Reading Kingdom, an online reading support program

We received a subscription to Reading Kingdom to review and share our thoughts with our readers. We previously reviewed Reading Kingdom with the Schoolhouse Review Crew, so we were familiar with the program going in. Nathan was eager to start the program and began using the program with very little encouragement


Reading Kingdom is a subscription based program retailing for $19.99 after your first 30 days free trial. You can also purchase an annual subscription for $199.99 a year for the first child and $9.99 a month for each additional child.The program is designed for children between the ages of 4 and 10. Nathan is nearly 8 and familiar with the program.  The program teaches basic reading and writing/ spelling skills needed to be successful readers. 
While Nathan isn't the strongest reader he is a willing student and will try something new if it means he can improve his skills. He is also willing to try something again after a break. Since we had not used Reading Kingdom lately he asked me to give it a try again. Of course we had a computer system crash during our review period, but thankfully since the program is online it didn't effect using the program. 
We did find a couple of minor issues related to successfully using the program. Our computers aren't new machines (actually most of the machines in this house are at least 7 years old), older machines don't always respond as fast on webpages as newer machines. We found that even with a high speed internet connection, we still experiences some delay in the response to answers with the activities; that delay caused some frustration for Nathan as he was always waiting for the next question or waiting for his answer to appear on the screen. (I am working on fixing some of the issues on our end). 
The other thing we found frustrating was the story books seems slow to respond and they seemed to have a lot of graphic effects that we had to wait for to move on. 

Both Nathan and Mommy really wanted this program to be a huge success and I think it can be as we improve our computer situation. We are both enjoying the time on the computer and the colorful images that go along with the program. Nathan is nearly 8 years old and reading below his marked 3rd grade level, however is comprehension level is far beyond 3rd grade at nearly a 6th grade level, so we are working toward improving his reading through computer games as well as focused reading time . We are also using flash card and sight words to improve success with the basics. Thankfully we found a free resource on Reading Kingdom  with their Super Sight Word list. Nathan also has a magnet for his activity scheduler featuring Reading Kingdom, he still insists on putting his Reading Kingdom magnet on his schedule and is determined that we will use the program at least 3 times a week. I am grateful for his determination and drive to improve his skills .
You can follow Reading Kingdom on Twitter, and even check out their Facebook page.
You can even read what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of the program by clicking on the button below.

Hall of Doors Book 1 plus Unit Study from Progeny Press

I am always looking for interesting age appropriate stories for Cameron to read that can be worked into school activities. When I was given the opportunity to review a book and unity study from Progeny Press I saw a door opening for Cameron..
Progeny Press is not an unfamiliar company to us. We actually used the Progeny Press Unit Study for, The Hobbit (although modified) a couple of years ago. and really enjoyed it.
Using Progeny Press, the students will need access to a dictionary, a thesaurus  and Bible (we used KJV although NIV is recommended), some internet access can be very useful , and a copy of the book being studied.

We started out by reading aloud the Hall of Doors: Dragon's Hoard by Rebecca Gilleland. The book is graded at a 2nd -4th grade level which was a perfect fit for both boys. I read the first 3 chapters to them on a short road trip. Cameron read the rest of the chapters.  Each chapter is short enough to hold their attention , but detailed enough to move the story along. Illustrations by Mary Duban add hints of the story but are not distracting to the reader. Each chapter is 5-6 pages plus an illustration with a nice easy to read font. (That has been an issue for Cameron lately)
The story focuses on 2 siblings and their journey through the first door in a mysterious hall of doors inside their barn. They encounter talking crows, a dragon, elves, and larger spiders along their journey, a story in a book with clues they must follow. The clues within the story help them in their own journey to follow the true King.
The Biblical message in the story is subtle and not pounded on which makes the story almost like a C.S.Lewis Narnia story.
The paperback book retails $6.99


The interactive pdf unit study guide is engaging and can be done as we did without ever printing anything. Cameron worked through the pages for each chapter typing his answers. Once he was finished with the various activities he would print those pages as a new pdf file and send them to me via email. He was able to practice more skills than just a standard literature study; typing, saving, printing, and emailing in addition to his comprehension, sentence, grammar , etc.. skills.
The Study Guide is available for $15.99 as a download or CD and $16.99 as a printed booklet. We received the download and are already planning on having Nathan work through the study guide later this year since we made the decision to let Cameron work through this product on his own.
The boys are already looking forward to more of the Hall of Doors books and possible unit studies over the next year or so. I love that they are excited about a series of books that have a strong Christian Worldview, even with the magic/make believe elements.
The books and the coordinating study guides are a worth the cost. The books stand on their own, and when the study guides are added you get the additional educational benefits of a literature based study guide. You don't have to take my word for it, you can read more Schoolhouse Review Crew opinions by clicking on the button below.

Stories of Long Ago with Salem Ridge Press

Reading historical fiction has always been one of my favorites, so I thought I could instill that love of history through reading to my boys. Reading stories of the past somehow makes studying the historical timeline more interesting, or at least that is my thought. We were given the opportunity to review a book from Salem Ridge Press, we selected The Magic Runes  , by Emma Leslie.

Salem Ridge Press is working to bring back children's book written in the 1800's and early 1900's to create a library of living books for the next generation.  Since we are eclectic homeschoolers I love the idea of living history, making history come alive through great stories, although these books really fit into many styles and methods of homeschooling.
I love the story behind the company found on their website, finding companies that are run by homeschoolers or homeschool graduates is so inspiring to me as a homeschool mom.

The Magic Runes by Emma Leslie is a wonderful story of the early church under the rule of Charlemagne and is recommended for readers 10 and up.  The soft cover retails for $10.95 , a hardcover is also available for $20.95. We received the softcover which is perfect for young hands to hold on to.
The story starts in 782 A.D in  France and Saxony. A young girl Adalinda comes across Godrith and his family hiding in the woods near her home. The family is in need of help but leery of the help because Adalinda and her family are Christians. Godrith doesn't trust her help as the Christian army of Charlemagne is responsible for burning Godrith's village in Saxony.
The story continues and leads to a glimpse into the early Christians.
Cameron struggled reading this book due to the old english style writing. We haven't quite finished the book yet (although I quickly skimmed the end of the book and no I'm not giving it away). Since Cameron is a delayed readers this book was actually above his level of reading which caused him to struggle with comprehension and retention for the story. We ended up doing much of it as a read a loud with Mommy reading and average of 1 page a day so he could retain the story.  Personally I really enjoy the old world style writing and will be bringing the story out again as we reach Charlemagne in history. I did work hard to make sure Cameron got one of the points I felt stood out. As Christians we are to love our neighbors no matter what, and we need to show that love to them in a way that reflects God's love for us.  (even when it seems hard!)
You can even read the first chapter of the book from the website


Looking through the list of books published by Salem Ridge Press, I have created a wishlist of wonderful books to add to our collection of history stories. The Junior Church History Set , a set of 5  church history books is a nice starter set and the 12 Book Church History Set includes books on the early church as well as   the medieval church.  I love the variety on levels and historical periods covered by Salem Ridge Press, oh to have an unlimited budget and space to store all these wonderful titles.

Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed a variety of books from  Salem Ridge Press, their thoughts can be found HERE

ABeCeDarian, the answer to a Mom's prayer for reading help

I firmly believe in not forcing reading on a child that isn't ready. That said, both my boys were/ are delayed readers so by they time they were ready to read, the options for age appropriate beginning reading programs is limited. We use McGuffey's eclectic readers because of the not frilly basic design of the books , but  Nathan was struggling even with that, so when I was given the opportunity to review ABeCeDarian Reading Program I was not only intrigued by grateful.

ABeCeDarian Reading Program is a program that focused on phonemic, phonics, and fluency that can help ages 5- adult. The beginning program can be used in several ways including as a basic reading program which is what I was looking for.  

When I received our books I decided to do a quick assessment / review with Nathan to see where he was at comfort wise as well as if there was something that stood out as a struggle.  We were able to breeze through A-1 as far a reading , understanding, and writing (I had him practise on a piece of paper, rather than write in the workbook.)

We decided to see where we at in Student workbook A-2 and again found he was farther along then I thought. We decided to start with A-2 and do a little more than expected each day, using the Teacher's Manual  A-2 as a guide. The first thing Nathan and I both noticed about the Student workbook was the line format for writing, while it still uses the dotted line, it only uses two lines which for most kids I'm sure is unusual but since we are still happily working through our handwriting program using a 2 line format, this helped with continuity. 

The landscape format meant he could take up a huge amount of space and be comfortable on the work area. The Student Workbook retails for $12.25 which is a pretty reasonable price even if you wanted to use it alone.

The Teacher's Manual  A-2  also in the landscape format is filled with a ton of helpful hints, scripted directions, and general learning skills that at times seemed to structured to this Mom, but we found that Dad and even Gamma could help with school with this format. Nathan even noticed that we had more fun and could be a little more creative with games and activities when Mommy read the Teacher's Manual  A-2 . The Teacher's Manual retails for $28.50 but is full of so much information that the value is still high. 

Along with eh Teacher's Manual and Student Workbook,  ABeCeDarian Reading also has a set of 10 storybooks that fit in to the A-1 and  A-2 program. The readers are simple black and white drawings with simple sentence stories that coordinate with various lessons in the Student Workbooks. On the backside of each storybook the lesson and unit that it follows is given making planning crazy easy. Nathan's only real complaint with the storybooks was the fact that I was asking him to read bright pink storybooks. The bright color made it easy to find the books inside his file box, but didn't exactly excite my little guy. He was happy though as we worked through A-2 and began B-1 that the pink books would be done and he could move into the blue book. The set of 10 storybooks retails for $21.50 , while the stories fit the flow of the student workbooks, I'm still undecided with value. If budget were no issue then the value is good.

Finding a comfortable spot to read to Daddy makes reading a lot more fun for a boy who 8 weeks ago was not happy about reading.  Thankfully we were one of those selected to review  ABeCeDarian Reading  for the Schoolhouse Review Crew, but we weren't the only ones. You can read how the rest of the crew used the program HERE

Lone Star Learning = Hands on Learning with Picture Cards

Sometimes teaching new concepts in Math can be a challenge. We try and use manipulatives or life examples whenever we can, so I was happy to find a simple card set that would help give us visual examples that would be easy to understand.  Lone Star Learning has just the thing we were looking for. Target Vocabulary Picture Cards set 1 Math cards are colorful math vocabulary cards that incorporated pictures into the words to illustrate the concept.

word list from the product webpage: 

Set 1 Word List:

acute angle area circumference complementary angles cone congruent cube cylinder decimal decreasing diagonal diameter dividend divisor edge

equilateral triangle even exponent exterior face greater than hexagon horizontal increasing interior intersecting lines isosceles triangle less than line segment mean

median mode numerator/denominator obtuse angle octagon odd ordered pair parallel pattern pentagon perimeter perpendicular polygon radius range

ray reflection right angle rotation similar sphere supplementary angles symmetry translation vertical X axis Y axis

Going through the list of words I was able to break up the cards into sets for various lessons in math and specifically geometry: Shapes, Angles, math facts, lines, etc... Once I had the cards separated I introduced the boys to sets of cards and had then tell me what they say on the card in a narrative setting, then read the actual word, and finally in many cases find something in our surroundings that illustrated that concept.
The cards are designed to cover a fairly large age range from 1st grade through middle school so we will continue to use the cards in a variety of activities. The $29.99 price tag at first seems steep, but as we began using them more and more I see a lot of value in these cards as well as a ton of other activities we can do incorporating the cards as we learn more about these math terms.
As a mixed method or eclectic homeschool Mom who dreams of having more Montessori style options for the boys, these cards have inspired me to think outside the traditional applications and begin working on more child lead hands on activities to incorporate learning more about angles, geometry, and even basic math concepts. My boys themselves have even gotten into the act, we are sketching out ideas that they would like to have on the shelves incorporating the cards as matching activities, conversation starters, etc...I love when a product inspires my boys not only to learn but to get involved in their learning.

The Schoolhouse Review crew reviewed these cards along with several other sets and their digital program.

The American Dream in an easy reading format with Abraham's Journey

The kids have heard the term "The American Dream" in several readings over the last few months and it wasn't a term I could explain simply enough for them to see the big picture and understand. As a self employed family, we don't depend on programs to help, we work to make it on our own whenever possible. I wanted the boys to see that making connections and getting your product or idea out there is a key element to living the American Dream of personal prosperity, but they were having trouble seeing outside of our own personal life style to see that concept.
Thankfully, we were introduced the Abraham's Journey , a easy reading formatted, soft cover book from Inspiring the American Dream.
The story takes a young boy who's family is out of work and the Christmas holiday looks pretty grim for and shows him that even a young boy can dream and achieve the iconic "American Dream" with a little inspiration and drive and modern networking skills.
My boys thought the story was a pretty good story, but couldn't believe a family that was struggling would have a fancy phone, but we decided most kids have smart phones now even if tough times.
While the story was whimsical there was still enough history to inspire dialogue with the boys and lead to digging online for other people in history that inspire the American Dream. We also talked about how the American Dream is more than just hard work and imagination; it takes faith in God as well as strong virtues and moral backbone.
I'm still unsure if I would recommend the book strongly: the price of $14.99 seems a little high for the content and size of the book, the age range of 7-12 years old is generally ok, although I think that I would narrow the age range to something a little closer together , maybe 7-9 as the reading level is pretty simple. We read the book as a read-a-loud with both boys and had open discussion about the various characters and their place in history as well as some of the virtues they exemplified. My 10 year old read it to himself, but was too distracted by the fact that the main character had a phone and was texting and interacting online with people, something I don't allow my boys to have/ do at this age.

You can see what other crew members thought of the book

Timeless books for boys from Grace & Truth Books

 

With two little boys growing up in a very modern world, I am always on the look out for stories that are timeless and filled with good moral value stories. I was grateful to receive two such books from Grace&Truth Books 

The first book we received Gerrit and His Dog was age appropriate for Cameron to read alone.Cameron has been reading about a page a day as his quiet time reading and has enjoyed the story. We talk about various lessons in the story and character traits as he reads. He often will rush outside to tell Daddy about the story. He wants a dog so bad that I think reading a story about a boy and his dog has lit a fire in him. 

The second story is a surprise for Cameron as he hasn't quite finished the story yet. I hope and pray he will be inspired by the story at the end of the book as much as he has with the first story.

The book retails for $5.50 and can be purchased from Grace&Truth Books ' website. 

The second book we received  A Faithful Boy's Influence was a surprisingly perfect devotional story with Nathan.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be appropriate for a 7 year old, but as we read it together I could see his attitude changing, while we are still working on some issues of character and attitude there is hope.  The second half of the Book is actually perfect for our little family. Ear's for Little Gleaners is a collection of Sunday School lessons so at times it reads like little sermons but it was again a perfect fit for Nathan. It stirred him to pay more attention when we have our devotion time (snuggle time as he calls it).  The book  A Faithful Boy's Influence retails for $6.25 and is worth it and then some. 

 Grace&Truth Books has so many wonderful books I could spend hours searching and if I had the budget for it I could fill our shelves with so many wonderful treasures from the Christian book store. 

They also have a wonderful Facebook page filled with encouragement.  I encourage you to check out their Facebook as well as their Store

The Schoolhouse Review Crew members received a variety of wonderful books from  Grace&Truth Books and share their thoughts on their blogs

disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew I received the above mentioned books in exchange for my honest thoughts on the books.

2 week trial of Reading Eggs

Are you looking for a fully developed program to help your child with their reading skills?

Reading Eggs is one of those programs. Developed by teachers, educational writers, animators and web developers Reading Eggs will engage and help your child improve their reading skills with a focus on the core reading skills and strategies for children ages 3 to 12.

More than 500,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada since its launch in 2011 have been presented with more than 15 millions lessons.

My readers will received a Free 2 week trial of reading eggs, with no credit card required  

You have nothing to lose and your child has everything to gain in improved reading skills. 

We have used the program in the past and are very excited to get started again, I hope you will join us!

Activity Bags , fun and educational options for Science and Math #hsreviews

We were so excited to learn we were going to be reviewing a sampling of the Activity Bags series of e-books. If you aren't familiar with the Activity Bags series it is an amazing collection of e-books filled with predesigned activities for Science, Math, Reading, Preschool, and Travel. The pages of the e-books are printed and arranged into Gallon sized zipper style plastic bags for storage and plastic page protectors and binders for travel.
If you aren't sure what you want to teach or how you are going to prepare your hands on science activiites or Math acitivites that your children can grab and go, this is probably one of the very best solutions around.
With some prep work that the kids can help with, Activitiy Bags will become a treasure in your homeschool.
We reviewed Science 1,  , and Science 3 as well as Math.

Science 1 contains 25 activities covering Biology, General Science, and even Nature studies.
The boys were excited to be able to "do" science and once they realized that all the work building the bags meant hands on science activities where Mom didn't have to do a ton of work ahead of time, they were even more excited. 
We started off with a trip to Walmart to pick up some colored printer paper and card-stock along with some gallon ziplock style bags. Most of the remaining items we found around the house.  I also stocked up on a few snack size and sandwich size bags to store some of the miscellaneious supplies in.
To make my life a little easier, I started out by printing the cover of each of the 4 e-books we would be using and the table of contents for each one as well.
Our next step was to select the activities we would be building for this round. (I wanted to build a good sampling for the boys with the goal of eventually have all 75 science bags built)
We started out with Catch a Web, Bird Seed, Balloon Skewer, and Feasting Yeast. A nice collection of easy to understand and fun to do experiments. These also led to exploring other nature and Biology elements around our house during the harvest season. (We talked about bugs a lot, we watched the birds eat having a better understand of the 'bird seed' and we explored yeast and cultures that are all around us since Mommy is experimenting with Lacto Fermentation in foods)
Next we worked on Science 2  and explored Chemistry, the Human Body and some more General Science studies. I again printed the Cover and Table of Contents and went through the list with the boys and selected a few activities to build. We decided to go with Calling Long Distance, Color Confusion, Cork it, and Taste Test. I have already selected 5 more to create for them for the holiday break when we do more fun stuff and not so much traditional school.
The boys love that they can do the experiments over and over again and actually play science with activities like Calling Long Distance where they built a "phone" to learn about sound waves but also pretend to call people even each other.






Our final , Science 3 explores Chemistry alone and is Nathan's favorite from the 3. (I think he is going to become a Chemist or something in that line of work.).
Same drill, printed the Cover and Table of Contents,  this time I looked over upcoming lessons a bit more and found a couple of overlaps so made sure to include those activities, the first was easy Green Copper as Cameron was going to be doing that same experiment with his co-op class when they studied the Statue of Liberty and the copper turning green. Lots of Lava, Seltzer Rocket, and Soda Blaster where next on the list as Nathan kept asking if we could blow things up so I found things that would "blow up". I ended this first set with Wheres the Water as I was working on another blog article and happen to have a few diapers (not something we keep around much anymore). So far, we have made messes, learned lots, and found out how much the boys love science. Mommy thinks we will end up with a complete set of 75 science activities before the end of the year.
I did decide I am going to sort the activities and store them in either drawers or milk crates. One photo on the website shows a laundry basket and I think that would work but would take up a lot of space. I am temporarily storing the science bags in 12 x 12 scrapbook file boxes in our cubbies  since I have less than 20 so far.

Stepping away from Science a bit, we also received the Math. activities Bags e-book.  The Math Games in a Bag has 33 activities covering a nice range of math skills. I printed the activities list and the Cover and began selecting the activities. This one posed a different challenge, with 2 boys at slightly different math levels I had to decide which activities to focus on and which skills needed the most work. To make it more economical I decided to pick a couple that I had pieces either already made or things I can use instead of printing. The first bag to get built , Math Blocks. This one I didn't have to print the colored pieces as I just pulled out our real math blocks and incorporated some into the bags. I also went through and picked out ones that could be bagged together with like pieces (the dice activities made sense so I could put all the masters in page protectors and just 1 set of dice). Double Digits, How Many Dots, Multiplication Toss, and Stacks of Money ended up in one bag with just a single pair of dice. The boys' favorites for the Math Games have to be Dot to Dots and Family Menu. I think I actually need to reprint Dot to Dots and have it laminated for wear as they love this one the most.  Who knew a little challenge between brothers could be so much fun. Actually Mommy gets in on this one as often as she can. I did find have 2 different colored dry erase makers or crayons comes in handy with this one.
One activity got a slight modification just because that is the way I roll, I loved the idea of Turn of the Card, but didn't want the boring card-stock numbers, so I included a deck of cards with just the A-9s.That gave them 4 sets (actually I used 2 sets of cards so we could all play).

I have the Travel and Reading e-books as well but will be showing those as part of our upcoming road trip travel binders, Homeschooling on the Road with Daddy.

Each of the Activity Bags e-books can be purchased for $15.00 or in bundles for the Science and Preschool  for $27.00. If you aren't sure about if your children will like them, you can take a survey and receive a sample file with a nice variety of samples for free.
You can also rest in knowing that this product was created by a couple of Homeschool Moms who created this to fill that need of what to do with the little ones while you school your older ones.
I have fallen in love with the Activity Bags e-books and can't wait to see the upcoming Craft Bags, but you really don't have to take my word for it, the Schoolhouse Review Crew shares their thoughts on the program as well.

disclaimer: I received the above mentioned ebooks as I member of the Schoolhouse Review crew in exchange for our honest review of the product. No monetary compensation was received.

Samson makes learning fun online #hsreviews

Have you met Samson?
Samson's Classroom is a fun interactive learning program focusing on Dolch sight words, spelling, and Reading with comprehension.
Sometimes I think I take our schooling too seriously, thankfully  Samson's Classroom is fun and silly engaging the boys without a lot of stress.
I started out with a single sign on  to give it a test drive myself and the boys, it didn't take long for them to ask for their own accounts. The idea that a single program can incorporate three critical areas of learning in one sure makes this Mom excited.
The prices for Samson's Classroom also excited this Mom. With packages starting at only $30 a year and a family package for $50 I can see the value as this trio of subjects really are critical to successes later in life. Since my oldest is inthe 4th grade, it isn't a program that I will continue much farther with him, but my 2nd grader engaged and enjoyed this program enough that I am seeing his attitude toward reading improve.

The games are colorful and fun as well as encouraging. The boys are eager to do the assignments to earn more chances with the games.

Sight word activities that teach listening and visual recognition also encourage more learning.

More games that encourage learning while improving computer skills.  This game in particular is challenge with the keyboard to move Samson around the board and once all the letters are collected  and arranged into the spelling words.

I know we as a family have been blessed by the change in attitude because of this program, a willingness to learn and enjoy the learning is a such passion for my husband and I.
Don't take my excitement for this program as the final word, check out what the rest of the crew thought, here


disclaimer: I received an online subscription to Samson's Classroom in exchange for my opinion here, no monetary compensation was received. 

Highlighting the words, a colorful approach #hsreviews

I am always interested in tools to help make reading easier for all my boys (husband included). My husband is mildly dyslexic and has always been concerned one of our boys would be. I was very interested in trying the Eye Level Reading Ruler from Crossbow Education.

 When we received our package of 10 rulers I immediately tried them myself to see what kind of effects they would have. I am a prolific reader and as a young child was diagnosed with lazy eye, after years of visual training and wearing glasses I have been able to basically ignore it and not worry about it. After trying several of the rulers myself, I began to think this would have been an amazing tool even for me, changing the color of the words actually changed how I focused on the page.

I was excited to try it with Cameron and Daddy.  I gave the group of rulers to my husband and had him pick a couple to try. He ended up with a yellow and an orange or peach colored rulers. He read a few pages from the Bible as well as several other books and really noticed how much easier it was to follow the words and focus on the words.
Cameron tried out several and went with lighter colors included a light blue and yellow.
I found it interesting that neither one went with the darker tones. I actually enjoyed the darker colors as for me often times the white pages and black letters are too highly contrasted.

Cameron isn't an eager reader, but over the last month I have noticed a significant change in the amount of reading he is doing and an improvement in his attitude toward reading. He is less stressed about his reading assignments and more relaxed when reading his devotional.  He also figured out that the reading ruler makes a great tool for working on word searches for homeschool co-op.
While he isn't a diagnosed case on dyslexia or visual stress I am grateful for the tool to take some of the stress out of reading for him.

A pack of 10 colored reading rulers retails for $16.95, there is also a 5 pack available from Crossbow Education. I feel their is so much value in the 10 pack especially if you are using them with more than 1 person.  I have found Cameron actually uses the rulers as bookmarks in his books so he can grab his book and be ready to go.
Don't just take my word for how amazing this product is, check out what the rest of the crew thought.

disclaimer: We received a package of 10 reading rulers to review and share our opinion here. No monetary compensation was received.