I really like this science curriculum. I especially like that it has hands-on projects at the end of each lesson, because I love hands-on learning. It’s also very adaptable for older and younger students, and she includes a great ‘extra reading’ list. It’s a very good and complete book.
Alicia
I found Wordigo Game to be exactly as advertised – an educational game that’s not so educational that it’s no fun but also not so fun that it’s not educational. Even my poorest speller begs to play. As a parent, I have to be willing to miss the completion points because I’m constantly bombarded with, ‘Mom, is this a word?’ And that’s okay because they’re spelling…and liking it!
Bambino Starter Pack is absolutely perfect for my 2 1/2 year old son! He wants to do school with “the big kids” and this fits the bill. He likes to touch and feel things more than just sit and color. He is excited to do the exercises, and can do it by himself—which is how he likes to do things. He is successful at the activities. Some of them, like the more mathematical are too advanced. We just find pages in the workbook that are at his level. He has surprised us a couple of times with his abilities, though. It is a wonderful item!!
Music Ace Deluxe
I highly recommend Music Ace Deluxe. I purchased it for my 7-yr-old son. He enjoyed it and always did more ‘lessons’ than I asked him to do. I am a piano teacher. The students who must sit and wait for siblings, do Music Ace. They look forward to the ‘wait’ now. The software keeps records of the progress of multiple students. It makes music theory fun. I like that it teaches pitch, rhythm, tempo and more while demonstrating with classic music.
Lights the page not the room
I saw this (LightWedge) in the car of one of my friends one night. It was dark, and she did not like to drive with the light on. We had to read some materials, and her son pulled this LightWedge out. It was marvelous! We could read without the distraction of the overhead light in the car. It is perfect for travelers and for those who need to read in the dark. It is portable and easy to carry. I bought one for my father who has everything-except this!
Robyn Lawrenceburg, IN Mother of 9, homeschooling since 1992
We have loved The Story of the World history books. I love the idea of studying history chronologically around the world. It makes so much more sense doing it this way. While the material is not presented as HISstory, I don’t have any problem adding this myself. In the early years, we loved the activities, especially the recipes and feast ideas. We also love the recommended reading lists, especially for the living books. We are now in the 4th book in the series, The Modern Age. Actually, Volume 4 packs so much history into it that we split it up into two years. In this book, outlines and writing from outlines are introduced. Sometimes, instead of writing from the outlines, we give ’speeches’ from them. My children have loved the mapwork in all the books. As a military family, we have had lots of opportunities to see the places we have learned about. My children LOVE history, and I think The Story of the World has had a lot to do with their love of history.
We love Teaching Textbooks 4. I’ve used it for my advanced 3rd grader and my 4th grader. Both kids love using the computer. It makes math seem like a computer game to them. It has great review of previous concepts and is very thorough. It has taken the stress out of teaching math for me. It’s all done for me! I did, however, add some timed math drills just to keep them sharp on the math facts. We love it and recommend it.
Fantastic Science Series! We have thoroughly enjoyed learning, in depth, on the given topics. We have used the entire series and they are all equally as good. The young-Earth creation emphasis was refreshing. The projects/experiments were easily doable and fun. We are eagerly waiting for more books in the series.
Wee Wedgits have been very popular with our baby! He was 9 months we he received them and he has played with them fairly regularly since. His older siblings enjoy them too. We will probably get a set of regular wedgits once the baby is old enough. My only disappointment with the toy is that they were described as being squishy soft and they are definitely harder than that. This has not deterred my son from chewing on them at all; that is his favorite thing to do with them!
Thinking Putty
Think again! We bought thinking putty as Christmas gifts for our children. It ended up in our daughter’s hair, on the carpet, on the couch…. It was worse than gum! We’re generally careful about where our children play with potentially messy toys, but as this is billed as an item to fiddle with while doing school, we allowed it in our schoolroom, aka family room. Big mistake! We called Timberdoodle to find out how to remove the putty from the carpet and they in turn called the company. We followed all the instructions and while the stickiness is gone, we still have lovely dark stains spotting the carpet. And our daughter had her hair trimmed….
I originally bought the putty because it looked like a lot of fun and I needed something for my parents who really NEED nothing. My nine children are all grown and I already had Christmas gifts for my grandchildren that year. I wasn’t sure they would really use it, but they love it! They each set theirs (I bought different colors for each of them) beside their recliner and use it to exercise their hands while they watch TV. It helps keep their joints from being stiff, too. Just a warning-put it back in its container when you finish! It conforms to the shape of its container as it rests. If you put it in something with a small mouth you might not get it out very easily or if you leave it sitting in a ball it might spread out all over your table! Don’t worry though, you can scrape it up with itself and roll it up and start over. It is really addictive as anyone who sits in the chair and happens to pick it up will tell you! I have plans to purchase some for myself someday, but I haven’t needed enough items to make the cost plus shipping a reasonable price for something I just want and don’t need. The price on the item is good, but the shipping cost for just the one item makes it too expensive. Maybe I’ll have to convince some friends to go in with me and buy a case of it!
Thinking Putty is available from Timberdoodle. Check out our shipping special of $4.95 on any order.
