Homeschool Review Crew

Project Passport World History Studies by Home School in the Woods – Review

July 31, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I remember loving the study of Greek mythology when I was in middle school. My teacher was tough but let us do fun projects, and the stories were fascinating. I’ve been looking forward to teaching my own kids about Ancient Greece and including those myths and projects.

Unfortunately, when I sat down to do some planning, I realized that I remembered much about the myths, but we never learned about Ancient Greece – and I only remember one of those projects, and so I’d have to start from scratch – if it weren’t for Home School in the Woods‘ Project Passport World History Studies unit about Ancient Greece.

I was immediately drawn in to the depth and thoroughness of this unit. It has everything – maps, lapbooks, timelines, printables, cooking projects, building projects, mythology, famous people, government, clothing, geography, and much more. With this unit, I won’t have to do any additional planning.

It’s set up in a really neat way – as if you are going on a trip throughout Greece. Everything is referenced according to that ‘journey’ – you’ll pack, make a printable ‘suitcase’ to hold certain items you’ll want to keep and reference over and over, each day’s lessons are a ‘stop,’ etc.

Each day’s plans are laid out for you, though I must admit that it took me a bit of time to find that document in my download. Until I did, I felt quite frazzled – because all that awesome information feels overwhelming when you don’t know how to use it. Be smarter than I was, though, and open the document called “start” first. It will tell you what you need to know, and it’s even hyperlinked for you to open the related projects and printables to make navigation even easier.

If you plan to make use of everything in this unit, plan to do a lot of printing. Again, that’s because of that wonderful thoroughness – there’s a really cool lapbook, timeline info complete with little people, a passport to print and use with all of the Home School in the Woods’ related projects, and printables to accompany other projects, too. The up side to all of that printing? The directions are very precise, so you’ll know exactly how to do it to make the projects work as planned. The down side? Well, it’s a lot of printing – and each page is saved in as a separate document, not each project – so plan to open a lot of windows on your computer. When I have a lot to print, I often send it out to the local print shop, where we get a discount through our local homeschool group. These separate files mean that I can send them exactly the ones I want printed, so while it may take a bit more work on my part at the front end, it will be easier for the printers to follow my directions and not print pages I don’t want.

One of the first projects involves maps. My kids both love maps, and they were excited to work on this one. They knew nothing at all about the geography of Greece, and so they spent a bit of time studying a picture of the completed map. While they colored, I read the accompanying text, and since that was short, I moved on to another story that we’re reading together.

What makes this map so great is that it’s more interactive than your standard color-and-label map. The labels are available to print, cut, and glue on, and since that was different for us, the kids were excited to do it. They didn’t have to worry about coloring over their labels. The font and font size also differs a little bit for labels of different types of things, and so it makes the map more interesting to look at.

While My Big Helper was very precise in the coloring and labeling of her map, My Little Man went wild with his. He enjoyed studying the map carefully to pick out all the islands from the seas and then using a variety of bright colors to denote that land.

Unusual? Yes. It made him happy, though, and he did label the map accurately and study it thoroughly, so … I’m picking my battles. 😉

At another stop, we began to learn about the famous people of Greece. We printed postcards that already had messages from one Greek person to another – and that was so cool! I’ve had my kids make their own letters from one person to another, which is a great review activity; but by having the message already written, it became a starting point for research and a great critical thinking and analytical activity.

My Big Helper was careful to study each word on the postcard, trying to infer as much as possible from it. She got a kick out of trying to add subtle jokes to the picture she drew on the back of the postcard to illustrate the text, and I could see from her drawing that she really understood the message. It was a fun project!

While we haven’t completed this study yet, we’ve studied it carefully and have plans for much more of it. We’re going to have our own Greek dinner soon, and we’re taking a batch of the spiced wine to a homeschool Ancient Greek event. My Big Helper is going to sew her own outfit, and she can’t wait to build a model of the Parthenon. My Little Man loves Archimedes and Aesop’s Fables, and I can’t wait to see what he writes when he writes his own fable.

Want just the facts? There are 25 lessons, or stops, in this unit. They can be spread out over 8 – 12 weeks and are recommended for use with Grades 3 – 8. It is available as either a digital download or on a CD. Supplies are not included.

There are a wealth of lesson plans and projects in Home School in the Woods‘ Project Passport World History Studies unit about Ancient Greece. It’s all well organized, easy to use, and very thorough. If you have a world history unit coming up, I highly recommend giving Home School in the Woods a try!

Home School in the Woods has five units available in the Project Passport World History series, and they all look just as wonderful as the Ancient Greek one! They’ve just released Ancient Rome, so if you’ve been wanting resources for that, go here and check it out! Home School in the Woods is a hands-on history company with other lines, too, besides just world history. See what they have to offer.

Hands-on-History, Project Passport, À La Carte Timelines and Time Travelers {Home School in the Woods Reviews}

Thinking Critically with The Critical Thinking Co. – Review

June 4, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

It’s not every day that most kids have the opportunity to solve crimes, but that’s exactly what we’ve been doing each time we crack open Critical Thinking Detective Book 1 from The Critical Thinking Co.™.

This is a book full of mysteries to which the reader becomes the detective, and unlike most workbooks, there’s a mystery to solve on each page, with clues, pictures, and advice from the police.

I love these kinds of puzzles, and I was excited to find that The Critical Thinking Co.™ makes these. They’re not the kind of puzzles where you fit pieces together mathematically, but the kind where you need to examine each statement carefully to see how it might align or contradict other statements, thereby allowing you to use the process of elimination to find the thief in each case.

This book is recommended for students in grades 4-12, but if they haven’t worked through this type of puzzle before, they may need a bit of help for the first few. My kids have done puzzles that require similar logic in the past, and they were excited to try these.

They were so excited, however, that they couldn’t decide which one would use the book. Neither wanted the other to write in it because then they could see the answers and not get to solve certain puzzles; so, for the most part, they would read the puzzles and clues on their own, and think through their answers, then come and tell me. I would do the same, and then we would check the answers in the back together. I’d repeat that with the other one later. My Big Helper occasionally chose to write her answers out on other paper so that she could process it as she wrote and still leave the book clear so that her brother could use it.

We could, of course, have done it all together, and I think it would be fun to do that as a family over lunch or dinner, but we’re in a busy season of baseball and competitions, and so I just haven’t quite gotten things together that much – because we would need to be prepared to pass the book around so we could study the pictures as those provide clues for most puzzles. I’ve enjoyed the one-on-one time with both kids, though, and they’re more excited than ever about the mysteries.

The book is also quite affordable at only $8.99, and it would definitely be possible simply to have a book for each of them; however, again, in the busy season we’re in, we just didn’t get that far.

There's a great deal happening now - check it out! — There’s a great deal happening now – check it out!

Critical Thinking Detective Book 1 has 32 pages, and each two-page spread features a new mystery, complete with color pictures, clues, and space to write out your logic in determining your answer. Sometimes, the mysteries include witness statements, which add a bit more complication – and fun – to the process.

I’ve really enjoyed the pictures. Things like the height of people and possible color of clothing can be considered from the perspective of witnesses through the availability of the pictures, and that adds another layer of fun to the stories. Some of the graphics are really wacky, too, and I enjoy seeing what the creators have chosen for each person.

One of my children has solved most of the mysteries correctly. She is fairly good at setting aside her preconceived notions about what has happened and relying only on the clues.

The other one, not so much. It is more difficult for him to read that the alleged thief was wearing red or orange and consider the peachy shirt on one person as a possibility, but he has taken this as a personal challenge. He’s really enjoying the challenge of it, even though it’s a bit harder for him, and his logic is always solid, even if his perspective is a bit different than his sister’s.

I personally love the way that The Critical Thinking Co.™ makes logical thinking fun. By working through these puzzles, the kids are learning to separate fact from opinion, to use the process of elimination, and to think step-by-step. These are all great skills to have in life, for sure, but they will also come in handy as they begin studying higher-level math and need to solve more complicated equations and other real-life problems.

I’m happy to share that this is not the only book in the series; there’s a sequel, but there are also similar books for specific subjects like vocabulary and history. We’ll definitely be checking those out, as well!

Critical Thinking, Understanding Math & Vocabulary {The Critical Thinking Co.™ Reviews}

Kids Email Safe Email – Review

May 14, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I was in college when social media really seemed to take off, and I’ve enjoyed daily usage of it since then. That’s when I got my first email account, and it was fun to send and receive messages from friends and family, near and far.

My kids have been wanting that same privilege, especially since we live so far from so much of our family, but the Internet and social media aren’t as safe as they used to be. With spam, sketchy ads, and predators seemingly everywhere, I’ve looked hard to find a safe email provider for their first accounts. That’s why we’ve enjoyed using a one-year subscription to Kids Email Safe Email for Kids. It’s a Kids Email subscription service that allows you a great deal of control and your kid lots of fun.

It was easy to set up and get started. My Little Man was able to choose his own address, but then it got even better. Maybe you can do this with other commercial email accounts, but I’ve never seen it possible to this degree: My Little Man could choose how to ‘decorate’ his account with template options. It was more than just color scheme for the window itself, but for clipart and wallpaper for the emails themselves. It was definitely more fun to use with a colorful theme!

My Little Man enjoyed picking these out, but he’s not really such a little man anymore, even if this was his first email experience. Many of the themes seemed particularly suited for young elementary students, with colorful, cartoon-like animals or pretty, pinkish washes. He would have loved something a bit more grown-up: something that was less like a cartoon and more masculine: realistic animals, superheroes, comic-book figures, or the like. If we had longer to use this, I’d probably bump him up to the teen version of the program.

The teen version also seems pretty cool. I don’t know what sort of templates it has, but it has a simpler email ending (**@kmail.org instead of **@kidsemail.org) and has a separate log-in page. The transition from one kind of account to the other is supposed to be pretty simple, but we didn’t get that far.

There are lots of great features of the kids’ version, too, which is why we enjoyed staying in that version. There are no ads whatsoever with Kids Email, so you don’t have to worry about spammy messages showing up in your kid’s account. There’s specifically no spam, so it’s not just ads that you’re safe from, but also unwanted messages.

As a parent, you have a great deal of control over those messages. You can set up many controls that your child will never even see. You can add or delete people from the contact list, or even set it up so that only you can add or delete people from that list. You can even set limits to the account so that your child can send and receive messages only to the people on the list – that way s/he’s protected from messages from predators or other unknowns. Should your child try to send a message that violates a rule that you’ve set out, the message goes to you to be approved and sent on or denied. In this way, your child can send messages to a local museum for a research project, say, without you needing to add the museum to the list, and s/he is still protected from other, unwanted messages.

You can even set time limits on each account so that it can be accessed only at certain times of the day. If you’re having trouble limiting screen time, this would be a great way to maintain limits.

One of my favorite aspects of Kids Email was the limits to attachments. You can choose what types of files can be sent to your child’s account, making it impossible for unwanted videos or music, documents, or pictures to get through.

My Little Man also really liked one unique feature: there’s a drawing board, so that your child can draw simple pictures and attach them to emails. It reminded me of a simple version of the old Paint program, and it was fun to see what he drew.

I could see his drawings because, when setting up his account, I opted to see all incoming and outgoing messages. If your child is a prolific writer with no safety concerns, you may choose not to take advantage of this option, but I liked seeing how he was using it when he got started.

There’s another option we didn’t take advantage of, but other children might love it. You can choose to have your email read to you, if you have trouble reading it. I could see this really encouraging beginning readers to want to read and write.

While My Little Man is definitely not a beginning reader, writing is not his favorite thing to do. I was excited, then, when he decided to spend his early mornings with his account open, writing a very long story. As of this time, he’s written several ‘chapters’ of it, and I can’t wait to see where it takes him.

When we first set up our account, we had a weird computer issue. It wasn’t related to Kids Email, but something specifically with my computer – and didn’t affect My Little Man’s usage of his account on his computer at all. The Kids Email staff was on top of the problem, and they worked hard to help me resolve the issue.

Later, we had another issue, and this one was my fault – completely my fault. Despite messages to Kids Email for information, however, I have not gotten a response, even though it’s been several days. I’m disappointed not to be able to get the information I need, especially as they were so on the ball in the beginning. Perhaps with more time? **I’ve heard from Kids Email and my issue has been resolved. Yay!

Does Kids Email sound like something you’d like to try? You can – for free! Kids Email offers a free, 30-day trial with no credit card required. You can find out more and sign up here.

Kids Email offers fair pricing and price breaks for signing up annually as opposed to monthly. They charge only $38.95 for six accounts annually or $4.95 monthly for four accounts. I think that’s more than fair for keeping your kids safe online!

Safe Email for Kids {Kids Email Reviews}

Do Your Kids Like Technology? Try CodeWizardsHQ!

May 6, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

Do your kids like technology? Mine sure do. They’ve enjoyed learning bits and pieces about how to code small, kid-friendly things, so we’ve enjoyed learning about Code Wizards HQ and the coding classes for kids that they offer.

Code Wizards HQ offers real-time, online classes with qualified instructors. The classes are project-based, and the course structure looks impressive. Students build real things, like apps and websites, and each project gets bigger and harder. CodeWizardsHQ are online, so you don’t have to go anywhere, but if you do miss a class, you can watch it online later. The classes are small, usually only 6-8 students, so that the instructors can spend time with each student.Classes are twelve weeks long, and they’re beginning new classes each month. Students can start with no experience, but if they have some, they’re start at their appropriate level. You can see more about their curriculum here and more about their homeschool opportunities here.Your student can enroll in the classes, but CodeWizardsHQ also sets up classes for small groups of students to take together. It sounds perfect for a club or co-op!For only two hours per week, and with students needing only a computer with a webcam and microphone, these classes sound great. I love that they teach real programming languages and that classes are taught be real, live instructors. This sounds like a great program!

Do your kids like tech classes?

Live Class Computer Programming for your Students {CodeWizardsHQ Reviews}

Heroes of History: George Washington Carver – Review

April 30, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’re gearing up for another living history co-op event here, and so we jumped at the chance to read Heroes of History- George Washington Carver from YWAM Publishing as this amazing man fits into our time period perfectly. We were torn, though – there were so many good titles to choose from! We were also interested in Orville Wright, Thomas Edison, and Milton Hershey. We’ll be looking for those soon, I’m sure! These are all part of the Heroes of History series, each book comes with a unit study guide, making it easy for any homeschooler to tailor this book to his/her own specific needs.The unit study includes all sorts of neat pieces. One, that often seems to be overlooked, is a quote section. I love that! My kids each keep notebooks especially for writing down quotes from famous people, and I enjoyed finding this section. The next part of the study talks about making display corners or collections with items related to George Washington Carver. I can see young children getting really excited about this. It might also be a neat thing to use with co-ops or book clubs; they could add to the collection as they read the book.Another great part of the unit study is questions for each chapter. There are four, and they each target a different theme: vocabulary, facts, comprehension, and interpretation. I love how comprehensive these questions are, but as my Big Helper was swamped with writing a massive research paper while beginning this study, we used them as discussion questions instead. There are lots of great essay questions and creative writing assignments, too. I hated passing up such fun ideas, but, alas, the research paper ….

So we moved on to the board game. Each kid took a large sheet of paper and designed a version of ‘Chutes and Ladders’ with a George Washington Carver theme. They used the trials in his life as chutes and good things that happened as ladders to climb. We love making and playing games as part of our school work, and this was especially fun. My Big Helper also researched more information about several facts that she wanted to use and constructed her game like a timeline, so her events are sequential. She did additional research as she was building the game to be sure that she had the events in the proper order. It was fun to make and fun to play!Another of the projects was to collect flowers and plants, then crush them to make dyes. We talked about how Carver was interested in finding new uses for plants (like the peanut), and so I asked my kids to think about the purposes of different plants and create entries in their nature journals that might be from Carver’s perspective. Boy, did they get excited about this one!

My Little Man started thinking about how plants propagate. He spent some time at the computer learning about grafting, sprouting, and such, and then he went outside and found a few plants to work with. He tried grafting things together and then planted them in this bucket …

and took a sprouting potato to plant here. He cut apart the eyes from other parts of the potato and planted them in different places to see what would happen. It was neat to see him get so excited about his project!

My Big Helper took a more conventional approach. She went outside and felt different plants to find leaves and blossoms that she thought might stain things, and then she asked for a jar and began to mash her collection. She experimented with rubbing the mashed bits on paper in her nature journal and with adding different amounts of water to see what would create a good watercolor. After this, she researched the plant she was using to learn more about it.

My Big Helper ended up with a really colorful entry for her nature journal and enjoyed all of the experimentation!My Big Helper also created a very detailed timeline for Carver’s life. She used lots of vocabulary words and included major national events that were happening during his lifetime. This project really helped her to put things into perspective.The unit study discusses how to hold a cumulative event, and we’re taking our Carver work to our living history day event later this week! The kids will take their board games, and we’ll take peanuts to turn into peanut butter (even though Carver is not the one who invented it, he did much work with peanuts). My kids both really enjoyed the format of this study and of the biography itself. My Big Helper was especially excited to learn about what a sensible and smart man he was and to learn more about his values. His dedication to his work and to helping other people make him an exciting man to study, and this unit study was perfect for studying all aspects of his life.We thoroughly enjoyed using Heroes of History- George Washington Carver, and we’re definitely going to look up more of these!

Christian Heroes, Heroes of History & Study Guides {YWAM Publishing Reviews}

Exploring Creation with Anatomy & Physiology by Apologia – Review

April 17, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

My people love science – like, really love science. So much so that My Little Man has been asking me to buy Apologia textbooks for him to read for fun over the past few years – but we’ve never had the chance to see the whole program. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity to use Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology – the textbook, the Jr. Notebooking Journal, the Notebooking Journal, and the MP3 Audio CD that accompanies the text.

This Apologia line is from a Christian worldview and is intended for elementary students. It’s hardcore science – there’s nothing watered down for younger kids. Knowing every single term was a challenge when the kids were younger, but My Little Man loves that now as a fifth-grader. The textbook is full of colorful diagrams and pictures, as well as boxes with simple experiments that you can do for fun. Most of these are shorter and easier than the formal experiments in the notebooking journals, and my kids love doing these.

We did one of these recently. As directed, we put a baby tooth into a glass bottle. The idea was to test the effects of soda on teeth.

My kids don’t drink soda, so they thought it’s effect on teeth must be pretty bad, but they were interested in finding out exactly. As you can see, just opening the can proved to be more difficult than expected for this one, and as the top popped, she was disgusted by the smell of the soda! Watching her do this was so funny!

My Big Helper carefully poured the soda into the bottle and observed it closely for a while ….

before wondering what the soda tasted like. She gave it a try, but she didn’t like it (phew!). I don’t think she’ll give it another try for quite a while.

She spent time over the course of the afternoon watching the bubbles rising off that tooth. She observed that the soda must be acting on it immediately, because the bubbles were only in that part of the bottle. I can’t wait to see what else they observe!

This tooth experiment was one pulled from the textbook. When my kids were younger, we’d snuggle on the couch together and read. Now that they’re so much bigger, they prefer to read the text on their own so they can study the diagrams, etc., as long as they’d like. We listened to the CD for a bit, though.

I was really impressed with the reader. She was enthusiastic but not cheesy and her timing was perfect – not too fast, not boringly slow. She read the text as if she enjoyed it and was having a conversation with a friend. When she came to an experiment box like the one above, she mentioned it and moved on. I could see us listening to this in the car, if push came to shove, because she made listening to the text enjoyable (and I don’t generally enjoy listening to non-fiction).

My kids followed along in the book as they listened. In the end, they agreed that they’d prefer to read it on their own, but I’m glad that the CD is an option.

Notebooking journals in two levels came with our materials. There’s a Jr. level and the regular notebooking level. I’ll show you examples of the types of pages in both.

I have to say, though, that these books rule. We’ve used Apologia before and appreciate the level of accurate information and professionalism that surrounds these books, but trying to use the hardcore book in a co-op situation where we had to keep up with other kids was too much for us.

Back then, I (falsely) assumed that these journals were like workbooks, and I’m not a fan of busywork. These notebooking journals are anything but, however.

This was an interesting-facts page from the Jr. Notebooking Journal. My Little Man cut out the colored sheet, folded the flaps, and glued it to another page in the book. Then he wrote facts and the answers to the questions behind the flaps. It’s definitely not your typical worksheet.

This is another page from the Jr. Notebooking Journal. There is a page like this for nearly every chapter. I love the way that these diagrams exist to help students dig in and study each part of the skeletal system – and the other systems, too.

In My Little Man’s Jr. Notebooking Journal, he cuts out the vocabulary words as flaps. Then he tapes each flap over the proper definition. He enjoys this much more than writing out definitions.

Both journals have copywork pages with scripture for each chapter. They’re available in both printing and cursive writing.

I love the options for writing that the Jr. Notebooking Journal presents. My Little Man can have super neat handwriting when he wants to, but he rarely does. His natural handwriting is very large, and having only short lines or small spaces in which to write stresses him out. Except for the diagrams and copywork pages, there are few pages that require writing in the Jr. Notebooking Journal. I love that this allows kids to participate fully in the work without having to write. Both journals study the same information in different ways, so you can choose the Notebooking Journal that works for you, regardless of the age of your student(s). Or, if you’re like us, you can use both, because they work really well together.

My Big Helper got really into her pages. She loved being able to draw this cell diagram, and she spent a long time on it. As soon as she was done, she pulled me over and told me all about each individual component of a cell – she had learned it well.

She liked writing out the answers to these questions, as well. There’s a page like this for most chapters.

Her vocabulary work in the regular Notebooking Journal is a bit more advanced than in the Jr. Journal, but it’s still fun. There are puzzles for all of the vocabulary activities. My Big Helper loves these!

So we’re loving these Notebooking Journals, and I’ll definitely be purchasing these for all future Apologia science work. They’re great!

Both Notebooking Journals also have this cool feature: paper people in three different skin tones in the back of the book with plastic overlays for the body systems. My kids both think this is gross, but in a good kind of way. You cut out your paper person, then you tape on each body system as you study it. You also cut out a picture of your head and tape it to the top, and then tape another paper person on top when you finish. Then you can lift the flaps, so to speak, and see where each body system is in relation to the others. My kids happily cut out and add their new body systems with each new chapter we study.

Between the textbook, the Notebooking Journals, the labs and activities, and the additional books and movies listed, there’s enough material in this course to keep you studying anatomy and physiology every day, all year long. As rather eclectic people, though, we’re also doing lots of other studies, and that would be too much for us. The layout makes it easy to choose the activities that are most beneficial for your students. We’ve been finishing a chapter about every two weeks by working two or three days each week. We break the chapter up into chunks to read, and the kids work on their Notebooking Journals a little bit at a time. I can tell they’re understanding and getting the information by the way that they make comparisons between the facts they read and items in real life, and it fits into our schedule well this way. I enjoyed the thoroughness of Apologia before, but after seeing this complete set of materials and using it for several weeks, I’m a HUGE fan. If you’re in the market for a science curriculum, give the Apologia line a try.

Apologia - Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Reviews

“Princess Cut” – Review

April 11, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

Our culture makes a big deal about having significant others at very young ages. My Big Helper would come home talking about people chasing each other around the gym in kindergarten trying to kiss each other, and adults would often ask if she had a ‘boyfriend’ yet. Really – a boyfriend at FIVE? What’s the point? For years after that began, we avoided books and movies that depicted unhealthy, romantic relationships among the very young in favor of those with good friendship as a central theme. In order to love well, you need to be a good friend first, right?

But when my Big Helper heard that there was a movie called Princess Cut by Watchman Pictures that showed dating from a Christian perspective, she was excited and asked to watch it. She’s thirteen now, and the time is definitely right for having lots of family discussions about what healthy relationships look like.

That was definitely what I enjoyed most about the movie. There were so many great springboards for discussion about what this character was doing well or what a goofy thing that was to do that I kept asking the remote-holder to pause the movie so we could talk about it – so much that after a few times I started getting eye-rolls and groans of, “Oh, Mommy!”

It’s true, though. How involved should your family be in your dating decisions? Is it okay for a boy/girlfriend to tell you what to do? Where to go? To try to guilt you into things? What can you do to be a supportive friend in return? This was just a few of the great questions that jumped out at us as a family as we were watching, and we talked about all of them. I’m sure we’ll be revisiting them in the future, but having this as a starting point made for great discussions.

These starting points came from great places. At some points, the situations in the movie were much more conservative than we are, and in others much more liberal. I appreciated the comparison this painted by having different viewpoints all in the same movie, and by putting them side by side, so to speak, it contrasted them well. We were able to talk about the pros and cons we could see of each stance, and while we didn’t all agree, it made for great talking points.

There will always be viewpoints with which you don’t agree, and of course this included a few of those. They were far enough away from my perspective that it made certain situations feel a bit cheesy, but I don’t think that was a bad thing; I think it was necessary to provide contrast and start those discussions.

What’s it all about? Princess Cut is about a Grace, a lifelong Carolina farm girl, now in her early 20’s, who has dreamed all her life of the day when “Mr. Right” slips a Princess Cut diamond on her finger and swears to love her forever. Tonight may be that night as Stewart has something special planned after 15 months together! But when things don’t go as planned, and romance crashes down around her, it launches her on a quest, aided by her father, to understand what it means to truly love another person. Will Grace finally discover love or ruin her chances for happiness forever?

My Big Helper definitely enjoyed the movie more than my Little Man. It’s big on romance and low on action, although there is a fight scene, and there is visual tension at several parts of the movie. Both kids followed the plot line well and were invested in the movie enough that they wanted to watch, not talk.

Many people claim that Christian films have cheesy, unprofessional acting, but I thought Princess Cut was quite well made. I enjoyed the camera angles, the professionalism of the people in front of the camera, and the variety of settings used in the movie. As a romantic drama, it was a very good one.

All in all, I would recommend Princess Cut for any family or youth group with tweens or teens. It’s a well-made, well-thought-out movie with great potential for both entertainment and discussion.

Princess Cut {Watchman Pictures Reviews}

Making Spinning Tops with Zirrly Beads – Review

March 21, 2018 by Amy 5 Comments

My Little Man is a sports-lovin’ guy, but he has a crafty side, too. He’s never crafted with beads, though, and he was super excited at the chance to try Zirrly Beads. These Super Beads meld just with water – no heat required! – and though there are lots of neat packaged sets, My Little Man had his heart set on the Spinning Tops set from the very beginning.

He couldn’t wait for his Zirrly Beads to arrive. He asked every day if he could get the mail and check for them. It was fun to see him so excited!

The box was made of sturdy cardboard with a clearly labeled diagram of what should be inside. It contained beads in several colors (enough to make the patterns inside plus some extras), a spray bottle, the handle and point of the tops, a tray for working, and a tool to use when manipulating the beads.

My Little Man was eager to open the box and get to work. He chose a pattern and got it onto the base quickly. We soon discovered that we needed a way to contain the beads, because they’re made out of hard plastic and will bounce and roll everywhere. A white plate kept them contained and easy to see, and My Little Man enjoyed emptying each bag onto the plate as he needed the beads inside.

The tops are super easy to make. The pattern fits into the tray, and the tray is clear, so you can see the colored pattern through it. Then you match the beads onto the pegged tray above each color until you’ve completed the pattern.

My Little Man loved that part. It was easy for him, and he could do it without any help whatsoever. We sat together and talked while he put the beads in place, and he was excited to be finally making his top.

It looked like this when he finished.

The next step is to press the beads down flat. My Little Man got really into the job.

When they’re pressed together firmly and are flat, the next step is to spray them with water. The kit conveniently came with a small spray bottle, so My Little Man filled it up and sprayed away. He set the timer for an hour, to give it time to dry as directions stated that it would need at least an hour.

When it was dry to the touch, he used the included tool to pry the beads from the tray carefully. They came out easily and were stuck together exactly as they should be – with no heat, ironing, or other dangerous procedures involved.

The top spins really well, too. My Little Man was happy to spin it all over. I appreciated the way that the top was designed so that the colors would blend together with movement, making it look like an old-fashioned top when in motion.

My Little Man was so happy with his first top that he wanted to make another one immediately – but he wanted to design his own pattern this time. My Big Helper thought it looked fun and wanted in on the action, but fortunately, the kit comes with enough supplies for three tops – and with two trays! – so both kids could make tops at once.

The bead count isn’t even by color, something which soon became apparent; the kit comes with enough beads to make the included patterns, so when we went off on our own, design-wise, the kids had to choose their colors carefully as uneven amounts remained, but they soon worked it out and finished building.

They moved on to the subsequent steps, but things didn’t go quite as smoothly this time. My Big Helper’s beads didn’t stick together as well as My Little Man’s did. She’s quite the stickler for rules, and she read them herself, being careful not to flood the tray as directed, but perhaps she didn’t get quite enough water on there. It took a few tries before her beads stuck together to make the base of the top, but they finally did, and it worked great!

These tops were fun to put together and easy for My Little Man to build. He’s turning 11, and he does a lot of robotics, STEM projects, kits, etc., and so he has lots of experience putting things together that involve small pieces. The projects were laid out simply enough that someone much younger and with much less experience (although with supervision, because the beads are small) could definitely do these well.

I think our next Zirrly experience should involve one of these 3D kits – because it would be a bit more challenging to build, and because the 3D Car and Truck set has wheels! My Little Man loves those. I could see him playing with these for hours.

I think that this Mega Pack would be really awesome, too. There are thousands of beads in this package – can you imagine what you could with these?My Little Man loved building with his Zirrly Beads , and he loves playing with his top, too. If your child likes crafting or playing with beads, give Zirrly Beads a try!

Make History Come Alive with Drive Thru History – Review

February 27, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

A few years ago we used some Drive Thru History DVDs an part of our Colonial American history unit. We all loved them, which is why we were very excited to find out there’s more to Drive Thru History than just fantastic homeschool videos.

While you can still purchase Drive Thru History Adventures in that format, it’s now available as a subscription website and includes much more than just an American history series: there are also video series for the Gospels and Ancient History, with a fourth series to come later this spring.

It’s not just videos, though – Drive Thru History has written curriculum to accompany each video. I’m really hard to please with written lessons, so I don’t say this lightly – but I really love these! Each one is simple, making it easy to fit a wide variety of kids and their learning styles. They include really great information, though – questions great for essays or discussion, famous quotes to evaluate, scripture, and sometimes art. Linked up as well are expert papers and additional suggested readings, many of which are excerpts of famous historical documents. I love the layer of authenticity that this piece adds to the study, and for those old enough to go there, these will definitely take you deeper into civics, philosophy, and critical thinking.

Because deeper … we started using Drive Thru History when my kids were pretty little, but we didn’t care that they’re really targeted for kids over age 12. We loved the videos themselves – they’re wonderful. The premise is simple – host Dave Stotts travels to important places in history in a special vehicle and gives you a modern day tour, all while explaining the history of the place with animated art and crazy jokes. They’re real and serious but seriously funny, too, and you’ll learn loads just from watching the videos – but with the addition of the curriculum, Drive Thru History is a really deep and interactive experience. I love that you can see what each place looks like – that’s huge for this visual learner in bringing history to life – but by adding the reading, writing, and discussion elements to the videos, this program is really complete.

Even then, though, Drive Thru History has found a way to get even better. They’ve added a section called “Side Roads,” and it’s full of short, great videos about other topics. Some are about archeological finds. Others are about special days in history, like President’s Day or Valentine’s Day. Some feature Dave Stotts, the regular host, but some feature other colleagues, and some even feature kids. These videos are short but clear and will help the viewer understand more about the people and culture of the time.

“Side Roads” are also a part of Adventures TV, where there are even more great resources. The “Behind the Scenes” section includes a blooper video from the upcoming series in Israel and other videos about the Museum of the Bible. The “Dig Deeper” section includes videos about viewing to coincide with the Christian calendar and other background historical information. If you’re one to watch digital videos on devices, Drive Thru History has apps for that, too.

Adventures TV also includes a feature called “Dave’s Adventures,” in which weekly update videos are included. These might have info about Dave Stott’s family life, calendar history, or answers to questions sent in by viewers. This last part is really fun because it lets you interact with Stotts and see him respond to your query. My Little Man has enjoyed doing that, and it helps you become a part of the program, rather than it being only something you use.

My Little Man is super excited to learn history with Dave Stotts. He asks nearly every day if he can watch his next DTH video!

I let each kid choose which course they wanted to do – because as both kids are entering historical contests and are working under a deadline to complete their entries, we couldn’t set aside that work as we normally might for an opportunity like this. Even so, both kids jumped at the chance to use Drive Thru History, even knowing it would be extra history work for the duration of their projects.

We needed to do our schoolwork at church one day, so we hooked the laptop up to the projector and watched it big-screen style. My Little Man loved it!

My Little Man chose to watch the Ancient World videos. Because he’s a bit younger than the curriculum is aimed for (and hates writing!), we watched the videos together and talked about his impressions. I’ve enjoyed watching him re-enact Dave’s famous fight with the gladiator during his playtime and listening to him explain how issues of this time impact other points during history as he comes across connections. He’s absorbing it all and enjoys explaining these things to me. There are twelve videos in this series, each one lasting about 45 minutes, and My Little Man is too excited about them to watch only one per week. He asks often if he can watch the next one, and we have watched some back-to-back because the next one sounded too good to wait.

My Big Helper chose to view the Gospel series. There are 18 videos in this series, each lasting just under 30 minutes. We were happily surprised to see just how closely the first video dovetailed with our current Bible study, and we’ve watched it several times to absorb all that it has to offer. For My Big Helper, because she’s in the midst of writing a massive research paper now, I haven’t made her write out the answers to the curriculum questions, but we’ve enjoyed discussing them together. We’ve also watched a few as a family, and when I saw one on the Sermon of the Mount, I watched that one, too, because that’s what we’re studying in Sunday School right now. I love how full of scripture and history each video is!

Having spent the last month with Drive Thru History at our fingertips, we love this curriculum more than ever! The opportunities to interact with the staff through the secret Facebook group for subscribers is great because they answer questions and you can see how other families incorporate these lessons into their lives. While we love videos alone, the interaction that the social media and website provide are wonderful perks that make subscribing a definite plus over simply purchasing the DVDs. I love all the benefits of this program, and we’re excited to Drive Thru History with Dave Stotts over the coming year. It’s definitely our favorite history program ever.

PS – Drive Thru History Adventures is offering 20% for readers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. If you’re a subscriber, follow this link for more information about the special.

Drive Thru History Adventures - Subscription {Drive Thru History Adventures Reviews}

Learning to Type with an Ultrakey Online Family Subscription – Review

February 21, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

Hunt…hunt ….. peck … hunt… peck….

And so it goes. Watching my kids try to type their special school projects and emails to friends was painful. They were excited to be using the computer and didn’t mind the slow-as-molasses speed, but, me? I couldn’t stand it. That’s why I was jumped at the chance for an Ultrakey Online Family Subscription from Bytes of Learning.

After getting our log-in information, I checked out the dashboard, which is the main screen. From there you can set goals, add students, check progress, and more.

I knew that My Little Man couldn’t type at all, and My Big Helper wasn’t all that much better. I set their goals relatively low, between 10 and 20 words per minute, and got them ready to go.

Each kid worked with the program at least twice each week (except for when our modem died and we were without internet for a week). At first My Little Man loved the idea – until he sat down and tried it. He was soon frustrated by the posture (“You mean I can’t sit on my feet?”) and tried to make his fingers follow his directions (“It’s hard, Mommy. I didn’t get it right.”) After realizing that it was okay to keep practicing a single set of letters and not advance with each practice session, he stopped worrying. Within a week, he was typing over ten words per minute! Now he asks after breakfast each morning, “What should I do for school, Mommy? Math and typing?”

I love that it’s become a part of his regular routine. He’s comfortable with the program, knows how to use it, and is happy when he gets faster or achieves great accuracy.

My Big Helper’s experience was a bit different. She was excited all the way through and wanted to become a faster typist. She has a finger issue which has hindered her accuracy a bit, but she’s doing well and is approaching 20 words per minute. She’s been quite dedicated and hasn’t wanted to stop practicing a particular lesson until she passes, sometimes working well past the expected time.

To know exactly what they were doing, I set up an account for myself and logged myself in. I didn’t set a goal since I haven’t been timed while typing since seventh grade, but I jumped right in to the lessons.

There’s a lot of introductory material that’s important for new keyboardists but maybe not too exciting for experienced typers – like videos about proper posture. These things are great for newbies, though, and I’m glad they’re included.

The lessons are perfectly challenging for my kids: they introduce a few letters at a time and practice different combinations of finger movements. The idea is to start with simple, basic movements and practice those before layering on more difficult finger patterns. I like the way that I could see the progression. It made me feel very accomplished to see the skill levels light up and get crossed off.

Each lesson consists of working with a new group of letters starting with home row and moving out. After practicing those individual letters, you move on to words and phrases. I liked the variation in each practice session.

After passing a skill check, I moved on to a typing test. The tests let you choose the topic, paragraph length, and time length before starting. You can also redo the test if you don’t do well. I was surprised to see the ‘redo’ button, and so I pushed it. I got the above message after trying again. I love the encouraging messages that Ultrakey gives whenever you do well!

After taking a skill check, you can view progress reports. I love the simplicity of the bar graphs and the color coding of the charts – the teacher in me loves color coding!

Both of my kids have made great progress in only a few weeks of using Ultrakey by Bytes of Learning. They enjoy logging in and practicing their keyboarding, and the website is simple enough that they can do it all on their own. I can applaud their progress when they cheer for themselves and track their progress in the form of charts, graphs, and real numerical data whenever it’s convenient for me.

I love seeing how well they’re doing with their typing, and it’s even better that they love using Ultrakey by Bytes of Learning so very much. I can’t wait to see how fast they’ll be after a few months!