Home School Product Reviews

I appreciate that this history curriculum(All American History) was more detailed than the text I used when I was a young boy, thus I learned things while teachings my children that I did not know. At the same time some of the details were about things that were too trivial and thus should have been omitted. I bought the curriculum because I was told that it had a Christian perspective and on that point I felt it was weak. A Christian curriculum should also focus on the spiritual leaders, their thoughts and words that shaped the American people’s thinking, faith, lives and culture. This curriculum did little of that and focused almost exclusively on the political and military leaders.

I purchased Wedgits years ago from Timberdoodle. From an educator’s point of view, this is definitely the best toy I’ve ever purchased. Age doesn’t matter with these things!! My husband and I enjoy them as much as my children (ages 3-12) do! I took them to our church for our AWANA program and it occupied the children for the whole handbook time as we worked with them individually. Wedgits can be stacked or turned. There is something about their shape that fascinates. Wedgits are AMAZING!!

This game (Rolit Junior) has become a favorite because of its wide age appeal. While challenging enough to keep older children constantly strategizing, it is simple enough to captivate the little players, too. Highly recommended!

I am so excited to finally get these puzzles! I have been looking at them for a long time, and finally decided to make the plunge and buy the set, and I am so thrilled! As soon as they arrived, I popped open the box and jumped right in on the Africa puzzle. I love that the puzzle pieces are each the shape of the country, and the different colors help it go together quickly. I found myself short a piece, so I called Customer Service, and within two weeks, they had GeoPuzzle mail me the missing country, so now, Africa is complete! This is the way we are using them for learning right now. We are studying the United States, so we pull out the U.S & Canada puzzle, and I help the kids get it going by building the border. Then, they use the box cover to work their way across the country. As they get more familiar with it, they are using the box cover less and less. One nice thing about these puzzles is that my four year old can even do them, with a little help. He loves puzzles and will often work the US puzzle, while I am doing seat work with his 8 year old sister. I love things that work for the whole family!

Developing the Early Learner

These books are pretty good. They’re black and white, so they aren’t visually interesting, but most of the exercises are pretty good. They’re best for students who are ready to ‘do school’ with formal seat work but who aren’t ready to write well.

It’s FUN SCHOOL!

I prefer this series (Never Bored) over all the other cut/paste/trace/color/sequence/etc. books we’ve tried. The title doesn’t look or sound like school, but it covers those basic skills. My daughter did these on her own when ever she wanted to, and they lasted through a year plus. A must have!

miniLUK Starter Pack

I ordered the 1st grade curriculum and when I saw that it came with the MiniLUK I honestly didn’t know what to think.  What I did think was that my son was going to have trouble with it and probably not like it.  Boy, was I wrong.  I had opened it up to figure it out and he starts playing with it.  He spent the whole evening playing with the MiniLUK.  My husband had to drag my son away from it so he could go to bed.  I am excited about buying more books for this game.  This is defiantly worth the money!

Jill K.

Mount Pleasant, PA

Timberdoodle carries many additional miniLuk and BambinoLuk sets.

We have used PrismaColor in the past, and everytime I put together my ‘ideal’ order with Timberdoodle, (i.e. make my dream list before going over it with the budget in mind), and I mean EVERY time, at least one set of Prismacolor is on the list, when I really only NEED history or English or other materials. I would love to give one set to each child — they are superb and so much fun to work with. I started out as an art major in college so I have some experience with good and not so good art materials. PrismaColor rank up there with the best that are affordable for homeschoolers.

Color Shifting Illusions Thinking Putty

I ordered Thinking Putty for myself. I have  A.D.D and wanted to see how well it might help me center. I LOVE it. I’ve noticed that I  WANT to use it (unlike many other fidgets) and that I can do enough things to keep it from getting boring. As a fidget it is wonderful. I focus more when I am working on stuff, everything from reading to watching my son play.

Besides everything I’ve done with it I discovered there are “experiments” on the Crazy Aaron page. Things like smacking it with a hammer, and stretching it from the ceiling. They discuss the science behind it.

The absolutely ONLY serious downside in my mind is the price. BUT you get a very generous amount. It almost hurts my hands to use it all at once.

The ONLY other, and a minor thing is the color. The picture makes it appear like several colors, and I thought that while messing with it I might see color combos that would inspire some of my artwork. Really it is just a fancy gray.

With a background in music education I strongly believe in the power of music to aid memorization. I was skeptical about the ‘Sing the Word’ CD series prior to purchasing one out of concern for the quality of the music and recordings. I am happy to say that our family has been very pleased with this series! While not every song is pleasant to listen to repeatedly, the majority are well composed and many feature interesting musical details. (rich harmonies, unusual instrumentation etc.) Best of all the songs DO help children memorize their scripture. It has helped our eldest immensely with the added benefit that our middle child, not yet school aged, has learned most of the songs too. He often prompts his older sister when she becomes stuck on a verse. Our family intends to purchase all 6 ‘Sing the Word’ CD’s and to use them throughout our homeschooling years.