Bubber - 4oz Bucket
I bought one bucket of Bubber for my 4 year old great niece. We played with it for three hours straight! She loves it. I ordered another bucket so we would have two colors. Though it doesn’t “model” as nicely as play dough, I really enjoy playing with it:-) She always chooses the Bubber to play with after we finish her school work:-) It is well worth the money.
The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids
The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids is wonderful for teaching kids the basics of sewing and sewing machines. My daughter loved this book. I liked it because she was able to read the book and understand without me being right there to answer a question every 2 minutes. With the practice sewing projects on paper, it gives the kids a chance to get used to sewing before trying a flimsy fabric. Great book, I’ll use it for the next daughter when she’s old enough.
I’ve been using Prismacolor pencils for over 20 years, and I really think they are the best pencils on the market. Their blending capabilities are superb, as is the selection of available colors. Because the lead is so soft, it is easy to create varying depths of color using a single pencil. I’ve used a wide variety of Prismacolor products and find them all to be of superior quality. I love the fact that my 9 year old son is using the same pencils I use, and loving them too. If you are looking for professional quality art supplies, you won’t be disappointed in these pencils.
BOB Books
We used these little booklets (Bob Books) along w/ Pathway Readers and Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons. Thats it! They learned how to read very well w/o a formal Phonics Curriculum. They thought they were great fun!!!!
Knex Extravaganaza
When I bought Knex Extravaganaza I was a little overwhelmed by the price but it was worth every penny! My son has Asperger’s and not only did he love the engineering and physics we learned but it was also a tremendous help in things like patience, perseverance, following directions, etc. This is a fantastic set with several different smaller sets included so that you really get lots of physics curriculum units plus, the grand reward at the end, building and analyzing the huge structure at the end. We also used this kit to discuss the cost of construction by assigning each piece a dollar value and each connection a “labor” cost. A good exercise in money and planning (could we make a better and less expensive model of the same thing). You could really almost do a whole year of homeschool based on this curriculum (math, writing, science, reading, etc). We have also found the people at Knex very helpful in terms of sending us replacement parts, extra little things we wanted, etc., often at no charge. Excellent product and worth every penny…. I think that we will save up for the big bridge set next….
Knex Intro to Bridges
The Knex Bridge curriculum is a great hands-on way to learn about bridges. My son, age 8, loves it, and my husband, age not revealed, loves teaching it to him. It is a great value for those who love hands on learning. The instructor’s guide changes it from a toy to a learning experience.
Character Quality Language Arts Pre A
I have done alot of research on language arts programs for my 9 and 10 year olds. I kept coming back to CQLA. First I purchased the teachers manual. Then I went onto their website and used the program for a month printing off the weeks as we went. Having the 4 day lesson plans made it a no brainer to set up each days work using dividers for each day in their binders. The answers were clear and it was great to have all of the optional suggestions to add challenge, interest or additional practice. English is my weakest subject and CQLA is just the best program I have come across with all of the skills being incorporated into one program. To have their hearts turned to God as they learn how to communicate is awesome. It does take us longer to complete the sections than stated in the manual but we are enjoying the program so much it has not been a concern or problem. We look forward to completing CQLA for the remainder of our homeschooling years.
LAURA
TACOMA, WA
The R2 Fish School has been a fun and very successful addition to our science program this fall! Just as promised, our fish quickly learned to eat from the training wand and swim through hoops and tunnels. Because our “Little Professor” has mastered his current tricks, we are ready to move on to more difficult tasks and are certain the kit directions will enable us to teach him more.
We purchased AntWorks TunnelVision and Illuminator for ourselves and one as a gift. We enjoyed getting it started and watching the ants with very little maintainence. But both ours and the cousin’s AntWorks grew mold! This was due to the kids’ our error, but we could have used them again if refill gel had been available. We have searched for get to no avail. This is too expensive of a product for it to only last a few months then be useless.
Mind Benders Beginning Book 1
My boys first attempted these types of problems in “Beginning Mathematical Reasoning” (another great product by Critical Minds), and they just loved them. I’ve always enjoyed doing logic problems myself, so it was a joy to see my children puzzling things out and drawing appropriate conclusions. This kind of thinking can only aid in any number of other subjects in which a child makes a deduction based on given information. The only negative, if you can call it that, is that I had to read the clues aloud to my still-learning-to-read set.
