TOS Review: I See Sam

We received I See Sam Little Books at just the right time for us. Daniel and Abbie (5 and 4 respectively) knew their letter sounds and were ready to start putting those sounds into words. So we were all pleased to see the box show up on our porch. What we got was four levels of readers, a teacher's guide and flashcards.

This is the first level of books...

You can see a sample copy of one of the books here.
It is simple and easy to use. The  instructor's guide was helpful in getting us started. (I didn't use the placement assessment, since I knew we needed to start right at the beginning.) Basically, the program is the books. First, the child is introduced/reviewed to the sounds he/she will be using in that book, then there is a short story, then there is a "coming attractions" page where the child gets a peek at the new sounds/words in the next book. Each book is approximately 17 pages long, with one or two sentences on each page. Each page has a black and white, simple but interesting, illustration that goes along with the story. The books have built-in review so you don't have to worry about them forgetting what they learned as they learn new sounds and words.
The kids love the funny stories and pictures. Especially the pictures. They get a lot of entertainment out of looking at the pictures and talking about what had happened and what would happen. I learned early on to cover the pictures first and let Daniel look at them after he had read the page... sort of like an award. Otherwise he enjoyed the pictures so much we just might not ever get to the words. :)
Initially, I was conflicted about this program, because it seemed, with their insistence on mastery and the flashcards, that it was pushing memorizing sight words, which is something I am against. As we got into the books, however, I could see that (however they intended it) I could easily use it with phonics, as the words can all be sounded out, and Daniel was merely learning to blend the sounds he knew into recognizable words. The manual said to read each book until "fluency" is achieved. We read each book twice, which is what it takes him to easily "sound out" each word or read them outright. In my opinion, if he can read it without my help, he can read it. I don't expect perfection out of a five year old, and I had no interest in him memorizing the words. In fact, one of the things I liked about these books is that they use words like "sat", "sit", "Nan", "Ann", "Mit", and "Mat" that are so similar that he had to sound them out to figure them out. I could tell right away if he was guessing or really reading. We never used the flashcards at all.
I do not know a lot about reading programs: the studies and methodologies and theories behind them all. I do know that every inch of this program, from the books with their cute pictures, to the information on the website spoke to me of the heart these people have for teaching kids to read. I could feel the love and commitment for kids and I think that is what made it work for my son.
At this point, Daniel is halfway through the first level of readers. He enjoys reading these books, and is very proud of his progress each day. It is empowering to him to finish a book and then get a new one. He is able to transfer the knowledge he has gained to other mediums... he can read words with the sounds he knows in other places, like books and sentences I write for him; and one day he brought me the dry erase board full of the words from his books that he had written out all on his own. For Daniel, that means he is internalizing his learning and that is all I need to like this product.
Daniel says: I like them. I like finishing a book! They are funny. They are teaching me how to read and they make me happy.
So, Daniel's experience was nothing but positive from his perspective. Abbie, however, did not like these books. I believe she simply was not ready to read 17 page-long books, she started out great, but a few pages in she was sighing dramatically and trying to distract me from the matter at hand. I am planning on giving her more practice decoding words and start her again later on with book one.
There were a few things that I personally disliked about the books. Sometimes the text is too stilted and awkward. In the beginning, it repeats a lot: "I see it! I see it!" which was weird for the kids because they don't talk that way. They were confused by the repetition and they thought they were reading it wrong. This, however, goes away as they add more words to their repertoire. Also, at the bottom of the pages are "comprehension questions" for the teacher to ask the student. However, these questions rarely tested the comprehension of what was read. The child can easily answer the questions by looking at the pictures, and often had to look at the picture to answer the question. I overcame this by asking my own questions. The last thing is that I would not start this program if my child did not already know basic letter sounds. I think it would be too much at once. Daniel did not know all of the blends ("th" for example) or the long vowel sounds, but he did know the basic 26 letter sounds and was able to take it from there. I think it would have been too frustrating for him to try to learn 5 new sounds and decoding skills in order to read his first book.
In short, I will definitely continue to use I See Sam with Daniel, and with Abbie in the future. Daniel and I really enjoy these readers, and are so happy that he can use them to learn to read. It arrived at the perfect time when he knew his sounds and could achieve instant success.

If you want to read what other TOS Crew members thought, click here.

You can purchase I See Sam books either in bundles or by the level, and you can download an instructors guide, scope and sequence, placement assessments, flashcards and tracking progress sets here for free.

This product was sent to me for free in exchange for this review. All opinions are honest and are mine and my son's.

Week Seven Term Two Year 10-11

We had several highlights this week. I love it when the kids take a step forward, especially when it is in areas that I haven't even been working with them.

2nd and 3rd Grade:
Math: measuring and multiplication. They really enjoyed Mr. Demme's humor this week, and I have heard lots of copycat jokes about ice tea and golf tees. Nate just "gets" multiplication. I wish place value and borrowing had been this easy for him! There was, as usual, lots of MathRider playing, and some fun worksheets from the ebooks I bought from Scholastic.

Grammar: We finished up Unit One in R&S. They did well on the end-of-unit-review, and are happy to be finished with sentences, capitalization, and punctuation.

History: We are deep in the Greeks... we read about Athens and Sparta and the story of how Zeus started the Trojan War. Nate listened to the description of how Spartan boys were expected to behave: strong, brave, no complaining, and said, "That is just like me! Except for the complaining part."
Also, when we read the story of Zeus and the Trojan War, I had a speech prepared about false gods and the true God. I started off, "We know that God is loving, kind, and just. But the Greeks invented their gods to be angry, jealous, and cruel. Why?"
Nate said, without looking up from fiddling with his shirt, "Because that's the way they were."
Startled, I said, "That's the way who was?"
"The Greeks."
So now I'm no longer too worried about the neutral emphasis of Story of the World. Nate, at least, seems to be able to handle it. ;)

Geography: This was the week for Alabama. The kids liked the state bird, until they found out it wasn't a woodpecker but a common flicker.

Bible: We finished up with the Nativity, and are ready for the next unit. I am also loving their journaling progress. And I re-vamped our memory work to more closely reflect the actual method I was using.

Latin: They are loving this, and I am not even really having to teach. Who knew Latin could be so fun?

Spelling: is our current struggle. They flew through the first book, so I am not sure what to do about their sudden lack of understanding of anything the second book says. I'm trying to figure out if we need to back up, hunker down, or just push on through. Spelling City is keeping us occupied until I figure it out.

Worldview: another review we are doing and greatly enjoying. I love this book!

Everybody:

Science: This week we read about manta rays, and I found some awesome videos at Aussie Pumpkin Patch, that the kids loved. We also read about other kinds of rays, but mantas are obviously the kids' favorite.

Handwriting: lots of reviewing past letters and starting "k".

Kindergarten and PreK:
Math: Daniel's math was the first step forward that I mentioned above. He has been doing simple addition with his fingers for awhile now, but over the weekend, he started doing it in his head. So I figured it was time for something a little more formal. I pulled out some insect flash cards and the MUS blocks and showed him how it worked. The next day, he asked to do it again, and I had him do it all himself. He had so much fun. Silly guy. I've given up teaching him in a linear fashion and just enable him to learn the topics his brain is ready for. He can't count to 20 without forgetting 13, but he can tell you without thinking what 2+3=. Crazy, but I'll work with it.
Abbie worked on odd and even, same and different, and more numeral recognition. She now only really struggles with 6 and 9.
I introduced Kevin to the numbers 0-3, and he worked on shapes and colors some more.

Phonics: Daniel can read not only his readers, but can apply the sounds and rules he knows in other books, too. He is halfway through the first level of the reading program we are reviewing.
Abbie happily chooses a reading "game" each day to read to me. She does best when there is no pressure of any kind, so forward progress can be tricky with her. However, the other step forward that I mentioned was hers. She started writing her own name this week. It looks beautiful, and she does not even ask me how to spell it. She just writes it. It makes me happy.
Kevin knows "a" and "f" pretty well, this week we discussed that "r" does not growl, but just kinda rolls. :) He was disappointed.

All four of the little kids played with playdough, colored, did puzzles, used the lacing cards, and played outside a lot in the beautiful weather.

I am linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and Forever For Always No Matter What

TOS Review: MathRider

When I first tried out for the TOS Crew, I was kinda hoping we would get lots of awesome stuff to review, and that has happened, but I was not even expecting to discover brand new homeschooling products that would literally knock our socks off. That is what happened with the product I am going to tell you about today.
First, let me explain that my eight year old daughter hates math. Not because she doesn't understand it, nor even because she isn't any good at it, but mostly just because it bores her. I can totally relate, because I feel the same way: you add this number to that number and it ALWAYS equals the same number and you just do it over and over and over again until you finally get addition down and then they spring subtraction on you! Our search for a math curriculum was not so much to find something that excited or interested her, but merely to find something that didn't cause her to weep over every problem.
MathRider is not a full curriculum, but is a facts drilling computer program. Kaytie saw it when I got the first email about it and immediately was interested. By the time I got it downloaded and set up for her to play, she was drooling all over herself, excited and eager to play. None of this was too surprising, because it is a computer program after all, and playing on the computer is a treat to my kids. However, the next day, she asked me, first thing, "Can I play MathRider again today?" I was shocked, especially when she continued to ask me, daily, to play, and chose it whenever she had free computer time, and talked about it, with great excitement and enthusiasm whenever she wasn't playing it.
MathRider aims to teach kids fact mastery from addition to division. It does this by sending them on magical  "Quests" which they achieve by answering math problems. Their horse gallops along and has to jump over hurdle. Each hurdle is a math problem, and if the answer is typed in time, the horse jumps the hurdle. If the answer is wrong, or not typed in time, then the horse stops and the problem and answer is both shown on the screen and read aloud. Getting the answers wrong guarantees that problem will show up again, often.

The program keeps track of correct and incorrect answers and shows them in a graph that both the teacher and the student can access. Kaytie loves looking at her graph and knowing which problems she knows and which she needs to work on. (Nate could care less about this feature.)  At the end of each ride, a bar graph shows them which problems they did quickly and correctly, and which they need to "watch out" for and which they got wrong.

After a certain number of problems, you finish the "ride" and the score is calculated, based, best I can tell, on correct answers with extra credit given for speed. Your horse slows down if you are slow at answering, but you are rewarded for quick, correct answers. This moves you forward on the Quest Map. That part is exciting for my kids. They love watching their progress on the map and seeing what they are going to be riding through next, Desert Lands, or around Dragon Mountains.

The scenery in the background changes as you ride across the map, but I'm not sure the kids have noticed, because they are focused on their math problems. The program starts with very basic problems: the ones and zeros facts, and then moves on from there, with the goal being complete mastery of all facts. Completing a quest earns you a reward (a flower or a jewel for example) that appears on your main page. We haven't achieved mastery yet, but I think the rewards for mastery are bigger and better. :)

What makes this game fun for Kaytie is that: one, she loves horses; two, the stories behind the quests engage her and make her eager to get the answers right so she can find out what happens next; and three, there is little negative pressure, if she answers slowly, the game slows down for her, if she misses a question or two, she doesn't have to start completely over.
Nate loves the challenge of moving as quickly as he can around the map and succeeding at his Quest. He knows that getting too many wrong answers will keep him from making any forward progress, so there is motivation to think about it and do it right the first time.

Here is their opinion about it:

Kaytie said: I like it! Especially because of the horses, because I really like horses. And I like how I can save my quests so that I don’t have to start it over again. But what I really like is how you can earn things and get farther and farther on your quest, and that there are new places where you can go. I like that I can know what I really need to work on, so that Mom knows what to make me work on. I would recommend it to other kids who don’t like math but do like horses.

Nate said: I like MathRider because I do lots of different challenges. It is fun and very exciting. My favorite thing is doing all the different challenges. I would recommend it very much! It helps me learn math because it teaches me math by making it a challenge. There is nothing I don’t like about it.

What I like about it is that this game makes them beg to do math and I can see that they are truly learning while having fun. I like the statistics page, where it tells me exactly what problems they know, where they fall on the mastery scale and what their biggest challenge is at any given time. (It updates after each "ride")  I like that the program adjusts to give them the problems they need to work on and doesn't waste their time with problems they have already mastered. I also like the fact that it goes all the way up to division and that I can easily add up to ten players to our account. There is also a Practice Run feature, where you chose which number and operation your child needs to work on. Whatever happens in the Practice Run does not effect the rest of the game. So there is no pressure, only practice.

For this review, we were allowed a limited time download of the product, but we WILL be buying the full version with no expiration date. Our whole family loves MathRider, but don't just take our word for it, you can check it out here, at their website, or you can see what other Crew Members thought here.

And as always, this product was sent to me free for the purposes of this review. Our glowing opinions are honest and our own. 

Learning to Read

Right about the time Daniel and Abbie FINALLY finished learning all their letter sounds, and were ready to start putting them together to form words and sentences, we received a reading curriculum in the mail to review. I will be telling you all about that later on... but for now, just let me say that while it was perfect for Daniel, it was too much for Abbie. She is a year younger and a lot more, ummm, giggly than he is, so I wasn't surprised that we had to take a step back. I already had some things ready for her that I had planned to use before we got the review item. It's just simple, easy stuff that gives her daily practice in reading words without overwhelming her by asking her to read an entire book in one go!
I keep these in the "reading" workbox, and she does one every day, with the goal of doing each one once a week.
First up are these little books that I made by cutting a sheet of paper into strips and writing letters on with a marker then stapling it together. Not beautiful, but functional, and fun for her to read "all by herself"!

Next are picture cards of CVC words. I have tons of these that I made to teach Kaytie and Nate spelling before we discovered All About Spelling. However, I only put out about five at a time. I match them with these wooden magnetic letters that I bought a while back at a homeschool sale. She looks at the picture, says the word, and finds the right letters to match the sounds in the word, sound by sound.

And finally, I have paint chips with holes and paint chips without, and she puts them together to make words. Again, I only use one "family" at a time, and just the letters that actually make words. Nonsense words irritate me and frustrate them. It loses the joy of stringing together a random selection of sounds and discovering the word.

She also reads on Starfall, and every now and again, I will write out sentences for her, using easy to read words. She likes that a lot. Eventually, she will make that leap to reading books, but for now, she is getting daily practice without the dramatic sighs and clutching of the forehead.

Scholastic Dollar Deals

I wanted to share a great find with you! Scholastic is having a Dollar Sale on their ebooks. Over 500 books in all subjects and all grades, usually between $6 to $13 apiece are only $1. I spent about $35 there yesterday and have so much new fun stuff for the kids to do that when I tried to look through it all last night my head nearly exploded! The sale lasts until February 25, but there is a lot of books to look through, so hurry over and check it out!

Disclosure: I get nothing from sharing this with you, but the satisfaction of a good deed done!

Term Two, Week Six

I haven't been posting weekly wrap-ups, but we have been working! I rearranged the schoolroom just a bit to accommodate three or four "boxes" for Gracie and the same for Kevin. The hardest part right now is juggling one-on-one time with Daniel, Abbie, and Kevin while keeping Nate and Kaytie on task with their "independent" work. The second hardest part is filling Daniel and Abbie's thirst for worksheets. Right now, they are working through the Get Ready for the Code series, and loving every minute of it. I don't want to give them a new page every day, though, because when that is done, I've got nothing.
Anyway, here is what we have been up to:

2nd and 3rd Grade:
Math: They are flying through multiplication! They know 0, 1, and 10 facts, and almost know the 2 facts. They are also really loving their current math review item. I'll be revealing it next week. This is a must-buy item for us, because we love it so much!

Grammar: The new has worn off Rod and Staff for the kids, but they are retaining the information and getting some good handwriting practice to boot. We have learned about the four types of sentences and punctuation marks, including quotation marks and apostrophes.

Geography:
This week was Florida. Swamps and alligators. We played some games here 

Spelling: Level 2 is HARD. We are struggling to make forward progress. I am afraid that most of it is me, though. I can't remember the rules, so I have a hard time helping them with them. I need to write them all out for my own reference.
We did, however, discover Spelling City. It's a great place to play, and there is plenty of free stuff to keep you busy! I make my own lists using All About Spelling, and the kids play there on Thursdays and Fridays.

History: We have reached the period of the Greeks, the Medes and the Persians. They were somewhat surprised and I was quite pleased when they recognized Belshazzar in the story of Cyrus. They also enjoyed the story of King Midas, and we discussed it at lunchtime. I remember reading it when I was just their age. :)

Latin: We are currently doing two different programs, so Latin phrases are quite in vogue around here. Both of them are review items so I will be telling you all about them, soon!

Bible: They are finishing up the story of the Nativity, last week we read about Simeon and Anna. One more week, then we start a new book.

Everybody:
Science: We finished up fish and started on sharks and rays. They have been looking forward to sharks! We had a fun conversation about density and floating and swim bladders. I used a battery, a plastic matchbox car, and a bowl of water to demonstrate and they were full of questions and suggestions.

Handwriting: I am using a form of Peterson's Handwriting to go over basic letter formation with the little kids, the big kids are joining in because their handwriting needs a lot of help. So far, we have learned "l", "t", "h", and "b". It takes us about 5 minutes and they object if I try to skip it.

Kindergarten and Preschool:
Math: I finally tested Daniel, and he jumped to the middle of our math book. His favorite days are the days he gets to write in his math journal. This week, he worked on patterns, writing numbers, logic, and skip counting.
Abbie worked on one-to-one correspondence, the concept of subtraction, and counting on.
Kevin worked on shapes and colors and sorting one-to-one.

Phonics: Daniel is really loving his readers and flying right through them. I wanted to make sure he was able to transfer those skills to read anything, so I hand wrote him some sentences and one day, as a "special treat" he read a book from Starfall to me. He did awesome! The whole family is so excited that he is learning to read!!!
Abbie has several different mediums that she uses to practice her reading every day, she builds words with letters, reads little books that I made, and uses paint chip readers that I made.  It is just enough practice to keep her moving forward without overwhelming her.
Kevin has learned the sounds for a, f, and r. He can play alphabet bingo with us if I show him the card so he can find it on his card. I am impressed by his visual discrimination skills!

Bible: Daniel and Abbie are still learning about Joseph. They love, love, love their Bible curriculum! They beg for it each day.

All three (plus Gracie) enjoyed puzzles, lacing, coloring, sorting, gluing and the wonderful spring-like weather we have been having! They spent all one morning outside digging for worms, riding bikes and having a glorious time getting filthy dirty.

In other news, Kaytie learned to ride a bike without training wheels, and it only took her two days to do it!

This post is linked up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

CSN Review: Cash register

When I was offered the chance to do a review for CSN stores, I was at first excited and then overwhelmed! There were so many things to choose from!
But I finally settled on the cash register.

I chose it for it's potential educational value, but the kids haven't figured that out yet. They love to play with it, and Nate uses it as a giant calculator. There are so many things to love about it! First, it is sturdy and solid. It has large, easy-to-read (and to push) buttons that really work. It is solar powered, so no batteries are needed to work it. (Although batteries are needed for the sound effects) The sound effects are not loud or shrill, just little beeping noises. The solar powered panels are very good, it works even when it is in a dim room and there is a child's head between the panels and the only light source in the room.

It came with money, (both coins and bills) a little notepad, and a credit card. There is even a little place to swipe the card. :) The money is standard sized, so all of our stash of play money fits into the drawers. It is light enough that they can carry it, but heavy enough that they don't choose to do so very often.
The kids have had tons of fun with this "toy" and I have capitalized on that interest to teach them about making change and the realistic cost of stuff they like.

It was a pleasure to work with CSN stores. They are friendly, helpful, and we received our purchase in a timely manner. 

This product was sent to us for free for the purpose of this review. My opinions are my own.

TOS Review: The Curiosity Files

Unit studies are not regular fare around here, but we enjoy them now and again as a supplement to our regular curriculum diet. TOS Crew Members were asked to choose a topic from Professor Ana Lyze's Curiosity Files to use and review. The kids all voted and Puffer Fish got the most votes.
We really enjoyed this unit study. It has lots of interesting information about the puffer fish... "wild" ones are poisonous if not cooked correctly, but "tame" ones are not. This is because the toxins come from something they eat in the ocean and tame ones are not allowed to eat those toxic substances. However, the Emperor of Japan is not allowed to eat them, ever, for his own safety. Interesting, huh?
The pages of information are followed by a quiz, and ways to incorporate math, spelling, writing, copywork, science (of course), history and art into your study about this fascinating fish. It finishes up with a page full of book titles and another of links to "learn more" and then answers to all the questions asked.

The kids' favorite part was the coloring pages. When we first looked over the material, they started begging for me to print them off, and even my kid who thinks coloring is a chore to be endured, took his time and produced a beautiful final product.

As I said before, we don't do unit studies often, so I am not proficient at them. For that reason, I would have liked some sort of suggested schedule for mixing the reading and the activities and pulling in the additional resources. The other drawback to this product is that most of the pages are filled with a lot of color. It makes it look beautiful on the computer screen, but I was very reluctant to print it and use up all that ink.
What I did like is that it was easily adaptable to my younger crowd. It is listed as A FUN unit study for kids ages 8–13 but my kids, ages 4 to 8, were able to understand the info and had plenty of fun with the majority of the activities. There were also some "extension activities" just for older kids, even up into high school.
I also liked that the activities weren't just worksheets, but a mix of say, crossword puzzles and ideas for actual, hands-on things for the kids to make and do.
All in all, we enjoyed this Curiosity File, and look forward to exploring some more.

Curiosity Files can be purchased singly, or as a bundle, at The Old Schoolhouse store. Click HERE to check it out.

For the opinions and experiences of other Crew Members, click HERE.

And as always, this download was sent to me for free for the purpose this review. All opinions are honest and are my own.