Maridel Willer

TOS Review – Schleich Action Figures
http://www.schleich-s.com/

My children have been fans of the the Schleich animal action figures for years. They have been collecting them one at a time as souvenirs when we go to the zoo or other places, like Target, that have a big display of their animals. We loved getting a sample of critters to review, and were pleased to find that they were all animals that we did not have in our collection.

These are high quality plastic figures that are hand painted and very realistic. They are also very durable and can take a lot of handling without showing wear.

When I checked out the Schleich website, I found that they carry even more than the animal collections. I am particularly interested in the historical figurines, including knights and the American Frontier (interesting, considering the headquarters of the company is based in Germany).

We are getting ready to study this period of history, so I think I will be putting a few things on my wish list, including this covered wagon. (Doesn’t it just scream “Little House on the Prairie”?)

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We just had the opportunity to check out one of the new products from Homeschool in the Woods, the New Testament Activity Pack. We have used several other products from this company and had been looking forward to the release of this one.

In my humble opinion, Homeschool in the Woods is the premier lapbook provider, as their activity packs include a whole lot more than just lapbook printables. In fact, they are a complete unit study with all of the planning done for mom! All you have to do is print, read the interesting historical information out loud to your children, then follow the directions to complete the hands on activities. When you are finished, you will have a keepsake folder that helps to re-inforce what you have learned as your children will want to look at it over and over again! It is also a great show and tell when Grandma comes for a visit.

Look at all of the hands-on things your children will get to complete with the New Testament Activity Pack.

The activities include:
* The Lineage from David to Jesus
* The Birth of Jesus Christ
* Miracles of Jesus
* The Beatitudes
* Fruit of the Spirit
* The Parables of Jesus
* The Last Supper
* The Crucifixion
* The Resurrection
* The Ascension
* Pentecost
* Prophesies Fulfilled
* The Twelve Disciples
* Paul’s Missionary Journeys
* Postcards from Paul

This is a great study to use as you prepare to celebrate Resurrection Sunday with your family!

Other Activity Pack Titles include the “Time Travelers History Studies” - New World Explorers, Colonial Life, The American Revolution, The Early 19th Century and The Civil War” and “Hands-On History Activity Packs” on Artists, and The Old Testment.

Here’s a great deal that I wanted to pass on:

Get next year’s shopping done early and for less money at the March Madness sale in the Schoolhouse Store! Check out some of the unit studies
and copy work to help round out this school year or for fun summer activities. Almost 200 items are on sale from vendors such as Auralog, Trigger Memory, Draw and Write Through History, American Schoolhouse Readers, and MANY more.

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=specials

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www.one2believe.com

Wow - another fun toy from One2believe.com! I thought my 8 and 10 year old sweetie’s were getting a little old for this type of toy, but when we received this toy for review, they had a blast setting it up and coming up with different “re-enactment scenarios” for Noah and the pairs of animals. The figures for this set are cute and chunky - perfect for little hands, ages 3 and up. The only thing missing is Noah’s wife and their extended family, and I was actually pleased that my children noticed that fact.

On a side note, did you know that the chinese symbol for “large boat” is a combination of the symbols for 8, people, and boat. According to the bible, there were 8 folks on board the ark - Noah, his wife, their 3 sons, and their wives. That chinese symbol originated between the time of Noah and Abraham and it lines up with the story of a world wide flood that is described by many ancient cultures. There are also many evidences for a catastrophic flood in the fossil record! (Find out more about evidence for a global flood at www.answersingenesis.org).

SpellQuizzer is a simple but useful software tool that allows you to create custom spelling lists (or other types of verbal quizzes), using a recording of your own voice. The Spellquizzer program includes standard spelling lists, but the tool is really useful for creating any type of oral quiz. The student simply listens to the recorded question or word and types in the answer. The quiz is self correcting and fun to use. You can even let your children create their own bible verse, spelling, or vocabulary quizzes as the tool is easy to set up and use.

Download a free trial of this software at www.SpellQuizzer.com to see if you could find uses for it in your homeschool.

A license for SpellQuizzer is $29.95. The only other equipment required is a microphone for your computer which can be purchased for under $10.

We love all types of art/crafts at our house and are always looking for ways to include more of them in our homeschooling. We found that Artistic Pursuits has a line of non-consumable curriculum books that teach basic art principles and art history in a way that is easy for parents and fun for the students.

We chose to review the Modern Painting and Sculpture volume, which is book 3 of the K-3rd grade curriculum. Even though this is supposed to be geared toward younger students, the lessons and the projects will also appeal to children a couple of years older.

What we are enjoying about Artistic Pursuits is how it combines interesting art history lessons , with basic art principles, picture study (including narration questions) and interesting projects that relate to the topic or artist studied. The book is well illustrated with color photographs and drawings that give step by step instructions and examples of completed projects by other students.

The 3 book series for the K-3 level are an introduction to the visual arts through history. Volumes for older students (4th through 6th grade, Jr. and Sr. High) include art appreciation and cover technical skills such as the elements of art, color theory and composition while the student creates original works of art.

Each Artistic Pursuits volume can be purchased for $42.95 at www.ArtisticPursuits.com. Sample pages for each book can be found on the website.

www.mathmammoth.com

Choosing the right math curriculum to fit the child (and the parent) is challenging for many homeschool families. In 5 years of homeschooling, we have tried several different math products and, while we had some measure of success using each one, I think we have finally hit the nail on the head with Math Mammoth.

This review is based on our experiences with using and looking at all five years of the light blue series, a complete curriculum from 1st through 5th grade. We have also previously used the blue series topical workbooks for learning division and telling time.
Written by Maria Miller, homeschool mom who is a former math teacher, Math Mammoth has a number of benefits that I really appreciate:

1. It uses a mastery approach, spending enough time on a topic for the student to fully grasp and practice each skill. The focus is on understanding and applying mathematical concepts.

2. Your child can work independently with this work-text curriculum which includes easy to understand examples and instructions for each section. When my children have questions, I have found that I am able to quickly read and understand the page to be able to give any further explanation.

3. There is little or no preparation required by the parent. Occasionally the lesson includes using some household objects, such as in the sections on measurement, but usually just the worksheet and a pencil are all that is required.

4. The problems are varied and interesting, providing more than just drill. The skill is approached from more than one perspective, making sure that the student really understands how to apply the operation that they are learning. There is plenty of real life application.

5. There are a lot of opportunities to perform “mental math” helping the child to think mathematically and visualize the problem in their mind. Maria gives many tips and points out the patterns in math to help the child remember important facts and methods of calculation.

6. Although this is not a manipulative based program, the use of illustrations gives a visual picture of each skill or concept being taught. For the kinesthetic learner, it would be simple to use real objects to go along with these illustrations. We used manipulatives in our previous curriculum, but my children did not have a problem switching over to the Math Mammoth approach.

Math Mammoth is available in downloadable, CD or printed hard copy versions. I like the downloadable version which is a great value for $27 per year, including the right to make as many copies as you need so you can re-use it with all of your children.

Although I think Math Mammoth is almost perfect, here are a few things to consider that might impact its effectiveness with your children.

1. The same font size and basic layout of the page is used for all 5 grades, which makes the space available for writing a bit on the small size for some younger (1st and 2nd grade) students. Also, I think the number of problems per page is too high for those grades. You can get around this by printing a copy, then enlarging it to cover 2 pages.

2. The topics covered in each grade are slightly advanced and give more application then some other math programs. I compared the topics to Robin Sampson’s “What My Child Needs to Know When” guide and found that they were about ½ a year ahead of the recommendations given. This could be a problem when switching from some other programs. If you need to start ½ a year or more back from where your child is now, you could use the downloadable or CD version which does not have the “grade” level written on the worksheets, so the change would be transparent to your child.

I strongly recommend that you give your child the placement test before purchasing the curriculum. I made the mistake of looking at the placement test and comparing it to the topics we had previously covered without actually giving the test to one of my children. When I received my curriculum, I realized that although we had covered the topics in the previous year, my child did not have enough mastery to answer problems in the way that they were presented in math mammoth. To resolve this problem, we downloaded a copy of the previous year to do some review in a few areas before starting the new curriculum.

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and I believe that this is one of the best curriculums available to give elementary children a strong foundation in basic math to prepare them for both real life and any type of higher math they make take in the future. I hope that Maria Miller continues to make products available for the higher grades, such as the recently released Make It Real Learning series.

To see if Math Mammoth would be a good fit for your family, checkout the free sample worksheets available at www.MathMammoth.com.