Unlike some of the products I review, everyone can afford this one…it’s FREE!

The American Heritage Education Foundation “is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America’s factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens.”

They have lesson plans for elementary, middle school, and high school. This curriculum seems geared more for a classroom, but I think most everyone can find something useful here. There are some good units on the symbols of our country like the Statue of Liberty and the Star Spangled Banner. We will be doing an activity next week from The History of Thanksgiving.

The Nitty Gritty:

• Download FREE
• Lesson Plan CD FREE
• Printed Binder $19.95

Things I Like:

• There are interesting topics for all ages.
• The lesson plans are broken up into themes, which makes it easy to just do a short unit.

Value: FREE!

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about AHEF!

I received two wonderful books to review for Bright Ideas Press.

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers filled a big gap for me. I had scheduled our Composer study for every Friday, but was having trouble piecing it all together. This book is one-stop shopping! It is written for grades 4-8, but is easily adaptable for younger grades. It is a full year’s curriculum, but it will last us much longer since we are just doing it one day a week. All of these wonderful resources are included:

• 32 weekly lessons
• 26 Bios of Famous Composers
• 6 Eras of Music Explained
• Easy-to-Use Comparative Timeline
• Easy-to-Use Maps
• Composer Info-Cards & Game Directions
• Note-Taking Pages
• Quizzes
• Answer Keys Listening Suggestions
• Intricate Coloring Pages
• Resource Books

The only thing I am not crazy about is the binding. It makes copying pages difficult – I will eventually have the spine cut off of mine. It is available in CD-Rom, but I like having the book in front of me while teaching. You can view sample pages HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

• CD-Rom       $29.95
• Paperback  $34.95

Things I Like:

• Lessons are written from the viewpoint that music is from the Lord.
• The composers are in chronological order.
• There is a good variety of activities.
• It is a very complete curriculum.

Value: Worth every penny.

(I am looking forward to the release of A Young Scholar’s Guide to Poetry!)

Over Our Heads in Wonder was the perfect way to kick off our school year. It is a lovely little science book that shows God’s power through studying the weather and the sky. These topics are discussed:

• Clouds
• Rainbows
• Sun
• Stars
• Snow
  
• Wind
• Storms
• Air

This book was written for grades K-5. We used it for our morning devotional time & it worked great for my whole gang. I think it could serve as a science curruculum for the younger grades. You can view sample pages HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

• $9.95 Paperback

Things I Like:

• The experiments use items commonly found around the house.
• Each section has its own Table of Contents. It is very easy to mix & match the lessons.
• My kids loved heading outside each day to observe God’s world in a new way.

Value: I think this is a great deal!

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about Bright Ideas Press!

I am an internet resource junkie. I love to find fun educational websites, and even set up a site to house all my links.  I’ve visited abcteach many times to make use of their 5,000+ free printables.

I’ve always wondered about the 35,000+ printables available to members … were they really worth the cost of admission? Well, I got to spend a month poking around on their site for free and found some wonderful things.

Here is a sampling of the resources to be found in the abcteach member area:

• unit studies
  
• file folder games
  
• science diagrams
• puzzles
• learning centers
• writing prompts
• poetry guides
  
• tons of seasonal/holiday activities.

Many of these types of activities can be found in the free section, so you might be wondering what good a paid membership would do you. Well, I’ll tell you in one word: customization. You can design your own worksheets, puzzles, notebooking pages, shape books and copywork.

There are several different fonts to choose from. This is a big deal to me because I have one child who uses traditional cursive, one who uses HWT cursive, and one who is still in manuscript print. I can easily whip up a copywork page for all of them in the style they prefer. You can try out the abctools here.

The Nitty Gritty:

$40 for 1  year / $70 for 2 years  **buy through Homeschool Buyers Co-op by November 30th & get 50% off your membership!!

Things I Like:

• There are so many activities from which to choose.
  
• Many of the pages have multiple uses.
• The ability to customize!!!!

Value: This will depend on the individual, but for me it is worth every penny if the only thing I ever use it for is making copywork sheets. (But I will be using it every week for all of the seasonal/holiday fun.)

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about abcteach!

I was very excited to receive my package from Virginia Soaps & Scents because I LOVE handcrafted soap. Are you wondering what reviewing soap has to do with homeschooling? Well, sometimes Mommy just needs a little Calgon time after a long day of teaching her little stinkers blessings. Oh. . . and it might be because the soap is made by homeschoolers LOL. My box held four samper soap bars and a laundry kit.

My soap sampler contained three soap bars and a shampoo bar. I smelled the Orange and the Coconut Lemongrass soaps (they smelled nice!) and then I never saw them again because the kids claimed them as their own.  I held on tightly to the Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap because it was mine, all mine!! It reminds me of an oatmeal cookie and is exactly what I imagine Autumn would smell like if you could gather it up and turn it into a bar of soap. Since this soap has natural oils in it, I decided to try it on my face. It left my skin so smooth and soft!

I really want to try the Christmas Scents, and speaking of Christmas, these would make very affordable gifts. You can buy 10 full size bars for $35.00, or purchase a Sampler of the smaller bars to split up for stocking stuffers.

The Shampoo Bar was a new thing for us. I only had so-so results with my thick, coarse hair, but I will definitely be buying this for my daughter & hubby. My daughter has a very sensitive scalp and most shampoos make her itchy. She loved the shampoo bar from the very first use and it makes her hair very soft & wavy. My husband picked it up one day & decided to use it on his face to shave. For the first time in years he wasn’t bleeding after he shaved! (His beard is extremely tough – he has a 5 o’clock shadow by noon. LOL)

I was amused by the clever little Laundry Soap Kit. It is a good way to try out their Cleaning Bar without investing in all the products. One kit makes enough for 64-72 loads of laundry and works in top- and front-loading washers. I think this would be a cute addition to a gift basket.

The Nitty Gritty:

• Soap – $4.50 each or 10 for $35.00
• Shampoo Bar – $5.50 or 2 for $10.00
• Laundry Soap Kit $4.95
• See website for more products & prices

Things I Like:

• The ingredients are pure and natural.
• The scents are strong enough to be smelled on the skin after washing, but they are not overpowering.
• Their products have multiple uses.
• They make beautiful and affordable gifts.
• My purchase supports a homeschool family.

Value: I think the soap is a great value! The cheapest I have ever seen handcrafted soap in our area is $6.95 a bar.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about Virginia Soaps and Scents!

My Access! is a web-based writing tool for kids ages 8-18. The student can choose from  a large selection of topics (or the parent can assign a topic), write about that topic, and then submit the writing to be scored. My Access! provides instant feedback and shows how the writing can be improved. The parent can easily keep track of each student’s progress. All parts of the writing process are covered:

• planning
• organizing
• drafting
  
• revising
• editing
  
• publishing
  

I really thought we were going to like this, but it just didn’t click with my family. It seemed a bit overwhelming. Many of my fellow Crew Mates seemed to enjoy it though, so we are going to give it another go and I will update with our results. You can check out some demos HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

• $99.95   12-month subscription for 3 children
• $129.95 12-month subscription for 6 children

Things I Like:

• Each step of the writing process is covered.
• It is easy to keep track of all your kids.
• The program sets goals for the revision of the writing.
• It is very self-motivating.

Value: I really think this depends on your need and the amount of students you have, but in my opinion is it a pretty good deal for up to 6 kids!

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about My Access!

One of the amazing things about the Amazing Bible Timeline is the size of the thing! We unrolled our timeline  and spread it out on the couch because it was too big to fit on the table.

The Amazing Bible Timeline is a unique way to mesh world history and the Bible. I like being able to compare the different lineages in the Old Testament and seeing which lives overlapped. I am not a fan of linear timelines because I want to see the whole picture. (Shh, don’t tell anyone or I might get my Homeschool Mommy license taken away. )

As much as we enjoyed looking at the timeline, there are some things that really bothered me about this review. The company that produces this timeline has another website for the LDS Book of Mormon Timeline and some of these Mormon references show up on the Amazing Bible Timeline. Now let me be clear here: I have no problem with them selling a Mormon version of their timeline. My problem is that there was no mention of any of this when we were sent the chart. Some of my fellow crew members discovered all of this after finding Mormon references in the timeline. I feel like this was all a bit deceptive, even if unintentional, and that I can’t fully trust all of the info on the timeline.

The Nitty Gritty:

$29.97 and it comes with two bonuses: Interactive Maps of the Holy Lands and Digital Amazing Bible Timeline

Things I like:

• I love being able to see how the people in the Old Testament overlapped each other. I’ve never had a clear picture of that before.
• I like the circular timeline.
• This is a high quality product – very thick and made to last.

Value:

This is a tough one. I will not be using this for a history resource, but I love it as an old Testament visual. You’ll have to make your own decision on this one.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about the Amazing Bible Timeline!

Note: I am doing a two-part review on this system. Shortly after receiving it to review, the company that employs my husband hit financial rocky water. I temporarily do not have the funds to set up the system the way Sue Patrick prefers, and I don’t want to give my opinion of how it works for us until I try it her way. I will review the e-book now & will update with our results!

Workboxes were all the rage this summer on the homeschool forums. I was immediately drawn to the idea for my two younger students. It would allow them to get some of their school work done without constantly asking Mommy what to do next. It seemed like a simple idea, and there were blogs aplenty with set-up info, so was there any reason to read the book? Well, after receiving a free copy to review, my answer would be YES!

Sue Patrick developed the Workbox System after her son was diagnosed with Autism. She has spent years fine-tuning her system and teaching  it to other families. (It works for all children, not just one with learning struggles.) The idea is simple: a shoe rack and twelve clear boxes are used to order a child’s daily work. The child works through the boxes in order and can see at a glance how much work is left.

Information abounds about how to set up workboxes, but Sue Patrick’s book contains so much more than that. She walks you through, step-by-step, the why & how of workboxes (with pics). I am a visual learner and this is a big deal to me. My favorite part of the book is when she shows how to customize different items for your children. She shows you how to set up learning centers using posters, and how to take a common worksheet and make it more interesting (again, with pics!). We are a non-textbook family and this was a big help to me.

I do feel the need to pass along the fact that Sue Patrick and I do not see eye to eye about a few things. (Not that we need to see things the same for me to benefit from her book, but she has very strong opinions about them.)

• She seems to be a “school at home” person – very structured and classroom-y. We do half of our work on the couch all together.
• She thinks you should focus on school, & only school, during school hours. I have 5 kids and things like switching out the laundry between subjects are a necessity around here.
• She thinks there is too much talking going on in homeschools. Not really gonna comment on this one, except to say we’ll have to agree to disagree
• She does not like people to “tweak” her system. I will be using the box system for my two younger ones, but a folder system for the older kids. Five students x 12 boxes = no room! I don’t think is it reasonable to expect big families to find that kind of money or space.

Having said all that, I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bath water just because we disagree on a few things. I just didn’t want you to be surprised. You can view sample pages HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

The e-book is $19.95. It includes a link to some basic forms to download. You can view her catalog HERE for more products that go along with the Workbox system.

Things I Like:

• The book has several ideas for creating learning centers and customized worksheets.
• This system gives my kids more control over their day and frees me up a little to help the ones who need one-on-one instruction.
• This is probably my favorite thing – it is easy to add in all those little fun educational projects that we never really get around to. I’m not a naturally organized person and this is a good fit for me.

Value: I think this is a reasonable price for the manual, the helpful photos, and the downloads. Like I stated before, I really benefit from the visuals.

See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about Sue Patrick’s Workbox system!

Nature Friend magazine was met with Oohs and Aahs as soon as it was pulled out of the mailbox. We received a free copy of the August and September issues. The photography is stunning! Everything about this magazine is beautiful, from the God-focused articles to the lovely thick paper on which they are printed.

There is no advertising in Nature Friend, so it is just page after page of fascinating animals, insects and natural habitats. We were excited to find an informative article on Cicadas since that was a popular topic in our home at the time. One of my favorite features is called Wondernose. It is fun to read the clues out loud as everyone tries to guess the mystery creature. The monthly drawing lessons are perfect for nature journals. You can view sample magazines HERE.

Our magazine included an 8-page Study Guide companion. It is conveniently bound into the middle of the magazine. The study guide reinforces the articles with puzzles, a writing assignment, and even a nature photography lesson. The study guide costs $2 a month. You can view sample study guides HERE.

The Nitty Gritty:

• $36 for a 1 year subscription
• $68 for a two year subscription
• $24 additional for 1 year of study guides

Order by November 30th and get $3 off with the code BLOG93

Things I Like:

• The focus on God’s amazing creation.
• It is enjoyed by the whole family. I might even like it more than the kids!
  
• The pages are thick & high quality. These are meant to be kept and enjoyed for years to come.
  
• Because there are no ads to chop up the articles, it is very easy to browse just  an article or two at a time.

Value: The cost is a little high on this one for me right now, but I definitely think you get what you pay for in this case. I will be subscribing as soon as the funds are available. I won’t be getting the study guide, but I can see how it would be worth the money if you want to use Nature Friend as a curriculum.

Go see what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about Nature Friend magazine!