'b' letter, for example, has a story that says: 'Start at the top, draw a line straight down, and then bounce up and over in the direction we read b-b-boom!' These little stories are so cute and really help make the process of learning to write fun.
Day Five: Ready to start, at least I hope so!
I did lessons with Mustang and Charger individually to make sure they were learning and not competing with each other. Charger was up first. Here is what a typical lesson looks like in the book and how I adapted it with my children.
Poetry: Reading a poem is the first part of each lesson. The same poem is read for 5-10 lessons. During each lesson, we take the time to look for something different in the poem. One day, we looked for all the words with ee, another we looked for words ending in er, still another we talked about figurative language and how the sun could 'peek' through the trees. This takes about 5-10 minutes.
Class Journal: Writing a journal together is an important part of the lessons. These writing excersizes are a great way for your child to see you writing in complete sentences, using proper punctuation, and proper grammar. He also gets an opportunity to verbalize his thoughts when you ask him what to write. This also takes about 5-10 minutes.
Printing and Copywork: This is where you turn over to the PAL writing program. These lessons include review of previously introduced letters, and then introduction of new letters. The letters are introduced with their letter story (see above) to help with remembering how to write each one. After lots of practice on a whiteboard or chalkboard, students receive a paper of blocks in which to practice their writing. This is a very Montessori way of practicing writing! Loved the 'copywork' pages! This takes about 15 minutes.
***The writing portion of PAL is broken down into 3 parts. The first 31 lessons look like what I just told you about. Beginning in lesson 32, All About Spelling is introduced and learning to write letters is replaced with sentence copywork. Part II lasts for 40 lessons. Part III continues with All About Spelling and moves on to learning to compose stories instead of copywork.***
And for us. That was the end of day one. We were not finished with lesson one, but Charger can't keep attention that long and Mustang had other subjects to complete in her day. Some may try to do all of a lesson in one day, but even Jill Pike explains that if you need a couple days to do a lesson that's okay!
Day Six: 2nd day of lesson one
Read a Story: Heading back over to the PAL Reading Curriculum, we begin to explore Story Summaries. Breaking down the Who? What? When? and Where? of a story as well as the problems or surprises and how the problems are solved or the surprise is revealed. Breaking down a story helps lay the foundation for strong creative writing. Stories are provided for the first 8 lessons, after which you would choose your own stories. This would be an excellent time to incorporate other subjects into your core. I really enjoyed hearing when Charger, especially, was able to break down the parts of the story. This part should take around 20 minutes.
Now, if you decided to do an entire lesson in one day, it is suggested in the lesson that you would take a break at this time.
Foundations and Reader Words: AKA the part where you teach the basics of reading: letters, phonics, and sight words.
Letters are introduced in this section using the letter stories if you are not using the PAL writing or reinforced if you are using the writing section. Phonograms are also introduced through a card game. Each lesson introduces a new word or two. Lesson one introduces the words green and yellow. Using green and yellow, the phonogram ee is introduced, and with yellow, ow. The card game is created using index cards and you underline the phonograms. The wonderful part about introducing the phonograms with the individual letter sounds is that you don't have to stick with just CVC words from the start. Charger can now read green, yellow, black, brown, and a number of other words because we are learning more then just basic letter sounds!
Then, your child gets to use the fun file folder games that you have already made. Each lesson there is a new game introduced and or or new pieces added to games already in play. Charger is really enjoying the file folder games and even Mini Cooper asks if she can play along, which I sometimes allow.
As the lessons progress this time turns into Activity time and finally Discovery time as they learn to read more and more. At the very end, a student can choose to play the games, practice reading cards, or read from their own chosen library books. This time lasts about 30 minutes.
The PAL suggested agenda puts the work period after this, but we moved over to the Phonetic Farm tour.
Phonetic Farm Tour:
I mentioned the phonetic farm above, but this is when your child gets to put a new sticker on the farm. The phonograms introduced that day are the ones added to the farm. This takes about 5-10 minutes, or longer if your child insists on looking at it for awhile. My children all love the farm and enjoy every minute they get to explore it!
And for us, this was the end of day two!
If you were following the agenda suggested, you would break and do other subjects at this point.
Day Seven: Finishing up the lesson
Remember, I switched things up a bit, but for us we started the day with a quick reminder of our new letters, phonograms, and words for the card game.
Agenda or Work Period: Author Jill Pike has an amazing-and very Montessori like agenda that is to go at this point in the lesson. This agenda is much like a Montessori work plan that lines out what the child is to do with their time and has pictures to guide them with the order. I have not yet been brave enough to add this part in, but I am looking forward to trying it in the future. Instead, I went with the Work Period.
Word Period: Each lesson has work pages to help reinforce the words and letters learned. The work pages include cutting, pasting, coloring, and reading. They are included in the DVD-Rom. Charger enjoyed the work pages and I felt they were creative and did a wonderful job of helping him remember what he learned. This time takes about 30 minutes.
Read words/sentences: This portion starts in lesson 3, as the child learns more words to read. Each lesson or so, there are reading pages that can be placed in a folder. When you reach the reading portion of the learning time, pull these pages out and allow your child to review the words they know. This is a good time to review the words on the card game, too. This takes about 5 minutes.
Informal Spelling Test: At the beginning, the spelling test is just a test of letter sounds. Which letter makes the c sound? Then have your child write it. As you progress through the lessons, this test will include words. This portion will also take about 5 minutes.
And PAL continues:
As you can see, just introducing the product and lining out the FIRST lesson took me quite a bit. As your students move along with the program, it changes often. The basic outline doesn't, but the material covered and the depth and complexity most certainly does. The PAL program is written for grades K-2 and I am sure that you could take the entire time to cover all the material here. At the very least, there are 80 reading lessons and 88 writing lessons. If a lesson per day is completed in a 5 day school week, PAL would take 18 weeks to compete.
But, if you move at our snail pace of one lesson per week, well it will be a couple of years before it is completed. This makes the larger investment worth it to me, knowing I wouldn't have to buy another package in just a few months.
So what did we think:
I tried to weave some of my feelings into the descriptions above, but the short of it is that we like the Primary Arts of Language program. There was more then once I felt a little intimidated by the complexity of the program, but I was pleased to find so much help provided by Jill Pike. We have reached lesson 7, and I have looked further along in the PAL program, I realized that Primary Arts of Language includes all of the componants I have tried to piece together in the past using multiple programs. I appreciate the fact that, though PAL takes a little bit of getting used to, I will only have to learn one program rather then 2 or 3 or 4.
You may notice that, though I mentioned using the program with both Mustang and Charger, it quickly became a primarily Charger program. Mustang is past the entire reading program and the first part of the writing program except for the phonograms. As I have taught Charger, I have brought Mustang over to discuss the phonograms and the phonetic farm. I have also made a class journal for each of them, I just ask Mustang to do the writing in her journal.
I want to start Mustang on Part II or maybe Part III of the writing program, but I have been so busy trying to make sure I understand the part I am to teach Charger that I haven't started trying to adapt the program to work for Mustang.
But, the biggest reason I like or don't like something is if it works or not. Let me tell you, PAL works!! I have been extreamly pleased with Charger's understanding of the lessons and his interest in listening to them. He eagerly anticipates his writing lessons-something that was more of a chore before-because he loves hearing the letter stories. He has already been successful in adding the new sight words to his list of words he can read.
I appreciate the Montessori aspects in the PAL program. The Montessori method does not always translate well into a homeschool setting, so it is good to find curricula that will still encourage a child to learn at their own rate and provide many opportunities for self lead learning. The file folder games allow for hands on self lead learning. And, I as I mentioned above I appreciate that the writing pages that start with a blank square instead of lines much like a Montessori chalkboard. One last similarity is that a letter is introduced by it's sound and not it's name.
If you view PAL as a reading program, it is hard. If you view PAL as a writing program, it is hard. If you view PAL as a literature program, it is hard. But, if you view PAL for what it is-a comprehensive language program that covers every aspect of language from Kindergarten to Second grade, then it is wonderful. I believe you will not find a better written, more complete language program for your family.
PAL provides a 39 page free download to preview the writing, reading, and composition portions of the program. You can also view a 12 minute introduction video from Andrew Pudewa.
We are also not the only ones that tried out IEW Primary Arts of Language. Be sure to read through the many reviews by my fellow crew members to see if PAL will be a good fit for your family.
Thank you so much for stopping by! God Bless and Happy Learning!
Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a complete package of the PAL program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Today there are so many places you can purchase books online. Most of them are focused on having the biggest and best selection so they can be your one stop shopping site. They pay no attention to the actual product, they just know that if the competition has it, they want it on their site, too.
But, imagine for a moment, an online store that has taken the time to seek out the very best in Christian books. A store that isn't interested in keeping up with the current trends and trying to be just like all the other online sites. An online store whose model is 'about reinvesting in our Christian lives through traditional Christian books that have been published for centuries.'
Well, this is a real place! The model is real, in fact, I copied it word for word from their website. This online store is called Grace and Truth Books!
Grace and Truth Books offered a list of items we could choose to review, and I was drawn to With the Children on Sundays by Sylvanus Stall.
If you have read my blog for awhile, you may know that I am always on the look out for new Bible time material to use with my children. It is the #1 most important subject in our school day and, because of that, I am always trying to find the very best for our study!
The description for With the Children on Sundays made me very interested in giving it a try:
A giant volume, which ranks as one of history's greatest Family Worship books ever composed. A limited number of copies are available of this book, which has been out of print many decade and is currently not being printed by anyone. Filled with many of the most delightful family readings you'll find anywhere, from an author with great skill in presenting Bible truths in a form which grips the eye, holds the mind's attention, and wins the heart of a child for Christ. Many call this the finest book for family worship they have ever used.
Certainly sounded like a great match for a mom looking for Bible time lessons!
So what did we think?
When I first opened With the Children on Sundays, I was immediately pleased with the presentation of the book. It is a nice size and the print is over sized. The pages lay open nicely and the book fits well on my lap. This is important because the stories in With the Children on Sundays include object lessons and I need my hands free while I read!
Today's lesson was on the pull of the holy spirit in our lives and how Jesus draws us near to him. The story used magnets, nails, rusty nails, tacks, and paper.
The tacks were to represent children and how easily they come to Christ, the nails represented older children who still came to Christ but not quite as easily. The rusty nails represented old, rusty people, who were no longer attracted to Christ just as rusty nails can't be picked up by the magnet.
The second part of the lesson consisted of placing a paper between the magnet and nail (or a safety pin in our case). The magnet represents Jesus, and the pin represents us. The pin can not see the magnet, but the pull of the magnet allows the pin to stick to it, and can even move with it. Jesus guides us even though we can not see Him by continuing to draw us to Him.
After the story is read, there are about 8-10 comprehension questions that really help to make my children think about what they just heard. It also helps me to know what they did and did not hear and understand, so I can repeat a point of necessary.
Each of the lessons in the book are written in this same way. We have objects to learn from, explore, and then tie them in to our Christian walk. The children love these! Most of the objects are common household items. On the times when I didn't have one handy, we pretended and looked at the drawings in the book.
Because it is our most important subject of the day, I appreciate Bible lessons that also bring other learning into them. One day we learned about measuring, inches, yards, meters. Another day we learned about maps, charts, and boats. Still another, about how an apple grows from a flower into a fruit and how a worm can get stuck in the apple from when it is just a flower!
A few challenges:
With the Children on Sundays was published in 1893, so I can say that some of our terms have changed a bit. For example, one of the stories mentions that boys who want to go their own way may end up being a tramp. Well, it's been a long time since I've heard the word tramp-and even then it wasn't referring to boys!
Another example of the times having changed was the reference to how it wasn't acceptable to go to the theater. I know that used to be a common issue in churches that has changed. So I just reworded it and went on.
Assuming all the children had likely ridden on a steamship was a humorous part of one example that lead to talking about what a trip on a steamship would have been like. There are a handful of references like these, but I honestly found them to be refreshing.
There are also a few instances where the wordage used seemed to step on toes in ways that current churches try to avoid. For example, one story talked about children being allowed to run wild and not attend church as being neglected, and that they could not be expected to grow up to be Christians. As much as this is very true, if you were to use this book in a Bible club, you may want to be careful of reading it word for word. Our times have changed a bit, and the way we say things has as well. Using the older style of speaking could end up hurting more then helping. This was my opinion while I read, but it was just a few places and for the most part I welcomed the older writing as a unique way to look at a situation.
But we really like this one!!
With the Children on Sundays will certainly go onto my list of recommended Bible time materials-which, by the way, is a very SHORT list! It covers EVERYTHING on my want list for a Bible curriculum.
accurate
enjoyable
easy to understand
holds attention
challenging
not too much prep work
covers more subjects and offers additional learning opportunities
brings my children to Jesus
Overall, we are really enjoying With the Children on Sundays. The stories are written for children ages 4-10, but they are interesting to me as well as my children. I would recommend it to anyone looking for new Family Worship materials, or for Sunday School or Bible club teachers.
How to Buy:
With the Children on Sundays retails for $23.95 and is currently listed for $17. 50 on the Grace and Truth website.
Grace and Truth Books is currently offering free shipping on orders over $49-great for Christmas shopping!!
If With the Children on Sundays is any indication of the rest of the books offered by Grace and Truth, they will all be wonderful!! In fact, you can find out about a number of them by reading reviews on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. We received one of 10 different products to review, so there are plenty of different books to read about!
Thank you for stopping by and God Bless you!
Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a copy of With the Children on Sundays in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
About two years ago one of the moms in our homeschool co-op wanted to organize a preschool activity swap. I told her I would participate and started collecting egg cartons for my game. 3 months and 17 egg cartons later, I never heard another word about it. I really wish I had heard of our latest review product, Activity Bags, at that time!
Activity Bags was started by two homeschool moms Paula Reetz and Sherri MacLean. They wanted to create activities to occupy their little ones while schooling the older children (sound familiar?). After asking around, they found 25 moms-and a waiting list-that would be interested in participating in an activity bag swap. So, they made up activities, organized a swap and then wrote it all down so we can duplicate what they did! You can read their whole story on their website.
Preschool Activities in a bag Book 1 was the Activity Bag book that started it all! It contains 34 fun educational activities for your preschoolers ages 3-6.
Inside the Preschool Activities in a Bag book you will find:
An introduction to Activity Bags
Ideas for who can use Activity Bags
Preschool Activities Skills List that is actually an amazing chart that lines up certain skills to certain bags
Activities at a Glance
How to use the book
Questions and Answers
Tips for Assembling a Great Activity Bag
The Coordinator Handbook (which is also available free on the Activity Bag Website)
Preschool Activity Supply List
Activity Instructions and Masters Chart
Preschool Activity Instructions
Master Graphics
Other then the supplies themselves you will have everything you need for swap right in this e-Book. The supplies are simple, inexpensive items such as sheet protectors, contact or laminator paper, cardstock, string, plastic spoons, beads, stickers, rice, fabric, straws, foam sheets. scissors, and paper clips. And other then a few things like magnifying glasses or water bottles, the items are easy to buy in bulk, too.
Access to a copier or at least a printer is a must. But, you could go to an office supply store and have them make the copies for you.
So how, exactly, does this all work??
Find a group of about 20 moms that would like to participate in an Activity Bag swap.
Buy an e-Book for the coordinator (not everyone has to own a copy-though they might want to!)
Coordinator hands out the instruction info and masters for the activity each mom is going to make
Moms make 20 of the same bag to bring to the swap
Set a date to have the swap
Take home 20 (okay 19) activity bags for your child to work on at home!
The instructions for each activity is a page that lists:
the name of the activity
description
skills to be learned
Supplies needed and how many of each item
instructions for assembly
labels for the outside of the bag
buying tips
Again, everything but the supplies and actual assembly is done for you!
Authors Paula Reetz and Sherri MacLean had so many ideas, that they went on to make a second book Preschool Actvities in a Bag eBook 2. The second book includes another 33 creative activities to entertain-and teach-or preschooler age 3-6.
How to Buy:
Each Preschool Activities in a Bag e-Book can be purchased for $15.00, or can be purchased in a book bundle for $27.00. Again, remember that if you want to do a swap, you only have to own one copy of the book. The coordinator can share the information for one activity with each of the moms. So, it's a great deal if you want to do a swap!
What did we think?
Well, now that we don't have a school room, I am on the lookout for new ways to offer self guided, hands-on learning, for my littles. Activity Bags came in at just the right time to fill that need! I found the activities to be easy to assemble and very easy to store!
Here, Mini Cooper is matching puzzles. She had fun looking for the match to her set.
Some of the activities were very unique, while others are tried and true activities that are worth coming back to even if you've seem them done before.
I was a little disappointed that none of the masters are in color, but I guess if I were making the bags for 20 different families I would not want to use up-or pay for-color ink!
I am planning to do a swap soon so that my children can get a chance to try all the activities!
What's that?? You don't have preschoolers? Well, Activity Bags may have started with preschool bags, but that's not all they offer!
The offer bags for Science, Math, Reading, Travel, and soon for Crafts!
We tried out the Science Experiments in a Bag series. Based on the same concept of creating bags of activities, each gallon bag contains everything you need for one of 25 different experiments! In addition to the supply list and experiment info, each contains data collection forms (when applicable), observation questions, and suggested answers to the questions. And, while you may not have ALL the supplies for Science Experiments in a Bag on hand, they are all easy to find at a local department store.
How to Buy:
Science Experiments in a Bag series can be purchased separately for $15.00. Bundle for books 1 & 2 is $27.00. Bundle of books 1, 2 & 3 is $39.00.
And What Did We Think?
I really, really, liked the Science Experiments in a bag. They were SO EASY to follow. I'm not the best at doing Science with the kids and I am very sure that these bags are going to change that! Mustang enjoyed the observations, not so much the questions-but if it looks like 'work' she usually doesn't, lol!
I appreciated the opportunity to just pick an experiment from the supplies we had on hand and do it-no waiting for the right chapter or unit or grade, etc. If Mustang asks me about the weather I can go grab a bag and we can learn about it!
If I host a swap, I will have many more supplies on hand and ready to go. Again, I am very impressed with these products and am looking forward to sharing them with the other moms in my homeschool co-op. I'll let you know how our swap goes!
If you would like to see a sample of the Activity Bag activities, you can fill out the survey on the Activity Bag web-site, and they will give you a free download sample.
My fellow crew mates reviewed the different books that Activity Bags offers, check out the crew blog to see what they thought!
Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!
Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew received a copy of Preschool Activities in a Bag book bundle and the Science Experiments in a Bag book bundle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. I was not paid for my review.
Kinderbach is a program designed to teach piano lessons to young children. Kinderbach has programs to use at home, at a school, and a new program available in app form for your iPad! We tried out an at home, six month subscription.
Kinderbach at home is a series of weekly lessons that are streamed online. Designed for children ages 3-7, these fun filled streaming lessons are taught by author Karri Gregory. She is in most of the sessions and helps explain many aspects of the keyboard, reading music, and music theory.
How it works:
If you look to the right, you see a box with 4 numbers in it. Each of those is a separate lesson. They are designed to be watched every day for four days a week. But, since you have access to all weeks at the same time, you can choose how many to watch. The online lessons last between about 4 and 8 minutes.
You can also repeat lessons that your children enjoyed as many times as you want!!
The lessons start out very basic, introducing children to the keyboard, high-low pitch, the beat of songs, and more. They get progressively harder until the children have been introduced to reading basic sheet music, and basic music theory.
Below, the box, you see a picture of a printer. This will link you to many printables to go along with the lessons.
For each of the 6 levels of KinderBach, there is an activity book. The books are PDF downloads and you print them off as you need them, or all at once. You can choose the pages your children will benefit from. I found it useful to print off the books for my children, but if you were using this with only three year olds you wouldn't likely use them. The pages are very cute and have a lot of information. And, reading is not necessary as Karri explains the paper as you go through the session.
Some examples of the pages:
So what did we think:
This is our second time using KinderBach and I was surprised at the results. Last time, Mustang was so excited! She was always the first to ask if we could watch our lessons and wanted to play along with the games in the sessions. But, she turned 7 in September. And now, she is not nearly as interested. She still played along, but I had to encourage her. I was disappointed in this, because I thought she was finally old enough to understand the program this time around (instead of just dancing to the music). I had hoped she would take the program and really run with it, but that didn't happen.
So now, I'm not sure what I think. While I am very impressed at all the creativity and ideas that have gone into this program, and while KinderBach is a great way to introduce children to music and information, by the time they actually understand what's going on, they are no longer interested in the program and characters (at least in our house). That said, there is still a ton of great information. I would just be sure that you intend to spend time following up on this program as your children get bigger.
Charger and Mini Cooper enjoyed it a lot, and Explorer had a lovely time dancing to the music :). So I would certainly say KinderBach is a wonderful way to start your children out with a love of music and basic building blocks to help them as they learn music in the future.
I do want to mention how impressed I am at the streaming speed! We have many problems with streaming of other programs out here in the middle of nowhere, but we did not have any stops as the KinderBach videos came through!
How to Buy:
One of the best part of KinderBach is that you can try it out for TWO weeks for FREE!! That way you can find out it's a good fit for your family. If you find that it is,KinderBach at home can be ordered at $95.88 for a year or $19.99 a month (no added cost of gas to drive to a piano teacher's house, either!).
We are just one of 80 families who tried out KinderBach programs. Some even tried the new iPad app. To find out what everyone thought, checkout the Schoolhouse Crew Blog.
Disclaimer: I received a 6 month subscription to KinderBach in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Since the name of my blog is 'Our Country Road' you probably think we grow all our own food, milk our own cow, and raise chickens. You likely think we have this natural product thing down. The fact is, aside from knowing that if it comes out of my own garden it's probably good to eat, I'm lost. Case and point, my recent adventure to the natural organic section of our grocery store netted me 3 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes of crackers, and a package of organic lollipops. Let's just say, I've got a loooong way to go before I'm a good 'natural' country girl! So, when I was asked if I'd like to try products from Beeyoutiful, I was excited.
Beeyoutiful is a company that produces a large line of natural products designed to help you and your family feel beautiful from the inside out. With everything from lip balm, to probiotics, to natural oils, to makeup and everything in between, there are products to help with many areas of wellness.
Berry Well is an organic Elderberry syrup that contains Propolis, Raw Honey and Echinacea. It also includes Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. It is designed to keep you from getting the flu! You can take it all the time or specifically when you are starting to feel ill. Steph from Beeyoutiful does such a great job of explaining their products. This is her explanation of Berry Well. For each of the other products, just click on the product description link and it will take you to a page that contains the video about that product.
Since it is fall here in the Mid-West, I've already put Berry Well to use a few times!! First of all, it tastes so good!! (Kids think so, too, so keep it out of their reach). A few times I've felt a little run down and took a spoonful of Berry Well. Each time, I did not get sick. Even yesterday, when we came home from a long outdoor parade in 40 degree weather, I took a spoonful. I have a slight cough this morning, but nothing serious.
Berry Well is great to keep on hand, especially this time of year. It retails for $19.70 for an 8 ounce glass bottle. Discounts are offered if you order additional jars.
Miracle Skin Salve
Miracle Skin Salve is a skin rub made from Beeswax, Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Plantain, Organic Comfrey Root, Propolis, Lavender Essential Oil, and Rosemary Oil. It is designed to be used for cuts, scrapes, bites, burns, psoriasis, eczema and more. The natural ingredients promote tissue repair, reduce swelling, and relieve pain.
Miracle is the product I have the most to say about! One day while cooking I managed to pour boiling water on my hand!! I, thankfully, remembered the Miracle we had just been sent. Right away, I spread the salve on my burn. The pain went away and by morning it looked almost completely healed! I was very pleased!!
We have also been using Miracle on a cut of Mustang's. It seems to be healing nicely. I'm hoping this helps the cut not to scar. The cut is on her face and no one wants a scar there!
Miracle can be purchased in a 2 oz container for $15.00 and for $25.00 for a 4 oz.
Ow-Ease
Ow-Ease is designed to ease your pain away. Apply to bruises, goose-eggs, strains, sprains, or even just achy muscles from gardening or body building. Made from beeswax, olive and coconut oils, along with wildcrafted Arnica. Ow-Ease reduces swelling, relieves muscle pain, and reabsorbs trapped fluids from tissue and helps to erase bruises!
Ow-Ease comes in a stick applicator and reminds me of the spot cleaner commercials where mom is wiping away a stain before it starts. With Ow-Ease you can wipe away a bruise before it starts. Pretty neat!
It took me a bit to try this one. I am used to just kissing a boo boo and letting it heal on it's own. I didn't know which injury to try it out on. Then I realized I have a place on my shin that has had a bruise on it for a very long time. I'm actually thinking it's part bruise and part varicose vein. It hurt when touched and had a little swelling to it. It didn't hurt unless you touched it. I decided to give Ow-Ease a try there. To my surprise it was almost completely gone the next morning. There was still a small knot, but it was not black and blue, and it didn't hurt!
I've also used it on some of my back and shoulder pain with mixed results. Maybe it really wasn't intended for that use, but it did seem to help some days and not others. I did rub it over my ankles after walking in the parade yesterday and the Ow-Ease seemed to help.
Ow-Ease retails at $15.00 for a one ounce container.
Lip B.A.L.M.
The last of my skin care items was Lip B.A.L.M or Beeyoutiful All-Natural Lip Moisturizer. Lip B.A.L.M. is made from Grape Seed Oil, Beeswax, Shea Butter and Essential Oils. Offered in Orange and Peppermint, it retails for $3.00 each (discounts for 3 or more).
I have to say I only got to check this out once :(. I happily placed it in my purse, excited that I had some sweet smelling, natural moisturizer for my lips. It made me feel a little special to have a safe product for my skin. Unfortunately, like every other lip product that I put into my purse, my children found it and made off with it. The comforting side is that I'm not afraid to have my children use this product on their lips. I'm going to have to order myself some more, though!!
Beeyoutiful Views
We also received a DVD called Beeyoutiful Views. This DVD contains product explanations and demonstrations from nutritionist and owner Stephanie Tallent. These same videos can be seen on the Beeyoutiful web-site with each product description or on their YouTube channel. But, if you don't have high-speed Internet this might be a great way to learn about the Beeyoutiful products. Maybe good to pop into the DVD at your MIL's house to give them hints on Christmas gifts, too :). Price is just $3.00.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the Beeyoutiful products we received. The products all smelled wonderfully, were well packaged, and seem to help in their intended ways. I am looking forward to continue using them with my family, and would recommend them to others!
Many of my crew mates reviewed products from Beeyoutiful. Check out the crew blog to see what they reviewed and if they liked them or not!
Thanks for stopping by! God Bless!
Disclaimer: As a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a package of Beeyoutiful items in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Growing Up Wild is a DVD series that currently has 5 volumes. Each volume has three 15 minute episodes that highlight a different aspect of growing up as a missionary kid in the jungle. The DVD's also come with an activity guide that contain ways to take the episodes further in your learning. It is always nice to have a homeschooling family write the curriculum, because they know how nice it is to have a CD-rom with the printables all ready to go! 
This is our group house made from an oatmeal container, bendi-stix, and soybean stubble.
Apparently Bob and the gang didn't care either :).
Mustang's house used the other half of the oatmeal box, and she decided that a flat roof was much easier then a gabled one. Excuse the no smile. She specifically wanted to have a photo with no smile. 
Growing up, I went to a church that was very missions minded. Every fall, they would host a missions conference and invite 10 or more missionaries to come and be part of the conference. The church members would attend little classes designed to help us meet the missionaries and understand what they did. My dad was the pastor there and so we often had these missionaries come and stay in our home during the conference and other times. Many of these families became friends, some of them like family. I also had an aunt and uncle serving in Honduras.
