Probably the most important part of a child’s education is their learning to read. I know I have found intense joy when my own children have started to read or sound out/recognize letter sounds and words. Their eyes light up at the very fact that they are able to accomplish this.

Some of these letter sounds are hard for small children to pronounce and while most of them are able to learn correct pronunciation on their own, others have a difficult time. That is where Super Star Speech comes in. The introduction states that the “purpose of this book is to assist parents in helping their children achieve developmentally appropriate speech.” I received the Super Star R&L book by Deborah Lott to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew.

While I was not really able to use this book as it is not currently a need in our home, I will be sharing my thoughts on this program.

First off, a small introduction and “how to teach/lesson plan” with this book is provided. This is especially helpful for those parents who have no experience with speech therapy. Mrs. Lott shares the steps toward teaching correct sounds and gives detail on how the steps are accomplished. She also gives reasons why keeping records on speech therapy lessons are important in order to note the progress the child is making. She provides a sample lesson plan for you to get your creative juices flowing.

Beginning with “R,” you are then given helpful ways to teach your child how to place lips and tongue so that the R sound is produce. Following that is an R word list (helpful if you get stopped trying to think of more words that contain R! Think Mommy brain) and then the correct tongue placement for L and a word list for that letter as well.

Then comes what I think is the best part of this! Practice and games. It has been my experience that children learn better when they are able go about it in a fun, hands-on sort of way. Practice sessions in involve words that start or end with R or L and then move on to L or R blends. Sentences for them to read aloud for these two letters are provided as well. Then: games! Tic Tac Toe, Checkers, and a simple board game are given to reinforce your child’s ability to correctly say R and L. I can easily see how this would spur a child on towards practicing towards correct speech.

This particular book, Super Star R&L, can be bought in a spiral-bound edition for $18.95. You can buy the eBook version for $12.95. To tag along with this book you can purchase additionally a Game/Picture pack for $5.95. Printed on heavy card stock you would not have to worry about printing out the games from the book. Also available are 90 page manual to help you identify errors in your child speech for $22.95. Books covering S, Z, Sh, Ch, J, Th, and a complete edition (with all books!) can be found here.

Due to be released soon, What Am I? is a book of short stories that follows the 1st Beehive Reader. Written in the same-style and containing the same unique artwork as the first, this second book is the perfect addition for home library shelves. Beginning readers are able to hold a high-quality book in their hands with cute short stories that reinforce the reading and spelling they are learning. This is designed to complement the All About Spelling curriculum, but can easily be used even if you are not utilizing the learning to read program.

Sally loved this book, as did I. The Skunk Hotel story was really cute.

Some more titles in this book are:

• Matt the Musk Ox
• Pine Tree Pet Shop
• The Bake Sale
• There are also a number of small poems at the end of the book.

This book will be released any day now. I urge you to keep checking the All About Spelling Website for announcements on it’s release. Also coming soon, in Winter 2010, is the brand new All About Reading program. I am very excited about this. The All About Spelling program is a curriculum that I love and has taught Sally to read and spell very efficiently and so I am looking forward to learning what All About Reading is going to do.

*I was given this advance copy of What am I? a collection of short stories to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The view contained herein are my own.*

Did you know that in less than 10 minutes you can start teaching your children the importance of wise financial handling? Family Mint has provided a family-friendly and easy to use resource for this very thing. While I was not really able to use this for my family as my children are too young I think this is a great tool that I will definitely use when they are older.

Just what is Family Mint? Family Mint is an online website whose purpose is to provide parents (“bankers”) a way to help their children handle allowances and other earnings. Through the parent interface you can create users – your children – and transfer, withdraw, and deposit earnings and record accordingly. I played around a bit with it and found it very simple to use. Through a few short clicks I was able to update transactions and apply notes to each change in accounts.

By the way, if banks designed their websites to be as easy to use as this program they would have some very happy online banking customers. Just sayin’.

Each child can also create a goal and savings plan. If your child is saving up for new earrings like my Sally is, they can create a detailed plan on how to achieve that goal. The program will automatically calculate for me how much she would need to save weekly based on the start and end dates I would input. The parent can also do a percentage-based matching program if they decide that they are going to financially assist in these goals.

This plan is great for older children. I highly recommend it, especially with the generally lack of financial education provided our children in these times. A strong background in money management will serve the next generation well and I really think Family Mint provides a solid answer to this.

The best part is this. If you are wondering just how much this is going to set you back, well. .  . it won’t set you back a dime! As of now, the Family Mint website is free (though they are going to add a paid PRO version at some point.) What better reason do you need to check this out?

Visit Family Mint now to learn more!

Touted as being “own personal tutor for K-12 math, guiding you through the exercises at your own pace,” Math Galaxy is an online and stand-alone program. I received the Whole Numbers Fun edition.

“Math Galaxy starts from the beginning, with addition and multiplication tables and single-digit operations, but its main focus is on where children start having trouble with math: multi-step problem-solving.” -From the Math Galaxy website

Nitty-gritty

• Offers various programs for different ages, from Algebra to Fractions to worksheet generators. All are priced at a one time payment of $29.95. Ebooks are also provided at $14.95 a piece.
• You can choose to do this program online or download it straight to your computer.
• There are game suggestions and printable worksheets available for free on their website.
• The Whole Numbers Fun edition contained Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying, Dividing, Place Value, Rounding & Estimating, Patterns & Sequences, Word Problems, Time, Money, Length, Volume, Area, Pictographs, Bar Graphs, and Probability lessons. There are also games provided to help reinforce these concepts.

My thoughts

Meh.

I hate giving bad reviews but I really do not have anything spectacular to say about this product. The graphics are early 1990′s and even my kids thought they were terrible. There was nothing in this program that I couldn’t have taught my child straight from the math textbooks we are already using (and, might I add, have already purchased). I truly feel there are better mathematical software programs out there, if I were so inclined to use one.

My children did not like this program either. They quickly lost interest. At their ages this is a huge indicator that this was not going to work for us. They were much more content with their math worksheets and little text books.

However.

I did like that instead of being a purchase that involves a monthly fee, this is a one-time payment. You pay for it, that is it, no more worries. That is a huge relief because monthly payments get old after a while and really if I want to use something I want to keep it.

This may or may not be for you. Feel free to check out the Math Galaxy website to see what they have to offer.

I received Whole Numbers Fun to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. This review and the thoughts contained therein are my own.

*Children’s Bible Hour Ministries provided the above picture books to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew.*

Did you know that the much-loved ministry responsible for Keys for Kids devotions offers books? Neither did I. When I was very little – and we will not discuss how long ago that was. ahem. – my mom used Keys for Kids as our devotional during homeschool time. My siblings and I always loved the short stories that accompanied each days’ thought. It provided a practical way to visual what God taught us to do in the Bible. And now Children’s Bible Hour Ministries offers a new children’s book series, created to teach children to learn about faith in God.

Below is some information straight from their website, with my thoughts following.

“Race with Midnight
Becky spends spring break on her cousin Sarah’s horse farm in Montana. Taking horse rides amidst the beautiful mountains and valleys, Becky tries to share her faith with Sarah as she talks about God’s creation. Will Sarah listen? Priced at $10

You Can’t Come In
Adam and his new friend Zack decide to build a tree fort one warm summer day. After zooming down a hill and falling into a muddy pond, Zack asks Adam about going to church and salvation. Will Adam be able to explain his faith to Zack?

$10

Seventy Times Seven
Batter up! When Brad accidentally breaks the ice cream shop’s sign, the owner forgives Brad. But when his best friend Doug ruins Brad’s favorite baseball cap, will he be able to forgive Doug?

$10

Braving the Storm
When Thomás moves away from his neighborhood and into a mobile home in his grandparents’ backyard, he misses his friends. There’s nothing to do around the apple orchard with no friends, his dad works a lot, and his little brother was hurt in an accident. All his sister wants to do is play with her dolls. Will Thomás be able to rely on God to get through the difficult times?

$10

You can buy the whole set together for $40, which as you will notice is not a bargain frugally-speaking. Still, it is easier to click on one button rather than four.

Some things I liked about this series were the Read-Along CDs that came with each book. My children love to listen to stories and so they were able to learn the story while looking at the book, even if I was unavailable to read it to them myself. The CDs would also be handy on a road trip. I also appreciate the straight-forward talk of God and His attributes. I do not care for modern childrens’ books because they focus on fluff-n-stuff and are often uselessly silly.

The children in the book and their problems discussed are realistic and give a great way to talk bring up certain Biblical topics with your children. I especially love how a child is portrayed as being bold enough and Biblically-educated in a manner so as to be able to share his faith with a peer in You Can’t Come In. It reminded me that I need to teach my own children how to do the same.

The only thing that I did not really care for were that the illustrations are so-so. Maybe I am picky and hard to please but they weren’t all that impressive. This really is not a big concern since most children could care less. It is certainly not issue enough to make me give it a negative review.

All in all I liked this series and my children did as well. I recommend looking at the website yourself to see if it might be a welcome addition to your family’s bookshelves.

If you have blogged for any amount of time you will probably recognize the software name “Photoshop.” It is used by myriads of bloggers to make their photos they post look more professional. But for someone like me, who chooses not to share family photos in such a public sphere, it is really not a necessity. There are times however, when a graphics editing software is necessary, such as when I design a blog header. This is where Graphics Toolbox from Great Software Tools comes in.

Just what IS Graphics-Toolbox? Straight from their webpage you will read that

“Graphics Toolbox was designed as a real alternative to Photoshop for all non-photo effects, graphics needs.”

In other words, it was created to make visually appealing artwork for craft projects, school projects, fashion needs, scrapbooking, etc. This is a program to make things “prettier”, as my daughters would say. You can change colors, customize photos, and enhance your work with special effects.

As soon as I downloaded this I was a bit intimidated. Learning any new software program can be a bit much because I do not necessarily have the time needed to invest in learning new software. I felt as if I was in over my head. Thankfully, the people at Great Software tools have made this easier on us homeschooling moms of young ones by providing tutorials on how to do what you need to. You can find those here. I did find these very helpful in getting a feel for how things worked for this particular software.

My thoughts

I am personally glad that I have this program. I hope to use it for many years as graphic needs come up. It is not an easy program to learn off hand and will take some getting used to. I appreciate that the price is much more affordable at $149 for one user, rather than something like Photoshop (which costs around $700).

As a homeschooler I struggled to figure out how the typical homeschooling family would use this in their home. As I thought I realized that many families have older children than I do and this generally entails projects beyond making Egypt out of of dough. I know of many whose children are involved in outreach of some sort or opportunities where designing artwork and posters and the like are needed. This would be perfect for that family and especially for those who have children old enough to sit down and figure out this software on their own.

Also, digi-scrapping is quite popular now due to its affordability. This program would be perfect for that. In fact I believe it will get used mostly for this in my home. (I cannot begin to tell you how far behind I am in making picture books for my children.) Make sure to check out the scrapbook page tutorial on this.

You could also use this to design cards, patterns to embroider, make posters, design attractive layouts for the front page of a presentation, etc. There are many so many uses for this. If you do not have any graphics needs then I would say that this is definitely not for you. Otherwise, be sure to check out their website to see if this might just fit your needs!