I was super-duper excited to have a chance to review The Story of Swan Lake from Maestro Classics with my oldest daughter (8).  Like many homeschooling moms I struggle to get music appreciation done, and since Swan Lake is pretty cannonical fare – particularly when it comes to ballets (and how many little girls can resist a ballerina?) I was excited to get started!

The Story of Swan Lake includes the main themes from the ballet along with narration that simply retells the story by Stephen Simon, conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (all the music is performed by them as well – really top notch stuff!)  There are also bonus tracks including a shred guitar rendition of the main Swan Lake song, a sing-along song that serves as a mnemonic to help children remember the main plot of the ballet set to the main theme, and an ‘empty’ sing-along song so your child can do their own performance (and oh boy, did mine ever!)

The CD also comes with a very well-designed booklet filled with a pictogram type overview of the plot of Swan Lake, a connect the dots, word puzzles, lyrics to the sing-along, biographies of the contributors and a lot more.  I’m not sure where ours is – my daughter made off with it and enthusiastically filled in every spot she could find to do an activity (it is consumable by the way).

The whole experience was incredible…except for one thing.  This CD uses the revised ending of Swan Lake..you know…the one where the prince and the swan maiden both die in the end?  Umm..recommended for ages 6-12, but if you have a sensitive little girl you MIGHT want to save this one for LATER.  Interestingly, Tchaikovsky’s original ending was a happy one where the lovers survived and conquered the evil magician.  Just saying.

With that being said, I am DEFINITELY interested in buying some of their downloads with less traumatic endings because they make music appreciation so easy.  Despite being disturbed by the ballet’s end she still had to memorize the sing-along to perform for her grandparents when they came to visit – so cute .

All of Maestro Classic’s music appreciation titles are available on CD for $16.98 or as MP3 downloads for $9.98 – you can find them all here and listen to free samples online too!  They even have free cross-curricular lesson plans you can use to take the earning even further!

If you’d like to read more reviews of The Story of Swan Lake from real homeschooling moms, visit the TOS Crew post here and dig in!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this CD for the purposes of this review.  All thoughts are genuine, and my own.

I recently had the opportunity to review the digital version of REAL Homeschool Spanish as part of my TOS Crew review duties.

First, I just want to give you an overview of what is included in the program.  It contains the main REAL Homeschool Spanish book which is full of the vocabulary and teaching suggestions you need to share the program with your children.  The Activity Book contains fun reinforcement activities like crosswords and more traditional written practice.  The Answer Book includes the answers for the Activity Book, and the optional Daily Curriculum Guide holds your hand while you’re getting started with the program by giving you a suggested teaching schedule that you can run with while you’re finding your own particular family’s rhythm with the program.  The Audio Files include a native Spanish (Mexico) speaker saying the vocabulary words and phrases, and the website includes free culture links that you can use to spice-up your study of Spanish.

Dr. Karyn Williamson-Coria – an accomplished linguist, mom, and homeschooler designed REAL Homeschool Spanish!  She designed this program for REAL homeschoolers, which is part of the program name, but the other part is an acronym refering to her educational philosophy.

R – Relax

E – Enjoy

A – Aspire

L – Learn

Those tenets really shine through in her program as well.  This isn’t a strict, open the book, check of the boxes sort of a program (though there is scheduling assistance provided), rather it is a conversational Spanish program that is structured in a logical way that encourages moms to find their own groove with their children.  Because of this, the program can be used with a WIDE range of ages (you get to pick how much you do, at what pace, and what written and cultural activities you’d like to incorporate if any).

So, if you have K-2 you might want to do the program together using the audio, the free cultural links from the website and the playful activity suggestions in the main curriculum book.  You can stretch the program out over three years to keep the pace relaxed.

If you have motivated high school students they can tackle all of the written work in the activity book, and all of the content in the main book at a faster pace and finish this Spanish course in a single year.  Then there are all of the possibilities in between.

This might sound a bit daunting if you are a new homeschooler, but Dr. Williamson-Coria is very personable and responds quickly to email support requests (I know – I’ve tried!)  The Daily Curriculum Guide also gives you a sample schedule you can use when you are just getting started.

I was very excited that the program is available in an all-digital format so I could read the books on my iPad and listen to the audio there too.  (It is also available with a hard copy book, audio cds, and cds with the printable activity and answer book on them.)

Unfortunately, my daughter couldn’t use her pdf writing programs to fill out the activity sheets on the iPad with a stylus because they were scrambled.  She has some sensory issues and really prefers to do her work without paper so we like writing directly on the iPad.  We had to print the pages from Adobe PDF on our laptop instead.  They are looking into a way around this though and responded promptly to my concerns.

The Tips to the Home Educator sections are awesome – these are really engaging ways to present the vocabulary and phrases in the program to children that use many different styles of learning.  I’m not so great at thinking of these sorts of things on my own, so I really appreciated this.  This is the sort of program you really need to learn along WITH your children, it isn’t an independent learning kind of approach.  REAL Homeschool Spanish tackles education as a family and encourages families to learn and practice together in their daily lives.

The program starts with traditional lessons on names, greetings, colors, family vocabulary etc. and builds following a pretty traditional conversational language course scope and sequence.  The main teaching book is broken into 10 units, 55 vocab clusters and 15 idea sections of ways to further your learning.  The activity book includes 179 pages of fun written reinforcements (that’s a lot!)

The emphasis is on verbal communication and sharing the vocabulary together as a family – there is some grammar included, but this isn’t a grammar driven course of study.  The whole feel of the program is so nice and relaxed; you don’t have to stress out with this one!

REAL Homeschool Spanish is available digitally for $49.95 and as a hard copy for $89.95 (US only, free shipping). If you’d like the optional Daily Curriculum Guide it is an additional charge, or can be included in a slightly higher cost bundle – you can find all of the buying details here.  If you’d like to check this program out you can find some free samples online here.

Don’t forget to visit the TOS Crew blog to read more reviews of REAL Homeschool Spanish.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this program for review purposes.

As part of my duties as a TOS Crew member this year I was given the oppotunity to review a volume of The World’s Greatest Stories.  Our family was sent a copy of Volume 1: The Prophets, a CD featuring dramatic Bible readings directly from the biblical text by George Sarris.

The readings included on this CD are:

• The Blazing Furnace – Daniel 3
• The Handwriting on the Wall – Daniel 5
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den – Daniel 6
• Elijah and the Prophets of Baal – 1 Kings 17-18
• The Prophecy of Jonah – Jonah

This is such a unique way to expose and familiarize children with God’s word!  Word for word readings (you can get the CDs in KJV or NIV, we chose KJV) full of drama and excitement.  George Sarris reads very dramatically with different voices, lisps, breathing, and much more.  Sometimes Sarris reading was a bit overenthusiastic and we had some giggles, but it certainly did enliven the readings!  There is also a dramatic sound track with music and sound effects that really captivate listeners.

My daughters asked me to, “Play another story Mommy!” when we would come to the end of one of the tracks on the CD.  This CD is 55 minutes in length with each of the stories around 8-15 minutes in length.  We like listening to them when the girls are coloring or playing quietly, but they’d also make great CDs for car trips – even quick errands because no individual story is too long.  They’d also make great, engaging listening for family devotions, particularly if you have audio learners in your home!

At only $7.95/CD I think these recordings straight from God’s word are an excellent value!  I hope that they will be available as MP3 downloads in the future!  There are currently six volumes, and if you buy any combination of six CDs you receive free shipping!

You can find a list of all the available recordings here, and also listen to some audio clips online to see if this series would be a good fit for your family.  I plan to buy Volume 2: The Life of Christ to enjoy with our girls because it has one of my daughter’s FAVORITE stories from John 9 on it!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this CD in order to review it, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can read reviews of the other CDs in the series here at the TOS Crew blog!

When I heard of Le Francaise Facile (The Easy French) from Great Commission Languages I was intrigued.  Not only does the
program include a variety of French accents as it progresses through the years and levels to help develop an international ear for French, but it also teaches French PHONETICALLY and from a Christian point of view.

Obviously, if there were ONE French program I was going to teach with my children, this would be my top pick!  I love phonics, and I love Jesus even more .  It is also designed by a native French speaker who is a homeschooler – I love programs made by REAL homeschooling moms!

There are a few different ways this program is presented; the Junior Level for K-3 is the one we will be trying because it is best for families with younger children.  Our oldest is 8, and I have a 5 and 3 year-old as well so I thought this would be best for us with so many littles tagging along!

There are 34 lessons in the text, with lots of stories and songs being included on the two audio CDs (they also have printables on them).  You can find the table of contents on the sample page here.

The classic-style The Easy French (Level I and Level II) is recommended for families with children of all ages.  Both the Junior and classic style levels are non-consumable (requiring printing from a CD).  There is a new format available that is consumable and designed for older students as well – IA, IB, IIA, and IIB.  If you’d like to read more about the different French programs they have for homeschoolers, you can see them all listed here.

I’m so excited that the Junior Level of Le Francaise Facile is waiting for me in the city to pick up on my next trip in!  I will update you when I’ve had a chance to try it for ourselves!

Until then – check out these samples of the program – they are what really convinced me of the value of the program – it is incredibly cute and smoothly integrates both French and English within the audio to ease children naturally into understanding French vocabulary and grammar without explicit drill-type instruction.  Very fun!  There are audio samples and pdf samples to learn more about the program.

The Easy French Junior Level or Le Francais Facile! Junior is available for $69.95 from Great Commission Languages.  It has

Christine Lindsay writes historical Christian inspirational novels with strong love stories. She doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects such as the themes in her debut novel SHADOWED IN SILK which is set in India during a turbulent era. Christine’s long-time fascination with the British Raj was seeded from stories of her ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in India. SHADOWED IN SILK was the Gold winner of the 2009 ACFW Genesis for Historical.

The Pacific coast of Canada, about 200 miles north of Seattle, is Christine’s home. It’s a special time in her life as she and her husband enjoy the empty nest, but also the noise and fun when the kids and grandkids come home. Like a lot of writers, her cat is her chief editor.
ABOUT THE BOOK

She was invisible to those who should have loved her.

After the Great War, Abby Fraser returns to India with her small son, where her husband is stationed with the British army. She has longed to go home to the land of glittering palaces and veiled women…but Nick has become a cruel stranger. It will take more than her American pluck to survive.

Major Geoff Richards, broken over the loss of so many of his men in the trenches of France, returns to his cavalry post in Amritsar. But his faith does little to help him understand the ruthlessness of his British peers toward the Indian people he loves. Nor does it explain how he is to protect Abby Fraser and her child from the husband who mistreats them.

Amid political unrest, inhospitable deserts, and Russian spies, tensions rise in India as the people cry for the freedom espoused by Gandhi. Caught between their own ideals and duty, Geoff and Abby stumble into sinister secrets . . . secrets that will thrust them out of the shadows and straight into the fire of revolution.

If you’d like to read the first chapter of Shadowed In Silk, go HERE.

Watch the book video trailer:

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

A Sound Among the Trees

WaterBrook Press (October 4, 2011)

***Special thanks to Laura Tucker of WaterBrook Press for sending me a review copy.***

Award-winning writer Susan Meissner is a multi-published author, speaker and workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include The Shape of Mercy, named by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of 2008. She is a pastor’s wife and a mother of four. When she’s not writing, Susan directs the Small Groups and Connection Ministries program at her San Diego church.

Visit the author’s website.

A house shrouded in time. A line of women with a heritage of loss. As a young bride, Susannah Page was rumored to be a Civil War spy for the North, a traitor to her Virginian roots. Her great-granddaughter Adelaide, the current matriarch of Holly Oak, doesn’t believe that Susannah’s ghost haunts the antebellum mansion looking for a pardon, but rather the house itself bears a grudge toward its tragic past.

When Marielle Bishop marries into the family and is transplanted from the arid west to her husband’s home, it isn’t long before she is led to believe that the house she just settled into brings misfortune to the women who live there.

With Adelaide’s richly peppered superstitions and deep family roots at stake, Marielle must sort out the truth about Susannah Page and Holly Oak— and make peace with the sacrifices she has made for love.

Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307458857
ISBN-13: 978-0307458858

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM OR CHRISTIANBOOK.COM!

Keyboard Town PALS is a program that teaches children how to type by using fun and colorful puppets to help them remember where the letters of the alphabet live on the typical QWERTY keyboard.  This typing program is recommended for children between 7 and 10 years of age, and uses a relaxed, timer-free experiences for children to learn the basics.

I’ve really wanted to try this program out for a while, because typing is a vitally important skill for our children to learn in today’s technologically savvy age.  I was selected to review a web-based version of this program but technical difficulties (I was unable to access it online for some reason), led to the sending of a physical copy of the CD-delivered software.  Unfortunately it hasn’t arrived yet, so I can’t share our experiences with you today, watch for more details in the future.

It is available for purchase a web-based subscription, or as a physical CD (your choice of Windows or Mac) for $39.95.

It looks like their website is currently being upgraded, but hopefully you’ll be able to visit there soon to read all the details!

You can also click over to the TOS Crew Review blog to read the experiences of those who were able to use the program with their children!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

The Power of a Praying® Wife Devotional: New Ways to Pray for Yourself, Your Husband, and Your Marriage

Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)

***Special thanks to Karri James of Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***

Stormie Omartian is the bestselling author (more than 13 million books sold) of The Power of a Praying® series, which includes The Power of Praying® for Your Adult Children, The Power of a Praying® Wife, The Power of a Praying® Husband, and The Power of Prayer™ to Change Your Marriage. Her many other books include Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On, The Prayer That Changes Everything®, The Power of a Praying® Woman, and The Power of Praying® Through the Bible. Stormie and her husband, Michael, have been married more than 37 years and are the parents of two adult children.

Visit the author’s website.

New from bestselling author Stormie Omartian is a book close to her own heart—The Power of a Praying® Wife Devotional. Following up on the insights and prayers of The Power of a Praying® Wife (more than 3.5 million books sold) 100 brand-new devotions, prayers, and supporting Scriptures offer a praying wife fresh ways to pray for her husband, herself, and her marriage.

These easy-to-read devotions will increase any wife’s understanding, strength, and peace, as well as provide her with perspective on the situations and challenges she faces. And each prayer will help both husbands and wives be more attuned to the Holy Spirit so they can do what’s right without allowing negative emotions or unclear thinking to get in the way.

A must-have for anyone wanting God’s best for this most important relationship.

Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736926925
ISBN-13: 978-0736926928

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM OR CHRISTIANBOOK.COM!

Now, I’ve never been able to visit Miami, but on days like today, when the mercury is really starting to dip (I think it went down to -18C last night), Miami and the beaches start to sound pretty nice!

I suppose, like everywhere else though, there are many struggling financially in Miami, even to the point of taking out car title loans like the ones I mentioned earlier.  I think that there are many steps that can be taken before resolving to take loans against already owned assets however.

Before considering taking out an asset based loan I strongly recommend you consider cutting spending drastically.  Look for unnecessary ongoing expenses in your pile of monthly bills.  Do you really need a cell phone?  How about cable television?  How about eating out on a regular basis?  Do you smoke or drink (that can suck your money down the drain very quickly). Some of these costs can easily be cut because they aren’t vital necessities, and will save you the interest you would incur on a car title loan.

Obviously, not only drastic spending cuts will remove the need to take an asset based loan, but I do strongly recommend you think the situation over carefully before doing so – it certainly isn’t something to go into casually, on a whim, or for superficial purchases.   Think it over carefully and examine all of your options before going ahead.  Above all – pray for guidance, your Maker knows your needs.

My children (like most) respond very well to game-based learning, so I was very excited to receive a subscription to review Ooka Island.

The 3-D computer-animated program features a compelling storyline – a villainous pig has taught his henchmen to read and used their increased mental prowess to capture the helpless (and illiterate) Ooka elves!  Your child’s mission is to free the Ooka elves by ‘reading’ books (not really reading them in the pre-levels but I’ll get to that later) – and along the way they’ll also have fun phonics lessons, alphabet lessons, phonological awareness games, and a whole lot more.  After the elves are freed, your child can play with them in the Pencil Playground – buy playground equipment, extra clothing, feed them snacks, and a lot more during their free play time (8 minutes that follows a 20 minute guided learning session).

My five-year-old has been using Ooka Island and she loves the fun games and the engaging storyline.  Your child gets to pick their own avatar who goes through all the on-screen activities, and can change her clothes during free play time, go on the play equipment etc. so it’s as if your child is really on the island having adventures.  The music is so catchy (we all get the theme song stuck in our heads), and she always ASKS to play Ooka Island – it’s really like a fun game for her, even though it includes very solid, comprehensive reading instruction.

She gets to earn stickers when she progresses through the activities (which are just plain fun in their own right), free Ooka elves, and unlock fun items for her Pencil Playground (even though the elves there are very hard to actually engage in play – some more work needed there).  It’s very motivating and fun.

From my point of view as a mom I love the phonological awareness activities that help to build blending skills, like the Clumsy Whacky moving factory game where there are a bunch of items floating in a river, a voice sounds out a word slowly, and your child needs to put the parts together and click the item that is being said.  There is also direct phonics teaching in the Cave of Sounds (although this doesn’t following a regular intensive phonics progression – they introduce two letter teams VERY early on, before even teaching all of the single letter sounds).  There is even a jet-ski game that uses microphone recognition to determine if your child is saying the displayed sound correctly.  There isn’t an easy way for me to skip ahead in the game and see how it works for older children, so I can only comment on the Pre-K levels that we’ve gone through ourselves.  In all there are 24 levels that go from Pre-K all the way to Grade 2.

For the most part, my five-year-old could complete the learning activities independently, but there was one section of the program that she struggled with, and that I, as a dedicated phonics-mommy wasn’t keen on either.

In the Popcorn Library, children ‘read’ books in the early levels, by watching a story being read to them on the screen with words that are highlighted as they go.  This is fine, my girls love digital ‘read to them’ stories, but what I DID NOT like was the emphasis on sight words that comes out of this reading activity.  There are some pictorial comprehension questions that were fine, but then comes the, “Click on the word that says _____.”  This frustrated my little five-year-old SO much, and it frustrated me too.  I don’t think the activity is developmentally appropriate, and I DO NOT want to teach her to just guess at words when she isn’t even really blending yet .

For the most part, I was happy with Ooka Island – it’s very comprehensive; all the skill building activities blend well together (except for those sight words in the Popcorn Library).  The phonological activities that lead to understanding of segmenting and blending are very promising, and I wish there was a way to do the program WITHOUT the sight word segments of the Popcorn Library.  It would be really awesome if that was the case.  As it is, I clearly have some mixed feelings about the program.

So, what does Ooka Island cost, and how does it work?  After signing up for a subscription you’ll need to download a BIG program – 2 GB, so make sure you’re ready for that!  It’s also a bit of a memory hog (and has some glitches and bugs that still need to be worked out, but there is supposed to be a patch coming for those soon), so close everything else before running it.  You’ll need an internet connection for logging in and keeping track of your child’s progress, but once you have the download, it really doesn’t take much bandwidth.

For one child the pricing is $12.95 for one month, $59.95 for six months, or $99.95 for a year.  For up to four children the price is $19.95 for one month, $99.95 for six months, or $129.95 for a year.  You can find all of the pricing details and sign-up information here.  There is even a 14-day free trial that you can sign up for to see if this program is a good fit for your family.  If you like it, you can use this code LAUNCHSPECIAL30 to save 30% on a monthly subscription!

Don’t forget!  You can also find many more TOS Crew reviews of Ooka Island Adventure here!

Disclosure: I received a 6 month subscription to Ooka Island for the purposes of this review.