TOS Review: Mango Languages

For the past six weeks or so, three of my older children and I have been using Mango Languages and their Homeschool Curriculum for teaching languages as part of the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. For ages 6 to adult, I chose to do this review with Sterling, 6, Eden, 9, and Liberty, 10. Mango offers over fifty languages, so I chose French since my husband has a bachelor’s in French, has spent time in France, and his knowledge gave me courage to tackle a daunting subject. I’d thought we’d avoid it for a few more years, until high school, but when I researched Mango before the review, I couldn’t help but get excited.

Mango lived up to everything I’d hoped for.



The setup for Mango was a bit complicated, but once I figured it out, we were off. We do school four days a week, so we added this to our daily schedule and did it four days a week as well. The very first lesson, the kids met Blaine at the door after work with “Good Evening, Daddy” in French. When he responded in French… oh, the excitement. And we were off.



I found the lessons myself hard to absorb. Nothing to do with Mango and their teaching attempts, I’m having a hard time getting myself back into learning mode. My pregnant brain, plagued first by bronchitis, then the flu, and now a looming due date, does not want to absorb anything. It’s pathetic. The kids can talk me into a corner. Liberty and Eden have absorbed it pretty well, and while I do not expect them to be fabulous at French in the coming year, I am thoroughly enjoying listening to them learn and talk to each other and their Daddy with enthusiasm.

Sterling… that was a whole ‘nother story. He’s learned plenty, don’t get me wrong. He really wants to learn French. He gladly does his lessons each day. But. Getting him to talk to the computer was a little like pulling teeth, and once we got that far, I thought he was doing fabulously. One day, listening to him rattle off French from the next room, I thought he was making fabulous progress. Then I got closer and heard what he was really saying. With great French finesse, he was rattling off, “Blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah blah?” He even had the uptick question cadence.

Really?! Oh, dear boy. Once I got over my desire to laugh, I corrected him at his less than stellar attempt to copy the French speaker on the computer, and we’ve moved on. He’ll learn plenty this year, to be sure, but I don’t anticipate it will be as much as he could if he were a bit older. I wouldn’t say he’s too young, but he’s easily frustrated when he can’t remember phrases properly and, unfortunately, gives up his attempt to be accurate instead of trying harder.

When Sterling spelled “pass” on his spelling test “pas” instead, he blamed the French lessons. He claimed got confused at the spelling, since “pas” is a French word (Meaning nothing close to the English word ‘pass’ and pronounced very differently.) That time… I did laugh. Poor boy, trying to learn these crazy things Momma throws at him and actually expects him to stretch his math-brain further than numbers and multiplication.

While we’ve been thrilled with Mango and all that it offers, I found out recently that even more is coming. I haven’t had to try those things yet, but to sum it up, here’s a list of what’s there and what’s coming:

What is currently available on the site:
Over 60 different languages
Progress Assessments

Built-in journals, discussions and wikis
Collaborative learning spaces
eNote messaging
/chat rooms

Access to embedded/downloadable content

Support from other community members

Calendars to schedule meetings or study groups

Over the next several months, they’ll be introducing other exciting features like:
Enhanced Tracking and Progress Monitoring - including seat time (for students and parents)
Goals and Personal Lesson Plans (both stand-alone and tied into Mango courses)

Resume and Portfolio Builder

Mango Languages offers the following introductory pricing:

• 1 subscription - $18/month or $125/year
• 2 subscriptions - $28/month or $175/year                   
• 3 subscriptions - $38/month or $225/year                
• 4 subscriptions - $48/month or $275/year                 
• 5 subscriptions - $58/month or $325/year
• Anything over 6 subscriptions is a special group rate that will depend on the number in the group.

 

To read more reviews from the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, check out the Review Crew Blog.

TOS Crew Review: KinderBach

My first review for the new year! I was a part of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew for 2013, and am again for 2014. I have several reviews in the works, and my first for the year is for KinderBach. Three of my children, Sterling, age 6, Ruby, age 5, and Charlotte, age 3, have been doing KinderBach for over a month now and LOVE the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Approach with Teacher Corner approach to piano and beginning to learn more about the keyboard. KinderBach offers 6 levels, each to be worked through four days a week for 10 weeks for a total of 60 weeks of instruction.


Written for ages 3-7, KinderBach had all three of my children in this age range, and my two year old as well, enthralled. The videos are short and colorful, and Dodi the Donkey, teacher Miss Karri, and Frisco quickly became a household phrases, and Kinderbach had them learning a few simple songs just in the first month while we did this review. The kids begged to “do piano” each day and loved all the printables. The printable to do with each lesson are showed during the lesson, so my older children were quite clear on what page they were supposed to be doing each day.

I lined up all of my children to watch the videos each day during our school days. The crowd around the computer became a pushing session, making me think as we continue with our KinderBach membership that one at a time would be a far easier proposition. There’s only so much learning that can go on while you’re getting elbowed in the ribs. Even so, piano quickly became the most-loved subject in Sterling and Ruby’s world. (It was equally loved in Charlotte’s world – it was also her only subject.) KinderBach brags the value of learning piano and it’s long term benefits – and who’s to argue? Learning rhythm, reading notes, and more is a lifelong skill. To begin it so simply, at home, without expensive lessons, on something as simple as a small keyboard, makes this a gentle beginning easy for child and Momma.

For access to all of the KinderBach lessons and levels, the PDF downloadable worksheets, MP3’s and more, the KinderBach website has more information here. Priced at $95.88 a year, which works out to $7.99 a month, it provides a great beginning to piano for homeschoolers and other alike, with lessons that my kids absolutely loved. Their only complaint: the lessons were over sooner than they wanted them to be, so they soon figured out how to watch more lessons and ended up doing more lessons on the computer than they were supposed to. Since the beauty of homeschooling is working at your own pace, I let it go. Those videos were oft-watched and re-watched, while much giggling went on at some of the antics of the teacher and characters on the videos. I did end up slowing them down a bit so they could practice what they’d learned.

A free online trial is available here. Many sample lessons are also available there so that you may better see what the program entails. KinderBach also offers a iPad and iPhone app – I do not have an appropriate device to try out the app, but others on the review crew were able to try that out as well. The Review Crew Blog will give you a chance to read those reviews as well. To read what others on the 2014 Review Crew thought about KinderBach, head over to the Review Crew Blog.

TOS Review: At Home in Dogwood Mudhole

Billed as “an unforgettable story of one family’s attempt to live an authentic life”, I’ve had the chance to review At Home in Dogwood Mudhole by Franklin Sanders as part of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew. When the review first came up, I thought it sounded intriguing. It sounded like something I’ve lived through, somewhat. Franklin Sanders, the author, is father to many, having been concerned with Y2K and the preparation for what might have happened, a city-dweller desiring to become a farmer, as the biography begins.

I was nearly halfway through the book of comical stories, written in letter form - as they came, originally, in form of newsletters authored by Franklin Sanders and published in his The Moneychanger newsletter - when I started to make a connection. Y2K was a real concern to my family, and preparation for it was rather forming to my teenage years. Our friendships were, more often than not, with families who were likeminded, and it was a threat we took serious enough to feel that preparation was wise.

Franklin Sanders owned a money changing service, exchanging paper currency for precious metals. In high school, this was something I did a little bit of. (You know, in those days where money came easy. Or easier – and stayed around longer, without children and homes to maintain…) Franklin Sanders’ children attended the Christian Worldview Student Conference in Newport News, Virginia a few years before I attended the same week-long conference. I finally called my dad, thinking all of this was sounding too familiar. Turns out, Mr. Sanders’ newsletter sounded familiar because it had regularly arrived in my childhood home for a season. His business was one I used, once upon a time. His name was one I remembered, once I had it in context.

Small world?! I suppose so. This book took on a new fascination for me, as I felt like, strangely enough, I knew a bit of this family. One-sided, to be sure, but it was a fun connection anyhow. My dad had talked to Mr. Sanders on the phone in the time leading up to Y2K. Coincidence or otherwise, it was fun to have a bit of knowledge of the author as I read.

Obviously, Y2K didn’t turn out worst case scenario. Life changed, moved on. The story of one family’s life as they hilariously work to get out of the city, join the ranks as farmers, and lose a ridiculous number of chickens to dogs who take on a place in their family with personalities of their own (and medical bills that make you cringe) was a fun one to follow. As a northerner by birth and now a southerner of sorts, I particularly enjoyed the chapters with Mr. Sanders’ perspective on what he considers to be the very un-Civil War. While I’d never consider myself a Yankee, the War was a far more personal thing to the people fighting for independence in the South, and, as a result, their descendants as well. My home state was still a territory during the War and I get the picture that people there were just fighting to survive winter for the most part. The War isn’t something talked about there. Ever. It wasn’t something we talked about or dwelled upon. Still, I rather appreciate the perspective, explanations, and patriotism Mr. Sanders writes of and shares with his readers. I’m beginning to think it’s something we should talk about more.

Whether you read this book as a like-minded reader or a passive observer or something else entirely, it’s sure to entertain, teach you a few things, and make you shake your head at how life can turn out. With a list of places worth stopping Mr. Franklin discovered in his travels, it becomes travel guide, chronicling life in Tennessee for the Sanders family. They have a story no other, and reading it was fascinating.

With 379 pages and composed of mostly short chapters (Something I, with my limited quiet and busy house of full of children appreciate – never mind my pregnant tendencies to fall asleep whenever I sit down for a few minutes…) At Home in Dogwood Mudhole: Nothing That Eats is volume one of a three-part series. It is available here for $22.95 for paperback or $16.95 for various e-versions. Volume one is shipping now, Volume two is shipping November 15, 2013, and Volume three, I can only assume, is in the works. I look forward to reading them all.

The read the rest of the Crew’s reviews on At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, head over to the Review Crew Blog.

TOS Review: Apologia Chemistry and Physics

At the beginning of this year, I got to review Apologia’s Anatomy and Human Physiology. It was amazing. When another Apologia review was offered, I all but begged to do it. The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew obliged me, and so here I am, for your reviewing pleasure, reviewing another Apologia homeschool science curriculum. This time, I got to review Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics. Sounds like pretty heavy stuff, but it’s written for all the elementary grades, and like the other Apologia science I did, this one did not disappoint. I received to review the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal to use with Eden (age 8 and 4th grade) and the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal to use with Sterling, age 6 and 1st grade.

First off, my experience with Apologia is limited to these two sciences. I’ve heard of them in the homeschool world, but never used anything else they’ve published. That said, my experiences have only been good. I love how everything in the science world is tied to creation, with Scripture and all, and how well it’s all been explained, with one God, Creator and Ruler, creating an orderly and amazing world. I’ve read Apologia’s curriculum catalog and been thoroughly impressed with the company philosophy and would love the opportunity to use them in any subject.

The suggested experiments range from easy to somewhat complicated, and my shopping list has grown to accommodate a few of the suggestions as we’re able to do them. I particularly like the experiments that have ingredients I have on hand, and there’s quite a few of those. Missing an experiment, at least for a time while I round up ingredients, hasn’t been an issue. With lesson plans just two days a week, it’s been an easy schedule to keep up with and if you could see the hubbub that is raised when the kids see me grab the books – the excitement is fun. The kids love it when I read to them, and all four of my elementary kids (ages 5-10) have listened and been involved in the discussion. Charlotte (3) and Pierce (2) enjoyed the experiments too – even if they didn’t understand! All of the four older ones study what must be a similar curriculum at our co-op, because many of the things we’ve discussed they already had a basic knowledge of. Since science is something that often falls by the wayside for us, knowing they do it at co-op and “it’s not math or reading” (poor excuse, I know) it doesn’t always become a priority in our homeschool. Judging from the kids excitement over knowing this is a review that Momma “has” to get done each week – we need to make it a priority.

If you’ll ignore the dirty kitchen – because around here, it’s either clean or do fun science experiments, unfortunately - I’d be grateful. (If you’d kindly ignore Charlie’s boots on the wrong feet too… she dressed herself. If you couldn’t tell.)

All told, we loved this science, and with this brood, this book will be well-worn through their elementary years, to be sure. We’re learning about God’s creation, how awesome that creation is, and how awesome our Creator is. There’s so much to learn, we’ll be covering this book multiple times in the next years. The experiments we did for Anatomy and Human Physiology are still talked about from the beginning of this year, and remain highlights of our school days. This book is providing more of the same. I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hardcover Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics, designed for grades K-6, is $39.00. The Notebooking Journals are spiral bound and $24.00 each. The Junior version is for early elementary grades with less writing requirements, and the other is for the upper elementary grades who have mastered handwriting and are a bit more capable. Sterling was right at home in the junior version, with wide three-line (with the middle dotted line, for early handwriting learners) places for notes and more opportunities for drawings than writing. It does have cursive for the copywork, and Sterling is still learning cursive, so I had him use manuscript. It’s been an interesting venture in learning how well he can read cursive though! Eden is a proficient reader and writer, and she was quite capable to use the regular Notebooking journal. While the notebooking journals aren’t necessary to benefit from the curriculum (and I really appreciate the book’s suggestions for using your own notebooking should you not have the journal), if your budget at all allows, this makes it far easier for student and teacher and really helps the curriculum a lot.

To read reviews on this curriculum from the rest of the Crew, head on over to the Review Crew Blog.

A bully, an icy creek, and a big giveaway from Elisha Press

Elisha Press, a publisher of Christian novels particularly suitable for homeschool families, is launching a new title this week. Julie: The Redemption Of The Backyard Bully is an all-new spinoff on The Reunion by Rachael McIntire. Both books are recommended as read-aloud material for the whole family. Solo readers of Julie should be twelve or older.

Fans of The Reunion may remember Julie Greene, the Gladstones' troublesome neighbor who almost drowned in the creek. This new novel - longer and illustrated - tells Julie's story before and after that incident, through the now-aging eyes of "Grandma" Greene. How can a sullen bully learn to be a selfless friend? How can a jealous young lady learn to be grateful and contented no matter what life brings? What does it mean to follow Jesus in the practical work and play of daily life? All this and more is waiting for you within the pages of Julie.

Author Rachael McIntire says that many elements of Julie are based on incidents from her own life. Growing up in the 1960's, she experienced firsthand the challenges of that tumultuous time. Though the sixties are now long gone, the principles of God remain the same eternally. It is her hope that some of these principles may penetrate young hearts and minds through the story of the backyard bully and her redemption.

As part of their launch event, Elisha Press is giving away one autographed copy of Julie every day this week. By entering once, you'll have a chance to win each time. This is a 183-page softcover book with 19 black-and-white illustrations like the example shown here.

The sooner you enter the giveaway, the better chance you have to win - so don't wait! Click here and put in your email address to sign up.

TOS Review: If You Were Me and Lived in…

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew has been reviewing four books from Carole P. Roman with Away We Go Media. As part of the review, I received If You Were Me and Lived in… Mexico…, If You Were Me and Lived in… South Korea…, If You Were Me and Lived in… France…, and If You Were Me and Lived in… Norway… all in paperback form. These are stated to be ideal for ages 10 and younger, particularly young elementary age, but even I learned something in reading them.

We read these aloud together. My kids range in age from 2-10, and everyone was interested. The kids all sat at my feet… for a few minutes. Then they couldn’t stand themselves. They crowded around to see the colorful drawings that illustrate the story. Much discussion followed, and we had to find the countries on the map. The kids were particularly fascinated with the book about France, since Blaine lived there for a year. They were thrilled to learn that ‘doll’ in French sounds like 'poopy’ in English. They rushed to tell their daddy when he got home that night, only to find out that he already knew that. Good use of a bachelor’s in French, to be sure! :)

Talking of routines and common words and phrases for things an elementary child might encounter in each different culture, these books were easily relatable by most of my children. (The younger ones were listening… but I’m not sure how much they understood at ages 2 and 3. They liked the pictures though.) I love opening my kids’ world a bit, and these books were a great way to do that. If you were planning to travel to any of these places, this would be a fantastic way to introduce the things they’ll encounter – and if you can only travel on the pages of a book, these were pretty fun books to read, again and again. They never get tired of hearing the name of a doll in French… sigh. Once we finally clarified that, while I don’t know what it is, #2 has a different name in French and they aren’t exactly referring to beloved baby dolls with the same word as the gift the rooster left on the front porch this morning, all was well again. This opening the world to them a bit is interesting business!

Each of the paperbacks has about 25-30 pages and is quite easy to read in one sitting. It was a great way to show my children that the world is just a little bit bigger than them in our little corner of Missouri. Reading about language, culture, and more was fascinating to them, and they learned a bit in the meantime. The first three books in this series are available at Amazon in Kindle format for $.99 each and in paperback for $8.99 each. If You Were Me and Lived in… Norway… is $1.99 on Kindle or is listed for $10.79 in paperback.

To read the rest of the Review Crew’s thoughts on the “If You Were Me…” series, head over to the Review Crew Blog and check out the linky there.

TOS Review: Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns

I’ve been reviewing Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns with a one-year access to their Learn How to Make Doll Clothes Video Course with 8 Free Doll Clothes Patterns. Designed for ages 8 and up, Liberty (10) and Eden (8) both fall into this age range, but using the sewing machine is something I’ve done only with Liberty. She watched many of these videos, but with a mother who sews… it’s easier to show her than watch the videos for her. We worked on the patterns together, but I did most of the sewing when Liberty got sick on sewing day.

I was excited to begin this review. I’ve made dozens and dozens of things, beginning to sew with my mother in my teen years, and since making many more things, learning the hard way at times. Doll clothes have been something I’ve worked on quite a bit, but clothes so tiny are not so easy to work with. With my sewing experience, though, I watched many videos before I learned something new – but I’m thrilled with the new things that I did pick up! Hems, fabric choices, elastic, stitch types, and more are covered in this beginner sewing course that lasts 6 weeks with a handful of videos for each week lasting 2-15 minutes long each. There are over 130 videos in all - it starts out super simple and builds skill as you go along. The videos live stream – there’s nothing to download. I watched several videos in a sitting. Well done with decent quality but nothing fabulous, the videos loaded well for me and my fairly fast internet.

This isn’t something I’d just set my daughters loose with. The course has many how-to videos, but then you jump into sewing and simply refer back to the videos for instruction should you need it. My sewing machine is one of my more important, more expensive, and favorite tools, so perhaps I’m a bit overprotective, but I’m not prepared to set them loose with my machine quite yet. This did, however, provide us with a fun thing to do together. Liberty loves to sew with me and has visions of making her siblings Christmas and birthday presents, so she was a very willing participant in this review.

 

I chose to make the Summer Nightgown and a pair of doll panties. Super simple, to be sure, but I found the directions rather confusing. I searched and searched to find out how much elastic of the 20” required was for each leg and the waist of the panties, until I finally figured out they weren’t cutting it, but marking where to cut it, using that length, then cutting it and taking the leftover to the next leg, etc. I’ve never found a pattern that does it this way, and found that part frustrating. The patterns for the dress were simple rectangles, but I found myself pasting the two pages together to make the pattern that could have easily been instructions to cut a rectangle x inches by y inches. I’m sure this was to keep the beginner confident, but the extra steps with the patterns seemed unnecessary. My items turned out great, although, live and learn, I found that I was out of blue thread except for one bobbin. I thought I could get away with it since the mismatched color would be on the inside, but the t-shirt I cut apart to make them wasn’t so thick that the thread didn’t show through. Dolly doesn’t care, but it looked less than neat because of that.

Overall, the video course is great for beginners. It clearly explains and shows steps required for sewing, and I learned a few new tips even as one who sews quite regularly and has made a multitude of doll clothes for my four daughters. The patterns I made I was rather disappointed with how difficult they made something that was truly simple. I think, perhaps, it’s to be super clear for those that have no experience, but I couldn’t help but think it could be a bit more clear in the directions and make it sound far less complicated in the process. Most of their patterns are available on their website for an additional cost, I only made two of the free ones that are offered as part of the video course.

The course includes 8 free patterns. There are many other patterns for sale on the website, but the free ones include the ones pictured on the dolls above:

• Sport Shorts
• Crop Top
• Sarong
• Halter Top
• Summer Nightie
• Hat
• Pumpkin
• Underpants

All come with PDF pattern pieces and basic written instructions and step by step videos on how to make the outfits.

Access to the lessons for one year is $47.85 USD. Copies of the videos on DVD are also available. See their store page on their website here for more information.

To read what the rest of the Crew thought of Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns and her How to Make Doll Clothes video course, check out the review crew blog.

TOS Review: VocabularySpellingCity

Many members of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew have received a VocabularySpellingCity Premium Membership from VocabularySpellingCity to review. I received the membership and have used it with all three of my students who are studying spelling: Sterling (6), Eden (8), and Liberty (10). It’s appropriate for K-12, but since Ruby is still learning to read and not doing spelling in our home school, she didn’t use this.

Each week, I’d type up each student’s spelling words from their current curriculum, and they spent the week playing games, taking practice tests, vocabulary tests, and more, all with the spelling words I’d chosen for them. The possibilities were endless, but they soon each had a favorite game that they kept going back to.

Honestly, the biggest problem I had with this program was getting their words typed in there for them. We’re always scrambling for time, and I was forever forgetting to get them typed in there before Monday rolled around again and they started a new list. I think if we’re going o stick with this, I’d spend some time entering every word from all 36 lists that are in my kids’ spelling books, organize them by list number, and then I could step away from all responsibility beyond the occasional reminder for them to do it.

My only other complaint is that some of my girls’ lists are longer than the 51 word maximum we ran into. They are their review weeks, and I couldn’t enter in all the words on those lists into one practice section. That was a little frustrating, but we figured it out. Signing in for the kids was strange – it didn’t require a password for the kids so I didn’t use one, but I found out too late that because of this, it wasn’t recording any of their scores. Not critical for us since we just used it for practice on their words and I still administered a regular test on paper each week, but this could potentially replace the need for me to give a test at all, but it would need to be recorded properly. I’m sure it’s an easy fix, but I didn’t find it.

There are so many games. Liberty saw my screen shots on my review and had instant comments. “Oh, I liked that game. That game was hard. That one wasn’t my favorite…” All three of my kids loved playing on VocabularySpellingCity and begged to do a practice test each Thursday morning before I gave them their regular test. All of them recognized their scores much improved with a practice test first. The kids have been learning typing this year too, so the games that allowed them to type or had them searching for a letter quickly were particularly fun for them, since they got to practice their newly acquired (and still developing) typing skills.

Overall, this has been a great site for our family and the kids have learned and enjoyed themselves. Liberty in particular wanted me to mention how much she enjoyed it. Perfectionist that she is, she loved that she got 100% on every spelling test taken during this review. Eden scored perfectly the entire time too, and Sterling did almost that well. While they typically do quite well in spelling, this was a bit better than normal. In our house, a 100% on Thursday’s test means no Friday test and no words to write multiple times, so this was cause for rejoicing on their part!

VocabularySpellingCity offers a much more basic offering (less games/tracking/options) for free. Their premium price is $29.99 per year for up to five students. They also offer classroom and school-wide prices on their website here.

To read more reviews from the Crew on Vocabulary Spelling City, check out the Review Crew Blog.

TOS Review: Barbour Publishing

This year, Barbour Publishing, Inc. has published Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton and asked the Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew to review the book and let you all – and them – what we think of it. Based on the life and diary of main character Emma Jean – EJ – Payne, a 10 year old girl with tragic hair and growing up in the boring, boring town in Wisconsin. She can’t wait to grow up and get out of there. While her actions are almost always good, she doesn’t always land on her feet.

This paperback had me nervous at first, fearful I was going to encounter attitude problems and challenging authority figures from the characters of a book. From personal experience, this is not something I want my children reading about. It doesn’t end up in any good thing.

Eden (8) read the book first. She was pretty thrilled to get a book in the mail that was ”for her” to read. I heard about it. And heard about it. And heard about it. “It’s funny. The main character’s dad is a pastor. It’s so funny. They talk about God a lot. It’s so funny.” Yeah. My own dear daughter, well-meaning but oh, my goodness, the things she comes up with sometimes… Eden related to this book on a very personal level. She loved it.

Liberty (10) read it too, and while she wasn’t quite so ecstatic about the book as Eden was, she still talked about it often and happily read it. As a pickier reader, I was happy to have her find a book she enjoyed and read without dragging her feet about it. She’s really starting to understand jokes and have her own sense of humor, so this was pretty fun for her. EJ is 10 in the book, but very much not like Liberty with her serious, quiet manner, but Liberty still appreciated having a fun book to read.

I was pretty happy with the book. It’s great to find materials for my kids to read that I agree with, and this one fit the bill. The characters, while certainly portrayed as sinful people, they learn from mistakes and find a lesson worth learning in the end. I’d rather read about sinful characters that find grace and mercy in Christ than when books build characters that can’t possibly be real. EJ had a lot of lessons to learn (and it sounds like more are coming!). She isn’t perfect, but she seems like she understands that too.

Much of the book is entries from EJ’s diary – the diary her mother gave her because she believed it would be a “good outlet” for EJ. The very first page has some pretty funny stuff, and even Sterling (6) started reading it. He hasn’t gotten very far, but he keeps picking it up. I love how even he “gets” the jokes. If funny is what it takes to make my kids want to pick up books, then so be it. Throw in a Christian theme and a lesson that my kids can draw from too, and it sounds something we’ll look for more of! Book 2 is coming, and I already have requests from my kids to get our hands on a copy ASAP.

Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story has 192 pages and is published by Barbour Publishing. It retails for $5.99 and is available here.

To read the rest of the Crew’s opinions on Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story by Annie Tipton, head over to the review crew blog.

TOS Review: God’s World News–Early Edition

 

As part of the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, I’ve been reviewing God’s World News, receiving their magazine for grades 1-2, Early Edition, and full access to the grade level I received at their website www.gwnews.com, and new websites www.kids.wng.org, and (should I have received a magazine on the teen level) www.teen.wng.org.

 

I requested Sterling’s age level, Early Edition. He’s six, in first grade, and reading very well. He’s devoured his magazines that he’s received so far, and told me over and over of the stories he’s read. The first morning after the mail came with his first issue was awesome. “Mom, did you know?” “I found ___ on the map.” “Mom, where’s ___ on the map? I can’t find it.” His first issue (September’s) came with a map to use with each issue, and oh, my word, has Sterling had fun with that. He’s studied it at length, finding all the states we’ve lived in, been to, countries he’s heard of, places he’s read about in his magazines. I have a feeling that thing isn’t going to make the year. We talked of hanging it on the wall, but he informed me he would not be able to look at it as well that way. Well then.

The magazines each contain 24 pages. They are colorful and printed on thick newsprint from what I’ve gathered. Amazingly, they haven’t ripped or fallen apart. I’m impressed, after what they’ve been through.

The website access is amazing. I’ve spent several hours on there and barely scratched the surface. Back issues of all God’s World Magazines (including World, one I’ve read some online and always in the eye doctor’s office, and have been thoroughly impressed with their views and vantage points. Plus… we have a writer from World in our own congregation. It’s a fabulous magazine. Unfortunately, our entertainment budget remains at $0 so we’ve never subscribed. For now though, I get to read it online. I was thrilled when I learned this – and further thrilled when I could “add” family members and added Blaine, so that he may read with his own username and password. Ah, it’s the little things.

The answer keys to quizzes in the magazine (during the school year – no quizzes in the summer) are online, as are extended news lessons, biographies in PDF form (I found one to use this week, was all excited about it, then my computer shut itself down and lost it. And just like that, what was it about?! Live and learn. Bookmark. Download. Now I’ll have to find another one to use. There’s 120+ to choose from – it shouldn’t be hard!) Weekly email newsletter Teaching God’s World News is available to subscribers, and is the easiest way to access all that I’ve mentioned.

Chalk it all up to say, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed Early Edition and all the online content that goes with it. Sterling is thrilled to get a magazine in the mail just for him, I’ve really appreciated all the articles inside, and I’m so excited to be able to read many of the other offerings online. The news chosen for Sterling’s magazine has been in good taste – I assumed it would be, knowing what I know of the adult magazine, but it did not disappoint. Sterling is getting a taste of the world and what goes on around him in a format I really appreciate, from a Christian worldview I also appreciate. Awesome.

Early Edition retails for $32 for ten monthly issues, but God’s World News has it available here for $28 a year for a single subscription. A school-year subscription, with issues September through April, retails for $25 but is available from God’s World News here for $21. Further discounts are offered for multiple magazines to the same address.

To read more reviews on Early Edition and God’s World News’ other magazines available for the young reader to young adult, check out the Review Crew Blog.