Review: SPEEKEE Spanish for Kids!

“Speekee TV is designed so that children can learn Spanish in their own time at their own pace.”   It is safe, secure and fun for your kids.

Their website lists 10 reasons why YOU should choose SPEEKEE for your family:

1. Great fun and extremely effective – My girls LOVED this program
2. Created by special linguists and musicians – Fun songs
3. Accelerated learning methodology for natural success
4. 100% in Spanish (with both English and Spanish subtitles)
5. Simple presentation style
6. Lively, engaging characters – Puppets and children
7. Real Spanish children in Spanish locations – My girls LOVED listening and watching the other children
8. Concise, essential Spanish vocabulary, with LOTS of repetition
9. Catchy songs – Songs you will hear your kids sing when they are playing
10. Highly acclaimed by our customers – I agree!

Target age: 2 – 10 years old

Format and Price:

Online format offers 10 episodes with free activity sheet downloads at $7.50/month (use PayPal to subscribe – unsubscribe at any time – there’s No minimum period)

Also available on DVD.  For more information click here.

Activity sheet samples:

Order the online format get the first 2 weeks free! – click here

My thoughts:

My daughters LOVED Speekee.  They asked for it, especially my 5 year old.  I would hear her sing the songs when she played.  Some evenings she would watch 3 of the Speekee TV videos at one time.  She also incorporated Spanish words into her conversations throughout the day, especially “please”, “thank you”, “where are we going today?”, and the color words.

I have to admit when I first received this product to review…. I sighed ugh.  But it is an engaging, interactive, fun, and hands free program to add to your homeschool.

My favorite part of the program is that I do not have to plan lessons. I just turn on a Speekee TV lesson, read, sing and talk along with the children on the video, and pause the video at any time to speak Spanish with my girls. Also for fun and to review our new words from the lesson, the girls and I completed the lesson activity sheets. 

My daughters’ least favorite part of the lessons were the ‘sock’ puppets.  They were kind of creepy to them and their voices were difficult to understand.  They enjoyed the children and the ‘Speekee’ puppet.

This program allowed me to see that I CAN incorporate a foreign language in our homeschool.  I just had to have the right program!

Check out the Speekee website for a demonstration video!

See what other’s on This Old Schoolhouse CREW has to say about Speekee here.

 

Enjoy!

Disclaimer:  This product was given to me free of charge, for a time frame, for review purposes only.  All opinions expressed are my own.

 

 

MFW Adventures: Wrap Up Weeks 16-18

Ok…I’m SO behind on my weekly wrap ups.  So this is going to be a brief summary of our last 3 weeks – just noting the highlights.

Bible:  I absolutely LOVE the scripture studies these past few weeks.

We have been learning the names of Jesus: Lamb of God and Immanuel.  The meaning of Immanuel, “God is With Us”, was especially dear to our hearts during the Christmas season. 

We read about the Jesse Tree and put the symbols on our tree.

A few of our favorite movies have been “The Prince of Egypt” with Moses and Pharaoh and “The Nutcracker”. 

The Lamb of God verses were so encouraging to read.  In John 1:29 … Jesus is baptized by John ..” the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. 

Our OT study was in Exodus, where the Israelites' were slaves in Egypt.  I think it was awesome that God showed His righteousness by pouring out His wrath during the Passover.  He made a way for His People to be free of His judgment if they were obedient. 

The Discoverers’ Bible in the MFW Adventures curriculum is so wonderful because the girls get to enjoy God’s Word!

History: We have continued our study of the States in order of Statehood: traveling from Rhode Island, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. 

The historical figures we’ve studied have been a lot of fun too: Daniel Boone and Eli Whitney.  I have really enjoyed our early Pioneer travels westward.  We have been reading about how they loaded up all they had, including animals, and floated on flat-boats down the Ohio river to new territories among the Indians.

Book Basket: Our book basket favorites - historical figures like Eli Whitney, his Cotton Gin and Johnny Appleseed!  The girls really learned a lot about sheep and wool too!  “A New Coat For Anna” was their favorite story.

Science:  We’ve covered several areas in science over the last few weeks.  weather, wind, living / non-living things, cells and animal kingdoms. 

Our favorite project was creating a 3-D Animal Cell model with jello and candies.

1. Make the jello – cool on the counter

2. Cool the jello in a “cellular” shape in the refrigerator – in baggies

3. Color and label “Plant cell” model worksheets from KB Teachers website

4.  Collect your “cellular” parts – candies or fruit

5. Cut the baggie (cellular membrane) and fill the jello-animal-cell with important parts to make it a fully functioning EDIBLE cell!

6. EAT!

This wraps up our last few weeks in MFW Adventures!  See what Kattie is doing in MFW 1st Grade at 2 Lady bugs and a Lizard !

Overview: “Easy Classical” Schedule

I have had the opportunity to look at the Easy Classical Early Modern History schedule.  See my overview of their schedule below. 

Easy Classical offers the classical approach in their curriculum schedules.

What is offered in their Early Modern History Schedule?

36 long week schedule – grades K-6

45 + pages of charts, sheets and helps

Each week’s lessons have review questions and answers

A quiz is included in each week’s lesson

Assignments, projects and ideas for making the lessons fun – depending on the children’s learning style

Be prepared in advance – with a “shopping list”

Comes in a 1” 3-ring binder

Check out the Easy Classical website for more details here.

What are the curriculum Resources needed when using this schedule?

Check out the Curriculum choices link on their website – A History of the US, The Story of the World, Writing with History – just to name a few.

My thoughts:  Because I am critiquing the ‘schedule alone’ and not the resources of the curriculum, I cannot determine if the choices are something I would recommend.  But I can say that I have used both The Story of the World and History Pockets for our ancient history study last year and my family and I enjoyed them!

How are the weekly lessons plans laid out?

 

My thoughts:  I believe the lesson plans are laid out very neat, organized and easy to understand. 

The parent can write the date at the top of the weekly lesson.  Then just pick your day, like Monday, scroll down each column noting what resources to get and the page to turn too.  Generally a new topic is introduced on Mondays.  The author notes: “Writing assignments can be completed in one to three days, depending on the student.  Copywork assignments are scheduled 3 days during the week coinciding with the history topic.” There are geography lessons, read aloud books  Personally I have not used most of their resources but I think the schedule is very easy to read for the homeschool family.

How do you know what activities to do with each lesson?

As you look at the weekly lesson, note the four icons in color. 1. The World: mapping exercise; 2. Pencil/Paper: complete history summary; 3. CD: sing the history song; 4. Books: complete reading narration.  The icons are very easy to find in the schedule.

There is also a “shopping list” at the bottom of each page so you can pull together your activity supplies in advance.  I think this is a wonderful addition to their schedule.

What about reading comprehension questions?

Each weekly lesson has discussion/ comprehension questions at the bottom of the page, including the answers and a quiz sheet.  I assume these are generated from the resources read during the week. 

What does the history schedule cost?

Notebook version: $35.95

Digital version: $29.95

How can I view more sample pages of the lesson?

Click here

Easy Classical creates more schedules here.

See what other on This Old Schoolhouse CREW have to say about Easy Classical – just click here!

Disclaimer:  This product was given to me free of charge not to be returned to the vendor.  The opinions expressed are mine.

Math Facts Now! - Review

Vendor: Math Facts Now – download your free trial here !

Target age: K – 6 or anyone who needs to review any of their math facts                    

Format:  Download or CD – $15.95 – Guaranteed or your money back!

Product overview:

• Drill facts – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
• Create your own lessons, save them and review
• Each child can have individual lessons created for them
• Progress report is available after the completion of each lesson
• Child is required to retype any problems they missed at least 2 times
• Any trouble problems during a lesson – the child sees a “be careful” note
• Drill any facts needed – chose only one too!
• Ability to review each child’s performance and trouble problems
• Drill 10 to 100 problems – the parent sets the number!
• A child can take from 60 – 90 seconds to answer each problem
• Reward system at the completion of each lesson

My thoughts:

Initially my girls would tire after 30 problems during a lesson.  The company worked with the CREW reviewers and redesigned the program to drill fewer problems in a lesson.  That tells me that Math Facts Now! creators are willing to work with their customers needs.  My girls enjoyed their lessons more when they only had to drill 20 problems. 

I think the program is easy to use – both for the parent and child.  It is not a busy and noisy program like many educational programs.  I also liked that I could create lessons with only one math fact:  like +1 or  -9. 

My girls enjoy the reward system that I can enter when creating a lesson.  The rewards are received at the completion of a lesson.  We discussed the rewards and came up with:  Wii play time or a candy cane.  This made the lesson more fun for them.

I was able to download the Math Facts Now! program to a USB drive.  This made it easy to do lessons either on the desktop or laptop.

See what other CREW member’s had to say about Math Facts Now! here.

 

Disclaimer:  This product was given to me free of charge, not to be returned to the vendor.  All opinions expressed in this review are mine.

Positive Action Review: Bible 2nd Grade

As a member of This Old Schoolhouse CREW, I have had the opportunity to review the

2nd Grade edition of Positive Action Bible Curriculum: Finding God’s Promises.

Positive Action Bible studies have been a wonderful addition to our homeschool.  The curriculum is colorful, well written, easy to teach your children,  and full of fun activities and truths!

The curriculum doesn’t just teach the importance of scripture memory but the truths and promises of the God of the Bible.  The student’s are challenged to memorize scripture, read the Word, depend on God to change their character to be more like His, and engage in Bible conversations during the lessons.  The emphasis in this curriculum is establishing students in the Word of God so that they begin to find answers for themselves. 

What more can I say .. but that I think this curriculum is absolutely WONDERFUL!

Here’s a few more features: download a sample here

• Full color student manual with fun activities, lessons, puzzles, and more for only $12.95 (5 or more – $10.95ea) 
• Flexible Teacher’s manual detailing lessons for 35 weeks – you choose your schedule - 5-day, 4-day or 3-day week schedule

I chose to do the lessons 4 days a week.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the girls and I reviewed scripture memory verses, read the Word - that is packed full of God’s promises, discussed vocabulary and comprehension questions, and completed the workbook pages.  On Fridays, we did the Character Trait Activities.

• Great program for multi-age children – both my 5 and 7 year old did the 2nd grade studies – great for co-ops and summer Bible studies in the neighborhood
• God’s character is brought to life in each lesson
• Features a parent-assisted Scripture memory program
• Interesting stories
• Vocabulary sections
• Words for songs
• Puzzles, artwork, and maps

Positive Action’s elementary Bible Curriculum is written students grades 1 – 6.  They have a scope and sequence for each grade on their website here.  You can also download a sample of the 2nd grade curriculum and the Teacher’s manual  I reviewed here.            

Teacher’s Manual – printed $33.95

Teacher’s Manual – on CD $19.95

Student’s Manual – $12.95 ($10.95 / 5 or more)

Hymn & Chorus CD – $9.95

Are you looking for a Bible curriculum for your older students?  Check out Positive Action’s Middle School studies here.

See what others on The Old Schoolhouse CREW had to say about Positive Action – click here!

Disclaimer: This product was given to me free of charge for review purposes.  All opinions expressed in this review are mine.

 

 

 

ZOOB: Creative Building Fun!

I picked up a creative building gift for our family nights this Christmas called Zoob.

Zoobs are made up of several different connections:  branching, ball, jaw and body connections!  The Zoob pieces are a sturdy and colorful plastic. They are fairly easy for little fingers to assemble.

This is our robot bird …….              the rocking horse

The rocking horse, man, and a giraffe …

The ZOOB Raptor !

The ZOOB Connections are fun for the whole family.  The 250 piece kit from Amazon cost me about $35.00 with free shipping.  The kit contained 6 model building booklets ranging from easy to difficult.

Leave a comment!  What were some of your best holiday gifts?

Merry Christmas

When I was young, I remember waking up real early to see if Santa put gifts under the tree.  Well, this Christmas morning I felt the startling effects I once inflicted on my parents when my 7 year old comes in the room at 5:30am!  Where you up before the sun rose?

So my husband and I tell our daughter to go empty her stocking and play in the family room.  Well, the 8 little ‘Squinckies’ she received were not entertaining enough when there were other presents to be opened… ya know….don’t ya?

She then comes back to our bed and laid down, then turned, then huffed, then chatted, then rolled around…. and on and on for 30 minutes.  How is a tired parent to fall asleep through that?  Well, she conned us into letting her wake her younger sister at 6:30. 

Christmas gifts were opened in a flash…even though we all took turns.

 

The girls got American Girl dolls, doll clothes, games, and comfy recliners this year!

Over breakfast I had to discuss with the girls the true meaning of Christmas and gift giving.  You know as stay-home-homeschooling moms we teach our kids the meaning of Christmas over the WHOLE MONTH of December and … then December 25th comes and the kids are pee’in on their new toys (if ya know what I mean).  So this year we had lots of share toys, games and doll clothes.  I’m hoping it reduces the number of fights and hearing “That’s MINE!”.  Oh and by the way, when the kids fight over toys I take the toy and dish out some chores.  They are learning to resolve conflict amongst themselves a little better these days.

More Christmas Day family fun photos:

Christmas Day 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Monica