Keyboard Town Pals Typing in our #Homeschool #hsreviews

Keyboard Town Pals is an interactive online program to teach basic QWERTY keyboard skills to students ages 6 and up. The program uses puppet style characters and a community keyboard to teach students where the various keys are.  The program is a very relaxes comfortable environment to learn in.

I set up the program for my 6 year old who is our local computer geek in training, he has been using the keyboard for a while and actually we used an old unplugged keyboard to help him learn letter recognition when he was younger.

Nathan and I used the program a couple times to see how he liked it, I had hoped he would work through the whole program but that didn't happen. As a mom of 2 boys I pick my battles and if something is a battle in the classroom I will usually step back and look at what is the battle and decide if it is worth a fight before I require the boys to do something. When it comes to typing and learning to type I decided if the program wasn't working for him but the desire to learn was still there it wasn't worth the fight.  We talked about what he didn't like about the program and came up with some things.
First, he isn't a big puppet fan so having the program based on puppets really didn't fit well with him.
Second, the program while thorough didn't move fast enough for him. (I am actually going to try him on my typing program from when I was a kid)
Finally, and this isn't a negative toward the program but more of a personal thing, he is so use to another subject using street terminology that he kept getting confused and then frustrated.  Keyboard Town Pals uses directionals for key rows: Homekey Street,  Down Town, and Up Town.

I can see this being a wonderful program for kids that interact well with puppet style characters and need the repetitive style learning. While it wasn't a good fit for us, I think some students will benefit from this program. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling, finding the perfect fit for our children.  There are several resources of interest available on their website as well as articles. The program in a download single user license retails for $30 which is very reasonable. If you look through their shop they carry a variety of add-ons to the program as well.

Check Keyboard Town Pals out on Facebook  and twitter  for more interactions.
 You can also check out what other Crew Members thought of the program HERE





We received a online trial of Keyboard Town Pals as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew in exchange for our review of the program. All opinions are honest and personal, no other monetary compensation was received. 

Fall into Fashion with Cookie's Kids #LuvCookies #cbias

When we first learned of Cookies Kids I was very excited to check out their boys' lines. Having two boys and clothing them fashionably has been hard lately. One the prices of boys clothes are crazy high and the availability of quality looking is very low.

When I found out we had been selected to try Cookies Kids thanks to our friends at Collective Bias, I was over joyed.

C's birthday was earlier this month and I knew I wanted to get him some new clothes and N needed some fall play clothes as well, so off to the Internet we ventured.

Usually our shops take us to a local store but since we aren't in New York City, this shop took us to the amazing and fun Internet store Cookies Kids.  The website is super easy to navigate and there are lots of deals including an amazing clearance section and fun gifts with purchase available.  You can sign up to receive updates from the website where they will send you coupon codes and more gift with purchase type things. 

We searched through the site for dress clothes as C loves to dress up for church and other family functions. I have to say their prices were amazing as was the selection of dress clothes for boys.  Of course with 2 boys I also searched the play clothes and sets sections where I found the Monster Jam Monster truck set for Nathan and then the tops section where I found the Ninja tag-less shirt for Cameron.

I also found Cameron a pair of thermal pajamas and Nathan an awesome Green Lantern layered shirt.  

In the more basics department I picked up a pack of socks since no matter how hard I try I can never find a pair of socks for these two boys. We went with basic white and got a 6 pack so each of them got 3 pairs of socks.

Ordering was easy and shipping was reasonable, although if you get their coupons via email they send coupon codes on occasion for free shipping at certain price points. Since this was our first order with them, I decided not to increase the order for free shipping.. 

It did take a little longer than I had hoped to receive the order but I think part of that was weather related as the East Coast got hit with a fall snow storm. 

Here is a little video I put together of the reveal. I didn't get a chance to video the boys opening the box as they tore into it before I could get the camera turned on.

You can also check out our mini fashion show and park play date featuring Cookies kids HERE

Be sure to check out CookiesKids.com on Facebook and Twitter for more coupon codes and fun discussions related to raising and clothing your kids. 

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias  All experiences and opinions are that of the author.

"The Person I Marry" Beautiful Book from Bower Books

This beautifully illustrated book by husband and wife team  Gary and Jan Bower introduces children to the idea of waiting and praying for the perfect mate. This book also reinforces strong moral character traits that young children understand as well as ideas that sometimes young adults need gentle reminders in .

When we found out we were to review this book for the Homeschool Crew I immediately knew I wanted to share the story with my creative writing class of 3rd graders for several reasons. First in simple words the story moves through all the wonderful parts of a relationship, second, the poetry element is clear and reads beautifully, third and most importantly was the fact that most of the kids in the class including my boys were to attend a wedding in October.  I picked the class session the week of the wedding in hopes that the Bride to be could attend if even for just the one class. She was able to make it and as I read the book the kids could relate to the story through not only the beautiful color illustrations but also that fact that the Bride to be was right there with us enjoying the story as well.  (it also helped that the Bride to be was a blond and the Groom to be a darker haired young man)

We reviewed a digital copy and enjoyed reading it on my net-book. A storybook that is so sweet sometimes doesn't sit well with my boys (they are boys' boys) but this book they actually listened to me read.

I would highly recommend this book as a gift book as well as a wonderful storybook for families. The strong Christian values in this book make it a perfect book for young families wanting to talk to their children about purity, honor, love, and relationships. I love that the authors gathered bits of "wisdom" from their own children to include in the book. This book is a true treasure.

Check out what the rest of my crew mates thought of the book HERE





***We received a digital copy of this book in exchange for our opinion and honest review****

Lesson Plans for the week of November 7th #homeschool #lessonplans

So I decided to share my lesson plans for the week.

Cameron:
Scripture for the week:  Proverbs 12: 17, 28
Math: we are trying a new program for supplemental work (I will post our review next week)
Science: Rockets (he received a fun science kit for his birthday and wants to do it this week)
Reading: Mouse and the Motorcycle (Reading with Daddy)
History: Civil War (he only gets 1 day of History this week, we are spreading it out so he doesn't get obsessed with it)
Art: New program we are introducing including a little Art History

Nathan:
Scripture: Genesis 1: 1, 31
Math: Math-U-See Introduction to Math Lesson 24 and 25
Science : Rockets with brother
Reading: not sure yet, we are going to pick a new program to try this week
Art:  Program with brother


We also have Cameron's youth group field trip for Operation Christmas Child on Tuesday, Homeschool Co-Op on Wednesday , and an full evening of activities Thursday including our monthly Gleaner's meeting.

Ooka Island online phonics and reading activities #hsreviews

Nathan and I were asked to review Ooka Island and online reading and phonics gaming environment.

 Ooka Island is an Early Reading program with games and books in a fun online environment where the child is the hero on a mission to rescue letters and sounds. The activities earn the children currency that can be used to buy things for their avatar character, things like clothing , toys , and music for the jute box.

The game itself is installed on your computer through a large downloaded file and a high speed internet connection which means as long as you have  the space available on your computer and a high speed connection to download and run it.

I asked Nathan to give me his honest opinion of the program and since he is a little geek in training (I mean that in the nicest way honest) I figured he would give it to us straight.

Nathan's thoughts on Ooka Island:  the sound cave games and the alphabet mountain games were fun , the robot is kinda cool, and the cake game was neat;  the program repeats a lot and doesn't move on as fast as he thinks it should, each of the storybooks gets read at least twice and that wasn't exciting.  Another thing, the sticker rewards are cool, better than the currency rewards according to Nathan.

Mommy's thoughts on Ooka Island:  The 2 gig file size was an issue for us even with our high speed internet it took about 2 hours to download, although once downloaded completely the install and set up was smooth.   We ran into some issues with our character not updating when he tried to change clothes and features, but that wasn't a huge issue as Nathan didn't pay much attention to the character mostly the games.. We  both liked the music that was used and the reinforcement activities (the same sounds were used in the various games through out the session).

Some people have asked if I would buy a whole year of the program, honestly I'm not sure if I would allocate $99.00 of our homeschool budget to the program since it is basically phonics and reading only, but that is mostly because I don't have the budget for a single subject costing more than  about $45 a year. Now, before you get to bothered by the above remark , it is based on the fact that with 2 boys and a short shoestring budget I have to find ways to stretch every homeschool dollar and even find programs that don't seem all that educational and make sure they have an educational benefit. That being said, if I had the budget and Nathan was a little younger I would find a way to at least get a 6 month subscription.

Check out what other members of the crew said about Ooka Island HERE









***I received a subscription to Ookas Island as a member of The Old SchoolHouse Crew in exchange for our honest opinion, I have tried to provide our honest of opinion of the product. No other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are that of the author and 6 year old son.****

Wordless Wednesday 11/2

Happy Birthday  Big Boy!

Review: Excellence in Literature #hsreviews

I will start off by saying this course is way above my boys' heads but I did not review this with them in mind. I actually reviewed it with my high school co-op students in mind.
I have to admit I love literature. I managed to fill my schedule in college with as many literature classes as I could possibly handle then added a few more just for fun, so I looked at
Excellence in Literature :: English I: Introduction to Literature with a college prep attitude.  I also see the flexibility of this program as a huge plus. While overall writing is a key element along with the reading of great literature, a group of students can easily hold discussions of the pieces rather than just writing essays about each piece. 


Excellence in Literature is available in both print and e-book format.  
Book 1 is available for $29 (plus S/H $4.95) in print or  $27.00 in e-book format.  


The book is 132 pages and is packed full of information to guide students through not only the literature but the historical context of the pieces and the art of writing and discussing the literature. There is also an honors element added to the book with additional works to read and discuss. 


Another great tool when planning lessons with in this program is the fact that many of these classics are available as downloads (e-books and audio books).  While I was going through the lessons I read some excerpts to my boys as I love reading classic literature to my boys while they play. 


The selections work into many homeschool methods but fit very well into the Charlotte Mason style of learning.  You can also read the author's blog , were she has a variety of articles to help with Excellence in Literature as well as homeschooling in general. 

 Another great tool is the Excellence in Literature Facebook Page with discussions about various works as well as the program it self. 
One last bonus, Check out the publisher's home page for bonus features and their newsletter sign up



 Check out what the rest of the TOS Crew thinks of this awesome program HERE


***I received an e-book copy of this book as part of the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew in exchange for my opinion of the book****