Reviews & Giveaways

A High School Art Course

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. sent us a free copy of their ARTistic Pursuits High School Book One art curriculum in exchange for a fair review by me (the artistically disinclined), 17-year-old Marissa (who is beginning her art business), and our 15- and 13-year-old “twins,” Elisabeth and Emily (both more artistically talented than their mother). All opinions are ours…’kay? ‘Kay.

A Brief Overview of ARTistic Pursuits Inc.’s High School Book One art curriculum:

16 units
1 year
2 lessons per week
1(ish) hour per lesson

Was that brief enough for you?

A slightly less brief discussion on what each unit entails:

Building a Visual Vocabulary: In plain English, the students will learn to “see” the unit’s main focus artistically out in the real world. My artistic daughter Marissa sees the world differently than I (the word girl) do. It’s fascinating to listen to her explain what she sees. It’s an entirely different way of viewing the world. This first lesson in each unit teaches your students to see like an artist…but only one topic at a time, so it’s manageable.
Art Appreciation and Art History: Here the student is still observing based on the unit’s topic, but this time they are studying the work of the masters. Ooooo…masters. This is a technique we’ve used in the past with our kids–always effective.
Techniques: Time to get busy busy busy. The students learn applied techniques. Fun!
Application: This is like the final exam, like the doctoral thesis, like the…well, like the project at the end of the unit.

Each of the four steps above includes an assignment which should take roughly an hour for your student to complete. (You can join in or fold laundry–your choice.)

Thoughts for the artistically inclined:

Marissa explained that the course has quite a few topics that she already knows instinctively, having flown from the womb with innate artistic ability that she did not inherit from the owner of said womb. She said that it offers lessons that fill in some of the gaps, explaining why and how best to do what she inherently does.

Thoughts for the artistically disinclined:

Parents who can’t even draw stick figures, rest easy. You don’t need to know anything (except how to drive so you can get to the store and buy art supplies). The book is written for the student. The time is the student’s. You don’t need to do or know anything.

That said, it’s a whole lot more fun if you do the program with your children.

Regarding the necessary supplies, we had everything on hand. We are an art family, however, so that may not be the norm for everyone. Still, there’s nothing you have to send a rover to Mars for.

ARTistic Pursuits Inc.--High School Art Curriculum Review — *{Emily’s study of space was this lighthouse we visited.}*

Thoughts for…well…anyone:

A daughter’s opinion: One of my daughters said, “I like that the student samples are not perfect. It makes me feel like, hey, I can do that. I can even do better than that!”

A teaching mama’s opinion: I really like that the program is teaching them to draw realistically. Other programs we’ve tried taught shape and color and lines, and the end result was fun, whimsical, and fake. That’s great, too but I have always wanted to be able to draw, say, a turtle, and have someone say, “Wow! Look at that turtle!” or even just, “It’s a turtle,” instead of “Nice rock. Why’s it green?”

I also like the attention paid to the masters. There’s a reason they’re the masters, and it’s not the whole cutting off the ear thing.

Thoughts on the timing: My children have found the two-projects a week time frame to be unrealistic for them. I would estimate they spend between two and four hours on each of their drawings. (Now, mind you, I have those children who, at the end of a Sunday school or vacation Bible school session are still there working on their art projects…forever!) They would prefer to spend the week on one assignment instead of two, so they can really work on it without it taking up as much of their time as it does with two sessions per week.

On the other hand, two of Marissa’s art mentors encouraged her to “speed up” the process, and do a little more free sketching with less perfectionism. The two-projects-a-week pace might encourage more decisiveness and less perfectionism with the “twins.”

*{Elisabeth ran out of time to finish this sketch of her brother.}*

Musings on the approach: This is a different approach to art than some of the other programs we’ve tried. It’s less how-to and more integrative. What does integrative mean, really? In this case, it means you develop certain skills which you then apply to art. You’re not going to walk away from these lessons knowing how to draw a sleeping cat and nothing else. One of my daughters enjoys this; the other just wants the how-to.

If you want realistic drawing lessons with history and analysis tied in, this is a great curriculum. Plus, ARTistic Pursuits Inc. has a line from preschool through high school/adult, so if it works for you, you’re set! I love being set.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

If you want to do art on the road, you have to be totally committed, because it potentially takes up a lot of space. Space, as you know, is prime real estate in the RVing world. So if you really want your kids to learn to see and draw some of the places you are exploring and people you are meeting (which I highly encourage), and you want to commit to it, take note of this:

The tools you need for this curriculum are not ridiculously extravagant. With the exception of the sketch pad, you could keep everything else in a pencil pouch that you can hook right into a binder or stuff under a pillow–don’t your kids stuff art supplies under their pillows? The sketch pads and the book itself will be your space hogs.

And of course, the book has lay-flat plastic comb binding, which is ideal for the curriculum. Still, comb binding and trailer living are not friends. Someone inevitably leaves the book on the floor of the van and it gets stepped on or the cat knocks it off the bureau (dresser for those of you born in this century) or it gets crammed unceremoniously into the too-small-for-homeschoolers cupboard–in other words, trailer living is abusive to books. That said, this has held up very well so far.

If you do this program, you have to bite the bullet and buy each artist a sketch pad. This will prevent the attack of the paper monster, because everything will be neatly enclosed in a sketch pad. Ah, neatness–how I love thee!

Do I recommend this program for roadschoolers–absolutely yes, if you are committed to getting the supplies. It can really add to your children’s journals of their travels. It’s worth the space.

ARTistic Pursuits--High School Art Curriculum Review — *{Elisabeth’s preliminary sketch of a hike we took in Sonoma, Arizona. When it’s finished, this will be a great reminder of our family fun there!}*

Click here or on the banner below to read reviews from other homeschoolers:

Trailer-Friendly Children’s Paint — Kwik Stix

You know what we received in the mail? This set of Kwik Stix 12 pk from The Pencil Grip, Inc., in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own…and my kids’…and our cat’s.

Yesterday I was taking a nap with my baby. My four-year-old was lying across my feet whailning. Whailning is a combination of wailing and whining. It’s pretty intense, and it’s pretty annoying. I know that as a mother I’m not supposed to say that my child is annoying me, but if whailning doesn’t annoy you, you must parent from a higher level of existence. The issue was bananas, but three seconds before it was something else and three seconds before that it was something entirely different.

I knew it wasn’t really bananas. She needed some direction. So I said to my four-year-old, “Do you want to paint?” and she said, “Yes!” and I said, “Go right ahead,” and I went back to sleep and she painted.

Those of you who have four-year-olds are wondering why (since this is my seventh four-year-old) I don’t have more parenting sense. (Others think I’m negligent for not joining in, but that is a parenting discussion for another day.)

Letting her paint alone–insane! You’re thinking I woke up to the entire travel trailer arrayed in pinks and purples, or the cat painted, or at the very least bowls of water and containers of paint spilled on the tables, cushions, and floor.

Not at all. I woke up to this:

Two sisters had been painting together–two sisters aged 7 and 4. Please take note of the mess. Here’s another angle:

There is a mess–there are crayons and colored pencils lying around, a couple stacking pegs, a bear face-planted into the table, a little felt vest they sewed, a wadded up tissue or something equally sinister. But there is no paint mess lying around. Even the cat can’t make a mess out of the project, and you know that cat would be redecorating the curtains if she could. Poor disappointed kitty.

(If you have a four-year-old artist and a curious cat and you’re sold on these paint sticks right now, they are available on Amazon (affiliate link).)

What Tuppence the cat is standing on is a set of Kwik Stix. Here’s a better view:

They work like paint, only there is no brush, water, or extended drying period. No water! No water!

That’s my favorite part.

The colors are easily contained, easily stored, easily used…while Mama is napping. Hooray!

I really like the look of the projects my children made with the paints.

These are not markers–it’s tempura paint. You can change the look and feel of the picture by layering or adding pressure. While you won’t do a ton of blending due to the rapid dry time, you can do a bit. What takes this up another notch is the younger painters won’t end up with a big page of army brown with a hole in it. That’s the painting we all know ~~and love~~ from childhood, right?

Rebecca (7) likes the soft look, like in this valley scene that she matted and hung on the wall:

Elijah (10) is a little bolder and would rather rush through several projects. The tempura paint dries in only 90 seconds, so he can do that right in his sketchpad without our having to limit him based on available counter space or hanging space for drying. (Remember we live in a travel trailer–all 10 of us and two critters.)

This is his bold creepy clown (clowns creep us out):

Eliana (4) and Elisabeth (15) worked together. Ellie made a request, Elisabeth “Bean” painted it on one side of Ellie’s sketch pad, and Ellie copied her. I’m sure in the higher-trained educator circles, this process has a name, but I just call it Neat and Sweet.

Here are some results of one of their Neat and Sweet sessions:

Notice the green one-legged blobster (blobby monster) showing through the picture on the left. That’s from coloring with marker on the other side. As of yet, we have not had a single incident of the Kwik Stix showing through on the other side. That’s a pretty big deal when you’re 4…or 43.

The Neat and Sweet duo also worked on a horse together. Bean drew the outside shape, and Ellie drew the same shape inside of the original, and so on until they had a horse. Actually, they had a cow, but a little mane-and-forelock action transformed it into the horse of another color you’ve heard tell of.

The kids also painted frames they had cut out of boxes. Wouldn’t that make a great Mother’s Day gift?!

For some reason I have yet to comprehend, every single time the kids use the Kwik Stix, they put them away! Covers on, sticks in the plastic holder, voila! Apparently, Kwik Stix come with a little bit of Mary Poppins magic or the box screams “Put me away!”

These would make excellent gifts–end of school parties, birthday parties, Christmas stockings, Easter baskets. They would also be great to stock up on for classrooms, parties, daycares, or summer indoor fun. My kids love them.

You may wonder why the company is called The Pencil Grip, Inc., instead of Best Kids’ Paint Ever, Inc. They produce pencil grips, which are small finger positioners that slip onto pencils. The child or adult who has a ~~really bad~~ unique method of holding a pencil positions the fingers on the Pencil Grip and–bada bing bada boom–the hand is positioned properly. They even have a three-step trainer set.

This is not an issue we are currently struggling with, but we used them in the past for previous children (and me), and they work well.

Here’s where you can go to learn more about Pencil Grips.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

Art runs deep in this family, as you can see by our second daughter’s art business, so we’ve tried to have ready supplies in the trailer for any time the art bug strikes, and for our Saturday art classes. Unfortunately, the paint wasn’t making the cut–too messy, bulky, time-consuming, space-consuming, and messy–that deserves to be mentioned twice. The kids were restricted to a little watercolor set you find in the craft and school supply aisles at Wal-Mart. Even that made me cringe with the bowl of water/cat combo.You understand if you live on wheels!

This is the solution.

We’re still keeping our watercolor set around so the kids can paint with brushes, but I no longer feel compelled to stock acrylics. What a relief!

Click here to learn what stationary schoolers have to say about Kwik Stix:

To find The Pencil Grip, Inc., online, go here…or here or here or…:

Website: http://www.thepencilgrip.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepencilgrip
Pinterest: : https://www.pinterest.com/KwikStixPaint/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThePencilGrip @ThePencilGrip

Kwix Stix are available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Emu Oil Without the Emu

Disclosure: We were given a free bottle of GREEMU Oil by Devonian, distributed by Koru Naturals to review.

I first learned about emu oil back in the ancient times when I would ride past an emu farm to get to school. The emus are quirky, cute, ostrich-like birds, only slightly smaller. The one I liked best I named Elmo. Elmo the Emu.The emus were used for their oil.

The fatty acid make-up of emu oil is essentially the same as that of human skin cells. That is why it is considered a prime product for skin care. Makes sense, right?

The problem with emu oil is that you don’t merely wait for Elmo the Emu to deposit a load of oil in your lotion bottle like you would, for example, wait for an egg. The oil is extracted from the fat of the emu, and, as those of us know who have done more thigh lifts than we care to think about (that’s, like, three for me), the only way to get the fat out is to “extract” it.

In other words, dead Elmo.

Devonian has developed a plant-based product that mimics emu oil. The combination of oils and butters has the same basic lipid profile as that extracted from Elmo the Emu, but Elmo can live on.

Win-win.

It’s called GREEMU. Catchy, ain’t it?

GREEMU works for skin and hair, so that’s how we used it.

Without telling my family (and you know, it’s hard to keep secrets in a 30-foot travel trailer), I applied greemu to one side of my face and one hand. Over the course of a few weeks, I asked my family to guess twice which side of my face was being treated. They guessed correctly.

I tried to take a picture for you, but this blogger’s camera s-t-i-n-k-s.

1. The first benefit I noticed was that my skin wasn’t as dry.

2. Next, I noticed that my smile lines around eyes seem to have softened. My son said my skin was softer on that side as well. Perhaps that’s the massaging, perhaps the oil, perhaps I haven’t been smiling enough lately. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t an unwelcome result.

3. Surprisingly, I saw that my “mask of pregnancy” had faded on one side. That was a shocker, and maybe a coincidence. Who knows. I don’t spend a lot of time studying my face, but it was definitely lighter on one side–for how long, I have no idea!

4. I also used it on Eliana’s crazy hair and my own frizz. It calmed our hair until we washed it again.

5. Finally, I used it on Eb’s rash on his back and dry skin under his lip (teething and drool). It may have helped with the rash, but I would need more experiments to know for sure. The dry skin under his lip definitely benefited.

Other products may have had this same effect, but one of the main benefits of GREEMU is the ingredients. They’re tame. In fact, there are only five ingredients:

macadamia seed oil
organic palm oil
shea butter
sunflower seed oil
rice bran oil

Notice that they are all pronounceable, and, while GREEMU oil is not edible, it comes almost entirely from things you wouldn’t mind eating. That makes me feel more comfortable using it on my little guy. Go here to learn the benefits of each of these ingredients.

Remember, this is oil, and it doesn’t absorb as readily (in my opinion) as lotion, so don’t expect lotion. I don’t lie down soon after applying, because some of it is still there on the surface of my skin. Despite the slower-than-lotion absorption rate, I have to tell you that I really like the feel of it going on–smoooooooth like a good Swiss chocolate. I can’t stop rubbing my face–is that weird?

I intend to test it a bit further. One of my children has extremely dry skin on her hands. Lotion isn’t making a dent. Another has small scars on her face that I want to fade. I’ll update this review if I’ve discovered any improvement. ‘Kay? ‘Kay.

(By the way, I don’t agree with the Devonian time period info on the website; plants were created on the third day. Science supports Creation in many ways. Just because I like their oil does not mean I stand behind the comments on their home page.)

Additional Thoughts for My Fellow Travelers:

A little bit goes a loooooooong way. That means you have a whole lotta oil in a small space. Plus, because it offers multiple benefits (skin and hair), it requires fewer bottles than if you had a hair oil and a facial moisturizer.

Finally, the bottle seems sturdy. It is flexible, so it takes the occasional beating fine–we’ve all been down those roads that are so bad they launch our products out of the cupboards and onto the floor!

Read what other reviewers have to say right here:

Milton Hershey–More Than Chocolate…If That’s Even Possible!

My family received a copy of Heroes of History- Milton Hershey from YWAM Publishing for review purposes…and for an excuse to eat lots of chocolate–it’s educational, after all! We also received access to a Digital Unit Study Curriculum Guide for the review.

First, a bit about YWAM’s “Heroes” series.

YWAM has two heroes series which they’ve developed over the past two decades. They carefully choose the heroes based on the lessons their lives can teach young (and over-the-hill, like me) readers.

The Christian Heroes: Then & Now series focuses on Cristian missionaries, such as Nate Saint and David Linvgstone. Your children, like mine, will become fast friends with these heroes of the faith.

The Heroes of History series are slightly different. The biographies offer a view of main players in American history, as far back as our old friend Christopher Columbus and as recent as Dr. Ben Carson. I want to share this quote from an email the company sent me, so you can understand how the subjects were selected:

We have included key individuals of historical significance and character in this series. Not all were involved in government and not all are remembered for their personal faith. But all of the characters make a contribution to the series as important representatives illustrating the American story and history. In this series you will find: explorers, pioneers, presidents, inventors, doctors, authors, and heroes in time of war.

So which hero did we choose? You guessed it–Milton Hershey!

The book we read is entitled Heroes of History–Milton Hershey: More Than Chocolate, by Janet and Geoff Benge.

I went into this book in my typical my-life-revolves-around-food manner, wondering what kind of contribution could a man like Hershey make to America that was more important than chocolate? I learned two things:

He made a mean caramel.
He was a man who had to pick himself up over and over and over and do a little groveling and work harder than most modern men (men meaning men, women, and children) are willing to do just to fall on his face again…and today he is a household name.

Sticktoitiveness (stick-to-it-ive-ness) is the word I’m looking for here. He had it…and a technique for super creamy caramels.

We learned quite a bit more, but ultimately it’s the character-building we take with us, and not the dates and facts, isn’t it?

A great read…like the rest of the YWAM books.

How did we use this book?

We read this book individually and came together for discussion, but some of the others we’ve read aloud. We’ve also simply placed YWAM books on a shelf and waited for the magic to happen without any direction from us–that works, too, especially when you find a name that already interests your kids or that they hear relatives talking about, like Ronald Reagan or Bonhoeffer or Thomas Edison or Corrie Ten Boom. So many greats!

The digital curriculum guide includes questions for discussion, as well as activities. Our favorite is the timeline and, uh, buying Hershey chocolate and eating it. That last part wasn’t exactly in the study guide, but we like to enhance our studies a bit. Ahem.

Additional Thoughts for My Fellow Roadschoolers:

If you don’t mind small books taking up shelf space, this is one of the few take-it-along book series we highly recommend! It is worth the space–it really is. Also, since the study guides are available digitally (as well as on CD), you can study this on a more intense level (which means more chocolate if you’re focusing on Milton Hershey) without taking up additional space or adding weight to what is inevitably an already weighed down roadschool.

Of course, you have to deal with download issues on the mishmash of crazy internet connections available on the road. Boo. But hey, there’s always Starbucks and the library! (Or, like us, you can download it and use it for a little while and then your whole computer can die and you have to buy a new computer with the money you were going to use to buy glasses, and then you have to download it twice. Whaa.)

Give it a try! (I don’t get any money for telling you this. It’s just a product I really believe in.)

To read what others have to say about the series, please click here or on the banner below:

Apologia’s Writers in Residence Program

Please know that I was given a free copy of Writers in Residence from Apologia Educational Ministries in exchange for my and my daughters’ fair and unbiased review. All opinions are our own.

I want you to meet Emily. Emily is our vivacious and fun thirteen-year-old. She has never met a writing class she liked, which is okay, because I don’t generally use writing curricula in my roadschool.

Another thing you need to know about Emily is that she doesn’t hold back her feelings.

Imagine her enthusiasm (grin) when I handed her Apologia’s new Writers in Residence program and said, “Here, Emily, is a brand spankin’ new writing program for you to use for two months or until the end of time, whichever comes first.”

Duck and run.

Ha ha. Not really. Emily has been an excellent sport about Writers in Residence, and why not? The program is great!

Here’s what we like about it:

The program includes top notch writing samples from writers you will (or should at least pretend to) recognize. This capitalizes on the excellent tactic of learning through the imitation of quality work…no junk.

Interviews from real Christian authors (not real like me, Emily’s mom, but real like someone that you might know or could at least Google) offer a solid, encouraging nudge with a taste of how-I-got-started reality. This guidance from “real” writers goes further than some of the inane things we parents say, like, “That’s great. Let’s send it to Grandma because our fridge is full,” or “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming,” which is my all-time most annoying thing I say when my kids get stuck on something. Lame, I know.

The program tackles grammar as well as writing. A good writer (and anyone else who learns to talk ever) needs excellent grammar skills. While we don’t study grammar formally in our household in the early years, I’m totally comfortable with my seventh-grader working through a grammar program, if only so she can see over and over and over again that, look at that, my mother was right. (Someone’s on her high grammar horse today!)

The writing aspect touches on several main components of the writing process within the six units of volume I; volume II is in the works. Click here for more details.

The student portion of the course is contained in a single spiral-bound text that the child can write in. (My kids love writing directly in their workbooks, but I always find consumables to be a drawback. As a single-income music missionary family with eight kids, I usually buy only non-consumable products so they can be passed down. Still, this is a great program, and I do recommend a student book for each student, especially if they don’t like writing. Just bite that bullet if you can.)

I like that the program is conversational and student-directed, so Emily can be pretty self-sufficient. That gives me more time to work on other things, like perfecting my omelet-making skills, which is my current craze.

It is already broken up into a four-day schedule. Emily doesn’t follow it exactly as written, but life is like that. Some days your dad says, “Hey, let’s go hiking in the Grand Canyon,” and your writing class has to wait.

For parents who aren’t comfortable with writing process, the answer key offers all the guidance you need for scoring and evaluating.

Here’s what I like best about it:

Emily likes it. ‘Nuf said.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

The entire program is encompassed within these two books. (One for us–I’m a writer by trade and training, so I don’t use the answer key.) Naturally, your child will want a pencil, because writing in blood is unwise. Otherwise, that’s it–no internet connection, no binders full of pages that tear out and get caught in the slide, no DVDs the baby uses for speed crawling. (Tell me your RV living is like this, too…please…even if you have to lie just a little bit.)

For the value of this program, the space it takes up is minimal.

On the other hand, spiral binding and I are not friends. When something in our lives is moving from trailer to van to church to trailer to dropped down the steps into the mud to forgot to stow and it launched through the air down a bumpy California road, well, you want the sturdiest book you can find, and that usually means hard cover.

Still, it is ideal for a student workbook, and ours has held up remarkably well, although we’ve only had it for six weeks. Normally after six weeks, the cat has spewed a hairball on it and the binding is compromised and the baby has chewed on the corner (not where the cat spewed) and a page or several are missing. So Apologia gets an extra cookie for that!

Honestly, it’s worth the space it will take up. This is another program we’ll continue to use after the review period has ended.

Go here to read reviews from homeschoolers who fall a little closer to “normal” on the normalcy spectrum than we do:

Filling in the Learning Gaps for Math {A Review}

As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, my seven-year-old first-grade daughter Rebecca and I are reviewing two Math Mini-Courses (Time and Money) from A+ Interactive Math. We received free access to two mini-courses for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own…unless they are Rebecca’s, because we don’t always agree…unless it’s about dessert, in which case the answer is always “Yes, please!”

If you’re a homeschool parent who hasn’t been afraid of leaving gaps in your child’s education, you’re the envy of the homeschool community. Of course, we all know that every single education has gaps, and that a truly educated person learns how to fill in those gaps himself as necessary throughout life, but that’s beside the point.

I remember a friend once telling me she was afraid that, if she homeschooled, her kids would be standing at a checkout counter not sure how much money to use to pay for their purchases because Mama had forgotten to teach about making change. Big gap.

That’s where Math Mini-Courses from A+ Interactive Math come in.

A+ Interactive Math offers assessments to identify the gaps in your child’s math education. They then provide 20 separate mini-courses to fill in those gaps. Each course offers affordable access for a full year, although the course should only take two or three months to complete. No more fear of your child not knowing how to make change!

Money Mini-Course

And speaking of making change, the course Rebecca is working through is the Money Mini-Course.

Working with a seven-year-old review partner has its challenges. Clarity is sometimes…lacking. Following is the interview I held with her:

Do you like A+ Interactive?

What’s that?

The money course you’re taking on the Behemoth (the family computer).

Oh, yes, I really like it. I get all the answers right all the time except once.

What are you learning?

Nothing. I have no idea what’s going on.

Uhhhhhh…but you get everything right?

Yeah. It’s easy now.

(Five minutes later…)

Mommy, you have three quarters and a penny there, and that’s the same as 76 pennies…just so you know.

How do you know that?

Frog math (A+ Interactive).

Rest assured the child is learning. She proved it when she took all the change out of her tissue box bank, counted it out, added it up, sorted according to value, reorganized in piles totaling a dollar each, tithed, and played store. Not bad for not knowing what’s going on!

Beyond understanding the value of money, there are lessons on budgeting, taxes, commissions, and other topics I wouldn’t have necessarily breached with my seven-year-old, but which she will someday need to know. Pretty nifty, eh? Of course, those lessons are a little harder than the “how many nickles in a dime” conversion lessons.

What does it take from me?

I have to get her set up and, of course, answer the rare question. Logging on and getting started is a little confusing for her, and the program doesn’t automatically update her results for the report if she doesn’t tell it to. It would be great if getting started with each lesson were a little more automatic.

The lessons themselves only require a small learning curve and then she flies on her own. In fact, the Quick Start Guide reassures, “Relax! You don’t have to teach math or do anything. This program does everything for you.”

It’s true.

Time Mini-Course

The other math mini-course we reviewed is Time.

It delves into not only how to tell time in hours, minutes, and seconds, but it discusses days, months, years, and seasons. It also deals with more complex topics, such as converting units of time, adding time, and determining how much time has elapsed. (Maybe I should take this course so I can stop counting on my teeth.)

Summary

The mini courses are great for filling in gaps that perhaps your math curriculum might leave. We won’t be switching from our current math program, but we definitely appreciate the extra support in our weak areas.

The mini-courses are more in-depth than other math programs I’ve seen on these individual topics. Through our current program we learn the topics, but pursue further study through life experience. That’s fine, too–excellent, in fact–but this is faster and more thorough and leaves fewer gaps right from the start. Real life does offer more practical application, though–duh.

Could we have learned about time and money without a program at all. Of course we could, but remember this quote:

“Relax! You don’t have to teach math or do anything. This program does everything for you.”

As long as Becca can read, Becca can do most of this program on her own.

While I will never say a computer program is a replacement for a parent, I do appreciate the support now and then. That way Rebecca and I can spend our time together using her newfound money skills buying ingredients to make mother-daughter cookies.

Additional thoughts for my fellow roadschoolers:

While you do need an internet connection to run the mini courses, this program is not a huge data hog. They do offer physical options if internet access and data are continual challenges for you, as they are for us.

Since the courses we reviewed are online, they are light as a feather and takes up a feather’s worth of space.

You can print some extras, or you can complete them right on the computer so you don’t have to unearth the printer and find space for yet more papers. That’s what we do.

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Typing Fingers — Learning Phonics, Writing, and Typing Together

In exchange for our honest review, we received a one-year subscription to Read, Write & Type by Talking Fingers Inc. In the biz, that is known as a disclosure statement. Moving on…

I’m going to be completely honest with you here, because I always am. I did not want to review this product. You know I’m old school. You know I’m not a fan of screens. You know I sniff books and licked paper once–maybe you didn’t know that. Pretend I didn’t say that last part.

But my kids…they’re young. They’re hip. They needed to learn how to type. So I hemmed and hawed and said okay fine we’ll review it. And my kids cheered and I was popular for, like, three minutes until I took advantage of my newfound popularity and said, “Hey, washing dishes is fun! Let’s do it!”

I went into this with a bad attitude–like stinky cheese. After several weeks of watching my seven-year-old type properly and enthusiastically, however, I am sold on the idea that perhaps this method of learning to type is ultimately better than the antique typewriter I wanted them to learn on. Click clack click clack ding…wheeee!

I keep talking about typing, and that is how we are using Read, Write & Type, but this is not merely a typing program. It is a multi-sensory approach to learning to read and write. My seven- and ten-year-olds are quite advanced in those areas, so they didn’t need the help (so far anyway), and our four-year-old isn’t quite ready for this. The idea is, however, to work on those three skills together.

Who would benefit?

This is an ideal program for ESL (English as a Second Language) students to learn English literacy (as opposed to conversational English). The available voice-over assistance includes Arabic, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Tagalog.

It would also be great for struggling older learners. In my opinion, if somebody is strong in one of those areas, but not the other two, or struggles in all three areas, they would receive the most bang for your buck.

I don’t like to use screens to teach phonics to little ones, but in the past I’ve had a stalled early reader who took off as soon as I switched to a screen. In that case, perhaps this would be good for a child just learning to read, although then you can’t sniff the book and lick the paper. I didn’t test it with my four-year-old, because her hands are tiny, and…well…I’m old school. She, however, is begging for a turn.

What does it entail?

The program teaches sounds and basic writing as the student learns the location on the keyboard with the assistance of talking hands…or talking fingers. Get it? Because the program is Talking Fingers Inc. You’re a smart one!

It involves games of sorts, too, but nothing highly visually stimulating, and no unrelated games. It all fits together without overstimulating the child.

There is no violence, no motorcycle chases, no pop-culture, no aliens…so far…although there is a virus. Achoo.

I think Elijah’s favorite part is the emailing. He informed me that he writes an email letter and it is sent to another child in the program. I didn’t get to witness this and am not sure if he understood it properly; I think at the time I was being attacked by the sweet little bipolar cat we so lovingly adopted…or maybe I was feeding people, because they keep eating! Anyway, don’t quote me on this aspect, because, while I do have eyes in the back of my head, they were napping.

(UPDATE: the email thing is true! He sends a letter and receives a pre-screened (and sometimes edited) letter from another child in the program. Are you aware how fun it is for a boy to type emails about pizza and ice cream and send them to other kids? Very motivating!

Kids can earn certificates of merit as they move along. This is pretty motivating for some kids, especially since you can print them out. We live in a travel trailer, though, where extra paper lying around is the enemy, so no printing for us! Still, my littles enjoy the blue ribbons.

A talking virus…talking hands…certificates of merit…voice overs…whatever. The kids enjoy it while they are learning to type. That’s what matters to me–that and the lack of anything questionable. I don’t think a talking booger-ish virus is questionable, is it? Nah!

Look! She’s typing! She’s seven!

Despite my initial trepidation, this is one of the curricula items we’ve reviewed lately that we will continue using. My children are definitely improving their typing skills and enjoying it in the process. Thanks Typing Fingers!

Additional information for my fellow roadschoolers:

This program is all online. It is not a terrible data hog, but it does have some moving images and such. Basically, you won’t be streaming video, so it’ll definitely use less data than the big game. If your children need help with phonics and typing, this is a good multi-purpose tool that won’t get scratched up or eat all your data.

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