Nothing (A Scriptural Picture Book Review)

Nothing by Natalee Creech from WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group was a fun book review. I requested this review to read with my five-year-old son and I am so glad that I did! He was excited to get the book in the mail and had me read it to him as soon as he opened the package.

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The first thing that I noticed with this book was the adorable cover. The dust jacket on this hard cover book is an adorable illustration of a rocket ship at the top and a scuba diver on the bottom. The fun illustration by Joseph Cowman makes you immediately want to open the book and find out more.

I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers ³⁹or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. Romans 8:38-39 CEB

The book is based on Romans 8:38-39, which talks about how nothing can separate us from God’s love. The author includes that scripture in the beginning of the book and then goes through and explores that thought throughout the book. After the scripture she asks the question, ” Can anything separate me form God’s love?” and then on each page she talks about different things and how they cannot separate us from God’s love. For example, the deepest sea, an overseas flight, the desert, moon, etc. It even talks about how doing what we shouldn’t do, doesn’t change God’s love for us.

20190513_141128 — One of his favorite pages!

The illustrations are beautiful and full color. They help really engage the young reader (or listener as the case may be) into the story. I love how it really brings a verse of scripture to life. In addition to listening to me read the book, my five year old enjoyed looking at the pictures on his own. He was even able to ‘tell’ the story as he looked at the pictures once we had read the book a couple of times. Though he did not know it word for word, he understood the pattern of the story and the pictures gave him plenty of clues.

This was a great way to help my son internalize this scripture verse and it would make a beautiful gift for a birthday or Christmas. I would recommend it for ages 3 to 6 as the simple nature of it makes it easy for a young child but might be boring for older children. I encourage you to check out the other reviews from the Review Crew at the link below and visit the WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group website to learn even more about Nothing by Natalee Creech.

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The Critical Thinking Co. Middle School Math Games (Review)

20190502_123056 — Teaching his sister how to play “Sum It Up”.

My seventh grade son worked hard and finished his math curriculum in April. I did not want to start him on a new one yet or give him work that made him feel like his hard work just meant that he had to do even more math. However, I did want to keep his skills fresh in his mind. I was very excited to see if Middle School Math Games by The Critical Thinking Co. might be just what I needed: a chance to review skills while having fun with games.

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We received the digital version of this book, which allowed us to print out the games as needed and print out extra copies of the score sheets for those games that used score sheets. There are 16 different games included in Middle School Math Games and each game also includes several different variations.

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When we first reviewed this book, it had been my hope that my son could play these games either independently or with his slightly younger sister who is finishing fifth grade. However, most of the games really required at least two people to play them and the math required was too difficult for my daughter in many cases (which is very understandable since it is supposed to be middle school level). Therefore, either I helped my daughter a bit or I would play with my son.

I loved that the games really reinforced the math concepts. I think games are a great way to reinforce learning but sometimes educational games can be mostly fun and very little learning. These games were very tied to the math concepts. For example, one of our favorite games was “What Are My Coordinates?”This game was very similar to a popular board game from my childhood where you tried to guess the location of ships using coordinates. Instead of ships, you were guessing at the location of quadrilaterals with the help of area and perimeter. This was a great review of coordinate planes, area, perimeter, and various quadrilaterals.

mathgames2 — Game rules, materials, and skills were easy to read and understand.

Another game that they enjoyed was, “Lets Sum Up: Odd or Even? Positive or Negative?” This game used dice and an activity sheet to work on positive and negative numbers, odd and even number concepts as well as critical thinking skills. The children decided on various operations to do with the numbers rolled, on the dice, in order to try and achieve a specific result. If you wanted to make that game more challenging you could add squaring and square roots as possible operations. My two oldest children played this together but my daughter needed a lot of support.

Another game was number bingo, not identifying numbers but solving equations and then locating that number on their bingo boards. There were several different sheets of equations so that you could play multiple times. They also did a great job of allowing as many students as needed to play this game by having blank bingo cards with the answers down at the bottom as a list of numbers. Before the game, students could each write the numbers on their cards in whatever order they chose.

There were games that had students trying to guess the operation, make a certain number with a given set of numbers using any operations they chose, ordering decimals, working with prime numbers, and even reviewing math vocabulary.

The games were generally very ‘print and go’ making them easy to set up. The few supplies that were required were basic supplies like graph paper, dice, and index cards. In addition to basic math skills, the games did a good job of having the students apply those skills using their critical thinking and not just do basic computation.

We felt like this book had a lot of great games and ideas but it was challenging to make it fit into a one middle schooler homeschool. With the games generally needing at least two players the parent needs to plan to play with the child or have another middle school or above student who can also participate. I think it would be a perfect fit for someone who was teaching at a co-op or had two students in middle school or above.

In addition to this Middle School Math Games book, the Review Crew has reviewed a variety of wonderful resources by The Critical Thinking Co. and I invite you to use the link below to take at look at all of the different options. The Critical Thinking Co has also been generous enough to offer my readers Free Shipping and 15% off any order through 12/31/2019. I encourage you to go to the website and take a look at all of their wonderful products. You can also check out the review I did last year of their Critical Thinking Detective: Vocabulary book.

$Critical Thinking, Math, Vocabulary & Writing Skills {The Critical Thinking Co. Reviews}$

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Hamelin Stoop Series (Review)

As much as I love reading, fantasy has never been my favorite genre. However, my son really enjoys it. Finding quality books that meet our family’s standards can be difficult, so I was excited to review the first two book in The Hamelin Stoop Series by 12 Gates Publishing. This series is written by Robert B. Sloan and was his debut into novels. Prior to this debut into fiction he was known for his work in nonfiction books and articles. He is also the president of Houston Baptist University.

We received Hamelin Stoop: The Eagle, The Cave, and the Footbridge (Book 1) and Hamelin Stoop: The Lost Princess and the Jewel of Periluna (Book 2). My husband read book one before we passed them along to my twelve year old son to read. The book is engaging and full of adventure. However, my husband did note that there are some very intense scenes in the book. There are scenes of torture and implied infanticide (this is not condoned but performed by the evil characters). There’s also a short story arch that focuses on two characters conceiving a child for their the evil overlord. We felt that is was appropriate for our twelve year old and he was able to handle the intensity and mature situations, however, I would not have read it aloud to my younger children as I think it would have been too much for them.

I think these books would be great for people who like books about other worlds. They were exciting and I want to find out what happens in the end. Matthew, Age 12

A brief overview of book one in the words of my twelve year old son:

“A baby boy got left on the steps of an orphanage in Texas because his parents were

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being chased by people from another world. The orphanage director found him in a tomato box on the front steps with a note that only had one readable word “Hamelin”. She kept the name and added Stoop as his last name since she found him on the step. He grew up and found a cave and followed a strange eagle until he found a strange footbridge to the other world.”

20190501_154234 The second book picks up where the first book left off and furthers the story of Hamelin and his quest to find his parents. We also meet two new characters Lars and Eraina while learning more about the evil Chimera. Each book answers some of our questions but leaves more questions for the next book.

All in all these books have a lot to offer to the right audience. I think that they offer an exciting story set in a fantasy world. While they are intense and mature, they also do not contain the inappropriate material found in many of the books in the young adult/middle grades fantasy genre. Every child is different but I would recommend these books for middle grades and older students. My son is looking forward to the next book in the series when it is published! I encourage you to check out the other Crew reviews below and to read more about the The Hamelin Stoop Series on the website.

Techie Homeschool Mom Unit Study: Ancient Rome (Review)

I debated for a while before deciding to review the Ancient Rome Online Unit Study from Techie Homeschool Mom. It looked like an amazing program but our plates were full and I didn’t know if I was up to taking on planning for another program. Thankfully, I decided to give it a try and figured out that I didn’t have to take on planning. It was all laid out and ready to go without any additional work on my part! My fifth and seventh graders were able to work together and begin working their way through the unit study.

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Once I had them logged in to the program, it was very easy for them to navigate. They could complete each section, mark it complete and move on to the next section. Some of the sections had reading for them to complete online, some had activities and recipes, and others had short videos for them to watch. She also included a book club where they could choose a book and then throughout the study they had a chance to answer questions in a comment thread about this book. This gave them the opportunity to read what other students thought about the book.

We are almost half way through the unit study and the only thing that I purchased was a book selection for my son. The activities and recipes are fun and use mostly common household items. For example, they worked on a model of the Parthenon that used popsicle sticks, glue, newspaper, and a balloon. They also made a sun dial using a print out from the website, a compass and tape. I think my son’s favorite activity so far was the Roman honey cake. This was a simple recipe that only called for honey, flour, and eggs. It tasted delicious (especially topped with a little fresh whipping cream).

Roman Honey Coake

Whipped cream might not be historically accurate but it was yummy!

Sun Dial

Each section took my students about 15 or 20 minutes to complete unless it was an activity like the Roman honey cake that required extra time. They were able to work together to complete it, which was a really benefit in my opinion. It saved us time and made it more fun for them. They could complete one section a day or if we had more time that day they could keep working. I really appreciated that it was laid out in such a way as to give us a lot of flexibility. We used it as a supplement to our studies and therefore, did several sections each week. It could also be done in a single week if you made it the focus of your studies that week. Another alternative might be to spend one day a week focused on the study.

This particular study focused on Ancient Rome and included a variety of sub-topics. They started with an introduction, learned about Roman mythology, daily life, architecture, entertainment, Roman military and the Roman language. They are excited about the final section, movie night. She includes a variety of suggestions for movies that feature Ancient Rome.

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Techie Homeschool Mom has a variety of studies of historical topics, science, and even artists. These studies are easy to complete either independently or as a family. Once you have purchased them you have them forever, so there is no time limit in getting them finished. Now that I know how easy they are to complete and how much my children enjoy them, I am looking forward to including more of these studies in our home school. Be sure to check out the website to see which studies might be beneficial to your students and check out the other Crew reviews.

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CrossWired Science (A Review)

CrossWired Science is unlike any science program that I’ve used before. We had the unique opportunity to review this program while it was still in development. I had the privilege of reviewing the Sound, and Fluid Dynamics projects. Typically, the programs I review are completed and on the market. Reviewing a program that was still ‘under construction’ was a very different experience. There were times when it could be frustrating because a quiz might not be ready or the schedules were not published. However, the really neat part about reviewing a product that was not fully complete is that the Review Crew was able to give feedback as we worked through the projects. The folks at CrossWired Science were very receptive to feedback and made a lot of great additions to the program during just the few weeks that we worked through it.

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One of my favorite additions that they made during the review period was a suggested schedule. I think that the schedule really helped me to get a better idea of how to plan this curriculum into our school days. I felt very overwhelmed when we first started using the program because there was so much information. Once I had the schedule it made it a lot easier for me to understand how to best utilize all they had to offer.

We focused on the Fluid Dynamics project which covered a variety of topics including rocket aerodynamics, fin types, avian lungs, bird feathers, flight, insect drinking and the space station. The Sounds project includes topics like how ears work, sonars, ultrasounds, and bird songs.

The program has a variety of components. My children really enjoyed the core video lessons and the included quiz that was completed and graded online. This was beneficial to me as a parent because it allowed me to check and be sure they understood what they were learning.

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Next, they have the Digging Deeper and Gold Dig components. As they state on the website, “The Digging Deepers and the Gold Digs are heavily illustrated with fun, beauty and quite stunning “concept pictures”.” These were a great way to go deeper and learn more about a particular part of a concept. My children went through the Gold Dig components about bones and learned a lot of interesting information.

In addition, there are research links to help them dig further into a variety of topics, field trip ideas. At this point the field trip ideas are mostly general science field trips but they are developing this section with more specifics. Throughout the curriculum, they point science back to God, but they also have specific devotionals included at the end of each project. They also offer suggestions for books, audio CDs and other materials to extend your studies as well as other science activities. They give a wide selection of experiments that you can choose from to go with the related topic.

The program offers a wide variety of information and opportunities from which to choose from, much like a buffet line. For some folks this is great, because you can pick and choose what you want to learn and leave out what doesn’t interest you or work for you. However, for others, it maybe a little overwhelming and a little too disconnected.

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If you want a program that gives you a script and walks you through every step, this probably is not the right fit. However, if you want a program that gives you lots of resources and tools and then allows you the flexibility to use it how your child works best, this could be a very good fit for your family. I even see this as a great resource for unschoolers, because it would be very easy for a child to just go to the site and spend time learning and digging into the topics of interest. Right now they only have the two projects that I reviewed, however, they are adding more daily and will eventually have twenty-four of those projects. They even have plans to take the first two even deeper. Their long-term goal is to provide a curriculum that will cover all of science from pre-kindergarten through chemistry.

Overall, this is an up and coming curriculum that will have a lot to offer for many homeschool families. It is a program that allows for flexibility in both content and scheduling. and keeps a God honoring view of science. They are still working hard and adjusting the program to make it a better curriculum

. While I struggled a bit with the variety that was offered, my children really enjoyed having lots of choices. They are hoping to complete the other project over the summer in their own time. I suggest going to the website and taking a look to see if it might be a good fit for your family. They even have a sample unit available. As an added bonus, CrossWired Science is generously offering my readers a $5 discount. Just go to CrossWired Science and use the code: dp18. Be sure to click below and check out the reviews from other Crew members.

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Stopmotion Explosion: Stop Motion Animation Kit (Review)

Sometimes my children complain about school work, but other times they beg to be able to work on it! I am so glad I took the opportunity to review the Stop Motion Animation Kit by Stopmotion Explosion because my son has loved it. He begs to have more time to work on videos and has multiple videos planned out that he wants to create. I expect that it will be a big project for him this summer when we have a bit more free time.

Since this was not a subject that I require in our home school, I asked my son if he was interested before agreeing to the review. It seemed like a really good fit, because it was a way for him to combine his love of all things Lego with a new found interest in videography.

I expected to have to help him get everything set up and figure out how to use the program and the camera, but he took it out and had it set up in just a short time. The Stop Motion Animation Kit includes a 1080p HD video camera with internal microphone, the Stopmotion Explosion book, and the animation software.

Once my son had everything set up he quickly worked on a short video just to get the hang of taking pictures and putting it all together. Then I gave him a specific assignment for this next project. I wanted him to combine his history lesson for the week with a stop motion video. We were working on Assyrian siege towers and so he decided to do a video of the modernization of an Assyrian siege tower and the tower knocking down a wall.

He was able to get all of the video shots (over 2,000) done without any problems but was having some difficulty uploading them into the software for editing and adding sound. I e-mailed customer service and was pleasantly surprised and the rapid response. They were exceptionally helpful. Once we realized that he had a corrupt photo file, we were able to delete that one file and get it all working.

Next, he added title screens and sound effects. The Stopmotion Explosion book has an excellent chapter that explains how to edit and add sound effects. My son learned the hard way that its best to read it before trying to make changes. He did not read it at first and made a mistake that lost all of his changes. Once he read, he understood what he had done and was able to do it correctly next time.

The Stopmotion Explosion book was an excellent resource. It was laid out with each step being a different chapter. It was easy to read and understand and did not have to be read all the way through to be helpful. My son was able to read the chapters that he needed as he worked through the project. For example, one chapter is dedicated to lighting, and other to sound. The chapters on video editing and Sound were particularly helpful as he finished up his project. The book also gives links to video tutorials with more information on certain subjects.

This was a well laid out and easy to follow way to learn the art of stop motion animation. The book and video tutorials were thorough enough to take someone that had never done stop motion and teach them how to make movies with many great features.

All in all, I highly recommend this kit and I’m so glad we gave it a try. If you are looking for a way to add some fun to your homeschool this might be your answer. You could have a child make videos about the books they are reading, the history they are learning or even their science. It can of course also just be a fun hobby, they can make videos about anything. For a middle grades student it is laid out in such a way that as long as they read the book, they should be able to work with the program fairly independently. With the exception of a computer and whatever they want to use in the video (we did Legos and Popsicle sticks) everything they need is included in the kit. This would make a great birthday gift or a way to keep the learning going through the summer. Check out the Stop Motion Animation Kit and don’t forget to click below to see the videos and reviews done by the other Crew members.

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Transcripts Made Easy (Review)

Some days I’m really excited about preparing my son for high school and college; other days I’m in denial about how rapidly that season is approaching. We started our homeschool journey when my oldest son began first grade and he is now finishing seventh grade. My first thought when the review for Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork by Janice Campbell became available was that the review would not apply to me since I did not have a high school student. Then I quickly realized that with my son taking Algebra in eighth grade next year I would need to decide how I was going to do his transcript. I had never heard of Everyday Education but a quick look around their website showed me that they had a lot to offer and I was excited to read the book.

Transcripts made Easy

We reviewed a digital copy of the book but my need to highlight gets the best of me and so I printed out the pages so that I could hold them in my hands and highlight things that I found interesting or important. I like to read in bed at night before I go to sleep but I was a little worried that this material might be too dense for bedtime reading. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Though there is a lot of information, the author’s style of writing made for easy reading.

Based on the title, Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork, I was expecting information on how to make a transcript, forms, and recording keeping. While all of that is included, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more was packed into this book. The book goes through the planning process for high school and helps you decide what classes your student needs to study, skills and habits that they need to cultivate, various ways that you can schedule high school courses, college alternatives, special needs considerations, and how to document life experiences. I read the book through in just a couple of days, highlighting as I went along, but I plan to go back and reference this book again and again as we plan for and work our way through high school.

I really appreciated the fact that the book was trying to present a one-size fits all answer to our students. For example, when she talked about scheduling high school courses she gave six different schedule examples. Some of those, like college-style schedule and year round schooling, were familiar to me but there were others like sequential scheduling and the one-subject plan that were new concepts for me. After reading over our options, my husband and I are discussing the pros and cons of various methods to help us decide on a plan for my son.

The book also talks about how to document life experiences and skills. For example, Campbell shares how you could document work done on a family farm or time spent learning to create a web page.

“Do not let educational experiences slip by because you can’t think where to fit them on the transcript-just add them to a Subject Worksheet and consult the Course Classification System for ideas on where they will fit. …Your student is learning daily from all that happens, and there is no reason why informal learning experiences cannot be structured to become credit-earning courses and preparation for life.”

I highlighted that quote in my book because we highly regard those life experiences I really appreciated that they could be used for part of his high school courses. She goes further into detail in the book as to how to document those experiences.

The books goes over grading, how to grade, what to grade, and even how to write a transcript for those that are using the unschooling method for high school. She did not give one right formula but lots of examples and options that you can use to make it work for your family and still have an honest transcript.

Then at the end after having worked through planning high school, keeping records, grading, preparing for college or non-college options, there are multiple examples of transcripts and other record keeping forms. She gives blank copies of the forms in the back as well as detailed instructions for creating those forms in a word processing program. She even gives examples and help with diplomas.

The final portion of the book is a glossary of important terms, a book list for parents, and a list of websites and resources that can are helpful for planning and learning. I had read several of the books, but I’m looking forward to checking out a couple of the ones with which I was not familiar.

All in all, I think Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High-School Paperwork is a great resource for middle school and high school parents. This book can help you prepare for high school or if your student is already in high school it can help you get your records and forms together for college or whatever experiences your student is preparing for after high school. Check it out over at Everyday Education and don’t forget to check out what other Crew members thought about this book.

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Orville Wright: The Flyer, Heroes of History (A Review)

When I saw that we were going to have the opportunity to request to be on a review for YWAM Publishing I knew my son was going to be excited. He already has several books from their Heroes of History series, and was excited to be able to request a new title. After looking over the list his first choice was Orville Wright. As a child I was fascinated with the Wright Brothers and my son seems to share that interest. Living only a few hours away from where they made that first historic flight makes them even more interesting.

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Once we got news that we were selected for the review, we started watching the mail and waiting for the book to arrive. He was quite excited to open it and start reading when it arrived a few days later. Considering that we intended to use the Study Guide to accompany the book I had planned to take 2-3 weeks to go through the book, he loved it so much he completed the entire book in just a few days. He then used the book as he went back through and did the study guide activities.

The Heroes of History series are all biographies of heroes that had a historical impact and told from a Christian perspective. Some of these go back to the founding of our country, men such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Others are more modern day heroes like Ben Carson and Billy Graham. Orville Wright sits in the middle of those, living from 1871 to 1948.

Orville Wright: The Flyer, tells of the life of Orville Wright from the time he was about six years old. It includes stories of him and his siblings playing with rubber band flyers when they were young, how they loved kites, and how they learned to fly. They began the first chapter looking ahead to a flying accident in which Orville broke his leg and then went back to his childhood. This was very memorable to my son who actually said, “I like how the authors use one of the most tragic moments to introduce the book.”

Study Guide Table of Contents

The study guide is a PDF including 83 pages of ideas and activities. You could use this to make the book into a complete unit study or you can pick and choose activities to make it fit your needs. There are discussion questions for each chapter, writing prompts, creative writing activities, hands on projects, and arts and crafts. It also includes a timeline activity, basic information sheet, and several maps. We chose to select a variety of activities to expand on his learning through the book.

20190405_121250 — Fact Sheet, Map, and Timeline

I started by having my son complete the basic information sheet, timeline and a couple of the maps to help him show me what he had learned while reading the book. He then chose a writing project and a hands-on component from the study guide and we finished it off with a field trip to the Wright Brothers Museum in Kitty Hawk.

For his writing project he chose, “As Wilbur did in 1896, write a letter to the Smithsonian Institution, requesting information about an area that interests you. You can contact the museum at Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, P.O.Box 37012, MRC508, Washington, DC, 20013–7012 or via e-mail at learning@si.edu.” This was a lot of fun for him and he is waiting and hoping to get a response from them on his request for information.

Hands On Drill Project

For his hands on project, he chose to find a small household machine that he could take apart and study. He found an old drill. He took it apart, labeled each of the parts, and shared with us how the parts worked together to make the drill run.

Inside the life saving station (now a resturaunt)

Wright Brothers Memorial

Life Saving Station

We finished our unit study off with a wonderful field trip to the Wright Brothers monument and national park. We had a lot of fun learning even more about the brother, running down the runway and flight path of those very first flights, and even eating lunch in the lifesaving station from which the famous telegraph of their success was sent in 1903.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” I think that Orville Wright: The Flyer like the other books from YWAM Publishing offer children great examples of real life heroes. The books work great as a family read aloud, independent reading, or complete unit studies when combined with the study guides. If this book interest you, you might also want to check out my review of one of the other books in the series about Alan Shepard . You can also click below to check out the variety of reviews by other Crew members. There are so many great choices to choose from.

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Fix It! Grammar (A Review)

Grammar has been the thorn in the side of my existence as a homeschool mom; finding a program that worked but that wasn’t dull and dry has been a real challenge. Along came an opportunity to review Fix It! Grammar which promised short lessons and the opportunity for students to apply grammar concepts in context. I knew that Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) created quality products and so I decided I would give it a chance and see how it worked for my daughter. We started at the beginning and review Student Book 1, The Nose Tree.

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The program is built around four, approximately fifteen-minute long lessons per week. The first day took a bit longer than that as we got set up and my daughter and I both got learned how the program worked. After the first day, she was able to finish each day’s assignments in 10 to 15 minutes. I went over each day’s work with her but (after that first day) she was able to complete the work independently.

Student Workbook

In each lesson a student only has to work with one sentence. They read the sentence and then in their notebooks define the one word that is in bold print. Next, they mark the sentence for grammar by marking the parts of speech that have been taught thus far as well as fixing any mistakes. Once they have it corrected, they turn to a second section in their notebook and add that sentence to the story that they are working on, making sure to include the correction punctuation and any fixes they noted in their books. Each sentence from the beginning to the end of the book adds to the same story. This makes it fun for them to find out what happens next. This whole process generally takes no more than fifteen minutes.

The student workbook also includes grammar cards with the different concepts to cut out and use for review. They are double sided with the concept on one side and an explanation on the other. For example, the first card says “Nouns N” and then the back gives the definition of a noun and a couple of tips for helping determine if a word is truly a noun.

“I liked the story and how it kept adding on to the same story. I also liked how it slowly added in things like nouns and pronouns and did not have me try to remember them all at once. ” Elizabeth, Age 11

The teachers manual shows the sentences that are in the student workbook with the appropriate corrections. It also includes explanations and helpful tips. For example, when it taught about quotation marks, the teacher tip explained why quotation marks were supposed to be curved but were sometimes straight because of type writers. There is also a glossary at the back of the teachers manual and the student workbook which have lots of great grammatical information. It explains concepts like Oxford comma, capitalization rules, and clauses.

Fix It! Grammar turned out to be a great program for my daughter. Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) did an excellent job offering a high quality, thorough program that is easy to implement (all the busy moms rejoice) and engaging. Other reviewers from the Review Crew checked out other levels of Fix It! Grammar so make sure to check out some of the other reviews at the link below.

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Rhythm & Writing (A Review)

My four year old had been wanting to learn to write more than just B (the first letter in his name) and this review of Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew came at just the right time. Rhythm & Writing has created a cute program of videos, stories, and practice to help young children learn to write. I was excited to find out that it was created by an occupational therapist who knew and understood the importance of fine motor skills in handwriting.

When we first got the package in my son had an opportunity to take a ‘pre-test’ where he copied words to get an idea of what he already knew. This would be especially beneficial for a child that had learned some of his letters and just needed to work on trouble spots. I was excited to be able to have it to compare his progress. If your child already had mastery of some of the letters you could skip through those and only focus on the ones that needed work. Since my son only really knew the letter B, we decided to start at the beginning and work our way through the book. The book covers both the upper and lower case of each letter, but not at the same time.

There is a song/rap for each set of letters to help you remember how to form them. If I’m being honest, I was not a huge fan of the raps but my son LOVED them. He wanted to watch the videos over and over again and I think they helped him learn to write. Their effectiveness made up for the fact that I didn’t enjoy listening to them. The videos feature the same characters as the story in the book: “Big Country” Guitar, “Hip Hop” Lyricist, “Mo Rock” Drums, and “Jazzy Faith” Keyboard and Vocals. You can even listen to a sample on the website.

rhythm capture

The rhymes that help them remember how to write the letter are simple but effective. For example, letter V was down stop, up stop. Capital H is long line down jump out, long line down and across. Those combined with the songs and the practice made it easy to master the letters.

20190318_113848 — Sometimes you just need to ‘do school’ outside.

One of my favorite parts of this program is that they sent a transparency with the workbook so that a child could practice as many times as needed to gain mastery. As a four year old my son is still working on those fine motor skills needed for writing letters and requires quite a bit of practice. If he had done the workbook page without the transparency he would have been unable to keep working on it until he had it mastered. Once you feel they have mastery, you can remove the transparency and allow them to write on the actual page.

20190401_101843 — After practicing with the marker and transparency for a couple of days, he did the worksheet in pencil.

My son also enjoyed that there was a picture he could color on each page. The pictures add visual interest for the student but also give them a little extra fine motor skills practice.

We moved slowly through the program, averaging a letter or two a week because of my son’s age and developing motor skills. If I tried to do too much, he would get frustrated and not do his best work. I had to remember that it takes a lot of focus and work for young hands to form the letters. If you were working with an older student or one who was just missing some of the letters the program could be done at a faster speed.

20190320_112330 — Same robe, different hair cut, different day.. more letter practice.

Overall, I think Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew is a creative and effective way to teach handwriting skills. The videos and story make it fun, the transparency and catchy rhymes allow for plenty of practice and make proper formation easier. We plan to continue using this with my son until he reaches mastery of all of the letters. Make sure you click below to check out the experiences of the other Crew members.

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