This was one of my favorite resources to review, by far. Heads Up! sent me:

• Large Heads Up Frames in six colors
• Small Heads Up! Frames in six colors
• Heads Up! Readers in six colors and a clear Reader
• Heads Up! Double-Time in two colors
• Heads Up! Top of the Line in two colors

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Before I go any farther, maybe I should take a moment to explain just what is Heads Up!? Heads Up! is

“a company designed to provide expert information and products for struggling learners. [Their] goal is to provide materials and information for homeschooling families, occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, and specialists who work with children who have developmental delays, learning disabilities, autism and other special needs.”

Now what are those items I said I received to review? In short, these readers, frames, and so on, provide help with visual tracking. Because I do not have children with the above quoted problems, I was unsure how I would be able to use these items. I quickly saw that they are very beneficial in providing my oldest, and even myself, a wonderful way to stay on the right line while reading.

And that, my friends, is a great thing.

Another great thing? The price. Folks, at $1.00 a piece – yes, I said a dollar – most everyone can afford these.

Want to check these out for yourself? I urge you to pay the folks at Heads Up! a visit at their homepage.

Struggling to teach your child mathematical concepts? Wondering what mathematical aids are available to help you in that teaching? Math Tutor DVDs are affordable, helpful supplements for those in home education. Math is not my strong suit so I am grateful for these DVDs. I received both The Algebra 2 Tutor and The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor to review and I would like to share with you a bit about them.

Obviously, since I have younger children, neither of the DVDs were something our homeschool was ready for. I took it upon myself to watch them and found them to be well done. For sure, there are a few things that bothered me. The biggest problem I had was Mr. Gibson’s saying the wrong number on a problem. That should have been caught and may confuse some students. The mistakes are not pressing enough to be a reason against purchasing these math aids, however.

I appreciated Mr. Gibson’s approach to teaching Math. I was able to understand easily what he was trying to convey and follow without confusion the problems as they were solved. I know I will take these out, as my children get a bit older, for any mathematical problem areas.

Some topics covered under The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor are:

• Multiplying and Dividing Decimals
• Adding Fractions
• Multiplying and Dividing Fractions
• Percents
• Ratio and Proportion

On The Algebra 2 Tutor disks you will find topics such as:

• Writing equations of lines
• Solving systems of equation by graphing
• Simplifying radical expressions
• Solving polynomial equations

These products are ones that I highly recommend and will use in my own home. I encourage you, as always, to check out the website. MathTutorDVD

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to be chosen to review this. I had had my eye on this curriculum for a couple of years at least. I just did not know how it would work with my kiddos and because the price seemed quite hefty, I was not sure if I wanted to make the jump.

What is The Phonics Road to Reading and Writing? If you visit their webpage, you will see that it is called

“a complete K-4 curriculum offering the parent a comprehensive video teacher training text with an emphasis on accurate speaking, spelling, writing, reading, grammar, composition, and preparation for The LATIN Road to English Grammar.”

And it really, truly is.

Folks, this is not some namby-pamby, learn-your-ABCs program. This is thorough, well thought out learn-to-read curriculum. More importantly, it teaches how to learn to read correctly. From the very beginning, a parent can instruct their child(ren) in the right way to learn to read.

And it is worth every penny.

I received Level One. In my box were:

• Foreman’s Construction Guide (Teacher’s Guide, if you will)
• Brief History of English (I loved this. It gave a great simplified history of our English language and why we spell and read things the way we do)
• Plot Plan
• Blueprints
• Rule Tunes
• Building Codes
• Tool Drill Cards
• Apprentice’s Building Manual
• Apprentice’s Blueprints
• Building Codes
• Composition
• First Readers
• Handy Dandy Clipboard (How cute is that?!)
• Student tool cards
• Pencils and Pens

Can you see the neat theme here? We, as the parents, are the foreman, and our children are the apprentices.

Here is what I loved about this. The instructions on how to teach this to your children are not something you just read and figure out how to go about teaching. Instead, your Plot Plan is a series of 10 DVDs that you can pop in. Mrs. Beers gives instructional tips and guides you in the proper way to write the letters and form then. I learned quite a bit, myself.

My daughter loved the Handy Dandy Clipboard. It was her very own and made her feel that she had a very important role in this journey towards reading and writing. The cute tunes and activity ideas were a plus for her and made the lessons enjoyable, rather than just work.

This is a great curriculum and I recommend it for anyone who truly wants to give their child a great start in the correct way to read and write. To visit The Phonics Road website, click here.

Phonics-teaching programs abound in the homeschool world. Teaching our children to read and write is an important facet for most parents. I know it is in this household and so I was pleased to be able to review Rocket Phonics.

In the box I received: Volumes 1 and 2, Treasure Hunt, Play and Read cards, Bingo chips, and more. It is geared for ages 4-9, or for K-3rd grades. This set is available for $159.99.

I have likes and dislikes in regard to this program. One thing that Rocket Phonics has going for it is the games and pictures incorporated into the curriculum. I mostly used this with my preK/K child. She is big into hands-on activities and I knew she would benefit the most from the program. She did pick up the letter sounds fairly easy, though the cards also seemed to confuse her.

The jury is still out on what I think of their ITA (or, Initial Teaching Alphabet). While I can see how this would work in order to for a child to learn in a speedier manner, the classical education part of me prefers for them to learn the alphabet in the more traditional manner. Basically, the ITA is a 36-sound alphabet utilized “to help the child associate a symbol (such as a) with a sound, by picturing a common word like apple.” My concern is the confusion this may cause when the child is asked to understand the actual 26 letter alphabet.

This curriculum is useful for a parent who needs to teach their child to read quickly. Many of us may not have the time to use the more involved phonics programs that are readily available. Rocket Phonics also fits the bill for those who have a reluctant learner that may need a bit more than the usual method of learning.

The teacher’s guide gives two ways to start teaching your children using their method: The Quick Start way, and a more in-depth teacher’s portion that will equip you as you guide your children to learn to read. The Quick Start way actually seems to be quite efficient for most parents to start on the way to teaching reading. At one page in length, Quick Start is feasible for most busy parents.

I will most likely continue using this and will update the review in a few months. Until then, I encourage you to check out Rocket Phonics on your own and see if it would be a good tool in your home education.

See you next Monday for another review!

Moses, Volume 1 – The First 80 years, from Bible Story Songs, arrived in our mail one day and I skeptically popped it into the CD player. I have heard my fair share of children’s Bible-focused music and I admit that none of it is very palatable. If it isn’t corny music or dumbed-down lyrics, it is often fluff-’n-stuff with very little theological content.

This Moses CD definitely surprised me. The songs are not hokey or pieced together. The theological content is sound; in fact, the stories are taken straight from the Bible and done in a timeline-like manner. I am very pleased.

My children really like listening to this music and they can be a tough crowd. I have heard my oldest singing a few lines and then she will bring up the topic of the song in conversation around the dinner table. This is what “impressing on our hearts” is all about.

Priced reasonable at $9.99, this CD will remain in our home and I venture to guess that a few of its siblings will find their way here as well. I am looking forward especially to purchasing the Matthew Volume 2. I encourage you to check out all of the Bible Story Songs music CDs.

You can also purchase downloadable e-format songbooks, which include guitar chords, sheet music featuring the songs from the CDs, and puzzle pages. Bible Story Songs is also availabe in mp3 format. You can find more info on that on their homepage.

You can find Bible Story Songs products here: Bible Story Songs.

WriteShop graciously sent me two of their products to review: StoryBuilders, World of People and World of Sports. Formatted as eBooks, these easily downloadable card decks are intended to give your young writer a creative jump start. Priced at an affordable $7.95 a piece, these would make a great addition to any homeschool.

World of Sports

Basically, the concept is that you will print out the cards and your child will use them to spur creativity in their writing assignments. There are four classifications of cards: character, character trait, setting, and plot. By picking one from each deck, the student will use those as the building blocks to their stories.

I personally love this product. My children are not yet old enough to write their own stories. However, my two oldest were able to use these to help them as they told me stories out loud. I also intend to print these out on sturdier card stock so that when they are ready, my children can use these as helpful supplements to whatever writing program I will be using with them.

Some of the suggestions on the cards may be over their heads. “Monk” was a word that they did not know, yet it opened up our conversation to another learning opportunity. You can also print out some blank cards and fill them with words of your own desire.

Another great idea for this is to print out these cards and use them as a game on family road trips. You could also use this product in class-room settings, like you would find in a co-op. There are many different ways you could use these. WriteShop has a Christmas version of this as well that would be perfect for around the holidays.

I encourage my readers to visit WriteShop’s web home and see if these products would make a great for their families.