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By y@mf5, May 27, 2010

What is LobsterNetwork?  Well, for starters, it stands for:

Basically, it is an online swapboard, where you list items you have and are willing to lend (or sell, trade, etc.) to other people who have also joined LobsterNetwork.  It is a neat resource for homeschooling families, where you can look for books, curriculum, DVDs, CDs, toys and many other items (it is also a family-friendly website/community – objectionable items are not allowed).  More details and information can be found on their FAQ page.

Setting up an account was very easy, but finding/building friends or a network will take some time.  This is a great resource for a homeschool, church or other group/organization to use and set up their own communities to share items.  TOS Crew members set up a community and only members from within a community can invite others to join.  Getting started and networked takes effort and time, but once established, LobsterNetwork is a valuable resource to go to if you’re looking for a free or low-cost alternative to buying items for your homeschool needs.

LobsterNetwork is FREE to join.  So grab some friends or tell your homeschool group, start a community and let the sharing and shopping begin!

You can read more reviews of LobsterNetwork by my fellow TOS Crew members at the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure:  This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew.  Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.

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By y@mf5, May 26, 2010

Cerebellum Corporation, is a leading producer and distributor of high-quality programming for the family, educational, and fitness markets. Since 1992, Cerebellum Corporation has been a leader in the core curriculum educational market, producing hundreds of hours of educational media and most recognized for our Standard Deviants and Teaching Systems educational line of programming. Along with our own product Cerebellum also distribute the prestigious Teacher’s Media and Sunburst educational catalog of Guidance, Health, and core curriculum content.

As members of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we were given the opportunity to review Cerebellum Corporation’s AP English Language & Comp. Exam Prep DVD/CD-ROM, which is part of their new Advanced Placement line of the Light Speed Video Learning library. As the term “Light Speed” suggests, the DVD quickly goes over topics of AP English covered in the exam in less than an hour (52 minutes run time).  The CD-ROM contains a digital workbook that includes an outline, video notes, practice questions, games and quizzes.

Topics include:

• Analyzing Prose
• Rhetorical Style
• Analyzing Writing
• Thesis Statement & Literary Discourse
• Situational, Verbal, and Dramatic Irony
• MLA, APA, Chicago Manual Style
• Online Databases and Internet Sources

The video is not intended to be a replacement for taking the AP English course, but instead, it is to be used as a tool to help prepare for the exam.  Although this is above our children’s level, some of the test taking tips offered are applicable to taking standardized tests, no matter what age level (e.g., process of elimination in multiple choice questions).  The video was fast paced and engaging – even J & C watched it with some degree of interest, just because of the presentation style.

If you have a student who is planning on taking the AP English Exam, this video would be useful for learning about exam expectations and what exam reviewers are looking for.  I’ve never taken an AP level course, so I’m not sure if exam prep and expectations are covered as part of the normal class.

The AP English Language & Comp. Exam Prep DVD/CD-ROM (and other videos in the AP series) is available on Cerebellum Corporation’s website for $14.98.

You can read more reviews of this program and  others in the Advanced Placement line by my fellow TOS Crew members at the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure:  This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew.  Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.

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By y@mf5, May 14, 2010

We started our adventures in homeschooling almost 7 years ago when J was preschooler age.  I was all gung-ho, anxious to start and had a well conceived plan (from daily to yearly schedules and goals).  After about a week of starting preschool with J, I learned that you HAVE to be flexible.  A preschooler is not very considerate of your plans and schedules!

Ideal Curriculum provides complete “out-of-the-box” curriculum for preschoolers-early kindergarten.  Subjects focus on Literacy, Math, and Science/Social Studies.  The curriculum can be purchased by ‘month’ or a full year’s worth (9 months).  As members of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we were given the download of Month 1 (Transportation) to review.

There are some benefits to electronic downloads, cost is the main one, but in this case I think the printed version would be easier to sort through and use.  The downloaded files were divided into 4 folders:  Teacher Manuals, Read Files, Music Files, and Print Files.  There are so many individual files within each folder, that it’s sort of a hassle to open each one and read through (lots of opening/closing, maximizing/minimizing windows).  You could print all the files, but that sort of defeats the purpose of electronic downloads, other than the fact that these can be printed multiple times.  The curriculum is divided into weekly lessons with an assessment given to the student at the end of each week.  Lessons are to be taught directly in short sessions and reinforced through daily activities (games, active lesson time, etc).  Instructions at the beginning of the Literacy Teacher’s Manual also mention the importance of flexibility.  All the lessons for each subject are detailed and carefully laid out.  The content of the lessons looked pretty good, however, I was not impressed by the reading and print files – there are many more resources available for free at the library or internet.

Back to our preschooling home school experiences:  C is close in age to J, so he pretty much did preschool along with J.  But enter child #3, A , and we didn’t have a plan when it came to teaching her this past school year.  We sat down and taught her phonics and math when the opportunity came, and she is just a little sponge absorbing what she sees and hears as we teach her brothers.  We’ve read a lot of library books, used online resources for worksheets and printables, and those resources have worked out well.  At first we thought we were going to be able to try Ideal Curriculum with A, but as we looked through the material we we’ve found that she knew the material already – all taught to her without a plan.  Maybe we’re finally getting a hang of this homeschooling thing!

If you are new to homeschooling and are starting on the preschool level with your child, Ideal Curriculum would be worth looking into – all the lessons are planned for you.  But the cost is on the high end – $55 for each month (printed) or $30 for each month downloaded.  You can try 1-week for free, if you subscribe to their ‘Ezine’.

You can read more reviews of ideal curriculum by my fellow TOS Crew members at the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure:  This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew.  Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.

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By y@mf5, May 8, 2010

Our family is always on the lookout for good, natural products to use.  My mom introduced us to bee products when she first started taking bee pollen to help build her immunity against wild-flower allergies.  Now she uses just about everything imaginable when it comes to bee stuff – from pollen to propolis.  Anyway, when I first heard the TOS Crew was going to review products from a company called “Beeyoutiful“, my first thought was we were going to review items made with bee products.  But I was wrong – well, partially.  Beeyoutiful is owned by a husband and wife team.  They specialize in natural health supplements and skin care products and emphasize the use of high quality ingredients in all their products.  And yes, they offer several supplements and skin-care items that contain bee products.

We decided to try the Laveshmint Daily Moisturizer and Hydrating Toner for this review.  Our daughter has eczema and dry skin has always been a problem for her, no matter what season of the year.  We had been using Aquaphor and prescription strength cortisone cream to keep the eczema under control.  But I hate the thought of using cortisone all the time, and Aquaphor leaves her feeling sticky and uncomfortable, especially when it’s hot.  We tried the Laveshmint moisturizer on her and were pleasantly surprised at the outcome!  It contains a combination of aloe and oils (grapeseed, coconut with lavendar and peppermint essential oils).  A loved the fragrance (she says it makes her smell like a candy cane), it didn’t leave an oily or sticky residue, and best of all, it kept her skin from drying out and even relieved the eczema spots!  We used the moisturizer on her arms and legs too, even though it’s for the face and neck.

The Hydrating Toner comes in a spray and has the same fragrance as the moisturizer.  It also contains aloe and essential oils (lavendar & peppermint).  It’s meant to be sprayed on the face and neck, but both A & I don’t like to be sprayed or misted in the face, so we just used it on our necks, arms, and legs.  We felt cool & a little refreshed – I can see us using this more in the summer as it’s specially formulated to relieve sun-burned skin.

We were very happy with the products we tried and are looking to buy some of their other products (Bee Immune, Bee’s Aid, Miracle Skin Salve, and the list goes on).

You can order a free catalog from the Beeyoutiful website, or browse the website and order their products online.  The catalog gives more details about the company and offers other interesting and helpful health related articles.  The Laveshmint Daily Moisturizer sells for $12.00 and the Hydrating Toner for $14.00.  The prices are not bad when you compare these products with other natural health products on the market of the same quality.  Beeyoutiful offers a 60-day, 100% satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t like a product you’ve purchased, just return it and they will refund the full cost of the product.

You can read more reviews of Beeyoutiful’s products by my fellow TOS Crew members at the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure:  This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew.  Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.

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By y@mf5, March 30, 2010

Family Mint is a FREE online money management system for children and teenagers.  It features encryption security that keeps your information private (no actual bank account information or transactions are used), a parent/bank interface, kids’ interface, automated allowance & interest, matching deposits, transactions (like a checkbook ledger), goals and personalization (e.g., avatar for each child account).

The concept of Family Mint is for parents to hold their children’s money and act as their bank.  Parents or children can set goals (e.g., J wants to save money to buy a kayak), but the responsibility is mainly on the children to keep track of their spending, savings, and earnings.  Parents (like a bank) can set up interest earnings and automated allowance ‘deposits’ into the children’s accounts.  Kids can log into their account on the website themselves and see exactly how they are progressing towards their goals as well as make transfers, deposits and withdrawals.  They can also edit current goals or create new ones.

The parent can log in and use the parent interface to see transactions their children have made and approve or deny those transactions.  A summary of all accounts is shown on one page and individual child accounts can be viewed and managed.

Since our children don’t receive allowances, and their real savings accounts are currently off limits for withdrawals (self-imposed), we really didn’t get to use Family Mint to it’s fullest.  We did enter their cash gifts from Christmas, but our kids must be from another planet, because they are hesitant to spend their money.  At least that tells us how eager J is about saving for his kayak (we may end up depositing the cash gift into his real savings account so it can earn a little interest).  Maybe when J starts earning money from cutting grandma’s grass this spring and summer, we can revisit Family Mint.  But the boys think it’s a neat tool they can use, but it would be more useful if their accounts were ‘active’.

Money management is an important concept to instill in children as early as possible.  We feel it’s important for children to understand where their money comes from and spend it wisely.  Family Mint is a great tool for teaching fiscal responsibility to children, and best of all it’s FREE!

You can read more reviews of Family Mint by my fellow TOS Crew members at the Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure:  This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew.  Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.