Visual Latin-TOS Review

 

OK, I admit it, I did everything I could to avoid foreign language as a student; both in high school and college. I just didn't have a passion or see a purpose for it and I can't honestly say that I had a teacher that inspired anything in me. I have struggled with the need to teach my homeschooler foreign language, we have tried multiple times to begin a language program and have ended up dropping it, it just didn't inspire us. We have tried Spanish through a very popular program and a Latin program that everyone raved about....boring.  If you can't inspire some sort of desire to learn in your student you have nothing but an uphill battle ahead of you.

Visual Latin is a very different approach to teaching a seemingly complicated language.  Dwane Thomas, the teacher of Visual Latin, is a breath of fresh air in an extraordinarily difficult subject.  His approach to teaching the lessons is so engaging and refreshing that you find yourself looking forward to the next lesson.  I love the approach of 'hear it, see it, speak it, think it', it just makes sense and really drills it without feeling like its drilling it.  Not sure if that makes sense, but it's how we felt; we learned more in the first few lessons of Visual Latin than we did in all of the other language programs we tried... put together.

The other thing that is really unique about this program is Dwane himself, this guy loves his subject and literally infects you with his enthusiasm.  We received the first 10 lessons of Visual Latin 1 and were simply blown away by the quality of the DVD production and the PDF worksheets available on the website to supplement the lessons.  In addition if you are seeking to have this class fulfill credit for your high school student, they also offer online extension classes to increase the difficulty of the material and fulfill the requirements for high school credit.

Let's get down to the brass tacks of it all. $80 for the full 1 year Visual Latin 1 program (30 Lessons) is beyond a great bargain, it is Awesome!!!!  The PDF worksheets are free, as are many resources on the Visual Latin website.  The extension classes which I find particularly intriguing are a bargain at $115 for a 16-class course, there are other expenses involved in this (the book) but I still find it be a great bargain for what is essentially a private Latin tutor for your student.

Don't take my word for how awesome this program is, head over here to see what others thought of Visual Latin and be sure to head to their website and check it out for yourself.  You are able to download  6 free lessons to check out the quality of the product.  I really think that if your goal is to have your student enjoy learning a foreign language, you'll love this program.

Christi

(Visual Latin Lessons 1-10 was provided to me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.)

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.)

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.}

Pearson Education-TOS review

OK, this is it, my final review of this school year with the TOS Crew.  I'm back next year, so definitely be looking for reviews of some wonderful homeschool products.  I was really excited about doing this review when I got the beautiful oversized book for Grade 1 math from Pearson School, Ry is a first grader and Sissy will be in K in the fall.  After looking over it, I decided that it would be very remedial for Ry.  Sissy was so excited to get a product that was for her to review.

enVisionMath, as it's name implies, is a very visual approach to math.  Everything is brightly colored and very engaging, which Sissy loved.  The pages are meant to be torn out and folded to make a little work booklet, this definitely made it easier to work with this huge book.  It also gave Sissy a natural start and stop point, which she needs; otherwise in her excitement to do school she would race through the whole book.

Let me just say that this is neither a positive or negative review, in all honestly I didn't receive enough of the product to give a complete review.  We only received one portion of a much bigger product, the workbook.  We didn't receive digital access, teacher's manual or the manipulatives; without all of these we were a little bit in the dark on how to best utilize this program.

From page 1 I realized that without a teachers guide I had no way to know what she was supposed to do on the first part of every one of the 20 lessons, so I went online to see if I could buy the Teacher's manual to help me use this product more effectively, their website is entirely geared to public school teachers or administrators, so as a homeschooler I couldn't even access most of it.  As far as I could tell the only way to get the TM was in a big expensive classroom package that cost over $500 dollars, not happening.  So Sissy and I decided to just muddle through.  I noticed immediately that it was a little on the easy side for Sis and she hasn't even officially started K yet, she whizzed right through the lessons.  She didn't really need a lot of review, but for the child who does this product would leave you needing more; there is little to no review in this product.

Did we like it?  Yes and no.  It is not user friendly for the homeschooler, nor is it very affordable.  As far as I could tell the workbook that we received was around $35 w/digital access.  I can't tell you if the digital access is helpful because I didn't receive access to it, but maybe that is where the review for the lessons is introduced, I don't know.  I can say that Sissy loved the book, the bold colors really engaged her.  She loved the more visual approach and enjoyed doing her math each day.

Sissy and I weren't the only ones who reviewed this product, so head over here to see what others had to say about Pearson Education's products.

Christi

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{I received the aforementioned workbook for the purpose of review.  I did not receive any other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.}

Mad Dog Math-TOS Review

As a member of the TOS Crew I received a really cool math product.  I know, cool and math don't usually go together in the same sentence, but Mad Dog Math defies the usual.  When a child asks to do a math program you know you've found a winner.

Mad Dog Math is a drill software that helps your child succeed with their basic math facts.  This isn't the math that you'll never use again, this is the math that we all use everyday!!!  Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  It is an awesome supplement to any math program.

From the website:

	Enables children to master their +, -, x, and ÷ facts in a fun challenging, exciting, and motivating way
	Math supplement for any math curriculum
	For grades K through 5th; remedial middle school and high school
	Standard, daily 10 minute time commitment from start to finish
	Huge body of math facts broken down into bite-sized pieces any child can master
	Applied system that works in every classroom and in every home
	Students, teachers, and parents LOVE it

The program has a fun approach, that encourages your child to work for mastery, by giving them goals and awards.  My son loved this program and asked to do it often.  I loved the ease of download and use.  We had absolutely no problem using this product and ran into absolutely no glitches.  Cool, huh!

There are 3 ways for you to have this fun and interesting software.

1year license for $19.99

2year license for $29.99

Perpetual license for $39.99

All are a great deal depending on your needs.  I have a 7 and 5 year old so the perpetual license would work great for me.  If your only working on perfecting skills in an older child the one or two year might be a better plan for you.  Very affordable.

Don't just take my word for it, head over here to see what the rest of the crew thought.

Christi

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{I was provided a download of Mad Dog math for the purpose of review.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review}

Circle C Beginnings, Andi's Pony Trouble-TOS Review

Sissy and I recently received a very fun review item.  I'm ashamed to admit that I am just not one of those moms who reads incessantly to my kids.  It irritates me when they wander off in the middle of a book, it frustrates me to read out loud to a child who is obviously not paying attention. 

This was definitely not a problem with our most recent read aloud attempt.  Susan Marlow has written a book that captured my daughter's attention.  "Andi's Pony Trouble," is a beautifully written and illustrated book that shares with us the trials and tribulations of a young girl who just can't wait to be big!  She's tired of riding the family pony and is sure that she is ready for a horse.  Sissy not only engaged with Andi's struggles to be 'bigger' than she is, she also encountered another little girl who's big brothers' bossiness got on her nerves.

And if a beautifully written book isn't enough, there are also coloring pages and learning activities available for each of the books.  Lapbooks are available for purchase on each book as well.  The books all run about $5, there is a discount is you purchase multiple books or just go ahead and purchase all 4 that are available and save more.  Head over here to get exact pricing and shipping fees. 

We will definitely be getting the rest of the series, Sissy insists!  The books are well written for the age they are targeting 6-8, Sissy is almost 6 and loved "Andi's Pony Trouble."

Other crew member's received the other books in the series, head over here to see what Andi is up to in her other adventures and what the crew members had to say about these wonderful books.

Christi

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{I received "Andi's Pony Trouble" free of charge from Kregel Publishing.  I received no other compensation and was not required to write a positive review.}