If you home school, how much time and thought do you devote to teaching physical education? Not soccer, football, baseball, sailing, or other evening/weekend sports but P.E. as part of your standard curriculum? My answer is "none". I teach reading, writing, arithmetic, science, history, and all that, but P.E. is so very different and out of the traditional curriculum box that I've never considered adding it as a scheduled subject. And I don't think I'm alone.

When I was asked to review Alpha Omega Publications Horizons Physical Education Grades PreK-2 I was very intrigued, and was curious to see if this would be a guidebook I could use to add P.E. to our school week. True confession - I am not a naturally athletic person and was the kid picked last for teams in gym class - I have no clue how to teach P.E., especially not how to make it fun and educational!

The large physical book arrived in the mail, all 440 pages of it. The interior pages are black and white, with some drawings and diagrams but no pictures. This book is definitely a teaching manual and feels serious and "textbook"; it took me a little while to warm to the book because it isn't cute and fun, but this big book is full of knowledge and I felt like I got an almost free full semester of an early childhood physical education college course. Once i got into it I really got into it.

Physical Education Grades PreK-2 is Christian based. The book begins by explaining how educating the body through physical education relates to Christianity; how the task of physical education is to put into practice the principles we teach children - honesty, kindness, respect, discipline, and unselfishness - through physical activity. Would you benefit from this book and curriculum if you're not teaching from a Christian perspective? Yes, you'd just have to glean over a few of the sections and pick and choose what works for your family.

The next chapters break down physical education curriculum by grade (preK/K, 1st, 2nd) beginning with goals (complete with references to pages in the chapter to meet those goals) and moving on to what and how to teach to reach those goals.

As an example, one goal for a first grader is to work on motor proficiency for a variety of skills, including jumping. The section begins by explaining the components of a good jump; feet together, deep crouch, swinging arms, trunk is propelled at a nearly 45' angle, thighs extend nearly parallel to the ground during flight, arms remain high, body weight is forward at landing. Suggestions are then given to teach and learn the jump; ask students to stop and get ready between jumps, have students wave after jumping, have class members pretend their feet are glued together and can't come apart, work on the timing of the arm swing with a chant "The arms swing first to show the feet which way to go". Nine different practice activities are given that will help focus on jumping including jumping over ropes, have students jump over a moving rope, standing broad jumps, and a Thai game called KHAM HUAY in which a tiger has to jump over five kind of lakes without touching them (complete with diagram describing what to do at each lake).

Following the curriculum for each chapter is a section devoted to implementing the core values through games and discussion, a section integrating physical education into other school subjects, and a very detailed model teaching sequence with monthly and daily plans.

The book ends with an evaluation chapter, providing numerous ways to measure the child's performance in P.E.

Ok, I know that's a lot of description, but like I said before this book is full of knowledge, I don't feel like I'm doing it justice if I don't mention most of what's in it.

River (age 6) and I worked on the first grade curriculum in the book. We worked a few days a week at it, about thirty minutes a day, and he really enjoyed it, as did I. We found some areas he needed to improve in and we worked a little harder on those. Because I'm a reluctant exerciser myself (I do my 30-45 minutes a day but many days I have to really push myself) I appreciate that the book gives me more logical, legitimate reasons to exercise than just "because it's important". We'll be using the book as we begin our school year next Monday and it will be on our schedule.

I'm also looking forward to incorporating some of the activities ideas into our Cub Scout pack this year. No, P.E. won't specifically become part of our program but coordinating some of the games with the values we're working on will be a lot of fun, help with our goals, and wear the kids out (seriously, these boys have more energy than a power plant).

Horizons Physical Education Grades PreK-2 is available from Alpha Omega Publications for $40.95.

To read more reviews on this and many other AOP products click the image below.

When I began home schooling my kids I let them know they'd have the choice of going to high school or home schooling through high school. Of course, when they were starting first grade this was an easy offer to make, it got a lot more "real" when the time came to make that decision! This year Adam begins high school and has decided to stay home and home school instead of entering the high school his older siblings attend. He will be the third child to spend at least a part of their high school years at the kitchen table.

While I've got a pretty good idea of what Adam will study this year I always want to learn new things and be a better teacher, so when I was asked to review The Conversation, a book by Leigh A. Bortins focusing on providing a classical education to high school students I was more than willing to check it out. The 267 page paperback book is published by Classical Conversations.

I didn't know this until after getting through the first chapters of the book but Leigh A. Bortins is the founder of Classical Conversations, a homeschool support organization of sorts with a following of over 62000 students and 8000 parents. I don't personally know much about the program/system, having not heard of it before, but you are welcome to gather more information here.

The Conversation focuses on teaching high school students through a classical, Christian approach. The book begins by addressing the concerns many parents have teaching high school - and there are worries, even as a more seasoned high school teaching parent with access to online classes I question whether I can guide Adam to learn all he needs to know to be ready for college and the real world while still enjoying learning.

The book then moves on to guide the reader in what and how to teach high school; with chapters on Reading, Writing, Math, Government and Economics, Latin, and more.

Finally, the book finishes with some real life applications, from games to resources to observations from parents.

The goal of the book, I believe, is to empower parents with the confidence and knowledge to teach their high schoolers, and to give parents the motivation to go beyond the basics in their teaching. While the author doesn't hand the reader the exact ingredients (ie - reading lists, specific curriculum to use, etc) of successful high school homeschooling she does provide plenty of ideas and examples of how to teach these subjects in a classical style, moving beyond the basics to teach with a focus on rhetoric.

We are very eclectic, laid back home schoolers who've always loosely followed a classical approach to education. This is my 14th year teaching kids at my kitchen table. I add and remove curriculum as I see what works for the kids and I have a good idea of what we can do in a day. That said, I was initially very turned off by this book and struggled to read beyond the first thirty or so pages. I felt the author presented a more-than-perfect home school life early in the book that just wasn't attainable or realistic, at least not in my experience. It just didn't work for me.

Knowing I had to write this review I kept reading and found myself more interested in the chapters focusing on specific subjects. Immediately after reading the Reading and Writing chapters I wrote out Adam's reading list for the next four years, a pick and choose list of great books we'll read, disect, and write about. This book provided motivation and excitement to get that list going. I do think the "meat" of this book is a good resource for high school home schooling and I'll refer to those subject-specific chapters when we start to veer towards rote work and boredom (it happens, usually right before Christmas, when we just want to get stuff done, and we forget to make time for the creativity and exploring and discussing that's so important in learning).

The Conversation, by Leigh A. Bortins, is available from Classical Conversations.

The kids and I became fans of Heirloom Audio Productions Audio Theater when we were asked to review In Freedom's Cause - The Real Story of Wallace and Bruce. When we were asked to review With Lee In Virginia I jumped at the chance.

With Lee in Virginia is an audio CD adaptation of the G.A. Henty book With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War. The 2-disc Audio Theater CD's tell the story of a young soldier fighting in the Civil War - but with a twist. The main character, Vincent, is a southerner and a slave owner fighting with the Confederate army.

Given the recent attention, especially via social media, to the Confederate flag and it's significance this CD production couldn't have come at a better time.

The book, and CD's, combines true history with a little fiction to create the story; while Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson were real men and real history is referenced, Vincent and his slave, Dan, were fictional and are representations of the young soldiers and slaves of that time period. G.A. Henty did extensive research before writing his books to present a historical representation, as did Heirloom Productions - traveling to the battlefields portrayed in With Lee in Virginia. The CD has a definitely Christian slant, with plenty of prayer and Bible references, which we felt was very fitting for the time period.

There are some household names in the cast of With Lee in Virginia; Kirk Cameron, Brian Blessed, Kelsey Lansdowne, and Sean Astin.

The CD's tell the story of Vincent from his mid-teens, when the Civil War began, through his very early 20's when the war ended. It also tells the stories of his friends and fellow Confederate soldiers, some as young as fourteen, and the stories of slaves on his, and a neighboring, plantation. Vincent was a Virginian and we learn that he, and Lee, fought in the war not to defend slavery but to defend states rights and their home state. In fact, throughout the adventure Vincent questions whether slavery is right and whether it's what God wants, but he never questions his loyalty to his state and never considers leaving the Confederate army, feeling it's his duty to fight, until the war ends. Throughout the story Vincent, Lee, and Jackson maintain their faith in God and in doing what they believe is best for the nation. I really, really wish I could tell you the whole story but you have to get the CD's and listen to it!

The kids - Ian (17), Mia (16), Adam (14), Kaden (12), and River (6) and I listened to the CD's in the car. At first I wasn't sure if they were paying attention because they were so quiet, but when I stopped the car they begged me to keep the car running so they could find out what happened next! That happened throughout both CD's and involved all the kids. Given that the CD's totaled 2 1/2 hours of play I thought it would be good to listen to them again, in case we missed or forgot anything the first time. Well, they definitely devoured With Lee in Virginia the first time, because the second time through they were saying the upcoming lines out loud and foretelling the story. They then spent some time telling their grandparents about the story. Every single one of them, and I, were enthralled by the story and fully engaged.

In addition to the CD's an assortment of downloadable bonuses are included with purchase, everything from a copy of the With Lee in Virginia book (300+ pages) to a complete study guide and story curriculum to a cast poster. While we opted to not use the study guide at this time I did take a look through it and was very impressed by how thorough it was.


The kids and I strongly recommend this audio drama. It's such a different, and important, viewpoint of the war, and is a necessary reminder that the war wasn't solely about slavery - it was about states rights. The CD's bring the Civil War to life in a way that no textbook could, making a memorable impression on the listener.

With Lee In Virginia is recommended for kids and adults, ages 6 and up and is available through Heirloom Audio Productions.  Click the image below to read what other TOS reviewers had to say about this exciting audio adventure.

I was recently introduced to Homeschool Planet, an online interactive home and home school scheduling program produced by Homeschool Buyers Co-Op and asked to give it a try.

Homeschool Planet is an online scheduling and organizing program, great for schoolwork, household tasks, blogging and/or other home business work, kids activities, chores, etc. ... basically, everything on your plate and those of your family members.

To begin, I watched the video tutorials. There are thirteen short videos and they are amazingly helpful and provide lots of tricks and tips to the program that'd take quite a bit of trial and error to find otherwise. There are also "how to" and "FAQ" sections to the planner answering a lot of oft asked questions. I was very impressed and pleased to see how much effort was put into making this program as easy to navigate as possible.

After watching the videos I set up my people. Each family member is represented and by doing this I'm able to assign tasks to just certain people, ie - Adam and Kaden may be attending an event without the rest of us, I can specify that, or River may have an assignment to do for school that's unique to him, with this program I can easily clarify that.

We travel a lot in the summer and the kids spend part of the summer with their father so we really don't do a lot of schooling during summer break. However, we do do plenty of stuff. I wanted to be able to enter Adam, Kaden, and River's school schedules in now with correct dates and assignments so I opted to use our "real life" summer schedules (and chores) for the purposes of this review and enter the schoolwork accurately and do a mock run-through of us using the program for schoolwork.

Entering the regular activities is a piece of cake. I named the activity, assigned a date and time, if it wasn't all day thing, to it, specified who was doing the activity, and hit save. That simple. I could then look at everyone's activities using the calendar or planner views.



Suppose Ian is asked to do some volunteer work on Thursday afternoon. Well, Kaden's orthodontist appointment isn't relevant and neither is anything else that Ian isn't doing, I can go in and alter the settings so I'm only seeing what Ian has on the calendar, making it much easier to know if he can do that volunteer work or not. I could also print out his calendar, or planner view, so he knows what his week looks like without the clutter of everyone else's schedule..



Entering the schoolwork was also very simple.

I chose a subject, chose a child (or children) to assign the work to, and a time of day. Typically, I do our school schedule manually on a sheet of paper. With some subjects we do 1 assignment per day, every day, with some we do lesson 1 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, etc., some things we do daily, some every other day, some once a week, and some Monday through Thursday. River does workbooks that need to be done by the end of the year and he does 2-3 pages per day. On notebook paper with a pen this is super simple and takes me about 10 minutes each Monday morning. Quite frankly, entering all that into this program sounded like a real pain the neck. Well, it wasn't. The program is designed to handle all those idiosyncrasies and more. I simply entered my parameters, the entered the days of the week we did the assignment, and the assignment on the calendar was generated the way I wanted it to be. There's even an option to complete a certain number of assignments or pages by the end of the year that'll automatically calculate how many pages to do per day. I was done entering the entire years worth of work in about 30 minutes.





Of course, I don't always need to know what everyone needs to do, so I can again print the schoolwork for just one student by isolating them and generating a printable calendar or planner for them.



The program will track assignments past due and ask what to do with them. They're not just going to disappear (much to the kids' dismay) and can be marked as completed or carried forward as assignments still needing to be completed.

It is very easy to print reports of schoolwork to do or completed, calendar views and planner views, as well as other reports.


The calendar you create can be shared with Google calendar or Apple iCal. Also, log in information can be created for each child so they can view their own schedules on their mobile devices. I think this is going to be a great way for me to share the kids assignments and schedules with their father when he comes to town.

I have really only touched the surface of the assets and benefits of this easy, multi-faceted planner. Right now, a 30 day free trial of Homeschool Planet is available at Homeschool Buyers Co-op and I highly recommend giving it a try!

Take a look at some more of the TOS Review crews reviews of this planner to see how they used it.

In the 1920's Dorothy Mills wrote a series of history books for middle school students; The Book of the Ancient World, The Book of the Ancient Greeks, The Book of the Ancient Romans, and The Book of the Middle Ages. For this review Adam, Kaden, and I were given The Book of the Ancient Romans to review, after it was republished with additional illustrations by Memoria Press.

For this review we were given the history book itself, a beautiful 435 page soft cover book filled with chapters of text and black-and-white illustrations and written by Dorothy Mills. We also received a Student Guide, written recently by Matthew Anderson, which contains 77 pages of questions for each chapter of the book with 2 pages devoted to each chapter, and a Teacher Guide, also written by Mr. Anderson, with the answers to the student questions as well as tests to use throughout the study of the book and a final exam . Both these books are soft cover books as well.


Adam (14) and Kaden (12) were able to work through the history book and study guide independently, with me just checking their answers and going over any areas they had issues with. The program is organized so well that I really didn't need to be involved in the day-to-day reading and learning.

The chapters of the history book run anywhere from 5 to about 30 pages, with the larger chapters divided into smaller segments. The boys were able to read the chapters to themselves and answer the study questions in about 20-30 minutes a day, varying a bit based on the length of the chapter.


Ms. Mills combines storytelling and history lessons to make the text interesting and engaging. The boys were easily able to read the lessons and feel that they understood what was going on. Also, the books provide a very comprehensive coverage of the materials, 435 may seem like a lot of pages but they are chock full of great information. The Book of the Ancient Romans begins with the founding of the city and ends with it's fall.

The student's guide has vocabulary words to look up, comprehension questions, activities such as adding to a timeline or creating a map or researching and writing a page, and facts to know.


The boys worked this program very independently, so I asked them to share their opinions of it.

Here is what Kaden (age 12) had to say:

The Book of the Ancient Romans is a fun learning book. You learn about Italy and Rome. You also learn about ancient tribes.

I learned new words that I had to look up.

I think that it was a learning activity that was not too challenging for kids, but it was hard enough so you actually learned about the ancient Romans. The book taught me about how Rome conquered all the places near them and became the biggest and most powerful city of it's time.

I also learned about Romulus and Remus. I learned how they founded Rome and Romulus was the king. I learned about how Romulus killed Remus.


And from Adam (age 14):

In the Book of the Ancient Romans you learn about the past of Rome, about how Rome was founded by Romulus, about the rulers along Rome's greatness. You learn about Rome's battles, how Rome kidnapped the Sabini women and how the Sabini women stopped a war with their fathers and husbands.

This book is very educational and a good home school book. I liked The Book of Ancient Romans and I learned a lot about Rome that I didn't already know.

The Book of the Ancient Romans by Dorothy Mills is available from Memoria Press for $16.95. The set of book, student guide, and teacher guide are available for $39.95. This program is geared toward 6-12th graders.

When asked to review Homeschool Legacy's Once-a-Week Series unit study We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution, by Sharon Gibson, I was very interested, because I knew the need was there for Adam(14) and Kaden (12) to learn more about our goverment and it's beginning. When I learned that completing the unit study would also satisfy all requirements for Citizenship in the Nation, a challenging Eagle-required Boy Scout merit badge, I was more than interested.

This unit study, and many others in this Once-a-Week series, meet not only Boy Scout merit badge requirements, but also American Heritage Girls and 4H requirements. Information about what requirements will be met in the unit study can be found on the Homeschool Legacy's website and specific requirements being met are noted with symbols throughout the unit study.

The Once-a-Week unit study is completely downloadable, an easy single digital download that you can then print to use. I printed the 68 pages and immediately put them in a 3-pronged binder.

This unit study is an 8 week program, with a different chapter devoted to each week; the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the amendments to the Constitution, and the different branches of government. It is suggested that the user do parts of the unit study a few days a week, devoting one entire school day per week to doing the majority of the unit study. Fortunately, the program is very flexible because that wouldn't have worked for us, there's no way we could devote an entire day just to one subject - instead we did a little bit each day, completing the weeks work in 2-3 weekdays, putting in about an hour each day, with additional time spent reading and watching related movies. At the beginning of the unit study is a page outlining possible schedules for completing the unit study, and at the back of the program are four pages devoted to getting the most out of the unit studies; both of these sections are very helpful.

When We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution was first presented to me I was aware of the fact that it was a Christian based program, the premise of the unit study is to understand the Christian values and beliefs that our founding fathers possessed and the role those beliefs and Christianity played in the founding of the United States of America, particularly the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The kids and I don't home school from a religious perspective, but I do believe that our country was founded by men with a strong belief in God and very admirable values, and that that is important to understand and remember as our country grows and changes. One of the benefits of a unit study like this is the flexibility to adapt it to meet the needs and style of the student, which we did; we followed the majority of the unit study but omitted the bible work.

To give an idea of the program and how it worked for us:

Chapter 3 is about the Bill of Rights. Each boy was asked to read the first ten amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights). We then learned about the "separation of church and state" which does not appear in the Constitution, as many believe, but was coined after it was said by Thomas Jefferson and referred to keeping the government out of religion, not to keep religion out of government.

In Chapter 3 the boys were asked to read a newspaper daily for a few weeks, which satisfies a Citizenship in the Nation requirement.

The boys also learned about felonies and what rights a felon loses. Gathering and writing about this information was their creative writing schoolwork for one day.

We discussed the reasons for the Bill of Rights and how it came to be necessary.

Throughout each chapter are numerous reading opportunities, with options for both strong and less confident readers.
What we thought:

I appreciated how thorough and clearly written this program was. It was very easy to grasp what the author was saying and where she was leading, and the boys learned a great deal from this program. I really enjoyed studying the Constitution with the boys because there were constant opportunities to think and discuss. While we could do the unit study work in an hour or so we often sat at the kitchen table discussing the founding of our country, comparing it to the way our country is running today.

I have to admit that I'm not normally a fan of unit studies. I often find them cumbersome and confusing. I felt that this program was easy to follow and easy to teach, and I actually liked teaching it.

The program is biblically centered. I think this can be a positive or a negative, depending on the user, but as I said before we were able to adapt the parts of the unit study we needed to while still teaching many very relevant religious portions.

Would I teach this to our troop for their merit badge study? Yes, I would with a few alterations. Would I recommend the unit study to other students studying American history and the United States Constitution? Yes.

We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution is geared towards kids in 4th through 12th grade and it, along with many other unit studies, is available at Homeschool Legacy.

     

When asked if River, age 6, and I would be interested in receiving and reviewing the book S is For Smiling Sunrise, published by WordsBright, I offered a hesitant "sure"; while River has discovered a love of reading I wasn't sure if this book would be challenging enough for him, given that he's outgrown traditional ABC books.

S is for Smiling Sunrise isn't your average ABC book and River dove right into the book, and enjoyed it very much. The hardcover, full-color, illustrated book written by Vick Wadhwa is recommended for children ages 3-6. The book contains about 30 pages, all of  which are of a high quality, thick, glossy finish (ie - not going to rip easily).

As I mentioned, this isn't a typical ABC book. Instead of "A is for Apple" in this book A is for Artwork - drawing and painting, and singing and dancing. The other alphabet letters in the book are equally unique, with C representing colors and H for heart. Instead of focusing on beginning words the book focuses on seeing and thinking about beautiful things, and taking time to stop, pay attention, and appreciate the world around us.


River and I received a study guide to use with the book, with questions and activity suggestions for each page. I used the questions to help River think about what he was reading. After reading the A page we talked about different types of artwork and what kinds of art he liked to create. We then discussed how dancing could be considered art and brainstormed about what else could be art that isn't typical "art class" art. The image below is from the study guide:


At Cub Scouts River has been working on his photography beltloop. One of his requirements was to submit 10 photos that he took using tips he'd learned about photography. I tied this book in with that requirement, as photography also requires you to slow down and observe what's going on around you. Focusing on the subjects of the book gave him something to look for instead of just taking random photos. I'd like to say that these are all River's pictures, but he got sidetracked when we discovered an armadillo shell and bones, so some of these were taken by one of his brothers who, once he got a hold of the camera, didn't put it down all day.


There is also a CD included with the book, with one song on it retelling the book. Personally, we preferred the book without the song, once I heard the song I had a hard time going back to the book and taking the "singing" out of the reading, if that makes sense. I found the song more of a distraction than an aide.


River, nearing the end of First Grade, had no problem at all reading the book on his own. He liked the pictures and the variety of information in the book. Between the book and our discussion of the pages he did some great learning and thinking. There were some challenging words mixed in which was good for him. Is it a book he'll read again and again? Probably not, only because he's just at the cusp of being a little too old for the book, or it being a little too young for him.

I appreciated that S is For Smiling Sunrise encouraged River to look around and notice the world, and to think about the things he was reading.


Had I had this book when I had my daycare I'd have gotten a lot of use out of it, tying craft projects in with the pretty pages of the book. For example, these adorable hand print caterpillars would have been tied in well with "B is for Butterfly". I'm sure I could have found projects that would have worked for each of the 26 letters, combining the book with the discussion questions, letter drawing, craft projects, and activities would have been a lot of fun for the kids and for me.

S is for Smiling Sunrise is available through WordsBright Publishing, with discounts for bulk orders.

Adam, my Algebra I student, was recently given A+ Interactive Math's online Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan program to review.

Last school year Adam was in Pre-Algebra. The program we were using was one I'd used with the older three kids and, while we liked it, I knew it wasn't a perfect fit for every student so when he started to struggle I didn't hesitate to have him try a different program. The new, very different, program worked well for a few months, but then he and I both realized it wasn't the right program for him in the long run and we switched back to the original program, starting from the beginning. Things went much better for him this time around, however because we'd made the last program switch halfway through the school year there was no chance of him getting through the entire program by the end of the school year and he only completed just over half the lessons.

This year his younger brother, Kaden, is using that same Pre-Algebra program and, of course, Adam really didn't want to be doing the same work as his brother so he opted to go ahead and start Algebra I this year, without the solid foundation he really should have had. This hasn't been an easy math year for him, though I have give him a great deal of credit for working hard and not giving up even when we decided to go back and redo 30 lessons. Right now, with one month or so of school left, he's finally "getting it" and should be able to finish the entire Algebra I program (let me tell you, I'm proud of this kid!).

Because of the gaps in his Algebra foundation and the struggles he's had this year I was certain that A+ Interactive Math would be a benefit to him as he could certainly use a little extra practice and lessons from a slightly different perspective are always helpful.

Kaden and River also used this A+ Interactive Math program for this review, but my focus, from the time the review was offered, has been on Adam. After doing a few tests and lessons River opted to use a different math review program he was already using, simply because it was familiar to him. Kaden has continued to use Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan, using the same 7th Grade/Pre-Algebra level as Adam, but at a slower pace.

The Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan program is on online program, for grades 1 through 7 (Pre-Algebra). While Adam is in Algebra I and Eight Grade the Pre-Algebra level proved challenging for him and was a good fit. The program looks for gaps in their knowledge and is tough, both boys were surprised they didn't do better on their initial placement tests but realized that's because they do still have a few things left to learn.

The student enters the program and takes placement tests for each related subject. Either he'll do extremely well on the placement test and move on to the next subject or he won't do as well, showing some gaps in knowledge and a need for improvement, and move forward to the lessons he needs to fully grasp the subject. As he does the lessons he can retake the placement test to see if he's mastered the subject. If the student isn't sure how to get started there are helpful videos to watch to guide them into the program.


The student doesn't have to take all the placement tests in order and can skip around as he wishes, which can be very helpful as not all math programs move at the same pace.


Each placement test or lesson takes about 20 minutes. We found that pen and paper is necessary to do the work associated with the challenging problems.

The lessons section provides the student with an individualized lesson plan. The lessons for the tests they've "passed" won't show up here, only the subjects they need work on. Within each subject are many lessons for the student to use to build knowledge.

The lessons are videos that clearly and concisely explain the subject matter. At the end of each lesson is a Q&A section to test comprehension.

My boys each did four lessons per week, as a supplement to their regular math programs.

The parent has his own A+ Interactive Math account to watch the student's progress. While I found the parent dashboard to be helpful, allowing me to see where Adam was in the program, I thought it was a little limited. Adam's school schedule had him doing four lessons per week, I found I couldn't track how many assignments or tests he'd done each week, so I really had no way of guaranteeing he'd done his allotted four and couldn't tell which four he'd done, making it hard to track his progress. I felt that I was "out of the loop" with this program, which, as the teacher, I don't like.


Adam:
"A+ Interactive Math is easy to navigate and if you have trouble you can watch the video that explain how to navigate through the website. You can learn a lot if you take the tests, go through the lessons, and retake the tests. A+ Interactive Math only takes 20 minutes a day to take a test or go through a lesson.

I did learn stuff I didn't know, so it has helped me with my Algebra."

Kaden:
"Some things I did not know but A+ Interactive Math had lessons so I could learn more. The program tells you about fractions, percents, and word problems. I have learned more about word problems from A+ Interactive Math. I have learned about negative numbers and percents. I think it is a good website."

Personally, I think this is a good program for a kid like Adam who needs a little extra to grasp math. He'll be continuing with it through the end of the school year. Additionally, if Adam enters public school he'll have to take an "End of Course" exam for the Algebra he's done this year, if our curriculum didn't cover something or explained it differently this program is helpful for filling in those gaps and differences.

My oldest daughter started struggling with math in 3rd grade. She's now in college and still struggling. While it's a little late to send her back to 3rd grade math I wonder, if this program had been available when she needed it, if it would have helped her to understand and to gain some confidence in math. I'd certainly have tried it. Because math is a subject that builds on itself it's really tough on a child when they don't understand a concept(s) early on and get lost trying to build on a foundation that isn't there.

I see it as a benefit too for summer enrichment, either to fill in any gaps from the previous year or prepare for the upcoming school year.

As I mentioned earlier, I do think the parents area needs to add some more details so the parent can see what the student is doing each day and how they're doing each day.

A+ Interactive Math Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan is available now for $29.99 for one student for a 3-month subscription and just $10 for each additional child. Free resources and more information can be found here.

"Orphs of the Woodlands is awesome!" - Adam

"It's a really fun game and I learned stuff from it." - Kaden

"It's fun." - River

The kids were asked by Star Toaster to review The Treasure of HighTower, the first book in their online adventure series Orphs of the Woodlands. To sum up Orphs of the Woodlands: it's a book, it's a game, it encourages positive values, and it's a multi-subject learning tool. And it's up there as one of our favorite review products EVER.

This program is all about the child (hereafter referred to as "he", though this program has been created for both boys and girls, I just happen to have three boys using it, so went with "he"). He begins by filling out an application to become a spy. The name he enters will become his name throughout the story, because this book is about him. The spy company, WAK., is a little short on spies so he is hired for this dangerous, unpaid position. Oh, and he's a gray squirrel and an orph.


 *The images I'm using are from River's account, his user name is "Monster", hence "Squirrel Monster".

As the child begins reading he'll discover a whole new world, filled with a wide variety of woodland creatures, adventures, friends, spies, enemies, and excitement. He'll care for orphs, orphaned little animals who need help (he's one himself) and Ivythwaite, his childhood home and home to the orphs he's caring for, and he'll travel to the city of HighTower and HighestTower Palace to find treasure.

Throughout the pages of the book are interactive bits and pieces. Words may be in red print instead of black - some of these are challenging words that can be hovered over for definitions, some may be "Top Secret Files" that will give a little more information about the name in red, some are famous quotes and the author they're attributed to, and so on.


Occasionally, the child will come across a blackboard, clicking on the blackboard will teach the child information, often a two-three minute lesson by Prof. Forp, his very smart, messy mentor, who teaches him in exchange for cleaning and Latin lessons (yup, even Latin is thrown into this game!). There are also letters written to the child that must be read. Most of the words in these letters are hidden and the child needs to remember Prof. Forp's lesson about acids and bases to make the invisible ink show, once the ink shows the really important messages appear!


At the end of each chapter the child earns goldstars to support the orphs he's caring for at Ivythwaite. If he doesn't earn enough money to care for the orphs they'll disappear from Ivythwaite. To earn goldstars he must work. Here's where the educational aspect of the program really comes into play. The child will choose jobs from a variety of subjects, some of which are art, math, science, vocabulary, and much more. Jobs in math might focus on mean, estimating the height of a tree, angles, or area. Thinking skills jobs usually pull information from the previous chapter, so skipping big paragraphs will leave the child at a disadvantage!


To do a job the child first does a lesson, usually either a short written explanation or a video of one of Prof. Forp's lessons. Prof. Forp might be my favorite character in the book because he's entertaining and he starts every lesson by saying, "As I've told you before, I never repeat myself, so pay attention."


After the lesson the student answers a question. The answers aren't super tricky, and usually one or two of the multiple choice answers are silly enough to be eliminated immediately, like "I wasn't paying attention. Who is PinchPaw?", creating a fun environment, not a super stressful "test" feeling. If the child gets the answer right he earns goldstars to care for his orphs. If he gets an answer wrong he moves on without earning points, it's not the end of the world! After getting enough correct answers in a category he'll be "promoted" and will earn more gold stars for each correct answer in that category.


At the top of the Jobs/Help Wanted page is information on how many orphs the child is caring for, how many goldstars he needs to care for those orphs, and how many goldstars he's earned.

After doing all the jobs available, or at least enough to care for the orphs in his care (any remaining jobs can be done after the next chapter), the child works on his settlement at Ivythwaite. Here he can use any remaining goldstars he's earned to buy more land for the orphs, buy more housing, or add things to the settlement to reduce the cost of caring for the orphs. He'll have to strategize a bit as he decides what to spend his goldstars on.


When he's done at Ivythwaite he reads the next chapter. At the end of the chapter he'll have a few more orphs to care for and will need to do jobs again to support all of his orphs. There are new jobs to complete for each new chapter, focusing on skills earned in the most recent chapter will reviewing skills already learned.

Could the child skip the jobs altogether? I think so, but then he'd lose all his orphs, which wouldn't be good because (1) he's an orph too and understands that these creatures need care and (2) he made a promise to his tiny chipmunk orph friend Muffum to help orphs.

Could the child skip the book and just do the jobs? He could rush through the pages, but the pages are short and full of adventure! So much happens that I don't think he'd want to miss any of it. Truly, there's so much action and adventure that even my more reluctant reader was excited to make his way through the book.

The parent has their own account for this program. It doesn't have the game (I know ... bummer!) but does allow the parent to see how the child is doing. The parent can see where the child is in the book, how many orphs he's got, and all sorts of other useful information. The parent can also see which jobs (questions) the child didn't earn, in case they want to go over any and review them with the child.


Star Toaster created the Orphs of the Woodlands adventure for kids in 4th through 7th grade, but I think there's a lot of flexibility there.

River is 6, initially he and I read through it together but he started working on his own and was on Chapter 4 in no time. There are words that are very big to him, but he was sounding them out and getting through them. He loves Prof. Forp's videos - I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to have Prof. Forp be his primary teacher.

Adam and Kaden dove right into this. I think Kaden completed the entire book and most jobs in a few days. Adam took closer to a month to get through the entire program. They did learn a lot of new vocabulary words, much of the rest of the information was review for them (they're in 7th and 8th grades right now).

I probably had a harder time figuring this out than the kids did. It just doesn't come to me instinctively, thankfully there are very helpful videos under the "help" section. Each one only takes a few minutes and explains the program very well and very clearly.


What we like:

• It's fun!
• The story is very engaging and entertaining
• It's easy to understand
• They get to play an online game ... while learning (win-win!)
• Prof. Forp is a good teacher
• We love this program

What we don't like:

• The next book hasn't been released yet (it's coming)
• Once the book was finished the kids couldn't go back and start over

I hope I've peaked your curiosity and interest in Orphs of the Woodlands, because if it isn't clear yet, we've really enjoyed the program. It's available at Star Toaster for $19.99 for a 60 day subscription for up to three kids AND a 100 page FREE TRIAL is available as well.

Check out the other TOS Reviews of this product: