The following is information I received from The Old Schoolhouse Store promotions such as the Expo and March madness. TOS is allowing me to attend the Expo at their expense for sharing this to you, my readers.

If you’re looking for homeschool encouragement, resources, and fun, check out all that is going on at The Old Schoolhouse!

Right now March Madness and Win Big are going on in the Schoolhouse Store. During March Madness, over 240 items are 10 to 40 percent off!
Click here to read the details.

Then, if you’re customer 139,000, 139,500, or 140,000, you will win over $348 in prizes. Prizes include a 5 year subscription to TOS (U.S.
only), Scripture Sleuth literature series, guitar lessons on CD, and more! Hurry, they are just past customer #137,818.

The BIGGEST news of all–The Schoolhouse Expo is coming in May!
Pre-register now and save $5!

As homeschool teachers?what do you need to learn? More about teaching multiple grades? All about different homeschool methods? Transcripts?
Could you use some help with reading, language arts, math, and more?
Are you intimidated by the idea of teaching middle school and high school?those dreaded, advanced courses? Would some encouraging words and motivational Scripture help you on your way? Get answers when you attend The Schoolhouse Expo, an 3-day, online conference, presented by The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse® Speaker?s Bureau.

Pre-register today for only $19.99 through March 31.You do not want to miss this unbelievable, virtual homeschool convention! PLUS, you’ll receive over $300 in free gifts when you register.
Get the details and preregister here at http://www.schoolhouseexpo.com

Our family just brought home our puppy on Saturday. Our Shih Tzu was born on New Year’s Day and currently only weighs a little over 3 lbs. She is quite a handful for someone so tiny. She is part monkey, part daredevil, part Houdini, part drama queen and part princess. You can probably get the picture of what our life has been like the past several days now. Today she managed to sneak past us, crawl under the couch through a tiny clearance area at the side of the couch and turn around and peek out at us.. daring us to get her out again. A few pieces of dog food later she was out and we were trying to figure out how to barricade this new area from her.

As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I recieved a copy of Graphics-Toolbox to use and provide an honest review of this product. I have used many different graphics programs before and I know how different they can be. Some are vector based programs that allow you to do layering and others are pixel-based where you basically deal with each pixel within a grid area in order to create or modify your images. Graphics-toolbox is the later one which is a pixel-based program. Being this way, its strength is in image-editing. Some of the projects it is well-suited for are in editing and changing photo images, working with clip art, creating digital cards and scrapbook pages, creating flyers, posters, project pages, and other similar projects.

I was given the opportunity to work with Lynda Holler from the company that created Graphics-Toolbix in order to get started using this product. This was very helpful since this graphics program is unlike others that I have used before, in that it works like a virtual desktop. You are provided with a workspace where you then create images and text, can change colors, resize, rotate and do other things to manipulate items in your workspace then you use these items to create your final project. This is how I can best describe this product to you. The company provides a very good description of the features and how to use the Graphics-toolbox program so I will direct you to their website so that you can view the features and tutorials that they have provided. There is a lot of functionality within their software and this is a great way to get to know whether this software might be for you.

Our family used Graphics-Toolbox to make Valentine’s Day cards for my kids to hand out, birthday invites for my youngest’s party as well as the thank you cards for it. I liked how easy it was to change colors from within an image to another color as well as doing a tonal color change within an image. Being a scrapbooker as well as a card maker, it was very easy to understand the workspace concept that this program imitates. It is very similar to what I described before where you have all your materials and paper in one spot and select from what is available in order to work on a project such as a scrapbook page or like you would in making a card. This program has preset color schemes or cards set up for you to use similar to if you had selected paints and put them on a palette to use. It also allows you to create your own color cards for your projects so you can maintain consistency or choose color schemes that are your favorites to work with. It also has images such as lines and ribbons that you can use to add to your images.

While this product may not be for everyone, I feel that it is worth the effort into downloading a free 30 day trial of Graphics-Toolbox in order to find out for yourself if this the graphics program for you. You can also explore their website and learn about their product then if it is something you are interested in in purchasing, you can bu a single license for $149. They also give you the opportunity to get online training for an additional fee of $65 per hour. However, you do have access to the manual within the program itself which is very handy as well as help within the program too.

You can read what my fellow Crew mates thought of Graphics-Toolbox from our Homeschool Blog here.

Homeschool Library Builder is a Christian family-run book business that I was asked to review through the TOS Homeschool Crew. I had honestly not heard of it before and had to check out their website to get a feel for what they were about. As a homeschool family we thrive on books and that is what this business is all about; finding books at affordable prices. Their website allows you to search for books as well as browse within various categories. They also will search for books for you upon request. I know you are asking yourself at about this time, “Why should I buy books from Homeschool Library Builder?” Well since I have been looking at their website they have had many different promotions that you will not see from other booksellers as well as a customer point system ( HSLB Book Points) that gives you points based on items that you buy from them. You can then use these points to get an additional discount on your future purchases. You can also earn more book points through personal referrals. Every dollar you spend at the Homeschool Library Builder, you earn a Book Point. For every 15 book points you earn, you accumulate $1 worth of credit to be used in your account for future purchases.

You can check out their point system program in detail here at the Homeschool Library Builder website.

They have books that are used in many curriculum programs such as Ambleside, Beautiful Feet, Five in a Row, Heart of Dakota, Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, and Veritas Press.

Whether you are searching for that specific book for your lessons, or just desire to browse, you may find what you are looking for at a reasonable price. It is free to become a member and you have the chance to earn discounts for future books.

You can check out Homeschool Library Builder for yourself at their website: http://www.hslibrarybuilder.com

For reviews of Homehool Library Builder from other Crew members check out our Homeschool Blog here.

It’s time to register for the Spring Homeschool day at National Museum of the US Air Force (near Dayton, OH).
Here is a link to the website with details on it: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/education/homeschool/index.asp

**Registration for the Spring Home School Day opened at 9 a.m. on March 1, 2010 and closes at 5 p.m. on March 19, 2010.

From past experience if you are interested in attending workshop sessions that day, register early because they fill up quickly and could get wait listed. Even if you are wait listed there is a chance on still attending the class since many homeschoolers end up not attending for one reason or another.

Check you the website and the info if interested . We have attended a few years now and the kids love it!

Previously I reviewed the All About Spelling program as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. As a follow-up from the company, I also received a free copy of their book,Beehive Reader 1 written by Marie Rippel , in order for me to provide an honest review.

My youngest took this book and immediately read it all in one sitting. She said she enjoyed the stories and was eager to read it again. The book itself corresponds with what is learned in the All About Spelling level 1 lessons. I like that this is a “real” book that your child can read while going through the All About Spelling program and not just a story that is included within a textbook. Each page is wonderfully illustrated and has just enough sentences for your child to read per page so that they are not overwhelmed by reading it.
Here are a few pages from the different stories in the book.

This makes it easy for beginning readers to have success in reading since they can focus on a small amount of words at one time.

What I liked was that, unlike most first reader books I have seen, this one contains small stories that a young reader can master without having to learn more big words. I found that my daughter could easily sound out the words in these stories and she was not frustrated at all while she read them. The stories in Beehive Reader 1 give a new reader the joy of mastering a book on their own with success.

The book itself has 10 short stories that are both fun and delightful. One of the short stories called Frank Shrank was one of our favorites. In it the boy drinks pink milk and shrinks and we follow his adventures. The pictures that go along with this story are fun too.

Whether you are using this book in conjunction with the All About Spelling program or on its own as a standalone book, I think your child will be delighted with reading Beehive Reader 1. You can purchase this hardback book at their website here for $19.95.

For other reviews on Beehive Reader 1, check out what other TOS Homeschool Crew members have to say about it at our Homeschool Blog.

We seem to be reviewing a lot of math products for the TOS Homeschool Crew this year! Of course my youngest adores math so this was not a problem for her. One of the math products we received for free was from Math Mammoth.

First of all I was very impressed by the materials offered by Math Mammoth. We had been using both Abeka and Saxon math workbooks for my two kids. My youngest was using Abeka’s second grade book. I just get the student books for my kids so I was happy to see that Math Mammoth’s light blue series books were a complete program in itself. There is a section that has an explanation of the math concept being taught and all the problems contain an example to follow that makes it virtually self-teaching. No buying expensive teacher books along with the student books. I really liked that all I had to do is have the student book for a complete curriculum. I received the books as downloads so that I could just print the pages off as I needed them. No more needing extra room on our bookcases for workbooks. It also fits nicely with how we do things because I put the pages to work on into their folders of to do stuff for the day and then when completed they get placed into their completion folders. Once I grade them, they put their finished pages into their school binders.

Both my kids really enjoyed the Math Mammoth lessons, which is good because my oldest is not very into math, as you can remember if you have been reading my blog for very long.

Math Mammoth has books that cover specific topics as well as full curriculums. Some examples of their specific topic areas are ones about fractions, money, or the one that we received which was multiplication. The various books are color-coded for you to easily find what you are looking for on their website. You can see a description of what they offer here at the Math Mammoth website.

The light Blue series books are a full curriculum for grades 1 though 5. Both my kids took the placement tests offered at their website and I selected books based on the results. Math Mammoth has convenient placement tests that you can download for free here in order to determine what grade level your child should use.

After my kids took the placement tests offered at their website, I selected books based on the results so I got the grade 2 and grade 4 light blue books.. The light blue books introduce new concepts using a well written explanation with examples and are easily recognized by being enclosed in a blue box in the student text. My daughters were able to work on each session without much assistance from me. I would step in and go through the new concepts with them using what was in the book then they proceeded to work on the problems on their own. I didn’t need to go through the entire lesson to find what information was new and what I had to go over with them before they started their math work for the day. Per the Math Mammoth website , “Each grade level in the curriculum consists of two student worktexts (A and B), and supportive materials, which include answer keys, tests, cumulative reviews, and an additional worksheet maker.”
We also received the Multiplication 1 worktext which is a blue series book that really helped to explain and help both my kids to learn about multiplication. This was an area that my oldest was having problems with and before long she was amazing my husband and I by answering questions that I had not realized she could answer.
You can check the Math Mammoth website to see what is included in each grade level as well as the other products offered.

There are various options for getting Math Mammoth’s products. You can purchase them as downloads or printed copies. The complete curriculum of Light Blue series for each grade is $29.70 (for a downloadable version). You can also purchase each of the work-texts separately or choose the printed versions available at the website.

The Blue Series book, Multiplication 1 can be purchased as a download version for $5.00.

The products at Math Mammoth are quite reasonably priced and worth checking out for yourself. You can go to the Math Mammoth website and see what they have to offer.

My fellow Crew Members also have reviewed the various products and you can see what they each have to say here at our Homeschool Crew Blog.

A year ago I had started doing a few art classes in my home for other homeschoolers. My kids are very interested in art and are fairly good at drawing and painting. However as a result of the art class I Had I was able to see kids who had varying degrees of interest and talent. I basically feel that anyone can draw as long as they have an interest and willingness to work at it. One day I received an email about a book called WordToons by Wayne Logue. I was asked if I would be interested in using this book with my kids so that I could give my opinion on it . The author gave me a copy of the book and my kids and I proceeded to try the different lessons in it. Basically you take simple words and create a cartoon-like drawing out of it. Just after doing the drawing once or twice by following the instructiosn dan examples, my kids were drawing all sorts of variations and making up entire pictures with what they learned. Kind of reminded me of the kid’s program, WordWorld, which happens to be one of our favorite PBS shows. The book itself provides visual step by step instructions to take a word such as dog and create a cartoon out of the word you printed. We really enjoyed the lessons we finished. If your kids are learning to spell and read this could have the potential to be a great help for kids with various learning styles. It also is a good tool for just showing kids that they too can draw successfully.
If you are interested you can download a free sample from their website to be able to see this for yourself at http://wordtoons.com/.

As a member of the Homeschool Crew our family received from Zeezok Publishing’s Great Musicians Series, The Young Brahms / Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends Special Offer set which includes both books and the associated study guides as well as a companion CD. I was given this for free in order to provide an honest review of these products.

Before receiving these items we had not done too much with learning about the various composers. I honestly can say we have enjoyed reading these books and going over the study guides as well as listening to the CD.

A typical day for us would be to sit down together as I read a chapter from the book we are currently going through. Each book has 4 chapters so we easily completed each one and learned about each composer. Not only do you learn a little about the life of each composer but the study guide also includes a brief time-line which sets the composers life against other historical events of that time period. Each chapter you read has an associated section for it in the study guide. You first read the time-line then go over questions pertaining to the chapter itself. The answers are also included in the study guide making it easy for you as the parent to lead a discussion. Also there are other tidbits of information that go beyond what it mentioned in the book itself so you learn a little more about the composer as well. Also there is a section which discuses the key character qualities that were displayed by the composer in that section of the book along with the information that supports it including the pages you will find the support discussed. Throughout the book itself, there are several musical scores and the track number printed beside it so that you can stop and listen to the music from the CD. This helps you to fully appreciate the composer you are studying and begin to recognize some of his works. With each CD there are also activities such as word finds that you can print out to accompany your study of each composer. There were some coloring pages by chapter but they were mainly the illustrations from the book and since they included too much black ink we did those pages sparingly.

I felt that this was an excellent series to introduce your child to the various composers. I loved how the book, study guide and CD brought everything together for my kids.

If you are interested please check out the many products that Zeezok Publishing has to offer. You can purchase this set that I reviewed for $35.80 by going here. There are also other sets that you can purchase as well as many other products brought to you by Zeezok.

My fellow Crew Members received various different products from Zeezok and you can check out what they have to say about the various products at our Homeschool Blog here.

We have had an unusually large of amount of snow dumped on us this Winter just in the month of February.
Who knew that something as light and fluffy as snow could cause so much upheaval in life. We have been stranded in our home until the other day. Not to mention how much it has disrupted our homeschool schedule. I think we ended up takings snow days just so we could keep up with keeping our steps and driveway clear. Also who feels like doing school when the “school” kids are off for the day.

Now we are slowly getting back on track for things.. getting back on track from being temporarily derailed takes a lot of work. LOL