The term “Summer Reading Program” always make me chuckle. As an affirmed bibliophile I can’t imagine any season that shouldn’t be full of reading. Books have been my life-long friends. I can’t remember not being able to read and can’t imagine what life would be like without my daily reading fix.
However, for many people reading is a chore that you do because you “have to” while you’re in school. And this chore can be tossed out the window once you’ve graduated. For many, reading is something that you do for practical purposes and never for simple enjoyment. How sad. I personally don’t like “Summer Reading” programs because it sounds like a homework assignment. Yuck! Reading should never be a chore, but a grand adventure to undiscovered destinations.
Kinderbach is a lovely program for parents who want to expose their children to the wonders of music. It is designed for children three to seven years old and is a great introduction to more formal piano lessons. But don’t mistake this to be one of the “cutesy” toys parents buy their children to pretend that they are learning music. This is the real deal. Children will be learning about sharps and flats, keyboard placement, rhythm and notereading. But it’s done in such a gentle and fun way that even parents with music-phobias are able to relax and enjoy themselves.
Kinderbach musical curriculum consists of videos (available as online or DVDs), ebooks and a piano keyboard. For this review I concentrated on my middle daughter’s enjoyment and learning experience since she’s six years old. She was immediately engaged with the videos of the teachers. She finds them to be very entertaining and in many cases funny. She especially likes the way that the instructors teach the concept of higher and lower. They use this beautiful golden retriever and a set of stairs. As the dog goes up or down, the male voice has to pitch his voice accordingly. Those lessons give her a full case of the giggles. She also enjoyed doing the workbook pages which include coloring and minor craft work.
I liked the way that the instructors taught the children to remember the names of the keys on the keyboard. I found it interesting that they started with Dodi the Donkey (key of D) because when I was taking piano lessons many eons ago Middle C was king. But after watching the subsequent videos it made a lot of sense. Children need reference points, especially if they aren’t reading yet. So having illustrations like Dodi’s house for the key of D and making tents for Dodi all over the keyboard really is quite ingenious.
It was never a chore to get her to do her lessons and she learned a lot. Even her “over the hill” sister (at 10 years of age) took part in many of the activities because they were just so much fun. My three year old son, who is a perpetual motion machine, really enjoyed doing some of the musical routines that are in almost every video. We even formed a little band of drummers, piano players, singers and kazoos.
The children had a lot of fun with the program and Alaya, who never got a chance to take in-person piano lessons, was able to play simple songs on the piano after the first week of the program. I think that this is very important because drills don’t give you the satisfaction of being able to play a little tune for yourself or others. I didn’t have to fight with Alaya to do her musical lessons either, so that was definitely a plus.
Kinderbach can be utilized in a variety of ways. If you’d like an online subscription, the cost is $7.99/mo. for the entire family. If your internet connection is shaky, you might want to invest in the various DVD sets. The DVDs start at $55.95 (2 DVD set) and go up to $222.88 for the 10-DVD set. Before investing any money into the program, you can take advantage of the free trial to see if this is something that you and your children would enjoy.
P.S. Kinderbach has also been kind enough to give my readers a 10% discount on their product orders if you click the discount link. And don’t forget to have your kids enroll in the “Dodi Loves D” – Valentine Draw! The contest ends March 1st with the winner of the Everyday songbook being announced on March 3rd. Check out the main page, but your children’s masterpieces can be submitted by email or snail mail. So break out the crayons and begin your musical journey with Dodi. Khalid Family Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
(I just found out about this fund-raiser, so I apologize for not giving you more advanced notice.)
The Estes Family at HandsandHearts.com are wrapping up a big, huge, wonderful looking package sale TODAY. Over $340 worth of excellent homeschooling AND PARENTING (not just for homeschoolers) resources from well-known homeschool authors and publishers for a tiny fraction of the value. Great stuff!
Here’s our added incentive to you to take a look at this and consider getting it TODAY, the last day this will be available:
If you do purchase this package * TODAY * (and this applies ONLY to folks who purchase this package TODAY) … just email the Erksine family a copy of your Paypal receipt ALONG WITH your snail mail address … let me just put their original email in there so that I don’t mix it up:
To claim your Audio CD “thank you” from us, you just need to email us (homeschooltime_@_gmail._com) your paypal receipt AND your snail mail address. The Audio CD offer is good ONLY for purchases made TODAY. (If you’ve already purchased this, that is terrific, thank you… but we can only make this offer – which comes from US and not the Estes’ – for today’s orders.)
Sue Patrick’s Workbox System is designed to help homeschoolers keep on task and work efficiently. She has various ways of accomplishing this goal that are practical and relatively inexpensive to reproduce.
My family is definitely not the most organized, so I was very excited to be chosen to review her system. I immediately started reading the manual and a few things stood out for me. One of the first things that was very clear is how passionate Sue Patrick is about homeschooling and organization. At times, for me, it was a little too dogmatic for my taste.
As with all things, I modified some of her systems to fit into my household and was pleasantly surprised by the results. One of her suggestions has really eliminated a lot of my need to repeat (over and over and over again) what needs to be accomplished for each day. She suggests really great visual cues for the kids so that instead of asking me about it all they have to do is look and see for themselves. And the physical component for transitioning from one subject to the next was also quite helpful. To see an example of how the Workbox works, click here to watch the video.
The Workbox System ebook is very inexpensive, only $19. There are also starter packages for people who don’t want to create their centers and other setup materials from scratch. These range from $55 to $110. The Workbox Specialized and Structured Teaching System Package is $375 (plus $18 for shipping) which includes a classroom kit, a large sampling of fun learning centers based on your child’s level and curriculum, recommendations for improving your current curriculum, and 6 months of unlimited email-based consulting. There may also be some telephone consulting on a case-by-case basis.
I think that for any parent wanting to get organized, this system is very well thought out, pretty easy to follow and effective. I personally won’t be using the system in it’s entirety because of a few differing ideas on what homeschool should be like. For example, I enjoy the chatter that goes on during our homeschooling days, Ms. Patrick feels it’s an unnecessary time-waster. And while I admit that chit-chat doesn’t make my homeschooling any shorter, I definitely find it to be a pleasant experience. Although I wish to get things accomplished, I’m not really the bootcamp type of parent.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/1
a classroom kit, a large sampling of fun learning centers based on your child’s level and curriculum, recommendations for improving your current curriculum, and 6 months of unlimited email-based consulting. There may also be some telephone consulting on a case-by-case basis. The cost for the Specialized and Structured TeachingSM Workbox SystemSM is $375, plus $18 shipping.
The beautifully delicate illustrations of Stubby’s Destiny captured us immediately. The story has a Christian theme, but is the story’s message is appropriate for people of all faiths. The overall theme is that each person has a personal path, or destiny if you will, to follow. It encourages using our individual strengths and talents to lead us to our own personal greatness. When you combine the message with the lovely illustrations it is not surprising that this book is an award-winning one.
The book, NO BONES ABOUT IT! The Sum of Our Parts Series, is very well written and informative. My children’s reaction to the material was surprisingly different. My oldest girl absolutely wanted nothing to do with the book. She’s a “spooky” child and had troubles getting around the illustrations. They are very life-like and really disturbed her. So, if you have an easily spooked child I would recommend just reading the information to her and keeping the pictures out of sight. Now, my youngest daughter absolutely LOVED the illustrations. She spent an enormous amount of time checking the book and herself to make sure that she possessed all of the bones that were laid out in our study. It’s one of her favorite books, not only learning about her body but for torturing her big sister. I personally found the subject matter very well-written, easy to understand and a bit humorous (no pun intended).
The book Earthquake was a well received by my nine year old. She got to read it before me and was truly fascinated by all of the geological facts and pictures. After I assured her that Pennsylvania isn’t earthquake country (she was beginning to collect the emergency gear that was described in the book) she really started to enjoy it. My little girl wasn’t as interested in this one, but I guess at six the earth’s crust isn’t nearly as interesting as femurs and phalanges.
Although I received these books in e-book form, Guardian Angel Publishing also makes print paperback, CDs and DVDs. All of their wares are on sale both through their website (www.guardianangelpublishing.com) and Amazon. They also provide readers with free ebooks and coloring pages from their book collection. The best thing about Guardian Angel Publishing is that each of their publications is a wholesome addition to any family library.
Download N Go is an exciting new series from TOS that you’re sure to love. Every homeschooling family approaches education differently. Some like unit studies, some prefer traditional textbooks and some prefer lap booking and other creative ways to get their children to embrace new ideas and concepts.
Amanda Bennett had this great idea to combine two of the more popular educational systems (unit studies and lapbooks) and came up with Download N Go. Here are some of the features (taken straight from my email):
Units are theme based and full of exciting discoveries and motivation to develop lifelong learners.
Each study is one week in length, having five daily lessons with lapbook components for each day.
Each student creates a complete lapbook–a finished capsule of learning.
All the research and preparation have been done!
Hyperlinks are embedded right in the study–saving you time!
Integrated studies include history, geography, reading, science, spelling,
vocabulary, writing, art, and more.
Units are reusable year after year–nothing is consumed.
There are no expensive resources required!
Includes a great list of books that you can use to enrich your study, but
they are not required.
And here’s the best part — TOS is offering Download and Go in two different flavors. You can purchase the series based upon a semester or a year of lessons. Since this is just being launched, the semester (19 weekly lessons) is at a discounted introductory rate that you can see here. And you can get a whole year’s worth of lessons (38 in total) by clicking here.
I just got a chance to download my free introduction to Download N Go™ Autumn Treasures. After a quick look around it definitely looks like something my girls will enjoy doing. think you’ll love the way it turns homeschooling into a multi-sensory adventure.
As a member of the TOS Crew I get lots of great products to review. And now it’s your turn! This week TOS has given non-TOS Crew members a great autumn gift. Autumn Treasures is now available for free download. This is a lapbooking project that highlights the beauty, science and cooking that occurs during the autumnal season.
A few weeks ago I told you about my new love of lapbooking. If you haven’t tried lapbooking yet or are looking for a new one to start, be sure to click on the Autumn Treasures picture on the right side of this page (or click here). That will take you directly to your download.
Wizz-e is a magical place where books come to life. They move, they shimmer, they speak and even give quizzes. The magic has touched the classics such as “The Three Little Pigs.” The magic has affected new books, such as “Hoop-La the Hippo.” Some books count and some books rhyme. But whatever else they do the children always have a good time.
My daughter (6 years old) is a beginning reader who lacks confidence in her decoding skills. She actually can read better than she thinks, but the second-guessing takes a lot of energy of her. So when I found out about this website I thought it would be a nice change from Starfall.com (another great reading site) since the reading material is for “bigger” girls and boys. Once I got the site up, she was immediately drawn to the site’s layout and book offerings.
The first book we read together was “The Three Little Pigs.” Actually, she opted for the narrator to read that one and I’m glad that she did. The narration was first rate. And the beautifully drawn illustrations really captivated her. They are beautifully rendered as well as animated. But unlike other sites that really go overboard when it comes to animation and music, Wizz-e is very subtle and calming. No flashing lights to distract the children from what they need to concentrate on — the Words. Even the music is soothing, creating a cozy and relaxing feeling.
Another great reason to visit Wizz-e is that although most of the books are for purchase, you can’t beat the prices. The books range anywhere from $1.99 to $8.99, are immediately accessible and available for use. The bookstore offers books that encourage counting, health, classic stories like “Old Mother Hubbard”, alphabet books and bedtime stories. Regardless of the genre, the illustrations brought to life are really a feast for the eyes. And each book comes with the option of reading the story outright, an “assist” mode that allows the child to click on an unfamiliar word and have it read to them and straight reading. At the end of each story there is a little quiz just to make sure that the children remembered the main points of the story.
Aside from the library, which is expanding each month, there are also games, free downloads and jokes for the kids to tell us a million times. The game section is also a work in progress, so the interface doesn’t always work as well as it should. My daughter and I both got frustrated with the “Seek and Find — Find the Teddies”. Once again the illustrations are beautiful, but when we tried to circle the bears the interface didn’t always acknowledge you and put a circle around the bears. And since this is a time sensitive game it’s very annoying to know you lost even though you found all of the teddies. So, I would suggest that parents with small children give this a pass for now.
The “Hoop-La the Hippo” puzzle worked very well. My daughter’s only complaint was that there wasn’t a greater variety of puzzles. By that she meant that you weren’t able to choose a 9 piece puzzle versus a 21 piece puzzle. She suggested that I tell the owners that they need to fix that so that older kids could play too without getting bored. So, if anyone from Wizz-e finds my review, please add more puzzle piece choices. It’ll make Alaya very happy.
I know that a lot of parents are wary of allowing their children to access the internet without close supervision, but Wizz-e has solved that problem for you. Once you purchase the book you can immediately download it to your hard drive for later use. Although you can’t transfer it from whichever computer you download it to, this is a good way to keep the kids safe. And it’s a great way to entertain the children for a few minutes while encouraging reading and reading comprehension. I think once you take a look you’ll definitely see it as a worthy addition to your teaching arsenal. You can visit their site and get more information by going to www.wizz-e.com.
Hi everyone. The Old Schoolhouse is a offering this free ebook as a source of encouragement to homeschooling families. Written by a veteran homeschooler it addresses “curriculum confusion”, self-doubt and the myriad of other emotions most of us go through each school year. I don’t know how long it’s going to be available, so you should grab it as soon as possible.
I just got an email about a brand new book series called “When I Grow Up I Want To Be …” that I thought might be of interest. I have to wait until my husband gets paid (“Thanks Dad!”), but I’m definitely going to get this one. The thing I like about it is that it discusses a variety of jobs (i.e., Firefighter, Veterinarian, Chef, Military, Doctor, Police Officer, Missionary, Artist, Pilot, and Farmer to name a few) from a practical standpoint. They discuss how much money you can make at these professions, the skills you need, the actual day-to-day tasks, etc.
My daughter, Jade, wants to be a Firefighter (well at least for the last year or so) and I think this will be an excellent introduction for her. After we read it I’m going to take her to a firehouse so that she can do a little fact finding of her own!
Anyway, the special pricing only lasts until the end of the month, so you should check it out soon.
I'm a homeschooling mom with seven children: 3 human, 2 feline and 2 canine. I'm also the wife of one very patient husband who seems to like the role of ringmaster to our circus. I am a virtual assistant who enjoys writing, crafts, music and laughter. I hope you'll visit often. Please be aware that this blog is supported by affiliate links, although every link isn't necessarily an affiliate program.
The term “Summer Reading Program” always make me chuckle. As an affirmed bibliophile I can’t imagine any season that shouldn’t be full of reading. Books have been my life-long friends. I can’t remember not being able to read and can’t imagine what life would be like without my daily reading fix.
