Carole P. Roman Children’s Books (Review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

We are always excited about the chance to review new books and add to our family library. That excitement is magnified when the books are coming from an author we already know and enjoy! We were very excited to have the opportunity to review four  wonderful paperback children’s books from Carole P. Roman’s assorted series. We had already reviewed a selection of her books last year, so we knew we were in for a treat!

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We were blessed to be able to choose four of Carole P. Roman‘s wonderful titles, the only challenge was narrowing down which four books we wanted to choose. My first selection was the easiest, I chose If You Were Me and Lived on… Mars. My son is really interested in astronauts and space so this was a perfect fit for him. This book was full of fun and colorful illustrations. The story gave him great information about Mars but also a good perspective of what it might be like if we had a colony on Mars. It shared how in addition to the special things needed for space, it talked about how everyday activities like basketball would be different on Mars.

Next, I went with If You Were Me and Lived In… Colonial America because

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that is one of our favorite eras in history. This book focused on the Pilgrims which was an interesting perspective for us. We spend a lot of time studying and participating in living history events related to Colonial North Carolina. It was a great opportunity for my children to compare and contrast the two areas.

My final two selections were If You Were Me And Lived In… Italy and If You Were Me and Lived in… Israel.  These books gave lots of great information about the geography and culture of each country.  My children really enjoyed the parts about foods in the different countries as well as learning a few words in the language of each country. There was information about schooling, daily life, and important places in the country.

Each of these paperback books included beautiful full color illustrations that were a combination of mostly drawings with a few photographs in the books about a specific country. The drawings featured children and made the books very attractive to my children. In the back of each book, was a pronunciation guide that helped with words that might not be familiar to a young reader.

Each of the books is written from the point of view of a child in that time period or from that location. I think this really helps students to relate to the books and be engaged with the story. For example, in the Colonial America book the little boy spoke about the chores that he did, the clothes he wore, how he was educated, and even his friends.

In addition to the titles that we reviewed; Carole P. Roman has a plethora of other titles. Many are educational titles similar to the ones we reviewed but there are also fun fiction stories. I highly suggest checking out the variety of titles to see what would appeal to your family. Which title would you like to read? You can also check out the titles we reviewed last year: Carole P. Roman Book Review. Be sure to check out the website for more information and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members.

Carole P. Roman's Histroy, Geography, Bedtime & Captain No Beard series {Carole P. Roman Reviews}

Albert Whitman Boxcar Children (Review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I have fond memories of reading the Boxcar Children books as a child and I have shared those memories and those books with my older two children. I was delighted to have the opportunity to review the The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set  by Albert Whitman & Company  with my five-year old son who had not yet known the delight of the Boxcar Children stories.

The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set  that I received contained four hardcover books that each told a different tale from the Boxcar Children series. There are currently six books total in the early reader series, with two more books scheduled to be published this year.

Box Car Pinterest

When my son first opened the package, I noticed that the books were very bright and colorful which immediately drew him into them. As a mom, I also noticed that the hardbound books appeared to be very well made and sturdy. In a house with three boys (including a toddler) that can be very important to the longevity of a book.

Our set included:

The Boxcar Children

Mystery Ranch

The Yellow House Mystery

Surprise Island

We got started reading the same night that the books arrived, curling up together on the recliner to enjoy The Boxcar Children and how they first arrived at their home in the boxcar and eventually found their grandfather. We both enjoyed the fun story and the wonderful illustrations. The books are very colorful and engaging.  Since he is not yet reading, I read each of the stories aloud to him. However, these are Time to Read Level 2 books, so if you had a beginning reader that was reading but not yet fluently enough for chapter books, they may could read them themselves with a bit of help.

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My son’s favorite of the series is Surprise Island and he has requested that we purchase the rest of the books. He is even planning on earning some money to help with the purchase. In addition to me reading the books with him, my older children enjoyed reading them aloud to him as well. Since he has heard them several times, he can now use the pictures and his memory of the story to ‘read’ the book himself by telling the story that goes along with the pictures.

I am not always a fan of abridged versions of books, but I love the way these shared the fun and wonderful stories and adventures of the Boxcar Children. I think they will encourage my son to want to read the full chapter books when he is a little bit older and able to read. If you had a fluent but reluctant reader, these books might help spark interest in reading the full-length books.

I am so glad we had the chance to check out these wonderful books and add them to our family library. Reading them with my son was lots of fun and made me look forward to the day when we could read the full-length books together. I will be keeping these books to read with my youngest son in a couple of years as well. Be sure to check out the website for more information about the The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members .

 

The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set {Albert Whitman & Company Reviews} 

PRIDE Reading Program (Review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

*Some of the links in my posts are affiliate links see below for more information. *

Learning how to read is certainly among the most important skills that I want my children to learn in our homeschool. Once they know how to read, they can spend a lifetime reading for both pleasure and education. We recently had the opportunity to review the PRIDE Reading Program Beginning Consonant Level Kit from the PRIDE Reading Program with my five-year-old kindergartner.

 

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The first component to the program is an instructor training course. This online course walks you through each type of activity that you will be doing with your student to ensure that you understand the various directions and are ready to instruct your student. This course takes about 2-3 hours to complete and covers all levels of the program.

The PRIDE Reading Program is based on the Orton-Gillingham methodology and is a very structured approach to literacy.  For the PRIDE Reading Program Beginning Consonant Level Kit each lesson is focused on a beginning consonant and has three sessions, an introduction, a practice, and a reinforcement session. We chose to complete one full lesson each week, thus doing reading three days a week and learning a new letter each week.

Each week consisted of basically the same activities, but with the new letter and a review of the letters that had already been covered.  Each session included five or six short activities revolving around the letter. The sessions are laid out step by step on the computer for the teacher to read and work through with the student. Once you have completed that session you mark it complete and can move on to the next session.

On the days where my son was being cooperative and working hard, it took about 10-15 minutes to complete a session. Some days he loved the program and some days he resisted it and it took about 30 minutes to complete the lesson.

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The activities in each session were varied and multi-sensory, including sky writing, tracing, repeating, giving each sound a motion, and listening for the letter sounds.  The step by step nature of the program made it very easy for a child to feel successful and make slow but steady progress. There is a lot of repetition which will work well to encourage mastery for those that are struggling with reading, but it may feel like too much repetition for a child that is not struggling. In that situation, I would suggest covering the information at a faster pace.

My son has been resistant to reading instruction, but I could tell that he was making progress and find him identifying the sounds he recognizes in words as we go about our day to day lives. For example, he came up to me repeating a word yesterday so that I could hear the /k/ sound for C.

If you are looking for a systematic Orton-Gillingham methodology approach to reading, this may be a great fit for your family. It is simple to use, takes only a few minutes a day, and is through enough to help ensure that a child fully grasps and retains the information presented. This program is perfect for someone that is looking for a step by step scripted approach to phonics. Be sure to check out the website for more information about the PRIDE Reading Program and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members who reviewed a variety of different levels of the program.

PRIDE Reading Program Level Kit. {PRIDE Reading Program Reviews}

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Pilgrim’s Rock (Review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Part of our homeschool vision is raising children who know and love the Lord and share that knowledge with the world. I was excited to be able to try the The Unbreakable Faith Course  from Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC as a way to help my son achieve that goal.

The Unbreakable Faith Course  is an apologetics course that is done online and accompanied by two books: The Box and God the Reason.  The course can be used for high school credit and is recommended for ages 15+.  Since my son is a little younger than the recommended age, I decided that we would work through the first part of the course materials together. This allowed me to get a better feel for his ability to be successful in the course and make sure that the content lined up with our personal beliefs.

We both started by reading The Box. This short and fairly easy read is required reading for part one of the course. The book gives an example of apologetics through the lens of a man who helps his atheist neighbor understand the truth about God.  It was an easy read that took me less than two hours to complete. It was a bit over simplistic on its own but gave a good starting point for understanding apologetics.

Next, we moved on to reading the first chapters of God the Reason (this book was required reading for the course but broken up into chapters with chapters 1-2 being required for Part 1).  This book was considerably more complex and denser than The Box and went much deeper into a solid understanding of apologetics. My son is a strong reader but he needed help understanding the complex content of the book.

Once we had completed the required reading, we watched the online videos that accompanied the course. These videos were done in a narrated PowerPoint style. The videos all started with hymns, which I really enjoyed. There was a lot of great information in the videos, however, my son found them to be a bit dry and would have preferred a more engaging style. He did however, retain the information from the videos, so they were effective.

Once we had completed the required reading and watched the videos for Part 1, my son took the computer graded quiz for that section.  This was a timed, 25 question quiz. He missed a couple of answers but did very well overall and seemed to retain the information that was presented.  I really appreciated that the program showed him which answers he got incorrect and explained the correct answer.

We then were able to move onto Part 2 which included more reading from God the Reason and additional videos.  There are six parts which each part including reading, videos, and a quiz to check for understanding.

 

Overall, I think this apologetics course has a lot of really great information. I do believe that their age recommendation for 15+ is accurate for any student that is taking the course independently. I will have my son finish the course but we will work together so that I can ensure that he understands the complex concepts that are included in the course.  Be sure to find out more about the course at Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC  and click on the graphic below to check out the reviews from other Review Crew members.

The Unbreakable Faith Course {Pilgrim's Rock, LLC Reviews} 

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Let’s Go Geography Year 2

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

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We have incorporated some geography in our history studies and in our travels, but I had been wanting to do a more systematic geography program with my children. It always seemed like one more thing to add to the to-do list, but as we have been reviewing Let’s Go Geography we found it was the perfect fit for integrating into our home. The program is designed for elementary aged students but I found it worked well for me to use it as a family study during our morning time. We were excited to have received the Let’s Go Geography, Year 2 program.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

We try to gather together each morning to spend some time reading, studying the Bible, learning about hymns and other music, and any other things that I want to teach all three of my school aged children. Over the last month we have been adding Let’s Go Geography to that list about three days a week.

” I really like this geography program. It is making me want to visit all of these places. ” Elizabeth, age 12

The year 2 curriculum started with an overview of the continents and oceans in the first week.  Then it moved on to learning about various regions of the United States.  I do want to note that it does not cover all of the regions of the United States. Some regions are covered in year 1 and some in year 2. Through the first semester it covers North and South America and begins Europe. Then, in the second semester it finishes Europe and covers Africa and Asia.

The program is set up in a series of lessons that cover a different section of the country and world. Each lesson includes mapping activities, a craft, musical selections, short videos of the area, flags, and other information about the area.  We compiled these maps and projects into a notebook as we went through each lesson.  We would do one or two parts of the lesson each morning for the three or four days a week we did geography and complete one lesson per week. If you wanted a more intensive study, you could spend more time and work through a lesson a day. There were also options for additional books and resources to dig deeper into the area. Overall, we spent about an hour to ninety minutes each week working through a lesson.

 

Each lesson is a separate downloadable PDF file that contains sections for each activity, printables, and links to the videos and other web-based materials.  There are photographs of sights that are important to the region with short paragraphs explaining their importance. Each lesson contains two options for the craft portion, one is a simple coloring sheet that can be printed and the other a more complex (though not overly difficult) craft. I liked having both options so that we could decide which to do based on how much time we had that week.

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We really enjoyed this homeschool geography curriculum and found it to be a great fit for our morning time. the children were learning and having fun each time. They even started asking if we could do geography when we sat down in the mornings. I do wish that all of the regions of the United States has been included in one year, but otherwise we have no complaints about this program.  It is also very reasonably priced at only $27.99 for two years access to the program (this gives you two years to download all of the lessons).  Make sure to click on the graphic below and check out the other Crew Reviews to see how other families used this curriculum.

Geography for Kids - Year 2 {Let's Go Geography Reviews}

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Evan-Moor Top Student Workbook (Review)

Kindergarten has been an adventure with my five-year-old son. Some days he loves it and will do any work put before him and some days you would think I had asked him to write a dissertation and not merely his own name. Since he can be so moody about school, I am always looking for ways to get it done well but simply and quickly. I was excited to try out the Top Student Workbook because it included so many subjects all with-in one book.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

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The kindergarten level of the Top Student Workbook includes: alphabet; math; shapes, colors, and patterns;phonics; mindful moments; early reading; reading comprehension; science; STEM; geography; social and emotional learning; and computer science. This makes it great for review and in many of those subjects this workbook could be a complete curriculum.  The workbook is over 300 pages with a variety of activities to keep a student engaged and interested.

When it arrived, he was excited to check it out! He loved how colorful it was and that the different subjects had different color borders on the papers. This made it easy to flip between sections and for him to identify the sections he needed.

He has a tendency to leave his papers and work in various places and they can get lost or torn up by the toddler. However, having so many subjects located in one book meant it was easier to keep up with and no loose papers to get torn up by the toddler. We have been working hard to have him remember to put the workbook in his schoolbag when he is finished with his work.

Another feature that I appreciate as a mom is the answer key that is located in the back of the book. This might not be a huge deal for the kindergarten level, but these books go all the way up to 6th grade. While I can do the work in those upper grades, it saves a lot of time to have the answer key right there instead of having to work out the math problems.

 

 

We used the book in two different ways depending on our needs for the day. Some days I assigned him a page or two based on what we were working on in our primary curriculum. For example, when we worked on letter c in his new reading program I had him reinforce what we had learned by doing the letter C pages in the phonics section of the workbook.

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Other days, I allowed him to pick what subject he was interested in working on. He really enjoyed the STEM section which taught about water being able to be both a solid and a liquid. There was information that we read together, simple questions for him to answer, some matching and word tracing, and finally a science experiment that we could do together.

Most of the pages were simple workbook style activities that were done right there in the book and only needed a pencil. However, they also included a few more hands-on activities like science experiments, cutting and pasting, and optional craft activities to keep things interesting. For example, at the end of the alphabet section there is a letter dress-up project.  The student would pick their favorite letter, pick a word that started with that letter, and then decorate the letter like that word. They gave examples of a B that was decorated like a bee and a U like a unicorn.

Overall, my son really enjoyed the colorful pages of this workbook. I appreciated having the review for so many subjects all together in one easy to use resource. I recommend this workbook for any parent that is looking for a resource to help them teach or review a variety of topics. They are also very reasonably priced at only $14.99. They are available directly from Evan-Moor or on Amazon. Be sure to check them out and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer:
I received a FREE copy of this product through from Evan Moor in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com (Review)

 

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I have been using SchoolhouseTeachers.com  and their Ultimate Prek-12 Annual Membership for several years now. While it can be a great option as a ‘one stop shop’ for all of your curriculum needs, we tend to use it for particular subjects, to explore personal interests, and to add depth and variety to what we are already using.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

We are currently using SchoolhouseTeachers.com to supplement kindergarten math, for my sixth grader’s literature class, and a photography elective. My son has also switched over to using the Bible Study for Preteens lessons for his personal Bible time. He is really enjoying those lessons and my daughter may begin them in the spring. Over the last several years we have also used other literature courses, the Preschool Playground, and Small-World Sensory Science just to name a few. I am planning on using lots of courses next year as my son begins high school.

 

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He loved helping me get is stuff ready for school next week. It all fits nicely into his tub.

I love that the courses provide great content, clear lesson plans, and flexibility. I can print off the lesson plans and use the course exactly as it is designed, or I can adapt the course to meet our needs. For example, my daughter is really enjoying her literature course but I wanted all of us to read Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol in December. I simply swapped out that book for the unit that was in her literature course, and now she can pick up the next unit in January. Other times I have added or taken away activities or changes the time lines for courses to meet the needs of our family.

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Drive Thru History!

In addition to over 400 courses, SchoolhouseTeachers.com  has a great video library. We loved watching some of the Christmas videos during the holidays and Drive Thru History is always a family favorite. There are a large variety of videos on topics including art, Bible, apologetics, foreign language, music, history and more. There are even videos specifically for parents on a variety of parenting topics.

literacy centers

If you have a young child that is learning to read or an older child that is struggling with reading the literacy center is a great resource. You can select the skills your child needs to work on and it will give you suggestions and activities to help. If your child needs help in an area other than reading, the focused learning centers link you to a variety of resources that can help in other subjects.

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I am very excited to have this resource as I plan and prepare for my son’s freshman year of high school! We are working towards more independent learning and giving him a variety of electives that will help prepare him both for adulthood and for the college program that he is interested in pursuing. One of the courses we are excited to use next year is Geometry with Mr. D. It has been a few (over 20) years since I have done high school math and I love that this course has videos to help him learn the concepts independently. I also am excited for him to try Personal Finance and the ACT/SAT prep courses next year.

Another awesome feature that I need to mention are the new more interactive courses and self-grading quizzes. Not all courses have these features but SchoolhouseTeachers.com has been adding a lot of new self-grading quizzes and videos. These quizzes give you more options for independence but as always you have the option of using the lesson plans and adapting the courses to meet your family’s needs.

Overall, I think SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a lot to offer any homeschool family.  Whether you want to use it for a couple of courses, to give your children elective options, for the extra content (video library, World Book access, literacy center, etc), or as a complete curriculum for all of your students the inexpensive cost and quality courses are a great addition to a home school program.  One post certainly cannot cover all that SchoolhouseTeachers.com has to offer so be sure to click on the graphic below and check out all of the other Crew reviews!

Online Homeschooling For the Whole Family {SchoolhouseTeachers.com Reviews}

 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

LitWits Kits Review

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I have not been this excited about a literature unit study in a long time!  LitWits was generous enough to give us four of their LitWits Kits to review. We love to read and we have used and enjoyed a variety of studies but this one fit our family perfectly. While I personally think it is important for students to occasionally analyze literature and learn how to really break it apart, I think it is far more important that they learn to enjoy reading and making connections with what they read.  These kits did just that and as an added bonus to this busy mom, they were super easy to implement.

We were able to choose which titles we wanted from the 46 available titles. I was having a hard time choosing because there were so many wonderful titles, I ended up choose two and allowing my 6th and 8th graders to each choose a title.  We chose The House of Sixty Fathers, My Side of the Mountain, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, and All Creatures Great and Small.

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We got started by using My Side of the Mountain as a family. I purchased the audio version of the book and we listened to it together before completing the activities that went along with the book. We had the extra benefit of listening to this on our way to a short family vacation in the mountains which tied in beautifully (but is certainly not required to make this unit study wonderful.) The study suggested that you use props to help the children connect to the story. I thought the actual mountain camp site made a great prop and loved how they were making connections to Sam’s adventures. They found Hemlock trees like he used to make his home, rocks for fire starting, wild edibles, a stream, and more. Then we adapted the prop process when we got home and I had them find and collect props that went with the story and share them with the family. They found some of our homemade jam to represent the jam that Sam made, rocks, leaves, sticks, and more. Even the five-year-old was excited to participate.

“Here’s one critical thing we do – or rather, don’t do – to make great books fun for kids: We don’t ask kids to read with assignments in mind.” From LitWit e-mail

Next, there were a list of hands on projects that could be completed to go along with the book.  There was an idea for a poster to advertise the tree he lived in, an opportunity to make a clay pot, sketching on bark, and a play demonstrating the character of Sam.  I decided to allow each of my older children to decide which of these projects they wanted to complete. My son and daughter both chose to make a pot like Sam made for his jam.

Then, together we made breakfast using their ideas that were based off of the book. We had cornmeal pancakes with blueberry jam and watered-down root beer that served as sassafras tea. I loved that they were not all that fond of the watered-down root beer but they realized that if they were not used to having so much sugar, it might taste better. It was a really fun way to connect with the book.

The LitWits Kits also contained a great list of links to help you take your study of topics from the book further. For example, there were links to falcon videos because of Sam’s falcon, links about some of the other animals he encountered, music links, and even links about the author.  There were also downloadable worksheets that you could use to assess understanding of story line, vocabulary, and other aspects of the book. We chose not to use them with this book but may use them for some of the other titles.

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All of these components combined to make a fun and enjoyable book study. Sometimes, when a study over analysis a book it can leave a student ready to be done with the book and move on. These fun and engaging activities had my children talking about the book and making connections throughout their day.

The kits for the other titles are set up in a very similar fashion. I am choosing to have my children independently do the title that they chose and then, after the holidays, I plan to use All Creatures Great and Small as a family study. I am excited about learning more about some of the veterinary topics as well as English culture and I know that my daughter will enjoy the chance to make hot tea and Yorkshire pudding.

LitWits Kits can make a great independent literature study but I think they are even more amazing as a family study. The opportunity for us all to share the same wonderful story and a variety of fun activities really fits into what I want our homeschool days to look like. I wish I had known about these kits years ago! be sure to click on the graphic below to check out the other titles reviewed by Crew Members!

LitWits Kits {LitWits Reviews}Crew Disclaimer

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

 

Horses of History Appaloosy Books by Mattie Richardson (Review)

Our family loves history and we love reading. So when I learned about Mattie Richardson’s Horses in History Series  by Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books I was excited to review them. My thirteen-year-old  son jumped on the opportunity to read and review them. Over the course of the last several weeks, he read all four books and is finishing up an enrichment guide that goes along with the fourth book: Day and Night. My eleven-year-old daughter is going to give them a try based on his review.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Horses of History Pinterest

These short paperback chapter books are written by a teen author and are full of great historical information through the eyes of horses as they experience historical events. They are a great way to engage students in history and get them interested in learning more.

Matthew’s Thoughts

Appaloosy is a great book for readers 9-14. It is the story of a horse that runs from an Indian village and is caught by white men. The horse goes wild, and no one can ride him except one little girl. One day he runs away with her and trips into a hole. After that, the father, who didn’t know she rode, made her stop riding until she told him the whole story.

Golden Sunrise is a great read for people 9-14. It is the story of Cheyenne, a palomino horse who belongs to a boy named Jared. Jared becomes a soldier in the army of Texas. While he is traveling and fighting in the Alamo he meets men like James Bowie and Davie Crocket.

Dusty’s Trail is a great read for people 9-14. It is the story of Dusty, a horse in the Pony Express. As a pony in the Pony Express he faces Indian attacks and other extremes. One day he rode three shifts because of sick horses that could not run. After that he became very famous to all the people in the pony express.

Day and Night is a good book for people 9-14. It is the story of horses Tucker and Shiloh. They are brothers who were sad to be separated but happy to be having an adventure. Tucker becomes a horse in the U.S. Mounted Infantry and Shiloh is a horse in the Confederate Volunteer Calvary. This story shares a lot about the United States Civil War.

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The enrichment guide for Day and Night was full of great information and worksheets. There were comprehension questions and vocabulary for each section of chapters. Then for each section she included an activity for them to complete to write their own story. If they complete each section, they will have a completed story at the end. There are also historical extension activities for each section. Information about civil war medicine, various important figures from the Civil War, recipes for Johnny cakes and hoe cakes and lots more. It was a great way to really dig deeper into the time period and would work wonderfully as a unit study.

Overall, we really enjoyed these books. I loved that in addition to history, my children had the opportunity to see that teenagers really can accomplish something big like becoming a published author. My son recommends them for ages 9-14 but I think you could read them aloud to even younger children.  Be sure to find out more about the books and the author over at Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books. You can purchase the complete set at Amazon. Finally, don’t forget to click on the graphic below and check out the other Crew Reviews.

Book Set: Appaloosy, Dusty's Trail, Golden Sunrise & Day and Night {Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books Reviews}Crew Disclaimer

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

CrossTimber: Your Amazing Name Video (Review)

The Your Amazing Name – Personalized Adventures for EVERY name! video by CrossTimber – Name Meaning Gifts is one of the most unique reviews we have done with the Review Crew. While these videos follow a template they are personalized with your child’s name, art work, address, photograph, and a letter from the parents (or whomever is purchasing the video for the child).

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When you purchase this for your child, CrossTimber – Name Meaning Gifts sends you a Google form to fill out with information about your child. You include all of the information that they need to personalize the video. My favorite part was the opportunity to write a short letter to Benjamin.  This was a wonderful way for us to share how we chose his name and remind him how special he is to us and God. You also include a piece of artwork that your child has done. This artwork is used throughout the video and is a really fun way for your child to connect to the video. We sent in a tractor he had drawn and he enjoyed seeing it show up in various settings of the video.

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The video is animated and takes your child on an adventure to learn about the meaning of their name. Our video was particularly interesting because my son shares a name with the main “character”, an animated pencil named Benjamin. The pencil takes your child on a rocket ship, made out of the child’s artwork to meet the stars. The stars share about how each of them has a name and how important our names are to God who knows all of our names. Then you also go to a tree house to meet an owl who talks about name origins, and even into a field to meet the sheep that ‘once was lost and now is found.’  Throughout the story you are learning more about names and name origins, the child’s specific name, and how God views each of us as individuals and knows us by name.

When I asked Benjamin what his favorite part was he said that he really enjoyed the part with the owl. The owl taught about names and told Benjamin that his name came from the Hebrew language and the country of Israel. Then at the end of the video, it shared that his name means “Son of my Right Hand, Mighty in Spirit”.

As a fun bonus, they included a PDF of personalized worksheets about Benjamin’s name. there were mazes, coloring pages, copywork, and tracing paper focusing on his name. These are perfect for us because he is working on learning how to write his name.

Check out this sample video for more information!

If you are looking for a unique and meaningful gift for a child in your life, consider getting them the Your Amazing Name – Personalized Adventures for EVERY name! video. I would recommend these videos for children in the 4-10 year old age range, although my eleven year old daughter saw my son’s video and requested a video using her name. In addition to the videos, CrossTimber – Name Meaning Gifts has a variety of personalized items sharing more about your child’s name including plaques, mugs, music boxes and more.  Make sure that you click on the graphic below to find out what the other Review Crew members thought.

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

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.