Cerebellum Corporation/Standard Deviants - Chemistry

Crew members were asked to review Advanced Placement Program DVDs from their Light Speed video learning program. Each video includes a digital workbook with a course outline, notes, practice questions, games, and quizzes. Our family was asked to review the Chemistry DVD from this series.

Even though my oldest homeschool student is only in the 3rd grade, I immediately saw the benefits that this DVD has for them in the future. All three of my boys including my oldest who is in 8th grade public school are very scientifically and mathematically oriented and will probably need to take the AP tests in the future. The video was very detailed and informative on how to prepare for the AP Test as well as going through the various elements of Chemistry. I would also recommend it for your high school student who is not taking the AP exam and is taking Chemistry in a public school or at home. It's a great way to review the various concepts to prepare for a final exam.

These Advanced Placement DVDs are available for the regular price for $14.98 each.

This DVD was provided to me as part of my membership in the TOS Homeschool Review team, the opinions are mine after I have reviewed this product with my family.

Pandia Press - R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey - Life

Our family was asked to review R.E.A.L. Science Life Science Curriculum by Pandia Press. Science is one of my boys favorite classes so it was easy to dive in and enjoy this amazing book.

The worksheets and lab sheets are all right in the book and ready to copy and hand out to your children. I really love the labs in this book as they are very easy and cost efficient to do and they help your child to discover their world by exploring it hands on rather than feeding them with the answers. Each lab gives you a list of everything that you need and most of the items are things that you have already on hand at home or can get at any craft store or larger department store like Walmart.

The book comes in a packet like package and you just need to get a three ring binder for storing the pages. This is especially handy for copying and handing out the pages to your children. I have pointed this out with other curriculums, but once again these pages are in black and white so it's very easy to print and you do not have to waste color ribbon or worry about things being blacked out when you photocopy them.

If you are looking for a fun science curriculum that will not break the bank but will educate your children far beyond what you ever imagined, I highly recommend that you look into the R.E.A.L. Science series. There are currently three different options in Level One:

Life (Grade Levels 1-4)
Chemistry (Grade Levels 2-5)
Earth and Space (Grade Levels 1-4)

There will be additional levels available soon for your older students. You can find out more information about this series and their other curriculum by visiting the Pandia Press website.

The print version of these amazing books are available at Rainbow Resource for $38.50 (retails for $48.00) or as a download directly as a PDF from Pandia Press for $38.99.

This book was provided to our family for review from Pandia Press as part of our Crew membership. The review is my opinion after our family had a chance to review the materials during our daily lessons.

ABC Teach - A Homeschool Worksheet Heaven!!

When you are a homeschooler it's sometimes hard to find a worksheet for unit studies or to supplement your children's curriculum. You spend hours searching the internet trying to find that perfect worksheet or diagram to fit the lesson. ABC Teach is the perfect website for moms like me who want a one stop shop to find all the worksheets that we need.

While I have been using the FREE worksheets from the website for years, I had an opportunity to try out a full membership as a part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Crew review team. I was absolutely amazed at how many worksheets and resources were available at my fingertips!!

There are worksheets for every grade level and subject. I even found worksheets for reading books that we were doing this year which was extremely helpful as I was not going to have to sit down and write out my own worksheets. The ABC Tools section is even more helpful as you can use their customized worksheet generators to make your own personalized worksheets.

A yearly membership to this site is $40.00. A big savings from having to buy several workbooks to supplement your child's education.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

Guardian Angel Publishing

We received free e-books to review for Guardian Angel Publishing. I actually am coming to like the concept of e-books especially with our overflow of books throughout our house. I have started organizing my e-books and worksheets by subject on my computer which makes my "computer library" much more organized than the shelves and crates of hard copy books in my home. The Sum of Our Parts: No Bones About It by Bill Kirk, had a lot of facts that were fun for my boys, however the graphics and drawings in this book were not impressive and pretty simplistic.

Stubby's Destiny by Dixie Phillips was my favorite of all the e-books that we reviewed. Follow the story and his dream to carry a king...little does he know that God has a very special plan for him.

Andy and Spirit Go to the Fair by Mary Jean Kelso was an outstanding book teaching children about how even someone in a wheelchair can achieve their dreams. Andy is a lovable character in this book and I loved how he persevered and won the event even through the taunting and laughing of members of the audience.

Hamster Holidays by Cynthia Reeg was a great book that goes through the year and uses color coded words to emphasize nouns and adjectives. I particularly liked this book as sometimes it's hard to fully explain to your child the difference between a noun and an adjective. This visual tool is perfect for a child that is struggling with that particular concept.

Earthquake by Susan Berger was once again a very factual book about earthquakes. While the graphics and illustrations were much better the the book about bones, it was still hard to compete against the other science books in our family library.

The books are very reasonable on this site. You can download a PDF file of a book for $5.00. A CD of a book runs around $9,95 plus shipping. If you are wanting a printed copy of a book, they run around $10.95 plus shipping and handling.

Visit the Guardian Angel Publishing Site!



These books were provided at no cost to our family as a part of being a member of the review team for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew. The opinions are mine after reviewing the products with my children and husband.

Journey Through Learning

I never thought I would get into the lapbook craze. All my friends talked about it and lamented about how much fun they were and how their children got so much more out of unit studies. I clung onto my textbook theory and kept doing things the "traditional" way.


Then my mom who is a public school teacher joined a "teacher share group" and started copying all these amazing things for these folder book things and I thought wow these are kind of neat. Then I received an opportunity through The Old Schoolhouse Crew to review Lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning and my eyes were opened to a new world of teaching.

I have a child that is a very strong visual and active learner so these books were perfect for sparking his interest in learning. They came as e-books which for us is very convenient as we do not have a lot of storage in our house.




The first e-book that we reviewed was Parables of A King. This was the boys all time favorite as they love to dive into the Bible and learn more about God's word. I love how the book breaks each parable down into segments and each parable gets it's own "section" in the lapbook.

Autumn is the perfect lapbook for the beginning of the year. As the leaves start to change color and weather starts to change my children start to ask all the "why" questions. This lapbook helps them to understand all the changes of the season.

What boy does not go crazy about crocodiles and snakes!! My oldest was a big huge Crocodile Hunter fan and he was excited about this book that had so many fun and amazing facts about the reptile kingdom.

Amphibians was my favorite lapbook. I love frogs and thought this was a fun study for children of all ages. It brought back memories of my brother and I collecting a bunch of tadpoles in a bucket and watching them change to frogs. There is something about the life cycle of a frog that totally captivates the interest of children.

The Desert is a really fun lapbook that explores the fascinating world of deserts. Explore the animals and people of the deserts. I loved the Camel section!! My brother was stationed in Iraq twice and shared all kinds of facts about camels that were fun to add to the unit.

The amazing thing about these books is that takes learning to a whole new level. Rather than just reading a book (as I have normally done with my boys), you take an active learning approach. It also gives your child the opportunity to share what they have learned with Grandma and Grandpa as well.

You can instantly download these books from the website for only $13.00. If you want a CD they are $14.00. Do not have a printer? You can get the printed version for $21.00. I know this family will definitely be getting more of these amazing books!

Visit the Journey Through Learning Website!!

Nature's Friend Magazine

Nature's Friend is the perfect magazine for any Christian or home school family. Through amazing photography, graphics and stories, this periodical gives you a Christian perspective to all the wonders of God's amazing creation.

My children have learned about owls, woodpeckers and swamps. There is a drawing challenge each month and your child can send in submissions of their photography, drawings and poetry to the magazine for publication.

We have been receiving Nature's Friend for a couple of years so we were excited to have the opportunity to review a new feature to the magazine. Nature's Friend is now offering a new Study Guide with the magazine.

This supplement has more articles, activities and more for your children. This Study Guide is perfect for families that like to do unit studies or for checking your child's reading comprehension. There is a special feature to enhance creative writing. Children can also submit their photographs and learn new photography tips from professional photographers.

The best part about the Study Guide is that if you add it to your subscription, it's already placed in the center of the magazine!! I especially like that as you do not have to figure out a way how to keep the two together when storing them.

A subscription to the magazine is only $36.00 a year. You can add the Study Guide for only $2.00 per issue (or $24.00 per year).

Visit the Nature's Friend Website

The Creation vs. Evolution Debate

One of the most fascinating things about homeschooling my children, is that they do not really question whether or not we were created by God or if we evolved from a ball of gas. Even after watching several documentaries on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, my boys use what they know about God's word to discredit those that adhere to the Theory of Evolution.

The Old Schoolhouse Creation vs. Evolution - Interpreting the Evidence WeE-Book gives you even more resources and ideas on how to refute and make a strong argument against the Theory of Evolution. Authors Dr. Carl Wieland and Darren Nelson help parents use historical facts and the Bible to help prove the existence of Creation. In addition to all kind of facts and historical comparisons, Wieland and Nelson also list many resources for furthering a unit study on the Creation vs. Evolution Argument. This is the perfect resource for your older child headed to public high school or to college to be prepared to factually present the case for creation.

WeE-Books has all kinds of e-books for homeschooling families to download for the low price of $1.95. Please click on the graphic below to visit the website or click on the graphic at the top of this review to get started on teaching your children how to effectively debate the creation vs. evolution argument.

Riding Along With the Iditarod

When I was in college, I had the priviledge of meeting Jeff King one of the most well known mushers in Iditarod history. I worked for Cabela's Jeff King's sponsor and we followed the race every day to see where he was and what position he was in. When I became a homeschooling mom, we again took on that tradition and my son and I both picked our mushers and checked the website to see who's dog sled team was ahead of the others. There is so much to learn from studying the Iditarod, and today I came across an amazing resource that I can use with all three of my homeschoolers next year during Iditarod racing time.

The Old Schoolhouse Following the Iditarod We-E Book is the perfect resource for a unit study on Dog Sledding and the Iditarod. Author Dena Wood gives you all the resources and ideas to put together and fun and exciting unit study for your homeschooling family. In addition to lots of facts, history and resources, there are even pre-made worksheets ready for printing to enhance the study even more. It is the perfect way for a family to have fun together and to learn about a very interesting and dangerous sport that involves planning, practice and a lot of heart.


WeE-Books has all kinds of e-books for homeschooling families to download for the low price of $1.95. Please click on the graphic below to visit the website or click on the graphic at the top of this review to get started on planning your Iditarod/Dog Sledding unit.