Home School Product Reviews

Lambs Book of Art 1

My kids thought all the books by this author (Barry Stebbing) were too hard and not very fun.  I’m using some of them, because I want to learn to draw better and I think the material is good.  However, for my kids they were a waste of money.  I was surprised because my kids all love to draw and regularly check drawing books out of the library.  I think we should try the computer art cd.

Read Timberdoodle’s review of Lamb’s Book of Art or find other homeschool art curriculum.

English From the Roots Up is a great introduction for younger elementary children to some useful Greek and Latin roots. We followed this with Rosetta Stone Latin, which is great, but has no grammar instruction. Going straight into Wheelock was difficult, so for the 8 & 10 year old we are using William E. Linney Getting Started with Latin concurrently, and love it. As easy to use as English From the Roots Up. Nothing could be simpler.

The Rosetta Stone German course “works” quoting my 14 year son; he saves this course for last each day because he enjoys it the most.  He also applies what he has been learning, too much sometimes , in everyday conversation!  This was a very wise purchase!

Find out what Angela’s son enjoyed learning with .

Song School Latin is fun for older kids, too! Our twin girls (age 13) have been working through Latina Christiana for the past couple of years and were delighted to take a fun break to go through Song School Latin at a quick pace covering 3-5 lessons a week! Even though this is a program for younger children, the less traditional diversion presented our gals with an enjoyable review set to catchy tunes and also included a few new facts for them to learn. They were happy to then sing Song School Latin songs to children while babysitting which further enforced their own retention! So delightful!

Listen to audio sample of Song School Latin.

I hesitated and thought over this purchase for several years. After viewing the demo and thinking about it some more, I finally took the plunge. I can now say that Rosetta Stone French is well worth the price. For user-friendliness it just can’t be beat. The teaching method is wonderful and very effective. Grading is easy as the program tracks progress automatically for teacher review. We are very pleased with Rosetta Stone French. Get the free demo and check it out. Although it could be used earlier, we use Rosetta Stone French to fulfill high school foreign language requirements.

Read Timberdoodle’s review of Rosetta Stone French.

My first grader loves The Easy Spanish – Junior.  It is easy and fun to do, and needs very little prep time (mostly just printing out the coloring pages in advance).  There are many suggestions for activities/lessons, and parents pick which ones suit their family best.  Many of the suggestions involve lapbooking.  If lapbooking is your thing, you will love this program.  My son is constantly trying to speak the language he’s learning.  It is also enjoyable enough that my four year old will happily participate in the lessons (though she’s not really old enough to fully benefit from the program).    I’m very happy that I tried The Easy Spanish Junior.  It is fun, easy to do, and reasonably priced.

The Global Puzzle really is wonderful, I always find country locations I didn’t know before.  We like to assign continents of the world to the child we think most needs to work on that area.  Of course, my husband and I usually get stuck putting together the oceans; they are the tedious part.  If you love puzzles and have an afternoon to while away, this is great fun.

Read additional customer reviews of The Global Puzzle

Mathematical Reasoning A Kindergarten

I used Mathematical Reasoning for my daughter’s Pre-k and K year.  It was colorful, fun and so easy for Mom.  I am teaching several young children that still need a lot of one on one time.  This was an enjoyable way to make sure that math was covered for my 4/5 yr. old.  I plan to use the 1st grade book and just add more practice on addition and subtraction facts.

Find out more about Mathematical Reasoning including sample pages.

Wrap-Ups Multiplication

My 7 year old was having trouble with her multiplication tables and I was frustrated with drilling her all the time. Wrap-Ups Multiplication has been awesome for her!  She loves the self-checking aspect of it and gets so excited when she gets them all right.  She loves practicing her multiplication now whereas before she got bored pretty quickly.

Teaching Textbooks Math

We’d tried other high school level math programs that were considered homeschool “favorites”, but they just didn’t work for our daughter.  Math sessions would end in tears, and both of us would dread the next lesson.

Teaching Textbooks to the rescue!  The conversational style of the books is engaging & fun (not too corny, either) and my daughter consistently says, “Oh, THIS is what it means… When (other publisher) had it in their book, I had no idea what they were talking about.”

My daughter actually likes math now & does the vast majority of lessons on her own with minimal help from me.  Thank you for carrying Teaching Textbooks.  It changed the way my daughter feels about math.