Critical Thinking

Have you noticed that in the times we live in today common sense seems to be disappearing? I attribute some of the loss to the amount of media we spend our time in front of. When things are fed to us we don't exercise the part of the brain that reasons and figures our for ourselves.

We were blessed to receive 2 different levels of books from The Critical Thinking Company. I have looked at their books for some time now but I had not made the investment yet. I am going to be very open and honest here. Two of my kids, our oldest twins, were born in Africa and an issue they have at times is critical thinking. This didn't come from huge amounts of media time for them. It more had to do with environment and malnurishment.

We were given Level 1 for grades 2-3 and Level 2 for grades 4-6. I am beyond impressed. The exercises on each page are short and easy to follow. They can read the instructions themselves and know what to do with very little help from me. Often times when I am not quite ready to start school yet, the twins have gone out to the school room and retrieved their critical thinking books to get started. At $29.99 they were a little on the high on the price side but when I actually got the books in my own hands I changed my tune. The books are very thick and will last my kids quite awhile making this a worthwhile investment.

I think they secretly like doing the activities and I am enjoying the increase in reasoning skills. The Critical Thinking Company has a large amount of activities, puzzles etc. I love looking at all they have to offer and after trying out these workbooks I will be investing in more of what they have to offer. Click on the links in this post to check them out for yourself.

Bible Songs

We have great memories of bible song CD's when we had 5 kiddos 6 years old and younger. We would play them in the car and then listen to them sing them over and over while playing. Very cute. As they are getting older the requests to listen to them has almost disappeared. Music is still very important in our home and we always have a radio or CD going in the car.

We were sent a new Bible Song CD from Bible Songs to try out. There are six double-length albums to choose from and we recieved The Bible CD. I put the CD on and immediately my 4, 6 and 8 year olds were drawn to the living room to listen. Plus it has been requested several times since. I love hearing the little tunes here and there during the day while they do different activities. Music is a great way to help with memorization and listening to this kind of a CD is a great way to hide the Word in their little hearts.

The songs are cute and fairly short making them easy to memorize, though lyrics are included. The CD is $9.99. I found the price very reasonable as the CD has 32 songs totalling close to an hour of listening. There are many other items available for purchase as well through Bible Songs. Check them out!

Knowledge Quest - Homeschooling ABC's

This is my first full year homeschooling all of my children. When given the opportunity to try out the Homeschooling ABC's class from Knowledge Quest starting last fall I was thrilled. The timing could not have been more perfect. It can be overwhelming when you first get started. What curriculum do I choose? How much is enough? How much is too little? Am I teaching everything that I should be? Where do I even start? All of these questions are normal and ones worth asking.

Terri Johnson at Knowledge Quest has created an online course called Homeschooling ABC's and it has 26 lessons. You receive an email once per week with a link to your lesson for the week for 6 months. At $10 per month you are only paying $2.30 per lesson. What a great deal! Really this has been a blessing to me as I try to figure out how schooling at home will look for us. It is really a step by step process, going through the basics of what you need to get started. There is even a lesson about what to do with your perschool and Kindergarten age children. This was very helpful to me as I have a busy 4 year old that I need to school around.

If you are person who is thinking about home educating, someone who has just begun or even someone who would like to get back to basics then this class is for you. I loved that I could take these lesson upstairs on my laptop and read them when my kids were in bed. Transitioning kids from public school to home educating can be difficult. They are used to a certain way of doing things and Terri walks you through helping you transition with your child. The classes address things such as buying and selling curriculum, discovering your child's learning style, staying organized, teaching multiple ages and much more.

I appreciated the advice and information that Terri provides in these lessons. There are very few things more important than your child's education. These lessons are a great way to set you and your children up for a successful homeschooling experience.

Write Shop StoryBuilders

Getting creative juices flowing where writing is concerned isn't always easy. Trying to get a learning child going and you can be looking at a struggle. We were given the opportunity to try out two different storybuilders from Write Shop, World of Sport and World of Animals.

At first I wasn't sure about the concept. They are e-books and so printing is required but after the initial figuring it out period, I am impressed. These are meant to be used as a warming up activity before a writing exercise. They originally had a program geared towards teens and parents but have recently introduced a program geared towards grades 1-3. This was perfect for us. There is nothing more important that learning how to write well. Most college courses require well written papers and I have been wanting to focus more on writing this year. This is a great icebreaker activity. It is also an activity that the student can do on their own while I am working with another one.

The storybuilder sets are available immediately by download. They are card decks meant to printed out and then used as a launching pad for writing projects. The process is meant to be fun and at $7.95 per set they are very affordable. With each deck comes instructions and ideas for how to use the cards. The card decks are split into four categories: characters, traits, setting and plot. You can combine sets if you wish or leave them seperate and give to more than one child at a time. There are so many ideas in each set, with almost 200 cards in each one, you will not be wanting for more choices.

I am loving this for my kids, particularly for my 6 year old. She is a beginning reader and emerging writer. She can choose a card from each category and write a story about what is on the cards. For instance her character would be a butterfly, the trait kindhearted, the setting behind a waterfall and the plot is learns to fly. This sets up the bones of a story that the child can now fill in with details. It is a great way to gently introduce your child to creative writing. I have a couple of older students that this works great for. Imaginative thinking is more of a challenge for them and little nudge goes a long way in getting them started.

Take a look at Write Shop to look at the sets available. I like this product very much and give it an A+ for content and value.

All About Homophones from All About Spelling

All About Spelling has done it again and I so impressed. The All About Homophones is a book available as either an e-book or a softcover version for those of you like me who like to have the book in your hands.

Homophones are those pesky words in the English language that sound alike, are spelled differently and mean very different things. Words like to, two and too or hey and hay. Teaching them also can be a bit tedious and the ordinary worksheet approach isn't always the most engaging. They are important to teach, however, and here is Marie Rippel to the rescue.

The book is 240 pages long and intended to creatively teach students grades 1-8. Wow! 240 pages. I do like that when I am ready for the next section I can just go to my computer and print out the pages I need. I also found the worksheets to be interesting but without too much fluff that would overwhelm a couple of my students. The book also includes crossword puzzles using the learned homophones. I particlurly like this feature as I have a few kids that love crossword puzzles.

The softcover book is $29.95 and the e-book is $27.95. Right now until next Monday, Feb 2, use the code FUN in the customer checkout to get $10 off. That would make the All About Homophones e-book just $17.95 or the softcover for $19.95. I think it's worth it and a great way to teach an important concept for a very good price. Check out the book at All About Homophones for more information.

ee Publishing and Nana Star

I have one four year old little boy who was pretty excited when we recently opened a box from ee Publishing. Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice are two sisters who developed the Nana Star world including a picture book series and huggable plushies to go with them. The based the series and characters on ones dreamed up by their grandmother. The stories are intended to build up children's faith and and modeling virtues such as compassion, kindness and generosity.

We were sent the book Nana Star and the Moonman ($15.95) to read. My little guy immediately wanted to get that Moonman plushie ($19.95) out of the box to hold while we read the story. The Moonman is adorable. He glows and plays a short lullaby when you hug him making him fun to snuggle over and over. The story a very sweet story about Nana Star trying to get Moonman home. The illustrations were beautiful as well making this is a very fun bedtime read. I was drawn in by the story as was my little listener. Included in the book is a CD of the story being read. A nice feature after mommy has read the book several times already. We have been reading this one over and over and over and wherever my son goes lately, Moonman is not far behind.

As well as the book series and plushy, the ee publishing company also has other products for you to look at. The company's mission is "to give and believe in compassionate corporate citizenship" and as a result a portion of all Nana Star proceeds go to the Nana Star Foundation helping terminally ill children and under resourced inner city schools. I love knowing that my dollars are being put to good use when I purchase a product. Go to the Nana Star website for more information and product ordering.

Kids Wealth Money Kit

As I am sure everyone knows, times are tough in our economy right now. The pinch is being felt everywhere. We have been talking for the last year with our kids about the way we spend money so when we were sent kits for them to try from Kids Wealth , we were very excited. Now, more than ever, is the time for teaching our kids how to handle money wisely. For too long our generation has been used to getting everything right now when we want it. We own our homes long before our parents did and are driving cars just like they do without the years of working for it first and it has set unrealistic expectations for our children.

What you see above is what comes in the kit. There is a contract for the parents and kids to sign stating how much the parent will be giving the child to manage each month. It is meant for an allowance type of situation but since we don't do allowance we have decided to set it up on money earned for work done at home and money they earn outside of our home as well as any gift money the kids may receive.

The kit is set up with 5 envelopes reminescent of Crown Ministries. I love this because we had just finished a Crown Ministries kids financial curriculum with our kids a few months before. It feels like we are building on what we have already started. The envelopes you see in the picture on the right are tied to character development and teach about a particular area. They are wealth, plan, learn, fun and angel. Wealth is for saving money to put towards things like savings bonds or college accounts. Plan is for long term goals of saving for specific items the kids would like to save for. Learn is meant to be used for items the kids would like to use for school above and beyond the basics that we provide such as an extra chemistry kit or book series. The fun envelope is meant to be used for what it says, something fun they would like to do. The last is the angel envelope which is used for their tithe money.

I love that this kit is very interactive. The Game Tracker and Activity workbooks keep the kids engaged and part of the process. This hands on kit makes learning about money fun which is important in helping them to take ownership of what they are learning. Learning how to handle money is an invaluable skill and one that can make or break a future very early on.

For $39.95, you choose the Blue or Purple kit and the following is included:

Parents Guide: Instructs you on how to get started on the program in 30 minutes.
Kid's Guide: The Kal & Pals characters teach your children what each KidsWealth Account Wallet is for and how to use them.
Account Wallets: The five KidsWealth Account Wallets are color-coded, durable and portable; perfect for young kids getting hands-on experience with real money.
Kid's Pay Calendar with Kid's Pay Stickers: The calendar and stickers allow kids to keep track of their Kid's Pay days, decorated with wonderful scenes of Kal & Pals.
Kid's Pay Agreement: A tool to help you and your kids keep the program running consistently each month.
Five KidsWealth Pencils, a Calculator and decorative Kal & Pals stickers.

The money kit from Kids Wealth is a great resource and tool to build a solid foundation for learning how to manage money. We will be using these kits for quite some time as we continue to help our kids practice this important life skill. Check out Kids Welath for more information.