Science4Us- TOS Crew Review

If you have been following us for long, you know already that teaching science is hard for me.  It is not that I do not like science, it is just that I struggle with teaching it.  I am always on the lookout for anything out there that can help make science more fun for me.  I mean, for my kids.

That is why I was excited to be able to review Science4Us.com, an online science program for kids grades K-2nd.   I have a boy that likes science.  I have a boy who likes the computer.  Perfect fit I hoped!

Guess what?  I was right!  Yay me!  Yay Science4Us!  Let me tell you about it.

Science4Us Online subscription is an interactive online science program for kids Kindergarten through 2nd grade that costs $7.95 per child per month.  When you log in you have a choice of four Books of Science to study- Physical Science, Inquiry, Life Science and Earth and Space.  Within each of those books are numerous modules (28 total) and then within each module are lessons.  Yes, it is enough to keep you busy for quite a while.  Once you choose where you would like to start, there are about 11-12 activities for each module.  Five areas covered in every lesson are engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate.  Additional lessons cover multiple skills with activities like note booking, alphabetizing and playing games, but are slightly different in each module so that your child will not get bored.  The lessons last from just a few minutes to about 20, with the explaining lesson usually being the longest.  Within that lesson is a part called Show What You Know that asks questions to the child about what is being learned.  Some of those questions are open ended discussion questions for you to have with your child to see what they are retaining while others include choosing the correct answer.  If your child chooses incorrectly, that lesson will be replayed for them and they will have the chance to choose the right answer again.  Another example of an activity is one called Silly Bulls.  In it you put the vocabulary being learned into the right spelling order- broken down into syllables.  Get it?  Silly Bulls- Syllables?!  My son thought it was hysterical and often did this activity multiple times so he could see the bulls dance.  Each time the child comes back to their page their recent activity is checked off so they know where to start next.

Under the area labeled My Tools, your child can access a glossary of words used for review or if they need a refresher on a word meaning.  There is also a button called mini explain that has 1-2 minute videos that will further explain a term or phrase they might run into and are unfamiliar with.

And then there is the Teacher's account.  Once you log into this area you will find even more.  Lesson plans are available for each module along with corresponding worksheets that you can print out for your child.   There are different lesson pages available to print for Kindergarten, 1st graders and 2nd graders. Objectives are shown as well as an estimated time for that particular lesson.  Your child can take the evaluating tests on their screen, or you can print out a slightly different version from this area as well.  You can also access your child's progress reports and actually assign specific activities for your child to see when they log into their page.  Been a while since you did science?  There are professional development videos for each module for a quick refresher.  From this teacher's page, you can also access your child's notebook to check their activities and even make your own notes on those pages.  

Which brings me back to the notebook feature on your child's page.  Each child has a notebook in which they can take notes, draw pictures or do assigned worksheets.  This is by far our favorite part of the site.  Just about anything your child could do on their own notebook paper, they can do here, including change colors, size of font, label, draw free hand or use shapes.  You can even embed a Venn or bar graph!  In addition to that, once they are done and have saved their work they can print it out, or as I mentioned you can see it from your teacher's screen page.

So how did we use Science4Us?  Well, originally I had planned to use this as a supplemental science program.  That lasted about a week when we were accessing the student's page only and allowing my 6 year old to work at his own pace.  Once I had time to explore the teacher's page and find the lesson plans and worksheets, we put aside our current science curriculum and used Science4Us exclusively. Which, by the way, is what we will continue to do through the end of this program.  I did assign CJ portions for a while which I think is a really neat feature, but eventually I stopped doing so and allowed him to work at his own pace.  Usually he wanted to do many more lessons than I had scheduled so I stared printing out the whole modules' worth of lessons and activity pages and then kept them by our computer ready for whatever lessons we covered.  I think for someone teaching multiple children the scheduling function would be of great help, but since it is just the two of us, we were much more flexible to how long we could do science.

Because we were studying animals when this review started, CJ chose to start with the Life book.  The two units were Living Things, which covered Plants, Animals and Living and Nonliving things, and then Balance in Nature which covered Food Webs, Habitats and Eco Awareness.  So far our favorite has been the section on habitats.  He has sorted pictures into habitats, made pictures of his favorite habitats and matched habitats to their descriptions.



So what did we think?  For a family who tends to push science off, I can tell you that we used this program consistently at least four days a week.  This has actually been one of the hardest reviews I have written because there is just so much to the program that I would like to tell you about.  What I saw when we just signed in and let CJ do his own thing pleased me.  What I discovered after exploring the teachers site and attending a webinar on the program thrilled me. (I highly recommend you spend the time to do both!)  If you are looking for a web based science program for your younger elementary kids that they can do independently, you have found the right place.  For those who are in need of a little more help, you can hover over areas and it will be read to you.  If you are looking for a more detailed approach with lessons plans to guide you, you have found the right place as well.  You can pick what you need!  While I know this program is listed for kindergarten to 2nd grade, I am going to tell you that I think that most 3rd graders would benefit from it as well.  This program is not dumbed down!  Words like eco awareness are used, activities requiring alphabetizing are used and big concepts are taught.   There is no doubt that after a year of Science4Us your child will have a strong science start.  I am thrilled to have a program that takes the pain out of teaching science and puts the fun and learning back in.

You can find Science4Us here-
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Science4UsSays
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/science4us/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Science4Us
G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/112259351657747584252/

There are also some interactive demos online that you can try out to see what you think and an iPad app coming soon.

KinderBach -TOS Crew Review

We love the sound of music in our house.  Do you?  That's why we were so excited to be asked to review Kerri Gregors' KinderBach .  We had the opportunity to review the iPad app of KinderBach last year and loved it, so I jumped at the chance to review the Online One year Membership with Teacher's Corner.

Intended to teach piano to children ages 3-7, KinderBach has 6 levels of piano instruction, each containing 10 weeks of lessons.  Each week contains four videos, lasting several minutes a piece.  The site is so easy to navigate.  Each weeks' screen has colorful buttons for the four videos to choose from.  Once you choose which video to watch it will also show you the goal of that day's lesson so you will know what you are going to be working on.  For example- "separating and numbering the finger digits."  It also has a reminder button and link of the corresponding coloring or activity page you will need to print from the book if you have not already done so, as well as any additional supplies you may need like glue an scissors.  A workbook file is included at each level for you to print.

The Teacher's Corner is a special section for you the adult!  It has digital downloads to help you teach your child or even a group of children.  Lessons plans show each week broken into two days worth of activities.  From playing games, to using rhythm instruments to actual piano work, Kerri tells you exactly what you need to teach your child.  A teacher's aid book contains all of the games and activities you will need to print out and use.  The teacher's guide is geared towards a teacher of a group, but talks about goals and theories used.  There are also audio MP3 files, the student book and even certificates.

How we used this program.? I have to admit that we did not use this program twice a week.  Nope!  We were on it much more often!  CJ loves music and he loves Ms. Kerri, so it was an almost daily activity with us.  To make sure we did not go through the level too fast we did repeat many of the videos.  Since we had reviewed this program's iPad version last year, we started a few weeks in.  I initially thought we would be able to begin with level two, but he had forgotten some things so we went back for a while and reviewed earlier lessons.  That is one of the great things about this program, you can bounce back and forth between levels and weeks according to your needs.  If your child needs additional practice on one lesson, you can re-watch that video as often as you need. While the lesson plans are broken down to 4 days a week, one of the glories of this program is that you can adjust it to your child's needs or desires.  We would often watch all four videos for the week on a Monday and then repeat the ones he enjoyed most for the next few days or focus on the ones he needed more work on.  I printed out the entire workbook for the level we were doing at the time, but loved the visual reminder on each day's lesson of what page would be used.   

What did we think?  We love this program!  It is easy to use and so kid friendly.  Kerri has a great personality that I think just naturally draws kids to her.  CJ thinks she is so much fun.  She often asks the child a question and then waits to give them time to respond before moving on.  She is also full of praise and encouragement.  I also like that this program appeals to many learning styles. The videos are done well and have lots of color and animation to capture a child's attention and the catchy music and voices are great for those who have auditory learners.  We did find the volume level tended to be more variable than we would have liked, but all in all it was not a huge problem.  If you have a child who loves arts and crafts there are games to cut out and plenty of pictures to color and worksheets to do.  One of the things that worked to our advantage was that we would pull up this program on the laptop and then take that laptop to the piano while we worked.  Kerri often asks the child to play a song with her so if your computer is not near your piano or laptop, you will have problems with that part.  If you are looking for a complicated way to teach, you will not find it here. Using cute characters like Dodi the donkey and his friend Frisco, Kerri helps kids associate certain parts of the keyboard or music scale with pictures, making them easier to remember.  Dodi's "house" is represented by two black keys as seen below and a train station is a set of three back keys together. By combining these fun visual clues with her instruction, Kerri makes learning the piano fun.

Because my older girls already play the piano well, this has been not only a fun program for my 6 year old, but also a huge confidence builder.  As you can see from the pictures below, he was so excited to be able to "teach" his sister his new song.  From my experience, the younger you can start a child on the piano and with music skills, the better.  To be able to do so in a non threatening, fun format is the best.  KinderBach is sure to deliver that and so much more.  We highly recommend it for a beginning piano instruction program!

KinderBach is currently running a special price of $95.88 for its one year online membership.  That breaks down to about $7.99 per month.  If you have priced piano lessons lately then you will know what a deal this is.  A free online trial is available and will give you a good idea of what you can expect from this program.  I encourage you to check out it with with your child and see what they think.

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/kinderbach
Facebook for Teachers:  www.facebook.com/classroomkinderbach
Twitter: @KinderBach
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/KinderBach/

YouTube: KinderBach Preschool Piano

2012-2013 Year in Review

We are done with school!  Well, as done as one can be when you school year round.  But we ARE done with the lessons for the "school year".  This is our week off and then the following week we will plunge back in the with our summer schedule.

Summer usually consists of math and reading, plus a few child specific subjects on a much lighter schedule.  For the youngest it will be mostly reading, for the 5th grader we will add typing and the 9th grader will be studying for the biology CLEP test.  We also have a few fun TOS Reviews in the works that I am very excited about.  In the middle of all that we have to move, set up a house, and work on our summer bucket list!

For now, I am taking a breath and thinking back on our year.  It has been a good one.  CJ learned to read like a champ and settled into '"real" school better than I anticipated.  SCP finished 5th grade with a  happy heart.  That is saying a lot for a 5th grade boy!  It was a much tougher year and one to ready him for much more independence next year.  He came through with flying colors.  The 9th grader did great!  9th grade is one of our favorite years to study with Sonlight and in addition she wrote her first novel.  Revision is one of the things she will be working on this summer, but it is done- all 19,000 words of it and I must say I am very proud of her.  I will talk about her school year in detail on Wednesday, but for now here is a review of our Kindergarten and 5th grade years...

Kindergarten

Scheduled-
-Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
-Saxon Kindergarten Math
-ABEKA 1st grade Science and History Readers
-Christian Liberty Press Workbooks

Our favorite review products-

PAL (IEW’s reading program)- I am CONVINCED this is what has made my son such a strong reader!  He learned quickly and loved every minute of this program.  He developed a love of reading early and I could not recommend this product enough.  Yes, it requires some set up time, but it is worth every minute.

Phonics and Reading with McGuffey – As you have heard me say before, I did not think I would encourage iPad apps.  I changed my mind.  We are still using this app almost daily and I still say if you only buy one app this year for your beginner reader, BUY THIS ONE!

ABeCeDarian- This program has taken us to the next level of reading.  Though completely different from PAL, it appealed to my son as well and challenged him to the next level.  We will continue to use it!

Touch Math- This program came to us right as we were finishing up our scheduled Math.  It was a great transition for us.  It got challenging pretty quickly, but with the help of the software you can buy, it is still a favorite.  Because we reviewed 1st grade, we will be able to continue using it in our new school year.  Hands on curriculum works for us!

Song School Spanish-  LOVE LOVE LOVE!  Catchy songs, puppets and easy games kept us having fun.  Short manageable lessons for the younger grades make learning fun and not a chore.  While my son was familiar with most of the vocabulary in the book (he was born in Guatemala, remember) this program allowed him to use Spanish with no reservations or fear.  The songs alone are worth the price!

Speekee TV- This silly little pur9ople guy won our hearts and CJ could watch those videos all day if you let him.  They are finishing up production of a new set and we cannot wait.  Again, a natural way for younger children to love and learn Spanish!

5th Grade

Scheduled-
-Sonlight- Reading, History, Bible
-NOEO Science
-Spelling Power
-Teaching Textbooks

Our favorite review products-

Apologia’s Who Is God? Bible Study-  We were able to review the third book in this series and loved it, so we decided to go back and start at the beginning.  I would recommend using the four for 5-8th  grade!

Computer Science for Kids- This is one my husband and son do together, but I love watching them.  It is fun to see the two guys work together and get excited about things I will never understand!

Spanish for You!- We are currently using this one and it is my new favorite Spanish program for 3rd-8th grade levels.  Easy to use, affordable and great audio tracks!

Essentials in Writing- Honestly, writing is NOT my son’s thing.  He does not enjoy it and therefore it is not fun to teach him.  I was blessed by this program because by video, someone else was teaching him and took the pressure off me.  I love the smaller, more manageable lessons and I love that my son got to have a male for a teacher for a change.

The Pilgrim Story and Sacagawea, - Two different approaches, but GREAT History!  These are at the top of my son’s list for sure!

There were many other products we reviewed that we liked and once again I am reminded of how blessed I am to be a part of such an amazing group of men and women who love what they do.

I am also reminded of how thankful I am to be able to homeschool my kiddos.  Every minute may not always be fun, but every minute is always filled with love.

See you back on Wednesday to talk about HIGH SCHOOL!

 Blessings,

This post is linked with Amy at Raising Arrows!
We  are also linked up at Hearts for Home blog hop!

We are also linked up with The Homeschool Village Blog Hop!

TOS Crew Review- Phonics and Reading with McGuffey App

 

MINE MINE MINE!  Yes, that is sometimes what I want to yell at the top of my lungs about my iPad. There, it is out.  I bought it for me, and I want to use it for me.  I also once said I would not let my kids play games on it.

Well, that was before I knew about educational apps.  It was certainly before I knew about the Phonics and Reading with McGuffey app by LiteracySoft.  Yes, THAT McGuffey Readers, the ones that have been successfully teaching children to read for years.  Well now they offer this wonderful app for your iPad and iPhone.  Let's just cut to the chase...

 You. Need. This!

In 52 lessons your child will learn letters, sounds, spelling and reading up to a first grade level.  And can do so all on their own.  Really.  It is that simple to use.

How we used this-
Daily!  And then some.  CJ loves my iPad, so getting him on there is not usually an issue.  Getting him to stick with one app sometimes is.  Not with this one.  He asks for it every morning like clockwork, so using it five days a week was a no brainer.  He was able to pull it up by himself and go through the lessons by himself.  Can I hear a yay from all the moms?  The only problem we had was limiting it to just one lesson a day.  Can't say that we were very successful with that; he often did several.

Each lesson of McGuffey consists of several parts.  The first part introduces a few new letters and the sounds they make with cute little animations.

Then you will be shown words and taught how to sound them out when you tap on them.

Next comes a lesson quiz to make sure your child knows each of those letter sounds and any from previous lessons.  The sounds are said and you touch the corresponding letters that make that sound.  The light bulbs at the top light up to show you got it correct.

Then the fun really begins.  The following activity allows the child to use any of the letters sounds learned so far and put together their own words.  It took CJ a few times to get the hang of it, but once he did this was one of his favorite parts.  He loved making up words at first, but then began to say a word and then try to spell it.  The only thing that held him back sometimes was that the letters he needed for the word he wanted to spell were not always available.

 

The following activity is a reading one. A sentence is shown and you read it. By touching each word you can see if you are reading the sentences correctly or not. There are several sentences your child will read in each lesson.

 

Another quick quiz follows to ensure your child has the lesson sounds down pat.

 

Next you will find two activities that are as game-like as it gets.  One involves rearranging letters on a truck to spell a word dictated to you and then the truck drives away, and the other involves tapping a word said while in a race to beat your past time on the clock.  The faster you tap the words, the faster the train goes.  If you get a word incorrect, the train will come to a stop.

 

 

 

One of the strengths of this program- at any time, your child can repeat an activity or entire lesson if they are not ready to move on to new sounds.  There are also phonics rules explained when new, more complicated sounds  are introduced that can be turned off once you have heard them and feel comfortable doing so. 

 

If you want to try it out there is a free lite version to get you started or you can try the first 10 lessons for free at any time.  Give it a try and see what you think!

 

Also offered on the website is a free reader in color to print out.  CJ loves to read this on his own.

 

The bottom line-  We have invested in several reading apps and this one is by far my favorite!  It is user friendly, clear to understand and very thorough.  If you have a child learning to read or struggling and needing some extra work, this is one you will not want to pass up.  It is worth every penny!

 

Cost-  $19.99

 

 

   

TOS CREW Review- ABeCeDarian

We love to read at our house!  Have I mentioned that before?  And I currently have a 5 year old that is learning how to read.  Therefore, anytime I am offered a chance to review a reading program I am giddy!

ABeCeDarian, developed by Michael Bend, PhD., is a company committed to teach reading using simple decoding strategies.  They were gracious enough to send us all of the following to review:

 

  Set of 10 Storybooks- $21.50 Student Workbook A-1 $12.25 Teachers Manuel A-1 $28.50 Student Workbook A-2- $12.25 Teachers Manuel A-2- $28.50 Student Workbook B-1- $10.25 Teachers Manuel B-1- $25.50 ABeCeDarian  Aesop- $2.50  

Level A is intended for grades Kindergarten through mid-first grade level and level B is intended for mid-first grade though 2nd grade. More levels are available on the website up to 6th grade.

Per their web site, ABeCeDarian achieves efficiency in the following ways:

• It focuses only on essential skills and knowledge
• It provides the right kind and right amount of practice
• It provides precise and productive error correction

          

 Yes, that is a lot of materials!  And a little overwhelming at first.  But not for long.  Each teacher's guide has a well written overview of the program from the philosophy behind the program to the how to's.  Open the book and you are ready to begin.  Each lesson is clearly labeled and includes a word for word script to use in your teaching.   I found once I was familiar with each activity I did not have to use the exact wording they provided, but as with any new to me program, I love the initial guidance.  Each student workbook is broken into corresponding lessons with numerous activities. Each lesson begins with word puzzles in which your child unscrambles letters to make a word that you give them.  Each lesson adds new words, which are then used in the activities that follow.  There are also sounds and words to read and copy, sentences to read and copy,  letters to write and word chains and reading chains.  After several lessons you are then directed to let your child read a corresponding storybook that uses all of the words your child has learned thus far.  

How we used this program-

Since we had just finished another reading program, this review came at the perfect time.  I had all intentions of starting with level B since CJ knows his letter sounds, how to write the letters and how to read basic words, but after looking through the workbooks, I decided to start at the beginning to give us ample time to learn the program.  Such things like tap and say the sounds, saying a word slowly- "turtle talk", and then saying the word at regular speed- "people talk", were new ideas and I didn't want to by-pass anything.  That being said, we were able to do several of the 27 lessons a day in Level A-1 and are already half way through the A-2 level because of that.  If you have no problems starting in the middle, I would encourage you to take the placement assessment tests on the website to determine where to start.  

 

Our thoughts- 

We have really enjoyed this program.  CJ enjoys workbook pages as long as they are not too long, and we found that this program had just the right balance of written work and reading.  No busy work which I think you find often in many reading programs.  The storybooks are quite simplistic in presentation but ones we enjoyed.  My son loved that after one time reading them with me he could sit and read them by himself.  I think that helped build his confidence.  One of the things I noted with this program is that it really helped him learn to quickly sound out words that he could not remember immediately.   He is a sight reader by heart and before would hesitate to stop and sound out an unfamiliar word. 

 

CJ's favorite activity by far was the error game in which I would read a word on the page, sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly and see if he could catch me reading one wrong. It was a game he asked to play over and over again, even if it was not in the lesson for that day.  The other thing he loved were the spelling tests!  Yes, you read that right.  The silly boy thought those were fun!  The first one he took he got a 100% on and ran off quickly to tell his 11 year old brother that he did not get any words wrong and would give him spelling lessons later. 

My favorite activities were the spelling chains in which the student changes one letter of a word to make the new word you say.  For example map-tap-top-cop.  By doing this little exercise he learned to slow down and really look at the word he was reading.  His reading improved drastically and therefore wanted to read more.  Oh how excited he was when he could read to his grandparents this weekend!

 

 

 

As we are nearing the end of the A-2 level, I am excited to start on the B-1 level with CJ!  After that we intend to purchase the next levels and continue with this program.  It is just that good and for the affordable price, I do not think you will be disappointed.  If you are interested in seeing more ABeCeDarian examples, you can download samples from their website.  Click on the banner below to see what other CREW had to say about this program. 

   

TOS CREW Review- A Journey Through Learning

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks is a delightful company created and owned by two best friends, Paula and Nancy.  Started on a whim to fill in the gap of much needed hands on materials for their own children, this company has since grown to include lapbooks, notebooking pages, copywork practice sheets and unit studies that support Apologia, Veggie Tales, Truth Quest History and more.  Between the $1.00 Quick lapbooks, a $5.00 lapbook of the month, and tons of amazing, reasonably priced lapbooks and unit studies, you can teach your children for years to come! 






For the past four weeks we have had the privilege to review FOUR of A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks using the downloadable versions.  The downloads are easy to use. Just download the product you chose, copy the pages on white or colored paper and go! New to lapbooking? You will need two to three file folders to make each lapbook. All it takes is a few easy folds, which are illustrated in the printed material for those who need a little guidance.

What we received-

Letters, Numbers and Shapes is intended for early learners.  This lapbook includes letter and number recognition, counting and shapes.

  Instant download-$13.00

  Printed-$20.00

  CD-$14.00

  Assembled-29.00

 

The Earth, a lapbook for grades 1st-4th, covers the Earth- from the layers of the earth to the layers to the atmosphere to everything in between.

  Instant download-$13.00

  Printed-$21.00

 

Knights and Castles, our favorite lapbook, is for grades 2nd-7th.  Here you will learn about the middle ages, and the knights that lived them.  From what they wore, to the weapons they carried, your child will soon want to become a knight!

  Instant download-$13.00

  CD-$14.00

  Printed- $21.00

 

Astronomy and Space Unit Study is a little different as it is not an actual cut and paste lapbook.  Instead it is a unit study intended for grades 2nd-7th, including sections to read followed by questions to answer.

  Instant download-$13.00

  Printed-$21.00

  CD-$14.00

 

How we used these products-

I was not sure we would use the Letters, Numbers and Shapes once we got the downloads, but since CJ had never done a lapbook before and because he wanted to do one like his older brother, we jumped in.  I am so glad we did!  Though he is on the upper age limit for this particular lapbook, we had such fun with it.  Each page provided an extra opportunity for him to review concepts he already knew, but they also gave him the opportunity to practice his cutting, gluing and coloring skills.  No small thing for a 5 year old BOY! 

One of the fun things about these lapbooks is that they come with several additional resources.  For Letters, Numbers and Shapes there were finger plays,  game suggestions and other related activities, recommended book lists and an A-Z list of things to do with each letter.

 

How do I know he liked it?  Once he was finished, he wanted to show everyone!  Now that we are done, he pulls it out frequently to look through it by himself.

 

For my 11year old son, currently a 5th grader, we tried out the Knights and Castles lapbook as well as The Earth.  Because of the higher levels these lapbooks are presented a little differently.  Each day you have a page or so to read teaching you the lesson for the day.  Then the child notebooks the facts learned into various little books which they will then cut out, assemble and glue into their lapbooks.  I love notebooking, but have found in the past that it can intimidate my son.  He just seems to look at a large piece of notebook paper and freeze up.  By having a smaller scale "book" to write in, he was more easily engaged and complained a lot less!  Yea!  The Knights and Castles Lapbook was, by far, his favorite, but we enjoyed doing both.  I even noticed that he had pulled out many of his knights books in his room once we began this study.  There is no doubt that the lapbook fostered a desire to know more and therefore could be used easily in a unit study.  Included also in these lapbooks are additional book lists and resource guides as well as additional activities to do to take your learning to the next level. 

Now that we have completed the first three lapbooks we have decided to continue on, starting today, with the Astronomy and Space unit study.  Again, I just printed out the study but this time bound it so it would be easy to use in a book form.  Why do I love this study already?  The very first thing you will see when you start is Genesis 1 quoted and then copy work using Genesis 1:2!  Trust me from experience when I tell you that finding a science program of any kind that teaches Creation is hard!  I was thrilled to find it in a unit study!  From the first lesson, your child will read a section of information and then answer a few questions about what they learned.  Some readings are followed by a fun activity such as making a diorama of outer space or making Sun S'mores.  Throughout the study are underlined vocabulary words that can be defined in the back pages of your study, resulting in your own little space dictionary.  There is also a book report template, with versions of it for older children as well as younger children.



So what do we think?
We have done a few lapbooks in the past with my two older girls, and quite honestly, I was not sold on the concept.  But, hey, a girl can change her mind, right?  I love this company!  I love their lapbooks!  I love that they have ones to go with holidays, historical events and other popular homeschool companies.  For my girls, I think we got to caught up in the artsy side of things and got distracted from the learning.  But this time around I found that the lapbooking helped my boys focus in on the lesson and what I was reading to them.  The smaller scale of notebooking in the mini books intimidated them less and allowed them to really enjoy what they were learning.  The cutting and pasting even encouraged them to slow down and pay attention to what they were doing!  The only complaint my oldest son had was that he thought the pictures on the mini books were a bit babyish for his age group. We would have loved to have seen more museum quality pictures, rather than cartoon type ones.

Will we do more?  You bet!  I already have a growing list of the ones next on our agenda!