Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Mama Bear Apologetics


This book is Uh-maz-ing.

I truly think that every mother and grandmother NEEDS to read it.

If you would like to "attend" our lectures on this topic, please send me an email at: flakymn@hotmail.com. I would happy to send you a link to me discussing/reading this book with my class.

This is a class I do 2-3 times a week with 8 middle/high schoolers. This includes my two sons (8th grade), my nieces (10th and 8th grade), and four other friends of ours: Micah, Malachi, Sara, and Walker.

Truly, what I am attempting to do as a mother -- or as a "Mama Bear" is teach my children how to think.One of the major ways to help them learn how to think is to "chew and spit." Can they chew up things that the world throws them and take the good and spit out the bad? How can I help them do it?

While this book is geared toward mothers/parents/educators, I am reading it TO my children and trying to help them with what the world is throwing at them. This post-modernist world has decided that truth no longer exists. How can they ROAR to prevent their thoughts from being taken over. I am learning to ROAR myself and trying to teach them to ROAR themselves.

My children and I should learn to: 

Recognize the Message

Offer discernment

Argue for a healthier approach

Reinforce with discipleship, discipline, and prayer. 

So for example, one of the recent chapters discussed Skepticism, and one of the most interesting parts in this chapter is the education I received on Old Atheists vs. New Atheists. Old Atheists would debate with you: 

A. There is a God (pro)

B. There is no God (con)

But take a look at what New Atheists debate:

A. There is not enough evidence to convince me God is real (con)

B. There is a God (pro)

You can see that these two are NOT debatable. New Atheists have a "general beginning" of September 11, 2001. Prior to that, most of the discussions by atheists were just "God isn't real." But now, that isn't what they are are arguing, and thus, attempts to argue with them do not work. 

However, this book delved DEEPLY into how much research there is ON the historical evidence of the Bible. Did you know that there are over 24,000 accurate documents proving the accuracy/dating of the Bible. The Illiad is the next one and it has just over 100! And yet, people want to hold The Bible to some incredible measurement of historical accuracy unlike anything else that they would measure. 

Today we started in on the chapter on Post-Modernism. This is incredibly interesting. Most people think that we are actually in a 3rd stage of Post-Modernism. The idea behind this is: "The truth is, there is no truth." This leads to no rules for society. 

Right now these crazy rules include: there are no definitive males or females (who would have though this could be an argument?) and abortion is okay. In fact we are even saying that it is okay for a parent to allow children to take medicines to affect them going through puberty. 

But who is to say that years from now this won't stretch beyond this? Why is murder wrong? Isn't it wrong to condemn young children to sexual therapy that changes their genders during puberty? But if we continue to say to people, "Abortion is okay, for you, but for me, it's wrong," then we won't get anywhere. 

What IS the truth?

What I am trying to instill in my children is that the Bible is not about flannel graphs and cute Bible stories. The Bible is about THE truth of the world. 

I loved this video from Rich Maurer who is an atheist. He says here: If we truly believe that there is an afterlife, what kind of person would  not want to share that?

That's what I believe. I believe our children's SOULS are at stake. The souls of people we come into contact with everyday are at stake. THIS IS IMPORTANT. THIS is what students now look like on College campuses. We are afraid to say anything isn't right. If a 20-year-old man wants to be in the first grade because he feels like a first-grader, who is to stop him? And why can we say our sex feels different but not our height? Or are race?

Other than living in "peace", I really have no other dreams for my children. I don't care if they get married. I don't care if they have children. I don't care where they live. I care that they spend eternity with me and Jesus. Period. 

That's a MONUMENTAL thing to carry as a parent.

And we better take it seriously.

Wendi

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Review: Generation Genius

I stumbled upon Generation Genius while searching online for a fun AND easy (for me! the parent!) science curriculum for seven children here in our Two Family Homeschool. I was specifically looking for curriculum for our K-6 kiddos.  Our high schoolers are doing a more complicated, textbook-related science lessons for their high school credits. But I wanted our elementary and middle school kids to ...

... well what I wanted was something: 

FUN

and

EASY.

Specifically, I was looking for something that could help me with two big problems I seemed to have when it came to science in our homeschool:

  1. I am NOT a science-person. Never have been. Never will be. Not my thing.
  2. I will NOT get the materials for science experiments. Once upon a time, I thought I would. I'd be that homeschool Mama. But I'm not. I don't want to. And I'm not going to. It's just too much for me. Too much planning and prepping and buying and gathering and doing.

So, firs,t I scoured my own cabinets ...

I had quite a few different science curriculums here at the house I had accumulated. But they all just seemed like "another thing to read." We started one, and the kids did it fine. But it meant just reading and answering questions. A bit boring.

So I sat down on my computer and typed in "fun science program for elementary kids" and I stumbled upon Generation Genius. 

Immediately, a few things became apparent:

  1. The website is SO SO easy to navigate. LIKE SUPER EASY! I didn't get lost even ONE TIME!
  2. You can try five of the lessons completely free. No credit card to put in and cancel later. No tricking you. You just flat-out can try five for free. 
  3. Each video contains everything you need for the kiddos to learn about that topic with very little (if any!) help from the parents. Let's be real here. There are ten kids schooling here. I can't be everywhere at the same time. 
  4. The program is INCREDIBLY affordable. $95 for the year for homeschool use. That's it. Super clear and easy and really, truly, not expensive for an entire year of science lessons!
  5. The videos are done incredibly well. Like, super duper high-level awesomeness. Professional-level here folks. I can't say this enough.
  6. The lessons are easily broken up into three very clear age ranges: 
    • K-2
    • 3-5
    • 6-8
  7. Each lesson is broken down VERY clearly and allows for GREAT EASE of use. Take "Atoms and Molecules" for example. When you click on the video, here is what you see. I actually let my kids, all by themselves, walk themselves through the curriculum. I even let my third-grader, Abigail, sit down and "lead" the program for my kindergarten and first graders, and she was able to navigate it with complete ease.

We are completely and utterly SOLD on this program. I actually contacted the company MYSELF to see if they'd let me try it free for one month in exchange for my review, and the head guy emailed me back and let me try it for a month. Just one week into our one month trial, I knew that this is something we will ABSOLUTELY do the entire year. It is OUTSTANDING!!!

If you have any questions, please let me know. I'm happy to answer them, but this is one program I can unequivocally advocate for. And so will my kiddos. Each of the kids has also given it two thumbs up. Even Isaac our twelve-year-old-non-science-guy.

Give this program a try! There are five free episodes just waiting for you. If you have a child anywhere between 4-13, you will LOVE what this has to offer!

Friday, July 31, 2020

Where Are You, Puffling

I received a copy of Where Are You, Puffling by Erika McGann to review. It was such a darling book, and I wanted to take an opportunity to provide an extremely positive review.

I have written and shared about my husband's love of all things birding and his extreme desire to see a real-live puffin in the wild here.

Because of that, when I saw an opportunity to review a kids' book with these birds, I couldn't help but jump at the chance.
Follow a little puffling as he helps all kinds of animals and is ultimately helped himself. I especially think you'd find this video a ton of fun. It is done by the book's illustrator: Gerry Daly. 

If you love birds and pufflins like us, this is a great book to add to your kid library. This is one we will keep for a long time!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

FREE LITWITS KIT!!!!


I have an INCREDIBLE offer for ya'll! I did a review a few months for LitWits Kits. Please click that previous bold word to read my review. These are designed for kiddos ages 8-12. You can choose from a large smattering of stories and get a "package" to go with your book. 

They are so good!

And I just received an offer from them. Due to the pandemic sweeping our nation, they are offering any one of their products for FREE!!!

All you have to do is click here and then enter THIS code: 

51READ4FUN

This code is unique to me, and I want to provide a ton of responses to this company so PLEASE take advantage of this offer. Even if you don't use it now, you can save it for future use.

DO IT!

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Busytown revisited


Another fantastic Christmas gift for children ages 3-7 (but older can play as well) is Richard Scarry's Busytown. I wrote a whole review on this last year so I won't do it again. But if you are looking for a last minute Christmas present -- this is a great option! And if you use my link by by clicking below, Because of Isaac will receive 5-8% of your purchase price!

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Review: LitWit


LitWits allows your student to happy engage with great books -- and learn strong character traits, coping skills, and academic lessons with their LitWits Kits.

I specifically reviewed: 

I also encourage you to read the reviews from my fellow crew members by clicking here. 

Also check out my Blog post about the product: 

Crew Disclaimer

Review: LitWits

Okay, another new product to share with ya'll today. This one is from LitWits and it is their LitWits Kits.

Designed for kids ages 8-12, the idea behind this product is very simple. Take a book. Read the book. And then use one of their LitWits Kits to help that book come alive for your child. 

Founders Becky and Jenny are sisters. They hold workshops in Santa Cruz, California. They have kids read (or listen) to the chosen story ahead of time and then spend three hours immersed in the book at the workshop. The workshops are designed for kids who love to read. In this way they get to spend even more time in their book. However, the workshops are also for kids who don't like to read: it's a chance to see a book really come to life.

The sisters took all of these workshops they do and put them into a "Kit" that you can purchase and use at home as you are reading and after you finish reading a particular book. 

I received four different "Kits" for this review product. The four I received were: 
Due to time constraints during the review period, we were only able to complete two of the books: Wonder and Tuck Everlasting. 

Wonder
The story Wonder by R.J. Palacio is not a classic or vintage so Becky and Jenny haven't done a workshop on it yet. However, they put together a "Mini-kit" for this story. 

I had our six older students read (or listen) to Wonder. The Kit itself was intended for kids in grades 4-8, but little Abigail is in second grade and still did great with this LitWits Kit. The rest of the kiddos were in the recommended grades as you can see from the chart below:
  • Gabe (age 14) 8th grade
  • Ana (age 12) 7th grade
  • Isaac (age 11) 5th grade
  • Kari (age 11) 5th grade
  • Sidge (age 10) 5th grade
  • Abigail (age 8) 2nd grade
The "Mini-Kit" is approximately 30 pages long. We started with a suggested activity entitled "Face Changers." In this activity, I printed out the provided template of August's face and had the kids look through magazines to find word that connote good inner qualities. This is the template I used: 


We actually had a visiting friend that day who is in the third grade, and she jumped in and participated as well. Here were the results from the seven kiddos:





This student decided to try and use the magazines to actually make the face  LOOK like a face. 



This is a picture of the kids working on the assignment.
The next day we decided to try an activity called "Picturing Kindness." In this one, I printed out the "character quality" cards that were included in the packet. We went outside in the yard as it was a beautiful fall day, and I put all the cards in the grass. 

I had each kid pick a card up that represented someone else in our group. I was careful to make sure everyone got a turn and everyone was being affirmed. People would choose a card and say: "Isaac is encouraging because he ...." or they would say "Abigail you are generous when you ...." It was a really fun activity and you could tell that these kind words really built the other kids up.

After that, I passed out a card I had written to each of the seven kids where I had listed the words that I thought they regularly displayed. Here is an example of one of the cards I wrote. (I removed any identifying remarks from the card.) 



I told the kids to find somewhere private to read their cards and that while they could share them with their parents, they weren't to be shared with any other kids in the group.

We also completed a worksheet and had time to talk about "The Narrative Arc" while using the packet. 

We actually worked our way through the whole packet so there is more I could share, but for sake of time, I'll cut it short. But let me tell you. This product only costs $9. I can tell you that it is totally worth your money. No trying to find a ton of things online and piecing together your own Kit. Instead, you can simply read the book and everything is right at your fingertips. 


Tuck Everlasting
The next Kit I did was Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. This is a very short read which meant it was perfect for the review period I had. Written by Natalie Babbitt, we read the book and after we had worked through the Kit, I let the kids watch the movie. 

They did NOT like the movie. I find this an important aspect to mention. I think that when a book is read and studied properly, most movies pale in comparison. This was definitely true for this book. Across the board the kids had complaints about the movie. 

The LitWits Kit for Tuck Everlasting was not a "Mini-Kit" like the one for the book Wonder. For this reason the cost is slightly higher ($18). However, rest-assured, again, the price is completely appropriate. Again, no scouring the Internet to find what you need. It's all right there. 

One of the suggestions which I really loved was the following at the start of the Kit:

We love sharing all the fun we've had, but please don't let our abundance of ideas bog you down. Just take what you need, and change it to suit your goals. 

I love this reminder!

The online Kit is set up as follows:
  • Welcome
  • Overview 
  • Prop Ideas
  • Hands-On Fun
  • The Tree of Life
  • Producing Characters
  • Active Adjectives
  • A Good Supper
  • Takeaways
  • Endless Cycles
  • Dilemmas
  • Worksheets (includes Narrative Arc, Setting, Creative Writing, and Vocabulary). Here are two of the worksheets completed in our homeschool classroom: 

  • Learning Links
  • Great Quotes
I could go on and on reviewing this product. I loved it so, and I can guarantee you that as this review closes, I will be moving on to the other two books we haven't done the Kit on: 
  • All Creatures Great and Small
  • The Birchbark House
I spent time looking at the LitWit Kit for these two books and they are as equally exciting as the two we have already completed! Take the time to visit LitWits and spend some time time perusing their 40+ titles! You won't be disappointed. Seriously! These are so great. You could honestly do this for the entire year. Pick a book. Do a Kit on the book. Over and over again! Great literature and great activities to supplement it.

Also, I am doing a VIDEO REVIEW on this product. Stay tuned for it to be linked right below as well!

And also, click on the image below to read some reviews from my fellow reviewers at the Schoolhouse Review crew. 

LitWits Kits {LitWits Reviews}

Crew Disclaimer

 

Saturday, November 09, 2019

Julie Lessman's New Novella!!

My Blog has had NO shortage of LOVE for author Julie Lessman. You can find all my past posts surrounding Julie Lessman by clicking here. I first posted a review for her back in September of 2015 and have continued to read everything she writes! I love ALL of her books but my favorite to this day was the DAUGHTER OF BOSTON series. 

SERIES #1
"THE DAUGHTERS OF BOSTON" SERIES:
     A Passion Most Pure
     A Passion Redeemed
     A Passion Denied 
This series morphed into a second series that I equally enjoyed. Well ... almost. (I still think her first books were my all-time favorites!) Here was the second series:

SERIES #2
THE "WINDS OF CHANGE" SERIES:
     A Hope Undaunted
     A Heart Revealed
     A Love Surrendered

The O'Connor family remains one of my all-time favorites and now you can follow the amazing O'Connor sisters into Christmas Novellas of their own:



I've read the previous three and now I am introducing her fourth Novella: A Gift Like No Other.  


I've read the previous three and now I am introducing her fourth Novella: A Gift Like No Other.  Here is a breakdown of each of the Novella's: 

A WHISPER OF HOPE (CHARITY & MITCH, 1933)
She’s desperate for a baby.
He’s desperate for an empty nest.
Love is desperate to surprise them both.
THE BEST GIFT OF ALL (LIZZIE & BRADY, 1934)
She longs to be the perfect mother.
He just longs for his wife.
Until they receive ... the best gift of all.
A DREAM FULFILLED (KATIE & LUKE, 1935)
She’s always dreamed of a best friend.
He’s always dreamed of a large family.
Until hope intervenes with a dream fulfilled.

A GIFT LIKE NO OTHER (FAITH & COLLIN, 1936)
Her dream is writing.
His is the perfect wife and mother.
Until God fulfills them both
with a dream like no other.

PURCHASE HERE
I love absolutely love Julie's writing. As I have mentioned previously, next to Francine Rivers, Julie Lessman is my absolute favorite Christian writer. Please take a moment to download! It's free on Kindle Unlimited and just $2.99 to buy.

Also, Julie has a TON of other series. Check her out on her website today! Christian romance written SO well!



Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Review: CrossTimber - Name Meaning Gifts

Amazing Names by CrossTimber
THIS is a review you do NOT want to skip over. I am serious! If you are a parent or a grandparent, I promise you, this may be the gift for your little one's Christmas or next birthday. It is simply awesome! This is from CrossTimber - Name Meaning Gifts. While they have all kinds of AMAZING personalized gifts for your loved one, it is a personalized DVD for your child that I am going to be reviewing today. You can find that product by clicking on the following link: Your Amazing Name - Personalized Adventures for EVERY name!

I, in fact, did a review for this company back in 2016. You can flashback to my review by clicking here.

Okay, so without further ado, here is my review video:
And, I wanted to take a moment to share a second video. This is a video I took of Hannah watching her video for the very first time. She absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this product. All my children watched it together. It was simply AWESOME!

 

Read the reviews from my fellow reviewers by clicking the image below:

Your Amazing Name - Personalized Adventures for EVERY name! {CrossTimber - Name Meaning Gifts Reviews}

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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Review: Calvert Homeschool

Okay, this is a bit of a different review for me. This is for Calvert Homeschool and specifically, this is their Calvert Homeschool Online program.

I was given access for three students to use the program. Available for PC or Mac (we use a Mac in our home), it is compatible with most web browsers on both systems. We actually have access with the program to over 45 courses!

Amazing customer service!
Let me start by saying this: this program is INTENSE. It is deep. It is huge. It is designed to be the core of your homeschooling program in one website. It is full of everything you need. When I first opened it up, I couldn't help but think, "I'll never figure this out. It's SO much." But folks their customer service is second-to-none. I had a wonderful gal call me and check on me. She spent nearly an hour on the phone answering every question I had and showing me how this program worked. She encouraged me to call back and ask any questions I needed. I truly felt like, "Wow! I can do this now!"

Easy setup
Setting up the program was really pretty simple. The program really walked me through it. And if you have any trouble? Check the note above regarding their customer service!


Features
Some really cool features include:
  • Automatic grading: yay for the teacher!
  • Automatic updating: (as content needs to change, it changes, unlike with textbooks!)
  • No installs: We can just log-in and use it. 
  • Placement tests: More about that below!
  • Totally green: Forget all the paper and textbooks. It's all electronic!
Pricing
This program runs $39.95 a month for one child. You can also purchase it yearly for $399.95 for the year. If you want to get the maximum three students, it would be $699.95 for the year. Or you can purchase it monthly for $69.95 a month. While this may seem like a lot of money, when you consider that this could be your family's complete cost of homeschool education, it actually isn't very steep at all.

Courses
As mentioned above, there are over 45 programs that you can choose from with this program. Here is a breakdown of what those programs actually are:
  • Kindergarten:
    • Language Arets
    • Math
  • 1st Grade and 2nd Grade:
    • History & Geography
    • Language Arts
    • Math
    • Science 
  • 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Grades:
    • History & Geography
    • Language Arts
    • Math
    • Science
    • Spelling 
  • 7th Grade:
    • Language Arts
    • Math
    • Science
    • World Civilizations
  • 8th Grade: 
    • History & Geography
    • Language Arts
    • Math
    • Science
  • 9th Grade: 
    • Algebra I
    • Coordinate Algebra
    • English I
    • Integrated Physics & Chemistry
    • World Geography
  • 9th-12the Grade:
    • Consumer Math
    • Goverment
    • U.S. History Foundations to Present 
    • World History (9th-11th)
    • Analytic Geometry (10th)
    • Biology (10th)
    • English II (10th)
You can see from the chart above that the programs basically around the four major "core" classes for students: English, History, Math, and Science.

What it looks like inside
In order to show you how this program works, let's just into 14-year-old Gabe's work. He is an 8th grade. Here is a screen shot of the science program he is working through:


You can see that Gabe is working through History and Geography 800. It shows his start date and all the different sections that he is working through.

Now let's skip over to 12-year-old Ana who is taking World Civilizations. Here is a screen shot of one of her lesson pages:


My second-grader, Abigail, who is 8, was working on a spelling program while she tried out the program. Here is a screen shot of one of her assignments:


A few last details
I wanted to take a second to note that this is not a Christian program. I did not find anything to be a problem, but there may be things you don't see eye-to-eye with the program on. However, please note, that you can skip over anything you don't want your student to study. It's super simple to do that.

Also, I honestly could only touch the surface of this program during this review. It is such a HUGE, BIG program. So you really need to dive in and look for yourself. As always, feel free to message me with any questions or concerns or comments you have. I'm glad to give you more information!

You can also find out much, much more about Calvert at the following locations:
And, as always, don't take MY word for it. You can read tons more about Calvert Homeschool and specifically, their Calvert Homeschool Online program via other Bloggers.Read some of the reviews from my friends over at the Homeschool Review Crew by clicking on the image below:
Calvert Homeschool Online {Calvert Homeschool Reviews} 
 
Crew Disclaimer

Review: Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math workbooks

A fun review is going up today. This is for Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math workbooks. Our group reviewed four different products which included:
The last one was the one that we reviewed here at our home: One Page A Day 2 Digit Multiplication Practice (Grades 3-5)!

This is a VERY simple product. I honestly keep trying to figure out what to say about it, but there is so little to explain and so little to show because it is just that NEAT and SIMPLE! We LOVED this product and think it is a fantastic idea to include in your homeschool curriculum. It is a consumable workbook designed to help teachers/parents simplify multiplication learning. Here is a sample page for you to see how the workbook looks:


That's it. The student tears out a page and does the sheet. That's it!  There are 50 pages in the workbook. Each page has 25 problems all that are 2-digit. The workbook starts very easy as seen above and then moves to pages like this by the end:


I used this program with my second grader, Abigail, who is just starting to work on 2-digit multiplication. Here are some things we both loved about this workbook:
  • Color Coded! This really helps guide the student and keep them from being confused!
  • Lots of Workspace!  Big space to work is so helpful!
  • Easily tears out! No possible rips. Very easy to do the worksheet on the front and then the back and then just throw it away!
Here is a picture of Abigail working through one of the pages:



In addition to the One Page A Day 2 Digit Multiplication Practice workbook, Channie's gave us (just for fun for doing the review!) a book on fractions as well. You can find our more by visiting them on Facebook or Instagram.

***I also wanted to note that the vendor is working to create a brand new app that is compatible with their product. I was unable to view this, however, this could be another fantastic addition to your product usage as well so stay-tuned!!!

Also, please take a moment to click on the link below to find out much much more about all the wonderful products that Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math workbooks has to offer.

Alphabet, Number & Sight Word Dry Erase, Neat Numbers & Page a Day 2 Didgit Multiplication. {Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math workbooks Reviews}
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Friday, October 25, 2019

Review: Excelerate SPANISH -- Excelerate SPANISH Streaming

In our home we decided to let each of our kids choose their own foreign language. I really wanted to do Turkish with my kids as that's my second language (barely!) but we decided that it probably wasn't the most useful and wanted to give the kids the opportunity to choose their own language. Isaac is learning French. Abigail is taking sign language on her own and with Ms. Anni. And Sidge is doing Spanish. For this review we therefore had Sidge use this program for this review: Excelerate SPANISH Streaming from Excelerate SPANISH.

We received a one-year streaming membership for both levels 1 and 2. The program is $14.97 a month. You can also buy the entire level and watch it on DVD if you prefer not to use the streaming service.  

Your purchase of the streaming service includes:
  •  24 Lessons in Spanish 1 (averaging 45 minutes each)
  •  24 Lessons in Spanish 2 (averaging 45 minutes each)
  •  Vocabulary review and practice FREE on the Quizlet website. This includes flashcards, games, and quizzes.
  • Unlimited personal support. 
***Physical books are also available and option for purchase which provide reinforcement, practice, and review.

Excelerate SPANISH is super easy to use. It is possible for children of all ages to use this program which makes it perfect for a homeschooling family. You simply login to the program and see the videos along the right side of the screen as shown in the screenshot below:

You then click on the video you want to watch and get started:



Excelerate SPANISH uses gestures, action sequences, skits, and stories to help bring success. You can read more about their method by clicking here. But to quickly summarize, I'll say this: 

The program uses a TPR or Total Physical Response theory to help with learning. This is a gesturing activity used with the idea that it is activating various motor cortices of the brain making it easier to learn a language. In each lesson, there is an introduction of new vocabulary and structures. The student sees the word on the white board, hears the pronunciation, and then models a gesture for each word or phrase. The program does not force the learner to speak. The TPR method sees this as anxiety-provoking.

We are going to continue to use this program in our home as I think it offers a lot of positive aspects. However, I am a still a bit up in the air regarding this program. I was hoping that it would be something Sidge could just sit down and do on his own. But he often felt overwhelmed with how much was coming at him in the program. I really think this is something that parents need to be sitting with the student and helping them pause it, discuss it, and take notes with them. I also think the "optional" workbooks are something that we should use with the program and that they really aren't so optional. 

Personally, I am more of a hands-off homeschooling Mama. I like programs that allow the child to "mostly" work through it without my direct involvement. This is necessary because there are so many children in my home that I am schooling. I think that if I was using this with all my kids at once, that would be possible. But without that, it's pretty challenging. We are going to keep trying the program, but I am honestly unable at this point to give a totally positive or negative review. I am a bit torn.

While I didn't see a free video on the website, I would encourage you to see if you can view one of the lessons before deciding if this is the right fit for your family. I think the TPR method is something I am unfamiliar with and so I can't really speak to its success. However, it appears to really have some substantial background that could be very helpful for learning a new language.

You can also find out more about Excelerate SPANISH from:
Excelerate SPANISH help your students to learn FAST, naturally! (Streaming)  {Excelerate SPANISH Reviews}
 
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