Women of Faith Weekend

I am so excited for this weekend! Book Sneeze along with Women of Faith has generiously made it possible for me and a friend to attend the Women of Faith conference here in Oregon this weekend. I have been twice before and have never been disappointed. It is a time for women of all ages and walks of life to come together for one purpose. Encouragement in our walk with God. As a busy mom I tend to say I will get to the feeding my soul stuff when the house is the clean, dinner is done, kids are here or there, etc. It is very easy for is to just end up at the bottom of my to-do list. Going to a conference like this is life water to these dry bones. This time my sister-in-law is coming with me. She is more than a sister-in-law and over the years has become a close friend. I am very much looking forward to our time together.

For events near you check out the Women of Faith website for information.

Memoria Press

We were given the honor of being able to try out some great items from the Memoria Press company. When I first recieved the box and saw the Famous Men of Rome book, I was very excited. We are not classical educators but my son had asked for more history this year and while we had done some I knew this would be right up his alley.

We have not been disappointed. It definitely has a classical approach but we have enjoyed it very much. The Famous Men of Rome is very thorough and vocabulary rich. It is intended for students in grades 3 and up. I have one thrid grader and two fourth graders so this was perfect for us. The student book has excellent study and comprehenstion questions along with the vocabulary study. We read the reading section together as a group and then have great discussions that follow. There are activity suggestions that include things such as making a timeline, drawing, memorization and more. There is also an appendix that contains teaching aids such as timelines, maps and worksheets.

We were also given the opportunity to try the Latina I Set. This set is an introduction to Christian Latin also intended for grades 3-8. Thinking about teaching my kids Latin seemed overwhelming but this set is very easy to use and I highly recommend using the instructional DVD's. When you think about it, our language is very Latin based. More than half of our language is latin based. Learning Latin can be very valuable for language skills and is a great way to learn grammar. Memoria Press did a great job of making Latin simple to teach.

Memoria Press has many classical educational items to offer including many great supplements. Take a look at Memoria Press for more information.

Lampstand - Tapestry of Grace (Year 2 Unit 1)

Tapestry of Grace from Lampstand Press is different than any other curriculum I have looked at. It is in depth and thorough to say the least. Daunting even at first. The curriculum is a unit study course designed to have students cycle completely through history in 4 years. It is not a boxed curriculum meant to cover all subjects. What is covered, however, is history, church history, literature, writing and composition, fine arts, geography, government and philosophy. I was impressed with the volume and quality of information covered in this particular curriculum.

The download process was a bit confusing at first and I had some problems. However, it has been simplified since and is much easier to do now. I am for sure a "book in my hands" kind of person but the download version works also and after getting familiar with it can be very eneficial to have a DE (download edition).

We were given the Year 2, Unit 1, Midde Ages Unit to look at. Topics covered in the Middle Ages Unit is Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Vikings, etc.

After you get used to using the TOG downloads, it is pretty easy. When you open your DE (download edition) all of the unit numbers are there. You click on the unit you are working on and the Lock Lizard will give you access to the appropriate information you will need including the weekly overview, weekly assignments, writing assignments, student activities including worksheets, teachers notes and answer keys. There is even more than I have listed here. As with many curriculums there is a plethora of activities given and you can choose what you have time for. You can do a little or a lot based on the skill level of your students and how in depth you would like to study right now.

This curriculum is a quality one for learning history. It does take some getting used to and a good amount of time to learn how to use it. I would suggest you spend some time on the website looking at samples and learning more about it. Go to Lampstand Press for more info and to check it out for yourself.

Schleich

Schleich is a company that makes quality figurines for creative play for children. We were sent a box with a few animals to try out. My four year old little guy was more than excited. He is in love with Noah's Ark so getting more animals to play with was right up his alley. I was completely surprised by how different these animals were. Plastic is not a good way to describe them. Plastic gives the impression of being lightweight or flmisy. These toys are nothing like that.

The boar above is one of the animals that we recieved. They are more realistic looking aminals that others I have seen. We have had our fair share of play animals around here and the Schleich products are superior. They are heavier than I would have expected. They are holding up to hours of play on the floor and in the bathtub.

Their prices are also very reasonable with the elephant above retailing for only $5. You would be able to get a group of wildlife, farm, forest animals and so many more. They can be found at different toy retailers including Toys R' Us. It's so nice to see a company still out there that makes quality toys that will last.

One 2 Believe

One2Believe has done it again. You may remember that I reviewed the nativity set by the same company a few months ago. We loved that but I think that this "Tales of Glory Noah's Ark set" takes the cake. We opened the box and my 4 and 6 year olds asked if we could get it all out. They could not wait to get their hands on the set.

There are animals two by two as well as Noah himself. Everything you see in the picture above fits inside the ark for easy storage including the ramp. My youngest son has now decided that Noah is his favorite Bible character and he can't wait to go to heaven to meet him.

I love how this and the other set that we recieved from One2Believe have fostered discussions about the different characters they hear about in Sunday school and at home. This set has become even more of a favorite because it works very well in the bathtub. How cool is that for a Noah set? It even floats in the right amount of water with most of the animals inside. It is so great for the younger ones to learn through play and this is a great set for that.

The set is good quality and at $29.95 I believe it is a great value for a large set like this. One2Believe is known for encouraging learning through play and we are not disappointed with this set. I know that it will have many, many more hours of play in it's future.

SpellQuizzer

If you are struggling to have spelling be a part of your routine or would like a new way to facilitate spelling practice then this program may be for you. Spellquizzer is an online program where you create your own spelling lists and make a sound recording of each word as you enter it in. The software corrects the misspelled words and also offers to retest the student the words on the ones they missed.

This program is a fun way to give spelling tests each week and can be an entertaining way to do spelling. It also frees up the parent to work with another child while the computer gives the list to your student.

This program is simple to execute and easy for the kids to use. You are able to choose different sound effects when your child gets a word wrong which can be a fun way to keeps things exciting and different. I also love that I can use the program tailored to what we are doing. Our spelling lists can be custom made to what we are studying right now such as science lessons or a book we are reading. That provides great reinforement for the comprehension of the material.

The program is available for $29.95 but Dan Hite has a try before you buy program. You can try it out for a 30 day trial and if it works for your family you can then purchase the software, which is downloadable.

Heads Up!

I love, love, love this company called Heads Up! and I would like to tell you about them. If you have a special needs kiddo with any need be it ADD, sensory processing, getting distracted easily, staying focused etc, this company may be for you. They have many learning tools to make learning an easier, more enjoyable experience for your child.

I received an envelope from them and in it was the reading frames that you see pictured above. I was a little confused about what they were for so I read the information that was sent along with them. They are great! I have two kids who get a little overwhelmed by too many things on one page and they spend time trying to find where they left off. These frames are perfect for them. You place the colored frame over the area you are working on and as you do your work you never lose your place. The frames are available in many colors. I was interested to find out the reason for all of the colors is that each person will see differently through various colors. I tried this out and it's true! I much rather would use the blue frame over the other colors.

Also in the envelope were these reading strips that you see below. They are also available in several colors as well as clear. I do believe that I love these the best. When I got them I wanted my son to try them out. It was then that he told me for the first time that reading has not been so enjoyable to him because he is always skipping lines and losing his place. He then has to start the passage over again. These readers are the perfect solution to that problem.

The last thing we received was this reader strip you see below. It is a color in the middle with two strips of grey, one on top and one below. This strip makes it very easy to keep your place while reading and works double time as a bookmark between reading sessions. At $1 each for the frames and reading strips they are all affordable and a great value.

Heads Up! has so many learning tools and their catalog is on my shelf as one of my favorites. Whatever learning challenges you may have, click no the link and see if Heads Up! might have something to help you overcome those challenges.