Loving Math with a Caterpillar Leading the Way!

 

I was recently introduced to a fun, new way to learn math. I have always loved math, always; and I've always looked for opportunities to share my love of math with my children.  Math is one of those things that doesn't change, it doesn't have some weird esoteric rules that no one understands; it is always the same!  I love that unchangeable thing about math and want my kids to love it, Carlito C. Caterpillar is an awesome way to share those simple things that remain unchangeable in math with your kids.

Created by Domenico Marcario, M.S.- Carlito C. Caterpillar is a sensory method of teaching that utilizes the simplest things to fuel a child's curiosity and imagination.  He believes that a child learns best through play and games and it needs to continue, it's when we get to the 3R's that everything goes awry: rules, repetition and rote.  I totally agree with this theory, my children from Pre-K to High School have always done better with hands on learning, we have never been a family that excels with rote thinking!!!

These cards are very sturdy, colorful and beyond useful.  From the first game "Alike It or Not" to the final game "Folding Down Operation", Carlito C. Caterpillar takes you and your child from comparing objects to division, all through sensory and hands on methods.  Love, love, love it.  Everything you need to teach these games is readily available around your house, there are also many manipulatives that can be downloaded from their website to use.

My family really enjoyed utilizing these cards and know that they would be a great addition to any family, homeshoolers or not.  Math can be a fun subject, you just have to have a fun teacher and Carlito C. Caterpillar fulfills that need wonderfully!!!

I have a set of these to give away to one lucky reader, just leave a comment; I'll end this Oct. 10th and will get these fabulous cards shipped out to the lucky winner.

 “Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or

services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it 

on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally 

and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance 

with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the 

Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Christi

Aletheia Writing Magazine-TOS Review

Recently, as a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received a copy of Aletheia Writing Magazine to review. This magazine has been created by the Muzekari's to help showcase Christian teen writers and artists. When I received this product, I was in awe of the quality of the writing, photography and art in this magazine; as an amateur photographer myself I would have been thrilled to have someone showcase my work in such a beautiful setting.

 

I read many of the articles in this edition and in the online edition that was offered to the review crew, the writing was incredible and thought provoking.  Unfortunately, my teens are not terribly interested in writing or reading, I have to force both.  Koty did read a few of the articles and thought they were interesting but he lost interest pretty quick.  He did say that he thought the artwork and photos were great!

I really love the idea behind the magazine, Christian teens writing for other teens.  I liked that the goal was to present the work, unsanitized and unaltered, just because they're teens doesn't mean that all of their thoughts are happy and easygoing.  Yes, some of the articles tended to the dark, but we have to realize that are world is difficult and our children are dealing with difficult things everyday.  What they write is an outlet for them and Aletheia is providing a great way for them to share their thoughts.

Aletheia Writing Magazine is $26 annually, this includes shipping and handling.  You will receive 4 magazines a year with this subscription, the magazines are gorgeous; thick heavy paper and beautiful color printing.  Of course, you also receive the incredible writing and artwork from some incredibly talented teens!  Head over here to see the Spring Edition of the magazine, I think you'll be impressed.

You can head over here to see what other crew members thought of Aletheia Writing Magazine.

Christi

(I received this magazine and an online edition of the magazine free of charge for the purposes of review.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.)

Butterfly Garden

 I know the top and third are Monarchs, Koty said he was pretty sure that the second and fourth are both moths.  I'm not sure how to tell the difference, but I've learned not to argue with nature boy.

 For some reason, these two are my absolute faves.  I'm not sure why, maybe the purple, maybe the blur; they just make me happy and really that is what a good photo is supposed to do--elicit emotion.

Christi

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Getting back to what I love!

Since 3 of my 4 kids have returned to public school, I have resigned from the TOS review crew.  I still have a couple of reviews to submit and plan on reviewing books and other things, just not necessarily homeschooled related.

I really plan on getting back behind my camera and really working on my skills.  My sister is getting married soon and both she and her fiance want me to take the pics.  I'm terrified, but really excited.  I'm hoping to get myself a DSLR soon, but if not I'm sure my camera is good enough to take some truly awesome pics.  I have begun working with the manual focus and playing more with many of the manual settings, I'm learning; slow but sure!  The following are a few pics that I played with the manual focus on, as you can tell; I'm a bit of a novice.

That little guy in the first shot was no bigger than the tip of my thumb, I thought the pic turned out pretty good.

Christi

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Times by 10th Avenue North

This is a song that has been really inspiring me lately. I love, love, love it!!!

Christi

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Time 4 Learning-TOS Review

 

As a member of the TOS Review Crew I recently received a month long membership to Time 4 Learning for the purposes of review.  I had used this curriculum before so I just used the time to refresh my memory.

I have two children that were able to utilize this curriculum and I have to say that it was all over the place in our ability to utilize this program.  Sissy originally was Pre-K when she started this program, she basically did the entire Pre-K curriculum in one day and was ready for K.  We let her start K and decided that we really needed to pace her, she finished K in less than a week and started 1st grade.  The jump in difficulty was dramatic, K too easy and 1st way too hard; although probably age appropriate.

 

Rylan started this program as a 1st grader, again way too easy; when he started 2nd the difficulty level jumped tremendously.  He struggled with the reading and was essentially unable to do 2nd grade level work, there was really no where to go.  I do have to say that Rylan loved the math and really enjoyed the flow of the lessons.  Sissy loved it, but it was either too easy or too hard and we weren't able to make it work for her.   I wished I could say that we loved it, it just didn't work for us; so I'm just gonna give you the details and let y'all decide for yourself.

From their website:

No Contracts!
Cancel Anytime.

$19.95 / Month for Your
First Child

$14.95 / Month for Each Additional Child!

Time4Learning Members Get Access To:

• Online Curriculum for Preschool to 8th Grade
• 1,000+ Student-Paced Animated Lessons
• Math Exercises & Printable Worksheets
• Language Arts from Phonics through Reading
• Science & Social Studies In Most Grade Levels
• Automated Reporting for Easy Record Keeping
• Detailed Lesson Plans for Parents
• Lessons Correlated to State Standards

Two week money-back guarantee!

My family is not the only one that utilized this program and I know that many others had different experiences.  Please head over here to read additional reviews on Time4Learning.

Christi

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(I received a one month membership to Time4Learning for the purposes of review.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.)

Big IQ Kids- TOS Review

As a member of the TOS Review crew, I was provided with a 1 year premium membership to BigIQKids.com, not only was this very timely but extraordinarily generous in that they provided us with two memberships. 

BigIQKids.com is a program that has free components and premium components, we utilized both and truly found that we would be good with the free parts.  Unfortunately, if you go with free only; you get the advertisements.  It didn't really bother us, but if it bothers you the upgrade is pretty reasonable at only $9.99/month or $49.99/year (very awesome deal!); this is less than half per month if you pay for the whole year at once.

Rylan and Tanyn have very recently begun attending public school and to say that it was a huge difference for our family would be an understatement.  Rylan is really struggling with reading and spelling, he is behind where he is 'supposed' to be and we need every tool in our arsenal to help him. BigIQKids.com is a very useful program that allows you to input your child's spelling lists and utilize them in lessons, quizzes and tests, encouraging your child to do well by giving them 'game tokens' for correct lessons and quizzes.  The student can use these tokens to customize their buddy and play games, Ry loved it.  He needs that extra encouragement and BigIQKids provides it.

So much of this program is free of charge, I really encourage everyone to take a look at it; whether you're a homeschool parent or just a parent looking for a leg up for your child, BigIQKids has tools that can meet your child's needs.  Head over here to see what other crewmates thought about BigIQKids.com.

Christi

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(I received two Premium memberships to BigIQKids free of charge as a member of the TOS Review Crew. I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review)

Wise Alec Nature Nuts-TOS Review

As a member of the TOS review crew, I received Nature Nuts a travel game and expansion set for the Wise Alec Trivia game.  It is a stand alone travel game comprised of  4 sets of cards and a multicolored dice.  The cards are Animal cards (red), Earth cards (yellow), Plant cards (green) and Wise Alec cards (purple).  You roll the dice and whatever color comes up-red, yellow, green or purple-you get the question on that card.  You can customize the game to difficulty level by choosing the harder 7 point question or the easier 3 point question.  If the blue side of the dice comes up, you get to choose which card you want your question to come from.

Now for what we thought of the game.....Fun, Fun, Fun.  We are trivia nuts and love to play trivia in the car.  CJ customizes the questions for the kids and its a fun way to pass the time, unfortunately Dad sometimes has trouble coming up with new and unique questions; enter Wise Alec stage left.  We were able to set point totals, different for each age level, that allowed the kids to play at their level yet still play together.  The Wise Alec (purple) cards are sometimes difficult to do while traveling in a car, a few of them are about actions like jumping, walking, yoga positions; but we managed to work around those when we were playing in the car.

We found the cards to be a little fragile, by the end of our play some of the cards were already looking worn and the edges bent.  Other than the cards being a little lightweight, the box it comes in is sturdy and closes with a magnetic closure that keeps all of the cards safely inside and at $14.99, we think it is a great value.  You can check here to see where you can find retailers of this and other great games created by Griddley Games Inc.


Other members of the TOS Review Crew received the expansion set, Civilize This! , also a trivia game; this time about Ancient, Medieval and Modern culture.  Boy, do I want this one.  Koty, my soon to be Zoologist loved Nature Nuts, but I'm a history buff; I would love to have Civilize This! and you can bet we'll be adding it to our game collection soon.



Head over here to see what my crewmates thought about both of these awesome expansion games to Wise Alec, Nature Nuts and Civilize This!

Christi

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(I received this game free of charge from Griddley Games Inc. for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.)

Flea Circus by R&R Games-TOS Review

Recently, as a member of the TOS Review Crew I received the game Flea Circus from R&R games for review.  I have to admit when we opened the package, the directions and rules turned me off.  I struggled a bit with the wording of the directions, but we decided to just play and figure it out as we went along.  Luckily, my kids are a little quicker on the uptake than their mom, so playing went a lot smoother than I had first imagined.  It turned out to be a fun and engaging game that is perfect for it's target age range of 6 and up, my 6 and 8 year old loved it.

The websites description gives the best overview of this game, so I'm just going to share that with y'all.

STEP RIGHT UP! Calling all Cats and Dogs! The Flea Circus is about to begin!

It's a wild time under the Big Top as dogs and cats race from one show to the next. Players use their best Flea Circus acts to attract the most cats and dogs. Play your cards right and you can steal the audience away from your neighbor! But watch out for the Animal Catcher... He'll snatch your cats and dogs away!

With all this excitement, how's a Flea Ring Circus supposed to keep up? When all the cats and dogs are gone, whoever ends up with the most animals at their show wins the game!

 
R&R Games has a whole line of fun, family friendly games.  We really enjoyed playing Flea Circus and at only $15.95 it's a bargain, but if you use the code CREW20 you will get 20% off of this already great price.  This code is good for any purchase on their website, so be sure to head over and see if there are any family friendly games that strike your fancy.


Other crewmates reviewed a fun looking game called Pig Pile, so be sure to head over here to see those reviews.

Christi

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{I received this game for the purposes of review as a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.}

How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids-TOS Review

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Review crew I received a copy of "How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids," by Rachael Carman.  Rachael and her husband Davis are the owners of Apologia Educational Ministries. If you're anything like me, you thought Apologia was all about science, but was I in for a surprise.  Spend some time on their website and you'll learn that Apologia is more than just a science publisher, they are a ministry; whose goal is to enable Christian families to learn, live and defend the faith.

I received this book just as my family was making the difficult decision to send our two youngest children to public school.  My little girl wanted to go and my little boy needed to go, I know that many are arguing that children never need to go to public school, but for our family it seems to be best.  I'm praying that it is for just a couple of years, but we'll see what God has planned.  That is one of the biggest things I took away from this book, God has a plan!!!  If you don't take the time to listen and ask, you'll never know what He has in store for you.

The title for this book is actually an acronym that all families can apply to their lives.

H-Have a Heart for the things of God.  Rachael uses a phrase that I've heard before but never really gave much thought to,  Intentional parenting.  Basically, live as you intend for your children to live.  If you want your children to have a personal relationship with God, you must first start with your own relationship with God.  If you want your children to be prayer warriors, fall to your knees and start praying.

E-Enrich your marriage.  I love this one, so very simple but so extraordinarily important.  Children feel safe and empowered in a home that has a strong marriage at the center of it, it goes without saying that a strong marriage has God in the center of it.  Strengthen your marriage and you will inevitably empower your children.

A-Accept your children.  God has created us all to be unique individuals with gifts and strengths that set us apart.  Do you know what your kids strengths are??  Do you rejoice in their gifts?

R-Release them to God.  Our children are just on loan, God has entrusted them to us.  We are intended to teach them about Him and His ways and guide them to live lives that honor the Lord.

T-Teach them the Truth!  He is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)  The Bible is the most important book you will ever read to your children.  Sharing God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our children is the most important job we will ever undertake as parents.

How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. for you Kids is written in a friendly, conversational tone has the power to change your relationship with your kids. The book can be purchased online here for only $13.  I really enjoyed this book and would encourage any mom, not just homeschooling moms; to take some time and read this wonderful book.

Head over here to see what other crewmates had to say about this wonderful book.

Christi

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{I received a copy of this book for the purpose of review.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.}