SchoolHouse Review Crew: Out of the Box Games

I have been a huge fan of Out of the Box Games since The White Knight was in Iraq in 2007.

They donated to our boxes for deployed troops, they were a fantastic way to have games for in the car, and a way for me to get some non-screen board game time in with the kids in as few as ten minutes! Well, this most recent review opportunity for the Snake Oil - Party Potion game had me pretty excited as a result.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Clued In Kids

What parent would turn down the chance to keep a whole group of kids happily and easily engaged and occupied for a half hour? You know you wouldn't - and neither did I! I was glad to have the chance to review Clued in Kids for the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

I was given two hunts to try out - Playdate Treasure Hunt Pad was the first one we did. To be honest, life has been pretty hectic here lately so I held it for a while and didn't do anything with it because I didn't feel like I would have time to set it up and give it a fair shake. How wrong I was!!

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Fortuigence Persuasive Essay Writing

In our last church in Maryland we had a more experienced homeschooling father who mentioned once that a weakness he had seen in homeschooled children was an ability to write well. I must admit that writing is a less-observed area in our home program as well. So I frequently request to do reviews of writing programs to try out when The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew offers them. This time, I had the benefit of trying out Fortuigence's Essay Rock Star Persuasive Essay Writing Course.
From the "at home" perspective, the temptation is to think, I never write 'book reports' as an adult, so why would I need to make my kid learn to write one in school? The ability to write well is one that we use frequently as adults though, and many of us could do a little better, especially in the days of technology, social media, texting, abbreviations, and so on. Maestro is in high school now and this is definitely a box we want to make sure gets extra emphasis for a while until we pass the "I hate writing" stage and move into at least grudging acceptance.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: IEW Fix It Grammar

For the first time in our homeschooling lives, our family had to do standardized tests this year. We decided to use the results as a way to determine weak spots in the boys and to guide us in our teaching efforts this year. Each of them were weak in grammar and rules of writing, so the chance to review Institute for Excellence in Writing Fix It! Grammar - The Nose Tree (book 1) teacher's manual  and the companion student book was an excellent way to begin our September schedule. 

This program had a lot of positives to start with. First, it comes from a company that is known for its excellent programs in the finer points of writing. The books are spiral-bound, so they lay flat while the kids are working, and the lessons are designed to take only fifteen minutes a day! Now, we used these first-level books for each of our oldest four children - ages 14 down to 5. They are geared towards grades 3-5. 

A Christmas School Story - by Chef

I was cleaning off my dresser this morning, and am not sure how this gem stayed folded there for so long. But I enjoyed it so am sharing with you (along with some other summer-homeschool moments!)

Schoolhouse Review Crew: A Life in Balance

I was recently given the chance to read and review the book A Life in Balance by Frank Belgau and his son, Eric Belgau, and distributed by the Learning Breakthrough Program. As a homeschooling mom, I can't help but keep watch over my children and asking: what have they missed; how could I be doing this subject better; is there something about his learning style that doesn't fit what I'm doing? And in truth, it can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride.

Here's the thing - our oldest learned to read with about the "normal" struggles and challenges. Our second and third took much longer to get into reading, and one still struggles a bit with longer words and books. And their spelling in the beginning was poor enough that even they can't tell what they were trying to write. And it was frustrating for them. I considered vision and tracking problems, ADD, ADHD, and so much more. What I discovered, well after they had worked out for themselves how to get around their difficulties, is that they both have pretty serious dyslexia. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Apologia's What On Earth Can I Do?

As we've neared the end of the school year, and it is beginning to warm up outside, the kids have been itching to get out and about. The problem is that we weren't done with our work yet and the odd, on-again, off-again winter weather had them going stir crazy in the house! There was a lot of bickering, arguing, and "me first" attitudes cropping up. Around the same time that all this began, the opportunity popped up to review the Apologia Education Ministries Program called What on Earth Can I Do? 

What we received in the mail

This program is part of the What We Believe series and helps kids gain a Christian worldview in a way that covers all the different learning types, and many different age groups. The ability to adapt this program across multiple levels is huge for a family spanning several ages, abilities and learning styles and makes it an excellent homeschooling resource to keep on hand. In all, we received the book linked above, plus What On Earth Can I Do Notebooking Journal, Junior Notebooking Journal, and Coloring Book.

Homeschool Review Crew: Micro Business for Teens

Can I tell you? I was super excited to get picked to review the Micro Business for Teens course! I have followed Carol Topp's Pinterest Page and Facebook page for a year now (at least!) because her advice is sound, her methods helpful, and my kids have attempted their own business ideas many times over the years, as have I. She has a Twitter Feed too, but since I don't tweet (yet!) I haven't been on there to look around. 

At any rate, I was excited. Very excited. To start, I told the kids about the program and left the books out on the counter in the kitchen for a day or two. The next thing I knew... they had vanished. And not in the same way that other stuff vanishes, where it's been stuffed in an "everything" drawer during a hasty after-dinner clean up, never to see the light again. More like, "vanished" as in, nowhere to be found because it's been squirreled up to a child's desk kind of vanished. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Home School Adventure Company

It will likely be no surprise that we have around 2,000+ books in our home. Every room has a bookcase filled to overflowing (and often two or three bookcases!) in addition to the full library room and storage-turned-school room! The library has a fairly comprehensive, though not complete, set of C.S. Lewis' books, which led me to request the opportunity to review Home School Adventure Co.'s Mere Christianity Journal.

I enjoy Lewis' fictional works and gain a great deal from them as spiritual allegory, but must confess that when it comes to his more "scholarly" texts, short though they are, I struggle. So I requested this review as much for 14-year-old Maestro, and 12-year-old Chef, as I did for my own edification. I also thought that working through the book (which we own, of course) together could provide some good discussion moments between the boys and the White Knight and I. The White Knight has read the book many times, so he served as a guide to our discussions within the confines of the Home School Adventure Journal.

Homeschool Review Crew: Mango Languages

Today's post is a review of the program/website Mango Languages, and its program Mango Homeschool Edition courtesy of the Homeschool Review Crew. The timing is perfect for this review because the White Knight is eligible for retirement in 2015. A long-held goal has been to punctuate that retirement with a trip to France with all the kids. We really really want to travel more before Maestro leaves home in a few years. We have talked off and on about doing serious French study as part of our homeschool program before taking this journey to France, so I was excited to try a new program. 

We have tried other programs - workbooks, Rosetta Stone, etc - and they have been decent starts but have really not grabbed the kids' minds well enough for them to want to return to them. When homeschool days fill up and there is limited time to give to everything, I'm not going to be as likely to push in areas that are somewhat "extra". Math is always going to come first over foreign languages if we're running behind in a subject, in other words.