This Reviewer's Reflections / My Year in Review

As an alternate on The Old Homeschool Crew of reviewers,

I...

...was so honored and privileged to have been chosen!

...absolutely loved seeing another box on my front porch. :)

...admit that meeting deadlines takes some planning and organization!

...began the experience with a lot of self doubt. I had many questions. I was so new to homeschooling, that I didn't feel "real". And my homeschooler has such different needs from most children, I questioned how would I ever be a "real" homeschooler?

...*am* a real homeschooler! Yes I am! :)

...realized that I am not the only mom in the world who homeschools a child like mine.

...broadened my education about the concept of "developmentally appropriate" as it applies to my child.

...did not expect just how disappointed I would feel when not chosen to review some items.

...did not expect just how relieved I would feel when not chosen to review some items.

...did not expect that I would be given so many "just right" items.

...learned that breaking the rules is okay! Homeschoolers all over the world "break the rules" and adapt curricula, products and resources to meet their own needs. :)

...realized that my perception of "homeschooling" was really small and inaccurate. There are at least as many homeschooling styles as we had Crewmates this year.

...learned that not every product is appropriate for every family.

...learned that neither I nor my child is at fault if a product didn't "work" for us.

...learned something about me from every product.

...learned something about my daughter from every product.

...learned more about how to evaluate a potential product in terms of being a match for our family and meeting our unique needs.

...learned that some products are better in "e" format or digital

and

some products are *not*.

...was surprised that I *like" e-products and digital versions better in some cases!

...learned about quite a few products to keep on my "not now but for later" list.

...get a really big kick out of connecting folks to new resources!

...am still growing into a homeschooling style. It's okay to be flexible.

...learned (via a professional assessment) that my daughter made more progress at home during the review period than she has ever made in a 6-month period.

...met the most incredible Crewmates! This Crew is composed of generous folks, authentic parents, quick to offer advice and prayer when asked and not afraid to share themselves.

...am amazed at how quickly and tightly the Crew members bonded. Years ago, I studied how "real life" groups bond when I was doing grad level work, but never studied how a *cyber* group bonds. There were no cyber groups when I took some grad level courses!

...am delighted to have met some of my Crewmates in real life!

...wonder how many products we Crewmates ordered from vendors after completing a review (a lot of us did!)

My Top Ten Favorite TOS Homeschool Crew Review Products

Choosing a top ten is impossible. I've enjoyed every product I've been given, and I've learned something about ME and something about my daughter with every single one. Still, some of them hold a special place for me. Here are my favorites in alphabetical order from my year of product reviews:

1) ALL ABOUT SPELLING -- This product, based upon the Orton Gillingham method used in remediating dyslexia, is superb. It's one of my very top favorites! I'll say it's one of my top three! It is easy to use, the lessons are short, and it illuminated some issues that I had not yet recognized in my daughter that would contribute to reading and spelling challenges.

2) APOLOGIA'S textbook, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day -- This book breaks down an in-depth, year long unit study into activities that are fun and meaningful, where we have lots of opportunities to use "academics" as a background for relationship development. I liked this so much that I bought two more textbooks in the series. Another of my top three.

3) ARTISTIC PURSUITS and 4) SPEARS ART STUDIO CD-- My biggest surprises were the two art programs I used and reviewed. I would never have considered an art curriculum. I don't know why, but I just wouldn't have. I was shortsided. I was surprised that they are so good. I was surprised that we would like them so much. Between-you-and-me, relationship development moments happen when we create art, and both of these programs are filled with art history, art how-to, and projects and activities. Now, I think everyone needs an art curriculum or two! The two of them create a three-way tie for one of my three in my top three. *grin*

5) BONNIE TERRY LEARNING, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills -- gave me the tools to grow reading skills in short lessons that require no research and minimal preparation for me.

6) HEADS UP -- I didn't realize the Borings stock sooooo many products for children with special learning needs. Getting to try those tinted readers was a treat. Getting to hear Melinda and Scott in person in Cincinnati was a bonus. They "get" kids like my homeschooler. I enjoy her blog.

7) HOMESCHOOLING ABC's e-course. This course arrived with perfect timing, at the beginning of the review year, and each weekly lesson taught me and encouraged me. The freebies and samples that came with the course introduced me to even more resources. This course was really valuable to me as a new homeschooler, and I like being able to go back and refer to information in lessons I received months ago.

8) LITTLE MAN IN THE MAP - This book for children is a fun way to learn where the states are on the map.

9) MATH MAMMOTH - I had no idea that there was a company that sells math worksheets in packages the way Math Mammoth does. They sell quite a few configurations for any need. They're a download, so you can get 'em right when you need 'em. No waiting for them to arrive in the mail. The worksheets we reviewed gave me great ideas for working on math off the worksheets, too. I adore a product that is an idea generator!

10) MEMORIA PRESS-- I like both the Christian Studies Book I and the three copybooks we were given. They're meaty. Quality. Classical. Adaptable. They'll be great for summer activities.

Why stop at 10? *wink*

11) PETERSON DIRECTED HANDWRITING - Peterson educated me about the way students need to scribble first, how to encourage the kind of scribbling that will help a student in penmanship, and how gross motor movements play an important role in handwriting. I actually bought another program from Peterson after they sent me one to review. We're using their pencil grips and triangular shaped pencils (that I purchased), too.

12) RIME TO READ -- We enjoyed these on-line books for beginning readers. The way the books are developed gave my daughter practice paying attention as the stories grew more complicated.

13) SPELLQUIZZER SOFTWARE-- Our whole family uses this one for vocab and spelling. The kids like to make fun of my southern drawl when they listen to my voice on the playback. It makes spelling fun!

14) TRIGGER MEMORY SYSTEMS flip charts -- Families who have children with autism are very familiar with visual charts, icons, picture communication, etc. WHO KNEW that there is a company making visual flip charts and marketing them to homeschoolers?

and last alphabetically, but one of my top three:

15) WRITE SHOP STORY BUILDERS -- These little cards with story parts printed on them have been a lot of fun, and are a perfect "academic" background activity with a relationship development focus in the foreground. Definitely another top three. I'm watching for more of them to show up for purchase.

When I saw the TOS ad to recruit focus group members to use and review homeschool materials, I was reeeeeeeeally new to homeschooling one child who happens to be on the autism spectrum. Joining some yahoo groups focused on homeschooling made me feel inadequate. There were so many acronyms used, I often thought that I needed an interpreter to help me figure out what they were talking about! (That's so ironic, because we use a *lot* of acronyms when we talk about children in specialized education in the public school system, and lots more that pertain to autism.) Ultimately, I completed the application process and was absolutely delighted to have been chosen to serve as an alternate on the first ever TOS Homeschool Crew.

(An aside: the Schoolhouse Planner I was given to review as part of the application process has been a resource I've used several times thoughout this school year -- it has so much stuff in one place, it's the first place I look when I need a template or form of any sort.)

I wasn't sure I'd be able to USE anything that would be sent to me. My daughter's skills and abilities are all over the place, and her work in the old public school setting had been heavily adapted. I figured all homeschool products were developed for typically developing children. (I was wrong.)

The list of participating vendors emerged, and I began to look at those web sites. The world of homeschooling resources began to unfold before my eyes!!! I still had no idea if I'd be chosen to use and review any of the items, as an alternate.

(For every Crew product review, go here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/)

I could have been overwhelmed with products to use and review. But I was not. I received just enough to keep me busy but not enough to feel overwhelmed. I was suprised again and again by products that met our needs, products that taught me that we can indeed work on relationship development in the foreground and academics in the background, and build both. (Thank you, Lord for your plan for me in this year of reviews!)

FYI: Links to all of the companies who sent me products are in the side bar of my blog. Some of those companies have blogs, and those links are also in the sidebar of my blog.

HINT: Watch company blogs and sign up for their e-newsletters for discounts, sales, and freebies.

Stay tuned -- I am staying on the Crew for one more year, this time as a "First Mate". You can follow all 25 First Mates from the sidebar of my blog through the summer and as a new review year begins in the fall. I've enjoyed this review year and I hope that I've been an encouragement to you.

If you are considering the role of "accidental homeschooler" like I did, bringing a child home from public school because public school wasn't workin' for ya, I want to encourage you to give it a try. I am convinced that there is at least one resource for any need, and often, there are several resources for a need. So many of them are reasonably priced. There are resources that will work for you and your child, resources that public school staff never had access to. There are resources that will allow you and your child to be successful in many ways.

Blessings,

Penny

Memoria Press: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

The last review of the maiden voyage of TOS Homeschool Crew is (drumroll, please), Memoria Press. I've written quite a bit lately about the difference between developmentally appropriate and age appropriate materials, and the subject of developmentally appropriate is an extremely high priority for us. Memoria Press encouraged me to try the Latin program, but I am not convinced that a Latin program is developmentally appropriate for us at this time. A child with delays in areas of communication needs to concentrate on one language, in my opinion.

After a very helpful phone consultation with Tanya at Memoria Press, we were sent the three copy books that make the Primary Copybook Set ($39.95) and both the student and teacher books for Christian Studies I. (The three sets, Christian Studies I, II and III student and teacher books plus the recommended Bible is offered for $119.95 at the Memoria Press web site.) A sample lesson from Christian Studies I is HERE.





from the Memoria Press web site:
What is Memoria Press? Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy to use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by Cheryl Lowe in 1994 to help promote and transmit the classical heritage of the Christian West through an emphasis on the liberal arts and the great works of the Western tradition. Memoria Press is currently developing a K-12 classical curriculum at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky, where its popular Latin, logic, and classical studies courses are developed and field-tested.

The Christian Studies Bible Course

The Christian Studies Bible Course recommended (not required) a children's Bible that we do not own, so I headed to my local large chain bookstore with coupon in hand (after confirming that my local Christian bookstore did not have a copy to sell me) and I bought the Golden Children's Bible for around $15. "Students work through one third of The Golden Children’s Bible each year."

I do really like the Christian Studies first year study!!! The books are written in chronological order, thus users are encouraged to begin at the beginning with Book I. There are 30 lessons in each book. Each student lesson has a reading assignment (students may use any Bible or the Golden Children's Bible), followed by a facts to know section, a memory verse plus questions to answer, and a section of comprehension questions. After five lessons, there is a review lesson. The Memoria Press web site explains, "Maps, timelines, activities, and discussion questions offer the critical integration that is central to classical education."

The problem for us is that the student book will turn off my daughter quickly. The assignment of our reading a story together and then answering questions like the ones in the student book is a source of anxiety for her and will send her running. I won't do that to her.

But, what I *can* do is to read each lesson before I sit down with her, learning what the lesson intends to spotlight, and I can begin to spotlight those pieces of information for her. The workbook and q & a will wait until her comprehension, confidence and compentence grow.

Honestly, for she and I right now, the teacher manual is all that I need because of the way it frames each lesson in a way that I can use it with her, slowly, gently. It contains all the questions from the student book, plus the answers, plus a background and summary, teacher notes, vocabulary, and activity questions and answers. We are able to make the Golden Childrens Bible our focus (not the workbook, which would create resistance and anxiety), go at our own pace, and make adjustments for days that wiggles are high and attention is low. We're using a Charlotte Mason approach with a product written for classical education, I suppose.

My homeschooler's big sister, a typically developing 11-year-old, looked at the Christian Studies I book with excitement, and I offered it to her to "test". I gave her the option of using her Bible, or using the Bible I'd bought to go with the study. She chose to begin with the Golden Children's Bible, and she loves the pictures and the way it is written. (I predict she'll move to her Bible soon.) The studies are geared for children from 3rd - 7th grade. Each lesson has taken her approximately 15 minutes (she is a strong reader), and she has commented that the questions seem simple, but they really make her think. Checking her answers is easy for me with the Teacher Manual. She is enjoying the study. I'm glad -- I've been looking for a study like this one for my homeschooler's siblings. This will be a nice resource for summer and will give her an idea of what it might be like to be homeschooled, too. (NOTE TO SELF: order one for my son.)

I like that this product is NOT digital. I can take the Teacher Manual along to appointments while I wait for my daughter to have a class or a therapy. It's affordable. It requires exactly ONE book (a Bible) as an extra. And I can use the pieces that are developmentally appropriate for my homeschooler who is diagnosed w/ autism, and skip the rest for now. My 11-year-old asked about future studies, and I told her I will order the other two when she finishes the first book. She likes that idea. :)

The books are soft cover, sturdy, and do not have a spiral binding. A spiral binding would enable them to lie flat when open, and that would be a welcome adaptation to the books, in my opinion, especially for children who struggle with the motor planning needed to hold a book open and write in it at the same time.

The copybooks

Each of the three copybooks begins with a table of contents, an introduction that explains what copybook is and how they selected their Bible verses, followed by teaching guidelines outlined in seven steps. Next, a recommended schedule is offered. Line and Letter Practice is next. (I have to take issue with the sentence that says, "We have found that little instruction is necessary to teach basic letter strokes." I am guessing they are referring to children who are typically developing!) Each book in the series provides a page of student guidelines and several pages of practice pages that involve copying lines and letters. In Book I, the actual copywork begins on page 26; Book II, page 26; Book III, page 20. Book I is 96 total pages. Book II is 152 pages. Book III is 110 pages.

Each copybook page sits across from an illustration page. Students create an illustration of the verse they copy each day.

Verses in the beginning are short. The lines are big, words are scattered not-too-close-together in a way that keeps the pages from being visually overwhelming.

The verses are not limited to Bible verses. Students learn poems, books of the Bible, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles, Doxology, and some entire chapters from the Bible.

Each copybook ends with blank copy pages that are reproducible. The rest of the book is copywrite protected, so families will need one book per student at home.

The beginning copywork is simple. The verses and sentences are short (some are quotes, some are poems). Students are not expected to visually track from one page to another--they copy right below the example line. The spaces are large, creating fewer obstacles for a child who may struggle with fine motor skills.

In the teaching guidelines section at the front of each book, we are told, "The Copybook Lesson outlined below need not be done in one sitting, but may be broken up into two or more sessions. There are 7 skills or steps in each lesson." (Bible Story Time; Language Lesson; Memorization; Copying; Proofreading and Correction; Illustration; Review.)

The teaching guidelines sort of mention "developmentall appropriate" but only regarding typically developing children: "*Some Kindergarten students may not be able to completely copy verses at the beginning of the year. They should memorize and illustrate verses according to the schedule but work on alphabet pages for step 4 until they are ready to do copywork." Parents of children with developmental delays need, I give you permission to adapt and adjust this product in a way that might not be age appropriate, but will be developmentally appropriate! (Thus saith Penny. *grin*)

I would never in a million years purchased the copybooks. I have printed copywork from e-books and e-unit studies, and my daughter does not like them. She dislikes them so much that I stopped asking her to do copywork for several months.

So, guess who was surprised when her daughter attacked with enthusiasm the very first copybook in the series? (This is actually a page to trace, not copy, but STILL, she did not find it to be aversive.) She even drew a picture to go along with "And God said, Let there be light."

Wow. WOW!

So, we're using the copybooks, putting our own spin on them, sometimes doing one WORD at a sitting. I ordered some special triangular shaped pencils and a kindergarten/first grade writing program to help me guide my daughter on making those letter shapes as we copy. There are sample pages HERE.

Do I like these products? YES! Are they adaptable for a child with different learning needs? YES! This is one of those products that I like because it's solid plus I like the ease of adaptation.

For the reviews of these and other Memoria Press products by my Crewmates, please click HERE.

Tapestry of Grace: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I have been curious about the classical approach to homeschooling. I know several homeschooling families who use a classical approach. (They do not have any children with developmental delays or special learning challenges, so I have no idea how to compare my situation to theirs.)

When Crew members were given a unit of Tapestry of Grace from Lampstand Press in the form of a digital edition to review, I got my opportunity to look at, feel, use, a curriculum from a classical approach.

I had not experienced a curriculum this broad, and did not know what to expect. I had assumed (incorrectly) that it would arrive with everything I would need to begin, right out of the box.

What is Tapestry of Grace? Lampstand Press offers a summary in “The Loom,” in the digital edition on-line:

“Tapestry of Grace is a humanities curriculum, written for four levels of stud in three major subjects: History, Fine Arts, and English (including Writing and Literature). It includes elective studies (at age-appropriate levels) in Geography, Church History, and the History of Philosophy, as well as an emphasis on the history of missions and a focus on unreached people groups. You could use t his curriculum for all subjects except Phonics, formal English Grammar (though recommendations for this are included in the Writing Component), Mathematics, Foreign Languages, traditional science studies (for h igh school, these include General Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics).”

The web site excerpt from “The Loom” continues:

“What is a curriculum? It is a plan of study. This is a curriculum, not a textbook. You will need to use many resources besides this plan in order to educate your child(ren), many of which are now available through our online bookstore, The Bookshelf. We hope this plan and our bookstore will make finding resources, planning your family’s school work, and teaching lessons easier than ever before. “

And this excerpt from the Tapestry of Grace web site elaborates:

“From Grades K-12, all students cycle through world history every four years, with all ages studying the same slice of history each week, each at their own learning level. Detailed lesson plans and discussion outlines enable parents to be their children's primary teachers and mentors and shape their students' biblical worldviews.”

Crew members were given a choice of units and I chose to begin at the beginning, with Year 1 Unit 1, The Books of Moses. My daughter has an interest in Egypt, and I thought we might be able to build upon one of her interests.

Downloading the curriculum and LockLizard took a few minutes. Soon, I was looking at the files that make up Year 1 Unit 1, The Books of Moses.

It’s HUGE. Comprehensive. Detailed. I was overwhelmed by the amount of information available to me. I opened several windows and loaded different sections of Year 1 Unit 1 on my monitor and began toggling among them. Each “GI-normous” unit is only $45 (there are four units per year for four years).

I found yahoo groups that focus on Tapestry of Grace. The support from other families who love the program is phenomenal.

If I could go back in time and BE a homeschooled student, Tapestry of Grace is what is *I’d* like to study! I can imagine that this material is as exciting for the homeschooling parent as it is for the children!

Before I had a child diagnosed with autism and I imagined what homeschooling looked like, this type of program was what I imagined.

Take a look at the first three weeks of the very unit we have been using:
http://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/ZC/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4

Whether you are seriously considering Tapestry of Grace or are mildly curious about it, I recommend that you spend some time with the three-week sample and “test drive” it for yourself. The three week trial will give you enough experience to know if it’s a fit for your family.

If you consider yourself a classical homeschooler, I think you might like Tapestry of Grace.

If you have at home a modern day one-room schoolhouse with students spanning ages and grades, I suspect you’ll appreciate Tapestry of Grace, because you will be able to teach all of your students with one curriculum, and effectively individualize to each student’s developmental and educational level. For a family homeschooling several children, Tapestry of Grace is both cost-and-time-effective.

If you have a child who, developmentally, is “all over the place”, with scattered skills, who is working at different levels in different subjects, you will appreciate Tapestry of Grace, because you get all of the levels for each unit in one purchase Tapestry of Grace appears to me to be easy to customize for an individual student with unique learning needs, as long as they are at least comprehending the world (humanities, history) at a lower grammar level.

If you are homeschooling an Aspie who loves facts, is driven by learning more and more about a subject, I suspect that you will like Tapestry of Grace. Tapestry of Grace provides a recommended weekly schedule, a routine, and individuals on the autism spectrum thrive on routine.

I really like the concept of traveling through the same material every four years, and each trip through the material is a new journey using the same curriculum as a framework with new books, activities and assignments for new levels.

Browsing the digital edition

The opening page offers users a “How to use Tapestry DE” button, an “About Tapestry of Grace” button, and a “Free Tapestry Samples” button. From this page, users may also enter the units they have purchased, and users may enter The Loom. The Loom is considered the framework of the Tapestry year plan.

In The Loom, I opened a document called, “Scheduling Advice by Dana Cawood”. Even though my daughter is “upper grammar” by age, her auditory processing challenges and developmental delays have us still building and shoring-up some pre-school foundations right now. There is not a pre-school section in Tapestry of Grace. So, I peeked at the section written for “lower grammar” students. I could see from the get-go that using Tapestry of Grace at this particular time in our homeschooling would be a lot of work for me as I modify for a 9 year old who is, in my opinion and that of our RDI® Program Certified Consultant, not ready for content delivery for the sake of content delivery and heavy-duty academics. The 9 am – noon block of time on the suggested schedule is crammed with too many items and activities for a child with learning challenges. I am trying to guard against my tendency to push my daughter into frustration mode. We’re deliberately trying to work on short lessons with long breaks, growing trust in me as a teacher, and giving her opportunities for her to experience being a learner. I saw more problems: The read alouds and memory work and recitation scheduled by Cawood are not developmentally appropriate for us. I knew I’d be doing a lot of modification (in terms of paring down) in order to get to know this resource with my daughter.

There are two schools of thought in terms of teaching a child on the autism spectrum. One is to try to support and compensate for weaknesses and push the strengths, and that perspective often has students studying heavily modified age-appropriate material with same age peers. Another is to avoid over-growing the strengths while remediating issues that are considered developmental delays or weaknesses, and that perspective encourages the use of developmentally appropriate materials.

One of the reasons I withdrew my daughter from public school was the emphasis that the public school staff placed on the belief that children with special learning needs should be doing as much age appropriate work with same-age peers as possible. I’m all for inclusion, but some learners are hindered when they are able to tackle age-appropriate materials that are not developmentally appropriate.

Developmentally, we are still working on the experiences that broaden a pre-reader’s self-to-text and text-to-self comparisons.

I know that I can teach my daughter facts. Memorization is skill for many individuals on the autism spectrum. But memorization of static facts in autism often turns into one-sided attempts at interaction and conversation that is a turn-off for the other party involved in that interaction. We are trying NOT to reinforce recitation of facts in place of conversation right now. My challenge in using Tapestry of Grace has been using it in a developmentally appropriate fashion and to guard against memorization for the sake of memorization.

Getting started

Tapestry of Grace took a lot of preparation in order to begin. I needed a lot of time to figure it all out. There’s no way I could have purchased this product in July and been ready to hit the ground running in August. If you’re going to use Tapestry of Grace, buy it at least a month before you plan to begin in order to give yourself the time you need to locate the recommended reading material.

The digital edition was bothersome to me. Magazines and articles in digital format are fine for me, now. I’m growing to like them. But this gigantic curriculum is too big for me to manage while I’m sitting at the computer monitor.

My daughter has several therapies and lessons during the week, where I sit and wait for her. I don’t have access to a laptop to use during those therapies. A hard copy would have been transportable for me to use during wait time. I could have chosen to print the digital edition, but I chose not to spend the money to print the curriculum in order to be able to carry it with me.

The materials are set up for a family with several students of different ages, and the set up would be really useful for a family like that. I’m homeschooling just one child, and I don’t want to see the other levels. If I’d had an option to print ONLY the lower grammar materials, I might have printed a hard copy, but I did not want to waste toner and paper on pages and pages that outline an entire lesson for first through twelfth grades.

I opened the book list in one window and my local library web site in another, and began searching for recommended books. My library and the bigger library system offered very few of the titles. I opened another window, accessing an even larger library system, to continue my search.

I managed to find five or six of the recommended books, and only one was available immediately. I put holds on the others and waited. One did not arrive for nearly eight weeks. By then, I’d had to return the other books, because I’d renewed them to the limit.

I finally drove to my home library and checked out all the books that I could find (not many) about Egypt for young children. None are on the recommended reading list, but that was the best I could do.

Dana Cawood has a trip to the library scheduled on Friday in the suggested schedule for the week, for getting books for next week’s lessons. Unless you have an incredible library, you are not going to be able to rely on it for having the books you need when you need them. You may need to consider purchasing the recommended reading.

The Verdict

My biggest problem about using the materials for writing a review is related to the situation that my daughter is still growing developmental foundations for much of what Tapestry of Grace offers. While I am pleased with the amount of materials the curriculum offers (it’s HUGE), I found that we did not use very much of it because most of the lower grammar levels were developmentally inappropriate at this time. We spent our time laying foundations, setting the stage to begin Tapestry of Grace, much like a family would do with a typically developing three or four year old who are using the program with older children in that one-room schoolhouse in a homeschool setting. YES, Tapestry of Grace is incredibly versatile, completely customizable, and yet, it was too much material for me to go through in order to plan for one child who is not quite ready for the first level (lower grammar). I used very little of the material compared to what is available in the unit, and the time I spent way too much time to read and consider what to use and what to set aside in our situation.

I wanted SO MUCH to be able to USE Tapestry of Grace. Despite the frustrations with the “gi-normous” digital edition and locating the recommended reading material, I see that it is a well-planned and beautiful program. We just happen to not be developmentally ready for this program at the moment. We WILL get there – and when the time is right, we have our digital edition waiting for us.

To read reviews about Tapestry of Grace, including other units, please click HERE.

Apologia: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, a TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I brought her home. Now what? How will I teach a precious child with unique learning challenges?

I don't have room for all of the questions I have when I think about homeschooling.

I really want a homeschool curriculum-product-materials-and-resource FAIRY to drop all of the right things in my lap.

Being on this year's Crew has given me, in a sense, that fairy. I'm an alternate on this year's Crew, and overwhelmingly, I've been given products that I am able to use with my learner at home.

Recently, the "fairy" dropped this one on my front porch: "Exploring Creatures with Zoology 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day," ($35.00) by Jeannie Fulbright, from Apologia's Young Explorer Series.

"Apologia provides fun and challenging K-12 creation-based science curriculum specifically designed for the home school."

This textbook, like the others in the series, are written in a Charlotte Mason style and are meant to be used for a school year, and is an in-depth study of one subject. It covers, birds, bats, flying reptiles, insects, beetles, flies, and true bugs, butterflies and moths. There are 14 lessons in this book, with each lesson taking approximately two weeks to complete. The other books in this series cover astronomy, botany and more zoology. Click on "elementary science" from the Apologia home page to take a look. (An aside: my daughter is sitting with me as I type this review, and as I look at the page containing the elementary series, she asked me to order "Land Animals of the Sixth Day". She did not know that there are other books in the series!)

As soon as the textbook arrived and I opened it, my daughter snatched it from my hand and looked at it for a long time. I like to follow her interests, and she enjoys looking at books about animals. I suspected this would be a wonderful fit for us at home.

This textbook is *beautiful*. OMGoodness, the color photographs are gorgeous!!! You see this book, you immediately want to pick it up and look through it. I want to order the other books in the series just to *have* them, even though we won't get to the next one in the series for another year!

The author suggests that students work through the first lesson in the book first, and after that, families may skip around. I love that we are given "permission" up front to skip around, go out of order! We know we're going to skip around! :)

There's a "Need Help?" page at the front of the book, so parents know where to go for support if it's needed. An introduction explains how to use the book, including use of narration, notebooks, projects and experiments, and how to pace your family study. And then, there's a materials section that tells parents up front what items are needed to complete each lesson. Most of the items are common household or homeschool items.

I always scan lists for items that are off-limits at our house. Most of the items on this list are non-food items, and families with children with allergies to consider will find plenty non-food projects and experiments to complete. (Note for those w/ peanut allergies: Lesson two lists crunchy peanut butter in a recipe for suet. I am wondering what, if anything, we could use that is not a nut or seed butter for that particular project.)

There is an egg candling experiment in "Lesson 6, Matching and Hatching," that we will do as we dye Easter eggs later this week.

We're still addressing auditory processing issues and challenges in reading comprehension, so read-alouds with narration and reading alone are not activities we use (--YET. We're getting there, and we will get there!) And still, there is an incredible amount of "meat" in this book that I am able to use.

I've said many times in my reviews that relationship development is my priority with my daughter who is on the autism spectrum. I look for resources that scaffold the teaching process for me so that I can scaffold learning for my daughter. Academic activities can be a background piece, but relationship development must be primary.

THIS TEXTBOOK DELIVERS. Don't let my review lead you to think you must do everything with your child(ren). The experiments and projects can be completed by older children without much assistance, and, the same experiments and projects can be used as background activities for relationship development. In many of the experiments, perspective taking and comparison is built in as families monitor preferences of winged creatures in their own back yards. I love the two-fers that deliver guided participation / relationship development with thinking skills.

My daughter likes to look at this book. I find that for us, looking at the book together and my following the lead of my daughter works nicely. She and I need more experience with shared reading, and this book works for us. I read aloud parts that pertain to the photographs she views, condensing the material. Sometimes, she tries to read parts of it aloud to herself, and I stay close by, assisting gently. I try to use the terms from the book later, in context, when we're outdoors.

We have a science museum nearby with an incredible bat exhibit, and we will visit it when we get to the lesson about bats. I'd like to erect a bat house in our back yard.

Last fall, I bought a butterfly house kit at a charity book sale for a few cents, and as temps warm here, we'll paint it and put it up in the back yard, find some flowers that attract butterflies to plant nearby, and we'll focus on the lesson about the order Leridoptera.

We're probably not using the text in the way that most families are, but we are learning differently than most families. We've really enjoyed this item, and plan to continue to work from it. Apologia offers a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. I am satisfied!

To read reviews about this and other Apologia products by my Crewmates, click HERE.

Homeschool In The Woods New Testament Activity Pak: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Okay, I'll just say it: I did not know what a "lapbook" is. I quickly learned that a lapbook is a way to display a collection of related and creative activities (a unit study, perhaps) in one place, on a poster board or folder. There's a scrapbook feeling about them, although they're not really scrapbooks. And I learned that lapbooks can be dreamed up as you go along, a kind of "winging it", or you can find them already designed and developed for you. Homeschool in the Woods products "ready made" activity-paks for families to use at home. We reviewed the brand new New Testament Activity Pak, as a download ($18.95) from the "Hands on History" selection of unit studies. This product is also available for purchase on CD ($19.95).

Homeschool In The Woods explains in the introduction of the downloadable lapbooking project, the New Testament Activity Pak that, "We believe that the best way for a child to cement the lessons he or she has learned is through hands-on activities and projects! The more that a child has contact with the subject, whether visually, orally, audibly, or kinesthetically, the more of a chance the material has of staying put where it belongs... in the child’s mind!"

THERE'S SO MUCH GREAT STUFF IN HERE!!!!! I was so excited as I began going through the activities!

The New Testament Activity Pak includes projects that illustrate

1. The Lineage from David to Jesus

2. Triptych of the Birth of Jesus Christ

3. Miracles of Jesus

4. The Beatitudes Pie Book

5. Fruit of the Spirit

6. The Parables of Jesus

7. The Last Supper

8. The Crucifixion

9. The Ascension

10. Pentecost

11. The Resurrection

12. Prophesies Fulfilled

13. The Twelve Disciples

14. Paul’s Missionary Journeys

15. Postcards from Paul

16. “The New Testament News”

17. The Armor of God

There is a supply list provided at the beginning of each activity, so Mom or Dad knows what to gather before you begin. You'll need items you probably already have around the house: plain paper, colored paper (if you choose), card stock (optional, but preferred, in my opinion, for some activities), markers, crayons, glue sticks, pens or pencils, tape, ribbon, scissors (an adult needs to cut out some of the activities) and some you may have to buy, for example, the wooden dowels for the scroll in "The New Testament News" activity. I like the fact that Homeschool in the Woods includes a file that shows you what the finished product looks like.

The content is fabulous--there's a lot of "meat" that children (and parents) can bite into here! The attention to detail is impressive! This activity-pak is really beautiful!

Every time I print a section for us to try at home, my daughter balks. :( The balking has nothing to do with the activity-pak. Let me explain: My daughter began early intervention at the age of 19 months, and quite honestly, she's done more arts and crafts than most children her age, because occupational therapists and speech therapists and teachers and tutors have used arts and crafts to give her work on fine motor skills like holding a pencil and cutting. From a very early age, she didn't get to ENJOY arts and crafts -- they were her "work".

As we work to undo some of that perspective for her, I don't *make* her do an activity like this one if she reacts with great resistance. I want her to see the activity and imagine the fun she'll have with it, and join me enthusiastically, not, in her mind as a "chore" or "have to". I have to admit, I want her to want to be interested in a big project like this one, but for *now*, she's not. She sees too many words. She sees "work" in the pages to be colored, and in the drawings she must do, and the words she must write. She has some new discoveries to make about herself and about learning before we tackle together a project as thorough as this one. I soooooooo look forward to the day when I bring out the materials and she jumps into it with anticipation and excitement! One of these days, she WILL, and when that day comes, I will rejoice! :) (In the meantime, I am still trying to let go of the regret of a lot of the "therapy" we did in the name of "early intervention".)

In the meantime, I have the files containing the New Testament Activity Pak on a memory stick, not taking up any space on my bookshelves, waiting for the time when we WILL use it.

Be sure to check out the Homeschool in the Woods web site to see all the wonderful products (including some FREE UNIT STUDIES) that they offer, and be sure to sign up for the monthly newsletter that contains free teaching tips.

Please check out the reviews of my Crewmates, here.

A March 18, 2009 PS: My daughter picked up the New Testament Activity I'd assembled called, "The Parables of Jesus" today and showed interest in it for the first time! :) Assembled, it's a book that is sized for the hands of children, with a parable on one side of the page, and a blank page on the other, where we are to illustrate the parable on the blank page. We'll take our time, work through it as my daughter continues to show interest. My hint for the day for parents of children who are resistant because they've been through too much early intervention is to print activities and, where applicable, complete the assembly, and just leave them in places that are accessible to your children. Allowing your children to SEE the activity and know you're not going to force them to "work" gives them some space to develop comfort with it, space to develop curiosity and interest. When the child's curiosity is driving the activity, the task is no longer "work".

Bonnie Terry Learning: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

After attending a workshop last year on the topic of guided reading for lower elementary school levels, I am aware that there are approaches to work on reading, comprehension, fluency. The workshop I attended was aimed at public school teachers. I am a homeschooling parent, and did not have access to the resources the schools have. What was I going to use at home? I had nooooooooooooooooooo idea.

Enter Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., a special education teacher and a Board Certified Educational Therapist in private practice. To use and review at home, our family received products that address reading skills and study skills.

"Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills, A Fast, Fun Approach to Improve Writing and Study Skills," ($37.00) is packed with information and tools for students working in the 3rd-12th grades. It reminds me of the journalism stylebook I learned to use in college. We are not working at a 3rd grade level in some areas, so we have not been able to use the entire book, and I am looking forward to utilizing it. Terry "gets" the fact that adding the visual component between teachers and students is important, and she's created an incredibly useful tool in adding the visual component to studying and writing.

Terry includes a "read this first" information sheet to help the teacher begin, spotlighting which pages to photocopy, offering some tips that I'd define as "quick-start". The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, Terry dedicates a few pages to helping a student get started by discussing how to choose a place, what supplies to have on hand for 3rd-6th graders and for 7th-12th graders, and by providing calendar templates for scheduling your study times. Purchasers have a limited reproduction permission, up to 50 copies per year of any part of the book for use with his or her students only.

In Part II, Terry provides visual "organizational forms that can be used from third grade through high school level. The forms start with basic story organizers and end with essay organizers and business letter writing."

Part III gives readers study and writing tips and Part IV is an easy reference section that students will reach for again and again. The easy reference section includes common spelling patterns in the English language, rules for capitalization and punctuation, parts of speech, helping verbs, how to sections on bibliographies and works cited.

In "Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, A Fast, Fun, Phonic Approach to Improve Reading Skills," Terry provides a student book ($32.00) and a teachers manual ($37.00) that can be purchased individually or together as a package for $60.00. She also included a write and wipe plastic sheet protector and a marking pen to go with the teacher's book. The drills are intended for students 1st grade and up. And again, Terry provides "READ THIS FIRST" set of "quick start" tips that were very useful to me.

I know that shorter lessons are better for my daughter, and still, I have trouble knowing how much is enough, how much is too much, how much is too little. I LOVE resources that are already divided into SHORT lessons that have "enough" defined for me. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE! :)

Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills contains 45 drills. Terry recommends a minimum of two lessons a week, although you may use them daily.

The teacher's book contains all of the "how-to" information, the progress charts, and the drills are numbered here. The student book contains just the drills, and the drills have no numbers along the sides of the pages, and Terry explains in the teacher's book that the "numbering tends to stress" students out.

The program is simple: start at the beginning with the first drill, work for mastery, and move on to the next lesson. The book is arranged so that there is one drill per page, one page per day, and the student reads aloud the words in rows from left to right, with an oral pre-read followed by an oral timed read. (I am not sure how to modify this for non-speaking children.)

3/18/09 UPDATE: I know many families who have non-speaking children on the autism spectrum, and some read my blog, so I contacted Bonnie Terry via e-mail and asked her how to use this product w/ a non-speaking child. She devoted a blog entry to the answer: http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/?p=284

As I use this with my daughter (she has an autism diagnosis), I realize what issues challenge her. The drills have been good practice for us as I look for ways to give her experience and practice watching ending consonants. I like the developmental progression that Terry utilizes, working on a single middle vowel sound (same), but changing the consonants around them (different); then she introduces a new middle vowel sound; and the next lesson, she reviews both of those vowel sounds. The student must pay attention to work through the rows of words with accuracy and increasing speed.

We use a piece of paper or a plastic "reader" to block out all but the one line of words that we are reading.

When we get to the end of the page, we are done for the day! "Enough" is very clear for both of us! :)

Extra expenses are minimal, including the legal photocopies you make from either book (calendars, charts, forms) and the cost of a timer if you don't have a stopwatch or timer.

If you're looking for a study tool and reference guide all-in-one, I recommend this one. And for those of you working with struggling readers, consider Terry's products.

A great resource is the Bonnie Terry blog.

My Crewmates' reviews of these and other Bonnie Terry products (including the areas of math, spelling, and a sentence game) are located here.

UPDATE: VIDEO OF A FIVE MINUTE TO BETTER READING SESSION HERE: http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/?p=461

Noah's Ark from One2Believe: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I was introduced to One2Believe in the fall of last year, when I reviewed their Tales of Glory nativity set.

We were given a second opportunity to see this Tales of Glory line from One2Believe when we received the Noah's Ark ($29.99) set. This set is just as adorable as the nativity set, and my children oooo'd and ahhhhh'd over it as we unwrapped the box!

The set comes with an ark (top, bottom, ramp), Noah, and several pairs of cute animals:

The ark is the storage container for the animals.

This play set, like the others, is recommended for children at least 3 years old, as there are several small parts, and, according to the description on the One2Believe web site, the parts are made from PVC, which may be dangerous to chewers, mouthers, people who need a lot of oral motor sensory input. Please do your research and make your own decision in this regard. (A google search yields quite a bit of information about PVC in toys.)

Children with autism tend to like to line things up, and mine is no exception. I frequently see the animals lined up to climb onto the ark, or lined up around it in a decorative fashion. :)

Kids love these--you can't go wrong with 'em. They're tough and sturdy, they don't shatter when they're dropped or thrown. They'd be great for a Sunday School class or to have at grandma and grandpa's house, too, or to have around when little cousins come to play.

Other crew reviews are available here.

Schleich: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Today, one of those big delivery trucks brought us a fun surprise: six Schleich toys! :) We received a gnu, a Charolais cow, a Falabella pony, a goose, a female cheeta, and a jaguar.

Schleich included a 2009 catalog in our box. Now we know what "old" animals we're missing from our collection, what new animals are available for purchase RIGHTNOW, and what animals are coming out in the next few months (and when).

Our family is sold on Schleich. My daughter asked for their animal nursery a couple of years ago for Christmas, and her grandparents made it happen for her. We have been fortunate to find the animals at a lot of "t" stores (Tractor Supply, Target, Toys R Us) and a few months ago, before winter's cold turned our neighborhood into frozen tundra, we purchased quite a large selection of the animals at a neighbor's garage sale.

My daughter likes to play with the animal nursery MINUS it's roof, so that she can more easily move the animals around inside. Sometimes we put the roof on, but not often!

We like the Schleich toys for lots of reasons--They're great for imaginative play, they're great with a "lesson" or to accompany a story or field trip, they're beautiful, and very true to life. We've returned home to look at one more closely after a trip to the farm or the zoo. We find the appropriate Schleich figure when we are reading about an animal in a book. The detail is amazing! They're quite sturdy, too, and I'll tell you that not one of them has broken or fallen apart here. The ones we purchased at the gargage sale were quickly mixed in with the animals that were purchased new, and we cannot tell the secondhand toys from the new toys. They don't fade.

Schleich assures me the toys are safe, "All materials used in production are carefully selected and tested by independent laboratories. Our products are subject to constant quality controls and fulfil all strict national and international safety requirements."

The one "negative", for me, today, *grin* is that my daughter already knows what new releases are coming out and when. She didn't have to spend much time with the catalog to memorize that information, and I predict that on May 1st, she will begin reminding me what new Schleich animals are available for May, 2009.

I did not know that Schleich makes trees, plants and a lot of other accessories. They make dinosaurs and human figurines, too.

I really want the gray whale mother and calf. I was a docent on whale watch boats when we lived on the left coast, and had many opportunties to see these beautiful creatures in person. I'd love to have the Schleich versions in miniature. (And yes, I'd hide mine!)

I had no idea we could order Schleich toys on-line. Prices start under $2, larger animals cost more than the smaller ones.

We love Schleich at our house! :)

I invite you to read the Schleich reviews of my Crewmates here.

SpellQuizzer Software: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I'm always on the lookout for something that combines fun and learning, and SpellQuizzer spelling software fits my criteria! SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps us practice spelling words and vocabulary words. Priced at $29.95, the program offers purchasers the option to use pre-programmed lists of spelling words or to enter your own lists of words. We like the way we can customize it to a particular unit study or lesson in terms of vocabulary. I can imagine the software would be great for working on foreign language spelling and vocab, as well.

SpellQuizzer works with or without a microphone. I purchased the least expensive microphone at a nearby electronics store for about $12, and we have used the program with it and without it. We like using the microphone -- it's just FUN that way (*grin*), but the program is equally effective without the microphone.

The download was quite simple; I was able to put it on our two family computers with no problems, and we began entering lists of words pretty quickly. The software is very user friendly! The concept is simple: You use a pre-programmed word list or you enter your own list,--if you use your own list, then you enter the voiced recording of that word and save it, --enter an optional hint (a hint is required if you're not using the microphone), and begin! Students type the words after a spoken prompt or pre-programmed (by you) hint on the screen. The SpellQuizzer web site is quite descriptive in terms of showing potential buyers an inside look at the product, and the company offers a free trial download as well. Please check it out!

The ability to add your own voice recording makes the software very customizable. For example, with a child who needs experience on auditory discrimination of vowel sounds within one-syllable words, I can record exactly what I want to emphasize on the spelling lists for that child. Instead of saying "pet", I can customize that list and record "pet. puh - eh - tuh. pet."

Ya know, sometimes, you look at a product and you know if you buy it, it's not going to be useful to all of the students in the family, because some products are geared for older students or younger ones. SpellQuizzer spans the age and grade ranges -- because you have the option to enter your own word lists, this software isn't limited to a certain demographic in terms of users.

And because users type answers back to the program, our children gain keyboarding experience as well.

If you have a laptop, you can take your spelling on the road when you travel, without having to keep up with paper lists.

My kids crack up at my voice on the recordings (I still carry a southern dialect that my children have not grown in the midwest, much to my dismay, y'all) and they are able to practice "with" me (my voice, anyway) during times when I might need to be doing something else. I'm going to say "fun" again -- THIS SOFTWARE IS REALLY FUN!

For other Crewmate reviews of this product, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog here.

ARTistic Pursuits: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

An art instruction curriculum was not on my list of homeschooling considerations when I began. I was concerned with how I'd teach the three R's. I don't feel competent when I think about teaching art (I need an art class, myself!). I even read a lot about what Charlotte Mason calls, "picture studies", and still, I didn't make the connection between "picture studies" and an art curriculum.

I am learning to think about ART in new ways. Art is all around us. Art is more than a craft at a table, making a drawing or painting. Art is perspective taking, sharing something from me to you, connecting with others. ARTistic Pursuits captures what art is, how to recognize it and appreciate it all around us, and helps us to create our own.

ARTistic Pursuits produces curricula for teaching art to students from the pre-school level through high school.
We were allowed to choose the book we'd like to review, based upon the needs of our student(s), and after reviewing the descriptions at the ARTistic Pursuits web site, I was torn between the pre-school book and the K-3 book for my 9 year old with autism. I sense that we missed some pre-school skills in a developmental fashion, and going back to experience those is important. Even if your child is well beyond the pre-school years, you may want to consider beginning here. (See the web site for examples from each book.)

We are using the K-3 BOOK ONE, An Introduction to the Visual Arts ($42.95) , at home.

Right away, I was impressed with the book. Brenda Ellis has produced an absolutely BEAUTIFUL book!

As I began to read the lessons, I was more impressed, as Ellis's program is aimed to hit the areas in which individuals on the autism spectrum are often delayed. Right off the bat, Lesson 1, Ellis begins a journey of perspective taking, seeing what artists see, hearing what they hear. Ellis walks us through what art is, where to look for it, and how to be an artist, too!

This is another resource that scaffolds the process for ME, to show me what to show my children, as we look for art when we're out and about, going through our day, (very "guided participation" and RDI-able) and this resource gives me do-able projects for us to experience together at home, as well! I learned that I don't have to be an accomplished art teacher to teach art at home--I can learn alongside my child.

The full color reproductions of works of art are spectacular (gorgeous!), and according to the ARTistic Pursuits web sites, are new for 2008:

"NEW in 2008!
SECOND EDITIONS
You'll love our new SECOND EDITIONS. All books now include art works by Master artists printed in each book in full color. There are no more separate print packets to handle. Because of this new format, we've been able to include more artwork and more historical information. Now, with an extra page in each unit, students in 4-12 grades get a better look at American art, World art, and European art. Biographies of the artists have been expanded and students still get to look at a work of art in each unit to see how an artist used the idea presented in that unit - the feature that makes ARTistic Pursuits unique and loved by so many students. These are the books you love, plus more! "

One other aspect that I like (but haven't used, yet), is the option to purchase all of your materials from ARTistic Pursuits in one package. Yes, the book includes a materials list, and yes, you can go to the craft store and purchase all the items (we have a lot of the items already because we use crafts a lot at home), but I love the option of the short cut they offer in their packages!

I love this one!

MORE CREWMATE REVIEWS OF THIS PRODUCT ARE AVAILABLE here.

Math Mammoth: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Math Mammoth is another gem that I didn't know about until Crew members were given the opportunity to review some of Maria Miller's products. Math Mammoth produces affordable math worktexts students from early elementary school through high school.

Each Crew member was offered products for individual children, so if you are considering a math program that doesn't include the products we chose, be sure to check out the main Crew blog for more reviews.

Because my daughter still struggles to add and subract, but she has memorized her multiplication tables, I wanted to use both addition and multiplication, and that's exactly what I got, from the Light Blue Series. The Light Blue Series is a complete curriculum for grades 1-5.

In e-book format, we are using Math Mammoth Grade 1A (116 pages) and Math Mammoth Grade 1B (113 pages), a first grade curriculum that includes addition and subtraction, place value, telling time, and counting coins. We are also using Math Mammoth Multiplication 1 (100 pages).

Math worksheets in an e-book format have been quite useful. I can make multiples of some pages and skip others altogether. Printing a few selected pages for completion during the travel part of a trip is easy, and I don't have to lug entire workbooks on vacation.

When I began to study the worksheets, I was excited to see how Maria Miller takes the student from developmental foundations to more complex concepts. In the workbooks that we used, I can tell you that she starts with very visual, concrete activities, and gently moves the student into more abstract versions of the same concepts. Several of the worksheets are very similar to pages in instruments used in FIE (Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment), which is a developmental approach to growing cognitive skills. Coming from a developmental perspective, the developmental progression that Maria Miller has created in these workbooks is impressive to me.

As I am working with my daughter, I am able to use one worksheet with my daughter, in a way that shows ME what to do, and then I am able to "freehand" ("wing it! *grin*) similar activities that provice experience with the same concepts in other ways thoughout the day, with pen and paper, or with real objects as we are cooking or playing. I like a worksheet that teaches me how to teach her, that scaffolds that teaching part for me, so that I grow as a teacher, too.

This is another resource where I encourage you to spend some time on the company web site. You'll find links to free worksheets, to samples from the workbooks, FAQs and product comparisons, and links to Maria Miller's blog.

The package containing Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Light Blue series in a download is priced at $94. Individual units are available for purchase as well, but the entire series package is a better value. Be sure to check out this page if you have a student who needs supplemental work on one particular area (the individual areas of study are $5 or less).

I like this product! I like the versatility of the e-format, and I like the ideas the pages generate for me as we work on mathematics throughout the day.

For more Crewmate reviews, click here.

Heads Up! A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I love doing this particular review (I have loved them all, but this one is different because I relate to it so much.)! I "get" Melinda Boring, because I have a lot in common with her. Boring homeschooled three children, two with ADHD and sensory issues. Her family business, Heads Up! is the place to get many of the gadgets, doo-dads, fidgets, supports and resources for children with special learning challenges that I've seen teachers and therapists using over the past eight years.

If you are the parent of "NT" children (NT = "neurotypically developing", and it's a kind of "code" for "not autistic" among families with a child w/ autism), you may not know about a lot of these products, and yet, Heads Up! may have an item or two that could be a big help for you at home, for a wiggly child or a struggling reader or one who hates to write anything out in longhand, to name a few examples.

I first learned about Melinda Boring on the internet several years ago. She had been a featured speaker at a state homeschool convention that I'd missed because I did not know about the convention at that time. I was intrigued by what I read about her on the convention web site, and ordered her book: "Heads Up Helping!! Teaching Tips and Techniques for Working with ADD, ADHD, and Other Children with Challenges." [If you're the parent of a child with ADD, ADHD, or is on the autism spectrum, I think you'll like this book (although that is not what I am here to review today).]

I was delighted to learn that Heads Up! would be participating with the Homeschool Crew this year, and that they would include those of us on the alternates list of reviewers!

If you are the parent of a child with ADD, ADHD, an autism spectrum disorder or other learning challenge, you probably already know that there are many products and resources available to assist with the issues that we see frequently in children who fit those labels. You, like me, may have seen some wonderful products in school or therapy settings, and you've probably spent some time reading about how to support and assist students who have such challenges. Well, Melinda Boring of Heads Up! is one of US parents, and Heads Up! carries a nice selection of products and resources that support families like ours as we work with our children.

Heads Up! sent the crew a huge selection of frames
and readers


for us to try at home.

"Heads Up! Helping", Melinda Boring's book, contains a chapter called "Visual Distractibility" where Boring offers many helpful tips, including a section called "Using Color", where she discusses in depth the use of colored overlays and readers.

I have known about scotopic sensitivity for many years; I own "Reading by the Colors," a book by Helen Irlen, and happen to know individuals on the autism spectrum in real life who wear Irlen lenses. There is a color-keyed self test included in "Reading by the Colors," but the text is for advanced readers, and I had not introduced those colored pages to my daughter. We have not been able to get our daughter to wear glasses (she won't keep them on), so we have not pursued Irlen lenses for her. Additionally, I know that many individuals with autism cannot see words on the paper under certain lighting, and they relate how they are able to read more clearly when text is printed on colored paper. I knew about colored overlays, but did not know where to buy them, and so we'd never given them a try. I like the fact that I can choose appropriate text with the colored overlays so that we can experiment and find our best fit together.

Having a variety of frames and readers allows families to use them for different purposes. One shape is better for isolating a section or single problem on a page of math problems. Another shape is better for isolating one line of text. The full page overlay allows the reader to view (obviously) the entire page through the color of choice.

Heads Up! sent us information about the frames and how to use them, and I went about the task of experimenting with them to see which one or ones my daughter was drawn to. She likes the shades of blue and she rejects the others. And so, the blue frames and readers have become yet another piece of the puzzle for us at home. :)

If you have a reader who struggles some or all of the time, consider trying some of the colored overlays. They are priced at $1 each, inexpensive enough to order one of each color for some experimentation at home.

Heads Up! also sent us a product catalog -- I had NO IDEA that this little company is a one-stop web site for all sorts of unique products for students with attention and other learning challenges! A lot of the products are those that Melinda Boring, a speech therapist by education and training, used to support her children in their home school. Parent recommendations are in my top two of reliable resources as I continue to figure out what works with my daughter. (Individuals on the autism spectrum are the other part of my top two list.)

Heads Up!'s product catalog is filled with other gems, too, in the form of inspiration quotes that are scattered among the pages.

A few minutes on the web site shows me that the products in the catalog are all listed by category on the web site, and clicking through the different categories is pretty straightforward. The Borings have a nice selection of resources and products, from weighted stuffed animals to provide proprioceptive input to a wiggly student, to visual timers, to books, audio cds and videos by experts in the areas of ADD, ADHD, autism, and other challenges. Heads Up! has chewy products for kids who need that oral motor input of chewing on something; they sell cushions for sensory input while sitting; there are handwriting helps, too. Spend a few minutes on the web site! Shoppers can find Melinda Boring's blog and helpful articles via the web site, too.

I like new tools to help my learner at home, and the colored frames and readers have been a fun addition to our toolbox at home. I'm bookmarking the Heads Up! web site, and am eyeing one of the visual timers with some serious interest! ;) If you're looking for a new tool in your homeschooling toolbox, check out Heads Up!, because they probably have just the thing!

For reviews by my crew-mates about Heads Up! and other products, click here.

Math Tutor DVD's: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I hated the parts of math and algebra that I struggled to understand in junior high school, high school and college. The classes that I took seemed to move faster than I could master the concepts, and I remember one college course where I learned to DO the work, but not as quickly as the professor expected me to, and my grades were low not because I could not do the work correctly, but because I could not complete his timed tests.

I have to wonder if I'd have done better during those years with a resource like Math Tutor DVDs. My children and I reviewed two videos, the eight-hour "Basic Math Word Problem Tutor" course and the six-hour "Algebra 2 Tutorrel=”nofollow”" course.

The videos are very straightforward, with Jason Gibson standing in front of a white board with a marker. He gives a brief introduction, he reads a problem, and he illustrates how to go about solving the problem using the marker and white board.

I see many uses for these videos! Parents might want to watch them to brush up or learn concepts as they are teaching their own children. Families, public and private schools might use them in place of expensive tutoring. I think that there are times when a parent needs to remove himself or herself from the equation of explaining math to a child. One of those times is when the child becomes so anxious or frustrated that the child shuts down to learning, moving from the thinking part of the brain and into fight-or-flight. Using a video like one of these removes the parent from the equation, and Gibson goes slowly through the concepts in a calm and confident voice, guiding the viewer through the concepts. Gibson's teaching is solid and thorough. (I do not like his counting on his fingers when he's adding in the word problems video.)

For now, I will not use these DVDs with my child who struggles with auditory processing. Gibson uses lots and lots of words, and his delivery, while excellent for those who have no processing delays, is too much for someone who has challenges in processing spoken language. Please check the Math DVD web site and view some of the samples if you're considering these for a child w/ language processing challenges so that you can make your own determination.

Video samples are available on the Math Tutor DVD web site. Topics available for purchase include basic math, word problems, algebra, geometry, trig and pre-cal, calculus, probability and physics, with more DVD's in the works.

All Math Tutor DVDs come with a money-back guarantee.

The Math Tutor DVD web site currently is advertising this LIMITED TIME FREE BONUS: Each new Math Tutor DVD customer receives 60 minutes of FREE live online tutoring available 24/7 through Tutor.com! A $35.00 Value! The company offers discounts for Facebook users, including a current promotion of a $10 off coupon; and they give away a set of videos a month in a drawing from a pool of folks who sign up here.

For reviews of these products from other members of the TOS Homeschool Crew, click here.