Here are a few snapshots inside the cover of this sweet and simple book. You will notice the pages are very peaceful and subtle as illustrated in this excerpt from the letter X and letter B below. There is one page for every letter of our alphabet. The images are very lifelike and beautifully done.
And here is a picture of my little four-year-old, Hannah, holding the book:
You can see from Hannah holding it about how big the book is and what size it is. It is a hardcover book and rectangular in shape. Even the cover provides a good explanation of what is within the pages. This is a sweet and peaceful book designed to be read by adult to child. I love that I can teach them letters while also continuing to read scripture.
*****
Each page provides a letter and something in our world that goes with that letter:
A is for ANTS
D is for DAWN
I is for ICE
And with each letter, a short rhyme is included followed by a scripture.
*****
For example, here is the text of three random pages from the book that I chose to share with you:
A is for ANTS
Though weak and small in size,
They gather food all summer.
May God make us as wise.
"There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer" Prov. 30:24-25
*****
D is for DAWN
When morning lights the skies.
Our Savior is the day star
Who in our hearts will rise.
*****
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." II Peter 1:19
*****
I is for ICE
Cast out across the land.
Our God sends forth his bitter cold.
Before it, who can stand?
"He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?" Ps. 147:17
*****
I think this would make a perfect gift for any parents' library, and I think it is specifically designed fro children who are still being read to.
My Overview
This is a product designed for 3-6 year olds which includes:
Storybooks
Read-to-me stories
Workbooks
Creative products
The idea behind this product is that the best learning occurs when your child is:
Building Brain Connections: Different brain regions working together to learn various subjects.
Building Self-Confidence: The child is creative and in charge.
Building Fine Motor Skills: Eyes and little hands work together in diverse activities.
To break it down, there are 3 Steps to the learning process as presented by PandaParents:
Step 1: Story Time: Learn topics while reading with your child and allow them to watch story videos.
Step 2: Learning Time: Fun and engaging activities stretch learning beyond the story and videos.
Step 3: Creating Time: Learn to tell a story, solve a problem, or express feelings and emotions in a creative way.
Let me let PandaParentsbreak it down for you with this video:
As it says in the video, in Short, PandaParentsis trying to teach them to learn all these things listed below at one time:
Reading
Math
Science
Completes Activities
Artwork
My Review
All right, so now that we discussed all the facets of this program, let me share the facts of how it worked for us.
Firstly, I only did this program with Hannah (age 3.5). Abigail (nearly 7) would have enjoyed this as well I believe but it was really beyond her and so I focused on just allowing Hannah to work the program.
Did she enjoy it? Absolutely. She really liked the videos and the worksheets and found them engaging. I do think she was learning and that it would be a good part of a curriculum for a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten aged child.
That said, I think the program is a bit "Messy." By that I mean, the website and the product weren't as "clean" as I am used to from a product. Different fonts and colors all over the place were a bit much more me.
However, my daughter loved it and was captivated. So maybe they are onto something!
I think this idea is fabulous and as it is refined, it could work really well for a family with a preschooler. However, as I said, there were some things that would make the program not be fool-proof.
One of the issues for me is that the workbooks that were designed to be printed were full of color! Now this sounds great except that printing them would cost me a fortune in ink. I really think that this product would be best utilized in consumable workbooks that we could use at home. If I had the workbook in front of me and didn't have to print it myself, I think Hannah would devour it.
Let me illustrate this with a few screenshots that I took:
These pages are AWESOME. Hannah would love to do them. However, we just did them on the screen (missing out on a key fine-motor element) simply because printing things with this much color wouldn't work for us financially. (Probably the biggest part of my homeschooling budget is toner cartridges. I'm not kidding.)
I encourage you to try the program for free for one month and see if it would be a fit for your little one. You can do that by clicking this link.I really think this company is onto something and that children will really enjoy what they are putting out there. However, there are a few nuances that would need to observe and see if it could work for you and your little one.
Here is a picture of the box that arrived at our house:
I was a little overwhelmed with things going on around the farm and with company in town when this project came in for us to review ... so my mother-in-law, Mary, graciously volunteered to head up this project. She picked different projects to do with each of the children, and they were a huge success. I was really impressed by how simple they were and how little mess there was. They really came together very easily!
Mom specifically said that one of the best things about this product was that it was very easy to choose age-appropriate projects using the same box. She said she could easily see adults and teenagers finding fun things to do with it. And she was able to use it with my three-year-old as well.
My three-year-old (soon to be four) daughter worked on a snow man. Here is a video of her working on her project:
My eight-year-old, Sidge, made a Christmas tree. Sidge is always a great sport and excited to try new things -- but he doesn't want to devote a ton of time to anything. This was a perfect amount of attention span for him! Here is a video of him working on his project:
And here is a picture of him with his completed project. He was really proud of what he did:
Isaac, who is nine, wanted to make a bowl. Here is his almost-finished bowl. He ended up doing a lot more painting to it after I took this picture below. I love the smile on his face. He was really proud of his bowl!
Abigail, who just turned six, worked on some star ornaments. But she also wanted to do the same snowman her sister did. And she did a great job! She really has a lot of my husband's art skills in her. You can see that the hat is removable and will be a little candy dish.
Grama and the kids used the Rigid Wrap to make nearly everything seen above. There was a separate bonus product included as well called CelluClay. They used this product to make the nose on the snowman and the ornaments on the bowl. Creating the projects was really very simple -- in fact, I could have done it, and I'm not artsy AT ALL. Some newspaper, warm water, scissors, and detailed instructions (which came with) were all it took to get started. Some of the projects required additional materials, but you could definitely do a lot of things by just using what was in the box. In addition, the ACTÍVA Products' Favorite Sculpture KIDS CRAFTSfree eBook is a full color document with a ton of other great ideas as well. Take some time to check out: Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik-Sculpting Kittoday! My kids had a blast with this product! And Grama did too. Take some time to check out this company on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
So I took pictures of all my kids on our recent field trip to the Humane Society, but no big surprise, only Abigail's turned out. This kid never takes a bad picture. And my other kiddos, while equally cute in my eyes, don't seem to get so lucky with my photography skills:
My friend Erin actually suggested this field trip. The Humane Society is right across the street from where we take tennis so we decided to meet there right before tennis started. My kids all love animals, but Sidge, especially, is just a fanatic about animals. Abigail also loves them a lot, but she is still second to Sidge in his love for all things animal. (Currently they want to live on the farm forever and open up a veterinarian clinic on the farm.) In particular, all my kids have expressed interest in cats. We have nearly every other animal there is, and maybe that is why they are so stuck on having a cat.
Cats are a no-go for us mostly because JB is allergic to them and also because we just don't want to deal with another animal right now and trying to get them acclimated to our dogs. We have a few stray cats who visit our farm, and we let them do their mousing thing without a bother from us. But we just don't want to have to feed and get vet care for anything else right now. Our dogs are plenty!
Man did my kiddos have a BLAST at the humane society in the "cat room." It was filled with cats and kittens, and they just loved hanging out with these cats. The people who worked there encouraged us to come back and play with the cats. My kids have only asked me about 1,000 times since we left when they can go back so I think it will be a regular occurrence for us. It's always fun to find something everyone loves that is FREE!
I was first introduced to Crystal Bowman when we adopted Isaac. She is a good friend of Joni VanWyck, and Joni purchased a bunch of Crystal's books to start off a library for Isaac.
Since then, I have written about her books frequently on my Blog. I am a HUGE fan and just love the sweetness and solid messages in her books. They emphasize children being children and learning to praise God in their childlike way. She also helps take "big concepts" and bring them down onto a child's level.
Here are some past Blog posts I have done about Bowman's books:
Today I want to introduce you to two more Bowman books that you will want to include in your child's library! They are from the "I've Got Questions" series and are both written by Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley and illustrated by Allie Busby.
Do Baby Bears Have Mommies? (I've Got Questions)
This 30 page book in hard cover format answers all kinds of questions that children would have about animals. Like: why ducks have funny feat and feathers, where mice make their homes, why giraffes are so tall, and what kangaroos keep in their pouches. Here is a sample verse:
Do baby bears have mommies
that give them food to eat?
And when it's cold and snowy,
do cubs get chilly feet?
Mommy bears feed
baby cubs
with berries, nuts,
or bugs.
They snuggle closely
in their dens
with warm and
furry hugs.
Each question is asked on the left side of a two-page spread which includes full color sweetness! These books are fantastic end-of-the-day reads. They are peaceful and uplifting and simply a delight to read with your little ones. Any age child would love these, but I think they are perfect for ages 1-7.
Staying with the same "I've got Questions" theme, this book asks the "bigger" questions about character and values and life that children may have. Here is a sample verse:
I want to make God smile.
I want to make him glad.
What can I do to please him,
so God will not be sad?
The Bible says God loves us,
and God wants your love too.
Thank him for the gifts he gives,
be kind in all you do.
The book is the same size as Do Baby Bears Have Mommies? and includes the same format as this book as well. The question and answer are asked on the left side of the page with beautiful artwork covering both pages.
If you are a grandmother looking for a positive message to send to your new grandchild, take a look at Bowman's books. I promise that you will NOT be disappointed.
I may be married to a former graphic designer, but implementing art in homeschooling is still a challenge for us. That being said, I was very excited to try a product like the Monthly Plan from Creating a Masterpiece.
This program is a monthly subscription (you can also buy an annual pass) that allows anyone in your family unlimited access to over 144 videos and art projects.
We did numerous projects, but for the sake of this review, I want to focus on two of the projects we did.
The first was LESSONS IN WATERCOLOR: AFRICAN SUNSET. Here is a video I took of my three children (ages 5, 8, and 8) doing this lesson:
I took quite a few pictures during this lesson so that you can how this looked for our family. All of my children (who have VERY different likes and personalities) enjoyed every art project we did. They really got into them and had fun watching their masterpiece come alive. There is NO complaining when we did these art projects:
Isaac is my most serious artist. He always appears to not be having a good time (but really is!)
Abigail is currently our most "talented" artist. She is really showing signs that she might take after her Daddy in this area.
Sidge putting a few finishing touches on his water color project. He always does things like this with great eagerness and gusto. He is animated and shares his enjoyment.
Here's Isaac with his finished project.
Abigail putting the final touches on her watercolor picture.
You can tell from the video that Sharon Hofer is an incredibly sweet and knowledgable teacher (with over 15 years of teaching experience) She has a wonderful voice and was pleasant to listen to! She created Creating a Masterpiecebecause she wanted to extend the reach of her fine art school. Sharon was hoping to find a program that would teach technique but that would also equip each student to produce excellent results.
The program is designed to be done by children as young as 4 and 5, and that is definitely the case as my Abigail (who is 5.5) did very well paying attention and following along with Sharon. However, what I really loved was that each project was designed to be a masterpiece level of work. As Sharon said on her website: "I want to encourage them to take pride in their work and help them feel like a real artist, instead of doing simplistic crafts."
And she does just that. I wanted to take a moment to show another finished project that we did. This one was Lessons in Charcoal: Sailing Adventure. I have to admit that I was intimidated by this one, but I was so impressed with how well my very young children did at following the directions and completing their pictures. (Note that two of my children used brown charcoal.)
This picture really brings me joy. Sidge was SOOOOO proud of his work and truly felt like it was a masterpiece. This is SO fun to see from a child. I just loved how happy he was.
Art is always tough to put into homeschool. I do find that most of my attempts at art are more "craftsy" and don't necessarily give my children the feeling of accomplishment. But this program DOES. You can tell that they all felt PROUD of the work they did.
I have to be honest. At first glance, you might think this product is a little on the expensive side. However, I am a cheapskate, and I have to say I disagree. Especially if you have multiple children, the sky is truly the limit with how many things they can do and how much they have with these projects. Truly this is a simply wonderful product that you will find to be WELL WORTH what you might pay for it.
As always, feel free to email me directly at wkitsteiner@gmail.com if you would like to speak with me directly about this product.
Perfect for the little one in your life, this hard back book Thank You, God, for Grandmawith cushioned cover is just a sweet and loving reminder of how special family is in our lives. The first page includes an "all inclusive" naming system for the Grandmas too so that it can work for every family!
Thank You, God, for Grandmas,
Nanas and Mimis too,
Gigis and Grams and Grandmommies—
They’re great, grand gifts from You!
The text includes sweet rhymes and beautiful illustrations, and this is simply a book that leaves you feeling happy!
Amy Parker’s children’s books have sold more than 800,000 copies, including two Christian Retailing’s Best award-winning books and the bestselling A Night Night Prayer.
This is a perfect book for an Easter present from Grandma to child.
Booklook Bloggers provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Today I share with you a review from Eclectic Foundations. We received and utilized Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level Ain our home. This is the first level of their program and is designed for new readers. This program can be ordered as a physical project or a digital project. We received a physical copy of this product.
I am recommending this product whole-heartedly. I think it was a great fit for my daughter Abigail who is in pre-k (age 5), and I honestly think we may continue working through this product with her as she gets older. I also tried this program with my three-year-old daughter. She was definitely able to do some of the work but some of it she was not mentally ready for. I would recommend this to be used by children ages 4-6, but you could definitely make it work from about 3-7 and fit it to your child's individual needs.
There are three levels of this product currently available:
Level A: early/new readers
Level B: if your child is able to read simple words and is ready to move on to silent "e" words
Level C: Designed for advanced 2nd or 3rd grade.
What I loved about this product is that Eclectic Foundationsis a COMPLETE curriculum for phonics, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, handwriting, comprehension, AND poetry. Instead of requiring many books, there is just what is pictured below (our Australian Shepherd Ritter decided he definitely wanted to be a part of this photo):
From left is a reader which you don't begin utilizing into later in the program. The second book is Abigail's workbook that is a consumable product she uses everyday. In the middle are some flashcards which also do not come into play until later in the lessons. The fourth item is a set of "Appendixes" that are laminated so Abigail can write on them and reuse the pages. And then the last guide is my personal teacher's guide.
The other thing I loved about this product is that it is taught from a Biblical world-view. I am always eager to incorporate the Lord and the Bible into all aspects of our education.
This program begins with a four-day study of each letter. These are short lessons (probably between 5-15 minutes long). The activities from week to week are repeated and capital and lowercase letters are used. The letter sounds are introduced and reading is gradually implemented. Each day we would open it up to the next lesson and simply follow the instructions for what to do.
Here is a photo of Abigail practicing her letters:
Abigail worked mostly on sounds and handwriting. There were pages that allowed her to match uppercase letters with their lowercase partner. Abigail really enjoyed what we did every day. You were encouraged to takes as much or as little time as you needed going through each lessons. Because Abigail was already doing a little reading when we got this program, she moved through the lessons relatively quickly.
I have only good things to say about Eclectic Foundations. It is a fantastic (and incredibly affordable!) product. Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A is designed to last an entire school year, and it would only cost you around $85 for the entire product. Very reasonable for something that covers everything language arts you need for the year.
Here is my truth: with four young children at home, I canNOT homeschool them one-on-one. Everyone homeschools in different ways. Our current plan is this. We attend our homeschool co-op on Mondays. The other five days of the week (we also homeschool on Saturday), we do between 2-4 hours a day of independent learning.
Don't get me wrong. I am there, and still answering a LOT of questions and guiding. But I am moving inbetween all the kiddos, and they are getting on their computer or iPad and leading the way.
We DO also do about 30-60 minutes of day of non-computer work. This usually includes reading/writing/workbooks. But the other part of our work is done with amazing online products.
This may not be for everyone, but I have had many people asking me the top products I recommend. Here they are!
Okay folks. Hang on to your hats. I have found you the most INCREDIBLE math program EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! (Is that enough exclamation points?!) We have absolutely LOVED ... and I mean absolutely and whole-heartedly LOVED utilizing the Homeschool Membership from CTCMath. There is no doubt that we plan to keep this in our curriculum for the foreseeable future. And I can honestly see using this with all four of my kids throughout their entire school-aged years. This is a math program for kids starting in pre-kindergarten but you can stay with it through high school. It is completely online and requires very little parental needs. The kids watch a short lesson and then answer questions about the lesson.
This is an awesomely fun way to learn your multiplication facts. This product is very similar to the one below, however, this one doesn't cover the "easy" facts like zero, one, and five. it is probably a bit more refined than the product below but both are excellent.) I actually let my pre-kindergarten daughter use this, but I'd recommend it starting at about 1st or 2nd grade.
This is the same idea as the Times Tales product listed above. However, this one covers ALL facts (including the "easy" ones.) Perfect for kiddos in first or second grade.
And then there is REFLEX MATH. Here is a link to this one! This has been one of the BEST thing we have done Math-wise. It says it is for grades 2-8 but I totally disagree and think you can start it with K or probably 1st grade. It basically provides games to DRILL math facts. It is set up for kids to get on and do themselves for 15 minutes each day. It gives them a green light when they are done for the day. You can do a 14 day trial. After that it is $35 for a year. This program has brought my children's math facts to a great place. (There is an add/subtraction option and then multiply/divide) option.
This is a fantastic program that combines reading, writing and typing. To understand the vision behind this program, I encourage you to read the biography of the developer of this program, Neuropsychologist Jeannine Herron.Seeing the alarming reports that reading instruction in our country was failing an alarming number of students, Dr. Herron took her belief that children needed phonics as well as whole language to master reading skills to a new level. Pre-kindergarten through early elementary can benefit from this product.
I have been waiting for this company to do an additional product, but right now, they only have one on the rainforest. This is an awesome online science program.
The main thing we are doing for science right now is this monthly delivery service from the Magic School Bus. (We also watch the DVD's.) An excellent product and totally worth the money!
I cannot recommend this Bible program enough. My children LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and it continues to be the least complained about thing we do every day. The only downside is that it is is pricey. But it is completely done online with very little need for parental help. This is really good beginning when your child is an independent reader, but you could do it younger if you helped and walked through it with them.
This program is FANTASTIC! It is completely online, and allows your child to answer questions on various topics like geography, science, math, etc. This is a completely independent product, and I am able to use it from pre-kindergarten on. Really great!
This is a great online reading program that allows kids to read books and answer questions. If you are interested in trying this product, please let me know via email: flakymn@hotmail.com as I might be able to get you a free use through a friend.
If you are looking for an online writing program, this is a good one. This will require you to help guide your students and is not completely independent. But it offers a "classroom" setting for your child. Good from about 1st grade on.
And my last all-time favorite is Stack the States (or the follow-up Stack the Countries.) I cannot begin to say enough about this game and what it has done for my kids geography. They love it and have learned SO much. We have also used this site online with great success. This one is also very cheap -- and you can buy a lite version to try it for free. Your children do need to be able to read to do this one.
The first is LEARN WITH HOMER. It is my FAVORITE! You can try it for one month for FREE so I suggest that even if the $8 a month isn't in your budget, you try it for free! It has won all kinds of awards and is perfect for ages 4-6. You can also do this one right on the computer. This has two major "sections." The first is one for learning to read. The second is for learning great subject matters (the incas, health, different animals, etc.)
The second is Teachme. Here is the link to the second grade one but you can start with toddler, preschool, K, 1, etc. This one is very cheap ($2 per grade) and you can have multiple kids on each grade level. We do this every day for 15 minutes to refine skills when I just need a break from direct teaching. This app does a little bit of math, reading, and writing and is definitely worth the money.
