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: 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. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Away We Go Media

We are studying French in our house this year; a long-time goal that we're determined to put into play for some future plans. A few months ago, Schoolhouse Review Crew put out word about an online French study program (coming in a review next week); at almost the same time came a chance to read the children's books about Mexico, France, South Korea, and Norway, put out by Carole P. Roman writing for Away We Go Media. I applied for (and was rewarded!) both (yay!)

Schoolhouse Review Crew: VocabularySpellingCity

I have two children with (undiagnosed) dyslexia - and pretty extreme cases. Apparently one of the big indicators of dyslexia is a profound inability to spell well because of an inability to hear the individual sounds - called "Phonemic Awareness". While I wish I had known that years ago before I tried to teach them to read, it is good to be aware of it now - and to look for tools that might help with that. 

In this case, we are using the online program VocabularySpellingCity to see if it will help increase their spelling ability, as well as to test out where Maestro is at with his spelling abilities, and to get Buttercup started on her journey to good spelling as well. In short: this Schoolhouse Review Crew program offers things to cover the entire family!

Schoolhouse Review Crew: The Presidential Game

Chef loves board games with strategy games being the all-time favorite. When Schoolhouse Review Crew came out with a chance to review a new board game - The Presidential Game - I thought it could be a fun one to try, especially since Chef often has trouble finding people to play some of his strategy games with (Risk, etc.) Though I didn't know much about the game just from the website, it also looked like it could be a fun way to help the kids understand so much of the political goings-on when elections come up. 

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Legacy Documentaries - Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura DVD

The kids have been lucky lately - and it's summer time to boot - because we managed to get back-to-back video reviews! As it happened when the Review Staff put out the word about the Almanzo Wilder, Life Before Laura video by Legacy Documentaries, I had just finished reading the book Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and had already decided it would be an excellent read-aloud, so the video dovetailed nicely.

The book is Laura's retelling of her husband's childhood experiences on the family farm, and the video gives more detail on the man himself. In the book, Almanzo is 8 years old, and a farmer at heart. I loved that the video provided readings from the book, was hosted by Dean Butler, the actor who played Almanzo's character on the Little House on the Prairie TV show (how I loved that show growing up!), and gave interviews by historians who specialize in Mrs. Wilder's work. As an aside, Mr. Butler is also involved with Legacy Documentaries in other ways according to their website.

Homeschool Review Crew: Brainfood Learning, Fascinating World of Mammals

Like so many other brick-and-mortar raised schoolchildren, I have fond memories of entering the classroom to see the old movie projector set up, to get to sit back in my seat in a dark classroom and hear the soft whir of tape moving through the big metal machine as the screen lit up in front of me... Movie days in class were special - and changed as I got older, of course - by high school, we watched the increasingly rare images move across a television screen instead of one that pulled down; the whirring tape was replaced by the clicks and hums of a VCR machine. The experience remained an enjoyable one. 

When I saw that I could provide a similar experience for my homeschooled kids, I had no thought of turning it down! Our first video was provided by Brainfood Learning, and was the title The Fascinating World of Mammals, which retails for $14.99. 

Kids being kids, they settled in eagerly for some screen time (not as rare in our house lately as it should be perhaps, but they are eager even when it's educational at least), and requested pop corn or a snack to go with it. (Hmmm... I don't recall popcorn being part of my own childhood movie day experiences... but I digress.) The Fascinating World of Mammals is not a full-on documentary, but is a series of ten shorter clips. The video was split into ten animals: beaver, kangaroo, moose, dolphin, lion, giraffe, elephant, bat, chimpanzee, and bear. 

Homeschool Review Crew: Classical Conversations Handwriting

Homeschooled children are frequently thought (known?) to be the exception to many of the plagues that come through modern-day schooling, but good handwriting seems to frequently get overlooked in both worlds. Try passing poor handwriting off to a Papa who does beautiful calligraphy work, though, and you'll find yourself doing some serious writing practice! Because my handwriting is legible, and decent, but not necessarily what old-school folks would call "great", I was pleased to have the chance to review the Classical Conversations PreScripts program.

We received the paper-book form (as opposed to the online/"e-" edition) that covered cursive handwriting and art lessons. The book is not supposed to be copied for use with multiple children but is supposed to be used once and then a new book should be ordered for each child. The books cost $12.99, and so aren't too expensive if you're only purchasing one or two.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Beyond the Page

 Ahhh... Summer.... A time of swimming pools, picnics, playtime, and school review time. Wait, what? "School" anything and "summer" shouldn't go together, right?? Not in a homeschooling house! (And increasingly "regular"-schooling families who don't want their kids to forget everything over the course of three months' break. In our house and many homeschool families, we're taking the time to look at what we did last year, where are the gaps, and what can we improve on.

One are that we've mentioned is science for our oncoming 8th grade Maestro, and reading comprehension and speed with Bruiser. When the information for Moving Beyond the Page listed that the review material would include a science program for older students and the possibility to use a reading/literature program for a younger student, it was the perfect fit for me to shore up both areas of study in our kids.

Movie Review: Man of Steel - How Does it Rate for Families?

For a short housekeeping issue - I turned off the requirement to put in a Captcha image in order to leave a comment. I am bringing that back, but hope it won't stop you from adding your two cents. With it off I got more comments, most of them SPAM. Thankyewno. So it's going back on today!

I can't put the "official" Man of Steel logo, of course, because it is copyright protected - for all I know so is the movie title, but I hope they'll forgive my use of it, since it's really hard to do a review of something (even an unofficial review!) without using the name of that thing! Anyway, for Father's Day, the White Knight wanted to take the Crew to do something fun, but it was a truly hot, above-90-degree day, so Busch Gardens was NOT at the top of this Pregnant Mama's list, so we headed for the cool dark of the movie theater. 

We considered a couple of options and settled on Man of Steel (as I'm sure you've guessed by now) because it seemed most likely to appeal to the spread of ages we have going with our kids - 2, 4, 8, 11, and 13 now. The long and short of it: The movie was enjoyed by everyone, but (as other reviewers have said), sometimes it seems like they used action scenes (and long ones at that!) to replace having to focus on character or plot development. If you have seen the earlier movies from way back, and know the history line of Clark Kent in those flicks, then you'll be okay, but just jumping into this one, it can be difficult to follow.

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Progeny Press - The Hobbit

We don't do as many read-alouds as we did when the kids were younger (and fewer in number), but I have been trying to increase how often we read classic literature with them. Even the youngest kids can benefit from hearing longer books read, if only because they're learning how to quietly do their own thing while others in the room are listening, and eventually they get into the stories too. We had recently finished The Hobbit again when The Old Schoolhouse put out the chance to review Progeny Press' Hobbit interactive study guide. It was a chance I jumped on right away!

Progeny Press bills itself as creating "Study guides for literature from a Christian Perspective." They have study guides for a wide range of literature that covers all the grade levels, K - 12. I will get into my opinion of the guide I received in a minute, but wanted to point out a rare thing in Homeschooling curriculum publishers - they give permission for teachers to print/use multiple copies within the same home or classroom. That is not always - or even usually - the case. But it makes me glad that I can reuse the same curriculum with my younger children, as they reach the appropriate skill levels, without having to be concerned over breaking copyright laws (however inadvertent.) 

The guide for The Hobbit is a pdf download that allows the user to fill in the blanks virtually. It does not include the Hobbit book, only the study guide. The download is $18.99, and can be purchased as a CD, an instant download or for $21.99, as a printed book. The Hobbit Study Guide is aimed at the high school level. Maestro's reading skill level is easily at high school range so I kept an eye on what he was doing but did not feel like I had to sit side-by-side with him for every step of the way. Even better was that he enjoyed most of the study guide enough that I didn't have to!

I was very impressed with how thorough the study guide was. It started out covering JRR Tolkein's life, and included a wide range of subjects and skills: map reading, nature and science, music, literature (of course!), language arts (grammar, etc), biblical studies, dictionary use, vocabulary, historical perspective, etc. 

I did stay close at hand for any discussion of the intent and meaning in various Bible verses. Being Orthodox, we do use the Bible, but sometimes our understanding of certain verses does not mirror that of the rest of the Protestant world-view. Because of that I used the various sections relating to the Bible as a means of opening discussion. The questions relating to the Bible were open-ended though and did not "push" a particular interpretation on the student.

The guide breaks the book up into sections, with the student advised to finish one section each week; the sections are then broken down so the student is doing a page each day, so the student is not overwhelmed by the work involved.

I liked the Progeny press study guide and plan to buy more - not all are the same price, but the price is certainly worth it!

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Math Rider

For Maestro and Chef, the decision on which math program to use in their earliest years came easily. We used a program that fit in with how I wanted them to learn their facts. Bruiser has struggled a little bit more with the same program and I've been looking around for ways to help him reinforce the basics. 

It seems I am not the only parent out there who felt like her child needed a fun way to get the facts down cold - enter Math Rider, a computer-based math facts game that covers addition, subtraction, multiplication and division through a series of "Quests."

Schoolhouse Review Crew: Leadership Garden Legacy

When I first saw the notice go up about reviewing the Growing My Leadership Garden series, I was intrigued. In the course of homeschooling the kids, I have watched them as they tried their hands at leadership, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not so much, but always putting in the effort. They've made me proud to watch them, my kids have, but was I doing enough to help them learn skills that would help them be good and effective leaders? Maybe. But I'm always looking to learn something new to share with them, so I asked if I could be one of the Crew to try out Leadership Garden.

How to Evaluate the Quality of an Essential Oil

Use this checklist to evaluate the quality of your essential oils...
Used with permission from Stacy McDonald of Common Scents Mom.

Most essential oils on the market are not "therapeutic grade," and most are not 100% pure, regardless of how they are labeled. The problem is that these terms are not regulated by anyone. So, all we can do is tell you what we mean when we use the term "therapeutic grade," and then invite you to compare that definition to other companies. In fact, as far as I know, Young Living is the only company that has its own farms and distilleries. That alone potentially disqualifies other companies.

Words Have Meaning: Know Your Greek and Latin Roots

As a true "Language Geek", Jeff has often talked about how useful it has been to know something about the Greek and Latin root words when studying other Romance languages like French - and also in studying English! So when the opportunity arose for our family to review the Greek and Latin Root cards provided by the Lonestar Learning company, I jumped at it! 

Hitting the Patch

Ahhh... We have lived here for seven years and now hit at least one (if not more!) local farm a year - for pumpkins, apple picking, berry picking, peach picking... you get the idea! The last couple of years I have tried to hit a farm with a corn maze. Now that the boys are older, I don't have to coax them through it and can let them run a little more safely. So here are the farms we've visited, and our thoughts on them. I am not including pricing because prices change, of course, but I will include web links!

Clark's Elioak Farm

This is one of the more popular farms in the Columbia area - and so frequently crowded. Clark's is located off of Rte. 108. We've been there for pumpkins, Christmas trees, hay rides, and games. We also went with friends one year for a birthday party.

The hayride is one of the better ones we've been on. They take you on a trail through the woods and along the trail are old faces salvaged (saved) from Enchanted Forest over on Rte. 40. Enchanted Forest is closed now, but the dragons and other characters are being preserved by Clark's for all to enjoy. As you ride along, sitting on the hay bales, you hear shouts of joy and surprise as new faces are spotted. The ride ends at the pumpkin patch where you disembark to pick your gourd.

Clark's also features animals to feed, a horse ride and a haybale-type city for the smaller children. There is not as much to do for the oldest children, but all do enjoy the hay ride and it is not too big for the youngest, who might tire out more easily.

Larriland Farm

Larriland is also one of the better-known farms in the area and frequently very busy, especially on the weekends. The best time to go? When there is a light drizzle - then you practically get the place to yourself (better bring a jacket though!) Larriland is open most of the year and has multiple fields that they rotate through, depending on the crops and the season. It is a good idea to check the website before going so you can see what is ripe and ready. We have picked apples, peaches, blackberries, spinach, and pumpkins there ourselves.

Standard Fall/Hallowe'en things at Larriland include apple fritters and cider, a hay ride, pumpkin picking, a small hay maze for the youngest kids, and a haunted house. Their hay ride is also pretty good and winds along around parts of the farm and a small lake on the property. Along the way are signs to read, ghosts hanging from the trees and riddles to solve. All of these enhance the ride as you keep an eye out for what's next.

The haunted house is short but the kids enjoy going through multiple times and you do hear occasional shouts and screams coming from within! I usually have a small child with me so have not gone with my olders so have not seen the inside. The hay maze is where the kids tend to go... and stay. The walls are tall enough that the kids cannot see over so for them it is great fun as they usually get a game of hide and seek going or something along those lines. The older kids get bored a little more quickly but enjoy it all the same.

North Run Farm

This is where we went this year. As it seems to be with most "corn maze farms", the biggest draw for North Run is the corn maze. I'll get to that in a second. North Run features two corn mazes - 0.4 miles and 2 miles - and you solve a mystery while inside. They also have a hay ride, pumpkins, animals and a couple of "hay structures" for the children to run on, around, and through.

The hay ride is ... "eh." It goes in a simple squared-off circle around a smaller corn field and then you get off. It's too short to be exciting, you don't really sit on the hay unless you sit in the middle (benches line the two sides) and except for the youngest riders, it's just kind of dull.

Some of the pumpkins here had HUGE vines attached. Wowee! They had "regular" pumpkins, white, purple, and all the various gourds you would normally see at a fall farm scene. They also had a selection of apples that were very tasty but not too many of those. There was a mini-hay maze for the very youngest kids, with short walls that made it suitable for even our 22 mo. old Buttercup to go through and walk on. In another section, they had half-tires set up into the ground for the kids to climb around on. They had a corn teepee the kids could go into (and back out of) and then "Hayland" for the biggest kids to climb and jump around on.

As I said though, their big draw is the corn maze and the North Run folks put the bulk of their effort into that. To the left (this year) is the 0.4 mile maze. As you go through the maze, sound is muted, breezes are largely blocked off an you enter a kind of creepy little world! You take a maze guide in with you that shows the path and where certain clues are located. There are additional unmarked clues scattered throughout as well. The remainder of the clues are located in the 2-mile maze. They do a different shape each year and this year the maze is in the shape of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I do believe we hit every tooth! We had a good time looking for the clues, but being with the youngest child in our group (22 months), did not finish. Two other groups that we were with did finish though, including the group with the five year old. The teens petered out before the fivers

- go figure!

Those are the three that we've been to most often or most recently. I hope they are helpful to some!